This is the 2nd book in the saga following "Desperate Decisions". Please read that story before this one or you will be thoroughly confused.

Recon Raptor

Five jumps ahead of

Colonial Remnant

"Helo, what the frak was that? Did you get anything on DRADIS?" Sharon "Athena" Agathon asked her husband as the swirling energy vortex disappeared from view. Helo sat looking at his screen with a look of total shock.

"I got something but I'll be damned if I know what it was. I thought it was a ship at first but there was so much interference I couldn't get a clear reading. It's gone now and the DRADIS is clear." Athena wrinkled her brow before replying.

"Carl that was a ship. I saw it and you know my eyes are better than a normal humans. I saw it but I don't know who built it or what kind of ship it was. But nothing the Colonies or the Cylons have ever built looks even close to what I just saw. Let's get back to the fleet and report this to Admiral Adama."

Neither one of the couple had a clue they were being scanned by a probe they couldn't see or even suspect existed. It was the same stealth probe that Ganos Lal had launched just before the UEC Phantom crossed dimensions. The probe continued to run sensor scans until the small scout ship disappeared in a bright flash of light.

The probe extended its sensors to maximum range and just picked up the ship reappearing in normal space at the far edge of its range, which was just under ten light years back toward the galactic core of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy. The normal sensor range for a class one stealth probe was five light years in all directions but the limited AI could extend it to ten light years in any given direction.

The sensitivity was greatly reduced but the energy signature of the FTL used by the Raptor registered even at that range. Once the probe confirmed the re-emergence of the scout ship into normal space, it sent a subspace message in a databurst back to UEC Fleet Headquarters before following the small scout ship at warp.

UEC Headquarters

It had been a fairly uneventful shift for Walter Harriman. The UEC Phantom had only been in the Federation reality for about an hour when the subspace array picked up a transmission from the stealth probe left in the Sagittarius galaxy. As Walter scanned through the message, he froze and called Admiral O'Neill. "Admiral, sorry I had to wake you but you really need to see the transmission we just received." He could hear a low moan from the Admiral.

"Alright Walter, I'm on my way." Fifteen minutes later Admiral O'Neill entered the Command Center. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. The instant he scanned through the transmission that all changed. "Walter, get me Captain Barrett on the Magellan immediately." After a short conversation with Admiral O'Neill, the Tactical Exploration Cruiser Magellan jumped into hyperspace in route to the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.

Outer Edge of the

Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

The Magellan dropped out of hyperspace outside of the outer edge of the Sagittarius Galaxy before cloaking and continuing on at high warp. Captain Barrett ordered full sensor scans as they came within range of the system the Phantom had detected the small ship in.

Captain Barrett stood from his command chair and made his way over to his tactical officer. "Helm, drop us out of warp when we enter the system. Ok, Charlie, what are we looking at?" Captain Barrett asked as he approached his second in command, Commander Charles Sanders.

"Well Captain, I have tapped into the probes and can replay what its sensors recorded. Also our sensors are many magnitudes stronger and more sensitive than the probes." He indicated the readings before continuing.

"It was definitely a small scout ship of some kind using a poorly reverse engineered wormhole drive. At least the readings are consistent with that type of drive." A beeping drew his attention back to his console.

"Captain, the probe has just dropped out of warp and is detecting a large fleet of various sized ships." He rechecked his readings. "The fleet is just over fifty light years from our current position." He continued to study his console with the captain standing by his side.

"Ok, this is a bit odd. I am reading what looks like battle damage to several of the ships to include one that I would classify as a dreadnaught by its size."

Captain Barrett walked back to his chair thinking. "Can you determine their scan range Charlie?"

After a few seconds studying the readings he looks up toward his captain. "From their energy emissions I believe I can Captain. From the readings the probe got earlier and the readings I am getting now, I would say their long range scanners reach no more than ten light years maximum."

Captain Barrett thought for a bit longer. "Helm, drop the cloak and take us closer in hyperspace. Drop out and recloak at the fifteen light year mark then continue at maximum warp until we are within one light year." An "Aye, aye Sir." Came from the helm and the sleek starship dropped its cloak and opened a hyperspace window.

A few short minutes later, the Magellan dropped out of hyperspace and immediately cloaked and jumped to warp. The UEC had still not found a way to cloak in hyperspace yet. Commander Sanders continued to monitor the sensors as the UEC ship approached the rag tag fleet. At one light year from the fleet, the Magellan dropped out of warp and changed course immediately in case the transition from warp to impulse might have been detected. As it turned out, the transition was detected but not understood.

Flashback to the return

Of the Recon Raptor

"Are you sure it was a ship?" Admiral Adama asked Sharon. "Yes Sir, I know what I saw. It was a ship approximately three hundred and sixty to three hundred and eighty meters long, two long struts extending to the rear with this strange looking cylinder on each strut. I assume those were its engines. It also had a flat, triangular head on the front, and was maybe fifty to eighty meters thick. It was distorted by whatever that energy phenomenon we detected was so I can't be more accurate on its size."

Adama was thoughtful but his thoughts were interrupted by his boisterous "adopted" daughter. "What kind of frakking design is that for a ship? Are you sure the radiation from whatever the thing was didn't scramble your processors?"

Sharon remained calm but it was Carl that came unglued and made a move toward Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. "What the frak does that mean Kara? You know as well as any of us that Sharon is on our side! Why are you still making frakking wise cracks like that at her?!"

Lee "Apollo" Adama moved in to intercept Helo before he can get to Starbuck. "Calm down Helo, we've all been stressed over the last few weeks. The Cylons have us pinned at the edge of the galaxy and the Gods only know why they haven't finished us off! Let it go, she didn't mean it!"

Starbuck's normal blustery attitude crumbled. "You're right Lee, I'm sorry Sharon. I just need some sleep or maybe a good lay." That comment broke the building tension in the room and everyone had a good laugh.

Little did anyone know that Lee's statement of the Gods being the only ones that knew why the Cylons hadn't attacked, was closer to the truth than anyone present ever suspected.

Fifty Light Years Further Core ward

Cylon Command Fleet

"What do you mean the hybrids won't jump the fleet to attack the humans? We have them trapped and finally have enough ships to finish them for good." A number one model named John was screaming. A number six and number three were trying to calm him down. "We don't know, the hybrids are making even less sense than normal. They keep saying the exact same thing over and over." Then the number six made an attempt to mimic the hybrid. "Jump not possible, God says it is not allowed." She shrugged her shoulders.

"So we tried to launch the heavy raiders and raiders but they just sit there in the bays not moving. Nothing is showing on any of their screens except total gibberish." John threw his hands up in the air. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Am I the only one around here that knows how to fix this?" With that he walked into the hybrid chamber, drew a pistol, and shot the hybrid in the head.

The basestar began shaking and model Ones on the other basestars did the same thing. Within an hour the fleet was ready to jump but the heavy raiders and raiders still refused to launch. "Well, we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way then." John said before he began tearing into the brain of the raider he had been trying to coax out of the bays.

Several Three's, Six's, Eight's, and a few Two's were standing to the side totally appalled at the actions of the One's, Four's, Five's and the remaining Two's as the latter began tearing out the brains of the raiders so they could be flown manually.

The basestars still wouldn't jump and John was furious. "Why won't the jumpdrives fire?!" He screamed. A Four model turns from a nearby console. "I don't know. All of the data shows there is nothing wrong with any of the drives. Something is keeping them from activating."

A Leoben (Two Model) stepped forward. "Maybe this is God's will. Maybe we aren't supposed to destroy them." John stepped forward and shot him. "I say kill them all. That is God's plan and we are going to carry it out."

With those parting words, the consoles lit up and Simon (the Four at the console) smiled. "All jumpdrives across the fleet just came on line. We can jump anytime you are ready." John turned with an evil grin. "Well? What are you waiting for? Jump the fleet and launch everything we've got the instant we complete the jump."

With that the fleet of ten Cylon basestars jumped away from the system to finish off the last remnants of humanity, or so they thought….

UEC Magellan

50,000 Kilometers from Colonial Fleet

Commander Sanders was still running active scans of the ragged fleet. "Captain, I'm detecting very cramped and crowded conditions on those ships. Most of them have some kind of battle damage and the "dreadnaught" took quite a beating and scans show some of the damage is radioactive." While he was running the scans, he detected the Cylon fleet jumping in to attack. "Sir, I'm picking up another fleet of a different configuration fifty more light years toward the galactic core. They just jumped!"

The instant the Cylon fleet reappeared in the same system as the Colonial Fleet, they launched missiles and raiders.

Galactica CIC

"DRADIS contact, ten Cylon basestars just jumped into the system! They're launching raiders and missiles!" Lieutenant Gaeta reported from the DRADIS station. Admiral Adama was just entering the CIC when he heard this. Colonel Tigh grabbed the "bullhorn". "Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill. Launch all Vipers and combat Raptors." He refrained from calling the admiral to the CIC as he had noticed the Admiral Adama already entering.

Lt. Gaeta spoke up again. "Radiological alarm! More than half of those missiles are nukes!" This caused several crew members to gasp in terror and Colonel Tigh to visibly turn pale. He turned toward his commander and friend. "Bill, we can't stop that many nukes. This is it, they finally got us."

Admiral Adama remained his normal calm and stoic self. "Jump the civilians out. Move us between the basestars and them until they are all out. Prep a nuke of our own and set it for remote detonation. Have Strike Fighters and Vigilantes target the missiles. Have all other squadrons target raiders and heavy raiders. We have to buy as much time as we can for the civilians."

Bridge of the UEC Magellan

Captain Barrett was alerted that something was wrong by Commander Sander's voice. "Sir, the second fleet has launched fighters and missiles. Over half of the missiles are nuclear." Captain Barrett immediately began issuing orders. "Helm, move us in between the missiles and those ships. Bring the shields up to full power and power up the phasers. Target the missiles and go weapons free. Tie into their communications frequencies that the probe detected then signal those star looking ships and offer our services as mediators. Send a message to Admiral O'Neill and tell him what we are doing."

With those orders, the Magellan dropped her cloak and surged forward with its CIWS (Close in Weapons System) phasers destroying every missile they touched. The CIWS was a new addition that Admiral Carter, Eli Wallace, and Doctor McKay had developed. It was a combination of different technologies from several cultures.

The CIWS was basically an up scaled plasma repeater based on the wrist repeaters used by the Kull Warriors. But instead of one barrel, it was a six barrel, rotating design, mounted on the retractable turrets like those used on Destiny. The rotating design was from the human designed Gatling guns of the 19th century, then later electrically powered and used in more modern warplanes like the A-10 Warthog that was so successful during Desert Storm.

But instead of one mount like the Warthog had, the Magellan had forty, dual mounted turrets giving her a total of eighty weapons that gave her a full 360 degrees of coverage around the ship. They were mounted twenty on the ventral (lower) side and twenty on the dorsal (top) side, to both port (left) and starboard (right) of the ship. The helmsman had positioned the ship in the exact center of the oncoming wave of missiles so the forward twenty turrets were all that engaged. The aft portion were primed but not one missile made it passed the ship so they did not need to engage a stray shot.

Galactica CIC

Lt. Gaeta looked up confused as multiple pilots could be heard saying something similar to what he was reporting. The pilots were also saying they could see windows on the unknown ship.

"Ummmm Admiral? You need to see this. Another ship just appeared on DRADIS and destroyed every missile in the first wave." Colonel Tigh looked up in shock. "A single ship destroyed all of them? Impossible!" Lt. Gaeta looked confused still. "I know Sir, but that is what just happened. The ship jumped in and fired what looks like some type of energy weapon that destroyed every single missile."

Now Colonel Tigh snorted. "Lieutenant are you sure you're not drunk? Energy weapons are purely theoretical and would require more power generation than the entire Colonial fleet could have produced!" Admiral Adama stepped over to see the DRADIS readout with his own eyes. "He's right Saul, there is another ship out there and the playback shows them destroying every missile with one volley. The power readouts from that little ship are off the charts."

About the same time, Lieutenant Dualla at communications picked up the transmission coming from the Magellan. "Admiral, that ship is signaling the Cylons and us." Adama signaled her to put it on the speakers.

Cylon Command Ship

A model Eight was monitoring the DRADIS when the Magellan decloaked and destroyed the first wave of missiles. "Cavil, another ship just appeared between us and the Colonials and destroyed the first wave of missiles." The model One known as Cavil was furious. "What? Then launch another wave and target that ship with the KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapon) and destroy it if it's that close!" The Eight looked around uncomfortably. "They are signaling us as well as the Colonials."

Cavil stormed forward pushing her out of his way. "I don't care if they are signaling God. I said target them with the KEW and destroy them!" He manually targeted the small ship on his own and fired every KEW that would lock on. The other basestars that were in range targeted the Magellan as well and fired. They also launched a second wave of missiles with several targeting on the Magellan as well. Several raiders turned toward the UEC ship and opened fire with both missiles and KEW's.

The Magellan was based off of the same basic framework as the Sovereign class heavy cruiser so by Colonial capital ship standards, she was a small ship. The crew in the CIC heard Starbuck's voice coming over the speakers. "Galactica this is Starbuck. I'm taking Primus to cover that ship. If just one of those missiles makes it through their flak screen, she's finished. I see actual windows on the hull. Who the hell puts windows on a warship?"

Before Primus squadron could even get close, a strange voice came over the speakers warning them off. "Thanks for the offer Starbuck. But trust me when I say the Magellan can handle herself." As if to prove that point, Starbuck was totally mesmerized and shocked by what happened next. The KEW rounds from both the raiders and the basestars simply vanished as a bright glow flared just off of the hull of the strange ship. Then several nuclear missiles that were targeted at the ship as well as the entire second wave of missiles, vanished under the withering fire of the CIWS.

Bridge of the UEC Magellan

Captain Barrett sighed. "Why is it that there always has to be that asshole that just has to have a war? I offer mediation services and they shoot at us. Helm, prepare for evasive action. Charlie, target their weapons and take them out." The UEC vessel shot forward and made an impossible (by Colonial standards) turn while firing precise shots from the lateral and ventral phaser arrays.

Command Basestar

"Energy shields? Where and how did they get energy shields?" A model Six asked. "What I want to know, is how does a ship that small, generate enough power for both energy weapons AND shields?" The Eight that had been monitoring DRADIS asked. Cavil had a suspicious look on his face. "I don't know but send some heavy raiders to capture it so we can have those for ourselves." He ordered. The model Two Leoben just shook his head. "We can't. The raiders can't even scan through the shield to find a safe place to jump into. It's useless to jump through to try and capture that ship if they can't jump through into a large enough area to survive." Cavil was furious again. "Well send the damn virus and disable the shields then!" He said as he shot Leoben again. Just then the ship shook hard and threw most of the human form Cylons to the floor. "What the frak was that?" Cavil asked as he pulled himself upright again. Eight pulled herself up cradling her left arm. "That ship just made a turn that should have crushed every being on it to pulp and fired another type of energy weapon at all ten of our ships. All missile tubes and most KEW cannon on all ships are disabled." If you thought Cavil was furious before, you were sadly mistaken as he shot every other human form Cylon in the room while screaming his hatred for all humans.

Bridge of the Magellan

"Captain, I'm reading an attempt to download a virus into our computer systems. Firewalls and IC (Intrusion Counter-measure) Programs are shutting it down and isolating it into a shielded drive for further study." Again Captain Barrett just sighed and shook his head. "I try, God knows I try. But some people just beg to be killed. Charlie, the gloves come off now. Weapons free on all weapons. Take everything that shot at us out of my stars."

He then nodded at his communications officer who nodded back indicating that coms were activated. "Unknown vessels, I offered our services as mediators in this conflict and not only do you shoot at us but you try to download a computer virus into my computers. I gave you a chance at peace and you spat in my face. My patience is at an end, good-bye."

As he finished his statement, he made a slashing motion across his throat in the classic signal to cut communications. Then the Magellan surged forward opening up with every weapon at her disposal. Heavy Pulse Cannon, CIWS, phaser arrays, Quantum drones, and Asgard plasma beams lashed out in a display of firepower that truly frightened the Colonials watching.

Not only did the basestars shudder and begin to explode but the raiders and heavy raiders were the targets of the CWIS and phaser arrays. Surviving quantum drones also turned to target any remaining raiders that weren't able to jump away. Many Sixes, Threes, Eights, and most Twos shared a look with each other before they were destroyed to be downloaded to a resurrection hub several light years away. The subspace transmission of so many minds was detected by the communications officer on the Magellan.

CIC of the Galactica

It was dead silent in the CIC of the Galactica. Everyone was staring at Lt. Gaeta who had just blurted out that his DRADIS had completely whited out from the firepower of the unknown ship as it single handedly destroyed the entire Cylon attack fleet. Then the speakers began spewing screams of joy and shouts of celebration confirming what the stunned Lieutenant had reported. Adama was still shocked that he hadn't lost anyone.

"Recall the squadrons and get them refueled and rearmed just in case. Have Primus stay on CAP for now. Signal that ship and let's see who our saviors are." Lt. Dualla was laughing and crying at the same time. "They are hailing us Admiral." Adama just nodded. "Well put them on."

Once the speaker came on they heard the voice of their savior. "Galactica, this is Captain Barrett of the UEC Magellan. We read significant damage to a lot of your ships to include yours. I can offer assistance from my ship for repairs and medical needs that you may have. May I come aboard with some of my staff and engineers to see what we can help with?"

Admiral Adama thought for a bit. "I would love to have you aboard but at the moment we need to attend to the civilian ships that jumped out when the Cylons attacked. I can send a crew over in a Raptor to bring you to where we will be. I don't want to send the coordinates over an unsecure line."

The speaker crackled with a slight bit of static. "That will be fine Galactica. I will meet them in the hanger bay. Magellan out."

It didn't take long before the Colonial Raptor was swinging around the back of the saucer section of the Magellan. Athena was flying the Raptor with Starbuck, Apollo, and Helo along for the ride and back-up. All of them were staring out the front of the Raptor at the crew of the Magellan standing in the open hanger bay waiting for them. "Their bay doors are open and they are standing there in open space! They're frakking Cylons! It's a trick!"

Athena shook her head. "No Starbuck, they can't be. Remember? They have energy shields maybe they have the same type of thing to keep the air in?" Helo was scanning the ship from his station. "I agree with Athena, I can detect the energy barrier at the opening. Well, I can sort of detect it. It is putting out so much power that I can't get a clear reading. I say we go for it. I mean why would they try to trick us when that ship alone has enough firepower to have blown us out of the stars all by itself?"

With that small statement of faith from Helo, Athena pushed the Raptor forward toward the open hanger bay.

Ascended Plain of Existence

"We have done all that we can without attracting the attention of the others. We no longer have the ability to hide our actions as we once could. We should have stopped the original attack while we had the power of numbers. We will have to trust in the new Alliance forged by our Allies of Old. And to think, none of this would have been necessary,if I hadn't gone back to Earth to search out those same Allies after centuries without contact from them."The white haired man with the unnaturally Blue eyes said while shaking his large mane of hair. With that the two beings faded into a white light with a bit of blue tint and parted ways.

Hanger Bay, UEC Magellan

Captain Barrett was standing with his Executive Officer (Commander Sanders), his CMO (Chief Medical Officer), and his head of security. Also, ready to move into position once the Raptor landed, there was an honor guard for visiting dignitaries. As the Raptor settled to the floor of the hanger, Captain Barrett stepped forward and waited until the side hatch opened.

"Welcome aboard the UEC Magellan, I am Captain Barrett. This is my Executive Officer, Commander Sanders, my Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Sanchez, and my head of security, Lieutenant James. " Apollo stepped forward. "Thank you Captain, I am Commander Lee Adama, call sign Apollo. This is Captain Kara Thrace, call sign Starbuck, and Lieutenants Sharon and Carl Agathon, call signs Athena and Helo respectively."

Starbuck stepped forward too, "What is the UEC? We've never heard of it." Captain Barrett motioned to the turbolift. "Walk with me while I explain. The UEC is the United Earth Confederation. It is the overall po…" But Starbuck cut him off before he could finish. "Wait a frakking minute, did you just say Earth?"

Captain Barrett looked toward his XO with a bit of confusion. "Yes, as I was saying, the UEC is the overall power in at least four galaxies and building in dozens more." All four Colonials looked at each other with looks of both worry and hope. Apollo was the first one to gain his composure. "We have been searching for Earth for nearly two years."

The turbolift doors opened to the bridge and the group continued their conversation. "Earth is the place where the 13th tribe or colony, from the home of humanity, Kobol, left in search of around two thousand or four thousand years ago, depending on which interpretation you prefer."

Commander Sanders shook his head. "I'm not sure where you got your beliefs Commander but we have documented evidence dating back tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousand years, that Earth is the home of humanity."

Again the four Colonials exchanged looks. "I wouldn't say that too loud around the Quorum of Twelve. You'd be branded as heretics and blasphemers. Don't your people still worship the Lords of Kobol?" It was the UEC crews turn to exchange looks.

"Who are the Lords of Kobol?" Commander Sanders asked. "This could be a problem." Apollo stated flatly. Captain Barrett continued on to his command chair. "We'll figure out the particulars of humanity later. Let's link up with the rest of your fleet and go from there." Athena took one look at the navigational computer and shook her head.

"I have no idea how their navigational coordinates match up with ours. I can't make head nor tails of this. I would have to link directly to their console." Captain Barrett was having none of that. "That's alright, we already have your fleet on sensors and have had since they jumped away. We have fairly advanced sensors. They are just over twelve light years further toward the edge of the galaxy. Helm, take us into hyperspace to their fleet." Captain Barrett wasn't a super religious man but he had been raised Southern Baptist and religious zealots had always rubbed him the wrong way.

Captain Barrett was one of the UEC officers that had been an officer in the United States Navy before the Stargate Program was revealed to the public. He had been the weapons officer on the USS Cole when it was attacked in the harbor in Yemen by Radical Islamic Terrorists.

The Colonial Officers were in awe of the level of technology they were seeing around them. Apollo still wasn't happy about the fact that these UEC humans already knew where the fleet was. Starbuck was also obviously fuming over something and finally it burst out of her. "Why the frak haven't we moved to the fleet? And why do you have windows on your ship? Don't you know how frakking stupid that is for a design for a warship and it makes a very juicy target in a combat situation?"

Captain Barrett couldn't help but chuckle even though he was irritated. "First of all Captain, this isn't a warship. It is a Tactical Exploration Cruiser. Second, we are only a few seconds from your fleet." He gestured to a door and walked toward it. The door swished open at his approach and the Colonials could see a large table with a set of large windows behind it. Outside of the window was the blueish swirl of hyperspace.

At exactly the same instant as Starbuck was about to protest going into a room with widows, the scenery outside of said windows changed as the Magellan made the transition back to normal space. Now the view out the same windows was that of the rest of the Colonial fleet with the Galactica foremost in view.

"I didn't even feel us moving. And to reach the fleet that fast, we must have been moving at several magnitudes above the speed of light yet no sensation of moving at all." Athena said almost reverently. They had all seen the view of hyperspace and knew it was nothing like their jump drives. "It is a FTL (faster than light) way of travel that was discovered and utilized for millions of years by several races, one of which we call the Alterans or Ancients. They are basically the first iteration of human evolution that we know of."

Just then the coms chirped with an incoming hail. "Captain, it's Admiral Adama signaling. Also Admiral O'Neill sent you a personal message to be viewed at your first convenience." Captain Barrett nodded to put Admiral Adama through. "Admiral, we read you. Your people have been filling us in on some interesting facts about your civilization that I think you and I need to discuss face to face. How would you feel about joining me for dinner on my ship?"

After a short pause he heard a female's voice. "Captain Barrett is it? This is President Laura Roslin. I am the elected President for the Twelve Colonies. Would it be acceptable if I joined you as well?"

Captain Barrett looked toward the four Colonial guests on his bridge. "My apologies Madam President. I wasn't aware of your presence with the fleet. Yes, it would be most acceptable if you would join us as well. Shall we say in two hours if that is acceptable to you?" Starbuck smiled a cocky smile and shrugged her shoulders.

"You're not worried about the Cylons coming back Captain?" He heard the slight tremor of fear in President Roslin's voice. "Madam President, I am more than confident the Magellan can handle anything the Cylons may have up their sleeves. She may be a ship designed for exploration but she has a bite that is as loud as her bark as you must have witnessed earlier."

After a short pause he heard the reply. "Yes Captain, I saw what your ship is capable of but you are one ship and the Cylons have hundreds. I would feel much safer if we could leave this area of space as soon as possible." Barrett could hear some low voices that were too inaudible to actually understand.

"Ok Captain, two hours. But I am going to keep my Viper squadrons on a rotational patrol schedule and Raptors on picket just in case." Admiral Adama stated. Captain Barrett looked toward Starbuck and shrugged himself this time. "I understand Admiral. So should we send your crew back or continue to show them our ship and build relations?" He couldn't help himself, he really disdained religious zealots. Not that he sensed Admiral Adama was a zealot other than protecting what was the last of his people, he just wasn't sure about this whole thing. He heard a chuckle from Adama. "I'll leave that decision to my crew as you put it Captain."

The four Colonials looked back and forth at each other. In the end, Apollo and Starbuck decided to stay and learn more about these strange humans. Athena and Helo returned to the Galactica to brief Admiral Adama since Athena could relay in great detail everything that she saw. Captain Barrett let his XO take over the tour while he went to see what Admiral O'Neill had said in his reply.

Ten minutes later Captain Barrett walked out of his ready room grinning from ear to ear. He was about to tell his second officer to take the bridge but a confused sound from his communications officer stopped him. "What the hell was that? Captain, you need to see this." Captain Barrett made his way over to see what he needed to see.

"Is that what I think it is?" He asked looking at the data streaming across the screen. "It's a subspace transmission carrying massive amounts of data. It went out as we destroyed the Cylon fleet. But with their ships destroyed, how could they send a subspace signal? I don't understand it Captain but there is the evidence." The Captain pondered what he was seeing. "I guess I'll just have to ask the Admiral and President over dinner to see if they know what it means. In the meantime, notify me discreetly when they arrive. I have a state dinner to prepare for. See if the Admiral might want to be picked up in one of our shuttles to compare the difference for himself."

Two hours later

Captains Mess aboard UEC Magellan

President Roslin and Admiral Adama were enjoying the meal prepared for them but anyone could see that both were nervous. The admiral kept looking toward the large window on the wall of the room. Captain Barrett smiled slightly. "Admiral, is the window making you nervous? Starbuck expressed the same concern. I can assure you they are as strong as the hull." The admiral couldn't help but snort at that. "How can glass be as strong as whatever your hull is made of?"

Captain Barrett looked the admiral in the eye before answering. "Well Admiral, it's not glass. It's the same compound as the hull. To make it transparent is simply a process of adding a smart photo cell that will darken or lighten the area of the hull we want as a window on command. Another thing is there are very few things that we know of that can penetrate our shields."

Admiral Adama nodded. "Speaking of shields, we thought they were only theoretical. Our scientists have tried for decades to develop them but could never make them work. Our problem was power generation mainly. We just couldn't generate the power our calculations showed that would be required for that type of defensive shield."

Barrett knew what he meant as the SGC had ran into the same problem before the Federation had helped them out. "Believe it or not Admiral, before we got help from some newly made Allies recently, we had the same problem. Now those same Allies have helped us with a lot of our technology as have several other Allies. The UEC was created and has grown to be the major power in multiple galaxies as a result of those alliances.

President Roslin took that moment to interject into the conversation. "Speaking of the UEC Captain, our people told us a pretty amazing and troubling story. They say you told them that you did not know who the Lords of Kobol were and that you don't recognize Kobol as the birthplace of Humanity."

Admiral Adama winced just a bit because he was hoping to avoid this type of conversation until he was sure the fleet was safe. President Roslin just continued not in the least bothered. "Our Sacred Scrolls clearly show that the 13th tribe left between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago in search of Earth. How can your people have forgotten that?"

Captain Barrett answered calmly. "Madam President, not to sound disrespectful, we once thought human life on Earth dated back tens of thousands of years. Now we have absolute proof that it dates back millions of years." He could see the President wasn't really buying it.

"Ok, let me start about 10,000 years ago. A race called the Goa'uld arrived on Earth and began using humans as hosts and slaves. They moved hundreds of thousands of humans to hundreds of worlds to use as slave labor, hosts, and to genetically modify into Soldiers for their Armies. I'll admit I have never heard of them transporting outside of the galaxy though but it's something we can't discount."

President Roslin blinked. "You mean Earth is not in this galaxy? How is that possible? I will admit the scrolls don't say one way or the other but I always assumed Earth was in our galaxy."

Captain Barrett merely shrugged. "I don't know the answer to that one Madam President but I do know that humanity began on Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. There was another race of humans that evolved in another galaxy millions of years ago. They were called the Alterans and they left that galaxy to escape a war of genocide by another faction of their race. They were one of the original races in the Alliance of the four great races. Now they are one of our closest Allies in the UEC."

The tension was thick in the room. "As for the Lords of Kobol, no, I don't know who they are." Captain Barrett was starting to get a bit frustrated and Admiral Adama could sense it as could President Roslin. "You truly have never heard of Hera, Apollo, Zeus, Ares, or Poseidon?" Barrett looked up. "Those are names of some of the Greek Pantheon of Gods. They just aren't worshipped on Earth and haven't been for over a thousand years. There is also Aphrodite, Artemis, Aurora, Athena, and a few others. I did notice your son uses Apollo as his call sign." He indicated the admiral.

"So you do know the Lords?" President Roslin asked. "If they are no longer worshipped, what Gods do the people of Earth follow now?" Captain Barrett couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. "That's the million dollar question Madam President. The people of Earth don't all follow the same religion. There are literally hundreds of different religions on Earth. The big four with the most followers are Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. Those four account for about half of Earth's seven billion people. Each one of the first three believe there is only one God. The last is also a Pantheon like yours but with different Gods."

Roslin gasped. "So you are saying that most of Earth is monotheists?" A look of almost sheer terror crossed her face. Before Captain Barrett could respond, his combadge chirped."Go ahead Number One." He said after he tapped his badge to answer the call.

"Captain, we've picked up another Cylon attack fleet closing on our position. They should be able to jump into this system in the next five minutes." The look of terror grew much deeper on the Presidents face but the Admiral became almost furious.

"I gambled on your word Captain and it looks like I lost. I need to return to the Galactica immediately." Captain Barrett was already on his feet moving toward the door. "That is your choice Admiral but I think you should see something first." Admiral Adama started to protest but the twinkle in Captain Barrett's eye changed his mind. "Ok Captain, let's make it quick though." He then followed the captain onto the bridge of the Magellan.

"Admiral, I know this display may be different than yours but I am sure you can understand it." Admiral Adama pulled out his glasses and looked at the display in front of him. "It's similar to our DRADIS system so I would say it is a scanner of some kind. So I would say that we are surrounded by a fleet of ships that does not belong to my fleet."

Captain Barret smiled. "You would be correct of both counts Admiral. Admiral O'Neill sent the UEC 7th Fleet to reinforce my ship when we sent him our report earlier. They arrived in the system well over an hour before we began dinner." Adama pulled out a large hand held communicator. "They must have been close to make it here that fast." He motioned to the wireless in his hand. Captain Barrett nodded. "Adama to Galactica, Lt. Gaeta, tell me what you see on DRADIS besides our fleet." He knew he hadn't seen anything out of the window in the Captains Mess so he wanted to see what DRADIS picked up.

"Admiral, the only thing registering on DRADIS, other than our fleet and CAP, is the UEC Magellan." Adama turned to look at a grinning Barrett. "Admiral, did you see the Magellan before we opened fire on the Cylon missiles?" Adama thought for a second. "No, I suppose I assumed you jumped in between us and the missiles."

Captain Barrett continued to smile but shook his head. "No Admiral, we had been observing your fleet for quite some time before we maneuvered between the missiles and your fleet. Our ships have the ability to cloak which effectively hides them from visual or electronic detection. So the Cylons have a VERY rude awakening waiting for them when they arrive. As you have seen, we can detect them MUCH further away than your DRADIS can. When the Cylons make their last jump to this system, the fleet will drop their cloaks and open fire on them the instant they reappear here."

Admiral Adama was actually a bit taken aback by this new development. "You have us far outclassed in every form of technology. I must warn you the Cylons will turn that against you especially if you are networked." Captain Barrett shook his head. "No Sir, they tried before we destroyed them in the last encounter. Our firewalls and IC, that's Intrusion Counter-measure, stopped them cold. We isolated the virus to a shielded, stand-alone console to study later so we can be ready in case they develop a better one. By the way, my communications officer picked up some kind of subspace transmission less than a second after we destroyed the Cylon fleet. Do you know what that could have been?"

Admiral Adama's brain was spinning but that last question made him pause. The Admiral and President shared a knowing look. "It is how they resurrect. You see the Cylons are robots that we created to use as servants. They rebelled and fought two wars with they die, they are somehow able to transmit their consciousness to a new body and live again. But one of their resurrection ships has to be in a certain range. We destroyed their main colony hub not long before you found us. This time, the second war, they developed what we call skin jobs or robots that are indistinguishable from humans without a Cylon detector. They infiltrated the Colonies and installed a backdoor program in our navigation systems to allow a virus to shut down our warships before they attacked. We didn't stand a chance."

Captain Barrett looked over to Commander Sanders who stepped up and handed him a PADD. "You mean like that Lieutenant Sharon Agathon? Don't look surprised Admiral, our sensors are much more sophisticated and sensitive than yours. Our internal sensors registered her as not human the instant she crossed the force field of the hanger bay. We have had our own problems with mechanical lifeforms so we had to develop sensors to protect ourselves when they also developed human forms of themselves."

Just then Commander Sanders spoke up. "Captain, the Cylon fleet will be here any second. 7th Fleet has split to either side of the Colonial Fleet as we can detect where the Cylons jump from but not exactly where they will reappear."

Captain Barrett moved to his chair. "This should be fun. Red Alert, raise shields, and power all weapons systems. Admiral, you and the President might want to have a seat. It may get a bit bumpy here soon."

The UEC fleet had detected the Cylons as they jumped so when the Cylons reappeared, surprised was an understatement to what they felt when faced with a large fleet of the alien warships similar to the one they had fought and lost badly too before. 7th Fleet consisted of forty-five ships centered on the Enterprise class Super Dreadnaught, the Enterprise herself. The escort ships for the 7th Fleet were two Atrox Class Heavy Carriers, four Vanquisher Class Dreadnaughts, four Avenger Class battleships, five Sovereign Class heavy cruisers, five Intrepid Class medium cruisers, ten Defiant Class escort destroyers, ten Saber Class light cruisers, and four Phantom Class stealth cruisers.

When the 7th Fleet decloaked, Admiral Adama nearly choked at the size of the Enterprise as it was larger than a Warstar. The reaction in the CIC of the Galactica was even more dramatic. Lt. Gaeta had nearly collapsed when the massive ship appeared on DRADIS with a cloud of other ships that were easily larger than the Galactica herself.

Lt. Dualla actually laughed at him as she was getting reports of the fleet in the chatter coming from the civilian fleet and the CAP. "Calm down Felix, it's a fleet from the UEC that was sent to reinforce the Magellan." To prove her point, she flipped the wireless to the CIC speakers. "Galactica this is Captain Barrett. The large fleet you see decloaking around you is the 7th fleet of the UEC sent to reinforce us in case the Cylons send a larger attack which will be any second now as we have tracked them preparing to jump to this system."

At that moment a fleet of thirty Cylon basestars jumped into the system and immediately launched missiles and raiders. Thousands of missiles were suddenly bearing down on the fleet. Civilian ships began to wink out in flashes as they had their jump drives already spun up. Admiral Adama had set fall back coordinates as they always did when they were in any system. Only a few stayed to see what would happen with the UEC fleet around them.

The few ships that stayed were not disappointed. Though the basestars got off the first shots, they only got that one. The massive rail guns of the Enterprise and Vanquishers slammed into the sixteen basestars each barrel individually targeted and punched through the center with so much velocity, it sucked the explosion into comet shaped debris. The Phantom class stealth cruisers were positioned way wide of the battle running every conceivable scan they could. The rest of the capital ships of the fleet targeted the remaining basestars while the Sabers and Defiants took on the raiders and missiles. Once again, not one single basestar survived the battle and very few raiders made it clear enough to jump out.

Admiral Adama and President Roslin watched the very brief and clearly one-sided battle in stunned silence from the bridge of the Magellan. Captain Barrett had kept out of the fight and ran scans like the Phantoms had done. "Charlie, were you able to isolate the resurrection frequencies?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye. Admiral Adama was astounded when the ramifications of that innocent question hit him.

"By the Gods, you can jam their resurrection! That would in essence be a death sentence to any Cylon that attacked you! " Barrett nodded in appreciation. "Very good Admiral. I see why you were one of the few to survive." Commander Sanders smiled as he answered. "Yes Captain I was, but that's not all. I was able to isolate their jump frequencies." Captain Barrett had known Charlie for many years as both were former US Naval officers that had served together before the Stargate Program became public knowledge. He could tell there was something else Charlie wanted to tell him in private.

Admiral Adama didn't miss much either and he caught the subtle nuance between the two friends, it reminded him so much of Colonel Tigh and himself. "Captain, I have enjoyed the hospitality but I feel it's time we made our way back to the Galactica." Captain Barrett couldn't help but smile. "Alright Admiral, I'll escort you two back to the shuttle bay. Also, Admiral O'Neill sent a full diplomatic team with the Enterprise to help in the negotiations." President Roslin dipped her head in thanks. "Thank you Captain and please thank the Admiral in your next report. I would suggest you inform your diplomatic team that most of the Quorum won't be as tolerant about their faith being threatened as the Admiral and I were."

Captain Barrett nodded his thanks as well. "I will be sure to pass the message along Madam President." He said with a smile thinking, "Tolerant? You practically bit my head off!"

Cylon Resurrection Ship

A few hours later

"Where the frak did that other fleet come from? What the hell was that they were firing that shredded our basestars into cosmic dust? How the frak do you idiots plan on helping me destroy them?" Cavil was storming around the room still naked after resurrecting (again) in just a few hours. Simon stepped forward and handed Cavil some clothes. "We send one basestar with one of us piloting it." He could see Cavil looking around for a pistol.

"Hear me out Cavil. Before we jump in, we have a hundred raiders set to automatically jump from inside the bay and passed their shields. We could take it one step further and have the raiders loaded with tylium precursor. There would be no one in the raiders and only one of us piloting the basestar."

Once Simon had gotten to the part about jumping passed the new enemies shields, a slow grin had begun to form on Cavil's face. Cavil was so happy by the end of Simon's explanation, he put his hand on Simon's shoulder. "Brother Simon. You have made me the happiest man in the galaxy. Your plan is so brilliant, I am going to allow you to be the one that pilots the basestar." He turned and walked from the room leaving a stunned and speechless Simon with his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out. "You others help him program the raiders to jump from the bay as soon as the basestar completes the jump." He called over his shoulder before beginning to whistle as he sauntered down the hall.

UEC Enterprise Conference Room

Several Hours after the 2nd Attack

The negotiations weren't going well as the Quorum of Twelve had interjected themselves into the middle of the talks. This had severely hampered President Roslin's efforts to build trust and rapport with the UEC. With Ayiana off helping the Federation, Dr. Elizabeth Weir was the lead negotiator sent by Admiral O'Neill. Dr. Weir rubbed her temples thinking to herself. "Jack, when I get my hands on you I will strangle you with my own two hands. Who would have thought my negotiations with the Genii would be easier than this one has been?"

She raised her voice over the arguing Quorum members. "ALRIGHT! Quiet! Let's take a thirty minute break and try this again then. We are getting nowhere sitting in here yelling at each other." She went to stand when her combadge chirped. "Dr. Weir, we are detecting a single Cylon basestar approaching the system. From our calculations, it will enter the system in less than five minutes."

Dr. Weir tapped her combadge. "I read you Admiral. I'll let the Quorum know." She turned to the Quorum. "I've just been informed by the Admiral that a single Cylon basestar is less than five minutes from entering the system. After what we just did to forty of their basestars, I have no idea why they would send just one after us. But let me reassure you that you are perfectly safe here aboard the Enterprise. She has the most powerful shields in o..."

She never finished her sentence as she heard the railgun fire just as the massive UEC warship shook violently and alarms began sounding all over the ship. Large explosions ripped through parts of the ship. Elizabeth immediately began calling the Admiral only to be told he had a lot of other problems on his hands but marines were in route to escort the Quorum to the closest hanger. She had no idea how the Cylons had managed to do it. But somehow they were able to severely damage one of the most powerful ships in the UEC fleet.

What she didn't know and wouldn't until she managed to get to the bridge, was that not only was the Enterprise nearly crippled but over half of the UEC's 7th Fleet had been outright destroyed. Once the Quorum were safely away and out of sight, she made a site to site transport to the bridge.

"My God." Was all she could say when she took in all of the smoke filled bridge and the flickering view on the main viewscreen. Debris from the 7th fleet was scattered all around. Vipers, Raptors, and Puddle Jumpers were moving in and out of the debris rescuing survivors. As she approached the Admiral she heard a report to him from another bridge officer she didn't know. "Admiral, that's the last of the crew from all of the wreckage. I would suggest destroying the remaining wreckage with photon torpedoes to prevent the Cylons from salvaging any of our technology."

Admiral Lincoln nodded. "Apparently you forgot we have Asgard beams. We won't need to destroy them now. We will simply sweep the system clear of all debris. We have already begun the most critical repairs using the debris as replicator stock. And find me a ship that still has long range communications working." He said as he turned toward Dr. Weir. Elizabeth nodded her head in understanding and thought to herself, "He must have taken the place of someone injured during the attack or he is still young and this battle scared him into not thinking straight."

"They got us good Elizabeth. Dirty bastards are smart, I'll give you that. We were puzzled why they sent just one basestar after we had thoroughly kicked their asses before. I was hoping maybe they had decided to take us up on Captain Barrett's offer of mediation. But no, the instant the basestar popped into the system, we detected multiple smaller jumps from what they call their raiders. They literally jumped from their hanger bay, passed the shields of the fleet, and most directly inside the hull of the targeted ship. The only reason why we didn't lose the entire fleet is because of the sheer size of some of the ships."

When the Quorum got back to the Galactica, they used their terror and power to order the Colonial Fleet to try to make Admiral Adama jump away from the badly damaged UEC fleet. It was an order both he and President Roslin flatly refused.

"Marines, get these cowards off of my ship and if they refuse to move as told, shoot them." Several Marines moved forward quickly. "Yes Sir, gladly." The Marine Sergeant on duty at the time had only seen the Admiral this mad one time and he was just glad he wasn't on the receiving end of that seething rage.

Adama turned to Lt. Dualla. "Order the civilian fleet to jump to rally point Zeus. Add any that want to stay and help with the SAR (search and rescue) are more than welcome. We owe these people or lives and more." After Dualla relayed his orders, the only ship that jumped away was the one containing the Quorum when they made it back to their ship. When Lt. Gaeta told him they were the only ship that jumped, he snarled under his breath. "Frakking cowards." Which of course scared the hell out of most of them in the CIC as they had rarely heard the Admiral curse.

Admiral Lincoln hailed the Galactica when he was notified that a ship had jumped away and the that the Colonials were offering more of their assistance for the SAR. "Admiral, I appreciate the offer, we all do. But we are finished and are about to collect the debris of our fleet and jump back to our galaxy. You already know your jump drive is capable of taking you there, so if you will permit, I will have them exact calculations for a safe jump sent to you."

Adama was a bit nervous trusting the heavily networked computer system of the UEC but also remembered their computers were much more advanced than anything the Colonies had ever dreamed of much less built. "Agreed Admiral, I'll send a Raptor over now to collect them." He turned to give that order but was stopped by Admiral Lincoln.

"No Admiral. Let me explain. Do you fully trust your CIC crew to keep a secret?" He knew the answer but had to follow protocol. Admiral Adama almost got offended but his gut told him to go with it so he simply answered the question. "I trust them implicitly Admiral, why?" A sparkling column of lights in the CIC coalescing into Dr. Weir was the answer to his question."

She smiled at the stunned reaction of everyone, to include Admiral Adama, in the CIC. She simply handed him a PADD with a cable adapter attached. "The coordinates are on this Admiral. An adapter that is compatible with you equipment has been added. You can then send the exact coordinates to the rest of your fleet after they have translated to your system." Adama took a few unusual seconds to recover his composure over realizing the UEC had matter transporting technology. He, along with every single Colonial, had thought that stuff was only movie magic. He had been wrong as had the Colonials been about a lot of things. He silently vowed to make up for all of that in any way he could with the help of these newly found Allies, hopefully anyway. He turned and handed the PADD to Lt. Dualla before adding, "Dee, have these transmitted to the fleet. And load them into a Raptor to go bring those cowards from the Quorum to where we will be. I'm half tempted to leave the bastards at rally point Zeus and let them rot. I won't even though I think most of them deserve it."

It didn't take long for the coordinates to be disseminated to the rest of the fleet. The remnants of the 7th Fleet waited until the Colonial Fleet had jumped away before jumping to hyperspace. A message had already been sent to Admiral O'Neill so reinforcements in the form of four full fleets were already at the coordinates they had provided to the Colonials. Dozens of heavy construction ships were already in the process of building defensive turrets and a massive starbase to serve as their staging point for what looked to be another war to save humanity.

UEC scientists were already going over every scrap of information they had in hopes of finding ways to defend against the most dire and dangerous threat they had faced since before the Federation had made their Desperate Decision to help them defeat the Goa'uld.

Well here you go, the next book in the continuing saga of the UEC. Sorry it took so long to get out but real life kind of got in the way and stress has a way of killing the muse. Hopefully now that retirement is much closer and the stress has gone WAY down, I'll be able to find that rhythm again and keep the chapters coming much more frequently.