Chapter 8
On the CIC of the Galatica six images began to appear before their eyes. As they materialized in front of them a dashing fifty seven year old Lee Adama started to recognize his son and the two other pilots from the Galatica. Then he saw the faces of the other three. Two of the other three we most definitely human. The third was human looking but his ears and demeanor was surely not human.
In standard Federation/Military protocol for arriving onboard a new ship, Captain Crusher stated. "I am Captain Wesley Crusher of the Federation Starship Kes. This is our ship doctor, Micheal Bashir. We call him Doc or Mike. And this is our science officer Mr. Tuvok. He is from the planet Vulcan. We request permission to come aboard." Commander Adama trying to maintain composure after having his CIC invaded without so much a hatch being opened. "Uhhhh yes, sure.. Welcome aboard. I am Commander Leonard Adama of the Battlestar Galatica." The Commander looked Wesley straight in the eye and said "Are you REALLY from Earth?" Wesley looked him right back and smiled "Yes sir, I was there less than two months ago. We are really from earth."
Just then his comm badge beeped and a voice was heard "Kes to Captain Crusher" Crusher said "Pardon me just a second" tapping his chest he looked off in to the air he said " Crusher here, go ahead" the voice came back "Capitan a message just came in from Starfleet they are asking if your message was some kind of joke" "And how did you respond Lt Uhura?" "I told them you were on board the flagship of the refugee fleet and you were dead serious." "They responded how?" he asked. "Its coming in now, stand by" she asked "Starfleet says they have fifteen ships in route and thirty in all in four days." The cheers roared though the CIC and could be heard spreading though out the ship. In the midst of all the hugs and cheers Lt "Braxton" Adama reached into a top pocket of his flight suit pulled out and old chromed lighter and tossed back to his father. The elder Adama grabbed his son, gave him a big hug, and said "Thanks to you we now have a home again"
As this group of survivors cheered Wesley noted to Tuvok the size of the crew on this bridge. He also noted that there were no data pads, everything was printed on corner-less paper. There was no veiwscreen for navigation. This ship, this group of humans although claim to be the lost brothers of man were not as technology advanced as the human forces he knew had been traveling in space for the past 250 years. The more he looked over the bridge of this ship the more questions formed in his head. Commander Lee Adama saw Mr Tuvok pull out his tricorder and begin a scan of the ship, crew, and the atmosphere of the Galatica. Lee was very diplomatic but showed an uneasiness of some stranger scanning his ship. Wesley began to explain it was just one of the tools used by the Federation. He put his hand on his shoulder and told him "Commander Adama, there is a lot of thing we have onboard federation ships that is going to make his and every one from his groups lives much more simple and better than anyone could imagine.
It was just at that moment a vroosh and a flash happened right in front of Wesley and there HE was. Wesley's heart did a flip, fluttered and sank when he spoke "Ahhhh Wesley, Mon capitaine, My how you have grown. And your a Capitan now!" Wesley tried very hard not to punch him dead in the face. "Ah you brought along Mr Tuvok." "Q! Why the Hell are you here?" Wesley shouted in a tone more of anger than puzzlement. Lee Adama then spoke up "This is not one of your crew?" Ahhh Capitain Adama, Pleasure to make your acquaintance" Q smirked. " I am truly surprised your" in a mocking tone "'fleet' has made it this far." "Dammit Q!" Wesley shouted "Nearly thirty years and no one has heard a peep from you. Why not make it another thirty??" This was all anyone needed at this time. A small colony in need of a home and Q right in the middle to muddy up things.
Then Q spoke something that really bothered Crusher "Last time I interacted with humans, I promised Captain Picard I would not honor your with my presence again. Unless, there was a reason. And Dear Wesley, There is a reason. It seems the friends you helped out of a jam has "friends" that don't really like them. And remember the "friends" you ran away from when you helped those three?" pointing to the Viper Pilots. Wesley shook his head yes. "Well, it seems they are not the only long lost cousins that has reunited. And Wesley, more so than now than ever you can't outrun them. You can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains...they regenerate and keep coming. Eventually, you'll weaken. Your reserves will be gone. They are even more relentless." The younger Adama spoke up "Are you saying the Borg have joined forces with the Cylons now?"
Q answered "My young William, The Borg ARE Cylons. Cylons with a nasty attitude for turning everything into Borg." "Q is this another one of your games" Wesley asked "Nope" was his only answer. "As I promised Jean Luc, I will part ways with you young Crusher. But I will tell you one thing you need to work on." "And what is that Q?" "I really hope that in six days you have taught these new friends the meaning of shield technology and it is installed on these ships" With that he vanished in his burst of light.
Commander Adama looked at Wesley and asked "Who or What the frack was that?" "That was Q" "Q what?" "Just Q, you everyday omnipotent pain in the ever loving kiester" "What did he mean by teaching us about shields and it taking six days?" Just then the Galatica klaxon went off and the dradis operator announced "Four incoming Cylon Raiders!" The XO picked up a wired handset and announced ship wide "Action Stations, Action Stations, Set Condition One Throughout the Ship! Launch the action fighters" . "Commander, allow me" Wesley said. Adama just looked amazed and gave him a nod of affirmation. Captain Crusher tapped his chest. "Crusher to Kes, Destroy those incoming fighters" With those few words four beams of phasers sprang from the Kes. The action fighters had shot from the launch bays just in time to see the four Raiders explode simultaneously and never firing a return shot when the leader came over the radio "Galatica, Galatica, The four Cylon Raiders just exploded. The Earth ship just blew them away with some type of laser beam" Cheers sprang to life again across the Galatica. Wesley looked over at the younger Adama, winked and said grinning "That is why the Federation does not carry fighters." In one single action the federation ship did in seconds what usually took the Galatica four to six minutes and possibly the loss of a fighter or two. "Did they transmit anything?" "No Sir, They barely had time to get a fix on the fleet after they jumped in before they exploded. They never knew what hit them." Crusher gave one more response to the Kes. " Lt Uhura, Please tell Alexander Worf that next time he fires upon those things to at least think about it." "Sir, just before those four small ships appeared, Our sensors picked up an anomaly. It was not a warp signature but something similar to a Borg transwarp conduit. Lex was targeting them before they appeared." AGAIN The klaxon sounded "Unidentified ships approaching, Three, make that four.... Strike that last. Seven large ships" Just then Crushers comm badge beeped. Kes to Captain Crusher" Tapping his badge "Go ahead Kes" "Sir we are being hailed by two Federation, four Klingon and one Ferengi ships offering assistance." "Answer them and the Klingon's. Tell the Ferengi if they have shield generators on board or shield boosters we will take them. Tell them this is no time for them to bargain the price. If they want to help, help. If they want payment they can get it from the Borg."
Lt Uhura beeped back. "The Klingon ships have surrounded the Ferengi freighter, Sir. It seems they are negotiating with them." Crusher thought to himself what Klingon negotiations with Ferengi would sound like "Give us the stuff and we will let you live" and all the big eared Ferengi running around begging for their lives.
"Commander Adama, What is the primary defenses of your fleet?" Crusher asked. Lee thinking this was an odd question answered "Well, our Viper fighters are very effective at keeping the Cylon raiders at a distance. If we get over whelmed or they jump on top of us with a basestar, we have FTL jumps always on the standby. We can spin up our FTL drives in a matter of a few seconds." "Do you not have any defense shields?" "Defense Shields? Do you have any idea of the power that would take to create a shield to surround this ship to stop a twenty megaton thermonuclear blast?" "Thermonuclear?" is all Wesley could say. Thermonuclear is a great weapon is you never want to get near the thing again. the Federation has not even used nuclear energy in centuries. The last time that method was used for anything was the war before Dr. Zefram Cochran developed warp-drive. Now nearly all warp capable species use dilithium variations to power nearly everything. This was not looking good. They need shields to defend themselves from the new Borg enemy Q warned him about and no way to power it.
"Capitan Crusher, The Klingon ships say they have reached an agreement with the Ferengi freighter. They have fifteen Romulan shield generators" Uhura paused for the effect "With two dozen dilithium mini-power packs" Things began to look better. "Commander, I hate to sound demanding. We need to begin evacuation of the smaller ships. We are going to be traveling through some BAD sectors. The smaller amount of ships to defend the better." Adama responded "With all due respects Captain, These people on some of these smaller ships have never been on another vessel. You are telling me they have to give up the only home they know?" "Commander can we drop the formalities here? We have too much work to do and in a very short time we will have a race breathing down our necks that will make your Cylons look like peacemakers. We are in the heart of their territory and to be honest with you I would much rather be somewhere else in the next few days. Preferably closer to Qo'noS." About that time a crew mate on the bridge brought Lee a slip of paper. He read it, folded it to slip into his pocket, and spoke. "Well Sir with due respect, in thirty years of our trek through the stars to find Earth, We have maintained a form of elected government. I have just received word that our president is in route to Galatica to meet with you and to discuss our safe passage to Earth." "That is fine Commander I can grant that respect." He paused for second "Did you say in route? Is this not the command ship?" "Yes,and Yes, His ship is in landing formation with the Galatica. He should be on board in in the next few minutes." Wesley whispered "Do these people have any idea of the use of a transporter?" Tuvok just looked at him with that stern Vulcan look of just be patient, they will catch on.
