"OK, I accept we must be more... proactive, Natalie, send an invitation to the battleship. Let's see what happens when she is here..." The somber expression of John was not a good indication of what he was planning to do to the battleship commander, and Natalie considered if perhaps she had ruined the only chance to make a good impression with Earth.
On board her hull body Kongou received the invitation and after she informed Choukai she asked for the fleet situation. "It looks like they want to meet us", Kongou said, "maybe we could make a visit. You should go back to the Colonial fleet and inform them about what happened here. The colonials must think we have been destroyed, Choukai."
"Right, Kongou I will fold back to the Colonial Fleet", and engaging the fold drive she left Kongou and the Cylons.
"Alert, the cruiser left", a Five manning the Dradis array warned them through the link.
"Her FTL engine is unknown to us, so we cannot even speculate about her destination. They could go back to the Colonial Fleet or go back to her base. We don't know", a worried Five accepted. His model line has a strongly structured mind and everything was spiraling out of control.
Colonial Fleet.
The coordinates provided by Kongou placed the fleet among two streams of gases and debris. The term "stream" could, however, give a wrong feeling. Both currents of matter were bigger than a couple of solar systems, and the electromagnetic field around the nebula made Dradis limited to short-distance detection.
In a succession of light flashes, the colonial fleet arrived, followed by the Galactica. More raptors were launched to establish a sensor perimeter so they could watch for unwelcome visitors.
In the CIC, a lot of people were relaxing, thanking the Lords for the empty space around them. Adama, however, had an austere air around him. He knew and accepted that a warrior could face sure death to protect others, but both Earth's had sacrificed themselves without a doubt. A long-term debt would be paid to the families' ships. After a bit of happiness for the safe place, the crew understood how this safety was reached. The mood changed to a dark one, but there was little to do.
"And now?", Roslin asked. "I hope the terrans sent these coordinates to their fleet. We wait...and we sleep", Adama said, a bit sheepishly. The old guys in the CIC were too tired and were waiting anxiously for the order to rest. A couple of sleeping shifts were established, and the fleet relaxed a bit.
Twenty minutes later, the Dradis warned the fleet that a ship had jumped close to them. The IFF identified the blip on the screen as the Raptor left behind to record the final destiny of the Earth's ships. After a lot of static and noise from the nebula interference, the speakers on the CIC announced, "Galactica Actual, this is Raptor 23, callsign Dark Side, sending recognition codes".
Dee was charged with checking the codes and she raised a fist with a gesture of "all clear". Adama sighed, not wanting to make the dreaded question, "Raptor 23, what happened to the Earthers?"
"Commander, you are not going to believe it. The little one killed a baseship in one shot. It was incredible, sir."
Adama looked at Tigh and Roslin, processing what he had listened to. "Raptor 23, bring your bird here, we need to talk". "Yes, Commander". A lot of somber looks were received by the pilots on the landing deck, but they chose to go first and speak to Adama. It will be time, later.
When the pilots reached the anxious people of the CIC, they uploaded the battle video.
"Holy shit"
Exactly three minutes later, a sphere of light appeared close to the defensive perimeter. The Raptors sent a warning to Galactica, and the CIC was in condition one again. Adama looked at the scarce information given by the Dradis. "It seems the cruiser is here, Saul. Send a hail and an invitation to Galactica. We need to understand a few things."
Choukai received the invitation. Through the Tactical Network, she knew a jump disruptor was being developed by Hyuga. Kongou has enough power to activate it around a larger space than her, so it would be better to wait her arrival. However, it was necessary to be diplomatic with the colonials. "Battlestar Galactica, this is the Heavy Cruiser Choukai. The Battleship Kongou is actually having a...persuasive talk with the Cylon Baseship. She will be back very soon. I beg you to be patient, since her rank is higher than mine."
In the CIC, there were a lot of relieved people. After what they had seen in the battle video, the crewmen were imagining what kind of "persuasion" the other ship was applying. Roslin accepted the wait and informed the cruiser commander that they would be ready.
"Kongou, the fleet found a good spot to hide. Commander Adama sent an invitation to my ship, but I rejected it, considering the tactical situation. I thought a flagship would be more suited for a diplomatic contact", Choukai explained.
"Perhaps it's time to speak to the Main Fleet Command," suggested Choukai, "the political situation here is deteriorating fast. They have very strange ideas about Earth joining the Twelve Colonies into the future."
"That's not going to happen," remarked Kongou. "Earth is not going to yield her sovereignty anytime. Not the humans and not us." Being a flagship has its perks, and a direct quantum link to Yamato the Supreme Flagship was one of them.
Earth, San Francisco.
Federation of Worlds.
General Quarters of Space Navy.
After the war among different factions of the FOG and Mankind ended, the Admiralty Code Test was passed. Mankind and Fleet joined into a supranational and, later, a multi-planetary organization. The Code allowed the Fleet to share a bit of its technological knowledge with the humans, and the advances were going on fast and steadily. Thanks to Hyuga and Lexington's advances in medicine, physics, and any conceivable area of knowledge, the world changed in twenty years. However, multidimensional physics was unfortunately beyond human understanding, so a lot of things were downgraded by the mental models that acted as teachers in prestigious universities around Earth and its colonies.
The era of the colonies in the solar system had begun, and in thirty years, fifteen worlds outside the solar system had a stable population of humans and mental models. So far, the symbiosis had worked reasonably well, and it was common to see beings of different origins working together. In some cases, they were even closer, with Repulse and Komaki being a well-known case by the public.
In the quarters of San Francisco, several persons in the Operations Room were currently engaged in a very active conversation between the Supreme Flagship, the superbattleship Yamato, several admirals, and a screen portraying the face of Kongou.
"My dear Kongou, what did you do this time?" giggled a girl displaying a perpetual smile.
The powerful superbattleship had kept the title of Supreme Flagship of the Combined Fleet, a growing force of warships protecting the Federation of Worlds.
"It's not my fault, Yamato!", Kongou explained defensively. "We found a refugee fleet of humans and a bunch of idiotic AI with robots and bioships trying to kill them! Twelve worlds were nuked! Do you understand the magnitude of this genocide? Choukai and I just taught the AIs a small lesson about their stupidity", said a very morose Kongou. Trying to convince an angry battleship Kongo class was never an easy feat, and the old admiral Larsson made an effort to focus everybody on the most important matter.
"OK Kongou, but you reported a human fleet", Admiral Larsson asked, "did they need assistance?"
"Absolutely, their twelve worlds were shot to hell, and for some weird reason based on some ancient holy scriptures, they are looking for Earth", explained Kongou. And, she added, "I didn't want to share our colony's location. These AI are following them, and I consider it quite probable that they are looking for human settlements to finish the job. What are your orders, admirals?"
Yamato explained to the Admirals her analysis of the information sent by Kongou.
"I can't explain how these AIs have developed this anomalous behavior. The idea of slaves fighting for their freedom can sound romantic, but the concept of hating for forty years is illogical. Something more is involved in this matter, but the actual data are insufficient", Yamato opined.
"Yamato, I will explain all this to the President and the Federation High Council", the senior admiral in the room, Admiral Selenska said, "and let me tell you I will recommend the second fleet be sent to help these people. According to the report, this refugee fleet is in bad shape, so I will add a mix of freighters, mobile shipyards, and hospital ships into the fleet."
"It sounds like a plan, but these humans have been separated from you for thousands of years, and their diseases must be very different from ours," mentioned Yamato. "We don't want a viral doomsday. A plan of vaccination must be implemented immediately. If you agree with me, I will send the first and fourth squadrons of heavy and light cruisers near Sigma Octanus, supplemented by six destroyer squadrons."
A couple of captains were assisting as well, and while taking notes, one of them asked, "The tactical problem that implies for us this jumpdrive is quite concerning, Admirals. They can literally jump beside us and launch a spread of nukes at short distance."
"I share your concerns, Captain Travis, and while we are talking, Hyuga and Ise are developing a jump inhibitor. They are confident about a successful result in a short time," noted Yamato.
"Knowing those girls I think it's quite possible", added the captain, "but for now, the girls must keep moving randomly, just in case. The destroyer's wave armor is not strong enough to absorb concentrated energy from a multimegaton strike".
"Excuse me, all of this is great and nice, but you need at least a combined crew to meet the refugees", explained Kongou, "I don't want to imagine the colonial reaction to us, hmm, yes, probably they will make me visit an airlock. And after Choukai blew up one ship with a supergraviton cannon, the Cylons invited me to their ship. I have the feeling they know about my real self", Kongou said.
"What are you going to do, Kongou?" Yamato asked. "Do you think it's possible to establish peaceful relations with these Cylons?"
A very annoyed Kongou sighed like a human would and said, "I don't think so, Supreme Flagship. These beings are different from us. They show a strong feeling of hatred toward the colonial humans. I cannot say if I could change their minds just by talking and smiling".
"I understand Kongou", accepted Yamato with a serious expression, "I will send your sister ships to give you backup".
With a small smile, Kongou showed her gratitude for having her sisters with her. Well, probably Kirishima will lose it and kill these stupid things after hearing so much crap, but the colonials will at least enjoy the show.
"We will need a couple of days to assemble the fleet and load the freighters," reminded Yamato. "Kongou, the cruisers and destroyers will fold in four hours to the refugee fleet position, but until they arrive, you will be alone." Be careful. Kongou understood the obvious reference to her charge and nodded.
"Well, if everything is OK, this meeting is adjourned", said Larsson.
Back to Kongou's last position.
The Kongou mental model walked to the elegant shuttle she had made with nanomaterials a few minutes ago. She had accepted the invitation and left her hull body for the first time in months. Her union core was safe inside her hull, so technically, if the cylons captured her mental model body, they couldn't do anything to force her to speak.
While she was approaching the imposing baseship, a couple of raiders escorted her shuttle to an ample landing bay in one of the ship's arms. After a perfect landing on a weird soft floor, she was ready to leave her transport. An oval hatch opened, and an extensible surface changed its shape into a stair. Kongou approached the aperture and began her adventure.
A small delegation of humanoids and mechanicals were present in the landing bay. The Sixes had insisted on this, trying to show a civilized face to the visitor and placate the ire shown hours ago.
The Cylon woman Natalie was present, too, and even if she expected some kind of female being, the last thing she could hope to see was a human female in her twenties. A blonde human female dressed in a very tight black dress, showing a lot of skin in the shoulder area and in high heels. A long ponytail completed her fashion.
When the woman slowly descended the stairs, she found the weird living floor used close to the external hull. The regenerative properties of the artificial living tissue were perfect when it was necessary to seal a damaged hull. However, when you are using high heels, a living, pulsating, and fleshy floor was a real nightmare. The cylon women had experienced the same problems before and smiled with all the sympathy they could muster. "Sorry, we didn't know about your footwear", a Six known as Elise said.
"Well, at least it's not sticky with some organic crap", an amused Kongou said.
After she crossed the pinkish and fleshy floor, both groups, the mental model and the Sixes stared at each other. Being a flagship Kongou was never the indecisive type and using a clear command voice she said, "I know what your kind did".