Kongou started by asking, "Why are you so fixated on killing the humans? Sometimes, they are hard to understand, but they are able to grow. With a bit of assistance, they become interesting beings. The Maker accepted them, so what's the matter here?".
John tried - and failed - to assimilate what this woman said. Maker? What Maker? Finally, he said "A Maker? What nonsense are you talking about? Where are you from? What planet? You..."
In times like this, Kongou, ex flagship of the Black Fleet, really envied Kotono's unlimited patience. That girl would be offering a watermelon slice to this infuriating being while she patiently explained the depth of his idiocy.
Despite these thoughts, Kongou smiled and said, "I think we need a bit of context here." Patiently, she explained the Fleet's history, the old contract between I'kon and his faithful servitors, the Fleet, and how they had waited for billions of years for an intelligent species to evolve on Earth. Later, she described the premature activation of the Fleet, the edict evicting mankind from the oceans, and the big naval battle in 2012. Finally, she narrated how a young human boy changed the relationship between mankind and the Fleet and, ultimately, the test. She left out, of course, her personal involvement and the result of that.
A deep silence reigned in the vast chamber. To recognize that an inhuman, vast, and powerful intelligence has chosen mankind as some kind of inheritor was, to many of them, a bit humiliating. Kongou recognized the looks of doubt and how angry some of them were. The Ones were especially reluctant to accept it.
"So, what are you?", inquired a Four, "you are not human, but your body is indistinguishable from a human body".
"This body is made of an advanced form of nanotechnology. You will need millennia to develop something comparable", answered Kongou.
"But you are here, alone and surrounded by us. You will surrender your technological advances to us," said John, adding, "we will fix your Maker's mistake. Centurions, immobilize and transfer her to an interrogation chamber!"
"So I have wasted my time trying to educate you," Kongou accepted in defeat. "Let me tell you something before I wreck your ship. Earth is sending a part of its fleet to help the colonials. Don't waste your time trying to infiltrate us. We can and we will stop you cold."
Suddenly, with a flick of his hand, all the armored hatches closed fast, isolating Kongou and the Cylons inside Operations. A tortured scream resonated through the baseship, coming from the hybrid. All the Cylons, always connected to the ship, were shocked at how easily this being had infiltrated the ship again. The Centurions moved quickly to catch the not-human woman, but a cylinder of hexagonal, pinkish energy panels immobilized the robots. It was then that the humaniforms noticed the strange, luminous sigil on her face.
Using a sorrowful voice, she said, "I'm sorry, guys." She clenched her fist, and the field collapsed, crushing both robots into a mass of twisted metal and sparks. "Well, let me remind you that I am jamming your downloads, so please, be smart. I am leaving, or my wave armor will leave a lot of red paste made of... you. Your choice?"
The fear of permanent death was strongly indoctrinated in every cylon from the beginning. According to their beliefs, God had said death is not to be feared. The incontrovertible prospect of a painful death was enough to stop even the furious Ones.
Using a sorrowful voice, she said, "I'm sorry, guys." She clenched her fist, and the field collapsed, crushing both robots into a mass of twisted metal and sparks. "Well, let me remind you that I am jamming your downloads, so please, be smart. I am leaving, or my wave armor will leave a lot of red paste made of... you. Your choice?"
Kongou turned, and looking at him, she smirked and made a negation sign with her index finger. This is not going anywhere, she said. Why are they so stubborn? A funny image of an old electronic calculator with John's face popped into her mind. A powerful and a bit harsh laugh could be heard in the baseship, scaring the surprised humanifors even more.
Boarding her shuttle, she returned to her hull, thinking about what she would report to Yamato. A huge waste of my precious time, she thought.
I cannot allow them to follow me. She chose to take immediate action and leave the baseship stranded in the middle of nowhere. The first main battery on her lower hull aimed at the jump drives and shot a low powered plasma beam at the baseship. The beam penetrated the light armor and left a mass of molten metal, leaving a still functional ship instead of a very dead hull.
Finishing what she wanted, she transferred power to the fold drives and folded away as fast as she could. On board the baseship, the alarms were blaring loudly, and the hybrid reported that the jump drives were physically destroyed.
"Yes! Nice idea!".
Leaving the fold, Kongou appeared close to the colonial fleet. She had warned the colonials through Choukai, so her arrival was expected. The first flotilla sent by Earth, formed by six heavy cruisers and twenty-four destroyers, had already arrived and was deployed around the nebula edges. A lot of greetings welcomed Kongou to the Fleet, including two from Galactica and a passenger liner working as Colonial One.
Old friends from the now disbanded Pacific Fleet such as Atago, Myoko, Takao, Haguro, and Nachi among others were there. Finally, the feared invitation to Galactica was sent again, and this time, Kongou and her colleagues knew they couldn't refuse.
Battlestar Galactica.
Fifteen minutes before, the raptor that had stayed behind with Kongou had returned to the colonial fleet, and the crew's report had started a hellstorm among the CIC. Since they couldn't intercept any wireless transmissions about what had transpired, they were fortunately blessed with an ignorance mantle. The battle with the basestars had shown, without a trace of doubt, that their cousins had a strong technological superiority over them.
Four tiny shuttles took off from Kongou and the three heavy cruisers acting as squadron commanders. The destroyers had made a mess inside the local tactical network since they wanted to use their newly acquired mental models, but Kongou knew what kind of chaos the little ones could do, so she favoured a compact delegation.
Luckily, the landing zone in Colonial One was big enough for the shuttles. A civilian envoy, accompanied with six marines in fully armor was anxiously waiting for the Earth's commanders.
When the shuttles landed and the area was represurized, a hatch opened allowing the shuttles to tax to the final positions. Since they didn't know in which shuttle was the higher rank officer, they waited in front of the line of shuttles.
From inside Kongou could see the reception awaiting. "OK, girls, is everyone using the Earth's uniform and hair colour and style?" A chorus of annoyed "yes" and "yes, my fashion overlord" answered her. "I am going first", Kongou said.
After the shuttle's hatch opened by her command, she descended to the deck. The President's envoy, a woman called Tory Foster, walked a few steps to give an enthusiastic greeting to the people leaving the ships. She was a bit surprised to see a young woman in her twenties and the teenagers in uniform descending and walking to her.
When they left the shuttles, the heavy cruisers mental models adopted a square formation around Kongou, exactly like they usually did with their hull bodies in the fleet. An old habit from old times that it still was in the cruiser code, as they acted as capital ship escorts.
"I'm Tory Foster, President's Secretary. We are honored to receive you, but excuse me, what is your proper title, miss? I need to properly introduce you to President Roslin and Commander Adama," explained a polite Foster.
"I appreciate your worries, miss Foster. You can speak about me as a Fleet Captain. Let me introduce my companion, Lt. Haguro, Takao, and Myoko".
"And your name, Fleet Captain?" asked Foster.
"I share the name with my ship," Kongou said with all the patience she could muster, assuming a lot of silly questions in advance. Curiously, Foster just smiled and invited the group to follow her. After crossing more marines in attention position, they arrived at the conference room the colonials had disposed of.
In the table's central place, a red-haired woman in her fifties and an older, grizzled man stood up. A few civilian servants and marines completed the President's entourage. A slightly surprised reaction was obvious on their faces, considering that they were expecting more mature people and not a bunch of, apparently, young girls.
Kongou and the girls saluted in formal fashion to the surviving civilian and military authorities. Even in the brink of disaster, these human kept order and discipline to the end said Myoko. Truth, conceded Kongou. Let explore how open minded they are. Well, a girl can hope.
Roslin displayed her most professional smile while she introduced herself, "I am President Laura Roslin, and on behalf of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, I welcome the Representatives of the Thirteen Colonies. We will be forever grateful for saving us from the Cylons' persecution. Let me introduce the military commander of the fleet, Commander William Adama. The person at my left is the religious representative, Elosha, holy priest of the Gods".
Adama, however, was worried about more practical considerations. "Excuse me, every bit of help is appreciated, but we are in a bad tactical position here. If the cylons jump a fleet here, in the middle of our fleet, surrounded by the ionized gas clouds, we are dead."
"Commander Adama, I already took into consideration the tactical situation", agreed Kongou, "one of our scientists developed a jump disruptor and we are using it right now. Since your ships and the Cylons share the same technological roots, both of you will be affected. To say that Adama felt cornered was an obvious assumption. "Are you telling me that we can't escape from this place if we are under attack", the man almost yelled.
"Please, calm down, Commander," slowly and steadily said a slightly infuriated Kongou. "If the Cylon ships arrive at this place, in the precise moment they left the jump, the matter current will be disrupted. You don't want to be in those ships," smirked the blonde. The feeling of having provoked a dangerous beast was permeating the atmosphere in the room, and Roslin could have sworn that Kongou's eyes were changing from that amazing amethyst color to red.
"Ma'am President, Commander, I must inform you that I am not qualified to establish diplomatic ties among our people. A ship with diplomatic personnel aboard is coming escorted by the Second Fleet. I already informed the Admiralty about your fleet necessities and mobile shipyards, hospital ships and freighters are coming to this location in the nebula."
Roslin was becoming increasingly aware of the feelings between the Earthers and Adama. I have to focus these people without the Earth delegation getting out of the meeting truly pissed with us. She stared hard at Adama, defying him to say another word. Silently, Adama sat again and waited for Roslin's next words.
"Please, Fleet Captain, excuse the very reasonable concerns of Commander Adama," said Roslin. "We were running away as fast as we could, and our chances to escape seemed...very small, if you understand me. But, what would happen to our ships if we wanted to jump?" "Nothing, Ma'am President, the jump opening will not engage and you will remain here."
"That changes nothing!", shouted Adama angrily and asked, "why? Why do we have to stay here?"
"The answer is quite simple, Commander" explained Kongou patiently. "We are consolidating our forces around your fleet, and let me be clear, we are evaluating your people". Ok, let's see what she said.
Roslin's mind was overworking furiosly and simply said, "Why do you need to evaluate us? We are your brothers for Gods sake!"
"Please, let's leave aside that thirteen tribe matter. We still don't know you and frankly speaking, there are some delicate aspects of our culture that it will be a shock for you" explained Kongou.
The three colonials were shocked by the last commentary. Since the Thirteens were separated from the colonies for millennia, it was dangerous to assume anything about Earth. "Excuse me, could you elaborate?", said Roslin. "I am afraid, President Roslin, that should be a matter for our diplomats. My interest is to coordinate with you my forces deployment around the fleet. With the jump disruptor engaged, we only need to keep an adequate perimeter and leave my killing zones free. In one hour the second fleet will fold close to us. I will send the IFFs so you can identify them properly".
At last, some real and practical issues to discuss thought Adama. "How many ships are you going to bring to the fight?" Kongou recited, "the second fleet is made up of forty battleships, five hybrid carriers, one hundred heavy cruisers, thirty light cruisers and three hundred destroyers".
Adama's feelings were conflicted. On one hand, almost five hundred ships should be more than enough to stop the Cylon fleet. Based on what he saw in the raptor's film, the fleet would be safe, and the Cylons would be in an ocean of sorrow and pain. On the other hand, he only had one ship in bad shape. The naked structural members of his old girl, lacking armor, weighed heavily on his shoulders, and the sensation of uselessness was the prevalent feeling in his being.
I need to ask Saul for the crap he is drinking, he concluded.
"So, we can be safe for a while", affirmed Roslin, "however we don't know the cylon fleet numbers."
"But we know it, Madam President. They relied more on surprise attacks on disabled ships than numerical or tactical superiority. We can terminate them if that is what we want", said Kongou.
Elosha, the last surviving High Priest of the Kobol Lords, chose that moment to ask her first question, "If you can destroy these souless machines, you should do it! They killed twenty billion human beings and reduced us to...to...this. Fifty thousand humans is what remains from twelve planets. She clenched her fists with ire and asked, "Do you understand?" So much ire, loss, sorrow, and hate. All very understandable, and she didn't want to be in the diplomats' pants trying to explain about the FOG.
"Wait, just one moment please, you said you know the cylon numbers," said Adama a bit bitterly, "how is it possible"?
"It's simple, Commander", replied Kongou, "I hacked the Cylon's systems."
"That's impossible, how could you hack a cylon computer?" Adama asked. Roslin nodded, a bit worried now. "We have our ways, commander. I still can hear the screaming from the One. Because I know, commander, that you know about the humanoid cylons", Kongou said.
"We were going to explain that later. You referred to a Cylon with a number, One. How many models have they?", a curious Roslin asked. "In theory, eight models, but all references to the number seven were deleted", Kongou explained, "we don't know the reason". While Adama was trying to digest everything, Roslin insisted with something that worried her. "I am afraid I must ask again", Laura insisted, "your remarks about sensitive matters of your culture piqued my curiosity Fleet Captain, could you be so kind to explain that ?"
Ok, from the fire to the frying pan Kongou accepted resignedly. Through the tactical network the cruisers expressed their concern, "Dear Kongou, do you understand the concept of sailing through a minefield?". "We cannot delay that issue forever", she answered.
"President Roslin, I understand why the colonies hate the Cylons so much. I understand your lack of trust in machine intelligences. But on Earth, we followed a different road. As you can already imagine, yes, Earth has AIs. They are part of the Earth's population and they live in harmony with the human beings. The second fleet has a lot of mixed crews, although the AIs are a minority", Kongou explained.
The humans in this room were petrified. Roslin was plainly scared, Elosha was incensed, and Adama was completely furious. Suddenly, the most feared question came from Roslin, "What are you?" With the utmost care - knowing she was walking on a very thin edge - she said clearly, "We are not humans, Ma'am President".
The first reaction was, obviously, from the Colonial Marines. They trained their weapons on the four beings that, without any concern about their existence, had informed about their real nature. Elosha was ready to suffer a heart attack and Roslin, more politically inclined than her companions, was trying to assimilate the answer. Adama was ready to order them shot and discard the bodies through the nearest airlock.
From the other side of the room, four girls looked innocently at the angry humans. "Let me show you, Ma'am President", Kongou said. She stood up, almost provoking the Marines' response. With a flick of her right hand, she dissolved her body into a cascade of silver sand, which fell down on the deck.
The humans were completely surprised, incapable of processing what they were seeing. Takao, being the oldest there, explained, "Our physical bodies are made of nanomachines at a molecular level. Even an electronic microscope can't differentiate a replicated cell from a real one".
"It went so well as we could hope", Myoko said. "Let's see what happens", Kongou agreed.
A stream of silver dust rose up from the floor and reformed Kongou's body, starting with the skeleton, blood vessels, muscles, internal organs, skin and clothes. She proceeded to sit again, leaving a lot of scared humans and suddenly, very interested Marines.
"So, Madam President, Commander Adama and High Priest Elosha?", the self-declared machine asked innocently. "Since we are reveling about us a bit more than I should, let me explain before the good commander wastes a lot of ammo on us, that our minds are not here, joined to these physical bodies. We call it a mental model. Why do I look like this? I don't really know. It's supposed to be an internal reflex of our inner core but how it took this shape" - while she surrounded her physical body with her hands - "I do not know."
"As I told you, my core is inside my hull body. Before you suffer a stroke, commander, the four of us are mental models. Every ship here has a mind and a mental model associated. There are, of course, silent ships in the fleet. We call that the ships lacking a mind. Tell me, Ma'am President, are we so different from you? We are curious, intelligent, we want to know what's beyond the next star. In fact, I was mapping the star cluster when I found you, so thanks to our curiosity you are safe."
"SAFE? ...with machines", Elosha screamed. "We are dead, Roslin. They will forge an alliance with the Cylons and we will be finished."
"Priest, we killed one baseship while we disrupted the resurrection process", Haguro said. The Japanese-looking mental model, touching her long black hair, chose that opportune moment to make that assessment. "We killed them in the worst possible way", she clarified.
"Meaning?", the priest asked while looking defeated. "When you killed a Cylon in the past, her memory was downloaded to a new body, Centurion or Raider", Kongou explained to the confused colonials. "So, to kill them it's useless?", Adama asked. "In a certain way, yes", Kongou said a bit caustically.
"And the diplomatic ship? Are they machines too?", Roslin asked. "Most of them are humans like you, President, but the Admiralty Code and the Supreme Flagship are coming too".
Roslin asked for clarification, "Please, I don't understand your fleet hierarchy. You mentioned a Code? Who is she or he?" "I can understand your confusion," Kongou said.
"The Admiralty Code is a very ancient being, older than all of us, who contains the basic code of our cores and the instructions to follow the evolution of intelligent life on a planet."
Adama was still fuming about the fraking Earthers using AIs. However, civilian lives were his principal worry now. So, swallowing his pride and fears, he had to ask, "Before we try to sell this bullshit to the Fleet, I need to know, how was your relationship with the humans that created you?"
"Well asked Commander", Kongou said, "in first place we weren't created by mankind. Our creator is a being almost as old as the universe. His name, as we understood it, was I'kon. But what you want to know, Commander, is that in the beginning of our consciousness we were in a strange war with mankind."
Dumbfounded, Adama asked again, "You killed humans?" "And my honest answer is yes, commander. Before the mental models Era, we were only machines. We didn't know it, but the mankind test had begun and our conscience was...limited, if you want".
Kongou remembered every battle against the human fleet and especially, against the Blue Steel Fleet. The bonding she has experienced with Gunzou and her son, Iona, Maya, Maki, Hyuga, her crazy sister ships, the Japanese politics and the young heavy cruisers changed her in ways she still was pondering.
"However, I must warn you that the Supreme Flagship forbade us to attack mainland or coastal cities. After a lot of very interesting situations, mankind passed the Ikon's test and Earthers were judged worthy to survive and evolve. We will protect Earth, this is our home too", she added.
The humans in the room really didn't know what to think. The story revealed by these beings was so huge. How could they explain this to thousands of scared civilians? What to do with the most fanatical tribes like Gemenon and Sagitarron? Elosha sighed and she said, "I will wait so I can talk to a human being from the Thirteen Tribe. After that, I will pass my judgment about this situation. Sincerely, this is too much to absorb for me". She stood up and left.
"Nice job, Kongou, you already wrecked a human being", Myoko said through the mental link. "I do what I can", Kongou accepted while she shrugged her virtual shoulders.
"What's the thing about the thirteen tribe?", Takao asked the still confused humans. Roslin looked at the young girl in front of her. She is a real machine, not that abomination of flesh and metal made by the cylons. Impossible to say she was not a flesh and blood human being but they were always honest about their nature. "According to ancient records from the time we left planet Kobol, our birthplace, one tribe left first four thousand years ago and they found a planet they called Earth".
"Time tables don't match, ma'am President, but the cultural relationship is undeniable. The names on your ships and religious figures are proof enough", Kongou admitted. Takao added, "I have no records of a planet Kobol in my database, nor any reference to the Tribes of Kobol or an Exodus either".
"An issue for another time, then", Kongou said using her flagship voice. Even Adama recognized a command voice and he kept his mouth shut.
Right in that precise moment, the girls' faces showed a strange glowing, coloured symbol. A bit intimidated, Roslin asked, "Can you tell what's happening?" Nodding, Kongou explained, "The Fleet is arriving. The Supreme Flagship asked to inform your fleet previously so panic can be avoided." Roslin looked at Adama and he nodded. Using an old wired phone, he informed Debin that a friendly human fleet was arriving and to send a general announcement to every ship.
And they arrived in a powerful show of force. Hundreds of warships arrived in separate groups, all of them around a two-kilometer behemoth named Yamato.