[i]Collaborative Post Between Captain Catherine Black and Halion Drennon[/i]

The sensors picked up several energy signatures coming to light along the ship, "there arming weapons." Halion thought to himself. Instead of firing immediately a grainy transmission filtered through the Ha'taks communications system came through. 

"...tain Black... Earth ship... nown ships... your attack... iring... vessels... act of war... pond in kind."

Halion didn't understand much of the message but he was under the impression that they were calling for a ceasefire. The other thing that he found interesting was there designation, 'Earth ship'. Even on a cut off planet such as Tolia the Tau'ri were known. Halion knew they were enemies of the Goa'uld and he also knew that they had a knack for starting conflicts for which the rest of the galaxy paid while they suffered minor losses. The Tau'ri had caused the destruction of human and Jaffa worlds alike during the before the fall of the Goa'uld and if the rumors were true they had brought the Ori to the galaxy. Tolia had been lucky enough to bury there stargate shortly before the arival of the Priors of the Ori but Tonak had told him stories, entire planets wiped out, plagues and famines caused by there powers, whole civilizations destroyed. This was the Tau'ri's legacy in the galaxy.

Halion was not foolish enough to attack the shi head on though. It would be wise to contact them first at the very least put them off guard. He opened a channel. "This is Thilas, Halion Drennon of the planet Tolia. You have deployed a recon ship above our planet which has transmitted our current military strength no doubt. In our culture enacting spies is a decloration of war. Our ancestors had not the luxury to wait for the first loss of life. Break off your current heading and disarm your weapons and we may yet come to a peacful conclusion." There was several seconds without reply before Halion relized that this ship would have understood as much of his message as he had there's

He open communications to Commander Ryken. "Commander, cloak and relocate one of the Al'kesh between the ship and our Al'kesh to improve communications. Close to the Ha'tak so that the ship will read the signal being bounced from that area and be unware of the ship itself." Halion detected one of the Al'kesh vanishing from sight and was confident that his orders had been carried out.

Halion tried again. "Alien ship are you reciving me?"

Black got a response to her hail, althought the Tolian's apparently couldn't punch through their own jamming. "Schalt den Störsender aus, Trottel.*" she cursed under her breath, earning a few giggles from the germans on the bridge. Finally another response came, this time clear. "This is captain Black of the Earth ship [i]Catherine Langford.[/i] You fired upon a friendly vessel. Break off your attack or we'll return fire." she answered, her tone as harsh as it gets when some of your people are getting shot at.

"I am Thilas of Tolia Halion Drennon, You have deployed a recon ship above our planet which has transmitted our current military strength no doubt. In our culture enacting spies is a decloration of war. Our ancestors had not the luxury to wait for the first loss of life. Break off your current heading and disarm your weapons and we may yet come to a peacful conclusion." He said repeating his previously garbled message.

At the time, Ariadne arrived to the bridge. Good. Catherine could use someone who knew first hand how to fight Goa'Uld carft, because the situation here was deteriorating rapidly. Black told one of the officers to fill the Tok'Ra in on what's going on while she listened to Drennon's mumbling, her mood sinking with every word he said. "In civilized parts of the galaxy, first contact is not considered a spy and treated with a hail, not fire. You're lucky my pilot is alive or there would be no communication with you barbarians. In your company i'd rather keep my weapons armed, thank you." she finished. Where was Williams when he was actually needed?

It did not surprise Halion that this Captian was hard headed. "Perhaps on the Tau'ri homeworld were you have the resources to build more ships and a population that can survive loss you can afford to consider if a ship is hostile or not. Most human worlds don't have that luxury. This armada is all that keeps my people safe and we have not the ability to add to it. I could very easily lose several ships in the time it takes to accertain whether an invader is friendly or not. This planet has no intention of falling back into the hands of the Goa'uld or whatever new threat you've managed to unleash upon this galaxy. It is most definatly [i]I[/i] That require my weapons more than you Captain."

[i]As if [b]your[/b] weapons could help you against anything that exists in the galaxy right now. Keep poking the hornet's nest, and you'll find out.[/i] "Navigation, assume orbit around the furthest moon. Release targets, but keep the fuses primed. Recall Alpha wing." Black ordered. She was willing to give the Tolians the benefit of a doubt, but only that far. "If you think you're situation is going to get better with making accusations as idiotic as the last one, I pity you. check your history from more than one source next time. Now, fortunately my only concern is my crew, as to why we're here, someone else will be speaking to you." She finished, her microphone muting. "Ping Williams and get this idiot off my channel!" Catherine snapped, "Sensors continue observing the situation, they as much as sneeze without telling us so, I want to know."

"Ma'am, a few minutes beofre - one contact dropped of the radar. Al'Kesh, it probably cloaked." Black shot the officer an annoyed glance that said 'And you're telling me only now why?' sighing, she rested her palms on the map: "Even if they somehow got their hands on a naquadria bomb and intended to ram us, our shields are up, we'll hold. Reset railguns for point defense and boost sensor power, let's see if we can find all that they're hiding."

Thilas: second in line to the throne in Serer pre-colonial kingdoms. No doubt a reffereance to Halion's former possition. (A cultural expert on board should know this FYI)
*shut the jammer down, moron