Planetary Body 82-32 Constellation
Fifteen Weeks After Contact with the Goa'uld
Raptor 935 slowly pulled into orbit over a beautiful green-blue world which could have been any world in the Colonies, except for the single sun glowing millions upon millions of kilometers away.
The Raptor wobbled its wings in a playful little gesture as Raptor 926 cut its engines, the dull orange-yellow glow of its exhaust dimming, and settled into a geo-synchronous orbit of its own. Within minutes 926 had disappeared, the tan, blocky bird too far to be even a speck in the distance.
Captain Melicia Upland unbuckled her harness and moved forward, tossing herself into the co-pilots seat on Premie's left. She fiddled a little with her helmet until snagging the release and pull the face and jaw plates forward and felt the cool air of the Raptor hit her face. The temperature was a bit low, but she needed the chill to keep her awake. A couple of hours of sleep a night were starting to run their toll.
"Raptor 935 to Argus, flight path locked into computer, continuing with orbital reconnaissance zero-six-one. Mission time… five hours," Premie said over the wireless. Argus quickly responded, confirming the details and sending a data packet with new information gleaned from Raptor 853's recon flight.
Premie continued running a check list while her eyes scanned the little jewel of a world below, marveling at the creation the gods' had set in motion billions of years ago.
The planet was nearly eighty-four percent water and dotted with thousands of small to medium islands, none larger than a few hundred kilometers end to end. There were two primary continents, the north boasting three fifths of the planet's population and three extensive mountain chains, with rain shadow regions and plains, and temperate climates on the coasts.
The southern continent was considerably smaller and U-shaped, with an isthmus connecting it to the northern continent at the eastern tip of the U. Mountains in the east produced a small rock desert until the coast and was sparsely populated, but in the west were lush jungles, expansive savannahs, and roaring rivers from the rain caught in the mountains and providing for extensive irrigation works.
The two were alone on the Raptor, which had been sent for a special little recon mission to what looked like a communication satellite but wasn't and then tasked with nothing more exciting than a search and doc- document everything the optics and sensors found, do not drop below X altitude, and report back to Argus after four hours which had taken up an orbit on the far and obscured side of the moon.
"Gods, Upland, you look like a kid during Zeus Invictus," Premie said, giving her a strange look over her shoulder. "It's just a planet."
She returned the look and added in a little eye roll. On Valkyrie she hadn't socialized much with the stealth pilots, only assigned to Valkyrie temporarily for the Cylon mission, but on Argus the two had become fast friends. She'd also become friends with Major Usher and Captain Ophion, the only two Marines officers on the battlestar with combat experience against an alien force. The four of them had been socializing and playing pyramid and going on V-World adventures in their spare time, though Premie had been pulling a lot of CAP and recon duties for some odd reason.
"That world represents a big step for us, Premie," she whispered, locking her vibrant hazel eyes on the planet. She decided to be a little dramatic and point emphatically to it. "It's remarkable… we estimated nearly three quarters of a billion people on this world, completely cut off in the middle of nowhere. And they're an industrial society. Teal'c told us that was rare in this galaxy."
Premie tapped a control, tapped it again, and then coughed, finally getting the young captain's attention. "And it's polluted." He pointed at the spectrographic readings. "They still use fossil fuels, radio, and I'm not seeing any sort of mesh activity. They don't have advanced space flight and the world's in the middle of nowhere."
"They did get to their moon."
"Yes… wow. A probe transmitting the same radio signal over and over. What was it again?"
Upland took a moment to think then snapped her fingers. "It was; we claim this moon for the people and government of the Great Sirisi Alliance."
Premie shook his head. "Gah, yeah… like we aren't walking into a fraked up situation when a nation starts a space program and launches a rocket to their moon just to troll the enemy. It might just be easier to go down and nab the gate. We haven't seen any indication they're even using it, and that DHD thing is missing. Right?"
"And how do we take a gate which is right in the middle of a city?" She crossed her arms. "Take it? The city it's in is their capitol; four million inhabitants, half a dozen major military bases, and gods know what type of military reaction force."
Major Amorak and Gaius Baltar had modified the Argus DRADIS capabilities by tying them in with the radiological sensors to scan for the large amount of naquadah in a Stargate. When Argus had jumped in it had lit up the boards like a 'Christmas tree' (whatever that was) and the radiological alarms started going off; a planet in the middle of a cold war with nearly a thousand nukes was the last thing anyone had expected.
Since they'd jumped into the system Raptors had been running recon constantly, and they'd tapped into the communications. The 'Great Sirisi Alliance' was some economic and military consortium of the larger continent's north-western nation states, divided from its competitors by a mountain chain to the east and a long, expansive isthmus to the south, leading to the second continent.
There was also evidence of nuclear explosions and half a dozen devastated cities and the remnants of enough tanks and vehicles for a half dozen armored divisions.
"We could send Raptors down. We could jump them right above the city and it's in a big park… you ever done low atmo combat jump, Upland?" She shook her head. "It's not just like any jump, not even close. When I did the training I'd jumped nearly forty times in Raptor. But you feel more alive, the adrenaline, just knowing your jumping towards a planet, that ground just sitting there, sinisterly waiting for you to frak up and jump into a mountain…"
She felt relaxed enough with Premie to play around with him a little. "Okay, Commander Cain, if we want to take it do we use metron gas or do we use Argus to launch a suppression bombardment across the city and kill tens of thousands?"
Premie had run the recon which had taken video of the capitol city. The gate had been spotted in the middle of a circular park, with paths radiating off the center like spokes, each leading to another monument. The 'monument park' was large, easily a good klick in diameter with a large freeway circling it, buildings, and foot traffic.
Premie gave her a 'what the frak' look and didn't hide his surprise. "Cain suggested we use metron gas? Gods damn, really?" He looked half way between shocked and disgusted.
Melicia felt the same. Deploying metron gas on a starship was one thing, but on a city? Frak. That.
"Yeah… well, to be fair, Colonel Catus made the comment off hand when Cain asked if it was possible to just take the gate." She hummed, mouthing a 'yeah'. "The colonel just stated the facts; we don't have enough troops so we'd have to go and cause mass chaos to pull it off. The only way to do that is either detonate a nuke in their atmosphere to EMP them, launch a space bombardment, or use gas. Commander Martinili and Proconsul Asselo basically said 'frak no', and she just shrugged."
The presidential envoy, Henri Asselo had been adamant in not wanting anyone hurt, and had shot down the idea of taking the gate by force or coercion. Commander Martinili, the Argus CO would have to personally authorize metron gas, and he was damned well not going to be the first commander in a hundred years to use it on civilians.
"You don't really like her."
Melicia rubbed her neck. "We don't get along."
"Gah, okay… understatement, Upland, and she's on her way to getting a battlestar. And from what I've heard, she's an ideological clone of Admiral Cain, so yeah; she's going to be aggressive- better than nothing." He shrugged. "She's Tauron, what do you expect?"
"Hey, you're not supposed to do that." She scolded.
"What?"
"Single people out based on their colony," she said, trying to sound serious. "You did get the memo right? The president doesn't want that."
"Yeah, the grand social experiment," Premie rolled his eyes, "frak that. I can't think of anyone I know who gives a frak what colony you're from as long as you do your job. Bunch of political BF, and it's not like it's a bad thing. People from different colonies act differently but that doesn't mean we aren't in this together."
Melicia hadn't intended to start an argument. "You're in a bad mood."
"Yeah, well, I want to get back to the Colonies as soon as we wrap this up."
She studied him for a few long seconds, Premie flicking his eyes over and he put up a valiant effort to pretending like he didn't care why she was watching him.
Finally, he couldn't take the stare. "What?"
"You seem pretty anxious to get back to the Colonies… wanna see a certain major?"She grinned and bit her lower lip. Without his helmet it was impossible to hide the blush. "Yes you do." She playfully taunted.
"There's a lot of majors-"
"Uh, huh." Melicia shrugged. "But I don't know how many majors you talk about non-stop."
"No, I don't."
She smacked her lips together. "Yup, you do." The captain tapped her booted foot a moment, the sound soft in the now quiet cabin. "So… serious?"
"Meh." He raised and lowered his shoulders, trying for the most apathetic shrug humanly possible, and failing. Antony Nikon wasn't someone who was all that great at hiding those sorts of feelings. Fruity used to point out he was always oblivious about how much he talked about the women he was dated or was interested in. "Maybe. We had a few drinks and dinners, nothing big."
Melicia didn't tell him, but she'd kept tabs on the both of them and Baltar, becoming a sort of unofficial handler for everyone involved in the incident. She'd seen a little bit of the chemistry between the pilot and the scientist, and between he scientist and Baltar, too. But if Melicia had to pick sides, she'd pray that Premie got the girl rather than the insufferably arrogant and prick, Gaius Baltar.
"You're gonna be in for a rollercoaster." She said.
"A what?" He looked at her like she'd grown a third eye. "Is that FID spook talk?"
"No, an Earth idiom, means highs and lows… don't get me wrong, the major's smart and damn fraking valuable. She helped saved our asses from Rhadmet, but don't ya read any of the tabloids or anything?"
"Y- you read the tabloids?" Premie grinned, not even wanting to hold back the laughter at her expense. You. Captain Melicia Upland, the bad ass secretive spook… is really a girly-girl?"
She stared at him, cross, and hmfed, looking back at the planet. "Can we just fly to the scary nuclear missile satellite in peace, please? Anyway, I know girls like her and they're trouble."
"Hey, you started it! You speaking from experience?"
"I'm speaking from being one of those girls who caused trouble. All the fraking time. It's not like it's too hard to get young, hormonal boys to do what you want in high school and then toss 'em to the side. Especially as a cheerleader… the boys on the pyramid team were easy."
"This is too good…" He tried to imagine her in some sort of cheerleading uniform, but failed and not in a bad way. His imagination chugged along to a very happy place.
"I liked the uniform. Show off what the gods gave and cause trouble, like I said. Trouble. I was young and trouble was fun. I was popular and knew how to talk to people, read them, and tell them what they wanted to hear without lying or anything." Her lips smacks and she sighed regretfully. "It wasn't the most proud few years of my life. But yeah, I speak from experience so I can see it. Just watch it."
The sarcasm rolled off Premie's tongue. "You, being a trouble maker… frak, I'm shocked. No, really, shocked. I… I…" he snickered and she gave him a gentle backhand slap on the shoulder. "Now you get to cause trouble on a galactic scale. Fun."
The Raptor moved steadily along its course, the objective of their 'special little task' finally coming into view. The satellite grew until the Raptor's RCS thrusters fired, bringing it to a stable position a hundred meters away.
"That's actually really impressive… look at that… nuclear power source." She was looking at the sensors and frowned. "Looks like a dozen missiles… eight hundred or so kilotons a piece if this is right. Shit. That satellite's made of the same substance Goa'uld ships are."
Premie keyed in a new command onto his console and images of the satellite popped up in full HD glory on a small monitory at the co-pilot's station.
"Why didn't we detect it before?"
Upland shook her head. "Don't know. My guess is our sensors aren't calibrated or sensitive enough to pick it up; we saw the radiological signatures and just imaged the damned thing, this is the closest we've gotten… looks like they alloyed the naquadah with standard heat shields. It's less than a tenth of a percent naquadah… but that's enough to increase its durability and longevity in space to probably a century or so."
"They're not going to detect us, are they?"
"With what?" Melicia asked, manipulating the telescopes in the Raptor surveillance packages. "Unless we magically become visible to radar, then no, the satellite only has radar and a small optical telescope pointed at the planet."
"It's broadcasting a message every thirty seconds. Pictures, it looks like."
Melicia nodded. "Yup. Most of the satellites up here are military and spy sats. They've got a cold war going between three or four power blocs, about forty nations, give or take."
"And so we'll be pissing off the others. How do we stop them from attacking when we get down there and make contact with the people who have the gate?"
"The gate's in a nation called the Eluurian Kingdom or something and well, it'll be a bit complicated, sure, but we move Argus from the moon into a high orbit and let the people down there see what's up here. Unless they're fraking stupid, the Sirisi won't shoot off this satellite and it's not like they could hit Argus anyway." She drummed her fingers. "Then we make contact with radio and then send down a delegation… you'll be our pilot, of course. If everything goes right we'll be making radio contact tomorrow and heading down shortly after that. And then we can make contact with Earth and send them back then go to the Colonies and get the others."
"Joy. The last time I was on a planet I got shot at and chased through woods by genocidal, fanatical soldiers with aliens in their guts. Just… let's carry this off without a hitch, okay?"
"Would someone really be so fraking stupid to attack us with a battlestar in orbit?" She asked. For a moment, she just watched the satellite. "Alright, let's put down a drone to keep tabs on it. I've seen enough."
Melicia desperately wanted to make a promise that this whole thing would go well, spectacularly, and that the Colonies would use this as their stepping stone into the larger galaxy. But she couldn't. Her few years in the secretive and elusive FID, combined with her natural senses gave her an almost sickening feeling as she stared down at the oblivious world, locked in their own petty conflicts, and unaware that prudence demanded they surrender their Stargate.
A single dark cloud hung over the city, a bad omen, as the Colonial delegation departed their Raptors and set foot on an alien world to a procession of honor guards, diplomats, and journalists. Captain Melicia Upland had been the last of the delegates to step foot on this alien world, her first outside the Colonies, and she felt the excitement of exhilaration of the event take hold of her and wrap itself around her.
A quick glance to O'Neill and he wasn't wide-eyed with wonder and excitement like she was. Could it be that one day she would step onto another world ten thousand light years away and feel nothing but normalcy?
She prayed it would be so. Maybe one day. But today the Fates had conspired against the Colonies and the people of this world. The moment Nazism had told them of this world, the moment the Colonial high command had chosen this world as its first world to make official contact with, its fate had been decided and its destiny became clear.
Today the Colonies made contact with one nation out of many nations and favored one nation while its enemies sat and watched, afraid, terrified and indignant.
Melicia took a step forward on the ground, soft, and covered by a green carpet. The delegation had landed in the monument park, and the smell of fresh cut grass was a welcome scent, doing its best to drown out the offensive smog.
The captain took her position behind Cain and looked back at the Raptor; two Marines, one of them Captain Ophion and Captain Nikon, donned in his jock smock, remained inside and the hatch closed quietly, sealing with a small hiss and pop.
The Colonial delegation was arranged in seniority; the presidential envoy Henri Asselo out front, in the lead by a step, with Commander Cain in the front right and Colonel O'Neill the front left. Upland was behind O'Neill and Major Usher behind Cain.
They all wore their dress uniforms and even O'Neill had had one made, and while not perfect, was ac lose approximation of his United State Air Force dress blues, though he'd said the jacket was a little more blue than he remembered and the color of the buttons was off- lost in translation, perhaps.
Major Usher, by prearrangement, was allowed to carry a pistol, which was strapped to his thigh. It was a ceremonial revolver belonging to Argus, passed to the battlestar from the commanding director of the Gemenese Secret Operations Command after unification, and etched with historical Gemenese iconography.
The five of them wore thin bullet resistant vests for protection, insisted upon by Colonel Catus, the Marine commander, prior to their departure from the battlestar. The vests were hidden under their clothes, no thicker than an undershirt.
"You okay?" Usher asked quietly, leaning slightly to his left. His shoulder softly bumped Melicia's.
"Excited," she whispered. "And a little concerned… seems too perfect, doesn't it?"
"Not everything has to go wrong, trust the Gods to see us through this, Upland." He looked at her, his friendly face morphing into one of utter seriousness. "But… do you sense something?"
"I don't want to be dramatic," she whispered back, "it's just a feeling… it just feels wrong, ya know? No, it's silly." She looked around, eying the honor guards with suspicion, whose eyes were disciplined and locked forward, and at the alien media who were at the far end of the park.
"It'd be dramatic if you weren't so good at your job. Say the word…" he tapped the Valkyrie insignia at the corner of his right breast. His, hers, and Cain's had been replaced with small surveillance devices, allowing Argus to monitor everything.
"Right." She nodded, not taking her eyes off the civilian delegation quickly approaching them, ready to meet them in the middle of the foot path.
They'd landed right in the middle of the monument park, as requested by the Kingdom of Eluuria, and put down with one Raptor. It had been public. Eluuria had made the announcement they would be hosting alien visitors to the entire world. A boast. Taps on their communication networks had flooded with diplomatic requests for other nations to be present. These hosts were milking the Colonial visit.
Melicia thought this odd, but if they were familiar with Stargate travel, it could be somewhat commonplace.
She wondered if all this pomp and ceremony was just for some diplomatic bragging rights, and what sort of change this would have on their world.
The honor guard consisted of close to a hundred soldiers in their finest uniforms, which bordered the ostentatious and gaudy, with embroidered red and black coats, epaulettes, and black slacks with double red lines running the length of the leg. The front of the slacks, at the shins, also had a thin yellow triangle coming down from the knee to the cuff.
All the soldiers stood at attention, with rifles on their right and fixed bayonets, the metal glistening in the sun. The rifles were old and bolt action, which contrasted with the automatic rifles of the third and fourth row of the honor guard, standing at attention but in less formal uniforms, with rifles slung.
Four jet fighters roared down from the lone cloud, coming in low, only a few thousand feet off the ground, and dispensed the tri-colors from the same formal uniforms of the honor detail. They then flew off in different directions and the noise of their engines slowly fading to a rumble.
A large man, easily taller than any of the Colonials, O'Neill included, was at the end of the carpet to greet them. He had on elaborately colored and decorated robes covering the planet's analog to a business suit, with a strange, puffy tie which Upland had to consciously not stare at. He wore a small gold and silver headband with two circles, connected by a wavy piece of red metal. His eyelashes were missing and instead replaced with tattoos. The man was old, but powerful, and a set of scars were visible on his neck, pink against his the bronzed skin.
"On behalf of the people of Anlysoch, the great nation-state of Eluuria, and in the shadow of the Great Ring…" the man turned to his side, gesturing at the Stargate fifty meters away, "I welcome you to our planet and our nation. We are honored visitors from the stars have favored our nation." The man smiled. "I am Fujet Nakan vo Anlysoch, brother and emissary of the ruling king." There were other men behind him, some in uniform, some not.
He extended a hand in greeting. Asselo didn't hesitate, but grabbed it slowly, and was relieved when they shook like Colonials, and not like Earthers.
"I'm Herni Asselo, proconsul, envoy from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." Asselo had rehearsed what he was going to say, but ended up just saying the first that had popped into his head; speeches never worked here, speaking from the heart was better. "We've travelled far in search of this world, its location given to us by an ally. We have come across the stars to seek friends. It is my honor, and the honor of the peoples of the Colonies of Kobol, to be welcomed to your world and to your nation."
Upland considered how horrible, lame really, the introductions were. How were people supposed to introduce themselves on a first contact? 'Hi, I come in peace blah blah, we're so, so excited, fake smile, fake smile, photo op…' and then the Goa'uld way, which she had to admit was fairly simple but oh so straightforward, and at least you knew where you stood: 'Hi, bow before your new lord!'
The proconsul introduced the rest of the delegation, starting with Cain and ending with Upland. The emissary introduced the men standing behind him. It was tense. While the smiles were kind and welcoming, they were fake. The eyes never lied, and Upland could see fear, concern, and trepidation resonating strongly through Nakan vo Anlysoch and the rest of his own party, especially the military officers, one tall man in particular in the back, who reminded Upland of her father. Her eyes lingered on him a second but quickly looked away when he almost sensed her stare and locked eyes back.
"Proconsul Asselo, please… I believe we have much to talk about. If you will follow me, we have a motorcade waiting, ready to take us to a place more appropriate for something of this magnitude. It is tradition among my people to eat and drink before formal discussions."
Asselo wouldn't object even if he wanted to. He simply bowed his head. "Emissary, please lead the way. It would be our honor and privilege to share food and drink with you."
"This is the best part," O'Neill said, delighted, "the new food. Always the food. Will there be cake? I'm hoping for cake."
His comment was met with a soft chuckle from the emissary. "I like him," he said, wagging a finger at O'Neill.
The ride had been short and quick. The roads had been cleared, police were at intersections, and no one was allowed on the sidewalks, only the side streets. Melicia could see the colorful crowds being held back by police as they tried to see the alien visitors passing by in the light-blue motorcade.
They were escorted into a large building and up to a top floor, with views of the city and the monument park. The delegation had eaten their meal, which had been a mix of sweet and sour, involving the ribs of some sort of game animal and the breast of a strange water fowl. This planet's analog of potatoes, carrots, and beans had been served as well, all slathered with a sweet orange glaze and a cinnamon-like spice.
Desert was missing; evidently the people of Eluuria believed food should itself be slightly sweet, to prevent it from becoming dull, and to trick the sense to maintain one's health, making a desert unnecessary. Melicia hadn't objected. The glaze was probably far healthier than some sort of cake or pie or whatever, and she wouldn't have to spend an inordinate amount of time working it off on a treadmill.
Once the meal was over the young captain had been expecting to dive into business, negotiate for the gate, and all that. However, these people utilized some sort of 'informal pre-business' post-dinner cocktail-like session as a way to introduce them to the topic which would be negotiated on prior to actual negotiations. The pace of life seemed to be slower here.
Melicia had gone to the window, outwardly to admire the view, but with the clandestine purpose of forcing someone to come to her. With a small glass of a disgusting alcohol she was certain could power a Viper from here back to the Colonies she took small sips, careful not to make any faces as the foul fluid washed down her throat and tickled her stomach, almost to the point of making her nauseous.
She'd had everyone take an anti-alcohol medication, which upped the capabilities of the liver to metabolize the depressant. Some obscure tribe on Aerilon utilized a similar tactic way back when, to get delegation piss drunk and then attempt negotiations, in the hopes it was to your own benefit. The spooks also used it to get people to lower their guard.
The young woman discreetly checked her appearance in the reflection of the window, and was satisfied with how she looked; she'd had her uniform tailored beyond its standard issue to a more feminine fit. She hated how the uniforms issued seemed to be one size fits all, like they were fraking pillow cases, and it was a personal pet peeve of hers to see sailors wearing ill-fitting uniforms. Melicia would have described herself as slightly OCD when it came to appearances and appearances mattered. A lot.
"The people are anxious, as is the emissary… it is difficult seeing women in uniform, especially very beautiful women" she heard, the voice gruff but measured. She turned to see a hard looking man, chiseled features and dark brown eyes which seemed shallow and distant, much like Colonel Catus. His skin was lighter than many of the Eluurians. It was the man who had reminded her of her father. "I apologize; I'm Marshall Vaniket Chetan vo Herh."
The captain smiled at his compliment. She was beautiful, and didn't take any offense to anyone saying so.
"Marshall… I'm unfamiliar with that rank…?"
"Perhaps it is best to tell you what I did then… I commanded a large force of men in the Isthmus War… armored vehicles and eighteen thousand men. Now I command many more and advise the king."
"Ah… on my world that is a 'general'… sir." The captain reflexively straightened, raising her chin and pushing back her shoulders. "It is an honor to meet you, sir." She introduced herself to him and shook his hand.
"Captain, may I ask, are there many women in your military?" The marshall's head tilted to the side.
"Yes, roughly a third of our military."
He hummed. "That's most interesting, captain. I was just watching our media report on your landing, and there has been much discussion on two women being a part of the delegation." Melicia smiled at that, finding herself at a loss of words. She had no idea why it would be an issue. "If I may captain, what do those decorations on your sash represents?" He was pointing to the bronze insignia scroll with double lightning bolts and at the four pointed stylized star.
She put her hand under each, gently touching the bottoms, as she explained her insignia and awards. "It's for our intelligence service, a designation pin, not an award, sir. This is awarded for distinction within our designated service." Upland had pointed at the Star of the Gods, but didn't realize she hadn't named it. She also had a single black cord over her left shoulder, but didn't explain it signified her as a staff intelligence officer. "This hexagon here," she touched the silver device slightly above her hip where her belt and sash met, "is for being a divisional officer or commanding a fighter squadron… junior command, basically." Explaining the pieces of her uniform, while probably interesting for the Eluurian, wasn't getting her much information in return.
"All militaries seem to be heavy on the symbols and awards," he observed.
"Symbols are important; they teach us that during training… the first day." She smiled at him and looked back out the window, taking a slow sip of the gut-busting booze. "This is a beautiful city…"
"Indeed," the marshall mused, tossing one hand behind his back. "But I sense you have a question for me…?"
Her eyebrow rose. "If I may be so bold, marshall, it was what you said earlier, about the war your nation was in… was the Isthmus War about a dozen years ago or so?"
"Hmm, yes, how did you guess?" the Marshall asked, sipping the same type of beverage Upland had twice, his shoulders subtly shivering as he downed the booze.
She didn't tell him of radiological sensors or computer estimates. "We saw the results of nuclear explosions on cities from space and based on the overgrowth of vegetation…" she trailed off, seeing the memory of the war shake the man.
Melicia had seen enough men and women with post-war fatigue in the Colonies, where a smell or a sound or an image could incite painful memories. As a little girl she'd seen her grandfather, a man seemingly built out of battle plate and fueled by tyllium, break down and cry. To this day she still didn't know what had shaken such a powerful man.
Marshall Chetan closed his eyes. "Ah, yes… yes, the Isthmus War started sixteen years ago and ended twelve years ago. It was the first war nuclear weapons were deployed against cities. I lost half my division on the Isthmus to a nuclear attack… and one of my sons. That war took a lot from us."
"I'm sorry… to hear that, sir." It had always been difficult, knowing what to say, to those who'd fought in the Cylon War after they'd shared something so personal. What could she say to a stranger about a war she knew next to nothing about? "The last wars happened before I was born, but they lasted for almost two decades. It was devastating… my parents fought in them. We fought the Cylons… a…" she hesitated. Did they know what a robot was? She shook her head, better to be vague. "The Cylons were an enemy of our own creation. Nuclear weapons were used."
"Most enemies tend to be of our own creation. We believe someone to be our enemy and we make them our enemy."
"The Sirisi?"
"When we came to this planet we were united, or so our historical texts tell us. People want power, some people don't want to give up any power, and then our ancestors split into different groups and they settled in different parts of the world," the marshall explained. "We and the Sirisi both want to control the isthmus because of its great economic value; oil, gold, copper, rare elements, uranium, and the Gerin Strip for a canal. Its been a zone of contention for decades."
Melicia took a moment to analyze her situation. The man was being upfront and forward. Was he concerned they would find out 'the truth' and distance themselves from the Eluurians and go to the Sirisi? Or was it a ploy to appear open and reluctant about past actions?
"Some divisions are natural, sir, and some are our own creation. But the gods test us in ways we can't comprehend and as much as war destroys, we've always come out stronger and more resilient, cherishing life more completely."
Marshall Chetan turned to her, his head moving back in surprise. "The gods?"
Melicia frowned, inwardly wincing as she hadn't realized she'd mentioned them. The phrase of the gods testing humanity was a common saying. Her grandparents had said it often, usually after arguments and fights.
The man's tone could have been interpreted either as curiosity or anger. "Yes… the gods, the Lords of Kobol… I apologize for any offense-"
"No," he put up his free hand, "apologies from myself for my tone… it's just… we didn't expect… do many people on your planet believe in the Lords of Kobol?"
"Yes… many people, the vast majority." The spook felt a knot in her stomach. Frak.
"Oh… oh…" Marshall Chetan sounded genuinely disappointed, his body language mimicking his tone. "When we fled our old world to build a civilization here, we left the old ways of belief in the supernatural behind… forgive me, I do not mean to be crass, but many will consider beliefs in gods to be superstitious and I find it perplexing that such an advanced peoples could still believe in… metaphors."
Religion was a topic best left to the priests and this was no discussion to have at the moment. The potential for misunderstandings when discussing the Lords of Kobol was like trying to jump a chasm; you were going to fall. And Melicia had her fears. How would the galaxy react to the Colonies of Kobol worshipping the very gods the Goa'uld had imitated and perverted? She prayed for guidance and changed the subject.
"You and the emissary mentioned you fled to this world. Can you tell me more?"
The marshall bowed his head to acknowledge the leading statement. "Indeed. Three thousand, one hundred, and twenty-one years ago we fled, when the Goa'uld who had enslaved us was attacked, with great ships and we saw fear. How could a god or his soldiers be afraid?" He stressed the last word and sighed. "And why would gods need soldiers and space ships? It had taken centuries or us to realize it, and our Goa'uld overlord changed many times, becoming more and more brutal as our planet was conquered and re-conquered. Unfortunately we don't know who took us from the first world to the second."
"If they were gods, they wouldn't need ships and soldiers," Melicia tentatively agreed, "and we've fought the Goa'uld, in space." She took the opportunity to press the issue. Proconsul Asselo wanted them to convince the leaders an alliance or agreement with the Colonies was in their best interest and Upland saw her opening. "We have more than just the ship you've seen in orbit, marshall, many powerful ships. We may be at war with the Goa'uld… and wars are best fought with allies."
"Wars are best not fought at all, captain," he corrected. Melicia mentally rolled her eyes; a man like this wouldn't have ever been selected for rank in the Colonies. "We've been here for thousands of years without the Goa'uld knowing about us. Your arrival will spark fear."
"One of our allies knew of this planet's location." The marshall looked worried. "But we fought against the Goa'uld not too long ago, against Sokar, a very powerful enemy. And we won. This world doesn't have anything to fear from us… in fact, we have a lot in common, marshall. We've been cut off from the galaxy for too long."
"Defeating the Goa'uld is a feat, Captain Upland, a triumph worth celebrating at least."
"Thank you, sir… but with your technology and possession of the Great Ring, do you travel to other worlds? The emissary didn't really talk much about it."
The marshall snickered and sighed. "Never. We don't have the dialing device. In fact, it is within the capitol city of our Sirisi enemies…" He turned and shook his head and pre-empted her question of 'how' and 'why'. "The reason the Great Ring and dialing device are separated is because when we arrived on this planet, none of the leaders trusted the other to not use the Ring and inadvertently lead the Goa'uld to us. One group took the Ring, the other the dialing device. We've fought many wars over it in the past. The Isthmus War wasn't due to only economics, but because the Sirisi wanted the Great Ring. There has been public discussion of using the Ring to explore and bring back the technologies described in our history books for our benefit. And as computers advance we will soon not need the Sirisi or the dialing device. That worries them. Greatly." He hummed, concerned. "I will speak plainly in the spirit of cooperation and disclosure, captain. We saw the Sirisi and their allies amassing soldiers on the border and we struck first. The war wavered after our initial victories and we were pushed back but we counter attacked a year in and held the offensive until the Sirisi detonated a nuclear bomb on our army and killed fifty thousand soldiers. We were pushed back until we used a nuclear bomb on them and on their cities. They retaliated. We all signed a cease fire when we pledged to not activate the Great Ring for a minimum of fifty years. The fear of nuclear annihilation was too great to continue our war."
The captain was a little surprised at the speed of the revelation, both concerning the nuclear weapons and the reason a dialing device was missing from the gate. The nuclear issue wasn't all that concerning, not to her at least, and she had no doubt none of the military would really care. There were no hang-ups about pre-emptive war in the Colonies and she hardly objected.
She debated revealing the Sirisi missile satellite in orbit, but tucked that away for use later on. It could come in handy if these folks weren't so inclined to allow access to their gate, especially if they were afraid of war.
"I'm sure the proconsul and emissary will be able to work past that, marshall." She paused. "The Goa'uld are a dangerous threat and it will take people with strong resolve to fight them. I don't believe you should feel sorry for having to defend yourself."
The marshall leaned back and studied her a moment. He seemed more relaxed but still on edge. "And that brings me to another question; why are you here, exactly?" The words were spoken softly, but still had an edge to them. "You truly do not possess a Great Ring?"
"We don't have one." The marshall gave her a look and she shrugged. "We don't know why we don't. But we aren't native to our solar system. We fled Kobol, our home world, thousands of years ago after an ecological calamity."
"Interesting."
Melicia nodded, just to acknowledge the comment and continued staring out the window. The meal had been nice, talking with the marshall was engaging, but they needed to sit the frak down and hammer out some sort of agreement about using the Eluurian gate and she was damned well not going to take 'no' for an answer, not when a gate was so close!
"One more question, if you don't mind, sir?" She started, wanting to keep some semblance of a conversation going, both to pump the Eluurian general for information and to prevent some sort of uncomfortable silence falling between any of them. Upland waited for the little hand gesture to ask. "You said you were occupied by many Goa'uld. Which was the one you finally escaped from?"
"Ares."
…Frak…
The supposedly relaxing post-dinner cocktail session wasn't. Captain Upland hadn't been the only one of the group to inquire about which Goa'uld the people of this planet had escaped from. Ironically, it had been the proconsul himself, the young, bright, accomplished diplomat of Libra, who'd let the name 'Ares' slip in casual conversation. He had been talking with their emissary about festivals, and coincidentally, going by ship time, it was Mars Day, or to the all the Colonies which weren't Tauron, Ares Day. It had been an innocent mistake, with the proconsul caught up trying to relate to the emissary; what better way than mentioning that the Colonies were also celebrating an important holiday?
That hadn't gone over well.
"You… are Goa'uld worshippers!"
Melicia just about dropped her glass when she heard that eye-popping, head-turning accusation.
Frak.
"Emissary, please…" Henri Asselo had his hand, palm down, in a defensive and submissive position. He tried to keep calm. "We are not Goa'uld worshippers."
Despite the insulting accusation, Melicia went into damage control mode. She'd rushed over, Marshall Chetan on her heels, and was ready to jump into the fray. Cain stopped her, with a palm on the chest. Entering this 'conversation' which was on its way to rapidly becoming a shouting match would only expand the animosity and draw in all the Eluurians and their allies in the room.
The situation was spiraling out of control quickly. Guards which had been standing the perimeter halfway between boredom and comas were now excited, hands on the holster of their firearms, knowing that something had upset their commander and he only had to give the word.
Major Usher was there too, hand ready to grab his own pistol. The body armor the Colonials were wearing could take the bullets, but at this range, it'd hurt like fraking hell. And one man with one pistol against a dozen wasn't all that great of odds. There were also unarmed military officers around them, another half dozen, which would spring into action. The Eluurians had them dead to fraking rights if they wanted to hurt them.
Commander Martinili would be listening in via their surveillance pins and already be planning a rescue with Colonel Catus, but Melicia had doubts if a few hundred Marines would even be capable of doing anything in time.
"You have a celebration in honor of the very Goa'uld who enslaved my people and tortured our ancestors for generations! You are celebrating in his honor this very day!"
Colonel O'Neill pushed his way to Upland's side, his mouth hanging open at the exchange.
"God, you people know how to start something, don't cha?" He whispered to her. "What the hell happened?"
Melicia cringed as second, or technically third contact with a human/alien civilization went straight down the shitter. Don't pass the core, don't pass the scrimmage line. Frak. Just go and jump right into a star and vaporize yourself.
"I don't know," she half hissed, half whispered. "One second… the proconsul must have said something about the Lords of Kobol."
Marshall Chetan had grabbed her bicep and pulled her in close. While his grip was firm, it was gentle. "Why didn't you say something?"
She looked up at him, swallowing but kept her voice even and strong. "We didn't know about your past with Ares," she quickly responded, "we're not Goa'uld worshipers, marshall. The Goa'uld are imitators and scavengers." Now she was just repeating what Jackson had told her earlier. "They take from cultures and use their beliefs against them."
The marshall let go of her, looking away.
"If you allow me to explain, please-" the proconsul pleaded.
Emissary Nakan's stare was hard. "You better… not only do you worship gods, but-"
"We do not worship Goa'uld. The Goa'uld-"
"It makes sense now, proconsul… I wondered how such an advanced civilization could develop within this galaxy. We spent centuries under the whip of the slave masters and we listened as they boasted of their victories. We know they destroy anyone capable of being a threat to them. You worship them, you carry out their orders. This contact was too good to be true. How can I recommend any sort of alliance to my brother now after this deception?" He almost spat and his teeth were barred.
Colonel O'Neill stepped forward, hands up and palms out, stepping between the two. "Gentlemen, please." He gave each The Eye. "The Colonials rescued me and my team from one of Sokar's planet. A Goa'uld planet. We've all been attacked by the Goa'uld for Pete's sake and this is one big misunderstanding. They don't worship Goa'uld and yeah, their religious beliefs might be a little wonky," he missed the open mouthed stares of disbelief from the four Colonials, "but come on. They came as friends. And I really, really want to get home." He was fuming. "There's a big war going on out there I'm missing. Sokar's taking on the System Lords. Earth's been fighting them and-"
"Earth?" Marshall Chetan repeated, stepping forward. "You're from Earth?"
O'Neill put down his hands. "Yeah, I'm from Earth. We would have gotten to that if this," he waved his arms around, "hadn't happened. This is a misunderstanding, a damned big one, and believe me I've seen some big misunderstanding really screw over people big time! Earth hates the Goa'uld, you hate the Goa'uld, and the Colonies hate the Goa'uld. All of us are… Goa'uld haters." He paused, giving himself a funny look. "So what's the problem if someone's religion is a bit off?"
Marshall Chetan nodded, stepping towards the emissary and placing a hand on his elbow. "Emissary, if they're from Earth, then they're from the ancestral planet. Tau'ri. Our historical books tell us we were taken from a planet named Earth, inhabited by a people called the Tau'ri many centuries before our escape to this world."
Nakan's eyes narrowed to slits and he turned to face the marshall. He cocked his head sideways at O'Neill. "How can we trust them? We can't… how do we know they are not manipulating us? There are many ways to learn of our history."
"Many of our people died passing on this history. Ares forbade it. But we persisted."
"No…" he stared at the Colonials. "Whatever it is you want… you will not have it, not now. We welcomed you. But how could we have been so foolish?" He spun when he heard a crackle.
Melicia had been watching, holding her breath, and wanting to just slam her face into the wall repeatedly until she knocked herself out. The first first contact on Colonial terms had gone horrible wrong and there'd be hell to pay when they got back to the Colonies. She should just resign her commission right now…
Major Usher had a small wireless device in his hand, roughly the size of half a deck of pyramid cards. He gave it his undivided attention, pressing the push-to-talk button. "Usher, go."
"Sir, flash message from Argus: ATTENTION, Krypter, Krypter, Krypter, radiological detection, nuclear missile silos opening in grids zero-nine-two through zero-nine seven. Object Zero-One in condition red, repeat Object Zero-One in condition read."
Captain Upland's eyes widened. She turned for the marshall, but he was out of reach. She had to warn him. Object Zero One was the Sirisi missile satellite. It's design was similar to ancient weapons platforms launched by the Colonies, and if the similarities were anything more than superficial, the missiles could be fired in mere minutes.
Emissary Nakan had heard the report. "Nuclear missiles?" He bellowed, his eyes landing accusingly on the Colonial delegation. "You're going to attack us!"
"No!" Captain Upland was right up to him, almost chest to chest. "No, emissary…" she mentally winced, prepared to reveal need-to-know technology. "Argus is one of our most advanced battlestars. It has radiological detectors which allow us to detect nukes… and when silo bay doors open we can detect a spike in the radiological signatures! We know where every nuke is on this planet. We know you have fifty low yield nuclear missiles sitting within thirty kilometers of the demarcation line with the Sirisi. We know you have a submarine with twenty nuclear warheads six hundred kilometers northeast of this city, in the eastern ocean."
She saw Marshall Chetan talking to the side, splitting his attention between her and another two men, all whispering and showing him something in a brown folder. They were furiously pointing and flipping the pages, Melicia saw they were photo reconnaissance packets.
"Why should we believe you? Guards, circle."
The guards stepped forward and encircled the Colonials, with Emissary Nakan at the perimeter. Asselo had unconsciously stepped back and away, to a position between Upland and Cain, with Usher shielding him with an outstretched forearm. O'Neill was to Cain's left. The playful and happy disposition, broadcast from his eyes, of the colonel was long gone and replaced with a stare of hardened steel, directed right towards Emissary Nakan.
Commander Cain answered. "Why would we attack you when we're here?" Her voice was calm. "If we wanted you dead, you'd be dead, and we'd be up there watching it happen. We don't, emissary, despite your completely fraked up accusation. We came here to negotiate for a gate, not start a war with you." She made a knife-hand gesture. "Don't do anything you regret. This is still salvageable."
Melicia saw how composed and calm the commander was and couldn't help but be impressed. The eyes never lied, and hers showed the same conviction and emotion her voice and words did.
Marshall Chetan was at the perimeter of the circle. "We have confirmation, sir," he directed at the emissary. "One of our spies in the Garden Palace has jut confirmed it, sir. The Sirisi begun a mobilization thirty-two minutes ago and will have their missiles fueled within the hour. We must alert our forces."
"What are our options, marshall?"
The man shook his head. "Their missiles out range ours, sir, but we have more. And our bombers can fly higher than their interceptors. We won't be able to launch our missiles until theirs are in the air… all the northern cities will be destroyed."
The emissaries eyes went dark, his mouth open. Both hands were cupped and he buried his face in them, running his hands through his hair. "Thirty million people live in the northern cities."
"Captain," it was the proconsul, up beside her, Usher at his side. "Tell them about the missile satellite."
"Marshall," Captain Upland said. His head swiveled in her direction. "How long will it be before you are capable of launching your missiles?"
"Fifty-three minutes if they launch once fully fueled… three minutes before theirs hit. Our bombers will be in the air in less than ten minutes, but won't make it to the Alliance territory for hours. By then our cities will be destroyed."
Melicia rubbed her chin, her hand swiping at her mouth. "The Sirisi have a nuclear missile satellite in orbit. It has twelve missiles, estimated at eight hundred kilotons a piece. It can launch within twenty-five minutes if our estimates are accurate-"
Chetan suffered a momentary lapse in professionalism. "Those fucking bastards," the marshall swore. His fists balled. "If they target our silos they'll take out a significant number of our strike capability… our target our cities…"
Emissary Nakan was visibly shaken. "Unless they target our cities… if they target this city four million will die… they can wipe out three quarters of our population with their missiles."
O'Neill shook his head. "Then reach out to them, talk to them." He sounded like Daniel. "It's not too late." Melicia could tell he knew where this was heading. "Their attack is a misunderstanding, over our arrival, right? This will spiral out of control unless you stop it now. No one's fired missiles yet." He turned to the proconsul. "Asselo, you can contact them, explain what's happening, tell them you aren't playing favorites."
Commander Cain watched them coolly and slowly blinked her eyes. "We can save you." Asselo looked at her, ready to speak, but she held up a hand. "You have a choice. You've insulted us and accused us of planning an attack… accused us of worshiping Goa'uld. Your soldiers threaten us this very moment." She waved at the perimeter of guards. "We were prepared to negotiate for mere access to the gate, to give you advanced technologies and medicines and more. Not now. No.
"Now you have a choice, emissary, of two options you are responsible for; give us the gate and let us defend you… or we can sit here and die together… I believe in an afterlife, emissary, my soul will live on in Elysium… do you know where yours will go? Argus will retaliate… but I'm not sure if they'll retaliate against your enemies or you for kidnapping us. Decide." She lowered her chin. "Now."
Asselo exchanged a look with Cain and he nodded his approval to her. The emissary looked towards Asselo.
"I agree with the commander, emissary… I regret it came to this," Asselo said.
Melicia looked first at Usher and then O'Neill. Helena Cain had stepped up and was dominating this abortion of a diplomatic negotiation, Henri Asselo, a fraking proconsul from the office of the fraking president having unconsciously ceded his authority to the woman. The captain was witnessing what she'd only read about in the commander's files and could see why Admiral Corman had groomed this woman to take command of a battlestar.
She was fearless and stood there, telling the brother of a king to basically frak himself.
Melicia shuddered…gods fraking damnit…
"You wont sit here and let yourselves be killed… your ship will save you, they'll intercept the missiles."
"No." Cain shook her head. "You took us hostage… we don't negotiate with hostage takers."
"The gate's been a part of our culture, our heritage… you're blackmailing us-"
The captain held her breath as she sensed Cain ready to speak.
Cain shrugged. "Then we die together."
AN: Thank you all for the previous reviews. They're much appreciated.