Chapter 4

Battlestar Valkyrie, CO's quarters, Four jumps from Tau Ceti

Adama carefully laid his battered model ship onto its old shelf in his quarters. He'd patched it up significantly after tearing it apart with his bare hands in grief.

He set the case down out of sight and picked up a third suitcase of personal belongings. Out came compasses and lamps, old items with wood trimming and copper highlights. He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Enter,"

It was Admiral Greer. "Bill, we have a problem." he said seriously.

"Only one?" Adama was also serious, even though he didn't sound it.

"Bill, this is serious. We were looking over some Terran starcharts brought over from the Shackleton. I recognized..." Greer took a chart from his briefcase and laid it on Adama's desk, "...one of the inhabitable star systems near to Tau Ceti, after some rearranging to sync their charts with ours. We believe this system, Epsilon Eridani, to be the system in which lies the Cylon Homeworld. We've been there already. Our navigation computers confirm it."

"Are you sure it's Eridani?" Adama said. "There's a lot of scribbles on this chart."

"We had a few, er, difficulties working with the index." said Greer, somewhat embarrassed. "We neglected to reorient the index with the charts, and came up with a different label each time. We originally thought it was Gamma Aquile, then Wolf 359, even our own Sun. We had to analyze a chart of each system and figure it out without any index. We're sure it's Epsilon Eridani."

"So what do we do about? There are already Terrans here. They could run into a Cylon patrol."

"We're lucky they didn't run into the godsdamned planet itself. It's closer to Earth than Tau Ceti is. I still can't think for the life of me why they're out here in the first place."

Adama stood up to get himself a glass of water. "We'll continue on course, but we should reset all encryption keys and limit transmissions to essential only. No unauthorized radio transmissions."

"That's fine for us, but what about Earth? Imagine all the radio they must-"

"They've survived this long." said Adama. "I don't know how, but they've gone unnoticed."

"Looks like the lack of FTL-capability has saved Earth." said Greer.

"Looks like it," Adama nodded. "Or they could know we're here already. May explain why we haven't seem them for a while."

Battlestar Galactica, Three jumps from Tau Ceti

Kara Thrace stood and stared at herself, next to Kat. It was nothing short of eerie, standing here and looking at her picture on a wall filled with so many dead. And all she could do was look at it.

They'd really thought I'd been dead.

Of course they did. She hadn't gone on holiday.

She reached out with one hand and grabbed the photograph. How many people had wished that one of their photos might be taken down? Thousands. Tens of thousands. There wasn't anyone in the fleet who hadn't lost somebody.

The shadow of her outstretched arm danced in the candlelight from one of the altars.

The photo was stuck well to the wall. She yanked it off and almost tore it. And underneath it was another photo. And underneath that there was probably another one.

She put the photo in her pocket, and turned to the left. There were so many loose ends to tie up. She wouldn't be able to talk to Apollo for a while, not now that he was on the Spitfire.

She also needed to find some new quarters.

She reached the quartermaster's office in five minutes after meandering through the corridors of the ship. She wasn't the only one, though. Strangely enough the man wasn't in a Colonial uniform.

"Who are you?" she asked him when he finished.

"Major Eric Schindler, Nasa transport starship Shackleton."

"Nasa? You're from Earth?"

Schindler seemed surprised. "You recognize it?"

"I spent a few weeks on Earth after I crashed my Viper there. I was in Canada, but I met with the ambassador to your country."

"I don't remember anything about something like that. Although with the starships you Colonials have you could have gone and done it twice in the time it took me to get halfway to Tau Ceti."

"I don't recall hearing about any starships." Thrace said. "Of course you might have left before then."

"This may sound strange to you, but what was the last Stanley Cup champion? You were in Canada, you might have seen something in the papers."

"Stanley Cup? What's that, baseball?"

"No, hockey."

"Hmm." Thrace thought for a second. "Are the Kingston Maurauders a team? They weren't champions, but there was a game."

Schindler looked completely surprised. "They folded two years before I left. The only lasted a decade. What was the year?"

"I don't remember." Thrace shrugged "I just saw that they won a game."

"Do you know the name of the President of the United States?"

"President Gerard."

"I'm sorry, miss, but President Gerard had completed his second term four months before I launched. And that was at least three decades ago.

Strikestar Spitfire, Two jumps from Tau Ceti

"Spin up FTL drives one and two," ordered Lee Adama.

"Yes, sir," Subharov snapped. She relayed the orders quickly, and snapped back to attention, unmoving.

"Set jump coordinates and lock them into the main computer."

"Yes, sir," Again, the charm of a snapping turtle. She was keeping a lid on her feelings, but not trying very hard.

"Major Subharov, please keep your head in the game here. Now is not the time for petty bickering."

Subharov visibly resisted the urge to say something more colourful. "I wasn't aware that there was any."

"You've been on my case ever since I came aboard. What is your problem?"

"I thought I made that clear, sir." She stared directly at him. "Frankly, commander, you're in my way."

"I get that. But save it for off-duty." Apollo looked up at the DRADIS screen. "Two minutes to jump."

"Commander, I would like to request a transfer."

Now of all times? "There are no other command posts," Apollo said. "You'd be lower than XO there."

"It's not just that. I don't believe in your ability to command this ship."

"And why is that? What have I done wrong so far?" Damn this major was irritating.

"It's not what I've seen, it's your record. Isn't it true that you were removed from service before this post? And how long before you fly this ship into something too?"

"Those were extenuating circumstances." Apollo growled. The loss of Pegasus had been hard on the whole fleet.

"I've submitted my official request to your mailbox." Subharov said.

"I understand your reasoning," said Apollo. "Request denied." He turned to the 3.I.C. "Jump."

Battlestar Agrippa, One jump from Tau Ceti

"Get me the Valkyrie." Greer ordered. "Ship to ship. And get Admiral Adama on the other end."

"Aye, sir." said Commander Ramius. After the channel was opened, Ramius saw the signal from the comm officer. "You're on, Admiral."

"Adama, are you on?" Greer asked.

"I'm here, Admiral. What's the plan?"

"Only one ship should jump in." Greer said. "That much is a given. Major Schindler says that the Activity is heavily armed. It would be unwise to jump the whole fleet in."

"One of the warships should jump in. I think the Valkyrie would be a good choice. Anything larger might be to intimidating."

"My thoughts exactly. When they've been warned and have stood down, send a Raptor back. Then the fleet will follow you. And Adama... Watch yourself. Activity's got nukes. Make no hostile moves under any circumstances."

"Understood. Am starting jump calculations. Valkyrie actual out."

Greer put the phone back in the holder. "Signal all ships to hold position. Spread the battlegroup into an escort formation."

Ever since the first jump, things seemed to have moved at the speed of light. They had been close to Tau Ceti when they found the Shackleton. With thirty minutes between each jump, the fleet had travelled the distance in less than two days. And in an hour, they could set foot on solid ground for the first time in years...

USS Activity, In Orbit of Tau Ceti II (Bajor)

Naslund floated out of the excersise room covered in sweat. One problem with space travel was that even with exercise muscles atrophied and weakened. Every member of the crew had to make sure they spent at least three days on the surface, to strengthen muscles that hadn't been used for forty years. If someone spent too long in space, they would never again be able to visit the surface of a planet. The gravity would kill them outright.

"How are things?" he asked as he entered the command deck, wiping his neck with a towel.

"Noisy." said Emmerson. "We've got at least two shuttlecraft making runs now, and the site has been cordoned off. Nothing should get through without us knowing it."

"That's good. Where are the shuttles now?"

"In orbit. They're about to dock with us. I'm waiting for their signal." Emmerson looked out of the observation dome at the planet. "Looks barren, doesn't it? It's still strangely beautiful."

"Almost perfect conditions for-" Naslund was interrupted by a beeping, but noticed first the dead silence on the radio. "Where are the shuttles?"

Emmerson looked at the radar. "Holy shit! Action stations! All hands to action stations!"

The two shuttles were still there, but so was another contact, as big as the Activity herself. Now the airwaves were full of chatter, mostly "Where the hell did that come from?" and "Taking evasive action!"

"Where did it come from?" Naslund asked. "I could swear that wasn't there a second ago."

"It wasn't. And the logs confirm it. It's like it just dropped out of the sky!" Emmerson said over the alarm klaxon. "Missiles and lasers are powered up. Computers are tied in. We're ready. Orienting aft battery."

"Where is it?" Naslund said, trying to find the ship in the observation dome. "Do you think it's... Could it really..."

"Extraterrestrials? Must be. Earth doesn't have that kind of technology."

"Not yet, at least." Naslund said. "Maybe they fixed what went wrong in the Experiment."

"Unidentified ship, this is the USS Activity. If you can understand this, keep your distance. Please respond."

"You don't seriously expect to get a response, do you? What are the odds that they understand English?" said Naslund.

"USS Activity, this is the battlestar Valkyrie. Stand down your weapons, we mean you no harm."

"Well, there you go!" Emmerson said, smug with himself. "Funny accent, but English. Must be from Earth."

"Oh, boy. We'll never hear the end of this." Naslund shook his head. "Well, answer them!"

"Right. Uh, battlestar Valkyrie, this is Activity. State your intentions."

"Activity, request permission to enter orbit."

"Proceed slowly. Take position off our port bow." said Emmerson. "That way if they make a move we waste them." He replayed the voice in his head. "Russians?"

Naslund shook his head. "Wrong accent. And no, they're not Chinese either. And they have no recognition codes, so they can't be Allied. No other country has starships, let alone the capacity to develop FTL."

"We should be able to see it now..." Emmerson said. And he was right. He could see it. "Good God!"

The ship was nothing short of majestic. Two pods flanked a main hull, very neat and clean. It was completely sheathed in sheet metal, with no scaffolding or compartments. It was a polar opposite from the gangly Activity. It glided neatly into orbit, the thrusters slowing it down and settling it into a stable orbit ahead of the Activity.

"Activity, this is Valkyrie. Would you like to come on board, or the other way around?"

"I have got to get over there!" Naslund said.

"Aren't you rushing into things a bit? They popped into orbit and you're ready to go over there, unarmed and alone?"

"Hey, it's me!" grinned Naslund. "And besides, why are you being so protective? You're second in command here."

"Hardy har har." said Emmerson as Naslund ducked below.

Tau Ceti II

Corporal Patterson took a bite out of his apple. It didn't taste like much, considering it had just been rehydrated after forty years of travel, but it was more for nutritional value, and didn't do much to fill his stomach. He would kill to get fresh fruit, but on this planet they still had to make sure what was here was edible.

The camp that had been set up around the site was slowly growing in size and complexity. An arms store was complete, as were a rudimentary barracks, mess, and shower system drawing from a nearby stream. The water was good old dihydrogen oxide, and once purified tasted just like water back home (he had half expected something more exotic, but water's water).

On the other side of the stream was the site, cordoned off. And at the centre of the site, the reason they'd come.

"Patterson!" shouted a private, Lockwood, as he came out of the barracks tent into the bright sunlight. He shaded his eyes until they adjusted to the bright light, then walked over to join Patterson. "Any movement?"

"Not during the day." Patterson said. "I might've heard something in the night, but I didn't run into anything."

"We found some footprints up the way. They might belong to something that came through before we got here."

"Then again it might be a predator that's indigenous to Tau Ceti." said Patterson.

"Now there's a cheerful thought," said Lockwood dryly.

"Yep." Patterson scratched his head. "When's the mess open? I'm getting hungry."

"Not for another thirty minutes." Time on Tau Ceti was another problem their bodies had had to adjust to. The day had 22 hours instead of 24, so their watches were all custom made.

"Hey, you two! Have you heard?" came a shout from the camp. A man ran out from the command tent, clearly excited about something."

"What's his problem?" Patterson mumbled.

The man, another corporal, came bounding up. "A starship just appeared in orbit ten minutes ago."

"What do you mean, appeared?" Lockwood asked.

"It's got some kind of FTL drive. They just snapped into orbit, like that!" he snapped his fingers to illustrate the point. "The top brass on the ship are going to have a little powow before deciding what to do."

Patterson groaned. "Just what we needed. More problems." He looked back at the anomaly in the middle of the sensor cordon. "Just great."

I hope the voyage to Tau Ceti didn't move to quickly. Naturally the Colonial Fleet would be eagar to get to Earth as fast as possible, but things can move too fast if I'm not careful.