Chapter 4 - 26 years before the fall

So its been 6 years since he signed up for service and he is just leaving the spaceport after being released on shore leave for the next 3 weeks after an extended tour hunting pirates through some of the remote asteroid belts still in colonial hands,

Leo currently holds the rank of Captain after some very close calls that could have gone either way. There was some scuttlebutt that he was going to be promoted to Major and assigned as CAG on one of the new Battlestar's due to be completed in the next 2 months.

As Leo sat in the back of the cab on his way home he thought over all that happened in the last 6 years.

Flashback to 5 years previous.

After completing Basic and OTS he was assigned to Heavy cruiser Leon's Wrath as a nugget and assigned as a pilot for a raptor to replace someone on rotation back to planet side. Arriving aboard ship he was greeted by the CAG and given the unofficial low down on the rules and what was expected of him during his time there.

A few weeks into his first tour the ship was on patrol through a system being mined by some company he didn't know the name of the patrol fleet consisted of the Heavy cruiser and 2 escort frigates the Majestic and the Lions Pride both of which where of the same class and where generally used as patrol ships given the new design of escort stars that were being rolled out across the fleet.

So as they were patrolling the system they found a refinery ship under attack by a few ships with modified hulls with what looked like some light KEW's and were in the process of boarding the refinery ship. After being hailed and told to stand down they broke off the attack and tried to flee at which the raptor he was piloting as well as a few others where directed to use missiles to disable the ships before they could jump.

After successfully disabling 2 ships including his own target the vipers where ordered to establish a cap when one of the disabled ships fired a interceptor missile at a viper that was just passing by the ship and Leo knew straight away that the viper wasn't going to be able to out fly the missile so he piloted the raptor between the viper and the missile and launched some countermeasures that caused the missile to go off target and blow up. So it was after a few seconds of silence that he heard the viper pilot thanking him over the comms and then being ordered to take out the launcher before they could reload.

It was 20 min later and the boarding was successful and the ships seized that he was just getting out of his raptor when he was approached by both the pilot of the viper he saved as well as the CAG who patted me on the shoulder and told him she was going to put a commendation in his records.

Flashback ends

Leo smiled as he remembered that as it was his first time in actual combat and he saved a life that otherwise wouldn't be around without him there. It was that first engagement that led to him being transferred to the viper squadron 3 months later and then squadron leader 8 months after that when the current leader mustered out of the fleet. He took to leading the squadron like a fish takes to water after the experience he had in my previous life.

Leo also implemented some of the things he knew that would get the unit together better that he doesn't see much of in the colonial fleet that the Air Force did back on earth like Squadron insignia, Inter squad competitions and war games with the other squadron aboard the Heavy cruiser.

With everything that he had achieved since being squadron leader he was quickly promoted to captain 2 years ago and given the CAG role on the Heavy cruiser Vengeance.

Since then not much has happened in his carrier apart from the odd pirate hunt that was both tedious and advantageous as it allowed him to get a better lay of the land when it came to all the mining facilities and the like surrounding the main colonies.

He finally finished reminiscing over the last 6 years when the cab pulled up to his home and he paid the fare and got out and walked up to and into the house.

"Hey mum I'm home!" Leo called out.

"I'm in the dining room Leo." she shouted out to answer him.

So Leo walked over to the double doors and walked into what looked like a full meeting of his inner circle as he had come to call it. Leo raised an eyebrow in question towards his mother and she just smiled and gestured for him to sit down.

"It's good your back Leo and normally we would have a nice dinner and party to welcome you but we need to fill you in on what we couldn't tell you over the open wire." His mother said.

"Ok so i take it you each have something to fill me in on so why don't we start on the left and go round the table." Leo directed

At that the first person to say anything was his grandfather who began to fill him in on the status of the security company and what they have achieved to date.

"Ok first of all I'd like to say I'm proud of what you have accomplished in the fleet to date and believe that you will achieve more than I ever did." His grandfather smiled at him before continuing. "So to start with we decided that we would buy and take over full control of an existing security firm instead of starting from scratch and we managed to find the ideal candidate in Olympus Elite Protection company. We finalized the purchase 4 years ago after lengthy negotiations and paying a little more than 10% above the value of the company."

He then went on to say "We managed to get full control of the company as it was held privately by a single individual and although it doesn't have any ships the size of Battlestar's they did have 3 older model heavy cruisers, 6 cruisers and a spattering of frigates and corvettes. The personnel on the books included 2000 ex-marines, 200 pilots and back seaters and about 10000 other personnel split between ship crews and support staff. But that's not all, the crown jewel of this company is a fully functioning space station with attached repair docks."

Leo was surprised at everything they managed to get with just the purchase of the company, it took him a minute to realize that his grandfather wasn't finished and was smiling at him.

"There's more isn't there?" Leo asked

Continuing to smile, former Admiral Adama took a breath and picked up another sheet of paper.

"Yes there is more, in the 4 years since taking over we have expanded as much as we can without bringing to much of the wrong attention and have since added 2 more Heavy cruisers, 3 cruisers, and 15 other frigates and corvettes to the fleet as well as the prize of the fleet 1 fleet carrier. We've also taken advantage of the colonial fleet upgrading their vipers and managed to snag 1500 viper mark 2's and 200 raptor mark 1's." Leo was gobsmacked at the amount they had managed to get in just the last 4 years.

"Do we have the personnel to man all these crafts?" Leo asked his grandfather.

He responded "For the ships yes as with most of the older generation looking to muster out and looking for something more laid back than military service we have managed to recruit quite a lot. The only problem we had is with viper pilots as we have not been able to get enough to man all the vipers and raptors." He then got serious. "But we do have a plan to solve that problem somewhat and that is using your gene therapy to revitalize the older retirees and help them recover their prime."

Leo thought it over for a few minutes and then decided to take the risk.

"I think we can do that but I want ironclad NDA's all round and anyone who takes it needs to understand that their life on the colonies as their old self is over as we cant have too many of the wrong sort know about the gene therapy as it will start trouble where not ready for." Leo said.

His grandfather accepted that and sat back down after detailing some jobs they had completed and some of the future plans for the company.

Next up was Dr Williams and he had a bundle of notes and looked excited, serious and with child-like curiosity all at the same time. "Leo, after we had our meeting 6 years ago I started up a small research lab with some people I could trust and with the help of Luke. We then spent the next 3 years proofing the data you gave us and then applying it to power generation."

He then continued after taking a drink of water. "2 years ago we succeed in building the first fusion generator and a year later after we tweaked the design we installed one on a corvette and the results where astronomical as the power output allowed us to increase jump range by the power of 2 and could go further if it wasn't for burning out the coils. With the successful tests with current FTL travel we plan to start designing and testing your hyperdrive engines within the next few years."

Leo looked pleased with this revelation and took a couple minutes to arrange his thoughts and replied. "I think the progress you have made is great and I'm hoping you can get together with my Grandfather and organize upgrades to all the ships in the security company without attracting too much attention. If people ask, we just tell them it's a more efficient fission generator." he said while looking at his grandfather for a nod in acceptance of his orders.

"Also i think we need to train some specialists to be on each ship to manage the generators so the truth doesn't get out as the last thing we need is the military appropriating of designs and ships." Leo was a bit worried that too many people would ask questions if they got the designs that looked way to different from what was generally accepted.

Dr Williams took a few minutes while scribbling some notes and replied "I think it's possible to have most of the ships in the fleet upgraded in the next few years but to include someone to monitor the systems and be able to repair them will take longer as we have to find people we can both trust and who would understand the science. Then it would time to train them while monitoring them for any leaks and so on."

"Ok that's fine as long as it's all done ready for when we have the new FTL engines ready as they will need more power to operate to peak." Leo paused for a min then continued "I also think we need to keep the jump drives as a back up though as there's nothing wrong with them for short hops but they're not very good for long distance especially with the adverse effect some people have with that type of travel."

After that they go into more detail about available material and arrange for Leo's mining company to find more resources to mine to reduce costs of the upgrades and fuel costs. Next was the last project assigned to the women of the group led by his mother and grandmothers.

His mother led the group so it was down to her to fill him in on their progress so she stood up and addressed the group. "Ok so we have started contacting people we think we can trust and who would be interested in leaving the colonies and all the politics behind and so far we have had marginal success. Most of the people we have managed to recruit are people late in their years who have little to no family left in the colonies after the Cylon war as they are the people who are more disillusioned with the way things have turned out after the war."

At that she handed Leo the list to go over so he didn't affect the future. She then continued "We have also started to source the plants and animals and have started looking into purchasing some of the colony ships in the scrapyards and refurbishing them for when we find somewhere to go."

After that they started going over the plans for the next few years and arranging for some long range recon to scout out possible resource rich systems in the direction of where Leo knew the new colony system is.

After they had all gone their own ways to continue their work Leo's mother informed him that they were to attend a Adama family get together in a week's time and he was expected to attend.

It was a week later that Leo was getting ready for the family get together with a little excitement as he would get to meet William 'Bill' Adama before the Valkyrie incident. So he left his room dressed in a navy bespoke suit with a white shirt and matching navy tie. He went downstairs to find his mother and her parents waiting for him by the front door ready to leave.

They leave the house and walk up to the limousine waiting for them and holding the door open for his mother as his grandparents enter from the other side of the vehicle. He gets in and sits facing forward with his grandfather while his mother and grandmother are facing backwards. A few minutes after leaving he starts to think about how to interact with Bill Adama as he doesn't want to risk saying the wrong thing and causing any problems with the timeline as right now as far as Leo remembers he is currently serving in the mercantile navy doing runs between Caprica and Tauron.

"Leo, what has your head in the clouds?" asked his mother.

"I'm just a bit worried about messing with the things I shouldn't." Leo said as he had to be careful with what he said as the driver of the car can hear everything said.

She looks at Leo and says "You will know if you're treading on loose ground so I would worry less about it and just live in the moment today and act normally."

After that they just start talking about what he's done since joining the fleet and sharing some funny stories about other pilots making fools of themselves. They pull up to what looks like a middle class restaurant and he can see on the board out front that it's booked for a private event which he assumed was the family get together. He walks in after helping his mother and grandmother get out of the car. What he sees is a wide dining room filled with people of all ages, some at the bar and some sitting at tables talking in small groups.

Leo's mother walks in and is immediately met by another woman who resembles her somewhat as they share the same hair colour and cheekbones.

"Sofia, Uncle James, Aunt Liz it's good that you could make it especially with how busy you guys have been must be Leo?" she says as she comes up to us. "I'm your mothers cousin Caitlyn Pentercost. My father is your grandfather's brother, unfortunately he was killed during the war in a skirmish over Aerilon." she informs Leo.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. Is it ok for me to call you cousin cat." Leo asks after his mother and grandparents respond as well.

"Yeh that's fine. Now why don't you come with me and I will introduce you to some of your distant relatives. You should be right at home as we have plenty of family members who have served so you'll have plenty to talk about." Caitlyn said as she started to drag him towards a group of older family members.

The group they walked over too stopped talking as they approached and Caitlyn started introducing them one by one. "Leo this is my husband Stuart Pentercost, he's currently serving as a colonel in the marines on picon." She introduces the first man who stands at about 6 ft 2 inches of pure muscle who looks to be in his early 40's.

Leo offers his hand for a handshake "Nice to meet you sir, my name is Leonidus Kosta a captain and squadron leader with the fleet." he said as Stuart took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, do you mind if I call you Leo?" Stuart asks. Leo nods and he continues "It's nice to see the younger generation continuing to serve even in peacetime." He comments then lets go of Leos hand as Caitlyn carries on introducing him to the others in the group.

"Leo the other two men are my Brothers Lewis and Steven Adama. They are both currently studying in the academy with Lewis being a 1st year and Steven being a 3rd year."

"It's nice to meet you boys, How's the academy treating you?" Leo asked.

First to respond was Steven "It's going good, I'm just finishing up basic tactics and command and will hopefully get a placement on a ship soon to do my in the field training before I finish my last year and get my commission." He said with a little excitement in his voice.

Then Lewis replied "I have enjoyed my first year so far and am looking forward to flight school as I plan to become a viper pilot." he said while almost bouncing on his feet.

Leo smiled and said "Well I look forward to seeing you both in the fleet when you're older. We might even end up serving on the same ship as you never know what the future holds." He shook both their hands then Followed Caitlyn over to another couple who had a baby with them.

"Hey Bill, Evelyn, I'd like you to meet Leo, he's Sofia's son." she said to the couple. "Leo this is Bill and Evelyn Adama and their little boy Leland." She introduced as Leo came to step next to her.

Leo was a little shocked to begin with but managed to control himself before he made an ass of himself. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you Leo, how are you finding it so far." Bill asked as they shook hands. "I know it can be a bit much to meet everyone for the first time as we have a lot of big personalities in the room."

"It is a bit intimidating but I think after you've flown vipers for a few years and been on the other end of someone's guns you don't really panic with everyday stuff." Leo said with a little humour.

"So i take it your another viper jock then." said Evelyn "Bill here was a pilot during the war he's current doing trips between Caprica and Tauron with the merchant navy but I'm hoping my father will help him get back into the fleet soon"

Looking between the two of them Leo smile's and says that any dedicated officer would be an asset to the fleet. After that there were a few more introductions and then it was just a night of food and drinks before we all went our separate ways. That night he slept with a little relief as he didn't make any mistakes and cause problems with the timeline.