OK, I am Soo eager to have you actually playing this game and not hounding us with hypothetical (and occasionally rediculous) questions that I am going to help you out and not torture you with teasing. Among other things, I'm really eager for you to learn all about Clauswitz's Maxim (the grognard's out there all know...look it up).

Bring up SDC on the connected PC.
Go to Totalgaming.net.
Go to Games on the left hand menu.
Click to expand Purchased Software.
Highlight Galactic Civilizations 2.

Now, go up to the menu bar and click on File.
Highlight Archive Application, them pull right to highlight Download and Archive.
Follow the instructions in the windows.
Save the Archive to the thumb drive.

Put the thumb drive in the laptop.
I believe from reading kryo's several notes of instruction on this that you can just click on the 'Update Game' button on the launcher, and if it doesn't find the SDC and an internet connection, it will find the Archive on the mounted thumb drive.

If any of this fails at any point, come back to the website, go to advanced search and search on kryo's screenname, with a date range of the last 2 months. Also use a keyword of install. Scan through the results. You should find his version of these instructions.

I sincerely wish you well,... and you probably know enough to start out on tough.
Good hunting, and say hello to the Dread Lords for me.
drrider