The Flotilla defolded far from the most external planet of this star system. The four ships had agreed with the coordinates with the submarines, but even Nagato couldn't know where they were.

Three minutes later, the long range sensors registered a change in the movement pattern of the ships around the two planets occupied by the machines. A fleet assembled fast and ten cubes set course to the four battleships.

Nagato moved one kilometer in front of her three companions, hoping that the gesture was interpreted as "Hey, I want to talk." The machines' ships slowed down and stopped close to Nagato. Using the matrix translation provided by Shinano, Nagato spoke first, "Greetings from the Federation of Worlds. The mistake was fixed. We are here to talk."

Cube 34. Machines Men ship.

A long maze of dark corridors worked as a transit way to move the individuals along the ship. Using their tracks, they moved as small trucks. The beings, bigger than a big human car, received the communication from the parasited ships. Since they were pure machines, they didn't need an audiovisual communication system. An improvised camera worked as a bridge with the newcomers.

"Greetings. We are happy/complete to know. Explain reason to be here," a being said to the camera.

The mechanical being who worked as the Speaker was some kind of robot with two tracks mounted on articulated members, with a body and two arms. A head with sensors worked as a head would. He had on his sensors the warship.

Nagato explained the reason, "we found a planet in these coordinates - she sent a data packet - and its habitants killed from high orbit. We need to know if there are more cylons or a new race out there."

The Machines, who had adopted the identification of Nexus, replied, "No Cylons. We were advancing to that new area, and we needed a new base to expand."

Nagato frowned and asked, "These beings didn't attack you. They couldn't. Why did you exterminate them?

The Nexus was adamant when he justified his reasons, "They were organics. They will not restrict/destroy us anymore. What we need, we take."

Great, a washing machine brain killing planets. Exactly what Gretel was afraid of. Sighing, she replied to the annoying machine, "I am not aware of any war between you and other organic species." Internally, she hoped the machine was naive enough to provide information.

"We are not from this universe. War lost. Almost killed to the last. We found a tear in space, and we escaped. Organics destroyed all," the Speaker said.

Nagato was positively worried now. "I need to know. What are you going to do if you find a planet occupied by us and you need it?"

"We took what we need. Organics are an enemy," the Speaker said.

Nagato kept her sight on the being. "The galaxy is big enough for everybody. To destroy everything is illogical. Are you defective?"

This time, the being changed his posture. He only said, "These stars will be ours. Organics will not dictate our destiny nevermore."

"Then, there will be war among us," Nagato said.

"So be it."

Nagato Bridge.

The bridge crew was already ready for this eventuality. More ships were coming from the inner system, and their already disadvantageous situation worsened fast.

For the first time in many years, her speakers called for her crew's attention, "red alert, all personnel ready for combat." The lights dimmed to the characteristic red, and every sailor in the bridge watched how the number of enemies grew fast.

"Let them fire the first shot," Nagato warned to her weapons officers. She hadn't to wait too long. A powerful discharge of blue beams from the cubes crashed against the shield of the battleships, and the power was greater than Shinano logs showed. The battleship trembled under the assault when Nagato ordered to counterattack.

As one, the battleships accelerated to leave the system. A battle here was useless. The four battleships fired their plasma batteries on two cubes only. They made a long arc to get out of there, and one of the cubes lost shields. Richelieu was losing shields fast, and she requested help from her friends. A massive broadside of long-range, corrosive warheads loaded missiles was the response. Almost four hundred missiles implemented evasive maneuvers avoiding the magre defenses of the cubes. They focused only on four cubes to achieve a better effect.

The four cubes tried to evade, but it was useless. They received on their shields a massive amount of damage, and the corrosive warheads consumed the ships in seconds. The other thirty cubes increased the fire rate, and this time, the aft shield of Richelieu collapsed. Explosions racked the aft engines, and the battleship lost all her maneuvering capability.

Nagato knew that, probably, she couldn't save her camarade. In better circunstances, she could have stabilized the ship with her tractor beams and synchronized their fold fields. However, the continuous bombardment was destabilizing the fold field. More bad news for Hyuga, thought Nagato. The crew was leaving the ship, and the three battleships tried to catch the lifeboats. She only could hope the submarines acted fast.

Iona, Leader of the Dimensional Submarine Corps.

Usually, Iona didn't participate in combat missions, but she had requested it to Gunzou. The mission bordered the suicide, and she felt she must be here too. The situation escalated fast into a shooting match, and they were in problems. She gave the order, and behind the cubes, twenty periscopes emerged from the dimensional space into the normal space. The effect, she knew it, was funny.

"Ok, the big girls are in trouble. We empty our tubes twice and our launcher once. We don't know if they could detect us, so don't press our luck," Iona told to her fleet. The little submarines confirmed orders and sent weapons status to her leader. "Rise target arrays and follow my lead," Iona said while she followed the same procedure. On her screen, the fleet of cubes appeared.

Iona sent the firing order, "Fire."

The submarines launched a full assault with torpedoes and missiles. Every ship had eight frontal tubes and twenty launchers, and the tubes reloaded in ten seconds. A second wave was fired and then hidden again. A mix of seven hundred and twenty torpedoes and missiles appeared from behind the machines, forcing them to change targets. The missiles reached the target first, and four hundred Tsars exploded against the cubes, with devastating results. Shielding was lost, and the external hulls were charred and, in some places, melted. Blind and exposed, the torpedoes ending the killing. No ships survived the attack.

Richelieu lost propulsion, and the mental models were carrying her precious crew into the lifeboats. So far, the machines didn't fire on the defenseless lifeboats, but they couldn't count with good luck forever. Her remaining sensors registered the massive explosion and how the cubes were anhilated by the submarines. However, they must leave fast. Reinforcements from the system were already coming, and she needed to overload her main energizer. The last lifeboat was expecting her, and she released the reactor's safeties. The singularity was losing contention, and she hoped she could reach Mutsu.

Nagato was waiting for the Mutsu report. Finally, her sister reported Richeliu was safe inside her hull. The three remaining ships placed Richeliu between them and the new cubes. The trap worked perfectly. The hull of Richelieu exploded with a big explosion of corrosive effect. Two cubes were damaged, and the rest changed course. Knowing the secrets of the fleet were safe, they folded back to Alexandria.

Battleship Mutsu.

The two mental models had to deal, for the first time in their existences, with a ship full of wounded and evacuated sailors. She kept the lifeboats docked to her hull, so she used the little ships as extra space. The crews from the engine rooms and aft batteries were the areas with most losses. Twenty-four engineers and weapons specialists died, and their bodies lost forever in the attack. Explosions around plasma conduct produced most of the wounded people, and decompression, as usual, killed the rest of the one hubdred and fifty-six dead.

The corridors inside Mutsu, rebuilded fast to accommodate the wounded, became part of her already saturated sick bay. Her medics were doing a great job, but they lacked the facilities of a hospital ship. So far, they could stabilize most wounded, but the enemy weapons left behind a persistent trace of neutron radiation. It had a very toxic effect on the living tissue, and it was a battle between the medical nanites and the toxicity.

Mutsu finally found a stressed and dirty Richeliu, who was busy moving wounded people from a lifeboat.

"Hey girl," Mutsu greeted her camarade. "For the first time in my life, I really hate someone," a distressed mental model replied. She finished placing a wounded girl with a nasty burn in the right arm on a wheelchair and left the subnode to carry her to the sick bay.

"So a battle with humans onboard is like this," Mutsu musited in low voice.

"Yes, better be accustomed to this shit. This war just has begun," Richelieu replied.

"True."

Alexandria Starbase.

Alex, the base mental model, was worried, pacing back and forth, trying to slow down her emotion plug-in. Her tactical simulators were screaming that this mission could end really bad. She had a strong argument with Admiral Jackson about this mission. It wasn't pretty, but she understood the need to clarify the machines' intentions.

Please, don't kill the messengers, she wished.

Her sensors asked for attention, and the first signals of a folding event were announcing that Nagato was coming back. Three spheres of light left the fold, and the starbase crew was watching through the virtual windows how the battleships had a lot of lifeboats on their hulls.

Alex sent a very nasty look to her admiral, but she began to open her space doors before she received any orders.

Jackson felt her long-time friend becoming distant and angry. The fact that she opened the doors without expecting an order didn't pass unnoticed to him. Great, he thought. A Starbase in her rebellious phase. How to fix this matter?. Ah, yes. We are in war.

Jackson spoke first, "All personnel, yellow alert. We are probably in a war state. We don't know if we are going to receive visits. Send a warning to the planetary defenses. Remove unnecessary civilian traffic. Deploy the fleet around the planet."

Gunzou accesed the fleet network and received a report from Iona. We lost a battleship, dammit. It was, however, a very satisfying result, one battleship for forty cubes. He had to accept that it was the result of a very clever trap settled by the submarines. Maybe in this war, the submarine Corps will have a significant role.

The three surviving ships crossed the space doors and docked her hulls inside the internal docking ring. The ships were not damaged due to the cubes firing almost exclusively on Richelieu. The tubes connecting the ships with the dock were extended, and a constant flow of medical personnel and wounded flooded them.

The medical facilities of Starbase were more than enough with the small number of wounded sailors, but the feeling of losing a capital ship was bad for morals. The four mental models were recalled to Chihaya Ready Room to be debriefed.

Four concerned mental models sat in front of Gunzou. Iona and her sisters remained hidden in the void, far from the Machine's world, just in case they were needed. If the Federation wanted to send a message, Pear Harbor style, they would be ready.

"Admiral, they don't care about organic life. They were adamant about this. What they need, they will take it. It's so simple like that. I failed as diplomatic, I'm afraid," Nagato stated grimly.

"It's not your fault. They are exhilated from her home universe, and they decide to survive as they can. If we are in their way...," said Gunzou, leaving the phrase unfinished.

"It is hard to understand their motivations. There is not a common mindset to understand them. But one thing is clear, they have, and they will, use violence to achieve their objectives," Richelieu stated a bit angry.

Gunzou looked at the mental model. "How are you?" he asked.

"I really hate to have installed olphatory sensors. I can't forget the memory of my crewmen charred flesh, Admiral. I want revenge...and I'm worried about my sisters," the mental model explained.

"Meaning?" asked Gunzou.

"They focused almost all their shots on me, Admiral, on my engines. They wanted to capture me," Richelieu said.

"I concur, Admiral. They could have dispersed their shots on us, but they wanted only one sample of us," Nagato admitted soberly. Joan d'Arc, silent until now, added, "we must be careful not to be catched by them. Our technology in their hands would be terrible for the galaxy."

Gunzou felt a very human coldness in his spine. Mankind and his allies, the Fleet, enjoyed the advantages of the superior technology from the girls. If they lose that edge, the machines will advance, and in a short time, who knows what they could achieve.

"They adapted their weapons to us, Admiral. The cubes had more powerful beam weapons than ten years ago," Nagato added.

"Understood. Alex is already making a new hull for you, Richelieu. Please compile a report for the Admiralty. I'm declaring a state of war, pending confirmation from the President and the High Council," Gunzou stated firmly. "Dismissed," he added.

For the first time since the Fleet had helped mankind to reach the stars, the Federation was preparing for a real war. The Cylon conflict looked small compared with this new enemy. More cylons and colonials had joined the Fleet, and so far, they had avoided shooting each other. Both battlestars, Pegasus and Avenger (the old BSG75 was rebautized) with the rebuilded Athena, were always protecting the Phoenix Colony while Cydonia Prime was protected by thirteen baseships The ships have been upgraded and modified by South Dakota and the cylon engineers.

The overall design was still there, but the two Y were rotated, and now they are aligned. A robust armor covered the central pylon, and the long arms were perfect to install long rail guns and main plasma guns. A limited shielding was installed, and corrosive warheads replaced one-third of the nuclear ones. Since they were part of the Federation, both old enemies were alerted of the new situation.

For the colonials, it was a shock. The machines will threaten them again. However, this time, they were ready. When they rebuilded their cities, every city was a ship. Since the jump drives can operate inside a gravity well, their cities could literally jump away from the planet.

The cylons had now a real motive of concern. Now they were organics. So, they were a target. The cylon population had grown more than the colonials, and an evacuation would be a mess.

Federation High Council.

As always, human politics was a bit complicated. The idea of war against real machines were scaring them. You couldn't expect mercy from such an enemy.

A councilman was asking aloud, "Why did we provoke them. That new species killed by them it is not our problem!" The caustic response came from the representative of Archangel Colony, "Would you be concerned if we knew about them after and attack on my world?"

"We don't need a war for nothing. They didn't attack us in ten years!," the first politician screamed to the assembly.

This time, Gretel, who has a permanent seat in the Council, stood up and stated, "The fact is they explained to Nagato they will take what they want. You can fight to survive, or you can evacuate your worlds before they find them."

Silence. The idea of starting an Exodus, like the Colonials did ten years ago, was painful. The certain that they would be leaving billions behind was worse. Somehow, that was what many councilmen needed to hear.

Everybody was still thinking about what to do. The representative of Phoenix spoke now, "Estimated Councilmen, you know I know what I'm talking about. We need to fight and exterminate these stupid machines that think we are just an inconvenience. We must send a proper military response and explain to them our will to fight."

With a few variations along this idea, the High Council approved the law declaring the war.