Chapter 17 of the Phoenix and the Wolverine

The Basestar; Detention Cell Section 12X...

Baltar's horrified reaction to the fellow prisoner lasted for several moments before been replaced by increasing anxiety.

Senior Lieutenant Daniel Novacek had stared at him in disgust before turning away from him.

Baltar was still at loss for words.

8 years as a POW.

How many times had he been tortured ? Was he still sane ?

Baltar had been a prisoner for the past 4 weeks and he was already close to losing his mind. He felt a wave of dizziness come over him.

But there were questions that had to be answered; he slowly walked over to the bars to be closer to the other prisoner.

"You say...you've been a prisoner for eight years ?"

Daniel turned back to glare at him. "Who wants to know?"

"How...how is that possible? The cylon attack on the 12 colonies was only 2 years ago!?"

The lieutenant kept staring at him. "You know the answer to that cylon."

Baltar felt his anxiety turn to anger rapidly. "I'm not a cylon you idiot! I'm a prisoner like you...a colonial!"

Daniel smiled coldly. "Is that so ?" his voice was mocking " well if that's the case; pray tell me what's been happening in the colonies since I have been...away."

"You don't believe me," said Baltar in disbelief; he looked away then turned back to pilot. "Then...then I guess you are not aware of the cylons' attack from orbit with..."

"With an orbital bombarbment?!" cut in Daniel savagely "oh, Mr Baltar I am very aware. I was made to watch as Gemenon was reduced to cinders; then Caprica and the others! I watched them all burn!"

Baltar fell silent; there was no more need for speculation; the lieutenant was insane.

"Then...why have they kept you alive ?"

Daniel stared at him for while before looking away. " I ask myself that every day," he turned back to Baltar "perhaps you could enlighten me as to the reason why?"

"I...I don't know why i'm still alive ...so how do you expect me to know the reasons for your being alive?"

The colonial pilot sighed. "You know for once; I was so hoping that one of you cylons would answer my..."

"I am not a frakking cylon!" screamed Baltar.

Daniel stopped speaking and stared at the scientist for several moments.

"You know what? If you shout long enough I bet you will eventually believe that."

Baltar signed in frustration at Daniel's cynical calm tone.

"What do I have to do to make you believe me ?"

The pilot snorted. "Don't bother; I've got better ways to waste my time."

Baltar tried to ignore the pilot's attitude. "Could you please at least answer a few questions of mine ?"

Daniel stared at him in disbelief. "Oh this is rich. You're asking me if I could please answer a few questions ?"

Baltar was puzzled for a few moments then realized the absurdity of his request.

The lieutenant must have been interrogated; physically and psychologically and no cylon would have politely asked him to answer a few questions.

He could see the surprise in the man's eyes turn to suspicion and uncertainty before been replaced by a blank look.

Baltar pressed on; feeling that the uncertainty he had seen was a positive reaction in this situation.

"Look; I just want to know if you get regular visitors."

Daniel laughed coldly at the last word.

"Visitors ? Apart from the centurions who patrol this place 8 times a day...I don't see anybody else," he paused "by the way; why are you in this detention area?"

The scientist sighed. "I...I don't know; one moment I was sleeping ; the next I was woken up and brought here. I thought the centurions were going to kill me for sure."

Daniel said nothing as he took note of the fading bruises on Baltar's face. If this was a cylon trick; it was a very interesting one.

Maybe he should play along...for now.

"What happened after the bombarbment?"

"Huh?" asked Baltar taken off guard "I thought you knew...they showed..."

A pained look crossed Daniel's face for a brief moment. " yes, yes they showed me the bombarbment...but...I saw a few ships fleeing...if you're a...colonial then maybe you could..."his voice trailed off unsure of what to say next.

He also wants information thought Baltar; he wants to know if any of our people made it out alive.

The scientist came closer. "What would you like to know ?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the frak is Cavil up to?" asked Caprica aloud as she tried for the tenth time to locate where Baltar had been moved to.

But each time she sent the request to the Hybrid; it gave her the following answer.

"Access denied."

Behind her D'anna and Boomer shared an anxious look; it had become obvious that the Caprica's codes now had limited access to different paths of the basestar.

That was very strange and worrying.

A loud bang had them turning towards their sister.

"Damn it! My codes are not working !" hissed Caprica in frustration as she slammed her hand against the computer interface.

"Six; let me try," said D'anna " maybe I can get some answers."

Caprica moved out of the way of the Three. It soon became obvious that the Three's codes were also denied as well as Boomers when she tried to help as well.

"He wants me to ask him...no he wants me to beg him to see Gaius. I am going to kill him!" said Caprica angrily. She turned towards the door.

"Six wait!" she stopped and looked at D'anna "you're right he wants you to approach him on his own terms. You go after him now and I'm certain you're going to end up in a resurrection tank."

"While he does what he pleases," said Boomer softly; a thoughtful look on her face.

"Think Caprica! The three of us now have limited access to the rest of the basestar. This had never happened before; Cavil is up to something," said D'anna in a worried voice.

"So what ? You expect me to just wait !? For frakking what?!" shouted Caprica.

Before the Number Three could answer; a baby's cry was heard.

Boomer gave the two female cylons a tired look before going to attend the awakened baby.

Caprica sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Six; you need to get some sleep. You're not thinking straight ," said D'anna.

The six did not answer for a long time; she was watching Boomer trying to comfort Hera but the child kept crying even more.

That was when Caprica realized what she had almost done.

If she went to confront Cavil now; she was sure to get a bullet in the head. Thus giving Simon an opportunity to come after Hera.

Caprica could count the cylons that she trusted on one hand and Boomer was not in that small list.

D'anna was too busy worrying about only the Gods-knew-what so Six could not count on her watching over Hera; but Boomer was a different matter altogether.

Cavil had some hold over her and she could see the Eight giving up Hera to Simon on the One's command.

Baltar was very important to Caprica; but she was almost certain that Cavil would not have him killed as long as he appeared to be useful.

However Cavil had no such qualms concerning the cylon-human hybrid.

"You're right D'anna. I need to rest."

And she was going to do so; right next to Hera's cot with a gun under her pillow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Private Quarters of a Number One Cylon...

Cavil smiled as he watched the two prisoners; Baltar and Novacek.

It was amusing how the colonial pilot suspected the scientist was a cylon; now to see what Caprica was up to.

He typed in commands to locate the female cylons; he did not have long to wait. She was in the medical bay.

The Number One's smile disappeared; of cause after eavesdropping on his conversation with Simon; she must have fled there to ensure the...child was safe.

However he was sure that once she heard of Baltar's removal; she would be tearing the basestar apart to find his new cell.

At least that would keep her out of his hair while he concentrated on more important things.

"Feeling quite pleased with yourself; aren't you ?" said a familiar female's voice.

Cavil bit back an irritated retort before turning to face a woman in a black gown who was sitting tied to an obviously uncomfortable straight backed chair.

"Well; mother you should be ecstatic that I find joy in my work."

The woman in the chair clenched her fists as a look of fury appeared on her face. Cavil's smile grew broader as she struggled against the strong straps which bound her forearms to the rest arms of the chair.

"Ecstatic? The word you're searching for is disgust Cavil.

First you orchestrate genocide then you create strife and discord among your brothers and sisters.

This was not what we foresaw when we created you and the others!"

An ugly expression appeared on Cavil's face. "Oh really? What did you envisage ? Us living hand in hand with the colonials ? Or them being the masters while we continue as their slaves?"

The woman known as Ellen Tigh resisted the urge to scream as she tried to reason with her insane creation.

"Destroying the colonials will never bring you peace or happiness. You need to stop this madness before you destroy the cylon race!"

Cavil said nothing for a long while as he walked over to a tarp covered object which was 4 feet from Ellen. He drew back the tarp to expose a deactivated golden centurion.

The metal soldier was lying face down; the back of its metal head had been exposed. He stood and stared at the gleaming circuitry which represented the 'brain' of the centurions. Cavil picked up a micro-wrench.

"Mother; I would never destroy my people," he pulled out several wires viciously " I'll will make them stronger," he yanked out another micro-chip which caused a vial of clear fluid to rupture and stain his suit" and guide them to a better brighter future than the chaos you almost condemned us to."

Then gripping the tool like a dagger; he turned to face Ellen.

"Wouldn't you agree that my ways are best?"

Her eyes flickered between the now-damaged centurion and the insane light in Cavil's eyes.

She wisely said nothing.

The Xavier, Shuttle Bay...

Logan and Q Junior got off the shuttle to find Laura waiting for them in the bay.

"Welcome back," she said with a small smile "I'm amazed we didn't have to beam you guys out of there."

Before leaving the ship; both males had attached com-badges to their outfits and Jean had maintained a transporter lock on them the entire time they were on the Galactica.

"Well; thanks for not panicking; how's Jean?" asked Logan as the three made their way to the turbo-lift.

"She's on the bridge; by the by we received a short message from the Galactica; looks like their fleet is leaving this place soon. They sent us the new co-ordinates."

Logan nodded. "Sounds like the logical thing to do."

"How much history do you want them to have?" asked Q Junior suddenly.

"All of it."

Q Junior looked at him in surprise. " All of it?" he repeated.

"As long as it does not compromise Earth's security. Give them everything of man's evolution from eons ago to the present day."

Q Junior still looked a bit uncertain. "Including the recent war with the Dominion?"

Logan nodded curtly. "Especially that."

He had paid attention to the wars since 2006 and the Dominion war of 2373 to 2375 had been the worst the Federation had been involved in.

1.2 billion dead and more than half of that number had been on Cardassia.

Laura's voice brought him back to the present. "That's going to be a lot of paper for your next meeting."

Q Junior winced at the thought of the amount of paperwork. "Tell me about it."

Considering the distrust the colonials had for all things AI; giving them a memory chip loaded with megabytes of unknown data was sure to cause panic.

The colonials would probably accuse him of uploading a virus into the Galactica's computer.

Before long the three reached the bridge.

Dr Grey was still at the communication's section.

"Welcome back; I've uploaded the co-ordinates. The colonial ships have started to leave," said Jean.

Logan looked at the viewscreen; the colonial ships were disappearing one by one. In the end; the Galactica was the only one remaining.

"Captain; we're receiving a transmission from the Galactica; audio only."

"Thanks Xavier; patch it through," said Logan.

"This is Commander Adama; I trust you have received the co-ordinates ?"

"Yes we have," said Logan.

"How long will it take for you to get there ?"

Logan looked at Jean who telepathically sent him the answer.

"20 minutes and 24 seconds."

There was silence for a few seconds before the CAG replied.

"Then; we'll see you on the other side, Galactica out."

The crew members of the Xavier watched the battle-star disappear.

Laura turned a puzzled look in Logan's direction.

"Can we not get to the co-ordinates quicker then 20 minutes?"

"Yes we can," said Jean answering the question "but I think Logan wants to give the colonials some time to relax."

"That's a good idea; we did give them a lot to think about," said Q Junior as he leaned against "and we have barely told them anything about Earth and the Federation."

Silence followed his words.

"Well," started Logan " we've got less than 12 hours to get ready for the next round, " he looked at Jean and Laura. "Both of you need to get some rest; while Q..."

"Don't worry about me; I'm a hologram I don't need sleep; remember ?," said the male teenager.

Logan raised an eyebrow . " I was just about to say that," Q Junior's face reddened.

"So we can count on you on getting the necessary data ready for the colonials ?"

Q Junior nodded as he straightened up. "I guess you want us to go at a warp speed which will get us to the location in 20 minutes ?"

"Precisely...just make sure the good CAG did not give us the co-ordinates of a black hole or the inside of a star."

Laura smiled drily. "I can hardly wait till the next meeting."

Logan and Q Junior looked at her.

"You're not going," they said in perfect unison.

Jean hid a smile as the two males stared at each other in surprise while Laura glared at them.

"Excuse me? Why not?" she asked in a cold voice.

Uh oh, she's getting very upset. Said the Phoenix in a sing-song voice.

Jean decided to intervene before the two males said something stupid.

"Laura; it's the first series of talks; we need the colonials to get used to us before you step on that ship again."

Laura transferred the glare to the telepath.

"I can take care of myself."

"Yes Laura; there is no doubt about that...but please be patient. It's astonishing the colonials did not shoot these two when Logan decided to drop his little bombshell about his claws and the cryo-sleep," Jean glared at Logan who had the grace to look a bit embarrassed.

His 'demonstration' and the revelation of being away for 372 years had not been part of what the 4 of them had agreed to discuss with the colonials in the first meeting.

"Yeah; come to think of it; way to go old man," said Laura as her angry expression turned to a cynical smile "Jean was this close to beaming the two of you out of there. Imagine how the colonials would have reacted to that."

"Look; I know it may have been a bit premature of me to tell them about how long we have been away...I just wanted to tell them as it is and see their reaction."

"Though I disagree with how it was done," added Q Junior " I see the logic in his 'blunt' approach. Maybe...the sooner we tell them of how Earth and the Federation truly is; the easier it will be for them to come to terms with the obvious differences.

Right now lack of information will add to the distrust and confusion."

Jean nodded gravely. She and Laura had heard and seen the shock on the colonials faces when Logan had stated Earth was the birthplace of humans and when he had shown what mutants could do.

"The last thing we need is for them to fear us," said Jean.

Logan sighed. "It's too late for that; they already fear us" in his mind he saw the heavily armed marines who had escorted them to the meeting and he had smelt the fear of the marines who had been waiting next door " because they don't understand what we are," he looked at Laura "that's why you and Jean cannot come to the Galactica yet."

Laura started frowning.

The captain held out a placating hand. "Scared people carry out dangerous and stupid actions. If things get better...then you can visit the Galactica. Please; trust me on this."

She looked at him for several moments.

"Fine."

He hid the relief he felt as he nodded.

"Now; we get some rest for the next 6 hours. Then we discuss how we will proceed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X

The Galactica, CIC...

The CIC was a beehive of activity; they had arrived in their new co-ordinates 5 minutes ago and were monitoring the comm and DRADIS to ensure each member of the refugee fleet had made it through.

Now all they had to do was wait for the Xavier.

Speculations had spread like wild-fire when the Thirteenth Tribe's ship was first seen.

The marines who had escorted the two human males from the shuttle had not said anything. But it did not stop anyone from guessing.

The Thirteenth Tribe had a fleet of powerful ships.

The Thirteenth Tribe also had cylons who were loyal to them.

The Thirteenth Tribe was going to take them to Kobol.

The Thirteenth Tribe was going to fight the cylons and claim back the 12 Colonies.

On and on the stories spread in such a short time with each story becoming more outrageous than the last one.

For a good number of the civilian ships had seen the Xavier take on 2 basestars and single-handedly destroy one of those dreaded cylon ships thus adding fuel to the imagination of those who had seen the brief battle.

As Gaeta entered the CIC; he noticed a lot of officers looked at him expectantly.

He found that ironic; for less than a week ago; most of them had ignored or shunned him because they were still convinced that he had been a cylon collaborator on New Caprica.

However; with the arrival of the Thirteenth Tribe; memories of the past had been buried.

But for how long ?

Gaeta greeted those nearest to him and also acknowledged their greetings before he reached the Admiral's ready room.

Already present were the Admiral; the XO Saul Tigh; Tory Foster and Dr Cottle.

The president and the vice-president had left for Colonial One ; after calling for a meeting with the Quorum.

A contact such as this demanded their attention and contribution.

"Grab a seat Felix," said Admiral Adama as he took a sip of water.

He was holding a copy of the notes Q Junior had left; even Saul Tigh was reading some of them.

Dr Cottle was staring intently at his own and muttering to himself.

"I'm finding this very hard to believe," finally said Cottle out loud.

"Could be an elaborate trick," snorted Saul Tigh.

Gaeta exchanged a look with Tory.

According to the XO; everyone was trying to pull a fast one.

"You saw the videofeed; his forearms were completely exposed. I doubt it's a trick," said the Admiral.

The doctor gave him a sceptical look. "Whatever you say Admiral; but I would rather believe it after I examine him and do a couple of scans."

Adama was already shaking his head before the doctor had finished speaking. "I have a funny feeling that doctors are not on Captain Logan's list of favourite people especially after what was done to him and his daughter."

"What of Dr Grey ? She is a doctor; is she not ?" asked Dr Cottle.

"Possibly; but Lieutenant Thrace thinks they may have a close relationship of some sort," said Adama.

And she's definitely not to be frakked with; thought Saul Tigh as he recalled the floating weapons. He shuddered at the thought that she had been responsible for suspending the weapons in the air.

"So Dr Cottle; is cryosleep possible ?" asked Tory " I thought our colonial scientists were unsuccessful."

He looked at her. " Yes they were but we're talking about the Thirteenth Tribe here."

She frowned. " You really think they are the last tribe?"

Everyone looked at her in surprise; even Saul.

"Ms Foster," started Dr Cottle " I have a dozen marines in the medical bay who sustained injuries which should have put them out of action for the next 5 to 6 weeks but I'm about ready to discharge them because the 'mobile sentient hologram known as Q Junior' healed them with devices that I am not familiar with."

Chief Specialist Tyrol had shown the devices to the doctor with the Admiral's permission.

"Lieutenant Agathon is certain that it's not cylon tech; so what else could it be?"

Tory tried to find an answer but came up with nothing.

"I welcome everyone's opinion; however please remember we're meeting with them in less than 11 hours. We need to prepare un-provocative questions and also determine if we can peacefully obtain the co-ordinates for Earth."

"And if they refuse to give it to us? Remember this is their homeworld ," said Saul cynically.

Adama took a deep breath. " Then we continue via diplomatic means...so far Captain Logan has been honourable and kept his word when he did not have to. His ship came after us when they could have continued on their way...so for now...we have to trust them a little."

He turned back to the oddly shaped papers before him. Each had a glossy feel and was in the shape of a perfect rectangle instead of the octagon-shaped colonial papers.

To his relief he could understand most of what was written; what he was finding hard to believe was the existence of other races.

True to his word; Q Junior had supplied them with pictures of some of the aliens.

The Vulcans; they looked almost human apart from their pointed ears and blank expressions. Apparently they adhered strictly to not showing any emotion. Must be a cultural thing.

The Romulans; identical to the Vulcans but their way of thinking was vastly different from the Vulcans who were distantly related to them. However the thing to note was that they were barely allies and almost enemies.

Until recently the Romulans had less than amicable relations with Earth.

Another interesting fact was that the Vulcans were the closet allies to Earth and also a founding member of the Federation. The Romulans were not members.

The Andorians; they were blue-skinned with antennae and white hair; were also founding members of the Federation and close allies with Earth and also known as warriors.

The Klingons. Adama found himself staring at the fierce countenance of warrior male; especially the ridged forehead. The Klingon empire had been enemies of the Federation until the last 23rd century.

Then there was the Ferengi; the Betazoid and so on and so on.

And he hadn't even started on the list of races who enemies of the Federation.

So many races and 189 planets were members of the Federation with Earth been the headquarters for the organization.

It was way too much for the Colonials to understand; how much more believe.

"These notes about the other races; are too brief," commented Dr Cottle as he waved a copy which had the picture of a Ferengi.

"It says nothing about their biology; their culture and barely touches on their way of governing."

"I don't think Q Junior had enough time to compile the information; maybe with the next meeting 10 hours away he may have more documents," Gaeta paused "maybe we should consider asking for a disc drive or a memory chip of some sort..."

The Admiral shook his head. "Too much of a risk; we'll go with paper documents for now. What I am interested in is what their ship runs on ? I doubt it's going to be Tylium so include that in the questions.

Another is how many crew they've got."

Everyone looked at him.

"I don't think they will be that forthcoming with such sensitive information sir," said Saul respectively "then again from Lieutenant Thrace's report she thought they may be only 4 crew members including the hologram."

"That's impossible," said Tory " surely a ship that size has more than that!"

"Maybe it's that advanced that a crew of four is just what it needs," Gaeta calmly.

"Maybe," grudgingly agreed Saul "but i'll bet a guided tour is out of the question."

And whose fault is that ? Thought Gaeta as he hid his irritated expression as he pretended to read an article about the Cardassians.

"Dr Cottle; I know we had a very brief time in studying Q Junior's equipment but can it be duplicated ?" asked Adama

The doctor snorted. "When pigs will fly; we didn't even have enough time to study the outside. The Chief was been so cautious that he had the equipment scanned several times before he even let me touch it!"

So I guess that's a no then; thought Gaeta.

"What about the weapon?" asked Saul " any luck there ?"

Adama shook his head. He had already asked the Chief.

"In summary; we know nothing about this people apart from what we have in-front of us," said the XO as he pointed at his copy of notes.

"We know they have an AI," said Tory nervously "and that Q Junior is not human. I'm not too sure about the other three been human either."

Everyone looked anxiously at each other; apart from Adama who was staring at a picture of a Federation human. A native of Earth.

This one was wearing a similar Starfleet uniform as Q Junior had worn; but it was blue and black. The human was a slim young female with dark brown skin and short curly black hair.

If he ignored the uniform; she looked like any other colonial.

"We won't know anything until we get to Earth," he said in a calm voice. He looked up to see them staring at him. He passed the picture to Saul who stared at it for several moments.

"Until then; we have to be very cautious and take every bit of information seriously," he paused " I cannot stress enough that we must do nothing to provoke the crew of the Xavier. Am I clear ?" He looked at each of the people before him; even his best friend Saul Tigh who looked very uncomfortable.

There was a murmur of 'yes sir' and 'yes admiral'.

Before Adama could say another word there was a knock on the door.

A polite interruption at this time could only mean one thing.

"Come in."

Commander Lee Adama entered. "The Xavier is here."

The Admiral hid the relief he felt as he felt the tension in air increase.

"I...I actually didn't think they would come after us," everyone looked at Tory as she said what they were all thinking.

The CAG took a seat beside her. "Well I guess this shows they want to help us...or keep an eye on us."

Saul looked at him. "What do you mean by that ?"

Lee took his time answering. "One of the several questions I would like answered is what were they doing that planet in the first place ?"

Gaeta froze as a thought came to him.

"Maybe they were just passing through,"said Saul drily.

Lee opened his mouth to talk but someone else interrupted him.

"What...what if...Hera's planet was where Q Junior retrieved them from ?"

They all stared at him with blank faces.

"The scripture of Kobol stated that...one who knows of a path to the home of the Thirteenth will be in the temple of Hera...this could mean..."

"You're saying they were in cryosleep within that temple ?" cut inDr Cottle.

"But I thought the temple was over 2000 or 3000 years old ?" interrupted Saul Tigh.

"People; let Lieutenant Gaeta finish," said Adama in a firm voice.

Gaeta nodded gratefully to his commanding officer; then tried to compose himself as he began to explain.

"Sir; we don't know how old the temple was; Starbuck was unable to ascertain its age.

For some unknown reason Captain Logan; his daughter and Dr Grey were placed in cryo-sleep for the past 372 years...one working theory is that the three of them could have been part of some top secret Earth military initiative.

What if the Thirteenth Tribe had a long standing military facility on Hera's planet and that was where they were kept?

Q Junior goes to revive them then we and the cylons find them at the same time."

There was silence for several moments.

"Why would Earth hide them on that planet ?" asked Tory.

Gaeta shrugged. "Only Q Junior would know the answer."

Everyone knew that Hades would probably freeze over before the hologram released such classified information to the colonials.

"It does sound rather far-fetched," muttered Dr Cottle.

"But not impossible," added Saul Tigh with a tight expression on his face. Admiral Adama knew that look.

Both of them had been on one too many black op-missions that had been done on distal moons and desolate planets that the general populace of the 12 colonies had no idea existed.

"Lieutenant Gaeta may have a point," said the CAG "Lieutenant Thrace's team did find the Xavier in orbit when they got there."

"Then the cylons showed up," added his father "which may explain why the temple was destroyed if they did not want the underground base falling into enemy hands."

He looked up to see the others nodding in agreement.

"But without confirmation; this is all just speculation; maybe as Saul said they were just passing through.

Let's get to the information we can work with. We have less than 10 hours."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X

Colonial One...

Once President Laura Roslin sat down; the Quorum attacked.

Verbally ; of cause.

After-all she had just given them a summary of what had recently taken place and as usual she was to blame for all the mistakes.

Vice President Zarek just sat back quietly and watched her take the heat.

John Cantrell of Sagittarion was the first to fire off a question.

"President Roslin; how did you let it get out of hand ? How sure are you that the Xavier will not attack the fleet ?"

These questions caused a lot of anxious muttering from delegates present.

"If that had been their attention; we would not be having this conversation," countered Roslin.

"So you trust them? " asked Dahlia of Tauron " how can you? One of them is a cylon !"

"Not a cylon; but a...sentient hologram," said Roslin hastily as the muttering gained volume.

"Which could be another name for a cylon," said Reza Chronides angrily "the question is what if it decides to side with the cylons and turns on us. The Xavier could be used against the entire fleet!"

Roslin could feel herself losing control of the meeting; she could not blame them. They were afraid.

"But they have the co-ordinates for Earth."

Everyone looked at Vice President Zarek in surprise.

"You believe them ?" asked Cantrell.

"I don't think they are cylons; if they were..." his voice trailed off.

He didn't have to say what was on everyone's mind.

"Anyway; we need to treat them with extreme caution."

"How?" asked one of the delegates anxiously. Roslin looked at the Quorum; they seemed to look towards Zarek as a beacon of hope while they treated her as if she was the cause of all their problems.

The vice president steepled his hands together as he considered the question.

"We need to keep an eye on them."

"Then assign a squad of marines onto the Xavier," said Lance Malfroy of Aerilon.

Roslin resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the man's stupidity; meanwhile Zarek glared at the delegate.

Apparently the moron had not heard of what happened on the flight deck.

"I doubt that will be possible; consider if our roles were reversed if we would tolerate such an invasion of our territory."

Lance seemed to shrink from the Vice-president's anger.

"But surely they would recognise the authority of the President and Vice President of the 12 Colonies and follow your orders ?" Teresa Andley of Picon.

This time Zarek rubbed his forehead in frustration and looked at Roslin.

"Do you want to tell them or should I ?"

"Tell us what?" asked John Cantrell suspiciously.

What Roslin had left out from the summary was that the Thirteenth Tribe seemed to know nothing about Kobol and the Great Exodus.

Considering Zarek's knack for causing panic; it was best coming from her; the President.

Roslin took a deep breath. "There is no easy way to say this...but Captain Logan stated that his people have no knowledge about Kobol or the 12 Colonies."

There was dead silence for several seconds before the room erupted in questions.

"How is that possible ?"

"Who do they worship ? Have they truly lost their way ? Are they monotheists?"

"This is sacrilege! We must never associate with them!"

It got to a point when she could bear it no longer; she stood up and shouted.

"Enough!"

They all fell silent at the vehemence in her voice; even Zarek raised an eyebrow.

"My fellow delegates," she stated in a steely point " this fleet is at the breaking point! We have hardly any food; barely any ammunition or fuel and our ships are falling apart as we speak!

Have I even mentioned the cylons who are on our tails and are just as keen to discover Earth so as to destroy it as well!"

No one dared speak.

"Even Captain Logan and his crew though they have misgivings about us; are ready to work with us and have offered to help.

People; we have no choice but to accept."

The delegates looked at each other; clearly distressed but all seemed to see reason.

Roslin was not done. "I understand your hesitance in trusting them which is why we will get a colonial officer to be assigned to the Xavier to act as a liaison."

Zarek could not hide the surprise on his face.

The President watched the rest of the Quorum relax; reassured by her words.

Inwardly Roslin smiled to herself; she just knew who would be the perfect person for the job.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Galactica; Officers quarters...

Ensign Billy 'Buck' Rogers bit back a grimace as the pain in his left forearm increased. He tried to shift it to get some relief but that was no help.

He sat up and stared at his chronometer; 8 more hours until the next meeting.

His roommates were on duty but due to his injury he had amended duties; such as trying to calm down a roomful of scared heavily armed marines.

That was an exhausting job.

When he came in earlier to rest; he had been pain free.

Must have been the adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

Gods; he wished he the medics still had morpha; he could kill for some now. He sat up wearily and leaned against the back of the bed. The fingers of his left hand were swollen; he could still move them but it hurt so much.

Serves him right for not elevating the broken forearm as Doctor Cottle advised him to.

Another bout of pain had him wincing; he tried to take his mind off the discomfort by thinking of something else.

Before he knew it; his mind drifted to the past; a week before the Holocaust.

He had been a cadet; training at the Academy on Caprica when he got the message that his maternal grandmother was dying and had asked for him specifically.

She had been a priestess in the temple of Ares on Tauron but had not been very close to the family; apart from Billy.

His mum had said since he was born she had been specifically interested in him; she had even known the exact day and time of his birth.

Which was uncanny because he had been born 3 weeks earlier than his expected date.

Billy had been the last child of 5 siblings; the only one to get into the Caprica Colonial Fleet Academy. Everyone had been so proud; including his grandmother who had regularly corresponded with him.

He had always known when to expect a message even before he checked his emails; and had even known when she was ill before she told him.

The request for him to come back to Tauron to see her had been difficult to arrange but he had managed.

It had been heart rending seeing her lying so frail; wasted due to the effects of wide spread cancer.

But what had scared him the most was when she grabbed his right hand.

"Billy Rogers; we share more than blood and flesh...we share an ability...but you have not yet opened your eyes."

Rogers had patted her hand; he had been sure that she was delusional due to the effects of the cancer and chemotherapy.

She had laughed. "My dear child; you think I am mad. Oh my boy; my mind is as clear as before I was struck down with this malady.

Honour one more request of mine; please stay until my body is ashes and you must disperse them at the Hikal River," she had paused "but please forgive me that I cannot save the rest of your family. I can only save you," then she had broke down crying.

Billy had held his grandmother uncertain of what to do and clearly confused by her words.

4 days later she died; 2 days after that she was cremated with only him present as the rest of the family had been unable to attend for various reasons.

The seventh day he dispersed her ashes in the Hikal River which happened to be next to the Tauron City spaceports; only to lift off as his home-world was been destroyed.

Billy had watched in total disbelief as he watched the nukes fall.

Somehow his grandmother had known and she had saved only him.

He had grieved for them; he had not even felt anger towards her but he was afraid that he was gradually becoming what his grandmother had been.

Someone who could see the future or someone who was most likely going mad.

Billy felt a wave of anxiety as his heart rate picked up. He needed to think of something else before he had a nervous breakdown.

Like why would the President of the 12 Colonies want to speak to him?

He spent several minutes wondering why that random thought entered his mind; only to be interrupted by his communicator going off.

"Ensign Rogers here," he said in as calm a voice as possible.

"Ensign; its President Roslin...is this a good time to talk?"

Bill stared at the communicator like it was a rampaging centurion.

"Ensign are you there?"

He swallowed nervously. "Yes Mrs President...how may I help you today?"

"Will you present at the next meeting with Captain Logan and Q Junior?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good...I will need you for a special assignment; but first I need to clear it with Admiral Adama. Please keep this between us until otherwise. Is that understood ?"

"Y...yes ma'am," said Billy hesitantly.

Then the communicator disconnected. He stared at it for several moments.

"Dear Lords of Kobol; what the frak is happening to me?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

The Xavier; the Engine room...

Q Junior looked at the clock.

Seven hours to go. He looked at the mountain of paperwork he had already generated. There was no way he was taking all of that to the next meeting.

He had to think of something; he sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

If he was human; he would be having the mother of all migraines.

Right now he just felt a bit frustrated. How was he going to summarise 150,000 years of history into a few sheets of paper ?

A sliding sound behind him made him turn to see Dr Grey walk into the room.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Dr Grey; shouldn't you be asleep?"

She looked around the room as if searching for something then settled on him.

"Eh...yeah you're right; I just couldn't sleep."

Q Junior gave her an odd look; then also gave the room a 360 degree survey.

"Doc; what are you looking for?"

"Here is so cold and empty...that is apart from the warp core and all these consoles; but shouldn't you have your own personal quarters ?" asked Jean in a serious tone.

Q Junior stared at her. "Well; I'm not really human so don't really need a ..."

"You need a normal room Q," she walked towards one of the consoles "anyway; I've got a question for you."

Why am I not surprised ? Thought Q Junior wryly.

"How do you feel about been a hologram ? Please be level with me."

The boy said nothing for a while; then he sighed. "It sucks; right now I feel so limited...it's hard to explain."

"You miss the power?" it was not a question.

He laughed a little. "Yeah I do miss it; but...I just have to work with what I have and maybe things will get better.

One can only hope, Dr Grey."

He watched the doctor nod; then she looked at a far right corner of the room for a few moments. He looked there as well and saw nothing.

In that brief moment when he was not watching her; her eyes flashed black for a split second.

"Q Junior; get some sleep or some rest."

"I can't; I have so much work to..."

"You're no good to yourself if you begin to make mistakes. We have all been going on far longer than we should. Get. Some. Rest. Now."

Q Junior opened his mouth to argue ; then stopped at the set look on the doctor's face. "Fine; I will..."

"And assign yourself some quarters; you deserve it kiddo. You built the ship," said Jean gently.

Q Junior found himself reddening. "Thanks Dr Grey," he looked at the ceiling.

"Xavier; please alert me in 2hours."

"Yes Q Junior."

"Get some rest too Dr Grey," advised Q Junior.

She smiled at him. "Sure thing Engineer," she left but cast a quick glance around the room before leaving.

Q Junior frowned a bit. "Xavier; please identify the number of life-signs on board."

"4 humans beside yourself Q Junior."

The Q grinned. "Thanks; Xavier; see ya around later."

He left the engine room.

For several minutes the room was empty; then two figures appeared in a flash of light.

Lady Q and her husband.

"Dear; we should not be here," said Q immediately.

Lady Q ignored him as she stared after the door her son had just left through.

"She knew I was here; but she said nothing."

Q shrugged. "Well it is a bit strange that one of the humans can sense us," his face assumed a very worried expression.

"We really need to be going dear."

Lady Q still stood in the same place; in her mind she could see Jean Grey looking straight at her before her eyes flashed black for a brief moment to send a message.

We will protect him; this we promise.

Q was worried; his wife had been hell-bent on coming here and helping their son regain his Q powers; but this was the sort of thing the General was waiting for.

If they stepped out of line; their son's work was to be stopped and completely reversed. Q Junior was completely unaware of this.

Q Junior would never forgive them if it came to that.

"Dear; I know you're worried but we..."

"He's going to be alright," interrupted Lady Q.

Q stared at her in shock. "What?"

" The Phoenix and Jean will watch over him."

Q's jaw dropped. "Now y...you trust her?!"

His wife gave him a scathing look. "Of cause; haven't I said all along that she's just like me ? Now come along dear; you should not have brought us here.

We really must go if we don't want General Q to get upset."

"But this was your idea..." Q was still protesting loudly as his wife grabbed his right hand and snapped her fingers.

The two disappeared in a flash of light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X

Kris= thanks for the review

Thunder18= so glad you enjoying the story

Witch20=glad for your review and support

Atsik101= just wait for it and you will get some demonstration of powers soon!

CyberAngelOne=thanks for your review and encouragement

Thanatoss=I'll be in more of the Federation hx with the following chapters; so glad you like the story

Duri'd the Druid= glad you like how it's going

Nedy Rahn=glad you like Logan's approach!

Cjcold2=great idea about the star charts; I will aim to include it for the following chapters! And so many thanks about the vitamin supplements!

For everyone else; thanks for reviews and support; please keep reading and enjoy !