Recordkeeping time:
Independent Dude: There is and will be several references to the Vorlons, etc. because this is based on the consequences of Actions story by Ash's Boomstick who also wrote the 'Reunion' story. They will NOT be featured here but is part of the history of this story and is thus occasionally referred to.
Starclipper01: Probably so. There are a lot of things that the colonials would ban, but they also know that this is fiction and they're not getting programming from Earth. I think they would be more terrified of Jurassic Park and its implications more than the Terminator movies. The government is changing as we'll see here and they really do want to get along with Earth despite the confusion, jealousy and envy.
Thor91: No Ori in this story. They don't exist. To me that was a stupid storyline and have no desire to get into that. But they will have some enemies and they will be within the Stargate shows, not Babylon 5 which I keep mentioning. The Ashtorath Lords will be mentioned on and off. Here they are mentioned to let the readers know that something is bad coming down the line. Again Earth will be in the background. The Race and Colonials are at the forefront here. Evil aliens coming up but first the Colonials and the Race need to have a civil discussion. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, right.
OMAC001: I am really going to get into both cultures in detail in a way that has not been done before. For example, I will get into the Colonial belief about the so-called 13th colony, Earth and why they believe they should be in charge of everything and not Earth. I mentioned a touch of this to another author and he caught the ball correctly. Why is Earth considered a junior colony? This attitude will be brought up and confronted.
Shadowwriter 01: Goa'uld are liars for the most part especially when they're trying to be nice and want something. The Kobol thing will be clarified in this story. However I am not sure if I will make it definitive. Several authors have their own ideas about the Kobol situation so I will clarify but skirt around the issue.
PascalDragon: Yes the goa'uld are and in chapter 4-5 will explain why and why Earth will be in the background in this story. I have not forgot about the Asgard but they are still incognito for a while.
PanchoPisolas: Some of the questions you've asked were answered in chapter two. I will explain the enemy soon. The interludes at the beginning of the next few chapters will identify what they are and what to expect and what their plans are. Hint, you have seen them before in the stargate series. As I mentioned Consequences of Actions Ash didn't show the following conflict which broth the Terrans into contact with the Colonials. But as I have promised I will not touch the details unless he gives permission and I have not and won't ask although we had some really good stuff about to go down. More lizards and Colonials and Cylons mixing it up.
You'll notice that I have a quick recap of the Race but not their full history. Many people reading have asked about them because they have no idea who they are so a bit of history in these next two chapters is necessary. The Race has found out that the Colonials have worlds near home and they are not happy.
I also remind people that the Race weren't sweet and nice. They were Imperialist who fully believed that turning Earth into a radioactive wasteland in original canon which would have included their own colony was preferable than allow Earth to threaten Home and the empire down the road. In that universe, the Race flat out told Earth that if they suspected that Earth technology was outstripping the Race's they would sacrifice everything to preserve their people.
It is good that Earth in this reality is stronger when the Race came calling or they would have nuked Earth out of fear of what might happen, resupplied with whatever they could have went home to Home.
That's who they are. Potential to be great friends or very deadly enemies…just like people.
Chapters 3 and 4 will deal with the Race and where they are now. Plus the interludes of the Colonial explorers…
Chapter Three
INTERLUDE (1)
One year earlier
Battlestar Junis
Star System: unnamed:
Location: 1400 light years from Cyrannus
Position: Ten kilometers from unknown target
Commander Demetrius Eddlison saw a lot of things in his years as a battlestar commander, but this was something completely new to his experience and he was excited. Five kilometers away from his ship stood an artifact of unknown origin and composition that no one, at least no Colonial, ever seen before. Computer analysis refused to identify any of the target's composition and that kept coming up with 'elements unknown'. It was incredibly exciting and frustrating at the same time. But there was no denying that exploration was quickly becoming his passion and being so close yet having his instincts screaming at him to not touch it was driving him to distraction. The raptor scanners weren't doing the job.
Finally giving in to his curiosity, the commander ordered the battlestar with its superior sensors to close to five kilometers on the target and go active sensors. But again the scanners yielded nothing more than the passive scans had. Even from this distance the huge object refuse to even show itself on DRADIS and the ship had to rely on visual acquisition only. From the evidence seen, huge numbers of asteroids had slammed into object over a period of tens of thousands of years and those shattered remains covered the surrounding area creating an effective, natural cover, protecting the object. As for the target itself, there wasn't a scratch on it. Well, the target may have been tough but those rocks could smash a raptor flat if the pilot wasn't careful. Those raptors in the immediate area were forced to remain vigilant if they didn't want to slam their small ships into one of those rocks.
"The target refuses to be identified," grumbled Colonel Joan Perris as if their object of interest was personally taunting her and the ship. Although frustrated, her cousin could see the excitement of discovery in her eyes, just like his. "It's drinking up our scans like a sponge. We can barely get basic profiles of this object. I wish I knew what that material was. The applications just from what we can see is incredible. Offhand, I see at least a dozen applications for it and I'm not even a scientist."
The commander rubbed his jaw in frustration and excitement. "The deep scans are showing nothing?"
The young officer looked sheepish for his inability to please his commander by giving the information needed. "Very little, sir. Active scans don't register any returns. Whatever material it is, or whatever type of ECM the object is putting our, its defeating everything we throw at it."
"Then please tell me what we do know," the Commander calmly ordered. "Start with energy profiles."
"Sir, we know it is emitting energy, type unknown. Sensors cannot determine if the material making up the object is metallic or nonmetallic. Whatever it's composed of, it's not in our periodic table base. The composition of the structure is not made up exclusively of one unknown material. It may be an alloy, or it could be a mineral. What little information we have suggests that it may be more mineral-based. It deflects most of our scans, yet it is emitting some form of energy, type unknown. Power source unknown at this time and sir, it is slowly increasing in strength."
"Could it be some type of explosive device?"
"Negative. I don't believe so. The way its absorbing energy all around it, it can handle a lot. We're theorizing that the object is acting like a huge battery. It may be absorbing solar powered, but we can't confirm or deny at this point. Localized radiation profile is non-existent. If it is some type of solar collector, it's pretty far from the star but it's likely to be more efficient than any solar collector we know of. But as to why it needs all that power and for what purpose, we have no idea. What we do know is that energy levels we've detected have been slowly rising for the last hour."
The battlestar commander simply nodded. He didn't expect the answer to be yes, but he didn't want to confirm his own suspicions. Whatever this thing was it wasn't a bomb and for the life of him it did look like some sort of energy collector. But exactly what type of energy it was collecting no one knew. It could be solar, it could be something else entirely and the thing was by no means dormant, either.
"Junis actual, this is Raptor Two actual."
"Raptor Two this is Junis Actual, go-ahead."
"Raptor Three is receiving very faint energy readings emanating from our target leading to an area thirty klicks from our present position. I confirm that. It is a very faint reading, but we might be able to trace it to the source. Request permission to investigate."
"Acknowledged, Raptor Three… Belay that. Hold for instructions."
Eddlison looked at the colonel standing a couple of meters away from him studying the scans as they continue to pour in. She returned the look raising her eyebrows to indicate an unspoken acknowledgment of what he was about to order. "Sundance, this is Junis actual. You are to proceed under stealth to the secondary target. Do not approach closer than five clicks to the secondary target. We want a visual only–do not perform active scan until ordered to."
"Acknowledged. Proceeding to secondary target, visual inspection only."
His cousin slowly moved to the commander. Her suspicions were up as was his. "One almost invisible target is a curiosity, two invisible targets means that they do not want to be seen," Perris said. "Set Condition Two, passive mode."
"Condition Two set passive mode only, yes sir."
"There is something definitely going on here," the commander said. And then he frowned slightly as something occurred to him that was disturbing, something that could affect his ship and crew. "The more I look at the asteroids surrounding the device, the less natural it looks," he said quietly. "Those asteroids around the target almost looks like they been placed there, like some type of camouflage to help hide our primary target."
His cousin nodded slowly. "I was just thinking same thing. The larger ones are not moving at all." This was true. Unlike every other asteroid in the region, the rocks around the primary target hadn't moved whatsoever. "I don't like this."
"I think we better err on the side of caution. Contact the Tycheon and tell them to abort the mission to the fourth planet. We need to proceed with caution. If someone is trying to hide this object in the middle of nowhere then this may be the last place we want to be."
"Sir, respectfully I still recommend that we should check the planet out. If nothing more, she should send a raptor for a quick peek. If there's someone there, we may be able to get in and out without being detected. This is a great find. It's worth the risk."
"Maybe," he muttered. "But, it may not be worth the potential danger. We'll make that determination shortly when we see what Sundance discovers."
Time: Present
Star System Korstev:
Planet Designation-Home Two
Tactical games XVII
While the Colonials were discussing the nigh disastrous implications of their first contact meeting with the System Lord and what direction they needed to take to avoid a catastrophe of epic proportions about to drop on top of their doorstep, the Race was in a process of preparing to drop a different sort of revelation upon the Colonials. Three months after the aborted conquest of Home, the Lizardian Empire of Home and Home II discovered they had new neighbors. Their response would leave both sides reeling and push each side toward possible genocide.
The group of thirty-two space superiority fighters of the Race traveling in loose diamond formation proceeded on a heading that would take them towards the established rendezvous point designated by Home II Military Space Command, or the HMSC as the Terrans insisted on calling it. In this exercise, their destination would place them near the pockmarked fifth planet and into the asteroid belt located some nine hundred thousand kilometers distant. Another two groups of fighters–which the members of the Race insisted that they be called space killercraft–followed six and twelve minutes respectively behind them. Their objective: to engage and dominate the Terran killercraft waiting to ambush them in said asteroid field with minimum casualties. The Imperial pilots knew where they were likely to be located, but those humans were tricky and full of nasty surprises that any pilot worth his salt had to respect and fear.
Two years ago if anyone human or Race, would have predicted to Senior Flight Leader Teerts that he would be not only a highly respected flight leader in conventional killer craft but the Senior space killercraft pilot, he would have laughed at that preposterous idea. Each were entirely different disciplines and the Race rarely mixed job professions. Now here he was, leader of his fellow squadron males preparing to once again do mock battle against the Terran–Tosevites in a space killercraft attempting to once more survive and defeat those tricky, very inventive aliens. There was no denying that it was an exciting time to be alive. And, that didn't compare to the thrill that crawled down his scales knowing that the Hallessi and Rabotev squadrons were following behind supporting his own in the training exercise. The fact that they were even flying combat craft was a thing of wonder. It was an action that would have never even been thought of a mere two years ago. And in the eyes of the majority of the empire, those changes all began with the conquest of Home.
The populations of both Imperial worlds, the Hallessi and Rabotev after they were conquered by the Race were granted the same rights as any citizen of the Race. Those worlds enjoyed the freedom to travel in space and fly civilian space transports to and from the different worlds of the Empire. But the Lizardians weren't fools. The two conquered races had never been allowed to join or participate in the Imperial military forces of Home. They weren't even allowed to dream of flying killercraft or handle weapons. It wasn't as if the Lizardians didn't trust their fellow citizens however there was no need to tempt them either. Everything else was acceptable including joining the police forces of their respected worlds. But, the Empire didn't want any uprising by the Rabotev or Hallessi and keeping weapons from them to avoid temptation that might or might not exist was a good idea and had worked.
As a culture, the Race operated as an expansionist society but between their periods of visiting and conquering their neighbors, it enjoyed times of a peace that no known human society could possibly match. For the past one hundred thousand years, or fifty thousand in Terran time measurement, other than the fact that they conquered the Rabotev or Hallessi worlds, there had never been wars on Home. During those times, only specialized police officers were allowed to carry lethal weapons and even then those weapons were rarely if ever used.
The second time the Race went about conquering their neighbors was twenty-five hundred years ago when they conquered the planet Halless in less than a month. The natives were integrated into the Empire with little opposition or trouble. Less than three hundred soldiers were lost during that conquest, slightly over the prediction but well within acceptable parameters. Spaceships, guided missiles, automatic weapons, killercraft and bombs pitted against spears and arrows and mounted cavalry made the Race very confident. War remained more of a concept not a dirty hideous reality where uncounted numbers of Lizardians died or were maimed in battle. After conquering two of their neighboring worlds, the Race assumed that Tosev III, or Earth could be swiftly and easily be overwhelmed and added to the glory of the Empire. Probes to Earth showed another primitive society ripe for conquest and a world waiting to be developed for the glory of the Race and its soon to be new subjects.
By the spirits of every honored Emperor of Home's past–that was a mistake! As everyone now knew, that didn't work out as well as the Race hoped for.
The Lizardian Empire found itself outgunned, and out classed by those big hairy Tosevite fiends. If the Race had known what they were in for, the more conservative members of government (living in a very conservative culture) would have most certainly elected to turn Earth into a radioactive wasteland just to make sure that the Tosevites of Earth (Tosev III) wouldn't one day in the distant future come and try to attack the Race. The Empire didn't like bad neighbors and would have made very sure that 'bad neighbor' Earth wouldn't come back to bit them in the tail stumps.
Shockingly, Tosev Tosevites, or Earth Tosevites or Terran Tau'ri, or whatever they call themselves at the twist of the tongue, they turned out to be a better neighbor than first thought, but at the time of the great conquest it didn't seem so. But there was no question that the claw marks were scratched into the wall for the Race to see. Earth was stronger than any member of the Race believed possible. The ancient Empire was at the edge of being destroyed. But instead of being conquered, the Big Uglies as some of the Race called them, chose not to kill them all and–by the Emperor's hidden genitalia!–gave them a beautiful world now called Home II. And the changes kept coming. Worldly events were forcing Home II to adapt at a frightening speed, in some ways even quicker than at their home world. The Race was moving towards change faster than anyone believed possible and like many others, Teerts feared events were moving too fast for the Race to adjust. But the risk of extermination was all too real and the Race had to force itself to adjust and do so quickly. Not to do so, risked extinction.
A landmark change, forcing Emperor Risson 37th to bear the name to command Fleetlords Atvar and Reffet to refrain from attacking each other began with another imperial command freeing the Hallessi and Rabotev citizens for the first time ever in the history of the Lizardian civilization to join the growing defense forces of the Empire of the Race.
The decision by the young emperor was an obvious one considering the facts that the Big Uglies (not the Terran Tosevites; they weren't called Big Uglies much anymore as the emperor decreed that that phrase couldn't be used to describe the Terrans, at least officially and most of the Race actually followed his dictate proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they weren't in any way human like) apparently infested much of the galaxy. The revelation that there were countless tosevite factions, some friendly, some deadly brought into sharp focus the realization that the Terrans weren't as frightening as some of those others like the Colonial faction of the far distant Cyrannus star system. The Colonial faction was feared and hated by the thirty-three billion subjects of combined Lizardian-Hallessi-Rabotev Imperium. And the fact two colony worlds of those fiendish big Uglies were within thirty light-years of Home each with huge, very dangerous warships prowling about rightfully terrified the Race. That and the recent conquest of Home by that faction made them the very definition of the phrase 'bad neighbors'.
Although Atvar was the commander (former commander actually as Reffet constantly reminded him) of the Conquest Fleet, Reffet was the absolute commander (or the former commander since the fleet was now landed as Atvar consistently spat back at him) of the Civilian Colonization Fleet. Both nearly came to blows several times during their short time forced together on Home II. Both lizardians of equal status rarely agreed on anything but this one subject, a Permanent Soldiers Time, known as a peacetime army pushed both of them to the brink. As Atvar was the stronger of the two, it was he would had to constantly keep from ripping his civilian counterpart's tail off and calling him stumpy, one of the most extreme insults a member of the Race could call or do to another. Their professional dislike of one another was known throughout the regions of Home II.
Reffet, former Fleetlord of the Colonization fleet blamed Atvar, former Fleetlord of the Conquest fleet of failing in his duty to conquer the Terrans and because of that failure everything that happened afterwards was his fault. Now that the Race colonized Home II there may have been a need for a Soldiers Time to guard the systems but not a permanent Soldiers Time and certainly no citizen should be forced into the military. They were colonists, not soldiers and besides Atvar had enough soldiers (turned colonists now) to do his job in the first place. And since they were now colonists they were under Reffet's administration or so the argument went. Atvar countered by saying that Home II was a different pot of worms. The Empire would need everyone's help as this was a fight not for a colony but for the Empire and their species very existence. Reffet knew that this argument held a lot of truth but he fought it. This wasn't the way things were supposed to work. The thirty year plan was already written by the Race's best thinkers and it need to be followed. Atvar was tearing it apart page by page with Straha's full support causing Reffet to suffer from ulcers trying to stop their maniacal strut into the unknown. He had enough problems dealing with the natives of Home II, the raptorvites and even he saw the need for a local military to deal with them but as much as he wanted to believe, it wasn't enough to secure the Race.
As with everything else, Home II wasn't perfect as both the Terrans and Lizardians discovered. Reffet wanted to believe that once the native raptorvites were stopped everything would return to normal. But, to his growing concern, no matter how well the military suppressed the natives of Home II, the almost sentient egg stealers continued to devastate the Races infant population. The raptorvites, a native, race-like species with multifaceted eyes roamed the planet in significant numbers. Those native creatures, so similar yet so different from the Race were intelligent pack-hunters and egg stealers. The first egg-clutches produced on Home II after mating season were prime targets. The raptorvites destroyed a full twenty five percent of the eggs and another thirty percent of the hatchings before the Race military drove them away. The Hallessi and Rabotev suffered from similar losses as their eggs and youngling were stolen and eaten by Home IIs natives. The local natives took full advantage of mating season and stole hundreds sometimes thousands of eggs and young almost as soon as the Race females laid their clutches. Furthermore, the raptorvites took advantage of mating season in other ways that terrified the Race.
During their mating season, the Race could be described as unfocused. Sex was on the mind and it stayed there. Until the season was over. The natives recognized this and caused havoc. While the Race was distracted the natives went after the relatively unprotected and defenseless younglings. A significant portion of the young were wiped out. The same thing happened with the Hallessi and Rabotev. The colony was threatened. That was Atvar's job to protect the colony.
The Race was never a species to do things halfway; therefore, a large military force was sent out to hunt down and remove the threat which turned out to be harder than it seemed. No matter how hard the military tried to suppress the natives of Home II, the almost sentient egg stealers continued to devastate the races infant population. It was soon discovered that those thieves were very good at hiding and ambushing unwary soldiers. Killercraft and landcruisers (the Terrans called them jets and tanks for some stupid reason) weren't useful if one couldn't find the enemy in order to squash them. Very quickly, the Emperor and his advisors realized that if they were to prosper on Home II, they required the help of everyone. The escalating situation forced Fleetlords Atvar and Reffet into their biggest showdown, the one that forced the emperor to intervene.
Atvar came up with an idea that Straha at first couldn't believe as it was so forward thinking which Straha thought him incapable of. He wanted to add the Rabotev and Hallessi males to the military. Atvar's reasoning was as simple as it was profound. He explained that the males of the Race were superior soldiers capable of protecting Home II. However, the males were severely compromised if females were anywhere around during the mating season that occurred twice a year. The Hallessi and Rabotev had different mating seasons which didn't correspond to or overlap with Race mating seasons. Because of this difference those males could work more effectively in securing the safety of all of the people of Home II.
Reffet ferociously clawed down the suggestion of adding the Hallessi and Rabotev males into military service in order to maximize the protection of the colony. Reffet nearly had cardiovascular failure after Atvar made his argument and the Emperor approved of it. It wasn't until Emperor Risson forced the decision for them by imperial decree, that the Race was integrated for the first time ever with its two subject people. That decree resolved the matter. Reffet had another fit before finally submitting, stating for the record that this was not tradition and on Home it would not have happened.
Atvar countered by saying,' Home II is not Home. "Things change and so must we."
Teerts, like many members of his military was told of the ordeals of the Hallessi and Rabotev and what happened to their worlds while the Colonials were in control whereas many of the civilians of the Race barely acknowledged that their fellows were also a conquered people too. Teerts understood the feeling. Home was conquered, his friends, his social circle, his very the way of life he'd known was usurped, ironically in the same manner that the Race had conquered the other Lizardians. For Teerts the realization that those imperial worlds suffered as well came as a shock to him. He was so concerned with Home that he like so many others ignored what happened elsewhere. Several orbital stations were severely damaged or destroyed. Several civilian transport ships piloted by the Hallessi and Rabotev were blown out of space and several cities set ablaze as Colonial and the more aggressive and frightening looking aliens, the Rabotev battled one another for supremacy. As weapons were outlawed for use by the Rabotev by Imperial Decree, the Rabotev had no weapons other than teeth and claws but they fought nevertheless. Neither the Colonial faction nor the Rabotev understood the language of the other and as a result there were hundreds of causalities on the Rabotev side. The Colonial faction began transmitting in the language of the Race and the world surrendered but not before two cities were turned into smoldering wrecks. It was reported that thousands of members from both worlds were taken away by the Colonial big Uglies. Surprisingly, members of the Race hadn't reported any kidnappings although the explosive metal bomb's detonation could have covered the losses. The suspicion was later confirmed three months later when the Terrans publically announced that there were captured members of the Empire on two Colonial colony worlds near Home and they weren't giving them back. The Race intended to get them back by whatever means necessary.
The words 'by whatever means necessary caused even the most open-minded Lizardian to thump their tails in dismay when in conjunction with Fleetlords Atvar and Reffet standing by his side, the emperor decreed that the Hallessi and Rabotev colonists would be required to serve a Soldiers Time. In other words, they were being drafted into military service and war was on the horizon. This action was unprecedented and a huge change for the Race. As expected, some adapted well to the changes, others not so much.
The initial decision to create a permanent soldier's time was disturbing enough but new alien equipment coming from Terran group factions, and the closer ties with the Terrans–who hated being called Tosevites for some reason because that's what they were–and the integration of the Hallessi and Rabotev into military service caused many of the most reactionary in the Race to quietly question the sanity of the new Emperor. Those opinions changed quickly as the numbers of losses to eggs and hatchlings began to decline significantly. The decisions were having a positive effect and once again solidified the males and females of the Race's belief in the wisdom of the Emperor.
No one knew what the Hallessi and Rabotev were thinking yet.
The Colonial Big Uglies faction called the space capable killercraft Vipers. The Terrans renamed them model Alpha I star fighters. The Colonial Viper block VII fighters were marvelous single killer craft and the Terrans tore many of them apart, studied and improved them, adding a small shield generator, a much enhanced combat information and counter ECM package. Inertial dampeners were added and Colonial armaments were replaced with twin mounted second generation rail guns and a more effective missile package. One engine was removed and in its place was a first generation naquada-based miniature hyperspace generator. The two remaining engines were replaced with more powerful P31 aerostrictors Mark IIs capable of both air and space operations. A thin layer of trinium was added to the outside armor of the fighters making them more resistant to missile and weapons fire.
Of course, internal modifications to seating configurations and the unique heads up display designed for the eye-turrets of the Race in the cockpit were designed by both human and Race engineers. The seats of the standard Race killercraft provided a solid base on which to construct the updated Alpha versions for the males. The helmets were modified for use by the Race, not the flat-eyed humans that could only look around by moving their heads. The finished cockpit wasn't much different than the internal configuration of the standard suborbital killercraft he so loved to fly.
Now, he had a new craft to fly and he loved it.
The bounty left in the Sol star system was huge. The Terrans took possession of nearly four thousand Colonial vipers in serviceable condition floating in the Sol system after the Colonial faction had tried and failed to conquer Earth. That didn't even take into consideration the numbers of craft captured on the larger capital ships abandoned or surrendered by the Colonials after the battle. Senior Flight Leader Teerts had no idea how many of the Colonials had died inside their killercraft either from injuries sustained in the battle, or being cooked by hard radiation but they left a bounty of vipers, raptors, and shuttle craft of various configurations floating around throughout most of local space between the third and fourth planet in the Sol system. Obviously, somebody had to clean up and stored/remove all that material in the system. The Terrans gave the Race four hundred fifty of them plus twenty of the wonderfully named Raptors for their own rapidly growing forces. Twenty shuttles were given to the Race to supplement their own numbers. Supplies, manuals and instructions were added to the mix to study tear apart and back-engineer. It was as big a day for the Race, and it was terrifying.
The Race benefited greatly from the bounty but they weren't the only ones receiving gifts. Several of Terrans allies were also given many of the small space craft left by the Colonials, especially the Kelowna and the Orbanian worlds. Of all of the worlds, Earth, Kelowna, and Orban had the strongest ties with the aloft Tollanians and three Free Jaffa factions coming around fairly quickly. They were trading partners with others quickly coming into the circle but it wasn't all for trade. Earth and their allies were preparing for a war and in a twist of the tail, it was suggested by the Terran ambassador and a few others that the Race should follow this example and prepare for war, too. Both Emperors strongly agreed having learned the bitter lessons inflicted on Home. A treaty of cooperation was signed so quickly that Teerts' four head feathers still tingled whenever he thought about it. Colonial technology (the Race scientists were cautious but ecstatic about it) was a good start for many of the Tosevite faction allies and they were building up rapidly. The stiff Tollanian factions helped and many of their production techniques were quickly adapted.
But there was another problem, an internal one. The Race, by their nature, preferred to do thing their own way and in their own time–which admittedly would have taken them a couple of generations in order to develop their own craft using back-engineered samples. Unfortunately many of the civilians were uncomfortable even frightened by the Emperor's decrees ordering them to work with aliens. For the average citizen, just being around a Tosevite barbarian, who insisted on calling themselves Terrans or humans or Cylons (and the Emperor ordered everyone to use either term) was intimidating at first glance. They were big, hairy creatures who didn't show reverence to the Emperor or the dead divine rulers. Instead they had their own superstitions–addled egg ones really that made no sense whatsoever. There were many not-empires on their worlds and they used snout-counting as a form of government. And, they acted as if they were equal to the Race in every aspect even though they weren't part of the Empire.
At this point though it didn't matter as much. The Emperor's word was as good as the word of the Tosevite God on high. The Race, the Empire wanted to survive and it was this need that was changing everything but there was no denying that there was a collective fear of what was lurching around in the darkness of the future.
Teerts knew if the Terrans were worried, then the Race should be too.
To be continued