Chapter 5

Location: Battlestar Galactica

Date: December 2, 2021

Time: 1600 Hours

The next few minutes that they'd spent waiting for the second of the two U-306's in the detachment that had been stowed in the Hammond's ventral bay hadn't been all that pleasant considering what it was that they'd been waiting for. The second U-306, now coming out of hyperspace at a much greater distance away had been escorted in by a flight of four Viper Mk. VII's, respectfully maintaining their distance but two of the craft followed the Earth scout ship into the flight pod, slowing and then accelerating out of the pod as the ship landed in the same way as SG-1 had done.

Mitchell, standing outside the scout ship with the others while Carter sat inside at the sensor station familiarizing herself with the Colonials' "fascinating power and FTL systems" using said sensors had seen the Colonials begin to prepare for a solemn duty, one he was all-too familiar with. It was a ramp ceremony, and Mitchell and Teal'c were able to sense the warrior's bond being honored here as the Colonials returned en masse to the flight deck in dress uniforms, holding in much neater and larger formations than they had previously. An honor guard of six Colonial Marines was there, awaiting the transfer wearing their black dress uniforms which deferred from those of the crew and pilots by having blue piping on the front button flap and having a black beret on their heads. A camera was set up on the catwalk at a respectful distance and manned by a dress uniformed crew with a line of Colonial Marines in their combat gear, just in case.

"Sierra Gulf One, this is Scout Zero Two," Mitchell's earpiece sounded off as the elevator came down, the yellow light letting everyone know it was time, "We're in the elevator coming down now. All preparations are complete."

"Zero-Two, this is Sierra Gulf One, roger that. Let's get this done," he sighed and detached his P90, nodding to Teal'c to do the same.

The Earth team lined itself up just outside their scout ship as the door opened and the second U-306 was likewise guided in, spun slowly around, and landed. The plan was simple, the Earth personnel would carry the casket with Lieutenant Drew's remains inside a body bag, surrounded by packaged ice for preservation, and place the remains onto a stand where it would be covered by a Colonial flag by the Galactica's Marine honor guard who'd then take it away after a quick speech by the ship's priest. The detail of six was in the Space Force's newest dress uniform, although their version had the unshown fixed-cut dress pants. Mitchell noted the similarity to this new standard uniform to the Colonial uniform when they'd first arrived. But now he put that observation to the side as the hatch opened.

"Attention on deck!" Chief Tyrol said loudly as the senior-most enlisted man, and the formations of Galactica's crew, pilots, and marines snapped their heels together, "Present arms!"

There was a slow, three-second raising of the arms of each personnel present to a salute as two combat-geared SF's with multicam gear like that of SG-1 came out with M4A1's and ballistic helmets on came out, did a left and right face and then faced out, holding at a guard position. Then there was the slow methodical march of the Hammond's own honor guard emerged with the clean metal casket held between the six of them. As they passed the two guards and the now-visible two guards inside the second U-306 now stood to attention, presenting the underside their weapons. Cam and Carter both rendered a salute at this point and Daniel laid a hand over his heart and Vala did what Daniel did after seeing it. Teal'c lifted a hand to his chest and clapped it against it, holding to a true Jaffa salute. The salute was held as the Earth unit, with their arms showing the patches of the US flag, the US Space Force, and the ship patch of the USS George Hammond with their combination covers on as well.

The Colonials who saw this out of the corner of their eye didn't say anything, instead, the only sound that came was from the priest who began softly singing the standard hymn of the Colonial religion. As the USSF honor guard reached the man standing at the head of the casket they turned, placed both hands on the handles and as one lowered the metal case onto the stand, and it was let go, and the six men stood, and turned back to their ship and began to return as the song reached its conclusion.

The marines of the Galactica came forward, their senior NCO holding a single folded Colonial banner. They marched into position and then the flag was produced, silently and crisply unfolded, and then laid down upon the casket.

"Order, arms!" Tyrol now ordered and now followed a single slow lowering of the Colonial assembly's arms.

"It is with heavy hearts that we are united with our fallen comrade, Lieutenant Buck Drew, affectionately known by his callsign: Eyeball. We lift his soul up to you oh Lords of Kobol, in the knowledge that you will take from him his burdens, and deliver unto him life eternal. We also thank you for the return of another of our own, Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, reuniting her with her family and shipmates. But it is not just this miracle you have delivered unto us. You have returned to the Twelve, the Thirteenth, the lost colony. It was through your grace that Lieutenants Adama and Drew were landed into the arms of our brothers and sisters, who sought us out, to return their brother and sister, home. For this we thank you Lords of Kobol, and ask for your strength and wisdom as we embark upon this new chapter of our history. So say we all."

"So say we all," the entire flight deck said solemnly, but hopefully.

Without saying anything the Galactica honor guard reached down, and lifted their fallen pilot into their arms, holding his casket in such a way that they didn't touch the flag. The priest was the one who led the way, seeing as casualties fell under his official supervision as ship priest. It was a quick and simple ceremony, nothing fancy, nothing pretentious. The whole thing was quick and professional, and this was observed by the Earth personnel. Mitchell looked over and prepared to walk over to Commander Adama, having to speak to him on something.

"Detail, dismissed," Adama called out, dismissing the crew from the ceremony.

"Commander," Mitchell nodded.

"Yes, colonel," Adama turned to face him.

"Our other ship will be leaving now if you don't mind," he stated.

"I understand, Chief Tyrol, the second Earth vessel will be departing, see to it," the older man called over to his deck chief.

"Yes sir."

"I assume you'll want to speak in a more…frank manner now," Adama spoke calmly as the crowd began to fall out.

"That would be great," Cam nodded politely.

"If you'll follow my XO then," Adama offered him and SG-1 to follow, "I have to make final arrangements for Lieutenant Drew's remains."

"Sure thing," Mitchell nodded as Tigh came over and Adama turned to where Kelsey was also standing alongside the single marine escort now solely tasked to her protection.

"Wow," was the very first word that Colonel Mitchell could even think of saying as he, Colonel Carter, and Doctor Jackson were escorted through the belly of the Battlestar Galactica. Colonel Tigh was leading them on through along with a squad of Marines always on guard nearby, ready to swoop in at any moment. Vala and Teal'c had stayed at their Scout Ship to keep probing eyes from seeing just how advanced their ship was. It was also for the protection of the Colonials, if Vala decided that she liked something on that deck or in a Colonial's possession only a very distracted Teal'c was there to stop her from conning, stealing, or seducing her way into getting her mitts on it. Also, Mitchell didn't want Teal'c to become an item of interest that could spell a lot of trouble in the near future.

"Yeah, she's a jewel of engineering alright," Tigh said grinning at the faces being made by the Earthers.

"For your state of technology, it is," Carter piped up, she was examining the ship far more scrupulously, her trained eye picking out certain bits and pieces that gave her a well-rounded idea of what state of development these Colonials were in.

"Well, she is the oldest ship in the fleet," Tigh retorted, trying to save face for the old girl, "Wait what you mean by our state of technology?"

"Just observations," Carter said.

"How old?" Jackson asked.

"Nearing forty years, give or take," Tigh replied, "But she's still got it where it counts, even if she's a frakkin' relic."

"Like weapons, shielding and fighter compliment?" Carter then said, calculating her every word.

"Yep…wait, shields? Like energy fields to protect the ship?"

"Yeah, do you not have any?" Mitchell piped up.

"Well it's only rumored that something like that is in development but there aren't any Colonial ships I know of that have shields."

Carter flashed a knowing grin to Mitchell, we've got one thing they don't.

The tour was limited to say the least; apparently the Colonials didn't exactly like sharing technological secrets either. The only place that they were allowed to go to that was of any importance was the Galactica's CIC. But everything of a sensitive nature that would have normally been there was stowed away or censored when the Earthers got near them. However it was all they needed to see to be able to tell that they were leaps and bounds ahead of the Colonial Fleet's current technology, at least on the Galactica. But one thing that did seem to interest Carter was the DRADIS display. One minute it was absolutely clear of traffic the next it was swarming with green dots signifying friendly ships. Carter was able to read several unique yet familiar names with Battlestar written before the ships' name; Mercury, Tryon, Minerva, Erasmus,and Artemis among others. Then there was one contact that seemed to be the largest, Triton. Other ships designated with a whole slew of names and types: cruisers, corvettes, support ships, and transports lit up the screen. Over twenty ships finally showed up as the DRADIS screen zoomed out to compensate for the large number of ships and fighters being crowded into the area.

The CIC crew began chattering off these names rapidly and challenging and verifying the identities of the numerous warships jumping in around the Galactica. Finally, it ended however with one last Battlestar checking in on the screen, Battlestar Pegasus.

"That's a lot of ships out there, Colonel," Mitchell said warily, moving a hand near his holstered side arm.

The marines present noticed this too, and one by one fingers began curling around triggers, and the grips on their rifles tightened. Several crewmembers in the CIC began getting anxious and worried, but kept to the task at hand of making sure that they did their jobs.

"We sent out a Raptor to report contact a few minutes after you landed, it's standard protocol Colonel I assure you," Tigh replied, sensing the tension building among the group of Earthers as they saw the fleet taking station around the Galactica.

"Well forgive me for being slightly paranoid, but we've had some nasty first contacts before, and this is looking to be going down a path we don't want to tread on," Mitchell harshly replied.

"Colonel these ships are here to protect the Galactica as per protocol and establish a quarantine of the local space until civilian authorities can arrive and do what they do, we have no idea what to expect from our own people much less you."

Jackson then tried to ease some of the tension he could see the Colonials were trying very hard to alleviate themselves, "It makes sense, I mean better to play it safe right?"

Carter slowly nodded, her own logic kicking in and coming to the same conclusion.

"Well, I guess I can say I would feel safe if someone tried to come here and mean us any harm," Mitchell said light heartedly as he lowered his guard slightly.

"Commander on deck!" came a loud call as Commander Adama walked into the CIC with a now properly unformed Lieutenant Kelsey walking in proudly beside him. She had changed into her normal pilot's dress uniform, but she still preferred to wear her flight gear, but only pilots on flight status were allowed to do so.

"At ease, Colonel give me a status," Adama said calmly, walking in and assuming his normal place at the plotting table.

"Well…" Mitchell said, his uncontrollable sense of humor showing through, "Your guests forgot to send an RSVP to the meet and greet invitations, know what I'm saying man?" he grinned elbowing a Marine Lieutenant who just glared at him, "Ooh tough crowd."

Tigh actually chuckled slightly at that, and other members of the staff actually tried suppressing grins at the attempted humor from their Earth guests.

"Well judging by the ships present I'd say we have the balance of a half-dozen Battlestar Groups out there in close formation. Admiral Powers has assumed command with his flag on the Command Battlestar Triton, ship is at Condition Two, Alert Vipers are on standby."

The Earthers stood in silent appreciation of the sheer amount of professionalism being displayed before them. Carter also noted the description of a new ship type, a Command Battlestar? But she refrained from asking questions that she would probably learn the answers herself when they would eventually have to leave or bring the Hammond in closer for a detailed sensor sweep. But at the moment it looked as if they would be staying a while. For that she would like to have the Hammond within beaming range, but at this early in the game they couldn't afford to show their hand.

"Sir," Dee spoke up, "I have Admiral Powers on the line for you."

"Put him through to me," Commander Adama ordered, "Marines, show our guests to the guest quarters I want a secure perimeter around them at all times. I'm sure you understand Colonel?"

"Of course," Mitchell nodded, "If it's alright I'd like to stop by our ship on the way there, check up on our other two team members."

"Very well," Adama nodded, "Marines," the squad of marines snapped to attention and started leading the Earthers off of the CIC as Adama spoke into the phone that had Admiral Powers on the other end, "This is Commander Adama."

"Adama? Boy you old war veterans sure have a knack for being in the right place at the right time," the young loud voice of the task force Admiral spoke up, "I expect that this isn't some retirement prank on the entire Colonial Fleet?"

"No sir," Adama replied tersely.

He'd never really liked Admiral Powers, he was one of the new batch of flag officers, known as the Gun Admirals, they were impulsive, over-eager, and flashy. It wasn't a personal thing with Powers himself. It was more of an issue with the Admiralty in general these days, in particular a doctrinal move away from Vipers as the emphasized asset and a move towards bigger and bigger gun platforms as the true asset of the Fleet. They liked their big new class of flagships, the Prometheus-Class Command Battlestars of which the Triton was the fourth and the newest.

There was an established naming convention underway, with there being twelve planned Prometheus-Class, named for the original twelve Jupiter-Class. The next ship in the line to be officially named was rumored to be Galactica from what Adama had heard, the announcement set to be made at Galactica's decommissioning ceremony, where a piece of the Galactica, her ceremonial ship's seal which was displayed in the CIC above the main entrance, would be removed and shipped to Scorpia to be built into the new ship's own CIC, and a new one replacing the old section for the museum. It followed Colonial Fleet tradition, ships would not be officially named until their launching ceremony, when their name plates were revealed, and their polished ship's seal put into place in the CIC. Lately, ships were taking the seals from previous ships and reusing the names as a momento of the service of the veterans of the previous war.

This had happened with the other Prometheus-Class already, with the Columbia's and Athena's seals having been salvaged from their debris fields to complete this tradition. Already built were the Columbia, the Atlantia, and the Prometheus, with two others being fitted out, the Rycon and the Solaria, both over Scorpia. Galactica was said to be the next, the ship in question nearing launch status, ready to move under her own power to a fitting yard for completion. This ship was to be followed by the Pacifica, the Cerberus, the Themis, the Athena, and lastly the Acropolis, the names of the now-destroyed or decommissioned sisters to the current Galactica.

Measuring in at three times the total mass of the current Galactica at two thousand five hundred meters long with much heavier armor than any other ship it had the same general look of the soon-to-be mainline Mercury-Class with a rounded stern with six thruster assemblies arranged in a circle and two fixed flight pods. It had inherited the Fleet's new emphasis on gun power, fielding six super-heavy twin gun turrets and many more of the standard heavy guns while fielding six fixed high-velocity super-heavy gun barrels in the bow. They had a whole suite of electronic warfare equipment, Viper and Raptor assembly facilities, a raw material processing plant, and a Viper compliment of a thousand in two stacked flight pods, the same set-up as the Mercury-Class. There were also numerous advancements in Colonial computer technology employed aboard these ships controlling the most complex automated damage control, command and control communications systems, DRADIS, and energy sensors that the Fleet had ever mounted in a ship. With all these improvements coupled with sheer size they would be a pure symbol of status and power, a sign of how much things had changed both with the Colonies and with the Fleet. This change was something that Admiral Powers was an adamant supporter of. Not only that, but he had also been on the investigatory board that had so critically faulted Adama in the Stealthstar incident. It was told to him that Adama's track towards Rear Admiral had been a sure thing until that incident, but then the incident had given the Gun Admirals cause to put a stop to it, and send Adama packing, further solidifying the sway of that side of the Admiralty, seeing as Adama was one of the Viper Officers, a shrinking minority in the fleet. But Adama let this personal dispute with the man fall to the side.

"At thirteen twenty hours we got an unknown DRADIS contact off our starboard side. The vessel identified itself as a Scout Ship attached an Earth ship calling itself the George Hammond. I followed protocol and initiated first contact as ranking officer and sent word to Fleet Command."

"As the record has shown," Powers observed, then now listening to every syllable that came over his head set politely asked further, "What happened with the first contact?"

"They're human, I had my CMO check them out and immediately placed them under armed guard to maintain security and for their own protection. But…that's not quite all sir. I don't know if you heard or not, but a month ago I had a Raptor disappear on a routine trip to Caprica, the pilot was my daughter, Lieutenant Kelsey Adama."

"I remember the search and rescue efforts didn't turn up anything," Powers responded.

"Well sir, they brought her back. I haven't had a chance to really talk with my daughter about it yet, but she and the Earthers reported that her ECO was killed in an explosion that caused her FTL to malfunction. We just concluded the handover of Lieutenant Drew's remains."

"Well Commander…I…I'm at a loss for words here to be completely honest. If what you're saying is true then we've just found the Thirteenth Colony."

"Sir, they found us," Adama tersely replied, "And there is still the matter of this Earth vessel nearby. This Scout Ship of theirs is similar to our Raptors, I am convinced that there is a larger Earth vessel nearby. And from the evidence gathered sir I'd say it's a warship with unknown capabilities. If a civilian ship or the Cylons…"

"Leave that to me Commander, you just keep those Earthers safe and in place until the civilians get their heads out of their asses and get a diplomatic team out here. Which should be within the hour."

"Copy that sir," Adama said.

"And Commander…wait one," Powers said, stopping his transmission for a moment as Adama heard a voice speaking to him and Powers inaudibly replying and the back and forth went on for a few moments before he came back, "A Colonel Pyre from Fleet Intelligence says he will be ordering a transfer of Lieutenant Adama for mandatory debriefing and medical quarantine, aboard the Triton for some reason, as well as your entire crew when a HAZOP unit is organized and dispatched from Aquarius. It's all protocol Bill, I'm sure you understand. Admiral Powers out."

Commander Adama's grip on the phone turned to a vice grip when he heard that last rushed statement from that young Admiral. He had just gotten his daughter back, now he was about to be separated again! He slammed the phone down into its socket loud enough to make everyone in the CIC jump in fright and surprise. Kelsey just stood there looking at her father and had a painted face of worry on it.

"Colonel you have the bridge, Lieutenant, come with me," he said lowly.

"Yes sir," Kelsey said as she and the rest of the CIC watched quietly as they left.

It did not take all that long before they had entered the Commander's quarters where he could finally talk with his daughter in private. She was scrutinizing his face now a mix of anger, indignation, and annoyance. Apparently, she was a mind reader as well, or she knew the protocol, because Kelsey knew exactly what would be happening.

"Sir, I know that I'm going to be debriefed by Fleet Intelligence, it's to be expected with this type of thing," she stated nonchalantly, "It's nothing I can't handle."

"I know you've been through a lot over the past month Kelsey, and so have we. And now you're back from the dead it seems, and you brought the Thirteenth Colony with you. But I need you to tell me everything that happened there."

"Well first off...I didn't land on Earth," she started, "I jumped into the upper atmosphere of a planet they called an Alpha Site, and I had to eject and I never saw my Raptor again, I passed out on the way down after I got a good chute deployment. I woke up inside a military facility."

"So they have other worlds colonized."

"I don't think so, at least not that I could tell, apparently the fact that they are space capable has been held back from the vast majority of Earth. They've been taking to the stars for more than a decade using some sort of device called a Stargate that can transport them to other planets without the need for ships," Adama scrutinized his daughter, "I'm not crazy, I was sent through it to Earth. It's a big stone ring with red glowing stones around along with dozens of different symbols. They claim to have been at war until they recently won."

"At war? At war with who?"

Battlestar Pegasus CIC

"Well isn't that interesting?" Colonel Belzen whistled as the transmission between the Battlestar Galactica and the Battlestar Triton concluded.

"Yes, very interesting, almost too good to be true," Rear Admiral Helena Cain grumbled as she picked up the headset.

"Did you get that Admiral Cain?" the voice of Admiral Powers spoke once the Galactica wasn't able to hear them.

"Every word."

"Good, now Admiral I have orders for you, take the Pegasus and your group and find the Earth ship this scout ship supposedly came from. We need to find it before some civie finds it, or worse, the press."

"Understood, and what are my orders if I come across it?" Cain said clearly and firmly.

"Keep to protocol. If you do find the Earth ship, send a Raptor back here and report it. I'll have the Battlestars Torris, Odin, and Xenon along with their escorts on hot standby back at Picon. If a Cylon ship finds the Earther ship, destroy it."

"And if a civilian ship finds the Earth ship?" Cain added.

"Jam all communications with said civilian vessel, board and seize the vessel, and detain the crew. We can't let this get out before Command has the situation under control and the President makes the decision to tell the Quorum."

"Understood Admiral, out."

Belzen stared down at the plotting table as he thought over what he had just heard. It seemed to be quite an interesting set of orders, fairly unprecedented actually. Admiral Cain had read the protocol once before, but never had she even heard of it being put into effect. Still, the orders were given, so Cain started barking out orders as her XO calmly thought to himself what his next words would be. Helena was not one to hear things she didn't like.

"Something on your mind Colonel?" Helena asked as she watched the DRADIS screen show them moving out of formation with the Defender-Class cruisers Trinity and Goblin, the Cygnus-Class cruisers Duke and Baron and the Adamant-Class Frigates Steward, AutumnLight, Sounder, Voyager, and Flightfalling into formation on both sides while a pair of Loki-Class support cruisers, the Loki herself, and the Freyr, were tucked into the rear.

"Permission to speak freely?" he said with a stern expression that was very uncharacteristic of him.

Admiral Cain frowned, noticing the radical change in her normally calm and easy-going XO, "granted, say what's on your mind Colonel."

"I have very bad feeling about this, I don't why…but I just can't shake the feeling that something is gonna happen."

Battlestar Galactica, Starboard Hanger

The deck was still quite crowded, but at least there was a sense of crowd control. A large contingent of marines had set up a well secured perimeter around their craft which had been parked in an open spot out of the way so that normal flight operations could resume. Occasionally there were some Colonials who were just looking at the ship while on their off time that hadn't seen it already.

Mitchell, Carter, and Jackson walked to the U-306 and as they did the ramp dropped and Vala hopped out to greet them.

"Hey guys, how'd it go?" she chirped.

"Well, they invited their friends. Over sixty ships have taken up defensive formation around us. It seems that their protocol dictates that we be protected at all costs to avoid an 'incident'," Mitchell answered with air-quotes as they walked in and closed the ramp to be able to speak freely.

"We've also learned that this ship we're on is a relic by their standards. It's forty years old and is slated for decommissioning and to be a museum ship," Carter added.

"This thing is a relic? It's huge!" Vala said unbelievingly.

"From what I have observed this culture seems to only be as advanced compared to the normal state of technology in use by Stargate Command," Teal'c said, "Although the fact that they have been constructing vessels of this size for some time indicates we are not seeing much of what constitutes modern Colonial technology."

"He's right, their tech base is equivalent to what our mainstream tech is at right now, at least among our conventional military forces, but they seem to have a few advancements beyond their level of development," Carter said, "It's a real oddity really."

"The massive mile long warships and everything about them being the oddity," Mitchell responded.

"Yes and the fact that they have a lot of them says that this is a people that's been space capable for a while now. And not only that, but they have also fought at least one maybe more major space-capable wars and are expecting another. That would explain the odd level of development we're seeing," Jackson also put in.

"And Kelsey's adherence to OPSEC has certainly made an appraisal of both them and this opponent of theirs tough," Mitchell reminded everyone.

"So that would indicate the Cylons that Kelsey talked about are this other side of the coin to these people," Carter recollected, "I certainly don't know of another civilization that has this type of capability that we know of."

"No civilization I or any Jaffa that I have spoken with have had dealings with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol," Teal'c added, "News of ships such as a Colonial Battlestar would certainly have spread."

"And we haven't exactly seen this ship in action, and those guns on it were big, and there were a lot of them…" Vala pleaded, still remembering how menacing the Galactica's dormant main battery looked from her point of view.

"Yes well…we do have to acknowledge that. But my initial scans show that there's no real shielding or energy weapons, perhaps they've improved on their weapons, or their other systems, at this point in time we can't really make a fair assessment of their military capabilities. They might be relatively advanced, they might not. It's hard to say," Carter summarized, finally putting out a final say.

"Okay aside from their military I've noticed that there really hasn't been much of sign of religious influence going on here aside from the ram ceremony, maybe Kelsey was right about the lack of influence their religion has?" Daniel said.

"These people have been very disciplined in keeping to their own first contact protocols, which have been rather reasonable and understandable."

"Another good point towards giving the Colonials the benefit of the doubt," Daniel responded.

"But we have yet to meet with the civilian leadership of the Twelve Colonies," Teal'c noted.

"I overheard their XO say that a team should be here soon, so that will change," Colonel Mitchell responded.

"So what do we think?"

"They can't gamble very well…just an observation," Vala reported, hiding something in her pocket.

"Give it…" Jackson ordered, holding out his hand without looking looking at her. Vala groaned in protest but then deposited a handful of gold and silver hexagonal coins in his hands, but managed to keep one or two in her hand. But Daniel wasn't stupid, "all of them…"

"Besides that I don't think we've got much to worry about. Initial scans indicate they have no shields, but with unknown weapon capabilities of, admittedly, an effective kinetic variety given initial scans. However, no visible sign of aggression whatsoever."

"But all in all, the threat level…not nearly as high as we were expecting," Carter put out after a brief pause, "I'm thinking that we can reasonably say that establishing diplomatic relations might just prove to be rather successful."

The team collectively nodded, and then turned their heads when there was a knock on the back hatch and a voice was heard calling them.

"Uh Colonel, the diplomatic team has arrived. We have orders to escort you to the meeting room when you're ready."

"Well Jackson, your time to shine."

The group collectively got to their feet and opened the hatch and walked out with Vala and Teal'c staying behind as per the plan. The marines were tense, and the deck seemed to be now in a state of depression. Then the sight of Lieutenant Kelsey Adama walking towards a Raptor with a bag thrown over her shoulder gave them a hint as to what was going on. She was leaving for some kind of debriefing or quarantine obviously, because the Raptor awaiting her had a crew in sealed suits with an odd symbol on their chests.

But the escorting marines were politely adamant about the imperative for them to keep moving and within fifteen minutes of leaving the hanger bay they arrived at a large well-guarded door with civilian guards in black suits standing rigidly alongside the Galactica's marines who were also present. The hatch was opened, and they were ushered into the room after handing over their weapons as a normal safety precaution that was understandable. The marines allowed them to enter without being followed, allowing the civilian security team to take over for them. After all, they'd been on a constant state of alert for several hours now and were probably bound for a debriefing. It did seem as if these Colonials were very paranoid and cautious about this type of thing.

The group walked into a large cabin with a table set up in the middle of the room with a bunch of wooden chairs set up around the table. There were three Earthers could easily tell which side was meant for them because there were twelve men and women in civilian suits with stacks of papers in front of them. There were twelve folders holding huge stacks of paper, each one had the symbol for each of the zodiac symbols and the names of the Colonies written in black block letters.

"Hello," Dr. Jackson started trying to be the first to speak.

"Dr. Jackson I presume?" the eldest of the group stood up and offered his hand graciously which Jackson took and gave him a firm handshake.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you mister…" Jackson trailed off awkwardly not seeing a name tag anywhere on the man's person.

"Ambassador Sev Lauren, Caprican representative, and lead negotiator by order the President of the Colonies."

"A pleasure."

"Please take a seat Doctor, everyone please…" the ambassador pleasantly offered them seats which the Earth team took hesitantly, "Would you care for a glass of water? Or a meal of some sort? I understand that the Galactica's kitchen staff is respected throughout the Fleet."

"Oh no thank you, we ate before we left, shall we begin?" Dr. Jackson cordially spoke. His voice reflected years of practiced diplomatic expertise.

"Of course, allow me to introduce my fellow representatives…"

And so it began. After eleven cordial and friendly greetings the Colonial and Earth delegations were very much acquainted with one another. However not all the Colonials were the very friendly and welcoming. The representative from Tauron was exactly the type that could start them down a bad path. He seemed to be completely paranoid and hostile, everything that Jackson said he had something to say that Jackson had to be very careful to keep from making Earth out to be something hostile. Then there were in fact religious members of the group, most prominently the Gemenon representative. Every question she asked had something to do with a religious aspect, as if assigned to ask about the subject. Jackson was very careful not to say anything about the fact their own pantheon was now an object of ancient history on Earth, and that Earth now practiced many different religions. However, the most clever and focused of the Colonials seemed to be a member of the delegation from Scorpio. He had remained silent, judging the Earthers' temperaments, and the way they were answering questions. Then he spoke out loud for the first time since introducing himself.

"Doctor Jackson, may I ask you a question?" he spoke firmly after Jackson had finished answering the question of the Gemenon woman with nonsense drabble about how Earth's governments didn't revolve around a state religion.

"Yes of course."

"How do we know you are from Earth? And not a member of some rogue group trying to gain attention?"

"Well you don't, I mean I can understand how you would be cautious and pensive about this sort of thing. I would."

"So you would like to prove this yes?" the man pushed cautiously yet firmly.

"Well I wouldn't want to be seen as a rogue when we clearly aren't," Jackson responded sarcastically.

"Then there is only one way to prove that assertion, in my eyes. Physical proof."

"Are you asking for us to take you to Earth?" Mitchell said, leaning forward, his voice now deep and threatening. His military training had kicked in at this possible threat to Earth's security.

"Yes, I am. In the Colonies, Earth is a very touchy subject, dozens if not hundreds of individuals step forward claiming to have either seen Earth or be from Earth. And each time they have been proven to be liars."

"Do you think we're lying?" Carter snapped.

"I didn't say that Colonel Carter, I am simply saying what our experience with situations like this has done. You say you rescued one of our pilots that crashed on your planet. How do we know you didn't kidnap and brainwash her after killing her ECO?" the Scorpio representative hissed.

"Are you accusing them of murdering an officer of the Colonial Fleet and holding another to be used in a scheme?" one of the other delegates replied to this shocking accusation, showing some fractures among these representatives in terms of mannerisms, culture, and mindsets.

"I am saying that we cannot take you seriously until you show us the proof."

Jackson eyed this man carefully. His watchful eye noticed something strange about him. He didn't hold himself like a diplomat, his eyes had a calculating and piercing stare that was far too hostile for a civilian diplomat. If a real diplomat had that kind of look in his eye while negotiating it could be said he had a threatening air to him, not something a peaceful negotiation wants. No, this man was not a civilian, he was an Intelligence Officer, whether he was military or something akin to the CIA or NSA was unknown but he was clearly trying to force them to show their hand.

"That proof you want is out of the question until we know that we can trust that we won't have an invasion fleet on our front door if we take you to Earth," Carter replied, her own glaring threatening military stare piercing right into the Intelligence Officer who took it in stride, as he was prepared for that.

"You have your protocol, we have ours," Mitchell replied smugly.

"Then perhaps a compromise?" he said, "Our intelligence reports from what we heard in your transmission to the Battlestar Galactica said your craft was attached to a ship you call the George Hammond, a warship correct?"

"Perhaps that can be arranged, Colonel Carter is the commander of the Hammond so the decision in the end is hers," Jackson replied, being sure not to confirm that they had a warship hiding in Colonial space, lest he stir up the Colonials.

"Then perhaps you can arrange for your ship to come here? Assuming it knows where you are," the Caprican representative said before the Intel man could speak again and make the entire mood calm down from the tense hostility the damned Intelligence man had created with the entire negotiations.

"Oh they know exactly where we are and what the situation is," Carter said, alarming the Colonials a great deal.

"Alright, so you think they could be here in short order?" one of the Colonials asked, hopeful for some sort of move towards a good way to confirm that these people were from Earth.

"Very quickly, we're still in communications range with our craft's long-range communications system," Carter replied.

"So I guess on that high note we can conclude these negotiations?" one of the Colonials spoke up, standing up to shake the Earthers' hands politely, "And if perhaps continue…"

"Not at Earth," Mitchell growled at the Intelligence Officer who narrowed his eyes back at him.

"Of course, and we'll give you time to confer with your superiors."

"Very well, we'll have to go to our ship, we may have a long-range communications system, but it's not that long ranged. The Hammond is capable of reaching Earth."

USS General George Hammond Near Ragnar Anchorage

The Hammond was hiding out around a large blue gas giant where their sensors' abilities were greatly reduced. So it seemed to be a safe place for the lone Earth Battlecruiser to hide out in. But they were still able to detect the massive gathering of Colonial ships that had started around the place the Scout Ship manned by SG-1 had arrived at. Of course, they were worried. But an all clear message from Colonel Carter had settled them down once first contact had apparently been made. But there'd been no contact since then. So, the Hammond remained on hot standby. Her F-302's were armed and fueled, all the offensive missile tubes were loaded with a mixture of nuclear ordinance and conventional missiles and her defensive point defense missiles banks were active and ready. But there were a great number of ships now present, so even the Asgard Plasma Beams were activated.

"Sir," a lieutenant at the console next to Hammond's XO, Major Harrison piped up.

"What do you have?" the young and jumpy major snapped.

"I'm not sure sir, it looks like another Colonial ship, one of their big boys, but it could be a civilian cargo ship for all we know of their ship types. It's jumped into our AO, it's about eighty thousand klicks away, and is closing in."

"Do we have a visual?" Major Harrison asked, leaning forward to look at the sensor readout.

"Not yet sir, it's blocked out by the gas giant."

"Have they seen us?" the major demanded.

"I can't tell, they've launched a fighter screen of about twelve small craft and have a few others branching out a bit farther. A CAP more than likely."

"Very well, take us into the gas giant, they won't be able to see us in there."

"Yes sir," the young officer replied tapping in a few commands which the agile Battlecruiser aptly obeyed and accelerated into the blue mess of clouds.

The sensors of the ship immediately suffered and long-range sensors completely faded out. But the short-ranged sensor sweeps were still able to keep track of the large Colonial ship trolling around outside the gas giant. The Hammond settled in, and waited, but the sensors weren't keen on waiting and soon found another, much larger target of interest deeper into the clouds of ionized gases that were lighting up with energized lightning storms that made the Hammond's shields glow as they were hit by the lightning strikes.

"Sir, I've got an even bigger contact deep inside the cloud, definitely not an abnormality."

"Let me see that," Major Harrison ordered, leaning over to see what it was his officer was on about, and when he saw it, he was amazed, "God damn…"

"Sir it's in the middle of a calm area of the gas giant, it looks like a path leads into the clearing. It's probably a Colonial satellite. I'm reading very high levels of chemical concentrations and gas movement in towards the satellite."

"A mining operation of some kind?" the major asked.

"Perhaps sir, I'm reading some massive liquid hydrogen and liquid methane concentrations as well as life signs and active scanning arrays."

"This means that we'd be spotted if we poked our nose out of the clouds, but this might be something else entirely, helm take us in."

The Hammond gently crawled forward gently poking itself through the clouds with shields glowing from the constant attention of dozens of ionized lightning strikes. She was a big beacon that couldn't be ignored and wasn't.

Battlestar Pegasus CIC

"What the frak is that?!"

The sudden loud cry over the radio made everyone in the CIC jump out of their calm state of mind as the Pegasus scanned along the edge of Ragnar Anchorage for any sign of the Earth ship. Admiral Cain had dispatched a Raptor into the Anchorage itself to look for any sign the Earth ship had been there, normally the massive satellite nestled into the calm center of the gas giant was under the custodianship of a small corvette or frigate with the occasional capital ship loading up fuel, supplies, ammunition, and new and reconditioned spare parts. However, there was nothing there at the moment so she'd dispatched a Raptor just to take a quick peak. And boy did that pilot get more than a quick peak.

"Raptor Niner Five Zero report!" Captain Fisk demanded over the radio as the Raptor pilot babbled on.

"Sir we've got visual on a…I don't know what it is! It just flew to the edge of the gas giant clouds, it's covered in a white light. Hold on…looks like it's clearing up. We're going in for a closer look."

"Copy that."

Admiral Cain stood straight up and placed her hands behind her back and started giving orders.

"Sound Action Stations, launch all Vipers. Helm take us into the Anchorage at battle speed," she sounded off, an air of absolute concentration masked on her features, "I want every nuke we've got in a launch tube. Contact the group and order them to get their asses here and get a Raptor to the Triton and tell Powers to get the response force here right frakking now."

At first everyone hesitated, not really sure what to do, they'd never done anything like this outside of drills and practice during basic training and war games. But this was real.

"Now people let's move, get those birds in the air!" Colonel Belzen hollered, snapping the CIC out of their daze.

Across the Pegasus men and women rushed to their stations, pilots sprinted to the hanger and started jumping into the cockpits of their Vipers and Raptors as the deck crews scrambled to get the birds that weren't ready loaded up and fueled as the pilots rushed them on. Gun crews scrambled up the tight ladders of their large turrets and strapped themselves into the controls of their powerful weapons while others removed the safeties, and the large turrets began to ascend out their protective housings. The massive power plants of the Pegasus went into overdrive trying to keep up with sudden acceleration from the massive engine pods along with demand for energy from fire control computers starting up along with the numerous ammo lifts, safety locks, DRADIS scanners, launch tubes, and missile safeties being taken off, all at once.

The Pegasus's massive hull spun on a dime as she changed course and accelerated into the mouth of the Anchorage entrance faster than she should normally have entered. The Vipers came streaming out of her hanger bays with tense and excited pilots at the controls who screamed forward into the tube now filled with Colonial craft.

"Pegasus this is Niner Five Zero," came the sudden call over the radio.

Admiral Cain personally picked up the head set, "What do you see pilot?"

"Admiral, it…it looks like a Battlestar, but a whole lot smaller. It's got two hanger bays, a long neck like section, and a large back heavy section in the rear paralleling the hanger pods. Hold on…sir it's seen us! They're coming about!"

"Get out of there and rendezvous with the Pegasus," Cain ordered tersely.

"Yes sir, on our way sir."

"Could it be the Earth ship?" Belzen asked.

"I guess we're gonna find out."