The Alliance Wars

by vliegenvanger

this is a general continuation of BSG 16, Under Siege and TFS Ticonderoga. I have changed several other things. although this story is categorized as crossover, it will mainly deal with the SG side and a bit of BSG. now includes the Ori

15. Chapter 14

the next chapter, thanks to Rudy Pena and Just-a-Crazy-man fir the beta.

enjoy and R&R

December 12

2340 hours

A car pulled up to the house, it didn't park in the driveway but to the side of the street. Normally the car would look out of place, but in this residence it wasn't so much, nearly all of houses had at least one dark green or camouflaged car in front of it, it was a military base's residential neighborhood. The house itself was quite large, in fact, most houses were on the large side.

Three people stepped out of the car. Two were military while the third wore some kind of robe and held a thick book in his hands. One of the military was male, quite tall at almost 6 feet and shortened black hair. The woman was quite small and had long blonde hair. The male had an insignia on his shoulders indicating he was a Fleet Admiral, the woman had insignia that indicated she was a battlestar Commander. The two military put on their caps and adjusted their clothes until they were perfect, by the book.

Once everyone was ready they put up a grim face, what they were about to do was something no one ever wanted to do, it was harder than combat, harder than killing another. They walked up to the front door and the woman, who was in front knocked.

They waited a minute or so, it was late after all, eventually a woman opened, she was a bit longer than the commander but had the same long blonde hair.

"Kara, what are you doing here?" the woman asked.

"Misses… Gianna, the…" Kara stumbled; she couldn't speak the words herself.

"Misses Adama, the Battlestar Pegasus was lost in battle. Your husband, Rear Admiral Leeland Joseph Adama was killed in action while commanding the Battlestar Pegasus. You have my personal condolences and the condolences of the Colonial Fleet and Government." The man finished.

At that Gianna collapsed. She was caught just in time by Commander Thrace and Admiral Nagala. The four of them all went inside, where after a few minutes 'aunt' Kara would wake up the kids so that they could be told the bad news.

Flag bridge, Enterprise

En-route to Alpha Centauri

"General we have two possibilities for what happened with the Galactica." A major said. The major was the second in command in engineering and was therefore put in command of a task force dedicated to finding out what had happened to Galactica in those confusing seconds before her jump.

"Tell me." Emerson said as he stood up.

"What we can all agree on is that Galactica's jump drives did activate and that Galactica did leave her position, it was no misjump. And considering it didn't turn up at the rally point there are only two options, one of which you sort of experience with the Odyssey yourself sir."

"The Ori galaxy?" Emerson asked. Referring to the time the Odyssey's hyperdrive engines got a sudden power boost and brought the ship all the way into the Ori galaxy.

"Yes sir, the preferable option is that Galactica made the jump, but due to the hit it sustained either ended up short of the rally point, or overshot the rally point. Considering the way a jump drive works we are leaning to overshooting the rally point, we do know that it hasn't passed Earth, Atlantis' sensors would have detected such a thing. So if this is the case the Galactica is somewhere between the rally point, and Earth."

"And the other option?"

"Galactica was destroyed by the stresses of the FTL jump, and is now scattered across possibly hundreds of light years, in such tiny pieces so that we wouldn't be able to detect them."

"I'm not yet ready to assume that. I'll recommend to start a search for Galactica between the rally point and Earth as soon as we're at Alpha Centauri."

"Yes sir." The Major said before he started to walk away.

"General, we just got a message from the Colonial president; she wants to know what happened to Galactica." Some lieutenant reported.

"Major" Emerson called after the major. "When can I have a report from you about Galactica?"

"I've got a preliminary one ready right now, we'll need to put in some more data, run some more test to be completely sure and conclusive."

"Alright. Thank you major." He turned to the lieutenant. "Once the major has completed his report I want you to forward it to the Colonial government and make a note telling them I will recommend a search for Galactica once we're out of hyperspace."

CIC

As he came by he was overwhelmed by the noise around him, alarms of all kinds were blaring that there was something wrong. Only the emergency lighting was on and was aided by some fires and sparking wiring. He was slumbered down against the plot table, one of the wired phones still in his hands. Then it all came back to him, the battle, Galactica, Pegasus, Lee! The tears started flowing again as he shook his head. "Lee, no" he mumbled. Around him people were walking around trying to get some order from chaos.

"Admiral, Sir, are you okay?" someone asked. He couldn't identify the person, but then again, he had a killer headache and he was still in a daze. "Sir, we need you, the Colonel is unconscious and we've got a fair amount of casualties in the command staff."

"Ishay?" the Admiral asked.

"Yes sir, that's me, how are you feeling?" she asked him as she put a bandage on a deep cut.

"Bad" Adama responded, "Where is Cottle?"

"He's in the infirmary, we've got hundreds of wounded sir. "

"What happened?"

"Well I'm no expert but from what I heard so far we've got a hole straight through the ship, between the forward and aft landing bay struts. In fact, the bays may be the only thing holding both ends together sir. But that's just what I heard Chief Tyrol yell to his men, so it might just be motivational." Ishay said as she continued to check the Admiral for wounds. Once she was satisfied there were no more that those she had already treated she helped him get up.

"Go on Ishay." He said as he saw the medic linger around. She immediately went for the next person in need.

"SITREP!" Adama ordered to no one in particular as he leaned against the center console.

"Sir, Navigation and especially DRADIS are a mess. We are most likely not at the rally point." D said. D was the nickname for Petty officer Dualla.

"Could you be a bit more precise?"

"Sorry sir, that's all I've got and it makes sense. If we'd be at the rally point we would have received help and if we were still at the Colonies we'd be dead or boarded by the Dominion."

"Okay, try to get through to the hanger bay and get a Raptor airborne, we need to know where we are."

"What else?"

"Sir," a Corporal came up to him with numerous papers, "According to the Chief we've got a massive hole straight through the ship. The forward sections are currently running on battery power but the Chief is working on some cables through the hanger bays to reestablish generator power to the forward sections. Our Hyperdrive is toast, it's completely gone and the FTL is giving an error, even though it's supposed to work just fine."

"Alright, thanks Jaffee. I want all department heads to submit a status report ASAP and I want a meeting in eight hours."

Loutoufio, 120 kilometers north west of Hypathia, Colony of Tauron

HQ company, 1st brigade combat team "Warrior", 10th Tau'ri Federation Mountain division

December 13, 2024

Colonel Ellie Becker, CO of the 1st brigade combat team of the 10th mountain division walked into the CP. She had just returned from the lines to have a talk with one of her battalion commanders. The 10th mountain was the only regular army division assigned to the 14th Army, which was made up completely of National Guard units. It was in an afterthought that the 10th was assigned to Tauron, one of the most mountainous planets in the colonies. The first BCT was tasked with defending one of the few valleys that went all the way up to the Tauron capital. To make things worse, a hundred clicks or so further to the north, a large Colonial Fleet space port had just fallen to the Dominion. Barely half of the forty two thousand defenders had made it back alive and for all intents and purposes the Dominion were coming straight for them, now finally having a proper space port.

Through the valley a river and a road led from the space port, to the Tauron capital. The 1st btn of the 87th infantry regiment was located on one side while the 2nd btn of the 22nd infantry regiment was positioned on the other side of the river. Their left flank was covered by the third BCT from the 10th mountain while the seconds BCT covered her right flank. Both these BCT's were defending mountainous terrain.

The one very big advantage they all had was that even before the first cylon war, when Tauron was a colony being exploited by its neighbors, the space port was also in use, then by the exploiting militaries. The Tauron Ha'la'tha resistance had frequently staged attacks on convoys passing through the valley and also had numerous hide outs and tunnels carved into the mountains. The Herac militias, government supported death squads, had killed thousands in the area in response to every attack made. The population of Loutoufio, once consisting of hundreds of thousands of citizens, had been reduced to roughly eighty thousands in the last hundred years before the first Cylon war.

Each BCT within the 10th mountain had one scout cavalry battalion assigned, these units were usually the eyes of the BCT but in this case, since warfare would be quite static, their Humvees were designated as fire support. The Colonel could also count on the support of a number of Ha'la'tha fighters, these served as guides and scouts for the Tau'ri troops. They had helped set up numerous traps and a bunch of mine fields, even the river, which divided the BCT wouldn't be safe for the Dominion.

In the mountains and hills that bordered BCT 1, the other brigades had much help from Tok'ra tunneling crystals which allowed them to expand the tunnel network already in place, and make room for gun emplacements and dug in bunkers. The troops of BCT 1 did not have such luxury, they had to dig their own trenches and reinforce them with sand bags, they did have a number of hard points that were reinforced with concrete and their sleeping quarters were also made more secure in this way. About two to three hundred meters behind the main line of resistance another line had been constructed, and another three hundred meters behind that again another line. A retreat would be carried out by Humvees because it would be foolish to make such a retreat on foot, especially when their own lines had been broken.

"Colonel, how is first battalion doing?" the S3 (Operations) captain asked.

"They're looking pretty solid, they just had a little issue with one of their evac routes near that hill, apparently it is quite steep and the Humvee might not make it. I've told them that I'd see if I could get the engineers back with a dozer or two to fix it but I'm not sure of we have the time for it." The Colonel explained while she pointed out the problems on the map in front of them. "Do we have time for it?"

"Not likely sir," the S2 (Intelligence) started, "We have UAV visuals on their scout units and they'll be here in a couple of hours. It will take at least that long to get the divisional engineers to send the dozers up to our position."

"What's the size of that scout force?"

"About forty to fifty, we've got a downlink from the UAV here, sir." S2 said as he stood next to the console which indeed showed a feed from the UAV, centered on the advancing Dominion scout force. The brigade had a number of UAV drones assigned to them from the Division's air scout battalion, namely eight MQ-16 Dark Stars.

"How 'bout we take those fuckers down with snipers only, no mines, let's keep that a surprise until they can make a real dent."

"Yes sir, I'll pass the word on down." S6 (communications) said.

"Okay, do we have some Intel on the Dominion's main force?"

"It's about three hours behind the scout force, it's quite large actually, early count is at 5-8 thousand."

"We may need some arty for that, how're we doing on that front?"

"We received an additional battery from Earth last night, its currently digging in, right now we've got an overly large artillery battalion counting seven batteries, two are made up of Gypsy Wagons (M270 MLRS), both under your personal command, four are towed 155 mil batteries and we have one SAM battery, just in case the Dominion get smart and get something airborne. I'm just concerned about their supply situation, especially the Gypsy Wagons, they may be firing more than we can supply them with." S3 said.

"That won't be a problem, division and all the way up to Tauron Command has stockpiled arty rounds for ages; we've got three supply trains waiting about fifty clicks back, ready to supply the division." The S4 (Logistics) said. "That's all in addition to our own supplies of course, which totals about a week's worth of rounds waiting in various depots and firing positions."

"That's good. I want some TOT solutions ready, just in case things get to hairy, okay, that's all, carry on."

"Yes sir." all her officers replied. Afterwards she went out of the tent again and indulged one of her sins by lighting one up.

CIC, Galactica

Adama and his senior officers were standing around the plot table. It was the only area even remotely suitable for the meeting they were having. The flag bridge was still inaccessible, the Admiral's private quarters were suffering from a lack of oxygen, as were more areas on the ship for that matter. Around the table were his XO who had finally regained consciousness. The Chief was there, the head engineer was there, the tactical officer, as well as the CAG.

"Gentlemen, how's she doing?"

"You mean aside from the big hole in the ship?" the CAG asked.

"Yes."

"Sir, we've lost shields, half our weapons, we're still not getting enough power through to the forward sections to make all systems work, so far we've been able to power about half our forwards weaponry, short range dradis and short range communications." The head engineering reported. "What may even be worse is that our FTL drive is not inoperable, but just won't work, the same goes for the FTL drives on our raptors, we think there may be an occurrence in this region preventing a jump. Our hyper drive is gone, as are our long range communications and scanning capabilities."

"How's sub light?" Adama asked.

"We're at thirty percent right now, we think we can get it up to eighty within 24 hours." The head engineer said. "Sir, we were quite lucky if I might ad. Twenty years ago we wouldn't have survived a hit at that exact place. These days the Tylium used for our fighters and raptors is stored in the bay fuel depots, instead of the central fuel depot, which was vaporized by the blast."

"Lucky us." The XO replied with his tone dripping in sarcasm.

"Chief, how long until she's back in fighting shape?"

"Sir, in my opinion it's better to build a completely new battlestar from scratch, it'll safe time, money and resources."

"Humor me Chief."

"Without a dry-dock, say two to six years. Scorpia shipyard, a year, nine months if we're lucky and the gods are with us. Tau'ri and Asgard yards would have it repaired in three to six months I think. Most of the work would be in the structural frame, basically what's happened is that a piece of her spine was taken out, not broken, just removed, it's a wonder she survived the jump. Right now the hanger pods are keeping the ship together, and they weren't designed for that."

"Okay, what's the tactical situation?"

"We've lost a lot of weaponry, our dorsal turrets are gone, numerous other gun emplacements were also destroyed by the dominion in the time our shields were down. Speaking about the shields, nine out of fourteen shield emitters are gone beyond repairs and all spares were lost due to damage. Most of our firepower would be with our air wing." The tactical officer said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." The Cag started. We've got about ninety airworthy vipers, about twenty raptors and a couple of 302's that made an emergency landing, we've been able to patch them up sufficiently enough to make 'em fly." He said with a nod to the chief. "The problem is power and pilots, we've lost of bunch of the latter and the former is not yet restored to the launch tubes. Another problem is landing, those four defense platforms we stuffed in the bays are really taking up space and make trying to land there look like going through the eye of the needle while on a rollercoaster ride."

"Did you launch the raptor I requested?"

"Yes sir, we think we're about 25 light-years away from Alpha Centauri, that's spitting distance considering the distance between the colonies and Earth, it also lies between Earth and the Alpha site, meaning we're within Earth's Alpha Defense Line. We have also found two planets sharing an orbit around a sun, looks a bit like Caprica and Geminon actually, we have detected space flight from one planet to the other, though it does not look like sustainable space flight. Our raptor approached the system and received numerous radar signals, we have not been able to properly decipher them but our people are working on it. Beyond that our tactical situation seems doable, no immediate threats except for those space faring planets, or at least one of them."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it seems that beside the space travel there also seem to be some multi stage rockets going to the less advanced planet. We don't know what these rockets are carrying, though we haven't detected any nuclear payloads, so far we don't know if these missiles are military or civilian."

"Sir," Corporal Jaffee said as he handed him a paper, "Comms wanted me to give you this."

"Thank you corporal." Adama said as he read the paper. "Well, I think we just got ourselves involved in an interplanetary war." Adama said. "Both sides are already asking for help in a war of aggression, both claim the other has started it. One side, the advanced side almost demand that we either help or leave, the other side is asking for our help, either in fighting, or in diplomacy."

"Do we want to get involved in a war right now?" Tigh asked.

"As it is we might not be able to get out of this system, we can't go out and fight a war." The Tactical officer argued.

"Which might be exactly why we need to cozy up to at least one of the two parties, if we're going to be stuck here we're gonna need a place to stay, to get food and water and other supplies." Adama said.

"The alliance charter also demands that we help those in need of help or who request help." The CAG said.

"Exactly, I'm not planning on getting ourselves into a war but if we can help end one I'll sure as hell do my best." Adama said.

"So what do you want to do?" Tigh asked.

"Let's put Galactica in between both planets, as neutral as possible ground. Also send a message to both parties, telling them we'll be launching craft on a peaceful mission, and that we'll contact both sides shortly, so we can go find out who, if any, is the right party and who is the aggressor. Let them know that any aggression against us will be responded to in kind."

"Yes Sir." All said.

"CAG, Launch four Raptors, each escorted by two Vipers, two for DRADIS duty, two to get close to both planets and act as a sorts of ambassador."

"And do what, just cruise out there, wave and smile for the pictures?" Tigh asked.

"That'd be a start, perhaps one of our raptors can cautiously approach one of those space ships, see if they have a crew and perhaps make contact with them."

BCT Warrior CP, Loutoufio

The command post of BCT warrior was located in one of the prefab tents that were set up at the base camp. It was located about a kilometer outside the city of Loutoufio. The camp also housed several ammunition depots, a field hospital and helicopter and VTOL facilities. Though the brigade didn't have its own aviation part, the Division did have an entire aviation brigade. This brigade still used some of the old US helicopters like the Apache, Cobra, Chinook and Blackhawk, it also had a small number of Space Hawks, mostly for medevacs and VIP transport. More important in this fight would be the artillery, helicopters were great for a maneuver campaign because they were fast which allowed them to travel great distances, while artillery was always slow and lagged behind the mechanized and armored advance, forcing them to either slow down to allow the artillery to catch up, or advance without artillery cover.

Just a couple of hours before the command staff had witnessed the deaths of 48 Dominion scouts at the hands of the brigade's sniper section. The scouts had been allowed to approach the first defense line to within a hundred meters before they had been taken down with well-placed shots at the upper body or head. The bodies of the dominion had been removed so as not to give away any clues to the following Dominion, not to hide the stench dead bodies always carrier with them, there would be plenty dead Dominion by sun down and all troops had been issued experimental nose protection which would filter out any 'unpleasant' smells. These nose plugs so to say weren't the only new gadgets for the ground forces, their com gears were also overhauled, now the sound of combat was largely reduced to background noise, allowing for normal communications, even during heavy combat. Another such gadget were a pair of shades, from a distance they weren't much different from what one would encounter at the beach on a sunny day, but these also worked at night, giving proper night vision to the wearer, it also incorporated a limited HUD, allowing the unit leader to assign objectives which would be pointed out with an arrow. These sunglasses could also be linked to the user's weapon, for example the aim could be projected on the HUD allowing the wearer to fire the weapon without directly looking at the target.

For the soldiers at the CP it didn't really matter, they were a few kilometers behind the lines and they were more interested in the UAV feed, which showed the first wave of Dominion forces approaching. They weren't really smart about advancing, they didn't have an eye for the defense the terrain could give them, not that there was much to start with, the engineers had removed the best places of cover to create better fields of fire.

"They don't look real good huh? I'd bet ten bucks they're still green." Becker said to her 2IC.

"I take that bet sir." the 2IC replied.

"Deal," Becker said before she turned to the UAV operator, "Lieutenant zoom in on that one, right there."

The camera zoomed in until the face of the Dominion filled the screen. The face had numerous old cuts and bruises, when the lieutenant zoomed out a bit his uniform was also dirty and had numerous cuts in it.

"Hah, see, not so green, these fuckers have seen some combat before."

"You sure? Lieutenant, find another one."

The Lieutenant complied and soon enough another Dominion was under surveillance, his face was clean, as was his uniform.

"How 'bout that? That looks pretty green right now." Becker said.

"Okay, two out of three, Lieutenant, another one." The 2IC said.

Yet again another face was selected, this one too was clean, no wounds, nothing at all.

"Are you finally going to admit these are newbies? Or do you want to go to three out of five?"

"Nah, that's okay." The 2IC said as he gave the ten buck to his CO.

"Sir, Kiska six is requesting permission to engage the enemy once they are at four hundred meters." A lieutenant that monitored the radios announced.

Becker got to the radio and took it from the lieutenant. "Kiska six, this is Warrior six, do you copy?"

"Warrior six, this is Kiska six, Copy."

"Major, I want you to hold fire until after the TOT barrage, this will land at 3-5-0 meters, once done, fire at will."

"Copy Warrior six, Kiska six out."

Becker put the radio down and walked over to watch the UAV feed. "How far out?"

"Five hundred meter, give or take."

"Tell the artillery to get ready, tell the boys and girls in the trenches to keep their heads down, we're gonna slug some rounds in danger close."

CP 1st Battalion, 'Kiska'

"Sir, All units have copied the warning, they are ready to fire and are keeping their heads down in anticipation of the artillery barrage." A lieutenant reported.

"Good. I'm gonna go see this fire show from the front row." Major Vukovic replied. This just meant he went to the forward side of the bunker where two squads were sitting out the barrage, one squad would deploy after the bombardment and fight from the trenches while the other squad would operate some of the heavy weaponry placed inside, such as two M2 .50 bmg's, a flamethrower to fry any Dominion that got close, the minefields in their sector and, not unimportant, a laser designator for artillery strikes. "This roof can stand a direct impact right?"

"I'd rather not find out sir." a Captain responded.

"Shit." Vukovic said as he grabbed his helmet and put it on. As he grabbed his rifle to sling it over his shoulder the entire bunker started shaking and seconds later the sound of far off thunder reached them. "Heads up." He said with a smile as he stepped into the forward part of the bunker.

Not much later the artillery landed, half the 155 rounds were airburst, the other half were ground burst, the rockets from the M270's carried advanced GPS guided cluster munitions which detonated on impact. The ground trembled as the artillery barrage continued actually throwing people to the floor. After about forty seconds the barrage ended, the M270's had expended their load and the artillery had managed to fire off 7-8 rounds, not because of their rate of fire, but because of the different trajectories a round could take to the same destination, some would take longer than others and if timed well, several rounds could arrive within a few seconds of each other, while having been fired by the same piece of artillery.

Once the dust settled Vukovic had a look outside at the remains of the Dominion advance. Thousands of Dominion had just died in less than a minute and the artillery seemed very effective, for the first six to seven hundred meters he couldn't find any Dominion standing and those that were still alive were grunting in pain from all of the wounds they had suffered. What was even better was that the remaining Dominion were retreating, the soldiers of first battalion didn't fire a single shot.

Tau'ri war cabinet meeting

Situation room, Atlantis

December 18

"So that concludes agriculture for this meeting, General O'Neill, you had something you wanted to show me from Tauron?" Ryan said.

"Yes sir. as you know we have an entire army stationed on Tauron, a couple of days ago, the thirteenth, the Dominion launched their first assault on our units located in the northern sector, this is UAV cover from a strike by units of the 10th mountain division." O'Neill said as a hologram appeared and started streaming the UAV feed. It showed the Dominion forces advancing for a minute or so and then some objects passed on front of the camera very fast. Seconds later the barrage struck the Dominion. For a minute or so nothing was visible except for explosions and dirt flying through the air. Once the barrage was done and things settled down the UAV zoomed in a bit to show what had exactly happened.

"Wow." The secretary of state managed.

"Jesus Christ, how many?" Ryan asked.

"Originally they counted about seven thousand, six were killed immediately or died of wounds, the rest retreated, our troops didn't have to fire a shot."

"That's very impressive general. Let me guess, the army wants more cannons?" Ryan guessed as he looked at the General of the Army.

"That would be great, but they especially want more ammunition, the last five days the artillery in the twelve colonies have burned through about ten percent of their reserves, normally, that would be enough for about fourteen days, not five. Right now, we have enough rounds in reserve throughout various depots, but once we get involved in more battles and start expanding more ammunition we will most likely not have enough rounds to keep all our units supplied."

"So order more from their manufacturers." Ryan said. "I'm sure we can find some funds for it."

"Money isn't really the problem, the problem is that the manufacturers have reached their max, especially now that half or our artillery manufacturers have switched to making rounds for the space forces, as well as missiles and drones. It'll take six to nine months before they can increase their capacity." The general of the Army said.

"And we may deplete our reserves before that?"

"Yes, current use, perhaps, if we limit the use of rounds in training we will most likely make it, but training will suffer."

"What are our alternatives?"

"We could ration the use of rounds, or pump additional funds to speed up the acquisition of production capacity." The chief of the Marine Corps suggested.

"More money isn't the problem, it just takes that long to produce all the equipment necessary for production. Rationing will get people killed, that artillery is one of the best ways of killing Dominion foot soldiers, and it'll keep our own safe."

"It's war, soldiers are dying every day." The secretary of treasury said.

"And we owe it to those soldiers to do the best we can to give them the best protection, the best equipment and the best chance." Ryan said.

"Sir, there might be another option." The secretary of state said. "Since the loss of so many battlestars, the colonials have a massive surplus of munitions production. I'm not sure about the technicalities, but we might be able to outsource production, at least for a while, to Colonial manufacturers, either on the colonies, or their refugee planets."

"And this would also give us a good reason to pump a couple billion Terra into the Colonial economy." Ryan said. Terra had only recently become the only currency used by the Tau'ri federation, the various other currencies such as the Dollar, Euro, Yen and Pound were too difficult to just stop using overnight, millions of businesses would have had to make the switch instantly. In order to prevent discussion about a name the term Terra was chosen, some might still continue to call it the Dollar, or Pound or anything else, but officially, and to the other galactic powers, the official currency the Tau'ri Federation paid its bills with, was the Terra.

"Yes sir." the secretary of treasury said. "In fact, my analysts think that the Colonials are running out of hard cash to spend on foreign weaponry. They want to keep it quiet so as not to alarm the stock market."

"Are they going to be able to make their payments for the foreseeable future?"

"Yes, I think so, the Colonials know we'll help them if need be, the Nox aren't really interested in money so won't complain if they have to wait for their cash and the Jaffa know jack shit about finance, most they know is that it costs money to be in debt to others and that they are the biggest exporter of raw materials."

"Good. Any other comments on this issue?" Ryan asked. "No? In that case, the military is authorized to start a procurement procedure to procure additional artillery stocks from the Colonial military industry." Ryan said as a matter of fact.

"Alright, next order of business, Destiny Command. How far along is General Young with the preparations for the transfer of a drone ship to the Dominion rear area?" Ryan asked as he looked over to General O'Neill, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Cartwright and Admiral Stanhope were both involved in the terrorist attacks on the Jaffa senate, Admiral Stanhope had passed away and General Cartwright was in a short coma, once he regained consciousness, it was clear that he would not be able to return to active duty.

"Sir, two days ago a team operating from a 304 successfully managed to board and capture one of the drone command ships. These are the control ships of their race, these build new fighters and serve as a mother ship to them. As we speak a team from destiny is reprogramming the AI to make it target Dominion only, and teach it how to best attack the Dominion. As it is the first thing that ship would do is construct a second command ship before it will set out and attack the nearest Dominion supply station. For the first few years their task will be to raid their supply lines and gather strength before going over to exterminating every Dominion they come across."

"What kind of safeties will they program into the drones? To make sure they won't turn on us?" Ryan asked.

"As far as I know they are programmed to attack the Dominion only, though there is an exception, namely those races who are overly aggressive against them. Races known to us to be friendly to us are programmed as to never be attacked. In addition there is also a remote self-destruct command that can be given from our ships, if need be."

"How long will it take before we notice the effects of this?" the secretary of state asked.

"We may never really notice, this is a long shot, we hope that it will disrupt the Dominion supply lines and force them to send ships to meet this new threat, ships that might otherwise be sent against us. But may also be that the Dominion have enough ships around to face the drones without weakening the attacks on us, or they destroy the drones before they can multiply and become a threat."

"General, in case the drones are successful and the Dominion's lines are disrupted, how will we proceed in the long run, assuming we defeat the Dominion, do we leave them be? Or do we destroy them?" the Treasury secretary asked.

"As it is now we'll have a long way to go before the drones will be any threat to us. I would like to remind you of the safety measures we have encoded into them. Another safety is distance, let me demonstrate." O'Neill said. He pushed a few buttons and an overview of Earth was shown.

"Earth, I think we're all familiar with it." O'Neill said.

Another picture appeared, replacing the one of Earth. "The Solar system, Earth, the sun, the other planets and the Kuiper's Belt, not much new I think."

The picture again disappeared and made way for another one. "The Solar interstellar neighborhood, our immediate neighbors, Alpha Centauri, a major fleet base, Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti, both major training grounds for the marines and army and of course 51 Pegasi, the Beverly Hills of the stars." O'Neill said as he pointed out some of the planets.

The picture again changed. "The Milky way galaxy, I think we're quite familiar with this one." O'Neill said as numerous planets and fleets were indicated, also a line indicating the front lines.

It again changed, it actually zoomed out. "The Local Galactic group. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, these two are the largest galaxies, Pegasus here, Aquarius not far away, and here, officially NGC 3190, but better known as the Asgard Galaxy."

It zoomed out again. "The Virgo Supercluster, the Local Galactic group is part of it, it's centered around the Virgo Galactic group. Also here is NGC 2997 the Ori galaxy is located there. For all we know most of the Supercluster located to the right of the Local group is under Dominion control."

The picture zoomed out again. "And last, the Local Super clusters. We now know that the Dominion are from the Canes Major Void, a region with very few galaxies, which might also be the reason that the Dominion survived so long. In addition to the Virgo Super cluster, the Hydra, Coma and Perseus-Pisces super clusters also seem to be under the control of the Dominion. It's the Hydra super cluster where we will send the Drone ship, and as you can see, it is FAR away."

"I see." The Treasury secretary said. "Then how is it possible that the Dominion can send troops from that far and make an impact so soon? They only have hyper drives right?"

"Isn't that for the same reason as why we use predetermined hyperspace lanes for trade and regular ship movements?" the secretary of state asked.

"Yes sir. Every planet, every asteroid, nearly everything in space can influence a hyperspace track. This is why our ships are relatively slow in hyperspace, they need to maneuver around every such disturbance. To do this they need to slow down, otherwise they would overshoot and perhaps slam into something unwanted. A hyperspace lane, as the secretary of state called them are simply plotted tracks through hyperspace where we know are the least amount of disturbances and our ships can attain the highest speed possible. For example between the Pegasus and Milky way galaxy there are much less objects and our speed is usually doubled. Imagine the same thing between two super clusters, there is barely anything there and speed in hyperspace could increase somewhere between ten and a hundred times."

"That much?"

"Yes sir, it's something we keep telling people but no one really seems to care about it." The chief of staff for the Space Forces said.

"Back on topic, how long before the drone ship will be launched?" Ryan asked, getting the discussion back on topic.

"It'll take about seventy two hours. We've got a jump gate in place, the coordinates are all ready, it's just the reprograming." O'Neill said.

"Okay." Ryan said. He waited a bit but no one came up with anything else. "Well, in that case General, tell General Young: good luck." Ryan said. He looked at the agenda. "That also concludes the scheduled part of the meeting, who has something else to discuss?" there were also a number of small things that were not to important, but were necessary to be brought to the attention of the leadership.

"I've got one little thing." O'Neill said. "A while ago I reported that we had retrieved the body of Doctor Weir and downloaded her consciousness into a new body. So far the tests and experiments we've done are reporting positive results. To this point we have had no security problems related to the nanites so I dare say the project is going as hoped."

"Good to know, keep me updated."

"What else?"

CP, BCT Warrior, Loutoufio

December 25, 2024

"Sir, Alpha company, 2nd battalion just lost two because of a Dominion plasma grenade, another four injured." The S1 officer reported.

Colonel Becker closed her eyes for a second, remembering the death her brigade had already sustained. "That makes it what? 28?"

"Yes sir, 28 dead, 47 light injured, they are either at the hospital recuperating or already back on the line, and 12 seriously wounded that had to be sent back home."

"How about reinforcements?" Becker asked.

"Filtering through in two to three days." The personnel officer replied.

"Okay. What's the status of our artillery supply?"

"About ninety percent of the convoys going this way are hauling rounds for the artillery. We've had to take trucks from the Colonial army to help us out on this." The supply officer said.

"And the special request I made last week?" she asked.

"I've been tracking it with a UAV, it should be here in about ten minutes. May I ask what it is about sir? all you've told me is to pick up a certain delivery and get it here ASAP."

"You'll find out soon enough." She replied. She turned back to the map and looked it over. "So what are…"

She was interrupted as two low flying aircraft passed over. "What the fuck is that!" she yelled as the noise stayed overhead.

"It seems to be a pair of Raptors sir!" a radar officer reported.

"No shit! I can hear that as well. What the fuck are they doing overhead?" she yelled. She could hear that the raptors were hovering nearby. The winds that were produced by the raptors blew open the door to the CP and Colonel Becker got a good look at the two raptors, of which one was actually landing. The raptor wasn't the standard version in use with the Colonial fleet or army, nor was it one of the black special forces raptors. Instead it was pained in a white and blue scheme and at several areas it showed a phoenix, the official seal of the Colonies, this was Colonial One, the president's raptor.

"Shit" her XO said as he followed her gaze.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." She replied.

As the first raptor landed and powered down the other moved off and the noise subsided.

"Alright people, we seem to be getting some high value visitors, I want everyone to put their friendly faces on and keep the language clean." Becker said to everyone in the CP. Once she was sure everyone knew what she meant she walked out the tent to greet the visitors.

Just as she got out of the tent the hatch started opening and first she saw were four Colonial Secret Service agents with their small sub-machine-guns in their hands. She decided to stay at a respectable distance. The four agents were the first out. They scanned the area and one of them walked up to Becker.

"Is the area secure?" He asked.

"The front line's a couple of click that away." She said as she pointed in the right direction. "We haven't seen any Dominion pass it alive though, if that's what you're worried about."

It wasn't exactly the answer he expected but the agent understood the message, 'this is a warzone, there are always risk'. Without saying a thing he walked back to the raptor and climbed up on the short wing. He talked a bit with someone she couldn't see and eventually he came out again, followed by the President of the Twelve Colonies.

As the president stepped of the wing, Becker, as well as two nearby soldiers standing guard gave a sharp salute. The president didn't wear one of her usual suits that she wore when she was on tv, but was wearing something informal and had a jacket that had once belonged to one certain admiral in the Colonial Fleet.

The president quickly returned the salute, although not really to regulation, but good enough for a civilian, and walked up to Colonel Becker.

"Colonel." She said, clearly fishing for a name and rank, unsure if colonial and Tau'ri ranks were the same.

"Colonel Becker, Commanding officer, Infantry Brigade Combat Team 'Warrior', 1st brigade, 10th Tau'ri Federation Mountain Division, Ma'am."

"Quite a mouth full, would you mind if I'd call you Colonel Becker?" she asked.

"Of course not Ma'am."

"By the look of surprise on your face I guess someone forgot to tell you I was coming?"

"Yes ma'am, I assume someone dropped the ball on that one."

"Well, I hope you won't mind me being here."

"Of course not madam president, you are always welcome with BCT Warrior." Becker said. "Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here today?" she asked, vaguely suspecting the answer.

"Well, yesterday I attended a private traditional Christmas eve dinner party by president Ryan. Afterwards I found out just how important Christmas has always been for the Tau'ri and that it wasn't uncommon for dignitaries to visit frontline troops. I thought it would be nice to show my appreciation to you all for fighting here, for helping us in this war, even on such a respected holiday by visiting you guys and girls on the frontline."

"Well, thank you madam president. But this isn't the frontline, the real one is out there." Becker said pointing in the direction of smoke and distant explosions.

"It is to the civilians and us politicians. But if you think it's possible, I'd like to visit your soldiers in the trenches." Roslin said.

"As a matter of fact, I've got a surprise incoming." Becker said as she looked over at a number of trucks just arriving at the camp. "How 'bout you come help me deliver them? Ma'am" she hastily added.

The president looked over at one of the nearby secret service agents who, after a brief moment nodded, though didn't look particularly happy about it.

"I think we're gonna need to give you some extra protection, can't be too safe." Becker said. The secret service agent looked relieved and sent one of the other agents back to the raptor. The agent returned with a bag full of stuff and the president was escorted to a tent to change into something safer. In the meantime, Becker had a couple of soldiers load up some Humvees with the surprises and had a platoon from the reserves mount up to provide protection. When the president returned she looked ready for the frontline except for one thing. Becker went back into the CP to get the last thing needed.

"Ma'am, I think you'll need these." Becker said as she pulled the object out of the casing.

"Ah, that's, ehm, what is it?" Roslin asked.

"It'll block out the bad smells of the decaying Dominion dead." Becker said.

"I see." She said as she looked at them. She tried to put them in her nose, not knowing how to use it. Becker showed her herself.

Eventually they entered a Humvee and set off for one of the bunkers housing a platoon from the 2nd battalion.

A few minutes later they had reached the bunker and as the engines were shut off they could hear the soldiers sing.

"Colonel, what are they singing?"

"Christmas carols Ma'am, I believe this particular one to be 'Joy to the World'." Becker replied.

"It sounds very nice."

"Two corporals from this platoon are part of the Division's choir. So the singing from this platoon is probably above average."

"I see, how about we go give these men and women their presents?" Roslin asked.

Becker agreed and went to the back of the Humvee to grab a couple of boxes, two of the escorting soldiers were brought in and grabbed some boxes as well, surprisingly, Roslin also picked up two boxes. Just as they started to go Becker stopped, put the boxes up on the hood of the humvee and grabbed a bag. She pulled out a number of Christmas hats and put one on herself, and, after receiving permission put one over the helmet of the president.

As they neared the guards Becker ordered them to remain quiet and follow them inside. When she pushed the outer door open she was greeted by a sight of friendship and Christmas far away from home. It took a few seconds before anyone noticed that it wasn't a guard but indeed the Colonel. Before they could move however, Becker ordered them to remain seated and quiet down.

"Hi there, Santa's a bit busy with all those kids back home but he asked one of his friends to come help me deliver his presents for you." She announced. Around that time Roslin had put the boxes down and was visible to the soldiers. As one they all stood up, disregarding Beckers previous orders.

"I thought someone said you should remain seated." Roslin said.

They all relaxed their stance and eventually they all took a seat again. "So I guess that you are all wondering what it brought." Becker said. "Well, it isn't really Christmas until you've got a proper Christmas meal. So I've had some old friends of mine ship some useful stuff this way. I'm sure you'll find something useful for all this stuff." Becker said. Some other soldiers brought in some more boxes. After a few minutes the president and the Colonel took a look at the carnage that had been inflicted on the Dominion attackers. Meanwhile the soldiers unpacked the boxes and started to get acquainted with the booze.

Once the Colonel and President returned some of the soldiers were already working in the small kitchen while others were once again singing Christmas carols while having a beer. They stuck around for a few more minutes before saying goodbye and moving on to the next bunker to hand out more boxes.

CIC, Battlestar Galactica

The CIC of the Galactica had been repaired pretty well, most of the fixable damage was already fixed, though here and there the walls could use some paint. The rest of the ship was something else. The big hole had really screwed the ship up. Power was now being routed through the hanger bays but still suffered from sporadic blackouts. Casualties were high, of the nearly 3000 crewmember, a third had died and sickbay could barely handle all the wounded. The air wing was cut in half and could now only field about 70 vipers and fourteen raptors.

By some miracle Adama had managed to get both planets that were fighting to prepare a party, to discuss a possible cessation of hostilities. Unable to find a suitable place on either of the two planets, Adama -reluctantly- offered Galactica as neutral ground. Both sides were allowed to send four representatives, these would be picked up by raptors from Galactica. For the advanced side, the Dragor, this wasn't so difficult. The other side however, was made up from a number of nations, three of them the largest, so they settled on a representative for each of the three large nations, and one that would speak for the smaller nations.

"Admiral, the XO reports that both raptors have arrived and the delegations have past security checks. They are making their way over to the conference room." A lieutenant reported.

"Very well." Adama said. He was already wearing his best uniform. He had overcome the shock of the losses sustained near Ragnar. "Officer of the watch, you have the conn." Adama said as he walked out of the CIC.

A couple of minutes later he arrived at the conference room. The Dragor delegation had already arrived, they stood waiting for him, a bit annoyed for having to wait, their arrogance showing by the way they stood and looked around, surprised at the utilitarian interior of a ship that was supposed to be so advanced. Their uniforms were all the same, black and decorated with medals.

"Welcome aboard the Galactica, I am Admiral Adama. I have been informed that the other delegation will be here shortly."

The Dragor barely reacted and just remained standing. A minute or two later the other delegation arrived. They were escorted by colonel Tigh, and they too remained standing beside their seats. Adama and Tigh, not really knowing why both sides remained standing, stayed on their feet as well.

"I would like to welcome both sides represented here. The last few weeks we have been talking about ending the war going on between both sides. It is my hope that in the end we can reach a satisfactory conclusion of these talks that will hopefully end in a cessation of hostilities." Adama started. "I suggest we all take a seat, and start with an introduction." Adama said. He waited a bit but no side showed any attempt to go first. "Very well, I'll go first. I am Admiral Adama, commanding officer of the fourth Colonial fleet, I am also the commander of the Colonial Battlestar Galactica."

"Thank you, Admiral Adama." One of the delegates said. "My name is Henry Vernos, I am the representative of king Marnus the fourth, from the Kingdom of Tara-Magadha. I am also the deputy to the Tara-Magadha representative to the Allied war counsel." He slightly bowed his head in respect. His suit was a tan like color and his skin darkened from the sun. once he was done he took a seat.

Another delegate introduced herself. She looked old but showed no sign of it and appeared to be experienced in diplomacy. "I am Princess Jacqueline, aunt to king Reginald, king and ruler of the seven united kingdoms. I have been appointed as head of this delegation."

As princess Jacqueline sat down another delegate started. "I am prime minister Yanos, I am here at the behest of queen Anise, leader of the plains kingdom."

As the prime minister sat down the last delegate of that side introduced himself. He was different, he wore a military uniform. "I am supreme commander Gregory Vance. I am the commander of all Allied forces involved in the war against the Dragor. I also represent the smaller nations on the planet Varian that are normally unified in the league of minor nations."

"Welcome to you all." Adama said. He then turned to the Dragor delegation and motioned for them to introduce themselves.

"I am first lord Fistis, I will be the lead negotiator for my people, these are my associates, their names are not important, nor are their positions." One of the tallest of the four said. Once he was done he and the other three sat down simultaneously.

"Welcome everyone. The first thing I'd like to do is to get a bit of a background to this conflict. Considering that both sides usually have a different version of events leading up to the conflict I'd like for both sides to give their version, just to understand how they see this." Adama said. Lord Fistis and the four representatives from Varian nodded in acceptance. "Who wants to go first?"

Princess Jacqueline raised her hand. Adama nodded at her to proceed as Lord Fistis did not seem to object. "Thank you admiral. I think that the origin lays far in our history, back in the time that I was just a young girl. About 70 years ago Varian had approximately 350 independent and dependent nations. None of these nations really had much more power than the rest and therefore, numerous alliances were made. This system of alliances meant that no one would dare attack any other. Unfortunately, war broke out anyways and the involved nations called their allies to arms. This led to a domino effect and soon enough over three quarters of our world was at war. At this time we had no idea who the Dragor were, nor that they existed at all. Through war, diplomacy and strategic marriages our three kingdoms managed to increase their power and overcome our enemies. By the end of these wars there were four major powers and about two dozen minor powers. Of these four major powers three are represented here, the fourth, we had to fight after they tried to annex several of the smaller powers. It was during this war, the war we thought would end all wars, that we learned of the Dragor, they had secretly allied themselves with our enemies. At first, we didn't know what to do about it, we tried to contact the Dragor, but were unable to. When we tried to reach a cease fire, we were met with ridiculous terms, and we were forced to fight for our own freedom. For the first few years, we had much trouble fighting the Dragors' advanced technology, but eventually we managed to overcome the barrier, and rush them back to their current positions, ever since, we've been stuck in a static war, with little gains for both sides."

"Thank you Princess. May I ask what has become of this fourth power?" Adama asked.

"The Roth Empire has, as far as we know been virtually disbanded, the remains that are under Dragor control are theirs to rule, and the parts that we control have been divided across the bordering nations."

"And may I ask how the Roth people are treated today?"

"I cannot speak for those under Dragor rule, but those that are living in our nations are equals to their fellow citizens." Prime Minister Yanos said.

"Thank you." Adama made some notes and turned to the other side. The Dragor had been setting there silently and hadn't moved an inch. "Lord Fistis, would you be so kind to give us the Dragor's side of the war?"

"Very well." Lord Fistis said. "Approximately twenty five of your years ago we were contacted by the Roth people. We had been observing Varian for a while and knew about their wars and the fighting going on. At first we were unwilling to commit to any power while war was raging. But within a few years the fighting had ended and we were able to send some of our people to Roth without alerting the other powers, we deemed those to unstable to handle alien life. After a while we became friends, and we entered into an alliance with the Rothians. Several years later we were told there were border disputes between the Rothians and some of their neighbors, and in response the other powers declared war. At first we could do nothing to help, but after a while we sent some forces. Unfortunately they were too few and eventually they had to retreat. Eventually we managed to consolidate on a defendable position in the highlands, where we have been ever since. Along the line, the Roth government collapsed and we were forced to take over control to prevent their nation from completely collapsing."

"Thank you, Lord Fistis." Adama said. "Okay. Now I would like to map out each sides' final goals and the bare minimum they would need to accept a lasting peace, and, if possible, what we can do about it." Adama said meaning the Alliance. "Lord Fistis, if you would?"

"We understand that the Varians won't agree to give us all the territories we would like, but our best case, if you will, is the entire pre-war Roth Empire and the island Laki. The minimum would be an area the size of what we currently control with an additional 250 miles, the islands known as Laki and Szaksi, and the maritime regions surrounding these."

The Varian delegates were clearly mad, especially representative Henry Vernos was seething with anger.

"Mister Vernos, I can see you have trouble with these claims, why?"

"Why? Why you ask me? The island of Laki has been in Tara-Maghada possession for centuries. According to our myths the island is the birthplace for the Tara-Maghada royal family and is the source of our everlasting wealth, survival and power. Until the arrival of the Dragor, the island had been a natural reserve, only home to a very small group of people, and a retreat to the royal family. Since the Dragor's arrival we have stationed a small but adequate defense force on the island. This island is not something the Rothians, nor the Dragor have ever controlled, nor will they ever while any Tara-Maghadan is alive."

"Then perhaps we should change that." Lord Fistis said softly.

"How dare you threaten us with extermination!" Vernos yelled out in anger.

"The other nations will not stand for this." Vance supported Vernos. "Admiral Adama, what do you plan to do about this, it must be obvious what the Dragor want!"

"Perhaps we should just stop refraining ourselves and rid ourselves of the pests you are and just kill you all." Lord Fistis said.

"Lord Fistis! Galactica will not stand for such actions and we will most certainly not allow you to commence a genocide on the Varians, we would rather die!" Tigh said. His comment shut the others up immediately.

"Supreme Commander Vance, what do the Dragor, in your opinion, want?" Adama asked.

"Resources. And one mineral in special, one we simply call R1021. We have no use for this mineral but we do know that the Dragor have been mining it in their territory. They appear to be using it in their military vehicles. Both the islands they request are reported to have an abundance of this mineral, and the Roth empire contains some of the richest veins of this world, most of which lie within 250 miles from the current frontlines." Vance said.

"That changes things. Lord Fistis, if I'm going to ask you a direct question and I'd like a direct and honest answer." Fistis nodded. "Are those resources all you really care about?"

"The resources are an important reason for our current presence here, but we do have the wellbeing of the Rothians within our territory in mind."

"Very well. I may have an idea for a possible solution, I'd like about an hour to an hour and a half to work it out. I think it would be best to take a pause in the meanwhile, so we can all catch our breaths and calm down a bit."

"Fine." Lord Fistis said before he sneered and turned around and left with his delegation in tow.

Mess hall, TFS Enterprise

December 25, 2024

2105 hours

The main mess hall aboard the Enterprise was decorated with numerous Christmas things. The tables and chairs were all positioned in long rows and some of the mechanics had even been able to get some snow into the massive room. Most of the crew was participating in this Christmas dinner and only a skeleton crew manned critical positions, the ship was in friendly space after all. Aboard the other ships there were similar dinners being organized.

General Emerson, as well as the other officers were dispersed throughout the crew, today, rank didn't really matter much. After everyone had gotten something to drink Emerson stood up beckoning everyone to be quiet. "Ladies and Gentlemen, crew of the Enterprise, and crewmembers of the carrier battle group. I welcome you all here, to this Christmas dinner. I won't go into the history of this day, but I would like to go into this group's past year." Emerson said as he motioned the Enterprise Carrier Battle Group. "For the carrier and several of its escorts this year marked their first time in combat, and so far we have done well. We have shown the enemy what we are made of and we have left a mark upon our enemies. Already the reputation of the Enterprise and her escorts is growing and is spreading throughout the galaxy."

"The coming year promises to be violent, the Dominion's next goal will be to take out Earth and we will be part of that battle. While the rest of the fleet is already retreating towards the Alpha line we are not yet going back. We will, among others, continue the search for Galactica and keep harassing the Dominion advance as they draw nearer to the Alpha site. Eventually we will join the main fleet again. I am confident that the you will all carry yourselves proud and stand to your duties as history might be written with every battle we fight. It is for this reason that we are the first, and the finest!"

Everyone present immediately rose and lifted his or her glass. "To the Enterprise and her crew: the first, the finest!"

"To the Enterprise!" the crew repeated in unison.

Conference Room, Galactica

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize for the delay, I hope that the facilities were to your satisfaction while you waited." Adama said as he walked in. none of the delegates responded, they just sat down.

"Alright, let's get down to business. The plan I have here before me has several options, depending on what either side is willing to give. What the plan is based on is the resources that the Dragor seek. There are several points which I will shortly discuss, most prominently the resources, the territories, and safety from attack."

"First point safety from attack." Adama said. "The easiest way is a stand down from both sides, declare a neutral area, a so called demilitarized zone where only civilians may come. If necessary this demilitarized zone could be enforced by alliance forces, we would call them peacekeepers."

"Second point, territories. The Varians have already made it crystal clear that they will not relinquish control of all the territories claimed by the Dragor, which I can very well understand. Therefore, I suggest that we leave the territories as they are, we won't make any territorial adjustments."

"Next, resources." Adama said as he felt that the Dragor were ready to pack up and leave. "The Dragor are obviously free to mine whatever resources they want in their own territories. In order to appease the Dragors' thirst for resources I suggest some sort of understanding that allows them to mine specific resources within Varian borders, but only for the total size of the former Roth Empire. This mining would be done by either Dragor laborers or local workers. The Dragor would pay some sort of fee for these mining rights. During the mining no irreparable may be done to the planet or its environment."

Adama went on and discussed a number of other points such as trade, troop sizes and orbital, aerial and naval control as well as several other issues. Eventually, once Adama was done both delegations returned to their planet to lay down the proposals to their leaders.

CIC, Galactica

January 4, 2025

"Sir, the Varians have finally called in their decision. They will agree to most of the terms but do have some minor adjustments they'd like to be introduced." The XO reported.

"That's good, why don't you send a raptor down to get the delegation so we can go over the adjustments. Have we heard anything from the Dragor?"

"Nothing sir, but we are detecting new launches, they are probably sending in more troops, not a good sign if you'd ask me." Tigh said.

"Have communications send a message to the Dragor, unless they are unwilling to continue the talks they should hold on any and all transports, as agreed upon before the talks started."

"Already done sir." Tigh replied.

A few minutes later someone brought him a paper.

"That's fast." Tigh whispered as he read it over. "Admiral, the Dragor claim that they are still discussing the proposals you made, in the meanwhile they need to reinforce their troops as a precaution for if the talks stall and fail."

"Their behavior is exactly what will make it fail." Adama said. "Send another message, we do not accept their explanation, those ships are to enter a stable orbit over their own planet or we will board and inspect them, any ships found to be carrying any more than resources or persons will be turned back. Weapons and war materials are not accepted."

"And what do we do if they resist the inspections?" Tigh asked.

"They better not."

"yes sir."

Ten minutes later Tigh had executed the orders but no sign of understanding had been given by the Dragor.

"How much ships did they launch?" Adama asked.

"Well, they seem to have prepared this. So far they have managed to get fourteen of the ground, one appears to have failed and crashed. Three have established a stable orbit but the remaining eleven are on a course to Varian."

"Do we know their cargo?"

"Long range cameras have established that two are personnel carriers, though they may hold weapons in their holds. At least one of those ships appears to have launch tubes, perhaps for an orbital bombardment, or for self-protection."

The DRADIS console beeped twice. Both officers automatically looked op to the console.

"We are reading missile launches from the surface, trajectories are still unknown, but there are only two targets worth hitting." Tigh said.

"Yeah, and neither is going to be hit." Adama said. He paused a moment, overthinking all his options. "Launch the alert Vipers. Launch marine raptor boarding parties to board all vessels not in a stable orbit over their home world."

"Admiral, this will spiral out of control soon." Tigh warned.

"Noted. XO, try to get me into direct contact with someone down there."

Tigh complied. Meanwhile the alert vipers were launched and most of the raptors were launched to carry the marines to their targets.

A couple minutes later Tigh had managed to get someone pretty high on the line. "Admiral, I've got some departmental prick on the line, he insists that he's high up the food chain."

"Put him on." Adama said as he grabbed one of the phones. "This is Admiral Adama. Your space ships and missiles are in violation of the agreements made previous to the talks, I require you to divert them from their current paths as previously requested."

"That is currently not possible." The man replied.

"You better make it possible, because every missile that does not change course into a neutral heading will be shot down by my Vipers and every space ship that crosses the midway point between the two planets will be boarded by my marines. If they resist we will use deadly force, this is your last warning."

"That will be considered an act of war."

"As will you violating the agreements made with your lord Fistis." Adama said. "Sir, if your Government wishes to continue this course of action, I will be forced to take measures to secure the safety of the Varian people."

"And what do you have to offer to the Varians, your warship has a big hole through it and it seems that most of your weapons are gone!" the man said laughing.

"The Galactica may have lost most of its energy weapons and shields, but that does not mean my kinetic weapons and Vipers won't work, never mind the arsenal of nuclear weapons stored aboard this ship."

"As if we don't have any nuclear weapons."

Adama put his hand over the phone. "Lieutenant," Adama said as he looked at one of the many lieutenants in the CIC, "Scan the missiles and vessels for radiological signatures." The Lieutenant went to work immediately.

Tigh stepped around the plot table to stand next to Adama. "If there were any nuclear weapons aboard those ships or missiles our sensors should have picked it up right?"

"Well, that prick was right about one thing, we took one hell of a beating getting out of Ragnar, nearly three quarters of the systems here have been rebooted with backup software, which might as well have been compromised. A manual scan will reveal any radiological signatures that the computer didn't pass on automatically."

"Very well, do you want a squadron of Vipers in the tubes, just in case?"

"Yes, and make sure the rest of the pilots and birds are at alert-5." Alert-5 was a level of readiness that meant that the vipers and pilots should be ready for launch within five minutes.

"Dragor vessel, Dragor vessel, this is Galactica Raptor 5-3-niner, cut your engines and prepare to be inspected." One of Galactica's raptor pilots come over the coms.

"This ought to be interesting." Tigh said.

Adama removed the hand from the phone. "Sir, one of my Raptors is about to board one of your vessels, if you return them now, all possible horrors that go with nuclear weapons can be spared on both of our sides."

Adama waited for a response but didn't get any. He looked over to the petty officer responsible for communications but he just looked as confused as Adama. "Keep the line open in case they get back, but make sure they can't listen into what happens here." The petty officer just nodded.

"XO, what about those Vipers in the tubes, are they ready for launch?"

"Yes sir."

"Set condition two throughout the ship. Have the Alert Vipers intercept and take up firing positions on the rockets, Launch the Vipers in the tubes and put the rest of the squadrons in the tubes as well."

Tigh picked up a phone and made the announcements. "This is the XO, Set condition two throughout the ship, I repeat, set condition two throughout the ship. Launch Viper squadron two, all other squadrons are to prepare for immediate launch."

"Sir Raptor 539 reports that the ship is not stopping, they request permission to cut through the hull."

"Granted, have a pair of vipers from squadron 2 intercept the ship and fire warning shots across the bow, make sure to be clear about that."

"Sir, you're gonna want to see this." A Lieutenant said. "The radiological scan is coming back."

"How bad?" Tigh asked.

"Very bad." The Lieutenant replied as both Adama and Tigh arrived at his station. They took a quick look at his screen.

"Is that…" Tigh started.

"Yes." Adama answered. Adama quickly reached for one of the phones. "Raptor 539, abort, I repeat, abort boarding action, stand down, that ship's carrying hot nukes! Get the frak out of there!" Adama watched the DRADIS console for a bit and saw the raptor break away from the ship. "What else do we've got?"

Those missiles? They're MIRV's, and large ones."

"Have the Alert vipers taken up position on those missiles yet?"

"Thirty seconds out."

Adama picked up the phone. "Gold Squadron, Actual here. You are weapons free, engage and destroy the missiles."

"Copy that Galactica, we are weapons free, engage and destroy the missiles. Consider it done." The Squadron leader reported. The speakers continued to broadcast the orders he was giving to his pilots.

Over the next few minutes the nearly thirty missiles were taken out by the Vipers. No losses or damage was taken.

"Galactica, this is Gold Squadron all targets destroyed, what are our orders?"

"Gold squadron, Actual here, join up with Blue squadron and cover them."

"Copy that."

"Lieutenant what else can you tell me about those ships, do they all carry nukes?"

"Most of them sir, though we can't distinguish between nuclear propulsion and nuclear weapons."

"Check the amount and dispersion of the radiation on the targets, low amounts concentrated in one place is most likely a power source, large amounts spread throughout the ship, means weapons." Adama instructed the young lieutenant.

After a minute he had the answers Adama was waiting for. "Sir, I've got four confirmed targets, big ones too."

"Mark them hostile on the DRADIS Console, the others orange. Do we have anything on the types of weapons? Their range, anything?"

"Not much sir, at least one of those ships has launch tubes, the others might, but we're not yet sure, we'd need to get vipers or raptors to make a mark one eyeball confirmation on the hatches."

"And give them a chance to take our ships out? No way. I want you to try again, to make contact with those ships, and tell them that if they don't return to their planet we will take them out, any means necessary." Adama said to Tigh. "Let's hope that the destruction of their missiles changed their minds a bit."

Another few minutes went by as Tigh communicated with the ships.

"Sir, they still refuse to turn around. They just don't buy it." Tigh said.

"Then have a pair of vipers intercept the first ship, have them fire across the bow and then take up position on their six. Once there, they are to target every jammer, scanner, DRADIS and other equipment they have on that ship. Let them know we are serious."

"Yes sir." Tigh replied. He picked up a phone and relayed the orders. Within minutes two vipers were nearing the first Dragor ship. They fired across the bow and took up position on their six.

"No response yet, activating tracking systems." One of the pilots reported. "No joy, Locking on, arming missiles." There was a short pause. "Galactica, I have a lock, request permission to fire."

Just as Adama wanted to give the 'go' the DRADIS beeped. "Hold one."

"Sir, the ships are turning. They're not heading for Varian anymore."

"Thank the gods they turned around." Tigh said.

"No sir, they are not turning around, they are heading on a course that'll take them between the Dragor home world and us." A lieutenant reported.

"Recall those two vipers, have both squadrons take up cover positions near Galactica. Let's see what they're going to do now."

"Sir, if they continue on this course with the present speed their path will be closest to Galactica in about 25 minutes."

"Keep them under surveillance, I want to know if anything changes. Call me in twenty minutes." Adama said. He walked out of the CIC.

Twenty minutes later Adama walked back into the CIC. Nothing had changed and the Dragor vessels were still on their present course. "SitRep."

"The Dragor vessels are still on their course. That Dragor idiot called back again, he was outraged, didn't have anything useful to add. Our vipers have taken up station at our mid-ships defense zone, both above and below the damage."

"Is condition two still in effect?" Adama asked.

"Yes sir, all vipers are ready in the tubes, gun crews are standing by and a full watch has been set."

"Good."

A nearby console beeped twice. Adama and Tigh didn't pay any attention to it, consoles regularly beeped and there were other people to tend to those consoles.

"Sir, we're reading a large transmission to the lead ship." The petty officer's console beeped again. "The other ships are also receiving transmissions, as well as those in orbit of Dragor."

"Can we listen in?"

"It's not a voice or video transmission, its pure data."

"Still, can we intercept and read the message?"

"We're trying sir. But we haven't been able to get a match yet, perhaps it isn't any known language, perhaps they're codes."

Tigh leaned over to Adama, "Launch codes?"

"Or coded orders? Perhaps we just can't decrypt the encryption."

"Any activities aboard those ships?"

"None noted except for some nuclear signatures, but they're all related to an increased power output."

An alarm blared. "What's going on?"

"They're activating ECM systems, they're trying to cover something, but something is building, we're reading massive power surges."

"Set Condition one throughout the ship." Adama ordered.

Tigh reached for the phone, but before he could grab it and give the order all systems shut down at once. Some emergency lighting came back online.

"What's going on?" Adama demanded.

"No clue sir, I think we were hit by an EMP." Someone said. "Backup power should kick in soon."

Just as it was said the backup power kicked in. most systems came back online.

"Sir, what about our ships out there?" Tigh asked.

"Shit, launch recovery raptors and two more squadrons of vipers."

"Yes sir." Tigh called the orders through, he also rose the condition to one, since he hadn't been able to do it before the EMP.

"Power is coming back online." Someone said as the power got back, the lighting got bright again and all systems came back to full power.

Immediately numerous consoles beeped and a few alarms blared. This was nothing new after a reboot, usually sensor systems were quicker in detecting things than the computers that stored all known and tagged return hits from the sensors before the power outage.

"Sir! We've got massive activity."

"Tell me."

"Missile launches! That ship's launching missiles.

"Launch all vipers! Activate defense grid, create a FLAK barrier, all units and guns fire at will."

Immediately the defense batteries opened fire. Within seconds an effective flak barrier was established and the first vipers were already being catapulted out of their launch tubes. There was still enough distance between the Galactica and the Dragor missiles so the first wave was taken out quickly.

"Sir, first salvo taken out. We're reading a second, much larger salvo from the first ship. The second, third and fourth ships are also launching nukes, we may get swamped with missiles."

"Initiate nuclear attack mission. Prepare two low yield nuclear missiles for each ship coming in for an attack."

"Yes sir." A Captain said. The captain, together with Adama went to the missile control station, to the side of the CIC. Tigh stayed behind to continue giving orders as he saw fit.

"Colonel, those ships that were in orbit of Dragor, they are moving towards us, they are moving at high speed as well sir." Someone reported.

"We'll have to take care of them as well. Add those ships to the target list for the nuclear attack mission." Tigh said.

"All viper squadrons have been launched, first and second squadrons are combat ineffective and are being towed in by raptors."

"Second wave has been destroyed." Someone reported. "Third salvo is halfway, fourth salvo is being launched."

"Tell the Vipers to intercept as soon as they can!"

"They're trying sir, but they are unable to properly organize, some might get through."

"That's just fracking perfect!" Tigh replied. None replied to him.

One by one the Viper pilots reported kills and one by one the missiles disappeared from DRADIS. Unfortunately, some got through.

"Galactica, you've got some incoming, all vipers break, break, break!" one of the pilots reported.

"All hands, brace for impact!" Tigh warned the crew.

Seconds later everyone was thrown to the ground as the nuke struck Galactica. Seconds later the ship was struck another two times

As Tigh got back up on his feet he requested a damage report.

"Three low yield nuclear blasts to the port bow, the hull plating is holding all the radiation back, damage is limited to bent hatches and the kind, the armor kept most of the damage out. We do have damage to the forward thrusters, they are locked open, we're on a twenty degrees course towards starboard, thirty degrees down."

"What about the fourth wave of missiles?"

"It's been taken out by the blasts of the three hits."

"And our vipers?"

"Twelve lost, fourteen to damaged to continue, the rest is waiting for orders or a fifth wave."

"There isn't a fifth wave?"

"No sir, it seems they are either empty or waiting for orders, perhaps their sensors were blinded by the blasts."

"Very well, keep me informed of any occurrences." Tigh said as he walked to the missile control station. "Admiral."

"Colonel, missiles are launching momentarily." They both walked back to the central DRADIS console from where they could watch the missiles heading for the first four ships.

Just a few minutes later all four missiles struck home, the four ships were taken out.

"All four ships have been taken out."

"Another six ships are on approach from Dragor orbit. We have not yet received any radiological alarms."

"Have two squadrons intercept them, and have some raptors follow them in and perform radiological scans."

A couple of minutes later the raptors and vipers formed up and moved in. halfway through the raptors could get a radiological scan done.

"Galactica, we have positive matches on the incoming ships, they are carrying missiles, and a lot more than the previous ones."

"Copy, viper squadrons three and four, engage and destroy the ships, fire at will."

"Copy Galactica, engage and destroy, we'll be in range in 90 seconds."

Adama and Tigh, as well as a number of others tensely watched the DRADIS screen. The two groups moved towards each other quickly.

"Sir, the Dragor ships are turning, half of them a 90 degree turn to the starboard, the others to port."

"They are launching missiles!"

The DRADIS screen, which had focused on the six ships and the approaching vipers turned red as numerous missiles were launched. The vipers tried to intercept as much as possible but were overwhelmed. Some of the vipers were actually hit by the missiles.

"Send in all vipers, tell them to target the missiles that are going to the mid ships defense zone and the stern, have long range FLAK rounds intercept those missiles going for the bow. Once the missiles get to close fire full flak barrage." Adama ordered.

Suddenly the DRADIS console beeped and kept beeping. Within a few seconds the DRADIS screen zoomed out to show the entire surroundings of the Galactica

"Capital ship inbound! 069 Carom 121, CBDR 22400 meters!"

"Identify!"

"It's a Battlestar alright. Frak it's the Tjolver!"

"Connect me through to the Tjolver!" Adama said as he picked up a nearby phone.

"This is the Battlestar Galactica to the Battlestar Tjolver, Identify."

"This is Tjolver Actual, it's good to hear your voice Admiral, never thought I would again."

"Starbuck, good to hear a friendly voice."

"Same here sir. Do you need some help?"

"Yes, we're currently under attack, I need you to take out those nukes heading for us, we won't be able to take that much."

"Copy that sir."

Seconds later the Tjolver launched its air wing, and the ship itself moved itself into a position between the Galactica and the missiles. As more and more missiles were destroyed two more ships exited hyperspace, these were Tau'ri 306 class ships, though small and relatively weakly armed they made quick work of the Dragor ships that had launched the missiles before they rendezvoused with Galactica and Tjolver.

Twenty minutes later Adama gave the all clear and the ships stood down to condition three. Most vipers were recalled and the commanders of the new ships were called to Galactica.

Mk. 8 viper, on approach to Galactica

Commander Thrace gently lined her viper up for a standard approach.

"Viper 8737/Galactica, you are cleared for approach. Speed 175, port bay, dock 2, hands-on approach, checkers green, call the ball."

"Copy Galactica, I have the ball."

Without a problem Thrace brought the viper aboard and landed at dock two. Magnetic locks tied the viper down to the elevator she had landed her viper on and the elevator started bringing her down into the hanger bay. Within a minute her viper was powered down on the deck and she was out of her viper. As she signed off on the checklist given to her by the deck chief, a marine approached her.

"Commander, Admiral Adama requested I escort you to the CIC Ma'am."

"Why? I do know my way around a Battlestar."

"Ma'am, we've taken a lot of damage, we had to create some new hallways to make it easier to get from place to place."

"I see. Lead the way."

The marine led the way and minutes later Thrace was delivered to the CIC.

"Admiral." Thrace said as she saluted. The commanders of the two Tau'ri ships were already there.

"Commander, glad you could join us." Adama replied.

"Sir, we're already working on arranging a hyperspace tow for you, when can you leave?"

"Not yet. We've got to get some more units down here. Galactica's been trying to end a war, that nuclear entanglement you jumped in on was an attempt by the Dragor to get rid of us."

"So we call the Tau'ri to jump in on this, they've got much more resources than we do, Galactica's in no shape to do anything else than sit in a shipyard for repairs."

"Okay, commander Armstrong, have you contacted Atlantis and reported in yet?" Adama asked one of the Tau'ri commanders.

"Yes sir, we've got a battleship on the way, along with some relieve supplies and they probably have a diplomatic team aboard as well. Atlantis also sent eight hyperspace tugs to get Galactica to Earth to get patched up, they should be here within the hour."

"Okay, I'll have all my reports ready for that team, if you don't mind, I'd like you to beam up the Varian delegation, they should be standing by. I'll give them briefing of what's happened and what's going to happen. Afterwards, assuming that battleship has a diplomatic team I'll help with the introductions." Adama said.

"Yes sir." All three said. Adama dismissed the two Tau'ri commanders whom both got back to their ships. Thrace stayed behind. "So, you found us because of the EMP?"

"Yeah, we were the nearest ship, we were scouting out a nearby system, looking for you when we picked it up. We sent all the info to Atlantis before we tried a FTL jump, the computer gave an error so we went in by hyperspace, took a bit longer, but we got here anyways."

"I see. How's the fighting going on the colonies?"

"Pretty good, the Dominion are taking massive casualties. We haven't lost much ground." Thrace said. She waited for a bit. "Sir, I'm sorry for your loss, I eh.. I read the transcripts of the wireless… Gods this sucks. I failed bringing the news to Gianna to, I can't stand this."

"It's okay Kara. Nothing you could have done about it. Lee died going down with the ship, he probably saved our lives and destroyed a dozen more battle cruisers."

"The president sends her condolences, she's awaiting your arrival at Earth."

"You've been in contact with her?"

"Just a communique."

"How are Gianna and the kids?"

"It really broke her up, Lee gone, you missing, all that allowed her to keep it together were the kids."

"Those five are all that I've got left. And you Kara." Adama said trying to keep back his tears. "Galactica's probably going to the breakers, she has reached the end of her journey, the old girl will probably never fight again."

"You've got the President to, she's been moving heaven and earth to get as much as possible ships out looking for you. Besides, Galactica is a beacon of hope for the Colonial people, she'll retake her role as museum ship, that's for sure, no one will try to break her up."

"Anyways, I'll pay Gianna a visit once I'm done here."

"The faster the better." Thrace said as she saw a number of out-of-uniform people walking into the CIC. Adama noticed it and turned around.

"Delegates, it's good to meet you again…"

Adama quickly brought the delegates up to speed on what had exactly happened and what was going to happen. An hour later the hyperspace tugs were ready to bring Galactica back to Earth. Not much later the Tjover left as well. Meanwhile the Tau'ri had brought in some forces, mostly to help mediate a cease fire, this time much more forceful.

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