Chapter 14

Location: Caprica, Earth Embassy

Date: February 23, 2022

Time: 0930

What the Earth delegation was seeing developing was a massive culture, it was one that Dr. Jackson was having a challenging, yet enjoyable time trying to decipher. The development that the Twelve Colonies had gone through for their thousands of years of history was one that was difficult to fully map out, seeing as there were hundreds of thousands of archaeological histories across their dense gathering of populated worlds. But, there was still work to do, and Daniel was actually spending far more time watching TV here than he ever did back at the SGC or his apartment. It seemed that the rec room was fast becoming a popular place for the staff here to get a feel for what they were dealing with as far as the Colonials' popular culture was concerned.

The Earth delegation had been provided with and hooked up some top of the line Colonial computers and were provided a free connection to the Colonials' version of the internet. This system was connected across Caprica and connected to the sister colonies via a powerful wireless system link stations which the Earth delegation figured out was a very primitive form of subspace communications. It was not a perfect system, in fact it was fairly new, inefficient, and cumbersome, and according to the Colonial government who'd explained as best they could, it was in its absolute infancy.

It was a technology that had been derived from Cylon tech captured during their war and developed for thirty years before it was first prototyped commercially with two transmission centers, one on Caprica and the other on Leonis, while the Colonial Fleet had an older but limited system of communications for its ships that was greatly limited and needed relay stations and runner ships to keep it operational due to the limit of space and tech capability imposed by the Colonials' past aversion to networked communications. Still, according to what the Earth delegation was learning, it didn't take long before every colony had at least one governmental and one commercially-run transmission center, with newer, more efficient and more powerful ones being built to replace the old ones or supplement existing capability for high data traffic rates. Although the Colonials themselves found it to be pushing the envelope, only able to keep up with communications between the four stars of their local co-orbiting twin star clusters. But to Earth's delegation it was a godsend for them, even if live broadcasts for TV were shown in a two-minute lag. Although in comparison to the subspace communications in use by the SGC it was primitive.

Daniel was currently in what was effectively his temporary office with Mitchell, passing the time by watching a news talk show which was apparently now dedicated to talking about the political fallout of Earth returning. They had the usual familiar batch of talking heads on a concave table with news headlines down at the bottom scrolling past and the talking points highlighted above. The discussion that Daniel and Cam were subject to was one that was interesting them greatly, although it was definitely Daniel that getting more from this than Cam was, seeing as he was just waiting for the first Pyramid season opener game to get ready to kick off its pregame. So the two were watching this as the commercials ended, each one seemingly familiar with insurance, toys, drinks, cars, games, food, movies, TV shows, and everything in between being advertised like it was back on Earth. Then the news returned with its usual breaking news fanfare music and animation.

"Welcome back to The Desk here on the Four Stars News Network, where we've been talking about some of the political implications of the appearance of Earth here with our distinguished panel, I'm Damien Welran and welcome to the Hot Takes Hour," the lead man in charge of this assortment said, highlighting himself as the face of this segment of the news, "So, Adam," he now began, turning to an older man sitting across from him on the far right, "We've been learning new and interesting facts about Earth daily, almost hourly at times. It's been quite a period for headline news editors hasn't it?"

"That's for sure Damien, and it seems the most recent of those headlines is that Earth claims to have a population which would eclipse that of Canceron and by a massive margin. With a reported population of almost eight billion souls Earth could become a major new segment of the economy and depending on what the future holds Earth could forever tip the political balance in the Forum and the Quorum."

"Remember something Adam," a woman, younger, fairly attractive, and wearing a pantsuit of blue added, "Earth has stated firmly already it has no intention of abandoning its sovereignty. And if it's true that they have such a large population, equal to a third of the combined Twelve Colonies, it's not likely that that stance will change."

"Well I'm not so sure, remember that each of the Twelve Colonies never stated an intention to sign on with the Articles of Colonization," the old man replied stubbornly, "But each, including the imperial powers Virgon and Leonis who both refused to sign for years due to decades of bad blood between them signed along with the combative and unstable government of Tauron, the proud Caprican and their stubborn Gemenon rivals. Earth is so far making the same sort of noises as each of those worlds made before they too signed the Articles after deliberation and good sense inclined them to do so."

"You are omitting one key factor here Adam, the Cylons were the real reason for the Articles being signed by all the Twelve Colonies. Attempting to exclude that is incredibly disingenuous to fact," the woman snapped back.

"It's also worth noting that it provided avenues for the other colonies to be seen on equal ground, after all we have worlds ranging from six and a half billion people to fifty thousand," a third individual, a younger man, probably the youngest on the panel, stated firmly, "In the past so many of the colonies were preyed upon by the others that it made the Articles of Colonization necessary to prevent future wars within the colonies themselves. And it's worked. Earth would have to understand that record and see it as worth considering wouldn't they?"

"Earth has something we don't, potentially thousands of lightyears of space between themselves and the rest of the colonies. It's possible that they might control more territory than the combined Colonial homeworlds ever have. War is a distant possibility even if cause were to be provided, which so far it hasn't," a fifth person stated evenly, another older man, "As far as I'm concerned Earth's not signing the Articles of Colonization, it's just not a possibility."

"Now," Damien Welran piped up, "that does beg the question, what does that mean going forward? How does an independent Earth and its potential colonies interact with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol? Do we see a golden age of relations and trade begin as it was with Canceron and Aerilon? Or do we see something similar to how Gemenon and Caprica historically acted towards one another with animosity and distrust, triggering a potential cold war along with the one we currently have with the ever-present Cylon threat?"

"Oh without doubt Earth is going to view us with suspicion," the woman stated quickly, "Some of our planets' records are not so easily overlooked in terms of how they treated their neighbors."

"Why would they so quickly judge us based on that when the Sacred Scrolls place us together, back on Kobol?" the old man, Adam, stated quickly, showing Daniel and Cam that he and this woman were the two most politically opposite of each other, "Blood is thicker than water no?"

"Yet again Adam you're completely misrepresenting what the facts are, Earth left Kobol on its own, by some estimates centuries prior to the twelve tribes' own exodus. Don't you think if we were meant to be together that it would currently be the Thirteen Tribes of Kobol?"

"Let's not forget Earth, if they're telling the truth, could potentially be the evolutionary homeworld of humanity," Damien reminded everyone, "At least according to Earth's Dr. Jackson."

"I'll believe that when I see the physical evidence," Adam said sharply, clearly having a distaste for such a claim, "Even then it'll take something concrete to contradict what we find on Kobol when we return to investigate our origins ourselves."

"Do you not believe anything that a priest says is wrong?" the woman again snarked at the old man and soon a general melee began which certainly reminded Daniel and Cam of a few news outlets back home.

"Okay…so we've definitely set off some political and ideological debate, that's good," Daniel surmised, "At least some Colonials are okay with listening to us."

"But you have goofs like this guy who probably wouldn't recognize reason if it slapped him in the face," Mitchell told Jackson as the argument continued into a commercial break.

"Well that's not exactly something Earth's got the market cornered on, now is it?" Daniel shrugged and looked at his friend.

"Good point," Mitchell acknowledged as there was a knock on Daniel's door.

"Gentlemen," it was the voice of the security detail head, a senior special agent from the DSS, "There's something you oughta see."

"Sounds ominous…" Daniel said as he clicked the remote and turned the TV off and followed the man down to the command center which was being used by the security personnel.

There was a sense of ominous anticipation, the personnel were there, hovering around some computer screens which were uplinked to the Odyssey and their patrolling U-306's. It was a serious moment as they came over to one of the mains screens where they could see some sensor data of one of the Colonial worlds, and a half-screen which had Brigadier General Carter's image in it, back at the SGC.

"Hey Sam," Daniel greeted her.

"Hey Daniel, having fun?" Carter smiled to him.

"He sure is, what's the story general?" Cam asked.

"One of the Odyssey's scout craft did a scan of the world the Colonials call Aquaria," Carter told him.

"The ice world, the least populated," Daniel reminded Mitchell.

"Oh that one," Mitchell nodded.

"So one of the SGC's priorities is to get an idea what sort of nuclear arsenal the Colonials possess. So the 306's have been scanning every world in the system to figure out where the Colonials stockpile their nuclear weapons and materials and to ascertain what kind of capability their warheads may have. We need to know if we're dealing with small nukes or if they have something like a Mk. VIII or a Mk. IX, and a few minutes ago we got an answer."

"What're we looking at?" Mitchell asked, looking at the zoomed-in picture of box-like snow-covered buildings along a rocky coastline with an iceberg-coated bay in front of it.

It was massive, the size of a medium-sized town. It was situated on an island in the north pole region of the planet. There was a series of facilities with a ring of solid walls and fences around it interspersed with metal towers topped by solid dome-like structures that the Earth team couldn't figure out yet. Their scans indicated that there was even a space port on the one flat section of the island leading into a secure hangar which was meant for handling the arrival of military vessels and had a substantial number of life signs on the premises. Due to the inhospitable nature of the island it was on, it was clear that it was an incredibly-important facility to the Colonials, who'd burrowed down into the rocky and mountainous interior and carved out a goliath underground complex for it, connected by a series of both above-ground roads and potentially an underground rail network and/or road below.

"We believe that it's Colonial nuclear weapons storage facility. We've been scanning it in detail and we're getting some worrying signs. The facility is used for maintenance of warheads and storage judging by the scans we've conducted already. Thanks to our Asgard scanners we're able to take a very good look at the facility, even able to get a good idea of the capabilities of individual warheads."

"And we aren't liking the numbers are we?" Daniel surmised.

"We've detected more than five thousand individual warheads which range from two hundred kilotons to a hundred megatons, and that's what's at this facility alone. But what we're worried about are located here," Carter typed in a command, zooming in on an underground section of the facility's sizeable underground storage bunkers and elevators and corridors, "There's almost a thousand warheads with gigaton-level yields and five hundred warheads that have calculated yields of ten gigatons and…eighty warheads with a calculated yield of as much as fifty gigatons. These big ones are all naquadah-enhanced warheads, nearly identical in design to our Mk. VIII and Mk. IX, I double-checked the calculations myself. The ten gigaton types we're able to identify as being small enough to be fighter-launched, these others are huge, fully-capable of being used as gate-busters inside something the size of a big ICBM."

"Eighty gate-busters," Daniel grumbled, knowing the problem that a nuclear standoff could pose.

"This could be a problem then," Mitchell surmised, "Have we seen these placed aboard their ships?"

"Only the smaller types, it seems like every Colonial Battlestar and cruiser carries as many as a hundred and fifty various warheads. But we haven't seen the big fifty gigaton ones before, nor have we seen the method of deployment for these."

"Could they not be in active service?" Daniel asked, "Like a long-term storage thing like we do with our decommissioned nukes?"

"Maybe," Carter shrugged, "It only makes sense judging by the sheer volume of nuclear weapons that seem to be in storage here."

"We need to know, if the Colonials have a facility like this one on each of their planets then that's a nuclear arsenal we cannot just assume anything about," Mitchell replied.

"So what do we do?"

"Call the Senator down here, we gotta talk," Cam told the security head.

"Alright."

"In the meantime, we need to find out what other warheads the Colonials have stockpiled, where, and if there are more of these big ones lying around somewhere. And we need to know how they deploy them."

"What worries me Cam is that if the Colonials go out into the galaxy and encounter something like Naquadria with their knowledge of nuclear weaponry we could see something like our Mk. IX in the hands of a potential near-peer adversary in short order."

"Can a Mk. IX do any damage to the fleet?"

"Well…we've never really considered being on the receiving end of a Mk. IX. I can run some calculations, but in terms of an initial estimate a Mk. IX probably has the capability to make a mess of our shields, and if one gets through, there's nothing in this universe that I can think of that a Mk. IX can't vaporize."

At this point the door opened and Senator Jackson walked in, not wearing his suit or tie, but was on the phone, listening intently to the voice on the other end as he entered. But this silence didn't last long.

"Yes Mr. President, I understand," he said quickly, "I assure you Mr. President the Colonial government has been quite cooperative and receptive to potential trade opportunities. Yes Mr. President if we're to make such treaties we will need to have a merchant fleet able to fulfill the requisite shipping role. Yes sir, the IOA's been drawing up such merchant fleet plans for quite a while. I can have them ready for presentation at your earliest convenience. Yes sir, we can make that work, alright Mr. President we'll talk soon," the Senator said, pleased as punch with himself and the situation as he hung up the phone, "Well gentlemen, what's the big hullabaloo about?"

"Senator, we've gotten some intel from the Odyssey's scout craft, something you should be aware of," Mitchell told him, pointing to the screen in front of him with Carter's face still on it.

"Ah, General Carter," the other Jackson greeted her.

"Senator," Carter nodded.

"So what's the important intel then?"

"Sir, we've conducted a scan of the planet Aquaria, and we've located a facility there which we believe to be a very large and important nuclear weapons storage facility," Carter explained.

"In this one alone we've detected more than six thousand five hundred nuclear weapons ranging from two hundred kiloton tactical nukes to multiple gigaton warheads on par with our Mk. VIII's. And we know the Colonials are too smart to put all their eggs in one basket," Mitchell said as he saw the senator's face go white at the mention of nuclear weapons, "If every one of their planets has something even remotely comparable to this facility we're looking at a nuclear arsenal that's possibly running past a hundred thousand nukes."

"This is something that the IOA will definitely need to know," the man sighed, nodding in agreement at the significance of such information, "Thank you for letting me know."

"But…there's something we'd like to ask, can you see if you can ask about the Colonial nuclear arsenal, to see if these gate-buster-type warheads are active or decommissioned?"

"The Colonial government may not even have acknowledged these warheads' existence to their own public. So to discuss it with them openly could back their negotiations team into a corner they hadn't anticipated being in. I'm not willing to compromise that. Nor should we reveal our technical ability to discern such detailed intelligence," he pointed at the screen, "And there's another problem. If we ask about warheads of that size they'll discern we have equally-sized weapons, and it could prompt them to further stockpile these super nukes. That is definitely an undesirable outcome."

"There might be another way…" Mitchell opined, going out on a limb, "If we can get eyes onto these warheads we might be able to figure out their status as being ready reserve or decommissioned. With our Asgard beaming tech and some Sodan Cloaking Devices we should be able to get in undetected."

"Hold on, the Sodan cloaks were recalled because they let those nasty leach things into our dimension weren't they?" Daniel reminded Mitchell.

"Yeah, but inside a bunker like this there shouldn't be any problem with them attaching to an animal and becoming a monster like what we dealt with. From our study of the creatures we know that they'll be dead within hours without water or a host body to sustain them," Carter stated in agreement, "The danger is absolutely minimal."

"You know what you're asking don't you? To infiltrate such a facility could be construed as an attack upon the Colonial nuclear arsenal, an act of war by any definition," Jackson informed them all, but then returned his eyes to the screen, "But…" he shook his head, wrestling with the facts of the situation before him, "It could be even more dangerous to assume anything, especially when dealing with weapons of mass destruction of this scale."

"And who knows what else could be down there, bioweapons, chemical agents, any WMD level threat has to be accounted for if we're to go down any sort of road with the Colonials," Mitchell further pressed the issue.

"I'll speak with the IOA council. Have a plan ready to present by the time they ask for details," the Senator turned to him.

"SG-1 can handle it," Mitchell nodded.

"Cam…I need to talk to you and Daniel about that, on a private line," Carter sighed.

"Sure Sam," Daniel nodded, "Senator."

"Of course," the other Jackson nodded back to him, "Oh before you leave Dr. Jackson, the IOA's discussed the Cylons' offer. We're going to pursue it. After the initial exhibitions are concluded we're going to approach the Colonials and offer to mediate a peace."

"Oh good," Daniel said with a great deal of relief and satisfaction, "How are we going to do that?"

"I've been entrusted to handle that by the IOA and by the President, go ahead and go talk to General Carter. Oh, and make sure you're ready when we head out to the exhibition tonight."

Location: Chulak, Home of Rya'c

Teal'c was walking up to his son's residence, a relatively new building which he'd bought and built himself which was pretty nice, being similar in construction to a Roman villa but with three stories. But, there was something wrong and O'rek was the first to notice it as the column of warriors behind them marched loudly, signaling their presence to everyone nearby, although it seemed as though no one was anywhere, the streets had been oddly deserted.

"Something's wrong," O'rek stated as he looked around, grasping his staff weapon in both hands in readiness for something his instinct was telling him.

"Indeed," Teal'c said in agreement as slowly the rest of the Jaffa went into a new state of alert, and he continued to lead the way forward, finally coming into sight of the doors to Rya'c's house where two Jaffa stood guard, "Be on your guard."

O'rek whispered something to his brother and Ronac nodded and narrowed his eyes. The two stayed close to their grandfather, ready for something that O'rek had pointed out as they reached the door.

"My lord," the older of the two guards bowed his head and clapped his fist against his armored chest.

"Open the door immediately," Teal'c said coarsely, making the two guards look at one another for a moment. But this glance the two shared with each other was all that Ronac and O'rek needed, because from behind Teal'c came two zat shots and dropped the two without a word being said, "Ronac! O'rek!"

"They are not Jaffa," O'rek said as he walked over with his zat in one hand and his staff weapon in the other, "Look," he said and placed his zat back into its holster and then took his hand with one finger did a quick swipe on the forehead of the Apophis-marked 'Jaffa', and everyone bore witness to the black mark smearing immediately.

"No Jaffa our age bears the mark of a false god," Ronac nodded, "Our father's security is compromised."

"Then prepare yourselves," Teal'c told them and then kicked in the door and the three were the first inside, followed immediately by the escorting Jaffa that came in right behind them, weapons levelled.

The entryway was clear as they moved into the dark interior where only the light of the lanterns on the wall and the fire basins by the columns were burning. The warriors entering were primed and amped up for a fight, knowing that this was a very dangerous situation. But Teal'c and his grandsons were terrified within their stone-cold exteriors, worried for Rya'c and Kar'yn. The two younger men were making a beeline for their father's chambers with Teal'c right behind them. They managed to reach the door without incident, and without running into anyone, no guards, real or fake, no doctors, no one. It struck them as strange until Ronac kicked in the door and rushed in, but when the big Jaffa did he found himself clubbed in the shin as he rushed forward. The man fell onto the rug at the foot of his father's bed, and then the same staff that had hit him swung up and dropped O'rek right back onto his back but when the assailant swung at Teal'c he simply lifted his hand up and caught the offending weapon and held it still.

"I see you have not lost your warrior's spirit my daughter," Teal'c smiled to Kar'yn, the former Hak'tyl warrior whom Rya'c had fallen in love with and married, apparently her sons breaching her room wasn't something she appreciated in her current mindset.

"Teal'c?" the mother of his grandsons said, lowering her guard.

"Indeed," Teal'c said, now serious and ignored his two grandsons picking themselves up off the floor and made his way to his son's side, and saw that Rya'c was indeed in rough shape.

He had a bandage wrapped around his head which appeared freshly-changed and several bandages around his arms and chest. It wasn't anything too worrying from initial analysis, but Kar'yn knew otherwise.

"The doctors have said he is in a coma. He hit his head when he fell in the blast, they say he is beyond our skills, I fear he may not regain consciousness…" Kar'yn sighed shakily as she crossed her hands over one of Rya'c's while she returned to sitting at his side.

"There are those whom I can summon for aid. The Tok'ra may be able to help with one of their healing devices."

"I'll go," O'rek said quickly.

"No, it should be me," Ronac countered.

"Silence," Kar'yn snapped at her boys, making them stand rigidly and unconsciously stepped backwards once, they too, the grandsons of the mighty Teal'c of Chulak, feared their mother's wrath, "Will they come?"

"Yes, I have many friends among the Tok'ra, with no wars to fight they have done the Jaffa many good deeds as we have done for them," Teal'c nodded.

"I hope for Rya'c's sake he can be healed, if I lose my husband Teal'c…I will have vengeance."

"Worry not, for he is strong," Teal'c stood proudly, being strong for her, and their family, "Ronac, O'rek, you will go through the Chappa'ai to the Tok'ra, and you will seek a healer for your father. Say that Teal'c of Chulak asks for this favor."

"Kel sha," Ronac and O'rek replied at the same time.

"Take six warriors. It is no longer safe, and have the false guards brought to the courtyard, I shall interrogate them myself," Teal'c said, his voice holding every bit of anger and ominous danger he'd ever had as First Prime, and began stalking out of the room as no less than ten Jaffa took station inside the room and outside the room, guarding Rya'c. Waiting for him were two very scared individuals on their knees in the courtyard, hands bound in front of them.

The young Jaffa and now some older Jaffa who were specifically loyal to Teal'c and his family as well as to Bra'tac were now crowded in, their staff weapons a complete porcupine of menace surrounding the two as Teal'c stepped out of the crowd. The fear in the eyes of the two young humans was not at all going to sway Teal'c as he held his arm holding his staff weapon out and a nearby Jaffa took it from him and he directed his full attention to these two.

"You have made a grave mistake, and for this you shall answer. But first…you will answer my questions. You may resist at first," Teal'c said as he began pacing around them, slowly and deliberately, "But rest assured," he stopped and leaned between them, feeling them tensing in fear, "I will have the answers I seek…"

Already moving at a jogging pace O'rek and Ronac were rapidly moving back towards the Stargate. The night was bitterly cold and their breath was visible as they ran on the well-worn trail downhill. Six other Jaffa, their closest companions, were with them. Their heavy armor didn't weigh upon them as adrenaline and dedication to duty and family in this, their first great trial as warriors, was upon them. But as they ran Ronac noticed something, a cart in the trail in front of them. It was unaccompanied, no farmer, no merchant, no draft animals. O'rek was the first to notice the strangeness of it, especially considering a small lantern glowed from the front of the single-axle vehicle which has a blanket thrown over the top of whatever was inside.

"What's this doing here?" Ronac pointed as the two came up close and stopped about ten feet away.

"Has the owner stepped into the woods to relieve themselves?" one of the other Jaffa asked.

"I don't think so…" O'rek mumbled and strained his ears to listen intently, and then, off to the side, slightly uphill, there was a sound of shuffling amongst the thick coniferous tree limbs. Then, a sight of movement as figures in black began to edge small box-like weapons through the limbs, "Down!"

At this point O'rek grabbed his older brother, and shoved him sideways, and the two tumbled down the rocky hill, and then came the tearing sound of a familiar weapon, gunfire. Sparks and bits of metal showered from the armor of their compatriots who fell without firing a shot. The two brothers continued to fall until they reached the bottom, collected themselves and then snagged their staff weapons as their attackers charged over to the edge and began to descend after them, some of their number firing down from on high to cover their fellows. The two Jaffa were quick to reply in kind, Ronac dropping to a knee behind a tree and raised his weapon up against the trunk and fired, the plasma blast sending one assailant tumbling down the rocks and dislodged his weapon, which O'rek saw, it was a P90, a weapon of the Taur'i. But, the attack continued, leaving no time to ponder as O'rek sprinted and dove behind a large fallen tree trunk and raised his weapon and began firing.

His brother likewise charged in after him as O'rek expertly picked off another hostile as he reached ground level, killing him instantly and the others, now seen to number four others in black vests and olive green uniform coats and pants and boots with their faces covered, likewise joined the engagement. The flashing of their P90's and the tearing sounds of the gunfire was quick and sharp, impacting and tearing at the tree the two Jaffa took cover behind as they advanced. But the Jaffa warriors were good, very good. To be the grandsons of Teal'c and gifted students of the great Master Bra'tac entailed them to a certain degree of formidable fighting prowess. This was something their opponents found instantly. The two Jaffa were quick to assume their fighting stances and began to low down constant and accurate staff weapon fire, the orange blasts zipping out and impacting the trees of their opponents who took cover and Ronac took care to begin picking apart his targets.

His first target he caught in the chest, spinning him around and blasted a hole through his back through to his chest with a second shot as a bullet pinged off his shoulder plate and he leveled his staff at another target, firing and killing this man as well, but he'd found O'rek had already dealt with the others. O'rek was more clever, using the power of his staff he fired into the ground near his enemies' feet, causing them to stumble clear of their cover, and a single shot killed his first target, and the blast passed clean through to his comrade behind him, dealing with both targets. The last two saw this, and rather than continue to fool-hardily engage their instinct was to run, disappearing into the forest.

But the two grandsons of Teal'c were not going to be deprived of victory. They now pursued, plunging into the forest where their targets had vanished, and were soon within sight. Both had removed their zats from their forearms, and were wanting their quarry alive. When they saw their first one Ronac lifted his weapon and fired, but missed high, causing both to turn and fire. This in turn made Ronac and O'rek split apart, taking cover and fired their zats, which again missed but made their opponents continue to run, moving through the thick forest, but one was caught square in the back by O'rek who went down quickly and with a groan of pain. However he was quick to continue firing but O'rek was quick to fire into the man again, this time killing him. Ronac apparently saw an opportunity with the second man, taking a different route.

Their target was now panicking, scared and running aimlessly through the woods. Leaves smacked him in the face as he ran, but something far more sturdy now met the man's skull as the butt of Ronac's staff weapon swung violently from seemingly nowhere and the man flipped backwards, landing painfully and looked up at a very enraged Jaffa. The last thing he saw that night was Ronac's boot enveloping his vision and knocking him unconscious.

Location: Caprica, Earth Embassy

"So what's up Sam?" Cam asked her.

"Colonel…due to pending organizational changes to the SGC and Homeworld Defense, SG-1's being inactivated, effective immediately."

"What?!" Mitchell scoffed, leaning forward with his hands on the desk next to Daniel.

"This isn't specifically aimed at you, every SG Team will be inactivated in phases as the SGC reorganizes and prepares for declassification and public disclosure of the program's existence. This first phase is going to hit us hard, a third of all teams are going to be inactivated starting next week and reassigned. The next third we'll lose in six months, and the last of the teams will go in a year."

"How in the Hell is the SGC going to do its damned job then?"

"The Joint Chiefs believe that with the fleet at the size it's at that the SGC can be temporarily reduced while funding is reallocated to preparing for disclosure," Carter told them, "The theory is that combined with a lowered exposure to potentially-new threats the resources and tech we have a temporary draw-down can safely be made up for and handle whatever threats are out there."

"Wait, so the SGC's going public?" Daniel asked, "I would have thought the SGC would grow, not shrink."

"It will, but there's a massive amount of prep work for disclosure that needs funding, and the IOA's afraid of letting the cat of the bag early. Once disclosure is completed far more resources are going to be put into the SGC and Homeworld Defense, our SG Teams are going to be reformed to a new standard to reflect that. We're moving to a new model, squad-sized military elements and a more rounded scientific team forming two sub-teams under the same name. Basically the teams will wear the same patch, but they'll have a more specific assignment, the military element will officially be known as Stargate Recon Teams, for SG-1 it would be SG/R-1. The civilian element for SG-1 will be known as Stargate Exploration Team One, SG/E-1."

"When's this going to happen?" Mitchell inquired.

"A date's going to be established at the next G20 summit, but expect it to happen next year. As such, Colonel Mitchell, you're going to be assigned to the Delta Site, which is going to serve as our primary base for our large-scale offworld military operations and training. Daniel, the IOA's asked for you to be made program director for training civilians in offworld operations and protocols, also to take place at the Delta Site."

"Wait, we're both going to be going to the Delta Site?"

"That's right, the new training pipeline's going to need experienced leaders to mold the next generation, you two are the only ones the SGC and IOA agree on."

"Does this include the Quick Reaction Forces?"

"We're renaming it to the Stargate Strike Team Initiative, the team acronym will be SG/S. These are going to be company-sized elements that will fall under the SGC's direct command, same as the SG Teams. Basically they'll operate on stand-down and ready phases directly reflected with an SG Team's status. Unlike SG Teams these elements will have access to built-in vehicle complements with MRAP's for facilitating rapid transport and UAV's and UGV's for advanced reconnaissance."

"Sounds like it's everything we've ever wanted for the SGC," Mitchell grumbled, still trying to mentally wrap his head around losing his command and witnessing the SGC he knew and loved change so drastically.

"It's believed that enlarging all teams and creating specialized teams under the same umbrella is what will best be able to keep the SGC relevant. The exploration team is going to be doing what they've always done, except with more people able to do more jobs at the same time. The military contingent is the most flexible, it'll be there to conduct security and escort, threat assessment, and if needed direct military action against specific high value targets," Carter explained the new SGC's future organization.

"So that's what I'll be laying the groundwork for at the Delta Site?" Mitchell asked.

"You and Daniel's experience makes both of you the ideal choice."

"Okay, and what about these strike teams, what's the story there?" Mitchell asked.

"The strike teams are task forces whose whole lot in life is to supplement the recon teams and conduct large-scale operations in support of them and in protecting Earth's interests. With the advent of the fleet's growth we can commit those kinds of resources more safely with the ability to support them from orbit and reliably counter hostile orbital assets."

"That's all well and good Sam, but what about the mission here?"

"We'll have to tag in another team," Carter told him honestly.

"Who?" Daniel wondered.

"Well…we don't know yet. I'm fighting to keep whatever SG Teams I have left, we're going to be running on a skeleton crew as far offworld-capable assets for some time while disclosure preparations commence."

"So when are they going to begin?" Daniel asked.

"It's already begun."

Location: Picon, Colonial Fleet Headquarters

"So you're telling me that this stone ring is an FTL drive?!" Fleet Admiral Nagala scoffed as he read the report from his head of intelligence, Admiral Tragan and his R&D chief, Colonel Freyje.

"No sir, from what we've been able to determine from initial sensor data is that it possibly operates on a similar principle, just far, far more advanced," Colonel Freyje replied, "Such as its actual composition."

"Which is why we've detected Tylium in the thing? Because Tylium is extremely powerful in its purified but unprocessed form?"

"Which is why we have to use the reactor process we do for activating an FTL, yes sir," Freyje nodded, "We have noticed that the FTL signature of our ships actually has more similarities to the ring than the sensor readings we've gotten from Earth's FTL systems. Which to me says that we're dealing with two very different types of technologies."

"Some might say one is technology and this," Nagala placed down the paper, and tapped it for effect, "Is the work of the Gods."

"No sir, it isn't. It's technology, our working knowledge of FTL and some of our inquiries with Earth reveal this to be the truth. But, this ring, it has another fact that many aren't realizing yet. And why we need to get it securely in military hands, now," Admiral Tragan now spoke.

"Which is why you barged into my office I assume?"

"Marcus," Tragan said, using Nagala's first name, seeing as the two were indeed long-time colleagues. He leaned forward, having something very important to reveal, "The ring is a creation of Kobol. According to an anonymous passage of the Sacred Scrolls it is said that the Lords of Kobol created bridges amongst the stars. Many have inferred it to mean that they built ships. And that's the common theory. But it seems obvious now that passage referred to the ring, the Ring of the Lords is the bridge amongst the stars. And it doesn't just go to Kobol, as we indicated earlier, it goes elsewhere."

"Elsewhere? What sort of elsewhere?"

"Tens of thousands of permutations are possible, each reflecting a different set of coordinates. The ring could be our ticket to discovering what else is out there in the galaxy not just Kobol."

"You're telling me we have a portal to potentially tens of thousands of planets, with all the unknowns that entails, right on the President's back door?!" Nagala snapped, realizing the gravity of it.

"It isn't the unknown that worries me, it's the fact Earth's got an operational understanding of it, and has sent a diplomatic team through yes, but they also sent a whole convoy of vehicles. What's to stop the ring from letting them send a Godsdamn nuke? The President's security detail's good, but they're not gonna be able to protect him or Caprica City from what could come through that. We have to convince the President to let the military seize the ring and secure it where it can be studied and where the risk it poses is minimized."

Nagala breathed through his nose heavily sighing as he did so, "We do that and it could be seen as a move by Earth to cut off their people. It could invite them to send a frakking fleet, and you're the one who told me we cannot let the public see how outmatched we are by Earth's ships. If they decide to show that off there's nothing we have that we can is comparable."

"If we have to make concessions then we can make them, but the ring has to be moved, immediately."

"Alright, I'll make the case to the President," Nagala nodded, "And…I'll make the case to begin the study and use of the ring. Have any potential locations for pitching this project's tent?"

"Aquaria, we have some old R&D centers buried deep in the Northern Frozen Mountains, they kept many of our most sensitive projects safe during the war, it's the best we've got."

"Alright, have any idea what sort of resources it'll require?"

"Lots, I've already picked out some of our best operators and engineers. This project…it could be the biggest thing we've done since rediscovering FTL. Earth's obviously out there, we need to get out there too."

"Agreed, let's get it done."