Imotekh's vehicle burst through the gate, immediately opening fire. A scorched clearing stretched around them, but many of the enemy's heavy weapons remained intact. Warriors led by Imotekh poured out of the troop bay, preparing for battle. The first to move forward were the massive vehicles, bristling with steel armor and protected by shields—not only to withstand the hail of fire, but also to act as bait. The attack cohort began to deploy under enemy fire: anti-grav bikes, intended to flank them, and Rhino IFVs formed into battle formation. But it was the front companies that bore the brunt of the fire, taking it with their bodies.
Imotekh, using his helmet-mounted targeting system, selected targets for his guns, delivering accurate fire. The enemy crews, crouching, fired into the smoke. They were blind shots, but they hit the vehicles, knocking off their tracks, and the powerful explosions reduced their bodies to a bloody mess.
The goal of the old Jaffa and his cohort was to completely destroy the enemy's heavy weapons and secure a bridgehead.
"All Rhinos, fire on heavy weapons! Missiles!" came the command.
A missile fired from the vehicle from which Imotekh had parachuted. A blinding explosion covered the entire defensive position.
"Move, close the distance, eliminate the survivors. In the name of Szareh!"
Despite losses, damaged vehicles, and other adversities, Imotekh's fighters mounted a unified, coordinated attack. Closing the distance, they hurled grenades. Explosions thundered one after another, and then a rapid, high-pitched sound came from behind the hills—antigravity motorcycles, circling the cannons in a wide arc, began to destroy them.
BAM!
Imotekh fell, dropping his weapon, but immediately rose. His armored vehicle had exploded from enemy fire. Grabbing a spear and using the targeting system, he fired several shots, one of which completely vaporized the enemy operator's head.
"Forward! Forward!" Imotekh commanded. "Second Company, expand the front!"
Despite being stunned a couple of times, nearly blown to pieces by a close-range plasma blast, and having his vehicle blown up, the old Jaffa felt no fear. He controlled his troops with cold precision. He was aided by a tactical program, where his forces were represented by labeled squares. He realized that the 3rd and 4th Companies had broken through the semicircle of defenses, beginning to encircle the Spartans. Only the First Company, acting as a decoy, was suffering heavy losses. But they had to hold out, distract attention, and destroy the enemy.
At that moment, Imotekh saw huge Alkesh aircraft taking off from the airfields. They rushed toward them, but suddenly their engines exploded, and they lost control and crashed, blocking the reinforcements' path. Of course, they could have been outflanked to the right and left. But there were no fields here—only forests. The clearing was right where the gate stood. The Spartans would have to enter the forests, breaking formation.
When the last guns were destroyed, Imotekh ordered digging in. A vehicle emerged from the gates, resembling a standard Rhino, but its troop compartment folded away easily. Squads of fighters, armed with their best weapons, climbed inside. A short signal was given, and the rings rose—now these were Pharaoh Szarekh's reinforcements.
"Disable the gate. We'll ferry the wounded and dead," he ordered. The Master was deeply concerned about the losses and allowed the dead to be resurrected and the wounded to be treated in the sarcophagus. This was both noble and rational, since he didn't have many soldiers. But some died irrevocably, torn apart or burned. An unpleasant death.
When the Alkesh took off to bomb my troops, I waited for the right moment and blew them up. The engines were damaged, and they crashed. After that, I lifted off the Teltak myself and flew toward the palace at a respectable speed. When the palace walls filled my entire field of view, I sighed and transferred most of my free energy to the seat counter-inertial dampers.
BAM!
I flew into the central hall where the receptions were held. I managed to locate it fairly quickly, using a scan, and adjusted my strike. Along the way, I crushed a small number of Jaffa. Two or three, it didn't matter.
Then the rings activated, and four Jaffa appeared. Two with shields, and one with a heavy cannon.
"Jaffa Kree!"
They were the first to arrive. I'm not an idiot to take plasma shots from some wounded beast. Meanwhile, another quartet arrived. The Spartans quickly appeared and were immediately bombarded with pulse weapons. Essentially, these weapons are based on telekinetic thrust technology from a belt-driven device. Until I could shrink plasma weapons, they were the best for assault operations. With proper centering and an additional power supply, such weapons could crush bones, damage internal organs, and do other very "pleasant" things. Funny how the Goa'uld never got around to it.
I grabbed my pulse rifle, which looked like a P90 (for convenience). My guards put me in a "box," and we headed to the designated areas. If Pelops wasn't in the throne room, that meant he was in the control center. No matter how distracted the scientist was, he wasn't ignoring attacks literally aimed at him.
There were combination locks everywhere, which could be blown away with a single shot from a heavy cannon. We moved at a brisk pace. As soon as enemies appeared, a large number of pulse shots were fired at them.
Then several Spartans ran out of the corridor, guarding a man in Greek armor with a belt device on his forearm. He looked at me with fear and ordered me to shoot.
"Fire!" came the command over the communication system.
A brief firefight. At close range, it was clear who had won—who had the shields. Then our scanners showed a group of soldiers behind us. I quickly turned, took aim, and fired my wrist grenade launcher. Firing a grenade launcher at close range is a bad idea. Unless you have shields, protection from loud noises and flashes. The Spartans were reduced to a bloody mess on the walls. Then we quickly ran. Running myself, I thought, would be foolish.
"Jaffa Kree!" screamed the fleeing Pelops. His defenders opened fire. My soldiers deployed their shields and killed them all with rapid fire. The Goa'uld scientist activated his shield and aimed a ribbon device at us.
With a swift motion, I drew my knife and threw it at his head. He didn't even have time to react to the thrown object (Jaffa don't have throwing knives because they're useless) and froze with the knife in his eye. The blade pierced his eye socket, entered his brain, and instantly killed both the host—of whom there was likely little left after so many thousands of years—and the Goa'uld himself. The outstanding scientist's remaining eye flared one last time, and he fell in a heap to the floor.
"That's why you always need a helmet. Take this."
"Yes, sir. Congratulations on your glorious victory." Just in case, the Jaffa are convinced that a Goa'uld can only be killed by another Goa'uld. And I proved it here. They don't know that slow objects can pass through that damn shield. So I reconfigured mine. It was just a power draw issue. Considering I don't have naquadah in my blood, but a removable battery, there's no problem with the extended range.