OBT Forum

One

Colonial Calendar, Unknown, Battlestar Galactica

"It could be anything!"  Commander Lee Adama almost shouted at the group of officers aboard Galactica "we have already seen the Cylons using more than just Basestars, Resurrection ships for a start, these unidentified ships" he said putting several stills on the desk "in orbit around Caprica when Kara returned for the survivors fighting there.  This ship could easily be something Cylon we haven't seen."  He stressed for the last four months they had sat in this very room and tried to plan several operations to save the civilians on New Caprica, each time they had failed it was becoming more and more trouble.

"It doesn't look anything like a Cylon ship!" Margret "Racetrack" Edmonson shouted back standing her ground despite their rank difference she was sick of the Commander of Pegasus defeatist attitude.

"If it was Cylon why didn't it just jump in like the rest of their ships?" Karl "Helo" Agathon asked quietly

"Maybe it can't jump, it could be damaged, or it could be carrying cargo that can't be jumped."  Lee said throwing in options, he wasn't against returning to New Caprica, but they still didn't have enough information to make a choice.  Between Pegasus and Galactica they could take out three or four Basestars if their ships were fully crewed, at the moment neither ship had a third of the crew it should have and would be lucky to defeat the two ships already in orbit not to mention this new ship should it be hostile.

"Lee's right, we need more information."  The older Adama said quietly "although this ship adds a new element to the situation on Caprica we cannot confirm that this ship is Cylon or not.  Racetrack, you will take a Raptor back to New Caprica pick a different point to enter the system usual low profile entrance."  Racetrack nodded

"That will limit the chances of them picking up a communication from Colonel Tigh or the others" Lieutenant Anastasia "Dee" Dualla said quietly, she was Lee's XO and wife but had been far less negative about the fleet's chances of returning to New Caprica in recent meeting which Admiral Adama had noticed had raised some tension between his son and daughter-in-law.

"I have an idea for that" Adama said rising "enter" he called out in entered Sharon Agathon, a known Cylon copy of a former Galactica crewmen known as Boomer.  She'd helped Karl Agathon escape Cylon occupied New Caprica and had his child aboard Galactica, although the child had died.  During the time orbiting New Caprica she'd married Helo and until an hour ago she had been a prisoner aboard Galactica.  Now however she entered this briefing wearing the uniform of the Colonial Fleet and the rank of Junior Leiutenant.

"Sir! I must protest" Dee was the first to speak up, Adama wasn't too surprised.  She had been in Galactica's CIC when a previous copy of Boomer had shot Adama in the chest.  He knew Lee was opposed to counsel with Sharon and knew that although Dee was loyal to him she was more loyal to her husband who had remained quiet.

"I understand your miss givings however Sharon Agathon has never caused harm to this fleet.  She has helped us in ways becoming an officer of the fleet, and has taken the oath."  Admiral Adama said standing up straight "she also believes she can infiltrate the Cylons on New Caprica without being noticed."

"We can't recognize the difference between each other.  I will look like any other Number Eight model."  She said smirking

"Sharon will take a Raptor mission to New Caprica and contact Colonel Tigh or other personnel on the surface."  Adama continued "she will prepare them for possible action against the Cylons and remind them all that we are still here.  Racetrack will take a mission back to New Caprica in a second Raptor and check in on our new arrivals.  Kat" he said looking at Louanne "Kat" Katrane "you will continue Raptor and Viper drills in conjunction with Pegasus and Galactica, we are getting our people back and we're going to give the Cylons a bloody nose in the process." He said triumphantly for the first time in months he saw smiles and confident looks on the faces of the people around him.

   -   -   -

New Caprica, orbit, Cylon Basestar

"The ship appeared sixteen hours ago on extreme sensors, even now we can barely see it."  Number Three, D'Anna, said quietly looking at the other Cylons gathered around the control console "it doesn't look like anything the Colonies ever built."  The speaker of the Cylons she more often than not led the discussions.

"A classified project?"  Number Four, Simon, asked cautiously clasping his hands in front of himself in thought.  As always he would think things over one hundred times before acting.

"Nothing I ever saw" Number Six, Caprica, said quietly smiling her trademark blonde hair and red dress had opened many doors in the Colonies before the Cylon attack.  She'd seen and heard things that the Twelve Colonies believed was more than secret.  And she'd been instrumental in planting computer viruses in the Fleets defence systems and ships.  She along with Boomer were the Cylon's war Heros agents who had infiltrated the Colonies and completed vital missions before and after the initial attacks.  The other Cylons had listened to her and Boomer

"Perhaps we could consult with "President" Baltar or Colonel Tigh before acting further?  If this is a Colonial Fleet vessel it could be a sign of our wrong doing in the face of the Gods." Number Two, Leoben, suggested he would be the one who believed in signs and prophets if any Cylon did.  He actually listened to the mumbo-jumbo spoken by human priests believing it had happened before and would continue to happen again and again until the end of time.

"Would be difficult since I released Colonel Tigh this morning, he can't or won't tell us anything further." Number One, John, said "perhaps we could just destroy it and end all the mystery?  It isn't our ship, why do we care if it lives or dies?"  He asked always the one to act and ask questions later.  None of the other Cylons spoke against him, they rarely did.  "Good, then as soon as it is in range we will end this ship's existence and continue our efforts in making the humans love us" he said sarcasticly the one time they had spoken against him was when New Caprica had been spared from nuclear fire.

"By your command" Number Eight, Sharon Valarii, an exact copy of the woman who had infiltrated the Colonial Fleet before the attacks and had shot then-Commander Adama.  A woman with the same body as the Sharon Agathon who now served on the Battlestar Galactica under that same commander.

   -   -   -

Nebula, Spirit of Fire

"Two more vessels have entered the area."  Serina said quietly to Captain Cutter "I'm not entirely sure how they entered the area, they just appeared."  She said for once the AI sounding flustered by the unknown "Captain, I have reviewed our sensor logs before I awoke you there was a smaller but similar signature.  It was what that signature that activated my system reboot and facilitated our discovery of the planet and the orbiting ships."

"Some sort of FTL drive?"  Cutter wondered out aloud adjusting his cap for about the hundredth time today, it was one habit he had picked up being a fleet officer and had never been able to shake.  He knew other officers refused to wear the fleet cap as part of their day to day uniform but he saw it as part of his uniform and would wear it until the day he left the service or the day he was removed in a box.

"Unknown, it could be some sort of Active camouflage we haven't seen before."  She suggested

"Send it to Anders for analysis" Cutter ordered he knew the AI wouldn't otherwise

"She's unlikely to learn anything further" Serina muttered, the two had been rivals since Ellen Anders arrived on the ship.  Ellen was a very smart young woman, Serina was a female personification of all the knowledge humanity had collectively achieved.  It was a battle of wits and intelligence that was just waiting to happen.

"She also doesn't have to focus on preparing this ship for a possible ship and ground battle simultaneously, I need you focused on the matters on hand."  Cutter reminded her

"Not that I can't do both, information sent with my regards, I've also set up a direct link between Professor Anders' Lab and the main sensor suite so she can stream the information in real time if she so wishes."  the AI said proudly "Sergeant Forge reports he has an action plan ready for ground and space deployment if required."

"Tell him to concentrate on the ground, if we need to fight in orbit as well it will require bigger guns than Forge can bring to bare."

"I'm not sure if the Sergeant will agree Captain, but I will inform him."  Serina confirmed "sir, I hate to ask but if this is a hostile alien force, AND insurrectionists on the ground what is our course of action?"  She asked almost timidly which wasn't Serina's style despite the topic.  The Insurrectionists had been a problem for the UNSC for years, it had died down slightly because of the Covenant attacks working its way through the outer colonies but it still remained just beyond the public eye a rivalry that would likely never go away.

"Then we act appropriately, with luck they will at least have a ship capable of reaching the UNSC we can acquire and make contact with command.  Otherwise I don't care who they are."  Cutter admitted "I don't like the idea of fighting fifty thousand people, but we do still have nuclear ordinance aboard if required."

"Which will be deployed under protest sir" Serina said sternly she was a UNSC constructed AI but she still had morals and beliefs of her own.  She would carry out any order Cutter gave her up to and including her, and the ship's, destruction but it didn't mean she had to blindly agree with him.  "The Covenant are already doing a very good job at wiping out Humanity without us helping."  She reminded him.

"I know Serina but I worry, if the Flood escaped the Shield World or are held somewhere else they could be an even bigger threat to Humanity than the Covenant are."  He explained his thoughts gravely looking out the view ports into space.  "I will do everything in my power to return us to UNSC Space and inform them of the Flood and its potential threat."  He finished Serina didn't mention that she still wasn't entirely sure where they were, the Spirit of Fire had executed a blind jump from Arcadia chasing the Covenant's Arbiter before being pulled into the Shield World, they had not emerged into the same area of space, an area she hadn't identified before entering the Shield World.  Even now looking over the records of the Spirit of Fire's journey during her hibernation Serina wasn't entirely certain where they were.  Facts that the Captain of a ship potentially heading into battle didn't need to be reminded of.

Three

Moments Earlier, UNSC Spirit of Fire

"Let me hear the ground first Serina" Cutter ordered the AI immediately patched the communication from the surface.  Cutter couldn't understand a word of it, "Serina?"  The AI was quiet for a moment "Serina I need an answer" he said gruffly

"Sir it appears to be a form of Ancient Greek but not of a dialect I've ever heard of before, I'm running it through three translation software packages." She said Cutter could hear frustration in her voice.

"Play the other one" Cutter said he was equally frustrated four ships ahead could be friendly or they could be highly hostile.  People on the ground could be prisoners or they could be the base world for these ships.  He just didn't know.  The second message was played with no more luck than the first.  "Serina, out me on for the entire system run it through translation to the best Greek you can maybe they will understand a word or two."

"Ready Sir, still no luck with the dialect of both messages other than I can say for fact they are of the same dialect."  She said as Cutter selected a control on his command chair.

"This is Captain James Gregory Cutter commander of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, we come in peace but we will defend ourselves if fired upon.  We are..." He began before Serina cut in with a warning, a warning Cutter nearly didn't need.

"Incoming missiles!  Small craft launching from all four ships!"  She said immediately activating the blast shields to protect the command bridge of the Spirit of Fire.  The thick Titanium-A plating rapidly closing off the view to space.  "Counter measures away, point defence active."  She said acting to protect the ship the vessel's on board Electronic Counter Measures suite powered to full power intended on making the 2.5km long ship harder to hit with long range missiles, although point and shoot weapons like cannons or direct fire fighter weapons could barely miss.

"Serina continuous scans of incoming missiles make sure none of those that are getting through are nuclear or worse."

"Worse than nuclear?  I'd love to see your nightmares Captain."  She said dryly in the background as Cutter moved around the bridge.

"Deck guns, concentrate on keeping those small craft off our flanks enlist Cyclopses to repair duties they are air tight and can survive out there unless they are targeted."  He ordered the four deck gun coordinators, along the flanks of the Spirit of Fire were twenty-two heavy weapon turrets capable of firing both anti-ship and anti-fighter weapons few ships in the UNSC fleet had them nowadays instead relying on massive banks of Archer missile pods.  The Spirit of Fire did have a complement of Archer missiles fore and after but the broadsides relied heavily on the turrets which Cutter preferred it gave them more flexibility even if it did mean more crew and more parts to go wrong.  "Main guns" he said turning to the two crewmen to the right of the helmsmen and navigators "MAC Heavy rounds on target designated Alpha One and Alpha Four, half the forward Archers at the target designated Alpha Two, half at target Alpha Three fire the weapons so everything hits around the same time, I want to surprise the hell out of them all at once."  He ordered turning back to his command chair hitting an auxiliary control "Sgt Forge prepare deployment plan A, looks like they've decided the tough route.  Be ready for a hectic run in."

"Always the best kind, Forge out" the Sergeant replied from deep within the Spirit of Fire.  Forge, being Forge, had come up with four separate deployment plans each for a different situation.  "A" was if the space ships were hostile straight away.  "B" was if they were friendly but possibly hiding hostile intent "C" was if they seems honest and friendly "D" was the unknown with the ships and planet not responding.  Plan "A" was the easiest all said.  The entire ship was buzzing with action as crewmen ran to their action stations while the ground troops assembled within the three Drop Pods and Eight Pelicans that would be used in this operation.

   -   -   -

Nearby Racetrack and Skulls were both sitting in the forward cockpit of the Raptor, with the sensors on passive mode there was no point to Skulls being in the back watching the Electronics suite.  Suddenly all four Cylon Baseships acted nearly as one launching missiles and fighters at the new ship.  "Get back there!" Racetrack shouted her voice amplified by her pressure suit Skulls scrambled into the back activating the Raptor's own scanners, with all the fighting going on a ship with no eyes would be a dead ship.

"I see, forty no eighty missiles, three hundred plus Cylon fighters launching." Skulls reported moments later "wow!  Major ECM bubble from that ship!"  Skulls shouted as all the Raptor's systems suddenly shifted.

"I don't see a single bird in the sky from them?"  Racetrack said confused as the Cylon raiders and missiles continued to close.

"Maybe they are going to jump instead of fighting" Skulls suggested suddenly then entire forward section of the unknown vessel lit up as hundreds of missiles launched from multiple launchers "now that's firepower!" Skulls shouted

"Probably rivals Pegasus" Racetrack said watching the missiles streak through the space between the Baseships and the unknown ship there were two flashes of light from the front of the ship but nothing seemed to happen Racetrack didn't know if it had taken hits since there didn't seem to be any new damage.  The missiles flew through the tightly packed formation of Raiders tearing apart at least fifty as they passed through the formation but the missiles didn't break up to track the individual raiders instead they carried on.  "There going straight for the Baseships" Racetrack commented watching several raiders break formation to try and chase down the missiles, Cylon Baseships had very little point defence.

"Impact five seconds, 3, 2, 1" Skulls counted down as missiles flew into two of the Cylon Capital ships coating both vessels in fire as they were hit by dozens of individual warheads.  Within moments of the missiles hitting there targets both other Cylon Baseships exploded almost at the same time.

"Oh gods what in the name of Mars was that Skulls?"  Racetrack screamed in a strange mix of delight and horror.  The two Baseships had been hit with the force of something like the firepower of Pegasus main forward guns but at four or five times the range.

"She's accelerating straight at the Raiders" Skulls commented "side turrets cutting into the raiders" he said as the sides of the unknown vessel lit up with weapons fire.  "We've got small craft launching from the ship, heading for New Caprica!"  He said as the unknown vessel cleared the main group of Cylon Raiders three box-like ships and eight large transport craft dropped from several areas from around the ship "that thing is a landing ship of some sort."

"Great more invaders, we really fracked up when we found this ball Skulls" Racetrack replied reminding her EWO that it had been their miss-jump that found New Caprica in the first place.  "The two damaged Baseships just jumped out, they are leaving the ground forces to fight for themselves.  We've seen enough spin up the FTL, the Admiral needs to see this data."  She ordered taking one last look as droves of Cylon Raiders began to jump clear abandoning the battle following their Baseships it was a crushing defeat for the Cylons, one that Racetrack wondered if Galactica and Pegasus could have achieved together.  The Raptor jumped just as the smaller craft hit the atmosphere of New Caprica.

   -   -   -

On New Caprica the fireworks in the sky brought everyone's attention as everyone wondered what was happening, were those explosions the return of Pegasus and Galactica to destroy the Cylons or were the signs of the destruction of the two Battlestars?  All eyes were on the sky as the unfamiliar alien green ships descended into the atmosphere flying over New Caprica City.  The skin-job Cylons and Centurions on the ground looked as confused as anyone making it the perfect moment for the resistance to move Sharon Agathon was somewhere in the Cylon compound searching out the launch keys for the Colonial ships grounded on the planet but it didn't matter to the occupied population they wanted revenge for all the hurt the Cylons had caused them over the last few months.

Throughout the city firefights began between the Colonial population and the Cylon occupiers.  Beyond the fighting Sgt Forge's UNSC ground teams landed, although the Spirit of Fire had hundreds of vehicles and the facilities to manufacture dozens more Forge had decided to keep things simple each of the three Hubs deployed had three M12 Warthog All Terrain Vehicles, capable of transporting three persons the 4x4s also had bite in the form of a Chain Gun turret mounted on the rear.  Supporting these was either a M808 Scorpion Main Battle Tank or, in Forge's case, an M850 Grizzly Main Battle Tank the two designs were pretty similar the Scorpion had a single Smooth Bore High Velocity Cannon and a machine gun turret, the Grizzly had two Smooth Bore Cannons and a machine gun all mounted on the same turret.  Finally for base defence was a pair of Elephant Mobile Bases and a single Wolverine Air defence Tank all in all a small army.

"Forge to Spirit of Fire, we're on the ground no resistance so far but we can see fighting inside the city."

"Forge, Cutter here, we've had communications from planet but are still trying to translate their language.  Assume robot forces are hostile since they have attacked us previously Human life is considered to be neutral or friendly until they fire on you."

"Understood" Forge said turning to the three Spartans standing near him.  Dressed in their Green and Red Mjolinir Battle Armour "you heard that?" All three nodded "go get them."  He said all three of the massive Spartans nodded, they were genetically augmented for combat trained in ways beyond any other solider the UNSC had Forge had always seen them as his rivals but when working as a team Red Team was unstoppable.  All three jumped into one of the nearby Warthogs, the vehicle physically sagged under the weight of the three half ton suits as they boarded it but within moments Jerome-092 had gunned the accelerator and the Warthog was headed towards the shanty-town city.  "Come on people let's hustle, we need to get organized the Captain's watching!"  He shouted at the troopers assembling the firebase around him.

Four

Occupied New Caprica City

Laura Roslin had once been the Secetary of Education for the Colonial Government, she had been chosen by the President to represent the government at the Battlestar Galactica's decomissioning ceremony, a dubious honour since the President was going behind her back at the time with a bill that would curb teachers rights and likely increase their lawful hours.  Then the holocust had happened and her world had fallen to pieces, being the only surviving member of the government she had been sworn in as the new President of the Twelve Colonies, the day before there had been forty-two people ahead of her all were dead.  She had done all she could as President of the Colonies to keep her people alive including a few things that she would no doubt pay for at the end.  When going for re-election however Dr Gais Balter offered the people something she could not, a planet to call home, Laura Roslin believed in the dream of finding the planet Earth home of the Thirteenth Colony.  With the offer of a world to live on and build a life people had voted Balter into the position of President.

Without the responsibilities of President Roslin had returned to her first love, teaching the children of the Colonies.  She'd briefly entertained the notion of convincing Admiral Bill Adama of joining her on the planet but in her heart she'd known he was married to the Battlestar Galactica first and foremost.  She'd remained on the planet and he in space, then the Cylons had returned and Galactica along with Bill Adama was gone.  Baltar had surrendered to the Cylons to this day remaining as their puppet President aboard the ship that used to be her home Colonial One.

Now however something was up with the Cylons leaving the tent that served as her school Roslin could see the Cylon Centurions standing nearby, instead of the confident dominance they had previously displayed these Centurions looked almost uneasy.  She could also hear a roar of an engine coming closer, the Cylons had transported dozens of vehicles from the twelve Colonies for their use on New Caprica and for us of the New Caprica Police, humans that served the Cylons as a civilian police force who really acted like little more than balaclaved henchmen.  This engine sounded nothing like any of those vehicles, looking in the direction of the sound Roslin could see the vehicle it looked like a large jeep with three figures all wearing strange green and red armour riding aboard it.  As the vehicle closed the machine gun mounted on the back roared to life cutting down three Cylon Centurions in rapid succession.  Roslin stood there in complete shock as the vehicle skidded in front of her before the vehicle had even stopped the passenger leapt from their position in mid-air drawing a pair of pistol like machine guns the first shots tore into the Centurion in the front of the next group of Cylons even as the bullets tore into the Centurion the massive figure smashed into the Centurion smashing it to the ground.  Under the figures weight and its own falling frame the Cylon was crushed into the ground, the figure didn't stop raising one arm to each side both of its weapons spat more deadly bullets taking out another pair of Centurions.

"Wh.... Who... Who are you?"  Roslin stammered looking at the figure, the suit that covered the figure from head to toe was like nothing she had ever seen before.

"Stay in your home" the figure replied in the worse Caprican accent she had ever heard, it almost sounded robotic.  "All will be over soon."  The figure continued raising off the fallen Centurion

Roslin darted into the school looking at her aides Tory and Maya "we need a fire drill, keep the children together and away from those things" she said pointing at the green armoured figures and their jeep which were moving down the street gunning down Cylon Centurion after Centurion but completely avoiding the skin-jobs that had been standing with or near them almost like they didn't know what the skin-jobs were.  A fire drill was the code for the resistance's evacuation plan, the idea being that everyone would move to selected rally points ready to leave the world for good, they had practiced the plan under the guise of fire drills."

"We don't have the launch keys" Tory warned her, there were several ships marooned on New Caprica but none had vital components required to launch them back into space.

"We'll work something out" Roslin promised her "Move!"

   -   -   -

Aboard the vessel known as Colonial One the "skin-job" Cylons that commanded the Centurions were in a panic, in space their Basestars were shattered and gone, now unknown troops were on the ground closing from all directions on New Caprica City destroying Centurions in their wake.  The humans living in the city had also began fighting causing even more death and panic.  "We can't hold this position, our Baseships are gone, we need to live now."  One said looking at the others

"Unfortunately I agree" the Number Six known as Caprica said quietly "the humans cannot accept our rule peacefully, and now these newcomers are completely unknown to us."

"We need to cripple them, permenantly" one of the two Number Fives present said, as common with the model both wore hideous teal coloured suits with flower pattern shirts, the model was rarely if ever taken seriously by the others.

"There's a nuke under the city fifty megaton, I'll detonate it wipe out the whole city" the Number Three, known as D'Anna confirmed only a few knew of the bomb "there's a ressurection ship nearby I'll download" she promised them.

"What about him?" the Number Eight known as Boomer asked looking towards Gais Baltar who sat silent in the room. "The Colonials will probably enjoy ripping him to pieces."  She said smirking

"We don't need need him further" the number two Simon agreed

"I can help you" Baltar promised each of the Cylons looked at him unbelieving "I can read the signs to Earth" he promised them.

"And if these new figures are the Thirteenth Tribe then we are as good as dead anyway!"  Number One complained out aloud pointing to the sky

"If this is the Thirteenth Tribe then you will need to bring around your own kind of retribution!"  Baltar shouted back, none of the Cylons disagreed "I can guide you there without the need of the Colonials."

"He could still prove of some use" Caprica said looking down at Baltar the twos sexual relationship had recently waned slightly but there was still great feeling between them.

"I agree, Baltar you're coming" D'Anna said "all of you get aboard the Heavy Raider, I'll detonate the nuke in an hour."  She promised them leaving the Colonial One heading for the buried nuke.

   -   -   -

In orbit Cutter looked down at the world which nearly fifty thousand people had built a home on wasn't exactly a paradise it looked like a world that people would make a pit stop on, with tempertures barely going above freezing across the planet and there being little in the way of decent vegitation.  It wasn't somewhere Cutter would ever want to live on, life in space was more appealing at least to him.  On the ground Forge was reporting light resistance from some of the mechanical warriors but for the most part the majority of the human population were too shocked to act.  "Captain, further energy signatures near where we detected the first.  Multiple ships on sensors."  Serina reported, the holographic display tank activated showing nearly two dozen ships including two very large vessels with twin flight pods.

"Helm, bring us about, weapons main MAC cannons to stand by.  Point defence be prepared for round two if required concentrate on any warhead near nuclear strength."  Cutter said as the Spirit of Fire began a slow turn "Serina analysis of those ships?"

"Although they appear differently to the other ships they appear to be powered by the same type of power and reactors."  She reported, "the two large vessels appear to be Warships, the smaller craft however appear to possibly be civilian ships."  She continued "sir these could be the ships of the people in the occupied planet?"

"If they are why the hell did they leave their ground troops undefended.  All weapons stand-by if they move the wrong way we open up."  Cutter said he didn't like the idea of gunning down unarmed vessels but if it needed to be done then it would be done he had people on the ground and the UNSC Spirit of Fire wouldn't be leaving anyone behind it was a promise Cutter had made to every single member of crew time and time again and one he wouldn't be breaking.

"Weapons targetted and ready.  Engines to station keeping.  Shortsword and Longsword fighters standing by for launch as are three armed Pelicans."  She said in the initial battle those ships had not been needed now however with more targets it was a possibility.  "Sir, we're only fifty percent reloaded on forward Archer missile bays."  She warned him.  Cutter nodded his understanding looking at the holotank as the ships continued to close, small craft were streaming from the sides of both large vessels "they are ready for a fight."  Serina noted

"So are we" Cutter promised

Six

The Colonial Fleet was slowly abandoning New Caprica, although they had driven off the Cylons with the Spirit of Fire's assistance the world was no longer the safe haven it once had been when they first found the world, and there were too many bad memories on the planet.  Thanks to the Cylon retreat the Colonials had been able to make a controlled withdrawal removing everything that was even remotely useful on the planet, they were also able to make repairs to four ships that if they had been forced to make a faster withdrawal they would have likely had to abandon.  Considering how cramped some of the Colonial civilian ships were Cutter was happy to allow the Colonials the time they needed so far the Spirit of Fire had been left to its own devices although Admiral Adama had forwarded them information on the Colonials, their technology, history and the Cylons the Artificial Intelligence that the Colonials had created and now that chased them across the galaxy.  Adama had also referred to the UNSC as the Thirteenth Tribe of Humanity, something Cutter still didn't understand since humanity had evolved on Earth.

Dr Anders was busy pouring through the information along with her small staff finding everything very interesting.  Sgt Forge had been busy as well packing up two of the three fire bases his people had set up on the planet and assessing the vehicles the Cylons had abandoned on the planet.  So far he'd identified about sixteen vehicles that could be used in the future six were small armoured vehicles with four wheels and a mounted central machine gun.  According to Forge it was something like a mini Warthog with more armour and less bite.  The other ten were larger six wheeled cargo vehicles with canvas covered backs that could probably carry about forty tons of cargo.  As the Colonials were abandoning the planet and ignoring nearly everything Cylon Forge had his people moving through the remains of New Caprica city removing everything Cylon related returning it to the firebase for study.  In the initial combat between the UNSC and the Cylons things had gone very well for the UNSC with their weapons able to penetrate the Centurion armour nicely but according to the Colonials there were more heavily armoured versions of the Centurion which would be harder to kill, the Cylon weapons mounted in the Centurion arms were also very interesting again spawning the Sergeant's interest.

One thing of particular interest to Cutter was the Colonial FTL technology the Spirit of Fire had sacrificed its FTL engine to stop the Covenant at a Forerunner Shield World, he and his crew were marooned without a new FTL drive, he had no idea if the Colonial version would work on the Spirit of Fire but to get his people home he was willing to take the risk.  To that end he'd invited the Commanders of the Fleet aboard to begin negotiations and hopefully learn exactly who they were, if by initial impressions they were being truthful about their desires for Earth Cutter had to consider the Cole Protocol which clearly stated no non-UNSC vessel should be taken into Earth controlled space without authorization although these people were not the Covenant they certainly were not the UNSC.

Two of their small shuttle craft, named Raptors, had been dispatched from the two WarShips and guided to docking bays by one of the Spirit of Fire's Pelicans.  Both were at this moment being lifted from their landing bays into the Spirit of Fire's main drop,  Being a former Colony ship and a ship intended on bringing a lot of hardware to a ground mission the Spirit of Fire's interior was more open than any other starship ever built by humanity the main drop bay   fed off of six auxiliary bays which housed the ships ground complement and vehicles from this area more than 9,000 people could be sent to combat.  So far the Spirit of Fire had lost 1,842 men and women to the Covenant, Flood and Forerunner enemies they had faced some on ground missions and others in space, more than once Cutter had thanked whatever Gods there may be for the ships relatively small losses.

As the two Raptors rose up into the bay for the first time Cutter was able to look at them, perhaps a third the length of a standard Pelican less than half as wide as the UNSC Dropship and they appeared to be completely unarmed.  "Atten-sion!"  One of the crew chiefs shouted out every single member of crew present, roughly 300, including Cutter, snapped to attention "Pres-ent arms!"  The crewman shouted out every saluted the two small "alien" craft as their siide hatches opened.  To streamline things Serina and Anders had created an earpiece programmed with the Colonials Dialect using the records given to Cutter.  Cutter and Anders along with the Spirit of Fire's crew chiefs all wore one as did the senior Colonial visitors and the pilots.  The earpieces were effectively translators which with a second or two delay would allow each side to completely understand the other, over time if the Colonials returned to UNSC space they would likely need to learn standard English but for now this solution would do nicely.  A marine stepped from each of the Raptors armed with what appeared to be a type of sub-machine gun, they were dressed in all black with only their faces uncovered.  Behind them dressed in a double-breasted grey uniform with a leather sash worn over one shoulder and across the chest, several small decorations were attached to the sash which Cutter thought may be decorations.  Looking over the uniform as the older man stepped from the Raptor Cutter remarked how much simpler it was than his own "dress whites" uniform which was all white including the cap trimmed in gold with the officer's decorations on the left breast.

"Commander of the Colonial Fleet, and of the Battlestar Galactica, Admiral William Adama arriving!" Cutter shouted in plain English for all the UNSC personnel present before looking at the younger man leaving from the second Raptor dressed in the same uniform as the older man he wore slightly less decorations but carried himself similarly to the other man hardly surprising Cutter thought since they shared a surname at least "Commander of the Battlestar Pegasus, Commander Lee Adama arriving!"  He shouted for a second time announcing the second man.  Marching forward of the line he stepped in front of Admiral Adama immediately the man saluted in a fashion very similar to that of a UNSC officer which pleased Cutter no end born from distant cultures they still held the same beliefs in respect of rank and discipline.  "Admiral Adama, welcome aboard the United Nations Space Command vessel Spirit of Fire" Cutter said briskly after a moment lowering his salute.

"Thank you Captain" Adama replied politely after hearing the translation "allow me to present President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol Laura Roslin."  He said stepping aside to show a middle aged woman wearing a purple business skirt and a pair of ancient spectacles.

"Welcome aboard Madam President" Cutter replied with a curt nod.  President was a term he had not heard for many years.  There was a President once that ran the United Earth Government, the UNSC's civilian authority, but now the UNSC Military Command ran more of the Government than any civilian.  Some called it a dictatorship, the insurrectionists fought against the UNSC for exactly that reason, but in the face of the Covenant threat strong direct leadership was needed instead of Civilian red-tape.  "Please allow me to introduce Professor Ellen Anders she created the devices that allow us to understand what each is saying."  He explained turning to introduce the younger scientist she nodded politely to them, in Cutter's ear he could almost hear Serina screaming.  Because of the Colonials problems with the Cylons Cutter had chosen to keep the ship's Smart AI a secret for now but he knew that if it had not been for Serina's input the earpieces would never have completed even given Anders talents.  "If you would like to follow me? I will give you a tour of the vessel."  Cutter continued his guests nodded and Cutter led them from the bay past a row of four Scorpion Main Battle Tanks which had not so subtly been parked near one of the bay's exits.  Cutter couldn't help but smirk at the obvious show of strength with the armour and wondered if it had been a crew chief or Serina who had decided to allocate this area for the Scorpions today.

   -   -   -

The tour of the Spirit of Fire took the group about an hour and even then they did not cover half of the 2.5 Kilometre long vessel eventually they reached one of the vessel's largest briefing rooms circular and built with ascending seating around a lower central table it could hold sixty troopers before a busy deployment today there was only Cutter, Anders and Andrew Prescott on one side with the three senior Colonials on the other.  "You really are from Earth" Laura Roslin said smiling but with a tear in her eye.  "We find the Thirteenth Colony which can deliver us from our enemies but you have an enemy, a non-human enemy, this Covenant which threatens humanities very survival."  She said her anger burning "the irony is almost unbelievable!"

"Although I cannot say for certain if we are this thirteenth colony" Cutter said quietly, he was personally convinced that Earth was the birthplace of humanity "I can say that so far we have held the best we can against the Covenant.  We have made them pay for every mile of ground they have taken."  He promised the Colonials "the Spirit of Fire's own journey is proof of that."  He continued defensively.

"We are glad we found you Captain" Admiral Adama said quietly "and I personally am very glad your vessel was where it was when it was" he continued "your arrival saved us from sustaining very heavy casualties."

"Unfortunately the Cylons could return at any moment and we are still conducting recovery operations."  The younger Adama said quietly "it will likely take another week to get the remaining vessels off the surface, after that we need a course?"  He said looking at Cutter

"I know you would like a route to Earth" Cutter answered "but that is something I cannot give" he said quietly "not because I do not want to because we are not entirely sure where we are."  He said activating a control on the table suddenly a holographic image of the stars appeared showing the Spirit of Fire's location since escaping the Forerunner Shield World unfortunately there were no further human stars on the map only the Spirit of Fire and the world marked as "New Caprica"

"Captain, may I ask this wording is it your native tongue?"  Roslin asked looking up at the words after the initial shock, the Colonies had once used such technology daily before the First Cylon war, it was now long abandoned unable to function without networked computers.

"It is one of the native languages of Earth, and the universal trade language of the UNSC, English is its name."  Anders explained

"I've seen it before" Roslin admitted "on the planet we discovered a cave just two weeks before the Covenant arrived, we found letters like these engraved in the walls.  We were going to study them once the colony was more self sufficient." She said with a small smirk barely believing New Caprica City would have ever been self sufficient.

"We would very much like to see those..."  Anders began but was cut off by Cutter's raised hand.

"First we have other more important issues to address the Spirit of Fire is unable to make a FTL jump, we had to sacrifice our engine to stop the Covenant unleashing a fleet of advanced ships.  Can you help us?"  He asked looking at the elder Adama.

"I believe it may be possible, Pegasus has several spare FTL Drives it may take a couple but we would hopefully be able to install the system and support systems, assuming you can give our people access to your engineering and computer systems..."  Adama began as a small circular podium activated off to the side.

"And that's where I will come in" Serina said activating her base hologram image appearing about 3 feet tall dressed in her usual white lab coat "I am UNSC AI Serina" she introduced herself moments before the three Colonials went nuts.

"You have a fracking AI running your ship!" Roslin shouted

"Do you know what those things did to us?"  Lee asked

"When exactly was this going to come up?"  Admiral Adama asked gaining control of at least some of his senses.

"Admira, Commander, Madam President the UNSC has thousands of AIs that help us run our space stations, starships and cities.  Some like Serina have their own personalities and are able to think like any human being but there are limits.  Serina privacy mode for this chamber."  He ordered the AI rolled her eyes

"Privacy mode engaged, I'll wait outside the door" she said before disappearing from sight.

"That single AI could happily run this entire ship" Cutter confirmed seeing the dread on the Colonials face "but she will only live for 7 years."  He said "each Smart AI only survives around that long before they literally think themselves to death, although not a product of design it does help to keep them in check.  I could not run Spirit of Fire without Serina" he said noticing Anders shaking her head "although not everyone agrees AIs are all that useful, the UNSC is as built on them as it is on the Titanium III Armour that surrounds our hull.  Now if your people cannot accept that let me know, we will continue our journey at sub-light speeds but be warned if that is the case you should set a course in the opposite direction.  There are billions of people out there who accept AIs as part of their everyday lives, they are our shipmates and protectors in many ways."

"Captain, our people will have to learn how to accept many new things."  Admiral Adama said quietly "I'll get you those engine parts, not sure if we will have engineers willing to help do the work but I will do all I can to help your ship if you promise to help our people find the UNSC and make our case for membership."  As the Admiral spoke the words Cutter could see the President's face twist even as she looked at the dormant stand Serina had appeared from.

"I'll do all that I can Admiral, with an FTL drive we should be able to work out exactly where we are after a few jumps.   The tricky part will be installing the engine."

"While they do that" Anders cut in, "may I esquire where that cave was with those English letters?"  Anders asked looking at the President, bringing up a topic not related to the ships or anything technical seemed to bring Roslin back into the reality of the situation.  Not for the first time Cutter thanked ONI for assigning Anders to his command.

   -   -   -

On the planet Forge looked at the Terminal "Sorry Anders you want me to do what?"  He said looking at the Professor slightly annoyed, there relationship was one that seemed to jump from one extreme to the next despite his best efforts to keep her safe and to keep it professional he couldn't deny he felt something for the ONI Scientist.

"Head north several kilometres and check out some caves the local Colonials found, apparently they found English writing.  Once you have found it I'll take a Pelican down."

"Letting me do all the leg work again Professor?"  Forge asked half jokingly he knew if she was coming down he'd need a half decent security force, trouble seemed to follow her.

"Find the cave Forge, this could be a signpost for Earth."  She insisted

"Right" Forge said shutting off the terminal turning to the three Spartans nearest him "you heard the lady, let's mount up, we're going exploring."  He ordered all three Spartans still in their Mjolinir Armour jumped in the nearest Warthog as marines mounted up in several other vehicles.  Within 5 minutes eight Warthogs each carrying three persons were speeding across the half frozen ground of New Caprica on what Forge hoped wasn't a wild goose chase.

Nice updates.

Glad you like it

Seven

New Caprica

The initial exploration of the caves had gone quickly Forge had reported finding the English letters and Anders had joined him on the surface while the Colonials continued to help the Spirit of Fire install an FTL drive.  However things began to develop very quickly, the colonials continued to evacuate everything they could from the planet's surface however two ships carrying 1,200 civilians between them were still suffering from engine difficulties.  Furthermore Cylon raiders had been detected jumping in scouting the area although none had approached the Colonial's Combat Air Patrol.  Somehow Adama had found Colonial Engineers willing to work aboard the Spirit of Fire despite Serina's presence and the work was moving along.  Cutter stood on the command bridge of his ship watching as the civilian ships moved around in formation slowly with both Pegasus and Galactica presenting their broadsides to the UNSC vessel.  The speakers on the bridge crackled to life "Anders to Spirit of Fire, Captain it appears this is a record of some sort of Forerunner and Human meeting place." Professor Anders said triumphantly.  "It appears that this was one of the sites that humanity and the forerunners first fought."

"First fought?"  Cutter asked the Forerunners were thought to be the first evolution of life in the universe.  Their technology was vaunted as being the most powerful and capable with the Covenant basing many of their weapons and technology on those of the Forerunners.  The information Spirit of Fire had on the Forerunners from the shield world may be enough to turn the tide of the Covenant War if the ship ever made it home.  Now Anders had discovered more information, perhaps even information of greater importance "Anders, are you saying humanity had the strength to oppose the Forerunners?"

"It appears at one point Captain, there was a branch of humanity that not only could rival the Forerunners but perhaps even surpassed them."  Anders said surprised by the information herself "someone or something known as the Didact created a sub-species of Forerunner known as the Promethean Knights" she continued "these combat form Promethean Knights were beyond everything the humans had and were capable of defeating dozens of humans without loss.  The war turned against the humans but the Forerunners were weakened by the battle, so weakened that they missed what the humans were running from."  She said suddenly the line went quiet.

"Professor is there anything else?"  Cutter asked intrigued by the developments

"They brought the Flood to the Forerunners doors Captain, humanity caused the fall of the Forerunners."  Anders finished the Flood were parasites they fed on anything that was alive and they bread until they had consumed all food.  The only way to stop the flood was to deny them a food source.  "Somehow the Forerunners defeated the humans so completely that all their technology was destroyed but the Flood were too much.  One of the Forerunners, the Librarian, took pity on our race and ensured we would evolve again."

"Professor bring it all up here."  Cutter ordered however before Anders could reply there was the audible sound of a shotgun blast "what the hell was that!"  Cutter shouted looking out the windows in a vain attempt to see the surface of New Caprica.

"Captain this is Forge!"  The Sergeant shouted over several more shotgun blasts "we have flood contacts down here, Warthogs overrun we need back up!"  He screamed Cutter had seen the flood in action and knew what they were capable of, they would consume all that Forge, Anders and the others were turning them into more flood who would consume all life on New Caprica.

"Serina!" Cutter snapped into action "have ODST squads to their pods and Pelicans ready for launch for hot extraction!  Helm, re-position for Helljumper deployment!"  He ordered his crew the ODST or Orbital Drop Shock Troopers had their own unique way of reaching a planet in single occupant exoatmspheric insertion vehicles, or drop pods.  These pods were designed to take one trooper and all the gear they would need to fight a battle from space to the ground the fiery descent and often death that ODST's encountered had gained them the nickname Helljumpers, the Helljumpers were all volunteers and all trained to be the best.  The development of the Spartans had put a shadow over the ODSTs but the Spartans were very few and still extremely capable.  "Communications get me Galactica!"  Cutter ordered thinking of the two Colonial civilian ships on the planet, the Flood would find them to be a prefect food source, and possibly a way off the planet, if need be he'd use Spirit of Fire's MAC to gun down the ships if Adama was unwilling, Cutter would not let the Flood escape New Caprica.

   -   -   -

"Admiral!  The Spirit of Fire is changing position!"  Newly returned to service Lieutenant Felix Gaeta reported for the last year he had served as President Baltar's personal assistance and many saw him as much trouble as the missing president.  Adama on the other hand still saw the promising young Officer of the Watch that had served aboard Galactica during the decommissioning period and the initial escape from the Cylons to New Caprica.  Both Adama and Colonel Tigh stared at the DRADIS console watching the icon of the Spirit of Fire, the vessel of the Thirteenth Tribe dwarfed every vessel of the Colonial fleet it also carried a forward weapons array that could put a hole through Galactica's heavy armoured hull as a result Adama had ordered the Gun Captains to maintain a watch on the vessel and its movements.

"Get me Cutter!"  Adama barked still staring at the screens.

"Sir, multiple objects dropping from the bottom of Spirit heading straight for the planet" Gaeta reported continuing to watch his screens "we have Cutter on wireless" he then reported as the Admiral picked up his table phone

"Spirit of Fire, this is Galactica Actual" Adama said addressing the UNSC vessel with the Spirit of Fire's AI they had installed translator systems aboard Galactica and Pegasus to help cut out communication errors between the two languages.  "There is what?"  Adama said shocked glancing from his monitors at Tigh "Captain, we have 1,200 people on that planet and two ships, how can you tell me this?  Surely your people saw something?"  Adama demanded he couldn't believe the UNSC Expedition on the Planet could be so careless.  "I expect so Captain."  Adama said placing down his phone thumping his fist against the desk.

"What is it?"  Tigh asked, he was probably the only person on the bridge that could ask William Adama something when he was angry without a serious reaction.  The two had known each other for so long it was almost impossible for them both to stay annoyed at each other long.

"The UNSC have discovered a life form on the planet known as "The Flood" it consumes living material converting it into mass that it can use and expand with.  Cutter is deploying additional resources to contain the threat."  Adama said quietly calming his temper "those pods were Human Entry Vehicles each carrying troopers to the planet's surface, Cutter is also deploying more of those ships known as Pelicans in support."  Adama said quietly

"Human Entry Vehicles?"  Tigh asked staring up at the DRADIS screen "they send people to a planet in those damned contraptions?"  He asked shocked for a moment "what of our ships on the surface?"

"Cutter has warned that if the Flood is not contained he will initiate bombardment of the planet's surface including our ships and civilians if necessary."

"He'll lose his damned ship if he tries" Saul Tigh rebuffed showing the confidence a crew needed to see in their Executive Officer when facing a threat.

"He seems dedicated to the removal of the flood by any means."   Adama said "Mister Gaeta get a hold of Tyrol and find out how many external weapons we have for the Vipers, have him coordinate with Laird on Pegasus I want as many Vipers outfitted for combat as possible.  Prepare Raptors for immediate deployment with all weapons pods.  Colonel Tigh set Condition One throughout the ship, have all Civilian ships that are able be prepared to make immediate emergency jump to the alternate coordinates."  Adama ordered staring at the DRADIS.

   -   -   -

On the ground the situation was just as chaotic as the flood began to swarm everywhere Anders, Forge and the two remaining marines stood back-to-back firing constantly.  The other marines were all dead consumed by the flood several others had risen from the grave and were charging at them from various directions, their bodies mutated nearly beyond recognition, the humans they once were was long gone.  Around them the three Spartans of Red Squad stood like giants their shields flaring as infection forms burst trying to infect the warriors.  Each of the Spartans had removed a heavy machine gun from the rear of the disabled Warthogs using the weapons to hold the flood back.  Forge heard the familiar "whirl-bang" sound of ODST Drop Pods arriving nearby "Hold tight people the cavalry have arrived!"  He shouted as one of the remaining marines fell to the ground withering in pain as several flood forms lept onto him infecting his blood Forge reached out and pulled Anders away from the marine before shooting the fallen trooper twice in the back.

"Forge!" Anders shouted a warning as she saw several more flood forms jumped up behind the Sergeant.  Battle Rifle fire cut through the air cutting down both Flood forms in a hail of bullets from the arriving ODSTs.

"Move move move!" Forge shouted at Anders, the remaining marine and the Spartans as the ODSTs arrival opened a hole in the Floods ranks Anders moved fast enough but the last remaining marine from the Warthog force did not, several flood infection forms swarmed his body as Forge and the Spartans finally began to retreat.  "You gentlemen took your sweet time!"  Forge shouted reaching the ODSTs.

"You know Helljumpers Sarge we do everything slow and easy except deployment!"  The ODST shouted back spraying the Flood infection forms with assault rifle fire.  Every infection form hit exploded with the touch of a single bullet but there were thousands of them spewing from the ground.  "We've got Pelicans on the way for extraction sir, we need to keep heading east!"  The ODST shouted over the noise of the weapons.

"Everyone on me staggered retreat formation!"  Forge shouted with those words the first four ODSTs moved about ten feet back before turning and opening fire on the flood then another four followed suit, each squad turned and moved until only the three Spartans, Anders and Forge remained.  Forge and Anders followed next then finally Red Team all still carrying their massive turrets walked back, the turrets accuracy was horrible but because the Spartans moved last they didn't have to worry about causing friendly casualties.  As the Spartans approached the ODST line the last squad to move the first time around moved first this time spreading out the ammo usage by each group.

"We can't keep this up long Sarge, our ammo will run dry before too long."  Jerome, Red Team's leader, reported just as the Spartan's machine gun turret ran dry.  Ditching the weapon he pulled a shotgun from his back blasting a group of infection forms.

"I know" Forge replied he himself was down to twenty rounds for his own shotgun while Anders had long run out of bullets for her borrowed pistol.  In the air above them there was another roar to begin with Forge thought it was more ODSTs but as the roar came closer he realized it was nothing like an ODST Entry pod instead several of the Colonial fighter craft known as Vipers flashed into view first strafing the flood with their cannons then dropping several canisters as they flew past the canisters landed right in the middle of the Flood, on contact with the ground the canisters exploded spreading a coat of fire over the flood each canister destroying dozens of Flood Infection forms.  "Move move move clear out before then next group come in!"  Forge screamed as more Vipers dived from the sky strafing the Flood before dropping more bomb canisters.  Ahead nearly one hundred metres away three Pelicans swooped down towards the surface their rear mounted machine gun turrets spitting fire into the Flood adding to the carnage caused by the Vipers.

Clambering past the rear hatch gunner Forge immediately turned around helping an ODST aboard as another of the troopers was caught by the flood "pilot are the Colonial civilians clear?"  He asked hitting the Pelican's internal intercom as one of the Red Team Spartans climbed aboard.

"Negative Sarge, one of the ships is clear but we've still got one ship and seven hundred people remaining."  The pilot replied as the ship shook heavily with another explosion nearby from one of the Viper strafing runs.

"Pilot redirect take us there" Forge said as the last of the ODSTs boarded.

"Sarge my orders are to get you and Professor Anders back aboard Spirit..."

"Negative, we're not done until the last civilian gets away."  Forge said defiantly grabbing a group of shotgun shells reloading his weapon "these guys pulled us from the fire, our turn!"  He barked still looking at the swarming flood continuing to expand over New Caprica consuming the dead marines and any animal they came across.

   -   -   -

"He's doing what?"  Cutter said annoyed at Forge's bravery and defiance "Serina MAC bombardment protocol six gamma!"  He ordered the Spirit of Fire unlike most UNSC vessels was not designed for space combat instead it was designed to support ground forces beyond everything else.  The MAC cannons were so large they were designed to fire a far more varied weapons load than Destroyer or Frigate sized weapons, as a result it could support a variety of firing protocols.

"We don't have many gamma rounds left."  Serina warned they had used such rounds on Arcadia and at the Forerunner Shield World.

"Lets hope we don't come across many more ground targets, fire as soon as loaded primary target is the original Flood emergence point."  Cutter said as Spirit of Fire continued to orientate towards the surface.

"MAC Loaded... Firing Round One.... Firing Round Two"  Serina called out as the Spirit of Fire's forward guns barked into life first one shot then a second.  As soon as the MAC rounds hit the atmosphere.

   -   -   -

In the atmosphere Starbuck had seen the three UNSC Pelicans evacuate their ground troops and instead of heading for space head directly for the still grounded Astral Queen she had to admit she was impressed the troopers hadn't just run without any further fight.  These Flood life forms continued to swarm over the planet most were tiny smaller than a Viper DEW shell others, the mutated corpses of marines and various animals the Flood had already ingested were larger and faster moving.  The Vipers continued to make strafing runs as their external payloads were expended the strafing runs were not doing much damage.  After a year as a prisoner of the Cylons it felt good to be in a Viper again, to be doing something other than killing the same Cylon over and over.  "All Vipers this is Kat"  Louanne Katraine called out she'd been promoted to Captain during the colonization of New Caprica and was technically still Commander of the Air Group (or CAG) although Starbuck was determined to claim back the spot "Break Break Break!"  She called out Starbuck instinctively jinked her fighter to the right just as nearly a dozen projectiles slammed into New Caprica's surface from orbit causing massive shock-waves that wiped out dozens and dozens of Flood Infection forms.

"Holy frak what the hell was that!"  Hot Dog screamed as the shock-waves through up dozens of rocks higher than most of the Vipers, Starbuck slammed the thrusters to full and pushed above the impact.  Moments later a second barrage slammed into the ground wiping out yet more Flood.

"Our new friends have some impressive firepower, All Vipers fall back to Astral Queen, fly CAP over the ship, we'll pick the flood off as they close" Kat ordered pulling her Viper away

"Tell Zarek to get the lead out his ass!"  Starbuck screamed as she turned her Viper to follow the others away from the newly created impact craters and dust clouds thrown up by the MAC impacts.

"He's working on it Starbuck!" Kat replied without another word

   -   -   -

The ODSTs had set up all around and over the Astral Queen placing rocket launchers and machine gun turrets all over the place most pulled off the backs of the three Pelicans.  Despite the language difficulties the Colonials and the UNSC ODSTs had understood the threat posed and what they needed to do.  Forge sat on the forward edge of Astral Queen's forward hull with a pair of binoculars watching as the Spirit of Fire's MAC rounds hit the ground causing massive explosions and dust clouds.  A cheer was called out from the ODSTs and Colonials alike as the tremors caused by the MAC attack reached the still grounded ship.  The Colonial Vipers soared overhead for a moment Forge thought the Flood had been wiped out but then slowly more began to appear.  "All right people all you got!"  He shouted pulling up a rocket launcher firing both of the weapons twin tubes into the Flood before pulling up an assault rifle spraying still incoming flood "Anders you tell that guy get his ship off the ground or we're dead!"  Forge screamed into his communicator as more rockets and machine gun fire took out dozens of Flood.

"We're working on it, some sort of glitch in the main firing switch"

"This glitch is going to cause a lot more trouble than we can handle at this rate!"  Forge screamed reloading his assault rifle he saw several of the ODSTs becoming over confident pushing forward "stay close to the damned ship!"  He screamed at the men but it was too late, within moments all three men were being swarmed by the Flood "ANDERS!" Forge screamed his anger boiling.  The Vipers flew back across the ship gunning down more Flood just as the Astral Queen's engines fired "about time! Everyone aboard" Forge ordered "Red Team you too!"  he shouted seeing the three Spartans all still fighting through the Flood both on the ship and on the ground "RED TEAM now!"  He screamed again spraying the flood around them with assault rifle fire.  The Three Spartans turned and began to run towards Forge as he continued to lay down machine gun fire, all three passed by him entering Astral Queen just as the Flood began to swarm the ship "Anders get us out of here!"  Forge called as he turned entering the ship, one of the infection forms jumped into the craft at Forge who dived out of the way just as one of the Spartans Alice stepped forward crushing the Flood spore.  "Thanks Spartan" Forge said looking at the crushed Flood before collapsing backwards exhausted.

"Forge we've got more trouble" Anders called from the bridge, the Sergeant just stared at the roof above for a moment snapping out of it as a Spartan appeared over him.  "Get up here!"  She said forcing him to move.

  Wow very nice update!  Wonder what could be waiting for Forge?

He found this...

Eight

Astral Queen Bridge

The Command Deck of the Astral Queen was busy with activity as Forge and the three Spartans of Red Team arrived.  There Tom Zarek, three bridge crew and Professor Ellen Anders were staring at several screens.  On them Forge could see dozens upon dozens of red dots showing enemy vessels "Whats going on?"  Forge asked looking at Anders and then Zarek.

"Cylons, eighteen of their capital ships dozens of raiders and of larger small craft" Anders answered first "hundreds of missiles heading towards the fleet, even the Covenant would struggle to stop all of those weapons..." she whispered Forge looked at her for a moment before Zarek interrupted.

"Baseships and Heavy Raiders" Zarek said giving the two craft their Colonial designation "they are trying to board Pegasus, Galactica and Spirit of Fire."  He continued "Galactica is transmitting emergency jump coordinates to all Civilian ships, prepare to jump!"  He said just as Forge charged forward

"Wait a damned minute!" He shouted pointing at the screen "Pelicans 492, 321 and 107 won't make it back to Spirit before those raiders arrive!"  He said pointing at the three Pelicans that had been sent to evacuate Forge, Anders and the ODSTs "you have room" he said pointing at Zarek.

"Frack you! We jump!" Zarek shouted back reaching for the controls Forge and Red Team reacted nearly simultaneously as Forge grabbed Zarek pinning him his back to the controls and Red Team all grabbing a crewman pinning their hands far from any controls,  "What the hell are you doing?"  Zarek shouted "we have no weapons!"

"Then we better get those Pelicans on-board quickly" Forge answered at the main fleet Civilian ships had begun to jump clear of New Caprica space for the last time.  Between them and the Cylons Galactica, Pegasus and the Spirit of Fire were throwing out a massive amount of flak intended on destroying any raider or missile that got close.  Unfortunately there were so many baseships and raiders in the air there was no chance of destroying all the missiles and all three capital ships were beginning to take a beating, Spirit of Fire which had previously had its MAC trained on the ground was turning to orientate its forward weapons towards the Cylons but it seemed to be moving in slow motion.

"Okay Okay let me up!"  Zarek said surrendering to Forge's demands pointing at the controls "contact them get them aboard" he said as Forge released Zarek Red Team let go of each of their pinned crewmen.  Forge immediately grabbed at the controls contacting the three Pelicans calling them in.  Civilian ships continued to jump from the area while the three military vessels continued to fight with less targets available several Heavy Raiders had turned on Astral Queen as one of the last remaining Civilian ships.

The Heavy Raiders closed on Astral Queen quickly first making a strafing run over the ship gouging holes all across the civilian vessel rocking her from side to side.  Zarek's crewmen called put alerts as damage assessments came in one Pelican was safely aboard another on approach as the Heavy Raiders turned to make a second pass "we can't survive another run" Zarek said his hands nowhere near the controls resigned to his fate.  However things were not always as they seemed Pelican 107 was an armed variant of the design, it was also the last of the three UNSC Dropships to be coming into land, the pilots must have known the Astral Queen's plight as they veered off away from the docking bay towards the incoming raiders from the under-wing launchers Anvil II Air-to-surface rocket launchers opened fire, designed to provide fire support to ground troops the rockets were barely guided in space but had heavy armour piercing warheads focused on one of the raiders the sixteen rockets flew straight and true connecting with the forward prow of the Heavy Raider engulfing it in flames, as the Heavy Raiders now aware of their new armed opponent turned the Pelican's nose mounted M370 Autocannon belched fire tearing into the second Heavy Raider.  The Autocannon unlike the rockets was far better guided slaved to the co-pilots helmet, where the pilot looked the autocannon fired, as the distance between the three craft decreased the fire became more and more accurate.  The raiders forward KEWs cut across space just as rapidly cutting into the Pelican puncturing the hull venting the cargo hold to space and knocking systems offline but the pilot ignored the damage as he kept the Dropship on course for the remaining Heavy Raiders.  As the second Cylon craft exploded the third tried to pull away and avoid the still charging UNSC craft which seemed to be able to absorb more damage than any colonial craft of similar size and engage with weapons foreign to the Cylons, the Heavy Raiders organic brain could not comprehend how to engage the craft, it could also not comprehend the pilot's intentions.  Pelican 107's pilot knew he wasn't escaping from this system, he knew before the cargo bay was vented and the death of his crew chief, he knew before the Raider KEWs penetrated the cockpit and riddled his copilot with fire and he knew before he turned his Dropship into the path of the evading Heavy Raider, and before the two craft collided forming a massive explosion.  The pilot knew his mission and had accomplished it.

Moments after Pelican 107's death the Astral Queen, the last Civilian ship vanished from the battle in a flash of light as its jump drive fired, joining the rest of rest of the civilian fleet.  There was a few tense moments before the Battlestar Galactica then the Battlestar Pegasus emerged from their own jumps rejoining the fleet.  Several more moments passed before the UNSC Spirit of Fire jumped into the area rolling to port as it raised through the fleet a broadcast came from Captain Cutter as the ship continued to distance itself from the other ships "This is Captain Cutter the Spirit of Fire has been boarded by Cylons all ships remain clear."  Forge immediately looked at Anders then at the Spartans of Red Team.  Without a word Forge and the three Spartans ran through the ship towards the landing bay leaving Anders with Zarek, the Spirit of Fire was their ship.

   -   -   -

Spirit of Fire

Pelican 493 was closest to the exit doors of Astral Queen despite being unarmed it suited Forge and Red Teams needs perfectly.  The journey to Spirit of Fire took moments flying over the upper hull Forge could see plenty more craters in the massive ship along with four crashed Heavy Raiders littering the upper hull.  At least a dozen Centurions had been cut down by Spirit of Fire's defensive guns as they tried to access the vessel's deck guns, Forge could also see three of the guns were offline plenty work for the EVA Engineers assuming they had survived this battle.  The rear and central airlocks were both damaged so Jerome brought the ship down near the forward airlock and the three made the short spacewalk before boarding the ship.  Descending through a staircase they immediately found the carnage that had befallen the ship, three marines and two Centurions lay sprawled across the deck.  "Red Team, secure the reactors and engine room, I'll check in with Cutter."  Forge said the three Spartans exchanged silent looks before turning away from the bridge heading aft.

The Spirit of Fire like many of the large UNSC vessels was designed for two purposes one was to serve as a ship of the line the other was to transport ground forces as a result the main corridors that ran the length of the ship were extra wide, in some places enough room for five or six wide other places wide enough to allow armoured vehicles to pass unhindered.  The Spartans could have worked with any of the marines on Spirit of Fire but together as a team they worked best each had spent years training together and could read the others movements and their follow up movements.  They all knew each others weaknesses and strengths, as a rule Jerome normally stayed in the middle as squad leader he would be the anchor for Alice and Douglas to pivot around.  The Cylon Centurions had seen nothing like the Spartans even with their twin machine guns the small caliber bullets were not enough to penetrate the Mjolinir Battle Armour's shields nor were the Cylon reflexes fast enough to keep up with the constantly moving members of Red Team.  Unlike normal marines who would secure an area then move forward together as a group single Spartans would leap past ranks of Centurions causing confusion in the ranks before the others came up behind hitting the Cylons from both times.  Other occasions Alice and Douglas would pin the Centurions in place with SMG fire while Jerome took an auxiliary corridor flanking the enemy catching entire groups unawares.

The marines and even ODSTs knew that in a situation when Spartans were in combat the best way was to keep out of the line of fire.  ODSTs were more common than the select few Spartans, unlike the ODSTs the Spartans history was shrouded in secrecy there was not a single Spartan who had broken the silence of where they had come from? Who had trained them? How they had became Spartans?  The ODSTs considered themselves to be the Elite fighting force of the UNSC but the Spartans were a step beyond which more than slightly annoyed the rank and file ODSTs.  In the case of Spirit of Fire's ODST complement they had seen what Red Team were capable of and they respected the three Spartans.  As the Spartans moved aft the ODSTs and other marines moved to secure the disabled Cylon Centurions finishing off any downed Cylon securing each section of the vessel.  Fortunately for the UNSC defenders the Cylons didn't know where the control areas of the Spirit of Fire were or where the weakest points of the ship were.

Forge entered the bridge and approached Captain Cutter who stood near the situation and planning table.  Against the back wall there were two downed Centurions and several bullet holes across several consoles Cutter's personal sidearm was on the table along with several bullet casings.  "Permission to come aboard sir" he said approaching the opposite side of the table from the Captain.

"Granted welcome aboard" Cutter said smiling broadly "good job on New Caprica, you certainly showed our allies what we are capable of."  He said quietly "you missed the opening fireworks."  Cutter said indicating to schematics of the Spirit of Fire.

"So it would appear" Forge said quietly looking down at the schematics they showed several darkened areas of the ship, with pockets of light in several areas "I've ordered Red Team to secure the reactors and engine room, they are eliminating all Cylons between the forward airlock here" Forge said pointing at the airlock then drawing his finger along the length of the Spirit of Fire to the engine room "and here."

"Anders?"

"Still aboard Astral Queen" Forge said he wasn't convinced that ship was the safest place but Anders knew how to look after herself.

"Good at least if we fall she can control how these people arrive at the UNSC."  Cutter said shaking his head, "these Cylons are trouble the UNSC can ill afford."

"If we could introduce them to the Covenant they might rethink their pursuit."  Forge suggested

"A dangerous game Sergeant" Cutter warned he wasn't against Forge's suggestion, it was one that had played on his mind from the first moment he had seen the Covenant fleet en-masse, combined with their massed missile strikes against the Colonial Fleet such attacks combined with nuclear ordinance could likely overwhelm even the strongest Covenant shields.  "If the Colonials find out the trust we have barely built with them will be lost, not to mention Professor Anders view."  The Captain warned leaving the thought to hang in the air he'd noticed the tension between Anders and Forge but had let it play out itself she was a civilian he was military it contravened no rules or regulations.

"The Professor is ONI, she should understand what is needed to protect Earth and the Inner Colonies.  We don't need to throw this fleet at them just lead it home in such a way that it brushes through Covenant space, assuming we are anywhere near their territory?"  Forge noted the Shield World had taken them far beyond human controlled space beyond anything that human explorers had encountered before.  Between Serina and Anders they had approximated their position and a course home.  "How far did the colonial engine take us?"

"Approximately six light years" Serina replied appearing over the table she'd been keeping a low profile with the Colonial Engineers aboard helping out "it would have taken a normal jump engine forty-eight hours to travel that distance."  She said "I am still trying to calculate our exact coordinates in relation to the Inner Colonies."  Serina stated quietly "their drive does appear to be slightly more accurate than our own and is more faster but it uses a lot more power and this tylium ore that we have neither encountered before or know how to find.  It wouldn't be wise to lose contact with these Colonials until we at least know where we are."

"I have no intention on losing them Serina" Cutter admitted "we are only discussing options."

"While you discuss Red Team are continuing to do their jobs valiantly."  Serina said continuing to observe things throughout the ship.  Below decks the Spartans of Red Team had fought all their way to just outside the engine room.  Inside twenty-four Cylon Centurions still stood guard three humanoid Cylons were trying to access one of the command consoles without much chance.  ODST and Marine Squads had secured three of the entrances to the engine room leaving only one for Red Team.

Twenty-four against three?  Even with the light damage their weapons do that's forty-eight guns against our five."  Alice said quietly crouching down beside Douglas and Jerome.

"I've got an idea" Douglas said quietly "Serina might not like it."  He tried to say quietly "keep them busy" he said passing his M7 Sub Machine Guns to Jerome who put his Shotgun on his back.  Douglas then ran back down the corridor as both Jerome and Alice sprayed the Cylons in the engine room with SMG fire.  Douglas reached one of the Spirit of Fire's main weapons lockers "Serina release controls for Sierra-Zero-Four-Two" he said using his military designation.

"Douglas, why do you wish access to this locker?"  Serina asked her face appearing on the inside of his helmet's Heads Up Display (HUD).

"I need heavier weapons, I promise nothing armour piercing."  He said to stop any further complaints from the AI "Serina if those hostile AIs get into your systems they could cause a lot more damage than a trio of Spartans.

"I'm not convinced of that Spartan" Serina said unlocking the door "stay away from the rocket launchers Prescott will never forgive me if you use them."  She continued

"Never crossed my mind" Douglas said grabbing two M319 Grenade Launchers, a stash of ammunition and a M392 Designated Marksmens Rifle (DMR) before running back out of the room and down the corridor.  Alice and Jerome were still firing at the Cylons in the engine room but were rapidly running out of ammunition.  "For you" Douglas said passing the DMR to Jerome, the Squad leader drew two fingers over his face plate in the traditional 'Spartan smile' their helmets golden visors completely hid the faces of the Spartans and 'Spartan smiles' were their only way of showing happiness.  "And for us" he said passing a grenade launcher to Alice she looked at it not completely convinced "we use these to sow some confusion from Access Points Bravo and Delta.  You stay here take them out one by one.  Serina's asked for us not to cause a complete mess."

"I've heard of worse plans" Jerome agreed alright I'll give you guys a minute before I start taking shots" Jerome agreed Douglas and Alice both ran off in opposite directions while Jerome remained in position.  Less than a minute later the first grenade landed near a group of Centurions sending one flying followed by a second grenade near another pair of Centurions.  Jerome dropped to one knee and leaned out of the doorway the Centurions were disorganized but still had massive firepower as they turned their guns on the three entrances Jerome dropped his sights over the first trio of targets, three cracks, three head shots and three destroyed Cylons "Triple Kill."  Shifting his view to the right another shot and another dead Centurion "Overkill" he whispered leaning back from the doorway.

"Stop showing off" Douglas called out as another barrage of grenades landed in and around the Cylon Centurions Jerome leaned back out tapped off another couple of shots cutting down two more of the robots.  The remaining Cylons almost all turned their guns on his position peppering the doorway with KEW fire cutting down Jerome's shields quickly.  "Jerome get in!" Douglas called out sending more grenades into the path of the Centurions cutting down three of the enemies.  Jerome's shields snapped and hissed as they began to recharge.

"No damage on a spree" Jerome joked remembering their training war games as children on Reach five 'kills' was a spree ten would be a frenzy.  Jerome looked at his HUD seeing nine targets left "think I can get a riot?"  He challenged the other two Spartans not moving an inch.

"Not a chance" Alice replied as another series of grenades landed between the remaining Cylons Jerome was satisfied to see six of the nine Centurions disappear finally leaning out he gunned down the remaining three Cylon Centurions "sorry boss" Alice said quietly with a hint of laughter.  Stepping out Jerome walked into the Engine room slowly seeing the three human form Cylons still near the console, from either side of the room Douglas and Alice emerged still holding their grenade launchers, counting by the rounds used Jerome would be surprised if they had more than one or two shells left.

"Surrender you are now prisoners of the United Nations Space Command" he said firmly walking towards them he had three shots left in the DMR but that was all he'd need, now closer he could see who was there there was an older male dressed in a brown overcoat with a hat, a bald male with darker skin and younger white male with a teal suit.

"Frack" the oldest male shouted raising his own sidearm to his head before pulling the trigger, the other two charged forward both brandishing sub-machine guns like those used by the Colonial marines.  Jerome snapped off two more shots cutting down both men.

"Frack you" Jerome replied using the foreign word "Bridge this is Sierra-Zero-Niner-Two Engine room secured."  He transmitted to the bridge, other than a couple of Cylons that had been contained in secure rooms the battle was over Spirit of Fire was secure.  Now hopefully with their Colonial allies they could find a way home.

End of Part One

Hope you enjoyed it

Part Two

Nine

Battlestar Galactica

Captain Cutter's Pelican had been welcomed aboard Galactica with as much ceremony as the Colonials had when they visited Spirit of Fire.  The Pelican dwarfed every other craft in Galactica's Port landing bay and was so large that instead of being lowered into the hanger it was left in the flight pod with a positive atmosphere corridor extended to the ship to allow the passengers to board the ancient Battlestar.

As he was led through the vessel Cutter was amazed the ship was still flying everywhere it showed signs of age and usage ware.  The crew moved about their duties swiftly and efficiently despite their conditions.  Cutter had been told that Galactica was one of the Colonies first Battlestar vessels part of the original order of twelve such vessels, unlike the newer Pegasus the Galactica had seen a lifetime of service and more recently served as the sole defence craft for the Civilian Fleet.  The journey of Pegasus was still largely shrouded in secrecy however it appeared that the newer ship had only joined the fleet just prior to the discovery of New Caprica.

Unlike when the Colonials had visited Galactica Cutter's party were taken directly to Admiral Adama's personal stateroom deep inside the Battlestar.  There Adama his son Lee, the commander of Pegasus, President Roslin and Vice President Zarek all waited.

"I cannot take you to Earth" Cutter began after the brief introductions he could see the anguish on their faces but facts were simple facts Earth was a besieged world under the relentless Covenant assaults.  No ships were allowed into Earth space without High Command authorisation.  "At least not directly" he continued "Earth is one secret that we cannot afford to lose in the War our people face" he saw their faces cloud in confusion and even more despair as he mentioned told the brief brutal story of the War with the Covenant.  In six years Humanity had suffered losses ten or twenty times that of the Colonial conflict with the Cylons and there did not seem to be an end in sight.  "Simply put taking you to Earth violates the Cole Protocol and could endanger all that we have left."

"These Covenant?" Roslin was the first to speak "they are made up of multiple races?" Cutter nodded "Alien races?" Again Cutter nodded "and you have not been able to convince any of them to a peace?"

"The Covenant have a shoot first ask questions later policy" Anders explained "to my knowledge the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) had tried to contact the Covenant leadership however it appears that their leadership caste no interest in peace and the lesser castes, those that fight their battles, have neither the interest or the influence to turn the rest of the Covenant from war."

"We can hold our own on the ground but in the air and space their ships are far more formidable" Forge said quietly "there personal weapons are no more effective than our own but their starship guns are far more scary."

"So where does that leave us?  Our people have spent the last two years running from and fighting off the Cylons now what do we tell them?"  Lee Adama asked frustrated "you said we could not head for Earth directly?"

"No but there is another option.  First is a star called 18 Scorpii and a world known as Falaknuma it's far enough off the front lines as not to be an initial target of the Covenant and has a UNSC presence.  Should the Covenant be there I'd suggest Reach.  Although that will likely be high on the Covenant's strike list as it is a major part of UNSC defences."  Cutter suggested he saw Anders ready to speak but continued cutting her off "both are a distance from our present location, both would run the risk of possible Covenant attack."  He warned

"With the Cylons behind us we cannot retreat" Roslin finally said "our people believe the 13th Tribe are their salvation and future.  The Spirit of Fire has become an object of that hope, I have no option but to trust that you will not lead us astray Captain."  She said stepping forwards

"Madam President" he said addressing her by her title "you have my word as a UNSC Officer I will do everything in my power to ensure this fleet arrives to the safe haven you desire."  He said saluting the President "in aid to show our intentions I would like to make available to this fleet my team of Extra-Vehicular Engineers and our Cyclops Maintenance Exoskeletons to help in making repairs on your ships.  If you can provide us with a list of the required building materials we can manufacture any required part you need and ammunition assuming you have the raw materials."

"That will make many of our maintenance matters disappear" Adama said stepping forward extending his hand towards Cutter " Captain, welcome to the fleet."  He said shaking Cutter's own hand

"Thank you sir" Cutter said showing he was willing to work with Adama instead of trying to take over the fleet.  These people respected the Admiral there was no need to try and antagonise him.

"On a more personal note Madam President, Serina" he said mentioning the Artificial Intelligence for the first time "detected you have some medical issues..."

"That thing scanned me!" Roslin said losing her temper

"That thing is an integral part of my ship and crew" Cutter snapped cutting her off if these people were to join the UNSC they would need to learn to accept AIs "she also believes that she can cure your Cancer" he finished first point "if you can put your bigoted view aside Serina and the doctors aboard Spirit of Fire have been asked to make all resources available to you.  Good day Admiral, get in touch if you want the engineers."  He said before smartly walking from the room Anders and Forge following close behind.

           -            -          -

Mercifully Anders waited until they were back aboard the Pelican before speaking up "both those worlds are through Covenant space according to the data I deciphered from New Caprica."  She pointed out the wealth of knowledge found on the world also pointed to the first Forerunner colony to experience the Flood invasion, another place the UNSC may wish to explore in the future.  The map information combined with that already held had shown exactly where they were compared to UNSC space far to the 'east' of what was known as Orion's Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

If using UNSC jump technology they could probably be back act Reach within six weeks in a single long jump.  Colonial technology's less direct jumping method would leave them open to assault after each 'hop' making the trip more dangerous and more likely longer.  "We have little option Professor we can't take these people to Earth, Reach is our best option if not Falaknuma had a Prowler Base that can call in further UNSC ships if we need them."

"That base is supposed to be top secret" Anders complained

"File it with ONI Professor, right now they are an asset that we may need before this is over."

       -        -       -

After the others had filed out Bill Adama had been left with Laura Roslin "I won't let that damned thing near me Bill" she said defiantly

"Even if it can save you"

"The scrolls say the dying leader will lead us to the 13th tribe."  A large portion of the population believed in the ancient proficies that were guiding them to their end.

"Frack the scrolls they may saying dying they don't say dead" Adama said he was no believer in the scrolls or the Lords of Kobol he believed in the now.  And right now the Spirit of Fire was their salvation and the AI aboard the ship was likely the Presidents only hope of long term survival.

"I can't think about this now" she almost whispered "I need to prepare for a Qurom meeting and you Admiral Adama need to address the fleet the people need to know what has happened, where we go after New Caprica, who our new visitors are"

"Something the President should do"

"No after Baltar's rein I'll be surprised if they listen to a politician again" Roslin admitted "the Admiral who refused to abandon the people despite insurmountable odds, that's something the people will here."

          -           -         -

Hours later Admiral William Adama stepped up in to a podium which had been set up in Galactica's disused flight pod.  According to Captain Cutter the UNSC Engineers could likely return it to full operational status eventually after other repairs had been concluded.  Today however it was the perfect meeting hall for dozens of people behind the podium the flags of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and Galactica hung beside a new flag that of the United Nations Space Command.  Behind Adama stood President Laura Roslin,Vice-President Tom Zarek, Commander Lee Adama and an uncomfortable looking Captain James Gregory Cutter dressed in what he called the 'dress whites'

"We have been through a lot the last year" he began "we settled New Caprica with the intention of rebuilding our civilisation, we have left with less,our efforts thwarted by the Cylons actions."  He continued "not all of us suffered on the surface some were forced to leave friends and family on the planet when the Cylons threatened everything we had left.  Now free of New Caprica and the Cylon trap we are reunited as one people, one fleet.  With President Baltar missing after the events on New Caprica Laura Roslin has been nominated by Vice-President Tom Zarek to lead the Qurom once more which she has humbly agreed to."  There was a quiet polite applause before Adama continued, "some may ask where do we go from here?  well the Gods of Kobol smiled on their children" he said carefully Adama was not a religious person but he knew many were "with our fleet you may have noticed a new ship, or you may have heard the name Spirit of Fire" he said pausing the Spirit was hard to miss but with his words being carried by wireless to all the ships in the fleet he thought it important to let them all know "this ship and its crew are of the Thirteenth tribe and are one of hundreds that defend Earth and her colonies."  With Adama's words the scuttlebutt that had run from one end of The Fleet to the other was confirmed, relief and joy erupted from the people gathered in the Flight deck.

Adama paused for several moments before speaking again "we are not safe and sound Earth controlled space is still a distance away." He said pausing again seeing the people's despair "until then I wish to welcome Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire into our fleet" on cue Cutter stepped upto the stage the contrast of Cutter's bright uniform to Adama's darker Colonial uniform however their baring was the same Cutter stood to attention and saluted the Admiral then the flags.  Behind them the crowd went nuts clapping and cheering Cutter's arrival.