Battlestar Galactica

They had to mine.

Most of the fleet needed repairs and some damage control, so they had to stop near an asteroid belt, where the mining ships, assisted by the Ra Cailum and her fleet, were stripping the asteroids down to nothing. Anything that could be of use was mined to rebuild and repair what they needed for what they knew would be a long journey.

Reboot was working overtime, repairing and upgrading damaged battlestars and the First Cylon War ships recovered from Delta Caponis. They had been forced to convert several military ships into civilian transports, just to reduce the overcrowding problem on the St. Elizabeth and the other civilian ships.

Galactica herself was no exception to the repair work: the ship was slowly stripped of her armor and put in an atmospheric environment contained in a forcefield, that way she wouldn't slam shut like a book. Sonja and Jaden were busy replacing the sections that needed to be brought up to spec, using Starfleet technology to do the job.

Within days, the ship was being rearmored, all of her internals finally at blueprint standard. Both flight pods were functioning at 100% capacity, its armaments upgraded with 600cm cannons which could switch between projectiles and phase cannons, plus a new Phaser array which gave it even more firepower. Photon Torpedo tubes, enhanced computer systems that Cylons could never hope to hack, and given all the nifty replicator tech and updated transporter beams.

It was as if Galactica had been reborn from the brink of death. Just days ago she was the oldest ship, on the verge of becoming a museum… now she stood as the single, most advanced warship in Colonial hands.

If, or rather when the Cylons attacked again, they were in for one hell of a surprise.

"Remind me to thank those two." Adama muttered.

"Thanks aren't needed for Starfleet. They just don't care as long as they're actually helping, it seems to me, Bill."

Adama had to agree.

"The station's having a hard time keeping up with the demand."

"I noticed. It's a great idea, but… Not Starfleet standard."

The Reboot was being overwhelmed with repair demands. The rest of the fleet, it could handle to a point, but the Ra Cailum was the only ship it couldn't really service properly.

Great idea, just not good enough.

"In my opinion, our best bet would be to build another refit station like the Reboot, only designed more for ships like the Oddy," Jaden said, "If nothing else, it will help us ensure Reboot doesn't get overwhelmed with repair duties."

"It'll take a while to design, let alone build. Months, if not years."

"I'll have to talk to Ron about it. Not that that's gonna be a problem: anything to keep his ship up and running."

"Well, I have a name for it." Sonja grinned, giddy.

"What?"

"Hand of Scotty."

Jaden burst out laughing. "You've sealed the deal! Ron has to build it now."

"The name, I can do without. We're not the UNSC: they specialize in overly long names. But the concept is good. When we get back home, I'll send the blueprints back home. But it's going to take an ETERNITY to build and we are lacking in raw materials like tritanium."

"Well, might as well get started."

"Don't get too engrossed." Ron warned. "The Elachi are out there, and where a Servitor is, the Iconians aren't too far behind."

"Think it's T'ket?"

"Who else? L'Miren fears me and the rest won't do anything. T'ket's the only one that's holding a grudge and would be stupid enough to follow me across universes."

"Point taken. She's also fucking insane. Almost as crazy as you."

"The difference is I save my insanity for the best moments. She is crazy all the time."

Joint Combat Airspace Patrol

Leading one of several joint CAPs, was a pair of Peregrines off Morningstar. They were leading a squadron of Vipers and a half-squadron of modified Sabres.

"Nothing as usual. Anything on your end, Mobius?"

"Nothing. Keep your eyes open: the Cylons are still out there."

Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace paralleled the much larger fighter. "So, what's got you guys so scared?

"The Iconians are the worst force that ever existed. They're hyper-advanced: more-so then we are. We only won through luck and the captain having balls made of neutronium. He managed to make them back off, but T'ket never listened to the treaty. She wants us dead."

Whistles and shudders came over the comm. Most of the pilots had seen how much ass Starfleet had kicked back in the Colonies, so to learn that someone could face them one-on-one, was a bit frightening.

"Hold it, picking up a contact. Five Cylon Raiders, bearing 143 mark 003. Shoot them down before they can bring the baseships down on us!"

Starbuck grinned. "I'm on it!" Her Mk II kicked on the 'burners, accelerating toward the Raiders, guided in by the heavy fighters.

Tracers erupted from her guns, streaking across space to ruthlessly gut the Raiders…

A brilliant blue portal erupted in front of the Cylons, and out emerged a Iconian Raider, which effortlessly took the bullets on its shields.

"SHIT! Vipers, fall back! Ironclad Squadron, time to use those new missiles you've been wanting to try!"

Starbuck pulled back on the stick and turned around in less than a second, giving her a excellent view of the Peregrines and Sabres unleashing a barrage of green and silver missiles.

The plasma missiles struck first, sending green fire rippling across the raider's shields, straining them. Phaser cannon fire followed next, tearing holes in the shields and causing hull plates to vaporise and burn.

The quantum torpedoes followed right down the path, slamming directly into the Raider's spine, and this time, brilliant fireballs erupted forth, sending the crippled ship into a uncontrolled tumble.

The two Peregrines swooped in and tore it apart with a barrage of cannon fire while the Sabres descended on the Cylon fighters.

"Ra Cailum, this is Mobius 2-5: we got an Iconian Baltim-Class raider!"

"Confirmed, 2-5. All ships are now at red alert. FTL drives are spooling: get your asses back here."

"Copy that. You heard the man! Move your asses!"

"Status on the fleet?"

"Civilian ships are charging their drives, the first will be away in thirty seconds." Corpsa reported.

"Ron, Adama's hailing." Cassie called out.

"Put him on."

"Captain, would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?"

"There's an Iconian fleet en route. The fleet needs to jump and get the fuck out of here, unless you want to have millions of corpses on your conscious."

"I thought you were insane."

"My insanity is tempered by my training and experience." Ron retorted. "I'm sane enough to run when a powerful enemy is nearby and civilians are at risk."

"Subspace event!" Corpsa called out. "Elachi fleet just exited a gateway and Cylons are jumping in!"

Ron snarled. "Adama, get moving. The Ra Calium and Firestorm will hold them off, and Morningstar will jump with you to secure the rendezvous." He closed the channel. "Riza, come about. Corpie, load quantum torpedoes and divert auxiliary power to shields."

As the Ra Cailum's load of quantum torpedoes was only half that of the photons, he spoke volumes of how little he wanted to be near them.

"Riza, take an evasive pattern, confuse them. Keep a subspace jamming field up at all times: they can't use their gateways without subspace. Corpsa, torpedoes, lead frigate. Cripple his engines and send him spinning."

The Ra Calium spun down the enemy formation, sending two torpedoes into the leading frigate's engines, sending it crashing into another, destroying both.

All of the dreadnought's phaser banks opened up, striking or killing a ship and targeting another. Return fire was brutal, but Riza's excellent piloting skills took them through the worst of it.

Six frigates and a escort dropped on the cruisers' rear, trying to land a hit, but crippling fire from the Firestorm broke their formation, and the tiny little ship darted through to alpha strike a battleship.

"Come to port, 274 mark 0! Photon torpedoes, aft tubes! Phasers, fire on the torps as soon as they're within range!"

Two Iconian warships were on the Ra Cailum's tail, but they were about to be sent flying as a pair of torpedoes were forcibly detonated, sending them flying into larger, heavier-hitting vessels with the shockwaves caused by the phasers detonating them.

"Civilian ships have jumped out, military vessels are beginning their jumps as well!" A ensign at sensors reported.

"Good. Keep dealing the pain Corpie!"

Riza gunned for a Elachi Ornash heavy escort. "Hey, Cassie." She called out.

"Yeah?"

"You know that maneuver I was talking to you about?"

"…yeah?"

"Get a tractor beam ready."

Passing the escort, Cassie grabbed the vessel, and it was pulled along by the much bigger mass of the Odyssey. Making for the Iconian Vomph that was seemingly leading the fleet, Riza set for a collision course.

"Riza." Ron started.

"Don't worry brother. Corpsa, load the rear tubes, full spread."

Corpsa lanced the battleship's shields with the forward phasers, while simultaneously disabling their 'captured' Ornash.

"Wait for it… wait for it… now!"

Riza pulled a tight Immelman, and right at the apex of the turn, Cassie let go of the Ornash, flinging it at the Vomph much like a starship-sized slingshot.

The Elachi battlecruiser slammed into the Iconian ship's shields, overloading them with the sheer concussive force of a several million ton ship going close to the speed of light. The rest of the Ornash, which was now a group of former hull plates and superstructure flying in formation, slammed into the Vomph's port-side spar, ripping massive holes into it, and the forcible decompression of several decks sent it into an uncontrolled turn.

Until Corpsa's quantum torpedoes tore it up even more, breaking two spars off entirely. The ship's core failed shortly after that, resulting in a large explosion that took out two dozen ships.

"How's the humiliation feel, T'ket?!" An antiproton beam impacted the shields, making the Ra Cailum rock. "I take that we've pissed her off. Aft tubes, phased plasma torpedoes!"

"Loading!" The superdreadnought banked, the rear tubes targeting the biggest ship in the enemy fleet, an Elachi Sheshar. "Fire!"

Red-green projectiles flew out of the rear tubes, phasing through the shields like a chroniton torpedo before going into the ship and detonating, causing massive internal damage as they phased back into normal space.

"Get us back to the fleet! Jump!"

"Jumping!" A moment passed, before the Ra Cailum winked out of existence - reappearing alongside the rest of the combined fleet. "Jump completed… no signs of the Iconians."

"Good. Repair any damage we received, then prepare for another combat jump."

"We're going back?"

"We can't jump timelines without crippling T'ket's fleet. All we did was delay her. We need to do more damage to the point where she has nothing to effectively engage us with. Open a channel to Galactica."

"Captain, who are those people, and why are they out to kill you?"

"The bitch's name is T'ket. She's an Iconian who I kinda fucked over a year ago." Had it been a year since that final battle? "The rest of her kind fear me and respect that I'm a dangerous bastard, but T'ket is unstable at best. Insane at worst. She wants me dead."

"She's a crazy bitch that we'll have to deal with eventually." Jaden stated, joining the conversation over on the Morningstar. "I'd rather not have her hounding us across the multiverse."

"We need the Ra Cailum to jump the fleet out of here. Your… warp drive is the only thing that can do it."

"I know that, but we're also the most powerful ship in the fleet—"

The tactical console then began going off. "Captain, I'm picking up a fleet of ships on sensors."

"Fuck me. All hands, stand to—"

"Wait… they're Tholian?"

"…Tholian? What the hell are they doing here?"

"Ron, they're requesting permission to send an envoy over."

Ron nodded. "Permission granted. Let's see what they want and how the hell they're here."

Jaden watched as a massive Tholian fleet entered formation with their own, a Tarantula-Class dreadnought dwarfing the Ra Cailum in terms of sheer bulk. But compared to the Ra Cailum, it was inflexible: it could only be used as a command ship or carrier, being too slow to bring her main weapons arrays on an enemy target.

"So… these guys from your side of the multiverse?" Jaden asked Sonja. "Ships are… weird-looking…"

"The Tholians have a unique spin on ship design. The Tarantula is a dreadnought-class starship, big and powerful, more so than even the Ra Cailum."

"But…?"

"She's three times the size. Too bulky; you can't bring your main weapons on the target against anything but a Borg cube, which are even bigger. It's how the Iconians kicked their asses. The Ra Cailum had to save them on five different occasions during the war due to their tactical inflexibility."

"Any idea why they're here?" Jordan asked. "Let alone how?"

"We're going to find out." She said. "All senior officers will be attending a briefing in a few minutes on the Ra Cailum: we're senior officers, so we better get going."

"Being with you guys never gets boring," Jaden chuckled as he and Sonja turned to head for the ready room.

The two walked to the transporter pad installed on the ship, beaming to the Ra Cailum, walking to the deck one conference room. Waiting were the Ra Cailum's senior staff and the other high ranking personnel in the fleet, from the UNSC, Celestial Being, the Colonies with one major exception: a group of spider-like beings in EVA suits.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce Commander Loskene of the Tholian Assembly."

"Pleasure to meet you." Jaden nodded. "So… hate to sound like I want to cut to the chase, but… why and how are you here? Aren't you from the Captain's universe?"

A heavily synthesized voice emerged from the suit. "We are. We have mastered the art of universal travel: our Assembly reaches into many universes, but we maintain the core in our universe."

"Nice one, Jaden."

Jaden looked at Ron. "The Tholians like it when you're honest. It pisses them off when you lie or stall. An incident in the 23rd Century proved that."

"We apologized for that incident 123 years ago when all of the facts were acquired. We do not like making mistakes."

"Uh… what incident?"

"In 2268, a Federation starship, the Constitution-Class USS Defiant NCC-1764, was trapped in an interspatial rift created by the Tholians in the 22nd Century in the Mirror Universe. We only learned about it when Captain Benjamin Sisko brought intel back from the Mirror Universe. In short, the Defiant phased into that universe and the Tholians thought Spock, one of our greatest people, was lying. We REALLY fucked the Tholians on the diplomatic front for THAT screw up. The Defiant went missing and we nearly lost one of our best people in the salvage attempt."

"…let me guess, the one and only?" Jaden asked.

"The Federation space vessel Enterprise. Registry Nova Charlie Charlie One Seven Zero One. Commanding officer at the time was—"

"James Tiberius Kirk. We all know the bastard. Point is, WHY is the Assembly helping us? You fight us at every turn: the Nukara system, the incident with that Crystalline Entity, you've even attacked a Romulan Republic installation and you've had troops on New Romulus for months. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because you have done what few other races have done," the Tholian informed. "You have made it to other universes."

"Wait, what?" Takeshi asked.

"We… we operate on a similar principle to your Prime Directive. Only it's a bit… more extreme. We initially evolved in a realm… between universes, and only through great trial did we pierce the dimensional barriers to travel between universes. We do not normally interact with others, but… if we see potential for another race to do the same, we begin indirectly attempting to guide them along the same path—but because we were only able to do it with great adversity, the only way we can see to provide indirect guidance is to provide the same level of adversity."

"We weren't even trying. That was a warp drive improvement test."

"That means little. You have done much to save the Assembly: your actions saved our people on many occasions. You saved Tholia. You saved the timeline. It should have come as no surprise that the Ra Cailum and her crew would be the first to control the power to jump from one universe to another."

"Ok, back to the point, what are we going to do now? Are you here to send us back home?"

"No. It is not our way. You do not assist civilizations in technological development. Nor do we with multiversal technology. We are here to attempt to repay a debt we can never repay: to keep T'ket occupied."

"We still need to cause some damage before we go. Otherwise, your actions will result only in more Tholian deaths. And I am not a fan of my allies getting killed needlessly."

"OK, so we have backup, and we have a goal," Takeshi informed. "Let's go in there and bust some heads!"

"We need a plan of attack first."

"I have a plan: attack," Takeshi said with a grin.

One of the XCOM people chuckled quietly and muttered, "Easy, Iron Man," under his breath.

"If we did it YOUR way, everyone on this ship would be dead thousands of times over, Take. We need to be smart about this, not rush in like an idiot swordsman facing a machine gun nest. Like you would."

"…That only happened once and it was on the holodeck."

"No excuse. We're going to use our brains on this one. Either we fight smart or we don't fight at all."

Takeshi Yamato: I first heard the "I have a plan: Attack" line in the Avengers movie… well, actually, I first heard it in DEATH BATTLE, in the Tony Stark/Iron Man vs Lex Luthor match, and then later heard it in the Avengers, but Tony said it both times, and honestly, it always fits my strategy in video games so bloody well.

Ron the True Fan: Explains why you explode so often on Star Trek Online. You rush in blindly instead of coming up with an actual plan of attack.

Redemption's Avenger: They've had this argument too many times to count…

Weiss: I am sorry to say this, but I agree with the asshole. He acts like Yang.

Yang: Hey!

Ron the True Fan: Rushing in, not thinking of a way out, just attacking… sounds alike to me.

117Jorn: Meh, Rushing in is overrated… why else do you think I always aim for my precious, precious CARRIERS! *Jupiter-class carrier flies overhead*

Ron the True Fan: We'll avoid the ship talk for now: the readers don't want to hear it.

Ja Ne!