A/N: This was supposed to go up before Dragon Age: Inquisition sucked me in, but such is life.

The word for the current situation, Admiral Adama thought wryly, was chaos.

Laura and Lee had been working together to field calls, requests, demands from the civilian captains and everyone else who thought they needed to get a word in edgewise. The Viper pilots who were still out on CAP duty were under strict orders to report absolutely everything that they saw, whether they thought it was relevant or not.

The picture that was starting to come into focus was a terrifying one - all the more terrifying because they had nowhere else to go. It was why they had come here in the first place, why Adama had made the decision to roll the hard six. Galactica had taken a few too many beatings, they had lost too many people along the way. They were running out of time and options. Of the millions that had once lived on the Twelve Colonies, they had only 39,665 remaining. It was Adama's job to lead them to a new home. After the jump here, seeing the black ships, seeing all of the other ships fleeing the planet, he was afraid they might have to wait a little bit longer.

Adama didn't know whether to hope for this to be the Earth or not. So much had been gambled in this last jump and it would be nice to have it pay off, to have his trust rewarded. It would be a desperately needed morale boost to the falling-apart fleet. On the other hand, if it was the Earth, it appeared to be in extremely dire straits and was unlikely to be the refuge everyone was counting on.

His phone rang. He put his troublesome thoughts aside and answered it. "This is the Admiral."

"Sir. Commander Shepard said we're approaching Mars, and she wants to talk to you." Dee's voice sounded a little strained. Small wonder, given the circumstances.

Adama nodded. "Patch her through, Dee."

He heard the click and static of another line being connected. "This is Commander Shepard. Who am I speaking to?"

"Admiral William Adama, military commander of the Colonial Fleet."

"Admiral Adama. We're on approach to Mars right now. I apologize for leaving you hanging during transit. Our departure from Earth was unexpected and I had to take stock of my people and my supplies."

Adama nodded. "Perfectly understandable. I think your priorities were in order."

"I'm glad you agree," Shepard said. "And I'm afraid I can't make any time for a sit-down with you anytime soon. I have an important mission on the surface. It can't wait - the Reapers will be hot on our heels - and I don't have the personnel to send anyone else in my place."

"Reapers," Adama said. "Those are the black ships heading towards - Earth."

"Yes, Admiral. Now, since you've never heard of a relay, and my scans have shown that you do indeed only have FTL capability, that tells me that you left Earth before any of the Prothean technology was discovered on Mars. Before humanity learned that it wasn't alone in the galaxy. Which means that you have absolutely no idea of what you've walked into. And if you're going to keep your people alive, you need to find that out. Fast."

"What are you proposing, Commander Shepard?" Adama asked.

"An exchange of sorts," Shepard replied. "I'll give you someone from my crew that you can pump for information. They'll get you up to speed on the general human situation. History, politics, military. In return, you give me one of your people. They'll come down to the surface with me. Tell me your story, and get a firsthand glimpse of what we're up against. If you do agree to this, Admiral, you need to send me the toughest sonofabitch you've got. Someone who can fight, and can fight smart. I'd prefer it if we didn't meet any resistance, but I think it's unlikely. It's not ideal, but it's the best I can offer you right now."

"You're asking me to send one of my people into danger, and all you can offer is someone to give us the 'basics'?" Adama asked, trying to keep a note of incredulity from entering his voice.

Shepard sighed. "Admiral, as I've been trying to tell you, there's a hell of a lot of basics to catch you up on before we get to the Reapers. And the only person that's of high enough rank to give you the military part of the basics, and can be spared from ship duties, is someone that I'd planned to take with me to Mars on my ground crew. Which means that I'm putting a great deal of trust that whoever you send me is going to be able to keep themselves alive. If they can't handle themselves, that makes it harder for me. That makes it less likely that any of us will return. I don't have any confirmation of hostile forces on Mars, but it's unlikely we'll be that lucky." Shepard paused for a moment. "The other thing to keep in mind, Admiral, is that you don't really have much of a choice. You need my help. You won't find the relay in time, and even if you did, you wouldn't have any idea how to use it. Any system you'd jump to that would be nearby would have the same risk of the Reapers coming through and finding you. If you work with me, we can get clear of the Sol system and will have more leisure to figure out the next steps. How to keep those civilians of yours safe." She sighed. "I can't say that I'd be thrilled with what I'm proposing if I was on your end. I am sorry that I can't do better. But you picked the worst possible time to come to Earth. You'd probably be dead if I hadn't been around to assist you in those first few minutes."

Adama hated what she was saying. Hated that his fleet had suddenly become dependent upon someone else's decisions. But the evidence supported every single claim she'd made. And … this was Earth. These people had to be the Thirteenth Tribe. There'd be mutiny if he made the decision to just leave and try his luck somewhere else. Commander Shepard had him boxed into a corner, and she knew it. If anything, she didn't have enough of an understanding of the constraints he was facing.

"I'll need to speak to some of my people about this," he said.

"I'm afraid I can't give you a whole lot of time," Shepard replied. "Make the decision quickly, Admiral. Shepard out."

Adama heard the line disconnect, and he took off his glasses to run his uninjured hand through his hair. "You hear that, Dee?"

"Yes, sir."

"What do you think?"

Dee hesitated. "I think she's right, sir. I think we need to see this through."

"I agree with you," Adama said with a long sigh. "Get me … Laura Roslin. Lee. Karl and Sharon Agathon. Kara Thrace. And Colonel … Colonel Tigh."

"Yes, sir." The line went silent for a few minutes before Dee came back on. "Sir, Mr. Gaeta says he has something he wants to show you in CIC. He's completed a preliminary analysis of the ships we've encountered so far."

"Then tell everyone to meet me in the CIC," Adama said. He winced slightly as he pushed himself to his feet, but there was no time for pain now. His people were counting on him to act.

"Something's bugging me, Shepard."

Shepard turned to see that Ash had come up to stand next to her, arms folded across her chest. Ash was a comfortingly familiar sight, standing there in her dark t-shirt and pants, her black hair pulled back into a bun. "Just one thing?" Shepard asked lightly.

Ash chuckled. "Okay, there's a lot of things, but the primary one is - why are you going out of your way to help these people?"

"Well, I could say that it's because I want to save as many people as I can," Shepard replied. "Or that, as I said, I'll take allies where I can find them. Even if they appear to be a small individual force - it could add up." She paused. "But, really, it's because I'm curious."

Ash considered, and then nodded. "I think I get it. I saw some of the data from the Normandy's -" she hesitated, looking uneasy, and then continued. "From EDI's scan. They're really using FTL drives?"

"They're not giving off any eezo emissions, so they aren't using mass effect cores," Shepard replied. "In fact, EDI said the trails don't match any known readings. Which is just weird. And their lead ships are over a kilometer long. Each."

"Damn," Ash said. "They're monsters."

"But no eezo means no mass effect weapons," Shepard said. "I mean, if it turns out they're carrying some sort of unknown super death rays, I'll be glad to be wrong. But right now, all the evidence points to them building the type of ships we might have built if we had never discovered mass effect technology." She shook her head. "Mom would know more. I wish I knew where she was right now."

Ash was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "I met your mom, a little while back."

"Oh?" Captain Hannah Shepard had made time to come and see her daughter during the six months she'd been in lockdown. And given said daughter a piece of her mind about her actions after coming back from the dead. Deservedly so, to a large extent. Not that Shepard the younger hadn't had excuses, but parents rarely accepted their child's excuses. For anything.

"Meeting her explains a lot about you," Ash said, grinning, and Shepard felt the tension between them ease up a bit. "I see where you get it from."

"Shepards take no shit," Shepard quoted her mother.

Ash laughed softly. "She may have said those exact words, even." There was another brief pause before Ash spoke again. "Look, Shepard, things are a bit … awkward, between us right now."

"Well, that's the understatement of the century," Shepard said, doing her best to keep the easy camaraderie going.

Ash grinned back at her. "So … why not just have Vega back you up on Mars? Why send him to these weird people - and not me?"

Shepard let out a breath as she considered how to respond. "Vega's a good soldier," she said. "Despite my offer to let someone come with us, I still don't really know what's going on. If I ask him to, he'll give the party line. The basics about the Alliance and Earth, but nothing more. We don't have time to do a sit-down now, so I'll give them enough to chew over until we do have time." She paused. "And, finally, because I'd rather have you watching my back. Despite our differences, Ash, I trust you more."

Ash ducked her head and barked out a laugh. "Hell, Shepard," she said after a minute. "I'm supposed to be mad at you. Why'd you have to go and say something like that?"

"Because it's what I do," Shepard said, grinning broadly. "So what do you say?"

"You're on," Ashley replied. "It's obvious that you really mean it, that you want things to be better between us - and that says a lot, it really does. I'll back you up on Mars." She grinned. "Though if you start doing something truly suicidal, I reserve the right to run the other way. Ma'am."

"Sounds fair to me," Shepard replied, chuckling softly. "I can't blame you for trying to save your own skin in the face of blatant stupidity. I'd like to think I wouldn't do anything that qualifies as truly suicidal, but - hell. You never know."

"That's the damn truth," Ash said. The two women stood in silence for a moment, watching their surroundings. Shepard was amused to see Ash's gaze drawn like a lodestone towards Lieutenant Vega as he walked over to talk to the shuttle pilot, Cortez. She had to admit that he was extremely easy on the eyes, although her heart was fully committed elsewhere.

She couldn't help the wicked smile that crept over her face as an idea occurred to her - a way to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. "Say, Ash," she said, trying to sound casual, "I was going to talk to Cortez for a bit, get to know him. Since we are sending Vega off on his own, do you think you could speak with him and get more of a sense of his opinion on things?"

Ash gave her a look that suggested she knew exactly what Shepard was doing. Shepard kept her face as neutral as she could, resisting the urge to giggle. It would be terribly undignified. "Yeah. Sure. I can do that."

"Thanks, Ash," Shepard said and started forward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ash pass her, striding up to Vega, before the two of them walked off towards the elevator. She shook her head and walked up to Cortez, wondering how much longer she'd have to wait for an answer from the Galactica.

The CIC was noisy and crowded, and Adama wondered for a moment if they shouldn't have had the meeting in his quarters. Then he shook the regrets away and leaned over the display, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"That can't be right," Saul growled. Adama looked up to see his old friend glaring at Lieutenant Gaeta. "You can't seriously be telling me that that tiny ship could take us on."

"That's exactly what I'm saying-" Gaeta stopped mid-sentence, clearly unsure how to address Saul. He turned to look at Adama instead, avoiding that thorny issue. "Sir. The Normandy is emitting a very powerful energy signature. I have no idea what it is, but that hasn't stopped me from assessing it as stronger than the Cylon basestar."

"You're sure?" Adama asked. He couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. "Just how small is it?"

"I - Admiral, I'm not sure, but for now, think of it as roughly Colonial One's size," Gaeta said. That silenced all chatter around them for a moment.

Adama cleared his throat and broke the tense silence. "And the other ones? The large black ships?"

"Sir, I don't even want to think about that," Gaeta replied. "I can't get a clear reading on them, but it seems safe to assume that they're at least as powerful as the Normandy. Likely even more powerful."

"That's impossible," Lee said. Adama could tell that it was more of a reflex than an actual denial. These ships were throwing everything they thought they knew about the universe and their place in it out the window.

"Apparently not," Karl said, leaning over the display. "From what I've seen, I'd have to agree with Lieutenant Gaeta."

"You said you spoke to this Commander Shepard," Laura said quietly. "What did she have to say?"

"That she has important business on the planet Mars and will send one of her subordinates to brief us on the basics," Adama said. "If we send one of ours with her."

"Like hell we will," Saul said. "We don't have any frakking clue what's going on. That's a recipe for disaster if I ever heard one."

"No," Kara said. "We have to learn more about what she knows. If that's what it takes -" She straightened herself up and looked Adama in the eyes. "I volunteer to go, Admiral."

"If anyone would go, it would be you," Adama said. "You seem to know the most about Earth these days."

"This isn't exactly what we were expecting," Laura said, looking around at the faces of everyone gathered there.

Everyone turned to look at Kara, whose coordinates had lead them here in the first place. Kara shook her head. "I didn't see anything like this when I was there before. But this has to be Earth. It just … has to be."

"We can't leave now," Lee said, sounding exasperated. "Everyone already knows that we found a planet called Earth, and that there are humans on it. It's like New Caprica. It doesn't matter that it isn't safe or smart. People want a home, and if we back away from this -"

"Exactly my thoughts," Adama said. "Shepard promised to help us get things straightened out when we're out of danger. Circulate that information. It should help keep things under control for now."

"I don't like this," Karl said. "We don't know anything about these people. They have the upper hand here. We can't trust them."

"Trusting the Cylons was a leap of faith," Lee said, running a hand through his hair. Adama had some idea of how stressful it had been for him, facing down D'Anna Biers to save the hostages aboard the basestar. Doing the job his Old Man couldn't bring himself to do at that moment. Adama felt his stomach clench with the memory of the despair he'd experienced, not so long ago. "Look what it lead to."

"A Cylon civil war," Athena said quietly. "Between those who want to work with humans and those who want to continue the genocide. We have the chance to make peace. Don't discount that."

"And that's another area where we need more answers," Adama said. "Athena. I need you to speak to D'Anna. Learn more about what she knows."

"I can make the effort as well," Saul said in his usual gruff manner. "They wanted us badly, after all."

Adama took a minute to look over at his - at Saul. He wanted to trust him, just like he'd done before. He just didn't know if he could.

"All right," he finally agreed. "Kara goes with Commander Shepard to Mars. Athena and Saul speak to the rebel Cylons and try to get more information." Adama turned his gaze on his son. "The rest of you… keep things under control. The last thing we need is riots or mutiny."

Heads nodded in agreement. Adama resisted the urge to let out a sigh. "Dismissed. Except you, Starbuck," he added quickly. "We need to go over things before the rendezvous."

"Yes, sir," Kara replied, nodding and coming to stand next to him as he picked up the phone to let Commander Shepard know he would agree to her terms.