The Mailman
by Chaoseternus

thank you to the reviewers, please keep them coming!

also note, new story SEEKER is part of this series
Mailman, Earthman, Seeker are the stories in this series, Pegasus may be added later.

Nineteen

Day Six just began, and still there is no sign of Galactica. I'm beginning to lose hope, and I'm not the only one. If Galactica isn't back before the day is out, then I will have to proceed direct to Earth, and drop the bombshell on them myself, along with the news that a potentially renegade Colonial Battlestar, the Excelsior, is in the area. I don't want to do that, because I would have to assume that, one way or another, Galactica had met her end, either to Excelsior or to the Cylons.

Dammit Adama, get your arse back here or I will find a way to make you suffer for it.

xxxx

It was midday when the alarms sounded, signalling a full alert.

It seemed threats worked far better then anything else in getting Galactica to return, though I wished he could have done it sooner, a Blockade Runner and a converted merchantman aren't exactly the best cover for the fleet if any hostiles should have arrived. But here he was, and with Excelsior at his side.

Damn, but Galactica alone would have been a beautiful sight, but with Excelsior too? I'm sure the cheers could have been heard all the way across the fleet.

Naturally, the first thing we had to do was the usual exchange of pleasantries... i.e. hello, are you still you or is a cylon running the show? In polite and covert militarise of course.

Next up, ask them what the damn hell took them so frakking long, whilst just counting the seconds till the inevitable ‘not over the radio', have a time for a meeting ready before Adama has even finished speaking helps too.

Heh, he better not figure out how much of a kick I get out of predicting him, he might just decide to be difficult on purpose then

Now, with those two here to watch over the fleet, its time my people got some stand down time and decent rest.

xxxx

Okay, well that was a meeting and a half.

Damn, I don't think he ever got around to telling us exactly how many Colonial ships were in system, but damn did it sound like a few. Unfortunately, it also sounded like there weren't that many dedicated warships.

Still... the Liberty class Blockade Runners like my own Mailman had proven themselves solid, and as Hercules specifically mentioned that a number of them were in the Sol System or at least the area, then we would most likely be pressed into service as warships. It wasn't a role we were designed for, but we were armed, we would have to do. We would only be supporting the Battlestars anyway, all four of ‘em.

Damn, did I like saying that, Four Battlestars survived.

Okay, with the E&E vessels, it was more then that, but they were converts or designed from scratch for Exploration duties. I had no doubt they had some ability to defend themselves but I also had little doubt that it wasn't even close to the combat capabilities of a full Battlestar. Too much space diverted to extra sensors, science labs, the extra personnel, additional support equipment and Hydroponics so they wouldn't have to run home to restock on a regular basis.

Still, it did leave two big questions hanging over our heads, what happened to Pegasus and Seeker? And do the Cylons know Earth's location?

Still, those questions would have to wait, in just a few seconds we would be in the Sol system and we would be contacting the Colonial forces stationed here. Then, we would have work to do. Like, contacting Earth and telling them of the threat we had created and that was now gunning for them. Now that would be a real joy, I'm just glad I am a simple Colonel, jobs like that are a Commanders work and they could have it.

We were probably safe for now, truth be told. Even if the Cylons did know Earths location, even going directly, it is a month long trip, bare minimum between Earth and the Colonies. Attacking over that kind of distance is impractical, they would have to work their way here, building a supply chain all the way.

There was another aspect to the sheer distance too. In order to reincarnate, they had to somehow download the contents of their mind over a radio transmission of some kind. Now, it was pretty obvious they had used some neat tricks in order to allow that data transferral to work to the point where being light years away from their own territory didn't faze them, but we were far further beyond Colonial space then mere light years. It was entirely possible, though we had no immediate way of testing this, that we were beyond the ‘reincarnation range' of the Cylons, so to speak. That, if it were true, would make the humanoid models reluctant to move into this area of space until the net had been extended. Not to mention, the existence of several nebulas in the direct line between Earth and Cylon space, which we know for definite would interfere with their ability to reincarnate.

It was something to hope was true, but hope is, in military terms at least, pretty meaningless. You had to plan for the alternate, for the worst case always.

Unfortunately, considering the nature of Earths... uhm, government, worst case scenarios were probably going to be played out a lot in the coming weeks.