Chapter 12: The Weight of Truth
"Welcome back everybody." started the CNN Anderson Cooper. " And back to our ongoing coverage of the Unveiling of the Stargate Program and Tau'Ri commonwealth."
Behind him was a graphic of the the various ships that ,floated around above Liberty island. Some of them was due to break of fly to different capitals of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
"Over the past few hours," he continued. "we have received word from several nations that are not members of the UNTC, ranging Indonesia to Mexico to sign on, while North Korea has issued a demand that the Stargate itself to released into their custody.
"Now legal and diplomatic experts Mary Reed and Joseph Langley have read the founding documents of the Tau'Ri Commonwealth and the requirements of joining it. Staring with Mary Reed, what is about this document that sticks out.?"
"Well first of, thank you for having me on this historic day." started ms. Reed. "Now as for what stuck out to me, it is how much read like the UN's Declaration of Human Rights as seen through the US Bill of Rights, but yet also how it differs from my expectations."
"How so ms. Reed?" asked Anderson Cooper.
"We can kiss goodbye to the freedom of the press." answered ms. Reed, a young African American graduate from John Hopkins University and political activist, as Anderson Cooper blinked.
"Anderson Cooper, if I may interject." stated Joseph Langley, Ph.D, Jur. D and professor in Political Science at Utah State.
"Yes Dr. Langley." confirmed Anderson Cooper.
"I don't believe that Mary havn't read the full document. The limits this document is putting on the press was already in the UNTC treaty, and it already existed in one form or another in federal law for mostly out of public safety concerns. We don't want someone to build a homemade teleportation device and beam a WMD somewhere we didn't want."
"It still puts limits on the free press, Joe." snapped ms. Reed as Dr. Langley nodded his head.
"True, but it is so narrowly defined that is a non issue in the end and add the Government and Corporate Transparency laws it also requires in the mix, it give the press far more tools for their job to uncover abuse in the system. Besides other nations are giving up far more than we do, China for example, has to allow freedom of religion or as it says in the Tau'Ri Commonwealth Constitution 'Freedom Of and From Religion'."
"Do you believe that this the underpinning of a global government Dr. Langley?" asked Anderson Cooper.
"The UNTC treaty itself is more of a intergalactic hybrid of UN and NATO." stated Dr. Langley. "The Tau'Ri Commonwealth itself is a federal system, similar to the parliament of the United Kingdom. Earth itself has no real government, relying on the UN to act as it, in the meantime, but with the difference is the abolition of the permanent membership of the UN Security Council, but this is subject to change in the future."
"I can agree on Dr. Langley's assessment of the new government." agreed ms. Reed. "But I am also concerned that members of our Armed Forces will be under command from officers of another nation. Several of them have different language, of which all students must learn at least three."
"Once again does Mary leave out simple facts. Outside that all military forces seem to be injected with a symbiotic microorganism that acts like a translator of sorts, I haven't read all of the documents regarding it. The Tau'Ri Commonwealth only has three working languages, one of which a trooper must learn during military training, and that is Ancient, Goa'Uld tongue and Pegasus Trade as they are the most common trade languages we will encounter.
Jon Snow was unease with his interview with the Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson. The overblown pundit was basically attacking the Commonwealth for extremely petty reasons. He was wishing that he could sic Ghost at him, or that Drogon could roast him.
But alas, it was murder and Drogon was spending his day flying freely on the world of Wasteland (the planets population was evacuated almost eight years ago, with Tamriel and Arrakis hosted a quarter each, while the rest settled around the Grantville-Westeros system). He had clamied the Yucatan peninsula as his home range.
"If you allow me your highness to be blunt, why should we agree to this document?" said Tucker Carlson.
"Well Mr. Carlson." started Lord Snow. "We believe that it provide the most benefits for the population. Take the stance regarding healthcare and schools."
"That is what I am saying, Mr. Snow." said Tucker Carlson disrespectfully. "How can we provide such lofty goals when we can't pay for it?"
"Actually you can, and could long before UNTC treaty. The only hurdle wass that your principal demographic wasn't willing to pay for it."
"How so, and wouldn't it bringing down the quality?
"What comes down to are you willing to pay, let say, 50 dollars in taxes or 200 monthly for medical insurance plus thousands of dollars extra when a medical emergency does happen? The same can also be applied to the schools system. And for quality, schools are easy to equalize upwards and for hospitals and such, the Constitution says if it can't provide locally it shall provide the means for the patient to meet a sufficient doctor regardless of the doctors location."
"And waiting times?"
"Unlike the medical system in the United States, it is estimated to decrease any waiting time by at least twenty percent, and that is not taken into account of any modern technology."
"I see, Mr. Snow." said Tucker Carlson and started look in his notes for a new angle for discrediting the Tau'Ri Commonwealth.
The debate of the Unveiling of the Stargate was all over Earth, the ramification of the short firefight between a Colonial Battlegroup and a single Tau'Ri was hitting Vice Admiral Helena Cain as she sat in a Raptor on its way to the Naval Command building on Caprica.
She looked down to small wad of papers on which she laid down her defence. Ever since her return to the Colonies and the President Adar's speech about the potential return of the 13th Colony, she had been attacked by seven major news networks, they had either demanded for her imprisonment or at least stripped of her rank. The only network that was somewhat sympathetic to her was also the only network that came form her home Colony of Tauron.
As the Raptor touch down, she stood up, crouching a little, as the side door opened and she stepped out. Over a dozens of cameras were waiting and started flash her in the face when she straightened her uniform.
"Adm. Cain, do you have any words to the men and women you led to their deaths?" yelled a news reporter as Adm. Cain marched past them and entered a side door. She didn't waste a moment as she walked through the marble halls and entered the audience chamber, there waiting was three members of the Colonial Military Disciplinary Corps or CMDC. The would be her judge and jury, when it came to military matters, however the room was also packed with Quorum members and from the press.
"Vice Admiral Helena Cain, thank you for coming today." said the main CMDC judge, the judge was an Admiral herself which showed the importance of the hearing. "I am sure that you know of the why you are here, but for the record, we are assembled here to find out why you fired on this Tau'Ri vessel, which caused the destruction of five ships, where of two were Battlestars, and the crippling of your own Battlestar and the cost of eleven thousand four hundred seventy three lives."
"I thank you for giving me a chance to answer the questions that the people may have about my actions and the steps that lead up towards the events which cost too many lives." stated Adm. Cain. "Now, where should I begin?"
"We have already had Commander William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica, and he has explained the events leading up to the battle." started the second judge. "And how one of Galactica's Raptors spotted two ships. And how he then reported to you and from there, you ordered an assault. Do you wish to counter that, Admiral?"
"Negative, Comm. Adama recognition of our conversion seem to be correct." confirmed Adm. Can, as the judge nodded his head and wrote it down into his notes.
"Alright, then can you please explain of why did you feel it was needed to launch an attack of these two ships?" asked the third judge.
"Based upon my assessment of the information, I believed that this was a Cylon force that was setting up a launch point to strike at our homes. I couldn't let them finish the base that they were building and since we had them outnumbered, I believed that we could win with ease." explained Adm. Cain. "I had the best interests of the Twelve Colonies in mind."
"And that despite that several of your subordinates raised the potential for first contact?" inquired the second judge. "Such as potential contact with the 13th Tribe?
"Yes, I admit that several of my junior officers raised it at multiple points. And to answer your follow up question, I have personally thought that any contact was nothing more than a pipe-dream."
"Thank you for your candour Admiral." stated the third judge. "Vice Admiral, we have looked over your military record and while you have served with distinction since graduating top of your class, both at the military academy on Tauron and on the Colonial Officer School, but the notes from your instructors and subsequent senior officers paint a different picture than the one that you just painted to us."
"I do not know what you mean Admiral." stated Adm. Cain defiantly to the third judge who looked down to her own notes.
"The following is a direct quote from Commander Juest of the Medusa, the first man you served under Admiral." stated the third judge. "'While Helena Cain is by far the most driven and hard working young officer I have ever seen in the decades I have been in the uniform myself. I have however, major concerns about her mental state. She seemed to have a tunnel vision and deep driven desire of revenge against the Cylons, she has been reported to slap lower ranking officers and enlisted. While none of these reports have been substantiated, but the number of them is enough fro me to recommend her for mental review and possible discharge from the military. I cannot recommend her for any form of command.' end quote."
Adm. Cain glared at the judge as she finished her reading, and that look went across the Twelve Colonies and almost everyone agreed that, given a chance, Adm. Cain would have killed the judge herself.
"Tell me Adm. Cain." started the third judge. "Were you so blinded by your hate towards the Cylons, that after the Tau'Ri offered to take the down the station and leave, that you opened fire? Are you blind?"
"No Admiral, I am not blind." countered Adm. Cain. "I believed It was a trick, and that they were buying time to call in reinforcements, and then, we would be outnumbered."
While Adm. Cain was being chewed out by the three CMDC judges, the news reporters from Earth was having a field day in regards to the wealth of information coming out of the Stargate Program.
All the new technology, stories of battles across galaxies and information that aliens had taken the names of ancient Gods and Goddesses, in order to enslave the human population across the Milky Way was too much to soak in at once. There were already fluff pieces broadcasted to make it more digestible to the general public. So they turned to the more human related news stories about life on Valhalla.
Networks such as CNN, Fox News MSNBC, BBC and Al-Jazeera and others had been given almost full access to Valhalla and since there was so many stories to cover, so the various news teams did something almost unheard of, they worked together, sharing stories and reporters. So that explained that reporter that normally worked for Fox News, found himself doing a live broadcast for CNN.
"So Mike, it must be strange to be on a another planet?" inquired Anderson Cooper the former white house correspondent Mike Emanuel.
"It is indeed very strange Anderson." said Mike Emanuel as a 2 Tc signal was used to link up the two worlds. "However there are a few things which have stuck with me about this World."
"Such as?" asked Anderson Cooper.
"I found several slips building ships, but it was the animal lover in me that found Project Noah
the most interesting." stated Mike Emanuel.
"Project Noah, Mike?" inquired Anderson Cooper.
"In essence, it takes a page from the bible." started Mike Emanuel. "It turns out when the a Asgard first came to Earth, they took DNA samples and brain pattern scans of thousands of breeding pairs or hundreds of animal species. Using Asgard cloning technology, the scientists here have cloned the animals, memories and all, and introduced them into the wild here. I have seen truly massive herds of American Buffalo running across the grasslands and Siberian Tigers moving through the mountain forests."
"What about any native life, Mike?" asked Anderson Cooper.
"It turns out that this world is a pretty much blank slate prior to colonization, the researchers believe that about two thousand years prior the equivalent of a nuclear exchange between the US and Soviet Union occurred. The radiation is gone now and local wild life was slowly going back to normal but any large animal life hasn't returned since that could take millions of years. In the eight years since the first survey, the only real wild life we have found, is less of fifty species of plant life, about two dozen smaller forms of life and the only large animals found so far is a type deer analogue called Silver Tail, is is called so after its tail and is about the size of a White Tail and its four antlers doesn't fall off, and the other form of large animals is a nocturnal big cat analogue called Shadow Cat. Its about size the size of cougar with black body and grey stripes like a tiger.
While Mike Emanuel was talking, images of the native wild life such as Shadow Cat and Silver Tail and at the the end introduced Earth Animals who called Valhalla home crossed the screens of the CNN broadcast.
"Those are some beautiful animals Mike." noted Anderson Cooper as videos of Sperm Whales breaching the water surface, followed by a video of a herd of Zebras.
"They sure are, and the plan is to give these animals free reign over a landmass about the size of Asia." reported Mike Emanuel as the images of the screen change into a map of Valhalla. The planet had three major landmasses and the remains of a fourth. Two of the remaining landmasses was habitable, while the third was like Antarctica, covered in ice. The two habitable landmasses was the size Asia and the other was the size of Afro-Eurasia. The two habitable landmasses was separated by a narrow sea.
"Beside a few naturalist areas and and a large open military training field the the size of Texas, the animals have the rest of it for themselves." continued Mike Emanuel.
"A single army base, the size of Texas?" inquired Anderson Cooper.
It is mainly a training center for armored movements and considering the wild life have the rest of the planet for themselves, it shouldn't be an issue." reported Mike Emanuel with a smile. Meanwhile on his normal network was doing a piece on Disneyland Valhalla with a the help from reporter from Al-Jazeera.
One thousand light-years away from Valhalla, Cap. Lorne was discussing what the Odyssey have found out so far with Homeworld Command and the now defunct IOA.
For the past few hours, the Odyssey had passed through the system, which the Colonials had claimed for their own, listening in on any media broadcast i could find.
"So are there really twelve worlds?" inquired a French IOA member, who wished that he wasn't having this conference but be at the huge party taking place at Champe de Mars.
"Most of the population lives on the twelve major worlds, but there are settlements on several moons and smaller planets, with the largest on the moon Hibernia orbiting the world of Virgon.
"And they have all these warships?" inquired Marshall O'Neill, who was in fact sitting the White House Situation Room along with Pres. Lisenbe. Above them, there was a massive lawn party being held for the elite of Washington D.C. All around the city, the federal government had set up parties as the TCV Missouri was floating above the Washington Mall, with non-functioning examples of the new military equipment standing around the Mall for the people to see, the people was more interesting in the Stargate than afraid. There was was a 4th of July feel in the city and there was plans for a fireworks in the evening,
"Yes Marshall, however our own ships appear to outmatch them in almost every way." reported Cap. Lorne. "We killed more than eleven thousand of their people in uniform. They are freaking out about the idea of Earth, its all over their media."
"How did they found out about Earth?" asked Pres. Lisenbe.
"The bridge crew of the Ark Royal forgot to switch over to internal communication and the Colonials overheard the order to send a message to Earth about the attack." explained Cap. Lorne. "The strangest thing about it though is that they think that Earth is a sister Colony of theirs."
"One of their Colonies?" inquired a Chinese IOA member, China had been peaceful about the Unveiling and military parades had been scheduled to take place in multiple cities, and the one in Beijing was noted to have invited the Dalai Lama, who had his terrorist label revoked four years earlier in return for acknowledging that Tibet was part of China. The biggest worry was however China's former ally North Korea, who was making all sort of noise about the 'Gate and having a warships floating over Seoul. The World leaders knew someday it would reach a boiling point. All other nations were already asking for access to the new technologies to help their people. Other nations straight up applying to join the Tau'Ri Commonwealth.
"Yes Sir, they believe that all of humanity, which to them is only their twelve worlds plus Earth, came from a world called Kobol." explained Cap. Lorne. "There they lived with the Gods until Earth left about for thousand years ago and they two thousand years later."
"Well we all know that isn't true, Lorne." What Gods do they worship?"
"The wast majority that are in their census follow the Greek pantheon, with an small percentage of worshippers of the Asgard and some Monotheistic faith. For those that aren't listed in the census, the ratio is reversed."
"Why?" asked the French IOA member.
"Based upon what we can gather, only twenty percent of the population is listed in their census." continued Cap. Lorne. "The rest is a marginalized group collectively called Ithacans, with one tribe that seem to be remnants of a missionary campaign by Sokar."
"Why do you think that?"
"The tribe in question are Jaffs and Catholic of sorts, Sir." finished Cap. Lorne, referencing to Jaffa-Human hybrids found on a few worlds and of the few catholic groups seeded by the Ancient Moros under the guise of Merlin and later the Goa'Uld Sokar.
"The Colonials could be slaves that rebelled and buried their gate as we did in Egypt." offered Pres. Lisenbe.
"In any way, there is no way to know for sure without direct contact madam President." said Marshall O'Neill.
"Cap. Lorne, are they a threat?" inquired Pres. Lisenbe.
"Yes Ma'am." started Cap. Lorne. "From we have seen so far, while we have an edge in technology, they have the numbers to counter us for the moment. However, they do not know where we are and while their hyperspace technology is instantaneous, it is very short range. It would take them around five days to reach Valhalla and seven and a half for Earth proper."
"How do you know that, Cap. Lorne?"
"We beamed one of our technician inboard one of their mothballed ships and she took detailed scans of the interior of their engine room and of their jumpdrives, Ma'am. And if they want of find us badly, they will look for us if we don't come back."
"Madam President, it may be far better if we arrange a meeting with them, rather then for them shop up in orbit over Valhalla and have another firefight with them there." offered Marshall O'Neill as Pres. Lisenbe leaned back into her chair. The interim government of the Tau'Ri Commonwealth had selected her as its chairperson of Tau'Ri government for the next two years ,and after that it was Brazil's turn for the next two years. They would continue to rotate it until a Capital was chosen and elections begin.
"Alright. Captain Lorne, you have a green light to arrange contact." ordered Pres. Lisenbe as the assembled IOA representatives agreed with her.
On Caprica Adm. Cain was in bed with her girlfriend for the past year. She had offered Adm. Cain a romantic dinner at a premier restaurant followed a meeting of the two between the finest silk sheets at a luxury hotel.
Right now, Gina Inviere, was slowly kissing her up from the insides of Adm. Cain's thigh, past the sole breast that wasn't covered in bandages to Adm. Cain's mouth. Until the change in her assignment from her Cylon overlords, this part of her cover was the only thing she liked. She really loved Adm. Cain and was bitter that she had to betray the woman she loved to her death and genocide of her people.
For Adm. Cain, Gina was up-and-coming system analyst fifteen years her junior.
"I hate to say it Helena, but you aren't only one that had a bad day." said the Six model human-form Cylon. "I just heard that I am being reassigned to the Earth analysis team, alongside with my two sisters joining in."
"Oh?" asked Adm. Cain. She knew Inviere had some family among a Gemeneese Ithacan tribe. She hadn't told her any, but Adm. Cain did her research, and the only family member she managed to confirmed with Gina was Natalie Faust, her cousin, a known Ithacan rights advocate.
"Yes, I've told previously that I don't like to talk about my family, so much bad blood there. But I have to mention them now that I have to work with them."
"So, you also need some extra care tonight." stated Adm. Cain as she moved her lover onto a standing-kneeling position braced by the wall the bed stood by.
Adm. Cain the started to kiss tenderly Gina's inner thighs and her much younger lover stared to guide her hand. Without missing a beat she took the hint and the other hand move to meet their sister, and with her hands' inner fingers slowly massaged the inside of Gina Inviere's perfect rear.
On Arrakis the sun Canopus was raising in the eight years (or one and a half years local) since its discovery, forty one colonies had settled in the system, thirty seven of those was on Arrakis itself, and now it would play host to another.
Tobin of Ver Isca, the Prince of Celestis naked rose from the bedlike throne of the planets ruler Bloodmoon Hope. He walked towards a nearby table were some iced water was sitting in sealed beaker. He had been astonished of the generosity of the Tau'Ri and thier protectorates. Over six thousand habited systems had offered sanctuary. Granted five and a half of those was in the Avalon Protected Reach, where most former Ori worshippers decided to settle after being exiled from their respective homewords. Arrakis was one of them. Giving the settlement of Liet (in accordance local naming conventions). He had the previous day being interviewed about his role in the Ori Crusade with an Earth news agency. But he couldn't draw his mind to his people's need at the moment. One and a half million of his people are goinig to settle on the planet. He took a sip of the asteroid mined water as he felt cold delicate hands tracing his waist.
"You are up early." stated Bloodmoon Hope, as she started give Tomin a reach-around and kissing his shoulder blades.
"Just woke up from the dream you gave me, that is all." answered Tomin. The Bloodmoon had used her oneiromantic abilities to give Tomin the dream of walking through his home village one last time.
"It was a beautiful village I have to say."
She turn around and sat on the small table.
"I still have to thank you for allowing one and half millionof my people to settle here." said Tomin.
"It was easy, I have the land for it, even if it just a desert" countered Bloodmoon Hope. "It also helps that five hundred worlds outside the Avalon Reach has offered a place for you to call home."
"It does." said Tomin to his thirty plus younger lover.
"Now, why don't we finish that rising feeling you got down there…" said Bloodmoon as she hugged and kiss Tomin and guided herself onto his manhood.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol laid in a bed with Lt. Sharon Valerii. They were staying at a lovehotel who unbeknownst to the both of them was owned by Lt. Dualla of the Galactica.
Their romance was an illicit one as Lt. Valerii was one of Galactica's Raptor pilots and him Galactica flight deck chief. They had taken a short leave in response of the battle between Adm. Cain's Battlegroup and the Tau'Ri ship Ark Royal. While Lt. Valerii was fast asleep, Chief Tyrol wasn't.
His dreams was about a distant past. On Earth, but not the Ark Royal's Earth. There he was a the senior researcher on a piece of pre-landfall technology that allowed a mind to be downloaded into a new body.
He saw his fellow researchers, Saul and Ellen Tigh, Samuel Anders and a woman he didn't recognise, but they were about to wed. He saw his work completed and the five was its first subjects. His first body was destroyed in a nuclear flash while he was shopping in a fruit and flower market, and his mind was downloaded into a new body onboard a waiting ship in orbit. Chief Tyrol then saw the two thousand years long journey (two hundred from his perspective) and meeting with the Cylons.
He saw him and his fellow researchers, help the Cylons in their experiments into turning themselves into flesh and blood. And just before Chief Tyrol woke up, he saw the fist Cylon human-form model betray him and the others.
"Gods dammit, no." he whispered.
"Go back to bed Chief." said Lt. Valerii.
"Yes, Sharon." said Chief Tyrol. "Root Access Cylon model 8, password Kobol. Sleeper Mode Set"
"Sleeper Mode equal 1." said Lt. Valerii.
"Delete log, Return Normal Operation." said Chief Tyrol. "Damn."
He had no other recourse to find the others and discuss with them.
It was around daybreak on Caprica (or close to it as it was still in Gemenon's shadow) when the Odyssey's hyperspace window appeared on far side of the gas giant called Zeus by the Colonials.
No Colonial vessels was in visual range, but the Odyssey was detected by the Colonial DRADIS systems and alarms was going off.
"They know that we are here Sir." reported the Odyssey's ComO. "Multiple warships are heading towards us."
"Helm, make sure that we have an escape vector." ordered Cap. Lorne, as the ship moved out of Zeus shadow and into a position where he could see the tiny dots that were Caprica and Gemenon. "Lt. Nike, make sure shields and weapons are ready for a firefight.
"Aye-Aye Captain." said the helmsman.
"Shields and weapons are fully charged, Sir." said the Weapons Officer Lt. Nike.
A few thousand kilometres away from the Odessey, a News Raptor belonging to Caprica Planetary News had been filming a flight of Vipers on patrol for some background images for the news.
Once they saw the strange ship on their DRADIS, they moved their cameras toward the ship. With that , the image of Odyssey moving out of Zeus's shadow without any apparent drive plume (Odyssey like most refitted F-304's had replaced its sublight engines with an inertial drive similar to the ones used by the Goa'Uld) was broadcasted across the Twelve Colonies. Then the strange ship just stopped and waited as the more massive Colonial warships got closer to it.
Out of the sudden, the image changed to that of a middle aged man with dark hair sitting on a strange chair. He was sitting what appeared to be a CIC of some kind, all around him different men and women were operating computers and behind the him a table some kind.
"Attention Colonial vessels, this is Brigadier Colonel Evan Lorne of the Tau'Ri Commonwealth and Captain of the TCV Odyssey. The Odessey just took over news networks broadcast frequencies and transmitted over them. "Me and my ship has been dispatched by Tau'Ri government to establish contact with your people so we can hopefully avoid any further conflict."
"TCV Odyssey, this is President Adar of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." came President Adar's voice over same frequencies as the Odyssey was using. "We also wish to make contact with your people so we can avoid any further misunderstandings."
"That is great news Mr. President." said Cap. Lorne as he stood up on his bridge. "However, we are only a recon ship with military personnel, with your permission, Sir, a first contact diplomatic team will be dispatched alongside a protective task force of seven ship to make official contact with your people."
"That would be great, Colonel or Captain?" said Pres. Adar. "When?"
"Captain Sir. According to our readings a day on Caprica is about twenty six hours long on our scale, they will be her in twelve of those days." explained Cap. Lorne. "Is that acceptable Mr. President?"
"Yes, more than enough Cap. Lorne." stated Pres. Adar, wishing that these Tau'Ri would arrive sooner than that. He didn't want to deal with all the press which would be built up to that day, but if it took twelve days for their team to arrive, he wasn't going to close the door to them. Besides this would allow for more time to listen on their transmission leaks coming from Raluch.
"Excellent Mr. President. We will arrive at this location, please leave the space behind us open as our FTL as you call it, is different from yours." advised Cap. Lorne.
"Of course Cap. Lorne." said Pres. Adar. "I speak for all of the Colonies of Kobol, when I say, that we look forward to the day that our two people can meet face to face."
"As do our leaders Mr. President, until then." noted Cap. Lorne as he gave a nod to an off-screen communications officer and the broadcast came to a stop and the image changed back to the original broadcast of the Odyssey in space.
For a while, none of the reporters spoke up as they watched the Odyssey do an 180° turn on two axis. And then a green electrical discharge opened up in front of the Odyssey and the ship accelerated into it. After that the discharge dissipated and space retuned to normal. For a while, the stunned news reporters couldn't say anything before returning t the news.
Within minutes the graphic departments for each news agency had modelled a ticking clock, ticking down to the return of Earth. Little did they know, that the Odyssey just gone outside of Colonial space and restarted to monitor the Colonials.