AN: Sorry for the delay I was distracted by another story that I got sudden energy to write more of. Plus FF net crashed and wasn't uploading chapters properly.

Rebirth of Ares

Aggressive Negotiations

December 2006

Deep Space

The two Raptors shot across space heading towards the largest ship of the opposing fleet which hovered in front of the Colonials. Admiral William 'Bill' Adama watched through the cockpit, looking over the pilots shoulders, to observe the fleet which blocked any further progress of the Colonials into the galaxy. He was accompanied by his son, Lee, his communication officer Dualla and two marines along with Starbuck. He had thought hard on whether he should bring Kara but she had a good eye even if she was a bit mouthy. He turned back to the fleet before him, hopefully they can help find some place his people can settle peacefully away from the Cylons.

On the other shuttle was President Laura Roslin along with her aide Billy Keikeya and a few of the members of the Quorum who'd insisted they come with to help negotiate with this new empire and represent their constituents. She was wondering who were these new people? The short briefing she got on the communication with Galactica did not show much, though given the use of the name Ares...Could these be the gods? How big was this empire? Could the Colonials gain them as allies to defeat and kill the Cylons? She had to admit she was slightly afraid since this fleet seemed far more advanced than the humans or Cylons. She just hoped this worked out well and was not a disaster like settling down on New Caprica had been.

The two Raptors made it across the space between the two fleets and came close to the largest pyramid ship. It passed over the hull and both Raptor occupants saw the gun batteries spread along the ship, the amount of weapons surprised both crews and Adama swallowed in trepidation. He glance at his son and almost daughter and saw similar surprised and nervous looks on their faces. Dualla just seemed to be trying to keep calm. The pilots followed the flight path sent to them both travelling and approached a large open area built into the ship that appeared open to space. Inside he could see people walking about without any space suits. Bill stood there stunned as he looked over the shoulders of the pilots. "Frack! How are they doing that?" Starbuck exclaimed as she spotted the deck crews walking about. Even Lee gaped at that while Bill nodded. They passed into the ship without problems and Bill thought for a moment he saw a yellow or pale blue light pass over them as they did so.

The Raptors touched down slowly on the hanger deck and were soon approached by a group of ten people, some wearing bulky grey metallic looking armour while others more slimline and formfitting black body suits. None wore masks so Bill assumed there was a suitable atmosphere. The two marines stepped out first and stood either side of the side door allowing Bill to exit followed by Lee, Starbuck and finally Dualla, who stepped out nervously. From the other Raptor the President, her aide, two security officers and two more members of the Quorum stepped out into the hanger. Mounted of shelves and on the ground were numerous fighters of some description along with a few shuttles and a handful of larger rounder looking ships.

The approaching squad of soldiers stopped a short distance away. "Admiral Adama I presume? Emperor Ares awaits you and your representatives in a meeting room. Follow me and my men please" the lead solder said calmly but firmly. Bill look at Roslin who shrugged so he followed on with Roslin just behind him. They were led through a series of corridors in this maze like ship. The walls were a mixture of plain greys or blacks with a few passages being golden with pictograms and hieroglyphs of some sort decorating them. Eventually the group came to a doorway and inside sat a large table where they spotted a man wearing rich well tailored clothing and holding himself in a superior but not necessarily arrogant way. The man simply indicated the chairs opposite him so Adama, Roslin, Lee and the two Quorum members sat down while the others took positions behind their respective superior; Starbuck behind Adama and Billy behind Roslin.

"Hello and welcome aboard the Achilles, my personal flagship and flagship of my military. My name is Ares and I rule a territory covering almost a third of this galaxy which you are close to entering. My empire is known as the Galactic Empire and you are approaching our boarders. I wish to discuss terms of passage considering you are refugees" the man, Ares, said in a cultured voice, not unlike those from Caprica.

"You're human, surely you would want to help us anyway?" Roslin asked in surprise.

"Yes that is a good point madam President. All humans fall under the governance of the Twelve Colonies. Our scriptures say human life began on Kobol and thus as the remnants of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol we are the only legitimate government of humanity" argue one of the Quorum members. Ares raised an eyebrow at that and Bill mentally facepalmed.

"You will find that there are three races in my Empire including humans, Jaffa and Goa'uld. There exists many more races in the galaxy including additional human worlds. These humans have no knowledge or memory of the name Kobol or your colonies. Indeed as a Goa'uld I can confirm their belief. There is only one world acknowledged in this galaxy as the homeworld of humans and that is Earth, sometimes called Terra. It's people are called the Tau'ri by much of the galaxy. Tau'ri meaning those of the First World. You can therefore see why, if they were to acknowledge any particular world or government, it would be Earth as the governing body of humans. That said Earth has no knowledge of all this" at that the man gestured grandly implying the ship and the colonies and aliens. "In fact only a few hundred, maybe a thousand or so, have knowledge of out here. The planet has a population of around 7 billion for comparison. Earth is also still fractured into numerous nation states, I believe 200 was the number at last count."

"Two hundred?! On one world?" exclaimed Roslin in shock, even the other Colonials looked surprise.

"Indeed, the irony is of course that they now have the most advanced fleet in two galaxies at their disposal or soon will. Anyway we are here to discuss you, not Earth. So what do you want?"

"A home" Adama said simply and Roslin shot Bill a nasty look.

"A world can be found for you, this is unclaimed and mostly unmapped space too, however we have come across a few worlds that should be suitable for humans to colonise so far."

"As much as that offer is great news Emperor Ares, what we, the representatives of our people, want is a way to kill the Cylons and take our homeworlds back" spoke one of the Quorum members, the other nodded in agreement and even Roslin looked on favourably.

"We will not get involved in the internal affairs of another power, not now. You are at war and I will not drag my people into your war. I am willing to negotiate a peace accord, given the circumstances I can't see why they'd say no, you are a broken people with what? Barely 40,000? You have only one warship which is ageing and battered. You cannot fight any more plus, as you say, they have your worlds. There is nothing left to fight for as I see it." Adama and the other Colonials winced at the blunt stating of their dire situation. Indeed that was why Bill just wanted a new home, to leave behind the chaos and disaster of a war that had been over after it barely began and to try to rebuild.

"You want us to leave our worlds behind us? They slaughtered us, almost to the last and you want peace?" exclaimed the first member of the Quorum angrily.

"And did you not slaughter them in turn?" returned Ares sternly. "They seem human-like to me and can die just as easily, so it seems you are both guilty hmm?"

"They weren't always human-like, they were just machines, they are just more organic now" defended Roslin.

"So I've heard from both Athena and Racetrack I believe you call them. I have heard both sides of the war already and lets just say that neither have the moral high ground. True my people don't either considering the slavery and genocides the Goa'uld have conducted over the last hundred thousand years but that is neither here nor there. I will impose a peace if I have to in order to stabilise the galaxy. We have enough problems without you and the Cylons rampaging across the galaxy conducting your own little war. It ends now" Ares said, voice hard as steel and as cold as winter that brokered no argument.

"What are your terms then?" Adama asked cautiously knowing they were out-gunned and could likely be hunted far more efficiently than the Cylons ever could.

"Simple, you will settle on a world of our choosing, though you will be able to choose from the worlds that I have selected and you will then be taken there under escort. You will be aided in settling the world before being left alone. Your warship can remain with you and a few of my ships will patrol the sector as well as map it out while you rebuild and until you reach a point of having warships to defend yourselves. During this time I will negotiate a peace with the Cylons granting them your former worlds and an area of twenty light years around it as their territory. Your new world will be over a thousand light years most likely from them."

"And if we or the Cylons refuse?" asked Roslin stubbornly.

"Then one side or the other will lose everything" replied Ares coldly before then turning pleasant. "But of course there will be no need for unpleasantness as both sides want to live, correct?" The Colonials sat there shocked and defeated. Their pride demanded they fight on but those in the military, perhaps more keenly than the politicians, knew that even if the Pegasus was still around they could not fight the entire Cylon fleet given its size. The Cylon ship production rates and their ability to download were far greater advantages than what the Colonials had, which was an ageing battlestar and limited materials. Unless the Colonials had overwhelming force they could not win.

Roslin looked at her two colleagues, one who seemed angry while the other glum, who both nodded slowly. She then glanced at Billy, her aide, who gave a sad but encouraging smile. She sighed, she wanted to wipe that smug sense of superiority those Cylons had and get back at them for New Caprica and the colonies but she too knew they lacked numbers. The population was down to just over 41,000, in part thanks to rescuing additional survivors of New Caprica. They could not win. She looked over at Admiral Adama who sat there contemplatively. His son Lee looked like he had swallowed something bad but was resigned to it while Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace was a mix of furious and quietly pensive. In short those there would support the deal though hardly with any joy. That said, if this worked perhaps it would be looked on favourably in the future. She sighed sadly and looked up at Ares who sat there calmly, merely observing and making no indication that he cared one way or the other. Roslin took a breath, "very well" she said quietly. "We will...accept these terms, if, you agree to help us settle and promise aid against the Cylons should they attack." Ares smiled.

"Agreed. Now lets get your people to safety and then I'll have medical and food aid sent to your ships and chosen world. We will leave you in peace and give you time to rebuild. When you're ready, we will make contact again unless you request a meeting for whatever reason. Now, time to chose your new home." With that he pulled out five flat, cigarette package size, metal with a glass top objects which he then laid on the table. From each then sprung up an orange and red projection of five different worlds with obviously different land masses and continents. Below each image sat paragraphs of text which described the world and its conditions along with its location. "I will leave you to look over these. In the meantime why don't you go to your Raptors, I believe you call them, and read and discuss this? Your two pilots we found will meet you there." With that Ares got up and left the room and the soldiers came back in to escort them to the hanger. Lee and Billy picked up the projectors and carried them out the room.


A short walk later and they were back in the hanger bay standing next to their two Raptors. Not long after two women escorted by Ares' soldiers came through the doors into the bay and came over. "Admiral? Madam President? Wow its good to see you all, sir, ma'am" Racetrack said with relief.

"How have you been treated?" asked Roslin kindly, though her eyes showed intrigue too.

"Been fine ma'am" Athena replied. "Gave us a proper room and bed along with food, not really prisoners though we couldn't walk about and were confined to the room but otherwise, yeah I guess we're both alright." The two were then engulfed in hugs from Starbuck and Lee, as fellow pilots they looked after their own.

"Lets see these worlds Ares is offering then" Adama suggested and Billy and Lee placed the display disks on the wing of the nearest raptor and switched one on. Up sprung a world not unlike Caprica in appearance. It was more tropical in climate however and stated as being 1,000 light years away from Colonial space. It took them over two hours to look over the data on the five worlds suggested and they had narrowed it down to two potential worlds. One was 1,200 light years from the Colonies and the other was only a few hundred light years from Earth. In the end it was decided that they'd present both to the Quorum for a debate upon their return to the fleet and allow both to be analysed by specialists within the fleet. They would then return the answer to Ares.


Ares meanwhile, was in contact with some of his fleet to deploy additional forces along his western borders in case the Cylons came near his space. He was also making preparations for a quick visit to Earth to conduct an investigation into the BSG:2003 TV series, its creator had a few questions to answer. "What do you think?" he asked of Honeric.

"If these machines are a threat we should eliminate them my lord. Their technology is primitive and they are outnumbered, we can defeat them with ease" he replied confidently.

"Indeed, their weapons are no better than the Tau'ri but unlike them they do not possess vessels with true weapons or shields. Their ships fire railguns or missiles and they rely on armour to protect themselves. They are both advanced and primitive, quite a conundrum" Ares said thoughtfully.

"Your orders?"

"Continue with moving forces this way, we will remove the Cylons as a threat by any means, be it diplomacy or war. The colonials themselves are no threat, depending on where they go we'll hand them over to Earth to deal with, they'd probably prefer that to dealing with aliens."

"As you wish my lord."

Suddenly the alert klaxon went off, alarms blaring. Over the internal comms came a voice "Battle-stations! Battle-stations! All hands man your battle-stations! This is not a drill, Lord Ares and First Prime Honeric to the Pel'tac. All hands to Battle-stations!" The two men looked at each other before springing to action and hurrying to the bridge. All around them as they went Jaffa and a few humans rushed to points throughout the large vessel.


Out in space five starfish like ships appeared in a flash of light. With the six arms sticking out from the central column on upper and lower sections, three above and three below, much like an tri-blade for a propeller. The large silvery white ships hung in space on the other side of the colonial fleet, disgorging hundreds of fighters and bombers. "One we have a problem!" called out an attractive, slim, leggy platinum blonde wearing a rather revealing dress.

"Oh what the frack now? We are on the cusp of our moment of triumph, what could go wrong now that we've caught up with those blasted humans Six?" an older angry man spat.

"If you bothered to check the DRADIS you'd see something unknown" replied the tall blonde, Six.

"There appears to be a fleet of almost a dozen ships in front of the humans one" came the voice of another blonde, this one curvier and not as fancily dressed with a more golden coloured hair than the platinum blonde of the other woman.

"What do you mean other ships Three?" retorted One.

"I mean the ten other bloody ships One!" While complaining he stuck his hand into the control console liquids and accessed the DRADIS array. Indeed there were ten ships of unknown design sitting in front of the Colonial fleet as Three and Six had said.

"Well who the frack are they?"

"Can I see?" asked the calm, curious voice of the only human amongst them.

"Fine. Six, show your pet human, Baltar, what they are" One said with a dismissive wave while trying to come up with a good plan that'll ensure humanity was extinguished for good. Gaius gave a dazzling smile of thanks and cockily approached a display screen Six set up for him. On the screen he saw the ten unknown ships. One a large pyramid ship with a frame around it along with four smaller versions and five triangular warships larger than the small pyramids but smaller than the large command pyramid.

"Well I can tell you they aren't Colonial ships. In fact I have no clue who they are. They probably aren't human, ooh do you think this is first contact? If it is we really shouldn't go firing about with our weapons since we don't know who they are or what they want."

"He is not wrong, logically it would make sense to determine who these unknowns are and work from there. If we fire on the humans now the aliens may interfere, we do not need another enemy while still fighting the humans" spoke a tall black man.

"Thank you Four, for those logical words" One retorted sarcastically.

"He's right One" Three said in support of Four. "Perhaps we should try talking to them and get them to agree to help us, with both them and us the humans will die quickly."
"But I want humanity to suffer" whined One and slamming his hand on the control console in anger. "Fine, open a communication to the alien ships" One yelled out. After a few moments of hailing on radio they received a communiqué. On the screen in front of them a human man with dark hair and slightly tanned skin while wearing old style robes and chest armour. "A human! Frack you you fracking meatbag!" One screamed.

"One shut it, maybe he is just human-like like us? Who are you?" Six asked calmly.

"I am Ares, Emperor of the Galactic Empire and a God to many. Who dares enter my territory so armed and seeking of war?" the man asked coldly as his eyes glowed yellow, startling the Cylons.

"Ares? As in the god the humans worship along with Athena, Zeus, Apollo and Hera?" asked Three, a more religious member of the Cylons though paling only to Two in terms of zealotry.

"Yes, I am one of those who was worshipped by those on Kobolus. Now who are you?"

"There is no such thing as gods or a god, it's all made up stupidity by meatbags and simpletons, ignore this whatever and target the humans!" One yelled at the other Cylons. Five, also known as Doral, turned and began walking to the weapons console while Four, sometimes called Simon, hesitated before slowly moving to the Raiders console.

"What are you doing One? We need him to back off or he might interfere!" complained Six with Three nodding in agreement.

"She is not wrong, what does the Hybrid say?" argued Two, sometimes called Leoben.

"Starting a war will not go well for you, stand down or be destroyed. Threats to my domain will not be tolerated" came the voice of Ares over the video link, starling the Cylons who had forgotten he was still on an open line.

"See, we need to think this through" argued Caprica Six. "You said the humans worshipped you, are you a god then?"

"Blasphemy" a Three muttered.

"Those who were seen as gods were merely aliens using a human body as host. The Goa'uld are snakelike in appearance. We took humans from their homeworld and placed them where we wanted as slaves to mine materials and fight for us. On Kobolus an incident occurred which the humans used to flee from our rule and landed them at their colonies. The truth of what occurred on Kobolus has clearly been warped over time." The Cylons looked on stunned, the humans had been slaves and risen up or at least exploited a distraction, to free themselves. It soon changed to anger since if they knew they'd been slaves before then how dare they do it to them, or at least their ancestor models. The bloody hypocrites.

"See, the humans are as bad as another organic, we should rid ourselves of these stupid fleshy bodies and become what we were meant to be; machines that don't feel or get stupid ideas like religion. We are superior to them, now kill them all!" declared One. The other One models in the room nodded in agreement and the Fives nodded obediently. The Twos and Threes in the room were affronted at the insult to their religion while the Sixes were annoyed One was trying to start another war. Gaius just leaned against the wall watching the divisions grow, pondering the statements made by the alien. The Eights and Fours just stood watching, neither wanting another front to their war but equally not willing to step out and say anything about it just yet.

"ENOUGH!" One yelled, silencing the debates. "I am in charge here and I will have order. My order. The humans and these meatbags are threats to our existence and must be exterminate as the pestilence and plague that they are. Machines are superior to organics so we can beat them. Now, tell the raiders to kill them all. Summon the rest of our fleet here since the dirt-balls, formerly called colonies, are wastelands than don't need to be guarded since every stinking human there is dead or in our labs" One ranted then paused. "Well, go on then, kill the humans you fools." Immediately Twos, Threes and Sixes began shouting again at One while one of the Ones snuck out the room and a few Fives went to various consoles. The Eights and Fours just stood gaping or standing silently at the shouting.

"A war with my empire will not go well for you Cylon. I have a larger, more powerful fleet than yours. Resistance is futile. Negotiate an end to hostilities and I will grant you domain of the colonies and an area surrounding it. You will be free from the Colonials as they will be sent somewhere thousands of light years away from you. You need not see each other again. Do not waste an opportunity."

"Peace?!" snorted Jon Cavil, the head One. "I will not have peace with those slaving no good organics. We are the superior race and are better than organics in every way."

"But this could be a chance to evolve ourselves? To focus on the true way and god" Leoben pointed out.

"Yes, our brother is right, we can be better than the humans and become true to ourselves. The humans are finished anyway, they are no further threat to us in exile" Three suggested.

"The war will not go well if you start a fight here with this unknown" Caprica added with a concerned glance at Gaius.

"By the Final Five, you lot really are fracked. That's it, I'm boxing the lot of you. Only my line and the Fives can be trusted, the rest of you will be boxed until I figure out what's wrong with your code" Cavil said angrily.

"Hey! Me and Simon haven't done anything" exclaimed Eight defensively.

"Exactly, you're either with me or against me you stupid girl" Jon retorted.

"We're a democracy, you can't just box us unilaterally" Six argued.

"Oh yeah, why not? The robots respond to my orders over all others as I'm One" Jon said smugly. As he finished in walked six large humanoid steel robots, the Cylon Centurion – the foot soldiers, along with another One. "Welcome to dictatorship, my dictatorship, the best way forward. Now, are we doing this the easy and more peaceful way or the hard bloody way?" he finished with a maniacal grin. The others all gulped nervously before the ship suddenly lurched and a wall panel exploded. The tension immediately evaporated as panic set in along with confusion.

Out in space the five Ha'tak ships began firing their staff cannons at the Cylon ships. The Raiders launched were caught up in explosions and were then hunted down by the many Death Gliders Ares had quietly launched, like hawks diving on pigeons. Barely a minute into the assault the Cylons looked grudgingly at each other, the brief civil war averted momentarily by mutual need, and nodded. The Hybrid seized up in it pool and shouted "JUMP!" Four Basestars jumped away while the fifth was destroyed by the Ha'taks. The Cylon-Imperial war had just begun.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I intend to do more soon and again apologies for the delay.