I'll have a more in-depth author's note at the end of the chapter. For now enjoy this delayed update.

Chapter 16

Location: Caprica, Earth Embassy

Date: February 28, 2022

Time: 1630

Senator Jackson was standing in the main atrium of the Earth embassy, overseeing some recent decorative touches that the IOA was putting out for their soon-to-occur hosting of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. They had a great deal of work yet to be done, but the bulk of the work was completed. He'd seen to it that the IOA had a full suite of short documentary introductions based on the different continents of Earth, further subdividing into the different countries of the IOA member states. The council had assembled special task groups to discuss how to show such cultural items as history, sports, and other subjects. There was also a first-night plan to use some nature documentaries such as the critically acclaimed "Planet Earth" and "Blue Planet" series as well as some other series that specialized in certain continents. They had to lean on, of all things, Youtube to get some of their material, seeing as copyright law required them to get permission to use some of the main entertainment companies that the military categorically refused to let the IOA even approach.

Although the Senator and the other IOA hierarchs had poured over the events planned for more than a month, examining every second of these community-made videos for any sort unacceptable mistakes of lack of quality. So it left Jackson's staff to just oversee execution of the physical preparations while he worked on a handful of more dramatic projects dealing with disclosure. This was what he was on the phone dealing with now.

"Yes, yes Mr. President, I would agree that the container ship designs would be our prime civil building priority…Well sir we have several locations selected near Dallas, Miami, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oakland, and Green Bay for hull construction and sub-contractors can be selected for subcomponent manufacturing at a later date…Yes sir I think the job futures numbers will be incredible once we break ground on the first colonies…A name, well sir the IOA's just calling the first few worlds Phase One, the Air Force has a name for each world, as you know, Alpha through Epsilon…oh, okay uh…we have another dozen planets selected for Phase Two. The current time table we're looking at is to break ground on our first infrastructure and farms in 2024. Yes sir, real exciting, but as far as names go my staff is lobbying pretty hard to call the Phase One and Two colonies the Inner Colonies…I don't know sir, some sort of video game or movie reference. Okay sir, I think that's all we had on the docket today, yes Mr. President we'll talk again on Wednesday."

As the man spoke this whole time four of the new members of the embassy staff, chosen for the assignment specifically, had walked over to him while he paced idly. There were four people standing here with their bags, two being rather senior and two being obviously more junior. These four had come in aboard the Hammond a couple days ago to enlarge their staff. There was a Britain, an American, a Greek, and a Russian. But it was the American who Senator Jackson had more of an eye for. This was obviously a given since she was his own daughter.

Brenda Jackson was a unique character at the IOA, being there since before her father had. However anyone who knew her was not the least bit surprised when she eventually gained her own position in the IOA as a skilled negotiator and diplomat. She'd been a rising star early having started a year early in school and then graduated a year early from an elite private school in Virginia at sixteen, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard at twenty, and then went to work for the US State Department's Foreign Service for five years, traveling to a dozen countries and earned her rank as a Foreign Service Specialist within two years and was about to earn a spot as a Foreign Service Officer in the US embassy in Athens before she was brought on by the IOA whose radar she'd found herself on. Now, officially an FSO assigned to the US's IOA delegation was certainly qualified for the job she'd been tapped for.

The young blonde was easily underestimated by those who didn't know her seeing as to many she was a dead ringer for a stereotypical spoiled hot blonde who cared more for her tan and wardrobe than her responsibilities. But she used that, frustrating quite a few colleagues by her penchant to doll herself up and then crush would-be flirtation by the same people across the table from her. Then, she would then get what wanted from them with considerable guile and a rather cutthroat style that had gotten her noticed by the IOA in the first place. However, despite all this, it was Brenda's first time going offworld, alongside many in this group.

Normally the SGC would have prevented such a massive deployment of so many personnel who hadn't passed their weapons training courses, but given that the IOA had gotten multiple heads of state on their side they were given the same treatment as diplomats would back on Earth. This group of four was set to be given its own assignment, their destination Virgon.

"Hello Alex, good to see you," Senator Jackson greeted the British man warmly with a hearty handshake as he walked over.

"Nice to be welcome Henry," the Brit said back as the Senator gave the others equal handshakes but reached his daughter who he was particularly glad to see.

"Brenda," he came over and gave his daughter a hug and a kiss on the cheek which she reciprocated in turn.

"Hi daddy," the young woman smiled back.

"Well, I see you've all gotten out of quarantine, no problems?" the Senator inquired of the group, who'd just arrived after spending their requisite time aboard the ship to be sure they didn't introduce any Earth diseases to the Colonials.

"No problems whatsoever," the Brit replied.

"Good, good, now, I take it you four are ready to hear the details of your assignment?"

"Considering we've lost time in quarantine, let's have at it old boy," the British diplomat, a former Special Boat Service officer-turned SG Team Leader-turned recent diplomat by the name of Alexander Beverly.

Beverly was a long-time veteran of the UK's involvement in the Stargate Program, the first team leader to take a British team through the gate and then was convinced to join the IOA after the recent shake-up at the international body. He had been very good for the IOA, being a reasonably-honest and well-respected mediator for the more disagreeable voices to hash things out when he saw the need to assist resolve such issues. This proud record had meant that Mr. Beverly was a fine choice for the IOA to send on this supporting mission. He also satisfied the SGC's request for someone that they trusted to be in a senior IOA position in the Colonial diplomatic mission.

To Senator Jackson the other two individuals, a young Greek man and a young Russian woman, he knew to be very capable and each spoke several at least three languages, were pretty inconsequential short-term but their specialty as economic diplomats were going to be important long-term. They were there to get an appraisal of the economy of the Colonial homeworld they were going to be invited to, Virgon. Meanwhile, Brenda and Mr. Beverly were there to get a more political picture drawn up for what Virgon would be like to deal with in the future. All four would then together file a report on the feasibility of establishing a consulate on this world. This was likely anyway as a gesture of good faith and by preventing discord between the different Colonial worlds who had some bad blood in the past. Although the more recent unification and common genocidal enemy had been a good bandage to heal old wounds between the planets.

Hence, the group's presence here for their briefing with him on some of the minutia alongside Dr. Daniel Jackson who'd stayed up doing quite a bit of research on the Virgonese and their planet's history. They had a small conference room already prepared for this, completed with some gifts of fine food and drink delivered by Virgon's royal family who were the nominal heads-of-state of the planet. There, Dr. Jackson would meet them, and give everyone a quick run-down on what to expect when they departed. The plan was for the four diplomats, alongside a detachment of security guards twelve strong, plus their own assistants, who were being briefed on other minutia more related to them, to take three SUV's and a sedan from their motor pool and to board a Colonial ship, a government transport whose express purpose was the shuttling of government assets and personnel between planets in comfort and class.

This was a unique moment for the IOA to allow their diplomats to be transported via Colonial means. The SGC had protested of course, but thus far the Colonials' own abilities and predicted intentions had not really provided a way for the SGC to truly be able to veto such a schedule. Nor had they been able to say they couldn't easily be rescued. But there was a handful of other matters that needed to be discussed. As the group arrived in the conference room Dr. Jackson was seated in one of the chairs, reading some more of the stuff on Virgon's history, particularly its Imperial Era where it was arguably the biggest and baddest of the twelve worlds with a unique willingness to engage in hostilities to get what it wanted.

"Good afternoon Dr.," Senator Jackson greeted Daniel pleasantly.

"Senator, oh, I see we're all here," Daniel said as he looked up.

"Indeed, are you ready for us yet or uh…need a few moments?"

"No, no, no problem, I've got us ready to go," Daniel closed the book he was reading and stood up, brushing out his button-up shirt and khaki pants, which had a few crumbs from the sandwich he had been idly snacking on and walked over to shake hands and introduce himself although he already knew one of these diplomats, "Commander Beverly, good to see you again."

"Good to be Doctor, and it's just Mr. Beverly now old boy," the former SG Team leader smiled back, clapping Daniel on the shoulder in greeting to a former co-worker as the others came over.

"It's a real pleasure Doctor, I'm Brenda Jackson, been a fan of yours for a long time," Brenda greeted with a bright bubbly smile which for once conveyed a kind of from-the-heart honesty she hardly ever showed strangers or at work in general due to how guarded she had to be to do her work.

"Wow, thank you, I take it you're uh…" Daniel looked over at Senator Jackson who nodded.

"My daughter, she was actually in the IOA before I was," the man nodded, saying a fact which he knew helped Brenda in securing the workplace respect she'd worked so hard to earn.

"My goodness, there's all sorts of Jacksons in this room," Daniel made a passing remark about the name similarity.

"Believe it or not I did some research we do have common ancestors, back in the 1880's, Lilian and Samuel Jackson of New York who had two sons, Elias and David. Our ancestor is Elias and yours is David."

"Wow, you did some research huh?"

"Way back when I first joined the IOA and heard about you, so yeah," Brenda acknowledged as she knew it was time to get going so she then let the subject drop and Daniel greeted and introduced himself to the Greek and Russian IOA diplomats as the group's assistants also joined a moment later as they got settled in and took their seats. They were then followed by the security element who would be joining them, a dozen personnel wearing the common uniform of the internationally-drawn security services personnel who had their caps on and fatigues on with their pistols at their sides.

Daniel then took his spot up at the small plywood podium with a computer set up and linked to a projector which just sent the image onto the stark white plaster wall. It was the image of the flag of Virgon which had gold vertical borders outside of twin green borders with a central main background of yellow. The Virgon seal, a stylized 'O' in gold with a white border had a line branching out of either side of it just above the vertical halfway point of the object.

"As you all know you'll be headed to the world known as Virgon, the people there go by the collective name of Virgonese. This planet and its people claim descendancy of the Virgo tribe which departed Kobol several thousand years ago along with the other eleven tribes of their people and settled on this world here," Daniel pointed out, clicking to the next slide which was a map of the local star system, "the second-largest terrestrial world orbiting the Helios Beta star and the second-largest in the Cyrannus star system as a whole. The largest is Virgon's neighbor and its historic imperial rival, Leonis, descendants of the Leo tribe from Kobol. Virgon is the third most-populated of the twelve main Colonial homeworlds, with their last census counting their population at four point three billion inhabitants. It was the most powerful of ancient Colonial empires during its height some eight hundred or so years ago, dominating the neighboring homeworlds of Picon, Libran, Sagitarron, Scorpia, Tauron, and the outer planet of Troy."

The entire group was actively taking notes, knowing they'd need to know this for sure as Dr. Jackson continued. He clicked again after displaying Virgon's territorial stretch at its greatest extent to them to show a timeline of the planet's major events.

"The world was ruled since its foundation by a rotating series semi-constitutional monarchy systems that rose and fell in a wide array of ancient wars, power struggles, coups, and various court intrigue. Virgon retained its own language for most of its history, linguistically Virgonese appears to be most similar to our modern Greek with elements of Anglo-Saxon linguistic influence thrown in as well. However, Virgonese is only spoken as the most common tongue on Virgon itself where it is the official state language and where the royal family," Daniel then posted the picture of the royal family in a state photograph showing more than three dozen members ranging from very young to very old were in a classically family-style photo, "Is called the Ardii Dynasty, and the monarch is nominally the current head-of-state, although this title is merely symbolic although they effectively control the largest political party engaged in Virgonese planetary politics so they still retain a massive amount of indirect authority and influence have done so since signing the Articles of Colonization. The current sovereign is King Sigmund the Twentieth, he has been the king for over fifty years, and is so far considered to be a figurehead with his son, Crown Prince Albert, taking over all official duties in his father's stead. Basically they're just waiting for the current king to pass away. He is currently sitting at the ripe old age of one hundred and three."

"Yikes, sounds sorta familiar," Senator Jackson noted.

"Oh come now, her majesty isn't that old," Mr. Beverly replied with a good-humored taunt, pointing out the old king who appeared to be basically at death's door, even with what they all could guess was the best medical attention money could buy.

"True enough, you know she'll outlive us all right?" Brenda joked, getting some laughs from around the table, even Daniel smirked at the observation.

"Anyway, the primary political party is the Royal Conservatives, they are fairly-moderate on many social issues but very conservative on economic policy and government spending. They are also have a considerable record for battling the Colonial federal government's authority, seeking to curtail it as much as they can, primarily through legal and judicial proceedings. But in the decades since they were signatories the Virgonese Upper and Lower Parliament as well as their prime minister and the associated cabinet, have pretty much been all talk, never really having the bad sense to challenge the Colonial government, well openly at least, considering Virgon and its neighbors are just so intertwined with one another culturally and economically."

"Dr. Jackson," Brenda raised a hand slightly with her pen being what was raised, "Is it fair to say Virgon was…somewhat analogous to how the Soviet Union was in terms of how it treated its vassal planets?"

"Uh…not necessarily…" Daniel said carefully, knowing that the Soviet Union and Russian imperialism was a nasty sticking point to the Russians, of which one was in the room, "But there are elements of that in the latter part of Virgon's history, but overall it is analogous to a more assertive neo-imperialism. Virgon was able to vastly outmatch its neighbors economically and technologically for many, many years. This meant they exerted almost de facto control over many of their neighbors," Daniel nodded as he explained it, judging from the numerous pages he had read on the subject.

"Such a history of overlordship leaves an impact upon a culture Dr. Jackson, what can we expect Virgon's diplomats and government officials to be like? Should we be expecting them to come at us from a perception of strength and superiority?"

"I don't think so actually," Daniel theorized openly, "The last century has been very humbling to Virgon, their former imperial holdings have either thrown them out or otherwise rose to equality. So, I believe they could take a very measured approach with us."

"This is my belief as well Dr. Jackson. In dealing with them you will be given autonomy to do what you need to do in getting us a detailed report on Virgon, its government, and its economic potential," the Senator explained succinctly, "The other primary priority for your trip is to establish the viability of establishing a consulate on Virgon."

"Are we considering it?" Brenda asked curiously.

"Yes, the IOA's planning to establish branch consulates for direct interface with the local planetary governments which handle the majority of the trade affairs of the Colonies. The other priority for these consulates is to act as intelligence gathering stations in the future once we are established."

"Will we have one of the battlecruisers in orbit?" Mr. Beverly asked.

"No, it is felt that the Colonials present no immediate hostile threat at the moment but shifting one our ships in such a way could cause tensions to potentially escalate and so far we haven't seen any need to flex at the Colonial Fleet. Therefore, the ships will stay here, one will be on standby to assist you in the event an immediate threat is detected."

Daniel saw the diplomats look amongst one another nervously but held their tongue for the most part. He knew that this was a risk, but the IOA was playing a game of balance. If they sent their warships wherever they pleased then that would undoubtably upset the Colonials and cause great suspicion to arise and make establishing good faith very difficult in future sensitive and important negotiations. He knew the numbers, and agreed with them about their importance, but he was too experienced and had seen too many negotiations go sour to not want to say something against this. So, he already suggested one of their ships go with the team to Virgon's orbit, and Senator Jackson, to his credit, had made this recommendation to the IOA out of respect to Daniel's experience. But the IOA's think tank specializing in the matter with the Twelve Colonies had politely turned it down, choosing instead to have a U-306 cloaked in orbit to be provide active sensor feeds. But, Daniel knew that Senator Jackson must have been quite comfortable in their assessment if he was willing to have his own daughter be sent out.

So, after completing the rest of the presentation Daniel was surprised to see that Brenda was staying behind.

"Dr. Jackson, mind if I have a word?" Brenda asked after the door closed after she told her assistant to meet her at the car.

"Of course," Daniel replied, closing his binder which had his full assortment of briefing materials he'd shared on the Virgonese and laid it on the table and leaned on one of the chairs.

"I have it on good authority you're set to be the next director of recruitment and training for civilian SG team personnel. That true?" Brenda asked as she came over, laying her briefcase and notebook on the table in front of her.

"That's what I've been offered and accepted. I take up my official duties after I wrap up my contract with the military unless the IOA buys it out so they can get started early," Daniel shrugged.

"I'd like to offer to say this in person then," Brenda said point-blank, "I'd like to apply for the position of leader of an SG/E Team. I wanted to ask for your advice on how to proceed."

"Wow, you're pretty upfront when you want something huh?" Daniel observed passively, taking this in with some degree of interest. He'd heard of Brenda Jackson through some of his colleagues, apparently she was supposed to be a tough customer when she pursued something.

"Ever since I got the clearance to read your mission reports I have taken any and all opportunities to read them. They've practically become my favorite recreation activity, I used to read novels for fun, now I read SG mission reports. And I have come to the conclusion that this, going offworld, seeing other places, is what I truly want to do," Brenda explained clearly, very much something she'd practiced before a mirror a couple times.

"Okay, well…" Daniel crossed his arms, "I'm still not program director yet, so I'm not sure about the application process, but I can tell you that if you want to become a team leader you will definitely need to work on a few things, key among them, ironically for a diplomat, is weapons training. Judging by what I have had to do, all civilian personnel will need to pass basic weapons training and at least pass both armed and unarmed self-defense courses with proficiency exams for each. And this is something I cannot emphasize enough, physical conditioning, the amount of cardio I've had to do in this job is…hard to convey in words. You'll need to be accustomed to physical, emotional, and mental discomfort, and most importantly," Daniel shifted uncomfortably, knowing this was not an easy topic to say without a little bit of shock factor, "You need to make yourself comfortable with the fact that you can very easily die doing this job. I cannot get that across any more plainly, to say otherwise is…well frankly it's disingenuous."

"Seeing as you've died…two, three times?"

"Yeah…I might not be the best example of that…"

"Dr. Jackson, I've made peace with the risks, they are part of the reason I am going to go for the job. I am going to get the job, and I'll move heaven and earth to do it," she said sternly, showcasing a conviction that Daniel certainly appreciated. It reminded him of quite a few people whom he'd called friends.

"Well, I guess when the Delta Site brings its first class in for selection and training we'll see," Daniel said with a soft smile a nod, not necessarily giving her any guarantees, as was his job and responsibility, but also knowing just how rough he knew he'd have to make this training be to make sure that the personnel who made it onto an SG/E team were prepared for what was out there. He knew all-too-well what the consequences had been when they hadn't been prepared.

Aquaria, Iris Island Fleet Storage Facility

The Ring of the Lords was not here yet, but the program itself was already well underway towards establishing itself. Here, on Aquaria, the least-inhabited of the Twelve Colonies, in the frigid northern latitudes the Colonial military was busy working on its own Stargate program. The large underground network was already built, security measures of the highest sensitivity were well-established, and public access was entirely non-existent. This facility was the very one which housed the Twelve Colonies' most powerful nuclear weapons for well over fifty years without incident. For this impeccable record, and the other major cost-saving considerations, it was chosen.

Vice Admiral Galen Queen was currently surveilling this place as the staff car, a civilian SUV marked with the logo of the Colonial Fleet on the doors with rear admiral's flags on posts on the hood came rolling up to the final level of security checkpoints at the entrance of the underground facility. The Colonial Marines Security Force personnel in their digital camouflage winter fatigues were out and about, their numbers enlarged to handle the recent influx of activity at their isolated facility.

To say the location was isolated was an understatement. The Iris Island Fleet Storage Facility was nestled on a large island of Iris, which was only as large as a rural county in area and was once home to a Leonis-owned whaling and fishing station for vessels operating in the cold but incredibly fertile waters. However this station was destroyed by a Virgonese series of air and missile strikes and the island was taken over and used as a staging area for Virgonese military operations against the Leonis garrison on Kyrios eight hundred kilometers to the south. It was Virgon who therefore built the upper levels of the underground network of bunkers and the area for the spaceport on the east coast and the inland airfield which the Colonial Fleet now utilized for the facility's supply and for their Viper wing of four squadrons and the squadron of Raptors which enforced the area's prohibited airspace and a large boat basin for patrol boats that handled enforcement of the prohibited waters around the island.

Inland, the highlands of the island were almost always covered in snow with a thick layer of pine trees making up a pristine woodland habitat that had a crisscrossing network of roads for patrol and transport vehicles moving the precious cargoes normally stored or maintained at this location. On one of the two sizeable flat areas of the frigid island was a small handful of box-like buildings within a strong and well-patrolled perimeter fence. This was a nuclear weapons maintenance depot, which the Colonial Fleet used for keeping its reserve nuclear weapons stockpile in working order. These weapons were constantly being cycled in and out of the storage bunkers beneath the highest point of the island in the middle with its domed reinforced concrete entrance located partway above the valley floor having a parking lot with covered shelters for vehicles just outside on a flat terrace. Normally a large solid-steel door six feet thick would be closed just inside the bend of the facility's tunnel entrance preventing direct kinetic strikes from hitting it from the outside.

"Welcome to Iris Island Fleet Storage Facility, ID please sir?" the Marine lieutenant that walked up to the door requested of the admiral while a sergeant did the same to the driver and another pair enlisted marines came up to the opposite side to speak to his two senior aides and confirm their ID's.

"Here you are son," Queen presented his military ID without question.

"Thank you, sir. Place your thumb on the scanner please," the young officer then held up a small phone-like device which had a scanning pad which he wiped clean and presented it as he inserted the military ID into the other side. He also removed his black fur-lined trapper hat which had his rank on the front of it.

The admiral sighed as he did so, removing his nice warm fur-lined glove and placed his thumb on the scanner which lit up green as the ID was scanned. The device operated very quickly. Colonial military personnel had certain requirements on their digital files including DNA, thumb prints, facial recognition features, and body measurements which were updated annually for security reasons. The scanner took a quick scan of the admiral's thumb, and compared it with the official Colonial Fleet Personnel Registry's file which his military ID card's security chip contained his Fleet ID Number for reference so that the ID, the face of the holder, and the thumb print all matched up. This scan was logged and printed for filing physical copies in an office below ground where potential electronic interference couldn't compromise security records. With a nod, the Marine lieutenant got a green light, Queen was allowed access and so were his staff and his driver, who actually was assigned here anyway.

"All good here sir, please proceed, Commander Invern is awaiting your arrival where you may park your vehicle," the man held his hand out and backed away back up onto the sidewalk and the gate opened to allow the vehicle to enter the facility.

It was a couple of long curves steadily descending into the heart of the facility where they found themselves in front of quite a large open area that had a very large cage-style elevator for lifting some truly immense cargos straight down into the belly of the beast. A half-dozen utility trucks of a trusted local contractor and their employees were currently hard at work offloading some large amounts of equipment for the sizeable job they'd apparently won. Already what looked like dozens of plastic-wrapped computer cores were lined up safely out of the way alongside boxes of brand-new top of the line monitors and other computer odds and ends. Uniformed Colonial Marine security were on duty, watching the construction and computer installation crews carefully as they unloaded their sensitive cargoes.

Already waiting for him was Commander Invern, the facility commander by the personnel elevator with members of her own staff and some of the project admirals who were here to coordinate the project's setup phase. All of them were junior to Admiral Queen, who was the commanding officer, and stood to attention and saluted the man as he got out of his car after it parked.

"Welcome to Iris Island Admiral," Commander Invern greeted the man with a crisp salute.

"Thank you Commander," Queen said as he saluted, "How go preparations?"

"We're well underway sir, power lines are already underground and are being installed and shielded, and our weapons lockers are being assessed now for which warheads need to be shipped out first," she said quickly, "The first shipment is prepared and will be loaded up in an hour."

"How many?"

"Sixty Model 54 nuclear limpet mines, low yield, we have ten trucks prepared and ready. They'll be sent to the refurbishment compound and then shipped for long-term storage at Ragnar Anchorage. Tomorrow we have a hundred Model 43 warheads that'll be sent out to Picon and more and larger shipments to follow."

"And the Model 14's?" Queen said, which put a pall over the garage.

"We…haven't inspected them yet, to unlock their bunker requires a Presidential order," the woman said uncomfortably, knowing that these warheads were without doubt the most singularly destructive weapon in the Fleet's arsenal.

"Here's your order," the admiral presented the paper with definitive sternness, showing the official paper which possessed a thumb print with ink whose recipe was meant to be scanned due to the fact it carried trace amounts of a very rare and classified isotope to insure that these written orders from the President were able to be verified. And with such a weapon as what was being discussed all proper precautions had to be taken.

The Model 14 was unique in that it took Tylium, known to Earth as Naquadah, and purified it to its most potent state and used it to enhance the explosive yield of a large planetary strike thermonuclear warhead designed for the exclusive job of annihilating a planet's biosphere with only a few catastrophic strikes. It was once a secret weapon made by the Caprican Fleet at the height of its tense cold war with Gemonon and the Leonis and Virgon Empires shortly before the Cylon Rebellion and were intended for use as the ultimate deterrent weapon. These warheads were potentially so catastrophic to the Colonies' ability to trust one another that their mere existence was kept a closely-guarded state secret. Their original deployment method was actually one which was no longer able to be done. The Caprican designers had meant for these warheads to be mounted into never-built stealthy and armored ballistic missiles that had primitive FTL drives installed with just enough range to get them to their target planets. They were never actually tested, but were known to work just fine. Their fate in the new federal era of the Twelve Colonies was uncertain. Many wished them dismantled, others wanted them redesignated as massive area effect space mines for ambushing Cylon fleets. But no one could get the guts up to decide either way because to retool them would require a large monetary expenditure which the Quorum was famously unable to pass with any degree of secrecy and threatened to antagonize the Cylons. Needless to say then that the Colonial Fleet had absolutely no intention of keeping the Ring of the Lords in anything near close proximity to these warheads.

"The warheads are going to be…decommissioned?" the young commander asked as she looked at the paper, stunned that such a decision had been made.

"As soon as possible," Admiral Queen responded with a firm nod, "It's felt that if we were to do anything but decommission those weapons we'd risk inflaming relations with Earth who we need if we are to make the Ring Program succeed and it's felt that our current nuclear weapons stockpile is sufficient to handle our current threat assessments. Your orders are to immediately begin the dismantling of all Model 14 Nuclear Warheads in the highest secrecy with disposal of the nuclear material to be conducted immediately afterwards."

"Disposed of how?"

"Vaporization in the corona of Helios Beta, where all potential danger posed by the material to the public will be eliminated. Now Commander, you have your orders, I suggest you begin. I have a program to get moving, and I would very much like to get those monstrosities out of here before I do," Admiral Queen said very sternly to get his message across. He wanted those weapons gone.

"Yes sir," the commander stated obediently, and did an about face and she and her staff hurriedly got to work.

"Now gentlemen," Admiral Queen said as he stepped forward to his own gathered senior staff, "We have work to do. As the nukes are relocated, we'll begin conversion work. The command center and associated staffing and logistics control points will be first, and the different departments will branch off from there as work continues. There's going to be a lot of personnel going in and out, security will be tight, we'll make it airtight, no one enters within ten miles of the island without being detained and their entire life's story being on the duty officer's desk. As you all know the Ring of the Lords will be the first major item to be transferred in, its destination is being concealed from the general public as well as from the Quorum at the orders of the President at the urging of the members of the Joint Command Staff. But make no mistake, Earth will know, they have the ships in orbit to make sure its followed, and if their claims to sensory sophistication are to be believed they will be able to. But, we'll do our best to try, we'll shuffle the Ring to Ragnar Anchorage, move a number of ships in and out until the Ring has a new and secure home waiting for it. For now, we have a long list of personnel to vet, recruit and begin folding into a new group of units for use in the new program. It is hoped we'll be able to use the Ring to form the basis of a covert and secure line of communication with Earth alongside a secondary mission to begin outwards exploration and potential colonization while performing outwards threat assessments of the larger galaxy. Lastly, our job is to contact whoever or whatever is out there, make friends wherever we can and gather technologies and materials that can be used to bolster the defense of the Twelve Colonies. This place is set to be the most important military facility in the entire Twelve Colonies. Let's get to work."

The assembled senior officers and their staffs took in this first speech with a mix of humble somberness and excitement hidden behind professional discipline. They turned and started into the elevator. It was long but quick trip straight down into a large complex of underground tunnels, office blocks, warehouses, secure and reinforced bunkers, and all linked together by corridors with a mix of magnetic flatcar railways and rolling ceiling-mounted cranes that were meant for transporting heavy loads into the large warehouses. Their large interior spaces were vaulted, large and evenly-spaced reinforced beams holding up the middle of these spaces. The warehouses for the most part sat empty, deep-reserve equipment and supplies kept here for as long as sixty years and most of it outdated and obsolete or unusable. Other smaller warehouses were used for clerical paperwork storage relating to the facility, as well as storage of old computers that had been used for classified duties and for closed but also-classified research and development projects.

All of these stores would need to be removed, and serious remodeling completed to form wings of labs, several barracks, a water and sanitation plant, an isolated life support system, and an advanced power generation and distribution system. It was set to be a months-long process, but it was already underway. Any modifications would be made on the go, with the Colonial Army Corps of Construction and Engineering being the ones doing most of the grunt work while trusted civilian contractors would install the more advanced systems and do the specialty work. Already, the power grid's base, four small but powerful reactors, were being assembled in one of the largest underground warehouses in the facility. The speed of this project was owed to a fire that had happened a few years ago which had preempted a large revamping of the fire suppression systems in the facility. Afterwards, it was left empty for use as an emergency reserve fallout shelter. Now, it was a hive of activity, it was just the beginning.

Arriving here a few hours later in a fine new car, provided courtesy of his company's new contract with the Colonial Fleet, was Dr. Gaius Baltar. A short cigarette holder was being gummed excitedly as Gaius read through some of the notes he was provided for starting work on what the Colonials rightly figured were going to be navigational computations. His previous private disgrace had been offered a new and exciting chance at redemption.

Caprica, Trojan Fleet Airbase

"What's got you so chipper?" Kara asked Kelsey as the newly-promoted pilot entered the officer's mess of the planet-side air base used by the new Galactica's Viper squadrons as they worked up into full readiness after a reorganization phase as new squadrons were added to the previous air group.

"Nothing, I'm not chipper," Kelsey said in reply, knowing that she was being prodded again.

Ever since she'd drunkenly gotten together with Pyramid star Samuel Anders things had steadily gotten rather more serious. It started with them just staying in bed, entangled with each other in round after round of lovemaking interspersed with some cuddling and small talk which Kelsey found Sam to be very good at. That night, Sam took Kelsey out to dinner, skipping a workout and her skipping on a meetup with some girlfriends. It was Kelsey's first real date in almost a year, and what followed was her first real relationship since she'd entered flight school. In fact, Kelsey had just come from Sam's place straight to the base for her squadron's maneuvers.

"You've got a 'I've been frakking' look on your face and a 'I've got a boyfriend' spring in your step," Kara teased her slightly more quietly.

"I-I do not…" Kelsey looked around, not wanting that to be common knowledge.

"So who is he?" Kara winked, whispered now because she wanted her to say it.

"Believe it or not, Sam Anders," Kelsey giggled.

"You're shitting me!" Kara smacked the table the two were sitting at, now conversing freely and as friends, despite the gap in rank and seniority.

"Shh…I haven't even told my brother or my dad I'm seeing someone," Kelsey begged, "I'd rather they not hear about it through the grapevine."

"So, is it serious?" Kara inquired.

"I hope so, I'm really…starting to like him. Plus…he kinda ticks a lot of boxes for me," Kelsey shrugged, "He's got money obviously, he's fit and not going to lose that, and he like a lot of the same stuff I do. At least so far."

"And I guess he's great in the sack too huh? You didn't need a ride from me from that night remember?" Kara teased Kelsey with a poking finger which Kelsey swatted away with a short-lived gasp and blush.

"Starbuck…" she said, "Plus…he has a friend who gave me her business card, she's a modelling agent," she held up the small octagonal slip of glittered paper.

"No way, you a model?" Starbuck swiped the card.

"Hey!" she cried out and Starbuck held the card out as Kelsey tried to take it back, but the card was taken by a new arrival, her brother.

"What's this?" Lee asked as he looked at the card, "'Sydney Leon, Modelling Agent,' you going into modelling Starbuck?"

"Nope, but Lightbulb might," Starbuck grinned at Kelsey who just narrowed her eyes and pouted at her, growling silently.

"Where'd you get this?" Lee asked as he questioned his little sister.

"None of your business Lee," Kelsey snagged it back as she stood up quickly and sat back down.

"I beg to differ, seeing as I'm your superior officer," Lee retorted.

"But I'm not in your squadron," Kelsey snapped back, correctly.

"You've got a year left on your contract Kelsey, after that you still have ten years in the Fleet Reserve, what're you gonna do? Strut down the runway one night and fly off that one the next morning?"

"I just might Lee," the younger Adama sassed back, falling back into childhood tendencies of choosing the course of action that would piss off her siblings or parents the most.

"How exactly are you going to pull that one off?"

"Not your problem, remember?"

"Boy when you Adamas get going it's always a blast, but you may wanna hold the family squabble for later?" Kara recommended to the two, "You're gonna make a scene."

"We'll talk later," Lee fumed as he noted that the only other handful of pilots in the mess were starting to glance over at them with increasing frequency, and that other members of Galactica's flight group were likely to arrive quite soon for the CAG's morning briefing.

"Yeah, sure we will."

And just like that, Kelsey knew that she was going to be in for a rough time. She had known her time in the Fleet wasn't necessarily a career choice, rather a kneejerk reaction to her family's crippling loss of her brother. But the young pilot was, as Lee had said, stuck with the military for a while longer. But thoughts of pursuing the career she had always hoped for had begun to return with ever-increasing frequency. This latest spat with Lee had reminded her of this, and somewhere in her mind she had made up her mind for her own future.

Well, that's that for this chapter. It has been a long time coming, truth be told the first sentence I wrote for this chapter was written the day after I published the last chapter. But alas, work kinda sucks and I'd been a little sick of typing due to that so I took a bit of a siesta, then Ukraine happened.

At that point I was reminded ever-more of the world I'd prefer to see, one where such things as the Stargate universe's enviable Earth harmony wouldn't allow Russia to invade Ukraine, or if they did, the consequences would be oh-so-juicy plot material if the show were to return one day and reflect current geo-political situations. But being serious, I am 100% on Ukraine's side, I believe they have a right to do everything they can to defend their country and fight back against Russia, so long as they stay within the Laws of War and those of Humanity. The suffering going on there is great, and I am proud to say I've helped via donation to some humanitarian causes through fundraising efforts by Funker530. I bought a Ghost of Kyiv hat and a Snake Island shirt, and donated fifty bucks on their and I even went to a vigil held in Fort Worth at the Ukrainian cultural center and brought some canned goods to help those in need. I sincerely hope those who tweet and post on Facebook and Instagram about how much they support Ukraine have actually done something because there are innocent people who need help.

Now, some people will inevitably ask if the current situation will be reflected in my story. The answer is clear and simple, NO. If I let current circumstances dictate my story's plotline I'd basically be doing a total 180 on the current plot. It just isn't feasible, is it incredibly tempting to write such a potential story, oh hell yes. I'd love to see an SG-1 fanfic taken in such a direction, but I won't do it with this one. I adopted someone else's storyline and I will stick faithfully to his wishes for the rewrite. Therefore, all mentions of the Russians will be in the same faith as I had been previously. The Russia of Stargate is not Vladimir Putin's Russia. I have faith that the Russia we see in the show would never do something as evil as what we see on the news today. So, in the hope and respect that there are those in Russia who want that same thing I will not make Russia a villain of any kind in my story. That is the end of that subject, I do hope that by the time I update again in the near future nothing else happens to make such calls any louder than I know they will be.

Until next time, see you guys later, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and are enjoying the direction of the story. If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please leave them in a review or in a PM to me here on the site.