CHAPTER 33 of The Phoenix and the Wolverine.

The Xavier, the captain's ready room...

Kara stood up to pace up and down the ready room; she ignored Anders' worried expression.

She looked around the ready room, Dr Grey was speaking with Sharon and Helo, little Hera was awake and currently in her father's arms.

She was trying to touch his face while she made cooing noises.

Novacek had a blank look on his face as he observed them.

Caprica was silent for once and also watching the child with a sad smile on her face.

Baltar was standing and trying to examine the sensor displays on the wall as well as the dedication plaque of the Xavier.

Everything Baltar was staring at must be fascinating; but Kara had other things on her mind.

The clock was ticking.

Kara wished the Xavier could go faster but she knew that the way the ship had suddenly come out of 'warp' must have done something to the engines.

To be honest; she was astonished they had been able to get underway as fast as possible.

Earlier on, when the ship stopped suddenly; Kara had been on the bridge.

She almost went flying face first into the console in front of her; but an invisible force stopped her and somehow gently pushed her back into her seat.

Kara had looked around to see Logan was already on his feet and Jean had moved to the helms.

She heard the captain of the ship swear; Kara turned to the view-screen and her heart almost stopped beating at what she saw on the screen.

The anomaly was back.

And even without sensors she could tell it was bigger, more unstable and that they were awfully close to it.

To her relief and astonishment the ship was not being pulled in as Dr Grey put some considerable distance between the anomaly and the ship.

As the klaxons blared, Kara ran to check the others; she was certain they would have sustained injuries.

Once again, she was stunned when she found them standing around with expressions of shock on their faces.

As for baby Hera; the little one had amazingly slept through the sudden stop.

"Did the gravity stabilisers fail?" asked a very pale Dr Baltar with a trembling voice.

Kara forgot her animosity to the man for a few seconds. " No...did anyone get hurt ? Is everyone okay ? "

"One moment we were flying then a...a force held us in the air for a few moment before settling us down gently. It was the most extra-ordinary thing I have ever witnessed or experienced," Baltar's breathless voice was filled with awe and disbelief.

Novacek had other concerns. "Are we under attack?"

"No; the AI performed an emergency stop," answered Kara who was relieved they were all okay but very puzzled as to what had prevented them from sustaining serious injuries.

The memory of standing in the Galactica flight bay with weapons being held in the air by an invisible force came to mind; had it happened again ?

Ander's expression was now quite concerned. "Why did the ship stop?"

"The anomaly is back..."

Helo and Sharon exchanged a worried look.

"And we were just about to fly into it," completed Kara.

"What anomaly?" asked a shaken Caprica Six.

Kara looked at her for a long moment.

"Wanna take a look?"

Six's mouth opened briefly. "You want to show me this anomaly?"

"I want to see it as well," said Daniel as he glared at Six. Their current situation had not made him forget what she represented.

"I wouldn't mind taking a look," said Baltar hurryingly.

Anders looked at them and at Kara. "I'll come with you."

The female colonial pilot nodded before motioning for them to proceed before her. As Anders passed her; he gave her a questioning look but wisely kept silent.

Kara was planning to explain it to him later.

She wanted to watch Caprica Six when she saw the anomaly.

Kara did not think the cylons had ever encountered it before; but she had to be sure.

Captain Logan had looked pissed when she arrived with Anders and the three new 'guests'.

But he continued talking with Q Junior who was still in engineering and from the little Kara could hear; it seemed like the warp drive was intact and could still work.

As for Six, the female cylon was dumbstruck by the image on the view-screen.

Apparently this was the first time the female cylon had seen something like this.

That was both a relief and a huge concern.

Once the anomaly disappeared; Logan gave Kara and Anders a look which they had no problem interpreting.

Get the three new guests back into the ready room now.

Even though Kara wanted to stay on the bridge; she had to go back into the ready room because Daniel , Baltar and Caprica did not want to move an inch.

They were too busy taking in the bridge and it's unbelievable view-screen.

She had to take Novacek by the right arm and pull; he gave her an angry look.

Kara leaned closer to him and whispered. "Trust me; you do not want to piss their captain off, remember what he did to the cylons and centurions?"

Rage and reason warred and in the end the latter won to Kara's relief.

Anders just had to nudge Baltar and glared at Caprica who after a few moments followed Kara and Novacek back into the ready room.

There they had waited until Dr Grey joined them to their collective relief.

The female physician sat beside Sharon and enquired about Hera who woke up when she was transferred to her father's gentle arms.

"What was that anomaly?"

Caprica's voice stopped Kara in her tracks. She turned to face the female cylon.

"Now, you're asking me?"

The cylon was silent for a while; ignoring the fact that everyone was watching and waiting for her answer.

"I have never seen anything like that before and believe me when I say that I have travelled far and wide," she looked at Dr Grey " but you know what it is."

The doctor leaned back in her seat and watched Caprica with a calm expression on her face.

"Perhaps; but there are others with more experience and learning than me who know what that anomaly is; so I am afraid I cannot help you in that regard."

Caprica's eyes narrowed, the female doctor knew a lot more than she was letting on. "Even a little knowledge is better than none, Dr Grey."

Jean raised an eyebrow as if she knew what Six was thinking.

But before anything more could be said; the doors of the ready room slid open and Laura walked in.

"Jean; we need you on the bridge," said the girl in a calm but solemn tone.

Dr Grey stared at her with a worried look on her face; she stood up quickly and left the room muttering her excuses.

Laura left without a word.

Kara and Helo exchanged a worried glance; Laura hardly smiled but she was looking very stern.

Had someone been seriously injured?

Kara had thought everyone who had been down in engineering was okay.

She made a move towards the door and to her surprise Rogers walked into the room.

"Eh hi," said the slightly nervous ensign when he realized everyone was looking at him.

Kara walked up to him. "Is everything alright? Laura just called Dr Grey."

"Oh that," the young male pilot scratched his head nervously "they are having a meeting and we...are not to be part of it."

Kara stared at him in surprise. "Come again?"

Caprica had sat up with an amused look on her face. "Appears you are not that close to them after-all."

Rogers turned to her. "Even close allies do not discuss sensitive security matters with each other; I'm sure you have witnessed such behaviour among your own brethren."

The Number Six's face flushed red.

Rogers smiled sadly. "And yet; you are of the same race."

"What could they possibly be talking about?" asked Novacek in a clear voice.

Roger shrugged. "I don't know; it could be anything from the rescue to the anomaly that we almost flew into. All I know is that it affected the warp drive."

Baltar moved closer to the ensign at his last words.

"The warp drive? What is that?"

Rogers turned to him. "It's what they use to jump, except that they call it going into warp."

Anders coughed discreetly. "Rogers; we shouldn't really be discussing this with him and her." He pointed at the scientist and at Caprica Six.

Roger's face reddened.

Six sighed in frustration. "What does it matter? At the rate we're going; I doubt I will ever see my people again."

"Never say never," said Sharon coldly.

The Number Six model looked at her for a long moment. "You've got a point dear."

"If they are members of the Thirteenth Tribe; we should be part of whatever meeting they are having," said Novacek.

Anders frowned at him. "They are the Thirteenth Tribe but please bear in mind that without them we wouldn't be alive at this moment and you and the others would not be free.

This is Captain Logan's ship and he has been far more generous and fair than I expected.

If we were on the Galactica; Admiral Adama would not be letting him into every meeting..."

"Wait," said Novacek as he held up a hand "are we talking about William Adama? He's an Admiral now?"

Anders stared at him. "Yeah; about a year back, President Roslin promoted him when we met up with Admiral Cain..."

"Which Cain?" interrupted Novacek again.

Anders replied patiently. "Admiral Helena Cain."

Daniel blinked. "Who made that battleaxe an Admiral?"

Caprica Six laughed bitterly; making him almost jump. "Oh; she was a battleaxe alright."

Sharon looked uncomfortable at the mention of the late Admiral's name.

Novacek picked up on the tension right away.

"Something tells me she still wasn't popular after I disappeared; where is she now..."

Anders interrupted this time. "She's dead sir."

Novacek wanted to ask how but something in the Junior Lieutenant's eyes made him hesitate.

"So...Adama is now Admiral," said Daniel thoughtfully "what of Saul Tigh ? Please tell me that bastard is still alive."

Kara sighed. "He's the executive officer of the Galactica and he's still as ornery as ever."

Daniel raised an eyebrow at the subtle disrespect in Kara's voice; but he had one more question to ask and the answer was very important.

"And I expect Adama's three sons are serving in the military."

The silence that followed was loud in it's own way.

"Admiral Adama had only two sons; Lee and Zak...Zak is dead," said Kara in a cold voice.

Daniel blinked. "I...how...?" he found it hard to continue.

"Training accident," said Kara in a brittle voice.

Novacek could see he had touched a nerve; the woman before him had been close to Zak.

Novacek was not entirely sure of where he was; part of him believed he had been rescued for real but he was also afraid he was dreaming and was going to wake up in his cell eventually.

Being a captive for eight years had affected him physically and mentally; it was a wonder that he was not insane or dead.

"Lieutenant Novacek," began Anders in a barely controlled voice "I understand that it's still hard to believe you have been rescued.

I know a little of what you're going through.

When Caprica was nuked ; I was on a training exercise on the Brishan Mountains. That exercise saved me and my team.

But we had to hide and we lost a good number of our people to injuries and falls; and that was before the centurions and cylons realized we were in the region."

Novacek was silent as he watched Anders relive his own painful memories.

"We hid, we ran, we fought, starved and died to avoid the enemy," the male pilot's voice was raw.

"We never thought we would ever get off the planet; as far as we were concerned, we were the last of our people and we had no hope left," he paused then looked at his wife "then a raptor crashed with Starbuck inside it and then we were allowed to hope once more."

He turned towards Sharon. "Without Sharon and Starbuck; we would never have gotten off Caprica and found our way to the colonial fleet."

Anders turned his attention back to Novacek. "You can believe us or not; but please wait at least until we get to the Galactica and then you can ask the Admiral himself if he is real or not."

Daniel was silent when Anders was done; he looked at the Junior Lieutenant before him for several moments.

"Probably; I will just do that...if we make it to the Galactica."

Kara closed her eyes briefly. In her mind she prayed they did so; but she was worried that the odds were not in their favour.

The doors slid open once more before anyone else spoke and in walked the crew of the Xavier.

Everyone including Novacek stood up.

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Logan took one look at the people standing in the room and felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise.

There was so much tension in the room that he could cut it with one of his adamantium blades.

Well things were about to get more tense.

"Everyone please take your seats."

He waited until they were about to sit before he took his.

Dr Grey was on his left and Laura was on the other side.

Q Junior sat beside Laura, while Ensign Kadretti sat beside Dr Grey and Rogers quickly took a seat by Oma's side as well.

Logan noticed Hera was awake but she was playing with her father's jacket and seemed content and happy.

The captain just prayed she did not start wailing in the next few minutes when someone lost their temper.

"You're wearing uniforms," said Caprica in a clear voice as she looked at Oma's and Q Junior's red and black outfits. Her sharp eyes noticed the single bar on the right upturned collar of the upper part of the uniforms; she already knew their ranks were 'Ensign'.

"But you are not in uniform captain," said Six as she looked at Logan.

"How perceptive of you," said Logan dryly "anyway; let's talk about more important things."

Anders covered his mouth to hide a smile as Logan clearly avoided to explain his lack of 'uniform'.

He and Kara had thought that was because Captain Logan had recently been retrieved from wherever Earth's military had hid him, Dr Grey and Laura.

Uniforms must have changed in the past 300 odd years that the three had been asleep.

However; that did not completely explain why Logan refused to wear a uniform.

The captain of the Xavier continued speaking. "We'll start with what we found in the basestar and what we're going to do once we get to the fleet."

Kara felt some of her tension ease; Logan was going to keep to his word.

"So, what did you find?" asked Caprica; she showed no sign that she was upset that he did not answer her first implied question.

"The new weapon used against the shuttle we were escaping in," he glanced at Q Junior who stood up and walked to the front of the table.

He brought out his padd and attached his tricorder to a section of the e-tablet.

"On hacking into the basestar interface, I discovered a new class of nukes had recently been created; main component is anti-matter which has increased the destructive yield..." a three dimensional image of a tactical cylon nuke came up and began to rotate slowly.

Logan was watching Caprica Six closely and saw her eyes widen in disbelief; she opened her mouth to speak then closed it as if afraid to say a word.

"...to over 300 percent of a normal nuke.

From the database; the original yield of a nuke was 65 megatons."

Logan let out a low whistle when he heard that.

"Not only that; but the cylon raiders have been programmed to calculate the distance of the shields from our ship and to jump behind the shield and detonate the nuke and the raider."

Six looked even paler at his last words.

"They have become kamikaze," said Laura in a grim tone.

Dr Grey saw the puzzled expressions on the faces of the colonials and had pity on them.

"Centuries ago; before man went to the stars, there was a worldwide war on Earth."

The colonials and cylons turned to face the female doctor.

"One of the nations involved in the war was the Empire of Japan.

In the ending stages of the war, Japan had a string of defeats at sea; so her commanders devised kamikaze flying attacks in which planes filled with explosives would fly into enemy flight carriers.

The logic behind this suicidal act was that if one is to die; what better way to do so by taking one's enemy with them?"

There was silence for a bit.

Kara unconsciously rubbed her left shoulder as she recalled the reports of suicide bombers on occupied New Caprica.

The similarity between the actions of the colonial suicide bombers and the Japanese 'kamikaze' pilots was sobering.

"What does kamikaze mean? I am not familiar with the word," asked Baltar in a curious voice.

Logan's tone was grave as he answered. "Literal translation means 'God wind' or 'divine wind'...it was not very effective and they lost a lot of pilots for no good reason."

Caprica covered the lower half of her face.

Part of her was appalled at what Cavil had done; it had to be his work. No one else was as heartless as he was and he had to have help from Aaron as well. If she ever got back she was literally going to tear them to pieces.

The other half of her was intrigued about what Captain Logan had just described.

Kamikaze meant 'God Wind' or 'Divine Wind'.

This was proof that the people of Earth worshipped the One God; they had to be cylons.

Suddenly she saw his metal claws and that of his daughter in a new light.

She glanced at Dr Grey who was watching her closely; did that mean the female doctor was also a cylon?

"Ensign Q; please continue," said Captain Logan.

The Starfleet ensign nodded. "At the time we escaped; exactly 14 raiders detonated against the shuttle. This reduced our shield strength to 55 percent in less than 2 minutes and 34 seconds.

Fortunately the shield strength was sufficient enough to protect us from the immense amount of radiation that was produced by the detonated nukes."

Everyone who had been in the shuttle looked uncomfortable at the word 'radiation'.

"Don't worry; that's the reason for the medicals for all away teams, everyone got the all clear."

Q Junior did not bother mentioning that he had also scanned Laura, Oma and Rogers again in engineering after they almost got their heads bashed in by the emergency stop of the warp drive.

"Is there a way to counteract these new weapons?"

Everyone looked at Dr Baltar who had asked the question in a hesitant tone.

Q Junior was silent for a moment before answering. "There is a possible way..."

Kara felt her heart rate quicken with alarm; she surely hoped that the hologram was not about to discuss the Xavier's weapon's system in front of Caprica Six who was listening intently.

"...however I need to discuss it with Captain Logan, Captain Agathon and Lieutenant Thrace in private," he inclined his head slightly to the stunned scientist "...need to know and all that; I'm sure you understand Dr Baltar."

Kara could not help smiling at the brief frustrated expression that had appeared on Six's face.

Q Junior was definitely not 'born' yesterday.

"How many modified nukes do they have?" asked Oma was a worried look on her face.

Q Junior looked at his fellow Starfleet colleague. "There was a record of three hundred and twenty four modified nukes when I accessed the datastream."

Caprica Six looked as if she was going to be ill.

"What about the cylon fleet? How many are they?" asked Captain Logan.

Q Junior looked at his captain as Caprica swallowed nervously.

"There are three groups of basestars..."

Anders and Kara shared a worried look.

"The one we took Hera and the others from is the smallest group of 17 basestars; the second group which is 14 light years away numbers 23 and the third group is the largest which numbers 30 basestars and a huge structure which I believe is the cylon headquarters."

One could have heard a feather drop in the silence that followed; even baby Hera was silent.

Dr Grey was watching Caprica Six and saw the blood drain from her face as she stared at Q Junior in horror.

While Kara was trying not to be sick at the thought of 70 basestars and an unknown cylon HQ waiting somewhere in space.

"Where's the third group?" asked a solemn Logan.

"It's the farthest and it's co-ordinates are 35 light years from our current position.

However please bear in mind and these co-ordinates would most likely change due to recent events."

He paused before continuing.

"Also due to Ensign Kadretti blowing up the resurrection ship..." Six darted a look at the female Starfleet ensign but to her surprise she looked uncomfortable rather than pleased by what she had done.

"...the cylons have only two more resurrection ships remaining and one resurrection hub."

Caprica took a deep breath; she looked like she was about to pass out; even Sharon looked a bit disturbed.

"Do you have the co-ordinates of the hub Ensign Q?" asked Anders as he kept his eyes on the Number Six model.

Q Junior frowned. "Not exactly; it appears that the hub has a different jump system than the current basestars and thus barely disturbs sub-space significantly enough for us to trace it.

From the Hybrid's records; the hub jumps at different intervals."

"Is there no way to track it?" asked Kara with a frown on her face.

"There is...through the Hybrid. We would have to take over a basestar completely and travel with it as it jumps towards the hub.

However; taking over a basestar is going to need a lot of personnel and ships; which we clearly do not have available."

Caprica was not able to hide a sigh of relief as she covered the lower half of her face with a trembling hand.

"What of the Galactica? Surely the colonial fleet has not remained in the same place since you left," asked Novacek in a surprisingly calm voice.

Logan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Senior Lieutenant.

"The Xavier is able to track the fleet via subspace disruptions," Q Junior paused at the sceptical look on the Novacek's face "I know it's hard to believe but that's how our ships track starships."

"Fascinating," said Baltar in an awed voice as he stared at Q Junior " and you...what are you? I doubt you are human."

Kara and Anders shared another worried look; they had totally forgotten about Baltar.

Surely he had not heard when Anders told Novacek that Q Junior was a hologram ?

"He's a cylon," answered Caprica as she watched a slightly anxious expression appear on Q Junior's face.

"What?" asked Baltar in disbelief.

Novacek narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Anders who shook his head slightly and made a discreet hand sign that colonial pilots learnt in the academy. The sign meant 'say nothing'.

Novacek's frown deepened but he wisely kept quiet as Caprica continued to question Ensign Q Junior.

"You are a cylon of the Thirteenth Tribe; are you not? How else would you have been able to access the interface or hack into the mainframe?"

Q Junior laughed a bit nervously. "You would be surprised at what a determined sentient being can do Miss Six."

Caprica Six was puzzled by his cryptic words.

"Ensign Q," called Anders who was eager to change the topic "what of those ancient resurrection tanks we saw? Who was inside them?"

Sharon narrowed her eyes. "What tanks are we talking about?"

Q Junior took a deep breath. "During the download; I accessed deeply encrypted data concerning one of the cylon models; who you all know as Cavil."

The holographic image of the new nuke changed to show a middle aged slim man checking five cylindrical covered tanks in the middle of a room.

Novacek made a fist on the table but his features were rigid; Sharon noticed it and kept her eyes on him as she listened carefully to Q Junior.

"There are 2 female and 3 male cylons within these tanks..." Q Junior stopped when he noticed Logan's raised hand.

"Miss Six; who are the people in those ancient tanks? I thought the resurrection ship was where you guys downloaded when you kicked the bucket."

Six looked at him for a long moment; though the phrasing was odd she got the gist of it. "While this is very hard for you to believe; I don't know anything about those tanks. They were decommissioned more than 30 years ago. I am just as eager as you to find out who...

Kara glared at her. "You expect us to believe that...?"

"She's telling the truth," said Logan calmly. Everyone stared at him.

"What?" asked a puzzled Anders.

"She is telling the truth," repeated Logan as he leaned towards Caprica Six "but now that you're here with us and Hera is safe...what exactly do you intend to do next ?"

Caprica stared at him for a long moment; something told her it was in her best interest to be honest.

"I wish to know more about the Thirteenth Tribe...about Earth..."

"So that you can destroy it like the Twelve Colonies?" blurted out Novacek in barely suppressed anger.

Caprica's eyes flashed in anger.

"No one is destroying Earth," said Logan in a low dark tone that shut Novacek up and stopped Caprica from speaking.

The captain turned back to the blonde female cylon. "You wish to learn about Earth?" his smile was without warmth.

"Be careful what you wish for Six, because if you live long enough; you will get more than you bargained for."

Six opened her mouth to speak then shut it; for some reason she could not respond to his cryptic statements.

Logan turned away from her. "Since, Ms Six does not know about the tanks; we will discuss this later when it's relevant."

Anders looked like he was about to disagree.

"We need to concentrate on reaching the Colonial fleet because if we are late and not prepared; the inhabitants of those tanks will be the least of our problems."

Anders took one look at the stern expression on Logan's face; the colonial pilot sighed and reluctantly nodded.

"The next thing I need to do is get in contact with Starfleet and inform them about what's going on here."

Caprica lifted her head at the word 'Starfleet'. The light in her eyes said it all; she very much wanted to know about Earth's military; but how to go about it?

"When?" asked Kara; she like her husband wanted to know more about the tanks but she was just as eager to see more of Starfleet.

Especially now that she knew that 70 basestars with a cylon HQ were lurking somewhere in space.

She felt the colonial refugee fleet needed the Thirteenth Tribe's military like yesterday.

"Now," said Logan.

Kara was speechless for several moments; she had not expected that.

Dr Grey, Laura and Q Junior had neutral expressions on their faces.

Logan turned to Oma. "Ms Kadretti; we're going to need your codes for this."

If the female Starfleet ensign had been surprised; she did not show it.

"Yes captain; I'll need Q Junior's help as well."

Logan nodded as if he had expected this. "People; our ETA with the fleet is in 5 hours and 25 minutes," he paused "if any of you are the praying type...I suggest you get started."

He stood up and raised an eyebrow when everyone else stood as well.

"I expect most of you are hungry," said Dr Grey "please accompany me to Ten-Forward, which is our mess hall."

Novacek looked a bit anxiously at Anders who nodded. "Food is good; I've eaten there as well and will in fact be joining you guys."

The former POW could barely hide his relief; ever since the rescue he had seemed to view Anders as a pillar of support.

"Fine," muttered Novacek before he and the other colonials followed Dr Grey out of the ready room.

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As Jean took the others away; Logan made a mental note to have a chat with Novacek later...after he had spoken to Anders of course.

However; the captain wasn't surprised when Kara followed him to the bridge.

Laura, Oma and Q Junior brought up the rear.

"Captain; I would like to be present when you speak to Starfleet," she was trying to be calm but he smelt her anxiety.

Logan looked at her for a moment. "I know you would; however there are certain things that I need to discuss with them first and you don't have clearance."

Kara's eyes flashed. "Sir...with all due respect, you promised to share the data with us..."

"And I will," cut in Logan "but right now; I need to warn Starfleet of the 70 basestars and an unknown cylon structure that are in this region of space.

The Xavier is the first Starfleet ship that has come to this sector of space; don't you think the cavalry deserves a warning at least?"

Kara looked puzzled. "Cavalry? Is that a military division?"

She heard stifled laugh behind her and she turned to see Q Junior had his hand over his mouth while Oma and Laura were smiling a little.

Logan sighed. "It's an ancient Earth term; it means like a rescue team or something similar. I keep forgetting you're not familiar with certain words."

Starbuck nodded as she stored away another 'Earth' word; then she realized that the captain was giving her an expectant look.

"Ah yeah; I guess I better go," the silence was awkward as she quickly left the bridge.

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Once past the door; Kara looked at the entrance to the bridge and was sorely tempted to storm back in.

Then she forced herself to remember that the captain of this ship could easily throw her into their version of the brig without batting an eye.

Damn! She really wanted to be there during that transmission but she knew that if their roles had been reversed there was no way in Hades she would have let them near the CIC.

She sighed wearily.

"Lieutenant Thrace."

Kara almost jumped out of her skin.

"Do you require directions to Ten-Forward?"

The female colonial pilot touched her chest as her heart beat rapidly.

"Zeus above! You almost gave me a heart attack Xavier!"

"I apologize for the scare Lieutenant." The AI actually sounded apologetic.

Kara took a calming breath before answering. "You don't need to direct me Xavier; I know the way...but...thanks for offering."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant."

Kara looked upwards; she had almost forgotten the Xavier was keeping an 'eye' on everything.

But strangely enough; against her better judgement she was no longer afraid of the AI of this ship.

In fact now that she thought about it; Xavier had been kind to them right from the first time they got unto the ship.

She shook her head slightly as she began to walk towards the mess hall; who would have thought that she would ever see an A.I in a favourable light ?

That alone was evidence that she had been on this ship for far too long.

Kara had to get back to the colonial fleet.

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Logan watched Kara leave before turning back to the teenagers in front of him.

"Ensign Kadretti; who do you think we should try first ? The Dunkirk or your parents?"

Oma hesitated only for a moment. "The Dunkirk, captain, I doubt the ship was destroyed and hopefully by now communications will be back online."

"Here's hoping," said Laura dryly as she took her position at the helm.

Q Junior walked over to the communication's station. "Anytime you're ready Oma."

The female Starfleet ensign stood by his side and once more gave him the input codes for the USS Dunkirk.

Q Junior began to make the necessary relay-communication links.

Logan silently sat in the command chair and waited.

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USS Dunkirk; enroute to the Klingon-Neutral Zone...

Lieutenant Commander Klaus Flint walked into the mess hall; instantly he noticed the tense atmosphere.

He could hardly blame them; a few minutes ago, Captain Singh had informed the whole ship on their destination and hence their reason for going through Klingon territory.

It was enough to make any one nervous.

The last war had involved a wormhole and now another one was trying it's damnest to appear; Flint would be very surprised if the Klingons were not concerned.

After all the Klingon empire was still recovering from the Dominion War.

Flint bit his lower lip thoughtfully before stepping up to the bar to order a light meal and a drink; once he had his order he looked for a place to sit.

The security officer preferred sitting on his own most of the time but something caught his eye.

Lieutenant Commander D'aran Tshula was on his own with a drink in-front of him; but it was his expression that was most worrying. The usually cheerful Trill looked very grave.

Flint did not know what made him walk towards the Trill.

"Is this seat taken?"

D'aran looked startled as he turned. "Oh; didn't see you...em...no, the seat is free."

Flint sat down, he gave D'aran a few moments before speaking.

"Are you alright Mr Tshula?"

The Trill laughed softly. "Never thought you would be the one to ask me that Mr Flint...I guess ice does not run in your veins after-all."

The security officer was barely able to hide the hurt those words caused.

D'aran sighed. "I'm sorry; that was way out of line...things are a bit tough right now."

Flint took a sip of his fruit juice as he tried to think up an adequate response.

"It's understandable to be concerned with the recent developments; have you spoken to the ship's counsellor?"

D'aran scratched his forehead. "It's not that simple...it does not really have to do with where we're going...or maybe it does."

Flint raised an eyebrow; not entirely sure what D'aran was talking about.

The male Trill took a deep breath. "My partner is very upset with me right now."

Flint's photographic memory instantly recalled who he was talking about ; as chief of security it was his job to know everyone's file on this ship but he wisely kept silent.

Tshula's partner was Dr Marcus Ravens, a human-betazoid hybrid.

He had been a medic on board the Dunkirk until he requested a transfer back to a recovering Betazed 3 years ago.

"He's definitely not happy that shore leave has been cancelled due to the current crisis," D'aran paused "after the War, Marcus said how much he wanted to transfer back to Betazed to help in one of the clinics...he stated he could do more there than out here in space.

He tried making me go with him and Chelia."

Flint also knew who Chelia was; she was the adopted daughter of D'aran and Marcus. She lost both biological parents when Betazed was occupied by the Dominion forces during the war. She had only been 3 years old at the time.

"I was planning to use this shore-leave to spend some time with him and Chelia and I thought he had finally understood what space meant to me.

Then I told him that I couldn't make it because we were on a classified mission and he lost it; saying that I was going to get myself killed...so I hung up."

Flint now felt very uncomfortable as he searched for something to say.

"I know he's very concerned about me but exploring space is why I entered Starfleet in the first place...without it; I...I feel like...like I have not achieved what I have dreamed of doing for so long...like part of my life is incomplete." Tshula sighed and laughed softly "I'm really sorry Flint; I so did not mean to lay this on you."

Flint shook his head. "There is nothing to apologize about; how long ago did you speak to Marcus?"

"Half an hour ago."

The security officer chose his words with care. "You need to speak to him soon; he may get angry again and say certain words...but it is best to simply listen to him."

"Then what do I say afterwards?" asked Tshula

Flint was silent for a while. "Say what you just told me; do not stop talking to him or things will only get worse," he paused as he tried to suppress painful memories "what does your symbiont say?"

Tshula grinned ruefully. "Exactly what you said...I'm just too upset to think straight."

Flint smiled a little. "That D'aran; is only natural."

D'aran nodded in agreement.

"Hey guys; mind if we sit with you ?" both looked up to see Lieutenant Commander Atavi and Lieutenant Commander Shran had shown up with plates of food.

"Eh sure," said D'aran. The other two officers sat down.

"So what are you guys talking about?" asked Shila as she quickly dug into her meal.

Flint and D'aran exchanged a quick look.

"Our current destination," said Flint simply.

Shran snorted. "Which one? Qo'noS or the unexplored section of the Alpha Quadrant ?"

"Both" said D'aran "are you guys even worried? You seem quite eager to get there."

Shran smiled. "To boldly go where no one has gone before'...now that is our motto is it not?"

"I would much prefer if they had added on...to also try and survive whatever the universe throws at us," said Flint dryly.

Shila almost choked on her drink. "Oh my; now I have seen it all. Flint actually cracked a joke."

D'aran and Shran were staring at Flint with amusement on their faces.

"Anyway; on to more juicy stuff; does anyone really know anything about the delicious looking Mr Harrison?" asked Shila with a curious expression on her face.

Flint bit his lower lip.

He knew a little about the Starfleet Intelligence officer; but the mess hall was hardly the place to discuss it.

The andorian noticed Flint's expression. "You know something."

Before the security officer could say a word; all their com-badges bleeped.

"Mr Shran, Ms Atavi, Mr Tshula and Mr Flint; please report to the bridge."

The four stared at each other when they heard Commander Bishop's voice; though it sounded calm the tone was indirectly telling them to get their behinds to the bridge asap.

All four officers stood up and hurried out of the mess hall; the other crew members watched them go with varying levels of alarm on their faces.

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The bridge...

Flint was the first person through the turbolift and he did not have to ask why they had been called.

They could hear a strangely familiar male voice coming from the comm system; at the moment the image on the view-screen was quite blurry so the crew on the bridge were unable to see who was speaking.

"USS Dunkirk this...Ensign Q Junior of... the Xavier; we're... trying to establish a clear line of communication...please hold on."

At those words; the four senior officers quickly assumed their respective posts.

Shran quietly got the Lieutenant who was manning the tactical and communication post to vacate and the andorian began to adjust the comm-relay links in order to clean up the audio and visual signal.

Tshula resumed his post at the helms beside a nervous looking Ensign O'Reilly.

Shila moved to the science station and took over from the junior officer that quickly moved out of her way when he saw her approaching; she started to attempt pin-pointing the co-ordinates of the current transmission.

As Flint walked to his station, he quickly looked around; Commander Bishop had the conn and to his annoyance, Lieutenant Harrison was standing near the security station.

As for Captain Singh and Rear Admiral Janeway; they were nowhere to be seen.

"We copy Ensign Q Junior; this is Commander Bishop of the USS Dunkirk," said first officer calmly "what is the status of the rest of your crew?"

"Ship's status is satisfactory...we have much to report..."

Gradually the image on the view-screen began to clear up and everyone could now see a young male teenager in the red and black ensign Starfleet uniform.

"Finally," muttered Lieutenant Harrison.

Flint shot him a sharp look; it seemed like he had been the only one to hear him.

Bishop stared at the teenager on the screen; he was not the only one doing so.

It was not every-day one got to see a Q; how much more a child of one.

"Mr Shran ; please patch this through to the USS Prometheus."

"Yes Commander," said the male andorian officer as his fingers flew across his command touch-screen.

Instantly the view screen split into two and the right half showed the bridge of the Prometheus; Captain Brenia E'Kalez was already in her chair and beside her was Commander Kadretti.

He looked like someone who was trying and failing to suppress the anxiety he must be feeling. His wife was not visible but no one doubted that she was not nearby.

Just when Flint was wondering where the hell Captain Singh and Janeway were; the turbolift hissed opened and both senior officers emerged on the bridge.

"Captain and Rear-Admiral on the bridge!" announced Tshula.

Bishop exited the seat for his captain and Rear Admiral Janeway sat beside him as the image of Q Junior leaned forward with an expression of shock on his face.

"Aunt Kathy!? What are you doing there?"

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The Rear-Admiral felt her face go warm with some embarrassment while part of her was relieved that her godson was safe.

She had no doubt it was Q Junior; his greeting alone confirmed that.

"Ensign Q Junior; this is not the time to call me 'Aunt Kathy'."

She said it in a calm but quietly firm tone and was satisfied to see the blood drain from Q Junior's face.

"I mean Rear-Admiral...I mean ma'am! I'm..." he seemed to run out of words.

Janeway felt sorry for him but there were many questions that needed answers.

She nodded at Captain Singh who had been waiting for his superior officer to finish speaking.

The empath nodded back at her and she felt a surge of gratitude from him; he appreciated that she was not trying to take over his ship even though she had the authority to do so.

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Singh turned to the view-screen. "Ensign Q Junior; I'm Captain Terence Singh of the USS Dunkirk; where's Ensign Kadretti?"

"Right here, Captain," said Q Junior who had recovered quickly, he looked to his side and the view-screen image adjusted to show a familiar young female Starfleet ensign standing beside him.

Singh smiled a little; the girl looked well though he could detect some nervousness over the link.

"Ensign Kadretti; are you well?"

"Yes captain; I wouldn't be here if not for the assistance of the Xavier and it's crew," she paused "Captain; forgive me for asking but I thought I heard the USS Prometheus was with you?"

She looked like she was a bit worried about the answer.

"Yes Ms Kadretti; the USS Prometheus received your message; which is how we were all informed and their ship is currently listening in to this transmission as well."

An expression which was a mixture of joy, relief and anxiety crossed her face.

Singh looked a bit puzzled. "Can you not see the Prometheus bridge?"

"Eh...sorry about that; just completed cleaning up the audio and image from this end captain," said Q Junior apologetically.

"Yes...I can see the Prometheus now,"said Oma in a relieved voice.

On the Prometheus; Brenia looked at her first officer and nodded slightly.

Amazingly Commander Kadretti's voice was steady when he spoke.

"Ensign Kadretti; it's good to see you daughter."

Beside Singh ; the Rear-Admiral's eyes widened then she noticed Singh giving her a knowing look.

While some may consider it inappropriate for Oma's father to be involved on this mission; it was understandable for him to express his concern and joy in-front of everyone.

They could not forget that the Xavier was more than 400 light years away and anything could happen before they got there.

This could be the last time Commander Kadretti saw his daughter again.

"It is good to see you as well sir...father," Janeway thought she saw a suspicious sheen in the female ensign's eyes.

Then the girl looked to her father's right; his wife had joined him.

"Mother; I am well," she said in klingon "but not entirely out of danger."

Everyone saw Nadia Kadretti take a deep breath as if trying to hold it together.

"You have done well daughter." Nadia's voice was filled with pride.

Oma nodded then straightened her spine. " Rear Admiral Janeway, Captain Singh and CaptainE'kalez; there is a lot you need to know about.

May I introduce the commanding officer of the Xavier; Captain Logan Howlett...formerly of the X-men."

The image changed to that of a powerfully built man in a casual black Starfleet regulation long sleeved high neck t-shirt with black regulation trousers in combat boots. There was also an X-shaped com-badge over where a standard Starfleet badge should be.

He was also sitting in the command chair with a neutral expression on his face.

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Earlier on...

On the Xavier; Logan had kept quiet as Q Junior and Oma made the connection to the USS Dunkirk.

Laura had been on the helms and seemed to be doing a lot of system checks. He nodded with approval ; they were going to need everything to be in top form when they met up with the fleet.

His gut feeling told him a battle was coming and his instincts had never been wrong in the past.

"It's working!" said Q Junior in a relieved voice "the audio is good but I'm going to have to clean up visual a lot more."

Logan said nothing as the two ensigns before him worked on the comms.

Within minutes; the screen cleaned up and Logan kept silent as Q Junior and Oma spoke to the people on the screen.

Logan was grateful for the chance to briefly observe the senior officers of the USS Dunkirk and USS Prometheus before they were aware of him.

He was stunned and a bit relieved to see that they had got Oma's message; to be honest he hadn't thought it had gotten through.

Due to past experiences; Logan was usually pessimistic about most things in life.

Q Junior's reaction to seeing his 'godmother' brought a small smile to Logan's face; nice to see someone else scared the living daylights out of the boy-genius.

He stared at the red-skinned winged female captain of the Promethus and watched as Oma made contact with her commanding officer and her parents.

Somehow he was not surprised that her parents had gotten involved. The way Oma had disobeyed orders to rescue Logan and the others may have something to do with how she was brought up.

Both parents looked like they would go to hell and back to save their daughter.

That said a lot about their character and possibly their honour.

But the Rear-Admiral was a huge surprise.

Logan was yet to meet a superior officer who would put themselves in the frontline or search for a missing low ranking officer.

Before he knew it, Oma was introducing him to the senior officers of the two Starfleet starships.

He slowly sat up straight and continued looking at the screen for a long moment.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

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USS Dunkirk; the bridge...

There was complete silence as the image of the man known as Logan Howlett stared at the senior officers of the Dunkirk.

His gaze was penetrating and seemed far older than his appearance of a man in his early thirties.

He slowly sat up straight and continued looking at the screen for a long moment.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you." The tone of his voice was dry but his gaze seemed to weigh the worth of everyone he was looking at.

Captain Logan was clearly not intimidated by the senior Starfleet officers he was speaking to.

Singh narrowed his eyes as he prepared an adequate response; the feeling he was getting from the man on the view-screen was that of extreme wariness.

But it was certainly not fear.

"It is unfortunate that we couldn't contact you earlier; however we are glad to see you well."

Captain Logan smiled dryly. "Oh we're well alright; however as Ensign Kadretti said, we have got a big problem on our six."

Singh felt dread rising in his chest.

"What type of problem?"

"In the last message; I informed you that we were on a recon mission in cylon occupied space. This was done to find out how the cylons were tracking the colonials and us.

Well; we got into a basestar and Ensign Q Junior was able to hack into their main database.

We also rescued three individuals; a child and two colonial POWS, but as we tried to escape we had to destroy one of their irreplaceable resurrection ships."

A frown appeared on Singh's face at the last words.

Logan went on to answer the unspoken question.

"The humanoid cylons have survived this long and had a tactical advantage over the colonials with the help of the resurrection ships and hub.

Once a cylon is killed; it's mind is downloaded into the resurrection ship via the hub and straight into a new body...thus they can practically live forever."

Everyone on both bridges of the Starfleet ships stared at the screen in shock.

Logan nodded his head slowly. "Yeah people; you heard me alright.

However the cylons only have three resurrection ships and one hub left; during our escape we took out one resurrection ship and we have it from a very reliable source that there's going to be hell to pay."

"In summary; you have started a war with the cylons."

Singh cursed mentally as everyone turned to look at Lieutenant Harrison who had just spoken. Singh could feel frustration radiating off Janeway and Flint who were nearby.

"And who just spoke?" asked Logan with a mild curious look on his face.

Harrison moved closer until the other ship could see him.

"Lieutenant Benedict Harrison, Starfleet Intelligence."

Logan raised an eyebrow at the last words.

"Starfleet Intelligence...is that so? Forgive me if I fail to be impressed by your rapid analysis when you are yet to fully read the debriefing that we were going to send to you."

Logan tilted his head. "In fact in case I was not plain enough; how about you get all the facts before you make an ass of yourself?"

Singh was a bit appalled and also a bit amused at Logan's words.

To his surprise; Harrison did not take offence.

"I'm looking forward to reading that report," said the intelligence officer in dulcet tones.

Logan looked at him for a long moment. "Bet you are." His tone could only be described as sarcastic; he turned back to Singh as if dismissing Harrison.

The Intelligence officer only narrowed his eyes as he studied Logan's image thoughtfully.

"Apart from the rescue; did you find out about their numbers and their plans for Earth ?" asked Singh when Logan faced him.

"I'll answer your second question first...from what we have gathered, Earth is considered the 13th colony of Kobol.

The cylons did an almost total job of destroying the 12 colonies and some of them seem determined to add the '13th' colony to that list.

The rest of the cylons state Earth is their birthright and they only seek to claim it."

Logan glanced briefly at Harrison. "So whichever way you look at it; the cylons are hell-bent on invading Earth whether to destroy it or dominate it.

The last time I checked; that is tantamount to declaring a war."

His blunt words had an extreme sobering effect on everyone listening.

"As for their numbers, the cylons have 70 basestars remaining; each contains a maximum crew of 1900, smaller ships called raiders which could number up to 900 and the weaponry is kinetic based with tactical nukes.

They have no shields but Q Junior has informed me that their form of FTL is more advanced than that of Starfleet."

Singh felt varying levels of worry from everyone in the room.

"Q, please explain how their FTL works."

The screen showed a nervous looking Ensign Q Junior.

"The colonials and cylons use a 'jump' drive; the simplistic explanation is that their drive uses sub-space to fold space and time and thus the ships can arrive at their destinations with almost pinpoint accuracy.

The drive is fuelled with pure refined tylium which is used up rapidly during the jump.

Jump distances vary according to the type and size of ships; the bigger the vessel the further it can jump provided it has enough fuel.

The longest and safest jump the colonial battlestar Galactica can make is 15.812 light years and it lasts exactly 15.812 seconds."

Singh heard someone exclaim behind him as feelings of astonishment bombarded him.

Singh knew why everyone was stunned; the Dunkirk was an upgraded Nova class ship and it's maximum speed was warp 9.

It took 20 mins for the Nova class to travel 0.032 light years at warp nine.

To travel 15.812 light years; it would take the Dunkirk almost seven days.

"That...is advanced," murmured the female Rear Admiral on his right; apparently she was doing the same calculations as well.

Q Junior continued speaking.

"From the data we gathered; the cylon FTL drive is three times more advanced than that of the colonials, yet despite this; the longest safest recorded 'space-jump' the cylons have done is 18.923 light years.

However the safety of longer jump distances for both colonials and cylons depends heavily on the correct calculation of the movement of planetary bodies and the presence of spatial anomalies.

If the calculations are off , a ship could emerge inside a star or the core of a planet.

Hence the combination of the warp drive and extremely sensitive and far-ranging sensors makes the Federation more advanced the colonials and the cylons."

Q Junior paused but Logan spoke before he could continue.

"And it gets even more interesting; a few day ago we had a run in with the cylons," the view-screen showed Logan and he had turned to face Harrison "they tried to capture us to get Earth's co-ordinates; then when that failed they tried to nuke us even when I gave them a chance to stand down.

So I responded in kind and destroyed one basestar as a warning."

Janeway could not help but wince at Logan's aggressive stance even if it had been necessary.

Logan continued speaking.

"Now they have developed anti-matter nukes which has increased the tactical nuke yield of 65 megatons to over 300 percent and in addition to that they have developed a way of getting under our shields...by jumping into the 'space' between the ship's hull and inner barrier of the shield to detonate the ship carrying the new enhanced nuke.

The cylons detonated 14 small ships against our escape shuttle which Ensign Kadretti flew pretty damn well."

Unknown to them Oma was trying not to blush at Logan's praise.

"Our shield strength was reduced to 55 percent in less than 3 minutes," Logan gave them a few moments to absorb what he just said " now let me just remind you that each basestar has an excess of 900 raiders each.

So they have a hell lot more smaller ships to use as weapons against us or any Starfleet ship with shields."

Singh shared a worried look with Janeway.

"How sure are you that they have not yet attacked the colonial fleet?" asked Rear Admiral Janeway.

Q Junior answered this time.

"They haven't Rear Admiral; the cylons are tracking the colonials through intermittent radio signals from embedded radio transmitters in certain ships in the fleet. The data I got from the basestar states the next transmission is in 5hours and 30 minutes; if we continue at our current maximum speed we will get there at least 16 minutes before the next transmission."

Janeway tried to hide the worry she felt; the Xavier was literally flying into a battle and the Dunkirk and the other ships were yet to even pass Qo'noS.

As if Logan read her thoughts he spoke up.

"We have to go back; they are sitting ducks if we abandon them now."

"And no one is asking you too...I'm sure you will proceed with caution."

On the bridge of the Prometheus, the Kadretti's looked very pale but tried to remain resolute.

"By the by; please tell me your cavalry has a respectable number of heavy duty ships," said a calm feminine voice off screen.

Everyone saw Logan frown as he looked at someone off the screen.

"Who is that?" asked Brenia who had been silent, absorbing all that was been said.

"My daughter Laura Kinney."

A female teenager who looked to be barely older than thirteen appeared in the viewscreen; like her father she was dressed in a black long sleeved close form high neck t-shirt with black Starfleet regulation trousers and combat boots. Her long raven coloured hair was in a pony tail. An X-shaped com-badge was just under her left collar bone area.

She nodded at the screen and gave a relaxed wave. "Hi; so how many of your ships are heading our way?"

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USS Prometheus, the bridge...

Brenia had been content to listen as Singh asked very relevant questions; the answers from Captain Logan and Q Junior had been valuable and troubling.

As much as she was glad to see Oma alive and well; it was clear that none of them were out of the woods yet.

An enemy fleet wanted Earth; that much was obvious and maybe now it was clear why the Q's were trying to keep the wormhole shut.

Because if that fleet came through; they could do a lot of damage before they were stopped.

Then her thoughts were interrupted when she heard another voice.

When Brenia asked who spoke; the female teen who had to be Logan's daughter showed up on the view-screen.

Her stance was relaxed but her eyes held too much knowledge for someone of her age.

"Hi, so how many of your ships are heading our way?"

Brenia hesitated briefly before answering.

"One nebula class; one Nova class and one klingon bird of prey."

The female teen on the view-screen stared at her and the crew of the USS Dunkirk with a stunned look on her face.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Laura!" there was a tone of warning in her father's voice.

She whirled round to face him as she pointed at the screen.

"Three ships father! Just three! How the heck are we supposed to protect the 163 colonial ships plus fight 70 basestars with just three additional bloody ships that are not even here yet ?!"

She sounded really pissed and apparently did not care that she had just sworn at a senior Starfleet officer.

Brenia could totally relate to how the female teen was feeling.

"Captain E'Kalez," said Logan "I apologize for my daughter's rudeness," he glared at Laura as he said this "however she does have a valid point.

Three additional ships are not enough."

Brenia held in a weary sigh as she replied.

"I understand your frustration and wish we had more ships; but it was only due to Q Junior's father that we were able to get..."

"What the...? He's not supposed to get involved!" cried Q Junior in despair as the view-screen showed his image.

Brenia frowned as people around her looked at each other in concern.

"Why not?"

Q Junior sighed in annoyance. "The rules state that if he gets involved; everything will be put back the way it was! Everything!

Has he forgotten that?!"

Before Brenia could say anymore; Rear Admiral Janeway spoke.

"What rules are you talking about, Q Junior ?"

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On the Dunkirk bridge; everyone watched as the young Q sighed and closed his eyes briefly. He was clearly very agitated.

"Rear Admiral Janeway; this was an intervention that was supposed to involve Captain Logan, Dr Grey and Laura Kinney. The plan was for them to help the colonials escape to the Federation or to Earth.

Q interventions have rules; first and foremost...it should never be easy...and there are other rules that I cannot really talk about."

He continued hurryingly when he saw an impatient look on his godmother's face.

"However because I did not adhere strictly to some of those rules that I would rather not mention...I was downgraded to being a hologram for the duration of this task; but was warned that if my parents interfered or if certain conditions changed everything would revert back to how it used to be."

Q took a deep steadying breath. "I can't let that happen."

Janeway held up a placating hand. "Q; it's gotten more complicated than that."

Q Junior now looked puzzled. "How? What do you mean Aunt Kathy?"

For once the Rear Admiral did not scold him about his calling her 'aunt'.

"The wormhole Ensign Kadretti travelled through has appeared three times; your father stated he and the other Q do not know why or what created it."

Q Junior was speechless for a long moment. "That's impossible."

"Why do you say that?" interjected Harrison before Janeway could say a word.

Q Junior looked at him.

"Lieutenant; Qs are supposed to know almost everything, the origin of wormholes and celestial bodies is literally child's play...for my father to state he does not know who created the wormhole is not a joking matter."

"Q," called Janeway "is there any chance that you contributed to it's creation by bringing Captain Logan and the others from the past...

The male teen Q was already shaking his head. " No; I put safeguards into place and even had assistance from the Q council and my parents to make sure the timeline was not affected. I did not cause that worm hole...and even if I did; my parents would have been able to link it to me."

Q Junior's clear words had a lot of people swallowing nervously.

"If I may ask; what exactly is Q's father involvement in this?" asked captain Logan in a curious voice.

Janeway quickly explained what had happened earlier in the day.

At the end of it; even Logan looked a bit concerned.

"I doubt we can do anything about the wormhole on this end; besides it looks too dangerous to travel," he glanced at Q Junior "especially if his parents are trying to prevent it from opening."

He had barely finished talking before Laura pitched in.

"Well since we have established that; may we please get back to the more pressing issue of having more ships sent to help us?"

Everyone saw Logan sigh as he looked at his daughter.

"She's right." The voice surprisingly belonged to Ensign Kadretti who had been observing all this time.

"The cylons have basestars that are huge...1034metres by 268metres; if they manage to upgrade all their nukes with antimatter; then we are going to need a lot of help."

"Tricobalt warheads," said Harrison calmly.

Logan and Laura raised eyebrows at the same time and turned to Q Junior who had a grimace on his face.

"Already thought of that...but I'm yet to mention it."

Q Junior went on to explain. "Tricobalt warheads are high yield subspace devices which contain three-tier warheads; the contents of which are antimatter; quantum filaments and tricobalt.

This weapon is effective in the destruction of large stationary objects; they were initially created for use against the Borg."

No one saw the worried expression on Logan's face at the thought of such a powerful weapon. He had seen the size of Borg cubes from the history files and they were massive.

Q Junior kept speaking.

"The major side effect is the disruption of subspace.

While such an effect could affect the 'jump' ability of the cylon ships; it could also compromise the safety of the colonials ships as they try to escape by jumping...not to mention the fact that such a weapon will also disrupt communication."

There was silence as everyone considered Q Junior's words.

"So we're damned either way ? There has got to be a better alternative," said Laura.

"Smaller warheads" that was Oma's voice " but we would have to calculate the range of subspace disruption which will depend on the quantity of tricobalt and quantum filaments."

"Do we have enough time for construction and simulation testing of such weapons?" asked Laura in a calm tone.

"I could get started on it with the captain's permission," said Q Junior as he looked towards the command chair.

The view-screen showed a very pensive looking Captain Logan; a few moments passed before Logan answered. "I would rather we had more time to come up with something else...but since time is against us; you have my permission to get started on this project but it will only be used as a last resort."

"Yes sir," said Q Junior.

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Janeway had felt the concern coming from Mr Howlett; he was not pleased with the thought of tricobalt warheads.

She didn't blame him; she had read the report of the destruction of the USS Keel. It had been a research vessel which was working on developing the tricobalt weapons before Wolf 359.

An accident involving one of the warheads while it was in it's launch bay had resulted in the destruction of the Starfleet research vessel with all hands lost.

Safety measures had been put in place since then; but what Q Junior was planning on doing was completely different.

He was going to make a warhead from scratch; she suddenly had a mental picture of the Xavier exploding.

Singh who was beside her gave her a sharp look; he was picking up on her distress.

Janeway tried to send out a feeling of reassurance before addressing something that had been on her mind since she first heard of the Xavier and it's unique crew.

"Mr Howlett."

The man turned his steel like gaze in her direction.

"Rear Admiral Janeway; what's on your mind?"

Janeway hid a smile at his direct question; this man did not like to beat around the bush. She didn't think he was telephatic, he was probably very good at deciphering one's body language.

"Forgive me if this is a sensitive question; but you have held military ranks in the past; am I correct ?"

Logan's voice was wary as he answered. "Yes; I have...my last rank was Lieutenant-Commander when I served with the Canadian army.

What does this have to do with..."

"You are not a member of Starfleet," interrupted Janeway gently

Logan froze in his seat and his expression went dark. "I never said I was."

From the corner of Janeway's eyes she could see Harrison regard her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yes, I am well aware of that, but considering the uniqueness of the situation which has benefited from your past experience; you are now... a member of Starfleet."

Logan's mouth dropped open as if he realized what she was about to do.

"As of now; you have been formally beveted to Captain of the Xavier, I recognize Dr Grey as your chief medical officer and as for your daughter Laura ..."

"Wow; I sure hope you're not giving me a rank. Are you?" interrupted Laura in an incredulous voice.

Janeway hesitated for a moment; she had not thought to do so because the girl looked too young but the feeling she was getting from the female teenager was that of suppressed disappointment.

Was she sad because she was not part of the group?

"Ms Kinney; how old are you?"

It was now Laura's turn to regard Janeway warily. "I'll be fourteen soon; why do you ask?"

Janeway smiled at her. "You're the right age to be made a cadet," the rear admiral nodded "as of now; you're now Cadet Kinney...if your father agrees of course."

"What?!" exclaimed Laura.

"That sounds like a great idea," the view-screen showed a smug looking Logan "I accept."

"Hold on!" protested Laura.

"We can go over curriculum requirements and study patterns much later; but for now we need to discuss the colonials' part in this war," said Janeway smoothly as she looked at a fuming Laura.

The female teen glared at her for a long moment; then nodded. "Fine...Rear Admiral Janeway."

The senior female officer suppressed a smile; thank goodness the girl realized this was not the place or time to have an argument.

"Well; we're got 5 colonials on board; why not speak to a few of them?" asked Logan.

Janeway shared a thoughtful look with Singh; who nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea; however can you tell me a bit about them before we get them on the bridge."

Logan sighed. "This is Q's story to tell; airlock incident and all."

Janeway froze. "What airlock incident?"

Q Junior's image appeared on the view-screen and he looked guilty.

"Em...I can explain."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX

Ten-forward...

Kara had tried to concentrate on her honest-to-Gods ham sandwich and a drink called cola which was similar to 'Klona'. It definitely tasted and looked like the brand drink that had been popular throughout the 12 colonies.

But despite the fantastic simple meal before her; she could not help thinking about what was happening on the bridge.

Captain Logan was speaking to Earth's military, Starfleet.

Were they on their way?

Apart from the data taken from the basestar; communication with Starfleet was what Admiral Adama would very much want to know about.

Kara looked around her; Dr Grey was carrying a happy Hera while the baby's parents ate.

Anders was sitting with Novacek and telling him about life on the Galactica.

While Rogers was speaking to Caprica Six and Dr Baltar.

Kara still felt like throttling the brilliant scientist and former president of the 12 colonies.

But she was smart enough to know this was not the time.

"Captain Agathon, Lieutenant Thrace and Junior Lieutenant Anders."

The three colonial officers looked up in shock when they heard Logan's voice over the comms.

"Please report to the bridge at once."

Kara remembered to tap her com-badge which she still had on her new colonial uniform.

"We're on our way, captain."

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The three colonials had speculated on the reason for being called to the bridge but came up empty. The ship was still in 'warp' and no alarms had been sounded so it had to be something else which must be important.

Once the three reached the bridge; they were stuck speechless by the image on the view-screen. There were two images of two different starship bridges with different looking individuals.

Many of them were clearly not human.

The blue skinned humanoid with antennas on it's forehead. Kara could not tell if it was male or female.

Was that a red-skinned woman with huge black feathered wings?!

Kara was trying not to faint as Logan introduced her and the others.

One name jumped out at her.

Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

The woman was in her early 40s with auburn hair piled in a bun, she also wore a black and red uniform with more bars on her right collar; she looked relaxed but her eyes were a different story; she looked a bit pissed.

Suddenly Kara wondered who was the cause of the senior officer's ire.

"Rear Admiral Janeway," said Helo in as calm as a voice as he could manage "It's an honour to speak with you."

Janeway looked at him for a long moment as if searching his soul; then her expression softened a tiny bit.

"Captain Logan has informed us of your situation and we are doing our best to reach you as soon as possible."

Kara felt her spirits rise at the news.

"However; it will be months before we can meet so regular communication is going to be very essential.

As well as informing us of your recent mission; we are also aware of how the First Contact went...including the airlock and flight bay incidents."

Kara looked at Janeway's blue eyes which hardened at the last words.

Oh frak. Thought the female Colonial pilot. She knows Saul Tigh tried to kill Q Junior and Laura.

Helo closed his eyes briefly before trying to speak. "It was a most unfortunate and huge mistake on our part; we regret what happened."

Janeway looked at him for a few moments; her expression was neutral. "Fortunately; those involved are well, however please inform your superiors that we are coming for our people and will attempt to assist you as much as possible."

Kara and her colleagues had no trouble interpreting the unspoken warning.

If any harm came to the crew of the Xavier; there will be Hades to pay.

Helo swallowed nervously. "Understood Rear Admiral Janeway."

Janeway nodded slightly. "I have some questions; how many colonials are in your fleet and what is your leadership structure?"

Helo took a steadying breath as he was conscious of every one watching him; then he began to carefully explain the leadership of the refugee fleet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Anders kept quiet as Helo and Kara answered questions and also asked some of their own.

He tried to memorise the faces and names of the people introduced. He thought he saw someone who bore some resemblance to Ensign Kadretti.

The man looked like a senior officer; was in a red and black uniform and had more bars and pips on his right collar. His hair was short and snow white; while his skin was dark like that of a Gemenon.

The red skinned slim female with the black wings was stunning and Anders was ready to bet his next ration bar that she was alien.

There were others that he could catch a glimpse of ; but that alone was mind blowing. He suddenly wished he had a vid-record because there was no way anyone back on the Galactica would believe what he had seen.

And then there was the female Rear Admiral.

If there was one thing Anders was sure of; it was that this woman had seen action and most likely had been in the middle of it.

She asked direct questions about colonial defences and weapons.

To be fair; Helo and Kara were very careful about their answers, making sure no compromising information was given.

Janeway did not press when any of her questions were evaded but seemed to take note.

Anders felt the late Admiral Helena Cain might have found her match in the female Rear Admiral of the Thirteenth Tribe.

All too soon; Anders realized the discussion was coming to a close.

"We know there is much to be done; so we'll leave you to your preparations and will try to speed things up from this end.

Captain Logan is going to contact us again once you rejoin with the colonial fleet."

Anders felt he had to say something. "May the Gods grant you safe passage to us, Rear Admiral Janeway."

She looked at him for a long moment. "Safe journey Mr Anders; hopefully we will speak again." The female rear admiral turned to the crew of the Xavier.

"Captain Logan; Ensigns and cadet," the last was directed towards Laura Kinney to Ander's surprise "until later."

A few seconds later; the transmission was terminated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Helo turned from the view-screen which was showing the streaking stars in warp speed and looked at Captain Logan.

"Captain; I realize that earlier you did not wish to discuss what was found on the basestar...because Caprica Six was present."

Logan looked at him for a long moment. "That's right..."

Q Junior's discreet cough interrupted the captain; Logan just stared at him.

"Captain; I really need to get down to engineering to check on the warp core and after that get started on the tricobalt warheads. It's now 5 hours 2mins and 30 seconds to our destination."

Logan nodded. "Understood; I'll call if you're needed."

The hologram quickly left the bridge.

"Excuse me; did he just say tricobalt warheads?" asked a puzzled Anders.

Logan narrowed his eyes. "You're familiar with the device?"

Anders quickly shook his head. " No...what are they?"

Logan was silent for a long moment before he answered. "It's a weapon of last resort; it's very, very effective but can affect subspace adversely if detonated."

Kara went extremely pale. "No; no...you can't use that! Any disruption of subspace will affect jump calculations greatly...a ship could end up in the centre of a planet or a sun for frak's sake!"

For once no one pounced on her for the swearing.

"I know," said Logan solemnly "that is why it will only be used after a lot of consideration.

However we need to discuss what we found on the basestar."

Before anyone else could say a word; a silent Laura walked up to her father and gave him an epadd.

Logan looked at it for a long moment before taking a deep breath.

"Well...actually I think I need to speak to Mr Anders alone..."

Kara was already shaking her head as a puzzled look appeared on Helo's and Ander's faces.

"Sir; we're a team, so we hear it all at once. In fact; I want Ensign Rogers and Lieutenant Agathon to be part of this meeting as well," she looked at her two fellow colonial officers who nodded without hesitation.

Logan stared at each of the three colonials in-front of him. "You're sure about this?"

"Yeah, we're sure," said Kara confidently.

Logan nodded. "Fine; we'll take this to the ready room." He got up to move.

"Permission to be present Captain ?" asked Ensign Kadretti in a formal tone.

"Wouldn't mind being present as well, captain," added Laura in a more relaxed manner.

He looked at both female teenagers for a brief moment.

"Okay," he said to everyone's surprise, then he looked at the ceiling "Xavier; you have the conn."

"Yes sir." Replied the ship's A.I as the small group left the bridge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

It did not take long from Sharon and Rogers to arrive at the captain's ready room.

Baby Hera was with Sharon and this time she appeared to be asleep once more.

Logan had already been sent a telepathic message from Jean stating that she was keeping the three new 'guests' company and would soon show them their quarters.

Logan had been worrying about that part; his gut instinct stated it might make matters worse if he kept Six and Baltar in the brig ; but he still didn't want them running loose on the ship.

He did not know if Baltar was a traitor but one thing was clear, each time; Anders, Kara and even Helo looked at him with murder in their eyes.

He must have pissed off a lot of people big time.

Worry not about that; concentrate on what you're about to tell the colonials and call for me if you need my help.

Logan silently thanked Jean and the Phoenix before their collective presence withdrew from his mind.

He glanced at Laura and Oma who sat on either side of him; both had epadds in their hands and serious expressions on their faces.

The colonials on the other hand looked very nervous.

Logan decided to get started.

"Most of you know what we found on the basestar and that the cylons are most likely heading for the colonial fleet," he paused " but what you do not know is what we exactly found on Hera's planet."

He waited for the words to sink in and as he expected, Kara was the first to speak.

"Wait; you gave us a message from the Thirteenth Tribe...I mean your people...are you saying there is more we don't know about?"

The tone of her voice was suspicious.

Sharon unconsciously hugged her sleeping daughter closer.

Logan looked squarely at Kara. "Do bear in mind that I have repeatedly stated that I personally do not believe Earth is the Thirteenth Colony of Kobol.

But let us address the matter at hand...we gave you the audio...but not the visual for very obvious reasons," then he glanced at Anders who looked even more worried when he realized the captain of the Xavier was focusing on him.

"Mr Anders; when and where exactly were you born?"

Anders hesitated briefly before replying. "I was born on Caprica; in what we now call 32 BCH ...BCH stands for 'before the colonial holocaust'.

Why are you asking this?"

Logan regarded him with a thoughtful expression before continuing. "And your parents? Do you remember them?"

Anders looked even more uncomfortable. "I grew up in an orphanage; no other family."

Logan nodded slowly.

"I ask again," said an agitated Anders "why the questions?"

Logan slowly put his epadd on the table and began to tap certain symbols on the touch-screen.

"This recording is 2000 years old; we are still not sure if the people in it were from Earth or from some other colony but what later made me watch it again and again was the fact that I saw people who looked just like them in your fleet...apart from one person," he pressed the play button and leaned back as the holographic message began to play.

Logan, Laura and Oma watched the colonials silently as they stared at the hooded images who spoke in ancient Kobolian.

Then the messengers began to take off their hoods.

The shock and fear on Ander's face was real; his fellow colonials stared at the man called 'Sauren . T. Anderson' and also stared back at Anders.

Everyone could see the startling resemblance.

In a matter of minutes; the message ended and the ready room was filled with profound silence.

"That...that can't be real," said Kara in a shaky voice; her husband had an ashen look on his face.

Logan sighed. "Mr Anders; your medical scan shows that your bio-signs and genetic structure are similar to that of a cylon."

Anders looked as if he was about to pass out; he was struggling to speak.

"I didn't...I don't...no...it's can't be possible..."

"Why are you telling us this?" asked a very worried Sharon.

"He's not a cylon!" Kara was close to yelling.

Laura narrowed her eyes and kept a close look on the distraught female colonial pilot.

"I know Anders; he is not a cylon," said Helo in a heated tone.

Logan lowered his head briefly then took it up as he continued in a calm voice.

"Q Junior identified who was lying in those 5 tubes in Cavil's private lab...each of those bodies are identical to the five people we saw in the message right here.

They are also identical to Colonel Saul Tigh; PA Tory Foster; Specialist Galen Tory and also Junior Lieutenant Samuel Anders.

I am yet to see the fifth person who is identical to Hellena Tighris."

Before anyone else could say a word; Logan tapped another symbol on the padd and a hologram showing the five ancient resurrection tanks was visible with the lids retracted.

The sight of the bodies inside shocked the colonials into silence.

Then he turned to Anders. "What do you know about this?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

To say Anders was in shock was the understatement of the century.

His heart was beating so rapidly that he was sure he was going to have a heart attack.

Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would be accused of being a cylon.

He; who had led both resistance groups on Caprica and New Caprica!

This had to be some sort of nightmare.

Anders looked at his wife; she was as pale as a sheet, he had never seen her this scared.

Then he heard Logan ask him what he knew about the whole thing.

"I know nothing! I am not a cylon!"

Hera woke up and started crying.

The sound actually made Anders more frightened.

Logan leaned back from the table as Sharon had to stand up and walk around to calm her daughter.

The captain of the Xavier finally spoke when the crying got less.

"Mr Anders...this might surprise you; but I believe you."

Kara stared at Logan as if he had sprouted wings.

"Wait...what...you do?"

Logan nodded slowly. "I know when someone is lying to me and in addition your track record has been impressive so far.

You tried to protect my crew and this ship; you also didn't let me down while we were on the basestar.

That's enough for me," he paused " I promised to share all necessary information with you...so I have done so.

The question is...what are you going to do with it?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Helo stared at the captain of the Xavier; he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He had to be having some sort of nightmare, then a sound from his right made him look at his wife who was still walking around with a slightly calmer Hera.

Sharon had her eyes closed and a look of anxiety on her face.

Had all this been some sort of trick?

But that would make it a very elaborate trick indeed; the crew of the Xavier had literally gone into Hade's den to rescue Hera and the others.

And now they were racing back to warn the fleet.

This could not be a trick; he prayed it wasn't.

But Saul Tigh; Galen Tyrol , Anders and Tory Foster as cylons?!

That was absurd; they showed the most anti-cylon attitude in the entire fleet!

Two of them had been on the Circle; a tribunal that had tried suspected cylon collaborators and executed them by dispatching them via airlock.

Helo had not been part of it ; but he had heard rumours and those alone had been very troubling.

Because despite what Sharon had done for the fleet; there were a significant number who would not mind seeing her dead for just being a cylon.

Many a night had been spent with a gun under his pillow and one eye on the door; he had been determined that no one was going to add Sharon's name to the list.

Helo's mind returned to the present when he realized Anders was speaking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

"I...I want to see my medical report," Anders voice sounded a bit hoarse.

Logan glanced at a silent Oma; the female Starfleet ensign passed a PADD to Anders.

The Junior Lieutenant looked at the screen and quickly realized he could not make head or tails of it.

"I don't know what this is," he pushed it away angrily "dammit! I'm a pilot; not a medic!" He almost shouted the last words.

"They are not lying," said Rogers in an eerily calm voice. The young empath was staring at Captain Logan with his head tilted to one side and a thoughtful expression on his face that was clearly at odds with what had just be revealed.

Everyone turned to look at the colonial ensign.

There was an odd peaceful light in his eyes.

"Captain; the decision to tell us this was not easy to make.

But...you felt it was time; knowing that...it had to be said now. I feel...you picked the right time to do so."

There was silence as they all continued to stare at the male pilot.

"Are you saying...that if he had not spoken now; things would get worse?" asked Sharon in an odd voice.

Rogers took a long time to answer. "Yes...I think so."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Logan had been mentally cursing when he saw the shocked reactions on their faces. This was bad.

It was genuine shock alright; but there was no way they were going to believe him.

The way things were going ; he was expecting the colonials to turn around and accuse him of trying to mislead them.

He knew Anders was not in the right frame of mind to go over the medical report but he silently indicated that Ensign Kadretti should pass the PADD to the distraught colonial pilot.

Anders had to be going through hell; what would one you do if you were told that you were identical in every-way to your worst enemy ?

The Junior Lieutenant had been unable to contain his fury and almost flung the PADD away in anger.

Logan saw Laura tense beside him and he prayed silently that she did not pop her adamantium claws.

This was so not the moment to show how different she was to them.

Then Rogers spoke.

Since the revelation; the colonial ensign had been silent. He had been stunned alright but had kept his thoughts to himself until now.

Rogers words seemed to calm the confused colonials and even Hera stopped crying.

Logan could not help but stare at the boy; what kind of empath was he ?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Oma was speechless as Rogers spoke; even though her shields were up, she could feel the feelings of reassurance that he was sending out.

And from the expressions of the colonials; it was working.

She glanced at Laura who was also giving him a curious look; while the captain looked a bit surprised.

Oma wondered how 'high' an empathy Rogers was; had he been using his ability unknowingly?

She just hoped he got a lot more practice on mental 'shielding' because when he got back to the Galactica; he was going to need to do it a lot.

Then Laura brought them all back to reality by asking a question.

"So; now that you know...are you going to tell your superiors?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

The brief expression of tranquillity that had been on Ander's face disappeared and he stared at Laura; then turned back to his wife as if asking for her guidance.

Kara was still very pale; she looked at her husband for a very long time.

Anders opened his mouth to say something; he looked so worried.

"No," said Kara startling everyone; including Anders who practically flinched.

Then she stunned everyone by grabbing his right hand and holding it firmly.

"We get back to the fleet first; telling the Admiral is not our main concern...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Logan shared a puzzled glance with Laura; while Sharon stopped pacing to stare at Kara and Anders. Helo and Rogers were silent.

"Kara...are you sure about this?" asked Anders in a shaky voice.

"Yes; I...we need to read that report or discuss it with Dr Grey in detail.

She did your medical; she will be more than qualified to explain exactly what she found."

Kara's voice was a bit shaken but she held herself together, turned and looked at the captain of the Xavier.

Logan was silent for a long moment. "The decision is yours. Anyway I have already sent all data collected to Starfleet..." the colonials looked a bit upset about that but wisely kept silent.

"Q already has a copy for your superiors," Logan looked at Sharon "also at the moment; Q Junior is currently trying to replicate a new warhead for us to use.

They are called tricobalt warheads and they are pretty powerful...however there is a significant side effect."

Sharon was silent and worried as Logan explained briefly the effect of the new warhead on subspace.

"I would appreciate it if you assist Q Junior in engineering; we have a very short time in marking the necessary calculations and carrying out the simulations. Laura will accompany you."

The female cylon now looked very pale but answered in a calm voice.

"I...I will get down to it."

"I'll look after Hera, " said Helo. His wife smiled wanly at him and gave him a squirming infant.

"What of Caprica Six and Baltar?" asked Anders; he was almost sounding like his old self. He still had not let go of Kara's hand.

Logan answered carefully. "They and Mr Novacek will be given crew quarters; Xavier will be watching over them..." he saw the sceptical look on Kara's face.

"Is that a problem Lieutenant?" he asked in a deceptively mild tone.

Kara sighed. "Six is a hacker and a very experienced infiltrator...she could try to trick Xavier."

Logan looked up at the ceiling. "Oh; I think you will find that Xavier is a lot smarter than you take him for...however he won't be the only one keeping an eye on him," he paused " the rest of you not assigned to any task need to rest.

We have a very short time before we get to the fleet."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

The Basestar...

Ellen Tigh or Hellena Tighris paced anxiously.

It had been hours since the klaxons had blared throughout her basestar.

She had been certain it wasn't a drill

The alarm had gone on for so long that she was almost deaf; but she could not turn it off and neither could she leave her quarters.

Make that her cell actually.

It had been just over a month since her 'death' on New Caprica. She had woken up with all her memories intact and overwhelming feelings of different almost crippling emotions.

Guilt for so many things; how she and the others had created a monster and how she had been so unfaithful to her husband when she had been 'Ellen Tigh'.

Bitterness at having failed the Thirteenth Tribe and their brethren; the other 12 tribes of Kobol.

Cavil never let her leave her quarters; she was sure the other cylon models did not know she existed.

The Number One did not hesitate to remind Ellen time and time again that he was the only 'child' who still remembered her and the rest of the Five.

At times he even let her watch him while he 'modified' the centurions; of course he did it with her tied down to a chair.

Ellen stood up from her bed and rubbed her sweaty hands on her dark blue trousers. Now that the klaxons were silent; she was getting more anxious.

It was worse not knowing what was happening out there; she had even begun to look forward to Cavil's visits. Because that was the only way she got any information.

For instance she knew about the Xavier because Cavil had questioned her about the ship from Earth.

She had been so shocked to hear the news that she had been speechless.

That had been followed by Cavil accusing her and the rest of the Five for 'lying' to him about the destruction of Earth.

Ellen had no doubt that her home had been destroyed two millennia ago. She could never forget the feel of intense heat before she 'died' and downloaded for the first time into the prototype resurrection ship that she and the others had built.

Ellen's mind returned to the present as the doors to her quarters slid open.

She turned and wasn't surprised to see Cavil standing in the doorway.

But the rage in his eyes made her take two steps back.

Never had she seen him this livid.

The Number One walked slowly into the room as if stalking his prey.

"Ellen; do you remember the Xavier ?"

She tried not to flinch at the venom in his voice when he mentioned the 'ship'.

Something had gone very wrong very recently.

Ellen chose her answer with care. "You...mean the ship you told me about? I recall what you said."

He stared at her for a long time.

"Well; I'm sure you will be pleased to know that the crew of that ship infiltrated the basestar; hacked into the datastream; locked us out of our surveillance system; killed 24 cylons; tore 96 centurions to pieces and blew up an irreplaceable resurrection ship!"

The last bit was delivered with a roar.

Ellen's heart rate went up as she took another step backwards.

"This is the work of your people! The so called Thirteenth Tribe that chose this moment to get involved! And the only question I ask myself is why now!?"

Ellen said nothing; she was certain any words she may utter would only worsen matters.

"ANSWER ME!" Shouted Cavil with so much rage that his neck veins stood out.

Ellen flinched again at his words; closed her eyes briefly and spoke after a moment.

"Cavil; I have already told you...the last I remember is a nuke going off over Atrenia. Only five of us downloaded and afterwards we watched from above as the bombs kept falling for hours until Earth was covered with mushroom clouds.

There was nothing; I repeat nothing that could have survived the number of nukes that rained down on Earth."

Ellen's voice was filled with pain and grief; she had never gotten over the destruction of her homeworld.

Cavil kept staring at her as he walked up to her; Ellen had to struggle not to move away.

His anger seemed to have been replaced by a coldness that made Ellen put her arms around herself

"One of them was able to use the interface."

Ellen stared at him in shock. That could not be possible, thought the female cylon.

Cavil narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. "Even though your shock appears credible...I still believe you're lying to me.

Your people survived...and now they have declared war on us."

"You started it!" yelled Ellen unable to help herself.

Cavil was still for several moments before he leaned in close and whispered words that chilled her heart.

"And I will end Earth...starting with the complete destruction of the Xavier and it's crew, dear mother."

He turned and walked out of the room.

Ellen covered her mouth as she tried to hold back the tears.

If there had been any doubt in the past; there was none now.

Cavil was a psychopath.

May the Gods help them all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

The Xavier, the medical bay; ETA 4 hours 20 mins...

It had been a long day; a few minutes ago, Jean had taken Six, Gaius and Novacek to their new quarters. She did not think they would start exploring...yet.

But there was much to do before they got to the fleet.

A sound interrupted her thoughts and she looked up to see the medical bay doors slid open.

She had been expecting the two people ever since she 'listened' into Logan's big reveal.

The two adults before her were scared and they had every reason to be.

It was not every day that a person was told that he or she was...different.

Kara and Anders stared at her for several moments; each afraid to speak first.

You better get started or else we will be here all day. Said the Phoenix dryly.

Jean nodded and took a deep breath.

"What would you like to know?"

Anders swallowed hard before taking the plunge.

"I...want to know more about my scanning; how was it done? What makes you so sure that I am..." his voice faltered "...a cylon."

Jean glanced at Kara; she could already 'hear' the female cylon repeating 'no' in her mind.

Her mental fear was so much that it was giving Jean a mild headache.

Jean turned back to Anders. "I have something to show you."

She turned and didn't have to look back to see if they were following her.

The female doctor stopped beside a bio-tablet which was part of a transparent table.

Kara stood on her right and Anders on her left.

Jean pressed certain symbols and before long there was a three dimensional holographic image which the two colonials recognized.

A map of the human genome.

"The human genome; was first completely mapped in 2003; which is exactly three hundred and seventy nine years ago.

It was fully understood about 40 years later but long before 2043; man experimented with the little they knew and hence the Eugenics program was born," she paused as she pressed a few more symbols.

Three helical structures emerged from the single genome.

She pointed to the rotating helical structure in-front of Kara.

"That is your gene structure Lieutenant Thrace; fairly similar to that of an inhabitant of Earth who does not have the mutant gene," Kara blinked and stared at the holographic image in-front of her.

Jean turned to Anders. "And before you is yours; once again very similar to that of an inhabitant of Earth," the male colonial looked at her sharply " however there is a difference."

To their amazement she reached out and touched a specific part of Ander's helix; it magnified at her touch and Kara saw several smooth silvery horizontal lines which seemed to glow the longer she gazed on them.

"Q Junior detected those when he scanned Lieutenant Agathon and also in Hera and I also saw these in Caprica Six."

"What is that?" asked Anders in a hushed voice.

"It's cybernetic in nature and yet an integral part of your DNA. Apart from you, Sharon, Hera and Six...no one else has it."

There was silence at her words.

"Then whose DNA is this?" asked Kara as she pointed at the structure infront of the female doctor.
Jean smiled a little. "This is mine," she looked at Kara " it's structure is similar to yours," she turned to Anders as well " and yours also"

That revelation clearly surprised the couple.

"However; the obvious genetic difference is this," she pointed to a particular part of the helix " is the x-gene; it is responsible for the mutant abilities that manifest in myself; Logan; Laura and Oma.

Take away the slight genetic differences and we three are the same," she pressed another button and the three structure came together to form one helix." She paused and gave them time to absorb what she had just said.

" Do you understand why I am showing you this?"

Anders looked at her for a long time. "Not really."

Jean wasn't surprised by the answer.

"Anders...now that you know; what has changed? I need you to think long and hard before you answer."

Kara looked at her husband and silently waited.

Several moments passed before he answered.

"I...I don't think so...I...don't know..." his voice faltered.

Kara bit her lower lip; she looked so scared.

"Junior Lieutenant Anders; whatever your genetic structure, it doesn't change what is in here," she stood on her toes and touched his head lightly "...and here," Jean pointed at his chest area.

"But what of those...people in the tanks!?" demanded Anders.

Jean shrugged. "What of them? How are they your concern ?"

Kara and Anders stared at her as if she had grown an extra head.

"We need...need to find out more about them!" added Kara.

Jean looked at her. "Is that your main priority at this point in time? Do you want to turn this ship around to undertake a suicide mission in order to find out who those people are?

Or would you rather divert your energy to a more obtainable and survivable endeavour? "

The female doctor's calm reasoning had Kara at loss for words.

"So; let me put it this way...Mr Anders, what is the most important thing right now?"

Anders looked confused but Jean stayed silent as she waited for him to reach the conclusion all by himself.

Several emotions crossed his face at lightning speed, Kara looked at him and back at Dr Grey as if unsure what to do but too anxious to speak.

"Kara is the most important thing in my life right now."

The female colonial pilot stared at him in shock.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

Kara had not been sure of what to expect when she and Anders confronted the female doctor in the medical bay.

But she certainly had not expected a biological lesson in genetics.

Especially about herself; Anders and the female doctor.

The explanation was simple but effective; Dr Grey had not tried to bamboozle them with hard to pronounce medical terms. She had given it to them straight and let them come to their own conclusions.

What astonished Kara was how they were treating Anders; not like an enemy but more like...he was one of them.

Did it have to do with the fact that centuries ago mutants had been hunted and killed on Earth?

Did they see in Anders a kindred spirit?

These sort of questions made Kara's head ache.

But she was no closer to the answers when she heard Anders answer the doctor's question.

"Kara is the most important question in my life right now."

She stared at him and she saw the fear, indecision and overwhelming love that was in his eyes.

He's a cylon. Warned a part of her that wanted all of them dead for what they did to the Twelve colonies and New Caprica.

But this was Samuel. T. Anders; a player of Pyramid; leader of the resistance, had almost gotten himself killed saving others, including her.

He's also the man you love. Whispered her heart.

She had no frakking idea who 'Sauren . T. Anderson' was and she didn't care.

Kara saw the hope in his eyes die as she stood frozen, before she knew it; she was moving and holding him tightly, her head just under his chin.

"You're also very important to me you big idiot," said Kara through a haze of tears. She felt moisture on her neck as he buried his head in her neck and cried silently.

We'll leave you two now. Said a warm dark presence in their minds.

None of them looked up to see Dr Grey leave the medical bay.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX

The Xavier, main engineering; ETA 4 hours and 15 minutes ...

Q Junior did his calculations once more; he almost sighed in frustration.

His figures were still off; the amount of subspace disruption caused by the small quantity of tricobalt was hugely significant.

He resisted pounding his fists against something; but this was so annoying.

The main problem lay in where they would find the fleet and how close the ships would be to each other.

In fact doing stimulations was next to useless if they did not have relevant information like positions of the colonial ships and nearby planetary bodies.

And even if they got their 16 minutes before the cylons showed up; that was not enough time to make and test a tricobalt warhead!

Almost without realizing it; Q Junior found himself worrying about his parents.

For them to get involved meant that the 'anomaly' was very significant but he could not afford to dwell on that now.

The doors slid open and Q Junior looked up with part gratitude and part annoyance at the interruption.

Sharon and Laura walked in.

"Ah; you're here," said Q Junior in a weary tone, the captain had informed him earlier that the two would be joining him.

Laura gave him a wry look. "You sure sound eager to see us."

Q Junior sighed. "I'm having problems with the calculations."

Sharon looked concerned. "What sort of problems?"

"Range and effect on surrounding ships; to calculate that I need information but considering that we are currently trying to catch up with the Galactica and it's fleet; this is going to be very difficult to make a tricobalt warhead that will not affect the jump drive."

Sharon felt her heart sink. "Best way of destroying a ship is disabling it's jump drive...thus stranding them in space and making them very vulnerable."

"I know," said Q Junior grimly " I need to tell the captain."

He pressed on his com-badge.

"Q Junior to the captain."

"Logan here; what's the problem?" came the captain's gruff voice.

Q Junior quickly told him the problems he was having in making the warhead.

There was silence for a long moment when the hologram was done.

Then Logan sighed.

"You did your best...any chance of speeding us up just a little."

Q Junior looked at the status of the warp drive; he frowned at the readings.

"I wish I could sir; but it would be a big risk."

"Understood, by the by, get one of the shuttles ready in case we need to use it to get to the Galactica."

Laura frowned. "Won't using the transporter be faster?"

"Yes; it would but just have one of the delta flyers ready...just in case."

Q Junior and Laura shared a silent glance; they knew Logan hated the transporters but this was something else.

"Yes, captain," said Q Junior.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Crew's quarters; ETA 2 hours...

Novacek got up from the bed and turned to look at the chronometer on the wall.

More than 2 hours ago, Dr Grey had shown him his quarters.

At first he was certain it was a disguised cell, but had been stunned to see the door slid open when he tried to leave the room.

Novacek had looked up and down the empty corridor; suddenly feeling more anxious and decided staying in his room was the smartest idea.

He had tried exploring the room; there was a good sized bed; a bed-side vid-com, a bookshelf with real books, strange but nice looking paintings on the wall, a desk, a comfortable padded chair and what had to be a sonic shower.

However; he was not surprised that there were no weapons in his quarters.

The colonial senior lieutenant tried to lie down and relax but found himself feeling even more tense with every passing minute.

Novacek began to pace up and down the room as he tried to think of what to do next.

What he really wanted to do was explore the ship.

But the 'odd' conversation he had with Dr Grey was still re-playing itself again and again in his mind.

Somehow he did not think she would take kindly to him wandering around the Xavier.

He bit his lower lip as he stopped pacing and found himself facing closed doors of his quarters. Novacek moved towards it slowly and the door slid open at his approach.

Taking a deep breath he left the room and was once more in the corridor.

What to do now?

"Senior Lieutenant Novacek, can I help you?"

The male pilot almost bolted at the voice of the AI; it took a while before he could speak.

"Y...you're watching me."

"As per captain's orders Mr Novacek."

Somehow the fact that captain Logan had ordered the AI to keep an eye on Novacek made the pilot feel less anxious.

In a way he understood why; if he had been in Logan's shoes, he would have done the same thing. Then a thought came to mind.

"Where's the captain?"

"On the bridge; do you need to speak to him?"

Novacek had to think for only a moment. "Yes; I do."

"Please wait a moment," spoke the ship's AI politely.

Novacek waited in the exact spot; if someone had told him a few days ago that he would be having a polite conversation with a AI...he would have been hysterical with laughter.

These were strange times indeed.

"The captain will see you now; please heed my directions," Xavier's smooth male electronic voice interrupted his thoughts.

A few minutes later; as he followed the AI's directions he found himself in a turbo-lift which promptly opened up on the bridge.

The captain was not alone; Ensign Kadretti was at the helm while Logan was standing at what had to be a sensor monitor of the entire ship.

Logan turned sideways to face him; he had a PADD in his hand. "You wanted to see me?"

Novacek suddenly found his mind was blank.

The captain's eyes narrowed then he glanced at the female Starfleet ensign.

"Kadretti; you have the conn."

"Yes captain," said the white haired ensign as the captain put down the padd.

"Mr Novacek; let's take this into the ready room."

Daniel nodded and followed the captain into the meeting room.

"Please have a seat."

Novacek sat down as Logan walked to the nearby replicator and started pressing symbols.

"I don't know what passes for alcohol in the Colonies but you look like someone who needs a drink."

Daniel stared at him in shock. "Aren't you on duty?"

Logan put down a small glass half-filled with dark amber drink in-front of him.

"Not right now," the captain also had a similar glass in his hand " and besides my body will burn it off rapidly. By the by this is synthenol; tastes like scotch but certainly weaker than it thus missing the full hit and you can't get drunk on it."

Novacek sniffed at the drink while Logan took a sip, on seeing the captain nonchalantly tasting his; the colonial pilot took his first alcohol drink in eight years.

The first sip almost made his eyes water; it tasted nothing like ambrosia; neither did it look like it. The liquid went down his throat smoothly and Daniel had the internal warm feeling that is associated with alcohol.

"That...was different," Daniel's voice sounded a bit hoarse.

Logan nodded. "You have no idea how much I miss the real scotch; that one will put hair on your chest."

Daniel took one more sip before answering. "I can imagine that."

Both men sat in the comfortable silence each concentrating on their own thoughts.

Daniel was the first to break the silence with a sigh.

"I still think I'm dreaming."

Logan said nothing; feeling there was more to come.

"Captain; I know you have a lot to do...but...why did you rescue us?"

The captain of the Xavier took a long time before answering.

"We were in the neighbourhood."

Novacek gave him a funny look then laughed a little. "Okay; but really why?"

Logan picked his words with care. "Six asked us to help her get you two off the ship," he paused at the incredulous look on the pilot's face.

"I know that's hard to believe; but it's the truth. Until she told us; we didn't know you two were prisoners."

Daniel was silent for a long time. "You could have walked away."

Logan shrugged. "Yeah; we could have," he looked at Novacek " do you mind telling me when and how you were captured?"

The pilot froze; Logan was about to apologize when Daniel sighed.

"It doesn't matter now...forty two years ago at the end of the First cylon war the Cimtar Peace Accord was drawn up; none of us were to pass the Armistice Line."

He saw the silent question on Logan's face.

"The Armistice Line was supposed to mark where the colonial territory ended and where the cylon's began. Together with the cylons we built a space station called Prometheus One.

However since the end of the war; the cylons refused to come to the space station or even contact us even though we sent delegates each year."

Novacek paused before continuing.

" Six years before the Holocaust; I was assigned to the Battlestar Valkyrie, my commanding officer at the time was Commander William Adama."

Logan raised an eyebrow at the name as Novacek continued.

"We were ordered to take part in a recon mission authorised by the Admiralty.

My assignment was to use a new stealth ship to fly over the Armistice Line to check for cylon activity."

Logan's face said it all.

"I agree captain; in hindsight it was a stupid idea but I did it anyway. Almost straight away I ran into a cylon raider. It fired upon my ship and I was trying to make it back to the Valkyrie when I realized I was not going to make it.

So I ejected and was subsequently captured by the cylons.

My ship was blown up shortly afterwards; probably by the cylons...I'm not sure."

Logan was puzzled by that last statement.

"Why do you say that?"

Novacek hesitated before answering. "When the cylons shot at me...I felt they were simply trying to disable the craft. I think they wanted it intact, maybe to study it...so why blow it up?

It didn't make sense."

Logan was silent for a while. "Nothing makes sense in war, Mr Novacek."

The colonial pilot could see that the man before him had seen and been part of wars. Daniel took another sip of his synthenol before asking the question on his mind.

"And if you don't mind me asking captain, how did you get involved with the Galactica?"

Logan snorted. "The first meeting left an impression alright."

"That would be interesting to hear," said Novacek with a curious expression on his face.

Logan smiled dryly and began to tell the pilot what had happened on Hera's planet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

The Galactica; senior officer's ready room...

Admiral Adama read another report before glancing nervously at his chronometer again.

It had been 12 minutes since their last jump and the jump drive needed another 19 minutes before they could safely 'jump' again.

It had also been 20 hours since the Xavier left and they had seen cylons raiders twice and yet they had not attacked.

That was actually making things worse; tension was rising throughout the fleet.

To add to the mess; the bloody Quorum was demanding answers every 10 minutes.

Fuel and food was running also dangerously low.

Their hopes and dreams all lay with the fate of the Xavier.

Adama put his reports down; this waiting was not improving his blood pressure one bit.

They had jumped the entire fleet one too many times; but the old admiral felt it was not enough.

Where in the name of the Gods was the Xavier?

As if in answer to his heartfelt prayer; Gaeta's frantic voice came over the intercom as klaxons started blaring.

"Admiral! It's back; the Xavier is back!"

Adama almost thought he was dreaming and he realized there was cheering in the CIC.

The Admiral did not bother answering; he stood up and almost ran into the CIC.

He looked at the screen and as the Gods would have it; the now familiar looking craft was on the DRADIS. But where were the two vipers he sent with it?

"Hail the Xavier..." started Adama.

"They are already hailing us!" announced Dee Dualla.

Adama barely registered his son who ran into the CIC with Saul Tigh on his heels; both senior officers had been ordered by Adama to have some much needed rest.

"Put it through," ordered Adama senior.

Within seconds the familiar voice of Captain Logan filled the CIC.

"Galactica Actual; this is Captain Logan, do you read?."

Adama thought for one moment; what if it's a trap ? He saw the obvious question on Saul's face.

"We read, sitrep captain."

"We've got a very serious problem Admiral; we found out how the fleet is being tracked and we have less than 16 minutes before the cylons get here."

There were murmurs of shock as Adama tried to rearrange his thoughts.

"Please explain."

This time it was Kara who answered.

"Admiral; we have it on good authority that when we were escaping from Hera's planet, the cylons shot at the escaping craft and very small devices burrowed into the hull of the four craft we brought back.

There were 3 vipers and 3 raptors."

Adama closed his eyes briefly as he heard Saul Tigh curse beside him.

"The viper I was piloting on this mission was destroyed so that leaves the other five. These 'embedded' devices transmit signals at intervals and considering what we did on the basestar and to one of the resurrection ships...we believe they are coming this way very soon!"

"Starbuck," began Adama carefully "what did you do to a resurrection ship?"

The reply was quick in coming.

"One of the Starfleet ensigns blew it up sir as a diversion so that we could escape."

In the CIC there were murmurs of approval while Admiral Adama did not know whether to cheer or curse.

"Admiral," continued Kara in a near frantic voice "we need to isolate the five compromised craft and either destroy them or jam the signals immediately.

We cannot jump the fleet until we find those ships. Where's Tyrol?"

"In the main flight bay; I can get him to come up to the CIC..."

"There's no time!" interrupted Logan "Admiral; we wish to transport over to the Galactica using a device that will dematerialize our bodies then form it intact on the main flight deck."

It took a few seconds before Adama realized what he was talking about; Kara had told them of the strange light.

"No; come over on the shuttle."

"Admiral; that will take time we don't have!"

"Captain Logan; my people are on a trigger right now; you materialize like that on the flight deck and someone will do something stupid!" said Adama firmly.

Everyone heard Logan swear.

"Dammit! We'll see you in a few minutes.

By the by; we're coming over with a few people, in the meantime get Mr Tyrol to find those damn ships!"

Adama turned to see Lee was already out the door.

"Tigh come with me; Gaeta start the jamming and you have command."

"Yees Admiral," answered the junior officer as the two senior officers went after the CAG.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

The Xavier; the bridge...

"Q; get the shuttle ready to fly." The hologram ran from the bridge.

"...Lieutenant Thrace; Mr Anders and Mr Novacek you're with me".

The three nodded at his brief order.

"Dr Grey..."

"I'm coming," cut in the doctor firmly.

"Jean; this is not..."

"Oh; this is the time, you're going to need me for this," she quickly put on a dark brown leather jacket that she had put over one of the chairs.

Logan knew when resistance was futile. "Fine," he looked at Sharon who was carrying a wide awake Hera.

"Sharon, you and Hera may be safer on the Galactica especially when the cylons show up; because I'm certain they will be aiming for the Xavier first."

The model eight cylon looked at Helo who nodded.

"Captain Agathon," the male colonial pilot turned to Logan " I need you and Ensign Rogers to keep an eye on Miss Six and Baltar until we get back."

The two colonial pilots nodded; no one spoke because all were conscious of time going.

"Ensign Kadretti; you have the conn; Cadet Kinney," his daughter glared at him "you're in charge of weapons."

Her glare was replaced by a small smile.

"Until we get back," added Logan hurryingly as he moved towards the turbolift with the others not far behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Who are they coming over with?" muttered Saul as the two officers hurried down the corridor.

"I don't know Saul; let them land first."

The XO looked like he wanted to argue but surprisingly kept silent.

The walk to the main flight bay seemed to take forever but they were just in time to see personnel frantically clearing the deck as Tyrol and Lee bellowed orders.

Before Adama could say a word; one of Xavier's shuttles came in at what looked like uncontrolled speed and the Admiral was certain it was about to crash.

But to the amazement of the onlookers the small craft turned right rapidly and set down at the same time in less than 30 seconds.

It was the fastest landing Adama had ever witnessed.

The side door opened as it landed and Logan was the first person out the door.

Behind him were Starbuck; Anders; Dr Grey, Sharon who was carrying a small bundle and a man that Adama had never thought to see alive again.

Senior Lieutenant Daniel 'Bulldog' Novacek. He appeared thin and his eyes were haunted as he looked around the flight deck before he rested them on Admiral Adama and Saul Tigh.

"As I live and breathe," muttered Tigh in shock.

Kara walked over to the Admiral with an anxious look on her face. Adama had to turn away from the silent Senior Lieutenant Novacek to face the female pilot.

"Sir; where's Tyrol?"

"Here!" shouted the specialist as he ran up to them "what the frak is going on?"

Logan turned to him. "Three raptors and three other vipers came back from Hera's planet, we lost one on our mission, where are the rest?"

"Out on patrol," answered the engineer with a puzzled look on his face"but why...?"

"They had trackers embedded in them when the cylons fired on them," everyone turned to face Q Junior who had come out of the shuttle "and we have less than 7 minutes to find them and disable those trackers."

Tyrol went as pale as a sheet but to his credit he did not pass out.

"I need to check the flight routes," he turned and ran towards a monitor. Logan nodded at Q Junior to follow him. Kara and Anders went with the hologram as well.

Admiral Adama was about to say something when a baby's cry drew his attention; it had come from Sharon's arms.

The admiral found himself walking up to her and staring at the 5 month old baby in her arms.

"Sir," said Sharon respectively " this is Hera."

Adama touched one of the baby's waving hands gently. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you sir."

Beside them Saul Tigh was talking to Novacek and ended up hugging the former POW.

"Where's Helo and Rogers?" asked Adama.

"They are still on board the Xavier keeping an eye on two additional guests," answered Logan.

Adama looked at the captain of the Xavier sharply; it was the emphasis on the words 'guests' that had caught his attention.

"I would prefer to discuss them after the current crisis has passed," continued Captain Logan in a tight tone. The man was obviously worried.

"Agreed," said the Admiral. Both turned to see Kara and Q Junior running back to them.

"We have a situation; two of the raptors escorted the Astral Queen to retrieve water from a nearby ice asteroid belt; they are way out of the range of jamming frequencies."

Adama resisted swearing; they could not afford to abandon the former prison-ship and it's crew of 1891 people.

"How far out are they?"

"Eight minutes and 25 seconds," was the answer from Kara.

"How long do we have ?" asked a worried looking Saul Tigh.

"Three minutes and 10 seconds," answered an equally worried Q Junior.

"We can't even jump the fleet" added a flushed Tyrol who joined them " the Galactica has at least 17 more minutes before it can jump."

"What of the rest of the compromised ships?" asked Logan.

"Within the fleet and the jamming signals should affect them," answered the chief engineer.

Adama thought fast. "We need to turn off the jamming signals," he saw the look of shock on everyone's face "we need to speak to the Astral Queen and those viper pilots. If the pilots can be transferred to the Queen..."

"Then we abandon the two vipers...may not work sir because they will still be quite close," Tyrol as everyone caught on to the Admiral's words.

"Not if we destroy them," ordered the Admiral; he looked at Tyrol "scramble all available vipers and raptors now!"

He turned to the people around him. "The rest of you are with us; we're going to the CIC."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX

The Galactica, the CIC...

Everyone in the command centre looked up when a sizable group entered.

They were obviously in a hurry.

Admiral's Adama's heart sank when he saw the President and the Vice president had shown up in his absence.

Roslin's eyes went to Captain Logan, she looked surprised and angry at the same time. "Captain, Admiral; what have you been up...?!"

"Not now President Roslin; we have incoming," barked the Admiral as he walked around her and a stunned Zarek.

The CAG motioned for the marines to stand down as his father walked up to Junior Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla Adama.

No one noticed Sharon move to a corner as she protectively held her precious bundle.

"Dee; I need you to disable the jamming signal; then contact the Astral Queen asap," he turned his head round to look at Q Junior.

"How long ensign?"

"82 seconds Admiral," replied the Starfleet ensign. He looked quite pale.

Not enough time. Thought Adama as he heard a lot of static from the comms.

Then Dee looked at him with worry on her face. "There's too much interference sir; I can pinpoint their location and even pick up a radio signal but getting a message through all the surrounding static is next to impossible."

"It's the frakking asteroid belt," muttered Saul Tigh loudly as he looked at the DRADIS.

"Sirs," called Q Junior in a solemn tone " we're out of time."

Everyone looked at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

At that moment; eighty four hidden tracking devices became active once more and began to transmit a series of signals.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

"Captain Logan." The new feminine voice had everyone looking at the captain of the Xavier.

"Who's that?" asked Zarek sharply. Logan simply ignored him.

"Ensign Kadretti; status?"

"Sensors are picking up eight four simultaneous signals from within the fleet and in the nearby ice asteroid belt."

Her words were like a death knell but she was not yet done.

" ...but there's more; 6 huge ships are about to emerge from subspace in exactly 8.3 seconds."

Logan and Jean shared a grave look.

The president of the 12 colonies looked as if she was about to pass out.

"It's them."

Dualla looked at the DRADIS and could only see colonials ships. "Where are they...?" her voice trailed off when the tell-tale signature of cylons appeared on the sensors.

"Gods above," she muttered like a prayer and a curse "we have six basestars."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

The Xavier; the bridge...

The basestars emerged from the jumps one after the other.

Ensign Kadretti got up from the command chair and quickly walked to the helm control seat; beside her Laura was already running sensor analysis of the basestar.

"Every one of those basestars is full of raiders loaded with anti-matter nukes," said girl beside Oma.

"You mean 'each one' of those basestars 'are' full of raiders," corrected Oma absently as she changed the condition to 'red'.

"Whatever," said Laura calmly as she adjusted her targeting sensors and checked the status of the weapons system.

She turned briefly as Rogers entered the bridge.

"Permission to come on the bridge!"

"Granted," said Oma without turning round "Mr Rogers; I will advise you to sit down and strap in because the basestars have launched their raiders."

Rogers did not question her because the evidence was on the view-screen.

"The Galactica has also deployed fighters and the basestars are jamming signals as well," added Laura in a calm tone.

"Also the raiders are heading our way."

Oma's eyes flew to the proximity sensor readings. "They have a lot of raiders, Laura hold your fire until I say so."

The female teen glanced at her. "They will attack us, Oma."

The ensign kept her eyes on the sensors. "We will only respond if they attack."

She had to do one more thing. "Xavier; give me shipwide."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Tenforward...

Helo ran to the mess hall as the ship's klaxons blared; to his relief both Caprica Six and Baltar were in the same place.

The female cylon stood up as he came in.

"From the noise; I guess my brethren are here."

Helo saw through her false bravado and also Baltar looked extremely frightened.

"Both of you need to stay here."

"Why?" demanded Caprica Six.

Helo did not get a chance to answer.

"Attention all crew; we are about to engage in battle. Prepare for impact."

A look of worry appeared on Six's face as she turned to Helo. "Where's the captain ? Who did he leave in charge?" She tried to move past the male colonial pilot.

He blocked her. "The captain of this ship left me in charge of both you and Baltar."

"Then who the frak has command? You let a child take charge?" asked Six in horror.

Helo opened his mouth to answer before the ship was rocked violently sideways and he tried to grab on to something.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

The Xavier; the bridge...

"Oma; they aren't messing around!" said Laura through gritted teeth as another raider exploded just outside their shields on the aft region of the Xavier. She held on to the console in front of her for support as the ship rocked from the impact.

From the sensor readings; 12 raiders had tried jumping into the shields of the ship and half of them had been successful.

The female Starfleet ensign was frantically typing in evasive manoeuvres as the sensors warned her that more raiders were 'jumping' towards their ship.

"Shields down to 91 percent," warned Xavier in a calm metallic voice.

"Laura; take them out," ordered Oma as she narrowly avoided another suicidal raider.

"Finally," muttered Laura as she started targeting approaching raiders as Oma tried to avoid the in-coming suicidal raiders.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

The CIC...

On the Galactica Logan was desperately trying to reach the Xavier.

"They are jamming our signals captain," said Saul Tigh "however it looks like whoever you left in command is holding their own pretty well."

On the DRADIS screen; the Xavier was now dodging and weaving while shooting down approaching raiders before they jumped.

The vipers and raptors had joined in but there were too many raiders.

"How many are they?" asked a concerned Dr Grey.

"From the sensors; they seem to be at least 200 out there and more are pouring out of the basestars," reported Q Junior who was reading the sensor screen over Gaeta's shoulders.

"There are too many," muttered Zarek worryingly.

"I need to return to the Xavier," said Logan.

"You can't!" Admiral Adama turned to face him "definitely not by shuttle; you do that and your crew will try to rescue you thus putting them even more at risk !"

Logan opened his mouth to argue but had nothing to say; because the admiral was right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Lee Adama ran to his viper and got in quickly; a lot of the vipers and available raptors had already been launched. He did a quick pre-flight check before securing his head gear and acknowledging the all clear signal from the flight deck crew.

Seconds later he was in the viper launch tube and out into space.

At the moment; the Xavier was between the basestars and the colonial fleet.

The vipers already out there were shooting at the raiders but immediately he knew something was wrong. Each hit cylon raider that exploded emitted so much radiation that his sensors were going off the scale.

Also the raiders seemed to be trying to jump into the same space that the Xavier occupied.

He suddenly realized why.

The cylons were trying to bring down its shields.

With that horrifying thought Lee tried to co-ordinate the colonial defense only to find out that communications were being jammed by the cylons.

Lee held back a heartfelt curse because any colonial pilot worth his rank could see that at the moment; the enemy was focusing primarily on the Xavier.

But Lee knew that would change the moment the Xavier was destroyed.

The CAG of the Galactica prayed that the other pilots realized what was happening as he took aim at a raider and began firing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

The CIC...

"How are our pilots doing?" asked Saul Tigh in a tight tone.

Gaeta answered without looking up from the screen.

"Communication is down sir; so no chance of a co-ordinated attack; however, despite that; the cylons are concentrating their attack on the Xavier.

We have lost 6 vipers since the battle started. If the Xavier is destroyed; we will no doubt experience the full force of their attack."

None of them heard Q Junior approach.

"I may be able to do something about the jamming signals."

Saul Tigh frowned at the hologram and opened his mouth to speak.

"How?" jumped in Roslin.

"By using the data I got from the cylon database to create a counter signal which will be sent via the comms system on the delta flyer shuttle.

It should cancel out the cylon jamming frequency."

What data? Thought Admiral Adama.

"You're sure it will work?" asked Zarek with a sceptical and suspicious expression on his face.

"Instead of us wasting time arguing; why don't you let the kid do his damn job?!" demanded Logan, he turned to Q Junior " you have my permission ensign."

Logan turned at Admiral Adama . "That alright with you? Because we need to even up the odds out there right now."

The admiral hesitated only for a brief moment. "Fine; Anders and Gaeta will go with you."

"Yes sirs," said Q Junior as he looked at his two escorts "try to keep up gentlemen," he said in a serious tone as he raced out of the CIC at an unbelievable speed. The two assigned colonials looked at each other in alarm before running after him.

As the Admiral watched them leave the CIC; he saw Novacek looking around the command centre with haunted eyes.

Adama mentally suppressed the guilt he felt when he saw the colonial pilot; this was not the time to dwell on the past.

He and the rest of the fleet did not have that luxury.

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Q Junior was fast and the two colonials running after him were indeed finding it hard to catch up.

Colonials barely had time to move before the young looking male in the black and red uniform ran around them without knocking anyone down.

Anders and Gaeta were not so lucky. Twice the Junior Lieutenants hit someone accidentally even though they were both shouting for people to get out of the way.

Before long; the two reached the flight deck just in time to see Q Junior tapping several sequences on the shuttle door.

Anders and Gaeta were clearly out of breath but Q Junior looked as if he had just strolled unto the flight deck.

"Sir! Is everything alright?" asked one of the anxious looking marines who was clutching a semi-automatic and trying to look at Q Junior and Anders at the same time.

"It's fine," wheezed Gaeta as Anders was still too breathless to speak "we're with him," the junior lieutenant looked up to see that Q Junior had disappeared into the shuttle.

The colonial officer forced himself to climb into the craft.

"Hey!" Anders managed to call out as he tried to follow him.

When Gaeta got into the craft; his tiredness and the gravity of the current situation was almost forgotten.

This was clearly an advanced ship; the sensor displays and the interior was unlike anything he had ever seen.

He turned to the front to see Q Junior was seated and his hands were flying at a blurring speed over a touch-screen panel.

"What are you doing?" asked Anders as he entered behind Gaeta.

"Creating a signal that appears similar but is the exact opposite to that of the cylons.

From my sensors," Q Junior pointed at three display screens above his console "only three of the basestars are sending jamming signals; my 'fake cylon signal' will in simple terms also affect the communication between the basestars and the raiders."

"How does that help us?" asked Gaeta.

Q Junior kept typing without looking at him. " Because my signal will be similar; the Hybrids will think they are the ones doing it and thus..."

"Shut down their own jamming signals," said Anders in amazement as he stared at the sentient hologram before them.

"It may not work,"said Gaeta in a worried voice.

"Guys; we don't really have a choice," said Q Junior gravely as he completed the complex signal and promptly transmitted it.

He then touched his com-badge.

"Captain Logan."

"Yes Q?"

"The package has been sent; all we have to do now is wait..."

"And pray," muttered Gaeta in addition.

Q Junior glanced at him with an unreadable expression as he continued speaking "...for a minute and I will attempt contact with the Xavier."

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On board the six basestars; the crew in the different CICs monitored the ongoing fire-fight.

Their main target was the ship of the Thirteenth Tribe and so far their raiders had not damaged it significantly but there were signs that progress was being made.

As of yet; they had not been given any orders to start attacking the cylon raptors and vipers ; but it was only a matter of time.

Then something happened simultaneously in all 6 basestars.

The six hybrids all opened their eyes and started speaking.

"Communication compromised; line of sight affected, battle strategy needs adjustment, end of line."

A Number One model frowned as his communication station alarm went on.

"What the frak is going on?"

"Arden, what's the problem?" asked a Number Five who was in charge of tactical.

"Our comm lines are being jammed."

The Number five gave him a sceptical look. " By the colonials? That's impossible; our jamming technique is more advanced..."

Arden was already shaking his head. "No; this is something else; from my readings it is another cylon signal jamming ours."

"That can't be," said the tactical cylon officer.

Arden frantically tried to use the interface to run a diagnostic scan.

"I can't even find out where it's coming from!"

"Why the frak not?" asked the Number Five in anger.

The Number One glared at him. "Because we are being jammed you imbecile!"

The Number Five opened his mouth to yell when someone else spoke.

"Interference signal useless; strategic plans altered; jamming frequency must fall before the hand of Q, end of line."

"What was that gibberish?" demanded Arden but his words died in his throat when he realized the Hybrid was terminating the basestar's jamming signal.

"Kalen," called a Numer Eight with worry on her face "the other basestars are no longer transmitting the jamming signal."

"What?" asked Arden in disbelief.

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Q Junior watched the sensors while seemingly ignoring the two colonials officers standing behind him.

Here goes. Thought the Starfleet ensign as he tried to establish a line of communication to the Xavier.

"Xavier; this is Ensign Q Junior, please report."

An eternity seemed to pass before someone answered.

"Q; is that you?"

Anders and Gaeta looked at each other; that had sounded like...

"Ensign Rogers; are you on the bridge?" asked a stunned Q Junior.

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Xavier; the bridge...

Ensign Billy 'buck' Rogers was trying to hold on to the console before him.

The ensign had found himself reporting the declining shield strength to Oma and Laura.

He suspected the AI was trying it best to keep the ship in one piece as Oma ordered it to divert power to the forward shields.

Rogers had no idea how Helo and the others were faring.

But things had definitely worsened; fifty five raiders had attempted their suicidal runs and most had come just inside the shields thus reducing it's strength.

At the moment; the two girls were working in tandem.

In the beginning as Oma performed evasive manoeuvres; Laura had missed a couple of raiders but soon she adjusted her aim and now seemed to know what direction the female Starfleet ensign was going to move to.

Laura was now shooting down raiders left right and centre as Oma flew the ship through twists and turns that no colonial craft or its crew could have tolerated.

Part of him marvelled at her skills while the other part was 100 percent terrified.

Sparks were already flying from a few panels.

His attention was finally grabbed by the figures screaming silently at him from the sensor on his console.

"Shield strength down to 71 percent!"

"Shit!" swore Laura as she shot down two more raiders in quick succession " this isn't working! We need to take the basestars out before we are toast!"

Oma moved the defiant class ship abruptly downwards and a split second later a raider exploded in her previous position.

Laura launched forward as the explosion rocked the already battered ship; her head almost hit the console.

"Shields at 70 percent!" announced Rogers.

The female ensign swore internally when she looked at the number of raiders pouring out of the basestars.

There were now more than 300 raiders and there were many more where those came from.

Laura was right; just swatting at the equivalent of flies was going to get them all killed. But the tricobalt warheads were out of the question.

Because they had not had enough time to make and test them safely.

"Laura; prepare a proton torpedo for launch..."

"I've got several waiting to be released!" responded the female teen sharply.

Part of Oma worried about the girl's eagerness for battle; the klingon part of her approved.

"Fine; it will be on my mark..."

"Xavier; this is Ensign Q Junior; please report."

Oma was almost distracted by his voice but deftly avoided another raider as her sensors warned her of an oncoming raider.

Rogers decided to answer.

"Q; is that you?"

"Ensign Rogers; are you on the bridge?" the empathy could hear the incredulity in his voice.

The colonial ensign rolled his eyes. "Yeah; pal this is kinda a bad time to call."

"What's going on?" demanded Q Junior.

Rogers looked at the two females at the front of the ship. "We're going after the basestars."

"Attack vector 4 point 2 laid in, Oma," said Laura loudly as she prepared a torpedo for a launch.

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Oma took a deep breath; this was it.

She had only done this in simulations ; never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought she would be flying and commanding in a real battle situation.

May God help them all.

"Get ready," she increased the impulse speed as well as tilted the Xavier until it was on it's side so as to present less of a target.

Then she spun it 360 degrees as it neared the closet basestar.

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"Q," called a worried Gaeta who was watching a nearby sensor grid that looked like the DRADIS "is that the Xavier...?"

His voice cut off when he heard Roger's voice over the comm.

"We're going for the basestars."

The Junior Lieutenant saw Q Junior go very pale. The hologram tapped his com-badge.

"Captain Logan."

"Report?"

"The counter-jamming worked sir; I just spoke to the Xavier and they are..."

"...going for the basestars," said Logan grimly. He was apparently watching the DRADIS displays in the CIC as well.

"Sir; what should I do?" asked Q Junior. Then he heard Adama say something to Logan.

"Stay there and keep an eye on communications unless the cylons try their jamming again."

"Yes, sir," said Q Junior. He turned to another console and started typing in directives.

Before the two colonials could say a word; the transparent front cockpit window became a view-screen and it looked like someone was flying into a battle.

"This is connected to the sensors of the Xavier; so that we can see what their helmsman sees," said Q Junior with an edge to his voice.

Gaeta flinched as the screen showed a viper explode when it got too close to a raider it just shot down.

"This is bad," said Anders as he saw another raptor get blown up.

"If the Xavier fails; it will be worse," said Q Junior solemnly.

Gaeta and Anders shared a troubled look.

They both agreed with him.

None of them were aware of the small group of colonial flight deck personnel who had gathered at the open shuttle door and were silently listening to every word.

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Lee realized his comms were back on line when he heard a familiar voice over the line.

"Commander Adama; come in?"

"Dee; is that you?" he was stunned to hear her voice.

"Yes," she sounded relieved "Q Junior just disabled the cylons jammers..."

How? Thought the CAG.

"...but there are too many raiders; the Xavier is now gunning for the sources."

Lee looked out his cockpit and could see that the tough little ship of the Thirteenth Tribe was going for the closet basestar.

"Commander be advised that the enemy has anti-matter nukes; hence the high yield. Warn all ships to engage from a distance."

"Appreciate the warning Dee..." his voice trailed off when he saw the Xavier release a proton torpedo.

The torpedo flew and dodged raiders that tried to shoot it down; then one cylon raider 'jumped' into it's path and exploded thus taking the torpedo with it and the resultant shockwave obliterated twenty two nearby raiders.

The closet basestar was still intact.

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In the Galatica CIC; everyone held their breath when the spectacular explosion occurred; no one cheered but there was a feeling of disbelief when they saw the first of six basestars was still in intact.

"They missed," said Zarek in disbelief.

Logan looked at him with murder in his eyes.

"Mr Vice president," called Roslin through gritted teeth " shut up."

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Logan tried not to grip the chair in-front of him; doing so would make his claws pop. He so wanted to be on the Xavier but if he tried to get them to beam him up now; they would have to drop shields and that will leave them all vulnerable.

Neither could he interrupt their flying because Oma and Laura must need every bit of concentration to hit their targets.

He had never felt so helpless.

Logan suddenly felt a smaller hand slip into his; he looked down to see a very worried Jean.

"I should have stayed with them."

Logan closed his eyes briefly . "They will be fine; Oma knows what she is doing." He looked back at the screen.

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"You did it!" said Rogers triumphantly.

"Hell no!" growled Laura " that little shit jumped in the way for crying out loud!"

"Stay calm Laura," advised Oma in an unruffled voice "we still have a lot more torpedoes left; let's just get a bit closer; I have an idea."

Now that chaos was reigning almost supreme she had found an inner calmness that she found hard to explain but she held on to it all the same.

"Rogers; please inform all raptors and vipers to fall back to defensive positions around the colonial fleet as this might get affect them."

The colonial ensign looked at her but complied all the same.

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Lee saw the explosion and winced when he realized the Xavier had missed; then he got Roger's widely broadcast message.

His instinct warned him to take it seriously. The CAG started giving out new orders.

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"Laura ; I want you to get ready hit the first and second basestar which is slightly behind the first one."

The female teen almost stared at the female Starfleet ensign.

"Now; we're talking," she said with dark approval as the ship rocked from a nearby explosion.

"I'm going to go into warp in a moment."

"What?!" exclaimed Rogers in shock.

"Trust me," said Oma as she looked at him quickly before concentrating on her calculations and flying "Laura you will shoot when I tell you."

She felt the female teen nod beside her.

Oma checked her figures once more before taking a deep breath and going to warp one.

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On board the delta shuttle Q Junior still had an open line to Xavier's bridge; he had not terminated it for a few reasons.

In case they need his help or advice ; but he had not informed them because he could tell that Oma needed to concentrate right now.

He and the others stared at the view-screen as the explosion occurred; and Anders groaned in frustration when they realized the targeted basestar was still intact.

Then Q Junior heard Oma calmly order Laura to target two basestars and that she was about to go into warp.

Anders looked shocked and opened his mouth to ask a question but Q Junior held up a hand silencing him.

Q Junior had an idea what she was about to try; he hoped he was right.

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The defiant class ship wove between three on coming raiders and suddenly dropped downwards as all three tried to jump into it's shields.

However when the three raiders emerged from subspace; the Xavier had gone into warp at the same time. The three cylons vessels subsequently exploded as the Xavier appeared in a new position.

Between the first and second basestar.

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"Now!" yelled Oma as Laura released the two photon torpedoes.

The two missiles reached their targets as Oma dropped the defiant class ship several hundred feet so as to avoid the substantial explosion and shockwave that obliterated both basestars and all it's loaded raiders.

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"Yes!" yelled Gaeta and he was stunned to hear answering cheers behind him. He turned to see at least seven of the deck crew had been peering into the craft from the open doors.

Q Junior looked relieved then a bit flustered when he noticed the audience; he just decided to ignore them and turned back to the viewscreen.

"Four more to go people."

"What kind of battle tactic was that?" asked Anders in amazement.

"That was a modified Picard manoeuvre, named after a famous Starfleet captain who I would be happy to tell you about provided we all survive this," said Q Junior in a sharp tone as he checked the sensors.

"What's the problem?" asked Anders ; he could tell something was troubling the sentient hologram.

"That tactic would have drained their energy levels which is also needed to maintain shield strength and we still have 4 more basestars to fight."

"They are sending out more raiders," said Gaeta in an anxious tone when he realized the number of enemy ships was increasing.

"It's not over," said Q Junior solemnly as he wished he had put more effort into those tricobalt warheads.

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"Wow," said Rogers in amazement even when the Defiant was rocked by the shockwave from the two exploding basestars.

"Shield strength!" demanded Oma.

Rogers quickly looked at the monitor in-front of him. "51 percent!"

Laura and Oma shared a quick look.

"We're got four more to dispatch," said the female teen.

"But we need to take care of them first," said Oma as she looked briefly at the viewscreen. Hundreds of raiders were now between her and the enemy basestars.

"Xavier ; what is your shield strength?" It was Q Junior.

Oma answered. "We're down to 51 percent."

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In the Starfleet shuttle; everyone present was stunned when Q almost swore.

"Ensign Kadretti; you cannot perform that tactic again...not right away or you will lose even more shield strength. Do you copy?"

"Understood Q; we'll think of something else. Please excuse us, I need to concentrate." Said Oma politely.

Q Junior sat back with a sigh. He tapped his com-badge to get hold of the captain.

"Sir; we may have a problem."

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Logan had been speechless when Dualla explained what the Xavier had just done; the CIC had rang with cheers as he exchanged a relieved look with Jean.

When the Xavier went to warp; for one moment he thought Oma had abandoned them until she showed up and blasted two basestars to smithereens.

He felt ashamed to have thought such about her.

"Sir, we may have a problem." Alarm bells went off when Logan heard Q Junior's solemn voice.

"What's wrong Ensign?"

Admiral Adama looked sharply at Logan as the hologram informed them of Xavier's status.

"One more move like that and the shields are going to get dangerously low."

"The raiders have renewed their attack on the Xavier Admiral," said Dualla in a worried tone.

Adama, Logan and Jean stared at the DRADIS; the symbol that represented the Xavier was being besieged repeatedly by the raiders.

"Q; patch me through to the bridge via my com-badge," said Logan quietly. He missed Jean's eyes flicker to black before returning to their normal colour.

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Rogers had thought things were bad before but now they were a lot worse.

After the destruction of the two basestars; the repeated attacks had been relentless; now the raiders were trying to jump from several directions at the same time.

So evading them was getting harder and some of the sensors had taken considerable damage but Oma still managed to keep them flying and Laura was still taking out raiders.

"Shield strength down to 41 percent!" yelled Rogers.

He saw Oma bite her upper lip as she narrowly avoided another raider.

It seemed like the raiders had scented blood and were zeroing in for the kill.

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Logan felt the blood drain from his face when he heard Roger's yell the shield strength.

"That's bad; is it?" asked Roslin in a solemn tone. Gradually those close to her and the Admiral began to realize something was wrong.

Logan closed his eyes briefly and turned to answer the female president.

"I won't let them die."

The captain of the Xavier and everyone who heard that dark voice froze. Logan turned and knew what he would see.

Jean's eyes were pure black and oddly seemed to be glowing; she was also hovering a foot from the floor.

Nearby personnel almost cried out in alarm when they finally noticed that the female doctor was levitating under her own power.

"Jean..." called Logan carefully then he saw marines ran into the CIC with weapons, a sudden sense of déjà-vu hit him " No! Do not come any nearer if you wish to live!"

Adama jerked at the fear in Logan's voice; he looked back at the doctor who was still floating with her auburn hair flying around her as if being blown by an unseen wind.

There was something very odd about this picture.

But he could have sworn that Logan was scared of what would happen if the marines came close.

"Lay down your arms," ordered Adama quickly.

One of the marines stared at the floating doctor then at him. "But sir..."

"Do it now marine!" barked Adama. The marines complied rapidly.

Logan shot him a look of gratitude before turning back to the female doctor.

"Jean; no one is telling you to do that."

"I can save them...we can save them," said the female doctor who Adama hardly recognised; if he was in a court of law he would have sworn this was an entirely different person than the one who had walked into the CIC.

Everyone watched Jean Grey rise higher, with her hands out by the side.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXEarlier one; when Jean heard the report from Q Junior; she knew that the remaining crew on the Xavier were in trouble.

She felt terrible for leaving them; she had thought she would be more helpful on the Galactica by helping Logan convince the colonial leaders about the tracking devices.

She had never felt so wrong in her life.

We can help them Jean called the Phoenix.

Let me aid you in this...please.

That had decided Jean; she somehow knew that if anything happened to Laura, that would hurt Logan.

And anything that hurt the man that she was finally beginning to love would hurt her and the Phoenix as well.

I accept.

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At first it started gradually; at the time; there were 650 raiders whose main goal was to destroy the Xavier. Their antimatter nukes were so unstable that a single jump was enough to detonate the payload.

But a force suddenly made all those nukes in those 650 raiders stable; then that same force 'pushed' the raiders at rapid speed towards the two basestars they had come from.

Within the basestars; cylons were readying the next raiders to send out when all the grounded raiders suddenly locked down and remained fixed to the flight decks of both basestars.

As technicians ran around trying to fix the problem; the cylons in the CIC finally realized that their 'suicidal' raiders were heading back to them.

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Arden checked his comms again, there was no interference; the raiders should be proceeding to their target and not coming back to base.

"Did any of you counter my orders?" he asked angrily.

The Number Five working with him shook his head.

"There is no record of such."

"So why the frak are those raiders coming back?"

"I don't know sir; but they are not responding to our hails."

"What?" asked a stunned Number One, but more was to come.

"They are not slowing down either; infact they are speeding up! " said an alarmed Number Eight.

Arden ran to the DRADIS and realized with horror what was about to happen.

"Evasive manoeuvres! Fire everything at the raiders!"

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Jean was now 20 feet in the air; it seemed a reddish glow had surrounded her and on the floor were several colonials who had started praying when Dualla announced that the raiders had suddenly turned back and were heading straight to the basestars.

Logan subsequently ignored those around him who looked upwards in fear and awe.

"Hold on Jean," he tapped his com-badge "Q, get your behind to the CIC right now. It's Jean."

There was silence for a stunned moment; before Q answered. "Oh shit! Be right there captain!"

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Jean could feel each raider as if she held them in her hands; she didn't attempt to evade the barrage from the basestars as the cylons ships realized their own weapons had been turned against them.

The cylons thought all they had to worry about were the flying raiders; they had no idea that the ones still in the launch bay were literally ticking time bombs.

Half of the 650 raiders were shot before they got close to the two basestars.

But Jean had more than enough to cause unmitigated chaos.

In the Galactica CIC, Jean curled up her body in mid air before suddenly arching her back with her arms flung out and her legs straight.

All looking saw the reddish glow intensify.

"Uh oh," said Q Junior softly as he looked upwards; he had just arrived with a panting Gaeta and Anders in tow just in time to see Jean unleash something.

Many who were asked afterwards stated it had felt like an invisible tidal wave.

No one had fallen or been hurt but everyone had experienced it.

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At that exact moment, cylons on board the nearest two basestars; stared in horror as the remaining flying raiders impacted on the hull of the two Y-shaped ships.

At the same time; the raiders in their launch bays subsequently exploded vaporising anyone near them.

In one of the last two remaining basestars; Cavil dropped his PADD in shock as he stared at where two of his ships used to be.

"We need to leave now," said Natalie in a frightened tone.

D'anna said nothing. The Hybrid had warned them but they had refused to listen.

Cavil stared at the screen as Natalie took charge.

He was still silent when both basestars jumped away.

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Oma stared at the view-screen in shock. Two basestars had just been vaporised by their own raiders and the last two had fled.

"What just happened?" she looked at Laura and Rogers.

Both of them were equally stunned.

Before anyone could answer; the turbolift opened and a battered and bruised Helo ran in.

"I need help; Baltar was injured in a fall."

Laura cursed and got up. "I'll go check him out if that's alright Oma."

The Starfleet ensign nodded. "Hey Laura."

The female teen turned to face Oma. "What?"

"You did great...cadet Kinney."

Laura tried not to smile and failed. "You're not too bad Ensign Kadretti." She followed Helo out of the bridge.

Roger left his seat and came to stand beside Oma.

"What do you think may have caused the explosion and made them run away?"

Oma was quiet for a long time. "I honestly do not know," she looked at Rogers "thanks for your help, it was very useful."

The colonial ensign flushed red. "Your flying was outstanding."

Oma felt a bit warm in the face. "Glad you think so," then she looked around the bridge and her heart fell when she noticed the dangling wires and busted panels. "I better check up on the captain and tell him about the state of things here."

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The Galactica, the CIC...

It had been a minute since the cylons had fled but Dr Grey was still hovering in the air with her back arched.

"Jean," called Logan. There was no obvious response.

"Phoenix!" Logan tried shouting. One second there was no movement and suddenly Jean dropped as if the invisible strings holding her up had been cut.

There were cries of alarm but Logan was fast and caught her gently.

He cradled her slight light frame in his powerful arms, his heart beating rapidly as he hoped and prayed that she was still alive. However once he calmed down a bit; he heard her steady breathing and the normal rate of her heart. He gently moved her hair out of the way to look on her face.

Her eyes were still pure black but she was struggling to speak. Logan put his ear close to her mouth. "How many did I kill this time?"

Logan stared at her in shock but she closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder.

She looked so peaceful as if asleep; that almost broke his heart.

The last time she had looked like this; he had just stabbed her in the heart.

"Captain; she's just exhausted," said Q Junior gently to the much bigger man. He was using his tricorder on Jean's head. "Whatever she did; tired her out."

"I don't care; we get her back to the Xavier medical bay right now..." Logan was interrupted when his com-badge went off.

"Captain Logan, this is Ensign Kadretti. Are you all alright?"

Logan felt a bit guilty; he had not checked up on Oma and Laura.

"We're fine; but we need to get Dr Grey to the medical bay right now."

"Is she hurt?" asked Oma in a very concerned voice.

"No," said Q Junior and did not back down even when Logan glared at him " however she could do with some rest. Where's Laura?"

"With Baltar; apparently he was injured in a fall, so she may be in the medical bay."

"Excuse me; did you just say Baltar?" asked Saul Tigh in disbelief ; he had been standing nearby.

Before Q Junior could say a word; Oma continued.

"Yes; I will connect you to the medical bay so that Laura can report on the state of the place...we took one heck of a beating sir."

"I know," said Logan " good work Ensign Kadretti."

"Thanks sir," said the ensign before making the necessary connection.

"Are we talking about Gaius Baltar?" asked Saul Tigh with a look on anger on his face.

Logan sighed and turned to face him with a sleeping Jean in his arms.

"Look; I will address it all later when I make sure my medic is awake and well, okay?" the captain of the Xavier glared at him for emphasis and Saul Tigh wisely backed down.

"Pops, you guys okay?" somehow it was reassuring and a bit strange that Laura sounded worried.

"We're fine," answered Q Junior " the captain wants Dr Grey checked in the medical bay."

"What happened? I thought you said you were okay?" asked Laura with a suspicious tone in her voice.

Q Junior took a deep breath and looked at Logan as if asking his permission. The captain nodded after a brief hesitation.

Q Junior lowered his voice "Jean was the one who stopped the raiders and took out the two basestars."

There was silence for a long moment.

"Outstanding," said the female teen in awe "but did that hurt her?" now she sounded more worried.

"No," said Q Junior quickly "she's still very exhausted."

"I wouldn't recommend our medical bay right now, it's a complete mess and Jean will have a fit if she sees it like this."

Logan sighed in frustration as Q Junior agreed with Laura.

"She's right; we need to have her rest here until I assess what the damage to the Xavier is."

"Unacceptable," said Logan with a low growl that made nearby onlookers jump, some of them had been coming closer to stare at the sleeping woman in his arms. Logan leaned closer to Q Junior.

"I am not letting anyone near her while she is asleep."

Q Junior held up a placating hand and whispered. "One option is to carry her in full view to the delta shuttle; not sure if she would like that."

Logan opened his mouth to argue but Adama spoke first.

"Captain; you may use one of the rooms next to my office. I swear on my honour that no one will threaten her or you.

Please, this is the least we can do."

Logan stared at him for a long moment.

"Thank you Admiral; I will take you up on that offer. Q Junior will come with us to assess her."

Adama nodded and led the way out of the CIC; as Logan followed him he was alarmed by the number of personnel who nodded almost reverently and more than a few tried to touch Jean's clothes or hand as if trying to recapture a moment.

Now that he was less stressed; he could hear them saying a single word in what sounded like ancient latin. He looked at Q Junior who looked very concerned.

"What are they saying?"

Q Junior glanced at the people nearby. "They are calling her 'The Oracle.'"

Logan stared at him. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

Q Junior looked even more worried. "I don't know...but I intend to find out."

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Roslin watched the man with metal bound to his bones carry the unconscious Dr Grey out. There were no words to describe what that woman had just done.

And something told her she may never be able to explain it fully.

"They say the gods are among us."

Roslin almost jumped at the sound of Zarek's voice; he had an odd almost frightened look on his face.

"Do you believe she is one of them?" asked the vice president.

"She a deity?!" whispered Roslin in outrage " of course not...!"

"Then what in the name of Zeus is she?!" demanded Zarek.

Roslin searched for an answer and came up empty.

Zarek nodded. "That's what I thought; one thing that I am sure about...is that she is definitely not human." He turned to walk away.

"Wait!" called Roslin "what are you planning?"

Zarek looked at her for a long time.

"Until later Ms Roslin."

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Hi everyone! Hope all is well; sorry about the long wait; this chapter was hard to write!

Also I have been fighting not to give in to temptation and write two crossovers that have been on my mind for the past week.

1st one is a crossover Into Darkness Star Trek ( John Harrison) with Man of Steel (Faora-Ul)

2nd is a crossover Into Darkness Star Trek ( John Harrison and his 'buddies') with Final Fantasy World with an original character, chocobos; avatars and all.

Please tell me what you think!

As for the above story ; please ready and enjoy.