Authors Notes: Grayangle, thankyou for the reviews and supporting this story.

From here on out, things will start to get a little more complicated… (to me anyway).

Chapter 15

Colonel Blackbird 'Laura'

They had jumped into space a fair way away from the system which was said to contain Earth. From there, they took a very quick passive sensor reading of the locations of planets and moons within the solar system. From there, the Raptors had jumped to a location where they probably would not be detected if they used only passive sensors, while the Blackbird hit maximum velocity and travelled in-system.

Starbuck had outfitted the Blackbird with three imaging packages before they had launched for this mission, so she would have plenty of pictures. She also loaded the modified sensor package that Tyrol and his crew had made for the Blackbird. It wasn't until she was between the outer solar system and the inner solar system, approaching the fourth planet, that she saw anything that was interesting. On the extreme range of her DRADIS screen, as it was set to a small range, she saw movement of unknown contacts near the third planet from the sun. She drifted for a while, as more and more contacts came into view on the DRADIS screen, and she decided that she'd risk a DRADIS ping to find out what was out there. She sent out the ping, and was very surprised to see literally hundreds of objects surrounding the third planet. She waited some more, keenly watching the DRADIS screen, and was glad to see that there was no movement of ships indicating that she'd been detected. She activated the communications array of the Blackbird and sent a secure message back to the Raptors

Hundreds of DRADIS contacts surrounding third planet from sun. Remain Undetected. Moving in for closer inspection – Starbuck.

An hour later and Starbuck could now see the bright image of the third planet as she approached it. She had seen, and taken pictures of numerous kinds of craft which were travelling to and from the planet, using the imaging package's zoom features. She examined the DRADIS screen, looking at it for the most contacts, and manoeuvred the Blackbird so she would fly by them. She had long ago shut down the engines of the craft, but to change her velocity she would need to activate them and risk being detected. She let off a couple of short bursts, and had successfully manoeuvred the craft. She shut down all internal lights and waited. Her anxiety and curiosity level peaked when she drifted past the moon, and she could see evidence of what appeared to be nuclear detonations which were separated from the numerous craters on the moon by their uniformness.

Kara was extremely disappointed when she got close enough to see that the majority of the hundreds of DRADIS contacts surrounding the planet were small satellites, which were probably for communications purposes. It made her wonder what kind of civilisation needed that much communications equipment. She did find a number of ships though, which did raise her hopes a bit.

The presence of Earth to the right of her ship, so close, was breath taking. It was only the second habitable planet they had come across since leaving Kobol almost two years ago, and the good thing was that it was relatively large compared to the average size of the Colonial Planets.

She drifted by a rather small ship, about the size of Colonial One, and was glad to see weapons emplacements dotted around the outside of the ship. She activated the imaging package and began to take pictures of the ship.

Once she had drifted past the ship, she waited until she was a fair way away and ignited the engines of the Blackbird, spun around and made an FTL jump back to a predetermined position agreed upon by herself and the two Raptor pilots.

An hour later, and they were aboard the Colonial Nightingale, a ship that was sent from the fleet to pick up the Raptors and Blackbird as their fuel limits wouldn't allow them to cover the distance back to the fleet.

Three Hours Later

PDO Facility – Earth

Bruce Miller was accompanied by two escorts as they showed him through the scientific facility and the progress they had made on both the captured enemy robot and the captured enemy transport. So far, it was little. They were standing in front of the enemy's transport ship as the aides explained what they had found out about it.

"The ship has an organic layer between the inner hull and the outer hull, and from what we can tell, many of the functions within the ship are actually controlled by these organic layers, even organs in some places. Also, from what we can tell, the ship seems to have either very, very good programming, or an artificial intelligence programming built right into it," the aide explained. Both of these facts caught Miller's interest. If their enemy was capable of creating specialised organs to perform certain functions, as well as create artificial intelligence, then they were truly screwed.

He was escorted around the rest of the facility and made aware of the progress on some of the research that they were currently undertaking. It was when this part of the tour was almost completed, that another man came up to him requesting that he take an urgent phone call.

Miller was escorted to an office and given access to the laptop within, as apparently the person on the other side of the phone had instructed that he have access to a laptop computer.

"Hello, Dr. Bruce Miller Speaking," he said.

"Bruce, do you have a computer?" the person said. Miller recognised it as the head of the intelligence department of the PDO.

"Yes, and I'm hooked up to the net at the moment," Miller replied.

"Good, good. Check your email. The latest one I've sent you," the Intelligence head said. Miller did just that, and he saw that there was a number of video attachments to the email. He opened the first one it and looked at a screen that showed a shot of space.

"What am I looking at here?" Miller asked into the phone.

"Watch the first video again, and look at the upper right part of the screen. There will appear to be a star, that's moving," the Intelligence officer said. Miller watched the video again and was actually surprised to see that there did look like that there was a star moving.

"Now, open the second video. We've enhanced the area as best we could," the intelligence officer said. Miller did just that, and was surprised to see the very bare outline of a ship, and unfamiliar shaped ship. "This video was taken by an Osprey space craft which was surveying the surface of Europa via video to find a suitable site for the Europa base. A couple of hours after this was taken, an unknown, unidentified contact appeared in Earth Orbit, only a thousand kilometres off the bow of a Poseidon class ship, and then just disappeared within seconds," the Intelligence officer said.

"I want you to double the amount of Falcon and Osprey patrols around the area. Also, we need to get the Hawks into position and have them act as a major sensor platform for the area surrounding Earth," Dr. Miller said, referring to their newest military craft, the Hawk, previously the X8. Three of the X8's had been tested around the orbit of Europa, in all facets of the ships.

The Next Day – PDO Facility – America – Weekly Conference of Leaders

Miller and the other respective leaders of the PDO were awaiting the arrival of the representatives from the IAO before they were to begin. Miller was sitting with the other two heads of Science, but since he was considered a senior member, he had a say in all affairs of the PDO and IAO. The representatives of the IAO arrived, and they could begin.

Most of the information which was conveyed throughout the meeting was boring and unimportant, but necessary to keep both of the organisations running. There had been an estimation of the amount of ships able to be produced per month, now that major facilities had been constructed and were becoming operational. The IAO had stated that almost every major country in the world was eager to modify their fighters so that they were space-capable, and that work had begun at doing so for Great Britain, Australia, the United States, China and India two months ago. Finally, after all of the 'official and necessary' business was brought up, it was time for an open forum, so to speak.

"Are there any issues that anyone wishes to address?" One of the head members of the PDO said out loud to the room.

"I would like to know why Dr. MacGuwyre here has been spreading unproven ideas about these Twelve Colonies, such as on the BBC News report yesterday," Miller said. "Until we know more about them, we shouldn't say anything at all."

"We have writings from 'The Great Ship' that say they are hostile," MacGuwyre replied.

"And we have testimonies from a ship full of people, from these said Colonies, who say they aren't hostile," Miller replied.

"Dr. Miller. I do appreciate that you are taking a rational approach to the nature of these other humans out there, we are at war, and I think that the PDO should treat everything as hostile, until proven otherwise… I think you will find that this is the consensus of the majority here," one of the military advisers said. Miller looked around to see a large number of people nodding their heads. "You are forgetting that we were attacked first, without provocation."

"Exactly. If it was a different faction that attacked us, we should be turning to the Twelve Colonies for help," Miller replied. "The Twelve Colonies may have suffered war amongst their selves and split. If there is a faction out there who does not have hostile intentions towards us, we should be going to them for help," Miller argued.

"And how exactly do you propose we do that? We don't have the technology to cover the distance," someone argued against Miller

"A Colonial ship showed up in our system just three and a half months ago. They obviously have the technology to cover the distance. They can help us against these Cylons," Miller replied.

"You honestly believe in the idea of the Cylons? A robotic race that looks, acts, and feels completely human with no way to define them?" another voice asked.

"We've captured one of them! Obviously their foot soldiers," Miller replied.

"For all we know, that thing that we captured could be one of the Colonies' foot soldiers. It makes sense; why waste human lives if you have the technology to create intelligent machines. These human Cylons are nothing more than an excuse for the people of the Colonies to push on us… The very idea is treacherous in itself. They could make us believe that they're on our side, while their robotic armies attack us. When we're least expecting it, they turn around and join in the attack themselves," one of the military heads said. "It's a viable strategy, and at the moment, we have to protect ourselves against all avenues of attack. We can not sustain another attack of the magnitude that occurred during the opening battle."

"We can't just push everything away and stand by ourselves…" Miller started before someone out-spoke him.

"We should adjourn this meeting until later this week and let everyone settle down a bit," the person said. There were agreements from all over the room, Miller included.

On his way out, Bruce Miller was stopped by one of the IAO's representatives, another Australian man.

"I agree with what you said in there today Dr. Miller, and you have my full support," he said.

"And mine too," someone else said from behind Miller. He turned to see that a young woman was standing before him, and he recognised her as PDO's Military strategist.

"It's good to know that I'm not the only one in there," Miller replied. He bid his farewell to his two supporters before turning and heading through the facility to the air-pad. He needed to see a couple of people before the end of the week, and call in some favours.

BBC News Bulletin

NUMA has asked for more money from the international community as it vies for more Manta classed ships to be constructed to be used in construction purposes on the ocean floor of the Pacific Ocean off of the West Coast of North and South America, as well as within the islands of South East Asia today. NUMA along with AIMS are perfecting the methodology of construction underwater and have announced that the first liveable underwater habitats are nearing completion. This request for money from the international community has raised concerns about the financial security of NUMA, as the PDO's cargo logs list fifteen Manta class shuttles being transported offworld for unlisted purposes. Some claim that NUMA needs financial aid to keep it's superiority over the contract with the PDO and IAO to build these underwater habitats and not fall behind…

The home of Quin Geraldani, one of the top leaders of the 'Friendly Colonies' faction of political leaders worldwide, was bombed from the air and simultaneously fired upon by an RPG launcher earlier today. The 'Friendly Colonies' faction holds a stance saying, that from the evidence released, the Twelve Colonies of the Zodiac are most likely friendly. Geraldani had discovered evidence that an unarmed Zodiac Colonial ship had entered the system months ago requesting aid and was captured by PDO forces, a Poseidon Commander being killed in the process. According to his information, members of the ship were tortured and treated inhumanly, breaking rules set out by the Geneva Convention. His aid today came out and said that Geraldani had plans to release certifiable information that these prisoners have been made to operate their ship for the PDO's purposes under the threat that some of the crew that has been left behind here on Earth will be killed if they try to escape or act in any way that is deemed 'unnecessary' for Prisoners of War. According to Geraldani and other 'Friendly Colonies' faction members, interrogations of the Zodiac prisoners revealed that they believed their enemy was the one that attacked us, and that a refugee fleet of the last members of their civilization is on it's way to Earth seeking aid. Leading Members of the Planetary Defence Organisation have replied to these facts saying that they are unfounded and not based in any truth what-so-ever. Other leaders of the 'Friendly Colonies' faction are calling for an independent investigation into Geraldani's death, outside the IAO's authority as they fear that PDO leaders will influence the investigation.

Four Hours Later

BBC New Report

Shocking accusations were released by the 'Friendly Colonies' faction just moments ago, slamming the French and Swedish governments as evidence found by the 'Friendly Colonies' faction suggests that the assassination of Quinn Geraldani was a cooperative, sanctioned mission by both governments. The French and Swedish governments have denied the fact, and the IAO and PDO have both claimed to have no knowledge of any plots to kill Geraldani. The Turkish government is raising it's own investigation to the assassination as it happened on Turkish soil….

… A man was captured in Greece today after an attempt to destroy the temple of Apollo Epicurius. The man was clearly in a confused and dazed state as police escorted him off the property and into custody for questioning Shot of man being dragged to a police car, the entire time saying that 'it is Gods will that the signs of the Lords of Kobol be destroyed."

Battlestar Galactica

Lt. 'Helo' Agathon had stepped off of the Raptor and been greeted by everyone, eager to know what Earth looked like, and if there were any signs that it could help them and offer them shelter. Of course, he just replied that he couldn't answer the questions as Adama had stated that all matters retaining to the mission he had just undertaken were classified to the highest degree until the Commander deemed otherwise.

A day later and he was lying in his bed, thinking about the events that had taken place over the mission. They had actually found it, Earth, their salvation. He should be happy, but yet he wasn't. He had been hoping that the discovery of Earth would somehow change the gaping hole that he felt inside him; that his life could somewhat resume after these two years of chaos and he would be able to move on. So far, it wasn't happening. Apart from a gaping hole that he felt that he had inside him, he had a feeling that something was going to go drastically wrong. Already, three ships' FTL drives had malfunctioned as they had prepared to jump and everyone was screaming 'Cylon sabotage'. They were finally in reach of Earth, but weren't getting there just yet. He knew that something was going to happen once they reached Earth, something terrible.

The worst thing was that he was conflicted over, was an issue in itself: Sharon. He had made love to a machine, a very human like, loving, machine, and he had fathered a child, with a machine. Helo had to wonder whether it was so wrong to love a machine. If he had never heard of the Cylons, he would have loved her as if she were human, without doubt. But she was a Cylon, a machine. Even though her body was organic, from what their current level of understanding of science could tell, somewhere in there was circuitry and processors. She had not been born, she had been made, her and hundreds more, exactly like her. Someone 'out there' could decide to make her do something, could instigate a hidden program within her brain, and make her perform certain actions without her consent or knowledge. The worst thing of it all was that she was the enemy. Her race had wiped out billions of people, and they were planning on doing something to them; to their fleet, but he didn't know what. He knew that the Cylons had literally herded them here, had probably planned their every move; like gods, planning our existence.

Helo didn't know whether it was right to miss her or not. He knew that he did miss her, but was it right to miss a machine? Did it make him less of a person to be missing a machine who wanted everyone he knew dead? His mind automatically went back to that day when Gina, another Cylon model had killed Sharon upon seeing her. A couple of weeks after they had rendezvoused with the Pegasus, Admiral Cain wanted to put the two Cylon prisoners together to see how they interacted. The room was obviously bugged, to learn any information that they may confess to each other. As soon as Gina had seen the pregnant Sharon Valerii, she had grabbed a weapon from the nearest marine guarding her, aimed it at Sharon and fired before turning and shooting Cain in the head and heart. She was going to turn the weapon onto herself, but was stopped by another one of the guards before she could do so.

None of it made any sense at all. From what he had seen, and Starbuck had witnessed first hand, the Cylons wanted to reproduce with humans, but then, once one of them was pregnant, she was killed by one of her own kind. The Cylons want to exterminate the human race, but for two years they have herded the remaining population of the Colonies towards Earth when they could have killed all in one large attack against the fleet. Helo was sure that the Cylons could have also nuked Earth from orbit in a large attack if they wanted to, but Earth still stood. He had seen it for himself. He was just starting to begin to think that if the Cylons did have plans, they were far beyond his comprehension. It was then that the thought hit him; what if they didn't have plans? What if they weren't a unified force? What if all the confusion was caused by different factions trying to act out their own separate plans? It was a nice little fantasy that he could delude himself in for the next couple of hours or so.

Authors Notes: Temple of Apollo Epicurius is a real place in Greece… ya just gotta love that Google Earth don't ya…

Things are starting to unwind in the perfect little Earth we have here. Could make some things very interesting… especially when a fleet of unknown ships rock up claiming that they're the 'Colonial Fleet'.