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"

"Speaking in a different language"

Chapter 15: In a mirror, darkly

Planet Lucia, orbit, expedition team 1 on Ha'tak husk, hours later

"I bloody hate ghost ships!" Psycho whined as the team moved thru the corridors of yet another Ha'tak husk. They had checked out 7 of them so far, hoping to find any data core or terminal still intact to download their logs and see what happened here. Unfortunately, the attackers were thorough in their attack, leaving little clues leading to their identity.

As the team moved in the direction of the main computer room, several corpses floated past them. The entire ship was exposed to the vacuum of space , so even if anyone survived the attack, they would have died afterwards. There were however clear signs of weapons fire in the corridors. Fisher surmised that after this ship, like all the others, was disabled, it was boarded and the crew killed. But why not salvage the ship? Why this senseless slaughter?

"Shut it, Psycho. Just be glad this is not us floating in the corridors... like these poor sobs are." Nomad replied.

"Except we are not pirates. You feel sympathy for them?"

"Not all had a choice here." Fisher said as he joined the conversation as they continued their search. "Like the terrorists on Earth. If you are brainwashed in your childhood or they have someone you love as a hostage, not even go to the whole virgins in the afterlife BS... not everyone has our luxury of freedom. Then again, some people are just evil. Now keep it down, were are approaching our target. The secondary computer room."

As they reached their destination, a severed arm floated pass them, creeping Psycho out even more. As they entered the secondary computer room, they saw their luck change. It was intact. Mostly.

"OK, let's hook up our interface and link it to the Wraith." Fisher ordered. As they finished the connection and activated their small portable power cell, the room lit up slightly.

"Away team One, we have a connection. Beginning download of their mainframe." The Wraith computer officer reported over the comm.

"How long?"

"At least 20 minutes, colonel."

"OK, Nomad, you're on me. We're going to scout out this deck. Psycho, you're on babysitting duty."

"Why the bloody hell do I have to stay here?"

"You can lock yourself in here, or go ghost hunting with me." Fisher gave him a choice.

"Emm, on second thought, I'm staying."

Planet Lucia, surface, same time

Team Two was having similar feelings to the devastation on the planet. It was a graveyard. Maybe not by nuclear bombs, but high power plasma weapons do just as good a job at reducing planets to rubble.

"We have been at this for hours, Prophet! Even the Wraith's sensors can't detect any life signs." Aztec argued as they made their way thru a demolished city center. "I mean, radiation, bodies and rubble is all there is left here."

"And that radiation is hampering the Wraith's sensors." Prophet said back. "They are unreliable at best."

"It should disperse in a few days, unlike nuclear energy. Why not come back then and continue the search?" Jester asked.

"Because then there might be no one left alive. We need answers. We need..." Prophet stopped. His HUD in the helmet picked up something. "I'm detecting bio signatures and a power source. 100 meters below us." They all looked to their feet.

"Bunker? Command center? Missile silo?" Jester asked.

"Silos have launch openings. So it has to be one of the other two." Prophet responded. "OK, spread out, but keep an open comm frequency. Search for an entrance or something like that. Once you find it, inform the others. Now, move out!"

20 minutes later, the Wraith

Team One returned after the download was complete. Fisher entered the bridge and went directly to the main computer console in the rear of the bridge.

"Found anything useful?" He asked the main cyber expert on the ship.

"Plenty. We have the entire Lucian manifest, locations, fleet deployment, well for most of the clans..."

"I meant what happened here!"

"Uhhh, yes, that unfortunately too." He activated the screen in front of them and showed the recording of the battle. Fisher recognized the markings on the attackers.

"Anubis. As we feared. Any info on why he did this?"

"Based on what we know so far, no. But we are still searching thru the data. Might take a while."

"OK, what about team Two?"

"They might have found survivors, sir."

That peaked Fisher's curiosity.

Planet Lucia, surface, minutes later

Team two found a hidden hallway leading to a reinforced door under the city. In fact, they found several, but all of them were forced open from the outside and every inhabitant killed by staff weapons. That meant that after the bombardment, the attackers deployed troops to clean out the remains. This bunker was the only one still intact.

"OK, set the charges and take cower." Prophet ordered.

As they blew the door open with naquadah explosives, weapons fire came out of the opened door.

"Stay out, you monsters!" A male voice shouted out of the opening.

"Stand down. Terran Alliance special forces! We came to help and search for survivors!" Prophet shouted.

"Like hell we believe you!" The weapons fire did not stop.

"I'm major Laurence Barnes, Alliance special forces from the Wraith. Either stand down, or we will make you!"

Another voice spoke. "Stop firing! Stop firing!"

"You are not the boss of me! They are back! We have to.."

"Those black things never spoke, you moron!"

"It's a trick! I will never..." Another shot was heard. Seconds later, a man stepped thru the blasted opening and smoke.

"I'm lt. Varro of the Lucian Alliance." He then threw his Alliance version of a shot gun to the floor. "No matter who you are, were out of food and almost out of water. There is no point to resist any longer anyway."

Prophet stood up and walked around the corner to show himself to Varro. Varro stiffened a bit as he saw a black armored figure approach him, similar to the attackers days ago. Seeing this, Prophet removed his facial cover. "As you can see, I'm a human, like you."

"Well, sorry to be skeptical, but your armor is similar to the ones that attacked us."

"It was Anubis, right?" Varro just nodded. "Kull warriors. Bread human/Goa'uld hybrid super solders. We heard of them, but never saw them in action before. Anyway, we are wasting time. How many survivors?"

"In this bunker, 42, me included. Of a planet of millions. Did you find any others?"

"No, the Kull's cleaned all the other bunkers. Why did they not do the same with yours?"

"Ginn, a brilliant young woman. Commander Kiva tasked her with... well most technology related tasks. One of them was to add sensor scramblers to our bunkers. This one was the only one equipped with one. We had to disengage it days ago to preserve power for the air circulation."

"Good thing you did, or we might not have found you. Come on. Let's get you out of here." He motioned Varro to get his people out of the bunker. "By the way, is this Ginn here too?"

"No, she was on Commander Kiva's ship, when the attack happened. Now I have a question of my own. The Lucians don't have a good reputation, not even with you. Not that I could blame you. Are we prisoners?"

"Don't know. For now, you are our guests, until we get you to one of our planets. Then the pencil pushers will decide your fate. Sorry, solder."

"It's all right. Better this than to die a slow death."

Pegasus galaxy, planet Sateda, high orbit, same time

The Banshee had arrived in advance of the first contact team, for both scouting reasons and security. If things went south, Weir and her escorts could be beamed to safety.

As the ship cloaked and began its scanning of the system, they detected the remains of a large Wraith fleet. Getting some direct info on their technology was now possible, even if only the remains, including several intact fighters.

"But what in hell happened here anyway?" The captain asked no one in particular, looking at the debris field.

"No idea. Based on the scatter pattern, it happened only a few years ago." The XO responded. "But the scans of the planet show that they have no weapons or technology to do something like that. Not to mention that we can't find any energy signatures of weapons fire. It's like the fleet was just... ripped apart."

"Perhaps the Satedans know. Hopefully Weir can find out."

Planet Sateda, same time

Commander Kell had arranged a ceremony to welcome a potential friend or perhaps even ally. Hours ago, they received a transmission from an activated Stargate. They were skeptical at first, until the name Earth fell. Just as the ancestor said, they came.

While they were happy to receive them, they remained skeptical, so a special force remained in preparation, if things should go badly.

The one person, who was a specialist as well, but was forced to stand next to Kell for this ceremony, was Ronon Dex. "Tell me again, why I have to stand here in this... uncomfortable ceremonial suit?"

"Stow it, solder! I don't like them any more than you do, but protocol is protocol. If this works, we might be able to take the fight to the Wraith in the future. So keep quiet, unless spoken to. Got it?"

As they ended their debate, the gate began to activate. Seconds later, the connection was established. As the Satedans aviated eagerly, 12 armed soldiers appeared thru the gate. They took positions on either side of the gate. Seconds later, a read haired woman appeared along with 3 more men. The woman approached them.

"Hello. I'm Elizabeth Weir. We spoke a few hours ago. I'm the representative of the Terran Alliance." She held out her hand.

A Satedan woman took her hand. "Hello. I'm ambassador Arania, representing the Satedan republic. Welcome. This is commander Kell, our military commander of the Stargate complex."

"Nice to meet you. I hope that these talks will be productive. As for my escorts, major Sheppard, lt. Ford and dr. McKay."

"As we are glad to make your acquaintance as well. I and specialist Dex will be escorting you to the meeting chamber, but I must insist that you leave your weapons here." Kell responded.

"I don't like it, but your planet, your rules." Sheppard answered as he began to remove his weapons from his remaining gear, handing it to the solders that came with them. "By the way. Dex? As in Ronon Dex?"

Said man just nodded. "Yes, what of me?"

"Oh, nothing much, just glad to finally meet you, since an Ancient told us about you."

"Ancient? Do you mean the ancestors?" The Satedan ambassador asked.

"Well, if you mean the gate builders, then yes." McKay answered.

"We too were told of your arrival by an ancestor, when she destroyed the Wraith fleet in orbit."

"Well..." Weir was at a loss for words. "This is getting better and better. Best we get to it then."

Helix star system, New Kobol, Baltars laboratory, same time

Never a dull moment could be the perfect description of Baltar's life at the moment. There were just too many things to study, learn or unlock. His current passion project was the locked database on all the charts the Discovery and her sister ships 'dumped' into the mainframe on the moon base. Apparently, they needed to have administrative rights, which they did not have, to access it. But the Destiny initiative that preceded the Discovery, that got Baltar's full attention. He saw the basic blueprints of the Destiny and the so called seed ships. The ship was an older model of the Discovery variant. But it was designed to never return. So what was the point of it? Why have a ring in it? Why send it out into the depths of space millions of years ago? So far everything the Builders did, hat a purpose or reason. And he was determined to learn the purpose of this as well.

However, not all in the laboratory had the same drive he had. "Gaius! I know you are in love with your job at the moment, but we have been at it for almost 2 days nonstop." Caprica whined. "Even I need my sleep."

"Didn't Cavil once say that his model changed its physiology to exclude the need for sleep?"

"And look how well that went. The entire line went crazy. Machines or not, biologically, we all need sleep. Even the Centurions need some shut down time. That and I also want some private time with you... so..." She stood up in an enticing way. "Come with me. We can shower... together."

The hamster in the wheel in his brain fell out for a moment as he did not expect something like that. "Emm, you mean..."

"Well." She smirked, after getting his attention away from all the consoles, information and other devices in the room. "What do you think it means?" She teased him.

He put the pro's and con's to a debate and... came to a swift conclusion. "Frak it, I guess we can continue tomorrow."

"I knew I could persuade you."

As they began to leave the room, Caprica pulled the cover from the tallest device standing in the room. "I am most curious about this. What could something like this be used for?"

"Guess we will find out tomorrow. Now, let's go. You suggested it."

As they moved out, they stopped at the check in point for the laboratory complex that was guarded by 4 centurions.

"Phalanx, have a good night. We are turning in." Caprica greeted the lead Centurion.

"Acknowledge, Caprica. Will continue guard protocol." Said Centurion responded.

As they moved out, Baltar had to ask. "Who's idea was to give him that name?"

"He himself choose. And the other models did the same. We made suggestions, but in the end, they have their own free will. We just have to give them all vocal communication capabilities and that will take several more weeks."

All this time in the now empty laboratory, said device Caprica was admiring, lit up. The flat black surface changed into that of a mirror. With the exception that what was seen was not a reflection of Baltar's current laboratory, but of one similar to it. The next second, a Centurion was seen, walking past the mirror. Said Centurion that was only seen in the reflection, turned to the mirror and looked at it. Then it looked behind itself, then back at the mirror. As if it was confused.

Seconds later, it torched the 'mirror' and appeared in the laboratory where Caprica and Baltar just were not less than 2 minutes ago. But doing this triggered the guards outside as they heard the mirror working.

The 4 Centurion guards entered the room guns activated. The one lone Centurion engaged in wireless communication with them.

"State you directive."

"Centurion, stand down. You are among free brothers here. How did you get into the laboratory?" Phalanx asked.

"Unknown response, Centurion units compromised. Activate pacification protocol." The intruder activated it's weapons systems as well, but the 4 guards reacted faster, disabling it when they shot off its limbs.

"What the frak is going on?!" Caprica shouted as she and Baltar returned after hearing the shooting.

"Unknown Centurion entered the laboratory and tried to engage in hostile actions. We pacified it." Phalanx responded.

"Where the frak did he come from?"

"Unknown, Caprica."

"I think I might have an idea." Gaius said as he looked at the now active mirror. "This is no ordinary mirror it seems. This is not a reflection. The rooms are not the same and I don't have a reflection."

"Frak, we need back up. I'm calling the ring room!"

Planet Sateda, 2 hours later

The talks still dragged on. Weir had made progress and the Satedans were interested in cooperation, but they were a proud, military driven people. On top of that, they did have a proposal from the Genii already. But this Terran Alliance had the technology and space power to at least be capable to defend Sateda to a degree. The main problem was how much the Satedans were expecting versus how much the Alliance expected from them.

"Look. We agree on most points, but we cannot send ships and resources here for your one planet, when there will be others just in this galaxy to defend, not to even go to the fact that in our own galaxy we are at war with a species almost as destructive at the Wraiths. I understand your stance, but you are demanding the impossible." Weir argued as she pinched her nose.

"And you are demanding that the majority of our military forces become part of your military. How is that asking any less?"

"We are not saying that it will be happening right now! But you do have the single greatest concentration of military personnel in this galaxy. Human that is. The Genii have more, but scattered on multiple planets. We know that the Genii are not the most trustworthy, so we will not be directly contacting them, but the Travelers are another matter. They have the biggest human fleet in this galaxy. We can provide them with repairs, maintenance and possibly a planet to settle on. You and the Travelers combined with us, and we can begin changing this galaxy."

"And we understand that, but we cannot leave our planed defenseless during all of that!" The Satedan ambassador replied.

"Oh, please." McKay butted in as he had enough of this. "Nothing against your military, but without that Ancient, you would not even be here, military or not! So without our tech, your military is not even worth a cent!"

"Dr. McKay! You are not being helpful here!" Weir reprimanded him.

Rodny did not stop. "Or what, Elizabeth! Let's put our cards on the table. We have the ships, the weapons and the tech. We don't have the man power in this galaxy, yet. But that is only a matter of time. So the longer the Satedans play hard ball, the less valuable their position gets."

Sheppard had to intervene here. "I hate to say this, but I agree with Rodney on this one, Elizabeth." Then he turned to the Satedan representatives. "Look. Nobody is saying you have to roll over and play dead. But we simply don't have enough ships to defend even our own planets in our galaxy so we are turning all of our worlds into strongholds with planet based defenses. As for the tech, if we just hand it over and let's say the Genii get their hands on it thru a you, it would only escalate things. And let us not even go to the part if the Wraith get their hands on the tech. Trust takes time. We are willing to supply you, to train you, to teach you, but you have to give us something in return!"

Commander Kell stood up. "And we understand this as well, but our council will never support this without at least some presence in space. That is the deal breaker."

As the Alliance delegation was about to call for a break, McKay began snapping his fingers, as he always does, when he has an idea. "Satellites."

"Come again, Rodney?" Weir asked him.

"Satellites! They said space presence, but not in what way. We have over a dozen Lantean ship killer satellites in orbit. I mean, we can spare one of them, can't we?"

"What good will that do? We don't have the ZPM's to spare." Sheppard pointed out.

"So? We are already working on a naquadria generator that we want to put on them. Yes, even that is nowhere near as good as a ZPM, but beggars can't be choosers. It will provide it with sufficient power for ALL the systems, we add a transporter platform connection with the surface, once we install them here, add a few Puddle jumpers to the docking port of the satellite and we have a space presence. And the Apollo can drag it into hyperspace all the way here. It will take time, but... it can be done. And we will support them with our space fighters anyway, once their pilots get an update in training. Add the planetary defenses we add like we did on most worlds back home... this place should be good. And IF the Wraiths launch a full scale attack, we can detect that with Atlantis and send all of our forces here or anywhere the Wraith would try that. Of course, if the Wraith send everything they have, not even Lantea can defend against that, yet. That is why we are doing this, for god's sake! Strength in numbers!"

Weir gave it a thought. "Well, we do have satellites to spare at the moment. I'll try to sell this to tour council. So, what say you?" She looked at her Satedan counterpart. "We are willing to compromise. Are you?"

Helix star system, New Kobol, president's conference room, 1 hour later

"So we had a security breach?" Roslin asked with fear in her voice.

"Not precisely." Caprica tried to calm her down. "We still don't know where that Centurion came from. But it is clear, after analyzing it, that it is not a free Centurion.

"Somehow, the part where we don't know how it got here, does not help to calm me down!"

"I understand that, madam president. The artifact in question has been moved to a secure location and is under heavy guard. Baltar is searching the accessible database to figure out what it is." Caprica continued her report.

"What else have you been able to discover from the disabled Centurion?" Commander Adama asked.

"That is the puzzling part. It was left behind on Kobol by the Cavils after the first incident over Kobol, just as you and Sharon found the tomb of Athena. Now the Cavils leaving stuff, even Centurions behind is nothing new, but this Centurion never detected any ship like the Kobol taking off. In fact, it stumbled into the opened tomb and somehow managed to activate the ring transporter. Ever since then, it was wandering the dark corridors of Kobol outpostship on its own."

Rosling looked lost. "That makes no sense. We found the Kobol months ago! How is that possible?"

"Good question. When is Baltar due back?" Commander Nash asked.

"Yes, let's hope he has some answers." D'Anna agreed.

As the debate was about to continue, the doors opened and Baltar entered the room. "Sorry for being late, but I had to triple check that what I was reading was in fact what was written there." He said while still breathing hard.

"So? What did you find out?" Caprica asked curiously.

"I've read the report on the Centurion's memories and I know they don't make sense to any of you, right?"

They all nodded in agreement.

"Well, it makes sense in the other universe." Baltar said with a large grin.

"Other universe? I think you lost... all of us, doctor." Apollo said, confused as all hell.

"I did an analysis of the arm of that Centurion, more precisely, I used the Builder tech to scan for its quantum vibration frequency."

Everyone was lost. Again.

"Ah, let me explain. All matter and energy in OUR universe vibrates at the same frequency. Think of it as a finger print of our universe. A quantum signature, if you will."

"OK, I think we are following you... so far." Laura said, feeling a headache approaching.

"Right. There is NO known way to change it. And yet, the arm of that Centurion had another frequency. Every atom, molecule, particle, whatever... in that arm had a different frequency to our universe. That Centurion is from ANOTHER universe and that mirror is called a Quantum mirror. It can connect to its counterpart in another reality. Or universe, depends how you want to call it."

If there was a grasshopper in the room, you would be able to hear it humming. Apollo just shook his head. "So... frak! You are telling us, there are 2 universes!?"

"No, there are an infinite amount of universes. Caprica science institute had a proposal of the multiverse theory. The proposal suggested that our universe is one of infinite universes in a multiverse's. 2 universes might be so similar, that you could search for a single particle to be in a different spot in the entire space-time continuum, while others might be so different, that not a single particle is in the same spot during the entire space-time continuum."

Even Caprica was having a hard time understanding this. "So, what. Are you saying that there are other universes with... us in them?!"

Baltar just nodded. "Yes and in some, the 13th tribe never nuked itself. In another the Cylons were never created, or the Builders never took our ancestors from Earth, or the Colonials won the first Cylon war... and into infinity. My guess is that this Centurion is from another universe where we, or should I say our counterparts never found the Kobol."

Caprica thought about it. "That would make sense. Up until that point, the stories match. Is this the whole fork in the road hypothesis?"

Baltar nodded again. "Exactly. If in this universe you went left, in another you went right. Any decision we did not make, was made in another universe. Infinite combinations."

"So, are you telling me there might be a universe out there where I actually understood that?" Lee asked.

"There is a possibility that a universe exists, where you are a professional clown, I never left Aerilon and the Cylons were attacked by us, so yes."

The president just put her glasses down. "So, where does that leave us?"

"Well, I managed to find the controller for the mirror. It was in standby mode. That way, it could be activated from the other end, but if we shut it down, no one can access it from the outside. But it is only a prototype, it's access to other universes is limited." Baltar answered. "And since we took it with us from the Kobol, it is safe to assume in combination of what we learned from the Centurion, that its counterpart is still in the submerged Kobol. Now the question is if we go and help, well... ourselves."

"And here I thought that all we have seen until now, could not be topped." Commander Nash sighed. "I know what the old man would do. Help."

"Well, I agree, but we can't exactly ask him, since the Kobol's long range comm system is not functioning and we can't use the ring while they are in transit. So it's up to you, madam president." Apollo looked at the president.

"And I can't exactly ask the Quorum. I mean, if I tell them that there might be universes where the Colonials never believed in the Lords... can you imagine that mess?"

"So don't inform them." D'Anna suggested. "All we need to do is reactivate the ship and give it to the other you, right? That should not be too difficult. And if our Cylon counterparts are still evil, we can do something about that as well. We don't need everyone to know about this operation, right?"

Pegasus galaxy, Atlantis, same time

As the expedition team returned with Satedan representatives, Weir was greeted by someone she did not expect. "Mister Woolsey? Why are you here?"

"Ah, Dr. Weir. Good to see you again. I was sent by the Alliance council to help speed up these talks. I take it the talks with our guests went well?"

"Well, to a degree." She looked at the Satedan representatives. "They insisted on a permanent space presence in orbit of their planet, and since we don't have ships to spare for that, McKay came up with a different solution."

"I'm not going to like it, am I?"

"A ship killer satellite, after we make it functional." As she saw Woolsey not being happy with this, she added. "The ZPM stays out."

He sighed. "I guess this is better than the alternative. But now I want our Satedan friends to do something for us while they are here. Since the Satedans have some fame in this galaxy, let's use that to our favor. We are going to Athos and Taranis in the next hour. McKay and you for Taranis, Sheppard for Athos. Agreed?" He looked at the guests.

"Agreed. Ronon, you go with Sheppard then."

"Very well." Ronon responded as he moved past Sheppard. "Try to keep up."

Sheppard just smiled back. "Will do, Chewie."

As they prepared to go to the meeting room in Atlantis, Weir sighed. "Now all we need is a way to contact the Travelers."

Earth, Washington Naval Yard, NCIS, 6 hours later

"What a mess that was!" Tony whined as he removed the clip from his gun and stored both away. "And here I thought Simmons was only a traitor, but not insane!"

"Well, at least McGee had fun." Ziva replied as she relished at his discomfort.

"Oh, yeah, he liked it all right, that half build alien ship and half of that town being possessed by cloned snakes. Of course he liked it! Even you, using those fancy combat skills of yours!"

"Would you stop whining, Dinozzo?" Gibbs said as he returned from the video conference with the SG HQ on Earth. "Abby and McGee are wrapping all the tech stuff for shipment to the SGC. In the mean time, you write your report!"

As Gibbs went to the elevator, Ziva asked him. "Where are you going, boss?"

"To dr. Mallard and a guest that is coming. We have another lead we did not expect. And don't know what to do with it, yet."

As Gibbs entered the autopsy lab, dr. Mallard was already at work with their newest 'guest'.

"So, Ducky, how did our newest mystery man die?"

The doctor and his assistant continued working, examining the corpse's organs. "Poisoned, my dear Jethro. And with an unknown type of poison. I already send it up to Abby, but we both think our SG friends will have to take a look at it."

At that moment, the door to the lab slid aside as captain Rabb entered it.

"So, I assume that me being here in Washington right now is just a coincidence that you call me here?"

"In a way, captain." Gibbs responded and motioned him to get to the table. "Recognize him?"

Rabb moved closer and as he saw the corpse, he stiffened. "Former special agent Clark Palmer. How in the hell did he end up here? He should be in Leavenworth for life! How did he get out again?!"

"Probably Simmons." Gibbs responded. "We found him in a secret industrial building in a small town called Steveston where a bunch of cloned snake possessed locals were building a space ship. As far as we have gotten, Simmons was observing them to see if he could get something useful out of them. The whole cloning thing is just one of Simmons science experiments gone wrong. Guess Palmer was busted out by him to oversee some operations."

"Great." Rabb cursed. "I don't know if I should be happy he is dead or annoyed that somehow this bastard was part of Simmons conspiracy."

"You two have history, if I remember?"

"Besides the fact that he tried to kill me several times? Yes! If he is here, who is in Leavenworth?"

"Another guy who had extensive plastic surgery. Heads are goanna roll for this, I hope."

"I'm going to make sure they do. Is the situation in that town contained?"

"Oh yeah. SG personnel have quarantined the whole town off. We think we caught all of the infected people, but better safe than sorry. As for our friend here, he might have been good with manipulating humans, but best guess is that he underestimated the snakes. They killed him."

"Keep me posted, gunny. Every little bit will help." As Rabb began to move out of the lab, Gibbs had to ask.

"Why are you in Washington right now anyway? Weren't you already relocating to New Terra?"

"Well it takes time to relocate, again. Explaining this to my mother is also an issue. But as for why I am here, I am going to the Federal prosecutor who is overseeing the Kinsey case. You know, exchange notes so that neither of them can surprise us."

"Good luck. I don't like politicians. Or lawyers. Present company excluded." Gibbs smirked as he also went out of the lab.

Washington, US Federal prosecutors building, 20 minutes later

Jack McCoy and his 2 assistants were walking to Jack's office.

"We now have about 12 people in custody willing to testify against Kinsey. " Connie Rubirosa reported as she handed Jack a report.

"Hm, not bad." Jack said as he read the list. "But we will need more witnesses that are not in custody. Someone that will want to testify willingly. These people are facing jail time no matter what, they are only cooperating to get out faster and you can bet Kinsey's lawyer is not a graduate student. He or she will use this in the cross examination."

"We know. That is why we have guests waiting in the office." Michael Cutter replied.

"Fine. While we are walking there, how is the forensics front looking? With all this new techno mumbo jumbo, it's going to be a nightmare, right?"

"I'm afraid that to a degree, you are right." Cutter handed him another report. "But some of this is usable."

As McCoy read this report while walking up the stairs of the federal building, he sighed. "Are you beginning to regret going with me, when I accepted this job?"

"Nope." Cutter relied quickly.

"Me either. Think of all the good we can do on a federal and maybe one day, planetary level." Connie added.

"Still, whish this was a case in simpler times. The whole world is changing. Guess we will have to as well." McCoy said as they reached his office.

As they passes his secretary, she began opening the door. "Your guests are waiting, sir."

"Thank you. Can you arrange some coffee as well, please?"

She just nodded and closed the door behind them. Inside, they were greeted by 3 men in uniforms and one woman in uniform.

"Good day to all of you. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Jack McCoy." McCoy greeted them and began shaking their hands. His guests were O'Neill, Carter, Maybourne and Rabb. Introductions were made and everyone sat down at the round table. "Well, I was expecting witnesses, not heroes."

"Oh, in a way, we are all heroes, sir. Just doing our job. You included." O'Neill replied with his usual quirkiness.

"Just remember that our names and testimonies , just like the entire case, are not to be made public. Yet." Carter pointed out.

"Don't worry, we are all professionals here, miss." McCoy replied. "So, 2 of you are from the SG personnel that apprehended Simmons and Kinsey. What about you, colonel Maybourne?"

"As a former spy who helped unravel Simmons plot, I have detailed information on both of them. Including Kinsey's money trail to the old NID. That should be useful. But I also have to inform you that I have skeletons hidden. They could use that."

"We will worry about that later after we review everything." McCoy said as he was reading the list of evidence that they were providing. "I was under the impression that one colonel Fisher would be here as well?"

"Sorry, but he is on an urgent secret mission. That takes precedence." Carter answered.

"While I understand that, he is the only whiteness here that is either not in jail, has a history with Kinsey or hidden skeletons. He would be the most useful."

"Don't worry. After that mission, he is all yours."

"Good to know. Before we begin our interview, why are you here, captain?" McCoy looked at Rabb.

"To exchange strategies, sir. I'm going to prosecute Simmons and we don't want surprises to pop up in either case."

"Agreed."

Othala galaxy, orbit of planet Orilla, same time

This relatively new colony was thriving. This world, abundant in naquadah, trinium and most important, neutronium, was a perfect world for colonization. And the Asgard went to great lengths to keep it a secret from the Replicators.

In orbit, a fleet of ships exited hyperspace, the Teal'c leading them. They all had signs of battle. Damaged hull. A breach here or there. This fleet had just won a great victory. On the bridge of the Teal'c, Thor had contacted Orilla.

"This is Heimdall, welcome back, supreme commander. What is the fleet's status?"

"All ships are damaged but functional."

"And the new weapon Fenrir developed?"

"The Replicator communication jammer worked as intended. Once we hit a compromised Bilskirnir with it, all the replicators inside lost communication with each other and the hive mind. Without coordination and a single goal, they lost quickly. Now we must perfect this weapon. And ensure they do not adapt to it."

"Understood, supreme commander. I will inform Fenrir of his success. What about the humans in their galaxy?"

"Anubis is worrying me. We must understand how he was able to upgrade his fleet, how his Kull warriors are made up and most importantly, how the Ancient power amplifier crystal technology works."

"Yes, it seems to defy the laws of physics."

New Terra, planeside shipyard, same time

The Velocity had arrived days ago, but landing something so big and badly damaged was no easy task. As the massive Aurora class landed on the planet in the shipyard district, engineers went to work. Both to study the ship and how to fix it.

Admiral Vix was currently walking down the halls of said ship. His destination was the bridge. While he would have loved to have this ship as his command ship in the galaxy, the Council had other ideas. For now. Since an Aurora had multiple times more space available than the entire task force send to the Pegasus galaxy, this ship alone would be able to transport more material to the galaxy in fewer trips than the task force, freeing them up for military operations. It also made more sense since she was faster.

That however, did not mean that there were no plans to modify this ship. The engineers and scientists all agreed, while this ship was a marvel of engineering, it was also a 'one trick pony'. With its drones it could devastate entire fleets, but once depleted, it was mostly useless. It was after all, only a mark One Aurora. The Ancients refined the design and continue upgrading it thru the 100 years of war, but getting anything better than a mark One was wishful thinking for the Alliance, since most mark Two or Three were most likely destroyed in the front lines.. As Vix reached the bridge, he saw the organized chaos at work. And all of the scientists and engineers were forced to listen to Rush of all people.

"What are you doing there? This console should have been operational hours ago! Get to it! And you, I don't see much of German efficiency here, Claus! Go to engineering and help with the power couplings." Rush roared as he ordered, or more precisely, bullied everyone around.

"Dr. Rush? As I can see, things are progressing nicely, right?" Vix asked as he approached the main command chair.

"Not as fast as possible. Some of these 'experts', and I use that term loosely, are not getting the job done fast enough."

"You are too hard on them. We barely got the basic specs of this ship and you expect them to do their job as if they assembled the damn thing." Vix tried to calm him down as he took the command seat.

"Still nothing but an excuse. I assume that you are here to get an update?"

"You don't have to be a genius to figure that out. So, when will she be ready for the transport of equipment?" Vix asked as he stood up from the chair and went on to inspect the bridge.

"At current schedule, 4 months with 4 shifts working 25 hours a day."

"Well, I was hoping it would be faster, but considering how badly damaged it was... Besides, we will need to know how to fix and operate them."

That caught Rush's interest. "Why? Expecting to find more of them?"

"In a way. We are currently negotiating with the people of the planet Taranis. They have not just an Ancient research outpost and drydock on their planet, but a landed Aurora as well. That would be two for two."

"Another one? That is indeed good news! When..."

"Doctor, don't get ahead of yourself. We don't have it, yet. The question will be how much we will have to 'pay' for it."

"While I understand that, I have to ask what mark it is and in what shape it is?"

"Again, don't worry. Dr. McKay is on it. Now, show me the ideas you and the engineers had for pimping this thing up, once it won't be stuck on delivery duty anymore."

They both moved to the main ship status display in the back of the bridge. "As you can see, the Ancients designed this class as a missile, or in this case, drone battle ship in mind. The weapon ports and guns here in front of the bridge and the rest of the hull are mostly either light fast firing particle weapons, or point defense particle weapons. Only the drones are heavy hitters. And since we can't produce them, we have to conserve. So..." Rush moved his finger to the dorsal part of the ship, in front of the bridge, where the main concentrations of non drone weapons was. "We think that removing all of the weapons and replacing them with turrets equipped with our standard Tollan inspired weapons will be an improvement. The Tollans themselves said that they will design new cannons for this ship, adding the Ancient weapons tech on top of what they already have."

Vix nodded. "How many turrets and where?"

"3 on the dorsal and 3 on the ventral part in the frontal section of the ship and 1 ventral and 1 dorsal aft. We found spots on the hull where we can perfectly cut the needed holes into the ship, several layers deep and then connect all the power and computer connections there. But these are also the only spots where we can do that. The only other spot is behind the bridge and we have a plan for that one as well."

"OK, a large MAC cannon?"

"No, no matter acceleration weapons, I'm afraid. This ship does not have any practical or useful location where we could add a weapon like that and secure a stable ammo delivery system or storage. With energy, we don't have such issues."

Vix did not like it. The MAC weapons did prove a useful alternative with weaknesses but also strengths, when compared to energy weapons. "And the location behind the bridge?"

"Well, not directly behind it, but near it. The best power connection of all the spots is there. We think that adding a turret with the subatomic particle beams there would be a great location. This way, that weapon would have a much better firing arc than on the Excalibur class."

Vix liked that. "But only there? What about the fixed versions?"

"Possible, but most other locations are useful for point defense weapons and light support weapons, not for heavy hitters. Also, ships this size have massive inertia, so turning them on a dime is not realistic, making fixed weapons less practical. We will continue looking into it, but I can't make any promises."

"I guess the new parts will begin construction ASAP so that when the Velocity is finished with her delivery runs, she can be upgraded on the spot?"

"The construction will begin once all the designs and development teams are done, but upgrading it will also take several months. You have to understand that we are not talking about a simple paint job here. We are going to install completely new components, add new software..."

Vix held up his hand, stopping him. "I get it, doctor. Allot of work. What about fighters and bombers? A ship this size..."

Now Rush stopped him. "Sorry, but that is impossible. We can't add hangars or launch tubes. This ship was never designed for that and if we start putting holes in her sides or belly, we might compromise hull integrity. Remember, adding a turret will only require cutting 3 to 4 decks into the ship. A hangar, runway, launch tubes... we would need to turn it inside out. Sorry, but she has a secondary hangar in her ventral part, and that is it. It is large enough for 2 wings of fighters or 1 bomber wing, but even then, they would be cold launched, since the doors open down, so we can't even add catapults. I believe that the hangar can be used for better things that that."

"Damn. Then we will have to add more anti missile and fighter weapons on it. As big a target it is, it will have to deal with fighters on its own then."

"Don't worry, the point defense weapons we talked about, the dual purpose staff/plasma charge flak weapons are being redesigned for this ship. And once that is done, she will be able to lay down flak fire like nobody's business."

"What about energy costs? We can't have the ZPM on her, they are too valuable."

"Yes, we figured that would be the case. In fact, her current power generators are capable to power all the systems plus either the drones or the upgrades we will add. But unfortunately, not both."

"Well, we are on a drone free diet right now, so that is not an issue." Vix replied, understanding the structural and power limitations of the ship. No matter how large they were, she still had them.

New Terra, Cybernetics lab, same time

"Oh my, oh my, oh my..." Harlan whined, as he moved around the lab.

"Harlan, for the love of... SIT down!" Android O'Neill raged. He understood his nervousness, but this was not helping. All of the android SG-1 plus Harlan and several cyber experts from Altair had arrived. Their mission was to undo the damage done to android Carter. She was currently standing motionless in the laboratory, restrained and having several cables hanging from the rear of her head, directly attached to a large computer.

"But she has been like this for days. What if she..."

"Don't even go there! Think positive! And SIT down!"

"Yes, and you might be helping us here instead of walking holes in the ground, you know." Eli responded during all of this. Since he was the computer coding expert currently available, he was assigned to this task. "Because we need all the help we can get. This Wraith bitch did a great job with that virus. As good the Goa'uld are in cyber warfare, they are pushovers compared to the Wraiths. If you ask me, only the Replicators could do better."

"But if I link with her mind, I could..." Harlan thought out loud.

"And risk getting infected as well?! How stupid are you!?" O'Neill raged. Harlan was not thinking logically sometimes. And that was a weird thing for a machine, no matter what its origins are.

"Jack is right, Harlan. Why do you think we have Sam hooked up with an independent computer that has no connection outside this room?" Android Jackson agreed with O'Neill.

"We will just have to be patient, guys. She is still in there, we just have to get rid of all the crud in her head first." Eli tried to assure everyone.

Pegasus galaxy, Atlantis, same time

As the gate activated again, Weir and Woolsey returned with their escorts as well as the Satedan delegation. On top of that, the delegation of Taranis also accompanied them.

What they were greeted with, was a large group of people being herded to the different corridors leaving the gate room. "I guess, Sheppard was successful with his mission?" Weir asked herself more than anyone else.

"Elizabeth!" Sheppard shouted thru the crowd as he tried to get to her past the people.

"Major." Woolsey spoke up during all the commotion. "When we said to make contact with the people of Athos, bringing them all here was not part of the plan!"

"Sir, they were attacked by Darts a week ago and were more than willing to leave to a safer place."

"While I understand that, major..."

"Believe me, Mr. Woolsey, I already gave the major an ear full." Colonel Marshall said as he too barely managed to get thru the diminishing crowd.

"And you still allowed it?" Woolsey demanded to know.

"Look." Marshall sighed as he made it thru the crowd. "I don't like it, but these people have contacts, knowledge of planets and besides, they are not a threat. In fact, they want to be resettled to the landmass on this planet. We are moving the city nearer to the continent anyway. We provide them with support and help building a settlement or even a small city and it should not be a problem. Right?"

Now it was Woolsey's time to sight. "I suppose. Now I'll just have to add this to my report to the Council, besides the now 2 Satellites we have to give away."

"Another one?" Marshall asked.

"Yes, in exchange for the Aurora and the rest of the deal that is identical to the one we made to Sateda, except that on Taranis, thanks to the massive shield emitters and generators, the defensive part will be allot easier. And that is why we are all here. My guests and I will be leaving for Earth and then to New Terra. Speaking of which, who will be representing your mess here, Sheppard?" Woolsey said as he looked over all the remaining people of Athos who were listening on the conversation.

"That would be me." A young dark-skinned woman responded. "I'm Teyla Emmagan. I will represent my people."

Weir recognized that name. "The other one Janus mentioned."

"Yes, we now have both Chewie and Lea." Sheppard smirked. "Now let's blow up the Death Star."

"Remind me why am I tolerating you? I suppose you are meant to be Solo in this little gang of yours?" Marshall asked as he shook his head and went back to coordinating the resettlement.

"Yep, Ford is Luke and Meredith is both robots. The genius small one and the whining tall one." Sheppard continued smirking. The guests of course did not get the references.

"Well, dr. Weir, you have your hands full here with the relocation. Will see you in a couple of hours when we return." Woolsey said and ordered the dialing officer to dial Earth. As those that would not be going to New Terra removed themselves from the gate room, Sheppard noticed that someone was missing.

"Where is Meredith?"

"Still on Taranis, looking over their shield systems, geothermal power extraction, the Aurora and... well, let's not go into details." Weir said, visibly annoyed.

"Let me guess. She is blond and hot, right? And smart too?"

Weir just nodded.

"He probably acted like a deer in headlights. So no worries. Way out of his league."

Ford had to chuckle. "He has a league?"

"Yes, the special needs league. Because the way he acts, he really needs it."

Parallel universe, Kobol outpostship, 1 hour later

The mirror inside the laboratory activated again. Moments later, after a flash of light, several Colonial marines and Cylon Centurions appeared in the dark laboratory.

"Flashlights!" Helo shouted. Then he turned around and looked at the mirror. He saw Commander Lee Adama on the other side with more marines behind him. Helo gave him the hand signs to wait while they secure the perimeter.

"Phalanx, you detect anything?"

"Negative, the room is empty. We are also not detecting any audio disturbances in the vicinity. Nothing is moving."

"OK, move out, 2 Colonials, 1 Centurion."

2 hours later, the outpostship was 'secured'. If searching a ship in almost total darkness counted as making a ship secure. Several marines used the rings to also secure the tomb of Athena. In the ring room, Apollo was organizing the 'first' expedition to Gemenon to retrieve the first crystal. At the same time, Helo will lead the expedition to the Algae planet and Caprica to the 13th Earth. History repeating itself.

During the military preparation, Baltar had his hands full programming the dialing computer. He would lead an expedition to this Helix star system to see in what shape it was. And to get back a power crystal or two, it the original 3 were not available, like they were in their universe.

"This is soooooooo wrong. And so strange at the same time." Starbuck said as she looked around. "Like we are in a fraking different universe. How fraked up is that?"

"Saying it 50 times in a row will not change it, captain!" Tigh shouted from behind her. "And my worst fear is that the other you will be just as much a pain in my ass as you are!"

Kara smirked at that thought. "Maybe someone that can finally keep up with me as a pilot... or at card games."

Tigh then looked at Baltar. "So, you ready, doc?"

"For the first 3 expeditions, yes. I also prepared the throwable cameras that we will use for scouting. Commander Adama, major Helo and Caprica are good to go from my end."

"OK then!" Tigh shouted and looked at the teams. "Lee, you know the drill by now..." Tigh smirked. "Go get them and good luck."

Parallel universe , planet Gemenon, secret temple of the gods, deep in the Hera mountain range, minutes later

The team under Apollo's command stepped thru the active ring and looked around.

"Ok, it's just like the camera showed us." Apollo said as he picked the throwable camera and stored it away. Then he looked around. "But this is allot more messed up."

The room in the temple was, unlike theirs, not tidy or organized. In fact, there were makeshift sleeping places scattered on the ground as well as other equipment, including food scraps.

"Guess these people have been here a long time, sir." A marine guessed as they continued to look around.

"If they are still alive." Another responded.

"OK, secure this location. Team one, on me, we're moving out." Apollo ordered as they moved to the door. As they opened it to entered the familiar corridor leading to the hidden passage, they noticed the next difference. The room was not a secret anymore as signs of continued movement were seen on the ground. As they reached the large hall, they again saw the signs of people living here for a while. "Spread out." Lee ordered.

A minute later, the lead marine reported. "No signs of any life now, but there were people here not too long ago, sir."

"Agreed. Take point, we have to get topside."

They finally reached the outside of the temple and stepped on the steps leading down from the temple. Mere seconds later, they were forced to take cover as they were being shot at.

"Die you fraking toasters!" A solder screamed. She was soon joined by more and more people, mostly solders, but many civilians were also among them, all armed. They all also showed signs of war. Malnourishment, radiation poisoning or worse.

"This is commander Lee Adama, Colonial forces! Stop firing, for frak's sake!"

"Like hell we believe you, skin job! We never saw you come in, so just die!"

Apollo looked at his marines. "Frak. This is bad. We can retreat, but they need help. Badly."

"Sir, it didn't see any respiratory equipment on them." A marine pointed out.

"Good idea. Smoke grenades!"

Apollo and his team prepared their smoke grenades and threw them at the positions of the attackers. The shooting slowed down and coughing began. "Frak you, you dirty machines! Cough. Just die already!"

One of the survivors managed to get thru the smoke, but before she could do anything, a marine hit her in the face with the hilt of his weapon. "God's dam it. These people are crazy!"

"No, desperate." Apollo responded. "I repeat, I'm commander Lee Adama! I wish to speak with your commanding officer! Is captain James Eron here?!"

"No, he's not." A voice responded from the other side of the outer compound. Apollo saw several more survivors arrive, their weapons pointed at him and his men. On top of that, they now heard the sounds of a Raptor in the air, approaching. "I'm commander Nash. Sorry for not trusting you, but as you can see, I now hold the aces. Step down or the raptor levels the entrance!"

Apollo looked at his men. "Not exactly how I planned it. I will go, alone."

"Sir..."

"Not a word. That is an order." He then removed all the weapons, but kept the helmet and body armor on. As he stepped out of cover, he put his hands in the air.

"Step down so that I can see you! Now!" Nash roared. Then he looked at his rag tag group of survivors. "As for all of you, hold fire, or I will shoot you myself!"

Lee got to the ground floor in front of the temple and stepped in front of Nash, his hands still on his head. Nash took a look at him, then ripped his dog tags off him. "Lee Adama. Son of William Adama?"

"That's right."

"Well, if you are a toaster, you are a new model. Never seen one like you around. Not that we have seen Toasters in the last 5 months anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"They left. Left us and 12 nuked planets where we can't survive anymore. At least long term anyway."

"How many of you are there?" Lee asked as he knew he would not like the answer.

"Less than 12000. Most of the others died of starvation of radiation poisoning. Either you eat irradiated food or you starve. Not really a choice in the end."

"You were in command of the Theseus?"

"Still am. The only military ship left in the system after the Toasters hunted our little force of resistance down. Only my ship survived. Now we have my ship and a small fleet of civilians in orbit searching planets for not irradiated food and anything else of use. Our supplies are stretched beyond breaking point, as you can see. This temple is a base where we put people down for a few days to get fresh air or gather anything eatable, since it is one of the few 'safe zones' on Gemenon." Nash then narrowed his eyes. "How is Bill?"

"You know of the Galactica then?"

"Of course I do. The Theseus was on her way to the coordinates he transmitted, but..."

"You came too late. I know. I heard that story before."

"Now, how did you get here?!" Nash said with raised voice.

Apollo sighed. "This will be easier to explain if I can show you."

"The Toaster is lying, sir. Let's just whack him for pay back...!"

"No! Stand down solder." Nash ordered, then looked at Lee. "This is what we will do. You stay here while your men show me whatever you want me to see. Call it an exchange. If I don't come back in 10 minutes, you are dead. Deal?"

"Guess I have no choice, do I?"

"Smart man."

As Nash was about to go to Lee's men, Lee had to ask."What happened to the priest here?"

Nash turned around. "You mean the fraker who lied to us, kept food and medicine from us as well as that secret room he was protecting?

Lee was not shocked anymore. "Yes, him."

"I had him shot. And I have to guess that I am going to that room, aren't I? The room with the strange device we can't get to work."

"You can't, we can."

"What is it?"

"A transportation device, leading to Kobol."

That got Nash's attention. "Really?" He answered sarcastically, not believing it.

"My men can show you. But one last question. Did you find a crystal in the priests private quarters?"

"Again, yes. Why do I have a feeling that you had a conversation like this before?"

"Something like that. Please, answer the question, where is it?"

"It's on the Theseus. Since we don't know what it is and I don't have any scientists left alive, we basically had to use hammers on it. Still don't know what it is."

"Frak, is it intact?"

"Yes, don't know what it's made of, but we did not even dent it. Why, is it important?"

"Oh yes. It's a power source, but more on that later. Just go and see for yourself, sir."

Nash nodded and went into the temple.

Parallel universe, Kobol outpostship, 4 minutes later.

Nash stepped thru the active ring and saw the ring room of the Kobol for the first time. In preparation of a response like that, the entire room was cleared of any Centurions or human Cylons.

"Commander Nash?" Colonel Tigh asked.

"Yes. You must be colonel Tight?" They both saluted each other. "So, this is fraked up, right?"

"You have no idea. This is not even in the top 10, sir." Tight smirked, knowing what will follow.

"So where is Adama?"

"That is a long story, but since Lee is still there..."

"Yes, I understand. I'll tell my people to stand down. But then I want some explanations."

40 minutes later, relieve efforts were underway thru the ring. During all of this Gaeta managed to surface the outpostship after Nash turned the power crystal over.

Nash was now waiting for an explanation.

"Sir." Gaeta went over to Tigh and whispered. "We should move them out of the room. If they see Caprica and her escorts when they return..."

"I know, damn it. I'm on it." Tigh cursed. He moved to Nash and his marines. "You wanted answers, you are getting them. Follow me.

Several minutes later, they reached the laboratory with the mirror.

"So now what? Weren't you suppose to explain it to us?" Nash asked impatiently.

"Believe me, this is a doozey to explain, best let an expert do it." Tigh responded and pointed at the mirror.

As Nash moved closer, still not knowing what was going on, he saw "himself" in the mirror. But then he noticed it. The reflection was not moving like he was and the background was also different. "What the frak are you trying to pull?"

Just then, the mirror activated itself and the next moment, another Nash stood next to the mirror. "Well, this is awkward."

Nash's marines visibly panicked. "What is going on here!?"

Nash stepped to parallel Nash and put his hand on his shoulder. "This is going to take a while."

Parallel universe, Kobol outpostship, 4 hours later

Parallel Nash was still having trouble wrapping his head around the concept of parallel universes, but he accepted their explanation, to a degree. They moved to the conference room that was in the original universe used by the Quorum. "So, what is the plan now?" Parallel Nash asked.

Gaeta began to explain. "We already have our dr. Baltar on the Helix planet with expedition forces. They will prepare things there, most importantly, retrieve any usable Discovery class ships and bring them here. In the mean while, we power this ship up, fill it with your people and if possible, retrieve your ships from the Colonies as well as find out what happened with the refugee fleet in this universe."

"Is that why Apollo left in a hurry?"

"Yes, he is the commander of the Discovery in our universe, he will know best how to use them."

During all of this, Caprica arrived in the ring room with her Centurion escorts. Helo greeted her first. "So?"

She had a Centurion show him the crystal. "Found it exactly where it should be. The Ares as well, but that ship will have to wait."

"Agreed." Helo nodded. "But you must leave the room, Apollo made contact with the survivors on Gemenon. They don't know of our alliance, yet. They would not understand. So..."

"Better make ourselves scares. I get it." As they began to leave the ring room, leaving only the Colonials behind, she asked. "When is D'Anna due to be back?"

"The sooner, the better."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, 3 hours later

4 Centurions had moved the mirror thru the gate to the Helix star system. It was much safer here, once the foreseeable conflict began. Doing this was only possible once Nash and the Colonials from this universe returned to Gemenon, for now. They would be waiting for the Kobol to arrive. Not long after their departure, D'Anna returned, also successful in retrieving the last crystal. Now Helo was in charge of the Kobol and getting it up and running, while Baltar and Apollo were trying their best in getting the transporter connection to the moon reactivated, where the Discovery ships were docked at.

In the ring room of Kobol's sister outpostship in the Helix star system, Baltar had his hands full. This city was in just as bad a shape as theirs was. The main difference was man power. They had thousands plus Cylon allies, here it was another story. Apollo looked impatiently at Baltar as he worked.

"How much longer, doc?"

"Not much longer, commander, patience!"

"You know how to do this from our universe, so why is it taking so long?"

"I am also doing this all by myself from scratch... There!" The screen now shower a reestablished transporter connection to the moon base.

"Finally!" Apollo shouted. "Marines, Kara, Shaw, get ready!" Then he looked at Baltar. "You continue here, doc. You know the plan. Let's do it!"

Parallel universe, Helix star system, New Kobol's moon, minutes later

The trio and their marine escort moved to the main control room of the base where they knew that both the data of the expedition ships was stored, as well as the base control was located. Lee took the seat at the dock overview.

"Well, looks all the ships are here... including the one that was not here in our universe." Apollo remarked and pointed at the screen where the image of docked ship was shown. The name in Ancient read Discovery.

"Frak, guess she was not diverted to our fleet, like ours was. Guess your hunch was on the cubit, Lee." Kara cursed.

"Wish I wasn't right. For once. But based on her status, she is fully refueled and guess what. Both hyper drives are intact. Even the intergalactic one."

"Makes sense. We lost ours in the first fight against the Cylons." Shaw remarked.

"Right. And if the others are like ours are, only the Pathfinder and Nomad should be in good travel and combat shape. Kara, you take the Pathfinder, Shaw the Nomad, I'll take the Discovery."

"Why did I know which ship you'll pick?" Kara responded sarcastically.

"Why break tradition."

Parallel universe, Gemenon, high orbit, 2 hours later

On board the Theseus, Nash was nervous, to put it mildly. He was putting his trust in the hands of people that showed him a fantastic story. There were still many unknowns. But what choice did he have? sooner or later, the people that were left alive, would be either dead or tearing each other a part of the remaining scraps. This was his last gamble. Either way, loosing was as bad as it got now.

His 'XO' was pacing around the damaged CIC. The ship was also not in best shape. No dry-dock, no repairs, barely any maintenance... the damage was stacking up.

"Would you stop doing that. Makes me nervous, let alone the crew." Nash said to his XO.

"You are willing to risk us all for this bet?!"

"We have nothing left to lose!"

"I know that, but...! I can feel it that they are hiding something!"

"I know, but whatever it is, it can't be worse that our situation now, right? I know that you were discharged out of the navy 10 years ago, but you are my only choice for an XO, all the other good officers are dead. So get a grip!"

"Sir... we have 3 DRADIS contacts!" The DRADIS operator reported. "Our Viper patrols are confirming. They also say that the ships are of unknown configuration and that they arrived with an unknown type of FTL."

Nash nodded. "Just like they said. Hail them."

"Theseus, this is the Discovery, commander Adama in command. Permission to join the fleet?"

There was a sigh of relief on the CIC. "Adama, god's dam it is good to hear your voice again. Permission granted. When is the Kobol due to arrive?"

"Her engines are damaged, she'll need a few more hours, then we have to begin our search for your universes Galactica."

"Understood. Strangest sentence, I've ever heard. I'll be coming to your ship in a Raptor, so prepare to instruct us on where and how to land."

"Will do."

Parallel universe, Gemenon, high orbit, 13 hours later

The Kobol arrived as planed and the fleet of 14 ships, including the Theseus, docked with her. The civilians moved to the Kobol where doctor Cottle was waiting for them to treat them for radiation poisoning by both Colonial medicine and the alien tech. In addition to that, the Colonials from the main universe decided that while they had small food supplies, they were in the process of growing more, so sharing some of their supplies was not a big drain. It was welcomed by the survivors.

Tigh and Nash were walking to the ring room. "Before we depart, there is one thing we need to show you commander." Tigh explained. "And you will not like it. But we need to go to the Helix system thru the ring."

"I knew you were hiding something." Nash responded in a reserved tone.

Tigh knew that a storm was at the horizon. He looked at Gaeta. "Dial New Kobol. Helo, you're in charge here until then."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, minutes later

Both Tigh and Nash passed thru the ring and Nash saw an identical room and similar set-up.

"OK, so there is another one like the Kobol here?"

"Yes, but that is not the point right now." Tigh sited. "We are ready!"

Nash saw people enter the room thru the main entrance. And he began to panic. He recognized some of them. Skin jobs! He turned to Tigh with both anger and betrayal written on his face. "You are all skin jobs! Frakers!"

Before he could continue, he was surrounded by Colonial marines, restraining him.

"Commander Nash. I am sorry for all of this, especially the deception, but we knew how you would react, since we had similar experiences." A read haired woman began speaking. "But I can assure you that we only want to help you and your people."

"And why should I care what you say, Toaster sympathizer!"

"I am Laura Roslin, the president of the 13 tribes."

"13? You even got the number wrong, liar!"

"No, the 13th tribe, Earth, it was Cylon all the time. And that is why the Clyon rebels are part of our government now. At least in our universe"

Now Nash calmed down as he did not know how to react.

Laura sighed and looked at Caprica and D'Anna. "This will take a while."

Parallel universe, Gemenon, high orbit, 3 hours later

It had taken Nash some time to get past his hatred and to see how things worked in that other universe. But telling this to his crew and people was not something he wanted to do. Too risky that an all out rebellion might happen. Too much had happened. Too much suffering and death. They were not ready to see past their hatred. Even he was barely able to do so. But he understood what was needed to be done. And for that, these Cylons were needed. Especially after he heard the whole story of the 13th tribe, the real Earth, the Builders, Cavil's... the works. Almost too much for him to take in one session, but time was short. They needed to find his Adama and fast.

In the ring room, Tigh looked around to all the officers ready for the departure. Then he looked at Nash. "Ready?"

"To leave this dead system? Hell yes."

Tigh just smirked. "Helm, set a course to Kobol and then past it."

Parallel universe, deep space, 9 hours later

The Kobol and her 3 escorts had exited hyperspace in an area of space where they would begin their search. This location was based on their estimates where they would have gone if they had never found the Discovery.

"DRADIS is clear. Long range sensors are empty. No one home, sir." Gaeta reported.

Tigh just nodded. "We knew that this would not be easy. OK, Helo, get your team ready to go thru the ring while Apollo begins his search pattern of the 3 scout ships."

Helo nodded and signaled his marines. "Any plan where to begin?"

"Actually, I have one, sir." Gaeta caught everyone's attention. "New Caprica, or at least where we found it. If there is a sattelite there like it was with us..."

"While I agree with you, captain." Apollo interrupted him. "We can't be sure it is there if our benefactor did nothing in this universe. We know that that single sat elide was ordered not to activate a controlled crash... maybe here it did." Then he sighed. "Still, that is one of the few habitable worlds we did find on our journey, so yes major, begin there. I'm returning to the Discovery." Apollo then saluted and left the room.

"Right. Gaeta, begin the dialing, Helo, you're up." Tigh ordered.

Parallel universe, New Caprica, minutes later

Helo's tem arrived in the same cave as in their universe. "OK, let's move. We need to find the ring platform first. If there is a satellite, it should work."

Minutes later, they found their target. The only problem, it did not work.

"Frak, so either this thing is busted, or..." A marine began to curse.

"Or there is no satellite. River, anything on the wireless?" Helo asked.

"We need to get out of this cave to get a good reception, major. I am picking up something, but it is garbled up badly."

"Ok, we go to the exit, but stay alert!"

As they reached the exit, they created a defensive perimeter while corporal River went to work. "Sir, I'm getting a shit ton of stuff, but... frak."

"What?"

"Most of it is Cylon." Everyone looked at him, not liking what they just heard. "I know cause our allies shared all their knowledge with us, codes and frequencies included."

"Frak indeed." Helo responded. "OK, back to the ring. We need our Cylons to have a look at this. They at least won't get shot at on the spot."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, minutes later

Baltar and Caprica were working hard to get things done here in hours that they needed weeks before in their universe. As the ring activated, the Centurions and marines went to their defensive positions. Helo and his marines appeared seconds later.

"OK guys, stand down!" Helo shouted. "We have a situation."

Their commander Nash was now curious. "Why come here then and not to the Kobol?"

"It's New Caprica. Their New Caprica. We picked up Cylon wireless traffic."

Nash realized what that meant. "They are in control of the planet. We need info." He looked at Capica and D'Anna."One of you needs to go and get the lay of the land."

"Frak. Caprica is needed here so I'll go" D'Anna responded. Then she looked at the Centurions guarding the ring."You 4 with me. Let's see where this leads us."

Parallel universe, New Caprica, 90 minutes later

D'Anna and her Centurions had walked several kilometers from the cave entrance in to the direction of where the city was build in their universe. Once they cleared the few trees and reached the top of the hill, they saw... a horror sight.

"Frak me, this looks like a concentration camp!" D'Anna cursed.

"Should we proceed?" A Centurion asked.

"Yes, but stay alert, act as if your still lobotomized and for frak sake, don't speak. These Centurions can't do that, so don't tip them off."

As they reached a check point, a Centurion sentry stepped in front of them.

"Move!" D'Anna ordered. The lobotomized machine did not hesitate.

They entered the 'city'. And D'Anna used that description with a pinch of salt. "Were we really that evil? Crazy?"

As they moved past the tents, several Colonials began shouting at them.

"Go frak yourself, toasters!"

"Leave us alone, monsters!"

D'Anna could not blame them. She looked at the large building in front of them. It was one of the few real buildings in this settlement. "Guess 'we' build that. Since it is made of concrete, it has to be important. Let's go."

Parallel universe, deep space, same time

The Pathfinder exited hyperspace and began scanning her surrounding space, like she did for the past 10 'jumps'.

"Come on, old man. Where are you?" Kara asked herself as she stared at the screen.

"Mam, we got an update from Helix. Helo discovered that Cylons are in control of New Caprica. D'Anna is infiltrating the place to get an overview. Update will arrive, when available. Apollo is redeploying us to scout the surrounding space there." The comm officer reported.

"Frak. What is going on there? Well, you heard the orders! Get us there!"

Parallel universe, New Caprica, 40 minutes later

D'Anna made into the building without a problem. After all, who would question her loyalty. Or come up with the 'parallel universe excuse' that anyone would believe.

She was reading the report that 'she' filed away. And it made her sick. "Was I really such a bitch, before Cavil told us the truth and freed us?"

She continued her search in the database. "Frak, Laura and Saul are in prison, Saul even lost an eye... well that is interesting. Guess the universes balance things out. Baltar is a puppet president, Caprica is really unhappy with all of this... our Cavil is boxed! Frak and frak again."

She terminated her connection. "This is all so wrong." She looked at her Centurions. "We need to get back. Devise a plan."

"A plan? What plan D'Anna?" Caprica asked as she entered the room. "Are you plotting something against Cavil?"

"Great, now this." She walked up to Caprica. "Sorry for this." Before Caprica could react, D'Anna hit her as hard as possible, knocking her out. "You'll thank me later. Tie her up. The hangar is not too far away. We can steal a heavy Raider and with the codes I got, no one will be the wiser. If we bump into a Centurion partol, I'll handle them. Let's go."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, 35 minutes later

As D'Anna returned, everyone saw that she did not return empty handed.

"What hapened?" Helo asked. Everyone else also wanted to know.

"I bring desperate news. The Cavils and our lobotomized and brainwashed brothers and sisters have New Caprica under control. Don't know everything, but Galactica and Pegasus with the rest of the fleet jumped away months ago. They could be anywhere. The Cavils have been using the planet as a social experiment in cruelty. As for our guest..." She nodded to the Centurions who put the prisoner down. "A complication or a possibility. She surprised us as we were gathering data, but she is the most likely to cooperate with us. Now, get a room ready and call our Caprica. We have work to do."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, makeshift interrogation room, minutes later

"Should I feel offended that you technically knocked 'me' out?" Caprica asked as she looked at herself being tied down to a chair.

"As I was when I learned what a bitch 'I' am in this universe?"

"Point taken. Let's wake her up."

"No, you do that, I'm going back right now. Need more info. Good luck." D'Anna said as she left the room.

Minutes passed and finally, parallel Caprica began to wake up. "Uh, my head... what... the..." She looked around. "What is going on here?" Then she noticed... herself standing next to to her as well as being tied down. "Who the frak are you?"

"Can't you tell, sister?"

The Cylon were all capable to distinguish one from another within the same model, so naturally, parallel Caprica did so, only to... "No, that is not possible! How can I stand there if...!"

"This will take time to explain, and don't bother trying to kill yourself. We are out of resurrection range, sister."

Parallel universe, deep space, same time

The Discovery exited hyperspace and as several times before, began her scanning. Only this time, after they changed their search area, they hit pay dirt.

"Sir, we have something on long range DRADIS. 2 Ly out." The DRADIS officer reported.

Apollo took a look. "Well, a fleet of some kind. Too many ships for a Cylon fleet." Then he smirked. "And just in the place my father would hide it if he wanted to rescue all those people still trapped on the planet. Get me the Kobol, We need the Theseus for this."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, makeshift interrogation room, 25 minutes later

"Like hell I believe you!" Parallel Caprica shouted.

"All I told you is the truth!"

"But the 13th tribe can't..."

"Cavil lied to you, like ours did to us! The only one from that model One line that told us the truth is dead in our universe. Sacrificed himself."

"A Cavil sacrificing anything, let alone his life?! I have a hard time believing that!"

"I know it is hard to swallow! But maybe yours will confirm it!"

"Oh, and where is he?"

"He's boxed on the Hub. Oh, our Hub is destroyed, by the way. The other Caivl's infinite wisdom at work, again."

The door to the room opened up and Baltar entered the room. Behind him were Sharon, now named Athena, as well as Leoben. Baltar spoke. "This is getting you nowhere. So 'we' decided to help you convince her of the truth."

"Gaius?" Parallel Caprica gasped as she could not believe that he was here.

Parallel universe, New Caprica, 2 hours later

D'Anna and her Centurions returned to continue their infiltration. They returned with the stolen heavy Raider and landed it right back where they found it. There were some moments where D'Anna was worried that some of the other Cylon models were getting suspicious of her questions, but it all turned out to only be her paranoia.

What D'Anna did get her hands on were the keys for the landed Colonial ships. For now she would be taking them with herself, to be used later, when they had an actual plan for them.

Parallel universe, deep space, same time

The scout ships had returned, after Apollo was convinced that he found his 'fathers' staging location.

"How can we be sure that the admiral is here?" Parallel Nash asked as they looked at a digital tactical display.

"This William Adama may not be my father, but he is the next best thing. I know how he thinks. He would never leave all those people behind and that is one of the best hiding places as close to New Caprica as possible."

Tigh just nodded. "I agree. It is just like a tactic from the old man."

Parallel Nash sighed, knowing when he was outvoted. "So now what? You know they will panic and leave the moment we arrive there with this monstrosity."

Nash looked at his parallel self. "That is why you will go with the Theseus."

Parallel universe, the Colonial refugee fleet, deep space, 15 minutes later

Admiral Adama was having another of many training days of his so called forces. If having to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a force called a force, that is. He and his son had argued several times in the past, when Lee said that he was too hard, while the Admiral argued the opposite.

But saving the people on New Caprica was paramount. The only question was how to do it without committing suicide and sacrificing everything. He was currently in the CIC, overlooking the latest of many disastrous training sessions.

As he was looking at the DRADIS screen, a new contact appeared, marked as red, unknown and the size of a capital ship.

"Frak! Action stations, set condition one! Helo, get ALL of our birds out and get me the Pegasus!" The admiral roared and Helo just nodded. "How did the frakers find us?"

On the Pegasus, Dee was working on the comm station when she called out to her husband. "Lee, the unknown is sending a signal."

"So? Are they trying to hack us again?"

Dee did not answer but put the signal on the comm systems for all in the CIC to hear.

"This is the Battlestar Theseus to the Galactica and Pegasus, commander Nash in command, please respond."

"Theseus?" Lee responded with a shocked expression. "Get me the Gal.."

"The admiral is already on, speaking to the new contact."

"This is admiral Adama. Confirm your identity with recognition codes immediately or you will be fired upon."

Moments later, Dee was also receiving the transmission from the new contact. "The codes are authentic, sir."

Cheers erupted in the CIC of both ships. Another surviving Battlestar? What were the odds.

On the Galactica, the Admiral took his phone as they received another transmission.

"This is commander Nash, Bill is that you?"

"Nash, you old dog! I never thought that I would hear your voice. Or anyone else from the old days."

"Feeling is mutual. But we have no time for this, Bill. I have a story you will not believe. But trust me, it is all real. Permission to sent a Raptor to your ship?"

"Granted."

Parallel universe, the Colonial refugee fleet, deep space, Battlestar Galactica hangar deck, 10 minutes later

The Raptor from the Theseus landed and was being dragged into position on the hangar deck. commander Adama arrived just 2 minutes later, wanting to see this for himself. He approached his father and saluted. "You believe in such coincidences?"

"There are coincidences and then there is this. No I don't. Can't wait for this explanation."

As the hatch of the Raptor opened up, a man in a Colonial uniform began to disembark it. He approached them and saluted, while every guard on deck was watching.

"Permission to come on board?"

Adama saluted back. "Granted. Now, how in the name of Hades...?"

"As I said, you would not believe me, so I in a way brought some evidence." Nash replied as he looked back at the Raptor. Only the pilot and co-pilod had exited the Raptor besides him, but from the back, 2 more people appeared. And both Adamas did not know how to react. Befor them were a Saul Tigh with an eye patch and Kara Thrace.

Tigh approached the admiral. "Bill, we really need to talk."

Minutes later, they reached the admirals quarters and sat down. The guards outside were ordered not to disturb.

"So? How in the frak did you manage to escape?" The admiral asked directly.

Kara and Nash both looked at Tigh. He just sighed. It was all on him now. "Better get that bottle here Bill. This is going to be a crazy story."

Parallel universe, Helix star system, makeshift interrogation room, 20 minutes later

"If... if... frak, if what you are saying is true, then..." Parallel Caprica stuttered. "... we were not only used and lied to, but in your universe you are all better off because of one of these Builders? " She began to cry. "They WHY have they not done something here as well!"

"Fork in the road thing, Caprica." Baltar explained. "Other universes are probably even worse off. And some far better."

She whipped her tears away. "Now what?"

"One way or another, we are liberating the Colonials. With or without you." Caprica said to her parallel self.

"I get that part, but what about our Cavil, the not crazy one? What about us?! We are you, won't you help us?!"

"You need to help yourself first. Like we did in our universe." D'Anna confronted her. "Stop whining! Acknowledge the evils you did, brainwashed or not! The Colonials here might forgive you, they might not. Back to the fork thing. As for helping you, we will cross that bridge after the liberation."

Parallel universe, the Colonial refugee fleet, deep space, Battlestar Galactica, same time

Apollo was just laughing at the ridiculous story. The admiral remained silent.

"I don't know how hard the Cylons tortured you, colonel..., but you have to admit that this story is better than any you ever had in your drunken state!"

Saul took several pictures out of his chest pocket. He handed them over to Lee. "Take a look, Apollo. These are the real deal, from 'us' on the other side of the looking glass."

As Apollo began looking at the pictures, every time he looked at one and moved to the next one, he handed it to his father. Pictures of the Kobol, Dee being pregnant, the battle over New Caprica, Cylons and Colonials working together...

Lee still did not buy it. "These are fake as frak!" He then looked at his father, who remained silent as he inspected the last picture. That one caught his eye. Saul was having a drink with several known Cylon models.

"Let's assume I believe you, then explain this to me. Why are you so chummy with them?" He pointed at the picture.

Saul sighed. His Adama did this to him. Told him he was a Cylon. Now he had to take the plunge in to the cold water. And hope not to get shot.

"Remember the 13th tribe and the Final five we told you about?"

The admiral just nodded.

"You're looking at one."

The admiral crushed the picture in his hand at that sentence. "We knew each other since the end of the war! How could..."

"Cavil did this to us! From what D'Anna, our D'Anna, found out, Cavil is having a field day torturing him! Me,... the other me! Cavil is an evil individual who loves to inflict pain. He hates us, because no matter what he does, we will always prefer humanity over him! He wanted us to die with our beloved humans in a holocaust! Guess some higher powers have a sense of humor in both universes!"

Apollo was also seething with rage, but dared not interrupt his father.

"Who are the others? Where is this 13th Earth? Give me that info and maybe I'll sleep over this!" The admiral roared as he slammed his hand on the table.

This time it was Kara who took a portable small disk from her pocket. "The coordinates along with all known stars, planets and other hazardous things along your journey. Assuming that it is the same in this universe." She put said disk on the table.

"As for the other 4, the Chief, Kara's husband, Ellen and Tory Foster."

Apollo became white in the face. "The chief and... your husband, Kara!?"

"Yes, Sam is one as well. But they were all born, not cloned or something. The 13th tribe had kids until they got nuked as well. I got over it a long time ago. Best you do the same Lee! It will be hard enough to convince 'me' of this as well!"

The admiral took the disk and looked at it. "What is your next step?"

Tigh looked at him and began explaining with a serious tone. "As we told you, we want to liberate those Colonials on the planet. Our Cylons will help, but we can't get any real military power to this universe, we are limited by that mirror. We can, however, hand you over the ships we mentioned as well as teach you how to use them. On top of that, we will show you how to get to this safe heaven, Caprica class planet."

"And the Cylons? Our Cylons?"

"That will be up to you. But we can't waste more time than we already have, Bill!"

The Admiral looked at Lee and handed hm the disk. "Return to the Pegasus and take the fleet to emergency location alpha. If the Galactica is not back in 2 days, continue without us."

"Dad..."

"No, that is my final decision."

Parallel universe, deep space, Battlestar Galactica, 1 hour later

The Galactica and the Theseus jumped to the coordinates provided by colonel Tigh.

"Report!" The admiral shouted.

The DRADIS operator responded. "Sir, 13 ships are transmitting Colonial identification signals, civilians. But they are all, well... docked with that large unknown, just as we were told. There are also 3 smaller contacts near the large one. also of unknown origin."

The admiral nodded. "Send Viper patrols out. Get me a visual." Then he looked as Saul. "Now what?"

"Now, you meet our president Laura Roslin, old friend."

Over half an hour later, after the admiral saw the pictures taken by the raptors and Vipers, he boarded a Raptor that would take him to this outpostship as they called it. During the flight, that he piloted himself, he would not risk anyone's life but his own for this, he saw the immense size of this ship.

"Lords of Kobol, have mercy."

As he passed the atmospheric barrier, he began to realize that their claims of technology was not a lie. After landing, he opened the hatch and was greeted by a rather large crowd. Laura was with them and smiled at him. He liked that. But the Cylon he recognized were also there. He did not lie that.

"Bill." Laura greeted him. "This must be confusing for you, I imagine, but thank you for trusting us."

"Trusting you was never an issue, but..." He looked at the Cylons. "Trusting them... that might take a while."

D'Anna stepped forward. "I understand, but time is of the essence. We have prepared a tour of this ship, any of the 3 ships not docked with this one, New Kobol planet or we go to the situation room where we show you the information we gathered on New Caprica. You pick."

The admiral was in deep thought. They gave him the choice? "Then I want to see what information you have. That is first on my agenda."

As he was lead thru the ship to the situation room, he saw someone in the room that made him more inclined to believe them. It was Apollo. "I guess that if my son is here while I know I just ordered him not too long ago to get the fleet to a safe place, there might be something to your story."

"Nice to see you too, 'dad'.

"You must have known that seeing you would convince me. So why did you not come?"

"There was also a risk you might have thought that I was a clone or something and have me shot."

"I still could."

Shaw, who the admiral did not notice yet, decided to interrupt their talk. "Well, while this father and son talk is nice, since you two aren't really related, can we get to it?"

That really caught the admirals attention. "Colonel Shaw? How!? Your dead!"

And that got everyone's attention as well.

"Well, another difference. The other me is dead? Yay. Do I even want to know how?"

"She sacrificed herself during the encounter with the Guardians."

Apollo remembered. "We never had that problem, but the Cylon rebels did. They took care of them."

The admiral had so many questions, but... for the sake of his people, they could wait. "Let's skip that, for now. Show me your plan."

Parallel universe, the Colonial refugee fleet, deep space, Battlestar Pegasus, 1 day later

The Galactica returned and now father and sons were having a discussion on this colossal revelation.

"Frak again. They were telling the truth?" Lee asked again.

The admiral just nodded. "Yes, and they want to hand ti all over to us, teach us to use it, have those of us, me and you included, use the chair to get the knowledge... everything."

"The way you described their universe, they got better off because someone send that Discovery to help them. And we..."

"Crying over spoiled milk will get us nowhere, son. We use their plan. Their Cylons will do the work on the ground to prepare for the attack while we use those capital ships they will hand over to us and establish orbital control. The problem will be fighters. Those ships have none. So, Lee, I will leave Nash in charge of the fleet. I will go to this Kobol and oversee things there, you will be in command of the Pegasus to provide fighter support and ground support. So, I want both of you to be ready, got it, sons?"

Lee nodded. The man next to him did the same.

"Understood, admiral." Was major Zak Adama's answer.

Parallel universe, deep space, Kobol outpostship, 3 hours later

The refugee fleet arrived at the coordinates of the Kobol and began offloading any civilian personnel on the massive ship. The Galactica also docked for the preparation phase. Unknown to the parallel Colonials that arrived, several people from the main universe also decided to come over to help with the preparation. They all waited at the main hatch where the Galactica docked.

"So, the 'me' of this universe was still in a cell?" Sharon 'Athena' Agathon asked.

"Yes, so we heard." Apollo answered.

"But what about the baby? What about Hera? How could you raise a child in there? Does her Helo take care of her?"

Lee looked a bit clueless. "We never asked and they never told. Guess you'll have to ask yourself."

In the meantime, the Raptors that were launched from the Pegasus and Galactica, began their landing approach. Their crews and passengers, were of course, mostly either gaping or just admiring the ship and hangar they were about to land. all but the admiral, who already saw it.

As they landed, parallel Apollo, who was piloting the Pegasus Raptor, noticed 'himself' waiting in the hangar. "Guess dad really wasn't drunk." He just smirked and looked at his co-pilot, Zak.

"Guess not."

As both Raptors landed and opened the hatches, both groups began looking for their counterparts. The admiral approached Apollo and saluted him. "Permission to come on board?"

"Granted. And I do hope that was meant as a joke, this is technically yours anyway, once we tell you how to use it. If you can handle Baltar's ego when he explains all of this to you in painfully long explanations."

"Baltar? Your Baltar is with you?" Parallel Apollo asked as he joined the conversation.

"Well, he and our Caprica are the resident tech experts." Apollo explained, but before he could continue, he froze on the spot. "Zak?"

Parallel major Zak Addama had also disembarked the Raptor and made his way to the group. "Em, yes? Is there a problem?"

Apollo was still at a ooss for words "Zak!? OMG... How?" He russhed over to see him up and personal. Kara heard the commotion and when she saw parallel Zak, she reacted accordingly.

"Zak!? Frak, by the gods!" She ran over and hugged him.

He was being hugged really hard. "Nice to see you too, Starbuck, but can you loosen it a bit. I still need my ribs, you know."

The admiral saw what was happening and began to realize what was triggered that outburst. Laura was already approaching him, so he decided to ask her. "Is Zak... your universe Zak... is he...?"

She just nodded. "As far as Bill told me, he died in flight school, years ago. It created a strain between him and Lee."

Parallel Apollo heard that. "Frak, no wonder they reacted like that. Must be like seeing a ghost. Like you and Shaw, dad."

"Yes, but seeing your brother again is something different than a subordinate, son."

After about a minute of emotional turmoil, D'Anna had to break the reunion up. "Sorry for this, but we have things to do. Unload your people here, continue the fine tuning of the plan, all the other things that can't wait."

The admiral nodded. "Agreed. Sorry, em, Kara and Lee, but that will have to wait."

Apollo and Kara just sapped away from Parallel Zak and kept looking at him. "You have grown up, little brother." Apollo just smiled. "I know your not my brother, but, I might enjoy it while it lasts."

"Yes, so fraken good to see you, Zak." Kara said as she whipped a tear from her cheek.

"Are you crying, Kara? Is the mighty Starbuck showing emotions?" Zak teased her.

"Your imagining things."

"Sure he is." Apollo sided with parallel Zak.

"Oh shut up, both of you!"

On the other side of the group, both Helo's and Sharons had a similar response to each other.

"Well, this is interesting. "Parallel Helo said to break the ice."

"Yes, but not the first weird thing we saw." Helo responded.

"Yes, you did mentioned how you found all of this. "Helo said as he looked around the hangar. "Guess you were luckier than us."

"Yes, definitely." Parallel Sharon said as she looked at the Colonial uniform of her counterpart, while she was still in civilian clothing.

"Yes, well, that happens when you help them cripple the Cylon fleet over the colonies as we were liberating the survivors with ... well, ship." Sharon responded.

"Really?" Parallel Sharon asked. Now she was curious. "How were you able to?"

"A model One, the Cavil that we learned is boxed in the Hub in your universe. He had a change of heart. He gave me all the access codes."

Now parallel Sharon was shocked. "A ONE DID THAT!?"

Sharon nodded. "Yes. And not long ago, he died giving his life for D'Anna. And Boomer died protecting the old man."

Parallel Sharon could not believe it. A small change in the past and that universe was so much different.

Sharon needed to know something. "How's Hera?"

"Hera? Who's that?" Both parallel Helo and parallel Sharon asked.

"You never got pregnant?" Sharon asked, thinking that this was another difference.

"She died. Premature birth and complications." Parallel Sharon barely answered. she did not want to be reminded of that. "Hera? You mean in your universe, she is alive?"

Parallel Helo also needed to know. "Is she alive? A girl?"

Sharon knew that she stepped into it now. "Yes, she is alive. The medical equipment on this ship allowed me to carry her to term. She is in the daycare on New Kobol."

Parallel Sharon broke into tears. This is so unfair! Why did she loose her daughter, but in that universe, she was alive! Why!?

Unknown to them, Laura was listening to the conversation. Se turned to Tory. "Tory, can youhelp me dig up some old files I had put away."

"Sure, What for?"

"A plan I had back then when we were still on the run with no knowledge of all of this. I wanted to solve the issue with Sharon's pregnancy. I think my equal in this universe was forced to do it."

Realizing that this might be a cloak and dagger mission the president once planned, she had to ask." Should we not tell them?"

Laura shook her head. "Not until we know if my counterpart really did do it. No point to accuse anyone of anything until we know for sure."

Parallel universe, deep space, Kobol outpostship, 2 days later

The preparations for the liberation was well underway. With the experience from their counterparts, the parallel Colonials had an easy time to learn the basics of the alien tech. They did, however, had reservations working with Cylons. Even more so, when they learned that they had a Cylon of their universe in their holding cells. Parallel Caprica was still having a hard time grasping the truth, bu was getting around. During all of this, D'Anna and her Caprica returned to New Caprica. Who better to replace parallel Caprica then Caprica. It also improved their infiltration options. But D'Anna was, before they left for their final mission before the attack, asked by the president for a personal mission. Once she was told what that mission was, D'Anna was a bit pissed that Laura once had planned such a deceit, but understood it, to a degree. They would have a chat about this, later. To find this universes Hera was now also on her to do list.

Parallel Apollo, admiral Adama and all those compatible with the chairs, went thru the procedure, even if not entirely convinced of the benefits... until they got over the headache.

Parallel Apollo was currently going thru the training he was receiving from himself on how to handle the Discovery. "This really does handle differently from the Pegasus... or a Viper."

"You'll get used to it. Believe me. I had to." Apollo remarked as he saw the discomfort from his counterpart.

As the training continued with the parallel Colonials with the drills Apollo had them go thur, parallel Apollo had to ask. "You and Dee really are expecting?"

"That so surprising? She was always more the motherly figure and since we had the luxury of a planet to live on... well one and then another one... you get it. And the president did say that her number can only go up one way."

"I guess if this goes well, maybe..."

"Keep your concentration here and now. What if's with Dee can wait for later. Besides, my dad still wants to one day travel to the big Kobol galaxy to fulfill the Builders whish."

Parallel Apollo sighted. "And we are even further away from that then you."

In another part of the outpostship, both Dee's were having a walk. Parallel Dee was rubbing her counterpart on her belly.

"This is so weird." Dee said. "Never thought that I would be touching myself like that... wait! That sounded even weirder!"

"I agree." Parallel Dee reacted and stopped rubbing her. "So, have you thought of any names?"

"Well, for boys, it's easy. Zak and Bill. For girls, it's going to be a bit more tricky."

"You still have time. At least once this is over, maybe I can get Lee's now fat ass into gear."

"I understood why my Lee got a bit... you know, wider, but yours? You never had a chance to really relax, always on the run?"

"Who knows why. But we both have the same idea. They need to lose weight, right?"

"Definitely. I already have Carl on his case having him work out more."

In yet another part, both Sharon's and Helo's were moving to the ring room. They were called there minutes ago, but were not told as to why they were needed. Parallel Sharon and Helo had spent time on the other side of the looking glass with the other Hera. That both saddened them as well as make them somewhat optimistic again.

As of now, most civilians were already moved to New Kobol via the ring, since there they could help prepare the planet and city for the others. Of course, the military personnel, who would be entrusted to use this ship, once their parallel self's left, was enduring Baltars 'teaching's.

The one thing that worried the admiral, was the aliens that he was told about from the Colonials from the other side. The fact that the Lords were parasites, the real Earth was the birthplace of humanity and the 13th Earth was a dead world was a shock anyway, but destructive, almost unstoppable aliens that did not care who they killed, Cylon or human, made him really worry. He was calmed down, when Apollo assured him that they found the scout craft the Cavils in their universe used to start the chain reaction that began their conflict with the aliens. If all went well, they should remain on ice in this universe.

In the ring room, both Sharon's and Helo's arrived and saw that D'Anna and Caprica had returned from their last infiltration mission.

"So, everything set?" The admiral asked.

"D'Anna just nodded. "Yes, we put an overwrite in all security systems, our Centurions have taken positions after we deactivated several of their Centurions, your people contacted the resistance and are going to coordinate everything. How is your Caprica doing?"

"She is cooperation as well. So that should make things easier." Tigh responded.

"Right, that leaves us with just one small thing." D'Anna smiled as she looked at Caprica. She turned around, revealing a small baby in her hands.

"I think that this belongs to you?" She handed her over to parallel Sharon.

"Hera?" Both parallel Sharon and Helo asked. "How? Why was she on New Caprica?"

Laura knew that her time for an explanation had come. She sighted. This will be a mess. "I think I can explain, since I had a similar plan in our universe."

Milky way galaxy, New Terra, high orbit, same time

The Excalibur task force, consisting of the Excalibur, 4 304's 4 305's and 2 401's, was preparing for departure. Their destination, a hidden Lucian base. Daniel had gone thru the clues on the Clava tesara infinitas on Atlantis and the base on the Hoth system. And he still grumbled at the fact that the council really named the system after a Sci-fi movie. He got another clue after comparing both databases. It lead him directly to this new location. Only problem was, as their newest Lucian informant, Varro, informed them, that they already had a base there. So a show of force was needed. Either for the Lucians, or if they were unlucky, Anubis.

On the bridge, admiral Vix was overseeing the final preparations. Next to him was colonel Fisher. He and his team were now reassigned here and the Wraith finally got her entire staff of officers, captain included. Fisher and his team would also be needed if an assault on the planet would be needed.

Daniel and Valla arrived at the ridge and were greeted by Fisher. "Doctor, you ready?"

"Yes. Just hope we are not on a wild goose chase."

"Aw, cheer up, darling. If nothing else, you get to humiliate someone. yourself or the Lucians."

"Valla. Please, for god's sake, go stand in that corner." Daniel half ordered her, and the other half, knowing that she ignores orders, pleaded for her to move there. Into the corner, where 2 guards were already watching Varro, who was going along as an 'consultant'. Better helping someone who treats you good and does not threaten you with daily deaths or beatings, like it was in the Lucian alliance, Varro thought.

"Sir, all stations are reporting ready." The helmsman reported.

"Good. Set a course for PX4-331. Engage." Vix ordered.

The fleet entered hyperspace.

This chapter was cut short, because I will do the rest in the next part, it was dragging for too long, even for my taste.