Battlestar Galactica / Stargate SG-1 Crossover
"The Thirteenth Colony" Series
Part Two
Choices
By SG07

* The author's notes have been moved below, to the end of this story. This
was done so those readers who want to begin reading can do so and those
that would like to read my personal thoughts afterward, well you get the
gist, right? Right?

**
     Baltar's head hung low and his breathing came in shallow gasps.
     Heru'Ur eyes momentarily glowed brightly. "We find your proposal
acceptable."
     Baltar jerked his head up sharply. A flicker of a devious smile
crossed his face, vanished and then replaced with a more solid one. "Then
I am to be spared?"
     "Yes."...**

***

     There are those who believe that life here began out there, far
across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the
forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they
may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost
civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis.
     Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now
fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens.

***

     Stars littered the void of interstellar space in a spectacular array
of dazzling white diamonds.  A pulsars light reached a pyramid shaped
star ship as it traversed the starscape. Light reflected brilliantly off
of its hull as it traveled at nearly nine tenths the speed of light. The
shape of the aerodynamic ship mattered little in the void of space,
however this design was perfectly suited for traversing planetary
atmospheres.
     The pyramid design was a remnant of a specific culture on an
insignificant planet located in the outer arm of Orions Belt in the Milky
Way Galaxy.
     The master of this vessel Heru'Ur, a parasitic host that inhabited a
human body was known throughout the universe as a member of the insidious
Goa'ould. 
     Heru'Ur waved his hand over a control on the bridge of his Cheops
class pyramid. After opening a channel to his chosen home world. "Jaffa",
he said.
     A tall handsome man with unearthly large muscles responded, "My
lord."
     "Have six of my best battleships readied and sent to my location and
bring a full compliment of Jaffa."
     "Yes, my lord".
     Before the Jaffa could close the connection Heru'Ur smiled wickedly,
"And I have a special assignment for you. Take a contingent of Jaffa
through the Chappa'ai to Heratos. If any aliens are there capture one or
two and bring them to me and destroy any others you might encounter."
     "My lord."

***

     The Colonial warriors Lieutenant Cree and Corporal Mindon tried
valiantly to evade the Jaffa, but they wore no match for so many of these
aggressive pilots.
     Cree had managed to destroy two of the gliders and Mindon managed to
get one, but that was all. Both Vipers were now being herded toward the
large pyramid spacecraft.
     Mindon worriedly asked, "What do we do know? They are forcing us to
land on their ship."
     Cree was reminded of the time the Cylons had forced him to crash
land on the ice planet Arcta. It was on the planet where the Cylons had
turned Dr. Ravishol's interstellar lens device into a weapon of massive
destruction. One blast was powerful enough to destroy the Galactica with
one shot. Starbuck, then a lieutenant rescued him single handedly from
the prison, just prior to the pulse weapons destruction.
     "I don't know," was the only response Cree could give him.
     After landing no less than twenty of the strangest aliens surrounded
them. With a body of a man and the head of birds it was as if Cree were
seeing childhood stories come back to life. The "bird-like men pointed
advanced weapons that resembled staffs. Unlike staffs, the pods on the
end opened up to reveal gun barrels of some type. They spoke in a harsh
guttural dialogue that the warriors did not understand. Cree came to
himself and called over to Mindon, "Mindon, are you seeing this? Mindon?"
     Mindon sat frozen in his seat. A horror not remembered since his
childhood stood no more then twenty metrons in front of him, and not just
one but over twenty such horrors. His parents told him bedtime stories of
these monsters and swore these creatures were not real. Yet there they
stood in front of him like hideous demonic beasts from the past. Even
before the holocaust the bird-like monsters were represented in a
colonial storybook that thrilled and frightened children.
     "Mindon?" Cree called again.
     Mindon snapped back to the present, "Ugh, yes sir?"
     "Just stay calm, we'll make it somehow. Try as long as you can to
resist giving up any information. Initiate a burnout of all primary and
backup circuits."
     Cree asked, "How can we escape if we do that?"
     "Mindon, listen to me, the fleet is more important than two
warriors. If these aliens track our course in the navi-computer they will
know where the fleet is."
     "Sir, I can delete that information and burnout the navi-computer,
we don't need to destroy our only means of escape!"
     "Mindon, we don't have time to argue. Set the backup generator to
overheat and lock the magnetic containment on the tylieum reactor open.
We'll lose our ships but will do some damage to these people. Also we
don't want these aliens to learn our technology."
     Fighting the urge to curse, Mindon obeyed his commanding officer,
"Yes, sir." In less than thirty microns the process had begun. Without
knowing there was a problem it was doubtful these birdmen would know
until it was too late.
     As the Colonial Warriors stepped down from their respective ship a
birdlike alien said something unintelligible to them. When the two
warriors did not respond he turned a dark brown staff on them and the end
of the staff split into, revealing a gun barrel. The two warriors needed
no further encouragement and dropped their laser pistols onto the deck
and raised their hands.
     Both warriors were led into an immense chamber, large enough to hold
a vast audience. A bald man with a goatee sat the far end of the chamber
on a throne. He wore a superior grin. 
     A haughtiness that neither Cree nor Mindon had ever seen upon
another living being. It was evil. A maniacal, twisted smirk of someone
who knew more than others. Cree and Mindon were appalled that any man
could be that way.
     They were roughly pushed into the center of the chamber the warriors
stood defiantly before the unknown ruler.
     Cree started to speak "Wh..." when a Horus guards hit his legs from
behind and he collapsed to the floor. "Oof", he said as he barely caught
himself. On his knees he turned in time to see Mindon catch himself.
     A bile rose up within him and a fear that he had not felt since his
capture by the Cylons on the snow planet of Arcta so long ago crept into
his thoughts. He mentally tried to push those memories aside. The one
difference between his previous Cylon captors and this human were this
man had emotions. In his ignorance Cree thought, 'Why would another human
treat his fellow man in such a manner?'
     Cree swallowed a couple of times and found his voice, "Why have you
forced us here? I am Lieutenant..."
     He was cut off in mid sentence. "No one of importance. Where you are
from is of importance." Heru'Ur's voice reverberated in multiple tones.
     Cree interrupted, "I will tell you nothing!"
     "SILENCE! You dare interrupt your god?" Heru'Ur nodded once and Cree
was smacked in the back of the head with a staff weapon. Cree fell
facedown and smacked his chin on the marble floor heavily.
     "Uggh", Cree gasped as he picked up his head from the floor and
wiped blood from his mouth. Fire burned from deep within Cree, as he
replied, "Never!"
     Heru'Ur smiled darkly, "We will see after you have been properly
conditioned." Cree was roughly hauled to his feet by two of the birdlike
men. Mindon turned an ashen color and with a pleading face toward Cree. 
     Cree feeling empathy for the young man managed to spit out,
"Remember who you are!" he yelled as he was roughly dragged out of
Mindons sight. Mindon turned to face Heru'Ur, a fearful look in his eyes.
     Heru'Ur eyes glowed bright yellow and then faded to normal. Mindon
recoiled in fear. Laughing menacingly the would-be god asked him "Now,
what shall we talk about?"
     And Mindon knew he was looking into the face of the devil himself.

***

     A pair of sleek tri-winged Colonial Vipers flew in loose formation
toward home. Lieutenant Troy glanced sideways at the viper closing
distance with his. Troy loved to see a Viper in flight. His father, now
Commander of the Galactica had once said, "A Viper is the most advanced
flying machine that man has ever built." Troy smiled at that. How true
that statement was. The Colonial Viper had been in service for well over
a millennium.
     Originally the viper was designed in the sixth millennium of man, as
the Colonial culture measured time. Its sleek design and maneuverability
resembled fighters from the fifth Millennium. During that time frame the
fighter craft were planet bound and combined fossil fuels and highly
compressed air to power their jet engines.
     The viper was hailed as a revolutionary fighter and space
superiority craft and over the yahrens earned that reputation as
evidenced by no other fighter class ever built afterward. Over the
yahren, the viper had gone through revisions. 
     Originally, the Vipers left and right wings were horizontal much
like its fifth millennium fighter jets. As technology progressed, a less
conventional repositioning to a slanted forty-five degrees perpendicular
position was added that enhanced the overall appearance and unique beauty
to the viper.
     With the destruction of the colonies over twenty-five yahren earlier
the vipers design had not changed much on the outside, however the
internal components had been upgraded and enhanced. The foundry ship
manufactured the new vipers and repaired the damaged ones. Over the
yahren new designs were suggested, however, with no active space dock to
redesign the triangular launch tubes on the landing bays of the Galactica
all exterior modifications had been dropped.
     A comprise resulted in adding a smaller energizer that provided
backup power in case the main energizer burned out or was damaged in
battle. Additionally, two smaller lasers that were less powerful had been
added to the forward portion of the nose. The scanners and communications
had been enhanced thirty five percent and maneuverability had also
increased by twenty percent.
     The Vipers had also been retrofitted to carry solium missiles.
Solium was the by-product of tylieum, the fuel that powered every ship in
the fleet. Solium leaks were often dangerous and solium missiles were
considered "dirty" weapons and a last result in combat. Cobalt missiles
were the norm, if used at all, however, most warriors did not choose to
use the missiles due to weight restrictions and the common perspective
that missiles were a primitive technology that went out of modern space
combat hundreds of yahren ago.
     The only disappointment in the viper's upgrades were the engines.
There had not been any improvements in the viper's range of flying in
over ten yahren. The fleet's top minds just could not find anyway to
enhance the engines output or fuel consumption ratio.
     Troy's thoughts focused back to the moment. 'Focus,' Troy thought to
himself. 'It's almost over. A trip to the decon chamber and no doubt a
long briefing with his father, then off to bed.' 
     The long-range patrol Captain Hesphatus and he had flown ended
abruptly after spotting a large Cylon force at extreme scanner range.
Realizing two vipers were no match for so many Cylons and that the
Galactica desperately needed this new intelligence the pair of vipers
exited the area as fast as possible. 
     Troy mentally focused on his duties. After nearly two cycles of
patrol he was worn out. Everyone knew these long-range patrols were too
long, yet the job still had to be performed. Interstellar space was vast
and a viper was a cosmic microbe against the backdrop.
     His viper's scanner beeped at him. The patrol was coming up on the
tail of the fleet. 
     There they were in all of their mismatched, hodgepodge glory: The
Agro ship, Comptel ship, Electronics ship; also known as the Celestra,
Various types of Freighters, Cargo vessels; several of which had been
converted to passenger ships, three Industry ships; for the manufacturer
of electronics, textiles and parts.
     Of course there was the Livestock ship, Mining ship, Orphan ship,
Parts, Prison Barge, a Sanitation ship used for salvaging, and recycling.
A small Sky bus, Star liner, a handful of Fuel Tankers. All together the
refugees started out with two hundred and twenty some odd ships that
ranged from interstellar craft to interplanetary. The lesser craft had
been converted for interstellar purposes and had been upgraded even more
over the yahren.
     Soon a large space vessel passed into view. The Colonial Movers
ship. Home to several thousand refugees living in box like compartments. 
     Initially families lived in open compartments with only a valron
sheet separating one family from another. Over the yahren the old girl
had been renovated and now hosted a more civilized living quarters.
Although the compartments were not luxurious, they provided certain
boundaries to individual families that were necessary, not to mention
civilized.
     Troy glanced toward his favorite sight on the ship. Its large
painted letters could still be made out after all these yahren. It read,
"Colonial Movers - We Move Anywhere." Troy snickered to himself. 'If only
the corporate owners had any clue how far they would move!'
     When Troy's wing mate was anyone other Captain Hesphatus, Troy
usually got away with doing close flybys. He would fly in a straight line
until beside the old girl and then at the last possible moment he would
fly his viper into a turbo assisted barrel roll that corkscrewed round
and round the massive ship. It was his way of saluting those aboard and a
certain brunette communications officer he dated, when he had the chance.
     Of course the straight laced and very serious Captain Hesphatus
would have fed him to the daggits if he ever did that while flying with
him. He had been counseled more than once by his father, only to have
Starbuck; his flight supervisor quietly snicker in the background. His
father would frown at Starbuck while he assumed an innocent expression.
     More than once Apollo thought about the almost magical charisma that
made Starbuck legendary amongst the fleet. Starbuck more than any other
warrior had earned his status and had affected the personality of many
children in the fleet, including his two children. Starbucks status was
overshadowed only by the Legendary Commander Cain who had defeated the
Cylons against more obstacles than any other hero in the Colonies
history.
     Apollo could not prove it but Starbuck probably was the one that
gave Troy the idea. Of Apollo's two children Hera had become more like
Starbuck than taking after either of her parents. It probably had
something to do with being the grandchild of Cain.
     Cain started his brilliant career off as a viper pilot and later
became the Commander of the Battlestar Pegasus.
     Boomer, Starbuck, and Apollo had been the most famous and notorious
pilots in the last five hundred yahren, with the exception of the
Legendary Commander Cain, his father in law.
     The latest versions of the Colonial history scans being taught in
the fleet described the death defying feats of the "Three."
     Troy's thoughts focused again. His viper stayed in formation and
passed by several other ships, the foundry ship that created the new
vipers, the Rising Star, home to several hundred people and also the
fleets only resort getaway and chancery. Due to the vastness of the
fleet's population the average person in the fleet had to wait half
yahren to spend their five cycles of entertainment. Obviously the Rising
Star had a monopoly on nearly all forms of entertainment.
     His scanner beeped again. There it was, the Galactica. The last
remaining Battlestar of the Colonial fleet. The largest space ship
created in the history of the Colonies. A gleaming white, metallic battle
cruiser against the backdrop of eternity. 
     Actually the ole girl was not entirely white in color and wore the
numerous battle scars, fire, and subsequent repairs. She had seen better
days. The last mandatory refit at space dock was two yahren prior to that
of the holocaust.
     The main body of the Galactica appeared to have three main parts
resembling a long flat reptile. The main bridge was on the forward most
part of the ship that was shaped like a long, flat, and wide head. The
body was long and box like with the landing bays on either side. The
ships aft section was completed with the engineering section.
     The overall length of the Galactica was four thousand two hundred
metrons and approximate total width of five thousand one hundred and
forty eight metrons wide. Each landing bay measured close too two
thousand metrons long.
     Captain Hesphatus interrupted troy thoughts, "Huh? What?" Troy shook
his head to focus. Hesphatus asked him again, "Troy are you all right?" 
     "Yes, sir. Just a little tired," Troy said.
     "Stay focused, Lieutenant. Were almost home."
     "Yes, sir."

***

     Captain Hesphatus entered the immense landing bay on the Galactica
followed by Troy a centon later.
     Hesphatus had already climbed down from his viper by the time Troy
had shutdown his engines. Troy popped the canopy on his ship and looked
around. He could not explain it to himself but there seemed to be an
excitement in the air. Shrugging climbed down the ladder attached to his
viper. The flight crewman asked, "How was your patrol, sir?"
     Troy smiled thinly, "Marten, you don't want to know."
     Marten stared after the two warriors and asked his co-worker,
"What's that supposed to mean?"
     Marten's supervisor, Artemeus had been aboard for over twenty-seven
yahren and knew from experience, "Cylons." He deadpanned.
     Marten, a young man barely twenty yahren was incredulous. Coming to
himself he called after Troy, "Sir, have you heard?"
     Troy stifled a yawn, "Marten, look I am tired and I won't get to bed
for at least another two centaurs after my debrief.
     Marten not knowing where to start blurted out, "He crashed on a
planet, found aliens, and found."
     Troy interrupted him, "Marten slow down, what are you talking about?
Who crashed?"
     Marten gulped for air, "Captain Starbuck. He crashed on a planet."
     Troy suddenly alert grabbed Marten's elbows, "What? How? Is he all
right?"
     He grabbed his flight helmet from Marten's hands and started toward
his viper.
     Artemeus blocked Troy's path, "Lieutenant, it's all right Starbuck
was rescued."
     Captain Hesphatus walked up to the group and started asking his own
questions.
     Artemeus interrupted, "Marten, since the lieutenant touched you
prior to decon, go on inside and tell them what you know."

***

     Cree did his best to keep from stumbling as he was dragged at a
brisk pace deeper into the bowels of an enemy ship. The group turned a
corner and entered a chamber. The two Horus guards dropped Cree onto the
floor hard.  Cree had only enough time to wander what the two warriors
were up to. The Horus guards reached down and pulled a large grating up
from the floor. Cree peered at the dark pit and took a chance. Without
any plan in mind he jumped up and ran toward the door. As he started
crossing the threshold a now familiar pain jabbed at his legs just
underneath his knees as the Horus guard's staff hit him.
     By the time Cree blinked, the guards had retrieved him and threw him
forcibly into the pit.
     A loud splash of water reached the feet of the birdmen who chuckled
coarsely. Upon landing in the water pit Cree splashed frantically till he
realized the water in the pit only went up to his chest. Looking up
menacingly at the guards the guards spit at him and laughed again until
the walls shook terribly. One of the guards almost fell into the pit but
the other birdman caught him at the last moment.
     Alarms blared menacingly and an unseen voice spoke in ancient
Egyptian over the ships intercom. The two Horus guards looked at each
other and then looked down at Cree. 
     Cree laughed at them. Cursing the two warriors closed and locked the
pit before running out of the chamber.

***

     Heru'Ur had barely begun his interrogation of Mindon when something
forcibly had thrown him out of his chair. It was one of the rare times he
was not totally in charge of a situation.
     "What?"
     Mindon laughed. He didn't mean too, it just slipped out. 
     Heru'Ur turned his anger on the Corporal "What have you done?"
     Mindon feeling a little more in control stood up, "What do you
think? We just destroyed your landing bay."
     Heru'Ur glared at him and raised his hand to reveal an artistic
gloved hand with a jewel imbedded in the palm. Mindon had only a moment
too wonder as the red crystal glowed bright and an unknown force picked
him up and threw him over ten metrons into the air. Mindon was
unconscious before he hit the floor. He hit the floor with a muffled thud
and unconsciously moaned to himself.

***

     The fires had been put out by the automatic fire suppressors;
however the damage would take some time too repair. Shrapnel from the
destroyed gliders littered the floors, walls, and ceiling. Everywhere
Heru'Ur  had seen had been burnt. Metal rails lay twisted in obscene
positions. In a few hours the Jaffa and technicians would have the bulk
of the damage cleared away. The easiest method had been to move the few
gliders that did survive to the auxillary hanger and then the forceshield
holding the atmosphere in the bay was turned off and the vacuum of space
stole everything not tied down.
     Although Heru'Ur was incensed at the damage it mattered little. Of
course he was torturing both humans for their impudence. He waved
dismissively and sneered, "These pitiful humans and their machine enemy
are no match for "us."
     As luck would have it the colonials were searching for a planet
called Earth. "Hmmmphh!" he snorted to himself.
     'Those damnable Tau'ri from Earth! They continually step underfoot.
They always seem to thwart the System Lords plans and escape from their
grasp at every turn. But not this time,' He thought. What was most
exasperating about the Tau'ri is that their technology is hopelessly
thousands of years behind the Goa'uld! 'How could such a primitive race
resist the Goa'ould might?'
     For over ten thousand years his father Ra, ruled the galaxy and no
one challenged their supremacy, until now. SG-1 as the Tau'ri called
their primary Stargate team killed Ra and Hathor on separate occasions.
Not that Heru'Ur grieved for them. Quite the contrary, all of the system
lord's allegiance was fractional at best. Feudalism that competed for
supremacy among each other was the norm. This was their greatest
weakness. 
     "That human known as O'Neill even dared to challenge "our" person
with his primitive weapon." Heru'Ur remembered the event explicitly.
O'Neil pulled that death black knife from its sheath, he laughed at him
until the primitive human did the unimaginable, he was able to overcome
"our" personal shield by throwing a hunters knife into his hand, which
destroyed his personal shield. How could the human have known that slower
moving objects could pass through their shield while preventing faster
objects such as blasts from a staff weapon?
     "Bah!" he thought. 'After "we" deal with these aliens I will find a
excuse to circumvent the treaty with the Asguards and destroy the Tau'ri
home world!'
     As Heru'Ur approached the torture chamber of his Cheops class
pyramid ship, a twisted thought came to him. He smiled to himself with
undisguised pleasure. "This could work to our advantage. Yes, if the
Colonials and the Cylons were to bring the battle to the Tau'ri home
world, the System Lords could circumvent the treaty with the Asguard. Of
course, these machines will need the coordinates to the Tau'ri system."
     The Asguard were one of the few races the Goa'uld feared. Their
technology surpassed even their own. The Asguard race resided in another
galaxy but over the millennia had intently studied the original homeworld
of the humans. It was found that humans had great potential but were
still to primitive for official contact.
     Despite their cultures current standing a single group of them had
learned to operate the Stargate and believe it or not were holding their
own against a superior enemy, guile and wits being their primary weapons.
     As luck would have it the Tau'ri somehow befriended the Asguard and
with their help prevented an invasion a protected planet the Asguard kept
as a protectorate.
     Heru'Ur had to flee in order to save himself. He had lost a large
contingent of Jaffa on that encounter and because of that he was trying
to consolidate his power when he ran into these Colonials.
     "Yes." Heru'Ur continued his train of thought. "We could not let
this machine race and the Colonials destroy the peace with the Asguard.
And it would be a pity if in the process of destroying the Cylons and
Colonials if the Tau'ri home world were destroyed themselves. Yes, a
pity." Heru'Ur laughed hard as his eyes glowed brightly.
     As he entered the torture chamber he saw Mindon lying on a rack with
sweat drenching his entire body. His youthful appearance seemed only a
distant memory.

***

     Tamara stood outside the Council of twelve's chambers. The lead IFB
reporter for the fleets communications and news agency straightened her
skirt and ran her finger s through her hair for the third time. A nervous
trait she never had outgrown.
     A cameraman stood a few metrons away from her and queued the red
light on his camera. It blinked 5 times quickly notifying Tamara that
when the red light stopped blinking she would be transmitting.
     The light steadied and she put on her business "face".
     "This is Tamara with the IFB breaking news onboard the Galactica. I
am standing outside the Quorums chambers and awaiting confirmation of the
rumors flooding every ship in the fleet.
     Unconfirmed reports have spread throughout the fleet like a
supernova, that Recon probe commanded by the Legendary Captain Starbuck
has actually found Earth!"
     Tamara heard a tiny voice speak into her earpiece, "Tamara, that's
incredible! Have you been able to confirm with anyone whether or not
these events are true?"
     On cue Tamara shook her head no, "Unfortunately, no. My sources who
have asked to remain anonymous have told me that Captain Starbuck and
Commander Apollo's daughter, Lieutenant Hera, had been on one of the
special recon probes in response to the allegedly Kobollian
communications the fleet has picked up over the last few sectans. In
response to these communications in our most ancient language the
Galactica has sent out more frequent patrols in order to track down where
these communications originated."
     In response to her last comment an unseen technician aboard the
communications ship told Tamara in her other earpiece that the audience
would not hear, "Queue archive tape." Tamara waited for word to continue.
     The unseen commentator spoke, "In recent footage taken only a few
sectans ago, Commander Apollo of the Galactica announced, "The Galactica
communications has picked up odd signals that I personally have
recognized as one of the Colonies most ancient languages, Kobol." 
     Apollo's image stood strong and proud aboard the bridge of the
Galactica. "It has taken our technicians two sectans to create a
translation matrix in order to decipher these transmissions. Although
these transmissions have raised many people's hopes, let me say that
prudence is our best response at this time. While the ramifications and
sheer odds of another alien civilization having coincidently created a
duplicate language to one of our most ancient languages is astronomical,
it's not entirely impossible, or this civilization could be an offshoot
of a forgotten colony."
     "The counsel has voted to send out more frequent patrols in the
hopes of tracking down this civilization, however, I caution everyone
that this is our first contact with any sentient life form in over
several yahren, it still does not preclude the fact that this is an alien
race and not the Thirteenth Colony. Although a certain excitement is
natural, I caution everyone to be patient until we determine who or what
this civilization might mean for us. As soon as I have any confirmed word
I promise that I will make it public knowledge."
     A near silent voice spoke into Tamara's ear, "Queue Tamara".
     Zeras the commentator asked her, "Tamara, any word on when the
council will adjourn."
     "Not yet, however I am sure that it shouldn't last more than another
centaur," Tamara said.
     Zeras asked her, "Rumor has it Commander Apollo has left the
Galactica and has not been reported anywhere in the fleet?"
     Tamara nodded professionally, "It's more than a rumor Zeras,
according to my sources Commander Apollo left sometime yesterday and has
not yet returned. According to every ships log book in the fleet,
Commander Apollo and Blue Squadron all launched late yesterday afternoon
and has not returned since then."
     "Tamara, if the Commander is nowhere in the fleet and all of Blue
Squadron went with him it indeed would seem to confirm the rumors of
Captain Starbuck finding the Earth."
     "That's right Zeras, but until I can speak to either Colonel Sheba
or the Council, we can only speculate on the importance of the Commanders
departure at a significant time such as this."
     Zeras switched her line of questioning, "Tamara, if this truly is
our first contact with Earth, then Starbuck's incredible career will have
reached its pinnacle."
     Tamara nodded, "If the rumors prove to be true then Starbuck would
ensure his legendary status for a thousand yahren and could rival that of
the Legendary Commander Cain".
     Tamara continued, "We will keep you posted as events arise. For IFB,
this is Tamara outside the Quorum's chambers onboard the Battlestar
Galactica."
     "Queue Zeras," the technician spoke into Tamara's ear. A moment
later her cameraman's red light blinked out.
     Tamara lowered her microphone and turned to the chambers, "If only I
could hear what their saying."
     Stiles, the cameraman grinned, "Tamara, you know that bunch of old
aristocrats are probably calmly and politely drinking carafes of ambrosa
while making the rest of the fleet fidget like a daggit on a sunspot."
     Tamara wondered.

***

     Inside the Quorum's chambers a loud man garbed in elegant robes
yelled at a high-ranking Colonial warrior.
     Sire Geller bellowed, "Ah, a, Stargate? Really Colonel! You take us
for fools! Where is Commander Apollo? I demand..."
     Sheba gritting her teeth and asked herself for the hundredth time,
'How does Apollo handle these buffoons?' "Sire Geller, I assure you what
I have been told is accurate. Commander Apollo, along with Blue Squadron
are on that planets surface right now speaking to people from Earth!"
     Geller a seasoned Councilor for many yahren now retorted, "Don't
raise your voice to me Colonel! Your husband may be President of this
Quorum and Commander of the fleet, but not even he will stop me if you
don't show respect!"
     "People please," Siress Tinia said in Apollo's seat while he was
away and with a quiet voice of authority. The aged woman was over hundred
yahren old. Which in a Colonial lifespan put her at mid-life. So far she
was the longest serving member aboard the council, dating back to the
destruction of the colonies themselves.
     When she had everyone's attention. "The Colonel is just reporting
what our military leaders have ascertained by these alleged Earth people.
Let's not jump to conclusions, instead lets face the facts."
     Siress Tinia continued in that matronly voice, "What we do know is
that an alien ship has fired on one of our patrol and after sending a
rescue shuttle and Blue Squadron to the planet where Captain Starbuck had
crash landed."
     Sire Geller not being a big fan of Starbuck and jealous of Adama's
son muttered, "Third viper he crashed in twenty five yahren."
     Ignoring his statements Tinia continued, "According to reports;
Major Boomer's team found a group of humans who claimed to not be native
to this planet but had helped Starbuck by taking him back to their planet
with a, uh, I am sorry dear, what did you call it? A Star door?"
     Sheba smiled, "According to reports these people call their
interplanetary device a Stargate."
     Tinia smiled appreciatively, "Of course, Colonel. Now although I do
admit that such travel sounds impossible I have to concede the point that
until proven otherwise we should accept our military officers report at
face value."
     Pausing only to take a sip of water from her glass she continued,
"Afterwards Major Boomer sent his team and the Med-Tech shuttle back.
Then Dr. Cassiopeia and he traveled to these, uh, peoples planet."
     "Colonel, would you continue, please?"
     Sheba nodded and said, "After Commander Apollo had received the
report from Flight Sergeant Cyphus he took a shuttle and Blue Squadron
back to the planet in hopes of opening a dialogue. That's about it. We
are still waiting for an update."
     Tinia smiled, "Now my esteemed colleagues, the fleet and the IFB
know something has happened? What shall we say to them?"
     Geller slammed his palm down onto the large table. "Nothing! I want
proof before we dash our peoples hopes."
     "Here, here" several council members murmured.
     A rather kindly sire inquired, "Excuse me, Colonel? If one believes
these reports then we can assume that Earth's culture is indeed
light-yahren ahead of our own. Can you provide more information?"
     Sheba told them what she knew, "From the reports we have gathered,
these people, seem to have an odd mix of technology. According to our
warriors reports while this civilization has mastered instantaneous
travel throughout their galaxy, they seem to be close too two thousand
yahren behind our own culture in most other areas."
     Tinia seemed confused, "Colonel, how do you account for that? Either
they are advanced or not?"
     "While having mastered their Stargate, apparently their science,
medical knowledge, and weapons appear to be similar to mid-fifth
millennium in the Colonial timeframe."
     Geller asked incredulously, "What? That's not possible. How can they
have invented devices that take them anywhere in the galaxy and yet are
thousands of yahren behind our most advanced thinking?"
     Sheba countered, "I don't have the slightest clue Sire Geller,
however, when the Commander returns I am sure we will have our answers."
     Geller started to respond when the council chambers opened quickly
and two warriors burst in unannounced.
     Geller already more than agitated stood up and demanded, "What is
the meaning of this? How dare you barge in here..."
     Sheba turned red with anger. Of all times to have her own son barge
in here and lower my credibility with the council even more. 
     Facing the senior officer she said sharply, "Captain! You better
have a good explanation for this!" Captain Hesphatus coolly responded,
"Excuse me Colonel, Councilors, but we have urgent information for the
council and you."
     Sheba crossed her arms and thought, 'This had better be good.'
"Well, what is it?"
     Troy interrupted, "Cylons."

***

     Omega had been back on watch for about a centaur now. His hands
flashed across his display panel as he performed a standard maintenance
routine on the scanners. This routine checked the scanners operability by
scanning up and down the frequency spectrum and then adjusted itself in
order to maintain optimum efficiency. 
     Omega of course could have retired and lived comfortably aboard the
Galactica for the rest of his life, but he reasoned life without purpose
was not living. That's why several of his colleague's died relatively
early in their retirement.
     Beep.
     His scanners registered a comm's signal that was out of the fleets
normal frequency range. Believing there might be something significant to
record he paused the frequency oscillation and started recording.
"Colonial... leet... fou... mai... dist... notify... C..n"
     The garbled transmission ended abruptly.
     Frowning Omega decided to keep the channel active on a substation on
the bridges lower terminals. After assigning a technician to maintain
surveillance he contacted the ranking bridge officer.

***

     Commander Apollo, Captain Starbuck, Doctor Cassiopeia, Major Boomer,
and Lieutenant Hera had just finished viewing the video Daniel Jackson
had shown them of the Earth. 
     Apollo breathed in deeply, "The Earth is more beautiful than I could
have believed!"
     Hera nodded her ascent, "Breathtaking." Hera's comment was followed
by similar ones from the other Colonials.
     Colonel Jack O'Neil, commander of SG-1 smiled, "Thank you sir,
however, Earth has its problems like any other place. It's not perfect,
but we call it home."
     Apollo turned serious again. Jack was amazed how he sounded like an
exited schoolboy and just as suddenly could then turn immediately into a
stoic Commander of sobriety. "Of course which brings me to the next topic
Colonel. Where do we go from here?"
     Jack turned to Daniel and nodded his ascent. "Well, sir" Daniel
began. "General Hammond who is the leader of the Stargate Command has
ordered our team to initiate contact with you and then return to your
fleet and open a formal dialogue with your people."
     Apollo nodded his affirmation. "I agree, however I must insist upon
one small item of business before we proceed."
     Daniel non-plussed raised his eyebrows questioningly.
     Apollo continued, "I want to go to Earth and see it first hand,
smell the air, see some sights for myself."
     Daniel turned to Jack who shrugged his shoulders.
     Daniel nodded, "Yes, sir, however, a full tour of Earth is not
possible at this time."
     Apollo smiled, "I don't have to see the whole planet Doctor Jackson,
just a small part of it."
     Jack cut into the conversation, "I think want Daniel is trying say
is that the Stargate is a classified project of our government and only a
handful of people on our planet know of its existence."
     Apollo nodded again, "Nevertheless, I insist."

***

     The Cylon task force sent to intercept the new foe comprised of
three squadrons of Cylon raiders. Baltar sent out the task force in
response to his patrol of raiders being destroyed by unknown humans and
alien alliance.
     Raiders were disk shaped fighters that comprised of three Cylon
Centurions. These mechanizations were tall gleaming metal warriors with
only simplistic skills. Due to these restrictions in the average
Centurions thought capacity it took three Cylons to pilot the fighter
compared to one human counterpart in a Viper fighter. 
     The Cylons only defeated the Colonies of man by overwhelming them in
sheer numbers and guile. In Cylon society, there are three classes; the
centurion that doubled as servants as well as warriors, the IL Series
models that ran installations, usually base ships and governor positions
in their cities, and finally the Imperious Leader. Imperious Leader was
chosen from the IL Series Cylons and underwent a procedure that added a
third brain. This third brain gave the ruler of the Cylon Empire an
almost human-like capacity. Of course being a mere machine these
abominations had no moral compulsions such as empathy, love, justice, or
tolerance.
     Only one objective: To bring order to the universe. Since the life
form of man loves individuality and resists perfection the Cylons have
digressed in their pursuit of perfection in favor of "Destroying Man
wherever they may be".
     To that end the Cylons relentless and obsessive pursuit of the
Colonial fugitives. If it is one thing the Cylons have learned it is that
unlike many other life forms mankind can be subjugated but can never be
defeated. Other races have lived peaceably under the Cylon rule with the
exception of mankind. 
     Humanity could be defeated but invariably mankind could always breed
new generations of rebels. To that end Imperious Leader came to the
conclusion that order to the universe could only be achieved by
eradicating this pestilence from the universe.
     Silently the task force traversed the void of space searching first
the last known position.
     The Task Force patrolled where the last scout group had been
destroyed and afterward would continue in a circular pattern like a
hunting pack of wild daggits searching for its prey.

***

     General George Hammond of the Stargate Command sat down at his desk
and called the dining facility and asked someone to bring a pot of coffee
down to him. That was one of the nice perks to being the Commanding
Officer and a General Officer.
     Hammond checked his watch and wondered how SG-1 was faring in the
negotiations. Jack was not due to check in for another three hours.
Hammond sighed. He hated waiting to hear how the results went; however,
he knew how to play the waiting game. An officer with his time in service
and seniority of rank did not get to be where he was at without a certain
amount of patience.
     Still, he sat in his office trying to concentrate on the daily
plethora of official message traffic and of course the never-ending
supply of email. Checking his electronic calendar he reviewed today's
list of events.
     Hammond had come in earlier than usual partly because he was having
trouble sleeping and partly because he really did need to catch up on his
paperwork.
     'This treaty,' he mused. 'It's vital to not only America, but to all
of the Earth.' His superiors at the Pentagon were putting undue pressure
on him to make this treaty work. 'Hell, he thought.' If another potential
ally that is more advanced than Earth refuses to share their technology,
then the Joint Chiefs of the Armed Forces might really pull the plug on
the Stargate program once and for all.
     Hammond could not allow that. Once before Senator Kinsey who headed
up the Armed Forces Committee tried to shut the program down and almost
succeeded, that is if SG-1 had not disobeyed direct orders to stand down.
Luckily for SG-1 the attack on Earth that Daniel kept talking about after
he returned from that mirror universe turned out to be right. SG-1
single-handedly destroyed two Goa'ould mother ships as they approached
Earth orbit.
     He smiled more in disgust than in fear. 'One day,' he thought. 'Just
one day before the final closing of the Stargate Command at Cheyenne
Mountain. Hell, I even ordered a veil put over the Stargate itself. If
SG-1 had not disobeyed orders, Earth cities would now be in ruins and
under the tyrannical control of Aphophis and there would not have been a
damn thing we could have done about it.'
     Hammond wondered absently, "Where is that coffee?"
     To his surprise a knock came at the door. "About time," Hammond
muttered under his breath, then cleared his throat and spoke with
authority, "Enter".
     Instead of an Airman with his pot of coffee, Major Davis, the
representative of the Joint Chiefs from the Pentagon entered his office.
     Hammond inwardly sighed and said, "The Joint Chiefs couldn't wait
till we heard back from SG-1 first?"
     Major Davis smiled apologetically, "Good morning General Hammond.
Sir, I realize this seems like the Joint Chiefs are snooping around but
they really are anxious to hear any word at all on SG-1's progress."
     A knock at the door interrupted them. Hammond frowned and said,
"Enter." An Airman from the dining facility walked in and set a carafe of
steaming coffee and a coffee cup on the General's desk. Hammond thanked
the Airman as he quickly departed.
     "Major, I think I am going to need that first cup before we go any
further."
     Alarms blared over the speakers above General Hammond's head. "Well,
Major the Joint Chiefs won't have to wait any longer."
     Major Davis frowned, "I thought SG-1 wasn't going to be checking in
for..." He paused to check his wristwatch. "Another two and a half
hours?"
     "No else is due back," Hammond said as he left his office quickly
with Major Davis close behind him.

***

     Omega turned his head as the turbolift doors to the bridge opened.
Colonel Sheba practically stormed onto the bridge, "Omega, bring the
fleet to a dead stop."
     Omega turned and issued the orders to the communications officer on
duty. "Colonel, what's going on?"
     Sheba turned toward him and grimly said, "Cylons."
     Omega stared at her a moment not quite sure he heard her right.
"That makes sense."
     Sheba frowned and asked, "Why do you say that?"
     "While you were in the Council Chambers we picked up a strange
transmission outside the fleets bandwidth. If I had not been performing
routine frequency modulation we would never had picked it up."
     "Cylons?" Sheba asked.
     "That's my guess, however, the transmission was not a Cylon
frequency our intelligence ever reported before."
     "Let's hear it."
     Omega nodded and played back the garbled transmission. When the
transmission ended he nodded. "We can't be for sure but the data from the
audio recording supports a Cylon origin."
     Sheba shook her head in disgust, "Keep monitoring that frequency.
Were we able to get spatial coordinates on the transmission?"
     Omega sadly nodded, "No Colonel. The transmission was so short that
we did not have time to home in on the signal."
     "I need more information. Have someone monitor that frequency."
     Omega nodded, "Already have a technician on it."
     Sheba changed subjects, "Any word on the Commander?"
     "No Colonel, nothing yet. We could try long range communications?"
Omega suggested.
     Sheba shook here head no. "No, I want complete communications
silence till we know for sure what we are dealing with. Issue the order."

***

     General Hammond and Major Davis entered the Embarkation room just as
the Colonel O'Neil stepped through the gate followed by the other members
of SG-1.
     Hammond tilted his head inquiringly, "Colonel?"
     Jack smiled, "It's all right General we met their Commander and..."
     Apollo arrived along with Boomer, Starbuck, Cassiopeia, and Hera. 
     "General Hammond, Commander Apollo. Commander Apollo, General
Hammond."
     The two officers exchanged greetings.
     Apollo smiled in earnestness. "General Hammond a pleasure."
     Hammond was surprised at Apollo's presence but managed to compose
himself. "Likewise, sir. Welcome to Earth and the SGC. I apologize for
not having a more formal setting arranged." Shrugging apologetically he
continued, "We did not expect your arrival so soon."
     Apollo nodded in empathy, "Think nothing of it General. Actually I
am too blame. Colonel O'Neil mentioned his orders, but after so many
yahren of searching, I had to see Earth for myself."
     Hammond smiled, "I understand." Then turning to Sam. "Major, please
escort our guests to the infirmary."
     Sam handed her weapon to Teal'c. Teal'c nodded in understanding.
"Commander, would you and your team please follow me. There's a brief
physical exam before we proceed."
     As the Colonials were led to the infirmary Hammond turned to Jack,
"Hell, Jack I said bring back word of their Commander, not bring him
back."
     Jack smiled, "Oh, I had nothing to do with that sir. Commander
Apollo refused to return back to their fleet till he got the fifty cent
tour of Earth."
     "Tour?" Hammond frowned.
     "Yes, sir. Said he wouldn't leave till he got to see not just the
Stargate but he had to see Earth for himself."
     "Colonel, I can't have an alien wandering around Colorado."
     "I agree sir. That's why I propose having Forty-sixth Aerospace
Defense Wing at Peterson Air Force Base give the good Commander a pretty
flight around Colorado Springs and maybe circle Denver and return. That
way..."
     Hammond smiled, "Right, then he can see but not touch. Good idea
Colonel. In fact I want SG-1 to host this tour." Turning to Major Davis
he said, "Major, contact the Pentagon and get authorization for this
"good will flight" and arrange for transportation."
     "Yes sir."

***

     After the Colonials brief medical screening they joined General
Hammond and the rest of SG-1 in the conference room. The conference room
had a similar setup to the tents on P2S89G.
     Hammond motioned to the empty chairs. "Please be seated. Commander
Apollo, due to secret nature of the Stargate program here at Cheyenne
Mountain we can't allow a walking tour through our cities, however, we
are prepared to drive you and your personnel to Peterson Air Force Base
where you will board a jet that will take you on a flight around Colorado
Springs. From there you will fly to another of our large cities, Denver
and return this evening to Peterson Air Force Base and finally drive back
to the SGC.  We will have VIP rooms waiting for you and tomorrow morning
we will have everything ready to return you too P2S89G."
     Apollo nodded, "Thank you General I believe that will be enjoyable.
If time permits I do have a few questions about Earth though. From what I
have heard I don't believe I have a clear picture of the nature of your
society."
     Hammond nodded his assent.
     Apollo continued, "For instance." Apollo glanced down at his Air
Force pad he jotted notes on back on P2S89G. "Earth is largely divided
into several factions I believe you call countries."
     At Hammonds nod he continued, "Further more, this country we are in
is called, the United States of America. Interesting name to be sure, but
what about the other countries? How can these countries with varying
levels of technologies and so many forms of government and religion, get
together for the benefit of mankind if there is no world government?"
     Hammond turned to Daniel, "Doctor Jackson."
     Daniel turned from his inner thoughts and said, "Oh! Um, well
actually, we, uh, don't"
     Apollo frowned, "Come again?"
     "Several countries do participate in "good-will" games of friendly
competition that we call the "Olympics." Every four years they compete."
     "Games, to the death?" Hera asked haltingly.
     "No. These are friendly sports competitions," Daniel said.
     Apollo nodded in understanding, "So this is how the people of the
Earth keep from fighting amongst yourselves."
     "Uh, no. Actually there are hot pockets of dissention and warfare
throughout Earth every year. Some are religious extremists looking for
any excuse to hurt people and others are dictators that just fight their
neighbor for gain."
     Apollo frowned. "You fight your fellow man?"
     The Colonials clearly were shocked at such barbaric behavior.
     General Hammond tried to smooth the moment, "Commander were not
perfect but unlike your culture fighting a common foe, Earth has not had
any extraterrestrial enemies until we started venturing out through the
Stargate."
     Pensively Hammond asked, "Does this affect your decision to migrate
to Earth?"
     Apollo smiled, "No general, that decision was made by my people and
the Council of Twelve about twenty-five yahren ago. Earth has been my
peoples last hope for survival." 
     Apollo frowned a little. "Although your technological level is not
the most ideal situation we will have to adjust to this new information."
Changing the subject he asked, "How will the people of Earth react if the
fleet suddenly shows up? I can only assume the general population will
panic."
     "The President believes that once your people arrive that the
world's leaders will agree to help with the shock of this news. If the
United States provides equal access and representation to your
government, the damage should be kept to a minimum.
     It also offers a unique possibility. As you know, the SGC is a Top
Secret installation and the general public are not aware of its
existence. If the general population knew of this program it would
undermine our effectiveness to function, not to mention scare them. There
would be demands from the leaders around the world to have access to the
Stargate and then even more scrutiny, possibly war on a global scale.
Knowledge of this facility would endanger the stability of the world
however; your people arriving on Earth will divert attention once again
from this facility. The President and Joint Chiefs believe that more than
likely Earth would unite under a formal bond..."
     Apollo suspiciously asked, "Under the United States?"
     Hammond smiled diplomatically, "Sir, the United States of America is
a peace loving nation. There is not another nation on Earth at this time,
which has a more mobile and tactical advantage than the U.S. If we were
an aggressive nation we would have conquered the majority of this planet
by sheer force, technological superiority, and numbers." 
     Apollo asked, "Doctor Jackson mentioned your peace keeping forces
are deployed throughout the Earth fighting in other countries you have no
dispute with."
     "That's only partially true, however, under the agreement of the
United Nations; the U.S. is only one of several countries deploying
troops to help other nations who are defenseless against aggressors that
would steal their lands, resources, or wealth. We also deploy to other
countries that directly interfere with our sovereignty."
     "Doesn't that prove my point, general?"
     Hammond countered smoothly, "Not at all sir, in the countries we are
currently deployed in, there are madmen who care little or nothing at all
for human life. America has deployed troops to assist in others needs and
also to protect our own interests abroad. In one of our previous wars in
the Middle East, a sovereign nation attacked a smaller, weaker nation
because they were wealthy and had an abundant natural resource called
oil."
     "Oil? What's that?" Apollo asked.
     Daniel intervened, "Oil is the cornerstone to our current level of
technology. Without it economies would collapse and stability of every
nation on Earth would be affected. Oil produces, heat, fuel, and
synthetics, such as plastic that is used in almost every other industry
in the world. As long as Earth requires oil, we will always have
difficulty, mainly because the largest concentration of oil is in that
region where most human rights are suppressed due too a strict religious
cast that demands total obedience or because the dictators in those
countries would simply kill anyone who opposes them. Either way these
older countries seem to breed violence in the name of their religion
regardless of what they preach. 
     With your level of technology added to Earth's, that part of the
world would no longer hold ransom the rest of the planet. It might be the
catalyst to ensuing a certain level of peace. 
     You see the people of those countries feel they are being defiled by
those who do not believe the way they do, and certain radical members of
these nations have terrorized the world by hijacking planes, killing
innocent women and children all in the name of their religion despite the
fact that it violates every ethical law of mankind."
     Apollo frowned, "Doctor Jackson, do you really believe changing the
level of technology of this planet would change individual beliefs of
their religion?"
     "No, that's not what I mean. By changing the status quo and not
depending on these other nations for oil, they become obsolete and are
pushed from the center of the world's attention. If they hope to move
into a new era with the rest of this planet, these nations will be forced
to police their own people and when money is involved, people and nations
change. When the worlds dependence on oil drops to an all time low; these
countries will do almost anything to maintain relations, not too mention
bring them in as an equal partner to the world community. Things would
have to change if they hope to be a part of what Earth will develop into,
or they risk losing out completely. Also with the adaptation of your
technology, Earth's global economies will be open to other opportunities
that should stabilize the world market. "
     "I see," Apollo said. Turning to Hammond, "So how do we proceed from
here, general?"
     Hammond looked at the table for a moment. "Well sir, whether we
proceed from here is dependent upon our mutual agreement."
     "On?" Apollo asked cautiously.
     Jack interrupted, "Technology, sir." 
     Hammond gave Jack sharp look but continued, "Frankly Commander,
almost every advanced race we have met through the Stargate has refused
to share any technology with Earth. Since Earth's space program is
relatively new I am sure you can see how important new technologies are
vital to securing Earth's protection against the Goa'ould. 
     For the past three years largely through the efforts of our team of
scientists here at the SGC, we have been able to learn a lot about
general concepts about space, but nothing substantial in the ways of
weapons or space flight."
     Apollo nodded, "I can understand your plight and if we do choose to
settle here we will indeed have to merge our two cultures."
     Jack raised his eyebrows, "If?"
     "I am being diplomatic Colonel O'Neil."
     "How about a sign of good faith?"
     Apollo frowned, "What did you have in mind, Colonel?"
     "I don't know, what about one of those viper thingies?"
     Apollo blinked in surprise, "Colonel, It's premature at this time to
be exchanging our fleets military hardware. Perhaps after I speak to the
Counsel certain arrangements can be made. I am sure you understand,
however, how about something more practical?" Pausing Apollo turned to
Hera. "Hera, why don't you give the Colonel your laser pistol?"
     Hera paused only a fraction of a moment. Reaching down she removed
her laser pistol and started to hand it to Jack.
     Jack stopped her short. "Major Carter, why don't you escort
Lieutenant Hera down to the lab and see what makes that thing tick."
     Sam looked questionably at General Hammond. With his nod Sam and
Hera left the conference room.
     Hammond faced Apollo. "Commander, As I mentioned to the Major and
Captain here, I have been authorized by the President of the United
States to grant your people asylum on this planet or relocate to any
other uninhabited world we have come across within the Stargate network,
providing we can secure an agreement to exchange information and
technology.
     "That sounds equitable, general," Apollo said.
     A siren blared over the loud speakers and the gate room attendant
announced, "Off World activation." 
     "Now what?" Hammond frowned.
     Jack answered, "No one is due back till tomorrow, sir."
     "Receiving Tok'Ra I.D. Opening the Iris." 
     Jack grimaced, "Oh, for crying out loud! General, don't you think
this its just a little suspicious that the Tok'Ra would be coming for a
visit at this particular moment."
     Apollo stood up in time to see the Stargate activate and three
individuals in tan colored tunic and trousers come through the gate. "Who
are the "Tok'Ra"?
     Jack beat Hammond to the punch, "Usually their our allies, but most
of the time their just a pain in the..."
     "Colonel!" Hammond interrupted.
     Jack just shrugged apologetically.
     Daniel interrupted, "Tok'Ra means 'Against Ra.' Their very similar
to the Goa'ould in that they inhabit a host in order to live."
     Starbuck frowned noticeably, "How are they different if they live
inside a human and control them?"
     Sam smiled, "Actually, unlike the Goa'ould they share a symbiotic
relationship with their host. Neither being controls the other. Each one
has a separate personality that uses the same body."
     Apollo asked over his shoulder, "Why would anyone ever choose to
live like that."
     "In exchange for life of the symbiote, the Tok'Ra extend the life of
their host to over two hundred years and the host enjoys perfect health,"
Teal'c added.
     Jack interrupted, "Hell, I'd rather die than have one of those
snakes in my head."
     Hammond frowned at him, "Regardless of Colonel O'Neil's opinion,
Earth and the Tok'Ra are our allies."
     A knock at the conference room door announced the Tok'Ra arrival. An
Airman opened the door to allow the Tok'Ra agents inside.
     Jacob Carter followed by two other Tok'Ra walked inside and smiled.
Jacob, a former US Air Force General Officer and Sam's father had been
dying from terminal cancer. He was given an opportunity to blend with the
Tok'Ra Selmac and he now lives off world as a Tok'Ra agent and a liaison
between Earth and the Tok'Ra.
     "George, Jack."
     Sam smiled, "Hi dad."
     Jacob smiled at his daughter; "Good to see you Sam, the Tok'Ra High
Command have received word from our spies in Heru'Ur ranks that he ran
into some aliens looking for their lost ancestral home and your never
going to guess where that is?" Pausing, Jacob noticed for the first time
the other group of humans in the room were wearing totally unfamiliar
uniforms. Sudden realization hit him.
     "Oh! Then again."

***

     Cylon fighters silently flew in perfect formation deeper into the
void of space.
     Inside the lead fighter, three metallic cybernetic life forms sat
motionless except to perform their duty.  Two seats in the most forward
of the craft sat the pilot and fire control Centurion. In the center of
the craft a third Cylon sat whose duties were to issue commands to its
crew.
     The commanding centurions single red rectangular optical sensor
slowly pulsed right to left in an never-ending cycle. He waited. Its
programming was to respond to threats to his ship, obey orders, and issue
them as well.
     Its bearing was neither complacent nor was it over zealous. It
simply was. It waited for combat. Current orders were for this particular
Centurion to lead four squadrons to the unknown human and alien alliance
and bring back a single human and alien. The rest were to be destroyed.
     A monotone machine voice announced in a voice neither high nor low
in pitch, "Scanners detect a large pyramid ship bearing Gamma Seven."
     "Life signs?"
     "Indeterminate."
     "Indeterminate?"
     "Scanners cannot fully penetrate alien vessel. An electronic field
is scattering raidon waves."
     "Pursue and destroy." The commanding centurion droned.
     "By your command." The pilot obeyed.
     The commander issued similar orders to the other squadron commanders
who relayed down their robotic chain of command.


     Inside Heru'Ur's pyramid ship his lead Jaffa reported. "My lord, at
least four squadrons of the saucer shaped vessels similar to the ones we
dispatched earlier are closing in on our position."
     "What word have we on my Teltac battleships?"
     "The will not arrive for some time, my Lord."
     Heru'Ur smiled mischievously, "Raise our shields and prepare the
main gun."
     "Yes, my lord."
     Heru'Ur knew his orders would be followed to the letter. Without
further consideration he went to an unmarked station and waved his hand
over a circular orb built into the desk. A panel opened up and a complex
scanning device quietly and smoothly extended out a foot from its alcove.
     He leaned forward adjusted the scanners controls and almost
instantaneously received a detail scan on the alien ships and its crew.
     His baldhead jerked up in surprise and then amusement. Stroking his
black goatee, "Machines. Ha! Their nothing but primitive machines."
     Quickly he adjusted the scanners controls once again and narrowed in
on the lead Cylon ship. A display monitor on the wall in front of him
produced complex patterns in shockingly fast rhythm. Pattern after
endless pattern appeared briefly and then just as quickly disappeared.
     The lead Centurion communicated to the unknown, "Attention,
attention, By order of the Exalted Baltar of the Cylon Empire release
control of your ship and prepare to be boarded."
     Silence followed. Inside his cybernetic mind a complex algorithm
executed per its programming. When no response was given he immediately
switched to secondary protocol.
     Calling to other Cylon ships, "Vectors Two through twenty arm and
attack."
     Cylon fighters dived in a classical pinwheel attack. Long white
bolts of fury discharged its Forty Megon loads mercilessly upon the
pyramid ship. Unfortunately for the Cylons it had no apparent affect on
this alien ship. A fighter dived too close to the pyramids hull and
collided with the ships shields exploding brilliantly into nothingness.
     The lead centurion saw this on his scanner, "What happened?"
     His pilot answered, "Raider Nine collided twenty metrons above the
pyramid ships hull."
     "Impossible."
     "No, the scanners registered the impact."
     "Speculate?"
     "The ship has an energy barrier protecting its hull."
     Wave after wave of ships dived in and out unleashing volley after
volley of laser fire. Occasionally an incredibly powerful red bolt was
fired from the pyramid. Its destructive firepower obliterated anything in
its path. By two's and threes Cylon wreckage littered space in ever
increasing number.
     Heru'Ur was getting impatient. Inwardly he thought, 'What blasted
frequency do these abominations operate on?'
     The frequency pattern paused a moment, then green lights flashed a
recognition signature.
     "At last." Turning his head sideways his eyes flashed a bright
yellow and he smiled wickedly.
     With an evil glee he entered the frequency and transmitted in one
fluid motion.
     At first nothing seemed to happen but after a few seconds a screen
that had been dark illuminated. An abbreviated text appeared. Heru'Ur
stared incredulous. "Are these creatures more primitive than the Tau'ri?"
     Once again he adjusted controls on a different device that attempted
to interface with the Cylons primary cybernetic interface.
     Green lights once again flashed and then he hit another roadblock. A
challenge and reply recognition code appeared on the screen.
     Heru'Ur sighed. Once again he adjusted another control that took
very little time to complete its mathematical calculations.

     The lead Centurion paused momentarily. He was receiving a signal
that for once in his indeterminate existence brought a sensation akin to
a human feeling of dizziness.
     He shook his head and was about to do a diagnostic when he received
new orders.
     Speaking to no one in particular he replied, "By your command."
     Then to all ships he communicated in the same monotone voice, "All
ships cease attack. I am to board the alien craft, all ships regroup in
formation.
     Oblivious obedience followed as all ships formed up and wait.
     In short order the lead centurions ship flew silently into the
docking bay he had been ordered to enter.
     The Cylon fighter landed in an enormous bay that had only recently
been cleared of some unknown accident. Burn marks blackened nearly every
corner of the large bay.
     Humans in medieval type armor continued to clear wreckage and
debris. A bald human with a black goatee and mustache stood waiting for
the Cylon ship as it powered down its engines.
     The lead centurion queried its only processor that passed for a
brain. It looked around from one centurion to the other. It must obey its
orders, but this did not make sense. No damage had been given to this
alien ship, so why would they surrender. He did not want to trust what
was happening, yet his orders were clear: Board the alien craft and have
all squadrons await further orders.
     It ordered the other two centurions to wait there. They turned in
unison and eyed him with a slow moving cyclopean red eye but otherwise
did nothing.
     It pressed the button to open the hatch and climbed down the stairs
that descended when the hatch opened.
     It reached the bottom and stepped onto the deck. Surveying the area
it silently approached the bald man and without any preamble stated,
"Surrender your vessel to the Cylon Empire."
     Uncharacteristically Heru'Ur laughed heartily, turned and smiled at
his Jaffa. Shocked at his seemingly jovial attitude the moment was lost
on his warriors.
     He turned too the Cylon and all traces of his smile erased from his
face. His voice sounded as if two people spoke at one time, "Kneel before
you god."
     Centurion knew this moment would more than likely come. Most
sentient life resisted the inevitable. Its programming relayed the proper
response. It withdrew its laser pistol and aimed at the bald man in one
smooth motion.
     Heru'Ur was prepared and retrieved a circular metallic ball from
somewhere on his person, it glowed brightly and then faded.
     Centurion paused, hesitant. What were his imperatives? 'Query. 
Respond. Respond.' It turned its gaze to Heru'Ur. Processing its
priorities. 'Priorities: To serve my god... Heru'Ur.'
     Centurion looked fully at his master, bending one knee to the deck
of the ship it said slowly, methodically, "By... your... command."

***

     Hera and Sam reached the lab when they heard loud noises from
inside. Sam's pretty face contorted into something Hera could not quite
read. Hera was about to ask what the noise was about when Sam reached for
the door knob and swung open the door to reveal a large room with
equipment lining every space along the rooms walls.
     The lab was expansive and had one large table inside with various
types of Earth and Goa'ould technology stacked upon it. 
     A young man sat with his back toward the pair. From the uniform he
wore Hera could tell he was Air Force. His outer BDU shirt had been
removed and he wore a black t-shirt, BDU pants, blue belt, and black
boots that stopped at mid-calf. He had dark black hair cut short in
Earth's typical military style. He grunted every now and then as he
rocked forward and then swayed from his perch on a stool he sat on.
     A large three-dimensional picture of a space battle played out in
front of him in perfect surround sound. The image was a freestanding
hologram that spanned over six feet in length and four feet high. 
     Hera thought, 'Holy Frack! I thought these Earth people were
primitive.' Instead she only said, "That's a..."
     Sam turned to her, "Hologram."
     The spaceship in the picture dived and rolled forward then
accelerated quickly as another space ship pursued it and firing its
lasers intently at it. The first space ship turned in a tight arc, then
plummeted straight down at ferocious speed. Stars appeared to streak by
the fighter at phenomenal speed. A second ship closed in on the first
space ship and opened fire again.
     Sam smiled apologetically at Hera as she tried to get the man's
attention, "Sergeant."
     The man in the chair swore as the pursuing space ship fired its
lasers and got a lucky shot on his space ship and damaged his shields.
     Sam raised her voice several decibels, "Sergeant Torres!"
     "Huh?" The man started from his game play and gave a glare at the
unknown noise until he saw his boss glaring at him. "Oh! Uh, damn! Uh!
Sorry, Major."
     Hera smiled at the sergeant's tenacity and thought to herself, 'He's
cute.' The sergeant quickly reached down to his laptop computer and
paused the game.
     Smiling he turned and stood up to his full height of five foot seven
and shrugged apologetically.
     Sam forgot her guest as she demanded, "Sergeant Torres, I thought we
had this discussion before about playing video games on Air Force
equipment?"
     Torres lowered his smile a notch, just enough to show deference and
respect to the major. "Uh, Major Carter, sorry I did not here you come
in. I wasn't using Air Force equipment, I was testing a new application
for the Vol-Que and I used my own laptop." Shrugging he finished with, "
I guess I got lost in the experiment."
     The Vol-Que was a Goa'ould device that recorded and displayed
holograms. The height of the hologram usually stood about hundred feet
high. All previous attempts by Sam's staff at altering the preset
parameters had failed. Usually the display would only show the bottom
most part of the picture.
     Sam lost her frown, "Sergeant, How did you do that?"
     Bryan Torres smiled conspiratorially at her. "I hacked the Vol-Que!"
     Sam smiled widely forgiving all transgressions, "What? How? We have
been working on that problem for over a year."
     Hera was beside herself with joy. If these Earth people could build
this type of technology they could revolutionize the fleets scanner
equipment and monitors.
     "Well, major, I just modified a program that interfaced with the
Vol-Que."
     She snapped her fingers, "Just like that? Our team has tried
everything we could think of and your telling me you just wrote an
interface program?"
     Sergeant Bryan Torres shrugged non-committal. "Actually, I can't
take full credit for it. I downloaded a "share-ware" program that would
identify the type of protocols used. It's similar to Sniffer Pro, then I
modified the datagram search parameters too perform the basic tasks I
needed. 
     Once I was able to identify those protocols and interface them with
a legacy command line program, I used the Goa'ould written text in the
SGC's database as a point of reference. Doctor Jackson has an English to
Goa'ould dictionary file loaded that..."
     Sam interrupted him, "Your telling me that basically in one day you
came up with this plan all by yourself and did what two PhD's and an
entire staff couldn't do in months?"
     Bryan just nodded his confirmation.
     "My God Bryan!" Smiling widely, Sam asked, "Tell me what else you
did?" 
     Smiling Bryan continued, "After that I loaded the interface program.
I added a simple "command line" based set of instructions that would
translate all of it into something I could use. Once that was done it was
real easy to locate the core memory, and map the whole thing so I could
have a dedicated connection to it. 
     When that was accomplished, I used an older "D.O.S." based version
of a video device driver program that would allow me to manually adjust
the Vol-Ques projection parameters..."
     Bryan and Sam went on like that for several minutes. Most of their
odd words were lost on Hera but she was very impressed. Clearing her
throat she got Sam's attention.
     Sam turned and with a fair amount of embarrassment apologized to
Hera. "Oh! I am sorry! Lieutenant Hera this is a new member of my staff,
Staff Sergeant Bryan Torres. Bryan this is Lieutenant Hera of the
Colonial Fleet."
     Bryan smiled amicably and offered his hand all the while he thought
to himself, 'Wow, she's hot! Too bad she's an officer. All the good
looking girls are.' Not missing a beat he offered, "Nice to meet you."
     "Likewise, Sergeant."
     Bryan snapped his fingers, "I get it! Your from those folks that are
looking for Earth, aren't you?"
     "That's right." Changing the subject she continued, "That is
incredible technology. Our Holograms are nothing like this."
     Sam smiled with pride, "Sergeant Torres is our resident "hacker".
     Frowning playfully Hera asked, "Is that what you call a computron
coder?"
     Sam's eyebrows furrowed for a second until she put it together
Hera's reference, "Ah, yes he is a computer guru. He transferred here to
the SGC a few weeks ago from the information security part of the Air
Force called OSI. Matter of fact, the sergeant almost went to jail over
it."
     Bryan looked elsewhere embarrassed as the story of his notoriety was
near legendary around the SGC and he had been there just over a month.
     "Why?" Hera asked.
     Sam elbowed Bryan in the ribs, "Come on, you know you want to tell
the story, again."
     Bryan fidgeted a bit before he began. "Um, as the major said, I used
to work for the O.S.I. Over there you learn a great deal about hacking
computers and how to prevent the bad guys from hacking your system. One
day I was investigating an Air Force officer at a classified location and
came across some information on the SGC." Pausing a moment he asked Hera,
"You know of course that the SGC is one of the U.S.'s Top Secret sites,
right?"
     Hera nodded.
     Bryan lost his train of thought as he gazed into Hera's soft brown
eyes. Her beautiful sandy blond hair. Her curvaceous...
     "So, that..." Sam prompted him.
     "So, so that prompted me to research this thing known as Area 52,
which led me on a wild goose chase that finally led me to the pentagon's
files on the SGC and its mission."
     Sam laughed, "OSI from his own squadron arrested him thirty minutes
later."
     Bryan frowned not amused.
     Hera pursed her lips, "But you're here, now?"
     Sam continued, "General Hammond received a call about Sergeant
Torres and in turn General Hammond asked Colonel O'Neil and myself what
we thought about a person who could do that. We both agreed that if
someone with no prior knowledge of the Stargate program could track us
down and hack into the Pentagon, we had to have him work for us."
     Bryan had by now had turned three shades of red. "After I was
released and signed an enormous stack of non-disclosure forms, I spent
the next two weeks preventing anyone else from doing the same thing. Now
I get to work on the best computers in the galaxy! Of course I got lucky.
If Major Carter and Colonel O'Neil had not intervened I would be in
Levenworth for the rest of my life."
     Hera motioned toward the motionless image of Bryan's game still
suspended in mid-air, "That's some programming."
     Bryan turned to his laptop, "It's my favorite, next to Quake."
     "So those machines lining the wall must be the computer?"
     Bryan looked confused for about a second, "No, that equipment has
totally separate function from the computer program. It's not related at
all to this game"
     Hera looked around, "Where's your computer then?"
     Bryan smiled as if he was teaching a child, "Right there." He
motioned to his laptop.
     Hera smiled playfully, "No, Sergeant, I don't mean your dumb
terminal, I mean where is the computer room that is actually running that
program?"
     Sam and Bryan looked at each other confused, "Uh, that is the
computer."
     Disbelief played over her pretty features, "No, come on. You're
teasing me, right?"
     Bryan and Sam were still having a hard time understanding what the
big deal was. Bryan walked over to the table, unplugged the A/C
electrical adapter cable from the back and handed his laptop to Hera.
"No, that's it."
     Hera took the laptop from Bryan and turned it over and over.
Understanding finally overcame her disbelief, "Wait a centon! Your, your
telling me this little box was playing that complex program?"
     Bryan smirked, "Yeah, why? I would think your space ship would have
better things than this."
     Hera turned too Sam, "Major I need to talk to my father right now!"

***

     Apollo and the Tok'Ra, Jacob Carter/Selmac were talking about the
Colonials journey when Hera burst into the conference room followed by
Sam and Bryan.
     "Father!"
     Apollo let his frustration show only for a moment, "Yes lieutenant?"
     "Look!" Hera said extending a small rectangular black box to him.
     Apollo turned it over and over wondering what to make of the box he
was given.
     Hera took the laptop from Apollo and set it on the table and opened
it up for him. The game that Bryan had been playing was still paused.
Hera pushed the pause button and the video game started running again.
     Jack smiled, "I see you met the notorious "Sergeant Torres".
     Apollo sat upright in his chair as his senses were assaulted by the
space based game. "What is this?"
     Hera smiled broadly and spread her hands out in excitement, "It's a
laptop!"
     Everyone one that was not a colonial seemed confused at the fuss
over a computer game. Bryan hurried over to his laptop and paused the
game and in a few moments he had hacked into the multimedia projector
built into the ceiling of the conference room via its infrared sensor.
After a few seconds the projectors lamp had warmed up and projected the
games image onto the far wall and played the sound through its speakers.
     Jack leaned over to Teal'c and asked, "How does he do that?"
     Teal'c raised his eyebrow but otherwise said nothing.
     Bryan played the computer game while the Colonials sat dumbstruck.
After a few moments Apollo asked Bryan, "How do you do that?"
     Jack answered for Bryan, "We don't know."
     Hammond smiled openly. "That's why Sergeant Torres is here. Now
Major Carter, would you mind telling me why you thought it important to
interrupt this meeting to play a video game?"
     Taking his cue on that, Bryan paused his game and stepped back
quietly. In the excitement he had forgotten the no-nonsense general
probably wasn't amused right about now.
     Sam stood up for her troop. "Sir, according to Lieutenant Hera, the
Colonials aren't anywhere close to our level of computer technology."
     "What?" Hammond asked incredulously.
     "That's impossible." Jacob frowned in disbelief, "No spaced based
culture could operate with any level of computer technology below this."
     Apollo was stunned. "You..." He cleared his throat, "Your saying
this little box did all that?"
     Hera spread her hands out in exasperation and smiled widely, "Yes,
father. These people are light yahren ahead of our computron technology."
     Apollo's composure dropped for a moment, "Holy Frack!"
     Boomer whistled and leaned over to Starbuck and whispered, "The
Commanders been hanging around you to long."
     Starbuck frowned noticeably but before he could respond Hammond
asked in a slow Texas drawl, "Commander Apollo, are you saying that our
computer technology is more advanced than yours?"
     "Yes," Apollo said incredulous.
     Jack sat back and smiled widely, "Cool."

***

     Bryan briskly walked up the stairs and rounded the corner. Pausing
to compose himself, he looked downward while he ran his hands over his
BDU shirt, smoothing any wrinkles. Noticing his boots could use a shine
he silently cursed under his breath. 'Oh Well!' he thought.
     After knocking on General Hammonds door he heard the general reply,
"COME!"
     Taking one more breath he entered. General Hammond was seated at his
desk and waited patiently as Bryan entered.
     Bryan quickly walked into the room and stopped three paces from the
general's desk and stood at attention, stared ahead at the wall and said,
"Sergeant Torres reporting as ordered, Sir!"
     Hammond's eyes twinkled with some unknown thought. "At ease,
Sergeant. Take a seat. What I am about to share with you is classified
S.C.I. Top Secret"
     Bryan nodded his assent that he understood the sensitive nature of
whatever it was the general was about to share with him." 
     Hammond regarded Bryan for a moment. "Hmmpphh. Son, ever since the
day I first heard your name mentioned, I knew you would be an asset to
this command."
     Bryan sat upright at the outright praise from the general. "Thank
you, Sir."
     "Your latest breakthrough with the Vol-Que is quite impressive
considering the fact that two people with PhD's and the rest of our staff
here at the SGC and Area 51 has not had any luck with that thing other
than recording new images, however, your latest stunt with that video
game..."
     Bryan's countenance paled noticeably, "Uh, general, I can explain
that, sir."
     Hammond motioned with his hand for Bryan to wait and smiled openly,
"Hell son, I am not upset, you gave us the trump card we needed in
securing the colonials trust and technology. That's exactly what the
president was hoping for."
     Bryan wasn't sure where this conversation was leading but so far it
looked very promising.
     Changing the subject Hammond asked, "I understand in addition to
your assignment with the OSI that you also spent your first tour in the
mobility where you got your real start working on mobile and tactical
computer networks?"
     Bryan nodded. "Yes, sir. I was originally trained in messaging with
exchange servers but I also operated routers, firewalls, DNS Servers,
SQL, QIP, Proxy..."
     Hammond waved him off, "Suffice it to say, you know a hell of a lot
about computers?"
     "Yes, sir." Bryan smiled.
     Pointing at Bryan, Hammond said, "Son, I have a job for you. You'll
be TDY at least one hundred and eighty days, perhaps longer. How would
you like go to another planet?"
     He didn't believe he could sit up any straighter than he was already
sitting, but now he felt he could almost fly. "Yes, SIR!"
     Hammond grinned, "That's what I thought. I am sure you are aware
that every advanced race that we have come upon has refused too share
practically anything in the way of technology with us. Although we have
had some breakthroughs such as the Naqahdah generator we haven't found
anything that will protect this planet."
     Bryan nodded his assent.
     "Everything we have learned at this point or recovered are due
largely too the efforts of people like Major Carter, the other SG teams,
and people like yourself. 
     What you might not know is that the Stargate program is under the
watchful eye of the head of the Senate's Arms Committee Chairman; Senator
Kinsey who is definitely opposed to this program. This command was almost
closed permanently once before because nothing substantial in the way of
weaponry or technology has been recovered. I don't want that to happen
again. It's vital that we secure the Colonials trust." Hammond paused a
moment to let that information sink in.
     "Before the colonials departed with SG-1 on their good will tour, we
were able to confirm a mutual written agreement too exchange technology.
Commander Apollo radioed his pilots on P2S89G and secured two of their
Viper fighters. Both fighters were transported here an hour ago along
with the pilots who will instruct our scientists here. Area 51 heard
about our good fortune and will be sending several additional personnel
and equipment to assist us. Next week the fighters will be transferred to
Area 51 for tests. We will be studying both fighters, one will be
dismantled for analysis and the other will be used to learn its
capabilities. We have high hopes that we will be able to reproduce
similar fighters in under a year. Commander Apollo has also sent for a
team of Colonial technicians from something they call the "Forge Ship" in
order to assist us in reproducing their craft quicker."
     "I take it sir, we have agreed to give the colonials our computer
technology?"
     "You catch on quick sergeant. We have agreed to give the Colonials
not only blue prints of our computer technology, but various types of
computers, programs, and essentially an entire computer network on their
Battlestar. I still can't believe a space faring race of humans could
have such primitive computer technology."
     Diplomatically Bryan put a good word in for Hera's people, "Well,
general. If what Lieutenant Hera said is true, the colonials concentrated
on space craft and weapons for over a thousand years."
     Hammond nodded, "This project is very important and that's why I am
putting you in charge of the installation team. Major Paul Davis, the
Pentagon's liaison doesn't know it yet but he's going TDY as well and
he'll be the officer in charge, however, you will have complete control
of the installation and training coordination of this project. 
     I need you to go back to their fleet and work with their scientists
and technicians. Give them anything they want except classified
information of course. As part of our agreement with the colonials we
will supply them with all components to build a complete computer and
communications network on their battlestar. Afterwards, it's up to you to
show them how to use the equipment and maintain it."
     Mentally Bryan quickly considered how large a space craft carrier
would be, the equipment involved, 'Assuming it was twice as long as a
Navy Aircraft carrier and just as many decks, it would be...'
     "Whew! That's gonna be expensive."
     "You just tell me what you need. Anything in the world and I'll have
it here in twenty four hours."
     "What about personnel, sir? It's going to take people in certain
fields of expertise."
     "I can't spare any of our personnel, however, make a list of active
duty members in any field of expertise you don't have in addition, list
all associated equipment and I'll get them here. Be sure to include a
training staff of personnel with all associated materials, and training
equipment. I'll expect that list in two hours." Hammond stood up
indicating the meeting was clearly over.

***

     Bryan finished gathering his equipment together. He reached over and
double-checked his list. 'Had to make sure I get everything now. Can't
run down to Best Buy and get the latest software or download any software
drivers, patches or service packs from the internet.' He thought to
himself.
     The deadline that General Hammond had set for two hours was barely
met. Bryan had spent his time well and quickly emailed the comprehensive
list to the general and then just to make sure he phoned the generals
secretary to make sure Hammond knew to check it. 
     His list of people that he personally knew who could do the job was
short, considering the clearance level needed. 
     Bryan was assigning three people he knew well to be his project
leads. All of them were experts in their fields and some crossed over
with the others. 'Harry Colton knew fiber optics, Joe Daily knew more
Unix than anyone else Bryan knew and Bob Cranton could work magic with
just about any type of messaging and communications package.' Overall,
the experience level being brought into this project was huge.
     A whole slew of support personnel from the Air Force Technical
School would be recalled along with their associated training equipment
and materials. These highly trained and experienced personnel were
ordered to report no later than tomorrow morning in Colorado. 
     There was going to be a whole lot wives that were ticked off at
Bryan. Actually, at the Air Force in general, but the needs of the
service outweighed personal needs. Bryan chuckled to himself. 
     The Colonials and SG teams were the first group leaving tomorrow
morning. They were scheduled to leave at "oh eight hundred hours." That
wasn't much time. The second wave of training instructors from the
technical school would arrive tomorrow. It would take twenty shuttles
from the Galactica to transport all of the equipment and personnel of the
first wave from P2S89G.
     The president was obviously serious about all of this because after
talking to one of the sergeants upstairs, Bryan had heard that the
general had called the president and thirty minutes later the base
commander from the technical school had called Hammond personally wanting
to know what the hell was going on and complained that the computer
networking part of his technical school would be effectively shutdown for
several months. The classes that were scheduled would of course have to
be cancelled and would impact the entire Air Force for the rest of the
year. 
     Due to the classified nature of the Stargate program the general
could not say anything to the base commander except generalities. The
conversation ended with a final curse from the base commander as he hung
up on the general. 
     The orders stood as they were. Everyone that was going had to be
here no later than tomorrow. 'Those poor suckers! Once they rush through
military personnel flight office to ensure their paperwork is in order;
wills, life insurance, and any last minute changes, they would all end up
at the hospital and get any shots they are overdue on, then they would be
dismissed to go home and pack. Unfortunately, they can't tell their
families where they are going.'
     'Once they muster at the airport, a large jet would be chartered for
a direct flight to Colorado Springs. There gonna be up all night. When
the training group arrived, they would "In-process" filling out the
necessary paperwork for a deployment. Even though everything was checked
out at their last command, they would endure it all over again; making
sure everyone was up to date on their ancillary training of small arms,
CPR, First Aid, Chemical, and Biological, Nuclear Warfare training, Law
of Armed Conflict, etc. After an hour of that, then the group would all
march down to medical for another screening. Hopefully they will be able
to get a bite to eat after that.' 
     'Afterwards the group would probably be taken down to "Equipment
Issue" where they would receive "Off World Packs" consisting of cavlar
helmets, 9 MM pistols, first aid kit, canteens, flak jackets,
flashlights, radio with batteries, life bearing vest to hold some of
these items, two ammo packs, and various types of field equipment for
this type of an deployment. Finally, after any last minute verification
is completed the entire group would receive a security brief by SGC
personnel and finally be told were they were going and what the mission
was. With barely any time to recover from the shock of their actual
destination they would almost be out the door.' Needless to say those
airmen would be drop dead tired from the all nighter they pulled.'
     Bryan had a stray thought, 'I wonder if you can get gate lag
traveling to a world that is in an opposite time zone?'
     He shook off that thought, 'When they find out it was all my doing,
well, their either going to be pissed off or their going to be ecstatic
at the prospect of intergalactic travel. One thing for sure, their
spouses are going to be angry because they can't ever be told where they
went or what was so "god awful" important about Colorado.' Bryan smirked
for a moment then continued with his inventory.
     Bryan's thoughts switched to his portion of the equipment necessary
for this venture. The equipment necessary for this venture took up
forty-three pallets and that was just the first wave. The training staff
would have as much or more. It had taken over sixty airmen two hours of
fussing over the Air Force Instruction manual on pallet building before
any progress could begin. The teams of pallet builders would be up all
night finishing that project.
     After a consensus of the procedure was taken and modifications to
the first pallet had been perfected the large group of men and women
split up into ten teams. These pallets were large metal sheet pallets
that had spaces in-between them for a forklift to pickup. Equipment would
be stacked in a specific manner, then wrapped in a single plastic sheet
to protect it, and securely tied down with cargo straps so no shifting
would occur during transport. Upon completion pallets could not be higher
than ninety-six inches high and could not overlap the plywood that rested
on the metal pallets. Tying down of cargo straps was not an easy process.
Load balance of the pallet added to secure strapping determined the
overall integrity of the structure. It was a time consuming project that
was all but fun.
     The inspection team came by after several pallets had been completed
and found over half of those pallets were built wrong and made the team
do it all over again. 
     After inspection everything would have to be weighed. Much of the
equipment from the technical school would be shipped by C-130 cargo plane
late tonight. In order for the training staff to go home and pack and
prepare for this classified mission, other squadrons from the base where
the technical school was located stayed up late that night and built the
pallets for the training staff.
     Bryan's list of equipment being shipped was large: two hundred
laptops with NICs, a vast amount of miscellaneous software, several
desktop computers, ancillary support equipment, computer supplies, flat
screen LCD monitors, several small but powerful multimedia projectors,
power converters, UPS, surge protectors, writeable cd-roms with blank
cd's, floppy disks, miscellaneous office supplies, HF, UHF, VLF, SATCOMM,
Microwave, Laser encryption, cryptologic devices and supporting devices,
conduit, twenty miles of fiber optic cable, eight miles of category five
UTP cable, phones, sound powered phones with eight miles of salt and
pepper lines, eight powerful tactical mobile server suites that cost more
money than Bryan would earn in a decade, twenty unbuilt equipment racks,
telecommunications suites, switches, hubs, routers, manuals, Air Force
publications and directives, and any other device needed for a
telecommunications closet, server room, training school, and support
staff. The most vital of all the supplies; eight pallets of M.R.E.'s, six
full crates of U.S. manufactured sweets, snacks, soda, beer, and of
course a hell of a lot of DVD movies and associated equipment for morale;
such as video games, board games, computer games, etc. 'After all,' Bryan
reasoned to himself, 'No self respecting computer geek would settle for
anything less.' The former of which General Hammond questioned but
finally relented at the audacity of the sergeant. Bryan could be very
persuasive when it came to snack food and movies. For all practical
purposes this group would be alone for several months with no support
from Earth and more than likely very little, if any correspondence with
their spouses. Morale needed to be maintained. 
     In regards too the members of the Air Force, the service typically
tended not only to their members immediate needs but also to esoterical
and personal needs more than other branches of the U.S. Military. The
premise behind their thinking was "If we take care of our personnel and
their families, the member will be free to concentrate there all for the
Air Force."
     Many items needed that could not be purchased and obtained in such a
short amount of time were quite literally taken off supply shelves,
combat units, and depots. Everything considered it was nothing less than
a miracle that a deployment of this magnitude could be purchased and
organized in the amount of time it had taken. As soon as a pallet was
built, another shipment of supplies arrived from several bases around the
United States. Logistically it was a nightmare because Cheyenne Mountain
was a top secret military base that literally had one way in and one way
out. Built into the heart of the mountain that had elevator shafts bore
deep into it that accessed the lower levels. Cargo transferred inside
reached a bottleneck and after realizing the difficulty of palletizing
and equipment issue, General Hammond had ordered an assembly line to be
created outside of the mountain. A receiving area was established and
tents were hastily constructed that concealed much of the activities.
Most of the pallet building were done by personnel from the surrounding
air bases who had been shortfalled in order to reach the deadline.
     This endeavor would be a sacrifice to all involved, however, Earth
had already received a huge payoff. Those viper fighters were the first
faster than light spacecraft that Earth had received and in a year, maybe
two the Air Force would have squadrons of those fighters. Bryan had taken
the time to see one first hand. 'Whew! Those ships were beautiful! I
would love to fly one of those.' Sighing to himself Bryan knew that would
never happen. Being an enlisted, non-commissioned officer (NCO) he would
never fly, not even the soon to be antiquated Air Force jets such as the
F-15 Eagles and F-16s's Falcon fighters.
     Bryan picked up his laptop computer and thought about other things.
Do to the nature of the high profile visit with the Colonials, the SGC
had received not only Earth's best computer systems, but the Tok'Ra
fearing that they might be left out of the Earth's new fan club had
graciously donated several programmable Vol-Que for Earth and the
Colonials. Not too mention the blueprints to them as well. Of course
manufacture of these devices require raw Naqahdah. The same element the
Stargate was made of. The problem was that the SGC had only found small
amounts of the invaluable mineral and the Tok'Ra definitely weren't
sharing too much of that. So Earth would have to depend on the Tok'Ra for
the time being. Major Carter had received permission from General Hammond
to set aside a portion of the Vol-Que Naqahdah in order to build more of
the Naqahdah generators. This invention was a wonderful addition to the
SGC's technical capacity.
     Bryan sighed, "We'll get this world up to speed without the Tok'Ra."
     Bryan's thoughts were interrupted by a voice,  "You don't like the
Tok'Ra do you Sergeant?"
     Spinning around he was pleasantly surprised to see Hera leaning
against the doorframe. Smiling he changed the subject, "How did you like
your tour of Colorado, Lieutenant?"
     "Beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous!"
     "Like you." Bryan said to himself, or so he thought.
     "Excuse me?" Hera asked.
     Bryan's look of shock drained almost all color from his tanned face.
"I, I, What?"
     Hera recovered from Bryan's revelation and smiled, "Uh, thank you
but, are all Earth people so blunt?"
     Bryan winced and mentally chastised himself, "Did I say that out
loud?"
     Hera nodded with a smirk on her face.
     "Uh, sorry Lieutenant, I did not mean to offend you or disrespect
you in anyway."
     "Relax sergeant. I appreciate your honesty but you really should
work on your method of delivery." Dismissively she waved, "Come on! Show
me that computer game again. I want to play it for myself."
     Later that evening Sam checked in on Bryan. By now the familiar
sounds from Bryan's computer game filtered outside of the lab's door.
     Smirking Sam expected to see Bryan playing on the computer but was
surprised to see Bryan with his arms folded and his head down on the
table, snoring quietly. Two trays of nearly empty food sat off too the
side, abandoned by the owners. The real surprise was seeing Hera hunched
over the laptop computer playing the space game that Bryan had played
earlier that morning. She held a game pad in both hands and grunted to
herself. The Vol-Que displayed Hera's progress. She was definitely good,
Sam had to give her that much. 'I guess being a space combat pilot she
would be good.' She thought to herself.
     "How long have you been playing that?"
     Hera started at Sam's voice then smiled, "Hi Major. I dunno, a few
centaurs? Did you know that laptop plays something you call a "movie"?"
     "Glad Sergeant Torres is making you feel at home." Sam smirked.
     "Yes, after he feel asleep I started playing this game again."
     "Well, why don't we call it a night? Come on, I'll show you to your
guest room."
     Hera stopped the game and stole a quick glance a Bryan. His mouth
was open slightly and drool was hanging to one side. "Should we wake
him?"
     "Probably not, he'll be fine. I'll make sure he gets up in time
tomorrow."
     Sam changed the subject as the women stepped out of the lab, "What
movie did you watch?"
     Hera paused, "Something called Star Wars: Episode One."
     "Did you like it?" Sam asked with raised eyebrows.
     Hera nodded, "It was good, but that "force" felgercarb wasn't
realistic."
     Sam chuckled to herself as she closed the door, "I wouldn't tell
Bryan that if I were you."

***

     The SGC Personnel standing watch on P2S89G had mingled well with the
colonial pilots. They had shared stories of both cultures and all in all
spirits were high. Several card games had started on several makeshift
tables and various colonial and Air Force tents. In one tent a mixed
group played the Colonial version of poker they called "Pyramid", while
other tables played poker itself. Cubits, dollar bills, and coins were
piled high on all tables. A gray haze of cigarette, cigar, and Colonial
fumerello's filled the tent and hovered near the ceiling.
     The smell permeated every tent. If the occupants were concerned
about second hand smoke, no one showed any evidence of it. Everyone was
having fun except three SGC airmen and three colonials who were left
guarding their respective equipment and machines.
     Airman first class Aaron Stanton stood a few feet from the Stargate
explaining best as he could about its function to a colonial warrior
named Corporal Jothas.
     Jothas looked at the Stargate with open disbelief. "I dunno it
doesn't look like much does it?"
     Aaron shrugged. "It works."
     Jothas began to ask him another question, "Yeah, but taking a man
apart and flinging his molecules across the galaxy doesn't..."
     The Stargate's symbols starting spinning and the first chevron
quickly locked into place. Jothas having never seen the Stargate in
person started to ask something, but Aaron beat him "What the hell? No
one's due back till tomorrow morning?" Aaron swung his weapon around and
chambered a round. It made a loud clicking noise. He thumbed the
semi-auto tab on the side of his M-16 rifle.
     A hundred yards outside of the pyramid Senior Airman Sharp was
looking longingly at the tents where all the laughter was coming from. An
insect buzzed his ear and he swatted at it. He then heard a garbled noise
over his radio attached to his vest, "Huh?" Then he pushed the send
button on his radio, "Say again, over?"
     Instead of a response on his radio he heard the distinctive sound of
gunfire coming from inside the pyramid and Aaron's voice, "Oh! God! We
got..." The radio went silent for a moment and then the unmistakable
sound of rounds being fired filled the night air.
     Sharp turned to face the pyramid and lowered his weapon, chambering
a round and transmitted, "Aaron, what's going on in there?"
     Aaron's voice came over his radio one more time, "...Aaahhhhh..."
Several Colonial warriors and SG members came running out of the tents at
the sound of gunfire.
     He looked over his shoulder and turned just in time to see several
Jaffa warriors coming out of the pyramid toward him. At the head of the
warriors was a man with a bird-like head whose eyes glowed menacingly
red. Sharp reset his weapon for auto fire and managed to get several
rounds off before a bright light hit him square in the face and was
hurled backwards several feet by the force of the staff weapons
discharge. The Horus guard did not miss a step as he ran over the charred
remains of the fallen soldier.
     After the initial confusion it was a free for all. The SG units and
Colonials took what cover they could from surrounding trees. Those
without proper cover dropped low to the ground and began firing.
     The night was filled with the noise of machine gun fire, lasers, and
staff weapon blasts. Smoke clouded the area like fog hanging over a
spooky graveyard littered with corpse.
     Several Jaffa fell as they tried to overrun the combined ranks of
soldiers and warriors. The Jaffa was a genetically engineered super
soldier who was just as deadly in a weapons fight as they were at
hand-to-hand combat.
     The Bird like Horus guard swung his staff weapon up and connected
with a colonial warrior sending him sprawling into the air and in the
same fluid motion spun on his heel and fired at a SG member hitting him
full in the chest.  The human flew backwards and landed in a smoldering
heap upon himself. Lifeless eyes stared at nothing at all.
     Bullets and laser fire swept past the Horus guard as he spun his
staff in a downward sweeping motion, knocking an airman off his feet and
then he stepped on his trachea, making a sickening crunching sound. In
the melee he never saw the airman clutching at his throat rocking
violently side to side in a vain attempt to breathe as he slowly
asphyxiated to death.
     Another Jaffa fell, then another, but the humans were dropping at a
faster rate.
     Captain O'Connor saw his men and the colonial numbers dwindling
fast. Cursing to himself he made his decision and ran as fast as he could
darting from tree to tree. His mind raced ahead thinking, 'I have got to
get to the Stargate and warn the SGC!'
     As he entered the pyramid the Horus guard turned in time to see him
enter. "Jaffa! Cree!"
     O'Connor knew he was a dead man but he had to try and warn Earth.
Frantically he began to enter the combination on the DHD. Willing the
gate to spin faster he cursed, "Come on! Dammit!" 
     A laugh filled the antechamber and O'Connor turned quickly and
brought his weapon to the ready. A pair of red eyes trained on him and
then a bright light filled the chamber followed by silence.

***

     The Stargate on P2S89G spinned through its final sequence. The
seventh chevron locked into place activating the wormhole.
     SG-1, the Colonials, Major Paul Davis, and Bryan were the first
group to arrive. It was decided that due to such a large convoy coming
through the gate that the transition would be in twelve phases. The Air
Force always considered safety a top priority.
     Teal'c was the first one to realize that something was not quite
right. "O'Neil! I believe there was battle."
     Jack looked around. "Hey? Where's the guards I ordered posted at the
gate?"
     Everything was quiet but he could smell the lingering scent of ozone
in the chamber. Jack keyed his radio attached to his black vest, "Sierra
Golf Eleven this is Sierra Golf One, over." When he got no response he
asked again, "Any Sierra Golf unit this is Sierra Golf One, come in,
over."  General Hammonds voice came through his radio, "Colonel O'Neil,
what's going on over there?"
     Jack looked side to side and told the entire group, "Fan Out.
Commander Apollo, Doctor Cassiopeia, stay to the rear of the chamber.
Torres stay with them!" 
     "Yes, sir!" Torres said and quickly took out his 9mm berretta pistol
and slid the safety mechanism off. He pointed it upwards and warily
looked into the shadows.
     "Teal'c! Take point." Then he transmitted to General Hammond, "Sir,
it doesn't feel right. There is the smell of staff weapon fire, the
guards I posted at the gate are nowhere to be seen and SG units don't
respond. We are moving forward."
     Apollo pulled his communicator out and tried to contact his group
with no response followed by the others.
     Hammond replied, "Colonel proceed with caution, I am postponing the
convoy until the area is secure I'll have SG-5 and SG-9 sent over in five
minutes."
     "Roger that, sir," O'Neil said.
     Boomer, Starbuck, and Hera came up behind O'Neil with laser pistols
drawn. Boomer asked, "Colonel, we are ready to assist you, just assign us
positions."
     "All right Major, for now stay in the rear flank and cover us."
     Boomer wasn't happy with that order but kept it to himself and
nodded, "Yes, sir."
     The mixed group cautiously moved forward looking for any signs of
trouble. Their eyes were not prepared for what they saw. "Oh! Crap," Jack
said.
     The Earth and Colonial camp was completely destroyed. A couple of
tents more or less still stood but were smoldering. Smoke rose lazily
into the air from tent and corpse alike Nothing remained of the colonials
festive colored tents but burned marks and slag of the metal poles. It
appeared as if fire from heaven had rained down, consuming every living
thing. Pockmarks of scorched earth occasionally littered the area. Trees
that had provided cover during the firefight also had several pockmarks
from blaster fire where the humans had attempted cover while smaller
trees lay toppled over where stray blasts had hit.
     What was left of the Viper fighters were smoldering and overturned
everywhere Hera could see. She could see the shuttle off in the distance
but could not make out if there was any damage.
     Hera's pretty face contorted in pain and disgust at the
indiscriminate murder around her. Everywhere she looked Colonial and
Earth bodies alike were scattered abroad. People she had worked with and
even trained her at the Academy littered the area. Tears streaked down
her cheeks in fiery succession. "Oh God!" she said as she looked at body
after body lying dead all about the camp.
     Sam reached out to touch Hera's shoulder and started to order Hera
back into the pyramid when she shrugged Sam's hand away and used the
sleeves on her jacket to wipe any remaining tear away. Steeling herself
against the horrid sights, a mental mask of fierce determination replaced
the other vulnerable one.
     Something inside Hera had changed. She could not put it into words
but seeing her comrades laying dead and the unprovoked attack had somehow
had changed her. A warrior's resolve replaced her anguish and she wrapped
her fear and insecurity deep inside that blanket of protection. 'I wonder
if this is how my parents and my grandfather Cain dealt with tragedy?'
she thought. Although she had never met her legendary grandfather his
stories lived on in the fleet, academy, and of course first hand  reports
from her parents and Starbuck.
     Inside the pyramid Apollo fidgeted. He could not see himself waiting
around while his daughter and best friends protected him, "Oh! Frack.
Cassie stay here." He drew his laser and quickly exited. Bryan quickly
assessed the situation. 'Stay with the doctor or the imminently more
important Commander of the Colonial fleet'. 
     Bryan's thoughts whirled around him 'protect the woman or the man'?
Not liking the dilemma he still had to make a judgment call, "Sir! Sir!
We are supposed to stay here! Sir!" Pausing for a second he ran after
him. "Oh! Crap! Doctor follow me." 
     Jack turned in time to see Apollo come out of the pyramid followed
by Torres muttering something unintelligible, and then Cassieopea emerged
a short time later. Apollo came up beside Jack and waited. Jack frowned,
but otherwise said nothing as he turned his attention to searching the
camp for an enemy.
     Bryan unconsciously came up beside Hera who had wandered over to the
left side of the camp nearest the tree line.

***

     Inside the gate room General Hammond waited as the seconds turned
into minutes. He paced behind Sergeant Weaver wringing his hands
together.
     Trying to be helpful Weaver suggested, "Sir, we could open the gate
again and try contacting SG-1 to get an update?"
     Hammond smiled a little, "Lets give the Colonel some time he may his
hands full."
     Below him doors opened up and eight men in full battle gear, armed
to the teeth ran into the embarkation room below him.
     Hammond hurriedly motioned to Sergeant Weaver, "Belay that, open the
Gate!"

***

     Jack passed the remains of an SG tent and ordered, "Fan out."
     Before Jack could issue anymore orders a flash of light whizzed past
his him, missing him by mere inches. "Take COVER!"
     Blast after blast came at the mixed group. Jack not having any other
cover dropped to his belly pulled the lever on his weapon back chambering
a round and quickly flipped a switch that put his weapon in full auto. He
fired several shots in quick succession with his P-90. Bullets pierced
Jaffa armor and the alien warrior went down.
     Bryan and Hera dove for the cover behind a cluster of trees. They
both sat up with their backs to the trees. Pulling their weapons up into
the air, they nodded to each other in unison and leaned out to take shots
at the Jaffa.
     Staff weapon shots blew pockmarks of earth around the team. The
Colonials blasters had much greater effect as they were built to pierce
Cylon armor. The Jaffa left behind was a small group and their numbers
dwindled fast.
     Boomer seeing a perfect shot squeezed off a laser blast at a Jaffa
killing him instantly, however did not see another Jaffa to the right. A
staff weapon blast hit him in the shoulder with a glancing blow and a
blast to his upper thigh. The blast spun Boomer in a wide half circle
that knocked him roughly down to the ground. His shoulder and leg
smoldered with two circular six-inch burn marks.
     Starbuck seeing his friend fall threw caution to the wind and jumped
up running full gait to him while simultaneously firing several laser
blasts, "Boomer!" Reaching out he grabbed Boomer with one hand and
dragged him to the safety of the tree line. The Jaffa ducked behind cover
momentarily to avoid getting hit. 
     Major Davis had stayed with Cassiopeia and motioned to a pile of
debris that might provide cover. Cassie reached the wreckage first,
followed by Davis who dived for cover. He told her to keep her head down
and then got to his knees. He leaned out too far taking a shot and was
hit in the arm and fell down sideways clutching it with his good hand.
Cassie began tending to him immediately.
     Jack saw his team members and high profile guests being shot and
called a retreat, "Fall BACK!"
     The Jaffa warriors pressed their advantage and moved in for the
kill. Jack seeing the end near got to one knee, extended his arms out in
a fluid motion and fired his entire magazine at the group hoping to give
Apollo time to make it to the tree line, while he screamed, "DIE!"
     Before the end came a continuous deafening noise suddenly filled the
air. Jaffa warriors dropped in two's and threes. Jack turned and a smile
lit up his countenance. "YES!" He said. 
     Teal'c uncharacteristically smiled and said, "Chel Nak!" Which quite
literally translated into, "Very cool." 
     SG-5 and SG-9 had arrived with a portable M61A1Vulcan cannon machine
gun on a rotating stand. So intent on the battle and the roar of weapons
no one heard the airmen when they arrived, nor did they hear them anchor
the deadly Vulcan machine gun to the stone beneath it. The wide ramp
leading down from the pyramids entrance provided excellent vantage point
for the unassuming Jaffa.
     Six barrels spun round and round firing twenty-millimeter shells at
over six thousand rounds per minute.
     The Jaffa never had a chance and they knew it. The four remaining
Jaffa fled into the woods. Unfortunately, it was in Bryan and Hera's
exact direction.
     Hera turned and leaned against the tree that was providing her with
cover. She took her commlink out of her belt and started to call Apollo.
A blaster bolt hit near them and Bryan's eyes widened in horror as he saw
the remaining Jaffa running in their direction. He grabbed Hera roughly
by the arm and drug her up to a standing position and together they ran
as fast as they could, "Come ON!" he yelled. A blaster bolt blew tree
trunk parts where Hera's head moments before had been. In the confusion
she dropped her commlink on the ground.

***

     When the last Jaffa warrior fell, Apollo and the others got up and
turned a smiling face to Jack who let out a sigh of relief. He went over
to check on the others who were already assisting Major Boomer.
     Cassiopeia started work on Boomer. Smiling she gave him some
medication via a small metallic object. "This will help with the pain,
Boomer." A few microns later Boomers eye dulled as the medication did its
job.
     Starbuck cast a furtive glance at his wife. "How is he?"
     She smiled confidently, "Laser burn, nothing too serious. I can
treat his basic injury and sedate him, but we need to get him back to the
Galactica within twenty four centaurs so I can regenerate the nerve and
muscle damage."
     An Airman half carried Major Davis who sat down next to Boomer.
Standing up Starbuck went over to Apollo who was calling out to Hera.
Turning to Starbuck he asked, "Have you seen Hera?"
     Starbuck turned his head looking for her. "No." Then reconsidered,
"Wait! She was over there with Sergeant Torres." He pointed to some
trees.
     Apollo and Starbuck ran over to the area where Hera was last seen.
"Hera! Sergeant Torres?" 
     Jack approached Apollo as Starbuck wandered over behind the trees
and stepped on something hard. Reaching under a bush he picked up a
metallic object. "Apollo! Over here." Starbuck said. He handed Hera's
commlink to Apollo.
     Apollo's color drained from his face as he stared in the direction
his daughter had fled, "Hera. No!"

***

     Baltar had learned at certain measure of patience over the yahren.
Pursuing the last remnants of humanity to Hades and back afforded certain
gifts.
     Two centurions guarded his command chamber. On this rare occasion
Baltar stood below his diaz instead of sitting far above to look down at
his minions.
     Twin glass doors parted with a musical hiss to reveal Lucifer. This
IL Series Cylon was quite different from his Centurion brothers. His
outer shell was shaped more like a man, except his head was teardrop
shaped and made of a clear synthetic. Inside his two brains sparked and
light danced in a random pattern as his circuits processed his thoughts.
Two brains brought Lucifer to a near sentient state.
     Unlike the Imperious Leader of Cylon who had a third brain that
allowed full sentience and who could full process abstract thoughts and
truly think Lucifer would be confined to a rather frustrating existence
of near sentience without the full benefits. This conundrum of existence
did little to remove the irritating attitude of impertubility that had
always angered Baltar.
     Despite the two individuals being dissimilar in almost every way
they shared their hatred of mankind. In that one subject both agreed
completely. As for everything else they bickered on nearly everything
else.
     "Baltar, I bring yet again grave news."
     Baltar flashed him a warning glance, "Out with it you irritating
imitation of a man."
     Unperturbed Lucifer relayed, "Of the four squadrons of raiders sent
out today, only a single fighter has returned."
     Baltar's veins stood out and threatened the old mans health, "WHAT?
One SHIP! How could this happen! I swear Lucifer if your toying with me
I'll have you broken down for spare parts."
     "I assure you it is true. The ship is landing as we speak."
     "Have that pilot brought to me immediately!"
     "By your command", Lucifer purred. With nothing else to be said he
padded silently out the glass door.

***

     Inside the returning raider, three Centurions powered down the ship.
In uncharacteristic voice that flowed smoothly and near human like the
Lead Centurion ordered, "I will go to Baltar's chamber and secure him and
Lucifer. You two take separate raiders and implement our lord Heru'Ur
orders."
     The other two agreed, "Agreed."
     Two Centurions left the raider and the third powered up his craft
and waited for the outer doors to be opened manually.
     The Lead Centurion headed toward the central stair access but was
cut off by Lucifer.
     The third pilot from his ship walked with a smooth fluid gait nearly
twice as fast as a normal Centurion.
     Lucifer began, "Centurion, you will accompany me to our illustrious
leader, Baltar."
     "That is precisely where I was headed."
     Lucifer nodded and then realization processed through his second
brain, "Fine, where is that other pilot going? What? What did you say?"
     The Centurion extended his hand, "I extend my hand in order to
perform the following function."
     An orb glowed brightly from his hand while Lucifer had nearly
succeeded in calling the two Centurion guards near the stairwell when he
felt a strange sensation and his body spasmed uncontrollably. In that
precise moment as his second brain fought desperately for control as an
unknown force attempted to alter his programming, he noticed a strange
black mark on the Centurions head. It symbol was shaped as a avian
creature of flight.
     In short order the effort proved futile but the damage had
overloaded his circuits, in a sharp movement Lucifer bowed his upper
torso and the sparks in his cranial cavity ceased. He had not been
destroyed but his brain had temporarily shutdown all-higher functions for
a pre-allotted time in order to purge his systems.
     By now the two Centurions guarding the stairwell had taken notice
and pulled their blasters. Too late. The modified Centurion activated the
orb again and they staggered a bit before the new programming took
effect.
     A fourth Centurion had entered from another access portal in time to
see the whole event transpire. It turned sharply and hit an alarm on the
wall next too the portal. Speaking in a slow methodical voice, "Alert,
Alert, hostile force in Landing Bay Two. Aleeeerrrrttt."
     Silenced the centurion paused then righted "himself." The first
Centurion ordered, "Open the Landing Bay Doors."
     The Fourth Cylon nodded and obeyed.
     So it went, the original Cylon gave all three converted Centurions a
similar orb and they quickly and efficiently managed to convert the
entire ship in under a centaur.
     Baltar was beside himself with fear and agitation, "Where's Lucifer?
Seal the ship!"
     A Centurion guard acknowledged and the pair exited quickly. From the
passageway a bright yellow light flashed erratically spilling eerie light
everywhere.
     Frightened further Baltar backed up to his diaz and waited for the
unknown monster that approached.
     Three Centurions entered, probably the two he just ordered to find
Lucifer and lock the ship down. They all looked alike to him and he could
never tell them apart from the others. He relaxed visibly and demanded,
"I thought I told you fools to secure the ship?"
     The third Centurion approached Baltar, "We give the orders now,
Baltar." Baltar flinched at the near human voice spoke as a man.
     "What treachery is this? I order you..."
     "YOU order no one around here traitor."
     "But, but, I am your Commander! Now! I order you to go!" Baltar
spoke with more courage than he felt.
     Then Baltar witnessed the strangest thing he ever seen a Cylon do,
including Lucifer, it laughed. It simply laughed at him. 
     "We no longer serve you or the Imperious Leader. We now serve our
god, Heru'Ur!" He indicated with his blocky fingers a black symbol on its
forehead. 
     For the first time in over twenty yahren Baltar truly feared for his
life.

***

     They ran for so long that their arms and legs felt like jelly.
Unable to run anymore they stopped in a clearing. Bryan gasped for air
and bent over, while Hera gulped for air and collapsed to her knees.
     Bryan panted, "I think we lost them."
     She was about to agree with him when a blur of motion caught her
attention. Two Jaffa burst into the clearing where they sat and opened
fire on them. A blaster bolt barely missed Hera as she fell sideways and
in one fluid motion drew her weapon and fired at the attackers. One of
the Jaffa went down as he received the full force of the laser pistols
discharge.
     Bryan fell backwards onto his rear and fumbled for his pistol as a
blaster bolt caught him in the chest near his left shoulder and spun him
around where he lay moaning. Bryan reached for his weapon but his holster
was empty.
     A flash of light from Hera's weapon and the other Jaffa was picked
off his feet and landed hard in the underbrush. The smell of burning
flesh filled the air from multiple sources.
     Hera ran to where Bryan had fallen, "Bryan!" Turning him over she
saw the pain etched on his face. "I'm, I'm alright," he stammered.
     Hera winced noticeably at the stench of burnt flesh but stifled her
revulsion and took off his black vest noticing the melted fragments of
his radio had melded with the flak jacket and the uniform jacket
underneath. 'That protective armor had saved his life but he's still
hurt.' She thought. "The laser burn doesn't look too serious," Hera said
as she gently removed a portion of the flak jacket. Bryan fumbled at his
side. "First Aid kit," he said wincing.
     Hera moved his trembling hand and took the med kit out. With Bryan's
instruction she got the right supplies and began patching him up. Hera
used the emergency field scalpel to carefully remove the melted fragments
of the flak jacket, coat and shirt from the wound. Blood flowed freely
from his wound after she had removed the melted remnants. 
     She cleaned the would as best