Chapter 1: the Hall of the Prophets

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this and am not making money from it.

Authors's Note: I realize that I'm changing the way things work and the Timeline of Crossroads.

According to Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, as you approach the speed of light, time slows down for you, compared to the rate it flows at for a slower observer. If you could travel at the speed of light, time would stop for you, completely. You could never travel faster than the speed of light. So to a planet bound observer it would take you years to get to the nearest star, while no time at all will have passed for you. Other space faring civilizations had found ways around this problem. Some, by warping the fabric of space, some by traveling to another dimension (hyperspace) and back into normal space, some by creating wormholes between two points of the universe. But the 12 colonies of Kobal never found a way to circumvent Relativity. As a result, jumps to light-speed had to be carefully calculated as it would be impossible to maneuver while time was not flowing for you. Unfortunately, there was , in one system, an intermittent wormhole, a wormhole that existed across many alternate universes, an inhabited wormhole. When the Galactica calculated their latest jump, the wormhole was inactive, and so it was not avoided when the Colonial fleet made the jump to light-speed on their way to the Ionian nebula . . . .

"There must be some way out of here," said Tyrol.

"Said the Joker to the thief," said Coronel Saul Tigh as he followed the music that only he could hear.

"There's too much confusion," said Anders

"I can't get no relief," said Tori.

Tigh stepped through the door of the hatch to find three others waiting for him.

"No! . . .No frakin' way! . . . Close that hatch!" commanded Tigh as he closed the one he'd come through.

"It's true . . ." said Chief Tyrol. "We're cylons . . . and we have been from the beginning. . ."

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"Ready to make the jump to light-speed," confirmed Lt. Gaeta.

"Tell the fleet to jump to the Ionian nebula on my command," said Admiral Adama. "JUMP!"

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"It is corporeal?" said Ellen Tigh, as she gazed into her husband's eyes.

"Ellen?" gasped Saul Tigh.

"They are linear?" observed Billy, has he examined Tori.

"Limited," agreed Starbuck, as she nodded at her husband.

"Like the Sisko," mused Jolly, looking at Tyrol.

"How can you be here?" asked Tyrol. "You died during the attack on Caprica!"

"They're all dead," said Tori.

"Then we must be too," guessed Anders. "Is this the afterlife? Or are we about to get downloaded into new bodies?"

"Don't mind them," said a tall black man with a shaved head and a goatee. He appeared to be wearing black pajamas with a yellow collar. "They like to appear in shape of friends or family."

"WHO THE FRAK ARE YOU?" demanded Saul Tigh.

"It is the Sisko," explained Ellen Tigh.

"That's just what the Prophets call me," explained the stranger, as he gestured at them. "On Earth, I'm known as Captain Benjamin Sisko. On Bajor, I'm the Emissary of the Prophets."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Tori. "You're from Earth? We're trying to find Earth!"

"They will not like their Earth . . ." mused Starbuck.

"Their brothers will follow them . . ." added Billy.

"Their creations pursue the same goal . . ." chimed in Ellen Tigh.

"Perhaps you could send them some when more suitable?" suggested Sisko. "Like you did the Jem'hadar fleet?"

"You are The Sisko," agreed Jolly.

When they emerged from light-speed, their deceased loved ones were gone . . . but Sisko was still in the chamber with them.

"What happens now?" asked Tyrol.

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Earth year: 2231: Tiree System: Ionian Nebula

"Green Squadron, stay in formation, we're got to keep the Dils off the Hannibal and the Darnam," said Commander David Sinclair, as he piloted his "Fury" a new kind of one man space ship that operated more like a fighter plane than a ship.

Interposing themselves between the EAS Hannibal and the Dilgar capital ship, the fighter squadron accelerated as they prepared to engage the enemy fighters. To starboard and up, Sinclair could make out the Dilgar cruiser, moving to engage the Darnam and the smaller squadron of Markab fighters that were protecting their ship.

Suddenly there was a flash as a huge fleet of ships appeared in their midst.