"We had a couple of bases in the Cyrannus system, basically small listening posts. Some of those eventually got tracked down and destroyed, and we abandoned the remaining ones. Instead, we put some cameras in the wreckage and put some old recon drones in low-power mode. They have been watching every colony and at least something in each system, and we've seen more than a few survivors. Organized fleets too, and we think there is a plausible explanation for what happened." He said. "I'll send you a data burst with all of the information that I know and that some of my intro guys have put together. You can stay if you want, we'd always be happy for more pilots of your caliber."
-Martha Thoon
There was a lot of surprise at the turning up of Starbuck, Helo, Sharon, and Grinham back at the hidden base. To be fair, they had only been gone for about a week. But it was enough to unsettle everyone who was there, though they were impressed by the heroism of the group. The three of them had all decided not to tell the General or anyone else about the fact that Sharon was a Cylon, as if they did it would likely jeopardize all of their ability to go back. They did tell them pretty much everything else however as that was considered necessary for the survival of this group.
Sharon had brought a decent amount of prisoners that she had been "planning to transfer to another facility". To justify it to the people who she now had asking her questions she had managed to sneak into the base and steal it. There were 60 people there with most being women and also members of the colonial military. That would therefore make this situation more interesting. They had to deal with these prisoners and see if they could take them somewhere else. Starbuck explained her mission to retrieve the arrow and with the permission of the General was allowed to return to Galactica with Sharon, Helo, and Grinham. Several of the prisoners were also going to be going with them, and Starbuck's mission to search for several criminal groups that might have survived due to the coordinates given to her by Zarek
They soon set out, with the four of them plus 12 former prisoners and enough supplies to sustain all of them for the trip and if necessary a trip back if they were unable to find Galactica and her fleet. They also had the time to check out the rest of the colonies to see what the Cylon presence was, and then they went to the areas that Zarek's friends were inhabiting.
Starbuck began by guiding the craft throughout all of the four-star systems that made up the 12 colonies. She observed about 200 modern basestars across all of the areas that she saw, but they weren't the only ships. There were some old first-war basestars as well plus at least a few different types of support ships, including tankers like they had seen before. Hell, it looked like there were several captured colonial ships of several different types, but they were mainly support vessels. In all were nearly 600 Cylon ships throughout the colonies, with perhaps a third being support ships. While this was probably a significant part of the Cylon fleet it wasn't the entirety of it, they still probably had ships defending their territory behind the armistice line and ones that were searching for Galactica and maybe even other surviving colonial forces.
However while this something was made clear by the fact that there were so many ships still left. There must have been significant threats to the Cylon presence here, which undoubtedly meant that there were significant colonial fleet remnants. That gave everyone in the raider hope as they jumped to begin looking for where Zarek's contacts were hiding.
They began checking the coordinates that Zarek had given them. It appeared that the first few were rallies and rendezvous points used in missions against the colonial government. They produced no results. Their next few appeared to have once been bases but had long since been abandoned. There were several of these and some were still relatively intact and a few might even have supplies. Though considering that these criminals were all quite resourceful she didn't know how big their chances were.
They suddenly found something however as they jumped to another set of coordinates. There was a small group of ships, a dozen in all. They looked to be refitted civilian models or old first-war designs. The largest of which was an old Minotaur Class Heavy Cruiser, an effective ship from the first war that had seen more than a few Cylons meet their end due to their guns. Next to it was a Ranger Class Medium Cruiser. This was a somewhat smaller design with fewer guns and less armor but having longer-ranged guns and far more missiles than the Minotaur. This made it very useful and even though it was a bit outdated it could still most certainly get the job done. There was a mix of smaller ships as well, Adamanets, Berserks, Manticores, and of course the converted civilian ships.
Starbuck began flashing the codes and keywords that Zarek had given her in a desperate attempt to not get shot. These would hopefully save her as an increasing number of guns were trained on her.
"Attention Heavy Raider, have you been in contact with Tom Zarek?" Someone asked through the comm.
"Yes, in fact he's alive." Starbuck soon explained what she knew, including Galactica and her fleet, the fact that Zarek was alive, and the resistance on Caprica. The person on the other end of the line listened intently. "Who are all of you?" She asked after she finished.
The person on the other side of the line chuckled. She had been using a voice modulator to hide her identity but dropped that now. "My name is Martha Thoon. You may have known of my grandfather, Marcus Thoon."
"The leader of the SDU?" Grinham said. "I thought we pretty much destroyed you?"
"Not all of his fleet was out doing missions when the colonial fleet eliminated him. The surviving leadership decided to take a more conservative approach like Thoon did in the beginning. Just like Thoon initially had done, we resorted to guerilla raids on colonial shipping with an emphasis on trying to capture ships and supplies to build up our forces. We were able to recruit from local Saggatirons, maybe not as openly as we did before but there were more than a few of them serving in prisons that we liberated temporarily. And so while the colonials were distracted, we built back our forces in secret. This has continued, though it's been a little bit harder.
"What have you been up to now since the colonies fell?"
"Doing the same, but now against the Cylons. And the ships here are far from the only fleet that we have, and also far from the most powerful. It's just one I'm overseeing right now. We also have more modern ships, and have even teamed up with some colonials, civilians, and other criminal organizations that have survived. So that's why we aren't trying to kill you yet."
"Are there other survivors out here?" Starbuck asked."
"We haven't been able to make contact but they most certainly are. We had a couple of bases in the Cyrannus system, basically small listening posts. Some of those eventually got tracked down and destroyed, and we abandoned the remaining ones. Instead, we put some cameras in the wreckage and put some old recon drones in low-power mode. They have been watching every colony and at least something in each system, and we've seen more than a few survivors. Organized fleets too, and we think there is a plausible explanation for what happened." He said. "I'll send you a data burst with all of the information that I know and that some of my intel guys have put together. You can stay if you want, we'd always be happy for more pilots of your caliber."
"Unfortunately I have a special package to deliver to Galactica and her fleet." Starbuck said. "But I know the coordinates that you are located at. I shall return, one day at least." She said,
She then jumped the heavy raider out. It made good progress and soon made its way to the fleet that it was trying to rejoin. The familiar DRADIS signals of Galactica and her fleet could soon be seen, and everyone signed with relief as they entered the orbit of Kobol. Thankfully they hadn't moved from their position over there.
"Starbuck to Galactica, it's good to be home."
Author's note: this is actually going to be the second to last chapter, not counting the epilogue which will visit someone else.