1. Chapter 1

**Battlestar Galactica: The next Generation Season 1.5**

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay in updating. The Mission to destroy the Cylon Homeworld continues.**

**Chapter 12: Galactica Actual.**

USS _Galactica_

Captain Edward "Professor" McDonnell USN prepared to meet his new Commander Admiral Margaret Edmondson. _Galactica _had been sent to the Hawking System to support the evacuation of the colony on the planet Hawking Four. As far as Captain McDonnell knew his Battlestar along with her escorts the Starcruisers _Dallas_ and _San Antonio_ were alone in the system. Then out of nowhere a whole battlegroup appears and _Galactica_ was now attached to it.

_Galactica_ was the pride of the United States Navy Colonial Fleet. She was the first Battlestar built by Weyland Yutani and the second ship to carry the proud name _Galactica _and now a class of ships_. _The original _Galactica _had been retired finally after the attack on the Cylon Colony. This last battle had finally broken her back.

To command the new _Galactica_ was one of the top posts in the Navy. Only the best of the best were assigned to the ship. If you commanded the ship you were going to get promoted to Admiral. Unfortunately this was not true for Captain McDonnell.

It wasn't that Capt. McDonnell wasn't a good officer; It was because he was too good. In the Navy he was considered one of the few experts on the subject of Battlestar warfare who wasn't born in the Twelve Colonies. As a result Admirals wanted him to serve under them like the star player on a sports team.

When the Colonials arrived on Earth, McDonnell As a young newly promoted Lieutenant Commander he had been assigned to a research team that studied Colonial military tactics. He spent many hours interviewing former Colonial Viper and raptor pilots including Lee Adama, Margaret Edmondson and Kara Thrace before her death.

LtCmdr. McDonnell had flown a Viper in the ill-fated attack against the Cylon Colony. He was credited with destroying four raiders.

The rest of McDonnell's career had been spent on the staff of various CAGs aboard the new _Essex_ class Battlestars as air operations officer and the commander of VF-16 during a deployment aboard the Battlestar _Midway. _It was during this deployment that Cmdr. McDonnell was credited with two more kills becoming an ace.

McDonnell's reward for commanding VF-16 was to become an instructor at the Navy's Space Fighter Combat Weapons School, known by its traditional name TOPGUN. After TOPGUN McDonnell was finally promoted to Captain and became CAG for _Galactica_. He had spent a career being the smart guy, the expert who could answer questions for some Admiral.

Now as Captain McDonnell approached thirty years of service and mandatory retirement he was allowed to serve as Captain of _Galactica. _

Captain McDonnell was going to fly over to _Hornet _aboard the Raptor along with Colonel Joseph "Tomahawk" Rigel Colonial Marine Corps, commander of _Galactica_'s air wing.

When _Galactica_ returned from her last deployment a year ago her naval air wing BAW-1 was replaced with Marine Air Group (MAG) 12 from Colonial Marine Air Station Mars. (This was another reason why Hera Agathon was not assigned to _Galactica._)

Col. Rigel was a Mohawk Indian from New York state. When the Americans had started establishing colonies in space, New York like Texas became depopulated. The Mohawk tribe along with the other tribes of the Six Nations of the Iroquois reestablished themselves across upstate New York in their traditional lands.

Col. Rigel had just assumed command of MAG-12 when the Cylons made their invasion of the human galaxies. Previously he had commanded the Black Sheep of VMA-214 now deployed aboard _Hornet._

Col. Rigel had spent his entire career deployed out in the colonies. He considered himself a warrior and out in space fighting the Cylons was where a warrior belonged.

The Captain, "Galactica Actual" and the CAG met in the hanger bay. The Raptor taking them to _Hornet_ was from Marine Raptor Squadron (VRM) 266.

"Do you know Admiral Edmondson?" Col. Rigel asked Capt. McDonnell.

"I met her when the Colonials first came to Earth and we've ran into each other over the years." Capt. McDonnell replied. "She's hardcore, a fighter. She hates the Cylons."

"You have any ideas about where this battlegroup is headed?" Col. Rigel asked.

"I have no clue. It must be some kind of offensive or at least I hope it is. The Cylons are hurting us right now."

Hanger Deck

USS _Hornet_

_"Commander USS Galactica arriving. Commander Marine Air Group 12 arriving."_

The announcement came on over the ship's PA system. Captain Fuchida, commander USS _Hornet_ greeted Captain McDonnell and Colonel Rigel as they disembarked from their Raptor. Also waiting was Lieutenant Colonel Antonia "Tony Girl" Winchester, current commanding officer of VMA-214, the lone Marine squadron in _Hornet_'s air wing.

"Welcome to the _Hornet_ gentleman. I'm Captain Fuchida. The Admiral is waiting for you in her quarters. I'm sure you know Col. Winchester commander of the Black Sheep".

"Col. Winchester are you taking care of my squadron?" Col. Rigel asked playfully.

"The Black Sheep belong to me now sir but you can borrow them anytime you want to." Col. Winchester replied.

Hera Agathon was on the hanger deck doing her pre-flight check on her Super Viper. She was flying a patrol that day of one of the moons in the Hawking System along with a Raptor. The patrol's mission was to make sure the Cylons had left any observation posts on communications relay sites in the system.

Hera watched as the VIPs followed Captain Fuchida off the hanger deck.

"So they got a bunch of Marines flying on _Galactica_ these days." Hera said to her back-seater Marty Henderson.

"It's all good. If it wasn't for _Thermopylae _getting hit they would be missing the party."

"I guess you're right Marty". Hera continued checking her aircraft. Suddenly Hera had a feeling of déjà vu. Actually it was more like a punch in the gut. The image of the high ranking officers walking away flashed before her eyes like a video instant replay. It was followed by the image of a young version of a number six Cylon wearing a red evening dress smiling at her.

"What the frak! Get it together Toaster Girl. You have a mission to fly" Hera said to herself a little too loud.

"What's the problem Agathon?" Henderson asked from the other side of their plane.

"Nothing, don't worry about it" Hera said and she continued her inspection.

Admiral Edmondson's Quarters

USS _Hornet_

Admiral Edmondson's chief of staff Commodore Delacroix finished briefing Capt. McDonnell and Col. Rigel on the mission to destroy the Cylon homeworld.

"Well gentleman do you have any questions or concerns?" Admiral Edmondson asked.

"Admiral my pilots are Marines. Failure is not an option with them." Col. Rigel said.

"What do you have to say Captain McDonnell? You were there the last time we tried this". The Admiral asked the Captain.

"The last time we didn't have this much firepower or personnel. I believe we can pull it off this time. We are going to have to be quick though. The Cylons will bring down everything they have to stop us once the fleet comes out of FTL jump. They will probably call in more basestars to cut us off. We are already outnumbered against their raiders. I don't want to think about how many raiders they have guarding the homeworld. We can't stay around and fight a battle. We have to hit the target and get the hell out of there. The other bad thing is we won't know what we are actually facing till the fleet gets there."

"I thought about all of the same things when I helped plan this attack. It will succeed but it won't be easy". Admiral Edmondson said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 13: Rendezvous

In Space

One FTL Jump away From New Caprica/Cylon Homeworld

Eight Super Vipers from USS _Yorktown _fightersquadron VF-18 came out of a FTL jump. Commander "Deuce" Handler squadron commander was leading the flight.

Waiting for the fighters was a single ship, USS _Geromino_, the ship sent to recon the Cylons on New Caprica.

"USS _Geromino_ this is VF-18 Actual. Request your authentication code now." Commander Handler sent a code via encrypted e-mail from his Viper.

"Roger VF-18 Actual sending code now. Request your authentication code." A voice replied from _Geromino._

"_Geromino _sending my code now and awaiting your reply".

Commander Handler received an encrypted message that appeared on his HUD (Heads up display): RMZ418. Handler glanced at a piece of paper with the same characters written it.

"_Geromino_ your code has been received and acknowledged. Request permission for a flyby".

"VF-18 your code has been acknowledged. Request for flyby approved. It's good to see you friends again."

Cmdr Handler closed in on the special operations ship. The purpose of the flyby was to check for hull damage or any sign that perhaps the ship had been compromised by the Cylons. The flyby also gave the _Geromino _a chance to visually inspect the fighters to confirm they weren't Cylons.

"Looks good to me so far. I don't detect anything out of the unusual." Handler told his wingman Lt. "Ladybug" McIntyre.

"Right Skipper, I'm not getting any readings of nukes. But I've never seen a ship that looks like that before." Ladybug replied.

The commander then ordered two fighters to return to the fleet letting them know rendezvous with _Geromino _was made. The Admiral wanted minimum FTL communication to avoid possibly alerting the Cylons.

Half an hour later the two fighters returned and reported BSG-12 was started to jump in near their present location. The Battlestars and their escorts would remain out of visual range to help maintain _Geronimo_'s secret status. VF-18 would be the only squadron flying CAP while the ship was in the area since now the pilots in the squadron had seen the top secret ship.

USS_ Hornet_

Admiral Edmondson's Quarters

Admiral Edmondson was alone in her office with the intelligence officer (S2) for her staff Commander Matthew Ford.

"Commander Ford, ensure the Recon Marines understand this part of their mission. This is the true reason why they are going to the surface. If we receive a positive confirmation from them then we go to our revised attack plan." The Admiral told Cmdr. Ford.

"Aye Aye Admiral" was all the Commander said.

Cmdr. Ford left the Admiral's quarters and headed down to the hanger deck where he boarded a Raptor sent over from _Yorktown_ flew him over to _Geromino._

Female Pilot's Quarters

USS _Hornet_

Hera Agathon lay in her bunk having a dream.

In the dream Hera was in a large building that looked like a museum or theater to her. It also seemed somewhat familiar to her.

Hera was walking through this dream building dressed in a flight suit.

She walked through a doorway and then she saw her. It was a Number Six Cylon with platinum blonde hair dressed in a blood red cocktail dress and high heels. Actually it was a young Number six wearing a red cocktail dress. The same Cylon Hera saw on the hanger deck days ago.

Being the daughter of a Cylon, Hera inherited the ability to tell different versions of the same model of Cylon apart. She was positive she had never seen this Cylon before in Roslin City Texas. Hera had also never seen a young full blooded Six before except in photographs or home movies. This Six looked like her model did twenty five years ago.

"What are you?" Hera asked the Cylon in her dream.

"You don't remember me do you? I watched over you when you were a little girl. You used to draw pictures of me a long time ago until your mother made you stop." The Six replied with a smile.

"My mother told me I was drawing Mrs. Baltar who used to babysit me. I don't know who or what you are." Hera heard herself saying in the dream. She felt a bit annoyed having to explain herself to someone in her own dream.

The Six walked up to Hera and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hera, Mrs. Baltar and all of her sisters look like me. I am the inspiration for them you could say."

Suddenly Hera remembered everything. She had seen this Six as a small child. She never spoke to Hera. She was always standing in the room watching. No grown up could see her, even Mrs. Baltar another Six. When Hera started school the Cylon disappeared.

"I'm not dreaming this am I" Hera said to the Cylon.

"Yes and no my child but that is unimportant now. What is important is that you know that the war is going to end between man and Cylon. The Cylons will be no more after this. You will all truly be the children of man." The Six told Hera then disappeared.

Hera suddenly woke up back in her bunk aboard _Hornet _in the female quarters_._ She was dressed in her naval academy t-shirt and shorts the same clothes she went to bed in.

"Agathon, you okay up there?" It was Eva Lopez Hera's buddy sleeping in the bunk under her. "You were talking in your sleep girl".

"Yeah I'm okay sorry I woke you up." Hera said.

Admiral Edmondson's Quarters

Racetrack Edmondson was also dreaming. In her dream Louanne "Kat" Katraine came to visit her.

Dreaming about the dead was nothing new for Racetrack. She couldn't always remember their names but the faces you never forgot.

Usually her dream involved her walking into the ready room aboard the old _Galactica_ and seeing all the dead pilots sitting in their seats: Crash drown, Beano, Stepchild, Chuckles, even Duck who blew himself up on New Caprica as a suicide bomber. Later on Starbuck appeared. Some Earth pilots began to appear too, nuggets Racetrack had commanded who got themselves killed by the Cylons. They never spoke to her; they just gave her a nod or wave and carried on talking and about whatever the dead talked about.

Tonight Kat was in the ready room by herself. She was dressed in an old Colonial flight suit with her hair tied in a bun. For the first time in all the years of having this dream Kat spoke.

"Well Admiral looks like this is going to be the end of the line. The ferryman is waiting for you Racetrack." The ghost of Kat told Racetrack.

"You came to tell me I'm going to die tonight Kat?" Racetrack told the ghost. She still believed in the old ways. When someone from the underworld came to talk to you it best to get straight to the point because they didn't stay in the living world for long.

"You are not going to die tonight. You have one last battle to fight. Over New Caprica the last time and you will do a better job this time but you won't be going back home this time. This will be your last fight against the Cylons. All this has happened before but it will not happen again."

Racetrack woke up to the sound of her computer buzzing. She had an incoming e-mail. Commander Ford had returned from _Geromino _which had jumped away to carry out its mission to New Caprica_._

"And so it begins" Racetrack said to herself.


End file.
