DISCLAMATION="I OWN NO RIGHTS TO STAR-TREK OR BATTLESTAR GALACTICA! BOTH ARE GREAT SHOWS! WHOPPEE!"

Chapter 45 of The Phoenix and the Wolverine.

The Xavier; the holodeck…

Six was finding it very hard to comprehend what she had just discovered.

Captain Logan was a mutant and also 400 years old?! Part of her realized that could explain how he came through virtually unscathed when he was shot multiple times on the basestar. But how? He had bled; of that she was sure. The answer was just out of reach but try as she could, it was impossible to figure out what it was.

She sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Xavier pause program please." The holograms of Professor Xavier and on Erik Lensherr froze.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what Captain Logan's…mutant ability is?"

There was a brief moment of silence before the A.I answered. "I'm afraid you will have to ask him yourself Miss Six."

"No surprise there," said a bemused Baltar as he walked around the frozen forms of Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier. "We could always ask Starbuck…"

"When Hades frakking freezes over traitor," snapped the female colonial pilot.

"…or not," continued the unfazed former president of the twelve colonies.

Six kept silent; she wondered if there wasn't another way to get the information she needed. She shook her head after a few minutes. One thing at a time ; first she had to resume this very important history lesson but she had to change the approach.

"Xavier; can you resume but have the occupants of this mansion ignore us. I wish to just observe and not interact."

"As you wish," answered the A.I smoothly. Once again Six really badly wanted to see where Xavier's hybrid was kept and wished she could meet the programmer. This A.I was way more intelligent and independent than the hybrids of the basestars.

"Why change the format?" asked a bewildered Baltar.

Six desperately wanted to say because she was still trying to grasp the startling revelations about 'mutants' and captain Logan; but now wasn't the time to state that out loud.

"I just want to have a different view," she could feel the suspicious eyes of the two colonial pilots of her back. Even as she spoke the two holograms in the library started moving.

XXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX

Six ignored the three living colonials beside her as she concentrated on the 'visual history' before her.

The four of them watched Charles and Erik practice with the mutant students as Agent Moira Taggert assisted from the sideline. They saw the failures and the triumphs of both students and teachers as they prepared to face Sebastian Shaw.

Some parts of the history Six skipped and to her surprise; only Baltar complained but she ignored him because her instinct told her there was something about this history that she had to learn quickly. Finally she paused it when they saw an anxious looking Hank McCoy preparing a serum.

"What the frak is he doing?" she heard Kara whisper. Six ignored her because she could hear Hank repeating something.

"This has to work; this is the cure! I'm sure of it." He rolled up the sleeves of his left forearm and tapped at a major vein repeatedly. Then he took one of the vials of golden-coloured fluid. He hesitated briefly before he injected the contents into one of the veins in his left cubital fossae. He sat down and grimaced as the injection burned through his left forearm and into his system.

Then he took off his shoes to gaze at his feet. "Any moment now."

Six came closer with the others to stare at his feet in shock. It looked like someone had attached a pair of large hands to his ankles.

"That…that is not normal," muttered Anders in disbelief. His words turned to an audible gasp when Hank's 'strange looking feet' began to turn into ordinary looking human feet.

"It worked!" gasped Hank joyfully as Baltar muttered. "Simply amazing."

Starbuck and Six found themselves exchanging a similar worried look before they remembered they were supposed to be enemies.

"Something's wrong," warned Baltar as he watched Hank begin to hyper-ventilate. Both women turned back to see dark bluish pigmentation begin to appear on Hank's feet. Then the blue hair follicles on the feet began to lengthen at an alarming rate as the pigmentation began to spread upwards and his overall muscle bulk began to increase in size.

"No!" screamed Hank as he tore at his clothes. The four observers backed away quickly when they realized that the change before them was getting worse. They watched in horror as Dr Hank McCoy turned into an enraged blue furry muscular beast.

XXXX XXXXX XXXX

The Galactica, the press conference…

Jean managed to keep her facial expression calm while the Phoenix gleefully offered her several terrifying suggestions of dealing with the smug looking CGN reporter in-front of her.

Dropping the ceiling on his head would be a bit too dramatic but disintegrating him into tiny pieces of matter would be so satisfying. Or we could simply erase the memories of everyone for the past few minutes.

We can actually do that ? Thought Jean back at the Phoenix.

The entity laughed. Please ! That is so child's play ! You game?

No! Thought Jean forcefully. You know very well that is not how I operate!

Phoenix sighed. Then quit wasting time and respond quickly because your position is beginning to look quite weak.

Though only a minute had passed; it felt longer than that when Jean decided to answer James Mcmanus.

"Well, Mr Mcmanus; I wasn't planning on telling you about the recent mission to infiltrate a basestar because it was deemed classified and the decision to reveal the objectives of that mission lie with both the military and civilian arms of your colonial government."

Mcmanus was already shaking his head. "Not in this case; Gaius Baltar is responsible for a lot of suffering and death. We the colonial people demand justice and you are withholding it from us."

"I disagree completely with that statement," countered Roslin in a loud clear voice. All turned to look at her.

"About fucking time," muttered Laura Kinney under her breath to only the hearing of Oma and Dualla. Oma nodded silently in agreement.

"Bear in mind that the Xavier returned from their dangerous mission less than 3 days ago before diving straight into a fire-fight against the Cylons which resulted in substantial damage to their ship.

Also let's correct an earlier assumption. The Xavier was sent on a mission to collect essential intel about the cylons; that was the primary goal. Captain Logan was in charge of that mission and he acted as he saw fit; we had no idea at that point that Baltar was still alive or that Lieutenant Daniel Novacek was being held prisoner by the cylons."

Mcmanus looked confused at the second name she called. Roslin didn't give him time to recover.

"Yes, the crew of the Xavier along with the colonial officers who were part of the mission found that the cylons have been holding a colonial pilot prisoner for the past 8 years."

XXXX

Those watching were shocked by the news. In the CIC; Lee heard Saul curse beside him. The CAG knew that after this revelation the reporters were going to be after the former prisoner of war like white on rice.

XXXX

"T…that's not possible!" said Mcmanus with a look of disbelief and anger on his face. Adama's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at him, apparently his 'source' hadn't told the reporter about that part.

"It is; eight years ago Lieutetant Novacek was under my command on board the Battlestar Valkyrie. He was deployed on a scouting mission and never returned. He was declared missing in action for the first one year before being proclaimed 'deceased'. Unknown to us; he has been the prisoner of the cylons for the past 8 years and his experience has been the stuff of nightmares."

He looked around the press room. "Captain Logan's team is to be commended for the risks they took during this highly necessary mission and they used it as well to rescue a prisoner of war as well as extract the former President Gaius Baltar who needs to answer for what happened on New Caprica.

The crew of the Xavier should be commended and not condemned for acting well and above the call of duty."

XXXX

Medical bay…

Sharon was a bit startled when one of the injured patients stood up and started clapping; it was soon followed by several people clapping and cheering.

She exchanged a bemused glance with a Rogers. There was no doubt about it. Admiral Adama was a damn good tactician.

XXXX

It was obvious to Oma that James Mcmanus wasn't pleased with this turn of events. He had wanted to deliver a bombshell which was supposed to discredit the Roslin administration as well as put the crew of the Xavier in a bad light but thanks to the co-ordinated response from Roslin and the Admiral; they had managed to use the 'bombshell' to make the colonial administration and the Xavier crew look like 'heroes'!

She had to shake her head in wonder; no wonder her parents couldn't stand politicians.

But McManus wasn't done.

"I have another question." Jean was sorely tempted to tell him he had asked too many already but she knew that would look like she was 'suppressing' his right to speak.

"Please go on," she said with a gentle smile which she didn't feel.

"Do you deny that you also have a cylon 'guest' that you allowed to leave with you from the basestar where you extracted Baltar?"

Jean noted he still refused to mention Novacek.

"Well; since President Roslin and Admiral Adama have released certain classified information to you; I shall respond in kind.

Yes; when we left the cylon territory we had a cylon join us." Jean maintained eye contact with Mcmanus. "She asked for asylum from us and also assisted the team in extracting Baltar and in rescuing Lieutenant Novacek. She is our responsibility and will thus remain in our custody until further notice…"

"Why should she remain in your custody ? She's a cylon; a Six if I'm not mistaken…"

Adama resisted glaring at Zarek; he knew who had fed information to the reporter and it was no secret that while on New Caprica; the Sixes had been the most hated after the Number Five cylons.

"…and an enemy of the Colonies," continued McManus who was not bothering to hide his anger any more "that is who you gave asylum to ? How do you expect us to trust you ?"

Jean stared at him for a long moment. "So that's it then; we would automatically earn your trust if we hand over the cylon to you…is that what you are saying?"

Mcmanus opened his mouth to speak "Yes..." but was cut short by a burst of laughter from Ensign Laura Kinney. As expected all turned to her.

Jean mentally sighed and was about to stop Laura from speaking.

No; they need to hear what she has to say. Interrupted the Phoenix.

"Does that sound funny to you ?" asked an irritated Mcmanus.

Laura wiped her eyes. "Believe me when I say I haven't laughed like this in ages," she turned to him; there was a smile on her face but it didn't reach her eyes.

"You; Mr Mcmanus are fucking hilarious; you have conveniently ignored all the risks that we have put ourselves through to save your ungrateful arse and you expect us to earn your trust?" the smile left her face "So my question is this; why the fuck should we trust you ?" she looked around the room "or any of you?"

Jean saw the shocked looks on their faces even Mcmanus appeared a bit taken aback.

And that was totally necessary because I'm getting sick and tired of the self-righteous attitude of these reporters.

Jean couldn't help but agree with the entity within her.

Laura raised her hands in the air when Mcmanus seemed at loss for words.

"As I thought; no answer; why am I not fucking surprised."

I really need to talk to her about the swearing. Internally winced Jean at the female teen's language.

Dr Grey coughed softly thus drawing attention back to her. "The cylon that came back with us; will remain in our custody because that is what has been agreed on and it has also been discussed in detail with your leadership.

Now any more questions from the rest of the floor ?". Mcmanus began to open his mouth but a loaded look from Jean suddenly had him sitting down and closing his mouth.

Finally ! I was this close to giving him an aneurysm. Jean was wondering if Mcmanus knew just how lucky he was.

She picked a bespectacled timid looking man at the back of the room.

"Darion Forge from the Daily Prophets…my questions are for Ensign Kadretti ?" Oma was concerned at his tone; the man actually sounded scared.

"Sure go ahead." She made sure her voice was gentle.

Darion nervously adjusted his glasses as he spoke. " In the Starfleet Academy; a-are religious texts studied as a subject and which ones are studied ?"

Oma chose her words with care. "Yes; there are several religious courses. This is important because the cadets of the Academy come from hundreds of different worlds. By learning about these religions we also learn about our allies and our non-allies.

The religions covered include the ones particular to Earth and also those belonging to the different worlds we have come in contact with. While it is not compulsory to learn all these religions it is highly recommended that each cadet picks a course to study as it will be part of his or her dissertation before graduation." And Oma just knew what he was going to ask next.

"And which one did you pick for your dissertation?"

She answered carefully. "The faith of the Bajoran People."

XXXX

In the medical bay; Rogers heard someone say. "Who the frak are they ?"

"I thought she was some other race, Klingnon was it?" asked another person.

"Will you idiots shut up so that I can hear her speak," growled someone nearby.

Rogers exchanged a worried look with Sharon; they both knew how the thought of a different faith from that of their own would be received by the fanatical part of the colonials.

Usually; not very well.

XXXX

"The Bajorans are a deeply spiritual society and their faith has united them and helped them survive 40 years of brutal occupation by their enemy the Cardassians. They believe that charity; humility and faith are the keys to enlightenment; that didn't stop them from fighting for 40 years to end the occupation and today they are thriving."

Darion nodded. "While studying this religion; were you ever tempted to join their faith ?"

Oma grinned at him. "No; I respect their faith and many others out there; doesn't mean I want to join them." Her wry tone made some of the reporters laugh.

Even Darion smiled a little but he wasn't done. "But what of the faiths of Earth ? How many are they and surely one of them is our faith…I mean the Kobolian Faith."

I should have expected this; thought Jean; she glanced at a calm looking Oma who still maintained eye contact with the reporter.

"On Earth; there is no religion formally known as the Kobolian faith," Dorian appeared distressed by her words "however there is the Greek Pantheon which appears to be very similar to yours.

The similarities lie in the Lords that you revere; most of their names are identical… Lord Zeus, father and king of the Gods; Lady Hera his sister and wife and also the Queen of the Gods.

Lord Hades; his brother and also the King of the Underworld.

Lord Poseidon; King of the Sea; Demeter Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture.

Lady Athena; Goddess of War; Lord Ares, God of War.

Lord Apollo; God of medicine; knowledge; poetry; science.

Lady Artemis ; Goddess of the Hunt.

Lady Aphrodite Goddess of love.

Lord Hephaestus God of Fire, metal working , stone masonry and Lord Hermes; the messenger of the Gods." Oma paused to gauge their reaction; most seemed surprised that she knew the names.

"Your knowledge of our Lords is…impressive but it could be…" he paused as if unsure of what to say then spoke in a rush "…it could be that the Kobolian faith may have had it's name changed to this Greek Pantheon name however the articles of faith may very well be the same.

What most people would like to know is just how many on Earth currently worship the Lords or this Greek Pantheon ?"

Oma took a moment to prepare her answer. "I'm afraid that I don't know the answer to that question." There were sounds of disbelief in the pressroom.

Adama could only imagine the reaction among the rest of the fleet.

"The reason for that is because of the amendments made to the constitution of personal Freedoms of citizens of Earth after a central government was chosen in 2150 A.D which is over 200 years ago. The constitution states that it is not needed for a citizen to state his or her religion or belief as it is consisted a violation of personal rights" she paused " so we may have a hundred million believers or less than a hundred thousand.

However regardless of what you believe or don't' believe; we will help you the best way we can."

Dorian looked at her for a long moment. "Thank you for your honest answer." As he sat down; Adama stood up.

"I will ask that we take a 40 minute recess to hydrate and to give you time to prepare your next set of questions." The Admiral had barely finished speaking before most of the reporters started complaining; he knew that the bastards already had their questions ready but he wanted to give the crew of the Xavier a rest. One had to respect them all; especially Ensign Ihuoma Kadretti; she had taken every question thrown her way and responded like a calm and collected tactician. She must have made a fine cadet.

Dr Grey gave him a grateful nod as she followed her two younger crew members out of the room.

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

The Xavier; the holodeck…

Six didn't know what stopped her from running from the scene in-front of her. She ignored Kara who had eventually decided to come and stand beside her; maybe the female colonial pilot hadn't bolted from the room because she didn't want to appear weak in-front of Six but that was the least of her problems right now.

Because right now; the tall lanky timid bespectacled looking scientist known as Dr Hank McCoy was now a sobbing blue furry large mass in the corner of the room.

The heart felt cries were more frightening then when the young man had torn the entire lab to pieces.

"What the frak happened ?" asked a shocked Anders as he and Baltar finally came to stand next to the two females.

"Xavier; what happened ?" asked the male colonial pilot again.

"The effects of the cure actually accelerated the mutant change."

"Is…is it permanent ?" asked a white as sheet Baltar.

"Yes," simply replied Xavier. Six closed her eyes briefly as the huge blue furry scientist began to rock himself back and forth sobbing softly to himself.

"Why aren't the others here ? Surely they must have heard the commotion." Six knew her voice was harsh but she didn't care. The sound of McCoy's soft cries were heart rending.

"Dr McCoy designed these rooms to be soundproof and also put them far away from the living quarters so as not to endanger anyone in case his experiments failed."

"Well at least he's considerate." Six glared at Starbuck coldly ; couldn't she see that the young man was going through a mental breakdown ?

"What's he doing now?" asked Baltar.

Six turned back and McCoy was now very quiet and still; he was tucked up with his large muscular arms around his knees and staring at the damage he had wrought. He wiped his eyes; then stood up.

Even from where Six was; she had to take a step back. Even though he appeared miserable; there was that aura of hidden power within the young blue furry mutant. Six had to remind herself that she was actually watching a recording of something that had happened centuries ago.

McCoy looked around the room; then at the floor which was covered with broken glass, pieces of furniture and several pieces of paper; he eventually picked up his spectacles which were broken. Then they heard him swear in a deep guttural voice.

"I think he's calmed down now." I hope; thought Six as the young male mutant looked at himself. Then with a sigh he opened one of the few wardrobes that had miraculously escaped his destructive fits of rage and grief. It soon became obvious that he was looking for a change of clothes.

Baltar and Anders made almost identical sounds of embarrassment as they turned away while McCoy was changing.

Six and Starbuck kept watching; fortunately he only had to strip down to his briefs and was away from them. But that didn't prevent them from seeing that he had blue fur all over.

"This is remarkable," murmured Six in amazement; she ignored the odd look Kara gave her. McCoy quickly zipped up the blue and yellow one piece close fitting tracksuit. It looked like some type of uniform.

Then he put varying sizes of the same uniform in a large steel box; left a note on it and placed it in a cleared space in the middle of the destroyed lab and then walked out quickly as if trying to put some distance between himself and the devastation he had caused.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

The four observers kept quiet as they watched the following scenes unfold; none of them said a word as they watched the newly formed 'X-men' wear the new uniforms and react to McCoy's new appearance.

Silence continued to reign as they followed the team into the specially modified air craft. Kara finally gave in to temptation and went forward to watch as McCoy now known as 'Beast' pilot the craft. She nodded as she recognized each part of the cockpit. It reminded her of some of the antique planet side airplanes she flew as a teenager. Those had been made more than 50 years ago on Caprica.

That realization made her numb inside because what she was seeing before her was actually made more than 400 years ago on Earth.

Frak. The Thirteenth Tribe was well and truly more advanced. She reluctantly returned to the other three to see Six was seated across the young Raven code-named Mystique and staring intently at her. The female teenage mutant had resumed her 'true' form and truth be told it was quite unnerving.

"Doesn't it make you wonder why the captain wants us to see this part of their history ?" muttered Baltar out loud. Anders shot him a dark look.

"Why don't you ask him that question?"

Baltar laughed softly before looking at the male colonial pilot. "No need for that; it's obvious that he wants us to learn something. The question is what ?"

He didn't wait for an answer. "What indeed?"

Six tried to ignore Baltar and the two colonials; she didn't want to miss a single moment of what was going on in-front of her.

The X-men were clearly nervous; this was their first mission and she wondered who was going to return as a body bag. It didn't take long for things to escalate quickly and dramatically.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

Several minutes later…

"I can't feel my legs…I can't feel my legs…I can't feel my legs…"

"Xavier…stop," pleaded Kara and to her immense relief she stopped hearing Charles Xavier's shocked voice but the image before her was now frozen in time and in memory.

The X-men had met their enemies known as the Hell-fire club; they had won and Sebastian Shaw was dead. But then the unthinkable happened as the United States Navy along with the USSR Navy turned their ships and weapons on the mutants who had just risked their lives to save them.

Starbuck had covered her mouth in shock as the combined ships fired the missiles and that shock turned to awe as Lensherr stopped the missiles in mid-air and then proceeded to send them back to bomb the vessels that they had been fired from.

Xavier tried to stop him; along with Agent Moira Taggert; as the female agent tried to shoot Eric who promptly deflected the bullets…one of those bullets penetrated Charles Xavier's spine.

The look of horror on Eric's face was enough to tell the female colonial pilot that it had been a terrible accident but the irrevocable damage had been done. She watched as the missiles exploded in mid-air and as Eric removed the bullet from his friend's back and then pled with Charles to join him.

But Charles wounded as he was refused through his tears of pain and then watched as his sister bid him goodbye before joining with Eric and the other mutants who sided with him. It was only after Eric's group disappeared that Dr Hank McCoy and the others realized that young professor Charles Xavier was badly wounded. Apparently he was paralyzed from the waist down.

"Would you like to take a break ?"

Kara quickly wiped her suddenly wet eyes; she had seen a lot of crap in her life; she had seen friends and enemies die in horrible ways but the A.I's voice almost sounded like the young professor's. This was too much; she definitely needed some time off.

"That sounds like a frakking good idea," she turned round and made for the holodeck exit not caring who was following her.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

As if from far away Six heard Starbuck order Xavier to stop the simulation. For once she was grateful that Kara took the initiative. The female cylon had seen a lot of people sustain horrible injuries and even die in her presence but for some reason what she had just witnessed had shaken her to the core.

Six couldn't watch anymore; she had to fully process what she had just seen because now she was certain that the 'mutants' of the ship were trying to tell her something very important.

And it was high time she started paying attention; because she felt the fate of the entire cylon race would depend on what she learnt on the Xavier.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

Ten-Forward; the mess hall…

Anders was very worried.

It seemed like what they had just witnessed had upset Kara a lot; to be honest he had been stunned by what had happened on that beach centuries ago but what he couldn't understand was why it had affected his wife so badly.

He looked at Six and Baltar; both of them were sitting far away from them in the mess hall; their heads close together as they conversed in low tones with serious scared expressions on their faces.

The two were just realizing that 'mutants' were real; he wished he could go closer to hear what they were saying but right now Kara was his first priority.

He leaned closer to the female Colonial pilot who was also watching the female cylon and Baltar.

"Honey; you okay ?"

There was a long moment before she answered in a low tone. "No," she turned to him "what we saw…was frakked up and something tells me that there is worse to come."

Anders frowned. "What do you mean ?"

Kara nervously bit her lower lip. "We have been told that the mutants were the next evolutionary step for the human race; from what we've seen it looks like the rest of Earth who didn't have those abilities decided to turn on them."

Anders knew of the Eugenics War; after all Q Junior had been kind enough to provide them with an abbreviated version of the unfortunate events.

"But ; they seem to have passed that and Earth according to Q is peaceful now."

Kara gave him an odd look. "I'm not concerned about Earth; I'm worried about how our people will act when they find out about mutants!

You saw how they behaved towards Oma; when they realize she's also a mutant, most of our people will react pretty badly and that could jeopardize us getting to Earth," she looked back at Baltar and Six " and to make things even worse I bet Six has found the ammunition she needs."

Anders gave her a questioning look.

Kara continued. "She's going to use Earth's history to convince Captain Logan that he should side with the cylons because the way we treated them is exactly the way Old Earth treated and killed the mutants when they numbered only in the few millions." She didn't see the look of horror on her husband's face.

"Please tell me I'm wrong."

XXXX XXXXX XXXXX

Six knew Anders and Kara were watching her closely but right now she didn't care.

"We need to talk to Captain Logan in private," Baltar was startled at her low intense words.

"Why…?"

The mutants and cylons have a lot in common." Baltar blinked; clearly not following.

Six tried not to sigh; for a brilliant scientist Gaius could be quite dense at times.

"Don't you see? Mutants evolved from humans so in a simplistic way one could say the humans created them only for their creators to turn against them. Something tells me that the conflict on the beach didn't end there; it must have gotten worse or at least there must have been a full scale extermination campaign to wipe out the mutants!"

Baltar narrowed his eyes. "We won't know that for sure until we learn all about their history."

"But what if there's more," started Six in a wondering voice " what if these mutants are descendants of the original cylons who lived on Earth ? They probably even worship the One God! "

"That might be a bit far-fetched; we haven't even asked about their religion or government yet ," cautioned Baltar " let's get all the facts first before we jump to conclusions; the last thing we want to do is anger our hosts." He looked upwards meaningfully.

Six knew he was right but her excitement was growing; she was getting what she needed.

Time and information which would lead to a formal alliance between her people and Earth. May the One God be praised !

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

The Galactica

Karienne straightened her light pink jacket as one of the studio technicians gave the sign that they were going live in 10 seconds. She could feel her heart racing as she quickly checked her appearance.

This was the most newsworthy moment that she had ever had a chance to anchor. She realized that her outfit was quite 'old' in the fashion sense but she knew that the people watching weren't bothered about that; what they wanted to know was who the crew of the Xavier were and about Earth.

"….and five, four , three, two one!"

Karienne smiled brightly as the light went from red to green.

"Good afternoon; this is Karienne Cole reporting live from CGN newsroom.

We have been focusing on the press conference that took a break for recess about 10 minutes ago. Already comments and a lot of questions have come pouring in from all parts of the fleet.

Here to answer some of them is Professor Julius Xenner who also happens to be a Virgon representative of the Quorum." She turned to the slim man who appeared to be in her early forties.

"Professor; thanks for joining us. Could you please tell us your area of expertise?"

The politician's smile had an aura of sadness about it. "Before I became a member of the Quorum I was a professor of sociology and anthropology at University of Kalypsia on Virgon."

Karienne nodded. "Something tells me that your field may help us get more answers about the Thirteenth Tribe which brings me to our first question.

Why didn't members of the Quorum attend this press conference?"

Julius answered carefully. "Considering how the last meeting…ended; we thought it was best that we didn't meet with Dr Grey's team just yet."

"Dr Grey who is also known as the Oracle ?"

Julius shrugged. "I'm not a particularly religious person so forgive me when I say I don't believe she is the Oracle, afterall she has been heard to deny it as well."

"Now back to the press conference, what do you think of the military arm of Earth; this Starfleet that we keep hearing about?"

"I think that it's quite disturbing that they recruit children at such a young age. Cadet Kinney is how old ? Twelve or thirteen ? Imagine the psychological and sociological damage done to that poor girl."

Karienne raised an eyebrow. "She seemed quite confident when she vigorously defended her team-mate Ensign Kadretti."

Julius nodded. "Probably but it could all just be false bravado while she is hiding the insecurity that her training has caused her."

"Here's another one. What do we really know about Ensign Kadretti ?" asked the female news anchor.

The virgon representative looked at the camera. "Good question; what about her ? We don't know enough about her and how she came to be.

Part alien and part human ? There are theologians who are shocked and also believe that she is an impossibility that goes against the Kobolian faith."

Karienne frowned a little. "You just said that you're not particularly religious."

Julius answering smile was disarming. "I did; but when one comes face to face with someone like Ensign Kadretti; you begin to wonder if maybe one should have taken religion more seriously."

"Well; now that we have mentioned aliens what do you think of what Ensign Kadretti said about the Bajoran faith ?"

The virgon representative was silent for a moment. "To be honest; I don't know what to think. When she described the fate of another…culture I must admit that I was intrigued however I am one of those people whose motto is 'seeing is believing."

Karienne smiled. "After-all you're not that religious." He nodded.

"Here is one question that I'm sure a lot of people have thought of. Now that we know of the location of former president Gaius Baltar, when is he going to stand trial for the atrocities committed against the colonial people ?"

Julius leaned back in his seat. "Well; it appears that according to what we just witnessed that decision will depend on President Roslin and Admiral Adama. I would like to believe that they have the well being of the colonial fleet at the centre of any decision they make.

But…if they make any delay in obtaining Baltar from the Xavier; then we will know where they truly stand on truth and justice for the embattled colonial people."

In summary you don't believe they care for our people at all, thought Karienne as she kept a professional neutral expression on her face.

She looked back at her list and for a moment seemed a bit surprised at the next question before her. "There's…em…there's a very interesting question here; one that might intrigue you." Julius said nothing and simply waited.

"What if…the crew of the Xavier aren't of the Thirteenth Tribe ?"

Julius waited for a long moment before answering. "And finally someone is asking the right question. The crew of the Xavier may actually not be from Earth at all."

XXXX XXXX XXXX

Oma stared at the screen in shock while beside her Laura cursed out loud.

"Bullshit!"

"Laura, language," warned Dr Grey as she also kept her eyes on the screen. She pretended not to notice Lieutenant Dee Adama wince at Laura's colourful language.

"What the hell do we have to do to prove ourselves to these guys ?! Seriously someone help me out here because this is becoming unbelievably ridiculous!"

Jean looked at Laura and she could see the teen was incensed. She could understand her frustration because she felt it as well.

"Laura is right," said Oma softly in a weary tone. "We could even get them to Earth and they still won't accept it…because it's not how they envisaged the home of the Thirteenth Tribe to be. They can't even accept the thought of non-humans being part of Starfleet and living on Earth."

"That's not true," blurted out Dee; she almost took a step back when the three members of the Thirteenth Tribe turned to face her.
"Some of us know deep down in our hearts that you are our kin," she focused on Oma " even if you are part Klingnon; you're also part human and I accept you for who you are. A soldier and an honorable one at that."

Oma was a bit stunned at her words. "Thank you for that; that is most appreciated." Dee nodded back at her.

Dr Grey kept quiet for a while as she noticed that Dee was trying very hard not to look at her.

"Lieutenant we need to talk." Laura and Oma heard something in Jean's voice and looked at the female doctor and back at Dee who now seemed very pale.

"I can't…" began Dee.

"You're a mutant just like us," interrupted Jean calmly. Oma's mouth dropped opened while Laura whistled. Dee looked at the door in fear as if expecting someone to come barging in.

"Don't worry," said Jean gently " I disrupted the audio and video bugs in this room for the next 10 minutes."

Oma and Laura shared a knowing look, they certainly weren't going to ask her how she did that.

"B…but how?" asked Dee.

"How you're a mutant or how I interrupted the flow of electric waves in the devices hidden around this room?"

The female colonial officer suddenly sat down as if her legs could no longer hold her. "What…how?" Words seemed to fail her but Jean knew what Dee really wanted to ask.

"You're a telepath…like me, a latent developer with mental shields which you have subconsciously developed over the years."

Dee looked as if she was about to deny it; she opened her mouth and then shut it. Oma began to look concerned when she began to breathe deeply and quickly, Laura only calmly raised an eyebrow at the panic attack happening in front of her.

"It's okay," said Jean softly "take deep calming breaths; we got a long time to talk about this." Dee got up and walked around the room for a few moments.

The three female mutants watched her in silence. She finally stopped, her eyes red and wet.

"Please…please don't tell Lee."

"Why not?" abruptly asked Laura. Oma couldn't help but roll her eyes in disbelief; she gave the female teen a 'are you kidding me right now' look.

"No, seriously why not?" asked the teenager again.

Jean knew why but she looked at Dee as if waiting for her to answer the question herself.

"Because…because he may never…ever understand me," Dee had wanted to say something else but she knew Oma and Jean read between the lines. The female colonial officer was worried he would stop loving her once he found out she was a mutant.

But Laura snorted. "Then he'll be an idiot; let's be honest his level of intelligence hasn't really impressed me lately."

Part of Dee wanted to defend her husband even though she knew Laura was right but then Oma tried to hold back her laughter and then Jean and Dee looked at each other and started laughing.

Dee had no way of knowing; but in that moment her life had changed forever. She had never felt so free and alive as she laughed in the company of three young women who were just like her.

Different, unique but very much the same.

Laura stared in disbelief at the three women laughing for no reason at all and that was exactly how Commander Lee Adama found them when he decided to enter the room to find out what was going on since the surveillance equipment was no longer working.

Laura just shrugged at the dumbfounded expression the CAG's face.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

The Galactica; CIC…

Admiral Adama silently acknowledged the signs of respect from the colonial officers in the command centre. As he expected the atmosphere was a bit tense.

Everyone knew that the press conference could make things a whole lot worse; he wished it was over already.

His mind returned to the present as he entered his private office to find three people waiting for him.

Saul Tigh, Lieutenant Agathon and Ensign Rogers. The two junior officers appeared a bit apprehensive on seeing him. Adama glanced at his stoic looking XO.

"Where's Lee?"

"No idea; he was supposed to be here 5 minutes ago," grumbled Tigh.

Adama glanced at the chronometer on the wall; they had less than 25 minutes before the press conference resumed.

"We might as well get started…" Adama's words were cut short by a sharp knock at the door.

"Enter." The CAG walked in; he appeared a bit flustered.

"Sorry for being late; the surveillance equipment stopped working."

Rogers and Sharon shared a puzzled look. What surveillance equipment and who was being watched ?

Saul frowned. "For how long exactly and did the good doctor or Ensign Kadretti have anything to do with it ?" Rogers had to force himself not to glare at his commanding officers. Beside him Sharon looked down so no one would see the exasperated expression on her face.

Lee shook his head. "Difficult to say; one moment we could hear and see everything loud and clear ; the next we had instant static. It stopped after I entered the room to find out what was going on."

"Which was ?" asked his father.

The CAG's face reddened slightly before he answered. "Dr Grey, Ensign Kadretti and Junior Lieutenant were laughing a lot…about something while Cadet Kinney just watched them."

There was silence for several moments.

"Let's just start the debriefing," said Saul Tigh in a weary voice.

Admiral Adama nodded and turned to Sharon and Rogers.

"I want a run-down on what happened in the last 24hrs."

Rogers started first; he wasted no time in giving a condensed version of how his nightmare-vision alerted him to the fact that the Admiral was in danger.

The three most senior officers of the colonial fleet remained silent throughout the verbal report.

"Captain Logan didn't question you when you told them your dream?" asked the Admiral once Rogers ended his report.

"No sir; it appears that they are used to this…type of thing."

Lee chewed his lower lip; personally he found the thought of mutants very disturbing. The history that Q Junior had given them was a lot and he was trying to study it extensively because he was worried that he might miss a lot of important facts if he wasn't careful.

"What of the rest of the ship ? What more have you learnt especially about it's engines ?"

The female cylon didn't waste time. "Sir; we have been treated well on the Xavier; however our access to the rest of the ship is restricted as expected; however Six and Baltar have more limited access which is from their quarters to the mess hall and the holodeck…"

"Holodeck?" sharply asked Tigh.

"The holodeck is similar but much more advanced than the colonial simulation flight programs we used in the academy. Simulations there are…have matter and mass as well as being very life like. Captain Logan is now using it to teach Six and Baltar about Earth's history..."

"Having Six that close to advanced tech that we aren't allowed to access is a stupid idea," harshly interrupted the XO. Even the CAG nodded in agreement; just knowing that Six was allowed to roam free on the Xavier was giving him palpitations.

"Sir; that has been brought to Captain Logan's attention," Tigh glared at Ensign Rogers " however he is the captain of the ship and Six and Baltar are being constantly watched by Xavier."

Tigh and the Admiral exchanged a look. Trust an advanced A.I to watch over a deadly cylon agent?

Only when Hades froze over.

Sharon decided to continue where she left off. "Starbuck and Anders have also been keeping watch on the two of them. They joined them today in the holodeck to observe what they are watching."

Admiral Adama frowned; reassuring as that may sound there were other pressing matters on his mind.

"Has there been contact with Starfleet ?"

Sharon nodded. "Yes and on a regular basis."

"How regular?" asked Lee.

"Almost daily," answered Rogers "they seem really anxious to get to the Xavier and it's crew."

And why was that ? Thought the Admiral. Was it just to help the colonials or to retrieve the deadly assets that a sentient hologram had been sent to wake up from a centuries long sleep. Though he had met Dr Grey and Logan several times; he couldn't help thinking of them as dangerous weapons. As for Laura Kinney, it was hard to classify her; but if she got to grow up she might actually turn out to be more dangerous than her father.

"Have you learnt more of the defensive and offensive properties of the ship? What of the ship's computer ? Do you know where it's core is based ?" asked Tigh.

Sharon shook her head. "No and I also don't know anything about the aviation systems," she knew that was the XO's next question.

"So what frakking use are you guys if you know nothing at all?" asked the XO in his usual blunt manner.

Sharon's face went blank; even Rogers' was expressionless.

"They are building a bridge between us and the crew of the Xavier and also Earth. As we all know, bridges take time," said the Admiral solemnly "Captain Logan strikes me as a very cautious man and as evident from Laura Kinney's pertinent words…they don't trust us very much."

He looked at Saul Tigh for a long moment and the XO seemed to back down. "And I don't blame them; however the captain has allowed five of our officers to stay on his ship. They have to take things slowly to earn us that trust."

The Admiral turned back to the two junior officers in front of them. "The entire colonial fleet is depending on your team to build upon that trust and help with the coalition we must form with Earth and the Federation.

This means you must use everything at your disposal, your skills," he concentrated on Sharon "…and your relationships with the crew," he looked at Rogers "…to ensure that everything goes smoothly." He watched the male colonial's face go pale as the words sunk in.

"Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," chorused the two colonial officers.

"I have a question,' everyone looked at Lee Adama. He turned to Rogers.

"Just how far into the future can you predict? Days, months."
Rogers answered carefully. "Sir; it doesn't work that way. I have only had a few distinct visions, one occurred mere minutes before the event, the one of last night," he looked respectively at Admiral Adama " occurred more than a day ago and reoccurred as the event was taking place."

Lee didn't seemed surprised by the information. "I see; however I'm thinking that having you back on the Galactica would be more useful than you being on the Xavier."

Rogers felt his throat go tight; he found it hard to speak.

Lee kept talking. "Your ability would be most helpful in warning us before the cylons show up; we should get another officer to take your place on the Xavier."
"Permission to speak sir," said Sharon.

The senior Adama looked at her. "Granted."

"Rogers is just coming to terms about his ability and the only people we know of that can teach him about it are on the Xavier. Also we have broached this topic of replacing us on the Xavier before and I sincerely doubt that Captain Logan will agree to take anyone else.

If Rogers leaves; we will be down to 4 colonial officers on the Xavier."

Lee gave her sharp look; he opened his mouth to speak.

"I agree," cut in Saul Tigh to everyone's surprise. "Commander we just spoke about building bridges and you want to tear this one down?"

"Rogers is a military officer and his ability makes him an essential asset; he's wasted on the Xavier," countered Lee.

The Admiral was watching the silent male ensign closely and he could tell that the boy disagreed.

"What do you think Ensign Rogers? This does involve you."

A moment passed before the ensign answered carefully. "I feel like I belong on the Xavier and Sharon is right. There is a lot I will learn from the crew."

He looked at his senior officers. "I'm a mutant ; just like them and being reassigned without fully learning about my abilities would be a huge mistake."

The Admiral felt a chill run down his spine at the young man's words. They had disregarded his first warnings about Novacek and Adama had almost paid for that mistake with his life.

"Then it's settled, Rogers stays on the Xavier."

Lee looked like he wanted to argue but his father silenced him with a firm look.

"Now back to debriefing; what more can you tell me about Ensign Q Junior, especially his engineering abilities ?"

XXXX XXXX

Jean kept a calm smile on her face as they resumed their places in the conference room. But deep down inside she was exhausted and a bit concerned about the entity within her.

In the last 20 minutes the Phoenix's mood had suddenly shifted to a dark place and it had been muttering dark words about stupid reporters and colonial commanders for the last 10 minutes. Jean felt as if there was the equivalent of a ticking time bomb in her mind.

To her that was a warning sign that this conference had to end quickly and peacefully. She nodded silently at President Roslin and Admiral Adama as they resumed their seats.

Jean didn't waste time in welcoming everyone back ; she moved straight on to picking reporters to state their questions. Most of them looked surprised at how quickly she picked them.

But unbeknownst to them; the female medic was only trying to keep them safe.

"Karris Thorne of the Colonial Gang. Dr Grey; many would like to know about the current ruling government on Earth; is it primarily made up of humans or aliens?"

What a way to start the second round thought Jean as she answered the question.

"The government of Earth and it's territories is democratically elected. Anyone who was born on Earth or on the colonies can contest, be they human or non-human. So in summary it doesn't matter what one's dna is; what matters is if you are qualified to do the job you're given."

She picked another reporter before the first one could ask another question.

"Fiola Dranen of the Colonial Daily News. What percentage of Earth's population are aliens?"

Laura rolled her eyes as Dr Grey nodded at Oma to answer.

"83 percent of Earth's population is human or of human descent; while 17 percent is non-human…"

"I have reliable information that there's another group on Earth, a group that you have taken care not to mention," cut in Fiola with a somewhat confrontational tone.

Oma narrowed her eyes; she shared a quick glance with a puzzled Laura.

Mutants; she talking about mutants. Warned a familiar dark and friendly presence in Oma's mind.

This is a bloody trap realized the female Starfleet officer.

"Do you mean mutants?" asked Oma with a pleasant smile.

Jean fought to keep her face calm; this was too soon, the colonials would not be able to handle this much truth.

I do think it's about time they knew about mutants. Jean wasn't surprised that the Phoenix disagreed with her.

For a moment, Fiola was taken aback at Oma's calm question then she responded sharply. "Why yes; why have you hidden their existence?"

Admiral Adama kept his face neutral while he wished he could slowly strangle Zarek. He took great care not to look at the man.

The vice president must have leaked this information, there was no one else he could think of.

Laura sighed loudly knowing that would draw attention to her. "We haven't hidden that dear Fiola," her tone was sarcastic " because most of the mutants on Earth are humans. They are not considered a separate group. In fact to make it simpler for you I'm a mutant, so is Ensign Kadretti, Dr Grey and my father; Captain Logan.

Eight out of ten humans who live on Earth or it's territories are mutants. This is because we have the mutant gene.

So, your next question at this point is what is the mutant gene ?" She paused as if waiting for a reaction, the reporters were just looking at her as if transfixed by her boldness.

"Come on, do I have to do your job for you ? This is the moment when you ask about the gene." Oma resisted smiling; she wondered if Laura knew that she was turning out to be quite the unorthodox diplomat.

Fiola seemed to wake up. "So…what is this gene and is it some form of disease, is it dangerous?"

Laura stared at her for a long moment. "And I actually thought you had a brain."

Some reporters snickered at the female teen's bland tone.

Jean decided it was time to get back into the discussion. "No, it's not a disease. It is the result of human evolution that was hastened by the reliance of Earth on nuclear reactors in the late 20th century and…after the Third Earth War which we know as the Third World War."

The reporters sat up as if they knew a very relevant part of Earth's history was about to be mentioned.

"In the 2049 which is three hundred and thirty three years ago there was a global war using nuclear weapons…"

Jean made sure to project sadness and regret as she solemnly described World War Three.

"...it lasted 4 years; the death toll was over 600 million while countless others were affected adversely by radiation poisoning. Bear in mind that at that time Earth had no colonies. So we came very close to destroying Earth," she paused as she looked at the reporters before her. Phoenix was silently telling her that they and the rest of the fleet were listening very carefully.

"I'm sure I don't have to mention the effects of fall out radiation on the survivors. Many more died as the years passed ; however the survivors adapted to the radioactive environment with the help of the mutant gene and that is why as

Cadet Kinney pointed out that 8 out of 10 humans have the gene.

The mutant gene is what gives most of us abilities; for me it's my telekinesis ability," she raised her right hand and several small light objects not pinned down gradually went up in the air. There were soft murmurs of alarm from several reporters in the room.

"Don't worry, you won't get sprayed with water this time," said Jean with a gentle smile. This reassured some of the reporters; however all of them kept an eye on the objects as they seemed to be moved to the centre of the room just underneath the ceiling. The objects became to move around in a circle.

Admiral Adama had chills run down his spine as he recalled the incident on the flight deck and what Dr Grey did in the CIC. He glanced at Roslin who looked very pale, even Zarek had an alarmed expression on his face.

"That looks like a very good trick, tell me what device did you put in the ceiling?" asked Mcmanus in a loud voice but Jean could see the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.

The Phoenix whispered a suggestion to her and for once Jean agreed with it. With a gentle smile she looked at Mcmanus and he was pulled out of his seat as if by an invisible hand. He actually cried out in shock as he floated in the air towards the podium. Reporters hastily moved out of the way as they took pictures.

The colonial reporter came face to face with Dr Grey, as he floated in a horizontal line. She tilted her head and he began to rotate slowly while suspended ten feet horizontally from the floor.

Careful, he's gonna pee in his pants. Warned Phoenix.

Jean decided to have mercy on him and set him down gently on his feet. Mcmanus looked shell shocked and was for once speechless.

"Does that feel real to you?" she returned the other objects to their owners as she waited for his answer.

The poor man swallowed several times before speaking.

"Y…yeah…q…quite real."

XXXX

In the CIC; Saul Tigh nodded approvingly at the shocked look on the reporter's face.

"I gotta admit; I like her style."

XXXX

The Argo Navis

Dahlia turned away from the screen that showed Dr Grey shaking hands with Roslin and the Admiral; the press conference had just ended.

After that disturbing display of 'mutant powers' the rest of the questions had seemed less aggressive. Dr Grey's team answered each one clearly before the press conference came to a close.

Dahlia faced the five other people in front of her while trying to ignore the sixth person who stayed in the shadows.

"So, thoughts ?"

There was a long moment of silence before Jacob Cantrell spoke. "The situation is a lot worse than we expected. There is so much we don't know and Roslin and Adama have all this information that should have been made public long ago."

Reza Chronicles nodded. "You're right; maybe we moved too fast and too hard. People are still talking about what happened at the last Quorum meeting and our collective approval rating has suffered a huge blow. They won't listen to us now after we were made to look like fools."

"Not if we give them time while planning accordingly" said Riall Zhalen as he watched the screen. Ensign Kadretti was shaking hands with Admiral Adama. He tightened his hand in anger. "We need to use other means to show people that the crew of the Xavier are not the answer to our salvation. They may be of the Thirteenth tribe but they have lost their way…that much is certain.

This talk of mutants" his tone was laden with disgust and fear "…further proves what I was trying to warn our people about. They are ungodly and if we are not careful we will find ourselves pulled away from the path of righteousness and salvation."

He finally tore his eyes away from the screen to look at each of the people in the room and even the sixth silent person who continued to stay in the shadows.

"And how do we do that?" asked Julius Xenner "It's obvious that Dr Grey has the Roslin and Adama wrapped around her little finger. While I agree that something has to be done and soon…we could actually make the situation worse."

Brother Riall Zhalen looked at him for a long moment. "Desperate times call for desperate measures which is why I have called on someone who is better at handling this situation than the rest of us."

Dahlia finally forced herself to look towards the silent sixth member of the meeting.

"I still think we can handle this situation from a political angle…"

"Which has failed" cut in Riall "in times like this it is our sworn duty as children of the Lords to employ all means to ensure that our people don't lose their way." He paused. "Isn't that right Sirus?"

A long moment of silent passed before Sirus Pontius, the leader of the Sons of Ares stepped into the light.

"Brother Riall is right and the Sons would be glad to help," he looked at each of them as if memorizing every feature of them. He then looked at the screen which showed Dr Grey smiling as she took pictures beside the Admiral and Roslin once again. No one saw the odd light that appeared in his eyes as he gazed at the female redhead.

"Thank you so much for inviting me to this meeting."

XXXX XXXXX

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Easter! Once again, so sorry for the wait. Life has been throwing some lemons recently however I'm trying to make lemonade as fast as I can.

Hope you like this chapter. I promise things are gonna heat up in the next few…now where's that lemonade I made earlier ?

Have a great week everyone!