Chapter Eighteen
Tartarus. Somewhere in the Cerberus Mountains
Narg had always considered himself a lucky Trolloc. Blessed with superb intelligence - for a Trolloc at least (which is roughly equal to a slightly smarter-than-usual Pakled), being able to speak (a rather limited form of) English, and having survived battles with not just the Star League, but the Breen, Tau, Bajorans, Caitians, Jaffa, and even the Nausicaans as well, Narg often thought that he had been blessed by the Great Lord of the Dark himself. How else could he explain his many gifts?
Today, those beliefs were going to be seriously challenged.
The first challenge to those beliefs came when an explosion vaporized roughly a thousand of his brethren - along with everything else in a one hundred meter radius - and sent countless more flying in every direction. If Narg had studied what could cause an explosion like that, he would have known that it had been a Star League Hellstrike missile - one of the most powerful conventional ground weapons in the galaxy. Armed with a thirty kilogram ultritium/naquadah mixture warhead, the Hellstrike missile just barely avoided being outlawed by interstellar treaty, and even then, only the crisis brought on by the Trolloc Wars allowed it to avoid being outlawed.
Then the second missile hit.
An explosion just as powerful as the first rocked the Trollocs who had survived the initial blast, and sent them fleeing into the extensive network of caves that filled the mountains. Due to the extreme depth of some of these caves - some went down for over a kilometer - as well as the naturally occurring obscenely large deposits of tritanium and trinium in the mountains, a whole storm of Hellstrike missiles wouldn't be able to touch them.
In the caves, Narg secretly prayed to the Great Lord of the Dark to keep his luck. If there was ever a time where he would need it, it was now.
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"Did the missiles find their targets?" Gabriel Angelos asked.
"Yes, although..." the MACO at the missile control panel began. "They ran into the caves before we could finish the barrage. Still, we did get about fifteen hundred of them, so it's not a total loss." Angelos nodded.
"Very good. Now, if we are to secure this planet, we must begin mop-up operations immediately. Get every MACO, Blood Raven, and Asha'man not vital to the defense of this city to the transporters. Can you get them to the caves?" The MACO at the control panel smiled.
"Easily. We just have to-" A beeping caught his attention. Turning around, the MACO looked at the sensor display, and found out why it had started beeping. "Shit."
"What's wrong?" Angelos asked.
"Trolloc aerofighters, coming in fast." Angelos' eyes widened. Even though Trollocs weren't exactly known for their intelligence, some of them had a knack for piloting, especially those who displayed avian features. Of course, not all of the fighters had Trollocs in them. A few would have Myrddraal as pilots, and these were by far the deadlier opponents. "Sir, should I order our fighters to launch?" Angelos nodded. The MACO grabbed a speaker. "Attention, attention!" he began. "Trolloc fighters coming in fast. All pilots report to your craft! All pilots report to your craft! Launch as soon as your fighters are ready!"
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[The Trollocs have launched their fighters.] A Breen soldier informed Pran.
[Launch ours. We cannot let the Trollocs find our location, or our purpose here. Especially when we are so close to making the Legion pay for its crimes against our people.] Pran replied.
[Sir, wouldn't that reveal our presence on this planet, though?]
[Let the Trollocs know we're on this world. Make them think that this is simply giving aid to our human allies. Besides, now will finally come the chance to convince the humans to aid us, even if they don't fully believe us about the Legion yet.]
[Yet?]
[Because they will after we show them what lies at the Stargate coordinates we have.] The younger soldier nodded in acknowledgement at Pran's statement. [How long until the Stargate has enough power to get us through?]
[Roughly five minutes, according to Chief Engineer Krell.]
[Excellent. Wait until the humans are here to dial it, though.]
[Understood.]
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*cue "Mighty Wings"*
Wing Commander James McCloud was a hard man to impress. Having made the title of "Ace" just under four times during the Trolloc Wars, large squadrons of fighters usually just made for larger targets, more opportunities for a kill. However, even he had to admit that the pilot of the fighter currently on his tail was exceptional. Even for a Myrddraal pilot - no Trolloc would ever chase him this long, or pull off maneuvers like the ones this pilot had - he was incredibly skilled.
Shitshitshitshitfuckpissdamnshit! McCloud thought.
There's no way I can shake him! Disruptor fire shot forth from the Myrddraal's fighters cannons, impacting on McCloud's deflector shields.
"Warning. Shield power at 47 per cent and falling." the computer's feminine voice said.
"God Dammit!" McCloud hollered. This was it. No way out. McCloud knew he was going to die here.
The Myrddraal's fighter exploded in a blinding flash. McCloud looked at his sensor display, and stared in awe. A Breen aerofighter had just destroyed his pursuer. Looking up, he saw dozens of Breen fighters decloaking and opening fire on the Trolloc fighters. Ecsatic, he flew around back towards the aerial battlefield, and sent a radio message back to HQ.
"Command, this is McCloud! It's a miracle, guys! A God-fucking-damn miracle!"
"
What is?" someone at HQ asked.
"It's the Breen! The Breen have arrived!"
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The flickering light of multiple transporter beams illuminated the entrance of the cave. First, one-by-one, but later in groups, men began to materialize. Most brandished guns - phasers and bolters were the most common, but a few also carried tetryon rifles - while a few walked in seemingly unarmed. Anyone who had fought them before, however, would tell you that it was the seemingly unarmed ones - who wore black uniforms - that were the most dangerous. They were the Asha'man. One of the armed men held out a tricorder, and pointed further into the cave. The other men quickly followed him, their night-vision goggles giving them almost perfect sight in near-pitch-blackness, allowing them to find their prey easier than if they had brought flashlights. Quickly and quietly the men - MACO, Blood Raven, and Asha'man alike - moved deeper into the caves, until they had found their target. A large Trolloc gathering -survivors of the missile strikes -, illuminated by artificial lighting, which forced the men to take off their night-vision goggles. One of the Blood Ravens looked at the center of the group, and saw a Myrddraal currently sitting down, seemingly unaware of the intruders. The Blood Raven pressed a communicator in his ear.
"Primary threat spotted." he said.
"
Moving into position." came the response from the other team that had entered this cave. The Blood Raven nodded to a MACO holding a TR-116.
"Neutralizing..." the MACO said, as he aimed the rifle and pulled the trigger. The Myrddraal's brains splattered against the wall, and fragments of his skull hit Trollocs as they went flying. As the Myrddraal's corpse started thrashing around - and would continue to do so until sunset - the Trollocs who were part of this band, yet remained unlinked to the Myrddraal - as any Trolloc linked to a Myrddraal would die when their commander was killed - turned in various directions, sniffing the air. Then one caught the scent. The Trollocs began running up the sides of the indent their gathering was in, looking for blood.
"OPEN FIRE!" The Blood Raven who had lead this party hollered.
*cue "Forces"*
That was when all hell broke loose.
The roars of the bolters, the hisses of the phasers, and the whines of the tetryon guns filled the air with a hellish cacophony, amplified by the shouts and screams of soldiers - both human and Trolloc. Five Trollocs had gone after one of the Asha'man, believing him to be an easy target due to his apparent lack of a weapon. Big mistake. The Asha'man turned to face his foes, and inhaled. Only to breathe out a massive cone of blue-white flame. The Trollocs' lungs were burned to ashes with the rest of their flesh before they even had time to scream. Elsewhere, other Asha'man were unleashing weaves of equal ferocity. Fireballs, lightning bolts, and icicles the size of human thighs went flying through the air, burning, electrocuting, impaling, or freezing any Trolloc that had the misfortune of being in their way. This, coupled with the blasts from the guns, started to rapidly reduce the number of Trollocs present.
Narg still considered himself lucky, even during the battle. After all, he had survived this long, why should his luck give up now. He had already gunned down two MACOs, and even shot off the left arm of an Asha'man. He was still lucky. Then a Blood Raven had jumped over to his location, his hands firmly grasping a phaser carbine, and pointing it right at Narg. Narg started to lower his gun.
"You put gun down." Narg said. "Narg no hurt." This caught the Blood Raven off guard, but only for a few seconds. Narg then brought his gun back up, only for the Blood Raven to open fire, vaporizing a basketball-sized chunk of his flesh, and sending his head and pieces of his torso flying. Narg didn't even have time to see his life flash before his eyes when the Great Lord of the Dark claimed his soul.
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"Casualties?" the Blood Raven leader asked, looking at the remains of the Trollocs that littered the room.
"Sixteen dead. Thirty wounded." a MACO responded. The Blood Raven nodded.
"Understood. Beam the dead and wounded back to base, then send for reinforcements. The purge must be completed."