EV: Chapter 22

The battle in orbit opened with a clash of fightercraft as clouds of Ptah-class Fighters slammed into each other in the space between fleets, mixing together in a titanic dogfight that saw hundreds of fighters on each side gunning for their opposite numbers. Fortunately, I had drilled my Jaffa Pilots using not only the flash-training headsets I had gained from Lord Yu, but also on simulators of my own design that I had programmed with various scenarios, as well as ensuring that each of my Jaffa Pilots had flight time in an actual fighter. It was a three-step training process that made my pilots a lot more skilled than the average Jaffa, who used maybe one of those three methods for training instead of all three.

Such specialization came at a cost, of course. Most Goa'uld would cross-train their Jaffa to be able to fly a fighter as well as fight on the ground, so that any Jaffa in their forces could pilot a Ptah-class fighter. They couldn't usually do it very well, but they could do it, allowing the other Goa'uld to pull pilots from any part of their Jaffa Force. That wasn't something I could do with my own forces, which meant that my pool of pilots was more limited than those of the other Goa'uld. What Pilots I did have, though, were the best of the best. At least amongst the Jaffa. I wasn't sure how they would stack up against, say, the Taur'i just yet.

In effect, my own ethos was turning out to be the inverse of that of most other Goa'uld. I went for quality instead of quantity, something that many Goa'uld refused to do for fear of rebellion. However, my benevolent approach to ruling ensured that I was loved rather than feared. It was the complete opposite approach of the mainstream, though my Uncle, Lord Yu, did something similar, albeit to a lesser extent. If anyone asks, I would simply play it off as the logical extension of my Uncle's Policies. Let the rest of the Empire try and argue against Lord Yu's way of doing things and see how far they get. My Uncle wasn't one of the most powerful system Lords for nothing after all.

What this meant for right now, however, was that by the time our Al'kesh reached the engagement zone, our fighter pilots had mostly sent those of Tengri packing. Either shooting down their opposite numbers or sending them running for the safety of the firing envelopes of Tengri's Ha'taks. This allowed my Al'kesh to move forward without the threat of being harassed by fighters, while the enemy Al'kesh had to deal with fightercraft as well as our own Al'kesh Gunships. It wasn't an ideal situation for the forces of Tengri to be in, not by a long shot, and Tengri had to realize this. The Old Man was intent on dying in glorious combat, though, so that was the death I would give him.

From my command throne on my Pel'tac, I grinned as I watched two of the Enemy Al'kesh be savaged by fighters, while two others were pummeled by the rotary staff cannons of the Al'kesh Gunships Méizhī and Táohuā, their shields failing and their superstructures taking crippling damage. One of the Enemy Al'kesh, the Ulaan Mori, had managed to pop the Táohuā's shields and do damage to its engines before being disabled.

"I want that Al'kesh captured. A ship and crew capable of doing that ought to be given a chance to surrender." I commanded.

"I will ensure that Prime Lao of the Táohuā does so, My Lord." Nodded Chen.

"Excellent. The rest of the battle is proceeding well. Although this Enemy Ha'tak is gathering up fleeing fightercraft, likely to make a push against our Al'kesh screen. Send the Hēilóng and Tiānlóng out to stop them, and detect squadrons Bā through Shíyī from harassment of enemy Al'kesh to cover the attack." I ordered.

"I see. It will be done, Lord. Do you think those will be enough, though?" Questioned Chen.

"How do you mean?" I queried.

"Well, My Lord. That Ha'tak, the Khüchtei Jag, is anchoring their line of Ha'taks near the Moon of Büten Sar. If the enemy has any surprises waiting on the Moon, that will be where they will show themselves." Cautioned Chen.

"A Fair point, Chen. One well-reasoned. Detach the Luòyè Sōngzhī from the Al'kesh Battle as well and send it in to support the Hēilóng and Tiānlóng." I agreed.

"It will be done, My Lord." Confirmed Chen.

"In the meantime, what is the status of the attack on the Shipyard?" I asked.

"Prime Zhao reports that he's almost finished capturing it. He simply needs a bit more time to take the command post." Informed Shun from the Communications Console.

"Let's see if we cannot give him the time he requires." I intoned.

"My Lord?" Questioned Chen.

"All Ha'taks forward. Tengri will be too busy dealing with such a massive assault to spare any reinforcements for his shipyard." I grinned, ferally.

"Yes, My Lord. All Ha'taks forward, sending the order now." Smirked Shun from the Communications Console.

Now we would see exactly what Tengri's Ha'taks were made of. I watched on my tactical screen as the Ha'taks of my fleet surged forward, our rotary staff cannons blazing with plasma, spewing intense golden trails out into space to rip into the shields of the Enemy Main Line of Battle. Their own, duller, bronzish-orange plasma bolts flung back at us at a far lesser rate of fire, burning less hot than our own modified weaponry. Their plasma burst across our shields, washing off them like water off a duck's ass. Meanwhile, our own plasma caused flickers in the enemy shields with each strike.

With such a disparity in firepower, it was only a matter of time before something in the enemy line of battle gave. That something turned out to be the defensive shields on the Ha'tak Ulaan Selem, which were hammered by our Ha'taks Opele and Rồng Núi. The Former Flagships of the fleets of two of my defeated rivals tore open the Ulaan Selem's shields and began firing on the superstructure of the enemy Ha'tak. The Ulaan Selem fought back as best it could, but it wasn't enough to avoid being disabled. Boarding parties were sent over to capture the Ha'tak, which would make it number nine in my fleet of Ha'taks.

At the same time, the Hēilóng and Tiānlóng reported that they had disabled the enemy Ha'tak Khüchtei Jag, though the Hēilóng had taken quite a bit of damage in the process, thanks to a sudden assault from suicide ramming Ptah-class fighters coming from the Moon, and would need to withdraw for repairs. The Tiānlóng, however, had sent over boarding parties to seize control of the ship, along with more Jaffa from the Luòyè Sōngzhī. That would make that Ha'tak number ten, which would tie me with Camulus for the number of Ha'taks in service at any one time.

That just left the Khurdan Sum, Tengri's Flagship. He was determined to go down with the ship, unfortunately, as it seemed as if he was completely willing to scuttle his Flagship rather than allow it to be captured. As he fought like a cornered tiger, damaging the Dāb Dkhk, which had only recently been repaired after the battle above Si Fa Xaymni, forcing it out of the battle, and had lightly damaged the Mudung, though Gyalpo Pehar was reporting that the Mudung was still ninety percent operational and could still fight. However, the battle was already decided, and I ordered the Mudung to head out of the engagement zone for repairs.

As expected, Tengri tried to take us out with him, as Shun reported an energy surge coming from within the Khurdan Sum. I ordered my ships to break off the attack at once, and most of them managed to get clear of the resulting explosion from Tengri scuttling the Khurdan Sum. Only the Al'kesh Liǔ Zhī remained close enough to the explosion to be destroyed by it, having lost its shields to a suicide ram by a trio of Ptah-class Fighters. However, with that, the battle over Uildver had been won.

It had taken an hour and a half to whittle the enemy down to just the Khurdan Sum, and another half an hour from that point to the Khurdan Sum's self-destruction. Another hour saw Prime Zhao complete his capture of the Shipyard as well as the small base on the Moon of Büten Sar from which the suicide attack that had damaged the Hēilóng had come. After three hours of fighting and operations, we had captured the Orbitals around Uildver. In the process of the battle, we had captured two enemy Ha'taks and four enemy Al'kesh, for the loss of one Al'kesh destroyed, one Ha'tak damaged enough to need yard time, and one Long-class Cruiser damaged enough to need yard time. All in all, I called that a good trade, though.

An hour later, once the forces had been organized, we began landing troops on the planet, looking to capture Uildver before moving on. . .

XXXX

Ulgen, future Khagan of the Four Winds, was annoyed. His Tok'ra Prisoner had been most stubborn. No matter how much pain he had forced the rebel to undertake, he had refused to give Ulgen any information. Instead, all the Rebel had done was spout nonsensical nursery rhymes at him. It was infuriating, and Ulgen had to admit he had let his temper get the better of him after multiple hours without getting any relevant information. He had pushed the prisoner harder than he should have and now the damned Rebel was unconscious.

As you can't get information out of interrogating an unconscious man, Ulgen had been forced to take a break from the interrogation to review the state of his forces in transit to Uildver. He had needed time to allow his flaring temper to cool down at any rate, and certainly the bureaucratic minutiae of fleet logistics would help him do that. Ulgen could think of few things more boring or banal than logistics, after all. It should be just what he needed to quench the fire that burned in his mind at the Rebel's Impudence.

His small fleet had one Ha'tak, the Shonkhor Khums, as well as four Al'kesh, the Tsagaan Güü, Tsenkher Tug, Ikh Salkhi, and Butlakh Alkh. He also had a number of Tel'tak Transports for carrying supplies and equipment, just in case the forces at Uildver needed them. All these ships required maintenance, supply, and crews, some of which had to be handled in a spaceport or drydock, but some of which could be handled now while in transit. It was the routine maintenance schedules that had Ulgen's attention now. He'd gone through the duty roster for technicians and priests aboard the Al'kesh and now had to go through and approve the duty roster for the Shonkhor Khums.

It was monotonous, mindless, drudgery. The sort of thing best fobbed off onto an underling, which was normally just what Ulgen did. However, he couldn't deny there was something calming about busy work. By the time he had finished the logistics paperwork up, he felt calm enough to return to his interrogation of the Prisoner without having to worry about pushing the Rebel far enough that he would fall unconscious once again. That had been the goal in all of this, after all.

He checked the time as he entered the Prisoner's Cell once more, expecting to be able to continue his interrogation at length. Unfortunately, he only had one hour remaining before they arrived at Uilver. That surprised him somewhat. He hadn't realized that much time had passed while he was attending to the mindless drudgery of fleet logistics paperwork. Perhaps a philosopher would be able to tell him why time seemed to slip away like that, but that would have to wait for later. For now, as he entered the Prisoner's Cell, he had more work to do in order to bring this interrogation to an end.

"Good. You are awake. Unfortunately, I have little time to continue to interrogate you. We will be arriving at Uildver in one hour, and I expect to be required to engage the enemy. Let us see if we cannot get information out of you before that point." Intoned Ulgen.

The Prisoner could only glare at him in response, spitting out a gobbet of blood-colored phlegm at Ulgen's feet. That was disrespectful in the extreme, but Ulgen was wise to the Prisoner's tactics by now. He had deliberately goaded Ulgen into pushing too hard with nonsense last time. He would not make the same mistake this time.

As he told the prisoner this, a silent glare was all he got in return, and the interrogation recommenced. . .

XXXX

"I will not be goaded into pushing you hard enough to send you into unconsciousness again." Scowled Ulgen.

'Great, there goes that strategy.' Opined Heim, mentally.

'Unfortunate, but it is what it is. We will simply need to hold out.' Admitted Davos, telepathically.

'Did you catch what he said earlier? We'll be arriving at Uilver in an hour, then he'll be too busy fighting to interrogate us.' Reminded Heim, internally.

'I did. I will try to keep you healed enough to survive. Do you think you can handle it?' Questioned Davos, in their mind.

'You doubt me?' Queried Heim, in the back of their head.

'Perish the Thought. Just be ready.' Answered Davos, psychically.

'I will be. Besides, it's only an hour. How bad could it be?' Asked Heim in their shared brain.

Unfortunately for them both, they were about to find out. Unlike the last time, Ulgen clearly had a plan for this interrogation session. The pain he inflicted with his Kara-Kesh was at a constant level. Not quite enough to push Heim into unconsciousness, not this time. Ulgen had clearly learned his lesson there, but more than enough to really test the limits of just what Heim and Davos could endure. Honestly, if Davos hadn't been so good at healing and deadening his pain response, Heim probably would have broken. It was that bad.

In fact, Heim knew himself well enough to know that if this had been what Ulgen had gone with last time, he would probably have broken before unconsciousness took him. After all, he was only Human, even if blended with a Tok'ra Symbiote. Thankfully, however, Ulgen only had an hour to work them over, which meant that Heim could just about keep his mouth shut about the Sampo with Davos' help. By the time that Ulgen had to return to the Pel'tac of the Shonkhor Khums to prepare the fleet for battle, Heim and Davos were bent, but unbroken.

Hopefully, Erlang Shen was in a position to defeat Ulgen's relief fleet. The last communication that Heim and Davos had gotten from the Tok'ra High Council had indicated that Erlang Shen was an Abnormal Goa'uld and a Tok'ra Ally. How such a thing was possible without tripping a bunch of alarms in the Empire, Heim didn't know, nor did Davos, but they did know they could trust the High Council. After all, if they couldn't, then what was even the point of the movement? No, Erlang Shen had somehow gained a position of power in the Empire while also being an Abnormal Goa'uld and a secret ally of the Tok'ra. That had to be a fact, there was no other alternative. Because of that, Heim and Davos had a chance to escape their predicament.

They just had to hold out long enough. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here is the next proper chapter. As you can see, Erlang Shen has completely dominated Tengri, but the Jaffa have begun using suicide attacks with fightercraft on him to try and stem the tide of his advance. Luckily, he's pretty much finished with conquering territories in the borderlands after he takes Tengri's Domain, though. In the meantime, Ulgen fell for Heim and Davos' ploy to torture them into unconsciousness and lost valuable time. Now they only have to try and hold out for an hour of interrogation, followed by the space battle between Ulgen and Erlang Shen in hopes of rescue.

At any rate, the next chapter will include Ulgen's Arrival at Uildver and the Second Space Battle of Uildver, plus an update about how things are going on the ground. I'll also have a few more images out as well.

Stay tuned. . .