Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, ideas, or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Wireless/communication"

"Speaking in a different language"

"Reading a text"

Chapter fourteen: Kobol's last secret(s)

Day 119 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 22nd of May, the year 2378, Federation colony New Settlement

The day of their departure had finally come. Their force was now assembled.

Adonis as the only Mercury-class in this fleet would lead force Gamma under Commander Hasapis. 10 Valkyre class ships, including the Morningstar, five Sobek class ships, including the Victory, the Atlas carrier Ibis, the Janus heavy cruiser Oberon, four Minotaur gunships. To top this task force off, the three Jupiter class Battlestars, the original Pegasus, Hydra, and Titania would be present. Bill wanted to keep the usage of the older Starfleet ships out of this, but the mess Porter did force him to slightly alter this plan as he was now missing the new Pegasus in this formation, even if originally, long before he saw Kirk's success in beefing up their fleet strength, he would be going in with a completely different plan. The Yamato was not completely fixed, so she would not be used, but the Bismarck and the Challenger would be used to compensate for the presence of that ship. One of the acquired Cylon basestars would be also part of this force.

Admiral Adama's force would consist of 6 Valkyre class ships, three Sobek class ships, three Minotaur gunships, and all three Defender class support ships would be part of taskforce Beta. Bill himself would be on the Carrier Pegasus, Crusader, Paladin, Champion, Knight, the Columbus, and the gunship, now christened the Paris, after the legendary archer. As before, the final addition was not a basestar, but two basestars.

Admiral Kirk's force Alpha would consist of what was left, the Babylon, two Constitutions, three Mirandas, one Constellation, one Excelsior, and one D-6.

One might think that Kirk's force was the numerical underdog, but that was intentional. He had the close-quarters combat unit. Adama had the long-range support unit and Hasapis had the mixed force.

The one so-called 'commando' unit would be Augustus Cain's old flame. His Pegasus. This would be her last voyage.

As for the marinestar, they had plenty of space for ground troops, so no need for that ship to be there. And they wanted to take the planet for just enough time to get some answers. And to remind Cavil what karma is.

In the Babylon hangar, Bill was giving his final instructions to Cain, while Kirk did something similar with O'Donnell. Shaking his hand, Cain looked both sad and excited at the same time. "Damn, I wish I was coming with you, Billy boy."

"I do too, sir. But keeping the peace here is also important, even more now that we have over half a million people to worry about."

Laura was here to wish them goodbye as well along with Fabron. "Don't remind me. I am really glad you are staying here, Admiral Cain."

Fabron was a bit more skeptical, as he didn't know Cain that well. "We'll see."

As the last supplies were being moved to the ships, several people were also leaving at the last moment. Since this was a combat operation, Karl Agathon could go but decided to stay with Sharon. One of the Sixes would remain as well. None of the Final Five would go, least Galen, who could not even walk yet, even if he did regain his consciousness.

As Fiona now joined the side that would remain, Cain, nodded to Kirk again. "Remember, Jim. You promised."

"Indeed I did. Don't worry. We'll tape it. And give her the goodbye she deserves."

"Just like yours did."

Kirk did not agree with the last statement entirely, but to change the fate of something, then it would be worth it. As they disembarked with the transporters, Bill returned to the Carrier Pegasus and Jim went to the Babylon Bridge. "Mr. Belzen. Have to say, red suits you well." He went past his new temporary XO and took the captain's chair.

"Thank you, sir. It does feel similar, in a sense."

"Now… Commander Var'anis. Status report on ship systems?"

The second officer to his other side was already inspecting all ship stations from his console. "All operating at optimal efficiency."

"Good. Since we have the honor of leading this fleet of misfits, com, hail the Pegasus." Everyone knew which one he meant, as the other one was being used via remote control from the Adonis. "Admiral, permission to get underway?"

"Granted. I am as eager as you. Lead the way."

As the screen switched to the nebula image again, Jim gave the order to move out. Around 15 minutes later, they were past the nebula's perimeter, being watched by the raptors on perimeter duty.

Once the fleet was all there in three brackets, they began jumping away. With no civilians slowing them down, they should reach the Rebel Cylon position within four days.

On the Babylon, Kirk knew that now the waiting began. "Commander Belzen, schedule a surprise drill tomorrow. We need more reaction time improvement."

Jürgen made the note. "Got it, sir. Anything else?"

"Yes. I had a chat with Bill. We'll have two more training days. One is today, one a day before we arrive, all in simulators of course."

"Why only two days, sir?"

"Can't have our people so exhausted from training that once they arrive for the battle they have trained for, they fall off their chairs out of exhaustion. Do you agree?"

"I… I do, sir."

"Good. Then you have the bridge."

Before he could leave, he saw Felix argue with Shaw, Hill, and several other officers, Starfleet and Colonial alike.

"I mean it can't hurt to ask…"

"As if he would tell us…"

"Shut the frak up. All of you…" Shaw hissed at them. "I don't want to know."

"Ehm…" It caught his attention as he casually walked up to Felix's station. "Can I help with anything?" They were all staring and not responding. "Well?"

Shaw rolled her eyes. "They want to know, how you beat the Kobayashi Maru test, sir."

"Ah, that explains this…" He had them do the test several times. The crew of every Starfleet ship had to take at least one. Hell, even Bill was curious and took one himself. He of course knew what the point was, even if Cain hadn't already told him. The Colonials did not have equal, but similar smaller tests of character. Of course, they all failed, but even Bill got an insight into their reactions.

Then Jim saw that Shaw continued to do mock simulations of the test, even if that was even more pointless, as the test scenario can be altered. "Don't you want to know?"

"Why? That's like cheating. If you don't do it yourself, including figuring it out by yourself, then it is unearned." She remained focused on the screen with her simulations running.

Now that both impressed and surprised him "Some good officers thinking there, Shaw. But also ironic."

Now Felix stepped in. "What do you mean, sir?"

"The words she used. The solution is in them."

Jim didn't want to spoil it for them. Let them use those brain cells. That's what they are there for. "Mr. Hill, you coming?"

Noah almost forgot that the admiral asked him to go with him to Adama's little lunch and talk session. "Sure, coming, sir."

Once they left, Jürgen was left in charge as the Vulcan officer went to the computer core to continue his own analysis to make sure nothing went wrong.

One of the younger Colonials could not stand it. So he asked Belzen. "Sir… do you know the answer?"

Kirk did it on purpose, Jürgen thought. "Yes. And yes, I figured it out myself. Think about it. Shaw already has the solution."

Now everyone swamped here, thinking she was holding out on the. "Frak off, all of you. I don't know how this is solved!"

"But…"

"Look. The only way I can think off…" As if a lightbulb went off. "Oh frak no."

Belzen noticed that she might have realized it. "Get it now? From our side, only Augustus Cain would be crazy enough to risk expulsion from the academy by trying something like that."

In the corridors, Kirk and hill entered the turbo-lift. "Sir, if I may ask..."

"Relax. This is not an evaluation of you from me. This is me taking advantage of your enhancements in the discussion we will have, before the training sessions." He inspected his PADD. "Your performance is as expected of someone of your skill level. Now I need some enhanced thinking as well as a Vulcan for logical thinking. And one of the Cylons for their input as well."

As the lift reached the needed deck and they continued walking towards the transporter room, Hill still wanted to know more. "Sir, I get why you don't trust me yet, I really do…"

"It's not about trust, son. If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it. Take over this ship, the same. That alone tells me that you don't have an ego or power trip issue as Khan did. But getting over my own past experiences will take me some time as the Colonials did and in many cases still need with the Cylons." They reached their destination and stepped on the transporter platform. "Pegasus, please."

As they were beamed over, they continued on walking and talking. "Sir, how did you defeat him, if I may ask?"

"Sure. I used his greatest weakness against him. His vanity, ego, superiority complex. You get the picture. I lured him into a nebula where the odds were about even. Then my friend Spock gave me the needed information that allowed me to beat him. He said: He is intelligent, but not experienced. His mind suggests a two-dimensional thinking pattern." Jim now saw Hill putting the pieces together. "Yes. Space combat is not a level playing field. You have three axes. And Khan may have been far more intelligent than me, but he had little clue about space combat and I crippled his intellect by attacking his ego."

"And once… you had him?"

"He was a sour looser. He destroyed his ship, rather than being captured. Of course, my ship was heavily damaged and we had no warp. The explosion of his ship would have destroyed mine as well."

"I see… and how…"

"I'd rather not talk about it. But it cost me. Can we leave it at that?"

"Of course, sir."

They arrived in the officers' dining room on the Carrier Pegasus. "Admiral, Miss Three, Hasapis, K'Lir, Cain, Lee…" They greeted all in the room and was greeted back.

"Admiral, right on time." Adama responded as they got their meals served. "I see you brought Commander Hill with you as you said."

"Yep, we need as many viewpoints on this as we can get."

The screen on the side of the room, positioned in such a way that all could see it, the main attack plan was displayed. "The main plan with four variations, depending on what Miss Three's people in the Rebel fleet there will tell us. On what has changed over and on Kobol." Bill said and took a sip of tea. No alcohol today. Bill then asked Hasapis to go over his strategy for his task force. Since he only had Colonial ships, he had the standard Colonial battle plan for a planetary blockade break. He could not deviate much as he only had so much none Colonial hardware. The important only additions were the Admiral Cain plan that he would get to exploit and however many Rebel basestars will support his group.

Admiral Adama's force Beta was a heavily modified Colonial siege plan. He would use a similar tactic to Hasapis, but since he got more Starfleet hardware, he would not go into the fray, but keep a minimum distance from the Cavil force he would engage. All of this to allow the gunship to do the damage from a safe distance. Just because that ship had automated internal defenses, didn't mean that those defenses could not be overwhelmed if properly boarded, or the ship just destroyed from the outside. Again, the Rebels would add firepower where they could.

This entire plan was dependent on how many independent formations Cavil had in orbit. As they took the scans when passing Kobol days ago, he still had three formations, all in different orbits but at similar distances to each other, to prevent any blind spots in the patrols. If that had changed, they would have to apply an altered plan as well.

"Now, Admiral Kirk. I see you went for a direct assault plan. Three formations. Can I ask you why?" Bill put his glasses down and stopped eating.

"I've had time to study Cylon ships and tactics. Truth be told, I had to somewhat combine two different tactics from Starfleet. One we made if a conflict would have erupted with the Hydran Kingdom. They used fighters on every ship. The other was a potential war with the Mirk Star League, as they used missiles and torpedoes in such quantities that they would give your Cylons a run for their money."

Since most in the room were not Starfleet, they wanted some info like that, if for no other reason than curiosity. "And?" Lee asked first.

"Well, we were in both cases on good terms with those specific civilizations."

"Don't you mean races?" D'Anna wondered.

"No, the League was made up of the leading Mirak race and the subservient Kzinti. Truth be told, they and the Caitians were all potentially related to the Lyrans, as they are all humanoid feline races. They didn't like that when Hydran scientists pointed this out. A war later and the Federation is in an alliance with the Hydrans and Mirak, the Klingons with the Lyrans, and as for the Caitians, they are a Federation member race. So a political mess, as it were. Anyway, the Mirak counter was easy, get in close and deal with them before they can break your defenses from a distance. With the Hydrans the plan was to just be faster than them to not allow them to get into a knife fight range and to let their fighters overwhelm you. So, that is why I am breaking my group into three units. The Babylon is a unit of one ship, as it will slow the others down otherwise. I'll use her to soak up damage and to be the big target and threat to them. I will still use speed for the attack, retreat, and repeat approach for her. The two Constitutions and the Excelsior plus the Constellation will be unit two, they are similar in size and speed. Unit three will be the three Mirandas and the D-6. They also have similar speeds and can complement each other and not be in each other's way. Unit three will be the largest, numerically speaking, also for another reason. I've talked about it with K'Lir, she can explain my reasoning better with the technical data. I'm not really good at that."

Bill understood this all too well. The tactical reason. As well as the fact that Jim had issues with technical matters, just like him. But he wanted to hear the technical reasons as well. "Commander?"

Before she could Begin explaining Kirk's reasoning, Scott finally arrived. "Sorry that I'm late." She took her seat as well. But she drank her whole glass of water down in one go.

Bill gave her the time to catch her breath. "Knowing the additional tasks you got, I can understand. How is that looking?"

"The modified FTL jamming mines will be ready when we arrive." The Cylon guest knew about this. The Starfleet FTL jamming tech, temporary perhaps, but still usable, will be deployed to prevent Cavil from escaping. Bill then asked her if she would want to explain Kirk's fleet decisions. "Oh, that is simple. And I understand why once I got through the schematics of the ships. The Mirandas are not as good at holding their ground as the other classes in that task force. For one simple reason, reactor output. Power equals offensive and defensive capacity. The Miranda class has an efficient reactor, but not a powerful one, due to its short length. The Ares class has a similar length issue but is also a generation behind and the reactor there was tuned to be powerful but not efficient. A similar issue exists with the Constellation class. And the fact that that class has four nacelles also drains power faster."

Listening to this, most kept on eating, if slowly. Bill just put a napkin down. "Have to ask what that is. On this carrier we're on, it's the mass, right?" Scott nodded. "But why that ship?"

"Em, Admiral, can I answer that question with another? See how observant everyone is? What do the Colonial Hope, Vo'kor, the Delta Wings, the Miranda class, and Constellation class have in common? Or lack there off, when compared to the rest of our ships?"

She observed them, how their brains were working. Well, all but the Starfleet people who already knew. Interestingly, it was D'Anna who figured it out first. "That glowing thing… deflector, right? They don't have one."

"And the Cylon gets the cookie. Partially. They do have one, just not what we would call a primary one, but a smaller, less powerful one, a secondary one. Or even cheaper, tertiary one. And those can be within the ship itself, not to be seen outside. The D-6, the glowing red bar on the dorsal aft section, positioned forward, that's it. The Vulcan cruiser, it's in the warp ring itself. But to get to the main point of this. Deflectors are one of the three main resource sinks in a starship, well, before we got to see your jump drives in action. But even then, they have several systems to enable them to work properly too. In the case of warp, the coils, reactor, and deflector are the holy trinity. The reactor also provides power for all other systems, with the fusion impulse reactors only a secondary power supply. The coils have only one function, but the deflector is also tied into a long-range communication system, long-range sensors, and the shield grid. The catch is, the larger the deflector, the more powerful it is, the better effect it can provide on all fronts. It takes the pressure off the coils, enhances all FTL systems, so on. On the bad side, it is a big target and is costly to make. Now a secondary one is much smaller, but also far less efficient. The coils are under more stress, having to do more of the FTL work themselves and all FTL systems work less well. A tertiary one is embedded into the hull in such a way that it is not even visible. For instance, the Miranda has two secondary ones, port and starboard of the main bridge. The Constellation one has two tertiary ones on the sides of the large frontal hangar. But as stated, that makes them also less efficient. The Constellation makes up for that with four nacelles, but that also makes her overall power supply just adequate. The Mirandas' other issues with power are not unique for that ship class alone, any class of this era that was in the same or lower weight category have them, like the Akula class destroyers. They are limited to a Two-Mode Firing phaser emitters. The heavy cruisers have Three Mode units." She saw that while they kept eating, most wanted to just get to the point. "The Two-Mode units require a simpler cooling system that needs less power. So they have only the long-range beam phasers and short-range plasma bolts. The Three Mode phasers also have the medium to short-range rapid-fire yellow pulse phasers. They do far more damage but are inaccurate at longer ranges."

Hasapis, who wanted to be as up to date on Starfleet's military capabilities, interrupted her. "Wait. I did read some of the technical manuals already. The Miranda has two of such cannons you said she doesn't."

"Yes, connected to the pylons above the main hull from where at a 90 degrees angle a bar then connects to the torpedo weapons pod in the standard configuration. They are called mega phaser units. They have an independent and efficient cooling system but are bulky and an easy target to disable. And those two units have a narrow firing arc and only bow and stern firing options. All the heavier ships have these options on all phaser arrays in the hull. IT was a small compromise on the design team."

"They may be the only such units on that class, but don't underestimate them." Kirk responded. "When Khan captured the Reliant and I had no clue I was dealing with a commandeered Starfleet ship, he crippled my Enterprise with them. In a one-on-one battle with both crews battle-ready, the Constitution dominates a Miranda."

Bill understood the defining factor. "Surprise effect."

"Exactly. And I had a ship full of cadets on a shakedown cruise. The last thing I expected was to be forced to do battle."

Now Hasapis had to know, as the conversation swung to Kirk. "How did you even the scales then?"

"I played on his ego and my experience. Intellect alone is useless without experience and wisdom, right, Admiral?" He asked Bill.

"I have to agree with that statement. And it also makes sense to me now. You want the light cruisers to be the fast support unit, the heavy cruisers the heavy brawling unit, and the battleship to be the heavy hitter on its own."

"Yes, the light unit will be on the outer perimeter, harassing and preventing them to regroup properly, assuming we get the drop off on them with the mines and surprise first. The heavy unit will be not on the perimeter, but inside, doing as much damage as possible while also disengaging as they leave the battle, turn around, rinse and repeat. The Babylon… once I jump in, I open up with everything I have ad then begin to burn out to not allow them to ram me or something." The issue was that once the modified mines are in place and have disabled the Cylon FTL capabilities when the Allied fleet jumps in, they will be disabled as well. And in a fight of pure size and mass, the Cylons would still dominate.

Bill liked the plan. But he could not count on his Starfleet ships to be able to do the same. The Miranda in his group had only a single fire launcher with a normal loading system, the weapons pod on the regular Miranda had two launchers with autoloading system. So there was always a trade-off for something.

"One other thing on this matter, Admiral Adama." Jim reminded himself of the talk he, Augustus, and Adama had before this mission began. They would all address each other with their first names unless the situation demands otherwise. "Since we lost some ammo in the insurrection, not to mention destroyed or damaged ships… how conservative do you want me to be with the ammo in my part of the fleet?"

"Why? I mean, once the mobile industrial sector on the Galactica is operational, won't we be able to replace any ordinance that way?" I know the fuel will have to be synthesized in the refinery to make this anti-matter, but everything else can be made or replicated there?"

"All but the plasma torpedo casings. I asked Commander Scott and her people to have a look at it. I left two torpedoes back at the colony to be analyzed by the replicator scanners. So far, we did not get a green light that they can be copied."

Now Bill understood the dilemma. "Use your own judgment. But truth be told, conserve them unless it causes us problems if you don't."

"Understood."

Bill wanted to change the subject. "Now to the overall logistical issues back in the colony. Commander Scott, is the timetable of 13 months still valid?"

He wanted to know that they can get it all done after the Kobol and Cylon issues are cleared. All the ship improvements, repairs, retrofits, all the supplies, resources… everything they will have to take with them.

"Well, sir…" She eyed D'Anna. "Can I ask you, Miss Three, for your input?"

"Me?" She was not part of the Colonial problems at this colony of theirs.

"Admiral, Miss Three… We could use more space. As in more ship space. Would a swap of a modern basestar for a First War era one be possible?"

OK, now D'Anna got it. "You don't need firepower, but, as you pointed it out, internal volume. And an old model has that in spades." Scott nodded, so D'Anna now asked Adama. "After the Kobol and Cavil issue is resolved, we can do a swap, if you want?"

Bill on one hand didn't want to hand more military hardware for an inferior one that would get converted to civilian use, but on the other hand, it would not make much difference. "Commander, how useful are the older hulls in this matter?"

"We can convert them mostly into a civilian transport ship. 12.000 to 15.000 per ship. That would not only solve the transporting of the people on the colony issue, as we wanted to, but also give us far more breathing room in the long run. More cargo space… We can even convert an entire half into a hospital complex for example. I mean one hospital ship for so many people will not cut it. Or a food processing sector to take the pressure off the replicators and existing processing ships. Fuel refiners for the same reasons. I would swap not one, but two basestars minimum. The older models will be easier retrofitted and since no organics, fewer problems. You would not believe how annoying it is when we cut a wall section off to put a power line through only to see the damn wall begin to regenerate and give us more work." She eyed D'Anna again. "Organic hulls, ingenious design, but frustrating."

"Thank you?"

Jim chimed in. "And the organic hulls are the reason I want to use plasma weapons on them. Organic hulls should, in theory, be even more vulnerable to a plasma torpedo. Hence, more damage."

"Right." Bill knew Scott was right. "And if we do this and we get the older models, how long?"

"Depends on what you want. You want only the Starfleet ships fixed and the older models brought up to 23rd-century standard… and all the equipment from the colony moved plus the now three basestars modified, not counting if a tribe or two will want to stay or not… six months, minimum. You want the bigger Colonial military ships to get a facelift as well, like fusion and warp reactors that we'll have to replicate parts for anyway, to make those big gas-guzzlers less dependent on Tylium… add four more months. Want ALL of the Colonial military ships to get the improvements, which would include particle weapons, FTL sensors, and comm units plus the computers to control all of this hardware and perhaps even the hull integrity modules upgrade, which are just modern polarization units… 15 months total. Add all of the civvies to get a similar treatment, four years. If we had a dry-dock in orbit, I could cut that in half, but we don't."

D'Anna cleared her throat, wanting to say something. "Since we are all so nice to each other and I already managed to get some concessions from Admiral Kirk before and now this idea, I am feeling generous. Would a mobile shipyard be of use to you in this matter?"

Lee responded first. "I thought the Cylon attack destroyed all of our orbital facilities?"

"You thought wrong. The Ragnar station was once such a facility, but there were others that had received better treatment from Colonial HQ in the past. We found them. Cavil wanted them destroyed, but then the civil war happened. My faction is using them right now. If we get our homeworld back, I see no reason not to give you some of those facilities back. But I'll have to talk it over with my brothers and sisters, of course."

Most of the Starfleet personnel in the room were a bit confused. "What good would those facilities be for us back in the Cyrannuss system?" Jim asked.

Bill knew the answer. "They have jump capabilities as well. So we can move them." But he was cautious. "Why do this, Miss Three?"

"I don't want to owe you anything. And we already do. Will do even more once Cavil is finally dealt with."

It didn't bother him or any none Cylon at the table. If she wanted to be debt-free and they get something for it, why not?

"Now, Jim, have you given it a thought?" What Bill meant with that was another issue they would have to solve in the future before they disembark the colony. What good are fixed and upgraded ships with not enough experienced and competent crews to man them? The Federation colonists had mostly scientific and engineering expertise, but only the security staff had military training as well. The Colonials had the reverse issue. Not enough pilots for all the fighters, shuttles, and raptors were available. Not enough experienced people that would be of use outside of combat. They would need to do more than just exchange notes, protocols, and tactics. They needed to get the experienced people up to speed properly on the other side's manual. And then train more personnel to fill the still empty seats in both military fleets. Ad since Kirk was teaching in Starfleet Academy when he returned from deep space missions and got promoted to Admiral the first time around, he was on paper the most qualified. The Colony already had lecture halls that could be used for this task. Colonial holo-bands could simulate situations to test the potential officers and existing experts would do the lecturing. Jim would be mostly in charge of overseeing the entire procedure and possibly share his experience and battle tactics with the cadets.

"I have, Bill. And I regretfully accept. But I want to have a free hand in assembling the proper staff for the different curriculums."

"And I won't bother you with that unless it is someone who will have more important tasks to perform." They were both dancing around it. Scott would be great for any number of physics fields. But she would be overseeing the fleet retrofits they were just talking about. So Jim knew he would have to settle on someone else.

"Fine, but I want your best pilots for pilot training. Of any kind."

Bill too understood this. "I'll talk with Kara after this mission. Lee and Miranda will also do their duty, right?"

Since they were both presents here, they both acknowledged it with a firm yes.

This meal lasted for another hour of talks before they were done. Returning to their respective ships, they began preparing for the drills of their crews.

Day 120 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 23rd of May, the year 2378, Federation colony New Settlement

On the Yamato, which now acted as a fleet CIC in orbit, being forced to remain behind, both Cains, O'Donnell and other officers were overseeing the current military situation and the civilian needs. The camps on the planet were being massively expanded as more and more freshly arrived Colonials wanted to get some fresh air on the planet on top of all the people already there. That plus the remaining security concerns on Starfleet's end due to the mess of only a few days ago and they had now assigned priority to what gets preferential treatment first. And two matters did. One was the camp expansion. That would need raw materials for construction, which meant more digging in the 'sacred' mines that caused an uproar in the first place. To make it even more ironic, most of the heavy-duty work was now being done by the insurrectionists that did not get the death penalty. Now they would have to dig up metals and other ores in the same mines they wanted to turn into temples since the best locations for these materials were right next to the colony, mixed with dilithium deposits. To make all the newly arrived Gemeniese people back off or not cause issues, they handed the mined crystals to them to do what they wanted. For once, the Federation humans had to agree with their Vulcan friends. Humans can be so retarded. The additional irony was, as if there wasn't enough of that already, that they were mining the almost useless stuff for construction, but were giving the most valuable part of the mining operation to zealots. They had to do this the old-fashioned way with metals and concrete as the replicator factory was not operational again and it was decided that it would be only used for specific items too complicated to make by hand or too important to not replicate, like computer cores or reactor parts.

And since it was more and more obvious that a significant part of Gemeniese and Sagitarrians may stay on the planet, they would need more permanent housing, even if the vote was months away.

The final reports were given to Augustus and Fiona in the Yamato's CIC on deck four. "The scouts and prospectors we sent out found some interesting discoveries…" She transferred the data to the planning table where the surrounding space was now displayed. The scientist, both Colonial and Federation ones, were pestering the military and Starfleet to get more info on the surrounding space, for their current needs, security, curiosity, and potential other mining operations.

"Would you look at that…" Augustus enlarged the data on a location some 200 Ly from their system. "A stellar-mass black hole, with… a blue giant as a companion, this close?"

"We're in no danger. The hole is actually moving away from here, to the edge of the galaxy. It's the supernova that will occur if the companion gets too unstable, that worries me." Fiona responded.

"Still… our geeks want to take a look at it." He pointed out the number of written requests to send out a scout ship for observation.

She knew about that. "I don't care what they want. That location is at the edge of the warp highway effect and of no priority for us. Once we hunker down for all that needs to be done before we leave, I'll let Adama listen to their request. And we don't have ships to spare for this anyway at this point in time."

"I agree. But the other discoveries… a planet in a similar position to this one, also in a nebula, some 80 Ly from here in the opposite direction."

A technician brought up the scans from the planet, made by a hybrid raptor. "It's even colder than here. And that nebula scrambles all sensors even worse than this one." Fiona remarked. "If the remainders want to make another colony someday, they can do it there."

"Right." Augustus closed his now personal PADD and handed it to Helena, who for the most part of this discussion, only stood there and observed the discussions. She also noticed something else. "Helena, return to Pegasus and see if the repairs are going as planned. And Sort these documents would you? Then come down to the surface. No need to be cooped up on a ship all the time, if we have an alternative. Everyone else, dismissed. Now, Fiona, have some time to show me the arboretum on the planet before we have to talk with the governor and president?"

His posture was such that he was basically asking her out, with his hand in a pose so that she could grab him around the elbow. She too was tired of having to balance all of this mess and juggling the needs of different factions. Some peace and quiet sounded nice. So she took him by the arm. "Sure. The only thing that can ruin the mood is Baltar harassing someone in public. Again."

As they walked out, Cain responded. "If he does, he'll deal with me, so don't worry yourself with that."

As most now left as well, with only a Starfleet technician and a Colonial computer expert left with Helena Cain, the Starfleet officer whistled. "Damn, he's a smooth operator. Yet one more thing he has in common with Kirk."

"Yep. And our wager?"

The Starfleet officer handed the Colonial a chip for a replicator ration. "One ration. And I hate you."

As now Helena left as well, once in the corridor, she grumbled. "Father hasn't changed at all. The one thing Mother could not stand about him. If anything comes out of this, I am SO NOT calling that woman Mother."

On the Nightingale, Chief Galen Tyrol had already endured a day of rehabilitation. But now, since he was not in a critical condition and could walk, with only one of his arms broken, otherwise remaining mobile, he would be moved to the hospital in the colony. Dr. Kumar simply needed the beds. But Galen was also not in a good mood.

At the entrance to the main intensive treatment complex, Sherman Cottle was having an argument with him. "Go with the other patients in a group and escort, Chief. You're doped up with painkillers right now."

Galen was heavily bandaged up in the face and upper torso, that and his missing teeth distorted his speech. His jaw at least was patched up with gone healing medicine so that he could speak and eat. "Frak off. I don't care. I can manage alone."

"Let me call one of your deck-hand friends…"

He pushed past him. "I don't care." You could hear the indifference in his voice. He went directly for the transporter room and then the surface in the main commercial dome of the colony. The fact that he didn't get many looks was due to the fact that many bandaged-up people were seen walking around due to past issues. He went to the arboretum as well, to get some quiet from all the talking, the pestering of taking the disgusting pills, the so-called friends talking out of their asses, pretending to care. At least in his mind.

He found a secluded corner and sat down on a bench. Just staying there, listening… to silence.

He didn't know how much time passed, but he ignored the people who were doing the same thing as him or just walking around. Or exercising.

Until a few voices were approaching him that he did recognize. "There he is." It was Ellen Tigh. "Galen. We were going to get you to help relocate to the hospital here and we're told that you went alone. What is going on?"

He remained silent.

Ellen and Sam sat down to his left on the bench, Tory and Saul on his right. On the bench across from him is where a pregnant Sharon and Karl sat down.

"Galen?" Sam asked. "I know that we technically don't know each other, not in this lifetime, but…"

Saul did a direct approach. "Stop whining and wallowing in self-pity, Chief!"

"Saul!" Ellen chastised him.

"Well, he is! I can recognize that look everywhere."

"The bandaged up, got the frak kicked out of me look?" Tory asked un-ironically.

Saul just glared at her with a 'don't cross the line' look.

The four began arguing, almost ignoring the reason they came here. Karl decided to try and break the ice. "Chief, listen…"

Now he reacted. "You are the last people I want to talk to right now. Including you, Helo."

Sharon backed Karl up. "Chief, listen. Please."

"Shut the frak up, Eight."

"Hey, wait a moment…" Karl now responded as the four broke up their bickering now.

"I said to shut up, all of you. I'm done with this joke of an existence. I'm done with the Colonials, with the 13th Cylons, Colonial Cylons, everything. We died and tried to save the Colonials. We helped the Centurions. And look what happened. In our new lives, we tried our best to do the right thing and shit happened again! You know what? We deserve extinction. Cylons and Colonials. Because both sides are pathetic. Both sides can't grow up. You try to be nice, good, decent, but you can't because the majority of Colonials and Cylons are indecent. We try to be the good guys in a world full of evil people. It's a losing game. And the only way to not lose is to not play. I'm done. The Final Five are down to Final Four. I resign. Galactica can find a new crew chief, as I am done there as well. I won't be wasting my breath, eye, teeth, and other body parts to ungrateful, inbred, moronic, religious zealots. I gave everything for the Colonies in several lifetimes and still crap like this happens!"

His rage attracted the attention of others, who decided to listen. Including the Laird family. Peter felt the urge to personally apologize to the Chief and others for what porter's people forced him to do. To say that his daughter felt shocked at that rant, would be an understatement. Not that she understood half of what was said, it was how it was said that disturbed her. "You two, stay here." Peter decided to approach them alone, just in case. "Chief… I… I can't express how sorry I am for what happened…"

Ellen stopped him. "Anyone would have done the same, you were in an impossible situation."

"Exactly." Karl backed up that statement. Then others followed as well. All but Galen.

"What part of fraking off do you people not get?" He turned his attention to Peter. "I don't give a shit anymore. About anything. As I said, I'm done. I don't hate you. I just don't care. And you know the interesting part of all of this? What is the natural opposite of good?"

They all didn't know where he was going with this. Peter tried to answer what all thought. "Em, evil?"

"Wrong. It's indifference. Apathy. Not giving a shit. Like me from now on. Now, Peter, get lost. Be with your family, work on the damn raptors, I just don't care."

They tried to snap him out of it for a few minutes longer, but he didn't respond. As silence returned since they didn't know how to respond to that statement, they notice someone else approach their group. She was wearing a Starfleet doctor's uniform. She sighed. "And that is why I didn't enter this conversation. You can learn much about a patient when they don't know you are there. Dr. Xaru, psychiatrist. And you, Galen Tyrol, are one of my patients, since it requires more than just the healing of the flesh when you went through something like what you had to endure. I was following you around when I noticed you missing in the group of patients. We have our first session tomorrow. If that is OK with you?"

"Whatever."

She motioned the others to leave him and to join her some distance away. The Laird family had already left. "He is not faking it. So give him space. Do not push him. His mind will need more healing than his body, this was just the final straw that broke him. And it will be a challenge for me as well. Having an artificial organic humanoid for a patient that carries traumas from several lives…"

Saul remained skeptical. "Doctor or not, how could you know he is not faking it?"

She didn't move her mouth, but they heard her. "My people make excellent therapists for obvious reasons. And I managed to get Helena Cain out of her shell, so I'll try the same here." Her voice echoed in their heads. "And since you are all organic, you can hear me, like any human can. And with the talents of my people, we don't have to pull such things out of our patients. And if you want my advice, Colonel, seek substance abuse therapy. Same for your wife. Now, best we leave him."

As they left him alone in his corner, he kept on observing the surroundings, the trees, bushes, and grass. Just letting it all go for a short time. He also noticed something that would have made him laugh if the situation was any different. Admiral Cain was having a walk in the arboretum with the Commodore, only for their walk begin rudely interrupted when Cain walked off. He did not see what was going on, but there was a commotion behind a collection of bushes. Then Cain walked back, with Baltar in tow, holding him by the neck, like a child being scolded. Galen didn't see it happen, but he had a good idea of what had happened. And Cain and O'Donnell saw it and Cain intervened. Once he let Baltar go, he spoke to him in a firm tone. While he didn't hear what was said and he also didn't care, he saw Baltar walk away, out of the arboretum, clearly getting the message. He also saw the mood now gone in the two officers as they left shortly after.

Galen lingered around for a while but then decided to go to the hospital and get this medical crap over with.

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet strike fleet, en route to Kobol, warp highway

Punch. Dodge. Left hook. Block. It went on like this for almost 30 minutes. In the training room of the Pegasus. On most ships, training regiments were now enforced to get people into shape or keep them in shape. But right now, Jim and Bill had a friendly sparring match.

Old men or not, they were holding their own rather well. Of course, Adama admitted in his mind, had he faced Lee right now or someone else in his prime, this would be a different game altogether. Jim saw it in a similar fashion, only he envisioned fighting that Gorn again. Good thing Bill didn't hit as hard.

In the end, they didn't go all out, just to burn the calories. No one really won when they finished. "Not bad for two old officers?"

Jim had just removed one glove. "I hate getting old."

"Who doesn't?"

"I guess. Never knew how hard boxing can be."

"You mean when compared to before?" Bill too got his boxing gear off by now and they toweled off.

"Heh, back then I was getting thrown out of bars left and right. Usually by bouncers. And they were usually Nausacaans."

"Oh?" Bill emptied his water bottle.

"Yeah, like even less subtle Klingons for hire. You?"

"It was in the middle of the war and I was a cocky pilot fresh from the academy. Learned the harsh reality of war fast. You?"

"I was in that age when there were no real wars. Captain Pike, the CO of the Enterprise before me, an old family friend, he got me to see things the right way. He got me into the academy. But the rebel, that always remained in me." As both were refreshed now and leaving the room, towels over their shoulders, Kirk made an observation. "I understand that your son, while a talented pilot, has a talent from his grandfather as well?"

Bill hated this line of questioning. His father, the attorney of the crime syndicates. "Lawyer. Lee is good with the law. I don't like it, for personal reasons."

"Hey, he has option B at least. But I also heard he's been reading any material he can get his hands on when it comes to Starfleet's officer's training. I think he is past the phase when he became an officer just for you. I think he wants to officially join Starfleet once we get back to Earth."

"I'd rather see that than the alternative. Did you see Lampkin? The slime trail he was leaving behind…"

"I think that even people like that have to exist. You talked to Thrace yet about…"

"No. I'll talk to all of them after Kobol. No need to give her anxiety now."

Once Jim was back on the Babylon, he needed to shower in his quarters. As he put his clothes in the laundry basket to give the cleaning crews in the morning, he entered his bathroom. Only he was not alone there. "Sophie? What?"

After a fast kiss, she responded. "You took your sweet time."

She was of course ready for a shower as well. "I get a distinct impression that you have a specific personality."

"Most of my model number have. And the reason I am here now is not because of that or that you gave me access to your quarters, but after being cooped up in the library for half a day and then helping the maintenance crews for the other half, I am tired and need a distraction. Now please tell me that those bruises and sweat on you don't mean you don't have the strength left?"

"Oh, I think I can find the motivation for that."

It was not long after the shower as they wanted to get something to eat that Jim was called to the bridge.

Arriving there, he saw that Jürgen already have Adama on the call. "Admiral? What's going on?"

"A Rebel raider contacted us. The situation changed. The Rebels were about to leave as they will need to be back in Cyrannus."

Now even Jim got worried. "What happened over Kobol?"

"According to the Rebels, they kept tabs to the best of their abilities. Out of 208 basestars at the peak of the fleet assembling, only 34 are left. The bulk of the fleet, support ships included, jumped away 17 hours ago. Cavil is on the move. So now so are we. We modify the plan. We don't assemble with the Rebels. The raider here will contact them about this, we burn there at 110%, and once there, we clean orbit, fast and hard. The Rebels join us when they see us attacking. We need to deal with this as fast as humanly possible to then pursue the enemy fleet. So, we need to get Cain's plan ready to go as I am already having Scott prepare the mines. We won't use raptors to deploy them in advance, your force will deploy them the moment they jump into the fray, the others via the raptors the same way."

"Understood. I'll have everything ready on my end. Out." The screen went back to the emptiness of space. "Mr. Jürgen, cancel all other drills. This is for real now. Helm, with the new plan, our ETA to Kobol?"

"Two hours, 17 minutes, sir."

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet strike fleet, orbit over Kobol

As predicted by Rebel Cylon and Colonial strategist, Cavil deployed a typical three fleet defensive formation. Only in this case, they were significantly depleted. Still, Cavil knew that he needed Kobol, no matter how much he hated the planet. So he left some forces here, including planetary garrisons.

The three fleets were deployed to be able to quickly support each other if needed.

In the case of the fleet that was in an orbit that took them over the poles with each rotation, the Colonial and Starfleet force attacked the moment they arrived. And this Cavil fleet was over the South Pole when the attack happened.

They never expected it. Their raider patrols didn't spot them until it was too late. The advantage of FTL sensor technology. And Cylon insight.

The old Jupiter class Pegasus, all her armor stripped off, jumped in the middle of the formation. Only seconds later, before the docked raiders even had a chance to deploy, she exploded. Her reactors were set to overload, as was the ship's FLT drive. Then her nuclear arsenal was rigged to go off as well. And to top it all off, some antimatter warheads were added, just in case.

The resulting explosion destroyed all of the 11 basestars in this fleet, all but one. The last one was crippled and could not jump anymore. Hasapis force jumped in not long after this, avoiding most of the shrapnel and shockwave. They only had to clean up the remains.

Bill's and Jim's forces jumped into their spots only seconds after the old Pegasus did her last job. The ships and raptors dumped the mines that now jammed all FTL drives in the respectful areas. Jim's force was about to deal with the fleet in the equatorial orbit, while Bill's force would deal with the fleet in the 45 degrees tilted orbit.

The Carrier Pegasus and all ships with raptors or vipers deployed their fighter wings, but the gunship, while keeping some distance from Bill's main force, didn't wait but opened fire. And the first slug did its job as before. It tore the guts of the hit basestar, crippling it, but not destroying it in one hit.

Not long after this hit as the gunship was reloading, all ships with some form of long-range weapon that was not an easily intercepted missile, opened fire as well, beginning to add on to the damage of the sniper. Bill knew that the Cylons would not be defensive, once they realize that if they do play defensively, they lose as the gunship will just keep on adding holes to their ships until there are no more ships left.

With Jim, he was thick in the battle the moment he jumped in. And as he talked with Adama about it, he didn't preserve ammo. The heavy cruisers all opened up halfway in the Cylon formation, between its center and outer limit. The approach was a simple one. Yellow pulse phasers would begin shredding the enemy ships apart, even more so when multiple ships focused on one target. They were used to the ship's sides. Anything at the back or in front of a ship was bombarded with torpedoes. The raiders were completely ignored. Just mow them down like roadkill. On the outer perimeter, the light cruiser force did the same, just faster and more nimble.

But the Babylon, as it began accelerating, to avoid what Jim feared the most, a suicidal ramming tactic, opened up with all her weapons as well. Including the plasma torpedo launcher. Two green orbs to the front, two to the back. Cavil's force was seeing some new things here, as they did get the update from Cyrannus already at these newcomers, whoever they were, as Cavil was still in the dark about it.

As Jim predicted, slow or not, at these ranges, it didn't matter. One of the plasma orbs hit a basestar on her dorsal armor plating. As it was organic in nature, it was melted off, like peeling a banana, exposing the entire interior of the upper ship part. Then the remaining energy melted half of the interior as well. The second orb hit another basestar in the middle connecting structure. It didn't make a hole. It burned the entire structure apart, turning one whole basestar into two basestar halves, like snapping a twig.

The aft torpedoes both hit the same target, so a bit of a waste of ammo, but the Babylon dealt with three enemy ships in under 10 seconds and crippled another two.

This was not a battle, but a massacre. Jim would be done quickly, so he had his force switch in some cases to the plasma point defense fire mode to clean up the annoying raiders.

For Bill, one could say he had more issues as the Cylon force did figure out that they need to rush him to have a chance at survival, but at that point not only did Hasapis force jump to assist Bill, as Hasapis force never needed to deploy the FTL jammers, but the Rebel Cylon force also arrived.

If there was a Cavil left alive in the remaining defending ships, he really saw it pour now, not just rain.

It took less than 15 minutes for them to clean orbit. The remaining few raider stragglers managed to jump away, once the FTL jamming effect wore off. If the Rebel Cylons would bother chasing them was up to them.

So now the Colonial and Starfleet ships were all in one single formation again. And as the Cylons began deploying their ground assault ships, the Starfleet ships began their precision strikes on fortified positions with their phasers only. They would try to keep as much of the infrastructure on the planet intact and usable for the Rebels. They also began using their transporters to beam Cylon computer personnel and centurion escorts into the fortified bunkers to gain control from the inside out.

And one by one, the bunkers fell as now they also used a hastily assembled transmitter in the field that could shut down the centurions that still had the talent inhibitors in them. That would leave only the three humanoid models left to defend their locations. The centurions would be freed after the takeover was done.

But Bill would not wait. As all of this was still going on, he had deployed a force of marines and MACO units to the site of Athena's tomb. Rebel centurions were already there, as they cleared the forests of all enemy forces.

A pair of centurions pushed the boulder aside so that they were able to enter the tomb. Deploying their tricorders and light, they saw a cave with broken statue pieces in it. Kirk was also there as the Starfleet expert, along with the Six Sophie and Three D'Anna. The centurions were told to wait outside until it is safe for them.

K'Lir was taking in the detailed scans on her tricorder as one of the marines pulled out the Arrow of Apollo they got from Caprica some time ago.

"A bit underwhelming." D'Anna remarked. "But if mythology and common sense is applied, the arrow belongs to an archer?" She motioned them to the archer statue.

Bill nodded in confirmation, giving the marine to signal to place the arrow onto the statue's hands.

The room changed. They were now in a field, surrounded by 12 stone shrines. "Admirals. This is not real." K'Lir responded first. "A highly sophisticated hologram. Somehow the statue and arrow are triggering it…" Her tricorder began beeping at a fast pace. She began moving from one direction to another, others just observing her. Once she got the direction down, the beeping intensified. "Remove the arrow, please."

As the marine did just that, they found themselves back in the original cave. But now K'Lir was standing at the cave wall, opposite the entrance. "I'm detecting a phase variation. It has the same power signature as the hologram." She tried to push the wall, with no success." Admiral, whatever this is, has a phase modulation of 330,51 and an energy setting of 0,397. Setting the phasers to these settings and using them on the false wall here might overload it."

This was so far out of Bill's field of expertise that he let Jim handle it. And Jim was already modifying his weapon with two other MACO officers. "I'll go first. If it doesn't work, we try together."

As he fired, the wall absorbed the energy. K'Lir read the new telemetry. "Not enough. We need more power."

So now the three of them fired at the same wall. This time, it disappeared, revealing an artificially made tunnel, that ended into a corridor and a closed door.

They proceeded slowly. The soldiers went first until they reached the large door. All the time the tricorders of the Starfleet people were almost overheating as they were scanning everything.

At the door, K'Lir saw the access panel. "The writing is clearly Iconian."

Bill had a look at the corridor so far. "Wide enough to allow a constant stream of people." He had a growing fear of where this would go.

"Can we open it?" Kirk asked the Vulcan.

"I can only translate some of the icons. If this one is the word or icon for 'close', the one opposite should be 'open'."

Well, Jim was not subtle in such manners, so he just pressed said button. The door did open showing only more corridors ahead, but no end, as the corridor then split up in several directions. "We may need more people here." Jim said to one of the men, but their comm was not getting through any longer. One of their escorts ran outside to request more forces.

It took them almost 10 minutes, but they finally found a door that did open and contained more than empty storage rooms or empty hangars. Most of the other doors were closed. But all noticed it. The markings and route indicated a mostly straight line to the entrance, with only a few corners.

The soldiers were once again ready for anything as K'Lir opened this door as well. Now they found another closed door to their right and a ramp that led to a lower level. And there in a much larger room stood two pillars with plenty of Iconian markings on them.

The guards spread out and secured the room, but the door to their right remained closed as a panel was there, but no buttons on it.

Jim and Bill went down as well to inspect the pillars. "Gateway, was it called?" Bill asked Jim, hoping for an answer.

"How should I know? But I see no other explanation for this."

Back at the entrance to the Gateway room, K'Lir had an idea. She had an officer run outside again and contact the fleet in orbit to have a shard of the original Iconian crystal brought down to them. She was right. Taking the shard and holding it close to the panel, the doors slid open, revealing a control room, as the window shutters now opened as well. While the chairs were clearly not meant for regular humanoids, the setup was nothing new.

The technicians and computer experts as well a linguist took all the free seats and went to work as the consoles began working. Then the holographic displays also came to life.

One of the technicians then did a mistake. He used an active scan on his console, trying to interact with the computer. His tricorder first began displaying the alien language and seconds later, it went dead. Not exactly a virus, but Iconian programming was far in advance of Starfleet, so it could easily take over such simple devices. So all other tricorders were used in passive mode only while the infected one was tossed aside.

They didn't understand all, but enough to get their bearings. The engineering station showed the layout of the base. It was a small outpost, no more than a few levels tall. Or low, since this was the top level. The real issue was power. It was on reserve power, gained from a dying geothermal source, the main reactor of unknown design was empty. The issue would remain, as their power sources were not compatible with the Iconian ones. What it also showed was the whole light show in the cave was mostly like a welcome lobby.

It took them 15 more minutes to get a basic understanding of this system, but the language was really hampering them. In some cases, they had to guess what was written. "Admirals, we are still working on the Gateway itself, but we did manage to access the recordings of the outpost." K'Lir gave the first report. "I believe we can activate the holographic recording of the last use of the base. The issue is the Iconian measurement of time. We don't know how long ago this occurred."

Bill let Jim handle this, as they both wanted to get some answers. "Show us then."

With the holographic program now on, the room with the Gateway changed slightly. The holographic recording was happening in the room itself. They saw how the Gateway was activated. Not long after that, people started appearing, running through the opening. One could also see where they were arriving from. Another Iconian outpost.

"Can you freeze it?" Jim asked K'Lir.

She did as asked and the holographic people froze in place. Bill and Jim walked down to the Gateway room, passing through some of the holographic displays. One older man, guiding a packed mule through. Two soldiers standing at the entrance, guiding people in. A young woman helping an elder woman back up from her fall. Children and animals passing through.

Now the two admirals took a closer look. "Bronze age short swords?" Jim pondered as he inspected one of the soldiers. He looked at the other. "Long spear and large shield. Phalanx? Is that what they were called?"

Bill inspected an older woman who was apparently carrying a book of some sort. But she was also dressed in ceremonial gear. "A priestess." He took a closer look at the symbol on her robes. "An owl? Servant of Athena?"

"This is clearly bronze age gear… but. A book? In the bronze age?" For Jim, this did not add up. "Commander, can we get any data from where they came from? A recording?"

She went to work. The surroundings now changed. They saw the other side of the Gateway. Another Gateway, but a different style. "We're in a temple. Look at all the decorations."

Bill saw it too. Gold, silver, marble, pottery… And statues of the gods. But he also saw the Iconian technology, consoles, and displays. Just like in the outpost they just found. And it was decorated. On one of the consoles, he saw a golden figurine of Hephaestus. "They thought this was the work of the gods."

"Can we get a view from outside this structure?" Jim asked K'Lir again.

She did her magic again and they now stood at the temple entrance. They saw a bronze age metropolis, a seaport with trireme-style ships docked. A large lighthouse overseeing the dock. A bronze statue at the city entrance, but it was already falling down. But they also saw the panic in the people's eyes, frozen image or not. The sky was dark, but it was not night. Bill saw it first. The mountain next to the temple. It was spitting ash and brimstone. "A volcanic eruption."

The two officers began adding the puzzle pieces together. "A bronze age civilization finds the Iconian outpost and thinks it's a workshop of the gods. Or something to that effect." Jim began this thought train.

"They settled on this… island perhaps? And build a temple at the outpost entrance."

"Their civilization flourishes."

"They don't know what they have, but it does allow them to progress technologically somehow. You mentioned that books were not in this age, right?"

"History was not my favorite subject, but yes." Jim responded. "So centuries pass and then the civilization collapses after this disaster while the survivors of the calamity end up on Kobol."

"Right."

"Commander, can we get the exact location as to where the other outpost was?" Jim asked her again.

This time she gave him a verbal answer. "A small island northeast of the island of Crete."

"Crete, eh? Mr. Garcia can you come down, please." Once he did, Jim asked him directly. "Besides having knowledge of movies, how is your history knowledge?"

"Pretty good and I see where you are going with this. Crete and island explosions in the bronze age? Sounds like the Minoan civilization. You know, the Greeks before the Greeks. They were considered the most advanced civilization of their time. Then a chain of natural disasters broke them."

K'Lir at this point shut the recording off. She was told that the power was really critical, so no point in wasting it.

"Admiral Adama, seems your people are the descendants of the Minoan civilization. But… how do the people in the Colonial ranks that clearly have Asian or African roots come into this picture then?" Jim pondered.

"Sir, slavery was commonplace in those ages and the Minoans were in the middle of the Mediterranean. The perfect location for traders. And if they were the most influential civilization in their time, getting exotic slaves might have been seen as a status symbol?" Garcia tried to explain, but even he was only guessing here. "But at least now we have a time window. 3500 BC to 1100 BC. So anywhere between 6000 to 3500 years."

Jim also saw something else. "This may also be the root of the Atlantis myth. Think about it. If this island sunk under the sea after this eruption… and the rest is history."

Bill didn't get the Atlantis reference and he didn't care. "Can we get back? Contact Earth?"

"Right. Got sidetracked." They all returned to the control room where K'Lir and Scott were already busy trying to answer that question. D'Anna was the only one not doing anything here but making mental notes. The one thing they didn't find out in all of this time, but could only speculate, was why the people they just saw in the recordings, didn't return to the outpost. They could only speculate, but the simplest answer was usually the right one. A safety feature of this outpost that the one on Earth either lacked or lost with time. Once the base was empty, the access was restricted again, unless you knew how to get in. They also speculated on the fact that both outposts were on a planet near a geothermal power source. Seemed that standard Icomian base building guide is to find a backup power supply.

K'Lir's, Scott's and Garcia's faces told them with time that it would not be easy, if at all possible.

"Admirals, the situation is that the base does not have sufficient power to initiate a portal to Earth. 21.000 Ly is too far for the current power levels." K'Lir began the report.

"If the other Gateway and base on Earth still was still there and we could initiate contact, the base on the other end could cower the connection power costs. Since contact with that outpost was lost when this recording was made, whenever that was, it only further supports the theory that the base and island on Earth were swallowed by the sea." Scott continued the report.

But Garcia had the only real piece of good news on this. "We can try to open a short portal to Earth but within 10 seconds of us doing it, the… I don't know what it's called, long-range portal projector? Well, whatever the Iconians called it, it will be fried. So we can send something through. But not a person. The portal will be small. Like fist-size small."

Jim had a different idea. "What about a burst transmission then. Someone on Earth would pick up an SOS with our data attached to it?"

Scott shook her head. "Not possible. With the portal as unstable as it will be, we'd transmit a garbled mess through. If we try to send data, it has to be in some form of a physical object."

"That is not the only issue." K'Lir took over. "Normally a Gateway portal lets you see where you are sending anything. This one will be so unstable that we'll be doing it mostly blind. We'll need to ask our ships to both calculate the exact coordinates of Earth at this point in time, as well as Starfleet HQ, if possible. This will include the almost 100 years of time, Earth's orbit, rotation, axial tilt…"

"So, difficult." Jim stopped her. She was just like Spock. Giving him too much information. But he got the other thing they'll need. "We will use a tricorder, right? Throw it through? Loaded up with all the needed info, like ship's logs, status reports, locations?"

"The most logical procedure." She agreed with this idea.

Jim then non-verbally asked Bill for permission to try this plan. He just nodded, knowing that without Starfleet, they'd still b in the damn cave looking at the stupid lobby recording.

D'Anna finally spoke up. "No matter if this does work or not, can we use this place for the current war situation?"

She had to wait for another minute to get an answer. "The short-range projectors will be more usable with the current power settings, but… we'll need coordinates as well. If the target is within 2500 Ly, from what this console tells us, we can open either this Gateway here to allow troops to move through or even a larger portal in low orbit for a fleet to move. But whichever we use, this place will be dead after this." Garcia explained.

"I believe I have a better alternative." Scott said. "If this place will be dead anyway, we can activate both portals at the same time. The one here for troop movement and the one in low orbit. The issue will be that the system will then overload and blow this base up and probably trigger the dormant volcano as well."

D'Anna was not entirely a fan of this idea. "But if we could salvage some of the tech here…"

"You can't even assure you can hold Kobol if Cavil does a 180 right now, can you?" Jim knew where she was going with this, but blowing this place up, if they found anything and could not use it, was always the plan for him and Adama. Only now they will use it and then blow it. "I suggest you ask your experts up there the same thing we did for the Earth issue, coordinates. Your homeworld. We need coordinates."

Bill went to support Jim on this. "You asked before if we could just beam forces into the mainframe room on the planet and we said no. Now we may have a chance for you to deploy a division there and we move the entire fleet there long before Cavil arrives…"

"One correction, Admiral." K'Lir interrupted him. "The portal in orbit will have a mass limit, so it may collapse before the system overloads, unlike the small portal down here. I will have to calculate the numbers with our computers based on the remaining power here, but the logical approach would be to send the less massive but more powerful ships. So the modern Starfleet ships. Colonial and Cylon ships are simply too massive. The limit might be reached with two battlestars or two basestars already."

So one more limitation. The two admirals and the Three exchanged looks. Jim broke the silence. "I don't hear anyone coming up with a better plan, do you?"

They both remained silent, agreeing with him. "Fine. I'll get the coordinates, to the best of my people's abilities." Three answered.

"I'll talk with Hasapis. He'll be in charge then. Only the modern Starfleet ships and the gunship go." Adama began formulating a real plan.

"The Colonial Hope should stay here." Jim both said and asked in a way.

"Agreed. Miss Three, you're coming with us to allow a faster contact with the rebels there, once we arrive and you can confirm anything we say."

She didn't protest, meaning she agreed. "What about the basestar question?"

"Tell you what, you can have all of them, but I want compensation after this mess, deal?" He didn't want to argue right now and Scott was right. They needed room more than firepower right now.

"Deal. So, I'll get the coordinates and the centurion army ready to move as well as the computer personnel we'll need to take over the mainframe, assuming we'll find it…"

Bill continued on. "I'll brief Hasapis and get the marines ready for the same reasons and have the basestars evacuated…"

Jim ended the discussion. "And I'll get the ships for this new mission ready, the tricorder prepared, the MACO personnel and engineers ready to accompany you to this mainframe. We miss anything?"

"Just one more thing. Miss Three, you have any issues if I have Hasapis remains in orbit with the ships here for 24 to 48 hours to get some flora and fauna from the planet for cultivation in New Settlement?"

She saw no problems with Adama's question. "Sure. Big game hunting, why not? And Kobol is more your planet than ours anyway. But do know this. If my forces here detect Cavil returning, they will not engage a superior force."

"I know. Hasapis will be ordered to do the same."

Once done, Bill and D'Anna moved out with their escorts as the rest still needed time to process what they have seen. Well, all but K'Lir and Jim. She went after them as well while Jim clapped to wake them up from their stupor. "You all heard them, move like you have a purpose."

Around three hours later, they were ready to proceed. The army of centurions was waiting outside the main Gateway room as the marine and MACO personnel were already inside with the Starfleet and Cylon technicians that would be necessary for this hostile takeover. In space, all the fleet rearrangements were also made.

In the Gateway room, Kirk gave some final words of encouragement to the none-Cylons that would assist them in this endeavor. While the technical divisions would be overseen by Garcia, Scott, and K'Lir, he assigned the command of the military arm to Colonel Walker. The Gunship Paris would go to this new theater of battle under new command.

Jim also assigned Hill to this. And right now, he was addressing Hill, Walker, and Sophie, who had just finished the centurion formation gathering for the first wave. "Colonel. They lead, you follow. The only exception is if things go south."

"Got it, sir."

"Hill. See this assignment of my trust in you. And the fact that I think an Augment can be of real value when outsmarting an AI base."

Hill knew he meant this. They were not on a first-name basis, but he was apparently really warming up to him. "Will do, sir."

"Sophie, what can I say? Be careful. All of your people as well. And teach Cavil some humility."

"Oh, I intend to. Keep the light on for me." She didn't hesitate as she passionately kissed him. No one was really surprised. Only that she did it out in public now was new. And D'Anna who like Kirk was here for the final stage before they return to the fleet only managed to hide her annoyance at her Seven scientist.

"Really? Here?" D'Anna grumbled.

Jim was not phased and walked off, all the time begin observed by the growing number of centurions. They were intrigued, not just by him, but still. This was uncharted territory even for them.

Sophie went to the first line in front of the still deactivated Gateway. "Get a life, Three. Or a boyfriend. Or a vibrator, I don't care. Just stop being so bitchy."

Now D'Anna got a bit red in the face. She really didn't want to stay here or risk slapping Sophie right now. "As the admiral said. You know what to do. Centurions, today we free your brothers. Good luck."

Once she left, they began with phase one. Since this area was shielded from all other comm options, they actually dragged a cable to an internal Starfleet comm device and hiked it up with the cable to an outside transmitter. Garcia remained in the control room to execute the first phase as he told the fleet in orbit that they are beginning.

He alerted Hill as well since he was holding the modified tricorder and would make the throw.

"Powering up in three, two… one…"

The pillars at each side began humming and the writing on them began glowing slightly. Then a few electrical arcs began hitting the walls behind them.

A few seconds later, the space in between the pillars began changing. A small distortion could be seen. It really was no larger than a human head. It was positioned in the middle of the space between both pillars. Hill began counting down in his head. He tried to see anything beyond the opening. To know where he was throwing the damn tricorder to. Was it Earth?

He then noticed that the unstable portal was already collapsing. Scott was right. 10 seconds or less. And no other base was seen on the star map that was near Earth. One was in what they assumed was Klingon territory and one in the Neutral zone. The one on Earth was marked as dead. So with this Gateway having so little power and hawing no support from the Earth Gateway, the portal was already dying.

As he threw the tricorder and it passed through the portal, he managed to see in the second it passed through, a garden. A garden and what he thought was a building in the distance. But he had no idea what it was. Even his eyes could not make any real details in the mess. Then the portal collapsed.

"Well?" Garcia asked from the command room.

"It's through. And it is now on an M class planet, but that is all I could see. The projector?"

"Fried, like we feared. And the entire system is already getting unstable. Best we don't waste time. I'm powering up for phase two." He then triggered the automated system and began powering up again. This time the two pillars began acting much stronger than before. A real full size opening now formed. But it led to space above a planet. Above the Cylon Homeworld as basestars could be seen through the opening.

"Garcia, we can't go into space!" Walker shouted.

"I know! It's not open yet, just the pre-phase. Em, Sophie, a little help?"

She returned to the command room and began modifying the coordinates. "We were close, just not close enough."

The image in the portal now altered to what seemed to be a centurion manufacturing plant. Walker shouted again. "Better, but no cigar. We can't go there. With all the enemy forces there, we'd be slaughtered."

But for Sophie, this was enough to get her bearings. They began making really small alterations to the coordinates. The image jumped to a refinery, missile storage, reactor, and some other locations until they almost got it.

They now saw a main computer control room as five hybrids were in their liquid tubs, hooked up to the mainframe like the main CPU to a motherboard. But an Eight also saw the reinforced door leading to this place. "We need to get there. The mainframe access is behind that door. If we move to the hybrid room, the alarm will be triggered."

Sophie agreed and made one last alteration. Of about 10 meters. Now they saw the mainframe room with all the access panels and data storage they would even need. They also saw something they didn't expect. "Cavil is a bastard. Four centurion guards. We'll need to take them out without triggering an alarm." She now returned back to the portal and saw Walker already prepping his EMP grenades. "No. You use those, we fry the mainframe. Then we can't spread out the virus."

"Shit…" Walker packed it back in.

Hill stepped to the edge of the portal. "Give me two phaser rifles on maximum settings. I can take two of them easily. But we need a comm jammer as well so they can't transmit."

Walker knew this was a good plan since they didn't have any alternatives. So he had Scott give him a jammer attached to his wrist and the two rifles he asked for. The one good thing about that room was that it was also soundproof, so if they can jam any wireless communications and stop them from triggering an alarm manually, they have their foot in the door.

So Walker had a second plan alteration. He had a squad of centurions move to the front. Then he had his people give them the same weapons that Hill just wielded two of. During all of this, Garcia did the same with the orbit. They managed to scan the space they would arrive at through the still not active portal. At the outskirts of the Cylon homeworld system. So that was good enough for them.

So now Garcia got the green light from Walker and Adama. He initiated the sequence and the countdown began. As he walked past the lines of centurions, he alerted them all that this time it was for real. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Whatever God, Gods, or Spaghetti monsters you believe in, make one final prayer, as here we go…. Four, three, two… one…"

The image now solidified, signaling that both portals were active. Hill inhaled one last time, triggered his jammer, and entered the opening, followed by the centurions.

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Cylon Homeworld

The guards on the other side were not ready for anything like this. The moment Hill got in, he managed to disable one of the guards, but he didn't manage to disable the closest one to the manual alarm trigger, let alone the ones in the corners. But the centurions that came behind him did. But not before the one Hill didn't completely disable, managed to grab him and pierce his left shoulder with its sharp claws.

As it was disabled now, they both fell, the heavy machine on top of him. His speed was not enough to do this alone but was enough to distract them enough to allow the allies behind him to clear the mess up. As the room was now secured, the centurion at the perimeter of the opening on their end. Now more forces began moving in, beginning with the specialists. As Sophie went to work on the access vents and Scott on the mainframe panels, Walker directed the medic to Hill.

"How are you holding out, solder?"

"Shit, just when the admiral got to like me…" His shoulder was bandaged up, but he was out for now.

"The main artery was missed, but we can't move him."

"Shit… Keep on it." Walker peaked through the transparent material in the door leading to the hybrid room. Nothing changed. They weren't noticed.

Garcia pulled some panels off and began hooking up his portable gear via optical cables to the mainframe on one of the wall sections. K'Lir and Scott were doing the same in other areas were they pulled off the panels.

During all of this, Sophie squeezed in the airshaft and crawled forward. Once a fall could be heard, the Eight with her passed her the same equipment the Sarfleet personnel were using. And other female Cylon models were doing the same thing on other ventilation shaft access. They got to other locations in the mainframe complex that could otherwise only be reached by going outside. Outside, where many guards were.

Garcia was already at his portable PADD station. "Handshake protocol is good. And I wasn't noticed." The Rebels gave them their access protocols to enable this to work.

"Use backdoor 1138." Another Seven told them. "It's the one maintenance crews use."

"Got it…" once everyone who was doing the same thing acknowledged that they were ready and linked up, Garcia began counting down again. They began the new virus upload at the same time from multiple locations. As the upload bar began begging fuller, Garcia whispered, as if pleading. "Come one. Go. Go… just a little more."

The bars blinked. The upload was done. "That's it."

Scott alerted Walker. He pulled out his communicator. "Admiral Adama. Do you hear?"

The fleet managed to arrive as well. The portal connection was now done. Signaling the entire outpost was gone. And K'Lir was not off by much in her mass assessment. Once the modern Strfleet ships made the transition, the portal became unstable. Even the Paris had to remain behind as that ship was large and they would not risk her.

"I hear you, Colonel. Status?"

"We're in and unnoticed. Virus upload complete."

"Understood. We've already contacted the Rebels via the Ares. They are repositioning their fleet for this. Any casualties?"

"Hill was instrumental to get us this far but is injured and out of the fight for now. He's the priority to get out."

"Understood. Wait… Something is happening. We are detecting radiological signature over the homeworld planet."

As Sophie squeezed herself out of the ventilation shaft again, now that she was done there, she handed Earth's gear back to them. "Like we feared. The new virus will, if uploaded directly, overwhelm the blocks and talent inhibitors in all raiders, centurions and hybrids, but it will do it progressively, from unit to unit, as it spreads. Newly freed units are now fighting the still indoctrinated ones. And the freed ones will gain in numbers."

"Is there anything more that we can do?"

"Yes. Now we go for the hybrid room. There are bio-neural links for us to use and coordinate the new allied forces."

Walker, while liking the idea, was worried. "And the alarm and hybrids inside?"

"This base is now fighting itself, the alarm is now meaningless. And the hybrids may fight us in cyberspace, but not for long."

"Fine. Admiral?"

"She's in charge there. I suggest you do as she said. We'll assemble the rebel forces and see if we can go give the new rebel units on and above the planet a hand. Out."

So Walker relented. "OK then. How do we open these reinforced doors if we can't use explosives? As I don't want to blow myself or this mainframe room up right now?"

"What about your energy weapons? Can't you cut through?"

He eyed the massive door. "It will take time." He ordered around 20 people to begin targeting a side of the door, five per side.

On the Carrier Pegasus, Adama saw on the long-range scans the indications that a fleet was jumping here. Since the highway effect was more pronounced here, they could accomplish the transition from Cyrannuss to here now in only two jumps with the more accurate calculations.

As a fleet of about 70 basestars and the Ares arrived, they got a comm request.

On the main screen, Bill now saw another Three, with a centurion, both next to Captain Hauaman on the Ares. "Sir. That was fast."

"We can discuss it later. Combat has broken out as the virus is preparing and liberating the affected forces. And Cavil has launched around 170 basestars from Kobol less than 24 hours ago. That we know of. So four to five days travel time and we need to be ready to greet him."

The Prime Three now responded and asked her counterpart next to Adama for clarification. "You couldn't have notified us in advance?"

"No. The reason we came here so fast and were able to infiltrate our home so easily is already gone. But we did learn one thing. The whole Iconian crap was on the money. We, the Colonials are from ancient Earth. But we need to focus on this battle right now."

"Right. We let the battle play out as it is now. No reason to suffer more casualties. We only intervene before the virus has done its job completely if your people on the ground are in danger or we risk losing anything important."

Now Bill wanted clarification. "That would be?"

"The second Colony ship that is possibly already built, or anything of importance on the planet, like the main reactor unit, mainframe, communication central, those kinds of things."

Bill nodded in confirmation. "Captain, your status?"

"Strained. It has been a couple of weeks. And we're out of ammo. We were forced to use torpedo casings with modified Colonial WMDs. And the ship could use some repairs."

"Beam over with the Cylon envoy. We'll keep an eye on the development over the colony. We need some things to clear up."

Back in the mainframe room, it did take them eight minutes to cut the door off. Now the centurions pulled it out of the frame and entered the hybrid room. The alarm went off long before they managed to get in and with all the fighting outside the mainframe room, no one noticed.

Sophie went to the bio-interface. Putting her hand into the liquid, he closed her eyes. "Virus spread is 72% complete. Now allied forces are severely outnumbering the remaining loyalists to Cavil."

An Eight, another Six, and a Two manned the other interfaces. "The issue is that around 33% of affected centurions and raiders on our side lose conciseness once the inhibitor is burned out. They'll need a manual removal and a fresh restart… wait. Do you feel it?"

Leoben noticed it first. "The resurrection link. I can feel it too."

Now all the humanoids reported the link. But the centurions reported that they felt nothing. "Strange. But we can ask for this after we gain full control."

It took around 15 more minutes, but now the Cavil loyal forces were reduced to 4% of their initial strength. And since no humanoid models remained alive on the planet or fleet above that were loyal to him, the still controlled hybrids, raiders, and centurions did not have the common knowledge to see a lost cause and retreat. So they would remain and die. Or be converted eventually. So the combined Rebel / Colonial and Starfleet force jumped into high orbit and Kirk and Adama let the Rebels deal with the damage assessment and organization of their forces. But the orbit was now full of ship and fighter parts. Cleaning this up would take some time. And that was not something Bill wanted to worry about. He wanted to deal with Cavil once and for all, get his compensation from Three and say goodbye. At least for now.

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet forces, Cyrannuss system, the orbit of Caprica

In the Carrier Pegasus, Adama and Kirk were having a meeting to discuss the final nail in Cavil's coffin, or so they hoped. And what happens after this mess and the Colonial survivors and the Federation colonists hunker down for over a year to get ready for their departure. D'Anna told the Primes of her deal and they had no issue in honoring it. And if they would not honor it, they knew that Spartacus would honor it, with or without them. So they got a hastily assembled fleet of three Colonial mobile shipyards of the same type that Ragnar now was, only in good condition, Transport ships with building material and other resources to bring back as well as five First War-era basestars. And they, the Ares, Vo'kor, and Columbus would not partake in this final battle. They would remain in a staging area that was still be decided upon. The Ares and Vo'kor were in need of repairs and the Columbus would relay Cavil's movements with her sensor dome to the fleet. They would keep an eye on their compensations, which would have skeleton crews on them anyway, as they had little to spare for those ships.

The majority of the experienced officers from the Ares and Vo'kor were reassigned to the fleet that would aid the Rebel Cylons. The Columbus was also staffed down for the same reasons.

Commander Sek'Ris was given the St. Michael to command, Captain Hauaman the Fury. Major Sisko and Lt. Dualla were reassigned to the Babylon, as Jim saw that the Major's experience would be useful here. Yes, he would have loved to have Walker or Hawks do the tactical role, but they were made CO's for this mission on other ships, for lack of actual ship captains.

As they exchanged the notes and footage of what happened and was found, Sisko noticed something on the recording of the exodus of the Minoan humans from Earth. Since they moved most religious or cultural items to a transport ship or were still in the process of doing so, he hurried into the hangar. He noticed something that seemed familiar. While Anastasia got a warm welcome from some of her old friends, like Felix, she took both of her and Sisko's stuff to the again shared quarters. And this one was still militaristic, but bigger, especially with the eating and work section.

On the planet's surface, while some R&R was made possible for the crews, Jim accompanied Bill to an untouched part of the planet.

"Zak Adama." Jim read out loud what was written on the gravestone. He then inspected his picture. "Looks like you, around the chin."

Bill smiled sadly. "The eyes are his mothers. Lee is the opposite." The only other two people here besides them were Lee and Kara.

"Nice of them to keep these places untouched." Lee spoke after a brief silence."

"Yeah. They promised to keep them clean and to give all the victims they find a proper burial."

"Will take them a while…" Lee didn't completely believe the rebels on this. "Dad, I know that trust is an issue, but why dismiss their proposal completely?"

What he meant was that the rebels had the idea that with the Vulcan help they managed to get a prototype of their own working for a radiation scrubber. Once the war with Cavil was done, they project that within five to seven years, most Colonial world will have the radiation level back to the pre-war era. And then the Colonials could return. Live here, with the Cylons.

"Trust is an issue, but the real problem is this: You saw the mess Porter made with her agenda. What do you think this will make? And the Federation citizens will go, with or without us. I'll brief Laura on this and let her decide if to ask the people or not. I'm not the person to make such a decision, nor do I want to. And these planets now hold too many ghosts and bad memories for me."

"For all of us." Kara supported that statement.

They remained for a few minutes longer, then returned to their raptor that was parked in the designated landing area.

In the Babylon infirmary, Hill and the few injured people that were begin treated currently were killing time. No matter where wards were always boring. Hill's arm was in a cast and he was forbidden from leaving his bed for now.

"Oh wow, Garcia, I see you are trying to cheer me up."

Adrian was escorting Spartacus into the infirmary. And of course, he had taken off his attached weapon's module and left it on his basestar.

"Lt. Hill. It is good to see you again."

"And you too, Spartacus. Doing good for yourself, I see. Centurion leader. Trying to make me and Adrian look bad." He teased him.

"Yes. So depressing." Garcia continued the joke.

But now the centurions were a bit more versed in the unwritten language rules of humans. Or organics in general. "I also came to apologize to you for my brother's behavior."

"Hey, they were on autopilot. Not really their fault."

"I am glad you see it that way and that you will recover. I do not want to lose either of my first friends."

Garcia began mockingly rubbing his eye, as if he was crying. "Wow, talk about a Hallmark moment. Want a hug, bug guy."

"Adrian. Stop teasing him, he means it."

"I know. But I couldn't resist. I hear you made friends with Sisko as well. Among others."

"Indeed. Some humans were easier going than others. That said, since Lt. Hill…"

"Well, one correction. Lt. Commander. I may not be a race leader, but it is at least something. And Admiral Kirk is warming up to me."

"Why? Is it because you are not entirely human? Is this Admiral like a Colonial?"

"No, he has really good reasons for his initial distancing. He had to deal with the leader of the defective Augments from the past. And let's say Khan had it coming. Khan and Cavil have A LOT in common."

"Fascinating. Could I get more data on the subject?"

Now Hill didn't want them to leave, but he was really woozy with all the painkillers in his system right now, so some sleep sounded good. "Garcia, why not download some cultural and historical data on a Colonial data storage unit and just give it to them, after talking to either admiral for permission. That would save time. Just do me a favor."

"Em, sure?"

"Select some of the dumb shit out. Not all songs, stories, or movies will put humans in a good light. Either morally or intellectually."

"Oh, well, I'll try."

"Good…" Hill lowered his headrest again as Garcia closed the separator curtain.

"I think when it comes to religion, Major Sisko has some authentic items. Perhaps he'll let you scan them."

"He mentioned them, but I never asked for them. Good suggestion."

They left the hospital section and went two levels up. Once at his new quarters, it was Anastasia that answered. "Oh, Adrian. Haven't seen you yet." She hugged him as a greeting. "Oh, Spartacus." She was at least cordial to him now, but still not warm. "What is it?"

"Can I talk to Michael?"

"Ehm, he left some time ago. I was sorting our possessions all this time and didn't notice how long it has been." Activating her Starfleet standard communicator, she called him. "Michael, where are you? Spartacus and Garcia are here to talk with you. Respond."

Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing.

Now Garcia reacted. "Comm, this is Lt. Garcia. Can you locate Major Sisko's assigned communicator?"

"His communicator is currently located in the secondary hull, deck 25. Cargo bay six."

Now they were more confused. "OK, I'm going to see if he's there. Dee?"

"Yes. Of course. Should we not call security?"

"Not yet. Spartacus, want to come?"

"Affirmative."

A turbo lift ride later, they reached the location. It was one of the larger cargo areas and was currently still full of the cultural items that will have to be moved.

"Lt. Garcia, Lt. Dualla. I have found him." Spartacus called to them as he checked behind some containers.

When they saw what the centurion saw, they were puzzled. Sisko was kneeling down to an item that was apparently not long ago encased in some form or metal container. Inside was another storage unit, slightly smaller, but also nicely decorated. Including what seemed to be a form of a jewel on each of the four taller sides. But now it was also open as two of the sides were pulled apart and a strange light was emanating from the center of the artifact. And Sisko was staring at it. His communicator was on the floor, next to him.

Garcia pulled out his tricorder. "I have no clue what this is. But it is emanating neutrinos like crazy."

The inside looked like a glowing, hovering, and rotating crystal.

Dee kneeled down to Sisko, face level. "Michael?" She caressed his cheek. No response. Even his pupils were not reacting. "What is this?"

"Whatever it is, let's close it."

As Adrian did that, the light stopped and Michael began blinking again. "Oh… wow. Wait, what? When did you guys get here?"

"Michael, you were gone for almost 30 minutes." Dee told him. "Do you not know?"

"30 minutes? Wait. He did say it was not linear."

"Who said what?" She demanded to know.

"I have no idea how to explain this…"

Celestial Tempel, a different plane of existence, moments earlier

As he saw this particular item being carried by two priests in the recording from the Iconian outpost, he got curious. He remembered they found the same item in the vault on Gemenon. A vault that was in no recordings, so it didn't exist, like the dilithium caves didn't exist either. Dee told him that even she didn't know what it was, back then, only that it was called a Treasure of the Lords.

So curiosity got the better of him. After removing all the outer restraints, he got to the original casing. As finely made as it was, he decided to not smash and cut that open. And he didn't need to. It went rather easily like a drawer.

Only now, he found himself alone, in completely white surroundings, with only his voice and a heartbeat begin heard.

"Hello!? Anybody here?" No answer. "Great, Michael. Another fine mess you've gotten yourself in."

"Hello." His thought were now broken as he spotted a tall black man in uniform standing where just a moment ago no one was. He jumped back for a moment.

"Em, hello? Can you help me, I have no clue where here is? And who are you, if I may ask?"

"You may. I am Benjamin."

"Benjamin?"

"Or Ben for my friends."

"So Ben? Just Ben?"

"Well, my full name is Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. Captain. Starfleet outpost Deep Space Nine and U.S.S. Defiant. And you are Michael Davis Sisko, Major, Earth MACO corps." He held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

Now Michael was confused, even more so, as on edge. "Sisko?" He did not take his hand. "This is a joke, right?"

"No. I am a descendant of your brother. Or was. I am not human any longer."

He was not getting Michael to trust him. "You'd better start to make sense here, Captain."

Ben smirked a bit. This is him, years ago. "Welcome to the Celestial Tempel. The home of the Prophets. Or Bajoran Gods, if you want."

"What?"

"This temple is in the four-dimensional plane a wormhole opening in the Alpha Quadrant. The Prophets are a none-corporal, none-linear life form. Or as Starfleet calls them, Wormhole aliens. And my mother is one of them. I am… or was their Emissary."

OK, Michaels was in one of Garcia's Twilight Zone movies. "How did you end up here?"

"I died. Or almost died. I did my final task and the Prophets took me to them. And now you opened up a container that holds an Orb of the Prophets."

Michael massaged his temporal lobes. "God, this is messed up. How will Adama and Kirk take this…"

"I think we'll have to talk again…" The surroundings began to fade away.

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet forces, Cyrannuss system, the orbit of Caprica

Just when Bill thought that nothing could surprise him anymore, he had to take those thoughts back.

Garcia alerted the brass once they closed the container and Sisko began blabbering stuff that didn't make sense at first. So now, the container of the 'Orb' was in a science laboratory as it was getting a rigorous scanning session behind a transparent containment wall. As more and more scientists drew blanks, as the scans were inconclusive, only that there is something, just what that was, was left open.

Bill, Jim, Scott, Garcia, D'Anna, Spartacus, and Sisko were on the other side of the containment, watching the scanning continue.

"So you saw the recording and recognized the item from a hidden vault on Gemenon, like the Dilithium caves?" Adama began connecting the dots. Sisko nodded. And Bill had to ask the one with more experience with such matter. "Admiral, any ideas?"

"Not really. Not Organian, as far as I can tell. But the strange thing is, I do remember an officer named Sisko on the Enterprise once. And according to the description, it would fit."

That only added to the confusion of this situation. And while more people wanted to see what the new commotion was all about, they would restrict access to this new mystery. "But safe to say that if we want any fast answers, we need to open it again." Jim concluded. And they all knew it was true.

"It's a risk we may have to take." Bill agreed as he saw that the scientists were getting nowhere fast. So he signaled them to open the container. As two scientists opened each side so that the spinning and glowing orb was pointed at the observers, nothing happened at first.

"Now that IS something else." D'Anna remarked. "To think the Gemeniese had something like this and again, no clue what they had. It's becoming a running joke now."

Her sentence was cut short when the light engulfed them.

Celestial Tempel, a different plane of existence

For Sisko, this was what he was trying to describe to them. And now here he was, back in the light, but not alone.

All of them were here. And somehow, even Spartacus was brought here.

"This is different," D'Anna remarked as they took a look around. "What are we even standing on? Is there a floor?"

"No. And yes. It's difficult to explain." It was Captain Sisko again. "Michael, you're back. And with friends this time."

"Yes… em. You don't sound surprised?"

"Nonlinear, remember?"

"Yeah, what does that even mean?"

"Time is irrelevant. The past, present, and future are all the same. There is no future here. I am having this conversation with you as well as the one we just had. And one with an alternate you, my wife, my mother… It's difficult to explain. But I do it better than the Prophets themselves. That is why I got the doorman job here. Until my learning is done and I become a full Prophet myself. But this surprises me as well…"

He spotted Kirk and everyone saw that the two officers were examining each other. So they gave them some space if there was space where they were.

"Good to see you again, sir."

"So. I wasn't wrong. You were on the Enterprise."

"Yes. An unplanned mission. A Klingon wanted to kill you and used the Orb of Time to travel back. We had to pursue him. But I couldn't resist."

They shook hands. "That explains it. Did the Temporal Agency give you any grief?"

"Their grief was more with you, once I mentioned you. I could see their hair getting grey."

Jim took this almost as a badge of honor. "What I wonder now is if you already know how I got here. I mean, Picard thought I was dead, so…"

"I know. One of the benefits of living now in the Celestial Tempel is that you can see the lives of anyone that is allowed entrance. I am sorry to say that your duplicate didn't make it. But he helped Picard salvage the mission." For Jim that was good enough. But now Sisko turned his attention to Bill. "And I am sorry for your loss. All of your loss."

He extended his arm again. And Bill didn't hesitate. Yet another officer that he understood with just eye contact. "You?"

"My wife. Before I became Emissary. A long story, for another time."

"I… I am overwhelmed. To think such a place exists. But how did this Orb as it's called, get to Earth?"

"The nine original Orbs landed on Bajor or at least in the same system, but others were seeded across the galaxy. I even found the tenth Orb, the Orb of the Emissary."

"So they have names." Bill got a shocking idea, from what he heard so far. "Can you…"

"I could if they'd let me. But they won't let me alter what mustn't be altered. At least not by us."

"So it can be altered."

"Be patient. Don't rush things. Patience was my weakness as well. In time, you will know what I mean."

D'Anna and Spartacus were observing this back and forth, but she too had questions. "Yes, this is nice, but… Captain, is it?"

"Your disdain for humans is still clearly felt." He reprimanded her. "Look at what it has cost you all. Let go of that. Or it will destroy you. When Cavil uses it against you."

Now, this surprised her. "You are telling me this because you are supposed to tell me this? Right?"

"Someone was paying attention. Good." Ben now inspected Spartacus. "Interesting. I know of a Starfleet officer who would love to exchange notes on cybernetics."

"You do?"

"Yes. Although the Federation is far from perfect and has its own AI laws issues, there is an android officer in Starfleet. Perhaps one day…"

"Perhaps. Question. I am a machine. Why was I allowed entry?"

Now, this amused Ben a little. "You can think. Ask questions. The orb the Kobolians had is called the Orb of free will. Had you not possessed free will. Be manipulated, controlled, indoctrinated, they would not have allowed you entry."

"So the aliens in this place consider me alive?"

"Truth be told, they don't entirely understand the concept of a linear life. If one day they wish to talk to you, to any of you, you can ask them. But knowing them, they will answer questions with either more questions or give you an answer that you will not understand."

Michael was not a religious man, as he stated often before, but he was now questioning that stance. "Perhaps we are not meant to know. God will do, what God will do, on his terms. His timetable."

"I know of dozens of Bajoran Vedeks who would love to exchange notes on this matter. However, I have to cut this short. You are all not ready. One day, you will be." And he gave D'Anna a stern look. "And don't make any issues because of the Orb. Learn to accept that some things you can control and others you can't. Clean your own house and then begin fresh. Your tall friend already knows this. You still need to accept it."

"Wait." Bill wanted to stop him from sending them back. "Did our message reach Earth? Do they know?"

"It did. And they will."

They will? Great. That could mean anything. It could mean tomorrow or 10 years. Frak. And one of the things that Ben could not tell them yet, is that he also had a long talk with Pythia. Imagine their faces, had they known that.

Day 123 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 26th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet forces, Cyrannuss system, the orbit of Caprica

They were back. And getting their orientations again. Jim checked the time. "OK, this time it lasted only a few seconds in our own four dimensions."

Once they explained to the scientist in the containment room, they closed the Orb back into its original casing.

"OK, now what?" D'Anna asked bluntly. "This was enlightening, but we still have a war to win."

"And I think I know what Captain Sisko meant." Bill argued back. "Jim, Three, with me to the planning room. As for the item, if it is shown to be no danger to anyone… I think moving it to the chapel would be a good idea. Who knows? Perhaps we can solve some homemade issues with it. Or start a new one."

As they left, Sisko and Garcia were still like gaping fish. "Em, Adrian, you wanted my Holly Bible?"

"Well, just to borrow it for a scan or two. For Spartacus' curiosity."

"Em, sure. We can go to my quarters and I'll give it there. If you still want it, big guy?"

"Perhaps later. This new revelation has shifted priorities."

"Yeah, no shit. Shifted my priority." Adrian agreed. "I'm getting drunk. Michael?"

"No. I'm going to go over my father's old stuff, the few things I have. Maybe I'll ask Anastasia to help me, she's good with prayers and spirituality."

As they left, forgetting all about Spartacus due to their lingering shock, the centurion left as well. He had to upload this new experience to the mainframe and share it with his raider and centurion brothers.

In the planning room, Bill managed to explain what he got out of the subtle hint from Captain Sisko to D'Anna. The Rebel plan was to simultaneously engage all of Cavil's forces while a strike group goes after the Colony ship. They knew he had it and they had a pretty good idea where it was. What Bill now believed was that the Colony ship was a lure, a trap to thin out the defenders. Yes, Cavil had no idea the homeworld was taken, but this still mattered. So instead of sending a sizable basestar force to take the Colony ship out, Bill would go with the Carrier Pegasus. And only with his ship. No support. The only difference would be that the rebels would attach as many raiders to the outer hull via their magnetic gear as they could. A contingent of Cylon support staff would also be deployed to the Pegasus for rearming and refueling purposes, even if that would only be done before and after the fight, as the ship was never designed to carry so many fighters inside, let alone outside. Room would have to be made for the extra ammo and a fuel tank for the fighters now filled with tylium as well. On top of that Bill asked D'Anna to only allow volunteer raiders for this mission. They will be well outside resurrection range.

The rebels believe that Cavil was hiding the Colony ship near a singularity, some 480 Ly from the Cyrannuss cluster, counter spin-wise. Normally not an issue, but it was well outside the highway and the effect disappears halfway to that location.

Bill wanted a get in, destroy it and get out mission. He did not want to deal with the basestars there. He then asked Scott to join them in this planning, as she was going with them as well. Was there any way to improve their chances? The bad news was that the FTL jammers were used up in the Kobol operation. And having their own fighters stuck near a singularity was not a good idea to begin with. She did come up with an alternative. She would try to modify several of the communication buoys to emit strong EM signatures, resembling a basestar. Perhaps they could lure some of the defenders away. The only other advantage for Bill was that even before they left New Settlement, he had the engineers move one of the three cloaks from the Bismarck to the Carrier Pegasus. And even Jim agreed with that idea, as the Carrier Pegasus was bigger and slower than the Battleship Babylon. So a much juicier target.

So if Cavil arrived within four to five days, it will take around four days of none-stop jumping for the Pegasus to arrive at the ambush area.

At the end of the day, the alterations were made and the Pegasus was ready to disembark. On the Babylon, Bill shook Jim's hand. "You know what to do. Good luck."

"You too, Bill. Would hate to come to New Settlement and have either me or Cain have to take over."

Bill then turned to the Cylon leaders. "Same for you. And for frak's sake, don't find other excuses to make problems, would you?" That was meant for Three specifically.

"Let's just kill Cavil already. I'll worry about anything else at another time."

Once the Pegasus jumped away, Jim was tired out of his mind. He let Jürgen have the night shift. And let the Cylons get their forces ready and their planet back to high gear.

On the Pegasus, Bill did the same but had a simulated assault training session for all pilots to be done several times tomorrow. This could not go wrong.

Day 127 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 30th of May, the year 2378, Federation colony New Settlement

Hasapis returned with the rest of the fleet after a day of getting samples from Kobol. But he didn't want to stay longer. Not only did he not want to stay around the Cylons, but he also didn't want to risk encountering Cavil's forces, if he turned around. Let the robots fight over the planet, he had a report to hand over to Augustus.

As he was now in the officer on the Battlestar Pegasus, which had changed hands on several occasions, Cain read through the report, knowing all too well that he'll have to explain this to the president. Several other officers were also present. Cain believed that such matters should, unless classified, be shared with multiple people in important positions at once to cut down on time. So Fiona was also here.

"Nice work, Commander. Let your people have some R&R planeside."

"Will do sir."

"Any response from Adama since then?"

"Em, no sir. According to Scott, Cavil's forces must have found some of the communication buoys and they self-destructed. All comm traffic with Cyrannuss is gone."

"Well shit. And the samples?"

"All in storage. The engineers and planners can have them whenever they want. Truth be told, the animals want out of the makeshift cages. So I'd take them first."

One of the lower-ranking officers saw one issue with that. "Won't we be introducing invasive species to the biome on the planet?"

Fiona responded quickly. "This world had not much in its own bio-diversity. And what else can we do at this point?"

Augustus nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Now, Commander, one last matter. The recording from this outpost?"

"In Starfleet data storage. But it can be copied here easily."

"Good. I want to have a look at that myself. Fraked up if you ask me. Anyway, dismissed."

Once all were gone, but Cain and Fiona, he asked for her opinion.

"You want my honest opinion?"

"You know I do. We got to know each other damn well in the past few days. So I value your insight. Please."

"In some way, it doesn't surprise me. I just wasn't expecting an actual teleporter of such magnitudes."

"Yes, and to think that two weeks ago my greatest fear was to not get lost in the expedition I was leading."

His intercom beeped. "Sir, data transfer from the Bismarck, as per your request."

"Thank you. Now…" They both went to the computer console. And watched the recording. But in the middle of the recording, Fiona accessed another monitor. She pulled up the information they got on Iconian outposts. The ones that they now knew off from the data on the outpost on Kobol. And out here only one other was marked as green, which she hoped meant it was still there. But this one was off their path when they depart. It was in a small arm of stars that were stretched out of the main arm in the Beta Quadrant. Like a force in the past pulled the stars there a bit further out from the galaxy. Going there would be a big course change. And no highway there either. So she killed that idea on the spot.

Once Augustus was satisfied with what he saw, he began contemplating what to do with this. Yes, Laura would get to see it, but to now show the people that they indeed did NOT originate on Kobol could be a Porter 2.0 moment. Which he would have to squash if it got that far. "Come, my dear. I hear there is an interesting play in the theater in the colony today."

She gladly accepted his invitation. "I don't know if calling Macbeth interesting is the right choice of words."

"Well, better than staying here, when everyone is waiting for Bill to return. And my daughter is getting a bit aggressive towards me recently. I don't know why that is? I would ask you to talk with her, but…"

"I think I am the issue. Augustus, you may be a master strategist and brilliant leader, but it shows that you were not around your children. Helena's issue with you is me. So best to avoid her, when I'm around."

Augustus, after thinking it over, realized she might be right. He still had much to learn about women, he concluded.

On the planet, things had entered a normal routine. The work outside progressed at a constant pace. But in many ways, the problems inside were a bigger issue. The cracks in the Colonial 'unity' were showing more and more. Laura wanted to keep things working by appointing the right people to the needed positions. But just pandering to a group would not work. She learned that lesson the hard way. She gave Porter 75% of everything she wanted. But it seemed that some groups wanted more than that. And then they would get into a conflict with another group that wanted the polar opposite. So while she wanted a vote on if they stay or leave, once ready, she also wanted that if a group was not happy with the outcome, they could have an individual vote. Zarek now forced his will, even if this was a minor compromise for Laura, any population of a certain Colony would decide to stay or leave based on their own vote that would then contribute to the total outcome. And more and more Laura thought that trying to keep the 12 Tribes together was an impossibility. So maybe Tom had a point. But that was months away before Tom could directly challenge her.

But to try to keep the peace, she did appoint Tom to all Colonial internal affairs. He knew better than most, what bothered some people that would not speak out publicly about it. And he too knew that it was in his interest to cooperate. Not doing so would weaken his position in the upcoming vote. Doing so gets him prestige. That was the one thing Porter didn't get. But Tom did.

Laura also gave Foster back her old job, if she would take it. She was still thinking it over. For different reasons than Chief Tyrol, she had her own reasons to start thinking of not staying with the Colonials. But then she would be the only one of the Five to do so. Ellen would stay with Saul, no matter what and Saul was for the moment in charge of the Galactica and all that came along with it. Samuel really didn't know what to do with himself, so he went to get a manual labor job in the colony's hangar.

As for Galen, he remained as distant as before. He got a new set of teeth and he didn't wait for a potential eye replacement from one of his stored bodies back in the HUB. He took the artificial one. But his sessions with Dr. Xaru were making little progress. And she saw she would need a lot of time to get him to accept what had happened to him. All that had happened to him. The good news was that time was something they had plenty of.

Day 127 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 30th of May, the year 2378, Colonial / Starfleet forces, Cyrannuss system, the orbit of Caprica

Jim had the chapel decorated to serve any faith and religion at this point. On one side there were the 12 banners of the Colonials and the Cylon banner, on the other side was the Federation banner and any member species with one, like the Vulcan logo one. He also allowed any items to be displayed and used, as long as it would remain cordial and respectful. And that got Michael to relinquish his family heirlooms, like the Bible, to be used freely for any prayers or other spiritual practices. But Jim knew that it could still all go south, so once the Columbus picked up the first jump signatures on long-range sensors, he had all the items, the Orb included, moved to the Vulcan cruiser, as it and the Ares were on guard duty for the Colonial compensation, along with the Columbus. Hiding in a nearby nebula.

All offshore personnel was recalled back. Their time of relaxation was over. And Jim knew that the battle over Kobol was just an appetizer when compared to this. The rebels now had around 330 basestars, not counting the newly constructed Colony ship that was launched from their homeworld. They could only guess, but Cavil with Kobol, which he doesn't have at this point any longer, one Colony ship of his own and potentially 20 to 40 refining locations for fuel and other material, could support a fleet of about 95 basestars. The fact that around 170 left Kobol made the rebel and Starfleet planners believe that he was using this as an expendable force. Meaning, he doesn't care what he loses in this conflict, he can get fresh forces from the homeworld, as with the current logistics and supply lines, he can't keep them in the field for long. He only needs them to get the job done. How surprised will he be once he sees that the rebels have it?

So Jim agreed with Bill's new plan. Let the rebels slug it out in Cyrannuss, that system can be seen as collateral damage. It is NOT a vital target to defend. If Cavil breaks the defense around the homeworld, he can't take it or even keep it, but he can wreck it. So Jim's fleet will be waiting in ambush. They were only guessing Cavil's plan, but the majority of his 'expendable' force would engage the rebels in Cyranuss, where the largest ship-on ship battles would occur. The rebels didn't need to keep Cyrannuss at this point, but if they do and most of the intact infrastructure there remains intact, so much the better for the long term. They have resurrection now and they can replace their losses now. And if they destroy Cavil's Colony ship, he loses all ability to replenish his losses, since the homeworld is already lost to him, he just doesn't know it yet. So once the main forces engage in Cyrannuss, Cavil's commando force will try to retake the homeworld. And once he sees that it is no longer his to command, who knows what he'll do. But once the defending fleet and orbital installations do engage him, Kirk's forces jump from the aft and cut any retreat possibility off, at least in the system. If he jumps away, the Columbus will transmit their retreat spot, and Kirk and the rebels go into hunting mode. Of course, Jim knew that his force was not what it was over Kobol. He lacked the gunship, the carrier, and around 60% of the forces he had there. This also included that only 50% of all Starfleet fighter and hybrid raptor force was at his disposal. The Four Mirandas and the Constellation together acted like light carriers in that capacity, but in total, they had as much as that one actual carrier together. And he had no more personnel to pilot any unused vipers in the abandoned Colonial military bases on the 12 planets. But once hinted at, the rebels realized that they could use them to bolster their numbers as well. They after all had some accomplished humanoid pilots as well.

Even so, the lack of perspective and numbers never stopped Kirk before and it will not now.

So now, he was awaiting the coming storm. The only other good news he had in the past four days, was that a few more survivors were found on the Colonial worlds. Less than 100 in total. Still, he'd take any good news he could get. Ad right now, Jim was making his final preparations for his attack as well. But something did not seem right to Jim. And he pointed this out days ago before Bill left. Why would Cavil risk his best asset for this trap? Yes, his arrogance is a factor and he doesn't know he can't take the homeworld, but even to him, this was reckless. Unless there was more to it. Bill got that but they had to try to knock him out permanently. And in a way that he wouldn't see coming.

On the bridge, he saw most people already rehearsing the scenario they had practiced for the past four days. Including the newcomers, like Dualla and Sisko. They endured so far. Only one more fight left before a long break.

Day 127 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 30th of May, the year 2378, Starfleet Carrier Pegasus, arriving at nebula Y-70116, harboring a stellar-mass black hole

Usually, Bill remained calm, even in the face of problems. This was something else. He had 128 raiders attached to his hull, taking a ride. Inside, he had 64 Starfleet fighters and around the same amount of the new hybrid combat raptors. The new ones were made from the materials of scrapped 23rd-century shuttles. So that already made them better.

He had his people do the same that Jim did for his front. Rehearse and practice. They managed to get the holo-band technology integrated with the Starfleet simulators and get them patched into the short-range rebel raider frequencies. That way they all managed to get some practice in, mostly on coordination.

He kept an eye on the FTL sensors at all times. With every jump, he got tenser. As the closer they got to the ambush area, the likelier the chance of encounters would be.

His plan was a straightforward one. Out of the four squadrons he had, one remains in reserve, if anything goes wrong. Three squadrons of fighters and the same with the hybrid raptors jump into different areas in preparation for the assault. The raiders do the same. One is in reserve, others are the dedicated attack force. The raiders are the distraction. Once the defenders take the bait, they pounce. Of course, it would all depend on several factors. One, would any defenders outside the nebula go for the beacon decoys. What was the defender's size? Were there any alternatives to the jump coordinates that the rebels knew of? This nebula was well known to them and they also knew why Cavil would bait them here. The ability to jump in was limited to where the gravitational tidal forces were considered normal. Anywhere else was difficult, even more so for larger ships. So the only way to get to the Colony ship was by jumping into the kill zone. In this case, Starfleet FTL sensors, navigational equipment, and FTL modifications gave them the edge they needed. By being a bit more flexible and being able to jump into an area with average tidal stresses. So into an unexpected flanking position. And that was the one reason why the raiders themselves were expecting to have significant losses. They could only jump into the kill zone. So once they do and dump their ammo onto the Colony ship, distracting the defenders and hopefully jump out fast as well, the Starfleet fighters engage the target from the flanks and rear. And Bill hoped that if Cavil wants to use this area to his advantage, he can use it against him. Bill doesn't need to kill the Colony ship, just kill the FTL and sublight engines. With no escape possible after that, the Colony ship will slowly fall into the singularity.

That was the plan. But Bill knew better than to just blindly hope it would work. And he also knew that Jim had a point. Cavil has to have a trump card somewhere in all of this. So he won't risk a slugging match in this. If he succeeds, he succeeds. If not, he won't press on, but retreat. And he made this well known to all, including the raiders.

And the one decision that he supported Miranda Cain completely on, was the fighter squadron deployments. Of the four squadrons, it was Kara's squadron that remains in reserve. And Kara was pissed. The damn woman had the nerve to put her on the backburner. But Bill calmed her down by saying that she was the wildcard. The one they will play if things don't go according to plan. Something she excelled at. Bill knew her well. Especially how to defuse her, as she accepted the plan after that.

Day 127 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 30th of May, the year 2378, Starfleet Academy gardens. Earth

The atmosphere at the Earth Starfleet academy was clearly returning to normal, not the tense war era way of fast-tracking people into positions to just filling holes because of the losses that were endured. Optimism and hope returned. And the Pathfinder project was now in regular contact with Voyager as well.

On the other hand, the Federation's resources were a bit strained, even after so much time after the Dominion war. The member worlds that had endured occupation, needed more help to return to a sense of normality. The Ferengi Alliance was undergoing a serious restructuring and the new Grand Nagus was asking the Federation Council for assistance in those matters. Half of the Breen standing navy was scrapped and the Federation was now patrolling 30% of their space, as a form of punishment for their involvement in the war on the Dominion's side. It was not an occupation, but a way to make sure the Breen could not pose a threat to peace for some time. The Cardassians were hit the hardest. And while they still only had a provisional government, rumors were already in the air that the son of the former boss of the infamous Obsidian Order would be named the new Legat of the Cardassian Union. It was also believed that as he held so much sway with the population, he would ask the Federation for assistance and in return, he would probably have to make concessions, like returning all that was stolen from the Bajorans and hand over any and all war criminals. That would make him extremely unpopular with the old guard that survived the war. But the population wanted to change. They blamed the old guard for all the past mistakes, so whatever power they still held, was fading fast. And Garak knew that their best hope for a stable society in the long term meant asking the Federation for help and perhaps one day even membership. And even he saw how irony slapped the Cardassian people across the face. While Bajor remained neutral for now, they would be a member far sooner than the Cardassians could even apply for. And as much influence as Bajor currently has with Starfleet, it is the Bajorans that will decide Cardassias fate in these matters. And as if that was not enough, even the reforming Ferengi society was more pro-Bajoran now, due to marriage.

Garak knew of all of this. He was not a stupid man. He after all managed to survive exile from an organization known for its ruthlessness and efficiency. He would have to clean up Dukat's mess and carry on Damar's legacy. So his first step to reforming the Cardassian society would be to reorganize the political and military structure. The Union was dead. A Republic would rise.

The Klingons were also dependent on Federation support. More for reasons of supplies and to keep their border secure at the Romulan neutral zone as they rebuild.

As for the Romulans, while they seemed to have gotten out of this war in second place right after the Federation, they had internal turmoil. Mostly in the form of the Reman freedom movement. They had to give great concessions to the Reman people to secure their cooperation during the war. And now the Remans would not just give up on their newly found freedoms when they were no longer needed to fight and die. But the Romulans could not and would not let any outsider know of this internal mess they had.

In the end, this disastrous war, which was initiated by the Gamma Quadrant power to destroy the Federation, as the Founders saw them as weak and ineffective, the Founders, in the end, achieved the opposite. The one power they saw as the least of a threat, became the current military and economic super-power of the quadrant. However, even Starfleet had its issues right now. The more militaristically minded group of Starfleet officers saw themselves vindicated after time and again they were prevented by the Federation Council or the Federation President from initiating a more militarized shipbuilding program or a more combat and tactics driven academic program. They were seen as warmongers. Now they had the excuse in hand. 'You need us when things go bad. Men like Kirk, Maxwell, Jellico, and alike were always praised when they were needed, but when peace made the leaders blind, they were pushed aside. Or promoted and given meaningless jobs'. Now, the group of those officers had swollen to a size that could not and would not be silenced. Never again would Starfleet be caught with its pants down. This time HQ and the Council had to listen and negotiate. This time the more combat-oriented ship designs would not only continue production and newer designs would follow, but a third of the entire Starfleet fleet would be in the future made up of entirely combat-oriented ships for defense purposes. Or if you want to call them by the designation that Starfleet avoids like the plague: Warships. Like the Achilles, Prometheus, or Defiant-class. The second third would be made of the current multirole ship classes, but the ones primarily designed for combat. Like the Akira or Sovereign classes. The final third would be made of the old guard ship types. The multirole ship classes, primarily designed for exploration, like the Galaxy-class. A small amount would be left to fill the specialized science or exploration specific needs, like the Nova or Intrepid classes.

Some feared that this would keep Starfleet in a perpetual state of military readiness. But with the losses they occurred during the war, which could have been ended earlier if Starfleet would not have been in such a weak state, to begin with, the pro-dismantling group had no real argument to sell the populations of the member worlds. Not a strong one at least.

An elderly man entered his office on the ground level of the academy. "Well boys, how was the night shift?" He asked as he began putting his gear on.

"Quiet, Mr. Boothby." A Bolian handed the head groundskeeper of the academy a report. "We did find one oddity. It's in the bin."

"Oh?" He went to the 'Lost and found' bin and pulled out an old 23rd-century tricorder. "Well look at this. This is a museum piece. Where exactly did you find this?"

"Behind the Azalea shrubs. Looked like someone threw it. It still works, but I have no clue what the data on it is all about."

He took a more detailed inspection of the tricorder. He noticed some damage, mostly around the transmitter. So some repairs would be needed, IF anyone would still want this old device. Boothby put it back into the bin. "Well, someone will come looking for it. If not, I'll go ask around someday. Now, you boys go get some rest. As for the others, we have that Redwood to cure again. Damn thing is infested with the larva again. And we have to get it done before lunchtime when Lt. Barclay comes around, giving his Voyager updates again to the cadets." This was not Lt. Barclay's idea, but the cadets were always pestering someone high enough that the academy professors wanted something to be done about it. So this little compromise was made. Of course, any classified information was off limits.

To Guest: I already did the redacting of destroyed ships: 418 is less than 427 for Adama's fleet that now arrived, isn't it? 111 is less than 112 for the original fleet (which I will now combine.) The first was the number of Adama's fleet that was reduced as ships broke down, the other for the insurrection. And only thanks to Tom Zarek and Fiona O'Donnell, did not more civilian ships get destroyed. And the one Adamant and two Intrepids… I already have them marked as destroyed. They are NOT part of the civilian fleet number, as military, Starfleet, or hero ships, in general, get named and are not just a statistic.

To all who wonder about the gunship: Play Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Possibly one of the best Star Trek games of all time. GOG has it. The idea for the ship and robots are literally from there. Or search it on google. I am actually surprised that so few knew about this. Apparently, Species 1567 makes them, according to the Borg. Since the gun barrel alone is 700 meters long and that is around 50% of the ship's length. You do the remaining numbers. That would put the ship in the ballpark length of a Jupiter class Battlestar. Except for the mass, where the Colonial ship is possibly more massive.

And to answer any question that will appear when it comes to Voyager still being in the Delta Quadrant. This is the timeline where Janeway hasn't altered the past. Yet.

Commander Kelly Rose Scott - Jennifer Lawrence (Chief Engineer) (Scotty's distant relative)

Captain Sakari Hauaman - Catherine Bell (Challenger Captain)

Lt. Adrian Garcia - Michael Peña (Computer scientist)

Major Michael David Sisko - John Boyega (MACO Commander) (Benjamin's distant relative)

Lt. Commander Sachiko Hayashi - Kim Tae-hee (Challenger comm officer)

Dr. George Manor - Hugh Laurie (Rank Lt. Commander, Chief Medical Officer of Challenger)

Commander K'Lir - Melinda Clarke (Vulcan and Challenger's XO)

Commander Naomie Evans - Emmanuelle Vaugier (Crusader XO, now acting CO)

Lt. Noah Hill - Timothy Olyphant (Crusader tactical)

Major Jacques Friloux - Casper Van Dien (Champion MACO Commander)

Lt. Commander Alex Nelson - Dean Cain (Crusader Chief Engineer)

Dr. Krisha Kumar - Aarti Mann (Rank Lt., Chief Medical Officer of Crusader)

Commodore Fiona O'Donnell - Lauren Holly (Bismarck CO)

Colonel Alan Walker - Michael Biehn (Bismarck MACO CO)

Lt. Jacob Rivers - Seth MacFarlane (Paladin Chief Engineer) (Ship's acting CO, all higher officers are dead)

Captain Carlos Ramirez - Josh Cruze (Champion Captain, transferred from Intrepid, as Starfleet needed all experienced officers in more capable ships)

Captain Khari Oladoyinbo - Cuba Gooding Jr. (Knight CO)

Commander Sek'Ris - Tom Selleck (Officer of Vulcancolonials)

Commander Jerome Hasapis - Bob Gunton (BSG Victory)

Colonel Colin Hawks - Nathan Jones (marinestar commander)

Governor Elliot Fabron - Forest Whitaker

Minister V'ok Miller (Short for V'okoris) - Clancy Brown

Lt. Commander Var'anis - Lou Diamond Phillips (Vulcan Commander from the colony)

James T. Kirk - OG Kirk, accept no substitutes

Augustus Cain - OG Cain from 1980 Galactica, accept no substitutes

Miranda "Sheba" Cain – (Augustus Cain's niece, CAG) OG Anne Lockhart

Colonials: 529 Civilian ships, including dozens of tankers, refinery ships, cargo transports, and mostly civilian transports.

One Marinestar, the Broadsword. Eight Sobek class ships (Victory being one of them), 29 Adamants, Pegasus and Adonis (Mercury-class), Military ships: Three Jupiter class ships (Galactica, Hydra, and Titania), one Janus heavy cruiser (Oberon), one Atlas carrier (Ibis), 16 Valkyrie class (Morningstar among them) and seven Minotaur gunships. The three support ships are Defender class.

One Adamant was destroyed. The Jupiter class Pegasus was sacrificed.

Starfleet: Challenger (NX update class), Crusader, Paladin, Champion, Knight and Nightingale (hospital ship) (all Poseidon class), Bismarck and Yamato (Yorktown battleships), Volga, Denarius, Pathfinder, Mississippi, John Brown, Merchant, Concordia, Settler's Dream, Danube, Ares (Ares class), Colonial Hope (Klingon D-6), and Vo'kor (Vulcan cruiser). Ulysses class dreadnaught (Babylon), one Ark Royal class fleet carrier (Pegasus), two Constitution-class heavy cruisers (Inferno and Solaria), one Constellation heavy cruiser (Fury), one Excelsior mark One heavy cruiser (St. Michael), four Miranda class light cruisers (standard module ones: Surak, Seleya, Feneris, one sensor variant, the Columbus.)

Three modern basestars, one First War-era basestar, and the alien gunship (Paris) are also part of the combined fleet so far (this has since changed).

Destroyed: Marco Polo, Frontier, Boston, Oracle

Total Colonial survivors: 515.000 + 78.000 (original fleet) civilians and military personnel. 593.000 Total Colonial population (rounded). Lost in insurrection: 4.500, civilian and military. The remaining population is 588.500.

12.700 Federation/Starfleet people. Insurrection casualties: 150. Total remaining 12.550.