Pax Elysia Chapter 24: Chulak P2

The hit wizards under Moody’s command slipped through the long shadows cast by the twin suns of Chulak with nary a whisper.

The first Jaffa patrol never knew they were under attack. Moody’s wand flicked—Silencio—cutting off their voices before they could shout. Three wizards followed with precise cutting curses that slashed through their Goa’uld pouches. The Jaffa fell dead with their Goa’uld larva, no longer able to sustain their enhanced bodies. The guards fell without a sound, their bodies hidden from other patrols by transfiguring them into unamusing pebbles.

When they encountered a second Jaffa patrol, the strike team coordinated. Spells whispered from the dark—bones snapped, throats crushed, armour pierced with silent hexes. Not a scream escaped outside the area of confrontation. The bodies of Jaffa were transfigured into pebbles and safely tucked into a corner.

Moody’s gravelly voice cut through the quiet of the corridor.

“Keep it quiet. Plant the charges.”

The team split as they started to plant Naquadah-enhanced bombs across the shipyards. Each bombs were calibrated to level everything inside a five-mile radius. They planet bombs in half-built Ha’tak ships, the transport rings where refined metals were transported into the shipyards, the cannon mounting units and even the armoury of Jaffa guards of Apophis. They planted the bombs even near the metal processing plants and the Naquadah refineries.

Moody was quite thankful the Goa’uld built their hard industries so close to each other. It made their mission easier as they could easily move from one target to another on foot.

“Auror Moody, we got the signal from Marshal Potter’s team. They’ve completed the primary mission. They’re on standby to engage the Firestorm protocol.”

“Hmm.” Moody grunted in acknowledgement while his magical eye swirled around looking for the perfect spot to plant the bombs in the Dath Glider production facility.

“Any word from William and his team?” Moody asked.

“Nothing so far, sir.”

“Potter has already achieved his objective while we’re still dancing around this place like headless chickens. Now, work faster instead of standing there like statues.” Moody barked, and his team scrambled to complete the mission as fast as possible.

He watched his team rush to finish booby trapping the production facility while he rested against a wall.

Moody knew he was no longer in his prime. He was old and weakening every day.

Wizards like Dumbledore were the exception, where they grew so powerful with age. He was fortunate to have lived long enough to witness the coming together of the world across the borders and build a society they could be proud of for future generations.

It was one of the reasons why he chose to ignore Potter and his penchant for smearing those he disliked, systematically using the media. He was not ignorant of the fact that it was Potter who bankrolled Rita Skeeter to write a whole smear campaign in the Daily Prophet against Dumbledore. That blasted woman had the audacity to suggest that Dumbledore was the one to push Grindelwald into turning a Dark Lord, and the whole fight that ravaged much of magical Europe was just a lover’s quarrel.

It was preposterous! It was absurd!

But the series of articles Skeeter no doubt carefully edited and polished all but claimed Grindelwald was a scorned lover of Dumbledore.

It was insulting to his friend’s memory, but those infernal articles were quite popular. The last he heard, Skeeter was even planning to release a book in conjunction with Bathilda Bagshot.  

He could not understand why Potter would financially prop up Rita Skeeter’s smear campaign. It was not as if Dumbledore was alive to pose any threat to Potter in the halls of power in Elysium. In the ned, he could only conclude there was some resentment Potter held towards Dumbledore.

Exactly why this was so eluded him.

Though he knew Potter was the one bankrolling Skeeter’s spear campaign, he didn’t do anything. Not that he could anyway. Skeeter was not doing anything illegal, and the fact that a well-accomplished writer and academician like Bathilda Bagshot was collaborating with Skeeter made the articles difficult to tackle.

Despite all that, Moody was grateful when Potter came to him with the offer of starting a new Auror academy. The fact that this academy was now on the moon of a different planet altogether was something he couldn’t wrap his head around when it was suggested to him.

At first, he thought Potter was either mad or pulling his leg.

He only believed it when he saw the moon base of Zoria with his own eyes. He was further surprised when he learned Potter planned to create two training programs in the new Auror Academy. One was for policing the wizarding population of Elysium, while the other was made into the standing army.

He never thought any of that would come to pass. However, Potter was able to bring together the different Ministries of Magic, magical creatures, and the ICW to form the Elysian Federation.   

For the first time in the history of the magical folk, their people were united under one banner.

Sure, not everyone had joined.

The Goblins were petulant and refused to cooperate with Elysium beyond some financial ties. There were several Centaur clans that refused to leave their forests for the promise of Elysium. Even now, there were some pockets of wizarding communities scattered across the Earth, unwilling to join Elysium. The Ministries also kept a token presence on Earth, as not all had transitioned to Elysium.

Even those who made the transition had complaints. For instance, he knew many wizards did not like the idea of sharing the Senate or the High Council seat with magical beasts like Dwarves, Veela, Centaurs, Werewolves, Vampires, Merpeople, etc.

At the same time, many of those magical creatures were dissatisfied with the proportion of their representation. In time, this political dissatisfaction would only grow and cause greater rifts among the people.

But he had to admit even Albus had failed to bring together this many magical nations and creatures. It was a remarkable feat, one that he admired even.

It was one of the reasons why he immediately agreed to help build up the hit-wizards as a standard army and aurors as the policing force for Elysium. The idea was to have separate Auror forces as more cities manifest in Elysium with regional autonomy answerable to the Senate. At the same time, the hit-wizards become a centralised force accountable to the High Council.

It was now a whole new frontier, and Moody knew he was a relic just like Dumbledore. Try as he might, he could not deny himself, and Dumbledore were now a folktale for the future Elysians.

‘It’s better that way. The young should not repeat the mistakes of their elders.’ Moddy mused.

There were many in the old guard who wanted to challenge the world Potter was building, but not Moody. He was tired, and he had lost much in fighting the Dark Lord.

Despite his displeasure with some of Potter’s actions, he was not petty enough to row against the flow of time. He and a bunch of old timers were irrelevant for the continued prosperity of wizardkind.

The one thing he learned from Albus Dumbledore was humility. The man had great power but never used it for his personal gain. Albus lived his life in his terms, and he did his best without being an overbearing figure wherever he could. In the end, they could only try their best, and sometimes their best efforts fell short.

So, Moody was content with what he had. He’d never make any pressure tactics against Potter and the movement the boy-saviour started. But that doesn’t mean he could not give the boy a piece of his mind from time to time.

Moddy smirked and shook his head.

“Sir, we’ve planted the charges.”

Moody nodded as his magical eye tracked the locations of all planted bombs.  

“Everything seems to be in order.” Moody said while wobbling forward with his wooden leg. “Call it in. Tell Potter we’re standing by.”

*******

William grunted as a Jaffa tried to tackle him, but his physical strength was far greater. He merely caught the Jaffa’s head in a lock and twisted sharply, breaking his enemy’s neck.

He threw the body to the side and rolled under the plasma bolt of a staff weapon.

A well-timed cutting curse sliced open the Jaffa’s throat in a shower of blood. The Jaffa were capable of faster healing, but even their physiology couldn’t restore them to good health when their spine was severed from the head.

More Jaffa poured in, forcing William and his team to fight their way out of the tight spot. All of this happened because one of their own clumsily walked into a slave who seemed to be carrying a tray of food in one of the Ha’taks. From there, everything fell apart as the servant let out a frightened cry and brought a Jaffa patrol upon their heads.

Even though they were discovered, they had narrowly managed to plant all the bombs. Now, all they had to do was reach the extraction point safely.

A couple more plasma bolts came from the Jaffa, but they harmlessly splashed against the shield William raised. A blasting hex saw to it that the Jaffa soldiers were thrown off their feet by a dozen yards. That gave them a brief respite.

“All right. Contact Moody and Potter. Tell them we’ve completed the mission and are en route to the extraction point under enemy fire.” William said quickly before blasting a door open with an exploding curse that killed the Jaffa behind the door.

The early morning sky turned to chaos as plasma bolts and spellfire were exchanged in a heated battle between Jaffa and wizards.

Staff weapons spat golden fire, scorching earth and tearing stone. Energy shields blazed as they held, but not without strain. The wizards replied in kind—Reducto tore through armour, Bombarda shattered scaffolds, Confringo erupted like grenades, scattering Jaffa lines as they battled each other without mercy.

William moved like a storm thanks to his enhanced senses, hurling blasting curses left and right, his eyes tracking targets even through the smoke and bright lights of the battle. As werewolves, they were refused normal education in the wizarding world.

But they learned all the same to wield magic much better than some wizards. Their lives were lives of war every day, and war bred warriors. William was a product of that war. The Jaffa stood no chance against werewolves blessed with immense physical strength and magic.

“Left flank, collapse ’em! Blast ‘em open!”

The Jaffa pressed hard, disciplined in formation, but they were no match for wizarding fury. A force of explosive energy ripped through their armours, and the way out of the Ha’tak opened for them.

But outside, there were lines of Jaffa waiting for them with their staff weapons pointed straight at them.

“Oh fuck!” William muttered before hastily putting up a shield just like everyone else.

They were just in time, too, as a rain of plasma bolts bombarded their shields.

“We pull back and apparate to the spot.” William said while the others nodded in agreement.

They pulled back into the Ha’tak, giving the Jaffa the impression they were hiding inside the Goa’uld mothership. Then they apparated away to safety.

The moment they popped into existence at the extraction point, they immediately drew the attention of the village’s slave population. But the village was not solely hosting human slaves of Apophis. There were Jaffa as well.

“Here we go again.” William muttered as he watched several Jaffa point their staff weapons at him and his team.

This time, he was faster and refused to just hide behind a shield.

“Incendio.” William snarled, jabbing his wand in the direction of the two Jaffa guards close by.

The flames roared out from the tip of his wand and consumed the two Jaffa. They screamed as the magical flame engulfed their bodies in the blink of an eye. The two soldiers dropped their staff weapons and screamed in pain as the flames ate into their flesh. They fell to their knees and rolled on the ground to snuff out the flames, but to no avail.

The slaves fearfully watched and took several steps back in fear, seeing their tormentors being burned away.

Transport rings suddenly fell from the sky, and that made William let out a breath of relief. The rings transported them aboard their jumper within seconds.

“We’re all accounted for. Take us to the Spitfire.” William immediately ordered.

“Aye, sir,” the pilot said before charging the engine to take them away to the safety of the Starfire, which was hanging in Chulak’s orbit.

“The rest is in your hands, Potter.” William muttered under his breath as he stared at the planet fast disappearing through the glass window of the jumper.

*******

Harry stared at the planet Chulak from the glass window of his jumper. The Jaffa forces were now on high alert. The long-range telemetry aboard the jumper was showing troop movements across the planet. All the major military bases on the planet were now on high alert. He could already see a significant Jaffa troop presence near the stargate of the planet.

But the Jaffa were wasting their time. They were not going to find anyone in Chulak,

“Sir, more Jaffa troops can be seen coming close to the Ha’taks. They’re scrambling available Death Gliders and transport vessels to sweep the planet.”  one of the hit-wizards keeping watch on the military installations of Chulak.

“Status of the other two teams?” Harry asked, palming the Eye of Apophis he liberated from Chulak.

“They’re safely aboard the Spitfire, sir.”

“Good.” Harry nodded before staring at the planet.

He raised his left hand and eyed the wrist device. All the bombs were connected to his wrist device and were ready to ignite on a simple flick of his wrist.

‘I’m terribly sorry, people of Chulak.’ Harry thought before tapping his wrist device.

The naquadah charges erupted in a chain reaction. Fire swallowed temples, molten naquadah cascaded like rivers of flame, and the Goa’uld motherships split apart, collapsing into themselves. The massive pyramids used for landing the Goa’uld mother ships collapsed under the force of the explosions. The shockwave lit the planet’s sky like a second sun, a wound upon Chulak visible for miles.

More explosions followed as all military assets in Chulak suffered the attack. He did not doubt that most of those explosions took the lives of many innocent Jaffa and human slaves.

But that was the cost of war.

“No Goa’uld will be using Chulak as a platform to augment their armies.” Harry muttered before turning away from the massive explosions rocking the planet.

The jumper moved out of Chulak’s atmosphere and joined Spitfire. Once they were safely inside the Spitfire’s hangar, the ship engaged its hyperdrive and disappeared into hyperspace, leaving a burning Chulak.