Thanks for all the reviews and encouragements. Happy new year everyone!

Disclaimers: It ain't mine 'coz if it were, Billy would have lived and Dualla would've ended up with him. And he'd have given her less grief too.

The Hammond hung in the fringes of the system that included P3X-985. It was the third day after First Contact with the Cylons. The Cylon ships had stayed for a few hours, until their recon mission came back to report the battle was over and that there were survivors at the site. In three days they had not returned. By all indications, they had stayed at the site of the battle. Long range sensors had been kept pointed in the direction of the battlefield and had not detected any spatial anomalies to indicate they had left. The Hammond for itself had spent the past three days sending teams to investigate the wreckage of the "Baseships" as the Cylons called them. Science teams were requested and received via Stargate to assist. Col. Carter personally led the investigation of the jumpdrives both on the destroyed Baseships and the recovered Raptor and Heavy Raider. Maj. Hailey she placed in charge of investigating the means of propulsion the Cylons and the Colonial Raptor used. Daniel Jackson had arrived with the science teams and had sequestered himself with Capt. Satterfield reviewing all the information they had on the Cylons, the Colonials and the languages they used. Everyone worked as hard as they could. A feeling was in the air. As if the universe was waiting on baited breath. That this was only the beginning.

The last fires had been put out. All those that could be rescued had already been rescued. Whatever could be repaired had been repaired. The toll was horrendous. Almost 70% of their number had died. Without Resurrection those deaths were final. Of their fleet only two functioning Baseships remained. The leaders of the Cylon Rebellion had now gathered, their thoughts deep in the datastream as they deliberated. It was time to reach a consensus as to what to do next. There weren't a lot of options.

Cavill's losses, while not insubstantial, were still far less than theirs. Five of his Baseships had been seen limping away from the battle more or less on their own power. With control of The Colony he had the resources to rebuild his fleet over time. More importantly, he still had resurrection technology. He could easily replace whatever losses in manpower he had. If he did lose any. Knowing Cavill he'd have risked as little of his humanform crews as possible.

Cavill would no doubt hunt them down. The only way against this was to remove at least one of his advantages. Either take the Colony or the Resurrection Hub. Either goal was unattainable with their current resources. Allies were desperately needed.

The most obvious one of course, were the Colonials. They would understand the ramifications of Cavill running rampant without a need for consensus to restrain him. Athena had gained a measure of their respect and could attest to it. The problem, of course was getting to the Colonials without getting shot at.

The new aliens Sonja encountered, these Tauri, were the other option. The Tauri presented quite the puzzle. So many unanswered questions. It was hard to tell whether they would even be sympathetic, as they had shown rather convincingly that they could take anything Cavill could throw at them and pay him back. With interest. On the other hand they did seem to take matters of security seriously. Many had noted that the Tauri did not actually claim the system where they were first encountered in as theirs. Only that it was "under their protection".

Sam happened to be in the Bridge when the Hyperspace window opened. "Reading IFF," the comm officer on station chimed out. "It's the Odyssey. They've detected us and are moving closer." Sam simply nodded. The Odyssey had opened its window close to P3X-985 deeper into the system. It would take them a few minutes to get to where the Hammond was.

"We're being hailed." Sam motioned to put the communication from the Odyssey up on a screen.

"Colonel Gant, congratulations on the new command." She greeted the newly minted battlecruiser commander as soon as her face came up. "Thank you," the other Colonel replied. It was the other two officers flanking her that Sam had not expected. "Cam, Paul, this is a surprise."

It was Colonel Paul Davis who spoke up. "Sam, could you and some of your officers ring over for a quick conference? We should be at your coordinates in five minutes. Please bring Dr. Jackson."

Sam just shrugged. "Five minutes it is, then. I'll have my team and Daniel ready."

"Third time's the charm maybe." Starbuck smiled. She could feel it. It was very close.

Helo was not so sure. This was the worst he'd seen Starbuck get. On the one hand she had never seemed so sure before. On the other, this was an area they had already surveyed twice. And that smile had never looked so... insane.

He sighed as Starbuck bent down to the floor to scribble some calculations on a notebook. This whole trip was built on nothing more than Starbuck's hunches. "Alright, I'll have Sharon prep to go as soon as Anders gets back from his scout." This seemed to catch her attention and she got up on her feet.

"Hey." Helo was genuinely concerned now. Starbuck seemed to be literally on the edge. On the edge of what, he was not really sure, nor did he really want to find out. "What about you? You been getting any sleep?"

"I duh - I don't know." Starbuck shrugged. Helo shifted at the non-answer. "It was so clear when I first got back." Starbuck elaborated as she turned and moved back closer to the bulkhead and the image she had painted there. It was a beautiful painting. A red planet, with a pair of stars in one corner. A comet made it's way across the lower half just under the rings common to most gas giants. "If I could... If I could just focus, I know that I can find that sound again."

Helo looked sadly at her and glanced around the room before looking down. He had unconsciously crossed his arms during Starbuck's explanation. "I gotta go see the CAP off," he declared, uncrossing his arms. After pausing he continued, "We'll talk when I get back." Hopefully she'd forget about this and be more rational by then. That was usually how insanity worked.

"Hold up." Starbuck stopped him before he could get out. "I think I'll go with you on this one." She was already sitting at the edge of bunk putting her boots on.

Helo's face assumed a look of uncertainty. "You haven't flown a CAP since we left the Fleet." He reminded her, trying to be patient.

Starbuck simply grinned at him. "I think I'll go with you on this one," she repeated.

The bright light of the ring platform flashed and Sam found herself and her officers in the familiar corridors of the Odyssey. A junior officer greeted them and directed them to conference room. Not that Sam couldn't have found it on her own. The Odyssey had been around longer than those 2nd Lieutenant's bars. And she knew every inch of it.

Presently they were all seated around the long conference table. Paul was presiding over the briefing.

"According to the information Col. Carter managed to get from First Contact with the Cylons, this was where the Colonials were last encountered in force." The Lagoon nebula was encircled in green.

"The other points of interest are Kobol itself, the so called home of the gods," a green spot lit up on the starmap, "and we believe the Colonial home system to be in this vicinity." A green area out on the rim was shaded. "This is Earth." A white spot came on, "and as you'll see..."

Cyrannus, Kobol and the Lagoon nebula all lay in a more or less straight line. That line missed Earth by a few millimeters on the starmap. A few millimeters translated into roughly a few thousand lightyears. "Whoa," Cam exclaimed. "You're saying these Colonials and Cylons somehow found a fairly accurate way of getting to Earth, and they found it out on the rim?."

"They are definitely headed in the right direction," Paul nodded. "But that is not our problem. Even if they do get that close, we're still talking about a few million cubic lightyears of space. And even if they do get to Earth and prove unreasonable or belligerent, we have no doubt that whatever assets we currently have on Earth will prove sufficient to deal with them."

"Our major cause for concern, is this." Paul pressed a button, and the starmap was bathed in more colors. It took a few seconds for everyone to process, but then everything was apparent. Earth and its offworld sites were represented by white dots. Varying shades of blue marked inhabited planets that Earth had made contact and had cordial relations with. Argos, Cimmeria and Madrona were barely past subsistence agriculture. They were marked in pale blue. Langara and Tegalus were relatively industrialised, and still recovering from damages sustained during the Ori Crusade. These were a slightly darker tinge of blue. Tagrea and Galar had recently launched space stations into their respective orbits and were slowly gaining technologies through their respective Stargate programs. Pangar and Orban had recently partnered with the goal of developing Faster than Light travel. These were a slightly darker hue than Langara and Tegalus. The Tok'ra territory was slightly spinward and slightly rimward. The Hebridans were slightly more remote in the opposite anti-spinward direction. Holdings of both spacefaring races were in the darkest blue. The Free Jaffa, due to their size and occasional belligerence, were an entirely different shade of purple. Limited by the hyperspace capabilities of their ships, their territory was mostly confined within the Galactic core. Interspersed around their territory were several splashes of red. Lucian Alliance territories. The Free Jaffa for now considered them beneath their notice so long as they stayed away from Jaffa occupied worlds, and the Lucian Alliance knew better than to attract the interest of the most extensive fleet in the known galaxy. Both the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri recognised the danger they could eventually pose though, and had been waging shadow wars to keep them in check. One disturbing slash of red looped around Earth's holdings and across the Colonials' projected path.

"Homeworld Command has therefore determined our mission objectives. We are to make contact with the Colonial Fleet. SG-1 is to assist Dr. Jackson in establishing friendly relations, I will act as senior mission commander and military liaison once, or should I say if, friendly relations are established. The Odyssey and the Hammond are to provide escort as they pass through Lucian Alliance territories. If the Cylons sue for peace we are to mediate, otherwise we are to deal with them as we see fit. Above all we must ensure none of that Wormhole drive technology falls into Lucian Alliance hands. We are to use any means necessary."

"I feel rage." Phoebe declared as Gaius held the picture of her family in his hand. Her family had died in the attack on Picon.

Gaius Baltar looked at her. "Against the Cylons," he clarified.

"Not just the machines." Phoebe was now visibly shaking. "Anyone involved. The engineers who designed them. The corporations, the politicians who provoked this war and then did nothing to protect us. And most of all... the Gods."

"The Gods. They stood by and let this happen." Baltar finished the thought for her. Even in his small enclave that statement was not made lightly. Worship of the Lords of Kobol was deeply ingrained into the Colonial psyche. Despite having ostensibly converted to the One True God, few of his followers would dare speak out openly against the old gods.

"Yes, I know, I know," Baltar continued, then he stood up. Times like these there was precious little he could do. Done was done. Deep down, this woman knew nothing could be done anymore. She just wanted, no, needed to know somebody understood her pain. Felt the same pain. Gaius moved closer and handed her back the photograph, then he wrapped his arms around her. "I am so sorry, Phoebe."

"I sympathize." He finished after letting go, still holding her hands. He turned back towards the dais to sit back down, taking a microphone in his hands. One of his followers moved closer to Phoebe and comforted her. He then launched into a sermon on the nature of suffering and forgiveness. On the helplessness and nonexistence of the Gods.

"Bridge to Col. Gant." The intercom chirped as Paul wrapped up his briefing. At his nod, the Odyssey's commander pressed a button on her console. "Report."

"A spatial distortion has been detected out on the edge of the system, BVR." The intercom chirped again. "Hammond says it's a generic civilian ship of Colonial design." The gathered officers all shared a look at this.

"We'd better find out what they want." Sam suggested, nodding at Hailey to take care of it. She took the hint and motioned for Satterfield to accompany her and translate. "Sir, I'd suggest we use 302's. No need to spook them with what assets we have here." Paul nodded in agreement.

As the two junior officers trotted out, Sam turned to Col. Gant. "Colonel, do you still have the Asgard Core aboard, and can I use it?" The other woman simply nodded. "I don't see why not. What do you have in mind?"

"Translator devices." Sam smiled. "The language we know them to use is familiar to us and there should be files in our databases. It should help us facilitate discussions without the need for Satterfield or Daniel to translate."

"Bridge to Col. Gant". The intercom chirped once more. "Two more spatial distortions have been detected closer in. We're reading ships, big ones. Hammond confirms they match the sensor profiles of Basestars. They just settled into orbit around the gas giant."

It was Cam who recovered first. "When it rains it pours."

"Come on, Come on. Come on," Starbuck muttered as she led the CAP ahead of the Demetrious.

Hotdog was getting uneasy. Starbuck had taught him everything he knew about combat flying, but weeks upon weeks of erratic jumping was starting wear that respect thin. "Starbuck, Hotdog. Didn't catch that, what are your orders?"

On the Demetrious, Helo knew what was going on and was having none of it. "Hotdog, Demetrious, you know the drill. Keep your eyes open and stick close to Starbuck's wing."

Starbuck just ignored them. "I know you're out here somewhere. Come on."

As if in response, DRADIS pinged. "Starbuck, DRADIS contact. Demetrious we got an inbound, one bogey bearing carom one-four-niner"Hotdog called out the warning. "Roger that," Helo replied then turned to Gaeta. "Call up the action stations, spool up the FTL for emergency jump."

Gaeta already knew what to do as soon as the call came in, and he sprung to action as soon as Helo was done with his instructions. "Action stations, action stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship, this is not a drill. Repeat, action Stations, action stations, this is not a drill."

Starbuck just stared straight ahead, waiting for visuals. Dradis had already confirmed it was a raider. She could take any raider traveling alone. It wasn't something to worry about.

"Son of a bitch, I knew it." Something monumental was about to happen. This raider was only the beginning.

"Starbuck, Demetrious, report... REPORT!" Helo was by now getting agitated, whether they ran or fought was entirely Starbuck's call as mission commander. Whatever Starbuck was on, she needed to snap out of it. Fast.

"Come on." Starbuck muttered. "Talk to me, shoot me, do something." This was it. Whatever was gonna happen, was supposed to happen now.

"Frak it!" Hotdog could no longer contain himself and started flipping safeties off of his coilguns. "I'm going weapons hot!"

"Hammond, please advise." Hailey had taken a pair of 302's to go meet the Colonials only to find a pair of Baseships in the vicinity by the time they had launched from the Hammond. As if that wasn't enough, a Heavy Raider had subsequently launched and proceeded to do a wormhole jump. That threw her current mission plan out for a loop. So she'd updated the Hammond and requested new instructions.

"Vampire lead, this is Mission command," a new voice came on the net. "Sensors confirm the colonials have launched a pair of smaller signals, believed to be fighters. Also confirmed, the Heavy Raider has jumped to the vicinity of the colonials. Proceed with original course. You are to observe and take action if necessary. Whatever you do, please bear in mind our mission parameters. Standby for hyperspace coordinates."

"Roger that. Vampire two start up hyperdrive, standby for coordinates." Hailey acknowledged and updated Vampire two, who then acknowledged her instructions.

They emerged from hyperspace into utter pandemonium. The larger of the ships, identified from radio chatter as Demetrious was requesting an update from one of the fighters, call sign Starbuck. At least that was what Satterfield thought. It was entirely possible that the fighter in the lead was Demetrious and that the larger ship off in the distance was the Starbuck. Hailey agreed this was unlikely however. Starbuck didn't seem to fit the ship that lagged behind. It was, in a word, ugly. It was reminiscent of a trashcan that had been laid horizontally. Engines glued to the bottom and a control tower tacked on to the side. Hailey's nose wrinkled. It was as if she could smell the stink just looking at it. A large trashcan, she amended, noting that it was big enough to piggyback these two fighters. Starbuck, on the other hand, sounded more like it belonged to a fighter jock's galaxy sized ego.

The fighters were an entirely different ballgame. Sleek, slim, fast, and sporting flashy white trimmed with red paint jobs, they were reminiscent of the darts used by the Wraiths of the Pegasus galaxy, but with a decidedly more human design aesthetic. Fairly similar in size, too. Hailey decided she liked them. Until one of them called out weapons hot.

"That's our cue. Vampire two, stay on my six. Unstealth markers on my mark, then take position behind the heavy raider." As the other pilot acknowledged, Hailey gunned her engines and started accelerating. Coming from behind and below the heavy raider, none of the colonials spotted them until just before she climbed up. Straight into the colonial fighters' field of vision. "Mark!" She called out just before they crossed between the colonials and the heavy raider. She planned on grabbing the colonials' attention. And it worked. Spectacularly.

"DRADIS contacts!" Hotdog called out just as the two marks appeared right between them and the heavy raider. Two huge things simply appeared from the blind spot directly forward and below where his viper's nose was. Fighters, he realized, of a design he had never seen before. They were huge. Larger than a raptor. He watched one climb up over the vipers and then loop into an impossibly tight turn before coming down into a course parallel with his. The dark paint jobs were almost invisible in the backdrop of space, although cockpit lights showed vaguely human shaped pilots. At this point, he realized the other fighter had taken position behind the heavy raider. A third faction, then.

"Attention, all colonial and cylon forces in the area are to stand down immediately. This region is under the protection of the Tau'ri. This will be your only warning."

Hotdog thumped a finger on his DRADIS display. The alien fighters had disappeared just as soon as they were done with their warning. He turned to check with Mark One Eyeball. They were still there, but frak if DRADIS could pick them up. That unnerved him. "Starbuck, what are your orders?" If it came down to a dogfight with these aliens, he'd bet on Starbuck. As long as she was on the ball, that is.

"Kara, I'm alone." The heavy raider's pilot decided it was time to speak up. "Look, please don't provoke the Tau'ri. They are very powerful and will not tolerate any fighting here. I'm here to offer a truce between the Cylons... and you. And a chance for you to complete your journey."

The voice continued in a different language, this time apparently addressing the alien fighters. There was a pause before the aliens responded. The language they used seemed vaguely familiar, though it was not something she could put her finger on.

"Leoben..." Kara muttered. She wasn't even listening to him. Since the Tau'ri had arrived she had been at peace. It was a strange sensation. As if all the static that had flooded her mind since the nebula had vanished. She throttled down and peered out at the fighter they used. Turning to her side, she then looked at Hotdog and the fighter that was pacing him. The fighter chose that moment to bank, showing Hotdog its underside and the row of missiles stowed there. She breathed deeply before speaking.

"Stand down. All units stand down."