Sorry for the massive delay, the school where I work has lost a teacher so now I have to teach two subjects and struggle to find the time or energy to write.

I'll keep plugging away as best I can but I don't expect to finish Chapter 3 till the end of the month at best.

2.

"Hey, I told you it would be strange!" said Starbuck as Adama stared at her in either disbelief or complete denial. "I just need to find the bridge. I hope he wasn't killed by the Cylons."

Adama stared at her for a long time as he digested all that she'd just told him. "After hearing a story like that, I wouldn't believe a word that they'd said and have the person in question sent for a full physiological evaluation."

"So what about me?"

Adama stood and turned to face the brig door. "I still think you could do with seeing a shrink," he turned back to face her, the twinkle in his eyes evidence enough that he was considering it even as he gave her one of his fatherly smiles that warmed her heart. "But, I'm inclined to believe you."

Starbuck sighed in relief that the one person she needed to believe her did. "So what now?" she asked as he walked over to the small table near the brig door.

"Now, we take you to meet the bridge." he said as he opened her cell-door.

Starbuck stared at him in shock and relief. "He's here?"

Adama gave her a slight nod as they turned to exit the brig. "If I'm following all this correctly then yes, he's here and I know who HE is."

Orion stumbled out of the Raptor, barely avoiding the roof, and slid down onto the deck.

"Easy there, don't want that suit to rip." said Apollo as he grabbed hold of Orion's arm to slow his descent.

Orion nodded his thanks as the pilot exited the Raptor. "Everything okay Apollo?"

"Yeah, we're fine Athena, thanks."

Orion turned and looked up at the small Asian-looking woman, who had just piloted the Raptor, as she removed her helmet. "Athena, God of Wisdom?"

Athena smiled at Orion, "Goddess actually, nice to meet you." Orion shook her hand and gave her a quizzical look.

He waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke to Apollo. "She seems a lot stronger than she looks."

Apollo smiled slightly as he answered. "Yeah, there's more to her than meets the eye." He didn't say anything more and Orion filed it away, hoping he could bring it up at a later time.

Roslin waited anxiously in the conference room. After Starbuck had told her story, Roslin had agreed with Adama on who the bridge was most likely to be.

She looked down at the notes in her hand, one was a copy of the text that the Terran pilot, Dragon, had brought with him, and the other was a note from Apollo about the Terran fighters of Artemis and Orion. She remembered the prophecy about the serpents numbered two and ten and the dying leader who would show the way to Earth and yet not live to reach it.

She clutched her breast as she thought that once more she was the destined leader, though Adama was having none of it. She suspected he'd move the heavens if he could to make sure she'd live to see Earth, but she was not worried. As long as the survivors made it, that was all that mattered.

She glanced over at Tory who seemed lost in her own thoughts. "You ok?"

Tory snapped out of her trance and looked at the President. "Yeah, just thinking about the outbreak in the landing bay, latest reports say that almost all the pilots and deck crew are showing signs of the disease." She handed the report to Roslin, while taking a second to glance at the notes Roslin already had. "We've now lost four pilots and six members of the deck crew."

"Plus, this would be the perfect time for a Cylon attack," remarked Roslin. "We could only launch what. One squadron of Vipers?"

"True, but the Cylons don't know that," said Tory a little self-consciously. "Besides, I'm sure they're busy trying to recover from the battle. They took a bad beating when they expected to destroy us easily."

Roslin sighed slightly. "True enough but what happens next time? I don't think we'll be getting any more help until we reach Earth and even then, if their fleet is not ready for the Cylons we could be witnessing another massacre."

"At this point, we must have faith that the Terrans will be ready." Roslin looked up at her aide and searched her face for something. "Madame President?"

Roslin shook her head softly as she turned back to her reports. "Nothing Tory, just curious where your new found faith has come from."

"I have faith in you and the Admiral ma'am. That's all the faith I need."

Roslin smiled at her and looked up at the door. "We'll find out soon enough if Earth is ready or if your faith has been misplaced."

Helo saluted as Adama walked on to the bridge.

"Report." said Adama as he returned the salute.

"Sir, Doctor Cottle reports that another three crew members have died from the disease but about ten percent of the crew seems to be either immune or is able to slow down the speed o the pathogen."

Adama rubbed the bridge of his nose, thankful that at least some would survive. "What about the Terrans?"

"They don't seem to be showing any signs of the disease, also their doctor recognises the pathogen, it's similar to something that spread on Earth about forty years ago, their time."

"Well, at least that's a start," said Adama as he walked over to the central displays. "How's the quarantine holding up?"

"So far so good," answered Helo as he looked over some reports. "The Celestra is due for a water re-fill in ten hours but other than that, no ship is scheduled to dock with us today."

"Good, Helo I need you to come with me. Mister Gaeta, you have the conn." Adama turned and walked off the bridge with Helo close behind, curious what the Admiral needed him for.

Orion followed Apollo through the door and noticed four people sitting in front of him.

Adama stood and indicated for Orion to take the seat opposite from him as Apollo moved around to sit next to his father.

"Lieutenant Orion, I'd like for you to meet the President of the Twelve Colonies, Laura Roslin and her Vice President, Tom Zarek." At the introduction of Roslin and Zarek, Orion jumped to his feet and snapped to attention.

Adama and Roslin shared a smile before she stood. "There's no need for formality Lieutenant," she said as she extended her hand. "This is just a friendly get together."

Orion shook her hand and then sat down. "So what would you like to know?"

"Well first, I must congratulate you on how quickly you've been able to learn our language."

"Thank you madam President, I've always been good with languages. I just hope that the rest of my crewmates can learn in as quickly as I think we'll be here a long time."

Roslin gave him a grateful smile, "I'd say that's a possibility. First though, we'd like to know a little about Earth. How long have humans been living on Earth?"

"I'm not sure of an exactly time but, at least fifty thousand years." Orion noted the shocked looks shared by everyone else in the room. "Is something wrong?"

After taking a second to collect herself, Roslin answered. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just we hadn't expected such a large number." She turned and talked quietly with Adama and Zarek before she continued, "Can you tell us what happened four thousand and two thousand years ago."

Orion examined each of their faces as he mulled his answer, "Well I'm not a historian but, about four thousand years ago the most famous religion, from my area of Earth, was that of Ancient Greece. In that religion there was twelve major gods, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis and so-on." Roslin seemed happy with the answer, as though she was expecting it. "Actually, the language of this area is the closest Earth language to your own. Why is that?"

Roslin again conferred quietly with Adama and Zarek before she answered. "It seems that these Gods from your past are the Lords of Kobol. They are twelve Lords that our culture worships as Gods, they bare the same names as these ancient Gods." She paused and looked at Adama, who gave her the slightest of nods, before she continued. "Do your people still worship them?"

Orion shook his head, "No, their worship ceased about two thousand years ago. Nowadays most people either worship a single God, though there are differing interpretations of his words, or none at all." Orion watched the faces of the Colonials carefully as they took in what he said. "Is something wrong?"

Roslin gave fractional shake of her head, "No, we just expecting your people to still worship the Lords of Kobol in some form. Most of the people in the fleet worship them in some way." She cast a glance at Adama as she continued, "Though some chose not to worship any gods."

"Can you tell us the state of the Terran Fleet?" asked Zarek, trying to push the meeting on as quickly as possible. He ignored the looks of both Adamas and Roslin as he continued, "Given to how the last battle went, how many Cylon Basestars could your fleet engage and expect to defeat with total annihilation of the Cylon forces?"

Orion stared at Zarek, a little shocked that that question would be asked so soon into the briefing. "That information is not allowed?" he turned to Apollo, unsure of the word.

"Classified."

"I can not reveal the size of the Terran fleet to a you without the approval of my commanding officer, or someone of equal rank."

"What about the pilot in our sickbay? I'm sure she can be persuaded to give us the answers we require."

Before anyone else could react Orion has reached across the table and grabbed Zarek by the neck. As he spoke he slowly increased the pressure on the man's neck. "I suggest, mister Vice-President, that you never even think about doing such a thing again. Or it will be the last thing you ever do." Zarek stared into Orion's eyes and saw the same ruthless determination he'd seen in himself in his younger days.

Zarek smiled as he raised his arms in surrender, "I apologise lieutenant for my comment. It was out of line."

Orion released Zarek and sat back down, noticing that the two marines now stood much closer than before. "Apology accepted." He turned back to Roslin and Adama. "Ok, my turn. What are the Cylons?"

Roslin gave Adama the faintest of nods before he answered. "They were created over fifty years ago to make life easier for the people of the twelve colonies but the rebelled. The first war lasted for over a decade before the Cylons signed and peace treaty and disappeared into deep space. Nearly three years ago they returned and destroyed our home-worlds. All we have left is this fleet."

"We've been searching for Earth for nearly three years now," continued Roslin. "Until we met you we've just been holding onto the slim hope that Earth was more than just a myth." See gave Orion a warm, motherly smile, "Now, you and your crewmates have brought hope to our people, and proof that what we are searching for really exists."

"So you're refugees?"

Roslin gave a gentle nod, "Yes, we're hoping that we'll find refuge and a new home on Earth."

"Actually, "started Adama, changing the course of the discussion. "I have a few questions for you."

"Shoot,"

"What can you tell me about your government?"

"Well, there are seven major blocs on Earth itself but I'll leave them till another time." Orion paused as he thought through how best to explain the Terran governmental system.

"All things that are non-Earth related, with the exception of the oldest colonies, are controlled by the United Terran Government. It handles all off-world work, from research and development to exploration and mining.

"The Terran Defence Force handles all military and police operations between the colonies. All commercial traffic is handled by another branch of the government. We still have problems with pirates, but apart from that there hasn't been a major conflict between nation-states in fifty years."

"You mean that you still fight amongst yourselves?" asked Apollo, a little disbelievingly.

"No, well yes, but that war was over a new power source that my people had recently discovered, though the war didn't end as you'd expect." Orion paused, unsure just how much to share with these people, before deciding to turn the conversation around. "I'd like to know something about your history now, if that's ok?"

"Of course, "answered Roslin. "We're quite happy to tell you about the history of our people."

"Without giving away any classified data."

Roslin smiled, "What would you like to know?" she asked, ignoring Adama's comment.

"Well, a little about your history would be nice, like when did you come to like on the Twelve Colonies?"

"Our people first came arrived there about three thousand six hundred years ago."

"From Earth?"

"No, they came from the home-world of humanity, Kobol."

"I'm sorry, where?" asked a confused Orion. "Earth is the home-world of humanity."

"Our scriptures say that the Lords of Kobol walked amongst our people for thousands of years on Kobol, then during the First Exodus, thirteen caravans left Kobol. The first left early and found Earth, the rest left at the end, and eventually settled on the Twelve Colonies."

"How old are the scripture? Do they say when people of this from evolved on Kobol?"

"The scriptures date back over twenty thousand years but they make no reference to when our species can into existence." Roslin looked at Orion intently, scared to ask a question that was creeping around her head but determined to find out the answer anyway. "How old is the evidence for humanity on Earth?"

"For this form about fifty thousand years, but previous evolutions of our species go back over two hundred thousand years."

"That's not possible!" remarked Apollo, "Our beliefs are based on the fact we came from Kobol. I suggest that our beliefs are wrong, is, is……"

"Troubling, to say the least, "finished Adama. "This can not be discussed with anyone outside this room, is that understood." All present gave their consent, though Orion was still a little unsure as to why.

"Admiral, the Cylons are a little disturbing to me and the other survivors. Have they always been able to bleed?"

Adam shook his head slightly, "No, that seems to have been a recent development, though we're sure they've been trying for over forty years to made bio-synthetic Cylons?" he noticed the strange look from Orion and explained himself. "They can now mimic Human form. We think there are twelve models but we've only ever seen seven of them."

Orion thought quietly to himself about something he remembered from his history lessons back at High School, "Can you show me any pictures of the older Cylon models?"

Roslin turned to Zarek, who handed her a pamphlet, as Adama and Apollo suddenly shared a look, worried of just what this could mean.

Orion took the pamphlet and the colonials watched as his face turned from curiosity to concern to out-right dread.

"Is everything alright Lieutenant?" asked Adama, though he suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut about the answer.

"No sir," started Orion as he placed the pamphlet down on the table, opened to show the old Cylon Raiders and Basestars. "I mentioned earlier that the last war on Earth ended as you'd expect."

"Yes, though I'm still not sure what you mean by that," said Roslin. "I thought most wars had a slight winner, though everyone really loses in war."

"That's true most of the time," started Orion. "But the Solar War, as we call it, was ended when three unknown ships, of a size never before seen by any Terran, appeared suddenly near the orbit of our moon. Those three ships launched over a thousand fighter-craft, along with capital weapons far more powerful than anything we had, at all the different fleets of Earth.

"It was only because of intervention of my grandfather and a Captain Wang that we were able to destroy their carrier ships and save the Earth."

"Those ships," started Apollo as everyone looked down at the pamphlet on the table.

"Were Cylon Basestars!" finished a shocked and thoroughly disturbed Adama.

"Correct. The Cylons aren't searching for Earth." Orion stated, "They've already been there."