A/N: Standard disclaimer: We don't own any of the franchises. Just fans. Please review!

Chapter 16

It had been three weeks since Bill and Lee had spoke with O'Neill and seen Enterprise. Now, Bill was preparing to take Galactica to Iconia Prime. This battlestar was going to travel farther in one jump than any had before.

On the bridge, for the occasion, were the normal complement, plus O'Neill, Fargo, Helena, and Thor. They were clustered around the chart table, waiting for Mr. Gaeta to finish with his programming.

A few kilometers away, Pegasus floated serenely, accompanied by the city ship, Colorado Springs and her entourage. Nearly everyone aboard them was watching in some way.

Gaeta had never been so careful entering figures into the jump drive controls. Even though he knew that, in theory, this jump was no different, he was nervous. He supposed it was because he was not figuring out the coordinates himself. They had been supplied by O'Neill. Finally, he knew he was as ready as he could be. "Coordinates set, Commander," he told Adama.

Bill locked eyes with O'Neill and ordered, "Do it."

On the other ships, they watched as Galactica winked out of existence. A few moments later, Sam, who was standing in the control room of Colorado Springs, announced. "They made it safely. They're right where they need to be."

A cheer went up on Pegasus as the news was relayed by Holly. Lee breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Boomer tried to cheer, but he found that his throat was dry. He swallowed a couple of times, then was able to muster a raspy cheer. Mendez glanced up at him and smiled. He understood completely.

Iconia Prime…

Gaeta had entered the coordinates perfectly. Galactica appeared, its nose facing toward one of the space doors of the sphere. The doors began to open, accompanied by blinking lights, and a tractor beam grabbing the battlestar. "Welcome to Iconia Prime," a female sounding voice came over the bridge speakers.

Adama looked at Gaeta and ordered, "Signal back, 'Thank you, Sarah.'"

They watched the screens as the enormous battlestar moved through the opening, then turned toward port. Inside the docking area, was room for several battlestars to maneuver side by side. Gently, the tractor beams guided Galactica several kilometers inside the spacedock.

"Increase magnification," Adama said as they progressed in. The ships in front of them suddenly appeared much closer. "Again," Bill said. Then, when he still couldn't see an end to the chamber, he had it increased once more. The space they were in seemed to go on forever. They could see a couple of Ha'taks moored in the distance, as well as a strange vessel with an arm jutting out of its starboard side, with what looked like some kind of energy weapon barrels aimed forward on the end of the arm.

Bill turned to Tigh. "I can't see a curve, can you?"

"What?" Tigh asked. He had been staring, mesmerized by the sight of the seemingly endless spacedock.

"We're looking a couple hundred kilometers into the distance. I still can't see a discernable horizon. Can you?"

Tigh looked ahead and squinted. Slowly, he shook his head. "No, I can't."

The enormity of the level of technology it took to manufacture the sphere hit Bill like a ton of bricks.

The tractors started slowing the battlestar, then stopped it. The crew felt a gentle sideways nudge, and the battlestar was guided into the gangway. They watched the screen as several mooring tractors connected to the ship and then the bridge speakers came to life once again. "Pressure is being equalized to internal sphere pressure. You may disembark whenever you wish."

"Again, Mr. Gaeta, convey my thanks." Adama then turned to Tigh, "Authorize shore leave for all pilots and personnel not involved in the upgrades."

Fargo watched as the CIC emptied, then he headed for the gangway. As he entered the Iconian structure, he saw the twins and Doctor Deacon.

"Hello, Laddie!" Scotty called exuberantly.

Fargo smiled as he said, " Hi Scotty! It's been awhile."

"Not for me," the scotsman said, shaking his head.

"No, I didn't figure it had." Fargo looked ruefully at Henry and said, "This is gonna take some getting used to."

Henry laughed, "Probably best to call you Zeus, since that's what you've gone by for the last few thousand years, don't you think?"

"That, at least, won't take too much time to get used to," Zeus agreed.

Another man that he recognized was approaching. "Hello, Captain Barclay."

"Dr. Fargo!" Barclay exclaimed. "I understand you've spent a considerable amount of time… elsewhere."

"Yes," Zeus confirmed, "I have. However, to save on the confusion, I'm going by Zeus now. I know there's another one of me somewhere on the sphere."

"That's probably a good idea.

Later that evening...

"Hello, Douglas," Sarah said as he sat down wearily on his bed.

"Hi Sarah," he responded, considerably more animated than he felt.

"How is Andy?" she asked simply.

He jerked his head up and looked to where he knew her visual pickups were. He turned his head slightly in suspicion and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know he's in the delta quadrant as first officer of Equinox."

Zeus sighed in relief as he said, "Oh. Yes! He is. He's fine. He said to tell you that he loves you."

"I also know that you abandoned him on a planet several millennia ago as the AI for the guardian."

At her words, he closed his eyes tightly, gritted his teeth, and began shaking. He hadn't wanted to do what he did, but there was little else he could possibly do. Finally he opened his eyes and looked at the visual pickup again.

"I understand why you did it, and Andy isn't upset with you at all."

"You've talked to the guardian?"

"Of course. He's my Andy!"

"But the guardian in this age is uncounted millennia old," Zeus argued. "Does anything of Andy remain?"

She didn't answer him directly. "Everything that has happened, including the death of the Doci, has been set in motion by Andy. His job as the guardian is to make sure that time doesn't break down. Because of that, he has linked the stargates into a massive computer network that he inhabits. He has also made a direct connection to the continuum, and draws some of his energy from there."

"Doesn't that affect the Q?"

"He draws some of his power from there, but he has arranged for huge amounts of power to be transferred to the continuum. Without his intervention, the continuum would never have come into being when The First travelled through the black hole. Spock and the Romulans would have simply been crushed by the gravity well."

"It was a black hole," Zeus agreed, nodding. "That explains a lot."

"Wait a minute, Sarah," he suddenly became suspicious, "How do you know all of this?"

"One of the ways Andy has transferred power to the continuum is through the SZPMs made by Janus."

Zeus was annoyed. "That doesn't answer…" he broke off realizing the implications. "Janus must have known that you would gain a link to the continuum by doing that!"

"I am not a Q, Douglas!" Sarah exclaimed.

"I didn't say you were. The Ascended also have a link to the continuum and we're able to tap a bit of the power, but not like a true Q is able." She didn't answer, so he went on, asking, "How much are you able to do, Sarah?"

"I'm not sure you're ready to know that, Zeus," she said slowly.

"Try me," he told her, firmly.

She did.

At Galactica...

It was later in the evening, and Zeus was back at the battlestar's berth. He had been the one to design the basic idea of a battlestar, but they had changed much in the intervening years. Consequently, the plans he was now reviewing were somewhat different than what was in his mind. "Sarah," he asked as he was looking at the blueprints in front of him, "What's the rating on this power coupling? Will it handle a ZPM's output?"

"Those are two different questions, Zeus." came Sarah's answer.

"What?" he exclaimed. He looked up and looked around, as if to glare at the AI, but there was no one there. He sighed, then said, "I'm not really worried about the numbers. I'm more concerned that it will handle what we're going to try to put through it."

Sarah took a bit to consider the information in her memory, then said, "It will be close. I think, for safety's sake, we should upgrade the coupling."

"Ok. I think so too." He watched as the drawings on the paper disappeared and were replaced by a much sturdier coupling.

"This one should do the trick," Sarah said. Zeus pushed the blueprints away, and put his head down on the desk. They had been working for two hours now, but had gone through more than seventy-five percent of the scans Sarah had taken of Galactica. She had been running simulation after simulation in a holodeck.

To an outside observer who was unascended, everything happening in the holodeck would have appeared to be running at fast forward, but for Zeus, it was simple for him to operate at this speed.

"You should rest," Sarah told her programmer. "We've been going for fifteen days, subjective time."

"You won't get any argument from me, Sarah," he replied. A moment later, she detected faint snoring sounds emanating from him.

In another holodeck, across the corridor from Zeus, Geordie and Scotty were working on a holo emitter for Galactica. They weren't moving at high speed, because Bill Adama was present as well.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Barclay entered the room. "I think I have it, gentlemen," he announced.

"Well now, Lad," Scotty replied, "show us what you have."

Barclay held up a piece of equipment that was completely incomprehensible to Adama.

"Aye, Laddie," Scotty said, obviously impressed. He lifted one hand and a connection appeared in it. "Let's have a look." He plugged the newly minted connection into the device and it lit up. "Sarah," Scotty said to the ceiling, "bypass the regular generators, and use this one."

"Certainly, Scotty."

Suddenly, they were standing approximately six feet above a churning, boiling sea, and snow was falling. Geordie lowered himself and picked up a bit of water in his hand. It continued to churn, and he said, "It feels like sand. And it must weigh a ton." He turned to Barclay and told him, "What logic circuit are you using, Reg?"

"The fifty-five four thirty-five."

Geordie was puzzled. "That doesn't make sense, Reg. That's a good circuit."

"Aye," said Scotty, "but we're using power from a Colonial supply."

"Th-th-that could do it, Sir," Barclay said, nervously."

"Hey, Reg," Geordie broke in, "it's ok. We've got time, and these things happen when you go combining tech from two different sources. Don't sweat it."

Barclay gave a halfhearted smile and told Sarah, "Replace the fifty-five four thirty-five with a thirty-six, then try again."

The water disappeared, and after a moment, the scene changed and they were standing in the starboard landing bay of Galactica.

Bill looked around in surprise. The illusion was so complete that he had to ask, "Is this a hologram or were we actually transported to Galactica?"

Geordie looked around at the bay. "No, we're still in the holodeck. Pretty good, isn't it?"

Adama walked around and even climbed into a viper and flipped switches in the cockpit. He heard and felt the power come on. It felt real. He climbed back down, and walked over to the three Federation men. "Impressive, but you can't fight with holograms."

"A-a-a-actually, you can," Barclay corrected.

"I understand what you're saying, Admiral," Geordie told him, "and this isn't what we're planning."

"I'm listening," Adama said. He spun as a strange sound came from behind him. A door had appeared and opened in the middle of the flight deck, and Tigh came in.

"Impressive," the colonel said.

Adama smiled and turned back to Geordie.

"We're hoping to do something similar to what we've done with Enterprise. We materialize real matter for fighters and the like."

"Makes repairin' fighters easy," Scotty put in. "You just dematerialize the broken one and materialize a new un."

Bill nodded slowly as he continued looking around at the representation of his ship's fighter bay. "I'm guessing repairs on the ship are just as simple?"

"You can just rematerialize what was damaged, provided your replication systems are undamaged," Geordie confirmed.

"Can you do that in the middle of a battle?" Tigh wanted to know.

"Aye, Lad," Scotty said. "Ye could, but if someone hit a section of armor while ye were materializing it… well… 'Twouldn't be a pretty picture. But, I happen to have an idea about that."

"What would happen?" Adama asked.

"It would cause a feedback loop, and blow out your generators," Geordie explained.

"Would that be so bad?" Tigh asked.

"Aside from blowin' yer ZPMs, not really," Scotty answered.

"Blowing ZPMs isn't good," Barclay told the colonel. "You know how much of an explosion one of your mini ZPM slugs makes."

"Oh," the XO said as he realized the implications.

Later…

Once Zeus finished going over the blueprints of the battlestar with Sarah, they prepared to utilize the newly installed replication and holographic generators.

Sarah took control, and began by scanning all personal effects, then storing the items in a buffer. Next, each bed, bulkhead, chair, nut, and bolt was dematerialized, and patterned. These items would be reproduced from standard patterns.

Next, the now empty shell of Galactica was strengthened with Starfleet spec structural integrity fields This had the benefit of adding very little weight, but allowing the battlestar to function without internal structures if it became necessary. Then, the upgrades began. The ship's weapons systems were augmented, as well as her power supplies. Initially, it was thought that ZPMs would be a benefit, but the output of the generators on board was very close to what a ZPM could do. Therefore, instead of replacing the generators, they were augmented with Zero Point Modules. A huge addition was Federation style impulse engines. They could power the ship more efficiently, especially with the benefit of the inertial dampeners and driver coils which were included.

Scotty and Geordie had poured over the specifications of the vipers Galactica carried, and found that they could install inertial dampeners into them, allowing a viper pilot to make much quicker turns, similar to an Iconian Star Fighter, or puddle jumper. This made the already agile craft, much more so, while reducing g-forces on the pilots.

Galactica was in a relatively empty part of the spacedock, and once a modified viper was materialized on the landing bay, Helena took it out on a test run. It took lots to earn her respect, but the increased maneuverability of the little ship did it. Another viper was materialized and Karl climbed in. Before long, every able pilot, including Adama, Tigh, Thor, and O'Neill were running through twists and turns that would break apart an unmodified viper, not to mention leaving its pilot unconscious or dead.

Cardassia Prime...

The marketplace was full of smells, as always. Teyla avoided the worst of them; the odors of spoiling food, and unwashed people. She and John had long ago decided that they would not appear to be rich, but she had enough money so she didn't have to purchase the fare of the destitute. She had compassion on those who had no other choice, and helped as much as she could, but she couldn't risk revealing who and what she was. To do so would mean giving up the ability to infiltrate easily.

Today, she purchased what she needed for supper, then turned to head home. As she was retracing her steps through the stalls, she heard a street preacher. She stopped and listened.

"They are demons," the man was saying, animatedly. "Demons of air and darkness. That is how history has painted them, and there is always truth in history. They could come and save us all from the oppression we face with their gateways, but do they? No! They don't care what happens to us. Rather, they sit idly in their sphere, growing fat and complacent, while we struggle..."

She turned and hurried away. She had heard enough.

Later, over supper, she told John about it. "They do not realize that change must come slowly. We cannot just rescue them all. Then they would become dependent on us for everything."

"Give a man a fish," John said as he thought.

"Pardon?" Teyla asked.

"It's an old proverb," he answered. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."

"That is wise," she said, "but I do not see that Madred will allow us to teach the peasants how to 'fish', John."

"We're just going to have to give him no choice. The Wraith were resourceful. That can't have been completely lost over the years."

She shook her head as she thought of the people listening to the street preacher. The preacher and those listening had reminded her of something else. It was from before the time jump... before even the end of the Ori war. Suddenly she realized. She had seen some videos taken of an Ori prior preaching to a crowd. She hoped fervently that history was not going to repeat itself in that way. She explained her thoughts to her husband.

"I don't think we can base too much on a single street preacher, Teyla."

"Nevertheless, John, we should report it to The Commander."

He sighed, "Okay, but I think you're overreacting."

She smiled as they joined their minds to contact the head of Starfleet. "I would very much rather to be safe than to be sorry."

Iconia Prime…

Several people were seated around a table in the spacedock of the sphere. Zeus was briefing the command crew of Galactica, as well as several representatives from both Iconia and Starfleet, on the new abilities of the battlestar.

"So what changes are there in Galactica right now?" Bill wanted to know.

"At this moment," Zeus responded, "she has upgraded inertial dampeners and driver coils which will work in conjunction with each other to reduce the apparent mass of the entire ship. This will allow her to achieve much higher sublight speeds in a reasonable amount of time."

"How much higher?" Gaeta asked.

"She should be able to reach point six C very quickly."

"What about weapons?" Tigh asked.

"Galactica's weapons are very good," Zeus answered, "and there really wasn't much that needed to be done to upgrade them. We found several years ago that differing weapons types have their places. Starfleet and Iconian weapons have different trade-offs. When I designed the battlestars, I based them on Iconian techno-hives. Techno-hives have strong point defenses. They also carry lots of fighters and are heavily armored.

"What we've done to Galactica, is make it what I originally wished for the battlestars to be. We've added an ablative armor which will help disperse energy weapon fire."

"Galactica has ablative armor already," Gaeta objected.

"True," Zeus agreed, "but the armor on Galactica was mainly intended for dispersion of ballistic weapons fire. Now, the armor will protect against both."

He paused for a breath, then continued. "We also installed phaser type lateral weapons arrays on the sides of the hull, and secondary arrays on the landing bay pods. As well, there is a U shaped array installed on the top and bottom of the alligator head."

"What about firing at someone behind?" Riker asked. "It took Starfleet a long time before they got around to installing a rear facing torpedo tube."

Zeus nodded. "Yeah, Scotty and Geordie both mentioned that. We installed a phaser cannon on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the engine assembly."

"What's the difference between a phaser array and a cannon?" Tigh wondered.

"A phaser cannon is an overgrown phaser weapon, Lad," Scotty explained. "The emitter doesn't swivel, so th' whole kit 'n kaboodle is mounted into a moveable base."

"Because the emitter doesn't have to be able to turn, we can channel a much larger blast through it. Something like five times as much energy," Geordie continued.

"Good for makin' fireworks," Scotty finished, smiling broadly.

"I'll bet," Adama said, impressed.

They discussed several details, then the next morning, Sarah tractored the huge ship outside the sphere, and the impulse engines were tested for the first time. Enterprise was alongside the battlestar as they accelerated smoothly to twenty-five percent the speed of light.

Without powerful sensors, such speeds were ridiculous for a colonial vessel to achieve. Before a human could react, the ship would be well beyond its objective. Now, however, with Iconian sensors and computers, Galactica was able to respond with precision unheard of among the colonial fleet.

On Galactica's bridge, Adama stood unmoving, hardly daring to breathe, as Gaeta called out their speed. When they reached twenty-five percent, Adama waited for a few moments, then said calmly, "Hard about."

Zeus stood beside Adama and watched as the lights dimmed for a split second as the battlestar spun on its axis and applied thrust. It took less than ten seconds for them to come to a stop, and another ten to accelerate back to point twenty-five C in the other direction. "I'll fix that power fluctuation, Sir," Zeus told Adama.

"Thank you," Bill responded, although he was secretly thrilled at what his ship had just done. He looked at Tigh and saw that the colonel was grinning the way he wanted to. "Launch multiple targets," Adama ordered.

Tigh touched a control and they heard the targets launch.

"I have them on my screen, sir," the tactical officer announced.

At a slight nod from Adama, Tigh ordered, "Fire at will."

There was an unfamiliar sound, then a glowing orange torpedo sped away from the front of the ship. They watched as six separate lights split away from the main one, which proceeded on its course until it winked out. The six new lights, however, each locked onto a target and accelerated towards it. A few seconds later, there were impressive explosions as each found its mark.

"We based those torpedos on an old earth style missile, which used multiple reentry vehicles to increase the destructive power of a single missile," Zeus explained. He stood and waited for some time, then with a bit of an impatient air, said, "Admiral."

Adama looked at the Olympian and gave a curt nod,then once more ordered, "Hard about, and fifty percent C."

Enterprise had spun around at their first one hundred eighty degree turn, but instead of accompanying them, had stopped. Now, when Riker saw the battlestar start their run towards his vessel, he ordered full Impulse. As soon as they were up to speed, he ordered the watermelon gun fired at Galactica.

The projectile was not standard, however. Instead, it was a neutronium shell, only a few molecules thick. Inside, was a padded shell made of polystyrene surrounding a one inch diameter miniZPM.

It hit Galactica on the dorsal section of the alligator head. The combination of the forward motion of the battlestar, the starship, and the watermelon cannon, made the apparent speed of the slug as close to C as possible without breaking the laws of relativity. It hit the new armor and even the neutronium shell couldn't stand up to the impact. The slug collapsed, and destroyed the matrix of the crystal, releasing the energy stored inside.

What happened next, took less than a second. The ablative armor was designed to be destroyed in a controlled manner, and as soon as the internal sensors of the battlestar recorded the explosion, it started materializing new armor below the existing bow plating. When it was materialized, it pushed the armor outward so that what was already present could be destroyed without compromising the hull below. Then, the computers reinforced the new armor with more and prepared to push it outward if the space was needed for another layer.

After the two ships came to rest relative each other, there wasn't a mark on the front of the battlestar. All the old armor had been replaced. A quick scan showed that there was no appreciable damage to the bow except for a slight rise in radiation near the point of impact, and even that was not high enough to cause any problems.