Chapter 12

Location: Caprica City Opera House, Site of the Reception

Date: February 20, 2022

Time: 2330 Hours

The banquets and cultural sharing ceremonies were nice and pleasant, despite the constant bombardment of questions from the Colonials who just wanted to know more about Earth, especially from reporters. But now it was over as the group of Earth delegates was now on its way to its large temporary diplomatic mission compound just outside of Caprica City. As planned, the Beta Site had sent through their convoy of twenty 2022 Cadillac Escalades, twenty Jaguar XJ's, a dozen 2020 Ford Interceptors, ten Ford F-150's, and sixteen Mercedes Sprinter Vans. All of the Cadillacs quipped with armored panels, bullet-proof glass, and CBRN protection suites and a radio for each vehicle. All the cars had the same armor and up-engine kits installed. But the Fords had red and blue police lights, push bars, winches, secured encrypted two-way radios, and having spotlights in both mobile mounts and a fixed stationary mount on the roof. Every one of the Earth cars and trucks and vans was painted black with a white stripe along the sides, and had a white sticker of the Earth point of origin glyph and the word "EARTH" in a similar black sticker in the white stripe, with their being a split between some having "DIPLOMATIC VEHICLE" for the Cadillacs, the Jaguars, and the Mercedes vans and "DIPLOMATIC SECURITY VEHICLE" for the two types of Fords.

Every vehicle had a driver from the security detail and the Ford Interceptors and F-150's had four guards in them and the Sprinter passenger vans had their seats filled with some clerical staff from the international IOA. All of their international security personnel had settled on standardizing around several weapons like the Glock 19, the HK416 with a 10.4" upper receiver, and the FN Minimi Para SAW, one per Interceptor, while a few men had an HK417 with a night vision device on the end of high-magnification scope. Each man wore an olive-green shirt and pants with a dark tan plate carrier and vest with the words "DIPLOMATIC SECURITY" written on the back while each man had a balaclava on with a tan FAST Ballistic Helmet on over it with a set of NVG's attached. Each uniform had the same SGC logo as the one on the diplomats' arm bands and a patch of their nation of origin with their left arm possessing the patch of their unique service of origin. It'd been decided the IOA wouldn't be using military personnel, due to the fact that this wasn't an embassy that was being established, which for the military men like Mitchell was a bit of a topic for concern, even if his superiors didn't mind the IOA footing the bill for the resources for this mission, and taking the heat if something went wrong.

"Well, that went pretty reasonably," Daniel said to Mitchell who just rolled his eyes over at Daniel.

"You've got us an interview with a Cylon…" Mitchell stated as they drove along a closed section of highway with a trio of Caprica City Police Department vehicles leading and three following them along with lights flashing, "And am I the only one who thinks it's weird that there's a humanoid Cylon?"

"Well we've dealt with the humanoid Replicators so it shouldn't be so shocking," Daniel shrugged.

"True, good point."

"Well, it's a sign the Cylons might be willing to be civil, which is always a good sign. Perhaps even a sign they're willing to bury the hatchet?"

"They're machines remember?" Cam reminded the man, "We shot a bunch of them not too long ago?"

"Yes I know," Daniel sighed, "But it's still a good sign."

"You know we're not gonna be letting her in here unobserved right?"

"No, I realize that. And I think I got it figured out," Daniel responded, "We can have her tailed from above by a cloaked 306. We find where she lives, and then beam in so we're having the talk on our terms."

"Oh, then yeah that can be done," Mitchell said after thinking for a second as the convoy of cars turned off the highway to begin heading out to their compound via the backroads through some of the built-up suburbs and outer business districts. The feel of the drive was not unlike the drives around Washington DC's outer reaches, which was somewhat unsettling for Mitchell who was used to offworld missions being more of a hike and a camping trip than a trip to the store. It was almost disappointing for what he'd been expecting, but he knew the civilian IOA staff were probably loving it.

"But anyway, the Colonials are pretty much as nice as we could have hoped. Although the Senator seems to have been a bit taken off guard by something. Not sure what though," Jackson said, referring to the other Jackson in their company.

"True enough," Mitchell nodded.

They began approaching their destination where there was quite a heavy presence of Colonial police officers and their cars' flashing lights. There was a whole cordon around the compound with Colonial police officers in what looked like riot gear. There were some civilians and reporters and their vans all around, taking pictures and video, and just wanting to be witness to the people of Earth in their new vehicles. The now-fortified gate was opened for them by the police officers wearing their black pants and white shirts and black patrol caps with them having a reflective vest on and a pistol on their duty belts and a few having a carbine of the same model used, and in some capacity, being phased out by the Colonial Fleet.

Inside the group was witness to a large walled compound whose white-washed walls were fifteen feet tall and had tall light posts spaced evenly along the length alongside a tall pole with naked mounting points for security cameras. This wall went all the way around and ended on the coast up on a high cliff with some terraced gardens facing downtown Caprica City with a large metal and concrete landing pad and a small marina down below it in a protected artificial cove of rocks piled up and covered by a concrete walkway. Mitchell had seen the plan for their security system, it was the same basic package used in US embassies across the world plus a few other odds and ends such as life signs detectors, an Asgard sensor suite, and a naquadah generator for powering the facility, although the facility came with its own power generator station which was fully-operational and had a connection with the main Caprica City power grid.

The compound had seven curving modern-looking apartment blocks within a subdivision of the compound with skybridges leading between one another. There was a primary diplomatic office building that was front and center, a water-treatment/waste management facility and desalinization plant, a small power facility, several evenly-spaced guardhouses against the perimeter wall with attached garages, a large enclosed parking garage for visitor parking, a smaller parking garage for embassy vehicles, and a recreation facility which included a pool, a cinema room, a gym, and a groundskeeper's building for managing the massive amount of gardens, hedges, trees, flowerbeds, lawns that circled the interior of the compound walls. These walls were solid blocks of concrete filled with compacted dirt twelve feet high and four feet thick with Gemenon-styled castle-like half-circle crenellations and interspersed with enclosed twenty-foot guard towers every two hundred meters with one-way windows hiding whether or not guards were present or if they had simple cameras. In front of the walls were ten-foot-deep and eight-foot wide concrete-lined ditches to provide an ascent of more than twenty feet to get to the top of these walls. The facility had two entrances, one for official entrance of state vehicles and general visitors' entrance, and a separate utility entrance. Both had reinforced gates and car-stoppers installed with checkpoints for security personnel to conduct inspections. These ditches were concealed from street-level by short hedges and flowerbeds with a black grating fence behind them. In its former life more than three thousand Gemenon diplomatic staff and embassy guards ran this place at peak efficiency compared to now where there were about two hundred fifty planned staff and guards for this Earth diplomatic presence.

"Awful big isn't it?" Mitchell noted as they pulled into the empty garage.

"Yeah…it is isn't it?" Daniel agreed as the car pulled into a parking spot alongside the others in front of it and the group began to get out and stretch their legs, ready to hit the sack.

"Senator," one of the senior security personnel walked over, "Odyssey is ready to begin beaming down our supplies and equipment, and the Colonials have cleared us to begin bringing in our 306's with additional support personnel. We should be up and running by morning."

"Excellent, proceed," the Senator said as he walked over towards Daniel and Cam, "Well gentlemen, what do you think?"

"A little ostentatious isn't it? Setting up in a former embassy sorta sends a message that might be misconstrued y'know," Daniel offered his opinion.

"That message will be clear by the time I'm done let me assure you of that. In the meantime, I think we should discuss this Cylon issue," the man crossed his arms, "What's your plan?"

"That Daniel and I should be the one to make first contact. We've done it dozens of times. We get an intro, and a statement of intentions and do so quietly, using Odyssey to follow her home and then we beam into the Cylon chick's place after hours when folks are asleep. That way if things go wrong we leave in the same way."

"And showing the Cylons our beaming capability?"

"Call it a warning, if the battle we won a month ago doesn't convince them then the fact we can appear where we want when we want will do it, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if we can beam people in…" Daniel explained.

"Then a nuke can also be sent. Not much they'd be able to do to counter it and they'd know it. So they'd have to listen to us."

"Placing them on the backfoot and putting us in the position of strength, there's hope for you yet Colonel," the Senator smirked, "And as a side note, you were right by the way, partially anyway, about how the Colonials view us. It's obvious a substantial portion of their government sees Earth being integrated into their federal system as their next big political goal, I have been hearing the Colonials bringing this up with all sorts of economic reasons, cultural reasons, and even a couple instances of unification being a religious matter," the Senator stated clearly and sincerely, "The situation will need to be handled very carefully. Our priority will need to be establishing ourselves as not just the equals of the individual planets but of the group as a whole."

"And probably not letting the Colonials know we're talking to the Cylons will be a no-brainer," Daniel replied.

"Actually…" the other Jackson tapped his chin, "It might not be such a bad thing to keep in our back pocket. I only heard the Cylons brought up once tonight, but from that conversation it seems the Colonials take for granted our subordinance to them in matters dealing with the Cylons. If we can make some tentative negotiations with the Cylons work, it would go a long way towards strengthening our sovereignty platform."

"That we don't need to ask their permission to talk to the Cylons?"

"Because Earth is its own sovereign entity it will speak to who it wishes when it wishes. It may upset them, but there's going to be a give and take with this episode either way. We just need to take care and only draw that card when it will be beneficial."

"It could be a trick you know," Daniel responded, "The Cylons may be trying to get us into negotiations so they can reveal that themselves to undermine our relations with the Colonials."

"I thought of that yes," the Senator nodded, "Which is why we will not meet on the Cylons' terms. We will maintain ourselves in such a way as to be able to deny it. Don't provide them with evidence of our talks."

"Sounds good," Daniel agreed.

"Alright, why don't you gentlemen get some sleep, we have some work to do in the coming days," the Senator nodded, effectively giving them a dismissal.

"You know why he's letting us handle the talks with the Cylons right?" Cam asked Daniel as they walked towards the exit sign.

"Because if something goes wrong he'll blame us? Of course."

Jaffa High Council Chamber, Dakara

Teal'c was back among his people and boy he had a lot to deal with thanks to a whole new Jaffa Chancellor's election. He and his people were still having great difficulty overcoming the customs and cultures instilled in them by the Gou'ald. Among those customs was trying to get many of the Jaffa to distance themselves from the feeling of "Might Equals Right" and to embrace the ideas of right and wrong being based upon basic rights for all beings and to settle grievances through arbitration, negotiation, and compromise rather than at the end of a staff weapon or a dagger. The constant crisis and dangers of the past years, whether they be the remaining Gou'ald, the Replicators, the Ori, or the Lucian Alliance had not done much to help the situation.

So Teal'c and Bra'tac were dealt a tough hand. Many of the more moderate council members had not done much to instill a lot of confidence from their people. This had paved the way for a group of what were in essence powerful Jaffa warlords to take up several crucial council positions. The most powerful of them was a former First Prime to the Gou'ald Kali and bore the golden skull of the System Lord who he'd once served and then personally executed when her Skull Guards had turned on her, captured her, and supposedly chained her to a large stone and dropped both from a cliff into the sea. His name was Koramon, an individual who was extraordinarily smart and clever, at least by Jaffa standards. He was known for wearing a flowing gold cape with golden-colored furs on his collar over his armor when he wore it, which was most of the time. The only time he didn't wear his armor was when he was in this chamber, giving Teal'c a constant stink eye. There were four other warlords in attendance as well, but none were former first primes, one having been a former servant of Lord Yu by the name of Drokan, the second being a former servant of Ares by the name of Sat'sun, the third being a former servant of Ba'al by the name of Har'uk, and the fourth and the weakest of the four warlords being another former servant of Ba'al by the name of Charum. But all five controlled or exercised substantial influence over around a third of the Free Jaffa's military might, and most of its generals.

These five warlords had been instrumental allies of the council during the fight against the Ori, in each case personally leading their warriors in raids and in open battle against the Ori crusaders. Koramon in particular was known for never losing a fight when he took the field. They'd held the line then, and were responsible for holding the line even to this day as the Lucian Alliance had grown in strength and influence, combating them head-to-head for several years, forcing the Lucians to back down and basically refuse from engaging in open combat with the Jaffa unless every conceivable circumstance was in their favor. Such was the extent of their success, including in providing jobs at shipyards and new factories for rebuilding the Free Jaffa's fleet of Hat'ak's that they were easily elected into the council seats that they currently held.

As Teal'c stepped in he saw Master Bra'tac approach him, and sensed that something was wrong.

"Tek matte, Master Bra'tac," Teal'c bowed to the older Jaffa, "Something is wrong?"

"I'm afraid so, the election, the first results are arriving. It is appearing as though Koramon is winning much more support than we had anticipated," Bra'tac stated.

"Is that so?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes, but, we are still maintaining a lead, but I am uncertain if it will hold."

"Good…" Teal'c nodded, glancing over at the clearly annoyed group of Jaffa strongmen who were visibly snarling as they read the reports of the latest election results. They weren't looking as promising at Teal'c had suspected they would. He was the front-runner, but Koramon was no more than a point behind him.

"I hope that Chulak's results provide you an extra edge. Because if Koramon and his supporters take control of the council we will be in great danger," Bra'tac said sternly.

"I know, the Taur'i have informed me that they worry about the possibility of Koramon's policies should he take power given his past statements on the humans of the galaxy being required to submit tribute to the Jaffa if they dwell in the territory of the Jaffa. The Taur'i would never stand for such a thing."

"Neither should you," Bra'tac reminded him, "Which is why we must prevail."

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded, and looked over his shoulder as he heard footsteps approaching. It was Koramon.

"Tek matte Teal'c," the man bowed his head respectfully, as was his nature. He'd always respected Teal'c and Teal'c in turn had always respected him, making the rivalry between them purely political, and not at all personal.

"Tek matte Koramon," Teal'c greeted the man cordially and reciprocated the gesture.

"I hear the vote is close, as expected," Koramon asked.

"Indeed, it is heart-warming that the Jaffa have embraced this new custom as well as we have," Teal'c nodded.

"The ability to choose one's own fate is never to be underappreciated," Koramon nodded.

"Agreed," Bra'tac said in reply, "I trust the results will be respected by your supporters however?"

"They will do as requested, they are warriors, as all good Jaffa are, as you know," Koramon quipped, taking a shot at the new political system in-so doing, "But I have another subject on my mind if you're willing to let the vote progress on its own for a moment. Please," the big man offered a hand to speak privately.

"Of course," Teal'c said and the three walked over.

"I have been hearing that you have been asking about a new human entity, the…Twelve Colonies of Kobol, yes?" Koramon asked quietly.

"I have made inquiries to the keepers of the different archives on behalf of Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said after a second.

"I have come across some information of this world, Kobol," Koramon said, making Teal'c look at him, his attention now focused.

"Do you?"

"I came across it in an ancient Gou'ald outpost on a planet once controlled by Sokar. The records in this outpost recall a great campaign waged on a world known as Kobol where a human entity had been thought to be preparing to launch an attack on the System Lords in the early days of our enslavement."

"The Gou'ald knew of this world?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes, it was supposedly the one world the Gou'ald had feared that wasn't of the Asgard. Sokar was the one who launched the campaign, and it seems as though the battle was so costly that he destroyed all record of it for fear the other system lords would try to take advantage of his temporary weakness," Koramon elaborated, "And that he believed that this world was the origin of the Stargates, and if word spread that the Gou'ald were not the gate builders then their divinity would be questioned. So, the battle was swept away, no songs, no legends, just this single report."

"The battle must have been costly indeed if Sokar feared the result of declaring his victory," Bra'tac replied.

"This partially because it was not a victory. The Asgard intervened and destroyed the remainder of Sokar's ships and destroyed his army. This allowed a reprieve for the human survivors to leave their world before the System Lords could return, and they vanished. Which begs the question," Koramon crossed his arms and looked to Teal'c, "Why has this ancient name now resurfaced after more than two thousand years? Is it possible the Taur'i have found these survivors? Is there another powerful human entity out there Teal'c? If you have any loyalty to your people you would tell us."

"You doubt my loyalty Koramon?" Teal'c cocked his head, calmly challenging the proposition of Teal'c's loyalty.

"One has to wonder brother, unless you have something to say."

"The Taur'i have indeed encountered a group of human worlds by this name. The Twelve Colonies of Kobol are a group of united human worlds who have since grown in strength. It is their belief that they are the long-lost brothers of the Taur'i and that they are as one people. But their fleets and armies do not appear to be the same ones that fought the Gou'ald of old."

"Does this not present a problem for the Free Jaffa? Earth is a problem as one world, but twelve more worlds of similar power and influence? Will we become nothing but underlings to the humans?"

"I can assure you that the Taur'i seek no alliances with these new humans, they themselves are treating them in the same manner as they treat us."

"And how do we know that brother? How do we know the intentions of the Taur'i are indeed sincere?"

"The Taur'i have spent much blood in keeping this galaxy free from evil and if it were not for the people of Earth we the Jaffa would still be in servitude to the Goa'uld."

"A speech we have heard many times, but one must ask the question. How long before we stop treating the Taur'i with reverence and treat them as equals, after all is that not what the Taur'i themselves claim they wish us to be?"

"To treat them as an equal does not provide room for insult Koramon!" Bra'tac snapped, "The Taur'i's motives may be confusing and contradictory. But they do not wish to dominate."

"It is true, the Taur'i does not wish for domination of anyone. Have they shed enough blood in the name of freedom to provide enough justification for this?"

"That remains to be seen," Koramon grumbled.

"Tel kol, Teal'c," a Jaffa warrior marched over carrying a staff weapon, placing a hand over his chest and bowed his head, "The vote tally for Chulak has arrived."

"Very well, we will continue this conversation later brother, for now we must bear witness," Teal'c took the opportunity to end the conversation to witness the vote counting process for validation.

The small group walked out, and they saw the group of four young Jaffa warriors walking with the locked chest held on a pair of poles between them while a single young dark-skinned Jaffa warrior walked at the lead of six Jaffa in front of the carriers and six behind them. All were young, less than twenty years old, none had the tattoos of a Gou'ald on their forehead, and only those carrying the chest didn't have a staff weapon in their hands while each was fully-armored with a Zat'nik'tel on their forearms. They appeared proud, dignified, and like proper warriors, although none had seen battle if they were anything like the young Jaffa in the lead of the group. His name was Ronac of Chulak, son of R'yac. He was Teal'c's grandson, a promising young warrior of eighteen who had certainly inherited his family's strength and skill as well as their exceptional charisma and leadership potential. R'yac had been Chulak's council speaker for quite some time, and this was the environment Ronac, who'd been named for Teal'c's own father, had grown up in and had tutored under Master Bra'tac, and had proven every bit as capable as his father and grandfather before him.

Teal'c couldn't help but hold his arms behind his back and beam proudly at the young warrior leading the vote tally securely to the gates of Dakara.

Then something caught his attention, a group of a dozen older Jaffa warriors were marching out to meet them. Leading them was Sat'sun, one of Koramon's strongmen. He came out with and Ronac held an arm up and the group of young Jaffa halted at the stairs where Sat'sun and his Jaffa were waiting. From this distance Teal'c could hear what transpired next.

"You have done well warriors, we will take the votes the rest of the way," Sat'sun declared.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, master," Ronac said as he looked at the man curiously and then at his fellow Chulak warriors, wondering what was going on.

"Jaffa!" Sat'sun ordered, the other young warriors visibly recoiling at the sudden declaration but not Ronac. He stood defiantly before the older and larger man, "You will abide by your elders and hand over the chest or face the consequences."

"I cannot do that, now, will you stand aside or shall I move you?" Ronac said with a slight grin, cool as a cucumber, almost seemingly trying to provoke the council member and his entourage he was so confident and eager for a fight.

If this was what the young Ronac intended, he succeeded because Sat'sun stepped forward to deliver a back-handed slap at the boy. But the older Jaffa vastly miscalculated something, Ronac wanted to fight someone like him for a long time. The election season had been bitter and insulting at times, anger was simmering between many of the Jaffa on opposing sides. Now, with a blow on its way Ronac had his opening and took advantage of it. Lifting his left hand Ronac blocked the blow with an open-palmed counter-blow and took hold of the cloaked arm and then rather viciously lifted a leg up and kicked Sat'sun in the back of the knee, the armored greaves he had on adding additional force and point to the blow causing the elder Jaffa to go to a knee and his entourage of Jaffa began reacting at this point. But he continued his assault and with both hands on his staff weapon he lifted and whacked Sat'sun directly in the chest with full force of the paddle-shaped butt of the weapon and launched his target's back flat onto the ground and Sat'sun could only lay there as Ronac's staff weapon's business end was pointed at his chin and opened, orange energy coursing out across the housing as it did so.

"Jaffa kree!" the others yelled and the two sides, one much older and the other much younger were now pointing staff weapons and zats at one another on the very doorsteps of the Free Jaffa Nation's rebuilt capital.

Teal'c, Bra'tac, and Koramon and several guards rushed down to the scene and arrived just in time. It was Teal'c and Koramon who stepped in and stopped the standoff before blood was shed.

"Jaffa! Kree tol!" Teal'c ordered, grabbing Ronac's staff and directing it into the air, and he saw Ronac's eyes flash in anger and then recognition as he obediently closed his weapon and as did his men.

"Kree shal!" Sat'sun snapped at Ronac as he and the other young warriors backed away and lowered their weapons, declaring his anger and desire for vengeance at the public slight to his honor.

"Kree chok!" Ronac defiantly replied, a dare to challenge him again.

"Kree shak nel!" Koramon now intervened, speaking to Sat'sun now, "What is this all about? Hmm?"

"I ordered these warriors to transfer the votes of Chulak to the guards of the council. Their duty is complete, he was insolent, he deserves discipline!" Sat'sun roared at Ronac.

"I am to bring the votes of Chulak before the assembled council and only then can they be assured to not be tampered with," Ronac stated firmly.

"How dare you!" Sat'sun stepped forward with fury in his eyes, but Koramon held an arm out, silencing the man and halting him.

"Your position does not make you immune from treachery old man!" Ronac called back, but was shocked when a back-handed slap silenced him. This time it had come from Teal'c, who was glaring at him.

"Ronac! You will show respect," Teal'c snapped at him and turned to Koramon, "We will discuss this matter after the votes have been tallied. To do so Ronac will complete the duty charged to him."

"Very well," Koramon nodded in agreement, and the group led the way inside and soon Ronac and the four Jaffa with the chest between them were laying it on a stone table and removed the two poles and the assembled Jaffa High Council came forward.

"Which planet does this chest represent?" Bra'tac asked in scripted style as they'd done a few times previously.

"This chest represents the planet of Chulak," Ronac declared.

"Present the High Council's seal to ensure that the vote has not been tampered with."

Ronac did so, opening the outer case with a key that he possessed and there was a single case with a thin foil of gold on the key holes on all four sides. The council members stepped forward to check for the seal's integrity and validity. Each world was given a single seal of adhesive foil-like material with the stamp of the Free Jaffa Nation emblazoned upon it to verify the case had been unopened and untampered-with since the voting had closed. They found all to be right with this one.

"The seal is genuine, and unbroken," Bra'tac declared and the others nodded in agreement, "Warrior, open the chest, present the voting crystals, and you will have completed your duty."

Ronac then nodded to the four chest bearers who turned and produced four unique keys which they inserted into each of the four sides and twisted in tandem, revealing several data crystals in the center of the case. Voting in the Free Jaffa Nation was relatively straight forward. The mechanism was a simple DNA scanner which had been programmed with all the different running candidates for position of Chancellor upon it as well as some other offices and positions. Each Jaffa voting would place their hand upon the scanner and then select their votes. The DNA sample would be taken and a small green dot would be placed upon their left hands' palms where the sample was taken from to insure no one tried double voting. Validating that no one with this green-dyed palm was voting again would be the local Jaffa warriors who always monitored the voting station carefully. The relevant data crystals imprinted with the vote tallies were then sealed and transported under heavy guard to Dakara. Any double-voting would be caught here at the initial counting when these crystals were removed and then plugged into a data recorder which tallied everything and brought any discrepancies to the fore such as if they had more votes than their districts had voters, if there were deceased individuals counted in the votes, and if there were double votes.

"The duty is complete," Bra'tac said as he and the others verified the crystals were there, "You have done well."

"Shal kek nem ron!" Ronac placed his fist against his chest, sounding off the now ubiquitous salutation of the Free Jaffa, which was echoed by the guard detail that had accompanied the chest and its contents and then the group, echoing the creed of the Free Jaffa.

The group then stood back, and the data crystals were removed and fed into the counting device, which began feeding the data into the large hologram of gold above the council's heads. The numbers were just what Teal'c had needed, the Jaffa of Chulak had turned in droves, and his votes outnumbered those of Koramon by a ratio of five to one, outvoting him by more than thirty million thanks to Chulak's loyalty. When Teal'c looked over the man Koramon looked at him, smirked, and gave a gracious nod. Chulak's numbers had been so overwhelming that the lead was now almost entirely insurmountable, or so it was thought. To many, Teal'c had won the election.

"And so the votes of Chulak are counted," Bra'tac declared, "We shall reconvene at the next planet's tally."

"Very well," Teal'c said as he now turned his full attention to Koramon, "There is much to discuss until then."

Teal'c marched over to Koramon and now let his full menace and strength show through.

"What was the meaning of the interference in the voting tally's guard?" Teal'c openly accused Koramon, making certain he had the ears of the council to hear him. This wasn't purely to get an answer, it was to back Koramon away from potentially protesting the results of the election.

"Is this how you celebrate victory brother Teal'c? By accusing your opponent of treachery?" Koramon held his hands behind his back and smirking as if this was something he'd wanted.

"Do you deny it?" Teal'c demanded.

"I do, what you are insinuating is dishonorable."

"How many of these tallies have you intercepted Sat'sun?" Teal'c asked.

"Tell him," Koramon said with a slight quip.

"This was the first. It was felt that it was you, and your Taur'i friends who would modify the votes," Sat'sun declared with venom in his voice, "After all, it is they who recommended the method we use now."

"You dare accuse me treachery!" Teal'c roared, stepping over at the Jaffa warlord whose supporters closed ranks around him and at Teal'c as Bra'tac held an arm out.

"Your grandson's behavior is evidence enough!" another council member pointed at Ronac.

Ronac snarled and stepped forward, and now drew a knife, ready to disembowel the man for questioning his honor.

"Enough!" Bra'tac roared, stepping in, "We will reconvene at the next vote tally. Calm your minds and hearts."

Teal'c snarled and turned and left, angered ever more by Koramon's smirk as he too turned and departed, his own party oddly satisfied. He grabbed Ronac and his warriors and walked to the side.

"Ronac, you will stay here, send one of your warriors back to Chulak with a message. Rya'c is to have a detachment of warriors made ready to travel to Dakara. I fear that Koramon will protest the election by force. Have them sent by twos and threes to not arouse suspicion."

"You suspect they will continue to try and intercept the votes?" Ronac asked.

"I do. You shall prevent it."

Kormoran I envision with Giancarlo Esposito, he just oozes charisma and danger, and could make for an interesting opponent to Teal'c in the Free Jaffa Nation.

And as for Ronac, who better to envision him as than Winston Duke, I loved him as M'Baku in the Marvel MCU, the guy's a fantastic actor and I can totally see him pulling off a Jaffa's noble bearing.