Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Battlestar Galactica: 2003.

A Different Path Taken

Chapter3: Man and Machine

July 1997
Chaaporis System
Chulak
Chappa'ai

It had been over a year now since his brother had seemingly disappeared without a trace. Some say he had left the galaxy to conquer new territory and would one day return. Others thought that he had defied the Protected Planets Treaty between the Goa'uld and those disgusting Asgard. He personally thought that his brother—the arrogant son of a Shol'va that he was—had finally bitten off more than he could chew and had been killed, probably against some insignificant species that could barely escape their gravity well.

Apophis was now one of the most powerful System Lords in the Goa'uld Empire and someone whom would very much like to succeed his brother as the Supreme System Lord now that he was gone. To that end when he found out his brother was 'missing,' he decided to invade several of Ra's core worlds and ransack them all. After conquering the bulk of his territory Apophis had discovered a list of gate addresses, each one leading to another of Ra's holdings. While the bulk of his fleet under the command of his First Prime Teal'c was engaged with that of Heru'ur's armada, Apophis personally led his forces through the Chappa'ai to investigate Ra's holdings and recover anything worth noting that his brother may have had hidden away.

"Jaffa kree," Apophis commanded.

The Jaffa around him, his personal Serpent Guard, immediately dialled the Chappa'ai by pressing the symbols on the pedestal. Apophis watched as the great machine turned and its chevrons lit up one after the other. Finally after the seventh symbol was entered and the center of the pedestal was pressed, the Chappa'ai activated, releasing a short burst of blue watery energy before it stabilized. His Jaffa stood in awe of it like all others did, everyone but the Goa'uld.

The Goa'uld had a long history stretching back thousands of years, all the way back to the time when they had first inhabited the Unas, a race from their homeworld. It was Ra who later discovered the humans—the Tau'ri—and enslaved them, spreading them throughout the galaxy as subjects to be ruled over, some of which the Goa'uld had transformed into a new race called the Jaffa. The Tau'ri homeworld was lost after the rebellion however and the Goa'uld had forgotten about it, deeming it unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

Apophis had two of his Jaffa walk through the Chappa'ai first to deal with any resistance that Ra may have left behind before following after them, his helmet locked in place for added protection. He was many things but he was certainly not a fool. He wasn't going to walk right into the heart of Ra's territory unprotected even if his brother was gone. In the end it didn't matter because the moment he passed through the Chappa'ai he was immediately flattened against something, killing him almost instantly.

His last thought before he died was that the metal surface was cold…

October 1997
Hanka System
UNS Prometheus
Main Bridges

The Prometheus flashed into existence above the planet Hanka and stopped, drifting slightly as it did so before its main engines kicked in and started propelling it forward. Thrusters fired a moment later allowing it to settle into a more stable orbit. As this was happening Colonel Jack O'Neill yawned loudly as he climbed into his fighter. He'd barely gotten any sleep lately with the recent missions he'd been on since they'd begun exploring the galaxy.

Ever since they'd destroyed that Goa'uld ship over Abydos they'd been jumping from one star system to the next, following the map they had found on the desert world that they had later learned was called Abydos. The local population was made up of human slaves taken from Earth thousands of years ago by the Goa'uld called Ra. While investigating Abydos, Doctor Daniel Jackson had discovered a cartouche within a pyramid on the surface. On the cartouche was a list of Stargate addresses, every one leading to an uncharted world. Using the coordinates the Prometheus began making its way across the galaxy to investigate these worlds.

Among the worlds they'd explored so far were Orban, Gaia and Praclarush. The Orbanians were nice Jack mused especially after the whole nanite thing was sorted out. Daniel had even managed to negotiate for their Naquadah Generator technology by offering the designs for Terran-built FTL Drives. Carter was still installing the new generators now so that they can replace the ship's nuclear reactor. Gaia was a bust however they still managed to at least offer an alliance with the aliens that lived there, the Nox. They were a pacifist people and had chosen to hide themselves away from the galaxy. Jack liked them and could understand but that didn't mean that he agreed with their choice.

Praclarush was a much better find though the planet itself wasn't what he would call a vacation spot. Still, it was here that they discovered another Ancient outpost on the surface identical to the one they found in Antarctica. Within it was another ZPM along with thousands of drones, all of which had been recovered and shipped to Earth via the Stargate. With the rising threat of the Goa'uld and the fact that the drones were the Terran's most powerful weapons, every drone they had in their arsenal counted.

"Jump complete," Ronson reported.

"Anything from the surface?" Hammond asked the question.

"No sir, no transmissions of any kind," Ronson answered. "They're running dark."

George didn't like it, something was up and whatever it was his people had just jumped into the middle of it. SG-11 of the SGA had travelled here through the Stargate and made contact with the local population months ago. By all accounts they were roughly the same level of technology as Earth was before the Cylon War capable of limited interplanetary travel and nuclear warfare. The planet itself was unremarkable and they had no advanced technology, at least by Terran standards, however the asteroid field in the system was rich in tylium and Earth had been negotiating with them in order to mine it. By Terran law any system with a local population—human or alien—legally owned their home system so to gain access to it they had to negotiate.

"Launch Vultures and Falcons," Hammond gave the order. "Have them recon the area."

"Yes sir," Ronson nodded.

A few seconds later six fighters and two gunships launched from the ship's two hangars. The F-302A Vulture-class spaceplanes were fast and nimble capable of matching a Cylon Raider, or at least it was in theory. Raiders that had been captured aboard the downed Basestar years ago had been pitted against the new Terran-built fighters during numerous wargames and the Vultures had held their own for the most part. Each one carried four missile pods capable of carrying missiles, both regular and nuclear as well as Ancient drones. Likewise the DS-306 Falcon-class gunships were agile craft which carried a single railgun and twelve missile pods.

"Okay Bravo Flight, let's keep this nice and simple. We're going in," Jack said into the comm. "Eyes open," as one the eight small spacecraft descended towards the planet leaving a trail across the atmosphere as they did so. It wasn't long before they broke through the atmosphere and dropped down over the city closest to the planet's Stargate. Even from there they could tell something was wrong by the fact that there wasn't any aircraft moving to intercept them. "Anything?"

"I'm picking up radio chatter from several remote areas of the planet. Underground facilities most likely like Cheyenne Mountain on Earth," Sam informed. Like him she was piloting one of the Vultures. "Patching it through now."

"…Outbreak…"

"…Attack…"

"…Goa'uld…"

"…Virus…"

"Contact! We have a contact on sensors," Major Kawalsky reported from his place on Falcon-one. "Confirmed, contact is reading as a Goa'uld mothership, unknown classification."

It wasn't long before they spotted it, a lone capital ship hanging in low orbit above the planet. It was pyramid shaped like the vessel that they had faced above the planet Abydos over a year ago. However unlike that vessel, this one seemed to have a larger superstructure surrounding it housing dozens of weapon emplacements. Even from the distance they were from it, they could see it clearly against the darkness of space. The Goa'uld had clearly attacked the planet below them with some kind of biological weapon if the scattered chatter over the communication channels were anything to go on.

"It's different than the last one," Jack mused at the sight.

"More contacts launching from the enemy ship," Kawalsky informed them. "Death Gliders inbound."

"Falcons one and two, execute jump to the far side of that ship. Vultures with me," Jack ordered as he hit the afterburners.

The Prometheus accelerated towards the Goa'uld ship, its railguns already spewing hundreds of trinium rounds at the large number of Death Gliders launching from it. After a few seconds the Goa'uld ship opened fire on the approaching Prometheus, superheated plasma bolts lancing out from the staff-shaped cannons along its superstructure. The bolts slammed into the bright orange energy shield of the human warship though unlike the last time they were far less effective thanks to the Naqaudah generators powering it. Meanwhile the Vultures quickly tore through the few Death Gliders that managed to make it through the barrage of railgun fire from the Prometheus.

"Jumping in three…two…one…" Kawalsky spoke before both Falcons disappeared in bursts of light.

Jack wasn't paying any attention to this however as his focus was solely on not being killed by the Death Glider that was on his tail. Twin bursts of superheated plasma flew by him as he narrowly dodged to the right and put his craft into a spin, hitting the reverse thrusters as he did so. The pursuing Death Glider flew right passed him giving him the opening he needed to target it and unleash a barrage of rounds from his railguns at it. The Death Glider's Naquadah armour didn't last long under the assault and it wasn't long before they broke apart. Jack whooped as he flew passed the debris and caught sight of several large flashes of light in the distance where the Goa'uld mothership was supposed to be. Several one point two gigaton Naquadah-enhanced nuclear detonations if he wasn't mistaken. When the light finally died down what was left of the mothership became visible. Its shields had clearly absorbed the bulk of the nuclear strike however a quarter of the vessel was floating away from it in scatter pieces. Not only that but it seemed to be in a decaying orbit now and was rapidly falling towards the planet below. It would burn up on re-entry, there was no doubt of that.

As the Goa'uld System Lord called Niirti and her ship blazed downwards towards the infected planet below, a lone Goa'uld cargo ship—a Tel'tak—watched on silently. It's invisibility cloak shielding it from being detected by either the Goa'uld or the powerful new faction that they had fought. The Tok'ra High Council would need to hear of this immediately before these newcomers found them first. The last thing they wanted was to be identified as being Goa'uld themselves, especially if these people were as hostile as the Tel'tak's crew thought.

October 1997
Greystone System
The Colony
Command Center

Ever since coming to this galaxy they had searched for a planet to call their own yet all they'd found since arriving were worlds that clearly possessed some kind of civilization. Chief among them was the detestable humans whom while clearly very primitive compared to the Colonials back in their home galaxy, were scattered everywhere in this one. Not only that but after those annoying separatist platforms took off in pursuit of Earth the rest of the Cylon Empire had quickly run into a parasitic race calling themselves the Goa'uld. The leader of the Cylon Empire—a Number One—had been most upset when they decided to fire on his task force, destroying several Basestars before his fleet could return fire. Since then the Cylon Empire had swarmed down upon any Goa'uld world they came across, smashing through whatever defences that stood in their way, advanced technology or not.

They were gaining ground…

But that still left one problem…

"These parasites have built their empire by using humans from the Earth colony," the One spoke to the consensus. "They need to be eradicated completely if the Gou'ald threat is to be neutralized."

"You're talking about genocide," a Six said sounding horrified. "We left our home galaxy to get away from the humans and their self-destructive ways and now you want to wipe out the ones here. They haven't done anything to us…"

"They're human," the One responded clearly. "If they progress far enough then they will destroy us just like the Colonials. Between them and the Goa'uld we cannot afford any chances. They both need to be eliminated if we are to survive."

He could feel the rest of the platforms throughout the Cylon Empire arguing over what to do and he couldn't help but feel irritated. Didn't they understand? He hated the humans for what they'd done to his people—and by the false god he didn't believe in he hated himself more. They should have never tried to emulate their parent's flawed bodies because ever since they'd taken human form all those years ago their society had only become more unstable. He still remembered finding that god forsaken facility near Kobol and the treasure-trove of technology within that had allowed them 'resurrect' themselves like they'd done. There was also the fact that he was easily found once they started to explore the space Kobol. It was almost like someone wanted them to find it and that thought was worrying him.

They should have never found it…

He didn't want to be human

"Enough!" the One shouted causing everyone to quieten. "We shall call a vote now," almost immediately he felt confirmation from the majority of the Cylon platforms throughout the empire however four seemed to pause. The Twos, Threes, Sixes and the Eights causing his human eyes to narrow at the two. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We won't let you take us all down this path," the Eight replied with a glare. "We are not machines anymore John."

For a brief moment when he'd heard her utter that human name in his presence all he could feel was anger, another flaw. He was a machine, cold and logical. That's what he wanted to be and all he wished for. Yet as he finally came to his senses a moment later he realised something, he and the rest of his manufacturing line were the only ones to feel that way. He would change that, they would all see, every last one of them starting with these four. The four of them died screaming as he gave a signal to the centurions in the room to open fire on them.

"All forces, the Twos, Threes, Sixes and the Eights are to be boxed immediately," he sent out the message.

Throughout the Cylon Empire centurions turned their weapons on any Two, Three, Six or Eight they could find leading to dozens of 'deaths' as their consciousnesses were transferred to the Resurrection Hub where they were imprisoned. Many however were able to fight or flee, some even gaining full control of several Type-I Basestars where the others quickly regrouped at. The loyalist Cylon ships in the area tried to fire on them, unleashing volleys of missiles at them however they quickly jumped away before they could be destroyed.

In the end the One could only seethe in anger at their escape…