Contact of Races

by wilkins75

Sequel to Contact at Kobol (Stargate/Battlestar). The Race has thrived for hundreds of thousands of years and who recently conquered their 5th world are heading toward Tosev 3, Earth believing the conquest to be ease against the sword swing savages. Little do they know that those sword swing savages are now one of if not the most powerful force in the Galaxy, the Tau'ri.

18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Opening Moments

Fleet Lord Straha stormed into his command center in the heart of the drafty stone castle which had been the house and base of power for one of the major powers which had once ruled this world. The Nsyha family which ruled over the city of Nsyha and a large surrounding area, their last living blood line and the last ruler not to accept the Race now ruled, Prince Unia had been an inch under his scales since before he arose to the position of fleet lord.

"How did this happen?" hissed Straha to his aid.

"We don't know superior sir, the terrorist hit the educational center with remarkable skill and strangest of all it happened at night." Explained the aid

"The crawlers don't work well at night, they are afraid of the dark." stated Straha "We took whole towns from them in the dark because their warriors where asleep."

"Yes, exulted fleet lord we don't understand it either what is stranger is that judging from the bullet holes they where armed with our weapons at least and trucks." Stated the aid "All evidence supports that they had trucks."

"But…but crawlers can't drive trucks so how do explain the use of trucks?" inquired Straha

"Sir, the data is still coming in but we think they either found members of the Race willing to help them for money." Explained the aid as Straha tail quivered, a sign of how angry he was.

"How many of the young lings got away?" inquired Straha

"All of them and they managed to kill some of our hatch lings as well." stated the aid "Reports from a Senior Research Felless said they opened a door not knowing that it was held hatch lings of the Race."

"Well I hope the hatch ling's got a bite out of them before dyeing." said Straha, as he brushed the idea of the hatch ling's dyeing. To the Race who had no concept of family outside of the Emperor it didn't mean much if a handful of hatch lings died, it was bad but it wasn't anything worse then a horrible factory accident would have been. "I know Senior Researcher Felless, did she have anything to add about the attack?"

"Only things that make no sense superior sir, she claims to have seen two legged creatures dressed in black wrappings fighting alongside the crawlers and they had land cruisers with them." Reported the aid

"Land cruisers?" inquired Straha

"Yes, exulted fleet lord and while there is some evidence that the terrorist had a heavy weapon there was no sign of the road being torn up like it would with a tracked land cruiser or infantry carrier." Explained the aid "Our experts in the field believe she was mistaken and confused because of the sudden outbreak of combat. She as a civilian would have no experience with combat and the stress might have gotten to her."

"That is a possibility and it isn't limited to civilians, we have gotten reports from combat males about something similar to these creatures described by Senior Researcher Felless." Added Straha as suddenly another aid walked into his office and assumed a position of respect while awaiting to be recognized.

"Yes." snapped Straha as he turned an eye turret to the new comer.

"Excuses me exulted fleet lord, but the terrorist leader Prince Unia has somehow broadcasted a video message on all communication channels." Explained the new aid as Straha hissed in anger as he headed to his desk and turned on his computer. He waited a moment for the computer to turn and within moments found the broadcast.

"I am Prince Unia, broadcasting from a free and liberated city of Likna." Said the terrorist leader, the video even had subtitles on it which amazed Straha but he pushed that aside as he kept watching. "Tonight, the brave freedom fighters of Opochti joined with out new Allies the Tau'ri of the Tau'ri Alliance to carry out a raid to liberate our imprisoned children. This raid was a massive success and the camp was liberated without the loss of a single Opochti child, fighter or any of our Tau'ri friends."

"The Tau'ri have deployed a war fleet to Home and will be place an ultimatum before the Emperor of the Race himself to leave our world within three days or face war between the Empire of the Race and the Tau'ri alliance." stated Prince Unia "We will be free once again my brothers and sisters, we shall be free and the Race will be driven off our home. Likna is free now and will remain free, have hope soon all of our world will be free."

"I want that city surrounded and I want the city back in our control by sunrise tomorrow." ordered Straha "If the fool believe he can bluff the Race with this talk of Tau'ri and a fleet over home he will learn a very harsh lesson."

Unaware of the movements taking place on the world he conquered Fleet Lord Avtar was hard at work, forming a plan of which ships would be turning around and making the 34-year trip back to home. That 34-year home year trip translated into around 17 years for Tosev 3 or Earth as the Tau'ri called it. The past couple of days had been like nothing he had planned for, he had planned to go down in history as the 1st conquer to conquer a second world only to run into the Tau'ri. The Tau'ri Tosevites had shoved everything the Race knew about how advanced races rises and science back onto it's tail stump and then for good measure kicked it multiple times. That was bad enough but now there was a possibility that he would have to defend home and the Empire.

"Luckily, I have time to prepare the Tosevites will not be ready to do anything for a while, it will take time for them to build an army." stated Atvar to himself as he sat behind his desk. He had just finalized the list of transports which would turn and head back toward home when his second in command Kiral appeared on his screen.

"Exulted fleet Lord, we are getting a broadcast from the Tosevite Leader President Carter." Said Kiral as the image changed to this Carter female sitting behind a desk. In the background Atvar could make out the image of the Tau'ri domed capital building and on either side of her where the flags of the Tau'ri, blue and silver which made no logical color sense to any member of the Race. Silver was a high-ranking color about equal to red but no where near gold and blue was a low ranking and ugly color on top of that, but the Tau'ri seamed to love blue.

"Good day, I am President Samantha Carter of the Tau'ri alliance but you of the Race and the subject races may know us better as Tosevites." Said Carter in the language of the Race, that caused Atvar to blink in confusion until he noticed the subtitles on the bottom and her fleshly lips didn't form the right movements to make the sounds. Even so the voice did sound like a female of the Race mixed in with a computerized translator program. "For the past couple of days, we have attempted to open lines of communication with your Emperor involving the arrival of your conquest fleet within our system and the subjection of the Opochti people better know to you as Vantic 5."

The fact that she didn't look down when she said Emperor filled Atvar with anger and that was on top of the fact that she considered herself equal to him. That was already unacceptable but to not even show him that amount of respect was a slap in the snout of every member of the Empire.

"I have come before you to inform you all that a few hours ago Military forces of the Tau'ri joined with Opochti freedom fighters to liberate a camp where kidnapped children had been placed. We have video documenting the removal of children from their families by force and in some cases murder of parents defending their children. Then they are processed where they are stripped of all clothing and siblings are forced broken apart. These are horrible unspeakable crimes by the standards of the Tau'ri and all civilized cultures in the galaxy. As such we are going to give this ultimatum to the Empire of the Race, if you do not order the de-colonization of Vantic 5 and hand it back to it's native people, who you conquered by force and never voted to join your empire then we of the Tau'ri alliance will force you out and if need be destroy your entire empire as a whole. We will give you 3 days to respond to our demand all the while Tau'ri forces will keep helping our Opochti allies. We call on Emperor Risson of the Race to finally meet our diplomat so that we can come to a peaceful agreement before unneeded blood is loss but we will not allow this occupation of a people who clearly never wanted to be citizens of the Empire of Race from going on. Thank you and good day."

Atvar blinked as his mind started racing, three days clearly, they couldn't be serious. There was no way they could raise an army, equip it and everything else in three days. It must be a bluff he decided when suddenly the power on his ship went out. With all the backups and safety systems there should be no way short of a massive explosion that that the ship would lose power yet it had.

"By the Emperor." said Atvar as he moved toward the door only to find it sealed, since it was power open with no power it was sealed.

Outside of the banner ship of the race, Battleship Yamato and the rest of the Tau'ri first fleet broke formation and headed straight toward the massive 500 strong Conquest fleet.

"Admiral, we have conformation all Race ships are disabled." Reported the head electronic warfare officer from her station on the battleship's bridge.

"So looks like those Cylons did design a good virus after all." Stated the Battleships second officer as he stood beside the Admiral. "Everything shut down and they are dead in space."

"Good for us." Confirmed the Admiral as the ships of the fleet moved in among the Conquest fleet. "Helm?"

"Sir, we have reached our assigned position and have the ships within range." Confirmed helm

"Then lock on and prepare to enter hyperspace." ordered the Admiral as across the fleet multiple tractor beams locked onto the ships of the race. The Asgard had towed the half-finished Prometheus to their home galaxy to take part in an operation against the Replicators. While the distance they would have to cover was a lot smaller the amount of ships they where going to transport at the same time was extremely high. Every ship in the fleet, even the small Galahad class Destroyer had to lock on to at least two of the ships with the battleships and carriers locking on to many more ships. As one the fleet towing the Conquest fleet of the Race entered hyperspace for the short journey to the Home System.

It didn't take long but the fleet soon arrived outside of the Home system and released the towed Race fleet.

"Confirm, all Race ships are accounted for." said the sensor operator on board the Yamato as the fleet minus the flag ship turned and headed back toward Earth. They could have stuck around if they had wanted to but when they had left Earth they had briefly left Earth, Venus and Mars with only defense satellites and air support for a defense, no warships. They didn't want to leave the heart of the Tau'ri alliance open like that for long, so a quick turn around was needed as they headed home.

"Reactive the ships and head for home." ordered the Admiral as with a push of a few buttons the Conquest fleet of the Race regained control over their ships. With that done the Yamato turned and opening it's own hyperspace window headed back toward Earth.

With power returned Avatar rushed onto the bridge of the banner ship only to see a stunned Kirel and other officers floating by the screens.

"What is going on, how did we lose power?" inquired Atvar

"Exulted fleet Lord, I don't know how but it seams as if the entire fleet has been transported back to Home System." Reported Kirel as with a nod an officer showed their location on a computer screen. Before his eyes he saw a system every member of the Empire knew well, the make up of the Home system. A glowing red dot showed their location as just on the far edge of the system, they where at least four days out from Home. Four days and the Tau'ri deadline was three days, if the Tau'ri did mean three days when they said three days until war broke out between the Race and the Tau'ri then they were out of the fight.

"Begin waking everyone up and debrief them, we have to ready to fight." ordered Atvar as Kirel blinked but gave the only answer he could.

"It shall be done." Confirmed Kirel

"And order the planners, we need plans to defend the Capital from invasion." ordered Atvar as Kirel looked horrified at the idea of war coming to Home, yet alone the Capital city of Preffilo. "And how to retake the Imperial Palace if it should fall to a Tau'ri invasion."

"It shall be done." confirmed Kirel as the officers under him began their work of spreading the Fleet Lord's orders and awakening the warriors of the Race. They would awaken to find things very different then what they had expected and what they trained for. Instead of adding a fifth world to the Empire, they may be called to defend Home itself.

Kassquit glared at the two Tosevites sitting by the back ramp of this wheeled land cruiser, she glared at them as hard as she cold wishing that they would be hurt in some way. Instead they sat across from each other with their weapons resting across their laps. She looked at her hardened plastic restraints around her hands and legs wishing she had the strength to rip them apart and to attack these enemy of the Race. In the tight space her large size which made her stand out among the Race would come in handy. She was about to try to rush them even with her legs restrained to the floor when suddenly this blue wall appeared beside her, she tried to get away but couldn't as this liquid like substance washed over her. Next thing she knew the blue wave was gone and she was back to normal.

"What by the Emperor was that?" inquired Kassquit

"That…that was just the Alligator passing through the Stargate shouldn't be much longer now." Answered one of the Tosevites as the sound of the vehicle changed, it sounded as if they had moved from off road to back to paved roads. She had no idea what was going on and then finally this Alligator came to a stop and the back ramp opened and a rush of wet cool air came flooding into the area along with bright sunlight.

It was the sunlight that confused Kassquit more than the cool wet air, two things that were rare on Vantic 5 which had larger oceans then the other worlds the race ruled but they where quiet a distance away from where she had been. One of the Tosevites undid her leg restrains and grabbing the restraints she was lead out of the mini land cruiser and at once she wish she hadn't. She was surrounded by strange green plants and even stranger buildings. In the distance a large multi sided building with a dome over it could be seen. Its design was unlike anything the Race would ever build, then she looked at the much taller buildings which made out the background. They reached high into the sky with narrow like frames of glass and metal, frames that would have been unsafe but still they rose reaching up toward the sky. There was also a much larger and more massive domed building in the distance.

"Welcome to Earth or as you call it Tosev 3." said her Tau'ri capture as a figure dressed in strange wrappings with a larger white wrapping over it all came up to her.

"We got traitor for you, this one worked for the Race." Said one of her captures to another Tau'ri, she didn't even notice that they spoke in the tongue of the Race through a robotic sounding devise.

"I am no traitor, I serve the Emperor and I was raised as a citizen of the Empire." said Kassquit as she looked, the hatchlings which should be waking up to begin their lessons and the process of becoming true civilized citizens of the Empire. Instead they rushed off large trucks and toward more Tosevites who were handing out wrappings. The younglings got dressed as quick as they could, wrappings was something that made no sense to Kassquit and was a waste of time. Body paint was the best and only proper way to go.

"Looks like it's more of a physical case." Said the Tosevite in white, as Kassquit looked as the younglings rushed toward gatherings of elders Vantic. Some of them hugged older Vantic as the bond of blood which was so important to their culture was reinforced. To Kassquit it was a sign of how primitive they where but then she looked around and realized that she was facing a civilization which was maybe equal to the Empire.

"As a citizen of the Empire, I demand that you release me. Your act of taking me against my will could be seen as an act of war." Demanded Kassquit

"Considering we have just given the Race a demand to surrender Opochti or as you call if Vantic 5 or face war and the total destruction of their Empire." Said the solider

"A war you can't win, we are the Empire and the Race is the most advanced civilization in the galaxy." stated Kassquit

"Listen, I don't know if you're a male or a female but I know you are a blind idiot the Race wouldn't even crack the top 100 in the most advanced race while we likely sitting at either number one or number two depending if you count the Nox or not." stated the Tosevites "We already have a war fleet over the Capital world and since we have Faster then light travel and you don't, add to that that your Empire has no standing military and we just finished a 4 year long war where we defeated 12 entire worlds means this war will be so one sided it will not even be funny."

Kassquit glared at this Tosevite, she was about to tell him how wrong he was when she noticed a much heavier land cruiser sitting on a nearby clearing in the center of the park. Then she heard and saw a flight of black killer crafts fly over their heads. The Tosevites didn't pay the strange killer crafts any mind but she did and it scared her because it was a clear sign of how dangerous these Tosevite's where.

The military force of the Race began to arrive on the field, it was made up of mostly tanks or as they race called them Land Cruisers, APCs and trucks. Infantry males jumped out of the back of those trucks and began to form up. All of them where the standard race body armor and had helmets on their heads which where designed to fit their eyes stocks. Even so to the Tau'ri forces on the walls around Likna they looked under dress for the fight, the Tau'ri for their part where staying out of sight using the very design of the wall to hide from the view of the Race. The wall had large battlements with arrow slits which would work just as well for guns. In larger gaps machine guns had been hidden and waited to unleash on the threat. Only Opochti people maned the walls and they only carried the older pre-conquest weapons, the large caliber wheel lock rifles, spears and swords.

The race buzzed over the city with a handful of attack helicopters but so far did not fire as they began to blare out a speech from load speakers on the chopper.

"Attention terrorists surrender to the forces of the Race and spare your lives; this rebellion is over and it is time to accept the glories future the Race is bringing to you primitives." said the voice out of the speakers as it passed over where they had risen the bronze and white banner of Prince Unia and the Blue and Silver flag of the Tau'ri flapped over the city.

Out in the fields which surrounded the city the soldiers of the race prepared for an easy mission, the police would actually go in first and arrest the trouble makers, while the soldiers go in behind them in support and secure the outside.

"Sir, when will we go in?" inquired one of the lower ranking males.

"Night fall, the Crawlers don't like the dark and we own it." said the male as more and more armor and military forces showed up. Until the entire city was rung in armor and forces as Race aircraft flew overhead in a show of force. It did frighten the locals somewhat but seeing that the Tau'ri where not impressed did help. For the race they were confused by what they saw, multiple road blocks that was something the Vantic had never did during the war. Then there was the fact that large areas had what looked to be sheets spread over them preventing them from seeing visually what was going on. To the commanders on the ground, this was odd but nothing to worry about, they had thermal scanners which cut through the cloth barriers and saw the crawlers below. What the thermal scanners didn't show was the Tau'ri forces, the thermal systems built into their power armor blended their heat source in with the back ground so they were invisible to the airborne spies. They also didn't see the Tau'ri self-propelled guns hiding in markets places or the mortar teams and the towed guns set up in ambush position around the city. The pilots didn't spot the high flying Tau'ri drones which were already marking targets for the artery men in the self-propelled guns.

Sitting just within Artillery range of the gathering Race force but outside of range for the city itself sat a massive woods surrounded by farm land and a nearby new six lane highway which lead right past Likna on its way to the Race's Capital Nysha.

A large group of Vantic farmers where hard at work in those fields when an infantry carrier rolled up to them. The carrier crushed plants waiting to be harvested by the farmers, the driver in the tracked machine could have cared less as it came to a stop and the farmers looked up from their hand tools. The back ramp lowered as a squad of males of the race came out and raised their weapons at the farmers.

"What are you doing? Why are you leveling this ground?" inquired the head male

"Superior sir, it is traditional that we do that when we are preparing an offering to the ancestors." said one of the middle age farmers.

"Offering to the Ancestors?" inquired the male

"Yes, sir. We prepare a piece of land that we will not farm so that our ancestors can use it in the other world." Said the farmer "And in return they grant us a bountiful harvest on the land next growing season."

"Sir, sounds like they are resting the land and letting the soil regain nutrients." said a lower ranking male.

"I see, well even if they are doing it for a stupid reason they found a way to put the land to better use." Said the Male before looking at the farmers. "You don't have to level the land, you would be better collecting the harvest and letting the ground be."

"Forgive us superior sir but we will keep doing what we are doing." said the farmer as the male of the race shrugged before moving on letting the crawlers waste their time. What the males of the Race failed to notice that the strip of land that the farmers where clearing and leveling was much longer then it was wide, and it went up to the woods. The farmers where not clearing and leveling the land for their ancestors instead they were helping liberate their world. In the woods where six Tau'ri Osprey ground attack aircraft where being reassembled by the Tau'ri after breaking them down and transporting them through the gate. The Ospreys which where based off the A-10 Lightning better known as the Warthog was going to tear apart the race's ground forces in the opening moments.

Besides the Ospreys, Leopard main battle tanks, Puma recon vehicles, Tiger multiple rocket launchers and other combat vehicles and infantry gathering in those woods. Unlike with what they did on Tauron which they set everything up within a single night, this wood take time. It wasn't that anything they where doing wasn't hard it was because unlike on Tauron here they hadn't planned everything out for years. They had to do everything on the fly and that took time because if they where discovered it would mean a lot of trouble until the fleet arrived.

Starbuck found herself and what had to be a hundred or so colonial pilots sitting on folding chairs in a hanger, behind them sitting out in the sun where the same type of strip down vipers that she had been test flying for her job on Virgon. They sat on the Tau'ri military base on Aquaria which pissed her off but the job offering the Tau'ri was supposed to be offering a luckily few was to die for. She sat about half way between the middle point and the front row, a small platform sat at the front and a Tau'ri officer stood there checking his watch. When it was time he tapped the microphone, and spoke.

"Alright, I am Colonel Winters head of the Air Wings here and it is my job to welcome you to our base, only a short time ago where were shooting at each other and it is my job to find among you all 104 pilots to fill 20 slots." Said General Winters "Now, I will cut straight to the point, we have assigned you all randomly to one of 4 squadrons, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow, each one made out of 26 Vipers. Your wing mate has also been chosen random."

There was some grumbling at that as Starbuck double checked the small piece of paper she had been given as she came in. In the corner of the top page right below her name and Military ID number was Green 7.

"So Green Squadron Viper 7." said Kara to herself as she looked up to see General Winters waiting for the grumbling to stop.

"Before we go on, I will explain what we are looking for. We are looking for viper pilots for our off world training centers. If chosen you will be training pilots from worlds not belonging to the Tau'ri alliance but may be within our borders how to fly, repair and fight inside the Vipers we are currently giving them for defense." explained Colonel Winters "Now if you accept, you will still or in some cases rejoin the colonial military but as long as you are on our bases you will be under our direct control. You will be expected to follow all orders as if it is from Colonial command."

"So you can order us into battle?" inquired a pilot a couple rows away from her.

"No, you will have no active fighting but if you get into drunken fight expect to spend a couple days in a cell." explained Colonel Winters "In return you will get paid by both your government and the Tau'ri government and in Tau'ri credits or Colonial Cubits depending on which you want."

"Tau'ri credits? I thought it was Tau'ri dollars?" inquired another voice, a woman's.

"Officially our currency is Tau'ri credit however some people mostly Americans tend to call it Tau'ri Dollar, it is the same thing." Explained Winters with a slight laugh, before turning serious again. "Now since you are all so focused on money I might as well add that of the 20 positions, 10 of them are in the Pegasus galaxy and if you go there you will get an additional bounce however you will not come back to the colonies for at least a 18 months while the people who go to Tolan will be able to come back to the colonies every couple of weeks depending on scheduling."

"How much better does it pay?" yelled Kara, she didn't have any families and while she still had some friends it may be worth it.

"Just over double." said Winters as Kara and a lot of others sat up. The Tau'ri where offering to pay 10 of them almost 4 times their normal pay and that was with free room and board. True it would mean a very long deployment but so what. "Also on the Pegasus front there is a greater risk that you may be forced to defend yourself which means you could end up in combat as such you would also get combat pay if that happens which is an additional amount added for that pay period."

"Frak, it I could go there and make enough money to pay for the wedding, a house and everything else we need." Said a young man beside her as Kara eyed the new ring on his finger.

"If she doesn't leave you in the 18 months your gone." added Kara as she planted the seed of dough in the man's mind. The better her chances of getting that training position in Pegasus.

"Now, you will all be handed a binder with flight information about the main types of enemies you will be tested against. Tomorrow we will see how you do against something you all should have experience against, Eagles and Taitas will fly against you tomorrow along with some other surprises." Said Winters with a smile that told Kara and every other pilot with half a brain that the Tau'ri had other plans. "Now you are all dismissed until 05:00 tomorrow with a takeoff an hour later at 06:00."

Kara got up and unlike the others who where all searching for their squadron mates and wing mates headed toward Lee.

"So what are the Tau'ri planning?" inquired Kara "It is something more then to test our skills."

"Yes." Confirmed Lee "They have new versions of their Eagles, we have spotted them on the runway and there is a ship a small ship sitting a couple hangers down from us."

"So we are their testers, could be fraken worse." Added Kara as Lee held his breath for a moment.

"They also have some Cylon raiders, old ones and what we assume to be new generation raiders as well." Stated Lee as Kara blinked. "I just found out from our ground team spotters."

"Cylons on Aquaria." growled Kara as Lee nodded.

"Yes, on a Tau'ri base and the Tau'ri know that we know." added Lee with a small laugh. "They know we have teams of spotters watching their aircraft come and go. The fact that they show us these things only tell us that these things are so close to going into production that we are only the last test."

"And that they aren't that concerned about us as a threat." added Kara as Lee nodded his head.

"Excuses me are you Yellow 2?" inquired a woman as Kara glared at the pilot before shaking her head.

"You better go find your squadron and find out who you have to deal with as a wing man." said Lee as Kara stormed off toward where a man was yellow Green Squadron.

"Green Squadron?" inquired the man

"Yes, Green 7." Answered Kara

"Your my wingman." said a kid who looked like he belonged in flight school not here, he looked to be maybe 22 at the oldest and had deep brown hair and brown eyes. "Justinian Batur."

"Kara Thrace, please tell me you got out of flight school before the end of the war?" inquired Kara

"Yes, I was ninth in my class on Libran flight school and flew three missions one of them was a combat mission." added Justinian as Kara translated that in her mind to two patrol mission which could have been flown by a well-trained monkey and a combat mission which likely ended with him being shot down. "I shot up a column of tanks before I was shot down by one of those."

He pointed out the open hanger to a Tau'ri aircraft sitting on the runway, to Kara's horror it wasn't even an Eagle fighter but one of the Tau'ri ground attack aircraft. The one with straight wings and a massive machine gun in it's nose to tear up armor. This boy had been shot down by a ground attack aircraft.

"Libran, the world who gave up the fight first." Stated Kara as she wanted to get a drink. "I shot down a Tau'ri Eagle fighter when we first made contact with them and flew in multiple combat missions during the war."

That got this young man's attention.

"I hope to learn from you." Said Justinian

"So tell me which job are you going for?" inquired Kara

"This Tolan job, I have friends back on Libran." answered Justinian before blushing like a little kid. "See there is a girl, Acacia who I want to get with. I haven't seen her since the war ended but before we both went to basic we where good friends and I hope we can become more than that. If I get this job it will sure impress her and rise my chances of getting a date from her."

"Great a love-sick puppy." said Kara under her breath as she rolled her eye, she didn't want to baby sit this puppy but if she left him hanging to get his ass shot ass it would be noticed by the Tau'ri watching them.

"Have you ever asked this girl out before?" inquired Kara as Justinian shook his head. "You have bee trying to work up the nerve and to find a way to impress her when you do ask her out, haven't you?"

"Yes." admitted Justinian

"Word of advice kid and stop trying to impress her and ask her out before someone beats you too it." Stated Kara wondering how she was so unlucky to get this kid as a wingman.

Today was a relaxing day, it's main goal was to get everyone used to the day schedule on Valhalla. Acacia and Medea strangely where the lucky ones because the time was generally the same here as it was in their home town Kingstown on Aquaria. The Lefeld clan had a little rougher time, because what was normally lunch time where they lived was early morning on Valhalla. Acacia wasn't going to complain, they still had 8 days left on their trip and they had only 2 Disney parks and the universal park next door to visit and her trip to the animal sanctuary, they had time to take things slow. Even they had to rush she was enjoying herself too much at the moment, they had finished their shopping and gone to a water park, Goofy's Plunge.

"I must admit you Tau'ri do love your theming." observed Acacia as she lied in a hammock with her boyfriend Captain Robert Lefeld. There where dozens of beach hammocks in this area and a nearby bar, the whole park wasn't much different then a water park back in the colonies. In the colonies theming wasn't that big of a deal and they wouldn't have bothered to plant palm trees and put sand on the ground or to put the massive slides inside a fake mountain.

"Well we want you to feel escape." explained a half-asleep Robert as he ran on hand through her hair and to the top of her back. She could feel him playing a bit with the strings of her bikini top but not tugging on the strings. That was a sure-fire way to get kicked out of the parks and neither of them wanted that. "I hope my family isn't driving you too crazy?"

"Not at all." Said Acacia as she nuzzled into her boyfriend's chest as he kissed her forehead and the two of them relaxed and enjoyed the sun and the sound of nearby waves in the massive wave pool. They had enjoyed that and the lazy river before they ate. Now it was time to sit relax and let the food digest.

The sound of Robert's ringing phone broke up this moment as he lifted his hand up and toward the metal bands around his arm. One band around the wrist with another about five inches away, a the almost fabric material ran between the two. Robert tapped the fabric as the high-tech phone turned on, it was a video phone and Robert lifted the phone up to look at the small screen. From her position with her head on his chest she could look and see the image. At first she was confused, it looked to be a woman sitting behind a desk and dressed in a Tau'ri uniform with the screaming Eagle patch of Robert's Division on her arm. She could feel Robert tense up as he looked at the image.

"General Ross." Said Robert "I am sorry, I am…"

"Captain Lefeld you are on vacation, I called you I can't complain if you are out of uniform." Said General Ross as she looked toward a stunned Acacia "However I didn't expect that, I hope I am not interrupting anything."

"No Madam, we are at Goofy's Plunge." explained Robert as the General nodded

"I see, the hammock section I believe, I have spent some time there with my husband while our kids and grandkids went crazy in the pools." Explained General Ross with a smile remembering the memories. "However, I didn't call about that, I found out about those strings you pulled and I wonder if you want more strings pulled?"

"Madam?" inquired Robert as Acacia tensed it, it was Robert's sister who had pulled strings to get her school accredited by the Tau'ri educational system and then to work on the scholarship.

"Captain, there is no shame in pulling those strings kind of surprised you haven't tried to pull more considering your status of semi famous for the flag raising either way that isn't why I called. I called because we are setting up an satellite base on Libran and are planning to move 2 paratrooper companies to the new base. Quicker reaction time to situations on Sagittarian, Libran and Sagittarian are in the same system." Said General Ross as Robert tensed and so did she. "How would you like to be in command of one of those companies and XO to the Lieutenant Colonel in charge?"

"Madam, I would be honored." said Robert "Where is the base?"

"We are going to take over a small training base outside of a place called Jester's hill." Said General Ross

"That is only an hour away from my school outside of Kingstown." Said Acacia, as her heart rate picked up. One of the major issues in their relationship was the distance between him on Aquaria and her on Libran.

"One of the personal side benefits for Major Lefeld." Said General Ross as Robert stiffened again.

"Thank you General." Said Robert who had just found himself promoted from Captain to Major. In the end he would be doing the same basic job commanding a company of men but now he would do it with golden oak leaves instead of golden bars. He would likely be the second most senior for both Companies and second behind the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Not a problem, your outstanding record mean you deserve your rank and the PR people are still going on about that little idea you had about going to visit your girlfriend's brother class. They are talking about taking it to each of the colonies." Said the General not adding that since the end of the war, all the branches of the military where losing officers but the army was losing the most and the increase in rank was a way to keep him in uniform. "I will have your new rank insignia waiting for you when you get back from vacation and orders sending you to our base once we actually set it up, now I'll let you get back to relaxing."

With that the call ended and the home screen of the phone appeared showing the time and the screaming eagle of the 101st airborne.

"Wow…" said Robert not sure what else to say but before he could Acacia was lying on top of him and in a voice as happy as a school girl.

"Congratulations…Major Lefeld." said Acacia as she kissed him.

"And I get to be closer to you? That is the real bounce, where is this Jester's hill?" inquired Robert

"About an hour away from my campus toward Kingstown." explained Acacia "You drive past it every time to fly into Kingstown to visit me."

The two of them started kissing and a full make out season only to stop when a load cough caused both of them to break apart, their faces bright red.

"Well if you want to make me a grandma, first get married and secondly go back to your room." Said Robert's mother as the two of them still blushing got out of the hammock.

"Sorry, it's just I got a phone call I have been promoted and transferred to a new base on Libran, only about an hour away from Acacia." Explained Robert as a smile crossed his mother's face.

"Great news, on both fronts." Said his mother before looking at Acacia with a smile. "Which is better this or the school issue in the process of being solved."

"Frak." cursed Acacia as Robert blinked and looked at her. She quickly explained how Robert's older sister had pulled in a favor to get her school in the process of being accredited by the Tau'ri and working on the scholarship issue and how his sister was going to bring a gift to the woman back on Earth pulling the strings. Robert let out a sigh as he looked at his mother.

"How much was the thing, I should pay for it, it is helping Acacia and I out." Said Robert

"No, I should pay for it not you and I tried but she turned me down, so just be happy Major Lefeld." Said Acacia as she kissed him again. They turned back toward the hammock to see another couple had taken it while their backs where turned.

"Son of a bitch." Cursed Robert as the two women in the hammock laughed at him.

"What do you expect buddy, these things are popular." said one of the woman as Acacia for her part was laughing at her boyfriend.

"Come on let's head back to the wave pool." Said Acacia as she dragged him toward the water as they enjoyed their time together.

An emergency meeting was taking place within the Imperial Palace as Emperor Risson himself ordered the meeting to start at once, at once took just over 6 hours. It took that long to get everything set up, the ceremonial table ready and to assembly all the needed experts. The time also gave those experts time to gather their thoughts and to get a handle on something that had never been considered, Home being invaded by another empire.

"It is clearly not possible your majesty." said an expert "To raise a military, train and equipment them and bring them to combat would take much longer then three days."

"I agree, your majesty we are just beginning to plan the rearmament of Home and we don't expect to be producing anything larger then small arms and bullets for at least ten years." Said the manufacturing expert.

"And we are the Race, we are the most efficient and our plans are already well developed and smoothed out. Some big ugliest couldn't possibly be as efficient as we are and as such we will be ready far ahead of time." added an industrial planner "And we have already sent alerts out to the other worlds of the Empire to prepare for combat."

"And their deadline of 3 days to order the evacuation of Vantic 5?" inquired Emperor Risson "Why give us that deadline?"

"Our best guess, your majesty is in 3 days they will pull their ships back and begin to set everything up for a way, it is a deadline and if we cross it then everyone will have to waist the resources to start building a military." Said another expert

"Unless they have a standing military?" countered the head of the royal guards.

"Please, who would waist the resources with a standing military?" inquired the manufacturing expert. "All the resources that could be better used waisted with a standing military, personal that could be used in factories and in office space, land for bases and training that could be used for cities and public works. That isn't considering all the money wasted with a military and for what, unless they are out conquering what good is a military?"

"You are correct." said Emperor Risson which caused the manufacturing expert to be filled with pride. "I can't help but fear that these Tau'ri may have a standing military, they have forces on Vantic 5 they claim."

"Likely a small force similar to the palace guards, your majesty not enough to conquer a world." Defended the same expert

"Remind me in the ancient days before unity didn't the multiple empires which struggled for control of Home didn't they have standing militaries?" inquired Emperor Risson

"You are correct your majesty." Confirmed the Imperial Historian. "Standing militaries where common among waring Empires who fought for control of Home."

"And these Tau'ri claim that there are multiple other powers spread out across the galaxy, could we be looking at a similar situation that ancient home was but on a galactic scale?" inquired the Emperor, as his mind went to a place none of them had ever thought about. "So having a standing military would make sense for them."

"That is a horrify idea your majesty." admitted the expert

"Either way, we can't have them down here for a meeting with your Majesty." said the old Protocol Master "We are still in the process of searching the records for the proper process to hold a conference between two different powers. Since these Tau'ri refuse to show you the basic dignity by going through a normal Imperial Audience process we must take the time to find the way to do it right."

"I agree have you found anything yet?" inquired Risson

"We believe so, your majesty but the documents are old and we are in the process of translating them." stated the Protocol Master "Even after we translate it we will have to finish a search of the records to confirm that this is the proper and correct way to go about it."

"And what way does the records say?" inquired Risson

"Your majesty we are still in the middle of translating it, so I can't speak for certain but from the outside it appears very similar to a normal Imperial Audience only the diplomate doesn't have to admit they serve you and instead wish you peace." Explained the Protocol Master "There is talk also of a banner and their Imperial Song playing as they entire the audience hall. We have yet to learn all the details including where the banner joins the diplomat, when does the music start, what type of pole for the banner, the precise wording of the greetings and their responses. We have only an outline and we have yet to fill in the details."

"Very well, we will send what you learned to the Tau'ri Tosevites and see if these outlines are agreeable and that we are still working on the details." stated Risson "That should make them agree to push back this unreasonable deadline to something more reasonable, such as a year or two so that we can all do the proper research and planning."

After the better part of a day bring more and more equipment and soldiers to the field, the Race finally moved into an attack position. As the defenders of Likna expected they came in at nightfall and only from one direction at first, the Opochti people had a natural day night cycle which was firmer then anything the Tau'ri had seen before, maybe because their eyes didn't work well in darkness or the fact that they had been a pre-electrical society that reinforced that. Either way they didn't handle the dark well. The Race had planned to use that to their advantage as they marched down the road toward the first roadblock. The old gate house and gate which had been there when the race conquered the city when they first arrived had been destroyed so only a simple roadblock of vehicles and pieces of rock and plasters which was the main building materials.

To the amazement of the race they took no fire as they climbed the barrier and moved into the city, they would have to wait for a bulldozer to clear the barrier. Once inside the walls they found themselves under one of those cloth covers which hung from the roofs of buildings on either side. It pitched the street into total darkness and had hidden it from the view of the race's airborne recon so they assumed a large force was there. They found nothing.

"By the emperor this is going to be easy they are all asleep." Said one of the police females as she moved into the city with a baton in hand and a pistol hanging on her belt. The race had sent in the police first not knowing who was inside and the police would pay first. They never noticed the open windows on the second floor of the houses on either side of the road, nor did they spot that among the bricks which littered the road to either side where thin brick shaped items on small stands.

"Would you like the honors?" said a Tau'ri special forces member as he handed the detonator to a young freedom fighter. They had shown the fighters earlier how it worked and while it was slightly harder for them because of the design of the box, the young fighter flicked the switch while depressing the button on top of the detonator. That sent a wireless broadcast to the small receivers built into the armed claymores which now lined either side of the road. With only milliseconds separating them all of them went off sending out bursts of explosion and countless tiny ball bearing out the air. The road became a death ground and the race had no way out, no one would have had time to escape as the ball berries flew into their flesh and even the light armor that the police had on was no use as they dropped like flies. The members of the Race still climbing the barrier had better luck, the ambush didn't get them at first but as the claymores went off, it didn't last long as the defenders opened up on them. The Opochti still getting used to their new weapons didn't always hit their targets but the amount of bullets flying that they found their marks. As the Race was swept from the streets, a team of Tau'ri rushed out of the bottom floor of the nearest building and moved toward the barrier but they didn't go over, they went into it.

Hidden within the barrier was a small clearing containing two heavy machine guns, the barrels of the guns poked just outside the barrier but blended in with the mass of the barrier as a whole. The Tau'ri machine gunners looked out of the vision slits which where covered with a thin mess to help them from being seen. What they saw was dozens of the Race, all of them on one knee or even standing up with their guns pointing up at the top of the roadblock where they believed the enemy would attack them. Since the Opochti only had simple firearms or arms stolen from the Race, they didn't respect the Opochti warriors and they didn't fear them so they stood in the open without a care in the world. They didn't know that the Tau'ri where now backing the Opochti people and they didn't know until it was too late about those two heavy machine guns.

The heavy machine guns spoke and tore into the Race cutting them down like wheat at harvest time. The survivors ran back under the fire of the machine guns which kept cutting them down until they where out of range before the fire stopped. With the first assault repulsed the race sent packing the battle for Likna had begun.

Well the battle of Likna has become, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Now I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Now I will be taking a few days off so I will see you in 2018. Thanks Wilkins75.