Resistance is futile, seriously?

"Launch the attack package," Colonel Tigh commanded as he set the current plan in motion. With the machines tunneling furiously to get at the Thirteeners in Zion, they had to do something to staunch the flow of Sentinels that would make it to the city. Boomer and Mojo both were launching right now from the side of the Galactica on their way down to the planet.

"Ready to go." Boomer saluted the launch officer sitting fifteen or so feet from her. This was still a surprise for her, having spent the last several days inside the Matrix with what they were starting to call their "Colonial Gate" team. One thing Boomer knew was if ever they started a Colonial Stargate Command, she definitely wanted to be a part of it. All those thoughts rushed quickly away from her when she and Mojo received their orders to deliver the payloads. Pushing down on her throttle and waiting for the catapult to shove her off of the ship, she thought again about the situation that she had been in with the system agent and what he had said about being a fellow machine. That still did not sit well with her. All of those thoughts cleared away as the catapult engaged and she was pushed back into her seat as her Viper raced down the launch tube and the Galactica spat her out into space. She had missed the look of stars and the jolt of light that being a Viper and Raptor pilot always gave her. She had always enjoyed flying Vipers, but her real love was the Raptor. Sure, it was a big floating trashcan but it was far more versatile and could do so much more.

"Lets form up; we need to get through that cloud cover quickly – it's heavily ionized and the quicker we get through it the less damage it can do to our systems," she said to Mojo as she cleared her mind again. They both quickly put their planes in formation and made for the grey swirling planet below them. Off to her right she could clearly see the Enterprise coming about so that they could perform their part of the mission. She and Mojo both watched with interest as the Enterprise now pointed her nose at the planet and the large mass cannon under her began to turn and then glow as it readied to fire. During their briefing, they had been told that the Tauri part of the mission would be a directed planetary bombardment to destroy the primary staging area for the Sentinel invasion. She had not been in the air for the first battle with the Cylons, so had not seen the Enterprise in action. She even felt a little fear as the cannon below the Enterprise began to glow brighter and brighter, almost as if a light came on inside the barrel and was shot out at barely sub-light speed towards the planet below. It seemed to separate the clouds that blanketed the planet for a moment, giving her a chance to clearly see some type of structure beneath the clouds.

"That's our cue. Let's get moving. The Sentinels should be a little bit off balance now."

"Roger that. I would not want to be in the way of that shot," Mojo remarked as he remembered the view from his cockpit when the Enterprise tore two Basestars in half with one of those rounds. They both entered the atmosphere as they watched. The clouds that had covered the spot where the slug had passed glowed very brightly for a few seconds as the round struck home. The ride was rough for a bit as the two ships broke through the atmosphere and exited the cloud cover. Fortunately for them, they were flying in sturdy ships because the ionized clouds were wreaking havoc on their systems. For a normal ship, the clouds would have destroyed their systems almost immediately.

"Systems back to normal. Let's reacquire our target," Boomer commanded the team as they reoriented their Vipers and shot down in the direction of the tunnel system that would deliver them to their target. The machines had been digging for a while before the Tauri had discovered the Thirteeners, so they had already tunneled three of the four kilometers needed to reach the city. It was Boomer's job to see that as few of the Sentinels as possible made it the last kilometer. They were within a hundred kilometers of the entrance now and at ballistic speeds that would cover the distance quickly. So far, they had not seen any Sentinels guarding the entrances to the tunnels, a good sign. It was not easy to see anything on the surface with as much devastation and degradation as there was. It was obvious at this distance how complete the destruction to the planet had been. From space, nothing was visible but the clouds, and the devastation they now saw made them both sad and angry. Once inside the tunnels, the planet felt very different. It felt dormant, but seemed to be building up slowly as though it were ready to spew forth some great sickness from itself. The maps that had been programmed into the ships' computers she had first thought crude, but she realized now they were actually quite accurate. They were within thirty kilometers of their target and she gave the order to arm their missiles. The nuclear missiles they carried were their own, but the Tauri had augmented them somehow (the techie had said something about coils and EMP enhancements), but she didn't understand it. All they cared about was, in just a minute, a lot of machines were going to go 'boom.'

"Thirty seconds to release. When we release we need to punch our afterburners and get out quickly or these tunnels will funnel the blast right to us."

"Aye, Sir," Mojo answered in recognition.

"Release on three, now, now ... Now!" At that, they both launched their ten-megaton nuclear warheads, which sped the last fifteen kilometers to their designated targets. The missiles would hug the terrain for the last few kilometers and do their best to remain undetected until they gave their big announcement to the world. Boomer and Mojo, however, were on their way to Zion.

It was deemed that once they were planetside, they would not meet the fuel requirements to get back to the Galactica, so they elected that the two Vipers be brought to Zion. They would then be sent through the Stargate to New Lantea and back to test the viability of their being used for Gate travel. Commander Adama was quite the multi-tasker.

"Zion Control, this is Boomer and Mojo. Request clearance for entrance and docking," Boomer finally said, after two hours of tunnels and evading Sentinels had led them to within a few kilometers of the entrance to Zion.

"You are cleared for entry through Gate 3 and you can dock in Bay 5. Good work on the raid, Friends. It looks like they're still tunneling but the word is their numbers have been cut in half. Thank you," the voice from Zion Control said. With that, Gate 3 began to slide open and the two ships slipped silently into the bustling dock. There were no Matrix ships in right now, but with all the defenses being readied, there were people everywhere.

"Look at those things – what are they?" Mojo pointed as they glided towards their docking area and passed over the hulking mass of one of the APUs. It looked like Captain Mufuni was running this particular APU, which had both of its Gatling cannons out and ready to fire on anything coming through the entrance.

"Those are heavy weapons carriers. They're called APUs, and the captain down there will give you a tour if you ask nicely. When I asked, he even let me sit in one," Boomer said with a smile, remembering her meeting with the man in charge of the APU Corps. When they landed, they both made their way to Commander Adama to get their next mission. It would turn out to be a while before they saw him again, though.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kobol

XXXXXXXXXX

"General, we have the president of the Colonies aboard and he is being briefed on the Thirteenth Colony right now."

"Good. How much have you briefed him on what we found on Kobol?"

"We were going to let you do that, Sir, when you spoke with him," the XO of the Odyssey said as he sat in the command chair aboard his ship. Currently Colonel Chekov and Dr. Weir were with the president, so that left him in charge for the time being.

"Is the Gate ready? I know you had a few on board to give to the Colonials."

"Yes, Sir. They're planning to come through the Gate within the hour to meet with you. We also planned on letting you tell them about the gift of the Gates for their home worlds," the XO said, then stopped abruptly, realizing that someone new had stepped into the frame behind General O'Neillll.

"Cat is out of the bag on that one, General," Admiral Cain said as she stepped up onto the back of the pedestal that the general was sitting in underground on Kobol.

"Yeah, I guess I missed that one. If you could let me tell the president, though that would be nice."

"I think I can do that. This place is incredible, though," the admiral said when suddenly several alarms started to go off.

"What is it, Sir?" The XO asked, hearing the alarms and noticing the very serious look appear on the General's face.

"Has the president stepped through the Gate yet?"

"Yes, Sir. He should be there any second."

"We'll alert him here. You need to alert the Colonies: the Cylons are coming. They have started the invasion. We've had their codes broken for a few days now and it looks like they have finished their final phase for the pre-invasion. Everyone needs to be on alert."

"Understood, Sir. I will alert my superiors and we will move from there."

"I'll call you back within the next thirty minutes once I have spoken to President Adar," Jack finished speaking. He switched focus to the screen displays at the front of the room that were now zooming in on the Cyrannus Sector and the Cylon attack beginning to take shape.

"What can I do to help?" Admiral Cain asked, clearly uncomfortable with not being able to shoot at something.

"I need you to go and get the president. He will be going through pleasantries and such but I need him here right now and I can't just transport him." She hurried from the room to bring the president back.

"Dr. Rush," Jack said to get the doctor's attention. Rush was sitting in one of the forward chairs controlling the sensor network and separating targets from friendlies in the system. "I need you to finish before I can activate the defense network in that area. I need to activate it in five minutes. Make sure you don't miss any ships," Jack said as he mentally located the fleet of Auroras already on the way to the Colonies.

"Colonel Telford, how far out from the Colonies are you?" Jack asked as a hologram popped up in the air above him.

"Hello, Sir. We're two hours out, but we are only running at 70% power. Is something wrong?" Colonel Telford asked. He seemed genuinely surprised to be speaking to the general.

"Yes. I am sending you the coordinates to rendezvous with the Odyssey. The Colonies are being invaded by the Cylons. The attack is underway now and I need you there to help the Odyssey."

"Understood. Receiving coordinates. We will be there in five to ten minutes," Telford said and closed the connection. While Jack knew Telford could be a bit of a pain at times, he also knew they had essentially the same brain. As the screen closed, Jack could hear the commotion behind him as the president and his entourage came through the main entranceway from aboveground. At their arrival Jack got up from his chair and stepped quickly down from the pedestal to address the president. The last thing he wanted was to have the president misunderstand how serious this was.

"Hello, Mr. President," Jack greeted him respectfully as he approached the president, who was being surrounded by his security detail.

"This is General O'Neill of the Tauri," Cain explained as she entered the room behind the president's detail.

"Hello, General. It's good to meet you. Do you mind if I ask what exactly you are in charge of? If your military is anything like ours, sometimes the rank doesn't signify importance," he interjected, wanting to know how important Jack was and if he should be listened to or was just some functionary.

"No problem, Mr. President. I am Commander in Chief of all Tauri assets, personnel, and operations not directly involved with the protection of our home world, which puts me in charge of all operations within the Ida Galaxy, Pegasus Galaxy – which is your galaxy – and the Milky Way Galaxy, where my home world is located."

"Do you mean to tell me that the Tauri are not from our galaxy?" He asked, having a hard time believing these people were from that far away. Operate out of three galaxies? How could that be possible? He wondered to himself as he began to look around. "What is this place?" He asked, looking directly into Jack's eyes, trying to assess how much he could trust this person sitting in the seat of power his people should be occupying.

"This is the central command center for a galaxy-wide defense network. Right now, though, I must inform you that the Colonies are under attack. We have been observing the Cylons since we arrived here, but it seems they have just begun their full-scale invasion of the Colonies." Jack stopped as all of the Colonials began to panic a bit.

"Why would you allow us to come here knowing that?"

"We have the ability to destroy most of their fleet. If you will let me, I can help to defend the Colonies," Jack said as he invited the president to step up onto the pedestal while Jack sat down in the command chair and four of the screens along the wall combined to display a diagram of the invasion force and the neighboring star systems. "This is the strike force coming at the Cyrannus System. I have satellites in place to destroy more than seventy-five percent of the incoming force. The problem is, there are two areas the satellites cannot reach," Jack explained as two groups of Basestars began to glow and the president could see those two groups would be able to get through the net of protection.

"Can you get ships to these places and block the gaps in the defensive line?" Jack asked.

"Admiral Nagala, can our ships be in place in time?" The president asked the admiral who had been standing quietly in the back.

"We can definitely reach the first area in time with a significant force, but at this second point we could only put a Battlestar or two." Nagala began to mentally construct the flash orders he would need to produce as soon as he could get back.

"That's not a problem. What we haven't gotten to tell you yet is I have four more ships on the way into the Cyrannus System. They were supposed to be bringing Stargates for each of your worlds and one extra for military purposes as a token of our friendship, but we can hold that off for a bit. They can rendezvous with the Odyssey and attack this second force. " He controlled the holograms with his mind to activate the defense satellites, which quickly sprang into action engaging the first grouping of Basestars. "Mr. President, hopefully we can continue our talks and the tour we had planned, but I'm sure you want to get back to your people. "

"I definitely do. Can you get us back to Caprica?" The president asked, hoping they were not now out of the fight.

"Definitely. I've already given orders for the Odyssey to drop the military Gate in your presidential bunker. As we speak, it's being transported there and when you are ready we can connect the Kobol Gate to it and you can go through. Admiral Nagala, do you need to go somewhere different?" Jack looked at Nagala.

"I need to be on Picon, but if you can get me somewhere close I can make do," he said as he motioned for Admiral Cain to join him. "Admiral Cain, please accompany me. I'll need you to take charge of the first strike group. The Colonies need you on the front line. Commander Adama?" He called, looking for the commander, who had come through the Gate only a moment before they had from the Tauri home world here in Pegasus. "I'm giving you a field promotion to Admiral and placing you in charge of all the ships around Kobol and the Thirteenth Colony. Until such time as the promotion can be finalized, you will be in charge of this mission."

"The Ajax will transport you all through her Stargate, I will talk to you soon, Mr. President." Jack signaled the Ajax to transport the group away. He sent orders along to inform the Ajax about who would be going where. The president and his staff went directly to Caprica through their new Gate, and the admirals ended up aboard the Odyssey and were treated to the sight of four Auroras dropping out of hyperspace right beside the Odyssey. Meanwhile, Jack and now Admiral Adama were left to do their jobs still in the control room on Kobol.

"Engaging satellites in offensive fire mode," Jack said aloud to make the command formal and set the satellites in their proper roles. As he did this, the satellites on the screens began to glow red, and then orange, and finally green as their beam weapons charged. Adama watched the video feed from one of the satellites as it engaged its main weapon and the massive beam annihilated three Basestars. The beam passed through two ships, causing them to erupt and blow up a third that was simply too close. The remaining twenty or so Baseships attempted to engage the satellite, only to discover that there were three more satellites already in range with strange white lights erupting from them and destroying everything in range.

"What are those lights coming from the satellites? The ones destroying those Raiders and Heavy Raiders?" Adama inquired.

"They're Alterran drone weapons. They are nasty little buggers, capable of getting through just about anything. They can even phase in and out of normal space to pass through shields and other impassable obstacles. We have a similar style of drone that we employ on our larger ships. Not as good, but close." Jack finished explaining and went back to destroying the Cylon fleet. This would not be a good day for the Cylons

XXXXXXXXXX

Odyssey: In Orbit around Caprica

XXXXXXXXXX

"Incoming wormhole!" The payload technician called out. The Gate sprung to life as the wormhole settled itself into the ring and a large group of people stumbled out from the other side, obviously not yet used to Gate travel.

"Hello, Mr. President," Dr. Weir said as she approached the man in the middle of the group. "I am sorry for the change in plans. Once the alert went out, they locked down the city below and they wanted a presidential access code before they would allow us to beam anything or anyone down."

"Thank you, Dr. Weir. Can you direct me to where I can give the code and you can send us back? Also, can you see to it that Admirals Nagala and Cain make it back to Picon?"

"Of course, Sir," she said as she motioned for the president to follow her back to the communications station at the back of the bay. Then the president input his code at the terminal. He and his team disappeared in a flash of light and found themselves deep in the presidential bunker, getting ready for the coming assault. Within moments the Gate they had just come through also disappeared and reappeared within that same presidential bunker.

"Are we ready to go?" Dr. Weir called out to the bridge and Colonel Chekov answered.

"The rest of our team just arrived."

"Set course for Picon, and beam us to the bridge," Weir said.

Cain smiled as Nagala reacted with surprise at being so suddenly on the bridge of the Odyssey. It still surprised even her that they actually had windows.

"What is that purple swirling outside?" Admiral Nagala asked. Chekov and Weir smiled and Weir gave the easy explanation.

"That is hyperspace. Your ships travel by essentially folding space and jumping from one point to another, but ours work by creating a door into the background of space and traveling within that area. Think of it like going backstage at a playhouse and coming out at a different point on the stage." As they finished listening to her explanation, they could clearly see the ship revert back to normal space. "It may not seem like it is that much faster, but we only traveled at thirty percent power. The speed that we travel at is proportional to the amount of power that we put into the drive."

"So the more power you have, the farther and faster you go?" Nagala asked as he looked back out the window at the other four ships in their small fleet.

"That's right. And those other ships are the four Auroras that are going to help us send the Cylons packing."

"It was good to see you, but I need to go. Can you put me in my office?" Admiral Nagala asked and Weir shook her head in agreement and he disappeared in another flash of light.

"We have located your flotilla of ships and we will drop you there momentarily. I have also sent you targeting information on the approaching Baseships.

"Thanks for the ride. We'll see you in a bit," Cain said as the five Tauri ships dropped back out into normal space a safe distance from the flotilla of Battlestars the admiral was to take command of. Within minutes, Cain was aboard her command ship and the Tauri force was again entering hyperspace on their way to plug the hole in the defensive shield.

"Dropping out of hyperspace in thirty seconds," the tech said to Weir, sitting behind Colonel Chekov.

"I want everyone with shields up as we exit. Power all weapons and I will call out targets," she said over the fleet wide communications controlled by the Odyssey. She had been briefed on the new Auroras. Apparently, they were of a newer variety than they had seen so far, because each of the new Auroras had a beam weapon built into the hull of the ship. They were unidirectional like the mass cannons on the Enterprise class, but they seemed to have the same type of systems that the satellite weapons used so they were all anxious to see what they could do.

"Shields up, weapons ready," Chekov called out while Weir was marking lanes and targets for each of the ships in their fleet. They came out of hyperspace behind a large moon a short distance from the Cylon fleet. The Cylons were restaging for their final few jumps into the Cyrannus System. They were sixty Baseships strong at this point and had obviously been hearing something about how the invasion had gone so far, because they were on high alert with Raiders scanning for the fleet attempting to get their ground invasion ships ready. They were surprised, though, when two Tauri ships appeared from around the backside of the gas giant they were orbiting. They had learned from their brothers that even just two ships would be formidable against any and all Cylons.

-Aboard Thor's Revenge-

"Bring the main weapon online. Wait on the drones, Major. I want them deployed after we make our initial strike," Colonel Garrett ordered as he focused on lining up his beam weapon with the first Baseship. The Cylons were quick to react to the two Tauri ships that had appeared from the far side of the planet. Raiders began to attack both the Thor's Revenge and the Mjolnir. "Fire beam weapon," Colonel Garret ordered. Thor's Revenge shone with the light of the beam weapon. The weapon's fire was different that he expected. The beam was not as tightly bound as the mass cannons he had been trained with. The beam that left the ship took a strange blue hue as it began to spread like the light from a flashlight. While it illuminated the underside of the Tauri ship, it struck the first Cylon ship and simply vaporized the inner sections that it touched. The beam itself seemed to cause the ship it passed through to explode somehow. Reaching the back of the first ship, the beam spread until it touched the outside edge of a second ship that had been desperately trying to get out of the line of fire. What made the new weapon even more curious and scary was that, just like with the first ship, the beam seemed to cause the second ship to explode, but this one was different because the explosion started on the outer edge of the top star shape. The result was the same, however, as the ship was in pieces within a few seconds. The pieces of the second ship shot towards two more ships that by this time were already disabled from the Mjolnir's weapons.

"Major, release the drones." At those words, the fifty remaining ships in the Cylon fleet started to move very quickly as small blips of light danced around and through their fleet, destroying everything they touched.

-Cylon Lead Baseship: Caprican Invasion Arm-

"Where did those ships come from?" The Six asked the other Sixes around her as they attempted to fight off the two Tauri ships that had just appeared from the far side of the gas giant.

"They have not yet fired."

"I thought our plans were secret. We must move to our secondary invasion plan now," she said, rather agitated

"By your command," the other Six said, then she notified all the other ships they had to jump immediately.

"Launch all Raiders and have them crowd around these ships. Maybe they can slow them down long enough to allow most of the invasion force to get away."

"They are firing!" The room became silent as they all watched the feed from the closest ship. The first, and then the second ship fired its weapon and four Baseships disappeared in large explosions that damaged the ships around them.

"Four ships destroyed, two more critically damaged. We cannot stay here," she decided. They watched in surprise as the ships began firing little white things.

"Commander, they have the little missiles too. They are tearing apart our Raiders," she said as small balls of light began to expand out from the two ships that had attacked them and move very rapidly in, around, and through the Raider fleet attempting to slow them down. They had seen these things recently at the Tauri satellites that had become such a problem for them, but they still did not have a sample of them to research.

"Tell Basestar 26 to ram the nearest ship. They are the closest, they must make the sacrifice."

"By your command." As the order was issued, the closest Baseship began to move slowly towards one of the Tauri ships. Within moments, though, that ship and the four closest to it disappeared in an immense flash of light that appeared between them. It was clearly some sort of nuclear detonation.

"Three gigatons, Commander. There are three more ships that just appeared." The commander saw she was right as three more Tauri ships appeared from the explosion, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Ships are beginning to jump. Should we launch our nuclear missiles?"

"No, they would never reach their targets. Let all Baseships know, unless they are jumping out, they need to ram those ships," she said. She watched her invasion fleet that was sixty Baseships strong with several thousand Raiders and enough troops to hold all of Caprica simply disintegrate. "Some of us must make it through; have everyone make their jump to their invasion point and launch missiles." With that she turned off her radio. By now it had become apparent that their earlier plans were no longer any good. She smiled though, hoping she could watch at least some of these humans die. She began to move the controls of her ship that would lead her into its last movements through space.

-Odyssey-

"Drop the first missile," Chekov ordered. They were putting in place the first of the Mark IXs that would even the playing field a bit. Weir had set up the battle with Mjolnir and Thor's Revenge, making the initial strike in the open to herd the Cylons in one direction while she and the Apollo and Penegal would circle around the far side of the planet, cloaked, and would enter the battle from the opposite side. The Odyssey set three Mark IXs to essentially box in all of the Baseships. Once they were all in the kill box, it would be easy work for the drone weapons and their new beam cannons. The first part had gone well as the Mjolnir and Thor's Revenge had pushed very hard and destroyed a lot of Cylon hardware, but something seemed out of place. After the first two explosions, when the drones started to do their work, Baseships began to disappear. Most of the Baseships seemed to be jumping to their final invasion point, but there were a few that jumped very close to her new Auroras.

"General, one of the Baseships just jumped to within a hundred feet of the Mjolnir. She is stuck inside its star structure."

"Emergency beam out. Everyone get that crew before…." She stopped mid-sentence as the Mjolnir struck both the top and bottom starpoints of the offending Baseship while she was trying to free herself from its grip. Mjolnir's death wasn't a huge explosion. It was rather quick as her shields visibly failed and the missile tubes from inside the Baseship riddled the Mjolnir with missiles that caused the pretty new ship to all but disintegrate. The Baseship itself wasn't far behind, though, as the drones from the Mjolnir made quick work of the Baseship even as their parent ship ceased to exist.

"Did we get anyone out?" Weir asked quietly as Chekov continued shouting orders to his crew as he fought to do his best to finish off the Cylons in the system.

"Just a few, Ma'am. It looks like just the bridge crew was able to get out," the tech from behind her informed her. Without responding, she issued new orders to the fleet of four.

"Launch all our remaining nuclear weapons. We need to finish this right now," Weir ordered as the last four Mark VIIIs and IXs left their launch tubes and quickly made there way into the last clumps of Baseships, Shepparded by drones into their places. More than twenty Baseships went up in flames and several more were destroyed from the debris.

"I need a report right away. How may got away?" Weir demanded angrily as the realization that they had just lost friends who would not be coming back hit her.

"It looks like fifteen Baseships have made it through to their destination. They are on the outskirts of the Cyrannus System," Colonel Chekov said to his crew, who made the ship ready for a quick exit.

"Colonel, we need to get word to the Colonials that some of the ships got through."

"Yes, Ma'am. I am transmitting their numbers and coordinates now. We should be done with mop-up in three minutes," Chekov said as he helped his commander plan their next steps.

"We need to get those Baseships quickly. We can let the Thor's Revenge finish the mop-up and survey the wreckage for any survivors," she said, typing the command into the console on her chair. "Lets get going. Have the Apollo and the Penegal take position on either side of us and let's get after these last Baseships." The three ships broke away form the battle and moved off in formation into space in search of their prey.

-Hades: Colonial Command Battlestar of Admiral Cain's Battle Group-

"We see you, Odyssey; ready when you are…." The XO let out a bit of a yelp in surprise as the Admiral suddenly appeared in front of him. "Crap!" He cried as he jumped back a bit. Cain simply smiled at this.

"It's alright, Colonel I am not used to it either." She paused as she realized the CIC was full of people.

"Crew, we're going into battle. I need all of you at your best and so do all of the Colonies," she said as she looked around at the somewhat startled group of people who had been wondering what they were doing here and what might be happening. "Would you like to address the fleet, Admiral? The fleet was told to be battle ready so everyone is ready and waiting for orders." He was glad she was back. He liked her all-business attitude and, being that this had always been her ship and crew, they had all missed her presence even though they had no idea where she had been or what connection she had to these new Tauri.

"We only have a few minutes. Let's pull up a conference with the other ships' commanders first," she said as she walked over to the plot board in the center of the room. "Everyone, I will send out the coordinates in a second, but we need to be ready to make a combat jump in ten minutes. What we are looking at is the complete mobilization of all Cylon forces." She paused to let that sink in. "Our assigned place in the Colonial defense is here," she said, pointing at a position on the plot board they could all see on their video screens. "There are forty-five to sixty Baseships in this sector and, thanks to the Tauri, we know they are tasked with taking Tauron and all of its attendant settlements. We cannot let them get by us." She paused again for effect. "We will jump into a C-style formation around the Cylons. When we jump, we need to have all nuclear ordinances loaded and all possible Vipers in the tubes and ready. I want to light them up the minute we appear. If we hit them hard enough, we should be able to make this a quick operation. Everyone will be positioned based on where you are in formation now. Plot your individual positions from that. Any questions?" She asked, and waited. "Good. I will call the jump from two minutes out. Get your people ready," she finished as she closed the channel and looked at her crew, who were listening intently. "Get to work people. I've been busy, not dead," she shouted, causing the crew to jump out of their stupor and move with purpose. They would be ready in time.

"Five minutes to jump, Admiral," the Colonel informed her as he handed the Admiral her mic.

"Marines and Sailors, the Cylons think they can destroy us. They have prepared an invasion large enough to wipe all of us away forever. But what they did not expect was for us to have allies. Right now, our new friends the Tauri are gathering a force the same size as the one we are about to gather. They are putting their lives on the line to protect our people. We cannot do any less. We will defeat this threat, but only if we fight with all that is within us. We launch in two minutes, and everyone must do their part. All of our lives count on that." With her final word she shut off the live feed to the fleet and started the jump clock.

"Incoming transmission," the colonel said. "The Tauri have engaged the Cylons. Cylons taking heavy losses. One Tauri ship destroyed."

"Do we know which one?" Cain asked, hoping it was not the Odyssey.

"Mjolnir, Admiral," the colonel said with some sadness. He was amazed these people would give their lives for people they had never seen and did not know.

"Thirty seconds to jump. Call the countdown, Colonel," Cain commanded as she watched the jump clock count down to ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one…

At zero, all of the ships in the Colonial fleet disappeared in flashes of light as they made their short jump into their C formation around a very unsuspecting Cylon fleet. The Cylons were so surprised, one of the heavy Raiders that had been ferrying a few model Sevens between ships found itself sitting inside the landing bay of a Battlestar. Unfortunately for the Heavy Raider, it didn't fit very well and was immediately stuck in the bay, a problem that cost it its life.

"Launch all missile tubes, all ships." With that command, the battle began in earnest as all sixty Battlestars and one hundred twenty Gunstars launched more than seven hundred nuclear missiles into the formation of Basestars now within the pincer of Colonial ships. The Cylons were clearly not ready and they only put up minimal fire at the large amount of missile heading toward them. As the missiles began to explode, it became evident the Cylons would not last long. More than a dozen Basestars were destroyed immediately with another twenty in critical condition.

"Inform all missile batteries to load second round of nukes and fire at will. After the second round, ship-to-ship non-nuclear only," Cain ordered as she watched the board and the remaining twenty-five Basestars begin to recover from the initial shock of the assault. For many though, it was too late and the second round of missiles began to explode, decimating their ranks again. "Launch all Vipers. They need to take out all those Raiders." Cain was still surprised at how quickly Cylons could launch fighters. They had only been in the fight for about five or ten minutes and already there were more than a thousand Raiders in space.

"Admiral, the Hades is taking heavy damage and needs to retreat," the colonel called out.

"Have them pull behind us. Let all ships' commanders know if they sustain heavy damage they can back away. We have depleted the Cylons enough that no man has to sacrifice himself today." In total, only fifteen Battlestars took enough damage to need to bow out, but after an hour they only had mop-up operations and all of the Cylon Baseships had been destroyed. Not a single Baseship had been able to escape the onslaught, and because of that there would be very little information getting back to the Cylons.

"Admiral, we have another transmission. It appears the Tauri had fifteen Basestars get by them. They are on the outskirts of the Cyrannus System," the colonel spoke up.

"Do we have a force in place to stop them?" She asked as she went over to the plotting table and began to press buttons to highlight that area of space. Being close to their home system, their information gathering abilities were much greater. The plotting tables were able to link into their own system of satellites that mapped almost all of Colonial space. It allowed them to make real-time decisions that made sense and addressed things in ways they could not before.

"We have a small force of ten Battlestars and their Gunstars. They can fight a holding action only," the colonel figured.

"We can send some of our force. Commander Gehrig, take command of the mop-up. Keep the damaged ships and these fifteen Battlestars. The rest of you we will jump to this position," she said, pointing to the Cylon position while speaking to all of the ships' commanders and parting the fleet for the next battle. "All of the rest of you, ready for jump in ten minutes. Get as many of your ships in as you can, but don't wait. If a Viper can't get back, they can hitch a ride with one of the Battlestars still here. We jump in nine minutes and forty-five seconds." She paused. "Let's go people!" She shouted and closed the line.

-Odyssey: Shadowing the Cylon Remnant-

"We have been shadowing them for forty-five minutes. What do you want to do now?" Chekov asked, while Weir seemed to be deeply contemplating something.

"Do we have any nuclear devices left?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Drones? What are our storage levels?"

"Twenty percent Ma'am," Chekov answered again.

"Have they powered up their jump drives?" Weir asked. She seemed to be trying to solve a puzzle that didn't appear to want to be solved.

"New ships are appearing now. Wow," the comm. officer remarked as they all watched more that thirty Battlestars and their Gunstars appear and begin to rain down missile fire on the Cylons. The Cylons had moved into a kind of Shepparding formation around a central ship as soon as they had arrived in the system. Dr. Weir had been trying to figure out why they had done this and had not attacked right away.

"Uncloak the ships and tell the Colonials to avoid the ship in the center," she told the comm. officer. "I want to take that ship in the middle. Have the Apollo and Penegal take flanking positions around us; we are going into the center of that formation and we will disable and capture that central ship. I think it may be important."

"What do you think it could be?" Chekov was genuinely curious. He had known Dr. Weir for a while and had always known her to be the type of person that often sees things others missed.

"I think it might be one of those resurrection ships the Cylon spies told us about."

The Tauri ships de-cloaked and shot forward quickly, entering into the Cylon formation. It was an easy task as the drones from the Auroras made quick work of anything that got close to the three Tauri ships. Even the small yield nukes of the Colonials did little to the Tauri ships, so it was interesting to watch the Cylon force disintegrate around them as they couldn't hope to fight two separate forces tearing them apart.

"Major, fire the beam cannons at the flank of that ship. Make sure you only damage their jump drive and power systems." Fortunately the Major's aim was true and the jump drive and power system received a quick death. "Have the Apollo tractor the ship, and then I want to make a quick trip to New Lantea. This could be vital." At that, that colonel nodded his understanding and set a course for the three ships.

"Ma'am, that ship has no offensive weapons aboard it. I would recommend we extend our shields around it to ease it through hyperspace," Chekov added.

"That's fine," Weir said in response from her fleet command chair behind Colonel Chekov. At that moment the view screen came to life with the face of Admiral Cain. She looked a little unhappy.

-Hades: on the Outskirts of the Cyrannus System-

"Launch missiles and all Vipers," Admiral Cain called out as they completed their jump and made their attack on the last of the Cylons in the system. Cain was surprised to find that there was a different kind of Cylon ship in the middle of their formation. The Cylons were in a basic bubble formation, so her ships were able to quickly encircle the Cylons and move all of their ships into a broadside position right away. These Cylon ships would not last very long and it confused Cain that while the Cylons were firing every weapon, they had made any attempt to escape. Curious, she thought, although not for long because she was more than happy to kill them all where they stood.

"Admiral, three ships have just appeared on the edge of the formation," the colonel told her.

"Who are they?" She asked, watching the ships appear on the board in deep purple, indicating they were unknowns. They quickly changed to green though as their IFF showed them to be three Tauri ships. "What are they doing?" Cain asked her XO as she watched the three ships move into the Cylon formation.

"Hades, this is Grounder Actual. The three Tauri ships are entering our kill box – what are your orders?"

Cain thought about this for a second.

"Stay out of their way. Your rounds will have no effect on them."

"Understood. They appear to be clearing a path with some strange white lights. They look like they should be missiles, but they move like no missile I've ever seen," the Hades senior pilot added.

"Do not go near those lights. I believe they are drone weapons." She paused, looking at her XO. "Get me the Odyssey on the line." The XO could see that the admiral was getting agitated at the Tauri in the middle of her field of fire.

"Dr. Weir, what are you doing?" She demanded, looking at the video screen. "You are in the middle of our path of fire. If we back down, one of these ships could reach a Colony and drop a nuclear weapon. You must get out now, or risk being fired on."

"Keep up you fire. Your rounds won't penetrate our shields. I think that ship in the middle of their formation is what they call a 'resurrection ship.' If it is what I think it is, we must have it. None of their jump dives are online, so you don't have to worry about them running away," Weir said as she continued to shout orders to her crew, whom Cain could see onscreen.

"Fine, but it's on your own head. And how can you tell that they aren't about to jump?" Cain was getting a little frustrated at their reactions.

"Our sensors go far beyond your DRADIS. We're going to take that ship and disappear for a bit. Thor's Revenge should be along in a while. Colonel Garret will help you if you need it." Without further ado, she closed the line and the front view cameras came back onscreen. Cain watched for a moment as the shields of the three Tauri vessels glowed golden with shields.

"Hades, this is Grounder. It looks like the Odyssey has disabled the central Cylon ship with a beam weapon of some kind."

"Grounder, this is Hades Actual are they towing the ship yet?" She asked.

"Yes, it looks like they've covered the Cylon ship with their shield now, because now the Cylon ship is glowing too. What is the meaning of this?" Grounder asked as what he saw did not look promising.

"Take no action. They are taking that ship captive for study. They're not trying to save the Cylons."

"Colonel, have those Battlestars open a hole for the Tauri to move through," she said, pointing at a spot in their formation where the Tauri could come through and watching as the four ships disappeared in one of their weird swirling holes in space. The Cylons would not last much longer, so she went back to working toward their complete destruction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Matrix: Same Time

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Starbuck, we are two minutes until go," Daniel said over the voice comm. system. They had been prepping for this situation for a few hours now, and Starbuck and Apollo had been the forward team making sure their targets stayed in place. Starbuck still didn't understand why the Tauri thought this whole thing was so funny. That was why they had to be point though, because they were not sure they could maintain cover. Daniel had been surprised at the number of agents patrolling the area around the studio lot. They had expected a lot of security because of the nature of studios, but the agents were here on top of that. It seemed odd they hadn't just parked tanks at the entrances and exits.

"Starbuck, are we ready?" Colonel Mitchell's voice came over their radios. She clicked her radio twice for the affirmative.

"Are the targets still in place?" Again she clicked twice.

"Moving in sixty seconds." Two clicks, and then she readied her rifle. The studio lot in front of her was roughly a rectangular city block. Most of the buildings on it were basic metal warehouses with a few trailers dotting the blacktop and one entrance onto the main street. Like all studios, there were a lot of equipment trucks and other movie making equipment around. From Starbuck's lookout across the park and a few floors up in the air, she could clearly see the sentry agents patrolling the perimeter of the studio, both inside and out. She could also see the security checkpoints at the Gate and halfway through the lot. All told, they had more than twenty Red Pills on this operation, and they would all be busy in the next few seconds. Counting down in her head, Starbuck set herself into her firing position lying down on the table she had set up in front of the window overlooking the park. It was a clear day and people were milling around in the park. At ten seconds, Starbuck cleared her sights and pushed the safety off of her rifle. From this distance, wind wouldn't be much of an issue, so she made her final adjustments just as all of the other Red Pills were getting ready. At five seconds she had her target in her sights and with a final breath she was ready. All eight agents on the outside perimeter fell at the same time. With the first shots fired, all Red Pills would be on alert. Fortunately, the fence that surrounded the studio was corrugated steel rather than a more permanent brick wall. As all eight snipers switched on the thermal sights they had prepared, they would be able to penetrate the outer wall easily. Starbuck knew she only had fifteen seconds from the first round firing to the second. They had to be precise, or one of the agents could sound the alarm and alert the entire Matrix and their operation would be nearly impossible. At eight seconds, Starbuck had found her second target and had her second round chambered by twelve. At fifteen seconds, all eight of the inner perimeter agents were down as well. With the sixteen agents down, the other twelve Red Pills broke into two six-person teams and moved through the front entrance and a rear entrance they hastily prepared with a small bridging charge.

Apollo and Starbuck, who were in apartments next to each other, had stayed in place while the other six snipers were bagging up their equipment. They would move into the park across from the main entrance to wait as the reserve force if needed. Apollo and Starbuck both would act as watch for the front entrance.

They both dropped agents who had come outside during the commotion the front fire team created, removing the security guards from the front Gate area. Most of the security guards wouldn't respond to weapons fire right away because of the kind of studio lot they were on. The sound of weapons fire was not uncommon, and especially the MP5s and P-90s the team was using were very similar to the ones that the Wormhole X-treme! people would use. It almost became an advantage for them because all of the security guards neutralized individually. The agents would be the problem. From the outset, Starbuck had counted around twenty agents so neutralizing the sixteen on the perimeter and the two they had already covered the large majority, but she knew that there were at least four more somewhere in the compound. Having finished their over watch duties, both Apollo and Starbuck set down their sniper rifles, strapped on their P-90s, and jumped out the windows. As they fast roped down the front of the building, Starbuck couldn't help but wonder if this was the best idea. They were next to a studio lot though, and normal here was not normal everywhere else. They both moved quickly through the park and found themselves on their other side of the park in only a few moments. While moving through the park, the rear fire team had already located Ronon and Teyla. They had both been in their trailers, apparently unaware that anything was going on. The second fire team had already cleared the first two buildings and dispatched another agent as Starbuck and Apollo came through the front gate.

"Reserve team, secure the gate," Starbuck called as she came past at a quick trot and clicked her mic again to secure the rest of the perimeter. "Rear fire team, take two to secure the rear entrance. Front fire team, send two up the nearest buildings. I want eyes in the air." As she finished her sentence, she and Apollo rounded the last corner to the building the front fire team was clearing and caught an agent coming from the building at full speed. The solid forearm she gave him as he passed put him on the ground quickly, and as she stopped to turn around and engage him Apollo put two bullets in his chest before the agent could move to evade them.

"All the other trailers are clear," the rear fire team leader said as they finished clearing all of the trailers and spaces that dotted the back of the lot. That left just the fourth and largest building for them to clear. She knew they hadn't been shooting Wormhole X-treme! today, so there was little to no staff on the lot. Starbuck did not take time to worry about the circumstance now as she placed the breaching charges on the door that would lead into the final building. There was only one other door, and that was a padlocked hangar-style door that they used to move set pieces in and out and clearly not usable right now. With a loud crack, the charge exploded and the C-4 and water charge cleanly disintegrated the door's hinges and handle. She had to admit these explosives the Tauri used were very creative. The first few rooms were simple to clear and they only had to shoot a few guards who had been simply patrolling the hall. Once out in the main room of the studio, they quickly found the last of their friends. Three agents had Dr. McKay tied to a chair on the grated flooring of a partial set. Behind Dr. McKay, the Wormhole X-treme! embarkation room stood with a pretty poor impression of a Stargate surrounding him at about ten feet. Daniel and Colonel Mitchell dispatched the two agents on either side of Dr. McKay quickly. The third agent was standing further back from Dr. McKay and the two now dead agents and had Colonel Sheppard on his knees and was standing over him holding a large revolver. Apparently they were trying to get information from them. The third agent smiled as he watched his two cohorts de-res, and two normal people's bodies fell to the ground.

"Mr. Anderson, I see you have brought your friends," Smith said to Neo as he noticed him come through the door with the last of the strike team.

"You don't have to kill him," Starbuck said as she eased her weapon up to show they posed no risk.

"Kill him now," Neo advised as he raised his hand and all five of the other members of the team raised their weapons. What happened next can only be described as surreal, as Starbuck and her friends depressed their triggers at the same time as Agent Smith, but somehow Neo raising his had made Smith's bullet stop the moment it left the barrel of his gun. Their bullets, however, did not stop, and as Smith attempted to dodge the first bullets, he was hit by several more and he too de-res'd and fell to the ground. They would not have long now – Smith was sure to begin to rally and come back in force.

"Thanks for that," Dr. McKay said as Daniel untied him from the chair. "They were trying to get information from us about the Tauri and their Stargate. They were serious loons. I tried to explain to them that it was just a TV show and they seemed to just get more mad as we talked."

"Rodney! They were about to shoot me. I think there was more to it than that," Sheppard shouted. He was clearly not happy with how McKay had acted in the situation. And he was unsure why everyone had stopped moving and was staring at them.

"Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard, I am Dr. Daniel Jackson. Do you know who I am?"

"Sure, you're the guy who founded the Stargate program. Is this a crossover episode? I hate those," Sheppard said as all of the other team members almost started to laugh.

"Neo, I need you to take the Ronon and Teyla to the safe house. Colonel Mitchell, can you take these two? I'll lead the rest of the team through a door or two to throw the agents off and meet you back there in a half hour. With that, Colonel Mitchell roughly picked up Dr. McKay and came over to Colonel Sheppard, who was now standing rubbing his wrists where they had been bound.

"I'll explain all of this later, but right now we need to get all of you out of here. More of the agents are coming."

"Let's go then. I didn't like them." The three of them disappeared as Mitchell had now fully integrated his ability to teleport and they appeared on the street in front of the safe house. Unfortunately, the mailman noticed them as he was making his rounds, and the agent that took over his body quietly went back to his mail truck and began calling in other agents and putting together their strike force.

-Safe House: Half Hour Later-

"What do you mean Wormhole X-treme! is real?!" Rodney shouted as they explained for the third time what had happened.

"Obviously this is not working. Morpheus, we need to pull them out now," Dr. Jackson said, but Morpheus shook his head again.

"We have never pulled anyone from the Matrix without their explicit approval. I am not sure what would happen. What if we can't locate them in time?"

"That's not a problem. The Enterprise already knows where there bodies are and as soon as I give the word they will beam them all aboard," Mitchell said.

"Here take these," Morpheus said to both Sheppard and McKay.

Both gave him a strange look and asked, "What is this?"

"It's for headaches. It's very fast acting and will help you think better, maybe a little more clearly," he said, not comfortable with what they were doing.

"You have to remember they have more already-embedded memories and stimuli than anyone you've ever pulled out before."

"We'll see if that makes a difference. Trinity, how is the location coming?" Morpheus asked as Trinity worked furiously, trying to locate and eject their carrier signals from the Matrix.

"One more second. Colonel, you had better pull off your headset and call the Enterprise."

Cam pulled his headset off and ejected himself from the Matrix. The ship was still pretty drab and very quiet with almost everyone else still inside the Matrix and their bodies laying silent. He quickly reached over Dr. Jackson, who was sitting next to him and grabbed his radio.

"Enterprise, this is Mitchell."

"We read you, five-by-five. What can we do for you, Colonel?"

"We need emergency beam outs for McKay and Sheppard. Monitor and make sure they're not connected physically to anything before you beam," Cam said as he thought for a second about what would come next. The ship's doctor came up next to him with his bag in hand.

"I've been watching the goings on with Switch, and I am ready to go."

"Beam up the good doctor and me right away. Dr. Jackson will call us when the other two are ready." Suddenly, the ship's doctor and Cam found themselves in the medical bay of the Enterprise with two very distraught and strange-looking friends of theirs. The doctor immediately set to work, putting both men into a deep sleep. He had a lot of implants to remove and some muscles to re-grow.

"Switch," Cam spoke into his radio. "Let Daniel and Morpheus know both are out and fine. They are both under sedation now and he can go ahead with the extraction of Teyla and Ronon." Teyla appeared a few minutes later and Ronon about a half hour after that. Apparently Teyla had trusted them and taken her pill, but Ronon had only pretended to take his pill, and when they realized, it took all of them to subdue him. Finally, Daniel and Neo had forced the pill down his throat and he was back on the Enterprise a few minutes later. He definitely looked sheepish when he appeared on the deck, having realized how wrong he was earlier and clearly apologizing without using any words.

"Enterprise, this is the Nebuchadnezzar."

"What can we do for you Morpheus?" Commodore Missen asked. "Did everyone get out okay?"

"Yes, but it was a close call. Apparently the agents had us staked out, because as the last of us were exiting they stormed the safe house. Trinity nearly missed dying while holding the phone," Morpheus said as a prelude. "Tell Colonel Mitchell if you could the team is heading back to Zion for a recharge. When he's ready we will be happy to see him."

"Will do. Enterprise out." He turned off the channel and made his way down to the medical bay to check on the newly returned SG team. "Dr. Beckett. How are they doing?" He asked as he entered the room with Cam and Daniel.

"Good. It should be a week at least though before they are back at full strength. They won't be awake for another few hours though," he said as he monitored and observed while the doctor from the Nebuchadnezzar worked on his patients.

"Those machines will pay for this," Cam declared as he watched his friends lying on the four tables spread around the room. They would pay indeed.