The space between

"Exiting hyperspace in twenty seconds."

"Let's come out slowly; we don't want to damage the Cylon ship," Dr. Weir said, standing up from her command chair aboard the Odyssey as she watched the purple tear of a hyperspace window appear in front of them. Coming out of the window they were greeted promptly by the New Lantean defense network. It looked like most of the operating fleet of the Pegasus Command had been recalled and were preparing for some sort of action.

"General Caldwell, this is the Odyssey."

"We read you, five-by-five. I see you come with visitors?" Caldwell answered. His face now popped up on the forward view screen.

"I believe our allies may have need of this ship. Let the Asgard science team know I have something they need to see."

"I thought all the Asgard were dead, as of several years ago."

"You're right about that, but we've had a science team working to solve their genetic problems for several years. It was very much an off-the-books project," Weir said with a lowered voice. "Which is why their labs were here on New Lantea. Anyway, the Asgard stored several thousand of their consciousnesses aboard a massive Asgard core hidden away somewhere. If we can find the cure to their genetic issue, we can bring their species back to life."

"That's incredible. I'll find them and send them your way. What is the ship?" Caldwell asked as the Odyssey and the Cylon ship entered orbit.

"I believe this is a Cylon resurrection ship. If I'm right, this is where the Cylon human forms get their new bodies."

Caldwell nodded and changed the subject. "I've been instructed to send a portion of our operating fleet with you back to Caprica. Apparently things on the Thirteenth Colony are getting a little hectic. General O'Neil thinks the machines will be launching a massive attack sometime soon. While he doesn't need more firepower as such, he does need a lot of support ships and personnel who can handle refugees." Caldwell finished his update and waited for his commander's response.

"How many refugees does he think he will have? I still haven't told the Colonial leadership about the Thirteenth Colony and their situation."

"He said it could be as many as a hundred million."

"Wow!"

"Exactly, which is why we need the help of the Colonies."

"Aren't the refugee Thirteeners here on New Lantea?" She asked, beginning to form a plan.

"Yes. In fact the entire Council is here on the planet. Shall I get them for you?"

"No, no need. I'll beam down to their meeting place and talk to them. Can you resupply us and set us up to resupply the other Auroras? They were down to ten percent stores on drones and other supplies."

"I'll have it all ready by the time you ready to leave, and I'm sending another eight ships with you," he said as he cut the line and set to work preparing the fleet that would be leaving shortly.

"Colonel Chekov, have them beam me down to the Thirteenth's camp site." She stood and nodded at him when she was ready and disappeared in a column of light. The hasty camp the Thirteeners had set up was by no means pretty. Composed almost entirely of excess drab olive green GP Medium tents, the camp looked impossible to navigate. Weir heard heavy equipment working in the distance and could tell they were trying to bring them some more substantial services. She was surprised to find there were no people outside. Where had everyone gone? She wondered to herself. Just then, she recognized a small sign on the edge of the tent closest to her that signified it as the Council Tent. Stepping briskly into the tent, she found the Council busy in session discussing something of importance. Several people were engaged in an intense discussion of some sort. Weir waited several moments until someone noticed that someone new was in the room and the Lead Councilor made motion for the discussion to cease. After a few moments he stood up and addressed her.

"Who might you be, and what is your business here? We were not aware anyone from the Tauri was currently in our camp," he challenged.

"I am Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the civilian commander of this outpost. Currently I have been working on a treaty with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." She paused as the people sitting in the tent all began to murmur. After a moment, the Lead Councilor again raised a hand and the crowd gathered in front of him and the other Councilors at the head of the tent stopped talking.

"We had heard rumor of that. Is it true, then, that you are not the Twelve Colonies and that they do not know of us?"

"That's true. They are unaware you still exist. I would like to continue, but we have need of haste. The coming battle on your planet is likely to be the last one for the machines and it is quite possible that all of your people enslaved by those machines could be released." All of the people around her began to applaud and chatter while the Lead Councilor and Dr. Weir shared concerned looks.

After another moment, the Lead Councilor again raised his hands and this time shouted, "Silence everyone! We must hear the rest of what Dr. Weir has to say."

"We don't have the resources to help all your people at once if this happens." Again she paused as the people realized some of their brothers and sisters might not survive the transition. "I believe, though, that if we can get the Colonies' help, we can save a great many more."

"How can we help in this matter?" The Lead Councilor pleaded.

"I would like to take the Council with me to their capital city and meet with their president. We can tell him about you and request his help."

"Are you asking us to come with you?"

"Yes." She finished as the people around her sat, taking in all the new information.

"Please, give us a moment. The Council will need an empty chamber for this discussion, so everyone else must leave now. Dr. Weir, please wait outside the tent," the Lead Councilor said, and with that the Councilors all huddled behind the table and quietly discussed their options.

It didn't take very long for a decision to be made, and the Lead Councilor and two others came out of the tent to find the doctor, who was intently questioning a heavy equipment operator who had been coming by.

"Dr. Weir, three of us have agreed to come with you. The rest of the Council will stay here and lead our people while we are gone. It had been our hope that we would meet them under better conditions, but sometimes you cannot control the situation; you must simply make the best of what you have."

She smiled at that. "My people have a saying: 'If someone gives you lemons, you make lemonade.'"

The Councilors all smiled too, though they probably had no idea what she meant.

"We must leave right away. Please pack a small bag of essentials and be back here in thirty minutes." The Councilors quickly left to prepare themselves while Dr. Weir turned back around and continued to chat with the heavy equipment operator.

Twenty minutes later, the three Thirteeners reappeared and Weir said, "Colonel Chekov, four to beam up."

Finding themselves aboard the Odyssey, Weir had them shown to their quarters and finished preparations to leave the New Lantean system.

"Colonel, are all ships ready?"

"Yes, Ma'am. We have ten ships in formation and all report ready for departure."

"Is the ZPM installed?" Dr. Weir asked. She had been informed upon arriving they would be provided with a ZPM for the duration of the mission. As the lead ship, they needed the ability to form larger hyperspace windows for the whole fleet, and they would likely need to tow whatever assistance they acquired to the Thirteenth.

"Yes, Ma'am, the ZPM's all set."

"Open the window," Weir said. The hyperspace window opened and all ten ships disappeared into the void.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Caprica: Presidential Command Bunker

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

President Adar sat watching the monitors at the front of the room. It looked like the last of the Cylons were being finished off by Admiral Cain's force on the outskirts of the Cyrannus System. President Adar could finally breathe a sigh of relief as he watched the last of the Raiders wink out of existence. After more than forty years of fear from the Cylons, it looked like it might finally be over. They did still need to muster a force and visit their home world. At least now they knew where it was, thanks to their new friends the Tauri. So little was really known about them, though. The public only knew these new people had rounded up all the Cylon spies among them. Fortunately, they had been here to do that, because if the public had found out about the spies in any other way there would have been mass panic. It would have been horrific. Adar thought about all this while he sat watching the screens and writing the speech he would give in a few hours. Just now people were receiving the first 'all clears' across the Colonies. When the first word had gone out about the Cylon invasion, everyone made for shelters or hiding places. With the invasion crushed, they would come out now, and they would want to know what had happened. The president would be ready.

"Mr. President. A fleet of ships has appeared on the outer edge of the system. Ten ships." Alarms blared and the concrete and steel door to the bunker was closed again.

"Who is it? Order Admiral Cain to intercept," he ordered. His orders were quickly carried out.

"President Adar," a familiar voice called over the communications system.

"This is the president. It's good to hear your voice, Dr. Weir. Are those your ships entering the system?"

"Yes, We brought a few more ships. I would like to meet; we have some important matters to discuss."

"Can it wait a few hours? I have an important speech to deliver to my people to tell them about the Cylons and the part you have played in all of this."

"I appreciate it very much, but what we have to talk about will be another part of that puzzle. Can we meet right away?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Ten people appeared very suddenly inside the presidential bunker all but panicking the president's security detail.

"Sorry for the surprise," Weir apologized while making sure her security people also stayed at rest. "Has Admiral Cain been able to brief you on what has been discovered on Kobol and beyond?"

"No. Her briefing was scheduled for after my speech to the Colonies," he said, now very obviously confused.

"Okay. If possible, I would like to give you and your senior staff part of her briefing at once. Can I get them here right away? It's vitally important we act quickly." She knew she was stretching their trust a bit.

"Yes, that will be fine. Fortunately you've earned our trust; otherwise this would not be happening." At his signal, one of the security team beamed back out and began to gather the people one of his aides had told him to bring.

Thirty minutes later, they were all seated around a table for the briefing Dr. Weir would be giving. While the Thirteener Council, the senior leadership of the Colonies, Colonel Chekov, and two other ships' commanders were at the table, along with the rest of the of the Colonial Military's senior leadership along with Admiral's Nagala and Cain.

"I have gathered all of you together to tell you that our chance meeting on Kobol was a little more expansive than first thought. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say one of our Gate teams ended up being bounced through the Kobol Gate and out into an unknown planet in between galaxies." The screen behind her displayed a starchart illustrating the positions of Caprica, Kobol, and the orphan planet the Thirteenth Colony was located on. "On this new planet, we discovered a people living below ground fighting a machine enemy that had enslaved their people. We have now confirmed that they are the lost Thirteenth Colony of Kobol." Weir took a moment to look over at the Councilors as the rest of the room erupted in chatter and surprise. "Commander Adama is there now, along with the Galactica and her support ships. He can verify this information." They quieted down though the president was very obviously surprised by this information.

"That's amazing. What can we do?" For the next forty minutes, the briefing went on with Weir giving information and the president asking questions while Admiral Cain supported with information. After around twenty minutes, Dr. Weir introduced the Councilors and explained who they were. There were a lot of tears and surprised faces. It was a lot for many of the people to take in, and a lot would have to be worked through for these once-united people who had been separated for so long.

"In closing, I would like to formally ask for the assistance of the Colonies to rescue any and all members of the Thirteenth Colony. We need any humanitarian supplies and all the hospitals and hospital ships you can muster," Dr. Weir begged the president and she hoped this meeting had the desired effect. The Councilors truly looked worried, not knowing what sort of people these Colonials were.

"Dr. Weir." The president paused. "I would like to reverse that and say that we consider this an internal matter of the Colonies, whether currently united to the Thirteenth or not, and we ask for any help you can give us. We will be sending every available hospital ship and field medic and field hospital we can muster. No one from the Thirteenth Colony will die if we can help it." At that, the room erupted in cheers at the notion of saving their newfound brothers.

"Then we must act now," Dr. Weir shouted over the din, and everyone stopped their cheering and recomposed themselves. It was time to get to work.

"Each of the twelve ships that we have in the Colonies can safely tow another five Battlestar-sized ships through hyperspace. It will take them a day and a half to get there due to the reduced speeds. I believe we can also calculate your jump points to allow for a much shorter travel time for the follow-up aid and supplies."

"That is all well and good. Work it out with Nagala – I must speak to my people. Councilors, you come with me. I would like to give my speech and then introduce you to the people of the Twelve Colonies." The Councilors all jumped at the chance and followed the president out of the room as he made his way back to his residence and briefing area where he would give his speech.

"Admiral Nagala, how soon can you have your ships ready to go?" Weir asked as she ambled over next to him near the head of the table.

"Normally I would say seventy-two hours minimum, but with the alert on and the fact that you can assist, I think we can do it in forty-eight. I placed one admiral in charge of each group that will accompany your ships. If you would, we can let them work together to prepare their fleets."

Weir nodded.

"I have thirty-six hospital ships that are ready to go right now. The other twenty-four ships should be twelve supply freighters you can fill with supplies and twelve Warstars we can equip with field hospitals."

"That should be perfect. My ships can act as ferry agents, bringing people to and from the planet and hospital ships, and the field hospitals can be set up planetside for the less serious. This just might work," Weir said.

Nagala thought of something else. "What about security here in the Colonies if the Cylons make a last desperate attack?"

"Not a problem. General O'Neill has found only two other Cylon Baseships, and they're both protecting their homeworld. And, when I call him here in a minute I'll request a few more ships to patrol those holes in the satellite network so the Colonies will be safe for now."

With that done, they separated to complete their various tasks. Unnoticed, a cleric from one of the leading religious orders had been sitting quietly at the back of the room listening intently to the briefing and taking stock of all that was said. Once Weir and Nagala had left, he too left and made his way to parts unknown. Clearly for him, this event was only the beginning.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kobol: Same Time

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was a beautiful day on Kobol. Commander Adama had just finished another tour of the ruins of Kobol with Dr. Rush. It was obvious that Rush was not pleased to be giving the tour to the commander again, but it was protocol with allies to do exactly that when finding new parts of the ruins that needed their attention. Apparently the massive trees that were shepherding the main Stargate on the planet were also hiding what they believed to be the Tomb of Athena. Adama was on his way back from there now, and Dr. Rush was riding along with him, clearly not happy at the wasted two hours. The truth was, Adama found it amusing to annoy the good doctor. While he generally had little tolerance for arrogance, he did find some fun in twisting Dr. Rush's screws a bit.

"Rush, come in."

"Yes, Sir."

"Is Adama with you still?" General O'Neill asked. In answer, Rush turned and handed the radio to the commander.

"Yes, General, what can I do for you?"

"How was the tomb of Athena?"

"It was beautiful, General. I'm not much of a religious man though, so it does not hold the same allure for me that it will for others. What did you need, Sir?"

"Right. I am about to have Caprica back online in a minute, and I would like you to be here. I think they might put the president on the line. I'm sure he'll have questions."

"I'm certain he will. We will have to hurry, but we'll be there." Upon hearing the conversation, the driver pressed his gas pedal and they moved much faster.

"Hello, Mr. President. My name is General O'Neill," Jack said as he and Commander Adama stood beside each other in the satellite control room.

"General O'Neill. I recently received a briefing from your Dr. Weir and I have a few questions. First, where is your homeworld? And might we be able to visit it at some point? Also, she briefly explained to me the satellite network that you have control of, but I don't fully understand how it works. Can you give me more information?"

"I can definitely do that. First though, as a general rule, we don't give out the location of Earth until we've formalized a treaty of friendship with someone. Usually that also entails a visit to our home planet. In this circumstance, that visit will definitely be by Gate as the travel time by one of your current ships would be in the thousands of years." He paused to let that register. "I will also add that we operate in three galaxies, and this galaxy is not our home galaxy, but we do have more than thirty allies here in Pegasus, so we're not going anywhere. Our main base here is on New Lantea, where your people are helping immensely with the dry docks. The satellite system…I'd say you should come and see for yourself. It's quite impressive, and it appears that your people don't have the ability to operate it. We can handle that another time. Once we've formalized that treaty, we'll happily share any information you need," Jack concluded.

"Commander Adama. First, let congratulate you on the job you've done so far. You have my thanks."

"Thank you, Sir," Adama said as he braced himself for whatever was coming.

"Next, I'm honored to say that you have been given a field promotion and commensurate with your current duties you are being given the rank of Rear Admiral."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Adama said, stunned.

"As soon as we are able, we'll be sending out both a fleet of ships to protect and a fleet to study Kobol. You are guarding our national jewel. You need the tools."

"I will, Sir, and I thank you, Sir."

Jack frowned a bit at this. He was excited for the commander, now rear admiral, but this planet could very quickly become a wedge between their peoples if he wasn't careful.

"We'll do all we can to protect this planet and all the history it holds for your people until such time as we decide together what to do with it," Jack stated.

"No need for the politics right now, General. We all know that your intentions are clear and well intended. While some decisions are not ours to make, we have no doubt that we are friends in this."

Jack visibly deflated a bit at the intended word of support. He did not need another enemy, especially one with the industrial capacity of the Colonies.

"Primarily, what I called about was to inform you that we will be sending more than fifty ships along with your fleet to the Thirteenth Colony out in the void between galaxies. With all of that force gone, I would like to formally request your assistance in maintaining surveillance and interdiction of the Cylon threat." Now here it is, Jack thought as the president finally got down to the politicking.

"Of course. We have the satellite system up and running and are producing new satellites at the rate of three a month right now. What could help, though, are some mining vessels. Currently we don't have much capacity in zero gravity mining, which I hear you might have some expertise in?" Jack asked.

"We can definitely work that out. All in good time. What about the Cylons?"

"Yes. They are no longer a threat. We destroyed everything of theirs outside their home star system, and as we speak we have a ship on the way to that system to deal with them there," Jack said, not wanting to give more information than absolutely necessary.

"Can we have someone from the Colonies aboard to witness their destruction?"

"Unfortunately not. There wouldn't be much to see, however, since we're going to destroy their entire star system," Jack said flatly. As long as he was giving them a little, he figured there was no reason to hold back.

"What do you mean?" President Adar said sounding genuinely surprised.

"Well, another general rule of ours is to destroy every vestige of whatever machine race we find, but since these particular ones are so vile we decided to explode their star, making it go supernova. That supernova will utterly destroy everything within five light years around it. They will for all intents and purposes cease to exist in just a few hours." Both Adar and Adama were silent as the realization set in. Jack's message definitely got through, as they both now fully realized the Tauri could be great friends but they most definitely did not ever want to be enemies of the Tauri.

XXXXXXXXXX

Cylon Homeworld

XXXXXXXXXX

"How did this happen!?" Leoben shouted as representatives from all of the surviving lines met to discuss what had become their absolute defeat. He had been raging for nearly fifteen minutes now, and this newest had round started after reports came in that the resurrection ship had been hijacked and stolen by the Tauri. "We must rebuild right now!" Leoben shouted again and the others in the room sat in shock, all having thought this would be an easy victory.

"I move to remove Leoben as Commander," a Caprica Six stood and motioned.

"I concur, as do all of our line. We must sue for peace. Our survival depends on it."

"This is insane!" Leoben continued yelling as he removed a handgun he had hidden in his shirt and pointed it at the Six. He was immediately regretful as two centurions came out of the hall and leveled their weapons at Leoben.

"Then we should vote. All in favor Leoben being removed?" The Seven announced as she raised her hand and counted the votes of the other lines. The final vote was all but unanimous. Only Leoben voted against his removal, and Caprica Six became the new leader of the Cylon resistance.

"We have an unknown transmission coming from the center of our star system!" Someone shouted.

"Put it on." They all listened intently as the voice came into their heads.

"Cylon homeworld and leadership. We did not begin this war, but you have proved to be a threat we cannot ignore. As a consequence of attacking us, we have decided that you are no longer needed in this galaxy and as such you will cease to exist in fifteen minutes. Thank you."

They could hear laughing in the background and they were very confused.

"Something is wrong. It appears that something is wrong with our star," one of the techs said with concern.

"How do you know that?" Caprica Six asked, sounding very worried herself.

"Our solar collectors have started to fluctuate wildly." Six heard and quickly stepped to the door of the facility they were working in. As she stepped through the door and out into the noonday sun, she was surprised to find that the sun was visibly fluctuating and was noticeably expanding. Her skin was immediately burned.

"I don't understa.…" She was never able to finish her thought as the sun exploded and she and the others were melted away by the heat emanating from the star. The planet itself only survived a few more minutes as the star covered the distance to and beyond the planet, eventually engulfing the entire system.

-Apollo: Cylon Home System-

"Sir, we have launched the device," the XO said as he and the entire bridge staff watched the single missile travel its path.

"How long until the device does its job?" Colonel Cranson asked.

"Fifteen minutes, Sir," the XO answered, smiling.

"Let's have a little fun with them. XO, put out a hail on all frequencies."

"Ready, Sir."

"Cylon homeworld and leadership." He paused to think for a second. "We did not begin this war, but you have proved to be a threat we cannot ignore. As a consequence of attacking us, we have decided that you are no longer needed in this galaxy and as such you will cease to exist in fifteen minutes." He paused again to hold in his own laugh. "Thank you." The entire bridge starting to chuckle a bit at that and he made the signal to cut the line. It was definitely gallows humor, but after what these machines had put the Colonials through, a little humor was just the sort of relief they needed. After all, he was just quoting a book he loved. Well, sort of.

"Sir, the star is breaking down faster than we expected. I recommend we move to a safe distance."

"Go. Don't wait for me," he instructed the XO, who engaged the hyperdrive and increased the shield strength to maximum while the star began to expand. It was quite a sight, the star going supernova and the planets all melding into the explosion.

"I think we should name it the Cylon Nebula," the colonel remarked as he watched the explosion begin to die out. Eventually, it would coalesce into a nebula where it would create new stars and planets.

"The rule is, Sir, that the first to discover it get to name it, so I think that you have earned that one."

"That sounds good then. We need to be back in the Cyrannus System as soon as possible. We can bring them good news at least." They turned the Apollo around and made their exit, on the way to the Twelve Colonies. They would soon begin their ferrying duties and help where they could, because today they had done the dirty work.

For the other ship near them, though, it was a moment of horror. Hidden behind a nearby meteor sat one last Heavy Raider. This Heavy Raider was full of Cylon human forms going to the home planet. They had been coming from a secret base in a different star system, a base so secret that not even all the Cylons knew of it. It so happened that the Cylons were not actually new to the idea of Stargates. These survivors would return to that secret base, and they would plan.