Here's the deal guys, I'm sorry it took so long but I hit a creative dead-end. I posted that chapter, and I wasn't very pleased with it. And I looked the story over and I kind of decided to go for a more accelerated plot changing previous plans that I had hinted at. As such, I completely changed the bad guy I had in mind for the story, trust me, the enemy that I created is probably the deadliest ever seen in a Stargate fic. And I have a game that I've gotten into to thank for the inspiration. I'll tell you more about that at the end of this story. For now, we have to get going, like I said, things are about to start happening.

Chapter 15

Location: Palace Meeting Room, Unknown Planet

Date: February 16, 2025

Time: 1825

The team was not too pleased, things were going bad, half of Colonel Black's team was captured, he'd captured two members of an Earth team. He knew he had a problem, a war might have just started. That was just the start, a large number of Earth troops were still there, holding half of his team in the city somewhere. Hostage situations were a complete unknown, no one really knew what Earth's policy was, how much they valued their own people, and how much Black might be able to bluff or negotiate his way out of this.

For figuring that out he thankfully had prisoners of his own. A young blonde woman, and an older man with glasses, neither of which struck him as military. They'd been relieved of their pistols, their knives, their helmets which contained their radios, and anything else that was mechanical in nature. Two of his troops kept an eye on them, and he also had his medical expert, Dr. Decker, take a quick look at them and make certain they were okay.

"Colonel just finished," the good doctor informed him, speaking to him quietly off to the side from the place the two green uniformed Earthers were seated unrestrained against the wall.

"Anything?" Black asked but in a whisper.

"Nah, they're fine," the younger man said calmly, "They are however quite inquisitive. It's interesting how calm these two are considering the circumstances."

"They're not worried because they know they'll probably win in the event of war," Colonel Black replied sourly.

"Well she asked me to speak with you, to try and negotiate a way out of this," Decker said without flinching, hope evident in the situation now.

"They're willing to speak to us?" Agent Fraser asked with surprise in his tone. He glanced over at the young blonde who was frowning at the group of Colonials.

"Fraser, you're up," Black said to his civilian leader, "I don't think this is the purview of a soldier."

"I'd agree," Fraser nodded, "Let's see if war can be avoided."

"I'll take a quick look around the perimeter, see if we can find the place where their escorts have gone to before anything else happens," Black said calmly, "And figure out where the palace guards and other people have gone."

"I noticed that, they sort of disappeared the moment Earth showed up."

"I'll see what we can do," Black nodded, "They wouldn't just let this go down unless someone put them up to it."

"That's for you to find out," Fraser patted him on the back as he left, "Stopping a war is for me."

The agent slung his submachine gun on his back and walked over to the two Earthers, who saw him coming. The older man whispered to the woman and she simply nodded with her face grim. He came right up to them crouched down and sighed. It was a preplanned behavior, a play to show that he was regretting what had happened and to give them a reason to think that they wanted to find a peaceful resolution, which he did.

"I take it you've realized what happened is bad for both of us?" the woman said seriously.

"We realized it the moment it happened," he responded with a nod, "Which is why I want to figure out how we can diffuse this situation as quickly as possible without anyone feeling as if they've been strong-armed or threatened. So I'll start with a basic introduction."

"Sounds like a decent plan my boy," the older man said with a smile.

"And one that's been tried before," the woman said, "It's how my father was shot."

That was a shot, and one that Fraser hadn't seen coming. The two guards, faces surprised, they hadn't expected that and looked at Fraser hoping for a good comeback. The older Earth man as well was surprised by this. Which Fraser caught onto, and knew that this woman was no stranger to the Colonials.

"Might I ask who your father was?"

"Senator Jackson, know the name?" she said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know he was the highest civilian authority we met from Earth and that he was at the satellite when…it happened," Fraser shrugged.

"He was shot," the woman responded, "Paralyzed from the waist down."

"We fired the first shot, he was trying to stop a confrontation," Fraser replied.

"Yet something set off our men, I started my career with that agency. We train them for fire if fired upon, and as tense as it was, a single shot would set off what happened," Fraser explained.

"It wouldn't have happened if your people had the brains and humility not to think you had the authority to arrest our people and seize our property," she growled.

"Brenda!" the older man snapped at her, "This is no time for some personal vendetta my dear."

His accent was different, more akin to Aerilon actually.

"No, this is something that has to be laid out plain and simple," Brenda replied, looking Fraser right in the eye, "Earth is not surrendering its sovereignty. Not now, not ever."

"I'm not negotiating that, I just want to make sure that this doesn't end up becoming a prelude to war and stop any lives from being lost."

"And so that brings us here," Brenda summarized.

"Yes it does, and unfortunately it isn't as simple as we'd both like it to be, for one both sides are holding each other's team mates prisoner. And we can't just trade off, that's not the ending this has to have if we want a positive long-term outcome," Fraser replied, emphasizing his intent to make the situation a better one.

"Well as much as I agree," she shrugged, "My superiors don't believe that a long-term relationship is plausible without additional conflict."

"Listen," Fraser said calmly, "We don't want conflict. And we know we can't win in any conflict with your people."

"You may know that, but your people and politicians don't know that. And yes, we've been keeping tabs on your broadband communications, we can see that your people don't see this the way you do," Brenda responded with a statement that caught the Colonials' attention, "Yeah, we've also been tracking your fleet movements."

They've placed a firm bet on bluffing and intimidating us into backing away from being aggressive, Fraser thought to himself.

"We can contact our commander," Brenda suggested, "He's not the best politician, but he's reasonable, if we say we're working this out I guarantee that no one will get hurt."

"I'll have to check with Colonel Black, he's got the final say on that, after all, safety of the team is his responsibility."

"Better hurry up," Brenda warned.

"Give me a minute," he said calmly, standing up and walking to the hall, and turned and started going down the empty, dark wood and green jade and white marble and red banner decorated hallway.

He saw that none of the team's remaining eight troops were here. He knew four were searching the palace for the missing Earth duo that had escaped earlier. This was why he had his submachine gun in hand, just in case. He knew the Colonel more than likely had the other three civilian members of the team near their military escorts. Dr. Beverly actually came around the corner as he thought of that. His cane signaled his arrival, clicking with each step.

"Dr. Beverly," Fraser greeted him, "Shouldn't you be with one of the troops?"

"I was followed by Corporal Dean," the older man laughed off, "Once we were close she returned to her post."

"Alright we can't be too careful right now," Fraser grumbled, "An Earth team is out there right now, no telling how close they are."

"Indeed," Dr. Beverly said calmly with a nod, "Anything from our…guests?"

"Apparently the girl is Senator Jackson's daughter. She says he was paralyzed by a Colonial bullet on the meeting station."

"Senator Jackson…from the Cultural Exhibition? Oh dear," the man said, placing both hands on his cane, tapping it slightly, "She will not be an easy individual to negotiate with."

"That's the impression I've gotten already. She's a tough customer, probably a professional judging from her pedigree," Fraser said rubbing his chin.

"And the man?" Beverly said in response, "Curious, he doesn't seem like the soldier type nor a politician."

"That's something that I'm not quite sure of, he didn't say much, but I do believe that their roles have some crossover, otherwise why are both of them here?"

"And under escort on top of that, unless they were here for another reason entirely."

"We still don't know what that reason is doc," Fraser shook his head, "Frak we've frakked up here."

"It is something that just happens in these sort of situations old boy, the best you can do is take an action that keeps everyone safe."

"Right now our best chance is to get our guests in there to calm down their own team," Fraser summarized, "I'll need to talk to Colonel Black in person. Can't have anything being overheard on our comms."

"He's watching the city from the front gate, trying to figure out where everyone's gone."

"And that's another thing that's got me curious, where's all the palace personnel?"

"Perhaps there's a diplomatic protocol they observe we don't know of? Like they let the two negotiating groups alone and don't get involved," Beverly suggested, "An ancient Leonis merchant city state, Aerie, did this for centuries and they reaped great benefits."

"I'd say these guys reaped some benefits of their own over the years," Fraser said tapping the column on his right.

"Indeed, the beauty of a large cultural pool to draw lessons and ideas from," Beverly said as he tipped his hat, "If you'll excuse me Agent, I believe the two of us have work to attend to."

"Go 'head," Fraser shook his head, knowing that he wanted to speak with the Earthers, and as a cultural expert and their religious liaison he knew that this was why he was here.

"Thank you old boy," the man said as he walked into the room where the two Earthers were sitting with two armed guards watching them, "Good afternoon," Beverly said pleasantly, "Dr. Beverly, cultural and religious studies expert for Recon Team One."

"How do you do?" the older man said with some tact, using a similar accent, "Dr. Walt, cultural expert for SG/E-1."

"Ah, a fellow anthropologist," Beverly said with some surprise, "And whom would you be my dear?"

"Brenda Jackson, civilian team leader," the blonde said with some trepidation.

"A pleasure," Beverly said with a smile, examining the lovely young face which seemed incredibly out-of-place in the green armor and uniform she wore, "I am terribly sorry about the recent course of events our peoples have had happen but with some patience and faith I'm sure we can put this behind us."

"Well we need to…I don't know, be released," Brenda said testily.

"Ah, yes, of course," Beverly nodded, "Sadly the way things are we'll need to be calm about this and make contact and ascertain the whereabouts and condition of half of our own comrades. Your team took our people prisoner just as we did to you."

"I understand but I'd suggest you see things from the point-of-view of our team. We have this view of your people that states you to be dangerous and semi-hostile. A show of faith, such as our release, might go a long way."

The two guards looked at one another, they agreed with the logic of that, and there was a huge part of them that did think it was the best course of action given the circumstances. However things were rarely as simple as that. There were the condition of the mindset of the Earth team, the conditions that they would have to concede in other places for the release of their own comrades, and so forth. Just too many unknowns to simply do a release. What they needed was dialogue.

As they spoke Agent Fraser reached Colonel Black, walking through the entrance from outside in the pouring rain with his poncho absent, clearly indicating he was waiting for a fight and didn't want the inconvenience. His helmet was off, still on the top of his backpack with his black beret on his head with the silver circle, like the Ring of the Lords, and the Colonial crest behind it in a gold sheen. He had his ear mic on his right ear with the microphone near his cheek.

"Well?" the Colonel asked, walking in as both men stood in the entry, watching the misty windy rain coming down.

"Looks like we might have a way out of this," Fraser informed him, "The girl's Senator Jackson's daughter, and she, to me at least, has that mindset of finishing her father's work, insure the legacy so-to-speak."

"He seemed to be an advocate for close relations, perhaps she has the same intentions?" Black asked calmly.

"Well I think so, but she's got a bone to pick with us on another matter concerning her father. He was shot at the meeting station and is paralyzed from the waist down. She's understandably upset about it."

"That's just frakking perfect isn't it?"

"We can work past it I think. There's no reason why not, she's made all the right signs of that being her goal."

"Better make it work, I've got people at risk," Colonel Black ordered him.

At that moment they heard a noise, and both turned around to see a shadow just dance across the entrance into an adjacent hallway. They knew two Earth military personnel were still unaccounted-for, and were very much on the lookout for them. There was plenty of reason for them to be uneasy and suspicious of anything that wasn't what they knew it to be.

Without speaking both men swiftly quick-walked over to the hallway entrance, weapons levelled at it. Both held their breath, hoping it was not the Earthers, lest there be a fight. But after a second they both nodded and Colonel Black, with his carbine held high, brought it down as he ducked in, sweeping with his flashlight strobing and Agent Fraser right behind him. They only saw the numerous columns and lanterns decorating a long hall with a few closed doors along the walls. There was no sign of recent activity. But they didn't buy it.

Fraser started moving forward, sidestepping to the walls, gently opening doors as he went to clear them. Colonel Black did the same, mindful of every nook and cranny that someone could hide. As he made his way to the first door he noted that there were a few drops of water on the floor right at the entrance to one of the doors.

He waved over Fraser, pointing at the drops and then at the door. Fraser nodded, and took position behind him ready to breach. Black pushed open the door with a swift move and then aimed his rifle into the doorway, clearing the corners. Fraser cleared his corner as well, and walked in, carefully looking around. Colonel Black also followed, both men sticking to the walls, nothing was moving in this kitchen area, but the kitchen itself was absolutely devastated. A big gaping hole was torn in the paper window in front of them and pots, pans, and all manner of other such kitchen utensils were everywhere and a thick coating of rice on the floor.

"Must be where they escaped to Colonel," Fraser noted as he looked out of the hole.

Black heard him, and then saw that several parts of the hole were crushed down, dirty with black residue. He narrowed his eyes at it and then moved towards the hole.

"Yeah, but where are they now?" Black mumbled, pointing at the two spots, signaling that it very easily could have been them leaving through the hole they'd already made. He started counting down and then when he reached zero with his fingers he pointed his carbine out of the window and then ducked his upper body out of the window.

This was where the Earthers were waiting. When Colonel Black ducked out to clear the area, a pair of strong hands latched onto the back of his jacket and he was ripped from the window and thrown into the plaster wall and slammed into it. He grabbed his weapon, aiming it at the huge Earther who'd thrown him while he was still on his side. But before that happened another Earther kicked the weapon away from his right.

Instinctively Black kicked the man's legs out from under him, swinging up to his feet as the Earther himself fell onto his back. At the same time Fraser tried jumping out and holding his SMG to the big green armored man but he'd been expected, and had his SMG ripped from his hand and then slammed into his stomach and fell into the kitchen probably the same way they did.

But Colonel Black was now on the attack, attacking the big man by jumping up off of the man who had just fallen and punched him across the face. The Earther stumbled back as Black punched him again with a fast left and tried a kick his knee but the man punched down, open-handing his shin to prevent the attack and attacked with an opposite uppercut and caught Black across the chin and sent him reeling. The other man was now on his feet and then three Colonial troops came rushing around the corner. He lifted his SAW and fired a long burst of red Intar rounds into the alley where they came running.

The rounds struck the bushes that the Colonials ducked behind, and the Earther did likewise, firing several bursts.

"Major! Better end this!" the man yelled as the Colonials tried getting a shot off with their stingers, well aware that the rounds were nonlethal from the report from the Colonial Commandoes who'd encountered them.

Black attacked again launching several attacks that were blocked by the larger stronger man. With a swift move he leaped up against the wall and kicked straight at the man's face that caught him in the face and sent backwards. Black rolled to recover on his feet and attacked with an upper cut as he came up and caught the man in the nose and swung at him again. But the man was quick to recover and took hits easily, and stopped the blow but he brought an elbow down on top the other man's elbow and then spun around and donkey-kicked into the back of his knee. He fell down slightly, but Black backhanded him and sent him back.

With a roar the Earth major attacked again, lightning fast power punches striking him. The first right jab caught him in the chest and a left back-handed elbow smacked him in the face and a right punch was blocked. At the same moment the man headbutted him in the face sending him back. But he attacked with a right cross that was caught and then the man wrenched it up and over his shoulder, and slammed him down into a wooden bench, shattering it.

This one hurt, but it got Colonel Black down and out of the line of fire, and as the man straightened up a quartet of prongs with attached batteries fueling a powerful electric shock struck the Earther in the chest. The blue zaps had no effect, just latching themselves into the fabric on his armor holding his ammo. He looked down at them and then at the stunned Colonial who'd fired at him.

"Oh frak…" Corporal Dean mumbled under her breath, having been the one to have fired the ineffective stun weapon, "How do we beat these guys?!"

"You don't," another voice said calmly, "We're pretty good at winning these fights."

"How ya doin' Colonel?" Major Blanton asked nonchalantly.

"Not bad, wet, but not bad," O'Neill responded with a smirk.

Behind the Colonials came four Earth troops levelling their weapons at the three Colonials. The Colonials instinctively levelled their own weapons at them creating a new standoff. This was as bad as it got, and despite O'Neill leading a section of his team into the palace things didn't seem to be much better now that they were here.

"You're not the only ones good at winning fights," Agent Fraser declared, jumping out of the kitchen window, pistol in hand, and right behind him were two more Colonials, carbine and SAW levelled.

"Ha'shak!" a new voice bellowed from behind all of them where Fraser and the two new Colonials had just arrived from, "Are the Taur'i looking for war? Hmm?!"

"Bra'tac?" O'Neill asked calmly, cocking his head, "What're you doing here?"

The old Jaffa walked with his cloak around his body, staff weapon acting as his cane. He was as regal as ever, holding a hand across his body with a handful of cloak. It was all too familiar.

"Preventing a war O'Neill," the old Jaffa said, using his staff to gently brush aside a Colonial, "And I see I am just in time. So what is it then?" he asked, looking back and forth between the Colonials as Black was getting to his feet, and O'Neill.

"They took our people prisoner," Colonel Black said with distaste, pointing at SG-1.

"And you're always stalking us," O'Neill replied, "We only came here to meet someone."

"Well it wasn't us, we asked to meet the Taur'i, can you not let us even do that?" Fraser snapped back.

"Are you uninformed human? Hmm?" Bra'tac asked pointing to the Earth team, "You have met the Taur'i."

"What?! You're the Taur'i?" Fraser blurted in shock, having had his own vision of what they were going to be.

"The one and only," O'Neill grinned, holding his arms out.

Location: Kobol, Highlands

The battle was truly underway, Colonial forces were desperately holding onto whatever bases they could hold onto. In space a half dozen Ha'tak class Motherships were just barely holding out against the combined forces of eight Battlestar groups and the Colonial civilian fleet that was protected fiercely by the massive Colonial warships. But the Colonial forces had opted to protect their civilian charges instead of evicting the pirate forces. They'd landed dozens of troop transports on the planet with heavily armed troops with a variety of weapons, mainly two mainstay staff energy weapons. Colonial ground forces held their ground at first, but their air cover was gone in the first shots from orbit.

Admiral Queen had gotten off a distress call to the RSEC and was now in full command of whatever forces were left. Reports from the wireless indicated that dozens of scientific civilian installations had been overrun and military personnel were being hunted down. But the Colonials were fighting back hard, and their well-tuned anti-aircraft umbrella had proven extremely effective. Fires and smoke columns from downed enemy Al'Kesh and Death Gliders were scattered in the wet highlands along with burnt out Colonial vehicles and buildings.

At this moment the pirates had settled down, surprised at the Colonials' resistance. They'd taken over positions, and their orbital forces had been badly hurt in their fight with the Colonial Battlestars, and weren't able to lock onto their targets accurately enough to damage the Colonials any more than they had initially now that their forces were much closer entwined with the Colonials in the rough terrain. But now, the Colonials were fighting back.

"Alright, we're in a bad state gentlemen, but we've finally gotten things settled down, give me a sitrep," Admiral Queen stated calmly as he leaned over a large table with numerous maps on it with a plethora of markings on it signifying all kinds of tactical information.

"Sir I don't know if we can call it settled down but we have a grasp of what's going on now. The fleet's gone, no death beacons from the Battlestars, but we are getting beacons from ten ships, eight destroyers and a pair of civilian ships. We can assume that we'll be launching a counter-attack shortly in orbit, but we have to get a hold of the situation here," the base commander said with a growl.

"And the situation isn't good sir. Enemy forces have taken over the main base of operations in the plains, reports are stating that we've taken heavy casualties and hostages are being held there. We've also lost contact with all of these facilities around here," another officer, a Marine general, pointed out, "We're preparing units to go there and retake them and kill any hostiles we find and return with any civilians and send them through the ring."

"We've only got so many troops and vehicles," the base commander responded, "And no air support aside from a few Raptors. It'll be tough."

"The enemy cannot find Olympus, they haven't shown any signs of detecting it from orbit, but we have encountered enemy patrols around the area, they must suspect something, Olympus has more protection than anywhere else on the planet. There's no way they haven't missed it."

"Better make sure they don't have a chance to do anything about it," Queen said calmly, tapping on the table, "Launch offensive operations and rescue operations immediately."

"Aye sir."

"But we need to get one place in particular secured, and secured now."

This was the signal several newly arrived battalions of Colonial troops had been waiting for. They'd arrived in full combat gear, with their Colonials' more powerful and longer-ranged assault rifles (Imagine the G-36K), their SAW's (Imagine the Daewoo K3), and their anti-tank weapons (Imagine Panzerfaust 3) and their pre-positioned armored vehicles and artillery. Each man was heavily equipped with the speckled green, black, and brown camo uniforms (German Flecktarn) and webbing on their helmets and uniforms which many had started putting branches, leaves, and grasses into. They also had camouflaged their own four-wheeled armored cars (Imagine the Didgori-2 MRAP) and their larger eight-wheeled MRAP's (Imagine the Lazar 2 MRAP). They were ready.

A convoy of several companies was quickly assembled, and they rolled out into the darkness with their infantry escorting the vehicles along well-worn paths. They began splitting up, working their way forward along the main roads to the established outposts to find nothing in some places and in other places they found civilians hiding out in the forest. But no enemy was encountered, and the Colonial troops knew something was going to happen, there was just too much going on for there to be anything else waiting for them but a fight. And a fight was indeed waiting for them.

The farthest forward of the units was a scout platoon of Colonial Army troops in their three four-wheeled "Chariot" MRAP's and a single eight-wheeled "War Wagon" MRAP. The forty-two Colonial troopers had arrived that morning, and were ready and eager to fight for the sake of their ancient homeworld.

They had their infantry up ahead of their vehicles a few dozen meters, their remote control turrets panned back and forth, their heavy machine guns and the forty millimeter grenade launcher on the larger vehicle ready to engage. They all had their night vision goggles down over their eyes, and the little bit of moonlight they had was a decent light for their green-tinted vision.

The Colonials had been tasked with securing a sacred place, the Tomb of Athena. All of them knew the importance of this place, although not the exact specifics. But all of them were ready for whatever may come.

The platoon split up into their squads, and the big fighting vehicles crawled forward. They saw the charred remains of the buildings that had been set up there. They saw nothing aside from scattered trash and debris as they swept forward. No one was there, the pirates probably hadn't stumbled upon it. The platoon leader relayed the information that the Tomb was secured and the unit pressed on as the rest of the company arrived to fully secure the area.

But right as the lead Chariot crested a ridge a large yellow glob was fired from the forest. It struck the camouflaged vehicle on the driver's side, blasting open that door, and the driver flopped out with smoke rising from burns along the left side of his body. The infantry rushed forward, firing their weapons at the sources of the enemy fire, which was now a series of blue and orange blobs as the pirates fired in rapid succession. Their night vision was nonexistent, but the Colonials on the other hand had quite a bit. The gunners picked out the white silhouettes of their foes, lighting them up one by one through the trees as their infantry laid down serious fire.

The ripping and popping sounds of the Colonial weapons easily drowned out their foes' weapons. And more importantly outgunned them. Within moments of contact the Colonials had wiped out the little band that had ambushed them with a lucky shot from their lone staff cannon. The only Colonial casualty was the driver and the gunner of that vehicle, who had both been badly burned, but were otherwise alive.

The same wouldn't be said for others, whose time was yet to come.

Location: Battlestar Galactica, Orbit over Caprica

Over the capital planet stood two closely spaced Battlestars, one was brand new, the lead ship of her class. Her lines were sleek and clean. It lacked the predatory knife-like edges of the Valkyrie class or the sheer power of the Mercury/Pegasus Class, but instead had a mixture of both. Next to her was a different ship, one of old roots, one of the original twelve Battlestars to defend the Colonies. They had one thing in common, their names.

The Battlestar Galactica was ready for her maiden voyage, destination: classified. But the old warhorse, the original Galactica would stay behind, now fully interned as a museum ship. Her purpose was no longer as a ship of war, but of education and remembrance. And as fitting tribute the new Galactica would bid her predecessor farewell and vice versa.

Standing at the CIC of the new Galactica was an emotional Admiral William Adama. On the screen in front of him he was able to see the old Galactica, proud as ever, facing the nose of his new command, head-to-head. It pained him to see this, but it was simply the way it had to be.

"Mister Gaeta," Adama spoke, preparing to order the customary maneuver that such a moment dictated.

"Aye sir."

"Give her our regards," Adama stated.

"Aye sir, helm, fifteen degree down angle, come right to two-three-zero, pitch to three five degrees," Gaeta called out as calmly as ever.

The bulk of the new Galactica heaved to, diving down slightly, but staying place. This maneuver was one of ancient roots, and was a sign of great respect between the seafaring captains of old Caprica. In the days when the masters of ships wore elaborate hats with all manner of feathers and decorative styles the greatest sign of respect was to take off that hat, and bow as you crossed the hat across your body. It was this movement that the new Galactica's maneuver replicated.

This maneuver was one that ships of the Colonial Fleet seldom practiced, and rarely used because of its importance as a sign of tribute and respect to the receiving ship. Normally it was an honor reserved for the President's ship of that of a high-ranking government official or for the change of command ceremonies for a fleet or other such occasions. It had never been done for a ship because of that ship, and no one aboard her.

The Battlestar Galactica was the only ship to warrant this high honor because of what she was. And it was not just the new Galactica that paid her this honor. Around the Galactica were a multitude of civilian ships and a handful of other military ships. Each gave this zero gravity bow to the old warhorse, a tribute to her service.

With the maneuver complete Admiral Adama looked at his old friend, Saul Tigh.

"Almost feels like she's saying thank you," Tigh sighed to his old friend and commander.

"She is," Adama responded, "Let's make her proud."

There we go guys, figured I needed to pull out all the stops for this one. And I think I did a decent enough job of it. So yeah, writing this chapter took me nearly three weeks of write, research, review, and editing but I think I've finally gotten back into the hang of things. Also, I do believe I promised an explanation of what I've been doing and what the new bad guy would be.

I've gotten into an MMO, Eve Online, perhaps the finest game I've ever played. For those of you who do not know what that is I have a Youtube video that'll explain what it is in about three or four minutes.

The exact video name is "This is Eve Online - Gameplay Trailer" (Fan Fiction has issues with links)

And since I've played I've met some great guys, a Corporation within the game called the 256th Shadow Squadron. Seriously I've never gamed with a better group of individuals. I'm as new a baby to the game and they've coached me up, funded me for a few things, and basically did so much I need to help them in some way. And I figure the best way to do that is to recruit. What do you say? Wanna join up with me in the 256th? If you do play Eve Online, but are comfortable in your Corp, PM me and I'll put you in contact with our CEO and arrange some sort of alliance or friendly relations. We do a ton of PvP and Wormhole operations and get ourselves into pretty good-sized fights through our many contacts third-partying us as mercenaries. Trust me, I've been happier playing with them than at any other time in my gaming career.

So if you're interested PM me here on Fan Fiction, and I can get you an invite to the game that can get you some benefits. If you already play Eve Online Eve Mail me, same name as the one I have here, Big Z1776.