Chapter 26 Darkest Night

The anger of the crowds outside the Tau'ri mission had only grown larger and loader and the entire compound was on surrounded by the almost a battalion worth of colonial army soldiers. On the inside there was only three platoons of Tau'ri soldiers plus the small group of civilians. That meant there was only 90 trained Tau'ri soldiers up against nearly 800 soldiers of the Colonial Army and while the Tau'ri soldiers where among the best trained and where better equipped they were still outnumbered 40 to 3 and that wasn't even counting the massive amount of angry civilians who would join the fight.

The Colonials had been blaring religious music into the compound; the sound was causing the window glass to shake in their frames. Finally, after what seemed like forever a team set up the powerful speakers left over from the stadium cultural show, then after running some of the built in software the speakers began to broadcast a canceling sound, which canceled out the holy songs being broadcasted into the compound.

"Finally I thought they would never get those things set up." said an American solider as he stood guard in the room with the Spiros family and the other religious. The father was standing by the window looking at the massive crowd of people visible on the other side of the wall, the other fathers where doing similar. The children along with the mothers where caverning Halloween pumpkin with the help of another American solider, they had brought the Pumpkins when they first arrived to share Earth culture with the Colonials but that was a distance hope now. The solider was explaining to the colonials that it was a holiday night on Earth and was trying to calm the children down. They had also pulled out a lap top allowing the children to watch some classic kids movies, so far the children remained calm.

The door beside him opened as Doctor Woolsey walked in along with Fang Gan, instantly all eyes were on the two leaders of the Tau'ri mission.

"Listen, you will be happy to learn that the Tau'ri governments have granted you sanctuary with Tau'ri space," announced Woolsey as a smile crossed over the faces of all but the leader Mr. Spiros. "Now we have a plan to get you off world but it will be risky and once you leave I don't think you will be coming back any time soon."

"When do we leave?" inquired Mr. Spiros

"In a couple of hours a day at the most but if everything goes as plan we should have you off world." Stated Doctor Woolsey as an aid walked in tapping him on the shoulder.

"Sir, it is time to make the announcement," reported the aid.

"What announcement." Inquired Mrs. Spiros

"Don't worry everything will be fine." said Woolsey with a warm smile as he left the room. He walked down the hallway before making a turn into the most finished room in the whole house. In the past, it had been the main office for the Base commander and it showed. It had hardwood panels on the walls, a full floor to ceiling bookcase on one wall, a stone fireplace on another and on the wall behind the oaken desk was a large window. The Colonial flags which had in time past been located on either side of the desk had been replaced with the Tau'ri flag on one side and since Woolsey was American the US flag on the other. A TV camera had been set up and a lap top computer was set up as a makeshift teleprompter. Woolsey sat down behind the table and took a drink of water.

"Do the Colonial News Agencies know about this broadcast?" inquired Woolsey

"Yes, sir they know and are standing by for us," explained the technician "In fact they are being very helpful with us this time."

"Well they are covering this story 24/7," added another technician

"Well 26/14. They have 26 hours day and their weeks are 14 days long for some reason," corrected the first technician as the second rolled his eyes. "Whenever you're ready Doctor Woolsey."

Woolsey took a breath before nodding his head, the camera man held up five fingers and one by one he dropped them until on the last one he pointed toward Doctor Woolsey.

"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen of the 12 colonies of Kobol, as many of you know I am Doctor Richard Woolsey the Tau'ri representative to your colonies." introduced Woolsey as he looked into the screen. "Over the course of the last few days the situation between our two nations have grown strain. There as been multiple instants where our cultures have clashed mostly around the question of religion and the belief that the Tau'ri are under the control of the government of the Colonies."

"While some of these questions are still being debated here in the Colonies the situation on Earth has come into focus and it has been decided that until such time that the Colonial Government and the people of the 12 colonies of Kobol settle key issues that the Tau'ri will break off diplomatic ties with these worlds." announced Woolsey. "As such over the next couple of hours and days all but a small group of Tau'ri will leave the space claimed by the 12 colonies of Kobol. Those who remain will only remain until the small group of Colonial Observers journeying with our fleet to the Pegasus Galaxy return."

"Now, I know many have questions and I will attempt to answer some of them," explained Woolsey "First the refugees which came to us have been granted sanctuary by the member governments of the Tau'ri and if they wish they will be leaving with us. Any attempt to stop them or us will be seen as an ad front to our sovereignty and will treated as such by the Tau'ri and appropriate actions will take place. Secondly the imprisonment of Colonial O'Neill must come to an end, if he isn't returned to us within eight hours then we will take actions, we do not wish this to happen but we do not leave people behind."

"Finally and most importantly the people of the Tau'ri only wish is for peaceful relations with the people of the 12 colonies of Kobol. We are not subjects to your control and at such time that your worlds wish to realize that there is a possibility that relations can resume." explained Woolsey "Until such time we will keep to our new board with your worlds, the colonial government has already received a map of the newly drawn boarders we made with the Cylons."

"On a personal note I didn't wish this and it was my hope that we could have worked through our differences but it has become clear that in order for that to happen we must step back." explained Woolsey. "The Colonies of Kobol have much to offer the rest of the galaxy but as a race called the Nox said about us only a few years ago, you are still too young. Maybe in time when you are ready you will be ready to join the rest of the galaxy as equals. At such time it will be my pleasure to return to your worlds. Thank you and good night."

With that the red light on top of the camera went off.

"Alright we are clear," confirmed the Technician.

"Sir, if I may be so bold what are the chances that the Colonials do any of what we want?" inquired the second Technician, Woolsey simply lowered his head and that was enough to answer the question.

The most senior members of the Quorum where watching the broadcast from their own meaning room within the Quorum building. They had gathered together to watch so that they could discuss what was said right away before any of the media got ahold of them.

"They can't be serious, they expect us to give into their demands!" yelled the current senior member from Sagittaron who had taken over the role of leadership when the elder Spiros had retired.

"They want to leave let them." countered the Picon member "What really matters isn't some stupid family and their tradition, it is the fact that because we are driving them away. If by letting them go we can retain some ties with them I say do it."

"Why do we need to retain ties, they are bound by the law to us." countered the Gemenon member

"Are you so blind to think that a rulling from 12 judges will get any respect from the Tau'ri?" inquired the Caprican Member "We can keep waving those papers in air and talking until we are blue and it will not mean frak to the Tau'ri."

"Even if we wanted to do what they said the law states that the Spiros family is under the guidance of the senior member and Colonel O'Neill is legally held until he answers questions." Explained the Libran member who while among the few members from their world who was not a lawyer or a judge knew enough of the legal process to know those two things. "The real question is what will happen if the Tau'ri try to get their colonel back?"

"Then those who try will be arrested like the criminals they are just like anyone else who tried to bust a prisoner out of jail." explained the Tauron member "The real issue isn't what happens if they try to bust colonel O'Neill out it is what happens if a Tau'ri ship appears over our heads. What happens if they try to force an exit do we shot them to prevent that."

"Simple we board the ship and take it," countered the Sagittaron member "Those ships and any Tau'ri vessel belong to the Colonial government."

"You are a fraken fool." stated Caprican member "I wouldn't be surprised if keep following your path that we are in a shooting war within months."

"A war we will win, I don't buy what these Tau'ri are selling they are bluffing about everything." Added the Scorpia member "Maybe it will actually be for the best, a quick almost bloodless war where we teach our younger brothers and sisters their place and they fall in line."

"Have you watched what one of their ships did to the Pegasus task group?" inquired the Virgon member.

"Yes, I have. I also saw how that ship ran from our force in the end." confirmed the Scorpia member "But we are Twelve worlds to their one and as soon as we take one of their ships in any war, we find out they make their weapons and with our manufacturing capabilities we can reproduce their technology. I mean besides their holograms, shields and their FTL which we don't know the range of, they have shown us nothing that we couldn't do."

"I can't believe this, you honestly think we could win a war against our cousins." inquired the Caprican Member as he threw his arms up in the air.

"Please, don't be so foolish. This infighting does nothing to help us." said the Aquaria member as she looked at all her fellow Quorum members. "First the Tau'ri have said they don't want a war and we don't want a war. So as long as we all remain calm we will avoid any conflict. I remind everyone that we do have a mission with the Tau'ri battlegroup. When they returned we will know more about what the Tau'ri are capable of. Until then all we have to do is keep the situation the same and no matter what they say the Tau'ri aren't going anywhere."

Near the new boarder between Tau'ri and Colonial space a task group of twelve colonial warships sat just on their side of the board. The core of the feet was three Mercury Class Battlestars with the other ships split equally between cruisers and destroyers, with a single supply ship. All the ships belonged to the new Hercules task force however the task group name shake the new Hercules Battlestar was still months away from being launched. Since the Hercules was still being constructed the command ship for this mission fell to Admiral Pachis onboard the Battlestar Xiphos.

"Ma'am, we have confirmation from command," said the Commander of the Xiphos to the female admiral. "We are to begin the operation at once."

"Understood, Commander," said Admiral Pachis as she moved toward the command table before looking down at the upgraded table. The whole table was one giant touch screen, which showed the real time position of all the ships under her command as well as the state of key systems such as Dradis, weapons and all three FTL drives.

"Make your course to grid 56A and make sure all three FTLs are fully charged on all our ships." ordered the Admiral "These ships spent 14 months in dry dock to have them all installed so we are going to make good use of them. We are going to rotate what jump drive we use that way we can jump almost every ten minutes."

"Ma'am, our new drives are rated to jump every 25 minutes instead of 33," explained the Commander as the Admiral nodded her head, she didn't want to admit but she had forgotten that.

"Still it will be a rather long trip to our location and when we arrive there I want to have two jump drives freshed and ready." said the Admiral as she studied the star map "So we will stop here a jump away from the planet."

"Ma'ma if I may ask why is this planet so important that we are crossing into Tau'ri space for?" inquired the Commander. The Admiral paused for a moment as she thought about if she should tell him the truth or not.

"This is the location of the Tau'ri colony of Valhalla and our leaders are finally growing a fraken pair so we are going to pay them a visit. The Tau'ri believe that they are top dog because of that little brush up with Admiral Cain, but they are not top dog and this is the best way to show it to them without firing a shot." explained the Admiral as she went with the middle of the road approached not telling him that it was Kobol. "Having us show up over their world will show them that we are truly top dog and that it is time that they fell in line with the rest of the colonies of Kobol."

"Understood Ma'ma." confirmed the Commander "What are our rules of engagement?"

"We are not to engage the Tau'ri unless we are fired upon first but we are also not to turn back from our mission to reach the planet." explained the Admiral "However I want Vipers ready to launch at all time and equip a flight of Raptors and Vipers with loadout seven."

"Loadout Seven?" inquired the Commander knowing that in the colonial military, there was six standard loadouts for Vipers and Raptors, loadout seven was the WMD loadout. Meaning that a flight of Raptors and Vipers would loaded up with nuclear warheads and Hades' Fire.

"The Tau'ri have shields and we need to be ready to counter that and we don't know what to expect from the surface." Explained the Admiral Pachis "I don't like it either but it may save our lives if we have these ships ready to fly instead of waiting to unlock the weapons."

"Ma'ma all ships are reporting FTLs are fully charged and we are ready." reported the wireless operator

"Good, then we leave at once." Ordered Admiral Pachis "If we jump on schedule it will take us 3 and a half days to reach this Valhalla."

Within moments the task group of colonial ships disappeared in flashes of light leaving an empty void behind. An hour later in almost the same spot that the Colonials had launched from a vortex of energy opened up as a long narrow ship shot out.

"Hyper drive spinning down." reported a deck officer on the HMS Britannia as one of the five battleships in the Tau'ri Navy came to a stop just on their side of the Colonial/Tau'ri border.

"Sensor sweep detect no colonial ships in the area," reported another Deck officer

"Good." said the Captain as he stood beside his ranking officer; in fact he was the ranking officer of every Tau'ri member nation military personal currently off world, General Jack O'Neill Sr. "General shall we begin the operation?"

"Captain, begin the operation at once." ordered Jack wishing he was riding with the teams from the Special Boat Service which would making the journey to Caprica on the Recon version of the Owl transports nicknamed Snow Owls. The order went out fast and within moments nine owls took off from the port hanger, once they were clear of the Britannia but before they crossed into colonial space, each ship opened a hyperspace window.

"Sir, it should only take the Owls 45 minutes to reach Caprica and then it is only a matter of time before the operation begins." reported the Captain as O'Neill nodded his head. "Don't worry General we will get your son and everyone else off world."

Over Caprica the Akula had been diverted from their mission to scout out the colonial ZPMs to take part in the mission to pull out from Caprica. The cloaked vessel was in serious trouble, not because the colonials had figured out the ship was there but because there was just so much shipping traffic around the twin worlds of Caprica and Gemenon.

"Alright steady, looks like we have found a gap," explained the XO as he and the rest of the bridge crew stood at their stations. The sensors where full of ships both military and civilian, there was so much traffic in fact that the Akula couldn't get that close to the planet.

"XO are we in range for a beam out?" inquired Captain Ramius

"No Captain." explained the XO "We aren't even close."

"How much closer do we have to get." Inquired Ramius "Earth wants us to be ready to beam them out if need be."

"Max beam out range without the aid of repeating satellites is 425,000 km and we are currently sitting at 532,139 km off caprice." explained the XO "And we can't get much closer due to the Colonial ships. The gaps between their warships and their civilian shipping channels are large enough for us to fit in but any gap has either raptors, vipers or even small private shuttles traveling in them."

"We didn't have this problem at any other colonial world?" inquired the Chinese's intelligence officer who was third in command.

"We aren't dealing with just one world, Caprica and Gemenon are about the same distance apart as Earth and the moon," explained the XO "It is the most heavily traveled corridor in the colonies and to make it even better Caprica is the Capital Planet and it naturally better defended. On top of that the colonials have set up a blockage of their own world to block any attempt by us to leave that way."

"So a beam out is out of the question." Stated the Chinese officer

"Not so fast. We can't go to them so they will have to come to us." said Captain Ramius in a thick Russian access "Tell me if a ship left Caprica would they reach beam range before the colonial defense line?"

"Just, yes." Confirmed the XO

"Alright then, inform Earth that we can't get closer. I want a scan of the prison where they are holding Colonel O'Neill and inform the Seals that they may have some work," stated Ramius. "Full combat loadout."

"Ay...Ay." confirmed the American XO

"And load tubes 1 through 4 with fish and I want beam locks on two ships with a standby lock on another 4." Ordered Ramius as the American nodded, they all knew that the tubes where actually missile tubes not torpedoes so they should not call them fish but old habits died hard.

Thousands of light years away from the Twelve Colonies the Kobol sat Lieutenant Karl Agathon, it was well past midnight on the Missouri but he was still wide awake. In fact he and about a dozen other Tau'ri soldiers and airmen where gathered in one of the breakrooms in front of a large TV. The room was dark and the projector was playing as Karl entered his sixth night of binge watching a single show.

"Here comes the best part." said one of the airmen on the screen a man stood in the middle of a castle yard, a sword hung from his hip and he was dressed almost totally in black. Standing beside him was a massive white wolf.

"It is time." said an extra as the man turned and walked toward a door. The next scene showed the inside as he entered the entire hall was full of people dressed in a mix of fur and leather armor. They all turned and watched as the young man moved toward the far end of the hall where a woman stood dressed in black along with a brute of a man in thick furs. He walked to the end and stood before turning to face the crowd gathered in the hall.

"My brothers are gone and as per my elder brother's will and in the eyes of the Old Gods, it is my honor to crown my elder brother Jon Stark King in the North." said the woman in black as she reached up and placed an iron crown on the young man's head.

As he turned to face the crowd, all the men and even some of the women pulled out weapons and began to cheer.

"The King in the North!"

With that going on the show cut away to show a woman dressed in blue with silver hair standing on the bow of a ship. In the distance, she could make out the shoreline, than three massive dragons flew overhead toward the shore. The cheer kept going on as it showed a massive city with a giant red castle, the city and part of the castle was burning as three opposing forces one dressed in green with a golden rose symbol. The other in red with a golden lion fought against each other and another group in black with a seven-pointed star as their symbol. Then it showed the aftermath of another battle as a bunch of men in black lied dead in the snow below a massive wall of ice, moving past them was a massive of living dead all with blue eyes. Sitting on undead horses where their master's creatures with ice like skin and impossible blue eyes. Those eyes turned to the south as the undead army moved through the tunnel in the wall. Then the screen went black and just seconds before the credits. The new king's voice could be heard.

"Winter has come."

"Wow…this is a great show." Exclaimed Karl as the final credits played. "The religious sensors wouldn't let a fake religion be shown in the colonies."

"Just wait until you watch the Walking Dead," added another airman "The question is which show do we start him with? Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead or Kingdom of the Walking Dead."

"Kingdom it is still on." advised a marine "Yes, it is set in the UK but big deal. Remember that episode with Knights vs Walkers that was amazing!"

"Question are they going to use more of the green Hades' Fire on those dead creatures?" inquired Karl as the airman looked at him. "You know Hades' Fire, they used it at that battle in the bay a few seasons ago."

"Wildfire?" inquired an Airman

"Yes, we call it Hades' Fire." said Karl "I mean our version of it is bluish black instead of green like yours but it seems to be the same."

"Wildfire is fictional, I believe it is based on Greek Fire but that technology was lost centuries ago." explained the airman "You have something like this?"

"Yes, a few years ago a truck carrying one of the bombs got in an accident and it went off," explained Karl. "Burned around 3,000,000 square miles of forest before they finally contained it the fraken thing. It can't be put out you know has to be burn itself out or dumping a fraken ton of sand on it. People from Scorpia still talk about even after 30 years."

Before anyone could say thing the sound of yelling could be heard from the other side of the bulkhead. The airmen and Karl walked out and across the hall following the sound of yelling until they found the source. They found the source was Priestess Adrianna who was standing in the center of the mess hall proclaiming for all the night crew that they were doomed to Tartarus unless they repent their sins and proclaim their faith to the Lords of Kobol.

"What is here deal?" inquired a marine as the whole mess hall tried to eat without listening to the woman calling doom down upon their heads.

"Not totally sure but the most devout do not like change all that much, they like any change to happen slow." explained Karl "And the fact that you don't believe in the Lords of Kobol is ticking them off."

"Well if they don't want to change they should meet the Amish," laughed a Marine "I remembered going to a Walmart and seeing a horse tied up to a light right beside a hybrid SUV."

"Wait I heard that a group of Amish was trying to get their own world so that they could live a simple life away from the new technology." stated an Airmen not paying attention to the priestess. "But isn't it kind of weird to use all the new technology to go to a new world to have a simple life away from technology?"

"I would rather see them get their own world then Mr. Crazy Pants, you know the leader of North Korea." stated the Marine

"YOU WILL ALL FEEL THE RIGHTCUS FURY OF THE LORDS OF KOBOL!" yelled Priestess Adrianna

"Lady I am trying to eat here!" snapped another Airman "If you want to talk none sense, talk to a Psychologist. Go push your false faith somewhere else and leave us alone."

"What did you say!" yelled Priestess Adrianna as in her anger she grabbed a nearby tray and slammed it against the man's head. Instantly everyone was on their feet as a group of marines rushed her and body slammed her onto the deck. While this was happening a group of MPs which had been sitting enjoying their lunch rushed over and after pulling the airman and marines off the priestess they placed her in hand cuffs and pulled her to her feet.

"You will all burn unless you accept the light of the Lords of Kobol and bow to their will." Yelled the Priestess as she was forced out of the room.

"Are there a lot of people as crazy as her in your system?" inquired the airmen Karl was with.

"A small but very passionate minority." admitted Karl

"Well the galaxy is full of believers who believe it is their way or the highway." Admitted the airman with a shrug "We are still dealing with religious terrorism on Earth and then there was the whole ORI situation."

"ORI?" inquired Karl

"A group of religious net cases which almost conquered the galaxy, luckily we where able to force them back to their galaxy when we beat them. Last I heard they fell into a galaxy wide civil war when their leadership fell." explained the Airman with a shrug "Your kind of lucky they didn't find your worlds, whenever they made contact with a world who worshiped a different faith they tended to kill everyone who didn't convert. Entire worlds where destroyed by those religious nutcases."

"Damn, doesn't sound like a group I would want to meet," noted Karl as the airman nodded his head.

"Right, but I admit they did do one thing for us. They made so many first contacts with worlds that it makes the semi rulling some worlds easier since we don't have to deal with the whole surprise of life on our planets." explained the airman "Helps avoid shooting situations."

"Kind of like what happened when we first made contact with you." Answered Karl

"Yes." confirmed the airman as he checked his watch. "I better head to bed, I have duty in a few hours. We should reach Atlantis tomorrow."

At that same moment, it was after sunset in Caprica City and multiples massive crowd was moving through the streets. While most of the crowds were moving either toward the multitude of government buildings or the Tau'ri mission building. One of the smaller groups was heading straight toward the Colonial Zoo. Unlike the other locations the only people on duty was the normal night guards and they were not trained or equipped to deal with a crowd of that size. They busted through the metal gates and made their way straight toward the center of the zoo.

"We shall destroy the symbols of Earth!" yelled the young priest who was leading the charge, the mob reached the center ring where the different enclosures where located before coming to a stop in front of the enclosure with the symbol of Earth was held. The wolves which had been given as a gift to the colonies by the people of Earth looked up at the crowd of people with some interest.

"When we destroy their symbols we destroy them!" yelled the priest as he pulled a large knife before jumped over the low fence, only to realize afterward that the reason why it was so low was because there was a hidden pit to keep the animals away. He dropped fifteen feet breaking both of his legs in the process.

The wolves watched this whole thing as they man screamed in pain, unluckily for the wolves the followers of the priest headed around and after a couple of minutes they broke into the enclosure using the keepers entrees. The mob descended on the wolf back most of them had only their bare hands. By this time, a News Raptor had arrived and hand begun to film the attempt of by the group of thirty or so people try to take on the five full grown wolves. The colonial cameras captured images of people trying to attack the wolves with bare hands and the wolves defending themselves. It was a bloody mess and by the time the local police arrived four out of five wolves where dead and seven people dead along with them. The police arrived moments after the crowd had lifted the head of one of the wolves up for all the worlds to see.

Well First I hope you liked this chapter, second I am sorry but I am a huge A Song of Ice and Fire known better as Game of Thrones so I just had to put it in, also it is no spoils just what I wish would happen. Either way I hope you liked it and until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.