Here is the next chapter of the story. Sorry for the long wait but with finals, holidays and work i did not find the time to finish it before.

Enjoy and Review !

Chapter 13

The Ha'taks were orbiting the planet, preparing their starships to enter the atmosphere and gain control of this world in the name of their Leader and Warlord, Keffu. For a long time this world situated just outside of Lord Keffu's territory had attracted the attention of the Jaffa's Council but until now, none of them had the sheer gall to try to invade it, mainly because of the protection afforded to it by the Terran Federation. But now, after decades of little skirmishes and disputes over worlds at the periphery of their domains, Lord Keffu had enough and ordered seven of his advanced Ha'tak to conquer the planet.

While Keffu knew that his Ha'tak, the advanced models derived from the leftover technology gathered from Anubis and Ba'al, were inferior technologically to the Terran Armada, the sheer numbers the Free Jaffa Nation was capable of mustering to oppose the Terran Space Navy, made their advantage far less of a concern for the Jaffa Nation. After the fall of the Goa'ould System Lords, many secret laboratories had been found by the Free Jaffa and their secrets studied. The Jaffa themselves, while far from stupid, were not versed in the study of technology and their incorporations in ship and weapon design and all those secrets were of no use to them until the capture of several Goa'ould scientists. Whereas the system Lords had been cunning strategists, the actual technology research was left in the hands of minor Goa'oulds who specialized in them and leased their services for protection. Those same minor Goa'ould, at least those who had not fallen at the hands of the replicators, Free Jaffa and Terrans had simply changed their allegiance and offered their services to the emerging Free Jaffa Nation in secret of their Terran Allies. While the Terrans held the title of more advanced Race in the galaxy with the Asgard and Ancient legacies, the Jaffa held the title of the strongest faction, at least in the beginning. And the opportunistic Goa'ould jumped at the occasion to enter in their service when they proved incapable to understand the intricate systems left by the System Lords. In consequence, if the technology base of the Jaffa Nation was still far behind that of the Terran Federation, their lines of production unencumbered by the need to decorate each individual ship as a tribute to a god like the previous Goa'ould builders, exceeded the Terran shipyards with a factor of 4 to 1. This allowed them to field 10 times the number of ships and that was without even counting the personal armies of each individual Warlord held, which numbered in hundreds of Ha'tak and Alkesh ships and thousands of Death Gliders.

As it stood, the Jaffa Nation was using standard Ha'Taks, as well as the Alkesh and Ha'tak variant prototype started by Anubis and used as a Fleet's Flagship. All of these ships are equipped with Ancient derived shields and Heavy Plasma Cannons enhanced by the use of a new power generator developed by Anubis and using Naquadria instead of Naquadah. While Earth was unable at the time of their study and tentative use of the Naquadria to develop a stable power generator, Anubis was able to succeed and all his research was then taken other by the Goa'ould researchers working for the Jaffa Nation.

Unfortunately for them, Naquadria was not a naturally occurring substance but the instable irradiation of a natural vein of Naquadah and one they only produced with an efficiency of 15 to 1. The Jaffa were as a result in dire need of resources and more importantly Naquadah almost depleted in their territories from the massive mining done first by the Goa'ould during their millennia of dominance over the galaxy but also because of the conversion rate for the transformation of Naquadah into Naquadria.

Kalina was for the Jaffa Keffu the ideal trophy to elevate his status among his Jaffa Brethren in the Council. With its rich deposits of Naquadah and semi industrial civilization, Kalina provided a much too tempting target for a Jaffa Warlord whose sole shining moment came after the slaying of its master and god Aries by the Tau'ri humans.

At the time of his Lord's demise, he was the First Prime's second and responsible for the relocation of Aries treasure while the First prime and his Lord went searching onboard one of the 4 remaining Ha'tak in Aries's fleet for a new world to hide.

After the defeat of Aries and the power vacuum that appeared, he rejoined the Free Jaffa Nation, carefully maneuvering his subordinates in the Free Jaffa ranks using the massive treasure left behind by his former master while he himself bided his time before accessing the rank of Jaffa Councilor after Master Teal'c's death. For him, more than the resources they were able to seize from the Kalinan world, it was the opportunity to prove to the entire Free Jaffa Nation that he was worthy of his place as a Jaffa Warlord. While his strategic skills were not his best asset, his cunning mind more than made up for his failings and as he knew that the response for the attack on the Terran Federation protected world would be swift he also knew that such a response would goad the other Jaffa Warlords into declaring war upon the Terran Federation and their arrogant leaders. For too long the Terran Federation had lorded their superior technology away from the Jaffa Nation and the tensions were running high. The Terran Federation, while allied with its neighboring super power, would not share its advanced technology, requiring the instauration of democratic systems and the liberation of Jaffa worlds held since the time of the Goa'ould.

Soon, the Free Jaffa Nation and its vast armies of Jaffa Warriors would lay waste on the overconfident Terran Federation.

**********

New Amsterdam, Battleship Vultur Gryphus .

Commander Adamson was looking over the final reports from the engineers and ship quartermasters for his ship and finally after their test drive with a skeleton crew during the last week, the ship's complement of Arrows, Fishers and Marauders as well as a full crew including both Terran Space Navy personnel as well as 3 full divisions of Space Troopers and a battalion of Special Forces had embarked the battleship and taken their quarters.

Closing his terminal he exited his ready room, hurrying to the first meeting with the entire command staff of the battleship, still in admiration of the new designs introduced with this class of ships in the structure of the command bridge. Unlike previously designed command centers in the Terran Army, the Battleship's bridge designs were arrayed in several defined zones where each aspect of the ship could be commanded separately and in total coordination. While the Bridge itself was situated for maximum protection in the bowels of the ship, the actual piloting portions of the bridge were situated in the forward bridge with the Commander's Ready Room followed immediately via an open overpass by the Auxiliary control and the 4 Drone Control Chairs to finish at the tactical room with an attached ready room for the Rear Admiral's use.

Passing by the overpass he checked on his crew as they filled their role from coordinating the various sectors of the ship to the Drone control Chairs manned by specialists with a very high level of ATA gene, deeply immersed in the virtual reality opened to their mind and linked to every silo of Drones on the ship as well as the Heavy Plasma batteries.

Entering via the automatic sliding doors protecting the Tactical room from eavesdroppers and the heavy chatter coming from the crew manning their station, he took his place at the Admiral's right side, facing the 3 Colonels who headed the Space Troopers divisions, the Lieutenant Colonel heading the Special Forces and the ship's CMO. Each sector's head was accompanied by their second in command.

Sitting at the head of the conference table, Rear Admiral Kirilov was a 75 year old man born in the Russian Federation of Earth and having made his career exclusively in the Terran Space Navy, having joined the Navy at 22 as an ensign and worked his way through the ranks until he finally accepted this final command before his retirement from his position as the head of the Prototype Field Testing department from the ministry of Defense, situated on New Amsterdam.

After the initial greetings were giving out, the Admiral asked for a report from every sector and then started the mission briefing.

"Gentlemen, our orders are to join with Admiral Jones's 73th Fleet to engage in War games to fully test out our weaponry and allow the crew to get used to the new parameters available with our new battleship. We will also be conducting exercises against Ha'taks captured from the Lucian Alliance several decades ago and fitted with better shields and weapons to simulate the New Ha'taks from the Free Jaffa Nation the military intelligence assures us are currently being build in their shipyards . However I will remind each and every one of you that while the ship is on a test run, I still require from you to be ready to respond to any emergency. Colonels Sato, Williams and De Vrees I want your men ready at a moment's notice, with a rotation between the troops during training to allow a Division to always be fresh for deployment. Lieutenant Colonel Vega I want you to run simulations with your "Ghosts" to train the regular crew against phased opponents, more particularly in detecting them. Federal Intelligence is reporting rumors that some Sodan Jaffa had been captured by the Goa'ould Tanith before his demise at the hands of Master Teal'c of Chulak and that their Phase Modules are being replicated to equip a special assassination unit and in case these rumors prove to be true, I want the crew to be ready. Since this class of ship is to be our new spearhead in battles it stand to reason that the Jaffa will take interest in it. Commander Adamson, since the crew is still new to the ship's dimensions and are for the most part more accustomed to the regular ships in the Terran Space Navy which are not specialized for battle, I want you to run drills for the action station reaction time. Lieutenant Commander Sharif, as our Chief Medical Officer I want you to report to me daily about the psychological condition of the crew. There is bound to be some psychological effects on the more Spartan conditions present in this ship. Any questions? Then this is all for today, dismissed."

While the living conditions of the crew of the Vultur Gryphus were far from uncomfortable since the living quarters were the same as every Terran Space Navy ship, the crew was still bound to be disoriented as the Terran Space Navy personnel was used to a greater level of human contact available to them through live zones. But more than that for married personnel was the loss of the contact with their families who were part of their everyday life on other class of ships in the fleets which were composed of multipurpose ships, unlike the Battleship Vultur Gryphus which was a warship thru and thru designed for long term missions and as such not a place for a soldier's family.

Two hours after the conference the Vultur Gryphus released his moorings from the New Amsterdam Shipyards and started his way to exit the system at a slower pace that it was capable of until it achieved a sufficient distance with the system. A blue white corona appeared in front of the Gryphus signaling the opening of a hyperspace window and witnessed by every ship of the system due to its size. Barely a second later, the Terran Starship entered the Hyperspace conduit, en route for the Langarian system for its rally point with the 73th Fleet.

*******

Dakara, Free Jaffa Nation Capital.

Dakara was the most famous world in the Free Jaffa Nation's domain. Shrouded in legends as the birthplace of the first Jaffas and the beginnings of the Prim'ta ceremony of adulthood where the Jaffa received the life force and power granted to them by their gods.

Even after the Jaffa rebellion against the Goa'ould many Jaffa traditions instituted by them still survived their passing like the Prim'ta ceremony reputed to give Jaffa their strength and longevity. While the ceremony had been almost eradicated by Jaffa Master Teal'c and replaced by the injections of tretonin in the older generations, the tradition had been reinstituted by the more traditionalists Jaffa who believed that the Tretonin reduced a Jaffa's might.

Dakara had been almost destroyed a century ago by the Ori forces in search of the Ancient Weapon used by the Jaffa council of the time to kill the invading Ori. The entire mountain sheltering the Ancient Weapon had been razed to the ground by the powerful blasts from the Ori Ship directly from orbit, causing massive damages to the budding Jaffa center. After such devastation on their Capital, the Jaffa Council had decided to completely rebuild their city with every defensive technology they had access to. A century later, the Jaffa Capital was a stronghold were status in the council was more important than valor and politics among the Jaffa Warlords was so fierce that the old Jaffa's were comparing it to the System lords of old.

The Jaffa Warlord Keffu was standing among his allies on the council, displaying proudly the colors of his faction on his robes, waiting for the council to start. On the other side of the council room, his opposition, minor as it was, surrounded their leader, Jaffa Warlord Rya'c, son of Master Teal'c of Chulak. First Councilor Terak entered the room and every member of the Council room took his place in the stands around a large floor where the councilors stood to address their peers.

First Councilor Terak stood up from his place at the center of the stands to address the council. "My fellow Councilors, we are gathered here for a matter of great importance. I just received word that several Ha'taks from Lord Keffu's army just disappeared from the posts assigned to them in the border patrols. I ask formally Lord Keffu for the location of these ships as they are an important resource affected to the defense of the Jaffa Nation as a whole and while they came directly from Lord Keffu's personal forces, once they enter their tour of duty they must obey the wishes of the Council!" With a vehement hit of his fist the First councilor finished showing his displeasure at the situation and sat down turning his head to stare at Lord Keffu.

Lord Keffu simply stood, and calmly made his way to the center of the podium, showing no discomfort in being the center of attention, relishing the fact that he was the central topic of the meeting and ready to show every Councilor in the room, who exactly held all the cards.

"Brothers, for decades we have suffered under the arrogance of the Terran Federation. Their idealistic views, their hording of technology which should be rightfully ours and the pillage they did of our legendary strength. But enough is enough! For years, the technologies developed by our Goa'ould prisoners had been slow to evolve. But after all these decades, the scientists we protected for their knowledge came through with shields and weapons capable to match those of the Terran vermin. Unknown to you, I personally selected volatile situations to test our new weaponry and defenses against the Terran Space Navy. From a little incident near our borders to gifting some of the pirates with partial designs, my new Ha'taks were ready, ready to show the Galaxy that they still had much to fear from us, not as the strong arm of the Goa'ould but as the warriors we are."

Out of Breath after his passionate speech, Keffu glared at the First Councilor and replied with a snarl "As of 12 hours ago, my Ha'taks are holding position in orbit of the Planet Kalina, a rich planet previously protected by the Terrans. With this planet I will show the galaxy that the days of the Terran's domination are over and that the Jaffa's time approaches."

The council erupted in chaos, each side screaming at the other while the First Councilor could only witness in despair the beginning of the fall for the Free Jaffa Nation. Finally having enough of the mounting noise, he signaled one of the Jaffa guards against the wall and ordered him to fire toward the roof with his staff Weapon.

Stunned into silence, the opposition and First Councilor Terac were slowly coming to the inevitable conclusion that Keffu's actions sought. One of the first laws of the Jaffa Council was that if any member of it was under attack from outside forces, then the internal conflicts must be set aside. For the good of all Jaffas, the Council would show a united front. Here, regardless of the causes of who started it, the Terran Federation will be obligated to respond accordingly to such a provocation in the senseless attack of a defenseless world which safety was a matter of pride for the Terran Federation. Since its founding a hundred years ago, no world under the protection of the Terran Federation ever fell under any circumstance. Their reaction would be swift and brutal. While the Terran Federation was a government that preferred diplomacy to military actions, the occupation of a peaceful and primitive world could only be met with violence.

The Council would then have to protect one of its own. In effect, by the actions of only one and after a century of peace, the Free Jaffa Nation was at war with the Terran Federation.

And as he watched the results of his plan, Lord Keffu smiled internally in satisfaction. Soon, the Jaffa would take their rightful place as masters of this Galaxy. And he, Keffu, would then be free to rise as the Jaffa Prime.

******

60 light years from Kalina, Border Patrol 62.

The enormous economic traffic occurring between the member worlds, their colonies and the allied worlds where preyed upon by a myriad of pirates equipped with small but fast ships able to enter Hyperspace and armed with enough weaponry to easily take control of larger and slower freight vessels. The tactic they used were designed to take control rapidly of ships to not only steal from their cargo holds but directly change the course of the ship and capture it to be scraped in their bases. Those bases were numerous and disseminated through the galaxy and consisted from old Goa'ould weapons cache to ruins of civilizations decimated by the Goa'ould.

To prevent that kind of threat of plundering raiders, the Terran Federation assigned hundreds of border patrols ranging from grouping of Cruisers to the lone Dreadnought.

Border Patrol 62 consisted of six Cruisers from the Terran Space Navy and was running scans on reported signs of activity from raiders, searching for a clue to their hidden base in the sector without alerting them of their presence.

It was as the Cruisers were engaging their Hyper Drives to search another area of space that they received the alert message from the Surveillance Satellite orbiting Kalina, being the nearest Terran Space Navy presence before the Terran Colony world of New Alhambra.

Lieutenant Commander Gering was the senior officer commanding the Patrol and at the lecture of the alert signal gave the order for his patrol to change their course for Kalina. From what the sensors logs sent with the distress signal showed, the attacking ships were Jaffa Ha'tak and clearly out of their control zone. This kind of attack, he knew, could only be designed to take control of a world and as the Kalinan world was under unofficial protection of the Terran Federation, it was their job to respond.

A message was sent to Navy Command, to inform them of their decision and alert the frontier bases along the Jaffa Border. Lieutenant Commander Gering only hoped that they would arrive in time as he knew what kind of damage orbital bombardment could do to a budding civilization like Kalina.

It was in this kind of situation that he wished the demilitarization partisans could see the result of their actions as their frantic combat against the renewal of military technology had the downside of leaving entire pans of their defensive grid vulnerable to sneak attacks like these. Normally, against a threat of 8 Capital ships, regardless of their level of technology, the Terran Space Navy should have responded with a fleet composed of 4 Dreadnaughts and 8 Cruisers to protect the primitive civilians' targets. But with the recent budget cuts brought by the lobbying in the Senate, several old decommissioned vessels had not been replaced and the loss of ships was creating holes in their reaction time.

Without wasting more time he ordered his ship to jump in hyperspace, destination: Kalina.

******

Kalina, 12 hours after the initial attack.

A young boy was hiding in the ruins of a house, scurrying for some food for his family. At 15, he had just reached the age of adulthood and was prepared to take the rituals of initiation into adulthood when the sky fell upon their heads. He knew, of course that the sky could not fall but it was the only way his young mind could describe the events that happened a day ago.

He was coming to the market with his mother when thunder and lightning erupted in the sky before a great shape descended from it. Kalina's defense force, lightly armed as it was due to the planet's lack of war since the earliest years of their civilizations when the Tribes disputed over land and resources, immediately responded to the threat but were cut down. The aircraft sent to attack the ship tried to attack but an energy barrier intercepted every slug fired against it. The government had tried to negotiate with the invaders but their attempt had been unsuccessful and the delegation sent was brutally murdered by the Jaffa commander in full view of the general public to make an example.

After the initial attack, his family and him took refuge in an abandoned library to escape the patrols of Jaffa ransacking the capital of valuables and taking every able bodied people in their ships as slaves. Several of their neighbors had been taken from their homes in the middle of the night and they only escaped the same fate thanks to the quick thinking of his father who as the curator of the Cities historical sites knew where the less likely places the invaders would search.

He could only hope that they would leave soon because if not, he didn't think that Kalina would be able to recover. The government had been decimated when the building where they thought they were securely hidden was destroyed from orbit by a plasma bolt and the army was in hiding, what remained of it at least.

Peaking over the corner, he was ready to move again from his hiding spot when he was forcefully pulled and thrown against a wall. Barely recovering from the shock, he backed up when he found himself faced against the weapons of a Jaffa patrol screaming to him in a language he could not understand. Looking from one angry face to another, searching for an escape route he hoped for an intervention from the Spirits because otherwise his next trip would be to an alien ship as a slave.

His captors suddenly turned their head in panic looking as their ship started to rumble, its engines coming to life. They started to run leaving behind their prisoner who looked astonished and barely able to believe that he was free.

The alien ship suddenly rose from the mountain it had landed on at great speed, disappearing in the sky. A similar scene could be witnessed in all 4 places on Kalina where the invaders had landed their massive ships.

The boy could only sit in relief as the stress of his capture left his body and heaving sobs erupted from his mouth. Barely able to control himself he was found by his father 10 minutes later, crying and laughing uncontrollably while staring at the sky were the ships had disappeared to.

Thirty Minutes earlier, Orbit of the Kalinan world.

Several vortexes opened spewing forth the six Cruisers of Border Patrol 62, which immediately engaged their shields and weapons at maximum power. Each Drone Control chair was manned and the computers were already researching targets for the 2 Plasma Canons placed in the dorsal and ventral ports.

4 Ha'taks were identified in orbit of the planet, keeping guard against any retaliation on the ground forces currently plundering their way through the peaceful Kalinans cities. The sensors could already detect the 4 other ships on the planet starting their reactors to rise from the ground having surely detected their hyperspace windows.

Lieutenant Commander Gering signaled his com officer to hail the Jaffa's, hoping for a peaceful resolution of the conflict but anticipating the fight waiting for them. This time the Jaffa had no excuse as Kalina was not directly against their borders and offered no viable threat to them as they were still in the early phases of air flight. The official Terran Policy when it came to the Free Jaffa Nation was complicated: if the conflict occurred against a Terran protected planet or a any affiliated party, the Commanding Officer had all powers to decide the course of action needed. However if the conflict involved parties independent from the Terran Federation, the course was left to the Foreign office and the Diplomatic corps.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Gering, Senior Officer commanding this Border Patrol. We order the Jaffa Nation to immediately cease their activities against Kalina and leave this area of space. You are in violation of the treaty of Tadra signed in 2105 by your attack on a Terran Federation Culturally protected world and …"

The communication was suddenly cut by the angry voice of the Jaffa Leading the Raiding party.

"I am Itak, Commander of this task force in the name of Lord Keffu. We do not recognize your treaty and are within our rights to exact a tribute from these primitives. Be aware that any actions on your part will be considered an act of war. Now leave foolish Tau'ri!"

Incensed at the words and total disregard of the consequences of their attack on the Kalinans he ordered the ships under his command to engage the Jaffa ships.

"Then so be it. We left you Jaffa many chances to redeem yourselves for the atrocities you committed in the names of your gods! We even turned a blind eye to the arrogant behavior so customary of your people but enough is enough. I hope you are proud because you, Itak, will go down in history as the one who made war for his foolish pride!"

The Cruisers swooped down on the orbiting Ha'taks deploying their contingent of Drones. The Ha'taks, seeing the incoming threat took their distances while firing from multiple plasma canons placed around the ship. Apparently the Jaffa had found a counter against the Drones swarm used by almost all Terran ships. The canons fired small plasma bolts targeting the Drones specifically slowing their advance while the Ha'taks took positions farther off waiting for reinforcements from the ships slowly rising from the atmosphere.

Finally free of the planet's gravity the remaining 4 Ha'taks joined their fire with their brethren's trying to overwhelm the Drones. Unfortunately, while the idea was good, it remained insufficient in the face of such an overwhelming attack force of hundreds of Drones and before long 3 of the Ha'taks were venting atmosphere out in the open space while another one exploded when 4 Drones hit simultaneously the reactor compartment.

Sadly for the Terran ships, one cruiser was hit severely by the main canon of one of the Ha'taks. The heavy lance of plasma burned through the shields and speared the Cruiser, destroying it instantly. While the Terran Cruisers using Asgard designed shields were incredibly protected, however these shields were only designed to sustain a certain level of firepower and where not up to the task to handle indefinitely the fire capability of a vessel 3 times the size of a Cruiser. Faced with the loss of one of their numbers, 2 cruisers swooped high and destroyed the offending Ha'tak with both of their Plasma canons.

With 3 Ha'taks heavily damaged and 2 destroyed, commander Itak was ready to order a retreat but not before ordering a last attack. The new Heavy Plasma cannons installed in their ships were designed to punch through shields by overwhelming them with pure power. However the energy requirements necessary were such that after each shot, the weapon had to cool down for at least a few minutes or cause the ship to be critically damaged. Already several of his Ha'taks were so damaged that their heavy plasma canons were inoperable. Thankfully the Goa'uld scientists were already working on a solution to this problem and soon the heavy plasma cannons would be useable with a greater rate of firepower.

He spotted 2 of the cruisers fighting the 3 damaged Ha'taks and ordered his 2 last undamaged ships to concentrate their firepower on them while they were already occupied and ordered his helmsman to prepare a course for a speedy retreat.

Unsuspecting of the attack, the 2 cruisers were trying to cripple the Jaffa ships to disable them since they were part of the ships sent to plunder the planet and might carry prisoners, and thus were unprepared for the firepower that waited for them. In a horrifying move one ship was cut in two when its weakening shields collapsed right before the Plasma lance hit. The other Cruiser was barely moving away when one of the crippled Ha'tak exploded near enough that its shields were severely damaged and a lucky shot from one of the remaining Ha'tak destroyed it.

Seeing that no other victory awaited them here, Itak ordered the retreat and was able to escape with the last 2 almost undamaged Ha'taks of the task force, leaving behind 2 crippled ships unable to follow. While he was far from victorious he knew that the objective had been met. The new defenses and armaments were successful against the hated Terran technology and the development at a bigger echelon could be started. The Goa'uld scientist had correctly deduced that while the Drones were perfectly capable to bypass a shield by briefly and partially going out of phase, phasing through a plasma bolt was impossible for them as the plasma matter elevated to such a temperature left trails that the Drones where unable to phase through without suffering damage.

As soon as the Ha'taks were gone, Lieutenant commander Gering ordered his com officer to open a channel to Fleet Headquarters. He knew that this battle would incense the Terran Senate. The loss of 3 cruisers out of 6 of his patrol was a devastating shock to the Terran Space Navy, accustomed to Space superiority for decades now. Furthermore the fact that the enemy was able to escape was a slap in the face for him as the commander of the task force was able to escape retribution from the Terran Justice. The remaining crippled Ha'tak would go nowhere as his sensors indicated that their hyper drives had been hit and effectively marooned them. Such a provocation could not be tolerated and this time no excuses would appease the Terran Leadership.

The Jaffa Nation had awoken a giant and he could already imagine the people screaming to unleash the dogs of war.

******

The Hub, in Hyperspace nearing the edge of the Terran Federation, Milky Way Galaxy.

The Cylons were unyielding in their desire to take back control of the hub. From sneak attacks at all hours to full blown assaults, nothing the Terran Space Troopers did was deterring them for long before they tried again. The Cylons had tried to liberate their Humanoid counter part imprisoned in their quarters but the force field installed as prison bars had been for the moment unbreakable for them even if it had resulted in the death of some of the prisoners who had tried to short circuit the force field only to kill themselves in the release of the energy contained.

And finally, after days of combat against the courageous but exhausted Terran Space Troopers, the Cylons had attained their primary objective when disabling Human crewed ships, the life support systems: when the calls to the Auxiliary Control went unanswered, Colonel Gerard took the appropriate measures and ordered his men to deploy their helmets. Each Space Trooper's armor was equipped with a retractable helmet able to sustain them for 2 days. As the systems failed in the space station every Space Troopers was glad they activated their helmet and to the Cylon's surprise the loss of atmosphere did nothing to impair the soldier's ability to fight. As the gravity failed, the Troopers activated the magnetic mode of their boots to remain on the ground. Unluckily for the Human form Cylons, their mechanical brethren were not as subservient to them than their counterpart and did not hesitate to dam the two thousand seven hundred Human Form Cylons to a painful and horrible death without hope of resurrection.

For the next two hours the fighting increased incredibly until the remaining Space Troopers were pushed back to the limits of the Station's bridge and the engineering level where the Hyperdrive was installed, barely keeping the Cylons at bay. Even with their technological advantage using shields to barricade themselves and energy weapons, the close quarters settings of the fights almost negated their advantage against the Cylons that used their integrated blades to do a lot of damage. Fortunately the deaths had been rare as the nano bots integrated in their armor's systems were able to heal most of their injuries or at least put the trooper in a state of deep sleep until a medic could be brought in to help the injured soldier.

For the moment Colonel Gerard was glad that he had only lost 15 Troopers of his original two hundred and glanced again at the display in front of him. The intergalactic hyper drive installed recently by the engineers was powerful enough to send the whole Hub to another galaxy in just over a week, and he was really thinking of sending a case of whatever beverage these engineers drank as a gift because it was a testament to their work ethic that the drive they installed in an unknown type of ship was able to go that far without any problem whatsoever during the long travel. His men and himself were exhausted and the relentless fighting against the machines brought many of his men to their knees even with the nano bots cocktail cursing through their veins, making him understand the deep hatred the Colonials had against the tin cans. Contrary to the Troopers, the Colonial SDF did not possess the kind of weaponry the Terran Army benefited from and he could imagine the kind of helplessness they had felt when the engagements began against the Cylons.

The display in front of him steadily showed him their progression on their road to the pre-defined location where a Terran fleet awaited them hopefully in a day. The Joint chiefs had mobilized 2 Grand Fishers, a dozen Fishers and a hundred Cruisers to the location where the Star base Tartadis Ocean was originally situated. With this amount of fire and manpower he had no doubt the Cylons infestation onboard the Hub would be quelled rapidly.

He checked the battery level of his armor, satisfied to see still a month of power available to him. Contrary to popular belief, the armor and weapons available to the Terran Space Troopers and Special Forces needed a resupply of energy every trimester or so. While many believed the Terran armor provided an unlimited number of firepower, it was only an illusion. With the kind of equipment each Terran Space trooper sported, a powerful energy source was required and so far no one had figured how to make one limitless. The Liquid Naquadah/Naquadria power cell, not bigger than 2 thumbs could provide enough energy for an armor in idle up to 5 months while in combat it could sustain the armor and its powerful weapons for up to 2 months.

Turning the holographic screen of his command armband ON, he displayed the photos of his family taken only four months before in his native colony of Arkania, four hundred light-years from Earth. He still remembered the day the picture was taken on the colonial day of independence for Arkania when the yearly referendum organized in every colony was successful after 35 years as an Earth Colony. His wife and 4 children had all embarked with him in his boat, a 75 meters long catamaran he had built himself on the shore of the Great Tarmin Lake where his family property was situated. To incite the pioneers of the new wave of colonization to settle on the selected planets, the Terran government had bestowed the settlers with a significant amount of land that he had inherited at the death of his father and where he had built his house. His wife managed the profits from his land where rare woods grew and were harvested to make incredible sculptures sold all over the Terran Market of arts and particularly on Hebrida where the Woods used to make the sculptures were a prized commodity for the alien population of the industrial world.

Closing the screen, he straightened up before leaving the small office near the bridge and relieved his second in command, Major Willis from his post. They worked in shifts of 6 hours so that each commanding officer could be at command well rested to face the day and allow their subordinates to always have someone to defer to in case of a major decision.

Another long day of fighting could start.

******

After the successful establishment on the new home world, the Colonial Government had started to rebuild the infrastructure needed to nourish an exponentially growing population. After the food production needs had been established and the flourishing and lucrative contracts signed with the Terran Industries to manufacture the limited in range but smaller Colonial FTL, the government had started the construction of schools and nurseries for the baby boom just waiting in the side lines. Already, 42% of the feminine population was in the initial stages of pregnancy and 10% were in the latest stages. As soon as the Colonial Government had been stabilized with the newest additions from the Colonies' survivors, the needed policies had been instituted. The presidential decision to forbid abortion was still in effect until such a time that the demographic numbers were good enough for a stable growth of the population naturally and many financial aids had been created to incite the inhabitants to have children as well as rights to bigger accommodations in the City.

The educational system had been entirely remodeled to accept the new realities and facts coming from the Terran Federation. In the federation, the school system was based on 2 levels, the first obligatory for children from age 5 to 17 provided the basic education to allow the Federation's citizen to start their lives with the awareness necessary to be safe in the galaxy at large and not only within the borders of the Federation itself. From Xenobiology to languages and technology, every subject was carefully tailored to a population whose playground was the Milky Way Glaxy. The second level was provided freely to those having finished the first level, and was without any limit of age or condition. This level was a mirroring of the old universities of Earth before the creation of the Terran Federation, however unlike them, the education provided was free allowing a larger portion of the population to have access to a higher level of instruction. Thanks to this system, illiteracy was banished even in the more remote worlds and the Terran work pool was one of the most qualified in the Milky Way galaxy.

This new system had been implanted since the beginning to allow the children to acclimate to the entry into the Terran Federation. The location of the schools had been chosen to facilitate the access of the children and every school was near a transportation pad.

New Kobol, Athena School for Youngsters.

The children were seated in one of the classrooms in the newly built Athena School. For the moment, only a thousand children were attending the school but the edifice was ready to welcome ten times that number easily.

The new Headmistress, former President of the Colonies Laura Roslin, had refused a post as secretary of education in the Adama Administration as she refused to re enter the political world. After her successful remission from her breast cancer and her retirement from public life, she had taken a well deserved 2 months of sabbatical leave with the man she loved, Bill Adama, and had only returned when she was offered the position of head of the first Colonial school established on New Kobol under the Terran Federation's standards.

She knew that this was a requirement from the Provisional membership treaty since she had signed it, and she was adamant to be the one to help integrate it in the lives of the children she had so loved when she was just a schoolteacher.

While the building of the school had been finished very quickly, the recruitment of competent teachers had been a nightmare since few people had the necessary credentials. With some help from the new Secretary for Education and Cultural Awareness she was able to secure the services of a competent staff.

She was still required to teach some classes and she did so with pleasure, specializing in teaching to the children, the history both factual and clerical to help perpetuate the roots of their civilization even if that page of their history had been turned.

She activated the projector and turned to face the class "Very well, who can tell me which of the Gods gave us our true history and which one saved us from the fall of Kobol?"

Several hands rose to respond to the question and she pointed to one of the Girls located at the back. Hearing the correct responses she congratulated the little girl of 10 and explained in more details the circumstances of the revelations.

A lifting hand stopped her explanation and she gave permission for the young boy to speak.

"Ma'am, is it true what the books are saying that the Gods were once humans like us? My Father says that he doesn't believe it. He says the Gods couldn't have been like us since they were superior beings!" The child was visibly confused and didn't know whom to believe since he loved his father and his history book hadn't completely satisfied his curiosity.

Smiling to the young boy, Colin, she brought his file forward on her screen and saw that his family was originally from Sagittaron. Understanding from where came the doubts instilled in her pupil she approached his desk to answer him.

"Well Colin, to respond to your question I will show you something the Terran Federation shared with us after their mission on Kobol. It is something I was planning to show you next week but since you brought up the subject, why not see it now?"

She activated the Holo-Projector again and launched a file on her computer. In front of the whole class appeared the message given to the Special Forces team in the Temple of the Gods. The message, taped by team Delta Omicron Kappa had been forwarded to the colonial Government after it had been analyzed thoroughly by both the Federal Intelligence Service and the Foreign Office. The recording had been a shock to the Colonial Government since it was the first time they had concrete proof of the existence of their Gods, although the term was used loosely with the admission that they had once been beings of flesh and blood. They were still, however, superior beings and the proper respect for that kind of power was to be cultivated since contrarily to their Milky Way counterpart, they were not adverse to affecting the physical plane with their actions.

As the class watched in awe the Holo video she could not help but marvel at the changes affecting the everyday life of the Colonial People since their entry in the Federation. Even before the Holocaust, the Colonial society had felt stagnant with few real changes and a preservation of the old statu quo between the colonies from before the Cylon Rebellion. Caprica stayed focused on its role as the seat of the government, gathering every shred of power it could while Gemenon for example slipped more and more into fanatical dogmatism. But the entry into the Federation provided the opportunity to start again with a clean slate while the Provisional Membership Treaty forced the Government to affect the changes necessary to help the Colonial People evolve as a society. No more would history repeat itself, the cycle was broken.

Closing her eyes she took a moment to center her thoughts before looking at the sea of hands waving for her attention.

She smiled and pointed to Colin's waving hand.

******

Sol System, Orbit of Mars, Terran Space Navy Headquarters.

The Terran Space Navy Headquarters were unlike any ever built before in the Milky Way Galaxy. When the System Lord Anubis had attacked Earth with an asteroid, hoping to destroy the planet without alerting the Asgard of his involvement, thus circumventing the Protected Planets Treaty, he provided the Terran Federation with the perfect platform to construct the needed facilities for the developing Terran Space Navy. During the Terran Federation/Aschen war, the lack of a central Headquarters for the Navy was felt and plans were drawn to remedy to that situation as soon as possible. After the war ended with the victory of the Terran Federation, the construction project was launched.

The asteroid used by Anubis was different from other asteroids found in the Solar system because its core was composed of Naquadah. After SG 1's successful mission to save Earth from collision, the Asteroid was hidden in a cluster near the Solar system in case Earth decided to mine its deposits of Naquadah. It wasn't until decades later that the team of engineers tasked with the creation of the Terran Space Navy Headquarters found references of the rock and decided to use it as the Headquarters' "hull". With a length of 137 KM, a width of 61 KM and a depth of 95 KM the available space was enormous and provided a support structure more than sufficient for the nerve center of the entire Terran Space Navy.

The Naquadah found in its core was used and refined via nano technology to cover the entire asteroid in a hundred meter tick armor while the interior was hollowed to make room for the installations necessary. After completion, the Space Navy Headquarters represented the primary system of defense for the protection of the Solar System. Fifteen hundred Drone chairs controlled the two Hundred millions Drones stored inside, ready to be activated to destroy any ship or fleets sent against Earth as well as hundreds of Heavy Plasma Canons installed on its surface while a hangar bay big enough to contain seven entire fleets was built inside the Asteroid.

The Asteroid was also home to 2 millions inhabitants living in a shielded city built on the surface while the literal headquarter was situated deep inside the rock with offices for every branch of the Space Navy as well as the naval academy were cadets from the Terran Army entered for their specialization. Unlike previous Earth militaries which left the handling of their academies to the branches themselves, the Terran Army run things differently due to the massive human resources they used: each major colony or member world housed a recruitment center used to prepare the recruits for the first part of their training for a year. After the successful completion of the basic training they were sent to the relevant academies for their training: Terran Space Navy Headquarters in the Sol System, Vis Uban for the Space Troopers and Alcantra for the Special Forces.

It was in her office in the H.Q., that Admiral Deforest, Second Triumvir of the Space Navy Triumvirate received word of the Jaffa attack on Kalina. The Terran Space Navy was headed by a Triumvirate of three Admirals of equal power, all of them members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Ministry of Defense.

The Admiral, a woman of 82, was first shocked then incensed when she read the report from Border Patrol 62. Not only had the Jaffa attacked a peaceful world under their unspoken protection, they also looted it liked pirates without any respect for the damages they caused to a world that had known no war for two centuries and offered almost no resistance!

She knew as soon as she saw the targeted world that it was not only the resource value of Kalina that mattered to them but more the impact their attack had on the Terran Federation's reputation. This slap in the face from one of their so called allies could not, and would not be well received by the Terran government and anticipating the President's demands she sent the order to mobilize every asset the Space Navy disposed of including canceling the shore leave accorded to fleet personnel and activating the reservists in the defense fleets across the Terran Federation member worlds. The threat alert on all Terran Space Navy ships was put on Red Level 2 in case the Jaffa decided to attack directly one of the member worlds.

She turned toward her videophone and sent a visual message to the other 2 triumvirs to schedule a meeting and inform them of the situation. Closing the terminal she watched the personal Moto of the Triumvirate under the seal in her office: "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst".

She couldn't think of a more appropriate quote for the situation.