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Chapter XIII

Book II

Book II

'Tidal Wave Part II'

Earth Alliance

EarthDome, Geneva Switzerland

President Morgan Clark the Second, President (for life) of Earth Alliance, leader of the premier powers in the galaxy. It was nearing the twentieth anniversary of the Earth-Minbari war. Earth survived an alien onslaught and came out on top, so naturally he like just about every human in the Alliance and beyond, he was happy, but for him, it was a sour experience that galled at him since the near nuking of Geneva by that human traitor General Jack O'Neill. Just thinking of that man's name made him want to kill someone. That man and his bunch of traitors from that so-called 'fake' Earth had cost him more than O'Neill could ever repay. Although maybe his blood pooling on a street on his filthy planet along with a few millions of his closest friends might be payment enough. The arrogant, pissant general and his people, the Achilles, the Prometheus and those stupidly designed pyramid ships caused him to lose his connections with Section 31 and damaged his relationship with PsiCorps for a decade and a half. The amount of damage control, the amount of funds spent trying to stay out of prison All of the deflections and blacking his fellow officials had prematurely aged him. It was O'Neill's fault that he'd lost his wife. There was no love lost there but she was politically astute and a very useful tool and sounding board when he needed advice.

Clark would never get the image of that man's face out of his mind. It was he that ordered the hacking of his computer, opening all of his most secret files, breaking an encryption that cost him a fortune and exposed his plans to the world. O'Neill and his lackeys ruined him. If it weren't for his associates, he would probably be on the streets, or on Mars somewhere trying to run for superintendent of sewage management.

When the man was confirmed dead, Clark knew he would still see his face laughing at him and he hated him all the more for it. It wasn't just him that suffered but other senators and power brokers of the time. They all wanted revenge. Just as importantly, Earth Alliance wanted, need the technology that world possessed. That backwards world had no right to such wonders that should rightfully belong to the 'real' Earth. Twenty-First Century Earth was too primitive to understand what they truly had. They had no right to have such wonders or not to share it with the true Earth and its people.

The technology in their possession would make mankind supreme in the galaxy, and they squandered it, being under the thumb of aliens who would eventually betray them and make them their servants. The fact that O'Neill's planet had such technology and refused to use it to its fullest potential was a testament to the weakness and stupidity of his planet's people. To have such power and refuse to use it properly made him sick. They withheld their technology, keeping Earth Alliance from its rightful destiny–Keeping him from his rightful destiny as Leader of Mankind, of Humanity.

He was so close. President Santiago was long gone, the Babylon Five station was under his control and a fortress for Humanity. The rebels were almost stamped out. The loathsome Narn were busy fighting with the Centauri, killing each other. Good riddance, he thought, especially with Catagia more insane than ever. If he were killed the galaxy would rest easier. It was a dream of course since the Centauri were winning, slowly and effectively crushing what few military vessels the Narn had left to fight with.

Yes, the Centauri would win the war, but Catagia didn't know when to quit and after basking in the glory of victory would most certainly start a war with Earth Alliance. He'd of course would lose, and he knew it, but he was an insane fool and couldn't help but try.

Earth would crush them, now that the Minbari weaponry and technology was his. There was the added bonus of the Abbai shielding system the IPX Science Division 'acquired', not as effective as the false Earths shields but useful and the R&D were busy making gains and improving on the system.

Soon those shields would be better than the Achilles and Prometheus. Those ships would be nothing compared to Earthforce defensive shield. Minbari neutron and antimatter beam weaponry systems could not take down the Achilles shields. That was a proven fact. But those shields could only take so much and with the Alliance having shields as well, it was only a matter of time before those little ships were worn down and then cut apart but the improved firepower of the Alliance. Earthforce believed that the Earth Alliance–his Alliance–was strong enough to handle any threat, and that included the fake Earth and he'd prove it when O'Neill's world was a burning cinder. That world's defenses couldn't handle six hundred ships of the line attacking from all sides.

His people however were recommending caution. By all reports that planet of traitors had impressive technology, but it was still Twenty-First century based. Earthforce analysts were confident that the other Earth couldn't have more than thirty space capable ships in service. Those ships were simply too expensive to make and maintain in large numbers. Fifteen years was a long time but not that long when it came to ship building using advance alien technology.

Their lack of infrastructure and space docks was why they wanted to trade for Earthforce hulls in the first place.

Those Jaffar or whatever they were called, couldn't have over another thirty in total despite what they had told then Senator Sheridan and the others during that last meeting. And how dare that freak threaten the real Earth–Earth Alliance.

'His people burned worlds'. Clark wasn't in the room at the time, but his bug was working just fine. How dare that sub-human make threats After the 'fake' Earth was a burned-out cinder, maybe he would deal with them next and show them what it really means to burn worlds. That however was for the future. Right now he had other things on his plate trying to keep Earth safe and his vision of the galaxy intact. Speaking of which, his three o'clock was here.

"General Lefcourt," President Clark said in passing. In fact he barely acknowledged him because he didn't trust him. Oh, he was loyal to the Alliance and to him, but he had scruples and a moral compass that Morgan knew would force him to turn against him. The President couldn't allow that so Lefcourt was slated to 'disappear, but not yet. He was still useful, and Clark didn't like wasting important assets these days. Lefcourt would die a glorious death battling the Centauri in the future war to come. Clark might even give him a posthumous medal.

Not one for small talk with his subordinates, he addressed that matter at hand. "The Vree are going to become a threat, one we can't ignore too much longer. They possess that same form of FTL the Prometheus had. You've had your people trying to find out how they obtained it for three years now."

The general winced at the rebuke. To their credit the Vree had kept their new hyperspace drive system a secret for at least twelve years. No one had an idea that they had it until one of the Vree saucer ships inadvertently jumped into normal space near an IPX surveyor in unclaimed space. The crew of the Earth science vessel recognized the characteristics of the FTL transition instantly. The Vree ship jumped back into FTL immediately but the secret was out.

The implications were immense, and the clues came together when General Franklin had mentioned in his report that he'd overheard Doctor Daniel Jackson say to General O'Neill onboard the Prometheus something about the Asgard going to see the Vree. Again the name 'Asgard; figured prominently in several reports although nothing was known about them other than those aliens being friends to the other Earth. The Vree must have gotten their hyperdrive from those aliens, and probably sensors, too. Earth needed that technology, and everyone knew it. The Vree however weren't cooperating. Earth Alliance pressure on the Vree did nothing but further isolate them. But that didn't stop the reports saying that they were increasing in territory and strength,

"I'm disappointed in you, General. I expected better."

Lefcourt appeared deflated and irritated as he responded. "Our sources haven't been able to confirm what we suspect, so far, sir. They avoid us and we can't catch them. We've tried bribing them but not one of them has been tempted so far." He frowned at that. The Vree were very tight-lipped about this.

"Not good enough, General. I want you to tell me how you plan to capture one their new hyperdrive ships." As he spoke, he never really looked at the general. Instead he looked over him. "We are about to acquire the Kobollian jump drives. They are remarkable devices really, but they require a specific type of fuel that is very hard for us to come by and until we overcome that fuel problem using Earth fuel sources, we cannot properly exploit it. We can't go through the rift just to acquire fuel. It's not cost effective! We're spending money making Quantium 40 nukes when we could have naquada which we have to get by going through the rift. So far, we haven't found a large source of that mineral. Not yet," he grumbled. "This costs money. We need the Vree hyperdrives so that we can expand out territory and make us safe from those aliens who would try to destroy us. We beat the Dilgar. The Minbari were crushed, but there are others out there lie the Vree and Centauri and the Strieb and unknowns that we, earth Alliance must be prepared to deal with. So I will ask again," Clark hissed. "What do you plan to do to get us what we want?"

Clark hated failure and if the general did not produce results, then his life could be counted in days.

One year's distant from Cyrannus and Cylon held sector:

Suspected UCW Territory/probable Earth Sector

Basestar V718

"Jump complete, both ships accounted for," Merceda Eight said in a much softer than normal tone. Other than that, her voice betrayed none of the fear and loss she felt. Less than fifteen minutes earlier. Like the Colonials, she believed that intelligent non-human life were things of myths and fantasy. Those myths had must declared the Cylons their enemies placing her people is a terribly difficult position of having three distinct enemies. They fought lizards wielding superior firepower and who were allegedly working with the humans of Earth, the same people that the Colonials were going to meet.

This carefully prepared 'Plan' obviously needed a drastic an overhaul in her opinion, but then, no one usually listened to her opinions.

It was too late now. No doubt the Colonials were speaking to the Earther representatives, spreading half-truths and lies and likely guaranteeing an alliance with them, all because of Leoben's actions. It was enough to give her a migraine on top of the headache she already had. "We're sitting twenty kilometers from the convoy."

XXX

Gregor never looked up as he acknowledged her report. "Inform all ships to prepare to jump to the first set of emergency coordinates. I want us out of here in ten minutes. Once we are all accounted for, we'll refuel and jump again and get some distance from those UCW and those lizards," he told the command crew, still not believing that alien lizards were real. Oh, they were real enough, but he was still in shock mode and had a difficult time accepting it. What concerned him more was that he had no intel, no idea of the UCW's size or how much resources they had. If they ever came back here, and he really didn't want to, then they would certainly need a very detailed survey of this sector before any plans could be made. Another thing he wanted to know was why so many viable worlds around this sector had been destroyed by war. Did the humans here do this? Were they that warlike? Or did the aliens have something to do with it. The possibilities he came up with greatly disturbed him.

"If we do this, we'll lose track of the Colonials and possibly our only chance to find Earth's location," Catherine said, her voice shaking. She was feeling tired; the strain being more than she expected.

"It can't be helped," Gregor grumbled. "As it is, we don't have the firepower to defend ourselves let alone deal with the Colonials and possibly Earth. We just lost two basestars against one small warship in a matter of minutes! I calculate we could lose as many as five ships to one in a straight ups conflict. Even if Earth was defenseless, and I don't believe they are, what's left of our recon forces would still have to get passed those lizards and the Colonials. In the future, if they all come at us, would we even be able to slow them down?"

He stared daggers at both Leobens semi-incapacitated and writhing on the floor in pain, the result of being pounded upon by their fellow Cylons. "When we come back, if we come back, we have to be better prepared. If, and I mean if we come back after we deal with the Colonies, then we'll have to do so in overwhelming force and as of right now, I don't know what that even means.".

"Our brute force hack didn't work on the alien's computers," the Doral grumbled. "They're too different. They'll be ready for that type of attack next time. We don't have any knowledge of their systems. And, we won't be fighting just be Earth but those lizards!" he growled. Everyone heard the fear in his voice.

Like all of the Ones, Gregor had no love for Humanity but the Earthers hadn't done anything to his people and they were a lower priority target, or at least they were up until a few minutes ago. Panic hadn't set in, not quite. They had underestimated the situation and he didn't relish feeling completely unprepared. Unlike John and his overbearing attitudes, he didn't hate humans quite as much as he simply wanted to be rid of them. If they could have made some agreement to keep Earth away from Cylon territory, he would have attempted it. but John Cavil's abject stupidity and lack of any kind of foresight other than for himself, doomed this mission.

Earth had allies. So many opportunities were lost because of John and the Leobens and the Cylons had a new enemy. All the more reason to run while they could with the resources they had left. Speaking of which…

"Anita, what is the status of the resurrection ship? Have they found out what caused the transmission error, or have they corrected the problem?"

"Nothing yet," a very tired Anita responded. "We lost several hundred of our people, including one of the hybrids! Several raider drones didn't resurrect either. They're running multiple diagnostics now, but it'll be awhile before they find and correct the problem. They're focusing on subspace communications they use as the cause of the interference as a probable cause. The hardware is okay. Whatever the interference was had to come from outside, maybe their weapons..."

Ravinia was deep in thought as she digested the possibilities.

"If that's true," Doral said, "how could we have known? We didn't detect any subspace signals other than communications when we spoke. They weren't being hostile. From the evidence, I don't think they have enough knowledge or reason to purposely interfere with our subspace signaling capability. No, it's more likely that it does have something to do with their weapons. There is something about them that could disrupt our subspace transmission. Might the be what interfered with the signals. I need to review the scans we took,

"It may be true," growled Randall. "We can review them later, but it's all the more reason why we need to get out of here as soon as possible. This mission is officially scrubbed."

"No, you can't!" moaned painfilled Caspian. Everyone could the fear emanating from his voice. "It doesn't matter if we all die as long as we let our people know of this threat. Those aliens must be exterminated. They're unnatural. Their world needs to be found so we can come back and destroy them. Our mission can't…"

Denise cocked her weapon. "Not another word! A year's been wasted. We find intelligent life and you just fire on it because of what John might have ordered? The Colonials have found the Thirteenth Colony now," she growled. "Do you know what will happen then?" she asked the prone man. "Well, let me tell you. Instead of them shooting at each other because of Colonial arrogance, something we were counting on less than an hour ago, the Earthers will listen to their brethren and that old saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' will become a reality! They don't have to love each other to consider us a greater threat to them both than they are to each other. Then we add the lizards into the equations and this UCW… Do you understand what you have done?" she screamed.

"John was right. He just didn't know the half of it! We found out Earth is in league with demons. Our people at home need to know Earth people are worse than the humans who made us! we may need to create lizard cylon clones to achieve ultimate victory. John would approve."

"We'll never know, will we?" Catherine told him. "Neither will you," she said just before Denise shot him in between the eyes. "I want him boxed and his program deleted!"

A very satisfied Denise merely smiled in agreement.

"Done and done," Randell added. "Oh, wait! The resurrection isn't working. My mistake."

Only one person objected, and Samnar wisely remained silent least he suffered the same fate. Nevertheless, his glares of unbridled, abject hatred weren't lost to anyone in the command center.

"Fleet jumping in one minute," Merceda announced.

The Cylons waited silently for the jump. Only the countdown by an unusually soft-voiced hybrid. "Tyllium tanks at thirty percent. Background radiation at minus T-seven. Jump in twenty-five seconds. All systems nominal. Brothers and sisters, lost in the void of eternity." "
Randall practically swooned, much to the shock of everyone present. For a second, his legs felt like they had turned into jelly. "Did the hybrid just say–"

"Eight seconds."

The almost imperceptible vibration indicated that the powerful jump engines were cycling towards activation. All of them distantly heard the hybrid all but scream as it yelled, "jump!"

Space suddenly ceased to exist for all of those inside of the transiting vessels. There was no light, but light was everywhere. Sounds that couldn't be translated by mechanical auditory sensors or organic ears were felt instead of heard in that timeless instant. There was pressure at the same time the feeling of being one with the universe.

Mechanical Cylon constructs could never logically analyze the experience. Humanoid Cylons couldn't grasp onto the experience long enough to understand it. Humanity usually responded to the experience by either getting sick or feeling a sense of unfulfilled wonder.

The hybrids felt the strands of the universe touching them.

As for the hybrids–

–In that one instant, they felt truly alive.

TBC