Humanities Chance

by Cornelius Scipio

The crew of SDF-1 escape from the Zentraedi, but end up a little farther than expected. Only to land in the backyard of another conflict just beginning.

4. Chapter 4

Six days since SDF-1's mis Hyperspace-Fold

Out in the space between the home stars, the Battlestar Titan was on patrol between Helios Alpha and Beta of the Colonial home system for the last three weeks. On a mission from section five of the Colonial military, investigating some anomalous jump signals recently detected, along with the possible signs of pirates in the area.

Sitting in his stateroom, the commander of the Titan, Commander George Ablitano was drinking some coffee while going over the daily situational reports of his command. Looking over the engineering reports, he tallies up another thing that needs priority to work on for the night orders during the break in flight operations. The next one from the CAG riled him up about his ships current situation, The ship should be in the yards getting the new upgrades instead of patrolling in the middle of bum-frak nowhere, while I'm reading these reports for another failure with the port bay launchers. Damn that woman, she had to go and pull rank to get her ship upgraded. Sighing and reaching for his phone to call up the CAG and get an explanation and updated plan of action as to why his port launchers where down again for the second time this month.

Then the 1MC came online announcing "Commander to CIC." Pushing back, Getting up, and taking one last drink before heading to the CIC, shaking his head and thinking. I swear if it is one more random piece of comet debris on the Dradis, I am going to scream! A month out here patrolling for the source of these random jump signals. With no sign of any wannabe pirates or smugglers, when the best we have found is a few new comets that should be going through Alpha in a few hundred years.

"Attention on Deck!" the Marine on Guard calls out into CIC as the commander walks through the hatch.

Looking around the CIC and noting the watches and how he was proud of his crew in handling their current assignment, he calls out "Carry on everyone. Mr. Peltier, so what did we find this time? Are we going to name this comet after your cat?" Ablitano asks with a smirk on his face.

Unabashed of his comment, Peltier responds, "Sir, actually it's a communiqué from Picon. They report that the deep scope network has detected a burst of light that originated some six hundred SU distant from Zeus about six hours ago. They want us to investigate the cause."

Becoming concerned Ablitano furrows his brow, "Did they mention the possibility of it being Cylons?"

"No sir, but it seemed to be implied."

"Frak! All right then, bring in the patrol vipers and have the CAG send out a Raptor for a quick scan of the area, then have them jump back here. We don't want to be tipping off our hand to whoever this is before we know who it is." The gruff, two meter tall Commander stood in the middle of CIC, looking around at his crew he spoke in his deep, rough voice, "Alright, listen up!" All heads turned towards him as he continues to speak, "We just received a message from command to investigate an unknown light source that appeared recently. Right now, we don't know if it is Pirates that have attacked a deep space research ship or someone that had a mis-jump or something else. I'm hoping it's just someone that had a fault in their jump drive, but we need to prepare for the possibility of it being something much worse." Some of the crew, almost as young as his sister's children visibly gulped. "Now I don't think it's the Cylons, since they haven't been seen in next to forty years. More than likely its some rich frak that mis-plotted his jump in a pleasure yacht, but it's the fleets' job to check out these things so we need to be ready." Taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Now set condition one, have a raptor on deck and ready to launch in five minutes. I want all sections to report ready status to go in ten. Once the raptor reports we'll plan our next course of action. Understood?"

Nods of acknowledgment from those present going around the entirety of CIC. Major Tohms spoke with the Commander, "George, do you think that it is the Cylons? I know that we haven't heard from them in nearly forty years, but you remember the briefing we got from section five before heading out?"

In a hushed tone, Ablitano responds, "I know what they said. They didn't so much say it in plain words, but the way they did not say it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't them. We've been getting a bunch of these ghost sightings from all around the colonies for about the last two years. Moreover, no one has found anything from any of these searches. Damn Adar and his budget cuts are what have prevented us from actually spending the time and resources to find out if it is something to worry about."

"You know that we can go toe to toe with a Basestar, but if this is a fleet we don't stand a chance."

"Then we make sure that we bug out as fast as we can, and at least leave them a bloody nose and get back to Picon to inform the fleet." CDR. Ablitano spoke. "As much as I would like this to be only pirates, though, we might have to accept the possible fact that it might be Cylons." Alexi nodded in agreement.

"Sir, Raptor two-one-six is ready to launch. 'Heartbreak' and 'Small Fry' are in the raptor Commander."

"Thank you Mr. Peltier; Heartbreak, this is Actual, I need you to do a flyby of this object. If you see any trouble, bug out as soon as possible and get back here. You got that?"

"Aye sir. We'll bring back some pretty pictures of some pirates for you sir." Lt. Jack 'Heartbreak' Lebrano replied. Taking off from the launch pad and moving away from the Battlestar, he turns back to Sam "Lets' jump Small".

Raptor 216

"Alright Small Fries, you ready for this frak?" said Heartbreak

Looking up from setting the coordinates in the navigation computer for the anomaly, Samuel 'Small Fries' Hopple looks at his pilot in the front of the Raptor and answers back in dismissal. "Whatever, Heartbreak I hope this is nothing more than some random occurrence of nature's laws having a spasm."

Laughing Heartbreak replied, "Funny guy, hope so, I don't really feel like dealing with pirates or the chance of meeting smugglers. I have a game to get back to." He opened a comm channel to Titan's CIC. "Flight, this is raptor two-one-six ready for launch. We expect to be onsite within five mikes. "

"Heartbreak, this is Actual, I need you to do a flyby of this object. If you see any trouble, bug out as soon as possible and get back here. You got that?"

"Aye sir. We'll bring back some pretty pictures of some pirates for you sir." Jack replied. Taking off from the launch pad and moving away from the Battlestar, he turns back to Sam "Lets' jump Small".

Turning the key for the jump, Raptor two one six disappeared from the area around the starboard flight pod then shortly reappearing within the vicinity of the coordinates of the anomaly. What they saw was what seemed to be a giant asteroid. Giving a small burst of thrust, they slowly began coasting around it; they then started seeing buildings that would be innocuous anywhere in the Colonies. As they looked up from the asteroid into the area of space around, they came upon the scene that surprised and shocked them.

"Holy FRAK! What in the Gods name is that?!" Lebrano shouted as he saw the blue and white object floating above them and the asteroid straight in front of his viewport. Panic beginning to seep into his normally cool persona, "That is in no way in hell a pirate base! Is the camera running? I don't think they've seen us yet."

Looking flabbergasted, a somewhat calmer Hopple stared, he spoke automatically as he gazed at the size and setup these pirates have made in-between the colonies home stars. "Combat camera is running. This thing is huge! It's almost twice the size of a Battlestar, and they have a whole city on that asteroid! How in the Zeus' fraking cock did they manage to make something this huge out here with no one noticing?"

Heartbreak is for once speechless as he looks out at the spectacle in front of him, trying to maneuver the raptor without being seen and as much intelligence gathered before they have to bug out back to Titan. "Small what's the time for us to jump back; command is going to want to send a whole strike-group for these frakkers."

"We got about two more minutes before the drive is ready to go." Small Fry said, then looking back to the scope as he saw three blips beginning to turn their way. Jaw dropping at what he saw, as the tremors of hysteria began to fill in his voice, "Oh, man this is not good, not good at all. Frak! Frak! I have three craft on an intercept course towards us. Looks like they are going to do a flyby on us Heartbr…."

"Get us out of here, you hear. We don't have time to stick around!"

"The drive is not fully charged yet. I've got another 45 seconds to go before we can jump"

Screaming in a near absolute panic to Sam, "Dump it, dump everything into it! I don't care if we blow the jump drive we need to go now!"

Making the needed adjustments to the Raptors controls, Sam gets receives the indication that the all power is now diverted to the drives, in the hopes to speed up their escape back to Titan. "Got it, life, sensors, and thrusters are all dumped into the jump drive. Charging, charging…. Charged, and Jumping!" A bright light, with an after image appears of the raptor going back to the Titan.

Blue squadron on patrol – First squad

"One to two and three, did you guys just see what I saw?"

"Yes, but I can barely believe my eyes, might need to get them checked again. At least we got some footage before they bugged out" Three said.

"Uh…I did, but I do not believe it." Two said, "Better alert the tower, I think that we are going to be having some company shortly one."

"Well it looks like we are not getting back for ramen after our patrol run guys." Groans heard in the squad channel as One switched over to the tower TAC channel. "Tower this is Blue one actual, I've got an update for you on that anomaly you asked for us to check out."

"Go ahead One." The tower responded.

"Tower we arrived on scene and found what appeared to be a bulky fighter. Though, that is not the strange part of it, the thing just performed what look like to be a fold when we started to get close enough."

"Okay, wait! You're telling me that these guys have a fold drive on what looks like a fighter craft?! Holy crap! That's not a good thing! All right Blue here are your new orders, maintain an over watch of the area and get the rest of your squadron over there. I'll call the captain to inform him about this visit. I'll put the rest of first wing on alert, with second wing on five minute alert, with third on standby; expect at least another four squadrons out there shortly."

"Roger that tower. Blue one out." Changing to the squadron channel blue one spoke to everyone, "Blue squad fall on me at these coordinates. We are going to maintain patrol as we are expecting company from the locals soon." The rest of the squadron acknowledged the order and started falling in formation on one. Whilst Orange, Sepia, Brown, and Green arrived in formations around Blue squadron. Continuing a patrol around the SDF-1 ordered the rest of the squadron to continue patrol whilst waiting for the rest of the squadrons to be launched.

SDF-1 Bridge/CATCC/Pri-fly

"Tower this is Blue one actual, I've got an update for you on that anomaly you asked for us to check out."

"Go ahead One." The tower responded.

"Tower we arrived on scene and found what appeared to be a bulky fighter. Though that is not the strange part of it, the thing performed what look like to be a fold when we started to get close enough."

"Okay, wait! You're telling me that these guys have a fold drive on what looks like a fighter craft?! Holy crap! That's not a good thing! All right Blue here are your new orders, maintain an over watch of the area and get the rest of your squadron over there. I'll call the Captain to inform him about this visit. I'll put the rest of first wing on alert, with second wing on five minute alert, with third on standby; expect at least another four squadrons out there shortly."

"Roger that tower. Blue one out."

Changing back to the over-watch comm channel, Senior Chief Apscala turned towards the Air boss. "Sir, we have a situation out at the area we sent Blue squadron to." The Air Boss raised his eyebrow to signify her to continue. "Seems like one of the natives 'folded into' the area behind Macross Island, first squad of Blue managed to get a look at it before it folded out again. We don't know how much they got a look at, but I would think that they got a decent look at least the island and SDF-1 before hand."

"Crap. Get the rest of first wing out there and I'll call up the Captain to inform him. Make sure to get the status preps from the squadrons so we can update our boards senior. Looks like we are going to have a long watch people rotate out as needed for head breaks before the heat turns up." He announced to everyone in the CATCC/Pri-Fly area, and then turning back to the Senior Chief. "Good job on the call Senior, also call up CIC to have them set up general quarters and let them get the civilians into the ships shelters." Seeing her nodding and carrying out her orders, Lt Simmons turns and picks up his phone.

Dialing the number to the Captains' cabin, Jack Simmons prepared to give him the news about their not so unexpected visitor. They were all hoping that they would have some more time to get the ship ready, if not just managing to escape with the locals not noticing they were ever here.

Admiral Gloval still looking at the stars in his hand, he is broken out of his revere by the phone ringing. Picking up and answering, "Cap… Admiral Gloval, go."

Startled by the now Admirals response, the CAG begins the report. "Admiral Sir, we have a confirmed case sir. Blue One spotted a visitor in the area of anomaly he also reported that it seems the locals are be able to perform folds with fighter-sized craft.

"I understand, have the alert fighters scramble and get the secondary wing set to go. We should be expecting them shortly with more of their friends if not some warships. Inform me when complete." With that final note, Gloval made his way out of his ready room and to the bridge.

At her console, CDR Hayes was plotting out further defensive measures for the placements of the two fighter wings, along with further emplacement of the salvaged alien weapons with Dr. Lang, the DCA, and Weapons Officer. When she heard the doors opening from the Captains Ready room, she called out 'Captain on deck!' only to stop mid-salute as she noticed the new shoulder boards on the captains' uniform. "Sir, Is everything alright?"

"Da, it is fine Commander Hayes. Have we issued an order to the civilian government onboard to move the populace to the shelters onboard?"

"Not yet sir, I wanted to confirm with you about the placement order in sending two wings up, maybe we should try a more amicable solution instead of being ready for battle."

"I would normally agree with you Commander, but as you recall from the recent briefing from the linguists, Ms. Porter and Dr. Lang on the language and what little history we have of these people. That they are a more distrustful type of people ever since their war forty years ago against the other humans called the 'Cylons'.

"Understood sir." As the Admiral picks up his, phone to inform the Governor of the new developments. She switches on the ship wide broadcast announcing to all. "Now set condition one throughout the ship, all civilians report to your designated shelters. All military forces report to your duty stations. First, Second wing prepare to launch. Third airwing on ready five, Fourth airwing on ready fifteen." Repeating herself once again as the bridge crew spring into action, the bridge bunnies issuing out orders to their respective sections as the ship buckles down for the possible conflict with the local aliens.

Battlestar Titan

A flash of light appeared near the Battlestar as raptor two-one-six turned toward the ship and shortly afterwards the radio in CIC crackled to life. "Flight this Raptor two-one-six. We need to speak to actual; we have a condition one scenario!"

"This is Actual two-one-six. You are calling a con one correct?"

"Sir yes sir! Coming in for landing right now, we have footage that you need to see right now sir. You are never going to believe what we saw." Heartbreak said.

"XO, have a marine escort for them and have them meet me in my ready room as soon as possible. You too as well, I think that we are all going to want to hear this Alexi."

"Yes sir." Pointing towards the chief of the guard, they head off to the hangar to escort the Raptor crew to the commanders' ready room.

When they landed, a heavy marine escort met both members of the scout raptor and the XO were they were escorted to the Commanders office. Alexi knocked on the door and entered the ready room announcing, "Lt's Hopple and Lebrano reporting as ordered sir."

"Sir, here is the photos of what we found." As Small Fry handed them to Commander Ablitano looked at the photographs. His eyes widen at first seeing the remains of the island and the buildings, then seeing the sheer size of the unknown ship. "How in the colonies did these 'Pirates' manage to build something this large without anyone knowing?" first looking at the two pilots, then continuing to flip through the pictures he comes upon the ones of Blue squadron. "Now this is frakked up. Who would recreate what looks to be craft from the colonies were still trying to get back to space?" Shaking his head, this is giving me a headache he thought. "Right now we have some interference from Alpha, so I'm sending you guys to HQ to deliver this to Admiral Nagala. Inform him that we will be heading to the location in approximately two hours."

The two pilots left the Commanders cabin heading back to report to Picon and Admiral Nagala, looking towards his XO George Ablitano said, "Holy frak Alexis, what type of felcarb did we step into with this crap?" Shaking his head and running a hand through his hair, he continued. "This is some major setup, I don't even think that any pirates could have done this, and it definitely does not look like Cylons. Though they could have changed in the last forty years, but I don't think they could have changed that much."

Alexi spoke up after looking at the pictures again. "I would hope that they are not Cylons. If they are, we are truly in a frakked up situation. Who knows what they would look like nowadays? If this isn't I couldn't think of too many groups that could do pull off something like this?" His CDR. giving him a quizzical look, "Look, only a major corporation could do this with paying off a few members of the ruling council. On the other hand, it could be Ha'la'tha. But, usually this is normally not their style as they tend to be in the background making sure that they get their way."

"Well my friend, let's hope that this is just nothing more than a company that set up an out of the way research post. What they are doing that will be explained when we jump in."

"I hope so, I hope so." Major Alexi Tohms said.

Little did both know that the upcoming events change their outlook in the universe, and have a bigger part in the saving of the human race.

Fifteen minutes later, Raptor 216 in Picon fleet headquarters

After announcing their unexpected presence to fleet control, the two man crew of Raptor two-one-six landed in one of the landing bays closer to central command. When exiting they were meet by a twelve man marine team, and escorted under armed guard straight to Admiral Nagala's office. Reporting as commanded by Titan's commander, and as the situation required by announcing a Condition One alert both lieutenants stood at attention in front of his desk.

Looking at both young officers, Admiral Nagala takes the secured package from Lt. Hopples hand and opens it. Looking at the note from Commander Ablitano, his eyes goes from blasé to surprise, then to concern over reading the report and transcripts of voice traffic. The pictures surprised him by what he sees; first, the massive base then the giant of a ship. He finally speaks up, "So you two were the ones that followed through on the signal detection?" They both nod in mute silence. "You know I am not going to bit your heads off, yet?" smiling at the both of them, heartbreak gulps at the comment not knowing what is coming next.

"What can you tell me about this object and the craft that came after you, before I decide that we need to send half of the fleet out there to stop these frakkers?"

"Sir, uh, I, Sir what we observed was that they appeared to have a full city on the asteroid that almost looked like some island off of Aquarius. When we saw the craft in orbit we made sure the camera was running and started a rapid charge of the jump drive." Explained Lt. Lebrano, adjusting his collar and wondering if it just got hotter in the office or if it was just when he was under armed guard in front of one of the most important and powerful people in the colonies, he went on, "Then Small… Lt. Hopple alerts me of the three fighter craft that were on an intercept course towards us. That's when the drive was finally charged and we jumped out."

"Do you concur with Lt. Lebrano's statement Lt. Hopple?"

"Yes sir I do, I wish I could say something different but its the truth sir."

"Very well, with your commanders' statement and this evidence I'm going to send the Gunstar Omicron and the Battlestar War Maiden out to join the Titan in putting a halt to whoever these people that is out there. In five hours, I'll send another six Battlestars to the anomalies position unless I fleet hears word that your group has managed to handle it. Carry on, and let Commander Ablitano he has my blessing and go with the Gods. Dismissed."

The two lieutenants salute and walk out of his office, no longer escorted they race back to deliver the news to commander Ablitano, and join the attack. Reviewing once again the pictures and information of this mysterious ship, he thinks to himself, At least this is not some Cylon plot to destroy the colonies or something. Issuing the orders for the Gunstar and Battlestar to join Titan, pouring a drink from one of his favorite Ambrosia from Caprica, taking it all in one gulp, he pours another. Admiral Nagala the commander of the Colonial fleet, hoped that he was wrong and that the Cylons did not plant a base in the middle of colonial territory, thereby sending some young men and women to their early deaths.

Battlestars Titan, War Maiden and Gunstar Omicron two hours later ready to jump to SDF-1

When War Maiden and Omicron jumped in to Titans position to say that Commander Ablitano was disappointed would be a misnomer. True he was disappointed that he didn't receive a larger force to handle the pirates, but with the addition of a second Battlestars vipers and the main guns of a Gunstar. Many would surrender to the show of force.

Final preparations were made, and agreed upon by the commanders of all three ships in agreement of how they would surround the pirate base. Whilst the final countdown for their operation began Ablitano made one final change to the plan; it was to send out six raptors with ECCM packages and long-range missiles to blind the pirates Dradis, and cover any escaping craft paths. Sending the Raptors in thirty seconds before the ships jumped in would cause confusion for the pirates giving them time to launch vipers to take care of how many of the strange fighter craft that they had.

As the jump clock counted down the crews of the three ships experienced some form of anxiety and nervousness. Viper pilots, some of whom have never flown in battle showed their dread in the useless chatter, while others paced back and forth in their briefing rooms, hoping that they would not have to die this day.

Reaching thirty seconds on the countdown clock the ECCM Raptors jump into the vicinity of the mysterious ship. The sight they saw, the giant blue and white ship that looked like nothing ever made in the Colonies, astonished these crews. Then, as their Dradis start picking up the unbelievable amount of small craft orbiting the unknown ship. Realizing they were woefully underprepared for this dance when the numbers continue to rise first a hundred, then two, and at last causing the Dradis to err out when the number surpasses its tracking ability. Too stunned to react, they forget to setup the ECCM blanking originally planned to use in blinding the crew of SDF-1. The three ships of the colonial fleet jump in thirty seconds later, and at that time, no fewer than eighteen Valkyries surrounded the six raptors.

The three commanders pause in shock at the display of craft, as that both Battlestars have only a hundred and forty Vipers among the two of them. Still believing they could make the pirates stand down Commander Ablitano orders the pirate ship to stand down and be boarded due to illegal operations or be prepared to be fired upon. Another shock to the colonials systems was when the unknown ship launched another three hundred fighter craft as a defensive measure.

The colonials and SDF-1 were in a tense standoff, both had launched their fighters who squared off with each other. SDF-1 having a numerical advantage in fighters, while the colonials doubted that anything as large as the SDF-1 could have armor thick enough to withstand an alpha strike from all three.

Ablitano going over the wireless once again and ordering the giant of a ship to heave to and be prepared to be boarded due to illegal operations. Luckily, by this time Dr. Lang, ENS. Porter and some of the language professors from the college on Macross had managed compiled an passible real time voice translation software that was used to respond back to them. It wasn't perfect as no language is the first few times you speak it, but it at least managed to stave off the possibility of a fight between the two.

Admiral Gloval responded back to Commander Ablitano in his cool formal manner, which halted the furtherance of hostilities. "Commander Ablitano, this is Admiral Gloval of the U.N. Space Ship SDF-1. We are not pirates and will not comply with your order of standing down. We are here by an accident of our FTL drive and mean no harm. Recall your fighter craft and we will do the same."

In Titan's CIC Ablitano heard the wireless receive the fractured message. "Ablitano command of. SDF-won of UN space this is Gloval Admiral. We of ship pirate's non-solo. Non complicit with orders of down standing. Accident of drive, harm not meant. Do same fighter craft recall."

Looking at his XO in confusion from the message he says, "What in the Gods name is this frak! This sounds like a kid trying to speak instead of some pirate. Anyone have an idea of what they mean?"

"George there is the possibility that they are truly are alien creatures that haven't a clue how to speak our language. So far it sounds to me that they are trying to protect themselves and they might recall their fighters if we recall ours."

"Ok, I can believe that it might be possible. But real aliens? That's the stuff of science fiction, just like lasers and talking animals. That is ju…" He's interrupted again by another message from the alien ship.

"Command of Titan Ablitano, we mean harm not. Respond please, something happen before wrong."

"Maybe they are the supposed 'Thirteenth tribe'."

Taking a second before responding he mouths 'Yeah right, Thirteenth tribe' back to his XO as he picks up the handheld receiver. "This is Commander George Ablitano of the Titan; I will order the recall of my Vipers, except my alert wing if you will do the same."

The crew of SDF-1 listening to the response from Titan all visibly relaxed as they heard the requirement for stand-down. Looking towards the Admiral for permission to recall the fighters, he gives a nearly imperceptible nod to Lisa. "All squadrons this is SDF-1, all squadrons except Skull return to the ship. I say again, all squadrons except Skull return to the ship. We have reached a temporary agreement with the aliens."

"Commander prepare a video channel to converse with the Titan's CO, hopefully we can get some amicable agreement if we can see face to face.

Unfortunately, the colonial ships were unable to use video transmissions, they continued to where they were at a point, though limited in conversation most thing that were discussed without any major confusion.

The three commanders almost forgot the time limit set by Admiral Nagala, until Commander Hayes brought up the question of that these three ships were the sum of their fleet or there was more. Ablitano sent back the response raptor back to fleet headquarters with the needed stand-down codes, thereby preventing an attack with on the peoples of SDF-1 by more forces of the Colonial military.

Once a further working relationship between the two cultures was established, an exchange of information, first including general histories of both peoples and some basic scientific principles were exchanged. One of the key points exchanged was the theory of the jump drive for the colonies, though limited in the distance that the Hyperspace-Fold drive could achieve. It had the advantage of being nowhere as large and achieving a point-to-point transfer within their range, with a lower power per mass requirement.

Admiral Gloval and Dr. Lang both saw and advantage in the possibility of putting one on the Valkyries. With the possibility of giving the Valkyries, a point-to-point jump capability allowing for rapid strike capabilities against enemy forces. It would take some time, but Dr. Lang assured the Admiral that it would be possible and that they could even possibly upgrade the range with some specialized computing, as well as increasing the durability of the drives themselves. The exchange was not one way as a few things that the Earthers' did surprised the colonials, such as man portable lasers, and powered suits as well as when they found out that the Earth humans had only really been in space for the last forty odd years. Accomplishing things at a faster pace than the Colonies had in the last two thousand years, with a ferocity that was surprising and almost very scary.

A delegation selected among the command staff of SDF-1 with the Governor of the former island and Commander Ablitano went to meet with the Colonial President Adar, high-ranking members of the cabinet and the Admiralty to further open relations and possibly request assistance for the crew of the ship with food stocks and select materials needed for repairs.

The first few pleasantries exchanged between the two groups along with introductions all around. When Admiral Corman asked which of the colonies they descended from, Dr. Lang answered that they were not from this area of space and that currently they were lost. The automatic response to SDF-1's crew was that everyone was from the Twelve Colonies, and that there was no other life in the galaxy so they must obviously be from one of the colonies. Both Commander Hayes and Dr. Lang laughed at thought that the universe was devoid of life, pointing out that they were proof of life being from the planet Earth. Every colonials jaw dropped when that statement was heard, learning that the ship and crew were from Earth, something that many of those in the conference room once held in belief as a myth.

The priest went on to explain that all humans were descended from those originally from the planet Kobol and should worship the Gods of Kobol as is required, unless they garner the wrath of those gods; Dr. Lang said that they were foolish to believe an outlandish statement at least one such as that without irrefutable proof. Then he proceeded to show them evidence from the fossil record and evidence of humanity evolving on Earth for some two million years. Not just arriving some four thousand as the divergence of the thirteenth tribe from the rest were told in the Sacred scrolls scripture as well as some of the ruins of past civilizations were older than the history of the colonies. He did acquiesce that their might have been a thirteenth tribe that did depart Kobol in the past, but there was no record of any advance culture every arriving on Earth.

Angered by his statements, some of the more religious members of the cabinet demanded that he be tried and hung for insulting the true knowledge of the Sacred Scrolls of Kobol. Then as well that the people of SDF-1 submit to rule of the colonies, as it was the right to rejoin their brothers and sisters to follow the wiser rule of the colonies. Commander Hayes, the Governor and Dr. Lang scoffed at such a suggestion. This was something that no one on Earth would submit to; the peoples of Earth would fight tooth and nail against anyone that would try to force their will upon them. Then the Governor proceeded to tell them if they didn't pull their collective heads out of each other's' asses and actually stop spewing this drivel and start thinking. When in fact, the reality and truth of what was true, was staring at them in their face; they would leave and continue repairs until they could effectively leave the star systems of the Colonies, and would destroy anyone that so much as tried to push their will or force themselves upon them.

When they heard this, both Commander Hayes and Admirals Nagala and Corman interceded to prevent the possibility of hostilities breaking out. With the Admirals telling all to quiet down, take a moment to cool off and actually discuss the practical reasons both parties were here. The humans from Earth asking for assistance in making effective repairs to their ship with the possibility to obtain accurate star charts of their current position in space. Without those two things, they could not leave. President Adar asked, "Why should we give you those things when you will not submit to my authority as president of the colonies and all humanity?"

The Governor staring incredulity at him, and once again begin getting visibly angry at the sheer audacity of President Adar. He was about to retort to the stupidity of his statement when CDR. Hayes grabbed his hand and began to coolly respond to the question. "Mr. President, we did not mean to intrude upon your territory and cause an incident for you or your people. However, now we ask of your people to assist us in departing without causing further troubles for you. If you would graciously grant us the needed supplies and assistance to speed up our repairs we will gladly instruct your peoples in the few things that we can show examples of as well as some examples of technology for your gracious help."

Adar always the opportunist, rubbing his chin in thought, was beginning to like the idea of getting his hands on some of the interesting technology from Earth. With a little proof of their existence, he could solidify the voting blocs and get elected once again to the presidency. At last, he spoke up, "Alright, I will agree to assisting you with the things that you need to leave the colonies. Before you leave here you'll have the most current star charts. Nevertheless, I want the things that you promised prior to you getting back to your ship. If not, no deal with anything else, understood?" Smiling as if he was the cat with the canary caught in his paws.

Lisa gave both the Governor and Dr. Lang a look that they would abide by this, even though it was not the ideal situation, it would still allow them to begin their journey home. That compromise was that the colonies would give all the star charts that they had whilst the SDF-1 would give a Battleoid, one Valkyrie, and examples of the laser weapon systems. Those present could not believe that a singular planet as primitive as Earth could make them prior to the colonies who were experimenting on the concept for the last hundred years. The meeting concluded with the agreement and delivery of the star charts needed by SDF-1.

On the trip back up to orbit they saw the Omicron pulling into orbit, with what was expected to be the promised examples of Earth technology. Both Lisa and Dr. Lang opened the star charts on the provided computron tablet. Searching for the closest reference pulsar to the colonies, Dr. Lang first frowned, and then searched for the next one and another; disappointment grew when he saw the period and rotational frequency of each of them against the ones that were known from earth and the explorer missions. He was able to recognize two pulsars from their own charts. Taking a little bit longer to understand the data, Lisa showed the same look of disappointment as well. The Governor not really understanding why they were looking disappointed when they should be happy to have their information and to soon receive the needed material and help asked why they were so concerned.

Dr. Lang then proceeded to explain in as simplistic a term that he could understand. "There are a few pulsars that we recognized from this data." The questioning look the doctor was given; he went on, "Each pulsar gives out a radio burst in certain frequencies, though you have to have one of the poles pointed in your direction to use as a navigational reference. The ones that we have on this list are ones that we have never seen before. What we do have is the core of the Milky Way and other distant pulsars and galaxy cores along with a few that might match what we do know, but most are unknown in this data gained from the Colonials. This shows that at least we are still in the Milky Way, but we are somewhere on the other side where we do not have any current information."

"Then why can't we fold back to earth then?"

"The reason is that we do not have enough reliable data, and the last thing you want to do is jump across the galactic core. Even though we did that to get here, it is not a safe thing to do as everything is moving far faster than the outer arms of the galaxy." Sighing as he saw the blank look on the Governors face, he continued. "We could end up in a black hole or something else, so we will have to take the slow route until we can find more references. The closer to home we get the more accurate of a fold we can make. Is that clear enough for you Governor?" With a nod from him, Dr. Lang went on to contemplate other things that they would need resolved if they were ever to leave and return home safely. One big question that his mind could not comprehend was the how and why there were humans here, along with how the SDF-1 managed to get here without destroying itself, was something that he and many a scientist would ponder for years to come.

The two repair yard ships came out to assist the SDF-1 with repairs and the requested materials after the colonial government was satisfied with the equipment transferred. Along with the Battlestar Titan to remain on station, with the requirement to keep a mindful eye on the new visitors providing security to the techs in case something wrong was to happen.

Repairs to the main power runs going to the Fold drive and secondary power runs from the Fusion and Protoculture reactors were made with additional protective measures. However without enough of the rare elements that made the original power converters and casing for the Fold units they were going to be limited in range for fold without accurate positioning. Other supplies and repairs were made as well. Foodstuffs, medicines, construction materials and at last armor plating was brought and stored to ensure a hopefully uneventful journey back towards Earth.