The Hour of The Wolf
Chapter Fourteen

Jean-Luc kept his face impassive as the Colonial Council argued. In theory their joining the Federation should have been simple. As a developed, space fairing, race the Colonials entry should have been complete in a few weeks. The standard treaty had been written specifically for this sort of thing. All it should have required was a democratic referendum by the Fleet followed by an open vote in the Federation Council to accept and then they could get to work.

Unfortunately this was anything but standard. The problem was Colonial politics were governed very much like classical Ancient Rome. Where the senate, in this case the Council, should be in command as the voice of the people. Unless an emergency arose, in which case one leader was chosen to command. Since the Cylon holocaust and their exodus Adama had been that one leader. Acting in a state of marshal law. In the years since the Colonial Council became little more than an advisory body that spent most of its time arguing with itself.

It was easy to see that the Council was far more interested in continuing that way than taking any responsibility. Leaving Adama to make all the decisions. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that they had to decide everything. Right now they were arguing about fair representation for all Colonies on the Federation Council.

Jean-Luc stood up and waited for them to recognise him. With Ambassador Spock on route back to Earth to meet with the Andorian representatives he had been given the task of representing Federation interest in the debates. 'If I may?' he asked and gave them a moment. 'You will forgive me, but as someone looking at this issue from outside I must say I am confused. You represent the Twelve Colonies of Kolbol. As such you are one people, one civilisation. I am afraid with that in mind the Federation Council would only be able to allow one representative.'

Jean-Luc waited again, this time for all the shouts of 'Outrageous' and 'Impossible' to die down. 'However, I have a suggestion, if you are willing to hear it.'

'Please, if it will help I'm sure we'll all welcome it!' Siress Tinia, one of the few moderate voices around the table, supported him.

'As long as we are not obliged to follow it.' another Sire muttered darkly.

'If proper, equal, representation is the issue I suggest the appointment of a Ambassador from outside the Council. One whose duties are to all the Colonies, not just to one single tribe.'

There was a moment where several of the Council members looked around, their faces covered with chagrin. He hadn't made many friends with his proposal. 'Capital idea my boy, capital!' The elderly Sire Anton chuckled. It seemed the practically ancient man was on his side as well as one or two others, including Adama. 'Just as we are here to serve our people they should serve us.' Anton said. Jean-Luc couldn't tell if he was playing some long game, or just as tired as he with the endless posturing of the others.

That sparked off another round of discussions, how the representative should be decided and more importantly how they couldn't be part of the military. After a few minutes there was a chime at the door and in walked Colonel Tigh. 'Commander, Council members. Forgive the intrusion, you wanted to know when our recon patrol returned from the planet suggested for our people. They've just finished decontamination and are waiting outside.'

Adama rose. 'I propose we table our current discussion until after the report, as it may directly effect our decisions.' There was a rumble of agreement. 'Colonel, would you show them in, the full Council should hear what they say.'

Tigh froze for a moment and shrugged. 'Lieutenants, Ensign.' he ordered and in walked two Colonial pilots and Wesley. 'Council, may I present Lieutenants Troy and Dillon, who piloted the Viper survey of the system and Ensign Wesley Crusher, Enterprise helmsman that joined them. He was the young man that found the system and suggested it.' Jean-Luc fought to keep the pride from showing, once again the young man had shown he was right to have placed his faith in him.

'Good to meet you young man.' Adama nodded. 'If you want to start by giving us an outline of the system.'

Wesley looked a little nervous, but at Jean-Luc's quiet nod of support he straightened. 'It's a young system, with a few small inner planets and an outer asteroid belt. The planet, well moon, doesn't have a name yet, it's just listed as a location of interest in the system. It orbits a gas giant and is slightly larger than Earth. The poles are covered in ice, with a few small islands. Most of the land mass is central and fairly stable.' The Council members around the table looked interested. Jean-Luc didn't blame them. It sounded fairly idilic.

'How much of the surface is inhabitable?' Adama asked.

'Its a rough sixty percent land. Mostly rock and dirt, some trace metals on the surface. There were some scientific expeditions before, I pulled the records before we left. They think that because it's so close to the gas giant it took longer for the surface to cool, so most of the metals are trapped in the mantle.'

'Which shouldn't be a problem.' Lieutenant Troy added. 'The nearby asteroid belt is massive and has more than enough material for our needs.'

'Good, good.' Sire Doma said sitting back. 'Your observations were made available before you left. There was a reference to low oxygen content that had me concerned.' He pointed out

Wesley took the lead on that one. 'It's designated proto-type M. Which means that while it's not quite up to Earth, or Caprica, ratios it will be soon. There is only small amount indigenous fauna and no native animal life, but there is an abundance of algae. Given just few hundred years it should be up to standards.'

'As it stands the air is breathable, if a little thin. A few atmospheric re-processors to accelerate things and we could have Caprica standard within a yahren or three.' Lieutenant Dillon supplied.

'And the relative isolation? From what I understand we will be stuck on the far side of the Federation. All but cut off from Earth and most of the galaxy.'

'Only from a Federation perspective.' Troy reminded him. 'Our drive is a lot faster at distances like this than the Federation's trans-light technology. We'd be no more than a quick jump in a shuttle away.'

'What about our fuel reserves?' Tinia asked. 'How long until our tylium supplies dwindle down to nothing.

Troy grinned. 'Thats the best part, the gas giant it has tylium to spare. More than enough, trapped under an inert layer of gasses. It might take some careful processing, but that shouldn't be a problem.'

'So, to summarise, the planet is perfect. Once we put in a little work and with a little help' Adama pointed out.

'Which I'm sure Federation engineer corps will be happy to supply.' Jean-Luc offered.

'Doctor Salik is still there, with a full medtech team.' Dillon announced. 'He's concerned that there may be some minor pathogens down there, but our decon screen came back clean. I think he also wanted to run some tests on the algae, see if it was edible.'

'Still contact the Enterprise, have their doctor look you over too.' Adama suggested and the three of them were dismissed.

'Wesley.' Jean-Luc called after him.

'Yes captain, I mean… sir?'

'Give my regards to your mother. Tell her I saw you, and that you did a good job.' The boy beamed a smile at the well deserved praise and left.

'His mother?' Adama asked.

'The Enterprise chief medical officer.'

'I see.'

While the Dominion had been suffering attacks before hand it wasn't until the assault on their Outpost that war was officially declared. With the loss of such an important strategic site their response was both predictable and absolute. As soon as word reached the Founders they dispatched one of their own, along with a fleet of overwhelming force, to retake the sector and destroy the attackers.

The Founder chosen was, to some, known as the female Changeling. However, to attach anything like gender roles to her kind was to be mistaken. The fact of the matter was gender was as indifferent to Changelings as it was to rocks. She appeared this way to solids simply to give them something to relate to. That and she found her thought process in this form more agreeable than others she had assumed over the centuries.

From the command of the large Heavy Cruiser she waited the interminably long seconds for the ship to drop out of warp. It had taken several days to gather a fleet this size without weakening defences across the Dominion, but it was worth it. Almost a hundred vessels, most of them Fighters, was more than enough to liberate the system. No matter the size of the attacking ships.

As they dropped out of warp the Founder was disappointed that instead of five command vessels there was only one left in system. Realising that the others must have left in the time it had taken them to get the attack force ready she knew it was going to take longer than expected to hun them all down. 'Hail the remaining ship. Tell them to surrender.' She ordered.

'No response.'

'Have they activated their jamming field?' According to the reports they had a strange jamming technology that prevented detailed scans and disrupted communications.

'Negative Founder.'

That was odd, but it was possible they required time to prepare the system and this attack had taken them by surprise. Or that it took power to broadcast the signal and they otherwise needed it for defence. 'Send the Fighters to destroy the vessel.'

'Yes Founder.'

As she watched wave after wave of Jem'Hadar Fighters broke formation and swooped down on the vastly out gunned ship. It's response was to launch the assault shuttles the reports had also referred to. One hundred of them.

The battle was joined, tiny shuttles against the larger and more powerful Fighters the out come was inevitable. Even so the Founder watched as the Shuttles fought back as if fear and certain defeat was nothing to them. Weaving in and between her forces, firing at an incredible rate. It began to look as if space itself was full of weapons fire. Quickly their pale blue energy blasts took a tole on her forces. Then, as if a last desperate attempt, they began to ram. Crashing into the fighters on deadly suicide runs, whatever powering them creating an explosion that destroyed shuttle and Fighter alike.

The Jem'Hadar fought back, knowing the eyes of their god were watching. Shooting down shuttles as if they were there for target practice. A single focused shot at a time, but it wasn't enough. All too quickly the desperate battle was all but impossible to follow. Then with a startling suddenness it was over, almost as fast as it had began. In that quick, bloody and vicious exchange she'd lost nearly thirty Fighters. Another ten were badly damaged and falling back. Less than half could still fight effectively.

There were no shuttles left, but her forces losses were high. Too high for her liking. It was time for new tactics 'Order our Fighters to fall back, bring in our cruisers. Have them arm torpedoes.' The Jem'Hadar obeyed as the huge ship enemy began to rise from it's position above the planet. It entered the battle by firing on the retreating Fighters.

The enemy command ship's weapons created a cloud of energy blasts, nearly impossible to avoid. As the Fighters scrambled to escape the attack the much larger attack ship pressed on. At first she thought it was trying to escape too, but then she saw it was approaching not retreating. Spinning lazily, as if bringing something to bare it followed the Fighters towards her waiting Cruisers.

With a shudder of foresight she ordered; 'Evasive manoeuvres!' and wasn't disappointed. It fired its main weapon, a blast of near pure white energy. The shot penetrated their shields and blasted a warp nacelle clean off, sending her Heavy Cruiser listing to one side. Consoles and panels exploded as power systems overloaded across the ship. The Changeling was nearly knocked from her feet, like the rest of her crew, but she merged her feet with the deck. Anchoring herself in place. 'Return fire, all torpedo tubes. Blow it out of space!'

They fired and a score of Cruisers followed, twenty in all, each launching six torpedoes. As the swarm of bright white missiles streaked across the system and the Cylon ship responded. It's secondary weapons trying to intercept the torpedo barrage before it hit.

It was too little too late. While some were shot down before impact most of the energy torpedoes slammed into the ship. The combined detonations almost blinded The Dominion sensors. As the screens cleared she expected to see debris. Instead, against all odds, it was still there. Damaged, hopefully beyond repair, but still active. Great fires raged across tit's hull and she could see atmosphere venting from multiple breaches. 'Don't let them escape!' she ordered, but that didn't seem to be their goal. either they were too badly damaged or driven by the same suicidal orders as their shuttles. Either way the ship hadn't changed course and was still coming straight for them. 'Fire again. Fire again!'

The second wave of torpedoes hit just like the first and destroyed the enemy vessel, leaving it's wreckage to rain down on the planet below. Hiding a sigh of relief the Female Changeling looked at the damaged done to her ship. 'Contact the ship yards and the cloning facilities. Have them step up production immediately.'

Cyblus watched the data feed from his patrol craft. It was holding position just within sensor range, watching the battle progress. So far everything had gone to plan. As he watched the incoming sensor reports the Dominion fleet destroyed the lone Basestar he'd left behind. 'Have the patrol raider return, it's mission is complete.'

'Now you see the power of the Dominion.' his prisoner, taken from the first attack and now in chains by his side snarled. 'The Founders will not forgive what you have done.'

'Your Dominion is powerful, but the Cylon Alliance is invincible. One basestar is just a small sacrifice.' He scanned the organic and found it afraid. 'Do not be afraid, you are not to be harmed. You are to be given as a gift, to the Imperious Leader himself when he arrives.'

Will pressed the door chime and waited for an answer. 'Come' Came the familiar voice and he tapped the activator. Inside was the Captain, packing the last of his bags. 'You know Number One, the problem with moving is you never realise just how much stuff you collect until it's time to box it up.'

Chuckling Will picked up a book and read the title. "Understanding the human mind, by Ambassador T'Pol"?'

'Just looking for a little inspiration.' He admitted. 'Negotiating with the Council of Twelve I feel like they're just as alien as any other race we've met. Maybe an outside perspective might help.'

Will thought about that for a moment. 'Sounds as good an idea as anything I guess.' With a shrug he dropped it into the nearest carry case. 'This the last of it?'

'Yes, the rest of my belongings have already been shipped over to the Galactica.' He gave Will a look. 'I was hoping to slip away with the minimum of fanfare.'

'I guessed as much, that's why it's just me.' Will admitted lazily. 'What about that?' he pointed to the Horga'hn from the Captian's trip to Risa.

That got him a smirk. 'Oh, I think that can stay here. Along with this.' He pulled out a bottle of what looked like real alcohol. 'Chateau Picard, 2346. My sister-in-law likes to send me a few bottles every so often. It's a vintage year Number One, you should know when it's the time to open it.' With a serious look he put it on the desk. 'The bottle, the desk and the ship is yours Will. Do it justice.'

Over the months he'd tried to talk the Captain out of leaving, with no luck. Eventually he'd had to accept that it was the right thing. 'I'll try, until then at least let me carry your bags.' With that he hefted the carry cases over his shoulders.

The Captain, Jean-Luc, was a little hesitant leaving this now former quarters. 'I told you. Just me.' Will offered.

'I think I know you too well Number One.' he chuckled. 'Alright, I'll play.'

Outside in the corridor Will tried to break the silence. 'So I heard the Andorians agreed to let the Colonies settle.'

'Not so much agreed, but didn't seem to care. Anything more than a lightyear from their borders might as well be the other side of the galaxy. Give it a few more years and they'll be worse than the Tholians.'

'Who knows, maybe our new friends might draw them out of their shell.'

'We can hope.' Jean-Luc admitted. 'Whatever happens the people of the Fleet are going to have a difficult time ahead of them. They have an entire civilisation to rebuild, but something tells me they can do it. They still have hope.'

Will nodded as he shifted the weight across his shoulders. 'I still can't imagine what they've been through, but you're right.'

They stopped just outside the transporter room. 'At least you didn't pack the corridors Number One.' With that he opened the door.

Will hadn't fooled him for a second and he knew it. Of course, inside the transporter room was the main bridge crew. The only person not present was Shelby, who had volunteered to hold down the bridge with a couple of junior officers.

'Captain,' Began Wesley. 'We came… Well we wanted to say…'

'Good luck sir.' Geordi helped the young Ensign and the others nodded.

Deanna stepped forward. 'We know how difficult this decision has been for you, and for us. For three years you've been the Captain of this ship and they've been some of the best years of our careers. You've pushed all of us and shown us how to be better officers than we ever thought possible. So from all us, we wanted to thank you.'

'Here, here.' Will added, but the former Captain shook his head.

'I just let you find the limits of what you were capable of. It's I who should thank you. I've served on many good ships, with great officers. That said you are the best crew I've ever been fortunate to work with. Every one of you.' With that he took his bags from Will and headed to the transporter platform.

'Jean-Luc, I… I have some leave time coming.' Beverly told him. 'When things have settled down I hope you won't object to me visiting.'

'No. Far from it.' He smiled. 'In that case this is far from goodbye, more au revoir. Mr O'Brian, do you have the co-ordinates?'

'Yes Captain.'

'Then, chief; Energise.'

Adama watched as they approached the new system, the system they were going to call home.

'Omega, open communications. Fleet wide.'

'Fleet wide, on.'

Adama took a breath. 'People of the Fleet, We have suffered so much. Endured the harshness of space. Many friends and family members have have not made it, but in their memories we have continued. Pressed on. Survived.

'As we now know our struggles were worth it. Earth is the centre of a great civilisation. An alliance, bound together though the same ideals we ourselves admire and share. But for all our fortune we must accept that which we cannot change.

'Rumours have spread that Earth is under the rule of non-humans. This is not true. What is true is that Earth is far too populated to find space for us. We must accept that we cannot land on the world we have dreamt of for more than a generation.

'Yet in this vast galaxy of possibilities hope is not lost. We have found a new world. Untouched and fresh with the promise of a new beginning. A world where we can start again. Rebuild all that we lost. This time all thirteen tribes will be united. Together with our new allies we will face the old challenges, the old difficulties. Together we will build brighter. Stronger than ever before. A New Kolbol for a new future.

'That future is here. As I speak the Fleet is approaching orbit of our new home. Soon we will begin making preparations to land. I ask all of you to wait until we have found and secured a site to settle on. Our first steps will be our most difficult so we must take the utmost care. Thank you. Thank you all for having the courage to see this through.'

The command deck broke out into a round of applause as Adama closed down the comm line. 'Good speech.' Tigh congratulated him.

'Thank you, old friend. With any luck it will be the last one I'll have to give.'

'Commander?'

Adama lowered his voice to a whisper. 'A new start Tigh, I've done my part. It's time for someone else. As soon as the new colony is established I will step down. Return governing our people to the Council. It's time I retired Tigh.'

End Chapter Fourteen