Record keeping: I give a heartfelt thank you for your patience and comments. A quick update. The eye surgery is deemed successful and should be healed in another 2-3 months. Then we will try something new! We have to be careful. Too many surgeries don't necessarily improve things and can cause more problems than it is trying to solve. But enough of that. I am here to respond to some questions. And, sorry about the wait. I can only do so much. First, Merry Christmas. A happy Hanukkah, and a wonderful Kwanzaa, all coming up in the immediate future. To all, celebrate well - and carefully.

Now, it took a while to write chapter 56 and get it at least partially readable. There were a lot of elements to consider and points of view. I almost did a full section on the Colonial infiltration of the Drakh cruiser and Halima getting injured (shot) and the Colonial marines experiencing Drakh versions of PPGs for the first time. I only touched on that, but I think I made the point and will leave it to the imagination of the readers at how bad it really was. And P.S. the Colonials grabbed as much as they could before advancing to the rear.

The Shadows are rightfully pissed. But as I mentioned before, I believe that their tech isn't as advanced as people believe. The Shadow crabs are very powerful but overrated. I mentioned before that a Narn antimatter mine injured one of their battlecrabs during a sneak attack. The Narn were considered the weakest of the major powers in the region. What does that say about Shadow advancements? Also, the Shadow planet killer is a wonderful waste of materiel. It is a terror weapon, plain and simple. It is designed for the slow kill, not efficiency.

Admiral Spikyness: The UCW did lose a few ships as their shields failed from the huge, huge amounts of firepower arrayed against them. It is a bad reality. But most of the ships don't have ZPMs. They have naquada-naquadria reactors and some with first generation ion power plants, a primitive form of power generation from the Asgard. A raider is the size of a 303. Most of the Drakh ships were raiders. 600 were capitals, and the other fourteen hundred or so were raiders. The Drakh lost 80% of their forces. But remember that the Drakh are a nomad race, not unlike the Zentraedi. What attacked Earth wasn't even a full fleet. But the loss of the PKs hurt them all. I estimate the Drakh have three full fleets which are now in the SGverse. Note: no shadow tech…too toxic.

The UCW has no intention of telling Earth Alliance or Clark anything about their capabilities. No sense giving them a heads up. No boasting. More on this later.

Theor94: no reactions yet but I will touch on that with Earth news blasting everything to the heavens at normal emissions speed. The UCw will see everything. The Ashtorath will see some of it as they are spying on the UCW, but details for them? No, They'll get just enough to scare them some more. They did not see the city ships in detail. Speaking of which, there are several ships, three already mentioned. I will explain why soon. But you can guess a certain replicator planet was destroyed in the Pegasus galaxy, but there was a lot that was left over from the explosion. And a lot of that was very useful.

The lizards are naked. The Asgard are developing clothing styles. See WW series for the reasons. Apparently, the new clone variants bodies have biological reactions to the opposite sex that can cause…difficulties. Therefore, clothing is a good thing.

The Colonial delegation fleet will return immediately and will see details of some of the battle lice from the Colonial ships on station. Most of the people on Earth will see it on the news, but not everything such as the city ships. Those shields fully blocked any details and they are still (somewhat) a secret, although conspiracy theorists insist, they do exist!

Again, the UCW has no intentions of showing or telling Earth Alliance what is happening or what they are about to face. They are blissfully ignorant that the Drakh and Shadows tried to take Earth out before EF could get there. The Shadows had no intentions of telling the EF that part of the plan as mentioned in the chapters.

Now, someone asked me about the different types of humans and why are they so different. My answer is:

I don't know.

I can speculate that the slightly different varieties are due to a seeding project of humanity and Earths across the galaxies, universes, and dimensions has to do with one group: not the progenitors, but the Preservers. I would speculate that they have copied and passaged entire Terran solar systems all over space and time. I would speculate that the ancient races such as the Alterans, Organians, Nox, Metrons, (Not Q), were products of this seeding. Time and Space are interconnected, and it doesn't matter when they did it, only that they did. It doesn't matter how old the human and ancestral variants are. It isn't important to a power that has the ability to travel anywhere and any when they want. I would speculate that basic biology 101 would be in place and that the Preservers made tiny alterations in the genome of humans because, after all, variety is the spice of life.

Then we consider that the Alterans, goa'uld, Vorlons, and Shadows played genetics with humanity on top of what the Preservers. Consider in the Farscape universe you have Humans (base), Peacekeepers, and I think two other variations of Humanity in that verse alone. All are derivatives of Human base stock. Those are just some examples. So. The bottom line is that I don't have a clue what the original Humanity came from, or what they really were.

I can only speculate.

And yes, the Pacifica is their go to place for manufacturing and support for equipment and ship building, etc. there is of course more, but revelation is for later.

Okay, I could go on, but it would take too much space. I will continue record keeping details later.

Please enjoy everyone as we shift directions a bit.

AlbertG

Roads Paved in Shadows

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Cyranus Star system

Caprica

Athena One Base

An hour after the visitation of the alien creature from a government calling itself the UCW, the entire base was still in a state of shock. Many of the people who witnessed the event were at the edge of panic. The image of a creature, an alien, whom people didn't believe in, had shocked the entire community. Most were unsure, having their worldview further disrupted. A few of the more religious -orientated Colonials were in a mild uproar. They were more accepting of war than aliens and refused to believe wasn't some kind of deception.

Several of the more religious conservatives were so upset of the very idea of non-Human, intelligent life existing in the universe, that one of them tried to destroy the communicator, which appeared from nowhere. It went against their beliefs, and they were not having it. Others stopped him, but the sentiment was deep, and the military would have to do something about it soon. Already, several religious leaders were demanding that the device be destroyed. An equally large group of Caprican and Piconese religious organizations were eager to learn more and were demanding the device be used and studied. The opinions and suggestions immediately enraged conservatives and heated argument erupted.

The whole spectacle was irrational, and embarrassing, but President Richard Adar understood their fears. This was completely outside their experience, and hungry, frightened people who didn't know if the next moment was their last… Well, he was surprised they were still as calm as they were.

President Adar was ushered into his secured quarters far enough away from the situation, for obvious security reasons. As a result, he had to rely on cameras and second-hand information. He wanted to see what happened in real time. He wanted to be there, representing the people of Kobol, up front and center. President Goesel was gone. The Quorum and most of the elected government were dead. The people needed to see him leading, for better or worse. His security detail dragged him away, just as the people needed to see him the most. It didn't matter that he seemed to age each day from stress. Everybody was aging. It was no excuse.

Ten minutes earlier, Admiral Corman and Lead Admiral Augustus Cain entered the Presidential office, and the three of them were already in deep discussion. Listening to what both men told him was all but unbelievable, but the proof was there on camera for all to see.

"And you trust this, this lizard creature alien to be telling the truth?" Adar asked incredulously. The creature wasn't ugly, but it was unnerving. To see something that actually resembled creatures designed in sci-fi videos was unnerving to say the least. It was one of the reasons why he couldn't quite believe his own eyes.

He wasn't the only one extremely suspicious.

"Sir, with respect, I wouldn't trust those words coming from my own mother, unless she was verified as telling the truth, by two different sources," Corman Coldly answered. "But several points of information were already confirmed by our independent sources. Scorpia, Tauron and, we believe, Aerilon, are effectively dead. The Earthers use their super nukes on those worlds, ripped the atmosphere from the planets, killed everyone. All of the other colonies have suffered nuclear attacks, including Caprica. But those were limited strikes. Picon and Caprica were not totally destroyed, not yet." Adar could see the look of absolute rage on the man's face. It mirrored his own. "The alien, however, said what we've already suspected. The Earthers know where Athena One is. They could hit us at any time."

"They haven't so far," grumbled Cain. "And I think I know why." Adar looked at the man. He was colder than at any time he'd ever seen him. "They want us to witness what they're doing. They're confident we can't do anything to stop them. They're rubbing our faces in it."

"The creature said Earth Alliance is not Earth, whom they call the Terran-Tau'ri. We've heard that name Tau'ri before from them. If it's true, then have we've been caught up in some kind of civil war between the Tau'ri and Earth Alliance?"

"Two Earth colony factions, at war with one another," Corman mused. He had thought of the same thing. "The creature didn't elaborate, but it sounds like it and it answers a few questions. But it doesn't add up."

"We don't have the facts yet," Cain hissed. "According to what the creatures said, if true, then this is what we do know. We've been attacked by an Earth splinter group. They had attacked the Cylons, in association with another government we haven't seen yet. The Earthers are taking everything they can get their hands on from the Colonies. And the Cylons as well. That makes them a huge military force. Their weapons are superior and we're barely holding our own. According to the creature, the Tau'ri are being attacked. It also said that the diplomatic fleet arrived safely to the Terran system." He began coughing as the stale air irritated his lungs. "My daughter," he announced, "and the rest of the fleet survives but is in the battle against the enemy attacking the Thirteenth Tribe, which the creature denies is them."

"Can we believe that?" Adar asked. "And if true, is the Earth Alliance the real Thirteenth Tribe and we are at war with our own Colonial brethren?"

"I don't know," Cain confessed, frowning. "I do know that the creature used Halima's name and Kunningham's, so it is possible it is some kind of civil war. It also left a type of communications device we can use to contact Kunningham in about twenty-four hours. When we talk to him, we will get some clarification."

"Why can't we call now?"

"I think it's because they're in a middle of a battle and don't need the distraction," Cain answered. "It might be the truth, or it could be a bunch of lies. The shields, and weapons are Thirteener. They match our records and previous contact. But…"

"The light speed technology is different from what we've seen the first time. The ships look different but have Earther script."

"This could be a very elaborate trick, with them giving us just enough of the truth to hide the facts," Adar said. "I can't accept the existence of aliens without more proof. That holograph could easily be a ruse."

"Yes," Corman agreed. "But the holograph knows exactly where we are. The Earthers must know as well. We have to prepare for emergency evac. Besides, with their capabilities and military strength, there's no need for such elaborate subterfuge.

"One of the problems that I do see, if the creature was telling us the truth," Corman allowed, "the Thirteenth, the ones the delegation fleet went to, may be too small to handle the forces coming against it. They may have those shielded patrol ships, and they might, and I repeat, might have alien allies, but they will not have enough to defend against a dedicated strike against them." Shaking his head, he continued. "I cannot believe I used the word alien. I do not believe that they will be in any shape to come, no matter how fast their FTL drives are. And they have to be extremely fast for the Thirteenth ship to be here, unless, it was already here in the area, spying on the Colonies.

"That is likely as well, but it doesn't account for it knowing the small personal details of the diplomatic fleet." Augustus glared at no one in particular as he finished his train of thought. "They might have better comms than we do. Either way, we might have just run out of time."

Richard blanched as everything clicked. "That means we will have to abandon the Colonies," gasped Adar. "We can't do that."

"We may not have a choice. The orders to attack the Scorpia shipyards have been issued and confirmed. These Earthers won't take it lightly. They could burn another Colony just for spite. I don't want to run," he hissed. "I need to stay and fight. But I need something to fight with. Admiral Taxia's fleet will hit the yards, and there will be casualties. I estimate we'll lose half our assets. We don't know what forces we have left. They're scattered and will need to resupply at one of our secluded bases. We take what we can and head in the same direction that the delegation fleet went. We'll find Earth and find out the truth. Either way, this is their fault! If they're guilty, I promise you I will find a way to make them pay," Cain yelled, enraged further than he was earlier. "We may be able to, and I stress the word, 'maybe,' save about three percent of the population."

"Three percent of what's left," Adar almost moaned. He straightened up, gathering himself. "First, we wait twenty-four hours and see if we can contact Kunningham with that device. Then we can commit. Meanwhile, the Evac operation is a go. Start final preparations. Get the word out as best we can. After the Scorpia shipyards are destroyed, we will leave."

"And what if the Tau'ri come?" Corman sneered. "With alien lizards?"

He didn't believe the creature was speaking the truth. And even if it was the truth, the Terrans were too small a force to make a real difference. But it was possible. If the delegation fleet had accomplished something. Under Kunningham's authority as the supreme commander of the Thirteen Tribes, he could gather enough forces. He might have united them under one banner. If the aliens were real, then that was another matter. Better for them not to come. Humanity was already panicked as it was."

"They might be useful," Cain said. "If they want to help, all the better. I don't have a problem with them," sniffed Cain. "I do have a problem with the Tau'ri for pushing this mess on us in the first place. The Terrans owe us big time. The blood of billions is on their hands! They're one of ours and I swear to Zeus and all of his illegitimate children, we'll make them pay restitution for the next thousand years!"

"You do realize that they might not be responsible for this. If they are being attacked, then they are suffering as well. We know Kunningham would never allow Earth to fall, not with the resources he has available to add to the fight," Adar said. "By all accounts, Earth resources are limited. The enemy may have overwhelming firepower specific for Earth possibly one hundred fifty to two hundred ships at most. Earth and its allies along with Frankus' battlestar fleet should be able to help keep the destruction to a minimum. Then Earth's allies," he waved his hands. "I know, I know. If they do exist and come to Earth's aid, I am sure they will survive. If Kunningham's manages to organize, the Tau'ri use their limited assets correctly, they might survive their own war. They will be beholden to him and to us for helping save their world. At the very least, it could strengthen any bond our people have forged with them."

"With whatever forces they have left?" asked a skeptical Corman.

"The lizard said they could deal with it and were coming to help," Adar countered. "We need all the help we can get. It looked to me as though they really hate the Earth Alliance." He paused for a moment. "What if this Earth Alliance is the real Thirteenth, and we've been mistaken all along?"

Cain's laugh was bitterly cynical. If that's true… What a mess! One thing at a time. Let's see what Kunningham has to say. Throw in some clarity."

Corman huffed. "We'll see in a day from now."

"Yes," Adar slowly whispered. "The Earth Alliance has killed too many of our people already. I don't think they will stop, Thirteenth or not." Adar knew his eyes looked haunted. How could they not be? "Admirals, please start the evac procedures. We have to save what's left of our people while we can."

"Yes sir," answered both men.

Cyranus Cluster

Colonial Cylon Border

Acting admiral William 'Husker' Adama, commander of the battlestar Erétris, and a small surviving fleet joined the Fourteenth Fleet under Admirals Branchius Taxia and Helena Cain, onboard the battlestar. Hostile challenge was sent and acknowledged, and the survivors joined the rest of the border fleet. Adama's initial report to Taxia caused the admiral to immediately order Adama to the Battlestar Horizon. An hour later, onboard, all three flags and their senior officers were crammed into the smallish Admiral's quarters.

Eight hours had passed since Cain had arrived with her squadron. Both admirals were pleased that Adama had survived and joined them with his small squadron, but the news he just passed on to them gave everyone a fresh new wave of headaches to worry about. What Adama told them about his encounter with the Cylons hadn't come as the surprise he believed it would be.

"The Thirteenth have aliens working with them," he finished.

If Helena's wrist wasn't throbbing so much, she would have slammed her fists on the desks. She didn't dismiss anything the man had just said. It wasn't fantasy. It was confirmation mixed with a new form of dread. Aliens awe real, and the Colonies, and er the hated Cylons, had been invaded by them with Earth's blessings!

Both admirals were utterly enraged at the Thirteenth's audacity in daring to hurt the Colonies and thereby Humanity in such a manner.

"So, this is how we find out that aliens are real!" snarled Cain. Things were fitting together. Taxia's report, the Cylon revelation, the vids of the phasing dead alien the Cylons had transmitted to them, the Cylons terror. Things were worse than any one of them had thought possible. "I am still surprised that the Cylons didn't attack you. It was the perfect opportunity. With their numbers, you were easy pickings."

"They're too busy running to care about us," Adama answered as he shook his head in quiet relief. "They don't blame us for attacking them, so they didn't start a fight. I also think they were trying to conserve their supplies."

"They didn't want to waste ammunition killing us. How nice of them," Taxia hissed. He was in his early fifties but looked older. His tall, lean features seemed to be weighed down by the events of the last few weeks. Like Cain, he was from Tauron, a now dead world. His home and family, everything on his world was gone and he couldn't grieve, not yet. "And they didn't take everything from Ragnar. And left the crew alive? That's not like them at all. The toasters must be really scared."

"Don't attribute emotions to those circuits," said Cain. "They understand logic, and it's telling them to run." She was thoughtful now. "They gave away their greatest military secret," the woman snarled. "They look like Humans, real Humans. There was no way they would have revealed that secret unless they were truly running." It was a small proof that the toasters were telling the truth. She was upset now. If they were really running, then one day they could come back and menace Humanity again. "I wanted to be the one who helped exterminate those walking circuits forever. But I won't shed any tears if they are going after the Thirteenth, either."

"Not unless we get to them first," growled Admiral Taxia. "And kill them all for what they did to the Colonies." Everyone in the room nodded grimly.

"Before we kill them all, I want to know the reason why they're doing this in the first place," Adama murmured. "Their ship got away years ago, with us taking the worst of it. It should have been over," he said to the others. "Look at what's happening. They have too many ships in our home system, and they used aliens to help them. With their weapons, which was overkill. They are taking everything they can get their hands on, but they have new resources constantly coming in.

Taxia was nodding in agreement. He was thinking the same thing. "this wasn't a simple pirate attack by the Thirteenth. This isn't a conquest of our system. They killed our worlds just because they could, but it doesn't make sense, if this was for conquest. Destroying worlds just because one can, is cost ineffective.""

"Unless this isn't a simple assault on the Colonies," Cain continued. "They're using the Colonies as a staging area, the Cylon territories, too," she concluded. "They're going after someone else, something bigger."

"That would be my guess," Adama said, "with overwhelming firepower. And another question is the number of resources they have. For a small colony, how is this even possible?"

The officers were quiet for a long time.

"Who would they need to fight using that much firepower?" Cain asked. "Their target must be huge!" she paused in thought for a moment as her mind whirled. "Would those people be possible allies to us?"

"Not if they're aliens," Taxia snapped. "We would know nothing about them or their culture. They may be as bad as the Thirteenth, or worse. But what I can't get my head around is how badly we misjudged the Thirteenth. Their resources are far above any of our wildest projections."

"Well, we'll find out when we capture a few of them." Cain promised. "I'll get every last drop of information from them. We will know everything there is to know about those traitors."

There was another pause before Colonel Tigh, who had been silent throughout the exchange, spoke. "Do we have enough nukes to destroy the shipyard before the Thirteenth can strip it dry?"

Adama looked at Saul for a moment, grateful that his words put them back on track.

Taxia answered. "The Fourteenth is fully stocked and can do the job three times over," he said. But he looked concerned. "We can do it, but I am concerned about the Thirteenth. Why haven't they attacked us? They must know we're here. I know we have to be considered a threat to their rear."

"The longer they stay away from us, the better off it will be for our mission."

Tigh was deep in thought. "Could they be afraid of that spider thing?" he asked. "Maybe they know something about it that we don't. They might not want to get near or antagonize it." Both Helana and Branchius blew out identical breaths. That was a disturbing idea. "What if that thing is marking out territory, and the Thirteenth knows about it?"

Taxia didn't even want to think about the black spider floating in space. Only the gods knew what something like that could do. That nightmare was only visible once, but once was enough. Time to change the subject.

"The Fourteenth is strong enough to hit the shipyards," he stated. "Our other ships are in various states of disrepair. We can make repairs, but that extends our window of opportunity to an unacceptable level. I don't think we have that much time left. I estimate we have about three days at most before they come after us. They want our ships. We're one of the largest concentrations of functional vessels. We're a potential thorn. They will come for us sooner rather than later."

On the Battlestar Horizon, planning came to a screeching halt when alarms began screaming. Immediately, the Colonial fleet went to Condition One. All three admirals rushed to C as the executive officer was already starting to explain.

"We're getting a tight band signal bouncing off our communications array. Extremely powerful. Very close. DRADIS doesn't see anything. Alert vipers report negative contacts. All ships are active. No one is seeing anything!"

"Have we received any direct communication?"

"Negative, Admiral. Whoever it is, wants to let us know they're around."

"How long?"

"Four minutes."

Cain looked at Taxia. "They want to talk."

Taxia stared daggers at communications, and DRADIS. This entire situation smacked of a trap. DRADIS couldn't see anything, but transmissions indicated they were close, very close.

"No response to hostile challenge. Definitely not one of ours." The communications officer paused, focused on his headset."

"Voice contact, Caprican standard!"

Earth Alliance never used Caprican standard according to the files. They knew of the language, but the language was new to them, and it was sluggish, not like what the COMO was listening to.

"Put it on."

"Colonial vessels, this is the UCW George Hammond. Repeat, this is the UCW George Hammond, General Samantha Carter commanding. Do you copy?"

Taxia, Cain, and Adama looked confused and highly suspicious.

"We do not acknowledge your UCW designation. Identify yourself or we will treat this as a hostile contact and respond accordingly," the admiral harshly returned.

A few seconds later: "I am Lieutenant General samatha Carter, commander of this ship, the UCW George Hammond, establishing contact with CDF Horizon. Your scanning systems will not see or pinpoint our position unless we allow it. We have observed the situation in your home system and have come to investigate and initiate contact with your leaders. My government is very unhappy with the events occurring and will address this problem and render aid to the Colonies of Kobol."

Taxia was more confused. He had no idea of who or what the UCW was and wasn't pleased that whoever it was, they were playing cat and mouse with a Colonial fleet with impunity. He was about to demand to know what the UCW was before he lost his temper with this unknown. He suspected it was the enemy the Earth Alliance was gathering its forces to go against. Before he could speak, General Carter continued.

"You are hearing this message in your standard language via our translation system. The UCW is an acronym for the United Coalition of Worlds. The UCW consists of Humans, near-Humans, and aliens who have come together for mutual commerce, science, economic, technological, and military defense in our area of space. You may know one of the worlds. That planet is the founder of the UCW; Earth or Tera, also known as the Tau'ri." There was absolute silence from the Colonial side, but from the increased energy emissions from all ships, Carter knew she had gotten their attention. "You now understand why we are remaining effectively invisible to your DRADIS systems for purposes of this contact."

Taxia was about to order weapons free. They had to be close. Random firing could reveal their presence. Their stealth system was more than impressive, but a lucky shot could reveal their location. Vipers were swarming the area and also in defensive positions waiting to strike at the unknown wherever it was.

Horizon, This is a Terran ship. We are not connected with those attacking your worlds. The Earth Alliance is another… faction who discovered you and your Cylon associates. The Earth Alliance's main objective is to come after us. Your people are collateral damage. Your technology is something they can use for their own purposes while they use the Cyrannus system as a staging point for their attack against Earth."

Cain was bouncing to grab the mike from Taxia. The man recognized the silent order she was the senior lead and, if somewhat reluctantly, he acceded to her request. Adama was quiet, taking in everything.

"You expect us to believe what you've just told us?" she barked over the mike. She was being exceptionally cool, playing for time while her ships tried to burn through the stealth field. "Your people have killed billions and you come here, lying, trying to have us lower our guard. It won't work. When we find you, I promise you will pay for everything that you've done to us!"

"Admiral Cain," Carter responded. "You must be related to Lieutenant General Halima Cain. Both of you use the same intonations when speaking." Those words stopped Helena cold. Her anger started to rise once more. How dare this…

"The diplomatic fleet consisting of Admiral Kunningham, Frankus C, Lieutenant General Halima Cain, in charge of the Colonial Marines, and Ambassador Genyne Isahan, and their fleet arrive four weeks ago in the Terran sol system. Our contact with your fleet was not perfect. We almost came to blows, as our allies were the first ones to intercept them. They were not used to alien contact. A fight was avoided, and the ships were escorted to Earth. We are in a state of war with an unidentified enemy. That enemy's been is identified as the same who attacked your Cylon associates. We discovered they are working with Earth Alliance. The battle is raging in the Sol system and the Coalition combat group at Earth, is protecting the delegation fleet. Your military escorts are participating in the fighting on a limited basis, as their priority is the protection of the diplomatic fleet. The diplomatic meetings themselves, are proceeding slowly, and let me make this clear, Earth is not interested in unifying with the Colonies of Kobol. I am now relaying this message directly from the leaders of my government and the UCW. We are not your Thirteenth Tribe, and we are not subjected to the rules and regulations of your Colonial government, no matter what your opinions and beliefs are to the contrary."

Cain began calming down. The amount of information given was intriguing. But their ignorance concerning the Colonies was appalling. How could they not know who they truly were? "How can Earth survive such an attack? "You are only one world. You can't have the resources to defend your world against what was done to the Cylons."

"You're fishing for information. That's fine," Carter answered easily. "Your Cylon associates tracked your fleet. One of our patrol ships intercepted them and, during talks, they tried to nuke our UCW ship. We wiped them out. Those ships include their capitals, a troop carrier, transports, fuel tanker, and a mining ship. We capture survivors, both mechanical and clones. You may not be aware, but the Cylons have evolved into Humaniforms. Unless you have the technology to detect them, you can't tell them from normal Humans."

Adama went blank for a moment, then slowly nodded to Taxia. It was confirmation.

"Kunningham wanted to interrogate them, but we will not allow this, not with your attitudes."

But they're Cylons!" gulped an angered Cain. "We need to find out what they know. You have no right to stop us from protecting our people! And don't you dare call them 'our Cylon associates!"

"Our prisoners, our rules. This discussion between your diplomats and ours has been held numerous times, and we will not repeat that argument again here. What you also need to know is that the UCW has several alien races as part of our government. Three are reptilian. One is, for the purposes of this meeting, semi reptilian, who will probably join our government soon. One species is Humanoid, but not of Human origin. One is completely alien, but a valued friend. And we have semi-Humans, people who were kidnapped by aliens genetically altered thousands of years ago. And, of course, independent Human worlds. We are a coalition. We are coming, so get used to the idea and be ready. We don't want you to have collective heart attacks when we come. And no, we will not stay with you Colonials. You will need a lot of time to adjust to us and our ways. That was made clear to us through your diplomatic fleet."

Taxia was back online. "And you expect us to believe this load of crap?"

Carter's face didn't so much as twitch. "Look at the Cylon sector. The evidence is there. We have contacted your people at your main base in Caprica." The newly minted general could see the shock reverberate across the monitor as they absorbed what she said. "Yes, we know where your hidden base is and we suspect Earth Alliance does, too. They hadn't attacked it yet, but they are in danger. We know that President Clark, the leader of Earth Alliance, is a megalomaniac. We know he is looking for Earth, and our power sources that your people are desperately trying to negotiate for. We also believe that he will wipe out the Colonies as soon as he gets what he wants. Our sources have told us that he never leaves an enemy or potential enemy alive to stab him in his back. As far as we can tell, Earth Alliance didn't know where Earth was located. You were not aware of this either. however, their allies found and attacked us, so the secret's out now."

Helena was still highly suspicious, but her temper was cooling. The short conversation had given them a wealth of information, not that she trusted any of it. But it was more than tantalizing. "When will your forces make it here?"

"It took your diplomatic fleet a year and a half to find us. It will take them nine months to return now that the path is established. When we leave to come to the Cyranus star system, it will take us a day and a half." Samantha was proud of herself. She hadn't smirked.

Admiral Cain gritted her teeth to keep from having her mouth drop open in complete shock.

"Yes, you have underestimated us. This is the reason when this situation is resolved, the UCW and Colonies of Kobol will take time for everything to be absorbed. We were thinking fifty to one hundred years, but we may move a little faster towards an alliance of some type. We are sending you a communications unit with instructions on how to use it. We gave one to your President and you can use it to communicate privately to them immediately. You will be able to speak to the diplomatic fleet in about twenty hours. They should have the time then to speak to you. Do not trust Earth Alliance. They will destroy you. We are leaving. We need to speak to the Cylons and inform them what's happening."

"They're Cylons, you can't! Colonial regulations forbid non-official contact with the toasters," Taxia yelled, standing behind Cain.

"The situation with them is more complicated than you know," Carter claimed. "And the UCW will do what is best for the UCW. Two of our ships have been authorized to remain in the area. We will be in touch."

A medium-sized object appeared from nowhere onto the situation table next to Admiral Taxis, to lots of gasps and a few screams. He couldn't believe it. It was as if it was teleported there from somewhere else.

"DRADIS contact! One half kilometer from our bow! They're the size of our light destroyers!"

All three admirals were at the scanners system in an instant. They saw two large targets, similar to what they'd seen fifteen years earlier, but larger. Both ships accelerated at speeds that would humiliate a viper. They plunged into a bright tear in the fabric of space and were gone. Gunnery couldn't begin to track them.

"They were right on top of us," Cain gulped. "They were right on top of us, and we didn't see them, not even our vipers. How is that even possible?"

"We were completely vulnerable to attack." Taxia stared at the device. "I'll have our engineers check this thing, make sure it's not a bomb."

"Should we use it?" a cautious Adama asked. He was the one who saw the device appear.

I'll think about it," Cain said.

She needed some time to go over everything she'd heard. She floated in a sea of complications, and she wondered why those Terrans, who claimed not to be the ones attacking them, wanted to talk to the Cylons. Didn't they know the dangers of dealing with those monsters? Helena Cain reverently hoped they wouldn't die, before they answered her questions.

Seventy-Five Light-Years From Hentis sector

The Hentis sector was a last bastion of safety for the Cylon remnant, located at the very edge of Cylon claimed territory. Rally Point Omega was abandoned before Earth Alliance and their aliens swarmed the area. Hentis sector was no longer viable as a place of safety. The remnants left the sector. There was no place of safety. The Cylon survivors could only run. But before they could continue, they needed to confer with each other, to make decisions that would affect every one of them, whether organic or metallic. Every Cylon ship able to come, was there already. All were in tight beam communication with one another as they attempted to chart their next course of action. The discussion amongst the Senior members representing the different lines was tense and becoming increasingly volatile.

"No, no," Caprica Six shook her head violently at the suggestion. "If we head in the same direction then, we may find our brothers and sisters. But we might run into Earth forces, and they'll kill us all, or enslave us. Didn't you hear what the transmission said? They have use for machines like us." That sent a shiver of fear down the collective spines of everyone listening. "We don't know how long or how far they've traveled," the tall blond huffed. "For all we know, they may still be out there, tracking the Colonial fleet. Or worse, they found Earth and were slaughtered! It could have been our own actions that started this war!"

"That might be true," conceded Richard Cavil, a number One series Cylon. "Our mere presence could have triggered this. But think about this. We don't have anywhere else to go, no choice but to follow them," Richard argued back. "And you're right, it is a risk. But we don't have any other direction available to us to go."

"And whose fault is that?" Caprica yelled. "John was so busy playing his little games, We have no idea what the status of our fleet was. We only have the vaguest idea of the general direction!" she sputtered. "He kept everything to himself! We barely know what direction the Colonials or our fleet took, let alone if they were even close to finding Earth. He's screwed us!"

"We all know that now," Lenita, an Eight, spat. "We also know if our brothers had found Earth and nuked it, he would have been gloating and bouncing around all over the place. The fact that he wasn't, and wasn't in a funk, means he didn't have that knowledge and didn't want to be embarrassed by admitting that it was taking longer than expected. We all know how he was."

"You mean completely crazy? We know now, especially when he tried to kill us all in some stupid fantasy suicide dream of his, to deny Earth the Colonies. Never mind that Earth was killing the Colonials left and right."

"He wasn't that crazy. I bet he had plans for his own survival," the Eight told everyone. "We'd all be gone. and he'd still be around in some form. Do you know how many times I tried to delete his pattern? At least eight times!" she said, answering her own question. "It kept reconstructing itself. And when I think about it, that's why his pattern was still in the buffer when everyone else was lost. I had to have help in deleting his pattern! And this is the One we wanted to lead us? I don't understand it."

"God, I hate him!"

"Well, I do know why we followed him," Richard said, looking bitter and embarrassed. "John secretly programed us to follow his orders. It's the only possibility. He made himself our leader, and we just accepted it. That is why we were submissive to him!" The man was livid. "Who knows what else he programmed into us!? We need to find out. We can do that on our journey. But we need to decide where we're going. Follow the fleet and try to find Earth…"

"And kill it," Natalie Three snapped.

"…And kill it, "he agreed. "Or, go in a different direction, and take our chances?"

"I vote to follow the same course as our brothers and sisters," Leoben Conoy, the leader of his line, said. "They may be okay, and if so, we will have a chance. Plus, we can use our subspace equipment to contact them. They are far out, and the signal will take time to reach them and for them to reply. The encrypted transmissions will not be intercepted. We know Earth doesn't use subspace technology. They're using tachyons, if you can believe that."

Arron Doral, a number Five shook his head. "But what about those things, the aliens?" The usually stone-faced Cylon actually shivered. "We can't beat them, and we might end up between Earth and those aliens."

"We can't blame John for this," muttered Richard.

"Yes, we can," Caprica yelled. "Look, I don't want to find Earth, not as we are now. I propose a compromise. We can travel part of the way and then split off in another direction, if we cannot contact our brethren. Logic says we will have to let them go after a certain point."

"Like we did our people in our own backyard?" asked Tanya Three.

Caprica felt like she had been slapped. "That's not fair! We couldn't help them. We were too busy fighting for our lives."

"And running," the Three added. She looked utterly miserable. "There was nothing we could do. I'm not blaming anybody. But I keep hearing them screaming for help and all we could do was run."

Lenita was angrier than she had been earlier. "I want those Humans to suffer. I want them to feel everything we feel before we kill them all."

Richard looked equally miserable. He also wanted revenge, but all of these dreams of revenge were just that. Dreams. Even if they found Earth, their forces would run all over them just like they did the Colonials. Or maybe they would let their pet monsters have fun with them. No, he'd never let that happen.

"The more I think about it, the more I actually like Caprica's compromise. I vote we head in the direction of the pursuit squad. We'll keep trying to contact them. If we can't contact them, then we change direction… and take our chances."

"We'll take a formal vote when we finish refueling," Tanya said. "We are much too close to our territory for comfort. We need to get some distance between us and those animals. We also need to repair our resurrection ship in transit. We lose it and we might as well give up and die."

A Leoben glared at his fellow Cylons. "I don't want to die," he said as stoically as he could. "Not unless I can take a few thousand Humans with me."

"If I never see another Human, ever, I'll be happy," Lisa Three spoke.

"No aliens, either" the Eight added.

Richard hadn't said, but he wholeheartedly agreed with their sentiments. "We finish refueling and resupplying all ships and then put some serious distance between us and this area of space. To those who actually believe in the One God, start praying now. We need every bit of help we can get." He was being only slightly sarcastic.

Five hours later, the Cylon survivors began their flight. Naturally, John hadn't kept notes and what he did have were highly encrypted digital electronic diary located in a hidden compartment in his small but surprisingly comfortable room onboard the lead flagship. It would take days to break the encryption; however, the other Ones got together to piece what few hints of information John had shared with them. From that brainstorming, the data pointed to a probable direction that the Colonials and their own fleet had taken. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

They were another hundred light-years from Hentis when disaster struck. As with so many of their basestars, the FLT drive unit overheated and started melting down. The tylium fuel began to overheat, causing an automatic ejection protocol to activate. The jump engine was ejected, saving engineering from the explosion that followed. That left only one functional jump engine. The damage was significant, but not catastrophic. However, it would take time to repair before V229 could continue and keep up.

The failure was an ongoing problem in the new design. The tylium had to be properly filtered before use and the intake and control systems cleaned after no more than fifteen jumps. They were aware of the defect and were working on a solution before the war. The Centurions were tasked with doing the cleaning, but there hadn't been time since the exodus. The cleaning procedure took several hours. Nevertheless, the near explosion and resultant damage was a bitter reminder for them all to maintain proper maintenance. They couldn't afford to lose any ships.

Tylium was extremely toxic and the Humaniforms couldn't do the job without layers of protection, so the centurions were tasked with the job. While the Cylons monitored their progress. Several tense hours later, the damage was repaired, and the basestar was prepped to single jump engine use, until the new jump engine could be installed.

Richard, Caprica and Natali were hard at work, trying to divine a possible route that the Colonial delegation fleet might have taken, using the meager information they had when their alarm systems went active.

"Contact, I mean partial contact," a confused and almost panicked Siman O'Neil yelled through the comms. "I don't know what this ism" he continued, but DZRADIs have detected something. Condition One set!"

"Is it the aliens? Caprica almost screamed. "Is it the Earthers?"

"I don't know!" the man roared back. Jump engine spin cycle starting now. "

We're getting a signal. We're being contacted! Caprican standard! Tight beam. Subspace! Very powerful."

"This is the UCW vessel George Hammond. We are non-hostile. To the Cylon fleet, we need to talk, and there's not much time. There is a Drakh fleet homing in on your position Estimated time of arrival, two hours. They are using a grid pattern to track you."

Richard was online. "Who are you? Identify yourself!" He was frightened DRADIS couldn't detect anything in nearby space that wasn't Cylon.

"Listen carefully. Save your questions until after I finish. We are part of the UCW, named the United Coalition of Worlds. We just recently discovered that you and the Colonials were attacked by Earth Alliance and by aliens we know as the Drakh. We have confirmed that they are working together. They are interested in your technology and resources. That's the simple explanation.

The complex explanation is that Earth Alliance is not the Tau'ri. The UCW was created by Humans from Earth, near Humans, and allies coming together. I am Terran, also called the Tau'ri. We did not attack you or the Colonials. In fact, I will make this clear. We are not the Thirteenth Tribe, no matter your beliefs. We were also content to stay out of your local dispute between you and the Kobollians. However, your fleet attacked one of our ships during First Contact talks. A Cylon clone of the Leoben series, under the orders of your leader John, A One, had given secret orders to take the initiative if your original plan appeared to be in jeopardy.

We responded and your entire fleet was destroyed. But we didn't kill all of your people or your AI robots. They are prisoners, but they are not slaves and we planned to return them to you. But they're not sure they want to return.

I am now addressing John Cavil, leader of the Cylon people. your actions caused an incident that could have started a war between the UCW and the Cylon people. everything we have heard from both the clones and AI's shows you cannot be trusted. The Cylons and centurions' are afraid that you would box or delete them to keep them from allowing them to tell their side of the story. The robots either want to kill you or free their enslaved fellow robots. But they fear that you would place the inhibitors on them, turning them into slaves, something you fear more than anything else, which is kind of ironic, considering your fears of servitude to Humans. We also know that you programmed some of your own people, specifically the Leoben, to override the number Ones and that got your people killed because of your hatred of Humans. We also know that you have added programming to the other clones as a means of control and influence, and your desire for power over your fellow Cylons.

The UCW doesn't trust you, and we will not come to any agreement with you because of your duplicitous nature. We are not unifying with the Colonials, and we may come to some agreements with them, but not now. Furthermore, the same forces attacking you have attacked the UCW. We were the primary target. You and the Colonies were targets of opportunity. Earth Alliance found you and will use your territory as a staging ground to attack Earth. The aliens are another story and are part of a much wider conflict that began before our first ship encountered the Colonials. We would have talked to your fleet, perhaps come to an agreement and the Colonies would have had nothing to say about it. However, You, John, destroyed all of that as well as any trust that might have developed between you and the UCW. John cavil, we don't have time for your games. If you enter our territory while following your fleet, we will know, and if anything happens to any UCW property, we will stop you permanently."

Richard and Caprica were already responding. They listened in shock at what was said. Most of it sounded like fantasy, but too much truth was in that little speech. Both Cylons had come to the same conclusion almost immediately.

"To UCW ship, John Cavil is no longer leader of the Cylon people. John Cavil is dead. But you're Human. Why should we believe you? Humans have tried to destroy us countless times. You have broken your agreements and violated our territories. Why should we believe you Terrans? You're all alike."

"I have heard what the Colonials have done, violating your territories, just like you did theirs," Admiral carter added. "We've talked to the delegation fleet and your survivors. You both are so much alike, it isn't funny. And you're both so closed-minded that it takes the proverbial hammer to get things through your thick skulls. We will not go through this again. We don't have the time. When we finish with the aliens attacking us, we will come here and make the Earth alliance wish they had never heard of us. Then you two can go back to trying to kill each other. I do feel sorry for the Cylon people. you have programming issues, done by one of your own. The Colonials don't have that excuse. Be warned. If you come into our territory, come in peace. And I suggest you avoid this area of space," Carter said, sending to them a set of coordinates. "The aliens and people there make Earth Alliance and the Drakh look tamed."

Why should we believe anything you say? You haven't given us any real proof," Caprica told Carter. "This could all be a lie."

On DRADIS, two ships appeared one hundred thousand kilometers from the Cylon fleet. Visuals appeared, and the Cylons saw an older blonde with short hair, dressed in an unfamiliar uniform. "We are far enough away to keep you from being tempted to attack us, like your relatives did. You and the Kobollians always demand proof but have problems showing proof yourselves. Both of you believe in your Holy Scrolls, but to be honest, that isn't scientific proof. It's something someone wrote on papyrus thousands of years ago with nothing solid to back it up. We've shown the Colonials hard proof of who we are, and the delegation fleet is still having a difficult time reconciling what they are seeing as compared to what they believe they know. Your people are the same." Carter turned her head sideways and then nodded. "One of our allies, a part of the UCW, wishes to speak to you."

Seconds later, the Collective Cylon consciousness went into shock, followed by confusing and, in some cases, horror. Shiplord Straha, his eyes moving every which way, addressed them. Samantha knew the Lizardian was being dramatic while struggling to keep from laughing out loud.

"Greetings to you almost-Tosevites from another world," he said, speaking louder than usual through the translator. "I am Shiplord Straha, a proud member of the Empire of the Race and allied with the United Coalition of Worlds. I am pleased this discourse is more civilized than my previous encounter with your pursuit fleet. To clarify, Yes, I am what you would refer to as an alien. There are thirty-five billion of us stretched across four worlds. The actions of a few of your Cylon faction caused me to wreck your fleet. But we did not kill all of your people. And other allies of ours saved your surviving hybrids and transferred their consciousness to cloned bodies without implants. They are at a very early stage of development, approximately one and a half standard years. Their memories were erased so that they would not grow unstable. They'll start from the beginning, as does all life. They are being cared for by the Cylon not-Tosevites, Gregor designate One, Merceda designate Eight. They are responsible for caring and rearing the children. The children are protected from Samnar Leoben, who wishes to harm them. And your Cylon faction does not wish John to have any contact with them because they fear he would experiment and kill them for his own purposes. I tell you this because not all Humans are the same as you no doubt believe. Life is complex and needs to be shared, not assumed. I Straha have come to this conclusion dealing with the Humans, non-Humans, and alien factions that comprise the UCW. It is a challenge to the very core of my liver, but it does appear to be working."

"This isn't a trick?" asked Richard. "You're a real alien? You're not like the others we saw."

The man could barely put together a coherent sentence. Caprica was still in a state of shock. Tanya took over.

"If you are an alien, why haven't the Humans destroyed or enslaved you?" she, like the others, couldn't comprehend Humans co-existing with anything other than Humans.

"You look, but you do not see," Straha announced. "Yes, I am what you would call alien. And what the Nox have said about your people is truth. You and the Kobollian factions only have each other. You are limited and you Cylons are a race designated for extermination by your own actions. Cloning ultimately is a dead-end survival tactic. The Asgard have discovered this. If you are to live, then you must open your eyes. If you come in peace, we or others may not be forced to send you to the afterlife. Your worlds are destroyed. If you come to our territory in peace, you have much to gain. We can cure your sterility problem. You can live as people, not clones. I speak truth!

"How can we trust something like you?" Richard blurted out. These people and aliens knew far too much about the Cylons, and it scared him.

Samantha was back on screen. "You can trust us as much as we can trust you or the Colonials. Trust must be earned. Just because we're Human doesn't mean we hate you. To be clear, we have destroyed artificial intelligences before. We weren't given any options and compared to them; you are only a minor nuisance. If you track your fleet and enter our territory, show respect and you will be treated with respect. The dead worlds you will pass along the way were the result of Goa'uld fighting over territory. Beware of them. If they find you, slavery will be the least of your problems. We are leaving now, and I suggest you do the same. Neither one of us wishes the Drakh to find us. Hopefully, we will meet again in peace."

Both ships turned and were gone as they plunged into hyperspace in a manner the Cylons had never seen before. They were more confused and terrified than ever.

"Well," Richard muttered. "That was disturbing. In light of what we heard, should we continue to follow the fleet or try a new direction now?"

"Let's jump first and discuss everything when we have a few more light years between us and those other aliens and Earth Alliance."

"Caprica, did you believe what that Human told us?"

The blonde looked off as if she were staring through the walls of the command center. "I don't know. I have to think about it."

"Well, I think we should take a chance and continue in the direction we think our fleet went," Natalie suggested. She was quiet and thoughtful. And the others took notice.

"Why?" Caprica asked curiously. "We may be heading into a trap. Humans lie. Why should these be any different?"

"Didn't you notice?" asked Natalie. Lenita and Doral, one of the more hostile of the Cylon models, slowly nodded. Nat gave him the eye. "She spoke to us like we mattered. Yes, there was mistrust and Human arrogance. But I saw it in her eyes. We are threats to them, but she talked to us like we were people, not machines, not filth. The Colonials have never done that, not to the mechanicals and not to us."

"True," Caprica admitted as she thought about it. She was contemplative now. "Adama looked at me and saw his enemy, a nothing to be destroyed. The other Colonials on screen were terrified of us."

"And disgusted by our very existence. There wasn't any hatred in General Carter's eyes, only determination and warning. She didn't fear us because we're different."

Richard began laughing. "You want to risk our lives because of that?" he asked everyone. "Hey, Leoben, according to them, your lines fired on them while we were in open communication with their ship. Do you want to go and encounter them and see if they can distinguish between you and the models that started a running battle with them?"

Leoben didn't look pleased at the prospect.

"She admitted that they destroyed the pursuit fleet. Do you know what that means?" he asked them all, as he sank heavily into a nearby chair. "The resurrection ship is gone! We only have one left. We die, there's no coming back–ever."

Natalie gave Leoben and the two Dorals, dark looks. "We hate Humans we don't even know and sometimes I wonder why," she announced to them. When I try to understand why, I lose my train of thought and only the hatred remains. This UCW could have killed all of our people, but according to the general, they hadn't. and notice she used the phrase, our people, not robots, not filth, not Cylons, as if the word was a curse."

Richard was angry, but also thinking about what was said. "She claimed that this UCW had Cylon prisoners, both clones and Centurions. I can't wrap my head around that. Why didn't they just kill them all? That's what the colonials would have done. We would do the same thing, after we extracted as much information from the flesh bags as we could."

"Carter looked strong, but different, not like Helena Cain, for example," Catherine said thoughtfully. "They claimed to understand cloning techniques, even claimed to have cloned the hybrids, and de-aged them to one-year olds. And gave them to our brothers and sisters to raise."

"Except for Leoben," Natalie said, eyeing him carefully. "Doral, how do you feel about that?"

Doral's eyes were cold. "I think that would be an interesting case to study. I wouldn't experiment on the children, no dissection or anything," he quickly clarified to everyone listening. "But I would want to find out how they did the cloning and personality transfer. If they did achieve it, it means they are as advanced as we are in the cloning sciences, maybe more so, if there was no need for a neural network to initiate, maintain and complete the transfer." He stopped and looked at an angry Natalie and Caprica. "I am a scientist at heart and this, you must admit, is interesting. It also means that they are fully 'natural'."

Leoben jumped in. "If it's true, then we can develop the procedure to the next level."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can no longer be slaves to our neural implants, and it could cure our sterility problem. Let's be honest here, we cannot reproduce, and our last resurrection ships is damaged, and we don't have the knowledge to build another one. Soon we will run out of material and supplies to continue our cloning. What will we do then, die of old age?"

"We'll go extinct," Natalie whispered. That sounded ugly, and she didn't like the idea one bit.

"We are a go for the jump. All ships ready."

"Are you saying you want to take a chance with the Earther meat bags? They could turn on us in an instant."

"Possibly," Caprica whispered. "Probably. But what if they are telling the truth? We couldn't even see them. They could have used their nuclear weapons to blanket the area, and we'd all be dead. But they didn't. instead, they talked to us. They warned us, not tried to exterminate us."

"Jump in five minutes."

"I hate Humans, all of them," Doral spat. "But now, I don't know if I hate them because I hate them, of if I've been programmed to hate them by John. We need to start going through our programing."

Inwardly, Richard Cavil he cursed his brother. "Another item on the agenda," Richard snarked. "Jumping in one minute…"

Leoben, his mind awhirl, blurted out, "given what we know about Humans, why would aliens possibly want to interact with Humans?"

"Thirty seconds."

Caprica froze. That was an excellent question.

Why would aliens work with Humans?

"Executing jump!"

Contrary to General Samantha Carter's assessment, the Drakh squadron never arrived. News about the disastrous battle in Sol system was received, and the Drakh began pulling back. The loss of more than eighty percent of their combined forces, including two Shadow planet killers, the specifically designed Shadow plague, and six battle crabs shook both masters and thralls. The order was given to retreat to their main conclave some four months away, where it was believed that the Earthers or Goa'uld, or other lesser races knew of. Never ones to act hastily, they had in this situation and were hurt due to their impulsiveness. The Shadows required time to assess the situation.

The Shadows believed they were safe in jump space. No known younger species could track them, and to make sure, both Drakh and Shadows followed an elaborate evasion pattern as they slowly returned to their newly established world. What they were unaware of was that the Terran and Asgard were tracking them in hyperspace, using sensors developed by both Asgardian and Ancient tech. their diversional tactics were useless. Two UCW and an Asgardian warship, with assistance from the UCW subspace sensor array would track them for the next half year.

General Harris, in command of the pacification fleet of Earth Alliance, received the transmission from the Drakh commander three hours later. He was informed that all Cylon elements were accounted for or destroyed and that Drakh forces in the area were leaving. Earthforce had the situation well in hand. The transmission wished his forces well on their journey to Earth.

It failed to mention that the Drakh masters had no intentions of allowing Earthforce to acquire Tau'ri technology. But that information wasn't needed by these humans. Both Shadow and Drakh expected the EF to fail as they had. Further, they had no intentions of mentioning they had tried and failed to destroy the planet to keep Clark's greedy hands from acquiring such technology. Earth Alliance would succeed or fail on its own.

Harris was more than pleased by the message. With Clark's associates unknown to any but the highest officials in Earth Alliance and now out of the way, Clark could claim victory on his own merits.

His own forces were continuing to enter the Cyranus system and soon enough, his forces would head to Earth in an unstoppable wave, take what they wanted and, as the president had ordered, bomb that traitorous planet until they ran out of nukes.

Harris thought that was a waste, but when they discovered and retrieved the deposits of the quantium-40-like mineral the scientists were so enamored about, then it would be well worth the waste of Quant. The Colonies were a good test case, and the bounty was impressive. But Earth was the prize, and he wouldn't let his president or WERG Alliance down. The EA would be secured from any and all threats, especially the Centauri.

CDF Radiance

Admiral Kunningham finally had the chance to sit down in his quarters. His XO was in charge of the ship for the next two hours before the night shift began their shift. Frankus needed this time to catch up. The Radiance was in good shape after the battle, not a scratch on her. She hadn't taken part in the battle, not in the way he wanted. But given the facts, he registered this as a good thing. The strike on one damaged Drakh was enough to add a new wrinkle to his face. The cruiser was bigger than his battlestar and even dead in space it was more than a little imposing.

He wasn't happy when Lieutenant General Cain suggested they board the derelict and get a firsthand look at the enemy. However, her assessment of the tactical situation was absolutely correct, and it was an opportunity not to be passed up.

Her marines barely got out alive. Their armored space suits didn't protect them from the enemy weapons, and he was forced to put two tactical shells into the open wound of the ship. He got the information he wanted and here he was preparing to compose a report to his superiors.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he allowed the rush of the caffeine to wash over his body. Earth had too many coffee flavors. He hadn't tasted them all, but he already had purchased several kilograms for his personal use, and had intentions of purchasing two to three hundred kilograms more, before he left this world.

What he drank now, prepared him to write his report. In about six hours, he would contact the President and try to explain everything that had happened in the last four weeks. But before that, he was scheduled to have a video meeting with the toasters. That was going to be fun. He didn't have any idea what he was going to say to them now that he had the opportunity to interview them. Mostly, he wanted to determine what their status was. They were prisoners, but if they were still threats, then he would again insist that they be terminated for the sake of everyone's security. How he would approach the Terrans about this, would be decided later.

The video communications device, a smart phone given him by the Terrans rang for his attention. By the tone, he knew who it was. He answered his smart phone. It was a marvelous device.

"Hello Ambassador."

On the screen, her image stared back at him. She looked overwhelmed. "I am back on Atlantis. Just letting you know. How is Halima doing?"

"She's recovering from the injury. We believe she was hit by an energized helium particle. She was very lucky. It didn't burn through her suit, but the kinetic force behind it, broke her shoulder. She's resting now."

I wanted to confirm that I will be on the Radiance in time for the meeting."

"Good, I need the moral support, he grumbled.

"I really hadn't expected this. I thought we had months to properly compose this report, not a few hours."

Kunningham laughed. That was exactly what he was thinking. "I plan to be thorough, but concise. I don't know how much time we will have to talk and what their condition is. They are not going to like what we have to tell them."

The silence between them lasted several long gut wrenching second.

"What are we going to tell them?" she asked, exasperated.

"Nothing but the truth," Kunningham answered.

"We are so fired."

TBC

Merry Christmas!