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Chapter 9

Once more, the Colonials and Federation sat down to talk, but this time, four new people were in the room. Another table had been moved into the 'circle', between two tables of Olympians, and seated at it were Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster, and Samuel Anders. They looked around the room at all the assembled people, and wondered what was going on.

Daniel Jackson opened this latest session. He introduced the four, in case someone didn't know them. "They are the four remaining of the final five, who originally came from the Federation. The fifth, was Saul's wife, Ellen."

Bill Adama spoke up. "I know that we have been aware of your identities, and I'm assuming that this comes as no surprise to anyone else here, but I'd like to know if the memories of your past, before Cavil erased them, have returned."

"Unfortunately, the only one of us who had any of their memories returned was Ellen," Tigh stated. "Cavil wanted her, and thought that the best way to get her might be to allow her to remember who she had been."

Adama sighed. He was very curious to talk to his friend about that aspect of his past. Not for military intelligence, however, but because he cared and wanted to know more.

Daniel Graystone waited until Tigh was finished, then spoke up. "Colonel Tigh, I knew you before Cavil erased your memory. I am truly sorry for what has happened to you and your friends. I wish I could help." He turned to Jackson and said, "We know who the final five are, or were. I know that eight models of humanoid cylons were made, and the first of those was John Cavil. I am unaware of what happened to the other seven."

"You're probably unaware of what happened to Cavil as well, but let me first say that the cylons planned to make multiple copies of the eight models. Galen Tyrol stopped that from happening."

Tyrol looked surprised. "I did? What did I do?"

"You encrypted the plans for each model, so that only one copy could exist at any given time," Jackson explained. "Cavil tried to bypass that encryption many times, but was never able."

"In that case, why didn't he just make more models?" Lee wondered.

"Designing a model is incredibly complex," Jackson said, "and ultimately, he considered mechanical models to be superior. Obviously, they couldn't infiltrate human society, but that wasn't as much a problem as it would seem.

"A cylon mind is a sentient AI, and each one made its own choices in life. Even the mechanical versions have their own free will. Cavil viewed that free will as sacred, and he refused to reprogram any of them."

"He certainly reprogrammed us," Anders observed.

"Yes, but you see, he didn't view you as real cylons." He held up his hand and said, "I know, it doesn't make sense. Biologically, you're the same as the eight models."

"You refer to eight models," Laura said. "We know of seven. Who is the eighth?"

"John Cavil is number one. Leoben Conoy is number two. D'Anna Biers is number three. Simon O'Neill is number four. Aaron Doral is number five. Natalie Balter is number six." He took a deep breath and said, "Sharon Adama is number eight."

"What?!" Bill exclaimed. "Yes, Sharon is adopted, but a cylon?"

"What does it matter, Bill?" Tigh asked.

Adama abruptly stopped the tirade he was building into and looked at his old friend. "Well…" he hesitated, then went on, "it really doesn't matter. I'm just surprised, is all. I had no idea at all that she was a cylon." He looked at Jackson. "Are you sure, Daniel?"

"I'm sure."

"You gave the names for one through six, then eight. Who is number seven?" Laura broke in.

Jackson looked uncomfortable for a moment, then announced, "I am."

Kataan…

Kamin woke with a start. He and his wife, Eline, were travelling back to the town of Ressik. They had left on a tour of towns in the northern province a few months before, and were almost home. Beside him, he felt Eline stir. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"I just had the strangest dream," she answered. "I can't remember it, though. It's fading like fabric in the sun."

"It must be the heat," he told her. "I had an odd dream that's fading now, also." He looked at the sky. It was getting lighter on the horizon, and he realized that soon the sun would be up. He stood and walked to where their possessions were arranged on the ground, and checked on their water supply. After five days journey from the last town, they were less than a day's travel from Ressik. They had plenty of water left, as long as they weren't wasteful.

"Are you finished sleeping?" Eline asked.

He looked back at the horizon. It was noticeably brighter than it had been a moment before. "If we start now, we should be in Ressik well before the sun is at its zenith. It will be good to be home again."

She nodded and stood. "Yes, it will. And you will amaze the people of Ressik with the things you have learned on our journey."

He smiled at his wife. He knew he was good at his craft, but his wife's pride in his skills was beyond measure. His skills had allowed them to make this journey, and at each town they came to, he had taught his craft freely. He had even shown the master ironweaver of the last town some tricks that he had discovered. In exchange, the master had given them lodging for nine days, and had been very sad to see them depart for Ressik.

They walked for perhaps three hours when their path converged with that of a solitary man, carrying, of all things, a sapling. As they drew nearer, the recognized him. "Batai!" Kamin called, excited to see his old friend.

The man turned at the sound of his name. "Kamin! Eline!" he exclaimed, setting down the tree. He held out his arms and embraced his friends. "It is wonderful to see you. How long have you been gone?"

"It's been six months," Eline said. "I'm so excited to be home!"

Galactica…

As soon as Doctor Jackson announced that he was number seven, everyone started talking at once. He stood there, motioning for silence, and when everyone's voices died down he spoke again.

"I wasn't aware of my status as number seven until recently. When Karl recognized Vala and me as his parents, we weren't sure how that could be. Vala isn't Q, so she was taken back in time by a friend who is, and lived her life with me on Caprica. After that, she was transported back to this time and I became a child on Earth.

"I was placed with an adoptive family and grew up a normal human child."

"No one ever suspected that you're not human?" Kara asked.

"But Kara, I am human. The method of growing a human body from DNA that the cylons were given, makes a body indistinguishable from a normal born human."

"So there's no way any of their doctors could even tell the difference?" Lee asked.

"My daughter was Daniel's physician for many years," Merlin stated. "She never suspected, and she's an exceptional doctor."

"The most someone might be able to find out was that I wasn't born on Earth," Daniel explained. "It's doubtful that they would be able to discover that, however, unless they did a detailed analysis of the molecules in my body."

"I'm certain," Lee said, "that your physiology was altered when you were reverted to a child."

"Actually," Merlin commented, "I told Teal'c not to modify him in any way, other than making him younger."

Pegasus...

In his quarters, Admiral Marcus Cain woke with a start. He sat up and his head felt like pieces of it were spooling up for a jump. He groaned and lay back down. He thought about last night and memories of the celebration almost made his head explode. One of the pilots, BoJay, had just returned from his thousandth flight and Cain made it a point to be in on all such celebrations. His people deserved it, and he refused to treat one pilot any different than another, except that his daughter, Helena, who was also his CAG, had a relationship going with BoJay. Thus, with BoJay, it was different and the Admiral had consumed copious quantities of ambrosia. He had started out the evening determined to limit his intake, but as it got later, his resolve made fewer and fewer appearances, until near the end of the evening, it seemed to evaporate altogether.

His phone rang again, and he realized that the first time it rang was what had awakened him. He fumbled beside his bed for five more rings until he convinced his fingers to close around the handset. He considered picking it up, then letting it fall back into its cradle to disconnect the call, but he was sure that whoever it was would immediately call back.

"Lo," he said, when he judged he had the receiver close to his mouth. It was all of 'hello' that he could get out, and he was secretly impressed that he was able to manage that.

"Good morning, Admiral," came the voice of his second in command, Sledge.

"Uh huh," he mumbled.

"Are you coming to the bridge, Sir?"

"Uh huh."

"Today?"

He made a bit more effort now, and managed to explain that he was going to take the day off, but he would be on the bridge in a few minutes, early for tomorrow's shift.

"Very well, Admiral."

Cain once again tried sitting up. His head still spooled up for a jump, but it was somewhat more manageable. Gingerly, he moved one leg off the side of his bunk, followed by the the other. He rose unsteadily to his feet, and made his way to the head. He took a long shower, then made his way to the galley. Maybe they'd have some blue jello. It sounded good this morning.

Bridge of the Pegasus…

Sledge watched over the bridge crew carefully. He had been a member of the colonial military since the first war, when he was a viper pilot. Over the years, he had built up to the position he now held. He had enough experience to be the commander of Pegasus himself, but he preferred to support his friend, the Admiral.

Finally, more than two hours after he was supposed to come on duty, Cain entered the bridge. He was hung over, but the only evidence beyond his tardiness was a slightly pale cast to his skin, and that his eyes were a bit red. Sledge hated to do it, but he stepped to his friend's side and told him, "Your presence is required on Galactica, Admiral."

A barely perceptible groan came from Cain's throat, but he nodded, turned, and headed for the hanger deck. Sledge pivoted in time to see the tactical officer turn back to his board with a grin on his face. "Do you have something to say, Mr. Eick?" the second in command asked.

"No, Sir," the tactical officer replied formally.

"I didn't think so," acknowledged Sledge. He smiled to himself as he surveyed the bridge crew. He was well known for his reputation as a viper pilot. He had trained many of the best, and his call sign 'Sledge' was almost as legendary as that of Marcus Cain. His call sign had been given to him because of the hammer he had hanging on his wall. It was supposedly a replica of Mjolnir, the famous hammer of Thor.

The reality of it was much stranger.

Galactica…

Cain walked into Guinan's and stopped. The people he saw sitting at the tables in the room were all familiar to him. Until this moment, he hadn't thought of many of them for over seventy years, but now…

Daniel Jackson, The First, The Commander, Guinan, Mitchell, Sheppard, Teyla… And sitting beside The Commander was Merlin. From depictions he had seen in books, he recognized many of the other people as Olympians, but he knew their real names now as well, and he knew that they were his friends.

He also knew that he had, at his disposal, considerably more power than the Olympians had. He was Q, and with a snap of his fingers, he could move this entire star system across the universe.

He walked up to the table, and Merlin said, "Hello, Jack."

"Grandfather," O'Neill said as memories continued to return.

"Felgercarb!" Kara exclaimed. "Another surprise?"

"Admiral Cain, is also Jack O'Neill, one of my best friends in the universe," Jackson explained.

"From the Federation?" Laura asked.

"Actually from over three hundred thousand years ago, on Earth." O'Neill said. "You see, I'm here because I broke a very important rule, and…" he broke off as Laura Adama flashed a scathing look at Merlin.

"You use our society as a penal colony?"

"Now that is a very large jump, Madam President," Merlin said mildly. "Jack said he broke a rule, not a law. To assume that your society is used as a penal colony by us is…"

"Not logical," The First completed the statement. "General Jack O'Neill, and his wife Samantha, who you knew as Elizabeth Cain, were not dangerous criminals. Their memories were suppressed and they were made to grow from childhood in your society. This was done to facilitate their learning the… error of their ways. The fact that Jack now remembers his past says that he has been judged 'reformed' by the Q."

"Looking at his record over the years," Zeus said, "Admiral Cain has made a significant positive impact in the colonies."

"He's the best military strategist we have," Bill said.

"Sledge has made quite a mark for himself too," Ronan added.

"Sledge?" The Commander asked.

"Thor," Sheppard clarified.

"Of course," The Commander said, as if that explained everything.

Command Basestar of the Cylon Empire…

The Imperious Leader sat in his raised throne. He had not moved from this position for many years. The last time had been when he oversaw the purging of humans on Gamoray.

Since then, he had sat, connected to the sensor network of the cylon fleet, watching as they chased the humans across the galaxy.

The humans believed the myths of their religion, but the cylons understood that myths were not real. When the humans found the passage to Kobol, he had been surprised that it actually existed. The Imperious Leader was not someone to miss an opportunity, however, so he had six basestars, including his own, plus the resurrection ship, go through the passage before the humans did. He never found out what the passage actually was. After the humans made it through, they placed mines inside, and when a second wave of cylon ships tried to traverse it, the passage imploded. Those cylons inside were lost. Truly lost. The resurrection ship was unable to retrieve them.

He was unable to fathom the fact that some of his people were completely lost. Since he had been made, there had always been resurrection technology, and it always worked. Now, however, several thousand cylons, and two of his own copies were gone.

He had taken solace afterward, by having a centurion place the proper receiver inside Baltar's brain, so he could be resurrected. Then, he had the traitor killed slowly, over and over. He knew it would not bring back the lost cylons, but he was hoping that it would give him some gratification. It did not, and he finally realized that it would not, until it was Adama and Cain rather than Baltar.

They had thwarted him at Gamoray, and over and over they had defied his attempts at purging humans from the universe. Causing the irretrievable loss of so many of his people was the final injustice. Thus, he made a promise to his people, publicly, that their lost siblings would be avenged.

They had hidden near the exit of the passage until they knew there would be no more cylons coming through. Then, they followed at a distance, letting the humans think that they were finally free of cylons.

Finally, the colonials settled on a planet that contained an indigenous population of humans. The Imperious Leader was unsure what to make of it. Where had these other humans come from? Were they from a different time? Were the final five wrong when they said that they were the last remaining people from their own race of humans?

He decided to terminate the entire planet, and the fleet of ships orbiting it, but frustratingly, he was not able to give the order. Instead, he suddenly found himself in a completely different location.

Galactica…

Once the reality of Cain's situation was revealed, The First stood and announced, "We have one more being to bring to this conference. The Q are going to do what the final five could not."

At the end of his statement, a glowing column of light appeared in the center of the circle of tables. A moment later, an IL series cylon was standing inside the column.

"What is the meaning of this?" the cylon shouted.

"My apologies, Imperious Leader," The First said, walking to where the immobile cylon could see him. "Or should I call you Lucifer? John Cavil? You have many names."

"You may call me what you wish, but may I know the name of my captor?"

Daniel Jackson stood and moved to The First's side. "Certainly, John. You may know."

Had his face been able to register emotion, Cavil's would have shown that he was astonished. "This is impossible. I killed you and Vala years ago."

"No, John, that's what you thought, and we allowed you to believe it."

"It's of no consequence," Cavil said in a tone that indicated he would have shrugged his shoulders had the paralysis field allowed him to. "I'll simply kill you when I'm no longer in this field."

"If that is your desire, your duration within the field can be extended indefinitely," The First told him.

Daniel observed the cylon for a time, then said, "I don't think that will be necessary, First." To Cavil, he said, "We are going to end the conflict between your people and the humans, John."

"What could possibly motivate me to end the conflict, Daniel?"

"Because if you don't, your life will end."

"You know as well as I do that I will simply come back. The resurrection technology doesn't fail," Cavil said in a mocking tone.

"I'm going to show you something, John," Jackson said, holding up his hand. "You see this hand?"

"Of course."

"Good. I wasn't sure where your optics were directed. Now what's in my hand, John?"

Daniel was now holding a cylinder, approximately a foot long, and six inches in diameter. It looked remarkably like a ZPM, only it glowed green, and wasn't quite as long.

"It looks like a memory module from the resurrection ship," Cavil observed.

"Yes," Daniel told him, "that's exactly what it is." He stepped to the edge of the field, so Cavil could see the module well. "Whose is it?"

"I have no idea. There's no marking on it that distinguishes it from any other."

"That's not quite true," Daniel objected. "No two memory modules glow in exactly the same color, and your optics are good enough to distinguish that unique chromatic signature."

Again, Cavil used the tone that indicated a shrug. "If it was a real module, it would be mine. That is assuming that it's real."

"Do you want to take the chance, John?" Daniel asked. "Besides, you know very well that it's real. You can sense the connection to it."

"I have no idea that it's real," the cylons said, "and I sense no connection."

"Oh," Daniel remarked casually, "then you won't mind if I do this."

He opened his hand, and the crystal fell to the floor and shattered. Several people in the room stood, and there were audible gasps from many.

For his part, Cavil shrieked. "Do you know what you have done?!"

"Of course, I do," Jackson said mildly. He turned his hand over, as if to cradle the now shattered module, and the pieces flew upward, reassembling in his hand. It flickered once, then held a steady glow. "Now," he said just as casually as before, "I think we've established that you know this is real, haven't we?"

"Yes," Cavil said, his voice now trembling.

"I'm glad," Jackson told him. "If I drop this crystal again, there is no power in the universe that will compel me to reassemble it a second time, is that understood?"

"Yes," the cylon said again.

"So let's go through this once more, shall we?" Jackson went back to his chair and sat down, his hand still holding the crystal where he could let it drop at a moment's notice. "We are going to put an end to the conflict between cylons and humans. Is that clear, John?"

Cavil was silent for a time, but when Jackson wiggled his hand impatiently, from side to side, he grudgingly said, "Yes."

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me, John."

Jackson placed the module on the table in front of him and gestured to The First.

"Very well, Doctor Jackson," the vulcan acknowledged and the field abruptly disappeared.

"Now," Jackson said, "we work out the terms."

"What terms?" Cavil asked.

"Your surrender."

Kataan...

Batai knocked on the door of his friend's house. He was on the town council, but his real job was to look after his friends. They were extremely powerful people, and could easily get into trouble unwittingly.

Kamin opened the door, and smiled when he saw who it was. "Batai!" he exclaimed, swinging the door wide to let his friend in.

A few years ago, a little girl had been born to Kamin and Eline. The child, named Meribor, came running when she saw Batai. She threw herself into his arms and squealed in delight. Batai talked to her and played with her for a few moments, then set her down on the floor. She ran off to tell her mother all about the visit she had just had, and Batai sat down to talk to Kamin.

"I just went to see the doctor," he said without preamble.

Kamin studied his friend's face for several moments, but could read very little there. He knew Batai had been sick, and was afraid of what was wrong. Several dark spots had appeared on his friend's face in the past couple of years, and although the doctor had dealt with them as fast as they appeared for a time, lately, it seemed as if he couldn't keep up.

"He says I'm losing the fight, Kamin."

"I know," Kamin said, "it seems as though you have more spots each time I see you, old friend." He paused for several moments, looking at his hands, then asked, "How long?"

"Six months at the most," Batai answered.

Again, Kamin said nothing for a long time, then looked up, his eyes swimming in tears. Before he could say anything, Batai stood, and said, "I'd better go for now, Kamin. I'll see you at the council meeting tonight."

After he left, Kamin sat very still, and very quietly for some time. Eline came into the room and wondered what was wrong, but said nothing. She would speak to Kamin about it later, after Meribor had gone to bed.

Prometheus…

Jack stepped off the transporter pad and looked around. It had been over seventy years since he had even thought about this ship, and he found it refreshing to use a transporter rather than having to take a shuttle.

Captain Janeway stepped out from behind the console and smiled. "Welcome aboard, General O'Neill, or should I refer to you as Admiral Cain?"

"Either one works," he said smiling. "I understand Rodney is aboard?"

"Yes, Sir, he is," she answered. "He's really been an asset since we've been in the delta quadrant."

"I'll just bet," O'Neill said, with just a trace of sarcasm.

"We have someone else aboard, who you definitely will want to see, General."

He followed her to a cabin, where she pressed the door chime, then turned to him. "I'll let you get re-acquainted."

She started down the hall as the door opened. O'Neill stood there, his mouth dropping open as he saw his wife, looking as young as when he had first seen her at Stargate Command, millennia ago. Sam smiled, and he entered the cabin.

Janeway had stopped about twenty feet down the corridor and watched over her shoulder. She saw O'Neill's reaction and smiled as he entered the cabin without a word, and the door swooshed shut.

She didn't understand all the intricacies of a Q fobbing, but she knew that Sam O'Neill had gone with her husband, but as Admiral Cain's wife, Elizabeth, she had died twenty years before. Because he was still fobbed, she had been unable to see him until such time as his 'sentence' was fulfilled. Therefore, she had transported herself directly to this time and place, so she would be here when Jack was ready.

Again, Janeway smiled as she imagined how she would feel after being separated from her husband for twenty years. Then she turned and headed to the bridge.