"When Starbuck's captured heavy raider returned to the fleet over Kobol, it set forth a series of events that would radically alter the destiny of the Galactica's fleet, and end the first chapter of their flight from the colonies. Their search for Earth would transform from a broad scouting effort to a specific journey. The Arrow of Apollo would lead them down a new path and change their fate. It would not be fully grasped until a year later, but their journey would be critical to humanity's survival and eventual revival."
The Complete History of the Colonial Fleet, its rise, fall, and survival, by James Harvey
Chapter 28: Return and Reconciliation(Brief author's note to clear up a bit of confusion, but Sharon Valeri does get killed like in canon. Caprica Sharon will be rejoining the fleet, so keep this in mind to not cause any confusion. I probably should have added it as a scene, but I was too busy writing other elements.)
After they had gotten around their differences the fleet had decided to go back to Kobol. There they would await Starbuck's return, and in that time catch up on some deferred maintenance throughout the fleet. Ships needed to be repaired after all, and the near nonstop movement of the fleet was not exactly good for the long-term maintenance needs of its ships. Considering that these ships were the lifeblood of the fleet, it was a wise decision to stop for some time.
Some people were even allowed to go to the surface of Kobol to relax, which was the first time that they had been on a planet since the fall of the colonies.
There had not been any Cylon presence when they returned, but since the fleet knew that Cylons were operating in the area they stayed vigilant. Every ship in the fleet stayed at condition two, prepared to put up a defense if the Cylons arrived. A combat air patrol of 20 Vipers was on duty at all times, rotating between the squadrons of the fleet to prevent the stressing of one individual air group or squadron. The civilian ships had their FTL drives loaded with the coordinates of the location that the fleet intended to go to.
When a heavy raider appeared on DRADIS, no one was surprised. Especially when Starbuck started talking from it and sent a message to it and was soon given clearance to land in Galactica.
Starbuck was somewhat surprised when she wasn't arrested on the spot for disobeying direct orders. However, as she stepped out she noticed Captain Marks and several marines waiting for them. They raised their guns but it was clear that they were not pointed at Starbuck.
"How much trouble am I in?" Starbuck blurted out at the Colonial Marine officer.
Marks chuckled at Starbuck's comment. "I wouldn't worry about it. There have been a few compromises since you left." He chuckled as she looked around.
Sharon was, however, in plenty of trouble. She had been where the colonial marines had been pointing their guns at. Such responses tended to come with being a Cylon and with knowledge of her identity revealed there had been little chance of anything except for her capture. She had accepted this as inevitable, even though her identity would have likely been safe for a time if she stayed at the base on Caprica.
But since she held Helo's child, that was simply not an option. She would come with him, even if it meant captivity or even death. That was the responsibility that she bore. The marines rapidly restrained her and rushed her to the brig.
As all of this was unfolding, John Grinham looked around. It had been a long time since he had last been on this ship, but little had seemed to have changed since then. The flight deck was as busy as always even though a heavy raider had landed onboard with the hustle and bustle of operations not ceasing for even a moment.
In the early days of the First Cylon War, he had been one of many Viper pilots assigned to Galactica's air wing. He had even become its CAG once, before being rushed through command school and being given the Rycon. It had been a long time ago but he still had more than a few memories of this time.
Starbuck, Helo, Grinham, and the various civilians were led by the marines through the ship. Marks told Starbuck some of the details about what had happened since she had left.
"Well, gods damn," Starbuck said as he finished telling her what had happened. Force once in her life, she was practically at a loss for words. Her sole actions to follow what President Roslyn had said had seemingly caused monumental actions in the fleet. From the coup to Adama getting shot to waves of Cylon attacks it all seemed surreal.
She needed to get some ambrosia and cigarettes soon. Hopefully, the supplies she smuggled in the heavy raider would not be confiscated.
The first thing that she noticed when she entered the conference room was that Adama had been standing. Perhaps waiting for her? The second thing that she noticed was that he had tackled her in a hug. This man had become the father that she had never had, and whilst they had always had disagreements at the end of the day they had always had each other's back.
The hug reinforced that that relationship didn't end, ended. Perhaps it had been tested, but it had never ended.
"Sir…" She trailed off as they broke apart, glancing around at the collection of the fleet's senior officers who sat around the conference table, along with Laura Roslin. Marks hadn't told her exactly how the disagreements had ended, however, only noted that they had been resolved at some point in the past.
After everyone sat down she got a more in-depth explanation of what had happened since she had left. It seemed like the situation had mostly been resolved.
"On one hand, you should be reprimanded for not following my orders. On the other hand, President Roslin's orders were lawful and she is the president of the colonies. Therefore, you will receive no punishment for your actions." Adama replied. "In fact from what I heard from Captain Kelly you brought a few friends with you." The Commander motioned to Marks to let them in.
"Hey, Adama you old fart!" Grinham said as he entered the room. He tackled Adama in a hug.
Grinham was glad to be back on Galactica and had a good laugh with Adama when they saw each other. Adama wasn't sure yet about what he would do with the old battlestar commander, but the possibility of him getting command of one of the new ships that the fleet was building was discussed. These new ships to defend themselves more effectively, though it would be a bit of a downgrade from his previous commands before he retired. And the prisoners were glad to be free. All were formerly members of the colonial fleet and they would find new roles in this new environment.
Now the topic of discussion moved to what had been learned since had arrived and what the fleet would do next. Several debriefings were conducted to learn as much information as possible about what had happened before the senior officers convened.
"The intel we received from Thoon indicates that there are significant groups of survivors back in the colonies and its general vicinity. That's not counting this bunker that you guys left on Caprica." Lieutenant Rendino said. "Recon units have found that there are at least a dozen different battlestars that have been seen in the vicinity of the colonies, along with at least a hundred other support ships. They aren't all in one group, at most half a dozen have appeared at a time, but this is a significant force even if they are not operating together. And they don't have recon assets everywhere in the colonies, so there are probably other humans in other places."
"So there is hope," Roslin said.
"I was reviewing the files that you got before you left the colonies about what colonies had survived a bit longer. One of the battlestars seen early on and a couple of times later was the Invicta, a Titan Class which was assembling a battlegroup over Scorpia when the attack happened. They appeared to be the ship that figured out that there was a vulnerability in the CNP, and it looks like they managed to cause a hell of a time for the Cylons over Scorpia. Naturally, it would have retreated if it had been overwhelmed, but it may have saved a good number of civilians and non-combat assets. That could come in quite handy if we could link up with them."
"Well we already know about Zarek's friends," Garrett said. "We should see if we can establish a more permanent link to them. They have intel on what's going on in the colonies and we don't. Perhaps in exchange, we could help them with supplies."
"We are within range to make a few ships jumping back and forth viable," Garrett said. "We could always establish some sort of relationship with them."
"Then I say we should attempt it," Adama said. "That brings us to our next matter: The arrow of Apollo. We have good intel as to the temple that it is used in, and while it isn't a guarantee it may very well have valuable intel on what's going on." He said. "So we will have an expedition. I know that both the President and I are obvious choices, along with Starbuck, but who else wants to come?"
Quite soon Roslin, Adama, Hudson, Bakerson, Garrett, Rendino, Apollo, and finally Starbuck made their way into the temple. A platoon of marines under the command of Captain Marks had taken a position outside, prepared to use lethal force to defend the colonial personnel who were now making their way through the table. Once they got in there, Starbuck inserted the Arrow of Apollo into a statue of the archer that represented Sagittaron, triggering a vision of a grassy field under a night sky. The constellations looked like the 12 colonies, though at first none of them were sure where they were standing."
"It must be the Earth that we're standing on," Rendino said. "Figuratively I mean." She said, clarifying the confused looks that she had just gotten.
"So we can plot a course," Adama replied. They soon were all working in their minds, and it was not difficult to do. They soon figured out what they needed to do to get to Earth. It was pretty far, but also achievable as a goal.
"So humanity may have been saved."
Roslin said. "It will be good to finally have Earth under our feet."
"Once we get there, we can plan a counterattack to take back the colonies," Hudson said. "We will be going back one day, won't we?"
Adama turned to him.
"We shall return." He replied. "And we'll make the Cylons pay for what they did to humanity."
Author's note: There will be an epilogue that will check in on a bit of a different perspective, and we should get to see something from the Cylon perspective. Additionally, I'll give an update on where I'll be going in terms of the future for the various fanfiction projects I have going on including this one. But do not worry, this is far from the end of this fanfiction series or any of the other ones I have going on. I will continue to upload unless either I die or some sort of significant life event unfolds that prevents me from writing at all.
As has been requested I will also publish a list of every ship within the fleet so there is a good idea of what everyone is.
But before we close out, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who read, followed, favorited, gave kudos (not gonna exclude the people reading this on AO3 even though they are a smaller percentage of my audience), and reviewed. All of this gives me the motivation to keep writing and so long as those continue there are no plans on stopping.