Chapter 1

Longinus was a world that had once belonged to a Minor Goa'uld back in the early days of Ra's Reign before Olokun had come to power in his realm. It had been ruled originally by the Goa'uld Dis Pater. Dis Pater had been a member of the same brood as Egeria, and along with Orcus, Janus, Honos, Jugatinus, Bellona, Lupa, and Volturnus formed a loose Pantheon of Goa'uld pretending to be various Gods associated with the Latins and Early Romans. When Egeria raised her banner of revolt, most of those Goa'uld joined her in revolt. That had led Ra to declare the whole brood traitors.

Lord Yu had moved in to seize Jugatinus and Dis Pater's worlds, all of which were rich in Naquadah, Trinium, Fertile Land, or some combination of the three. At the same time, Olokun's father, Obtala seized territories belonging to Volturnus and Lupa, which were primarily water and forest worlds, while Cronus seized the territories of Bellona and Honos, worlds with large populations of Jaffa. Orcus' domain was seized by the Goa'uld Hades, who would be swallowed up by the Goa'uld Zeus a few centuries later while Janus had never revolted and submitted himself to Ra's Judgement, allowing the Supreme System Lord to take him as an Underlord.

No one quite knows what became of Egeria, her worlds were hotbeds of Tok'ra resistance and were scourged from Orbit in the aftermath of various massive battles, but the Tok'ra Queen herself had never been found. Of course, I knew she'd been forcibly entombed on Pangar by Ra, who would then lose control of the world after a battle with the Asgard which resulted in Ra being forced to obey the stipulations of the Protected Planets Treaty.

What this effectively meant was that while both Cronus and Yu managed to pick up productive worlds from the Tok'ra Rebellion, Obtala had managed only to pick up worlds of minor importance with very small populations. With Lord Yu's seizure of Dis Pater's Worlds putting his territory between Obtala's territory and Cronus', it meant that border disputes were going to be inevitable.

Accordingly, when Obtala was slain in a battle against his rebellious Underlord, the Goa'uld Shango, and Olokun seized power after Shango's defeat at the Battle of Aweka, he inherited that dispute. Over the past seven hundred years, Olokun has tried no less than three times to seize the World of Longinus. Its Latin-descended Settlers are model subjects, working industriously to pull Trinium out of the large, interconnected, mountain ranges that crisscross its main inhabited continent and dig large harvests out of its fertile coastal river deltas. It's an attractive target by any measure.

The first time had been in the thirteen-hundred-fifty-second year of the Third Goa'uld Dynasty, roughly five hundred years after Olokun came to power. Olokun, drunk off his victory over the Minor Goa'uld Phosop, attempted to assault Longinus but was repelled by Lord Yu's more powerful forces with heavy losses. Three hundred years later, he tried again, attempting to seize control of the world by plotting with Cronus to attempt a two-pronged invasion. Lord Yu defeated Cronus in a trap he had set for the Titan at the Rings of Hainang. Cronus' defeat came far more swiftly than Olokun anticipated, forcing him to withdraw his forces after a few skirmishes.

The last attempt had been two hundred years ago and was the sole time Olokun managed to Land Forces on Longinus thanks to Lord Yu being in the midst of conquering the Minor Goa'uld Samsin's Doman near the frontier with Amaterasu's Domain. Samsin was made an Underlord of Yu's out of expediency, and when Lord Yu arrived to drive out Olokun, he was forced to abandon several landed Ha'tak's and several battalions of Jaffa on-world to be captured and slaughtered.

All this was to say that Olokun would have to be a complete moron to attack Longinus again. It was such an obvious objective to anyone who knew the history between Yu and Olokun. Yet as Lord Yu's Fleet took up positions around the world, my Overlord seemed fully confident that Olokun would arrive to attack once again.

"When Olokun Arrives, you will take command of our left wing. Our spies on Abomey have indicated he will be bringing his Chief Underlord, Orunmila with him to fight. You will attack Orunmila's division, board his Ha'tak, and bring him to me. Without his most powerful Underlord to support him, Olokun will be forced to concede the battle." Commanded Lord Yu.

"Of course, My Lord. I have distributed the Tianyan to the Jaffa as requested. They should allow such a surgical strike to proceed without much in the way of complications." I agreed.

"Return to me with Orunmila, and I shall grant you your Mother's holdings around the world of Taiji. Fail me, and you will be punished with harsh remedial training for your incompetence, assuming Olokun's forces do not kill you first." Intoned Lord Yu.

"I shall endeavor to return with Orunmila or not at all, My Lord." I nodded.

"Zealotry is well and good, but have a care that it does not overrule your good judgment. If you are to serve me as my Grand Chancellor, you must fight smarter, not harder." Advised Lord Yu.

"It was merely a sentiment stating my intent to succeed, My Lord. Have no fear." I placated.

"Good. The Hat'ak Xiaotian Quan is awaiting your presence to take command. It will be your flagship for this battle and its three battalions of Jaffa will be your personal Jaffa. Should you succeed, they will form the core of your forces as my Chief Underlord and Grand Chancellor. I had your Mother's ships and Jaffa Battalions confiscated and disarmed upon the reveal of her treachery. It will take some time to rearm, so you will need to rely on the troops and ships I give you for the foreseeable future." Informed Lord Yu.

"A wise precaution when treachery is afoot, My Lord. Have you found her conspirators?" I questioned.

"All those seeking to raise a hand against my August and Benevolent Rule among your Mother's Jaffa have been culled. A lesson to the others." Nodded Lord Yu.

I paused at that. It sounded like if I succeeded, the World of Taiji would be my throne world as Lord Yu's Underlord. Taiji was one of those worlds that bordered a number of minor Goa'uld who inhabited the territory between Lords Yu, Cronus, and Ba'al. My mother had a collection of eight worlds in that area, but the core of her territory was around the worlds of Wushan and Wuxie, another fourteen worlds closer to Lord Yu's Capital World of Tianshan. If Lord Yu was keeping those worlds for himself even if I succeeded in my task, that likely meant I wouldn't get them back any time soon.

Mind you, there were opportunities in the border areas. Dozens of Minor Goa'uld, Goa'uld from lesser Pantheons, and cast-offs from defeated Greater Pantheons, all ripe for the taking for anyone with a technological edge. If I played this right, I could build up a domain as Yu's Chief Underlord that would be even greater than my Mother's. A powerbase with dozens of smaller Goa'uld on which to try out attempts at channeling their darker impulses into something more productive before I brought the attempt to a larger stage.

I had to get there first, though. As Lord Yu dismissed me to take command of the Hat'ak Xiaotian Quan, I was fairly sure that something was going to happen before the end of all this to throw a curveball at me. If I wanted to have a shot at getting those worlds around Taiji, I'd have to be able to roll with the punches and navigate any unexpected issues with enough skill and grace to prove to Lord Yu I was ready.

"My Lord. I am known as Chen, I will be acting as your First Prime for this battle." Saluted an Armored Jaffa as I stepped off the ring transport pad of the Xiaotian Quan.

Chen was a wiry Jaffa with a stance that looked like he was an expert Martial Artist. He kept his balance on the balls of his feet and was ready to shift into combat at a moment's notice. I also noticed he was carrying one of my Tianyan Staff Rifles. Notably, he was younger than I'd expected for a First Prime. I was expecting someone with a lot more grey in their hair, like Bra'tac or Gerak. Chen looked to be in his late thirties to early forties, though granted with Jaffa it was difficult to tell. While they weren't much longer lived than baseline humans in terms of total lifespan, they did tend to stay in the prime of their lives for a lot longer, owing to the Prim'ta.

"Take me to the Pel'tac. If I am to take command of our left wing, I need to be able to give orders." I commanded.

"This way, My Lord." Nodded Chen.

Soon enough, I was ensconced on the Pel'tac, or bridge, of the Ha'tak Xiaotian Quan. I busied myself in the time before the battle looking over the command console and absorbing the information from the various readouts. It seemed that the Xiaotian Quan was one of the older-style Ha'taks in the fleet. Its targeting systems could use a bit of tweaking, and as I thought that, flashes of improved schematics for crystal arrangements in the targeting computers flashed through my mind, along with ways to modify them to work with the Older-style Ha'taks. Fortunately, I could do calculations on the command console, and after a few hours, I was able to go through a simulation where my calculations worked.

Standing up, I moved to the weapons console, ordering the surprised Jaffa manning the station to step aside, before pulling off one of the panels and digging into the guts of the computer. Goa'uld computing technology worked based on the principles of Control Crystals they cribbed off the Ancients back during the period of the Alliance of Four Races. The Ancient System was highly modifiable by design, able to be jury-rigged to face various problems. While the Goa'uld version was less easy to modify, if you knew what you were doing, you could exploit the inherent modifiability of the system that had been copied from the Ancients to squeeze out a surprising amount of extra performance.

That kind of modifiability was basically the only thing that was keeping the Tok'ra able to contest the Goa'uld in space. Well that and the fact that even with Ra to direct the Empire, the System Lords were all effectively crabs in a bucket who would jump at any opportunity to tear down their fellow System Lords if such an opportunity presented itself. Seriously, as a species, they certainly could stand to spend a century or two in a get-along shirt, to quote a Meme from a future that might never come to pass now.

"My Lord?" Queried the Jaffa Gunner.

"One moment. I am modifying the targeting computers to be more responsive and accurate. I will not have my debut sullied by subpar equipment." I insisted.

"As you say, My Lord." Frowned the Jaffa Gunner.

Two hours later, I'd finally gotten the targeting computers where I wanted them. The Old-Style Ha'taks really did have a super power-inefficient crystal setup for their computing systems. I could probably stand to overhaul a lot of the systems in here and the power saved could be dumped into weapons, shielding, and the engines. I spent the next several hours moving from station to station, doing just that, guided by a mix of Genetic Memory and calculations based on my Oma Desala-given Enhanced Mental Abilities. By the time I was finished, not only had I made all the Weapons, Shields, Propulsion, Navigation, and Life Support Computing Systems of the Ha'tak twenty percent more power efficient each, but the power saved was dumped into shield strength, weapon power, and engine power.

I'd just spent a full sixteen hours on the modifications, though, and required a bit of a nap and something to eat. I returned to the Pel'tac six hours later to find the Jaffa manning the various stations around my command throne completely enthused with how efficient their stations were now.

"It's like a whole different system, My Lord. The Xiaotian Quan hasn't worked this well since my grandfather was the Prime on board the Ship." Reported Chen, awed.

"I will not have my Jaffa forced to fight in a second-rate ship. It does no honor to me or you." I intoned.

"I am humbled that you care so much for our well-being, My Lord. Truly you are a benevolent God." Bowed Chen.

I was distinctly uncomfortable with the whole pretending to be a God thing that I was being forced to go along with, but I knew that outright saying I'm not a God, just a sufficiently advanced alien would be counterproductive at this stage and likely see me go the same way Egeria did. Instead, I told Chen to rise and man his station. He tossed off a salute and manned his post. After all, Olokun could arrive at any time for the battle.

As it happened, two hours later, a full twenty-four hours since our arrival at Longinus, the black fabric of space tore open in a shifting array of white and blue light. When the light receded and reality reasserted itself above Longinus, it left an enemy fleet of fourteen Ha'taks and twenty-eight Al'kesh Gunships behind. Olokun had arrived.

Now the Fourth Battle of Longinus could begin. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, here we have the prelude to the Fourth Battle of Longinus. Erlang Shen is doing engineering things to give his Jaffa a better shot at accomplishing the task that Lord Yu set for him. That's going to become a running theme of his going forward, so much so that when he finally Meets with SG-One, he's likely to pick up a Star Trek-themed Nickname from O'Neill.

A note for those of you unfamiliar, Fleet Sizes in Stargate tend to be pretty small. Some of the Larger System Lords only tend to have a few dozen or so Ha'tak's and maybe twice that number of Al'kesh Gunships. Even Anubis only had thirty Ha'taks to attack Earth with. It tends to be a bit more realistic that way than something like Star Wars, where you can have thousands of ships participating in a single battle.

Right now, Olokun's Fleet consists of Fourteen Ha'taks and twenty-eight Al'kesh Gunships, facing off against Yu's Fleet of twenty-one Ha'taks and forty-two Al'kesh Gunships. It's not huge numbers by any stretch of the imagination. Likely no Goa'uld brings their full strength to any one battle because of the aforementioned Crabs in a Bucket mentality.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the actual battle.

Stay tuned. . .