Revelation
2 weeks after Strike at Picon, Day 95 since the fall of the colonies
Admiral Thorn was still in charge while Admiral Stryker remained in sickbay. Since the majority of ships had some kind of damage, the fleet was slowly limping toward the civilian fleet ahead of them. Admiral Sounders did exactly what Stryker ordered; get back to Avalon and do not stop at any cost. Atlantis as well as two other ships were in bad shape and it was unlikely they would be fully battle ready anytime soon.
Theseus Sick Bay
"Absolutely not. That is not going to happen," Admiral Stryker said furiously, still lying in his bed in the Theseus sickbay.
"She is wrecked, it would take a large amount of resources to repair her and bring her to full operational status. It would be much easier to simply build a new ship," Admiral Thorn said, "I know you love that ship and that it was your home, but she was almost completely destroyed."
"It survived the impact of a 250Mt nuke, any other Battlestar would have exploded but not Atlantis, and I have absolutely no intention of letting her be scrapped. Once word comes to the civilian fleet about the battle, and from the sight of seeing her damage; she will become a legend, and a bringer of hope to the civilians. They will feel safe knowing that Atlantis is guarding them. This conversation is over and I do not want to hear about it again. If need be, I will take all the resources needed to repair her. You must understand that ship saved my life more than twice," Admiral Stryker said.
"I understand, but as I said it would be much better scrapping her. As you wish though, Atlantis will get priority in repairs once we rejoin the fleet. If we increase speed we might be able to catch our fleet in a few days. Do you want me to get a full report about the fleet's status?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"No, I already know," Admiral Stryker said.
"If I may say, your plan worked almost perfectly. We lost only two ships, and unfortunately we lost half of our fighters," Admiral Thorn said sadly.
"It might sound like small losses compared with the enemy, but still we lost too many. However, I am at peace knowing that the survivors on Picon will be safe for now. Having the full defense grid, those ground based cannons, and the marines will keep them safe until we can return. If that is all, I want to rest now," Admiral Stryker said.
"Of course," Admiral Thorn said and left the room.
After Admiral Thorn left, Admiral Stryker tried to get sleep, but it didn't work. For the last five days he hadn't been able to sleep and had been having nightmares of the colonies being nuked while he was in middle of it, watching his friends and crewmembers dying all around him, and seeing the Atlantis X.O. dying. At least Stryker thought to himself, Commander Haller survived. Nightmares, they followed him each night, each time he tried to get at least an hour of rest. He won, but paid a high price. After he thought about it, he knew Thorn was right; they had been lucky this time, catching the Cylons by surprise and losing only two ships. What would have happened if they lost half of their ships or all of them? It would have been a real disaster.
"I must stop thinking," Admiral Stryker said to himself, "can't take this anymore." He was worried. What would come next; the Cylons are not defeated, this will only anger them, and they will try to find the fleet. The civilians saw Atlantis as the flagship, the ship that saved them many times. If he lost her, it would bring morale even lower than it was, even if there were other much stronger ships in fleet.
After some time, Stryker finally got some long wanted sleep, but the dream he had was strange. He tried to wake up only to find that he was surrounded by light.
"You finally came," a female voice said.
"Who are you, where am I?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"So many questions you have, as always," the female voice said amused.
"Very few of our children get to this level to be able to communicate with us," the voice said.
"I don't understand?" Admiral Stryker said.
"You will; you will evolve more than others, you will understand things no one else can. You are tasked with a most important mission; saving your people from extinction. Many others believed your race was too primitive and you would destroy yourselves with your constant fighting with each other, but in the end your own machines did it for you," the voice said.
"Show yourself," Admiral Stryker said, not comfortable with this; he liked more to talk in person and watch the other person's eyes.
"As you wish," the voice said, "I am here."
He turned and saw a young woman maybe in her late 20s, in a white dress with long golden hair. He stood watching her; somehow there was something familiar about this woman.
"Who are you?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"You don't recognize me? How sad," she replied.
"I do not," Admiral Stryker said.
"Very well, I am Athena," she said watching him. As she knew would happen and expected; he did not understand or believe her.
"That cannot be, Athena is a goddess. The protector of Libran," Admiral Stryker said.
"That is a true in a way," Athena said.
"I believe that the gods are myths, and I am from Caprica; why are you showing yourself to me?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Hmmm everything strange and new is a miracle to others; to the one who first sees a fire it will be miracle, who first sees lightning it's a miracle. Your species called us gods simply because of what they saw us able to do," Athena said.
"You mean you are real, your species?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Yes. We found humans on a distant planet where they evolved naturally, during one of our earliest expeditions in that sector of space. Your race was primitive, in chaos, but it was only the beginning. We saw a great potential in humans, but also a capacity for great destruction. We took a few of them with us to the planet that you call the birthplace of humanity: Kobol. We observed and watched out for you. We taught you art, science, and everything that you know today," Athena said.
"But why, you are more advanced than us. Why waste your time with such a primitive species, trying to teach it something?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Time is irrelevant for us; we do not have the same view of time as you. We evolved many millennia ago. Our species was much like yours; we began to search the stars in space, and in our journeys we found a race even older than us. The race we found taught us much and helped us to evolve. Unfortunately we didn't see that their motives at the time were not honest ones. They were at war with a very old and deadly race; a race that we do not have a name for except the Purifiers. We didn't know then that they wanted us to become their foot soldiers to have someone to fight for them. We fought together with the elder race because we knew that the Purifiers would likely see us as another enemy if they won the war. We created sentient machines to fight the purifiers. They fought the purifiers and won, and they locked the survivors away for eternity.
There was peace for a time. Unfortunately it was short lived as our machines turned against us, seemingly due to a virus infecting them and their decisions. They destroyed the older race and then turned their sights on us. We were able to fight back and we defeated them. There were survivors and they escaped in the corners of space, hiding so we couldn't find them. Time went by and we assumed the machines had either died out or left us alone in peace. We evolved and moved on through space, in time finding your race in a primitive state on your original home world. When we came across your race and we decided to help you, to teach you as the older race once taught us – to prepare you so you could stand on your own and defend yourselves. We brought several thousand of your species to the planet you later named Kobol. Centuries passed and your kind evolved, becoming more civilized but also more destructive; organizing yourselves amongst tribes and fighting amongst each other. Slowly but surely, Kobol became a prosperous world despite your kinds fighting and the 14 tribes of Kobol continued evolving their technology," Athena said.
"14? 12 colonies of Kobol exist and we believed the 13th to be a myth, but we've never heard of a 14th," Admiral Stryker said interrupting incredulously.
"That is because everything known about the 14th tribe was lost after their sudden departure from Kobol; their disappearance in the eyes of the other tribes seemed like the gods were punishing and destroying them. The truth is that a few thousand years before the exodus of all the tribes, the 14th tribe composed of scientists and the smartest humans on Kobol departed to make a home on a new planet, seeing that the rest of the tribes would eventually destroy themselves. Hermes, Demeter, and Aphrodite took them on a journey to new worlds far from Kobol. You found one of their colonies, one of their attempts to seed their lives on new worlds," Athena said.
"We found one world, a dead world, and lots of debris in orbit," Admiral Stryker said.
"A monument. Unfortunately for them, the sector of space that you call Terminus was crawling with harvesters. The 14th tribe made first contact with our creations, the Harvesters as we called them when they went rogue, a hundred years later and were almost entirely decimated in the next two decades. Only Aphrodite from the three guardians that left with the 14th tribe survived. She moved what was left of the tribe even deeper into the sector, to a new world that the surviving Arcadians colonized and made their home," Athena said.
"Arcadians?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"That is the name of their people based off the colony they created," Athena said.
"Are they still alive?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Yes, and they know that you are there. They have observed you, but they fear to introduce themselves because of the harvesters. They want to warn you about the danger that surrounds you, but they can't," Athena said.
"What happened after their departure from Kobol?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"For some time it was an ideal place to live, but 2000 years after the 14th tribe left the 13th tribe set out for their own home far from Kobol as well. The thing you must know first though is that the 13th tribe was not made up normal humans. We tried to play god and made our versions of humans because we saw the mistakes and imperfections your race had. They were smarter, stronger, and better organized and as such they were out casted from the other tribes quite quickly onto an isolated island away from the other tribes, long before their exile. Outcasts from the other tribes joined the 13th tribe over time. A few hundred years passed since the 13th tribe came together, and several tribes started a war. Seeing that this could destroy them all, the 13th tribe departed Kobol with Apollo's and my help. They travelled to a world that they called Earth. We believed they would live and prosper, but we were wrong. After a thousand years they went silent. I myself went to see what happened; all I found was that they had annihilated themselves. They created an AI: the first metal Cylons, who rebelled and a nuclear war started that destroyed their civilization. The few that survived left Earth to warn the rest of the tribes not to make their own Cylons.
But after devastating wars that lasted for centuries, Kobol was no longer capable of sustaining life, so the remaining 12 colonies departed the planet with a guide of remaining guardians. They came to the Cyrannus system where they found 12 planets capable of sustaining them; 12 planets that were terraformed by us years ago, knowing that it would come to this. Several of us stayed for a time, but eventually we left believing that it was your destiny to evolve on your own. We were wrong.
At the time the survivors from Earth finally arrived at the colonies, the 12 colonies of Kobol had already been at war with their own mechanical Cylons for a decade. So many deaths, so many pointless deaths, with my guidance and help from the survivors from Earth the Cylons agreed to stop the war if they could look like humans. The Earth survivors agreed to make them human bodies and thus the human models of Cylons that you've seen recently in the second Cylon war of the twelve colonies were born. The rest of history you already know, more or less," Athena said.
"And why have you chosen me?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"You were chosen because you are a natural leader; you pledged yourself and your life to save all your people, and to start a new civilization. You were chosen because you can defeat the Cylons and the harvesters. Avalon will be a prosperous colony, and in the future humanity will rise again; without our guidance, without help. Now sleep, you will get your answers with time," Athena said.
Admiral Stryker slept for 12 hours. He didn't believe all that he saw; the woman called Athena, the history that she told, he believed that it was a dream, only a dream.
Invictus, Avalon system
In the large observation room, Commander Krasner, Governor Miral and Chief Williams talked about recent events that started with moving Sanctuary in orbit of Avalon.
"From what our scouts said as soon as the probes appeared in system where we found Sanctuary and they saw that it was missing; reinforcements arrived. One mothership type of ship and two or three dozen probes. They started scanning the entire system. If they continue looking for Sanctuary in surrounding systems it'll only be a matter of time before they find us here," Chief Williams said.
"How can they find us, when we are in a separate system several jumps from there?" Governor Miral asked.
"I don't have the right answer to that governor, but it's possible they can track FTL engines and even if they can't, searching the entire system will eventually lead them here when they've searched everywhere else," Commander Krasner replied, "now, I have put all units on action stations just in case they show up, but unfortunately governor this is only one of the problems we face now."
"How so?" Governor Miral asked.
"With the last transmission we received from the fleet, there are almost 3 million survivors coming to Avalon. Right now we only have a place for 350,000 to 400,000 at best. We benefited from the 6500 people from Sanctuary joining the work crews on building cities while sanctuary was repaired, and we used the automated equipment on the surface to construct buildings at a very rapid rate. We completed the first city and the surrounding military bases, and then rushed construction on 7 other cities after hearing how many people were coming, but those buildings we completed in those cities were mostly huge apartment complexes to hold more people in fewer buildings. Even with all the automated abilities of the construction equipment and the boost of people working on the planet, there's still only so much we can do in a short amount of time," Commander Krasner said.
"I told you commander; leave your military projects for later after the fleet arrived, but you didn't listen. It was already enough that we have so many busy with repairing the Sanctuary, now we also have teams building that other ship too," Governor Miral said angrily, his eyes narrowing.
"Those 332 workers work fast, yet it will take them about another 2 months to finish the new gunstar. There's only a few hundred workers on the gunstar and sanctuary, so there really wouldn't be very much improvement had those workers been on the planet instead. Also, Sanctuary is eating a lot of our resources, but if we want to keep those probes out of Avalon Sanctuary is the best protection that we have. She is much stronger and resilient than Invictus. Since Invictus is our main production facility, we must do everything to protect her as well as the planet," Commander Krasner said.
"Did we receive any news from the fleet?" Governor Miral asked.
"Yes governor, the fleet is on its way here under the command of Admiral Sounders. Admirals Stryker and Thorn led an assault on Picon. From their last transmission, they destroyed the enemy forces there, but lost two battlestars. Admiral Stryker was wounded, and Atlantis is out of commission for the foreseeable future; she was hit by a 250Mt nuke," Commander Krasner said.
"My gods," Chief Williams said shocked, "she survived?"
"Yes she did, but she's in very bad shape," Commander Krasner said.
Governor Miral was preparing to leave when Commander Krasner stopped him. "Governor, by the time Atlantis and the fleet arrives, we will have enough room for 1 million people in cities, mostly in large apartment complexes, and we'll have enough tent areas to bring down a large amount of the remaining civilians so they have a place to stay while we create buildings for them," Commander Krasner said.
"Thank you commander," Governor Miral said.
An unknown system on the edge of galaxy...
Unknown planet at the edge of the system; dark, without life, uninhabitable for humanoids, and full of volcanos and gases. However on the top of the highest mountain a palace stood, surrounded by some kind of force field that imitated a blue and sunny day and protected all those inside from the rest of the planet.
On one of the balconies, a young woman sat and watched the holographic sun, while a man approached.
"You shouldn't do that, if your father finds out about it you will be in trouble," the man said.
"Ares my brother do not be alarmed, he will not find out about it. I prepared for this for a long time," Athena said.
"Nevertheless, you know the rules; we guide the humans, not interfere with their lives," Ares said.
"This is not interference; it was only a short communication with one human. And I doubt he will tell anyone, and even if he does nobody will believe him. He was injured," Athena said, watching her brother's eyes.
"Yes, maybe, but do you really think he can understand what you said to him?" Ares asked.
"Humans have changed much in all these years. They are still primitive, crude, and fighting with each other. But they are advanced enough to travel between the stars. They have a lot to learn, but they have the opportunity to grow and improve, to be far better than before on the twelve colonies," Athena said.
"I see you trust them, a race which a long time ago evolved on a backwater planet, primitives. Now after all these years, they still fight against each other, and they even managed to bring themselves to the brink of extinction," Ares said.
"It is not their fault," Athena said defensively.
"How so? They created those Cylons; giving them artificial intelligence, they started making life - even if only mechanical, they started to play gods," Ares said.
"Isn't that what we have been doing for all these millennia? Just because we have advanced far superior technology than them, and we have the ability to exist as pure energy even for short time, does that make us better? We were just like them once," Athena said.
Athena's race evolved to the point that they could turn into pure light energy, but only for a few months. Some members like her father evolved completely, which allowed them to be energy all the time, and become immortals. Although all of them are immortals in one or another due to their advanced tech and superior bodies allowing them to live such long lives. But still they are capable to retain their original humanoid look. In their energy form they are able to live forever, in humanoid form their lifespan is about 40-100 million years. Over the years and eons more and more are evolving to the state of pure energy, retaining their humanoid shape only if necessary.
"We helped the humans; we took them from their original home world when they were still primitives. We guided them as the Corians did with us," Athena continued.
"And they still didn't learn, no matter how well we tried to guide them. I admit there is improvement, but still, the destruction of 12 colonies proves just that. If the Cylons didn't do it, they would have destroyed themselves in a matter of decades or centuries. It is still in their nature to fight among each other," Ares said.
"Have faith in them brother, I have and you should too," Athena said.
"Why?" Ares asked.
"Because they have the potential to be much more than they actually are. Yes they are evolving and learning slowly, but if they survive they will eventually evolve to our own point of existence. Any other race we've encountered so far would use every means necessary to rise and exterminate or conquer others. Humans don't; they struggle to survive. Their new home that they colonized far from the 12 Colonies system is a new beginning. They will succeed, no matter how hard it is. Admiral Stryker himself will eventually find his peace at the birth place of humanity," Athena said.
"Is that fact or prophecy?" Ares asked.
"Both," Athena said.
"Fine sister, but limit contact as much as you can. Even if you must only communicate with Stryker when he's asleep. If father finds out, you are on your own, you know the law well," Ares said.
Battlestar Atlantis C.I.C.
Commander Haller observed the command center, still in ruins. The news that Colonel Slater died from her injuries struck Haller deeply, as well as the fact that almost 800 other crewmembers shared the same fate.
Thanks only to the admiral; this ship was spared from being scrapped for parts. Admiral Thorn insisted on it since the ship was in extremely bad condition. Thorn tried to assure Admiral Stryker a few times that they would build a new ship, but Stryker didn't want to hear about it. Haller didn't blame Stryker, after all this was their home for almost 2 years. And they would not abandon it, no matter how badly damaged the ship is.
Still it would take a lot of resources to put Atlantis back in one piece. From what Thorn said, this time the flagship would receive some nasty upgrades, no matter what Admiral Stryker said about it, and there was no argument from Commander Haller about Thorn's decision.
After a few more minutes, Haller left C.I.C and went straight to his quarters. After he got inside, he opened the locker in his desk and took a small bottle of ambrosia then sat on his bed and took a few sips from the bottle. No doubt the Cylons are pissed, Haller thought to himself. They will do everything they can to find the fleet and destroy it after this. At least we secured Picon. With the defenses left behind and the orbital defense grid, Picon will be safe for a while. And we know all seven human models of Cylons. They will not fool humans again. After taking a few more sips of ambrosia, Haller picked up the repair report, reading half of it before returning it to the desk. Then he took out another paper containing blueprints of a new mechanical walker that Olympia R&D section was making. A 13 foot tall mech unit with one operator inside; which was armed with two 8 barrel guns, and four missile launchers. New ceramic-ablative armor was developed specifically for ground vehicles as well.
When the Cylons meet this new colonial toy, they will be shocked, because the walker would be capable of dealing with centurions as well as raiders. But still it was just a blueprint. The actual prototype was not completed yet, and from the last reports construction hasn't even started. Nevertheless it would be a fine addition once completed.
Commander was broken from his thoughts after hearing someone knocking on the doors. He hid the blueprints and bottle in his desk locker.
"Come in," Commander Haller said.
The doors opened and Major Morales entered the room.
"Sir, here is the report about our viper strengths and losses," Major Morales said.
"Thank you major, have a seat. Did we lose any veterans in the recent battle?" Commander Haller asked.
"Yes sir we did; Dick "Spunge" Roxter and Alvin "Chieftain" Stomper, they were the best viper pilots I have had a chance to serve with," Major Morales said sadly.
"They were indeed," Commander Haller said nodding.
"The majority of our losses were rookies. Unfortunately this battle proved to be hard as hell for them; they were simply not ready for it," Major Morale said.
"I am sorry major that we used most of your pilots for the raptor assault on their hub," Commander Haller said.
"Tell me that it was worth it," Major Morales said.
"It was. We found some encrypted data that once we decrypt may prove useful; we also got samples of their jump technology. It's pretty advanced; more advanced and accurate than our own. Also a few biological samples," Commander Haller said.
"Why do we need the biological samples?" Major Morales asked.
"The Cylons know they can't fool us again Major. They know that we know about all of their seven models. Except for the final five, if it's true what our Cylon "Guests" said, though even they don't know where the final five are and have even been programmed to not think about them," Commander Haller explained.
"All five?" Major Morales asked.
"Yes. But the Cylons can also do surgical changes to try and fool us again to infiltrate our fleet. With what we recovered, we might be able to construct scanners that will detect them. And if there is any in the fleet we will find them sooner or later," Commander Haller said.
"I see, sir," Major Morales said.
"Is that all major?" Commander Haller asked.
"Yes sir, and since Atlantis is not in the shape for a fight, we transferred all of our fighters to the other ships until she is repaired," Major Morales said.
"Under whose orders?" Commander Haller asked angrily.
"Admiral Thorn's sir?" Major Morales said uncertainly.
"Hmm, that will be all major, thank you," Commander Haller said and Major Morales left the room quietly.
"Damn Thorn, if the Cylons intercept us Atlantis will be unprotected, no matter the mobile dock defenses and fighters. One more nuke and this ship that hardly survived won't be repaired," Commander Haller said to himself.
5 Days Later, 100 Days Since the Fall
The battle fleet finally met with the main fleet. Admiral Sounders was happy to see that so many ships survived the assault on Picon, but her smile disappeared when she saw Atlantis. She barely recognized flagship, wondering how the hell it was possible that anyone survived on that ship.
Civilians on ships with windows observed the incoming ships, many barely breathing after seeing the extensive damage on the Battlestars, and there was no ship without damage, even the Warstars had some.
Atlantis and another Battlestar were put on the Unity for priority repairs, and the remaining badly damaged Battlestar was docked with the external docks on Eternity. The loss of the Freedom and Athena was heard all around the fleet. Civilians who had members of their family serving on those ships questioned around if any of them survived.
But word that Cylon forces at Picon were destroyed and that the planet was safe for now was a big boost to morale. However not all were happy, some questioned the military if it was really necessary to go to Avalon when Picon was secure. Couldn't they return and re-settle on it? They had plenty of ships for protection.
Still there were lots of Cylon ships, including the one big dreadstar, from the Cylons fleet that could threaten Picon. Also, after Caprica was destroyed, nobody really wanted to return to Cyrannus anymore. Avalon was their new home, whether they liked it or not.
Admiral Stryker was released from sickbay on Theseus. Since he was still not in shape to return to duty he was given quarters on Unity, letting him work from his quarters until his ship was repaired and he was ready for duty.
Admirals Sounders and Thorn entered Stryker's current quarters.
"Sit down please," Admiral Stryker said sitting on the desk.
"Admiral you should lay down, you are in no shape to wander around," Admiral Thorn said.
"Your concern is touching," Admiral Stryker said sarcastically with a smile, "the reason I called for you is our next step."
"Next step?" Admiral Sounders asked.
"Yes. We know that the Galactica and her fleet survived and headed to the Promar sector. I want five ships to head to the Promar sector to find her and bring her back to Avalon," Admiral Stryker said.
"With all due respect, we just returned from battle. Half of our ships are not prepared for a fight, we..." Admiral Thorn started to say before being interrupted.
"I understand Admiral Thorn, but we may have a clue where she is. Our Cylon pris..guests on board this fleet said that they had a possible location or route where Galactica's fleet is heading. As we know, Adama is trying to find Earth. If we can find him, we can bring him to Avalon," Admiral Stryker said abruptly interrupting Admiral Thorn.
"You forgot the large Cylon fleet following the Galactica," Admiral Sounders said.
"Actually no. My plan is simple; find Galactica, and either destroy a large portion of their fleet or set a small ship with a plotted course deeper in the Promar sector for the Cylons to continue following. Even if they don't, there is no chance they will find us. This order stands and I do not want any discussion about it," Admiral Stryker said firmly.
"Who will lead the fleet and which ships?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Commander Belzen, I gave him command of the Vanguard. The other two Battlestars in the group will be the Valkyrie and Chimera," Admiral Stryker said.
"What? Two Mercuries, but we need them!" Admiral Thorn yelled, "My apologies, I go too far."
"No it was my mistake that I didn't inform you before of this plan. However I want two strong ships to participate in the search for Galactica and with good reason. From our cylon guests we found that the Battlestar Pegasus survived as well and headed to Promar too, shadowing the Cylon fleet. These ships are more insurance against Cain than the Cylons," Admiral Stryker said.
"I know sir that you have grudges with Admiral Cain but…" Admiral Sounders said.
"No grudges, if Pegasus finds the Galactica Cain will take command of the fleet, and you both know what she is capable of. After leaving her executive officer to die, after dismantling the civilian fleet and killing the families of those that didn't want to join her crew… She is unstable and I want to have the force to take Pegasus if needed, not destroy her, but disable and the right person for this job is Commander Belzen. He will want payback no matter how good friends they were before and he knows Cain and the Pegasus better than anyone else. The other two ships will be one tanker and one supply ship.
I also want the prisoner ships gone through and the prisoners with fleet experience and minor crimes to be immediately drafted into the fleet: their crimes wiped clean in exchange for their services in the fleet. This should get us about a hundred more fleet personnel that we could desperately use. I want the civilian shipyards to start production on more mining and refinery ships which we will need at Avalon, in addition to their services in helping to repair the civilian ships with engine trouble on the way to Avalon. I want our shipyards to start running through the salvageable ships we retrieved from Picon and Caprica; they are to scrap the ships too damaged to repair or would take years to fix and use their parts to repair and update our other warships. This could also allow us to put extra weapons such as cannons, missile launchers, and point defense onto some of our Battlestars. Other ships that can be repaired from the salvageable wrecks are to immediately be put to task, so hopefully when we arrive at Avalon a majority of them will be ready for duty. I also want the R&D department running through the jump engine designs we received from the Cylon resurrection hub and to start doing what is necessary to upgrade our own set of Nav and FTL systems. Moreover, I want our heavier transports to be upgraded with FTL drives using similar specs to Atlantis and Argona for the return trip from Avalon to the colonies. Now, that is all, you are dismissed," Admiral Stryker said.
In the corridor leading to the left flight bay...
"I don't like this plan. Those ships are going with only a small amount of supplies they can take with them. Tylium tanker but no mining ship. If they don't find Galactica within a few months to a year they will be forced to come back before they are stuck out there with no way to return," Admiral Thorn said.
"They can't be far away. I believe they can find Galactica and maybe Pegasus as well. Cain must pay for her atrocities that she committed," Admiral Sounders said coldly. She never liked Cain; she was too arrogant, stubborn, and acted like a dictator, not an Admiral.