Roads Paved in Shadow

Book II

Chapter IX

The other side of the Mountain-part 2

CDF Radiance

Mercury III Class Battlestar

"All ships secured," Lieutenant Ria announced. "Stealth raptors launched and proceeding to previous jump points. We are picking up some very weak radio emissions; they are artificial in origin. We haven't yet pinpointed the direction," he finished excitedly.

The Admiral relaxed and actually smiled. "Confirmed transmissions, but no direction? They're not background."

"Confirmed. The signals are very primitive," responded lieutenant Adros. "The background is playing havoc with them. I can't tell how far they've traveled. But I can calculate the rate of degradation." A few moments later, Andros spoke. "I estimate about one hundred years, give or take ten." He smiled. I think we're close, sir."

"Excellent. Status on the Jupron."

"The Jupron's second jump engine is still offline." The gravitational eddies had damaged her engines and hull significantly more than the other vessels as she was the closest. "They estimate forty-two hours before they can replace and re-align the system. Two other ships are requesting time for maintenance and repairs before we continue."

This was as good a place as any to do repairs. They were in the middle of nowhere, away from any system. The defense forces were positioned, and all of the convoy ships would receive the next sets of emergency backup jump coordinates in a few moments. He wasn't going to leave any of them alone. Jupron required time. He would give it to them. Every explorational ship had a minimum of two jump engines, an unusual practice on civilian ships but for long-ranged exploratory vessels, it was a critical necessity. Most of the CDF had three."

"They have permission to proceed. I don't want one of our civilian ships stranded in the middle of nowhere. Any sign of Cylon pursuit."

"Negative, all returning Alpha raptors report clear on previous jump points." Lieutenant Ria's response was automat these days. "Our Beta raptor squadron are on route for confirmation." No sigh of Cylons had been reported since they began this expedition. Still, it paid to be vigilant.

"Bring the Alphas in. Keep DRADIS active," the Admiral said. "We'll be here for a while. Have our sensors choose a likely system that matches our predictive parameters and compare them to any system within one hundred twenty light years. Punch in the new coordinates for our next jump in forty-eight hours. I want our Alert One and Two vipers on patrol. All battlestars will have Alert vipers on patrol and at heightened alert. Orders are not to fire on any unknowns unless fired upon. If that's true, re-enforce the rule. No shooting unless fired upon first. We're close. I don't want any surprises."

Yes, Admiral." Ria didn't believe it would be needed. They were in the middle of nowhere. The closest star system was five light years away. If the Cylons were tracking them, the advantage would be the CDF's. Unless they attacked with seven to one odds, the state-of-the-art battlestars would run all over them. Like the rest of the crew he was confident that this small fleet could handle anything thrown at it. But they were alone, and he was beginning to get homesick. Being out here in unknown almost a year was tiring. "Alert One and Two launching. Will be on station, ETA three minutes. Tycheon Alert Vipers launching, Alert Vipers Junis launching. URAD (unmanned recon alert drones) are launching. on station in five minutes."

"The Anazeeteet has cruiser Yeron will relieve in six hours.I don't want us surprised by uninvited guests."

All Alerts will be on station in six minutes. Anazeeteet taking point. Securing fleet coverage. All civilian defense systems online and active."

The civilian ships of the exploratory fleet were unlike standard civilian ships. The White Star line were weapons-capable powerhouses. Every ship had firepower equal to the old-style Colombia class battlestars and the crew knew how to effectively use those weapons. The civilian liners were not in the same class as the powerful Minoans, the second-generation successor to the old Colombias, but with their extra armor, they could handle themselves in a fight. These new 'civilian' vessels were the response to the Cold war being waged between the Colonials and Cylons.

On the massive Mercury, unlike earlier block versions, the DRADIS operators were positioned just behind the Commander's position in the center of the bridge. It consisted of three independent systems, each with three large view screens. The DRADIS operators were the visual heart of the entire fleet. Each operator had his or her own specialty tracked every aspect of the fleet. The center operator focused on traffic control for the fleet. Every ship, both civilian and military were identified, tagged, and their position logged and constantly updated. The second officer specialized specifically on the military ships and vessels and all offensive operations.

The third officer's responsibilities focused on the defensive responses of any all enemy activities. That operator was also responsible for tracking, directing and monitoring the unmanned recon drones which extended the reach of the overall sensor suite. Integrating the other battlestar DRADIS inputs into its own, this gave the command ship a god's eye view of everything within DRADIS range. This was the first system of its kind in the Colonial fleet. The computer power required for this was tremendous and pushed Colonial computer technology to its limit.

After the first Cylon war, computer technology lagged as a fear of artificial intelligence grabbed the population and held it. The Colonial military however never fully retreated or outlawed their precious tech. Highly classified organization within the CDF continued their research, improving their computer capabilities and efficiency. After the encounter with the Earthers and the subsequent discovery of the attempted Cylon viral attack and subsequent cold war, those improved technologies came out into the open. Within the civilian population, the improvements were slow in coming back general public. In the military community, it was embraced as the real competition between them and their enemies continued in the cold war. Anti-viral systems flourished, and computer power and weapon's capability increased, so quickly that the Colonials were confident that they could handle anything that the Cylons (or anyone else) could throw at them.

Therefore, what happened next came as every rude and frightening shock. One moment, the boards were clear of any unidentified objects, the next an unidentified target simply appeared on all three DRADIS stations, almost on top of the fleet.

Son of a … "DRADIS alert!"

"Confirmed! We have two unidentified targets three light seconds in front of the fleet."

Cunningham's response was immediate. "Set Condition One throughout the fleet. Order all Alert vipers to remain at station and do not engage unless ordered. I want constant updates on the status of the contact."

The XO, Colonel Clifton Ramsies seemingly appeared from nowhere and was hovering over the DRADIS units. "The targets are gunboat sized, but that's all we can tell."

"Keep calm, everyone, Cunningham said. "This may be what we've been looking for. "Open a channel. Transmit in the clear."

"Admiral, we're already receiving a transmission across all channels." The lead comms officer looked up in wonder and then he smiled. "It's in Caprican standard, sir."

"Inform Ambassador Isahan that we might need her services as soon as possible. Lieutenant, put it on the speakers."

"Done." The young man hit a couple of buttons. "Attention unidentified fleet, you have entered United Coalition of Worlds space. Please power down your weapons and identify yourselves and remain where you are."

"It's an automated hail, sir. It's repeating."

Cunningham nodded. The hail was in Colonial standard. which meant that these people were probably Thirteeners, the nickname most of the Colonials now used, or the Thirteenth Tribe as they were officially called. Silently, he mentally chastised himself to remember not to use the slang term. DRADIS couldn't get an accurate reading through what had to be their ECM system but from the visual configuration, even at such a distance, was along the lines of the original vessel that had visited Cyrannus years ago, lightly armored, with a slightly higher power signature than a ship that size should be able to generate. They were larger and appeared to be patrol vessels, which seemed consistent with the presumed capabilities of the Earth folk. He was rather giddy at finally meeting his first mission goal a little before the projected timetable for searching in the targeted area.

"This is Admiral Frankius Cunningham, in command of the expedition fleet of the Cyrannus cluster, representing the Colonies of Kobol and its people. We come in peace and we offer greetings to the people of the Thirteenth Tribe, known as Earth. Transmitting in the clear."

"Transmission sent, Admiral."

"DRADIS tracking clean. No actively targeting."

"Good," the admiral said. "We don't want to provoke them. They're probably nervous as it is."

"We are receiving a transmission audio and visual. Same channel as the original Earther ship that came to us, live feed."

"Put it on the main screen."

"Onscreen…Admiral!"

'By the gods!' the Admiral almost yelled. On the screen was a thing… not Human, certainly not an Earther.

What appeared on the screen were several…creatures. They looked reptilian and had various lengths of colored feathers on the top of their heads, ranging from dark green to bright red. They had two eyes that moved independently of each other as they looked around their version of the bridge and at the viewscreen. Their thin tongues moved in and out of their mouths. They appeared to be of the same species, but physically, they varied wildly from one another. Some looked like traditional lizards like those seen on Leonis and Virgon, they were much bigger. Others looked far more exotic. If the Colonials had ever seen sauroids, they could have made the association. All of them were naked wearing only different colored paint, probably denoting rank or sex. The thing sitting in what he assumed was the command chair had small amounts of gold paint on its shoulders. It had rolls of small, sharp teeth and its face reeked of intelligence.

"It's an alien!" a wide-eyed looking Lieutenant Anez screamed loud enough to be heard throughout the bridge. "It's a lizard!"

The creature's eyes swiveled and looked directly at the Admiral.

Cunningham was disconcerted by the eye turret movements and the creature itself. The shock caused him to hesitate for an instant as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing with what he thought he knew to be true. The momentary shock was so great, he almost didn't hear the creature's first words."

"Greetings alien Tosevites from another world, I am Senior Shiplord Kirel of the 127th Emperor Hetto, a ship of the United Coalition of Worlds," said the shiplord. The shiplord always thought of the Humans of Tosev III as Tosevites, the name given to them by the Race. To him, Tosevites were what the Big Uglies were. The Emperor decreed that they be called Terrans, but these Tosevite creatures weren't Terran, so he did what the Terrans called an end run around that little command. "Your ships are being monitored. You have entered UCW territory? State your purpose for being here that we may proceed with civilized communication. If you choose conflict, we will remove you from our territory. Speak so that this shiplord of the Race may understand your purpose for being in our sector."

"What are you?" Cunningham asked. He almost groaned. That was terrible. The creature said nothing. Undeterred, the admiral continued. "We had no intentions of violating your territory. We are looking for species of our kind, called Humans. We believed that they were in this sector, this part of space. We are, we were unaware of your people, that there was another species in this part of space. We come in peace. We are not hostile, but we will defend ourselves if you attack us."

"We will not instigate hostilities unless we are provoked," Kirel responded. "You fall within our patrol region. Our sensor indicate that your weapons are active but are not actively targeting us. I now pose a question: In your journeys, have you Tosevites encountered hostilities?"

By its intonation, the admiral was assuming that the word 'tosevite' was its name for Humans. "No, we have not, as of yet. 'But the day is young,' he thought.

"Sir, Ambassador Isahan is on the line," Ramsies whispered. "She wants to speak to the creature, ah-alien, er shiplord," the comms officer was staring at the real-life alien in front of him and he was spooked.

Cunningham nodded. "Put her through. "His focus returned to the alien. "Senior Shiplord Kirel, so that we may avoid any misunderstandings between our two people, I am adding our ambassador to our communications. She is our contact specialists and will be able to clarify any misunderstandings before there any difficulties might arise."

When this incident was over, the admiral promised that he was going to have a session with the staff and they were going to develop some SOPs that would be used for this type of scenario. What little they had concerning non-human alien contact was laughable because it didn't exist. Granted, this had never happened before and there were no precedents that could be used as guidelines and they were making this up as they went along. Such lack of procedures was a sure recipe for disaster.

"Understood, we will do the same. Hasten this individual so that I can speak with you as civilized beings."

Cunningham tried not to glare at the creature, as he didn't like the way this alien was rushing him. Furthermore, he felt that somehow, he had been insulted by the shiplord although he couldn't prove it. He couldn't tell what the creature was thinking and trying to understand its body language was impossible. The way one of its eyes continually looked at him while the other swiveled every which direction was unnerving. A quick glance at a couple of his people and he could see the confusion and fear in their faces. First Contact with an alien species was something that none of them were prepared for. In the collective backs of their minds, yes, there was always that possibility. But realty was something different. None of the Colonials were prepared for this reality. That included the ambassador who looked stunned and nearly terrified for a moment as her political face faltered. He could understand some of her reasoning. He wasn't a religious man; however, those scrolls were just as deeply ingrained in his mind as they were in billions of other Colonials and just couldn't be ignored.

"Shiplord Kirel. I have been monitoring your transmissions and I bid you greetings from the Colonies of Kobol." The ambassador began. "The admiral was pleased. Other than the first bit of hesitation, she hadn't missed a beat. "We apologize for violating your territory. We want to avoid any negative discourse."

"I greet you Ambassador. You are correct. Negative discourse is to be avoided. To better facilitate our communication with each other, I now transfer you to Contact Specialist Nignxe."

None of the Colonials could determine if the rather abrupt changeover was part of their nature, or if it were some sort of subtle insult. There were obviously cultural differences that both sides were going to need to understand in order to better communicate with one another.

It wasn't just the language, everything. This is new ground.

The Senior shiplord's image disappeared, replaced by another of the reptilian creatures. This one had different paint splashed over its body, and its overall color was a deeper brown when compared to the earlier creature. The shape of its snout was different, more tapered, less reptile-shaped. It looked shorter than the average Human, but she couldn't tell. Again, the difference was surprising to the ambassador, but she quickly suppressed her surprise and begin to speak. Even though she knew it could understand her, she began to speak slowly, making sure she was understood. Even then, the woman didn't quite believe that this creature could actually understand what she was saying.

"I send greetings to the individual named Contact Specialist Nignxe from the Colonies of Kobol. I apologize if I say your name incorrectly. I am having a little difficulty properly pronouncing it. Please do not be offended."

"There is no offense given. The Human tongue is not designed to properly speak my name. I must repeat the question that Senior Shiplord Kirel asked. We want to know why you have entered our territory and what is your purpose here?"

"Our mission is a very important one. We are searching for a long-lost colony of ours, a colony that separated from us more than four thousand years ago. I could not help but notice that Senior Shiplord Kirel did not answer the question that Admiral Cunningham had asked him. Are you aware of any of our kind in this area of space?"

"Yes. We are aware of your species living in this part of space. However, it is not a colony, but a world that traces its origins and history can be traced back billions of years. It contains Humans who can trace its origins back more than one hundred thousand years at the minimum. They were barbarians then, but it was their world of origin. We are unaware of any world that contains Humans in this sector of space that would date back a mere four thousand years that has not been accounted for. There are however other worlds containing Humans that might better conform to your time frame specifics. Those worlds may be found in other sectors of space. According to Earth's records and that of others, these Human-occupied worlds can conclusively trace their origins to Earth, not to some unknown colonies of Kobol. The Human living on those worlds have been identified and documented as having been kidnapped or transplanted from the world of Terra also known by the names Earth, Tau'ri, and Tosev III."

Ambassador and all of those listening reeled in shock. Even Cunningham couldn't suppress a surprised grunt. That short conversation, if true, contained a wealth of information. Apparently, these aliens knew of Humanity. However, she had another question that she needed to ask first. "How is it that you understand our language?"

"Your language is in our database," Nignxe answered. "We identify you as the Colonia's of the Cyrannus star system. Your languages have been catalogued," the contact specialist answered.

That answer precipitated immediate concern and suspicion among the Colonials, especially the admiral. The only logical conclusions he could come up with were that these creatures have been spying on the Cyrannus system and doing so for quite some time. For whatever reason, was up to debate and he didn't like where his thoughts were leading him. However long these aliens have been spying on his people and for how long they'd been doing it. As military leader of this expedition whose responsibility was to protect and maintain the security of his worlds, he broke into the conversation. "How long have your people been… aware of the Colonies of Kobol?"

Nignxe's lower jaw dropped opened. That was his specie's form of laughter, but the Colonials didn't know that, so they interpreted that action as some form of threatening mannerism. The already tense situation became tenser. "Members of the UCW have encountered your people before. The contact did not go well."

An increasingly angry Cunningham put the pieces together. Somehow elements of the Colonies had encountered these creatures for, and that contact did not go well. The Brass and probably the president, wishing to avoid a panic, placed the encounter under layers of security. The Cylons were bad enough and the people did not need to find out that there was alien life and that it knew where the Colonies were. The man almost growled as he had stumbled upon the hidden reason why this expedition was sanctioned. The Brass was worried about these creatures and hadn't felt the need to tell him or his commanders. This was entirely unacceptable. He had no idea of the capabilities of these ships or the alien's real motivations.

In light of this new knowledge and revelations, he needed a lot more information in order to protect the people under his command and those of the Colonies. DRADIS and visual sensors couldn't even properly identify or see the vessels. Motioning to mute his channel, he gave orders for Alert One and Two to do a flyby of the alien ships.

"I have no records of any such encounter," the Ambassador Genyne Isahan responded after a moment's hesitation. She had come to a similar conclusion about these aliens. They may have encountered Colonials and it hadn't gone well and the expedition fleet was tasked with more than just one mission. "I understand that this may have happened in the past and may have caused negative feelings among our two people. As ambassador, it is my responsibility and duty to lay the foundations of peace between us. Can there be peace between us?"

"Your grievance is not with us. It is with the people of Earth."

"Do you know the location of the Thirteenth Colony, known to us as Earth?" the admiral asked as he broke into the conversation. The words were issued more as a demand than a question.

"I have never heard them referred to as the Thirteenth Colony, but Earth's location is known."

"You've contacted them before?" Cunningham all but demanded.

"Yes."

"How do you know of Earth?" asked the Colonial ambassador.

There was a pause as the creature's eye turrets swiveled towards the direction of his commander. Apparently, he was given permission as he continued. "The Conquest Fleet of the Race tried to conquer Tosev III…I clarify my statement, the inhabitants of Earth also known as Terra–to incorporate it into the Empire. We believed they were primitives and to our sorrow we discovered otherwise. They could have destroyed us and conquered the Empire if they had so chosen to do so. In return for the Emperor," and here his eye turrets lowered in respect, a strange sight to the Colonials, "releasing the Empire's decree that Earth be incorporated into the Empire, Earth decided not to kill us all. The Race was given another world to colonize and we were offered the choice to join the new UCW. The Empire of the Race is the youngest, proud member of the United Coalition of Worlds."

"Am I to understand that it is a part of this coalition?"

"You understand correctly."

The woman appeared confused and very suspicious. The alien appeared far too relaxed speaking to her. He seemed comfortable speaking to aliens. "Why are you volunteering all of this information?"

"You need to know," he answered. "You did say that you wanted to avoid confusion between us, did you not?"

"Then, can you tell me what representatives make of this coalition?"

"The United coalition of Worlds is an organization of civilizations that spanned this galaxy. There are now six members of the coalition and Earth is the creator of this organization. The coalition consist of Humans, near Humans, and four species of, as the Terrans would define, reptilian species. The purpose of this Coalition is to promote trade and economic, technological development, and planetary security among the species that it represents. We are also responsible for the security and protection of those worlds under the Protected Planets Treaty."

The Senior Shiplord cut into the transmission. "Colonial Tosevites from another world. You have space killercraft advancing towards our position. Call them back or this will be interpreted as an act of war and we will respond."

"This is Admiral Cunningham. The incoming vessels are not hostile. I repeat, these vessels are not hostile. We cannot scan your vessels, we cannot accurately get visuals on your vessels. The ships coming in your direction have orders to do a flyby recon only so that we may have a better idea of who and what we are dealing with."

"This is unacceptable. We are separated by distance for a reason. If your vessels continue in a direction and they come within three hundred kilometers of our ships they will be destroyed. We warn you now. Return you killercraft to the safety of your expedition's perimeter defense."

"This action is part of our protocol. It's for our secure and protect my expedition fleet." Cunningham expected some protests but, what could they do? The vipers could handle themselves against local patrol ships and his battlestars would wipe the floor wipe with them. The aliens were posturing and knew they were outgunned. They may have known about the Earth people, but they were not friends with them. The aliens had already admitted attempting a failed invasion against them. He acknowledged that there were some inconsistencies. Their ships looked like the Earther variants. Maybe they were 'prizes' from their conflicts. He didn't know but couldn't dare take the chance that they weren't. In any case, he dared not show weakness. "It is not a hostile action simply a recon."

Both of the senior shiplords were angered at the arrogance of the alien Tosevite and the disrespect he showed for the members of the Race and by extension, he UCW. The third shiplord, his ship still cloaked, ordered his crew-males to slowly power up his defensive array.

"That may be your protocol, but it is not ours, Kirel hissed. "Our protocol does not allow alien ships to recon our ships unless given permission to do so. We follow the rules of the UCW. If your ships continue their course, all conversations will cease, and you will be ejected from our territory."

"Senior Shiplord, you said that Earth created this Coalition. Therefore, Humans who developed this coalition leader it. They will not look kindly at you if you choose to shoot down non-hostile vessels occupied by Humans."

'Admiral Cunningham, you live under the impression that because your Human you have rights to choose what we can or cannot do. The Coalition treats all members as equals. If we should down your killercraft they will not blink an eye."

"You will be attacking their cousins and members of a fellow tribe. They were not respect your decision."

"If your killercraft continue to advance, then we shall see if your assumptions are correct."

Ambassador Isahan looked on in horror as both alien and Colonials were about to start a war. The admiral believed that the aliens were bluffing and that he had the advantage in firepower against those admittedly tiny patrol sis. Kirel was an alien thinking whatever aliens thought of in times like this. Each of them looked had no intentions of backing off.

Basestar V718

The Cylon taskforce, consisting of eight capitals, four supports, and one resurrection ship jumped into normal space seven light minutes away from the Colonial expedition fleet as they'd been doing for the last year.

"We're close," a Two said. "We're close."

"You've been saying that for the last two months, but I'll agree with you this time," responded a Six. "My sisters and I think that we should begin spreading out and looking for Earth on our own."

The One huffed. "I agree. we're close, not that close yet," a One snapped. "We need a bit more patience. "We've tracked them this long, we can wait a little more."

"I hate all of this waiting," the Six snapped. "We need to do something more than just track these Humans all over space."

"That's our job, track them, locate Earth and let our brothers and sisters know," the One muttered and then he smiled. "If we have an opportunity, then we nuke Earth, let the Colonials take the blame. We run back home, then come back and finish these Humans off."

"Agreed," a Three said. "The less Humans the better. How many dead worlds have we seen since coming here? No, they are a plague on the universe." But we should let our people know of our progress."

"It's take three months to send a message back. We haven't received a response from our previous communication."

"Give it time," the One said easily. "Unless they're at war, well get an answer in a couple of weeks. As for right now, let's be patient. We'll get our chance to remove the Human filth. For now, let's make sure they can't detect us."

TBC

Biography Frank Cunningham: the character of Frank Cunningham has appeared in previous stories of mine and Mr. Bob Regent. He was originally shown in a prelude of Bob's Reunion's story. Frank was responsible for the nuking of Earth by the Colonials that resulted in the deaths of millions across the globe. The reasons for that particular attack was that he was trying to buy time for the rest of the Colonial fleet to escape the wrath of Earth forces. He was killed in the process along with his squadron and there were no survivors. Earth was truly pissed off and went to war with the Colonies of Kobol.

This character's counterpart also appeared in Worldwar: Establishing the Balance. In this reality, he tried to nuke Earth under the orders of Adm. Nagala. The Colonials in an attempt to capture the flame Cylons who sought refuge from earth, discovered is much more difficult than they had anticipated. With the forces being decimated, Adm. Nagala gave orders to Commander Cunningham to nuke Earth, thereby forcing the inhabitants to surrender. If he had succeeded, then approximately one half of the planet would have been decimated. Unfortunately for him, his squadron was again intercepted and wiped out before any of the missiles could strike the planet.

So, both of these stories, Frank Cunningham died pitting his squadrons against Earth forces.

In this story he is an Admiral with the responsibility of protecting the expedition fleet that has been traveling for more than a year and whose mission was to discover the location of the planet Earth. He was no doubt a capable commander, but in both previous realities he was discovered to be impulsive and more than willing to act aggressively in order to achieve its mission. He is supremely confident in his ships' ability to defend and neutralize any threat that comes his way. In the light of the situation happening in the story, it might have been wiser to have chosen someone else to lead the expeditionary fleet. His counterparts have shown a callousness for life that calls into question who and what he is. That same personality exists here…

The Cylons tracking the fleet, as will be seen, have no regards for human life. They have never had direct contact with people and as such their attitude is callous, unlike their fellow Cylons at home who are fighting for their lives and losing. The expeditions are about to receive a shock. Yje Colonials and Cylons at home are about to find out the true horror of the Earth Alliance and their allies' reasons for invading.

And, O'Neill's Earth doesn't have a clue. But they will as the Shadows begin their moves.