AN: Sorry for the delay folks, I had some power problems at home which took over a week to fix which meant using my pc was impossible. Power is restored and the stories shall flow once more.

Rebirth of Ares

So Say We All

December 2006

With the war now over a period of peace was established as Emperor Ares set to establishing patrols of his new domain and start the construction of a purpose built senate for all the senators and himself on Areya. He based the design on the Senate building from Star Wars as it was the only one of its kind he knew of that had been represented on screen rather than referenced in the various sci-fi franchises he'd seen. With the basic design and layout done he got his workers to start building it, it was estimated to take around two years.

With the introduction of a currency system, the Imperial Credit, his people began to thrive as shops and other such businesses began to open. This in turn allowed for taxes which would fund the government and allow for infrastructure to be commissioned and built and for the military to operate. One policy Ares had instituted was to explore beyond the borders in both a northerly and westerly direction, heading away from Earth and the free Jaffa. This was done predominately to find new resources to aid the new empire but also to see what was out there.

The only real push back came from the Goa'uld governors who still served Ares, Athena and Aphrodite among them. They felt with the senators they power was being taken away and also that the Jaffa and humans had too much power and that slavery should be reinstated. Indeed at a meeting of the various Goa'uld on Areya in a private meeting hall a couple quite vocally made their displeasure known and questioned his ability to lead. This of course did not end well for either of the two as Ares simply aimed his modified Kara'kesh at them and fired a plasma burst at the pair killing them instantly. The shock silenced those who had been about to voice similar complaints as they saw Ares stand and glare angrily at them.

"I am the Emperor here. My word is law and you will obey my commands or suffer an even worse fate than those traitorous worms like Ba'al. I have done what needed to be done to preserve our power as best as possible. You are still governors of your territories, you just have to deal with your local problems, such as food, infrastructure and law enforcement, more than you did before. I will only step in if you fail or if it covers more than one governor's territory. The senators will be reporting local problems to me in the senate as well so I will know one way or another how you are fairing. And if I find that you fair badly, well...Perhaps that governorship will not be needed any more?" he let the threat hang over their heads as he saw acceptance in most of their eyes. A glare at the hold outs forced them to bow their heads in acceptance but he swore to keep an eye on those few to make sure they obeyed. Athena and Aphrodite were the first to fall in line after the execution of the two traitors and so kept their places as Ares' favourites, being given the largest territories to govern. With the governorship issue resolved for now, stability returned though James kept a close eye on the more rebellious Goa'uld left.


Deep space, Outer rim, Galactic west

Two Ha'tak vessels were patrolling an area to the far west of of Ares' empire. They had completed surveys of a number of worlds finding sources of Naquadah and Trinium as well as habitable worlds suitable for colonising should the empire progress to that stage. It was as they were finishing up on the world they orbited that something odd occurred.

"Sir sensors have just detected a radiation spike from the outer edge of the system" reported the main helmsman. The commander looked up from the survey reports he was reading and looked toward the man.

"Where and what sort?" he said as he stood and moved towards the helm.

"Unknown type sir, but similar to the type the chappa'ia makes when establishing a connection. As for where, edge of the system near the asteroid belt" the human reported. The Jaffa commander nodded.

"Have the Bastet go check out the edge of the system for any structures or a space gate. According to Emperor Ares the builders were known to occasionally make a chappa'ai in space."

"Yes sir, sending orders to the other Ha'tak."


At the edge of the system a small shuttle object hung in space. "I don't know where we are Athena, you said the navigation was calculated properly but this isn't the right system. Where the hell is the fleet? All I see on DRADIS is an asteroid field."

"Oh for frack's sake!" cried the asian looking young woman from under a console in the cockpit. "Yeah the navigation wiring is blown, an overload in the power conduit must have shorted out the computation thus giving us this place. Wherever here is. Frack. Anything back there on DRADIS Racetrack?"

The woman in the back looked over her screens and shook her head. "Nothing so far, just an asteroid field. Can you get us back to the Galactica?"

"Not sure, I'll try. Might be able to rewire it and get it to send the right signal to the nav computer."

"Your cylon body not able to work something up?" asked her frustrated colleague.

"Only if I stick some wires in my arm" Athena replies sarcastically. Racetrack holds her arms up in surrender. A sudden beeping noise attracts her attention while Athena continues her work in the front.

"Hey Athena, I think we might have a problem" she says after a moment, sounding a bit worried.

"What sort of a problem? What could be worse than us sitting in the middle of no where?"

"How about being in the middle of nowhere with an unknown ship bearing down us?"

"Say what?"

"There's a ship closing on our position rapidly. It's not sending any known IFF. It's not colonial or cylon." There's a worried silence before Athena starts flicking switches as the lights and various systems shut off.

"What the frack are you doing?!" Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmondson exclaimed in surprise.

"Trying to reduce our heat and power signature so their DRADIS can't detect us, we're a small ship in the middle of space, with a small signature anyway. With all our systems off they shouldn't be able to pick us up. Hopefully."

"Hopefully?! You're malfunctioning! We should be trying to hide amongst the asteroids, that would disrupt their scans and with us powering down we'd be difficult to detect" Margaret argued. Athena seemed to go into deep thought for a moment before frowning and grumbling in acceptance.

"Alright we'll try it your way, how soon till they're here?" she asked as she started powering up the engines again and adjusting their course for the asteroid belt.

"Lets see, they should be...oh gods they're almost on top of us, frack it, burn the engine now! Get us hidden!" she exclaimed in panic.

"I'm trying to Maggie!" came the annoyed reply. The Raptor began moving quickly and turned in the direction of the asteroids, it was then that they saw it. A grey blob heading their way and moving fast, faster than any ship ought to. Athena pushed the engines hoping to get to the belt before the ship arrived but they soon saw that it had adjusted its course to intercept them. As it got closer they were able to make out more of its shape. In fact, it surprised them when they saw it fully. The ship was a golden pyramid with a black space frame around it. It closed on them within minutes and they were no where near the asteroid belt when the Raptor lurched before stopping dead.

"Why aren't we moving?!" shouted Margaret.

"I don't know Racetrack, it's like we've just suddenly stopped. I'm pushing the engines hard but they aren't getting us anywhere. I'm gonna have to cut them soon as I can't break free of whatever has us and they're close to overheating." The Raptor's shuddering soon stopped as the engines died and seconds later the shuttle began to slowly move towards the pyramid ship. "We're being dragged inside!" called Athena. The two women exchanged worried glances as they watched their Raptor get pulled into what could only be called a hanger bay. They quickly checked their flight suits and helmets to make sure they could breath as it seemed their hosts would likely want to speak with them. The two sat in the cockpit watching as they saw a number of bird like black fighters on lots racks while a couple of larger shuttle like ships sat parked on one side.

"Blimey, there's a lot of fighters here, they'd give the Galactica a run for their money if they deployed them all" Racetrack said.

"I'd be worried about how good those fighters are, Starbuck may be good but if these people can drag us inside without any towing cables or the like they must be advanced." Margaret hummed thoughtfully before the ship gave a lurch and landed on the deck of the hanger with a jolt. The pair looked out the window and could see a number of humans, which was not expected in the least, begin to surround the Raptor holding a mixture of rifles and long staffs while some wore bulky grey metal armour and others slim, form fitting black armour. "Looks like the air is breathable" Athena commented, seeing that none wore a helmet, before removing her own head piece.

"Are you mad? You want to go out there without a helmet? For all we know they breathe chlorine!" Racetrack argued, looking on incredulously. Athena slowly put her helmet back on and Margaret check it over before the pair opened the hatch and stepped out. They came face to face with a few of the humans, mostly men though they saw two women just out the corner of their eyes.

"Er hello, I'm Athena and this is Margaret. We...we are so sorry if we stumbled into your space but we had a navigation problem and ended up here, where ever here is" Athena said nervously. Margaret gave a her a nudge and she fell silent, looking at the group in front of them.

"How do you know they would even understand us? We've never seen anyone like them before, I don't even think their from the colonies" Racetrack muttered.

"Well we had to start somewhere and yes I think you're right, they aren't Cylon or Colonial, Earth maybe? The Thirteenth tribe?" The silence continued for almost a minute, making the two women nervous, before one man finally spoke.

"I am Haran. I command this ship. We understand your language though know not of any Cylon or Colonial. Earth we know of, but not any thirteenth tribe. We are currently in unexplored space though according to our reports we are near the location of a planet called Kobolus."

"Kobol you mean? It's hardly near, it's months away" Athena said in confusion. Indeed the colonial fleet had passed Kobol over two years or so ago and had only just recovered from the disastrous settling of New Caprica a few months back.

"It would only take us a matter of days to reach Kobolus, or Kobol as you say" Haran replied. "Now if as to say are here by mistake I will inform to my superiors about possibly returning you to your kind. For now, come with me and you shall have a room to yourselves. You will be under guard and can not move about the ship without permission. I must consult with my superiors. The Emperor himself may wish to take interest in this matter, you are named after one of the gods as he himself was once."

"What do you mean?"

"Athena serves Emperor Ares of the Galactic Empire. Athena is known to have had territory out here including Kobolus, according to reports." The two women were stunned to know their gods may be real and in fact controlled a large empire. Taking advantage of their stunned behaviour, Haran had the Jaffa escort them to their new chambers while he proceeded to the Pel'tak to report to his squadron commander who was above the planet who in turn would relay the information to command. Things were certainly getting interesting out here.


Areya

James was busy reading up on reports of his fleet construction plan with new Destroyers being built to replace the ageing Ha'tak. He had a few of the Battlestar class built as well but they were few and far between. The new peace was giving him the time needed to rebuild after the war of Anubis and the short conflict with the FJN. Hopefully they would not have any more war for many years to come. He hoped. There was a knock at the door and Honeric came in. "Honeric? What can I do for you?" James asked with interest, glad of a break from the paperwork.

"My lord, we have received a report from the ships sent to explore beyond Kobolus and it's neighbouring space. They have encountered humans on a small shuttle that appeared from nowhere with a radiation spike similar to a chappa'ai activating. They request instruction" Honeric reported dutifully.

"Most interesting. A radiation spike similar to a stargate." He hummed thoughtfully. "Almost like a wormhole drive then, there were references in the hyperdrive section of the database" he muttered on as he stroked his chin in deep thought. "It seems we may have a space faring civilisation to our western border. I will go on my command ship my self and find them. Have an escort of Ha'tak and Destroyers ready. I leave in the hour." Honeric bowed and left the room. James spun his chair to face the small galaxy map on his office wall. "If they have the wormhole drive it could be of great use in continuing our dominance and security in this galaxy. Plus these may become useful allies or trade partners."


Deep Space

After two days of waiting in their admittedly nice room Racetrack and Athena were bored out of their minds. They'd been treated well but they had barely left the room and were now worrying about returning to the fleet. "Do you think the Admiral will abandon us?" Margaret asked worriedly.

"Doubtful, you know him better than I. I'm just a Cylon turncoat remember, you are a raptor pilot and ECO. He won't want to abandon such valuable personnel." Racertack pondered it before nodding slowly and sighing in boredom. They were brought out of their silence by the door opening and three guards entering.

"You have been summoned. Come with me" the lead guard said simply. Given the lack of choice and their boredom the two women shared a glance and followed the three guards to a meeting room. There they found the ship commander, Haran, and two other men. One wore something out of antiquity but with some modernising, sort of soldier like but wealthy like a king and had a red cloak over the black armour and clothes. The third man wore the black form fitting armour which seemed sleeker and better made than those they'd seen on this ship, 'an updated/better version?' Athena wondered. The two women took the two available seats and looked at their hosts. The man in the wealthier clothing, with dark brown hair and appearing to be may late twenties or early thirties, spoke first.

"I hope you have been treated well and enjoyed your stay. My name is Ares, I am the emperor of the Galactic Empire. Who are you?" His voice seemed cultured and sophisticated, not unlike those from Caprica, or at least Racetrack thought so.

"I am Athena Agathon and I am a Raptor pilot for the Colonial Battlestar Galactica. This is Margaret 'Racetrack' Edmondson who is my ECO for the Raptor."

"She forgot to say she is a Cylon and thus not human" Margaret added and Athena shot her a dirty look. When they both turned back to Ares they saw he was staring at them in surprise. "You mean a ship like this" and he picked up from the table a device that after a few moments of fiddling displayed a ship that looked like a battlestar but also wrong and like no model they knew.

"Yeah but that's like no model in service or has ever been, how'd you know?"

"Because I designed it based on a work of fiction. Where did you say you were from?"

"We didn't but the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, though your commander here said Kobolus but I assume its a simple name change" Athena replied with a shrug, curious to know what had the man seemingly stumped.

"This shouldn't be possible" the man, Ares, said with a startled and panicked look. "You're a tv series...you can't exist. The name should be a fluke, but it's too close, how could he know?" He went on, muttering about things she couldn't quite hear even with Cylon ears until he turned to them looking pale. "They came didn't they? Your twelve colonies are gone and you are on a refugee fleet fleeing Cylons. Did you settle New Caprica yet?" It was their time to look confused and unsteady. How could someone, unknown to any of them, know what had been happening? Unless, was he really a god?

"Are you really Ares? The ones those on Kobol worshipped along with Zeus, Athena and Apollo?" Athena asked.

"The gods, as you call them, were merely powerful, cruel, but intelligent beings posing as the gods of your forefathers. They took your religion, posed as gods and took you from your original homeworld to Kobolus, or Kobol. From there you were likely slaves and worshippers for the various gods. I myself, or rather the host at the time, visited that world only once. Athena however was present most of the time until the end."

"Host? Original homeworld?" Margate asked.

"I am, or was, a Goa'uld. Technically still am but details. The Goa'uld are a snake like parasite which takes humans as hosts, or uses Jaffa as incubators for their young. I am the current and last host of Ares. I believe I am his third host since he was born thousands of years ago. He is effectively dead now. Subsumed by my identity as host and his first act of rebirth was giving more control to me as host. As for your question of the original homeworld. All humans in this galaxy originate on a planet called Earth, or Terra as it was known by the original inhabitants. When the human race was found by the Goa'uld, humans being the second occupants of Earth, they spread the humans to many worlds for use as slaves, soldiers or hosts. Earth is thus the home of the human species. Technically even the Jaffa, like these two beside me, are simply modified humans that are now separate enough in DNA terms to be considered a separate species or sub set of the overall human species, depending on your point of view of course."

"By the gods!" exclaimed Racetrack in shock and some horror. Athena was just stunned.

"But there is a tale of the thirteenth tribe, they left to find Earth?"

"Then they never made it. Earth has no record of any mass arrival or sudden appearance of humans in its vast history, I know as I was born there. Your gods such as Zeus and Athena were abandoned as a religion over 2000 years ago. I believe there may be the odd sect of a handful of people that may still worship them but it is considered Ancient history to many. Indeed most, if not all, of the gods the Goa'uld portrayed are considered ancient history. None are worshipped now and are merely myths. Instead new religions rose to replace them. The majority of those who follow religion on Earth now worship some variation of a single god. The three largest religions are effectively the same one but with some differences given that its the same god they follow, though that is a rather simplified at best explanation."

"You're all monotheists?" Athena asked with curiosity. If even the human homeworld could seek the one true god maybe it would prove they were right.

"The majority who follow a religion I would say yes, they are monotheist. But increasingly larger amounts of people do not follow anything at all, believing either in science or just question if there is anything; atheists and agnostics respectively" Ares explained. "Now, what are we to do with you?"
"Can you take us to the fleet? Or give us a world to stay on?" Athena asked after a shared look with Margaret.

"For you Cylons, or the humans? We can find a habitable world relatively easily. Give us the last co-ordinates of the fleet and we should pick them up on our scanners. According to the engineers who had a quick nonintrusive look at your ship, they believe this jump drive, as it was labelled, does not have much range. They estimated ten to fifteen light years per 'jump' as you call it. Our sensors can reach further than that" Ares said. "So, do you want a new world to live on?"


Colonial Fleet, Galactica

William Adama marched into the CIC after a restless slumber, one of his Raptors was now two days late from a scouting mission and they'd heard nothing from them. A second Raptor to search the system they had gone to revealed nothing either. He was now coming close to the moment when he'd have to declare them MIA and jump on in case the Cylons came after them. "Saul, anything on Athena and Racetrack?"

"Nothing yet Bill" came the gruff voice of Colonel Saul Tigh. "Maybe the Cylon went rogue and betrayed us and the ECO? I don't like hanging around here Bill, I have a bad feeling about all this."

"I can't blame you, I'm getting concerned too" Bill said with a sigh. "Give them a few more hours and then prep for a jump." Saul nodded and went over to Lieutenant Gaeta to start calculating jump co-ordinates. It was just as Bill was walking around the CIC centre console that a beeping came from a few consoles.

"Admiral! We have an energy spike at bearing; one three eight mark two nine seven. Correction radiation surge not energy spike" Gaeta called out after a few moments. Saul rushed over to look at the reading.

"It's not nuclear Bill, whatever it is it's totally new. Think the Cylons are up to new tricks?"

"Set condition one throughout the fleet, ready weapons and have the CAP get a look at it."

"Galactica, this is Starbuck, copy?" came a voice over the comm. Bill hurried over to a microphone and picked up the hand device.

"This is Galactica Actual, what you got for me Starbuck."
"Admiral I'm seeing a load of purple and black, I don't know, gas clouds? Rips in space? Not a clue, they just appeared a few seconds ago. Frack, there's something coming through!"

"Admiral, there's a surge in the readings!" Gaeta spoke worriedly. Then suddenly the DRADIS lit up with ten large profiles registering on scans.

"Admiral, I have ten large ships that have just appeared out of those rips in space" came Starbuck over the radio.

"Confirmed sir" Gaeta added quickly.

"Bill should we jump?" Saul asked with concern.

"Any IFF readings? Get the jump drives spun up and prepare to jump on my mark" Adama said to Tigh.

"Negative Admiral, no IFF readings, they're just sitting in front of the fleet. They don't match any colonial or cylon ship in the database either" Gaeta responded.

"Starbuck any action out there?"

"No sir, they're just sitting there."

"Describe them, what do you see?" Bill asked curiously.

"Well most seem to be triangular in shape, hitting around the 1,000 meter mark in length, maybe more. Seem heavily armed as I can see many turrets on the hulls" Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace answered. "The others are like giant pyramids with a black frame around them. The largest ship is a pyramid like ship with a black metal frame and with arms and pincers coming off it. I'd say its way bigger than the Galactica. The triangle ships are about the same size while the pyramid ships are smaller."

"Good work Starbuck now fall back to a defensive line in case we need support while we jump."

"Aye sir, you sure you don't want me to fly past them and get a good view of them?" They could hear the smirk in her voice when she spoke.

"Don't scratch the paintwork Starbuck, come on back to the barn."

"Admiral, I'm getting a signal on the radio, I think it's coming from the unknowns sir" Dualla said from her comm station

"Lets hear it then."

"Attention unknown fleet, you are nearing the territory of the Galactic Empire. Identify yourselves and your purpose here." The stunned faces said it all; a first contact scenario, unthinkable to most, everyone knew they were alone in the galaxy, but then who was the Galactic Empire? Bill looked around at his crew and glanced at Tigh who seemed as flummoxed as the other bridge crew. He slowly raised the microphone to his mouth to speak the first words of a human to an alien race.

"I am Admiral William Adama, on behalf of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol I seek aid as we are refugees searching for a new home after our own was destroyed. Please, we mean you and the Empire no harm as we simply seek to make new lives for ourselves on a habitable planet." The crew looked at him and he could see the fear and hope in their eyes as the chance for a new beginning arrived, and he would be damned if he didn't try to get a new home for his people. The silence went on as they waited for a reply. The seconds killing everyone despite no movement by the unknown ships. Then suddenly, the silence was broken.

"Very well Admiral Adama. We wish to meet with you and your civilian leaders to discuss terms. Hold position and we will make arrangements." The crew's cheering had never been louder. Hope lived again.