Chapter 13
Atlantis
"Hello Madam President. My name is Colonel Alex Morgan, this is Teyla Emmagan, Teal'c, and Ronon Dex, I believe you've already met them?"
The President took her eyes away from the astounding room she had just beamed into long enough to glance at the people behind the Colonel. "Yes… I have." Laura composed herself, turned and gestured to the people behind her. "This is Gaius Baltar, Sharon Agathon, and Samuel Anders. I believe Teal'c, Teyla and Ronon have already met Sharon?"
The three alien warriors stepped forward and greeted the President before moving on to greeting Athena, Anders and the Doctor. Sheppard, who had also accompanied the President down to Atlantis, shook hands with Alex. "Welcome back to Atlantis Sheppard."
"Thanks." John replied. "Good to be back."
"How's Colonel Carter?"
"Not bad, now." John replied. "McKay and Daniel were with her when I left. She should make a full recovery, and hopefully Thor can speed up the process when he gets back…"
Alex agreed. "Let's hope so. It's certainly nice to have him about. How is General O'Neill?"
"He's meeting with Admiral Adama about recent events. He seems to be dealing with matters well, but then that's what I'd expect from him when it comes down to it."
"I can't argue with that." Alex replied, before turning to the Colonial delegation. "Alright, if you'll all follow me we'll commence the tour of the city. This room is the Mess Hall which we're hoping to use to host a feast for you later this evening, and believe me when I say it's going to be quite a tour…"
Galactica's Infirmary
"Sam?" Daniel was the first to notice that his friend was coming around.
"…Daniel? What happened?" Sam asked, feeling slightly disorientated.
Daniel smiled, at one point he thought he wouldn't get to talk to her again. "You were shot. Dr. Cottle and his team managed to save you… We were really worried. You woke up over an hour ago, but before we could get here you fell back to sleep. I've been waiting for you to wake up."
"Hey!" McKay butted in from behind him. "You're not the only one! Sheppard was going to stay too but he got called back to Atlantis, the president just arrived down there."
Sam managed to muster a small grin. "It's nice to see you too, McKay."
"Daniel's right, we were worried about you…"
"But Their doctors say you should be alright now." Daniel continued. "So just focus on getting better. There are people on Atlantis who want to see you as soon as possible."
"Vala?"
The smile on Daniel's face grew. "How did you ever guess?"
Battlestar Galactica
O'Neill sat in a seat against the wall of Adama's quarters. The Colonials weren't exactly equipped with spaces appropriate for different sorts of meetings and discussions, and Adama had come to find his quarters was one of the best areas on short notice when there was no where else available. With recent developments, and the Quorum and the press so busy speculating and twisting things, this was one of those times.
Adama walked over to O'Neill with a glass in one hand, and a bottle of the some of the finest Ambrosia left in the universe in the other. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened here General." He handed Jack a glass as he spoke. "What happened was totally unforgivable. Colonel Carter's attacker has already been taken to the brig, and believe me he won't be getting out for a very long time."
"Good." O'Neil replied, before taking a sip from the cup. "But right now I don't want to talk about that… issue."
Adama stared up from his own glass to look at the General. "Because you don't think it needs discussing?"
"No. Because if I do I think I might end up getting pretty pissed off again. And right now, that isn't what we need."
The Admiral decided it was probably best not to press on with the matter. "Then what is it you want to discuss?"
"Well, the IOA are looking at your stay in Atlantis as temporary… Very temporary. Once the threat of the Wraith is dealt with, they want you to start looking at a plan of action, what you want to do. As you know, your people won't be allowed on Earth yet. However, they may be willing to permit a delegation to Earth in order for you to see it, and to show you that we are the real deal."
"I don't doubt you." Adama retorted.
"That may be, but you can't tell me all of the people in positions of power can be as certain as you?"
"General, I'm usually the last person to accept something as truth right away. I don't know why but, I fully believe you and your people are who you say you are. There are those who've expressed doubt, you're certainly correct in that respect. They'll come around. I don't want to compromise the politics of Earth, if there's the smallest chance that we could be a danger to your disclosure plans than I don't think we should go through with a visit."
Jack sighed. "Believe me, they're going to find out sooner or later. There are plans in place to reveal everything to the public, but we're not planning on using them for at least a few months. We're not quite ready yet. But trust me, that shouldn't stop the visit. We've gotten good at stuff like this, you know."
"I'm sure you have."
"Either way, whether you choose to come or not, we've already devised a possible plan for you. My people at the SGC have put a list together of inhabitable planets that are close to Earth. They don't have Stargates yet and are off the grid, so you shouldn't be bothered by anyone. They also have enough resources for you to become self-sufficient, and when the time comes for your civilisation to take a place on the Galactic stage I'm sure those resources will come in useful. We can help you get set up. It'll be one of the biggest operations we've ever undertaken, but I'm sure it'll be worth it."
"Thank you General. I can't express my gratitude enough." Although the Admiral didn't let it show, his facial expression remaining the same as it had done throughout most of the conversation, O'Neill knew the man was sincere.
"I wanted you to know all of this before negotiations start down on Atlantis. You can tell Roslin when you see her, but you might want to keep it quiet from your Quorum and… what's he called? Zarek?"
"Don't worry General." Adama replied. "I have no intention of telling them."
Atlantis
"This place is amazing…" Sam Anders expressed his awe at the Ancient city, it was like nothing the Cylon had ever seen. Colonel Morgan had taken the group to one of the many balconies that overlooked the main cluster at the centre of the city, to give the guests a true idea of how impressive the Ancients were.
"And you said this city flies?" asked Gaius, rather confused at the prospect.
"That's right doctor." Replied Sheppard.
"Well, my apologies if I don't accept that as actually being possible." The man, undoubtedly the Colonial's greatest remaining mind, was starting to grate on the Colonel's nerves. He had been asking irritating questions since the tour had started.
John could understand that the city would be… surprising to people, to say the least, but the arrogant and smug way Gaius Baltar expressed his opinion, even though he was totally wrong, was annoying. Right now in fact, Sheppard felt like punching the man in the face. But that wouldn't send a very good message to the Colonials… or would it? "Look doctor, Rodney McKay or Colonel Carter could explain this much better than I could, and if you wait a little longer I'm sure you'll get a chance to talk to them. For now, can we just keep questions to until the end of the tour?"
Sheppard took Baltar's exasperated expression and the following silence to be a 'yes'. John walked up to the railings of the balcony and took in the view like the others.
"Don't worry." John turned to look at Anders standing beside him. "He's always like that."
Sheppard cracked a smile. "I'd never have guessed." There was silence for a moment as the two men took in the view, before the Colonel turned back to Anders. "So… In the preliminary information documents we got from Galactica it was mentioned that you're a Cylon…"
"Yeah…" Anders replied after a few seconds, over the chatter of the other Colonials, humans and... apparently aliens on the other side of him. "I didn't know at first… I've come to accept that side of me, but I've never let it get the better of me. When Lee Adama was President he granted me and three other Cylons amnesty. One of them chose to go and live on the damaged Cylon Basestar."
"Really?"
"She's a traitor." Sam replied.
"…So you still consider yourself Colonial?"
Sam paused for a moment and stared out at the city. "…I consider myself tied to the Colonials in a way that, quite frankly, I find hard to explain. I'd never betray them. I'm a Cylon, I accept that… That doesn't mean I want to be one though."
John turned and looked out at the glistening skyscrapers of Atlantis, just as Anders was doing. He respected him, he seemed extremely loyal, to people who weren't even his own. "You know, we should all come back up here at sunset with some beers. That dinner's supposed to be more of a political thing. Big, boring… A bunch of people basically having a 'mine's bigger than yours' contest and trying to get leverage over the other side. Not really a place for soldiers and warriors." Sam smirked. "You got that right."
Colonel Morgan turned and addressed the group, drawing the attention of John, Sam and the others. "Now, let's move on to the infirmary, it's just down the hall. I expect the facilities will be useful to you and your Doctors."
Alex walked back into the hallways, with Roslin and Baltar by her side. The warriors followed.
SGC
Hank Landry stood looking at a screen in the control of the SGC. On it, the image of Colonel William Bolton appeared. "Colonel, good to hear from you." Hank allowed a friendly smile as he greeted the commander of Earth's new flagship, the Dauntless. "I'm impressed. We knew your people we're trying to get the ship out as soon as possible, but this is very impressive."
Bolton chuckled. "They certainly did work their assess off. But, when were back in the green and we've got some other ships back in the Galaxy I think we're gonna need a few more weeks to get her totally up and running."
"We expected that Colonel. Now, I'm sure you're very anxious to start your patrol…" Landry notice the look on the Colonels face, and he could help but smirk a little. "…But first we've got a mission for you."
This piqued Bolton's interest. The prospect of searching the outer rims of the solar system for cloaked ships had not exactly filled him with joy. "And what would that be General?"
"The colonials provided us with information regarding their old Colonies during preliminary meetings. We want you and your crew to check them out."
Now that was more like it. "Sounds very interesting. Just one thing though, I thought you said the Cylons invaded their Colonies? Are you sure we want to risk start a war with these… people?"
"According to the Colonials, the Cylons chose to leave the Colonies and they no longer inhabit them. You shouldn't have any trouble."
The Colonel chuckled. "Don't worry General. I was more worried about their wellbeing than ours."
Daedalus
Caldwell's least favourite part of the job was just sitting around in space, waiting for something to happen. The vast majority of the time, nothing happened and he felt his time had been wasted. This time however, it was different. The Colonials were counting on him and the Daedalus to protect them considering Galactica couldn't.
"Sir…"
Caldwell turned to the man sitting at one of the command consoles of the Daedalus. "What is it Major?"
"There's a ship dropping out of hyperspace… It's the Asgard."
Karl Agathon watched from the front view screen as the green tendrils of the hyperspace window reached out into space, before the large alien ship dropped back into real space and the window shut down.
"Open a channel." Caldwell ordered. One of the bridge crew nodded at the Colonel once he had done as he had ordered. Caldwell nodded back in response, before turning to look at the Asgard ship out of the view screen. "Thor?"
"Colonel Caldwell, I apologize that we have taken longer than expected."
Karl turned to Caldwell. "Where's the Galactica?"
"I was wondering that. Thor, what's going on?"
Agathon turned to Caldwell. "I'd prefer to hear it from one of my own people."
Within seconds, Apollo's voice came over the intercom. "The Galactica stayed at Atlantis. There's been a change of plan, but it means proceedings on their end have been able to start early."
"Good enough for me." Caldwell said, but Karl didn't say anything, turning and staring at the ship once again. "So what happened Thor?"
"There have been a number of problems. We are now going to attempt a different way of taking the Colonial ships back to Atlantis. It should be faster, and safer."
"Safer?" Steven didn't like the sound of that. The 'problems' Thor spoke of could be worse than expected.
Galactica's Infirmary
"Can I come in?" Kara stood in the door of Galactica's infirmary. Usually she would have just walked straight over to the person she had come to see, but this time, after all that had happened; even she decided it would be better to ask first.
"Sure." replied Sam. "Pull up a seat." Kara grabbed one of the chair from near the infirmary bed and dragged it closer, sitting near the woman from Earth. "I've been meaning to thank you for what you did. If it wasn't for you that guy definitely would have killed me."
"Think nothing of it." Kara replied. "I kind of needed to make it up to you anyway, after what happened on the planet and in the brig…"
"I'd already forgiven you for that." Kara looked at Sam, a little shocked. "I know what you and the rest of the Colonials have been through. And believe me; no one wants to see your people find a new home more than me. It's the least you guys deserve after what the Cylons did to you. I'm just happy you were here when that soldier attacked me. I thought you were supposed to remain behind on the Daedalus with Lieutenant Agathon."
"Change of plan. I really didn't want to leave the Galactica. Karl said he could handle things on his own, and the Admiral let me return before they jumped to hyperspace. I thought I would be more useful back here than I would on the Daedalus." Kara allowed herself a slight grin. "I guess I was right."
Sam returned the smile. "I guess you were."
Dauntless
Colonel William Bolton sat in the Captain's chair of the Dauntless, watching as the image of General Landry disappeared from the front window which doubled as a screen for communications such as the one he had just seconds before been a part of.
"Alright people, you heard the man, change of plans."
Major Gibson, once a member of the SGC herself, turned to the Captain. "Sir, we are receiving information from Stargate Command. The package includes the exact locations of the Colonies."
"Thank you Major." Bolton had been briefed on the Colonials, and he was very interested in seeing where they came from, as well as getting a first hand look at the destructive force of the Cylons. He turned back to Major Gibson. "Set a course for Caprica, and make the jump to hyperspace."
