The Waystation

The Concourse of the Station had immediately filled with eager Colonial staff members, civilian contractors and even the current military High Command present among them, with President Roslyn sitting there with a smile as she watched the umbilical system connect to the Pegasus's airlocks. Moments later, the door opened…

A dark-haired woman with sunken eyes, clad in the Dress Blues of the Colonial Navy, wore a wry smile as she stepped foot onto the Waystation itself with her Executive Officer, a more rotund, gray-haired and tired-looking man, plus a platoon of Colonial Marines armed with the same 9mm carbines the Galactica's crew had been armed with prior to the UNSC's arrival.

The entire Colonial staff present began to clap as the Admiral looked around, hands behind her back and posture straight. She noticed the President and her expression almost imperceptibly shifted from joy to surprise mixed with what Adama, who was far more versed in Admiral Helena Cain's actual feelings on things as hidden behind her facade, could only assume was disappointment. At what, he wouldn't know.

She stepped forward and snapped a quick salute, now feigning a strained smile. President Roslyn spoke, "We thought we were the last Colonial vessels in any Galaxy, Admiral. Welcome to the Waystation," before smiling and offering a hand. The Admiral nodded and shook the hand, Roslyn suddenly feeling a firm grip and a tiny amount of pain. She remained stoic, though.

Gods only knew what Cain had gone through…

"A pleasure to be reunited with survivors, ma'am," Cain replied in a terse, if tentatively friendly tone. She looked at Adama and cracked a more genuine smile, stating, "Bill. I thought you sorry old ass would've gone down with any other ship but the Old Girl," before clapping a firm hand on his shoulder and squeezing just hard enough for Adama to feel the pressure.

The Commander replied, "We've been doing our best not to go down before we find a way to a new home, ma'am."

"Captain Foucault was kind enough to brief me on that and all of the 'encounters' we've had so far," The woman spoke, then cast a glance back toward the Quarian vessels currently patrolling the area. Her eyes settled on the Rayya and the other Liveships. She took mental notes of the vessel being patched up in certain parts, including the central rotating ball that presumably acted as the necessary gravity spot for their crops to grow.

Whatever thoughts floated through the woman's brain made Adama slightly concerned. The Fleet had only been warned about the Peggy's arrival a couple of hours prior to them going through the Gate and Adama had missed the memo about the Admiral coming over herself. He knew her. He knew how she fought. She was a nightmarish threat when it came to a normal conventional war and from what the old man had heard, she'd been trying to pretty much fight that kind of war from the get-go.

She told him, "Let's go meet the rest of the staff, then, because I hear you're all planning to retake the Colonies. I'd like to offer my own tips on the matter," before looking at the President, who visibly smiled. Good miss Roslyn, however, knew very well just by the look the woman was giving them that this was gonna be an… Interesting meeting.

"Right this way, ma'am," The Commander offered, lifting an open hand toward one of the tram stations on the concourse. The woman waved her troops forward, then gave a quick order of dismissal and a small, but fairly respectful nod to the President, excusing herself and the military. The rest of the Colonial forces dispersed, while Tigh and Roslyn stood there.

"This is gonna go about as well as leaving a bull in a china shop," Tigh thought to himself, then paused. He'd adopted that saying from Admiral Harper, one of the UNSC staff officers present on station and the commander of the black fleet outside. He sighed and pinched the bow of his nose, telling a confused-looking Roslyn, "Admiral Cain's somethin' else. Career military. Worse than some of the Clones we met."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Roslyn replied, more trying to reassure herself than the Colonel. She knew very well she might have been lying through her teeth for her own peace of mind, but Cain and her crew were still her people. Whether they accepted her as president, now or after the elections, was another matter entirely.

… Meanwhile, the good commander, Admiral and their escorts walked through the crowds of people gathered on the Waystation. Dozens of alien species from across this Milky Way had made their way over to start doing business with the people here independent of their own nations' desires, with some of the civilian Concourse's main stands already occupied by vendors with items ranging from basic firearms for protection to food.

Cain spoke, "Quite a melting pot. Reminds me a little of Caprica," as they waded past Asari, Quarians and Humans alike. She added, "Minus the aliens, though. Never thought we'd see any of those, much less sentient ones," in a quiet murmur, impressed. She saw the Clones clad in their armor and the UNSC Marines patrolling the place. Military Police and even their own Colonial troops guarded various checkpoints on the multitude of floors. Not to mention the Systems' Alliance staff.

The group passed by what looked like a seafood shack, hearing a small argument between a human female who looked terrifyingly tall and an alien of some kind. The alien spoke, "... The best Volturnian Lobsters our little franchise can offer! Believe me, madame they're the finest-tasting food available on this hunk of steel!"

The tall woman replied, "I'm looking for chocolava cakes, good sir, not fish or seafood," then looked back and gave a quick wave to Admiral Cain and Adama. She turned back to her argument, leaving Cain and the Commander to wonder about that specific argument for a while. The Civilian Concourse bristled with life and not all of it was sane.

Entering the tram station and boarding the tram, Cain couldn't help but admit to herself she was impressed by what the people here had managed to do. This station, though it was still visibly under construction, was slowly becoming a megastructural project that all four constituent human groups could soon be proud of.

She could make out defensive stations and positions armed with heavy batteries interspersed between habitable sections of the station as the tram began to move toward the central command and control area. She hummed, then looked at Adama and asked, "So, who're you going to side with?" before watching the Commander take pause. She told him, "I know there's already talks in your Fleet about which Earth to go to. Is it the UNSC's for you?"

As if on cue, a UNSC Frigate flew above them, escorted by a wing of Longswords. The tram stopped at one station, allowing a platoon of Marines and Clones to board while Adama replied, "I and Colonel Tigh both agree that the UNSC might be our best option. One of the few people I've seen say any form of counterargument to that for now is an egghead by the name of Baltar."

"I know about him, too," The woman said, lifting a standard UNSC portable tablet up, "Captain Foucault was more than kind enough to provide me and my staff copies with the reports of everything that's happened so far in this strange little coalition's meeting," and she slid the tablet back into her pocket. Her gaze locked onto one of the UNSC Capital ships, mind wandering about their capabilities.

The tram reached its intended destination:The central meeting area where both business and military were discussed, of course separated into soundproofed rooms. The central 'Council Chamber' of a sort was here, the same room where the talks about preparing an offensive to reclaim the Colonies had begun. And the same place where the planning was now taking place.

At the main door, an armored bulkhead separating a room with ten inches of armor plating around it, plus all the 'empty' sections of the Main Concourse, Adama slid a bracelet of some kind over a scanner, then took his glasses off and peered into it. The retinal scanner kicked on, two beams of light matching the old man's irises to those in the database.

The door, multiple layers of armor plating from alloys Cain couldn't fathom wrapping her head around at the moment, unlocked, sliding open, peeling apart and finally revealing the central antechamber whose holographic screens flickered, showing the world outside as if they were floating amidst it. The amphitheater-like room housed many officers and staff, discussing matters, ideas and drawing up War Plans on holographic maps emitting from their respective desks.

In the middle of the room, a trio of officers stood alongside women and men in labcoats. Overhead, nearby the main holographic screen, the flags of the four allied groups stood. A rising eagle, a round shield, the symbols of the Colonies and a stylized A whose bottom encompassed and surrounded a planet that looked eerily familiar to cain. Earth.

Adama snapped a salute as they approached the holographic table that actively displayed ever-updating intelligence in the form of a three-dimensional map with the weirdly two Reaper camps sizing each-other up in the ruins of Mankind's own civilization. The Systems Alliance Admiral, Hackett, an elderly man, looked up and saluted, then said, "I see you've brought Admiral Cain ahead of time, Commander. Welcome to the Planning Room."

Cain nodded, "Happy to be here. And even happier to see my people haven't given up home just yet."

A man with dark-blue skin, slicked back hair and burning red eyes, clad in a decorated white uniform, turned toward her and spoke, "Indeed. Welcome to the meeting, Admiral," before turning toward her. The man was taller than Cain by a fair bit, with an imposing and well-built figure. He looked down at her and even though his eyes burned with that bright red, they seemed kind… His gaze, however, was as sharp as hers.

Cain offered a hand and said, "Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo?" which caused the man to raise a brow in surprise. He nodded and shook her hand, to which she said, "I read all the reports I could get from the ONI sloop that got us to the Star Road. You've got one hell of a background behind you," before casting a glance over at Admiral Harper, of the UNSC Navy, also clad in a white uniform, "And you, too, Admiral Harper. And Admiral Hackett."

It was clear to the men she was sizing them up. If she had read their files, or what little of it she could browse on a trip from the Colonies' outskirts to the Waystation, it meant she was trying to establish the hierarchy of their current command structure. Thrawn had figured her out quickly just by body language alone. He offered, "I'm certain you'll find no shortage of good officers to work with here, Admiral."

Doctor Halsey, the head researcher of the UNSC's side of the expedition, began, "Indeed. Some of our best and brightest have come to meet here to help free your homeworlds," before approaching the woman. Cain furrowed her brows, surprised that a Civvie was talking back to her, much less about troops, but Doctor Halsey seemed undeterred, "If you'd like to aid us in the preparations, we could use the help."

Cain hummed, then nodded, choosing to concede quietly for now as she approached the table.

She'd see what these people were capable of during the planning phase.

The Normandy

As she phased back to realspace, the Normandy was greeted by the hails and Identification requests of the various naval forces patrolling the area. Transmitting her codes and getting the all-clear, she glided in under Joker's careful piloting right toward the central structure of the Station. The engineering that had gone into it still awed Shepard as she stood there, watching from the bridge while they approached.

She paused, however, then straightened up and looked ahead, stating, "Holy shit. They found another one," and pointing at the new Battlestar just as Karl walked in to thank her. The man ran forward and gasped, before smiling. Shepard asked him, "Take it she's a big deal? The Pegasus?" before receiving a nod from the young man.

"She's the Flagship of one Admiral Helena Cain," Cortana piped up as she appeared on the holo-display next to EDI. She then added, "By the way, Commander… We've received a data packet. I've taken the liberty of reading through it and, as it turns out, they found the location of a possible Reaper IFF System."

"Just in time, too," Shepard murmured, then lifted her Omni-Tool and looked over the data as Cortana sent it to her. She spoke, "That's gonna be an interesting trip. The Batarians might not be too keen on finding us out there after the last issue they've had with the Waystation… Get us loaded back up on supplies and gas for our guns. We'll head out."

Joker looked back and asked, "What do we do about Rhas, Kyra and Samara? Latter says she found what she was looking for and wants to go deal with it before anything else kicks off… And we've still got a couple people who wanna do the same," to which Shepard nodded.

She replied, "We'll deal with whatever's left. If Kyra and Rhasits wanna help Samara, I'll be helping whoever else is left… Then, we kick the door in on that IFF and go to the Omega-4 Relay," before she shut off the Omni-Tool. Joker gave a two-finger salute, then gently glided the ship in docking. As the vessel approached, an umbilical extended, allowing it to dock.

While Shepard went onto the station to discuss the possible reinforcements necessary, General Tano followed her with the Clones. Their plan was to see if they couldn't get the Tribunal to provide support as it had before, during Horizon. Cortana, meanwhile, sat with EDI, running calculations in regards to replicating the IFF after they acquire it.

EDI spoke, "If we have access to its source-code, we should be easily capable of providing whatever ship or ships might provide us an escort with a copy they could emit to make sure they go through…"

"I think we'd do best to prepare it for probe usage," Cortana spoke as she lifted up a series of probe schematics, including Colonial ones. She sent some of them to EDI, who hummed in agreement. Then she pulled up the schematics for the Pegasus. The UNSC AI said to her, "I already saw the new girl has the capabilities to build more allied starfighters… Hopefully, that'll give Commander Adama and his crew some breathing room. Chief Tyrol's apparently gone through the five stages of grief trying to fix one of Starbuck's newest toys."

EDI let out a mild snort, much to Cortana's surprise and joy.

Meanwhile, Garrus sat on the deck, watching a few techs from the Republic march into the hangar in order to check Ahsoka's fighter flight logs, the weapons of the heavy gunship belonging to Jester Squad and so on. To make a long story short, the Techs were working out good methods to combat anything that the Reapers would throw at them, from Geth ships to the various vessels belonging to the Reaper Cylons.

Linda approached, watching the staff tending to the General's ship and asking, "Should we let them do that?"

He nodded, "General Tano called them. Ship's been pulling a little to the right," to which Linda nodded. She watched the men climb inside, verify cockpit systems and weapons and the whole nine yards. The two pilots manning the gunship, meanwhile, waved to the crew and took off. He told Linda, "They're doing firing tests."

"Makes sense," Linda replied in a murmur, "Did you hear we're on the final stretch now?"

"Cortana mentioned we got a package containing the coords for a Reaper IFF tag, yeah," The shooter nodded to his Spartan counterpart, then asked, "Your troop feeling ready for this?" and all he got was a stare back. He snorted and said, "Right. Always ready. Forgot that's a Spartan fireteam's entire shtick," before casting a glance back at the rest of the Blues.

"Yeah," Linda hummed, then scratched her cheek and asked, "Say, Garrus. You and Shepard a thing?" before cracking a small, mischievous grin as she saw the Turian, who was about to get up and walk to help the techs, doubled over and nearly tripped on himself. She chuckled, surprising her team, before stating, "I'll take that as a yes…" while the sharpshooter started sputtering.

Kelly high-fived the girl as she returned to the Spartans' cot to tend to her rifle. Chief gave a surprisingly apologetic look hidden behind his usual layers of stoicism to Garrus. The Turian sighed, coughed to clear his throat, then nodded to the Chief and excused himself. The Spartans all heard a light giggle and Kelly said, "Don't start with us, Kasumi."

"Whaaat?" She chuckled as she decloaked, "It's kind of cute! Like Fred dating Tali!"

The older Spartan was thankfully composed enough not to drop the bolt carrier group of his DMR. The stare he gave miss Goto, however, caused her to pause, giggle awkwardly, then say, "Yeah, I just remembered I have a casserole I left in the microwave, soooo… See you!" before she quickly flicked on her camouflage system and… Probably ran away.

The Arbiter, who had approached the team to talk to them, said, "Certainly a refreshing sight to see you all capable of humor," before crouching beside them and stating, "I will be departing the ship for now. The Shipmaster has requested that I aid him in talks. It seems as though the Colonial Admiral, Cain, is something of a firebrand."

"She must be shocked to see all the aliens around," Kelly commented, setting her shotgun down and leaning it against her seat, "I mean, considering humanity there has only really known the Cylon… Hey, have we ever figured out who the people we met on board that Cruiser were?" then she quickly looked at the Chief.

"No. Cortana wasn't able to pull anything off their computers. All of it was wiped clean, save for the most basic life support," The Spartan replied, racking back the bolt of his MA40, "Which… Good on them. They might've saved at least the Republic's Galaxy from the Flood back there," then he looked ahead and added, "I've written the Lieutenant's name into the List…"

"He deserves it… You think Shepard and Zaeed are okay after meeting the Flood?" Inquired Fred.

A moment of awkward silence passed before the Spartan sighed and said, "Right…" to his old friends. The Arbiter bowed, excusing himself and giving a nod specifically to the Chief, which the man replied to in kind, before he departed. A silhouette caught Kelly's eye, looking at them from the observation deck above. Zaeed.

… The Mercenary sighed deeply, looking at his left hand as it shook, then mumbled, "Goddamn space parasites now. What the hell wouldn't I meet in this hell hole of a mission?" as he walked toward his little side. He sat down within the expanded 'garbage' area of the ship, which now had a proper cot among the boxes and a lot more, before rubbing his face.

"Massani," The older man heard gruff voice call out. He looked up and saw Grunt standing in the door. Mildly surprised, Zaeed stood back up to his feet and still barely reached the massive angry Lizard's face. He knew that a Krogan could probably rip him in half, but goddamn if he wouldn't put up a fight. Well, maybe Grunt wouldn't.

"Grunt. Can I help you, kid?" He asked, crossing his arms.

The alien stepped inside, feet thundering against the steel grate as he asked, "I understood from the last mission report that you've encountered some type of alien creature that took over that entire vessel. I want to know more about it, so if we encounter it again, I can join in and fight it," to which Zaeed, ever the stunned Ozzy, blanked.

He hummed, then laughed heartily and said, "You've got quads on ya alright, kid," before patting him on the shoulder. He waved the kid forward and said, "C'mon. I have some footage from my helm cam. Don't mind me," before leading him to one of the tables to show him. Grunt was nothing if not full of surprises and belly laughter-inducing discussions.

… Switching yet again to another group, Shepard found herself wading deep into the station itself, surprised yet again by just how much it had grown. Ranging from traders to military staff, the population here had grown exponentially in size and diversity, to the point the Commander was seeing UNSC and Colonial Marines actively interacting with Asari Commandos while Clone Troops held guard.

Seriously, this entire thing felt like a massive mix of insanity. The good commander wondered just how many more Aliens would come through once the whole Star Road thing was properly declassified to the wider Republic. And just how many more migrants they'd have swinging over to start new lives here. With a heavy sigh, the woman asked, "Fives? Shouldn't you be heading out with Samara?"

"Jack said she wants to go at it alone with the Sith and the others, so I'm kinda stuck on the backburner for the time being, ma'am," The Clone answered truthfully, then hummed as he looked around at his white-clad brothers guarding the posts around them. He added, "Might actually go chat with the Sarge," before pointing at Johnson, who was helping teach some of the Clones and Marines how to properly cooperate.

Shepard nodded, "Go ahead," before locking eyes with Johnson and giving the man a quick grin and salute. The cigar chain-smoking man grinned, saluted back and tipped his hat to the Commander before watching Fives join him and his boys in training. A squad of ARC Troopers was also backing them up, including one clad in an armor with red stripes.

"... Son of a bitch…" Jesse whispered with a reverence that surprised Shepard, "That's the Muunilinst 10…"

"Big squad?" The good Commander asked as she looked at the men, mentally taking in how each of the ten soldiers carried a different weapon. Ahsoka chuckled a bit, while Jesse looked at himself, seemingly disappointed. Shepard raised a brow and asked, "What? Did something happen, or did I misinterpret something here?"

Jesse replied, half-joking, half-serious, "Neither I, nor Fives, nor anyone of my squad told you the tale of the finest ARC unit? I'm ashamed of myself," to which the other troopers and the General actively burst into laughter. Though confused, Shepard waited for Jesse. The good officer told her, "The one in red, their Commander. His name is Captain Fordo and rumor has it he may or may not have personally trained the Commander of our lovely little division."

"They also have a lot of hardcore missions under their belts, including rescuing several members of the Jedi Order from the hands of an enemy General who specializes in hunting Jedi," Ahsoka added, "I know master Aayla told me about them busting her butt out of there with master Shaak-ti and master Mundi. I haven't had the pleasure of working with them, but if Rex is anything to go by? Fordo's worth his weight in Credits alone, not to mention with the rest of his squad."

"Jeez," Shepard smiled, "Noted. Absolute badasses it is," She laughed, "Heh, maybe command's gonna lend them to us with the Tribunal, y'know, for when we go kicking in the Collectors' front door," before she turned a right and entered the Republic command post in the area. Inside, Admiral Thrawn turned to face them, having seemingly waited for their arrival with Doctor Halsey.

"Ah, Commander. General. Good," Thrawn spoke, "Just in time for our little Briefing. Come, take a seat."

Noticing the Confusion of the Commander, Halsey told her, "We're preparing strike teams to assist you in seizing the 'asset'. It's, much to our chagrin, in Batarian space, so a small unit shall be provided to help you retrieve it," just as a holographic display lit up on the central table, showing the location of the famed 'Leviathan of Dis'.

… Oh, this was gonna be one interesting mission briefing, wasn't it?