Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Wireless/communication"

"Speaking in a different language"

"Reading a text"

Chapter 18: Sharing is caring.

Picon fleet HQ. Two days after the return of Cerberus company

Yet another after-action report. Or to be more precisely, meeting that involved the President, Baltar, military leadership and now also the Cerberus leader and the Quorum members from Caprica and Leonis.

Laura had briefed them, under oath, to not disclose what they were told. She picked these two representatives, because they were the most supportive of her. She would need them once she starts any negotiations outside the Colonies. Technically she needs the approval of the entire Quorum for that, as it was when the first peace treaty with the Cylons was signed. The military made it possible, but it meant nothing without ratification of the Quorum. All 12 of them plus the President.

That complicated things. But there was a pseudo loop hole in the law. She could, in times of extreme needs or difficulties, make such decisions without the Quorum. But since she would take them in the name of so many people, she as the President still couldn't do it unilaterally. She needed the approval of the military, which she got from Nagala, from the intelligence services, which she had, from the internal affairs and economic Ministers, which she also got now that they were in on this secret. But she couldn't bypass the Quorum entirely. The signatures of two other Quorum members were needed for these special circumstances. Of course that also had a big drawback. Once this would get either publicly known or known to all Quorum members, they could and would vote on it to make it official. And then it was a gamble. If voted as a no, it would make any deals she made the way she wanted now, null and void. And to add to the issue, she could not vote retroactively in that vote, as she would be considered as compromised by taking the original decision past the Quorum. Then Porter and Zarek would gain support by marking her as a backdoor dealing politician who sold the Colonies out.

She would gain approval as the President who lead the Colonies through one of the most devastating wars in recorded history and the President who found Kobol. But that would then also drag the problems with it. Alien life exist and she almost lost Kobol to pirates. And she allowed a continent on Kobol to be given to the Cylons. That would cost her dearly.

But for the moment this is the best course of action if she is to make any good and lasting deals with Earth. Or anyone else for that matter.

The room was becoming a bit of a habit now, as they already had three briefings in it in the past few weeks. They started with the political and economic issues. What they had to offer. What they would want in return. She had to agree with Nagala. The Cerberus findings were big. Big for the talks. It would strengthen their bargaining position. For that she had a personal ceremony arranged for all the Cerberus personnel that didn't return. Marcus really appreciated it.

The economic Minister ended his suggestions on what they could trade with. Prometheon was the biggest commodity they could offer. Apparently Earth was starving for it, no matter if they had sources of their own.

"So, Admiral Nagala. I think you are the one I should ask what we should demand in return for prometheon shipments?"

Nagala understood why he was asked. He knew the long term needs of the military and the Colonies better than anyone. "Simple. Help with properly reverse engineering Goa'uld technology. For one. Our Lucian people are good, but we can always use more. Ring addresses. Not for the damn galaxy, but our local area of space would be enough for me."

"I think we should talk technologies, Admiral." Baltar suggested.

"We should hold off on that for Sanders to show us some footages of the battle... But I agree on one thing."

Baltar was taken aback Nagala agreed? "Weapons? FTL?"

"They're not going to give any of that away. Think, Doctor. At the moment the Lucians only know where Kobol is. If they know, Ba'al will know sooner or later. And then everyone will know. But..."

Laura tried to calm herself. She knew where this was going. "It's only a matter of time until they find us here."

"Yes... exactly."

"Well, we do have that captured fleet..." Baltar tried to reassure everyone.

"Which is still puny when compared to everything out there and how many planet we have to defend here." Marcus ripped his logic apart. "With what we have, if we get attacked here on several planets, and let's say what we have is enough to defend one planet, who decides which planet to defend and which to sacrifice?"

Baltar felt foolish at that.

But Nagala wasn't finished. "While you're right, Colonel, it's not my biggest concern. Our remaining forces are not completely ineffective, but it's infiltration I'm afraid off. Cloaking technology on these transports and bombers has become galactic standard, it seems. And we currently lack any way to detect them. I doubt the Lucians or Ba'al would try a direct approach. We would call Earth for help and they would, if for no other reason but to deny their enemies our territory, population and resources, intervene. And as we now know, the four sensor stations that we're building, will be useless at detecting cloaked enemies."

Sanders nodded in agreement. "It also fits Goa'uld tactics, from what we were told. Subversion is a used approach by them, not unlike the Cylons." He turned his attention to Baltar. "What's the progress on those sensor stations anyway?"

Baltar would hate this, as he had negative news. "Behind schedule. The one in Beta in the same base as the ring will be finished in a week as we killed two birds with one stone and we did manage to do a first test with the array, but the others... I need more men for that!"

Laura, who now also shifted in her chair to observe this discussion, got curious. "We have a shortage of labor? How can that be, with so many volunteers...?"

Baltar stopped her. "If this project could be done with untrained grunts, it would be no issue. But I need skilled engineers and programmers for this and Admiral Lucinda Cain is relocating much of those to her section of the military."

"I get things done, Doctor. Getting those ships battle ready is after all top priority. If we can deploy them over Kobol, we won't need the charity of these Jaffa for protection."

"That wasn't the issue, but the sensor stations..."

"Enough, both of you." Nagala stopped this bickering, before it could begin. "The way I see it, Cain is correct. Besides, the one technology I am interested in and hope Earth and Tollana won't mind selling to us, as it's not of any real tactical value for them, are the sensors they used to spot cloaked ships in the battle."

Baltar slapped himself on the head. Nagala was no idiot, that was a good idea. Now they didn't know the damn range, but that wouldn't matter in the long term if they could manipulate it with more stations or power. "But we also saw they have some form of cloaking capabilities. They might refuse if it would impair their ability to spy on us."

"I'm aware of that, Doctor. But I think that is a really small price to pay for them. It's not as if we would be asking for technology we know that is of Asgard origin, which they technically can't give away."

Sanders cleared his throat. "Boss... were already talking tech, why don't I take over with the battle analysis?"

Nagala closed his folder he was reading from and leaned back. Everyone but Sanders did, as Nagala nodded to go ahead. Standing up, Sanders once again, like in the briefings before, went to the main display where the appearance of the Earth ships was shown. One de-cloaking and the other three appearing from hyperspace.

Bill made sure that all visual recordings from the capital ships and fighters that survived the battle, were sent to Picon for analysis. And since he was still picking up the pieces in Kobol orbit and keeping the Jaffa from getting either angry, bored or something else, Admiral Adama could not be present here.

"So, as Doctor Baltar already mentioned, Earth... or I think we should call them the Tau'ri, as the combined forces of Earth and their allies want to be called, indeed do have some form of cloaks. Now we don't know how they made them, but perhaps it's reverse engineered Goa'uld cloaks."

"But the snakes are not known to be able to cloak something that big." Helena Cain pointed out.

"Possibly the Tollans overcame that limitation." Sanders said with no real proof, It was just his speculation. "What we also don't know is if only their destroyers, now known as the 304's, can cloak, or if their larger cruisers, now know as a 400 series, can also cloak."

Baltar entered his scientist mode. "One can clearly see the evolution and refinement of the design. The Prometheus was essentially a first crude attempt with alien technologies tacked on. These are much better. And the 400's are also a simple solution. Just the upscaled 304 design. Not very imaginative, but cost effective."

Lucinda agreed with that statement. "We did the same things during our own internal wars. Shortages in time or resources don't give room for creativity. What a shame... but their design is functional..."

Nagala motioned Sanders to continue. "Right. Anyway, as they began charging in, no fighters were launched from the Tau'ri forces. This was a smart decision on their part. While we don't know the exact number of fighters they hold, we can make educated guesses. On the 304 the hangars are more than double the size than on the Prometheus, so at least double the fighter capacity can be assumed. So 16. The cruisers could then hold anywhere from 32 to 64, depending on the internal arrangement. As for why it was smart to not launch them, they would have been severely outnumbered and needlessly sacrificed pilots. And as Admiral Adama noted in his report, their CO noticed that at least in the fighter field we had things handled. But as you can see in these closer shots, while the shielding on the ships took tremendous beating before any damage that was observed, both from our forces and Adama, their ships don't have effective armor coverage, like we do. I think here we could teach them some things and export our knowledge."

"Agreed." Nagala turned to Lucinda. "You're our best design expert, we may get the chance to make some exchanges or cooperative projects. That would almost always involve you then."

She agreed with this assessment. Sanders continued. "As for the real effectiveness of their shields, we can only make guesses again, but since all their ships were smaller but took more hits than the Lucian fleet, we can assume that they are superior in design. As for offensive weapons... we begin with what we already saw on the Prometheus..."

Lucinda began tapping her fingers on the table. "We can skip this. The rail guns and staff weapons we see on this footage are basically identical to the Prometheus, just more of them." She stood up, marching past everyone and swiped the remote unit from Sanders. He usually didn't let anyone just push him around, but... He saw Nagala shrug and indicate that it's best to sit this one out. So he did.

Lucinda now stood next to the screen. "The one issue I have is the lack of sufficient anti fighter weapons on the port and starboard sides. That's lousy planning if you ask me. We could definitely learn from each other here."

Baltar was not amused. No one would let him get away with something like that. "You mean rail gun technology?"

"Partially, yes. They have better ones, for sure, but only because of external sources and prometheon usage. We have far more experience in how to utilize what we had. Anyway, that's not entirely what I meant. You, Sanders, is it? Start making notes."

Yep, Sanders too was getting irritated. She was not the boss of him, but acted like it. He also knew that bossy and pushy she may be, she gets things done, so he knew why Nagala gives her so much leeway. So he humored her.

"Point one: I agree with the sensor requirement for stealth detection. Perhaps we can trade our jump drives for it, who knows." She began pondering. "Nagala, the Cylons that you somewhat trust, they know of the plan for a meeting and probably want a seat on it, correct?"

He too was getting irritated. "Yes."

"You do plan to offer our FTL tech in exchange for something?" He nods. "Then offer our FTL variation, not the Cylon one, since it's better."

"I was planning on doing that anyway."

"Good. One other question regarding the Cylons. Do they intend to offer anything as part of our delegation, since I really doubt they want to appear as a separate body during this?"

"Yes, actually. Their knowledge on bio-engineering and..." He didn't know the science behind it, so he looked for help from Baltar.

"Integration of organics and cybernetics in a unified system."

"Thank you, Doctor."

Lucinda continued. "How nice of them. Anyway. Sensors are in the top five things we have to get. Point two: I would also put the following in the top five: Reactor designs. Either theirs or help with the Goa'uld ones. The faster we get off tylium dependency, the better. I know they won't give the ones that uses that other fuel, but we have to start somewhere. Then complete understanding of hyper drives. Again, we can't hope to get theirs, but to get on the level and speed of Goa'uld ships is a must have. And speaking of engines... I hate to say it, but I was most impressed by the capabilities of the Tau'ri ships at sub-light speeds."

Lucinda was not easily impressed, so Nagala probed, why that was so. To him, they looks just like standard plasma engines, like the Colonials use. "I mean, besides the fact that they probably use other fuels that tylium and have prometheon as basis for their engine designs, what makes you say that?"

"Acceleration. For one. Second, the engine size vs. the acceleration. Third, we didn't detect much in the way of ionized gas from these engines after the battle. Now Goa'uld ships use reaction-less drives, like Cylon basestars, so no wonder we don't find much there except with the snake ships, some temporary gravitational anomalies. Now I know our detection abilities are limited when compared what Earth's forces were able to do, but we can detect engine exhaust even hours after a ship has left. Especially a capital ship. No, I would really love to get my hands on this design."

Laura too had an issue with Lucinda's analysis. "What about it size, as you mentioned? Proportionally speaking, our battlestars have large engine blocks as well, don't they?"

"Exactly. Our ships have, at best one quarter of their size eaten up by the engines and reactor block. This, as far as I can see it, is around a fifth of the entire ship's mass, but creates massive acceleration and leaves no traces of it behind? I'd say that's worthy a trade or two."

Laura... relented. "Fine. Added it to the list." This was not a priority for her, but who was she to argue with the genius ship builder. "Anything else?"

"I would also add the tretonin drug we heard about. Either for us to produce ourselves or to buy from them."

That was not a technological item. "Why that, Admiral?" Helena asked. She knew her pretty good and biology was not her field of interest.

"Long term advantages. Have to start there as well. And the more we trade with them, the more we learn and develop good relations. Anyway. Help with ring addresses, list of other exotic materials and gaining the ability to replicate any Goa'uld technology we currently have."

"That would imply that we tell them about the ships we managed to capture." Marcus didn't like that idea.

"No, we'll keep that to ourselves, for now. If Earth asks for details, I'll let them know that it's on a need to know basis, until they say yes to a joint operation for that station." Nagala told everyone to end this discussion and to continue. He was on a time limit as it was.

So Lucinda did. "As mentioned before, the secondary weapons on these ships seem to be the same rail gun and small scale plasma weapons of similar design to the Goa'uld. Together, we and the Tau'ri, could make significant progress in magnetic acceleration weapons, going bigger and better." She paused for a brief moment. "Perhaps to the point where we can replace the main batteries on a battlestar with those, like Baltar's first crude attempt, but to the full potential. As an alternative to pure energy weapons anyway."

Marcus was a solder, plain and simple, but he had a problem with that. "But such weapons require ammo. Pure energy ones don't."

"Perhaps, but they require far more power. And in some cases KEW's are better. Local radiation can screw with pure energy weapons and KEW's can have far better range. Anyway, a debate for another day. As for the Tau'ri variation on staff weapons, I actually like that. They use them only in anti missile and fighter role, not like the snakes, who use the same design for all roles as they just put different sizes for different roles. Economically a good idea, for the first few years... but after millennia..."

Baltar agreed with her assessment. "Seems lazy if you ask me. Instead of inventing themselves, they use the same weapon type and keep upgrading them. At some point you have to replace the whole thing as the original weapon reached an evolutionary dead end."

"Yes, exactly. Just look at Earth and the Tollans. These turrets... Adama said they were called ion cannons."

Sanders checked his notes. "Yes, even Valla and our Lucian people said that this was for a long time the main anti-capital ship weapon of the Tollans. Anubis was immune to them but apparently they had time to somewhat counter that."

"Not that it matters, these Lucians used pre-Anubis ships. Anyway, continue." Nagala urged them.

So Lucinda did just that. "The whole Anubis deal aside, we can assume they were not sitting on their hands but were improving the design. Which of the designs these ships had, the base one or an upgrade, is anybody's guess. But what I like is that this weapon seems to be a pure anti-capital ship weapon. A specialization. At least when it comes to the size and impact."

Lennox butted in for the first time in this discussion. "As you said, it matters little. They won't give us that. I mean, I wouldn't."

"Agreed, but it seems that if they were equipping the Earth manned ship with them as well, they are at least willing to share, once trust is established."

Now Baltar made an observation. "Perhaps they're doing it like our industry does with proprietary technology. Only they can fix it, mount it, maintain it? It would make sense to build it in a way that only their trained technicians with the proper tools can handle them, or the weapon shuts down?"

Slightly nibbling on the projection remote, Lucinda smirked. "Your useful, when you want to be, Baltar. Good idea. We can safely bet that the last weapon that was observed, falls under that category as well."

The image now switched to the SPB's hitting a Ha'tak. Sanders once again checked his notes. "According to Adama, they call these SPB's, whatever that means."

"But we do see a difference here." Baltar stood up to go past Lucinda to the display. Pointing with his finger, he indicated from where the weapon was fired and where it hit in the still frame. "This was not a highly charged stream of matter, but a direct particle weapon."

"Correct." Lucinda was well aware of that as well. "The time it took for the beam to travel from the weapon to target was almost instantaneous. Meaning a particle based weapon. With all the recordings we have, it's far beyond a simple laser. We never encountered this type of particle radiation before... but it has a signature similar to Goa'uld technology."

"Meaning?"

She hated to speculate, but had no other option. "Well, Nagala. It probably means that the Tollans and perhaps even Earth, used Goa'uld knowledge to build something new. Would make sense, they are more creative than the snakes, it seems."

"Also pointless, we would not get them." Lennox said again. "But how did they managed to accomplish the effect when that weapon was blown off, is what I wonder."

Now this Baltar could answer. "One Captain Gaeta from the Galactica made an observation on the ship before her demise that I agree on. The Earth ship Dauntless, has what seems to be a power crystal, not unlike the one we have powering Scorpia shipyards right now. Why only that ship, I don't know. But from what Adama said that he observed, they seemed to overload the weapons with the crystals power." Taking his seat again, he eyed Nagala. "Meaning they have them and understand how to use them."

"I'm well aware of that, Doctor. It also means we owe Earth reparations for those cannons... Anyway, continue please."

They covered the smaller things for a while, both from Adama's observation and other sources. Finally they reached the last two points on Sanders... now Lucinda's presentation.

"Direct point to point transportation without rings or platforms. That's scary and a real tactical advantage." Admiral Galatos noted. "Good thing the Lucian's don't have them, or we'd be toast."

"They're probably of Asgard origins." Lucinda pondered. "Even that woman and the Lucian collaborators said that."

Lennox was a bit exhausted to be the spoil sport, but... "Which they won't share."

Lennox was by nature a pessimist, and here it showed. Even Nagala knew that. "Yes, we know. Now, I think we went over everything on the Tau'ri forces, but one subject."

"Indeed, sir. The final part, which is a real science fiction novel piece of technology, even for me." Lucinda admitted as she used the remote for the last picture of the battle above Kobol. "Fraking matter phasing technology. If I wasn't looking at this, I wouldn't believe it."

"Same here." Baltar added. The scientist and Admiral basically had a back and forth on their theories and uses of such technology. In the end they both agreed on the following points: The Tollans were doing a good job exploiting this technology, but their weapons showed the issues that prototypes have. They also agreed that that woman, whose name they both refused to use, as well as the turned Lucians, deserve a proper apology. They told them that according to rumors, the Tollans had such tech. They were all dismissed as rumors. Well, they weren't rumors any longer. And they also both beat Lennox to the punch. "Yes, they won't share."

Baltar agreed. "We can also assume, as far as we know and saw, only the Tollan ships had them. So that is a technology they're not willing to share even with Earth."

"Right. So I say we don't bother asking them..." Nagala noticed Admiral Bouras was apparently contacted via his personal and secured wireless channel. And he got a bit paler, which alerted Nagala. "What is it?"

"Sir... if I may..." He stood up and motioned Lucinda to step aside as he took the remote from her. While she was ready to take a look at the Captured Goa'uld hardware and the images of the shipyard, she relented. "We already have it in the system, so..." An image appeared of what seemed to be a cave with Colonial security personnel searching through... what appeared Goa'uld weapons and other items. "We apparently have a person sympathetic to our current situation, although we don't know if that person is aware of what we in here know. Anyway, that person helped to not only uncover a still existing presence of Cylon spies in the Colonies, but also a subgroup to the Chroniclers, apparently named the Preservers, and were busted wide open."

Laura felt more problems for her approaching. "Preservers?"

"They apparently stored and secured the Chroniclers stolen loot. Mostly any item that would disprove their faith. Sir... with your permission?" Nagala approved it and the sealed doors to the conference were opened again as several internal security personnel carried an armored crate inside. Once they deposited the crate next to the display, they left, closing the door again. Admiral Bouras then took the items out, one by one. And most of them were already known to the Colonials by now, directly or indirectly. Goa'uld items. Most were also in bad shape. But then Bouras pulled a small box out and removed the content to show to all. Baltar recognized it. "A power crystal?" He grabbed it for inspection. "It was in that cave?"

"Yes. And that cave, which was closed off by a reinforced door worthy of a military nuclear bunker, I might say. The one in the images was found on Caprica. We have initiated raids in all known locations on all worlds. Even Aquaria, where they had an underwater vault. I set this in motion without anyone's knowledge to make sure there wouldn't be any leaks."

Sadly this success couldn't be shared with the public, for obvious reasons. But Laura was still impressed. "Did you find more interesting items?"

"A broken sarcophagus was, with the exception for these crystals, the best item we found."

That alerted all, but mostly Baltar. "You found more of them?"

Bouras nodded. "According to latest inventory checks, we have 9 of the large crystals and apparently 21 of a smaller variation."

Baltar gulped. "That's... impressive..."

"Yes, but sadly, only 6 of the big ones and 17 of the small ones are glowing, the others are dark. We assume..."

"That they're dead or broken?" Baltar concluded.

"Can they be fixed?" Was Sanders question to this discovery.

"No. Not by us at least. We don't even know how they work." Baltar said with a bit of a defeated voice. "Still, this is a good thing long term. You say they were all from our 12 worlds?"

"Apparently not." Admiral Bouras responded. "The Preservers were matriculate, if nothing else. According to their written logs, dating back centuries, at least six of the big ones came from Kobol. Apparently the 'god's' left them after their exodus, as they had no use for them."

It was Lennox and Helena Cain, that actually laughed. "The damn parasites had no clue what they had?"

He had to agree with her. "How was it that they were the dominant race of the galaxy again?"

Even Nagala chuckled a bit at this. "Their stupidity is our fortune. And for me even more so..." He eyed Laura. "We just got a new chip to play in the negotiations." She agreed with a nod.

Lennox and Helena stopped laughing. "You can't give them these, sir!"

"I don't intend to give anything, but an exchange perhaps. And even with that, I intend to keep some. Bouras, have one prepared for the meeting. We'll be taking it with us. Let's see how much Earth wants' them."

"Would be nice to learn how they work as well." Baltar added, liking the idea.

"That's why you're going, Doctor."

"Me, Admiral?"

"Yes, you. Your one of the people in this room who at least gets half of the technology issues we just discussed. Lucinda Cain is too important for our military needs right not."

Sanders stopped him right there. "So are you, sir. I say again, you going there is a dumb idea."

"Sanders..."

"Sir..." It was Galatos. "They're right. Send me. I can say anything you want me to, we can plan any discussion point. Me, Baltar and the still not appointed civilian diplomat..."

"Not appointed, because I'm going."

Everyone in the room stopped as Laura said those words. Nagala didn't see that one coming. No one did. "Madam President, I must object..."

"I'm not one of your solders, Admiral. You can't order me not to."

Not even her political friends liked it, so Wallace Grey of Caprica spoke up. "Laura, you're our President. We only just met these people. It's too risky, and you know it."

Nagala liked his reasoning. "I tend to agree, madam President. It's too..."

"Me going shows them that we are serious about this. In the end, we need them, but they might need us as well. Simply put, Admiral... Wallace. I made up my mind. I'm willing to risk it. So, I suggest we continue with this briefing, as I don't have all day."

Wallace knew it was pointless, so he backed down. Nagala as well. He got to know her well enough too in these past weeks. Doesn't mean he won't try to persuade her later. "Now, gentlemen, let's continue."

Nagala indicated to Lucinda to do so. So she put up the image of the fleet that the Cerberus company supplied them with. They went over the already known designs and what differences they noticed when comparing Anubis and Apophis level tech. In this case they relied mostly on their Lucian collaborators, as most analysis of this was still a problem for them. With the FTL as an exception. They were capable of measuring time, or more precisely, the time this fleet needed to get to Ragnar when comparing the trip to that place. These ships were around 50% faster, so not a huge difference, but a measurable one.

Now Lucinda switched the image to the Del'tak destroyer design. "Now to the new stuff. Seems that Anubis learned the lessons the rest of his species didn't want to learn. A diverse fleet is a healthy fleet. This so called destroyer is about one third the size of a Ha'tak and only a small hangar for a Tel'tak or two. It's weapons have a similar design, as it has more of the larger anti-capital ship cannons and less small anti-fighter ones. So essentially a ship that would have difficulties executing missions alone and more of a support ship. Or as we got from the basic notes from the friendly Lucians, a cost effective ship to supplement the Ha'tak lines. I'd say I agree with the cost effectiveness, but a really situational ship, due to the lack of real fighter or anti-fighter ability."

"So, your conclusion?" Nagala leaned back, wanting her input as a ship designer.

"Useful, but we should only deploy them in a pair with a single Ha'tak."

"Right. Next."

The Ko'tak was now displayed. "Seems the snakes have a fetish for ship class names ending in tak... well, anyway. This was a project by Apophis as it seems, but Anubis finished it after his death. A Ha'tak upgrade for sure, 50% more size, power, weapons and fighter capacity. Basically a regular battlestar to a Valkyrie, if you ask me. Just bigger and more of everything. No other special attributes."

"So we could use them as a command ship of a single system... of sorts?" Rosi asked. "I mean, we only have one of the really big ships... so..."

"Perhaps. Still looking over how to best utilize the ships."Lucinda commented. She continued as now the Re'nak appeared. "Now this is a real upgrade to the original Ha'tak. Served as Apophis command ship but originally designed by... Sokar? Who comes up with these names? Anyway, not just a 'bigger and more stuff' situation, this one has a special long range anti-capital ship heavy plasma cannon. Apparently due to the size it can keep the bolt of plasma coherent for longer, thus a longer range and power. So this can be somewhat used for breaking blockades as well, if the enemy lacks something with such range. Anyway, I suggest we use this as the command ship for our now newly established Goa'uld fleet force." She then went over what they saw from the Free Jaffa fleet, the ship comparisons and the tactics they employed. "I guess the last thing when it comes to Goa'uld technology that we witnessed, is this new, not pyramid design type ship. Zat frigate as they call it."

Marcus saw this design before, on the damn station. "We saw hundreds of them in that place."

Lennox was now curious. "Then why not take one?"

Marcus scoffed. "Really? The smallest thing that qualifies as a capital ship? It's only as big as the civilian transport ships we use, like Colonial One. My thought was get more bigger stuff but don't be too greedy, as that could also backfire." He didn't like being questioned on his choices.

Nagala knew this and calmed the situation down. "No one is questioning your choices, Colonel. And for the record, I would have done the same. Now, Lucinda, continue."

"Right... as for the weapons they use... we only saw a few shots taken by the Jaffa fleet with these frigates as the Lucians retreated quite fast, but they seem to employ a completely different weapons design. Something similar to an electrical discharge was seen used by these frigates. The accuracy and rate of fire seem to be the reason for their anti-fighter role. We can also assume that their effectiveness against larger targets must be rather weak, as it was seen to only focus on fighters."

Nagala wanted her input on this again. "Why only that design? Why not put that weapon on other designs?"

"I can again only speculate. Perhaps limited weapon hard point on existing design. The snakes wanted to keep their existing combat capacity against known targets and not sacrifice it in favor of fighter defense. This ship seemed to be solely designed as an anti-fighter defense ship that itself needs protection from larger vessels. There seem to be, however, one observed effect of this weapon that is somewhat similar in the need of tactic adjustment to our flack batteries."

"That being?"

She showed the footage of a Lucian fighter getting hit by the electric arc. It then, after neutralizing the fighter, jumped like an electric arc to its closest neighbor, dealing the same effect. "It can hit multiple targets at once. And I doubt it can discriminate between friend and foe. A weapon like that, like our flack defense, requires that allied fighter groups are not present in the kill zone."

Sanders had one addition to this. "We can also assume that both this weapon and the ships name originate from a hand held weapon that we saw both Lucians and Jaffa employ."

"Which you'll cover after this, Sanders." Galatos reminded him.

"So best get to the end, Lucinda. Next."

"Yes. This." The image changed again, to the fighter Jack O'Neill was piloting during this encounter. "We now know that this fighter, although I use that term loosely, was designed and build by the ring builders, or as they are apparently called, Ancients. One Captain Kara Thrace reported that a Cylon raider in her group speculated that it might have been designed for ring travel in mind, not unlike the Goa'uld variant we saw. The dimensions would fit."

"All good and well, but I haven't seen this part yet. Can we see it now?" Helena was getting a bit restless. She didn't have the time to see everything. But she heard from the pilot reports what this small thing did.

Lucinda did as asked. They also had the wireless chatter to listen to. As the recording concluded, everyone in the room was impressed. "As you can see, that small ship possessed the capacity to destroy a capital ship with two to four... glowing missiles from what we can see."

"How can we be sure it's a missile?" Lennox inquired.

"What else could it be?"

"Well, Dr. Baltar, we saw these plasma bolts being shot everywhere... I see no difference between this and that..."

"Bolts of energy can't alter direction, Admiral." Baltar pointed out the fallacy in his logic.

Lucinda saw one more flaw in Lennox reasoning. "Also, if you didn't hear the wireless chatter, the pilot said, after stopping to use that weapon, that he was out of ammo. Implying it was a missile." Turning her attention once again to the screen, she concluded her analysis of the craft. "Based on all the reports from our pilots, the wireless chatter and Adama's own testimony, we can conclude that this craft was also retrofitted by the Tau'ri forces. Tollans most likely. These pulse energy weapons were heard to be described as an addition to the original craft. Shields as well. As for the cloak... that's anybody's guess."

Rosi leaned forward on his chair. "Does it have FTL?"

Lucinda shrugged. "That's anybody's guess."

"And not important for now." Nagala responded. "The last space item if you please."

"Of course, sir..." Lucinda switched to the image of the station.

"Technically my report..." Sanders whispered to himself.

The Anubis space station was displayed. Along with the size reference. "That's a big fraker indeed." Lennox whistled.

"While size is really impressive, it's capacity is even more so." Lucinda went down the list of information that they had on the station. From thousands of weapons, the same anti-cloak sensors that apparently the Tau'ri had, the ability to be both mobile and process any raw material on site, build new ships the same way and as they learned after analysis of the data the Cerberus company did managed to acquire from the databanks, it could also repair or upgrade existing ships, if the original designs were uploaded into the mainframe. It was controlled by a smart algorithm, but was not self aware, like the Cylons. Apparently, while Anubis did intend to install something like that at a later date, he didn't trust AI's. No Goa'uld did, why they never employed robots, like the Colonials did. The station was also modified to one day accept the six amplification crystals Anubis had back then to further optimize and streamline production. Apparently, unlike the other Goa'uld, Anubis was aware of the existence of ZPM's, or as the Colonials called them, power crystals. He planned to use them to power the station to its new 100% capacity, but Anubis never found and ZPM's to use.

As the description was done by Lucinda, everyone in the room knew what everyone else was thinking. Lennox spoke first. "Pointless for us to attempt to capture it if it's crawling with those biological monsters."

Marcus joined him. "I tend to agree, sir. That one Kull scared me shitless. The last time I was this afraid was when I was a kid in our museum and tried the holobands with historical simulations of battles against Centurions. It took almost everyone of my people on that ship to take that damn thing down."

Sanders too joined this debate. "And let's not forget the station itself. Even if we remove these Kull from the equation, the place is a damn fortress. A frontal assault would be suicidal."

Helena Cain rarely agreed with such defeatist assessments', but here she was on board. "Even the Jaffa or Earth would have issues capturing this. A frontal assault is indeed pointless. A covert infiltration to capture it is the smartest approach."

Rosi concluded this side debate. "And for that we need the Kull killing experts. Which we are not."

Nagala, listening to everyone's input, took the stage. "That's why I intend to offer the fact that we know where it is to the Tau'ri delegation. We take it together and share the spoils. That would also improve relations anyway. That reminds me, Rosi, have our computer experts create pictures of this station and have any mines digitally removed from them. The mines would be a dead giveaway, if even our informant knew of that system just based on the presence of these mines."

"So no digital copy?"

"Hell no. Not yet. I can bet that if you manipulate the image in digital form, someone with superior coding ability can restore it."

Rosi understood. "Like the Tollans."

"Exactly. Now, Lucinda, I know you don't care about ground combat, since it's not your theater of war, so if you wouldn't mind..."

Sanders stood up after Nagala indicated this. Lucinda realized what was coming and relinquished the remote and sat down.

Sanders went with the ground combat part. The observed Jaffa tactics, Lucian tactics, weapons both sides used and the final conclusion. And the conclusion was that copying the weapons was a bigger time and resource investment than the alternative, which they had. The tactics they would study and understand to be better able to counter with their own, should the need arise.

The Sodan approach was also shown, but quickly dismissed as first off, they didn't see them in action, because of the damn cloaks. Second, the damn cloaks. And these had real side effects with them, so best to leave them alone. And not agitate the Jaffa as all, if possible.

That left Earth. From what they had seen, Earth employed a wide range of weapons. That also included the tactics. Some similar to how the Colonials operate, some apparently adapted from Jaffa tactics and some were completely new to the Colonials.

But Lucinda Cain saw a new potential of cooperation here. At least in the field of R&D. But how far would Earth and their allies be willing to go was anybody's guess. Sanders also noted how the new armor that was used by Earth's forces, seemed to be an adaptation of the Kull armor, with some not so insignificant additions, mostly defined by what purpose a solder would fill in the group.

After this was over, Nagala let the President have her part of this briefing. "Admiral, we'll still need to iron out the fine print of what we need and have, but that can wait for a day or two, since we weren't contacted yet."

"Yes, we have other issues as well."

"So... based on the situation on Kobol, how many ships from these Lucians can we use?"

Nagala eyed Rhode. "Only two enemy Ha'tak's were left structurally intact. But they were still badly damaged." He sighed. "I think we should count all of them as a total loss. Spare parts at best."

Laura took that info and continued. "And the prisoners?"

Now Nagala answered. "Earth kept it's word. So far we moved through the ring around 5.000 prisoners off Kobol. It will take another two days to move the rest to the planet with the Earth base."

"We could send the ones we have here as well." Laura really wanted that issue resolved. "Think about it. If we send them, that black ops prison can be shut down again. One less issue to deal with the Quorum... for the both of us."

Scratching his forehead, Nagala did indeed give it a thought. "Rhode. Get it done. The President is right."

Rhode made a note for after this briefing. Laura checked her noted to see what her next agenda was. "Based on everything that happened, who actually owes whom after that battle? I mean, yes, Earth and their allies saved us, but..."

"Madam, we returned Prometheus and that Trust Al'kesh. But they are taking the prisoner issue off of our hands and even let us keep those 100 ... em, what were they called again?"

Baltar too had to look at his notes. "TER's I think? Transphasic eradication rods? Something like that?"

Laura was confused. "They let us keep them?"

"Yes, General O'Neill said something about 'freebie'. And to help us to find any future pirates."

Laura was annoyed at the answer she got from Nagala. "Smart on their part. Like a salesman, they give out free samples. Seems that Earth already made the first strike at negotiations." She turned her attention to Wallace Gray. "Look through our technology inventory to see if we have something that would qualify as a 'freebie'."

Wallace knew that that would not be easy as he had no idea what Earth and their partners already had.

Once again eying Nagala, Laura continued. "So in conclusion, we still owe them."

Nagala hated admitting this, but they did. "Yes."

Laura massaged her forehead after removing her glasses. "And I'll just be adding more then..."

While everyone was confused at this statement, they waited, as this was a discussion between Nagala and her. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, Admiral, I intend to ask them for assistance with the tomb of Athena."

The military personnel in the room were not sure this was a priority. Neither did Baltar, who spoke up. "Why bother with an old tomb..."

"Doctor. If you read the report, which I know you did, that is no mere tomb. The combination lock is written in the language of the ring builders and Earth seems to have some experience in understanding that language."

"Still..."

"Still!" She cut him off. "I know that you and everyone else in this room thinks it's waste of time. But then again going to the location that Vala sold us was a long shot as well and it paid off. Look, if it's something, it's something. Otherwise you can give me the 'I told you so speech later.' Now, anything else?"

"Only the post battle effectiveness part of our forces."

"That's the thing you don't need me for then." She stood up. As did all the other civilians in the room, minus Baltar. "Ladies and gentlemen. It was... enlightening." As she was about to leave, the turned her attention to Bouras. "Any chance you can give me the identity of the individual or group we have to thank for in the Chroniclers case?"

"Sorry, madam President, but I can't. The individual in question is better off as an unknown as the person might still be of value to us."

She understood the reasons and left with her staff. The next half an hour was spent analyzing the effectiveness of the Colonial forces in the battle. In the end they came to the same conclusions as during the first briefing, only now with solid data to back it up.

The military personnel were now almost finished as well. Nagala began his conclusion. "Once we do get a list of addresses from trading, I intend to modify my existing protocol regarding the ring."

His second in command was the first to ask what he meant by that. "For what purpose and how?"

"The whole Aschen story. I believe you all read that particular report."

All nodded in confirmation. "Still can't believe that Earth did something like that." Admiral Sophos remarked.

"Why not?" Helena Cain interjected. "The way I see it, they had it coming."

"I tend to agree with you on that, Cain." Lennox remarked. "Besides, didn't you read the remarks from that Earth General what these Aschen would have done to us."

Sophos was still one of the few in the room that was shocked by their revelation. "And you believe them just like that?"

"I do." Nagala stopped this bickering. "I saw into O'Neill's face. I saw a veteran not unlike the ones in this room. And I also saw that he most likely authorized the decision. And he didn't do it lightly. Besides, why lie."

"Exactly." Sanders backed his CO up. "What I can't believe is what these Aschen did and were willing to do. I mean we Colonials were mean to each other in the past, but genocide was never on the table."

"Indeed." Nagala continued. "But... it does raise the point I was getting to. I want the planet we now dubbed Ma'chello where we're expanding the structure with our own technology, to act as the main ring operation's center. Not Kobol and not here either. Once I realized what can happen when the word black hole was uttered, I don't want to risk losing Kobol. So we'll use that planet instead. Kobol will remain our forward HQ and all teams from Ma'chello planet will arrive from Kobol, so we have a double layer of security."

"Admiral... do you think Earth would do this to us?" Was Baltar's question. He knew that when push came to shove, humans were capable of anything.

Nagala thought it over. More precisely, how to say his next few words. "If we become a threat to them, perhaps. We, like those Aschen, can't be just ignored. And if not we, our remaining Cylon problem may spill into the galaxy and we might be held accountable. But I think the worst case scenario for us is that we stumble into a situation because of our own curiosity. Who wants' to bet Earth did the same things during their first years while using the ring?" No, no one wanted to take that bet. Nagala was right. "So, as I read from the report from the base Commander there, the main base structure for ring operations will be active in about a week there. Until then I'm suspending any and all ring activities, except for Kobol and here plus whatever place we'll go for the meeting. Now, anything else, before we're done?"

Lucinda responded. "One thing that came to my mind during all of this."

Nagala hoped to be finished, but he knew that this would be worth it. "Go on."

"According to the reports, the Jaffa are stretched thin containing the pirates and this Ba'al. The To'kra are just establishing themselves as a civilization and not an underground movement any longer. And the Tau'ri are starving for ships and resources. Correct?"

"Yes, your point?"

"Well... we have ships. Lots of them."

Everyone exchanged looks. No one got it. Helena addressed her aunt before anyone else. "Em, our ships are outdated and we still need them here until we get replacements, especially if we intend to send the captured Goa'uld fleet to Kobol at some time..."

"Not remotely what I meant. The orbital depots we have in every system. We have many ships there, just rotting away."

Now Nagala got curious. This made no sense to him. "Those old fossils? Some are from before the first Cylon war."

"I know. I mean the hulls. The hardware is hopelessly outdated, yes, but the hulls are still usable. If Earth and their allies are starving for ships, wouldn't they jump at a chance to get ships, outdated or not? They can retrofit them any way they want afterwards. And I know that is a piss poor substitute for a state of the art capital ship, but they wouldn't be used for fleet activities, but planetary defense, no more. In a situation that Earth is in right now, something is better than nothing."

Stroking his chin, Nagala was intrigued. "You know what? Today is a good day for stupid ideas. Can't hurt to ask." So Sanders made a note for this proposition. "Now anyone else have anything?" No, no one did. "Good. Then this meeting is adjourned."

As all mostly left, Nagala grabbed Lennox by the arm before he too could leave. "I have a special assignment for you. One... that you won't like."

During this, Laura, who was already in a VIP raptor that was taking off Picon HQ, it's destination Caprica, remained engrossed in the many issues at hand with her ministers and Quorum allies. The only one in the raptor in the sealed off cabin, that made sure the pilots couldn't hear anything, that wasn't part of the briefing, was her loyal assistant Billy, whom she now had to inform of the situation. After all, once Tory was gone, she needed his support even more so. He took it... well. Sort off.

"Billy, make a note to begin drafting a bill for future Kobol issues. But do not get the Quorum involved. This is just a precaution for the future, once this get's public."

"Will do."

"Now..." She eyed her internal affairs Minister. "Please have a first version of documents ready that would grant citizenships to, ehm... 'our' Lucian people and Vala."

"Em... I can do that, but I'd advise that they earn the military support for that."

"Vala already has."

"The former Lucians not so much. But I will get on it. I would also advise they learn standard Caprican to better blend in."

"Agreed." She knew that was the minimum they would have to do.

"I'd also suggest some name changes. For better assimilation. Some of their names really do not sound... Colonial."

"No. Only if we ask them and they agree. I won't force them."

Kobol, ring room, one hour later

Nagala arrived through the ring with a small escort. He got hourly updates from Atkins and so far everything was quiet.

But he was a bit late. Hours before the briefing they had just had, they were contacted by Earth. It wasn't about the meeting... yet. But the Tok'ra wanted to return with some specialists and a few Earth people wanted to come along to continue keeping the peace.

As Nagala got his bearings, he noticed the man he now knew personally as Jack O'Neill standing in the room with a small escort of his own. But they were all already disarmed.

Saluted and handshakes followed. "Sorry for the... protocol with your weapons..."

"Yeah, usually I'm a bit touchy when people take my guns away, but I get it."

Nagala didn't recognize anyone else with O'Neill. "SG-1 is not coming?"

"Nah. I can imagine you had or will have one or several boring talks where you analyze the battle and explain the situation to civvies. I have the same problem. So right now Daniel is having a bit of a cultural briefing on you guys to the Tau'ri oversight committee. Or to be more precisely, he's boring them to death. Orina is doing the same but for tech stuff... so on, you get it." Nagala did get id.

"So you came here to dodge the bullet, as it were?"

"Bullet, boredom... I don't see a difference. Anyway, already saw Jolan. He's keeping the peace nicely. But sorry to say that the Jaffa in orbit won't be able to stay for too much longer. Three days at most. Some development is forcing their departure sooner than anticipated."

Nagala tried to get some details on that. "Hopefully nothing bad."

"Not so lucky. A minor System Lord that survived the purge is making a ruckus. And that moron is not as smart as Ba'al to keep a low profile."

"Well, three days should not be an issue. We'll have more of our forces here by then. Now..." He motioned O'Neill to follow him. "I have to say, it's a bit strange of you to come here so... carelessly."

"Ah, you mean, because we're still at first base?"

"Em...?"

"Sport's metaphor. Meaning we only just got to know each other. Well truth be told, if you do anything to me, a lot of Jaffa here would get angry. So it's not as if I'm really helpless here." Nagala had to agree with that assessment. "Anyway, where are we going?"

"Since the Tok'ra representatives are already here, I can only assume they are here for their potential predecessors and not for sightseeing. So to Athena's secret laboratory is where we're going."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"By the way... any idea on where Athena is? You didn't mentioned that she was dead, so..."

"No idea. You'd have to ask the Tok'ra."

"Hm..." They arrived in the room in question where the Colonials already returned the components they had previously removed at the request of the Cylons. And Caprica was watching at what the Tok'ra members were doing. To her suprise, they were mostly inspecting the symbiotes. Only the Anise woman was inspecting the technology for organic memory transfer.

"To think how far she got..."

Caprica, who was watching her work with intense curiosity, had to ask. "Who?"

"Athena. Asgard technology is still today in many fields far in advance of the Goa'uld, but two millennia ago... even more so. I would have never imagined she got a working prototype going..." She now inspected Caprica in return. "Or to create a new strain of Jaffa... as it were."

"How ironic, isn't it?"

Anise read the basics on the Cylons that was given to them by the Colonials. "That you owe your existence to a so called 'god' that the Colonials still worship, but that god is not a god, just a parasite with a better understanding of technology?"

"Well... since you put it like that..."

"Ehm..." Jack announced his presence himself. "And that's where I usually fall asleep, two hot blondes or not."

After some more small talk, it was decided that Anise would be allowed to come to the Colonial home world but under strict supervision. She would make an assessment of Bellona. The extraction would, however, follow after the conference. The remaining Tok'ra would stay on Kobol to do some DNA testing to see if the imprisoned Goa'uld and Tok'ra progenitors are who the Colonials believe they are. But there was another matter at hand. The other reason that O'Neill was here for. The Earth of the 13th tribe. The four of the five Final Five were moved back to Kobol. They were asked if they wanted to see this 13th Earth and if they could regain some memories on the matter. They agreed. Natalie would go with them with several centurions and Colonials staff. The Tau'ri expedition had already cleared days ago, but now a small military detachment was waiting for them there. Nagala also took the opportunity to ask about Athena. The Colonials had many reasons to want her captured alive. He was told that apparently she was now in the service of Ba'al, so out of anyone's reach.

As Jack, Nagala and Anise returned to the ring room to continue with this plan, the Final Five in question arrived from their so called quarters they were assigned in this base since they arrived several hours ago. They were even asked to go and see the Cylons on the Lucinda, if they so wished.

But before they could begin the dialing of the address that O'Neill gave them, they themselves were dialed.

The Colonial protocol, very similar to the Earth one, kicked in as the iris closed and the military staff cleared the proximity of the Stargate. But... no one tried to come.

In the back of the room that was still used by the comm officers, who would get moved to a new location, once the ring itself was moved out of the damn base, alerted Nagala that they were receiving something.

"It seems to use some outdated Colonial code... I can patch it through on the main screen, sir."

"Please do it."

Several seconds and some static later and they saw a face of a man on the screen. He had a neutral expression and was clearly sitting in what seemed to be a Goa'uld base.

But his outfit gave him away. Nagala took the stage. "To whom am I speaking? I know your Lucian, but that's all."

"Hm, interesting. You are not the same person my niece had the misfortune of underestimating. At least the voice tells me that. I am Warlord Masim. I believe our forces met in battle not so long ago."

"Let's just cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"My my, aren't we impatient. I think you know what I want."

"Your daughter."

"Yes. And if the circumstances were different, your blood as well. But I have other priorities at the moment."

Nagala knew that Masim already saw his guests, so he didn't bother hiding them, but asked them to join him, to advise him on this new mess. "I've never had the situation of negotiating with a pirate."

"To you I'm a pirate, but to my people I am their leader. The one who gave them stability. Food. Safety. They were far better off under my rule than a Goa'uld... but we're falling off topic here. As stated, I have more pressing matters to attend, so I have no time to crush you. So I make you a deal. All the forces that you cost me, you can keep. What's left of them anyway. Give me back my daughter and this matter is forgotten and unless you trespass on my territory or cross my people in the future, you shall never hear from me again."

Nagala signaled to his comm officer to cut the audio feed. After it was done, he turned to his guests. "Ideas?"

"Well, in my country we usually have a strict 'Do not negotiate with terrorists rule'. I think pirate falls under that." Jack responded.

But it was Anise who could analyze the situation best, due to her knowledge on Lucian politics. "He's buying time. For reasons unknown to me. He must really care for his daughter. A sign of weakness in the circle of Seconds." She eyed Nagala. "My advice, give him what he wants. I know it sets a bad precedence, but at the moment, should he attack and attack with everything he has... And threats from that man are not empty. However, a word of caution. He does take things personally. If nothing else, he is lying about one thing. He intends to ignore you... for a while. But sooner or later, he will demand retribution."

Nagala thought it over. O'Neill was right. His people also don't negotiate with pirates. But he had to look at the big picture. He noticed Masim signaling them that he had something to say, so the comm officer un-muted him.

"To accelerate this matter I am willing to trade. A prisoner for a prisoner."

"You have no Colonials imprisoned, we know that much."

"Now why would I trade something worthless like that? I see a Tau'ri general and Tok'ra with you. I'm sure they'd be interested in him..." His guards drag a half dead Ba'al to the screen. "Don't worry, he's just a clone. I wasn't able to get much out of him, but I bet you will. The Tok'ra are after all second to none in this galaxy when it comes to that. Now that Anubis is dead anyway."

With his stare only, Jack asked Nagala for permission to talk with Masim, which he got. "Why give us him? If he's so valuable?"

"The enemy of my enemy and all. Ba'al angered the Lucian people as much as the Jaffa. Perhaps he'll reveal more to you than he did to me?"

Audio was cut off again. "I take you want him?" Nagala knew the answer, but asked it anyway. He got two nods. "Then... you get him as compensation. For the cannons and those TER's you gave us?"

Jack had to smirk. "You sure you weren't a professional door to door salesman in a past life?" Nagala gave him a stern look. "Yes, yes. It's a deal."

Once again un-muted, Nagala proceeded to accept Masim's proposal. "So now what?"

"I want my daughter delivered to the planet where you stole her ships from her. I'll be waiting for her there."

"And Ba'al?"

"I can guess you have a similar defensive measure that Earth has. Lower it in 30 seconds, or Ba'al will be a splatter on the wall. I guess you'll have to trust me..."

This was a real pain in the ass decision. "Clear the room. If he intends to do anything, I want to minimize the casualties. General, miss Anise, you too..." Once clear, the iris was lowered as Ba'al was tossed through like a sack of potatoes. As the guards restrained him and the iris was back up, they saw in what a poor shape he was in. Ba'al was taken to the infirmary, but anise insisted that two Tok'ra operatives keep an eye on him all the time. Nagala agreed to that.

"You're taking a risk with me. What if I now do nothing?"

"I know your kind. All about honor and that garbage. You'll keep your word. Or face my wrath. You have one hour."

The Stargate deactivated as the feed cut off. Everyone was waiting for orders as Nagala had just got a curveball thrown at him. "Contact Picon. Tell Sanders to get that Kiva woman here on the double and to make sure she sees nothing!"

Unknown location, Stargate location, 30 minutes later

Kiva arrived through the gate to see an army of Lucians waiting for her. "Finally, what too you all so..." She was shot with a zat discharge and taken by two guards through the now once again active gate.

As she regained her consciousness, she was back in a familiar environment. The infirmary that she visited frequently during her childhood as she time and again had broken bones, trying to live up to her father's expectations.

As she stood up from the bed, she noticed her father in the room. Next to him was her cousin. "Father, I..." Before she could continue, she got backhanded across the face and fell.

"Don't father me." He began walking around her. "You cost me. I had to ASK for help from the other SECONDS! Do you know how HUMILIATING THAT WAS!" He tried to calm down. It was not working well. "Your cousin has an excuse. She returned and not empty handed. You didn't even return. I had to 'negotiate' with your captors." She dared not do anything while he was monologing. "Get up. At least try to act as my daughter." She did get up as ordered. "Now... Selena has an assignment to do. Simple enough. You'll be her second in command. I expect results from both of you." As he was ready to leave, he stopped at the entrance, where his personal guards were waiting. "If you're asking yourself why I tolerate those humans and not just deal with them... I have a bigger plan at hand, one that I can't afford to be distracted from by insignificant issues. But rest assured, my daughter and niece. Once I succeed, all of my attention will be diverted to these... Kobolians." He stormed out.

"How nice to be back."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"So, what's the mission?"

Earth of the 13th Tribe, one hour later

The Colonial and Cylon guests were shown the excavation sites and findings. And in an informal way, the planet was handed over to them as it belonged to them anyway.

Galen was leaning on the remains of a wall, smirking... almost laughing as he saw the devastated landscape. The nature just beginning to recover.

"Chief?" It was Saul.

Galen pointed to a scorched mark on the wall next to him. "That's me. I died here."

Saul knelled next to him. "So you remember?"

"Not really, just flashes and images. You?"

"Nothing but that damn music in my head."

"Yeah, Anders said the same thing."

A centurion walked by and noticed them. It asked, via it's red observation device, what they were doing.

"Oh, just contemplating our failures and wallowing in self pity, want to join us?"

Cyrannus cluster, several hours later

Unknown to all Colonials, some time ago the Tollana's Shadow arrived here and entered stealth mode. Jack was not told about this mission. Not that he would tell. Once the conference was beginning to get planned, Sam was recalled to act as the technology advisor during the conference. But here both Earth and Tollana agreed. The Colonials knew where their home worlds were, but they had no clue on them. They knew where to look for, but there were hundreds of addresses and thousands of systems. And the Stargates were out of the question anyway, to not tip the Colonials off. So they informed Weir on this and only her. If the Wraith were drooling at the aspect of Earth having a population of seven billion, 50 billion would be a hard-on for them. So with the exception of Weir, no one in Atlantis would know about this. She was tasked to ask the Atlantis archive to display all gate addresses in that part of the Milky way and to limit the search for a system with multiple habitable planets as the Colonials did mentioned that they had more than one world. In the end, while several systems had more than one habitable planet, only one double binary system had 12 of them. And a gate address.

So instead of a retrofit, the Tollana's Shadow was sent here. And for the past few hours, sometimes even in phase mode to avoid getting accidentally hit by just orbital traffic of a planet, she gathered data.

But the biggest shock for the crew came when they went to inspect the all too familiar energy signatures in orbit of a gas giant that orbited two star systems. Since they had to get some distance from a planet before they could risk de-cloaking and engaging FTL as to not getting spotted, and sometimes not be able to do so at all, it took more time than usually.

In the end, when they saw the Goa'uld fleet surrounded by Colonial forces, who were apparently in control of the fleet. They realized that the situation just got a bit more interesting.

To anyone saying I should do this story or that story, here is the situation: I don't have unlimited time. I will probably finish this story before my first story, where I overextended, but still intend to finish both. To Ghostly: I think I already mentioned somewhere, but my Halo knowledge is limited. I mean I know the big events, important people and why things went the way they did, but fine print I would really have issues with. So for now, no Halo for me. I mean, you ask me for almost anything else, Mass Effect, Starcraft, Wing Commander, Babylon 5, The Expanse, Star Wars (before Disney), Star Trek (before Bad Reboot), BSG... my knowledge is good enough for a try. Halo... I would be lacking the fine print. However I was giving it a thought for a BSG / Star Trek Enterprise try. I like Enterprise. But my idea is to not have any of the established Enterprise characters involved. Am still thinking about it.