The next few days went by without any issues, and the fleet started the long jumps toward the system that they hoped would be the home of the thirteenth tribe. Work continued on the translations, subtitling, and analysis of the recorded material, and the mood throughout the fleet was the best they have ever seen since the Colonies fell. Luckily, they recorded several weeks worth of material during their stay in orbit of the last planet they went to, as they were not able to stay in a place long enough between jumps to make new recordings, so all they had to give the public in the fleet were the recordings they already had. Still, it would last them throughout the whole trip, keeping everyone entertained and boosting morale.

"Have you seen the newest episode of that serial that is being broadcast on the fleet? The one called "I love Lucy" by the locals... it is funny, we still don't know how they call their planet.. only that it seems to be divided into several smaller countries, and that the one these broadcasts originated from is called America... anyway, back to the broadcast.. I find it fascinating how similar it seems to life in the Colonies.. but still, everything just feels... off. Like you are watching a documentary on history for a place you have never visited, only heard of..." Laura Roslin said to Bill Adama, sitting in his office and enjoying some time away from being constantly on the edge.

"You know, I find it fascinating.. family life seems to work as much as with us, only that they seem to prefer strictly monogamous relationships... and also, and this worries me – have you heard them swear? If the translation is right, one of the expressions translated to "Oh my God", singular – they seem to be monotheistic in nature. I don't know if that is only a small anomaly, or if they truly have forgotten their roots and the Lords of Kobol, but this is something that surely will not go unnoticed by the clerics – something that create a lot of troubles when we finally meet them." Adama responded.

"I noticed that too... and I already asked some of my staff to search for clues about their religious beliefs in the recordings, but so far, we don't have much. They seem to call their temples "churches", and as much as we figured, the deity you mentioned does not have a name – it is just referred to as "God", so that is quite different as well. I really hope we can keep this low for the time being, we have a lot of religious people in the fleet... " Roslin said, looking a bit worried.

"I hope you're right Laura, I don't want something minor like religion blow up our chances of forming a successful relationship with our brethren – or even start a shooting war like back before the Cylon war when the monotheistic terrorists started their campaign..." Adama said, looking worried too.

"Well, if anyone would have heard you, you'd just have made a lot of new enemies... "something minor like religion" … some people would count this as blasphemy" Roslin said, looking a bit amused by her own words.

"Well, then let's hope the people in the fleet will not hear me saying something like that, and also the people of the thirteenth tribe will understand that this is a very touchy subject and should be handled with care" Adama responded.

"So say we all. By the gods, so say we all" was the only response that came to her mind.


A few days later, the phone buzzed on Adama's wall.

"This is Adama, Colonel, what's the issue?" Adama spoke into the receiver.

"Commander, we are almost ready for our last jump. Raptors confirm that we have arrived at a very big planetary system containing at least eight planets and a lot of debris – signal traffic was through the roof as well, even though the raptor was not equipped to record or analyze any of it. We are sure that it is the source of the signals that we have been recording. We are currently calculating jump coordinates." Colonel Tigh said on the phone.

"I'll be there in five minutes, I don't want to miss this. Also, I presume President Roslin will want to be there when we jump, so please make preparations to ferry her over in a Raptor at her earliest convenience. " Adama responded.

"Aye, Commander. We're all excited and nervous up here. Come up and join the fun" Colonel Tigh said, ending the call.

Adama quickly put aside the book he was reading, and got up to get dressed. After preparing, he went to the hangar to collect Laura Roslin, and then both were on their way to CIC.

The walk felt different – they were not walking to a battle situation, but rather the one moment they and everyone else in the fleet were waiting for – and Adama just hoped that everything would turn out like they hoped. Still, he was nervous, and he noticed while entering the CIC that he was not the only one feeling like that.

The atmosphere was tense, even more so than in a battle, since that was something they trained for – this was not.

"Commander, we have calculated a jump trajectory that would put us behind one of two planetoids that orbit each other in the absolute outskirts of the solar system. It would both hide us from detection if anyone – or anything – is watching the system, and also has been confirmed to contain useful resources that we could mine to bolster our supplies. Also, it has an inclination that is different from all other bodies that we have seen in the system so far, that makes it somewhat special – and as remote as it is, I'm sure some of our scientists would love to have a closer look at that thing" Gaeta said, looking for confirmation.

"That sounds like a sound plan Mr. Gaeta, please confirm that we are following that plan." Adama said, now turning his gaze to Colonel Tigh.

"Colonel, I want every bird in the air after the jump – CAP, Raptors, standby Vipers, everything – we're going to have a thorough look around the outskirts of that system first, and then gradually try to take our exploration inwards. This is too big to risk rushing it, and from what I have heard from the report from our first recon Raptor, this system is a mess, full of debris, signal traffic, planetoids, everything you can imagine. So let's be careful out there. " Adama said.

Everyone heard the commander, and frantic preparation work throughout the ship began as soon as the commands were relayed – Vipers and Raptors getting fueled, pilots getting dressed and ready, and the signal team preparing new storage media to receive and analyze new transmissions.

"On my mark. Three. Two. One. JUMP" Adama exclaimed, no longer being able to hide his excitement.


Galactica vanished in a flash of light, just to reappear right above a small planetoid. Soon after, the fleet jumped in.

"Report!" was the first command given by Commander Adama.

"Reports coming in sir - 2 Ships missing at the moment.. no wait a minute, there they are. They jumped a few seconds late. All ships there and accounted for sir." Gaeta looked relieved.

"That was a picture perfect jump, we are right where we wanted to be. Launching all birds now" Gaeta exclaimed, bringing the whole CIC to a cheer that echoed throughout the ship. They were there – now began the hard part.


"Commander, Starbuck is requesting to take out the stealth Viper for a little joyride to scan the perimeter on her own – says she's eager to go out and that she wants to help" Tigh said, looking angry that he had to relay this request.

Starbuck had recently been in a fight – again – and therefore was supposed to be grounded, and everyone knew that – why they even let her on the phone to call the CIC was beyond him, she was ordered to help out the deck hands in the hangar. "Well", he thought, "I guess she won a favor from Petty Officer Tyrol again at pyramid... that girl is too good at that game for her own self".

"Well, I know she's grounded, but right now I want everyone out there to look for information – and possible dangers, and like it our not, Starbuck is the only pilot qualified on the stealth Viper right now. Also, she may be reckless, but she is just the pilot for the harsh weather out there." Adama said, much to the dismay of Colonel Tigh.

"Starbuck, you are go for launch. I repeat, you are go for launch. I don't have to like it, but the old man says you are good for the job, so do us all a favor and do it well – then we might get you back on active duty after you come back. Tigh out." Tigh said, hanging up the receiver.

After her Viper left the launch tube, she immediately started to fly some wild maneuvers to make herself comfortable in the seat of a Viper again, still wondering how well the call with Tigh went – usually he puts up more of a fight. "Well, either he's getting old, or he's just as excited to be here like everyone else – let's hope this place is holding up to it..." she said to herself, putting on the boosters away from the planetoid they were orbiting, outwards on a trajectory that would allow her to fly by the Heliopause of the system and take scans there. The Heliopause is a very special natural phenomenon – it is the area in a solar system where the solar wind coming from the star meets the pressure of particles coming from outside the solar system, and both tend to equalize each other, forming a sort-of barrier between the solar system and "outer space", something that is usually depicted as a system's border.

She was flying for quite a while as she noticed a small blip on DRADIS that caught her interest. It traveled with a velocity of about 12 mi/s outward from the solar system, which is something an asteroid normally tends not to do. Well, at least as far as she understood astrophysics, which admittedly was not much.

"Galactica Starbuck, I have a small object on DRADIS which seems to move in a direction outside the solar system with quite a velocity - I may not be a scientist, but in my book things don't do that all by themselves. Shall I investigate?" She said over the comm.

"Starbuck Galactica, the old man says you are cleared for an in-depth look at the object. How long will you need?" Tigh answered.

"It'll take an hour or two - this thing is fast even for Viper standards. But I can do it." she responded.

"Confirmed Starbuck, good hunting. Galactica out." Tigh said, closing the connection.

As ordered, Starbuck turned towards the strange DRADIS contact and fired her afterburner. Even at top speed it took her an hour and a half to reach the object up to visual range - but what she saw dazzled her.

"Galactica, Starbuck. I have the object in sight. It is not an asteroid, but a probe of some sort. Definitely man-made. It seems to carry a big wireless antenna facing the inner part of the solar system, and an array of antennas of some sort, I can't say what they are for. It seems to be out here for a while, it got quite a few dents and scratches, looks even worse than the Viper I usually fly. Can't register any activity on the device but a bit of decaying radioactivity. This thing seems to be dead in space. Mind if I take a souvenir?" She said over comms.

"Galactica Starbuck, this is Adama. Amazing find. Don't worry, you'll get your souvenir, I promise. We will send a recovery Raptor out to your position, just stay where you are."

Three hours later, the Raptor arrived, carrying a special set of robotic arms able to "catch" and tow the object back to Galactica.

It took them the better half of a day to do so, but at least - nothing bad happened.

No booby traps, no sudden activity within the probe - it seemed to be as Starbuck said - dead in space.