The Age of the 5th Race

by Hamburger73

This chapter was completed with the kind support of stargazerin.

Disclaimer

All rights of the mentioned TV series belong to the TV studios that produce them. Unfortunately, I own only the idea of the scenario.

I'm very sorry, ashes on my head that it took me so long for this chapter. But unfortunately, several problems in my life took me a lot of time. On top of that, it took me a very long time to find a new beta.

captaindickscratcher: According to IOA considerations at the beginning of this story, Earth does not need defense in the solar system because there are no known threats in the galaxy anymore. In addition, the fleet could reach the solar system relatively quickly in an emergency from the new colony. This was at least the plan of the IOA.

Of the 679,573 people who are on Atlantis at the beginning of this story, only part of them are Tau'ri. I have already mentioned that Jaffa and Tok'ra are also among these people. There are other survivors of Allied peoples on Atlantis too, such as the Tokra, Jaffa, Orbans or the Pangarans.


5. A meeting to remember

unknown date unknown system

Atlantis

O'Neill was a little annoyed. As if he hadn't already had enough problems and trouble on this day. On top of everything, these unknown people who were able to overcome the shield of the city-ship came to Atlantis. Overcoming the shield shouldn't be possible in the first place.

Now there was also the ascended Janus there. Of course, he said that they were not obliged to help these unknown people or to listen to them at all. What a joke. Who was Janus trying to fool? Janus knew exactly, as soon as Daniel would hear about this story - and that was only a matter of time, and then he will make sure that the Tau'ri would help these unknown people. He was just like that, their space monkey.

Jack just hoped that Daniel's desire to help everybody would not cause them any more problems. But to be honest, he had little hope, not when there was an ascended involved. Therefore, he first contacted Sam, Helia, and Daniel telepathically and let them know that they should prepare the big meeting room, as they had visitors.

"Okay, as long as we don't know you all, your guns stay down here. The same goes for your combat robots," Jack said to the colonials.

Admiral Adama noticed that some of his tour group stiffened at the words of this foreign general. No one liked to just hand over their weapons now. Adama had the fullest understanding for this. At the end of the day, he would have given the same order if it were the other way around. So, he told everyone in the group that they had to follow the order. Starbuck, Col. Tigh, and D'Anna, however, did not seem to agree with his order.

"Kara, Saul, D'Anna you heard our host. That goes for all of you here, leave the guns here with the Centurions." ordered the Admiral.

"Are you sure Bill, that this is a good idea?" the colonel wanted to know.

"Saul, if we were the hosts, we would ask our guests to renounce their weapons aboard Galactica as well," Adama replied.

"I can assure you all, that you are all safe here, and that is not only because I am here," with these words Janus tried to reassure those present that no one on Atlantis would be harmed.

"General O'Neill was your name? Well, if you don't mind General, I would like to send some of our group back to our starships so that they can report to our fleet that all is well so far. I don't want anyone in our fleet to be worried about us unnecessarily. "

Jack O'Neill sensed that there was no immediate danger from these strangers. Nor did he sense any hostile emotions. And he was sure that none of his subordinates sensed anything like that either otherwise he would have received a hint telepathically already.

No, instead he felt fear, very strong fear, from a few of these people. He would even call it mortal fear, together with desperation and depression just like he had last felt during the war against the armies of the Ori.

Damn, what had Janus done here? What would they get themselves into if they helped these people? Would they even be able to help? These were the questions that were going through Jack's mind right now. Theoretically, he could have just read the strangers' minds, but he didn't dare violate their privacy. After all, he didn't want to add the resulting lecture, from both Daniel and Helia, to his problems today.

Jack acknowledged the admiral's request, "Admiral Adama, we are happy for you to send people who are not needed, back to your crafts."

"Helo, take the Marines and go back to our Raptors together with the Centurions and then report to the fleet that we've probably made some new friends who might be able to help us. And that we will now sort out the details."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Mitchell, go together with your team and take Sheppard with you," said O'Neill, with the unspoken order to look after these people very carefully and, of course, to look at the unknown spaceships.

As soon as the group around Helo was on their way out to their spaceships, the others went on through a door to a transporter. In several groups, they finally, arrived at a large meeting room quite high up on the central tower. O'Neill and the other Tau'ri quickly became aware that the vast majority of these unknowns were very nervous when they realized that computer networks were in use here on Atlantis. But finally, they were all in that room, along with the main Tau'ri leaders. The Tau'ri immediately knew that this would be a very memorable conversation.

It had now been about half an hour since Janus had appeared down in the tower and everyone was gathered in that room. Of course, the Tau'ri were all very curious as to why Janus could be here at all. After all, it was something that didn't normally happen.

"It's nice that you're all in this room now because even my time here is limited. So, please leave any questions until the end. Most of it should be clarified anyway while I explain everything. And the remaining questions that you colonials might still have, the Tau'ri can answer sufficiently afterward." With these words, Janus began to talk.

"But so that you don't have to bother the Tau'ri with too many questions, I'll give you a summary of our history. Over 65 million years ago, my people lived in a rather distant galaxy. We lived in peace for many centuries at that time. But then there were philosophical differences within our society, which ultimately triggered a civil war. The Ori had become religious fanatics who were no longer willing to tolerate other opinions. My ancestors were dedicated to science. They believed in free will, which was and is still our main law.

So, my ancestors left their home galaxy and finally arrived in this galaxy, which they called Avalon. We founded several colonies in this galaxy. During this period, we also met many other peoples, like the Asgard or the Nox. But then there was a plague that killed many of my people. Many who died were able to ascend. With the help of this city-ship, the survivors left the galaxy to make a fresh start in the Pegasus galaxy. Henceforth we called ourselves Lanteans. This happened about 1,000,000 years ago.

Some of us stayed behind in this galaxy to use a machine to wipe out all life on all planets with the help of the Stargate system. Afterward, they made sure that this machine created new life on these worlds again. The humans who developed on earth were a direct result of this machine.

Meanwhile, in the Pegasus Galaxy, we encountered an enemy that demanded everything of us. This new enemy were the Wraith. The Wraith are practically able to live forever as long as they find enough food, meaning the life force of humans. And although we were technologically much more advanced than the Wraith, they exploited another advantage over us: their immensely large numbers. So, it finally came to a war that lasted 100 years and ended with the complete defeat of my people. We sunk Atlantis to the ground of the sea of a planet and returned to Earth through the Stargate. On Earth, the rest of us finally ascended." Janus explained.

"Well, as the Tau'ri already know, we Ascended are not allowed to interfere with your affairs. That's why we didn't do anything in the past and let so much happen at the same time. The rules of non-interference were once decided for good reason. But none of us could have ever imagined what would happen when the armies of the Ori finally arrived in this galaxy."

"Don't you think that kind of apology is a few years and a few trillion deaths too late?" Daniel interrupted. "You all watched as the Ori, along with their Priors and their armies, tried to kill everyone in this galaxy. And they killed most of them in the end. And now you are going to help us? Don't you think that this help comes a little bit late?"

"Daniel, we all understand that you are very angry with us, but you're not the only one. Well, get in line. You all have the right to be angry, we should have supported you more against the Ori. That's the reason why we modified the non-interference rules. That means that we will be interfering from now on, or give you occasional tips. Provided, however, that we are not worshipped as gods by those we help. But whether you follow our advice or not, well, that is of course your business."

"Ah, Janus," Sam wanted to know, "I would like to know how it is that these people are on Atlantis. Although I can already guess that someone like you is probably responsible for the fact that our shield has been overcome by them."

"Yes, Samantha you are right, if we had not intervened then this conversation with the colonials would not happen right now," Janus confirmed.

The Colonials, as well as the Cylons eyes, got very big when they heard all of this. They all suddenly realized that they could very well be dead by now. That was not a very pleasant thought.

"Ok Janus, could you please also tell us what date we have now?" asked Helia. She, like all the Tau'ri in the room, was very surprised by this new policy. Never in her life would she have even remotely expected such a development. The war and especially the end of this war must have affected the Ascended more than even Janus was willing to admit at the moment.

"Oh, that's simple, Helia. According to the Tau'ri calendar, today is January 15th, 2258. And it should be almost 2 p.m., Earth standard time."

"Janus, you don't happen to know who is responsible for this little detour on our journey, do you?" O'Neill asked.

"Do you even have to ask? Who kept showing up, especially when you least expected him? And who has caused more problems than any of your other enemies?" Janus asked.

It took only a short moment for all Tau'ri in the room to understand whom he must mean. But it was O'Neill who said it out loud: "No, it can't be. That's just not possible! How many times do we have to kill him? He's even worse than a cockroach. You're talking about Ba'al here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, who else would it be? But you don't have to fear that he will ever bother you again. Nowadays he is dead and this time he stays that way."

That made some of them speechless for a while.

"Should we know why or how he died?" Daniel wanted to know from Janus.

"No, that's of no concern to you. But if it reassures you, he died in a terrorist attack in the city of San Diego. The city was wiped out a long time ago in that attack, on July 17th, 2150, with a nuclear bomb."

"So, then we could fly back home? Is there still anybody around who would be able to recognize us?" Carter wanted to know.

"If you don't mind, I'll answer the last question first. No, the knowledge about the Stargate project has been completely lost over the years. Two more world wars have contributed to this. In the end, it is your decision what you want to do from now on, I already said that. I wouldn't recommend that you return to Earth at this moment in time, as the current government would consider you as telepaths. And that would mean some serious problems for all of you back on earth. The Earth Alliance currently has many problems, including some serious internal problems. Therefore, I would recommend that you fly to Kobol together with the colonials and the rebel Cylons." Janus replied.

So far, Adama, Roslin, and the other colonials had listened with increasing interest. They could hardly believe what they heard so far.

"Who are the Tau'ri and why should they come to Kobol with us? Kobol is just an abandoned world and there is nothing left. How can the Tau'ri be from Earth? We are above Earth and this planet is contaminated with radiation. The 13th tribe settled there a long time ago. What is this Earth Alliance and where is it located? Could it be that you could have prevented the Holocaust in the colonies?" asked Laura Roslin who was getting angrier and angrier by the minute.

"Well, it should be clear to everyone here that I can only answer all these questions because you're in this room together with these Tau'ri. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to answer most of the questions, because the others of my kind would prevent it. The Tau'ri came from Earth, the real Earth. Your 13th tribe never reached the Earth. You already know that the 13th tribe consisted only of Cylons. Over 5,000 years ago, some members of my people brought your ancestors to Kobol. They did this to give the humans of this galaxy a chance to fight the Goa'uld. The Goa'uld were a parasitic species that had found Earth a long time ago. They decided that humans would serve them as slaves and hosts in the future. Many appeared as gods, such as Hathor, Anubis, Apophis. Others found names of Ancients quite attractive and so they called themselves e.g. Athena, Diana, or Apollo."

The colonials were visibly shocked by this revelation. But Admiral Adama recovered first to ask questions. "What do you mean by parasitic species? What happened to the Goa'uld? Are they still a danger to us?" he wanted to know.

Both Roslin and Adama were clear that it would not take very long, and they would hear an objection. They weren't disappointed when Delegate Porter spoke and said that none of this could be true because it would contradict the Holy Scrolls.

"Delegate Porter, would you please be quiet. – Children, they speak when they should listen and listen when they should speak," said Janus.

For some reason, this remark made most of the Tau'ri grin.

"I guess I'm best able to answer these questions and a few more that concern the Goa'uld." With these words, Freya entered the room.

"And who are you? And why do you know so much about the Goa'uld?" President Roslin demanded to know. At the same time, Freya was eyed very curiously by all colonials and cylons.

"My name is Freya, and the symbiont I carry within me is the queen of the Tok'ra and is called Anise."

This confession shocked the colonials a lot. "Can you please explain to us why you are a host for such a creature? And what is a Tok'ra?" The President asked.

"First of all, I'll show you what a Goa'uld symbiote looks like at all." With these words, Freya took out a pad and typed on it a little. Then suddenly a creature appeared above the middle of the table, which looked very similar to a snake. "This is a holographic image of a typical symbiote. It has a great resemblance to a snake, that's right. Outside its natural environment, it needs a host, otherwise it would die. After a symbiote has entered the human body either through the neck or through the mouth, it establishes a physical connection with the central nervous system. From that moment on, the symbiote can fully control the body. The consciousness of the host is suppressed but not terminated. The Goa'uld have always claimed that there was nothing left of the host, but that is nothing but a lie.

Many years ago, there was a Goa'uld queen named Egeria. She was disgusted by how the rest of the Goa'uld, especially the Systemlord Ra, treated the humans. Because it was forbidden to establish a truly symbiotic connection with the hosts, Egeria was considered a traitor to all Goa'uld. So, she founded the Tok'ra, where she taught all her children that humans must be respected. Today I am the queen of the Tok'ra, and we still follow the principles that Egeria established over 2,500 years ago.

We have a truly symbiotic relationship with our hosts. In exchange for allowing us to share their bodies with them, the hosts receive a very long life, exceptionally good health, and all the knowledge the symbiote has already acquired. This is, of course, just a small overview, but I'm afraid that explaining it to you in its entirety would go beyond the scope of this conversation here and now," Freya explained.

The colonials were of course very surprised but also a little disgusted at the idea of it. Nevertheless, Laura Roslin asked if such a symbiote could cure cancer completely.

Freya answered her question, "Yes, as long as the cancer has not progressed too far, it is not at all a problem for a symbiote, but nobody has to accept a symbiote. Here on Atlantis, we can cure every disease known to us. And it doesn't matter how far the disease has developed."

Laura could hardly believe what she was hearing. What they had all just heard sounded unbelievable. She had already given up hope for herself that Dr. Cottle might be able to extend her life expectancy a little more before the cancer finally defeated her and she would die.

Should the Tau'ri be able to heal the many sick in the Colonial Fleet, including herself? That would be a gift from the Lords of Kobol. At the same time, she didn't want to fall into too much euphoria. Who knew what the price would be for the healing of all the civilians and her?

Or should these Tau'ri be so selfless and want to help them all. At the same time, she noticed how cynical and distrustful she had become within the last few years, since the fall of the colonies. At that moment she saw Janus, looking directly into her eyes, and it was as if he was saying, "Have faith, they will help you and everything will be fine."


In the meantime, Helo and his companions reached the small spaceships. He noticed that both Mitchell and Sheppard looked at the Raptors and Heavy Raiders with great interest. "So are you pilots as well?" Helo wanted to know from the Tau'ri.

"Yes, you're right, we're pilots too. How did you notice?" Mitchell wanted to know.

"I suppose I just made a good guess there," Helo replied.

"Can you tell us anything about the planes?" asked Sheppard.

"Yes, that's not a problem. The smaller machines are Raptors. It's a machine that is used especially for troop transport, but also for electronic warfare and reconnaissance missions. The others are called Heavy Raiders. They cover roughly the same range of missions," Helo said.

"And what are you flying?" he wanted to know from the two Tau'ri.

"Well, we use a type of spacecraft we call a Puddle Jumper. I would say it performs the same tasks as the machines you have here," Sheppard replied.

Sharon commented that this was an odd name for a craft.

"You have no idea. And please do yourselves a favor and never ask Helia why the jumpers are now called by that name. She'll just get pissed off again," Sheppard replied.

"Helo, how about you just talk to your fleet and tell them what has happened here so far. After that, we can talk more about aircraft," commented Mitchell.


"Now that we have heard a lot of new stuff from Janus and Freya, which especially you didn't know so far, would one of you care to explain to us who you are and where you come from?" asked General O'Neill.

"My name is Laura Roslin, I am the President of the United Colonies of Kobol." With these words, the President first introduced herself and then her companions. Then Laura began to tell the story of the colonials and the Cylons.

The Tau'ri were shocked and both the colonials and the Cylons were able to see shocked faces. D'anna fervently hoped that the problems they all had wouldn't get any worse.

Jack briefly conversed telepathically with the other Tau'ri in the briefing room. But the decision whether or not to help these people was already made before he even asked. Damn it, Janus knew them all far too well.

And so he telepathically instructed Daniel to first state the Tau'ri's general position on the conflict between the Colonials and the Cylons.

"To make one thing clear," Daniel said, "we are not taking genocide lightly. And even if such a thing is not excusable, we see that there have been mitigating circumstances here in this case. By that, I don't mean the Cylon uprising 40 years ago. That was as sorry as we are, justified. Nobody has the right to enslave other people, even if they are machines. But the thought manipulation that this Cavil has applied to all the others of his people is a very serious mitigating reason from our point of view. This is one of the aspects we need to consider. And there is the fact that it certainly speaks, for both the Colonials and the Cylon rebels, that you seem willing to put the past behind and look for solutions together. Therefore we're happy to help you all."

"In other words, if we ever find this Cavil, he won't have a good day, I can guarantee that one." Jack clarified. "But this concerns the future, now we must first determine what your people in your fleet need the most at the moment?"

The colonials and also the Cylon could hardly believe their luck that the Ta'uri would help them so willingly. This could be seen very well in their facial expressions.

"Before I start, I just want to say, I am relieved that you are willing to help us so selflessly, although you could use some help yourself, General O'Neill. But do you mind if I contact our people at our aircraft first? They're certainly waiting to hear from us," said Lee Adama.

"Of course, you can talk to your people first," O'Neill replied. "Sam, please escort Mr. Adama to the control room so that he can contact them. And ask McKay to come to us as soon as possible," O'Neill replied.

As soon as Samantha and Lee had left the room, the colonials were asked by Daniel, "I'm assuming you need both food and medical assistance. What else do you need? And how many people are in your fleet anyway?"

"We currently have 419,689 people in our fleet. Most, if not all, are already malnourished, and some are even severely malnourished. We have a sick leave of about 30% in our entire fleet. The tendency is rising. Most are affected by different types of cancer, in different stages and several other diseases." Laura explained the state of her fleet.

"And may I ask how many doctors and medical personnel are available in your fleet?" Freya wanted to know.

"We've managed to have at least one medic on every single spaceship. The doctors are currently focused on both the Galactica and the Pegasus. Especially the Pegasus is full of sick and injured. There are more than 8,000 sick people on the Pegasus. They lie everywhere on the ship. Every room and every corridor is full. Also, onboard of the Galactica all available rooms and corridors are packed with sick and injured people. Even the resources made available to us by the Cylon rebels have so far changed little in the overall situation for our fleet. I hope that you can help us, and it won't exceed your own ability to help," Admiral Adama said.

Jack, Daniel, and some others now looked at Freya full of expectation. "Well," Freya said, "it's not that we got anything better to do but we should be able to take over the medical care of the people in the fleet and heal everyone, at least as far as physical illnesses are concerned. The majority of this fleet is likely to suffer from PTSD. That would mean that a lot of them would be only partly, if at all, able to work. It could take years to heal all mental illnesses. At present, however, this would exceed our abilities. However, if we had a planet available for colonization, this could be beneficial in the treatment of the patients."

"Well, Janus recommended that we fly with our visitors to a planet called Kobol. What did you say? We would find something there?" asked Helia.

"Yes, besides a world that's almost perfect for colonization, you'd find something there that could help you a lot," Janus replied.


Meanwhile in the control room

"Colonel Carter, I must say I am very impressed with Atlantis, even though I certainly haven't seen much of this spaceship yet. May I ask you how long you've been on the road? And how long did it take to build this spaceship in the first place?" said Lee Adama as he went to the communications console with Samantha.

Carter pressed a few keys and then said to Lee: "You can now speak to your people. And yes, Atlantis is our pride and joy, so I can well understand that you are impressed. Unfortunately, we had to take a detour, so we've been out in space a little longer than we originally intended. I don't know how long it took to build this City-ship. We just ended up inheriting it."

The following conversation between Lee and Helo was brief, but Helo was relieved to hear that the Tau'ri appeared to be willing to help the Colonial Fleet. His other companions and the Centurions also calmed down.

Lee also asked Helo to inform the fleet that they had found new friends who could help them solve the most pressing problems. After that Sam and Lee went back to the meeting room together with McKay, who had just arrived.


At the same time, in the conference room

Laura, of course, wondered how they would all live together on Kobol. But she wasn't the only one who had a problem with it; especially Tom Zarek did. He already saw exactly what was going to happen, regardless of whether the Tau'ri would join the colonials or not. It was clear to him that many who had supported him so far would not support him in the future. If the Tau'ri would help successfully on such a large scale, the next election for Laura would be very easy to win. And he would have to give up all his dreams of a presidency for good. And the worst of all was that this development was almost completely out of his control. That frustrated him the most.

Most of the supporters he had recently gained would certainly turn their backs on him if, for example, he was to take extreme measures to secure the presidency for himself. That didn't even take into consideration how the Tau'ri would react to a coup d'etat. He didn't believe for a second that they would just lean back and watch. They would certainly interfere. And that would be the end of his political career.

Daniel and the other Tau'ri didn't even need to read Colonials' mind. They noticed very quickly, without any problems, that there were some tensions among the colonial representatives. That's why Daniel tried to make it clear that they should first travel to Kobol to see what is there and then decide how to live together on that planet.

"Well, at the moment there's a state of emergency in place anyway. This regulation would normally only be repealed 1/2 year after we have built up a new colony. Therefore, each tribe has a representative and a voice in the quorum. Therefore it would be quite possible to grant the Tau'ri and all other groups here on Atlantis a seat in the quorum. At least until we have agreed on how we want to live together." said Gaius. As soon as Baltar had said that, he received several very angry looks from various colonials. Delegates Porter and Zarek, in particular, looked at Baltar with angry eyes.

"While this would certainly be a possible and workable solution, it should be clear to all concerned that we would need a common constitution. I also believe, however, that we will be able to draw up such a constitution much more quickly than some of you here would presumably consider possible," said Helia. "Therefore, in my opinion, we should first address the most important problems, then the rest."

"Well, that's a statement we can all certainly live with, or am I wrong?" O'Neill wanted to know. At first, no one objected to this statement. After that Sam and Lee came back, bringing Dr. McKay with them as well.

"Admiral Adama in what condition is your fleet at the moment?" the General wanted to know.

"Well, I have a total of 162 ships in my fleet. We are not able to jump any further and we expect an attack at any time." Admiral Adama explained how the situation was for him.

"What's the matter with your ships? Why can't they keep flying? And what do you mean by jump?" Carter wanted to know.

"Well, we've been on the run for almost four years. During all this time, it was rarely, if ever, possible for us to maintain or repair the ships. Our FTL enables us to jump from one place to the next. The theoretical range of our jump engines is about 30 light years. However, the Cylon jump engines have a longer range."

"The jump drive is a short range solution of the wormhole drive. Atlantis is able to bring the entire fleet to Kobol." explained Janus.

As might be expected, both Colonel Carter and Dr. McKay were very interested in Janus' explanation of the jump engines. For Jack O'Neill, however, it was just technobabble.

"You don't need to be afraid; you have enough time to leave this solar system together with the help of Atlantis, Cavils fleet can't jump at the moment. All the questions you currently have about the Cylons will be answered shortly, as people who know most of these answers are on their way here. I know you are all still in doubt as to whether or not it is a great idea to travel together to Kobol and settle there. Well Admiral Adama, don't you say always that sometimes you have to roll a hard six? This is your own free decision, but it would be the best decision for all of you. Nobody is forcing this decision upon you. But please trust me."

A short time later the body of Janus turned back into a glowing light, which then simply disappeared.

All who had seen this were speechless, especially the colonials and the Cylons.

"Well then, Rodney, why don't you show us the colonial fleet on the screen?" Jack ordered.

Immediately, the scientist began to type furiously on the pad he was carrying. Then suddenly a very large wall screen, a kind of radar screen, showed Atlantis in the center. Baltar, in particular, was just thrilled by all these technical possibilities that could be observed here. Most of the other colonials, however, had their difficulties with the technology on display. There were quite a few who were afraid of what would happen when Cavil and his fleet would meet Atlantis.

"As everyone here can see, the colonial fleet is now barely 1,000,000 km away from us. The condition of the individual spaceships, however, leaves much to be desired. Looking at the scans of the fleet, I would say that probably 17 ships won't survive the next jump because they are in such bad shape overall, it defies description." McKay reported.

Jack, however, did not seem to be very pleased with this flippant answer from the scientist. In any case, he put a lemon on the table and replied very dryly: "You should watch your words a little bit, McKay. I've got a lemon here. That being said have we got enough room on Atlantis for these starships, or at least for the people from these ships?"

"When our starships have launched, we could probably accommodate about 10 of theirs. However, we cannot accommodate one of these large military ships. Otherwise, we would have no more space for the civilian spaceships on Atlantis." McKay replied. "However, bringing the people from these spaceships to Atlantis, should not be a very big problem for us overall."

"Okay, then I suggest we start by creating some space by launching our spacecraft. Freya, I want the medical department to get ready to receive injured people immediately. We will begin evacuating the wounded of our new friends as soon as we have clarified the final points. For your planning, it's best to assume that we'll beam all the wounded aboard." O'Neill ordered.

"Sam, is the hyperdrive working again? If so, I want us to get Atlantis to the refugee fleet asap."

"General O'Neill what is it that you want me to do?" not wanting to be left out Admiral Adama asked.

"I think that you should inform your fleet that Atlantis will take a position in the middle of your fleet after our meeting." Replied the General.

"Ah, General?"

"Yes, what is it, Freya?" Jack wanted to know.

"Just as much as the engineering department under Colonel Carter and Dr. McKay would very much like to inspect the various Colonial starships before we make the jump, I too, along with the medical staff, would like to look at the patients on the Colonial starships, not least to decide who needs immediate treatment and who doesn't. Then there's also the fact that, as I understand it, that morale in the fleet is very low. I wouldn't be surprised if there haven't already been quite a few suicides. This is something we need to combat immediately. Music has often proven its worthiness in such cases during the past. Thankfully, we have a very extensive music archive with us." replied Freya.

"And what kind of music did you have in mind for us to listen to?" Sarah Porter, the delegate of Gemenon, wanted to know. "Are you going to entertain us with some songs that ridicule our faith?"

Apparently, Sarah Porter had not taken the story Janus had told very well. It was clear to the Tau'ri present that many other colonial refugees would feel the same way. In the end, these people had lost everything that was dear to them, and now their faith would be under attack by these strangers.

Freya and Anise were also aware that they would have to choose their next words with a great deal of consideration and compassion.

"I want to apologize if I offended anyone just a moment ago. That was certainly not my intention. You can all be really proud of yourselves. You have survived this hell for almost 4 years and now that you have met us, Cavil will never manage to succeed with his plans. But that means we should care because it often is not enough for people to reflect about some big catastrophe. They very often need to actively work through it. And therefore to distract the people in your fleet from their problems in the short term, I suggested that they listen to music. But here's an example of what I thought might fit quite well." With these words, Freya tapped on a pad and suddenly everyone could hear a song.

The Tau'ri present recognized the song immediately, of course, and grinned. Daniel commented on this with the words "a very good selection". Also, their guests were enthusiastic about the song.

"And before anyone asks, the song is called "Alive and Kicking" and it's by the group Simple Minds," said Freya.

Of course, Admiral Adama wanted to know if the Tau'ri had any more music like that. Jack said dryly that the music database is so extensive that it would take years to listen to all the stored songs at least once.

That was the moment when Admiral Adama and President Roslin realized that with the help of the Tau'ri and their allies, they could solve all the problems that currently existed in their fleet. Many others felt a huge weight lifting off of them as well. Only Tom Zarek was unhappy. He realized that his worst fears would come true. Roslin was guaranteed to win the next election, while he would disappear more and more into insignificance. And there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent this.

For the first time in months, it looked to the colonials as if they finally had a plan that could work. Atlantis moved very fast into the center of the colonial refugee fleet, thanks to the hyperdrive.

Then the 5 starships launched from Atlantis to make room for some of the most badly damaged starships from the colonial fleet. Several F-302s were also launched to support the new allies' existing CAP patrol.

Due to the evacuations, it was of course already possible for the Tok'ra, who served mainly as doctors, and the other Tau'ri doctors to treat the colonials medically. It quickly spread among the Sagittarians that the Tau'ri would not use needles or the like. Therefore, these colonials, who were very traditionally minded, were very open-minded about medical treatment.


Of course, Janus was right, it didn't take very long, and a single Raptor jumped in the middle of the Allied Fleet. Two F-302 intercepted the Raptor and escorted it directly to Atlantis. The surprise was of course very big when it turned out that both Boomer and Ellen Tigh were on board this raptor.

General O'Neill, however, made it clear that both inmates would first be subjected to a detailed medical examination. Afterward, they would be interrogated and the Colonials and Cylons would be allowed to supervise the interrogation.


The two women waited each in a room alone. To satisfy Admiral Adama and the others, the images from the surveillance systems were also broadcast to the entire fleet. Then two men entered the room where Ellen Tigh was waiting.

These men wore a uniform completely unfamiliar to her. And after they had sat down at the table, they were silent at first. Ellen knew immediately that these men were dangerous on one hand, and that they were watching her closely on the other. Suddenly, one of the two men began to speak.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Tigh, I am Col. Paul Davis. And this very silent man next to me is Major Niam." With these words began a very strange and partly also very frightening conversation, which Ellen would never forget.

"I'm afraid I owe you an apology, Mrs. Tigh. You must know that when you were brought here, you were constantly thinking very loudly. So some of us may have inadvertently overheard your thoughts. So we already know some of what you want to say to Admiral Adama, for example. Therefore I ask you to just tell us the whole story. Afterward, Major Niam will check whether or not you told the truth. I must say, this could be unpleasant for you. And if you were a citizen of the Tau'ri Alliance, he would not be allowed to do that. But for now, please just start telling us what happened. Everything from the beginning."

At first, all the Colonials and to a large extent Cylon rebels were very skeptical about what kind of story they would hear from Ellen Tigh. However, that changed quite quickly. When Ellen finally finished her story, something happened that nobody had expected. The rebels would be forgiven at that moment by the people who had originally hunted them. But this was not the case for Cavil and his followers.

Probably the most disturbing moment, however, was when the Major held the fingers of one of his hands to Ellen's forehead, only to slowly but firmly push his hand into Ellen's head. This experience was as uncomfortable for Ellen as Col. Davis had already told her. At the same time, the quorum members, as well as Admiral Adama, looked at Jack O'Neill very disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry I didn't mention it before, but Niam is one of about 250 Asurans. They are not human, but they are very loyal to the Alliance. They were important allies in the war against the Ori, which we certainly would have lost without Asurans," Jack explained.

"And as Col. Davis put it, most humans here on Atlantis are telepaths. However, it would have been asking a lot of you to just trust our word, so the Major should confirm Mrs. Tigh's statement."

"General O'Neill, while I understand your reasons, a warning beforehand would have been nice. And I would very much appreciate it if you could avoid such surprises in the future. I guess we'll be seeing a lot of new things from now on," Laura Roslin replied.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, this galaxy alone is pretty big. And we haven't seen everything ourselves yet," the general replied, "even though we have been able to see and experience quite a bit in the meantime. But I promise to all of you to refrain from such surprises in the future," assured Jack.

Finally, after about two hours full of preparations, all spaceships were at the point in space where they should be in order to make the jump to Kobol. All of them were now in the control center.

Then Jack looked at William and asked him, "Would you like to have the honor?" Adama looked at him gratefully and said, "Colonel Sheppard, jump the fleet when ready."

"Yes Admiral, activate wormhole drive now."

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