Chapter Twenty One
'Diplomatic Guests for Good or Ill'
Cyrannus System
Planet: Caprica
As befitting the season, the day was cloudy with a chance of rain. Overhead, the clouds were darkening as the thunder clouds slowly moved in. the temperature had dropped a few degrees from a comfortable eighty-three to the mid-seventies. Normally, with Summer all but over and Fall around the corner, this wouldn't have been anything to be concerned with. It was normal for a planet like Earth, Picon, or Caprica.
Today was anything but normal, however. The shuttles carrying the delegation of the Race had already broken cloud cover and the vessels were rapidly descending towards the landing strip. Every vessel other than military escorts were banned from the area and the skies for a moment were clear of any civilian craft. It was more than unusual to see clear skies over the city of Caprica. The skies were normally crowded with craft of all kinds. So many craft smothered the skies it was a wonder that there were so few recorded accidents as there were. It was a testament to Air-Space Traffic Control that the controllers had maintained such an excellent service record keeping people from being killed.
At this point, the pair of shuttles were little more than indistinct shadows, small dots escorted by several other small dots that were the Colonial viper and Terran fighter escorts. At this distance, President Goesel couldn't tell which vessel belong to who but it didn't stop Antonius from staring at the sky to watch as those dots slowly became something he could recognize as they approached the spaceport. Seconds later, he could clearly identify the shuttles, vipers, raptors, and the two Terran fighters. He could hear the overwhelming sounds of vipers and raptors as they came closer, but those familiar noises drowned out distinctive sounds emanating from the Terran shuttles, or the Terran single-manned escorts. The muted or rather, the lack of sounds was another testament to the technology of the Terrans. They could literally fly over or land and unless one saw them, you'd never know. Of course, none of the Terran ships used tylium-derived fuels.
Becoming less dependent on the volatile fuel was another high-level priority that was on Goesel's list of things to do. Non-tyllium depended power sources was something the Colonials desperately needed. The Colonies were depended on the precious resource they were slowly running out of. That lack of resource was another reason why the success of this 'meet and greet' was so critical. The Lizardians had tyllium in abundance and the Colonies required it for their civilization's survival.
Tyllium was a staple of the Colonial economic base. They were reliant on the substance just like the Terrans were once reliant on fossil fuels, but everyone acknowledged that it was rapidly being depleted at an unsustainable pace. The Terran tyllium-free technology alone would help to revolutionize space travel as well as help cut down on the ever-increasing competition for tyllium. Price gouging hadn't started yet only because of the strict rules imposed by Adar's administration which Goesel continued.
Tyllium was also the primary source of atmospheric pollution on every colony world. Standard transports used a diluted version of the fuel, but over the decades, air purity steadily declined, causing increase respiratory diseases and lung cancers. Goesel and others could see the handwriting on the walls. The time and opportunity to change the direction of the Colonies was now. However, first they needed time to transition and the amounts of tyllium deposits that the Race was said to have would give the Colonies breathing room to start initiating changes. The Race's rumored hydrogen technology was rumored to be very efficient. That technology would help as well, something that they already had 'acquired' from the Race although only a few knew about it.
The people were already complaining about tyllium- based air and water contamination on the larger worlds and he acknowledged that although useful, it was a serious pollutant. He was just thankful that it wasn't critical yet. And he was also thankful to the powers that made him that neither he nor Adar, who was president at the time, knew about the deposits of Tyllium located in Earth's asteroid belt. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that either one of them would have pulled resources from the Cylon pursuit (there were only a few left anyway) and went after Earth under the pretense of liberation and reunification less than a year later. The resulting war would have been a nightmare, because the Terrans would have ran all over them and the colonies would have been decimated. Whoever was left would probably still be blaming each other for the colossal failure. Then, the Goa'uld would have come…
"I can see the shuttles clearly now, sir," said a frowning Admiral Nagala. He was always frowning when it came to dealing with the Terrans. "It looks like a tube. What idiot designed shuttlecraft that looked like tubes of toothpaste?"
The President merely shook his head. Terrans were Humans, but they were clearly alien when it came to their ways of thinking. He still struggled to understand them and just as he thought he had a real grasp, they turned into strangers. "Obviously, it works. As you know, form follows function. They must have a reason." He raised his binoculars to get a better view of the two incoming shuttles. "I know they have to have them, but I don't see thrusters of any kind on the shuttle," President Goesel said. "And they're too quiet. I'm used to the noise."
"Yes, sir," Carl Gratis, the Undersecretary of Defense said. "It's just like their civilian space liners. Whatever power source they use is nothing like the tylium power source that we use."
"We know that already," grumbled the President. "We already know that whatever they are using is the same substance they use in their super nukes. Find out what they're using. Ask for details. They can only say no for now"
"Yes, sir."
Behind him, five members of the Quorum waited patiently for the shuttles to land. The President had seen the look on their faces earlier and what he saw worried him. Most of them were curious, some of them were excited, and one was best described as apprehensive. Real non-Human aliens were about to land on a planet for the first time–officially, that is.
The press was here and almost by Presidential Decree, so was he. Presidential security along with most of the high-ranking military were adamant that he not be at the landing site. Their reasoning was simple. If anything were to happen, as if the shuttles or Terran fighters turned out to be aggressive, the executive leadership could very well be wiped out before anyone could protect the President and members of the government. Waiting for the delegation was the logical and safe thing to do. Allow them to come to him.
In Goesel's opinion, it was exactly the wrong thing to do. They were coming to his world. He insisted that circumstances demanded that he personally meet the second most powerful leader of an alien race for the first time. If such a high-ranking official had the courage to come to Caprica, an alien world by their standards, then he had to be seen as having the courage to meet them half way.
Everybody, from his own people to the Terrans, their allies, to the Tollanians, and most likely, the Goa'uld, were watching. Showing cowardness in front of the galaxy would weaken the political positions of, not only he himself, but the Colonial people. He needed to project strength as well as good will.
The news organizations were so persistent that the military had to keep civilian news raptors from interfering with the landing of the shuttles. The Colonial military also had to shoo away many of the civilian raptors jumping from the other Colonies filled with protesters, well-wishers, religious groups, industrialists, attention-seekers, fanatics, scientists (especially biologists and geneticists), to huge numbers of powerful rich corporate representatives seeking to be first in line to potential establishment of profit-making ventures. Movie producers were the worst and one of their raptors was shot down which resulted in several causalities.
News reporters acted like predatory fish smelling blood in the water.
Colonel Carter promised an interview later when the visitation was over. The reporters were excited about that and apparently, they had completely forgotten about it once they discovered that an alien species was coming to meet with the President of the Colonies of Kobol.
"Why do you Terrans call this species Lizardians?" One of reporters have asked Doctor Cheney, Terran Assistant Ambassador for the United Coalition of Worlds.
"That is a good question. I will try to answer it. Our experts have told me the members of the Race, by our definition, are not really lizards. If we want to properly characterize them, then must define them as an alien, meaning of non-Earth origin, species that has characteristics we recognize as reptilian like the characteristics that reptiles on Earth present. However, as I have just mentioned, they did not originate on Earth. The Race is a warm-blooded species, they have only a single lung instead of two like the reptilian species on my world. They have dinosaur, or saurian bird-like traits. They have feathers and some, not all of them," he stressed, "have facial characteristics that places them closer to dinosaurs rather than true lizards. Because of that and other characteristics, including extreme intelligence, they have their own genus and species specifically for their own world. Earth has no comparison. As such, we do not characterize them as lizards, no matter how close they may appear superficially to species that live on Earth. Therefore, we call them Lizardians. I will also quantify that with the fact that Terrans, at this time in our history are very Earth-centric. We see things from our perspectives, we perceive things from our points of experience. The name Lizardians was a nickname we used to differentiate them from Earth lizards. It seems to have stuck whether they like it or not. The Lizardians call us 'Big Uglies' and 'Tosevites' no matter how many times we've tried to correct them. That name is usually used by the civilian population. The 'Big Ugly' name is used universal throughout the Empire and they see nothing wrong with it. To them, that is just who we are. But they become upset if we use 'Lizardian'." The ambassador just waved his hands in amused frustration.
"There are many Humans and aliens in this galaxy call us the Tau'ri. That is not the name that we choose to call ourselves; however, most of the galaxy knows us by that name. It's usually either used in reverence or contempt. We call them Lizardians until a better name can be thought of, then we will start using that. That's what Humans do. Apparently, the Lizardians do the same thing."
"I must clarify what I've just said: The Lizardians prefer to be called members of the Race, and they call their planet Home. Most Terrans call Terra Earth, which basically means 'dirt', but you'd be surprised at how many worlds call their planets Earth, or dirt, or some variation thereof. Most human-populated planets that had not remined under the yolk of the Goa'uld use a variation of that name. We, the people of the Coalition are new at naming species. Among a million other things, we are developing a nomenclature that can better define the names of populated planets, whether it be something we make up, or something as the native population decides to call the planet. Furthermore, we do not wish to insult species by arbitrarily naming them without causing insult. You Colonials are fortunate that you have names for your worlds that are very specific and unique."
"But Ambassador Cheney, isn't that kind of arrogant, naming planets of other species and owners?" a reporter had asked.
"Absolutely, which is why we are drafting protocols to address that situation now." Cheney admitted. "When we discovered other societies calling their worlds Earth, we obviously encountered major problems. Initially, we started naming them Earth One, Earth Two, Earth Three and so on, just to identify which Earth we are talking about. Our military is naming them PX1234, or PX0712A, or giving them some other numeric identifications, which only they could remember. As you might understand, for the average layperson the whole situation quickly devolved into confusion."
"I can imagine," Petre said dryly. The ambassador saw that he was struggling to remain impassive. "Does Terra have one of these nomenclature identification numbers for us?"
"Yes. Caprica is designated PXCK1213 Alpha. Picon would be the next PXCK1223 Beta. The IDs are based strictly on our planets in your system we arbitrarily identified. For example, we knew of Caprica first or Alpha, Picon second or Beta."
The reporters started laughing. "I know you can imagine what my next question is going to be."
"I can hazard a guess," Cheney answered before taking off his glasses to clean them with a disposable wipe. "I shall try to identify the Cyrannus designation. The 'P' stands for planet. The 'X' stands for habitable. 'C' stands for the Cyrannus system. 'K' stands for Kobol. The '12' stands for the twelve colonies. The '1' stands for the first planet which was arbitrary as we chose Caprica as the first planet. Then, the '3' stands for the additional non-designate, newly established colonies as you have three official proto-colonies near Terran territory. If you have any more proto-colonies than the '3' will change accordingly.
Keba couldn't help but show her amusement. "Who thought of this?" she asked incredulously.
He shrugged. "Either someone who had absolutely nothing else to do with their lives, or a slightly insane computer." The reporter wasn't amused by that remark and Cheney quickly noticed it. "No, no, I'm just kidding. The PX designation was begun by our military. Sometimes, it tends to over complicate things in the name of efficiency. But every day in every way, we are getting better, more efficient and occasionally, less complicated. There was an old science fiction television show that had a much simpler designation for different planets. There is some talk about us adapting nomenclature or some variation of it in the future."
"What was the name of the show?"
"It's collectively called Star Trek. It was quite innovated."
"We keep hearing about that show, just recently in fact. It has generated quite a few conspiracy theories. Some believe that it has a basis in fact." Interested in this new subject now, Keba unabashedly probed for information.
The ambassador took a second to compose himself. "My government has informed me to offer this response to any mention of Star Trek as having ant basis in reality as related to the history of Earth, or any of its colonies past, present, and or future." He took a breath: "Any characters alive or dead, or any technologies seen in movies, books, or any other media official or unofficial are figments of imagination, and the legal property of Paramount pictures, NBC, CBS, and a multitude of other owners who have copyright rights and the law on the side to protect from any infringements. Star Trek is fiction," he said decisively. Then he let out a half smirk. "The technology that the Coalition has or uses in any fashion or form that may resemble the fictional creations of Star Trek is strictly coincidental."
The reporter looked at him cross-eyed. "You expect me to believe that after seeing what we've seen of your technology and now aliens?"
"It's the truth," the Terran said. "I would never lie to you, the people of Kobol."
Behind the ambassador, two military offices glared at the man's pale face that reeked of assumed innocence.
"Ambassador, I'd like to go back to something that you spoke about earlier. What is a dinosaur?"
"The actual definition of the word is 'Terrible Lizard'."
"But Ambassador, didn't you just say that Lizardians or the Race are not lizards? So, how can they be compared to these dinosaurs? If I understand you correctly, they are not dinosaurs either by Earth's definition."
"I am not a paleontologist and I admit that I have no real experience in discussing the details of dinosaurs: however, I will attempt to explain to you what dinosaurs are in layman's terms. For more detailed information, I have access to several files that you may find of interest that delves into detail about these creatures. It is part of Earth's history documentation that we've sent to your government. As I've said, I am no expert however, I place dinosaurs into two specific groups. The first are true reptiles, and the second are bird related creatures that roamed the Earth, many millions of years ago…"
Gyancean Caprica International Spaceport
At a thousand feet, the escorts peeled away from the shuttles, the roars of the viper engines faded into the distance, leaving the shuttles to vector in for its final approach. The shuttles now alone, glided in silently using their antigrav engines. Seconds later, both shuttles were hovering over the landing strip and slowly heading for their arrival births. One of the spaceport trucks met the not quite landed shuttles. Two men proceeded to direct them the births. The men were experienced in directing Terran craft as they were used to working with the United Terran Airlines civilian transports into their designated arrival/departure stations. Both were experienced enough to stay at least twenty meters from either ship as its antigrav field tended to make one slightly nauseous. A few minutes later, the shuttle-like crafts were settled. As with the other Terran transports, the landing gear only extended seconds before the vessel settled. Watching the Terran ship manipulate gravity in such a controlled manner gave Goesel a thrill imagining all the possibilities when they acquired that technology. His people had gravity control since the Colonies left Kobol, but the control that the Terran ships exhibited were generations more advanced than anything the Colonies possessed. It worked on an entirely different principle. Despite his excitement, he couldn't help but feel that the Terrans were showing off."
The area surrounding the shuttles were quarantined keeping the gaggle of reporters and curiosity onlookers, and potential threats away from the shuttles and their occupants. In the Secure Blue Suite, the President watched as the rear hatch opened. Several small figures exited the shuttles and moved to waiting vehicles.
"Mister President, again it's my duty to remind you once more that your presence here is a security risk and to advise that you be relocated back to the capital to await these visitors instead of meeting the delegation at the spaceport," said Admiral Nagala. "And I strongly agree with Praetorian Security. This is a serious breach of protocol and it makes you, the President of the United Colonies appear weak by coming here to meet them at a spaceport instead of having them come to meet you."
"I'm aware of protocol, Admiral," Goesel growled. "I'm also aware that we are in the declared war with the Goa'uld, in an undeclared war was in the other aliens we know very little about, and in a cease-fire with the Race. We have enemies surrounding us left, right, and behind us. I intend to do everything that I can to alleviate the number of threats facing us. Me being here will help, not hinder.
"The Terrans made a very clear that the Race is under their protection during this visit. Hostilities against the Race delegation will be considered an act of war against the Terrans."
Admiral Nagala wasn't happy at anything that had happened over the past few days. It chaffed him to have outside forces dictating Colonial destiny. If there was one wish that he would have prayed to be granted, if he believed in deities, it was that he had never heard of the name the Terran or Earth outside of fantasy. The Terran's presence was a gift from the gods and at the same time, a curse from the pits of Hades. He knew exactly what they were playing at and he hated that there was nothing he or his people could do about if for now. "They have a Terran battlestar in orbit to get that point across! Mister President, don't you see, this is another one of their tests? How you respond to the Race will determine how the Terrans will respond to us in the future. We have to play nice because we need the help and they know it. Your being here makes us look weaker in the eyes of our enemies."
Goesel could see Nagala's fury at being played. The Quorum members standing behind them listening in on the conversation weren't happy either. The Terrans were leading them around by the nose and both sides knew it. The ploys were subtle, but they were there for anyone looking to see at any waking minute. Equally clear was the fact that the Terrans didn't want their cousins to fall to the Goa'uld, or anybody else. That little bit of knowledge gained them leverage which he intended to exploit but he had to be patient. "While we wait I do have a question," he said to the quorum members with hum. "Mr. Stastny, a lot going on the last few days. I know what the pols are saying but you've been out there listening to your constituents. How are the people taking this alien visitation?"
The Quorum representative of Scorpia shook his head as he tried to put his thoughts into words. "Naturally, they're frightened and angry. The Goa'uld attack and now this, is just another blow our people. Everything that we believe is being challenged and our people need time to digest it all. Despite the confusion, there's intense interest about the Terrans and everything they represent. There's interest in the new colonies still being set up, the immigration situation, the recent threat by the Goa'uld, and now we have these aliens coming to visit us. It seems that everything is come down on our little corner of the universe and the people are having a hard time adjusting. Having said that, I'm surprised that most people are taking in the situation a lot better than I had expected. I sometimes forget people are smarter than I give them credit for," he mused. "If you want to know how the people feel about this unprecedented event, then I can say this. Opinions are running across the gambit of a bell curve. Some of my constituents believe that we should prepare to bow down to our new Race overlords to keep from being wiped out.
"At the other end of the curve, some people want to wipe the Race from existence, to keep them from becoming our new overlords." A couple of the members of this and then chuckled. He would have too, if he hadn't been so serious. "Most people are just curious about them. In a way, I'm glad the interview with the ambassador went public. I think it buffered the impact of this meeting." Now he was the one chuckling. "I'm a politician and I forgot who I was working for. I should give my species more credit. For example, some of the more religious factions are demanding to know more about the Race's religion and how it affects their daily lives, and how it differs from ours. They want to know about it yesterday. Then we have some of the more extreme groups that are afraid of spiritual contamination and want nothing to do with alien religious concepts from any source. Most though, are adopting wait-and-see attitude and are more curious than anything else.
"Encountering and interacting with alien species is a new concept to all of us. People want to know about the galaxy and they want to know about our place in it. I suspect this attitude would've been different a week ago before we were threatened with genocide by another alien power. The fact that the Terrans are here has given the people some comfort. But there is undeniable tension just underneath. Our people are expecting a war and they expect the Terrans to help us. The coming of these aliens just confirms this in the minds of the people. I've even heard suggestions calling for establish real alliances with the Terrans and the Race, not considering the fact that we don't really know them yet."
Antonius felt the same way. The pressure for him to protect his people was enormous. Two days earlier, the government unanimously declared war against the Goa'uld. There were no illusions that the Goa'uld might respond to diplomatic entreaties. The Colonies were on the to-do list of the Goa'uld just as soon as they finished their own personal little war, most likely with the same aliens that his ships had run across.
Whether he liked it or not, he admitted that this unwanted and unexpected state visit came in at an opportune time, if he played his cards right, he could cash in for the benefit of the Colonial people in general and for his personal benefit as an extra bonus. His people needed to stay on the good side of Earth and its allies. "I wished we had more time to properly set this up," Goesel said to himself. "We'll take what we can get," he said loud enough for everyone to hear it.
"They're proceeding through the decontamination suite," Nagala announced. "Overwatch is in place and detect no problems." Satisfied he turned to the President again. "I have no love of the Terrans, but this system is something I'm glad we got from them."
"For free."
"For free because they needed it for themselves to keep from accidently contaminating each other," amended the admiral. "But I concede that it's one of the few things I can appreciate about them." He didn't have to like them, but he did respect them and above all, Nagala was a professional and wouldn't allow his feelings to interfere with duty. "They're coming through now."
Two male members of the Race from the primary shuttle exited first, obviously security. Next came
"That gold-plated one has to be the Emperor Reese," one of the aides whispered.
"Risson," someone from behind him corrected.
"Risson," the aide repeated, taking care to get the name right.
The alien was covered in a very exotic gold paint pattern splashed across his body. The aide couldn't help but notice the intricacy of the paint displayed on each of the lizardians. He admitted that it helped to identify each of them and their level of status. It was logical, and he whispered his opinion to the president. It was easier to recognize the paint rather than the faces. The President nodded while sizing up his counterpart.
TBC