EV: Chapter 29

I waited in the Attack Configuration Tel'tac Xiǎo Qílín for word from Chen's infiltration group that he had stormed the Shield Generator Control Room of the Jinta Tower. The Xiǎo Qílín was cloaked some thirty thousand feet above the top of the tower, where Asteria's Throne sat in the command room of Jinta Tower. Alongside us, the Attack Configuration Tel'tac Kǒudài Xiezhi also hovered, similarly cloaked. Both Tel'tacs were filled with my Jaffa, just waiting for the signal to transport into the tower from above. After all, if we took the tower, we would take Jinta City, and with it, consolidate two thirds of the planet under my control, leaving only Leto in the Hellenic Territories in the hills of Wusun remaining free, and she wasnn't likely to put up much of a fight at all, given her less combative nature.

Sure, Leto could be as ruthless and selfish as any non-abnormal Goa'uld, but her talents lay primarily in diplomacy and negotiation. She was more of a diplomat, something Cronus had turned more to by necessity in the past couple of centuries. Given how Ra had clamped down on such large-scale wars in the past few centuries, even someone like Cronus, who preferred war to diplomacy, had to adapt. Border skirmishes were one thing, but outright invasions of large swathes of rival territories like we were doing had been strictly prohibited, after all. Leto was who Cronus would send to someone to strongarm them into ceding outposts. Accordingly, I was expecting that once I had my forces in position to invade, Leto would attempt to negotiate terms for her surrender, rather than try to fight it out.

Either way, we still had to defeat Asteria first to get to that point, and she still was showing signs of life. Already, the pickets General Yan had placed around the Jinta Sluice Works were reporting enemy activity. Scouting actions from Asteria's Jaffa in advance of a counterattack on the Jinta Sluice Works. At the same time, my Saka-Descended Raiders on the road leading north to the Hellenic Settlements were engaging in frequent skirmishes with Jaffa bearing the Veil Mark of Leto, troops sent to try and relieve Jinta City. Fortunately, their mounts and my technology combined to ensure my Nomad Forces kept control of the road, winning the several skirmishes that had broken out. However, it was still a sign that we needed to finish this assault swiftly, before Leto brought more force to bear than the Nomads could handle.

That was what was on my mind as the hours ticked by, waiting for Chen to give the signal to transport our strike force into Jinta Tower. The wait was torturous, but I had patience now that I'd never possessed in my previous life as a normal human. Some quirk of Goa'uld biology allowed me to weather the boredom of waiting far more easily than I otherwise would have. Thankfully, we shouldn't have to wait here for too much longer. Chen reported he was coming up on the sewer access to Jinta Tower shortly before going communications silent, not fifteen minutes ago. With any luck, within the hour, we would have our signal to begin transporting troops into Jinta Tower from above.

If all went according to plan, we should be able to end the battle for Wusun within the next forty-eight hours. . .

XXXX

Chen of Taiji, First Prime of Erlang Shen, led his strike force up from the sewers of Jinta City and into the maintenance tunnels beneath Jinta Tower. They smelled of offal, blood, and sweat, a pungent combination that curdled in the nostrils and would give their presence away to any who were looking for them, but their Lord had been correct. Asteria had placed no sentries in the sewers, likely out of avoidance of that same foul scent. After all, Chen and his men could simply extend their helmets to avoid the stench, but the armor of Asteria's Jaffa did not possess the same systems that theirs did. Most Jaffa didn't have such potent systems in their armor, in fact. It was something Chen considered to be a fatal weakness in most of the Gods' way of thinking. One that their Lord thankfully did not possess.

In fact, Chen could count on one hand the number of System Lords who even gave their Jaffa Full Helmets. Most preferred to spend their resources on themselves rather than their Jaffa, after all. Large palaces, expansive dungeons, more slaves to build monuments, those were the sort of things that many of the most powerful gods wasted time, effort, and resources on. Even those who did spend resources equipping their Jaffa well usually did not take the time to do the same for their Vassals and Underlords. Cronus might have given his own Jaffa the full slate of equipment, but Asteria was on her own, and she could not afford such luxuries as her Lord could. It was to wind up being her downfall here this day.

As they crept through the maintenance tunnels underneath Jinta Tower, Chen received a ping on his Heads Up Display. They were coming up on their entry point to the tower itself. The time for thoughts on the differing philosophies of the Gods was over. Now it was time for action to take precedence. He commed over to the Second Prime who was leading the Vanguard of this assault, Lao of Zhaoze, a native of that swampy world, to attempt to get a status update.

"Lao, what is our status?" Questioned Chen.

"Not bad, we had to stun a pair of patrols ten and five minutes ago, but we've secured the prisoners and are coming up on the maintenance hatch into the Tower now." Informed Lao.

"Which means the patrols are ranging in five-minute intervals. In that case, you should come upon one more shortly." Mused Chen.

"I doubt that, Sir." Refuted Lao.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Queried Chen.

"Yes, Sir, I do. We're too close to the entrance of the tower now. Besides, have you heard the chatter on the general battle frequency?" Asked Lao.

"I have gone comms silent for the general battle frequency, as you should have." Intoned Chen.

"I have it set to output only. I cannot transmit." Informed Lao.

"I was unaware that was possible." Blinked Chen.

"The new comms our Lord designed can toggle that way, Sir." Explained Lao.

"You will have to show me how to set that up when this is over." Huffed Chen.

"Of course, Sir. Regardless, General Yan's force at the Jinta Sluice Works has come under heavy attack. It's all over the general battle frequency. Asteria's eyes wander far from this tower. I would hazard that we will not be facing much opposition in the Shield Generator Room." Informed Lao.

"Then we must hurry. The sooner we take the Tower, the sooner our Lord can force Asteria to stand down the Jaffa attacking General Yan." Intoned Chen.

"Indeed. We should be coming up on the entrance soon. I will contact you when we're finished, Sir." Agreed Lao.

And with that, the Comms went silent. However, Chen did not need to wonder about what was happening further down the tunnels, as within the next ninety seconds, the sounds of shouting and weapon discharges could be heard echoing through the tunnels. Lao had found the entrance to Jinta Tower, it seemed, and with it, a fight. Chen opened his comms to the frequency that the strike force was using and didn't hesitate to give the order to advance to contact and reinforce Lao's Vanguard.

"Attack! Lao and the Vanguard have found a fight!" Commanded Chen.

He dashed into a sprint, the powered underlay of his armor allowing him to eat up the ground between where his men were and Lao's embattled Vanguard. The rest of his Strike Force followed suit, charging after him on his orders. Chen turned a corner and found himself face to face with the force that was giving Lao so many problems. It was a pair of Squads of Asteria's Jaffa, reinforced with a pair of staff cannons. As Chen snarled, shouldering his Tianyan Staff Rifle and firing a bolt of golden plasma that punched right through the breastplate of one of Asteria's Star-Marked Jaffa, boiling his organs and killing him, the staff cannons barked out and punched through the armor of a pair of Lao's Jaffa, scything them down as weapons rated to destroy vehicle armor were employed against infantry.

"Someone deal with those cannons!" Commanded Chen.

"On it, Sir!" Came a feminine voice, as a Jaffa rushed forward with a primed Neser Grenade.

Chen recognized the voice as belonging to Delan of Yunhuayuan, a fresh recruit who had scored in the top percentile of the recent crop of fresh Jaffa on her exams. While his Lord might balk at the attitudes shared by the likes of Moloch and have admitted female Jaffa into the ranks, Chen had been skeptical until he had met with Delan. As she tossed the grenade, it shone with reflections of the chemical lights that illuminated the tunnels. Some sort of coating, perhaps? Whatever it was, it worked well and allowed the grenade to stick to the barrel of the leftmost Staff Canon. Mere moments afterward, the Neser Grenade exploded, destroying the barrel of the Staff Canon and killing the Jaffa Manning it. One Staff Cannon was down. Now it was time to deal with the other.

Chen let out a shout of triumph as he fired his Tianyan Staff Rifle again, taking the head off the Jaffa manning the remaining Staff Cannon in a difficult shot. A second Jaffa jumped on the Staff Cannon, firing a fat bolt of orange plasma that blew the legs off one of Lao's remaining Jaffa. Chen sighted down on that new Jaffa only to be forced to parry a swing of a Ma'tok staff from a charging enemy Jaffa. With a shout, Chen flipped his Staff Rifle around, winding and binding with his Opponent's staff and ripping the weapon out of the Jaffa's grip before slamming the blade of his Tianyan Staff Rifle through the eye of his opponent. As he wrenched his Tianyan Staff Rifle free of the slumping corpse, Chen turned to take aim at the Enemy Canoneer once again, only to see that Lao had just stunned the Jaffa with his Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel.

Soon enough, the two squads of Asteria's Jaffa were either dead or stunned and captured. The skirmish had been brief, but costly, as Lao had lost six Jaffa killed and another three wounded. Chen had likewise lost three Jaffa killed and two wounded. Losses had been primarily to the Staff Cannons, which could still punch through their armor with a direct hit, similar to how they could down Ptah-class Fighters when deployed in that particular role. Now, however, they were in the Engineering Level of Jinta Tower. After slaying the two guards on the door, Chen and his men entered the Shield Generator Control Room. Inside, a single squad of Jaffa manned the various machines, and a brief firefight ensued.

Chen fired his Tianyan Staff Rifle into the back of a Jaffa manning the Comms Station to begin the assault as he and his men entered. At his side, Lao fired his Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel twice in rapid succession, stunning the two Jaffa that immediately spun around with Zat'nic'tels in hand and ready to fire. One enemy, Jaffa ran for an armory cabinet, weaving through bolts from Chen and his men, only to be tackled by Delan, who scrabbled with the Man on the floor, grappling and jockeying for position for a brief moment before managing to mount her opponent and sink her dagger into his neck. The rest of the Enemy Jaffa surrendered on seeing that. The Shield Generator Control Room was theirs.

Now all that remained was to shut off the shields and send the signal to their Lord, and they could end this. . .

XXXX

We got the signal to attack some forty-five minutes after Chen's last report. That, in turn, was followed by the shields guarding Jinta City flickering for a brief moment before collapsing as the power was suddenly cut off to them. As my forces began to surge forth from siege positions on seeing that, the batteries of Staff cannons emplaced on Jinta Tower began firing as quickly as they could to try and stem the tide, mowing down my Jaffa with artillery fire. It was time to end this before losses could mount further. I got up from my seat and marched into the troop bay, where one half of my strike force was waiting, and gave the order to begin.

"Begin the assault. I will transport in with the first wave." I commanded.

And like that, the assault began with us transporting down into the Command Room Turned Throne Room of Jinta Tower. Of course, standard assault tactics were utilized, meaning that we didn't transport troops in first, but grenades. In this case, both a Tok'kal Shock Grenade and a Ra'kek Sunburst grenade were transported down first. The idea was that the Tok'kal would stun the enemy Jaffa, while the Ra'kek would kill them, giving us a foothold to transport into. In any event, it seemed to work wonders, as when we transported in, twenty-five of the fifty Jaffa in the Platoon stationed in the Command Center had been scythed down. It was still more than twice the number of Jaffa in the Squad I came down with, but it was a start.

I raised my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel and fired a pair of bolts, stunning two Jaffa that tried to toss Neser Grenades into our arriving troops. They fell to the floor, grenades slipping from nerveless hands before exploding, killing them and three others. I took heavy fire from a Large Jaffa wielding a staff Canon rigged to be man-portable, similar to how Carter rigged one for Teal'c to shoot down Tanith's Glider with in that one episode back when this was all a TV show. Thankfully, my shields took the blast and the second one as I charged forward while the second wave transported in behind me. That second blast stripped my armor of its shield, however. Thankfully, I was able to reach the Jaffa before he could get off a third blast and grip the barrel of the Staff Cannon, shoving it out wide and forcing it to discharge into the wall, leaving a glowing spot in the thick Trinium plating.

I snarled as I punched out at the Large Jaffa, sending him staggering backward, Portable Staff Cannon dropping to the floor, and charged forward, firing my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel. Unfortunately, he still had the presence of mind to duck, the arcing bolt of blue lightning sailing over his head. The large Jaffa surged forward, trying to bear me to the floor with a bull rush, but I managed to grapple him as he did and toss him behind me with a textbook Hip Throw. He landed hard on the floor with a grunt, and I placed my boot on his chestplate, pointing my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel at his face. He glared up at me before nodding once and holding his hands up in surrender. By this point, our attack force had whittled the Enemy Jaffa down to just one squad and had transported in three squads of our own, with more on the way. The enemy Jaffa surrendered then.

It was the sensible thing to do. However, there was no sign of Asteria. Her throne, a gaudy thing of Marble, Gold, and Solid Naquadah inlay, was vacant. I turned back to the Large Jaffa, scowling as I pointed my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel back at his face and demanded to know where Asteria was. He just laughed at that briefly before answering in a rumbling bass tone.

"You are too late. Our Lady realized what was happening when the sentries in the maintenance tunnels reported they were under attack. By now, her Personal Ptah-class Fighter should be ready to fly, and she should be in the hangar. You may have won this battle, but the war will continue." Laughed the Large Jaffa.

I let out a growl and squeezed the trigger of my Diàn Jiàn Zat'nic'tel, stunning the Large Jaffa. Then I used the inbuilt Comms in my Armor to call up Shun, who was manning the Pel'tac on the still-cloaked Attack Configuration Tel'tac Xiǎo Qílín.

"Shun. Do you see a Ptah-class Fighter taking off from Jinta Tower?" I demanded.

"It just appeared on the sensors, My Lord." Confirmed Shun.

"Blow it out of the sky!" I ordered.

"It will be done, My Lord. Firing now." Affirmed Shun.

From the comms frequency, I heard the whine of a rotary staff cannon discharging bolts of golden plasma at a target, followed shortly by a loud explosion that rocked even the reinforced construction of Jinta Tower. That was because the explosion was so close to the tower. I glanced at the Command Center's sensor readout, and it confirmed the destruction. However, I also received confirmation from Shun in the Xiǎo Qílín as well.

"Target destroyed, my Lord. A direct hit right to the reactor. The fighter went up in a massive ball of flame." Confirmed Shun.

"Excellent. You may have just saved this campaign. That was Asteria's escape attempt." I explained.

With that, I woke up the Large Jaffa with the in-built Kara'kesh on my armor and informed him of the death of Asteria and the vaporization of her Ptah-class Fighter. He grunted and scowled at that, but reluctantly ordered the remainder of the Jaffa in the City to stand down. It turned out he was Eumenes of Kefalonica, First Prime of Asteria. Regardless, within four hours, the remaining die-hards in Jinta City who refused to believe their Lady was dead had been mopped up. Within ten hours, my Nomads began raiding into the Hills. Twenty-four hours after the start of the Battle of Jinta City, we had consolidated our control over two-thirds of Wusun. Thirty hours afterward, I received reports that Prahtahtavah had captured the Hellenic Town of Effyis and its gold, trinium, copper, and naquadah mines by speed, surprise, and guile. Thirty-five hours later, we began to move into the Hills.

Thirty-six hours after the start of the Battle of Jinta, I received terms of surrender from Leto. She was offering to surrender the planet and her Jaffa in exchange for a cushy retirement, which, given the selfishness of most non-Abnormal Goa'uld, was fairly par for the course. I also had no reason not to agree. The Battle for Wusun was over, costing me six-hundred-seventy Jaffa Killed and one thousand Jaffa wounded. Not a bad piece of work if I said so myself. Forty-eight hours after the Battle of Jinta City began, I had my Garrison installed and began moving out. We would jump to Yuezhi, our next target, defended by Pallas, Nephew of Cronus, someone more formidable than the Commanders I had faced here on Wusun. When I arrived, I would find my Uncle had already conquered Kangju and had begun his assault on Yancai.

The Old Man had beaten me to the first victory of the campaign by two hours, it seemed. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. The Battle of Wusun is over, with Erlang Shen the victor, somewhat predictably, though there were still more casualties here than fighting in the Borderlands. After all, he's invading Cronus' territory, and even Cronus' underlords are better prepared to fight than the Goa'uld of the Borderlands, as evidenced by all the artillery Asteria had. It's going to continue that way for the foreseeable future, and maybe even get worse when facing the likes of Cronus or his nephew, Pallas, who is supposed to be a decent field commander. Still, a bit over one and a half thousand casualties for a planet is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude showing Cronus and his response to this invasion. Then we'll have the start of the Battle of Yuezhi as Erlang Shen begins his fight against Pallas. After that, we'll have an interlude showing Lord Yu at the Battle of Yancai.

Stay tuned. . .