218 Chapter Two Hundred and Eighteen

Imperial Base. P2X-416.

"We have Bedrosian shuttles incoming" one of the officers under command warned everyone.

The Bedrosians were a race of Humans who, like others in this galaxy, are descended from the Tau'ri of Earth, though they did not believe this to be the case. Instead, they believed that the Goa'uld, Nefertum, created them here on their home world, rather than them having been taken through the Stargate like so many others.

Because of their beliefs, the Bedrosians were at war with another race of Humans on their planet: the Optricans who lived on the other of the two main continents. The only reason the two sides hadn't wiped each other out was because they'd never created any WMDs despite their advanced technology.

Both Optricans and the Bedrosians had become technologically advanced in many areas, more so than their brethren from Earth, to the point that they had a fleet of nimble shuttles capable of making orbital flights, hand held energy weapons, and devices that could reverse blindness in some case. Hopefully during the campaign it would be possible for House Thrax to acquire some of this technology that could sent back to the Imperium and be used by the expedition.

I'd brought my battlecruiser to this world having decided to visit several planets while leaving others to handle affairs that I'd recently set into motion that would win me more allies and expand my ability to mine the gate element. I planned to stop by worlds that for some reason couldn't be accessed via the Stargate.

The news of Jaffa raiding parties striking at primitive human worlds did not concern me much, if they attacked a world under Imperial protection then I would invade Jaffa worlds under the control of the more backwards thinking abhumans, but that was something to dwell on later if it should even happen, for now I had to stay focused on the Bedrosians and the Optricans.

While fighting the Bedrosians was simple enough even with their advanced tech I was having trouble with my new allies the Optricans, who had refused my offer of my having my battlecruiser wipe out the Bedrosian capital city from orbit, something they couldn't do since they'd never gotten around to inventing nuclear missiles.

Thankfully I had a Stargate on board my vessel and the locals weren't using theirs so I was able to bring troops and supplies for a longer campaign while remaining in touch with the Imperial Protectorate. The Imperium had sent me a number of Hydra Flak Tanks that had until now just been collecting dust onboard my battlecruiser and it was good to put them to use.

"One shuttle is down, the rest are pulling back" a vox operator reported.

The Hydra tanks were good at their job, this was because they were specialised vehicles used for mobile air defence, protecting important sites and columns from air assaults. Its Machine Spirit-assisted automated turret contains targeting and tracking equipment, including a predictive logic-engine, which allows it to lock onto and track enemy aircraft regardless of evasive manoeuvring. These control the four long-barrelled Autocannons firing heavy calibre, high velocity explosive rounds capable of firing six hundred rounds a minute shredding through enemy aircraft fuselages thanks to their high rate of fire. It was impressive to watch.

When used against infantry and light vehicles these rounds are equally devastating, allowing even a single Hydra to decimate entire formations in a heartbeat. While the use of a Hydra in this role is a breach of official regulations, Imperial commanders often overlook such infractions since they care more about victory than anything else.

The Hydras were more than proving their worth during this little war as the humans of this world had a rigid way of waging war. They would send shuttles, which were hard to track at a distance, that were packed with troops out to capture some enemy position, if it had air defences, the shuttles would land out of range and then the troops would attempt to capture the enemy position on foot.

This often resulted in the troops being lost for little to no gain as even if they found some way to bypass the enemy defences as the other side would just send their own people in to retake the location. Which was why this war had been going on for as long as anyone can remember with no side making any real progress, but that was going to change now.

"The Bedrosian troops will be here soon" said the Optrican military advisor who'd been sent by his superiors to me not long after my people had gained a foothold on this part of the planet "Are your defences ready?".

I bit back a sarcastic reply that was forming in my mind, something about us having no idea because this wasn't what the Bedrosians had done three times already since I'd entered this base, and instead I took a deep breath.

"We won't let them come to us, we'll send out the Sentinels" I replied "Best to hunt them down before they can cause any trouble".

We had a number of Mars Pattern Sentinel, which were the basic Sentinel model used throughout the Imperium, the design originating from the great forge-world of Mars. It was an open-topped vehicle armed with a rapid firing multi-laser, making it effective against infantry and light vehicles. They were small enough to go through the Stargate if the legs were tucked in as far as possible and they got sent through the gates on special platforms.

The Optricans were an advanced and civilized people who waged war in a way that suited their mindset. We Imperials on the other hand waged war to kill the enemy, often in very brutal ways so we didn't make the best allies for the Optricans, yet I'd forced the situation when my battlecruiser had turned up in orbit.

This was because contact with humans from another world proved that Optricans were right about their being human life on other worlds, as for Bedrosians they couldn't deny the existence of human life out there in the universe when it arrived in a 5km long warship. Once I'd declared my arrival the Bedrosian population had gone into a state of panic and the military had taken over.

The Optrican people, who felt understandably validated in their claims, were now putting a lot of pressure on their democratically elected leaders to deal with the Bedrosian leaders once and for all, and to liberate those who were forced to worship a false god due to force of arms.

I'd considered trying to conquer the whole planet, but since I was just here for the technology and this planet had a large population it didn't make sense to occupy this world, which would require a large garrison force, when I could simply crush the Bedrosians and let the Optricans, who had already signed a peace treaty with the Imperium, deal with what came after.

"We could march on the capital in the morning" advised one of the Imperial Guard officers who was looking over the holographic displays with me "That would force them to commit all of their defences into one warzone".

As expected the advisor didn't like the sound of that

"That would result in a bloodbath," warned the diplomat.

No wonder neither side had ever won this war and if it weren't for the fact that this world had naquadah deposits that the Optricans were willing to mine and give me a percentage of (in exchange for putting them in contact with other advanced worlds once the fighting was done so that they could trade with the rest of the galaxy) I might be planning to bombard them all back to the stone age and pick out samples of their tech from the wreckage as Rogue Traders would certainly have been tempted to do.

"A brutal war is also the kind of war that ends the soonest" I told my guest "And you need this war to be over as quickly as possible. Speak to your superiors and tell them that we can end this in days if they stop holding us back".

As for me I had other worlds I wanted to visit while the new Jaffa Civil War kept everyone else's attention away from me. Since I had a Stargate within my ship I was never out of contact for long and could return for a few hours or even days if I needed to. If I really had to I could even bring my warship back to space controlled by Imperials.

I knew that sooner or later the war would drag other people into it and since the non-progressive Jaffa were not my allies and didn't have much in the way of logistical support they would be tempted to raid Imperial controlled worlds for supplies. Once that happened I'd have to take action or risk appearing weak.

"Very well" said the liaison "I will speak to my superiors".

That got him out of my hair for a while and to be fair the Optrican plan was actually working. The Bedrosians were losing land fast and they couldn't bring enough military might against us while still oppressing their own people.

Since I had a little free time now I decided to go see one of the tech-priests who had a report ready about some of the technology that we'd already acquired. It wasn't much since we'd only engaged their military so far as such we had no idea as to what level of tech the civilians had access to.

"Ah my lord" said a red robed figure as I walked to the quickly set up shrine/workshop that the cogboys had set up within the base so that they could support our efforts while making sure that they could get their robotic hands on the technology brought in "I'm glad you found the time to met with me as I wish to keep you informed of our findings".

While normally a tech-priest had a controlled tone of voice which displayed little to no feelings ever since I'd sent some of them off to the world where the android versions of SG-1 came from the cyborgs had no only become more helpful than ever I started detecting their respect for me in their voices. It was hard to hear unless you know what you were listening for, but it was there, by their standards they were downright sycophantic towards me.

"To start with we have the Bedrosian rifle, upon first inspection this weapon fires energy bolts that can be used to stun or kill targets. In addition to this, it was designed to also be used as a melee weapon as well as to both lock and energise prisoner cages which we also have samples of. The rifle is sophisticated certainly, some sort of particle weapon I have been able to surmise, however it is rather underpowered considering the advanced technology involved. This explains the lack of success the natives of this world are having against our troops in power armour".

My second wife had reported that the Bedrosian troops were no match for her warriors and this was why I'd sent her ladies out to secure the Stargate so that I could gift it to my new allies. If they didn't have their own gate then it would be more trouble than it was worth to get them to share their naquadah with me, which they did use to power their technology in small amounts. Unless the natives produced some heavier weapons soon the Sisterhood of Steel would easily overrun the base where the gate had been stored.

"Next up we have the prisoner cage, which works by keeping the prisoner contained with a conductive grid. The cage can be both locked and unlocked with a Bedrosian rifle ss I already mentioned" I was informed.

I knew that in the past the three members of SG-1, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson were captured, and then imprisoned in three separate cages so that a man called Rigar, who I knew to be the head of the Bedrosian military, could personally interrogate them. Not that I judged him for this since the IOM treated people way worse.

"So far we have not been able to recover a working example of a Bedrosian shuttle" the cyborg let me know.

Our anti-aircraft weaponry was proving to be very effective.

"From what we have been able to find out while hovering, the shuttle pod is able to generate a four-panel force field from its ventral side down to the surface to capture adversaries. It also has shields capable of withstanding hand held weapons" I was told "However our heavier weapons have been able to overwhelm these defences".

If possible we should add these force fields to our own landing craft since while they had kinetic barriers plenty of people in this galaxy had access to energy weapons. Although that might not be so simple given how the Ad-Mech handles incorporating new technology into existing designs.

"The shuttles are capable of flying at break-neck velocities, they are both versatile and manoeuvrable. We would do well to capture some intact examples" I was advised.

It might be better to simply purchase some from our new allies rather than salvaging the wrecks we kept making. I was bound to have some tech that they would be interested in trading.

If there was anything else to be discussed about the tech it would have to wait as before the cyborg could mention it a message came through to let me know that the Optricans had decided it best to end this war as quickly as possible, which meant they were going to stand aside and let us Imperials do what we did best.