Chapter 22 Tollan, Part 2
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter watched as the troops formed a defensive perimeter as she exited her troop transport. She tapped the small augmented reality device attached to one of her temples, which, like the computer they carried, was akin to a bracelet and one of the combat enhancements.
Samantha thought of a map, and it unfolded in front of her, displaying all the terrain information and the enemies approaching within about five hundred meters.
All the soldiers had the same equipment and could see the battalion of five hundred Kull warriors, as the Goa'uld commanding these new Goa'uld soldiers had called them, approaching their landing site.
The commander, one of the three colonels leading the battalions deployed in this location, wasted no time and ordered the creation of a perimeter. The civilian officers, leaders of the civilian volunteer troops deployed in this area, twenty in total, also followed his instructions.
The area chosen by the transports to descend was the square of a city. Tollan cities were characterized by large buildings and wide streets. Squares like the one they were in now were especially large, making them an ideal site to unload a large number of troops.
The transports descended in large groups, and the army of soldiers and volunteers was deployed so that the transports could ascend again and more transports could descend.
The first to be deployed were the soldier battalions, who, as ordered, were seeking cover and forming a perimeter. The square was a huge place, but they were not few in number, and when the civilian volunteers descended, this place would not be enough for all.
Samantha observed the Tollan City, both with the naked eye and on her mission data map transmitted from Thor's ship.
What caught the eye at first glance was that the buildings were intact. Samantha had read the report mentioning that the Goa'uld did not bomb the planet; still, this was strange.
Samantha had personally been to worlds attacked by Goa'uld, and this was by no means the scene she had witnessed. The Goa'uld were not respectful of anything; their first contact with any advanced civilization was bombing followed by troop deployment to decimate the population, and ultimately, they would drag survivors to enslave them.
Then, if the planet did not have abundant resources to be collected by slaves without the use of advanced tools, they would move on and classify the planet as a waste. That was the pattern and the norm; otherwise, it meant that the inhabitants of the world in question had something they were interested in, so they would negotiate first and then destroy everything.
Looking at the city, Samantha concluded that neither of the two patterns applied in this case because, according to the report, the Kull warriors were deployed and killed all the Tollan they encountered, and after taking control of the area, they used a weapon similar to Zat guns to disintegrate the bodies.
Beyond the fact that this was an act of terror that disturbed and demoralized the Tollan, Samantha raised the question: why? Did Anubis want to exterminate the Tollan? If so, why didn't he use Naquadah bombs when taking the planet?
Samantha could only conclude that he indeed wanted to exterminate the Tollan and did not act against the planet because there was something there he wanted. That also meant that as soon as he obtained it, the bombing would begin, and since Anubis was not acting like other System Lords, Samantha concluded that he would not stop until there was only sand left on this planet.
That was something her team wouldn't take into account because the Goa'uld had traditions and customs that everyone followed. Apophis had captured them a couple of times, but they always managed to escape because he never tried to kill them; he preferred to make them kneel and seemed to enjoy humiliating people.
It was Illogical, but if a Goa'uld considered you their enemy, it was really hard for them to kill you; on the other hand, if they saw you with indifference, it was almost certain that you would lose your life.
Most of the time, Samantha's team survived encounters with Goa'uld precisely because they seemed very happy to have them in their hands.
"Anubis should not be treated like other Goa'uld," Samantha concluded.
"Sir, we have numerical superiority, we should advance," Carter said approaching the colonel leading the ground attack.
"Lieutenant Colonel Carter, this enemy advances in ranks; if we advance against them, despite the personal shields, we would suffer casualties. But if we take positions and cover ourselves, the enemy will fall, and we would not suffer losses," the colonel replied. "It's also orders from above, this is the best strategy," he added.
"Sir…" the colonel ignored her and advanced to establish some advance and ambush troops, in case the Kull warriors tried to retreat after the battle. He didn't even think about listening to her explanation.
Samantha blinked, Colonel O'Neill was right; knowledge transfer was not such a good idea. People could rely on their knowledge and overlook experience, like this colonel, who, by having the same information as her, concluded that he could already establish an effective plan.
Samantha Carter grimaced. This was serious, but despite being promoted a rank, and now being a lieutenant colonel, she did not have the authority to veto orders given by a colonel. She thought of Colonel O'Neill. Colonel O'Neill had also been offered promotion to General, but he flatly refused, and threatened to retire. Yet, he was a colonel, and was also in charge of overseeing this operation, leading the SG teams participating as advisors.
Samantha tapped her arm sensor out of habit, and a screen appeared to her right.
"Speak, Carter," said Colonel O'Neill, who also seemed to be disembarking and organizing resistance.
"Sir, I don't think this is the best strategy. The Goa'uld send the Jaffa in ranks, but Anubis and Korr are not ordinary Goa'uld; we have already seen Korr's planets, and Anubis has created his own army by discarding the Jaffa," Sam explained.
"Carter, are you saying these guys are going to play dirty tricks on us? But if so, why did they attack the Tollan in ranks without applying any military tactics before?" Colonel O'Neill asked.
"Sir, they used the most effective tactic against an enemy that could not harm them. Besides, I suspect the Goa'uld have not used Naquadah bombs because they want something from this place, probably Tollan technology, and as soon as they get it, they will disintegrate everything on this planet without taking prisoners or slaves," Samantha explained. Colonel O'Neill thought for a second.
"Damn. How long would our shields withstand the fire from those plasma repeaters those guys use?" Colonel O'Neill asked.
"Sir, they are an experimental team; in tests, they withstood ten hits from a Goa'uld staff, but a plasma repeater will have a greater effect; one burst could be enough to disable them," Samantha explained. Colonel O'Neill cursed.
"Carter, wait there, I'll pass on your report," Colonel O'Neill said.
Samantha waited a minute, and new orders began to arrive, which made the commanding colonel look at her with disapproval, but Samantha was not under his command, but under Colonel O'Neill's, and he was under General Hammond's command and the SG command, just like the rest of the SG teams participating in this mission.
Samantha hadn't broken the chain of command; informing him was just her job as a field advisor; if he didn't listen, she still had a superior to report to.
The commanding colonel changed his orders and ordered everyone to form groups and advance to take ground.
Samantha watched the troop deployment while the commanding colonel, who also had other officers to help him coordinate the two battalions and the five thousand volunteers deployed in this area, gave orders and studied possible support points from a distance. However, the needle rifles created by the Asgard for this war had a range of two hundred meters, so there wasn't much distance to strategize…
Samantha shifted her attention to the map marking the enemies at three hundred meters, who stopped, and only ten of them advanced.
"They are reacting to our tactics," Samantha said to the commanding colonel, who finally seemed to understand that their enemy was not Jaffa, and that they would not allow him to kill them without suffering losses.
The colonel ordered to advance at maximum speed to prevent the enemy from having time to react. He decided to follow the plan of overwhelming them with numbers and not fear casualties. Anyway, as long as they didn't give the Kull warriors time to use disintegrators, they could heal the wounded and use sarcophagi for the fallen.
…
Nirrti was downloading a database into one of the Tollan technological complexes when a hologram of Zipacna appeared beside her.
"What do you want?" Nirrti grunted, annoyed with this useless parasite, because she had ordered the Kull warriors to open fire on the facilities where she was now, damaging some computers and hindering her work.
"My lady, the Asgard have brought an army of the Tau'ri; they are too many, and they are using needle weapons that easily penetrate the Kull warriors' armor. We are losing positions quickly," Zipacna reported.
Nirrti closed the communication and clenched her teeth because it didn't matter if the Tau'ri had weapons capable of taking down the Kull warriors; a single one of these warriors could take on ten humans and not receive a scratch. If they were losing positions, it was because the numbers of the Tau'ri were overwhelming.
Nirrti connected to her own mothership to see the details and blinked when she saw the data of almost half a million Tau'ri, making their way through the Kull warriors, who were trying to use all kinds of strategies to leverage their strength, speed, and agility to stop them, but the humans were too many and attacked without thinking about their lives. Nirrti could only blink, but then she calmed down.
This was to be expected, as they were facing the Asgard, and they had good relations with the Tau'ri, who had populated Earth, and according to some estimates were in the billions, so they had not attacked them and preferred to come for the Tollan, who could also provide them with some benefits in terms of loot, but the Asgard had brought the Tau'ri there and the Kull warriors were being overwhelmed.
Nirrti felt like ordering to bring Naquadah bombs and see if they still wanted to throw themselves like cockroaches on her soldiers, but that would destroy the Tollan cities and databases.
Nirrti had already managed to obtain the information Anubis wanted, but those were Anubis's objectives, and she had her own goals, to take Anubis's head and appoint herself as the supreme ruler in his place.
Nirrti clenched her teeth because Anubis did not tolerate failures, and leaving there without destroying the Tollan could cost her life or lose Anubis's trust, which would end any opportunity to take power in the future.
"Damn Tau'ri!" cursed Nirrti, because it was the Tau'ri who were responsible for her downfall and now also prevented her from plundering the knowledge she wanted.
The Tollan remained backward humans, and their knowledge in genetics and biology, which Nirrti valued most, was obsolete to her, but the applications they had given to the technology they possessed were not simple. Even Anubis, who must have obtained some ancient legacy, had ordered her to leave her war with Cronus, who had taken command of the System Lords' forces, to come and seek this technology.
Nirrti knew that Anubis wanted to use this technology for the Kull warriors, who, thanks to their armor and immense physical resistance, could penetrate energy shields as if they weren't there, but solid walls still posed a problem for them, and Tollan phase technology was the solution to this, so Nirrti had been sent there, in this attack led by Zipacna.
This was also the testing ground for the Kull soldiers, the future replacements for the Jaffa, who had now lost Anubis's trust due to the constant rebellions faced by the goa'uld throughout the galaxy.
Nirrti was not satisfied with the Kull soldiers. They were soulless puppets to her, and for a moment she remembered the words of that stubborn old Yu. "Anubis is a coward"…
Nirrti shook her head forcefully. If Anubis was a coward and feared the Jaffa rebellion, she would one day take his place and put the Jaffa back in their place.
The greatest glory for a Goa'uld was not to destroy their enemies. Their greatest glory was to conquer them, make them kneel, and serve them. Anubis was weak in fearing the Jaffa and creating soulless puppets to subdue. She would take his place, subdue her enemies, and conquer everything, even the Asgard and the Tau'ri…
Well, the Tau'ri were going to be exterminated; they were worthless garbage without any strength or value; trying to subdue the will of such garbage would be shameful, there would be no glory in it. Now she had to follow Anubis until her opportunity came, and that meant destroying the Tollan.
Nirrti called Zipacna again.
"I have obtained what Lord Anubis wanted; I will return to my own affairs. Anubis has ordered the destruction of this world to its foundations. Use naquadah bombs," Nirrti said, and began to walk back to the Chappa'ai, while Zipacna grimaced, probably wondering why they hadn't captured slaves.
The Goa'uld alwayss captured slaves. Civilizations would be ruined, but there would always be trophies. There would always be humiliation and shame for those who pretended to be equal to them. But Anubis was always different. His methods were always dark. He didn't seem to understand glory, pleasure, the satisfaction of victory, or even the dignity of a god; he just wanted to dominate and control everything, which was why he had created puppets to replace his Jaffa warriors. That's why he had ordered the Tollan bodies disintegrated, and not taken slaves. That's why he had been exiled.
Zipacna cut off the communication without saying anything, and Nirrti headed toward the Chappa'ai…
Nirrti blinked. She felt as if a strong sound wave passed through her. She had felt something like this before, upon arriving on the planet, but she didn't know what it was, despite knowing that it was the work of the Asgard ships that blocked the planet, believing they would bombard the planet. Foolish dwarfs, if they had brought an army to this place, it was evident they were not going to bombard anything, at least not until the end.
Nirrti connected again with her ship, and at the same time she received an urgent call from Zipacna, she realized the use of that strange wave, as the interference signal that Anubis himself had prepared to make the location of her Chappa'ai untraceable had disappeared, and her ship's sensors were registering the real location of the Chappa'ai.
Nirrti opened Zipacna's communication.
"The Asgard have destroyed Lord Anubis's protection," Zipacna reported, and Nirrti felt like slapping him for talking nonsense.
"Forget the naquadah bombs, I have the information requested by Lord Anubis. Send the Kull warriors to cover my retreat to the portal," ordered Nirrti, and activated her camouflage device to run toward the portal. Falling into the hands of the Asgard would truly be a tragedy for her.
"Anubis, you're useless!" Nirrti screamed in her mind as she ran toward the Chappa'ai, because he had assured her that the Asgard would not be able to locate the chappa'ai. Nirrti had believed him because, after all, she had also managed to bring her own Chappa'ai to the planet of the Tollan, under the noses of the Asgard. But now the interference signal was gone, and her escape route could fall into enemy hands at any moment.
Nirrti ran at full speed she could squeeze out of her host's body, while cursing Anubis for being a useless bastard. She should have followed Korr; maybe it would take her longer to rise to power, but she wouldn't have to lose her dignity at every step she took, nor would she be fleeing at this moment from a possible capture by the Asgard.
…
"The interference has disappeared," Thor reported, and Daniel, who was observing the battlefield, saw how the Kull warriors from one of the areas retreated at full speed, impossible to pursue by their troops, as their speed must exceed a hundred kilometers per hour. The troops would need vehicles to catch up with them.
"Is the Stargate in this area?" Daniel asked, marking the area where the Kull warriors were leaving the battle.
Thor nodded, and the Stargate's location was indicated on the ground, about thirty meters underground, just outside a Tollan city. 03 appeared next to Daniel.
"The activation signal is maintained; the portal control is independent and not sustained by replicators. It will take me a few minutes to finish it," explained 03.
"People, our enemies ran away faster than Road Runner. What's going on?" Jack asked, and the generals hurried to send the new battle data and order the capture of the portal, but their orders were canceled by Thor, who did not allow them to be transmitted.
"They are Goa'uld installations; it is too dangerous to try to take them, as our enemy is the Goa'uld Anubis," Thor explained, and Daniel understood.
Another Goa'uld would leave the portal and run, but Anubis seemed to have trouble accepting defeats, and Thor suspected that only death awaited anyone who tried to take his base of operations.
Thor sent new orders to evacuate the area, as soon as the portal was disconnected, the Asgard would initiate a localized bombardment.
"Jack, get out of there as fast as you can," Daniel warned, although the generals had already sent the data about Thor's plan, and the military and volunteers were already running in the opposite direction to where the Kull warriors from the portal area had fled.
"Daniel, we're already running," Jack said, breathing heavily.
Daniel checked the area where Sam was, but the Kull warriors from that area continued to resist as much as they could, using the same city as trenches, although the numbers of troops attacking them were too many and their advance was barely slowing down.
On the other hand, the wounded were dozens per minute, and there had also been some deaths. But with the Asgard there and the transports to come and go without the Kull warriors being able to do anything to stop them, the wounded and the fallen were back on their feet in a few minutes. Although for morale's sake, they were not sent back into battle, but communications were opened so that their comrades in the field were aware of their well-being and continued to advance.
With this strategy of numerical superiority, within half an hour, all battle zones were taken in ninety percent, and now that the portal was discovered, victory was assured.
"I have regained control of the Stargate, and I have already closed it. The wormhole was an outgoing portal, they were fleeing," informed 03.
"The area is clear of allied troops, I will initiate the bombardment," said Thor as his ship fired on the planet's surface at the portal's location. 03 frowned.
"Is something wrong?" asked Daniel with concern.
"The signal blocking the transport has also disappeared, apparently originating from outside this planet, which explains why the goa'uld wanted to keep the portal active. But there's more," said 03, pointing to the combat zones, where the points indicating the remaining enemy were disappearing at a dizzying speed. 03 looked at Thor.
"I couldn't lock any of them, they managed to commit suicide before I could capture them. I'm afraid we won't get much from their remains," said Thor with displeasure. Daniel understood why the enemy signals had disappeared.
Daniel looked at Narim and Omoc, who watched as the Goa'uld fleet also began to retreat, and the furthest ones were already entering hyperspace.
Tollan was safe, but… Daniel had already seen the reports of casualties suffered by the Tollan, and he had also read how the Kull warriors used technology similar to Zat guns to disintegrate the bodies of those who fell in the attack, so not even Asgard technology could do anything for them. They had suffered thousands of casualties in this Goa'uld attack, so Daniel understood that they had no spirits to celebrate a victory. Daniel approached them.
"Omoc, Narim, Tollan is back in your hands," said Daniel, and both men, who still looked somber, nodded.
Omoc walked toward Thor, and Narim closed his eyes for a few seconds and then took a deep breath.
For a pacifist civilization like the Tollan, this must have been one of the worst tragedies in their history. However, in terms of Earth, this was just a skirmish, and in recent wars millions of people had died, and there were still armed conflicts now.
…
Three days later, Daniel was in a kind of pantheon, along with Thor and ten other people from Earth: Sam, Jack, Teal'c, General Hammond, the president's secretary, three members of the Supreme Council of the African Empire, and two representatives of the civilian volunteers. Lya of the Nox, 03, and Thor were other alien guests. The rest were hundreds of people from Tollan and representatives of the Curia, who were officiating a farewell ceremony for the Tollan who died in the Goa'uld attack.
The Goa'uld left no bodies behind, but this was not a cemetery, and the Tollan themselves burned their dead, and their reminder for them was to engrave their names on a monolith. Due to the attack, another monolith was erected as a special reminder of the circumstances of their deaths.
Omoc and another representative of the curia, Travell, whom they had already met when Apophis tried to ambush them on this same planet, gave some names and remembered their contributions to Tollan society. In the end, Omoc thanked the support of the Asgard and the people of Earth, and the meeting ended.
"People, shouldn't there be some promises of revenge in this place and some declarations of war in these speeches?" Jack asked, frowning, as he watched the meeting end and the curia leaders bid farewell to the people present.
"Jack!" Daniel reprimanded in a whisper.
"Daniel, there was almost an extermination here, these guys can't be thinking of just sitting around doing nothing," said Jack, looking at Thor, who approached them.
"Anubis is not part of the System Lords, and they already have their main forces chasing him. We have also been unable to locate his bases of operations," explained Thor. Jack grimaced.
"At least tell me the Tollan will participate in this search," said Jack.
"The Tollan do not believe in vengeance, but if Anubis is captured, they will present their testimonies against him," explained Thor. Jack looked at him incredulously.
"Will the Tollan take any other measures?" asked Teal'c.
"They will reinforce the numbers of their security team and create weapons to face a situation like this, so in the future, an attack like this can be repelled," explained Thor. Daniel supposed that would already be a big move on the part of the Tollan.
"Well, something is better than nothing," said Jack with a sigh.
"Thor, what have the Tollan said about phase-shifting technology?" asked Sam.
"It's possible that Anubis has obtained it, but the Tollan do not plan to share it," explained Thor.
"Do they realize that with that technology Anubis will have a strategic advantage over us?" asked Daniel.
Daniel didn't want to imagine himself hiding behind a wall and a Kull soldier suddenly piercing through it. Fortresses would no longer mean anything, and if one of these soldiers wanted to escape, there would be no wall to stop them.
"The Tollan understand their situation and are willing to provide them with defense technology, but they will not be able to research it," explained Thor.
Daniel thought that 03 had already provided them with that technology, and it had already been installed in Earth's Stargate and base planet, as well as in all their ships and military installations. Although they couldn't study it either, it was something they already had, which meant their allies had already bet on the fall of the Tollan, considering them lost to the Goa'uld. Daniel was glad they were wrong, but the Tollan were truly stubborn.
"Give them thanks; our government will surely appreciate their contribution to our effort," grumbled Jack, understanding they wouldn't receive anything.
"It has been the Asgard who have called them here, and as compensation, the Asgard High Council has decided to give them our hyperdrive technology, and we will also install Asgard transporters on their ships, but with the condition that they are not used as an offensive weapon. Apart from this, they can give them any use," said Thor, leaving them all in shock.
"Thor, my friend, we are not asking for anything from the Asgard, knowing that you will move to our planet to defend us in case the Goa'uld decide to visit us is enough. The ungrateful ones are these Tollan, that's why we can't…"
"Sir, Asgard ships traverse the galaxy in minutes," interrupted Sam hastily, recovering from the shock caused by Thor's statement and interrupting Jack before he rejected the gift.
Daniel gritted his teeth because if they rejected these gifts, Maybourne and the NID would suffer a massive heart attack right after taking them to court. Seeing the secretary of the president's expression, who had lost all color in his face upon hearing Jack's words, and realizing that they were about to reject the gifts from the Asgard, Daniel understood that the president and the politicians who had risked impeachment for participating in this operation would also suffer a heart attack.
"Jack, we should leave this to our diplomats," said Daniel. Jack looked at them all with disdain.
"Thor, please, don't think we're motivated by greed, it's just that these Tollan have the ability to test my patience," said Jack uncomfortably, and Thor gave a small smile.
"O'Neill, the Asgard hold our relationship with Earth in high esteem and value your efforts and commitment to our alliance, so we always take it into account," explained Thor, and his group sighed with relief.
Daniel saw three Tollan approaching. They were Omoc, Narim, and the representative of the Curia who had attended to them last time the Goa'uld attempted to destroy Tollan, Travell.
"Narim, I'm glad to see you're alright," said Sam, who hadn't encountered Narim since they departed from Earth. Narim nodded with a slight smile.
"Representative Omoc, this is the secretary…" Daniel hurried to introduce everyone before Jack complicated his diplomatic work.
Daniel was also thinking about the political situation on Earth, since involving almost half a million people in this operation made it impossible to continue hiding the Stargate project. They weren't discreet in transporting people either because they were in a hurry and could at most take them to buildings where they disappeared from.
Daniel hadn't returned to Earth yet, but the secretary informed them that the scandal was worldwide, and other countries demanded to know what the hell was going on and what the military mobilization a few days ago was about. Things at the UN were unsettled, and conspiracy theories were rampant. Daniel supposed that soon the soldiers and civilians involved would also start leaking information.
Technical Clarifications:
As shown, these Kull warriors are not the same as in the series. They are capable of planning and reacting to enemy tactics. They are also far superior to any Jaffa in strength and speed (except for Korr's Jaffa). The reason they lost in this battle was not their strength but the overwhelming numerical superiority of the human troops, forty to one, and the need for the Kull warriors to defend a specific terrain. If it had been a guerrilla war, the humans would have lost miserably.
In the next chapter, we will see a true deployment of the Kull warriors in the war between Anubis and Korr.
What 03 used against the replicators was already mentioned before in chapter 5, if I'm not mistaken, it was the presentation by 01 and 00. Although it will be explained again in the next chapter.
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