To The Journey
Author: Kikaider01
Classification: Sci-Fi/Adventure
Rating: PG-13

---COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER NOTICE---

    This is a work of fan fiction and the characters and concepts of Star Trek
belong to Paramount Pictures and the Sci Fi channel respectively.  This story
must not be sold or distributed for financial gain of any sort.

Author's Note: This story takes place at the end of Battlestar Galactica's
    season three, at Crossroads Part II, and Voyager season 6, after
    "Pathfinder" but before "Virtuoso".  This story is AU, and everything is
    left to the author's discretion.

*To The Journey*
*Prologue*

*97,000 Years Ago*

    -A race that would one day be called the Preservers, had begun-
-transplanting humanity throughout the galaxy in an effort to preserve-
-humanity.  They had known that an even older race had seeded many planets-
-throughout the galaxy billions of years ago in an effort to preserve their-
-race.  The Preservers had known of the seed code that the elder race had left-
-behind in the hope that one day, the children would come together and piece-
-together the puzzle that the elder race had left for them.  The elder race-
-had long since transcended to another plane of existence, and the Preservers-
-themselves had evolved on one of the seeded worlds.  For millions of years,-
-they observed evolution throughout the galaxy.  They watched many-
-civilizations rise and fall.  Several promising civilizations nearly made it-
-to their technological level before falling.  One was the Iconian-
-civilization, another was the T'Kon Empire.  While a few others had advanced-
-technologically, but nearly destroyed themselves in planetary wars; with the-
-survivors fleeing underground to escape the ravaged surface of their planets.-
    -It was feared that the elder race's plan would not come to fruition, so-
-it was decided that they would continue the work of their predecessors.  They-
-scouted the galaxy, particularly the worlds seeded by their predecessors in-
-order to find one of the more promising humanoid species.  A seeded planet-
-containing a promising humanoid race was found near the edge of what would-
-one day be called the Alpha Quadrant.  The Preservers observed the evolution-
-of humanity on Earth for several thousand years before deciding to implement-
-a planet duplication project.-
    -Their technology was advanced to the point that they were able to create-
-planets and environments suitable for humanoid life.  Humans would one day-
-dub this technology Genesis.  Using their technology, they duplicated several-
-duplicate Earths in the Alpha Quadrant and one on the other side of the-
-galaxy in the Delta Quadrant.  At several points in Earth's history, the-
-Preservers transplanted humanity on one of the duplicates.  The Preservers-
-watched with particular interest as one race of the elder's children made it-
-to Earth and began living amongst one of Earth's cultures while posing as-
-gods.  The Preservers decided that a more advanced humanoid race would not be-
-allowed to continue to influence Earth's cultures so the humanoid "gods" were-
-told that they must leave Earth alone, but they would be allowed to continue-
-living among the humans that they would transplant in the Delta Quadrant.-
-The humanoid "gods" agreed, as it was not wise to go against the edict of the-
-elders.  They followed the directions the Preservers had given them to the-
-planet the transplanted humans would one day call Kobol.-
    -The Preservers continued their project, and transplanted humanity several-
-more times before completing it.  Content that they had given humanity a good-
-chance to survive, they waited and observed.  On the other side of the-
-galaxy, the humans on Kobol continued to evolve until eventually, one tribe-
-made the trek back to Earth.  Two thousand more years passed, and the-
-humanoid gods continued to live on Kobol until strife and a dying world-
-forced humanity on the planet to leave for nearby worlds and form 12-
-colonies.  On Earth, civilization continued to evolve, sometimes haltingly,-
-but evolve it did.-


*Chapter 1*

*USS Voyager, Delta Quadrant*

    "Captains log, stardate 53478.2.  It's been two weeks since we made contact
with Starfleet Command through the micro wormhole created by Lt. Reginald
Barclay.  We've completed modifications to the main deflector with the data
transmitted to us on the hypersubspace technology.  This is experimental
technology, but we're hoping that it will enable us to have regular contact
with the Alpha Quadrant.  We've begun to run low on deuterium, but Seven has
begun scanning nearby space from astrometrics, for potential sources of
deuterium.  A Kalandra-class nebula 10 light years away holds some promise.
We'll know for sure as we get closer."

    As Captain Kathryn Janeway ended her log, she took a long sip of her
coffee.  It had been a long day, and she was tired.  She walked across her
ready room and sat on her couch, ready to read the latest fuel consumption
reports.  -Harry should have an uneventful night shift,- she thought.
    She had just finished reading the fuel consumption reports when the door
chimed.
    "Come," said Janeway.
    Her first officer, Commander Chakotay walked into her ready room looking
disgustingly cheerful.  -How does he do it?-  "Harry's reported for the night
shift duty," he said.
    "Got any dinner plans?" she asked.
    "Just a date with a replicator," he replied.
    "Dinner in my quarters then," she said.  "I also want to discuss crew
morale and the deuterium shortage before tomorrow morning's staff meeting."
    "I think I have another bottle of Antarian cider handy, IF you promise not
to burn the roast again," he said with a smile.
    She chuckled.  -He's never going to let me forget that,- she thought.  -Oh
well.-  "No promises," she smiled.  And with that, they walked out of the ready
room.
    She walked into the conference room the next morning holding her favorite
coffee mug.  Seeing that all the department heads were present, she had
Chakotay begin the staff meeting.
    "Captain, nothing unusual happened during the night shift, and we've moved
into scanning range of the nebula," Harry Kim reported.
    "That's why you love the night shift Harry, because nothing ever happens,"
quipped Paris.  He loved kidding his buddy.
    "Actually, I love sitting in the big chair," smiled Harry.
    This elicited a chuckle from Commander Chakotay.  Over the years, he'd
grown used to the playful banter between the two men, unlike the doctor, who
found it a constant source of irritation.  "What's the status of our deuterium
situation, B'lanna?" asked Chakotay.
    "At our present speed, we have enough deuterium to last approximately 5
weeks, 2 days.  With conservation, we can stretch it out to 8 weeks max,"
answered B'lanna.
    "We moved within detailed scanning range of the nebula two hours ago," said
Seven.  "Scans indicated that it is indeed rich in deuterium.  The Bussard
collectors should be able to collect more deuterium than we require."
    "Captain," Tuvok said.  "I suggest we take this opportunity to stockpile
extra deuterium."
    "An excellent idea Mr. Vulcan.  We can use cargo bay 3," Neelix said.
    "How about the possible effects of radiation on the ship and crew doctor?"
Janeway asked.
    "Kalandra class nebulas are well known astrological phenomena.  They don't
normally contain unknown types of radiation, but I'll be monitoring the crew's
health just to be on the safe side," said the doctor.  He was relieved to be
finally asked a question.  During most staff meetings, medical questions were
rarely asked of him, unless something was affecting the whole crew.
    "Then it's settled," said Janeway.  "Mr. Paris, what's our ETA at the
nebula?"
    "About two hours at warp 6 Captain," answered Tom.
    "Then if there's no other business," she paused for someone to bring
something else up, "meeting's adjourned."  The meeting broke up as everyone
headed for their respective departments.  Janeway, Chakotay, and Paris headed
toward the bridge.

    Two hours later, they arrived at the nebula.  As she gazed at the
viewscreen, she noticed the nebula looked very similar to the dozens of other
nebulas she'd seen over the years.  Kalandra class nebulas were not as dense as
some other types of nebulas.  Certainly not as dense as other types, such as a
Mutara class nebula.  Shields should be functional and so would the sensors,
albeit with a shorter range than normal.
    "Report," she ordered.
    "Sensors indicate there are no other vessels present in the area.  However,
our sensor are limited to approximately 300,000 kilometers," reported Tuvok.
    "I'm detecting large quantities of deuterium approximately 20 degrees to
our left," reported Seven from astrometrics.
    "Acknowledged," Janeway said.  And she nodded toward Chakotay.
    "Take us in Tom, one half impulse.  Heading 330 mark 10," ordered Chakotay.
    "Aye sir.  Taking us in," said Paris.
    -Voyager- surged forward heading toward the nebula with the vast amounts of
badly needed deuterium.  As the ship entered the nebula, only a very slight
tremor registered throughout the ship.  It only took a few minutes for the ship
to reach the closest pocket of deuterium.
    "Status?" asked Janeway.
    "Shields are functional," answered Tuvok.
    "Thank you Tuvok.  At least if we run into any trouble, we'll be able to
raise them," said Janeway.
    "Short range sensors are limited to 300,000 kilometers.  But that's more
than enough to give us warning of any danger.  Ready to engage Bussard
collectors at full power," said Kim.
    "Do it," ordered Janeway.
    -Voyager's- Bussard collectors changed from a dull red to a bright red as
she flew through the nebula.  Designed to collect stray molecules of deuterium
as ship flew at warp speed through interstellar space, the collectors easily
collected the large quantities of deuterium present in the nebula.

    Two days later, all of -Voyager's- deuterium tanks in the dorsal part of
the engineering hull were at full capacity, and cargo bay 3 was full of storage
containers filled with deuterium.  The crew was preparing to leave the nebula
and continue their journey.  -It's about time we had a bit of luck out here,-
thought Janeway.
    Lt. Commander Tuvok was going through his normal systems checks on his
tactical console when his sensor display beeped.  "Captain, six unknown ships
just appeared off our starboard bow approximately 276,000 kilometers away."
    "On screen," ordered Janeway.
    On the screen, the crew saw 5 triangular ships and one ship that looked
like a floating cathedral.
    "How did they get there?" asked Janeway.
    "Unknown Captain.  Sensors didn't detect any ships approaching.  I'm not
detecting any warp signatures.  It's like they just suddenly appeared,"
answered a frustrated looking Harry Kim.
    "Are they aware of us?" Chakotay asked.
    "I don't know.  I'm not detecting any subspace scans from them.  Sensors
show 5 star shaped ships and one unusual ship.  I'm detecting 300 hundred human
life signs on each of the star shaped ships and 2,000 human life signs on the
cathedral ship.  However, the humans on the cathedral ship appear to be in
suspended animation," said Kim.
    -Humans!  And in suspended animation no less.  Could this be a long range
exploratory mission?  What were humans doing in this part of the Delta
Quadrant?- she thought.
    "Captain.  I've determined that the star shaped ships are warships of some
type.  I'm detecting numerous missile launchers and kinetic weapons turrets.
Each ship is carrying over 100 fighters.  I am not detecting shields, warp
power or fusion power.  Each ship is carrying approximately 20 thermonuclear
warheads." said Tuvok.
    "The alien ships have lost power Captain," said Seven.
    On screen, most of the lights aboard the alien ships went dark and they
started to drift.
    "Open a channel," said Janeway.
    "Hailing on all subspace frequencies Captain," answered Tuvok.
    "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship -Voyager-.  Can
we be of assistance?"
    "No response Captain," said Tuvok.
    "Captain!  28 ships just appear off our port bow, approximately 50,000
kilometers away," said Kim.  He switched the view screen to show the new
arrivals.
    The new arrivals looked very different from previous ships.  These ships
appeared scorched and damaged, unlike the pristine looking ships of the first
group.  One large ship definitely looked like a warship, with nacelles or pods
projecting from the main body.  The rest of the ships followed no particular
configuration, and were in all different shapes and sizes.  As with the
previous arrivals, the new arrivals lost power.
    Janeway was confused now.  -What caused these alien ships to lose power?
Both groups of ships don't seem to belong to the same race,- she thought.
    "Captain, I am detecting similar weapons on the large warship, as well as 5
nuclear weapons," reported Tuvok.
    "There's approximately 39,000 human life signs spread out among those
ships."  He paused, "the first group just regained power," said Kim.
    "Try hailing them again."
    "Still no response.  The star shaped ships are now launching numerous small
craft.  Sensors detect kinetic weapons.  Each ship has one indeterminate life
sign.  They are headed toward the second group," said Tuvok.
    "Fighters then," observed Chakotay.
    "And we're caught in the middle and the bullets are about to fly," said
Paris.
    "That is correct," answered Tuvok.
    "Captain, the second group of ships has regained power," said an excited
Kim.
    "Send the same message to that group, on all subspace frequencies and
languages," said Janeway.
    "No response Captain.  I do not believe they use subspace communications,
as I cannot detect any subspace emissions at all from either group of ships.
At their present speed, the fighters of the first group will reach the second
group in approximately 5 minutes and 21 seconds," replied Tuvok.
    -So they're attacking the second group?  Have we stumbled into someone
else's war?  But the second group doesn't look like a battle fleet, they look
more like refugees,- thought Janeway.

    A minute later, the screen showed the warship of the second group launching
triangular shaped fighters.
    "I am now detecting communications between the warship and its fighters.
They are in the radio frequency band, not subspace.  I have tied in the
universal translator.  One of the fighters from the second group is headed
toward our position," reported Tuvok.
    "Red Alert.  Shields up," ordered Chakotay.
    "Orders Captain?" asked Paris.
    "Maintain our position.  It looks like we've stumbled into someone's war.
Make no move toward either side," said Janeway.  Although she was acutely aware
that Voyager was actually much closer to the second group of ships.
    "Transmit on the same radio frequency both groups are using Mr. Tuvok.
This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship -Voyager-.  Please
cease hostilities.  We come in peace," said Janeway.
    A few moments later, the fighters of the second group slowed to a stop,
while the fighters of the first group started heading towards Voyager.  The
five Cylon baseships also started moving toward Voyager.  The baseships started
launching missiles and shells toward -Voyager-.
    "Not very friendly, are they?" said Paris.
    "Tactical analysis Mr. Tuvok?" asked Chakotay.
    "The missiles are powered by chemical propellants.  The explosive yield of
the warheads are very low, they will have no effect on our deflector shields.
The shells are simple kinetic rounds.  The alien ships are quite primitive.
They do not pose a significant threat to -Voyager-," said Tuvok.
    "Even so, I don't want to fight if I can avoid it," said Janeway between
gritted teeth.
    "But there may be no way we can avoid one," answered Chakotay.


*Battlestar *-*Galactica*-* Combat Information Center (CIC)*

    As the Battlestar regained power after jumping into the Ionian nebula, the
crew of the Battlestar scrambled to launch fighters.  The CIC was in disarray
as the bridge crew scrambled to restart various systems.  Admiral Adama and
President Roslin looked up at the various DRADIS displays with dread.  Five
Cylon baseships and a resurrection ship were more than enough to destroy the
fleet.  However, there was also an unknown contact that maintained it's
position.
    "What do you make of that?  Is that another Cylon baseship?" asked Tigh.
    "Negative sir.  The contact is much smaller than a Cylon baseship,"
answered Gaeta.
    "Whatever it is, we have to assume it's hostile," growled Adama.
    On the screen, one of -Galactica's- vipers headed toward the unknown
contact.
    "Who's in that viper?" asked Carl "Helo" Agathon.


*Lee "Apollo" Adama's Viper*

    He felt guilty piloting his viper considering he resigned his commission.
But when everyone was headed toward action stations, he felt he had a job to
do.  He punched the thruster pedal to full thrust and headed toward the unknown
ship.
    "-Galactica-, Apollo.  I'm headed toward the unknown contact, will be in
visual range in 30 seconds," said Apollo.


*-*Galactica*- CIC*

    Adama felt a momentary sense of anger upon hearing Lee's voice, but he
brushed that aside.  He'd deal with that later.  Right now, five Cylon
baseships and one unknown ship was commanding his attention.  It would take
another 23 minutes for the fleet to spin up their FTL drives.  He currently
didn't have the luxury to be mad at Lee.
    "Sir!  We're receiving a transmission from the unknown," reported Lt.
Dualla.
    "On speakers," ordered Adama.
    The bridge went silent as Dualla engaged the main speakers.  An irritated
sounding female voice started speaking.  "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of
the Federation starship -Voyager-.  Please cease hostilities.  We come in
peace," the voice said.
    Around the plotting table, Adama, Tigh, Roslin, and Tory stared at each
other.  -Starship?  Voyager?  Federation?  Was this some kind of Cylon trick?-
He remembered a Battlestar Voyager belonging to the 7th fleet.  But this
couldn't be it.  The ship was too alien looking.
    "Federation?  Could this be some kind of Cylon trick?" said Roslin, voicing
his thoughts.
    "I've never heard of no gods damn Federation," growled Tigh.  "It's gotta
be some kind of trick."
    "They've got five baseships against us Saul.  They don't need to try and
trick us.  They've got us outgunned 5 to 1," replied Adama.
    An excited Felix Gaeta from his console broke in.  "Sir!  The Cylon
baseships and the fighters are now headed for the unknown ship!  They're
launching missiles and firing now!"
    They looked up at the DRADIS display.  Sure enough, the display showed the
Cylons heading towards and attacking the unknown ship.  A little guilty, Adama
hoped that the Cylons would waste their time on the unknown ship while the
fleet spun up their FTL drives.  Adama didn't know anyone on that ship or what
this -Voyager- was, but his first responsibility was to his people and he
couldn't afford to help this -Voyager-.
    "Recall our fighters!  Have them form a protective umbrella around the
fleet," Adama said in his usual gravelly voice.


*USS -*Voyager*-*

    On screen, the crew watched as the delta fighters retreated and formed what
appeared to be a defensive formation around their ships, with the warship in
front.  While the star shaped ships and its crescent shaped fighters continued
to head toward -Voyager-.
    One of the Cylon raiders transmitted its logic bomb towards Voyager.
    "Captain, one of the incoming fighters just transmitted a primitive
computer virus which tried to access our systems.  It was automatically
eradicated by our computer defense systems," said Tuvok.
    The lead Cylon raider signaled to its wing mates to begin launching
missiles, adding to the barrage from the baseships.
    "First missile impact in 10 seconds captain.  Simple chemical explosive
warheads," said Tuvok.
    "Don't return fire just yet Mr. Tuvok," ordered Janeway.
    "Acknowledged."
    The first missiles hit -Voyager's- shields seconds later, followed by the
kinetic rounds.  -Voyager-'s shields absorbed dozens of hits which multiplied
as the fighters arrived and added their firepower.
    "Report," ordered Janeway.
    "Shields holding Captain.  No appreciable drain.  The shields will protect
us indefinitely at this rate," said Tuvok.
    "The fighters are now moving back.  Sensors detect a missile with a nuclear
warhead has been launched at us Captain," said Kim.
    "The nuclear warhead has a 25 kiloton yield.  They are classified as
tactical nuclear weapons.  Our shields will be able to hold with no difficulty.
Nevertheless, shall I intercept that relatively slow moving missile with our
phasers?" asked Tuvok.
    "No, we'll absorb the hit.  We'll show the first group that they're unable
to harm us.  Maybe they'll listen to reason then," said Janeway.
    Janeway was determined to display -Voyager's- strength without appearing
too aggressive.  It wasn't their war after all that they stumbled into.  She
was hoping to be able to mediate some sort of settlement between the two
groups.  It was obvious which group was the more aggressive though.  Maybe this
show of strength will bring both parties to the negotiating table.

    Minutes later, the nuclear warhead impacted -Voyager's- shields.  Designed
to withstand torpedo yields in the isotons, the shields effortlessly shrugged
off the blast from the Cylon nuke.  This time, a slight tremor did register
aboard -Voyager-.
    "Shields holding," reported Tuvok.
    "No damage Captain," reported Kim from Ops.
    Apparently determined to destroy Voyager, each of the baseships launched a
salvo of five nukes at Voyager.
    "I am detecting a second wave of twenty five nuclear warheads headed toward
Voyager.  Our shields should be able to withstand the detonations.  The
combined explosive yields of those warheads are equal to approximately less
than a tenth of an isoton," said Tuvok.
    As the bridge crew stared at the screen, the near simultaneous detonations
of twenty five nukes lit up the screen.  The bridge rocked, but no one was
thrown out of their seats.  And more importantly, no EPS conduits blew.
    "Damage report," said Janeway.
    "As expected, shields are holding.  The ship has sustained no damage
Captain," reported Tuvok after scanning his tactical console.
    Paris swiveled his chair around.  "I'd love to see the faces of those
people who launched those missiles at us," he said.
    "Now maybe someone will feel like talking to us," said Janeway.


*-*Galactica*- CIC*

    "I'm not sure, but some kind of electronic screen just appeared over
-Voyager-," said Gaeta.  His image of -Voyager- seemed to fade in and out on
his display.  A few seconds later, Cylon missiles and kinetic rounds started
hitting -Voyager.-  "-Voyager- seems to be holding up under Cylon missile and
battery fire."
    For 10 minutes the screen showed numerous missile impacts on -Voyager-.
But -Voyager's- DRADIS icon didn't disappear.
    A few tense seconds later.
    "Radiological alert!  Cylons just launched a nuke!" yelled Dualla
    "Are they launching at us?" demanded Adama.
    "No sir.  The Cylons launched a single nuke at -Voyager-."
    Adama, Tigh, Tory, and Roslin looked at the DRADIS display as a symbol
representing the Cylon nuke headed toward the contact now labeled Voyager.
Voyager didn't move, but maintained its position.  As the nuke reached Voyager,
the DRADIS display went snowy with static as the effects of the nuclear
detonation interfered with the DRADIS display.  Slowly, the display cleared and
-Voyager- was still there.
    "Tough little ship," said an impressed Adama.
    "Do you think we'll be able to talk to them?" asked Roslin.
    "I hope so, we need all the friends we can get," answered Adama.
    "Radiological alarm!  This time it's massive!" said a worried Dualla.
    "The DRADIS then showed that the Cylons had launched twenty five nukes at
Voyager."  -No way a tiny ship like Voyager can survive twenty five nukes,-
thought Adama.
    "So much for talking to them.  They're done for.  No one can take 25 nukes
and live to tell about it," said Tigh.
    All Adama and the rest of the personnel in CIC could do was look on in
frustration as the DRADIS showed 25 nukes headed toward Voyager.  -What a pity,
we're way out of weapons range and can't help them,- he thought.  -And we're
unable to jump for another 5 minutes.-  Roslin and some of the bridge crew said
a prayer for the souls on -Voyager-.  They didn't know anyone aboard that ship,
but they knew that no one deserved to die by Cylon nukes as their families had.
    "15 seconds to impact.  10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
impact!" reported Gaeta.
    The DRADIS display and many other displays in CIC went snowy for a few
minutes as the after effects of so many Cylon nuclear warheads cleared.  The
whole CIC was quiet as they felt sorrow at the deaths of the strangers aboard
the tiny ship -Voyager-.
    Gaeta's console monitor was the first one to clear.  "-Voyager's- still
there!" he yelped in surprise.
    "What?  You're kidding me Mr. Gaeta!" shouted Tigh.
    And sure enough, the rest of the DRADIS displays cleared in CIC.  They all
looked up at the DRADIS display to see that Voyager was in fact, still there.
It was nothing less than astonishing to the Colonials.
    "How is that possible Bill?" asked Roslin.  Relief shown in her eyes.
    Adama himself was flabbergasted.  "Not even a -Mercury- can take that many
nukes.  I don't see how a ship as small as -Voyager- could have survived."  The
wheels in his mind were already turning.  He began to suspect that the
electronic screen Gaeta had detected earlier had something to do with it.
    Then that same female voice they had all heard earlier came over the
speakers.
    "Now that you're done firing at us, would you like to talk, or would you
like us to return fire?  Believe me, you wouldn't like it if we returned fire."
    As they looked at the DRADIS, they watched as the Cylon fighters returned
to their ships and the Cylon ships jump out one by one.
    "I believe it's time we had a chat with this Captain Janeway," a very
relieved Adama said.


*Command Center, Base Ship 76*

    Five humanoid Cylons clustered around the main control consoles of the
massive Cylon baseship, their hands submerged in the bioelectric gel that
allowed them to directly interface with the baseship's hybrid and scanners.
Each Cylon could literally see in their minds eye the space surrounding the
ship, along with tactical information overlaid from the ship's scanners.  Power
had just been restored after having mysteriously failed a few minutes ago.
    "We're detecting the Colonial fleet, along with an unknown ship," a Six
said.
    "I see it too," the Cylon formerly known as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii agreed,
looking at the Six.  She still harbored some resentment towards that model ever
since "Caprica Six" broke her neck a few months ago, allowing the traitor to
escape with the Hera, the half Cylon, half human child.  She had considered
Caprica Six to be a friend, until she betrayed the Cylons.
    A "Cavil" model broke in.  "It's a small ship, and it looks unarmed"
    "I'm launching the raiders now," said a "Doral" model.
    "Remember, we don't want to destroy the Colonial fleet, just push them
along the path toward Earth," said a "Simon" model.
    "That's right," said a "Leoben" model.  "We need to assume that with Baltar
and Caprica Six on the Galactica, they know the way to Earth."
    "That's only if they haven't executed the both of them," said Boomer,
remembering how Cally had shot her.
    "Caprica Six hasn't resurrected, so we can assume that they're alive,"
countered the Six.  Boomer shot her an acid look.
    "-Galactica- is launching her vipers now," said Doral.
    "I'm not detecting any emissions from their jump drives," said Simon,
"they're probably still spinning them up."
    "What about the unknown ship?" asked Boomer.
    "It's just sitting there," said Cavil.  "It's probably an experimental
scout that Adama had designed."
    "Really?  Now where would they get the resources to build such a ship?"
said a doubtful Leoben.
    "Who knows?  But look at its position, it's much closer to the Colonials,"
replied Cavil.
    "That doesn't mean it's Colonial," countered Boomer.  "I've never seen such
a design.  It looks far too alien to be Colonial."
    "Nevertheless, they must be allied with the Colonials," argued Cavil.

    As they continued to watch events unfold, they received the transmission
from the alien ship.
    "-Voyager-?" asked Boomer aloud.  "I remember there being a Battlestar
-Voyager- in the Colonial 7th fleet."
    "That settles it.  It's a Colonial ship.  We need to attack it," said
Cavil.
    "I only said that there was a Battlestar -Voyager-, that's obviously not a
Colonial Battlestar," said an exasperated Boomer.  "Besides, the captain of
that ship said it was a starship of some `Federation'".
    "Should we reply to their message?" asked the Six.
    "It might be some kind of Colonial trick.  There's one way we can determine
its intentions," said Doral.
    "Yes, have the raiders engage -Voyager-.  And have all baseships launch
standard missiles and fire their rail guns.  Then we'll see what side they're
on," said Cavil.  "Are we agreed?"
    Both the six, Boomer, and the Leoben looked reluctant, but in the end, they
agreed.  Although Boomer felt a sense of foreboding.  -This is stupid.  We're
making a mistake,- she thought.  -They just might be aliens, and they'll end up
thinking that we're the warmongers.-  There were times when she couldn't
believe how idiotic some Cylons were.
    As Boomer was thinking, her baseship's scanners detected some sort of
electronic field appearing around -Voyager-, partially obscuring it from their
scanners.  This puzzled the five Cylons.
    "Is it some type of stealth screen?" asked Leoben.
    "Have one of the raiders transmit the logic bomb," said Doral.  "We'll see
how it reacts."
    As they watched, the electronic screen stayed up.
    "It doesn't look like the virus is having any effect," reported the Six.
    "Order the raiders to continue their conventional attack," said Cavil.
    "By your command," replied Simon.
    "What are the Colonial Vipers doing?" asked Boomer.  She imagined Apollo
and Starbuck were flying in some of the Vipers, and she felt a sudden tinge of
regret and homesickness.  The -Galactica- was her home for a long time, and the
pilots were once her friends.  She felt rage and jealousy towards the other
Sharon.  It was as if the other Sharon had stolen her life and the happiness
that should have been hers.
    "It looks like they're pulling back into a defensive position around the
civilian ships," said the Six.
    They watched as their raiders fired their cannons and missiles.  Moments
later, fire from their baseships added to the maelstrom.  They watched
awestruck as they determined that the electronic field was some sort of shield,
stopping the missiles and artillery rounds from reaching -Voyager-.
    "Let's see how -Voyager- handles a nuke," said Cavil.
    "Are you sure that's wise?" said a now concerned Simon.
    "Look, we need to find out the capabilities of this new Colonial ship.  If
it survives the nuke, then it's definitely a threat to us.  The Colonials could
use it to launch a counterattack against us," said a worried Doral even as he
launched the nuke.

    Again, they watched as the nuclear missile headed towards -Voyager-.  They
watched as -Voyager- was engulfed in the explosion of the detonation.  Moments
later, they were horrified as -Voyager- appeared none the worse for wear.
    Before the six and Boomer could say or do anything, a panicked Cavil said,
"All ships launch a five nuke salvo at -Voyager-!"
    "I have a bad feeling about this," said Simon, echoing Boomer's earlier
thoughts.
    "No Colonial ship can take 25 nukes and still survive," said a confident
Cavil.
    "I hope you're right," Boomer said darkly.  "Because if you're wrong, we've
just pissed off an alien race that could become a deadlier enemy than the
humans could ever be."  The Cavil said nothing to that.
    She watched with trepidation as their missiles sped towards -Voyager.-  As
the whole area of space was lit up with the 25 nuke detonation, she silently
prayed that -Voyager- would be destroyed.  Because if it wasn't, that would
mean it wasn't Colonial at all and they just pushed this alien race into the
arms of the Colonials.  Her worst fears were realized as -Voyager- slowly
reappeared on visual and their DRADIS looking completely intact.
    All five Cylons looked at each other, fear growing on their faces.  Then
they received the angry transmission from Capt Janeway of -Voyager-.  They all
turned to Cavil.
    "We need to retrieve our raiders and jump out of here," said a suddenly
worried Cavil.
    The others glared at him.
    "You think?" Boomer said sarcastically.
    "I'm ordering our raiders to return immediately.  The resurrection ship is
jumping to the emergency coordinates now.  All other ships will jump as soon as
they've recovered their raiders," said Doral.
    "We've just committed a grave strategic error.  These unknowns are
obviously extremely powerful.  We need to contact the homeworld and have a
general meeting.  We need ALL models to agree to our next course of action.
And I mean ALL models, including you know who," said Simon.
    They all agreed, even the suddenly reserved Cavil line.  And with that, the
Cylon ships jumped out one by one, leaving the Colonial fleet facing -Voyager-.
    -This is one colossal frack up,- thought Boomer.


*Chapter 2*

    -What next?- thought Janeway.
    "The group that attacked us has left the area Captain.  However, I am
unable to determine their method of departure.  There was a flash of light, and
then suddenly they were not there," said Seven.  She looked perplexed.  And it
wasn't often that Seven appeared that way.  She normally looked like she knew
everything and that hardly anything surprised her.
    "Any idea where they went?" asked Chakotay.  He was worried that they could
return at any time.
    "We are still in the nebula Commander.  Our long range sensors are
ineffective while we remain here," answered Tuvok.
    "Maybe the second group can help us with that," said Kim while pointing at
the view screen.  On the screen, the large warship and a battered collection of
what looked like civilian ships maintained their position.  The small fighters
weaved in and around the ships, but generally stayed in position between
Voyager and the ships they were obviously protecting.  The large battered
warship was at station keeping, shielding the rest of the civilian ships.
    Tom was the first to voice his thoughts.  "It looks to me like it's a rag
tag fugitive fleet running from that first group we encountered.  The big
ship's protecting them.  I think what we're seeing is a group of refugees."
    Janeway had been thinking the same thing.
    "They look primitive, but we're at least 18 light years from the nearest
solar system.  They must have some kind of faster than light drive to get out
here in deep space," said Kim.
    "We're going to have to make contact with them if we want to find out
anything about the first group or what's going on in this part of space," said
Janeway.  "Mr. Tuvok, did they receive our last transmission?"
    Tuvok briefly went through his communications logs before answering.  He
raised his left eyebrow as many Vulcans did when they were intrigued about
something.  "I believe so Captain.  The universal translator identified the
language they were using when we were monitoring their ship to ship
transmissions.  It is an Earth language."
    "Earth language?" asked Janeway.  -Impossible,- she thought.
    "Yes Captain.  Specifically, ancient Greek," answered Tuvok.
    "Oh my god," said Chakotay.  His field of expertise was anthropology, so he
was the first to make the connection.  "This could this be a Preserver seeded
society taken from Earth."
    "That could certainly explain why they speak ancient Greek," agreed
Janeway.  "Either way, they're waiting for us to speak to them.  Mr. Tuvok,
open a channel."
    "Channel open," Tuvok replied.


*-*Galactica*- CIC*

    Commander William Adama and President Laura Roslin were discussing what to
say to the -Voyager- captain when Lt. Dualla spoke up.  "We're receiving a
transmission from -Voyager- Commander on the fleet priority channel."
    "On speakers," said Adama.
    Once again, the female voice of -Voyager's- commander came over the
speakers.  This time, the voice didn't sound angry.
    "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship USS -Voyager-.
We mean you no harm," said the voice in perfect Colonial standard.
    Adama picked up the phone to respond.  "This is Commander William Adama of
the Battlestar -Galactica,- representing the 12 colonies of man.  Thank you for
your assistance with the Cylons."
    "It seems Commander Adama, that we have many things that we need to
discuss," answered Janeway.
    Roslin looked at Adama.  Pointing at the phone she asked, "May I?"
    "Of course Madame President.  It's your show," he said.  He handed her the
handset.
    "Captain Janeway.  This is President Laura Roslin of the 12 Colonies.  On
behalf of my people, I would like to extend our gratitude for driving away the
Cylons.  We regret having gotten you and your ship involved in our conflict, we
are all that's left of our people.  We're refugees, and they were chasing us."
    "Nicely done Madame President," said Adama.  He was glad she was in CIC.
Politics was her forte.
    "These `Cylons' fired on us without provocation Madame President," answered
Janeway.  "Perhaps we can meet aboard my ship to discuss the situation?"
    "No Madam President.  I highly advise against that," cautioned Tory.  "We
don't know anything about these people yet."
    "I agree with Ms. Foster Madame President," said Adama.
    "These people took the best the Cylons could throw at them.  Even though we
haven't seen their weapons, it's my guess that they're certainly powerful
enough to blow us out of the sky if they wanted to.  If they meant us any harm,
we probably wouldn't be here discussing it right now.  But I do agree, we
should meet here on -Galactica- for appearances sake," said Roslin.  She picked
up the phone handset again.
    "As gracious as your offer is Captain, I would prefer to meet on the
-Galactica-.  My people are refugees fleeing from the Cylons.  It might cause
some concern among my people if I were to travel to your ship having only just
met you.  Would it be possible for you to come over to the -Galactica-?" she
asked.  She hoped the -Voyager- captain wouldn't take offense.
    The -Voyager- captain didn't seem perturbed at all by Roslin's refusal to
come over to -Voyager-.  "That's quite understandable Madame President.  I
would be glad to come over.  Can you please give us coordinates for transport?"
voice asked.
    "Coordinates captain?  I'm afraid I misunderstand."  She looked around,
everyone, including Adama looked equally confused.  "If you have a shuttle, you
can land a shuttle in our port landing bay," answered a confused Roslin.  She
looked towards Adama and Tigh.

    On board -Voyager-, Tuvok said, "They most likely do not have, or know
about transporter technology Captain.  I must caution you about the Prime
Directive."
    "Agreed Tuvok.  We won't reveal our transporter technology... for now,"
said Janeway.
    "President Roslin, I'll take a few of my staff over in a shuttle at your
earliest convenience.  We'll be unarmed," said Janeway.
    Roslin looked at Adama and Tigh again.
    "I'd say in an hour or two.  That will give us time to clean up the bay and
get the necessary security arrangements in place," said Tigh.
    "That sounds about right," Adama agreed.
    She spoke into the handset again.  "Captain Janeway, will two hours be
agreeable?" asked Roslin.
    "Absolutely Madame President.  Two hours it is.  I look forward to meeting
you," Janeway answered.
    "And I, you Captain.  I look forward to thanking you in person."  And with
that, Roslin closed the connection.
    She looked at Adama's officers.  Gaeta spoke up.
    "Do we know that they're even human?" he asked.
    Tigh snorted.  "Of course they are!  You've been reading too many science
fiction books Mr. Gaeta."  Gaeta looked embarrassed.  In the entire history of
the Colonies and Kobol, non human life had never been encountered.  As far as
the Colonials were concerned, aliens were the stuff of science fiction.  But he
had to admit, there was always that small possibility.  He was still troubled
by his meeting with Tyrol, Tory, and Sam earlier.  The revelation that they
were Cylons was still a shock to him.  But he pushed that firmly to the back of
his mind.  He was Saul Tigh, an officer of the Colonial fleet, and that was the
man he wanted to be.
    "Well, I don't want the marines to be obvious.  They will not point their
weapons at these people, and I mean that.  We need to make a good impression,"
Roslin said emphatically.  The last thing she wanted was to antagonize these
people.  They needed all the friends they could get.
    "But the marines will be present, I insist on that," warned Adama.
    "Of course Admiral.  I just don't want them pointing weapons at a potential
ally and possibly offending them.  Like I said, we need to make a good
impression and not look like savages.  We need to maintain some dignity," she
said.
    "You're right Madame President."  He turned to Dualla.  "Lt. Dualla."
    "Sir!" answered Dualla.
    "Recall our vipers and set condition 2 throughout the fleet."
    "Aye sir," Dualla replied.  She spoke into her headset and began relaying
the Admiral's orders.
    Turning to Tigh, he said, "Saul, handle the security arrangements.  Tell
Tyrol and his deck gang that we have VIPs coming aboard from -Voyager-.  Tell
him to clean up the bay as best he can in two hours."
    "They'll be ready Bill," answered Tigh.  He then scrambled off to get
things ready.
    He turned to his acting CAG, Captain Karl Agathon.  "Captain, have the
squadrons in parade formation on the landing deck in an hour and a half."
    "Aye sir," Helo answered.  "The squadrons will be there with bells on."
    "Also, have "Mister" Lee Adama escorted to my quarters under marine guard
when he lands," Adama added.  He made sure everyone in CIC heard that.


*USS -*Voyager*-*

    As soon as the transmission from Galactica ended, Chakotay started to open
his mouth to protest.  Janeway held up her hand before Chakotay could say
anything.
    "I know what you're going to say Chakotay, but the President requested that
I come over.  Don't worry, I'll have Tuvok with me, and you can keep a
transporter lock on us at all time in case something goes wrong," said Janeway.
    Seven of Nine walked on to the bridge holding a PADD.  "Captain, I think I
may have a theory that might explain their mode of travel."
    That piqued everyone's interest, including Janeway's.  "Well go ahead
Seven, don't keep us waiting."
    Seven raised an eyebrow.  "I believe from our sensor readings, that they
use some kind of drive that folds space, allowing them to travel nearly
instantaneously from one place to another."
    The scientist in Janeway had heard of this before.  "Yes, Federation
scientists were experimenting with this method of travel.  They called it a
geodesic fold.  It involved opening up a fold between two stars, red giants to
be exact.  It was abandoned because radiation from the star would kill any crew
attempting such a transit."
    "Apparently, these Cylons and Colonials have perfected the technology.
They appear to be able to create geodesic folds without the use of red giants.
The light we observed is most likely the geodesic pulse used to open the
geodesic fold," said Seven.
    Janeway's head swam with the implications such a drive would have on space
travel.  It could literally revolutionize space travel as they knew it.  Then
there were the military applications as well.  The realization dawned on Harry
as well.
    "We could literally get home almost immediately!" a very excited Harry Kim
said.
    "Let's not jump the gun just yet Harry," Janeway cautioned.
    But she looked around the bridge.  She saw excitement and hope in
everyone's eyes.  A part of her wanted to be excited too, while another part of
her cautioned that they've run into dead ends before.
    "Captain, the President said they were refugees.  As a Starfleet captain,
you do have the legal authority to grant them asylum if they decide to request
it.  Do you intend to grant it?" Tuvok asked.
    "One thing at a time Tuvok, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it,"
Janeway said.  She stood up.  "In the meantime, Tom, Seven, Neelix, the doctor,
and yourself, will be accompanying me aboard the Delta Flyer.  Get your dress
uniforms ready."  Tom Paris groaned.


*Adama's quarters, Battlestar -*Galactica*-*

    Commander William Adama was sitting at his desk conferring with Capt
Agathon about the upcoming visit from -Voyager- when the knock at the door
came.  "Come," he said.
    Marine Sergeant Matthias poked his head into the room, "Sir, we've brought
Mr. Adama here as ordered."  He emphasized the word -mister-.  It was well
known throughout the fleet that Lee had resigned his commission in the fleet.
There were still a lot of hard feelings because Lee had defended Baltar during
the trial, and had made President Roslin and himself look bad.
    "Thank you sergeant.  Well done.  You may stand ready outside," Adama said.
    "Very good sir."  He glared at Lee as he was ushered into the room.  Then
he turned and assumed his post outside his Adama's quarters.
    If anything, Lee looked defiant as he stared at him.  Out of the corner of
his eye, Adama could see that Helo looked uncomfortable, preferring to stare at
one of the paintings in the room.
    "Well?  Do you have anything to say for yourself?  You're a civilian and
you commandeered a viper during a time of war.  You could be thrown in the brig
and take Baltar's old cell," he said gruffly.
    Lee took a deep breath.  It was obvious he was struggling with the words he
was about to say.  "Sir, I know I resigned my commission and let you all down.
But I felt that what I did was right.  And after we lost power, I saw everyone
heading toward action stations.  I knew the fleet was short of Viper pilots, so
I thought it was my civic duty to help defend the fleet.  Whatever I may be,
I'm still a good Viper driver.  I'm the Top Gun ever since Starbuck died," Lee
said.
    Lee had brought up another sore point, and now Adama was struggling with
his own emotions.
    "Are you trying to say that you still want to be a Viper pilot?" Adama
asked, still visibly trying to control his emotions.  He didn't want to blow up
in front of Helo.
    "Yes sir," Lee answered.  "I just want to serve my people."
    Adama thought about it.  There was no way in hell that he could let Lee
have his position as CAG back, not after what he had done.  He'd lose whatever
respect he had left among the crew and the fleet.  Not to mention the fact that
he had embarrassed the President with his revelation about her taking the
kamala root extract, and forcing her to reveal that her cancer had returned.
Lee was certainly not on Laura's list of favorite people right now.  But he did
have to admire Lee's conviction.  He was a crusader.  He did what he thought
was right despite the consequences.  And now here was a situation where he was
going to pay the consequences.
    He could see that Helo was turning red.  Helo was also a crusader, doing
what he thinks is right.  Adama remembered what Helo did with the Cylon
prisoners a few months back, letting them suffocate instead of allowing Lee to
execute them so that the virus could be transmitted back to the Cylons.  It was
later revealed that it shouldn't be possible to transmit a virus back to the
Cylons, because the Cylons merely uploaded their memories or "souls" back to
their resurrection ships.
    "So, do you wish to enlist as a Viper pilot Mr. Adama?" he asked.
    "Yes sir, if I'm allowed to," Lee answered.  This time he didn't look as
defiant.
    "If I let you back into the Colonial fleet, you'll start back at the
bottom.  You will be a nugget and you will follow the orders of your CAG, Capt
Agathon.  You will remove your personal effects from the CAG's quarters
immediately and you'll bunk with the rest of the nuggets.  Is that clear?"
Adama asked.
    "Perfectly clear sir!" Lee said.
    "Sergeant Matthias!" Adama said loudly enough for the marine guard outside
his quarters to hear.
    "Yes sir!" Matthias said as he entered the room.
    "Escort Ensign Adama to the CAG's quarters, allow him to remove his
personal effects, and escort him to the flight trainees living quarters.  After
that, you may resume your duties," Adama ordered.
    "Very good sir!" Matthias answered, looking a bit disappointed.
    Turning towards Lee, he said, "Dismissed ensign!"
    Lee came to attention, saluted Adama, which Adama returned, then executed
an about face and left his quarters, with Matthias tailing him.
    "You know sir," Helo said after the two had left.  "I never wanted this
job, and there's still going to be some hard feelings toward Lee."
    "I know that.  But I'm hoping that Lee being escorted around the ship under
marine guard in front of the crew will help alleviate some of those feelings.
Remember, the CAG's quarters are practically on the other side of the ship from
where the nuggets are bunked.  And with Lee starting off again as a raw nugget,
it should show that I'm not playing favorites," said Adama.  He was acutely
aware of some of the rumblings from some of the crew.  There were whispers of
nepotism, Lee being daddy's boy, etc.  He couldn't just let what Lee did just
slide by.  Not this time.  Not after what he did.
    Helo thought about what Adama said, -but that's why it's up to the old man
to make -the hard decisions-.-  He personally would have been perfectly happy
if Lee resumed his CAG duties, but then he also knew that many people resented
Lee for defending Baltar.  So he understood Adama's decision.
    Adam's gravelly voice brought him out of his reverie.  "Helo, are the
squadrons ready to be assembled on the flight deck for Captain Janeway's
arrival?" asked Adama.
    "Yes sir.  I've spoken with the flight leaders of both the raptor and viper
squadrons.  Everything's ready.  In fact, we should both be heading down there
in about an hour," he answered.
    There was another knock at the door.  And President Laura Roslin walked
into his quarters.  Adama got up and turned to Helo, "That will be all
Captain."
    Helo, seeing his cue to leave, answered, "Thank you sir.  Everything will
be ready."
    "Dismissed," said Adama.
    Helo and Adama exchanged salutes, and Helo left his quarters to go to his
own and tell Sharon what had transpired.
    After Helo had closed the door, Roslin asked, "So how did it go with Lee?"
    "Better than I expected," said Adama.  He then proceeded to tell her what
had happened.
    "Military personnel actions is your area of course," she said.
    "But..."  Adama sensed she would have done things differently.
    "I would have reinstated him as the CAG," said Roslin.
    That surprised him, especially after what Lee had done during Baltar's
trial.  He didn't think she thought highly of Lee.
    "We need people like Lee, people who stand up for their convictions, who do
what they feel as right," she said smiling.  She was wearing her glasses and
one of her better pants suits.  She took a seat in one of the plush leather
chairs across his desk.  He took his seat after she had sat down.
    "True," he said.  "But we can't have officers flaunting the chain of
command and embarrassing the President.  And I don't want to give the
impression of nepotism."
    Roslin considered what he said.  "Point taken.  Anyway, we need to discuss
what we're going to say to Captain Janeway."
    "That we do.  And that's going to be mainly your job as the civilian leader
of our people," said Adama.
    "To tell you honestly, I feel almost as nervous now as I did during the
televised debates with Baltar," she said.
    He smiled.  "I remember that.  Do you want some pencils to break?"
    "Why?  Do you have any?" she joked.
    "I'm fresh out I'm afraid," he said.
    "These people must be significantly more advanced than we are, that much is
obvious by the way they handled the Cylon attack on their ship," said Roslin.
    "We all noticed that.  And rumors are beginning to spread like wild fire
throughout the ship.  I wonder how the news is going around the fleet?"
grumbled Adama.
    "For one thing, I notified the Quorum that you and I will make the initial
contact, then afterwards, we're going to hold a press conference to inform the
people of the fleet of what has transpired.  We need to conduct rumor control
fast," she said.
    "Sounds reasonable.  No press at the initial meeting then."  Adama had
never felt comfortable around the press, while Laura had never been bothered by
it.
    "Zarek's been demanding that he be able to meet with Janeway.  I told him
that it wouldn't be a good idea to have all the fleet's leaders in one place,
he grudgingly agreed.  That should hold him off for now," said Roslin.
    "It's always a good idea to keep Zarek out of the limelight," he agreed.
    "Do you think these people are human Bill?" she asked.
    "Why wouldn't they be?  She sounded human.  She has a human sounding name.
She spoke perfect Colonial standard.  In the entire history of the Colonies,
we've never encountered non human life," he said.
    "That could be a result of their technology.  But the fact that she spoke
perfect Colonial standard suggests some human ties, or at least some ties to
the Colonies," said Roslin.
    He knew where this conversation was leading to.  He had allowed himself a
faint ray of hope when he first heard the Voyager captain speaking in Colonial
standard.  "What are you suggesting?" he asked.
    "That maybe, just maybe, they may be related to the Colonies?  That this
could possibly be an Earth ship," she sounded convinced.
    Adama took a deep breath.  "And how do you plan to find out?"
    "I'll ask them," she said.
    "Just like that?" he asked.
    "Yes, just like that.  Sometimes directness works best.  And what are we
going to lose by asking them?  The worst they can say is no.  Then we wouldn't
have lost anything anyway.  At the very least, we can possibly make a friend,"
she said.
    He had to admit she had a point.  -That's why she's the politician and I'm
not,- he thought.
    "What about the Cylons?  How do we explain them, especially the infiltrator
models?" he asked.
    "I say we give them full disclosure.  They're going to find out anyway
sooner or later.  It's best that we tell them ourselves, rather than them
finding out on their own.  That way it doesn't look like we're trying to
deceive them.  If there's one thing I learned long ago, it's that in order to
gain someone's trust, you're going to have to let at least some of the
skeletons out of your closet.  That way it will look better when we ask for
their help," said Roslin.
    He felt a little uncomfortable with that.  Being in the military for the
past 45 years, he wasn't exactly used to being completely open about
everything.  And being a proud man, he didn't feel comfortable with begging for
help either.  But he did agree with her, they needed to make a good first
impression.  And being honest, usually did help.  The survival of their race
was at stake.  And if he needed to swallow his pride, he'd do it.
    "Alright, but for the initial meeting I'd like to keep the first group
small," he said.
    "Agreed.  I'll have my aide, Tory Foster present, and you can have two or
three of your staff present.  We should meet in the conference room.  It's
large enough, and we can hold the press conference there afterwards," said
Roslin.
    "I might as well include Lt. Agathon in the meeting."  Adama looked at his
watch.  "Well, it's about time we started heading down to the landing bay," he
said.
    "Shall we?"  She smiled weakly.  It was already a long day for her.  First
was the acquittal of Baltar, then the encounter with the Cylons, and now
meeting with an alien ship to be followed by a press conference.  She was
feeling weak from her cancer, but the excitement of first contact with
-Voyager- is what kept her going.
    "After you Madame President."  He escorted her out of his quarters, with
the marine guard following after them.

    An hour later, the -Delta Flyer- was headed toward -Galactica-.
    Chakotay's voice came over the comms.  "-Voyager- to -Delta Flyer-"
    Janeway answered, "This is the -Delta Flyer-, go ahead Commander."
    "The -Galactica- just informed us that they've sent two fighters to escort
you in.  You should be seeing them in about a minute," Chakotay said.
    "Thank you Commander.  Janeway out."  Turning to Tom she said, "Tom, keep
an eye out for those fighters, and slow to one tenth impulse.  We don't want to
alarm them by coming in too fast."
    "Yes ma'am," Paris acknowledged.
    As Tom Paris expertly piloted the -Delta Flyer- to the -Galactica-, he
looked out the forward windows to see a pair of sleek three engine fighters
flying alongside them.  They were of two models he noticed, the one of the left
was gray colored, sleek, and modern looking, the one on his starboard wing was
also three engined, off-white colored, and rather battered, but still deadly
looking.  -These people must be scraping the bottom of the barrel, scrounging
up whatever fighters were available,- he thought.  He noticed the scorch marks
near the forward openings.  -Real canons!  These people actually fired
bullets!-  Being the 20th century aficionado that he was, he couldn't wait to
see them close up.  He'd flown fighter simulations on the holodeck before, and
he immensely enjoyed close range combat with other fighters.  The feel of
firing the guns, seeing the expressions in the faces of the enemy pilots.  The
pilot of the fighter must have noticed that he was looking because the pilot
waved at him, and he waved back.
    As they neared the -Galactica-, he opened up a channel.  "This is the
-Delta Flyer- to -Galactica-, we're on final approach.  Request landing
instructions."
    Instantly, a female voice answered his call.  "-Delta Flyer-, -Galactica-.
Please follow the two vipers into the port landing bay.  The elevator pad will
be lighted.  Please land on the pad."
    "Acknowledged -Galactica-.  -Delta Flyer- out," Tom acknowledged.

    Up in CIC, Dualla wondered at that conversation.  She turned to her friend,
Gaeta.  "They actually have names for their shuttles Felix."
    "That is unusual," he agreed.  "It must be one of their customs."

    As they drew closer to the -Galactica-, they noticed that the starboard
landing bay was enclosed but the port landing bay was not.
    "I am not detecting any force fields.  The landing bay is open to space,"
Seven announced.
    "That's probably why they're having us land on the landing pad, it probably
lowers into a pressurized maintenance bay.  It's still common procedure when
it's impractical to have force fields in landing locations," Tom said.
    "Confirmed," said Tuvok.  "I am reading atmosphere below the landing deck."
    "-Delta Flyer- to -Voyager-, maintain a transporter lock on all of us,
including the doctor," Janeway said into the comms.
    "Acknowledged Captain.  We have good locks on all of you.  See you in a
bit," answered Chakotay.
    Details became clearer the closer they got to Galactica.  They could see
the numerous scorch marks, cracks, and other damage.  As they passed into the
landing bay, Tom noticed the hundreds of gouges in the deck.  -No doubt from
all the landings.  This lady has been through a lot,- thought Tom.  Tom
followed the directional lights to a lighted square.  -No doubt the landing
pad.-  A few seconds after they touched down on the pad, it began to lower.
    Janeway spoke up.  "Remember people, this is a first contact situation.  I
don't need to remind you about first contact protocols."
    The doctor chimed in.  "Try not to eat anything while we're over there if
you can avoid it."
    "Aww, come on Doc, when in Rome, do as the Romans do," Tom said.
    Paris never missed a chance to get under the doctor's skin.  But it was
always good natured.
    "In that case Mr. Paris, I believe you should stay aboard the Flyer," the
doctor retorted.
    "And miss all the fun?  Not on your life Doc," Tom answered.
    The doctor merely rolled his eyes.
    Neelix, who had been unusually quiet during the trip finally spoke.
"Captain, these people are refugees, the survivors of what's left of their
people.  I can imagine the hardship that these people are going through.  My
people were also scattered after the invasion of Talax by the Haakonians," he
said sadly.
    "Which is why I brought you along Neelix.  You can sympathize with their
plight," said Janeway.

    As the -Delta Flyer- was lowered into the maintenance bay, another hatch
slid over them, and the bay was pressurized.  A hatch lifted up and they were
slowly rolled into the maintenance bay.
    Seven reported, "I am detecting a nitrogen, oxygen atmosphere and gravity.
Atmospheric pressure is 1.2 of earth normal, gravity is .75 earth normal."
    "So their atmosphere is denser than ours, and the gravity's lighter," Tom
surmised.
    "That is correct lieutenant," answered Seven.
    "That shouldn't pose too many difficulties.  No medication is required to
adjust to these conditions.  Now if the atmosphere were less dense contained
less oxygen, then you would all need triox compound injections," the doctor
reported.
    As the Delta Flyer was rolled into the main bay, they noticed a large group
of people assembled to meet them.  There were several groups standing in
formation.  It looked like a formal welcoming committee.  Tuvok's trained eye
immediately picked out their security.  They were standing in the background,
alert.  They were wearing what he guessed to be body armor and helmets, but
their rifles were slung.  He pointed them out to Captain Janeway.
    "They want their security there, but be non threatening Captain," he said.
    "Well, it looks like they're going all out to make us feel comfortable,"
said Janeway.  She normally didn't love formal ceremonies, but she didn't
dislike them either.
    The -Delta Flyer- stopped moving.  A moment later, they could see that the
group had been called to attention.
    "That looks like our cue people.  Lower the rear hatch Tom," Janeway
ordered.  Per standard Starfleet protocol, Janeway being the senior officer
would be the last to exit the Flyer.
    As Adama stood at attention at Roslin's side he watched as the rear hatch
of the sleek looking vessel lowered.  A few tense seconds later, a black man in
a black jumpsuit with gold shoulders emerged, followed by a blond haired man in
another black jumpsuit with red shoulders.  -Well, they look human enough,- he
thought.  Then another white balding man appeared in another black jumpsuit
with blue shoulders.  -Curious,- he thought, -color coded uniforms.-  Then a
knock out busty blonde woman in an extremely form fitting dark brown cat suit
walked down the ramp.  Then a strange looking man in a brightly colored suit
walked down the ramp.  -An alien!- he thought.  Finally, a shorter, auburn
haired woman wearing a black jumpsuit similar to the blonde man walked down.
The group waited for this woman at the bottom of the ramp, and it was obvious
that this woman was in command by the way the others deferred to her.  The
woman looked around, and started to smile as she walked up to him.  -This must
be Captain Janeway,- he surmised.  He noticed four small pips on her gray
collar.
    -Well, its show time,- he thought.  As she drew within a pace of him, he
rendered a Colonial salute.  Looking bemused, she returned the salute.
    "Captain Janeway, on behalf of the people of the Twelve Colonies and the
Battlestar -Galactica-, it's my pleasure to welcome you aboard my ship," he
said, smiling.
    "Commander Adama, on behalf of the United Federation of Planets, it's a
pleasure to meet you," she said.
    Turning to Col Tigh, he said, "Colonel, give your group parade rest."
    "Group!  Parade rest!" Tigh ordered.  Instantly, the whole group in the
hangar bay, with the exception of the marines, went to the parade rest
position.
    "Captain Janeway, may I introduce our leader, Laura Roslin, President of
the survivors of the Colonies," Adama said.
    Facing Roslin, Janeway took in Roslin's appearance.  "It's an honor to meet
you Madame President."
    Roslin extended her hand, which Janeway took.  "Captain Janeway, in fact,
the honor's mine.  On behalf of my people, it's a pleasure to thank you
personally for what you did for us today."
    And with that, the group erupted in applause.
    "You're very welcome Madame President," Janeway said smiling.  "May I
introduce my officers?"  She extended her hands to her officers.  Pointing
first to the unusual looking alien, she said, "This is Mr. Neelix, our Morale
Officer, Chief Chef, and Ambassador at large.  He's Talaxian."
    "At your service Madame President!  Please don't hesitate to call on my
services whenever you need," the strange looking alien said.
    Speechless at meeting her first alien, Roslin merely nodded while shaking
his hand and managed a weak smile.
    Then Janeway pointed to the black man.  "This is Lt. Commander Tuvok, my
tactical officer."  It was then Roslin noted the slanted eyebrows and the
pointed ears.  -Another alien!- she thought.
    Noticing Roslin's look Janeway said, "Yes, Lt. Commander Tuvok is a
Vulcan."
    The alien did not extend his hand but kept them behind his back.  "It is an
honor to meet you Madame President," the Vulcan said in a curious monotone and
unreadable expression.
    Roslin nodded at him in acknowledgment.
    Janeway pointed to the balding man in with the blue shouldered suit.  "This
is the doctor, my chief medical officer."  Roslin extended her hand and shook
the doctor's hand.  It's a pleasure to meet you Dr..."
    The doctor looked genuinely pleased.  "Please Madame President, just doctor
will do.  I haven't chosen a name for myself yet."  Noticing Roslin and Adama's
puzzled look, he added, "I'll explain later."
    And next, Janeway extended her hand to the blonde man with the red
shoulders.  "This is Lt. Tom Paris, my chief helmsman."
    With a smile, Tom extended his hand before Roslin could extend hers.  "It's
a pleasure to meet you Madame President."
    Janeway then extended her hand to the beautiful knock out blonde woman.
"This is Seven of Nine, my Astrometrics officer."
    Seven did not extend her hand, but kept hers behind her back as she
normally did.  "Greetings Madam President," she said.
    Roslin noticed that the woman had some type of gray metal covering part of
her right eyebrow and one hand.  "It's a pleasure to meet you... Seven of
Nine?"
    "You may call me Seven," the blonde replied.
    "Captain Janeway, may I introduce you to my officers?" Adama asked.  "This
is my executive officer, Colonel Saul Tigh."  Janeway shook his hand.
    "Next is Capt Karl Agathon, my CAG, or Commander Air Group."  Janeway
likewise shook Karl's hand.
    "It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Janeway said warmly.
    "Shall we proceed to the conference room?" Adama asked.
    "Please," Janeway replied.  She turned to Paris.  "Tom, please remain with
the -Delta Flyer- and answer any questions our hosts might have."
    "Not a problem Captain," Paris replied.  He had already determined which
were the pilots and which personnel were the maintenance troops.  But he
noticed that both groups were staring at the Flyer.  He looked forward to
answering questions about the Flyer.  -After all, we built this baby
ourselves,- he thought with pride.
    "Colonel, dismiss your group," Adama ordered.
    "Group!  Attention!" he barked.  The group came to attention.  "Dismissed!"
and the group broke up.  Many were crowding around Tom Paris and the Delta
Flyer wanting to get a closer look at it.  Janeway saw that Tom was busy
shaking hands at the moment.
    Roslin suddenly felt weak and nauseous.  She leaned closer to Adama and
whispered, "Bill, I'm feeling a little weak, could you have Doc Cottle meet us
in the conference room?"
    "Sure.  Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked, a concerned look on his
face.
    "I have to do this Bill, it's my duty," she said.  Nodding, he whispered
orders to Tigh to have Cottle brought to the conference room.  Tigh hurried off
to fetch Cottle.
    The doctor noticed Roslin's discomfort.  "Commander is the President
feeling alright?" he asked.
    "She'll be fine doctor.  Thank you for your concern."  Turning to Janeway.
"And now Captain, shall we proceed to the conference room?"
    Janeway nodded, also noticing Roslin's condition.  "After you Commander,"
she said.
    They walked the many corridors leading to the conference room.  They passed
through a particular corridor lit by dozens of candles and thousands of
pictures all over the walls.  "This is the wall of remembrance," Adama
explained.  "Many people put up pictures of the loved ones they've lost before
and during our flight from the Colonies."  Adama looked grave when he said
that.
    "My condolences on all of your losses," said a deeply moved Neelix.  -It's
a shrine,- he thought.  He of all people knew that such people must be
remembered, many of his own people had become refugees.  He knew the importance
of such a shrine.  Out loud he added, "My own people of Talax had become
refugees after our planet was invaded by the Haakonian Order."
    Adama looked at him with new found respect.  "Thank you Ambassador.  Then
you know of our pain and what we've gone through."
    "Indeed I do Commander.  And please, call me Neelix.  I dislike formal
titles," said Neelix.
    "Of course Neelix," said Adama.

    When they finally reached the conference room, two marine guards came to
attention and one opened the door for them.  A man in a Colonial uniform was
already waiting for them.  He was an older, white haired man.  What surprised
Janeway was that the man was smoking.  Adama introduced him as Doctor Cottle,
the ship's doctor and President Roslin's personal physician.  Janeway prayed
that the doctor wasn't making any grimacing faces.  To his credit, the doctor
kept his expression emotionless.  He had learned to do that when his program
was kidnapped once.
    They took their seats around a large conference table, with Adama, Roslin,
Tigh, Cottle, and Agathon on one side, Janeway, Tuvok, Neelix, Seven, and the
doctor on the other.  A few seconds later, the door opened, and an Asian
looking woman in a flight suit entered the room and took a chair next to Capt
Agathon.
    Adama introduced her.  "This is Lt. Sharon Agathon.  I asked her to be
present at this meeting, and her presence will be explained later on."
    Janeway nodded at Sharon.  "How do you do Lieutenant?"  Looking very
nervous, Sharon nodded back.  "I'm doing well Captain."
    "Lt. Agathon is Capt Agathon's wife," Adama explained.
    -Okay.  She must be important in some way, otherwise she wouldn't be here,-
thought Janeway.
    President Roslin stood, "How shall I begin?"  Roslin then proceeded with a
brief history of the Colonies.  During her explanation, Janeway's mind was
racing.  -My God!  Chakotay was right.  This is a Preserver seeded society
transplanted in the Delta Quadrant.  Worshippers of the Greek pantheon taken
from ancient Greece and other parts of ancient Earth,- she thought.  Roslin
began to explain the origins of the Cylons, the first Cylon war, then what
happened during the holocaust of the Colonies, Janeway began to feel very
disturbed.  Looking at Neelix, she could see he was troubled also.  Even the
normally ice cool Seven looked upset.
    Adama then explained how -Galactica- was on her way to be decommissioned
when the war broke out.  He elaborated how the Cylons used a computer virus to
disable Colonial defenses and just about all of their warships.  Tuvok nodded
at that.
    Roslin continued about how they had gathered up all the survivors they
could find and headed off into deep space to escape the Cylons.  How they
temporarily settled on New Caprica, were found by the Cylons, and then fled
again.
    "We were searching for the home of the 13th tribe when we made it to your
space.  It's our hope that your Federation can give us sanctuary from our
enemies, the Cylons."  Roslin said tiredly.  She had originally planned to ask
them if they were from Earth, but somehow, it didn't work itself into the
conversation yet.
    "Yes," Adama said.  "We were fortunate that we made it to your territory.
Is there someone in your government that we can bring our requests to?"  Up to
that point, Adama hadn't said where they had planned to go, only that they were
searching for the home of the 13th tribe.
    But Janeway was intrigued, and she had a guess where this fabled 13th tribe
went if indeed this was a Preserver seeded society like she was now convinced
it was.  She said, "I'm sorry Madame President, Commander Adama.  I cannot at
this time, help you speak to my government.  This isn't actually our territory.
We're on a long journey home ourselves."
    The Colonials' hearts sank when Janeway said that.  The disappointment was
clear on their faces.
    "And where is this Federation of yours?  Surely it can't be that far away?
You must have a home to go to?" Adama asked.
    "Indeed we do," Janeway said.  "And after listening to this story of yours,
I'm now fairly positive that we're headed to the same place.  It all makes
sense of what we know of our history.  We're heading home... to Earth."
    Roslin fainted.


*Chapter 3*

*Battlestar -*Galactica*-*

    Galen Tyrol walked around the -Delta Flyer- to admire its clean, sleek
lines, the polished metal.  He'd only seen ships dolled up like this at air
shows, or as museum pieces.  Like their own Viper Mark IIIs, before they had to
use them because they didn't have enough Mark VIIs.  He couldn't find any
cannons, so he assumed the ship was unarmed.  He supposed it had some kind of
electronic shields, the kind that -Voyager- had.
    Paris saw the Colonial looking around the -Delta Flyer-.  Paris knew that
if the Colonials asked any questions about the -Flyer-, he could only give them
general details, or the basics.  That was part of first contact protocol.  If
they asked for anything specific, like weapons ranges and strenght, top speeds,
shield strength, he'd politely decline to answer those questions.  He decided
to see what this Colonial wanted.
    "You like her?" Tom Paris, the pilot walked up to him asked.  "Hi, I'm Tom
Paris by the way, you can call me Tom."
    "I sure do Tom.  I'm Chief Galen Tyrol.  She's a beaut alright.  You can
call me Tyrol and this," he pointed to the cute brown haired woman next to him,
"is specialist Cally Tyrol, my wife."
    "Please to meet you ma'am," Tom said, putting on his winning smile.
    Cally smiled shyly.  "Please, call me Cally, everyone else does."
    This didn't go over Tyrol's head.  "Ahem," he cleared his throat.  "So
you're part of what did you call it?  Starfleet?"
    Tom nodded.  "Yup.  That's right.  But this baby isn't standard Starfleet
design.  We built her ourselves," he beamed.  "In fact, my fiancee helped
design her.  She's -Voyager's- chief engineer.  I'll introduce her to you later
on.  Maybe we can all have dinner or something."
    "That would be great Tom," Cally answered.
    "Why did you build her?" Tyrol asked.  He remembered the work and the hours
the whole deck gang put in while building their own Blackbird.  He mainly built
her to get Sharon off his mind and to give him and the gang, something hopeful
to do.
    "Well, when you're 70,000 light years from home, and the standard Starfleet
shuttles just weren't cutting it, you build something that can stand up to the
dangers of the Delta Quadrant," explained Tom.  "We built in extra weaponry,
enhanced shielding and structural integrity.  Not to mention more speed.  Heck,
this baby stood up to transwarp and quantum slipstream speeds," Tom said
proudly.
    The part about transwarp and the quantum slipstream went over Tyrol and
Cally's heads.  But he did catch the part about extra weaponry and shields.
"She doesn't look armed at all.  I don't see any cannons on her," he said.
    "We use particle beam weapons called phasers.  That's short for phased
energy rectification, and photon torpedoes," explained Tom.
    "You mean ray guns?  Like in the science fiction movies?" asked Tyrol.
    "You can say that," said Tom.  He then pointed the numerous phaser emitters
on the -Delta Flyer-.  "We also used micro photon torpedoes.  The warheads are
composed of anti matter"
    "Antimatter?"  Tyrol was flabbergasted.  He'd only read about antimatter in
physics class.  Antimatter was only theoretically possible.  And here was a
vessel carrying working antimatter weapons.
    "That's right."  He pointed to the underside of the -Flyer-.  "Here's the
torpedo tubes.  They're normally closed when they're not active."
    It seemed to impossible to be true.  Yet here it was.  He'd have to see
them in action.
    Excited, Tyrol asked the question that was burning in his mind.  "What
about your engines?  What kind of fuel do you use?"
    "The engines are called impulse engines.  Our engine designs haven't
changed for the past couple hundred years.  We use controlled fusion reactions
for thrust in normal space," Tom said.
    "Controlled fusion reactions?  But even if you're able to control the
reactions, the acceleration from the thrust would kill you!" Tyrol said
emphatically.
    "True, according to the laws of physics.  You already know, that with every
action, there's an equal and opposite reaction, right?" Tom asked.
    "Right.  There has to be a reaction, and that reaction is inertia.  In this
case, g forces," Tyrol said.
    "What if you could generate a type of field that negates or counters
inertia?  We call it an inertia-dampening field or IDF for short.  We could go
from 0 to almost 100,000 kilometers per second in 3 seconds and it won't kill
you," Tom explained.
    "Is that your main power source too?" Tyrol asked.
    "It can be.  But our main power source is called the warp core.  It's a
reactor where we harness the energy from a controlled matter/anti-matter
reaction," Tom said.
    -Impossible!  Controlled antimatter reaction?- Tyrol thought.  His mind was
reeling.  This was all the stuff of science fiction.
    "How the hell can you control an antimatter reaction?" Tyrol asked,
dumbfounded.
    "We use a porous mineral called dilithium.  Dilithium acts almost in the
same way control rods do in a fission reactor.  In this way we can control the
speed of the reaction between matter and anti-matter," Tom said.
    "That's simply amazing Tom," Tyrol said as he gazed on the -Delta Flyer-.
He was thinking that this simple looking shuttle would leave his vipers eating
dust, plus ray guns and shields, this thing could wipe out a whole squadron of
vipers or raiders with little difficulty.
    Tom put his arm around Tyrol, and said in a low voice, "But I'll tell you
something Tyrol, your faster than light travel is a helluva lot faster than
ours."
    That puzzled Tyrol.  "You have all this amazing technology, yet your FTL
travel is slower than ours?  How so?"
    "Because your drives can literally fold space and you can literally arrive
at your destination almost instantaneously," Tom said.
    "How else do you travel from place to place?" Tyrol asked.  "The colonies
have had this technology for thousands of years."  For Tyrol, folding space was
the only way he could think of for traveling interstellar distances.
    "What we do, and most other space faring species do, is warp space," Tom
explained.  "You know the laws of physics.  Nothing can travel faster than the
speed of light.  Using warp coils," he pointed at the built in warp nacelles of
the -Flyer-, "We generate a warp field around a ship, that enables us to travel
beyond the speed of light.  In other words, we bypass physics."
    That intrigued Tyrol.  That meant that Federation ships created some kind
of bubble around their ships that let them travel faster than light in normal
space without actually violating the laws of physics.  But that meant it still
took a while to travel over long distances, unlike the Colonial jump drives,
which could do it practically instantaneously.
    "Would you like me to take you aboard and show you around?" asked Tom.
    Tyrol had wanted to go aboard the second he saw this sleek ship.  "I
thought you'd never ask," said Tyrol gleefully.  Tom lowered the ramp and Tyrol
waved over a couple of his deck gang and some of the pilots.  They went aboard
and Paris showed them the mini bio bed, the storage bay.  "What's in that
closet?" asked Tyrol pointing to a non-descript looking door.
    "Oh, that's the head and the shower," said Tom nonchalantly.
    The pilots' jaws literally dropped.  They'd literally kill for a head and a
shower.  There were no such conveniences in a raptor.
    He took them into the main operations area.  He explained the functions of
the various consoles, the explanations of which mostly flew over the heads of
most of the people present.  Then he showed them the piloting controls.  Tyrol
looked at them, and the rest of the controls around the -Flyer- and noticed the
contrast.  "I'm a science fiction fan," Tom explained.  "I designed the
controls in keeping with a certain old science fiction show I used to watch."
    "Nice touch," said Tyrol in admiration.


*-*Galactica*- Conference Room*

    -We're heading home... to Earth.-  Suddenly, all the day's events
overwhelmed her.  The mere mention of Earth from these strangers, the answer to
all her prayers, combined with her illness, caused her to briefly lose
consciousness.  She noticed that she was lying on the hard floor of the
conference room.  She looked up to see Adama, Cottle, and the others, looking
down at her, concern on their faces.
    "I'm sorry, I just felt a little dizzy," she said as Bill helped her up.
"Did you say Earth, Captain Janeway?"  All the Colonials looked at Janeway.
    "Yes I did Madame President," said Janeway.  "But explanations can wait.
You look very ill."
    "She is ill, more than you all know," said an angry Cottle.
    The doctor walked around the table and pulled out his medical tri-corder,
and grabbed the hand held scanner.  "Please Madame President, let me treat
you!" said the doctor emphatically.
    "There's nothing that can be done.  She's terminally ill.  She needs rest,"
said Cottle.
    The doctor looked at Cottle, "Please allow me to at least try.  If she's
terminal, then I can do no worse."  The doctor looked at Janeway, Adama,
Cottle, and then Roslin, who tiredly said, "Fine, let him try."
    "Give me some room please," the doctor said, and everyone backed away.  He
started waving his instrument over her while looking at his tricorder.
"Captain, this woman is in the advanced stages of breast cancer.  The cancer
has spread to some of her vital organs, but thankfully, not her brain... yet.
It's not too late.  I can still treat her."
    "You have a cure for cancer?" asked a suddenly hopeful Adama.
    "Yes, I can still treat it at this stage.  Without treatment, she only has
two weeks at most to live," he answered.
    "What do you think Bill?" Roslin asked as she looked up at Adama.
    "I don't know," said a frustrated looking Adama.
    The mention of a cure for her cancer suddenly brought hope to Roslin.  She
desperately didn't want to die.  And she feared for her people with Tom Zarek
being the Vice President.  He was next in line of succession.  "There's nothing
to lose.  If there's even the slightest possibility of a cure, I'll take it.
Otherwise I might as well hand the Presidency over to Zarek right now," said
Roslin.
    Adama and the rest of the Colonials present looked extremely upset at that
thought.  Janeway looked at Adama and guessed that would be a bad thing.
Apparently this Zarek is someone Adama and Roslin wouldn't want coming to
power.
    "Go ahead and try doctor," said Adama.
    Relieved, the doctor said, "I insist that President Roslin be transported
to -Voyager- immediately to being the treatments.  I calculate it will take
several treatments and two operations to completely remove the cancer."
    Roslin shook her head slowly.  "Not just yet doctor.  I need to get through
these talks and the press conference today.  I just need something to get me
going."  She turned to Cottle, "Doctor, do we have any Kamala root extract
left?"
    "Not that again!  I keep telling you, these home remedies don't work!"
Cottle said angrily.
    "Maybe not, but it gives me the energy to get through the day," said
Roslin.
    "What's this kamala root extract?" the doctor asked.
    "It's the root of the kamala plant.  It has mild hallucinogenic properties
combined with a mild stimulant," explained Cottle.
    "If you insist on going through with this show, I can give you something
better," said the Doctor.
    "Fine.  If you have something better doctor, I suggest you use it," Roslin
said tiredly.
    Looking at Janeway, who merely nodded her assent, the doctor pulled a
hypospray out of his med kit.  "Madame President, I'm about to inject you with
10ccs of inaprovaline.  It has two effects, it's a pain killer plus mild
stimulant.  The injection is painless and goes into your jugular vein.  This
isn't a cure mind you, it will just relieve your symptoms temporarily."  He put
the hypospray against her neck and pushed a button.  The injection itself was
painless.
    Less than five seconds later, the pain throughout her body was gone.  She
hadn't felt this good in years.  It was if a great weight was lifted from her
body.  The sudden lifting of the pain caused her to feel light as a feather.
She smiled.  "Thank you doctor, I feel much better!"
    "You're welcome Madame President," smiled the doctor.  "Just keep in mind
the inaprovaline will wear out in four hours and the pain will return, so I
suggest we get to -Voyager- as soon as this meeting and the press conference is
over."
    The mood of the meeting lightened considerably when the participants saw
that the President was once again smiling and looking healthy, if only for a
little while.
    Turning back to Janeway she said, "You were saying you were going home to
Earth Captain?"
    Relieved that the meeting had resumed Janeway said, "Yes Madame President.
An entity called the Caretaker snatched us from the other side of the galaxy
where Earth and the Federation are located.  The Caretaker died, leaving us to
journey back to Earth on our own.  We're about 50,000 light years from home,
and even at our top speed, it's going to take us another 50+ years to reach
Earth."
    "It looks like we're in the same predicament.  The difference is that you
know where Earth is, while most of us thought it was a legend," said Adama.
    "So it seems that you Colonials are simply headed our way.  I suggest that
to make our journey safer, we continue the journey together and pool our
resources," said Janeway.
    "Are we that far away?  But your technology is so much more advanced than
ours," said Karl.
    Seven interjected, "Yes, at our top sustainable cruise velocity of warp
6.9, it will take us approximately 53 years, nine months, and two days."
    "Warp?" asked a confused Sharon.
    "It is our method of interstellar travel," said Seven.  Seven then
proceeded to give the basics of warp travel to the Colonials.  "However, there
just might be a way to shorten the journey considerably.  We have observed that
you and the Cylons have a different method of interstellar travel.  I theorize
that your method of travel involves folding space so that your ships can jump
instantly from point to another.  Am I correct?"
    "That's correct," answered Tigh.  "We call it a jump drive.  We've had this
technology for thousands of years.  It was given to us by the Lords of Kobol
thousands of years ago.  And this technology was given to them by the elder
gods."
    "That's fascinating.  Perhaps we can have a mutual exchange of histories?"
said a cheerful Neelix.
    "Yes, that would be mutually advantageous for both our peoples," said
Adama.
    "Speaking of histories, can you give us a little more information about
your enemy, the Cylons?  You said they were machines who rebelled against the
Colonies," asked Tuvok.
    "In the beginning, they were purely machines.  After the first war, they
retreated behind the armistice line that both parties had drawn up," Adama
explained.  "We hadn't heard from them in almost 40 years.  Little did we know,
that they had begun an infiltration program.  Lt. Agathon, can you please
explain the rest?"
    Sharon spoke up, "Yes sir."  Turning towards the Starfleet officers she
explained, "The Cylons developed humanoid models.  Almost perfectly human in
every way.  Using cloning techniques, they were able to make thousands of
copies.  There's 12 humanoid models.  The Cylons upgraded the metallic
centurion models, but the humanoids were placed in command.  These new
centurion models were not given sentience because the Cylons didn't want these
centurions rebelling against them like the original Cylons did against
humanity."
    "I see.  Do you know what these humanoid models look like?  How close can
these humanoid Cylons actually mimic humanity?" asked Janeway.
    "We do know what at least 7 of the models look like.  The final five are
unknown, even to the 7 other humanoid models.  As far as looking human, well,
I'm a Cylon Captain," said Sharon.
    Karl agreed.  "Captain, she is a Cylon, and the mother of my child."
    "Intriguing," said Seven.  She knew first hand how out of place Lt. Agathon
must feel.
    The doctor got up.  "May I scan you Lieutenant?  I assure you the scan is
non-invasive and painless.  You saw that it didn't harm the President."
    Sharon looked nervously at her husband.  "Go ahead Sharon, it's alright.
I'm right here," he said.
    Sharon nodded at the doctor.  He walked around the table and waved his
scanner around her.  "Hmmmmm.... Hmmmmmm... Hmmmmmmm."
    "And what does that mean doctor?" Janeway asked.  She resisted the urge to
roll her eyes.
    "For the most part, she's quite human, although I'm detecting minor
irregularities in her blood chemistry, and spinal column.  And I'm picking up
what seem to be micro silicate circuits in her brain.  I'd like to do a more
thorough micro-cellular analysis scan at a later date if you don't mind
Lieutenant."
    "That explains why we detected approximately 300 human lifesigns aboard
the Cylon baseships," said Tuvok.
    "Yes, the humanoid Cylons work together as a team, and control the
baseships.  They also control the centurions aboard as well as the fighters.
They use a non sentient bio brain to fly the raiders," explained Sharon.
    "It all makes sense now," observed Janeway.
    "I'd like to talk more about pooling our resources Captain," said Roslin.
    "I was wondering when we were going to get back to that Madame President.
Your people are refugees fleeing an enemy determined to persecute you.  As a
Starfleet captain, I'm duly authorized by Federation law to offer you asylum...
should you ask for it.  That would entitle you to all the protections the
Federation can offer," said Janeway.
    Roslin and Adama looked at each other.  Adama nodded.  "Do you mind if we
confer about this Captain?"
    "Of course Madame President," answered Janeway.  "There's no rush.  We can
even defer it for a later date if you wish.  However, if we're to begin to pool
our resources and have any possible mutual exchanges of technology, I'll need
you to decide.  We're expecting a transmission soon from Starfleet Command on
Earth.  I can grant you asylum, but it will be up to the Federation Council to
grant you protectorate status.  With protectorate status, you'll be able to
settle down permanently within the Federation if and when we reach there.
You'll be able to settle on a world all your own if you so choose.  I'll have
Mr. Neelix give you the details and you can look them over.  In the meantime,
my doctor can treat your illness and we'll be happy to provide you with
whatever supplies and medical services we can spare."
    "Thank you captain for your generosity."  She paused.  "I'll inform the
people that we intend to seek asylum during the press conference, that way the
people are informed of current events and we can show that we have transparency
in government.  I want to show that I'm not arbitrarily making a unilateral
decision for the people," said Roslin.
    "Very wise Madame President," said Neelix.
    Roslin smiled at Neelix.  "Thank you Mr. Neelix.  In that case, be prepared
to meet the Quorum and more importantly, meet the press."  She looked at her
watch.  "The press conference is scheduled within the next 30 minutes if I'm
not mistaken."


*Admiral William Adama's Quarters*

    Two hours later, Roslin, looking visibly drained despite the -Voyager-'s
doctor's meds, flopped down on Adama's couch.  Adama had been listening to the
wireless news broadcasts when she had come in.
    "That went well, all things considered.  Captain Janeway and Mr. Neelix
handled themselves quite well in front of the press and the Quorum.  Janeway
even gave a brief history of Earth and her Federation," she said.
    "They did at that."  The people and the Quorum were shocked at seeing an
alien for the first time, but Mr. Neelix had quickly put them at ease.  He
rather liked Mr. Neelix.  He had a friendly, outgoing personality, and seemed
cheerful all the time.  It was infectious.  And it was quite a change from
seeing people sad, depressed, or angry all the time.  "And the quorum agreed
that we should seek asylum," said Adama.  "I especially like the way Zarek
tried to protest you getting treatment on -Voyager-."
    "He almost cut his own political throat," she chuckled.  In the end, Tom
Zarek grudgingly agreed with Roslin going over to -Voyager- to receive
treatment for her cancer.  Tom Zarek was a politician after all.  He didn't
want to look like he didn't want Roslin to get well in front of the people.
    "Do you think we're doing the right thing Laura," Adama asked.
    "I can't say that I'm 100 percent sure, but when you really look at it,
what choice do we really have?" she said.
    "We really don't have many options, do we?" he asked.
    "No we don't," she replied.
    When he got down to it, she was right.  They were in unknown space, with
only a general idea where Earth was.  They didn't know what dangers lay ahead
of them either.  He had to admit, with a ship like -Voyager- escorting them,
their chances of reaching Earth were a lot better.  The "Earth" people seemed
friendly enough, and their offer to treat Roslin's cancer and share their
medical and food supplies had gone a long way toward earning his trust.
    But this alliance wasn't going to be easy.  Already questions were arising
in the Quorum and news broadcasts concerning Earth and the 13th colony.
Colonial religion was centered on the Lords of Kobol, and Janeway hadn't
mentioned anything about the 13th colony or the Lords of Kobol in her short
briefing.  Many people were going to want to know about that.  Adama wasn't a
religious man by any means.  Having been raised on Caprica, most Capricans were
secular, unlike some of the other colonists on Sagittaron, Geminon, Aerilon,
etc, who took sometimes took religion to an extreme.  It wasn't a major problem
to Adama; all he was concerned with was reaching Earth and being safe behind
the defenses of the Federation.  He'd been in the Colonial military for most of
his life.  What concerned him was the mission.  But he could understand how the
religion question could cause problems for Laura.  She'd built her Presidential
platform on religion, with her being the chosen leader that would lead them to
Earth.  Then there was the question of the Cylons.  They had been driven off
for now, but deep down; he knew they'd be back.  The journey was far from over.
Roslin's voice brought him out of his reverie.
    "Tory, Dr. Cottle, and I will be heading to -Voyager- aboard their -Delta
Flyer- in a few minutes," she said.
    "Lee, Sharon, Karl, and I will follow you there in a raptor.  Janeway
promised us a tour of her ship.  I'm looking forward to it.  Saul protested,
but I pulled executive privilege," he chuckled.  "I'm bringing a tech manual
containing the specifications of our jump drive as a symbol of our gratitude
and faith."  He showed her the book.  "Seven mentioned that it was going to
take 53 years to reach Earth at their top speed.  If we can pool our resources
and technology, and reach Earth sooner, then all the better.  There's an old
Caprican saying: Opportunity knocks but once."
    Roslin was pleased that the Admiral was wholeheartedly getting into the
spirit of cooperation.  This alliance just might work after all.
    There was a knock on the door, and Janeway entered.  "It's time to go
Madame President," she said.
    "Of course Captain."  She looked to Adama.  "See you over there Bill."
    "I'll be a few minutes after you Laura," he answered.  And she and Janeway
left.
    He picked up his phone.  "Get me the raptor ready room, and advise Lt.
Adama to prep a raptor for launch.  He's piloting," he ordered.


*Chapter 4*

    Janeway led the trio of Colonials into the -Delta Flyer-, having Seven, the
doctor, and Neelix sit in the aft cabin so that Roslin, Cottle, and Foster
could have seats in the fore cabin.  She briefly explained what the various
work stations did, even though she knew that they didn't really understand the
functions or the controls.
    She was still a little bit worked up from the press conference, having only
expected to have a meeting with the Colonial leadership, NOT stand in front of
their ruling government and their press.  Still, her long experience in
Starfleet teaching, training, public speaking, and management skills had served
her well in her unexpected briefing.
    She had contacted Chakotay immediately after the briefing to prepare for
VIPs aboard -Voyager-, and to prepare to render full honors.  The standard
Starfleet protocol for visiting dignitaries arriving via shuttle hadn't changed
in over a hundred years.  Most dignitaries simply beamed aboard and the captain
or first officer just met them in the transporter room.  She just hoped they
remembered where they put the red carpet.  The Colonials had rendered her full
honors, protocol demanded they do the same.  They didn't warn her they were
going to do it, so she thought it appropriate not to warn them.
    Roslin took her seat in the plush leather cushions of the chair offered to
her in the fantastic vessel.  The technology and console displays overwhelmed
her.  She had only been a teacher and a political aide for many years, but even
she could see that these people depended upon networked computer systems
immensely.  But she didn't see any straps for them to buckle into.  Cottle and
Tory were looking for theirs too.  Seeing there weren't any, they just sat
down.
    "Captain, you have a wonderful vessel.  What did you call it?  -Delta
Flyer-?" she asked.
    Janeway seemed please.  "Yes Madame President we built this ship on our
own, here in the Delta Quadrant, hence the name.  We actually built it in
competition with another race in order to retrieve one of our probes.  We won."
    "Very interesting Captain."  Indicating her seat, "I was wondering where
the seat belts were?" said Roslin.
    "You won't need them Madame President, and you'll see why in a minute,"
Janeway replied.

    As the -Delta Flyer- left the port landing pod, they sped towards
-Voyager-.  Roslin and her group didn't feel any acceleration at all.
-Amazing,- she thought.
    "Janeway to -Voyager-," said Janeway.
    "-Voyager- here," acknowledged Chakotay.
    "Is everything ready?" she asked.
    "Affirmative Captain," replied Chakotay.
    "Thank you.  -Delta Flyer-, out," Janeway said.
    The trip took less than a minute, and Roslin, Cottle, and Tory got out of
their seats to get a good look out the windows.  As they neared, Janeway
explained that -Voyager- was an Intrepid class light exploration vessel,
essentially a science vessel, not a warship.  They observed the landing bay
doors opening and could see the people and shuttles inside.
    -They aren't wearing any pressure suits,- she thought.  They heard a slight
buzz as they passed through some kind of barrier.  As the ship slowly flew into
the landing bay they could see two lines of Starfleet crewmen with the gold
shoulders along a red carpet.
    "We're here," Paris said as he brought the ship to a stop.
    "Lower the ramp," ordered Janeway.
    "Protocol demands that you exit last Madame President," said Janeway.
    "Of course Captain," said a confused Roslin.  She wasn't familiar with
Starfleet protocol.  They exited the ship and she followed last.  As she exited
the ship, she heard a whistle blow, and a voice over the loudspeakers
announcing, "Laura Roslin, President of the Colonies arriving!"  At this, the
two lines of crew men came to attention.  Their arms were folded across their
chests with what she assumed were weapons of some kind.  The rest of her party
walked on the red carpet in between the line of crewmen.  0-It's like walking a
gauntlet,- she thought.  At the end of the carpet stood a man with brown skin
and an unusual facial tattoo on his face.  He was shaking Tory and Cottle's
hand while Janeway introduced them.
    Finally, when she came up, Janeway spoke, "Madame President.  May I
introduce you to Commander Chakotay, my first officer."
    "It's a pleasure to meet you Commander," she said as she shook his hand.
    He smiled and said "Thank you Madame President.  Welcome to -Voyager-."
    "That was an unusual ceremony Commander.  Do you normally do this?" she
asked.
    "No we don't Madame President.  It's an old tradition for dignitaries
arriving by shuttle.  It's less formal when they arrive by transporter," he
explained.
    Turning to Janeway she asked "Captain, you mentioned this `transporter'
when we first made contact with you, what is it?"
    Janeway replied, "Madame President, we have a technology which allows us to
transport a person from one place to another almost instantly.  We don't
normally use shuttles when traveling from ship to ship, or from a planet for
that matter."
    "Interesting," Roslin said.  "Maybe one day we'll be able to use this
technology."
    "Perhaps, but that will be up to the Federation Council to decide," said
Janeway.
    Roslin merely nodded and let that be for now.  Right now she was more
interested in looking around the ship.  Then a voice came over the speakers.
    "Bridge to the Captain."
    Janeway tapped the broach on her chest.  "Go ahead," she said.
    "A Colonial raptor is on its way from the -Galactica-," the voice said.
    "Acknowledged," said Janeway.
    Turning to Chakotay, she said, "Follow the protocol Commander, then bring
them to sick bay."
    "Yes Captain," replied Chakotay.
    "If you'll follow me to our sick bay Madame President, Commander Chakotay
will greet Admiral Adama and his party," she said.
    "Thank you Captain.  Please lead the way," replied Roslin.  And with that,
they followed Janeway and her crew down the hallway.  She found the trip to
their sick bay interesting, especially the elevator that traveled sideways as
well as up and down.  They passed various crewmen on their way to sick bay and
they looked human for the most part.  When they reached sick bay, a crewman
with blue skin, bald head, and a ridge running from the top of their forehead
down to the bottom of his chin.
    "Good afternoon Captain," the blue alien said.
    "Good afternoon Mr. Chell," replied Janeway.
    "Mr. Chell has been doing duty as a medic while the doctor and Mr. Paris
were away," explained Janeway.
    "Everything's been quiet doctor, nothing to report," said Mr. Chell to the
doctor.
    "That's always nice to hear Mr. Chell, undoubtedly, now that I'm back,
things will pick up again like it always does," said the doctor.

    Cottle and Foster were busy looking around the sick bay and looking at the
various instruments.
    Leading Roslin to the bio bed, the doctor said, "If you please Ms. Roslin,
just hop up on this bed and lay back and relax.  You won't feel a thing.  I
need to run a more thorough micro cellular diagnostic scan," explained the
doctor.
    "Not long at all," the doctor assured her.  "In fact, you'll be up and
walking around in no time.  I'm just glad that we're starting your treatment
right away.  There's a point where even our medical science wouldn't be able to
treat you."
    Cottle had come over to observe.  The doctor pressed a button on the side
of the bed and two curved black panels came out from the side of the bed to
form an arch over Roslin.
    "Beginning scan," the doctor announced.  "Hmmmmm," he said.  "I'm detecting
some unusual anomalies in your blood stream."  He led Cottle and the others to
another display panel.
    "This is a display of some of the blood cells near one of the tumors.  See
these unusual antibodies here?" he pointed to the antibodies on this display.
"These aren't human antibodies.  As you can see, they appear to be fighting the
cancer cells, but are failing."
    "I know where those came from," Cottle said.  "Over a year and a half ago,
the President was about to die, actually hours from death.  Our resident Cylon
expert, Dr. Baltar got this idea of injecting blood from the Agathon's half
human fetus into the President, in the hope that would cure her."
    The doctor was appalled.  "And you allowed this?" he demanded.
    Cottle looked tired remembering that situation.  "There was nothing that we
could do.  She was terminal and only minutes from death.  Fortunately, it
worked."
    "Now that's what I call a shot in the dark.  From what I can see, it did
work, but the cure was only temporary.  This particularly virulent form of
cancer is winning the battle again.  Fortunately, the foreign antibodies won't
interfere with the treatment," said the exasperated doctor.
    He walked back over to the bio bed and pressed a button on one of the black
panels.  "I'm exposing the cells to cereluan radiation.  That should weaken the
cancer cells significantly enough so that they will respond to drugs."  After a
few minutes, he injected Roslin with anti cancer meds.  He then injected her
with another dose of inaprovaline.  Roslin felt better once again.
    "Mr. Chell, if you please?"  Chell walked over to a cabinet and came back
with a bottle of pills and handed them to the doctor.  "Here's 50mg of
inaprovaline in pill form.  Take one tablet every four hours and come see me
tomorrow," he smiled.  He pressed a button and the black panels retracted.
    "How do you feel Madame President?" asked Janeway.
    "Like a million cubits," Roslin replied.  And she really did.  But now she
was hungry.
    "I don't know about you, but I'm famished!" said Roslin.
    "I should hope so, you're body's been through a lot.  It needs the calories
to help recover.  I recommend a hearty meal, light on the fats and sugars of
course.  Then a good night's rest, at least eight hours," said the doctor.  He
looked absolutely pleased with himself.
    Cottle and Tory looked pleased.  Tory knew that Roslin hadn't been eating
well for weeks.  Not that there was much to eat except algae cakes.
    Just then, the doors opened and Chakotay, followed by Adama, Karl, Sharon,
and a young man Janeway didn't recognize came in.  Janeway noticed that Adama
was carrying some book with eight corners.
    "Admiral Adama, welcome to -Voyager-.  You're just in time," said Janeway
grandly.
    "Captain.  It's a pleasure to see you again.  You've met the Agathons.
Allow me to introduce to you my son, Ensign Lee Adama, our pilot," Adama said
gesturing to the black haired young man in the flight suit.
    The young man extended his hand.  "It's a pleasure to meet you Captain."
He did look a little uncomfortable.
    Janeway took his hand.  "Likewise ensign," she smiled as she said it.
    Adama looked on approvingly at Roslin.  "Can we observe the procedure?" he
asked.
    "Actually, we just finished.  And the President's hungry," beamed the
doctor.  Cottle nodded in agreement.
    "Then I insist that you all stay for dinner.  But please, I'd like to take
you on a tour of -Voyager- first.  I promise it won't take too long," said
Janeway.
    "Captain, we'd be happy to have dinner with you," Roslin said.  The
Colonials all looked excited at the prospect of dinner.  After eating nothing
but algae products for the past 9 months, the mention of dinner with possibly
real food suddenly made them all hungry.
    Turning to Chakotay, she said, "Commander, please invite all of the senior
staff, including Icheb, Samantha and Naomi Wildman.  Prepare Starfleet Banquet
simulation 2A for holodeck 1, and have them meet us there in an hour.  Dress
uniforms."
    Chakotay laughed.  "B'lanna will be pleased."
    "I'm sure you'll find a way to break the news to her," smiled Janeway.

    The group proceeded on their brief tour of -Voyager-, starting at
engineering, and culminating on the bridge.  Adama found the tour very
interesting, but being the career military officer that he was, he noticed that
Janeway and her crew were definitely holding some things back.  He quickly
noticed that Janeway gave a sanitized briefing.  She was always careful to only
give a general idea about their technology without going into specifics.  When
Helo asked what armaments -Voyager- had, Janeway merely mentioned that
-Voyager- was armed with phasers.  Phased energy rectification as he recalled,
which meant nothing to him.  She never gave weapons ranges or strengths or even
how phasers worked in the first place.  They never even went to their armory,
and he assumed they had to have one.  Hardly any of the sensitive areas of the
ship were on the tour.  Lee asked how fast the ship could travel and she
mentioned something like warp 9.  Adama was sure she wasn't giving the actual
top speed of her ship.  He also noticed that Janeway never mentioned any
weaknesses or shortcomings her ship might have.  He was sure his officers
noticed it too.
    In effect, Janeway showed them her ship without really showing anything.
He was annoyed by that fact, but as a military officer, he approved because he
would do the same thing.  That was standard military procedure.  In a way, he
was expecting this because he certainly didn't expect Janeway to give up
classified military secrets to people she had just met.  That's why he brought
along the technical manual for one of their jump drives.  He was hoping to gain
some measure of trust from these people, in the hope that they might
reciprocate, even a little.  When she announced that they were having dinner,
he thought that was the best time to present the tech manual.
    By the time the tour ended, he really was hungry, and he could tell his
officers were too by the way they fidgeted.  Janeway said they were headed
toward a place called holodeck 1 for dinner.  As they were walking along a
corridor, he leaned close to Roslin and whispered in her ear, "So what do you
think so far?"
    "I think the ship is simply amazing.  What about you?" she answered.
    It was the answer he was expecting from her.  As a civilian, he expected
her to be caught up in the sights and sounds and not really notice any details.
He said, "Oh it's fine, but we haven't really learned anything about them."
She gave him a puzzled look.  "I'll explain later," he said.
    As their "tour" group walked around a bend in the corridor, they came upon
a group of -Voyager-'s personnel waiting for them.  He recognized Commander
Chakotay, Lieutenant Paris, and Lieutenant Torres.  He remembered the half
human, half Klingot(?) woman was their chief engineer.  Then he noticed a
blonde woman holding a little girl's hand.  And there was a teenage boy with
them as well.  As he got closer, she noticed that the little girl had little
horns on her forehead.  -Another hybrid,- he thought.
    "Madame President, may I introduce Ensign Samantha Wildman and her daughter
Naomi.  Naomi is the first child born on -Voyager-," said Janeway.  She
gestured to the teenage boy.  "And this is Icheb.  We rescued him from the
Borg."
    -Whatever a Borg is,- he thought.  He noticed that the boy had a metal
implant on his face, similar in color to Seven's.  He remembered Seven saying
that she was rescued from the Borg too.  -These Borg must be a conquering
race.-
    Janeway noticed that the Agathons were staring at Naomi.  Samantha Wildman
also noticed and said, "My husband is Ktarian, so Naomi is half human, half
Ktarian."  Sharon and Karl looked at each other, some message seeming to pass
between them.
    Sharon knelt down.  "Hello Naomi, my name's Sharon."
    The little girl smiled.  "Hello Sharon.  I'm Naomi, the Captain's
Assistant."
    At that, Janeway smiled.  "I have a daughter too, although she's a little
younger than you are.  Would you like to meet her?" Sharon asked.
    Naomi's face brightened.  There weren't any other children on -Voyager- to
play with.  "I'd love to.  Can I see her tomorrow after school?"
    "Certainly," Sharon smiled.

    During the interplay between Sharon Agathon and Naomi, Janeway whispered to
Chakotay, "is the simulation running?"
    "It's ready when you are," grinned Chakotay.
    "Madame President and company, Commander Chakotay informs me that dinner's
ready to be served," said Janeway.  The door to the room opened and they all
followed her in.
    Adama heard a gasp from Roslin, and he looked around.  The room had opened
into a huge banquet hall.  There was a large table with a large waiting staff,
as well as a stage, and a large circular wall, where many flags hung.  At the
far end of the other side of the hall, there where numerous large windows, and
he could that it was night.  He could even make out a city in the background.
He had to admit that it was pretty amazing.
    Janeway motioned to her guests to take their seats, as the waiters and
waitresses started pouring their drinks.
    "What is this place?" Roslin asked in amazement.
    "We're actually in holodeck 1," explained Janeway.  "This is a holographic
simulation of the banquet hall at Starfleet Command on Earth.  Everything
around you is a hologram, including the staff," she indicated the waiters and
busboys, "but I assure you, the food is quite real."
    "But holograms aren't solid, I've seen holograms before," countered Cottle.
    "But these are.  We're able to manipulate light and matter," Janeway said.
-I wonder how they'll react when I tell them that the doctor is a hologram.-
    Adama looked at Roslin.  -Well that doesn't really tell us anything,- he
thought.
    Cottle refused to believe it.  "Are you telling me that these people, this
table, this entire hall are holograms?"
    "Yes I am doctor," smiled Janeway.
    Cottle sampled his red colored drink.  It tasted like ambrosia, and he
decided he liked the taste.  -At least the ambrosia is real... I think.-  As he
finished his glass, he was startled when a waiter came up to him and asked,
"May I refill your glass sir?"  All he could do was nod, shocked as he was.  As
the waiter refilled his glass, he looked at Janeway again.  "They can talk
too?"
    Janeway had a twinkle in her eye.  "Indeed doctor, holograms can do a great
many things."
    At that point, they began to hear some music in the background.  They all
looked toward the stage and noticed that -Voyager-'s doctor was playing some
large musical instrument.  Janeway explained, "The doctor decided to play the
piano for us tonight."  She leaned over to Chakotay and whispered, "I didn't
ask for this."
    Chakotay whispered back, "You know the doctor, when he heard that you were
going to use this banquet simulation, he insisted on performing.  And you know
how he loves to show off his musical sub routines."  Janeway rolled her eyes.
She hoped he wouldn't start singing.  He could go on for hours.
    "Will the doctor be dining with us, or will he be up there all night
playing this `piano'?" Roslin asked.
    "Oh, knowing the doctor, he prefers being up there on stage," said Janeway.

    As the meal progressed, the Colonial contingent dug into their food with
gusto.  Neelix, who sat across from Roslin and Adama asked, "Admiral, how do
you like Earth cuisine?"
    "I find that I'm liking it very much," he answered.  The truth of the
matter was he was just happy to be having real food.  Eating algae products for
the past few months was getting very tiresome.  And he was sure the President
and his officers felt the same way by the way they were finishing everything on
their plates.
    Karl chimed in "I'm gonna love Earth" patting his stomach.  Everyone
laughed.  His wife Sharon asked, "Captain, do you people always eat this good?"
    "Actually no, just on rare occasions," Janeway said.
    -Now I wonder why?  Something's being left unsaid,- thought Adama.
    The dining hall buzzed with the conversations of all the diners.  Finally,
dessert was served.  Paris said it was Antarian ice cream.  Pretty soon it was
apparent that dinner was over.
    Adama stood up and walked over to Janeway.  "Dinner was excellent Captain
Janeway.  You have no idea how long we've gone without a good meal."  He paused
for effect noticing that he had all their attention.  "As a token of our
appreciation, and a sign of faith and good will, I'm presenting you with a
technical manual for one of our jump drives.  We're a poor people and this is
the only thing we can offer the Federation for affording us protection from our
enemies."  He then handed her the tech manual.  Everyone applauded.  He hoped
it would have the desired affect.  Looking at her guilty expression, he could
see that it did.
    She stood up.  "Thank you Admiral for your faith in myself, -Voyager-, and
the Federation.  Rest assured that as long as the Federation endures, the
safety and well being of your people is guaranteed.  -Voyager- will never leave
you."  And there was further applause.
    He walked back to his seat and Roslin looked at him with new found respect.
She leaned closer to him and whispered, "Very well done Bill.  I didn't know
you were a politician."
    "Neither did I," he whispered back.  -I can play the political game too.
The lives of our people are at stake, and if I have to swallow my pride, then
so be it,- he thought.  He was rolling the dice and gambling on the hope that
these humans were good people.  He prayed that he wasn't wrong and was doing
the right thing.
    The music changed and he noticed that there was now about 10 musicians on
stage playing some mellow music.  The doctor walked up to the table wearing
some type of black and white suit.  He greeted the President and the Admiral.
    "Good evening Madame President.  How was your meal?" he asked.  Cottle was
sitting on the President's left side and was looking on, taking a sip of his
wine.
    "It was delicious.  I didn't know any of the dishes, but whatever they
were, they were delicious.  Although I feel a little guilty that you didn't
join us.  You must be hungry," said Roslin.
    "That's fine, because I don't eat," he replied with a smile.
    Now Roslin was genuinely puzzled.  "What do you mean you don't eat?
Everyone has to eat."
    "I don't eat because I'm a hologram," he replied.
    Cottle spit his drink.  The jaws of the Colonials dropped.  For a while,
all they could do was stare at him.
    "I'm -Voyager's- Emergency Medical Hologram.  I'm programmed with 5 million
medical procedures from over 2,000 medical references.  I'm also programmed
with the experiences of 47 individual medical doctors.  I don't have a name
because I haven't chosen one yet," he explained.
    Sharon said, "You mean you're a computer program?"
    "An extremely sophisticated one, yes," nodded the doctor.
    Several awkward moments passed...
    "Well!  Now I've seen everything!" said Cottle.
    "Just remember that the doctor is a real person, as real as you and me,"
Janeway said.  She had given the signal to the doctor to reveal his true
nature.
    "You'll get no argument from me," Cottle replied.  "He's one of the best
damn doctors I've ever seen."
    "You saved my life doctor, I don't think that will change the way I see
you," said Roslin, with tears in her eyes.
    "Thank you Madam President," the doctor said warmly.  "Don't forget you
have an appointment with me tomorrow," he winked.
    "I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Roslin.

    Adama watched the scene with a pleasant expression on his face.  But his
face was a mask.  He could understand Roslin's reaction because the hologram
was treating her cancer.  But he knew exactly how some of the other Colonials
might react.  It could get ugly.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Lee
had a blank expression on his face.  But he knew Lee better than that.  He was
thinking that he might have to tell everyone not to say anything about the
doctor while they were traveling back to -Galactica- on the raptor.
    Several of -Voyager's- crew had wandered over to the large windows to enjoy
the view.  Roslin and Adama decided to join them.  What they saw was a clear
starry night, and their "building" overlooked a large courtyard with beautiful
gardens.  They could see a large red bridge and a large city across the bay.
Numerous air cars were passing overhead and to and from the city.  Harry Kim
had wandered over to them.
    "That's Starfleet Command headquarters below us, and that bridge there is
the Golden Gate Bridge.  The lights over there is the city of San Francisco.
Starfleet Academy is just down the road from here," explained wistfully.
    "So this is Earth," Karl said.  "I guess many of you people on -Voyager-
use this simulation a lot."
    "Not really, it just makes people homesick," Paris said as he walked up.
"Especially Harry here."
    As Roslin gazed out the windows, she stifled a yawn.  "I'm really tired
Admiral.  I'd like to go back now."
    "Yes of course.  It's been one helluva long day and you need rest," said
Adama.
    Adama turned to the rest of their contingent.  "We'd better be leaving now.
The President's feeling tired."  Tory and the rest of -Galactica's- officers,
knowing that she was ill, started gathering around the table.
    "Captain, it's been a wonderful day and evening, but it's time for us to
return to our ships," Roslin said tiredly.
    "Yes indeed Madame President.  We'll begin working on the agreements over
the next few days and forming a plan of action," Janeway replied.
    Janeway dismissed her crew, and accompanied by Chakotay and Tuvok, escorted
their guests to the hangar bay where they boarded their raptor and headed back
to -Galactica-.

    As soon as their guests had departed, she turned to Chakotay and handed him
the tech manual.  "Chakotay, I want this manual scanned into the computer
immediately.  Have B'lanna and Seven go over it.  I want the morning briefing
to start at 1100 instead of 0800 to give them time to give their first
impressions on it.  We need a new plan, one that includes our new friends."
    "Right away Captain."  Chakotay left to inform Seven and B'lanna about this
new task.

    Five parsecs away, a group of heavily armed ships came across -Voyager's-
decaying warp trail.  A few minutes later they turned to follow it.  The hunt
was on.


*Chapter 5*

-*Captain's Log, Stardate 53478.6*-
    -Voyager has encountered a human refugee fleet on their way to Earth.  I
strongly feel that this may be a Preserver transplanted society, further
investigation will either refute or confirm this.  Although if it is, then it's
the furthest transplanted human society yet encountered.  Using my authority,
I've granted them asylum and waived the asylum hearing.  Federation law
stipulates that I may waive such a hearing if evidence indicates convening such
a hearing is unnecessary.  I believe it is, and Commander Chakotay agrees with
me.  However, Voyager is now legally obliged to protect these humans who call
themselves Colonials.  All legal documented facts concerning this will be
transmitted to Starfleet Command if and when we make contact with them again.
I've advised their leaders, a President Laura Roslin and Admiral William Adama,
to seek protectorate status when the opportunity arises.  This would change
their status from refugees to lawful permanent residents once they reach the
Federation.  They would be able to establish their own colony, as well as give
them access to unclassified Federation technology.-
    -Furthermore, the Colonials possess a unique method interstellar travel.
It involves folding space and the Colonials call it a "jump drive".  Seven
believes it's similar to the early Federation experiments concerning the
folding of space.  Those experiments involved creating a "Geodesic Fold" that
would allow travel from one point in space to another instantly.  Those early
experiments were abandoned as impractical and too dangerous.  Apparently these
Colonials and their enemies, the Cylons, have perfected this mode of travel.
As a sign of faith, Admiral Adama has handed over to us, a technical manual
containing the specifications of one of their jump drives.  I've assigned Seven
and Lt. Torres the task of analyzing this data to see how feasible it would be
to possibly enable Voyager to utilize this technology.  If we're successful,
it's my hope that we can shorten the journey to the Federation by many years.-
    -For now, we have to make a plan of action.  The Colonial refugees are
short on food, fuel, and medical supplies.  Voyager cannot possibly protect and
feed over 39,000 people by herself.  End log.-


*USS -*Voyager*- Conference Room, 1100 hours*

    Janeway sat at the head of the table sipping her coffee as she watched her
officers file into the conference room.  The last two to arrive were Lt. Torres
and Seven looking excited.  For once, they didn't look like they were arguing.
She had Chakotay assign them the task of analyzing the colonial tech manual
last night and she was hoping for some promising news.  She didn't have to wait
long.
    "Well?  What can you two tell me?  Good news I hope?" Janeway asked.
    Torres was the first to speak.  "I stayed up late last night Captain going
over it and Seven and I have been up since 0600 morning and we can hardly
believe how really simple it is.  The early geodesic fold experiments were on
the right track.  It's too bad they abandoned them so early.  The secret is
modulating the frequency of the geodesic pulse, or verteron beam.  The reason
the early experiments failed is because of the equipment they used at the time.
They were using a large dish to generate the pulse on a broad range of
frequencies.  They thought they had to use the gravity of a red giant to open
the fold when it wasn't really necessary."
    "What about geodesic radiation?" asked Kim.
    "Geodesic radiation is not present if the frequency of the pulse is tuned
to the quantum frequency of our space time continuum," Seven explained.
    "And how were the Colonials able to develop this technology?" asked
Janeway.
    Chakotay jumped in.  "They were telling me that this knowledge was handed
down to them from their `Lords of Kobol' and they in turn got it from the
`Elder Gods'."
    "Could these Elder Gods be the Preservers?" a suddenly astounded Janeway
asked.
    "I think it's possible, but we can't be sure," answered Chakotay.
    "So how does this help us?" asked Kim.
    "We believe we can modify the secondary deflector to emit the pulse," said
Torres.
    "However, there are limitations to the drive itself," Seven conceded.
    Harry visibly deflated at hearing that.
    "There's always a catch, isn't there," quipped Paris.
    "Our understanding of space fold physics is limited," Seven explained.
"The farther the plotted jump, the less accurate it is.  In addition, the jump
takes an enormous amount of power.  Our sensors and computers are significantly
more advanced than the Colonials', so we can jump farther.  I estimate that we
can jump at least 300 light years at a time, at least 3 times as far as the
Colonials can.  It would take us approximately 176.6 jumps to reach the
Federation."
    "We could feed our more accurate coordinates to the Colonials so they can
make the jumps with us," Torres said.
    "Then what are we waiting for?  We could be home in a matter of months, if
not weeks," said Harry, visibly getting excited again.
    "Need I remind you Lt. Kim, that we are now legally obliged to protect the
Colonials?" Tuvok interceded.  "Lt. Adama informed me that their ships are low
on food and fuel.  They only have enough fuel for one more jump."
    "So the question is, do we abandon these people?" Chakotay asked, although
it was clearly written on his face how distasteful the thought was.
    "Absolutely not!" Neelix said emphatically.
    The sentiment was echoed around the table.  Even Harry said, "I couldn't
live with myself if we did that."
    "I've already made my decision.  We're not abandoning these people to
certain death.  And make no mistake, it would be certain death considering
their fuel and food situation.  And I'm sure Starfleet Command and the
Federation Council would agree with us, especially since they've given us the
jump drive," said Janeway.
    "Our first priority should be to scout the surrounding area for food and
fuel," said Chakotay.
    Tuvok, always thinking in terms of security and defense added, "We need to
determine our defense posture.  It would be unrealistic to assume that
-Voyager- can protect the entire fleet."
    "With this jump drive, we can jump away at a moment's notice if we run into
trouble," Tom said.
    "We can," said Torres.  "But the Colonials can't.  The jump drive takes an
enormous amount of power, and the Colonials simply can't afford to keep them
charged at all times.  They'd burn up all their fuel.  They'll need time to
spin up their engines before they can jump away."
    "We're getting ahead of ourselves.  We haven't even begun to modify our
secondary deflector or even begin trial runs," added Chakotay.
    "So we need to find a way to buy the Colonials time while they charge their
engines for an emergency jump," said Kim.
    "The -Galactica- would be no match for the Hirogen or the Borg if ever we
encountered them," said Tom.
    "We can't exactly outfight them ourselves either," countered Kim.
    "Can we install shield generators on the -Galactica-?" Janeway asked.
    "We can."  Torres paused.  "But their power systems are incompatible with
ours.  I looked over their tech manual and they're still using electricity
carried by power lines.  I could install power converters, but the -Galactica-
wouldn't be able to generate enough power to keep the shields up under a
determined attack.  The shields could only take one hit, maybe two from let's
say a Hirogen hunting vessel.  One hit if it were a Borg cube."
    "That will have to do.  We can install the shield generators without giving
them the specifications," said Janeway.
    "It would not matter if we gave them the specifications Captain," Seven
said.  "The Colonials lack the necessary technical background."
    "Seven is correct Captain," Tuvok added.  "Colonial technology is
comparable to 21st century Earth technology.  They are barely able to maintain
their own equipment, much less take the time and effort to study ours and
duplicate it.  If you noticed, the -Galactica- has suffered extensive damage
and their vipers and raptors are only marginally spaceworthy.  The result of
being constantly under attack."
    "Besides Captain, -Voyager's- engineering staff can't possibly maintain
four shield generators on the -Galactica-," Torres said.
    "Four?" asked Janeway.
    "Yes Captain.  One each for the forward, dorsal, aft, and ventral shield.
The engineering staff is overstretched as it is maintaining -Voyager-," Torres
explained.
    "I may have a solution to that Captain," Chakotay said.  As first officer,
he was in charge of the duty roster.  He looked down the list and recognized
some name.  He looked up.  "What about the -Equinox- 5?  They've been assigned
to non-essential duties since we took them off the -Equinox-."
    "That would give them the chance to earn back their commissions.  They
could be assigned to the -Galactica-," Janeway agreed.  "That's settled then.
What about weapons?  Is there any way of upgrading -Galactica's- weapons?"
    "I do not believe their weapons can be upgraded.  Their cannons and
missiles travel far too slowly to be effective against most of the spacefaring
species of this quadrant.  The yield of the nuclear weapons and their missile
propulsion cannot be upgraded without extensive modifications.  That would take
resources neither we, nor they have," Tuvok said.
    "What about a couple of old style Type three phaser banks?" Tom asked.
    "And how do you propose to power these Tom?  Their available power will be
used to power the shields and the jump engines," countered Torres.
    "We do have two spare fusion reactors," Kim said hopefully.
    "And that's all we have.  We won't have any spares for ourselves," said
Torres.
    "That will have to do," said Janeway.
    "Captain," Tuvok said.  Janeway knew what he was about to say.  "Under the
rules of asylum, we cannot give them any technology."
    "I know that Mr. Tuvok.  We AREN'T GIVING them anything.  We're merely
`loaning' them technology to use to help defend themselves and us.  They aren't
going to receive any specific technical data that they can use to produce their
own.  We can train them on how to use the technology and perhaps make some
minor repairs, but that's it.  In fact, I plan on having them sign a lease
agreement for the equipment."  She had thought long and hard about it during
the night.  Technically this wasn't a technology TRANSFER at all.  It was a
LEASE.  She had gotten the idea from some ancient Earth history files.
    There were grins all around the table at that one.  Except of course from
Tuvok, who merely raised an eyebrow.  "Very clever Captain," Tuvok said.  But
his eyes betrayed him.  Janeway knew that look, and it seemed even he was
amused.
    "Replicating the parts for the phaser banks and shield generators is going
to take a lot of our energy, as well as deplete our molecular storage Captain,"
said Neelix.  "We'll have to eliminate replicator rations until we can find
supplies ourselves."
    "Then it looks like you've got your work cut out for you Mr. Neelix.  I'm
sure you're up to the challenge," said Janeway.
    "They're probably short of spare parts for their ships too.  We can help
out by replicating replacement or spare parts for them," Torres informed them.
As an engineer, B'lanna knew that the -Galactica- maintenance people probably
had to scrounge around for parts to keep their ships and fighters flying.  She
could imagine that they were having to cannibalize other ships for parts in
order to keep the others flying.
    "Do you plan to reveal our transporter technology Captain?" Tuvok inquired.
    "It looks like we have little choice.  We can't hide it forever, and
there's going to be situations where we're going to need it, and we can't be
worrying if the Colonials see it or not.  We'll let them know how it generally
works, but we don't have the resources to begin to install one on -Galactica-
or anywhere else.  Not that they can even begin to understand transporter
technology or have the resources to build a transporter of their own," Janeway
answered.
    "We're going to have to install a subspace communications system in their
CIC Captain," Harry said.  "Their `wireless' is simple radio, they don't have
any FTL communications.  We won't be able to communicate with them if we're
even a few light years away.  We can also install temporary subspace sensors by
pulling out a sensor array from one of our shuttles.  I can head up that team."
    Janeway nodded.  "Do it."
    Standing up, she looked at everyone in turn.  "It looks like we have a
plan.  First, we'll begin the modifications on the secondary deflector dish so
that we can begin flight tests as soon as possible, B'lanna will be in charge
of that.  Second, we'll begin installing the shield generators.  Seven, you can
use the Equinox 5 for that job.  You can also check with Admiral Adama about
finding suitable -Galactica- personnel to train in operating and performing
minor maintenance on the generators.  Third, we'll begin installation of two
phaser banks, one forward, one aft, along with the two fusion generators to
power them.  Fourth, Mr. Kim will head up the communications and sensor
installation.  Almost all these will be contingent upon the Colonials agreeing
to this.  I'll present our plan to the Colonial leadership."  She turned to the
doctor.  He hadn't been called upon the whole meeting.
    "Doctor, how many more treatments do you think President Roslin is going to
need?" she asked.
    "I have to see how she's responding to the meds, if she's doing well, I
might offer her the standard nanite treatment."
    Janeway made a face.  "She might not feel comfortable with that given what
happened to their civilization at the hands of machines."
    "That's what I thought too after that initial meeting, which is why I'll
probably have to resort to the old fashioned method of removing tumors and
cancerous growths.  It's still a very minor operation," he said.
    Tom laughed at that one.  "Gee doc.  I wonder how she'll react to that one.
I'll bet you double shifts that she won't take it," he said sarcastically.
    The doctor rolled his eyes.  "In this case Mr. Paris, I won't take you up
on your wager."
    Janeway gave Tom a stern look, but she too thought that Roslin might balk
at the nanite treatment, it was understandable given the circumstances.
"Proceed how you think is best doctor."
    She looked at Paris.  "Mr. Paris, I'm going to coordinate with Admiral
Adama and see about scouting the surrounding systems for food and fuel.  We
can't get back on the road with them," he nodded in the affirmative.
    She dismissed the crew shortly after that.  She'd present their plan to
Adama and Roslin when they came over this afternoon.  -When is Starfleet going
to get around to contacting us again?  It's been almost a month since our last
contact.-


*Battlestar -*Galactica*- CIC*

    Admiral Adama walked into the CIC to see everyone at their normal duty
stations, even Tigh.  Walking to the plotting table, he quietly sniffed the
air.  -No alcohol?-  He looked at Tigh, who looked a little bit more alert than
usual.  He stood straighter too.  Tigh looked back at him.
    "Good morning Admiral," he greeted.
    "Good morning XO.  What's our status?  Is -Voyager- still there?"  In the
back of his mind, he feared that -Voyager- would take the manual and leave them
high and dry.  -How silly, they wouldn't do that, would they?-
    "It looks like -Voyager-'s maintaining position.  We have Hotdog and
Racetrack flying CAP.  No unusual activity.  The Cylons haven't come back, and
they probably won't as long as -Voyager's- around," he reported.  "When do you
want to send out the scouts?  We need to find some food and fuel soon.  We need
to get the agro ships back in business."
    "As soon as they're ready Saul, launch them," he answered.
    "They've been ready for a while now."  Tigh got on the phone.  "Launch the
scouts."

    Moments later, five raptors launched.  Galactica's telescopes had
identified two systems that might possibly contain life, while another three
were picked that might have sources of tylium.
    Felix Gaeta looked up from his console, "Admiral, aren't we going to ask
-Voyager- for help?"
    "We may be beggars Mr. Gaeta, but I don't intend to depend on -Voyager- for
everything," he said.
    "Admiral, I'm picking up a transmission from -Voyager-.  Captain Janeway's
requesting to speak with you," Dualla reported.
    -Speaking of which,- he thought.  He picked up the ship to ship handset.
"This is Admiral Adama."
    "Admiral, could you bring over your senior staff to -Voyager- when you
bring the President for her appointment this afternoon?  There's a great deal
we need to discuss," she said.  -I was hoping you would.-
    "Not a problem Captain.  We'll be over in a raptor," he replied.
    He turned to Tigh, "How about a trip to see -Voyager-, Saul?  Are you up
for it?"
    "Do they have anything to eat?" he asked.
    "I think they might have some crumbs to share," he said with a smile.
    "Well hot damn, you know I'm there," Tigh laughed.
    "Mr. Gaeta, Lt. Dualla, you're coming along this time.  Notify Capt.
Agathon to meet us in the launch bay at 1400, he's driving," Adama ordered.
    He was pondering what happened last night.  It was all simply amazing.
There was no other word he could think of to describe their experience.  The
mood on the flight home was upbeat.  The quest for Earth no longer seemed like
a lost cause.  They were buoyed by the fact that in their darkest hour their
brothers had come to help show the way to Earth.  Lee seemed thoughtful as he
piloted the raptor.  From the back of the raptor, Adama had asked, "What's the
problem Lee?"
    "The problem is that they have a computer program for a doctor, that's my
problem," he retorted.
    The raptor had went silent when he said that.  "Why would that be a
problem?  The doctor is obviously programmed to help people.  He seems just as
real a person as you are," said Roslin.
    "Not all AIs are evil," Sharon had chimed in.  She looked upset.
    "What happened to us could happen to them.  Don't they know that?" he
asked.  He seemed frustrated.
    "I don't think so," Helo had said.  "For one thing, their computer science
is obviously much more advanced than ours.  That means they've got a helluva
lot more experience with computers and AI.  Did you see all their technology?
Everything's so integrated.  I was talking to Mr. Tuvok during dinner.  He said
the Cylons tried transmitting their `primitive' computer virus and that
-Voyager-'s computer automatically eradicated it.  They take great pride in
their computer technology.  It looks to me that they have a good handle on
these things."
    Cottle and Roslin had nodded in agreement.  "Well said Captain," said
Cottle.
    "Even so, how do you think the people are going to handle it?" asked Lee.
    This was the moment he'd been thinking about since dinner.  "Lee, we're out
here in the middle of nowhere, with only a vague idea where Earth is.  We're
literally at the end of our rope.  We need -Voyager- and Earth's help if our
people are going to survive.  I don't like begging either.  But we don't have a
choice.  We have nowhere to go.  And we're NOT going to insult the Earth people
because of our experience or petty prejudices.  What do you want me to say?
`Oh, because you have an AI for a doctor, we don't want your help.'  Frack no!
I have my concerns too, and I'm going to tell Janeway about them in private.
So this is my order to all of you: Do not tell anyone that their doctor is an
AI.  It doesn't leave this raptor.  Is that understood?"
    The -Galactica- officers agreed.  Roslin added, "That's a good idea
Admiral.  Tory won't say a word either."


*USS -*Voyager*-, Holodeck 1*

    "Deflector charged, ready to jump," said Seven.  She was seated at the conn
manipulating the controls for the deflector.
    B'lanna sat in the captain's chair looking at her own status readout.
"Coordinates set for a one light year jump.  Jump!" she ordered.
    On the main viewscreen, there was a flash of light, then the stars
reappeared.
    Seven scanned their arrival coordinates on the console.  "Jump successful.
We are .05 percent off course."
    "That's not good enough Seven, we only jumped a single light year.  That
would be a 15 percent error if we jumped 300 light years.  With that error
margin we could jump into a star or a planet," said Torres.
    "Considering that we completely failed the last five simulations, we are
making progress.  Perhaps that is why the Colonials only jump a maximum of 100
light years at a time," Seven surmised.
    "Let's try to at least get our error margin below 1 percent.  Computer,
reset simulation Torres beta nine," said Torres.
    Instantly the simulation reset itself.  At that moment Janeway walked into
the simulation.
    "How are the simulations coming along?  Are we ready for real world flight
tests yet?" she asked.
    "Not just yet Captain," Torres reported.  "We just ran our first successful
simulation out of six, and we ended up off course by .05 percent after only
jumping a single light year.  We're going to try and get the error rate down to
less than .01 percent, but even our technology is limited.  Seven thinks that's
why the Colonials only jump a maximum of 100 light years at a time.  Jump
technology is more dangerous than warp drive because there's little room for
error since the transit time is practically nothing.  At least with warp drive
you can make course corrections.  With jump drive you have to get it right
every time you jump or you could end up in a star or a planet."
    "Well keep on it Lieutenant, my intuition tells me that we just may need to
jump sooner than later," said Janeway.
    "Do you want to watch Captain?  I just reset the simulation when you walked
in," asked B'lanna.
    "Certainly," said Janeway.  She sat down in the simulated first officer's
seat.


Two hours later...

*USS -*Voyager*- Shuttle Bay*

    Janeway and the doctor watched as the tractor beam brought -Galactica-
Raptor 412 into the shuttle bay.  Moments after the Raptor touched down, the
side hatch opened up and eight people proceeded to exit the Raptor.
    -Eight people?  I know there's only three seats inside.  The other five
must have to stand up,- thought Janeway.
    Roslin and Adama headed up the entourage.  Janeway took the Roslin's hand.
"Welcome back to -Voyager- President Roslin," she smiled.
    "Glad to be back," Roslin answered.
    Adama motioned Gaeta, and Dualla forward.  "Captain, you already know Col.
Tigh and Capt. Agathon, with me here is my tactical officer Lt. Felix Gaeta,
and my comm officer Lt. Anastasia Dualla."
    "Pleased to meet you all," beamed Janeway.  "The doctor will escort the
president, Dr. Cottle, and Ms. Foster to sick bay to continue the treatment.
Did you wish to wait in Sick Bay, or is there anything else you wanted to see
on -Voyager-?"
    "Do you have a mess hall?" asked Tigh.
    Adama chuckled.  Gaeta and Dualla looked embarrassed.
    "Yes we do, it's on deck 2.  I believe Mr. Neelix has prepared one of his
specialties today.  Shall we?" said Janeway.
    And the two groups split off.


*USS -*Voyager*- Sick Bay*

    Roslin was lying on the bio bed while the doctor was comparing scans from
the previous day.  Cottle and Foster observed the proceedings.
    "Ahh.  Just as I expected," said the doctor.  He put up the two scans on a
nearby screen so all could see.  "President Roslin is responding very well to
the medication.  Here's yesterday's scan and here's today's scan.  As you can
see, the tumors have stopped growing and the medication has halted the spread
of new cancer cells."
    Cottle looked closely at the scan, and the scans did look better.  He could
clearly see that Roslin's prognosis was looking much better.  "How do you plan
to remove the current tumors and other cancerous growths doctor?"
    "I could operate and remove the tumors directly and in combination with
medication, OR I could use the standard medical procedure for cancer.  It's the
President's choice," said the doctor.
    "What's this standard procedure you're talking about doctor?" asked Roslin.
    The doctor hesitated, knowing that perhaps these Colonials would be
squeamish about nanites.  "It involves the use of medical nanites that are
injected into the body.  Once injected they are programmed to seek out and
destroy the cancer cells directly.  It usually only takes a day, two in some
advanced cases," the doctor explained.
    Cottle had read about nanotechnology in the Colonial Journal of Medicine,
but that was mostly theory.  Research into nanotechnology had been abandoned
during the first Cylon war and the subsequent hysteria about machines that
followed, prevented the resumption of the research.  Cottle personally didn't
have a problem with machines.  Anything that made his work easier and saved
lives couldn't be all bad.  But there was a huge public backlash against
complex machines.  The prevailing thought in the medical circles was that
resumption of research into nanotechnology would resume in the distant future,
with safeguards in place of course.
    Seeing Roslin's questioning look, Cottle explained, "Nanites are
microscopic machines that are programmed to perform a specific task.  The
Colonies were just beginning research into the possibility of nanites for use
in medicine, but it was abandoned after the first Cylon war.  It looks like our
Federation friends here have advanced farther along that route than we could
even begin to imagine."
    The very thought of machines crawling around inside her body revolted
Roslin.  She had no doubt that the doctor meant well, but she just couldn't get
past the very idea.  Then there were the political ramifications as well.  Tom
Zarek had already argued strenuously against going to Voyager for treatments.
If word got out that she was cured by programmed microscopic machines... she
knew a quite a few people who would have a problem with that.  Perhaps in the
future, when her people had grown accustomed to Federation technology, but it
was just too soon right now for herself as well.  She had only just gotten used
to the idea that the doctor was a computer program last night.  They had only
met these people yesterday after all.
    She looked up at the doctor, hoping that what she was going to say wouldn't
insult him or Janeway.  "Is it alright if you perform the more traditional
method doctor?  Right now, I just don't feel comfortable with the nanite
procedure."
    His face didn't show any disappointment at all.  "Not at all Madame
President.  I had a feeling that you might not choose the nanite procedure
considering what your people have gone through.  I just wanted to offer the
procedure just the same as an alternative."  He went back to his console.  "The
next thing I'm going to do is operate.  I'll have to remove the tumors and
other cancerous growths from your liver, kidneys, and other vital organs.
You'll be fully conscious and be up and about in no time."  He turned to Cottle
and Foster.  "Mr. Paris has other duties today, so I'm in need of assistance.
Would you like to assist me?"
    "I thought you'd never ask," said Cottle.  He dearly wanted to see this
doctor operate and see how Federation medicine worked.
    "Then perhaps later, we could take a look at your lungs.  I noticed that
you smoke," the doctor said.
    "I've smoked for 40 years, I don't need a lung examination," retorted
Cottle.
    The doctor rolled his eyes.  "Doctors invariably make the worst patients,"
he said.  He was thankful that Cottle had the decency not to smoke in his sick
bay.  -He must be craving for one right now,- thought the doctor.
    An amused Roslin said from the bio bed.  "Now, now, doctor.  If I'm doing
this, then you'll have to have a check up too.  That's a Presidential order,"
she laughed.


*USS -*Voyager*- Conference Room*

    The negotiations had went well and Adama agreed with just about all of
them.  He understood the need for Janeway to keep to the legality of things,
but just the same he would have preferred that Janeway give them the technology
outright.  His concern was for his fighter and raptor pilots.  They would
become nearly useless should they encounter another race that had this shield
technology.  Even equipping his fighters and raptors with these shields and
phaser technology would improve their chances of survival immensely, but he
wasn't exactly in a position to make demands.  He'd given them the jump drive
already, so he was grateful that Janeway was even willing to commit the
resources of her ship to help them.  -Not that we have the resources ourselves
to begin modifying our ships,- he thought.  They didn't have the fabrication
facilities of -Pegasus- anymore, and they had barely cobbled together the spare
parts to build the Blackbird he told himself.  He'd assign other duties for
them.  They wouldn't do much good in combat against races with shield tech, but
they could still be useful in the scouting role.
    He looked around the table.  Seeing Roslin looking healthier than he'd seen
her brought warm feelings.  Over the years, it broke his heart to see her
wasting away.  Janeway's voice brought him back to the present.
    "Admiral, do you have any scientists among the survivors of your people?
Specifically scientists that dealt with military technology?  We need to be
able to train some people in helping operate and maintain the shield
generators.  I'm assigning you five of my people, but they won't be enough
since the generators will be located in different areas of the Galactica,"
Janeway asked.
    "We had a doctor Annorax, but he was lost on the -Olympic Carrier-," Adama
replied.
    `Well, there is one," Helo added.
    The Colonials turned to glare at Capt Agathon.  They obviously knew who he
was referring to.
    "No, not him!" Tigh said emphatically.  "I'll be gods damned if we're going
to work with him!"  Some of the other colonials around the table nodded their
heads in agreement.
    Confused, Janeway asked, "And who is this person?"
    Roslin looked angry as well.  "Doctor Gaius Baltar," she said with obvious
distaste.  Roslin then proceeded to elaborate on the history of Baltar.  She
detailed the events of Baltar winning the election, his actions during the
occupation, the trial, and her suspicions of his involvement in the destruction
of the Colonies.
    Janeway took a deep breath.  This wasn't going to be easy, but she didn't
have the personnel resources to spare.  Adama and the Colonials looked
absolutely furious.  How would she feel if she had to work with Khan Noonien
Singh?  Because that's obviously the way these people felt about this Baltar.
"I know how you must feel Madame President," Janeway began, "but the reality is
that we need this Baltar and other people like him to help operate and help
maintain this technology, and Voyager doesn't have the personnel to spare.
Unfortunately, we're going to need people like him if we're going to survive."
    This didn't go over well at all with the Colonials.  "I'd rather die than
work with Baltar again," said Gaeta.  Adama remembered Gaeta's last encounter
with Baltar.  He had to personally knock Gaeta out after he stabbed Baltar.
Too bad Baltar didn't die that time.
    Janeway felt the situation deteriorating.  She had to think of a
compromise.  "Baltar need not be in CIC.  He could be assigned somewhere else.
And I could assign one of my people to conduct his training.  He could be kept
out of sight."
    "Oh no, I don't want him to be able to hide.  I don't trust him.  Nobody
trusts him," said Tigh angrily.
    "He could be in his lab under guard at all times while we monitor him from
ops by camera," Helo advised.
    Adama thought about it.  As much as he wanted to strangle Baltar with his
own hands, he knew Janeway had a point.  Baltar was a near genius, -a fracked
up in the head genius at that,- he thought.
    "Will that suffice Admiral?" Janeway asked.  "We could have him wear an
ankle sensor if you'd like.  We use these to keep track of prisoners on our
penal colonies.  That way you could keep track of his whereabouts and make sure
he only has access to the shield generators while under close supervision," she
added.
    Roslin and most of the Colonials looked at Adama, waiting for his command
decision.  This was an extremely bitter pill for him to swallow.  But Janeway
had a point.  They needed him, but he'd be kept under close watch at all times.
"I'm agreeing to this against my better judgment Captain, but yes, it will
suffice," he answered.  Gaeta, Dualla, Tory, and Tigh looked extremely
disappointed.  Helo and Cottle, not as much.  Roslin's face was an unreadable
mask but Janeway could see the anger in her eyes.
    "I understand the sacrifice you're making Admiral," Janeway said.  "But
unfortunately, we have little choice.  He was acquitted in your court of law.
As much as you hate it, he's a free man."
    Roslin spoke.  "I can't believe I'm saying this, but unfortunately he's
qualified for the job."  She swallowed the bile in her throat that had built up
just thinking about Baltar.
    "It's settled then."  She turned to Seven.  "Seven, I want you to begin
training this Doctor Baltar when you have the chance," Janeway ordered.
    "That's if you can find him," Gaeta said.  "In the aftermath of the trial
and the Cylon attack, he disappeared."
    "Then we're going to have to offer him some incentive," Chakotay said.
"How about an offer to let him have the opportunity to earn his way back into
your good graces?"
    "That will never happen, but we can offer," Roslin said now.  "Despite the
book he wrote, he would want to get back into the ranks of the `aristocracy',
and it would certainly appeal to his ego to work with Federation technology."
    "Are we agreed then?" asked Janeway.
    Roslin and Adama nodded their assent.  They certainly didn't like the way
everything turned out, but they had little choice... for now.
    "Then we can have the lease agreement drawn up for your signature.  My crew
will begin working with your crew tomorrow on the installation of the
equipment, and Seven will begin working with Baltar and others on the
operations and maintenance aspect," Janeway said.
    "Captain, the President and I would like a word with you in private if you
don't mind," Adama said.
    "Certainly.  We can talk in my ready room," said Janeway.  Turning to Tom
and Harry.  "Mr. Paris, Mr. Kim, would you like to show our guests the
Holodeck?  Not all of them have been there yet."
    "I'll probably take them Sandrine's or Risa," grinned Tom.  Janeway rolled
her eyes.  "Just don't use one of your Captain Proton programs," laughed
Janeway.
    As her staff and the Colonials filed out of the briefing room, she gestured
for Roslin and Adama to follow her to her ready room.  She offered them a seat
on her couch.  "Coffee, tea?  These are Earth drinks."
    She looked around the room.  -This is a very nice office.-  Unfamiliar with
the beverages, Roslin decided that it would be bad form to refuse.  "I'd like
to try some `coffee'," she said.
    "I'll have the same," Adama added.
    Janeway went to her replicator.  "Computer, standard guest coffee."  After
the replicator produced the coffee and silverware, she brought them over to the
coffee table.  She poured three cups.  She normally didn't take coffee this
way, preferring it straight and black with no condiments.  But the standard
coffee mixture was for guests not familiar with coffee.
    Roslin sipped her coffee.  "Interesting taste Captain," she said.
    Adama rather liked it.  "Is this a common Earth drink Captain?" he asked.
    "Indeed it is Admiral," Janeway beamed.  "I can't begin or end my day
without it.  In fact, I have numerous cups of it during the day."
    Roslin continued sipping her coffee, getting used to the taste.  "I'm still
getting used to your technology Captain," she Roslin.
    "That's understandable Madame President," answered Janeway.  "We're in
private, please call me Kathryn."
    "Then please call me Laura, and this Bill," Roslin replied.
    "What did you want to talk about?" said Janeway coming right to the point.
    "It's about your doctor," Adama began.
    The moment Adama said that, Janeway knew exactly what the conversation was
going to be about.  Having listened to their story, and hearing about Roslin's
refusal to undergo the nanite treatment, she was wondering when they were going
to start asking questions about the doctor.  She had to put these people at
ease.  "Yes, what about him?" she asked innocently.
    "We're concerned Kathryn.  Please understand, we've been at war with the
machines for decades.  Our own creations destroyed our civilization.  At first
we created our machines to help us, and later on they eventually turned against
us.  We're concerned that the same thing could happen to you," Adama explained.
    "Bill, we're well aware about the dangers of creating sentience in our
technology.  In fact, we've had a few problems ourselves over the years.  Early
in our history, when robotics was still in the realm of science fiction, an
author developed the Three Laws of Robotics," Janeway said.  She explained to
them the three laws.  "These laws are part of every piece of intelligent
hardware we have.  Programs and such are unable to change or modify these laws
themselves.  It's as much a part of their being as our hearts are to us."
    She looked into their faces, and she saw doubt in them.
    She continued, "The doctor is a unique being.  He's the Emergency Medical
Hologram, which means he was only designed to be activated in an emergency if
the normal flesh and blood doctor was killed, incapacitated, or swamped with
patients.  When we were first stranded here in the Delta Quadrant, our original
and only doctor and nurse were killed.  Our original mission parameters stated
that we would only be gone from home a few weeks, we never imagined that we'd
be flung to the other side of the galaxy with the idea that it would take 70
years to get home."
    Janeway took another sip of her coffee, pausing long enough for Roslin and
Adama to digest what she just said.
    "Since the doctor was only programmed as a short term supplement to the
real medical staff, we had to modify and expand his program, or else he would
break down.  He was given the ability to expand his program on his own.  To
grow so to speak.  But never was he given the ability to modify the laws of
robotics that are embedded into his ethical subroutines on his own.  And quite
frankly, we didn't have a choice.  He's saved the lives of everyone on this
ship, including mine.  He's grown as a person and become a vital part of our
family here on Voyager.  The doctor is unique, one of a kind.  He's far more
sophisticated than any hologram you'll ever see.  He's incapable of doing harm,
and we, nor the Federation are in danger of being overrun by our holograms or
AIs," she explained.
    Adama didn't entirely understand or accept Janeway's explanation, but he
understood that the doctor was Voyager's only doctor and they trusted him.
That would do for now.
    "I can understand your situation Kathryn.  And under normal circumstances,
you would have a real flesh and blood doctor.  But some of my people might not.
That's why we would appreciate it if you kept the doctor's origins a secret for
now.  Or at least until my people have become more acquainted with your
Federation and its beliefs.  I've given orders to the people that accompanied
me last night and today, to not say a word about the doctor being a hologram,"
said Adama.
    -These people are handling it better than I thought.-  Janeway let out a
mental sigh.  "Thank you for your understanding Bill.  And I agree.  I'll
instruct my crew on this matter.  Perhaps someday when your people adjust to
our culture and beliefs, I'll let the doctor's secret out."
    "There's been something I've wanted to ask you about.  Since the doctor is
a hologram, shouldn't he be able to only exist on your Holodeck," asked Roslin.
    "Under normal circumstances, that would be true," explained Janeway.  "But
Voyager, along with other starships that are equipped with an EMH, has
holographic emitters installed in sick bay."
    "Then how can he get around other parts of the ship?  How can he exist
outside of Voyager and come to -Galactica-?" asked a puzzled Roslin.  Adama
wanted to know the answer to that one as well.
    "If you'll notice, the doctor wears a triangular device on his arm.  It's
called a portable holographic emitter.  It's a piece of technology we acquired
from the future," smiled Janeway.
    "The future?" asked an incredulous Adama.
    "Yes, the future.  I'm not joking.  It's a long story and I'll let you read
our logs on the incident.  And speaking of technology, I noticed that there
were eight of you in your raptor.  We have transporter technology that allows
us to transport from place to place almost instantly.  It's our normal mode of
travel between starships.  We could transport you directly to Galactica so you
wouldn't all have to crowd into the raptor," said Janeway.
    "And how does it work?" asked Adama was intrigued ever since they mentioned
it the other day.
    "It's a device that breaks down your structure at the quantum level, beams
it to another location, and reassembles your molecules at that location.  It's
quite harmless and painless," Janeway answered.
    This was a little too much for Roslin to comprehend.  The thought scared
her.  -But it's the normal mode of travel for these people,- she thought.  She
didn't want to insult Janeway's hospitality, but she ready to be `transported'
either.  Not just yet.  She could imagine Bill was thinking the same thoughts
by the look of consternation on his face.
    "If you don't mind, we'll respectfully decline for now," said Adama.  "This
is all so new and everything is happening so fast.  I hope you understand if we
decline your offer for now."
    "That's quite understandable Bill.  Just keep in mind that later on in this
journey, we're going to have no choice but to use it.  Especially in time
critical situations when we'll have to forgo using a shuttle to transport
between ships," said Janeway.
    "You've given us a lot to think about Kathryn," said Roslin.
    "I know.  There's just so much to absorb," replied Janeway.
    "I can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.  We've never met another culture
in the history of our Colonies," said Adama.  He had finished his coffee.
    "I don't want to appear condescending Bill, but we've had extensive
experience in contacting other cultures.  I'd be lying if I said everything's
always gone right, because we've had our share of problems when we've
encountered other cultures.  But we've learned quite a bit from those mistakes.
Starfleet's main mission is exploration, and we're out here to seek out new
life and new civilizations," Janeway said proudly.
    "Those are nice words Kathryn," said Roslin.  She left the others unsaid.
She hoped that they could trust Starfleet and the Federation.  Because they
were all her people had at the moment.
    Seeming to read her thoughts, Janeway said, "I hope we can earn your trust
Laura.  We're in this together now, and we're going to have to trust each other
if we're going to survive and make it home."  She turned to Adama.  "Your
handing over the jump drive specifications really meant a lot to us."
    "Well, it would really mean a lot to me if I could see your Holodeck
again," Adama joked.
    Janeway laughed and touched her comm badge.  "Janeway to Paris," she
seemingly said into the air.
    Tom's voice came over the speakers.  "Paris here."
    "Mr. Paris, where are you and our guests?" she queried.
    "Oh, we're lying on a beach on Risa, having margaritas," he laughed.
"Would you care to join us Captain?"
    Janeway looked at Adama and Roslin, they nodded.
    "We're on our way Mr. Paris.  The Admiral and the President will be
stopping by on their way back to Galactica," she answered.


*Chapter 6*

*Agro ship Dionysus's Fields*

    It was quiet, save for the sound of Baltar's snoring.  Jenny slipped out of
bed and glanced at Gaius to make sure he was sleeping as she quietly put on her
clothes.  Gaius had his arm over Cassie, her friend.  Satisfied that he was
sound asleep, she slowly opened the door and headed towards her quarters.
Jenny was one of a handful of people that believed that Baltar was the prophet
that would save them all and usher in an era of peace with the Cylons.  They
all ardently believed that peace with the Cylons was the only way, and that
this constant flight was futile.  Originally, she belonged to the Peace with
the Cylons movement, and had constantly fed information to the New Caprica
Police about anything she heard about the resistance.  She couldn't understand
why some Colonists were fighting the Cylons.  -It was useless,- she thought.
Living in peace with the Cylons was the only answer.  -Couldn't they understand
that?-  Jenny, Cassie, and Carol had managed to slip Gaius off the -Galactica-
during all the confusion after the trial.
    She locked her door to see that her son, Marcus, was sound asleep.  She had
been listening to the wireless news broadcasts of the encounter and subsequent
meetings with the supposed Earth ship -Voyager-.  -The Cylons need to know
what's going on.-  She reached under her bed and pulled out the wireless that
she had been given on New Caprica, and activated it.  Checking to see that the
prearranged frequency on the wireless was set, she began to transmit...


*Hirogen Hunting Vessel B'yawak*

    The alpha wandered the bridge, studying various readouts.  All systems
looked nominal.  He was proud of his new ship, it carried the very latest
weapons, shields, and an extra layer of monotanium armor.  He was confident
that the B'yawak would bring him even greater respect.  It was he that received
the glory of the last kill.  It was extremely resilient prey.  The relic hung
in the center of his board, the large skull dominating the display.  Species
8472 the humans had called it.  After -Voyager- had beamed him and the prey off
their ship, he had finally made the kill.  The respect and honor he had
received afterwards was more than he could have hoped for.  Females flocked to
him, and he was able to sire several young hunters.  He had originally set out
with his alpha years ago, and the hunt had so far not resulted in the
collection of many relics until they came upon the prey that took the alpha's
life.  His alpha had underestimated the creature.  He wished there could be
more of them.  Then there was the humiliation that the human, Janeway, had
visited upon him.  -Caging a hunter!-  She had briefly allowed him on the hunt
aboard her ship, but it was only for the purpose of capturing the creature, not
killing it.  It was only when his fellow hunters were closing in that she
beamed him and the prey off her ship.  Now, she and her ship would make
resilient prey.  If they couldn't find any more species 8472 creatures,
-Voyager- would do.  He was looking forward to displaying her relic next to the
species 8472 skull and he would eat her flesh as was the custom of his people.
    The B'yawak was traveling with hunting group 37 when they came upon a
faint, decaying warp trail.  -Voyager-!  His sensors had determined that it
belonged to Janeway's ship.  He insisted to the Alpha Prime, leader of the
group to pursue -Voyager-, to which the Prime had reluctantly agreed.  The
Prime didn't think one ship worthy of a whole hunting group, but prey had been
scarce.  The group had proceeded slowly, so as not to lose the trail.  Then
this morning, the sensors of the lead ship had detected six large ships at
extreme sensor range.  The group had immediately decided to pursue this new
group of prey, while he had insisted on his pursuit of -Voyager-.  The hunt
leader had grudgingly agreed.  He had told the Prime that it was a matter of
honor that he continue the pursuit of -Voyager-.  Under normal circumstances,
the Prime wouldn't have honored his request, but he was the slayer of the 8472,
and that carried some weight.  His own beta had insisted that they follow the
group.  A hard fist to the face had changed his mind.
    "The trail grows faint," his beta reported.
    "Then slow to accommodate the sensors!" he replied.  He was sure that
-Voyager- didn't know that he was on their trail, but he wouldn't take the
chance.  He was a patient hunter.  There was a nebula 11.9 light years ahead.
-Would Voyager head for that?-  He would not make any assumptions.
    "Engage stealth mode!" he ordered.
    The beta turned to another console and manipulated the controls.  "Stealth
mode activated," he replied.  The lights dimmed, indicating that the stealth
mode was functioning.
    "Good!" he answered.  -Voyager- was resilient prey, and he had no intention
of letting it get away.  He would follow slowly and patiently and study his
prey.  He would strike when the time was right.  He looked at his sensor
display.  It would take them a week to reach the nebula, if that was where
-Voyager- was headed.  But a week was nothing to a Hirogen hunter.  They were
known to stalk their prey for months, or even years at a time.  And he would be
patient, very patient and savor every moment of the hunt.


*USS -*Voyager*-, Captain's Ready Room*

    Janeway studied her PADD.  On it was a draft copy of her full report to
Starfleet Command and the Federation Council concerning her decision to grant
asylum to the Colonial survivors.  It contained a brief history of the
Colonies, the Cylon Wars, the Holocaust, and the subsequent flight of the
survivors.  Also included in the amendments were the specifications of the
Colonial jump drive as well as her plans for upgrading -Galactica-'s defenses
and the lease agreement.  She had decided long ago when -Voyager- was first
stranded in the Delta Quadrant, that she'd be prepared for contact with
Starfleet.  That served them well when they had first made contact with
Starfleet almost a month ago when she transmitted her logs through the micro
wormhole.
    Her door chimed.
    "Come" she answered.
    Commander Chakotay walked in, bearing a PADD that would give her the latest
status updates that she asked for.
    "So what have you got Chakotay?" she asked.
    "We're in the preliminary planning stages of -Galactica-'s upgrade," he
answered.  "It's going to be a challenge integrating our systems with theirs,
but not an insurmountable one.  Adama's sending over their chief of maintenance
NCO, a Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol with -Galactica-'s schematics.  He's the
closest thing they have to an engineer."
    "A maintainer isn't exactly an engineer, but he'll have to do," she
replied.  "I assume you'll have Lessing, Gilmore, Morrow, Sofin, & Tassoni
report to astrometrics with the other installation teams to meet with Tyrol and
his crew and have them work together for this install?"
    "Of course.  Lessing and company jumped at the chance to be on the install
team.  It didn't take any prodding on my part at all, they've been looking for
a chance to become useful again.  And Harry already completed the removal of
the sensor package from one of our shuttles this morning," Chakotay replied.
    "Has Adama located Baltar yet?" she asked.
    "He told me this morning that he hasn't located him yet, but he's going
through some unofficial channels to find him.  Evidently this Baltar person is
being kept somewhere by a cult that's sprung up around him.  Most likely
remnants of a certain "peace at any price with the Cylons" faction that the
Colonials had trouble with a while back.  I was thinking of having Seven and
the doctor evaluate him... if he can be located," answered Chakotay.
    "How about -Galactica-'s scouting mission?  They sent out raptors yesterday
if I recall to scout the surrounding systems.  Did they find anything?" Janeway
inquired.
    He shook his head.  "Nothing.  But their sensors are significantly less
advanced than ours, they could have missed something.  And the target systems
they sent the raptors to were only the ones that they could identify with their
optical telescopes that might contain food & tylium.  I told Adama that they
could have missed something.  He seemed a little miffed at that."
    "Well, next on the list will be having B'lanna start adapting the jump
drive to the -Delta Flyer- and our type nine shuttles.  That way we can give
-Galactica- a hand in scouting for food.  Speaking of which...."  Janeway
picked up her PADD.  "B'lanna and Seven are saying that they've been able to
get the jump drive accuracy down to below one percent in their simulations.
They say we could begin flight tests as soon as tomorrow."
    "I read their report as well.  With something as untested for us as this
jump drive, I recommend we only take a few jumps at first, no more than one or
two light years.  That way we can head back in a reasonable amount of time," he
cautioned.
    For once, Janeway agreed with him.  She always considered Chakotay a little
too cautious but this time he had a very valid point.  The Cylons weren't
likely to attack again so soon, but she had to take into consideration the jump
drive into her strategic planning, they could literally pop in with no notice
at all.  They weren't a serious threat to -Voyager-, but they could take out a
few civilian ships as they spun up their jump drives.  And -Voyager- was
responsible for their protection.
    "Agreed.  We won't take any longer jumps until the -Galactica-'s been
upgraded," she said.
    "And President Roslin will be coming over for her final treatment, and the
doctor wants to be able to starting training Cottle on how to use the
instruments.  And he plans to start transporting the medical supplies to
-Galactica- today so he can start helping Cottle deal with the huge backlog of
patients.  He's going to be pretty busy for a while," reported Chakotay.
    "It's a good thing he's a hologram.  He doesn't need any sleep and can stay
online for months at a time before needing his mobile emitter recharged,"
Janeway said.
    "He does have his uses sometimes," Chakotay agreed.  "Oh, and Lee Adama
asked me yesterday how we were able to train Cottle to be obedient," said
Chakotay
    "Train him?  What did he mean by that?" asked Janeway.
    "He mentioned that Cottle isn't normally so cooperative, that he's quote a
cantankerous old man unquote," said Chakotay
    "Well, during the dinner, Cottle told me he was on his way to retirement
when the Colonies were attacked.  For the last 3 years, he's been overwhelmed
by the number of patients, and he was one of only a few doctors.  I imagine
that would make anyone cantankerous.  And now that he sees that we're able to
help.  We probably lifted a heavy burden off his shoulders, which probably
explains his good mood," Janeway explained.
    Chakotay looked thoughtful.  "I suppose you're right."
    "There's another thing, Adama requested another tour of -Voyager- be
conducted tonight," he said sheepishly.
    "Another tour?  What for?" asked Janeway.
    "Adama said that their Vice President Zarek, the members of the Quorum and
some reporters have requested a visit with -Voyager-.  I went ahead and gave
the okay.  They'll be arriving with the President this afternoon..."
    -Oh, just great,- she thought.
    "Is there something else?" she asked.
    "Only that you were requested to be their guide," Chakotay smirked.
    She let out a resigned sigh.  More politics.
    "In that case Chakotay, I better start reading up on Colonial history and
politics.  Short of a real world emergency, I don't want to be disturbed for
the next few hours," she ordered.
    "I can do the tour for you Kathryn," said Chakotay.
    She held up her hand.  "No, this is something I have to do, otherwise it
could look like an insult if someone other than the captain showed them
around," she explained.  But if she knew Chakotay, he'd been reading up on
Colonial history as well.  "But it would be a good idea if you came with me and
backed me up," she added.
    She was sure that the Colonials had other ships other than raptors for
intership travel, but it appeared that they didn't have any at the moment.  It
would be a good idea for -Voyager- to send over the -Delta Flyer- as well as a
few shuttles to help ferry the visitors.  That is until they accept the idea of
traveling via transporters.
    "Chakotay, have the -Delta Flyer- and a few shuttles sent over to help
ferry the Quorum and their entourage," she said.
    Chakotay grinned.  "I anticipated that you'd want that.  So I've already
assigned the pilots for the job," he answered.
    -Have I become that predictable?- she thought.  -I'm going to have to
change that.-


An hour later....

    Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol and his wife, Specialist Cally Tyrol were
being escorted to what the -Voyager- people called astrometrics.  He was
carrying the schematics of the -Galactica-, and he was assigned to work with
the -Voyager- installation teams on getting shields and weapons installed.  He
had read up on the basics of the shields, what they could do, how they would
do.  Tom Paris had transmitted the information to him earlier that morning.
But he didn't understand the physics behind it.  -I guess that's for the
engineers to figure out, I'm just chief of maintenance, and it's my job to keep
these things running.-
    Beside him, his wife took in the sights of the ship.
    "What did you think of their landing bay Galen?  They have this `force
field' that keeps the bay from being open to vacuum.  Think maybe we can get
these force fields for the landing bay?  That way we can repair the constant
damage that's done to the deck from all the flyboys without having to wear
pressure suits," she asked.
    "I hope so, maybe in the future," he replied.  "From what Tom told me their
replicators are going to be working non stop-fabricating the materials and
parts for these shield generators and phaser banks for a while.  He said they
won't have the resources to do more for while until we find some place to
re-supply."
    Cally still looked hopeful.  And she was hoping that -Voyager- would be
able to share some food supplies as well.  Word had gotten out about the
fantastic food replication technology that the Earth people had and people were
getting a bit envious of how the -Voyager- people lived.  Walking through the
corridors, she could see why.  They weren't dingy the way -Galactica-'s
corridors had become over the years.  And the landing bay had looked
sparklingly clean.  She was hoping to have the chance to bring a little food
back for their son, Nicholas.  It broke her heart that her baby had only algae
cakes to eat.
    "Can these food replicator machines make food for people in the fleet?" she
asked hopefully.
    Tyrol looked thoughtful.  "Tom said that these replicators take the basic
molecules of food, and assemble them into the molecular pattern of whatever
food they need," he answered.  Tom had explained that although it appeared that
the replicators made food out of thin air, they really didn't.  Even the
replicators had to have material to work with.  And they used the material from
molecular storage.
    "So what about our trash and refuse items?  Don't they share the same basic
molecules as our food, like carbon, hydrogen, water, etc?" she said.
    "Cally, I really don't think it works that way.  Besides, how would they
break them down into those individual molecules?" Tyrol replied.
    "Actually, she has a point," their guide broke in.  She turned to the
Starfleet crewmember.  He had pointed ears and slightly upturned eyebrows.  His
species is what they called Vulcan and his name was Ensign Vorik she recalled.
She was still not used to seeing aliens, and she was afraid she might have
offended him by staring when they had first met.  She felt she did by the way
he didn't speak to them much.  She didn't realize that was the natural behavior
of his species.  She couldn't have known that Vulcans normally didn't engage in
idle conversation.
    "As I was saying," he continued, "Specialist Tyrol has a point.  I intend
to relay your idea at the meeting."
    Tyrol whispered in her ear, "I hope we don't embarrass ourselves with this
idea."
    When the reached their destination, Vorik motioned for them to enter.
Tyrol had begun to straighten up the various rolled up schematic diagrams of
-Galactica-.  There were quite a few Starfleet crewmembers in the room he could
see, but he was busy straightening up the diagrams when Paris and Kim came up
to them.
    "Galen!  Cally!  Glad you could make it.  Now we can get this show on the
road," Tom said with a smile.  "This is my fiancee, Lt. B'lanna Torres.  She's
-Voyager-'s chief engineer," he indicated the pretty brunette next to him.
B'lanna must have noticed their stares at her forehead, she said, "How do you
do.  I'm B'lanna, and yes, I'm half Human, half Klingon."
    "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," Cally said sheepishly.
    To Cally's relief, B'lanna didn't look offended at all.  "Don't worry about
it.  I understand your culture's never been exposed to non humans before," she
said.
    "The only thing I've known about aliens were in science fiction movies,"
she answered, regaining her poise.
    Galen was looking around, his eyes flicking around the various consoles.
"Where's your scanner so that we can get these scanned into your computer?" he
asked.  Tom was about to reply when he heard Cally shout, "A Cylon!  Why do you
have a Cylon on -Voyager-?"
    Everyone's heads turned to look at her.  Kim asked, "What Cylon?  We don't
have any Cylons on -Voyager-.  The only Cylon that was on -Voyager- was Lt.
Agathon."
    "Not Athena, I meant him!" she was pointed to a black man in a Starfleet
uniform.
    Tuvok followed her gaze.  It was obvious that she was indicating crewman
Noah Lessing.  Lessing looked at her, a confused expression on his face.
    He indicated himself, "You mean me?"
    Galen came to her side.  "She right.  He's a Cylon, or at least looks like
a certain Cylon model that we know."  He looked at Lessing closely.
    "I assure you," Tuvok said in a no nonsense tone, "Crewman Lessing is not a
Cylon."  He pulled out his tricorder and made a show of scanning Lessing.  "He
is quite human, as are the both of you," and he turned the tricorder toward
Galen and Cally.  He minutely raised his eyebrow, but Galen and Cally didn't
notice.
    "Are you sure?" Cally asked.  She had moved slightly behind her husband.
She heard the Cylon humanoids could move fast and snap people's necks easily.
    "I am quite sure Specialist Tyrol," Tuvok confirmed.
    "Besides, you will be working with him very closely," said the knockout
blonde they called "Seven".
    "Come on, Lessing's no more a Cylon that you are Chief," added Kim.
    Tyrol managed not to jump when Kim said that.  -If they only knew,- he
thought.  -Not a good way to start a meeting, accusing one of their crewmen to
be a Cylon.-  He had already decided that Lessing wasn't a Cylon.  This Lessing
character looked slightly younger.  But the resemblance was uncanny.
    "The schematics," the blonde woman said icily.
    He looked around and saw a flat area in front of the display screen.
"Should I lay these out over there?"
    "There is no need," the ice queen replied.  She pulled out her tricorder
and started scanning the schematics he was holding.  A second later she was
finished.  "I am uploading the schematics to the computer."
    Kim manipulated some controls and a schematic of -Galactica- appeared on
the huge viewer.
    "We'll probably need the electrical diagram," Tyrol interjected, an the
electrical diagram of -Galactica- now appeared.
    "Ok people, let's get to work," B'lanna said.  And they got to work.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    A few hours later the meeting was finishing up.  Of particular interest to
Tyrol were the phaser bank and shield installation.  He had already thought up
of some promising maintainers that could be trained.  As they were beginning to
leave, Vorik spoke up.
    "I believe Specialist Tyrol has an idea that may help alleviate the
Colonial food shortage," he announced.
    They turned to her.  "Well I was thinking about how your food replicators
work, and I thought they could use our garbage and other refuse as a molecular
base.  But I don't have any idea you could break down the garbage into it's
molecular components to use as food," she said.  She mentally braced herself
for the laughs she knew would be coming.  All they've had to eat for a long
time were algae products, and even those had to be rationed.  The people were
practically starving, especially her son.
    B'lanna said excitedly, "That's brilliant idea Cally!"  The other Starfleet
crewmembers looked at her in confusion.  "We could use the transporters.
Instead of reassembling the garbage into their original patterns, we use the
transporters to break them up into their basic component molecules like carbon,
hydrogen, water, etc."
    Harry caught on.  "That's right, we could reprogram the transporter to do
just that.  Why didn't we ever think of this?" he asked.  It seemed so obvious
now to him.
    "Because Starfleet humans are not used to thinking of garbage as a
potential resource," said Seven.
    "That is correct," added Tuvok.  "Humans of Earth have not had to think of
reusing valuable resources for a very long time.  It is only now, that we have
been traveling back to the Alpha Quadrant that we have had to conserve our
resources.  Were we back in the Alpha Quadrant, this idea would not have
occurred to us."
    Galen patted Cally proudly on the back.  "That's my girl," he said with a
grin.
    "We should bring this up to the Captain and tell her the good news.  I bet
32,000 people produce a lot of waste daily.  And we might just be able to do
the same for the heavier metals," said Harry.
    Cally explained the food situation to them.  "I only wanted to bring some
food back to my young son, he's two years old and hasn't had anything decent to
eat for the past year, just algae cakes that taste like pond scum.  Our people
are practically starving," Cally said, her eyes downcast.
    "What?  You have a young son?" asked B'lanna.  She said to her group.
"Alright people, you have your assignments.  Let's get moving!"  She turned
towards Cally, "As for you," she grabbed Cally's arm, "We're headed to the mess
hall.  I'm going to make sure that your son has some food today.  Neelix may
not be the greatest chef in the quadrant, but at least his food doesn't taste
like pond scum!"
    "At least most of the time it doesn't.  But sometimes..." added Paris.
    "Hey!  Wait for me!" said Harry.  "Weren't we all supposed to have lunch
together?"
    Tom put his arm around Harry's shoulders.  "Sure Harry, you can be the
fifth wheel before you head over to -Galactica- for the communications and
sensor install," answered Tom.  While the other crewmembers headed toward their
respective duties, the five of them headed toward the mess hall.

    After lunch, Chakotay and Janeway were going over the minutes of the
engineering install meeting.  She was worried about the incident with Lessing.
He looked like a Cylon that the Colonials were used to.  That could cause some
problems.  She was elated about the news about the garbage to food via
replicator proposal.  She would be glad to have some good news to give to
Roslin and the Quorum when they arrived in a few minutes.
    "Chakotay, what do you think about Lessing?  She we pull him off the
install?" she asked concerned.
    He looked thoughtful.  "It might cause some problems in the beginning, but
once they get used to the idea that he isn't a Cylon, I'm sure they'll get used
to it."
    "I'll mention it to Roslin and her people.  They could mention it in their
next press conference that Lessing's not a Cylon, he just happens to look like
one of the models," she said.
    "Besides, they'll be more than overjoyed that we'll be able to solve their
short term food shortage.  Of course, we'll be expending a huge amount of
power.  But we can afford that while we're still in this nebula," he said.
    "Agreed.  We can stock up on food while we're here.  There's plenty of
deuterium, and the Colonials have plenty of garbage and waste to spare," she
laughed.  "But," she added, "They'll still have to replenish the seedlings for
their agro ships and our hydroponics bay.  And there's still the issue of
tylium.  They need fuel, so they have to continue with the scouting missions
for it.  We'll be able to help with the scouting once we get our shuttles and
the -Delta Flyer- fitted with the jump drive."
    "That means we'll have to use the transporter extensively.  They're going
to have to get used to the idea of transporters," he paused, "B'lanna mentioned
to me that Galen Tyrol wants to be the first to try transporting," said
Chakotay.
    "He did, did he?" she answered.
    "Cally said she wanted to be next if it was safe," replied Chakotay.
    Janeway clapped her hands together.  "Well then.  We can have a
demonstration for Roslin, the Quorum, and their press corps when they arrive."
She started fiddling with her comm badge.
    Upon seeing that, he said, "Uh oh.  Shall I just call for Red Alert?"
    She gave him a bemused look.  "Something tells me that something's about to
happen.  We've had a run of good luck lately and that certainly can't last
forever."
    "It never does," he agreed.  "But let's take advantage of this situation
while we can.  We can stay in the nebula for a week or two while the
installations on Galactica are completed and we replenish ours and the
Colonials food stocks.  Who knows when we'll have a chance like this again."
    She looked at her chronometer.  "Well, it looks like it's about time to
show the Quorum around.  Have you been reading up on colonial history?"
    "Yes, this Tom Zarek has interesting past.  He was locked up as a terrorist
until just after the holocaust.  He portrays himself as some sort of freedom
fighter," he said.
    "We'll have to keep an eye on him.  Now he's a politician and Vice
President.  Those types are always sharks.  Always on the look out for
opportunities and openings to advance his position.  He was the President for a
brief time after the exodus from New Caprica, and apparently relinquished the
position back to Roslin.  Now why would he do that?" she wondered aloud.  She
stood up.  "Let's go meet this shark."
    "And if this Zarek gives us any trouble, I'll show him the error of his
ways.  The Maquis way.  Freedom fighter to freedom fighter," he laughed.  He
was joking of course.


*Chapter 7*

*Command Center, Base Ship 76*

    A group of six very unsettled humaniform Cylons stood around the command
table of their baseship, their hands submerged in the bioelectric gel that
enabled them to interface with their ship and their own models.  Each was lost
in his or her own thoughts, the events of the last few days overwhelming them.
A familiar voice interrupted their reverie.
    "So you need me now do you?"  A Three walked towards them with a predatory
smile.  Not just any Three, but the Three known as D'Anna Biers.  She wore the
white blazer and skirt combo that she usually favored.  She was enjoying every
minute of their discomfort and she was going to rub it in.
    There was a long silence.  Cavil cleared his throat.  "Ahem."
    D'Anna looked at him for a long moment.  "Did you say something brother?"
she emphasized the word "brother".  All the other Cylons were watching their
interplay with keen interest.
    The Cavil models had been infused with a deep sense of pragmatism.  Whether
it was from the original Cylons, or their god, they didn't know.  But the Cavil
and all other Cylon models knew that pride was a human sin.  So in effect,
Cylons like Cavil had no pride to swallow.  Cavil knew it was better to work
with D'Anna than against her.
    "Actually, all our lines came to a consensus.  That with a momentous
decision such as this, we needed to bring you and your line out of cold
storage.  The whole Cylon race could be affected by our decisions here today.
You were boxed, and rightfully so, because you and your line continually defied
the group consensus.  But right now we need to put aside past differences and
work together.  Let bygones be bygones."  He held his arms open, a smile on his
face.
    That only infuriated D'Anna more.  She had been brought up to date on
current events when she merged briefly with the hybrid.  "I see," she hissed
menacingly, "a couple of mistakes have been made since I was put in the
freezer."  She turned to a Six.  "Caprica Six decides to take Hera and escape
with the traitor," she glared at Boomer.  "And a Cavil provokes and initiates
an ill advised attack on these new humans," her eyes finally resting on Cavil.
If looks could kill, the Cavil would have fallen over.  "All mistakes," she
continued, "worthy of boxing those lines," she concluded.  "Am I correct?"
    A Simon stepped forward.  "Which is why it was decided to bring your line
out of storage.  We need to learn from our mistakes, otherwise we would be no
better than the humans."
    "And it took you all two days to decide this?" she said tightly.
    A Leoben came to stand next to Simon.  "Yes it did D'Anna.  It's time you
got over it.  We're not asking for your forgiveness, although God blesses those
who do forgive."
    "Oh, I can forgive, but I won't ever forget," D'Anna said.  Although her
tone suggested otherwise.  She had seen the faces of the final five models
before she `died' and she wasn't about to reveal their identities.  -Besides,-
she thought, -I can't really be sure if it was a hallucination or not.  I'll
play that card when the time is right.-
    "We're receiving a transmission!" said a number five `Doral' model.
    "From where" asked Boomer, glad for the distraction.  The argument with
D'Anna was getting tiresome.  She once again submerged her hands in the gel to
access the transmission.
    "It looks like it's from one of our operatives.  Let's see... it looks like
Baltar was actually acquitted after his trial... this -Voyager- and Captain
Janeway claim to be from Earth and are journeying there.." Simon informed the
group.
    "What's even more disturbing is that the Colonials have requested asylum
and Janeway has granted it," finished Aaron.
    The group looked at each other, concern on their faces.  These new events
changed everything.  Not only was this new ship technologically superior, the
Colonials were now under their protection.  That meant they couldn't attack the
Colonials while they were under -Voyager-'s protection.
    "Well, let's look at the bright side, we can follow them to Earth now,
since this Janeway supposedly knows the way," said Boomer.
    "With `supposedly' being the operative word," countered D'Anna.  "There's
still no proof, and our operative has her own doubts."
    "There's more," added Boomer as she accessed the message.  "Earth is
supposedly part of these United Federation of Planets, in fact it's the
capital," she paused.  "This Federation is also composed of non human races."
    "Aliens?" asked Six.
    "That's what Janeway said during the press conference.  Our operative also
reported that these aliens were present during the initial visit by Janeway,"
said Boomer.
    Cavil was incredulous.  "Humans working with non humans?  Impossible!  We
all know that humans can't even live and work with us humaniform Cylons, much
less aliens.  Humans in general, are intolerant.  All of them.  New Caprica
proved that."
    For a long moment, no one said a word.  Finally, a Simon spoke up.  "We
have to remember that these humans aren't Colonials.  They didn't create us.
It's possible that these Federation humans have learned to co-exist with
non-humans."
    "Is that possible?" asked Six
    "It does appear so," answered Doral.
    "Maybe it's possible for us to make peace with these Federation humans?"
asked a hopeful Six.
    D'Anna had been wanting to get back into the conversation.  "Yeah, right.
After the Colonials give their version of history to -Voyager-, I doubt that
Janeway will even want to talk to us.  And what do you propose to say to them?
`Gee, we destroyed the civilization of your cousins, the Colonials, now we want
to make peace with you.  Could you show us the way to Earth?'" she said
sarcastically.
    Picking up D'Anna's train of thought, Doral added, "That brings up another
problem.  What if Janeway gives advanced defensive and weapons tech to the
Colonials?  The Colonials could come back to seek revenge against us.  It's in
their nature.  They could destroy in in the future."
    "Then it's even more imperative that we seek peace with this Federation,"
Simon said.  He looked around.  Six and Boomer were nodding their heads.
Leoben and Doral had a neutral expression on their faces.  Cavil and D'Anna
looked doubtful.
    "Let's hold on a minute," injected Cavil.  "It's still too early to make a
decision, and might I remined you all that none of this information is
confirmed yet.  All we have is the report of one of our operatives."
    Leoben spoke up.  "Let's go over what we do know, assuming the report is
accurate.  This Captain Janeway of -Voyager- claims to be from Earth and is
journeying there, and this -Voyager- appears to be all alone."
    "Correct," said Boomer.  "If -Voyager- is alone, that might mean that Earth
is close by."
    "That might or might not be the case," said Doral.  "We have seen that
-Voyager- possesses superior defensive technology, some kind of defensive
shield."
    "But we haven't seen any weapons," answered Cavil.
    "That's true.  It's obvious -Voyager- posseses advanced defensive
technology, logically, we have to assume that -Voyager- also posseses superior
weapons technology," said Simon.
    "I get the gist of what you're saying," said Boomer.  "If the Federation
possesses these advanced defensive and weapons technologies, then they must
have equally advanced enemies."
    Leoben continued, "We also know that the Colonials have requested and
received asylum from -Voyager-.  So that means we can't attack the Colonials
without getting -Voyager- involved."
    "We have to halt our aggressive patrols for now then," concluded Six.
    "I have to agree," said Simon.  "And if we make an enemy of this
Federation, we can't realize our destiny.  And our destiny is to reach Earth.
We may have to make peace with them."
    This was almost too much for Cavil to swallow.  He was sure this wasn't the
way.  It wasn't right.  Every fiber of his being resisted the very idea.
Humans were an inferior species.  They were a flawed creation.  God demanded
that the Cylons take humanity's place.  That's why it was God's plan that the
humans create the Cylons, to get rid of them.  But he couldn't deny that these
Federation humans had superior technology.
    "I don't think this is the right path," he said.  He was sure that D'Anna
agreed with him.  She had no love for the humans.  That was for sure.
    "Well, I vote we make peace with the Federation humans," said Boomer.  As
much as she hated the other Sharon who took her happiness, she still held that
tiny spark of humanity in her, despite what she said to the other Sharon.  Far
in the back of her mind, she was hoping to see Galen again.
    All around the table, Six, Leoben, Doral, and Simon voted yes.
    D'Anna surprised them all, including Cavil.  "I also vote yes to peace."
She turned to Cavil, a predatory smile on her face.  "Are you going to DEFY the
group, Cavil?"
    Cavil, seeing that they all looked at him, realized that he was in a no-win
situation.  Visibly deflated, he answered, "No, of course not."
    "Then it's settled.  We make peace with the Federation," D'Anna said
grandly.
    "Not just yet," Doral answered.  "We still have to verify our operative's
report.  I say we wait a few weeks and see what happens.  It doesn't look like
they'll be leaving the nebula yet."
    "What about food?" asked Boomer.  "They still need food.  And from the
previous report, they're running low on tylium.  Tyrol even led a labor strike
on the tylium refinery ship."
    "Then we wait for a follow up report from our operative," said Six.
    "Then we wait," said Simon.  That was something they all could agree on.
Unfortunately for the Cylons, they weren't going to have much of a chance.


Two days later....

    Boomer was on her way to the command center when she was thrown off her
feet.  An explosion rocked the ship.  She got up and ran the rest of the way to
the command center passing various injured humaniform Cylon along the way.
When she reached the command center, everything was in disarray.  The
centurions however, looked none the worse for wear.
    "What's happening?" she yelled.
    "We're under attack," Cavil answered.
    "I can see that!  By whom?  -Voyager-?  The Colonials?" she asked.
    "See for yourself," said D'Anna.
    Boomer submerged her hands in the gel, interfacing with the ship's sensors.
A DRADIS display immediate formed in her mind.  There was nothing on it except
their own ships.  She switched to optical sensors.  It was then she noticed
seven small ships.  And they were firing on them with some kind of beam weapon.
    "Have the resurrection ship jump at once," ordered Doral.
    "30 seconds before they can jump," answered Simon.
    "We need to buy them some time," answered Boomer.  She had taken stock of
the situation.  Seven small ships were firing, taking out missile batteries.
These new enemies were methodically taking out their weapons.  The whole
group's raiders had been launched and were headed toward the enemy.
    "Launch everything we have, including the nukes," said D'Anna.
    "Launching now," confirmed Cavil.
    The five baseships launched every nuclear missile they had.  Boomer watched
transfixed as the missiles sped away towards the enemy ships.  A moment later,
she was dissappointed as she watched the enemy ships fire their beam weapons,
destroying every single missile launched at them.  None of the missiles were
even close to their targets as they were destroyed one by one.  However, since
the enemy was so intent on intercepting their nukes, the resurrection ship
jumped away in a flash of light.
    "The resurrection ship has jumped to the emergency coordinates," Leoben
confirmed.
    Boomer returned her attention to the battle.  Their raiders were almost
there.
    "Try the logic bomb," ordered Cavil.
    "I'm having the lead raiders transmit... now!" answered Leoben.
    On the lead raiders, the logic bomb was being transmitted to these unknown
aliens who dared attack them.  Moments later, the lights went dark on those
ships and they started drifting.  Sensing victory, the raiders began launching
their own missiles.  A few of the closer ones began their strafing runs.
    Boomer looked on in dismay as the raiders' missiles seemed to have no
effect.  The rounds from the raiders' canons seemed to merely bounce off the
ships.  -Some type of armor!- she thought.
    "Now that we've disabled them, we could've used those nukes right about
now," said Doral.
    "We don't know if those would have worked either.  It appears that standard
anti-ship missiles are ineffective against their armor," said Simon.
    They continued to watch as their raiders launched missiles and continued
firing on the enemy ships.  Explosions racked the enemy ships, but as the
explosions cleared, they could see that the enemy ships were undamaged.  How
long the enemy ships would be disabled was anyone's guess.  The baseships added
their own firepower to their raiders.  The baseships launched their heavier
missiles from whatever missile batteries they had left.  Their heavier rail
guns adding to the tons of metal flying towards the enemy.
    The enemy ships continued to absorb whatever the Cylons could throw at
them.  And still, they appeared intact.  Slowly, one by one, to the Cylon's
horror, the lights came back on in the enemy ships.  The ships started firing
on their raiders.  Whenever a beam touched a raider, it exploded in a
spectacular ball of flame.  Eventually, over fifteen hundred raiders ceased to
exist.
    -They're toying with us!- Boomer thought.
    "How long before we can jump?" she yelled.
    "Two minutes to jump," answered Cavil.
    "We're not going to last 30 seconds against those ships," retorted Boomer.
Unfortunately for her, who ever was aboard those ships believed in taking time
with their enemy.
    "We're receiving a transmission!" said Six.
    "We are the Hirogen, and you are our prey," was all the gruff, slightly
muffled voice said.  Boomer couldn't tell if the voice was human or not.  But
she could tell that the voice was confident, the voice of command.
    "Hirogen?  Just who in hades are the Hirogen?" asked D'Anna.
    "I don't know, but they're ignoring our transmissions," reported Doral.
    The Hirogen ships now turned their attention back to the baseships, firing
their devastating beam weapons at the Cylon missile turrets and rail guns.
Soon, the output from the baseships slackened, then went down to nothing.  The
were now defenseless.  One Hirogen ship fired it's beam weapon, the beam
spearing the closest baseship in the middle and emerging out the other side.
    "The hybrid of baseship 57 reports that their FTL drive is down!  They're
unable to jump!" yelled Doral.

    On baseship 57, two large humanoids appeared in the command center in a
sparkle of light.  These humanoids were large, wearing blue black jagged armor.
They wore face masks that obscured their faces, leaving only their eyes
visible.  One had two red marks on his helmet, as if they were hand painted on,
while the other had two white marks.  They carried huge silver rifles, which
they immediately began using on the humaniform Cylons.  Screams echoed out of
the command center as humaniform Cylons were gunned down one by one, each with
huge holes in their chest or back.  Within seconds, every single humaniform
Cylon in the command center was dead.  The hybrid, in her chamber two decks
down, summoned a score of centurions to the command center.
    One Hirogen was busy decapitating a number eight to collect as a relic when
the centurions rushed into the command center.  The centurions mobbed the two
Hirogen.  At first the Hirogen held off the centurions with their rifles as the
centurions tried to blast them with their hand guns, creating a deadly wall of
lead.  But the Hirogen returned fire, blowing away centurions left and right.
Seeing that the aliens were unaffected by their guns, the centurions went to
their next pre-programmed course of action, and began forming their battle
claws.  The Hirogen smiled beneath their masks and pulled out their blades.
Hand to hand combat is what they lived for!  They roared at the centurions,
eagerly anticipating the battle to come.
    The centurions charged, their claws bared and ready rend and rip the
intruders to pieces.  Using their numbers, they piled onto the Hirogen, claws
desperately trying to gouge at the Hirogen.  Unfortunately for the centurions,
Hirogen armor was far stronger than centurion steel by an order of magnitude.
First one centurion, then another, then another was thrown against the far
wall.  The Hirogen were using their vibro blades, cutting through centurion
amor with ease.  The two Hirogen cut down the centurions in a matter of
seconds, physically ripping apart any damaged centurion.  Soon there were no
more centurions left.
    The hybrid watched the scene in horror through her optical sensors in the
command center, transmitting the images to the command baseship.  The hybrid,
through her connection, realized the same thing was happening on the other
baseships and she sank into despair.  It was futile to send more centurions to
the command center.  They would be cut to pieces.  It was time to die.  She
activated the self destruct sequence...
    The Hirogen in the command center received a transmission from the lead
ship telling them the ship was going to self destruct.  The alpha ordered that
as many humaniform Cylons possible be beamed away.  -These humans were
resilient prey!- he thought as he was transported back to his ship.  The hunt
was going well.  The humans in a surprise move had temporarily disabled their
ships with a computer virus, something no other prey had attempted to do.  It
took a cold restart of their computer systems to get rid of the virus.  They
would not make the same mistake again.  The human computer virus would be
analyzed and a defense would be formulated against that.

    Back on baseship 76, the Cylons were in a panic.  They had watched the
scene on baseship 57 in undisguised horror, with almost the same exact scene
being repeated on the other baseships.  Their own baseship was slightly
damaged, but they were lucky, their FTL drive was intact because another
baseship was in the line of fire and had taken the brunt of the hit instead of
them.
    Boomer was determined that they learn from the scenes on the other
baseships.  She ordered two scores of centurions into the command center, their
claws retracted, guns out, their sweeping red sensors looking for signs that
the enemy might appear.  "Time to jump?" she screamed.
    "Five seconds," answered Cavil
    As he said that, two columns of light appeared in the command center, the
same type of large aliens that had appeared on the other baseships took shape.
    "Open fire!  Aim for their eyes!" she screamed to the centurions while
ducking for cover behind the command console.
    The centurions began firing at the Hirogen even as they finished
materializing.  The Hirogen started returning fire, blasting centurions and
humaniform Cylons alike.  D'Anna and Cavil weren't quick enough and were flung
to the other side of the room huge gaping holes in their chests.
    "We're jumping now!" screamed Doral, he was lying next to her behind the
command console.  His face was contorted in pain, his left arm and leg burned
off by a Hirogen weapon.
    The hybrid of baseship 76 completed the jump to the emergency coordinates,
leaving the battle behind, knowing that the hybrids of othe other baseships
would trigger the self destruct mechanisms for their own ships.  She wept at
the loss of her sisters while laughing at the same time, knowing that they
would be reborn into new bodies.  Like all hybrids, she processed so much
information from all her sensors and operating most functions of the ship, that
she was literally unbalanced.
    Back in the command center, the battle raged.  Bullets ricocheted off of
walls, beam weapons left scorch marks or gaping holes in humaniform Cylons and
centurions alike.  Then one of the centurions got off a lucky shot as it was
blasted into oblivion.  The round entered the beta's eyeball socket and exited
the back of his head.  The Hirogen went down even as his alpha continued to
fire at the centurions.  When the alpha saw his beta go down, he went into a
rage.  He pulled off his mask and threw it across the room.  He threw down his
rifle while pulling out his blade.  He was going to rip these humans and their
robots apart for daring to kill his beta.  He roared with rage and pounced on
the centurions, slicing them apart.  The centurions vainly tried to fight back,
but their claws simply couldn't penetrate Hirogen armor.  Soon there were no
centurions left standing.  Looking around at the blood spattered walls, human
body parts and mangled centurions lay everywhere.  He stooped to take the head
of a blonde human female.  Then the alpha pressed a button on his chest that
would activate the recall signal and transport him back to his ship.  Nothing
happened.  He pressed it again.  Still nothing happened.  It was then that he
saw Boomer on the other side of the command table, trying to crawl.  The alpha
jumped on top of her, pinning her down.
    "You must be responsible for this!" he roared.  With his left hand, he
grabbed the small human's throating, intending to squeeze the life out of her.
With his right hand, he reached for his blade, intending to take her head as a
relic.  Bringing his face centimeters from hers, he growled, "You pathetic
human, I'm going to enjoy terminating you."  Boomer gagged from his foul
breath.
    Boomer spotted a gun, partially covered by Cavil's body.  She slowly
reaching for it with her right hand, while her left vainly tried to pry the
Hirogen's hand from around her throat.  She couldn't breathe, as the Hirogen
had begun to squeeze her throat, trying to throttle her.  As she was about to
lose conciousness, a shot rang out.
    The Hirogen turned around, wondering who had the temerity to shoot him in
the back.
    Leoben stood there, the gun still smoking in his quaking hands.  A look of
absolute fear on his face.  The Hirogen smiled.  -Oh frack,- was Leoben's last
thought as the Hirogen deftly turned around and with one deft swipe of his
blade, Leoben's head went flying, landing on the pile of humaniform Cylons and
centurions.
    The distraction allowed Boomer to retrieve the gun.  When the Hirogen
turned back to her, she snarled "You're terminated fracker!" and pulled the
trigger.
    The alpha's brain barely had time to register his surprise when the bullet
entered his mouth and exited the back of his head, blowing off his helmet.
Blood and brain matter dripped down his back as his suddenly slack body
collapsed on top of Boomer.
    -Not again,- she thought as she blacked out.


*USS -*Voyager*-*

    Janeway threw herself on her bed, utterly exhausted.  Her tour of -Voyager-
for the Quorum had exhausted her.  For the thousandth time she was thankful
that Chakotay had been at her side, helping her answer questions from the
Quorum and their little bevy of reporters.  She'd gone into excrutiating detail
about the Federation government, its policies and how it applied to them.
There were a few of them who had interesting questions to be sure.
    The hard ones were the questions about religion coming from the Sagittaron
and Gemonese council members.  They had asked why Earth, the 13th tribe, no
longer worshipped the Lords of Kobol.  Chakotay, being the anthropologist, had
answered them that the knowledge of Kobol must have been lost over the
centuries.  While the knowledge of Kobol had been lost, he explained that Earth
still retained some knowledge.  They had gone to astrometrics, and Chakotay had
brought up the twelve signs of the zodiac and they had been amazed.  Roslin had
commented that the zodiac had retained the ancient names of the Colonies.
Chakotay had said the zodiac played an important part in astrology, and that
each sign of the zodiac covered part of the Earth year.  Doing a little mental
arithmetic, Janeway had proclaimed to Sarah Porter, the Sagitarron council
woman, that she was born on May 20, which made her a Taurus.  The Quorum,
including Roslin, had been intrigued at that.
    She was relieved that the anticipated controntation with Tom Zarek hadn't
come about.  He had greeted her with a toothy grin and politely introduced
himself, other than that, he seemed content to stay in the backround.  But he
seemed to be keenly observing everything.  He asked relatively few questions,
mainly questions about human rights and democracy in the Federation.  She
didn't believe his insincere smile for a minute and was sure he had to be
planning something.  What it was, she wasn't sure.  Probably something for
Roslin to worry about, not her.
    She had taken them to the holodeck and called up historical programs of
Earth and the Federation.  They had literally sat in the Federation Council
chamber seats and watched as the legendary Captain Jonathan Archer gave his
famous speech commemorating the signing of the Coalition of Planets Charter,
which would lead to the founding the the United Federation of Planets.  She had
brought up a holographic representation of a map of the galaxy, showing where
they were and where Earth was located, showing just how far they had to go.
They came away with an appreciation of the length of the journey ahead of them.
    The most amazing thing to the Quorum was the demonstration of the
replicators and the transporters.  One council member, had asked why -Voyager-
couldn't simply upgrade all their ships.  Janeway had explained that while
-Voyager- had the ability to replicate food and supplies, it took a large
amount of power to do so.  Once they left the nebula, they would have to search
for food and fuel when supplies ran low.  And she had said, that -Voyager- was
only a light cruiser, a short range science cruiser with a crew of 132.
-Voyager- simply didn't have the personnel or resources to do everything.
Adama had commented that while -Voyager- was short handed, the Colonials were
not.  He had said -Galactica- could help with any personnel resources she might
require.  -Galactica- was also carrying the crew complement of -Pegasus-.  Many
-Pegasus- crew members had gone down to New Caprica to settle, and -Pegasus-
had been left with a skeleton crew when the Cylons arrived.  After the battle
of New Caprica, many former -Pegasus- crew members had been rescued and
integrated into -Galactica-'s crew, but -Galactica- was way overcrowded.
Janeway had thought about that.  She had been thinking of beefing up
-Voyager-'s Hazard Team.  A large, completely outfitted and trained Hazard Team
could give them an edge in some hostile encounters.  She would talk to Tuvok
and Ensign Munro about recruiting new Hazard Team members from -Galactica-'s
colonial marines and start training them.
    She had taken them on a tour of the Starfleet Academy grounds and they ate
at the same Starfleet Command banquet hall, this time though, she had
programmed it for daylight, with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the
background.  Janeway had enjoyed giving them the news that -Voyager- would be
able to replicate food and supplies.  Chakotay explained how the process would
work, and that they would be able to begin transporting food supplies to the
Colonials.  The Colonials had stood up and applauded at that.  But Janeway
explained, they would need to use the transporters, since transporting food
supplies to all the ships in the fleet using shuttles and raptors would be just
too time consuming.  Most of the Colonials had seemed squeamish at the idea,
and the Sagittaron and Gemonese council members seemed downright adamant that
they could not abide by this method of transportation.
    That's when Galen and Cally Tyrol had volunteered to be the first Colonials
to be transported.  Tyrol had looked a little nervous at first but he bravely
stepped on the transporter pad.  Janeway had told the transporter chief to
transport Tyrol to -Galactica-'s CIC.  After he dematerialized, she wished she
could have seen the looks on the faces of -Galactica-'s CIC crew when Tyrol had
materialized there.  After a minute, she had Tyrol beamed back.  He had been
all smiles and excitedly told them all that he hadn't felt a thing, and that
one moment he was on -Voyager-, and the next moment he was in CIC.  He said
Colonel Tigh had been rendered speechless.  Adama laughed at that.  Seeing her
husband was safe, Cally Tyrol requested to be beamed to the maintenance deck
and back.  After beaming back to -Voyager-, she had stepped off the transporter
pad with a grin from ear to ear.  Janeway had explained to them that they would
have to get used to the transporter since this was the main method in the
Federation for traveling from ship to ship, or ship to planetside.  After that
demonstration, and repeated assurances from Janeway and Chakotay that the
transporter was entirely safe, most of the council members and reporters,
including Adama and Roslin, had agreed to be transported.  The Sagittaron and
Gemonese council members still balked.  They would ride back in the shuttles
they said.
    Doctor Cottle had been requested by the doctor to remain on -Voyager- for
the night so that the doctor could start train him in the use of Starfleet
medical instruments, to which Cottle had quickly agreed.  Which brought up an
interesting point she thought.  Thankfully, there were no questions about the
doctor, or even a single question about why the doctor didn't have a name.
They had been too distracted by Starfleet technology she surmized.  But that
wouldn't last long.  -It's time the doctor chose a name for himself, that would
help deflect any questions about his origins.  Right now, the Colonials assumed
he was merely another human from Earth.-
    After the Colonials had departed, Janeway had a long talk with Chakotay,
Tuvok, and Ensign Munro about expanding Hazard Team, and formulating a plan to
best make use of the Colonial's personnel resources.  Munro had said that he
would go to -Galactica- in the morning and work with Tigh on recruiting
potential candidates for the Hazard Team.  They had to be the best of the best
he had said.  Chakotay had joked that the holodeck was also going to be used
extensively for a while as Hazard Team members were trained.  He also mentioned
that they would also have to train the -Galactica- CIC crew on how to make use
of the phasers and deflector shields.  Tuvok said he would start programming
tactical scenarios for Adama and company.  Having deflector shields and phaser
banks would be useless if Adama and his crew didn't know how to use them or
make optimal use of them.
    She had just started to doze off when Harry's voice came over the intercom.
"Bridge to the Captain," Harry reported.  Janeway blearily looked at her
chronometer.  2335 hrs.  "This had better be good Harry," she warned.
    "It is Captain!" Harry's excited voice said.  "We're receiving a
transmission from Starfleet on the hypersubspace transceiver array."
    She jumped up.  "I'm on my way."


*Chapter 8*

-*USS Voyager*-

    Janeway hurriedly slipped out of her sleep wear and into her duty uniform
she had just worn, not even bothering to pull on a fresh one.  Harry had said
that they were receiving the long awaited transmission from Starfleet Command
on the hyper-subspace transceiver array, this was no time to observe the
niceties.  She was the Captain after all, so rank did have its privileges.  She
wondered what the message contained.  She remembered that Starfleet was using
the Mutara Interdimensional Deep-Space-Transponder Array System, or MIDAS for
short, to transmit the message at speeds that were never thought possible a few
years ago.  The brief conversation more than a month ago had lifted the spirits
of the whole crew, and they had even adopted Lt. Reginald Barclay, the person
they had talked to, as part of the -Voyager- crew.  They were able to transmit
their logs during the brief transmission and in return, they had received the
specs that would enable them to modify one of their transceiver arrays.  Last
year, when they had first made contact with Starfleet through the doctor using
the Hirogen relay stations, they had let Starfleet know that they were still
alive.  But the doctor had brought disturbing news of war in the Alpha
Quadrant.  The Federation and the Klingons were at war with a government called
the Dominion.  That had put a slight damper on the celebration.  But the
important thing was that the Federation now knew they were alive.
    She often wondered what would have happened to -Voyager- if they hadn't
been stranded in the Delta Quadrant.  During full war mobilization, -Voyager-
would be assigned to the 7th fleet under Rear Admiral Borren D'Gret.  But the
doctor hadn't been able to give more details because he had spent most of his
time informing Starfleet of -Voyager-'s survival and location.  Then a few
months later came the garbled transmission from Starfleet, and the subsequent
encounter with Arturis, who tried to have her and her crew assimilated by the
Borg.  Unfortunately, most of the message was heavily degraded, but they were
able to salvage a few letters and a message from Admiral Hayes that Starfleet
hadn't forgotten about them, but there was nothing they could do at the moment.
    Chakotay had told her that in a letter he received from one of his old
Maquis associates that Cardassia had joined some organization called the
Dominion and had wiped out the Maquis, with the lucky ones ending up in prison.
The former Maquis members of her crew had been enraged about that bit of news.
That had really affected B'lanna.  Janeway herself had been enraged and
couldn't believe that the Federation had allowed the Maquis to be slaughtered.
True, it had been her original mission to capture Chakotay and the Maquis, but
she resolved to follow her duty despite her personal feelings.  No one who had
served on the frontier and participated in the many skirmishes with the
Cardassians.  She remembered when she was a lieutenant, they had been cut off
from her ship and been in a three day long fire fight with the Cardassians.
Her commanding officer had ordered her and an ensign to save a wounded
Cardassian soldier.  At the time she thought he was crazy, but she was proud of
the fact that even though they were fighting with them, she kept her thin
veneer of civilization intact and saved that Cardassian.  She was sure they
wouldn't have done the same for her.  But that was alright.  It was part of
being human.  Over the years, as the conflict wore on, with little skirmishes
here and there, never fully blossoming into all out war, she never really
learned to trust Cardassians.
    When the peace treaty first came out, she and many other Starfleet officers
had voiced their displeasure with it.  The Federation had sold out its own
people for the cause of peace.  Then when the colonists had started fighting
back against Cardassian oppression, many Starfleet officers had sympathized
with their plight.  She had heard rumors about Starfleet officers looking the
other way when dealing with the Maquis and actually even helping them, but her
loyalty was to the Federation and nothing would ever change that.  She didn't
blame someone like Chakotay for resigning his commission to join the Maquis and
defend his homeworld.  But she was a Starfleet officer, and she would uphold
her oath and perform her duties despite her personal feelings.  And when
Starfleet had ordered Tuvok and her to capture Chakotay's cell, she went ahead
and followed her orders to the letter, even if deep down she didn't like it.
The orders were lawful.
    She hadn't received any questions about the status of Chakotay and the rest
of the Maquis who had been integrated into her crew.  As far as she was
concerned, they were part of -Voyager-'s crew.  She had the legal authority to
do what she did, which was allowing them to join the crew.  But once they
reached Federation space and -Voyager- was home, they would come under the
Federation's authority.  She'd be damned if anyone put any of her crew under
arrest for being a former Maquis, Chakotay included.  She'd fight tooth and
nail for them if she had to.  And she would use the discovery of the jump drive
as leverage in any legal proceedings.  That's why she specifically had B'lanna
lead the team working on it.
    From the instant Adama had handed her the specs for their jump drive, she
had resolved to send the specs to Starfleet Command at her first opportunity in
the hope that Starfleet could make use of this new technology and maybe mount a
rescue mission.  It would be the farthest rescue mission ever attempted in
history if they could pull it off.  She had held out the faintest hope that an
operation like that could be attempted.  But with the war going on, she doubted
that Starfleet would have the resources to mount such an operation.  Barclay
and Admiral Paris hadn't mentioned anything about the war during their last
conversation, but she surmised that there really wasn't enough time for Admiral
Paris to give them a status update.  They had barely enough time to receive the
hyper-subspace communications technology as it was.  She had begun to fear in
the last few weeks that the reason they hadn't heard from Starfleet was because
the Federation had lost the war, and that -Voyager- was heading home to nothing
but ruined worlds and lifeless planets.  She had managed to push that thought
to the back of her mind the last couple of days.  -It's irrational,- she
thought.  -Of course the Federation would be there when they got back.-  She
had decided that she would keep that thought to herself, as she didn't want to
dampen the spirits of the crew.  They had enough to deal with just trying to
survive in the delta quadrant without having to worry about their loved ones
back at home.  The fact that they were receiving a message from Starfleet
proved once and for all that the Federation was still there and intact.
    As she was rounding the corner leading to astrometrics, she saw Chakotay
heading the same way, and he felt in step with her.  And for once he looked
exhausted.  His eyes were red and puffed.  Evidently he had already been asleep
when the call came in from Harry Kim.
    "Looks like Harry woke you up at a bad time Chakotay," she joked.
    He laughed.  "This is one of those times when I was happy to be woken up,"
he said tiredly.  But he still had that twinkle in his eye that she found so
endearing.  "Harry thinks that Starfleet's found a way for us to get home,
maybe a stable wormhole or something," he added.
    She held up her hand.  "Harry's always had wild hopes, let's not jump the
gun here."

    When they reached astrometrics, she wasn't the least bit surprised to see
Tuvok, Seven, B'lanna, Tom, and Neelix already there.  Neelix had been his
usual efficient self and was pouring everyone coffee.  She knew Harry would
have been there, but he was up on the bridge.
    "Report," she ordered.
    "We have just finishing receiving the hyper-subspace transmission Captain,"
answered Seven.
    B'lanna was furiously working the controls of her console, and then looked
up with a smile.  "It appears the transmission is fully intact.  It contains an
information data stream," she added.
    "There is a message from Admiral Paris that is addressed to you Captain,"
said Tuvok.  "I am also pleased to inform you that there are also packets
containing news updates as well as letters addressed to the crew."
    "Now that's welcome news," she said.  "Is there any possibility that we can
transmit a data stream of our own?  I'd like to give Starfleet the latest
update on our situation here."
    B'lanna looked elated.  "From what I can determine, yes we can.  Lt.
Barclay says in the initial report that they're able to amplify the signal from
the MIDAS array by bouncing it off a Class B pulsar which rotates every 32
days.  The good news is that the rotation cycle peaks for 17 hours.  We've got
sixteen and a half hours left in this window to send our responses."
    "Now that IS good news Lieutenant," Janeway answered.  She handed B'lanna a
PADD she had been holding.  "You can have the honor B'lanna, of transmitting
our first data stream back to Starfleet."
    "I'll be happy to Captain," said B'lanna.
    Seven had been analyzing the method that Reginald Barclay had used to
transmit the data stream.  Then she remembered something.  "Captain, given
Starfleet's use of a rotating pulsar to send this data stream, I believe it's
possible to improve upon that method.  I request that Ensign Kim assist me in
this task.  If we are successful, it could improve our communications window
with Starfleet, possibly even make it possible to establish two-way real time
communications on a regular basis."
    Everyone in the room looked at her in surprise.  Their spirits soaring at
the prospect of regular contact with home.
    "Are you serious Seven?" Tom asked.
    "I believe it may be possible.  However, this will have to take priority
over my involvement with the -Galactica- upgrades given our limited time
window.  Otherwise, we'll have to wait another 32 days to transmit our findings
to Starfleet," Seven answered.
    "Do it," Janeway ordered.  "Have Lt. Carey fill in for you on the
-Galactica- upgrades.  This is top priority Seven."
    "Yes Captain," answered Seven.
    "What about the crew Captain?" asked Chakotay.  "Do we inform the crew?
It's late, and we all have a full day of work tomorrow with the -Galactica-
upgrades, jump drive testing, and starting the process of food production for
the Colonials."
    Janeway had already thought about that.  "Word of the transmission from
Starfleet is bound to leak out if it hasn't already.  I realize it's a little
late, but I don't want the crew distracted from their duties tomorrow.  The
crew's already been briefed to prepare their messages from home the instant we
make contact with Starfleet so they should have them ready."
    "I see your point Captain.  The morning shift might be a little tired from
staying up and reading letters from home, but at least they'll be happy and in
turn, more productive knowing that they were able to send a letter.  I'll
inform the crew," Chakotay said.
    Janeway turned to Neelix.  "Neelix, I'll leave it up to you to distribute
the letters and collect them from everyone."
    "Right away Captain!  And I'll make some extra coffee.  The morning shift
is going to need it," Neelix answered in his usual cheerful voice.  He was
going to be up late with this task, but at least he could afford to take a mid
morning nap before preparing lunch and heading over to the Colonial agro ship.
He was supposed to be providing some badly needed seeds from hydroponics to
help jumpstart the production of fruits and vegetables, until at least they
were able to find some new seed somewhere.
    "If I may Captain?" asked Neelix.
    "Yes Mr. Neelix?" she answered.
    "There's the very real possibility that not all news from home will be good
news," he said.
    B'lanna twitched at that.
    Janeway remembered and she looked at Chakotay who nodded soberly.  She knew
from experience that some crew members were inevitably going get some bad news,
perhaps a broken relationship, a Dear John or Jane letter, death of a loved
one, etc.  She had taken the news from Mark particularly hard, even though she
had expected it all along.
    "Are you volunteering your counseling services Mr. Neelix?"
    "I suppose I am Captain.  Since -Voyager- doesn't have an assigned
counselor.  Besides, I'm the ship's cook.  People come to me with their
problems all the time, or they just come to talk.  If I remember correctly from
reading your historical files, the crew members of the original USS Enterprise
came to talk with their chef quite often," Neelix explained.
    Janeway agreed whole heartedly.  Neelix had become something of an
unofficial ships counselor over the years.  She laid her hand tenderly on
Neelix's shoulder.  "Neelix, I don't know what we would have done without you.
You've become such an invaluable part of our family.  Thank you."
    The `family' reference wasn't lost on Neelix.  Neelix beamed.  "No problem
Captain!"
    Tuvok walked over to her.  "Here is your PADD Captain," Tuvok said.
    Feeling like a little girl who had received her first letter from Santa
Claus, she took the PADD.  "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some tactical
updates to read," she grinned.
    "Of course you do Captain," grinned Chakotay.
    "Of course.  Don't let the crew stay up too late," she answered.  Then she
immediately regretted it.  She sounded like a mother hen.
    They laughed.

    She headed out the door and to her quarters.  When she got there, the first
thing she did was hot sync the PADD with her personal computer.  On screen, she
noticed letters from her Aunt, sister, and Mark.  She skimmed the letters,
hoping that there wouldn't be any bad news.  Thank God, no bad news.  Everyone
was going fine, including her dog.  Then she got to the more official news
items.  The war with the Dominion was over it seemed.  But she began to read
about the various battles and casualties that the Federation and the Klingons
took.  Her fears were realized when she read about the 7th fleet's defeat at
Tyra.  98 out of 112 ships destroyed, twenty four thousand starfleet personnel
lost their lives that day.  It was a very real possibility that -Voyager- would
not have survived that battle had they not gotten stranded in the Delta
Quadrant.  Her mentor at Starfleet Academy, Admiral D'Gret had went down with
her flagship, the USS -North Star-.  She shook her head sadly.  Then Lt.
Commander D'Gret had recognized her aptitude for the sciences and had set her
on her path.  She owed the Bolian a lot.  She had taken Janeway under her wing
so to speak, and gave her the guidance she had so badly needed.
    She continued to read, the horror of the Dominion War hitting her.  So many
lives lost.  So many ships.  So many of Starfleet's finest gone.  It almost
made their adventures in the Delta Quadrant seem pale in comparison.  She
decided to skip reading about the history of the war for the time being.  She'd
get to it later.
    During the previous brief contact with Starfleet, Tuvok had been able to
transmit their logs, including all the information concerning her taking in the
Maquis as part of -Voyager-'s crew.  In fact, there was a video file of Admiral
Paris to her addressing this very issue.  She had a feeling of dread.  It just
wouldn't do to make it back to Earth only to have Chakotay and the rest of the
former Maquis put in prison.  She activated the file, and instantly Admiral
Paris' face appeared on the monitor.
    "-Captain Janeway,-" he began.  To Janeway, Admiral Paris' face looked
impassive.  It was the same stoic look that she had remembered him having when
she was his first officer back on the -Al Batani-.  Even then, she couldn't
read him.  She had once thought that he had a bit of Vulcan blood in him.  "-We
at Starfleet Command have been going over your crew logs, and to put it mildly,
we're amazed that Voyager has survived this far.  It's a tribute to Voyager's
Captain and fine crew, especially since you lost key members of your original
crew when the Caretaker snatched you away and pulled you into the Delta
Quadrant-."  He paused, a tiny hint of a smile on his face.  "-I'm quite sure
that you're wondering about the legal status of your crewmembers, the ones
formerly associated with the Maquis.  It's my pleasure to inform you that we
agree with your actions.  The Judge Advocate General has no legal objections to
you absorbing the Maquis crew members.  In fact, many of the former Maquis are
no longer considered criminals-."  She paused the recording, she knew Chakotay
and the Maquis were going to be ecstatic about this.  She continued the
recording.  "-During the Dominion War, we offered those Maquis who were not
convicted of murder or outright sedition, a chance to redeem themselves and
earn their freedom.  Many of them served well.  Even Ben Maxwell did his part.
Unfortunately, he was lost at the Battle for Bajor to retake Deep Space 9.
After the Dominion's defeat, the previous Cardassian peace treaty was abrogated
and a new one was drawn up, one that was fair to both sides.  As we all know,
the Cardassian Central Command had influenced that treaty, preferring to draw
the border so that it would give them a tactical advantage, not one that
respected their people or ours.  President Jaresh-Inyo then issued a general
pardon to those Maquis who hadn't committed murder or bonafide terrorist
actions.  So please give the good news to your former Maquis crew.  They have
nothing to fear, and whatever commissions that were given to them by you are
valid.  They're Starfleet, and that's what matters.  If and when Voyager makes
it home, they're free to remain in Starfleet or do whatever they want to do
with their lives-."  The recording ended at that point.  She felt as if a huge
weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  The question about what would
happen to the former Maquis had weighed heavily on her mind ever since she had
proposed to Chakotay to unify the two crews.  Now that her actions concerning
the Maquis were validated, she decided that they should be able to wear the
standard Starfleet rank insignia.
    She continued reading on into the night.  Her eyelids were getting heavy,
but she was so totally engrossed in her reading that when the computer chimed,
it startled her.
    "The time is now 0600 hours," the computer said.
    -Oh my God!  I stayed up the whole night!- she thought.  She went to her
replicator and ordered her fifth cup of coffee.  After gulping down her coffee
she jumped into the sonic shower while having a fresh uniform replicated.
After futiley trying to rid her eyes of the eyebags that had developed, she sat
back down at her desk.  She yawned and stretched her arms.
    The door chimed.
    -Probably Chakotay,- she thought.  "Come in," she ordered.
    He came in looking refreshed.  But she didn't fail to notice that he had
developed eyebags too.
    "Didn't sleep a wink, did you?" he joked.
    "Neither did you," she countered.  He chuckled.
    "How could I?  There was just so much to read," he said.
    "How about some breakfast?  We've got a long day ahead of us," she asked.
    He smiled.  "Is your replicator working?"
    "So far it is.  I've been saying sweet nothings to it for the past few
days, so it hasn't been acting up," she replied.


*Battlestar -*Galactica*-*

    They had decided to meet in the starboard landing pod, launch tube 6.  With
the arrival of -Voyager-, it hadn't been in use for the last couple of days.
The four stood looking at each other.  They had been arguing for the past few
minutes about what to do next.
    "We don't do anything!" Tigh roared.  "I don't give a gods damn what we
are, we're never going to betray the fleet!"
    "That much we can agree on.  I mean look at the four of us, we were
practically the leaders of the human resistance on New Caprica," Tory answered.
    "And the old Caprica," Sam added.  He had lead the faltering human
resistance on Caprica, taking out hundreds of skin jobs.
    "That's EXACTLY what we do," said Tyrol.
    "So what about -Voyager-?" asked Tory.  "Don't you think that sooner or
later they're going to find out?  I think their medical scanners are a hell of
a lot more sophisticated than ours."
    "I don't think they suspect yet," answered Galen.  "I've been scanned and
even went through their transporter device.  Nothing was said.  Maybe we're
different from the other Cylons.  Maybe we're more human than the other
models."
    "Models," Sam said disgustedly.  "The idea that there might be a skin job
somewhere running around with my face bothers the hell out of me," he spat on
the floor.
    Tigh agreed with that.  "Me too.  Fracking skin jobs.  And to think that
I'm some kind of skin job too just pisses me the hell off!"
    "I say we lay low for now.  Not say anything.  The Admiral or the President
is liable to chuck us out the nearest airlock if they found out.  I for one
don't want to wake up on some resurrection ship.  I couldn't live without Cally
and little Nicky," pleaded Tyrol.
    "Bill wouldn't do that to me, would he?" Tigh asked no one in particular.
    "I don't know.  But do you really want to take that chance?  You want to
wake up on some resurrection ship, in the hands of the Cylons?  I don't think
you want to be dealing with that D'Anna Biers for the rest of eternity, do you
Colonel?" Tory asked.
    "Frack no!  I'd end up trying to kill all of them, then their centurions
would shoot me down, then I'd resurrect and start all over again," Tigh said in
frustration.
    "We lay low then.  It's probably a good idea to stay away from that doctor
of theirs," Tory said.
    "And if one of us starts acting weird?  You know, get some idea about
sabotage, or contacting the Cylons or something.  What if we have some hidden
programming and it just comes on.  Remember what happened to Boomer?  She sure
as hell didn't know she was a Cylon," Tyrol said.
    For a long time, no one said anything.  That was their greatest fear.
    "Hey, if anyone might know something about hidden programming, Sharon
might," said Sam hopefully.
    "I think that's a great idea.  Do you think we can trust her?" asked Tory.
    Tyrol was convinced Sharon wouldn't rat them out.  "I'm pretty sure we can.
Her first loyalty is to the fleet though."
    "As is ours," said Tigh.
    "Then I think you should be the one to tell her Chief," said Sam.  "She
knows you.  She trusts you."
    "Alright, alright, I'll do it," Tyrol said.
    "Then we meet here again same time tomorrow.  Helo gave me the flying
schedule and Athena isn't due to fly tomorrow.  Agreed?" Tigh asked.
    They all agreed.


*USS -*Voyager*- Conference Room*

    As she and Chakotay watched her officers file into the conference room, she
noticed that she and Chakotay weren't the only ones who had stayed up all
night.  The only person who didn't look tired was Harry.  But she expected
that.  And of course the doctor.  Holograms didn't get tired.
    "It looks like hardly any of us got any sleep last night," Janeway
announced.
    "How could we Captain?" Tom answered.  "There was so much to read.  I even
got a message from my dad of all people."
    "Tell me about it," B'lanna griped.  "I kept telling Tom to get to bed and
he just ignored me."
    Chakotay cleared his throat.  "Ahem."
    "We need to get down to business," he ordered.  He turned to Neelix.
"Neelix, how did the distribution go?  Were there any problems?"
    "Actually Commander, it went smoothly.  So far no one's come to me yet.  I
offered each crew member the chance to come talk to me if there was something
in his or her message they found distressing," Neelix answered.
    "The day is young," quipped Tom.
    "Indeed.  You must take into account that each crew member will handle any
news differently.  I am not a counselor, but from my observations, many
humanoid species may have a delayed reaction to bad news," said Tuvok.
    "Speaking of which, did you get any news Tuvok?" asked Tom.
    "There is no need to be rude Lieutenant Paris.  Might I remind you that
these messages for -Voyager-'s families are private matters," answered Tuvok in
his usual emotionless voice.
    But Janeway knew Tuvok too well.  She could tell that he was actually a
little irritated.
    "Forget I asked," Tom said sourly.
    Trying to change the subject, Chakotay looked at Seven.  "Seven, you
mentioned last night that there's a possibility of establishing two way
communications with Starfleet?"  Everyone perked up at that.
    "Species 721," Seven replied.
    "Excuse me?" asked Chakotay.
    "Species 721.  The Borg once assimilated a species that experimented in
long range communications.  It involved reflecting a signal off a quantum
singularity," Seven explained.
    "That's right!" exclaimed Harry.  "I read a paper on that subject when I
was at the Academy.  It had limited results because subspace transmissions
didn't react that well with quantum singularities.  The quantum singularity
usually just cancelled out the signal."
    B'lanna was now intrigued.  "But now we have hyper-subspace frequencies,
which are a lot higher than normal subspace frequencies.  They just might be
able to bounce off the singularity much more easily," she said.
    Seven turned to Harry.  "Ensign, I require your assistance on this matter."
    "No problem.  I don't have bridge duty tonight, and I was supposed to help
with the install team in -Galactica-'s CIC this afternoon installing the
subspace sensors and transmitter," Harry said.
    "Oh, I think they can do without you for a little bit," Chakotay said.
"Besides, this takes priority."
    "Do it," Janeway ordered.  "I expect that you will have enough information
on your theory to send to Lt. Barclay at Starfleet.  The window's closing
soon."
    "Approximately 10.95 hours," added Tuvok.
    "Then we'll get right on it," said Harry.  "The MIDAS array might be the
ideal platform for this."
    Chakotay looked down at his PADD.  "What's the status of the -Galactica-
upgrade B'lanna?"
    "We're ready to go today.  Lieutenant Carey will be taking Seven's place on
the shield generator install team.  We'll be extremely short handed for a
while, but thankfully, all of -Voyager's- systems are functioning at 100
percent.  If we need anyone back, we can just beam them back since we've
revealed our transporter technology.  Joe's been itching for a chance to go
aboard -Galactica-, but I've had to tell him that he has to mind Voyager,"
B'lanna answered.
    "Yes, it's not like this a Galaxy class starship with over a thousand
people on board," Chakotay said.  "We've got less than 150.  We also have to
start the waste reclamation project so we can start replicating food and
distributing it."
    It seemed that they had more projects than they had people.  Her crew was
going to be extremely busy for the next few weeks.  They were fortunate to be
in a deuterium rich nebula.  The replicators were going to consume a lot of
power.  But it was necessary.  The supply and food stocks had to be replenished
before they could resume their journey.  There was no telling when they would
have the opportunity again.
    "Speaking of our manning shortage," Janeway said.  "Tuvok, what's the
status of the Hazard Team recruitment?"
    "Lieutenant Munro will be going over to -Galactica- this morning to inspect
potential candidates from their Colonial Marines.  After an initial orientation
and familiarization, I expect that they will begin training in the holodeck
this afternoon at the earliest, or tomorrow at the latest," answered Tuvok.
    Janeway nodded in approval.  Tuvok was efficient as usual.  She turned to
the doctor.
    "There's something that we have to work out doctor.  As you know, we're
going to keep your existence as a hologram a secret for now.  Only a few of the
Colonials know your true nature because it might cause some problems among
their civilians.  In order to help with this masquerade, you're going to need a
name," said Janeway.
    All eyes turned toward the doctor.  -This should be interesting,- Seven
thought.
    "I've been giving this some thought over the years and decided on a name
just for this sort of occasion," answered the doctor.
    "Well?  Don't keep us waiting doc," said Harry.
    The doctor looked confident.  "The name I've decided on is... Joe."
    All around the table, there were frowns of confusion.  Harry had his hand
over his mouth trying to suppress a snicker.  Tom nearly fell out of his chair.
    "It took you six years to come up with Joe?" he asked incredulously.
    "Yes, I've decided that `Joe' has a certain ring to it.  I think it adds an
air of distinction," the doctor said with air of confidence.  It was obvious he
was quite proud of his choice of names.  Tom was having none of that.
    "Oh, I suppose your last name will be six pack or public, or something.
How corny can you get?" said Tom, still flabbergasted by the doctor's choice of
names.
    "Well my grandfather was named Joseph, he mainly went by Joe.  And he was a
medicine man," said Chakotay.
    "Thank you Commander," said `Joe'.
    Janeway waived her hand.  "Joe will do just fine for now doctor."  She was
confused herself, but if that's what he wanted, then who was she to judge?
    She thought it was time for the announcement she'd been dying to make.
    "I've got an announcement to make.  It was contained in the message that
Admiral Paris sent me," she said.  She looked up at the ceiling.
    "Computer, put me on ship wide audio."
    "Acknowledged," the computer responded.
    Even Chakotay was caught unaware, and was mystified about what his captain
was going to do.
    "I'm aware that all of you have been reading the news updates from the data
stream we received last night.  The Federation has just been through a major
war, millions are dead.  But through it all, the Federation prevailed.  It's
still there."  She paused as everyone started clapping.  "I have even better
news.  The Cardassian Peace Treaty has been abrogated..."  There were shocked
looks.  "...and a new one has been drawn up, one that's fair to all involved.
By presidential pardon by President Jaresh-Inyo, and in concurrence with
Starfleet Command and the Judge Advocate General, most of the Maquis have been
pardoned, including those serving on Voyager."  This time she heard cheers.
Tom and B'lanna were hugging each other, Chakotay was shaking her hand, a big
smile on his face.  Seven had a bemused look on her face.  Everyone else was
smiling.  "Admiral Paris also informed me that those Maquis on Voyager may keep
their ranks and commissions when we reach home, or they can go back to civilian
life.  The point is the former Maquis are free."
    It took a few minutes, but the applause finally died down.
    "If that's all, then assemble the crew in cargo bay one, we're going to
have a pin on ceremony.  All former Maquis will have their ranks awarded to
them," ordered Janeway.  The meeting broke up as they headed down to cargo bay
one.
    As they left, Chakotay whispered to her.  "Sometimes you really do surprise
me Kathryn."
    "You'll find that I'm full of surprises Commander," she grinned
mischievously.  And together they walked to the nearest turbolift and headed
down to cargo bay one.


*Chapter 9*

*Battlestar -*Galactica*- CIC*

    Saul Tigh watched in amazement, as did the whole CIC crew when the
-Voyager- installation crew `beamed' into CIC for the first time.  They had
received a transmission from their XO that the install team would be beaming
into CIC, but the actual appearance of the team still startled him.  There
appeared at first, five columns of bluish white light that coalesced into five
humanoid forms.  They were wearing the usual -Voyager- jumpsuits, two were
wearing blue shoulders, the other three were wearing the gold shoulders.  Tigh
noticed that the Colonial marine stationed in CIC started to tense up.
    "Stand down marine!" Tigh ordered.  It simply wouldn't do to have the
marine pointing his weapon at the -Voyager- crew members.  The marine
immediately complied.
    But what immediately caught his eye was the bald, blue skinned alien.  He
hadn't seen this particular alien during the brief tour of -Voyager-.  He
wondered what species he belonged to.  This was too much like science fiction
he thought.  And the visitors weren't alone.  Two large boxes and a huge
rectangular monitor materialized along with the visitors.  -That must be the
display screen.-  It didn't look all that different from the plasma vid screens
you could buy on Caprica or the other colonies.  Colonial warships didn't have
large display screens, preferring multiple monitors to display DRADIS data.
Many of the CIC crew simply stared at the visitors, some with their mouths
agape.
    The blue skinned alien looked around the CIC, looking at the various bridge
officers, then finally his gazed settled on Tigh.  Tigh managed a weak smile,
and the alien walked towards him and extended his hand.  Tigh hesitated for a
brief second, and then shook the alien's hand.  -A nice firm grip,- he thought.
    "Ah, you must be Colonel Tigh.  I'm crewman Chell with the sensor
installation team.  It's a pleasure to meet you sir," the alien said.  The
alien was wearing what Tigh thought was a smile.
    "The pleasure's all mine," Tigh managed to say.  Tigh still wasn't used to
seeing aliens.
    Crewman Chell had seen that look before.  "Yes, we've been briefed that
your civilization hasn't had any contact with non-human intelligences before."
    "You can say that again," Tigh answered.  "We were too busy fighting off
the Cylons."
    "Well, don't worry Colonel.  We won't bite," Chell joked.
    Relieved that the tension was broken, Tigh joined in.  "So, what planet are
you from?"
    Pleased at the question, Chell answered, "I'm a Bolian, and my people hail
from the planet Bolarus IX.  We just call it Bolarus."
    "Is that far from Earth?  I mean, are you part of this Federation?" Tigh
asked.
    "I don't think Bolarus is that far from Earth, maybe 200 or so light years.
And yes, Bolarus is part of the United Federation of Planets," Chell explained.
    "If you're friendly with the 13th tribe, then you're okay in my book,"
laughed Tigh.  "Besides, we've been briefed that your people were to have full
access."
    "And we do appreciate it Colonel, that will make our jobs a lot easier.  We
don't want to stay in your way for too long.  We'll be doing complete scans of
the CIC with our tricorders," he indicated the device on his belt.  "That will
help with the simulations later on.  We'll be setting one for continuous
recording so it will make the simulations more accurate."
    "You mean on that Holodeck of yours?  We went there the other day.  Simply
amazing.  Everything looked and felt so realistic," Tigh said.
    "They are at that," Chell agreed.  "Sometimes it's very difficult to tell
what's real and what isn't.  That's why you have to be careful not to spend too
much time there."
    "What do you mean?  Are they dangerous?" Tigh looked concerned.
    "Psychologically they can.  You can get holo addiction.  For some people,
the simulations in the holodeck become their reality," Chell answered.
    Tigh had to agree.  If -Galactica- had one of those, he had no doubt that
there were a number of people that would spend all their time in it once they
knew what it could do.  "I can see how that could become a problem.  So what
did you bring us?" he asked, indicating the boxes.
    Chell walked over to one of the boxes and opened it, Tigh didn't recognize
any of the equipment.  "We've brought over two control consoles, power
converters and other tools and equipment.  The screen here," he pointed to the
display, "is three dimensional, and will be connected directly to the control
console.  We'll make sure that it doesn't interface with any of your computer
systems.  Your Admiral Adama was adamant about that detail."
    "Yes, I remember.  Our more current warships did have networked systems,
but Bill refused to have the -Galactica- upgraded.  He learned that lesson
during the first Cylon War," Tigh explained.
    Chell looked thoughtful for a moment.  "I can see why.  We were told that
these Cylons of yours could infiltrate network systems."  That was interesting,
but Chell was anxious to get working.  "Can you introduce me to your
communications officer and operations officer?"
    "That would be Lt. Dualla and Lt. Gaeta," Tigh answered.  Dee and Gaeta
walked over to the group.
    Chell introduced his team to them.  He turned to Tigh.  "If you don't mind
Colonel, we'll begin with the installation.  We'll begin with the consoles
first, then later on, you can tell us where you want the display installed.
This afternoon, we'll have to go EVA to install the actual sensor package on
the hull."
    "Don't let me keep you," Tigh said.
    With that, the team pulled out their tricorders and began to scan
everything in CIC, the room, the people present, everything.  Tigh went to the
command console and dialed up Adama.  "They're here Bill."
    "Right on schedule.  Thanks Saul," Adama answered.
    "They're going to want to know where to install the screen," Tigh said.
    "Does it get the Triad games?" Adama joked.
    Tigh laughed.  "With this fancy Starfleet technology, I bet it does."
    "Buzz me when they're ready.  I'll be here in my quarters," Adama answered.


*Adama's Quarters*

    After hanging up the phone, Adama turned back to his portable computer
terminal that Janeway had seen fit to give him when they were on -Voyager-.
The terminal was very similar to the personal computer laptops the average
Colonial had, except that it had advanced voice interface and voice recognition
software.  Commander Chakotay had brought over twenty five units promised to
have over a hundred more for Colonial use in the near future.  In addition to
the terminals, hundreds of their computer PADDs had been issued so that
information could be downloaded from the terminals.  Adama had wondered about
the power source of these terminals and PADDs.  Colonial laptops could simply
be plugged into any available power outlet, and he doubted he could simply plug
these terminals in, since they would undoubtedly be incompatible with
-Galactica-'s electrical system.  He couldn't even find a power cord.  Chakotay
had explained that everything was powered by sarium krellide batteries, and
wouldn't need to be charged for over a year, even under continuous use.
    The terminals were linked by subspace wireless frequencies to -Voyager-'s
library files, and were limited to unclassified information only.  The
terminal's crypto keys were supposedly tamper-proof, and any attempt to access
the terminal's interior parts would set off the preprogrammed security software
and the terminal would zeroize its access keys.  -A sensible precaution,- Adama
thought.  This was part of the exchange of information that Janeway had
promised.  Adama had brought over books on this history of the Colonies as well
as some of -Galactica-'s logs, and Janeway had reciprocated.  She had told him
to start studying about Starfleet weapons and tactics because they would need
them once the installations were complete so that they could begin training
simulations on -Voyager-'s holodeck.  Naturally, he had a terminal as well as
Roslin.  A couple were distributed to the CIC crew along with some PADDs, and
most of the rest was distributed among the fleet.  He had given the quorum a
single terminal as well as the press corps.  Zarek had demanded that he have
his own terminal but Adama had refused, saying that there weren't any more
available.  He had handed Zarek a PADD instead.  The man had walked away fuming
mad.  As always, he had the fleet wireless news service on, and it was abuzz
with talk about the information that was contained in -Voyager-'s data banks.
For many thousands of people in the fleet, this was their only source of
information so far about Earth and the Federation.  Gaeta had asked B'lanna
Torres, their engineer, if having all these terminals hooked into -Voyager-'s
computer would tax computer resources.  Torres had smiled and said that their
computer could handle over a 100 teraquads of bandwidth, whatever that was, and
still not even use a fraction of resources available.  If -Voyager- went to red
alert, the computer would automatically cut off outside access anyway.
    Adama was deep into studying the historical development of phasers, -which
didn't include vital information like range and weakness-, when he heard a
knock at the door.  He would soon need to know some of that information if they
were going to use those weapons and train on them properly.
    "Come in," he said as the marine opened the door.  Roslin, looking quite
refreshed, walked in.
    "Find anything interesting Bill?" she asked.  She settled herself into the
plush leather seat across from his desk like she usually did.
    "And good morning to you too," he said.  "To answer your question, yes, I
have.  I've been studying their weapons and tactics, and possible threats in
this part of space."
    "How about their laws and government?" she asked.
    He thought about it a moment.  "No, I figured that would be your area.  I'm
more concerned with the current tactical situation.  From what I can gather,
we're a very long way from Earth and the Federation.  I just hope we can make
it to safety... even with -Voyager- escorting us."
    She seemed annoyed.  "Well I have, and some of our people are going to be
quite concerned about some Federation laws.  While I agree with them, because
they're not really all that different from ours, some of the religious factions
in our fleet may.  I have to think about the future of our people and culture.
We have to prepare for the eventuality of settling in the Federation.  Our
culture as we know it, could be destroyed."
    "Then shouldn't you be talking to Zarek about this?" he replied.
    She had a look of disgust on her face.  "That worm.  He's more concerned
with preserving what power he has instead of thinking about the future of our
people," she spat.  "And he hasn't even played the religion card yet."
    And sure enough, Zarek's voice was on the wireless, complaining about
Federation laws, that Gemonese children weren't the property of their parents.
Adama never really cared for that particular Gemonese law either.  As a
Caprican, he was glad that Caprica had long since moved past that.  Caprica had
abolished that law almost two thousand years ago.  But that wasn't his problem,
it was Laura's.  He wasn't a politician.
    "You're going to have to work with him sooner or later Laura, and with the
quorum too for that matter," he answered.  He didn't envy her position.  He
absolutely hated politics.
    She deflated, suddenly looking old and tired, as if she didn't sleep that
night, which she probably didn't.  "That's true," she conceded, "but I'd rather
talk with you first."  Which surprised him considering the fact that they
butted heads more often in the past than Zarek ever did.  But Zarek was a
weasel.  We would smile that toothy smile while sticking his knife in you.
-Fracking terrorist.-  He was the one helping and using his influence to
support Baltar's ludicrous idea of permanent settlement on New Caprica after
all.  And now that he thought about it, Zarek did share some measure of blame
for the lives lost at New Caprica.
    Then there was the incident that had undid them all, the explosion from the
nuke that cost the lives of everyone on Cloud 9 and some surrounding ships,
which eventually alerted the Cylons to their location a year later.  The
investigation went nowhere, and Baltar had ordered it closed.  Ever since then,
it had burned him that someone had smuggled a nuclear warhead off the
-Galactica-, the very same nuke that he had given Baltar for his useless Cylon
detection device.  He had his suspicions about Zarek and Baltar, but could
prove nothing.  Laura must have had her suspicions too, which is why she'd
rather confide in him.
    "Thank you," he replied, and really meant it.  "You can bounce ideas off of
me if you'd like."
    She smiled.  "I was hoping you'd say that."  She was holding a PADD.
"After studying their government and politics, I remembered what Janeway said
about refugee status and protectorate status.  If we make it to Earth, we would
be refugees, and merely settled among the population.  Our culture and history
would be destroyed.  Our people would live on, but our culture would disappear
and be absorbed into Earth's culture."  Now THAT bothered him.  He took off his
glasses and sat them on the desk, and let out a deep breath as he sat back.
    "But if we applied for protectorate status," she continued, "we could keep
our form of government and request a suitable planet for our very own colony.
We'd still be under Federation laws, since they would have precedence over our
own, but our people and culture would survive relatively intact."
    He agreed.  "That's a good idea, but how do we apply for protectorate
status?  We're still in the Delta Quadrant and thousands of light years from
Earth.  We haven't even made it there yet."
    "Well that's another thing I came to talk to you about," she said.
    "Okay, let's hear it then," he said, growing impatient.
    "Janeway made contact with Earth last night.  She told me over the terminal
a few hours ago.  She looked very excited too," Laura explained.
    Janeway had said they were expecting to be contacted by Starfleet, but he
didn't expect it would be so soon.  "That's good news," he said.
    "Janeway said it wasn't real-time communication, but they were able to
transmit a data stream to Starfleet Command.  They have a 17 hour window to get
their messages through, and the next window would be in 32 days.  But she said
Lt. Kim and the blonde woman, Seven, were working on a way to work out real
time communications on a daily basis," Laura said.
    "Even better," he agreed.
    "Which is why, I'd like you to help me with drafting this appeal to the
Federation Council for protectorate status," she asked hopefully.
    "Well, you know Laura, I do have a few things on my plate.  Like studying
Starfleet weapons and tactics, overseeing the upgrades, and getting ready to
train in the simulator program," he groused.
    "I didn't say we needed to do this right this moment," she huffed.  "And
you said I could bounce ideas off you," she reminded him.
    "That I did," he admitted.  "We'll have to draft it up in the near future
before we arrive there, that way our chances of preserving our culture is
better.  At least," he added, "It won't take a lifetime to reach Earth because
that's how long it would take -Voyager- using their `warp' drive to reach
home."
    "Their type of FTL travel is excruciatingly slow, isn't it?" she asked.
    "Very.  It takes them over a month just to travel 100 light years," he
explained.  "Their warp drive is fine for traveling or exploring short
distances, but traveling across the galaxy will take a lifetime at their
speeds."
    "That's what's so peculiar about them.  The rest of their technology is
fantastically advanced, but their FTL technology leaves a lot to be desired.
And I've read here," she pointed to her PADD, "that warp travel is the main
method of FTL travel for most of the civilizations in their area of the
galaxy."
    "It's amazing that they never discovered jump drive as a means of FTL
travel," he said.  "They're history indicates that they've been trying to
breach this warp barrier of theirs for the past decade.  They've been
experimenting with something called transwarp and now quantum slipstream drive.
Their greatest scientific minds still haven't produced a working transwarp
engine or slipstream drive."
    "Which brings up another thing I want to talk to you about," she said.
"Their laws expressly state that they have to compensate us for the jump
technology."
    "You're being a bit crafty aren't you?  I gave them the specs out of good
faith, to get them to trust us," he accused.
    "And I agree, that was the right thing to do.  On the other hand, I have to
think of the welfare of our people too.  And I know our jump drive technology
will buy us a lot.  That's why I'm so confident of getting our own colony when
we reach the Federation."
    He paused.  "Well, if what the data we're reading is true, they have plenty
of available planets suitable for colonization."  He brought up some
information on his terminal.  "I suggest you look up the info on the Federation
Department of Colonization.  From what I'm reading, the Federation is always
looking for people to colonize new planets."
    Roslin walked around his desk to see the page he was reading.  "Ok, I see
it now.  It says right there," she touched the screen, "that the Red Horse
division of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers is even tasked with setting up new
colonies.  They do the initial construction like fabricating government
buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, and the like."  Her face brightened.
    Adama sighed.  "This is all well and good, but we're still a very long way
from the Federation.  Let's not count our chickens before they're hatched.  The
odds, even with -Voyager-, are still pretty much stacked against us.  We're
still in unknown space and who knows what dangers are out there."
    "Always a downer aren't you?" she answered.
    "No, just being a realist," he replied.  "You said Janeway has a 17 hour
window to send messages back, maybe you can send one to the Federation Council
explaining our situation."
    Roslin snapped her fingers.  "I knew there was a good reason I came here.
17 hours isn't a lot of time to compose a request for protectorate status, but
I can come up with a video message to send.  We can send the request for
protectorate status in the next window."
    Then she got a look of disgust on her face.  "Now I really will have to
work with Zarek and the Quorum.  Tory said she wasn't feeling well today so I'm
going to have to get with my other aides to help me compose this video
message."  She got up.  "I've got a lot to do and not much time to do it in.
I'll see you this afternoon," she said.
    "Glad to be of service Laura," Adama said.  After Roslin walked out of his
quarters, he turned back to his terminal to resume his research.  -There's so
much to learn,- he thought.


*Starboard Landing Pod Launch Tube 6*

    "How did you get away from CIC Colonel?  I thought they were installing the
communications and sensor equipment," asked Tyrol.
    Tigh looked around.  So far Tyrol and Anders had shown up, but Tory Foster
was nowhere to be found.  "I had Agathon fill in for me.  I told him I was
feeling a little under the weather.  He didn't complain either, he was eager to
watch those Starfleeters install all that fancy dandy equipment."
    "That's what I told Cally and the deck gang too," answered Tyrol.
    "Same here," echoed Sam.
    The group started when the door to the tube suddenly opened.  Tory Foster
poked her head in the door, and seeing the other three people, she hurried in
and closed the hatch.
    "Sorry for being late, but I had to get away from Roslin," she said.
    "Don't tell me, you told her you weren't feeling well," Tigh said.
    Tory laughed.  "As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I told her."
    Tyrol chimed in.  "That's what all of us told everyone else.  Maybe we
really are connected somehow."
    Anders guffawed.  "Oh come on people!  That doesn't mean squat.  Calling in
sick is a common enough excuse."  He crossed his arms and leaned against the
wall looking skeptical.
    "You're right Sam," Tyrol conceded.
    The sudden sound of the hatch opening startled them again.  As it was, the
group was already tense enough as it was.  Tigh started to bring his hand to
the pistol he had hidden underneath his uniform jacket.  The door slowly opened
to reveal Sharon standing outside looking a bit suspicious.  The group relaxed.
    Tyrol walked to the door.  "It's okay Sharon, we've been expecting you."
He led her by the arm into the room and shut and locked the hatch.  Sharon
didn't fail to notice that.  Then she looked around the room.
    "Chief, you said you wanted me to meet you here and that it was important.
But I wasn't expecting Colonel Tigh," she indicated Tigh with her eyes.
    "That's alright Lieutenant.  I'm part of this too," Tigh said.
    "Part of what?" she asked.  "What's this about?"  Sharon really had no idea
why the Chief had asked her to come to this unused launch tube.
    Tory was the first to answer her.  She indicated the rest of the people in
the room with her hands.  "Well... how do I put this?  I'm a Cylon."
    "So am I," echoed Tyrol.
    "Me too," said Tigh and Anders at the same time.  They looked at each
other.
    For a brief moment, Sharon said nothing.  Then she said "Okay" and started
walking towards the hatch.  Tyrol ran and grabbed her by the arm.
    "Wait!  Where you going!" he said.
    Sharon looked furious.  She shook off Tyrol's hand.  "I didn't come down
here to be fracked with!  If this is your idea of a joke, I'm not amused!" she
said angrily.
    "But it's true!" Tyrol said emphatically.
    Tigh had also moved to the hatch to block her path.  "It's true Lieutenant.
I didn't want to believe it either, but it all fits."
    The look of anger on Sharon's face gave way to curiosity.  "Wait a fracking
minute.  You mean to tell me that all four of you really are Cylons?  Give me a
break.  You Colonel," she pointed at Tigh, "fought in the first war.  How is it
you think you're a Cylon?"
    Tigh looked angry.  "I don't know Lieutenant," he growled.  "I just know
it, and I can't explain why."
    "We heard music," Sam said simply.
    "Yeah, we all heard it," Tory confirmed.  "The same damn song.  Some kind
of rock song."
    Sharon looked at Tyrol.  "You too Chief?" she asked.  "You heard it too?"
    Tyrol nodded.  He looked at the ground.
    "Let me get this straight.  All four of you are saying you heard this music
and now you think you're Cylons?" she looked skeptical.
    "I know it sounds crazy," said Tyrol.
    "You better believe it sounds crazy," answered Sharon.  "Now I know the
rest of us Cylons don't know the identities of the final five, but that doesn't
mean you people are Cylons."
    Now Tigh was angry.  "How do you think I feel!  I remember fighting in the
first war.  Hand to hand combat.  Fighting in the resistance on New Caprica!  I
even killed Ellen for the resistance!  No one hates Cylons more than I do!  But
this... this I do know, I'm a fracking Cylon.  I don't know how I know, but I
just know!" he roared.
    Long moments passed.  The tension in the room was high.  Then Sharon spoke.
"You say you remember fighting in the first war Colonel?"
    Tigh still looked angry, but he nodded.
    "Unless..." she paused.  "Unless the real Saul Tigh was captured and the
Cylons somehow downloaded his memories into you."
    Tigh looked shocked, so did everyone else in the room.
    "I don't remember ever being captured," Tigh said, suddenly quiet.
    "You wouldn't."  She looked at the others.  "None of you would.  Why would
they include that in your memory download?  Think about it.  You were designed
to infiltrate the Colonial civilization.  You were not supposed to know you
were Cylons, just like Boomer didn't know she was a Cylon."
    Tory started to cry.
    Sam spoke up.  "You mean that we're just copies?  That the real people we
replaced are somehow being held captive on the Cylon homeworld?"
    Sharon's expression softened.  It must be heartbreaking for them she
thought.  Their world has just been turned upside down.
    "I don't know if they're dead or alive, most likely dead by now.  But it
still amazes me.  You four were practically leaders in the resistance on New
Caprica.  This is just so ironic," said Sharon.
    "It really is Sharon," said Tyrol sadly.  "I have all these memories of my
life.  And now..." he threw up his hands in disgust.  "They were all someone
else's memories."
    "Imagine how Boomer felt," said Sharon.  They all thought about that.  Now
they all knew how Boomer had felt.
    "So that song we heard.  Was that some kind of activation signal?" Tyrol
asked.
    "Most likely, but I've never heard of that method of activating deep cover
agents.  Like I said, the rest of us don't know who the final five are.  You
four must be special in some way.  If there's some kind of master plan, they
sure as frack didn't tell me," said Sharon.
    "I'm still skeptical about this whole fracking thing," Sam said.  "I saw so
many of my friends die fighting the Cylons.  This is just all too much.  So we
all heard some fracking song.  So what?"
    "Then how do you explain it?" Tyrol answered.
    "I can't explain it!  I don't know!  Maybe telepathy or something!" Sam
quipped.
    "You were dying of pneumonia on New Caprica Sam.  Yet you miraculously
recovered.  Remember that?" Tyrol asked.
    "Yeah, I was real sick.  Hacking and coughing all over the place.  I
couldn't get out of bed at one point," Sam conceded.
    "Yet you still recovered without meds.  And we were out of meds remember?
You should have died.  I wondered about that myself," said Tyrol.
    Sam didn't have anything to say to that.
    "Well we sure as hell don't have Cylon strength that's for sure!  Those
Cylons threw me around like a rag doll when I was in prison.  And that Caprica
Six there in the brig, she threw me up against the wall and the marines had to
pry her off me," said Tigh.
    "Like I said, you four people must be some kind of special model," answered
Sharon.
    "Then that means that your daughter Hera isn't the only half Cylon.  My son
Nicholas must be half Cylon too," Tyrol said looking very sad.
    Sharon had forgotten about that.  "You're right Chief.  I hadn't thought it
that way."
    Tory had stopped crying.  She blew her nose.  "So who's the final one?"
    "I don't know," Sharon said.
    "Would that fracking Caprica Six know?" asked Tigh.
    "If I don't know, Caprica Six sure as hell doesn't know," answered Sharon.
    "The question is now, what do we do?" asked Tigh.  He glared at the four
"Cylons" with his only eye.
    "You could go to Adama and explain everything to him," said Sharon.
    "Whoah, whoah, whoah!  Out of the question!" said Tigh.  The rest nodded,
even Tyrol.
    "I agree with the Colonel.  I don't think it's such a good idea... yet,"
said Tyrol.  "Look at how long it took them to trust you.  You were in the brig
for over a year."
    "That's true," Sharon admitted.  That was the hardest time of her life, and
she didn't care to remember those events.  "So what if one of you just snaps?
Remember Boomer?  Her programming suddenly kicked in and she shot the old man
right there in CIC in front of everyone."
    "Sharon," Tyrol said.  "You said it yourself, we must be some kind of
special models.  How do you know we even have some kind of programming?"
    Sharon thought for a moment.  "This is true.  If you people are some kind
of special models, you might not be programmed to harm humans.  You fought in
the resistance against the Cylons."
    "That's right!" said Tory.  "Maybe we were programmed not to harm humans
but to protect them."  Tory suddenly had a smile on her face as she thought
about that.
    "Now that's something I might be able to swallow," said Sam.  He had gone
over to stand next to Tory.
    "For what purpose?" asked Tyrol.
    "Beats me Chief," answered Sharon.  "But we really don't know a hell of a
lot at this point."  She looked at the four.  "Okay, I'll agree that you
shouldn't tell anyone about this yet."  She looked grim.  "After all, I don't
want you guys to go through what I went through."
    "We appreciate that Lieutenant," said Tigh.  The whole idea that maybe he
was programmed to help humanity also appealed to him.  He had already decided
he was Saul Tigh, and that was the man he wanted to be, or least die trying to
be.
    "Then we're all agreed then?" asked Tyrol.  He looked at each one, and they
all nodded.  He looked at Sharon.  She nodded in the affirmative.  "Okay, we
don't say anything for now.  But we have to watch each other.  We still don't
know what we're programmed for.  We'll meet again if something else comes up."
    The five Cylons looked at each other for a few moments, seeming to reach an
understanding.  Then one by one, they filed out of the tube.


*USS -*Voyager*-*

    Janeway sat at her desk in her ready room, going over the status reports
for the ongoing installations on the -Galactica- when her door chimed.  "Come,"
she ordered.  Chakotay, Harry, and Seven came in.  Harry looked excited, but
she did notice the bags under his eyes.  Chakotay just grinned.  Janeway
noticed that Seven was also smiling, but not outwardly.  Only people who knew
Seven well would be able to notice it.
    "So what have you got for me?" Janeway asked.
    "We did it," answered Harry brightly.
    "Ensign Kim is correct Captain.  We were able to devise a way for Starfleet
Command to communicate with us in real time using Borg research as a baseline,"
said Seven.
    Naturally, Chakotay had his input.  "I've gone over their research Captain.
We'll be able to communication with Starfleet on a regular basis."
    "Actually every day Captain," Harry beamed.
    Chakotay looked at Harry, a bemused look on his face.  "It will only be for
a few minutes each day, and there's enough bandwidth to be able to have real
time communications and still be able to send data streams back and forth,"
added Chakotay.
    "Starfleet will be able to use their MIDAS array," Seven explained.
    "I'm impressed people.  I knew you could do it.  In such a short period of
time I might add," Janeway said.  She was indeed pleased.  "I'll be sure to put
in commendations in the data stream along with your research."
    "We will be in Astrometrics Captain, going over the final details to
include in the data stream," Seven said.
    Janeway smiled.  "Do it," she ordered.
    "Yes ma'am!" Harry replied, and he and Seven left her ready room and headed
toward Astrometrics.  Chakotay remained.
    "Anything new Kathryn?" he asked.
    Janeway looked up from her terminal.  "Now that you mention it, Roslin
called.  She said she was going to send over a video recording for the
Federation Council."
    "I assume it's going to be their request for Protectorate Status?" he
asked.
    "Too soon for that.  Just a greeting and explanation of their situation,"
answered Janeway.  "She still has to go over the request with her Vice
President and her Quorum.  But now that we'll be able to communicate with
Starfleet Command every day, she'll have plenty of time to compose the
request."
    "I'm sure Starfleet Command and the Council will be grateful to the
Colonials for the gift of the jump drive," Chakotay said.
    "Oh, I'm very sure they will," answered Janeway.  "In fact, I'm willing to
bet the Council will almost grant almost whatever the Colonials want, probably
even a colony world."
    "Agreed.  Jump drive will revolutionize travel in the Alpha Quadrant.
Speaking of which, you will be sending the specs in the data stream?" he asked.
    "Of course, that and more," Janeway said.
    "You know, I was thinking.  Maybe Starfleet can use the jump drive to send
a rescue mission for us," Chakotay said.
    "Exactly what I was thinking.  In fact, I'm sending the request in the data
stream.  However, don't get your hopes up," she cautioned.
    "I know, we've been disappointed too many times before," Chakotay agreed.
They've gotten their hopes up in the past, only to see those hopes dashed.
    "In the meantime, we have to proceed as if there won't be one.  I'll be on
the bridge in an hour or so, then we can go down to cargo bay one and check on
the progress for the food reclamation effort," she said.  But in the back of
her mind, she knew Admiral Paris.  He would send a rescue force as soon as
Starfleet was able to.  But she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.
    "Of course Kathryn.  I'll be on the bridge."  And with that, he left her
ready room.


*Chapter 10*

*Starfleet Command, Communications Division*

    Lt. Reginald Barclay was getting worried.  It was 0213 hrs, and -Voyager-
only had a few minutes left in their communications window to send their reply
back to the Alpha Quadrant.  He had begun to worry that something had happened
to -Voyager- and it's brave crew.  So much so, that he had bugged Commander
Harkin to let him stay in the lab even when the rest of the Pathfinder crew
went home for the day.  After reading -Voyager-'s logs for the past few months,
he knew they were in Hirogen space.  -Had something happened to them?  Did the
Hirogen finally track them down and make trophies of them?- he thought.  He
shivered at the thought of Janeway's skull decorating the wall of some Hirogen
ship.  -Of course not!- he chastised himself.  Captain Janeway was very
ingenious.  Not after surviving alone and unaided in the Delta Quadrant these
past 6 years.  He had come to respect Janeway, almost as much as his former
commanding officer, Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  He felt that Janeway and Picard
were in the same league.
    After a brief trip to his apartment to feed his cat Neelix and let him out
for a hour, he had grabbed a bite to eat at the replimat and headed straight
back to Starfleet Command.  He was leaning back in his chair with his feet
propped up on the console, worriedly watching the readouts of the MIDAS array
on the far wall while also watching the clock, when his console started beeping
-- an indication that a transmission was being received by the MIDAS array.  He
nearly fell out of his chair, and glanced up at the display, which started
displaying the hypersubspace reception parameters.
    Just in time!  He began adjusting the signal enhancement algorithms to
ensure that as little of the data stream was lost as possible.  Considering the
distance involved, it was natural for some bits of the data stream to be
incomplete.  Thankfully, the data stream included enough correction blocks that
would enable him to reconstruct any missing packets of the transmission.  The
raw data stream was automatically fed through the decryption algorithms by the
main computer and the message began to take shape.  This data stream was fairly
large, at least 27 kiloquads.  As he began to read part of the message, his
heartbeat quickened.  Amazing!  Seven of Nine and Harry Kim had figured out a
way for -Voyager- to communicate with them in real time, albeit a few minutes
each day, but it was better than once a month.  Looking at the data, he
wondered why he and his fellow Pathfinder project team members had never
thought of that.  But he saw the notes by Seven of Nine that indicated that she
had based her solution on Borg research.
    His jaw dropped when he began to read more of the message.  Jump drive?
Colonial refugees?  Admiral Paris's standing order was that he be informed
immediately of any important developments in the Pathfinder Project.  He needed
to inform Commander Harkins about this right now.  He tapped his comm badge.
    "Barclay to Commander Harkins."
    After what seemed like an eternity, the weary voice of Commander Harkins
answered.  "This better be good Reg.  I assume that -Voyager- finally
transmitted their reply."  It sounded like a statement, not a question.
Against his better judgment, Harkins had let Barclay take the mid shift watch
even though he had worked a full day.  Harkins had grudgingly agreed, but only
on the condition that Barclay take the next few days off.  Given Barclay's near
obsession with -Voyager-, Harkins knew that -Voyager-'s transmission window
would end that night, and he was certain that Barclay wanted to be there if and
when Janeway sent her reply.
    "Yes sir.  It just came in a few minutes ago.  You wouldn't believe --"
    "Get to the point Reg, it's almost 0230 in the morning."  Commander
Harkins' voice sounded like he was becoming annoyed.
    "I-I-I will sir.  There's so much info in this data stream that we need to
inform Admiral Paris immediately," he explained.
    "That important Reg?" Harkins' voice lost it's annoyed tone.  "Can you at
least tell me what it's about?"
    Reg answered, "This channel isn't secure sir."
    That really seemed to pique Harkins' interest, because that automatically
meant that it was sensitive information.  "Alright Reg, I'm coming in.  Recall
the project members so we can go over the data and make a presentation to
Admiral Paris at 0730.  I'll notify Admiral Paris that we're going to brief him
on this in the morning."  He paused.  "Reg?"
    "Yes sir?"
    "Don't make a fool out of me," Harkins warned.  "It better be a damn good
reason to wake Admiral Paris at 0230 in the morning."
    "Pete, I'll stake my commission on this.  When you see the info, you'll
agree," Reg assured him.
    "Ok, I trust you Reg.  I'll be there in 15 minutes.  Harkins out."
    With that, Barclay got to work recalling the other project members.


*The *-Astral Queen-*

    "This is outrageous!" Baltar exclaimed.  He had been following the
developments concerning the new Starfleet tech to the -Galactica- for the past
few days.  -Now who are they going to get to help maintain and operate that
equipment?- he thought mockingly.  It's not like the fleet had an abundance of
geniuses like himself.  There wasn't anyone in the entire fleet that could come
close to his intelligence.  Although he would have given the pinky of his left
hand just to have a look at the Starfleet tech, he wasn't going to beg, not
after the way they had treated him.  The nerve of that dictator Roslin and her
lap dog Adama putting him on trial and then now practically ordering him to be
involved?  To be watched and wear some sort of tracking device like a dog?  I
should think not.  Not even if Roslin herself came crawling through his door
and begged him to help out.
    "This is outrageous!" he repeated.  "Not in a thousand or ten thousand
years!"
    "Now, now Gaius," the familiar voice of "his" Six whispered into his ear.
She was wearing her low cut, slinky red dress that he was fond of.  She
caressed his neck with her lips as she straddled his lap.  "Think of the
possibilities."
    "Pray tell me what are these possibilities that you're talking about!?" he
huffed.
    "Really Gaius, do I have to do all the thinking around here?" she purred.
    "Indulge me," he answered.
    He had begun to tire of his play toys in his cult.  He hadn't seen his Six
in a while, and she was beginning to turn him on again.  He nuzzled her
cleavage through her dress.
    Six sighed in pleasure.  "For one thing, you could impress these Starfleet
humans with your intelligence, and when we get to Earth, we could leave Roslin,
Adama, and the rest of these pathetic Colonials forever."
    Baltar looked up from nuzzling her breasts.  Now that thought really did
appeal to him.  Why didn't he think of that?  "You think so?"  He was
disappointed when she stood up and went to the door.
    "I know so Gaius," she answered.  "In fact, I'm willing to bet that these
Starfleeters are going to want your expertise."  She smiled her little smiling
that usually meant she was hiding something.
    "I doubt that," he retorted.  He was quite sure that Roslin and Adama were
telling the Captain of -Voyager- that he, Gaius Baltar, was some kind of a dirt
bag, or worse.  He got up from the couch and went to the mirror in his
stateroom.  He looked and admired himself.  Somehow he felt better after
getting rid of the beard that he'd worn since New Caprica.  As he was preening
before the mirror, a distinctly icy feminine voice interrupted his thoughts.
    "Besides, the Colonials' survival is your survival," she added.  He had to
admit that she did have a point there.  If nothing else, Baltar was a survivor.
When he had lived on the basestar, he worried that he would be executed at any
moment.  Which was why he had worked hard to ingratiate himself to them.  It
ate at him that he had to that, but he did what he had to do to survive.  He
was brooding on these thoughts, when an icy female voice interrupted his
thoughts.
    "You are Doctor Baltar," said the voice.  It sounded like a statement, and
not like a question at all.
    At first, Baltar didn't bother turn toward the intruder at first.  -Most
likely one of Adama's butch marines coming to try and bring me to the
Galactica,- he thought darkly.  He turned to tell off what he thought was one
of Adama's marines, and his jaw practically hit the floor.  In his doorway was
one of the most stunningly beautiful women he had ever seen in his life, and he
immediately fell hopelessly in love.  It was one of the few times in his life
that he was at a loss for words.
    The woman looked annoyed.  "You are Doctor Baltar," she repeated, sounding
even more icy than the first time she said it.  But to Baltar, it was one of
the sweetest voices he'd ever heard.
    "Wh-wh-wh-why y-y-y-yes.  I'm Doctor Gaius Baltar," he managed to stammer
out, finally starting to get over his initial shock.  It was then that Baltar
noticed what looked like some kind of prosthetics over her left eye.  "And you
are?"
    The woman eyed him as if he were some ugly cockroach that needed to be
crushed, but that was lost on Baltar as she answered, "I am Seven of Nine,
Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, but most personnel call me Seven."
    His eyes moved all over her incredibly attractive body, examining every
inch of her in a split second.  He missed nothing, noting her large breasts,
slim waist, nice curvy hips, all encased in what he could only call a cat suit
that fit like a second skin and left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
And she was wearing high heels no less!  Her figure put Six to shame by
comparison.  -Now this is a goddess!-  But what struck him most, was her eyes.
They were incredibly blue, and he felt he could get lost within those eyes
forever.  He decided right then and there that he would do practically anything
for her.  He needed to pull out all the charm he could muster.  He needed to,
especially after the way he reacted when she came into the room.  But he was
Gaius Baltar after all.
    "And what can I do for you Miss Seven?" he asked, putting all the charm he
could into his smile and demeanor.
    "Just Seven, Doctor Baltar," she said curtly.
    "Please Seven, it's Gaius," he replied, still wearing his best smile.
    Six had slowly walked around Seven, eyeing her up and down as she did so.
"Oooh Gaius, I do believe you're in love," she teased.  "I know what you're
thinking," she said as she came to stand next to him and whispered in his ear.
"You'd love to bed her, or even yet... have the both of us together, a Six and
a Seven."
    The thought excited him, and he conjured up the incredibly erotic image in
his mind.
    "Does the thought excite you Gaius?  Or you could watch us together," Six
kissed his year, and it was almost too much for him to bear.
    "Why certainly," he murmured before he realized he had said it out loud.
    Seven of Nine frowned and raised her eyebrow in confusion.  "Certainly what
Doctor?  To whom are you speaking to?"
    "I... I... I... just meant that it's certainly nice to meet you Seven.
What brings you to my humble abode?"  If there was one thing he knew how to do,
it was how to recover quickly.  He'd had quite a bit of practice these past few
years.
    The goddess looked down at her PADD, the device most of the Starfleeters
seemed to be constantly carrying around with them.  Some sort of computer
interface device he surmised.  He'd heard of them, but hadn't actually gotten a
good look at one of them.  "Your file suggests that you are one of the most
qualified persons to help maintain the deflector shield system," she said.
    "That I am," answered Baltar, glad to know at least someone recognized his
qualifications.  The fact of the matter was that he was the only one qualified
because he was the only one who survived, that is until now.  Supposedly, there
was a Dr. Anorak who was on board the -Olympic Carrier- who might also have
been qualified.  The same Dr. Anorak that had claimed to know of a traitor in
their midst, and who was supposedly involved with another Number Six model,
Shelly Godfrey.  Starbuck and Adama's son, Apollo, had shot that ship down.  He
had breathed a huge sigh of relief when that had happened.  He had practically
screamed at Roslin to destroy the ship.
    His mind raced back to the present.  "Are you here to ask for my help?" he
said amiably.
    "That is correct Doctor," she answered simply.  This woman didn't smile,
but just about anyone else would have recognized the look of disgust in her
eyes except for one Gaius Baltar, infatuated as he was.  "However..."  She
trailed off.
    "Yes?" he asked.  He knew what was coming before she even said it.
    "The Colonial leadership doesn't trust you, and quite frankly Doctor, after
having gone through your file, I believe their distrust is warranted," she said
matter of factly.
    For the first time since he'd met her, he felt overwhelmed with
indignation.  His voice rising, "Are you talking about my Presidency and what
happened in New Caprica?  I was forced to do certain things I tell you!  The
Cylons had us under their thumb and there was absolutely nothing I could do
about it!  They even held a gun to my head for frak's sake!  I did what I could
to help prevent further loss of life."  Calming himself down, he continued,
"Have you ever been in a situation where you were forced against your will to
do certain things you despised?"
    "More than you know, Doctor.  However, the fact remains that the President,
the Admiral, and practically everyone else whom I've spoken to, doesn't trust
you," she said, her voice softening somewhat.  -Was he getting through to her
now?- he thought.
    "There's practically nothing I can do to change their prejudiced minds,
Seven," Baltar answered, a forlorn expression on his face.
    "If you wish to earn your way back into their good graces, I suggest you
volunteer your expertise with the deflector system," said Seven, not taking her
eyes off him.  "But since they don't trust you, you would have to wear this..."
and she showed him some sort of large blinking ring, "...around your ankle."
    "And what is that?" he asked innocently.  He already had an idea what it
was.  It was some sort of tracking device!  Almost immediately, his indignation
started to rise to the surface.  -Am I to be tracked like some sort of animal?-
    "It is a Starfleet tracking device.  It will merely keep track of your
location," she explained.
    "Nothing more?" he asked.
    "It can be programmed with other monitoring functions, but in your case,
nothing more than tracking your location," she answered.
    He looked dubious.  He wouldn't put it past Roslin or Adama to be
monitoring everything he said or did.  "And how do I know it isn't programmed
to do more?"
    "I'm well aware of the Colonials' animosity toward you.  They do not have
access to the programming.  I do.  You will have to trust me Doctor," she said.
    He immediately answered, "I do trust you Seven."
    This time, she blinked.  Was that surprise he detected?  "Thank you Doctor.
Will you help and will you consent to wear this?" she asked.
    "On two conditions Seven."  He paused for effect, "That you ask, and that
you have dinner with me."  He knew he was being bold, but that was his
trademark with the women after all.
    She cocked her head slightly and had a bemused expression on her face.
"You are attracted to me," she continued, "I've determined that many human
males have that reaction.  Perhaps it is my attire."
    -That certainly has a lot to do with it,- he thought wryly.  He put on his
sad face.  "It's not that Seven.  As you can see," he spread his arms, "I'm a
pariah in the fleet.  I was hoping to merely have the pleasure of your company,
since people seem to hate me."  He made tears come to his eyes, something that
he was able to do quite often, enhancing the effect.  If she was half as
observant as he suspected she was, she might fall for it.
    And fall for it she did.  "In that case Doctor," she paused, as if unused
to saying what she was about to say, "Would you please assist us?  You would be
helping yourself as well."
    He manipulated his expression to what he knew was a hopeful one.  "You
think so?"
    Seven nodded.
    "Then I'll certainly do as you ask," he answered.
    "As for dinner, I'm afraid that I would not make a suitable dinner
companion, and my duty schedule does not allow for very much off duty time,"
said Seven.  She actually sounded troubled.
    -There's definitely something there.  She has some kind of hang-up,- he
decided.  "As long as you at least try to find the time," he said.
    "Very well, I will try Docto,r" she answered.
    "Please, call me Gaius," he asked.  If he was going to be working with this
woman, he certainly didn't want her to call him doctor all the time.  It was
too formal.
    "Alright Gaius.  You will report to the -Galactica- tomorrow at 0900
hours," she said.
    Now that was going to present a problem.  He had real fears for his life,
and he was certain that someone might try to kill him there.  He didn't need to
have someone try to kill him, like say he was going to the head.  The last
place he wanted to die was on the dirty floor of some head.  And suddenly he
had a terrifying vision of someone slittinghis throat in the head.  He shook it
off.  "The only problem with that Seven, is that I'm afraid for my safety.  I
can hardly leave this room, much less this ship, without someone trying to kill
me."
    Seven looked thoughtful for a moment.  "Then I will be here at 0855 and we
will transport directly to the -Galactica-.  I will bring your fears to the
Admiral's attention.  Perhaps he can arrange a marine escort for you."
    -Oh, he'd love that-, he thought darkly.  Yet another pair of eyes on him,
and the marine would most likely be instructed to put a bullet in his head if
he stepped out of line.  Then suddenly he remembered her words.  -Transport?
Was that the teleporter he had heard about?-  Oh, he so dearly wanted to see
that device and try it.  But he had to be careful not to show it.
    "Transport?  What do you mean by that?" he asked, putting on his worried
expression.
    "We have a device that can transport any person or object almost
instantaneously.  It is very safe, I assure you," she answered.
    "Then I'm glad you'll be coming to escort me, Seven," said Baltar, still
looking worried.
    "Then I will be here tomorrow at 0855 hours Gaius," she said.  Finally, a
slight smile on her face.  He just might be able to crack that icy cold
exterior yet he thought.  She turned and left the way she came.
    Six whispered into his ear, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it Gaius?  You
may be able to impress the Starfleeters, and better yet, you might be able to
bed Seven.  Then you'd have the both of us together," she teased.
    -There are definitely possibilities,- he thought as he turned his attention
to Six.

...............................................................................

    Adama's gaze wandered around the CIC, satisfied with what he saw.  His
officers were at their stations intent on their duties, even Gaeta, Dualla, and
Helo looked comfortable operating the new Starfleet equipment that was
installed on the bridge.  Careful to not let anyone notice, he observed Marla
Gilmore at her station at the newly installed ops console.  She was one of the
officers Janeway had assigned to -Galactica-.  According to scuttlebutt, she
was from the starship -Equinox-, and not originally part of the -Voyager- crew.
Apparently, there was another Federation starship that had been stranded in
what the Starfleeters called the "Delta" quadrant.  He hadn't had time to fully
read her file.  At the back of his mind he wondered if he was getting
-Voyager-'s cast offs, but from what he saw, she was good at her job.  She was
at that moment working with Gaeta and observing him operating his ops console.
    He looked at the new three dimensional screen that had replaced the
transparent plotting chart, and it showed -Voyager- and the fleet.  They had
just jumped into the system and were preparing to scout the what -Voyager- had
called an M-class planet for food supplies, when suddenly Dualla announced,
"We're receiving an emergency hail from -Voyager-."
    "On screen," he commanded, and instantly Janeway and her bridge crew
appeared on the main viewer.  She looked agitated.
    "Admiral Adama," she began, "it looks like we have company.  We've detected
our old friends, the Hirogen in orbit, and they're moving to intercept.
They've ignored our hails as expected.  We've dealt with this species before,
and let's say that it would be a good idea if we left this system right away.
We need to jump to the emergency coordinates."
    "Receiving sensor feed from -Voyager-," Gaeta reported.  The screen changed
to show three Hirogen hunting vessels heading their way.  "Time to intercept...
one minute," he said.  Gilmore had been observing Gaeta and she nodded
approvingly.
    Now that was indeed a problem he thought worriedly.  As it was, the fleet's
supply of tylium was running low and they only had enough for one more jump as
it was.  "We only have enough tylium for one more jump Captain."
    Janeway answered, "I understand that Admiral, but if we don't jump now,
we're going to end up as trophies on someone's wall."
    "Understood," he replied, the very thought of his head adorning someone's
wall disgusted him.  He had read a little about the Hirogen in the briefing
that Janeway had sent over.  The briefing had included possible hostile races
they might encounter in this area of space, and the Hirogen made for some
interesting reading.  The race called the Borg had sent shivers down his spine,
and they made the Cylons look like weaklings compared in comparison.  "It will
take the rest of the fleet at least 2 minutes to spool up their jump drives,"
he added.
    "We'll go with plan alpha," she said.  He understood what that meant.  It
meant that -Voyager- and -Galactica- will provide cover while the rest of the
fleet jumps away.  He had no illusions that even with Galatica's new shields
and phasers, they would have a tough time with a single Hirogen hunting ship,
let alone three.  And they and -Voyager- had to hold off the Hirogen for at
least two minutes in order for the civilians to get away.
    He nodded toward Gaeta who spoke into the ship's comm system, "Action
Stations!  Action Stations!  Set Condition One throughout the ship!  This is
not a drill!  I say again, Action Stations!  Action Stations!  Set Condition
One throughout the ship!  This is not a drill!"
    Dualla's voice announced, "All ships, prepare to jump to the emergency
coordinates, I say again, prepare to jump to the emergency coordinates."
    He could hear the acknowledgements from the various ship captains.  "All
ships acknowledge Admiral," she said after a few moments.  -That's a relief,-
he thought.  Every so often, a ship's jump drive would malfunction and they
would not be able to jump.  They'd been extremely lucky so far in that the only
time a ship's jump drive failed was when there was no enemy around.  The gods
really were watching over them.  He wasn't a religious man, in fact, he didn't
believe in the gods at all until recently.
    Tigh, who had been standing besides Adama, barked, "Raise shields!  Charge
phaser banks!"
    Captain Agathon, who had been manning the new weapons console reported,
"Shields are up, and the new phaser banks are charging."  Gilmore had
immediately went to the weapons console to confirm Agathon's reading.  She
nodded at Adama.
    "Crew is at action stations sir," said Gaeta.
    "Very well," he answered.  He very nearly ordered the CAP to engage the
enemy and to launch the alert fighters.  And now he had to unlearn almost 45
years of experience serving in the Colonial Fleet.  Normally, he would also
order the weapons officer to engage his cannons and the -Galactica- would throw
up a deadly wall of flak to prevent the enemy's missiles and rounds from
hitting the -Galactica-.  Now he had to depend on these new shields.
    Well, they were as ready as they were going to be.  He noticed that the two
marines assigned to the bridge were holding the new "phaser" rifles at the
ready.  From what he read about the Hirogen, their tactics included boarding
the vessels of their prey and taking trophies.  From the briefing, he had
remembered that bullets were not going to effective against the armored
Hirogen.
    Adama's eyes were glued to the screen, as he helplessly watched the Hirogen
vessels close in on -Voyager-.  -Voyager- was much larger than the Hirogen
vessels, while the -Galactica- herself absolutely dwarfed them.  But he knew
that size wasn't everything.  The seconds ticked by agonizingly slowly.  And
all he could do was stand by the civilian ships as they spooled up their FTL
drives.  But that was the plan.
    Tigh spoke, "We need to do something Admiral", echoing Adama's thoughts.
    "We have to protect the civilian ships Colonel.  That's the plan.
Hopefully, -Voyager- can handle herself," he replied.  At least that was what
he was hoping.
    "-Voyager-'s shield are up, and she's charging weapons," reported Gaeta.
    "Captain Janeway's signaling the Hirogen, Admiral," Dualla chimed in.
    Janeway's voice came over the speakers, "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of
the United Federation starship -Voyager-, we mean you no harm.  We're only in
this system looking for food and fuel.  We're on a mission of mercy and
escorting these civilian ships to safety."
    Adama turned to Dualla.  "Any reply from the Hirogen?" he asked.
    Dualla studied her console.  "No sir.  Nothing."
    As much as he ached to get the -Galactica- into the battle he knew was
coming, he had to stick to the plan.  He didn't need to look around the CIC to
know that almost all eyes were on him.  It wasn't like the -Galactica- and her
crew to shy away from battle like this.  But if the fight went against
-Voyager-, he wasn't going to sit idly by while his Earth brothers fought and
died, plan or no plan.  That he was sure of.
    "What's the status of the fleet?" he asked Gaeta.
    Gaeta looked as frustrated as he was.  "The first of the civilian ships are
jumping now sir!"
    "Very well," he answered.
    Janeway's voice once again came over the speakers.  "Hirogen vessels.  Do
not engage us!  We will protect ourselves if we have to."
    Adama looked to Dualla again.  She shook her head.  That was all he needed
to know.  The Hirogen weren't going to listen to reason, and from what he had
read about them, he didn't expect them to.
    As he watched the screen, the Hirogen ships, which were flying in loose
formation, split up.
    "Are any of them heading toward us Mr. Gaeta?" Tigh asked.
    "No sir, it looks like they're moving to attack -Voyager- from different
angles," Gaeta said sadly.
    "They consider -Voyager- the bigger threat.  Obviously they plan to take
out -Voyager- first, then come for us," Adama said.
    Tigh nodded.  "That's what I would do.  Take out the bear first, and then
the wolf."
    Adama could only watch in frustration as he began to watch the battle
unfold.  -Voyager- began her evasive maneuvers, moving extremely fast and
gracefully.  -Why doesn't Janeway fire?- he wondered.  The Hirogen obviously
meant to attack and destroy her.  Perhaps it was some kind of Starfleet
regulation that prevented her from firing first?  If so, that was stupid.
    Then he saw the first of the first of the Hirogen ships fire, the beam
coming from one of it's weapons turrets, a bright red beam of light that was
stopped by a bubble around -Voyager-.
    Gaeta nearly shouted, "-Voyager-'s hit!"  He scanned his console again.
"It looks like her shields are holding though."
    But that was just the first shot.  He knew there would be many more.
    "But for how long?" Tigh asked.
    No one answered that one.
    Adama held out hope that -Voyager- would be able to fight her way out of
it, then jump with them.  As he thought that, he saw -Voyager- return fire,
hitting one of the Hirogen vessels, it's shields glowed under -Voyager's-
assault.  Before Gaeta could report damage, another Hirogen at the rear fired
at -Voyager-, launching some kind of missile.  This time, -Voyager's- shield
sparkled brightly from the impact.  -Voyager- then answered with two missiles
of her own, coming from her rear tubes.  Photon torpedoes Janeway had said,
when she talked about -Voyager's- weapons.
    The torpedoes hit the Hirogen vessel dead on, it's shields flaring from the
impact of the two photon torpedoes.  But the vessel kept on coming.
    "The Hirogen's shields are down 30 percent, -Voyager-'s shields are down to
90 percent," Gaeta said excitedly.
    Good!  At least -Voyager-'s giving as good as she got.  "What's the status
of the fleet?" he growled.
    "Most of the ships have jumped, but a few ships are having trouble with
their FTL drives, including -Colonial One-," Gaeta answered.
    Damn!  He hoped -Voyager- could hold out just a little longer.
    But his hope started to fade.  They watched as two Hirogen ships fired at
the same time, hitting -Voyager- from port and starboard.  -Voyager-'s shields
glowed with the impact of two beams hitting them at the same time.  Before
-Voyager- could respond, the third Hirogen hit -Voyager- from the back.  Now
they could see visible damage on -Voyager-, one of it's nacelles venting some
sort of plasma.
    -Voyager- started firing everything she had, holding nothing back.  Phaser
beams and photon torpedoes reaching out to touch -Voyager-'s tormentors.
Finally, the Hirogen at -Voyager-'s rear exploded.  Cheers erupted around the
CIC.  Adama smiled, and even Tigh joined in.  But as quickly as the cheers
erupted, they faded into stunned silence as the two remaining Hirogen vessels
continued to pound -Voyager-.
    Adama looked at Gaeta, "What's -Voyager-'s status?" he asked.
    Gaeta's worried expression pretty much gave away the answer.  "-Voyager-'s
shields are down to 10 percent, they can't last much longer.  It looks like
-Voyager-'s warp drive is down," he added.
    "What about their FTL drive?" Adama asked.
    "Unknown Admiral," Gaeta replied.
    Dualla broke the silence.  "The last ships have jumped, including -Colonial
One-."
    Adama looked toward her.  "Hail -Voyager-," he ordered.
    "Channel open Admiral," Dualla said.  She looked as tense as everyone else.
    Janeway and her bridge appeared on screen.  There was smoke on the bridge,
and it definitely looked like they took some heavy damage.  Adama could see a
fire in the backround, and several crewmember slumped over their consoles, most
likely dead from the looks of it.  Janeway herself was grimy, blood streaming
from a gash in her forehead, and she cradle her right arm.  "Captain, we're
coming to assist," Adama said.  He looked at Tigh, and Tigh nodded grimly.
    "Negative Admiral!  You need to jump out of here now!  Our warp drive and
FTL drive is offline!  This is the end of the line for us.  We're transmitting
our logs to you now," Janeway answered.  "Get your people to Earth!"
    "We're not just going to abandon you Captain!" he retorted.  He remembered
the last days of the first Cylon War.  His battlegroup had assaulted a Cylon
outpost that fleet intel had said the Cylons were building a secret weapon.
They lost -Galactica's- sister ship, the -Columbia- that day.  When the
-Columbia- had blown apart, everyone could hear the dying screams of the crew
flooded the comm channels as she broke up.  He had nightmares for years after
that, and vowed not to let something like that happen again.  He said to the
helmsman, "Flank speed toward the nearest Hirogen vessel."
    "Flank speed aye!" answered the helmsman.  And the old battlestar surged
forward, bearing down on the ships that were battering their friends.
    "Fire as soon as we're in range Mr. Agathon," commanded Adama.


*Chapter 11*

*Combat Information Center, -Battlestar Galactica-*

    Adama could feel the vibration of the deck plates from the battlestar's
massive engines as she reached flank speed.  He hoped that the Hirogen were too
busy pounding -Voyager- to notice the -Galactica- bearing down on them.
    And ignore the -Galactica- they did.  Apparently, the Hirogen didn't think
much of the -Galactica-, as they continued their weapons fire.  He thought back
to the first Cylon war, when the sight of a -Columbia- Class battlestar heading
into battle made even the Cylons think twice about tangling with it.  But that
was another age, he thought bitterly.  He shook those thoughts off.  He had to
concentrate on the here and now as he prepared to give his orders.
    "Bring weapons to bear!" he ordered.
    "Bringing all weapons to bear aye!" the helmsman immediately answered.
    Adama tried to ignore the fact that his only effective weapons were two
underpowered phaser banks (outdated by Federation standards) mounted fore and
aft.  Normally, the -Galactica's- dorsal mounted rail guns would be unleashing
hell upon the enemy, but those guns would be silent in this fight.  The
-Galactica- rotated on its Z axis to be able to get both phaser banks facing
toward the enemy.  They also needed to be able to escape should the fight go
against them.
    "Mr. Gaeta, spool up the FTL drive."
    Almost immediately, Gaeta answered, "FTL drive is spooled up sir.  We're
ready to jump on your command."  Adama smiled, it looked like the computer
upgrade for the FTL drive was online.  Normally, it would take at least a few
minutes before the FTL computer could calculate the jump and spin up the drive.
    "Phaser banks fully charged, Admiral," came the hated voice of Baltar over
the intercom.  Adama had nearly forgotten about him.
    He nodded at Tigh, and Tigh barked, "Fire fore and aft banks!"
    Adama watched the view screen and saw two bright red beams of light shot
out from the -Galactica- and seemed to connect with the closest Hirogen ship...
well, not quite connected as the beams seemed to impact on what he assumed were
the Hirogen's shields.  There was no visible damage to the ship as far as he
could tell.
    "Direct hit!" Gaeta reported.  "The Hirogen's shields are down another 30
percent."
    At first, the Hirogen ship didn't respond, probably not quite sure what to
make of the -Galactica- firing on them.  -Come on Janeway!  We bought a few
seconds for you.-  On screen, -Voyager- took full advantage of the Hirogen's
confusion and fired a salvo of three photon torpedoes at the Hirogen ship.
    Cheers erupted around CIC as the screen showed the Hirogen ship explode
like so much fireworks on Caprica day.  But the cheers soon died as the other
Hirogen ship that had been coming about to flank -Voyager- unleashed its
weapons on her to avenge the loss of its sister.  He was about to order Agathon
to lock phasers on the other Hirogen ship when he was suddenly lifted off his
feet and thrown to the deck.
    Tigh was the first to climb to his feet.  "What the frak was that?" he
yelled.
    As Adama stood back up, he saw that his crew were climbing back to their
stations, smoked clouded CIC.
    Gaeta managed to report, "Sir, we just took a hit!"
    "That much is obvious, Mr. Gaeta!" Tigh snapped.  "From what?"
    Dualla was busy with her console, a frown covering her face.  "From what my
sensors show, it looks like another six Hirogen ships have appeared."  Her
wide, frightened eyes looked at Adama for guidance.
    "Godsdamnit!  It's a trap!" Tigh yelled.
    Adama knew then that they had been suckered.  The CIC shook again with
another hit.
    Tigh roared, "Captain Agathon!  Target the closest ship and fire at will!"
    Sweat rolled down Agathon's brow as he answered Col Tigh's order.  "Aye,
sir!  Fore and aft banks firing now."
    Two red phaser beams erupted from -Galactica-'s phaser banks in fury,
hitting the closest Hirogen ship in the dorsal shield area.  The Hirogen ship
and two of her sisters answered -Galactica's- challenge with beams of their
own, and -Galactica's- shields flared from the onslaught.  CIC continued to
shake from the hits.
    "Admiral, we can't take much more of this!" Baltar's panicked voice came
over the intercom.  "Our shields are buckling!"
    The screen confirmed his worst fears as he saw three Hirogen ships joining
the other Hirogen ship in pounding -Voyager-.  -Voyager- returned fire as best
she could, but it looked like it wasn't going to be enough.  All of a sudden,
one of -Voyager's- warp nacelles exploded after a particularly nasty hit, and
her lights went dark.
    "We're receiving a transmission from -Voyager,-" Dualla managed to say.
The CIC continued to shake from the repeated hits, many screens had gone blank.
    "On screen," he ordered.
    He was shocked at what he saw on screen.  What appeared to be a fire, raged
in the back of the bridge, and it looked like her helmsman Tom Paris was
slumped, unmoving over his console.  Janeway herself looked like hell he
thought, a bleeding gash over her right eye.
    "Admiral, I told you to get out of here!" Janeway managed to straighten up
slightly, despite looking badly injured.  She looked Adama in the eyes, "I'm
going to deny the Hirogen their trophy.  Goodbye Admiral," she said sadly.
    Adama looked on in horror as the screen then switched to the external pick
up.  -Voyager- suddenly exploded and two Hirogen ships that were a little too
close were also engulfed in the explosion.
    "We have to go Bill!" Tigh said.  He had managed to make his way to Adama's
side.
    "I know Saul," he said wearily.  The loss of -Voyager- shook him to his
soul.  "Prepare to j --"
    He was interrupted in mid-sentence as the CIC shook from a particularly
violent hit.  When he managed to get back on his feet, it looked as if Gaeta
was dead or unconscious on the floor next to his console.  Tigh was already
making his way to Gaeta's station.  When he finally did, he peered at the
console with his one good eye.  He looked up at Adama with an expression of
dread and shook his head.  From that, Adama knew immediately that the FTL drive
was down and they were cut off from any means of escape.  But Adama knew they
couldn't just give up.
    "Have the repair team get to fixing the FTL drive immediately, and instruct
them to give us updates!"  He knew the repair crews were more than competent,
as they were standing by when the ship was at condition one per regulations.
    Despite the damage to the CIC, the smoke, and the chaos, what was left of
the crew remained at their stations, he was proud of them.  -Galactica- wasn't
going down without a fight, and he vowed the Hirogen a fight they wouldn't
forget.
    The shaking ceased as Dualla reported that their shields and weapons were
offline.  That could mean only one thing, the Hirogen were about to board the
-Galactica-.  The briefing he'd read about the Hirogen indicated they preferred
close quarters combat with their prey before they took "relics".
    Tigh was extremely experienced and had served with Adama so long that he
practically knew what Adama was thinking.  Tigh turned to Gunnery Sergeant
Matthias.  "Gunny!  Stand by to repel boarders!  Take down any alien that gets
into CIC!  Everyone else, take out your weapons and take cover!"
    "Aye, Sir!" answered Matthias, then she began redeploying her troops into
the Colonial standard defensive alignment in CIC.  The marines held their newly
issued phaser rifles at the ready, each of them prepared to defend the CIC with
their lives.
    They heard the whine of a transporter as two shapes began to materialize on
the east side of the CIC.  Matthias and her troops adjusted their aim at the
two forms trying to materialized and ordered, "fry `em".  The marines then
began firing just as the forms had finished materialized.  The two huge Hirogen
were caught unawares and went down under the barrage without being able to get
off a shot.
    Adama smiled grimly at Tigh.  A day earlier, he and Tigh, along with the
marine commander had discussed the military applications of the transporter
system.  They had agreed that it was a wonderful technological innovation, but
it did have some limitations.  The transporter wasn't silent and the whine gave
off the position where the person was going to materialize.  And after
materialization, there was a period during which the person being transported
was disoriented before he adjusted to his surroundings.  Tigh and Matthias had
surmised that was when the person was most vulnerable.  He had to admit that if
they hadn't encountered -Voyager-, they would have been caught flatfooted by
that tactic.
    Tigh asked, "I wonder if the Hirogen are arrogant enough to try that trick
again?"
    Before Adama could reply, the familiar whine of the transporter was heard
again and Adama could make out four shapes trying to materialize on the west
side of CIC.  Again, Matthias gave the order to fry them and once again,
standard Colonial pistols and Starfleet phaser rifles fired at the spot where
the Hirogen were materializing.  This time however, the Hirogen were firing
their own weapons as they materialized.  The Colonial marines were firing their
rifles and taking out the Hirogen one by one, until their four bodies were
sprawled on the floor.  In the silence that followed, Adama realized to his
horror, that Dualla and Agathon were lying face down on the floor of the CIC,
along with two marines.
    Marla Gilmore had managed to crawl over to where the Hirogen were lying and
examined one of their massive rifles.  "Sir, it looks like they programmed
their rifles to fire at the nearest life form as soon as they transported."
    Adama nodded.  He knew the Hirogen weren't stupid, but he had numbers on
his side.  If they could hold out, the repair teams just might be able to
repair the FTL drive in time so they could jump away.  He would call for more
marines to reinforce CIC.
    He looked at Tigh.  "Tigh, get another platoon and medics up here on the
double."
    As Tigh gave his orders, Adama was about to crawl over to where Dualla and
Agathon lay to see if they were alive, when the west wall exploded in a shower
of sparks and equipment.  Gilmore had been closest to the wall and it looked
like she was taken out in the explosion.  As Adama's vision cleared, an object
sailed through the gaping hole and exploded in a cascade of light and sound.
-Some kind of alien flash bang?- he thought.
    Over twenty Hirogen hunters poured through the huge hole, firing as they
went.  Through the haze, he saw his marines and CIC crew go down one by one.
Adama had his own duty weapon out returning fire.  He heard a thud next to him
and saw his friend Tigh on the floor next to him, his eyes were closed and the
front of his uniform was smoking from the hit he had taken.  Adama screamed in
rage and stood up firing at the large Hirogen that had killed his friend.  He
managed to put a round through the large alien's right eye, sending it
backwards and falling to the deck.  As Adama began searching for another
target, he felt a stab of pain in his right arm.  It went numb as he dropped
his weapon.  It was at that moment he realized that the room had gone eerily
silent and he noticed that all his crewmen and marines were down.  The CIC was
filled with large Hirogen hunters and one particularly large one approached
him.  -He must be the leader.-
    "You are resilient prey!" the alien said from behind his mask.
    "Go frak yourself," Adama spat as the large alien lifted its equally large
silver rifle.  The last thing Adama saw was the muzzle flash as Adama's world
went black.


*Astrometrics, -USS Voyager-

    Janeway, Tuvok, and Chakotay were watching the screen as the holographic
simulation ended.  Janeway was impressed with the way the Colonials had handled
themselves and it gave her an idea.  She decided that she would discuss it with
Tuvok.
    Chakotay smiled at Tuvok.  "Twenty two Hirogen bursting into CIC?  Tuvok,
if I didn't know better, I'd think you just threw a -Kobayashi Maru- type
program at them."
    Tuvok raised an eyebrow.  To a casual observer, Tuvok showed no emotions.
But Chakotay had been serving with Tuvok for a number of years and Chakotay
knew that Tuvok was amused.
    "You are correct, Commander.  That is precisely what I instructed the
computer to do.  The parameters of this simulation closely matches the standard
-Kobayashi Maru- scenario.  It was a classic no win situation, but only if the
Admiral chose to fight.  The correct course of action was to abandon -Voyager-
and jump away, thereby preserving the -Galactica- and the Colonial remnant."
    "But Tuvok, the -Kobayashi Maru- is supposed to be a test of character,
there isn't a correct solution," Chakotay argued.
    "That is true, but the program was written to have the correct solution,
and if that solution was not implemented, then the result would logically lead
to a -Kobayashi Maru- type situation.  May I remind you Commander, we are in
Hirogen space, and Hirogen ships have been known to hunt in packs," Tuvok
replied.
    Chakotay was about to argue the point of having an additional twenty two
Hirogen storm CIC, when Janeway held up her hands.
    "Gentlemen, we could argue about the -Kobayashi Maru- scenario all day.
But the bottom line is the valuable training that the Colonials are getting
from all this.  It's obvious the Colonials are becoming familiar with our
technology, which is the important thing.  Which brings me to my next
question," said Janeway.  As they were talking, the viewscreen showed the
doctor was busy reviving the -Galactica- personnel.  "How is your hazard team
training going?" she asked Tuvok.
    "The Colonial marines are performing quite adequately," answered Tuvok.
    To Janeway, it meant that Tuvok was very pleased, in contrast to his
attitude when he was training some of the Maquis crewmen a few years ago.
    "Good!" beamed Janeway.  "There's a certain scenario that I want you to
train them for..."


*Mess Hall, -USS Voyager-*

    Adama sat with Tigh at one of the tables in the mess hall.  Various
-Galactica- crew members sat with -Voyager- crew members, recounting the latest
simulation.  Adama quietly sipped a cup of coffee that Neelix had cheerfully
poured for him, his mind was going over the events of the last simulation.
Lt. Tuvok had briefed them that it would be a standard training simulation
designed to familiarize them with Starfleet tactics and to familiarize his
officers with Starfleet technology.  He had a feeling that some combat would be
involved but the realism of the simulation, due to Starfleet technology, caused
him to get lost in the reality of the simulation.  He thought if only they had
simulators like this at the Fleet War College, valuable lives could have been
saved during the first Cylon War and beyond.  He was a veteran of the first war
with the Cylons, but he had to learn how to fight using the technology Janeway
had "loaned" them, and that meant learning new tactics.  Yes, the holodeck was
a valuable training tool, and now he could see why people could suffer what the
Starfleeters called holoaddiction, it was just so realistic that one could get
lost in the fantasy.
    Tigh interrupted his brooding.  "Still thinking about the simulation?  We
sure could have used that holodeck contraption years ago.  Hell, I thought I
was a goner for sure."
    For once, Adama didn't smell ambrosia on Tigh's breath.  And now that he
thought about it, he hadn't smelled ambrosia coming from Saul since the nebula.
At one point, he had doubted his old friend's sanity.  One moment he was raving
about hearing music coming from inside the ship, the next he shows up in CIC
sober and being the officer Adama wanted him to be.  What had changed him?
    "I thought you were too," Adama answered.  "The last thing I remembered was
staring down into the barrel of that Hirogen rifle and the doctor waking me up.
We were all just stunned, and the wounds that appeared on us were all part of
the simulation.  We learned a lot from that simulation."
    "Yeah, like not taking on six Hirogen ships," Tigh said wryly.
    During the debriefing, Chakotay had told them that it was what they had
called a Kobayashi Maru type scenario, that they weren't supposed to win, that
it was a no-win scenario.  Adama hadn't agreed.  He didn't believe in the
no-win scenario.  Adama chuckled.  "Yes, we're not going to be doing that
again."
    Tigh nodded.  "I understand our marines are training with their hazard team
in the other holodeck.  I bet they're getting some pretty realistic training.
I'm going to ask Lt. Tuvok if the rest of our marines can get some holodeck
training time."
    That was something Adama was going to bring up with Janeway.  -Galactica-'s
marines were sharp, but as a military man, he knew that you needed constant
training to keep that sharp edge.
    They watched as the mess hall doors opened and Dualla walked in searching
the room.  When she saw the two of them, she walked up to their table and
handed Adama a PADD.
    "Here's the report you request sir, about the status of the fleet," she
said.
    "Very good, lieutenant.  Go ahead and get yourself something to eat?" Adama
answered.
    Dualla smiled.  Whatever Neelix was cooking smelled delicious.  "Thank you,
sir."
    Adama was pleased as he began reading the report.  Food stocks were being
replenished slowly, but surely.  He certainly appreciated the crew of -Voyager-
putting in a lot of effort to help his people.  His calculated risk in giving
Janeway the specs to the FTL drive was paying dividends.  He had rolled the
hard six and it paid off.  But he also understood -Voyager- was one of
Starfleet's smaller science cruisers, not one of their deep space exploration
cruisers like the -Galaxy- class ships he had read about.  -Voyager-'s crew
complement was only a tenth of the crew complement of a -Galaxy- he told
himself, so its personnel and material resources were much more limited.  From
what he had read, -Voyager- wasn't designed to be out in deep space for an
extended period of time.
    He yawned.  The last simulation had taken a lot out of him.  He decided to
finish reading the report in his quarters.
    "Gonna hit the rack, Bill?" Tigh asked.
    "Yes," he answered.  "We have three simulations scheduled for tomorrow.  I
want to sleep in my quarters on the real -Galactica- if you don't mind.  And
you?"
    "I'm going to stay for a bit, you know, make sure nobody gets into
trouble," said Tigh.
    Adama agreed.  "Good idea, Saul."
    "Ok, I'll call for a raptor to bring you back to -Galactica.-"  He stood up
and saw Racetrack mingling with some of the -Voyager- crew.  He was about to
call her to their table when Adama interrupted him.
    "That's okay, Saul," Adama said.  "Let her enjoy her meal, gods knows the
crew rarely has a chance to eat this good."
    "Then how are you going to get back?" Tigh asked.  Adama grinned, something
Tigh hadn't seen too often since they fled the colonies.  "Are you going to use
that transporter machine?"
    "Well you know what they say..." Adama answered.
    Tigh knew the old saying.  "When on Virgon..."
    "...Do as the Virgons do," Adama replied.
    "You're a braver man than me, Bill.  I don't like the idea of having my
atoms scattered across space," Tigh grimaced.
    "But first, I'm going to have some take out.  That Neelix really is a good
cook."  And he wandered over to the front table where Neelix was thrilled to
have so many people enjoy his cooking.
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