Record-keeping time:
NorJC: Yes, Earth and its allies is building up, no small concern for the Colonials as they really don't understand Earth. This chapter will reflect some of those concerns and fears. That's all I can say without spoiling this chapter. Take care and have fun in your new assignment. I am still waiting for your other two stories to be updated. Wow! I can't believe I wrote that. I have to follow my own advice! Meanwhile for the others Quorum Leader of the minor house) is 4th in line to the Presidency of the Colonies of Kobol. President Goesel by definition is also the Quorum leader. So here in this story the line to secession is the President (Quorum head), Vice-President, Secretary of the Colonies, and the Quorum leader (Minor house). Although the President is the Quorum leader, he is known as the President, giving the title of Quorum leader (to the minor house.) Wonderfully complex isn't it?
Difdi: The Colonials are not that insane to try to seek to enslave their own Lords. But they'd drown them in interviews and most likely argue theology until they were driven away!
PascalDragon: I have never said who or what Iblison actually is but he and his family are behind the scenes doing a lot of crap. Who do you think was behind the push for war immediately after the defeat in the First Contact battle in the Sol system? I mentioned this before. There is a small space station shared by both governments. Coffees, Chocolates a few liquors, teas and other small items including food stuffs (and now DVDs!) are shared between the two. But no civil are which is not to say that everything is all well and good, and that no slapping will occur.
The Colonials are beginning to question the sacred texts, not necessarily for their beliefs but for interpretations involving the 13th tribe. What they've read and why they've seen does not match. You can only deny for so long. Then as in science if something does not pan out as expected, then it's time to look at another approach.
Nightryder: No need to go that far. The Colonials are not that hard-headed.
As for the food issue, I am addressing that in the next chapter. There are certain sections in the Novel that addresses this very problem and what the Race believed would happen.
skipper 1337: Coffee is a spice of life along with Chocolate. Both governments have their versions of the stuff. But be aware that there is a disease that is attacking the coffee plans and may wipe out large portions of the crops. If they can't stop it, the plants may be wiped out. I think it's the same for bananas. But in this story, it's like the wine trade of old. Those beans will become a major trade import export in the coming future if they don't go to war. But keep reading. Some of your questions are being addressed here.
Chapter Nine
'Entitlement'
CSS Makaria
To say that Cornel Minas, Quorum Leader of the Minor houses of Kobol, fourth in line to the Presidency was dismayed at the open displays of hostility between the new, barely christened territories was an understatement. He wasn't naive enough to believe that the Colonies were a truly unified people as they thought they were and how they portrayed outwardly themselves to Earth. Indeed, the Colonies barely held together as a single unit, something not unexpected when close to fifty billion people were crowded together on twelve small planets. It was just one of the reasons why he and many others believed that the Colonies needed to expand past the Cyrannus system. Having twelve planets was not the blessing that people thought. Aquaria with its vast seas and cold climate supported only a small population with no real opportunities for growth. Canceron was so hot that most other colonial people shunned the world as a place to live. It had the highest population of all of the Colonies and the highest poverty rate. It was heavily industrialized with no real room for the population to stretch out. He didn't even want to think about Gemenon. a resource poor world full of fundamentalists. Yes, he thought, only a small portion of them were so conservative as to be considered threatening, but it was enough were to give the world a somewhat bad reputation.
But the worlds of Makaria sector were blessings from the gods. Three worlds already claimed were temperate, resource-rich, beautiful life bearing worlds just waiting for human habitation, with several suspect worlds within easy reach. The area was perfect for Colonial expansion if it weren't for the forever-to-be-cursed Terrans otherwise known as the Thirteenth Tribe, (which, in his mind, was what they were no matter how much they or his own President tried to deny it). Earthers denied their heritage and kept their cousins under subjugation by denying them the shared rights of all Colonies and their descendants. The Terrans were disrespectful to their cousins and he was here to put a stop to it.
Or, at least that was his intention. Everyone knew that he had aspirations to the Presidency and he could scarcely deny it. Being a confirmed atheist and therefore a hated opponent of the Synod and that witch Livia Sytoma in particular, his battle for the Presidency was an uphill battle. The Synod had the whole of the Colonies praying for the conversion of the Thirteenth so that they would return to the true ways.
That was laughable. What the Thirteenth required was a subtle but influential presence, someone from the Colonies that would guide them with a firm hand, not the whimpering messages of equality and brotherly love that Goesel had proposed for the last three years. That was the reason why he was here. He was after concessions, just enough of them so that his prominence would be remembered during election time. Vice President Willius' unexpected journey to Earth was a surprise though. Minas' had fully expected him to do a goodwill tour of the new Territories before going there. That would have given him time to speak to the Earthers first and began establishing a new Colonial doctrine. Willius in his opinion looked nervous even if he hid it well. Something was happening, something that he should be aware of and he hated being kept in the dark. Goesel had something planned that could upset Mina's own plans. However there other problems that needed immediate attention for the good of everyone. Thankfully his position as Quorum Leader would allow him to mediate between the three Territories. And the Race? He dismissed them for the moment. His priority was to keep the Territories from going to war with each other before the pioneers in mass even got here.
The problem was apparently lay with New Picon. The Governor-General was for some reason insistent in keeping the lizards on the planet. Why was that? They weren't really needed to work the soil or do menial labor and they certainly weren't worth aggravating their home world, the Terrans, and gods forbid, the Tollanians. From what he glimpsed, Makaria Prime and Pontu-Nika were more than willing to get rid of the creatures to gain favor with Earth (back to them again), something he couldn't fully disagree with. They were fascinating and they were real aliens! Trying to conquer them was a fool's errand and never should have happened and the result was a black eye to the Colonial reputation among Earth's colonies and allies. But the past was past and he needed to focus to the future of the territories and for that he needed to speak to the Governor-General's and attempt to cool the tensions before they boiled over.
Earth: Two days later:
Washington DC
Ritz-Carton Presidential Suite
Vice President Willius finished adjusting his traditional black tie he always wore for special meetings. To him, it could best described as a good-luck charm, something that he felt comfortable with during times of stress.
"Sir, the limo will arrive in ten minutes," his aide Andy Marska told him. "Everyone else is downstairs and waiting," he added quickly to which Willius simply nodded. No one wanted to be late for this meeting. Looking in the mirror once more he played with the tie to get it just right. And the word mirror wasn't doing this creation justice. The device was more like a three-dimensional imaging system, magnifying or changing the view that he saw by voice command. It even allow him to see his backside without straining to look. It was an amazing piece of technology that his wife and daughter would love, probably most of the people in the Colonies if they were to acquire this conceit-producing instrument. His semi-narcissistic son would never leave the bathroom. Admittedly, he wanted one for himself. The self-tinting voice command windows were a nice touch as well. The suite was magnificent with lots of little toys that demanded his attention but he wasn't really in the mood. His focus was on something far more important than his exploring Earth amenities.
"Sir?"
Picking up his secured suitcase he was finally ready. "Let's go."
In the main lobby of the hotel, his five aides including Marska waited for him to make the call. As a group, surrounded by four Colonial service protectorates, their version of the Secret Service named the Presidential Security Service, he headed for the two limos which would carry them to the meeting with some of the highest officials of the Terran government. Several members of the Terran security forces were looking around carefully, alert for any possible threats. Willius had been briefed earlier of possible threats from some small country actively threatening to somehow start a nuclear war against its enemies, which included just about everyone, if they didn't get new concessions for their food shortages and access to technologies being passed along to most nations except them. It was rumored that this small country actually resort to blatant theft of sensitive tech from other countries on a continual basis while their people starved, something that brought a shiver down Willius' spine as it hit very close to home. There were other independent groups that wanted to disrupt for the joy of it in the name of religious freedom.
That hit close to home as well.
However, the world as a whole didn't know that he was here. The true reason for his visit was top secret, not just a quick visit to the Terran world to promote improved relationships with the locals. That was of course part of the cover and a real one at that. Minas believed that even if he suspected an ulterior motive.
The fifteen minute drive to the meeting location gave him a bit of time to reflect on things. The trip to Earth was disconcerting, its speed being of greatest concern. His own FTL methods seem slow and almost archaic in comparison and once again the Colonial FTL drive revealed its strategic inadequacies. Minas complained about that bitterly, all but demanding that Willius insist that Earth share this technology with their fellow Colonial cousins, as if he had control over their decisions.
He wished he did. But technological exchanges wasn't a priority mission either as the frown returned. But he did smile (as he had several times as he remembered the Flight 107 trip), at Minas' face as they watched the 'first Contact' movie. Minas' was sweating by the time the movie was over, not because of the movie, but because of what it implied.
"Cybernetic life forms, I can see," he had complained. "The Cylons had created a variation of the same. But they were more sophisticated, not like those things in the movie. And time travel is impossible. The only theory I could think of would be that something could travel faster than the speed of light in normal space. We all know that's impossible."
"But we know that the Terrans have equivalents of everything thing we've seen in that movie."
"Not those teleporters," Minas snapped." That's impossible."
Willius merely raised his eyebrows in response causing the quorum leader to blanch. "We know that the Terrans have fought artificial life the same as we have. They have everything else so is time travel so impossible for them? Yes, it's just a movie but what does it imply?"
The way he phrased it to Minas and how the man had quieted for more than an hour brought a smile to his face once more. But the underlying message was there for him to see. Just what did the Terrans have to deal with, how much did they know and how advanced were they really?
Time travel. Ha. But they did the impossible on a regular basis. And they didn't share to their fellow cousins as they should.
The short journey completed the limousines arrived at their destination, a huge building shaped like a gigantic pentagon, unimaginably called the Pentagon Building.
"This building was the subject of a massive terrorist attack their year 2001, about twenty-three years ago," Andy said. "I bet the security around her must be incredible.
Willius merely flicked his eyes at his aide. He doubted a battlestar firing everything it had at point blank range could take this building out, not with their energy shields very likely protecting the whole area. They had to have them there surrounding the area. For all he knew, Earth might very well have planetary shielding but he kept that thought to himself.
An officer, a major greeted then and ushered the Colonials towards a secured elevator. Once inside the officer inserted a key into the lock underneath the button labeled 'L'. The lighting inside the elevator flared brightly for an instant and a moment later the doors opened revealing a long brightly lit corridor. The small group was confused by the near instantons travel. It was bizarre and Willius immediately suspect that some sort of teleportation was involved. They could be anywhere on the planet if what he suspected was true.
The group followed the Major towards a large door. He turned and looked at the Colonial security men and gestured. "You can remain here until the meeting is finished."
Security was not happy but absolutely everyone knew that this was going to happen. It was exactly the same conditions that would have been insisted on if the situation was reversed if the meeting was being held in the Colonies. Colonial security appeared very wary (what they were supposed to be in any case) until the Vice President waved them off. Reluctantly, they moved into the rather comfortable room while the rest continued down a side corridor. Several military guards blocked a huge re-enforced door. Without preamble, the door opened and the Vice President and his entourage entered.
Vice President of the United States of America Caroline Petaski greeted Willius and the group as they walked in and introduced Secretary of State Ronald Conway, English Ambassador Alexander Murray, other ambassadors, and military officers representing the Terran United Government. Each member was given a small microphone which also served as a miniature translator.
The six Colonial delegates sat down on one side of a huge oak wood table. On the table in front of each delegate as a seventeen inch, high resolution data padd which would also serve as a translator as well as an information system. On the other side of the table the Terran American Vice President, Secretary of State, several high ranking military officers and one General Jack 'O'Neill. There were video screens surrounding the room with the faces of government representing the major powers watching live as the proceedings began.
It took a few moments before Mr. Marska placed a small DVD into the data pad provided him. The Colonial DVD was modeled after the Terran DVDs provided earlier to Grand Admiral Cain on his earlier visit. The media was almost obsolete by current Earth standards but were still being used by several of Earth's allies whose technology wasn't as advanced and it remained a useful and viable media system. It took a couple of more moments for the padd to translate into Terran standard, beeping three times signaling that it was ready.
A tall brunette woman with a prominent gray streak on the left side of her short hair, Petaski nodded towards Willius offering the first opportunity to speak.
"I want to thank you for agreeing to this meeting," Willius said though his translating system. "To Vice-President Petaski, Secretary of State Conway, and to all those members representing the Terran people. A little more than two of your months ago, Colonial space was violated by three alien unidentified spacecraft. They were quickly identified to be of Goa'uld origin. At that time, we were unsure whether they were Lucian Alliance vessels or of some other unidentified nation. As you are aware, many races use those vessels. The ships stopped outside strike range and began transmitting. This is what was transmitted to the CDF battlestar Koalistia during that exchange." Willius hit his pad and the recorded transmission began.
"To the Colonial people of Kobol, we come in peace. We are on a mission of vital importance and will speak to the leaders of the Colonies of Kobol. We represent the System Lords of the Astorath."
There was a small sense of unease that swept through the room as the Vice President continued. "We are aware that your spy probes detected the presence of those vessels," he added, keeping his personal opinions of Terran spying to himself. "Despite the message, we were concerned that this was a prelude to an attack but we were surprised and more than suspicious of the motives of the Goa'uld. Although the threat was extreme we chose to accept the delegation into our space as the lesser of two evils to listen to what they had to say.
"The head of the delegation was the Ashtorath System known as Astartea one of the four rulers of the new Goa'uld Empire," and again there was an increase of tension in the room. System Lords never personally lead personal ambassadorial missions. "Rather than tell you, we will show you the meeting in its entirety."
Once more the Colonial activated the padd and the recording of the entire meeting from the moment the Lord stepped through the stargate until she left was shown, leaving the Terrans in a state of ever increasing tension.
"We will make our position clear, Willius stated. "We have no intention of joining the Goa'uld. We have not informed them of our decision, but we fully understand that any decision for or against has placed us in a very precarious position. If we say 'no', then they will perceive us as enemies and will attack us and try to destroy us. If we say yes, no matter what they say we will become subjects and eventually slaves to the Goa'uld. The Colonies will also be hated by free worlds everywhere.
They came to us in peace and we understand they never do this unless it is in their interests to do so. We don't know who their enemies are or how dangerous they are. Lord Astartea hinted that they are headed in our direction and if that is true, then anyone that can threaten the Goa'uld so completely will be too much of a threat for our Armed Forces.
"I have come here representing the President of the Colonies of kobol to ask you, our cousins, first to help find a way past our differences so that we may come together as a united people, and second that we may join the young Alliance that you have created with your own independent colonies. Third we want to develop a peaceful relationship and possibly an alliance with the Independent Tollanian government. The President strongly believes that we have many things to offer both Earth and the alliance that includes resources, people and many years of practical experience in space travel and ship development. We know that you are more technologically advanced but we have long experience of being in space, more than you do and that experience can be put to work creating a truly unified power. The Colonial people have little desire to be at odds with our cousins and we also know that fighting against the Goa'uld would result in loss life with only a questionable hope for victory. We wish to obtain any information or intelligence that you have about this enemy that the Goa'uld are fighting.
"The President wants to protect the Colonial people and in return we will provide ship hulls that you can modify according to your specifications. I am here to help negotiate an agreement with your people to help protect the shipping lanes between the Cyrannus star system and Makaria sector from the Lucians and other pirate forces preying on our people."
"This unity that you're speaking of," started Secretary of State Conway, "isn't as easy as you think it may be, Mister Vice-President. There is mistrust on both sides. However we have been listening to your local broadcasts over the past two and a half years and we've seen a true progressive march towards a more positive relationship between our people. However there is still a strong current of assumption that we are your Thirteenth Tribe and that we fall under the purview of the Colonial government and its articles of rules, edicts, and law. This is a major point of contention between us. Even if we were your Thirteenth Colony and we are not and have million years of evidence to prove it, I believe according to your history, that Colony was first and therefore the eldest to leave and as such your direction would come from the Thirteenth not the other way around. We have informed your people of these facts on multiple occasions and has been conveniently ignored just as any times. Offered proof has been ignored in favor of your own opinions and beliefs which offer few actual facts. If there can be any movement towards real, long-term improvements between our people, your government must, officially receive and examine our proof. Unofficially you've already done so. Officially, it remains to be seen. We can't force you to open your eyes. That you must do for yourself before any true unity can even begin to happen."
"That however is a project for the future. You have a more immediate problem," Vice-President Petaski said. "The Colonial people are in grave danger. The threat is greater than you imagine. And in order to full appreciate what you are dealing with, we will give you a history of what you've become involved in. The Goa'uld Empire stood for more than ten thousand years. Ra was the acknowledged Supreme Leader of their Empire. Yu, Apophis, Heru'ur, Cronus, Anubis, Hathor, Setesh, Baset, Kali, Morrigan, Ba'al, and quite a few others were major System Lords and with the exception of Lord Yu who died as a result of a replicator attack, the great majority of them have been killed either by our hand or killed each other's." Images of each goa'uld appeared on the screens. "Anubis was the most powerful but Ba'al was considered by all the most dangerous."
"You consider him the greatest threat, sir. Why is that?" asked the Colonial aide who was in actuality a Major in the Colonial Military.
"Ba'al was the most flexible of the System Lords and very likely the smartest. He was the Supreme Commander of the Goa'uld Empire. He recognized the threat the Earth was to the Goa'uld better than the others and was considered the most creative of the goa'uld that tried to kill us on numerous occasions. There was a long history of conflict between Earth and Ba'al and his occasional consort Amaterasu whom we believe still to be alive but in hiding from the Ashtorath. Ba'al understood the weakness of the System Lords and their feudal-like civilization. So in order to break away, he started by creating multiple clones of his host body the goa'uld within that he inserted most of the clones on Earth. The experiment was somewhat effective, but still limited. So in his second phase of the project he created a family by cloning and genetically altered and mutated four goa'uld from tissue samples of his own goa'uld. The four children of Ba'al Ashtoreth, and his sister Atargatis have all but decimated the Lucian Territories and have forced the survivors to flee. Anath and Astartea are the most fanatical and calculating of the four. It was an obvious success but Ba'al miscalculated. He didn't expect his children to turn on him, but they did. They killed him and took over. Because of who we are and what we've done to the Empire, Earth is their number one priority slated for destruction."
"But they haven't attack you as of yet," Willius stated. "Why, are they afraid of you and your military power?"
"We don't believe so, but they are wary and won't attack until the odds are heavily in their favor. They were building an armada, but another threat showed up, one that we are fighting as well. That is the threat that you addressed. It's a very advanced species powerful enough to force the Astorath Lords to focus on protecting their territories. That information will be passed on to you and your government. As you've witnessed, the Ba'als are unique among all of the Goa'uld. Each one has a counterpart, an older Goa'uld twin which we believe are psychically connected to each other. We suspect that Astartea and Myrana are identical twins or clones specially engineered to compliment and support each other. One is Goa'uld, the other completely human but there is a visible age difference. Their support for each other is absolute with Astartea being the dominant of the two. Do not believe for a second that Myrana is a lesser threat. She is the right hand of Astartea.
"The danger to your people is extreme," the Secretary of State stressed. "When your forces attacked Earth you immediately made yourself known to the Goa'uld. You made enemies of the Goa'uld when they were forced to come to you as emissaries and not conquerors. When you treated with them as equals, it was seen as an insult to them for them to have to lower themselves to speak to you as such. Your President rejected Myrana, a great insult as the Goa'uld never give gifts lightly. If he had accepted Myrana then it would be assumed that you were in agreement with their proposal whether you voiced your decision in their favor or not. By asking them to wait on you decision, you enflamed and embarrassed them by claiming dominance over them.
"Understand that the Goa'uld crushed races and cultures more advanced than yours, or ours," he added. "There is the added factor that the Twelve Colonies are culturally very close to our own which automatically makes you a threat to them and their power.
I believe that the only reason why they have not attacked your people is because of the greater threat. Now, you've officially rejected them, and they will not forget, nor forgive. They will lash out at you. It's only a matter of time."
"Then you must help us. It is your responsibility to do so, Willius declared. "We would do the same for you. We are your cousins."
"Yes, we are cousins, but you are not our responsibility," countered Ambassador Murray. "We do have a responsibility to protect the worlds of the Protected Planets Treaty, Earth and our Allies. The Colonials are not part of this group. We owe you nothing; however, we have decided that, in order to promote the interests of true peace in the future, you will be given this information so that you will impart this to your government. Some of this information has been recently de-classified and we are passing it on so that you will better understand us and the roll we have been chosen to play. We are a very independent world, honored by our allies, and feared by our enemies. The Goa'uld believe you are similar to us and in many ways we are. In other ways, we are not.
"In the short time we've been in space, less than thirty years, we've fought several major wars. The Goa'uld war was our first. The replicator war was the second. We've fought the Lucian Alliance and the Wraith. Then there was Earth Alliance…"
"Earth Alliance?" Willius' mind began swirling. The real Thirteenth Tribe or some type of civil war? He needed to know.
"Let me answer your unvoiced question before you even ask, sir," the Secretary of State said, addressing him and the other Colonials seated. "Earth Alliance is not your Thirteenth Tribe. Their location is classified so you will not be able to determine our claims for yourself but there's is positive and collaborative proof that they are not related to the Colonies in any way. During our conflict with the Goa'uld, one of our ships, the Achilles was inadvertently pulled into a battle with the enemies of Earth Alliance. The ships that attacked us believed us to be Earth Alliance and in the battle it was destroyed. We discovered a base of Earth Alliance and made contact with them. The crew discovered that their enemies were far more advanced than the Alliance and they were effectively being exterminated as their weapon's systems unable to lock onto and hit their targets because of the Minbari's superior stealth system.
During that time the Alliance base was attacked again and our ship defended out-classed given them the opportunity to survive and abandon the base with minimal casualties, a great rarity for them. Our ship tried to negotiate a peace with the aliens however because we were Human, they intended to destroy our world as well, if they could find us. Being cousins as you so quaintly put it, and seeing the dire straits that the Alliance was in, and not being an advocate of genocide, certain technologies were offered. Or, to put it bluntly, Earth Alliance wasn't satisfied and wanted it all."
"Sound familiar?"
"General O'Neill!" the Vice-President cautioned.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"To continue, the technologies offered were sufficient to raise Earth Alliance's defenses to give them an equal footing in the war. However certain elements of the Earth Alliance decided to attempt to hijack two of our ships and a Free Jaffa Ha'tak, capture, interrogate the crew, and acquire every bit of information and technology we had. We also discovered that their intentions were to incorporate our Earth into their alliance by force if necessary." This time, the British Ambassador and Vice-President Petaski looked directly at General O'Neill, daring him to make a comment which he wisely did not although obviously it took some effort on his part not to do so.
"General O'Neill would you like to explain how the problem was resolved and what happened next?" asked the Vice-President surprising the General. He needed to say something before he went nuts. Besides, he'd been there personally for that debacle and the nightmare that happen afterwards.
The General folded his hands, looking directly at the Colonial contingent. "Earth Alliance soldiers boarded our ships. After a fight we repelled them with prejudice by spacing them," he said without a hint of regret. "We were surrounded by approximately twenty of their capital warships with more arriving. Their intention was that we surrender. I refused and informed their government called EarthDome that if we were attacked I would respond by dropping a half dozen five gigaton nuclear missiles onto their capital. I called it a proportional response given the situation."
Willius and the others were absolutely horrified. "You would have done that to those people?"
"In a heartbeat," O'Neill replied. "What they attempted was an act of war. When you Colonials attacked us I told Cain that we'd send what was left back in a cake tin. She didn't listen but you know that story." He paused for a moment to let that sink in. "It's good that we left without having to vaporize a large portion of Geneva. If their warships fired on us we would have turned all of Earth Alliance's military into a debris field and a large portion of their planet into a radioactive wasteland. If they had succeeded the taking of our ships, Thor of Asgard–I don't know what he would have done, but it wouldn't have been pretty for their world. I guess even the Minbari would have felt sorry for them," he said in an off-handed way that made chills run up and down the spines of every Colonial present. "Fortunately, for them, they let us go without honoring their promise I might add. It doesn't matter now, but all of that attention attracted another race that took an interest to us, or more accurately, our sector of space.
"That race saw our territory as a perfect location for their experiments. For them, we were a virgin, untapped resource to manipulate as they pleased. This race contacted the Asgard trying to influence them to the ways of enlightenment and order. What we didn't know at the time was that our presence near Earth Alliance had upset one of their experiments in the war between the Earth Alliance and the Minbari. The race we only know as the Vorlons decided to recreate an experiment that they'd done in Earth Alliance Sector but without us. They intended to kill Earth. They considered the Asgard a middle race, useful but pliable. As you may imagine, the Asgard, one of the most powerful race in this galaxy didn't respond well to that and went to war. Earth entered the war with what little we had and together we kicked their glow-in-the-dark butts back to where they came from. The price was high. Four worlds were left uninhabitable including the home world of the Asgard. Five worlds, and thirty billion were killed in the invasion before we forced them back The Asgard were brought to an extinction level. In retaliation the Asgard blew up three Vorlon owned worlds before the Vorlons called off the invasion and ran back to–wherever. Before they died out the Asgard gave us their legacy and we honor to the best of our ability. Our surviving ships returned to Earth without incident with the exception of the Prometheus. Their hyperdrive malfunction and dropped them off in the Cyrannus system." O'Neill didn't quite glare at the Colonials but there was a coldness about him. "I find your attitude and Earth Alliance's interesting. Very close."
Willius didn't miss the subtle and not-so-pleasant comparison.
"Thank you, General," the Vice President said before he could continue and go off topic. "We've entered space during a time of conflict and war. We've fought for our lives, and the lives of our allies during a time when we were unprepared and unequipped to do so. But we survived and grew and are still growing. We do acknowledge you as cousins. However, Vice-President Willius, when it comes to Earth, your people have a sense of entitlement. You expect us to follow your laws. You expect us to listen to your dictates as if we were just another colony of yours. You refuse to listen to our arguments concerning the origins we've presented time and time again. Your expect us to submit to your dictates. That will never happen."
"The people of the Colonies don't expect things to change overnight. I believe we will come together somewhere in the middle for the benefit of all of our people. We have a common heritage and common enemies that we must fight together. We should come together for mutual protection and economic security. Ladies and Gentlemen, your comparison of us and Earth Alliance is not lost to me. But our relationship with you is improving every day. We have not had any conflicts in the last two years and our cultural exchanges have increased. You've seen our transmissions and you are aware of the changes happening within our society as we come to terms with who and what you are and the power that you possess. "Are we frightened of a world that could lay waste to the entirety of the colonies? Yes. Are we looking for parity with you? I won't deny it. Do we have a desire to conquer and bring you back into the loving embrace of the Colonies? At one time, yes. Do we still want to do this? No, although there are some of us who will never change. Don't tell me that you wouldn't do the same if the situation was reversed."
"We wouldn't try to conquer your worlds," O'Neill said.
"Granted. It was a mistake. We will not attack you again. You can keep your adapted Cylons and do whatever you want with them. They're your responsibility now. But I implore you, don't allow us to fight alone because of what has happened in the past. Our very culture is in jeopardy. We need intelligence on this new enemy that you and the Goa'uld are fighting. And we want to make some sort of agreement for mutual defense for the benefit of both our people. It doesn't have to be a treaty. I'm just asking for a little to help keep my people safe. Say what you will, General. We are not cowards and we're not Earth Alliance."
"If you were, we wouldn't be having this conversation, Vice-President Willius," Vice-President Petasky noted. "Earth Alliance is not a concern to us anymore. Certain events have occurred that will keep them from our space. They can enter our space without us noticing it, if they survived."
"There is that," O'Neill grimaced. "Never did get our ships they promised," he muttered to himself.
"But, will Earth help us?" implored Willius. He hated begging and that's certainly what it sounded like, but the fate of billions was resting on this meeting and pride had no place when it came to saving lives.
Petasky listened to the impassioned plea carefully. This was a moral as well as political decision and it was also a gamble. Choosing to help a people who were less than five years earlier trying to subjugate Earth using nuclear weapons would make her a lot of enemies but her opinion would carry a lot of weight. People were going to die depending on her recommendation.
"You've given us a lot to consider. What we decide in your case will have severe consequences and we must adjudicate this subject carefully. The data on the Goa'uld and this new threat will be immediately available to you and the conclusion of this meeting. In the matter of keeping the space lanes open and protected from attack, I believe that this can been done provided that we can come to an agreement that we can both be comfortable with. That we all have a vested interest in that. That is what this body will discuss. I think we can adjourn for now. Thank you for your visit, Mister Vice-President. You'll have our answer soon."
Two hours later, Vice-President Willius sat on the couch alone in his suite alone, nursing a small decanter of a drink called bourbon. The alcoholic beverage was strong and vibrant and burned quite nicely as it eased down his throat.
The Earthers used to be an enigma but not anymore. The information shared at the meeting was nothing less than a fountain of information, not just about the status of the Colonial-Terran relationship but of who and what they were. These people were out there, exploring deep space for less than thirty of their years and in that time fought no less than six major wars. They fought and defeated stellar empires, made terrible enemies, made powerful friends and encountered and are protecting civilizations not even beginning their industrial age. That explained so much who and what they were.
It was always assumed, no, he always assumed that Earth was one lost and lonely world, seeking their lost brethren among the stars. Instead these people were a power and a growing one, dangerous in the extreme. They were confident of who and what they were and learning more about themselves and the galaxy every day. They didn't think, they knew that they weren't the fabled Thirteenth Tribe of Man. They had no concept of the Colonies and really didn't care about the Kobollian opinions when it came to reunification. They stood on their own as very young giants, but giants nevertheless. No, that wasn't the right term. They were Titans, young ones, beginning to feel their way around the world. And that thought frightened him, not because of what they could do, but of what they could have done when his people attacked Earth. Their power was such that they could have crushed the Colonies.
But, they hadn't.
He took another sip of the alien liquid as he continued to reflect. There was a time when he hated the Earthers, wanted nothing to do with them. They were always so arrogant and confident of their place in the universe. They never respected their cousins. They always acted as if they were better than the Colonies. Now, being on Earth for just this short period of time brought things into focus. Anger tuned into fear, not of what they might do but what they might not do. These people were warriors, wishing for peace but not willing to shy away from war. They were more dangerous than the Taurons.
The Terrans didn't play at war. They were war, and only the gods know why they hadn't become an empire and started burning their way through the galaxy!
Berker's fantasy was being stripped away moment by moment as he continued to reflect on the day's events. By the Lords of Kobol! These Terrans weren't the people any of the Colonists believed them to be. And sad to say this Earth Alliance they alluded to apparently wasn't either. By their own accounts wherever this Alliance was located it was somehow cut off by those Asgard aliens. The other aliens called the Vorlens or Vorlons were stopped and cut off as well, never to return. He could see that the damage they must have done still frightened the Earthers. That much was clear and for some reason he was more than pleased by that belief that they'd been stopped and cut off. How they were cut off seemed an impossible feat given how big space was and he suspected that he'd never find out. But Willius believed them.
He made a note to himself to inform and recommend to the President that they never go looking for the Earth Alliance, ever least they possibly open Pandora's Box and allow the others back into our space, and by that he meant the entire galaxy. Whatever did happen also explained why the Terrans hated the word Alliance and had sworn never to use it in whatever the final name of their confederation of planets would be. Alliance was a foul word to them.
The Vice-President honestly didn't know what they would decide to do about his request to help the Colonies resist the Goa'uld because they were right. The Terrans didn't have to do anything to help the Colonies. He just prayed that the Earthers would choose the morally right thing to do.
Stretching Willius called for Marska and the others. Together, they would compose a very long summation that needed to be sent to the President while they waited for Earth's answer. One thing though, he would stress. It was better to be on the side of the Titans than to be trampled underneath their feet. The Colonials needed to establish a real friendship before it was too late.
The letters he had read from the missionary's stay here was so much clearer now…
(re-edited 10-9-2016)