To change fate Chapter 12: A time to relax, grow and politics?, a Stargate: SG-1 + Battlestar Galactica: 2003 Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, Ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Wireless/communication"

"Speaking in a different language"

Chapter 12: A time to relax, grow and... politics?

New Caprica, 5 days after the arrival of the Discovery

Chief Tyrol was walking down the main road from the city being build on the mainland that connected via a now functional bridge to the outpostship. He had a long and hard day behind him. Not only was he still the deck chief of the Galactica, but was also the union leader. Not by choice. On top of that, he also had the mining operation to oversee. Being overworked was a real issue for him. And he went to the admiral with it. Since there was no crisis at the moment, the old man relieved him of the deck duty for a week. He knew that working people to death was not a good idea.

As he entered thru the main gate into the outpostship, he passed the guards on duty and saluted them. While he wanted to be a civilian now, the policy of the president and admiral was that vigilance needed to be kept up. So no one in the military would be really discharged.

As the chief entered the main hub area of the city, he was greeted with a sight that reminded him of the good old days. Before the exodus. The main hub area in the central part of the city, below the upper military and political levels and above the hangars and machine shops was turned into a make shift marked. Well, it was make shift, now, after months, it was turned into a functional market. The Colonials took the areas that were meant for, well, they did not know what their original purpose was and turned them into shops, restaurants, service providers and bars. All 3 levels of this hub, that were open to the ceiling, where the military barracks began, were being used.

"Hey chief! How are you doing?" was the first thing he heard.

"Going home, Jack."

"Aw, come one, chief!" another said. "Join us at the bar. First round is on us."

"I am beat, Jason. Can't. Rain check?"

"Fine. See you, chief."

As he moved along, the bar owner went up to him. "Hey, Galen. Sorry to interrupt your walk home, but when can I expect the next shipment of goods?"

"Ehhh, well, the way the distillery is working, in 18 hours. But if you want it to be any good, give it 3 days? How badly do you need it, Sarah?"

"Badly. How about 50% ASAP, the rest later?"

"Fine by me. Bye."

The chief had forgotten his passion project turned into a business that he was overseeing. Ever since he saved his deck hands who had tried and failed to make homemade booze, he was in an unofficial position of the main booze supplier. Tyrol spirits, as Cally had christened it. After he showed his deck hands how to make something drinkable and non lethal, they found a perfect area on the Kobol to take up shop. A medium sized area made up of several rooms, right next to the main hangar entrance. That way they could do their job there and keep an eye o their other work. Saul and Ellen of all people were most grateful for this. Ever since he had the added job as a union leader, he gave the control of booze business to his friends who were with him since day one. He kept checking on it and exchanged ideas with them.

He moved out of the main hub area into a side entrance, passing more people. After 3 minutes of walking, he reached his goal. One of the 2 residential domes. It was late and the sun had already set. All the buildings were not light, except of the interior lights. Even now, with 2 crystals powering the city as well as this naquadah being produced to refuel the other generators, power conservation was still in effect. Since the domes were now opened, except the agricultural ones, the night sky was visible.

He reached his building and inside it, the transporter booth. The Colonials had a hard time adapting to this new reality, the Sagittarians the most. They refused to use this ungodly technology. It annoyed even the Gemenese, and that was a rarity, since these 2 colonies were on the same page more times than not. But the Gemenese saw it as a blessing from the gods. Either way, the admiral and president just face palmed at both of them. With Baltar's help, they managed to create a safe way to use the transporters, by limiting them to a local group of transporters. This was for security reasons, so that criminals and the black market would have a hard time to do anything. The transporters in a building were linked only to others in the same building. Only the main one next to the entrance was linked to the other 'main' ones in other buildings in the city. The ones in the engineering level, military sector and political sector were independent and one had to walk to another transporter booth to get from military to civilian sectors. That way, every person would be forced to pass by a security post and be checked. This way, stealing and smuggling was made almost impossible. Then there were special ones in isolated sector of the city that were used for movement from the ground to the satellite in orbit. Once on the satellite one had to make another security check in order to go to the other transporter that was linked to the moon mining operation or the ships in orbit. Baltar smiled at this particular achievement of his.

As he reached his apartment, Cally opened the door as she heard him approach. "Where were you!? You should have been home hours ago!?"

"Sorry, but the union meeting took forever and then I had to go to the miners on the moon to solve a problem they had." he replied as he took his shoes off and sat on the sofa.

Their apartment was one of many identical on the Kobol, only theirs had like all of them in the dome area, a view like in a normal city. Cally was heavily pregnant at this stage, so she was cleared of any duty for the time being.

"That bad?" she replied as she sat down next to him.

"Well, the good news is that the admiral is reasonable. I have a week off from my deck duties everywhere."

"Wow. That is good news! Come, I managed to get dinner ready. Was not hard to get something good. It just shows how things are improving." she said as she stood up and went to the dining area. As he did not reply, she turned around. "Galen?" She went to him. He was sound asleep.

"Wow, hard day indeed."

She left their apartment, not wanting to wake him up. She locked the door at the palm scanner that was used at every door instead of keys. She moved to the apartment next door and rang.

"Oh, hi Cally. Where is the chief?" Karl asked as he opened the door. "Did he forget our little party?"

"Hi Karl. No he didn't. At least I think he didn't. He is just so tired, he fell asleep on the sofa. Didn't even have dinner."

"Yeah, he is a man in demand. Come in." he gestured as she entered his apartment. Inside, there was the other soon to be mother, Sharon as well as 2 other couples, Lee, Dee, Kara and Sam. As well as a table filled with food.

"Well, took you long enough!" Kara fumed.

"Where is the chief?" Dee asked.

"Long story. Can wait for later. Everyone that is coming is here." Karl said as he brought the drinks, offering to everyone except the 2 pregnant women.

"Kind of sucks that we can't drink." Cally protested while getting a snack.

Baltar's lab, same time

Baltar had been working late, as he usually did in the last month. The unlocking of the master control on either Kobol or Discovery was driving him mad. Now at least he had two distractions. The first was the large cache of data on Cylon technology. From their navigational systems, to their improved FLT, organic integration... the works. The other distraction was really... distracting him. Caprica. They hadn't spoken since she arrived. Well not when it came to their private matters. And now she was with him in his lab, helping to solve the problem of the master control. With her help, they were down to 2 'tests'.

"Are you going to ignore me for the rest of this visit, or forever?" she asked.

"Hmm. Well, how would you start this awkward conversation? Hey, you know, I love you and all, can we be together again? And by the way, sorry for using your CNP to distribute a virus to incapacitate the entire Colonial military that led to the deaths of billions of people. On top of that, sorry for the guilt you have been feeling in your chest ever since then and the fear of them discovering that you were indirectly responsible for the Cylons getting access to our military mainframe. Tell me. How should I start this conversation!?"

Caprica froze for a moment. "I never said that it would be easy, but a 'Hi' would have been nice. Besides, as I remember, you used me too, for your perverted sexual fantasies. It is not my fault that the Cavils saw you as the weak link in our infiltration mission. They saw your tendency to think with the wrong head. So they send me. To make you think with your small head. Are hubris and lust not sins even in Colonial culture?"

"Oh, so it is now my fault? I thought that you were a human being interested in my work! Not an infiltrator with the mission to commit genocide. And yes, I had an ego problem, but I think that it has dissolved itself in the past months after all the crap we have been thru."

"And I had little choice in that as well. You were deceived by me, while I was deceived by the Cavils! Round and round it goes. If you want to go further back, let's go to the Gravestone company creating the first Centurions. The 13th Tribe creating their Centurions. The Kobolians creating their Centurions! In the end, it always begins with humans playing god. We, your children then make mistakes as well, just like you. As an old saying your priests have: 'Only Zeus is perfect'. We are all victims in this, one way or another. Even our parents."

"Speaking of them. You still refuse to say anything on that subject. You were more than open for any other exchange of information, but will not tell us who they are?"

"D'Anna and Cavil will decide to either tell you or not. It is not for me to say. All I can tell you is that they are here, but don't know who they are. The Cavils hated them for loving humanity more than them. So they killed them and turned them into Boomers, sending them to the colonies in order to die with the humans they so loved. But I guess that god has a sense of humor, since they all survived." Caprica stopped at that. She exhaled,turned to Baltar and smiled. "You love me?"

Baltar looked annoyed. "You remember me saying that now? You are almost as bad as... never mind."

"What? Tell me. If you are with another... I can understand..."

"No, it is not that. You'll think that I am crazy. There is this imaginary Caprica that visits me on occasion to, well, annoy me, tease me... I can't control it. Has been happening ever since the fall of the Colonies. But she can't be a simple illusion. She knows things that I don't. Things about the Discovery. This city... she told me to return to Kobol and take a closer look at the Tomb of Athena. And we found this! If she were just my imagination going wild, she could not know anything more than me... right?" Baltar asked and looked at Caprica. She had a shocked expression on her face. "Why do I have a feeling that you are not surprised at my confession?"

"I am surprised, just not in a way that you might think. I have been seeing, well, you from time to time. He also pops up from nowhere and tells me things he, em, I mean I could not have known. He told me that the ship the Cavils found was of an alien race the builders of this city were at war with. And the allies of the builders of this city were the ones the original Cylons on Kobol found and used to create the FTL we use today. As well as resurrection."

Silence followed. "Frak. This is turning into a massive headache." Baltar fumed then took a bottle out of a drawer as well as two glasses. "You want one?"

"Thought you would never ask."

As he poured the drink into the glasses, he looked up: "If either of you can hear me, stop laughing and come here. We need explanations, you... whatever you are!"

Nothing happened. "Figures." he grit his teeth. "I bet they are laughing and I am made to look like an idiot."

Kobol city ship, presidential office, same time

"I knew that keeping an eye on Baltar would be a good idea, but this." Roslin said as she deactivated her monitor that had just shown her the entire conversation between Baltar and Caprica.

"Your hunch was on the money. Good thing we had Felix install that camera in his lab." Adama replied. He had been spending his free time with her more and more these past few months. "The question is, what do we do now."

"From my point of view, he just admitted to cooperating with the enemy. That is treason and punishable by death."

"Not willingly. And he is our current expert on the alien tech and on how it works. Lee and the others know how to use it, he will understand how to make it."

"So what are we suppose to do? Let him get away with it?"

"I agree with Caprica, they were all victims of the Cavils. If you want my opinion, we confront him with it, but we don't expose him. He steps down from his post as vice president and works for us on this tech for as long as we deem it necessary. We have him by the balls. We can dictate the terms."

Roslin took another sip from her drink. "If only I knew about this moths ago we would have never landed on this planet."

"You can't be sure of that. Zarek was ready to derail your original plan and Baltar sided with you. I think he really wants what is best for the people now."

"I know. What about this stuff of them having visions? You think they are crazy?"

"If only one was having them, maybe, but the both of them and so similar? And we have been observing them since day one. They had no chance to compare their stories until now. I have a feeling that a higher power has it's fingers in our blight. Maybe the Lords themselves? Who knows, maybe they were the ones giving Pythia her visions? Or made the Discovery stop in front of the fleet?"

"You go with that story to the Quorum and I don't want to be near them for a month." Roslin replied as she drank the content of her glass down in one swoop.

Just then, the door opened up and Saul entered. "Hey Bill, madam president. You want to join Ellen and me? We were going out on a drink or two. Might get something to eat as well."

"Sorry Saul, but..."

"Why not." Laure replied as she stood up. "Come on admiral. Let's join them. I think I had more than enough of mysteries and intrigues for this day. And that is an order."

Adama smiled as he stood up. "As you command."

Kobol cityship, medical center, same time

Cain had regained conciseness days ago. She was still weak, well physically at least. Her mind however was not. As stubborn as ever. When she learned of the proposed alliance with the rebel Cylons, she almost blew a gasket. When she learned that a Clyon representative was in the city, she almost raged.

Now she was trying to sleep, without success.

"If you came here to finish the job, make it quick, I have things to do." she said as she notices a figure in the darkness approaching her bed in the observation wing.

"Now why would I do that?" Zarek replied as he entered into the light.

"Figures. The sour looser. What do you want?"

Zarek smiled and tried to make his charm work. "Sour looser? You're the one to talk."

"I said what do you want? And don't bother. Your charm is wasted on me. I don't swing that way."

"So I heard. Including what you did with that Cylon prisoner you once had."

Cain did not bite. "Hmm, so what. It was and still is war."

"Indeed. But you are one of the few that still think that way. Well at least when it comes to the rebels. Heh, rebel Cylons. That notion is as stupid as an alliance with them. Don't you think?"

"Not my call to make."

"What if it were?"

"You proposing a hostile takeover?"

"Something like that. I get the presidency, you the admiral post. Win-win for the both of us."

"Right, until you don't need me anymore and I 'disappear'. I know your kind. You should have been hanged for your crimes and not spend your time in a cozy cell. Roslin is a weakling, but at least I can count on her to not backstab me. As for Adama... he is a fool, but the situation is as it is."

Zarek began to leave. "If you ever change your mind... you know where to find me."

As he left, Cain asked: "What do you think?"

Shaw appeared from the shadows, her hand on her weapon, ready to have taken Zarek out. "I think you are on the spot with him. And that this is not over. He will continue to probe people in important positions. Until one caves in. The weak spot."

Cain nodded. "We need to make him disappear. Somehow."

"With you here and me under charges for the mess we made on the fleet we found... it will be hard to do anything without someone finding out. Besides, he has connections in the underworld. He is dangerous."

"That is why I asked you to stay here for the night. Not many I trust blindly. Now to other news. How did the mission go?"

"Found the 13th Earth. It is confirmed. A Cylon colony from the beginning. A dead planet."

"I could have told Adama that it was a dream. What is his plan now?"

"For Baltar to find out where the Discovery was meant to go. Once he does, we send a reconnaissance team there with the Discovery. If all else fails, we relocate there, if it is viable."

"I guess that Adama is not completely stupid."

P9G-844, 4 hours later

"Haaah!" Rya'c screamed as he attacked again. He and Bra'tac were training for several hours in the training field. The Sodan Jaffa had made it possible for a few select Jaffa from the outside to now visit their village and learn their secret combat techniques.

"That was a strong attack, young one." Bra'tac smiled as he blocked the practice staff swing from Rya'c. "But can you tell me what you did wrong?"

Rya'c stopped and began to think.

"Hm? Nothing? Well then.." Bra'tac looke behind his pupil, seeing Teal'c and Jolan approaching the training field from the forest. They had been practicing for hours as well. Jolan offered himself to distract Teal'c. "What about you two? Anyone care to tell me what my student did wrong?"

"His stance is good, if he were facing someone his size. Since that is not the case, he is leaving his left flank open for a counterattack by a larger and stronger opponent." Jolan replied.

"As well as overextending himself. There is no point in trying to kill your enemy, if you both fail at it and die needlessly." Teal'c added.

Bra'tac nodded. "Correct."

"But father, you made such choices yourself in the past, when you risked your life against stronger enemies and yet you always won." Rya'c protested, looking at his father.

Bra'tac took the boy by the shoulder and looked him in the eyes: "And when you have decades of experience and have bled for our freedom, you will know when to do that and when not. Experience and skill always triumph superior numbers or strength."

"Also minding your surroundings is important. Use it to your advantage." Jolan said as he went to the edge of the training field and sat down.

"As well as luck." Teal'c added. "But luck does not always go your way. Remember that, my son. All my skill, experience and luck and still... I could not save your mother."

Rya'c lowered his head. "I think I understand, father."

"Brother!" Volnek shouted as he approached the group. "Lord Haikon wishes to speak with master Bra'tac and Teal'c."

Bra'tac looked at Jolan. "Mind if you continue his training?"

"Of course. Go."

Minutes later, they arrived at Haikon's meditation spot in the forest. They took a meditative pose next to him.

"You wished to speak to us, lord Haikon?"

"There is news of a rebellion in Heru'ur's ranks. A part of his fleet has been overthrown by Jaffa who became disillusioned, once they saw our transmission. I believe that one of you should go meet them. A Jaffa named Rak'nor is leading them."

"Rak'nor? I knew his father." Teal'c replied.

"Be careful, it might be a trap. Ask the Tok'ra to contact them and suggest a meeting place of our choosing. Heru'ur is a warrior Goa'uld, but would not stop from using lies and deception."

Flashback: New terra, 2 days ago

The Tok'ra priests were having their song in the background. In reality, their song was a list of all the known crimes that Apophis had committed. Apophis was strapped to a table that was now in a vertical position.

All of this was happening in a large ceremonial hall, that was assembled for this occasion. In the background there was a large assembly of people, both human, Jaffa and Tok'ra that were part of this ceremony. In the middle of the hall there was a large org attached to a larger box at the base. It was the Goa'uld long range communication device. The Tok'ra had established a transmission to as much of the galaxy they could. They also made sure on several levels that this transmission could not be tracked. They all knew that once the Goa'uld realized what was happening, they would try to block the transmission, but hopefully, some Jaffa would see it, and some of those would react on it. The ceremony would be recorded first, then transmitted.

As the priests ended their 'song', the extractor was lowered in front of Apophis.

"Any last words?" Garshaw of Belote asked the prisoner.

"This is only a small victory. You shall fall!" Apophis screamed in his last act of defiance.

With that said, the extractor began its work. A needle was inserted into Apophis head. He began to scream with pain. Around half a minute later, it was over when the transparent cylinder that was part of the extractor, became visibly full, now containing Apophis himself. The needle was retracted and the host became silent. Garshaw took the cylinder from the extractor and gave it to Teal'c, who stepped forward, in front of the long range communication device.

Speaking in Goa'uld, Teal'c began: "This is your falls god, Apophis!" He held the cylinder up with his hand. "To all Jaffa. This is how your god's look like. And this..." he threw the cylinder to the floor breaking it. "... is how a false god dies." The Parasite began to squirm and tried to get away. To no avail. It died moments later, only the liquids inside the cylinder keeping it alive until then.

Teal'c did not smile. He was happy that Apophis was dead, but his revenge brought him no joy. Daniel was right.

Speaking of Daniel, with the ceremony done, he went to the host, hoping to help him. The Tok'ra said that because the host was so old and was forced to use the sarcophagus so often, he had only weeks to live. A month at best. They would make his last days comfortable at least.

Flashback end

Their little transmission was successful. All over the galaxy, the Goa'uld had to put fires out and many Jaffa were now joining the rebels. Of course, their success had its limits. The System Lords managed to block allot of the transmission, but the damage was done.

The 3 Jaffa were still in their meditative poses, when Haikon grabbed something wrapped in a cloth that was next to him. He unwrapped it and showed it to the other 2 Jaffa.

"Is that?"

"The new Ma'Tok staff. The Terrans and Tok'ra have designed it by taking the best parts of the old designs as well the ones we Sodan use and modernized them." Haikon explained as he handed it to Teal'c.

It was a more elegant design, only as long as a person's hand, so even shorter than the Sodan variant. It had the same tip where the plasma bolts would be fired from, the rear was a bit thicker, since the fuel cell was located there. The middle was the part that was in stark contrast to the traditional one. It was as thin, but had a small display on it with three buttons next to it. The display was showing the weapon discharge power meter, giving the person the control to set it to maximum, minimum and any other setting in between. The other meter was for the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel cell. As for the two buttons, the large one was clearly the fire button, but the other three were a mystery for Teal'c as he inspected it.

"I like it. Gives me more options. But it lacks the melee combat option of the old one."

"Press the last button."

Teal'c did and in an instant the Ma'Tok weapon extended to the length of the traditional one.

"Impressive." Teal'c said as he inspected the weapon in melee mode.

"Yes, in corner fights, the short version is much more useful, in hand to hand, you switch to this mode."

Teal'c then looked at the middle button. "What is this one for?"

"As I understand it, it switches between rapid fire and sniper mode. The Terrans argued that the traditional ones were not firing fast enough and were too inaccurate. This enables you to switch between a rapid short-range fire mode and a slow but accurate long-range fire mode. In every way, a much superior model. I already approved it. If you and the other Jaffa leaders do as well, the Terrans will put it into full production." Haikon explained. "They also said that they will use the old Ma'Tok staff weapons for components and spare parts to speed up production."

"Hm.." Bra'tac hummed as he now took the weapon from Teal'c and tested it. "Truly a great design. I wonder why the false gods never did come up with these, as the humans say 'comfort of life improvements'?"

"Maybe they feared that the Jaffa would become too independent with them? Who knows." Haikon replied.

As they stood up to return to the village, Haikon remembered: "The only drawback is that it's fuel supply is only 50% of the old one, but will still hold power for weeks of usage before needing to be replenished."

New Terra, main R&D complex, same time

Rodney did not know whether to rage or be impressed. He, both Sam's, Narim and other Tollan scientists were working day and night since the mission to the Aschen home world, to decode the Aschen computer core. Narime begrudgingly admitted that the Aschen had masterful computer coding. McKay agreed, but did not admit it.

The once again glowing core wan now in the middle of the main Cyber laboratory, hooked up to dozens of cords, cables and other equipment.

"I thought that I hated those accountants before, but really... this coding is driving me crazy!" McKay raged. "Encryptions after encryptions. At this speed, we will get all the info piece meal."

"You have a talent to stating the obvious, McKay." Narim argued back.

"Hey, all tall and mighty Tollan. Where is your 'we are superior' talk now?"

"Rodney, arguing will not help here. The Aschen were not stupid, we all knew that. Since we physically stole this core, it activated additional safety features that we now have to bypass. Get over it." Sam said as she worked at her console. Her android counterpart was directly connected to the core, sitting still in a chair.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with McKay's frustration." Narim spoke as he worked at his station.

"Oh, why?"

"What the Tollan science council has seen of the Aschen database in combination with the discoveries on the planet Velona, we believe that we could upgrade the tactical technology to the next level."

"Oh right. Velona. The dead planet with the Ancient weapon." Rodney remembered. "Why are we not just using it?"

"We know that the ascended Ancients would destroy us if we did, but they seem to tolerate us if we just inspect it and analyze the technology." Sam responded. "What I want to know is if Orlin was there and watching us?"

"Who knows. Anyway, Narim, you said 'upgrade tactical tech'. What did you mean with that?" Rodney needed to know.

"We could upgrade all energy systems from Inter to Multi technology. Our Ion cannons would become Multi-phase and Multi-dimensional. So once again able to either completely bypass Apophis tech shields or heavily damage them and bleed thru. All other systems would get the same upgrade, even our allied Jaffa. I do hope that this would get us to equal grounds to Anubis tech."

"See! Any you moan for me raging at the coding of the Aschen! This is big news! We need to break this things defenses!" Rodney raged again.

"What about your project, Rodney? Did the council like your prototype?"

"They were cryptic about it, until I showed them the advantages of the large scale magnetic accelerator guns."

"What are they anyway? Would guns that need ammo and fire slowly not be inferior to rapid fire energy weapons anyway?" Narim asked, now curious.

"Depends how you define inferior. In our testing of weapons versus defenses, we discovered a kind of rock-paper-scissors thing. Energy weapons have rapid fire, no need for ammo and a short to medium range benefit. Mass accelerator KEW have piercing power and can't be dispersed. Missiles have damage and range. But put them against the three known defenses we now use. Shields are effective against everything, but excel against energy weapons. Only superior fire power or technology will overwhelm the shields if pinned against energy weapons. Otherwise it is a war of attrition. Shields also defend against most types of radiation the best, that is why ships need them if inside dangerous nebulas or if close to a star. KEW's that are meant to pierce and not explode on impact, like the ones we developed for our new MAC cannons... and yes, the military loves it's acronyms. Well, they have a chance to punch thru shields and damage the hull. The reason is that shields disperse energy hits to a degree, but physical matter moving at great speeds can't be dispersed. Armor is the best against KEW. Naquadah-trinium armor can deflect KEW hits much better, more so if specially designed to do so. If on the other hand if it had a mix of heat resistant materials or reflective materials, it can withstand energy weapons better, but never as good as shields. Missiles and torpedoes are defeated best with ECM, but they do the most damage. Or they are shot down with point defense. ECM can make it more difficult to hit a target with energy weapons and KEW as well but you get the picture."

"So, ECM is best vs. missiles, shields vs. energy weapons and armor vs. KEW, but everything is good vs. everything to a degree?" Sam asked.

"Makes sense to me." android Sam replied, still working on the core. "I think the ship designers want to make specialized ships that do not rely too much on one thing, but turn them into a 'Jack of all trade' instead of a one trick pony, like the Ha'tak's have been for millennia. The problem is that we don't have a working concept on a real hybrid of a cruiser, battleship and carrier. The ones we have always favor one design over the other."

"And here I thought that you people were working, not gossiping!" was the sentence that came from the corridor as the door to the laboratory opened. It was Dr. Nicholas Rush.

"Uhh, why is this guy here again?" Rodney asked silently.

"Am asking myself the same thing. His people skills are even worse than yours, McKay." Narim replied.

"I resent that!"

Moments after Rush entered the lab, 3 more people followed. The first was Freya, but the other 2 were new, well to most of them.

"Come one you two, no need to be shy. You are here to learn and help." Freya encouraged them.

"Yeah well. Not every day you travel thru a wormhole to another planet." replied Eli Wallace as he entered the lab. He was casually dressed, with an 'Aliens abducted me' t-shirt.

"You and me both." Jennifer Hailey agreed. She was still in her cadet uniform.

"Jenifer. Nice that you could make it!" Sam said as she went to hug her.

After the hug, Jenifer saluted her: "Not like I had much of a choice, mam." She smiled while saying that.

After that, Sam went to greet Eli: "So, you are the boy genius we heard so much about?"

"Emm, I guess?"

"Can the socializing be delayed for later? We have things to do?" Rush said angrily as he went to work. "Maybe the slightly more intelligent cadet and boy wonder can help us and install a new OS on this laptop?"

As Rush went to work, Eli asked Sam: "Is he always so cheerful?"

Sam sighed: "This is him being cheerful."

Minutes after everyone went to work, Eli was looking at his computer display and began to concentrate really hard. Something Rush noticed.

"Having trouble, Eli? No wonder. This is not one of your video games, but a sophisticated alien machine code, that..."

"I'm in. I've bypassed the main firewall and am in the mainframe. There are still many lockouts, but our foot is in the door."

You could hear a pin drop in the lab.

"What!?" Rodney reacted as he moved to Eli's terminal and pushed him aside.

"Preposterous." Rush added as he did the same.

After a minute of checking, Rodney had an annoyed look. "I. Don't. Believe. IT. The College boy got in! Where is the fairness in it!?"

"Truly amazing, Eli." Rush said as he inspected the data stream.

"I concur." Narim added as he too was astounded.

Sam went to Eli: "Well, you just made my friend's list by making these two asses react like that. Priceless. You just earned your paycheck."

As Eli went to stand at the wall not knowing what to do now, while the elder scientists were checking the data, Jenifer went to stand next to him. "Not bad. I have to say, I'm impressed."

"Oh?" Eli responded. He did not know how to act in a situation like this, when a girl was complimenting him.

"Yeah. Maybe lose some weight and..." she said smilingly as she went back to her console.

"Oh great, she is playing with me."

Unknown to everyone, Orlin was watching them and listening to their discussion in his ascended state. "How do they know about me?"

New Terra, military academy, same time

O'Neill, Young, Sheppard and Mitchell were invited to the military academy for their first classes to begin their training. There were 4 categories: Marines, pilot, navy or intelligence. After the first year, one could add additional skills, like engineer, scientist, medic... and so on. Including the SG program. The training would not take more than 2 years, mostly thanks to the new neural interface technology that was being introduced. A hybrid of the Galaran, Tok'ra and the technology of the people of P7J-989. IT enabled accelerated learning, shortening the training from several years to only a few.

Finally, after months of debating the uniforms were standardized among the combined forces of the member planets. Now the first cadets had arrived to learn. The current forces in the military were those that had to some extent, experience in the needed fields, but the next generations would learn from the ground up.

As the 4 GS members entered the head principal's office, they saluted on spot as the general was waiting for them. He saluted them back.

"General, available SG-1 members reporting as ordered." O'Neill said.

"Welcome." general Aron saluted them back. "I heard from Vix what stunts you people pulled. "Aron and Vix were both from the Pack, so they knew each other.

"Everything you heard is true general. Even the things you did not hear."

Aron smiled. O'Neill really had a reputation as a smartass. He did not mind that. "Well gentlemen, since you are at the front, I was wondering if you could accompany me to the introduction hour for our new cadets? Some hero worship could help to motivate them?"

SG-1 members looked at each other. "I guess that is a yes, sir?"

"Excellent." The general then stood up. He was in his ceremonial uniform. A dark green colored uniform, the standard color for the would get dark blue, Intel light blue, pilots light green, army and marine dark green. Special forces would get black, when that program starts. The SG teams were currently using green as well. If that would change, was up to the pencil pushers."Let's go then."

In the main hall, over 1200 cadets were standing in perfect formations. The head instructor of the entire program, colonel Carl Owen, was giving them the welcome speech. For simplicity sake, all the branches would begin their training together, but would branch out after their first year and focus on their fields.

"And don't forget the motto of our forces once you graduate: 'No one stops, no one quits until the snakes are dead. Do you get me!?'"

"WE GET YOU SIR!"

The colonel nodded. "Welcome to the armed forces!" Then he noticed the 5 people that had just entered the hall. "Cadets, at attention, officers on deck!"

They all froze as the general came to inspect them. "At ease. To all cadets from the human and non human worlds." he looked at the few Serrakin race members among them. "Does anyone recognize the officers next to me?" No answer came. "No one? Has anyone heard of SG-1?" Now he got a reaction. Many of them. "Well, meet 4 members of SG-1: colonel O'Neill, major Young, captain Sheppard and captain Mitchell." The whispers began.

"Hello everyone. Nice to see so many young and eager cadets to do their part." O'Neill smiled while looking at them. "Any questions?"

An hour of Q&A later, O'Neill, while happy, had enough and wanted to leave.

"Before this meeting comes to a close, colonel, would you and your team members like to join us in another ceremony?"

As colonel Owen left the podium, he joined SG-1 members as they all saluted to each other.

"Colonel O'Neill, heard much about you. Heard you are doing a good job out there."

"Same, colonel. British special forces. Been in some tight spots, as I heard. Did not think they would have someone like you teaching kids. Why did you take it?"

"Heh, well someone has to do it. Besides, it's not all bad. And when queen and country call, who am I to say no. Besides, you think I'm a hard ass, wait till you see their drill sergeant. He's coming right now."

A minute later, the man in question came into the hall. An elder man in a marine uniform. He saluted to the general and colonels. After they saluted back and the general nodded, the Gunnery Sgt. began his 'speech'.

"Well, isn't this a surprise." he began to move down the line of the cadets in the first row. "Just my luck. My first day at this new academy that should represent the best humanity of all the member worlds has to offer, but do I get the best? No! I get shit stains like you!" He continued moving along the row, eyeing every cadet he went past. "You think your special, don't you? Well, if you think that you are hot shit, guess what! You are right about the last part!" he roared at a tall muscled man. "I bet you think you can take me in one on one, don't you?" He continued his tour. He stopped at a blond female cadet. "You. I heard you scored top grades in pilot tests? You think I'm impressed? A Barbie doll thinks she can fly shit?!" He continued. "Ah, here we have another one. If you are the best we have, black boy, humanity is doomed." He reached the first Serrakin cadet. "If you think that I will go easy on you just cause you look different, guess again! I don't care about how you look or sound. I don't care if you worship Buddha or a rock. I don't care if you lay eggs or read minds. You are all equal here! You are all equally shit! And it is my job to change that! I'm your physical and discipline instructor Gunnery Sgt. Payne, and for the next 6 months, I'm your worst enemy. Forget the snakes, I'm far worse. If at any point of this training you think I'm unfair, leave! If you think I'm too though, leave! If it's that day of the month and you can't hack it, leave! I'm here to turn you to solders. You get no safe spaces here! No micro aggression bull shit!" Then he stopped and pointed to SG-1. "At the end of your training and learning, many of you, but not all, will become like them! The best we have. Now maggots! You will all assemble outside in 1 hour. Me and other drill sergeants will break you into platoons. Then we will have a 10 kilometer run. If you fall behind, extra laps. If you complain, extra laps. And not just for you, but all in the platoon. Dismissed!"

"Holy shit." Sheppard whispered. "I think this guy buries all the motivational speakers. They are pushovers compared to him. Or should I say de-motivational?"

"I think he was the one who threw the Goa'uld off the Earth 5000 years ago. By himself." Mitchell almost laughed.

"I heard of him, but never met him in person. I guess they were not exaggerating. Payne indeed." Young added.

"Nicely done, Gunnery Sgt., but I think you might have overdone it a bit." the general commented. "We want to motivate them to be here, not to scare them away."

"Sir, if they can't hack it here, there is no point in doing this in the first place, sir!"

"Huuuuh, I see your point. Just don't overdo it, OK? Dismissed."

As the cadets were leaving, those that took the brunt of the sergeant's verbal abuse, left together.

"Really, just because I am tall and work out, he has to start with me?" James whined. "I mean, is it because I'm from Langara?"

"Doubtful." Ornek said. "I'm from Eudoria. The whole 'we are equals' speech actually motivated me. On my world I would have been killed by the other side, just for my skin color."

"Indeed. His speech was... interesting." Skar, the Serrakin said.

"Hey, I'm from Earth, but because I'm a woman and blond, I'm a Barbie doll? The nerve!" Mary fumed.

"What is a Barbie anyway?" was the collective question she got.

"Hey, where was Jennifer during all of this? She got top marks in science, she should have been at the front line getting an earful from that guy as well." Skar asked.

"Oh, did you not hear? She is major Carters favorite pupil, so she got to play in the lab." Mary answered as they finally managed to leave the hall.

During all of this, SG-1 had accompanied Aron, who was going to meet Vix. There were some rumors that Vix would get a new flagship. As it happened, Vix was in the main testing grounds for new equipment.

Only during their exit to a transporter booth, did O'Neill realize something. All of this was spoken in Ancient! The speeches from the instructors to the talk they just had. Him included. Since there were so many member worlds and by some stupid coincidence or luck, most spoke a similar language, but with differences in dialects, the council decided to make the Ancient language the standard language of all allied member worlds. This would solve many problems since no world could say that they want their language as the main one. As for the civilian population on planets, where the larger populous did not know that the Alliance even existed, the need to learn Ancient would be postponed until it would, but military personnel needed to learn. The first dictionary of basic Ancient was written by Daniel Jackson, but it would be constantly updated as more and more knowledge of the Ancients would become known. Then the knowledge of the language was 'learned' thru the same neural interface that was being used to accelerate the learning of the cadets. A part O'Neill was not enthusiastic about, when he had to go thru it, since he had bad past experience with similar technology. Now it was like a second language to all of them.

As they reached the testing grounds, a large empty field with an even larger hangar behind it. Several officers, other personnel and Vix were there, inspecting the equipment laid out before them.

"Admiral." Aron saluted his friend.

"General." Vix saluted back. "Done with scaring the cadets?"

"For today anyway." Aron smiled. "So, what have the engineers and scientists come up with now?"

The general and SG-1 went to join Vix with his inspection of the new hardware. They began with the new MS-1X, also known as the new Ma'Tok staff. It would be not limited to the Jaffa. Next was the Colt M-11 MA-2 sniper rifle. It was the updated version major Carter was using. A more mature design. Next to it were the M-10 MA side arm and M-12 MA assault rifle. On the other sides were identical weapons, at least on the outside. But on end of their barrels, they had slightly glowing crystals. These were the EB (energy based) versions of the same weapons. All of these weapons had a small display on their sides. For the mass accelerator ones for the ammo count and heat buildup, for the energy types for power supply. All the weapons also had a now lighter, grey color instead of the older dark one. The EB versions had the extra addition of the ZAT stun setting, while the MA did not.

On the next display were the support weapons and equipment, which included knives made out of trinium, stun grenades, EMP grenades, new trinium weaved body armor and a heads up display in a helmet.

Finally, they moved over to the space craft. The F-201 Arrow and F-202 Scimitar were already known to all. But the next 2 craft were new. The F-203 Rapier was meant to be a medium multi role fighter. It was build similar like the Arrow, but with larger engines and 2 diagonal fins at the top. It's front was also made to support more weapons than the Arrow. It was equipped with new pulse particle guns instead of the plasma staffs. The other craft was a medium transport ship and drop ship. The Alliance answer to the Al'kesh. The T-204 Shrike. It had a 2 pilot cockpit at the front, an extended middle compartment, 2 large ion engines at the sides, one graviton engine in the ventral part, a large cargo door at the back for quick deployment as well as a dorsal docking port for in-space operations. On top of that, it had a now reverse engineered Goa'uld cloaking device. It was also armed with 4 plasma staff weapons in a ventral and dorsal rotating turrets, since at 20 meters length, it would need some way to defend itself if detected.

"All impressive, people. Anything else?" O'Neill asked.

"Well, I was thinking of inspecting my new ship." Vix smiled. "Want to come?"

"Thought you would never ask, sir."

As the rings lowered themselves back into the floor, the 4 present SG-1 members, the admiral and general stepped out of the 'transporter room'. It was a new concept, but the outgoing ring transporters were in an isolated part of the ship so if there was a boarding party on the ship, they could be isolated there. The other ring transporters were for internal movement only.

"I really hope we crack the Aschen data soon, so that we can improve these transporters. Removing these rings would save space. And stop annoying me." Vix remarked as they moved to the main bridge. The corridors were mostly done, just an engineer here or there still working on a console.

Once they arrived, 2 things became obvious. They were in orbit and this was not a DD-304 or 305, but one of 2 CA-401 that were nearing completion. The other was clearly seen out the view window, with 2 304's and 2 305's next to it. Also visible were the armor shutters left and right of the window that were now standard for all ships. The bridge layout was similar to the 304 and 305 who had identical ones anyway. The 401 just had more space in the back for the CAG and mission operations. Both ships had many now standard changes that were deemed necessary after the first encounters with the Goa'uld. First were the clearly visible large turrets. The new 304 and 305 had 1 on the ventral and one on the dorsal neck part of the hull, both equipped with 2 medium scale ion cannons. This made it possible for them to engage multiple enemies from all directions, not just the narrow arc from the front. Also added on the dorsal part of the back side of the main hull were 2 MAC guns, each equipped with 50 rounds or high velocity piercing rounds. The staff weapons scattered around the hull were also modified, getting a new function. The ability to switch between the normal light staff weapon or the plasma charge option, which would enable the ship to establish a perimeter around itself by a form of energy flack. The last modification on the 304 and 305 that were now being produced was a docked T-204. It was docked at the ventral hull and if docked, it was almost impossible to spot as it was in the hull, linked with the 'mother' ship via the docking port. The T-204 itself had good armor in its ventral side, so as to not create a weak spot on the main ship.

With the exception of the staff weapon upgrade, the existing ships would get the hull upgrades, when the fleet was sufficient in size. For now they were needed, so upgrading them was a luxury they could not afford.

The 401 also had the same upgrades, but on a bigger scale. 2 large turrets with 2 large ion cannons on both ventral and dorsal hull as well as 2 additional MAC guns on the dorsal side of the flight pods. All new ships also had their nuclear silos halved in numbers, as it was becoming clear that nukes were becoming obsolete. The 401 also had 2 T-204's on its ventral hull docked instead of 1.

But the biggest addition on the 401 were the fighter launch tubes that were added under the landing bays, both looking port and starboard of the ship. The 401 simply had the space to implement the rapid deployment system. The smaller destroyers did not.

"Nice ship, admiral." O'Neill said as he admired her. Finally a big ship with big honking guns. As he looked at the consoles, he once again noticed the politics of the language standardization. Everything was in Ancient. Even the ship names on their hull's.

"Yes, the Tollana will do us proud." Vix smiled.

"Oh, Tollana?"

"Well, we already have the Terra. Each member planet will get a ship named after it."

"And the other one out there?"

Vix looked a bit sad. "The Egeria."

O'Neill picked up on that. "Wait, you name stuff usually after someone if they..."

"She died 2 days ago. Was too weak to survive, even with the best medical care. This is our way to honor her. But all is not lost. She went thru a spawning cycle before she died. And among her new young was a queen. A future matriarch for the Tok'ra, once she matures. In about 20 years."

"Great. More snakes."

"On top of that, the Tollans have given us the first batch of their new phase-fusion torpedo. Initial tests were successful. Only hope that they will also work against Anubis tech."

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, but what is the fighter capacity on this one?" Mitchell wanted to know as he looked at the CAG station.

"Well, with the miniaturization, we can get 10 201's and 8 203's in to the 304's, but here we can get 38 201's and 26 202's. So we are going to need new pilots, badly."

New Terra, military academy, 1 hour later

The cadets were having their lunch in the mess hall. They were all tired after that 'hell' march they had to go thru.

Mary was sitting at the table eating, when her friends joined her. "I swear, that guy is a sadist."

"Yeah, well, his verbal abuse gets tired after a while." Skar nodded.

"I mean I'm going to be a pilot, who cares if I can run fast."

"And if you get shot down on a planet?"

She stopped and cringed. "That won't happen."

"Oh, thinking highly of yourself." Ornek smiled as he teased her.

"Hey guys, look who is coming." James pointed to the entrance.

"Oh, teacher's favorite pupil."

The cadet in question soon joined them.

"Well, look who finally came. What, were you and major Carter developing an immortality device, Jenifer?" Mary asked sarcastically.

"No, it is classified. And I told you I had no choice. The major asked for me specifically and the general agreed."

"So, were you successfully, whatever you were doing?" James asked.

"In a way. This civilian boy from college cracked something Rush and McKay were busting their heads at for a while."

The others stopped eating. "Really? A college guy did what those 2 asses could not? Oh man, I wish I was there!" Ornek laughed.

"Speaking of Mr. who's name we don't know. Was he cute?" Mary wanted to know.

Jenifer wanted to face palm. "And you wonder why the drill sergeant called you the way he did? And yes, I heard. The whole academy heard."

Mary had an angry look.

Earth, SGC, same time

Daniel too was having lunch at the SGC. Since they were all on leave for the time, he had all the time for his archeology. But now that his friends knew about the SG program, he was not at it alone anymore. Sarah Gardner had joined him for lunch.

"So, Daniel, I have to say. I am impressed. All the things I learned in this short time span is amazing. Even the professor was silent, when we heard that you were right from the beginning about the pyramids."

"Em, thanks?"

"And then the modesty, knowing that for maybe decades to come, no one will know the truth."

"Yes, well, comes with the job. What did you think about the dig site on P3X-888?"

"Well, to see where these things crawled out from is interesting, Daniel, but I am more interested in civilizations and culture, not so much in fossils."

"I know, just asking for your opinion. What about the other project I am working on?"

"The gate address of the lost city of Atlantis? Sounds allot more interesting."

"Yes, I am beginning to think it is outside the galaxy."

"You know, why not just ask these Asgard? They must know."

"I asked. They said that some things we have to discover ourselves to prove worthy of the title 5th race someday."

After several minutes of annoying silence, he continued. "Sarah, why did it not work between us?"

Almost chocking on her drink as she was not expecting this, Sarah had think about it. "You mean besides you forgetting our anniversary? Your obsession on proving that you were right with your claims. I both admired you for that and hated you for it. There was no room for anything else but your goal in your life."

"And now that I found that goal?"

"Huuuh... look, Daniel, I still like you, but. Things have become complicated." She stood up and was ready o leave. "Tell you what. This Saturday evening. One date. We see how it goes. And the only excuse for not coming that I accept is 'the Goa'uld have abducted me'. Got it?"

Daniel nodded. "Yes, mam."

Unknown planet, high orbit, same time

3 Ha'tak mother ships were engaged in combat with a Furling cruiser. Their battle was one sided, as the Furling ship had superior weapons. On the Pel'tak of the lead Ha'tak, the Jaffa were in a defensive position, ready to die for their god. Then, the door to the Pel'tak was sliced in half by an energy blade. Moments later, another cut was made in the opposite side and the door began to fall apart.

"Jaffa! Kill the intruders!" the Goa'uld commander ordered. They began to open fire with their staff weapons. After the salvos were shot, they stopped, hoping to have killed the one on the other side.

"Is that all you got?" was the answer they got. A Furling solder jumped into the Pel'tak, one of his arms raised, holding an energy shield in front of himself. He held an energy blade in the other and cut thru the first Jaffa.

As they wanted to engage the Furling, a rift opened behind them and 2 more Furlings stepped thru to engage them from behind. The battle was over before they knew it. Only the Goa'uld remained.

One of the Furlings grabbed him by the throat. "I am K'orang of the Furlings! This planet is under the protected planet treaty. You are violating this treaty! Whom do you serve!?"

"I served Heru'ur, but he is missing. 'Cough'. I thought that I could.." He never got any further, as K'orang snapped his neck.

"You thought wrong." He then turned to his solders. "We are done here. Destroy this ship. I have a report to make to the council. The Goa'uld are acting chaotic."

Tobin system, 1 day later

"Master Teal'c, we have arrived. 1 Ha'tak ship is in sensor range at the agreed coordinates.

"Hail them."

Moments later, the image of a Jaffa appeared on the screen. "Master Teal'c, it is an honor to meet you. I am Rak'nor, and I lead these Jaffa, who have seen the truth from your transmission."

Teal'c smiled. "Welcome, brother. It is good to see more Jaffa free themselves from the shackles of the false gods. Come, we have much to discuss."

Minutes later, Teal'c and his guards were in the transporter platform location, when Rak'nor ringed over. But he was not alone. With him were 2 other Jaffa, who were holding a prisoner.

"Is that..."

"The false god Heru'ur." Rak'nor proclaimed proudly.

"Shol'va! You will all pay for this! If Apophis was not dead already, I would kill him myself for his incompetence!"

Teal'c approached him: "Don't worry, your time will come soon as well. Take him to the cells."

As Teal'c and Rak'nor moved to the Pel'tak, he asked: "How many follow you?"

"32 Ha'tak and over 50 support ships as well as several divisions. The rest was grabbed by the other System Lords or the lesser lords who worked for Heru'ur."

"Good work, my brother. Our rebellion grows every day."

New Caprica, broadcasting station, 2 days later

In the 'Newsroom' that was established on the upper levels of the outpostship, the 3 remaining legitimate reporters from the Colonies were preparing for their daily discussions to inform the people of what was currently going on in their fledgling new colony.

"Hello everyone and welcome back to our show. I'm James McManus, formerly from the Caprica Times. With me are my co-workers, Playa Palacios of the Picon Star and Sekou Hamilton of the Aerilon Gazette."

"Hello everyone." Sekou greeted. "And tonight, we bring you the latest developments in the colony, and what a big news day indeed. Playa?"

"Yes, indeed. Dr. Gaius Baltar announcing his resignation from the post of vice president."

"Claiming to be overworked and to be able to focus on his research only, he stepped down from the post of vice president. Who will replace him, is any bodies guess at this time." McManus concluded.

"In other news, it has been confirmed that the Colonial leadership is thinking about an alliance with the, and get this... rebel Cylons! Can you believe this!?" Sekou announced, clearly showing his disapproval.

"Yes, while it has been rumored that these 'rebels' were the ones that helped us in the liberation of the survivors in the colonies, many people remain skeptical. And an insider has confirmed that a representative from the rebels is already on the way here." McManus continued.

"How will they get here? Via ship?" Playa asked.

"More probably thru the device, now dubbed by the people as 'the ring of the Lords'. I guess it would be a faster and safer way to do it, if you ask me." Sekou answered.

"Well folks. Once we learn more, so do you. Now to other news..."

New Caprica, Kobol outpostship, ring room, 2 hours later

The ring was active, an incoming wormhole. Guards were ready for anything. Then 3 people stepped thru, 2 Colonial marines and a blindfolded man they guided along. As the gate deactivated, they removed his blindfold.

"Well, this is interesting indeed." Cavil announced. As he looked around, he saw the Colonial leadership as well as Caprica and Sharon. "I know on how you insist on ceremony and protocol, so, on behalf of the rebel Cylons, I ask for permission to come here."

"Granted. Now to confirm you are the Cavil that helped us and not one of the others..." the admiral looked at Sharon and nodded.

She went to Cavil and looked him in the eyes. "Its him alright."

"Thank you, my dear. And I do hope that is not you letting yourself go." He mocked her while looking at her belly.

"That is the future of both Colonials and Cylons, Cavil." Caprica defended Sharon.

"I know that. Just trying to break the ice, as they say."

In truth, Cavil was interested in this meeting. Only a few hours ago, a Raptor jumped into their 'hidden' base near the former colonies and transmitted the codes only Caprica knew of. They explained that she was with them on a diplomatic mission and gave them these codes and coordinates to contact him. As Cavil agreed to meet Roslin and Adama, he had to accept their terms. Only he would go, in the Raptor, blindfolded all the way. He never saw the Raptor land on Gemenon, go to a hidden temple and thru a ring to reach his current destination.

"Now, I think we have things to discuss, so let us not waste time." Cavil demanded.

"Agreed. This way." Adama replied as they moved to the conference room.

2 hours later, many things were achieved. The rebel Cylons would get insight on some of the alien tech to help them get an even foot with the Cavils. The Discovery would also, for the time being, abandon her exploration in order to make strike and retreat attacks, coordinated with the rebels. In return, Cavil agreed to help patrol and secure the Cyrannus system, so as to help the Colonials to retrieve more equipment and food from their former homes.

"I want to ask you something, Cavil." Roslin began. "The third crystal you have..."

"The one Caprica mentioned? That remains our bargaining chip for the moment. But I will make you a counter offer. We have some alien tech we stole from the other side. With your help, we might be able to understand it faster. In return for your scientific help, we hand over that destroyer Caprica mentioned."

Silence followed. "What! Why give them that?" Caprica demanded to know. "If repaired, we could use it to push back..."

"The point being 'IF'." Cavil stopped her. "We don't know IF we can fix it. The Colonials might. If fixed, they might use it to help us. That increases the odds in our favor. If the Colonials were ready to go this far, they might do that as well."

Adama did not believe it. "I understand the logistical reasoning, but to give up your biggest ace?"

"As I explained. Besides. I still hold 2 other Aces. One is the crystal, and that is more valuable to you than that ship. The other..."

"The Final five." Roslin ended his sentence. "Tell you what. Tell us who they are and we will believe you unconditionally from here on."

It was basically an ultimatum. An indirect one. "And what assurances do I have you will not kill them. They did stop the first Cylon war. Don't forget that. Their only mistake was creating my model."

"Noted." Adama looked at Cavil, thinking hard. "You have my word as well as keeping their identities a secret. Only those in this room will know."

"I agree to that." Roslin nodded. Then looked around. Apollo, Nash, Baltar and Sharon were the only ones in the conference room.

"Uhhhh, guess I have no choice. But I will hold you to that promise, admiral. Tory Foster."

"My... my assistant?" Roslin stuttered.

"Galen Tyrol."

"The Chief!?" both Adamas shouted.

"Samuel Anders."

"Frak, Kara's husband?" Lee said, not wanting to believe it.

"And the best for last. Ellen and Saul Tigh." Cavil said, waiting for the show to begin.

The admiral began looking green in the face. He could not believe it. "Saul is my oldest friend. We met right after the first war!"

"Yes, he and mother were reprogrammed and sent back first. Sorry, but YOU wanted to know. Should have given it a thought of who it might it be."

Apollo then remembered something. "Sir, remember, even the Discovery had, for the first time, issues deciding if colonel Tight was human or not. Maybe the Final five are a hybrid, like Sharon's baby?"

"Who knows, but we now know that this tech can be fooled, even if by accident." Adama grumbled.

"Now that the secret is out, I hope you will not forget our deal?" Cavil demanded.

"Will you tell them?" Adama asked.

"No, unless it will become necessary. Until then, I will leave that matter in your capable hands."

"When would it become necessary?" Apollo asked.

"Well, one of the big reasons would be if we lose resurrection and that might become necessary if we want to cripple the Cavils. In doing so, we would cripple ourselves as well, but the Final five could recreate resurrection for us."

"So they are your safety net?" Adama understood.

"Yes, but it would take all five of them to do it."

"OK, gentlemen, I think we are done here." Roslin rose up. "Let us give Cavil and Caprica some alone time to discuss private things, before we send him back."

"I think your ship should return to our expedition fleet and explain these developments." Cavil proposed. "Caprica can confirm these claims. They relinquish the destroyer and continue back to our main forces. Is that OK?"

"Agreed."

As Caprica and Cavil were left alone in the room, in the corridor outside, Roslin stopped and looked at Baltar. The admiral did the same. They waited until they were alone.

"Nice speech you gave, Gaius. Very convincing."

"Not like you left me much of a choice, madam president." he grumbled.

"Just be glad we need you and that what happened, did not happen because of your intentional involvement, but only because of your stupidity. Now, you wanted to speak with me before we got our guest?" Roslin asked.

"Yes. With Caprica's help, we managed to unlock all but the last test. With that, the ring computer has unlocked all the ring addresses in this galaxy."

"All of them?" the admiral wanted to know. That would be a great asset.

"Yes. Also, their coordinates on the galaxy map are also visible, except for the one on that algae planet that the Cylons took, as well as the 13th Earth. With your permission, we should start exploring..."

"Agreed." Adama nodded. "And the place the Discovery wanted to go to?"

"No idea on that yet."

"How many addresses do we have?"

"Total count is 289, including the 2 the Cylons have."

"Hm, for a galaxy, that is an interesting number."

"If you remember, these builders were terraforming planets. Maybe they wanted to terraform many more, but never got around to do that?"

"Like that enemy they were at war with?"

"Possibly."

"I'll talk to Nash to begin scouting these addresses. Good work, doctor. For a change." the admiral said as he walked away.

Planet Delmak, 2 days later

"You incompetent fool! Anubis wanted information from that Tok'ra spy!" Khalek roared and began to telekinetically choke the Goa'uld scientist.

"Khalek, put him down. It was not his fault. Not entirely." Anubis ordered. "The spy had this neural implant. Apparently it was designed to depolarize his brain should it be aggressively tampered with. Like with my mind probe. For the Tok'ra to use such devices for specifically to counter me... It only further confirms my suspicions on the temporal disturbance I felt." Anubis then looks at the Goa'uld scientist. "Were you able to get ANYTHING out of him, before he died?"

"Only some fragments... and a set of coordinates, my lord."

"At least something. In the best case scenario, it is the Tok'ra base. Khalek, you take over here while I am gone. Her'ak, prepare my fleet!"

New Caprica orbit, terraforming satellite, same time

Felix was having his work cut out for himself. He volunteered to take over the chief's duties, while he was on a break, but the chief was called back for something the admiral did not go into detail. The same detail that kept Felix here and not on the Discovery. The Battlestars were being overhauled, well, as good as they could be. The 2 Mercury and 2 Valkyrie classes were getting an upgrade for their armor, energy generation, weapons, computer capacity and comm systems. The armor parts came from the refined, construction quality naquadah, the rest from the spare parts found on the Kobol. At first the Colonials did not know what to do with the stuff, since they did not understand it. With Baltar, that changed.

One small scale naquada generator was added to each Battlestar for a power boost. More would be added, if there were any available. For that, the main hull was opened up in the dorsal area to allow the generator to be installed. Simultaneously, the spare computer cores were added as well. They were put in the same area as the generators, for simplicity sake. Both were then hooked up to the power distribution network and computer network. Baltar had his hands full, when he needed to write a machine code that would allow both Colonial and alien systems to communicate with each other. One side bonus that Baltar discovered, when the 2 computer systems were connected, was that the alien system had a sophisticated anti-viral defense. Once connected, the Colonials systems would benefit from it as well.

Based on that info, the Galactica would get the full upgrade as well. Before, only her armor would be repaired and where it was missing, added. Since she did not have networked computers, there was no real reason to add a computer core. And the Colonials would not dare network her for obvious reasons. But Baltars little discovery threw those plans overboard. The only thing the admiral kept on insisting was that the network could be deactivated manually at the CIC.

Then only the spare staff cannons remained. In order to keep some spare parts for repairs for the Discovery and Kobol, not all of the spare staff cannons were being installed on the Battlestars. The distribution was around 12 - 20 per Battlestar. Since they were mostly of the light variant, the Colonials did not see the need to replace their old KEW's with them.

As for FTL, sensors and shields, Baltar was at a road block. There were some spare parts for shield generators as well as projectors, but some were already used up for the repairs on the Kobol. Not wanting to use up everything, the Colonials left the Battlestars without them, for now. If and when they will be able to produce their own components, they would add them to the Battlestars, but with only a limited knowledge of the systems internal working, no adequate tools or even a industrial infrastructure, that was in the far future. The same problem arose with the sensor systems and FTL. They managed to interface the shuttles that were being used on the Battlestars for fast movement of personnel, with the ships internal systems to benefit from their subspace communications.

As Felix was looking at the maintenance schedule with Galen, the satellites sensors lit up.

"We have an incoming." said the officer on the sensor control.

"Has to be the Discovery. Almost on time." Felix remarked.

And he was right. The Discovery exited hyperspace, with the destroyer docked at her ventral hull.

"Discovery to New Caprica orbital command, we have a delivery for you." Apollo said over comm.

"Acknowledge Discovery. Park her right over docking port 3." Felix responded.

Galen was looking at the main screen, more precisely at the destroyer. He smiled. "Now your ass belongs to me."

Right then, another call was recieved, from the Pegasus. Felix answered it. "This is New Caprica command. Speaking. What...? Please repeat. ... Frak me... Yes, of course, I will inform the admiral, secure the area. Do not touch anything!"

"Felix, what's wrong?" Galen asked.

"Not enough that the Toasters kill us, now this!"

New Caprica, Kobol outpostship, presidential office, 12 minutes later

"Come again?" Roslin had to ask again. She thought that she heard wrong.

"Pegasus's commander, Fisk, Cain's XO, was found dead in his quarters. Strangled." was the only answer the admiral had.

Roslin did not know how to react to this. "Why? Who? Frak! Is it not enough for the Cylons to kill us!?"

"Mr. Gaeta said the same. Colonel Shaw may have an explanation." the admiral said and opened the door to the presidential office to let Shaw in.

"Well, colonel? You have something to say?"

"Mam, I think it was Zarek."

"Tom? Why would he do something like this?"

"He proposed a hostile takeover to Cain. She becomes admiral, he the president. When she refused... I think this was a warning for her refusal."

The admiral became curious: "Why would Cain refuse him? She and I don't see eye to eye. She would get everything."

"To quote her: 'Roslin will not backstab me like you will, when I am of no further use to you.' End quote. As for you, yes, she does not like your command, but it is as it is."

"Admiral, do you think that Zarek was behind it?"

"Don't know. We are looking over the transporter logs who went on and from the Pegasus that day. But if you ask me, it could be the black market. We found evidence in Fisk's office that he was involved in it."

"Either way, this needs to be solved. And I need to find a way to shove a leash up Zarek's ass!" Roslin raged.

"I agree." The admiral then turned to Shaw. "At least I know that Cain will not backstab me as well. And you can quote me."

As they left, Roslin called her assistant. "Tory, please call the Quorum members to assemble as fast as possible. We have things to discuss."

Earth, unknown location, same time

Maybourne was hiding in a back alley in a large metropolis area. Has was breathing heavily. He barely managed to dodge his pursuers. And they really wanted him dead.

"Shit. Never thought that they would spot me." He then looked at this arm. He was bleeding, but not badly. Only a flesh would.

"Operation Awakening? What are you up to, Simmons?"

Earth, shopping mall parking lot, Colorado Springs, 1 day later

Carter was just returning to her car. She enjoyed the free week the entire team got. As she arrived at her car, she noticed a blonde woman next to it, as if she was waiting for her.

"Ah, excuse me, major Carter, right? I'm Julia Donovan, Inside Access. I was hoping for an interview."

"Sorry, no interviews." Carter tried to get rid of her. As she entered her car, the reporter took something out of her purse.

"See this? A small sample of 2 different elements not found on our periodic table. I also have documents of secret funding of something called 'Stargate project' as well as an 'Alliance initiative'? And these projects are being funded by multiple countries around the world, that for some strange reason, have began to work together, like never before. You really don't want to comment?"

"Hm, I think you are just fishing and wasting both our times. Sorry, but the answer remains no." Carter then drove off, leaving a slightly annoyed, yet undeterred reporter behind.

Sol system, Moon orbit, Prometheus, 10 minutes later

O'Neill was looking outside, towards the moon. They were currently on the dark side of the moon, right above the under construction moon base. The construction began 2 months ago, but it was a pain staking slow process, mostly to keep it secret.

A large area had to be dug out so that the important components would be deep under the lunar surface. The base would also, once finished, become a landing port for Alliance ships.

"Coming along nicely, boys."

"Colonel, if I may ask, there are more important things to do for someone like you? Why come here?" the captain wanted to know.

"I'm bored. Everyone has things to do. So I came to see what the buzz was about. Besides..."

"Sir, we have a call from the SGC for colonel O'Neill." the comm officer reported.

As O'Neill went to take the call, he heard general Hammond on the other side. "Jack, come back immediately. We have a leak somewhere."

Aschen home world, capitol world, same time

Mollem was called to a meeting in the Aschen council when the military alarm was sounded over the city. As he, as well as all others stopped to receive the information on what was going on, his wife, Mirris ran up to him. She went to the military administrative office next to the council, so she was not far away.

"What could it be?" she asked.

Mollem looked up into the sky. "I think I know."

The clouds parted as a massive circular ship with large spike like extremities parted them.

"I am Anubis. This world belongs to me now as do its inhabitants. Resist me, and you shall die slowly and painfully."

Then several Ha'tak's appeared next to her as they too descended. Then they opened fire on the council building, destroying it as well as other key structures. After a minute of bombardment, they stopped.

10 minutes later, the main square in front of what was the council building, was full of landed Al'kesh and the Jaffa that emerged from them, secured the central part of the city.

Mollem and the others were made to kneel as the Jaffa commander approached. "I am Her'ak, first prime of the god Anubis. Your world is his now,"

"Your master is no god." Mollem replied in his monotone way.

Her'ak pointed his staff weapon at him: "For that insult, you will die, human!"

"Her'ak! Stop. He may amuse me." Anubis commanded as he approached them. "So the Jaffa and their human allies attacked this world before killing Apophis. Interesting. Why were they here?"

"Why should I answer you anything? If they killed another one of your kind, you are obviously not a god."

Anubis came closer to show Mollem his face and how wrong he was. "I am far more than Apophis ever was. Now, why were they here? They crippled your military and defenses. Those petty defenses would have not stopped me either way. But there was another reason. Tell me." Anubis then removed a small device from his coat. "This mind probe will be implanted into your brain. Your knowledge will simply be downloaded. So resistance is pointless."

For the first time, Mollem knew fear.

Cylon colony ship, orbit of a black hole, 5 days later

The Cavils had another meeting. One of many in the past few months.

"So, the new Basestars are working as predicted. Good. We are pushing the rebels back."

"Yes brother. We might be able to push them out of the Colonies soon. What I want to know is when we can expect our expedition to come back?"

"4 months until they get there, you do the math from there."

"Oh well, guess we can kill time until then."

"I would rather kill humans, but we can't be picky."

Then, a Four entered the meeting room.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Sorry for the interruption, but a Basestar just jumped in unscheduled. They have an urgent message. Our base in the Tiris system is gone."

"What!? That was our main fuel depot! What the frak happened."

The Four went to the command interface and activated a screen. "I think you would want to see this."

On the screen was a recording from a Basestar in that system. It was part of a group of 12 upgraded Basestars guarding the planet. In front of them, 7 Basestars jumped in and opened fire. Obviously rebels. But that was not the shocking part. Seconds after that, a rift of blue energy appeared next to the attackers. It was that cursed ship the Colonials used. But it was not alone. Docked to it was another, smaller ship. It undocked and both of them opened fire on the defending Cylons. The smaller ship had surprisingly, for its small size, superior fire power, when compared to the big ship. The defenders retaliated, but it was a losing battle. After 4 minutes, it was all but over. The last remaining Basestar decided to cut losses and jump away.

"God fraking DAMN it!" raged the lead Cavil as he stood up. He really wanted to shoot someone. "Now the humans are working with the rebels!? This is a bad joke of colossal proportions!"

"Indeed. We have to change tactics. We should..."

"You don't say! Of course we have to! Let's get to it and stop wasting time!"

New Caprica, high orbit, 2 hours later

The Discovery had just returned with the destroyer, now christened Ares, in honor of the god of war.

"Discovery to Caprica command, come in."

"This is Caprica command, admiral speaking. How did it go, Lee?"

Apollo smiled. "Went like a charm. They did not know what hit them."

In between planes of existence, same time

Orlin was having a hard time making sense of anything he just heard when he was watching the humans.

"Having a hard time, Orlin?"

He turned around. "Janus? What are you doing here?"

"Well, killing time at the moment. My plan is taking its course."

"Ah, I see. You are the one responsible for that mess downstairs?"

"What you call a mess, I call progress. Anyway, tired of being banished? I may have a use for you, if you're interested? Also, forget that Carter woman. Would not have worked out. Trust me."

To help visualize the OC I have added here (or before), I have added actors I think would fit their roles:

Cadet Mary - Kaley Cuoco

Cadet Ornek - Anthony Mackie

Cadet James - Chris Pratt

Colonel Carl Owen - Michael Ironside

General Aron - Idris Elba

Admiral Vix - David Warner

Gunnery Sgt. Payne - R. Lee Ermey

Commander Nash - Brian Markinson

I may use some of them in the future as support characters, but the main ones are still the original ones from the shows.

To get an idea of how the Shrike looks like, go to the Xenonauts wiki and look for it in the craft section. Change the atmospheric engines with the ones I mentioned as well as the additions and you get the idea.

The idea for the new staff weapon came from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.