EV: Chapter 27

Touching down on the Steppes in a Tel'tac was interesting. For what seemed like miles around, there was nought but tall grass, steppe vegetation, and wide open sky. However, I knew for a fact that the Saka-Descended Nomads who made up Wusun's original settler population were nearby. The odd, deerlike creatures that they used as mounts instead of horses were milling about near the landing site and didn't flee the area when my Tel'tac touched down, becoming visible suddenly. That suggested a familiarity with Goa'uld technology that could only come from having been trained.

As I exited the Tel'tac, however, suddenly, several large men in bronze scale armor, leathers, and first popped up out of the tall grass, pointing arrows at me. Chen snarled from my side, scandalized at the sudden ambush and shouldering his Tianyan Staff Rifle, ready to fire at the nomads. However, I put my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head. Those arrows would do less than nothing to me from within my armor. There was no real need to blast these Nomads at the moment. Not when this was a small party.

"After all, what would slaughtering these men accomplish, save perhaps pushing their people into the arms of Cronus' defenders?" I questioned.

"My Lord? Surely you are not suggesting that we tolerate this disrespect?" Queried Chen.

"Where you see disrespect, I see an advertisement of the skills we are engaging in this parlay in order to hire." I pointed out.

"Just so. Your God has the right of things, though I find that to be a rare quality among the two Gods fighting over this world." Came an Aged Voice.

I turned to see an old man, gray hair pulled into a pair of braids with leather cords, a necklace of gold-engraved trinium around his neck, and crimson silk robes adorning his body, both of which signified him as a man of wealth and power. This, then, would be Madava, the Great Chief of the local Saka-Descended Tribes, and therefore, exactly the man that I had come to talk to about swaying him to my side. At his side, a much younger Bowman in bronze armor with a crimson silk cap and crimson silk wrapping about his waist stood up.

"Madava, Great Chief of the Steppe, I presume?" I asked.

"Indeed. I suppose that would make you Erlang Shen, the supposed God of Engineers and Strategists?" Questioned Madava.

"I am Erlang Shen, yes." I confirmed, though I stopped short of saying that I was indeed a God. I didn't buy into the Goa'uld hype around such things, after all, just one of the many reasons that my having the Domain I did was unusual.

"Very well. You have asked for a meeting. Few of the Gods who squabble over this world since the death of our Lady Tapati cared enough to speak to us. When I was told of your message, I grew curious. Enough to bring my son and heir, Pratatavah, to see what you have to say for ourselves." Nodded Madava.

"So I see. You have questions, yes?" I queried.

"Many of them." Confirmed Madava.

"Ask them." I insisted.

"But first, tell your men to put away their bows." Intoned Chen.

"The arrows would do little to me, but my First Prime can be quite agitated when it comes to weapons pointed my way, even if they would not wound me." I explained.

"Of course. We do not need incidents during a parlay, after all." Agreed Madava.

"The ambush has already proven our value, regardless." Nodded Pratatavah, before he began to order his Warriors to put away their bows in a language I didn't speak that seemed to be some variant of Indo-Iranian.

"Now, ask your questions." I reiterated once everyone had put their weapons away.

"Firstly, you are the only God who sought diplomacy with us. The others who have fought over this world have barely deigned to so much as speak with us. Most would have fired their weapons of smokeless flame at us just as soon as they saw us. Why is that?" Queried Madava.

"I am not like them. My situation is somewhat unique, and I see the benefits of cooperation over intimidation and force. My Uncle, the Jade Emperor Yu Huang Shang Ti, has taken up a philosophy of benevolent rule. I have simply expanded upon such a philosophy to its natural endpoint." I informed.

"I see. And so, if we were to join your cause, you would be willing to allow us to continue to worship our Lady Tapati? Those others have always insisted on installing their own cults among the people here. You would not do such things to us?" Asked Madava.

"I do not require the worship that many other Gods crave. I simply require leal subjects. If allowing your people to keep their worship of Tapati will help in that regard, I see no real reason not to do so." I agreed.

"This seems awfully light-handed of you compared to those who have come before. A light touch can breed weakness in a warrior. How can you be certain you can vanquish the Titans who make their home here?" Questioned Pratatavah.

"Because I am simply stronger and smarter than they are. I have already captured the Titans who sought to keep me from landing on this World. Their fleet has been annihilated, and their ships destroyed or captured. This is not a mere boast, it simply is." I intoned.

"And how would you propose to utilize my People's Warriors?" Queried Pratatavah

"As scouts, in ambushes, to raid supply lines, and other such duties. Your mounts and tradition of mounted archery are uniquely suited to such duties." I explained.

"And should we find ourselves assailed by the Titans' Forces? What then? As you said, our bows are hardly effective weapons against the Armor worn by your Warriors. I doubt they will be much more effective against that worn by the Titans' Warriors. Will you defend us against reprisals?" Asked Madava.

"If reprisals come, then yes. Just as I would defend any loyal subject, I would defend your people. However, I will also give you the ability to defend yourselves." I answered.

Then, at a signal from my armor, two of my Jaffa exited the Tel'tac, bearing a crate. Inside was a simple breastplate and scale fauld combination, made of Trinium Alloy, the same as the armor of Cronus' Jaffa, but with an energy ablative underlay that ensured that they would be able to take more shots than Cronus' Jaffa. The armor I had tinkered specially with myself, in order to ensure that it would be light enough to be worn on the back of those Deer-like steeds that the Saka-Descended Nomads I was courting as Cavalry tended to ride, while also allowing them to tank more than just a couple of glancing blows from a Ma'tok Staff Weapon. The key was in the crystalline matrix that I'd arranged the alloy in, as well as in the Ablative Underlay. The idea had come to me based on my studies of Begtse's Ancient Armor, which seemed to work based on a similar method, at least on the initial layer. There were other things going on with that which I still hadn't figured out, though.

Also inside the crate were Diàn Jiàn Model Zat'nic'tels, which needed no real introduction at this point. All told, I had ensured that there was enough armor and weapons in this one crate for eight warriors. Enough to arm and armor Pratatavah, Madava, and all six of the Warriors they had brought with them to the parlay. This was also only the beginning of the largesse I was offering. I would give them enough equipment to equip all their warriors. They were going to be fighting for me, after all, I could do no less and still call myself a benevolent ruler.

Regardless, on opening the crate, both Jaffa stepped back, and I nodded at both Madava and Pratatavah as they stepped forward to look inside the crate to see what was in there. As they did so, their eyes widened at what they saw, and I saw my opportunity to really hammer home my sales pitch.

"There is more where these came from, enough for an army. My gift to your Warriors for pledging loyalty, that you might defend yourselves from reprisals. You will find that the Armor is somewhat lighter than the heavy bronze your warriors currently wear, while allowing you to withstand blasts from their Staff Weapons. At the same time, these weapons can both stun as well as kill, and are effective against most forms of armor used by the Titans' Warriors." I intoned.

"You have said much. However, this gift seems to lend weight beyond mere words." Mused Madava.

"Indeed, Father. I know of these weapons. We have captured a few from the Titans' Men in the past. They are mighty, and it seems the Armor is a different form of the type the Titans' Men wear as well. I believe Erlang Shen to be speaking the truth of his intentions. He would not grant us such equipment otherwise." Agreed Pratatavah.

"My Lord is quite a Generous God. You should see our Capital, every Jaffa and Human Subject lives in a home with power and running water, both hot and cold. That is not something that any other God can boast of, and My Lord is in the midst of expanding such luxuries to the rest of his domain. You will not regret pledging loyalty to him." Offered Chen.

"So, do we have an accord?" I questioned.

"We do. How soon can you deliver the rest of your gift?" Queried Madava.

"Within hours. How soon can you have a force of scouts ready to aid my advance?" I asked.

"As swiftly as we can equip one with such gifts. Most likely by sunset tomorrow." Answered Pratatavah.

"Excellent. We will not likely be prepared to advance before then at any rate, so this works well." I nodded.

"Indeed. We still need to push Coeus' Forces out of the Han-descended Settlements in the White River Region." Added Chen.

"In that case, we shall be prepared to send a force to ride with you against the Titans' Settlements in the Hills by then." Confirmed Madava.

"I will lead our riders personally. For such a gift, I can do no less." Added Pratatavah.

"In that case, I will take your oaths of fealty now, that you might better prepare for the days ahead." I remarked.

And with that, both Madava and Pratatavah got down on one knee and swore oaths of fealty on behalf of their people. In return, I pledged to aid them in times of crisis, defend them in times of war, and ensure prosperity on their world, the same as I would to any of my other subjects, and that was that. Having gained the fealty of the Saka-Descended Nomads, Chen and I returned to the Tel'tac, taking off for the front. As we flew, I received updates from my Jaffa Generals on the various battles being fought. It seemed that General Kuo had already managed to push Coeus' Forces out of Hekou Port at the Mouth of the White River, where it emptied into the planetary ocean, and Sichou City was almost liberated as General Yan kept the pressure up.

Unfortunately, General Di was having difficulties in Duanzao City, and General Tsao had run into a snag at Daotian Town. Both had apparently had their garrisons reinforced just a few days before our arrival. However, the forces under Bà Đen and Gyalpo Pehar had managed to take Niubang City and Jiang Town with surprise aerial assaults, similar to the one that General Kuo had utilized to seize Hekou Port, and only had to converge on and take Jinta City in order to flank the enemy forces at Duanzao City and Daotian Town in a textbook pincer attack that should collapse the defenses of those cities, especially if we can get the Han-descended settlers of Duanzao City and Daotian Port to rise up against the Occupying force of Hellenic-descended Jaffa.

There was just the problem of who was in charge at Jinta City. Reportedly, Asteria was there, and Leto had sent troops to aid her sister under the command of her First Prime, a capable Jaffa Commander named Xenophon. It was likely that the attack would take most of the time before we had our Nomadic Troops ready, just to take control of Jinta City. By that point, Asteria might even slip away, which meant that we would have to face her again down the line without the element of surprise. Still, even if that happened, I estimated that we would gain total control of Wusun within the week.

And then it would be onto Yuezhi, where Pallas and his forces would provide a much more likely challenge. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. As the end of the first day of the invasion of Wusun draws to a close, Erlang Shen has gained the Saka-Descended Nomads that formed the Original Settlers of Wusun on his side to act as a Cavalry Force, and he's already begun making progress in the areas of Wusun that had been settled by Han-Descended Settlers that Lord Yu had imported to the world back when he had control over it. In the meantime, it seems as if a climactic battle at Jinta City is going to decide whether or not Erlang Shen keeps his foothold on Wusun.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude showing Lord Yu's Fight at Kanju before we return to Erlang Shen for the next phase of the Battle of Wusun. I'll also have some more images out before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .