A/N: I've updated the dates to extend the timeline a bit from chapter 13 onwards, so the dates of this may seem further on than they actually are...

Chapter 20:

Battlestar Hyperion, Hangar Deck

Kobol System

Day 71, 01:16 PFT

Admiral Jenkins stepped out onto the hangar deck floor in a flight suit for the first time in probably a decade. The suit had been a bit of a stretch, he hadn't put on much weight, but the fit was still a little tighter than it had been back then. He had felt very strange pinning Admiral's wings onto its collar. The last time had also been as an Admiral, yes, but it had been a hurried flight and he hadn't had to worry about cameras seeing him. This time, however, he would be setting foot on a planet that humans hadn't for millennia, boy would there be cameras. He had his senior team all with him. Frankly, it had been a bit overkill to wear the flight suit at all, Commander Virgon, Lt Colonel Jartell and Captain Gemini were all heading down in standard greens, but he'd insisted on co-piloting the Raptor down to the planet with Spinner. Crow and Waltz were coming down in a second Raptor with the photographers, military and civilian, and in the same Raptor that discovered the planet a few hours before.

Most of the rest of his senior crew were already waiting around the Raptor, as well as the pilots of the other Raptor beside it, which had already been named the 'Eureka' in honour of its discovery. The Admiral strode over to the group and clapped a startled Emily Jartell on the back. "I hope you're all looking forward to seeing a sky again?" He said, taking a look around at the mix of excited and weary faces. Spinner, notably, looked a little worse for wear, but the coffee in his hand while he poked around the ship doing checks showed that he was still functioning.

"Any word from the Draconis about our escort?" Commander Virgon asked.

"Rowan said that they'd be in the air 10 minutes before we lift off," The Admiral said, very briefly summarising the 'discussion' he'd had with Admiral Moore about who the delegation to the surface would include. A Viper escort from Draconis with a delegation from Hyperion was deemed the best – or rather, only acceptable – compromise. "So how is our victorious explorer doing?"

"Captain Cook is availing himself of liquor and ladies I believe, sir," Spinner replied, the CAG giving a wry smile as he spoke. "I assigned Crow to take his place. You wanted three squad leads down there, I figured it was close enough."

"Is this everyone then?" Emily asked, checking around her for any approaching senior staff.

"For now, I asked Admiral Moore to come to Hyperion to command in all of our absence… another part of the deal we struck. He won't arrive until after we've departed though, Hermes has the con for now. That said, we do probably have room for one more on the second bird, is that right Stone?"

"Two or three before we hit max weight sir, but it wouldn't be comfortable for any more than one more," Crow replied to the Admiral from just outside their huddle.

"Excellent. Miss Jartell, would you mind fetching the Chief? We need someone down there who isn't an officer, I think he's earned it." Emily gave a quick nod to the Admiral and wandered off to speak to some deckhands. Eventually one of them pointed her down the other end of the hangar. She hurried off at a jog and a few moments later returned with Chief Walker in tow. The mostly-grey-haired Chief struggled to keep up, but eventually arrived with the others.

"What can I do for you Admiral? Is something wrong with your bird?"

"No Chief, not at all. I just wanted to ask that, as the hardest working member of our deck team, if you would be interested in joining us on the surface? A celebration of your team's work these last months?" The Admiral asked. The Chief stopped; his brain seemingly unable to compute anything beyond more work.

"Sir, I… would be honoured sir. I don't have my greens ready though," The Admiral waved a hand and the Chief stopped speaking.

"It's no worry Chief, just come as you are. We'll be boarding in just a moment. Hand over whatever you were working on and climb into Eureka over there."

"Thank you, sir," The Chief gave the Admiral a rare salute. "I really appreciate it, and I'm sure these boys and girls will too."

"The pleasure is mine, just be ready to launch in a few minutes." The Chief smiled and rushed back to his station while the rest of them returned to the sides of their Raptors.

Spinner handed the Admiral his helmet and led him inside. "I trust you still remember how to fly one of these things sir?"

"Of course Major, didn't earn these wings for nothing!" The Admiral gestured to the Advanced wings on his chest, earning a chuckle from Spinner.

Raptor 269, Battlestar Hyperion Port Ventral Flight Pod

Kobol System

Day 71, 01:28 PFT

"Two minutes till go," Spinner said, clicking off the last parts of their final engine checks. He glanced over to the Admiral beside him. It was awfully strange to see him in a helmet, and honestly his moustache looked less ridiculous in a helmet than he thought it was going to. He'd only signed on to be the co-pilot of this flight, but as soon as they were in the air Spinner was intending to let the Admiral take full control, both as a thank you for getting them here, and because he was intrigued to see what the Admiral was still capable of behind the joystick. That said, it wasn't likely that it was going to be a particularly eventful flight, or at least he hoped not.

"Spinner, this is Hyperion. You are cleared for flight in 30 seconds. Begin engine power up."

"Copy, Hyperion, Spinner complying," Spinner responded, automatically at this point. He flicked the first few switches and reached for a dial, only to find the Admiral's hand already there.

"Sorry Major," the Admiral said, "I'm not used to be the co-pilot in one of these things."

Spinner leaned back and finished the power up, his eyes finally resting on the view out ahead. He couldn't see anything more than stars outside the flight pod, but he knew what lay just below. Weirdly he felt, nervous? He wasn't sure if that was the right word for it, because it was different to a combat launch. Probably more the enormity of seeing this place they had been hunting for months, what if it wasn't what they hoped it was? Their ancestors had left for a reason, maybe they shouldn't be going back either.

That didn't matter right now though, everyone had been holding out hope for so long despite everything, all they had to do is just see what was down there.

"Spinner, Crow, Hyperion: you are both go for launch, good hunting down there." Finally, the words Spinner had longed to hear. He spun up the engines and lifted off from the surface. He guided the Raptor through the flight pod and out into the black. They flew along Hyperion until they reached the end of its bow, the second Raptor in tow. DRADIS was picking up six Vipers heading towards them, the escort from Draconis.

"Looks like we're all set Admiral," Spinner said, glancing over next to him. "Would you do the honours and take us down?"

The Admiral regarded Spinner for a moment. A small smile appeared across his face. "As long as the landing is on you Spinner."

"I'm ready for as soon as we hit atmo."

"Buckle up back there then," the Admiral said, grasping the controls. Behind them, Emily shot them a concerned look and gripped her seat harder. As the end of Hyperion's bow disappeared from view, the Admiral flipped the Raptor to the left, and burnt the engines into a hard turn.

Ahead of them, a blinding blue filled their windscreen. Kobol sat resplendently before them, and it took everything Spinner had not to cheer to himself. It looked like home alright. The second Raptor and the Vipers followed suit and the flight passed under the fleet as they began descending from orbit. Their target was the site of what they believed was once a city, most likely the "City of the Gods", or at least its inspiration. Spinner could just about make out where on the continent below them it was supposed to be, and he just sat back and let the Admiral take them there, just like he had the whole way since the Colonies.

Raptor 269, Kobol

Day 71, 01:36 PFT

Emily finally loosened her grip as the turbulence began to finally subside. Normally they didn't re-enter atmospheres at such velocity, but she trusted the Admiral to know what he was doing, he was likely just having a bit of fun.

"All yours Major," He heard him say to Spinner from upfront. Beside her, she felt Hera and the Chief both loosen their own grips and breathe a sigh of relief, clearly, they hadn't appreciated the Admiral's flying either. As their craft became steadier, they also began to descend fast.

"You lot back there, you can come take a look now if you want," Spinner called out. Emily and Commander Virgon both rose to their feet first.

"Gods," Emily whispered. The verdant green hills below them stretched out as far as they could see. Thick forest filled deep valleys with wide floors, surrounding snow-capped mountains. Emily had only ever seen the Twelve Colonies from the air, and those times had only been over at least slightly populated areas. Below them now was nothing but wilderness in every direction. There were no words she could think of other than "it's beautiful."

She stepped back and allowed the other passengers to have a look. From her seat again she could only see sky outside the windscreen, but even that drew her to tears. A large part of her never thought she would ever see sky again, she expected getting off the ship would be overwhelming. More chatter came from up front as the others sat back down, they were obviously approaching their landing site. Emily shared an excited glance with Hera. She knew Viper pilots were wild, enormously brave and honestly insane to her, but they had fought all the same fears for months and together they were about to see the fruit of all of it.

A strange silence fell over the ship as the engines finally powered down. The landing had been as soft as Emily had expected from their CAG, even if she suspected Spinner had taken extra effort to stick the landing perfectly. "Well," Spinner said through the silence. "Looks like we've made it."

The Admiral rose to his feet and removed his helmet. The door to the Raptor began to swing open behind Emily as the Admiral stepped out from behind his seat.

"After you sir," Emily said, rising behind the Admiral as he stepped outside.

The light from the sun was difficult to adjust to at first. Lights on the ship were often bright, but nothing as all-encompassing as this light. The passengers of the ship disembarked in mostly rank order, the only exception being Spinner as the last one out. As she followed them down, Emily hopped off the Raptor's wing and felt the softness of the grass and the soil beneath her feet. In front of her the Admiral stood, his fist full of soil and his eyes closed. They each took a moment to feel a natural breeze blow over them. There was something about an artificial fan that just didn't feel the same.

Around them, the grass was tall, and it swayed a lot in the wind. In front of them however, stood massive stone structures. Ruins, really, but it took Emily a moment to realise their significance. This really was the home of humanity, all this way across the stars, and so long before any of their time. The party were mostly quiet, only a few quiet quips shared between Spinner and Hera, as there always was. Footsteps from the side signalled the approach of the team from the second Raptor. The quiet was ruptured by the Draconis Vipers performing a fly-by overhead as they began a short scour over the nearby area while the photo-op was being taken.

After a few minutes of taking it all in, they all gathered up close to the famed Raptor that found the world. They had to squash down some of the tall grasses in front of them to get a clear photo, but eventually the Admiral got his picture among his senior staff, with the Raptor, ruins and mountains in the background. He went around and thanked everyone, before eventually getting them all back into their ships. Emily cast one last glance behind her at the sprawling world before the doors closed. It would be a while before it really sunk in that they were here, but they were. They were home.

Raptor 269, Kobol

Day 71, 01:58 PFT

Spinner let the Admiral do the lift-off from the planet after having taken over for the landing. He'd spent so long in Raptors the last few weeks, he was in no hurry to spend more time flying one if he didn't have to, plus, it let the old man have a bit of fun.

They were flying low over the valleys on approach to meet up with their Viper escort. Although they were going over the tops of the valleys, Spinner could feel the Admiral's desire to dip down into them, mostly because he was feeling the same way. They had about three minutes until they would encounter the Viper patrol again and head up to space, so for now they were just biding time, or were at least until alarms from the dash and from behind started blaring.

"Heat-sink…" Spinner muttered, frantically checking his systems.

"Sounds like something's locking on Sid," Hera called from the back.

"Get on the ECM, my sensors are reading a missile lock."

"Missile lock? From where?" He heard Emily ask, although he was too busy to take it in.

"Spinner, Crow: missiles inbound. Deploying countermeasures," was the radio call the filled Spinner's ears. To his right, the Admiral promptly let go of the flight controls and let Spinner take over. Spinner immediately pulled the ship up to gain altitude. Crow behind them did similar, rising across them and just passing underneath. The pair split, and Spinner tried to check back with Hera as he climbed.

"What have we got?"

"Three missiles, two on us, one on them. No idea where they came from," She replied. "First one is close, chaff is ready, I'll try and knock one out with ECM."

Spinner didn't need to reply, he brough the Raptor level again and tried to pull it around to catch a glimpse of the further out one. As he levelled, he dropped his finger to the chaff control and waited until he flipped the craft over and pulled into a decline to fire it. The passengers were slammed against their seats as he did this, but discomfort was better than being in a fireball. He was feeling the weight of them through the controls as well, he wasn't used to having to do manoeuvres with this much cargo.

"First one took the bait!" Hera shouted just as a small shock wave from outside rocked the Raptor as the first missile detonated. Levelling out again, Spinner took them nearer to the ground and aimed for the mountain up ahead. As he went, Hera called out the distance of the second missile shrinking and shrinking. "I can't hack this one, I'll try and load more chaff."

"Quickly please!" Spinner shouted back, throttling up as much as the Raptor could, and then some. He began to rock the ship, darting left to right to try to throw the missile off, but to no avail. It was still right on their rear. They were still heading along the valley floor to the nearest mountain and as they did, Spinner showed no sign of lifting up.

Hera's voice grew more frantic counting down the distance as she also tried to prepare the chaff. Spinner tried to block out anything more than the numbers as his eyes focused on the treeline getting dramatically larger ahead of him. At the last second, he pulled the ship up, skimming low over the tree-covered mountain. The missile was right on them now and there still wasn't chaff, but Spinner continued. Right as they reached the peak of this line of mountains, Spinner flipped the Raptor upside down and pulled up hard, turning tight suddenly over the edge of the mountain. He'd managed this over an asteroid in a Viper before, but that was in a Mark VII and in zero G. Fortunately, gravity didn't manage to pull the ship apart before it turned, and they wabbled from the wave of the missile clipping one the peak and exploding.

"Board is green. Nice flying Spinner," Hera said, breathing out a heavy breath that she'd probably been holding since the alarms first went off. Spinner didn't say anything, rather leaning back in his seat and doing the same.

"You've impressed me Major," the Admiral said, looking over at him. He just smiled back.

"Spinner, Crow, this is Longbow: are you guys alright over there? We're just approaching your position." It was the Viper patrol, only just showing up.

"All good here Longbow, something targeted us with missiles from the ground. No ID on where from, we'll get Hyperion Actual back home," Crow explained to them over the radio, clearly having cleared up his missile long before them.

"Longbow, this is Hyperion Actual: don't perform a sweep just yet, we'll take note of the position, and we'll launch a full survey of what that was before coming back down," the Admiral ordered, probably not wanting to return to the Fleet unprotected in case any Raiders appeared from the trees, which Spinner couldn't honestly disagree with.

"Copy Hyperion Actual, we're forming on you. We'll get you home."

Battlestar Hyperion War Room, Kobol Orbit

Day 72, 06:00 PFT

The Admiral stood hunched over the central table in the gloomy war room, waiting for the arrival of the other ship commanders. Emily was with him, as she always was, clipboard in hand, ready to present the commanders with the details of their findings on the planet. They had been so close to a perfect ending, they found their ancient home, it was perfect for habitation, and then they almost got shout out of the sky. Lieutenant Bell was there as well, ready to hand out copies of all their intel and generally there to have another pair of Hyperion eyes in the room.

Commanders Lin and Caspersen of the Battlestars Theia and Eos were the first to arrive. They both shuffled in and said their pleasantries to the Admiral. Commander Caspersen looked especially worse for wear. Her ship was still limping, armour heavily damaged and one flight pod and hangar completely inoperable. Several of their systems had been failing in the last few weeks, and each FTL jump seemed to put more strain on the spine of the ship. Frankly, the Admiral thought it was a wonder that it's largely exposed FTL drive on the underside remained intact during the battle for the mining operation at all. Out of all the fleet's Commanders, the Admiral suspected that she would be the most likely to want to stay put no matter what. Lin had served under the Admiral for many years now, a length of time rivalling even Commander Virgon, it was likely that he would trust whatever the Admiral's decision was, he always had been loyal almost to a fault.

Next, they were joined by several of the Gunstar Captains, Captain Holst of the Firestar Icarus, Colonel Damos of the Gunstar Horatio and Commander Serikov of the Battlestar Sirius. They all filed in and made friendly conversation with one another, like Lin and Caspersen, most of these captains had served together for many years, and although Commander Serikov was new among their number, the two months since joining the fleet fleeing the Colonies, he had settled in quite well. The last two to arrive were, as the Admiral had suspected, were Commander Ako of the Battlestar Persephone, and Admiral Moore of the Draconis. These would be his hardest sells; both had joined them late and it was likely that neither had enough attachment to the notion of Kobol to want to fight off a Cylon presence.

Once they had settled and said their greetings, Admiral Jenkins finally called them to order. "Thank you all for coming, I'm sorry we aren't able to be as celebratory about this as we hoped, so I'll make this brief as swift as I can. As you know we've made it to Kobol, but it seems that we did not make it here first. Our landing party, with myself on board, were almost shot down by a Cylon emplacement deep in the forests on the ground. Initially the cause was unknown, but upon analysis of a debris field in low orbit over the world, we can confirm that the Cylons at some point had a presence here. This rips up our initial plans for a swift settlement, but we are looking at further options. I called you here to get your opinions on our next move. Colonel Jartell?"

The Admiral stepped back, and Emily moved in front of him, placing a selection of documents on the table they were gathered around. "We have drawn up a new settlement location further from the ruins we believe to be of the City of the Gods. It is just over 100 klicks away, which is enough for recon missions to explore the ruins and surrounding area, but we hope far enough away to avoid any unnecessary encounters. Similarly, this location is on a major river should we wish to use it for transportation, but also close to the mountains to make collection of clean water easier. An alternate proposal could see us setting up on another continent, in a separate location with similar geographical features, but Admiral Jenkins and I believe this first location offers the best balance of risk versus opportunity."

The room was silent as the captains and Commanders studied the papers that Lieutenant Bell then went around the room handing out, summarising the speech they had just heard. Many nodded, although others, such as Admiral Moore, seemed less impressed.

"Please speak freely," Admiral Jenkins said, breaking the silence. "That's why I gathered you all here."

"John, you know how much I respect you," Moore spoke up first. "But is this world really worth it if the Cylons already occupy it to some extent? The risks of setting up a permanent and therefore, immobile settlement seem too high for a known about world."

"Do we know to what extent there was a Cylon presence here? What was the debris field?" Commander Caspersen added.

"Our analysis of the debris indicates that this was a current generation Cylon Basestar," Admiral Jenkins said, starting a murmuring around the room.

"So it must have been destroyed recently?" Asked Commander Ako.

"That would be likely," the Admiral conceited.

"So not only could this planet be occupied by Cylon forces, it could be regularly visited by them?" Moore said, to some murmurs of agreement.

"But something has destroyed them, no? If it had only just been destroyed then the Cylons would be here," Serikov said.

"And by what? It wasn't us, we were not aware of other survivors from the Colonies? But this must have been done by someone." Colonel Damos said, jabbing her finger at the image of the debris field on the table.

"This is something I would like us to establish. An outside force has led to this Cylong presence and the destruction of this Basestar, I think it could be pertinent to discover what that is. If we have allies out there, we could further bolster our forces." The Admiral explained, putting the room into a thoughtful silence again.

Eventually, Commander Lin spoke up. "Honestly sir? I think being here is a risk, but my crew are desperate for rest, and for a win after such a long search. To be here means a lot to them, and I think it would be wrong for us not to try."

"Agreed," said Caspersen. "While it is a risk, Eos cannot keep this kind of travel up, we need time to rest and repair. I say we stay."

"Aye," Came an immediate response from Damos, Serikov, Holst, and Matsuyo of the Zeus. Commander Aspasia of the Gunstar Limpet didn't look convinced, and neither did Moore and Ako.

"I'll count your vote twice Rowan, what are you feeling?" Admiral Jenkins asked, looking across the table at Moore.

"Outvoted is how I'm feeling. Look John, I see the merits of staying longer, but I have concerns about a known location being our permanent home," He explained.

"That is fair, I'll take that into consideration. In fact," the Admiral checked back over him shoulder and summoned Emily over. "I'd like to make an amendment to the plans in that regard. Miss Jartell, could you please modify the settlement plans to slow the settlement process while we explore and assess the world. Have the civilians who head down to the surface be required to have quick escape routes, and not to set up anything too permanently beyond what is absolutely essential. Base it around the ships that can land, and those that can't, will just have to remain up here."

"And what about the civilians?" Asked Ako.

"I will bring these plans to their captains, and unless there is a unanimous disagreement from them, we will be proceeding with these plans. Is that alright?" The Admiral was greeted with a chorus of "yes sir" from the captains. "Then thank you very much for your time, I will speak to each of you soon to coordinate our next steps."

Kobol Forest, 7km from the City of the Gods, Kobol

Day 74, 10:38 PFT

Emily trudged a few feet back from Sergeant Doyle ahead of her as they pushed through yet more undergrowth. The forest almost all over the area was too thick to land a Raptor in, and combined with the threat of more missiles, it had been decided for each scouting party to be dropped in the plains in the centre of the valleys, rather than risk landing too closely. This meant that they'd been walking for nearly two hours non-stop now, they were beginning to get tired and, worse, anxious as they got closer to their target. One of the scouting parties had encountered a pair of Centurions protecting the SAM turret they had searched for. Two others hadn't even found their targets and were still out in the forest looking around the nearby area in case something was missed.

Each of these targets had been spotted by high flying Viper flights that had gotten aerial photographs. They were then being sent after every unnatural looking disturbance in the hope that one of them might be a Cylon emplacement. They had absolutely no knowledge how many Cylon emplacements there might be, but for the last two days, their focus had been on the area directly around the proposed settlement site, followed by a slow push through the forests towards the main sites of archaeological interest.

Emily had placed herself and her team onto one of the ones with the highest chance of real activity. Not because she felt especially brave, or desperate to shoot a Cylon in person, but rather she hoped there would be more clues here as to what happened to that Basestar. In the last two days, no further answers had been found. Only that one defended SAM, and another unguarded. This one, however, was definite to have something. What could have once been a targeting dish seemed to have crashed amongst the trees, and some parts of the surrounding woodland seemed to have several trees knocked over and areas cleared out. It could always of course have been the result of a storm like many of the others, but it was highly likely that this was more than that.

As they got closer to their target, Sergeant Doyle up front signalled for the group to lower themselves amongst the ferns around them as they crested a hill. The group fell silent, and the Marines headed up to the front. The group consisted of four marines, a pair of intelligence staff, a technician and Emily herself. The pilot and ECO of the Raptor they came in on were back protecting the ship and kept their radio link to the ships in orbit open.

Emily clutched her hand around her sidearm as the group suddenly went quiet. Doyle's stern face assessed the surrounding area before he rose once again and signalled for the others to follow quietly. They did so quickly and began to descend down a ridge towards their final location according to Emily's crude GPS positioner.

Ahead of them was the wrecked dish, smashed on the floor, surrounded nearby by scorched wood and scattered parts from several Centurions. They moved in and assessed the debris, before widening their hunt to the edge of the area. Closer to where the dish was, up a bank, one of the marines found a large collection of bullet casings, as well as bullet marks in the trees and ground around. Emily marked this area down as somewhere that a firefight must have occurred and directed the team to try to follow the path that at least part of these groups must have come from. Now that they had a confirmed targeting dish, there had to be a missile battery within a klick.

In the opposite direction from the bank where the bullet casings were found, they found footprints and more bullet imprints in the surrounding trees. These seemed to create a sort of trail that they followed for nearly a kilometre, until they finally found a missile battery, sitting amongst other Cylon equipment in a thinner part of the woodland. Emily ordered them all to spread out and be cautious as they began to scan the ground for anything else. Eventually, while inspecting the deactivated missile battery, Emily heard a shout from the bank above them.

"Colonel! We've found something!" One of the Marines shouted. Emily dropped what she was doing and jogged up through the bush to get to them. When she did, she saw the three of them – two Marines and intelligence officer Ensign Ordos – stood around a body. The body of a pilot, lying oddly up against the trunk of a tree.

"No dog tags sir," Ordos said, kneeling down next to the body with Emily. "But he does have this." She pointed to the patch on the pilot's arm. Emily leant in and read it. "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – BS-75".

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