I figured I'd offer some references for the Colonial Army's gear and vehicles seeing as they're about to be featured pretty heavily in this chapter.

For kit, I'm pretty much envisioning the same camo style used by the Italians, with US-looking load-bearing equipment, a radio for each soldier, heavy body armor, etc. Colonial Special Forces are probably going to be rolling in stuff pretty much identical to what is used by Earth spec ops guys, AR-style rifles with all the toys, and for camo, a digital version of multicam is going to be preferred.

Their primary weapon is basically the ARX160 Assault Rifle, which is Beretta-made, same as the CX4 Storm which the Colonial Marines seem to favor, so that sort of design should be seen in the full-sized AR. Meanwhile, the Colonials also seem to prefer the Daewoo K3 for their SAW and I'd say it isn't far-fetched to point to a weapon like the FN MAG and say it's a fairly easy-to-reach design for a general purpose machine gun. For HMG's, I'm gonna go a little outside the box and pick the QJZ-89 for a more general purpose HMG and the W-85 HMG for pintle-mounts and for the Colonial version of a remote weapons station weapon while sticking to the Chinese theme and going for the QLZ-04 for their automatic grenade launcher. I'm also leaning towards the SMAW and the NLAW for man-portable anti-armor/structure weaponry as well as the French APILAS for lighter work. For an ATGM, the Spike is probably an excellent vision for a man-portable weapon while considering its remote-operability, the Stugna-P ATGM might be a believable development path for the Colonials as they fought the Cylons on the ground.

Now for the fun stuff, armored vehicles. Yeah it's everyone's favorite, the tank. For me, I'm going outside the box again and picking a tank which not many folks are really familiar with, the EE-T2 Osorio Main Battle Tank, a uniquely-capable tank from Brazil, which got the short of the stick during its development by being privately-funded and may have gotten cheated out of the one contract it needed for it to get the kickstart it needed to become Brazil's premier armored vehicle. I say 'may' because no one really knows what happened with the Saudi tank contract choice except for people who obviously won't tell us. I'll say the Colonials have had it a long time and have given their tanks a series of refits and upgrades, RWS's, armor addons, active protection systems, the works. For a tracked IFV let's go with something a bit more conventional and point to the Swedish classic, the CV90 with the 40mm Bofors, or at least a Colonial version. The primary infantry combat vehicle for the Colonials I'm going to go with the Serbian Lazar 3 with a remote-operated turret having either a thirty-five millimeter cannon, an HMG, or a GMG as standard and being the base model of vehicle the Colonial military's main infantry units moving around in including a heavy gun fire support vehicle, mortar, ambulance, command and control, and other such versions of this vehicle being prevalent. For self-propelled guns the Czech DANA and the South Korean K9 "Thunder" while having a light howitzer mounted in their wheeled IFV vehicle family. For the Colonial version of a Humvee, the Fennek is what I will have be the Colonial military's primary mobility vehicle. For trucks, the Mercedes Zetro and the Actros trucks are going to be the mainstay logistics vehicles. Vehicle camouflage is going to be blotchy, not digital, but the colorations will be subtle, with lots and lots of camo nets for the vehicles.

So there we are, our main Colonial Army combat vehicles and weaponry, now, on to the chapter!

Chapter 19

Location: Virgon Low Orbit, USS George Hammond

Date: March 2, 2022

Time: 1530

The presence around the hotel had become one which the Virgonese public had not seen in a couple generations. Around the hotel the Colonial Army had rolled in the equivalent of a motorized infantry battalion. Hordes of troops in the Army's primary digital camo were everywhere, milling around and jogging about in their full combat gear while columns and columns of their 4x4 and 8x8 light armored vehicles had completely taken over the suburban section of Boskirk. Other forces were carefully spread out, combing through the city in a planned-out sweep for any potential terrorists hiding out away from the hotel with whole platoons spread along the streets while armored vehicles trundled alongside them at full combat readiness. Civilians had been completely evacuated by the local police, who were shuffling people out with the aid of military trucks, not trusting the locals' own private vehicles at this point. Police cars also swarmed, locking down an outer perimeter while civilian news helicopters orbited around the area while Colonial Raptors, both Army and police, were also orbiting and analyzing the situation all over the city.

Special forces were also present, their faces covered and were wearing sunglasses while sporting much nicer kit from head to toe, which got the attention of the American special forces operators who were watching in orbit. They didn't get shown on the TV that was showing the feed in the SEAL Team's ready room in the corner, the broadcast easily pirated by the Hammond's complex sensor suite. Meanwhile, blueprints of the building and the sensor feed from the ship's life signs detector was able to see exact positions of where live individuals were located within the hotel.

At the moment, there were probably more than forty civilian hostages, and possibly as many as twenty terrorists. They could see the hostages on the TV, lined up against the front façade windows with their hands tied and blindfolds over their eyes. Behind them were the terrorists, now almost entirely dressed in black, and on top of the building a bright white flag with a twelve-pointed red star on it with long pointy arms. From what they'd learned this was the banner of an old terrorist group which supposedly held the record for the biggest body count in any single insurrection campaign in the Twelve Colonies' history. The SEAL's were not at all intimidated, but time was of the essence, especially after they saw that there was a series of pictures circulating, claiming to be from the terrorists, showing Brenda Jackson tied up. The message alongside the pictures claimed to be a timetable. There was soon to be a trial, followed by an execution, claiming for it to be under the laws set forth by the Sacred Scrolls which was truly worrying for the SEAL's.

"Okay, rally up, we have our plan of entry and extract," Commander Myers said to the team, calling everyone over, it didn't take long, "We're going in via beaming, we've been practicing on how to counter the disorientation for a few days now, we've got that down pat. We'll be using these Sodan Cloaking Devices to progress to the target rooms. We'll split into two teams, Alpha with the Chief will be taking the breach and main rescue of Ms. Jackson, Bravo with the XO will move downstairs, to where the terrorists are in position with their hostages. You'll maneuver into position, able to tag each one of the gunmen and when you're in position you'll let me know, and from here, I'll give the order to execute in timing with the fleet we have in orbit maneuvering down into the atmosphere to get the Colonials' attention diverted for the few seconds needed for us to get Ms. Jackson beamed to safety while you eliminate the hostage takers, all terrorists have a kill order, no exceptions. It's felt best that we don't let the Colonials in on our full technological capabilities. Unfortunately, the plan's rough, the timing for this is that within the next hour the terrorists holding Ms. Jackson will be broadcasting live their execution of her."

"And what about the bomb they claim to have planted?" one of the SEAL's asked.

"We already took care of it, using our scanners we located a tanker truck full of the same material used in the detonation a few hours ago. The detonation mechanism has been beamed away and burned up on reentry."

"Good, one less thing," the SEAL commander nodded, "Now, make sure you're geared up and ready. We're inserting in," the commander replied but then there was a voice in his comm.

"Commander, we have a situation," the voice Lieutenant Colonel Franklin called over to him on the radio, "Sensors are detecting a Colonial special forces unit is on the move, they are infiltrating through the basement levels, they appear to have found a way in through an underground tunnel network. We need to go, now."

"Roger that, gearing up now. Change of plans, we go now."

The SEAL's were quick to respond, rushing to the tables where they had their weapons and helmets, buckling up and locking and loading before they strapped on their Sodan Cloaking Devices. It was a fast process, their gear was ready already, all they needed was their plan and their orders. Now, they had both, even if it was somewhat makeshift, but being DEVGRU implied an ability to do the job, even if they had a lack of prep time. Black Squadron in particular were picked for an ability to improvise in unproven ground. So these were the men for the job.

Around the Hammond, the entire British fleet was arranging itself into formation and aimed down into the atmosphere. The seven ships accelerated, and the Colonial fleet was helpless to respond or stop them, having given the Earth ships a very wide berth. They did attempt to communicate with the Earth ships, but were summarily ignored. This lack of attention paid to them in their own space plus the aggressive movement made waves amongst the Colonials, one which would be felt later.

Virgon, Boskirk

Below the drama of orbit Colonial Special Forces, colloquially-known as Colonial Commandoes, the simplest name that the militaries of the Twelve Colonies could agree upon, were moving underground, carefully navigating the ancient tunnel system that connected the large city's bomb shelter system. Their force, a full platoon of operators, had infiltrated through an old closed bomb shelter entrance, smashing their way through the old concrete walls and moved with carbines readied all the way into position using a portable high pressure water jet machine to cut through the concrete quietly. Meanwhile a constant cacophony of noise, such as the revving of the heavy engines of the armored vehicles and low passes of Raptors and Vipers had kept the terrorists' focus elsewhere. Their plan had worked, the Commandoes were in, and were preparing for their next phase.

Working their way up they'd found that the basement, the location where the heavy industrial washing machines, driers, and dry storage were located, had been the hiding place for a number of employees who were quickly searched, cuffed and shuffled to safety the way that they'd come. Then, they heard the reports, Earth warships had entered the atmosphere, the mission was being paused while the brass attempted to get into communication, and the surrounding units did a search for Earth special forces attempting to make entry, but found nothing.

It didn't take long before the unit was carefully stacking up at the door, with all lights off thanks to the power having been cut the moment the Colonial authorities pinpointed the terrorists' location. The unique night vision of the Colonial Commandoes was a three-tube setup, with one central tube in the middle and slightly above the two bigger ones, allowing the operators a unique full color vision of what they were looking at while they had powerful AR-style carbines armed with rifle-sized bullets in pistol-sized cartridges. These bullets had capable armor penetration caps, meant for punching through body armor and Cylon Centurions. Not only that, the operators had the unique fact that they were trained for infiltration against Cylons and had the incredibly quiet boots and uniforms and gear setups.

They began to rush forward, splitting into two teams, moving fluidly with suppressed weapons held at the ready, canted slightly in the lead elements while the others had their weapons at the high-ready, only once finding a pair of terrorists walking away from them, popping the two in the back of the head and dropping them instantly. With quick and even quieter pistol shots to the two for insurance the smaller team began to enter the stairwell, and began to move up, headed to exactly where they knew Brenda Jackson was being held. But their mission was being observed, constant communications from the approaching Earth ships now basically hovering over the city, blocking out the sun for much of the city with highly-agitated Colonial Viper squadrons growing in number and proximity to the Earth ships in an effort to shepherd the unwelcome warships from the dangerous position that they currently occupied over one of the largest and most important Colonial cities. However, they weren't budging, they had people on the ground.

This stealth was what surprised the even stealthier SEAL's who were just now emerging from the room around the corner from the terrorists who were gathering around Brenda. They had been forced to revamp their plan as the force of Colonial spec ops made their way upwards at a rapid pace. The intention was clear, the Earth team was now moving into position, having already beaten the Colonial rescue force. They were going to execute their mission. While the main breaching team maneuvered into position the other half formed a blocking force, locking down the hallways leading to the corner room.

The sounds of yelling were what finally helped ease Brenda out of unconsciousness. Her head hurt, a lot, and she could feel that she was laying on her side in between two hotel beds on the floor. Her hands bound behind her back by steel handcuffs and her ankles were likewise bound. A strip of some sort of cloth was tied between her teeth painfully tightly. The young woman was scared, very scared, and could hear the sounds of people talking, angry and irritated. At this point Brenda realized she was now a hostage, kidnapped by some form of terrorists, and that she had a whole protocol which she had of course memorized and chose to adhere to, her life depended on it.

All she knew she needed to do was to keep still, don't upset her captors, and stay alive. As she thought on her problematic situation she realized something, she wasn't rescued yet, which meant there was something preventing the military snapping her up into a ship. To her, she realized it had to be some form of threat that was likely to be caused by her being removed from the equation. This meant other hostages, or possibly a bomb of some kind. However, as she tried to think, recovering her mental faculties first she heard something outside, the sounds of footsteps approaching the door.

The door wasn't apparently closed all the way. Because there wasn't the sound of a latch being undone as it opened, and she braced herself. Purposeful steps came towards her, and the sound of a gun having its action racked made her look up over her shoulder to see two men in the same police uniforms as before leaning down towards her while a woman was standing behind them holding a camera and another person was putting a chair into place.

"Time to be judged heretic," an old woman, much older than anyone else, stated with grim satisfaction from where Brenda could not see.

As she was pulled upright she found herself in what appeared to be a fairly run-of-the-mill hotel room with two beds, a couple chairs and a desk off to the side. However, what really had her nervous was that she was looking at a white-haired woman wearing a blood red priest's sash around her neck and a black robe over her clothes. In her left hand was a large knife of polished obsidian glass with an antler-like handle and in her other hand was a book, the Sacred Scrolls. She was pulled up and dropped into a chair against the wall and the camera was set up on its tripod, while the old woman stepped forward with practiced self-righteousness. The two men were also handed a banner which was a stark white, and had a white twelve-pointed star on it with ancient writing inscribed around the periphery. Meanwhile two large men wearing all-black tactical gear and black ballistic face shields with the red hand-looking logo of the Crusaders on it came in behind while the others were shuffled out. The more Brenda looked at what was going on, she knew this was looking awfully-familiar, not a ransom video, but a terrorists' execution video.

"The Gods' exiled you and your kind from Kobol centuries before for your transgressions, and we, their instrument, have been charged with your cleansing," the woman said, hostile and looking at Brenda's bound form with the distaste a person would show a vile stain on the carpet, and pointed the knife at her, "You will be shown to the Gods' people, your trial and execution will show them the true calling of our people. The Black Blade of Kobol will cleanse your heresy from our sacred soil, as it did for millennia before our holy cause was betrayed by the blasphemers and power mongers. And when they rise up to take up the Crusade's holy banner, Earth will burn."

"So say we all!" the chant of the terrorists rose proudly.

"So say we all," the old woman said as she then looked down and the knife was leveled to her, and Brenda grunted into the gag as she tried to lean back away from the menacing glistening black blade. Then, it happened, a white flash and a sudden disorientation and Brenda was blinking away the light back inside a medical ward within the belly of the USS General Hammond. She was safe.

The same could not be said for the terrorists down below, who raised their hands to cover their eyes as they tried to take this sudden change in. But this didn't last longer than the old woman saying one sentence.

"What the fra-," she scoffed before there was a powerful series of flashes and explosions from a nine-banger grenade sent everyone reeling. Then, the sharp punch of a suppressed bullet left a neat hole in her right eyebrow and a gaping hole the size of her fist where her left ear had once been.

The other men were similarly incapable of responding as bullets seemed to materialize out of nowhere, fired from what sounded to be point-blank range. The bodies hit the floor rapidly, more than thirty bullets having been fired and one by one each was jolted by an insurance shot from above them, the SEAL's having accomplished their goals and now insured their success was confirmed and quickly confiscated the camera that they saw positioned on the tripod to prevent any sort of video evidence being left for analysis for the Colonial authorities.

Out in the hallway, the Colonial Commandoes kicked open the door to the staircase, now being fully-aware of what was going on and rushed the room, the operators acutely aware of the immense importance of what they were trying to accomplish. When they rounded the corner they were greeted by two terrorists laying on the ground, blood seeping from knife wounds in their necks onto the thin dark blue and silver-colored carpet. The door into the target room was open, and the team communicated what they were seeing they stacked up and rapidly breached the hotel room.

The team leader wore a camera and a transmission device which beamed the encrypted live video to the command center and its more powerful transmitter beamed this to the subspace transmitter housed in a protected military facility elsewhere on the planet. This bounced the signal, delayed by about thirty seconds, all the way to Caprica and the assorted major military signal stations. Here, the major brass and policy makers, including President Adar were treated to a view of dead terrorists, and no sign of Brenda Jackson. The Colonial senior officers were stunned, having been well-apprised of the situation and were unable to really explain what had happened except that somehow Earth's own special forces had, without being seen, infiltrated and executed a kinetic breach and clear which had killed the terrorists and extracted their hostage while escaping impossibly quickly.

Down on the ground floor, the eight terrorists in the center of the lobby had heard the thump but were somewhat confused. However, one of the terrorists above them had heard the explosion and on their own radio called out what was happening. Then without hesitation the rest turned, and opened fire and the hostages predictably panicked and began to run everywhere trying to get to the doors or go through the glass or otherwise take cover. Some of the braver/desperate of the hostages tried to rush some of the terrorists but failed and were shot at point-blank range. The Commandoes made entry at this point, having been forced into action prior to them being in position, the firefight was short and fierce, with the Colonial operators having two of their number shot and wounded. But moreover, a dozen innocent Colonial civilians were shot, six dead, the rest critically wounded.

This was a truly devastating outcome for the Colonial military which was now left scratching its head as to how such a thing had happened. It didn't take long for fingers all across the government to begin pointing the blame at the large gray ships who had begun to lift away from the surface of Virgon, as if they were perfectly aware of what had transpired, and been totally alright with it. The indifference that warships lazily putting distance between the city and themselves seemed to portray put additional doubt and suspicion into the minds of many. Earth was seen as a brother, an entity that had for so long been seen as an object in which many people's ideals had been heaped upon. But the evidence for what had happened, a covert Earth military operation that led to the deaths of Colonial citizens on Colonial soil, had soiled this very positive feeling for Earth, now, for many, Earth would be seen very, very differently.

Planet Airtari, Koramon's Residence

Their plan was well underway, Koramon was a man on a mission, that mission was complex and intricate. The Jaffa man sat within the luxurious seating area within the building in which he always conducted his primary business dealings, along with four of his main 'partners', although they were closer to subordinates. They awaited their final member, Drokan, who was the most powerful of the group. They all sat within the parlor room, soft cushioned couches lined the walls with finely-crafted tables with several fine wines with blue colored glass cups in their hands as they spoke in relaxed tones. They wore light robes, kept warm by the new building's central heating system plus an open fireplace in the center of the room while the planet's winter was in full swing, a thick layer of powdery white snow covering the cityscape beyond. Walking in now came their final member, Drokan, who came with news that they were awaiting.

"Tek'ma'te Drokan, nice of you to join us my friend," Koramon greeted the man, "Come, sit. We were just discussing my findings in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I take it you have good news?"

"I do indeed Koramon, the source of the Taur'i naquadah generators, we have it. A planet named Orban, it turns out we have been trading with them for several years, trading knowledge in return for raw materials and foodstuffs. But apparently their harvests have been…less than anticipated, and I was able to obtain this," the man leaned forward onto the table and unrolled a paper plan, on it was the same schematic used by the Orbanians and the then-Major Samantha Carter to craft Earth's line of instrumental naquadah generators.

"The Taur'i did not develop the technology themselves?" Sat'sun asked, curious as to this revelation.

"No, they did not," Koramon said, knowing this to be the case from his spy network which also operated on Earth, using criminal networks bribed with gold to get through to the more vulnerable governments which were new to the Stargate Program. Although success varied, the Taur'i were very careful about security, "But it was from such beginnings as this that the Taur'i were able to begin to match the false gods, the Replicators, and then the Ori. We can doubtlessly do the same given time, which we have. But…there is someone who we can definitely use to make that process go faster."

"The humans of Kobol?" Charum, the least powerful of them, noted.

"Yes, I have studied them for a short while, their potential for exploitation is something to be tapped into. But we must proceed cautiously, they have the ears of the Taur'i, and Teal'c has the Taur'i on his side. Should the Taur'i be informed of our contacting these humans then Teal'c will see our ploy. He is no fool, and neither are the Taur'i. What we need is a wedge to drive them apart, for these other humans to see the Taur'i not as a brother, but as a potential enemy."

"How do we do that?" Har'uk inquired from where he sat next to Koramon who stood up and chose now to educate his subordinates.

"There is little that human governments of any considerable size and power hate more than to be told what to do by those whom they see as equals. They begin asking questions, and those questions lead to an inevitable conclusion. That conclusion is this," he said as he poured a new glass of wine, letting the words hang in the air for his pause, "Human governments will always distrust one another when provided with the slightest evidence, and given the slightest provocation will see anything as an immediate threat. To the humans' credit of course, they are willing to make the hard decisions in order to preserve their own peoples' safety. Our goal is to take advantage of the eventual distrust that these new humans will eventually gain for the Taur'i, just as other humans have with one another and in some cases with the Taur'i themselves."

"The question remains, how?" Sat'sun asked, being laser focused on the matter at hand.

"By leaning on the other common element that seems to be shared by all humans, to leap to the defense of their more primitive brothers and sisters when threatened by an alien oppressor. If these new humans were to see a poor defenseless human world fall under attack from an advanced and aggressive foe they would come to their defense, the same way that the Taur'i did for many of their long-lost cousins. And if this oppressor happens to be the closest ally of the Taur'i, then there would be inevitable conflict, not directly of course, but enough for them to seek other options and keep the Taur'i at arm's length. And we would then simply step in, bearing gifts of the kinds of technology and knowledge which the Taur'i will not give. They would be suspicious of course, any reasonable mind would be, but we merely keep our word and treat them with honor and respect, they will feel obligated to stay true to us by the knowledge of what they stand to lose, an alliance that they had benefited from."

"So we must endear ourselves to these humans?" Har'uk asked, dumbfounded by this line of thought.

"Yes," Koramon said as he drank the fine beverage, unperturbed by his subordinates' confusion.

"You were the one who said that humans should be subservient to us, were you not?" Sat'sun demanded, irritated by this plan.

"Indeed I did," Koramon smirked, "Those words served their purpose. We must now use them."

"I still do not understand, why profess to want to take tribute from those humans in our domains when we seek to partner with them?"

"Because words require little effort to achieve great effect. You must think that Teal'c would see humans attacking his family and be enraged, and because he knows I sought to stand against humans he would not feel I would support someone I publicly profess to want to dominate, at least in his mind. Even if he sees through those words he would find it impossible to prove it."

This seemed to have gotten the group to begin to understand and proved which of them was clearly the brains of this faction.

"So we go to these new humans and offer our friendship, how do we get to go about this? And what do we get from it?" Hat'sun asked the eldest Jaffa, who was walking to window and turned back to look at them with a grin.

"A war."

Orbit over Caprica, HMS Lion

Walking into the quiet medical bay Senator Jackson and Dr. Daniel Jackson were there to visit the recently-rescued young Brenda Jackson, who was currently sedated while the British medical personnel were carefully going over her vitals for potential poisons or other injuries. Daniel was certainly surprised to see that the young woman was actually still conscious, cooperatively nodding and responded tiredly to the questions to the doctor who was going over all the relevant processes, having just finished with withdrawing blood and it was already going into a centrifuge for scanning for foreign contamination.

"Hi daddy," Brenda smiled softly, unable to really show much in the outbursts with the amount of Midazolam in her bloodstream.

"You okay baby?" the senator said as he came over and gently put a kiss on her forehead.

"A very slight contusion from a rifle to the brow, but she'll be alright in no time sir," the senior British doctor responded pleasantly.

"Hopefully not too long, you promised a proper English teatime. Don't forget," Brenda chuckled, showing some humor and a degree of mental toughness that Daniel noted immediately.

"Of course, darling, as I said, none of her majesty's ships are complete without a tea brewer," the doctor laid a hand on her shoulder, professional and polite, as any fine medical officer would conduct themselves, "Now, if you'll excuse me, we must check on your bloodwork."

"Thank you doctor," Brenda said, getting a similar thank you from her father as a junior NCO was left to monitor her as the two civilians sat down next to her.

"You alright?" Daniel asked, "I saw that you uh…came pretty close."

"I'm fine, just uh…tired is all. I heard our man was wounded when they took me, how is he?"

"Critical, but stable condition, you and he will be headed back to Earth aboard the Sydney once your condition is verified for recovery and to monitor you for anything initial medical scans don't pick up," Daniel informed her.

"Good, when I saw him get shot I didn't think he'd survive that. Hope he'll be okay," Brenda nodded, "Did anyone else…do we know how bad it was?"

"The Colonials are still counting the casualties, so far the bombing may have claimed upwards of two hundred people, over a thousand are reported wounded. The rescue mission saw a dozen Colonials shot in the lobby, six of them mortal."

Brenda just closed her eyes and sighed heavily, hearing that was a gut punch, "Things are going to be very difficult now. Whatever good faith was there is pretty much gone now."

"Hey don't worry yourself about that okay?" the senator said reassuringly, "We'll take care of things here, you just get on home and get better."

"True, you'll need to submit your application to the SGC's new exploration team program," Daniel reminded her.

"Yeah, I do need to update my resume now, don't I?" Brenda smiled softly, putting on a brave face over the mix of emotions she had felt after hearing of the casualties that the Colonials had likely taken in the attack directed at her and her fellow Earth diplomats. Although she was forced to shake her head a bit, the sedation really kicking in at this point.

"Why don't you go ahead and get some sleep? We'll talk before you ship out for home okay?"

"Okay," Brenda nodded back and the two men got up.

"She is right though, the Colonial government's already filed a very angry protest over the Lion's battlegroup entering Virgon's atmosphere and taking position over that hotel. They're not overtly blaming us for what happened, but they are definitely going to be saying that amongst themselves," Senator Jackson stated quietly, giving Daniel an update on the recent communications from the Colonial presidency.

"Well, it wasn't our people who killed theirs so…"

"Thank God for that fact," the other man sighed, "But it'll definitely be something we have to reckon with. We launched a military operation on foreign soil without their government's permission. It was necessary of course, don't get me wrong, I don't fault anyone for the hand we were dealt. We did what we could but…this is tough, and what's worse, I have to fully recuse myself from the negotiations so a new individual has to come out and learn the situation when things are at their most tense. I'll stay to help advise for a little but I can't actively participate, at least for now."

"It's the job we do out here," Daniel reminded him.

"This is true, so who knows what'll happen soon, especially since you'll be headed back too. I got the confirmation a little bit before the mission went ahead. The IOA's signed off on purchasing your contract, and personally I'd like you to return aboard the Sydney, if only to make sure Brenda's okay. Could you do that for me please?"

"Sure," Daniel nodded, "And uh…when does the IOA want me to start?"

"You'll have a couple weeks to take some time for yourself if you'd like, but the IOA would like you to begin looking over personnel for department heads, Colonel Mitchell's already working on the training facility as you know, but the IOA is willing to offer an additional supplement to your salary if you can go to the Delta Site early and assist him in planning the facility and grounds."

"Yeah, no problem," Daniel said in tacit agreement, "Although I think I need to be here to help with the Cylon peace treaty with the Colonials."

"That…I think we better wait for things to calm down, unless one or the other makes a move first," Senator Jackson replied uneasily.

"Yeah, unfortunately that's the real kicker isn't it? We have to wait, which is always the hardest part."