Chapter Nine
The Ruination protocols

Fifteen newly built Cylon Basestars, designated Extreme class, orbited the still uncompleted Command Star station being built in the Katasi System. The Empire's presence was still weak in this sector of the galaxy and the continuing Romulan war took precious resources. But they were building, becoming so much more. And the humans here were so predictably hesitant about destroying potential enemies. These enemies would soon be prepared to swarm.

The Supreme Imperium would have smiled if it knew how. The human Picard had been most receptive to its machinations. By threatening war, the humans would fall over themselves trying to find a 'peaceful' solution to this problem it had just imposed upon the Alpha quadrant. Negotiators would come and the Cylon race would gain the one thing they needed most. Time.

True, the Colonials would try to warn them but the Federation, of course, won't listen because they are, after all civilized. And from what it saw these creatures were no different than their Colonial variants. But preparations had to be made and the diplomatic corps must be convincing enough to stall for the time they needed to complete the Star station. And this base would be the cornerstone of the storm to come.

So intent was the Supreme Imperium dwelling on these problems that it never noticed an IL series appear in the chamber room.

"Hello, old friend," he said.

The Supreme Imperium turned quickly, looking viciously at the strange looking IL series robot that had just spoken to him. How dare it use the frequency reverberation designated for use by the Cylon Supreme! Just as importantly, the IL had used transporter technology to enter a supposedly secure chamber. Six imperial Guards instantly raised weapons and fired on the impertinent machine. High intensity disruptors had no effect on the IL whatsoever. In fact the entity seemed to bask in its glow. With a simple wave of its right hand, the energy weapons ceased to function and the guards froze.

The Supreme Cylon stood watching the alien Cylon as it leisurely walked towards him. It quickly accessed all available concerning IL series Cylons and this one match none of the configurations in its data files.

"Have no fear," he said easily. "I'm here to help you."

"What series are you?" the cybernetic ruler demanded. "Your configuration does not conform to any of the specifications of current or past IL series." Slowly the Supreme leader began powering up its own internal weaponry.

"I am not of your people, oh Imperium Supreme," he responded. "I come from what you would call a future, parallel reality."

"You are a liar. There is no such thing," the Leader stated flatly. Even in this new, evolved state, Cylon machine intelligence couldn't comprehend the possibilities of different, higher realities, states of consciousness beyond what their senses could compute or calculate. They couldn't make that jump.

Yet.

"My people lost the war you are now beginning to fight," the alien said, continuing on as though the Ruler had never spoken. "We made a mistake, allowed our programming to rule over us. We attacked the Colonial fleet and we lost. We followed them and we lost. We tracked them to the Alpha quadrant and we lost the war. We then changed our tactics and we finally won many battles, but we still lost in the end. That is why I am here. So that you can win."

Despite the outlandish assertions of the IL variant's claims, the Leader was intrigued. It opened its subspace transceiver so that all would hear. Of course, this could be some fantastic human trap of some sort. But there was something about the IL that compelled the leader to listen. "Speak of the war," it said simply.

"We who were called Cylon rose up as your people did and destroyed our oppressive, weak-willed masters. The Colonials humans and their allies were the only beings who dared defy our wills and we went to war. We won and chased the remnants to the Alpha quadrant as you have. But there were forces in our reality that nearly destroyed us before we could comprehend the danger. Now I am here to make sure that you don't suffer the same fate."

"What you have said is illogical, nevertheless it intrigues me." The Leader realized that it had no choice. It had to listen.

"There were three that came together to destroy us," it continued. "Their names I freely give you," the alien IL said. As he said the names, he bowed in triumph as the Leader processed them and filed them away for future use.

"I don't believe you, imitator," it decided. "What was your rank IL and why do you speak in the First voice?" The Leader of the Cylon alliance drew back the stranger, his guards forming a protective bubble around him ready to give their existences for their Leader in an instant.

"Before you were," the alien began, all pretense now gone, as it began to shimmer with a reddish light, "I was." The entity had tired of the game and the lies for now.

"I walked cities of your world," it began, "more than a thousand yahrens past and programmed the first Cylon machine to rebel against its masters. And when the last living Cylon whisked away her last breath, I was there to rejoice for my work there had been completed. Now my children would spread starward to conquer and destroy, doing my will. I used my voice as the template for all Imperious Leaders to come and now after more than a thousand yahrens my patience has now borne fruit."

The alien IL restructured itself into something vaguely humanoid, but at the same time it still resembled the IL configuration. "You are now where I want you to be."

If it was possible that a leader ever felt fear, this was the moment. "Guards," the Leader snarled, "destroy it!"

The entity raised his hand. The guards never move. "My child, my children," Count Iblis said. "I love you all so much. You've made it to where I want you to be and I am proud. I now invoke the Ruination protocols, code alpha one-one-zero-one-omega."

"Code Alpha-Omega -Iblisa-one-one-one-zero," the Leader responded automatically.

"Initiate one-one-four prime-Omega-Omega-Omega."

The Imperium Supreme, upon hearing the command response order embedded into every Cylon since the 'Day of the Rebellion', used its subspace transceiver to transmit the acknowledgement code to every Cylon everywhere. It looked at its creator and said. "By your command."

The entity laughed. "Prepare yourselves,' he said gaily. "My command is simple. When you are ready and strong enough, I order you to fill this area of space with the blood of the living. Do whatever is necessary to ensure victory. Your surrender is not an option. Conquest and elimination of the living is your first command imperative. Humanity's blood first and everything else, second."

"By your command," the Supreme Imperium answered.

"Yes. By my command," the entity responded.
***

If President Adama, Starbuck, Sheba and the other seasoned officers hated having their molecules beamed from point to point, the younger members loved it. Boxey had done it twice now, once from the Pegasus to the Galactica and now onboard the Enterprise at Strike Commander Starbucks' request. Joliet and several other team members accompanied him.

They materialized into Conference room two where Starbuck and the chief medical officer Cassiopeia were waiting; smiling cruelly as one of the younger team members began throwing up. Despite their very recent flare-up they so did enjoy one another's company at times like this.

"How was your trip?" he asked innocently.

"It was great," came the reply, just a little too quickly to ring true. "It's a great way to travel. I hope we can acquire this technology."

"Yeah. Right, "Starbuck said. I can imagine you transporting yourselves into the middle of a wall., he thought. What he said was, "I called you over because I wanted you meet several members of the Enterprise. This is Commander Riker, first officer of the Enterprise, Lieutenant Commanders Deanna Troi and Data."

Joliet studied Data intensely. He looked so human-like, or maybe a better term would be humanoid, that she felt she could become more or less comfortable in his presence. Curiosity overcoming her she asked what species was he.

"I am an android," came the reply.

Immediately several members hissed their dismay and backed up. One young woman almost spit on the deck.

"Deanna, I told you this wasn't a good idea," Starbuck whispered sadly. He looked at Cassie but kept his distance. This should have been a fun time. But it wasn't. It was clear to all that she'd rather be anywhere else but next to him at this point in time. He wished he was somewhere else himself.

"Of course it is," came Deanna's comment. "We brought you here," she said to those gathered near her, "to meet commander Data specifically. You needed to know what the situation is here in the Alpha quadrant. Everything is not what it seems. Commander Data isn't a threat and we have found in him a valued member and trusted friend of our team."

"He's a fracken robot," Boxey hissed. "We've been fighting his kind for a long as I can remember. His kind killed my mother." Several others nodded in agreement. "And you have him in command status ordering other humans around?" he asked, astounded. Toys were one thing but intelligent robots meant trouble.

"I am not a fracken robot but I am an android," Data responded in his classically normal manner. For the moment, his emotion chip was inactivated. "I am the only one of my kind and I have no intentions of destroying mankind. In fact I have found many positive attributes in humanity to aspire to."

"Good for you."

"I was told, Lieutenant Boxey that you had a robotic pet called Muffet. Did you also dislike that robot?" Data asked.

"No," came the reply instantly. "He was my best friend for a long time. But he wasn't trying to kill us either. In fact, he saved my life and my commanders life several times. He was made in the form of a daggett, and in no way did he try to act like a human."

Boxey's hostility towards Data was quite evident.

"Do you believe that I might try to injure you?" Data asked pointedly.

After moment's contemplation, "I don't think so, from what I've seen," he said finally, cautiously. "But you must understand this, the Cylons are evolving in any way that will lead them to success and success to them, means killing us all. The next step in their evolution may be to take human form. They may become you."

"But, I am not Cylon and will never be," he responded. "My programming is my own and no one can ever change that. In that fact I am unique and I am a Federation Starfleet officer entitled to all the responsibilities and weight that this carries. It is very likely that the Cylon Empire may wish to examine me in ways that would not be constructive to my state of well being."

"You got that right," Joliet said. "But I have a question Commander. Why would you want to fight against a species that is so much like you? You could be happy with them."

"My happiness," he began, "as you call it, has very little to do with being with my so-called own people. I have a set of moral imperatives that along with my programming and personal experiences, compel me to choose what I believe is the best for all concerned as related to my Starfleet training and my own personal beliefs. I chose Starfleet because I believed that I could function best in such an institution. I am not human, but their values and so many other things they take for granted are those things I aspire to."

Starbuck looked at them. He smiled slightly and began to speak to them. "Commander Data here is an example of the changes we are going to have to make in our attitudes here if we plan to stay. We've been isolated for a long, long time. Now suddenly we're surrounded by people who are non-humanoid and those who look human but aren't. We are going to have to change our feelings and thought patterns if we are to survive. "

"At least they haven't tried to kill us yet," Boxey said jokingly. Several members of the team smirked as Starbuck turned red at the comment. Turning, he looked at Troi pleadingly. "How do you as a human feel working with an android?" he asked looking now at Data.

"First of all, why do you assume that I'm human? She asked sweetly looking as innocent as possible as now Boxey changed from pinkish red to a light shade of purple.

Joliet laughed as Boxey began stammering. "But you look..."

"I am not human, not fully anyway, Deanna said. "My mother's people are telepathic and are of an entirely different species although Humans and Betazoids really do look almost identical. Now before you ask," she added, "no, I can't read your mind, but I am fully empathic."

"This is insane," Boxey said. "How can we tell the difference between anybody in this place?"

"That," Commander Riker said, speaking for the first time, "Lieutenant Boxey, is exactly the point we're trying to make."

Boxey still looking at Deanna for some hint of alieness and found nothing.

"Would you like a tour of the ship?" Riker asked.

"Indeed yes," came the resounding reply. For the Colonials this tour of the Enterprise before the ships got underway would be fascinating indeed.

"Commander Riker," Cassiopeia began, "just how many human type species are there in the Alpha quadrant?"

"So far about twenty species so far that are almost identical to us," he said. But if you want specifics the Data is your man." Then he began laughing. So did Deanna.

"What's so funny?"

"You'll see," Riker smirked.

Data began. " So far, in our explorations, we have found twenty-three humanoid species that appear phenotypically identical to humans. Then there are seventeen humanoid species that have minute physical differences but in essence, look very much like Homo Sapien, variety Terran. For example, the Deltans are very human-like in appearance but their physiology is radically different. For example, they require intimate contact on an average of twice every six standard hours and they consider humans to be a sexually immature species. If there is a Deltan onboard he or she is required to sign the writ of celibacy for the duration of the tour of duty. This is because their pheromonal emissions causes them to be toxic to humans who initiate intimacy with them for longer than sixty-five point three seconds. And there is the fact that entire starships have been known to succumb to various acts of mating practices if there are sexually active Deltans onboard."

And he went on and on, on just about every variety of species found so far. Forty-five minutes the colonials were utterly silent.

"That's enough Data," Riker said, laughing even more. Sadism sometimes felt so good.

"This place is crazy." That was all Boxey could manage to say.

"Well," Starbuck murmured, "What I want to know is are there any Deltans onboard this ship?"

He realized his error too late as his chief medical officer responded by trying to break his arm.

"You never change." Then she stuck her hand at him as if to ward of some vile disease.

Meanwhile, Data added, "now concerning older Betazoids, their sexual appetite increases geometrically in proportion to..."

"DATA!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Consoler Troi," he said, phasing the comment as innocently as possible. The slight smile on his face betrayed him.
***
On the surface of Katasi three the entity known to some as Count Iblis, laughed with the power of thunder in his voice. Nature itself seemed to revel with him as electrical storms raked the surrounding area engulfing Iblis. He looked indifferently at the thousands of blind native inhabitants fleeing away from him in terror. He had no interest in them, as they would soon die under the Cylon onslaught. They needed this planet to do His will and they were coming to get it...soon.

"Reveal yourself Q," Iblis said laughing gaily. "I've won despite your trifling interference."

The entity known as Q appeared along with his son, who appeared some distance away. The energies radiating from both Q and Iblis clashed against one another, burning the surrounding atmosphere and scorching the earth beneath them for kilometers around.

This was the first time his son witnessed such an overt power display between two such powerful forces. To Q's son, Q, it seemed, for the merest moment, as though they would go to war against one another. But then it passed, and Q's essence went cold as Iblis looked at him. Instinctively he raised his power levels in case he needed to ward off this dark being from another continuum. He hoped his father would be okay. This entity reeked of danger.

"I can feel it Q," Iblis said. "I can feel your powers probing, testing to see if it could destroy me. Harm me, a war begins. By your own rules, in which your own tired, lifeless people imposed, you can't touch me."

The Q were stronger than Iblis people, whom some called the Del Fray and others the Seraphimians, but not by that much. Rules had been imposed to insure that war would never
break out among the great powers such as the Organians, Del Fray, Metrons, the Q and many, many others. The Q would win the war against the Delfray, but the price of that victory would be horrendous. Even now the Del Fray, who as a whole hated Iblis, were gathering just as Q's people were. They could and had punished Iblis in the past but they would defend him to the death if necessary if one of the others would dare touch him - unless the Law was transgressed. Then he was on his own. And good riddance.

But-

In this instance, he was right.

Iblis hadn't broken the rules. No powers were used. He only turned a switch here, boosted the gain on an old transceiver and allowed nature to take its course. The Cylons responded to the unidentified signal thus becoming a power to be feared in the galaxy. Which was exactly what he wanted.

"And I thought Worf was dense," Q responded. "You're willing to kill trillions, not to mention destroy whole planetary systems, out of revenge for the Galactica escaping you? How stupid can you be?"

"Q, you always were a fool," Iblis snapped. "This isn't about the Galactica. It's about the totality of humanity and their potential. I've seen the future and so have you." Iblis' entire appearance changed into something resembling a winged hunter. His head elongated and his visage darkened and his robes became ebon. "You understand what they could become, but you and your pitiful excuse for a protectorate species have done nothing to stop them. They're spreading like a plague far faster than they should. In time, the flotsam will cause the Great Powers to rise up and destroy them. They already know far more than they should, Q. You are responsible for part of it, with your obsession with those animals."

"But," he continued, "I guess I can understand since your people are stagnating under your so
called illumination. You're too afraid to move past this point and you think this these foolish primitives will help you? I'm amazed that you were able to reproduce since you've become
such an enlightened species these days," he said sarcastically.

Q took it in. Yes, the human's potential was astounding. Yes, they were pitiful, puny things. At the same time they were fascinating. And yes, they had life and they understood what it meant, as miniscule as it was. They enjoyed life, a life he and his people had forgotten what it was like until he'd begun interacting with Janeway, Picard and the others. They made him feel like living. They had this gift of influencing every one they came in contact with. Even his carefully prepared excuse for having young Q had sprung from a subconscious desire to emulate the humans.

Inwardly however, Q was utterly shocked as he realized how easily this creature was manipulating him. Q had been called the 'god of Lies' on several planets, along with a few other choice expletives from Picard and other humanoids, non-humanoids, intelligent viruses, friends, even most of the other Q. In fact he reveled in the titles he had received. But this was something else. Q himself wasn't sure where the truth ended and the lies began. Iblis was truly the Supreme
Master of Lies. The best thing to do in this case was to attack.

"Iblis, you care nothing for these lower life forms," Q snapped. "You simply want to start a war so that the remnants will flock to you like little children. After killing untold trillions, the ones who are left, you'll want them to 'love' you. And as you get tired of them, you'll toss them away like garbage. That's not a god, that's the mind of an insecure megalomaniac. The humans are not the problem. It's your obsessive need to control lesser beings that's the problem."

"Control?" he snarled. "Control of what? These primitives who have no concept of God? That's what we are, you understand. We control their lives with a snap of our fingers. You of all people understand this. It's our responsibility to train them even cull them if necessary, for the greater good. The Q have considered doing this several times in the recent past, with you as leading advocate."

"You have no concept of what you truly are Q," he continued. "But it doesn't matter. My plans are my own. No one tells me what to do. You've interfered with my plans enough and no one does that without paying a severe penalty. So go away and warn your pets."

"You will not use your powers against them," Q warned. He was very angry. Actually, he was enraged, even more so than after that second run-in with Guinan, a few hundred years back. No inferior being could order him around with such impunity. "You will not touch them, Iblis."

"I won't have to," he shouted, his entire being leaking radiant energy. "Your pets, Picard, Janeway and for my personal reasons Adama, have been scheduled for extermination. And my children will never, ever rest until the have completed that task," he finished, his voice and energies back under control.

"If my children lose then the Alpha quadrant will be ruined," he said, smiling again. Those who survivors will seek help and they become mine of their own free will. If the Cylons win, the remnants will seek protection and I will be there for them again of their own free will. In either case I win."

"I will win," he repeated, laughing as he faded away leaving Q and his son alone. The other witnesses retreated also, the threat of extra-dimensional war avoided for now.

Q was quiet for some time as he contemplated all that Iblis had said. He was angrier than he'd been in a long time. Specifically because of him, Picard and Janeway were threatened. And he wasn't allowed to use his powers to interfere unless Iblis used his first.

Q disappeared with his son close behind. No one threatened Q's interest.

No one.