2671.22 Orbit of New Ares: The small groups of ships were in orbit of the planet, and the troops on board were still wondering if the scuttlebutt was true. Most of the troops were marines from Confed, but at least a third of them were from the Border world's Union. Three of the ships were Confed designed troop transports, the last was a Colonial designed ship. Three shuttles from the other ships arrived and their passengers were taken to one of the briefing rooms. When the last group arrived, the room was in total silence; the people walking in were Kilrathi. The tension in the room was palpable, and everyone was unsure of what to do next.

The door at the back of the room opened and a man with white hair walked in. Someone screamed "ATTENTION" and everyone was immediately on his or her feet. He walked to the front of the room, and everyone in the room could feel the power in this mans stride. He was obviously his or her new commanding officer, he looked like the type that didn't or wouldn't take crap from anyone. When he was at the front of the room, he turned at looked at everyone with a cold hard stare.

"At ease people. My name is General Dekker, and some of you know me, and some of you don't. But that will change, and it starts now."

He looked at his watch, "As of 0630 Greenwich time I am officially taking command of the New Colonial fleet marine detachment."

He looked at everyone, "As you can tell, this detachment is different than any you have ever been assigned to. We have just over 7 months to form this group of miscreants into a real fighting force."

"I will now introduce the Battalion Commanders. First is Col. K'Kai of the Firekkan's, second is Col. Kirha of the Kilrathi, third is Col. Tucker of Confed, and finally Col. Caprican of the Colonials."

Each of the officers stood up as their name was called. "People, I know that the next few months are not going to be easy, but if you wanted easy, you should've gone to flight school."

Everyone in the room laughed a little at that.

"Right now these ships are in orbit of the planet New Ares. The base we will be landing at has only two buildings as of right now. A hospital and a brig, and they are both ready for business. The materials needed to build barracks are also there, and our first mission is to build our own barracks. But let me tell you, that unless all of the barracks are built, nobody sleeps indoors. So it would be best if you stress to the troops that they start working together, because the temp at night will be about 10 degrees C. Also, I will deal with any breech of discipline harshly. Any questions?"

Col. Caprican looked at the general, "Sir, when do we land?"

"We will land at 0400 local time, in about 3 hours. Anyone else?" the rest of the group was silent.

"Ok people you've got your orders, everyone except the CO's DISMISSED."

As everyone else moved out of the room, the 4 CO's and the general remained behind.

After the door closed, the 4 CO's looked at each other.

"It's good to see you again Kirha."

"It's good to see you also K'Kai, how is your sister." the kilrathi and the firekkan shook hands.

"She is well, and sends her best wishes."

The two other CO's watched the display and walked over.

"Hi, I'm Alicia Tucker." and she held her hand out to the two of them.

"And I'm Omega Caprican." and he did the same.

General Dekker watched as the 4 of them introduced each other. Kirha looked at Omega, "I thought the Colonials only used a single name."

"Well some of us have taken to using two names like the Terran's, I chose Caprican, because that's were I was born." the others just nodded their heads.

"Ok people listen up." the 4 officers turned toward their new commanding general.

"We've got a long hard road ahead of us, but I wanted to introduce someone to you."

The door opened and two men in blue Colonial uniforms came in. All 5 of the officers came to attention and saluted the men. The older man returned their salute, and spoke, "At ease people."

General Dekker looked at the officers, "This man is Fleet Commander Apollo Adamason. As far as chain of command goes, it's God, then Apollo, then me. Any questions?"

All 4 of the officers responded "No sir."

"Good, Apollo their all yours."

Apollo had the officers take their seats.

"The mission of this fleet is a first strike, against an enemy that is far worse than any you have ever faced before. This enemy doesn't get tired, or hungry. They will not stop from trying to complete their goal of wiping out any sentient species that they see as a threat."

The other officer activated the monitor on the wall, and the people watched the scenes of destruction play out on the monitor.

"What you have seen is some of the destruction caused by the cylons. The last few scenes were footage from the security cameras at an explorer base in Ryganon that the cylons attacked. As you can see, the cylons are an emotionless type of machine, and will stop at nothing to carry out the orders that they are given."

Dekker stood up, "Intel has found that these tin cans are building ships in a system less than 10 jumps away from Confed space."

That news filled the officers with a sense of dread. "The fleet's ships will be ready to go in 7 months, and when we get there, our mission will be two fold. First, is to destroy any Cylon ships in the system. Second, is to retake the planet Terra for use as a forward base. That's where your troops will be used the most."

Dekker looked at the officers, "That's why we have to get our troops formed into a single fighting unit."

Apollo continued, "Starting tomorrow, all fleet and marine personnel will be given new uniforms. They will be colonial designs, because Intel doesn't want the cylons to find out about the Confederation. Also, your troops will be given armor that has a light coating of the same material as the refractive coating on the ships. Our tests show that this will help your people survive a cylon blaster attack."

Dekker looked at the officers, "Ok people its time to go see our new home." the seven officers then headed for the shuttle bay.

Three hours later, the shuttles from the ships had landed in a large area and the troops had formed up into their respective battalions. The Marines then marched to what would be their new bivouac. When they arrived, they saw two buildings in the distance, and they also saw a single platform with their various CO's standing on it. Behind the platform was a large portable screen. When all the marines were in place, they saw a white haired man's face on the screen, and someone yelled attention. All of the marines snapped to attention.

"My name is General Dekker. You may call me General or Sir. As you can see, there are only two buildings here. The one off to your left is the hospital, and the one off to the right is the brig. As you can see, there are no barracks sets up yet; you are going to build them. You will work together on this, and just so you know, that until all of the barracks are built, nobody sleeps indoors. As of now, your previous company assignments will be discarded. Each company will consist of Colonial, Firekkan, Kilrathi and Terran personnel. Once you have your new company assignments, you will proceed to your company area and begin to build your barracks. That is all." and he walked off the platform.

The next two hours were spent getting the troops into their new companies, and marching to their assigned area's. It took the marines two days to complete their barracks, with the majority of them being completed on the second day. Apparently, no one wanted to spend another night outside if it could be avoided. Col Kirha and General Dekker smiled as they watched the marines working together.

"It seems general that survival is indeed a very powerful driving force."

"As well we both know old friend. That's what made you and I work together back in hell. I had a good idea that it would work here. So any other fights since yesterday?"

Col. Kirha just smirked, "No sir, but you would be surprised at the number of clumsy marines we have here."

Both of them laughed a little. Then Dekker turned serious, he turned and looked at Kirha. "So what do we do with Meyers and Rhagos?"

"There are two options sir, company punishment or these." and he place two armband manacles on the desk.

Dekker looked at the manacles; he visibly grimaced, as if reliving an old nightmare. "Are those the same as the ones we had to wear?"

"Yes sir."

Dekker sat at his desk, "Ok send in the prisoners."

The two prisoners were led in and ended upstanding in front of General Dekker. He had a very unpleasant look on his face, and he looked at the two of them.

"You two were told that I wouldn't tolerate fighting among the troops in my command. But you still had to try and kill each other. Well I have decided on a special punishment for the two of you. For the next two or three weeks, you will pull every shit detail I can find for you, and you will wear these." he pointed at the manacles on his desk.

Col Kirha picked up the manacles and placed them on the two prisoners.

"These manacles are designed to deliver a neural shock if they are more than 10 meters apart. The shock isn't lethal, but it is extremely painful. If you try to tamper with the manacles, you will receive a neural shock. For the next two or three weeks, you two are going to become best friends, you will eat together, sleep together and do everything together. Am I understood?"

Both marines came to attention, "Yes sir."

"That is all dismissed." and the prisoners were escorted back to their barracks.

After the prisoners had left, Kirha turned to Dekker. "Do you think they will learn?"

"I hope so Kirha, those manacles have a way of bringing people together."

Both of them laughed at the pun, and then proceeded to set up operations for the upcoming field exercises. The next 3 weeks were intense, every marine there felt as if they were in boot camp all over again. But through all of the drilling, PT and live fire exercises, the troops started to some together.

General Dekker received a call to come to the hospital immediately; there had been an accident. When he arrived, he found Col. Tucker talking to one of the doctors; she had her arm in a cast and sling.

"What happened Col.?"

"There was an accident general, an ammo cart malfunctioned and nearly smacked me into a wall."

"Well I'm glad that you're OK."

Col Tucker looked at him, "I would have been killed if not for two marines."

"Which two?"

She pointed toward a door, and Dekker went over and looked inside the room. He saw corporal Rhagos lying on the bed, with more tubes in him than Dekker thought possible. He also saw sergeant Meyers sitting at the bedside talking to him.

"Apparently they saw the ammo cart rushing toward me, and they both reacted. Meyers knocked me out of the way, and Rhagos took the full force of the cart against his chest. Then he took two steps and fell over, that is one tough cat sir. Then Meyers picked up Rhagos and carried him to the hospital."

General Dekker went into the room and Meyers came to attention. "At ease sergeant, how is he doing?"

"Rhags is going to be fine sir, he just needs to take it easy for a few days."

Dekker was impressed, it seems that his punishment had worked.

"Sergeant, why don't you go back to your barracks?"

Meyers looked at him, "I can't do that sir." and he held up his arm.

General Dekker came over and removed the manacles from both of them.

"You won't be needing this any more sergeant."

Meyers rubbed his arm, "If it's alright sir, I still would like to stay, until he wakes up."

Dekker patted him on the shoulder, "Of course sergeant."

As he was leaving, he asked the docs to put a cot in the corporal's room for the sergeant to sleep on.

In the second month of training, the troops exercises were variations on capture the flag, with the winning company getting extra rations at their evening meal. In the third month, they began mock ship defense exercises, with various companies being the borders, and others being the defenders. They also began pulling real duty on the fleet ships, as backup security details. But it was the fourth month that really shocked the troops. The first day of the fourth month, the entire command was ordered to fall out to the parade ground in their TAGS gear. The General mounted the platform and looked at all of the marines assembled there.

"Listen up people, there are two things we need to discuss. First, I am proud of the way that you GroPo's have come together as a team. Give yourselves a cheer."

All the marines shouted "Hoorah" in unison.

"Second, starting now, and proceeding until the end of the month, we are on alert. All personnel will wear their TAGS gear at all times."

Dekker opened his jacket and showed the marines that he was also wearing TAGS gear.

"And I do mean everybody. Until the end of the month, this base and everyone wearing TAGS gear is a fair target."

Dekker then pulled out a communicator and a landram pulled up next to the podium. The first person out was a Colonial warrior wearing a blue colonial uniform. Dekker looked at the marines, "Here is your force of aggressors."

The next thing out was a cylon centurion; he marched up and stood next to the colonial warrior. "The cylons that you will be facing were built here, and were programmed to behave as real cylons. Except, that they will only attack personnel wearing TAGS gear."

The colonial warrior and the cylon got back in the landram and left.

General Dekker waited for the murmuring to subside. "The hospital and the brig are the only safe zones, everywhere else is fair game. Also, the centurions weapons are at 10 percent power, but your TAGS gear will act as if it has been hit by a full power blast."

Dekker had Kirha and Tucker demonstrate. The marines watched as Col. Tucker fired a cylon blaster rifle at Kirha, whose TAGS gear locked up and he fell over.

"The blasts from the rifle won't kill you, but they sting like hell. Also their swords are blunted, but can still break a bone if they hit you with them. I recommend that you don't let them get that close. Any questions?"

A Firekkan marine in the front row asked about shooting the cylons.

"Your own weapons have been set at 10 percent power, and the internal TAGS gear of the cylons will act accordingly. Any other questions?"

All of the marines answered in unison "SIR, NO SIR."

"Very well, dismissed."