Chapter 12

The Largest City on Samshan was a place called Ong Thanh. It was in one of the lowland areas of the planet and was where a majority of goods were produced. Everything from Ma'tok Staff Weapons, Zat'nic'tels, and Armor for Jaffa to more simple fare such as shoes, clothing, and rice flour for making the staple Banh Mi that served as one of the main foods for the Workers and Jaffa of Ba Chua Xu's Domain. It was therefore a priority target for our forces, and I had sent General Di to capture the City as intact as he possibly could.

To do so, General Di had an army of one-hundred-fifty-thousand Jaffa, one-hundred-eight Fightercraft, and as much supply as I could manage to send to him. By all accounts that should be overkill, especially as intelligence had reported that Ba Chua Xu's main force was gathering at the Mountain Fortress of Âu Cơ on Pu Si Lung Mountain half a hemisphere to the north.

Of course, that wasn't to say that Ba Chua Xu would make it easy for him to capture such a prize. There were some one-hundred-thousand Jaffa defending the city, whose walls had been reinforced with Trinium to better withstand bombardment from staff cannons or Ptah-class Fighters. Inside the walls, an interdiction field had been set up to prevent transport past the walls via the ring transporters. For most, this would be a difficult nut to crack. Not for my forces, however.

After all, General Di had already ordered reconnaissance and when his scouts returned, they reported that though the interdiction field covered the City itself, it did not cover the four towers where the interdiction generators were held. Instead, those towers were protected by heavy Trinium Shielding, something that ordinarily, Ring Transports could not penetrate through without the amplifiers found in things like Ha'tak Transport Bays.

However, our forces were far from ordinary, and the basic technical education given to my Jaffa allowed them to modify the ring transports somewhat. Just enough to ring attack parties into the interdiction towers. General Di had informed me that the strike could begin within the hour if I gave approval and that he had every confidence in his troops to see it done. Once the interdiction field was down, we could begin transporting larger numbers of Jaffa into the town at our leisure, allowing us to cut off and pocket areas of enemy resistance with ease.

"Excellent Plan, General. I look forward to seeing how it progresses." I praised.

"I thought so, My Lord. I have the utmost faith in the Jaffa to see it done." Nodded General Di, confidently.

"Begin the operation when you are ready, General. Your plan is approved." I intoned.

"At once, My Lord." Grinned General Di.

As the troops Chen took to capture the Shipyard returned to the Xiaotian Quan along with the troops that General Yan took to seize control of the Rồng Núi, I couldn't do much except watch General Di's Offensive take shape, and wait for Chen and General Yan's troops to assemble for the second wave. General Kuo was already setting up a siege of the Pu Si Lung Mountain Region with eight-hundred-thousand Jaffa, while General Tsao was securing the rest of the planet, including the Sông Lúa Agricultural Region and the Kim Loại Mining Region, the two most productive regions on Samshan for Food and Mineral Production, with another six-hundred-thousand Jaffa. I would transport down with Wave Two, another three-hundred-thousand Jaffa, General Yan, and Chen.

After all, unless I missed my guess, Ba Chua Xu had already sent a distress signal to her Four Immortals, meaning that any who weren't already on Samshan would be arriving shortly with ships to try and relieve the siege. I wanted to hold off on arriving with Wave Two until I could defeat any such attack and so I stayed aboard the Xiaotian Quan watching the progress of my invasion from orbit.

And waiting for the enemy to attempt to relieve their Mistress. . .

XXXX

Huo was the Third Prime of the Xiangten Garrison. Xiangten was a small, provincial, city on the world of Chejian, one of their Lord Erlang Shen's more populous worlds. As the third Prime of a small provincial city garrison, Huo hadn't expected much out of his career. However, their Lord clearly had other plans than to simply govern his province quietly. Huo had swiftly found himself in charge of a strike force heading for the Northern Interdiction Tower of Ong Thanh City on Samshan, largely due to his aptitude scores during the mandatory technical schooling the Jaffa Forces had undergone during the past six months. Apparently, their Lord valued such things highly, which had turned out to Huo's advantage.

Huo was putting the finishing touches on the ring transport aboard the Al'kesh Gunship Mǔdānhuā at the moment. This would allow his strike force of one-hundred Jaffa, a full Company, one-fifth of a battalion, to ring down into the Northern Tower Complex, past the Heavy Trinium Shielding, to assault the interdiction field generator directly. General Di had said that if he succeeded in his strike, he would recommend Huo's Brevet Promotion to First Prime of the Company be made permanent. That was a step up from being third in command of a similar number of troops in a backwater garrison like that of Xiangten.

"Huo, this is Feng, General Di wants to know how soon you will have your modifications to the transport completed?" Came a Voice from the Transport Bay's Comms. Huo knew Feng to be the First Prime of the Mǔdānhuā, which meant that the Jaffa in the Pel'tac were getting antsy fielding the General's questions. Fortunately, he almost had his modifications finished.

"There are perhaps two standard minutes left in the process. Tell the General we should be able to proceed shortly." Commed back Huo.

"Indeed. He will be happy to hear that." Returned Feng.

And with that, Huo returned to his work. The delicate crystal matrix that he was tinkering with required concentration, which thankfully, all knew, as every Jaffa had been forced to go through the technical training course. Fortunately, Huo's aptitude testing had been no lie, and he finished modifying the transports in the two minutes he had claimed. Soon enough, the strike force had gathered and he was prepared to ring down.

"Right, let us take this tower complex for Lord Erlang Shen." Intoned Huo.

The Jaffa of Huo's Strike Force all saluted at that and began to ring down into the Tower Complex on the Planet below in five groups of twenty Jaffa apiece. Huo would be among the first groups to ring down. After all, had not their Lord shown a willingness to lead from the front himself? That being the case, how could Huo not follow their Lord's Example? As he ringed down to the tower complex with the first wave of his Strike Force, Huo couldn't help but grin. The enemy thought their Trinium Shielding would protect them and were secure in their minds.

They wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late. . .

XXXX

Nam of Ong Thanh was in command of the Northern Tower Complex. He was, technically, the Second Prime of the entire Garrison, which normally meant a large amount of administrative work. Not so now, however, as their Lady was under attack by persons unknown. They had thought it was Lord Yu, but Yu did not field the odd, saucer-shaped, cruisers that had done so much damage, and the symbol that the Jaffa bore on their brows was reportedly different as well, a single, vertical, eye, as if someone had taken Ra's sigil, stylized it differently, and turned it ninety degrees on its side.

Of course, there had been rumors that Lord Yu had a new Grand Chancellor, one whose primary holdings were on their Border, but would Lord Yu even agree to allow such adventures even for such a valued servant? The Independent Gods of the Borderlands had never been incorporated into Ra's Dynasty, after all. Wouldn't the other System Lords see such a thing as a naked power grab by Lord Yu at a step removed and go complaining to Ra about it? Nam had been told that Yu was powerful, but not so powerful as to challenge Ra.

None of that mattered at the moment, however. It was not Nam's place to wonder about the whys of things to begin with, either. All he needed to do was safeguard his Lady's largest city. To do so, she had allowed some of her divinely-inspired devices to be used. Nam's current task was to safeguard one such device, which he was assured would allow Ong Thanh to stand defiant against the invaders in turn.

"After all, the longer we stall the enemy here, the more time our Lady has to gather troops at the Âu Cơ Fortress, and the more time her fellow Gods have to rush to our aid." Mused Nam.

Of course, there was always the threat of attack on the Tower Complex, but the Trinium Shielding their Lady Provided would substantially strengthen the Tower Complex against bombardment and make it impossible for the enemy to use their own God's devices to transport into the Tower Complex. Their Lady had said so, and Gods are never wrong, if they were, they would not be Gods. No, all they had to do was watch out for attacks and attempts to gain entry from and by the army currently encamped outside the walls of Ong Thanh.

"Prime Nam! We've gotten reports of enemy forces appearing in Sections Bảy and Chín! Our Jaffa have been caught completely flat-footed!" Called out the Jaffa currently monitoring things at the Sensor Station, a Younger Jaffa named Mau.

"What? Impossible! There must be something wrong with the Sensors! No transport can cut through the Trinium Shielding of the Complex, Our Lady stated it!" Balked Nam.

"I don't know what's happening! Another group seems to have materialized in Armory Hai in Section Chín just now!" Reported Mau.

If Nam recalled correctly, Mau had just passed his trials a year ago and scarcely had any experience under his belt. It was no wonder such a Green youth was panicking at a simple sensor error. He'd likely never run across something like this before. Sensor errors didn't happen often on garrison duty, after all. They were usually the result of enemy action, an Opposing God using some sort of illusion, device, or something to trick the sensors.

"Let me see that console, perhaps you've never encountered a sensor error before. I will show you how to correct them." Commanded Nam, moving over to the Sensor Console.

Nam typed into the sequence he had learned through experience that would allow the sensor console to self-diagnose the issues. Of course, only a God could perform true maintenance on the fly, but Primes were privy to some of the Gods' divinely-inspired knowledge of such things. He would share this knowledge with Mau in the hopes that it would allow Mau to serve their Lady better going forward.

Unfortunately, after the few moments the Sensors normally took to diagnose and correct issues had gone by, it seemed that the number of incursions had doubled, not gone away. This was no mere sensor trick! They were under attack for real! One of those incursions was on this very level! Not far enough away from the Pel'tac to stop before they reached here! That wasn't Nam's primary concern, however. If they died in the Service of their Lady, that would simply be par for the course for the life of a Jaffa. There were more important things than their lives in the Tower Complex, however.

"The Interdiction Generator! Send reinforcements to the Interdiction Generator!" Ordered Nam, frantically.

It was too late, however, as a fifth red marker popped up on the sensor array, indicating a fifth enemy group had just materialized in the room housing the Interdiction Generator. Nam scowled at that, moving over to a cabinet of Trinium alloy and opening it. He pulled out a Ma'tok Staff Weapon and growled out a command to the other Jaffa in the Pel'tac.

"Arm yourselves, Combat will be upon us momentarily!" Demanded Nam.

The twenty Jaffa currently in the Pel'tac did so, moving to nearby weapons cabinets and grabbing Zat'nic'tels or Ma'tok Staff Weapons of their own with which to defend the Pel'tac. There were three entire battalions of five hundred Jaffa each holding the Tower Complex, surely if Nam and his forces beat back the assault on the Pel'tac, they could rally the Jaffa to push the invaders out of the Tower Complex. They had to try, at least.

From outside the Pel'tac, the sounds of combat echoed as War Cries of Jaffa rang out along with the sounds of discharging weapons and the cries of pain of dying Jaffa. It wouldn't be long now until the enemy reached their position in the Pel'tac, and if they took it, Nam knew the remaining forces would have no chance to consolidate and push out the enemy. He was determined to hold the enemy here. To that end, he initiated the Magnetic lockdown of the Pel'tac's Trinium Alloy blast doors. It would take them some time to cut through that, and in the meantime, Nam could rally the forces in the Tower Complex to defend the Interdiction Field Generator. Or at least so he thought,

Reality, however, had other plans. . .

XXXX

Huo led his men through the Command Deck of the Northern Tower Complex, his force's Tianyan Staff Rifles, Diàn Jiàn Model Zat'nic'tels, and Tianjia Armor, along with their more sophisticated tactics, allowing them to carve their way through three times their numbers of defenders. Truly, their Lord had been wise to instruct them in such tactics, as well as in the standard methods of Jaffa fighting.

As Huo fired his Diàn Jiàn Model Zat'nic'tel into the chest of an enemy Jaffa that was priming a Neser Grenade, that Jaffa flopped to the floor and his grenade rolled into a group of enemy Jaffa that were hunkering down behind a makeshift barricade before exploding, wiping out the barricade and killing or wounding the Jaffa behind it in a flash of plasma and a large roaring explosion. That cleared the corridor for the final push toward the Pel'tac. There were only a few enemy Jaffa remaining between Huo and the Pel'tac now.

Huo pushed up, his men following after him, as he fired at any stragglers. A pair of Ma'tok Staff blasts impacted Huo's breastplate, but the Trinium and Ablative Materials held strong. Certainly, Huo was knocked to the floor from the sheer force of the blasts, but he was only slightly wounded, with slightly bruised ribs that his Prim'ta was already beginning to work on. Other Ma'tok staff blasts weren't nearly as on target, impacting against walls, hitting the floor, or barely grazing his men in more lightly armored areas enough to wound them lightly.

Of the ten or so Ma'tok blasts that lanced out by the remaining enemy Jaffa between Huo's force and the Pel'tac's doors, only two had been dead on, striking his breastplate, while three others had scarcely grazed the armor of three of his men. The rest had missed entirely, which meant that half the shots had been entirely wasted. Huo's own men didn't fare remotely as poorly. Eight shots from the Tianyan Staff Rifles their Lord had innovated killed or crippled enemy Jaffa, hitting their targets hard, while one had barely grazed the target, sending him running for cover with a wounded shoulder, while the other had missed entirely. Huo stood up from where he'd fallen and immediately shot both remaining enemy Jaffa with his Diàn Jiàn Model Zat'nic'tel, sending them to the floor unconscious.

The way to the Pel'tac was open, and though the enemy had locked them out, once again, their Lord's insistence on all his Jaffa undergoing technical training proved its worth, as Huo was able to bypass the magnetic locking mechanisms using a bit of what their Lord called Hotwiring on the door panel. Just before opening the door, Huo turned to his men and addressed them.

"Neser Grenades out first. The enemy has had time to prepare for our arrival. Not enough time to matter, but enough to be dangerous. We will take no chances here after getting so far." Intoned Huo.

A chorus of affirmative responses greeted him, and Huo nodded at that before reconnecting the crystal computing matrix to the main part of the door panel. As the Trinium Alloy blast door ground open, his men removed their Neser Grenades from their belts and primed them, rolling them under the crack of the slowly rising blast door as they had been taught. For a few moments, nothing happened before the Pel'tack erupted in plasma, revealing a hellscape of fire and flash as the blast door finished rolling open.

Very few enemy Jaffa had been prepared for that, and the fire that lashed out at Huo and his men as they entered the Pel'tac in the wake of the grenade attack was scattered and ragged. Only one of Huo's Jaffa was killed in the ensuing firefight, a short blast from a Ma'tok Staff getting lucky and striking the man in the face, as he did not have his full helm up. Huo's men's return fire was more on-target, and Huo himself silenced two enemy Jaffa, both crouched behind the Sensor Console, with his Diàn Jiàn Model Zat'nic'tel, dropping the pair to the floor unconscious.

The Pel'tac was theirs. Shortly afterward, so too would be the Interdiction Generator, and General Di could begin transporting troops into the Northernmost Districts of Ong Thanh at his leisure. The other four Tower Complexes would fall after that, with the last of them being the Eastern Tower Complex, falling an hour and forty-five minutes after the assault began. Huo wouldn't be around to see it, however, he was too busy overseeing the defeat of the remaining enemy Jaffa in the Northern Tower Complex.

That defeat would take two hours, and result in the deaths, wounding, or crippling of two-hundred enemy Jaffa and the surrender and capture of six-hundred while the remaining seven-hundred would withdraw back into the City of Ong Thanh. Huo's own forces would only suffer some twenty deaths or cripplings and thirty wounded. In effect, his force would inflict four times as many casualties on the enemy, while capturing six times their number in the attack that opened a large swathe of the City to further assault.

Suffice it to say, Huo had earned his promotion and then some. . .

XXXX

The Battle for Ong Thanh lasted most of the rest of the day, despite it only taking two hours to bring down the interdiction field towers. However, by the time the day was over, General Di had switched from assaults to Mop-Up operations as the few remaining pockets of enemy resistance in Ong Thanh were barely able to hold their remaining positions. Over the night, General Di would receive a number of surrenders, putting the City in our hands fully.

While I waited with General Yan and Chen aboard the fleet to land the second wave, I watched on as Ong Thanh turned blue on the strategic plot fully. It wasn't the only section of Samshan that did. Over the course of the first thirty-six hours of the invasion, most of the Sông Lúa Agricultural Region and half of the Kim Loại Mining Region had also fallen to us, including several cities of eighty to one-hundred-thousand people. At the same time, progress was being made in reducing the outlying mountain strongholds of the Pu Si Lung Mountain Region, as the campaign ground on toward the main Mountain Fortress of Âu Cơ.

Unfortunately, General Yan and Chen seemed to not understand why exactly we were up here instead of reinforcing the Generals on the Ground with a second wave. Chen had the tact not to mention it. General Yan, on the other hand, couldn't stop himself from grimacing even though he didn't say anything out loud. His grumbling was, however, apparent.

"Something to say, General?" I questioned.

"With respect, My Lord, why are we still up here? Surely an overwhelming victory could be won by committing the second wave now, rather than persisting in such foolishness as dallying?" Demanded General Yan.

"You think this foolishness?" I queried.

"Not to be disrespectful, but pressing home our advantage ought to be paramount, not hanging around in orbit keeping forces uncommitted." Frowned General Yan.

"I see. Chen, do you share the General's Opinion?" I asked.

"It is not my place to question your strategy, My Lord. Something that General Yan must have forgotten in his old age." Insisted Chen.

"I am not my peers. If I am making a mistake, I want to hear it before a mistake turns into a debacle we cannot recover from. Fear not my wrath for simply speaking the truth." I reminded.

"Then yes, My Lord. I believe it is a mistake not to press our advantage." Concurred Chen.

"Even with the potential of an enemy relief fleet on the way, this is your counsel?" I pressed.

"With respect, an enemy relief fleet is best contested with warships, not Jaffa Soldiers. Keeping the invasion force's second wave back is foolishness even with enemy ships on the way." Nodded General Yan.

"Very well. You may begin leading the Second Wave onto Samshan to reinforce our forces on-world. In the meantime, I will stay with the Fleet to command against the enemy Relief Fleet that is on the way." I acquiesced.

"Finally. Come, let us muster the Jaffa." Grunted General Yan, turning on his heel and stalking out of the Pel'tac of the Xiaotian Quan.

Chen saluted before following General Yan out, leaving me alone to anticipate the enemy relief fleet's arrival. I spent the time watching subspace readouts and going over reports from both the second wave and the current forces on-world. Forty-eight hours after the beginning of the invasion, the second wave had landed and we had fully taken control of the rest of the Sông Lúa Agricultural Region and around eighty percent of the Kim Loại Mining Region.

Two hours after that, the enemy relief fleet arrived. Three Ha'taks and eight more Al'kesh Gunships under the Command of Ba Chua Xu's Four Immortals, Bà Đen, Thanh Vân, Xích Lân, and Lieu Hanh. Fortunately, I'd had my forces making repairs to our ships this whole time and was ready enough to face off against them. I arrayed my Fleet to face off against theirs and prepared to fight. This battle would largely determine the outcome of the War.

After all, if I won, then it would only be a matter of time before Samshan Fell. Ba Chua Xu needed the reinforcements to stave off total defeat, and she knew that I knew that was the case. Should I win here, I was willing to bet that an assault on the Mountain Fortress of Âu Cơ wouldn't be completely necessary, as Ba Chua Xu would offer terms of surrender shortly after I won here.

First, though, I needed to win, and to that end, I focused on the Space Battle in front of me. The Four Immortals of Ba Chua Xu didn't bother even trying to hail me, simply launching Ptah-class Fighters and moving to attack. I ordered my fleet to do the same.

And the Second Battle Over Samshan had begun. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we get a bit of a look at the situation on the ground as well as the setup for the endgame of the War between Erlang Shen and Ba Chua Xu and her Four Immortals. Ba Chua Xu's Four Immortals really did strip their worlds of most of their forces to muster this relief force. They've only got one or two Al'kesh gunships and a Small Defensive Station to defend their worlds now, with maybe a dozen squadrons of fighters and a hundred thousand Jaffa each still at home. It's enough to deter some of their rivals in the Borderlands from mounting a fast strike to seize their worlds, but it won't stand up to an aggressive attack.

They did this because as Abnormal Goa'uld, they actually value their allies instead of seeing them as pawns to be expended in an alliance of convenience. When their ally needs help, they pull out the stops to help them. If Erlang Shen can bring them over to his side in the aftermath of the fighting, they'll be some pretty staunch supporters, unlike almost any major Goa'uld in the Empire would be.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the Second Space Battle of Samshan. The whole invasion effectively comes down to this space battle.

Stay tuned. . .