Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, Ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Wireless/communication"
Chapter 4: Return to Kobol. Again.
Planet Kobol, surface, near the entrance to the tomb of Athena
The trip took less than an hour. It was eventless. Just as Apollo had hoped. Kobol's orbit was clear, if you ignore the debris field there. Apollo updated the Galactica on their status. This FTL comm is really useful. Once the shuttle landed, the team fanned out, searching for potential hostiles. The new hand held scanner however, made that easy. 2 marines remained with the shuttle, the remaining 4, Dee, Apollo and Baltar entered the cave.
Baltar commented: "So this is it. Not much to look at. So that means that whatever we are looking for, must be well hidden. What does the scanner device say?"
Dee looks at the mobile scanner in her hands: " Nothing. I'll change the scan mode."
Apollo had an idea "Use the energy scan mode... yes, I think that Is what it's called. Maybe it will show something."
After a minute or so of scanning the cave, Dee spoke: "There seem to some type of small devices in the cave walls. 6 in total. Also one slightly larger device in the Sagittarian statue. Guess that one must have been the trigger, when we put the arrow on the statue."
"Anything else?" Apollo asked.
"Yes, one large device in the ground. Under that pile of broken statue pieces." As Dee marked the spot, the 4 marines and Apollo started to remove the debris and dirt from the floor. While this was happening, Baltar went to Dee and looked at the scanners monitor.
"Marvelous. Such a useful tool. We would have needed hours to find anything." Baltar marveled.
When the statue remains were removed and the dirt cleaned away, the shape of a now known object was revealed.
Baltar spoke first: "Well, I think we have found what we were looking for. Unless I'm mistaken..."
Apollo had to agree: "It is a teleportation platform. Now all we need is find the controls for it."
After looking around the cave for several minutes, they came empty handed.
Dee remembered the armband: "Wait, was it not said that an armband was the key to Olympus. The armband that was stolen, according to legend?"
"Armband? The remote controller armband? Could it be that simple?" Apollo ran outside to the shuttle.
When Apollo returned, the armband the put on, started to react. One of its buttons started to glow slightly.
"I guess it was that simple. Now what?" Baltar asked.
"We see where it leads us. I'll go first. 2 marines go with me. The rest of you stay in the cave. Keep in wireless contact." Apollo orederd.
"Captain, I belive that we should be more careful than that. Blindlg going could have consequences." Baltar had to point out.
"You have a better idea?"
"Yes, in fact I do." Baltar pulls something out of his bag. "This is something I quickly put together"
"It looks like you taped something together."
"Yes, well, I had to improvise. This is a remote control camera with a light source. I added a small analyzer device. We use them for basic soil and atmosphere analyzing. It can tell us the temperature and atmospheric pressure, but nothing more. I have the receiver here too. I suggest we use this first, just in case."
"OK, doc, you're the genius here. Let's try it."
The put the taped together scouting apparatus on the platform and activated bolth. After the transport was done, Baltar looked at the small receiver monitor.
"OK, there is an atmosphere there. Can't tell, if it is breathable. I can detect temperature. Slightly cold. OK, now for the camera."
They saw a dark corridor. The small camera light barely illuminated anything, but they could clearly see that it was a room, with an exit.
"OK, we call the camera back and then we go."
That said, Apollo and 2 marines took the position on the platform. Pressing the glowing button, the platform reacted.
Kobol outpost ship, 3 kilometers under water
When they arrived, the first thing they saw was... darkness.
"Lights!" Apollo ordered.
He and the marines turned their flashlights and looked around. A dead end corridor. Again.
"Marines, we move out. Stick together. This place may not be as dead as it looks."
As they moved out of the dead end chamber, they entered a long corridor. Seeing in the dark, even with flashlights, was limited.
"Sir, look. At the end of that side of the corridor. Is that a large hall of some kind?" a marine asked.
"Yes, it would seem so, let's go there first. "
As they left the corridor and entered the large hall, they took a look around. Well, as good as they could.
"Dee, come in."
"We hear you Apollo. What is your status?"
"Emm, we are in some kind of large room. No power or light, except our own flashlights of course. There is a raised platform in this room, allot of consoles and monitors on it. In the center of the room is some kind of ... well it looks like a large control panel or... console? I don't know, but it has allot of strange symbols in it and a red gem of some kind in its center. Behind it is a large ring like structure sticking out of the ground. It has the same symbols as the console, as well as 7 gems... or crystals..? I don't know. I'm going back and get the rest of you here. OK Dee?"
"Yes sir, we are waiting for you."
Apollo turns to the 2 marines: "Wait here, I'll be right back. Look around some more in the meantime. But don't touch anything, understood?"
After a minute, Apollo was back with Dee, Baltar and the other 2 marines.
Baltar immediately went to work: "Ok, first thing is first, we need to try to power this .. whatever it is, up again." He immediately went for the consoles on the raised platform.
"OK, doc, but only Dee and me can somewhat understand this language, so don't rush it."
After several minutes, they had managed to find a way to activate the outpost. As the room started to light up, they got a better view of everything. The large room had 2 side entrances and one big entrance. The question that still puzzled them was, what was the purpose of this room.
"Sir, look." Dee pointed to a console. "If I'm reading this correct, we are in a... emmm... outpostship?"
"Outpostship? You mean this thing can fly?" a marine remarked.
"Maybe, let's see the engineering console. OK, yes, a ship for temporary or preliminary colonization of a planet, designed to land and operate as an outpost or small city."
Apollo sttod next to her while she was reading the description of the ship: "What? Really? OK, let's see this things status. OK, hull is intact, weapons look good, shields are OK, dradis is looking sketchy..., FTL... oh great. The slow one is intact, but the fast one is busted? OK, why is this?"
"Emm, sir, I think I know what it might have failed." Dee pointed out. "It was exposed to extreme pressures for thousands of years. We are underwater. On the bottom of the lake next to the mountain range where the tomb is located. We are about 3 kilometers below the water level"
"A good place to hide something." Baltar remarked. "If I see this correctly, this 'ship' is almost 5,5 kilometers from its two outmost points. Quite large."
Apollo continued to read of the console: "Well I see the big problem here. It says that the main power sources are missing. It is on secondary power only. And that is enough to power most systems, but not the engines. This thing needs something called a vacuum extractor? Doctor, does that say anything to you?"
Baltars eyes widened. "Vacuum energy is only theoretical! How can this be?"
"Well doc, theoretical for us, not for whoever build this."
As they talked, one of the marines noticed the outmost console starting to write something. In caprican standard. "Emm, sir, this console is writing something. In our language!"
They all looked at the mentioned console. Apollo read it out loud: "If you can read this and have discovered the outpostship Kobolous, then welcome, children of Kobolous. You have finally evolved enough to learn the truth. But only if you prove yourself worthy, can you gain the knowledge."
"Kobolous? Is that what they called Kobol?"
"Doc, look. What are those?"
The text remained, but questions and puzzles were added to the monitor.
Apollo realized, what those were: "Oh, for frak sake. We need to show that we are worthy? By solwing this? We don't have time for this."
"But it makes sense, it was said that only the worthy can enter Olympus." Dee responded.
"So this is Olympus? What the frak? Is this a joke?" asked a marine.
"No I doubt that this is Olympus, but whoever build this ship, might have also known about that." Baltar replied.
Baltar then looked at the questions. Some mathematical puzzles of a caliber, even he started to sweat. Other were philosophical questions. And some he had no idea how to approach. But some were easy. "Look, this one. A number, 3,14159265358979323846. Well that is easy. That is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Guess that is why the circle icon is there for." As Baltar put his finger in the middle of the circle and drew a line from there to the edge, that question disappeared. "Well one down, but that was an easy one. I will need time for the rest."
While Balter was occupied with the puzzles, Apollo continued to search thru the other consoles: "Well, the rest of the systems are operational, just the power issue. It however has a time stamp as to when the ship lost main power. Slightly over 4000 years ago. There is even a security recording."
As he activated the digital recording, they could see a man, ugly and full of greed. He stumbled after being teleported into the ship. By accident no doubt. Dee also recognized the armband. "So the stories were true, somewhat. A thief stole the armband of Olympus and then stole the crystals of Olympus. I wonder if..."
"They are a power source, look." apollo pointed at the console.
Looking back at the monitor, they could see that hours later, after stumbling around the ship with nothing but a small light source, he found a special room. Near the bottom and the center of the ship. The main power room. The 2 crystals glowing. Of course he took them. Shiny and glowing. What thief could resist? It was then that the ship lost its main power.
As the recording ended, Dee spoke: "I can't believe it! The crystals of Olympus. A power source?"
Baltar who had joined them at their console, added: "And a very advanced one. And all because those religious morons have to sit on possible great technological discoveries!"
"Dee, you know more about these things than anyone here. Where could they be?"
"Well, one is supposed to be on Gemenon, the other vanished with the exodus of the 13th tribe."
"Gemenon? Great."
After a few minutes they decided to search the city. Apollo and 1 marine went one way, 2 marines went the other. Dee, Baltar and the remaining marine remained in the now dubbed 'control' room.
Several hours had passed. Once the ship had been scouted, to a degree, they all reassembled in the control room.
Baltar began to talk: "I managed to undo 3 more puzzles, but the non math ones are going to be annoying."
"Well doc, you can take your time, for the moment. This outpost ship is a space city, in a way. We could really put all of the refugees on her." Apollo replied.
"This ship has a capacity of 250.000 people, or over 500.000 evacuation limit." Dee kept on reading the stats of the ship. "However, while the doctor was busy with the puzzles, I have found something interesting in the database. Something called a portal of some kind. Should be on the ship."
"Another teleportation device?"
"Maybe, but if I understand this correctly, it should enable to travel from planet to planet. It should be a ring like device that needs symbols to activate it."
Hearing the word symbol, they all turned to the ring in the center of the room. As they were inspecting the ring, Baltar went to the console, that shared the symbols with the started to press them at random. As the ring reacted, the marines and Apollo jumped away."Doc! Next time a warning would be good!" After the 6th crystal was lighted, the 7th went dark. The ring deactivated itself.
"A correct combination is needed it seems." a marine remarked.
Baltar nodded: "I highly doubt that these symbols are just random symbols. Also, 39 symbols make for allot of combinations."
Dee went back to the elevated platform. "There was some kind of program that was related to that ring. Emmm... yes, here it is. It shows the location of other rings. Ehhh... Hades. We are locked out of that one until we pass the 'test'. But I can at least see the last 10 uses of the ring. Hmm... the last 3 uses were to... address deleted? OK, interesting. But the other 7 are visible. Which one should we try?"
As Baltar came next to her, he noticed something. "Look at this, 6 out of the 7 symbols are always either different, in a different combination, or both. But the 7th, the last one is always the same?" Apollo:" Either way, we try one. This one, the 10th one, we use that. I'll write it down, then let's try it."
As they inputted the symbols in the order that was shown, the ring started to react again. But this time, when the 7th symbol was inputted, the ring remained still. Then Baltar noticed the central jewel... or whatever it was. It glowed now too. So he pressed that too. The ring seem to explode. Or so it seemed.
"Holy frak!"
"Well put doc. Couldn't agree more."
"Looks like a pool of water." Dee marvelled at the sight.
She went to touch it and pulled her hand out again. "Doesn't feel like anything."
"Must be another teleportation device." Baltar analyzed the situation. "If it truly can send people from planet to planet, a network of these could have revolutionized the civil sector. Maybe also the military."
Apollo looked around: "So, who is going to try it?."
"Emm, captain, I think we should try my device again." Baltar replied. Just then the ring deactivated itself.
"OK, good idea. Let's do that."
Colonial refugee fleet, same time
On board the Galactica, the people were getting battle ready. The solo unknown was only 1 jump away. The admiral ordered the fleet to prepare to jump, while the Galactica and the Discovery would see, what the Cylons were up to.
The Discovery was under Starbuck's command, for the moment. On Galagtica's CIC the admiral contacted Starbuck:
"You ready Kara?"
"Yes sir. We will stick to Lee's plan. Awaiting your command."
Just then, the dradis picket up a new contact.
"Sir, 1 new contact just appeared. By the size of it, it has to be a Basestar." Gaeta reported.
"They are launching raiders. Should we let Starbuck loose?" the XO asked.
"Sir, we are receiving colonial recognition codes."
"Great, now the toasters are using our own signals against us." the colonel coursed.
"Maybe. Hold the attack. And the jump to. Comm, request challenge and Id from the contact."
As commanded, the comm officer did his duty. The reply was heard over the wireless: "This is the Battlestar Pegasus to the ship claiming to be the Galactica, please respond."
"Pegasus? How, the entire fleet was destroyed. And we already had a miracle. 2 in a row is pushing it."
"Comm, give me ship to ship."
He picked up his phone and spoke: "Battlestar Pegasus, this is Galactica actual. Confirm your identity with recognition codes immediately!"
A few seconds later, the comm officer replied: "Sir, the codes are authentic."
Just then a female voice was heard over the wireless. "This is Pegasus actual. Aadama, is that you?"
"Real admiral Cain. What a pleasure to hear your voice."
"Stand down to condition 3!" the XO barked out.
"Adama, what is that strange ship on our dradis?"
"It will take some time to explain this, Helen."
On Pegasus CIC, while the crew were almost celebrating, Helena Cain turned to her XO and looked. "Helen? What happened to sir? Has Adama lost his sense for military protocol?"
Kobol outpost ship, 3 kilometers under water
When they redialed the same address and the ring activated again, Baltar gently rolled the camera thru the 'pool of water'. "Ok, we should be getting an image." When he turned the receiver on, they saw that there was another ring on the other side. It was in a cave as well, along with another dialing console. This was possibly a dessert planet. One could see the sand in the cave and the sensores were showing a high temperature level.
"OK, but is it habitable?" Apollo asked.
"I can't tell. We only know that it has an atmosphere and that it is hot. We will not know until someone goes there. Any volunteers?"
"I'll go. 1 marine will accompany me."
As Apollo and the marine stepped thru the 'pool', not even a second later, they appeared on the other side.
"OK, this really works. And the air is breathable."
"But how do we know that we are not still on Kobol, just in a desert?" the marine asked.
"Well, I'll go outside the cave, you pick up the camera and follow me. Well take a look around."
As they reached the cave exit, Apollo spoke: "Well, we are definitely not on Kobol anymore. There are not 2 suns in Kobol's star system."
"Frak. Well, now what?"
"Well, we go back."
As they reentered the cave, Apollo contacted the team on the other side and explained their discovery. As they approached the still active ring, Baltar stopped them over wireless. "Wait. Lets repeat, what we did before. The camera first."
"Oh, come on doc, it's hot here. what is the point of this?"
"Just indulge me."
Half a minute after Apollo rolled the camera back into the pool, Baltar asked over wireless: "Captain, what are you waiting for?"
"What do you mean? I rolled the camera in to the pool over 30 seconds ago."
"Well, I don't have a signal anymore and nothing came back thru."
"So this is a one way portal? But how can we communicate then?"
"Best guess, the difference is in the matter versus energy. Guess that matter can't go back. It is a good thing I insisted on this test. You will have to dial us from your ring. That is the only way that I can think of."
"Great. And what address would that be? I assume that I can't use the same one again?"
"Probably not. Wait a minute, I'll go and check the console, where Lt. Dualla got this address from. Maybe there is something there that can help."
After a couple of minutes of searching, Baltar believed that the found a possible solution. "Look, these 7 addresses that you found, Lt. Dualla. There is a second set of symbols next to them. And they are always the same. Maybe these are the symbols for this ring?"
"Maybe, but why are there only 6 symbols? "
Baltar thought for a moment. "Maybe the 7th, the one that is always the same, it applies to all rings like that? Let's try it, write the symbols down and add the 7th one of this ring."
"But why have the 7th always appear for the symbols of the go to ring, but not for the return ring?"
Baltar again stopped and thought about it. "Good question. Maybe the 7th one is different there?. Lt Dualla, the 7th symbol was on the bottom of the ring control panel?" As Dee nodded, Baltar went to the still active ring. He took the wireless and spoke: "Captain, we belive that we have the 6 symbols for this ring, but we need to test something. Look at the symbols on your control panel, the one at the very bottom to be precise. Please describe it."
"Well, it kind of looks like a triangular shape with an extension on the upper part of it that ends in it tilting to the left."
Baltar looked on the ring control panel: "Well, ours here doesn't look anything like that. Lt. Dualla will now send you the 6 symbols we think will work. Use the one you just describe as the 7th. If you don't succeeded, we will dial you again in 2 minutes."
"Agreed, Apollo out."
With that Baltar pressed the large red, well not jewel, but button and the ring deactivated itself. 20 seconds later, the ring started to rotate again, on its own.
"Well, this might work after all." Baltar remarked. Just then, the ring activated again.
"Dr. Baltar, can you hear me?" Apollo shouted over the wireless."
"Yes, we can hear you. It appears that it worked. I still don't get all of it, but we will have time for that later. Now, try to throw something thru again." Seconds later, a small rock was thrown thru. "It works, captain! I am now going to throw the same rock back just to make sure. If it works as before, the rock should not reach you."
After about a minute, Apollo called: "I guess you threw the rock, doctor?"
"Yes, and I'm guessing that it did not come thru?"
"No it did not. Can we come back now? I'm feeling a bit cooked here."
"By all means captain." Baltar couldn't hide his excitement. Such a wonderful invention this is. Seconds later, Apollo and the marine returned. "I guess that the lowest symbol on the ring console is a fingerprint of some kind. So anyway, that was a dessert planet. Not an attractive settlement site. Should we try again? Another planet?"
"Yes, lets. Just give us a minute and some water first, OK?" Apollo agreed.
After 4 tries and another desert, a tundra, ice and lava planet later, the team was getting the idea of what to do.
"OK, this is the 6th one, then we are down to only 1 more try. Let's do it."
Baltar gave Apollo the return address on a piece of paper and started the dialling. After the ring was activated, they rolled the camera thru. When they received the video signal, they got a shock.
"This looks like the inside of a temple? Where in the frak is this?" Baltar asked.
"You got me doc, I..." Just then they say movement. A human. A man, dressed in the robes of a priest.
"That looks like a high priest of Hera." Dee remarks. "They are only on Gemenon!"
"Gemenon, I might have known! Those religious...!" Baltar raged.
"Cool it doc, we may have a way to get to the colonies without the toasters to detect us. 2 marines with me, were going thru!"
Planet Gemenon, secret temple of the gods, deep in the Hera mountain range
The priest, already under shock, was even more baffled, when 3 colonial solders appeared thru the holy ring.
Apollo approached him: "Is this Gemenon?"
"Yes, but who.."
"That can wait. Why are you still alive? How have you survived for so long?"
"This is the secret temple of the gods. Only a few in the circle of the servants of the gods know of its existence. Not even the Cylons knew of it or the location. It is really remote, too far from any important centers of population, government or military."
"For frak's sake! You people had possibly the greatest technological piece of equipment, and you hide it in a hidden temple and don't inform the government or the military!?"
Apollo had to pull himself together. No sense of blowing an artery now. "Are there other survivors?"
"Yes, 252 survivors in total. Several military personnel as well. How...?"
"Take me to them!" Apollo was in no mood for chatter right now and made sure that the priest understood this.
As they left the hidden room, Apollo asked: "So the ring is inside a hidden room in a hidden temple? How secure are we here anyway?"
"The Cylons have yet to send any patrols here. This mountain range is, other than this temple, deserted. And the temple itself is build into the mountain. From the sky, you can't spot it, unless you know where to look for and what you are looking for."
"Well, that is at least something."
They entered a large hall, filled with people. The inhabitants saw the new arrivals, but Apollo had to tell them, that his priority was to talk with the military officers there. As he walked outside the temple, he saw an extensive camouflage net put over the temple and its surroundings. "Well, this is looking better and better. This might be a usable position, as long as the toasters don't find it." A colonial officer approached him.
Both men saluted as Apollo spoke: "Captain Lee Adama, colonial fleet under command of admiral Adama. What is the situation."
"Sir, captain James Eron, colonial marines. We have the situation under control, but our supplies are at 50%. The civilians are draining our resources fast. We have created a defensive perimeter. Several gun emplacements and AA positions. We have a strict wireless black out. Can't risk the Cylons locating us. We also have 2 raptors in working conditions. We only use the wireless off the raptors, when they are airborne."
"What do you use them for? Surely the toasters have the sky on lock down."
"Not as much as you would think. We send a raptor into low orbit in order to communicate with other resistance cells on the planet and beyond. We have learned that almost on all planets, there are survivors that have organized themselves. But we are still fighting a losing battle here. Can we expect any support?"
"No. Only the Battlestar Galactica made it out with a handful of civilian ships. We currently have no other military assets."
"Sir, that is not entirely true. We have heard reports, that a small military fleet, that is made up of at least 2 Battlestars of unknown type, have been harassing the Cylons for months now. They jump in, attack a soft target, steal their supplies and jump out. That is however the only info I have."
Apollo looked impressed. "Well, this is getting better and better. Captain, we will evacuate the civilians. Any men that you can spare will also come with us. Keep communicating with the other resistance cells and gather any info on the Cylons. We will try to come back for as many as it will be possible. But it will take time."
"Sir, if I may ask, how did you get here anyway?"
"First off, you might not believe me... at first. Second, once I tell you... and show you, you might try to kill the priest. Don't do it OK?"
After about 15 minutes, the marine captain and the civilian leaders gathered in the hidden room with the ring. Lt. Dualla and another marine arrived as well to help with the evacuation. No one noticed, but dee took the hand held scanner with her and immediately started to use it. No one noticed it. After Apollo activated the ring, the civilians, reluctantly, started to go thru.
Apollo turned to the marine Captain: "OK, that is 182 civilians. How many men can you spare?"
"20 at best sir. What about this device? Will you leave the right symbols for us here, so that we can come after you, if we should be compromised?"
"No, we can't risk it. In fact, I saw that you had some explosives? Mine this entire room. If you get discovered and the Cylons attack in force, blow this room up and bury this device. Understood?" The marine nodded. "Good, we will try to contact you every 12 hours from our end to stay in touch..."
Dee came running from the priests private room, holding something: "Lee, look what was hidden in the priests private room. Recognize this?"
Apollo did recognize it: "The power crystal?! That...! Dee, once we pass thru the ring, stop me from strangling him!"
Once Apollo and Dee entered the ring, it deactivated. The marines left behind felt some hope for the first time in months.
Colonial refugee fleet, same time
Cain was having a really bad day. The story Adama and this Roslin told her, sounded too good to be true. But when she saw the Discovery, she started to see the potential for a counter attack. Of course, when now admiral Adama shot that idea down, the room heated up.
"Why not?! If that ship can do all you say it can, why not use it to..."
Roslin had to interrupt her"And weaken our fleet's defense. One ship alone can't make the difference here. A fleet maybe, one not so much."
"I agree with the president on this one, and besides I am the military commander here, Cain!"
"Right! Because this 'president' promoted you, you think you can order me around. I was your senior officer before the fall and I still am now. Your promotion is not legitimate."
"I have to disagree. Military protocol states, that if a commanding officer is in command of more than one military ship in time of war and no flag officer is present, that officer can get a battlefield promotion. That promotion can be made by a civilian representative of the currently ruling political body. And the president definitely counts as that!"
"President? A fraking school teacher!"
"Like it or not, she is the legitimate successor of Adar!"
"Don't even get me started on Adar! That bald headed moron! Always, year after year cutting military spending... and look what it got us!"
Roslin was shaking her head: "Well, let's cut to the chase then, rear admiral. You have the Pegasus. And that is it. If you want to join the fleet, be our guest. But you will have to accept the command hierarchy here! And besides, we have already heard stories of what you did to your own crew not so long after the fall. Shooting you XO?! And then there is the civilian fleet that you, let's put it politely and say that you 'raided' it. You are in hot waters, rear admiral. Better play ball here, or we will see if you like a summary execution!"
"F I N E." Cain stormed out of the room.
"This is not over, not by a long shot. We better keep any Pegasus personnel of the Discovery for the time being."
"Agreed. Besides, I'm sending Starbuck in the Discovery to evacuate those people of that stranded fleet. All the people and any valuables still there. She launches in 20 minutes. Should not take her more than 2 hours to get there. If the coordinates we got from the Pegasus crew are any good."
Meanwhile, Cain met with her XO: " That ass Adama is now our boss. What a fraken joke!"
"So now what?"
"We have little choice. We play along. They already know about the civilian fleet we left. That can't be helped anymore. But get rid of our other evidence. You know which one. Throw her out the airlock. And do it quietly."
"Yes sir."
Colonial space, Cyrannus cluster, hidden colonial resistance refugee area, sometime later
On the Battlestar Theseus, the mood was bad. The raids were getting more and more difficult. The small fleet of mostly military ships were hiding in a small radioactive nebula near the edge of the old armistice line. They were hoping that the radiation would mask them, but it also made life more difficult. Now the fleet was split up. 2 of the remaining Battlestars, both Valkyries, were off on a raid. No point to send them all. No point to put all the eggs in one basket. The remaining 2 were a Valkyrie and a Mercury. Theseus being the Valkyrie.
On Theseus CIC, the commander was having a talk with his deck chief, when the scouting raptor returned. The news they got was strange at best. A possibility of other colonial survivors? Well, that made it the news of the day. But the commander knew, news like that was sketchy at best. Better stay put and see what happens. All of this could still be a Cylon trap. But he couldn't let a chance like that pass as well. The commander ordered to increase the raptor contacts with the underground movements on all the colonies. Short of compromising themselves, they should do anything to get more info on this subject.
The commander of the Theseus was voted to become the commanding officer of this rag tag group of survivors. He really had no choice. He was the most experienced. The Theseus was being hunted by the Cylons almost immediately since the first attack began. She was on border patrol on the far edge of colonial space. For several hours the Cylons always managed to pursue her after every jump. The crew knew, one correct pursuit jump was a coincidence. More than one was not. And they were correct. An engineer, a baldheaded, tall black man had turned out to be... a Cylon. After their tylium issue was resolved when they discovered and docked with a refinery ship, they decided to try to regroup with the fleet over Virgon... only to discover that there was no fleet left. They intercepted the communication signal from the Galactica. An order to regroup at Ragnar and to prepare to leave the system. The Theseus arrived... too late. The Galactica and her civilian fleet long gone. And no way to find her.
The Theseus found other survivors, mostly civilians, like that tylium tanker. On the outskirts of colonial space, near her original patrol route, she also found 3 other Battlestars. They were ambushed as well and damaged as a result. They soon learned the method with which the Cylons were able to claim victory so easily. The CNP program. A program with a back door for the toasters to exploit. For the survivors, it was just dumb luck that they were still alive. These 4 Battlestars were so long on patrol, that the program was not yet installed on them. It was meant to be, during their next refit.
Currently, they did not know if it was a blessing or a curse. Would it have been better to die with all the rest back then, than to die now slowly fighting a lost war? But they knew that the Galactica managed to escape. So this rumor might just be true.
Earth, same time
Daniel returned. He gave his 'faked' report to general Hammond and went off to see O'Neill. He was having his usual war with the food in the cafeteria.
"So, what did Thor say?"
"Well, let's just say, it was hard for him to deny this time travel thing, not with the evidence of ancient involvement in this. He agreed to hear us out after the replicator incident will be dealt with. Like you suggested, he will have several platoons of Earth soldiers armed to the teeth beamed on his ship. Us included. He will arrive 1 day before that engagement with the bugs. Our primitive weapons will make short work of them. Then we have him and Carter solve the other problem, by blowing the O'Neill up."
"I still don't like that last part. Having a ship named after me and then blow it up. That is so wrong."
"Jack, you wanted this so stop whining. Besides, that happened the last time too, if I read it correctly. What I want to know is how you will convince Hammond to go along with this without tipping our hand? I mean I wrote in my report that this is Thor's idea and he will go along with it, but what if the general or the White house say no?"
"Relax, I got this covered. You know that I can be convincing and charming when I want to be. And besides, some free exercise and experience with the Asgard's help... the military will not say no to that. Then we get some bonus points with the Asgard as well. Has Thor also agreed with the other thing?"
"Yes, he has. He will translate the whole monolith and help to establish an alliance between human worlds. I'll provide him with all the scans once we return."
"Yeah, maybe we can prevent so many of them getting blown up, like the Tollans. As arrogant as they are, I still want those guns."
"I see the bigger problem here on Earth. How will we get all those nations to cooperate so quickly."
"Well no matter what, we have to stop this NID form forming. Kinsey was bad enough, don't need more jerks walking around."
Kobol outpost ship, 3 kilometers under water, moments later
The civilians and additional military personnel arrived on the outpostship via the ring. Almost immediately, Apollo and Baltar, escorted by 2 marine, went to the lower parts of the outpostship, straight to the 'power' room, where the crystals originally were. During that time, the civilians were put into the few rooms close to the control room, that were already explored.
Once Apollo and Baltar arrived in the power room, they put the power crystal into one of the two empty slots. They decided for the moment to leave the third, dark crystal where it is. Once Baltar put the crystal into the slot and pushed all the way in, it started to hum. Seconds later, the entire outpostship lighted up a bit more.
Dee called via wireless: "Captain, the console is saying that the main power is now on-line. Engines are now powered and dradis system is also charging. However, all these systems will only be fully operational once we are on the surface."
"Wait with that for a moment. I will return to the surface and contact the admiral to give my report. Let's see what he wants us to do with this ship."
Back on the surface, Apollo approached the 2 marines. "Has anything happened?"
"No sir, it was quiet all the time. You find anything... wherever you were?"
"You could say that. I need to speak with the admiral. In the mean time, you two get into the cave. Either remove or destroy all the technology in it, except the transporter."
Apollo entered the shuttle and contacted the Discovery.
"Hey Lee!" Starbuck answered his call. "How is it going on Kobol? Find anything useful?"
"You could say that Kara. I need to speak with the admiral, ASAP."
"OK, Lee. Good thing you called now, we were about to depart to rescue some stranded people. You would have gotten the shuttle we will leave behind on the Galactica."
"Where are you going?"
"Believe it or not, the Pegasus arrived here. Remember that 1 lone Basestar on dradis of the Discovery we didn't know why it was flying solo?"
"Don't tell me, the Pegasus?"
"Yep, and I can tell you, Cain was not happy with the command change."
Apollo could imagine that. Cain had a reputation of being pig headed. And then some. "Anyway Kara, I need to brief the admiral on the situation here."
"I just got the info, he'll be here in 2 minutes, so hang on. So, what kind of toys did you find?"
"Let's just say, that I can finally beat you at the 'taking souvenirs' part."
Kobol outpost ship, 3 kilometers under water, 20 minutes later
Apollo returned to the outpostship with a smile on his face: "OK, I've talked with the admiral and the president, if this ship will fly, we are to bring it to the fleet. We go on from there. So, lets start the preparations. Doctor, Dee, look thru the database of this ship. Look for any and all info we will need to get this into space."
As they all sat in the different posts in the control room, Baltar remarked: "Lt. Dualla and I have already made some progress there. We can initiate the surface command now, but it will take several minutes after we surface for the ship to check its systems, before we can even attempt it."
"And then there is the other issue. We learned that the secondary reactors run on some form of super-thylium. A considerably more energetic element that has similarities to tylium. But they are used for the non tactical system mostly, like life support, transporters and such. The sunlight also work off them, but need the crystal to generate the necessary lift to get this thing off the ground."
"Yes, and the FTL only works off the crystal. The weapons and defenses too. The secondary's only add a boost to them. That being said, we only have 1 working crystal. So this thing is far from 100%. But I was able to analyze the crystal. It seems to be at 88,7% charge."
Apollo listened to all of this: "Charge? If it is a reactor, why charge? Wouldn't the term remaining fuel apply? We can refuel it, can't we? "
Baltar had a look he always tried to hide, when he had it. The look of cluelessness: "I wish I knew. To be honest, this level of tech, even the hypothetical one, surpasses my knowledge... for now. I will study it and ..."
Apollo stopped him, not wanting to hear his speech: "It is OK, doc. You will have time for that later. Right now, we try this. So how do you lift us up on the surface?"
Dee pointed on the button on her command console: "This one, sir. I push this and we should rise." "OK, do it."
Moments after activation, the ship began to move. Rising from the bottom of the lake, for the first time after millennia. About 10 minutes later, the 2 marines that stayed with the shuttle, heard something. They were still in the cave, trying to remove the last piece of tech there, the transporter platform. As they ran outside, ready for a fight, they got rewarded with a sight that they were not prepared for. The lake next to the mountain began to reveal the outpostship, as it rose to the surface.
"Damn, they were in that all this time?"
"It seems so. Anyway, let's get that damn circle out of the earth."
"How? It's so much bigger than what it looks on the outside."
"I got an idea. We hook it up with the chains we have in the shuttle, to the shuttle and just rip it out of the ground."
"Uhhh, I guess that could work. Beats trying to dig it out."
In the control room of the outpostship, the people there were cheering. Step one complete.
"Sir, I think that we can open the window shutters now too. At least to make it not appear like a tomb in here."
"OK, do that." Apollo agreed. "Will be nice to get some sunshine in here too."
That said, the central pyramidal part of the outpostship started to open up its precisely closed windows. The five domes surrounding it did not have that option. Either fully open, or fully closed. And the plan was to take it to space, so opening them was not an option.
"It appears that the ship's system are already waking up and testing themselves." Baltar remarked, as he noticed the computer runing self diagnostics. "The sublight engines will become online in about 15 minutes, the FTL another 10. There is some minor damage to the power grid and comm systems. As stated, the fast FTL systems are, for the moment, beyond repair. But the long range dradis is also damaged. Once we figure out how it works, we should be able to fix it, but how long will the learning part take, is anyone's guess."
"And the functioning dradis, what is it's range?" Apollo asked.
"According to this, the long range dradis has a range of at least 200 ly, but has similar issues as the Discoveries. The further you go, the less details you get and the better the chance that you don't spot something that does not have enough mass, power signature or anything else the dradis is looking for. As for the current short ranged one, it has a limit of 25 ly, so even that is allot better than the Discoveries. My guess is that this outpostship, since it has so much more volume and was designed to be placed on a planet, it would need an ability to monitor surrounding space for control purposes, if it were to act as a command and control base."
Apollo nodded. That did make sense. "Well anyway doc, start the preparations for takeoff. Dee, contact the 2 marines still near the tomb to take off and land the shuttle on this thing. There are large hangars near the lower part of the ship, between the engines and the industrial sector, which is below the domes and the pyramid. It is barely above the water line, but it should work. I'll open the hangar doors."
Minutes later, Apollo and several marines were waiting several levels lower, near the bottom of the outpostship for the shuttle to land. The hangar was huge, split up into 5 independent sections but all connected together. As the shuttle entered thru the open door, passing the now visible barrier, Apollo noticed that they were carrying the transporter platform with them. Under the shuttle, attached with chains to it. "Typical marines, brake allot of eggs to make an omelet" he thought.
As they landed and exited the shuttle, he approached them: "When I said to bring everything that you could with you and destroy the rest, what part of that made you think do something in between? Destroy it and bring it with you?"
"Sorry sir, but there was no other way to get it out of the ground without heavy machinery. Besides, it only has a few scratches. should still work fine."
"I think we will let people like Baltar decide that, after the inspection is made. Anyway, lets close these doors and return to the command center. We should have our take off test shortly."
In the command center, Apollo sat down in the navigational chair, that look allot like the command chair on the bridge of the Discovery. All the displays were green. "So I guess that means we are good to go?" He turned to Baltar and Dee: "We ready? "
"Yes captain, just initiate the launch sequence, we will monitor everything else."
The outpostship's engines came alive and began to lift the ship from the lake.
"Looks good. According to this, it will take a bit longer to achieve escape velocity do to us only having one power crystal. But we should reach orbit in... em... Lt. Dualla... what..."
"In about 3 minutes, doctor. That is what it means. I guess I'll have to write a language overwrite here too. Now that I know how, it should not be too difficult."
Kobol orbit, minutes later
The outpostship had reached orbit. A bit slower than it was capable, if fully powered.
"OK, the hull integrity check is now confirmed. No hull breaches detected."
"Well doctor, you don't have allot of faith in this tech?" Apollo asked.
"Well, better double safe than sorry once I always say."
"Anyway, Dee, give me the fleet coordinates." About a minute later, the outpostship entered hyperspace.
"Well, were off. When do we arrive?"
"According to this, in about an hour." Dee answered.
"OK, until then, we can relax. Marines, those that are not looking over the civilians, start searching all the lower levels of this ship. We need to map and search every part of the ship... wait. That reminds me. Does this ship not have the same internal sensors as Discovery?"
"Yes, they are working, but only for life signs, just like on Discovery. If we want to find anything else of use or what the rooms are for, we still need to do it the old fashion way."
"Ok, so... marines, get to it."
They saluted and went to work. Dee approached Apollo and whispered into his ear: "By the way, I know that you are tired, so you forgot. But I checked them all out with the sensors. Not a toaster among them."
"Good, now, Dee you have the command. I'm going to lie down there in that corner and take a nap. Unless someone has a problem with that?" No one said anything. In fact, many were showing signs of fatigue themselves.
Colonial refugee fleet, 1 hour later
Laura Roslin was having a mixed day. On one hand she had to deal with Cain. At least the rear admiral was now cooperating. On the other side, the Discovery was on her way to save the survivors of the 15 ships the Pegasus left behind and Captain Adama found another ship, this one the size of a small city, on the bottom of a lake on Kobol! The fleet was warned to expect a new arrival soon and to not panic. Just as Roslin was looking over some paper work, a blue flash of light from the outside of Colonial One caught her attention. "By the gods! What a majestic view! Hard to think that this was on Kobol all this time." She marveled on the site before her as the outpostship had arrived.
Her assistant came running into her room: "Madam president, do you..."
"Yes Billy I see it."
On the Galactica, admiral Adama was in the CIC, having a similar reaction. "Sir, we are receiving a comm request from the unknown."
"All right, patch me thru."
Over the wireless, the admiral heard his sons voice: "Galactica, this is Kobol outpostship actual, request permission to join the fleet. Boy do we have things to discuss."
"This is Galactica actual. We receive you Lee. Good job."
"Sir, you can dock with us on docking port 1. Dee will send you the coordinates. Don't worry, the guidance system has some form of gravity beams to assist with the docking. Should go smoothly."
The admiral turned to his XO: "Well old friend. Ready for another miracle?"
"Frak it Bill, I guess I'll just start early today."
The admiral smiled: "Comm, instruct the Colonial One to dock with us, then we dock with that thing."
Deep space, another colonial refugee fleet, 1 hour later
Space ripped open and the Discovery appeared in normal space again. Starbuck looked at the dradis screen.
"OK, where is the fleet? Without any FTL, they could not have gotten far."
The officer sitting at the dradis console had an idea. "Sir, we could try to scan i the direction of the nearest star system. It would make sense to try to get to the nearest planetary system if you're stuck at sublight."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Helm, plot the course for that binary system that is 2 ly from here. We will make micro jumps to scan the area ahead at a reasonable speed. I just hope that we find them and that there is someone left to rescue. Damn Cain."
After about 30 minutes of scanning and jumping from area to area, the Discovery found what they were looking for. "Sir, found 15 contacts on the dradis. Wow, no wonder this dradis did not spot them over long ranges, their power signatures are really low. And the mass is also too low to spot at longer range without an FTL jump or a nuke going off."
Starbuck stood up: "OK, let's get ready. Comm, get ready to contact them. Let's hope they don't panic too badly."
As the Discovery entered close range, the colonial refugee fleet spotted them. "This is Lt Kara Thrace of the colonial military. We have come to evacuate you from your stranded ships and take you to the main colonial fleet under admiral Adamas command. Please respond."
After a minute of silence, they got an wander: "This is the Scylla. How do we know your telling the truth. The last time we trusted the military, we got raided, shot at and stranded here!"
Starbuck expected a reaction like this. "Look, we came here to help. My orders are to evacuate you on to this ship and to return to the fleet, where you can get medical attention."
"How did you find us anyway?"
"Let's just say that the Pegasus has found us. But don't worry, the president and admiral have put Cain in her place."
After another minute of silence: "Is she going to pay for what she did to us!?"
"I can't say and it is not up to me. Look, can we get started, we don't have all day for this."
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice, do we?"
"Glad to see that you came to your senses. How many survivors are there?"
"We have a total of 2120 survivors. Over 500 have already died, because we did not have enough food or water to go around! And many more are in critical... if we ever encounter Cain again..."
"Look, your mad, I get it! Lets help the living now and avenge the dead later. That fine with you?"
After an hour, the fleet was empty, all its inhabitants transferred to the Discovery. Any valuables left that the Pegasus did not take, were also moved to the Discovery. With the last ship cleared, the Discovery set course and entered hyperspace, leaving the empty husks behind.
Colonial refugee fleet, 2 hour later
When the Discovery exited hyperspace, Starbuck was prepared for allot of things, but seeing the massive outpostship, as is was called, made ever her stop and observe it. Just then, she got a message over the wireless: "This is admiral Adama to Discovery. Welcome back Starbuck. At your request, we have prepared the civilian fleet to take the survivors in and help them."
"Emm, sir, not that they won't be grateful, but why not use that big fraken thing and evacuate them there?"
"Change of plans Starbuck. I can't go over the plan on wireless. But we are planning an operation using both this outpostship, the Discovery and Pegasus. Dock with the Galalctica and then get here ASAP. I want your input and out of the box thinking."
"Understood sir. Just a heads-up, make sure that the civilians from this fleet don't encounter any Pegasus crew members. I think lynch mob mentality is a possibility. Especially with Cain."
"Understood, I will tell Saul to make sure that does not happen. Adama out."
Outpostship Kobol, command center, 1 hour later
Cain had been trying to get the people to see her point for the last half hour. With no success. Both the president and admiral Adama had disagreed with her. "Cain, we have a mobile safe heaven, nothing more! Baltar and Lee have pointed out that the Discovery is an exploration ship and this outpostship is for colonization purposes. Neither are meant for war! A counter attack is suicidal! The best thing we can do is save as many as we can using these 2 ships! And that is the end of this discussion!" admiral Adama shouted.
After the room quieted down, the president addressed Baltar: "Now, doctor Baltar, I understand that you were able to make some headway with the analysis of this technology. Please give us an overview of what you have discovered."
"Yes, thank you madam president. This ship and the Discovery are clearly related. The technological similarities are just to striking to dismiss them. The Discovery was clearly made to explore and survey space, the Kobol on the other hand to colonize planets. To move entire population centers from planet to planet. The first thing that I, with the help of those that were able to use the command chairs either here or on the Discovery is, that the basis of this technology is an element not found on our periodic table." That got everyone's attention.
Cain was the first to speak: " An element we don't know that exists? I can see that we have not found all the elements in the universe, but how can a single element be a basis for the entire technology base?"
"Not so simple to explain, but I will try. First off, this element is remarkably similar to tylium on an atomic level. Yes, as in the mineral that we mine for fuel, but this appears to be a heavier, more mature version of it. The molecular arrangement of this element gives it different properties. In one configuration, it is used for construction. This very ship and the Discovery are made of it. It is incredibly hard, harder than titanium or any other element we have discovered so far, yet not that much more heavy. It has the ability to resist heat or radiation on a much larger scale than anything we use. I however must admit, even this element has its limits."
"What about the other forms of this element?"
"The second form of this element that we found was a much denser variety. It was used in the ships power systems. Mostly for the reactor casings and the power transference cables. It possesses superconductive properties! Superconductors! The colonial science counsel was dreaming of such a material! No detectable power loss. Could you imagine the unlimited applications a material like this would have!"
President Roslin had to stop Baltar here. He was getting off topic. "Doctor, I understand that you are excited, but please, stay focused on your report."
"Yes, of course. The ring that we used to reach Gemenon is also made of that stuff, so there has to be a connection. I have also learned that the fuel in the secondary reactors both on Kobol and Discovery are an energy grade variation of this element. In a form of actual fusion, these reactors generate insane levels of power! We only got to the basic heavy water fusion reactor prototype, but nothing like this! Speaking of those, the support reactors on both ships are of the heavy water fusion reactors types, but many generations ahead of our prototype. As for the primary power sources... the Discovery somehow uses the mass of a star to initiate a higher form of fusion to generate masses of power. But that still pales to the power crystal that we found. To be able to use vacuumed energy... that is almost impossible. The only bad side is that we have only one crystal and it seems that they can't be recharged, as far as we can see. We will keep looking into this."
Admiral Adama had to say: "Doctor, the tactical systems of this ship, if you please."
"Very well, admiral. This outpost ship has a total of 92 so called staff cannons, a plasma pulse type weapon. They are spread out on the entire ship, mostly on the outer rings of the 5 domes and the central pyramid structure. They are split into 20 heavy anti ship type and 72 light anti fighter type. While we can control them all from this room, It would be good, if we had at least 1 - 2 people in each one of the turrets. The Hull of this ship is tough, but not meant for combat, so it is not thick. We should avoid getting hit in it with nukes. The shields on this ship are however much different than the Discoveries. They are almost omni-purpose, unlike Discoveries, but they are an energy guzzler. They will stop anything hitting them, that the Cylons throw at them, suicidal attacks included, but only as long as we have power to keep them active. With only one crystal, I would not try to stay in prolonged battles against massive Cylon fleets. Remember, if the crystal dies, so does this ships FTL. I can however say, the more crystals we have, the less of a power drain it would be on them as the effect would be cumulative."
The president and admiral Adama agreed. That Crystal was now more important than anything, so extreme security was made around that room, where the crystal resided."Yes, and I would hate to test who runs out of what first. The Cylons out of missiles, bullets and nukes, or we out of power." the admiral remarked.
Dee had to add: "Sir, at least we know that there is at least one more crystal out there."
Cain snared: "Yes, with the so called 13th tribe. A wild goose chase if you ask me."
Admiral Adama reacted to her outburst: "It is still the best bet we have, unlike your suicidal ideas."
Roslin looked at the situation between the 2 admirals. Yes, Cain will be a problem. "Pease, continue, doctor."
"There is not much else to say, madam president. The outpostship is empty of any supplies, so we will have to provide those ourselves. The ship however has a capacity to hold allot of people. Mostly in the 2 habitation domes. The next 2 domes we will be able to put to good use for food production. Not enough for the entire fleet, if we add any more survivors from this upcoming evacuation, but in combination with our current food management program, it will make life easier."
The president nodded: "Yes, after this operation, we should use the expertise of the Sagittarons and Aerilons for this issue."
Baltar continued: "The last dome is for entertainment and research purpose, as far as we have seen. After this, I would like to set up shop there, if you don't mind."
"Not at all doctor. Your expertise will be much needed in the future. Best you get a real laboratory again, even if it is of alien origin." admiral Adama remarked.
Baltar continued: "The lower part of the ship is made up of an industrial ring and the hangars. There we could easily set up processing lanes for tylium, ammo and spare parts. That way the refinery ship and the others would have the work load taken off of them."
Admiral Adamma nodded again: "My greatest concern will be security. Doctor, you will have to find a way to limit access to sensitive areas of the ship to a limited amount of people. We can't guard every access door, and even if we could, we had cases of corruption in the fleet before. We can't let something like the black market cripple this ship because of their own greed."
"I agree with you admiral. Lt Dualla are already looking into that."
"Well, let's go over the plans." Admiral Adama began to lay out his plan: "The first plan is to eliminate our pursuers. Thanks to the Intel that Sharon provided us with, we can assume that the fleet following us is made up of 2 Basestars and 1 so called resurrection ship. We take that out and the Cylons here will really die. As soon as we have sufficient people on either ships, both to operate them and to defend them, we launch this first mission. I will be on this ships command room. I guess that I have postponed my chair experience long enough. The Pegasus and the Discovery will launch that attack. The outpost ship will be in reserve. I don't want to reveal our secret weapon unless it becomes necessary. The Discovery arrives there first and strikes with her main weapon at Basestar Alpha, hopefully taking it out. Then the Discovery flies past the resurrection ship, destroying its FTL in the process. Then the Pegasus jumps in and keeps the raiders of Basestar Beta busy, while the Discovery finishes off the resurrection ship. Then both focus on the last Basestar and mop up. If that test goes well, we will proceed with plan 2."
Starbuck, who came in late, now had to ask: "Emm, sir, what is plan 2?"
"Simple Kara, we go back to the colonies and evacuate them. Every resistance member and every survivor. While you were returning back, I had the chance to use that ring there. It took me directly to Gemenon. After talking with the survivors there, we began to plan a general evacuation. The rebels on the ground and in space will coordinate with us to speed up the evacuation, once we arrive. They will gather all the data on Cylon activities and inform everyone that they can, without compromising themselves. The resistance informed us, that the Battlestar Theseus and 3 other Battlestars survived the attack. The Theseus came too late to Ragnar, to join our exodus. Anyway, we will provide the resistance with equipment and the info on known Cylon infiltrators."
"So how do you plan to execute this insane idea?" the colonel asked.
"The Pegasus will dock with the outpostship. We now know that this ship can drag something docked with it into hyperspace. We jump to the coordinates of the 4 remaining Battlestars. The civilian ships there will transfer their crew and passengers on the outpostship. We can't take them all with us. Only the tylium tanker is valuable enough to take with us. There we undock the Pegasus and start the operation. We jump into Scorpia orbit first and clean house. The reason we start with Scorpia is that we might still find military hardware or personnel still alive in the shipyard remains. The 5 Battlestars will be the raider cleaners along with their viper wings. The viper will stay close to their Battlestars. Once we need to jump, they land, and viper group B gets ready to launch for the next planet. This way we exchange the vipers to rearm them and give the pilots some rest. So Viper group 1 for planet Scorpia, group 2 for Libran, group 1 for Sagittaron and so on."
Admiral Adama then looks at Cain: "Even if it is against my better judgment, I want you to command the Battlestars. But don't forget, that I still have command of the operation. "
"Understood, admiral."
"The outpostship will the center of our formation. We will use it for space control and to sponge up enemy fire. Doctor, I want you with us on this mission. You will stay in the power room and keep an eye on the reactors and the crystal."
Then admiral Adama looked at his son: "Lee, I want you to command the Discovery. You mission will be to harass the Basestars and destroy as many as possible. Use the outpost ship and vipers as a raider shield." Then he looked at Kara: "Kara, you are the best pilot we have. I want you to be the overall viper leader. "
"Hell yes, sir. I rather be in a viper cockpit than on either of these busses."
"Dee will be my XO on the Kobol, while Helo will be the one coordinating the evacuation. Once we clean the orbit of a planet, half of the vipers go into the atmosphere and start to clean house there. We then send the transport ships we found on this outpostship. Doctor, you looked over those ships, that we found in the hangar, right?"
"Yes, admiral. These 17 transport ships, who were apparently made for cargo transportation, have the advantage of shield defense and an internal transporter platform. We just land them in the evacuation area and start transporting the people to the outpostship. Our vipers will have to keep the sky clear in the meantime and the marines the ground safe. I do have to point out 2 things. First, the transports lack any form of FTL, so if one should be incapacitated, we need to destroy it, so that it won't fall into Cylon hands."
"Agreed."
"Second, once we start the transportation of people from the planet, we will have to have security at the transport sites in the ship itself, to screen the incoming people for Cylon agents."
"Also agree with that. I will instruct the marines to shoot any Cylons and not bother with arresting them. We will spread the photos of all known Cylon agents and use the scanners from these ships to identify them. We have enough prisoners as it is, since we have cleaned the Galactica of them."
The admiral then turns to his XO: "Saul, I want you to come up with the search plan to clean the rest of the fleet of any Cylon agents. Also, during this operation, you'll be in charge of the civilian fleet and Galactica."
"Like I have a fraken choice in this, Bill?"
After an hour of refining the plans and going thru the details, admiral Adama was satisfied. "Let me add just one thing to this plan." He looked at Cain and the other military officers. "If at any point we start to have too many losses, take too much damage or encounter or the Cylons manage to regroup successfully, we break off the mission. I will not risk everything in this operation. IF we leave a few behind, then so be it. I will take the responsibility for that."
Then Cain asked: "If I may ask, admiral, what will be the order of planets we evacuate?"
"As I said, first, we jump into the hidden location of the resistance fleet, then Scorpia in Helios gamma, then delta, alpha and beta, in that order. We will not target any planet in a system in any order, to keep the Cylons guessing, should they get smart. The only thing that remains is the starting point." The admiral then looks at Lee: "Lee, I want you to coordinate with the resistance cells everywhere. Use Kara, she had on the ground knowledge. We need to coordinate with these resistance Battlestars the most."
Hearing this, Baltar had to add: "Emm, admiral. I have to add something regarding this ring that we will use to move to Gemenon and back. It appears, that these rings only work, if both are near a celestial body, a star system to be precise. Once this outpostship moves too far away from the system we are hiding in, the ring will not function anymore. The same rule applies, when we will be in transit, or the same star system as the ring on Gemenon. I still don't understand why this is so, but Lt. Dualla managed to partially translate the instructions for the usage of the ring."
"That is good to know. Good work doctor." Admiral Adama was in thought. This piece of info did not make any difference for the plan.
"Well, gentlemen and ladies, this was an insightful evening, but I have a long day ahead tomorrow, mostly explaining this operation to the Quorum, so I will turn in. good night to all of you." With that said, Roslin headed out.
"I think that goes for all of us. we can continue the fine tuning of this plan tomorrow. Dismissed." With that, admiral Adama left as well. In the end, the only ones that were left in the control room, besides the night watch, were Lee and Kara.
"So Lee, you really had to go and surpass me, didn't you?"
"Stop it Kara, this is not a contest."
"Sure it is. You just don't know it yet. Now I just have to find something bigger to beat you."
"Knowing you, it will be not one, but a fleet of Basestars." Apollo left, leaving Starbuck laughing.
Colonial refugee fleet, Cloud 9, 3 days later
Saul, Lee, Kara and many others were having a drink in the bar on Cloud 9.
"Well, that went without many problems. The toasters never knew what hit them!" said Starbuck, being overly happy at the success of the plan to kill the resurrection ship. 0 losses and only a few vipers in need of repair.
"Yeah, well Kara, the next OP will be allot harder. We will be facing the bulk of the Cylon fleet that is now occupying the colonies."
"Jeez, Lee, your such a kill joy sometimes."
"I would listen to him, Starbuck. This mission was a cakewalk compared to what will follow." was Tigh's answer.
Suddenly, a voice was heard behind them: "Still, it was good to be on the offensive for a change." It was rear admiral Cain's response. "May I join you all?"
"No, help yourself. Just be careful you don't bump into any survivors you left behind in that fleet we rescued." was almost a unified response, she got.
"Say chief, will the hangars on the Kobol ship be good for our vipers?"
Turning to Apollo, Tyrol, who was too tired to be in the mood to talk: "Yeah, they will. Still no launch catapults, so that is a down side, but a hell of allot of more space to work in them, then the cramped space on our Battlestars. We will be good to take in any viper or other ship that will need an emergency landing. I was assigned to that hangar for the mission. But only for the mission. The admiral wants me on the Galactica for the foreseeable future."
Apollo, after hearing this, turned to the chief and responded: "Don't take it personal, he will remain on the Galactica after this mission as well. Guess he wants the best pilot and engineer on his flagship."
"When will the mission begin?"
All the heads turned to Cain. "Frak if I know the exact time and date. It all depends on the engineers and eggheads to figure this tech out properly and our marines to staff them properly. Best guess, 8, maybe 9 days."
Thor's Biliskner ship, Earth orbit, 7 days later
The 'training mission' did not turn out as expected. For most of the humans and Asgard on board. The 4 who knew were going to meet in Thor's private room in a few minutes. Daniel and Jack were on their way there, passing the corridors that were now filled with replicator remains and ever so often a blood splatter and a wounded marine. They had reached the room and the doors closed behind them.
"Thor, old buddy. Still going with the whole naked thing I see. Well, looking good all the same..."
"Jack! Can I take over, before you make an even bigger ass of yourself?" Daniel was trying to save some form of dignity here, before O'Neill says something too stupid.
During all of this, Kvasir and Thor looked at each other and spoke in their native tongue. "You still think that they are the 5th race? Looking at this " he points to O'Neill " I highly doubt it."
Thor eyes narrowed. "You give them too little credit. They have great potential after all." Thor then turned to Daniel and Jack: "I can only thank you for the plan that you suggested and the help you provided. I hope that major Carter will agree to help with the other problem as well."
"Oh, she will, I guarantee it. A chance to see all your little toys, I will have to hold her back. As for the other parts of this..."
Thor interrupted Jack: "Yes, as agreed. I will help you to establish an alliance between human worlds, that were cooperating with Earth in this other time line. I would also suggest to add the races that were on good terms with Earth."
Jack and Daniel looked at each other. Jack then turned back to Thor: "Should not be a problem. Now as for Kinsey..."
"I can't beam a member of your government into orbit and kill him, you know this O'Neill."
"Oh come on! No one will have to know. That ass, according to the loose translation Danny boy here has made of the monolith, has it coming...!"
Daniel interrupted him: "Jack, this is not helping. I think we should proceed to give Thor the monolith scans. He should be able to translate it all, and then we all benefit from it."
"All right! All of you ganging up on me!"
Daniel then put all the scans on the floor in front of Thor. After the ship ended its scan, a holographic representation of the monolith appeared in the middle of the room.
"Wow, the writing is even smaller than it was seen on the scans you had Daniel. How did you see anything?"
"Well, Jack, that was part of the problem. Well Thor, can you...?"
"Yes, I can, but it will also take time for me to do so. I will inform you of the results. Please contact major Carter. After I transport you and the wounded to your SGC, we will depart for Hala."
After Daniel and Jack left, Kvasir again spoke to Thor in their native tongue: " Why have you lied to them. You and I can both read this fluently, there is no time needed for translations."
"Because the information here is more than I have imagined. They are not ready for the entire knowledge here. But we will use this to help them as well. I have no doubt that Jackson will sooner or later discover the entire truth himself. For the moment we use this to change the future for the better. Once the humans are ready, we will have them help us towards that goal. "
Kvasir nodded and studied the writing some more: "Here it says that an assumed dead Goa'uld who once almost defeated the System Lords, will capture you and steal Asgard knowledge. He will be so powerful because of his half ascended state. That is a frightening thought."
"Nevertheless, we must face him in the future. According to the description, it must be Anubis. No other System Lord fits these criteria." As Thor continued to study the monolith, his eyes widened. He turned to the console behind him and activated it.
Another Asgard appeared on it. "Supreme commander Thor. What is your request?"
"Heimdall, after the replicator attack is beaten back, prepare 3 Bilskirnir-class ships for departure as soon as possible. "
"Yes, supreme commander, but If I may ask, what will you need them for?"
"All you need to know is that I will visit an old allies city, free a prisoner and meet our long lost cousins. Thor out."
Planet Caprica, high in the mountains, resistance camp, same time
Samuel Anders and the other resistance leaders exited the main building in their small camp. The meeting was over.
"So we leave tomorrow. That is good. Are you anxious to meet that crazy girlfriend of yours, Sam?" one of the solders asked him.
"Yeah, but we need to start the preparations. We can't let this info leak to anyone yet. The less know the better. What scares me is the fact that we could not be supplied with photos of the known Cylon models. So best be double safe!"
Unknown to them, one of those that was informed about the coming operation, was a model One Cylon. "And so it begins." He went to the building where his co conspirator was at.
"Well, did you learn anything?" the model Four asked.
"Oh yes brother, I did."
A chapter that was intended to be about 5K words long, and then... this happened. XD
Responding to FAIL (appropriate name, by the way): OK, boys and girls, this is not how to write a review or criticism (or anything for that matter).
1. OK, valid point. I have changed my writing style. However, it is not what you wrote, it is how you wrote it that is the problem. So maybe change your attitude? Also, as if I'm the only one. look around. Allot of people here use it.
2. The way you wrote it makes you come over as a spoiled 10 year old brat having a temper tantrum. Do you really think that this kind of behavior will inspire anyone to improve?
3. I like constructive criticism. It helps me improve my writing. That was the written example of the polar opposite of constructive.
4. Also, your review can be seen as written abuse. I doubt that there is not some rule against that. A bit hypocritical of you.
Side note: Interesting, is it not, how even in a dozen good reviews, the one bad one stands out like a sore thumb. And so you only notice that one? XD
Also, I wonder if anyone will get the Theseus and the Asgard connections.
Anyway, happy new year to everyone!