Chapter 29

Location: Command Battlestar Galactica, Scorpio Fleet Shipyards

Date: June 3, 2023

Time: 0930

"The shipyard says the refit should be finished in time for Galactica's formal acceptance trials, so long as post-installation inspections and tests proceed to plan," Admiral Adama noted to Admiral Nagala as the two witnessed the installation of the second of a pair of fixed twin-tube heavy railguns into the bow of the Galactica.

"I've gotten what's effectively a blank check to be sure that the shipyard will make the time table, no labor or material shortage will be getting in the way of Galactica being ready for action Admiral," Nagala acknowledged, "You've done a helluva job getting the Galactica in shape for trials. With luck, we should be standing her group back up in a month so we can bring Prometheus in for her own refit with her own railguns."

"The engineers said that the Prometheus-Class was designed with modular upgrade plug and go capability to make way for future improved subsystems or for repairs. I guess we'll find out how plug-and-go they really are," Adama noted as the two continued observing from a shuttle meant for observing and coordinating shipyard work.

"And there's plenty more upgrades to come Bill, Fleet R&D is finally getting approval for a whole slew of prototype weapons systems to enter pre-production status, pending the Quorum's consideration for the new proposal to the Fleet budget being brought up for debate next week."

"That won't possibly drag on more than it needs to," Adama grumbled, expressing a common misgiving of Fleet officers towards the politicians.

"Who knows these days, with Earth showing up a lot of people seem to have forgotten about the Cylons still lurking somewhere out there beyond the Armistice Line. But the events on Virgon seem to have jolted many into realizing that Earth has the capacity to be an enemy as easily as it can be an ally."

"And you and I both know their capabilities," Adama nodded, speaking carefully to maintain a vagueness to what he meant exactly.

"Hence the new budget considerations. A lot of politicians are wanting to repurpose the tech developed for the Fleet's heavy railguns and prioritize them for ground-based anti-orbital systems to supplement the Army's anti-orbital missile batteries. Earth breaching Virgon's orbital defense grid without challenge is being misrepresented as the Planetary Defense Corps showing cracks when they know damn well those batteries were told to hold fire and stand down. But no one wants to publicly acknowledge that we don't have an answer to Earth's defensive tech so no one wants to correct them."

"Because there are many with friends who they agree with, and many of them have aspirations for political office," Adama noted in agreement, "Same story we've heard for decades."

"As distasteful as it is, it has a purpose. The folks who wrote the Articles knew what they were doing. It saw us through the war."

"Some would say that war is easier than peace," Adama replied quietly, and Admiral Nagala couldn't help but nod, because there was an element of truth to that statement.

The Fleet was currently in the midst of a series of upgrade programs, many of them experimental in nature. The timetable from the Admiralty conference on Picon a month ago had warned him Galactica would be outfitted with these new guns to go with the as-designed new reactors that were designed to be capable of taking on the added power generation requirements. Galactica's reactor's, all four of them, were the most powerful in the Twelve Colonies, each one being the equivalent cost of a whole cruiser and were the first component of the new Command Battlestar which were ordered as part of the ship's construction six years ago.

Adama had borne witness to how the new guns were to be installed as part of a relatively-simple mechanical process in a presentation by the manufacturer with his ship's officers present to be aware of how this would work, as well as other Fleet officers from other Prometheus-Class ships. First, the ship's bow guns were removed, barrel, breach, part of the shell hoists as well as the shell racks in the ammunition bunkers. Then, new shell cradles in the hoists and a pair of capacitors were installed within the section where the breaches had gone, and then the barrels were installed, first being a set of liquid nitrogen reservoirs and pumps that the barrel heat dissipation coils, with the insulated nitrogen lines themselves, were installed and then the magnetic coils installed piece by piece, linked in with the cooling coils as they went, making the process a bit laborious, but it made for a much easier maintenance or replacement project with smaller component parts being more accessible than the one gigantic gun barrel. And Galactica would have six of these railguns, each one meant to sling a solid thirty-inch-wide and twenty-foot-long tungsten shaft with an armor-piercing cap made of depleted uranium with a stabilizing steel jacket keeping the nearly sixty-ton weapon on track while it was within the barrel as it accelerated to nine hundred thousand meters a second to hit with the equivalent energy of twenty-two petajoules of kinetic energy.

Adama knew that the reports of Earth's engagement with the Cylons and the accompanying reports of his son and Kara Thrace with the gun camera footage his Vipers had brought to the Admiralty had spurred this transition towards high-energy kinetic weaponry rather than increasing yields of nuclear weapons. Nuclear warheads were extremely powerful weapons, but in space they were relatively inefficient when it came to administering the vast majority of the energy they produced into their target, and they were subject to interception while also being an ever-present risk due to the presence of fissionable material even with the various redundant safeguards against unintended detonation. This was the tremendous advantage of energy shielding against nuclear weapons, when one hit, it transmitted far more proportional energy at far longer range and with these weapons there was practically no chance of an intercept. This new weapon was intended to overcome this inefficiency, and in turn, overcome the shields of Earth cruisers and battleships.

It seemed wrong to be crafting such powerful weapons which were almost-exclusively meant for countering a fellow human entity. But militaries were not in the business of peace, they were instruments of war and as such had to be sure they were ready for it, no matter whom they found as their opponent.

Secretary of Education Office, Caprica

Things here in the Department of Education had been fairly normal once Earth's novelty started wearing off. But with the Earth cultural expo's date approaching there were certain things within the Education Department which needed Roslin's attention. Namely, the Earth expo had a number of films to be shown of an educational nature and others of an entertainment nature. In the Twelve Colonies previewing and rating film and television broadcasts fell under the umbrella of the Department of Education's Public Broadcast and Film Rating Office to filter through and attach the relevant age and content advisories to any and all materials that would be seen by the public. It was a peculiar trait of the Department of Education which didn't get talked about all that much and Roslin rarely had to meet with her rating department, who really had the easiest but among the most tedious jobs in the government.

But, they were now the first Colonials to view some of the movies and documentaries which the Earth cultural festival was planning on showcasing, as per their agreement with the Earth delegation. If these were to be one day distributed commercially or broadcasted on Colonial TV then Earth's material would need to be filtered for the appropriate adherence to public broadcasting standards of age-appropriate content, particularly when it came to content intended for children. The Colonial Education ratings system had been provided to Earth's delegation to go over and be aware of early on. But the Colonials had also been reviewing the standards listed within more than a dozen national ratings systems used by Earth's constituent national authorities whose job it was to do the exact same thing. It seemed odd to Laura that Earth, as multinational and cooperative as they were, held to such divisions of conducting what was essentially the same job.

So, she analytically analyzed this curious feature, and she was beginning to come to a conclusion which she knew the main federal authorities were certain to be coming to as well with the depth of intelligence analysis they had at their disposal. The Earth government was not a cohesive and effective force, it was more of a gathering and round table discussion board for the actual power and decision making entities to debate and butt heads. The national governments of Earth held far more power than their so-called United Nations, with the majority of the Earth's economic and military power held by their Security Council, and perhaps cultural influence as well, albeit this was far more of a stretch which she was hearing debated quite frequently at all levels of the government.

But for now, Roslin didn't need to worry about that, it was effectively movie night, and the Ratings Office had conscripted many of the office staff to help them sift through the numerous films and documentaries with every one of the meeting rooms and more than a few offices being repurposed into a number of impromptu movie theaters. An all-hands meeting had taken place with these "volunteers" and a set of packets handed out explaining how to rate these movies and what criteria would need to be met in order to reach certain thresholds for being deemed AA (All Audiences), PA (Parental-Approved), SA (Select Audiences), LA (Limited Audiences), or the deathstroke rating which basically never got handed out, NA (Not Approved).

Each set of ratings was pretty self-explanatory, with the most common rating handed out being PA. The vast majority of content was PA, and included sports broadcasts, most informative documentaries, sitcoms and romcoms, and kids movies which fell short of AA, the rating which was effectively reserved for purely educational television that was often patronizing in its content to children older than four. Then there was SA, the standard rating for adult-intended content. and LA being the rating chosen when drug use, harsh unfiltered language, nudity, explicit sexual acts, or gratuitous/brutal violence was depicted on screen. NA films or television were basically when something occurred which was so beyond the pale of what was deemed socially-acceptable that the government had to step in to prevent its dissemination. Roslin herself had to sign off on a whole report from her ratings department head deeming something NA, and it was so rare that she'd only ever read over a single report requesting a NA rating be handed out. All others which flirted with NA ratings usually got informed of the pending decision, and altered their content to fall within the realms of LA ratings. And whenever anything of any kind even had the Not Approved rating mentioned in regards to it people began to get very nervous, especially the big studios whose money was sunk into these works.

Tonight at least, Earth's content had not even approached LA rating, much less the dreaded NA. A few of the documentaries had met the technical criteria for SA rating, but not necessarily meeting the spirit/intention of this rating apparently, and were being debated. Roslin had a film before her in her own office which had been reported to have been planned to be a major centerpiece for the Earth event. The movie itself was called Frozen, and was a kids movie, supposedly among the highest-grossing children's movies in Earth's history. It was a case where it would make for good optics towards Earth and towards a domestic audience that the Secretary of Education herself viewed and assisted in the ratings choices to avoid making a hasty decision which would effect what would certainly be an important Earth financial interest. It seemed odd that she, a simple teacher at heart, had the fate of Earth's film industry's future offworld market opportunity in her hands.

However, Roslin still had one thing first and foremost on her mind. The cancer treatments were making it immensely difficult to continue her day-to-day duties. President Adar preferred that she do this on the downlow, alongside another uncomfortable rumor which was spread around her own office, the fact she and Adar had once been seeing each other. Such a relationship, especially given that Adar himself was married, would ruin his political career, the prospects of his party, and it would ruin her and taint her as a form of husband stealer. For an administration so under the microscope this could not continue, and she knew that it would soon end. At the end of the month she was going to be handing in her resignation, and going full-time for aggressive treatments. So far, only her assistant, Billy, knew of this. He was going with her to treatment tomorrow morning. But Roslin had no intention of dying, she was a teacher at heart, and there was word that a position would be open for teaching.

It was a special place, the first colony to be reestablished, Djerba. The Twelve Colonies had seven other worlds in mind in seven nearby star systems, all of them had their populations decimated by the Cylons, leading to the deaths of more than four million people. But these planets were capable of supporting billions, and could feed countless billions more once the farmlands had been restored and resewn with crops and new herds brought back. The Twelve Colonies were well aware of what was necessary to successfully establish a colony, and among those things were basically everything which a community needed to function long-term. They needed to be self-sustaining in terms of water and food, they needed mechanics to keep machinery and vehicles working, they needed roads and railroads to transport goods and services to and fro, they needed stores of all kinds to divvy out foodstuffs, goods, and services, and they needed banks to manage the money such business would bring about. But they needed to have somewhere for the kids to go so that their parents were free to go about making sure said community was able to function. And that place, for the most part, meant that they needed schools. Roslin intended to go to one of these new frontier schools and make sure that Colonial children on the edge of civilization had access to the best possible education.

There was much that still needed to be done in the meantime though.

Local Settlement, Planet Selrain

The cantina where they were meeting the ship owner was quite a gathering point for the community. It was placed at the highest point in the cliff-side village, and had been built, like everywhere else, of bricks with clay tile shingles on the wooden roof with colorful canvas awnings while clay pots and a number of dug-in spots held bushes and trees and flowers. Inside Major Black found that there was a large centrally-located firepit, blazing away quietly with a spit having a very tantalizing whole roast pig turning and sizzling away with an older woman tending it carefully. There were wooden fans up above, turning and keeping the air moving while electric bulbs were mounted on the walls and illuminating the inside as well as on the outside. The bar was in the back, and was tended to be an older man who wore a white apron and kept his establishment very clean and well looked-after with a long row of cabinets and shelves holding dozens of bottles of various types of booze and rows of glass and copper cups of various sizes.

It was crowded, a great many people enjoying a peaceful night of drinking, telling stories, and eating some of the cantina's kitchen's food. It was like a page torn from history to Major Black, who enjoyed the old school movies which depicted these types of scenes in what were in effect cookie cutter type sets, plots, and actors from many decades ago. Still, it was a degree of interesting, but he also noted that he still needed to be on guard. Almost everyone here was armed, revolvers of a few different types and the occasional military-style bolt action rifle or double-barrel shotgun. Although there were a number of staff weapons, Ori and Jaffa types, and these were far more numerous.

Major Black had his men sent out in pairs, getting a view of the area, and noted how the entire village was built to be defended, and was still being built judging by the fact that bricks, tiles, and wood for construction was being assembled and accumulated and saw at least a dozen houses being built. And cranes had been seen to be lowering and lifting cargos to the top of the butte. And there were a lot of people here as well. His men were reporting that they were approached multiple times, their presence as strangers being incredibly obvious. The locals were more akin to curious inquirers, not suspicious hostiles. It was still worrying to know now just how out of place his team actually was.

Therefore, it was no surprise when he and Tyry had a young man sit down at their table with no invitation. He was no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a leather coat with utilitarian trousers and a red scarf around his neck and had a smooth face, peach fuzz of a maturing mustache and beard trying to be grown. But his facial hair had some years to go before maturing, despite the mature bearing of this young man. This was their contact, the ship-owner, Jaxi.

"I hear you're hiring someone with a ship?" the young man said with a toothy grin, excited and cocky.

"Might be," Black replied, leaned back in his chair, "You have one?"

"Do I have one? Friend have you lived under a rock? Everyone knows the Phantom, she's the first and only Al'kesh that Anubis ever made improvements to, it's the total package," the young man boastfully claimed.

"Why was it the only one?" Black inquired, having heard this name before, but not exactly sure what the relevant association with it signified.

"Must've been because he got killed before he could to modify any others," Jaxi shrugged, "My dad got a hold of her during the Ori war. I was practically raised on it, know it like the back of my hand. Speaking of knowing, Tyry, who's the potential client here?" the boy said as he grabbed a cup, "And is he going to be able to pay up?"

Major Black just smirked to himself and reached into a zipped up pouch he'd buckled onto his belt and withdrew a solid gold coin, unmarked and polished to mirror finish. It was commissioned by the RSEC for use in trade, gold was foreseen to be necessary from time to time, and for this mission he was given a greatly enlarged amount, three hundred such coins, plus another four hundred silver versions held by a few other members of the team in paper rolls. He flicked it through his fingers, making the shiny precious metal coin dance and glimmer as he did so. It was a tease.

"Who I am and where I'm from is not your concern. Your concern is getting us to Ourdrea, covertly, and then getting us out," Black stated firmly.

"That'll be a bit extra then friend."

"What you're paid depends on your level cooperation, kid," Black gave a quick grin.

"Their planet was attacked by Sat'sun, they wanna get even," Tyry explained, leaning forward and took a swig on his drink, a dark beer of some kind, "But…they don't want to use their own ships for obvious reasons."

"So we're looking at contracting, someone who does well might find themselves a reliable business partner…" Black stated as he lifted the little pouch up and deposited it onto the table in front of him and then made a show of dropping the coin with a clatter of gold against gold, "But…if it's too dangerous for you I understand your position, better to play safe."

"Now hold on," Jaxi said, leaning forward quickly, the boy's inexperience and pride being prodded a bit by Black, "I never refused, I just think a number needs to be decided upon first."

"Hundred gold coins now, two hundred when we return unharmed and fifty for your silence," the Colonial officer explained in succinct terms.

"And what exactly am I expected to be doing?"

"You fly us there, you land, you don't get discovered, we do our thing, and you take us out the way we came, all without being discovered."

"Sounds like an easy bit of cash," Jaxi scoffed, surprised at this.

"We'll see," Major Black nodded, "We'll meet you at your ship tomorrow morning. Make sure you're ready to go, and know that screw-ups will not land you without pay, they'll land you on the end of a gun. Understood?"

"Please, you think this is my first high stakes mission pops?" the kid stated, nonchalantly brushing this off.

"It's your first mission with me, and I'm not going to tolerate any slip-ups," Black stated, this time as a warning as he then leaned forward.

"I can handle anything you can throw at me."

"Take a peak at what's under the table," the Major stated firmly.

The older teenager hesitated a second, and then leaned back and peaked, and his eyes went wide. Aiming right at his crotch was Black's pistol, removed from its holster.

"Do you know what this weapon can do? No, of course you don't, this here can rip open solid steel plate a quarter-inch thick, and then make scrap out of whatever's behind it. One shot from this and you'll have a hole blown through your pelvis oh…a foot wide, give or take. If you're going to brag son, don't brag to someone who is unimpressed with it. So, do I have your attention? You ready to take this seriously now?"

The boy just slowly nodded as Black holstered his pistol, leaving the kid somewhat shocked and humbled, sitting in the chair meekly. Tyry was more curious, Black's sudden threats were somewhat out of the blue. He hadn't really expected it, and wanted to know why.

"That seemed a little over the top Major," Tyry noted.

"I've been a soldier a long time Tyry," Black grumbled, "I'm tired of seeing cocky kids getting themselves killed, seen too many mothers and fathers burying a child who put them through it because they thought they were untouchable, or because their friends let them down, or because I let them down. It…it takes a toll on you, the kind that can't be paid," he said quietly.

"You're…you're a soldier?" Jaxi asked quietly.

"Yeah…yeah I'm a soldier. The only reason doing so is so I can try to make sure dumb kids like you don't end up dead, or worse getting other young dumb kids dead," the older man stated, "Old warriors don't become old on accident, but it's harder to keep going the older you get."

"Same story here," Tyry noted to him.

"We're not the same Tyry," Black shook his head and for the first time took a genuine chug on his beer, which he'd only ever pretended to be drinking.

"Try me," the other man deadpanned, looking Major Black in the eye.

"Alright, let's hear it," Black nodded.

"I…was young, I was mad, I had a chip on my shoulder. And I let that get the better of me because I thought that after all we'd suffered the universe owed us something. That…it was time for us to stop being the ones getting kicked around for once. But it wasn't what I'd thought. A sobering lesson dawned on us, that we weren't fighting for ourselves, the murderous intent behind our orders was nothing more than aimless brutality. I got tired of it, I was tired of seeing families watching their houses burn, watching them holding their loved ones I'd sat by watch be executed. Many of us thought that those people deserved it, but the more we did it, the harder it was to justify. But by that time, we were scared, scared of what power we would unleash upon our own families and homes if we stood up and said no. Thankfully, something happened, maybe someone a bit higher up said enough and fought hard enough that the powers that be were unable to stop them. But whatever happened, we were finally free. The Ori Crusade ended not with a bang but vanished like dust in the wind. But it left its mark. For us that had fought for them, we'd learned a valuable lesson. Revenge is a hollow promise, it does nothing but feed the cycle of death and pain, like a horrible self-fulfilling prophecy. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing, so that my daughters don't have to feel the need to inflict such pain on anyone, only to have their souls and life robbed from them by the realization that they've achieved nothing, and then to fear reprisal for the rest of their days."

"Sounds like a reasonable goal," Major Black replied with a nod, hearing what the man was saying and looked at his eyes and his hands as he spoke.

There were certain things that the human body did when it was telling a truth versus telling a lie. Black had been able to see what Tyry's pattern of lying was and his pattern of truth was. The lies he'd been able to pick out fairly easily. There weren't many he told, mostly referring to some of what he'd told about these Ori Crusaders, which clearly wasn't something that Tyry wanted to tell the Colonial officers in the bowels of their base, where he knew that his words could spell his end if he said the wrong words. But when he spoke the truth, as he was now, Black was able to tell by this point. It was tough for even seasoned professionals to put it into words, he just knew.

"Major," his radio piped up in his ear, "We've got a problem, vehicles approaching, four times armored trucks, they might be loaded with troops."

Major Black now stood up, his internal alarm bells going off as he walked over to the window and could look out and see the yellow glint of the approaching vehicles.

"How close are they?" he reached up to his ear.

"A couple klicks out, moving quick."

"Copy, all teams collapse onto the tunnel, we'll hole up there and steer clear of any trouble."

"What's going on?" Tyry asked as he stood up and joined Black at the window.

"Armored trucks approaching," Black stated as he pulled his binoculars up and zeroed in on the convoy.

The last three vehicles were pretty much obscured by dust, but the lead vehicle was quite clearly a wheeled six-by-six truck with armored plating on it and a pintle-mounted heavy machine gun in the top of an open turret just behind the cab. The vehicle windows had armored screens propped up off the windows but were able to flip down rapidly, and the doors were clearly armored as much as the their hulls were. The tires were big with deep offroad treads and the lights had cages around them with an armored grill and a snorkel device on the left-side of the cab for air intake during amphibious operation. These were no mere transports, they were basically battle taxis. Major Black knew his men had the armor piercing ammo of their two belt-fed machine guns to handle such vehicles, but attempting to get into a gunfight was a bad idea with so many civilians and so little support available.

"Looks like a reinforced patrol, when the Raxin do that they have a purpose."

"How much you wanna bet that purpose has to do with us?" Black looked over at Tyry who sighed through his nose and looked back at him.

"Best to steer clear, pretend we aren't who they think we are."

Major Black stood there a moment in thought, and looked around at the locals now looking on, a genuine set of emotions etched onto their faces. Some of them gripped their weapons tightly, and could sense some of these people thought that a fight was possibly going to be breaking out. Having been here for a day the Colonial officer had seen first-hand that this was no guerilla base, it was a home to families, with women and children and old folks thrown into the pot. It was not the place to let a fight start, not when so many could end up in the crosshairs, and especially when he could stop it.

"All teams, return to the tunnel, I'm going down to the gate. If there's a hint of trouble, I'll step in and keep things from boiling over."

"Major?" his second-in-command questioned him curiously, not at all sold on this idea.

"Our mission won't be served at all by having the townsfolk and the Raxin at one another's throats. Especially since the Raxin control the gate."

"Then let us go with you sir."

"Negative, I want you on standby somewhere you can react, get the team out of sight. Don't worry about me. If I end up detained radio distress call will be 'ruby', all clear will be 'sapphire'. When command dials us to check in you will take the call," Black stated firmly, raising his voice slightly and noted that Tyry hadn't moved, "What're you looking at?"

"Nothin', just wondering what's going through your head," Tyry stated curiously.

"Not sure myself to be honest, but it feels like the right thing to do. I told you I've seen too much death to stand by and do nothing and risk more lives being lost. If I have to step in, I'll step in."

"Well, fortunately for you the Raxin can't actually arrest you without at least consulting our own town laws. You are still within our walls. The Raxin are treaty-bound to honor that. If they don't…well, you've seen the kind of heat we're packing."

"I'd rather it not come to that. In fact, these…Raxin, may have presented us with an opportunity," Major Black informed the man as he thought more in-depth on the matter, "You said the Raxin are not exactly friendly towards the Jaffa? They just do business right?"

"That's right," Tyry noted, "They've got one of the larger trade networks I know of, but they're not friendly. Not by a longshot."

"Think that the Raxin would mind another potential trade partner? Someone human who aren't on good relations with the Jaffa?"

"If you've got a plan in mind I'd remind you Raxin officers here don't have the authority to make that kind of call."

"They have the power to call in added reinforcements?" Black asked.

"Sure, but they're already doing that remember?"

"No, I mean real reinforcements, multiple battalions, enough troops and weapons that the Jaffa couldn't make a move against this place without coming to blows with the Raxin military."

"Planning on drawing in multiple Raxin battalions? You and your men are good major, you're not that good the Raxin would see you as that great a threat."

"Not us, the Jaffa. That guy we talked to at the gate, he said that the Raxin placed this world under its flag effectively right?"

"Technically speaking, yeah, we fall under the protection of the Raxin so we're effectively vassals in their eyes."

"What would the Raxin say to the Jaffa threatening their subjects who would be offering to mediate access to another large trade market?"

"They'd…want to show that they were responsible and powerful enough to showcase themselves as a secure investment, both at home and in the eyes of others," Try smirked as he saw Black's line of thinking.

It was clear to him that Black sought to use the economic potential of a trade deal dangling in front of the local Raxin commander to get them to try to showcase themselves a bit. The probability of a direct move against Tyry's people could be made a lesser possibility through non-direct deterrence via a show of force whose intent was to show that an investment here would be protected. It was a win-win situation for all involved, especially for Tyry's people. They would be well-protected by Raxin forces, who in turn would be bringing their own business to their settlement, and the Colonials would likewise be potentially bringing their own additional trade and possibly committing to helping them with armaments and material support.

"The Raxin have done something like that before, they brought in a battalion to the airfield along with some anti-aircraft batteries when there was a bad uptick in bandit raids from old Lucian Alliance members. Supposedly there were questions about the security of their business investments here. But if they think that the Jaffa want to make a move against us here I'm not sure what they'll do."

"You said they're business-minded right?" Major Black said as he walked down the path down towards the gate, "Let's talk business."

The two men walked down and were soon at the town square across from the gate where the lights of the armored trucks and their engines were easily heard. Talking was likewise heard, with the three locals in the raised stone tower looking down at them, each of them having Ori staff weapons in hand. There wasn't much that they could make out, but the tone was able to give them an idea of what was going on. The Raxin officer present at the gate wanted in, the gate guards had said no, and now they were going back and forth. The particulars not really able to be picked out, but Black listened in and could make out a general theme that that the guards were saying that they had to wait for the town council to tell them what to do. Outside, the officer on the other side was basically saying that the council would tell them what he was asking for anyway, and to just let him in.

It didn't take much longer before a familiar face was walking up behind Major Black and Tyry, his name was Felle, and was apparently the captain of the town guard. He was certainly one of the people who had the authority to make a call here.

"Felle, looks like your kids up there seem to be pissing off that Raxin officer," Tyry pointed as the man came over, a submachine gun slung under his arms.

"Yeah, I know…" the older man grumbled as he adjusted his gun strap on his shoulder.

"I'd like to speak to him, if you don't mind," Black now stated.

"You do huh?" Felle arched an eyebrow.

"I might have a way to get the Raxin to inadvertently deter the Jaffa from doing anything against you guys," Black explained.

"It's worth a shot," Tyry nodded to the older man.

"I hope you've given it some thought, c'mon," Felle shrugged and waved for Black to follow, although Tyry likewise did the same.

The trio arrived and the older man lifted the large wooden bar across the gate and he pushed it open. He stepped out into the lights of the truck in front of the gate on the bridge and was practically face-to-face with a half-dozen armed men, one of them only armed with a pistol in its waist holster and was likewise distinguished by the fact he only had a blue beret on with a crown-like sigil on its face and a single golden diamond-shaped symbol on each of the shoulder boards on his uniform. The white foggy breathing of the men visible via being backlit by their trucks. The stamped steel rifles were held loosely, but were loaded and ready. The men didn't have helmets on, instead having hoods and caps with their faces covered by balaclavas.

"Commander Eccen, what're you doing trying to bang down our gate at this hour?" Felle growled at the man, who was now, at closer inspection, quite a bit older than the others present.

"Mr. Felle, I've been told that you received someone today, we have reason to believe that they may be of great interest to my government. I've been instructed to seek them out without incident by my superiors."

"'Seek out without incident' huh? What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Felle said as he settled in front of the man.

"We mean no harm nor do we mean to seek hostilities."

"Yet you're here with a bunch of armored cars?" Felle nodded with his chin.

"There is a state of alert at the moment, standard practice for Raxin Imperial forces is to move in such force outside of our main secure facilities," the man said nonchalantly, "Now, are we going to be allowed entry? We're not here for anything but making formal contact."

"So who is this guy?" Black asked Tyry.

"His name's Eccen, he's a bureaucrat, more of a diplomat than a military officer. He's pushy, but he's opportunistic, prime example of the Raxin military's corruption problem. We pass along some of the gemstones our miners dig up and he turns a blind eye to our other ventures," Tyry said as Felle and Eccen continued to speak on the other side of the gate.

"So he's corrupt, but does he have the pull to get his government to commit additional forces here?"

"He's a Commander, one rank shy of General within the Raxin Army and the seniormost officer they have here, he's got enough pull."

This was enough for Major Black. The plan in his head was fully-formed, to utilize other people's resources and personnel to deter potential military action. With this military action deterred, his command would be able to operate much more freely and securely. There was also one other thing that Black was thinking of. These resistance fighters had a sizeable base of operations within a fortified and logistically-sound location which was likewise concealed within the town above it. If his superiors could make use of that, the Colonial Stargate program would be able to build upon the bones of this facility and then using diplomacy, the airfield nearby could potentially be used to base Vipers, and critically, Raptors. The prospect of off-world bases for the Twelve Colonies was considered a crucial goal given the known dangers that had yet to be definitively determined, and Major Black knew that this place was as good as they were going to get at the moment.

"Be advised, the Raxin must've been tipped off that we were here. I'm about to make contact, standby," Black whispered into his radio, knowing now was the time to let his people know he was about to make contact, and so he then stepped out and was face-to-face with the Raxin commander, "Not necessary. You want contact, you've got it."

"Commander Eccen, Imperial Raxin Army, commandant of the garrison of the planet Selrain," the older man offered a salute.

"Major Black," the Colonial officer responded, returning the salute, "I suppose you've got something to say?"

"Indeed, my government keeps on the lookout for cultures who are what many would deem advanced, and we would seek to make formal diplomatic contact with such cultures to avoid unnecessary and unwanted misunderstandings and open formal dialogue you understand. I'd heard there was such a group here, guests of the local settlers whom we have placed under our protection."

"You might say that," Black nodded, "I am entrusted by my government to speak in their name with a limited degree of authority towards securing its interests, those interests in this scenario being peaceful contact with other cultures with a mind towards mutually beneficial future arrangements such as trade," he explained, being very careful how he worded this, not making anything as a promise but likewise wanting to leave some tantalizing tidbits for the Raxin officer to potentially jump on.

"These are interests which our governments would indeed seem to share," the man said, an eyebrow visibly arching as he heard that.

"However, you are no doubt aware of the recent development, the Jaffa ship in orbit. This is a matter of great concern for my government. We would not feel safe in doing any sort of business here if the prospect of this investment in time and resources were…not protected."

"I understand your concern, and it is indeed something which we are attempting to redress," the Raxin commander nodded.

"And what would that mean Eccen?" Felle asked.

"I had been in discussion with my superiors on shifting another garrison detachment, another three hundred men and accompanying support elements."

"Do you really think that will be enough to deter someone like the Jaffa?" Black scoffed, trying to use a taunt as a method to extract additional Raxin deployments.

"It's not a light matter to secure additional deployments, it can be rather expensive."

"We can make it worth your while," Black said confidently.

"And how do I know that you're able to do as you say?" the Eccen commander asked, suspicion now emanating from him, rightfully so, so Major Black did the only thing that would help his case, he pulled out the bag of octagonal gold coins and flicked one over, where the man caught it in surprise.

"There's a lot more of where that came from. Now, do I have your attention?"

"Undivided."

The Sydney, the Australians' first battlecruiser, came out of hyperspace well away from the planet of Selrain. A single Jaffa Ha'tak was already present, busying itself with detailed scanning of the area's topography and trying its level best to establish as much in-depth knowledge of the movement of the locals and what their patterns were. But the inherited Gou'ald scanners, by this point updated with Tok'ra software updates, had their limits. This type of reconnaissance was not what they'd been designed to do. And the Jaffa themselves, while keen on doing their job as well as they possibly could, lacked experience even though some had received some cursory instruction from their Taur'i allies. The ship had six SG-Teams aboard, and its F-302's had an enhanced batch of ammo bunkers on standby with air-to-surface munitions present in large numbers both for them and for two U-306's tucked into the Sydney's ventral cargo bay, now a secondary hangar.

The ship assumed its orbit, with a flight of F-302's deployed on combat air patrol screening the battlecruiser, circling in pairs on opposite sides of the ship, five hundred kilometers away. The ship now began its own scans. The preparation for the joint SGC-Jaffa mission was now underway.