AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry for the long wait. I was concentrating on other stories so I didn't have much time to develop this one. I have also gone back and did a much-needed editing on the previous chapters. If there is anything I missed please point it out to me if you have time. Anyway, enjoy.

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Vor woke up slowly and blinked away his sleep. He pushed himself up on his elbows and pressed his back against the bed so that his head was a little raised. His movements disturbed Lea who was sleeping soundly who latched onto his abdomen and lay her head upon his chest.

Vor absently drew small circles on her back with his fingers. His eyes got stuck on the armband that was on the nearby table and he decided to check for any messages and sure enough, Nat Zor-El had compiled the relevant data from military intelligence. He browsed through the information collected by the off-world agents of the empire. The sheer size and scale of the Goa'uld Empire were enormous right now and they were further expanding without a stop. Fortunately, they were technologically inferior to his forces as well as Asgard. But the volume of Goa'uld armies were massive and no matter what Kryptonian empire and Asgard will not be able to match the Goa'uld in numbers.

Further reading the report of Nat, her suggestion was to draw a significant number of Goa'uld fleet into a trap and destroy them en masse. Vor also agreed with that assessment as Krypton possessed the weapons and firepower to eliminate a weak enemy like the Goa'uld empire. If the fleets of Krypton were spread thin fighting the enemy then the Goa'uld could fight Krypton in a long drawn out war which will harm the empire.

Vor browsed further and carefully read through the information gathered about each Goa'uld and their throne worlds. From what he understood from the report this would be the first Asgard - Goa'uld war. There were little skirmishes here and there before but this was the first major war that the two space fairing powers were having. Then there was the fact that the Goa'uld themselves were strangely different from what Vor could remember. For starters, Sokar had yet to rebel and seems to be a strong supporter of Ra. The strange thing was there was no mention of Cronos anywhere and in his place, there was Baal as the system lord. The reports never went further into detail about some of the old Goa'ulds like Anubis, Apep or even Egeria. Vor knew about these Goa'ulds but it seems the report only focused on the present Goauld.

Then there was the fact that the Goa'uld had the largest army in the galaxy. Even with the combined forces of Asgard and Krypton, the Goa'uld would simply have the ground forces to overwhelm the allied powers. That didn't mean that the warriors of Krypton couldn't defeat them but it would certainly blow a hole in resources to hold every planet that they were about to free from the hold of Goa'uld. He had a plan that could solve that problem but first, he must have a face to face meeting with Kara and the military wing before any serious decisions.

Vor was brought out of his musings as Lea pressed a kiss on his jaw.

"What troubles you, my lord." Lea asked as she dragged herself to his eye level

"Just thinking about the war to come. We must immediately depart. So make the necessary preparations and meet me in the research facility as soon as you can." Vor said as he stepped out of the bed after pressing a kiss on her cheek and prepared to have one last inspection of the extraction facility.

XXXX

"I hope there is good news Captain Crot." Vor said as he entered the antimatter facility

"Indeed sir. The extraction has stabilized and all pieces of equipment are safe. Our primary objective has been achieved successfully." Captain Crot replied proudly

"What about the secondary objective? Can we weaponize it?" Vor asked curiously

"So far all our containment devices seems to work perfectly. I would say we could weaponize it but it must undergo some tests and analyse the data. Ten only can we know whether the weapon can perform as we intend it to be." Captain Crot replied

"Can't you run any simulations." Vor asked

"Sir we ran some simulations and they show promising results but this is one of the fundamental elements of creation. Without proper testing, I would not recommend the weapon for military application." Captain Crot said with a troubled look

"Then we will test the weapon. Perhaps an isolated meteor or a moon in a faraway system with no nearby life would be ideal?" Vor mused out loud

"That would be ideal, my emperor." Captain Crot agreed wholeheartedly

"In that case, three imperial class star destroyers will be arriving soon as it is possible. I hope your team will be able to arm the weapon." Vor enquired

"Yes, my emperor. But the test will take some time. We have to be extremely careful as we are moving into uncharted territory." Captain Crot replied awkwardly

"That does not matter. Take your time. I don't want you to rush the project. Anyway, use one of the ships for testing while the other two should be returned back to Krypton after making it. The testing site will be provided by the SIC and provide me with a comprehensive report of the weapon's performance as soon as you can." Vor ordered

"As you wish, my emperor." Captain Crot bowed

With that over Vor went back to his ship that was conveniently parked outside the facility. He greeted Lea and they secured themselves on their seats and set course for Krypton.

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Kara waited patiently inside the Royal Palace. She had been notified by Vor about his imminent arrival. Her super-hearing could pick up the distinctive humming if Vor's ship. She stepped into the ship's hanger inside the royal palace and watched as the white-painted ship docked. Soon Lea and Vor floated down near Kara.

"Welcome back Vor, Lea." Kara greeted with a radiant smile

"It's good to be back." Vor said with a smile while Lea smiled awkwardly

"Lea, you may take up your duties in the palace." Kara said

With a short bow, Lea left the two of them in the ship hanger.

"How did the extraction go?" Kara asked

"It went without a hitch. Now all that is left is to test the weapon and then we can use it against our enemies. Speaking of which, how did it go with the Asgardians?" Vor asked

"As well as we could hope for. We reached a series of agreements regarding trade and exchange of raw materials. Cooperation in maintaining peace in the known worlds has been agreed. Exchange of information is also agreed with some restrictions regarding some areas like technology, our military assets etc. They have agreed to share hyperspace lanes with us as per treaty so long as we share our own with them. They asked for a joint military operation against the Goa'uld but many of our council members were against the idea as they fear this could compromise our military secrets. Both sides have agreed for an embassy in the home planets. They were interested in our cloning technology as well as our World engine but the council was against any such exchange this early. Asgard has agreed to share all marine technologies with us and we agreed to do the same. So far things are moving smoothly and the treaty is for 10 years pending your approval." Kara explained

"Why put a limit for the treaty?" Vor asked curiously

"Everyone agreed this was a big step and both sides agreed to form a joint commission to oversee the exchange between Asgard and Krypton for the next 10 years. After that, both sides have agreed to review the treaty together and change or add anything if necessary in the future." Kara said

"Hmm, that's fair I suppose. Call a meeting with all military heads. I am ready to hear them out regarding our Goa'uld enemies." Vor ordered and he walked towards his room but was stopped by Kara's question

"You fucked her didn't you?" Kara asked

Vor stopped and turned around to face her.

"Is there any problem?" Vor asked with his heart thumping strangely

"No. So long as it remains just me and Lea and you don't chase after the others I don't have any problem." She said with a frown

"Why? Is there any problem with the rest of your sisters?" Vor asked confused

"I already knew Lea loves you and she knows that I like you as well. We came to an understanding long ago but the rest of my sisters are not that generous. They are too possessive in nature for us to be comfortable with them." Kara said as she walked closer to Vor

He pulled her close to him and hugged her sideways with his right hand holding her close to him by the waistline.

"Don't worry my love. I promise I won't take any lovers other than you and Lea without your permission." Vor pressed a kiss to her temple as he said this

"Good." Kara smiled as she leaned into his side

"Now with that over let's focus on the Goa'uld. Would you like to join me at the meeting with military heads." Vor asked

"No. You go and attend it. Nat will be there meanwhile I have to speak with Lea about something." Kara said

"Very well. I will see you later." Vor said as he watched Kara get into the lift and move to the upper levels of the palace.

He let out a sigh of relief at this turn of events. He didn't know how he was going to deal with Kara after his recent run-in with Lea. He didn't really mean to take her to his bed but he lost his control when he saw her in that white dress. Thankfully he would not be having any problems with Kara in this matter. That's one problem solved and now another awaited him with this meeting. He straightened himself and went to the conference room.

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Nat was speaking quietly with Ver-Wal, the supreme commander of Kryptonian military about the possible strategies they must employ when the door opened and Vor walked in a brisk pace. They stood up and greeted the emperor who sat at the head of the table.

"Take your seats." Vor said and they began to take seats and faced him completely

"So, we are about to enter into conflict with a large empire which is crushing all planets in our galaxy under their hegemonic rule. Sooner or later we were going to come into conflict with them inevitably. So there is no point in backing out now. How are our forces?" Vor asked as he leaned forward

"We have almost three million personal serving in the ground forces with a further half million in reserves. All are fully equipped with weapons and supplies. This includes ground artilleries, transport, medical units and shock battalions." Ver-Wal, the supreme commander of Kryptonian forces said

"The SIC will be able to open the Stargates and take out some of the major planets under Goa'uld control. But keep in mind the Goa'uld ground forces will be outnumbering our troops by a large margin. Some 9f our forces will be Tau'ri from Tollana so they won't have the advantages of Kryptonian genealogy." Azor-Lo, the commander of SIC said with a frown

"The Goa'uld have already mobilised their forces to attack Asgardian fleet. So they must have lost a lot of manpower that way, right." Vor asked

"The Goa'uld forces takes a lot of time to fully mobilize. From our intel, they have yet to fully mobilize and the process is still ongoing. So, when our forces enter into their planets we will be encountering a considerable resistance." Nat Zor-El pointed out

"But from the Jaffa prisoners we took, we know the Goa'uld only employ the Jaffa as their soldiers. That means we can perhaps expect little resistance from the local population. I think the only place we will be falling short will be in space. We don't have the numbers to fight the Goa'uld evenly at any engagement." Citra-Lork, the new commander of Kryptonian fleets said as she let out a sigh

"How are our numbers in the air, commander Citra?" Vor asked curiously

"We have 350 Imperial-class Star destroyers, 1500 Ravenger class ships that are good fighters in space or underwater, 800 Harrower class Dreadnoughts, 2000 Quinjets, 200 Centurion class Battlecruisers and more than 3000 Destroyers that are superior to the Death Gliders of Goa'uld fleet." Citra-Lork informed them

"It is not a bad number to have if we can draw the Goa'uld fleets to engage us in a place of our choosing. The only problem I can see is that our forces would be spread out to fight the Goa'uld fleets." Nat observed

"Yes. Which is why I suggest that we concentrate on attacking through Stargate and capturing the ground forces of Goa'uld planets. We can counter any ships they have with concentrated attacks from our fleets if necessary. Until we manage to draw the main Goa'uld fleet into a battle we will have to concentrate on taking out their core worlds and deny them any resources thereby taking away their ability to pursue a long war. For now, let Asgard distract them in space while we take away their colonies." Vor suggested

"That would be an ideal strategy and we can further take them down if we can disable their ability to access the Stargates. I believe we have that ability to take control of the Stargate network in their empire. Our spies will be able to program the gates to our advantage." Nat mused and everyone sat up in interest hearing that idea

"Can we do something like that Commander Lo?" Vor asked

"I believe so sir. We have been able to access most of the gates by our technology so I don't see why it would not be possible to control the functions of gate remotely." Azor-Lo said after some thinking

"Then our way forward is settled. We use the gate to strike a blow to the Goa'uld that they would not recover from and I think I have the perfect target for our opening move." Vor smirked

"What planet would that be my lord?" Ver-Wal asked curiously

"We take away their soldiers my dear commander. We strike at the very foundation of the Goa'uld Empire. We strike at Dakara." Vor said with a triumphant look.