"The long Journey" (a Shadowrun crossover with everything)

[Praeothmin]

Chapter 16

The man was taken aback by the guns pointed towards him.
He froze in mid-step, noticed the Admiral, and, with uncertainty all over his face, asked:
“Admiral? What is wrong? Why are these men pointing guns at me?”

“Chief,” The Admiral started slowly, “It seems you are hiding things from us.
Our friends here, say that you are a Cylon, and that they have proof.”

“What?” The Chief said, genuine surprise all over his face.
“That’s absurd!” He stated matter-of-factly.

“Yes, I’m starting to think so as well.” Adama said, eying Captain Kirkinger with frustration in his eyes.
“It seems all my most trusted men turn out to be Cylons.”

“I can assure you, I’m not a Cylon, Sir.” The Chief said in his defence.
“Now, if you don’t mind, we’ve got a lot of work to do, as the Galactica has been heavily damaged in the rescue mission.
I only just suited up and was going over the repair estimates, and they are not good, believe me.
So, if you guys are done pointing guns in my face, I’ll get back to work.” He finished.
He started to move past James, but when the Chief touched the gun, it didn’t move, not even an inch.
“Sir?” He said, slightly panicked, as he looked at the Admiral.

“Chief, I will have to ask you to trust me on this.
It’s time we’ve put our new Cylon detector to the test.
Please accompany me to Science Lab 1, where we’ll have Doc Cotter take a sample of our blood.
I’ll have Saul Tigh brought there too.”

“Yes Sir!” Was Tyrol’s response, and he waited for the Admiral.
Admiral Adama went to one of the wall phones, where he called Doc Cotter and instructed him to go to the lab to prep the Cylon Detector.

The Admiral looked at Captain Kirkinger, and said:
“Since these tests take some time, this will allow you to go back to your ship to see if the repairs are completed, and to start preparations on the help you offered.
Cpl. Basking here will accompany you to your ship.”

“Why don’t you join us once your blood sample has been taken, Admiral?” Captain Kirkinger asked.
“This would allow me to show you a bit of my ship, and you could see how we do things in Starfleet.”

The Admiral seemed to think it over, but James could see curiosity battling over duty in the Admiral’s face.
At the end, curiosity won, if only by a slight margin.

“I would love too, Captain. I admit I’ve wanted to do that since we met.
Go to your transport, Captain, and I’ll join you there momentarily.”
With those words, Adama turned around, and headed to the Science lab, followed by a curious and uncomprehending Chief Tyrol.

The Starfleet crew made it back to the shuttle in silence, preceded by Cpl. Basking who was leading them.
James was happy because he remembered the way perfectly, and could have guided them if needed.
He thought back to the reactions of Saul Tigh and Chief Tyrol, and something felt off.
They were both genuinely surprised at the accusations, not at being discovered.
No, their surprise, James decided, was one of someone who couldn’t possibly fathom what was revealed as true.
Which meant that if James had correctly analyzed their reaction, these men were sleeper agents, albeit unknowing ones.
James wondered how many more of these Cylons they would find.
As they arrived at their shuttle, they noticed it had attracted attention.
Many people, most of them flight deck crew, James judged by the way they were dressed, were examining every inch of the shuttle, some to the detriment of their duties.
They all spread out the moment they saw the Starfleet crew arrive on deck, as if they suddenly remembered they had other things to do, which they did.
James did a quick inspection of the shuttle, making sure nothing was damaged, or that no bombs were present.
The discovery of the Cylon sleeper agents had put him on edge, and so he was thorough in his inspection of the shuttle.
Once he was done, he started looking around, at everything and everyone, looking for potential threats to the Captain and themselves.
He had found none by the time Admiral Adama had arrived.
The Admiral was accompanied by two Marines, fully armed and alert.
James was sure they weren’t too happy going into an unknown ship with potential threats waiting for the Admiral, with only two guards.
But they didn’t show it, aside from their readiness and the way their eyes kept moving, inspecting the shuttle, James and Harriman, and Captain Kirkinger, no doubt looking for any signs of betrayal.
The Captain led the Admiral inside the shuttle, showed him his seat, took his while the shuttle door was closing, and then James and the guards felt the ground move beneath their feet, the slight tremor indicating the shuttle was taking off.
James had noticed two different reactions to the take off from Lt. Harriman and the Marines.
Harriman, used as he was to this type of shuttle, was not, just like James, using a handhold, and was still keeping a close eye on the Marines and Adama with his Tricorder during the take off.
The Marines, though, had most likely expected a more turbulent lift, as their eyes showed genuine surprise when they felt the shuttle move, their center of Gravity telling them it was off the ground, yet only a slight tremor under their feet had betrayed the take off.

The Admiral, James saw, was much more relaxed then his guards were.
James felt the Admiral had taken measure of Captain Kirkinger, and had seen no deception, no malice in the man, and so had apparently decided that he could be fully trusted.
This did not mean Adama wasn’t alert, but he was showing much less distrust, or nervousness, than his men did.
He was telling Captain Kirkinger about the test, that it had gone well enough, even though Cl. Tigh had protested vehemently at taking the test, relenting only once the Admiral had told him he and Cotter would also be tested.
He was finishing a sentence when he looked out the window, and stopped talking, surprise and wonder on his face.
Captain Kirkinger turned around to see what Adama was looking at, though James was certain Kirkinger knew what had caused the Admiral’s reaction.
The Marines, seeing their Admiral’s reaction, came forward, and looked in the same direction as Adama.
Their reaction was just as his had been, one of the Marines even mouthing “motherfrakker” silently.
James smiled slightly, just as Kirkinger was now smiling, and decided he would join Adama and his crew and peer out the window.
Just as he expected, the Musashi was in view, bathed in the light being reflected off the surface of New Caprica.
It’s curving lines, pale hull, which now bore almost no traces of combat, only the major missile strikes still showing, cut a majestic silhouette in space.
And while it was not as big or as long as the Galactica, it was still massive enough that when the shuttle approached from the rear, aiming at the open landing bays between the two Warp Nacelles, it was completely filling the view.

The shuttle entered the first landing bay, and set down on the pad smoothly.
They exited the shuttle, and Captain Kirkinger invited the others to follow him.
He gave a quick tour of the ship to the Admiral, explaining how things worked, and what Starfleet protocols guided the ship’s activities.
Admiral Adama was impressed, moreso when Captain Kirkinger showed him the industrial replicators, which would be used to create the new parts for the Galactica using raw materials from the planet below.
They had contacted the Galactica and obtained the list of necessary parts when Cmdr. T’Len arrived.

“Captain,” She said, “We have finished analyzing our sensor readings of the encounter with the cybernetic organisms.”

She stopped, looking at the Captain’s guests, and James knew she was wainting for her Captain’s permission to continue, or order to shut up.

“Lt. Cmdr. T’Len,” The Captain started, “Allow me to present to you our new friend and ally, Admiral William Adama, from the fleet of the Twelve Colonies.
Admiral, this is my Chief Engineer, Lt. Cmdr. T’Len.
She is a Vulcan, a race of beings allied with Earth in the Federation of Planets, our governing body.
The Federation comprises over one-hundred-fifty worlds, many being part of Starfleet, so you may see many strange humanoids on my vessel."

"I had noticed." Adama replied.

"As you can see, Cmdr. T'Len is alos quite to the point.
Cmdr., you may proceed with your findings.” He said, returning his gaze at T’Len.

“Thank you Sir!
They are not Borg, and their weapons technology is inferior, although there is more here than meets the eyes.
When we destroyed their ships, our sensor logs noticed massive data transmissions emanating from the ships to a nearby system, which we were able to triangulate.
These transmissions resembled primitive subspace transmissions, so we tried to decode them.
That is when we found out that these transmissions were in fact personalities from some of the Cybernetic organisms.
When we ran them through our systems, they began to take over the ship.
We weren’t able to warn you because of this, but we successfully isolated them, and sent them in a subroutine in Holodeck 3.
Still, for added security, we isolated its systems from our mainframe.
That is how we were able to communicate with them, as in the Holodeck, they were able to use it to create holographic bodies for themselves.
They are quite fascinating beings, even if they are no Borg.”
She paused for an instant, looking at the Captain, and then at the Admiral.

“Something strange happened when we first spoke with one of them, Sir.” T’Len said.
“She said she knew we had contact with the Galactica, meaning these creatures were capable of acquiring much data while in our system, and she asked to speak to you directly, Admiral.
She says her name is Boomer.”

[sonofccn]

They are not Borg, and their weapons technology is inferior, although there is more here than meets the eyes.

Clearly an alliance between the Borg and the Decepticons! Those scoundrels!

I also liked how she nonchalantly mentioned that the intelligence of the people they just blew to hell had attempted to take over the ship but its contained now so no need to make an effort to inform him.

But I kinda feel bad for the Admiral. First trusted officers are revealed as cylons now one is asking for him by name...it hinders your street cred as a no nonsense cylon killing machine.:)

[Admiral Breetai]

freaken sweet so far! really boss man keep it up

Clearly an alliance between the Borg and the Decepticons! Those scoundrels!

"we are the Borg power down your vessel and surrender your biological and technological distinction will be added to the collective"

Cavil: you're making a mistake, gods on our side

"your religion is irrelevant you will be assimilated"

Cavil:'oh I don't think so"

unknown planetoid entering system range hailing frequencies open acquiring new priority assimilate planetoid first units known as Cylons secondary priority

"we are the borg your technological distinction will be added to our own you will be assimilated "

I am Unicron but you will designate me master

[Khas]

freaken sweet so far! really boss man keep it up

Clearly an alliance between the Borg and the Decepticons! Those scoundrels!

"we are the Borg power down your vessel and surrender your biological and technological distinction will be added to the collective"

Cavil: you're making a mistake, gods on our side

"your religion is irrelevant you will be assimilated"

Cavil:'oh I don't think so"

unknown planetoid entering system range hailing frequencies open acquiring new priority assimilate planetoid first units known as Cylons secondary priority

"we are the borg your technological distinction will be added to our own you will be assimilated "

I am Unicron but you will designate me master

That's it. We're fucked.

[Admiral Breetai]

That's it. We're fucked.

the twelve lords of kobol are the original transformers Primus created to safe guard the universe

you've got the touch will play as Adama lights our darkest hour while optimums and Picard lead a force against Borgatrons and augmented Cylons backed up by Kirk and Sisko flying Fortress Maximus

[Praeothmin]

While that would be an insteresting read, it's not part of my plans for the story... :)
But I'm sure you'll like how Starfleet's presence will affect the twelve Colonies of Kobol... :)

[Praeothmin]

Chapter 17

The information hit Admiral Adama like a Troll’s punch, James saw.
In no time, though, surprise was replaced by anger.
His jaw squared up, his eyes became flaming pits, and his heavy breathing made the people around Adama become very nervous.
Even Captain Kirkinger, usually so stoic, was taken aback, James realized.
James himself had almost taken a step back.
Adama’s commanding presence, coupled with his anger, had made him appear as if he’d gained a few feet in height.

“I want to see her.” Adama said, his tone clearly indicating he was not asking for a favour, but almost issuing an order.

“Of course, Admiral!” The Captain said.
“I will take you to her immediately.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Was all Adama replied.

They made their way towards Holodeck 3 in silence, Adama looking straight forward, not acknowledging anything except his destination.
They arrived at Holodeck 3’s door, but as Cmdr T’Len was about to open it, Captain Kirkinger signalled for her to wait, and he looked at Adama.

“Before we go in,” He said, “I want to know who she is, and why she wants to talk to you.”

“Her name is Sharon Valerii. She was a member of my crew, a Raptor pilot under the call sign Boomer.
It turns out she was a Cylon Hybrid, and she tried to kill me.” He finished, with venom in his voice.

The revelation took the Starfleet crew and James aback.

“And I have no idea why she’d want to see me, but I wish to find out.” He added.

They went in the Holodeck, Adama’s guards entering with weapons at the ready.
Once in, James saw two beautiful women apparently waiting for them.
One was a tall blonde, about six feet in height, with blue eyes, a narrow nose and pearl white teeth.
She was wearing a bright red sleeveless dress which accentuated her curves quite nicely.
The other one was of Asian descent, with dark hair and a beautiful face, a small nose and dark eyes.
She was a bit shorter than the blonde, and was just as slim.
She wore combat pants, a grey sleeveless shirt with a black camisole over it.
James concluded that one to be Boomer.
The Asian looked serious, sad even, while the blonde had a slight, crooked smile, which accentuated when she looked at James.
James knew that kind of woman: she was a man eater, a predator who considered each and every man as prey, and he knew that at that moment, he became prey number one.
Too bad she’s the enemy and a hologram, ‘cause I sure wouldn’t mind being preyed upon by her.

Admiral Adama barely glanced at the blonde, and then settled his full gaze, filled with hatred, upon the Asian one, confirming to James she was indeed Boomer.
She could barely return the Admiral’s stare, genuine shame painted on her face.
After a few moments of silence, when it was clear the Admiral would not speak first, Captain Kirkinger broke the silence.

“I am Captain Damien Kirkinger, of the USS Musashi, the ship you are currently on.
I was told one of you, Boomer, wanted to talk to the Admiral.”
He looked at both females, then settled his gaze on the Asian.
“So, what do you want with my new friend?” He finished sternly.

“Captain Kirkinger,” The blonde answered, “I am Caprica Six, and just like Boomer, I am a Hybrid Cylon.
Boomer wanted to meet with Admiral Adama because of what she did to him.”

“I am aware of what she tried to do.” The Captain replied.

“Then you can understand her discomfort and silence.
I, on the other hand, wanted to meet with you.” She said, looking at the Captain, once in a while letting her gaze glance towards James.

“Oh?” Replied Kirkinger, “And why would you want to meet me?”

“I wanted to meet the man who so easily destroyed our ships, and killed so many of our brothers and sisters.” She replied.
“I wanted to gain a better appreciation of the kind of man that casually destroys so many lives in a conflict of which he knows nothing about.”

The words affected the Captain, James saw, because Kirkinger’s expression, if only for an instant, changed to one of regret.
Regret was only there for a heartbeat, and no one had seemed to notice, James thought, except for the blonde Cylon.
And her micro-expression revealed that this was exactly what she had hoped for.

“I wanted to know who goes in guns blazing without even trying to communicate first, what kind of savage monster condemns unknown life forms to oblivion without a second thought.” She finished with a stern gaze, looking only at Captain Kirkinger.

James noticed that Kirkinger took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking, an action noticed by Admiral Adama as well as Caprica Six.
“I believe you have some of your facts wrong, young lady.” He said.
“We did not arrive guns blazing, as you say, or as you noticed, we would have easily destroyed all your ships.
We were first fired upon, and then protected two unarmed civilian ships from your vessels’ attacks.
An action which made me wonder what kind of savage monster acts that way.”

His use of Caprica Six’s own expression only seemed to amuse her, so he continued.

“The rest is a case of mistaken identities.”
The Captain became silent, waiting for Caprica Six’s response.

“We know,” She said with a smile, “We learned as much while looking through your ship logs and sensor readings.”

Captain Kirkinger became weary at that statement, which seemed to please her.
She continued:
“We know you mistook us for the Borg, so we researched them.
Quite an interesting read.
These Borg are powerful, and have great technologies, technologies we could use to wipe out God’s mistake, humans.”

Kirkinger became livid at those words, and so Adama, even though he didn’t exactly know who the Borg were or how powerful, understood from the Captain’s expression that the knowledge the Cylons had gained could mean the doom of the Colonies.

“You know, for such an advanced civilisation, your computer security is quite easy to defeat.
So easy, in fact, that it allows me to do this…”
She smiled, a wide and happy smile, one James didn’t care for.

Something beeped in the background, and James heard T’Len’s say:
“Captain, we’re reading an unauthorized attempt at a transmission at the triangulated coordinates for the Cylon home base.
It contains all our information on the Borg, Sir.”

Caprica Six let out a great, powerful laugh at the surprise on Kirkinger’s face.

“Kill the transmission!” He said to T’Len, who was working like a maniac on the Holodeck’s control panel.

“I am trying Captain, but she is bypassing all our secure relays, using multiple sub-systems to re-route all commands.” T’Len stated impassibly.

The level of Caprica Six’s laugh increased.
“You will all die, Captain. Your intervention not only failed at saving the Colonies, but you’ve given us the means to destroy all of humanity forever.”

“No, he hasn’t!” T’Len responded, hitting one last button.
“Your signal has been killed, the information purged, your control of every system outside of this room lost.”

“What? NO!” Yelled Caprica Six.
“You will still pay for all you did, Captain” She said venomously.

She launched herself at Captain Kirkinger, faster than anyone could see, except for James.
Since he had not seen anyone that fast ever since leaving his reality, he had almost been taken by surprise, and so reacted slightly slower than usual.
It had almost been enough for Caprica Six to get to the Captain.
Almost.
James, who had been standing to the right of Captain Kirkinger, took a step to his left and, while grabbing the Captain to shove him out of the way of the attack, launched a spinning right kick in Caprica Six’s abdomen.
The kick had been full force, yet it had only succeeded in deflecting Caprica Six’s attack towards Lt. Harriman.
The Lt. was already getting in a guard position, his left hand coming up in front of him, his right staying near his plexus for defense, when Caprica was upon him.
Her right arm swept his left downward out of the way, her left hand balling into a fist, and she punched him in the face with all her strength.
The punch snapped his neck back, but Harriman had rolled with the hit somewhat, and so he was still standing when Caprica Six punched her right fist through his ribcage, all the way to his heart, shocking James with her ferocity.
He used her attack as a distraction and side-kicked her at the base of her spine with all his strength, anger fueling him.
But instead of the satisfying crack of breaking vertebrae, all he heard was a loud thump.
The blow did propel Caprica Six at the Holodeck’s wall, face first, but it didn’t seem to faze her at all, as she turned towards him, her smile still present on her face.

How powerful are these bastards? James wondered.
How much punishment can that slitch take?

Adama’s Marines had, by that time, reacted in the only way they were trained to: they aimed at the Cylons, one aiming at Boomer, the other at Caprica Six.
The one aiming at Caprica Six fired as soon as she was clear from James, but the bullets ricocheted around the Holodeck, hitting the walls, the floor, the ceiling, one bullet even being deflected at James, hitting his armor’s chest plate.

“Stop firing!” Captain Kirkinger said, “They’re made of forcefields, your bullets won’t affect them.”

Caprica Six only smiled more as she advanced cautiously towards James.
She looked at him playfully, almost languorously.

“It seems we Cylons aren’t the only ones full of surprises, aren’t we, James Reynolds?” She said.

Frag! He thought, that slitch knows about me. Doesn’t matter, she has no real clue who she’s fragging with.

She launched a right-handed punch at James’s face, but as soon as James had blocked it, she retracted her arm and launched a kick from her left leg to his crotch.
James blocked her strikes, and retaliated with some of his own.
On it went for some time, Caprica Six launching strike after strike at James, each one blocked, while James successfully retaliated many times, though without any noticeable effect.
Still, he had no trouble blocking her strikes, because as fast as she was, she was not as fast as James.
Her strength, though, was amazing.
She was easily as strong as he was, and the longer they sparred, the stronger she became, making each parry more and more difficult for James.
After a few minutes of fighting, the others could only watch in horror at Lt. Harriman’s body, and at a fight more people feared would end up the same way for James.
James also feared for his life, as he had starting fighting someone with a burly Orc’s strength, but who was now hitting him with almost as much strength as Rhino the Troll, one of James's heavily cybered-up Shadowrunning contacts.
And he was getting tired at the efforts he needed to make blocking her attacks, while she seemed not to tire.
Most unnerving to James was the smile which was still on her face.
The smile of a predator, the smile of impending doom, the smile of Death.

Then it happened.
James tried to block a punch which threw him on a wall, and she waded in, oblivious to his kicks and punches and elbow shots, and her hands gripped his throat, and started to squeeze the life out of him.

She looked at him, smiling, mocking, and then whispered:
“And now you die knowing you couldn’t protect your friends, James Reynolds.”

[sonofccn]

“I wanted to meet the man who so easily destroyed our ships, and killed so many of our brothers and sisters.” She replied.
“I wanted to gain a better appreciation of the kind of man that casually destroys so many lives in a conflict of which he knows nothing about.”

Search the name Kirk, James T. That should explain how and why a man with the name Kirkinger did what what he did. Not everyone can be a Picard.

Okay I think its been established that putting cylons inside a holodeck is bad. Very bad. I'd fire that science officer. From a canon. Into the sun. :)

[Praeothmin]

Well, she didn't have much choice, as the Cylons were originally running free all over the ship's systems...

[Admiral Breetai]

poor Cylons had no idea what hit them when they tried to mess with a feddie vessel

[Praeothmin]

Chapter 18

And then she disappeared, vanished into thin air as if she had never been there.
James fell on the floor hard, his semi-conscious state barely registering the movements around him, the hands helping him sit up against the wall, checking him to see if he was injured.
He did not notice when Cmdr. Teramak came in to witness a colleague’s death, or when he snapped out at T’Len and accused her of being responsible for the events that happened, before Captain Kirkinger silenced him with an order.
Then his vision un-blurred, his senses focusing once more on his surroundings, and James was once again part of the fully conscious world.

“Yes Sir,” He heard Cmdr. T’Len say, “Contrary to what Lt. Cmdr. Teramak believes, we were certain these entities could not take over the Holodeck, as we had initiated all our security protocols around and in it.
They showed remarkable adaptability to be able to bypass those security measures.”

“What?” Was the indignant reaction from Teramak, “These monstrosities kill one of my best men, almost take the life of a valued ally, and our Chief Engineer praises them?
Would you have been more impressed had they succeeded in KILLING OUR CAPTAIN, CMDR.?” Teramak said angrily, advancing on T’Len threateningly.

“ENOUGH, TERAMAK!” Captain Kirkinger bellowed.
“What happened was regrettable, and I am as sad as you are at our loss, unless you doubt it…” Kirkinger said, staring directly in Teramak’s eyes.
When the Andorian lowered his gaze, shaking his head, Kirkinger continued.
“But I will NOT have my crew at each other’s throats because they could not contain their anger.
It that clear?” He asked, looking both at Teramak and T’Len.

“Of course, Sir!” T’Len replied, with her usual calm.

“Yes Sir!” Said Teramak, although his face clearly showed he didn’t like it.

They all looked at the Cylon called Boomer, who was still there, unthreatening, barely raising her eyes to look at them.

“Why haven’t you attacked us?” Captain Kirkinger asked, clearly trying to remain calm despite what had happened to his crewman.

“Because,” Boomer replied tentatively, “I regret what I did to Admiral Adama. I regret all the pain I caused to him and all my friends on Galactica.
I wanted the end of the war, I wanted for both our societies to live together on New Caprica, but this failure almost made me lose faith the possibility for peaceful co-existence of our two races.
But then, after my ship was destroyed, I was somehow transported here, in your computer system, where I learned about your Federation, where dozens of different races of different cultural views live together in peace and harmony, and help each other grow and prosper.
So I realized that if you could do it, that if you could even turn sworn enemies like Andorians and Vulcans into allies, that we could also do this.”

“Our Federation, our harmony, isn’t perfect.” Captain Kirkinger said.
“As you surely noticed earlier, some rough edges still remain.” He finished, looking at Teramak.

“No, but it does work, and the fact that your crewmember obviously feels bad about the situation proves this.
I fear it will not be easy, but I know now it is possible.”

“Boomer,” Adama began softly, “I cannot say I trust you right now, or that I can ever forgive you for what you did to me, but if you can help end this war, if you have any insight on how we can do this, then for the sake of your old friends on Galactica, please tell us.”

He was looking at Boomer with less anger now, perhaps tempted to believe her by her inaction during the earlier fight, where the Cylons, for one brief moment, held all the advantages, and where she had indeed not attacked anyone.
Boomer noticed his warmer gaze, and smiled.

“Thank you, Admiral, for wanting to believe me, and for looking at me no longer as a sworn enemy, but as someone for whom you used to have some respect.
I will indeed help you, in any way I can.
I believe that the reason my race is so sure of its superiority is because we can normally resurrect after our death.
Our consciousness, as your crew discovered, is transferred to our resurrection ship, and downloaded into a new body.
This body is then ready to function in a few seconds.
This means that, up to now, most Cylons never died, except when out of transmission range from our ship.
I believe if you remove this resurrection ability from us, Captain, the Cylons will be much more inclined to negociate, or at least consider a truce.”

“Boomer,” Kirkinger said, “While we ponder what you’ve told us, I’m afraid you’ll have to be restrained to the Holodeck’s systems. I can’t run the risk of having you turn on us during combat.”

Surprise was etched on Boomer’s face.
“You mean you aren’t going to delete me like you did Caprica Six?”

“Not unless I have to. You may not be like us, but you are most certainly a sentient being, and destroying you would mean murder.
It is not part of Starfleet’s philosophy.” Captain Kirkinger explained.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have things to take care of.”

They exited the Holodeck, and started walking towards a Turbolift, when Adama asked.

“Captain, how was that Cylon able to attack us if she was only a hologram?”

“Our Holodecks use forcefields to re-create physical objects, and places them in the room. These objects feel real, and are not simple three-dimensional images, but they cannot exist outside of these special rooms.
We normally have safety protocols which prevent people from getting injured, but this Cylon was able to overcome them.
As Cmdr. T’Len stated, they must be very good and adaptable to have done that.”

“Well, that’s how they got our fleet, Captain.” Adama said sadly.
“We had one-hundred-twenty ships, the Galactica being one of the oldest.
All other ships had state-of-the-art computers and software installed for better fleet coordination.
Unknown to us, the Cylons had infiltrated that system.
When they attacked, all ships were rendered inoperative and destroyed.
Pegasus was spared because her computer system was offline at the time of the attack, and I had refused to have that system installed on Galactica.
Invading computers and software is their specialty.
Don’t feel bad about what happened.
If anything, the fact you took control back from them this fast proves to me how much more advanced and capable you are against them, than us.” Adama finished.

“Well, seeing as how you are still alive and doing well with only two ships out a one-hundred and twenty, I’d say you’re doing well.” Kirkinger replied.
“And since Lt. Harriman died, I’d say we didn’t retake control fast enough.” He concluded.

“Well, we lost billions in the Cylon attacks on the twelve colonies.” Adama added.
Our fleet originally had close to fifty thousand people, all which remained out of billions of humans.
The Cylon’s constant attacks steadily decreased that number down to the low thirty thousands.”

Looks of horror and disgust spread on the Starfleet personnel’s faces.
There was a moment of silence, as everyone looked at Lt. Harriman being taken away on a gravity stretcher.

It was Captain Kirkinger who broke the silence.

“Let’s get your ships repaired, equipped and ready to defend the rest of your fleet.” He said with steel in his voice.

“I agree, Captain. Even without your weapons, the fully operational and restocked Galactica and Pegasus will make every Cylon pay for any attacks they could try.” Adama replied, his resolve just as firm as the Captain’s.

“There’s something else I will do for you.”Captain Kirkinger said.
Once your ship is repaired and all the supplies and spare parts are loaded, my ship will accompany yours to the Colonial fleet, and we will use our sensors to ferret out all the Cylons who possible hide in it.”

Admiral Adama smiled upon hearing the words, for while he understood the logictical nightmare it would be for his crew to retrieve and arrest all the Cylons, knowing where they were would be an incredible boon to the fleet.
And as a wise man had once said: knowing was half the battle.

And so they worked tirelessly for hours upon hours, the Musashi’s crew manufacturing repairs parts using the industrial replicators on their ship, and loading them on Raptors and shuttles to send them to the Galactica.
Even the Galactica’s nuclear warhead stock was replenished, as well as extra ones for Pegasus.
James had wondered why the Transporters were not used to transfer everything, and so had asked the Captain about it.
Captain Kirkinger had told James that he didn’t want to unveil the Transporters to the Colonials just yet, believing it could be a tactical advantage eventually, one which spies could learn of and report to their masters if shown too early.
That was why they had not been presented to Admiral Adama on his quick tour of the ship.

The biggest pieces, the external armor plating and the internal structural beams, were transferred to the Galactica using the Musashi’s and Starfleet shuttles’ tractor beams.
They were welded in place using the Federation’s molecular welders, which re-arranged the atoms of two different pieces as if they had been moulded together.
The Starfleet crew were also replenishing the Colonial fleet’s Raptors and Vipers spare parts supply, and even had manufactured parts that had been requested to the Galactica by other Colonial ships.

While they were repairing Galactica, recon missions were being flown to ensure no Cylons were nearby preparing an attack.
The Musashi’s sensors were also hard at work, nothing escaping their attention, measuring every stray photon, every minute radiation trace, and mostly, recording each and every Cylon energy signature within the Cylon system, where the dead Cylons had tried to transmit their consciousness to.
The Captain and his Tactical officer talked often with Boomer about the Cylons and their tactics, verifying all information obtained through Adama and his crew.
They were getting as familiar as possible with the Cylons in order to increase the chances of success for a possible attack on the resurrection ship.

James had organized a small funeral ceremony for Lt. Harriman, which many attended, including Admiral Adama.
Cmdr. Teramak had delivered a short, but powerful eulogy for the deceased, which brought tears to many in attendance.
He then spent the rest of the Galactica repairs and restocking period training the Musashi’s security personnel with Cmdr. Teramak, to increase their combat effectiveness.
This was his way of coping with Harriman’s loss.
Although James hadn’t known the man that well, he had really connected with him, and knew they could have become the best of friends, a rarity in the shadows where James usually lived.
So affected by Harriman’s loss was James, that he ignored Doctor Numorr’s many invitations for lunches or supper, foregoing any socializing and immersing himself fully in his and other’s training.

After two weeks of hard work, the Musashi was in pristine condition and the Galactica showed almost no sign of combat.
Its structural integrity had been restored, and both flight decks were fully operational.
They even had more Vipers built, which were now extra ships since they did not have the necessary crew to operate them.

Admiral Adama was ecstatic.

“I’ll be damned! We did in two weeks what would have required a few months in Drydock to accomplish.” He said.
“We can never repay you for all you’ve done for us, Captain Kirkinger, but believe me, you have our sincerest gratitude.”

“Well,” Kirkinger started hesitantly, “I think you’ll be happier still when I tell you this: we cheated a little when we rebuilt parts for Galactica. We manufactured the armor covering the bridge area of the ship in Tritanium, the same material our hull is made out of.
Essentially, your hull at that location will be able to stand up to three times the fire power it was rated for.
Our limited resources here meant we could not manufacture more and replace the entire ship’s armor, but at least the most essential area of your ship will be able to take a pounding and remain functional.”

Admiral Adama was very pleased with the news.

“And we manufactured all Viper cockpits from transparent Aluminum.
At the same thickness as your specs required, it has 6 times the structural integrity of your standard reinforced Plexiglas.
Even Cylon Raider bullets will have a hard time penetrating it, which means less dead pilots in combat from near hits.”

“This will increase our chances of survival so much. Thank you, again, for all you’ve done.” Adama said, hope and resolve so strong in his voice.

“Well, before you thank us,” Kirkinger said, “let me at least show you where Earth is.”

[sonofccn]

Lets see repair and rearm their ships, upgrades their strikecraft and beefs up the Galactica, shows them where Earth is...I do hope Kirkinger gets a statue out of all this. One of those big imposing ones.Anyway I think I'm starting to feel sorry for the Cylons this is not going to end well for them.

[Praeothmin]

Hey, we're talking about the survival of humanity here... :)


EDIT: I added a small, but much needed paragraph in Chapter 18...

[Admiral Breetai]

I would imagine Starfleet HQ is going to tell Kirkinger to reject that statue as they tend to look down on their officers becoming Messiahs

good update

[Praeothmin]

Well, another "Talkie", but this one is basically the setup for a big battle scene...
So, I hope you enjoy...

Chapter 19

Captain Kirkinger led the Admiral down brightly lit and twisting corridors through the center of the Akira-class vessel.
Adama admired the apparent calm and serenity of the crew, and the cleanliness of the air around them.
He was reminded that he had noticed a drastic increase in the air quality in Galactica since the Starfleet engineers had provided all the colonial ships with brand new air scrubbers.
This increase in air quality had been received well by all, and the restocked fleet, in brand new spare parts and fresh water, had seen the morale of the fleet increase immensely.

Admiral Adama, once all the repairs had been done on Galactica, had ordered all ships to come back at New Caprica, in order for the two Battlestars and the Starfleet vessel to be able to defend the fleet more efficiently.
The newly constructed Vipers and Raptors were flying in protective circles around the fleet, while the three main battleships were positioned in a triangle around the Colonial fleet.
Now the Colonial fleet was enjoying quick trips to the surface of the planet, always keeping a wary eye out for Cylons.

The Musashi had then scanned for any possible Cylons on the fleet, and easily located them.
Captain Kirkinger then asked Admiral Adama to prepare the holding cells, and send Marines to guard them.
When the Admiral stated that he needed to send Marines to retrieve the scattered enemy first, Captain Kirkinger unveiled to his ally the greatest Starfleet wonder yet: the Transporter.
When located, Cylons were transported directly in the Galactica’s brig, under Colonial Marine surveillance.
Twenty-three Cylons were detected and sent to the Galactica, twenty-three very surprised Cylons.
Their immediate threat to the Colonial fleet had been eliminated in less than a few minutes, much to their dismay.
Some, recognizing the incredible threat the Starfleet vessel represented, committed suicide, no doubt so their consciousness would be transferred to the resurrection ship, allowing them to inform their brethren of the new threat.
Unfortunately for them, the Musashi crew had dealt with these types of transmissions before, and as soon as they detected them, the transmissions were jammed, and dispersed.

Adama was pondering the Colonials’s newfound luck when Captain Kirkinger led him in an empty room with a console in the middle.
The room was a square with an area of approximately nine meters squared, and shared many similarities with the Holodeck.
The only difference was the small console protruding from the ground, exactly in the center of the room.
It was situated at a height of 1.20 meters on a thin rod, its flat surface perfectly horizontal, with a length of thirty centimetres and a width of 50 centimetres.
As the doors closed behind them, Captain Kirkinger went to the console, tapped on a few keys, and the lights in the room dimmed.
The walls were suddenly replaced by a starry field to the left, and a planetary surface to the right.
Adama knew he was staring at a hologram, he was certain of it, yet the crisp clarity of the image was such, that he felt as if he was looking directly at New Caprica through the canopy of a Raptor.
The planetary surface then receded rapidly, and suddenly Adama was looking at New Caprica’s solar system, with its five planets and the star they were orbiting.
This system receded again until all that could be distinguished of the New Caprica system was its sun, and the neighbouring star systems.
The holographic display was flashing distances in light-years, as well as coordinates of these systems in relation to the New Caprica system.

“This is incredible!” Adama almost whispered.

“I know!” Kirkinger replied with a grin.
“What you see here are the adjacent systems and their current positions.
Our Long-Range Sensors use subspace technology to detect and map out spatial bodies in real-time.
This allows us to calculate trajectories based on actual, current data, not affected by the time delay issues inherent in optical telescopes.
This way, we do not need our computers to recalculate the systems’ drift in time and compensate for them, which reduces the necessary processing power for astrogation calculations.
Now, watch as I show you where Earth is.”

Adama looked attentively at the display, as it changed once more, zooming out again until all that remained of the New Caprica star system was a bright yellow dot in the holographic display of the surrounding space.
A bright red circle appeared over the system, and a dotted white line originating from it started forming, rapidly covering the distance between the New Caprica system and a new one, unknown to Adama.
The word “Earth” appeared over the system, in neon orange letters.
A distance appeared along the dotted white line, pegging Earth at 50 light-years from their current location.

“I cannot believe this!” Exclaimed Adama, clearly excited.
“According to your display, Earth is only four jumps away. We can be there in less than three hours.”

“What?” Was Kirkinger’s response.
“Your ships can travel fifty light-years in less than three hours?”

“Yours can’t?” Asked a very surprised Admiral Adama.

“No! Our ship needs about a day at our maximum faster-than-light speed to travel such a distance.
Although, in her defense, the Musashi is not the fastest ship in the fleet, the Intrepid-class has that honor, with the Sovereign-class a close second.
How does your FTL work?” A very curious Kirkinger asked.

“Well, I couldn’t explain it to you in details, but it essentially bends space in two folds, and creates a wormhole allowing us to travel straight to our destination.” Adama explained.

“I see!” Said the Captain, as if that brief explanation had answered his question.
“ In essence, you have achieved what we call a Slipstream Drive.
You see, our ship’s Warp Drive, which I’ve shown you earlier, creates a bubble of what we call Subspace around the ship.
This bubble compresses space in front of the ship, and expands it in the back, therefore creating a pulling effect which propels us forward at FTL speeds.
Since the ship is in Subspace, we are not violating the fundamental laws of our universe.
But the faster you wish to go, to deeper in subspace you need to be, and the greater is the required energy for FTL travel.
There is an advancement called TransWarp the Federation has been working on for years, which is possessed by the Borg, but we have yet to perfect it.
And of course, there is the Slipstream Drive, which basically does what you mentioned.
It creates wormholes between two points of the universe, allowing for fast travel.
This is also something we’ve been working on with limited success.
If you don’t mind, we’d like to take a look at your FTL drives in order to understand how it works, and if we could possibly replicate it.” Kirkinger finished, a hopeful glint in his eye.

“Captain, I would certainly be the vilest of man if I refused you this information after all you’ve done for us.
You may send your engineers to study our FTL at their leisure at your earliest convenience.
In fact, if you’ll allow me to use your communications system, I’ll give the orders to my teams to assist yours any way they can.”

Captain Kirkinger set up the communications with the Galactica, and Adama gave his orders.
When he was done, Kirkinger lost no time in sending a full team of Engineers, under the supervision of Cmdr. T’Len, to the Galactica with orders to study and analyse their FTL.
Once done, he shifted his attention back to the display in front of them, and tapped a few more keys.
Another system, located halfway between them and Earth, was highlighted in red colors.

“What does this system represent?” He asked, certain he already knew the answer.

“This is the location of the Cylons’ resurrection hub.” Kirkinger replied.
“As you can see, it is located directly between us and Earth.
From their position, they could find you and Earth, and do the same thing they did to you here, on New Caprica.”

“Except that if they tried it, they would find a fully restored and re-armed duo of Battlestars to deter them.” Adama stated defiantly.

“Yes, but what if they attacked in force?” Asked Kirkinger.
“What if it were eight ships attacking, or even ten?
Even two fully operational Battlestars wouldn’t stand a chance.” He finished.

Adama had to agree, although he didn’t like it.

“I can’t believe we’ve finally found Earth, and we can’t get to it because the Cylons are closer to it than us.”

He was fuming, Kirkinger could see it.
He knew the Admiral would like what he was going to say.

“You will be able to go to Earth, Admiral, because while two Battlestars cannot take on half a dozen Basestars, the fully repaired Musashi can.” He said with a smile.

Adama looked expectantly at Captain Kirkinger, waiting for him to continue.

“Since we aren’t ready to reproduce the phenomenon that brought us here just yet, my senior staff and I devised a plan for dealing with the Cylon resurrection hub.
We will make sure these bastards are never a serious threat to humanity, ever again.” He said with finality.