Disclaimer: I do not own "Star Trek" or any of it's affiliates and spinoffs. I do not own "Battlestar Galactica" or any of it's affiliates and spinoffs. I do not own any other things that may be referenced. However, as far as I can tell, the idea appears to be mine. Expect it to go far.
Go easy on me as this is my first story, but not too easy.
The E and the G
Episode 1: Human Union
Author: TheFreighTrain
"They shall be led to an expansive arena, and shall be chased into
it. A war of old will add to a war of new as the sum of 7 and 5 meet thou
between none and one. Both be solved, but one return, and a third shall
arise before the ultimate unification."
The Thirteenth Scroll
In the darkness of space, with a pink nebula-like thing in the distant background, there were a great many flashes of light. A fleet of ships appeared. Large ships, some larger than others, with all sorts of shapes and sizes. Of the great many ships, one caught the eye in a particular way, as it was the largest of them all, and the most beat up. One could barely read 'Galactica' written across her cracked armor along her side. She had been in service for roughly half a century by now, and was the apparent leader of the rag tag fleet of what remained of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.
"How far in are we," said an aging old man in a blue admiral's uniform. His weary eyes were a tattletale sign of his stress of jumping into an anomaly ridden region of space. Adama took off his glasses. The fleet had jumped into this gods-forsaken place to escape destruction from incoming Basestars, but they had been losing a few ships every jump since then; their FTL drives being disrupted by some of the surrounding anomalies, and jumping to a location other than that of the fleet destination point.
"We're past the outer wall's set of anomalies, but our present location shows that we are on the edge of another, independent anomaly field. We still have no Idea where we are inside it," said a much younger lady from Gemanon. Needless to say, Dualla was a well-versed veteran.
"So we're in a large expanse, filled with anomalies, and we have no idea where we are," said an old pirate of a man, whose eyepatch gave him a dark look to those who didn't know him. A pause briefly silenced Galactica's CIC, the last Battlestar of the Twelve Colonies.
"Captain Apollo, put together a reconnaissance team of Vipers and Raptors to ascertain our location…" Adama began, but was interrupted by a screeching sound from the wall, and a small bulge came from it, traveling to the side of the ship. "Once it's safe, that is."
"Yes sir," said the son of the Admiral, an able bodied young man.
"At least the Cylon's will have to deal with this frakkin' nebula-thing as well," retorted Tigh, the one eyed pirate.
"Captain's log; February 3rd, 2153:
While on route to meeting with the Xindi council, long range sensors have picked up a large fleet that recently just appeared on the other side of an anomaly field. Sensors also indicate human lifesigns; tens of thousands of them in the fleet, but no signs of other life forms. Degra and I have spoken, and decided to check this incident out on our own, and see just who is responsible; personally, I think the Reptilians have a hand in this, from my point of view."
Captain Jonathan Archer sat in a chair in the center of his command bridge; his once kind face still showed through the tired, pain-ridden face that had become of him. "How long to Intercept?"
"At present velocity, we will reach the fleet in approximately 45 minutes, captain," responded a well minded, pointed-ear Vulcan. The champion of logic on the ship, T'pol filled the roles of both science officer and first officer aboard the Enterprise.
The NX-01 Enterprise was the largest and fastest ship Earth had yet produced, and the only NX class in operation, if you could call it's present status that. Portions of the ship had been charred, melted, or completely blown off, and left her quite vulnerable. Enterprise could not leave, though, without first accomplishing her mission. Put bluntly, it was to save Earth from destruction by any means necessary from the Xindi superweapon.
"Archer to Engineering," Archer said into the com system, "How long can wi maintain this speed, Trip?"
"Forty minutes, at the most, captain," he responded. "The intake manifolds are crunched up, so we can't accelerate any further without risking blowing up the nacelles, but every minute we're in this field of anomalies, it closes off the power matrix little by little. Forty minutes and it'll be completely blocked." Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker the third was the main engineer on the ship, and a good personal friend of the captain. In the initial attack over a year ago his hometown was destroyed, and was one of many to lose family in Florida. "It's also affecting power relays across the ship; they'll be clogged as well. The ship will have to be shut down the moment we get out of the anomaly field, or it'll shut down on its own, except we won't have access to the auxiliary power."
"Can't you do that right now?" asked the captain.
"It's taking every engineer we've got just to maintain speed, captain"
"Then keep it up, Trip. Archer out." Archer began to stare back at the screen again, as was the rest of the bridge crew.
Enterprise Continued on, knowing full well she'd have to stop and clear her systems upon exiting the anomaly field.
Battlestar Galactica Briefing Room:
"Now that we've cleared the field of anomalies, the admiral wants to know exactly where we are, and what way we should go." Captain Apollo's voice was the only sound in the room. The tension of the pilots was clearly visible on most of their faces. There was one who wasn't though; Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace had claimed that she had been to Earth, and would take them there. She had a faint smile on her face, and it helped no one get by the feeling of nervousness.
"You fly in space all the time, against an enemy who is cunning and crafty," Apollo couldn't believe he was giving a moral-raising speech, especially since they had lost the Cylons pursuing them. "This is just space with a bit of attitude. Nothing you can't handle." The pilots still looked at him, blankly.
"I'll take the first watch," said Starbuck, in a half sarcastic voice. She meant it, but she just wanted to tease the rest of the crew a bit. She'd have to go out in a team, to a perimeter of the field, but she'd go.
"Alright then…" retorted the captain, "Starbuck's first. Any other volunteers to go first?" None moved. "Well, then lets pass out assignments, shall we?"
35 minutes later; anomaly field border:
A pair of sleek fighters flew alone along the backdrops of stars. One was much newer and more lethal looking than the other. Its silver appearance was matched by the quaint paint job of the other, although the pilot in the silver Viper was so on edge, he refused to talk to the other, more experienced Viper pilot. Starbuck was getting real bored when one of the raptors finally popped in to survey the system from a distance.
'Your 12 seconds late' Starbuck thought, but didn't say anything. People were still nervous about her return from the dead like a Cylon. She had never actually died, but woke up on a small open space station. She had spoken with the lady in charge of the small creatures that flew about and came in a number of different colors there; her 'kids,' as she called them. Starbuck recalled one of the things the lady had said to pass some time of silence now.
"The cycle always repeats itself, although never in quite the same
way."
Kara began to ponder about it, but didn't get much time to.
"DRADIS Contact!" shouted the Raptor pilot over the radio. It was so frantic that Starbuck couldn't identify who it was. She lost her memory of names at that point.
"How long 'til intercept? Starbuck called back.
"It's stopped now, but it was moving… fast."
"How fast?"
"Like 'Speed of Light Fast' fast." It was obvious that it was unknown then.
"Inform Galactica, and say I went out to check it out."
"Starbuck! Get back here!" the other Viper pilot finally spoke. She didn't, though. She went straight in, seemingly already knowing where the ship would be."
NX-01 Enterprise:
"Captain's log; February 3rd, 2153:
Now that we've reached the edge of the anomalies, Commander Tucker has begun repairs and restarts of Enterprise's systems. Sensors, weapons, Warp drive, and hull plating are down, and we are, at present, running on what auxiliary we can get. I now question if we are dealing with reptilians since we have yet to be attacked; if it isn't them, then who is it?
I intend to find out as soon as power has been restored to the ship."
Those who weren't working on fixing the ship, or exercising with the MACO's, were watching one of the old WWIII movies, one about the initial space battles, and the devastation of most of the planet. It was only logical, as T'pol had put it, that America succeeded, due to the fact that they had the most well versed space program. The United States had even built some of the first few true space warships, such as the famed Oddessy. It made some of the crew wonder what humanity would be like if they had had widespread space travel during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as had often been predicted.
Travis Mayweather was one of the wonderers in the room. He had never been much of a WWIII buff, as he was more of a WWII buff himself, but the thought did make him concentrate. He looked out the window to see the stars. There was a small flick of light making its way across the view of the window. He told himself it was just a comet moving by, but he kept staring for a while.
Eventually, he returned his view to the movie, now showing the overused 'Giant Explosion' FX that was used in most of the movies during that period. It was one of those last movies made before the invention of Warp Drive, and Humanities trek into the stars.
He wondered what it would be like to actually have Dogfights in space in the present day. That was one of the big reasons he had wanted to become a pilot in the first place, but he didn't mind flying the Enterprise around. He only wished he had gotten to fly some of those space variants of WWII fighters tat were dubbed as 'Stunt Spacies.' Travis looked back at the window. The comet had gotten much brighter since his last look, and seemed to be more illuminating as he continued to stare. He was confused for a while, but eventually put two and two together when he saw the 'comet' change direction. It was a ship, and Enterprise was prime prey to be picked off. There was only one thing to do: Inform the Captain, and go out and ID it in a shuttlepod.
Border of the anomaly field:
Starbuck had had little luck finding the ship at the moment. Despite knowing the general location, she hadn't quite pinned it down yet on DRADIS. She was about to give up on finding it when she got a blip on her screen.
'Unknown' it said. She altered her course to intercept the still ship.
"Galactica, this is Starbuck; I've got the Bogey on DRADIS" she said over the radio. There was a short pause, and she wasn't sure it had gotten through to Galactica, as there were a few scattered anomalies around.
"Starbuck, this is Galactica; proceed to ID the vessel," she heard back.
"Unknown configuration, Galactica." She thought she heard her voice treble a bit, but she went on. Another pause.
"Understood, Starbuck." The Admiral was on the line now, so this must have some weight on it. "Proceed to visual range, and give a verbal description of the Bogey."
Starbuck finally realized what they might be doing; rather than finding a new Cylon ship, they might actually have their First Approach with another civilization.
"Acknowledged, Galactica." She headed in. she saw a small, dark grey ship in the distance, with no illumination whatsoever. She continued in, and soon could make out a visible shape of the alien ship, and it didn't appear too alien. "The command portion of the ship appears to be a flat cylinder or saucer of sorts; a dark grey coloring to it; the saucer appears to be followed by a split hull and two small flight pod-like things, although they seem to small to be such. She looks quite damaged, and the engine section seems to have been separated from the ship, or at least there is nothing that could be used for propulsion except for the pods on the side, and those couldn't deliver too much power'" she paused to get a better look. "There is another indent on the front of the ship, with some sort of satellite dish in it. I don't see any weapons, but it has taken quite a beating. If I were to classify it as a colonial ship, I'd say it'd be a medium sized civilian ship, as she's about a third of the length of one of Galactica's flight pod. There are a few windows lit up around the ship, but not very brightly. She doesn't look like she could hold over one hundred people on it."
"Any signs of activity on the outside of the ship?"
"Other than the windows, there appears to be none." Starbuck thought she saw something on the saucer end of the ship. "There appears to be some writing on the ship, Galactica; Kobolian. It could be a Cylon ship based on the coloring of it, but not likely."
"What does it say, Starbuck?" He was slightly nervous now upon hearing that.
"It says… Ent-er-Prize; 'Enterprise' NX-uh, 'NX-01' I think."
"Maintain your observation position of the ship, and give us any updates when they occour. We're sending out a Raptor to refuel you."
"Copy that, Galactica. Starbuck Out."
Battlestar Galactica CIC:
"So, we've found an alien ship…" Tigh began.
"Starbuck found it," Gaeta jabbed in, "and mentioned how it has a metallic appearance similar to a Cylon ship."
"Right. And since she may be a Cylon, this could all be a trap," Tigh continued.
"And what about how she said she's been to Earth," Apollo shot back. "Just because some skeptical things have happened doesn't mean she's a Cylon."
"But it is good evidence of it."
"so we know it may be a trap, and it may not be," The admiral spoke. Whenever Adama said something, people listened, whether or not they were in the military. "Either way, what options do we have?" He already knew what he intended to do, but he enjoyed hearing a second opinion agree with him. Sometimes they didn't though, in which case he would interrupt them before they could reach a verdict..
"Well, we can completely ignore the vessel, and continue on our way, we can send a raptor team to contact them, with an escort, obviously, or we could jump in with Galactica,' Tigh responded, but was quickly cut off.
"… Leaving the Civilian fleet with no protection in the process." Apollo quickly cut in.
"Well what are we supposed to do? Drop in with flowers?
"We send in a squadron of vipers with a raptor or two, and leave a couple more in reserve further off."
"And how do we know they won't destroy all of them?"
"Starbuck described them as being unarmed and similar to a civilian ship."
"With no apparent engines?"
"We're sending in a military force. Two Raptors and a squad of Vipers, with Two in reserve. We can't risk losing the civilian fleet for contact, but if things get messy, then we'll jump in to take care of it, or at least to recover the vipers in case of an emergency." Adama's Decision was always final, unless overturned by the president, which wasn't likely. It was now his job to call and confirm the issue with the president. "We also ought to prepare for another jump, in case this is a Cylon trap."
"Yes sir."
Border of the anomaly field:
Starbuck was holding her observation post, wondering about the alien ship; the Earth ship as she thought of it.
When she had been to Earth, she had seen the ship in a newsreel on one of the giant screens there. It was here for some sort of purpose, but she couldn't remember. Saving the planet from some aliens in this huge anomaly-ridden place. There were also some blue people there. She now realized that they were probably not humans in costumes, but aliens from another planet, living amongst the humans on Earth. She continued to watch it, trying to figure out how it worked, and how it fought with no apparent weapons. She returned to her original approach position from her most recent loop around the ship.
"Galactica to Starbuck" came over the radio.
"Starbuck here."
"We're sending in a small force to make contact, with a larger force in the reserves. Continue to hold their position until they arrive, then move back to the reserves."
"Copy that Galactica. Starbuck out."
NX-01 Enterprise:
"Travis, I understand your concerns, but if it hasn't attacked us yet, I don't think it should be too much of a problem," Captain Archer said. "We cannot launch either of the shuttles until we've restored at least some power, and right now we have none to spare."
"We should eliminate it as soon as we can sir; it could be waiting for a Reptillian ship, and we're still sitting ducks out here!" Travis responded.
"Travis!" Archer shouted. "We can't do anything until we have power to launch a shuttle, which we should have in about ten minutes. We'll be able to power up the main reactor, according to Commander Tucker," he sighed. "Unfortunately, we still won't have warp drive for a while. Trip can't give a very good estimate on that, other than it should take less that five hours at maximum."
"T'pol to Archer," came over a nearby intercom.
"Archer here. What do you have?'
"My previous estimate on the time to get sensors back up will take a little longer."
"How much longer?"
"About an hour at the minimum, Captain."
"Thanks for the update. Archer out." He turned back to Mayweather. "Speaking of sensors, most of the systems in the shuttles were affected as well."
"But can she fly?"
"Yes, she can fly, but you'll have to fly and target completely by hand. Most of the automation is offline at the moment." He began to walk down the hall, but turned around. "As soon as you are ably, you are clear to launch shuttlepod one."
"Thank you, sir," Travis said, as he turned around and headed back to the shuttlebay. It would take ten minutes to get there manually.
Exterior of Enterprise on the anomaly field border:
Starbuck was getting board. All she had been doing now is watching the ship, waiting for something to happen.
Something happened. The ship seemed to come alive with light suddenly; it's rear flight pod things began to glow a bright blue, with a red on the front.
"Oh, frak" she muttered into her radio. "Galactica, Starbuck."
"Rodger, Starbuck. What do ya got?"
"Galactica, the ship in observation has become active and illuminating a blue and red glow from its side pods." She paused to let Galactica respond, but DRADIS had another idea "DRADIS contact!" she yelled, "The bogey has launched a fighter of some sort."
"Can you describe the ship, Starbuck?"
"It's sort of a… box, with small wings. Frak! It's heading this way!" She began to pick up speed of her own, and started to maneuver. Whatever this thing was apparently the Earth ship didn't know who they were, and thought they may be the enemy. "Approaching vessel, this is a colonial fighter of the Battlestar Galactica. Halt your approach or be fired upon…" she saw the box turn, and was immediately confused; it turned as if it were in an atmosphere rather than in space.
"Starbuck, you are ordered to return to Galactica; All colonial craft are ordered to return to Galactica!" Starbuck was busy at the moment, trying her best to keep off the ship's tail.
She soon learned that the ship fired as if it had some sort of turret, as well as that it was well more advanced that her Viper.
"That thing has lasers!" she shouted over the radio. The colonies had only a few powerful lasers on ships. The newer commandstars had them. They were powerful, but large, so how the frack did this tiny thing have one?
She knew she couldn't win right then and there. She knew they were from Earth, and hoped they weren't heartless as she shot out of her viper, still intact. She couldn't believe she had just surrendered like that, and felt like she was going to faint. Everything started to go black, but then it went grey, then back to black.
NX-01 Enterprise:
"Do we have it, Trip?"
"Yes, Captain, but you may want to take a look at this."
"What is it?"
"Our alien is a human."
"Bring her ship into the bay, and have Travis dock the shuttle externally."
Sickbay:
"Well, Captain, it appears that she's fine, and completely human, although somewhat different genetics" Dr. Phlox told the captain. He was one of two aliens on the ship, but was good to have around. He especially enjoyed humanity's optimism, which he initially couldn't get over when he first came aboard.
"How different can it be that she is still human?" Archer asked.
"Well, she is human, but the genetic sequences have a number of different mutations that what you would see on earth, and is also missing some genes that would normally exist in all earth humans, such as immunities to diseases." Phlox responded.
"How long until she wakes up?"
"Well, I wouldn't advise it, but you could wake her up right now if you wanted me to, but it may be best to wait until she comes out of it on her own."
"I suppose. I'm going to check out what she was flying."
I wouldn't be surprised if half the crew is there. Now doubt Commander Tucker would like to look at that thing."
"Actually, he's already quickened up repairs. It's interesting what extra motivation can do for a crew." Archer walked out.
Battlestar Galactica CIC:
"It shot her down?" Adama asked in disbelief.
"No, sir. She just…" Gaeta responded, then trailed off.
"Just, well… she ejected." Apollo picked up where Gaeta was going, and continued it. "Apparently, she had it in her head that someone would rescue her, Admiral." While not stated directly, everyone knew where this was leading. It had happened before, and they got lucky that time; Tigh wouldn't have it.
"Or, she could have known she'd be rescued or reborn by the Cylons. I still think this is a TRAP!" Tigh yelled. He, and the rest of the crew, had gone through a great deal of stress, but his methods of relieving weren't good, and half of them involved starbuck in some way, which limited his options; that, and every sip was a sip closer to an empty bottle.
"Tigh is right, Apollo. Chances are it's a trap." Adama said with a slightly saddened tone that only a few could pick up on. "D, what's the status of the 'Enterprise' ship?"
"Still not moving from its current position, sir," she responded.
"Glowing blue of all things," Tigh began "Don't you think think the Cylon's would be a bit smarter than that?
"Well, apparently, the bullets from that thin looked more like a red laser to her"
"How do we know it wasn't a laser?"
"We don't," Adama cut in, once again establishing his decision as final. "Order the fleet to prepare to jump.
"Yes, sir."
Later, on the NX-01 Enterprise:
"Are we ready to test out the Warp Drive, Trip?" Archer asked over the comm. system.
"Well…" Trip paused, followed by a grunt and a clang. "Yes, captain. We are now able to go to warp.
"Thank you, commander. You may go take a look at your new toy, now. Archer out," said the captain, with a small smirk on his face. "How long would it take to get to the set coordinates at warp one?"
"Approximately five minutes, captain."
"Travis," Archer sighed "Engage the engine and continue on previous course."
"Yes, captain."
Battlestar Galactica CIC:
Tigh was still nervous about sitting here. The fleet was ready to jump at any time, and the admiral was off duty at the moment. His thoughts wandered to Starbuck. It wasn't the first time he missed her, and all the good yet bad times they had, but he hoped it would be the last. He really wanted a drink now, but something else came up to take his mind off it.
"DRADIS Contact" Dualla informed him. "It's the 'Enterprise' ship, sir, closing fast."
"How fast; how long until they arrive?"
"Uuhh… that can't be right." She sounded really confused.
"What can't be right?!"
"It's supposedly moving at the speed of light, and it will intercept us in less than a minute, sir."
"Call the admiral, and order the fleet to jump!" Tigh shouted. "Where did it jump in?"
"It didn't, sir. It entered from the side of the DRADIS console."
"Oh, frak. Launch the Alert Vipers, and get the rest ready for combat." He intended for Galactica to be the last ship to leave.
NX-01 Enterprise:
"So, this is the fleet filled with humans, supposedly," Archer spoke. Since sensors were down for the moment, all the crew could do was speculate. A number of the ships were smaller or the same size as the Enterprise herself, but looked much more worn down from age and use, whereas Enterprise had been worn down from battle. Had she been in that fleet, she would have fit right in visually, even though she was much more sophisticated in terms of technology. There was one humongous ship in the fleet, which appeared to be their protector. "Zoom in on the big one," he said. The ship was an old ship, and had taken quite a beating. Most of her primary armor appeared to be missing, and what was left was in disrepair. All that was really left was what someone described as 'scaffolding,' and another described as 'support structures. Her rear engines alone were twice as long as their own ship. She also had a sort of ski across her side; a bay of sorts, held in place by two giant support structures. "Hoshi, can you translate what that language is on the side of the ship?"
"I can try, captain." Hoshi Sato was the ships communications officer, and an expert linguistics expert. "Zoom in on it." There was a pause. "It says… Galactica?" Confusion filled the bridge as to why it had recognizable letters on the side of it, when there were no human ships like this; no Earth ships like this.
"I thought I saw something. Zoom back out" Malcolm said. The Tactical officer, althought somewhat tired, still recognized something was happening just as they were about to come upon the fleet. "The ships… they're just disappearing!"
"T'pol, have they gone to warp?"
"No, captain. While I cannot explain why they are disappearing, it seems that this may be some sort of method of travel," she responded dryly, but there was a small bit of curiosity in her voice. The larger ship's shuttles and fighters were preparing to intercept them, when they suddenly turned towards the side of the screen.
"What are they going after?" Archer asked. The screen changed to one of the Galactica, and three other large, white, spiky ships.
NX-01 Enterprise:
The white ships that had just jumped into view were even larger than the Galactica ship on the screen. They appeared to be in much better condition and more advanced than the broken ship as well. While their purpose was unknown, the Galactica had taken a defensive stance to defend the fleet from the Starfish-like ships.
"Try contacting them," Archer said, "They might be able to understand us. Tell them to halt their assault on the other ship."
"I'll try, Captain," the com officer responded. Hoshi Sato, along with most of the other bridge crew was nervous, including Malcolm Reed, the Tactical officer. He had his own comments to add to the situation.
"Unfortunately, I'm not so worried about the other ships as much as ourselves," He spat out, trying to sound not too worried. Archer looked back to the screen to meet a number of incoming missiles, coming at Enterprise slower than it was headed for them.
"Go to full impulse. Evasive maneuvers." Archer paused for a moment, and spoke again. "If that's the way they like to talk, then lets speak to them in a language they ought to understand. Take us in, Travis."
"Aye, Captain," the pilot replied. The white starfish ship got larger and larger, although it was already beginning to take up the entire screen. Missiles desperately tried to turn around from the sides of the ship to pursue, but none could catch up to hit Enterprise. As they began to pass next to the center of the starfish ship, there was a large explosion behind them that rocked Enterprise, and would have done a great deal of damage had it hit.
"What was that?" asked one of the bridge crew.
"Sensors indicate it was a large nuclear detonation; high yield." T'pol answered. "Possible damage to the enemy vessel. Travis began to turn around, having passed the vessel entirely, to survey the damage. There was little done to the ship.
'So it survived a nuclear detonation,' Archer thought to himself., and began to consider his options. His instinct kicked in. "Target the nearest ship and fire on my command. Helm, line us uo for a shot with the torpedoes."
"Aye, Captain."
Exterior of Galactica:
Helo's Viper was a good distance from the nuclear blast when it had happened, fighting off some Raiders trying to keep them away from the battle-weary Galactica. He had seen the ship Starbuck had found for a short while, before nearly getting banged up from being distracted. He was still having issues with the speeds the ship was maintaining.
He saw it out of the corner of his eye a few seconds later, turning around like a fighter. It was such a sharp turn it could have run circles around the central Basestar in-between it's long pylons. He returned to the task at hand, but was still unable to focus. He continued to glance back at the 'Enterprise' began to dive at the Basestar, so to speak. He was about to look away when he saw a momentary glow emanating and speed off in an instant from the ship.
It was some sort of weapon, and had immediate repercussions, larger than the largest nukes he had seen. The instant it touched the Basestar, it seemed to burn through the entire section of the armor on the 'bottom' portion of the ship, from his perspective. They had not even broken through the thinner armor that easily, and he expected to see plenty of cracking. Helo wasn't prepared for what he actually saw.
There was a large hole in the ship.
All the Raiders attacking them immediately turned around, their prioritized having been assigned. Everyone was stunned. The normally loud shouts and commands over the radio went silent for a long time for an eternity, until someone broke the silence.
"Zeus is on that ship!"
Enterprise passed by, and began to make a tight turn around the Basestar, slowing down some to continue circling the core of the Basestar in-between the pylons. However, they soon left to cope with the new wave of missiles from all three Basestars.
They were all nukes.
"Will someone tell me what the Frak is going on out there?" The XO boomed over the radio, breaking a bit of tension instead of actually causing it.
"Well, Galactica…" His voice trailed off again, as the ship used something like red lasers to shoot down the missiles. They destroyed every last missile trailing the ship by great range, not even letting one detonate. Silence again, as 'Zeus's ship headed back towards the Basestar it had hit earlier, making it's rounds again. The raiders were on her, sometime making suicide runs that often failed, hitting the Basestar herself. Then, Enterprise returned the favor from the Cylon ship and fired one of it's lasers straight up and attacked.
It cut off one of the pylons of the Basestar like a hot knife through butter.
"Well What!?" Tigh boomed again.
"It's Zeus!"
"It's attacking with light!"
"It came to save us!"
"It's from Earth!"
"It's from Kobol"
"And we're next, I bet!"
"Galactica, this is Helo. The 'Enterprise' just shot down a number of Cylon nukes, blew right through the thickest part of the Basestar's armor with some ball of light, and completely sliced off one of the Basestar's pylons."
"Well, Get some photo's of it, then," Adama came onto the radio.
"I've got some, Admiral."
"So do I."
"Most of us probably do."
"Well, bring yourselves in! Combat landing, everyone! We're jumping out of here."
"Can't we stay and watch the Fireworks, Admiral?"
"And meet them!"
"And share the same fate as the Cylons?"
"I'm for leaving!"
"Just shut the Frak up and land already! That's an order!" Tigh yelled, once again adding tension to the pilots' lives.
The discussion continues as the Vipers landed, most facing 'backwards' to see the Basestar futilely fight off this 'Enterprise' ship.
NX-01 Enterprise:
The Enterprise's efforts to destroy the starfish, as they were now known as, had gone well so far. All enemy ships were focused on them, except for the Galactica. It was just watching, and seemed to be getting ready to leave in the manner that the other ships did; by this 'jumping.'
"Where do you suppose they are going?" Archer asked out loud to no one in particular.
"I suppose it's their job to guard what is apparently an otherwise unarmed fleet," T'pol responded. "Captain, sensors indicate the 'Galactica' has disappeared; present location is unknown."
"So, they would be protecting the fleet from destruction."
"Logically, it would be the course to pursue." There was a short silence.
"Reed."
"Yes, Captain?"
"Destroy the starfish we've been targeting. Fire a volley of photonic torpedoes into the central hull."
"Sir?"
"Galactica appears to be doing something not too different than ourselves, here. We might as well give them a hand."
"Aye, Captain." T'pol looked at Archer. He could see there was a question coming. Archer shot her a look back with his own, stern face, telling her not to. She eyed him for a moment, before returning her focus to the view screen.
Enterprise began to speed off from it's former path of circles around the enemy as close as they could get. The strategy had brought them little damage from the starfish, but the crescent shuttlecraft were a larger problem. It wasn't much, as there were only a few hits by their bullets, and none by their missiles could even touch the aft section of Enterprise. Every now and then, A raider would fly, either accidentally or deliberately into the path of the ship, causing a slight bit of damage each time.
They finished making their turn, and lined up for an attack run. The starfish launched missiles again, some of them nukes, all on a direct intercept course.
All of them shot down before impact.
Then it was Enterprise's turn to fire, and all that remained was Captain Archer's command.
"Fire."
And with that, a number of torpedoes came hurdling out towards the starfish. Seconds later, the First had hit. It left a gash where it had hit, the explosion fading. As soon as it was gone, the second hit. Then the third, and fourth. The gash was huge, and reached far into the ship. Lastly, the fifth hit, and rocked the ship… into two pieces, floating away from each other, the top and bottom separated. They continued to spin, no longer shooting from either side.
For the next few moments, the view screen was filled with lights that seemed to blind. A variety of colors were shown, immensely bright. Just like that, these ships had left too, frightened of the same happening to them.
"Captain," T'pol broke the silence. "Sensors are back online."
"Scan for both fleets. I need to know where they both went, and inform me when you find the human fleet," He coldly responded walking off of the bridge.
"Yes, sir."
Later, Battlestar Galactica briefing room:
The senior officers on Galactica were gathered to see some of the photos and listen to the accounts on this 'Enterprise,' as well as listen to the opinion of the also present pilots. Colonel Tigh was wrapping up with the audio recordings, and was now bringing the visual evidence.
"One of the ships in the fleet recorded this through a telescope pointed at our previous location." Tigh hadn't been that great in science, but lightspeed was within his grasp. "Roll the Tape." It showed the Raiders initially heading for Galactica, and the Enterprises initial attack on the Basestar. It continued on until Galactica's jump, and then what they saw surprised even Admiral Adama.
"It destroyed the Basestar…" Adama spoke, "just like that." The ship seemed to use it's pods for both sublight and FTL travel, although the Admiral had no Idea how they worked or even if it was a correct assumption. He approached the front of the room. "Chief Tyrol."
"Yes, sir?"
"Do you have any idea as to how that ship moves so fast?"
"Well, sir, for the duration of the battle the rear of the ship glowed blue, but got much more intense when it jumped."
"If that's what it did…"
"Yes, sir." There was a pause. "It could be using some sort of magnetic or electronic field of some kind… but…" Tyrol was interrupted mid-thought.
"This isn't a meeting about how it works; it's a meeting about what we're going to do about it!" Tigh yelled.
"And what can we do against an opponent like that?" Adama replied, with no apparent urgent ness in his voice.
"We take steps to make sure we won't have it as an opponent." Tigh waited for an Idea from someone. None came. "Well?"
"We could separate the fleet."
"And have some ships left with no protection?" Adama quickly responded. "No. To easy to be picked off by the Cylons." This was a discussion he intended to win.
"Then what do we do?"
"We keep doing what we've been doing and hope for the best." There was a pause. "No objections?" Adama asked in a tone that meant the answer had better be 'no.' "Dismissed."
Everyone began to walk out.
"Tigh, I want you to come up with a plan of neutralizing that ship, should it appear."
"Yes, Admiral," he responded. "Now, what are you going to do?"
"Talk to the President."
"Of course."
"Well, someone has to calm down the civies."
"I suppose."
Cylon Basestar:
"So now what shall we do?"
"We should call for reinforcements and attack."
"How do we attack when we can't hit them?"
"Suicide runs."
"Somehow, I do not think that would work."
"So, what shall we do, once again?
"We find Galactica and it's fleet, destroy it, and head home."
"And what of Earth?"
"They don't know about us."
"How would you know?"
"That ship could have come from Earth."
"Or Earth may not exist."
"So we attack Galactica and the fleet?"
"We must receive reinforcements."
"It will be hard now that we have another war on our hands."
"Then perhaps we ought to assist there."
"It would be the most well spent time for us."
"And let Galactica go?"
"This isn't about humanity anymore."
"How is that?"
"We wanted to take their place…"
"And?"
"And we have."
Starbuck's Flashback to Earth:
Kara Thrace was wondering around on what seemed to be Earth. She had absolutely no clue as to where she was, but it seemed a lot like Caprica, but much more advanced. She had no idea where she ought to go, so she let intuition guide her. She stumbled around town for quite a while, before going into some kind of restaurant; a 'bar' to be precise, which seemed a lot like a pub to her. She knew it wasn't the best of ideas, especially in such a crowded place, but she had no idea what else to do.
"Another 'fleeter?" someone asked from behind the counter. Starbuck didn't understand at first, and looked around. She noticed she was wearing some blue uniform rather than her colonial pilots uniform. It wasn't too bad, considering it was bright blue. She hated blue, but decided to go along with it even though she had no idea how she got the uniform on. How long had she been wearing it?
"I guess so," Kara retorted "Whad do ya got?" The lady behind the bar went on with a number of dirnks, hard drinks most likely, until she decided to go with the flow here. "I'll just have what the rest of the fleeters have."
"Ah, new here?"
"Most definitely. I'm actually a bit lost." Maybe this lady could give her directions to … somewhere.
"Trying to get back to the base, then?"
"Well… after my drink, yea." She smiled, and the lady behind the counter smiled back.
"You can't see it from here, but if you keep going down the main road, you can't miss it. The more blue you see people wear, the closer you are. Here's your drink."
"Thanks…"
"Welcome and enjoy." Starbuck drank the class down quick, and walked off without thinking. Obviously, that must be commonplace around here, since no one came after her for cubits.
"She wandered down the street until she found the base. It looked more elegant than the Colonial Red House! She was drawn into the main building, obviously some sort of information place. The 'History of Warp' was on the wall, and she looked at that for a while. Phoenix, Vulcans, and a number of programs; little explanations for everything. Then she came upon the 'NX' program and product, with a model of a small ship for viewing. "Warp five starship, NX Class. Ships in service: Enterprise NX-01"
NX-01 Enterprise:
Starbuck woke up suddenly, and immediately just sat up on the bed.
"Enterprise?"
"That's the name of this ship," someone said to her side. She looked over, and there was something that resembled a very weird looking man. "How are you feeling?" She realized it wasn't human, thought for a sort while trying to wrap here head around it, and began to feel a slipping sensation again.
Starbuck fainted, and fell back of the bed with a thud.
Captain's Ready Room:
"It's good to see coy again, Captain Archer," said an alien man on his computer screen. "What did you find?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know where to begin." Archer responded in upset sarcasm.
"Was it really that bad?"
"Not quite, and no, it wasn't the reptilians."
"Well, than who brought those humans out here from Earth."
"Not from Earth, Degra, not from Earth."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they are human, but they are definitely not from Earth. There ships were much, much larger than anything we could even think about at this point, save for a starbase, yet were distinctively much, much less advanced for the most part than either of our vessels."
"Would you care to transmit the details? I could use another reason to try and convince the others to postpone the launch."
"I'll send you all the data we have."
Enterprise Shuttlebay:
"Boy," said Commander 'Trip' Tucker, "The captain sure knows how to pick a souvenir, eh Travis?"
"Yea," replied the pilot as the ship was lowered into a workable position by tethers. "But he's not as good at keeping it in shape." There was a large dent where the grappler had been.
"Easily fixed," Trip replied, "The question now is how does this beauty work."
"You think you can make the 'red and white' fly for us 'blue?" Travis joked. There was a pause as the Commander stared at him.
"What are you talking about, Travis?" he replied with a sting in his voice, as though he had not understood the joke. He left another pause in the conversation.
"Well…"
"Of course I can make her fly." He smiled and laughed a bit, and Travis realized the joke was on him. "The only question is will you be able to fly it, flyboy?"
"Shouldn't be too hard."
"Well," trip grunted as he fixed the dent in the ship, "Why don't you get in and help me figure out how this thing works."
"Alright," and travis headed for the cockpit. He saw what was apparently a nameplate on the side of the ship. "Who's this?"
"Who's who?"
"Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace?"
"Probably the pilot you shot at sitting in sickbay."
"Is she hurt?"
"Naw," Trip said with a chuckle as Travis sat down. "She's just out cold. Captain's letting her rest for the moment."
"The systems in here are… well…"
"Antique?'
"Something like that."
"Well, the whole ship is practically early WWIII tech based or earlier. This thing uses radio waves, bullets, and it burns it's fuel."
"Really?"
"Yea. Apparantly, by the way it's designed, it could probably operate in atmosphere as well as in space. Is there any button marked "Landing Gear?"
"Not that I can tell."
"Well, I found something that looks like it. Question is, how do you deploy it?
"What principle is it based on?"
"Magnetic, primarily."
"Hmmm… lets see." Travis began to push a few different buttons trying to work the landing gear into position.
"Don't touch the buttons!" Trip yelled, but the cockpit had closed, and there was this thing that apparently carried missiles that began to rotate. Trip crawled out from underneath, waving his arms and yelling "Stop! Stop!" He likely couldn't hear him in there. The cockpit then came up, followed by the landing gear deploying.
"Phew," trip started as he watched the gear come down… and then the magnets came on.
There were some simultaneous snaps just after, and a loud boom shook the bay, and likely vibrated around the ship as well.
"Found it." Travis said, somewhat shook up from the experience.
Just then a team of MACO's came in with their guns held high. "Everything alright, sir?" one asked.
"Yes, everything's fine." Travis replied smiling slightly.
"Yep. Travis just dropped this ship veeery hard," Tucker added. "Perhaps we ought to start an instruction manual on how to fly this thing?"
"Learn the controls more responsibly you mean."
"Yes."
"Fine. Works for me."
Onboard Colonial One:
President Laura Rosalin sat discussing the possibilities on actions with this new ship, the 'Enterprise.' Laura had cancer, and was a former schoolteacher,but she made a wonderful president given the situation nonetheless. Most of the time, anyway.
"So you're telling me that this ship single handedly destroyed a Cylon Basestar without taking a hit?"
"Yes. At present, it is a security concern, and is considered hostile," Admiral Adama responded.
"Hostile?"
"They caused one of my pilots to go missing after firing upon her viper."
"You said Starbuck ejected without taking a hit."
"She did."
"Then you understand that…"
"No, Bill, you're letting that blind you. Starbuck knew what she was doing. I have faith in that."
"As a Cylon?"
"As a member of this fleet. If it can destroy a Basestar, allying ourselves with it would prove valuable."
"You mean adding it to the fleet?"
"Yes."
"No." Adama put in, but was ignored.
"And you will invite them."
"With all due respect, Laura, this is a military decision."
"Adding ships to the fleet is not a military decision."
"It is when they are considered hostile."
"Alright, alright, fine," Rosalin paused for a moment to think of a compromise in her favor, but only found one reasonable idea Adama might accept. "If the ship fires on the fleet, do as you will…"
"And?"
"… And if they ask to join the fleet, or the equivalent of it, you will allow the 'Primary Approach' to happen." In the entire history of the colonies, there had never been a real 'Primary Approach.' There had been tests to see how everyone would react, but none real.
There was a long pause. It was one of those paused where thoughts seemed to be thought of in a manner that goes on forever until your mind runs out of paper and throws the thoughts in the trash because it's entirely too stressful to comprehend any longer.
It was a Love-Hate relationship.
"Alright, Laura," Adama finally answered, "That is acceptable."
"Good, good. Thank you for coming, Bill."
"It was my pleasure." Adama walked out of the room, back to his shuttle.
"Yes, I'm sure it was." Laura spoke to herself, looking at an old note of the Olympic Carrier, lost a few years back at the beginning of their trek towards Earth."
NX-01 Enterprise Bridge:
"T'pol to Acher" Tpol said into the comm. system.
"Archer here. What is it?" Replied the man back thru the comm..
"Long range sensors have found the Human fleet.
"On my way. Archer out." The fleet had moved a decent amount since their encounter, and apparently had left no warp signatures in doing so. There was a slight bit of a trail from the immediate location of where the ship had been, but nothing after. Captain Archer walked onto the bridge and sat down where T'pol had been sitting not too long ago.
"How soon can we reach the fleet?" Archer asked, going straight to the point. He seemed somewhat irritated at the moment.
"Approximately six and a half hours at maximum warp."
"Set course for the fleet, then." He paused. "Best possible speed."
Onboard Colonial One:
This 'Enterprise' caused quite a stir, and the fleet was split about what to do. There was only one option, which still wasn't a solution; a press conference.
Admiral Adama hated the press conferences, and the press in general as well as politics. Unfortunately, he saw little ground in an excuse to stay on Galactica when Laura may need assistance.
"We will Officially be releasing reports on the ship, and it's known records." She said It was still part of her lecture, and he was glad he wasn't the one giving it. "The official name of the ship is 'Enterprize NX-01." There was a roar of noise from the crowd, and the footage now being projected was completely ignored.
"How do you know its name?"
"Are they from Earth?"
"Could it be a Cylon trick?"
Adama decided it was his turn to speak, as Laura was gazing more towards the podium rather than the press.
"Enough" he roared over the crowd, not even bothering to use the speakers. The crowd settled in an instant in surprise. Rosalin willingly relinquished the podium to the Admiral." Now… let's do this civilly." He pointed at someone. "You."
"Thank you. Admiral Adama, how do you know the name of this ship, the Enterprise?" the reporter replied.
"We found the ship dormant while in the vicinity of an anomaly field. Its 'name' supposedly was written across the front of the ship, as observed by a now MIA pilot."
"Kobolian?"
"Yes. This is also why it had been deemed possibly hostile." He paused, then pointed in a general area of hands, not knowing who would answer. "You."
"Admiral Adama, on the video, there appears to be black marks across the ship and apparently missing an engine section, with a large hole between the fight pods. Could the similar language and design be evidence that this is indeed an Earth ship?" and the Admiral paused a great pause.
"Well, reports indicate that the ship was damaged to a similar level to the Galactica, if not higher. That is the likely cause for the black markings. The pod-like structures, as described by the MIA pilot and current analysis, seem to point to some kind of electric field drive system, rather than a conventional fuel-burning engine or FTL Jump drive."
"And Earth?" one of the reporters reminded him.
"Well…" he paused. The physical evidence seemed conclusive, the somewhat similar shape, and the language were evident. There was still the possibility that it was a Cylon trick, but the technological superiority of the ship seemed to rule that out, too. "At this time, I would prefer not to speculate."
Hours later:
"Bill?" Laura walked into the room, feeling a bit better from what it looked like.
"Yes, Madam President?" He responded with a bit of sarcasm as she took a seat in her desk across from the admiral.
"You sounded like you were trying to take my job out there."
"As a speaker?"
"As a president. I never knew you were such a politician."
"Well…" He paused. "Neither did I." Laura smiled, and Bill smiled back.
"So you think it's from Earth?"
"As an admiral… no."
"As an admiral?"
"It's my duty to protect the fleet from any threat, no matter how much I wish they were allies."
"And as the President of the Colonies, I believe we should attempt to find out fi possible.
NX-01 Enterprise:
Three hours remained to catch up with the fleet, and Archer wasn't anywhere near close to contacting these people; these humans. There was only one thing he could do in his impatience as he walked down the hall to sickbay.
With a swish of the doors, he was in the mostly white room one could easily mistake for an exotic pet store.
"Ah, Captain. What brings you here?" It was a rhetorical question, and Phlox knew the answer already.
"Is it safe to wake the patient?" Archer asked, sternness emanating from his voice in the usual captain way.
"I do believe so, but…"
"Wake her, then." Captain Archer spoke, almost without pause.
"Very well," replied the Doctor as he prepared the injection. Within a few moments, it was in her shoulder.
About a minute had passed and nothing changed. All sensors indicated she was awake, but if you looked at her you wouldn't think so as it lay peacefully on the bed.
"Perhaps I ought to take a look at this."
"Yes," Archer replied, "you…"
The woman on the bed jumped up, knocking Phlox over, and began to strangle him.
"Who are you!?" she yelled. "Where am I!?"
Archer got out his phase pistol, but decided on using it as a last resort. He needed to talk to her, and putting her back into a coma wouldn't help to that end.
"It might be easier for the sake of an answer," Archer joked sternly, "if you stopped choking him." The woman turned her head to see the captain, and looked astonished upon looking at him. She let go of the doctor's neck in the process.
"You're… Human?" she quietly spoke.
"As are you," Archer noted.
"I-um, um, I-…" she seemed to fumble her words like a football. " I… I'm, well, uh, sorry… about that." She looked back to the Doctor, now standing and smiling as if nothing had even happened.
"It's alright. I'm sure it was an instinctive reaction, that's all," Phlox returned.
"Are you… Cylons?"
"What's a Cylon?" Archer replied, before remembering they had woken her. "Who are you?"
"Kara Thrace…" Normally, she wouldn't have given out this information, but since everyone probably knew from her viper, what was the point of hiding it? "… but most people call me Starbuck."
"Coffee?"
"What?" There was a pause of confusion.
"Do you drink Coffee?"
"What's 'Coffee,' and who are you?"
"I am Captain Archer of the Earth Starship Ent…"
"Earth?" 'Starbuck' said, seeming dumbfounded.
"It's where most of us are from, although Phlox is from Denobula." She seemed to be in complete awe about this.
"Yes!!" She yelled, and spontaneously hugged the captain, lifting him a bit off the floor for a moment. "We've found you! We've found Earth!"
"Who's 'we?"
"Our fleet. Haven't you found them?"
"Yes, but we haven't been able to contact them thru the subspace frequencies."
"The what?" Starbuck sounded confused. "We use the Radio."
"D'oh."
"D'oh?"
"It means 'duh,' or 'how did I miss that?" Archer paused, making a connection in his head. "Do these 'Cylons' go about in pointy white ships?"
"Yea, why? This ship get trounced by them? I wouldn't be that surprised by all the damage to your vessel."
"No, that's a whole different story. But we did fight them a bit after our encounter with you."
"And you survived?" Starbuck seemed astonished. Archer was getting used to that look.
"Yes. Your fleet escaped them as they attacked when the Cylons showed up with three white pointy…"
"Three Basestars against this tiny thing?" So that's what they were called.
"Uh, yea. Three 'Basestars' and their fighters retreated after we destroyed one of their Basestars."
Starbuck was speechless, and Archer had to start up the conversation again. The two proceeded to talk of the Galactica and the stories since they left the colonies. Things really got interesting when they prepared to meet Galactica several hours later…
Later:
Enterprise was just outside Galactica's DRADIS range, as described by Lieutenant Thrace. She insisted on being called Starbuck for a while, but eventually stopped when people couldn't give her any credibility with that name. Still, it did raise the crew's morale.
"Come on people," said the Captain, "into the shuttle." Besides Kara, in her now white and Blue viper, the shuttle team would have two MACOs, Captain Archer, T'pol, Hoshi, Trip, and Maywether piloting.
"You think I can pick up one of their Vipers, Captain?" Travis asked jokingly.
"I think you've already done enough," Archer replied. "Blue isn't her favorite color."
"You bet it ain't!" Starbuck shouted over the modified comm. relay.
"Why didn't I include an offswitch on this thing?" Trip asked to no one in particular. Thrace had been giving him 'Frack' about it since she saw her Viper's new paint job.
"Archer to Thrace; prepare to disembark"
"Aye aye, Captain"
Starbuck saluted, and left the Enterprise fighter bay. For the first time, she got a good, up close view of the ship. Apparently, their departure had gathered quite a croud at a few of those windows. Soon Enterprise seemed to fade away as home came into view.
Galactica CIC:
Admiral Adama was getting ready to walk out of CIC for some RnR. It had been a very long day…
"DRADIS contact!" Dee loudly reported. Apparantly, it would be a longer day still.
"Launch the alert Vipers" Tigh ordered.
"Can you get an ID on the ships?" Adama asked.
"The first one appears to be Starbuck's Viper."
"And the other?" Tigh broke in.
"Unknown, sir."
"Well, now…" Tigh began, but never got the chance to finish.
"Galactica, Starbuck here… with some friends who want to come in."
"Copy, Starbuck, Actual would like to speak with you."
"Copy that, Galactica."
Now was the moment; Adama needed to find out if this was a trick or real; he had to think of something only Starbuck would know…
"What do you hear, Starbuck?" there was a short pause.
"Nothing but the rain, sir." There was no doubt. It was her.
Shuttlepod One:
"What was that about a cat?" Trip asked.
"It may be part of a military saying, similar to your 'Yankee Doodle," T'pol dryly replied.
"Perhaps your… Look at those turrets!" Trip exclaimed. Each one was larger than the shuttle pod, and had two barrels on each turret. "Those would be pretty dang powerful phase cannons, Captain."
"Perhaps, Trip, you can take a look at them later," he replied as the guns went out of view, and they followed Thrace into one of the 'Pods.'
Galactica Hanger Deck:
Adama was nervous. The fleet was at condition two, but that wasn't what it was about. It was about this 'First Approach' business by the president, who was on her way at the moment. She would remain in her ship on the other side of Galactica until everything was deemed safe.
First down was Starbuck.
"What the frack?" muttered Chief Tyrol, "Why is it blue? Last I checked it was red."
"Perhaps she wanted a change?" Cally put in.
"No," Adama replied, "she hates blue."
"Well, we'll just have to ask," Tigh replied, not especially caring. They didn't have to, as Starbuck came out cursing the 'Fleeters' for it, obviously having learned some new foul words to use. Apparently, she was enjoying using them. She did quiet down as the other ship came down.
"It's a box." Tigh muttered, who's eye had been caught. It came down, and a 'door' opened 'up,' literally.
Out walked two armed marines of some sort, that proceeded to flank the sides of the opening. They turned out to be the most familiar of the visitors, as the rest of them came out wearing very odd looking uniforms. Then came a real oddity, a woman with Pointed ears. Fear turned to curiosity, as no Cylon in their right mind could ever come up with that, let alone execute it. Lastly, right after, came a tall man walked up to Adama.
"Captain Archer of the…" Starbuck interrupted him.
"It's traditional to ask permission to come aboard, Captain!" she yelled with a smirk on her face, saying 'oops, I forgot to tell you.'
"…Sorry," And archer got back to his ship and stepped back into the doorway. "Permission to come aboard?"
"Granted, Captain," the Admiral replied. "Are your senior officers busy at the moment?" Archer looked perplexed at this.
"Captains are, at lest for us, the head of a ship; after that, you go to admirals like yourself."
"I see. Welcome to the Galactica." He introduced himself and his crew to Archer, and Archer did the same until they reached the lady with the pointy ears.
"I am a Vulcan, not a human." Most hadn't even suspected this. "I was not born on Earth." There was a pause.
"Captain Archer," Adama asked, "are you from… Earth?
"Yes, Admiral, most of us are that are onboard the Earth Starship Enterprise." There was a pause, and silence echoed throughout the entire bay.
"Well, then, Welcome aboard the Colonial Battlestar Galactica." He turned around. "Dismissed! Dee, let the president come onboard to meet our new guest."
"Yes, sir."
"Captain," Adama said loudly over the cheers so Archer could hear him, "I believe we have a lot to talk about. You too, Starbuck. And with that, the group walked off, leaving the MACO's to guard the ship.