Aftermath
The Titania reentered normal space with the queasiness that Jason normally associated with FTL jumps. Holding on to the operations table, he blinked his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't think he would ever get used to FTL jumps no matter how many times he experienced them. "Status report," he demanded looking up at the Dradis screen, which was beginning to show the rest of the fleet.
Major Dyson was on the com channel checking with the other ships, particularly the Gunstars evaluating the damage done to each one in the battle with the Ovions. Lt. Grimm was busy running scans on the system they were now in making sure there were no surprises waiting for them. Lt. Everson was watching the Dradis closely hoping they were not followed. Lt. Johnson was busy with communications trying to answer all the questions from the Colony and Exploration ships.
After a moment, Major Dyson turned to the expectant Admiral. "The Defiant is currently stable sir, all fires are out and the ship is being searched for additional survivors. The wounded are currently being loaded into shuttles in preparation to being sent to the two Colony ships, including those we brought aboard the Titania. The two Colony ships have the largest contingent of Drs and the best medical facilities."
"How many are we talking about?" Jason asked almost afraid of the answer. He knew the Defiant had been hit hard by the nuke. If not for the new armor, she would probably have been destroyed.
Major Dyson hesitated, the news was not good. "We have four hundred and twenty confirmed dead, another eighty two missing, and three hundred and twelve injured. The injuries range from slight to very severe. When the nuke hit it caused a series of secondary explosions throughout the Gunstar."
"Frak," Jason muttered to himself at the report. He knew that there had been a little over twelve hundred crewmembers and marines on the Defiant. That meant that nearly seventy-five percent of the crew were dead, missing, or incapacitated. Never in all his years as a Commander or an officer had he lost so many people.
Captain Steele entering the CIC interrupted Jason's thoughts. "Captain, do you have a count of our viper and raptor losses?"
"Our squadrons did surprisingly well sir," Captain Steele reported still feeling the slight rush from combat. "All squadrons combined report a loss of six vipers and one raptor. However we did lose three pilots and the raptor crew."
"We had twelve confirmed kills by our squadrons," Major Dyson added.
Jason thought for a few minutes about what they should do next. Turning to Major Dyson he said, "We will remain in this system for two hours while all ships make necessary repairs. Inform the Crescent to make sure the Defiant is safe to jump with. It the Gunstar is unsafe we will have to abandon her; we can't afford to risk the Crescent! I want to put some distance between us and the New Kobol system, a lot of distance."
"Yes sir," Major Dyson replied as she activated her com unit to pass on the necessary orders.
"Lt. Everson, keep a close watch on Dradis," Jason ordered. "If you even think that you have spotted something let me know immediately, even if it's only a sensor ghost."
"Crescent reports that they have the Defiant stabilized sufficiently for jumps," Major Dyson reported, continuing to speak to different ships on her com unit. "They are initiating additional safety measures to insure that there are no mishaps."
"Major Steele I want a full squadron of vipers out on CAP for the full two hours we are here, also six raptors for extended Dradis," Jason ordered, he had no intention of fighting the Ovions again. If they appeared, he intended to jump and put some distance between the Ovions and the fleet.
"Yes sir," Aaron replied walking over to a communication consul so he could contact the ships air wings.
"Lt. Johnson we have a number of people on the wrong ships, find out who they are and where they are and have them sent to the proper ships," Jason continued. Jason was beginning to feel exhausted. He knew it was from the pressure of the battle and the people he had lost. He knew he needed some serious rack time.
Jason stared at the Dradis thinking furiously, trying not to make any mistakes. He knew that the surviving Ovion ships would arrive back at Carillon shortly. After evaluating the battle, there was no doubt in Jason's mind they would return with a larger fleet, one large enough to crush the Colonial ships. Jason figured they had a minimum of four hours before the Ovions returned to New Kobol, and upon not finding the Colonials began sending out scout ships to all the neighboring systems. They had jumped far enough away that it would take several hours of searching before the Ovions came to this system. That should give them six hours of safety or more. Jason intended to be long gone by then.
An hour later Captain Steele was out in his viper with Lt. Ashton checking on the CAP and looking at the damage to the Gunstars. The Searcher had some minor damage to her armor and several turrets, one of the turrets had been completely blown off. There was also a small jagged rent in her starboard armor where a standard warhead missile had penetrated. Fortunately, the damage had been to a storage compartment and no one had been injured or killed. There were numerous other burn marks and scarring scattered across the Gunstar. The Titania had also suffered from several missile hits and KEW rounds that had impacted. Her armor was cracked open in several locations as well as several defensive turrets that were damaged.
"They really hit us didn't they," Emily spoke quietly looking disheartenly at the damage to the ships.
"We were lucky," Aaron replied as he banked his viper around the Crescent where he knew that work was frantically being done on the Defiant. He just hoped they could repair the valiant Gunstar, but after the damage she had suffered, he wasn't sure. "If the Ovions had jumped in with a larger fleet I don't know if any of us would have made it out. The Admiral did a great job getting us away from there and getting everyone off the surface of New Kobol."
"He really knows his stuff," Emily commented impressed with the Admiral. He reminded him a lot of her dad from his days back in the Colonial marines. With her father being a Captain, she had lived in a very disciplined environment.
"That's why he was put in charge of the fleet," Aaron replied as they passed over the Titania's engine section.
An hour later, Jason was satisfied that all ships were ready for their next jump. Only this time it would not be just one jump, they were going to make a series of jumps to put a safe distance between them and the Ovions. The Crescent had reported that the Defiant had been locked down and all power had been shut down on the ship. Damage Control teams were on the Gunstar in case of any unforeseen flare-ups. He knew that Dr. Carthews would not be happy about missing all the exploration opportunities they were about to pass up, but for the safety of the fleet it was necessary.
Four days later and after twelve long FTL jumps, the Titania and the exploration fleet jumped into a new star system. "Report," Jason ordered as the Dradis screens and view screens began to come on line.
"All ships accounted for," Lt. Everson reported as he checked the ship IDs and their locations on the Dradis. "All ships within the defined parameters."
"Gunstars Nebula, Searcher, and Loadstar are taking up screening positions," Major Dyson reported. "CAP and Dradis raptors are launching."
"Scanning system," Lt. Grimm reported as she used the ship's sensors and astrometrics system to search for possible planets, moons, asteroid fields, and nebula.
"No radio or subspace communication being picked up sir," Lt. Johnson reported as she scanned all normal communication frequencies.
A few minutes later the Dradis screen expanded as the outgoing raptors reached their assigned position and their Dradis information was fed back to the Titania. No new contacts were detected on the expanded screen. Jason began to relax knowing that at least for the moment the fleet was safe.
"Stand down from condition two," he commanded allowing himself to relax. They had put nearly two hundred and forty light years between them and the Ovions, there was no chance they could find them now. He had pushed the crews of all the ships the last four days making three long jumps each day. The civilians and scientists had grumbled since they were not used to multiple jumps, plus the FTL drives had to be recalibrated at least once each day to insure maximum jump potential and accuracy.
"Sir basic scans are complete," Lt. Grimm reported as she read the information coming across her screens. "Six planets in the system, none in the liquid water zone, however there is an extremely large asteroid field between planets four and five. Planets four and five are both gas giants."
"Major Dyson, contact the Exploration ships and have them send their exploration raptors to the asteroid field, we need to find some Tylium to replenish our reserves plus some heavy metals to repair the Defiant with," Jason ordered wanting the fleet to be as prepared as possible for any encounter with unknowns again.
"Dr. Carthews will not be happy about not exploring the planets first," Major Dyson commented as she contacted the two Exploration ships. "He's already pretty peeved about all the potential exploration opportunities we passed up the last several days."
"He will just have to be content with going over his New Kobal data," Jason replied not concerned, his first priority was the safety of this fleet. "They have plenty to do with all the books and information disks they recovered from the underground base."
"They also have all those artifacts they brought on board from the museum in the Capitol," Major Dyson replied remembering her conversation with Dr. Graystone about the museum. She had been surprised at how friendly Dr. Graystone could be once you got past her defenses.
"Precisely," Jason replied nodding. "They have plenty to do and they will have enough opportunities for exploration later."
An hour later Jason stepped through the hatchway that led into the Port flight pod, he wanted to check personally on the progress the crew was making in assembling the spare vipers. He could see techs and knuckle draggers busy assembling the vipers, which were in various stages of assembly. The vipers had been brought over from the supply ships. Fortunately, they had ten spare vipers and two raptors stored in large crates aboard the two ships.
The maintenance Chief Captain Will Desmond spotted the Admiral and hurried over. "Admiral the vipers are being assembled as you ordered, we should have them ready for testing in two more days."
"Very good Chief," Jason replied looking over the bay. Several vipers sat ready before their launch tubes and he could see a raptor being prepped to accompany one of the exploration raptors out to the asteroid field. He also noticed Lt. Ashton over by her viper carefully inspecting the craft. "We won't be going anywhere for a while so hopefully there will be no interruptions."
"The crew will do a good job sir," Chief Desmond replied. "Those vipers will be ready for their pilots."
Lt. Ashton was carefully checking her viper for any signs of potential problems. She knew that the maintenance crew had already completed their inspection but she had noticed that Captain Steele always inspected his viper once the maintenance crew was finished. If he thought it was important then it must be, so she had begun inspecting her viper also. Emily became aware of a presence behind her and turning around almost banged her head against the stubby wing of the viper when she recognized the Admiral. Frak what have I done now she wondered, coming to a quick salute.
"At ease Lt.'" Jason ordered glancing at the viper and feeling pleased the way he had seen the young Lt. inspecting her craft. He could remember doing the same thing back when he was flying vipers. "You have been doing an admirable job as Captain Steel's wingman."
"Thank you sir," Emily managed to reply trying not to let her voice quiver. "He has spent a lot of time training me and the others sir."
"It shows Lt., keep up the good work and keep the Captain safe," Jason said in a more relaxed tone. "Hopefully things will be a little calmer for awhile."
"He's a good officer sir," Emily replied looking at the Admiral.
"Yes he is, this entire crew is turning out to be something special," Jason replied feeling very pleased with the way the crew had developed.
Several hours later Jason was in a raptor shuttling over to the Crescent. He wanted to see first hand the damage done to the Defiant. A decision had to be made on whether to salvage her or not. Both the Titania and the Searcher needed to spend a few days inside the Crescent's large repair bay to correct the damage done by the Ovions.
Colonel Andrea Stillson and Major Wilkerson met Jason in the repair bay. Colonel Stillson was the chief engineer of the Crescent and responsible for all repair jobs. Both saluted coming to attention as Jason walked over to them.
"As you were," Jason ordered returning the salutes. "How is your ship Major?"
Major Wilkerson glanced at Colonel Stillson before replying. "Not very good sir, the Colonel and I have walked through the ship with a team of techs making a list of what all needs to be repaired. She can be repaired but its going to take awhile."
"How long?" Jason asked looking inquiringly at Colonel Stillson.
Colonel Stillson hesitated a moment before answering, she knew that the Admiral might not like what he was about to hear. "The Defiant was hit very badly by the nuke. The exterior armor was blown apart and the blast penetrated twelve decks into the interior of the ship. A series of secondary explosions caused by the EMP, blast wave, and heat generated by the nuke fried most of the ships electronics which also set off a lot of fires."
"Frak," Jason uttered knowing this was going to be bad."
"The primary energizer blew spewing more radiation into the ship and the failsafe initiated an automatic shutdown of the reactor," the Colonel continued. One of the reserve ammo bunkers in the Starboard flight pod exploded causing severe damage. The entire interior of the bay will have to be rebuilt."
"We can do it sir," Major Wilkerson spoke his eyes fearful of the Admiral's possible response. He knew that there was a good chance the Admiral would order the Defiant to be removed from the repair bay and scuttled. It would take a lot of resources, time, and effort to repair the Defiant.
"How long," Jason asked once again. He knew he wouldn't like the answer.
"Six months," Colonel Stillson replied bracing herself for the Admiral's response.
"Six months," Jason breathed thinking about the pros and cons of repairing the Defiant. "Unfortunately we don't have a spare Gunstar packed in boxes on the supply ships. Would it be feasible to move the Defiant out of the repair bay for a few days while repairs are done to the Searcher and the Titania?"
"Yes sir," Colonel Stillson replied. "The auxiliary CIC is intact on the Defiant as well as the secondary energizer. We can establish life support and keep a small damage control team on the ship while we do the repairs on the Searcher and Titania."
"Is it necessary to keep a crew on the Defiant," Jason asked not wanting to put anyone in unnecessary danger; he had already lost enough people.
"Yes sir," Major Wilkerson replied. "If there is any type of incident on the Defiant we will have the people to respond to it immediately. There are a number of decks, including some of the crew's quarters that are still intact. We can complete our evaluation of the Defiant while the other Gunstars are being repaired."
Jason paused for several long moments before making his decision. "Very well, we will repair the Defiant. As long as the repair bay is not needed for anything else, but I want the Defiant ready to be abandoned at a moments notice if we need the Crescent to save another ship."
"Thank you sir," Major Wilkerson replied with relief washing over his face. "The crew will be thankful sir."
"Speaking of the crew what is the current status of the survivors," Jason asked. He had already talked to several of the doctors on the Colony ships and he knew that a number of the crew would be permanently disabled from the injuries they had sustained.
Major Wilkerson was silent for a moment. He had lost a lot of close friends and associates on the Defiant. "The final casualty figures show that we lost five hundred and twenty eight of the crew. Another seventy-eight will probably not be able to return to duty. The rest should be fit by the time the Defiant is repaired sir."
"We have some extra crew members on some of the other ships," Jason replied, he knew they had lost some of the injured from severe burns and intense radiation poisoning. They had excellent anti radiation drugs but some of the crewmembers had just been to close to the blast. "We may have to make a few adjustments and even so the Defiant will probably not have a full crew."
"We will make do sir," Major Wilkerson replied, he just didn't want the ship scrapped.
"Very well Major, keep me informed," Jason ordered understanding the Majors desire to have his ship repaired. "Colonel I want to begin repairs on the Titania and Searcher as soon as possible. Let me know how soon you can begin."
The next day the Defiant was eased out of the Crescent's cavernous repair bay. Several small damage control teams remained on board the Defiant along with a few crewmembers, including Major Wilkerson to monitor the damaged Gunstar. Once the Defiant was at a safe distance, the Gunstar Searcher eased herself into the bay and in a matter of minutes was securely at rest. Colonel Stillson had estimated that it would take two days of hard work to repair the damage done to the Searcher by the Ovions. Once the Searcher was repaired then it would be the Titania's turn.
They also found several asteroids rich in heavy metals as well as several small deposits of Tylium ore. The Mining ship Haven moved into the asteroid field and began mining and refining the Tylium finds first. Jason wanted both Tylium tankers topped off before they left the system. Several armed raptors were kept in the vicinity of the Haven to insure its security.
Jason and Major Dyson entered the main conference room on the Exploration ship Explorer. Dr. Carthews had requested that they come aboard to be briefed on their findings from the underground facility. Dr. Carthews had seemed to be quite excited.
"How long are we going to stay in this system?" Dr. Carthews demanded as soon as everyone was seated. "If it is going to be much longer I want to launch exploration raptors to the neighboring systems. There are several interesting looking star systems close by. We should be exploring them to see what resources they contain."
Jason took a deep breath, it was as if Dr. Carthews had already put the Ovions behind them and wanted to continue as if nothing had happened. "Dr. Carthews we will be staying in this system until both the Titania and the Searcher have been completely repaired. I also intend on mining sufficient Tylium to top off the tanks in our two Tylium tankers as well as every ship in the fleet."
"But that will take days!" Dr. Carthews objected with a severe frown. "We are not that low on Tylium and our primary objective is exploration. We can't hide in this one system!"
"It will take us about a week to mine and process sufficient Tylium," Jason replied in a firm but commanding voice. "While it is true we have put quite a bit of distance between us and the Ovions we don't know what we might encounter next. I intend to stay in this system for two weeks. That will give us time to finish processing the Tylium as well as mine some heavy metals to use for repair on the Defiant. Once that is complete we will push on non stop to the Delphi quadrant."
"The Delphi quadrant!" Dr. Carthews exploded standing up as anger washed across his face. "We will be passing up dozens of important star systems and stellar phenomena that we had planned on exploring. I demand that you reconsider!"
"That's correct Dr." Jason replied looking calmly at Dr. Carthews. "However for the safety of the fleet I feel it is best that we push on to the Delphi quadrant, after all that is our primary objective."
"Well, yes," Dr. Carthews sputtered. "But we planned on exploring along the way, not skipping so many star systems as you propose."
"I have made my decision Dr.," Jason replied wanting to put an end to this. "We will push on to the Delphi quadrant and search for a suitable system to set up our Colony in. Once that has been completed you and your team can explore the local area to your hearts content."
"Very well Admiral," Dr. Carthews replied knowing that the Admiral had made his decision. He sat back down knowing he had probably over reacted.
"Now what is this important information you have found about the New Kobolans?" Jason asked changing the subject back to what they had originally come to the Explorer for."
"We have finally deciphered all the base commanders logs as well as read a number of their historical texts," Dr. Graystone began knowing that Dr. Carthews was still flustered from the Admiral's revelation about pushing on to the Delphi quadrant.
"So we know New Kobol's history?" Major Dyson asked intrigued and wanting to hear more.
"Yes," Dr. Graystone continued with a slight smile knowing that she had everyone's attention. "We know that they founded the New Kobal colony slightly over two thousand years ago. Their population steadily grew until they began to set up their own new colony worlds in other systems. They even sent several expeditions back to Kobol!"
"Kobol!" Jason interrupted surprised. "Do we know the coordinates for the Kobol system?"
"Unfortunately not," Dr. Graystone replied shaking her head ruefully. "None of the texts we have gone through so far even hint at the location of Kobol."
"We believe it is intentional," Dr. Carthews said joining in on the conversation having calmed back down. "We know that they sent at least two expeditions back to Kobol but it was centuries after the Exodus. Kobol was a dead world, just barely beginning to recover from years of war and pollution."
"We think the government kept Kobol's location a secret wanting to allow Kobol's ecology to fully recover and perhaps someday a new human colony could be established on the planet," Dr. Graystone added. "They didn't want civilian ships from New Kobol journeying to Kobol itself to search the ruins or to risk damaging its fragile ecology."
"Somewhere on New Kobol the coordinates you want exist, but where we just don't know," Dr. Carthews said. A trip to Kobol could be an interesting journey some day. If he was the scientist that rediscovered Kobol's location it would permanently etch his place in history.
"We also know that New Kobal and her colonies lived a very peaceful existence," Dr. Graystone continued. "Their colonies continued to grow and commerce between the systems was very similar to what it is in our own Colonies."
"They maintained a small navy of around forty warships of all classes," Dr. Carthews stated referring to a sheet of paper in front of him where he had jotted down some information. "They had never felt the need for more, many of their politicians thought that forty ships were too many."
"Then they encountered the Ovions," Dr. Graystone said sadly. "Their total population on all their worlds combined was nearly four billion at the time of their first contact with Carillon."
"Four billion," Major Dyson repeated thoughtfully, surprised at the number. "You would think that after fifteen hundred years and starting out with the technology they had the population would have been much higher."
"Yes you would," Dr. Graystone replied nodding her head in agreement. "But when the Kobolans arrived on New Kobol they abandoned much of their technology preferring to live simpler lives. But as the centuries went by they gradually reintroduced the technology back until they reached the current level we observed."
"Then the Ovions attacked the first colony we found," Dr. Carthews said. "The Kobolans were both shocked and repelled by the violence. They immediately started constructing new warships while at the same time sending peace envoys to Carillon. The peace envoys never returned."
"From what we have been able to determine the war lasted nearly four years," Dr. Graystone spoke recalling some of the reading she had done about the war. It had been horrible and horrendous, nuclear weapons being used, massive ground assaults by the Ovions, and the atrocities. Women and children killed without any remorse by the Ovions as they swept through the countryside.
"The Kobolans knew they were losing the war as one colony after another fell," Dr. Carthews continued. "When only New Kobol alone survived they tried a desperate plan. They launched all their surviving warships against Ovion hoping to nuke the planet into submission. They failed and the retaliatory strike by the Ovions destroyed New Kobol, even though ground fighting may have lasted for several years in some areas of the planet."
"Four billion people dead," Jason said quietly. "It was a sad end for the Kobolans.
Dr. Carthews and Dr. Graystone continued to brief Jason and Major Dyson for nearly another hour on some of their discoveries, when they were through the small group sat quietly for several moments.
Nodding his head Jason stood up followed by Major Dyson, "thanks for the report. I know you still have a lot to go through, keep us informed of any interesting developments."
"We shall Admiral," Dr. Graystone replied.
"I would also like to read some of these historical texts myself," Jason stated shifting his attention to Dr. Graystone. "I understand you have transferred a number of them to your computer systems on the Explorer and the Star Search."
"Yes we have copied nearly twelve hundred of the books we brought up, several of them historical," Dr. Graystone replied looking at the Admiral curiously.
"Would you transfer several of the historical text files over to the Titania," Jason said. "I would like to read them myself; I think it would be interesting to read up on what happened to the Kobolans."
'I will take care of it Admiral," Dr. Graystone replied pleased with the interest the Admiral was showing.
Four days later Lt. Ashton and Lt. Johnson entered the ship's recreation center to spot Lt. Grimm and Lt. Everson sitting at a table over in one corner. Walking over the two young women sat down with the other two Lts.
"It's been a long day," Emily moaned leaning back in her chair and stretching.
"You should be in the CIC," Susan replied with a tired smile. "The Admiral wants to push on to the Delphi quadrant as soon as we can. I think we are about to wear the sensors and computers out with all the constant scans he has us doing."
"It's necessary," Karl Everson replied. "We have the mining ship in the asteroids mining heavy metals. We just finished the repairs on the Titania, and have moved the Defiant back into the Crescent's repair bay. We have to stay on top of everything, plus keep watch in case the Ovions manage to find us."
"Dr. Carthews is still complaining about not being able to send out exploration raptors to the nearby systems," Cynthia Johnson added, she didn't know how many times a day the Dr. contacted her wanting to talk to the Admiral.
Karl caught the attention of one of the servers and ordered a round of Ambrosia for all of them. "We need to loosen up some," he said with a grin.
"Let's order some food," Emily said feeling hunger pains and not wanting to drink to much Ambrosia on an empty stomach. "The cafeteria food is ok but sometime it tastes a little too bland."
"I'm glad we have the Agro ship with us," Susan commented brushing a strand of blonde hair back away from her eyes. "At least we can have fresh fruits and vegetables on occasion and not the standard military fare we normally get stuck with."
Karl shook his head at the three girls as they all ordered fruit salads, where as he ordered a steak. "I don't see how you three survive on that," he commented once their food had been delivered.
"It's easy," Susan replied teasingly. "We enjoy the benefits of the fruit and vegetables from the Agro ship this way and it hardly affects our pay. Where as you ordered a steak and that is going to hit your pay pretty heavily with the cubits it costs."
"Yes, but it's worth it," Karl commented sighing contentedly as he chewed and swallowed a piece of the medium rare steak that was on his plate. He then took a deep drink of the Ambrosia in his glass thinking that life could not get much better then this.
"Do you think we will ever see the Ovions again?" Susan asked as she took a bite of her fruit salad.
"I hope not," Emily replied closing her eyes enjoying the fresh taste of her food.
"We put a lot of distance between them and us," Karl replied as he cut off another piece of steak. "Once we are in the Delphi quadrant I don't see how they could ever find us."
"From what I have heard Dr. Graystone say, they don't venture far from their home world anyway," Cynthia replied. "If the Kobolans hadn't stumbled across them on their mineral survey, the war with the Ovions probably never would have occurred."
"Can you imagine what it would have been like if the Kobolans had survived," Emily spoke thoughtfully. "What if we had found actual inhabited Kobolan colonies instead of destroyed ones?"
Everyone was quiet for a minute eating their food and thinking about Emily's comment. What would it have been like to have found living Kobolan colonies? They also wondered just what they would find in the Delphi quadrant.
Five days later Jason stood in the CIC of the Titania. All ships were topped off with Tylium, the two tankers were full, and they had a good load of heavy metals to begin the repairs on the Defiant.
"All ships are ready sir," Major Dyson stated from her position across the operations table.
"Very well then," Jason replied looking around the CIC. "Order all ships to spin up their FTL drives and standby to jump on my command."
On the main view screen, Jason could see the Crescent and her huge repair bay. Inside that bay, the Defiant was docked beginning what would be the first of many long months of repairs.
"Ships ready to jump sir," Major Dyson reported.
"Begin the jump," Jason ordered. He watched the screen as the ships begin to blink out. Then he felt the normal queasiness as the Titania jumped. They had begun the first in a long series of jumps that would finally end in the Delphi quadrant, where they could begin their true mission.
My wife and I are going to visit my daughter this weekend so I probably will not update next week. I promise the next update will introduce the Delphi quadrant and several surprises that await the fleet there.
Some future hints for everyone: Unfortunately, we have not seen the end of the Ovions. The Cylons are still waiting in the future. In addition, there is still the fall of the Colonies. Don't forget there is the secret fleet base that is waiting the Titania's return.
I have everything outlined clear through to the end, and I think that if everyone stays with me you will enjoy where this is going. There will be nothing written that will seriously contradict the TV series. I am just offering some other possibilities.