Homeworld Bound A SAAB NBSG crossover story Book 1

by JonHarper

After 2yrs of running from the Cylons the Colonials are on the brink. Low on Food, Fuel and Morale they must play one last game of Cat and Mouse against the Cylons. Meanwhile Earth comes face to face against an enemy far more powerful than the Chigs.

11. Chapter 11 First Contact

CHAPTER 11 First Contact.

Battlestar Galactica.

Lee Adama strode through the busy corridors of Galactica heading for the ships mess hall, with the constant patrols and scouting missions most of which he had led he hadn't been able to get much rest or anything to eat, and he needed to keep his strength up. He wouldn't have much time, glancing at his watch he reasoned he had an hour before he had to brief Kat and Hotdog before they took over the next CAP. Being as pressed for time as he was he didn't have the luxury of walking at a lieseruly pace.

"Getting some chow?" Kara said coming up along side him and matching his pace.

"yeah. I haven't had a chance to eat since this latest crisis began." Lee told her as he continued through the ships corridor passing a squad of armed marines. "I still got that mission report I have to write then I have to brief Kat and Hotdog before they take over the CAP." Lee answered.

"Sounds like your a bit pressed for time?" Kara asked with a smile.

"Kara I've been running nonstop since this whole thing began." Lee replied the fatigue in his voice hard to miss.

"You want to know what your problem is?" Kara asked looking to her friend.

'I don't have time for games Kara." Lee responded trying to ignore her which he knew was a futile gesture.

"You don't delegate to your subordinates." Kara continued as if she hadn't heard his earlier protest. "Your a great CAG Lee dont misunderstand, but you always want to lead from the front. Admirable and all, but you always insist on doing it all yourself." Kara said "Theres a time and a place for that but sometimes you just need to delegate some of the workload or you'll burn out. Kara said evenly. "How many of the recon missions have you done?" she asked.

"All of them." Lee replied curtly

"And I've only accomponied you on two of those, you having insisted on keeping the squadrons on their regular rotation." Kara stated before asking "And how many squadron leaders do you have?"

"Two" Lee answered.

"So why aren't those squadron leaders briefing their own pilots instead?" Kara asked. "Is it becuase you were planning on joining Hotdog and Kat on this CAP? even though you have to lead the recon mission to the next waypoint tomorrow?"

"I wasn't planning on joining them Kara." Lee answered a little defensively.

"Like hell you weren't!" Kara fired back before her face twisted into a smile "I mean its not like your going anywhere anyway considering your Mark 2 is down for repairs."

"What?" Lee asked stopping his trek to the mess hall and turing to face his friend.

"I just got back from the Launch bay and its down for maintainence." Kara told him "Your mark 7 is also down for repairs, the chief found a problem with your starboard thruster and pulled it from the roster."

"What? I need that viper on line!" Lee turned to head back to the Launch bay but was abrubtly stopped by Kara's hand on his chest." Thats not the only thing."

"What else?" Lee asked as he stood before his friend.

"I already gave the briefing to Hotdog and Kat so you don't have to do it." Kara said pulling Lee by his arm heading back towards the mess hall.

"Why did you do that?" Lee asked offering little resistance.

"Becuse they're my pilots!" Kara answered indignantly. "Besides your exhausted, no offense Lee but you look frakin terrible."

"I've had better days." Lee replied, though at the moment he was too tired to think of them.

"Eat then sleep, that way you can be rested for tomorrow, your Viper should be back up by then." Kara offered hoping to smooth his roufled feathers.

"Yeah..." replied hesitantly. He hated it when Kara made sense.

Both officers entered the crews mess hall to find it half filled with personnel too absorded in thier own conversaitions to notice them. Both Lee and Kara made their way through the line in respective silence before picking their usual table.

"So what do you think of our new friend?" Kara asked starting the conversation.

"Other than the rescue I haven't met her yet." Lee replied. "Why?"

"Scuttlebutt on the ship is we rescued a pilot from the 13th tribe." Kara said between bites in her sandwhich.

"Scuttlebutt may be right for a change." Lee answered sipping his cup of hot tea.

"I hope so." Kara said "It would be nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel you know? To know that this may all be over soon."

"Yeah I thought about that too." Lee replied after a moment "But it also means we have to be carefull how we proceed."

"How so?" Kara asked having put down her sandwhich.

"Well think about it Kara we haven't had any sort of contact with these people since the flight from Kobol." Lee mused "And we still don't truly know why the 13th tribe broke off from the rest of us. Could there have been some major disagreement that percipitated that split? Lee asked, thinking back on the briefing earlier with his father, Col Tigh and Lt. Gaeta. Lee brought his attention back to the present to find starbuck staring at him clearly not having thought about it.

"It also begs the question of how they'll respond to us." Lee continued. "I mean if all of a sudden out of the blue you had family you hadn't seen in years just knock on your door and say hey I'm here oh and by the way we're being chased by a genocidal fanatical robots we sorta created who probably followed us here now placing you in danger as well! How do you think you would respond? especially if you didn't part on the best of terms."

Kara looked troubled, clearly not having thought much of what Lee was telling her "Are you saying Earth may turn us away?" Kara asked, trying to hide her discomfort at the thought. Untill this very moment she like the rest of the fleet had just assumed Earth would welcome them with open arms. Since the flight from the Colonies Earth had become that one beacon of hope that kept the remnant going, stories of how Earth was some great paradise spread through the fleet, though Kara rarely believed such fantasies. Still the stories represented hope and she didn't want to beleive what Lee was suggesting, that Earth might turn them away harboring a 2000yr grudge.

"Your Fraking depressing Lee." Kara said quietly leaning back agaist her chair.

The conversation had ended at that point, both officers reflecting on the possibilities of the future as they dove into their respective meals, They were nearly finished when Starbuck heard a small high pitched squel.

"KARA!" followed by the sound of running footsteps.

Kara turned just in time to catch the offending little darling and hoist her into her lab. "Hey kiddo how are you?" Kara asked with a bright genuine smile that could have lit the entire room.

Athena Kara Agathon smiled brightly as she settled into starbucks lap, the cylon human hybrid was the offspring of the Bio-Cylon Sharon Valeriie and her human father Karl Agethon.

Not willing to steep so low as to kill an infant child Commander Adama had reluctantly agreed to allow her father to raise her. Still the child was an unknown and had shown amazing intelligence and insight for a child of her age. "Daddy was showing me his Raptor that he and Mommy flies!" The child beamed excitedly "When I grow up I want to be a Raptor pilot!"

Kara looked to Helo who was trying to surpress the smile on his face while still basking in his daughters praise and affection. Kara too tried to supress a smile clearly amused with the situation. Kara had immeadiatly fallen in love with the little darling despite the nature of her parentage, becoming a sort of god mother to little Athena. She spent as much time as she could with the child even preventing a terrorist group from spacing her when little Athena had been wisked away to cloud 9. That incident added to the fact that no teacher or any potential parent would take her after learning her true origins led to the conclusion in Commander Adama's mind that the Child was safer on Galactica. While most of the crew wasn't as hostile to the child like the Civilian fleet had been, they never the less kept her at an arms length prefering not to get too close to the 'bastard child' or 'freak of nature,' the insults that usually accompanied the childs presence. Kara was certain Athena heard the not so subtle insults directed at her but the child made no mention of them even when the two of them were alone. Still Athena had an infectious and raidaint personality and Kara hoped it wouldn't fade as Athena grew up in this hostile world she found herself in.

"A Raptor Pilot?" Kara asked in amusement "Didn't you say last week you wanted to be a Viper Pilot like me?"

'Yeah but I changed my mind, Mommy and Daddy fly Raptors and I want to fly them too!" the child beamed.

"Well I guess I'm going to have to change your mind." Kara said standing up still holding Athena while turning her attention to Helo "you don't mind if I borrow you daughter for a while do you?"

"Please." Helo replied thankfully "She's a ball of energy and she's tired me out." Kara turned to leave the mess hall but before she could move Athena spoke once more.

"Good bye Mr. Apollo." the child said warily

Lee did his best to hide his discomfort but it must have shown on his face, he'd never had been that comfortable around the hybrid and he did his best to just avoid her all together, but for some reason Athena had taken an interest in him. It was no secret even to Athena that Lee Adama hated her mother, and Lee didn't doubt for a second the child sensed his discomfort about her. But unlike most of the crew he didn't hurl insults at the child or give her hostile glares, he was content to keep his distance. Now looking up he met the expectent, inocent eyes of a child and for once his resolve faltered then cracked. Raising his right hand slightly to wave good bye Lee answered the childs silent plea.

"Good bye...Athena" He answered in a near whisper.

Athena waved back with a smile on her face and in an instant the two were gone.

Lee sat silently at his table reflecting on what had just happened, he didn't hate the child or so he told himself yet something always nagged at him when in her company, could it be that he was projecting his hatred for her mother on to her? This was the first time he even tried to reason with himself on the matter and the emotional tidal wave washing over him threatened to consume him before he noticed someone standing expectantly next to him.

"Is this seat taken?" Karl "Helo' Agathon asked.

"No...no not at all." Lee replied looking at the empty tray oposite of him. "looks like Kara forgot to dispose of her tray." Lee said with a slight wistful smile.

Karl sat down oposite of Lee and began eating. Lee didn't understand why Karl would want to sit with him, the two had never exactly been considered friends by any measure of the word.

"I saw what you did for Athena." Karl began looking directly at Lee. "And I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" Lee asked in confusion.

"A little thing like that goes a long way with her." Karl began "She knows your the CAG, and she knows you play a big part in defending the fleet from the Cylons. She idolizes you like she does Kara. You two are her hero's, so for one of her hero's to acknowledge her presence and not throw her a hostile glare or an insult means the world to her."

Lee shifted uncomfortably in his seat " I...uh...I'm not sure what to say to that." Lee answered trying to hide his shock, and his growing shame.

"Don't say anything, just be aware of her feelings." Karl replied.

"Like her mother?" Lee asked skeptically.

The spoon full of soup Karl held in his hand halted half way to his mouth before he put it back in the bowl, he bit his lower lip as he sat back in his seat trying to find a way to answer that pointed question.

" I try to be aware of her feelings too, but ever time I reason with myself to forgive her this rage comes out of nowhere and just..." Karl trailed off shaking his head not knowing how to finish his statement.

"She was our friend, some one we trusted and loved." Lee found himself saying "Then out of nowhere she betrays us, we never saw it coming." Lee said balling his fist in anger "some one we loved and cared about...apart of our family..." Lee forced himself to spit it all out "Betrayal blinds you, blankets out all emotions toward the offender...all but rage. Lee said deep in thought unconsciously echoing his fathers words.

Karl shook his head in complete understanding, Lee wasn't saying anything he himself didn't feel. Both men had cared for her and she had betrayed them both in different but equally painful ways. For Lee it was the near loss of his father at the hands of someone he thought of as a true friend. For Karl It was the women who stole his heart under false pretences. For the past 2yrs both men had kept their feelings bottled up inside and like a caged animal clawing at its restraints it had been eating away at them, demanding release, and now it was out in the open.

"Its not the same Sharon though." Karl found himself speaking after their long moment of silence "That sharon's dead, this ones proved she can be trusted."

"They're one and the same." Lee said still not ready to give up his anger "They frack with your head to make you think they're human then they knife you in the back, and in those final moments you realize it was all an illusion." Betrayal ran deep.

"My feelings for her aren't" Karl finally admitted

Lee continued on "You can't love a machine, and its foolish to even contemplate giving her another chance." lee said trying to hold onto his fading anger.

Karl pressed on "shes endured a lot since she returned, this hasn't been easy for her, I think she's earned it."

Lee was ready to let loose an angry retort yet he surprised himself yet again with a simple admission "Perhaps." He said more to himself than to Karl before lowering his head trying to fight off his emotions; anger, shame, and remorse. The two sat silently in the now empty mess hall taking some small comfort in their admition of the truth and in those few moments of silence their anger which had taken on a life of its own withered away and in their minds they resolved to make their peace.

Life sure has a way of throwing you curveballs and she hated those with a passion, they made things far more complicated than she would have liked Shane Vansen thought as she reflected on the curious and unheard of situation she found herself in. Trying (and failing) to make sense of it. What started off as a simple recon patrol had turned into a firefight with one alien race only to be rescued by a group of mysterious humans who for all intense and purposes were as alien to her as well. She recognized facets of Western culture easily enough, but the language barrier was proving near impossible to overcome. At least this situation was turning out better then the last time she'd been rescued.

Taking a look around the branched corridor Shane noted again that she had an audience staring at her; though they were trying to be polite about it.

Not having anything appropriate to wear as her flight suit had been cut away she had been given a spare duty uniform by one of the Female pilots she had met, both women were roughly the same size and the woman who Shane had learned was named Kara had been more than willing to hand one over.

The uniform felt a little snug in the shoulders and chest, but beggars couldn't be choosers. She had spent what little free time exploring this huge ship going from corridor to corridor with her constant (and well armed) companion who was atleast respectful enough to give her some space. She was actually quite surprised she was given such free reign to roam the ship but it seemed her rescuers wanted to put her at ease and hadn't restricted her movments. So, during these brief moments when she was left alone with her thoughts she roamed the ship. In the passageways hushed conversations would abrubtly end as she approached, all eyes either darting and lingering on her as she passed or the conspirators would quickly slip away. This had been happening with increasing frequency and It didn't take a genius to figure out who the topic was. It wasn't so much that this annoyed her, not even in highschool had she even been this popular, but she couldn't understand why so much awe and attention was being directed her way.

Eventually she made down to the port flight pod and the hanger bay which was blissfully devoid of people. It was the night shift at least she was able to discern that much from the subdued light level and lack of commotion, she walked around the bay with a practiced eye that missed little and found it almost exactly like the maintanence bays on the Saratoga, it seemed some things were universaly human. Stepping further into the bay she quickly noticed a row of sleek and elogant fighters. With a slight smile on her face Shane Vansen quickly moved to study the first craft more closely...way way more closely.

It was a sleek and sexy design, far more so than the Hammerheads she flew and as she ran her hands over the scorched and well used surface her mind drifted as she thought over how it might be to fly one of these sleek birds. It was also at that moment that she became aware of a presence behind her. Instincs drilled into her from years in the Military kicked in and she spun around quickly crouching into a defensive posture, only to see the offender backaway with his hands raised in the air indicating he meant no harm.

Captain Lee Adama was momentarily startled to find he had company in the bay with him, and not just anyone... but her. Star, as he still thought of her was checking out his Viper with obvious interest as he came into the bay. He'd been told by Chief Tyrol that his Mark 7 had finally been put back online for his scheduled recon patrol in the morning. Lee had decided to stop by the maintanence bay to give his primary bird the once over before finishing some paperwork and then off to bed. Usually at this time of night no one would be found in the bays, even Tyrol's deck gang would be gettting some much needed rest so it was with some surprise that he found he had company in the bay. He nodded briefly to the Marine guard who returned his nod with a crisp salute then exited the bay. Lee took a moment to study his companion, quickly noticing how the uniform fit her in all the right places as she continued to examine his Viper. He approached cautiously with his hands at his sides not wanting to disturb her...and it was about that time she suddenly spun crouching slightly with her arms raised defensively clearly ready for a fight.

Lee stepped back quickly and raised his hands, she was clearly a fighter based of her quick reaction, and as Lee studied her beautiful hazzle eyes he noticed a hardness there he was all too familiar with, the look of a combat veteran. She relaxed slightly but the look in her eyes was still wary as he came to stand beside her with his arms still raised.

"Sorry." he said quietly "I'm sorry I startled you." he said even knowing she couldn't understand him. He lowered his hands slightly looking to her for permission to lower them completly after a moment she nodded slightly and Lee took the hint from her that it was alright. There was a brief awkward silence as the two studied each other for several moments before Lee diverted her attention back towards his Viper.

"Viper mark 7." Lee indicated to the Viper as she followed his gaze. "Best ship I've ever flown. Gotten me out of more than a few scrapes." despite not being able to understand him Shane was able to understand the respect he held for the ship before her and that only increased her curiosity. It definetly wasn't like any fighter she'd ever seen before.

"Would you like to take a look inside?" Lee asked catching Vansen's attention. Again there was the frustrating language barrier but as she followed his nod towards the cannopy she quickly realized what he was asking. With a smile that stunned Lee like an electrical jolt she nodded in the affirmative, quite eager to get a look at the inside of the bird. Lee stepped up the ladder and opened the Canopy allowing Vansen to come up behind him, as she moved to enter the cockpit Lee had to repress the feelings her close proximity was stirring. She was definetly atractive and Lee couldn't help but sneek a few glances her way as she settled into the cockpit. Feeling heat on the back of his neck and cheeks Lee concentrated on explained the basic functions of the cockpit recieving affirmative nods from Vansen who quickly understood exactly what he was talking about. Despite their different origins the cockpit of a Viper was more or less comparable to the cockpit of a Hammerhead, the only major differences being instead of the yoke that Vansen was familiar with there was a standard flight stick. The Viper also didn't have the Hammerheads holographic Heads Up Display instead opting for a more conventional one similar to the ones the US Military used 20 to 30 years ago.

They would spend more than an hour that way both understanding each other without needing words and when it was over the first bonds of friendship between 2 peoples had been formed.

USS Saratoga

The Saratoga; a John F Kennedy class space carrier built with the finest technology of her day, a milestone of human achievment and a symbol of both American pride and Earth might. Now she had been reduced to a battered wreck that floated dead in space Admiral Ross thought as he passed through the ships corridors. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see 2 medics tending to a wounded man who lay motionless his blood; pouring profusely from his wounds already saturating the deck. Ross kept his face neutral barely mangaging to force down the grief he felt for the young man who couldn't have been more than 20yrs old. Ross watched with a painful heart as the young man his face contorted in fear and anguish suddenly spasmed before finally going limp much to the distress of the medics attending to him who had tried everything in their power to save him, but it wasn't enough. It was sad scene, one Ross was intimately familiar with. Was he married? Did he have a family? Ross wondered but ultimately forced the thoughts out of his mind. The young man like many before him had died on Ross's watch, lost to yet another unknown enemy for no apparent reason. How many loved ones will mourn thier losses this night? Ross looked up through the mangled passageway to see only chared corridors and debris interspaced with the bodies of the wounded or the dead. Some time later as if in a trance he had managed to make his way to the ships infirmary only to see the familiar site of yet more wounded sprawled everywhere, the ships surgeons and medical teams doing everything possible to save who they could but they were simply being overwhelmed by the sheer number of wounded.

"Can I help you sir?" A young nurse with blood matted to her uniform asked him as he approached.

Ross suddenly found his mouth dry, He had come down for personal reasons but after taking in everything he had seen he silently barated himself for just wanting to check up on his friend. "I'm looking for Commodor Masterman."

"Right this way sir." the nurse replied without preamble. whether she was accustomed to dealing with Flag officers or just too tired to care Ross didn't know, either way it didn't matter to him as the young nurse led him through the mess that had become the Infirmary. Shouts and screams from the wounded assaulted Ross's ears followed by frantic calls for assistance from the doctors and nurses. It was the grim Aftermath of battle.

"How many wounded do we have?" Ross suddenly asked

The young nurse answered curtly "96 dead, 328 wounded at last count, but that was 15 minutes ago so its more likely those numbers have gone up, we're getting more wounded all the time." The two reached a point in the infirmary where the young nurse stopped and pointed to a small bed "There he is sir. He's lucky it was only a glancing blow, still, he took most of the impact in his back fraturing 3 vertebrae, he also took a blow to the head causing a nasty concussion. Its nothing we cant handle but he wont be fit for duty for a while." she stated.

"Thank you." Was all Ross could say to her as she departed his side. Ross turned his attention back to the still form on the bed as relief flooded through him knowing that his friend would be alright.

"What are you doing here?" the hoarse voice of Bill Masterman reached his ears.

"I was just checking on the wounded." Ross lied surpessing a smile as he came to stand beside Mastermans Bed.

"Glen while that bullshit might fool others I know you too well." Masterman replied his voice full of mirth as he careened his neck slightly to look up.

"Maybe." Ross allowed knowing Bill had seen right through his little lie.

"How many did we loose?" Masterman asked after a brief silence

"At last count 96 dead 328 wounded." Ross repeated the figures told to him only moments ago.

"How bad are we?" Masterman asked.

"Bad." Was all Ross could get out. Masterman wasn't a fool he could reed between the lines, He knew the Saratoga had never been in this bad a shape before, even in the heaviest fighting with the Chigs.

So give me all the details." Masterman said. Bill Ross took a seat next to his friend and began the process of bringing him up to speed.

Saratoga Hanger Bay.

It had been a helacious fight, one that had damaged the Saratoga beyond anything she had seen in the heaviest days of the war, Half her hanger facilities were either destroyed or damaged, most of her heavy ordinanance expended and a large number of her fighters were never coming back. The 58th had been given priority clearance to land, repair and rearm and assume the first CAP which seemed a sad joke to many of the American aviators, becuase they knew they were in no condition to mount more than a token resistance. All the hope for the survivors of the Saratoga Battlegroup laid with the arrival of the Yorktown and Kennedy battlegroups they all hoped would arrive soon.

"Five-eight that was impressive flying out there, under normal circumstances we'd debrief and let rest after a major furball like that, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to send you back out ASAP. Fighter losses were heavy and some units like the 23rd were completly wiped out, You are the only squadron that hasn't suffered a casualty to date. It's going to be a while before we get your fighters rearmed, at least an hour." The deck officer stated. "My advice is go get something to eat and be ready to launch when we can transfer some munitions from the undamaged bays."

"What about damage control?" Cooper offered. "We can help out here."

"Take a rest." The officer said. "Build up some energy, we still have hostiles out there and need you alert. Dismiss Five-eight."

Relectantly the squadron obeyed, filing out of the landing deck and into the battered corridors. The Saratoga had taken a hell of a beating, the damge they had seen from a distance outside seemed mirrored on the inside with some sections of their path crushed down like a discarded beer can forcing them to stoop under the flattened roofs and buckled walls. By now the wounded had been evacuated to holding areas with medics rushing through triage and saving those they could while the lightly wounded were patched up and returned quickly to duty.

Their quarters had been ruined, a forty ton shard of metal had gone through the room and several other dormitories immolating everything in its path, the area was still off limits and it wasn't known if their possessions could be salvaged. It was one more blow on a day of sadness mounting on sadness.

They made their way to the ward room, an area of the ship that had survived more or less unscathed and was being used to keep the lightly wounded. Thirty men and women were seated at tables covered in blackened uniforms stained with smoke and blood with most sporting bandages of one type or another. They were the lucky ones, the ISSCV holding deck was gradually filling with black bags bearing silent witness to the real cost of the battle.

It had been close, damn close, with only a few seconds deciding winner and loser. If it hadn't been for the timely arrival of the Battleship Tecumseh the Saratoga and her fleet would have gone the way of the Eisenhower. The heavy damage was tale enough of the devestation incurred from the new warships and their power, whoever they were they had attacked without warning and with deadly force, it was now a given that Earth was once again at war.

"Anyone else thirsty?" Cooper hopped over the bar, the tender nowhere to be scene. Maybe he was on duty handling damage control, or maybe he hadn't made it.

"I don't think they'll blame us for taking a shot." West nodded. "But just the one, we gotta stay sharp."

Cooper opened a bottle of fine scotch and lined up shots for the squadron, taking one himself.

"The Saratoga." West toasted. "Battered but never broken."

"Saratoga." They echoed before downing the liquor.

For a long moment they held the silence, alone with their own thoughts about the ship that had been their home through hard times. She'd taken anything the Chigs had thrown their way but these new aliens were a whole new ball game. She'd survived but only just and only with help. It wasn't something that filled them with confidence for the future.

They barely noticed the single remaining saloon style door flap open as their senior officer made his way in, the traditional black clad Colonell McQueen.

"Five Eight." He addressed them. "Set me up."

Cooper poured a fresh shot for the Colonel who took it, held it up for a moment, then quietly downed it.

"Colonel." Brody spoke up. "Sir, what happened here?"

McQueen glanced at the young pilot. "We got lucky." He said looking around the room. "If you can call this lucky. Most of the hits were on the hangar deck which is automated, it kept casualties down. If they'd hit the rearming or maintenance decks we could have lost thousands. As it is we're at Ninety Six dead and counting. But that's just here."

"We saw our escorts get hit." West said solemnly. "Any word?"

"Our two destroyers are gone." McQueen reported grimly. "The Perry and Jones made it, the New Orleans took critical damage but her crew held the ship together. She can't fight but she can make it to Aris and there head home. Valley Forge wasn't so lucky and we haven't heard from Ruben James."

"Between those ships it has to be over a thousand crew, maybe two thousand." Porter said in disbelief. "All in a few minutes."

"I got one question." Cooper snarled. "When do we go kill 'em for this?"

It was sentiment common across the ship, they had been hurt but not killed and now it was payback time.

"We have heavy reinforcements on the way." McQueen confirmed. "And when they get here we'll see what the Admiral has in store, until then keep your mind on the job and save your anger."

Cooper was fuming, and no one could blame him. But McQueen was right, they had to suppress their anger and stay calm so they didn't make any mistakes out there.

"Tell me about the fighters." McQueen changed the subject. "We have some data but I want to hear it from you guys first hand."

"Fast." Micky Goins stated. "They could pull some turns no human pilot could manage."

"Well armed too." Added Porter. "Twin cannons, fixed and slower rate of fire but they pack a nasty kick. I'd say explosive tipped armour piercing rounds."

"On the plus side our cannons didn't have a lot of problem with their armour." West stated. "And they didn't have great ECM, our missiles tracked without being decoyed."

"They could fly though." Cooper cut in. "Real good pilots, they were holding tight formation and never blinked when a wing man took a missile."

McQueen took on the information. "Don't spread it around, but we think the enemy fighters don't have pilots, not like we know them."

"AI?" West asked, visibly not happy at the idea.

"Maybe, but not like anything we've seen." McQueen confirmed. "We're salvaging pieces now, we need to know what we're up against before we can drop the hammer."

"One carrier made it out." Brody pointed. "And I'd put money on there being more out there, probably heading this way."

"Which is why we need to be out there." Cooper grinned. "Bring 'em on."

McQueen felt the same way, but he hadn't flown a fighter since that day he met the Chig ace fighter in single combat. He'd held flight status for a short time before a Chig suicide bomber had cost him his right leg below the knee and effectively ended any chance he had of flying again. His new leg was a work of art, linked to his nervous system with all the movement and flexibility of a real leg and even some very basic feelings. But the regulations stated quite clearly that with a false limb he couldn't see active service, relegating him to ship board fighter control. Even then he should have been on Earth, only his record and Admiral Ross' influence saw him out on the front lines.

"I heard they destroyed your quarters."

"Yes sir." Cooper scoffed. "If they wasted my music collection I'm going to kill them twice!"

"If they hurt Rosalyn the Admiral won't leave anything for the rest of us to kill." McQueen stated.

"Who?" Brody asked.

"His guitar." Answered West, it was a well known fact among the older hands from the Chig war.

"Admiral Ross is a old school blues man." Hawkes explained. "And he has this guitar. Nobody touches it, or goes near it, or breathes too loudly in its presence."

"He's not joking." West smiled. "The Old Man would have you out the airlock if you damaged it."

"You'd probably be still alive too."

"Well I got all I need right here." West took out a photograph from a chain about his neck.

"How is Kylen?" Cooper asked. "Been a while."

"Last time we talked she was fine, the twins are walking now." West said proudly. "I'm sorry I missed it, but you know, I don't mind."

"You shouls mind." McQueen said. "Doesn't mean you can do anything about it, but you shouldn't dismiss it. Family is what we're out here for."

The squadron nodded in agreement, each with their own take on that.

"Whoever these aliens are, we'll find them and we'll make them pay for what they've done." McQueen said. "We have purpose and definition, we are right where we are supposed to be when we are meant to be there. Fate put us here for one reason, killing anything that threatens Earth. You're the best there is and we're all going to prove it."

"Huh-ya Colonel." West grunted in agreement.

"Huh-ya." The squadron called out defiantly.

"Come on." McQueen took the bottle and began pouring. "One more for the road."

He lined up the shots and passed them to the rest of the squadron.

"The fallen." McQueen raised his voice.

"The Fallen." They all echoed.

"No one dies in vain, not if we honour their memory and bring justice to their killers." McQueen said solemnly. "This is more than a job, more than duty. It is our calling. We've taken the path of the warrior, and though our weapons are built of composites and rocket engines we share that same spirit with everyone who ever took up arms to defend whatever they loved and wanted to preserve."

He put the glass down and stood.

"We are in this together. Wherever you are just remember, as long as you wear that uniform you are never alone."

The Squadron began to move out, with West and Cooper bringing up the rear. The moment of quiet had helped focus them but Cooper was still seething, it was a deep down anger, the sort that couldn't be ignored and could prove extremely dangerous in battle.

"Hawkes." McQueen said carefully. "Let's take a walk."

The two officers stepped out of the main corridor into a deserted and darlkly lit walkway, sealed doors lining its length.

"How are you holding up?" McQueen asked. He'd found himself acting like a concerned parent to Hawkes on more than one occaision, due to his nature Cooper was never going to have parents or a blood family, and while he had his friends he was only close to two people, McQueen had been one and Vansen the other.

"I'm fine." Cooper lied.

"Yeah I can tell." McQueen said with sarcasm. "You need to establish some control."

"What I need is to kick some ass!" he growled in reply, and McQueen could understand that.

"You go out there like this you're a dead man!" McQueen hissed trying to instill some seriousness into the young man. "Now that might not bother you but if you take the squadron down with you and endanger this ship then by hell I'll hunt down your soul and make you beg to go down to see the devil! You do your job!"

"You know what those things did to Shane!" Hawkes snapped. "We should be trying to find her!"

"First we protect the fleet." McQueen said bluntly. "We can't look for her if we're all dead!"

"She isn't dead Colonel." Cooper said with surprising conviction. "She is out there, and she isn't dead."

"I Believe that." McQueen confirmed. "Don't ask me how but I believe it, she's a born survivor, and we will rescue her, but we have to save ourselves first!"

Cooper bowed his head, fighting against his emotion. "Yes sir."

"I promise you we will find her." McQueen said firmly. "And we will make whoever is out there pay in blood for all of this, but first things first."

"Yes sir."

"That squadron is your family, don't put them in danger." McQueen commanded. "Now get your gear, it's almost time to take over the CAP. Stay focused, we will find her."

USS Ruben James

"Captain we are aproaching cordinates." The helm officer informed. In the hastily thought out escape plan from the unknown enemy the Ruben James opted to use a moon as cover until she could elecit repairs, most notably to her long range FTL communications systems which had been damaged in the ambush at Gettysburg's debris field.

"Very well, helm bring us in to the darkside of the moon ahead slow, tactical prepare to adopt full EMCOM protocols until repairs are complete, I don't want the enemy catching us with our pants down. The captain ordered as he came around the plot table to the rear of his bridge.

"Aye sir." both the Helmsman and the Tactical actions officer replied.

"Captain?" the damage control officer spoke up.

"What is it?"

"Sir our stealth systems will be severely compromised with the damage to the Radar absorbant materials, and I'm afraid we'll need about a week in drydock to replace the damaged sections."

"how bad will our stealth be compromised?" the captain asked.

"Well sir based on the initial assesment of the damage it appears our stealth systems may be reduced in efficiency by about 20 percent, anything 600km or closer will get a solid return on us, anything between 850 to 700 kilometers might get a reading on us depending on how advanced or how powerful their sensors are. But we should be protected from anything 1000km out.

It wasn't exactly thrilling news, but captain Reynolds would take what he could get, they had been lucky to survive the battle against the strange alien ship which outmassed them by an order of magnitude. However reflecting back on the battle it seemed the enemy fighters had been herding the Ruben James to a specific point, right where they encountered the alien mothership, it lead credence to the XO's therory that the aliens may have wanted to captured the Ruben James rather than destroy her. From what they could tell the ship had massed batteries of nuclear missiles yet hadn't used them. The battle also confirmed a rather pleasant fact; that the Stealth systems of the Ruben James had infact sucessfuly hidden her from the enemy. Meaning either they used Radar or something similar enough that the active and passive stealth systems aboard the Ruben James were able to adapt and effectivly reduce the Ruben Jame's radar cross section.

"Were rounding the moon now sir." the XO spoke up.

"Very well." The captain said as he stared at the plot table, all we need is a little time to complete repairs then link up with the Saratoga, just so long as we don't get any more nasty surprises.

Raptor 114

Aboard Raptor 114 Lt. Karl 'Helo' Agethon was watching his screen and not trying to eye his companion seated at the front of the Raptor, who (as the gods or fate would have it) just happend to be the women who was the object of his current dilema. It seemed a cruel twist of fate to Helo that the very next mission after his little revelation would be with the object of his revelation, The Gods had a twisted sense of humor indeed. Still, despite admitting to himself that he still loved Sharon he just couldn't bring himself to say it to her...It had nothing to do with pride (though Helo had a good amount of that) but he just didn't know how to broach the subject with her. Infact since this mission had started an hour ago he hadn't said anything since the preflight checklist, his mind just kept working in circles as he remebered his conversation with Captain Adama earlier and still coming up blank on how to broach the topic. This left a wonderfully opressive atmosphere within the Raptor's cockpit as the ever perceptive Cylon picked up on his mood, and fearing to upset whatever relationship they had between them she too had opted for the safest course of action...silence. It still didn't stop her from taking several pensive( and hopeful) glances back to the rear of the cockpit however, but it did nothing to break the tense atmosphere on the Raptor. Sharon didn't know what it was but something had happened to Helo since their last mission together.

The silence was broken when a voice interjected iteself into their thoughts. "Raptor 114, Galactica, come left 20 maintain 60 from strike 1 and keep your eyes open. The voice of petty officer Duella stated on the wireless link.

"Copy Galactica coming left two zero maintaining a distance of six zero from strike 1. Negative contacts.

"Roger, out."

Slumping back in her chair after finishing her course correction starting the second leg of there CAP with Strike 1 Sharon wondered how long Helo would avoid speaking to her, usually they talked, (never about their relationship, that had sorta become a taboo subject unless it concerned their daughter.) but they talked like any pilot and ECO would about the various topics within the fleet, if only to pass the time and the bordem that accompanied a long patrol. These missions had become the highpoints of her week something she eagerly looked forward to, not just for the fact that it got her out of her cell but that she could spend whatever time she could with Helo. Presently she was growing tired of the silent treatment, yes it was true that she didn't want to jepordize the already strained relationship she had with him but enough was enough.

"Will you say something to me? I'm tired of you just sitting back there like a frakin mute. What did I do this time? was it another plot to blow up Galactica? or did I decide to kill the president this week?" Sharon winced, that had come out a little more sharply than she had intended.

"No nothing like that." Helo said, caught offguard by her sudden outburst.

"Then what?"

"Its nothing." Helo answered hoping she'd let it go, fat chance with sharon Valerie.

"On no mister! You ain't getting out of this that easy, somethings going on and it has something to do with me if the silent treatment your giving me is any indication." Sharon turned to look him square in the eye pressing her point. " I think I deserve some answeres."

"Its not you its...me." Helo said turning away from her feeling uncomfortable with her gaze, doing his best to stare intently at his screen, after a few moments however he still felt her eyes on him.

"Thats it? Oh don't worry sharon its not you its me. By the Gods that has to be the lamest excuse I've ever heard, now I want answers mister." Sharon fired back. "Try again."

"I'm sorry." Helo's voice was barely audible.

"You should be sorry with that lame ass excuse I mean I've heard-"

"Sharon!" Helo said forcefully "What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry...for everything." Helo said finally voicing the source of his inner conflict.

"Oh." Sharon said dumbstruck quickly turning from him to stare out the forward window, she took a deep breath trying to steady her nerves as she heard words she thought she'd never hear. To say that she had been caught by surprise was to say that space was slightly cold, it left her totally speachless.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Helo asked from the rear of the cockpit.

"I don't know what to say." she replied clearly lost for words. " I guess I had it coming, with the way I decieved you.

"No you didn't deserve that, and I should have said these words to you long ago but I couldn't."

"Becuase of your anger." Sharon answered. "Believe me when I say I understand. I'm a Cylon Helo, I know what that means especially here in this fleet." sharon said her voice barely hinting at her emotional state " I'm an interloper I have no real place here, the only reason Commander Adama lets me fly this Raptor knowing what I am is, 1. we don't have enough pilots and 2. President Roslyn still thinks I'm useful and put me on indefinete probation." Sharon turned back to face him "And I know Helo that as soon as I'm no longer useful I'll be thrown out the closesest airlock." She turned away from him and took a deep breath, trying to fight the tears welling in her eyes." My friends, the people I called family for 2 yrs before the attacks, had all turned against me. and for good reason becuase I'm the enemy in their midst, Then you wouldn't acknowledge what we had on Caprica even in private, I felt humiliated and hurt, but also angry" She turned back to face him and this time the tears in her eyes were impossible to miss. "So believe me I know... and... I forgive you."

It was still a question of whether the Bio-Cylons actually felt true emotions, If one listened to the more fanatical or hate filled minded the answer would be an emphatic NO! Even those considered moderate such as Commander Adama, Billy Keyka, and Lee Adama couldn't accept the possibility that something miraculous could of happened to the Cylon in their midst. But to someone who'd spent time with her who had fallen in love with her and created new life with that love, he felt something altogether different.

"I want to make this up to you Sharon." Helo said "But I'm not sure how."

"Telling me the truth was enough, it took a lot of courage to say that." She looked away unable to look him in the eye

"I love you Sharon." He said quietly but with feeling.

"Sharon was still facing away from him as she brought her head to rest on her chair and closed her eyes fighting the tears that threatened to overwhelm her, to say she dreamt of this was an understatement but she had never expected it to actually happen, and yet here he was saying things she had longed and hoped to hear, but never dared herself to believe that she would hear.

Helo's timing to clear his conscience and do the right thing was impeccable becuase fate wasn't quite done with them yet, shortly before Sharon could respond a steady beeping on her controls grabbed her attention and made her blood run cold.

"Helo?" she said with a noticable change in the pitch of her voice.

"Yeah?" Helo asked catching the change in her demeaner.

"I've think I've got something.

Ruben James

On the bridge of the Ruben James the Lidar operator detected something on his scaners as they cleared the sensor shadow and entered the dark side of the moon. "Lidar contact bow, starboard bearing 230, 700 klicks and closing."

What?" both the Captain and the XO said in unison, they had chosen this moon becuase after careful study it seemed to be the perfect hiding spot to effect repairs. Unfortunatly Captain Reynolds hadn't considered the possibility that someone else would have come to that same conclusion for the exact same reason.

"Have they detected us?" The XO Charlie McIntyre asked the Lidar operator as he came to stand next to the captain to look at the master display screen to the right of the ships forward window.

"Almost certainly." The lidar operator responded immeadiatly " They're within range for a solid return..." The operator stopped midsentence as he studied his board and when he spoke again his voice had risen noticably in pitch. "Energy spike! looks like they've seen us.

"Are we being targeted?" The captain asked

"Negative, frequency looks too low but I can tell you they got a good look at us."

"Do we have a silhouete?"

"yes sir." the lidar operator responded.

"Push it up to the master display." the captain ordered, on the screen a wireframe image of a ship that bore a slight resemblence to an ISSAPC rotated slowly, blocky looking with 2 heavy engines at its rear, it was absurbly ugly, almost human looking. Next to the wireframe image data text appeared off to the side noting the ships size, energy readings and speed.

"Sir the unknown ship its turing away! reading a huge increase in speed...wait...Sir I think they're trying to send out a signal.

"Jam it!" the captain ordered.

"Its too late sir.

Raptor 114

What have you got Sharon, Helo asked as he came up beside her to look at her sensor screen, sure enough it was picking up a faint but solid return on the forward array.

"I'm not sure, DRADIS is having a hard time locking it down, best I can guess is its betwenn 500 to 700 kilometers dead ahead."

"Something that close we should be able to see." Helo said. "Infact we should have been able to see it long before then." he reasoned as he returned to his station and brought up the information from the forward array onto a second screen while keeping his main screen slaved to his own DRADIS array. Sure enough there was a faint echo.

The moon the fleet was hidden behind orbited a gas giant that threw off enough electromagnetic energy that disrupted DRADIS, acting like electronic noise to a point that DRADIS was practically useless past a distance of 5,000km. It was the perfect place to hide a large group of ships but it also led to a serious problem becuase Galactica wouldn't be able to respond to a potential threat until it was uncomfortably close to the fleet. To counter this problem Raptors had been strategically placed around the orbit of the moon in essence acting like guarddogs to provide advanced warning and sound the alarm if unwanted company decided to crash the party.

At least such was the idea.

Should we go active with the DRADIS?" It was a good question but one fraught with danger, even though the Raptor's forward passive DRADIS array had detected something solid on approach the ships computer was unable to identify what it was or its exact location. It was like seeing a dark shadow at night, you could see the silouett of the figure but you couldn't tell who it was. The active sensors on the DRADIS's forward array in essence would act like a spotlight "illuminating" the target so more information could be gathered...speed, distance, size,energy output, but most importantly to identify if the ship was friendly or foe.

"Go active." Helo responded as he continued to study the data, all thoughts of their previous conversation had been pushed to the back of their minds allowing the two to work together like the professional team they had been not so long ago.

"Ok lets see what we have here." Sharon said nervously. The forward DRADIS array focused on the supected location of the unknown ship and directed high levels of electromagnetic energy towards it, most of the energy was either absorbed by the radar absorbant materials covering the Ruben James's hull and refracted by the right angles of the ship, or were disrupted by the active stealth system as it absorbed the incoming EM energy, determined and matched the frequency then sent out a false negative return reading on that same frequency to fool the recieving station, all in the space of a few seconds. The system worked remarkably well despite the damage to the Ruben James, had the James been further away the the active and passive stealth would have been enough to fool the DRADIS computers completly, unfortunatly enough of the directed EM energy was able to bounce off the damaged sections where the radar absorbant materials had been stripped off during the battle and 'paint' enough of a picture for the Raptors DRADIS computers. Basic information such as size, speed, noticeable armarment and energy readings were recorded.

"Its not like anything I've ever seen before." Sharon remarked as she read off the data from the forward DRADIS screen. The ship didn't look Cylon or anything she recongnized although it did seem oddly human based on the design alone, only humans built ships that hidiously ugly and yet as she noted the various missile tubes and gun ports, also that deadly looking. Just as she was about to to voice her thoughts Helo spoke up in alarm.

"They're scanning us! Unidentified ship is changing course now bearing on us. Boomer get us out of here!"

"Right!" Sharon complied as she pulled the Raptor in a tight 6G hard right turn while increasing thrust to max on course back to the Galacitca and fleet."

"Boomer get on the wirless and inform Galactica we have an unknown ship incoming."

"Got it." Sharon replied before she keyed her wirless "Galacitca this is Raptor 114."

Battlestar Galactica

Cmdr. William Adama stood in the center of CIC reading over a report (and trying not to grimace) about the ships current amunition stores, or rather what was left of them. Oh sure Galactica had loaded as much ordinance as she could carry before departing Ragnar Anchorage to the point where the starboard maintainance bay had been crammed to the max with every available inch of space being used, but with the constant engagements against the Cylon fleet those stores of ammunition began to dwindle to uncomfortably low levels. Adama had no doubt that the Cylons had something paticularly nasty waiting for the Fleet in this system; he could feel it in his bones. It wasn't something he could really put into words, but more like a feeling that somehow one way or another their long fight against their relentless enemy was coming to its conclusion. Signing off on the report with an almost inperceptible sigh Adama hoped (and in those more desperate times when he was alone, he prayed) for a miracle that would deliver the Colonial remnant from the relentless puruit by the Cylons.

His prayers and that of the Fleet were about to be answered.

"Galactica this is Raptor 114."

"Raptor 114, Galactica, go ahead." Adama heard the voice of Petty officer Duella respond curtly. Since the rescue of Shane Vansen Lt. Gaeta and Petty officer Duella had worked tirelessly around the clock to understand the unknown language Shane and her tribe spoke. After many long, frustrating, and exhaustive hours they'd struck paydirt. Lt Gaeta had struck up on the idea of going through Shane's module and found a program buried within, a sorta 'to whom it may concern' program detailing the dominant languages on Earth to include English, Mandarian and a hoste of other languages. Unbeknownst to Lt. Gaeta (who had practically shouted in relief when he realized what he had stumbled onto) the Program had been installed in 'ALL' Earth ships, fighters and and shuttles in those more inocent days before the Chig war had broken out.

It had been hoped that should any Earth ship somehow achieve the impossible and make first contact with a hopefully peaceful alien race, the program could be retrieved from the Data banks allowing the Aliens acess to the languages of humanity so that 2 way communication could be possible. Everything from the phonetic alphabets to dictionaries and enclyclipedias were enclosed in the file. It had been one of those things that the more 'peacnik' minded senators within the UNA had demanded be installed on all Earth ships whether they be warships or not, the respective Militaries responsible for planetary defense had decided not to argue against the program, mostly becuase it seemed a trivial matter and only took up a few gigabytes of space that were hardly worth fighting over in the Ships massively powerful quamtum supercomputers, but also if it shut up the bleeding heart liberal elements within the UNA then the UNA military forces would happily go along with this seeminly trivial matter.

This currently led to Duella's current task, though technically on duty it was her job to deal with communications trafic between Galactica and the Civilian fleet and maintain some semblance of order. With the communications blackout cutting COMM traffic to almost nothing it gave Duella some much needed time for another project she had been working on. Duella had been feeding the translation matrix into the ships communications systems so that when the Colonial Fleet did make contact with Earth they'd be able to communicate on some level. Of course it was a long shot with the programing having to be reformatted several times to be used by colonial computers.

Despite learning to communicate with hand gestures, pictures and the occasionaly familiar words with Shane Vansen, Duella had fustratingly come to the conclusion that she wasn't going to be able to learn the spoken language within a 'practical' amount of time, something that looked like it would take weeks or even months rather than days. Duella had a natural gift for languages having learned Gemonese, and Piconese within a week and a half respectively, Virgon had been her hardest challenge taking a full month and a half to learn while Caprican of course was the language of Buisness and Commerce among the colonies so she had naturally learned to speak it as well as her native Sagitarus flawlessly.

Something that immediately came to the attention of her superiors who had quicly made her a communications specialist. The ease with which Duella could learn the languages of the Colonies could also be explained that despite their differences the languages of the Colonies shared roots with a much older language...one that had been spoken on Earth long ago but had since died out...Attic Greek.

Attic Greek had been the language spoken by the city states of Greece, after being conqured by the expanding Roman Empire the language and much of the culture that comprised Greek civilization had survived and was absorbed by the conquring Romans. Over time the Greek written and spoken language would prove to have a HUGE influence for the written and spoken language of the Empire, Latin. With the fall of the Roman Empire Latin would undergo a series of evolutions when mixed with the various tribal languages of the tribes that had settled in Europe. Spanish, French, Italian and Portugese (the Romance languages) had the biggest comonalities with Latin (and inturn Attic Greek) but so did another language, (one that shared roots to Latin and Attic Greek as well but also had a lot incommon with several other languages) English. It was like trying to piece together several jigsaw puzzles thrown together without having all the pieces, insanely frustrating and even though the grammer and syntax were almost certain to be wrong, it was all they had.

So when the call from Raptor 114 came over the wireless communications link it proved to be a greatful distraction from the computer as it silently chewed the data from the module.

"Galactica this is Raptor 114, we have detected an unknown warship dead ahead, range 500 from waypoint Constellation on an inbound approach, we are pulling back to link up with Strike One at waypoint Alpha!"

Commander Adama had been listening in over the wireless didn't waste a moments thought on the situation "Action Stations! Set condition one throughout the ship, alert the fleet to do likewise. Launch the Alert fighters then have Strike One and Raptor 114 pull back to a distance of.." Adama checked the DRADIS repeater screen above him " 300 from the fleet and have the Alert Vipers link up with them there." A series of aye sirs and yes sirs were repeated back to Adama as he began to work the tactical situation in his mind at lightning speeds. Across the Decks of Galactica the summons to battle station were heard, off duty crewmen immeidatly rushed to their duty stations or to man damage control teams, Viper pilots rushed to the Port flight pod from the nearby ready room with increadible speed hoping into their birds that were soon flung out into space as they hit their turbos to link up with the 4 Vipers and the one Raptor that comprised Strike 1. Across the hull of Galactica heavy Rail Cannons and flak batteries were loaded with ammunition by the auto loading systems as the cannons rottated to point their muzzles in the direction the unknown threat was coming from.

"What have we got Sir?" Col Tigh asked as he arrived in CIC stumbling slightly from the drink he had prior to coming on duty.

"Cylons more than likely." the Commander said quietly feeling an icy ball of dread in his stomach as he watched the vipers on the DRADIS display move at full burn to link up with Strike 1. Yet despite the warning from Raptor 114 they were still unable to see the enemy ship.

"Alert Fighter scramble complete sir."Lt Gaeta informed from his station.

"Very well. Helm come right 10 degrees, ahead slow, take us in at an oblique angle." Commander Adama ordered.

Galactica's bow swung starboard allowing her to present the maximum number of weapons to bear on the unknown ship once it came into range but more importantly to create a Barrier between the Civilian fleet and this unknown threat. Adama wasn't concerned about facing off against a single Cylon ship, even the newer Basestars though greatly outmassing the Galactica still couldn't go Toe to Toe with the old Colonial class Battlestars in a slugfest. No, what Adama was worried about was facing off against massed Raider squadrons who would overwhelm the Vipers and pin Galactica in place leaving the civilian fleet easy pickings. With the combined EM interference from this systems bionary star system AND the gas giant the moon orbited playing havoc with their jump sensors this would become the graveyard of humanity if they didn't act quickly.

USS Ruben James

The tension on the Ruben James had reached fever pitch, already manning their battle stations since their encounter from the unknown enemy the crew of the Ruben James were already poised and ready for battle. Unfortunately the Fact that Ruben James was in no conditon for another fight and was probably outgunned 10 to 1 didn't register as the crew swung professionaly into action.

"Contanct, multiple Contacts bearing 227 mark 020 reading multiple ships 1700km ahead."

"Can we make a run for it?" the XO asked as he studied the information on the screen ominiously noting a rather large monstrosity of a ship that was quite a bit more intimidating than the starfish shaped ship the James had encountered earlier.

"Not a chance Charlie, if we turn and run we present a diliciously easy target for that beast, and if we try to maneuver their fighters will be all over us." The Captain shook his head as he studied the tactical situation not liking what he was seeing. He had played the cards fate had delt him and it was a shitty hand indeed. Hoping to hide a for a short time so his crew could catch their breath, effect critical repairs and treat their wounded, but apparently their new enemy had anticipated their move and had laid a trap for the now vulnerable warship.

'"We know they've seen us, there's no point in hidding now." the Captain said quietly as he watched the heavy warship bear down on his ship. "Tactical, light em up prepare for decoy evasive run, prepare to launch countermeasures and standby all weapons."

The Ruben James disengaged her stealth systems; suddenly bombarding the Galactica with massive amounts of energy from high frequency firecontrol Radar to directed laser targeting from her Lidar. The move was so sudden Lt. Gaeta had to double check his systems to make sure he was actually seeing a ship that just appeared out of nowhere, one second DRADIS showed nothing there, the next Galactica was being slammed with High frequency fire control Radar as Ruben James brought her systems online and beared her teeth.

Battlestar Galactica.

In CIC things were just as frantic and as tense as they were on the Ruben James, seeminly out of nowhere the unidentified ship had materialized and was slamming the Galactica with a surprising amount of energy from its sensors.

"How the Frack did they get that close without us seeing them?" The raspy voice of Col. Tigh asked. Galactica may not have had the best sensor systems in the Colonial Fleet, that title had been held by the more advanced and powerful Mercury class Battlestars, but Galactica had had her systems updated 5yrs before her decomissioning ceremony, meaning the sensors she employed were more or less up to date...not top of the line mind you, but still very good in all respects. The fact that this little ship was able to sneak up so close to Galactica without being seen sent a chill down Adama's spine.

"Unknown sir." Lt. Gaeta reported apolegetically "DRADIS reported a possible faint contact it was unable to lock down then suddenly this ship appeared on the same line and bearing."

'How could the DRADIS not have seen it?" The Colonol almost sneered.

"Sir I don't have an answer for that." Gaeta replied quickly "The only thing I can guess is that the ship is somehow capable of evading our scans." Tigh and Adama exchanged a look at that comment, but given the situation and the unknown ships uncanny ability to slip uncomfortably close to the Galactica it was the only plausible explanation.

"I've never heard of a ship that could do anything like that." Tigh mused. "Definetly not Colonial."

"Neither have I, but I heard rumors that the Research and Development division back home was experimenting with the idea of stealth fighters before the attacks." Adama narrowed his eyes in thought continuing to watch the ship on his screen."and I doubt its Cylon either."

"Why do you say that?" Tigh asked in confusion, to him if it wasn't Colonial it automatically made it a target.

"If the Cylons had stealth warships they would have used them on us long before now, and given the fact this ship hasn't made a push against the fleet or us also tells me it isn't Cylon." The Commander speculated as the wheels turned in his mind "I think they're as surprised to see us as we are to see them." Commander Adama said calming the butterflies in his stomach slightly as the unknown ship halted its advance choosing to hold its ground.

No, if it had been a Cylon ship it would have taken the moment of surprise it had achieved to either launch a full strike against Galactica and the fleet, or more likely to call for reinforcements.

"Then if its not Colonial or Cylon who the frak..." Tigh broke off suddenly throwing a startled look at Adama as his words sunk in. Adama returned his look with a nod before turning back to the DRADIS screen.

"Mr. Gaeta what can you tell me about this ship?" Adama asked not taking his eyes off the DRADIS repeater screen above him.

'Sir the ship is roughly 215 meters in length with numerious gun ports and missile tubes, I can't read any heat signature off its engines, whatever she uses doesn't burn hot enough for our thermal sensors to see, there appears to be some sort of composite coating the ship thats absorbing most of our scans and it looks like the ship has sustained battle damage." Gaeta reported. Adama shook his head as Gaeta made his report, it seemed obvious at least to him what may have happened. This ship had been attacked by the Cylons and had sustained damage but had managed to escape, the crew was probably using the moon to hide from their now relentless enemy to effect repairs. It had been a tactic damaged Colonial ships had done in the Cyranus system during the Cylon wars, given the large number of moons and stellar debris in that star system it had almost always worked for Colonial units cut off from support. Now the relentless unforgiving enemy known as the Cylons had struck the 13th tribe, a people who had nothing to do with that war and the Genoicde that followed 50yrs later...a war the remnant now brought to their doorstep.

"Dee, tell our fighters to pull back 100. Helm all stop, lets give our friend some breathing room." Turning back to look at Duella in the Pit Adama stood next to her station and spoke quietly "Dee please tell me that translation program is up and running?" Duella worked her controls for a few moments before responding.

"The computer has finished crunching the numbers and everything seems in order...at least as best as I can tell, but as to whether it'll work or not ..." Dee trailed off with a grim expression.

Adama nodded in understanding, he hoped it would be enough.

Ruben James.

The air in the cramped bridge grew hotter and hotter as the tense standoff continued, despite the 'coincidence' of finding a fleet of ships hidding behind the moon Captain Reynolds had held off on opening fire immeadiatly, upon learning that only one ship in this 'fleet' had been armed to any degree of being a threat and a serious threat at that. The lidar operator had noted that many of the other ships in the 'fleet' were unarmed with a few exceptions, and based off some active scans a good number of these ships were in need of major overhauls and repair work. The fact that the fighters had formed a protective screen ahead of the unarmed ships with their capital ship acting as support seemed to indicate they were more concerned about protecting them then blasting his ship to scrap. Reynolds had seen enough sci-fi TV shows to know a civilian fleet when he saw one, and if his guess was right, a refugee civilian fleet and its one lone protector. The fact that the mammonth ship which alone was 3 times the size of a JFK class Super Carrier was not opening up with its frightening amount of heavy guns, add to the fact its fighters didn't match the silouette profile of the hostiles that attacked the James also led credence to this theory. But all things being equal Capt. Reynolds wasn't going to jepordize his ship and crew based on a theory.

"Unknown fighters are moving!" the Lidar operator reported, the tension in his voice easing slightly.

"where are they moving too?" the XO asked.

"They're pulling back, appear to be tightening their screen around the unarmed ships."

"And the Mothership?" the XO prodded.

"She's come to a complete stop and is holding station 1100 Kilometers away.

Captain Reynolds breathed a small sigh of relief, the situation was far from over but at least they weren't shooting which was as good as he could hope for at the moment.

"Helm, lets maintain our distance." the captain ordered.

"Aye aye sir." the ships helmsman responded keeping the ship at station keeping speed.

"DCO how are repairs to our communications systems proceeding?"

"Sir long range FTL Communications are still down but we have short range radio available." the DCO reported.

"Lets just hope they're willing to talk." The XO said as he stood studying the siloutte profile of the heavy warship.

"Lets hope." The Captain confirmed before turning to his communications specialist. "Get me ship to ship, broadcast on all frequencies and when they respond match their frequency." The Captain ordered his comm specialist.

"Aye Sir." The tech responded. He typed a quick sequence on his board before turing back to the captain and giving a nod.

"Unknown Vessel this Captain James Reynolds of the United States Navy ship Ruben James, You have entered our space without permission, please identify yourself and your reason for being here."

Galactica

In CIC an atmosphere of nervouse tension permeated the air, personnel not currently performing critical tasks had their eyes glued to the nearest DRADIS repeater screen. No one spoke as the crew carried out their duties flawlessly. During her final years of service in the Colonial fleet Galacitca had been selected as a trainning ship for new Colonial Officers and Crewmen coming out of the Acadamy or trainning. Her non-networked computer sytems and heavy reliance on manpower made her ideal for this task. Tt was a fate all older ships faced towards the twilight of their carreers as they were removed from frontline duty and Galactica was no exception. With her best days behind her and outmatched in everyway buy the newer and more advanced Mercury class Battlestars it was considered 'highly doubtful' by the top brass at Colonial fleet that Galactica would ever see action again.

Untill that fateful day when the Cylons attacked the colonies.

In one day in an orgy of nuclear fire all that had been the Colonial fleet and the 12 Colonies of humanity were erased from existance. The newer more advanced Mercury class Battlestars, the pinacle of Colonial might were vanquished one by one, not through direct action against their mortal enemies in grand spectacular battles, but through subterfuge and deceit, not with a bang, but a whimper as the Cylons used a backdoor computer virus to cripple then destroy the once proud ships. Galactica's unique nature within the fleet is ironically what saved her. In the process of her decomissioning ceremony with a crew of rookies she was thrust into a war she alone couldn't hope to win.

She had fled to Ragnar Achorage to rearm, effect critical repairs and link up with any surviving colonial fleet elements to launch a counter-offensive against the Cylon fleet. But the ships that arrived were not military, they were cargo haulers, luxury liners and passenger ships, carrying terrified civilians on the brink of despair, they had lost everything. It was definetly not the fleet Galactica had been hoping to link up with. Out of the Billions of people who had thrived on the Colonies, only 50,000 had survived that horrific day, not even half of 1 of the entire Colonial population, the Cylon victory had been that complete.

'We're recieving a signal from the unknown ship." Duella reported nervously.

"Push it up on the speekers." Adama ordered. Duella complied and the room went as quiet as a tomb, everyone wanted to hear what they hoped was the sound of their lost bretheren. The voice was obviously male and sounded human but Adama (and the rest of the crew in CIC for that matter) couldn't understand a word of what was said.

Tigh and Adama shared a glance neither clearly understanding the strange sounding language.

"Dee?" Adama asked as he brought his attention to bear on the young petty officer.

"I'm not sure sir, I think they asked us who we were." She answered honestly furiously working her controls. "The translation program is still having trouble with the language."

"Well I suppose we should say something even if we're not sure what they said." Tigh offered helpfully, uncharacteristically taking some pressure off the clearly stressed pettyofficer.

"I agree." Adama replied before turning back to face Duella in the Pit. "Dee give me ship to ship direct line." At a nod from her Adama picked the handset on the plot table and did his best to sound as non threatening and asurring as he could be before keying the mike. Feeling the eyes of everyone in CIC and the hopes of the fleet upon him Adama plunged in without faltering.

"Unknown vessel I'm Commander William Adama, of the Colonial Battlestar Galactica, I offer you peaceful greetings on behalf of the 12 Colonies of Kobal, we have no hostile intentions towards you or your people." Adama killed the mike in his hand. Turing back to to face his XO.

"Lets hope they understood the message." Tigh offered helpfully, clearly feeling out of his depth and thankful for the fact it was Bill Adama in this situation and not himself.

"Lets hope." Adama said in agreement.

Ruben James

"We're recieving a response from the Flagship." the Comm officer responded.

"Lets hear it." the Captain ordered. The message played on the speakers and as much as the captain had expected he wasnt able to understand a word of it. Captain Reynolds noted however that the voice neither sounded angry nor threatening, quite the oposite infact as he thought about it. It was something that he couldn't quite explain, but despite the overwhelming communications barrier something could be understood from the voice inflection and pitch alone, and though Reynolds didn't understand exactly what was said, he was at least was able to understand the general meaning of it...we mean you no harm.

Crossing his arms across his chest the Captain turned his glower on his communications officer and asked the obvious question with a raised eyebrow.

"I've been running it through the translation software." The officer replied with a hint of awe in his voice. "Surprisingly we got a hit on the language... mostly, its not exact, but the language seems to share strong similarities to Attic Greek sir."

"Greek?" The Captain replied, clearly thrown for a loop at this revelation.

"Yes sir and the computer was easily able to peg the voice as human too sir."

You sure?" the XO asked skeptically

"Oh yes sir!" the Communications officer responded without a hint of doubt." Things like voice pitch and tone were dead on, its one of the things the communication programs are designed to listen for when monitoring 2 way communications. And the system easily picked this voice out as human.

The Bridge went quiet as the revelation swept through them, not one of them had ever dreamt they would have been part of a first contact situation with an alien race let alone another group of humans. Inevitably every member of the crew came to the obvious questions. Who were they? Where did they come from? How did they get out here? and why where they here? pushing the questions from his mind Reynolds once again brought his attention back to his communications officer. "Any idea what they said?"

"Somewhat sir." The officer replied not even looking up from his screens. " The words Galactica...colony...intent... and people I was able to understand, but I'm not sure about the rest, computer is still running down the information but the more they keep talking the more we have to work with.

The Captain turned that over in his mind as he crossed his arms again, turing his head slightly to regard his XO standing beside him. " What do you think?"

"I don't know sir, this situation just seems so unreal to me." The XO Charlie Mackintyre admitted honestly, the revelation of finding a group of humans had made him a little light headed but the Captain needed his input so the XO replied again after a moments consideration. "But we need to keep talking, keep the dialouge going."

Nodding slightly the Captain could only agree. "Get me a direct line to the flagship." the Captain orderd. With a nod from his communications officer Captain Reynolds took a deep breath as he frantically searched for something to say, his mouth felt dry and butterflies seemed to be tap dancing with sledgehammers in his stomach. Just as he about to open his mouth he looked towards the master display which still was focused on the image of the huge warship, at that moment the name of the monstrosity before him became all to aparent.

"Galactica, this is Captain James Reynolds of the United States Navy Warship Ruben James we mean you no harm and offer you welcome on behalf of the people of Earth."

Battlestar Galactica

Not a sound was made by the 3 dozen officers and crew manning their stations as they devoted only the most required effort to their duties so caught up in the moment they had been. The tension was so thick Adama swore not even a knife could've cut it. briefly he studied the face of everyone in the crowded room and each time he saw the same thing reflected in their eyes.

Hope.

Adama had never truly been a religious man but at that moment with the fragile hope of his crew and fleet on the line Adama muttered a silent prayer for deliverance.

And was quickly rewarded.

The Speakers spoke again, once more it was the same voice as before but instead of the suspicion and tension from before the voice now seemed calmer and more inviting. As the voice continued to speak the whole of CIC clung to his words like a thirsty man to water. The computer had been working nonstop chewing the data from the translation program and while it was still not working completly it had more information to work with. As the Captain continued to speak, more than a few words were now easily understandable but it only took 1 to bring the crew to tears and leap from their stations in celebration, it only took 1 to crack the unshakeable Cmdr. Adama and it only took 1 word for the people of the fleet to know that their long journey Homeward bound was nearly complete.

Earth!

In the Vipers that formed a protective screen ahead of the fleet nervous pilots listened to their wirelss links with interest while at the same time maintaining their formations just incase the unknown would make a pass at the fleet. However when the fatefull and fully understood words 'people of Earth' filtered through their links more than a few of the let loose whoops of joy.

In the 2 most foreward Vipers Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace and Lee 'Apollo' Adama exchanged some quick smiles, and as Apollo looked closer could see she was letting the tears flow freely and unashamed down her cheeks. For Lee Adama he struggled for control. For the second time this day his emotions threatened to get the better of him, the emotional extremes of the past few days threatened to turn him into a burnt out emotional shell of a man yet looking at him you wouldn't know, like his father he kept a calm and emotionaless face, it seemed somethings were shared by both father and son.

On Raptor 114 however one ocupant was not so happy with the news for it brought both fear, uncertanty and the knowledge that this was far from over. Turning her head slightly to look at her ECO and the love of her life Sharon 'Boomer' Valerie could easily see the happy smile plastered on Helo's face however that smile faded when he caught the look on hers.

"What is it?" Helo asked rising from his station to come within inches of her. Sharon tried to hide her face but Helo wouldn't have it, they had just made their peace and it seemed they were drawing closer together but it now it seemed she was drawing away from him again.

"I'm scared Helo." she answered truthfully, I'm scared of what the future holds. Whats going to happen to me? what about our child?" Helo took off his flight helmet then took hers off, he held her face tenderly in his hands while looking deeply into her eyes and he spoke with a passion she hadn't seen since Caprica "I wont let anything happen to you Sharon, you got that? nothing! We're going to be a family now, dont give up hope on that. Earth would be fools not to take advantage of the knowledge you have about the Cylons."

At the mention of her people Sharon felt a sensation of foreboding and dread sweep through her entire being, becuase she knew the awful truth of why the fleet had not been decimated, a truth she had shared only with Cmdr. Adama and President Roslyn. In their holy endeaver to rid the universe of the failed lifeform known as humanity the Cylons had meticulously planned for the day when they would carry out Gods command. They watched, listened, infilitrated, manipulated and learned the weakness's of their adversary patiently planning for the right time to strike desisively against their heathen creators that would bring about Gods will. The Cylon war many years prior had shown just how resiliant and tough humanity could be.

It was a war the Cylons were looking less and less likely to win as it drew on. Realizing they couldn't defeat humanity in a protracted conflict the Cylons had sued for peace and left known space where they could settle a homeworld for themselves and rebuild. It was there they discovered God and his plan for the universe, it was there they learned that they would take humanities place as God's chosen children. And it was there that they patiently planned the final anhilation of their creators and to assume their place in the universe. But as with all best laid plans a variable remained one the Cylons had discounted as nothing more than a myth.

Until William Adama.

His passionate claim to be leading the fleet to Earth at the memorial service was enough to give the Cylon leadership pause for why else would he make such a claim? Added to that the fleet had maintained a fairly consistent course since Kobol suported his claim. This had generated doubt within the Cylon leadership as to whether Earth was indeed just a myth or if it was something more. So it was decided to patiently stalk and herd the fleet in hopes that it would lead them towards this last bastion of Humanity.

It had worked beautifully.

"Your right Helo." Sharon said, but taking little comfort in his words "But this is far from over, Its only begun."

"What do you mean." He asked not grasping the enormity of how things had just changed.

"Nothing." she said trying to dodge the subject she didn't want to burden this happy moment with him. "Just hold me." Ever faithful he did just that.

Galactica

It took more than a few moments for the crew to settle down usually with Tigh threatening to reintroduce keelhauling as punishment if they didn't get back to work, slowly one by one then in pairs and finally in groups things began to return to a semblance of normal, each crewman refocused their energies with renewed vigor energized like they had never been before. Adama watched his crew behind an unreadible mask, they had done it! they had actually done it! He wanted nothing more than to give them the praise they very much deserved for their back breaking hard work and sacrifice. They all deserved long and happy lives but this situation was not over yet and Adama would not rest until this fleet was safely parked in Earth Orbit.

"Mr. Gaeta stand down from condition one Recall the Vipers but keep Strike 1 in place for now."

Aye Sir."

"Sir I'm recieving a message from Colonial One, the President is demanding to speak with you." Duella reported.

"Tell the President that I would prefer to meet face to face on Galactica, what I have to tell her can not be broadcasted over the wireless."

'Yes sir." she complied.

"So what now?" Tigh asked.

"Now we invite them over and plead our case." Adama said. In his mind the hard part would be to convince Earth's leadership of the threat they now faced. Adama knew one thing to be certain and that Earths leadership was not going to be pleased with the Colonials for bringing the threat of anhilation to them. Adama hoped that he would be able to convince Earth that the Cylons were a threat to all of humanity rather than specific group of them, he just hoped Earth wouldn't turn them away becuase of it, for that alone would kill the fleet just as surely as any weapon.

"Sir We've recieved a reply from Colonial One. The President says she and the Vice President will take a shuttle to Galactica and will meet you shortly."

"Very Well." Adama nodded knowing the President was not going to be happy with him. "Dee is the translator program working fully now?"

"Mostly sir." She reported "We now have reliable 2 way communications with each other. However Sir when dealing with a totally new language such as this one the meaning of some words will be difficult to translate, but the more I talk with them the more I'll learn."

"Understood." Adama replied. "Get me ship to ship direct line to the Ruben James."

"Ready sir."

"Captain Reynolds on behalf of my ship and Crew I thank you for your honesty. I would like to extend an ivitation for a delegation to come aboard the Galactica with the hope of begining talks between our two peoples."

Adama released the transmit button of the phone in his hand and waited nervously like the rest of the crew, he didn't have to wait long however as the response was quick in coming.

"Recieving a Reply." Dee said. On the overhead speakers the voice of Captain Reylonds once again spoke though sounding slightly distorted as the translation matrix translated his voice with a 1 second delay by the computer generated translation.

"Cmdr. Adama I am honored to accept your invitation to the Galactica please signal again when you are ready to recieve our delegation at a time of your choosing, ."

Adama lowered the phone back to its cradle on the plot table and allowed a brief smile. The crew once again started to clap in celebration but abrutly stopped and quickly went back to work when they caught Tigh's glaring red face.

'I'm going down to the port launch bay I'll meet the president there. I'll bring her up to speed on the situation in the conference room. If the Ruben James contacts us for any reason do not hesitate to interupt the meeting."

"She's not going to be happy withholding the knowledge about 'Star' from her." Tigh added.

"Maybe, but she's as smart as politicians come, hopefully she'll understand our reasoning to keep it secret from her. We both know of the leaks from her administration lately." Adama turned to face Duella in the Pit. "Dee that was a hell of a job back there, well done."

"Thankyou sir." Duella smiled. Adama turned to leave CIC but was abrubtly halted.

"There is one more thing sir." Duella added "Now that we have a viable translation program I can download it to one of our palm computers. It wont translate in realtime like the system we have in CIC but we can now communicate reliably with our guest."

Adama smiled and nodded it would be good to finally talk to their guest and get a feel for her and maybe get some answers. As he turned towards the exit Adama wasnt surprised to find her leaning against the bulkhead; her arms crossed over her chest as she looked back at him. Judging by the warm smile on her face Adama guessed she'd been there during much of the exchange. In that moment no words needed to be said as Adama smiled in gratitude. She returned his smile with a Nod and just as quietly without anyone but Adama knowing of her presence she was gone.