Record keeping: short chapter here. Seting up things. For people who read reviews, there are a coup of reviews that caught my attention and foreshadowed me addressing what was wrieen. In fact, this chapter was written before the comments described in the reviews. In the reviews I mentioned chapter 35 and 35. Since I am doing a short, that is changing to chapters 46 and 37.
Short and sweet and this chapter gives a hint of earth Alliance attitudes. One of the arguments I discussed was if the EA suffered fro herd mentality. But what of the Colonials who have a similar attitude? Is there a difference? Is the herd mentality theory without basis or is there something parallel in the human psyche happening? I am curious to hear what you have to say
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Now, the short chapter is nigh. Please enjoy.
RPIS
Chapter 34
New Tollania
A Tollanian heavy frigate class warship hovered over the wreckage of the downed Ha'tak. The ship's design appeared to be no different from the thousands still in service throughout the galaxy. However, further scans showed something different. The structure was reinforced and had organic components integrated into its frame. Instead of the ion cannons completely destroying the ship, it was cracked and broken, and managed to survive the reentry through the atmosphere and the crash landing. That marked this ship as something important, something not seen before.
The frigate, a variation of the Tau'ri 303, supplemented with advanced Tollanian technology, carefully scanned the remains of the vessel. The results were immediately sent to Tollanian command. There was only one Jaffa body onboard. They determined that there were no other Jaffa, goa'uld, or humans on the ship. No bodies were ejected from the ruined hull, either from the initial strikes when the ship was subjected to vacuum in space, or the subsequent crash.
Initial scans indicated that the body was unusual. There were neural pathways that had infiltrated the Jaffa's entire physiological structure, with the majority situated within the brain. The goa'uld symbiote was shrunken, atrophied, and shouldn't have even been alive in that state. But it was, and its body was also infiltrated with tens of thousands of neural filaments. All signs pointed to some kind of parasitic attack on the victim. The detailed scans were transmitted. There was also something else.
Bodies. Bodies of unknown alien life forms. There were twenty-seven corpses, huge creatures, all dead.
All of this was told to Narim, who relayed it to the defense forces and the Curia. The man intended to take no chances. He ordered more detailed scans of the ship and the bodies, including the Jaffa. That body he had transported to a secured medical cell onboard the ship. A concerned Curia ordered the ship destroyed after one of the alien bodies was retrieved and examined.
Narim furiously objected., his instinct was screaming for him to destroy everything that remained of the vessel. He was content with the scans and the knowledge that the Tollanian were the target of unknowns, just like the Tau'ri were. With this knowledge, the Curia would certainly rush the new. Tollanian-designed warships. The final order would be given and the Pacifica would begin construction. Tau'ri ships were fine and the few ships that his people had produced were more than satisfactory. But there weren't enough, and this incident confirmed the fact that they needed more. Ion canon-based planetary defenses and Global defense satellites weren't enough. The Tau'ri concept of overkill did have a certain appeal he now fully appreciated. In his opinion, his people were to defense oriented. When Taneth attacked their world seeming an eternity ago, the curia discovered that defenses only weren't enough. They required patrol and warships to go after those who wanted to destroy them. The Curia had forgotten that most basic of lessons. But he most certainly hadn't, and this latest incident would prove his point.
XXX
The alien warrior, known only as a soldier of darkness, felt the scans from a distance. Although wounded, the almost three meter tall creature was able to get away before the local warship could detect her. The controller given to the Jaffa was dead. It was the second one to die at the hands of these creatures of this universe. The controllers were rare, and hard to breed. The loss of two in such a short period would upset his masters and their plans. The Tollanian creatures responded faster than anticipated. The missiles should have detonated near the surface and contaminated half of the planet's biosphere. But the fortunes of war reared its ugly head.
All of her fellow soldiers were lost, and she was the last. The Tok'ra killed some of her people, and now the Tollanians killed many more. Her people were small in numbers, and only several thousand were left. Breeding was difficult, slow and time consuming and, without the master's help, extinction was inevitable. But they served their masters with everything they had. Her people lived for the kill and nothing but death could satiate her thirst for blood.
She had a duty to perform. It was commanded to Kill the leadership of this world. The wounded creature intended to feed and kill as many of them as possible when the opportunity arose. First, it had to evade the warship and its scans. The Tollanian adversaries were being very thorough. Her phasing ability should have allowed her to evade the scans, but she found it difficult.
The soldier was in-phase mode and still, it could feel the emissions from the ship. It disturbed the creatures because it confirmed information gleaned from the deceased Tok'ra drone. That controller had informed that the Tollanians had the capability to detect phased organisms. It proved that the masters were threatened as well as its people, and that was another reason why they had to be eliminated. Though small in numbers, the Tollanians required extermination. She was only one, but one could do a lot of damage, doing her master's will. But for now, she needed to hide and recover from wounds acquired in the crash.
EA Comanchero
Senators David Sheridan, Peterson, and Lydia Mandel were huddled together in the small officers' quarters. Unlike the Warlock class warships and carriers, the retrofitted Omegas still maintained their smallish living quarters. The recreation center was barely half in size since the no-longer needed rotation section was removed. Earth Alliance had artificial gravity, a gift from the Tau'ri before things went South. The Minbari gravity systems were completely different, but both were useful. The civilian sector preferred the Minbari gravity systems, while the military chose to remain with the human-based Tauri derived artificial gravity.
David utterly hated recycled water, but it didn't stop him from drinking what little he was allotted. Water, like the food on board, was strictly rationed. His son John had told them they were being towed by an alien ship he described as being a First One. The news had shocked all of them. All four ships were now moving along, at unimagined speeds, and it wasn't jump space. No one had told him that the nearest star. A blue giant was two dozen light-years away from their entry point. There wasn't any possibility of following the beacons which would have led them straight into Earth Alliance's hands, so they were effectively trapped in the void.
But First Ones, aliens millions of years older than humanity, apparently had taken a liking to the Tau'ri. That was stunning. None of the first Ones ever interacted with the younger races, according to every source and records the Vorlons were suspected of being classified as First Ones, but no one was sure and the Vorlons, at least the only one that they had ever seen, had never spoken of such things.
The Minbari records stripped from the databases of the ruined capital city alluded to ancient powerful races who left for a place called the Rim. No one knew what or where that was, so the information was more myth than confirmed fact. The old city was abandoned after the plague hit. Millions of bodies littered the homes and streets. A testament to Earth forces biological weapon's research.
Spoils of victory, the Present exclaimed before she died. Minbar was claimed as a new Earth colony, a jewel of Earth Alliance. Minbari survivors were detained and sent to a world able to sustain life and abandoned there to survive or die on their own. Stripped of their technology, their home, and their honor, the Minbari refugees could do nothing but stare as humanity tried their best to forget about them. Some survivors raged against humanity, but many more drowned in their despair. Emotions and arrogance enticed them to attack Earth in the neat of vengeance. They never dreamed that they would lose and it would be they who were edging towards extinction without others to help them. Even the Vorlons, their blood allies, had abandoned them and no one knew why…
After what the Minbari had done to them though, Senator Brien Peterson could have cared less. Earth had survived, and the Minbari hadn't. he had no problems with aliens, except for the ones trying to kill humanity. But even he chaffed at the method of Earth's victory, and in some way he blamed the Tau'ri. If those people had just gave them the technology the EA needed to survive in the first place, then Earth wouldn't have had to use bio-weapons to exterminate the Minbari. The Tauri were human, even if they were from another universe. They should have helped more. Thanks to O'Neill's and Jackson's foolish stubbornness in keeping promises to some alien life forms that would surely turn on them someday. They were indirectly responsible for forcing Earth Alliance in a direction it should not have traveled. The twenty-first century humans should have done what was necessary and both sides would have benefitted immensely from the shared results. Now, they were beholden to these primitives with technology the Earth could have used to expand throughout the galaxy without fear. Then Clark wouldn't have become President and a new golden age would have begun.
"Obviously, this other Earth has allies," he snarked. "No wonder they rejected us out of hand." He still remembered the rebukes. "They trusted aliens, but not us. I never understood that."
"I didn't expect them to, after what we tried to do to them. The fact they are accepting us and allowing us to come to their world is better than what I expected. I didn't believe we could even find them, let alone get to their world within three moe hours' travel time." That revelation still stunned him. "I wonder if we would have done the same."
"Under Clark?" Senator Mander asked. "We both know the answer to that."
"and that's the point," Peterson countered. "They're only accepting us because we have information vital to their interests."
"We all know the projections," David said. "Clark is coming to this Earth with a force of four hundred or more capitals. A third of them will be Warlocks. O'Neill's earth won't stand a chance even if they have grown, which they most likely have."
"But the estimated fifty or so ships they have, will be overrun."
"And that is where we are going?" muttered a solum Mander.
"At least they'll know Clark is coming. They may have time to evacuate a portion of their people before Clark gets there." Brien muttered. "One witness to genocide is one too much for me."
"I don't know," David said after a moment's thought. "These aliens might help Earth."
"Maybe. Maybe not. You can't trust them. That's the only thing I agree with in Clark's doctrine. Humanity needs to stick with humanity and not depend on aliens."
"Say that to the Cyrannus colonies," Mander cracked. "They're human."
An injured Oliver Brindley now made his opinion known. "Clark considers humanity here as a different branch, sub-humans. They mean nothing to him. I don't like it, but I can see his point."
Drien Mander looked at the bed-prone man. "You make us sound like we're some part of a herd and that these humans here are different from us."
"Maybe they aren't our herd," he acknowledged. "They certainly felt that way towards us, when they chose not to help us in our time of need."
Senator Sheridan shuddered in response. "I hope we're not that genetically predisposed. But I can see your point. And I know how Clark feels. We all know."
