Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Wireless/communication"

"Speaking in a different language"

"Reading a text"

Chapter seven: While you slept

Flashback, Day 56 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 21th of March, year 2378, Intrepid class starship Pathfinder, location unknown

Hill didn't anticipate this. Out of all possible scenarios, this was not one of them. "Ares, huh? I want a full scan."

"There is some battle damage on its ventral saucer." The tactical officer reported. "Also on the port nacelle."

"I believe only emergency power is on... but not sufficient to power artificial gravity." The science officer made her report.

"Keep scanning. In the mean time. Let's assemble two teams. Five people per team. I'll lead the one on the bridge. Lt. Gaeta, your team goes for main engineering. We'd better suit up."

It took them around 10 minutes. They assembled in their emergency transporter platform. This ship class was not outfitted with transporters originally, but during the war, having them was a big bonus, mostly during rescue operations or evacuations. But the one on the Intrepid class was a one man transporter. They could, literally, only transport one person at a time.

"So. We try to secure the ship and find out the where, when and most importantly, why. What happened."

They all secured their helmets and checked their gear. Even the Colonials among them got used to it.

As Hill was the first to go, he materialized on the Ares bridge. Turning his helmet flashlight on to get a better view, he saw a graveyard. All the bridge crew were floating . Blood was on the walls and on their uniforms. Then one by one, the other four team members arrived.

"Spread out. Lucas, check the corpses, try to find out how they died. Gunter, engineering station. Lt. Gaeta? You arrived?"

"Confirmed, Sir. But... the room is a mess. Floating corpses and bloody walls everywhere."

"Same here. First find out if the reactor is intact. We know it has fuel. We need to make sure it won't explode, if we turn it back on."

"Roger."

"God damn, and I had to have been the one to find the ghost ship."

It took around 30 minutes, but emergency power was now stable, so the consoles worked, partially. The main computer was also down.

The team in main engineering had good and bad news. The reactor was intact. The main plasma lines weren't. Until fixed, the reactor safety feature won't allow it to start up again. So the limited battery power and partially working fusion reactors were all they had.

"Pathfinder. Send a third team over. Marines and MACOs. We need to search the ship, just to be sure." Hill got a confirmation to this as he continued to read the log of the ship.

But the log only told him the last hour of this crew. They were in the Alpha Quadrant. And they were part of an offensive against the secondary power generating facility in the Klingon Empire. There was a war, it seemed. And this offensive was launched, when the Klingons were beginning to loose, badly. Still, Starfleet being what it was, wanted to end it as soon as possible. So, they targeted their infrastructure. Two of their three main shipyards were too deep and well defended. The third one was a main target of this counter offensive. But the Ares was part of a diversion. The primary energy giver of the Empire, the moon Praxis, was again, too well defended. But a smaller facility of slightly lesser importance was not. The moon Irus Eight. The Klingons thought that Starfleet was not aware of it. So as the attack began, it turned into a carnage. Both sides suffered losses, more than anticipated. But the word reached them. Their main force was successful. So their main objective was done. But why not cripple their mining facilities on the moon as well? So the commodore in charge of this fleet ordered a final assault at the main dock, silos and mining bases. It worked... a bit too well. That and the Klingons brazen disregard for safety procedures... caused a chain reaction that caused an explosion on the moon's surface. Most of the Klingon and Federation fleet made a jump to warp. Some didn't and were destroyed. The Ares... did make the warp jump, but was partially hit and somehow... ended up here.

Hill needed to get his hands on the sensor logs. If his suspicion was right, the circumstances caused this ship to accidentally achieve a warp speed of such velocity, that it both ended up out here in a blink of an eye and the entire crew ended up dying. Their wounds would support this hypothesis. They all had trauma consistent with hitting a wall at 10 times the earth's acceleration. The dampening units were apparently not able to compensate such instant acceleration and deceleration. Most of the people here died due to internal bleeding or broken necks.

"Sir. Corporal Aziz reporting. We're on deck six and doing our search. We found several Starfleet and Klingon corpses here. They must have boarded them. The Starfleet people here are the only ones who have slash and stab wounds. Or disruptor ones."

"How many Klingon corpses?"

"Eight so far."

"Good. Keep searching and keep me posted." He turned to his team on the bridge. "We need to get the main computer working again. All of you, come, we need to get to it."

Eight hours passed. The ship was badly damaged, that much was sure. But no real hull breaches or damage that couldn't be fixed. But they were a crew of 40. This ship was made for 200. And most of the damage, of not from the battle, was done as they were catapulted here.

First thing the marines and MACOs did, was to move all the corpses they found, to the main shuttle bay. The cleaning part would have to wait. But Hill did find something that might shed some light on matters. He went to the captain's quarters. The man was dead, so privacy didn't matter. There, an item was found in a drawer that peaked his interest. It was a memory chip with some writing on it. "From Captain Garth. Have a look and tell me what you think."

After eight hours, they were all tired as most were on their toes long before this. On the Pathfinder bridge, Hill handed the chip to the science officer. It was partially compatible. 80 years of development do make a difference.

"It appears to be... some sort of text file and audio visual file."

"Then show us the text first." The text was now displayed. 'Captain Ross, I hope you are in good health when this reaches you. I also hope you're taking good care of my old ship. Anyway, as things stand, this war should be over soon. Let's hope the Empire swallows its pride and sees that this is pointless now. But Klingons will be Klingons. Anyway, on this chip is a first version, unedited, of a documentary the Starfleet press corps has begun making. It's about this war, the Aries and Constitution classes, the officers and what has happened so far. Let me know your input. Hope to see you soon. Captain Garth Kevlar, Starfleet ship Constitution.'

The bridge crew didn't expect this. "So... the audio video file must be this first attempt at a documentary. Well... let's see it."

Around 15 minutes later, they were done. And this got Hill thinking. If this ship got here because several factors were garbled together, then it might not be the only ship here. Of course, for any ship to be even in their vicinity, it would have to be hit at a similar angle by the shockwave, be aiming at an identical course and... The Ares! It was boarded. And those Klingon solders didn't appear out of thin air. A ship deployed them. If the Ares was being pursued... "We need the damn sensor logs! Comm, open a channel to the Bismarck, Channel Epsilon seven. And prepare to transmit all of our sensor data, data from the hand held units, these two files and the limited amount of information we got from their consoles."

Hill was really serious now. He didn't want anyone to question him. They received a response. It was O'Donnell, in her quarters. The transmission was not perfect, as static did occur every so often. "Report."

"We definitely found something on those other coordinates."

"So you made the detour as I asked."

"Oh yeah. And you really need to see this." The comm officer began transmitting the data as he instructed her. He could see Fiona getting a look that meant she was reshuffling the priorities in her head.

"Good thing you are there. What's the status of the ship in your opinion?"

"Bad. Not bad as in we can't fix it, but there are so many issues... we need more people."

"Everyone her is already overworked. And I can't spare... Unless...Give me a second." She began checking something on her personal terminal. "We can't send a Starfleet ship but one of the Adamants. We add some of our engineers for the transport here... and the Adamant's hangar is large enough to allow it to take the Ares into it. Then you can keep on jumping to that nebula and get it fixed on the move."

"Good idea. But I have something else to add. I will try to find the sensor logs. The telemetry for the last few moments before this catapult happened. I think that is what happened, but I need to confirm it."

"I agree, but why the urgency?"

"Think about it, Ma'am. Other ships may have suffered the same fate. And possibly not from Starfleet."

She got the idea. "Based on the fact that this galaxy is billions of years old and we know there were species and civilizations long before we started walking upright, it's actually more impressive that the galaxy is not cluttered with ship parts. I agree. But you do know that the chances of another ship being even close to your location are slim to none."

"The Ares was boarded. That tells me a Klingon ship must have been close to it. If that ship or more were on a similar trajectory and were hit by the shockwave... it's worth a try."

Fiona didn't have to think twice. "Fine. After you stabilize the Ares and find those logs, try to narrow down your search area. IF you can do that, go there and try to find anything. If not, don't bother. I'll have the last meeting with my Colonial counterparts before the vote. They we'll be able to streamline this. I doubt it will be difficult to get Adama or Hasapis to sign off on this. Good work. Give me an update in 12 hours. O'Donnell out."

The view screen shut off. "OK. Night shift, go to bed. You'll need all the rest. I'll go back to the Ares with four people. I'll do a manual search of their computer files."

"Sir, the computer is not working. Doing this manually could take weeks..." Felix reminded him of the needle he was looking for.

"That's why I'll be the one looking, the others will try to fix the computer. And when we have a shift change, I'll still work there. I can go without sleep for far longer than any of you. Now, no more complaining. Dismissed."

Day 56 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 21th of March, year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet fleet

Fiona hated doing this, but what she inquired about Adama and Hasapis, they were still up, so she asked them over to her quarters, not the meeting room on the Bismarck.

Bill was the first to arrive. "Commander. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Not an issue. And it sounded urgent."

"It is, somewhat. While we wait for Hasapis, can I offer you a drink?"

"Normally I would say yes, but I'm under strict doctor orders, yours by the way, to not drink alcohol until I heal properly."

She motioned him to take a seat on the sofa. Her quarters was twice as large than a regular officer's, so she had plenty of space. But her den was very Spartan. Besides a few pictures that Bill had to assume were from family, friends and colleagues, there wasn't much to tell about who Fiona was.

Before they could change a subject, Hasapis arrived. He took the free seating. "So, what's this about?" He too declined the drink.

Fiona told them that Hill and his expedition did find something. And that if made operational again, it could be invaluable to them. But they were only forty people on a small ship.

"Interesting. Our benefactor throws us a bone again." Hasapis pondered. "But you already have a plan?"

"Yes. I can't send any of my ships. In the end, most will be on different missions to find the missing ships of mine, I will go with the Bismarck, as we discussed, to try and make contact with the Guardians. That would leave the Challenger as the only capable Starfleet ship in this fleet for at least four days."

"I agree, it would leave the fleet under strength. I can only assume you don't want to use a civilian ship?" She nodded at Adama's question. "Then an Adamant it is. As I assume that none of the larger combat ships would be used."

"That was the idea. Either would do. I just assign some Starfleet engineers to it and... perhaps you do yours as well."

Bill pondered. "Kara has some experience in dealing with your missions. I would like to propose that she be part of this, as I can easily have her CAG duties taken over for now."

Hasapis and O'Donnell shared a look, then a nod. "It is decided. When?"

"Today. Preferably as soon as possible."

Bill stood up, realizing that this was it. "Then I'll talk to Kara."

Hasapis did the same. "I'll have one of the ships ready and combat engineers prepped as well. Two hours is the best we can do on such short notice."

"Then two hours it is."

Day 57 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 22th of March, year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet fleet

On the Bismarck, Fiona had the conference room ready for this meeting and vote that would be made today. Hasapis, Hawks, Adama and Hasapis former XO who was now in charge of the Victory plus the Morningstar commander arrived one after the other. Laura was early, but was told to have the civilian captains that she chose for this wait in the mess hall for a short time, as Fiona had something to show them all before this vote. That left Fiona, Hauaman, Commander Evans were here for Starfleet. Lt. Rivers and Major Sisko, who were on the Paladin, were excluded by Fiona's request, as was her own first officer, Walker.

So 11 people would vote. And no one could abstain. As they gathered and some small chatter was going on in the room, Fiona decided to not keep them waiting. "Thank you all for coming. The reason why we have postponed this vote is because of a new development. The same one we sent the Adamant Leonis' Pride on a mission to support the Pathfinder."

"Madam President, I and Hasapis were made aware of this last night." Adama explained this to Laura. "Needles to say, we understood the urgency. And still do. But as I understand it, you now have something specific to show us, Commodore?"

"Then by all means." Laura encouraged her.

On the main screen behind her, now being operated by a crewman, the Ares was shown just as the Pathfinder found her. First from the outside, then inside. "As you can see, the entire crew is dead and they even had a small boarding team on it." It was hill who was talking in the recording.

After a few minutes of this, Fiona stopped the Pathfinder's recording. "Before you begin asking me anything, something else was transmitted from the Pathfinder. Lt. Hill found it in the captain's quarters. I already had the chance to watch it."

The screen began showing them, what appeared to be a partially finished war documentary. A beautiful planet was shown from orbit. And a voice from a narrator began talking. "The year is 2241. The planet Archanis IV. Founded a century earlier, it has become a shining example of Federation progress. Not just an outpost, but a true colony now." A thriving city with massive skyscrapers was now shown. The it switched to an elder man in strange robes.

"There could be no Federation without Earth. Without humanity. The fact that humans were able to form the Federation with three other species and come so far in just 80 years was nothing short of impressive. Just as it was impressive how humans led us to victory against the Romulans those 80 years ago." He was identified in the documentary as Ambassador Soval. The narrator took over as the screen now showed a tactical map of Federation space. " But for the Klingon Empire, it was something else altogether. The Klingons began making claims to several Federation systems along the disputed space. They didn't take the Federation seriously. They even had a saying: 'If words were like water, humans would drown us all.' "

Soval appeared on the screen again. "There was bad blood between humans and Klingons for quite some time. So it fell upon us, the Vulcans, to search for a diplomatic solution. Regrettably, we failed." The shot of a devastated city took over the screen. The narrator spoke again.

"Archanis was devastated. This would be the first blow in this war, that has almost lasted for four years."

A man in a chair was not shown, clearly on some sort of ship in Earth orbit. "The Klingons were expanding their territory for the past 200 years before the Federation was even formed. I had no illusions that there would be a conflict of some kind sooner or later. But HQ still pinned all hopes on diplomacy. The Klingons saw that as weakness. But most of us knew the truth. We knew that conflict was coming." He was identified as Admiral Ramirez, Starfleet Commander in Chief.

Soval was shown again. "Klingon Command was certain that they could take whatever they wanted. The first two years of the war did nothing to dispel them of that notion."

Several battles were shown, mostly Starfleet getting hammered. The best that was seen was Starfleet ships holding the line and nothing more.

Now a much younger man in uniform was shown, in a similar setting as Admiral Ramirez. "All we could do was hold the line. They caught us unprepared. All the alarm bells were ringing prior to this, but HQ hoped it would work out. Hoping is not a good plan." It was Commodore Garth.

The same room, a different person. "At that point, the only thing we did do that impressed the Klingons, was dying well. " It was Admiral Travis.

It switched to Garth again. "The supreme commander of this invasion was a Klingon named Kharn. A warlord. Kharn the Undying, they called him."

It was Travis again. "Their whole civilization and culture were a monument to the art of war. And Kharn epitomized this. Fortunately for us, it was not all well in Klingon HQ. Their high council didn't always listen to him. They believe he was getting too much power. That was the issue of a feudal warrior cast system. Everyone wants the glory and honor. And they will sabotage each other as well. As an old Klingon saying goes: 'The only real honor that matters in war, is victory'."

It was back to Ramirez. "They were toying with us for two years. They used a tactic they called Strategy of least respect. Their arrogance would come back to bite them."

The narrator spoke again. "One year into the war, the Inverness system was targeted. Five populated planets. We could not evacuate this. So the line was held. But casualties were mounting."

A female officer was now shown in the same room as the others before. "Their tactics were demoralizing us. After the main force did it's work, they kept harassing the survivors or reinforcements. Every time I was called to a planet to assist, once we got there, the battle was already over." She was identified as Captain Alexander.

"Stop it here, please." Bill asked and the recording was stopped. "By the gods... Ellen Tigh. She looks just like her."

"Saul will flip out." Hasapis remarked.

Laura did wonder how this was possible. "Any ideas?" She asked the Starfleet officers in the room.

Hauaman could only guess. "Possibly a random fluke. We may think that each human is at least genetically unique. But even in genetics, there are a limited amount of combinations."

"And could you see Colonel Tigh's wife as a disciplined officer?" Fiona asked, pointing to the clear personality differences.

"I see your point. We should continue."

And so they did as the documentary continued. It was Admiral Travis. "We saw the damage that was done to a planet or the ship fragments or corpses bouncing off the shields of our ships when we arrived to help. This could not go on. Something had to change. And it did."

It switched to Soval. "An old Andorian acquaintance of mine once said: 'Don't push the Pink-skins to the thin ice.' It wasn't very eloquent, but the Klingons would find it quite prophetic."

The narrator took over. "After two years of nothing but defensive warfare, the head of Starfleet, Admiral Slater was forced to step down. Across the Federation, billions wonder, who will replace him. They needed someone new with fresh ideas."

It switched to Garth. "I was on the bridge of the Xenophon, an old Marklin class destroyer. Lt. Cain said that a fleet wide broadcast was being made from Earth. I said to punch it up."

It switched to Travis. "That's when we heard Admiral Ramirez speak in Archer Arena. That name spread like wildfire. Everyone who heard that speech will remember where they were at that moment."

A scene was shown, where Admiral Ramirez was standing on a podium in the middle of a filled Archer Arena. "We are facing an enemy, that is consumed and committed to our total destruction. An enemy that demands to be fought, and so we will fight!"

It switched to Garth. "There were 40.000 people in Archer Arena and billions across Federation space listening to this."

It returned to Ramirez in the Arena. "But I say to you, that our greatest challenge is not the might of the Klingon fleet. That challenge is to do what must be done, without undoing the dream that is the Federation. For myself, I have but one fear: Destroying the dream that is the Federation. Compared to such a loss, I DO NOT FEAR THE KLINGON EMPIRE!" The entire arena erupted in cheers. His address to the people and Federation Council was done.

It showed Soval again. "Until I heard Admiral Ramirez speak, I did not foresee a peace to be possible between the Klingons and the Federation. Nor did I see Starfleet to be able to defeat the Klingon navy until that point."

It switched to Travis. "It was a good speech."

The narrator took over. "Ramirez' battle cry sweeps across the Federation. It galvanized the people."

It showed Ramirez back in his original location, where the interview for this was being made. "I was the officer in charge of construction and logistics until that point. until my promotion. While HQ wanted to prevent a war at any costs, I was preparing for it. And I was in a similar spot as Kharn. While the Klingon High Council was sabotaging him to not allow him to amass too much power, HQ was not allowing me to begin construction of several new ship designs, as they still pinned all of their hopes on diplomacy. I... still went ahead with my plans, just at a reduced speed. For us to win this, we needed to take advantage of our greatest strengths, where we humiliated the Klingons. Economy, logistics, officer pool, we were easily at double of what the Klingons could muster in those fields. Industry, ship building, easily times four. Minerals, population and habitable planets, easily times six to them. Science and R&D... Not even a contest. Even in intelligence, where we were considered weak, we were better than them. But when it came to ground warfare and fleet aggression, they were clearly the superior force. And I think that Kharn knew that we had those advantages. They kept attacking our outlying industrial or resource hubs. They knew they had to knock our fleet out so that they could then dictate terms on what they wanted. I would not let them have anything. We needed a fast solution for this stage of the war, until my more permanent solutions become available. I had, at the beginning of the war, the designs of a rejected ship class on my table. A combat ship, as Starfleet didn't want to use the term 'Pure warship'. The Ares class. As the war began, I started producing them where ever I could. Wherever HQ would let me, as they were still second guessing me. The Ares was needed now, so I didn't bother to equip her with the technologies that were intended to be used for any future designs. The Constitution, our new heavy cruiser that was being made, was difficult to make, as it incorporated a completely new, powerful and efficient warp core. The first time we used duotronic computer systems that would eventually replace our aging monotronics. The Constitution hull was meant as a heavy explorer. Well, we would redesign all of them for that role after the war. But the Ares would never be able to be that. As said, we needed them fast, so they got the most optimized and streamlined technology that we used on all of our current ships. That way, there were no delays. But what was unique about it, was that the Ares' warp reactor was twice as powerful as any other ship that used the same technology. But it was compact. That meant that it was inefficient. It was a gas guzzler. But the ship would never go exploring and always to remain in Federation space, so it didn't matter. The Constitution's new warp reactor was more than double the length of the Ares, could produce triple power compared to it and was far more fuel efficient. That was the main difference. As for the Ares, it would be armed to the teeth and take advantage of the power boost. It had the same amount of light pulse phasor cannons, but double the amount of beam heavy phasors to any class until then. It also featured a large torpedo capacity of 250, more than any other ship until then. And the four bow and four aft launchers could be automatically fed from the same magazine via an automatic reloading system. But firepower was only one third of the game. The Ares would need to outperform the D-6 on every level. We installed the best sub-light engines on her, giving her better maneuverability than even the D-6. Again, at the cost of more fuel consumption. As for the shields, they were at least 50% better than the D-6."

It switched to Travis. "The Ares looked good in simulations, really good. But data could only get you so far. The real test for a combat vessel is... combat."

The narrator took over. "The planet Signus III was the next target. It was the beginning of the third year of the war. The leadership of Admiral Ramirez is a welcome change."

It switched to Travis again. "Ramirez' first roll of the dice was operation Pegasus, the defense of Signus III. And the dice fell just the way we wanted them to, the way we needed them to."

It switched to Garth. "Pegasus would be the first test of the first batch of our new Ares class cruisers. And I was given the honor to command the Ares herself."

A large battle over Signus III was shown, including its gas and asteroid ring. Travis was shown again. "Garth." He laughs with pure pleasure. "That mad Izarian son of a bitch. That was his day."

It switched to Alexander. "Garth likes to downplay his contribution on that day. Don't you believe it."

It showed Garth now. "We got lucky. Sonya did a feint that the Klingons didn't see coming. Guess she learned their rulebook on combat pretty good by now. That gave me the opening to do to them, what they usually did to us."

It switched to Alexander. "They loved to do flanking attacks. This time, the roles were reversed." The image showed a wing of Ares ships emerge from the asteroid belt and attack the formation of Klingon ships that were too busy dealing with the main defensive force over Signus III to react in time. "It was almost like a Klingon maneuver."

Every Ares picked a target. Then they weakened their port side shields with full phaser fire. As they were about to fly past them, they let it rip with four photon torpedoes that breached the weakened shields and either hit the neck section, decapitating the Klingon ship, hit the bridge module and so killing the control unit, or pierced the engine section, causing a reactor explosion. Either way, the Klingons were in complete disarray after that. The Starfleet ships proceeded to mop things up.

It showed Garth again."They said she was fast, tough and powerful, I wanted to see what she could do. After their first humiliating defeat, the Klingons finally saw us as a worthy adversary. And I even got to be called by them as 'Garth of Izar.' I guess there are worse names to be called."

It switched to Ramirez. "Our first success was met with a dozen others. The Empire was caught totally off guard. They didn't expect us to build such a fine combat ship. Now we had the advantage. And I also implemented a new policy. Fully mixed crews. Before, a ship would be manned by full Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite or human crews. Not any longer. We learned that the one issue the Klingons had with us even at the start of the war, was that each species had their own tactics for an individual ship. The Vulcans were very passive, the Andorians the reverse. The Klingons had to do a guessing game. Well, I'll keep them guessing."

It switched to the narrator. "Within 30 days, all the territory lost, was taken back by Starfleet. The war returned to the original disputed border. But not all was well. Ramirez went to Axanar to see why the Constitutions were still delayed, when he got a worrying message from intelligence."

It showed Ramirez. "The Klingons were now focusing on building the next ship of the line, the D-7. And if they succeed, we'd be right back at square one. Had HQ listened to me, we would already had Constitutions in the field."

It switched to Garth. "Had the Klingon High Council listen to Kharn, they would have had D-7's at Signus III and the outcome of that engagement would have been questionable at best."

It showed Ramirez again. "From what we knew, it would have taken two Ares class ships to take on a D-7. That was bad news. We needed to buy time. Stall. So I called my best officers in and ask them for ideas. Battle plans."

It switched to Travis. "In the end we had three plans on the table. The first one was made by some pencil pushers in intelligence. It wasn't worth spit. The second was a good, decent plan. My plan. But it was by the book. Too many things could and would go wrong. But the third one was Garth's."

It was Garth's turn again. "I went to Sonya to ask her opinion on the plan I was about to propose."

It showed Sonya now. "When I saw his plan, let's just say, I was glad we were drinking."

It switched to Travis. "When Sonya and Garth came to my office and showed me his plan, I looked at it twice, then at Garth. And I laughed. 100% insanity. A blood bath waiting to happen. That was Axanar. The planet where the Klingons would strike next. But Garth's plan would take advantage of this."

It moved to Ramirez. "When I saw his plan, I realized it was a high risk, but high reward. If it worked, we would swing this entire war to our advantage permanently. And I thought to myself, how far Garth had come. I gave him the green light. Even if the rest of HQ was against it. Because the main risk with this plan was that we needed to relocate the Seventh and First fleet to Axanar."

The narrator took over. "Axanar. It was in the heart of Federation space. More than that, it was the largest shipbuilding facility that was within striking distance of the Klingons. Starfleet knew, that Kharn's spies would find out sooner or later that the Constitution was being build there. The main counter to his D-7. So Garth's plan was to control when Kharn learns of this and make it as inviting a target as possible. Something Kharn would not be able to resist."

It showed Garth again. "The plan was a multistage one. Stage one, we move the Seventh fleet from the Romulan Neutral zone. We could only gamble the Romulans would do nothing during this war. The First fleet would be pulled from Earth perimeter duty. That was the hard sell. But we managed to get it. Then, we moved as many shipyards to hidden locations in the Axanar system as possible, mostly to the irradiated ring system of the gas giant in the system. But we left just enough of the dry-docks there to not arouse suspicion. That was the bad news. We would have to sacrifice some of the docks, there was no way around that. That was stage one. Stage two, Travis, Alexander and me were chosen to command a fleet each. For this mission, we had to make sure, the Klingons don't suspect a thing. What I wanted to do, is basically what the Americans did at Midway. Let them come to us. Let them think they are making a trap, when in reality, they are walking into one. So stage two was that we were waiting for them to come and the information was leaked. I hoped to lure around 40% of the entire Klingon fleet to Axanar. Seemed that Kharn took Axanar even more serious than I thought. He devoted 50% of all their military forces, including troop transports."

It showed a large Klingon fleet exit warp almost on top of the defense fleet of Axanar. Behind them were the dry-docks with the Constitutions still in them. It switched to Travis. "They took the bait. Unknown to them, the seven Constitutions in dry-dock were sufficiently done to fight. All of them still lacked warp capabilities and some even life support, but the tactical systems were all there. I was transferred to the Concordia, one of the Constitutions playing possum. I don't think the liked it, when we began moving and powered our weapons and shields. The dry-docks did their purpose at that point. All personnel was evacuated days ago and all equipment and construction material was moved. Even the other Constitution hulls that weren't combat ready, were moved to either Utopia Planetia in the Sol system or somewhere else. But it was still not good. My fleet with the seven Constitutions was still outnumbered two to one, at best. And they had 21 D-7's."

It switched to Alexander. "My Seventh and Garth's First fleet were taking advantage of Axanar's properties. Axanar III, the planet where the battle would take place, had two natural moons. Both had their magnetic fields. So my fleet hid over one of the poles of the outer moon. Garth did the same with the inner moon. The magnetic field would hide our power signatures. We also placed beacons near the Romulan border and Earth, to create fake fleet signals, making it appear that those fleets were still there."

It switched to Garth. "I took advantage of one last resource that Ramirez gave me."

It showed Ramirez now. "The Proxima class. It was one of three designs of a battleship type vessel. It was chosen by me as it was the smallest and least complicated design. The Yamato and Ulysses classes might be implemented at some point later, but right now, we needed something fast, so it was basically a bigger Ares. We had two of them. And like the Constitutions, they were not finished yet. The Bismarck still lacked the warp nacelles, as this class needed four to be able to reach higher warp speeds. But it was a similar situation as with the Constitutions. Their tactical systems worked. So if the party can't come to the Klingon, make the Klingon come to the party. That was Garth's plan. In addition, we scattered small mines across the combat zone. They had only one function. Once Garth and Sonya come to encircle them, we detonate the mines. They would cause a rather large, if temporary jamming field to be created. It would stop any warp fields from forming. We would prevent the Klingons from escaping. Then they could surrender or die. And we all know that surrender is not in the Klingon vocabulary."

The two fleets were shown in a standoff position above Axanar. And then, from two flanks, two additional Federation fleets jumped in, dumping the large Proxima and Bismarck in the asses of the Klingon fleet. They were towed in by several ships using tractor beams, all the way from the moons.

The Klingon fleet still had more D-7's than Starfleet had the D-7 counter, but Starfleet now outnumbered them, they had an almost 50% number advantage in Ares vs. D-6 class and the two Proximas were the real game changer.

It showed the battle as it unfolded. Travis commented. "As I predicted. A blood bath. The Klingons would not surrender. That was predictable. And at this point, many in Starfleet wanted some payback. So we gave them no quarter." It showed the aftermath of the battle. The dry-docks that were used as bait, were destroyed. Several Starfleet ship hulls were also shown, but mostly, shredded Klingon ships were the main attraction. "We lost 20% of our forces. Including the Bismarck, as it was so badly damaged that fixing her made no sense. But some of her intact parts would be used to finish the Proxima ahead of schedule. We also lost three of our seven Constitutions and my ship, the Concordia, would need extensive repairs as well, on top of being finished in the first place. We also lost all the dry-docks we used as bait, but the hidden ones were then moved back to Axanar orbit to help with repairs. The Klingon losses were total. We even managed to capture a D-7, mostly intact. Now we could study their top of the line technology directly and not just scraps. This was the turning point. We had the industry, manpower and shipbuilding to swallow losses, the Klingons didn't. It would take them at least five years to be back at full fleet strength after this. Or so intelligence projected. But Ramirez would not sleep on this victory. We learned from the Klingon mistakes to not take your enemy lightly. The ball was now on our side. Time we hit it home."

It showed Garth on the Ares. He commented on this footage. "This was my last day as captain of the Ares. I got transferred to the Constitution after this. She was done in a month and I took command of the Second fleet. Sonya got the Endurance, also a Constitution. In a way, we both hoped to get the flagship, the Enterprise, but Ramirez would keep her back, as a symbol to the Federation and not risk her. I can understand that. Travis got the Proxima. And we all got promotions. Those were good days."

The narrator took over. "As the war was approaching the end of year three, Starfleet now pushed the Klingons all the way across the contested sectors to their border. The Klingons however would not back down. Humiliated and weakened, they were not defeated. And not willing to use diplomacy. So Starfleet knew they needed to force them to come to the negotiating table. If the Federation was a warmongering civilization, Starfleet would not have stopped until the Klingons were finished. But they were a democracy and the people wanted it to end. Ramirez knew that a few well placed strikes would force the Klingons hand."

It switched to Ramirez. "For the first half of year four, we solidified our position and even took over most of the disputed systems. We tried diplomacy before, now we did it the Klingon way. If nothing else, we can use them as bargaining chips later. So as the supply lines were established at the frontier and we were ready to implement Operation 'Final push', Starfleet also had the task to supply all the liberated worlds with enough to sustain them. And some planets still had Klingon garrisons holding out."

It showed Garth again. "By the numbers alone, the war was over. But try explaining this to a stubborn Klingon. So we implemented Final push..."

The screen now showed one sentence. End of file.

Fiona looked at the room. "The documentary was not done. But from the limited logs that Hill recovered so far, that operation was intended to destroy the least defended of the three shipyards the Klingons had. The Ares was part of a fleet that would be a distraction. They attacked the second most important energy manufacturing world. And... did a too good of a job. Hill believes that the mining moon's surface exploded. If the moon is intact or not, doesn't matter. What does matter is this: Hill believes that from the telemetry he got so far, the Ares jumped to warp just as it was hit by the shockwave. That catapulted them here. But the dampeners could not compensate for the forces and so the crew died of... well, being smashed against the walls."

"At such accelerations, I'm surprised the weren't turned to paste." Bill remarked. He spoke from experience as he knew what a high G turn can do. Or a too fast deceleration. He saw some pilots have internal organ failure due to internal bleeding after such accelerations or decelerations.

Hasapis realized something. "If it was chaotic there, when the surface went boom, the Ares could possibly not be the only ship that was catapulted out. Of course, for two ships to end in a similar location it would be astronomically small chance of that, as they would need a mostly identical escape vector and speed to do that."

Fiona agreed with that. "That is why Hill, who basically said the same thing, is currently searching the logs on the Ares to see if something was recorded. But the main computer is not working. There was a boarding party on the Ares, suggesting that a Klingon ship was close to do that. Perhaps it's nothing or it is something."

Adama took over. "And that is why we sent the Leonis' Pride there. It's hangar is wide and tall enough to be able to take the Ares in. We can then focus on fixing it, so we moved our and Starfleet engineers to it as well."

"Can it be fixed?" Laura wondered.

"All the big ticket items are more or less OK. But the smaller issues are in large numbers. All we can do is wait for an assessment." Fiona explained.

After 20 minutes of talking this over, they called the two civilian captains in. "As we discussed in the last meeting, we have altered the voting procedure. It will be now based on suggestions and support of the suggested person." Fiona reminded everyone. She didn't like it this way, but relented to Laura.

"So, who would like to make a nomination?" Laura asked them all.

"Commander Hasapis." Fiona said.

"Commander Adama." Hasapis said.

"Commodore O'Donnell." Adama responded.

OK, this was amusing. They all countered each other in a ring. "A three way deadlock. Did not see this coming." Laura sighed. "Fine, Gentlemen and Lady. Your reasons."

Fiona was given the stage. "I trust Hasapis and see him as competent. We also have developed a good working relationship. I would say the same about Adama, but I don't know him that well to make a judgment. Hasapis advantage is that I know him, Adama's that he got further than I believed, with the limited military force he had."

Laura got the picture. "So it's just based on who you know better? Fine. Commander Hasapis?"

"The reasons O'Donnell already gave about Bill. Without Starfleet, my fleet would have collapsed in a matter of days. Bill got further than we did with less resources. And he was always more balanced and could deal with civvies better."

"Frak you too." Bill smiled lightly at that.

"Noted. Commander Adama." Laura passed the torch.

"She is competent and got a plan together that is working well. Hasapis respects her, she is willing to lay it on the line for us and her people gave us a location to go for."

"Noted. Now, your arguments as to why you don't want the position?"

Fiona went first again. "I am not a Colonial. It would undermine your position with the Quorum and possibly many civilians. I also don't do well with politicians. And if nothing else, there are now over 65.000 people in this fleet, we make up less than 700. Statistically it makes more sense for a Colonial to be in charge."

"Noted. Hasapis."

"Similar reasons. I don't do politicians well. I guess the Quorum would nag you less if a Colonial is in charge, that's true. Also, some of the Pegasus crew don't like me much, for obvious reasons."

"Noted. Adama?"

"The two of them have a working relationship that got them to here. I don't. I guess the two of us do work well together, to a point. But I was sidelined by HQ for reasons I can't disclose here. I don't think I am the right person."

Laura noted that as well. From her perspective, Bill had the weakest argument against his nomination. The arguments for a nomination were almost equal.

"Well, let's have a vote then. Who supports Commodore O'Donnell?" Two hands went up. Bill and Laura. They saw what happened. Fiona talked with her officers. She told them to not vote for her. "Hasapis?" Now four hands went up. All the Starfleet officers and one civilian captain. "Adama?" The other civilian captain and the remaining Colonials raised their hands. It was done and Bill got five votes, a slim majority. "It seems that you are our new admiral." Laura told him. In a way, neither of them liked it. But democracy can be a bitch.

"Then I open the floor for a second nomination. Rear admiral of the fleet. Second in command. If I am to handle the politic and Quorum, I need someone to deal with science and exploration. I nominate Commodore O'Donnell."

Laura liked this. He turned this on Fiona, who didn't want the responsibility of dealing with the Quorum. "Noted. Any other nominations?" None were made. "All for?" This time 10 hands went up. Fiona didn't see this coming. No one did. Adama just came up with it on the fly. Fiona gave her two officers a look. They held their hands up. Hauaman just shrugged. "Nothing was said about this." Fiona knew that she secretly loved this.

"It is decided. Fiona O'Donnell is the Rear Admiral of the fleet. I believe that the main items of this are concluded?" Laura asked Starfleet and the military.

"Yes." Bill confirmed. "But since I was forced into this..."

"We both were." Fiona countered.

"I still have some minor matters to discuss without the civilians. And you are not needed either, madam president." They agreed to this and left. Laura had other appointments anyway. And she actually made the whole 'live in the ambassadorial suite' thing work. Hauaman agreed that both parts of deck seven can be declared as in Colonial use. Even Billy was now given the quarters in the aft of deck seven's saucer section. The other two there were already taken by Colonial families now.

Once the doors closed, Bill eyed everyone in the room. "Nice ambush. Hasapis? Anything to say?"

"I'm not brave enough to deal with politicians."

"Just admit you didn't want to deal with all that comes along with this." He was a bit annoyed. "We can do a ceremony tomorrow or just hand over the rank insignias... or make them, I guess."

"I'll have to have mine made." Fiona explained. "You can just modify Cain's."

"Let's leave that for now." Bill wanted to get off this damn topic, as he knew that they will still laugh at it later. "What is our status on the departure of the search teams?"

"All will be ready to move out in two days." Hauaman reported.

"As will I." Fiona added.

"So you still want to go search for these Guardians?" Bill asked her. Technically he could tell her now to not go, but her plans were on the money so far. Let's see where this one will go.

"Spartacus gave us a rough outline where they should be. Still a rather large area."

"And you want your ship, the Bismarck for that?"

"Well, if they don't want to talk at first, it's better."

"I know, but that would leave only the Challenger and Nightingale of your fleet here. Any projections on how long the searches will go?"

"Well, the four missing ships, more or less three to five days. The fleet will need five days to reach the Yamato. All the other ships will need three to find their intended targets, get them fixed and then return... so double that to six days."

"And your mission?"

"That depends on how long the Guardians will hide. And if they will want to talk."

"So then we all turn to this system that we want to hunker down in for a while as we plan our return to Cyrannuss system. I fear how many civilians would want to stay on that planet, assuming that it is habitable."

"We'll have to make sure they don't." Hasapis responded.

Day 59 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 24th of March, year 2378, Adamant class ship Leonis' Pride, unknown space

The Adamat jumped into the middle of nowhere. The highway effect was already cut in half here, so it took them much longer to arrive.

On the CIC, Kara was looking over the situation with the CIC crew and the one Starfleet officer who was monitoring their equipment they installed here. "Detecting a signal on Starfleet frequency." Said officer responded. "A set of coordinates via a burst transmission."

"Transfer it here." The commander asked as she, her XO and Kara leaned on the planning table. Above it, on a small monitor, a set of coordinates appeared. "27 AU's from here. Navigation, set those coordinates and prepare to jump. But just in case, set condition one. One never knows."

As the Adamant appeared in the location of the received coordinates, their DRADIS spotted two objects. "We have two contacts. IFF identify the Pathfinder." The tactical officer reported. "The other ship... if I am reading the data we got from Starfleet correctly, that is a D-6 cruiser."

The CIC crew were briefed. Most people here were. About the war. But Hill hasn't been in contact for a while. He had the Pathfinder begin searching for any other ship, based on the telemetry the Pathfinder crew managed to reassemble from the Ares logs. "Guess they found more than just another Earth ship." Kara surmised the situation.

"Hail them." The commander ordered.

"Leonis' Pride. Welcome." It was Gaeta. "We are really glad you came."

"Felix. You guys were busy." Kara said with real enthusiasm.

"You could say that."

"Lt. Gaeta, where is Lt. Hill?" The commander asked.

"On the Klingon ship. Inspecting it."

"So, is there a plan here?"

"The ship's primary systems are intact, but in a similar condition as the Ares. So is the crew. The plan is to have it docked in your hangar. We try to fix as much as possible and take it with us to that nebula."

"And the Ares? We just jump there then, right?"

"No, not yet. We just found this. We found two other Klingon ships here, but they were destroyed. Another D-6, where the reactor exploded, destroying it completely. Only a small field or ship pieces remain. But the more interesting location is where a Bird of prey was found. It was ripped in half due to the stresses, but many components are still intact. We can and should do a salvage operation."

"And the Pathfinder?"

"Lt. Hill believes that further searching of this area should be done. Other ships could be here. Or parts."

"How much longer would a systematic search take?"

"Two week by ourselves, or three days with your raptor help. But some raptors should be assigned to salvage duty."

"Fine, then here is the plan. We'll dock and move to the crippled ship hull and begin salvage operations there. We'll assignee half of our raptors to this search and coordinate with you. But transmit the coordinates of the Ares to us as well. Once we're done with the salvage, you can keep searching, we'll jump to the Ares and begin the repairs there as well. Agreed?"

"Agreed." It was Hill. "Sorry, but it's a real mess here. That's why it took so long."

"Lt. Hill. Can we dock now?"

"Go ahead. The reactor is powered down. Only emergency power is working. Have the engineers and marines ready. And... some translation gear on hand."

The D-6 was slowly guided into the hangar. Or more specifically, the landing and takeoff portion of it that was exposed to space all the time. A dozen raptors had attached themselves to the hull to coordinate its movements to align it perfectly. Once in position, the outer hatches extended and attached themselves to their Klingon counterparts. "We have a hard dock." Kara read out the info. "Permission to go?"

"I'm wondering what your still doing here."

As the docking doors opened, Kara and her team, consisting of engineers and marines, saw Hill and one of his team waiting for them. "Welcome to Enemy's blood. That's the ships name, by the way."

"Charming." They were all in space suits. As there was no life support on the ship. "So, how do we proceed?" They moved in, reaching a crossroad.

Hill read the Klingon wiring on the bulkhead. "Reactor pit to the left. War room to the right."

"OK what?"

"Engineering left, CIC right."

"Wow. They have issues."

"Oh yeah. Also, we'll need to put all the corpses into a room where we won't activate life support yet. I want to give them a proper burial on that planet, like with the Ares crew. And... we'll have to clean out their mess hall."

"The food is bad, right?"

"Not in a sense that you would know. The targ corpses are there."

"Targ?"

"A Klingon creature. Like a bigger, meaner wild boar with spikes. They kept them on their ships for food."

"What!?"

"Yeah, the Klingons liked to kill their own prey before consuming it."

"Ugh..."

As the people went to work on the ship, the commander had moved several smaller containers to the ship, where all small equipment parts and weapons found on the ship could and would be stored. No one could take a souvenir. Starfleet explained that Klingon disruptors were no toys, as they only had one setting. Kill.

On the bridge, Kara began working on what she now knew, was the gunner's position. Their tactical station. She held a Starfleet PADD with her to translate the language on it. She really hoped that this could be programmed later to any other human language.

Leonis Pride's storage areas were also filling up with spare parts. A plasma accelerator there, a working ship disruptor here. Their salvage team was doing work. But the search was not having any luck so far, even with added help. Hill had all the engineers from the Pathfinder moved here to help with the Klingon ship. He kept half of his crew to keep up the search.

Eight hours later, Kara was in the mess hall of the Adamant, having lunch. Felix joined her. "Long day?"

"Just as yours."

"Ever thought we'd be on an actual alien ship?"

"The fleet will get one soon too. That Vulcan cruiser."

"Yeah, that will be a mess. Anyway..." He pulled out a small metallic bottle. "Perhaps we should try this."

She couldn't believe he did this. "No taking anything off that ship!" She hissed at him.

"This is no weapon. Apparently it's their alcohol. Blood wine, I think." He opened it up. "Smells strange."

The commander approached from behind. Felix didn't notice her.

"Really not eager to try?"

"Felix, don't look behind you."

He stiffened. "Someone's behind me, right?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. And I'm disappointed." She took the bottle from him. "Ladies first. "She took a sip. "Ugh. Well, its strong all right, but an acquired taste." She returned it. "You can have it. And this is the only time I make an exception."

As they were left alone at the table again, others in the mess hall were now looking at them. "OK, people. Everyone gets a taste of the alien booze." Kara relented and gave it a try. "If you can survive it... that is."

Day 59 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 24th of March, year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet fleet

The day when the missions would begin, came. They had to delay them for one day due to the whole Guardian thing and the Ares discovery.

On the Galactica, William Adama, now wearing his new rank insignia, saw the blinks of the ships that just jumped away on his modified DRADIS. Modified by Starfleet technology. Not by much, but now they could track allies at least by their transponder for one jump. The last ship to jump was the Bismarck. They had their last briefing this morning, where every ship commander was present. All he could do was to wish them luck. "And now, Saul, we press on and wait till the reunion."

"I guess."

Bill was almost completely healed. He felt good, physically speaking. But psychologically, it was a different matter. As the Bismarck jumped away, she took all the Cylons with her, including of course, the damn centurion, their hopeful ambassador to the Guardians. He didn't like the idea, but they could only win, if it worked. "I'm going to the gym. I need some workout."

"Then I'll keep everything running here."

As Bill left for his destination, he kept that documentary in his head. He had watched it independently after the first viewing at least three more times. He saw that Earth and its allies had their own issues. And that they can come across as naive. But they came through in the end. They won, against the odds. At least he hoped they won.

Day 60 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 25th of March, year 2378, Adamant class ship Leonis' Pride, unknown space

The ship previously known as Enemy's blood was rechristened as Colonial Hope. A much better name. And they even wrote the name in Colonial letters on the hull. Finders keepers.

Leonis Pride had initiated her jump to the coordinates where the Ares was, while her raptors and the Pathfinder kept looking at the search area. They jumped with their new ship still docked, as the additional mass was no trouble to the much larger Colonial ship.

On the CIC, they were getting excited again. But the plan was modified again. They contacted the fleet via the Pathfinder and gave them the update. It was impossible to get either of the two ships jump capable in the remaining two days the Pathfinder would keep up her search. So they would take advantage of a special feature that the Adamant class, like many other Colonial ships, had. The ventral front part of the ship, where the open landing part of the hangar was looking at, had a magnetic docking ability. These ships could tow large cargo containers or smaller ships with them. In war times, they could resupply fleets with the towed cargo or get a damaged ally out of a warzone. Since both the Starlfett ship and the Klingon cruiser were much smaller, the cruiser would remain where it was, while the Ares would be docked via the magnetic docking. They would approach her by spinning around their axis. The Ares would get attached via her warp nacelles, which were in her design at the low point of the ship.

Then once time runs out and the Pathfinder returns to this spot, they burn to that nebula, doing the repairs on the move.

In the CIC, they all observed their slow approach, as once again the raptors guided their target to the right position. The only issue here would be that they could only move from ship to ship in this case via raptors and space suits. There were no airlocks to connect there.

A small bump confirmed that the Ares was now attached to them magnetically, upside down. But then again, there is no up or down in space.

"Captain Thrace. How does it look on Colonial Hope?" The commander asked her.

"Mostly cleaned up. But the repairs are made even more difficult with the language barrier."

They all got that issue. "Then get some teams to the Ares. The barrier will not exist for the Starfleet engineers that came with us. And as before. No souvenirs. Pack all items in the container we'll move to their hangar."

"Will we leave the corpses there?"

"Unfortunately, that is the biggest room. I see no other way. I do agree with Hill. All of them, even the Klingon pricks, deserve a proper burial."

A few minutes later, Kara was in her space suit, walking on the Ares. The Colonial Hope at least had minimal life support now, so they didn't need them there. She would go for the bridge first to get an assessment from their experts. But she did one thing prior to that. She walked around the hangar, searching for a specific body. And she found him. The captain. She stood at attention and saluted. "You all did good work. Better than we did."

To the guest who is apparently obsessed with grammar. It would be better, if you PM me this, don't you think ("I don't have an account." Make one). The reason sometimes a name is underlined, is the damn Fanfiction adding it, because I copied the name from another source. I coped it to my word file where I write this and Word does not show any underlining. But Fanfiction does. I am trying to write the full names myself, but it is not as easy, with so many names. OK? What else?

I am using Axanar's timeline, that doesn't align with Star Trek Wiki, so just go along with it. I did similar things with other details.

If anyone asks me about the Proxima, Yamato or Ulysses classes, just write the names into Google. "Star Trek Proxima class." Boom, read about it.