Author Note: This takes place during the last two episodes of Battlestar Galactica season 1 and the next six episodes of season 2.

The Odyssey deals with a serious threat to the fleet and when they return and discover the fleet gone and are attack by Cylons the Odyssey will show its true courage against the Cylons.

Chapter 7

Three Raptors from Odyssey are scouting the areas ahead of the fleet in case the Cylons have a surprise in store for the fleet. Galactica has their own Raptors out. Boomer and Crashdown reports back to Galactica they found Kobol. The word Kobol has been found spread throughout the fleet. Commander William Adama and Captain Lee Adama both agree to send a recon team to Kobol. While the mission is being plan the three Raptors from Odyssey return and land onboard the Odyssey. Kelly exits her Raptor and heads for the admiral's office so she can give her report to the admiral. She enters his office and salute her father. "What have you found?"

"Sir, we found 3 Basestars protecting a Colonial Battlestar possibly the Columbia."

"Why would the Cylons be protecting a Battlestar?" Heath says. Lieutenant Kelly Horton didn't have an answer to her father's question. "You know what I think. They manage to capture a battlestar and hope to use it against us to bring it into the fleet and then launch Raiders instead of Vipers which will catch us off guard."

"Sir, I heard Boomer found Kobol is that true?" Kelly asks.

"It would appear so lieutenant," he answers. Kelly leaves his office. She heads to the recreation room aboard the Odyssey to celebrate with the others. Commander Matt Raynor and the staff at CIC are concentrating on their work. Admiral Horton contacts Commander Adama on Galactica. He tells him what Kelly found out and that he will be taking the Odyssey and all but one of her support ships to investigate the Cylon. He also warn Adama the Cylons may already have found Kobol by now and might have Centurions searching the planet. Commander Adama asks for additional marines and Admiral Horton sends a platoon over commanded by Lieutenant Hercules. Lieutenant Hercules is 6'5 and very strong he carries a Minigun as his primary weapon. The Odyssey and her support ships jumped. Admiral Horton arrives at CIC prior to them jumping. They jump behind the planet the Cylons are orbiting hoping to go unnoticed until Admiral Horton decides attack. He dispatches several Stealth fighters to gather more intelligence plus three stealth Raptors to board the battlestar. He knows they must try to catch the Cylons off-guard.

Commander Adama launches three Raptors too Kobol plus two Vipers that Admiral Horton lone him from the Odyssey which are equipped with FTL like the Raptors. As soon as they emerge from their jump they are attack by Cylon Raiders. One Raptor is destroyed. The Vipers destroy a few Cylon Raiders but they are quickly overwhelmed and destroyed. A Raptor crashes on Kobol and the third jumps back to the fleet.

Admiral Horton and his crew are waiting for the right time to attack the Cylons. The Stealth Fighters and Stealth Raptors are on approach to the Cylon control Battlestar. The Stealth Raptors are equipped with cloaking technology curtesy of Cyberdine Industries which the cloaking is still exponential but so far it has worked well for Admiral Horton. The Raptors land in the hanger while the fighters gather more information. Colonial Marines exit from the Raptors. Lieutenant Horton tells all Raptor pilots to keep the cloak active. The marines see no Cylons in the area they enter the ship. The lights are turn down since Centurions don't need lights to see. Lieutenant Kelly Horton and two other Raptor pilots are with the marines they're heading to CIC. The ship is like the Galactica. They discover the name of the ship Zeus and ship presumed lost during the First Cylon War. They see skeletons of dead colonels plus dead First Cylon War era Centurions. They kept alert. They see a few Cylon Centurions walking around with several humanoid Cylons. They have to hide from a patrol. Several Centurions approach the empty pilot ready room but a Cylon humanoid who looks just like Sharon tells them to keep preparing the ship for jump. The Colonial Marines have their helmet cams recording everything. Several look at each other not believing what they saw. The images are being transmitted back to the Odyssey. After the Centurions and the humanoid Cylon left they continue to the CIC. They enter CIC and find it abandon itself for the lifeless corpses and dead Centurions but the marines checked to make sure they're dead. The marine commander gives Lieutenant Kelly thumbs up acknowledging they're clear. Kelly gets to work. The other two pilots head to weapons and damage control. The marines secure the entrances. They all know once the Battlestar fires on the Cylons they'll have incoming. The Battlestar Zeus fires a silo of ship-to-ship missiles which hit the nearest Basestar. "Here we go," Kelly says. The First Cylon War era Centurion comes around the corner but a marine nails it with his Plasma Rifle. Two more appeared and they to meet a similar fate. A pilot reports Heavy Raiders are launching from the nearest Basestar. The Raptor that are still manned exit the ship still cloak. They fired a silo of missiles at the incoming Heavy Raiders but have to decloak to do so. Raiders overwhelm them and destroy the two Raptors. The remaining Heavy Raiders sent out land onboard the Zeus.

Admiral Horton Raptors report the mission is go. The Odyssey and her support ships jumped in. All of Odyssey and her support ships launched fighters. The admiral knows this is going to be a risky mission and perhaps costly. Three Raptors are also launch to board the other battlestar and give some assistance to the marines onboard. The first Basestar next to the Odyssey didn't get a chance before it's destroyed by the Odyssey's energy weapons. Major Horton callsign Neptune has his Viper squadrons in attack formation. Raiders and Heavy Raiders are heading their way in the exact same formation. Major Horton gives the order to fire two ship-to-ship missiles. The Vipers fired their missiles. He then tells them to break and hit the Raiders from above since they're still heading straight for the Odyssey. "Sir shall we raise shields," Ensign Sarah Walker ask. Heath shakes his head. The Raiders continue their approach to the Odyssey and her support ships. The Odyssey and her support ships have already established their flack barrier around the ships. What the Cylons don't know which he hopes they don't a squadron of Stealth Fighters and Raptors are getting in position to fire on the two remaining Basestars. The Zeus Cannon fires hitting one Basestar which cause heavy damage to the ship. The Raptors and Stealth Fighters fired obliterating the two Basestars. The Stealth Fighters and Raptors joined with the Vipers to mop up the Raiders. Raptors land onboard the Zeus and helped the marines onboard the ship take out the Cylons. They capture the Cylon that looks just like Sharon Valerii. Admiral Horton arrives aboard the Zeus. "Sir, what will we do with this ship?" Lieutenant Kelly asks.

"Scavenge whatever we can use or the Galactica can use. Several Heavy Raiders manage escape with dozens of Raiders I'm sure they're going to get backup." Heath tells them.

"Sir, how many pilots did we lose?"

"Sixteen died, twenty-one planes destroyed and eight Raptors," he tells her. "Marine casualties were light about 6 killed and another 8 wounded."

"You think we can find replacements in the fleet?"

"Don't know with both us and the Galactica needing replacements," he says.

"We can always send Raptors back to Caprica to find replacements and survivors."

"I thought about that first we must get approval from the president." Master Chief Sarah Palmer and other deck hands/engineers arrive onboard to begin savaging the ship. They check all the arms locker and recovered everything. Admiral Horton goes to CIC where some secondary CIC crew are busy looking over Zeus CIC. "What are you doing?"

"Were trying to scavenge whatever we can from these computer be careful the Cylons could have laid traps." Admiral Horton goes to the CO quarters. He finds the commander log books. He looks for the last part of the log to explain what happened. He finds what he's looking for. It reads;

Commander Alex Taylor Commanding Officer of the Battlestar Zeus. This will be my last entry. We escape a colony the Cylons were attacking after the fleet was wiped out we use a random jump and wind up out in the middle of nowhere we thought we were safe but the Cylons followed us. Eight Basestars followed us. We held them off for a while but after our Vipers were destroyed they launched every Raider they had. We had to stop firing or risk the rounds going off in the ship. I ordered my crew to prepare for boarding. I sent a force of Raptors to engage them they were destroyed within seconds after releasing every missile they had. The Cylons didn't intend to destroy this ship that was cleared. Hundreds of Centurions board this ship my marines' fought valiantly but were evenly overwhelm. I manage to get out of CIC before the Centurions attacked. I wrote this report while marines continue to fight. I order my XO to activate the self-destruct but I don't thank he made it with fighting over the ship.

Admiral Horton takes the log now his log are part of human history. He even removes the commander dog tags. He has already given the order for the crew of the Zeus dog tags to be remove. A Colonial Marine sergeant arrives at the commander quarters. "Sir, DRADIS just picked up additional Cylons Basestars DRADIS is counting 8. We need to get off this ship." Heath nods and they head towards the hanger bay. He gets on the Raptor and it returns to the Odyssey. Upon arriving on Odyssey he orders the CAP to launch alert Vipers. Raptors begin arriving from the Zeus with whatever they could bring back. Admiral Horton arrives at CIC. The hatch is sealed by a Colonial Marine. He looks at DRADIS and sees the Basestars moving closer and they've launched Raiders. After the last Raptor lands onboard the Vipers are recalled by that time the Basestars and Raiders have gotten closer. "Detonate the nuke and jump." Heath says. The Zeus explodes taking two Basestars and hundreds of Raiders with it Odyssey jumps right into the frying pan.

While Odyssey scavenge supplies and other stuff from the Zeus for the fleet on Caprica Major Xander and a platoon hit a Cylon patrol wiping them out. Major Xander knows the Cylons will have to attack them soon or they'll keep hitting them. Two days ago they hit a group of Cylons killing several Centurions but also a dozen Skin Jobs. A squad commanded by Lieutenant Blair is looking for survivors when they come across a camp. They are surrounded by people. One steps forward. Anders introduce himself since this is the first time he has seen anyone in Colonial Uniforms. He tells Lieutenant Blair to tell his commander a large force of Centurions is moving towards their location. Blair is shock to learn these resistance fighters now where their base is. Lieutenant Blair hurries back to warn the major. Major Xander orders the base to be abandon. He sends Lieutenant Blair and a platoon of Colonial Marines to hold the Cylons off for as long as possible. Major Xander sends the bulk of his men to their hidden airbase to return to Colonel Riker while Captain Hurt and his men make contact with the resistance. Major Xander goes and join Lieutenant Blair.

Lieutenant Blair and his men setup in the best spot where the Centurions most likely will march through. They setup two heavy machineguns and dug in. a few minutes later they spot the Centurions. They open fire the first wave of Centurions is completely wiped out, but now their surprise is ruin. Two waves of Centurions hit them the second time and marines began to fall. One marines notice a group of Centurion setting up a mortar but he silence them with his rocket launcher but a Centurion sniper puts a bullet into his skull. The second assault is also beaten but Lieutenant Blair has lost half of his platoon. Major Xander arrives adding some much needed reinforcements. A lone Raptor Gunship appears firing missiles at the Centurions then open fire with its cannons. However a Centurion blows the Raptor out with a Cylon Anti-Air Launcher. Major Xander tells Lieutenant Blare to retreat with his men and to head to the resistance base and that is where he will find Captain Hurt and to tell him he's in command of all Colonial Military Units on Caprica. Lieutenant Blair gather the men that can still move and they withdraw if they most of them have been wounded. Lieutenant Blair and his men turn around and watch the major and his fresh troops with the severely wounded continue to fight. They moved on knowing there isn't nothing they can do. The third wave of Centurions rolled over them. Lieutenant Blair and his men make contact with Captain Hurt and he gives the captain the last orders from the major. Captain Hurt and the Colonial Marines joined with Anders and his resistance group.

Back at the last known fleet location the Odyssey notice DRADIS is clear but then Cylon Ships appeared on DRADIS. Admiral Horton counts 9 Basestars. The crew were still at Action Stations the Vipers are loaded into the tubes. "Shields up," Heath says just as the Basestars open fire. Vipers Launch passing through the shields. Major Horton knows this will be a hard fight. Two of her support ships are destroyed. The rest launch Vipers to help Odyssey. They must give the Odyssey time to recharge the FTL. The Odyssey and her support ships establish a Flack Barrier and they prepare to go on the offensive. Marine Fireteams are spread throughout the ships ready to repel boarders if the Cylons manage to knock out their shields. The Zeus Cannon fires hitting two Basestars. One of the Basestars stars hits another ship. The Basestars are two close to use nuclear ordnance because they could be destroyed as well. Admiral Horton looks at the shield status it says 54%. "We need to do something or our shields will be depleted and they'll need time to recharge."

"What do you suggest sir?" Heath thanks about it he hears the pilots over the radio/wireless. "Arm 2 nukes have the first detonate behind the Cylons and have the second detonate 20 minutes after the first."

"Yes sir," they reply.

"Sir, will our shields withstand the EMP wave?" heath shrugs but he remembers his father telling him something about another shield the Odyssey has but he doesn't remember what it is. "Sir, all eight of the Basestars have sustain damage from the Odyssey primary weapons including our ultra-heavy weapon the Zeus Cannon. Our shields are at 43%." Commander Raynor tells him. Viper pilots are still engaging the Raiders. Several Raiders and Heavy Raiders brake through the Viper. Captain Douglas callsign Firefly gives chase with three other Vipers. Captain Douglas contacts Odyssey and tells them they have bogies coming straight at them. Odyssey confirms it and launch ship-to ship missiles at the Cylons. A good portion of them are destroyed by the missiles Captain Douglas and the other three Vipers also manage to destroy some of the Raiders. The Flack Barrier destroy majority of them but the rest of them are hit when they hit the Odyssey's shields. Commander Raynor gives the order for the Vipers and Raptor Gunships to return to the ship. They disengage from their battle with the Raiders. Another two squadrons of Vipers are in the tubes ready to launch but their launch is terminated. The Viper lands and the pods are close.

Onboard one of the Cylon Basestars several of the Cylon modules are amaze how powerful the Battlestar Odyssey is. The Cylon want the ship intact so they can steal the advance weaponry that somehow the Colonials were able to create prior to the fall. They see the Vipers returning to the ship. They launch two more waves of Raiders. The Cylon picked up a radiation alarm and see the Odyssey launch two nukes. However the nukes miss the Basestars. "Are they crazy the nukes will destroy them too? Launch all our Raiders beat down their shields." The Basestars continue to fire on the Odyssey.

Onboard the Odyssey Admiral Horton sees the nukes trajectory and the Basestars are hammering their shields the Raiders have gotten into formation all of their Raiders waiting to swarm the ship once the shields go down. He looks at the shield indicator 29%. "Detonate the first nuke." The first nuke is detonated. A green indicator is blinking on the command console. He presses it. He looks at the shield indicator and it says EMP shield 200%. The Raiders are completely inert two Basestars are destroyed the rest survived but not for long. "Detonate the second nuke."

"Yes sir," his weapon officer says. The second nuke is detonated. Only two survived but badly damage.

"Finish them off," Commander Raynor. The Zeus Cannons fire obliterating the remaining Cylon Basestars. "Launch our Vipers, destroy those Toasters." Every Viper Squadron on the Odyssey is launched. Heath smiles massive payback but the Cylons are still out there and he has a feeling they're just getting started. The Vipers return. "Sixteen Vipers lost along with 16 pilots. The pilots of the Odyssey aren't at full strength anymore but they haven't even lost half of their pilots yet.

"Commander, is FTL ready to jump to the alternate jump site?"

"Yes sir," he says. The Odyssey and her support ships jumps but finds nothing on DRADIS.

"Maybe something happen maybe the Cylons got to them," an ensign on the bridge says.

"No, there would be debris but there's nothing maybe they jump again. We'll head to Kobol after we rest for 6 hours. Commander I want a skeleton crew everyone is to be bed within the next 30 minutes."

"Yes sir," Commander Raynor says. Admiral Horton heads to his quarters. Marines and pilots pass him getting out of his way and saluting and he returns the salute. He arrives at his quarters his wife wasn't there she must still be in Sick Bay treating the wounded. He hears a knock on the door.

"Come in," he says. Major John Horton and Lieutenant Kelly Horton enters. "Major, Lieutenant what can I do for you?"

"Sir, we request permission to take a Raptor back to Kobol and see if the Galactica is there and if any people are on the surface." Lieutenant Kelly says.

"Very well take four Raptors, and four of the new Vipers with FTL for support." They thank there father. The colonial vessels jump. The Odyssey will jump nine hours later. Commander Raynor remains in CIC with a small crew while a platoon of Colonial Marines patrol the corridors. A report arrives from Odyssey support ships. They sustain heavy damage from the Cylons and can't repair. Commander Raynor decides to transfer the crews to the Odyssey. Vipers land onboard the ship from the support ships. The support ships are empty of anything Galactica, Odyssey and the civilian fleet might need. They set the ships to self-destruct as soon as Odyssey jumps. Nine hours later after the crew had some time to sleep the Odyssey jumps to Kobol.

Prior to Odyssey's arrival the Raptors commanded by Major John Horton arrives over Kobol and is surprise to see a civilian fleet present but know Galactica. "Civilian Fleet this is Raptor 428 we were sent here by Admiral Horton."

"Raptor 428 this is Lee Adama good to see you," he says.

"Request permission to land."

"Granted," Lee Adama says. They land onboard the ship Adama and the President of the colonies is on. Lee Adama and two others are theire to meet them. They shake hands with the marines. Lee escorts them to Lara Roslin.

"Where's the Galactica?" Major Horton asks.

"There been some developments while you'll were on vacation." They arrive Tom Zarek is also present. The Colonial Marines enter. Laura Roslin comes up to Major Horton.

"Major, when will your father be arriving?" She asks.

"In nine hours ma'am," he answers.

"Major, we'll be landing on Kobol soon we would like to barrow a few of your marines."

"Sure," he says. Captain Lee Adama, four marines from Odyssey, and the others head down to the planet. Lieutenant Kelly and the others remain in orbit. Major Horton is also down on the planet with them. Nine hours later the Odyssey jumps in. Commander Raynor and Admiral Horton is in CIC. Heath wonder what happen to the rest of the fleet. Kelly and the others return to the Odyssey. Lieutenant Kelly Horton informed Admiral Horton what happened. He's shock by the news in his opinion both Adama and President Roslin were wrong in the way they did things. Colonel Tigh was wrong with the shootings.

"Sir, four Raptors request permission to land." Lieutenant Maria Kent says.

"Grant them permission to land." The Raptors land. Master Chief Sarah Palmer is supervise to see Captain Hardy and the other colonial marines that were dispatch to Caprica before the Odyssey jumps. Admiral Horton is glad to see them. They fill in the admiral on everything that has happen since their arrival on Caprica. He tells them to report to Sick Bay, get some chow and get some sleep.

Days later the entire fleet is back together President Roslin is once again recognized as the president of the 12 colonies by Commander William Adama. Admiral Horton helps replenish Galactica supplies from what they salvage from the Battlestar Zeus and from the support ships they had to destroy. Two platoons of Colonial Marines from one of the support ships are assign to Galactica along with a Viper Squadron.