Slight update from 3-3-2015. This is update 3-4-3015. THere are some chances and editing. O'Neill - Cain portion has been modified. Marithia and Merrin's Cylon portion is clarified.

First Record keeping.

shadowwriter01: The priests jump into so many absurd conclusions that it is mind staggering.

Well, they can't help it. They've only been on Earth one full day, so… The Colonials (some of them) have preconceived ideas of what Earth was and what it is. They're going to learn differently. However to be fair most people have assumptions when they travel to different places. And remember many of our missionaries traveling to different countries had the exact same assumptions. The Colonial missionaries haven't even gotten to meet anybody, not really. In the next chapter, all of this changes as we focus once more on them and not Adar and Cain.

Why do they even constantly claim that Earth is isolated? Their own president had claimed in his latest broadcasted speeches that Earth is closely allied with the Tollanians and had contact with other groups. Has none of them bothered to watch it?

Remember that that speech hasn't happened yet. The time now is March 2021. Goesel hasn't made his speech yet (April 2021). See the time line in chapter 1. Sadly, people justify their own ideals all of the time.

Vorlons: Mentioned as part of history. This is not an exactly a RAAB-based verse. Ask the Asgard. No Ori. Them.

This chapter will end the conference peek. It gives the basis of Cain's debriefing and the truth his report contains and how the Colonial official and Intelligence will respond which was shown in Worldwar: The Balance Destroyed.

Next: This is a talky story not action based as mentioned in chapter one. Sorry.

Eaglstorm27 : Vous avez raison. La technologie Vorlon est derrière tech asgardien. Cependant il y aura pas d'ombres, ou Minbaris ou n'importe qui du verset B-cinq venir au cours. Le portail est mis en quarantaine sur les deux côtés à cause de la guerre et seulement quelques privilégiés connaissent son existence. Peut-être dans un futur lointain où chaque côté mûrit un peu. Comme tout le reste, la terre passera ainsi que la course et les coloniaux. Ne pas s'inquiéter de cela, se concentrer uniquement sur cette fois et voir comment tout le monde se développe.

Now, please enjoy.

Chapter Seven

Unknown history fact about Dr. Gaius Baltar, hero of the Colonies of Kobol: If the attempted seduction by a Cylon Six model of Dr. Baltar, with the intent to acquire the security codes used by the CDF, had succeeded, the Colonies would have subsequently been seriously compromised with the loss of life and property being significant. Dr. Baltar was one of the select few non-military, non-governmental personnel informed of the Prometheus incident and the confirmation of the existence of the mythical planet Earth. That knowledge allowed Baltar to resist the seductive Cylon and his own libido just enough to inform the CDF about the infiltrator after she foolishly admitted to being a new type of Cylon. Her overconfidence was her failing and that action also had the unexpected result of turning the man into a national hero, and keeping the Colonial people ignorant as to just how close he came to being the greatest traitor in Colonial history. His desire for self–preservation overcame his need for another series of one night stands. Baltar's revelation and Six's overconfidence doomed him and the Cylon race. The Cylon Six never fully understood why her plan failed even as she demanded an explanation while beating him to death with a piece of steel pipe.

Earth:

Lemuria City

Richard Adar had to admit that Lead Admiral Cain continued to, not only managed to maintain his composure (he was positive that O'Neill was profiling the admiral just as much as Cain was him), but push back just enough to remain civil while appearing thoughtful and focused. The man's personality was so different from his younger daughter Helena. Yes, the confidence and some of the arrogance was there, yet there was a quiet control that Helena never quite managed to develop. The man could handle himself, he thought as two more people, a General Landry and General Kosmikav, went over and spoke to him.

With wife in tow, Richard took the time to watch the various people in the room and those exiting the stargate, trying to get a general feel of them. Between four to five people emerged from the active gate and once more he marveled at such a diverse group of people. It almost reminded him of the diversity of the colonies and although similar in some aspects, the differences were readily apparent. If these were representatives of Earth's colonies, then their diversity was an obvious result, following a similar pattern the Colonies had developed when they settled on the twelve worlds. He postulated that Earth colonies very likely represented specific groups with similar, unique cultures and backgrounds. This interesting little tidbit also made him wonder how their unified government functioned. Several times when speaking to Terran representatives they specifically used the word allies, not colonists. This suggested that Earth encouraged an independent style of governing its otherworld offshoots, with exception of the Tollanians. That intrigued him and being a politician; he wondered how that successful that form of government was and how did it work in practice.

Being so distracted by that train of thought, he completely missed seeing a young woman staring at him and his wife with unbridled curiosity. It took him a few seconds before he noticed her and quickly chided himself for being distracted by politics and being mesmerized by the gate's activity like a five year old. Politely, he smiled at her.

Taking that as an invitation, the young woman in her mid-twenties smiled back. She wore a robe-like dress, simple but elegant. Her blond hair was loose and she was quite striking. Excusing herself from the others in her party, she came over to them.

"Greetings, I am Merrin of the people of Orban. "I apologize for my curiosity I've not seen your style of dress before," the young lady said. "It appears to be very close to Tau'ri dress but it's not. May I ask what world you represent?"

Surprisingly Adar's wife answered before he could. "Hello Merrin," she said. "My name is Marthia Adar and this is my husband Richard. We come from the Colonies of Kobol the original home of man."

Adar refrained from making any comments at his wife's actions since he knew what she was doing. Marthia had done this before when she felt the need to protect her territory, namely him. The woman was never going to forget that dalliance with Laura. This girl was, well, a girl. He had no interest in her whatsoever.

Women!

To his dismay, the young woman frowned slightly. "You are the Colonials that conquered the reptilian species located near Earth."

"Yes, we did conquer them but we've ceded their territory back," Adar quickly corrected. He glanced at his wife's questioning look. She had no idea about the Race and this was the first time hearing about an intelligent alien species. A quick head movement gave her notice that he would explain later. The young woman had also unwittingly told him that her world was not near the Terran star system, something he made note of. "That was an error in judgment that cost the lives of many men and women. That mistake won't repeat again," Adar said firmly. At least he hoped his people wouldn't… "You sound as if you don't approve of our actions."

"No, I don't," she answered honestly.

"Why?" he asked, somewhat puzzled. "These weren't human beings."

"No, they were but they are intelligent and can be reasoned with." Slowly she folded her hands in front of her as she continued to speak. "There aren't many intelligent, non-human species that have been encountered. They are rare. The System Lords killed many of them, wiping out entire worlds."

"How horrible," Marthia answered. She recognized the name. Before her husband lost the election the System Lords and Goa'uld were a constant point of conversation, other than the Tau'ri Terrans she thought. Marthia remembered the nightmares that tormented her after those conversations before she retired for the night. "Are the System Lords still a threat?"

"Only a few of the System Lords of old still exists, but oh yes," nodded Merrin. "Ba'als children are a danger to all of us. That's why we're here. Or should I say that's why my world sent representatives to this meeting. We have high hopes for a solution to the problem."

"And what problem is that?" By engaging the young blond, Marthia made sure that her wayward husband kept his mind on business. She knew him and she remembered how well he enjoyed watching those hussies at the resort, especially the ones in the grass dresses, if you could call them dresses at all. Did he actually think hiding behind those sunglasses, pretending not to look at those women gyrating in ways that should be outlawed across the wide galaxy could fool her? And how did they move like that anyway?

Men! This ex-president needed to be kept focused and his mind on his job, not following around with other women, especially teachers. One was good enough for him. She wasn't a prude but, by all the gods! Marthia made a silent promise to herself to warn all of the other Colonial wives that might make the journey to Earth to beware. There were more than just monotheists here to worry about.

"The new System Lords and the Lucian Alliance represent a danger to many of the worlds. The goa'uld would destroy our world and my people."

"Why?"

"Because we are a free people and have defeated them before. That and our technology make us a threat to them. They will not allow any threat or potential threat to their power to remain free of their control. Any human culture or non-humanoid species not useful to them, they will destroy. With the Systems Lords all but destroyed, we believe the Astorath Lords to be an even greater threat."

This interested Adar greatly. The young woman was very free with her answers despite her initial reaction to him and his wife. Merrin's world successfully resisted the goa'uld but, if what she was saying was true then her world somehow survived the System Lords but were very warily of the new Lords that had taken their places. "You said your world sent representatives. But, please forgive me as I mean no disrespect aren't you too young to be part of your world's delegation?"

Her smile brightened. "Oh, yes. I am not part of the delegation. I am here to see General O'Neill. Some time ago, we became friends and he helped me and gave me and the urrones a chance to live as normal people again. In many ways he saved me."

Now it was Adar's turn to be surprised. This young woman was so open, so innocent in her approach that Adar was sure she was much younger that he at first assumed. By her demeanor he would have judged here as no more than seventeen or eighteen.

"May I ask how General O'Neill saved you?" his wife asked. Marthia was engaging the young lady and Richard chose to remain quiet and listen to her response.

They young lady smiled brightly as she began her story. "I am urrone, a member of our society genetically engineered with the ability to rapidly learn vast amounts of information and knowledge. I was responsible to learn and then pass the knowledge to my people. But to do that everything that I was would be lost. The urrones transfer that knowledge to the people. That is the way we educated ourselves. But at age eleven, when the nanites are removed, the urrones loses all memory and regress to the levels of newborn children. Everything that we are, is lost."

Marthia looked horrified as did her husband. "That's barbaric, sacrificing a child for the sake of knowledge. Why would your people do such a thing!?"

She shrugged, confused as to why the Colonials were visibly upset. "It is our way. It was done this way for over seven hundred years. The urrones are cared for and loved until the end of their lives." Here, she smiled. "Things have changed now because of Jack and Daniel."

"You mean General O'Neil and Doctor Jackson?"

"Yes. I was in the first group to develop like normal children. They showed us how to start over again. He and his team and Earth are greatly respected and honored among my people. Your actions against Earth have angered many worlds, including my people."

"We're learning from our mistakes," Adar hastily said. "We won't repeat them again."

"It may be too late," the woman sadly stated. "The trust has been broken. I believe in time you may earn trust again but, I hope that you do, but I don't know when that would happen."

Richard nodded to here as he began thinking hard. This revelation was just another in a series of long term consequences none of the Colonials had anticipated. It was bad enough with Cunningham's disaster; now the consequences of his actions were growing exponentially.

"We all make mistakes, "his wife repeated. "But I am curious about something you said. You told us that you were urrone and that you could somehow transfer your knowledge to others. How can you accomplish this?"

"The nanites we were injected with into our brains on our first birthday are removed and given to the general population so that what the urrones learn, everyone knows," she explained.

"But what are these nanites?" Marthia asked.

"Nanites are microscopic machines the size of small viruses that are implanted into our brains. The nanites collect information and when distributed to the others on our world, allows us to access that information."

Marthia blanched and stepping back from the young lady. "Her mind screamed out that one word.

Cylon!

Merrin looked confused. Whatever the problem was, it terrified the woman, so much so that she had backed right into her husband and hadn't even noticed. "What is the matter? Have I somehow angered you?"

"You've turned yourself into a cylon!"

As with wife, Adar also felt an instinctual fear tearing at him. The human-form Cylons looked like people, acted like people, even ate like people but they were nothing more than machine imitation of human beings. If it hadn't been for Doctor Baltar identifying and helping to capture a model Six, that plan of theirs could have caused unbelievable damage to the Colonies and could well have been the cause of tens of millions of deaths. The Colonies would have survived of course but the death toll would have been horrendous. He still felt somewhat guilty that Baltar had been killed by the same Cylon agent thing CI captured only a day later. Better security should have been given to the man but no one knew of the true extent of Cylon treachery and their incredible strength. It was a terrible miscalculation. It, meaning the thing in such a beautiful woman's body, should have killed itself and downloaded when it had the chance mused Adar. But it hadn't.

The interrogation of the Cylon that called itself Six had been long and brutal, if such a word could be used to describe extracting information from a machine. As it wasn't human, it had no rights under the articles of Rights of Prisoners of War; therefore, his administration didn't need to be concerned about restrictions on torture. The CDF Intelligence Unit was very creative in extracting information and keeping her alive to experience every moment of the procedure. Three weeks later every bit of useful information had been ripped from the faux-female. The Colonials hadn't known about the resurrection technology at the time so it was a good that Adar had ordered her kept alive. It was only later when a babbling Six told them of one of the cylon's greatest secrets. Everyone was glad it still lived–if that was even the right word used to describe a machine–and they made every effort to make sure the thing continued to do so.

Adar had been livid when the Cylon plan to destroy the Colonies was reported to him. The report revealed in meticulous detail how Doctor Baltar was targeted by the Cylons in order to get into the Colonial Defense mainframe systems and in effect sabotage the entire computer system by inserting a root-kit malware package. It detailed which warships were a priority targets; which people, which cities, which military bases both orbital and land-based, and which worlds were slated for destruction first. The plan was a bold one and would have undoubtedly hurt the Colonies. When asked why, the Six stuttered that humans had violated the treaty by sending covert ships into their territories.

Oh, how Adar had laughed at that absurd excuse.

Cylons had infiltrated the Colonies for years and that was their pathetic excuse, that the colonials had sent a spy ship into their territory–once? Here he was, doing his best to negotiate with them, sending out entreaties through the space station specifically built for the proposed peace talks as had his predecessor for almost forty years. They had never responded to any requests to talk and as for the President, he had begun to draw down his military forces despite the intense criticisms heaped on him by both military as well as civilian factions. He wanted to protect the Colonies through peaceful means – and that included Earth. He'd been a fool to trust the machines could even conceive of the concept of peace.

Well, not any more. Finding Earth was different; they were human and could be reasoned with, after all, Earth was only one world, and both the Colonies and the Thirteenth would benefit in the long run. But the Cylons were nothing but machines in human suits. After reading the initial reports, he ordered experiments to see exactly what made that Cylon function.

Over the next two months, Six's neural pathways were explored by doctors and scientists and the cybernetic implants and sub microscopic machines called nanites were discovered, creating a new science. It was postulated that the nanites were what made the human-form Cylons, Cylons. How the nanites were made, no one had a clue. They were still investigating that exciting branch of science.

Eventually, between the abuses, the multiple surgeries, the interrogations, and the mental and physical tortures, it 'died'; but not before the Colonial Defense Forces attacked the Cylons with everything they had and wiped them from the face of the galaxy for all time.

Adar never knew if the Six had resurrected or not. He really didn't care. It was his job to protect the Colonies from those machines and he did just that.

The thoughts about the Six brought him back to the present. These Orban were using nano-technology, the same type of technology that the Cylons used! He had to warn them of the dangers, although he believed he was far too late. However there was the fact that their culture hadn't seemed to self-destruct yet, so more information was required before he could come to an objective conclusion. At this point he would keep quiet about this because if the Quorum found out, some of those fools would want to declare war, not having the slightest clue as to what they were getting themselves into. If the Tollanians threatened to attack the colonies because of a few lizards, what would happen if an ally of Earth were threatened? The quorum wasn't suicidal but a few fools would stir up trouble.

"What is a Cylon?" repeated Merrin, her curiosity now peaked.

The color of your sky is a bit bluer that Caprica or Picon," Cain observed as he and O'Neill, Landry and Russian General Kosmikav moved to one of the balcony's to admire the view.

The scene before them was beautiful. The sun was low in the sky with the moon clearly visible. It was still too bright to see stars but the sun's reflection on the dark green ocean waves offered a view that Cain wished his wife and daughters could see. It was serene and in many ways hinted at what Earth could be if joined with the Colonies and vis-versa. Earth offered danger as well as great beauty and his people were fools if they couldn't see the value represented by these people.

"Your planet is truly beautiful."

"We like it," O'Neill answered.

"What I want to know is how your world survived with the goa'uld apparently dominating the galaxy? You are one world fighting an empire."

"We got lucky," the Russian noted. "We are stubborn people and have a hatred of imperialist aggression of any type."

Landry and O'Neill almost rolled their eyes.

"I'm sure," Cain responded. "But you had to have more than stubbornness going for you. I've been told that you've only explored deep space for about twenty something years. What you've done is that short period of time is impossible. You must be or maybe you have been, something more."

"What you see is what you get."

"There has to me more" Cain said. "We have our theories and suspicions. I was asked by Colonial Intel that you expand on your ancient history of the Federation," Lead Admiral Cain casually mentioned. Both Generals Landry and Kosmikav merely smiled and excused themselves.

"No, Star Trek is not real," an exasperated General O'Neill said. "Lead Admiral Cain, it's a TV program…more or less." Shaking his head, he downed his drink of the non-alcoholic beverage. "There are movies, books, magazines, several TV series, history channel analysis, encyclopedias and a few other things that I have forgotten. But it is not real," he finished, punctuating every single of the last sentence to get his point across.

"I believe you," the admiral said. The sly look he was giving the general brought O'Neill up short.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. Well, almost," Cain amended. "But I can't say that about our intelligence units back home." He sighed and started laughing. "They're working with incomplete data. The more they study, the more they are convinced that there has to be something to it."

"Well, the President of the United States and the IOA wanted me to inform you that it's simply a TV show."

Cain smiled. "If you say so, I guess I'll have to accept it."

"Cylons are cybernetic machines designed to look and act human," Adar said. "You and your people could be considered Cylons by my definition."

"No, we're human," Merrin protested. "We use our nano-technology as a means to teach and learn. We're not machines."

"You don't even realize what you've become," Marthia whispered.

"I can see the contempt in your eyes," Merrin said. "Why do you hate these Cylons so much?"

"They were monsters," Marthia responded coldly. "They tried to kill us all and you and your people are imitating the greatest threat mankind has ever known. Please, your people are traveling a very dangerous road. I know you think you're doing the right thing but our experience has taught us that intelligent machines are dangerous and will turn on you."

"They're not intelligent," Merrin told the Colonials. "But they are tools and aides."

"They may be but if these micro-machines implant knowledge can't they also implant suggestion? You could be programmed, brainwashed by anyone with enough understanding of the technology and lose your gods-given freedoms."

The young woman frowned as she thought about what was being said. "In truth, you're not the first one to express that concern, Marthia. I am told that General O'Neill had expressed the same thing when I first met him. I don't remember any of that but his concern was brought to our government. My people didn't believe that others would do such a terrible thing. We had no outside enemies other than the goa'uld and they hadn't bothered my people for hundreds of years. But as I think about it, the goa'uld might try to get past our safeguards to take us over."

"Do you think that the Earth would try to enslave your people using that weakness? After all, they are very powerful and aggressive," Adar said.

In all honestly he didn't think that the Terrans would do so but he wanted to get a feel for how this Orban thought about them.

"I can answer that question," another woman said, walking towards the three of them to join the conversation. "My name is Henrienne and I am a representative of the Orban people and you are the Colonials of the Cyrannus system."

"Everyone seems to know us, I see," Adar commented dryly.

The blond woman smiled at them. "We were informed that you would be here as observers. I see that you've met Merrin."

"She's a very lovely young woman," Marthia answered.

"Yes, she is. But she's not a representative and as such it would be respectful to direct your questions to either myself or another Orban representative."

"We apologize for any disrespect towards you and your people," Marthia said. "But she came to us first and it's always nice to experience a new culture without politics getting in the way. We're only observers and we desire to learn as much as we can and this is an unparalleled opportunity to learn about Earth and its people."

Adar took a moment to stare at his wife. Suddenly she was back to her normal self. What was going on?

"I can understand that. It isn't often we've met with our cousins from so far away."

"So, you consider us cousins?" asked a very interested Adar.

"Of course. We acknowledge you as relatives but you are still strangers and what you've done makes us very cautious."

"It wasn't the Colonial government's intention to start a war with the Terrans," insisted Adar. "Passions were running very high. We were at the end of a terrible crisis that lasted more than forty years with an enemy intent on committing genocide against mankind everywhere." It was no accident that she placed emphasis on her last word to include the Terrans and the Orban as well. "To see our brethren protecting our deadliest enemies precipitated a series of unanticipated actions."

"But the Terrans fought you off," Henrienne dryly commented. "The actions of your people have frightened some of us." Adar looked at her stone-faced as the realization of her words hit him. "The Cylons could have come into our system and if we resisted turning your enemies over to you, would your forces have attacked us? We have defenses, although they're not as strong as Earth's. But, we would have resisted. Would you have used nuclear weapons on my world?" she asked. Adar and Marthia appeared ashamed, not willing to immediately answer her question. "By your words and your actions at Earth, my people are convinced that you would not have stopped even if we surrendered the Cylons to you. Your people would have annexed our world."

"As President of the Colonies, I assure you that that would not have happened. The responsibility would have been mine and I would not have allowed such an action to occur to our fellow humans, ones we never even knew about. I will add however that the Kobollians would have been most delighted to have found you and would have embraced you fully."

"How diplomatic. But you can see our dilemma," the Orban countered. "Our technology is more advanced than yours but we are not a warrior people. We both know that you would have forced our people into subservience to your Colonies."

"I would have never allowed it," Adar insisted knowing full well that he may not have had the power to stop the Quorum from doing just that.

"But there was a possibility and I'm sad to say that the possibility would still exist if the Terrans weren't our allies."

Adar motioned for them all to sit at small table in the adjacent room. The group navigated through the dozens of people gathered there talking to one another. Several Terrans were mingling with what could only be called aliens. They were reptilian of some sort! He made a note to speak to them if he could. Being here was the opportunity of a lifetime. They found an empty table tastefully decorated with fruit bowls and small delicacies.

"Henrienne, I would like to ask you a question," Adar said to the woman. She was looking at him carefully as though waiting for the other shoe to drop. Clearly she had no intentions of revealing any secrets about her world and she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him.

"What would you like to know?" she asked in a manner that screamed at him to be very, very careful what he asked of her.

He got the hint. "You and the Tollanians hold the Terrans in very high esteem," he began. "From what my wife and I have gathered," he continued, careful to keep his wife in the loop, "your people are even more advanced than they are, but you respect them as if they were the gods' gift to man, when the opposite should be true?"

Henrienne looked at both Colonials in surprise. "You aren't aware of the history of the Tau'ri, do you?"

"And that's another point of confusion," Adar said. "This is Earth. We at the Colonies call them the Apellai for reasons I won't go into now. They prefer to be called Terrans. But where does the name Tau'ri come from?"

"What you're asking is within my ability to tell you as it is no longer a secret," answered Henrienne. "It is part of the history of this world, the First World where humans began."

"I'm sorry, but you're mistaken," Marthia countered. "Mankind sprang from Kobol."

"I am unaware of the world called Kobol as being the birthplace of man, but if you refer to Earth as Kobol then you're correct."

"Wait, I think you misunderstand me," insisted Marthia. "Kobol and Earth are separate worlds. The Twelve Colonies have just rediscovered the home world of mankind a few years ago, and that world is Kobol. Earth is the Thirteenth Colony that left Kobol to find a new home. Here," she said, meaning Earth.

Merrin shook her head. "Mrs. Adar, the planet you refer to is not the birthplace of mankind."

Henrienne raised her hand to halt the ensuing conversation. "This is an argument for another time. But as the conference will begin shortly I must answer the ambassador's question about the Tau'ri."

Merrin nodded to the woman, her mother. "Earth's arrival onto the galactic scene hit like a hurricane. Less than twenty-five years ago, the Earth had no starships. They had no real capability of traveling within their own star system. What change them and this galaxy was their discovery of the chappa'ai, or Stargate as you know the term. The chappa'ai is the goa'uld name. Goa'uld power spanned this galaxy. They took many people from Earth and spread them across many worlds to be used as slaves and hosts and warriors. These creatures stole the names of the gods here and used them so that they could enhance their stature among the primitive people. With those names and advanced technology, the people of those worlds were convinced that the goa'uld were gods. In order to keep their power reading and writing was outlawed upon pain of death. In many cases their own, original language was forbidden and goa'uld became their tongue. Many of the worlds where humans live speak goa'uld. Many others have incorporated their words in their language. The word Tau'ri means 'people of the first world'. Earth people are called by the goa'uld 'the first people' meaning place of origin.

"The world of Earth had been abandoned and forgotten by the goa'uld so this world had time to develop on its own without interference much like yours," the Orban added. "When the people of Earth first discovered and used the stargate that marked the beginning of Earth's war with the goa'uld. The supreme System Lord Ra was killed by the members of SG-1. When the System Lord Apophiskidnapped members of Earth, SG-1 followed and got them back, and convinced his prime warrior to defect to Earth. Earth discovered the stargate addresses and their exploration began not only to discover what was out there, but also to find means to defend against the goa'uld. By their defiance they made enemies of the System Lords, but they made many friends such as the Asgard and my people. The Tollanians were an isolated people and chose not to have any contact with any of us. But Earth helped them in their times of need despite their isolationist culture. They even forgave the Tollanians for trying to destroy the Terran stargate and millions of people. The Terrans, known throughout the galaxy as the Tau'ri have made many friends and many deadly enemies. They stopped the replicators and earned the eternal friendship of the Asgard, an ancient powerful race that even the goa'uld feared."

"Excuse me, what are replicators?"

"Robotic creations of an ancient race that threatened to consume this galaxy."

"By the gods!" Marthia whispered. "They stopped them on their own?"

"Yes, with the help of the Asgard who are no longer with us," she added quietly. To Adar and his wife, they both could see that the ones called the Asgard were held in great regard and Richard would remember to find out more about them. "But the Terrans discovered a way to eradicate them," the young woman continued. "The Asgard couldn't defeat and if they had fallen, then no one could have resisted the replicators."

"So Earth somehow defeated these robotic things but protected the Cylons," grumbled. "They're an odd people. I don't understand their choices here."

"That was their decision. You will have to ask them why," Henrienne stated. "The Terrans were mainly responsible for crushing the oppressive rule by the goa'uld of this galaxy. You asked me why the Terrans are loved, and feared, and hated by so many in less than twenty-five years."

Adar and his wife looked perplexed and somewhat stunned. "How could one world do so much in so short a time?" asked the former president. "What you've said sounds impossible."

"But it is true. The Terrans are a great people, still inexperienced but growing quickly. They have resisted the Wraith and the fought and stood against the beings of order. But they have also helped many would could not help themselves. They have made terrible mistakes; they have destroyed many of their enemies and have been merciful to others. In their perilous travels through the stargate, they have nearly killed their own people several times over. The Asgard placed upon them the mantle of responsibility to protect the treaty worlds from the goa'uld."

"I've heard something about that but I don't know the details."

"There is a lot that you are unaware of and that is why you are here as witnesses," the Orban diplomat said. "The Asgard passed the mantle onto the Terrans. The Tollanians, although advanced, were not considered worthy, much to their embarrassment and anger. They didn't help their cause when they could have acted but didn't. It was their lack of action that had consequences no one could have foreseen. Terrans discovered the gate at the right time. Earth was the right place. They have stood in the darkness and because they have, we will stand with them. The Asgard trusted them with their power. The galaxy is protected because of them and we here at this summit acknowledge their contribution to our survival. To answer your question, Marthia Adar, that is why we respect them."

"That is why many here distrust you," Merrin finished. "I wish it were otherwise, but your people have not yet earned our respect and attacking Earth didn't help, as General O'Neill would say. Now to answer your first question. No, we don't believe that the Terrans would try to take over the Orban people. If it had been your people that had met us first then I would have called for a very careful evaluation of our security."

O'Neill wanted to slap himself. "Okay, forget it. I told them you wouldn't go for it. I'm not going to lie anymore. It's real. All of it. The history of Star Trek is the history of Earth before the great fall. When we discovered faster than light drive and that attracted the Vulcans. We made peace with them and began exploring the galaxy. We developed different technologies, got quite advanced if I say so myself. Then we went to war with those pesky Klingons and everything started falling apart."

"Whereas anyone from Colonial Intelligence would have been picking their jaws from the floor from the revelation, Cain looked very dubious. "Really?"

"Yep," answered O'Neill with absolute sincerity. "That was about two thousand years ago." O'Neill grabbed a package from his suitcase and handed it to a curious Cain. "The Goa'uld were pretty thorough in wiping out our overall history. Here. You want to know about the Federation? Here it is. "This is a gift from President Hayes to your President explaining just about everything the birth of the Federation and its history. We left out a couple of things. They're still classified." O'Neill stopped short as his phone began ringing. "Excuse me." Moving off a bit, Cain saw him nod. "I'm going to have to cut our conversation short in a few minutes. Duty calls."

"Understood, but what's this?" the High Admiral asked, staring at the package given to him.

"In this package are the re-enacted recordings of the history of the Federation. Everything you want to know is in those discs. Keep them in order. There's Star Trek Axanar, Star Trek Enterprise, Star Trek, Star Trek: the Next Generation. Then there is DS9, Voyager, Star trek Odyssey, Star Trek Alpha, plus most of the movies. Then there's a short history the Genesis Project." O'Neill looked him dead in the eye. "If you want to understand the Federation, the disc will give you a solid foundation." O'Neill clapped his hands smiling. "Now you have the discs and since all intelligence agencies are paranoid, we will not give you the system to play them. That's for you to figure out. Besides it wouldn't be any fun if we gave everything away because we both know that the disc will be searched for viruses and traps for months before they are deemed safe. Furthermore, it's likely you'll never see them for years if then, until CI gets trough with them. It'll take them a while to get through Paramount encryption, but it will be worth it."

For whom, the Lead Admiral thought as he held the package reverently. "This will help us immensely in understanding Earth and its accomplishments. "What about the teleport technology? There's a huge debate about whether it's real or not, considering what the stargate can do. But point to point teleporting is impossible. However the analysts insist that the images of the ships we've seen have them using it all of the time. Granted, we didn't have whole episodes, until now, to draw any concrete conclusions, but the sections we have accumulated…"

"Everybody knows that Federation style transporter technology doesn't exist," O'Neill said carefully. "If it did, it wouldn't be like what's seen on the discs."

"Do these discs contain the history of the goa'uld?"

"No, after the Federation fell into the dark ages, the goa'uld expanded and basically took over everything they found, greatly expanding their territories" Jack said, lying through his teeth. "Most of the races mentioned were killed off and humans were spread across the galaxy as slaves. We had other problems, too. But make sure your people focus on the three Next Generation episodes marked and the movie re-enactment of 'First Contact'. There are also several Voyager episodes marked for referencing associated with the movie. Ignore the references to ascended beings."

"Ascended beings." Cain's look was a cross between indifference and being ecstatic. "Are these beings gods?"

"They're pains in the neck. Now, let your people know there are some things in there we're not proud of, like the brain transplant was a bit exaggerated according to the ancient records. And then there's that alternative history, time and dimensional travel, and blowing up a star thing. We didn't add that. The people would have not been happy. The truth is out there, but not everyone can handle it. Too unbelievable."

Cain looked at the general for a full minute before he burst out laughing. "You almost had me believing you."

O'Neill started laughing. "What gave me away?"

"Time travel? Blowing up suns?" The man laughed once more. "That was your mistake. You overdid it. It's fantasy!"

"Finally, let there be light! Lead Admiral, I hope you can convince your people. Now please excuse me. A General's work is never done and the summit is about to begin. We'll talk some more later."

Cain nodded. "I look forward to it."

The Terran general pulled his phone out and dialed. "Yes, ensign. One to beam up."

Cain stood completely flabbergasted as the general disappeared in a flash of light from the transporter beam. It took a while before he managed to speak into the wind.

"O'Neill, O'Neill," he said, laughing. "I could really learn to hate you. Excellently played, sir. Excellently played."

Of course, there were quite a few additional words added to Cain's initial comment. I'm sure you can imagine what they were.

From here we move on and refocus on the missionaries adventures. Some are good, others no so.