Chapter 21

Of Tengri's Four Worlds, the one we made a beeline for was Uildver, his throne world and the seat of all his industrial production. It was here where Tengri had his Capital, amidst the workshops of Uildver. The other four worlds were the Worlds of Budaa, which was a major agricultural world, Gan, a major mining world, and Tsaiz, a hybrid Agricultural and Mining World. There was a large shipyard in orbit of Uildver capable of making Ha'taks, though slowly. The process of that could be sped up by the manufacture of components in the smaller, Al'kesh, shipyard that sat on the single moon of Uildver, Jijig-Zag.

Aside from Uildver, where the main production and administration took place, Tsaiz was interesting in that it was similar to how Laska had been for Shenwrab Miwo in that it had originally belonged to the Goa'uld Pekko, who had modeled himself on the Finnish God of Brewing and Grain. Tengri had conquered Tsaiz and given the world a new name, which meant Walker, a pejorative meaning since most of the Human Subjects and Jaffa of his worlds had come from Proto-Mongol Peoples. Unlike with Laska, Tengri didn't bother keeping Pekko alive and in Canoptic Stasis. Pekko was dead, and the Governor of Tsaiz was a Minor Goa'uld named Ulgen, a son of Tengri from back before he had lost his queen.

That last bit was crucial, Tengri no longer had access to a Queen. He had been forced to trade Ha'taks manufactured in his shipyard to the other, Minor, Goa'uld in the region in exchange for batches of Prim'ta. This was because of the History of Tengri's Domain. Tengri used to be a proper System Lord. Unfortunately, he suffered a defeat against Cronus that had gobbled up a swathe of nine worlds. That had been followed a few decades later by the revolt of three of his worlds and the burial of their Stargates during the War against Anubis. Next, the world of Simarka had become a Protected Planet in the Aftermath of Ra's War with the Asgard. Finally, three of his remaining worlds had suffered catastrophes and had to be abandoned, with one being stripped of life by its sun going nova, one revolting and forcing Tengri to Bombard it from orbit to put down the revolt, and the last suffering an ecological catastrophe as large-scale crop failures rendered it economically non-viable, causing Tengri to abandon the world.

What was left of a once-powerful System Lord were now four worlds in what had formerly been the Eastern Fringe of his Domain, but were now part of the Borderlands. Even with that, Tengri had still been the most powerful single Goa'uld in the Northern Half of the Borderlands. Now, I was going to try and conquer that remnant of Tengri's Empire. As the fleet jumped into the Uildver System, we were met with a proper fleet for the first time in a while. Three Ha'taks, the Khurdan Sum, Ulaan Selem, and the Khüchtei Jag backed by twelve Al'kesh. It was a fleet roughly comparable to our own in terms of firepower, at least before you took my Ha'tak Modifications into account.

"My Lord, we are being hailed by the Khurdan Sum. It is Tengri! He wishes to speak with you." Called out Shun from his Console.

"Send it to my Command Throne. I will speak to the Khagan of the Four Winds." I ordered.

"At once, My Lord." Confirmed Shun.

The sight that greeted me from my display was one that was interesting. Tengri was clearly present in the Pel'tac of the Khurdan Sum which I found odd. The Khagan of the Four Winds had a full, gray, beard and wore armored robes of blue and red. Two, Gray, Warrior's Braids spilled out from his crown, which was a mixture of solid Naqhadah and Gold. It was definitely Tengri, the question was, why was he here instead of down on Uildver? He had to know that taking part in the battle personally was a bad plan. I didn't for a second believe he hadn't paid attention to my Conquest of the previous batch of worlds.

"So. You are Erlang Shen? The Nephew of Lord Yu who has conquered such a vast swathe of Worlds?" Questioned Tengri.

"I am." I nodded.

"You do not look like much. I would have thought you would be taller." Scoffed Tengri.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Tengri." I cautioned.

"So it would seem." Responded Tengri.

"Will you not surrender? You have to know by now that you cannot win." I queried.

"I will not. This will be a glorious battle. Besides, I have made arrangements for my son, Ulgen, to take the throne should I die here." Refused Tengri.

"But why? Why risk your life?" I asked.

"You are young. Do you perhaps know what Wha'daw Syndrome is?" Questioned Tengri.

I did know what Wha'daw Syndrome was. It was a degenerative disease that made a Goa'uld unable to take a new host. It was usually only seen in Minor Goa'uld who have suffered a certain level of radiological exposure, though, and was able to be cured with a dip into a Sarcophagus or the use of a Goa'uld Healing Device. While the latter was rare, that was because of the proliferation of the Former among the System Lords. As a former System Lord himself, Tengri had to have access to a Sarcophagus.

"I do, surely a Sarcophagus could cure that, though?" I queried.

"You would be correct in that assumption. However, my Sarcophagus was damaged during the various hardships that rendered me a Backwater Lord of the Borderlands instead of the System Lord I had once been. I had been able to get it to work for many centuries, but it ceased to do so entirely a century or so back and I have since contracted Wha'daw Syndrome." Informed Tengri.

"I see, So you wish to die on your own terms and are thus prepared to give battle?" I asked.

"This is so. Prepare yourself, I will be attacking with everything I have from the start." Warned Tengri.

Then he cut the feed and his fleet surged forward, beginning the battle. . .

XXXX

Ulgen, future Khagan of the Four Winds, was late. He knew his father would be fighting the invaders in orbit of Uildver himself, but that would only gain him so much time. If only he hadn't been forced to deal with the damned Tok'ra Spy, he could have arrived on Uildver in time to be present on the world before the arrival of Erlang Shen's fleet. However, that had not been the case. Now he would not arrive in time to avoid the battles brewing in Orbit. Not for the first time did this make Ulgen curse the slowness of the Goa'uld Hyperdrive. Still, it was hardly the Hyperdrive's Fault. No, the blame there could be lain at the feet of the sniveling rebel wretch at his feet.

Stroking his goatee, the orange and blue-clad Goa'uld glared coldly at the gasping, Manacled, Blonde Man in his ragged, off-white, tunic. He looked like any other host taken from the Local Populace of Tsaiz, something that the various Minor Goa'uld who he delegated various functions to tended to look like. Ulgen knew better now, though. Especially after he had caught his supposed minion attempting to sabotage the fuel for his Ha'tak, the Shonkhor Khums. No, this was no functionary of his, but a Tok'ra spy.

"You Tok'ra think that you are so clever! Posing as a member of my administration to sabotage my arrival! My Destiny! I will enjoy flaying the skin from your bones! And when your host expires, I will devour you as a sign of my superiority!" Snarled Ulgen.

"You believe that was the intention? You are more deluded than I thought!" Challenged the Tok'ra.

"Was it not? It doesn't matter. Whatever your plan was, you will tell me in time to make the pain stop." Threatened Ulgen

"I will tell you nothing." Spat the Tok'ra.

"We shall see. Jaffa! take this thing to a cell for interrogation!" Snapped Ulgen.

"Yes, My Lord." Saluted the nearby Jaffa.

The Tok'ra was taken away from the Pel'tac of the Shonkhor Khums and dragged off by the Jaffa to await interrogation. In the meantime, Ulgen sat on his command throne and watched the chronometer tick down. Five hours until his arrival at Uildver. He had to hope his father could hold off the invader for that long. If he could, it was likely that Ulgen's arrival with the Shonkhor Khums and three other Al'kesh would be enough to tip the scales of battle in their favor. Then, perhaps they could see about conquering the Invader's new territories. Who knew? Perhaps by the time all was said and done, they would control territory worthy of a System Lord? If that was the case, then what his father had lost to revolt and Cronus might be regained afterward.

And that would do more to cement Ulgen's Legacy than anything else. . .

XXXX

Heim frowned as he sat in his cell. Sure, he and Danos had been able to successfully assassinate and replace the Minor Goa'uld Tung-Ak and take up his duties on Tsaiz, but they'd had little luck tracking down the Sampo Device, which had been their target. Supposedly, the Sampo Device had been found by the Goa'uld Ilmarinen and had been an Ancient Device that could rearrange matter into other forms, turning rocks into Trinium, dirt into wheat, and water into Naquadah. Illmarinen had used it to help create the small trio of Cheops-Class Battleships he had possessed, which had forced Ra to intervene for fear of potential rebellion. Before Ilmarinen had been killed, he had supposedly sent the Sampo Device, along with his son Pekko, out into the borderlands.

It had taken the Tok'ra some time to infiltrate Tsaiz in order to see if they could scrounge up the location of the device in Pekko's records, and no sooner had they done so, than Heim and his Partner, the Tok'ra Symbiote Danos, had caught the attention of Ulgen, who noticed the supposed change of host in Tung-Ak, and had begun asking questions as to why Tung-Ak's host had changed. Heim and Danos had thought that the attacks by Erlang Shen would be their chance to throw off that suspicion. They'd tried to replace some of the fuel for the Shonkhor Khums' Naquadah Generators with enriched versions that would explode when they were fed into the Generator but had been caught trying to do so.

'If only we hadn't been, we would have been rid of an unpleasant fool.' Lamented Danos from the Back of Heim's Mind.

'Unfortunately, it seems that fool is going to be the end of us.' Admitted Heim, mentally.

'More's the pity. I will try to keep you healthy through the torture. Just don't tell him about the Sampo. Who knows? Perhaps Erlang Shen will win the battle and be ready for Ulgen's Arrival?' Hedged Danos, internally.

'I know the drill, Danos. You forget we've done this before.' Smirked Heim, telepathically.

Any further internal conversation was cut short, however, as the door to their cell opened and in stepped a pair of Jaffa. Heim tried to run, ducking past one of them, only to catch a gauntleted fist to the stomach that blasted the wind out of him. As he fell back, in stepped Ulgen, Kara'kesh on his hand glowing with ominous red light.

"You shouldn't have tried that. Now I will simply need to be rougher with you from the start in order to break you." Sneered Ulgen.

Then, Ulgen thrust his Kara'kesh out at Heim, Heim's world exploded in a flash of red light and all Heim knew was pain. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. As you can see from the set-up, there are three parts to this Battle in orbit of Uildver. Erlang Shen needs to defeat Tengri before Ulgen can arrive with his reinforcements to turn the tide of battle. Ulgen needs to both Break Heim to figure out what the Tok'ra were doing on Tsaiz and also needs to arrive at Uildver in time to have his reinforcements be useful in the battle. Finally, Heim and Danos need to hold out long enough under torture for Erlang Shen to possibly rescue them.

There's a lot going on under the hood here, as is right for the climactic battle of a giant campaign like Erlang Shen's conquest of the Borderlands Territories. If Erlang Shen can beat both Tengri and Ulgen in orbit of Uildver, then he can just take over without much in the way of resistance outside of a few diehards. That's the thing about Goa'uld Power Structures. If you cut off the head of the snake, taking the body is easy, no pun intended.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude with Ra's arrival at Abydos, and then we'll have an interlude with the Abydos Mission, before continuing with the Battle Over Uildver. I'll also have images out before then.

Stay tuned. . .