I do not own Star Trek, Battlester Galactica, Babylon 5 or 300 Spartans. I am using these characters for my own entertainment only.

Unhuman: the Original Series

Space . . . the Final Frontier

These are the Voyages of the Starship Enterprise

Its' continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly go where no one has gone before

Episode 10: the Coming of the Shadows

12 Colonies Federation system - Aquarion

The 12 Colonies had been established in a system with four stars, each of which had three habitable planets. Epsilon was a red dwarf star, around which orbited Arelon, Picon and Aquarion. Aquarion was the outermost habitable planet. It was a frigid, barely habitable planet. The nuclear devastation of the second Cylon war had been deemed too severe. And so, with Federation sensors and transporters, the few survivors had been located and evacuated before a Genesis device was detonated on the planet, overwriting the damaged ecosystem of the ice world and replacing it with a new biogenic matrix. Since then, progress in kobolforming the planet had gone much quicker than had happened on Earth, Mars and Venus. Aquarion had more nearby planets from which plants and animals could be transplanted. All though Aquarion had been the coolest of the 12 colonies. Canceron, Virgon and Scorpion had been nearly as cold and could be used as sources of biota.

Since Aquarion was almost uninhabited, it only had one basestar ship orbiting it, the Lethe. The Cylons were caught by complete surprise when a Shadow Battlecrab, a ship type completely unknown to them phased out of hyperspace.

Federation Basestar Lethe - Central Control room

"Captain, a ship has just decloaked next to us!" Reported Lieutenant Three.

"I see it," replied Captain Six, who also had her hand on the interface tray. "It looks like a big black spid-"

The Cylon captain was unable to finish her sentence before the Shadow vessel's antiproton beam struck the basestar's tillium storage, destroying the ship instantly.

Such an explosion was quickly noticed by the rest of the Federation ships stationed throughout the system. And Admiral Three quickly began organizing her fleet in defense of the system. In addition to the fleet of Cylon Baststars left over from the Cylon-Colonial Wars, there were also a pair of Apollo class ships to defend the system, including the Admiral's flagship. The Basestars had been modified to include photon torpedoes in their armament. They were almost completely crewed by Cylons. The Apollo class ships had mixed crews from throughout the Federation and were armed with photon torpedoes, phasers and shields.

USS Ajax - Bridge

"Captain, explosion in grid Epsilon . . it is the Lethe," said the Borg Tactical Officer, Lieutenant 66 of One, who used to be a model One Cylon.

"On screen," commanded Admiral Lucy Three. She was a model Three Cylon and preferred the mini-dress variant of the uniform in green. "Magnify."

On the screen the expanding gas of debris that used to be the Basestar Lethe was silhouetted by part of a Shadow Battlecrab.

"Ensign Suran, set a course for Aquarion," commanded Admiral Three. "Lieutenant Eight, increase speed to warp 4"

"Setting course for Aquarion," replied the Vulcan Ensign Suran. Being a Vulcan, he preferred warmer temperatures than humans or Cylons. So he wore all three layers of the Uniform.

"Engaging warp drive," replied Lieutenant Park Eight, who was dressed in a red mini-dress uniform. "Warp 1 . . .warp 2 . . . warp 3. . . . we have reached warp 4."

100 times the speed of light allowed them to travel so fast that it was almost as fast as a jump drive within the system. When they. Came out of warp, the Ajax found themselves facing a trio of black spider-like ships and a glowing cloud of expanding gas and debris that used to be a basestar.

"Red alert! Hail them," commanded Admiral Three.

"Shields up," announced Lieutenant 66 of One.

"Admiral, they are not responding to our hails," said Communications Officer Sikwidi, who was a Medeusan.

"Telepathy?" Asked Admiral Three.

"I can not read through their hostility," reported the Talosian First Officer, Commander Ubongo.

"They are firing," reported Lieutenant 66 of One.

"Evasive Maneuvers! Return fire! Fire phasers!" yelled Admiral Three.

The ship was rocked as the Shadow ship's energy beam hit them. At the same time, their phaser beam hit the shadow ship making it glow momentarily, but otherwise leaving it unscathed.

"Shields down to 32%, reported Lieutenant 66 of One. "Our phasers are having no visible effect on the target vessel."

Suddenly, the system's entire fleet of Basestars jumped to their proximity. Two of them were between the Ajax and the Shadow ship.

"Basestars arriving," announced Lieutenant 66 of One.

"We do not want them to nullify each other's efforts," mused Commander Ubongo. "They should set their photon torpedoes for proximity detonation."

"You're right," agreed Admiral Three, before pushing the button on her chair to allow her to address the entire fleet. "All basestars, launch all Raiders. If you have photon Torpedoes, set them for proximity detonation. Fire at will."

"Styx has been destroyed . . . Acheron has also been destroyed," reported Lieutenant 66 of One.

"Send out a general distress call," commanded Admiral Three. "They're cutting through us like paper!"

On the screen, she was watching basestar after basestar fall to the energy beams of the Shadow vessels.

"Photon torpedoes are having minimal effect," announced Lieutenant 66 of One.

Admirals last view was the sight of the shadow ships energy beam arcing towards her ship . . .

USS Enterprise - Bridge

"Captain, we are receiving a distress call from Admiral Three in the 12 Colonies," reported 1 of 20. "They are under attack from an unknown enemy."

"And we're the closest ship outside of their system," mused Starbuck. "Set a course for Caprica, maximum warp."

"Setting course for Caprica," reported Ensign Toma.

"Increasing speed," reported Lieutenant Klelia. "Warp 7 . . . Warp 8."

"Reply to their distress call," commanded Starbuck. "See if you can find out what's going on there."

Caprica Resurrection Ship

After downloading into her new body, Admiral Three awoke to find herself looking up at a trio of model Threes, dressed in white surgical gowns.

"Good morning sister," said one of the Cylons of the same model as her. "Are you Admiral Three?"

"Yes. Why don't you already know that?" asked Admiral Three, as one of her sisters offered her a hand to help her stand.

"So many Threes downloaded at once, we weren't sure which one was you," replied a Three.

As the goo flowed off her body, Admiral Three grabbed a lock of her hair to look at. She was a brunet, as she preferred to be. The Threes and Sixes had a lot of variation in hair colour. So she glad she got a new body with a colouration she liked.

"What has happened while I was out?" asked Admiral Three, as one of her sisters handed her a robe to cover herself and she stepped out of the vat.

"We lost," replied her sister. "Most of our local fleet was destroyed by the alien ships. The remaining ones have retreated back to Caprica. After the aliens left. Cavil's Basestars arrived. They have begun landing troops on Aquarion. If you want more, you'll have to talk with Captain Six."

"I'll do that," replied Admiral Three. "Have her report to me as soon as I have cleaned up and put a uniform on.

"By your Command," replied Three.

By the time she had finished her shower, Captain Pati Six was waiting for her. There was no replicator on the Resurrection Ship that could provide her with her preferred uniform. But of the ones available, there was a red mini-dress uniform in her size, just like the one Captain Six was wearing.

"Report," commanded Admiral Three, as she got dressed.

"The aliens appear to be the Shadows that we were briefed on," began Captain Six. "They destroyed all the basestars except the old ones that the guardians use. My ship, the Caffrey has lost shields and warp drive, but I was able to limp back to here. It will take 11 weeks to repair it. Phasers didn't seem to effect the Shadow ships at all. Photon torpedoes only caused minor damage. The raiders were also able to cause minor damage, even the old style guardian ones. After the Shadows had defeated us and left, Cavil jumped in with a fleet of basestars. He currently landing troops on Aquarion. We're searching the debris field trying to rescue any Centurions that might have survived the destruction of their ships."

"Did anyone respond to our distress call?" Asked Admiral Three.

"The Enterprise should be here within the hour," replied Captain Six. "The Galactica is expected soon after.

Admiral Three nodded at this. With its' jump engine, the Battlestar Galactica could travel much faster. But it had to come all the way from Bajor. While the much slower Enterprise was nearby, and was thus able to get here first.

USS Enterprise - Bridge

"Entering Cylon system now," reported Ensign Toma.

When they came our of warp near Caprica, the USS Caffrey, an Apollo class ship, showed signs of severe battle damage, as did the three old-style Cylon Basstars.

"Contact the Caffrey, see if the Admiral Survived,' commanded Starbuck.

Captain's log: Stardate 58321.4 - Having been briefed by Admiral Three and Captain Six on the situation, We are proceeding to Aquarion to access the situation.

"Hail them,"commanded Starbuck.

"Hailing Frequencies open," reported 1 of 20.

"This is Captain Thrace of the Starship Enterprise, representing the United Federation of Planets. You are intruding on Federation territory. If you do not withdraw immediately, we will be forced to fire upon your vessels."

"This is Cavil," came the audio only reply. "We wish to peaceful negotiate for the right to remain here so that we can have a world of our own."

Skrrr Home-world Orbit

Ever since the war between the Federation and the Skrrr ended, the Skrrr had been forbidden from entering space. To enforce this ban, the Medeusans had stationed one of their pre-federation ships, the Ahtapot, to monitor the Skrrr home-world. This ban did not extend to other ships visiting the skrrr. Thus far only one ship had deigned to visit the Skrrr, and the Skrrr had not launched any ships of their own. But they had been observed building ships. It was only a matter of time before the Skrrr broke free of their prison.

Without warning, a Shadow Battlecrab phased out of hyperspace and fired at the Ahtapot, destroying the Medeusan ship instantly. This was the signal for the Skrrr to launch a fleet of ships from the surface!

Planet Visalayan (Medeusan home-world) orbit

After destroying the Ahtapot, the Shadow ship, along with two more of them, traveled to Visalayan. The Medeusans had a wide variety of native pre-federation ships, including a handful of warships, all crewed by Medeusans. They also had a pair of Apollo class Federation ships, crewed by people from throughout the Federation, to help them defend their world.

The Shadow ships suddenly phased in from hyperspace, and began firing on every ship in the area.