Chapter 15 - The End is But a New Beginning
TN:- I would like to thank Just a Crazy-Man for an idea he gave me for part of this chapter
Picon Fleet HQ - 3 Years Before the Fall
Leo was currently sitting in the conference room at Fleet headquarters waiting for the meeting called by Admiral Corman as apparently he had an announcement about the current status of the fleet.
To be honest Leo was confused as he was asked to turn up 30 min earlier for the meeting than anyone else and although he had business with the Admiral outside of the usual fleet business, they had agreed not to talk about it outside of their secure meeting room. He was just thinking things through when the conference room door opened and Admiral Corman walked out with Nagala and a rather older woman who even in old age had a commanding aura about her.
"Hello Leo, You know Admiral Nagala of course." Admiral Corman said as he walked up to Leo, He then introduced him to the older lady. "And this is former Admiral Lucinda Cain. Admiral Cain, this is Admiral Leonidas Kosta who also owns Kosta Enterprises."
Leo shook hands with Admiral Cain and said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Admiral Cain. My grandfather spoke very highly of you." He then turns back to Admiral Corman. "I take it I'm here because you need something of me and it's to do with Admiral Cain."
Admiral Corman smiled and nodded. "Yes it is Leo, What I'm looking for is for you to provide another of those special reserve bottles that you gave to her son as she noticed it in his collection and how special it is and given her status he directed her your way."
Leo was quick enough on the uptake so he knew exactly what the admiral was asking for. "I have no problem and have a few of those bottle's left, will she be joining her son on his tour this coming year as well as I know he is looking forward to it."
Admiral Corman was happy Leo was in on the uptake so he answered. "Yes, she is planning to do it as some sort of goodbye tour." Leo nodded. "Do you have any idea how long it will take to get as she needs to leave on that tour very soon."
Leo contemplated a few things like travel time and logistics and then replied. "Well i can have it delivered for her when she reaches her first destination with her son as i think that would probably be the soonest i can have it collected from my special collection vault."
They then sat around and chatted till just before the meeting started as the other Admirals who were able to make the meeting entered the room. Of all the Admirals in the fleet at the moment about 85% of them have turned up and you can imagine the amount of security that it entails.
Picon fleet Headquarters - Conference Room Admirals Meeting
TN:- This meeting had a lot of Admirals so won't always be using the title so when mentioning people after their first introduction outside of actual speech will just use their last name as it gets old saying admiral this and admiral that.
Admiral Corman stood up at the front of the room and looked over all the gathered officers and started speaking. "Welcome Admirals, I would say it's good to see you but what we're here to speak about is the future of the fleet itself and what we can do to make the best of a bad situation."
As he spoke Leo was watching everyone else and how they responded to what the fleet admiral just said about why he called for the meeting. For the most part Leo was glad that they looked interested in what they were gathered for but there were 2-3 Admirals who looked dismissive and condescending and Leo filed away who they were to be discussed with Corman later.
Corman waited a few seconds for his statement to sink in and continued. "I first have to inform you that the President and his advisors have decided to reduce out budget yet again although this time they have succeeded in passing a bill that will see the fleet reduced to 120 active battlestars and with that reduction i have been forced to muster out an additional 10,000 fleet personnel per year on top of the usual attrition of those retiring."
Once he had finished there was absolute uproar where several admirals stood and shouted out that they should fight this and refuse to follow through with this new bill. Leo watched on as this happened and again took note of those who just looked bored or had a smug look on their face at what was happening.
Eventually Leo was getting fed up as they were getting nowhere and people were just shouting and not actually making any sense, so he stood up and took a deep breath. "SHUT IT THE LOT OF YOU." Silence prevailed at that as somewhere just shocked at being told to shut up and others were just glad someone took charge. "What do you people think shouting will do to solve this problem as the way i see it we have no choice but to follow through with this but what you fail to realize is that yes this is bad for the future security of the fleet but who says that those who muster out have re-join the regular job market."
It took a few minutes for people to process what he said when one took the lead and asked. "What do you mean by that statement?"
Leo looked around the room and continued. "From what I know the retired battlestars will mostly be going into reserve status and those already in reserve will be moved to scrapyards. What I'm suggesting is that those ships which would be moved to the scrapyards be moved somewhere else, say a new fleet sponsored security company where those we have to muster out who dont really wanna look for new work can go and continue to do what they do best and protect those who cant protect themselves." He then took a breath for that to settle with those gathered and continued. "As you know when i came of age i took over ownership of my families company and bought and improved a established security company so i know what I'm talking about when i say there is plenty of work out there like escorting trade convoys or being hired to patrol systems where there is a heavy mining work going on so i think if we can do this it can not only sustain itself but give the fleet another source of income to fund research and ship production as our budget from the government gets smaller due to dullards who think just because we haven't seen the enemy that there gone."
Once Leo was done with his proposal he sat down to let Corman take back over the meeting and he could tell his future father in law was grateful for what he had just said. What Leo didn't expect was one of the ones who had the smug look on his face jump up and shout. "That is treason and I demand his arrest this instant."
The majority of the room looked at this Admiral like he was an idiot while Corman looked at him with disdain. "Admiral Sloan why is what Admiral Kosta suggested treason as far as i can see it as long as everything is done legally then it is a good idea and one i will consider doing as we can also use it to keep some of our older units up to date and ready to be reactivated on a moments notice."
There were several of the Admirals who started to come around to this idea while Sloan's mouth opened and closed as he tried to think up an excuse as to why he stood up and shouted out for Leo's arrest. Sloan eventually comes out of his self imposed silence. "I apologize, Admiral, I got ahead of myself." He then sat down and stared daggers at Leo.
As Sloan sat down another admiral stood up to address the room. "Sir, I think it is a good idea and if needed I'm willing to retire to reserve status to lead said company in the name of the fleet."
Admiral Corman was happy with the person who stood up, volunteering to retire to lead the company as he was one of Cormans supporters and someone he can trust to get the job done. "Admiral Lewis I'm happy to say that if we go through with this plan you will be my first choice to lead it." He then took a folder from his assistant and opened it and continued to speak. "While that was one of the reasons that we are gathered here today there is more, I have been getting complaints from both the president's office and merchant companies about the increase in pirate activity in the outlying areas where security is a bit more lax so i have decided that we will have smaller battlegroups spread out to increase our operating range to respond to emergencies."
Again Leo stood up to speak. "Sir, might I make a suggestion." Leo waited for Corman to nod and then continued. "I think we should make a full sweep of systems where the colonies had previous bases or mining stations. I would also suggest that we plant sensor buoys in hidden spots to monitor fleet traffic that not only records the time and date but also what Id the ships is broadcasting at the time so we can compare records to track the precise route ships take especially those close to where pirate attacks happen and we can then look for inconsistencies in those logs."
Once Leo finished he sat back down and let the other Admirals discuss and fine tune his idea's and just kept track of people he suspected of being in Adar's pocket or who were trying to stay neutral. It took the meeting several hours to go over everything and then they started to file out to go back to their commands or home's.
Caprica City - Presidents Office - 3 Years Before the Fall
President Adar was not happy as he has had a hard few years especially between the teacher strikes and the increase in pirate activity in the outer reaches of the cyrannus systems.
What made the teachers strike more troublesome than any normal occasion was that he made a mistake and sent in the marines during a protest and it turned bloody and to his regret many died that day. Although his regret is not the deaths themselves, it is the fact that the blame for those deaths falls on him for giving the order for the marines to go in.
It took his new Secretary of Education Laura Roslin to negotiate a new deal to settle the teachers down again. Even though the deal was negotiated behind his back it got the job done. He now enjoys a nice relationship with Laura and spends many a late evening showing his appreciation for her work.
Then there is the pirate menace who have increased in the last few years as more and more people from impoverished colonies or disenfranchised ex-service members joined them and increased their members and gave them the skills to be a problem.
He hates acknowledging it but Admiral Kosta's several campaigns routing out pirate strongholds has made him a favorite name in the merchant circles and made taking out his company all the harder. As long as he stays in good standing and has the backing of the merchant companies none of his backers wants to mess with him and being the future son-in-law of Fleet Admiral Corman keeps him protected from being given a no win mission.
He was broken out of his musings by Brother Cavil walking into the room and sitting in the chair opposite Adar. He was here to discuss their latest plan to phase out all the old Jupiter class battlestars and reduce the number of Mars class in favor of less Mercury class battlestars considering they were more powerful. They were hoping to reduce the number of battlestars from 155 to 120 in the next 3 years with the Galactica decommissioning on the 40th Anniversary of the Armistice agreement being the final battlestar to be phased out. Also with it being the last of the original 12 Jupiter class battlestars in service it has been agreed to turn it into a museum ship dedicated to the Cylon war. He planned to have Laura go and represent the government as he didn't want to go himself and miss the party here on Caprica.
John spoke first. "Has the Fleet Admiral finally come to terms with the fact that he is being told to reduce his fleet and to muster out 10 thousand personnel in the next 3 years."
Adar grimaced as he remembered the argument he had with Corman when he had that meeting as the not only did the admiral fight tooth and nail to save as many ships and personnel as possible, he also came to realize none of his bargaining was going to work as he had used all his political capital to stop this plan from going ahead sooner. "He knows, but was not happy about it but it was a sight to see his defeated look when he left the office knowing he couldn't do anything to stop it."
John had already been contacted by the Six working at fleet HQ who told John all about what the admirals had discussed but he didn't tell Adar straight away as he wanted to keep it for when it would make the best impact. "Might I suggest a review of the fleet as a whole to see where else we can make cuts to help fund your initiatives to help the people of the colonies." John enjoyed playing this role as he got to plant ideas that would further destabilize the colonies and the working relationship between military and civilians.
Adar was thinking over the suggestion when there was a knock on the door. "What is it Debbie?"
The door to his office opened and a dark haired female walked in and answered. "Sir, There have been several calls for you from different admirals and I have logged the calls but thought you should be informed so you can decide whether to return the calls or not sir."
Adar was slightly annoyed at the interruption but he knows that the admirals know not to call him unless it was important. "Thank you Debbie, you can leave the call sheet here and go back to work."
At that the woman placed the sheet of paper on the desk and left and John knew it was time to play his hand before the information he has becomes useless. "I think I know what the calls are about." Adar looked at him and indicated for him to continue. "There was a high level meeting today between more than half the admirals currently on active duty and from what my contacts have said some decisions have been made that might cause us more trouble with defunding the fleet. The first is that a plan to start a fleet sponsored security company using the decommissioned ships that will be leaving the reserve fleet to make way for the battlestars we are retiring and then they plan to hire on the fleet personnel they plan to muster out and then use the force to fulfill contracts for merchants and planetary governments."
Adar was already livid by the time he finished the first decision made and John was excited to see what he can talk the President into doing. "That's not all they have decided on a new plan to combat pirates and that includes more patrols, doing a full sweep of previous mining sites and old colonial stations and bases. Lastly they have decided to place sensor buoys all over the colonies to monitor fleet traffic and that will include data on ship type, their travel route and the ship designation and I don't need to tell you how that may affect some of our less savory plans."
John was beyond happy to see the way Adar reacted to some of his dirty secrets being brought into the light and decided there and then to whatever he can to block this plan and to get some outside source to make a plan he can pass off as effective while not bringing his own shadow dealings into the light.
They spent the next few hours discussing how to curtail the fleet's plans and how to force Admiral Corman into retirement but they knew they didn't have enough leverage yet to do that so they decided to wait and collect more damning evidence.
Earth year 1998 - SGC - 3 Years Before the Fall
The SGC have spent the last year and a half traveling the gate network and fighting a guerrilla war against the Goa'ulds and they have been collecting whatever tech they can to aid in the defense of the planet. Right now a group of people were sitting in a conference room talking about the fact that Colonel O'Neill had the complete library of the ancients downloaded into his head.
They were discussing who they could contact for help to remove the knowledge from his head. They had discussed for a while when Daniel made a suggestion while looking at O'Neill. "Can you contact the ancients themselves to take it out?"
O'Neill looked at Daniel and replied in ancient. "They can't help, They are not around here anymore." But Daniel was still coming to terms with the ancient language so mistook what he said.
Daniel translated the best he could. "He said that they are not around anymore." They then continued to discuss their options as O'Neill doodled on the piece of paper the symbols of the 12 colonies but as they were constellations they mistook them for gate symbols that didn't add up to an address.
What the people in the room didn't notice was the pair of Ascended watching on from the corner of the room. "They have developed more than we thought if he is able to pick out certain knowledge to do with his situation as the notes he's making is for a power amplifier that can increase the amount of power to the gate to dial a distance address. The only race who can help him that far away is the Asgard. I wonder if he can complete it before he degrades too far."
The other ascended replied. "Yes it is surprising but they and others believe that they are to inherit our place as our descendants but that makes their actual meeting with the legitimate descendants more interesting don't you think."
They then continued to watch as O'Neill eventually created the amplifier and dialed the gate to the Asgard and went through the gate to then return with the knowledge removed but what the ascended didn't know was that O'Neill had entered the gate address for Kobol into the SGC dialing computer but put a firewall in place to hide it until the time is right.
Ascended Plane - 3 Years Before the Fall
Gathered together in a small corner of the ascended plane where the elders and they were discussing how things are progressing with the colonials and the earthlings.
The first to speak was the lead elder. "I think we can say that Athena made a mess of things and forced us onto a path that has no certain outcome as of yet as if the Cylons prevail and manage to get their hands on the technology this Leo has will spell doom for the races in the other galaxies eventually."
Another elder responded. "That is a possibility but not the only one as another is that Leo leads our descendants back out into the Universe and eventually rebuilds our civilization back to what it should have been before the plague all those eons ago. What I'm more worried about is the eventual meeting between the Colonials and our Tauri as it could lead to conflict between the two or an alliance that will see the rebuilding of the great alliance with 5 races instead of 4.
The rest of the group contemplated this when one who is considered the most progressive amongst them says. "You all look at this as if we don't have any interest in the eventual outcome of the events to come and complain about each of their mistakes. But the way I look at it is when the colonials who follow Leo are ready for it we can descend again and help guide them onto the right path while also learning from them. Look at the mistakes we have made and the problems we have left behind for others to deal with. To name a few we have the Wraith in Pegasus, the replicators are not directly our fault but it came from technology we left behind. Then there is the Goa'uld who abuse watered down versions of our technology to enslave millions and genetically alter humans who they turned into their incubators so you tell me how we can sit above and judge them for their own mistakes. Also we all know the great enemy in the distance who's attention can be drawn here at any moment and launch a war that will kill millions if not billions all in the name of sadists''
The rest were shocked at what was being said but eventually they agreed that they should just watch and let nature take its course from this point and limit the involvement of the other ascended when it comes to interfering with the races in the surrounding galaxies.
What the elder council didn't know was that Leo had spent a while putting out requests every night mentally for a meeting with Athena and it was while their meeting was happening that she answered.
Athena stood in front of a projection of what would be Leo's physical form. "What is it Leo? I'm very busy and we shouldn't be meeting like this."
Leo looked at her and asked. "I'm hoping you can do me a favor that will help ease a few problems in the future." As he finished asking he looked at Athena with what can be described as puppy dog eyes.
Athena just shook her head at his look and replied. "I can give it consideration but can't promise anything."
Leo was happy to hear it so he described what he wanted. "I'm hoping you can ascend Zak Adama just before he dies and then descend him with no knowledge about what happened between when he should have died and his descending. As I'm hoping I can use him to appease Adama and get the refugee fleet to go where I want them to after Ragnar and not have to chase them on their convoluted trip to a planet that's not earth but has a similar system set up as earth's system."
Athena thinks it over and answers. "I think it's possible but you won't find out either way till it happens as I don't know if anyone will interfere."
Leo nods and accepts that and then they chat for a few minutes before she sends him back to his own body.
Flight Academy - Induction Meeting for New Trainee's
Zak Adama was sitting in the pilots briefing room of Fleet academy for his first day of flight training when in walked a blonde woman dressed in flight gear and a half smoked cigar in her mouth. "Welcome Nuggets to flight training 101. You will spend the next 3 months going over the specs of the Viper MK6 till you know it in and out. When you're not doing that you will be going through flight simulations, G-force training and tactics training until we deem you ready to get into the cockpit and go through practical training for another 4 months at which time you will either pass or wash out during your final assessment. At any point in the next 7 months that we think you are not skilled enough to fly we will wash you out and you will be given the choice at any of the other areas of operation from onboard ships roles to on the ground roles."
Zak was excited to get started but the instructor put a pin in that balloon when she ordered them out of the room and told them to run around the training field until she said otherwise.
And so started Zak's training and he vowed not to let his father and brother down by washing out.
TN:- Where's getting closer to the fall of the colonies and things will pick up from there and hopefully will keep you guys and gals entertained.
TN:- Also info on the Altera Prime system will be posted in the next week or two but will be before I post Leo's first actual visit to the system.