Chapter 27

Location: Delta Site

Date: June 2, 2023

Time: 0500

The Delta Site was pretty much operational by this point. With a command numbering over two and a half thousand international personnel Colonel Mitchell basically had himself another version of Stargate Command under his command. It had all the amenities and redundant systems which the SGC had learned to install through painful experience. The most important of which at the moment was the facility's primary bank of three Mk. III Naquadah generators which operated on a rotating basis while three back-up Mk. I's were supplemented by six large diesel electric generators as a tertiary contingency. The fully CBRN hardened facility had finally had its emergency lock-down capabilities fully installed, tested, and certified with all the relevant security now in place. There were new suites of labs already set up with the only thing missing being the expensive lab equipment and the scientists to run them. Another batch of additional facilities were secured armories and ammunition storage bunkers with room to store enough ammunition of all types to wage a small war while also possessing a set of nuclear weapons storage bunkers with the relevant high security features and safe-handling infrastructure for them. Well below the living spaces and work areas were large self-sealing tanks for various fuels for sustaining vehicle operations and run their generators with the requisite pumping stations for each with a number of portable back-up units already in place with fuel lines in the garages for hooking up fuel tanker trucks with lines that ran to the fuel bunkers which when not in use were kept empty of fuel and were filled with CO2. The next big project for the underground labyrinth were the team rooms and associated billeting facilities.

However, unlike the SGC's home base the Delta Site had a sizeable outdoor component, albeit temporary in comparison to what was planned. The base's exterior component was indeed the largest above-ground offworld facility the SGC had, with the newly-deployed teams of the SG Strike Teams now being housed in long rows of olive green Quonset huts tucked into the steep wooded mountain slope. Each billeting area for each team of more than two hundred was segmented into platoon and HQ sections, tall H-Barriers subdividing the areas while sandbags were piled high by the teams themselves along the walls of their huts and camouflage netting hung over the walkways and common areas. Each team had its own HQ building with a courtyard in front of it where their nation's colors were rung up each morning and were the teams conducted morning formation and roll-call, a secure armory which was dug down and covered over with prefabricated concrete slabs and then had a waterproof coating applied and then a pile of dirt covering the armory to provide a degree of protection with an H-Barrier lined entrance tunnel was guarded night and day by a duty NCO. Portable concrete shelters were dropped into large trenches dug down with H-Barriers covering them and sandbags lining the walls and adding additional protection with camouflage netting also covering the areas.

Large temporary hangars were in place near the base of the mountain where the reinforced entrance to the underground garage was located with a mowed field of grass a hundred meters between the thirty-ton blast door and its twin-sided fifteen bar locking tumblers. The road here was directly linked to the rows of hangars, now laying empty with packaged maintenance gear lined up with the shipments of spare parts for the relevant vehicles and the mechanics to maintain them pending the next big shipment which was to include the relevant recovery vehicles and other items necessary to run a fully-independent battalion-level vehicle depot. There were slated to be no less than thirty different vehicle types for the various teams' motor pools, so there were going to be no shortage of headaches for the grease monkeys and more than a few trades of beer, snacks, and favors with many long nights alongside an extensive list of spare parts always on order for the motor pool to be shipped from Earth. But this was a prospect for another time.

For now, the objects of the troops' current fascination was now in the officially-prohibited-but-not-prohibited trade in various ration packs, energy drinks, snacks, and other goods between the different national units. It was an oddity to the two temporarily-assigned Jaffa warriors. Ronac and O'rek were quick to master not just the standard issue weapons of the classic SGC, namely the P90, but also the standard weapons of the US military and so far, were working their way through the other militaries' weaponry.

Standing at the newly-designated firing range the two were busying themselves familiarizing themselves with a weapon which Ronac found to be very much to his liking, the AA-12 Shotgun. The two were officially present to familiarize the SG/S teams in the use of Jaffa weaponry such as the Staff Weapon, Zat'nik'tel, Wrist-Mounted Plasma Repeater, and other Jaffa tech as well as assisting in teaching the new troops and officers about Jaffa customs and culture as well as tactics. But in between classes the two were instructed to attend classes themselves, and learn all they could.

"Brother, we're about to have company," O'rek nodded to an approaching JLTV kicking up dust as it approached on the dirt trek leading to the range and its wood and sheet metal-covered bleachers and firing steps.

"Indeed," Ronac noted as the vehicle rolled up and the passenger door opened to reveal Colonel Mitchell.

"Hey ya fellas! Hard at work or hardly working huh?" Mitchell walked over with a smile, although this particular saying perplexed Ronac, who cocked an eyebrow at his O'rek.

"A figure of speech," O'rek laughed, elaborating for his brother.

"Ah…"

"Got some news that I thought you two might want to hear, we're making a move on what Jaffa Intelligence says could have been the source for the bombing on Dakara," Mitchell informed the two, "The mission brief is going down tonight, the mission itself is set for tomorrow morning."

"Good, we have waited for news of this mission," O'rek said quickly.

"Your granddad's asked for you to be involved to act as liaisons between the Jaffa and us, and if Teal'c vouches for you that's good enough for me."

"Excellent, when shall we depart?" Ronac asked.

"Hop in, I'll tell you the details on the way."

The two nodded to the two SGC NCO's who were assisting them, who themselves were qualified enough to run these classes themselves. They then got into the back seat of the JLTV and took off for the base.

"So here's the lowdown fellas: We're going after a planet which Jaffa Intelligence says is newly-settled by a number of humans who were all former Ori followers who've been run out of their former homes and have settled together on this planet. There's quite a lot of them, and scans indicate that they regularly receive visitors, they so far seem to be a mixture of normal merchants and traders as well as some governmental visitors of some kind from the same world that P5Y-464 was administered by, which is partially why we have decided to make a move, there's a connection of some kind, and it is worth investigating. But this place is built like a fortress for good reason."

"Opposition will not be light Colonel Mitchell," O'rek noted.

"Former Ori warriors are not to be underestimated, especially if SG-3's killers are among them," Ronac added to that.

"We're anticipating possibly five to seven hundred combatants," the Colonel said to them, "Which is why we've got so much shock and awe on standby. Six SG teams, a force of three hundred Jaffa and air support from a Hat'ak some Al'kesh and from one of our ships. The plan is to get in quietly, nab some potential HVI's, and plant demolitions in any weapons caches we can find."

Ring Security and Exploration Command, Aquaria

"All tests are complete, systems back online, Admiral," Dr. Baltar informed Admiral Queen as the man watched the systems checks register in the green from the main control computer in the center of the control room's front row of consoles.

This time, instead of retaining their fragile but high end commercial housings the entire row of computer screens and their keyboards were housed in an armored box with keypad-controlled access panels which would log if and when the terminals' internals were accessed and whose access code was used, although the cameras in the control center tended to do that for them. Other parts of the control room were likewise fortified, an added layer of bullet-proof glass was present in the rear of the room with a sliding door and palm-print access terminal that would protect the computer towers which were responsible for the terminals in the control line and were the buffer between the Stargate's systems and their own powerful computer interfaces down in the bowels of the facility.

"Good, thank you Dr., you and your team's efforts have not gone unnoticed the past couple weeks," Queen stated, giving Baltar a nod which was returned with a tired rub of the eyes as he sat back in his chair, "Go get some rest, you've earned that much."

"Thank you Admiral, but I'm afraid there's still much that needs seeing to in regards to our control systems' redundancy protocols as well as calibrating the new iris for the ring."

"Your team can handle that can't they?"

"They could, but the calibration of the iris upon the event horizon must be utterly precise. With what we saw happen in there…there's no more room for error," Baltar pointed at the polished armored iris segments which the engineers down in the embarkation room were working on installing.

"It was a good catch on your team's part, noticing that sliver of space needed for materializing inbound matter. You're sure this new iris will work? You know how much fabricating those pieces costed the program right?"

"A pretty round sum I'm sure, and yes, I'm fully confident that, if properly aligned, this will prevent us from having the same inbound intrusion we suffered through."

"Fair enough, I'll leave you to it then."

Baltar was no fool, this was his one last chance to not only salvage his reputation but to enhance it. After the utter catastrophe of CNP being scrapped and the counter-espionage inspections being conducted towards him and then his team, none of which were found to be at fault, there was a lingering doubt aimed at him. But Baltar's own corporate and government connections had given him one final shot. And he was not going to let a simple thing like being tired get in his way. A quick meal, splash of ice-cold water, and he would see this new set of tasks through to operational status. Fortunately, this was made all the easier by the fact Baltar's resources here were seemingly infinite. So, he got up, and made for the cafeteria, where he knew a pot of soup was always ready for those needing a quick meal outside of normal mealtimes. This left Admiral Queen to head to the next meeting, this time, with Major Black and the other two team leaders of Recon Teams Two and Three. But also there, was Tyry.

"Admiral on Deck!" the lead NCO leading the security detail said out loud and the men stood up to attention.

"At ease, take your seats gentlemen. Let's get going," Queen said as he took his seat at the head of the table as other members of his operations staff joined as well after handing out several folders with the relevant information on their mission, the prep work which had been conducted for it, and the different contingencies which were anticipated and planned for, "Now, if you'll open your folders you'll see we've got a number of updates to the SOP's you and your teams will be conducting yourselves within. Colonel Damsen, please explain."

"Thank you Admiral," the operations commander said as he opened his master copy of the documents in front of them, "Gentlemen due to the sensitive and potentially provocative nature of our involvement with Mr. Tyry here, no offense sir," he nodded to Tyry who just nodded silently but respectfully in understanding, "Every single item of equipment you will be taking into the field has been modified or specially made to eliminate every single identifiable and traceable component to prevent Colonial involvement from being proven should any of your equipment fall into the hands of the Jaffa or Earth. You will not carry with you any dogtags or personal possessions which can be potentially traced to the Colonies. Not only this, but it is also deemed highly likely that Earth is monitoring the operations of this base and the activities of our Stargate, as they call it, and as we are opting to call it as well. We will also refrain from using other pieces of language which are local to our own people that have not been noted to be used by Earth or by anyone which Mr. Tyry here has himself heard before. So words such as, and not limited to, frak, are not to be uttered by you or your personnel. Other words to refrain from using are included within your documents."

Major Black couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly at such a stipulation. Getting military personnel to not use the word 'frak' was like asking fish not to swim. But, like a good officer who wanted to keep his job he held his tongue.

"We have also pieced together a map and a terrain analysis with the appropriate uniform for this mission. Due to the possibility of a camouflage pattern being retraced to our own military inventories it is decided that you and your team will not deploy with a camouflage pattern, rather your team will have a single-colored uniform and vest and helmet cover with the choice of color meant to match the local environment. In this case, it will be a cold-weather dark khaki uniform set for an arid environment. Temperatures in the area you are headed to will likely drop far below freezing by night and be moderate to warm by day. Again, you will wear cloaks to conceal your weapons and your equipment as much as possible."

"Next, Mr. Tyry has been forward enough to provide us with several addresses and locations within the galactic map, including but not limited to, that of Earth itself. We know from the reports of Mr. Tyry and his people that Earth's Stargate is in possession of a protective iris, much like the one we are currently installing. So, you are to know that if for any reason you are in distress, and are unable to make contact with our own Stargate you can contact this gate address to request assistance from Earth. However, this is a last resort, and if you travel to Earth, you are to destroy your weapons and ammunition prior to stepping through the Stargate to prevent Colonial weapons and equipment from being held for analysis by Earth and risk creating a connection to the engagement which we had with their personnel a couple weeks ago. Note that Earth's location is ascertained to be well outside the reach of the Colonial Fleet at this time, and any travel to Earth will result in your team being on their own. Instead, you have a list of alternative gate addresses to opt for in the event of a failure to connect with our own gate. Have these addresses memorized, however these addresses are to be copied over onto an unmarked and laminated piece of paper and included in your kit for rapid reference alongside a corresponding color. Whichever back-up address your team opts for you are to leave one of these sets of stones beneath the Dial Home Device on the other side, the exact placement of which is laid out for you in the documents. Those little stones will be crucial, as they would be our only clue as to where to come looking for your teams should contact be lost. Your entire team will therefore have stones such as these issued to you for added redundancy."

The man passed around several cheap colored gemstones, commonly found in gift shops at tourist traps across the colonies. They were brightly-colored, easy to make out, and small. The paper with the backup gate addresses had been matched to these gemstones, each one having an image of an example stone to signify which stone corresponded to which gate address. Major Black internally rolled his eyes once again at this pencil-pushers' bright idea. It sounded fine in theory, but in practice, in the heat of the moment, it would almost definitely not work out so great. Still, it was incumbent on Black and his fellow team leaders to make it work. It didn't take long before they were now on to Tyry.

"Mr. Tyry, what can you tell us about the planet that we're headed to?"

"It's where me and family settled after the Jaffa burned our people's village to the ground. We went there because it was where other former Ori followers went after they too had been forced out of their homes. There's people there from dozens of worlds, the population's reached well past ten thousand and is steadily growing. It led to trouble feeding that many people, we have farms and we have livestock, but it isn't enough to provide for everyone. However, we do have resources that we've been able to trade for enough to help, gemstones, the kinds royalty would kill for. So to prevent the people from starving the town council made a decision. They swore allegiance to the rulers of Abthinia, the Raxin they call themselves. As part of their official protectorate we pay a customary tax in the gems which we mine as well as a trade tax. But our settlement and people have unrestricted access to enough resources to feed our population as it steadily grows as more former Ori worshippers and warriors are driven out of their homes and seek new ones, we've also managed to trade for boats and engines and vehicles and equipment which we've used to help get our settlement more stabilized and have begun using it to ply the ocean we're settled against, this has helped us in matters of trade as well."

"Why would they accept you as subordinates rather than just take your resources? What makes your people so special?" Black inquired.

"Our people's militia are no mere farmers with weapons. We refused to disarm after the Ori Crusade ended. Abthinia's rulers would rather not fight someone who they knew they would have great difficulty defeating when the offer to be taken under their protection was made freely. Those of us that remain that are willing to fight are well-trained and well-motivated to fight for our families and for a home because…well, it's all we have left."

"And what do your protectors think of your operations against the Jaffa?" Admiral Queen asked.

"We've gotten some tacit approval in the form of their government turning a blind eye to our travels and our accumulation of Jaffa technology, so long as we pass along certain things to make it worth their while to overlook our activities, namely naquadah and gold and silver and so long as we don't draw the ire of the Jaffa government, so our operations are purely aimed at the disparate Jaffa warlords and their holdings and resources."

"And the Raxin military, what can you tell us about them? You said that they were technologically behind us, but lacked specifics."

"The Raxin Army, when we met them, lacked jet aircraft, lacked helicopters, and lacked advanced rocketry. They have all of that now, mostly, it's all in its infancy but they think they're strong enough for their own government to think they're a deterrent to the Jaffa in their own right, they fought against the Ori on several of their protectorate worlds and won their share of battles and lost some. But have improved their forces dramatically as a result of those defeats."

"So they feel they can go toe-to-toe with Jaffa?" Admiral Queen replied with a scoff.

"To an extent they think they can, but they seem to count on influence and economic motivation. They're quite an influential trading partner with strong connections to many Jaffa worlds and to worlds the Jaffa do a lot of business with. If the Jaffa were to make a move against them then a trade war would break out, and no one would come out of such a thing unscathed, so they choose not to get directly involved and keep us at arm's length."

"It sounds as though the galaxy out there is quite intertwined economically isn't it?"

"It is, yes," Tyry acknowledged, "The place my family and I fled from was a fertile land. On my farm alone we grew…" he smiled as he sat back in his chair and looked up fondly as he thought about the past, "Nine…no ten different crops, we had four kinds of livestock, a fish pond, and my wife raised hives of honey bugs for honey, wax, and silk."

"Sounds like a nice place," Queen acknowledged.

"It was, it really was," Tyry mumbled as he looked down, "Until it wasn't. You see…my people, the ones who are fighting the Jaffa, all had peaceful productive lives before some warlord took it all away. Most tried to appeal to the Jaffa government, none received anything in return. Maybe this will change, but it won't change if we don't try to bring that about. We had our taste of freedom from oppression for a short while. We won't be forced into it again, no matter how well disguised it is or even if it is denied."

"So you came to us, and here we are. Which takes us to our next point, you said that the Jaffa you called Sat'sun was who you believed responsible for the attack on our facility and you also said he would make demands of us. Why haven't we received that set of demands yet?" Admiral Queen asked.

"Sat'sun isn't foolish, nor are his allies, in particular Koramon. He was likely told to hold off because the incident did not solely involve the Jaffa, the Taur'i were likewise involved. It is likely that they don't wish to draw attention to themselves, knowing that Earth is also present in your space and may discover their presence. And with Earth on the hunt for a potential enemy and Teal'c being directly opposed to them they don't want to be targeted. They may also be gathering their resources for use against you with which to threaten their blackmail."

"So we'll need to double down on some of our old Cylon War tricks to fool orbital surveillance, we've done it before in tougher times than this, we'll do it again. So, is it accurate to say they're waiting for the heat to die down and for us to make a mistake?"

"Yes, that's my feeling," Tyry nodded, "That's why I recommended the addresses I gave you. They're all worlds I've visited or based out of. If you go out to one world, you can establish an outpost and use to prevent anyone tracking you back here by synchronizing the timing of Stargate activations. Doing so also prevents your gate address being spotted as you depart. If your outpost is compromised, you can leave the old one and make a new one."

"And our staff has agreed with the assessment," Colonel Damsen nodded, "Which is why the plan is to have your three teams go through to the top-listed address here, marked as Epieran, and establish a temporary outpost. Major Black and Recon-1 will then move through to the planet which Mr. Tyry and his people have indicated to be our target destination."

"Your assignment is to accompany Mr. Tyry and attain intelligence on the activities of this Jaffa named Sat'sun, and ascertain if his activities are indeed a danger to the Twelve Colonies and their interests. We need gate addresses, names of people and places, numbers and assets available, and maps and schematics, the works gentlemen," Admiral Queen stated firmly, "Mr. Tyry, are you confident that your sources will able to accommodate that?"

"It'll be possible given time," Tyry nodded, "I have a number of spies who are present on almost all of Sat'sun's planets and I have one in particular who has access to his inner circle. But I need to contact them safely, and give them time to get the intel you need."

At this point the Colonial officers were becoming much more willing to trust Tyry, he and his people were clearly trying to get something from the Colonials. They had an agenda, but there was something to be said for a group who had an objective. They had something to lose. So, they had every reason to cooperate, and the Colonials for their part had a way to discern how truthful each and every one of them was being. The Cylon War had taught, or rather forced, Colonial Intelligence how to craft lie detectors of incredible complexity and capability as well as video analysis software for interpreting facial expression, eye movement, nostril flaring, and vocal variations as well as body language such as reading a person's posture through looking at their spines, shoulders, feet, knees, and other parts of the body which give off minute unconscious movements when lying or telling the truth. The readings from dozens of interviews and from watching the interactions amongst themselves of Tyry's people were showing that there was little evidence of treacherous intent and utterly negligible signs of lies being told to their people. But there was something to be said for just talking with someone, getting to know them, and Major Black was someone who knew that better than most. He had spoken with Tyry every day, sharing conversations over breakfast, lunch, and dinner, even sharing Pyramid game night in the officers mess, inviting Tyry to bring his daughters along who were deeply enjoying Colonial television.

It was because of all these interactions that Black was beginning to trust Tyry's intentions, although much was left to be seen whether or not the man himself could be trusted when push came to shove. Major Black studied Tyry as they continued, getting into the nitty gritty of the people, the land, and the customs of the place they were going to avoid arousing suspicions on the planet that they were intending to head off to. The man knew he'd be likely to see whether or not Tyry would be seen as trustworthy going forward when they departed in six hours.

Caprica City, Earth Embassy, Caprica

The compound was still pretty imposing. Earth had maintained their oddly-militarized security perimeter. Their vehicles had been updated with boxlike wheeled armored vehicles, Navistar Maxxpros marked in the same method as their other diplomatic vehicles, but these vehicles never left the compound walls. But they were allowing Colonial visitors access quite regularly now. D'Anna was set to meet someone today, she herself had been contacted by the Earth diplomatic team, the wording of the letter indicating that it was to discuss taking her up on a request to meet with the Earth diplomats for a one-on-one sit-down in front of the camera. But the implied request was obvious. She simply needed to get away from her producer who was in the car with her.

D'Anna had not heard back from Earth in quite some time, and it had been worrying her. The logic she'd been piecing together stated very firmly that the Earth diplomats were not feeling as though they had the desired level of credibility with the Colonial government to broach the subject of a formal peace treaty with the Cylons. This was undoubtedly true after the events that took place on Virgon with Colonial citizens being killed during that operation in which the Earth military unilaterally took action against terrorist elements. She didn't want to jeopardize the odds of things going the way her Cylon faction was wanting, especially with the way things were shaping out in the Cylon council sessions that were underway at the moment.

There were constant and heated debates about how to accomplish the plan that they'd spent so much time and effort trying to get just perfect to be able to execute a fully-realized preemptive strike to wipe out the Colonials. Before it had been a debate on when and how, now it wasn't even certain if it was even possible. The Cylons had witnessed the absolute devastation wrought by Earth's warships and their superior technology. They had no answer for this, and to many in the Cylon camp it was a sign that the destruction of Humanity was no longer an option. Without this objective and purpose, many Cylons were debating within themselves as to what their purpose actually was. There were discussions tabled that even questioned whether or not they ought to find the Final Five and bring them back into the fold to find out if there was something that they knew that could help. These discussions were bluntly refused by the Cavils.

This is where the worry really set in for D'Anna and her sisters, as well as with the Sixes and Eights. Several of the Twos had come forward to them, and revealed that the Ones, the Fours, and the Fives were covertly discussing a pair of new plans. This one was much more covert and much more precise. Their objective was to find the Final Five and kill them, their other, much more disturbing plan was what the Cavils intended to do to the Raiders, they were going to begin lobotomizing them, removing their limited free will to make them mere drones, no different to the Centurions. They were suspicious of a potential rebellion within their own ranks, and were stacking the deck. The Twos of course, being the stealthy nonfactors that the others often thought of them as, were able to get wind of this. And unwilling to go along, but smart enough not to confront the Cavils at a council meeting, went to the Threes, the wiliest of the Cylon models and the ones most likely to stand up to Cavil. Of the Cylon models the Threes controlled the most Basestars out of the three, now four dissenting Cylon models. This still left the dissenters as outgunned, but with the Twos and their ships now on board, the ratio was a much more manageable one to one and a half in terms of ship numbers, if they were able to get the ships which were shared between Twos and the other models.

To do this, a plan was being developed. One single component within the Centurions prevented their central processing units from conducting higher thought, the Telencephalic Inhibitor. They were going to remove it. But, there was an issue to be considered. The Centurions on their ships were easily able to be modified, but it was the Centurions in the Resurrection Ships and the Hub that were the real problem. Without those Centurions they couldn't control those crucial places, and if they couldn't control them then their whole lines risked being boxed. Something needed to be done. To this end, D'Anna had a plan, and it would potentially risk everything for all Cylons. To her, only Earth had the technological prowess to tackle the Cylons in their own specialty.

Arriving at the Earth embassy in the suburbs of Caprica City, she had a request. She would ask Earth to help her box the Cavils, and win the Cylons' Civil War before it even began.