So, Drayana is facing an utterly incompetent enemy commander who has basically zero sup[port from his own troops, and Drayana can probably count on military assistance from most other races in the area ( I doubt the C'Hanis or Zaharte will stop at intelligence and allowing ships to pass through their territory when the Khkerrikk plan on conquering them too.) Not to mention the Asgard haven't actually refused to help. ( my guess is they're simply delayed by the replicators again. I guess we'll probably see them if the Khkerrikk actually look like they will conquer Tallura prime, but otherwise, it's up in the air.)

Perhaps not so clear cut as you might think - some things could still go seriously wrong... My (partial) analogy for Kharrillion is actually Joseph Stalin in 1941 - plenty of warning that the Germans were going to attack and large enough (and well-equipped) forces to stop them, but disastrous interference meant most of the Soviet forces in the west were taken by surprise and suffered immense casualties. Stalin was also paranoid about his own commanders and prone to micro-manage in the early days of the German invasion. Remember, though that the Khkerrikk can still do an immense amount of damage and neither the Ch'Hanis or Zaharte are likely to interfere unless they're pretty certain of a casualty-free intervention. You're probably right about the Asgard, by the way.

Thanks for the review.

Ah, finally got the time to catch up with this truly epic series, and oh my goodness the scale and stakes and tension just keep going up and up! This series has been a fantastic achievement that I've been very eagerly following since I stumbled across it, and the last few chapters officially pushed things into Edge Of Seat territory!
I can't wait for future installments of both stories that are running right now, which hopefully are being rapidly finished at this very moment, and I pretty much love the heck out of everything you've done with just about everyone. And I hope that I'm making any sense at all, because I'm up-all-night tired suddenly for some reason.
Thanks for writing!

Thanks for the review - glad you're enjoying the series so far. I'm currently working on the next chapters of this one and Fate's Little Plaything, though I can't say when they'll be posted (real-life getting in the way right now). Hopefully, at least one will be up by the end of next week.

Well crap.

More people declaring war on the Tallurans.

Not necessarily a good time to be a Talluran, but things might not be as black as they look, either.

Thanks for the review.

Continues to be very good story, very well written.

Glad you mentioned removing the Stargates from Xicavvar worlds to isolate them from interplanetary travel...

...'cuz I was thinking of the same plan for the next time the Faceless One attacks a planet. Should go out with Tellura's general warning to galaxy, that if a colony is attacked, they should try to destroy or remove Stargate from that colony. Note: per SG-1 canon, a naquadah-enhanced nuke will cause the Stargate to massively amplify the explosion. Removal/destruction of the gate would of course keep or at least delay the demon from leaving that planet to go elsewhere. Folks might choose that fate rather than dying as demon-chow. If beast attacks a fully populated world of course, that plan could put billions in peril, so might only be accepted as an isolation solution on colony worlds.

Of course, people could also be advised to bury their Stargates for awhile to keep the demon from arriving on their planet...and if enough planets did so they might try to 'starve' the beast out or delay its progress in the galaxy, but they might be unable to wait it out.

Thanks for the review.

Removing Stargates is easy enough for the Tallurans (Asgard beaming technology) but probably a longer task for the others. As for blowing up Stargates, hard to get close enough, quickly enough, when the beastie comes through and immediately starts killing everything around it. Remember it also has growing powers of telekinesis and some degree of precognitive ability, plus a limited ability to move in time? Not such an easy target... I do, however, have an idea.

Of course, it also might start breeding very soon...

Glad you're still enjoying this.

There are times when a conscience is a terrible thing to have. Mind you, given the alternative, I know which sort of ruler I'd rather have! And, yes, I agree with Dawn that the analogy of vampires is a good one. Oh, and you've given me nightmares with the idea of being a meal for larvae like that. ::shudder::

In this case, we have a ruler with a conscience, but also still willing to make the hard decisions. Sorry about the nightmares, but as I'd decided way back to make the Xicavvar insectoid, the larvae thing made sense from a biological point of view...

Thanks for the review.

Poor Drayana! But good on her for taking the necessary steps, and good on Dawn for making the essential connection between vampires and Xiccavar (that anyone who regards you solely as a food source is a legitimate target when fighting for your survival and the survival of the rest of your species).

Drayana is a kind-hearted individual, with a well-developed sense of morality, but it won't stop her from making the tough decisions. Dawn brought a perspective only a Slayer or one of her friends/family could bring to the table.

Thanks for the review - glad you're still on board.

I had just started rereading this whole series about two weeks ago when I noticed you added a chapter to this and also the Earth side of the story. LOL it made me read a little faster, which was against my plan, I intended to go slower this time around. This is turning out to be a rather epic story. Like Dawn told Drayana she shouldn't feel bad about killing the Xicavvar since they had no problem with eating her subjects from the inside out by their young. I think they should just exterminate they completely sine they're just bugs.

The Zaarte and Ch'Hanis ambassadors calling in the middle of the night could be interesting.

Perhaps Joyce is the answer to many of the problems, maybe she'll find answers in translating all the Latin works. Maybe a new weapon, or how to make those super power supplies, maybe even an advanced version that the Ancients never had time to make.

Drayana is one of the best, if not the best OC ever and the way you write Dawn is great .. still a joker and a pain in the ass at times, but mostly just a precocious teenager(almost teenager). Diana is also really good, taking responsibility as in Dawn at the firing range and trying to convince the assassin to change her guilty plea.

I can't find the words to tell you how exceptionally great this series is.

Looking forward to the next installment, it is well worth the wait.

Thanks for the review.

The question is whether the visiting ambassadors are good news or bad news...

Joyce may well be able to help out, but possibly not for a while yet.

I'm glad you like Drayana - I'm trying to portary her as someone who's been thrust into a job of incredible responsibility at an impossibly young age. Dawn is just an annoyingly lively nearly-teen, but she does have occasional flashes of insight, as in this chapter. Diana/Faith has also come a long way - and still has a long way to develop.

Glad you're enjoying this.

First, this was a great chapter; you're doing a good job of juggling multiple threads and characters. Second, in an empire based on conquest, there should be a lot of people who don't much like being conquered. Granted a full scale uprising would be hard to arrange, and take too much time - bur a little sabotage, subversion, and assassination might be doable. Given the Emperor's demonstrated tendency to overreact, this could tie up a significant part of his available forces.

The sabotage and subversion angle had occurred to me, especially since the Tallurans can draw on SG-15's advice (they're used to fighting a much more powerful enemy, without a fleet of warships to help, after all). I might well do something with this, though the problem of distance and also Stargate accessibility will tend to get in the way (I always wondered why most of the Goa'uld didn't use an iris equivalent for security). The Emperor doesn't so much tend to overreact, as to see opportunities at the slightest provocation.

Thanks for the review - glad you enjoyed it.

Great story so far. It's really picking up pace and the excitement level is approaching that of your other excellent earth-based stories. I look forward to reading more.

The pace will continue to pick up for a while.

Glad you're enjoying it and thanks for the review.

I sense the calm before the storm. And, whenever a simple spy snatch is back burnered so an operative can enjoy a meal, a palm to my face is my only recourse.

Not so calm if you happen to be a Xicavvar... In fairness to Hyperius, he was just waiting on his own snatch teams, who are all highly competent.

Thanks for the review.

This world has just sucked me right in. I love the character of Drayana, and how you've written Dawn and Joyce and Dr Lam. Enjoying the heck out of the other story too. Do the races you refer to here - the Ch'hanis, the Xicavvar, Khkerrikk, etc., exist in SG canon? The way you write their histories and motivations - and the personalities of their representatives - is just fantastic. :)

Glad you're enjoying it. This story gave me a chance to be much more creative with my worlds and OCs, as well as the usual cast. The other races don't exist in canon, but I was looking for a complex and dangerous power balance in the Vedda Galaxy.

Glad you're enjoying it and thanks for the kind review.

And the plot thickens...

"Who ordered the two planets, extra crispy and a side of fries?" (I imagine Claudia from Warehouse13 as the waitress here ;) )

I'm not surprised that Dawn didn't think of it, but I'm sure Dr. Lam would look Drayana in the eye and tell her that the fact she felt such remorse for ordering such an action to protect her own people was a key element in her being a good person. After-all, she could either do what she did for the enjoyment of doing it (like the Kherrick emperor) or be a complete wishy-washy mess and let her people be the butt-monkeys of the Vedda Galaxy...

Oh, and the SG team... hey, the SGC at this point has been fighting similar odds for several years... think SG-15 might not have some suggestions for Astria Porta based attacks :)

Dawn's only twelve, albeit growing up fast, so you're right - she probably wouldn't think of it. A visit to the good doctor might just be in order for Drayana, if only to reassure her that feeling bad is a good thing in this case (even if the Xicavvar don't deserve to have anyone feel bad for them...) But no matter how bad Drayana feels, she will do her duty by her people.

If anything, the odds against Earth are probably worse. The Talluran fleet may be greatly outnumbered, but it's still dangerous and gives them options the SGC don't have (if in doubt, ask the Xicavvar...) Astria Porta-based attacks? Okay in theory, but I always wondered why so few Goa'uld had an iris-type system on their Stargates. I'm presuming that the Vedda Galaxy powers - given that they're constantly on the verge of being at each other's throats - wouldn't be quite so negligent. Still, I might have some role for SG-15.

Thanks for the review - glad you're still enjoying it.

So is Logan going to mention to the Carter Methodology of Strategic Warfare? Also known as when in doubt remove the star system? I mean it's kind of an easy tactic, drop one Gate near a black hole, drop another into the star as it dials the first gate. Star goes nova. And dang, I just looked up the original air date of that episode and its concurrent with the present time (Feb 14 2001).

Total war in a setting like Stargate is a scary scary thing, Accelerate some asteroids with a hyperspace engine attached, then bring them back into realspace 1000km above the target planet while going fractional c. Anubis' lovely turn the Stargate into a bomb idea. Hathor's naquada potassium bomb that was in Cassie. Use the star drop with the outgoing connection to an enemy planet and you have a fusion bomb that will burn for 38 minutes. The most dangerous of weapons are found in the simplest of equations and then scaled up.

Some good ideas here - a few might be useful in this setting, others not so much. Inserting a Stargate into a heavily defended system, for example, is a problem (especially when said system is probably a few weeks' away in hyperspace). If I remember, Anubis idea about the Stargate bomb was based oon Alteran know-how, which the Tallurans don't have (yet). They do, however, have a few surprises of a more conventional nature.

Thanks for the review.

Great. Sh*t gets real up in this....place.

You wouldn't believe how much more I have in mind...

Thanks for the review.

The plot thickens. Great chapter. Faith could always see if they could get the prisoner banished instead of executed. Earth could definitely use someone with her skills.

Unfortunately, Faith has no control over the law - but there may still be a legal loophole or two.

Thanks for the review.