One Big Jump

by goulmeister1

AU:An Aerlion ship on patrol encounters the Cylons at the beginning of the first Cylon war and suffers a misjump, forty years later an expedition leaves Earth bound for Abydos, the Stargate has just been opened for the first time.

8. Chapter 8

Stargate Command

It had been a tough week for the SGC, the whole station had been on lockdown after contracting a disease from the "Land of Light", the locals name for their world, a planet rotationally locked to its star.

The planet was only habitable on a narrow band around it, outside it was either freezing or far too hot to live, the inhabitants had a planet just on the twilight section, divided between the "Touched" and "Untouched".

The disease brought back would cause its victims to take on traits from a more primitive version of humanity, it managed to spread throughout the station but fortunately a quarantine lockdown was ordered before it could get any further.

Ultimately a solution was found in antihistamine medicine, everything soon returned to normal and the people of the land of light were now cured of the affliction, like many planets they had investigated so far it was otherwise of of little value to the Union.

General George Hammond was going over the final reports of the whole incident when the stargate activated.

"Unauthorized offworld activation", blared over the intercom, Hammond was quick to move to the command centre, "What teams are offworld", he asked Harriman as he entered.

"Just SG-9 sir, their not due to check in for another day"

"Receiving IDC, it's the Tok'ra!"

"Open the iris", Hammond heard the rushing footsteps aproaching the room, he glanced over to see Colonel O'Neill enter the room.

"Ah man, it's just snake heads again"

"Colonel, keep those comments to yourself, the Union wants an alliance with the Tok'ra"

Jack simply shrugged, Hammond sighed and let them down to the embarkation room.

Only one person came through this time, the woman they had rescued from Cronus, Rosha.

"Greetings, General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill", she gave them a small bow.

"Jolinar?"

"Indeed, Eztli was always a temporary host for me, she is back at the Tok'ra base for now, I came because the High council had finally decided to grant an audience to your people"

Hammond and O'Neill shared a look, "Lets take this to the briefing room"

…

The rest of SG-1 had joined them in the briefing room, O'Neill commenting about how the Tok'ra "Change bodies as often as I change my coat", to the resident diplomat on the station, Joseph Faxon, as they took their seats.

"Unfortunately Colonel, hosts are a rare opportunity for most Tok'ra, the process to cultivate a potential host can take years and Tok'ra don't enter such relationships lightly, I am an anomaly in that regard"

"Lets keep the conversation on track, you said the High Council will meet with us?", Hammond knew how important it was to get the Tok'ra on their side, they had an extensive intelligence network among the system lords.

"Yes, your actions in rescuing Rosha and my words convinced them of your utility, the Tok'ra are a dying race, their queen has been missing for millienia and their population is in decline"

"Their queen?", Daniel asked.

"As you know I defected to the Tok'ra, I am not of the lineage of Egeria"

"Ah, that's not common then?"

"No", said that with finality, "The High Council is prepared to meet with you tomorrow, we have just moved our base to a new location called Vorash, our old base was compromised by Cordesh, Cronus' spy, that is why we delayed this meeting"

"About time, we've been busting our asses to help", Jack felt a bit of anger, it was taking a lot of effort just to talk to the Tok'ra brass.

"You should temper your expectations Colonel, the Tok'ra in general look down on humans, even though they profess to help, they will not assign the weight your actions deserve, just to give you the communications technology used up a lot of my sway with them"

Jolinar's faced darkened somewhat, "They believe me to be an irresponsible agent just for that, even though you have accomplished more in a few months than the Tok'ra in centuries"

She sighed, "I apologize, the Council can be very intransigent, it will not be easy to change their minds, your best avenue is to court Selmak, the oldest of the High Council, they will be more willing to help"

"Mr Faxon here will negotiate with the Tok'ra high council, SG-1 will escort and back him up, you leave tomorrow", Hammond turned to Faxon, "Talk to Jolinar, learn everything you can about the High Council", Hammond waved to Daniel, "Dr Jackson, will help too"

"Best impressions people, we only get one"

Picon Fleet HQ

"We analyzed the skeletal remains, carbon dating confirms the age and the abnormal amount of silicon", Admiral Greenhill was the one talking, the head of Colonial military intelligence, "We have also confirmed the identity of Obal Rand, presumed dead after the disappearance of the transport ship Diana, officially"

Corman looked down at the folder in front of him, labeled Operation: Raptor Talon, he hadn't looked inside yet but he had heard that name before, all he knew before today was it was the last operation before the peace accord, thirty years ago.

"In reality we tracked the ship to an abandoned mining world, Hesperia, what would become the last battle site of the war, it was there we lost the Columbia and made a shocking discovery"

The room was filled with the top admirals in the fleet and one exception, Commander William Adama, who was standing up now and moving to he podium.

"Commander Adama crashed on the planet during the battle, everything he saw that day was classified in the interest of not restarting the war"

Adama cleared his throat and began, "I'll skip the battle, once my viper was lost I parachuted into the Cylon facility, there was an unknown type of baseship landed beside the building"

Greenhill turned on the projector, an image of a double star vessel appeared, the one the Terrans had fought, Adama turned to look at the picture "I can confirm this is that ship, I remember it still to this day"

Greenhill spoke up next, "The Terrans took this image of the ship, they included the coordinates where they left the hulk, we're organizing a task force to investigate"

Adama continued, "I managed to land on a skylight, right on top of a centurion, I managed to cave its head in with an iron bar and steal its weapon, the horror show began when I moved further into the building"

"Cages, blood, body parts everywhere, they were doing experiments there, on people, I saw someones arm hooked up to wires in a glass tank, it's still vivid in my mind"

He shook his head, "There were still people in there, trapped behind a door I couldn't get open, that's when the ship lifted off, the shock wave nearly took the building down before I could get out, it was after they left that their final surprise happened, incendiary's were set off, there was nothing left to prove what I had seen"

Adama finished with a solemn look on his face, he moved back to his seat as Greenhill took the podium again, Corman was still processing everything he heard from Adama, they knew the Cylons were doing experiments back during the war, was it to gain organic bodies?.

"The government at the time suppressed this incident, they feared public knowledge would cause the war to restart", A rumble of angry voices was heard around the room, no one liked the choice made, "At any rate we know the Cylons were researching organic technology, add to that everything we learned from the Terrans and Mr Rand and we come to a horrifying conclusion, the possibility of human looking Cylon infiltrators"

Admiral of the Fleet Feore joined Greenhill, "I've already spoken to the Secretary of Defence and the head of CID, we will be instituting mandatory checks for all military personnel, civil servants and members of the government, as soon as we can devise a test for humanoid Cylons"

"The president has decided to classify any information about humanoid Cylons, he doesn't want to cause a panic or any kind of witch hunt, I concur, we also don't want to let the Cylons know we found out, so don't tell anyone anything you heard here"

Ferore returned to his seat as Greenhill continued, "So here's what we know, two thousand years ago the Thirteenth tribe destroyed themselves, they had their own version of Cylons and possibly were some kind of Cylon themselves, based on the evidence we have so far, five survivors managed to make their way to the colonies over those two thousand years, pointing to the probability they had no FTL drives"

He paused to bring up the images of the skeletal remains and the heavily corroded Cylon from the Thirteenth, "Our experts examined the remains, tests confirmed the two thousand year dating and the Cylon had a number of differences to our own"

"Once the survivors arrived to the colonies near the end of the war, they offered our Cylons the technology to gain humanoid bodies in exchange for the peace accord, according to Mr Rand once the first organic types were produced they somehow enslaved the remaining robotic Cylons causing the Guardians to flee Cylon space"

"So, the organic types are in charge, what of the five survivors, did they just let that happen?", Admiral Nagala asked.

"We have no information past that point, if the five simply deceived the Cylons to take over, or something happened to them, we don't know, it would beg the question of why stop the war"

"Do we even know if we have been infiltrated?", Corman asked that himself.

"Right now we have no idea, but going forward we will operate under the assumption that we have been", Ferore added from his seat.

"We have had no contact with the Cylons since the peace accord, we send an officer every year to the armistice station but they never have, it could be because the organic Cylons have taken over and no longer care or it could be nefarious intentions, we simply don't know"

"Thank you Admiral Greenhill", Ferore stood again while Greenhill sat down, "Regarding the Terrans, President Rand, no relation to Obal Rand", he got a chuckle from Nagala but the rest of the room remained silent, "Has decided to go public with their existence, tomorrow he's is holding an official reception at the presidential palace, I will be there, along with members of the Quorum and journalists"

Corman was invited too, everything was moving fast with the Terrans, especially once it was known the level of technology they had, he had managed to get a promise of a demonstration from Borman before he had left for this meeting.

"Security will be tight, if Cylons infiltrators were to commit a terrorist act this would be a prime target, the Caprica defence fleet will be on high alert during the whole event"

They were reading a target for the demonstration, a half destroyed old Cylon baseship from the first war that was rotting in a scrap yard, they had were towing it out of the place right now.

"Later today President Rand will make a public broadcast across the Colonies revealing the existence of the Terrans, I don't know what the reaction will be, but be prepared for loonies crawling out of the woodwork"

Just what they needed, some Gemenonese extremist or one of Zarek's lot causing trouble, Corman hoped the reveal would go without a hitch.

"The president has put a lot of political capital behind befriending the Terrans, access to their advanced technologies is a priority for the fleet too, our experts believe we have the advantage in FTL drives, ship design and industrial power based on what we have learned from them"

Corman remembered some of the things they had shown, their comms system somehow opened a portal they could send signals through, Borman had claimed it had a 50ly range, the anti aging technology alone would be a major boon, the money saved from elder care and the increased workforce might revive the economy on its own.

"One more thing, we are not to associate the Terrans with the Thirteenth, do not mention the fate of the Thirteenth tribe, as far as the civilian population is concerned they are a myth, we aim to keep it that way for now"

"Alright, that's it for now, dismissed"

Arcadia

New Unity City

Government Complex

Kerensky looked over the city from his new office, they had just finished furnishing the new building, which had been built in a mini fortress complex, mech resistant walls surrounded the site with a large gate able to block access via the road, in the future they would even add weapons emplacements.

Arcadia had grown massively in the few months they had been here, in addition to the hundred thousand star league exiles there had been immigration from Earth, nearly a million people now called the planet home, that number would increase drastically too in the future, already plans had been enacted to produce housing for the incoming boom.

Farmland now surrounded the city, genetically engineered crops from the star league had no trouble growing in the fertile soil, food would be no issue as the planet grew, factories were now springing up too, ready to produce the gods the people would need.

Kerensky ran his planet with military efficiency, he was the authority on anything that happened, in essence it was a military dictatorship but the Union didn't care, there were already some in the Union before they even arrived, one more was no issue.

He moved to his desk, an antique mahogany one he had imported from Earth, it was littered with reports, from Arcadia and the wider Union, interesting facts had been observed as the Union had started to explore local space, so fat they had found twelve planets able to support life within fifty light years of Earth, five of them similar to Arcadia, terraformed at some point in the past, estimates were currently in the range of one hundred thousand years, the other seven were some flavor of marginal but could be made excellent with star league terraforming technology.

Not one of them had any traces of Kobolium but they were starting to find tylium deposits, the working theory was whoever had terraformed the worlds had mined out the local area thousands of years ago.

When they finally got around to giving Arcadia's system a proper survey they found Kobolium in some asteroids but none on the planet itself, they'd have to survey the other planets too but so far it was holding true for them too, it would explain why the Goa'uld had abandoned the sector, the lack of easily exploitable kobolium deposits, why they had shunned space mining he didn't know.

The construction of the orbital shipyard was proceeded apace too, the skeletal structures first dock was complete, the McKenna's Pride was already docked inside, the workers hard at it removing the old drive core, they expected all work to be finished in a few months, already many of the jump ships had their old drives removed, the interior space was then converted to extra cargo capacity, some, like the Potemkin Abyssal, had been transferred to the new Union army to serve as transports, the rest were running cargo back and forth between Arcadia and Earth.

Right now Kerensky was waiting for his guest, Doctor Milodan Zavech, the best geneticist that had come along with the fleet, Kerensky had picked him to be involved with a top secret Union project to do with the jaffa, he wasn't waiting for much longer before the doctor arrived.

"Doctor, please be seated", Kerensky called out when the doctor entered the room, "It says in your records you served in the SLDF bio warfare division?"

Zavech affected a chagrined expression, "We only developed countermeasures, not weapons, but yes I did"

Kerensky opened a folder, "You majored in genetics and molecular biology?"

"Yes General"

Kerensky nodded, "You are the man we need", he grabbed another folder from his desk and tossed it to Zavech, "Project Undermine"

Kerensky talked on as Zavech read the files, "The Unions scientists noticed something peculiar when comparing the bodies of Ra's jaffa with those recovered from Chulak and later Egina, Ra's jaffa lacked the symbiote pouch"

"Questioning of Teal'c and the Tok'ra Jolinar revealed that jaffa lack an immune system, they gain theirs from the symbiote, so how did Ra's jaffa survive"

Zavech spoke up, "I take it they found that Ra's jaffa had an intact immune system?"

"Indeed, they did, they also found out they still had the other genetic enhancements common to other jaffa, a superior soldier, without the shackles of requiring a Goa'uld symbiote, we questioned Joilnar about this, she told us that they were only a minority of Ra's jaffa, the ones he took on his personal cruiser, that way he could sense if another Goa'uld had sneaked aboard without symbiotes to confuse that sense"

"An anti assassination method then"

"Exactly Doctor, his paranoia will help us now though, we want to reverse engineer whatever genetic therapy he developed for these symbiote free jaffa, it would allow us to undermine the Goa'uld biggest hold on them, a way to free them from requiring the presence of a symbiote to live"

"Alright, what do you need me to do"

"We have built a new facility beside the jaffa prison camp on Abydos, equipped with the best technology we have, the best geneticists we have, I want you to head the team there, find out how Ra fixed the jaffa, find a way to replicate it for us"

"I have taken the liberty to reinstate your rank, Major, you are now part of the Unions special warfare division"

"I wont let you down General", Kerensky shook his hand and sent him on his way, if this worked it could be an avenue to a jaffa revolt in the future.

Vorash

The next day

A dry sandy desert awaited them on the other side of the gate, barren rocks decorated the landscape as Jolinar led them to a nondescript location some distance from the gate, where a Goa'uld ring transporter had taken them underground to the base itself.

Jolinar had explained how the tunnels were formed, by using a crystal tunneling device they could carve out an underground base in record times, far faster than digging by hand or machine, she had told them all Tok'ra bases were located underground to keep them hidden from the Goa'uld.

They were led to a small antechamber to wait for the High Council to ready itself, Faxon going over the small amount they knew about the Tok'ra, Jack watched as Daniel helped him while he sat on the uncomfortable stone bench.

He knew from the looks they had gotten from the guards on the way in they were in for a tough time convincing the Tok'ra to ally, they'd just have to see how things went with the council.

"The Council will see you now", One of the tan clothed guards informed them, they shuffled into the room behind him, the Council was standing around a table in the centre of the room, wearing various robes of different colours, the one in the middle was the first to speak.

"Greetings, I am Per'sus leader of the Tok'ra High Council"

Faxon moved to the front of their group, "Ambassador Joseph Faxon of Earth, we thank you for the audience"

Jack tuned out the pontificating as he observed the high council, he could sense hostility from the two who were identified as Garshaw and Delek, the extremely old woman he learned was Selmac looked to be in bad health but seemed happy to be talking to them.

"We are wary of being too close to non Tok'ra, we have been betrayed before, but I can see the merits of cooperation with the people of Earth, Jolinar has spoken highly of your accomplishments", Per'sus seemed onside too.

Delek spoke up, "Really, the people who caused the most damage to our cause, because of their actions the system lords are now building up weapons and ships, Ra's edicts regarding allowed technology are now defunct, ships are now faster and more powerful than before"

"I concur, although the Tau'ri", Jack knew that was what the Gould called people from Earth, it sounded like a slur to him, "are powerful warriors, the Tok'ra survive by hiding and striking from the shadows, not open warfare, we cannot hope to contest the new military build-up of the system lords", Gershaw added to Delek's complaints.

Another Councillor spoke up now, Malek, "How can we trust people who work with jaffa, or work with the insolent rogue Jolinar", he said pointing to Teal'c.

Teal'c expression darkened but he kept silent, a better man than Malek, Jack kept quiet too, he'd let Faxon handle this bull.

They eventually nailed down the issue, "As a sign of good faith and to assuage our concerns an alliance between our people would be cemented by one of yours agreeing to host a Tok'ra symbiote", Per'sus asked of them, Jack was prepared to just walk away right then and there.

The Council agreed to recess while SG-1 discussed the issue.

Jolinar was the first to speak once they got to a private room, "I wasn't expecting this kind of demand, I had heard that Selmak's host was at the end of her life, the move to Vorash has sped up her decline, that is why they are looking for a host"

Carter looked like she thought of something only to dismiss it, "My father would have been ideal, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, lymphoma, he didn't even tell me, but the medical tech from the Star League was able to cure him"

"This is partly my fault, I have a reputation among the Council, they call me an unstable element because I take action while they just sit around and dither, they are applying that reputation to you by association", Jolinar was contrite, a first for her Jack assumed.

"Fuck them", Jack's swear received an embarrassed sounding "Sir" from Carter, "We don't need the Tok'ra, lets just go and fight the Gould ourselves", He'd rather no one had to take a snake to the head.

"No Colonel", Quinta spoke up in a quiet voice, "I will volunteer, I have been a host before, I know what is involved, it hurts the Goa'uld more if you work with the Tok'ra, this is the best path forward"

….

They took Quinta away to meet with Selmak, Jack knew it would be the last time he saw him, after today it would just be another snake, soon enough they were called back in to the High Council.

The same grumpy faces met them again, minus Selmak, it looked like the lot of them had bitten a lemon, he guessed they were supposed to reject their 'generous' offer, Per'sus moved up to talk again.

"We thank your people for the sacrifice, even if Quinta was not originally one of your own, it paves the way to further relations between our peoples, to achieving the downfall of the Goa'uld"

Jack tuned them out again, too angry to bother paying nice, as they hemmed and hawed all he could think about was the price they had just payed, it better be worth it.

In the end there was no formal agreement, no signing of papers, just the empty promised of the Tok'ra to share information, not even a guarantee, no gifting of technology, nearing the end Quinta showed back up, or was it Selmak now, he took a spot beside the other Tok'ra.

They excused themselves for a few minutes before returning.

"In the effort of fostering relations we will be assigning a representative to Earth, a conduit for communications, Jolinar of Malkshur", Per'sus declared, the sour grapes on the council looked happy at that declaration to Jacks eyes, Jolinar herself had a pole-axed look on her face, she clearly wasnt expecting this.

SG-1 and Faxon excused themselves as Jolinar looked to explode at the Council, Selmak/Quinta had joined them, to give his goodbyes.

"Colonel, it has been an experience being on SG-1, I wish you the best of luck on the future, hopefilly one day we can celebrate the demise of the Goa'uld"

"I can get behind that Quinta, don't be a stranger now, you have our number"

"Of course, I will remember my friends at the SGC", Quinta held out his hand, Jack gave it a firm shake and wandered off to the corner, watching as he gave his farewells to the rest, he could see Jolinar enter the room, holding an opaque glass sphere in her hands, she moved over to him.

"Colonel, the Councils decision is final, if you will have me that is?"

"Sure, your the best snake I know, I like you a whole lot better than the rest of them in there"

She gave a small smirk, "You have quite the sense of humour, Colonel, I will meet you at the ring transporter when we leave, I must give my farewells to some friends here", She held the sphere out to him, "A long range communicator, so I can keep in touch with the High Council"

He took it as she walked off, he found some room in his backpack, it took another thirty minutes before they were ready to leave, Jolinar rejoining them at the ring, soon they were back at the SGC, he had a mountain of reports to write.

Presidential Palace

Caprica

Garret Rand, president of the Twelve Colonies, had his eyes glued to the recent poll numbers coming in on the daily news, last night he had revealed the existence of the Terrans to the public at large.

There was some rioting on Sagittaron, they'd use any excuse to cause trouble, but otherwise the populace reacted positively, there was a sense of renewed hope and excitement in the air, a change from the stagnation and fear of the post war period.

Even the markets were reacting well, hopefully signalling an end to the current recession. Once he signed the initial treaty with the Terrans later today, it would open the way for proper trade negotiation, an economic boom was a possibility, his re-election would be ensured.

The public had assumed the Terrans were just the Thirteenth Tribe, they were trying to discourage that notion but he didn't want the real fate of the Thirteenth getting out just yet, maybe after he was re-elected.

In tandem with the announcement last night, he had also dropped the rediscovery of Kobol, along with the plans to send an expedition there, that alone had given him a significant boost in the ratings, except for some religious kooks claiming there would be a blood price fore returning.

His intercom buzzed, pulling his attention away from the TV, he reached his hand over and hit the button, his secretary's voice came over the line.

"Sir, the armed forces representatives are here for your 10am briefing".

Ah yes, the briefing on the new Cylon information, "Send them in", what he had already heard had scared him enough, he just hoped it wasn't true, otherwise they could be looking at another war.

Three men filed into the room, the first Admiral Demetrius was one of the old guard from the fleet, he had been serving since before the first war, following him was General Atticus of the marine corps and Admiral Greenhill of military intelligence, the three men sat on the chairs in front of his desk.

"Alright gentlemen, lay it on me"

"Sir, we have a serious problem", Greenhill began.

"Yes, the organic Cylons, the replicants the Terran admiral called them"

"Yes sir, the evidence is compelling, we're operating under the assumption we have been infiltrated", Greenhill continued, "We would be foolish not to"

"I know Admiral, I read the report", Rand let out an aggrieved sigh, "If you find one, you know what that means right"

Greenhill maintained his stoic visage, "We might be lucky, they might not be sending infiltrators, but when you add the possibility to the lack of contact since the armistice, it paints a disturbing picture"

"And if we find one, if they are infiltrating our society, what other purpose would there be but to undermine our society, our military, to pave the way for a second war", Atticus added his comments to Greenhill's.

Rand turned to the other man who hadn't spoken yet, "Admiral, can the fleet win against the Cylons?"

Demetrius closed his eyes as he talked, "We simply don't know their capabilities after thirty years, if it was against what we fought in the first war, yes, our current fleet of battlestars should be enough"

He opened his eyes, "Still, the recent cuts to funding and ship numbers doesn't leave us in the best position, we could win but there's no margin for error there, the lack of smaller escort ships has us running battlestars on patrols, we would need to use those ships in the event of a war and right now we have nothing to replace them with"

It always came down to money, the policy of cutting the old ships from the fleet had saved a fortune, it was started by a predecessor but he continued the policy, experts had long argued that battlestars had won the war so why bother with anything else.

"So more ships is what you are saying", Garret went silent, thinking, "What about the Terrans?"

The three military men shared a look, "We don't know the extent of their fleet at the moment, even then they are a long way away from us, it took their ships three months to reach us", Greenhill said.

The Terrans had given enough hints about what they were after, jump engines, if they could finagle a military alliance out of that, on top of the weapons they knew the Terrans had, Garret would float the idea to Weir at the reception later today.

"If I can get a trade deal out of the Terrans that will give us enough money to recommission some of the mothball fleet, if I can tack on a full military alliance, could you guarantee victory then?", he asked the men.

Another look was shared, Demetrius nodding his head to the others, "Even if all they could bring to the table was to take over some of the patrols, it would free up enough battlestars, we should be able to mount offensive operations"

"Alright gentlemen, that sounds like a plan, but this is all contingent on there actually being Cylon infiltrators to begin with, if none are found we will maintain the status quo"

Garret stood, "Until you have a viable means to test for these potential infiltrators this is all academic, I'll endeavour to get moving with the Terrans, draw up some plans for increasing the fleet, just in case"

He ushered the three men out of the room, right now he had a very public engagement to get to, the Terrans were coming to Caprica.

Stargate Command

Three people sat in General Hammond's office, George Hammond himself and across the desk from him were Colonel Jack O'Neill and Jolinar of the Tok'ra.

"The Union council wasn't pleased with the results of our negotiations with the Tok'ra but at least we got our foot in the door", George was going over the results of their visit to Vorash yesterday.

"It is unfortunate General, I had hoped you would succeed in entering into a full alliance with the High Council but they are still stuck in the past, they do not see the benefit of working with the Union", Jolinar explained, they had basically exiled her to boot.

"Hey, forget those old fossils, I might not like snakes but you're alright Jols"

Jolinar looked like she had sucked a lemon dry after hearing O'Neill's pet name for her, "I appreciate the sentiment Colonel, but still the Tok'ra are on the path to obsolescence as they are right now, their only actions are to spy and perform minor sabotage"

"Be that as it may, we still value any intel we receive, even if it's not a full alliance, hopefully in the fulness of time the High Council will come around"

Jolinar bowed her head to the General, "Even if they cant see your value, I can", she looked him in the eye, "I am forbidden from just granting you technology, a rule I am loathe to follow, but I must lest I be exiled in truth from the Tok'ra"

"I'm sensing a but", O'Neill said leaning forward.

"You captured a Tel'Tak and other Goa'uld technology, I am prepared to explain, in detail, how it all functions, to help your people in understanding how it all works"

Hammond raised an eyebrow, "Following the letter but not the spirit I see, we'll take any help we can, you have my thanks Jolinar"

Hammond extended his hand in thanks to Jolinar, she returned the gesture, having studied Earth greetings.

"So, General, I'm down a member on SG-1, I was thinking of adding someone else, I thought I'd run it by you first"

"I'm sorry to see Qunita go, but if he felt more useful to the Tok'ra that's his business, so who do you have in mind?"

"Well, Teal'c is our jaffa expert, I was hoping to add a Gould expert to the team, Jolinar would fit the bill"

Hammond looked at Jolinar, leaning forward and interlocking his fingers, "If you will have me General, I prefer action to sitting around all day, if Colonel O'Neill is offering it would be remiss of me to refuse"

"That's fine by me, we owe you a lot for the information you're giving us, I'll sign the paperwork today", General Hammond sat back in his chair.

"Now that that's out of the way, Ms Jolinar you said you had some intelligence to share with us?"

"The Tok'ra have been keeping track of Apophis' and Her'ur's war with Mafdet, as of the day before yesterday Apophis has conquered Khnum, Ra's capital and industrial world"

She paused a second to collet her thoughts, "The world was heavily damaged but is still a potent industrial powerhouse, Apophis managed to take the shipyards mostly intact and the few underlings left alive have sworn themselves to Apophis"

"Hmm, do you think he will try to claim all of Ra's old worlds, send a ship to Earth?"

She shook her head, "Not a ship no, although Her'ur got less of Ra's worlds he and Apophis are set to war against one another, to see who will be the next Supreme System lord, but the possibility of him sending jaffa to examine his new lands is high, Abydos and Earth would be on that list"

She sighed, "The High council were right about one thing, now that Ra is dead his laws regarding the level of technology allowed to the system lords are gone, the rest of them are also building up forces, I feel they will try to claim the title of supreme lord as-well"

Jack spoke up, "I heard them mention that, Ra really kept the rest of them down?"

"Yes, it was simply a method of control, none of them dared to go against his edicts, lest they be destroyed like Anubis or Sokar, but now they are improving their ships with better weapons and systems"

Hammond looked concerned hearing all this, "Just how much better will these new weapons and systems be?"

"Based on one of Ra's Ha'taks they would have twice the firepower and shield strength with triple the hyperspace speed, instead of three years to cross the galaxy they would be able to do it in one"

Hammond did some mental calculations in his head, it would take an Earth made jump drive six or seven years to get across the galaxy, this news wasn't good for their future, the Goa'uld could move a fleet to Earth faster than they hoped.

"I'll have to contact Earth, this is disturbing information", With that Hammond stood up, "Welcome to the SGC Ms Jolinar, lets hope every day doesn't drop bombshells like that"

Caprica Orbit

A flash heralded the arrival of the Enterprise and two of its escorting frigates, she settled into orbit over Caprica, the Colonial fleets welcoming committee moved into position around the Enterprise, dwarfing her with their bulk.

Borman and Anderson watched the massive shapes of the Mercury class as they moved into position, "And I thought the Athena was big, that thing is gigantic"

Borman looked at the readouts on the screen, 300 meters longer than the Athena and taller and wider too, Corman had told him the Mercury class housed hundreds of vipers and raptors in its hangars, it even came with a small production facility to produce more of them.

"They like to build them big here alright, we could do with a few ourselves", He watched as the two battlestars, one on either side of the Enterprise, launched vipers and raptors, they formed a large bubble around the ships, keeping nosey civilian ships well back.

"Sir, Caprica traffic control states they are ready to receive our dropship", the comms operator called out to him.

They had a fairly large group going down to the reception on the planet, after the event they would sign the initial treaty, a simple document that recognised the Union and the Colonies as sovereign nations to each other and a promise to peruse further relations.

Borman patted down his dress uniform, checking he had everything he needed, "Alright, tell them we'll be launching soon", he turned to Anderson beside him, "You're in command Anderson, if you smell anything fishy you know what to do"

"Sir, we'll be keeping an eye on things", She pushed a button and a local news report appeared on the main screen, "We managed to tune in one of the Colonial TV stations, I'll be recording it for posterity", she finished with a smile, Borman didn't relish being on TV, even on another planet.

Borman shook his head in exasperation, "Aright, I'm going", he quickly made his way over to the hangar, the rest of the ground party were already there, Weir and her people, Commander Yin and a few other officers and a marine detail for security.

They boarded the waiting Skymarshall and before long they were in open space, the planet rotating far below, Colonial Vipers and their own escort of fighters forming up on the ship.

Borman had decided to use the Rapiers for the escort, the large fighters dwarfing the Vipers along side them, their armour and weapons made them like flying tanks in comparison, he hoped they would make the right impression.

Weir sat beside him after they boarded, "Are you sure about this weapons demonstration tomorrow?"

"Very, it's half the reason we brought along the Rondeau and the mechs, to show the Colonials what we have to offer", he turned his head away from the porthole, "They'll need better weapons if we want them to be of any use against the Goa'uld anyway"

"Speaking of", she said, "When do we tell them about the Goa'uld?"

Ideally, he thought, they already would have but the whole Cylon tangent of their trip had put that on the back burner, better to not overwhelm them with too much unbelievable information at once, he was giving them some time to digest what they had already learned.

"After they sign the treaty for starters, I'm thinking after the demonstration tomorrow is probably best"

There was no more talking after that, the trip to the ground was uneventful anyway, they soon landed at a secure military airfield, touching down at the blue carpet laid out, an entourage awaited them including the president of the Colonies himself, Borman let Weir take the lead here.

"Emissary Weir, welcome to Caprica"

"It is our pleasure Mr President, your hospitality is most welcome"

A round of introductions and pleasantries later they were loaded up into Colonial limousine's and SUV's for the trip to the city, the reception was being held in an opera house, he was told it was a recreation of a famous one from Kobol.

He watched from behind the armoured glass as they drove through the city, he was hard pressed to tell it apart from anything back home, except for the obvious massive form of Gemenon in the sky, otherwise you could drop the place anywhere in the Midwest and wouldn't notice.

The streets were lined with police and it looked like the roads had been closed, as they neared the opera house he could see massive crowds held behind barriers, it almost made him feel like a celebrity, the thought filled him with disgust, the sooner this was over the better.

The cars soon stopped, exiting he could see the massive edifice of the opera house, it reminded him of the Rococo period of architecture in northern Europe, especially once they were inside, he could see Beethoven or Mozart playing this venue.

He saw that the lobby had been cleared out, covering every doorway were armed security guards and dotted about were media types and camera equipment, the room itself was filled with elaborately dressed people, the elite of the Colonies.

Once again he let Weir take the lead here, he managed to move over to the military people he could see and let her tackle the politicians and media, others from their party moved into the crowd to mingle.

He made light conversation while watching the rest of the room, his biggest issue was dodging the Quorum member from Gemenon who had pestered him with questions about religion thirty minutes into the event, he'd let Weir's experts handle those kinds of conversations.

Most of his time was spend fielding questions from the Colonial admirals about Earths space forces and military capabilities, he managed to keep it vague enough to not let any important information out, they'd learn more tomorrow anyway.

…..

"Sir, it's time", one of his aides whispered to him, Garret gave him a nod in return, soon the speakers came alive with an announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please make your way to the main auditorium"

Everything was ready for the signing of the treaty, it was a simple enough thing but it would lead on to a future trade deal and military cooperation, something which seemed more important than ever in light of the Cylon revelations.

Tamara Caston and Weir had already hammered out the important bits, all that was left was to sign the thing, he was considering sending her to Terra as the Colonial ambassador once this was all over, but that would have to wait until their fleet returned home.

He was already happy with how things were going, his popularity numbers were already up and the markets were improving too, lots of investment was happening in shipping and shipyards, the investors realising the need for a large trade fleet, the Terrans had also given a few hints about what they would like to buy off the Colonies.

Soon he was beside the stage in the auditorium, a podium had been set up in front, he waited while the people began the slow process of moving to their seats, Weir had joined him beside the stage too, there would be a few speeches and then they would sign the document.

…..

The next hour of speeches nearly put Borman to sleep but it looked to be finally over, the President and Dr. Weir were both putting their names on down on the paper as the flashes of cameras lit the room, all in all relations with the Colonies looked to be going well, now they just had to get over the hurdle of the Goa'uld.

President Rand made his way back to the podium, Weir standing at this side, "We are entering a new era for humankind, the start of a new friendship with our relatives from beyond the stars"

"We forge this friendship in the hopes to further improve relations between the Colonies and the Union, to enrich our peoples in both culture and materials, to a future alliance"

"With the information the Terrans have shared with us, we now have the exact location of Kobol, I have authorised an expedition to the planet, soon we will have reclaimed our homeland"

"In agreement with Doctor Weir, I will also be sending a diplomatic vessel to Terra, onboard will be the new ambassador for the Colonies Tamara Caston, she will lead the mission to form the first extra solar embassy", Rand raised a glass of wine he had, "to the beginnings of a new era and a better world for all of Humanity"

"So say we all", was chorused by the audience.

Colonial Fleet Test Area 5

Cyrannus System

The Next Day

Several ships waited in space a good distance from the hulk of the first war Cylon baseship, among their number were the Enterprise and the Rondeau, Borman studied the stripped down hulk on the screen, even now the ship exuded a sense of power and resilience.

The massive form dwarfed even the huge Colonial battlestars that waited beside the Enterprise, the diameter of each circular section of the ship was 1.8km across, the ships mass must have been more than the fleet that was gathered here to watch the demonstration.

"Admiral, Captain Stone signals the Rondeau is ready to begin the demonstration"

They had gone over the plan for this, they would only be showcasing the lasers and auto cannons, they'd keep the PPC's to themselves for now, "Are the Colonials ready?", he asked the comms officer.

The Colonial flagship, the battlestar Mercury, the first of the Mercury class, was hosting the top admirals from the Colonial fleet and he assumed some of their top intelligence people, he hoped they would be suitability impressed.

Borman himself had only seen the lasers fired once himself, back during the fight with the Guardian baseship, apparently they were the smallest types mounted on Star League ships, if those were the small ones how much better where the bigger lasers and particle weapons?.

"The Mercury reports they are ready, Sir"

"Very well, inform Captain Stone he can proceed"

The ships were holding position around one thousand kilometres away from the hulk, close range for the lasers he was told, they'd be hard pressed to hit anything at this range with the old guns, even the gauss cannons on the Enterprise would be easy to dodge, but something moving at light speed was a different story.

Out in space the Rondeau opened up, streams of tracers sped away from the ship, its forward naval auto cannons firing several bursts down range, far faster than the conventional guns on older Earth ships, he watched the radar as the rounds flew towards the hulk it only took just over a minute for the first to start to hit.

Stone's aim had been true, shells impacted the still intact armoured belt on the baseship, explosions tore chunks away as the bursts hit the ship, one would tear the armour apart, then the next more, it only took two volleys to pierce the thick armour of the ship, the damage was extensive at the area hit, a huge gaping hole had been torn through the armour belt.

Borman knew a hit from those guns would be the end of the Enterprise, the ships armour was not nearly as thick as the baseship, "Glad that ship is on our side", Anderson commented from beside him.

The Rondeau's guns spoke again, this time there wasn't much to look at, the laser beams only becoming visible when errant bits of space gas were in the way, making the scarlet beam visible for a microsecond as it was burnt away.

The impact on the hulk was no less impressive, where the beams touched the metal turned to molten liquid, the armour not even lasting a bare few seconds of contact, globs of the liquid floated away as the beam bored through the ship, it's path unobstructed by mere steel.

If the ship had been in service it would have been loaded with explosives and other volatiles, one touch of the penetrating beam would have set anything like that off, the hulk lacked such vulnerabilities so the beam merely bored a hole out through the other side of the ship, the Rondeau fell silent as its heat sinks worked to cool the weapons down.

"Let's hope that impressed them enough", Borman said, still watching the cooling metal on the old Cylon ship, several neat holes had joined the ragged ones left by the auto cannon shells and a few molten scars marred the hull where the Rondeau had played its lasers over the surface instead.

He turned to Anderson, "I'll give them ten minutes then invite them over to the ship, it's time to reveal the Goa'uld"

Battlestar Mercury

CIC

The admirals had a gamut of expressions on their faces after watching the Rondeau carve up the basestar, some had worried looks, those that realised that their own ships would be equally vulnerable and others were mightily impressed with the technology displayed.

Corman was nearly speechless himself, he had expected the lasers to be impressive but not to blow holes through the entire ship, and those guns they fired first, their velocity had been something else, far beyond the conventional guns equipped on Colonial ships, and the damage they had done would take far more effort for the Colonials to replicate.

"I want countermeasures developed right away", Admiral Ferore was the first to speak, "Greenhill get a team working on that right away"

"We need to get our own lasers, Weir told us they'd be willing to trade for the technology but they'll need to contact their government first", Demetrius mused.

"As soon as possible, Borman let slip they were after jump engines, we should load up a freighter and send it with them", Corman was the one who had the most time with Borman.

"Ill give them a battlestar right now to get them back faster", Ferore rubbed his chin, "Anyway I think they want the full technical documents to build their own ones, a fair trade for lasers like that"

"I'd take those guns too, they outclass even the biggest ones on the Mercury", Demetrius was thinking hard, "It's probably likely that refitting our ships with lasers would be a no go, we might need a whole new ship for them"

"That's if our reactors can even power something like that, that ship there uses some kind of fusion technology", Greenhill called over from the group of intelligence officers.

"Alright my team has some initial ideas to counter laser fire, the hulk was stationary which explains some of the damage so our best move for now is constant rotation and movement, don't let the beams focus on one point", Greenhill said as he walked back over to the other admirals.

Ferore sighed, "Lets hope the government can form good relations with the Terrans, with weapons like that I don't fancy our chances"

They'd just have to wait and see. Nothing could happen until the Terrans made it back to their planet, Corman thought they had more immediate issues with the Cylons and if war did happen, having an ally like the Terran Union would be a gift from the gods.

"Sir, transmission from the Enterprise, Admiral Borman is requesting for the admirals to join him onboard, he has important information to share", the Ensign at the comms panel said to Ferore.

"Hmm, about the weapons test I wonder", he turned to the Ensign, "Tell him we'll be over shortly"

He looked back to the other admirals, "Greenhill, what's the assessment of the Terran Union"

"From what they've told us, they've only had space travel for 100 years, only got FTL when the Velos jumped into their system, they formed their world government around that time too"

Greenhill looked lost in thought as he recounted the information, "We estimate they have somewhere from 200 to 500 light ships, and single digits of the big ones, impressive for a new power, information shared with us indicates they are undergoing a massive infrastructure and shipbuilding program, when asked they replied it was due to fears of the Cylons following the Velos to Terra"

He stroked his chin now, "We believe they are undergoing a massive economic boom from the access to cheap materials from space, they have also informed us they now boast four extra solar colonies on habitable worlds"

"And what of their advanced technology, how did they get so far ahead of us?", Demetrius asked.

"Admiral Corman, you were on their ship, very automated would you say?", Greenhill asked him.

He nodded, "Yes, computers everywhere, I was worried about Cylon vulnerability and asked Borman about it, he said they were secure their comms system was separate from the rest of the ship and they use a completely alien computer architecture"

"The technophobia of the last decades since the war have led to a massive decrease in the sciences, our ships require more crew than before and a general downgrade of our capabilities, that is our best explanation for the difference"

"That's it?", Demetrius was annoyed with that answer.

"It's part of it, the Terrans have shared some of their history with us, there's one major thing I took from it, they develop technology fast, they went from sailing ships to nuclear weapons to space travel in a few decades, they don't have the same cultural limitations with technology that we do, even before the Cylons"

"Not just technology", Ferore added, "I saw the same things you did, the Terrans are explorers at heart, while we in the Colonies have not strayed far from here in all our time in space the Terrans in forty years have expanded past their solar system"

Corman realised what a big mistake that had been, they had ceded half the galaxy to the Cylons for thirty years and hadn't even checked outside Cyrannus since, the Cylons could be everywhere by now.

"Exactly", Greenhill said back to Ferore, "All that factors into my assessment, simply put the Terrans are an expansionist growing power, they are going to overtake us both economically and militarily soon in the future unless we make some changes here"

"That's the best we can come up with, we need more than the limited amount of information we have to give a more accurate assessment", Greenhill finished.

"If things go as hoped you'll get it", Ferore told him, "Alright Greenhill, lets head over and see what Borman has for us, the rest of you stay here"

…..

"Welcome aboard Admirals", Borman greeted them as they disembarked from their raptor, the top Admiral in the Colonial fleet, Oran Ferore, white haired and dark skinned he looked to be in his late 60's and the head of their military intelligence, Scott Greenhill, around Bormans own age, he had blond hair and fair skin, they were probably the ideal people to let know.

"It's a fine ship admiral, reminds me of the old pre war carriers we used to have", Ferore said as he gestured around the hangar bay, he eyes alighted on a parked sabre, Kerensky had given the Enterprise eight of them in addition to the four rapiers.

"Is that armed with lasers too?", he asked as they wandered closer to the fighter,

Borman nodded, "Yes, it's an SB-27b Sabre, she comes with six laser cannons"

The ship was near the same size as the Angel fighters but had larger wings built into the fuselage in comparison giving it a shape similar to an old F-22, the wing tips ended in two cannons each with the last two located in the nose.

"Are these a new design, I saw that your other small craft were still armed with standard cannons", Greenhill jumped in.

"We're trialling them and the Rapiers, but our normal complement is Angel class fighters and Athena class bombers"

"Bombers?, can we see one?", Greenhill asked, the Terrans had yet to deploy those craft.

Borman nodded yes, "This way"

They travelled through a doorway and corridor and emerged into another hangar, lining the walls were bays containing the craft in question, the Athena was much larger than the other small craft, while only 20m long it was a lot wider, massive wings spread out on either side of the cockpit, a three pointed tail concealed one thruster while two more were located at the end of the wide wings.

"That's a lot of missile launchers", Greenhill noted, the bomber had a number of launchers built into the wings, "And launch rails underneath?", in addition it could also mount larger weapons on the underside of the wings.

"She comes with four cannons and a range of both anti fighter and anti capital ship missiles, including nuclear"

He'd let the Colonials look around for a bit, Ferore and Greenhill circled the parked bomber a few times examining a few details, "There was never much call for a craft like this in the fleet, the closest we have would be a gunship equipped Raptor, but I can see the uses", Ferore said as he moved to stand beside Borman.

"Our jump drives are not as compact as you can make but we plan to mount them on the bombers when we can get them small enough"

"I see", Ferore sighed, "I'll just come out and say it, we want those weapons, what's the price?"

Borman looked around the hangar, it was mostly empty at the moment, only the marines that were accompanying them, who were staying near the door, were nearby.

"Lets talk in my office"

Greenhill joined them and they moved down corridors until they made it to Borman's office, the two Colonials sat in the chairs in front of his desk, Borman moved to his drinks cabinet, "Can I offer you anything gentlemen?"

"Something strong will do", Ferore turned to Greenhill, he just shrugged, "Surprise me"

Borman poured three glasses of bourbon and placed them down on the desk, he then took his own seat facing the Colonials.

"We'll talk about the weapons soon but first I have something to tell you", Borman reached over and took his glass, "Have the Colonies ever encountered any intelligent alien life?"

That question surprised them by the looks on their faces, "No, I cant say we ever have, why?", Ferore answered.

Borman opened a drawer on his desk and withdrew a thick bound folder and an old looking data drive, he handed them over to the Colonials.

"The drive should be compatible with your pre war computers, everything on there has to do with an alien organism called a Goa'uld, parasitical in nature it takes other animals for hosts and puppets their bodies for its own use"

"You're serious?", Ferore said as he paged through the documents, he could see some photographs of the Goa'uld on the pages.

"Very, we only found them around a year ago, it's part of why we sent the expedition to the Colonies, we were not planning on doing it so soon before"

Ferore's eyes were glued to the pages, Greenhill had moved closer to look over his shoulder, "Spacefaring parasites with superior technology, I find it hard to believe", he said a few moments later after having read a bit further.

"We brought proof, it's down in the medbay and some examples of their technology, but it was hard for us to believe too, we had sent a mission through a device we found buried on our planet for thousands of years, it took the team to a distant planet where we first encountered them"

"Device?"

"Turn to page 57", Ferore did, on the page was a photograph of a large ring, Ferore felt as if he had seen it before, "We call it the Stargate, it can connect to a network of the devices around the galaxy and allow instant transport through the ring, the planet our team went to is called Abydos, it was one thousand light years from Terra.

"How does it function?", Greenhill asked, Ferore was still lost in thought.

"Wormholes, it forms a wormhole between the two gates"

Ferore spoke up again, "The elysian gate, that's where I remember it, it was said to be how the lords descended to live with humans, a path to heaven, it was lost with everything else on Kobol"

Borman raised an eyebrow at that, nothing remotely like that was in the scrolls they had found on the Velos, he said as much to Ferore.

"Ah, they wont have that in an orthodox Virgonian version of the scrolls, things like the gate were declared Apocrypha soon after the arrival at Cyrannus, only on Gemenon will you find references to such old stories"

"I take it you are from Gemenon Admiral?"

"Yes", he said, "Supposedly the gate was located in the city of the gods, on the concourse before the Forum, the main governmental building, I wonder if it is still there"

They didn't really check Kobol that much when they were in orbit, it could be buried under the rubble, it was worth checking at any rate"

"We'll need to check that on our way back, we can travel with your expedition to Kobol"

Ferore nodded and downed the glass of whiskey, "We can work something out, you said you had more proof, I want to see it"

The three men made their way to the medbay, Dr Nimzicki was there waiting for them.

"Doctor, the samples", was Bormans gruff greeting, Nimzicki brought the party over to a morgue freezer, on a nearby table was a large glass jar, the Doctor picked up the jar and showed it to the Colonials.

Inside the snakelike form of a larval Goa'uld was preserved in formaldehyde, its four large fangs and pale body was visible to all.

"This is a Goa'uld larvae, called a Prim'ta, it was recovered from a dead jaffa on Chulak, adult Goa'uld can enter through the base of the neck or through the oral cavity, once inside they wrap themselves around the brainstem and micro sized neural tentacles implant themselves in the host's brain allowing the Gou'ald total control"

He handed the jar over to Greenhill, the Admiral held it up to his face and took a good look before shuddering and passing it to Ferore.

With a look of disgust he also held the jar up and examined its contents closely before handing it back to Nimzicki, "Disgusting, these things are intelligent?"

"Very intelligent, at least the equal to an adult human but most likely superior due to the genetic memory they have access to"

"These things control most of the galaxy Admiral, they have thousands of worlds filled to the brim with human slaves, armies of jaffa slave soldiers and fleets of advanced warships"

"What are these jaffa you mentioned?", Greenhill asked.

Borman waved to Nimzicki who opened the freezer and withdrew the sliding table, a frozen jaffa was revealed when Nimzicki took the sheet off.

"This is a jaffa, a genetically enhanced human, used by the Goa'uld as their main soldier, their loyalty is ensured by the jaffa's lack of an immune system, the larval Goa'uld inserted into the abdominal cavity is used in lieu", Nimzicki explained.

"They like to pretend they're gods, including the Greek pantheon which to us is your lords of Kobol, they keep their slaves in line with the pretence of divinity by using their advanced technology and their armies of jaffa", Borman jumped back in.

"It's a lot to take in", Greenhill said as he looked at the cross shaped opening on the jaffa, "So these creatures pretend to be gods and lord it over other humans?, that'd be one thing but the fact these things can take over a persons body is going to give me nightmares, worse than the Cylos do"

"Their technology is that much better?", Ferore asked.

"It is, we have a source, a rebel group operating in Goa'uld space, they explained how far the Goa'uld outclass us, they have energy shields that can withstand an enormous barrage of nuclear weapons without strain, we doubt our weapons pose much threat to them at the moment"

"Energy shields, this is sounding like a bad scifi story, I'd doubt your word except I'm looking at that snake in the jar", Even as he said that Greenhill still sounded skeptical.

"You can run all the tests you want, I'll have the specimens transported to your ship, for now lets move to the armoury"

It was a shot walk from the medbay to the armoury where they were keeping the Goa'uld weapon, the three men soon arrived.

Borman walked over to the soldier on duty behind an armoured counter, after a small exchange of words the soldier dissapeared into the room behind them before soon returning holding a metallic staff in his hands, he opened the locked gate and joined them at the firing range.

"Private Williams will demonstrate the Goa'uld weapon we recovered on Chulak", Borman waved at the soldier before moving out of the way.

"The standard weapon of the jaffa, the Ma'Tok staff, it fires a hybrid particle and plasma bolt", Williams moved to the firing position and took aim with the unwieldy weapon, a golden bolt soon flew downrange to impact a target dummy that was already present.

The bolt exploded the dummy on impact, bits of debris scattered about the range and smoke was seen wafting from the smouldering pieces.

"The weapon though hard to aim is quite potent, the bolt impact with both kinetic force and impart significant thermal energy, the bolts could penetrate all our personal armour we equipped at the time we encountered the Goa'uld"

Williams held the staff out for the admirals to examine, Greenhill was the first to move over and examine it in detail, "What's the power source", he asked noting the lack of a battery pack or other obvious power source.

Williams deftly opened a small cover revealing a luminous green liquid contained in a glass vial, "Liquid Kobolium or Naquadah, we estimate one of these vials has enough energy for tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of shots"

While Williams explained more to Greenhill, Ferore and Borman moved away to talk, "First the Cylons and now this, you sure know how to cheer people up", Ferore started.

Borman just shrugged, "We planned on telling you about the Goa'uld from the get go, the Cylons and the Thirteenth tribe was news to us too"

"You think the Lords of Kobol were these Goa'uld don't you?"

"It's crossed our minds, it would explain a lot including your existence, I'll lay it out, we know that our planet is the birth world of humanity, we have a fossil record that goes back millions of years, until your ship popped into our space we had no idea that any other humans populations existed"

Ferore looked resigned, "I'll thank you for not blasting that kind of info out to everyone, although the Colonies are mostly secular that could cause quite the uproar"

"You believe me?", Borman asked astonished, he thought it would be a major uphill battle to convince anyone from the Colonies.

"Lying doesn't benefit your position here, so yes I believe you are telling the truth, from your perspective anyway, it will be easy enough to confirm in the future"

Borman nodded, "We need allies against the Goa'uld, they are the biggest threat to humanity, they don't tolerate any competition so the Union and the Colonies are both on the chopping block if they find out we exist"

"If you want the fleets backing you better be straight with us, starting with the lasers, that ship the Rondeau wasn't built by you, the design is completely different and you can tell just by looking that's its fairly old too"

Borman sighed, "Lets move to my office, I'll need another drink for this, you will too"

Aerilon

Baltar Family Farm

Marcus Baltar observed the fertile fields as he was travelling in the government issue SUV, he was both hopeful and dreading the man he was about to meet, his half brother Julius Baltar, the man his father was suddenly taken from.

A glance through the windscreen showed the house they were approaching, a two story brick building, multiple sheds and barns dotted the area behind the house, farm equipment storage he assumed, standing in the doorway was Julius himself, he had already been informed of Marcus' arrival.

As the car stopped Marcus took a look at his half brother, mid forties, he could see the resemblance to his father, the same dark hair and lanky frame, this moment was something he had been dreaming of for years now, he hoped reality would compare.

Julius had moved closer now so Marcus opened the door to greet his brother, once he stepped out of the car he could see Julius was looking at him with an expression of disbelief, "Marcus?", he asked stepping closer.

Marcus just nodded in answer not knowing what to say, "I didn't believe them when they told me about you, about why they wanted that blood sample", Julius reached out and took Marcus into a hug, "Dad is still alive", Marcus patted him on the back, he could feel the tears on his brothers face.

"Yeah", Marcus said as they disentangled, "He's fine", Marcus watched as Julius wiped the tears on his sleeve, "He's excited to return here as soon as he can".

"Come on inside", Julius waved him into the house, "We have a lot of catching up to do"

Enterprise

Borman's Office

Three men were sat around Bormans desk, two of them wore expressions of disbelief and shock, Ferore and Greenhill were both flabbergasted at what they were hearing from Borman, enough so that the bottle of Bourbon was half empty.

"Let me get this right", Greenhill said, "A fleet of over twenty ships, some of them warships, misjumped into your system, from a different reality?"

"A fleet from a fictional universe no less with energy weapons that is also from seven hundred years in the future", Ferore added.

Borman just sighed and sipped his drink, "I was as shocked as you were when it happened, but fortunately everything worked out, Kerensky's people are now part of the Union and we got access to their advanced technology"

The expressions on the admirals faces didn't change, Borman put his glass down, "There's an expression we have back home, never look a gift horse in the mouth, we had just discovered the Goa'uld a few months prior and learned how totally outclassed we were, Kerensky gave us a boost when we desperately needed it"

Ferore finished off his drink too, his expression became resigned, "I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, as long as the weapons work", he looked at Borman, "Did you find out any cause for the event?"

Borman shook his head, "We have a few ideas but nothing conclusive enough to even put forth as a theory", He didn't mention the spontaneously combusting artifact that one Private Chad Thompson had interacted with, the remains had been carted off to god knew where for study.

Greenhill looked a bit angry as he turned to Ferore, "Do you believe this tripe, alternate fictional universes, what next, magical faeries to vanish the Cylons away?"

Ferore sighed as he replied to Greenhill, "Scott, we don't need to believe it, what the Union believes is no concern of ours, all that matters is access to the technology"

"Let the politicians and priests deal with all that", He turned to Borman, "I've learned that the Cylons are not the only threat to our people today, these Goa'uld parasites are, they could be infesting people in the Colonies right now"

Borman nodded, "It certainly possible but unlikely, if they knew you existed I imagine a fleet would have already wiped you out, our best policy right now is anonymity while we bring our technology up to a level able to compete with them"

"Speaking of technology, lets get to the reason we had a demonstration to begin with, what's the price?"

Borman was straight to the point, "We want jump engines mostly, ours are crap, the Union is prepared to offer you laser technology in exchange for jump engine technology"

Even though they had the drives from the Cylon baseship it would be awhile before they could reverse engineer anything from it, having the Colonials knowledge would greatly speed up their ability to do so.

"I can have a freighter loaded with the things here by tomorrow", Ferore said, "We'll give you all the science and the freighter but we want the full technical details and some examples"

Borman nodded, "I cant spare any weapons from a warship but I can give you some vehicle scale weapons"

"That will work, I'll present the president with the details later, we should have the ink dry by tonight", Ferore stood and extended his hand, Borman took it in a strong grip.

Everything Borman had just given them was expected by the Union, it was one of his objectives to gain access to the Colonials drive technology, them getting lasers only benefitted the Union in the long term, any allies against the Goa'uld would need the weapons to harm them.

But even then they were not giving them everything, the lasers and documents would only be to the level of the great houses back in the other reality, the Union would keep the best for itself, he assumed the Colonials would be doing the same with the drive technology exchanged.

"Doctor Weir is busy forming the embassy on Caprica, she will be available if the president has any questions about what we discussed earlier", Borman said as he led the men out of the room.

"I imaging he will, the thought of snakes crawling through my brain will be giving me nightmare tonight, I don't even know how the public at large will react"

"We might need to keep it classified for now", Greenhill added, he looked to Borman, "Do the public know in the Union?"

They walked towards the hangar bay as Borman responded, "They do, we managed to limit the amount of details, they know there is an alien empire impersonating gods and enslaving humans but we left out the details of the parasitical nature of the Gou'ald for now, we didn't want to start witch-hunts"

"They'll find out eventually", Greenhill sighed, "We'll probably have to do similar, but it might be a good excuse to screen for Cylons"

The men arrived at the hanger, a cart loaded with the jaffa and Goa'uld bodies was waiting, the staff weapon and remains of a set of jaffa armour were on it too.

"The specimens", Borman waved at the cart, "We found the armour has a new element named Trinium, much stronger and lighter than steel, we're still looking for a promising ore deposits"

Ferore nodded, "I'll have our scientists look into it", He looked at Borman, "I can have the Kobol expedition ready in a week, finding that stargate is a top priority, will you be ready?"

Borman nodded, "Yes, I was planning leaving soon anyway, we've been away too long as it is, hopefully we can find the gate, it would let us contact home sooner"

"So say we all" Ferore said, they had a final handshake, "I'll call you later today when I hear back from the president, until then"

Borman watched as the two Colonial marines loaded the specimens into the raptor, followed by Ferore and Greenhill boarding, it would seem their time in the Colonies was nearing its end.

Stargate Command

Two men were in Hammond's office when Colonel O'Neill and Commander Carter entered, Hammond himself and the CO of SG-9 Captain Jonas Hanson, once glance at his face and Jack thought he looked like a boiled lobster.

Jack didn't like Hanson one bit, Jonas put on the charm but he knew it was just a facade for a man with a major god complex, Jack had seen Jonas interacting with his team when they were alone, he didn't like it, there were even rumours from before the SGC that Jonas was beating his wife, nothing concrete but they were now divorced so who knew.

"Colonel, Commander, take a seat", Hammond said as they walked in, "We were just discussing the situation on P3X-513"

"As I was saying General, we found the two devices a few days into our mission, the locals believe they will protect them from the excess solar radiation on the planet"

Carter nodded, "It was a good thing our probe detected the elevated levels of UV radiation, any team we sent there would have been cooked otherwise, its a good thing we have the protective suits", She turned to Hanson, "Did the devices work?"

"We didn't know how, I was hoping you or that Tok'ra we have might be able to"

Hanson had a possessive look on his face when he said 'you' to Carter, Jack knew they had a date together before she had joined the Prometheus expedition but nothing else after, he wondered if he was looking to try again.

"Colonel", Hammond said to him, "I want you to take SG-1 and investigate the devices", Hammond frowned, "Captain Hansen has suggested we take them back to the SGC, I'm considering that option, we can relocate the small amount of inhabitants to a more suitable world in exchange"

Jack didn't like the idea of just straight up stealing them, Carter spoke up interrupting his retort to the General, "The refugee compound has just been finished on Heliopolis, the Union is planning on housing displaced populations on the large island they moved the stargate to"

Jack had heard of that too, the planet was already being colonised with at least ten thousand people there already, the Union was going to offer permanent residence to willing refugees in exchange for working there.

"We'll ask them if they want to relocate, but I don't feel comfortable stealing these devices if they want to remain", Jack said.

"Oh, Colonel", Hanson turned to him, "The locals are a bit gullible, they believed I was a god when we arrived"

Jack snorted at that, he imagined Hanson loved that, "I'll keep that in mind", he turned to Hammond, "With your permission sir"

Hammond waved him out, "You leave in an hour, gather your team"

…

Carter and Jolinar had been walking for nearly an hour, the had arrived at the planet, called Avnil by the locals, covered in the strongest sunblock available on the station, the Colonel, Daniel and Teal'c had gone off to talk to the natives while she and Jolinar trekked out to one of the devices.

"Such devices are common enough among the Goa'uld, they set them up to provide protection from adverse conditions while the valuable resources are extracted, I imagine the mines on this world ran dry long ago"

"The locals said as much to Captain Hanson, the Goa'uld in charge was called Afa, he left centuries ago"

"Ah, him", Jolinar scrunched her face up, "One of the minor independent Goa'uld tolerated by the system lords, he controls a few planets and Ha'tak but is relatively poor otherwise"

Eventually they found the device they were looking for ten minutes later, "Yes, this is it", Jolinar said as she wiped the detritus of the forest from the machine.

She tapped away at a few of the buttons on top causing the machine to light up, "Still good for another century before the power cell runs dry", she opened a panel on the side, a large liquid naquadah power cell was visible, its glowing green liquid was nearly empty.

"These machines are basically modified Goa'uld shields, designed to be low power and only block out certain forms of energy, they'll create a dome between the two devices"

"Shields?, the same as on Goa'uld ships?, Carter asked.

"Yes, a very basic one", she turned away from the machine to face Carter, "I'd recommend taking them back to your base, they will give you an understanding of how Goa'uld shields operate"

Carter nodded, this could be the break they needed, the Tel'tak they captured didn't come equipped with any shields, "Enough to build our own?"

Jolinar sighed, "In time yes, using these you could design and manufacture primitive shielding for your vessels, but these machines are old and basic, the shields on Goa'uld vessels will be much more advanced"

She turned back to the machine to fiddle with the controls some more, a beam of orange light leapt from the centre and pierced straight up into the sky, "We are done here, I can activate the shielding dome from the other device back at the settlement"

….

The three of them stood inside one of the cave homes of the natives, Jamala, he was informing them of the conditions under which they had lived on the planet since they had forgotten how to operate their solar shield, living in caves during the day and only venturing out at night.

"Jamala, what if we were to offer your people a place to live on another world, one where people were free to walk in the daylight?", Daniel asked.

"Truly?, I would be a fool not to take that offer if it is sincere, but I would like to see this world first, my people have suffered enough"

"Sir, we're on our way back, Jolinar says the shield should work", Came in over Jack's radio, "Roger", he sent back.

"Many of my people already believe you to be gods, anything you say will be obeyed"

Jack sighed, more damage done by the Goa'uld, "We're not gods, but we can help you", he turned to Daniel, "Jackson, once its dark we'll take Jamala to the gate and show him Heliopolis, even if the shields works this place sucks, I'd rather people lived on a planet without a killer tan being fatal"

He moved to the nearest comfy looking rock in the cave to sit down, Hanson struck him as one to take the whole god thing and run with it, it was probably because just burying the gate wouldn't stop them from sending a ship here that he didn't.

He leaned back against the stone wall and closed his eyes, even with the sunscreen he felt close to burning when outside, the sooner he was out of here the better.

Soon enough Carter and Jolinar arrived back from the forest, they moved inside the cave system to meet back up with the team, "Carter, Jolinar, so glad you could join us", Jack led the team deeper into the caves.

They arrived at a large chamber where the other device covered in a homespun sheet of cloth, "Jamala showed us where this one was, will it work?", he asked Jolinar.

Unlike the other Tok'ra they had met on Vorash, it was hard to tell when it was the host or the symbiote talking, Jolinar tended to keep her voice normal when talking with them, "I will soon find out", There was one way though, Jolinar tended to be very formal in her speech whereas Rosha was far more casual.

Jack knew from the tone it was Jolinar in the drivers seat right now, he watched as she removed the sheet and messed around with the chest high device, "It appears to be functional but we will need to move it outside for the shield to work"

The three men moved closer and attempted to lift the heavy machine, Jack nearly felt a disk slip as they tried to lift it, "This isn't happening", he turned to their shadow, Jamala, "Hey Jam, can you round up some people to help, this thing weighs a ton"

Jamala nodded and ran off, the team sat around and waited for a few minutes before a gaggle of the locals arrived with a sled and ropes, it took them an hour but eventually they managed to get the thing outside.

Carter was extolling him about how the two machines would enable Earth to get shields of its own while they were moving them, even still he didn't want to just take them from the natives, but it looked like they would be easy to convince to leave for Heliopolis, they'd get an education and better living standards he supposed, he wondered if the Union would offer citizenship to them in the future.

"It is ready", Jolinar said to him, "Alright, lets see this thing in action then", he responded, she pressed some button and an orange beam reached out from the centre of the device and into the sky, it soon bent over and reached for the other distant beam, when they touched an orange dome burst into existence, covering several square kilometres of the sky.

"Impressive", Jack said as he looked up, "I can even feel the difference already", he watched as the locals poked their heads out of the caves, soon they exited altogether and joined them, some were even beginning to dance, others were bowing their heads in prayer, it would seem to be directed at them.

"Ah man, stop that we're not gods", Jack sighed, he turned to Daniel, "Go work your magic Daniel, I'll grab Jamala and bring him to the gate, we need to report in anyway"

…..

The next day found Jack and Carter before General Hammond in his office.

"The Avnilians have agreed to relocate to Heliopolis, we just need to collect the shield devices as soon as they are gone", Carter was saying.

"Good work, Colonel, Commander, this will be the first real test of the refugee centre on Heliopolis, hopefully we can give these people a much better life and the same for any others we encounter"

"Yeah, there's only five thousand of them but in the future it could be a lot more, better to work out the kinks now", Jack hoped it all worked out for the Avnilians, he had seen the plans himself, they would be educated and given a small parcel of land on Heliopolis if they wanted, similar to the deals they were giving people to emigrate from Earth, they would be eventually integrated into Union society.

"I hope it works out too Colonel, I expect once we really get involved with the Goa'uld you will be right"

Hammond stacked the sheaf of papers on his desk, "Now Commander, you think these devices will let us build our own energy shields?"

Carter nodded, "Yes, they use the same principles as ship shields according to Jolinar, we can use them as a base to start designing our own versions but it will take some research to accomplish"

"Good", Hammond nodded, "Even if it's just to find a weakness to exploit they were worth getting"

"Jolinar is already writing up some explanations of the solar shields and schematics, I'm hoping it wont be long until our ships have shields of our own"

"A hope we all share Commander", Hammond stood, "Have a preliminary report ready by today, I'm sure the Council will be happy"

He ushered them out of the room, Carter walked off with a spring in her step, Jack meandered off to the cafeteria, they had jell-o today.

Office of the President of the Colonies

Caprica

Elizabeth Weir took in the opulent decorations in the room, she was betting a lot of money was spent on furnishing.

"Please sit", President Rand offered the chair in front of his expensive looking desk, out the window she could see the skyline of Caprica City, the capitol of both the Colonies and the planet itself.

She sat in the comfortable chair, "How is your embassy?, is the building acceptable?", he asked her.

The Colonial government had offered them a large compound a few streets away from the government offices in the city, it used to be the embassy for Leonis before the Colonies unified, she had her team setting everything up for the future arrival of a permanent ambassador, a job she was doing until the Union sent one.

"It's more than adequate, I can only hope we give your embassy similar treatment"

"Good, good", Rand opened a drawer and removed a document, "The agreement regarding the trade of laser technology your people sent over earlier, I trust everything is on order"

She took the pages from him, skimming over everything, it was signed at the bottom with his name,

"I'll inform Borman to hand over the data and weapons as soon as the jump drives arrive"

Rand nodded, "It's packed up and on the way", The freighter in question was an old wartime military transport, they had loaded it up with drives removed from decommissioned warships rotting in the boneyards, far newer than what the Velos had though.

"You can keep the freighter too", Rand sighed, "Every commander and admiral was shouting for those weapons once they saw that demonstration, I hope this trade is a good sign for future deals"

Weir smiled, "We have plenty to share with each other, once we contact the Union I'm sure a trade deal will soon follow"

"Good", Rand looked a bit tired to Weir, she had an idea why, the Goa'uld.

"The fleet, the Quorum and even my cabinet are all clamouring for a military alliance, the Cylons were one thing but these parasites, the Goa'uld, are the stuff of nightmares", Rand took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"I've spent last night and this morning going over everything you sent us", another sigh, "Our situation is not good, our experts think a few of these Ha'tak could rout the whole fleet in a few hours"

Weir nodded, "Our experts think the same, all our ships would be is just a speed bump, even with the weapons we have now, the best plan is to jump in and launch everything we have"

"I'll leave all that to the fleet, another concern is how to reveal all of this to the public, possible Cylon infiltrators and now alien body snatching parasites", Bloodshot eyes focused in on hers, "That isn't even covering the whole alternate reality story I heard too"

It was Elizabeth's turn to sigh, "I understand, there were riots back home when the government released some of the details of the Goa'uld, particularly from the most religious people, no one liked the idea of aliens pretending to be gods, especially their own"

"Yes, I expect a similar reaction when they hear aliens are impersonating the Lords", he swung his chair around to look out the window, "Do you believe the Goa'uld brought my people to Kobol Doctor Weir?, to the Colonies?, our scientists claim it is impossible for Cyrannus to exist in nature but they cant explain how it does"

That was a tricky question she thought, "Honestly, I don't know, I know they didn't have a hand in the creation of this system at least, it would be far beyond what we know of their technology"

She waited while he spun back around, "There's another factor, we found several planets with native Terran life, we dated the genetic drift from the animals on our planet to at least one hundred thousand years, according to our informant that predates the Goa'uld being spacefaring"

"Some kind of ancient alien empire?, one that was kobolforming worlds to human standards?"

"That's the current assumption but we found no evidence so far"

Rand sat in silence for a moment contemplating the depth of history, "Perhaps there will be answers on Kobol, I understand your Admiral Borman will be joining our expedition there?"

She nodded, "Yes, the fleet is leaving soon and it's on the way back home, if they cant find the gate in a few days they'll keep going"

"Hmm, I'll inform ambassador Caston to be prepared then"

Further conversation was derailed as a loud knock was heard on the door, Rand raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Enter", he shouted.

One of his aides ran into the room, face red and panicky, "Sir, I didn't want to risk the intercom, we found one", he was talking fast, his words nearly slurred.

"Slow down son, found what?"

"A Cylon"