CH 25
Now having a good distance to their target location that helped the accuracy of stopping at the target. Shutting down all thrust, Joan turned the ship 180 and reapplied full thrust to get them all but stopped. Seeing ships become visible around them, Joan applied more thrust to get them stopped. Ships slowly drifted by. Joan gave little bumps of thrust to get them moving along with all the other ships that were around them.
"We're here!" Joan announced. "Collapse the bubble?"
"Nothing close to us, collapse the bubble," Cameron told her.
The fleet became easier to see. A small ship headed at their side jerked away. Delilah heard someone cursing on the radio as the ship moved away. She keyed her mike.
"Colonial fleet, listen up! I want to talk to whoever's in charge here." She listened to the chatter.
"It just fracking appeared right in front of me!"
"A jump in?"
"No it just appeared! I damn near ran into it!"
Delilah tried again. "This is the ship you just damn frackin near ran into! I want to speak to whoever is in charge of this fleet."
"This is Galactica, who's this!"
"Delilah Connor. Get me whoever's in charge of your fleet. We have vital information for you."
"Galactica, this is Kat, it's the ship that brought Helo and his crew back."
"Galactic Actual here, we desperately want to talk to you."
"Are you in charge of this fleet?" Delilah asked.
"I am the military Commander, yes."
"So this fleet is a military dicatorship?"
Heavily, the voice said, "No. We are a democracy, the President is in overall charge."
"Then get me your President on." Delilah replied in the same heavy tone.
"We're getting a few more smaller ships coming close," Cameron said.
More chatter sounded.
"We got the unknown ship surrounded. No weapons visible, none detected."
"I see six engines in the back, three to each side. The middle one on each side isn't active."
"No windows, I can't see anything inside that ship."
A female voice came on. "This is President Roslyn of the Colonial fleet. To whom am I speaking?"
"Delilah Connor. I will tell you once. Make no aggressive moves or we're out of here and won't stay to give you the information we have."
"Agreed. Galactica, move your fighters away from that ship."
"Vipers, move clear of the unknown."
"Squad, move clear, give that ship some space."
The President came on again. "We will not show any aggression as long as you do not. Delilah, I would very much like to speak with you in person."
"Sorry, we don't trust you that much, so just listen. Three days ago we ran across a Cylon ship. One of those big pointy ones. A cylon by the name of Jennifer Six came over. She was pleased we had metal AI's, but was confused we also have humans and other species on board. After a long talk, we understand you and the Cylons had a war. Two wars actually and it's still going on. I also understood the reason behind both wars is both of your sides are acting pig-headed. Self interests only. Now talking to Jennifer, I got her to understand that this is very bad for both your races. Will you agreed that continuing this war is about THE worst thing you can do?"
Silence was on the air for a full minute. Then the President came back on.
"Yes, this war has all but destroyed our race. The Cylons have done everything they can to eliminate us completely."
"That is probably true, they don't trust you," Delilah told her. "Between hearing how when they first tried to get you to accept they were sentient beings, and you tried to wipe them out when you came to talk, and getting whacked from behind by one of your people when I was trying to help fix your stricken ship we found, I can understand their mistrust. They do believe you are very dangerous to them. Can you understand that?"
Her voice now a little meeker, The President said, "Yes. Many mistakes were made. The one who attacked you is now in the brig."
"I don't care where she is. The fact remains she attacked me unprovoked when I was assisting them. I did restrain myself from killing her. What I want to know, is do you have anyone there who has enough sense to come talk to some Cylons and NOT initiate a conflict?"
Another long pause. "Do you have a John Connor there? I'd like to speak to him."
"John doesn't speak your language. You're stuck talking to me. Jennifer agreed with us to stop chasing you and meet with you and us on the planet Kobol to talk this shit out and put a permanent stop to this war. Will you agreed to be there?"
"The Cylons only attempt to trick us."
"That's why we'll be there also," Delilah stated. "We've got to be leaving soon. Will you agree or not?"
"We will not follow your demands!"
"Is that a no? Remember, we're on an open channel. Everyone who wants to is listening."
Another pause, then, "We will send a small delegation."
"Thank you. We cannot be certain when we will arrive. You'll have to restrain yourselves from fighting until we get there."
"I have to ask, are you a Cylon?"
"No, I'm a terminator from Earth. I terminate problems, one way or another. Peacefully is best, but not mandatory. Make sure whoever you send to Kobol has a homing beacon so we can find you. Good day, Miss President."
Delilah nodded to John.
John pointed to Joan. "Bubble up and Ludicrous speed, GO!"
Joan chuckled and got them out of there. Cameron shook her head. John was getting a bit punchy too.
While the XTS shot through space heading for planet Earth, in the Colonial fleet many had heard Delilah and Roslyn's conversation. The press demanded a press conference about what they heard. Especially why a member of the military attacked people from Earth that had come to help them and why their President was so reluctant about meeting for a peace negotiation.
.
On the way back to Earth, Delilah and Cameron helped the rest of the crew learn how to speak the Colonial version of Latin they called Piconese. On the fourth day of traveling 'Ludicrous speed.' they closed on the solar system. Joan got them stopped just outside the orbit of Jupiter to head towards Earth.
Coming in slow under the warp bubble until they got close to the base, John had them land at the air base in area 51. Happy cries and hugging whoever was near went through the ship right after they touched down inside the hanger. They made it back.
Already packed, everyone was eager to get off the ship when the passenger door opened up. Exiting into the hanger, John expected a reception committee. There was only one guard there who stared at them.
John jerked his thumb behind him and called to the guard, "We need to talk to Catherine Weaver, this ship of hers had some problems. Got some Atlantians here too who want to see their Earth dwelling cousins."
"Ah, sir, who are you?" the guard asked as he watched the flow out of the ship.
John eyed him. "John Connor. You should probably go tell your boss we're back." Looking around, he didn't see Cam's jeep or Bob's SUV. "Where's our vehicles?"
The guard got on his radio. "Base, this is Private Henderson. A ship just came into hanger 12, the man leading the people exiting is a John Connor. He's looking for the vehicles they had here."
His radio replied, "Hold those people in the hanger, we have to report this. Does that ship have a designation?"
"XTS is what Weaver calls it." John supplied.
The private relayed what he said.
"Someone will be there momentarily!" the radio replied.
Joan frowned at the guard. "Don't EVEN tell me we landed in the Twighlight Zone!"
"Naw, it has to be so far in the future no one remember us," Bob told her. "We were traveling at Ludicrous speed, which is much faster than light speed."
"I think we may have broken time itself," Allison said with a giggle.
"Darn, no fixing that clock," Malinara said with a grin.
"I guess we just wait here and see what's up," John told them.
"May as well have a seat," Bob said. He sat down on the clothes he'd collected. Many did the same.
Shortly a military vehicle appeared to screech to a halt just inside the hanger. Two officers piled out with another couple guards. The officers stared at the ship.
John walked over to them and asked, "How long were we gone?"
The General cast John a shocked look. "I was here, eight months ago when that ship blew up!"
John eyed him. "It hasn't blown up, at least not yet."
"We heard the boom, the concussion rattled the whole base!" the General stated. "It blew another hanger apart. If it didn't explode, what happened?"
Cameron tipped her head slightly. "Weaver didn't want us seen leaving, so after we cleared the hanger, the warp bubble was engaged. What you witnessed was the air coming back together after the ship left normal space."
John's face fell. "So when we engaged the warp bubble over that Atlantian town..."
"We gave them a very bad day," Delilah finished.
"Another thing we needed to know and didn't," Cameron said.
"Hey, General?" Joan asked, "That C-200 is still here so we can fly back home, isn't it?"
"No Ma'am. Once it was determined that your ship atomized itself, Mrs. Weaver took it with her."
"And our cars?" Cameron asked.
The General shrugged. "They were towed away."
"What?" Bob cried.
In a firm tone, John said, "General! I don't care who you have to contact. The Air Force owes us a purple four door Jeep and a light green Chevy SUV, as well as a ride home. Our time, we spent the last 44 days on a ship that was giving us problems, having to find our way around the universe. NO one gets on that ship to look at data until we at least get our things back."
"Yes, I understand you're upset, Mr. Connor, but you're going to have to stay here until we can contact Mrs. Weaver and NASA."
Joan looked back at the Atlantians and said, "Can you at least take the Atlantians down so they can see their cousins? They rest of us can stay on the ship until we are able to get home."
"I'll have a truck come to take them," the General agreed. He headed back to his vehicle.
"I'd like to go out and see some sunshine!" Allison announced.
"I think we all do," Cameron added.
The other officer waved to them. "Yes, please come out if you want, just around the front of the hanger."
The guards went out the front. Cameron went over to the terminators. She and they stood around the stairway into the ship to ensure no one went in.
Bob and his wives went out in front of the hanger with the guards. John stayed inside with the General with Delilah near him.
Allison grinned. "I didn't think we'd ever get back."
"Yeah, really. A couple times there it was looking pretty dim," Bob agreed.
"At least we got to go a zillion miles a second," Joan beamed.
One of the guards eyed Joan and said, "I've seen you before. Didn't you play football?"
"I did. Name's Joan Tanner."
"Yeah! So, when did you become an astronaut?"
Joan chuckled. "None of us did. We happened to be on the ship looking around when it took off."
"We got Shanghighed," Bob said. "I got to be the engineer, Joan was the pilot, Allison was a sensor operator."
"On a space ship?" the guard asked, wide eyed.
Joan nodded. "My Dad was the Captain so it was OK. Besides we got to see the whole galaxy looking down on it. And I got to zoom along at a Zillion miles a second. How many people can say that?"
"You left the galaxy? That had to be intense." the guard said sincerely.
"It sure wasn't your average day," Joan agreed.
"We learned a lot of things out there, but it's great to be back home," Allison told him.
"Yeah, gotta remember Doug Adams, when hitchhiking a ride through the galaxy, don't forget your towel." Bob said in a serous time.
The girls laughed.
"Or clothes!" Malinara added.
Allison giggled. "Yeah, I bet Joan is the first person to pilot a spacecraft half naked, or singing Born to be Wild."
That made the guard laugh. "I think you would have driven the average NASA astronaut crazy."
.
When Catherine Weaver found out John had made it back to Earth with the XTS intact, she contacted John Junior in Driftwood to let him know to get the C-200 and his parents cars back to area 51, then got a private jet to take her there. On the way she called NASA and Homeland Security to let them know the XTS was back, and hadn't been destroyed.
The sun was going down, John thought they were going to have to go back in the ship and eat 'ship food' again. A bus load of Atlantians arrived followed by a truck. The Atlantians brought tables, chairs and hot food for them. John and his clan thanked them.
Dave, the Atlantian rep, wanted to know what they found on Atlantis.
"I hear there's only one island left that violent ones aren't on," Dave said in a solemn tone.
"That's what we found, and we looked everywhere," John said with a nod. "That island is also the only place your people are doing well. Every place else, your civilization there is degrading. We also suspect becoming violent has something to do with either a chemical people are taking in, or a virus. Whatever the cause, it's planet wide. Possibly with some investigation the cause can be found and the situation turned around. That's going to take some dedicated study."
"You think we can cure violent ones?" Dave asked.
"Don't know. I do know of the cause isn't studied it's only going to get worse there. Since we're thinking environmental factor are the cause, Going to study what the problem is, will be hazardous." John explained.
"Damn," Dave grumbled.
"If I were you, I'd think hard about going back to get those people off that island. They are safe for the moment. No telling how long they will remain that way."
"How many are there?"
John shrugged. "A few thousand I'd say. We just brought a couple family groups back so they could see you."
"John, many of us have been wanting to come to Driftwood from the good things we've been hearing from the family who are there. Is that possible?"
"Should be. I'll check with the Sheriff and have him let you know."
"Hello, John," Catherine Weaver said with a smile as she came in. "I see my ship didn't blow up. I take it the XTS performed well."
John eyed her. "Catherine, your ship is a piece of junk. Too many automatic functions that screwed up our piloting calculations, number three engine went haywire and send a pulse through the ship that knocked every terminator and Delilah on their asses and shot us 1700 light years away before we could get stopped. The habitation systems are inadequate, and we were seriously concerned about running out of food before we could get back. After living in that ship for a month … well just go in and see for yourself. It looks more like a refugee camp in there than a state of the art space craft."
Cameron got up. "John, I'll show her around inside." She waved a hand. Catherine followed her.
"It was that bad?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, and your people that came with us did everything they could to help make things better. I'm proud of them. You should be too," John told him.
Dave smiled. "I'm happy they were able to help."
.
When the C-200 arrived, it was a massive hugging reunion. Weaver had also informed Driftwood (Late) of the ships' demise and everyone on it. Still they held out hope, but after six months of nothing, there was a large memorial service for all the Connors that had been in that ship. Jackie had wanted to go obliterate Weaver for killing her parents and siblings.
Despite how rough the trip had been, Joan wanted to go back out and finish what they started. That prompted Bob and Allison to want to go back out, and of course Malinara wouldn't be left behind. Neither did Delilah and Cameron.
On board the ship in the small Cafeteria, they all gathered with Catherine and men from Homeland Security and NASA. The NASA man wanted to ground the ship until all the problems had been taken care of. Weaver was silent as he explained that ship was a hazard to fly.
"We can't ground it," John said firmly. "Right now there's a war going on between humans and the machines they had made. Yes, it's a mess. Both sides are guilty for causing it, but it has to be stopped before it makes it's way here."
"The whole thing is a sad affair," Delilah added, "It needs to be stopped. They know we're from Earth and what I got is each side won't listen to the other, but both will listen to us."
Cameron said, "Seeing how far we stretched time in our travels, it's imperative we get back out there as quick as we can to try and make peace. We reload stores and do the modifications we can. They are out there right now waiting for us. Mrs. Weaver, I also strongly recommend you come with us this time to help keep problems from happening."
"I have a business to run, I can't be isolated in space for months at a time," Catherine replied.
"Then do what you can to fix number three engine and we need to go through every automatic function to be sure we get no more surprises." Cameron told her. "We can get men to reconfigure the bunkrooms and provide us with uniforms that will fit."
Catherine eyed John and Cameron a moment, then said, "Yes, with your help we can repair and make modifications to the XTS, then test fly it again to make any changes needed."
The man from NASA said, "It is very honorable you wish to work to stop a war, especially one that may drift our way. Before this ship takes off again, I insist all problems are repaired or modifications done as needed."
The Homeland Security man let out a grunt. "Mr. Connor, let me know who you need. Politics aside, yes, you need to get that war stopped if at all possible. It's best for those people and will help give Earth a good name out there as a benevolent planet. That will help us remain safe."
John nodded to him. "That's my job." He then glance at Catherine and Cameron. "Catherine get started on number three engine. See what you can do to fix it. Delilah, Allison, make sure our start charts stay up to date. Cameron give Catherine the list of automatic functions that need to be removed from the Warp activation programs. Bob, you and your clan take a break, go home for a week or so then come back and work on habitation. Gentlemen, if we're going to strive for peace we're going to need more of these ships."
"Let's get to it," Cameron said.
.
Joan didn't have to fly the C-200 home, for which she was glad. After zooming through the universe, she felt the cargo plane moved WAY too slow. They did take the cars back to Driftwood so they could use them.
Getting to the air base, they had a happy/hugging reunion with General John Junior and Kaede, visited the Sheriff and Anne, then went up to the Hotel where they were happily greeted by everyone there - and the now two and a half foot long alligators. The rest of the day they told Louise, who was now running the hotel with Eddie, and everyone else about their space adventures. Getting to their room that night, they also packed up their clothes so they had things to wear besides their uniforms. That night they also had a nice romp in their bed at home.
The next day was a mermaid swim and beach party. Joan especially was happy to see the mermaid populations was on the rise. While they were gone ten new babies had been born, Fish were everywhere on the lake now. With no sport fishing, the populations there were growing also. There were also very few Nutria rats left. Besides the alligators, there were now fish large enough to hunt the rats, as did the mers.
Catherine did find the problem with number three engine. A power distribution box was bad. She got it replaced, and by John's suggestion, she had spare parts added to the ship. Two bunkrooms were cleared out to remake them into parts rooms. Other bunkrooms were cleared out and expanded to make side by side rooms into one larger bedroom that contained a larger bed and more habitation items.
All the impromptu scraps that were being used for signs and the laundry bags were taken out and a real hamper was put inside the laundry room. Of course all the uniforms were changed out with new ones and people's names were put on every one.
The man from NASA was surprised and very pleased when Delilah showed him their chart they made from the images took from above the galactic plane. Delilah explained to him, that the information was taken showed the true positioning of stars and they had plotted accurate star movements. He had a team of scientist come to copy this information.
Although the government cringed at the eight billion dollar price tag Weaver put on this ship, Cameron didn't. Talking to the Finance men who'd come, Cameron agreed to pay half to Weaver so the ship belonged jointly to her and Weaver. The Government did pay for the star data and information they got on Atlantis they had collected.
Weaver agreed, since she was sure the information the government paid for in the long run from the XTS' travels was worth more than the ship itself.
Another surprise was three of the Atlantians they had brought back, wanted to stay on the ship as crew. Rolan, Gale and Lena were impressed with the Connors peace efforts with two species that hated each other and wanted to keep helping them. John agreed.
On the day John and Catherine walked though the restocked ship and deemed it suitable to go back into space, A man from the CIA arrived to go as a 'monitor'. John had to ponder this. He understood why the government wanted to know what he as doing. Edward Billings was a Washington suit. He held sway in political circles and was an advisor on military affairs.
"So Ed, what can you do?" John asked him.
Proudly, Ed announced, "I'm a top advisor for the Pentagon and the President. I am coming along so I can report what it is you'll be doing with these races of beings you've found."
John shook his head. "Didn't ask why you want to come, I asked what you can do. Everyone coming has a job. We have no room for dead weight. Even the Atlantians coming all have crew jobs they will be tending to. So what skills do you have?"
"I was assigned to monitor your activities. THAT is my job." Ed said firmly.
John eyed him. "Can you do laundry? It's a simple task Lena or Gale can show you how."
"I am not a worker bee," Ed stated.
"Then you're not going," John replied flatly. "I'm Captain of this ship. I don't give a fuck who you are in Washington. Here, you're part of the crew or you're not going. As I said, no dead weight."
Holding a grimace of a smile, Ed stated, "Mr. Connor you need to understand politics. The President, the joint chiefs all need to be informed of your activities with aliens you encounter."
"And I've been informing them as things happen," John replied. "The good and the not so good. I'm not going to have some suit who's worthless to the ship taking up space. You may not realize this, but it's dangerous up there."
Ed's nose flared. "I think your boss may have something to say about that!"
"Go talk to him," John said flatly. "Unless you can do something useful, you're not going."
Ed turned and strode away.