All Of This Has Happened Before, And All Of This Will Happen Again

[Honorius]

NeoBSG/Btech Crossover

All Of This Has Happened Before, And All Of This Will Happen Again

AN: Still learning the list function and unfortunately I can't get it to work properly. Want to give an ideal of what this WoB faction has which is pitiful, but a welcome addition to the RTF, once some tech exchange occurs. Using the old Racetrack misjump POD but from the opposite perspective. Some obvious Canon AUs for both universes for the story to work out. That said enjoy or not. Apologies if this chapter might seem a little rushed, but there is a reason for it from the perspective of the WoB Characters.

336th Shadow Fleet: Admiral Ibrahim Saladin

• I. WoBS Herald of the Word (Monolith-class Jumpship)
  a. 40x Shade-class Omnifighters
  b. 40x K-1 Shuttles
  c. 3x Vengeance-class Dropship
  i. 120x Shade-class Omnifighters
  d. 6x Colossus-class Dropships
  i. None have an assigned regiment
  ii. Considered reserve units due to lack of ground troops to form standing regiments
  II. WoBS Herald of Justice (Aegis-class Battlecruiser)
  a. 20x Shade-class Omnifighters
  b. 10x K-1 Shuttles
  c. 4x Vengeance-class Dropship
  i. 160x Shade-class Omnifighters
  III. WoBS Herald of Retribution (Aegis-class Battlecruiser)
  a. 20x Shade-class Omnifighters
  b. 10x K-1 Shuttles
  c. 4x Vengeance-class Dropship
  i. 160x Shade-class Omnifighters
  IV. WoBS Herald of Wisdom (Aegis-class Battlecruiser)
  a. 20x Shade-class Omnifighters
  b. 10x K-1 Shuttles
  c. 4x Vengeance-class Dropship
  i. 160x Shade-class Omnifighters
  V. WoBS Spirit of the Word (Newgrange-class Yardship)
  a. 72x K-1 Shuttle
  b. 4x Octopus-class Dropship
  c. Actually a Civilian Vessel and not under military orders, but included for administrative reasons as a Marine Detachment keeps order aboard it

Chapter 1: Shit where did this come from?

Year: 3132

Location: Nebula D77

Phantom Tau Richard was a Shade pilot with 10 years of experience and 40 kills fighting pirates as the Word of Blake reorganized out here in the unknown while prepping for a renewed Jihad to unify Humanity after settling here 30 years ago after the Hijira from Terra and leaving behind a delayed HPG Virus that had finally hit the Heathens. When the Hijira had arrived, most of the Jumpships and Dropships were scrapped so the 500,000 initial settlers would have the materials needed to start the first initial settlement before branching out. 30 years later the Population had quintuple with women having an average of 5 kids. Richard’s wife had given him five girls herself from just her one and only pregnancy and then told him no more for now at least, and the government agreed she had done her share and let her take contraceptives. Now his five daughters were in pre-school and a picture of them and his wife, while on vacation in the hills of Blake’s Refuge, was taped to his dash.

Patrols in a Shade were largely uneventful and basically an excuse to fly away from his carrier, the Herald of Wisdom. The jump point was nine days travel away at even 1.5g, so Blake’s Refuge would have plenty of warning. Besides, KF Drives simply could not be made to jump into planetary orbits, it was impossible…

“Shit, where did this come from!” Richard screamed as he performed a nine g flip-turn to avoid a collision with a small fighter that had impossibly jumped into orbit. Training took over immediately. “Orbital Control, this Shade 3056, unknown bogey just jumped in, tailing, I’m at 123, 56, by 09, craft is light fighter size and is maneuvering to shake me.” Richard reported as he subjected himself to continuous 9gs to keep himself right on the unknown craft’s engines, ready to disable it for study. If someone had created jump drives small enough to fit in a fighter and capable of jumping into orbit of a world, then the entire tactical and strategic playbook his people were playing by just got thrown into the toilet and shat on.

“Shade 3056, Shadow Actual here, disable that unknown, do not let it escape, weapons free.” The voice of Admiral Saladin himself spoke over the coms as Richard toggled the master switch that un-safed his weapons.

“Rodger. Clean hit!” Richard exulted as he barely reacted in time to avoid overshooting after nailing the engines and potentially being blown up by any counters this craft might have. Good thing he was Manei Domini or he would not have been able to survive these high g maneuvers.

“Rodger, standby, assistance enroute, ETA two minutes.” The Admiral’s voice spoke.

“Acknowledged, coming out of the gas cloud,” Richard spoke as both his and the enemy fighter cleared the nebula into full view of Blake’s Refuge, the unknown craft now basically helpless and in an uncontrollable counter-clockwise spin.

“Sitrep, Shade 3056,” The voice of an Orbital Controller spoke.

“Orbital control, unknown is spinning in an uncontrolled counter-clockwise spin. No danger of hitting anything.” Richard spoke.

“Rodger.”

The unknown began RCS braking to right itself, again forcing Richard to react with high g maneuvers to keep in his kill spot. “Unknown is righting itself.”

“Acknowledge, we will begin hailing it, now that it is disabled and unable to escape. Good job.”

…………………………..

Sergeant Jackson loaded his laser rifle with an energy pack and made sure he had stun grenades loaded, as the unknown craft identifying itself as Colonial Raptor 609 loomed into view, covered by five Shades who confirmed four people aboard. He was wearing the new G30 Tornado suit which was completely modular. The crew of the Raptor had been told they would be in full power armor and that resistance was futile as they had 2,500,000 of their family members down on Blake’s Refuge who they were a potential threat to and they would not hesitate to kill them to protect them.

His five squad members hung further back, tethered in zero g, ready to engage from safety. The Admiral wanted this ship intact as much as possible to dissect. So much so five hours had been wasted to jury rig something that could create a proper seal with the Raptor. No one was going to risk the thing aboard their valuable vessels if there was remotely a chance it might have a bomb on it rigged to blow. Better to lose a K-1 than a Dropship or even the Heralds, or Blake forbid, the Spirit of the Word. First the crew would be taken off, interrogated, and the vessel combed thoroughly for anything that could remotely be catastrophic. Then and only then would it be disassembled on site before being brought back to the Spirit of the Word for further analysis.

The airlock showed a good seal as Jackson made sure his vid feed was going back to the command center. “John, we got a good seal, it has been an honor.” Jackson spoke in case this was the last time he had to speak to the pilot.

“I’m with you, notifying the Colonials you’re about to open the hatch.”

Jackson took a deep breath before hitting the release. Within seconds he saw the Raptor crew with hands on their heads as instructed, but something wasn’t right, for a moment it eluded him then he realized the secured weapons on the wall had shoulder straps that weren’t floating and a wooden clipboard casually sat on a console unsecured next to four helmets. “Command, these fuckers have artificial gravity!”

………………………………………

Admiral Saladin looked over the initial report on these Colonials 18 hours since contact. Communicating was difficult due to their use of a Greek derivative language with some Germanic and Indo-Aryan elements, and the female identified as Lt. Margaret “Racetrack” Edmondson was impossibly not descended from Mitochondrial Eve and throwing the geneticists into chaos as all Human Females were descended from Mitochondrial Eve some 150,000 years ago as confirmed by the genome trace project shortly before the Star League disintegrated in the Amaris Coup. Of her male companions, none were descended from Y-chromosomal Adam, again throwing the geneticists into a tail spin as again, all males were confirmed to descend from Y-chromosomal Adam who lived 350,000 years ago before the Amaris Coup. DNA wise they were perfectly Human, but their blood types were different from Human standards and they had no genetic trace from Earth which should be impossible. Their origin story also didn’t make a lick of sense.

Humanity evolved on Earth, not this Kobol and did not have space flight 4,000 years ago and they would have known if it had. However, the Colonials were insistent they were their relatives that they had been searching for and begging them to take in a refugee fleet that was fleeing the destruction of their Homeworlds and let them contact their Admiral and President. That, however, was not his call.

They had Anti-radiation Medications in their first aid kit, which should be damn impossible, yet apparently tested on a kid who spent a little too much time fixing a fusion reactor on a Shuttle, it worked in reversing the radiation effects on a kid given four days to live.

Then there was the reason why they were fleeing. Saladin tried to wrap his mind around what they called the Cylons. Robots far more horrifically advanced than the SDS System and completely autonomous to the point they became Sentient Life and evolved into practically synthetic Humans who could procreate with Humanity. They also had resurrection technology for organic memory transfer, the science of which just blew his mind. What they had done, if they were telling the truth to begin with, was to play God and create a new lifeform that could very well and rightfully call themselves Humanity’s Children. Then that life turned on them when they mistreated them as a slave race. How did they not think that could go very wrong?

The door opened to the Precentor Primus’ Office by the Marine Guard who stood aside for the Admiral to enter.

“Ibrahim, good to see you again old friend,” Precentor Markus spoke as he embraced his friend.

“And I you Markus, I wish I had better news on the Orbital Incident.” Saladin spoke as he pulled out the initial reports while Markus pulled out his faxed copies.

“Do you think we should contact them?” Markus cut right through the chase.

“If they hit the Death Gaze Cluster, they might strike a deal with the pirates there and they have Artificial Gravity which we don’t have and FTL drives far superior to ours which can be fitted to fighter sized craft and use a He3 derivative fuel as far as we can tell instead of a fusion plant. If what they were saying isn’t Hyperbole, that small fighter carries enough fuel to jump all the way back to their Homeworld in ten jumps to cover 20,000 light years in just 2 days for a rescue mission for some survivors and they were utterly serious. They also have the general direction for Earth right. Only an elementary mistake on the part of the female led them to misjump here.” Saladin spoke calmly.

Markus stood up and paced the room a bit. “Go, take the male pilot with you, the rest keep here for now, especially the female who the scientists are trying to get her consent for egg samples. She is too valuable a genetic resource to let go just yet. If they join us here, well and good, if not, we’re fucked and running is useless. I wish we had more time to move, but apparently not, I will roll the dice on this one.”

“I’ll be leaving within three hours then.” Saladin spoke as he got up. He had a feeling that things would never be the same again.

Markus for his part re-read the initial reports on the Colonials’ enemy again. These Cylons. Those poor Colonial Idiots, what have they done, what have they done? This was a nightmare scenario the Star League had bent over backwards to prevent and the Colonials gleefully charged ahead over the cliff before realizing that making a sentient slave race might have been a bad ideal.

Flipping over to the genetic reports on the Colonials, he wrote a clear memo to reiterate that anything done to Ms. Edmondson, be done with her consent. They were not monsters and she was not a prize breeding mare no matter what genetic riches might be gained from her, the first female in Human history not be descended from the line of Mitochondrial Eve. He wanted that made clear before the scientists assigned to her started getting ideals and knew full well what the consequences might be for failure to comply. The same was true for the males. No experimentation without consent. If the Colonials accepted his offer to settle on Blake’s Refuge, intermarriage would provide plenty of research opportunities.

[jayel]

Oh Boy interesting take WoB and Galactica, subbed

[Honorius]

Chapter 2: So We Only Nicked A Control Cable Line

Admiral Saladin and Adept Richards looked at the Raptor’s engines as the Colonial Pilot, Lt. McCalls replaced a single cable.

“So we only nicked a control cable line?” Admiral Saladin asked amazed.

“I hit that thing with a Gauss Round capable of punching a tiny neat hole through an Assault Mech and all I achieved with a clean hit was to cause an electrical outage that is easily fixed?” Richard asked disbelievingly.

An intelligence officer spoke up, “I found a training video where their light fighters, well I should say ultralight fighters, were doing target practice with SRMs against an asteroid the size of the Aegis Cruisers we have…” The officer paused to gather her courage, “The SRM shattered the asteroid into dozens of pieces and calculating it out, we assess that their SRMs pose a credible one-hit kill on even a McKenna.”

“What?” Richard and Saladin both exclaimed together before Saladin took over. “Tell me you’re joking, please.”

“I wish I was Admiral, but these SRMs are considered weak weapons by the Colonials and for Air-to-Air combat against opposing fighters and soft targets and what little preliminary research I have done shows the colonials have inertial dampeners and only the fact that Richard here is Manei Domini and his Shade is so damn maneuverable is the only reason he was able to get that lucky shot and stop them from doing an FTL jump. Only Shades and Manei Domini can compete against their ASFs, they will outmaneuver anyone else and the Shades need to go for the cockpits.”

“They are basically an automatic I win deal.” Saladin spoke with resigned horror at FTL fighters with nukes. Only strategic needs to preserve infrastructure would prevent an all-out holocaust as it had done in man’s wars assuming the Cylons were concerned with keeping infrastructure intact.

“All the more reason to get them on our side and rapidly integrate their technology before these Cylons start heading into the inner sphere and wiping out entire words.” The intel officer spoke as McCalls approached and spoke to the interpreter who spoke to them.

“The pilot says he is ready to go when we are.”

……………………………………

Dr. Martha Clark was a polymath with triple degrees in biology, astronomy, and anthropology. She was also the Precentor of the Blake University which provide K-12 education and University Training. Her schedule was busy, split between research, teaching University Students in the Lab Classes, teaching 5th Graders on Fridays in her Astronomy Lab, and now…

Now she was sitting across a human female not of the line of her All-Mother, Mitochondrial Eve. Said female in naught but a thin Hospital Gown and frightened out of her wits in a corner holding an improvised sharp object after some idiots got the bright ideal to ask for her egg cells in the utterly wrong setting. Sigh, there were some things you just didn’t do in these circumstances, and she made a show of grabbing the two men assigned to this women by the ear and pulling them out of the room before returning and sitting down just out of her reach with a package of clothes. At least they got her measurements so she could get her something other than a thin hospital gown. Now she waited for the poor girl to calm down. Men on the other hand could be asked to donate sperm in this setting with a sad sob story as those Marines were who bought it right away and gladly donated their sperm. But a woman, first you made sure she was dressed and in a cozy spot with a meal, drinks, and socialization before you asked.

Pulling out her 5th grader’s astronomy papers, Dr. Clark started grading them, and just waited. Ms. Edmondson slowly calmed down before furtively reaching for the clothes. “Who are you?”

Dr. Clark looked up from her grading and replied in Classical Ancient Greek. “I’m a schoolteacher and University Professor in addition to being a great-great-great grandmother. Those gowns are thin you know, better to dress in something more comfortable.”

“Who were those men?”

“They were rude idiots who should stay in a lab rather than inappropriately prepositioning females. I thought I taught them better. But apparently not.” Dr. Clark replied.

“Why did they want my eggs. Are they trying to breed abominations?” Ms. Edmondson asked.

“I would kick their asses if they were. No, the reason they asked is because the fact, you my dear don’t share the same Mitochondrial Ancestor as all females from Earth. That means your ancestors split off from Earth’s Humans more than 150,000 years ago or we Earth Folks have to completely throw away our archaeology books or consider other reasons as to why you have our DNA, but you don’t have the same ancestor I do. The secret to our shared lineage lies in your egg cells which will help us find our shared Mitochondrial Ancestor.”

“All Colonial Women are descended from Pyrrha who lived 350,000 years ago. This has been confirmed multiple times by different Colonial Research Teams. We even brought her bones with us from Kobol and re-interred her on Gemenon in the Temple of Hera alongside her husband Deukalion who fathered all men.”

Dr. Clark’s jaw dropped. “350,000 years ago, Homo sapiens sapiens had yet to arise, Adam our, Earth’s, Y-chromosomal Ancestor was an Archaic Human and alive at this time. We never found our Mitochondrial or Y-chromosomal Ancestors’ resting places. We could only infer them via genetic testing. How did you find yours.”

“The Lords of Kobol preserved them as they have had done for generations since till the Tribes had to flee when the Jealous God went on a rampage 2,000 years ago. The 13th Tribe had largely left 2,000 years before then and settled Earth which orbited a distance and unknown star.”

“Ms. Edmondson, 4,000 years ago, Earth was recovering from the Bronze Age Collapse, and it left behind no indications of star flight. Unless they willingly destroyed their technology by sending their starships into the Sun, we simply have no proof of Humans settling Earth from space, and that still doesn’t explain how Humanity is currently proven to have evolved on Earth.”

“Humanity evolved on Kobol, we have the overwhelming proof in our museums and temples. The Temple of Herakles on Libra holds his mortal remains and a shard from the Argo which sought out the Golden Fleece 6,000 years ago on Kobol. On a rescue mission to Kobol I even overflew the sea that ancient ship sailed. Sagittaron has the Golden Fleece itself in the Temple of Zeus.”

Dr. Clark sighed, “Here are the possibilities. 1, we fail archaeology 101. 2, Humanity evolved on two separate worlds despite the fantastical odds of that happening. 3, a far advanced culture which our ancestors worshipped as the Greek Gods used Earth as a control and Kobol as a variable in a gigantic experiment we can’t begin to fathom. 4, a combination of the above. 5, none of these are correct.”

Ms. Edmondson shrugged her shoulders before pulling the clothing out to get dressed. “I only know what our scrolls say about Earth, and nothing else.”

………………………………………..

Admiral Saladin marveled at the lack of acceleration being imparted to him by the movement of the Raptor. Whatever was generating the gravity was also dampening inertia. The potential was ground breaking for ASFs. This Raptor at 50 tons was as maneuverable as a Rusalka which was discontinued as it was felt the Shade’s ECM suite was better for staying hidden. As he considered things, Saladin thought that a Shade rebuilt with Colonial technology could easily handle 18g maneuvers without killing the Manei Domini Fighter Pilots, be FTL capable, have firepower to take out capital ships, and be able to lead the reunification of the Star League and the elimination of the Clans who venerate the oath breaker, deserter, and traitor Kerensky. Being an Admiral, he took the co-pilot seat.

“The pilot says he is spooling up FTL now.” The interpreter spoke behind him while Adept Tau Richard sat in the ECO seat.

“Ok, this is it,” Saladin spoke as he braced himself for the sensation of a jump as the pilot began counting down. As the pilot hit the jump button, space began to compress.

Within a moment, the sensation stopped and the Admiral was rewarded with a view of an Armada of ships of various shapes and sizes and all capable of FTL jumps. Here was a future of interstellar commerce and an interstellar nightmare waiting to happen in the form of Cylons.

Immediately the pilot began contacting his superiors and the initial female voice that responded was replaced by an older male voice going by Galactica Actual according to the interpreter. They talked for a few moments before they were directed to land at the Galactica after a five minute holding pattern. Along the way, Saladin noted the odd layout of the Pegasus’ Flight Pods, but asked no questions yet as several ultralight fighters fell in an escort pattern around the Raptor as they proceeded to the Galactica which compared to the Pegasus was less armored and one flight pod looked to be glassed off.

Once in the flight pod, Saladin noted the aircraft carrier like runway with support vehicles parked to the sides and space suited workers. The runway did not have artificial gravity as witnessed by the support workers’ tethers floating. Moving down, the Raptor landed on an elevator and magnetically clamped to it. Sirens and lights went off as the elevator lowered itself into the hull.

As the Raptor reached the bottom of the shaft, the top was sealed and additional alarms and lights sounded as a blast door opened and a tow vehicle came up. In the distance he could see personnel in uniforms that would not have been out of place on 20th Century Aircraft Carriers moving about, pilots in flight suits, marines on guard, and the hustle and bustle of a Hangar Deck as ultralight ASFs and Medium ASFs were prepped. Getting up and into the back, Saladin straightened his uniform while his translator and Richard stood beside him.

The Colonial Pilot came up and opened the hatch to reveal a welcoming party of several officers and crew. In the center was a middle aged male of what would be considered Hispanic Descent on Earth and wearing what he had been briefed were Admiral’s rank pins. Saluting the man per Naval Courtesy, Admiral Saladin spoke as the translator translated. “Permission to come aboard your ship?”

The Colonial Admiral returned the courtesy. “Permission granted.”

………………………………………….

“So you’re saying we led the Cylons to defenseless worlds?” Colonial Admiral William Adama asked as he looked at the Star Charts Saladin brought him while his President Gaius Baltar showed moments of clarity and bits of oddity which the Colonial Officers largely ignored. Try as he might with his multispectral eye implants, Saladin couldn’t see what was causing Baltar’s erratic behavior and inexplicable rise in sex pheromones as if he had a woman draped around him, so he answered the Admiral’s question.

“Yes, going spinwards you have two star clusters that are havens for pirates, but also have their families, a useful thing we have exploited in the past to get them to release Chaffee’s grain shipments and forced them go further afield. But Chaffee has 25,000,000 people on it and is virtually defenseless with only a few orbitals we’ve built for them and are now obsolete with your jump technology. They only have three Invader-class Jumpships which they move grain to us in return for weapons they can’t make for themselves. Going the other way you’ll hit Aurigae with 400,000,000 people who hit a motherlode in rare minerals and is rapidly industrializing and who we are in talks with to create an orbital shipyards complex. If the Cylons break past Aurigae or cut across the Perseus-Cepherus Cloud Complex, they’ll hit the Periphery of the Inner-sphere and we’re talking billions of souls potentially lost before they hit the Inner-sphere which is in the midst of civil war. The death toll can go up into the trillions if the Cylons go nuclear as they did on you.”

“Gods William, this is a nightmare, we need to lead the Cylons away with our Battlestars while the Civilians hide in that nebula of his.” A middle-age Colonial introduced as Commander Saul Tigh of the Pegasus spoke.

“Too late for that.” Baltar spoke up as he placed his hands on the map. “Comparing this map with ours, and intelligence gleaned from both Sharon’s deciphering of Cylon transmissions, the Cylons are already at Leviathans Rest and on their current course will cut across the PCCC already mentioned.”

After the translator finished, Saladin spoke again with sadness, “500,000 people called that place home, now they’re dead.”

“Sirs, it is clear that we can do nothing for now, we lack the resources, and the manpower. The best we can do is try to mobilize the defenses of the worlds outside the Cylon invasion corridor and rebuild the Colonial Fleet. Anyone currently in the Invasion Corridor has to be written off till we can gather the strength to hit back.” Baltar spoke over them. “Now if we can find another of their Resurrection Ships, we might be able to buy more time but only a few weeks unless we can find the Resurrection Hub. Till then we have 45,000 civilians who need a safe harbor while we wait for Captain Thrace and Mrs. Tyrol’s rescue mission to return.”

“Don’t tell me we have to rely on the two Sharons continuing to tell the truth.” Commander Tigh objected.

“Mrs. Tyrol recognized she was under a sleeper program and had a marine cuff her to a chair while her blood test was ran by me. When it came back positive she asked to be shot to protect the crew of this ship as she didn’t know how she was being activated. I recall her begging you Admiral Adama with tears in her eyes to protect the fleet and kill her. Mrs. Agathon as well has been nothing but helpful.” Baltar spoke.

Admiral Adama sighed, “Boomer was like a daughter to me. Shooting her saved Karl and his Sharon.”

“Ah yes the Cylon mother who guards her babe like a Leonian Tigress since her birth, just what we need. Lots of little hybrid children running underfoot. Helo just couldn’t find a nice Aerilon gal, or frak, I would even prefer he fraked my wife instead of a skinjob.” Commander Tigh snorted.

“Now that would be just too cruel and unusual punishment to throw Helo at Ellen, Saul.” Admiral Adama smirked.

Saladin furrowed his brow at that. Tigh was okay with his wife being unfaithful? He immediately dismissed it as irrelevant. Given the Colonials were Greek Polytheists or close enough as to make no difference, it stood to reason they had the same complications and contradictions the Ancient Greek Polytheistic Culture had. He had more pressing concerns than Colonial Religion and Culture, “These Human-form Cylons, I trust you have dossiers on them and a way to screen them?”

“We do, we have identified all the models thanks to the Sharons and removed them from the fleet with the exception of a number 4 who defected to save his wife and daughter and two model sixes. One applied for citizenship so she could run a whorehouse and cares less about the war and is for all intents and purposes a whore fixated on her next fling and the next party. The other one is on suicide watch due to repeated gang rapes authorized by the prior command staff of the Pegasus.” Adama spoke.

Saladin stared in shock after that was translated. “How did such a breakdown in discipline occur? I got my own people to worry about.”

The Colonial Admiral leaned back, “The problems with Pegasus have been fixed and those responsible are either dead or no longer in a position to do such harm again.”

[Honorius]

Chapter Three: Four Weeks

Admiral Saladin looked over the re-build plans for their own ship classes, in just four weeks, the Colonials had turned things on their heads since arriving at Blake’s Refuge. Rather than retrofit the Heralds, they proposed they be scrapped and replaced by completely new ships along Colonial Lines and all DEW research should be discontinued as KEWs had decisively won the argument in Colonial experience. Not that they didn’t have DEWs, it was just that Armor Technology designed to take repeated contact nuclear detonations in the MT range rendered DEWs useless from a practical standpoint. Their ECM/ECCM packages also completely threw BVR combat out the window, a test mock battle between Pegasus and all three Aegis-class Battlecruisers saw them completely rendered blind when the Pegasus utilized its ECM/ECCM devices followed by Pegasus jumping behind them and getting simulated kills. The Galactica and Pegasus easily ran circles around the Aegis-class and thanks to giving inertia the finger and their artificial gravity, they could easily have taken on the Star League at its height and won hands down even against Caspars by pulling maneuvers that would have snapped a Caspar in half to attempt. Even the Civilian Ships were capable of maneuvers that would snap Star League Warships in half and speeds that would have killed the crews of Star League Era ships.

They also had far superior FTL Communications, which they did not normally use as the Cylons could also listen in on those same communications and triangulate their position, which made shutting down the HPG a move that was most likely saving the lives of many worlds by forcing the Cylons to really scout for them the hard way. But also, the Colonials FTL Communications were handheld; Admiral Adama had even used one in the 1st Cylon War to call for extraction twice. That was a level of science and engineering that the Blessed Jake had once dreamed of and prophesied would come from the heavens and herald the apocalypse of mankind.

While the Colonials didn’t have much in the way of land gear due to not being troop transports and Galactica being decommissioned and Pegasus being in dock for a major overhaul at the outbreak of war, it was foolish to think they lacked power armored troops, in fact that was what the Cylons were, eliminating the mortal man from danger entirely. Colonial small arms were designed to take out said Cylons and their SMGs easily penetrated Nephilim Armor in tests and their heavier guns were credible threat to light Mechs which the Colonials laughed their asses off at the mere thought they, the WoB that is, thought they were even remotely valid weapons of war.

The Colonials went through all the reasons they never built Mechs despite having the means to. High center of gravity requiring enough resources and machining that could have made a far larger tracked Death Fortress used in the First Cylon War just to keep the thing steady. It’s supposed ability to maneuver in forests and urban terrain was plain silly and its size and height negated that ability and Infantry AT Teams would have had a field day taking them out as their design reduced the armor they could carry per their weight class and having seen a Colonial RPG test fired, Saladin believe them. That this proved true constantly whenever equally trained and disciplined forces clashed was a little jarring. But the Mechs military history did show they were better shocking poorly disciplined and trained rabble into route and being massacred when that didn’t happen such as Tukayyid before the ComStar schism. So all Mech Units were being disbanded from the WoBAF’s OOB and reallocated to mechanized infantry.

Fighter wise, the Colonials Viper Mk VII was better armored than a Shade and Manei Domini Pilots test flying it, easily outdid Colonial Pilots in maneuvers, same as with the Raptors which the Colonials did not consider fighters but a Utility Transport. Saladin and his Pilots unanimously dumped the Shades and went with Raptors and Viper Mk. VIIs. Plans were in the making for building a bigger Viper that could still fit in a Launch Tube but incorporate an FTL. Pity the Colonials lost their Blackbird, as it would have been a good baseline to go off of. Still he marveled that a Colonial Missile capable of shattering an asteroid apart could barely hard kill a Viper Mk. VII and it was expected a pilot might actually survive that and some of the Viper Mk. II pilots had actually been blown clear out of their fighters by missiles and survived to have been picked up by SAR Raptors. Yet the armor on the Vipers and Raptors were derisively considered cardboard quality by the Colonial Pilots, which freaked out the metallurgists from Blake’s University. Really put the handle on all things being relative to a certain point of view, especially as a Viper had better armor than a McKenna-class Battleship.

Then there was Galactica. It was a decommissioned ship turned into a museum when the Colonies were attacked and had the majority of its heavy armament taken off, and all its armor, the overwhelming majority of its air wing and had to literally bust out the museum pieces when the fighting started, and it was not built to spec with its builders cutting corners to hurry it into service. Despite all of that… Its hull sustained a direct nuclear strike that sent it into an uncontrollable lateral counter-clockwise spin which did not pin the crew to the sides. A McKenna would have been torn apart by the nuke and would have snapped in half if it went into such a spin with its crew pinned to the sides. Hell Galactica took hits that were so powerful it shook people in its CIC even though said hits were nowhere near CIC. Having seen a model of Galactica in its glory days and a picture of its Hangers with full war load out of 2,000 Vipers, 200 Raptors, and 50 Shuttles, Saladin basically considered a 1st Cylon War Era Jupiter-class Battlestar sufficient to destroy a Star League Era Fleet by itself and a BSG sufficient to overrun a minor system by itself, its only limiting factor being ammo and troop carrying capacity to police the surface.

This made getting Aurigae’s Shipyards up and running a high priority. Looking out the window of his office in the dome of Cloud Nine where by agreement, the Colonial and Blake’s Refuge Government was stationed as a guard against decapitation, Saladin marveled at the technological mastery. Leading to the Council Chamber was a park hosting Baltar’s predecessor Laura Roslin’s Memorial who had died 18 hours before Saladin arrived aboard the Galactica. The building itself was a memorial of sorts with each room having a picture titled ‘Lest We Forget,’ and a memorial wall where the Colonials had tacked up numerous pictures of their lost loved ones from the colonies. Whenever you used the main entrance to the building you were immediately hit by its visceral emotion aided by the scented prayer candles the Colonials placed in the hallway. Saladin remembered Colonel Lee Adama, son of Admiral Adama and XO of the Pegasus, overseeing the placing of the photos and then placing photos of pilots he lost under his command during the Exodus from the Colonies, then he placed a photo of a blonde woman in his arms who was showing off her ring finger with an engagement ring. Only when he lit a prayer candle used for those who lost unborn children did he finally let a tear fall down his face. The Botanical Cruiser was also being taken over for Government use and now housed the Cylon Prisoners, the Admiralty, and other offices in its Halls with the domes being used for recreation.

Relatively speaking the Colonials and Cylons were a force of nature. A jumpship found by Colonial Raptor 906 had revealed Leviathans Rest was gone and the captain made a risky emergency jump that blew his engines out and left his ship on emergency power. The Raptor found a mostly dead ship with just three children in the beginning stages of hypoxia with empty O2 tanks and the ship’s logs.

A check of Knechee showed it had evaded detection by the Cylons so far, but Star Cluster 889 had been scouted by Cylon ships but the worlds there were still in the proto state and would be for a few more million years. The Caprica rescue mission had returned to show the Cylons had abandoned the Colonies and recon showed massive Cylon Fleet Resources at Leviathans Rest. That just left the question of whether the Cylons would cut across the PCCC, go around it via Knechee or move on Fager-Mizdargh-Aurigae Star Lane. The Colonials and Cylons by extension were capable of far greater FTL calculations across gravity fields and even singularities so it was a good bet they would cut across the PCCC.

“Admiral Saladin,” Lieutenant Margaret “Racetrack” Edmondson of the Colonial Fleet Reserve and his Liaison spoke as she entered the room and circled the Alexandrian Covenant. “Cylon Forces discovered by Raptor 207 in the Alexandrian Covenant, they detected five nuclear detonations. A follow up recon has shown Leviathans Rest to be abandoned by the Cylons but they wrecked all defenses and factories. Some natives were found and revealed the Cylons took many women and children with them. We believe they may be using them for their Farm Experiments.”

Admiral Saladin sighed before replying in Farsi the only language he and the Colonial had in common. “All we can do is build up our fleet to even begin fighting back or find their Resurrection Hub or even their Colony. The nature of the inner sphere is such that Humanity can’t be wiped out, but it will scatter far and wide once they realize something is eating out the core of Humanity’s Homeworlds.”

The Colonial Officer nodded, this debate had been raging ever since the Colonials came and the answer was always the same. The nature of Colonial and Cylon jump drives meant they had complete strategic freedom of maneuver limited only by logistics. Considering the Colonies were out past the Perseus Arm, the Cylons could massacre the Inner Sphere in a relatively short time frame with FTL Alpha Strikes once it had the proper data. The HPG Blackout and navigation purge would slow them down by denying key information, but meant that civilians could merely flee. There was no way for any planet using Star League Technology to fight the Cylons.

“The new jump drives and artificial gravity systems have been fitted to your ships, but the armor is just too thin to survive strafing from Cylon Raiders and your bracings are not strong enough to keep up in high speed maneuvers with even Colonial One. Commander Tigh is just not comfortable bringing them along on the recovery expedition to the Colonies but recognizes the need for the sheer hauling capacity.”

“Understandable Ms. Edmondson, I’m not comfortable sending them out as well, but if there is a chance to find more survivors and salvable vessels and factories then we must take it. That said, what is the progress on upgrading our factories to turn out the armor you use?”

“That part is still going slow, there is simply too much of a technology gap to close it soon, and Aurigae is having difficulty tooling up to the point Virgon Express is basically making all their machine tools at the moment and building a Colonial Spec Smelter from scratch while our other industrial ships get a Tylium Mine set up in that system. Lucky for us the Cylons don’t know of its existence as we estimate it has Tylium on six moons and 85 Dwarf Planets and thousands of asteroids in amounts able to last thousands of years. Aurigae is a pay dirt system.” Edmondson explained.

Admiral Saladin smiled. “We never knew a He3 derivative could be such a powerful fuel, we tried several times to use it in fusion drives but gave up as it kept going inert when all we had to do was just burn it.”

“We’re surprised you persisted with uranium based fusion reactors, rather than cleaner Thorium Reactors which you have pilot models of that were commercially viable but did not utilize despite the fuel being far more plentiful than uranium.” Ms. Edmondson pointed out.

“Graft and corruption is why, and then it got easier just to stick with them after the KF-drive was developed.”

“Well we got you on the path to righteousness in terms of shipbuilding now.”

“I think we’ll stick to our own designs rather than just copy blindly yours. The Heralds have sentimental value to us.” Saladin spoke.

Ms. Edmondson smiled at that, before taking her seat beside his desk. Compared to other Female Colonial Officers who all found themselves assigned to desk jobs and given strong hints to start families by the Baltar Administration, she took to the work without protest though she still commiserated with Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace on having her flight status restricted to shuttles. Still Edmondson proudly wore the engagement ring her former ECO, Lt. Hamish “Skulls” McCall gave her. Given the inherent superiority of the Manei Domini Pilots, the Colonial Pilots had been placed in reserve status as an entire unit or transferred to different jobs. Many of them like Ms. Edmondson were getting engaged while others like Captain Thrace were discipline problems without a war to fight and forced to thus face their inner demons. A few Colonial Pilots did, however, agree to augmentation such as Lieutenant Brendan “Hot Dog” Costanza and Leo Li “Dragon” Chiang in order to remain on active flight duty. However most Colonials declined augmentation for religious reasons or fear the Cylons could hack the implants.

Pegasus was churning out Vipers and Raptors as fast as it could, recycling Shades for the raw resources while the Colonials other foundry ships forged armor plating for them now that it had the raw resources to do so. Galactica was being scheduled to be stripped after the expedition to the Colonies to build more capable vessels. This war would have no major fleet battles, no heroic defenses, or anything remotely like that. It would be a war of targeted actions to break the human form Cylons’ ability to resurrect and thus their ability to clone and command the Centurions and the Cylon Fleet. Any world found by the Cylons was as good as dead and its ground base defenders worse than useless and reduced to survivors forced to rely on being hidden to survive. This was a total war, a war that could only be won in space by dishonorable tactics.

………………………………………………………………..

Richard relaxed in his Raptor as he and his Colonial ECO Dragon prepared to jump across the PCCC to check on Melidron which had been settled by a group calling itself the Minnesota Tribe. This was also a chance to get away from the Pegasus and Ellen Tigh. Sweet Blessed Jake, that woman was more dangerous than any combat mission he ever flew, and when she and her husband were together… Richard shuddered. According to the crew of Pegasus, Ellen Tigh had frakked half the Colonial Fleet and the reason her Husband was a functional alcoholic. For all that, she genuinely loved her husband and he her. Didn’t stop her from gaining quite a reputation though.

“Jump Drives spooled up, jumping in 3,2,1.” Dragon intoned before hitting the jump button. A moment later a body hit the windshield and bounced off and Richard pulled a hard 15g turn that would have killed an unaugmented Human outright to avoid a large piece of debris.

“Dradis contacts, 15 Cylon Baseships, thousands of Raiders, multiple nuclear detonations… Shit we are being painted.” Dragon shouted.

“Spooling up FTL, we’re getting the fuck out of here. The Minnesota Tribe are gone.” Richard shouted as he pulled hard 15g maneuvers and raked nine Cylon Raiders with the minigun mounts, destroying them. Outside his viewport a wrecked McKenna-class Battleship lay in ruins and numerous support ships alongside it. Having participated in mock battles with the Colonials and seen their weapons test fired, plus combat footage, Richard knew the Minnesota Tribe, formerly Clan Wolverine, had no chances whatsoever once the Cylons found them and jumped on top of them.

“Frak! Radiological Alarm!” Dragon shouted.

“Jumping!” Richard answered and they again went through the gut wrenching sensation of a jump.

“Raptor 209, Report.” Orbital Control spoke.

“Melidron under Cylon attack, Minnesota Tribe Defense Fleet wiped out, they never had a chance.” Richard spoke sadly. Though the Minnesota Tribe had not repented of the treason of deserting the Star League, they didn’t deserve the fate that befell them, and Melidron had 6,000,000,000 people on it and extensive orbital infrastructure and it mattered not.

There was a long moment of silence. “RTB Raptor 209.”

“Rodger, transferring to Pegasus.” Richard replied as he moved to Pegasus.

“Raptor 209, this is Pegasus. You are cleared for runway 4, call the ball.”

“Rodger Pegasus, I have the ball.” Richard replied as he inverted the Raptor to land upside down on said runway on the portside of Pegasus. Richard felt Dragon’s hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“The best thing we can do, is rebuild the Fleet,” Dragon spoke.

Richard only half heard him. The Blessed Jake had spoken of an eventual Armageddon, not Apocalypse which was something else, but an Armageddon much as the Colonial’s sacred scrolls taught of a Flood, that would one day engulf Humanity. During that time the impure and faithless would be burned away. But Leaders would be appointed by the Lords to guide the Caravans of the Heavens and lead Humanity to Victory.

………………………………………………………….

Dr. Clark observed the Cylon mother as she finished nursing her daughter while her sister model braided her hair aboard the Garden Dome of the Botanical Cruiser here the Cylons were held. It was still hard to believe that both were artificial beings that had been cloned to full adulthood, far surpassing anything the Clans could do and able to preserve memories past death. Mrs. Tyrol was proof of that and so was Mrs. Agathon who shared the same memories as her sister, a process that was theoretically impossible but the Cylons had done so using technology developed on Kobol. The Colonials were still insisting that Earth wasn’t Humanity’s Homeworld, and that Kobol was. Their President, Dr. Gaius Baltar, when he wasn’t fucking women both real and imaginary or discussing things with a woman that only he could see, was equally infuriating on the matter. It surprised her that the Colonials knew he was odd, talked to an imaginary woman, and still elected him to a full term anyway as they considered him touched by the Olympian Gods like their last President. Still Baltar was a genius and had used it to save the fleet several times.

Sighing, Dr. Clark couldn’t wait for the expedition to Kobol and the Colonies to be launched. It would be the chance to find out the truth of the connection of the Colonials and Earth Descendants and why they had the same DNA but different genetic legacies. It would also shed light on the Lords of Kobol who apparently were historical people. Even the outspoken Atheist Colonials considered them historical figures whose technology was so far in advance of Humanity’s that they were able to get away with naming themselves gods till the jealous god caused the cataclysm that forced the abandonment of Kobol. They also mentioned having artifacts from the Ancient Greek Heroes such as Achilles from the War against Troy… It was also clear that despite the name Twelve Colonies of Kobol, the Colonials had thousands of outposts, the majority of which were abandoned or destroyed or ceded to the Cylons in the 1st Cylon War, and only their relatively high standard of living had kept their population exploding like Earth’s descendants had and the fact most of the Perseus Arm was barren compared to the Orion spur. There was also the chance to find out more about the Cylons and how they evolved. More importantly, what role Hera Agathon had to play.

Said child had nearly been aborted by force till Baltar gathered the Quorum of 12 and forced Adama to back down by stating Karl Agathon was a Colonial Citizen and thus Hera, unborn at the time, was also a Colonial Citizen and thus could not be aborted and that Roslin his predecessor was no longer able to carry out her duties and Baltar was now President. The Colonial Marines then as one, refused to be further part of the attempted abortion and Admiral Adama had no choice but to stand down. It was a fortunate decision and re-established firmly Civilian Control of the Military which Roslin had failed to do. It was far too easy at first glance to dismiss Baltar as an unhinged genius which he was, but he could when warranted show surprising cunning and get stuff done with ruthless determination. It said much about how far the Colonials had fallen when Baltar was the reasonable guy. Their placing great weight on the sayings of their Oracles was another annoyance as said Oracles supposedly got their visions by imbibing a hallucinogenic substance.

Gathering her papers, Dr. Clark made her way to the two Cylon sisters, distinguishable only due to Mrs. Agathon’s post-partum figure. As she approached, both sisters looked up while their Marine Guards stood sentinel. For reasons known only to the Colonials, they insisted both be kept in restraining collars like wild animals despite repeatedly showing their loyalty to the Colonials. As far as the Colonials were concern that was all that they were, these two only having access to the Garden Dome due to their cooperation and limited access to their Husbands. The models known as the Cavils were kept in separate secure cells and spent their time arguing amongst each other over whether they erred or not in their quest for vengeance against Humanity. One of the Sixes was allowed female visitors only aside from Dr. Baltar and was on suicide watch due to being repeatedly gang raped by the crew of the Pegasus. The other Six was basically a whore, cared not a wit about the war, and frustrated the Colonials wouldn’t let her resume her trade, and spent her time, till she was moved to a different area, yelling at the Cavils to shut up, and that it was their fault she couldn’t live her dream as a whore with a new conquest each night… The D’Anna model basically refused to answer questions and spent her time praying to the One True God the Cylons except the Cavils worshipped. The Simon model, who turned himself in, was cooperative and only wanted the war to end so he could be with his Human wife and adopted daughter. No Leoben or Doral models were currently captured. It amazed Dr. Clark just how Human the Cylons were and gave her hope that a wedge could be found to stop the Cylon Armageddon Wave from carving through the Inner Sphere.

“You’re the doctor we were told to expect,” Mrs. Tyrol stated.

“I am.” Dr. Clark confirmed as she sat down on a bench across from them.

“What do you want to know,” Mrs. Agathon asked as she laid her baby in a bouncy.

“Let’s start with what you can tell me about the Cavils. From their arguments we are starting to suspect this ongoing genocide is of their doing. But despite some slips, they are rather closed mouthed.”

………………………………………….

Admirals Saladin and Adama conferred with each other while Lieutenant Edmondson updated the celestial map showing the latest known positions of the Cylons.

“Nothing we can do, but combined with other data, it’s safe to say the Cylons have moved past us completely. We can begin the expedition back to Kobol and the Colonies.” Saladin spoke.

Admiral Adama sighed, “It galls me to once again abandon people to their fate, I pray this is the last time.”

“There will be survivors and I dare say millions of your citizens may have survived the Cylon Attacks and might very well be hiding out. There is no way the Cylons could have achieved even 99.9% destruction,” Saladin spoke.

“I pray you’re right.” Adama replied as he pulled up a report and began reading it. “We’ll depart in 20 days. I will transfer my Flag back to Galactica, Commander Tigh will command the Pegasus, Captain Karl Agathorn will command the Adriatic and the support train we’ll be taking with us, consisting of Celestra, the Carina, Virgon Express, Colonial Movers 33, 89, and 107, the Gideon, Gemenon Traveler, Thera Sita, Colonial Heavy 798, Kimb Huta, Majahaul, and the Hitei Khan.”

Saladin nodded. “I will give you mission control of the Heralds under Captain Alexander, the Colossus Dropships, and the Spirit of the Word with its full complement, this should allow you to recover any salvable ships and get them able to move. I must retain the Vengeances for Patrol Duties.”

“Reasonable, and I’ll watch over your men as if they were my own children, I ask only that you watch over my reserve officers in my absence as if they were your own children.”

“I’ll promise not throw Starbuck out an airlock,” Saladin grinned.

Adama laughed, “Eh if she becomes too much a handful, toss her in the brig to cool off till I can bring her in line. The Lords know it took me a while to cool off and literally as my first mission was to travel to an Ice Planet.”

“Fair enough Admiral, but for the love of all that is Holy, take Ellen Tigh with you. Half my pilots are scared to death of her and she has already racked up quite a reputation as a predator.”

Admiral Adama took a stiff drink, “How much of a bribe do you want to keep her?”

“A Mercury-class Battlestar of my own and some rare swords.” Admiral Saladin laid out his price.

“Can’t promise a Mercury, but the swords are doable and so is Ambrosia.”

“Deal,” Saladin agreed, “Don’t make me regret having her as a guest.”

“Just steer her to the Casinos and Bars, she’ll be fleecing civilians then at least.”

“Your friend has dangerous tastes in women,” Saladin shuddered.

“She has her moments,” Adama explained.

“Like Baltar?”

Adama paused, then conceded, “Yeah Baltar is a special snow flake, the thing with him though is he isn’t using obfuscating stupidity, he truly is unhinged to the point he thinks there is this imaginary woman next to him who he loves. Then the Genius who won several Magnate Prizes crops up again and he gets stuff done and runs you over all while saving the day.”

“Admirals, we need to talk,” Doctor Clark spoke as she entered the room. “I think we might have a way to spark a Cylon Civil War or at least get some to defect.”