Record keeping: Here are some comments on some of the reviews I've received.

Robo Reader 21: The Tollanians have gone through a lot and are now responding accordingly. Someone called them PTSD, and I guess this is an accurate description. They are 'extremely' advanced,, although they have lost a lot. But their attitudes have changed and being indifferent to other's plights has lost its appeal considering what happened to them. This chapter will not discuss them, but the next one has them dealing with a monster.

As for the Colonials, it's been less than twelve days and frankly, what they have seen is a lot to digest. They are a product of their culture and their culture says that Earth is the 13th Colony and therefore needs their help because they have been isolated and alone for so long. In their minds, they see the truth, but their hearts have not accepted it yet. It is very hard to adjust in such a short time. Incidentally, the characters mentioned here have counterparts in the Worldwar series, so it may be interesting to compare the two stories (actually three stories). We've killed Kunningham off twice in two separate series. Here he is still alive so far. As mentioned in the story, this is a meet and greet. Simply put, the colonials feel insulted about this fact. They expected more, as in Earth kissing their feet and thanking the gods that their cousins finally found them. Yeah right.

20 years seems like a good number if you consider the Colonial attitudes of SOME of them. Earth's resistance, to them, is just a minor hiccup. Earth wants to be a part of the Colonial culture. This was their belief and reality is slapping them in the face, but they don't feel the sting fully yet. As for Kunningham and some of the others, yes, they do not realize they are prejudiced. They can't see it, just like in real life. Even if you point it out to them, they don't see it or recognize it for what it is.

The Articles of colonization aren't that old, and were likely formed during the first cylon war. However, the Articles derive from the original constitution that was established on Kobol. When Kunningham and Isahan and the others mention the Articles, they subconsciously refer to the ancient Kobollian laws. Apparently, it should have been burned into the minds of the Earther people. Even if they forgot their heritage, the laws should have been somehow, in their genetic memory because the gods would never allow them to forget. I am being sarcastic here.

Tyllium can be synthesized, but the Earthers will not offer this scientific knowledge right now. It would cause more problems than you can imagine when the technology is denied them. More on this later.

Just a Crazy-Man: Referring to your email. Absolutely not! It's not the size of the Colonial relief fleet, it is the concept of the fleet itself. This is a meet and greet. In other words: "Hello, nice to meet you, here's a cake or house-warming gift. We talk a bit and you go home." With the Colonial attitude and Earths attitude about them, can you imagine another 30 or so ships arriving at their doorstep?

Earth would naturally spot them from a distance, but this would be seen as a form of intimidation, especially so, considering the Colonials' initial attitudes. The diplomats are just beginning to adjust. Can you imagine another fleet coming and how they would react to Earth's not wanting them there? This was one of the discussions the Colonials had when they first ordered the fleet to find Earth. The Diplomatic fleet, is seen as a subtle form of intimidation to an isolated, and lonely Earth. Adar and Goesel nixed that idea but a lot of the quorum wanted to do that. I would predict that diplomacy would break down quickly. The colonials would be told to get out and the incoming relief fleet would resort to Plan B. And. What do you believe Plan B would be in light of their attitudes and them being so distant from home?

That would lead to war with the UCW, exactly at the wrong time, with people they don't necessarily want to fight for no real reason. So, no relief fleet of Colonials are coming. Besides, they have a much bigger problem.

BTW, Elizabeth Weir is fully human in this reality.

That is it for now. Please enjoy.

CHAPTER 32

Earth

San Diego UCW Conference center

"I would not have put it in such stark terms," Elizabeth said. "However, he is correct. When you first came here, you treated Earth as if we were little children under your care. You've treated us as if we were just one of your colonies. From a diplomatic point of view, you should have recognized the problems we were having and immediately changed your approach. I'll use another example: the Cylon's attack on UCW ships. The attack occurred in our territory, and we were responsible for dealing with the incident. They may be your traditional enemies, but they were in our territory, and we dealt with them accordingly. We keep telling you this, and you continually reject our answers to you. They are under our jurisdiction and our laws. I apologize for being so harsh. However, I am using this as an example of the attitude you have shown towards us. You consider the Cylon clones is nothing more than mere copies of machines. I think you use the word abomination to accurately describe them. Our examinations of them, despite the origins, indicate that they are baseline humans. They may be enemies of humanity, but they are living, breathing beings. Your very attitude is the reason why I would not allow you to interview, and I used to word interview politely, because we both know that's the last thing you wand to do. Calling it an interrogation," she slowly repeated, emphasizing the word. "You don't care about them in the least. Yes, they are your enemies. But have you even tried to talk to them?"

"Yes, and each time, it has ended in failure. We cannot trust them. We don't trust them. They must be exterminated if we, if humanity is to survive. I don't have a problem with that," Ambassador Isahan snapped back.

"I know how you feel," Jack answered. "But this is more complicated than that."

"They are living, self-aware beings. It doesn't matter how they were born, created, or whatever. They are your enemies, yes, I understand. But your overall attitude makes us wonder how you would treat the Race, or near humans, or other aliens you might encounter, if any, in areas under your control. Would you try to convert them, forcing them to follow your own religious beliefs or ideas of how they should conform to your expectations?"

"That's not the same," Halima jumped in. "The Cylons are the enemies of humanity, all humanity, including yours," she scowled. The younger sister of Helena Cain had a temper that was as legendary as her older sisters. "You don't know what they did to us and you have no right to judge us. We did what we did because it was necessary! They are our enemies. They would gladly kill us all if given half a chance. They are mistakes. Nothing more than dangerous, useless equipment that should be destroyed for everyone's sake. They are planning to kill us all. They're nothing but defected, dangerous machines.

Lots of 'theys,' thought Daniel.

"They are living entities," Daniel stated. "They have rights. I'm not saying they aren't dangerous. They are, but I am saying that we need to take a better look before we simply destroy them out of hand. Lumping them all together, I think, is a mistake. There may be no other choice than to eliminate them, but I would suggest that you be careful what you wish for."

Ambassador Isahan speared Daniel and the others with withering stares. "The mechanical and imitation humans are our enemies. Those things have no rights. They are only machines pretending to be humans. The survivors should be interrogated by us, all their information they have, retrieved, and the remains disposed of like the filth they are."

"And that's the attitude we have problems with," Weir countered. "What if your people decide aliens are nothing but filth that should not exist?" she asked. "If the Colonials considered the aliens as nothing more than garbage to be exterminated, there would be war with the UCW accordingly, one you will lose."

"Is that some kind of veiled threat?" Eddleson asked.

The commander was upset by those words, but he knew there was more than a grain of truth in them. Certain tribes would be instantly hostile simply because the aliens existed. 'The universe was created for humanity' nonsense permeated many of the people and some of the religious and politicians would have a field day exploiting the situation. Obviously, aliens didn't fit into a nice little niche where they could be controlled and properly taught their place in the universe. And many could compare them to the Cylons, with them being uncontrollable and too independent to be trusted. Therefore, they would be considered no better than the Cylons and would have to be removed for the greater good.

"Not a threat," Jack said, "but reality. Listen to me," he growled. "Earth is a mostly monotheistic planet. Not only that, but we have countries and governments, none of which your people would approve of. The technology that we have that you so obviously want, would not be available to you, at least not initially, is going to upset a lot of people. You think of us as isolationists. Take a look around," he said. "Then there are the aliens. You can't be bothered to talk to your own Cylons. I don't trust them as far as I can kick one of them, but we can talk to them. If they refuse to talk to you, then so be it. But understand this, our government considers your Cylon problem an internal matter between you and them. If they come after us, we will deal with them decisively."

The rest of the words weren't unspoken, but the Colonials heard them loud and clear.

This includes you, too.

"That's not the same," Halima said, jumping into the conversation. "Cylons are the enemies of humanity, all humanity. And just how many ships did you lose when they attacked you?" she retorted.

"None," Jack answered.

"And you expect us to believe that when you went out of your way to keep us away from the conflict zone? What happened?" she snarled. "Did you lose so many ships that you're afraid that we poor Colonials will see how pitiful your ships truly are? How many did you lose? Tell me! Ten? Twenty? Thirty?"

Cyrannus Star system

EAS Herodotus

Captain Grayson O'Bannon couldn't help but feel proud at the sight he was seeing. More than four hundred Earth Alliance ships dominated the area. There are still major pockets of resistance by the people who called themselves the Colonials, but for the most part, these people had already lost. Their warships, as big and lumbering as they were, were no match for the updated earth alliance fleet invading their system. Operations Steadfast was a success, achieving most of its objectives in the required time allotted. The colonials still fought back viciously and with everything that they had, but they knew their cause was lost. Hundreds of the largest warships were destroyed, wrecked, or were being transferred over to his universe, the real one.

Scores of warships have been captured, the crews spaced, and the ships sent through the dimensional gate as quickly as possible. Many people wanted to call the device a dimensional jump gate, but that wasn't strictly true. It was simply the transfer point that literally blocked the tremendous energies of the dimensional rift, providing a doorway between the two universes which allowed the ships to transfer back and forth unscathed. But it was not without cost. The gate itself had survival times that averaged twenty days before the dimensional energies ripped it apart, making it unusable. Therefore, Earthforce built a half dozen devices, each one ready to replace the spent one, prepared to be used, so that travel for unshielded vessels could continue unimpeded for Earth Alliance ships to traverse it safely. And there were another dozen being built, which was good for the economy of the EA.

The constructs were tremendously expensive, however, those bridges already paid for themselves. Already, hundreds of colonial civilian vessels were being transferred and sent back to earth alliance territory to be repurposed and used for the greater good of Earth alliance. His president, Clark, was very pleased by that, nevertheless, there was so much more to be obtained from these people. Like many other members of Earthforce, he considered the inhabitants here as subhuman. They weren't his people, and they weren't from his universe, and he did not consider them as part of humanity. He agreed with Pres. Clark's opinion. These people might look human, but they weren't real humans. The real humans existed in his universe, not this one.

The numbers of earth alliance warships increased every day as they prepared for the long journey to the false Earth. The coordinates were set and locked in all of the computer systems and when enough of the ships had arrived through the bridge; they were to journey to the Tauri system, overrun false Earth and take what they wanted as per Clark's orders. Everyone knew that Pres. Clark truly hated the false Earth and blamed them for the almost defeat of earth alliance by the Minbari.

They should've helped, given the technology freely to the real Earth, and the Minbari and all those other aliens would never have threatened Earth again. But the false Earth humans, especially that insulting, arrogant General O'Neill, refused to do so in that refusal, almost doomed Earth to Minbari slaughter. But Earth survived and had taken the spoils of war from the Minbari. Earthforce had new weaponry, new armor designs and modified crystalline armor, and much improved navigational capability in hyperspace. Earthforce vessels were also able to travel faster, and they all incorporated two major advances.

The first was the Minbari stealth fields, which the humans not being able to improve, merely copied. The second was that Abbai-derived shielding that was strong enough to resist small nukes. Those shields allowed Earthforce vessels to resist just about any weapon of the local races. Shielded ships were able to traverse the rift with minimal difficulty, but those crossings were limited to three before the shield generators required recalibration and overhauls.

The false Earth vessels had shields and had proved just how valuable that difference was against their enemies. The Earth Alliance now had them as well. Research and development scientists and researchers improved their strength to the point that everyone was confident that they could almost equal the false Earth's shields. Tau'ri weaponry was extraordinarily dangerous, but earth alliance had the numbers on its side. Since the end of the Minbari war, Earth had been busy rebuilding. Earthforce consisted of nearly four thousand capital ships and growing. None of the surrounding alien governments felt safe, and rightly so. It was only a matter of time before everything went up in flames.

The Colonial people had lost, and although they knew they had lost, they were still fighting against the inevitable. Close to one hundred capital warships jumped in from a previously unknown sector and tried to retake the system. The battle was short and brutal, with most of the colonial warships either destroyed or damaged before the survivors could jump out. The fact that they even tried to continue fighting didn't come as a surprise to him, but was also a waste. They should have understood that lesson that Clark tried to impress upon them. Three of their home worlds have been nuked into obliteration as an example of the price of defiance. Another world was turned into a radioactive wasteland with the survivors starving and their bodies ravaged by radiation poisoning. But obviously these people haven't taken the lesson to heart. They were still fighting. And that was why Clark's order was expected.

The orders were simple. Once everything useful was extracted from the system, the operational fleet was to proceed to the false Earth, complete his mission in return. But before they returned, all surviving worlds and local colonies were to be turned into radioactive rocks. As for the fake earth, Clark's orders were to nuke the Tau'ri world until they ran out of nukes.

These Colonial people were too dangerous to be left alone. Clark wanted this subspecies eliminated. The reason why was simple. There were two willful. One day, if they survived, they might try to exact revenge. Clark didn't think it was possible that they could do anything, but he had a habit of making sure that none of his enemies were around to stab him in the back. Therefore, that opinion represented doom for these Colonial sub-humans.

Captain O'Bannon understood. With these acquisitions, Earth would remain safe and when the centauri came for them, and everyone knew they would, then the EA would have a decisive advantage. And there were other aliens out there that wanted to do Earth harm. The Streib were and example. The Non-aligned worlds were cowed and not a real threat except for the Vree, but their time would come, too. They wouldn't share their FTL technology with Earth and that made them targets of Clark and Earth Alliance. No other race could be allowed such a technological advantage.

"Captain to the bridge."

O'Bannon quickly entered the command center, fully expecting to go to alert status. The Colonial firepower was inferior but in huge numbers, they were a threat. And their single manned fighters had taken a fearsome toll on the starfuries, which proved somewhat inferior to the Colonial vipers. Shield and armor not withstanding, the vipers were faster and those pilots, as much as the military hated it, were better trained and that made a huge difference. Hundreds of vipers had been sent home and the tech boys were all over them and he was interested in seeing what they could develop. "status," the Clark enthusiast ordered. Behind him, a Nightwatch guard watched his back. Not that he really needed to.

"Earthforce command detected an unidentified anomaly that appears to be a jump point transition. We're ordered to investigate."

The captain frowned. "We can't identify if it's a jump point transition or not?"

"No sir. It's too far and too close to the rift. The energies are interfering with any more detailed scans. We can't confirm it. It was a jump point, colonial jump drive or another FTL event like the ones the Vree and Tauri use."

The man nodded. It needed checking out. It could well be Tau'ri or something similar. If it was one of the locals with that type of drive and if they could capture it, Clark and Earthforce would be ecstatic.

Je looked at the coordinates. The position was too close to the rift in a more chaotic area. Jumping was impossible. "We have to do this the old-fashioned way. Acknowledge our orders. Command protocols active, maximum acceleration. Have our squadron form up and follow."

"The squadron is acknowledging. Max conserve protocols active. Full acceleration available. Systems at one hundred percent., sir."

"Do it," he ordered.

The three upgraded Omegas pulled out at max speed towards their destination.

Earth

San Diego UCW Conference center

"Cain, enough," warned Kunningham. He agreed with her argument completely, but in light of the conversation, he felt that the others should take over and he would be the voice of reason. Internally, he allowed himself a bit of laughter at the irony. "She does have a point, General. I don't understand you people!" Frankus said. "They are our enemies. They are machines, abominations pretending to be human! They have no rights except what we give them. They should all be destroyed!"

"Why?" Doctor Weir asked.

"If you have to ask, then I see I have to lower my opinions of your people again," Cain all but hissed.

"Your opinions are not our concern, Lieutenant General," Jack retaliated. "But I do agree with you, Admiral," Jack responded, surprising everyone. "I would feel the same way if I were in your position. But you still won't get access to the site. Let me put this another way. We have a problem with trust here. The international Oversite Advisory committee of Earth, and the United Coalition of Worlds, have concerns; the first of which is what happens when you go home. We've predicted a certain set of reactions that will happen. Let us explain, and you tell me if we're wrong."

"I'm curious as to what Earth has to say about the Colonies," said an unusually calm Isahan. "It's only been ten days. What can you predict will happen?"

Weir stepped in. "We calculate that it would take approximately nine to ten months, barring any difficulties or delays, for you to reach the Cyrannus system. During that time, you're going to have a lot of meetings, conferences, and reports that are going to be very controversial. You are having a difficult time now, because what you are seeing now, and in the future, will fly in the face of everything you've believed us to be. I'm sure those reports will be thorough, but very contentious among yourselves. Imagine what your superiors will think."

"When you're close enough to transmit to your home worlds, those signals will be intercepted by the public. Your mission will be a success and you will want to spin your reports in a glowing and positive light. Therefore, the more controversial portions will not be transmitted on an unsecured channel."

"I'm sure the initial reports will be enlightening, and I'm sure lots of drinking will be involved before they're transmitted," Jack added, much to Kunningham's irritation. He smiled broadly, and in return, he received several hostile stares, which made his day.

"When you finally finish preparing your full report to your officials before you return home, it will cause problems and before you make it to space dock, they are going to be all over you, demanding answers. The full weight of the reporters will infuriate your religious and civilian leadership. Admiral Kunningham, your superiors are going to drown you in questions. And yes, we know you want our shield and energy weapons technology, and you can't have it. Then, you will have to answer the questions about the Race and other aliens, and why we allowed them to have the tech and not you. Then, there is the Cylon problem. We may allow you to talk to them via video, but not face to face. The prisoners are our responsibility, not yours."

"Some of your people will be overjoyed to know that there is intelligent alien life other than humanity in the universe. How are your people going to respond to the fact we have near-humans who cannot be characterized as regular humans. When your officials hear this, there is going to be screaming. That, of course, will be a direct comparison to the Cylon clone problem your people will be made aware of. We all know that the cylon prisoners might well cause a system-wide panic if not done properly."

"And I'm sure there will be more drinking involved," an unhelpful Jack added. "Let's not even talk about the intelligent crystals who can be used as a power source."

"Would the Jaffa be treated as second-class citizens?" asked Daniel.

"People in your government will be disgusted, and some will advocate for war. Others will insist we convert to your religion. So, they will want to send a fleet to adjust our attitudes. It will probably be sent as a show of diplomatic force." Earth's history is filled with the same examples. Commadore Perry's actions dealing with the country of Japan come to mind. In 1853 our time frame, Japan was largely a closed society, resistant to diplomatic and commercial contact with foreigners. Attempts by the United States and other nations to establish formal relations with Japan were repeatedly rebuffed. The United States sent a military ship which frightened the officials of Japan who were very isolationist. They saw the advances of the modern navy and they realized that they were too far technologically behind the rest of the world. This show of force changed the Japanese, and they modernized their country in in record time. The opening of Japan led to the county's modernization. Now all of this can be found on our internet of the World Wide Web so you can access the details there. The point is, we know your people would try to do the same thing to us. A show of Colonial force would be useless and could start a war."

Every single Colonial now looked stone-faced, Kunningham more than most, since he suggested that very same idea to the ambassador not two days earlier. The Colonial government had suggested the same, even before the diplomatic fleet left more than a year and a half earlier.

"We will not tolerate that. Of course, this is the worst-case scenario. I hope that won't happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did." Jack looked at them with an icy gaze, daring them to contradict him. "Now, tell me I'm wrong."

"You think that little of us," said a surprised and hurt Ambassador Isahan. She hated this. This was a scenario she saw in her dreams lately. "We're not like that, General."

"What is it that they say about first impressions?" he retorted. "You remember, I was there when my ship was attacked. Your people labeled us as pirates. Your people consider this under your authority, and most of all, you assume that we were a primitive colony in desperate need of help, in a ship that just happened to be there by mistake. Well, the ship was there by mistake. We had no intentions of coming to your territory. We didn't know you existed! However, the reception we got wasn't the best. I still remember that. What should have been a great first contact turned out to be a fight that got your people killed."

"That's why we're here now," commander Edison intoned. "We can't let what happened in the past decide what happens in the present or future."

"That is why we are constantly bringing this up. It needs to be in the open. We need to discuss this honestly. Then we will need a cooling-off period. That is why we estimated between seven to ten years post this contact before we officially meet again. Your people will need time to adjust."

Weir began speaking again. "We appreciate your overtures. Please understand this, but we can see what will happen when you return home. And this brings me to the next problem. If you don't leave within two days, then you can't leave at all for the time being."

All of the Colonials looked at her in alarm and became extremely worried. It sounded if they were being arrested and this was their last meal, so to speak.

Frankus and the others were taken aback. "You want us to leave?" he asked, not quite believing what he'd just heard.

"Doctor Weir," Isahan responded. "Us leaving now will only cause confusion and further misunderstanding between our people. But if you feel that our presence here is upsetting and divisive, we will consider leaving your world. But, I implore you, we should not leave on such a sour note. Surely, we can salvage this, this lack of trust and fear between us."

"Calm down, people. I told you that you're in an active war zone. Two days ago, our sensors picked up a fleet heading our way. This fleet consists of at least four hundred capital warships and two large objects we can't identify. If it is who we think they are, then this is a fleet intent on exterminating us. This includes the UCW and any government for two thousand light years in every direction. But their primary target is Earth. Your ships will not be able to outrun them because we are sure that elements will arrive early to try to cut off any avenues of escape. You believe that the Cylons are the worst enemies you can face. You haven't seen the nightmare that is coming."

Halima huffed. "I think you're exaggerating again. You all are full of crap."

"Lieutenant General Cain, I don't care what you think. This is a warning. I cannot see you leaving within two days, so you will be stuck here for the duration. I would suggest you prepare. We do have places of safety that will save you and your fleet, but I doubt you will go."

Weir shook her head. "You misunderstand. We are not asking you to leave. In my experience, diplomacy is at best divisive. I will explain our inquiry in a few moments. But we will answer the ambassador's question first. Trust and fear between us are not insurmountable and aren't the focus of our concern."

The colonial admiral was adamant. Things had just changed again dealing with these people. Nevertheless, this presented a golden opportunity to show the Earthers just what colonial firepower could do. And it could well score points in the Colonies' favor. Yes, the colonies were powerful, but they could be of immense help, too which was his missions point. These people. In spite of their fears could well learn this important lesson.

"I am speaking to everyone here and especially to you now, General O'Neill. "You've seen our fleet. We represent the best the Colonials have to offer. Our newest weapons can handle a Cylon armada three times our size. We have fighters and bombers ready to protect the fleet," he said with a hint of pride. "If what you say is true and you have such a large enemy fleet coming to attack you, them we are here and we can make a difference. With respect to you and your people, your defenses appear inadequate. I don't know what resources your UCW has to deploy. I would suggest that the diplomatic portion of our fleet relocate to a safer haven during the battle, but I and my CDF forces will remain and fight to protect Earth. That is one of our mission parameters. Tha Incoming enemy may not be Cylon, but our mission statement still applies here. Earth must not be allowed to fall, and we have come too far only to lose you and your world now."

The man looked absolutely confident in his ability to handle himself. Here was no point arguing with the man. After the TV interview with the major new castes, it was decided by the IOA and UCW that they be informed exactly what they were dealing with. When that happened, everything the Colonials thought they knew would be changed forever.

When everything finally started hitting the fan, he was positive the poor thing would short out.

TBC