You Can Never Go Home

by Belladonna

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/belladonna/youcanne.php
Summary: Atlantis rescues the Admiral's son, and the Galacticans find out that their new friends are from Earth. Jack and Daniel have to show them why they can't go home
Info: Thanks to Annie Booker for being a great beta!

As they were heading towards the Stargate, John smirked at Rodney. "See, I told you nothing would happen, no bloodsucking bugs, no avalanches, no Wraith," he said. As soon as the words left his mouth there was a sonic boom and they could all see the flight trail of a ship on fire.

"Nothing, huh?" was Rodney's remarkably restrained reply. "I want a refund."

~

Jack stepped out of the wormhole into Atlantis. "Where are they?" he asked the equally grim-faced Dr. Weir.

"I have their President, the head of their military, and his son, who was the pilot who crashed here, in the conference room."

"What does Sheppard think?" he asked as they walked.

Elizabeth shook her head. "He's afraid that this little band of wanderers had led a new enemy to us, and he hopes they cross the Wraith first and they take each other out."

"From his lips to, well, whatever deity exists around here's, ears," Jack said meaningfully. The door slid open with a speed that even Sheppard couldn't match and the people inside got to their feet.

"Sir," John said with relief when he saw Jack.

"Sheppard. Seems like you get all of the fun," Jack said, clapping him on the shoulder bracingly before looking at their visitors. He nodded politely to the woman, the President of the 'lost tribe' of humans, then to the obviously military man, and his bruised son, and thought about the hopes that were about to be dashed.

Unfortunately there wasn't even tech to exchange to sweeten the pot. They were already beyond what the wanderer's could offer because of the Asgard, and the government had made it clear that they did not want their robot tech, not after seeing the Replicators and Asuran's up close and personal and seeing their similarities to the Cylon's.

"Hello," he began formally. "I'm General Jack O'Neill. I have been entrusted by my government and the other governments of Earth to handle..." he shook his head. "Not handle," he continued gently. "To let you know the facts of Earth." He was no fucking diplomat and he fervently wished Daniel was there by his side, but his lover was waiting for Thor.

The red-headed woman nodded. "I'm Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." She gestured toward the two men. "This is Admiral William Adama, and his son Lee Adama, whom your people rescued.

Jack nodded. "Well, let's everyone sit down," he said, smiling as one of Weir's staff brought in those Athosian cookie cake things he adored, as well as water, coffee and tea. He sat back and watched Elizabeth explain what everything was, and listened as she and Roslin compared notes on mutual beverages or some such shit. He caught Adama's eye as he reached for a cookie and they shared a commiserating look at the polite smalltalk.

"Can you tell me your history?" Elizabeth asked, finally getting niceties out of the way.

Roslin cleared her throat, and told them an abbreviated version of how the Twelve Colonies had always known that they'd been part of Earth because of their religion. How they'd made robots to serve as slaves and soldiers, and how the scientists had done their job all too well and the robots became sentient. How the Cylon's destroyed their planet and only about 50,000 survivors were the people aboard ships, and how they'd decided to search for the thirteenth colony, Earth.

There was a long silence as Jack absorbed their tragic story. It was all too similar to the Alteran's bad idea of making the nanites to destroy the Wraith, only to find out too late that the bugs were sentient and eventually became the Asurans.

"General," Weir finally said, and he nodded, took a sip of his coffee and stood. He was gonna need to pace, he could feel it.

"Okay, first things first, here's what you need to know," Jack began. "You can't come to Earth."

"What?" Roslin asked with dismay. "But we were promised ..."

Jack held up his hand. "You had a pretty high level of technology, right? Space ships, probably big fancy cities, robots everywhere?"

"Well," the President said slowly. "Yes."

"See? On Earth they don't even know that we've contacted other races in space!" Jack said, watching as the shock set in. "We're a secret program that only a handful out of ~hundreds~ of nations know about. Do you understand? You may have the Cylons, but we have our own enemies in the Goa'uld, the Replicators which sound just like your Cylons, the Ori, and the Wraith, and Earth doesn't ~know~!" He stopped, seeing the despair on their faces.

"How can they not know?" the younger man asked softly, looking stunned.

This question made Jack sigh and pinch his nose before looking at him seriously. "Look, kid. There is no centralized government, at the moment there are at least a dozen wars on Earth between various countries. We don't have one religion, we have thousands. We have over six ~billion~ people on our planet, which is straining the resources that Earth does have," he said quietly. "Oh, we could settle you somewhere, say in an area near where I grew up. But you wouldn't want to stay there, you would travel and inevitably your secret would get out, and we just can't risk that."

Dr. Weir sighed. "However, despite all of the bad news, we do have a contingency plan."

"What kind of contingency plan?" the Admiral asked gruffly. Jack could see in the man's eyes that he'd known that the whole trip had been a wild goose chase, and now that his suspicions had been confirmed it was time for a new strategy.

"Dr. Jackson is speaking to one of our allies. They may have a planet that you can settle in their system. Heck, you can call it Earth if you want," Jack said.

At the look on President Roslin's face, Jack sighed. "Without getting into your religious beliefs, I get that your people are gonna need proof. My government has agreed to allow four people to come to Earth, one of those a newsie. That way you'll have independent proof for your people."

"Newsie?" Adama asked, testing the unfamiliar word.

"Um, someone who interviews people or reports about events so that everyone can see what's happening?" John explained and their confusion disappeared.

"Oh, a reporter," Adama said and made a face.

Jack chuckled. "Ah, I see your reporters are as popular as ours are."

"Yes, well," President Roslin broke in, "we will need to go back to Galactica and choose who should go."

"How long does the trip take?" the younger Adama asked. They already knew that they were in the Pegasus Galaxy, and that Earth wasn't there.

"A while," Jack lied smoothly. "Colonel Sheppard will fly you back. We'd like you to be back on Atlantis in three hours."

"Three hours," Roslin protested. "That's not enough time."

"It helps keep you from overthinking," Jack replied matter of factly.

Elizabeth murmured something in response to a message, then looked at Jack. "Dr. Jackson and the Biliskner are ready."

"Good," Jack said. "We need Daniel for this."

*~*~*

Rodney stalked into the jumper bay and went over to the open door of John's favorite jumper. "You'll be careful, right?"

John poked his head out. "Hi, Rodney," he said with a smile. "Yes, it'll be fine."

"You won't let them keep you, or let them sacrifice you or marry you off to their favored daughter?"

"We haven't sacrificed anyone to our favored daughters for some years," came Admiral Adama's dry voice from behind them.

Rodney winced, and John laughed. "I'll see you later, Rodney. I promise."

"Fine," Rodney said. He nodded semi-graciously to their guests and stalked back out.

Lorne exchanged a grin with John. "It scares me that when Doc says something like that, it's totally normal."

"It sounds like you lead interesting lives," President Roslin said hesitantly.

"Oh, you have no idea," Lorne said feelingly.

John made sure everyone was comfortable while Lorne checked everything over. "All right?"

Everyone nodded, and Lee smiled. "I want one of these."

"They're cool," John agreed as he quickly called up a couple of panels before taking the jumper out. "But nothing is like having g's pulling you back," he finished.

"Amen," Lorne agreed with a grin.

"Gee's?" President Roslin asked.

"The weight of gravity on your body as you accelerate," Adama explained and she nodded.

There was silence as John received permission to take off, and then they were flying through the gate to the planet where his team had found Lee Adama and his crashed viper, before heading up into space. The Galactica and the rest of the fleet were hiding, per John's warning of Wraith even though there was no proof the Wraith had visited the planet in recent time.

"Colonel Sheppard, may I ask you a question?" Roslin asked.

"Go ahead," John replied as he checked to make sure there were no new visitors in the space around the planet.

"Who is Dr. Jackson?"

"Ah, the inimitable Dr. J," Lorne said, laughter in his voice.

John rolled his eyes as he asked for and received permission to land on Galactica.

"I don't know him that well," John said as he brought the jumper in for a faultless landing. "All that I know is that he's one of the most important people in the SGC. Any recommendations he makes are generally accepted by our President because he's been responsible for saving Earth at least a dozen times." He turned in time to see the impressed looks on the Galactican's faces.

"He's also a trouble magnet like Dr. McKay," Lorne said and grinned at the look John sent his way.

"I'll let Rodney know you said that," John said meanly, smirking at the look of panic on the other man's face.

~

On board the Galactica, Lee kept John company while the President and his dad brought their advisors together to see who would go to Earth.

"Wow," John said with a slight headshift. "Who knew I'd be so popular." He was referring to all the people who were going past the door, not bothering to disguise their curiosity as they craned their necks to get a quick peek.

Lee snorted. "Everyone has heard that someone, who is rumored to be from Earth, is onboard."

John leaned back against the wall, feet stretched out, and was about to say something when a very pretty blonde came around the corner and plopped down beside Lee. "Hi, is it true that we're close to Earth?" she asked.

"Starbuck," Lee said with exasperation, but there was a lurking humor in his eyes.

"Hey, Apollo, you look like hell. I thought I taught you how to fly," the blond teased, poking Lee in the side and making him hiss.

"Stop, I'm bruised there too," Lee complained.

"Hi, John Sheppard, and no, we're not close to Earth at all," John said and held out his hand. He held back a grin as Starbuck looked at his hand then at him.

"Kara Thrace. I'm glad that you brought Adama here back to us."

"Least I could do."

Kara jerked her head to the closed door meeting. "What's going on?"

Lee met John's eyes, and John could tell that Lee Adama would do anything for Kara Thrace. "They're deciding who is going to go on a trip."

The door opened and Lee and Kara popped to their feet, John moving slower as Admiral Adama stepped out. "Colonel, can we test you?"

John shrugged. He'd been warned that they'd want to make sure he wasn't a Cylon. "Sure, knock yourselves out." He followed Adama into the conference room, Lee on his heels. The Admiral waved a hand towards an old man who had several items that looked vaguely ominous, on the table.

"Hi," John said personably but was ignored as his sleeve was rolled back. "Whew, tough crowd." He watched as the man did his tests, but shook his head when the man wanted to take blood. "Nope, my blood is off limits."

"Why?" the man asked suspiciously.

John sighed as he rolled his sleeve down. "Because my boss said no? Don't you have enough stuff anyway?" He knew that they did.

The man looked put out, but he looked at the others in the room. "He's human."

"See, no problem," John said cheerfully. "So have you guys decided?"

President Roslin looked relieved. "Yes, we do. It will be myself, Admiral Adama, Representative Zarek, and the reporter D'Anna Biers."

"Good, then let's get going. I'll meet you at the jumper in 15 minutes, and make sure you pack enough for four days."

~*~*

Lee was leading John back to the Viper bay when a young boy stepped into their path.

"Boxey, what are you doing here?" the Viper pilot asked sternly.

The boy grinned, though his eyes were on John. "I heard that there was a man from Earth here, but he looks the same as us."

The disappointed tone in the boy's voice made John grin. "Yep, I'm from Earth. And since your people were from Earth a long time ago then we'd all look pretty much the same." He watched as the boy absorbed that.

"Are you a pilot?"

"I am."

Boxey grinned. "I am going to be a pilot too and kill a lot of Cylons!"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Boxey, I'm pretty sure you are supposed to be in class."

"Don't tell," the boy whispered and after looking around in exaggerated kid fashion, disappeared down a passageway.

"Cute," John said. "You have a lot of kids here?" he asked in surprise.

Lee sighed. "Many of them are orphans but there are babies being born. We try to discourage it because, well, we're not exactly in the best position to raise families," he said.

"What about you? You have any kids?" John asked curiously.

Lee's expression closed off. "Not that I know of."

"Sorry," John said but Lee waved a hand dismissively.

He couldn't hold back a smirk as they entered the Viper bay and startled the group of mechanics who'd been trying to break into the jumper.

"Fracking hell! They're our guests!" Lee cursed, cheeks pink with embarrassment.

John chuckled. "So, did you guys get anywhere with my baby? Because she's not easy, you know."

Chief Tyrol sighed, not at all put out that they'd been caught in the act. "No, we got nowhere. What is she made of?"

"Minerals found here in the Pegasus galaxy," John said. He smirked and the hatch smoothly opened without him having to do anything. "Hey, watch this," he said and there were gasps of awe when the ship cloaked.

"How did you do that?" the chief mechanic demanded. "Are you crazy? If the Cylons find out that you can do this..." he trailed off at the obviously awful thought.

"It won't matter," John said. "They couldn't make it work for them anyway." He made it uncloak and stepped inside to mock scowl at his co-pilot.

"Were you just torturing them, Evan?"

Lorne grinned. "Hey, it was better than TV."

John smirked back and gave the disappointed mechanics a quick tour of the jumper while they waited.

Tyrol was the last one to come out, a smile on his face that probably had everything to do with new mechanical doo dads. "She's beautiful. What do you call them?"

"Well, the technical name doesn't matter because we call them puddlejumpers," John explained, patting his ship.

"Stupid name," Lorne said and grinned when John gave him the time honored finger motion.

Lee looked confused, but then he remembered the gate. "Oh, I get it! It goes through the water looking stuff on the ring, I mean gate!"

"Exactly," John said with a smile and leaned against the 'jumper to chat with the hangar mechanics and wait for his passengers.

Baltar Gaius, disgraced ex- president, sat up alertly. "You say these men are from Earth? Is there any proof of that?" he asked his informant.

"There was a closed door meeting. Apparently four of our people are going along with the men to see proof."

"Who?" Gaius asked.

"President Roslin, Admiral Adama, Representative Zarek and D'anna Biers."

In his cell, Gaius considered this latest news. They could be closer to Earth than they thought. "Interesting." D'anna, also known as Number Three would provide proof to the Cylons, proof that he was right.

John was doing his preflight when Lorne whistled under his breath. He turned and saw four people with packed bags heading towards them, a very pretty woman, and a tall imposing man were with Adama and Roslin. Stepping out of the jumper he smiled at them. "Hi, I'm Colonel John Sheppard and I'll be your tour guide." Even as he said this he felt the 'jumper power itself up, and he heard/felt the startlingly aggressive message from it when it let loose an electrical pulse and fried the pretty woman that Lorne had just admired.

John blinked. "This can't be good," he said as weapons appeared and shouting began.

Back in the conference room, this time under guard, were John and Lorne with Zarek, the man they hadn't met yet, President Roslin, Lee Adama, a white-haired obviously military man with one eye and another man they'd yet to meet.

"I'm telling you, ma'am, the jumper sensed something wrong with your reporter. It happened so quickly that I only caught that Biers was an enemy," John said politely.

"You expect me to believe that your flying ship is sentient? Like a Cylon, perhaps?" Zarek said with sarcasm.

"Not sentient," John shook his head. "More like well-programmed." He hesitated visibly for a moment. "It's my jumper and normally I control it, but this was something even I couldn't catch."

There was a knock at the door and Adama stepped in, his face set. "It appears that D'anna Biers was a Cylon."

Roslin was aghast. "What?"

"She has had access to every ship in the fleet!" Zarek said.

"I understand that," Adam said testily. "We have to assume that they know about Sheppard as well."

"Sir," John said, standing up and ignoring the weapons trained on him. "We need to go. Now."

Adama eyed him for a long moment, then turned to the guard. "Bring me Starbuck. Make sure she has clothing for four days and that she's familiar with the equipment Biers was to bring."

"Sir," Lee protested.

"What?" Adama asked his son, his eyes flat.

Lee stiffened. "Nothing, sir. I know where she is."

"Make it quick," Adama ordered.

John looked at his watch and grimaced. "My boss isn't going to be happy that we're late."

Adama nodded. "Helo, escort them back to their ship. We'll meet you there as soon as possible." He watched as Helo nodded and gestured for the guards to escort their visitors back to the Viperbay.

"Bill, are you sure?" the white-haired man asked after they'd gone.

"Yes, I want this to be done. I want to get our people settled and off of these ships. I want a ~home~ for them, Saul," Adama said quietly. "And I think the Atlanteans can help us. But we need to get the facts."

"And deal with the Cylons," Tigh grunted.

"And that," Adama agreed.

~*

The gate activated and General Hank Landry rolled on the balls of his feet. "Are you sure about this, Jack?"

"It's the only way, Hank. You know that they can't stay here," Jack said with an eye-roll, imagining 50,000 people with true stories about aliens to sell to the Enquirer.

Hank nodded. "How many times have we almost have been in their shoes? I feel for them."

Jack grunted agreement as the event horizon stabilized. It had been decided to bring their guests through the gate in a jumper to make it easier for them. He watched with not a little pride as Sheppard brought the jumper through, landing in the gateroom perfectly.

"Nice," he said with a grin, graciously ignoring Landry's knowing snort.

The door opened and their guests exited, with Sheppard following, answering an excited blonde's questions patiently.

"Welcome to Earth," Hank boomed and their four guests stopped dead.

"We're on Earth?" the young woman blurted, then at a look from her CO went to attention.

"Yes, though more accurately you're under a mountain on Earth," Landry replied with a kind smile. "I'm General Hank Landry, commanding officer of the SGC and this is General Jack O'Neill, head of Homeworld Security."

President Roslin smiled and stepped forward. "I'm President Laura Roslin, and beside me is Fleet Admiral William Adama, elected Representative Tom Zarek and Captain Kara Thrace."

"Pleased to meet you all," Landry said, shaking each of their hands politely. "I thought you were to bring a reporter with you?"

A soft, 'Crap', caught Jack's attention. "Sheppard?"

Sheppard straightened smartly. "My jumper, um, sort of killed their reporter, sir."

"Ohforcryingoutloud," Jack said with exasperation. "Who do I need to apologize to?" he asked Adama.

"It was tense for a while but it seems that the reporter was a Cylon, so no harm done," Adama said mildly.

Jack was a little non-plused. "Well, okay then. Listen, our doc wants to check you out before we head out on our little trip."

"That's fine." Adama spoke for his people.

~*

Adama watched with concern as the President was taken aside by the pretty young doctor. "Is there something wrong?" he asked a passing nurse but she only smiled and walked on.

In the cubicle, Roslin looked at the doctor. "I have what?"

"They are very small computers called nanites. I need to make sure that they're not a danger to anyone before I let you leave."

"I had breast cancer," Roslin blurted. "I was injected by the blood of a child that is half human and half Cylon."

Carolyn nodded and made a note, then looked up. "I wouldn't worry. Otherwise you are very healthy, no sign of your cancer. Just a minute," she said and walked out of the cubicle. She went into her office and called her expert.

"Nanites? You're sure they're not dangerous?" Jack asked after Sam and Carolyn had finished their briefing.

"She's been to Atlantis twice, sir. And in a jumper, which killed a Cylon. If there had been any danger it would've been flagged already," Sam said firmly.

Jack looked at Hank and they both shrugged. "Okee dokee, you're the expert. Tell Daniel we have a go," he said.

Back in the infirmary Zarek watched everything with a jaded eye. He was still not convinced that they were on Earth. A commotion caught his attention and General O'Neill came back in.

"Okay, kids. We're in business. If you would all gather around me," O'Neill said jovially.

The visitors went to stand beside him and watched with curiosity as he pulled out what looked like a stone from his pocket. "Beam us up, Danny." And suddenly they appeared in a new place.

"Ohgods," President Roslin said with a gasp as she looked around the stark metal interior that was so different from the bland military base they'd just been on. "Where are we?"

Jack gently took the startled woman by her shoulders and turned her and all of them gasped. The window showed a beautiful planet, a moon in the distance. "That's Earth."

"It's beautiful," Zarek said softly.

"Jack? Are you guys ... Oh, hello," came a voice and the visitors reluctantly pulled themselves away from the view. After all they'd heard about the man, what they saw was a well-built, handsome man with short dark hair, and blue eyes that were intelligent and curious.

"Yes, Danny. We made it in one piece. Folks, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson and he's gonna be our tour guide for the next few days. Danny, this is President Laura Roslin, Admiral William Adama, Representative Tom Zarek and Captain Kara Thrace."

"Please, call me Bill," Adama said gruffly. "It's an honor to meet you, Dr. Jackson. Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne both had very good things to say about you."

Daniel shook Adam's hand, even as his cheeks turned pink. "I can't imagine what it was, but thank you. It's very nice to meet you all."

Adama had had to become a reader of people in his job, and he could see the brilliance that seemed to shine from this man. He could also see the genuine affection that the General had for him, despite it being obvious that Dr. Jackson wasn't military. "So, can you tell us where we are?"

"Oh, yes, of course, and everyone call me Daniel, please," Daniel said with a smile. "We're on Thor's ship," he said.

"Tell 'em what it's called, Danny," Jack prodded and then grinned when the pink cheeks became a full-fledged blush.

"Shut ~up~, Jack," Daniel muttered, shooting Jack a death glare. The exchange made Kara smile; it was like watching children.

"We are on the Daniel Jackson," a high pitched voice said from the doorway, and the four visitors were suddenly suffering from a new shock. They had never seen another race beside the Cylons, and none of them had even entertained the notion of different races in the universe. It just wasn't a part of their mythos or history.

"Thor, buddy," Jack greeted his old friend with a grin. "Has Daniel been driving you crazy?"

"He has not," Thor said repressively, though there was affection beneath the tone.

Daniel finally noticed their guests' faces, and stepped forward. "Thor is the High Commander of one our allies, the Asgard. He has been instrumental in keeping Earth safe and letting us become part of the Protected Planets' Treaty. Thor, these are our guests from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."

"Greetings," Thor said. "You have my sympathies for the loss of your homeworld." He bowed his head respectfully. "I have been informed that you will not be permitted to live on Earth. However, the Asgard have several suitable planets for you to choose from. I will let you view them when you return from your journey."

Adama was still trying to catch his breath at this unexpected turn of events, but this generosity astounded him. "And will we be under the 'Protected Planets' Treaty' that Dr. Jackson mentioned?"

Thor looked at him. "You will."

"But can you protect us from the Cylons?" Zarek asked anxiously.

"We believe we can," Thor said. Daniel looked at Jack with surprise, but Jack shook his head indicating, that they would speak later.

"Well, let me get set up and I'll show you what we have planned," Daniel said brightly.

~*

On Earth, Jack immediately led them to a vendor who was selling sunglasses. "Pick out a pair, you're gonna need 'em," he said, having already slid his own on in deference to the bright Italian sun.

Daniel grinned at the delight on the women's faces as they picked up pairs and peered into mirrors, getting each other's impressions. Women were women no matter where they were from, it seemed.

With a grunt, Adama picked a pair of claasice Aviator's similar to Jack's, while Zarek perused the display thoughtfully before picking out a pair of wrap-arounds with a mirrored surface on them. Daniel paid for them all, chatting up the vendor in fluent Italian.

"What language is he speaking?" Kara asked Jack curiously, her own sunglasses already sliding down on her face as she wrestled with the large camera she carried.

"He's speaking Italian," Jack explained. "Though it's probably a local dialect or something. Daniel knows at least thirty languages."

"Amazing," Laura Roslin said, honestly impressed. Daniel had impressed all of them, his compassion and his intelligence had put them at ease in a situation that was very much outside of their scope of expectations and experience.

"Captain, why don't you give the Sergeant your camera," Jack ordered. He rolled his eyes when she immediately stiffened. "Relax, kid." He jerked his head at one of the guards and they immediately pulled out four much smaller video cameras and handed them to their guests after the young blonde handed over her much bulkier one. "This way you can each record what you deem is important."

Feeling sheepish, Kara immediately held hers up, and after Daniel showed her how to use it, began to film the old buildings, beautiful people, and odd vehicles that made her itch to be able to ride on them.

Daniel led them down the street, telling them about the history of the area of Italy that they were visiting, answering questions and giving impromptu lessons in Italian to the President as they walked. Adama fell back to walk with Jack.

Jack shot the man an amused look. "No questions, Bill?"

"I have a thousand but none that I can expect answers to just yet," Adama replied.

"Let me know. I'll try to be as honest as I can without violating our national security," Jack said comfortably.

The Admiral nodded, then something caught his eye and he stopped to look. "This is different," he said, interest in his voice.

"Danny?" Jack called, and Daniel stopped and came back, a question in his eyes until he saw what had stopped them.

"Ah, a synagogue."

"Which is?" Adama asked.

Daniel pursed his lips. "Jack explained that there are many different religions here, right?"

President Roslin nodded but Zarek and Kara both shook their heads. "You don't believe in the same gods?" Zarek asked in surprise.

Jack snorted. "There are as many religions as there are fleas on a dog."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "What Jack means is that many religions have evolved here. This is a synagogue, which is a building dedicated to the Jewish faith. They worship one God, whom they call Jehovah in their language."

"They are not Italian?" Laura asked as she filmed the ornately decorated building.

"The Jewish people are fiercely protective of their identity. They have been killed for their faith, driven out of their homes and forced to flee and make homes wherever they could. This group has been in Italy for at least 500 years," Daniel explained. "So yes, they're Italian because most of them were born in Italy, but they are Jewish first."

"Just like us," Kara said thoughtfully.

"Very similar," Daniel agreed. "Do you want to go in?"

"I'm interested," Adama promptly said, and the others agreed.

"Let me ask permission," Daniel said and went inside.

"Let me guess, this is another language he speaks?" Zarek inquired.

"Oh yeah," Jack said with a fond smile. "You remember the representation of Earth that Daniel showed you? The Jewish people are originally from close to where Daniel was born and where we're headed to tomorrow."

The door opened and Daniel waved them inside. "They're not holding services so they said you can film." They went inside and were obviously suitably impressed by the architecture, asking questions of the Rabbi, which Daniel translated.

Back in the (thankfully) shaded heat, Tom Zarek put his sunglasses back on. "Amazing. It's a very rich and traditional religion."

Kara was quiet. She wasn't sure how she felt. On one hand, she felt a kinship to the Jewish people, being killed because of what they were and forced from their homes, just like she and her people had been. On the other hand, she'd been brought up to believe in her gods, poly-theistic, Daniel called it, the worship of more than one god.

"And here we are," Daniel said as they reached the top of the street, which had been a long gradual hill. At the top were the ruins of an impressive building built of white stone. "This is the temple of Jupiter, or maybe you know him as Zeus. He was considered the god of law and justice."

Speechless, Laura Roslin moved forward and touched the stones. "How long has it been in ruins?"

"Maybe a couple of thousand years," Jack replied.

"No one worships him anymore?" Kara asked as she filmed the fallen marble columns.

"Most of the religions on Earth, though not all, are monotheistic now," Daniel said. "There are a few followers of the Roman and Greek gods, but most of the population of Italy is Catholic." At everyone's look, he expounded. "Catholicism is another religion that is based on one God. Except they believe God sent his son to Earth to become human. He lived on Earth for thirty three years, was killed as atonement for everyone's sins and rose again after three days to ascend into heaven. Most of today's mono-theistic religions are based on this one."

"What do ~you~ believe?" Zarek asked.

Jack smirked. He knew Daniel's answer to this one.

"I believe in a greater power," Daniel said slowly. "But not in any 'god', by definition."

"That's because he's ~been~ one of the greater powers," one of the accompanying soldiers murmured to another, making Jack snort.

Kara looked at their guards. "I don't understand," she said.

"It's classified," Jack said smoothly, making sure that the guards understood. There was no easy way to explain that Daniel had died several times and become something straight out of your most basic religion.

They moved on to the ruins of a temple dedicated to Apollo, then showed the awestruck visitors a Catholic church. Afterwards Daniel took them to a beautiful trattoria and introduced them to Italian food, encouraging them to tell about their own traditional foods.

In the luxury hotel, the President and Kara were roommates, Adama and Zarek, were too, to their mutual discomfort, as were Jack and Daniel, and their guards in rooms on either side, with a couple posted in the hallway.

Before they'd been transported to Earth, Jack had sat the visitors down. He explained that while they were probably nice people, he didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, so they had to obey his rules while they were on Earth and they could bring any and all complaints to him. He'd also listed what they were to do if they somehow got separated from the group, giving them each a pre-programmed phone in case of emergency.

~*~

Kara was at the window, staring out at the busy street below. "I can't believe that we're on Earth, that ~I'm~ on Earth!" she said at last.

Slipping her glasses off, Laura looked at the mercurial pilot thoughtfully. "I understand. I can scarcely believe it myself. And I'm not sure what I am feeling."

The younger woman turned to stare at her President. "I'm scared. Everything I believe is being turned upside down."

"I'm confused too, but I'm still holding on to the beliefs that we were raised with," Laura replied. "I also believe that the answers lie here." Her hand indicated the window, but Kara knew what she meant.

"Do you agree that we don't belong here?"

"I don't know," the older woman answered softly. This was the crux of the dilemma they were in. After a moment she smiled. "What did you think of Thor?"

Kara laughed. "I think that the Cylons have no idea what they are dealing with." She and Adama recognized a warship when they saw one, and understood that when it came to the Asgard, they were in the presence of a technologically superior race.

"Mm, in their own way the Cylon's are as single-minded as we are. I wish I could see the Cylon's faces when they're faced by the Asgard."

"Me too," Kara said, going to lie down on her bed. Despite the excitement of the day, the full meal and the exercise had definitely made her tired.

In the next room, Adama punched his pillow and sighed. It was hard to sleep with someone else in the room, and without the hum of the ship's engines in the walls.

"Bill, if you don't settle down I am going to smother you." Tom's voice came out of the darkness, making Adama chuckle.

"Sorry, it's been an interesting day."

Tom grunted, then asked after a moment, "Do you believe that we are really on Earth?"

Adama sat up and fumbled with the light. He put his glasses on and looked over at his roommate. "Yes, I do."

The certainty in his voice made Tom blink. "Why?"

And that was the question. "There's nothing that I can point to and say, 'That is my proof', but I'm used to taking all of the information given to me and seeing the bigger picture. And this is Earth, Tom. I know it."

~*

Jack and Daniel weren't exactly thinking about their guests as they rolled around on the bed. They were making up for lost time, not having seen each other for at least a month.

After making love they were curled up together, Daniel's head on Jack's shoulder, his left arm banded across Jack's waist and his left leg draped over the older mans', as if he wanted him to stay. Which he did.

"I've missed you," Daniel said quietly.

"Missed you, too," Jack replied, running his hand through Daniel's hair.

"I've been thinking."

"Gee, what a surprise," Jack said then yelped when Daniel twisted his nipple. "Hey, all I meant is you're always thinking. Really!"

Daniel snickered. "At first I thought the Goa'uld had transplanted them."

"Because the names of their religious figures?" Jack asked knowledgeably.

"Exactly, but can you see ~twelve~ Goa'uld working together? Except you'd think there would be a queen, but there's no sign of them in their religion. So..."

Jack nodded. "You're thinking Alterans? Or maybe another Ori type offshoot?"

"I keep thinking that I should know this. That it's something I've come across before," Daniel said with mild frustration. He lifted his head abruptly. "Hey, what did Thor mean that they could probably keep the Cylon's away?"

"I spoke to Adama at length, and then I talked to Thor and ~he~ talked to Hermiod and I think we've got a workable plan of bluff and intimidation, and technology to back it up. Enough to make the Cylons back off, anyway."

"Good," Daniel let his head drop back down and he yawned. "Get some sleep, going to be busy tomorrow."

"Yasureyoubetcha," Jack murmured back.

~*

Back in the Pegasus galaxy Helo and Colonel Tigh were making sure that their people were keeping busy. The rumor of Earth had swept the ships like wildfire and even more wild rumors abounded.

"Frack," Helo said after breaking up a fight between two men who were beating each other up over whether they would be allowed to live on Earth. He'd yelled at them and sent them back to the quarters rather than to the cells, because everyone was going stir crazy.

Tigh was in the command center and glanced up when Helo stepped inside. "Nice bruise."

"Frack," he complained again. "Sharon is going to beat me herself for letting the idiots get a hit in."

The older man chuckled a bit sadly. His wife hadn't been perfect but she'd been the same way, taking it as a personal affront if he'd gotten a mark on him. "Welcome to married life," was all he said. It was such an unexpected peace offering that Helo was left with his mouth open trying to think of something to say.

"Sir, another ship just entered space," one of the crewmen said quickly in the suddenly charged silence.

"Cylon?" Helo asked tightly, exchanging a glance with his XO. They both ignored Lee Adama who had just ducked into the command center.

There was a long tension filled silence, then the crewman shook his head. "No, sir. I don't recognize it at all." He sat up, then his eyes widened. "They're hailing us."

Tigh rolled his hand impatiently which the young crewman correctly interpreted as put it on speaker. "This is the Earth ship Daedulus, I am hailing Battlestar Galactica."

The excited whisper of 'Earth ship!' was heard throughout command as Helo leaned forward to respond. "This is Galactica. Say again?"

"This is Colonel Caldwell of the Earth ship Daedulus. General O'Neill sent us to guard the planet and to see if you needed any assistance."

Helo looked over at Adama, who nodded. "O'Neill is the General that I met on Atlantis," he confirmed quietly.

"Welcome to our little section of space, Colonel. What kind of assistance are you offering?"

Tigh smirked. The kid was quick, negotiating with giving anything up.

"We have several trained medical personnel, medicines, and the like," was the reply.

"We accept," Helo said.

~*

Adama pushed back from the breakfast table. "I cannot eat like this everyday or I'll be as big as a one of those horses we saw yesterday."

Jack laughed and clapped the Admiral on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Bill. We'll walk it off you today. Believe me."

"I wish I had more time to cook," Laura said wistfully. "You let a lot of things go when you're in a war mentality."

"Been there, done that," Jack agreed.

"So, where are we going today?" Kara asked curiously. She was surprised at how much she was enjoying herself, socializing again with Lee's father, and with Representative Zarek, and the President.

"We're going to where I was born," Daniel said, excitement in his eyes.

Egypt was a revelation to the people from a relatively green planet. That and the difference between the wealthy palaces and the abject poverty almost everywhere else hammered home how different Earth was from the perfect planet they'd envisioned.

Outside of the city though, the pyramids reminded them of some of their religious teachings, a subject that Daniel and President Roslin rambled on at length as they traveled in their well-guarded military convoy.

In deference to their Muslim hosts, and at Daniel's insistence, Kara and President Roslin were wearing lightweight white robes and head scarves. At first the younger woman, and independent fighter pilot, chafed with the unjustness of it, both of covering up in the sun and the reason behind it, but the comfort of the breezy material and its ability to block the harsh sun did help.

Kara couldn't help but enjoy Daniel's excitement as he rattled on in Arabic, visibly surprising the people as they all tried to pick a camel. "That is the most ridiculous animal that I have ever seen," she declared as she filmed a laughing Tom Zarek on the back of one.

"Nah, we have animals with upside down pouches and birds that can't fly," Jack declared with a grin. He took her camera and filmed her as the camel Daniel had picked for her lurched to its feet, causing her to make a girlie squeal she would deny to her dying day.

They rode the camels to the pyramids and Daniel told them the myths and the slightly white washed history of them, leaving the Goa'uld for a later time. They had a picnic lunch down in the considerable shade of the Giza pyramid, and were sitting watching other tourists when Laura asked, "Daniel, you said you were born here?"

Daniel smiled, and Jack could see that for the first time in far longer than he wanted to remember, there was no sadness in that smile. "Yes. My parents were archeologists here in Egypt. I was raised here until I was almost nine. They were killed in an accident with a display in a museum."

"I'm sorry for your loss," she said, feeling bad for having brought up a painful memory, though everyone in their group had lost a loved one before.

"It was a long time ago," Daniel said philosophically. "I have a lot of wonderful memories of them."

Jack blinked some sand away and realized that all of their guests had slightly strained expressions. "Hey," he said and got to his feet. "Let's head back to Cairo and relax before dinner."

Getting back on their camels was just as awkward and funny as the first time and spirits were lifted by the laughter.

In the large car there was quiet chatter until Jack's sixth sense started pinging loudly. "Danny, get into the case under your feet and get the weapons out," he said quickly.

Screeching tires made the men move faster and Jack began to toss weapons to his guests. "You've all been in combat, right?" he asked rhetorically.

"What's happening?" the President asked as she shook her head when a weapon was handed to her. Her answer was the sound of thuds against the side of the vehicle and the sudden and abrupt stop.

Quickly understanding, Adama pushed his President to the floor and covered her with his body, Kara and Zarek huddling down beside them. "It's an ambush," Jack said grimly. "Stay down unless I say so," he ordered, then he and Daniel rolled down their windows and began firing while the lead and chase cars had stopped as well and were doing their best to protect them.

After a minute of gut-wrenching fear, Kara shook her head. "Frack this, I'm a fighter pilot. Tell me where to shoot," she said and took a weapon.

Jack jerked his head to indicate direction and she moved up beside Daniel and began to fire. Zarek sat up as well, but shook his head at Adama, who was huddled over Roslin. "You stay there. I'm expendable, you two aren't," he said as he moved to Jack's side to help repel the gunmen.

The thud of a large rock and the back windshield spider-webbing made Jack curse under his breath, but after a good five minutes of steady return fire (and a couple of way too close misses), the wail of Egyptian police sirens starting to get closer made the hostile gunmen melt away, leaving their dead brethren on the street.

"Everybody okay?" Jack barked, automatically checking Daniel first before checking over their guests, who thankfully were unhurt. Hooray for bullet-proof vehicles. Next he had their driver check the other vehicles and found that there were only minor wounds, the bad guys had taken the brunt of the damage.

"Can you tell us what that was about?" Adama demanded, his arm still around the President, a fact Jack noticed with interest.

"A lot of Muslims love America, and a lot of Muslim extremists hate Americans," Daniel said wearily.

Jack caught sight of one of the guards about to open their vehicle door. "Heads up," he said.

The door opened and an Egyptian policeman popped his head in and asked in halting English, "Is everyone uninjured?"

Daniel smiled and reassured him volubly in Arabic, making the man's face light up with surprise, then pleasure as he handed the man a large packet before he nodded and let the door be shut again.

"Well done, Danny," Jack said as their caravan lurched forward.

"What did you tell them?" Tom asked curiously as Jack re-stowed the weapons.

Daniel made a face. "I told them that we were American and that we hope that they would enjoy the sufficient monetary compensation I gave them if they forget we were ever here."

"Bribery? They won't investigate?" Roslin asked, her voice rising.

Jack snorted. "Remember those wars I was telling you about? This is related to that. Americans are not popular in this part of the world, and while Egypt is not our enemy there a lot of people who live here who believe we are the enemy. And somehow they figured out that we were here, so that forces us change our plans just a bit."

"This is religion-related, isn't it?" Kara asked.

Daniel turned his head to look at her. "Yes, and no. Our country encourages freedom, of speech, of religion, you name it, which the extremists do not. Also, our country supports Israel, the sworn enemy of just about all Muslim fundamentalists, which they considered an act of war. Which is a simplistic explanation but enough for right now."

"Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people we met in Italy?" Zarek clarified.

"The same," Jack agreed.

~*

Jack had Thor transport them straight to a secure prearranged location near Izumo City, Japan and from there they took two vehicles to the traditional hotel, arriving at almost 5 in the morning.

"Okay, kids. Get some sleep. We'll rise and shine at 11, eat brunch and then Danny will bore you to tears about Japanese culture," Jack said, grinning when Daniel yelped and leaned over to pop him in the shoulder.

Unfortunately for Jack, he couldn't sleep and went out to stand on the ornate balcony. The moon had already disappeared from the sky and the sun would rise soon, but there were lanterns on the decks below that cast a peaceful glow on the Zen garden.

Being in charge meant you made the difficult decisions, and as much as he'd hated to do it, leaving Egypt had been the right one. Except that it tore Daniel apart. His lover adored every facet of Egypt, and hated that the tour of his home had been so violently disrupted by extremists.

Jack sighed and rubbed his face roughly before crawling into bed with Daniel. They had another long day tomorrow.

It was almost one in the afternoon when they left the hotel. Once outside Kara and the others were impressed by how clean and bright everything was, and how politely everybody acted towards them.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Zarek began, "that it's as diverse racially here as it is with our own people."

Daniel nodded. "I have a few theories, but unless I studied your earliest records I wouldn't even hazard a guess on who took your ancestors to your world."

Laura nodded seriously. "I think that can be arranged. I would be interested in knowing more." She looked around the beautiful park-like setting where the path they were on was situated. "Why are we here?"

Daniel smiled. "The Japanese have two main religions, Shinto and Buddhism. Neither could be considered mono-theistic in the slightest. The Shinto religion is the native religion of the Japanese, and there is no founder nor scriptures nor prophecies. Instead they worship the 'Shinto' gods called Kami. They are sacred spirits that take the form of things that are important to life, like wind, rain, mountains, or the sun. And that doesn't even begin to include all of them. The most important Kami is the Sun goddess Amaterasu. It's a very interesting religion; there is no absolute right or wrong and no-one is perfect. Human beings are thought to be fundamentally good and that evil is caused by evil spirits."

Everyone had been listening attentively when suddenly Kara glanced up and said, "Oooooh, look at that!"

'That' was a Japanese Shinto Temple. Its name was Izumo Taisha and it was considered one of the most beautiful Shinto shrines in Japan. The oldest shrine in Japan, it was constructed in pure Japanese style and framed by the greenest of water rich pine trees.

Daniel explained to their awestruck guests that the shrine was dedicated to the sun goddess's nephew, Okuninushi no Mikoto, as he led them in and around the temple and its gardens.

"What was he the god of?" Zarek asked after videotaping a statue of the god depicted with a rabbit.

"He's considered the Earth god, or as his names translates, the 'Great Land Master', though later he became the god of spirits and magic," Daniel answered.
After the tour he asked if anyone wanted to offer up prayers. "This is a unique shrine," he said with a smile, "because instead of offering prayers and clapping twice, you clap four times, twice for you and twice for your partner or desired partner."

"I'm goin'," Jack said, and loved the smile Daniel gave him.

"I would like to," Kara said hesitantly.

The rest agreed and they went in, and one by one, offered up a prayer and clapped four times. Adama caught Daniel's bright smile when the General turned to him from his prayers, and the answering smile was so filled with love that suddenly a lot of things were clearer to him. A sideways glance at Laura and he knew that she'd caught it as well and they shared a smile.

After a traditional tea ceremony, and a light dinner everyone was back in their rooms. Daniel had crashed. His and Jack's lovemaking had been intense and the younger man had been worn out.

Jack was awake.

Again.

He checked Daniel, covering him against the expected morning chill since they were in the mountains, and went back to the balcony.

"Have you ever been married?"

Jack startled, not expecting anyone else to be awake. He turned to his right to see Kara staring up at the fog shrouded mountains, a look of profound sadness on her face. She was wearing a white tank top with thin white pants but seemed unaware of the chill.

"Hey, kid, aren't you cold?" he asked her gently.

"I've been colder," she said absently. It was obvious she didn't mean the weather.

Jack nodded. So had he. "Yes," he answered her earlier question. "Years ago, but we divorced." ~That~ brought her head around.

"Divorced? It's okay to divorce here?" she asked him.

Ah. Touchy subject. "Yes, and no. My religion, Catholic by the way," he added at her questioning look, "objects to divorce except in extreme cases. But we'd had a child. His name was Charlie..." he trailed off for a long moment, lost in memories. "I was careless and he died by accidentally shooting himself with my service weapon."

Kara caught her breath, for the tragic end of a child's life and the end of a marriage. "I'm sorry." She understood being responsible for a death, and the aftermath of loss.

"It was a long time ago. Sara was a great wife, but we just couldn't survive Charlie's death."

"Do you..." she began, then shook her head. "Never mind."

"Go ahead," Jack encouraged. "I'll give you my honest opinion."

She looked at him for a long moment, then at her hands. "I'm married. His name is Sam, and he's strong, amazing, a fighter. We don't always agree," she said, then stopped and shot Jack a small smile. "I'm sort of a hard-head."

Jack chuckled. "I understand."

"But I love someone else," she finished in a rush.

Totally understand, Jack thought. Dating Carter and in love with Daniel. What a fucked up time that had been for everyone involved. "I can't tell you if you're right or wrong. Is he married?"

She nodded miserably. "His wife is on the Galactica."

"Hm, tough situation, especially if everyone knows," Jack said.

"I love him," she whispered. "He holds all of the pieces of me together when they feel like they're going to fly apart."

Jack sighed and leaned on the railing. "I'm going to tell you a story, but bear in mind that I'm not sayin' what you should do here." He glanced over at her. "Get something to put around your shoulders first. You're making me cold just looking at ya."

Kara laughed softly and disappeared into her shared room and came back with one of the throws over her shoulders. "Better, sir?"

"Much," Jack said. He breathed a deep sigh. "Okay, I was seeing someone. Her name was Sam, funnily enough, but she's tall and blonde like you." He gave Kara a flirtatious wink and she snorted. "I'd known that she had feelings for me for a long time, but she was in my command and to be honest, I wasn't ready to screw up her career." There was a slight wince from his audience. "I did love her, ~do~ love her. You can't save someone's life and be saved by someone over and over, and not love them. And after I was promoted out of her chain of command I started seeing her because everyone expected it." He roughly scrubbed his face with his hands. Fuck, this was harder than he'd thought it would be.

There was a noise behind him inside the room but he ignored it and looked at Kara. "Unfortunately I was already in love. They'd been my best friend for years, 'keeping the pieces of me together when I thought I was going to fly apart'," he quoted back and she nodded in understanding. "Then, this person told me that they felt the same way. And I had to make a decision, be safe and stay with Sam. My relationship with Sam was okay. The sex was great, and we got along. The other person? Not so safe, for a number of reasons that aren't important right now, but god, the rewards," he said with a low laugh. "That person is the other half of my soul, Kara, and I would die before giving them up."

Kara looked at him for a long, long moment. "Thank you. For being honest with me."

Jack shrugged. "Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one," he said and startled a spurt of girlish giggles from the tough pilot.

"I've got to tell Apollo that one," she said with a smile.

The affection in her voice answered his unasked question. "It's late, kid. Go get some sleep," he ordered gruffly, and she nodded and slipped into her room.
A moment later, warm arms wrapped around him from behind and he leaned back into the loving embrace. "No regrets, Danny."

"Never, Jack," Daniel said warmly, pressing his lips to Jack's shoulder.

~*

Hermiod tracked the small craft, head tilted thoughtfully. When the Colonists' ships did not alert them to the craft, he leaned forward to peer more closely at the display. "Colonel Caldwell. A small space craft of unfamiliar configuration has landed on the planet below."

"Did it come from the Galactica or one of their other ships?" Caldwell frowned at the alien.

"It did not."

The Colonel's eyes sharpened. "Do you think the bait has been taken?"

Hermiod blinked. "Time will tell."

~*

Daniel had decided to have the trip wind up in Colorado Springs. Jack and Daniel took their four guests to the Garden of the Gods, and afterwards to Glen Eyrie to see a real Scottish castle. Then Daniel had wheedled Jack (and after Jack had gotten permission to have the entire zoo to themselves) they'd take everyone to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo so their guests could see a small variety of the animals from Earth.

Jack had been amused to see the video cameras in vigorous use despite the fact that animals generally lack political or religious ties. There also had been a lot of interest in the information sections describing 'Earth's evolution'. He guessed it was another little bit of proof for them, that in fact they were on Earth.

Tom still felt a little surreal. They were on the last day of their trip to Earth, (he was a believer now) and had been exposed to several different governments and even more religions, which was enlightening to the man who'd fought against the one he'd grown up with. He swallowed the last bit of his delicious sandwich (one great thing had been the sheer amount of fresh and diverse food that they'd been able to try-a far cry from the rations on the ships), took a sip of his overly sweet drink and cleared his throat. "Daniel, have you run across prophecies about us?" he asked, a little hesitantly.

"Wait, I want to record the answer," Kara said, pulling out her camera and pointing it at Daniel.

"Oh," Daniel demurred. "Don't film me, I'm no expert."

Laura shook her head. "We know better, Daniel. We would never have met otherwise," she said, referring to his discovery of Atlantis that had come up in a conversation one evening.

Daniel looked at Jack, but Jack just shrugged a shoulder. "Hey, when they're right, they're right, Dannyboy."

An eyeroll and a sigh. "I have never run across a prophecy of the lost tribes of Kobol," Daniel answered honestly. At their disappointed looks, Daniel held up a hand. "But I haven't seen ~your~ prophecies so I can't even begin to put the question in proper context until I see both sides of the story."

"What Daniel means," Jack said quietly, ignoring the camera Kara swung his way, "is that he's pretty sure that there is something somewhere, which is why we're helping you. He might not remember it yet, but he will and be prepared to have your socks knocked off and everything you believed in turned upside down."

"Jack," Daniel admonished. The camera swung back towards Jack.

"Tell me I'm wrong," was Jack's response.

~*

John smiled as the visitors stepped through the 'gate to Atlantis. "So, how did you enjoy my home?"

"It was amazing!" Kara said enthusiastically. "We went to Italy, Egypt, Japan and then Colo..." she stumbled over the word.

"Colorado Springs," Adama corrected.

Elizabeth stepped up beside John and smiled as she noticed their tans and relaxed expressions. "I believe Dr. Jackson made some very good choices."

"I still can't believe you killed their reporter," Rodney pointed out with a loud mutter.

"Not helping, Rodney," John griped in return, rolling his eyes at Weir.

Zarek just shook his head. "We are very grateful to you for your hospitality," he said sincerely.

"Has there been any news?" Adama asked.

"Yes, sir," John answered, "A Cylon went down to the planet but everything worked as it should and he's been in stasis the entire time. Galactica said that it would be assumed to be a glitch in their communications."

"Good, the plan worked then," Adam said with satisfaction.

~*
Back on Galactica, Adama watched with Saul as they replayed the part with Daniel speaking about looking for prophecies for the tribes of Kobol. "He's really that intelligent?"

"He would be revered as a prophet among our people," Adama said sincerely. "I quietly talked to our guards and others among the regular military and every single person said that Daniel Jackson along with General O'Neill has been responsible for saving the Earth, many times. And the General defers to Daniel in everything but military matters, but make no mistake, he's a soldier as well."

"How is the President taking it?"

It was a good question as Laura Roslin been the one who'd believed the prophecies, who'd pushed the most for their ragtag group of survivors to go to Earth.

Adama sighed. "I think we're all tired of fighting a war that looks unwinnable, Saul. And I know she understands that we only have one choice."

"When is the film airing?" the other man asked after a long silence.

"Tonight." They'd only been gone for four days and after he'd arrived back on the Galactica, Adama had made a point to walk the ship and say hello, to disprove rumors that the strangers had been Cylons, and that he and the others had been kidnapped, killed or worse. He understood that Laura and Tom had done much the same thing while Starbuck had been speaking to the viper pilots and mechanics about her experiences.

The video was going to be selectively edited, and after it aired then they would announce the Asgard offer.

~*

That night the Cylon's watched the pirated feed with something akin to terror. They could only listen while their prophecy that the mythic planet of Earth, specially waiting for them to come home to, was wrong. That everything their makers, the humans that they considered a defective creation of their god, knew about Earth, was wrong.

Cavil went to their communications on the planet, which had been spotty at best. "Leoban. Tell me that you have accessed the device."

"No," came the cranky reply. "I have not accessed the device since the last time you contacted me, Cavil. I cannot access the device because of the forcefield that has been placed around it, and for which I have asked for assistance and received ~none~."

"We are unfamiliar with their technology," Cavil replied calmly. "Try again."

"Try again he says," they all could hear Leoban snarl under his breath before the connection went dead.

All the ships' crews and passengers were glued to the screens, watching tour of Earth with fascination. There was amazement as the architecture and the different religions, laughter at the antics with the camels, and awe at the animals that were so similar, yet so different from those from their own home.
Earth was no longer a nebulous myth but a concrete reality with first hand knowledge and video proof.

"You all know me, I'm just a simple pilot, not a reporter," Kara spoke solemnly on the screen. "But I have tried to be fair and just in what we were witness to on Earth."

The camera then went to a serious-faced President Roslin. "We cannot live on Earth," she said.

And even though Kara had been prepared for it, the slow whisper that graduated to almost a shout of disbelief almost deafened her. "Listen up," she shouted and the pilots, mechanics and other support staff she'd been watching with quieted down.

In his cell, Baltar Gaius angrily bellowed his disbelief at the screen.

The woman on the camera smiled slightly. "I, too, am disappointed, but all is not lost. The people who gave us the tour of Earth also introduced us to another race, a powerful benevolent race called the Asgard. The Asgard have agreed to give us a planet in their area of protected planets. Representative Zarek, Admiral Adama, and I as the chosen ones to see Earth have made the decision to accept their offer." She shuffled the papers on her desk for a moment, and every person, and hidden Cylon, watched silently. "Earth has also made the generous offer to supply us until we get our colony up and running. And lastly," and her eyes went hard. "For any Cylon's or collaborators watching, the Asgard are technologically superior to you and we are under their protection. Find your own planet." And the camera went dark.

"Who are the Asgard?" one of the mechanics asked.

Smiling, Kara shook her head. "Okay, we have humans. Us, Earth, the people on Atlantis and we were told there were a lot more beings on other planets, too. Then they have something like the Cylons but are called Replicators which aren't human but can look like us, and then there's the Asgard. They're about so high..." she measured with both hands a distance of about three feet. "Grey, with large eyes and more tech than a Cylon could ever dream about."

Thunderstruck looks greeted her description and there were exclamations of surprise. "You've met one?"

"Yes, I've met one. His name was Thor and he was the Supreme Commander of his military. They're the ones that are going to help us find a new home," Kara confirmed.

"They're not going to imprison us or lull us into a false sense of security and destroy us?" someone asked.

She shook her head. "Dr. Jackson and General O'Neill both stated that Thor has helped save Earth numerous times. They believe in him," she said, unaware that it made it sound like worship.

"Why can't we live on Earth?" someone else called out from the crowd of fighter pilots and mechanics and whomever else had crept in during the showing.

Kara, from where she sat on a viper wing, sighed and shook her head again. "Did you see where we visited the large pyramids?" she waited for the head nods. "We were attacked on our way back." She ignored Apollo's and Anders' startled doubletakes. "There are at least, and these are the ones that I was told about, ~five~ wars going on. Some of it is political, some racial and some of it is religious. Earth is ~not~ at peace, and we've been at war far too long to want to deal with someone else's."

There was a lot of vocal agreement, the memories of the disaster at New Caprica were long, and Kara was satisfied she'd made her point as she slid off of her perch and walked behind the viper, heading out of the bay.

"Starbuck," Apollo said from behind, and she stopped.

"Lee."

"I..." she heard him say, then his footsteps as he came back around until they were face to face. "I haven't seen you since you came back. How was it?" he asked her, his eyes searching her face.

Kara looked at him, seeing him perhaps for the first time, as someone she could give everything up for. "I wish you had been there, Lee. It was amazing. They didn't show everything in the video, but I took a lot of pictures on my own. When you get some time..."

Surprised by her agreement and pleased, Apollo nodded. "I'll look forward to it," he said shyly.

~*~

Leoban dusted the pollen off his sleeves with jerky, angry movements. "There was nothing I could do, all right?"

Five sighed. "Fine. But there should be " she began but her words stuttered to a stop. "What is the matter with you?"

Cavil, Sharon and Three all turned to stare at Leoban as his eyes jerked and his hand went to a panel almost without thought.

"He's been infected with something," Cavil shouted, and he began to try and disengage the computer Leoban was touching. The screens on their computers simultaneously began to flicker as Cavil began to panic for real.

"Greetings."

All activity came to a dead stop as they stared at the screen. A grey alien with large eyes was staring at them solemnly.

"I am Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard and I am in control of your vessel."

Cavil could only gape. He knew that they were not in control anymore, could feel it in his very core. "What do you want from us?"

Thor inclined his head. "I have read the histories from both your people and the Tribes of Kobol. I cast no blame on either side, but hear me, the war ends now."

"You cannot tell us what to do," Three hissed.

"I am aware of every one of your secrets, of your spies on the Colonial ships, of your plans to take over Earth and remake it in your image," Thor said sternly. "You are not a threat to me, but I am to you," he said.

Suddenly Leoban began to shake uncontrollably then he burst into pieces and turned to dust, startling a shriek out of Five.

"I know that your Leoban can be reborn. However, with his destruction I have infected you and your ships." Thor's face was calm. "I also have the only antidote."

"What do you want?" Cavil said with bravado. If this Thor had somehow gained access to all of their records then there was nothing to hide. He knew when they were defeated, and he was willing to do whatever it took to keep his race alive. If only for revenge.

"I can recommend that you be given a planet."

Cavil looked over at Five- then at Three who barely flickered an eyelash to his silent question. "Will we be able to leave this planet?" he asked.

"No."

"So, it's either surrender and die or be imprisoned?" Three asked tartly.

There was a sound and Thor tilted his head slightly. "You cannot follow this transmission, Cavil of the Cylons. Our technology is vastly superior to yours. The answer to Three of Cylon's question is that you may do to your planet whatever you had planned to do on Earth."

"What about our brethren on board the Colonial ships?" Five asked quietly.

"I understand that you have free will, do you not?" Thor asked.

Cavil nodded, the taste of the other Sharon bitter in his mouth. "We do."

"Then if they are willing to submit to the rules of the Tribes of Kobol and are accepted by them, they may stay where they are, though all links to you will be severed. Those who wish to return to your people may do so without reprisal."

"We will consider your generous offer," Cavil answered smoothly.

"I will contact you in one of your centars," Thor said, and the screens blanked out.

~*~

Adama sat back in his chair. "How can they be kept on their own planet?"

Jack shrugged. "Need to know, Bill. It's something that we and the Asgard cooked up and we know it will work. I'm asking you to trust us."

He glanced over at Roslin, then at Tigh. "What do you think?"

"If I may," Thor interrupted. "Another question remains before you make this decision. Will you give amnesty to those Cylons who are willing to stay with your people?"

"You mean like Sharon Agathon?" Laura asked, puzzled.

Thor sent a look to Jack, who merely pointed back. "Uh uh. This is your can of worms, buddy."

The little alien sighed faintly. "Indeed. Very well," he said. "The Asgard have the technology to discern who is a Cylon and who is not. However, there is a problem."

Adama had leaned forward in his chair during Thor's speech, face ruddy with anger. "What ~kind~ of problem?"

"Oh for " Jack interrupted. "You remember you told me how Valerii didn't know she was a Cylon? Well, there are several more of you guys who are Cylons and don't even know it, even in your command staff," he said bluntly.

"But we've tested everyone!" the President almost wailed.

"Your testing procedures are inadequate to their technology," Thor said bluntly.

Tigh was visibly pale. "Who?"

Thor blinked. "I cannot release the names until I am assured that no harm will come to them."

"If there are some that don't know, then there are others that do and are spying for the Cylon's. Correct?" Adama asked.

Jack nodded. "Yes."

"Can you remove the spies and the unknowns separately, sequestering them so that we can speak to them?" Roslin asked.

"That is an option," Thor agreed after looking at Jack who nodded.

~*
Jack had already spoken to Thor and had an idea of what the fallout was going to be as the countdown to isolating the Cylon's on board the ships began.

"Now," Thor said, and Adama went white as Tigh disappeared from the CIC.

"No, not Saul!" Adam blurted.

Thor tilted his head. "It is regrettable, but according to our scans Colonel Tigh is one of the unknown Cylons."

President Roslin was in shock as well, her eyes huge in her face but her concern was for the Admiral. "Bill..." she began quietly.

"No!" he shouted, slamming his hands down on the plotting table.

"Bill, he's still the same person that you've know all of your life. Look at it from his point of view, he's not who he thought he was. He's someone who he's been raised to hate," Jack said sharply.

Adama spun around to pin Jack with a look. "You knew."

Jack nodded. "Thor let me know beforehand, because I know what you're feeling, okay? I've been in similar situations, but listen to me. ~He didn't know~. You cannot blame him for this."

With a sound like a sob, Adama looked at Thor. "You're absolutely sure?"

Thor inclined his head. "Colonel Saul Tigh and the others in the room with him were unknowing of their origins. They are the same as they have always been."

Laura stood. "Bill, stay here. I'll speak to them," she said compassionately.

Adam looked at her for a long moment- then shook his head. "No," he said hoarsely. "I understood the reality of this and I will accept it."

*
Bill Tigh opened his eye and stared at the person in the room with him. "By the gods of Kobol," he breathed in shock.

Anders looked around wildly. "What's happened? Are we under attack?"

Fleet mechanic Chief Galen Tyrol was white as he suddenly appeared, then he spun around to stare. "I was in a ship trying to fix a radio problem, then I'm here. I'm dying aren't I?"

"No," the Colonel said soothingly. "No one's dead it's..." and he broke off when the President's aide, Tory Foster appeared and passed out onto the metal deck after a frantic look around.

"Frack," Tigh cursed as he and Anders knelt down to check her over. "Is she breathing?" he asked though he knew it was a stupid question if they were Cylons.

Anders felt her neck for a long moment, then sucked in a breath. "Yes, she's still breathing."

Tigh sat back and sighed. "Okay, here's what I know. The Asgard that you've heard about?" He looked at Anders and Tyrol seriously. "He was requested to use his technology to separate the Cylons from the rest of the population aboard the fleet."

"Cylons? We're frackin' Cylons?" Tyrol asked in disbelief, just as the door opened.

Sharon Valerii Agathon, a Cylon herself, looked at the people inside of the room and sighed. "You would have to be the Cylons. It couldn't be just regular people."

*'

The newly reborn, and cranky, Leoban jumped when the area he was in suddenly filled with the Cylon spies from the Colonial ships, including an extremely loud and whiny Gaius Baltar. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes at the sudden influx of noise in what had been, moments before, a silent room. "I really, really hate those Asgard," he muttered.

*

Tory chose that moment to sit up shakily, a hand to her head "I don't understand. What's going on?" she whimpered. The door slid shut behind Sharon, but not before the group inside had noticed the armed soldiers outside.

Tigh stood, facing Sharon. "I was in the planning meetings. I know what is happening to us. We're the Cylons that no one knew about. The Asgard technology found us and now you're here to see what we're going to do."

Soberly, Sharon nodded. "First myself, and then the President and Admiral Adama and the General from Earth. You all need to stand and move closer to each other."

"Why?" Galen asked suspiciously.

Her face softened when she saw how nervous her former lover was. "Please, Galen. You can trust me."

Tyrol stared at her for a long moment before nodding. He took the first step, and the other three stepped forward, and they all heard an almost tuneless melody then an audible click, and they realized the truth of it. They ~were~ Cylons.

Saul's shoulders slumped. "I don't feel different."

"It's because you aren't, sir," Sharon said softly. "You will always be Saul Tigh because you are made up of the memories of the life you have led. Just because you've discovered that your physical form is not what you thought it was doesn't erase your life experiences."

"How did this happen?" Sam Anders asked, his eyes dark with sorrow. With this, on top of all of his other troubles, he and Kara were finished for certain.
Their fellow Cylon shook her head. "I don't know. I don't have access to what happened or why. Even the council didn't know who you were, so they're going to be just as surprised as you were."

The door slid open and Tigh braced himself as his best and oldest friend strode in with the President and their guest on his heels. He hadn't experienced the level of fear he was feeling since Bill had been shot, and he knew that this would change everything between them. Then he got a surprise.

"Saul, are you alright?" Admiral William Adama asked him as he gripped him by the arms, his dark eyes concerned.

Saul gaped. "Bill? You do know I'm a Cylon, right?"

Adama shot General O'Neill a glance before looking back at him. "As far as I'm concerned, you're still the man who's served by my side since we were younger than Lee."

Emotions overwhelmed him, and Tigh sucked in an unsteady breath and tried to keep the tears from overwhelming his one eye, and losing face in front of his friend. "I'm fine, Bill. What happens now?"

Laura looked at the other three frightened people and could find nothing but compassion in her heart. "You're still a part of our people," she said softly, her eyes meeting each of theirs straight on.

O'Neill nodded in satisfaction as he looked around the room. "We have an old saying on Earth. 'United we stand, divided we fall'."

The people inside of the room nodded and President Roslin spoke, "We have a similar saying. 'We all must stand together, or alone be destroyed'."

Jack suppressed a wince. 'Ah, the war mentality'. "Well," he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them enthusiastically. "Let's find your new home, kids."

~*~

It was a year later when Rodney, Sheppard, Jack, and Daniel walked off the ramp from the 'jumper. The welcoming committee was filled with people they knew.

"Welcome to New Kobol," Laura Roslin, now a private citizen, said happily.

"Thank you," Daniel said. "How are you settling in?" He hugged her, and shook hands with the younger Adama who was standing with a beaming and very pregnant Kara, watching as the others greeted and were greeted in return, with Jack patting Kara's stomach and making her laugh.

"Just look around," Laura proudly said, her hand indicating the industrious building that filled the valley beneath the mountain that the planet's stargate was located on.

The style of buildings reminded Daniel somewhat of California, lots of straight lines and glass to take advantage of the gorgeous views.

Earth had been generous with their support, with the caveat that they could use New Kobol as a fall-back position in case the Alpha and Beta sites were compromised. The settlers of New Kobol had been more than thrilled to be asked by their Earth cousins. It was a win win that frankly, Daniel was proud of being a part of.

"Wow, it reminds me of San Diego or Monterrey, except without the ocean," John said.

"Hey, where's Bill?" Jack asked curiously. He and the Admiral had bonded and they'd kept in touch sporadically over the year.

Laura smiled. "He enjoyed the gift that you sent him and is getting some of our children ready to perform for you later."

"Gift?" Daniel asked, not aware that Jack had sent something personal with all of the construction materials and personnel.

"Roller hockey gear," Jack grinned. "I can't wait."

"Oh good grief, I hope you sent protective helmets, knee and elbow pads," Rodney McKay said with an eyeroll.

"I did," Jack affirmed then grinned evilly, "and I made sure that you have a set too since I know you can play."

"Rodney, I didn't know you played hockey!" Sheppard said with delight.

"Hello, Canadian!" Rodney sniped.

Kara laughed. "It's very popular. I had to quit playing when I got too big."

Her husband smiled wryly as he added, "And it was enough of a fight that I had to hide her equipment."

There was a lot of laughter when Kara thumped Lee and took Jack's arm to show him their new world.

~*~

It was later, and Bill Adama, retired Admiral and now coach of children's sports on New Kobol, was sharing a beer with Jack.

"Do you miss it?" Jack asked.

Adama didn't pretend that he didn't understand the question. "Sometimes. The adrenaline rush of wondering if you were going to be fast enough, smart enough to defeat the Cylons. Then I see my son about to have a child of his own and I'm grateful for the chance to be able to know that my grandchild will live in peace."

Jack nodded, rolling his beer bottle back and forth in his hands. "I envy you, Bill. You have got it good here."

The other man arched an eyebrow. "You and Dr. Jackson are always welcome."
Not surprised that the wise man beside him had figured out who was important to Jack, Jack merely clinked his bottle to Adama's and took a drink.

"How's Saul?" Jack asked quietly.

Saul Tigh had taken being a Cylon hard, and had become almost suicidal. With his old friend's help he was climbing out of the abyss of depression and getting on with his life.

"Better," Bill answered with a smile. "The counseling sessions were a good suggestion and I believe its helping."

"Good," Jack replied.

"Jack, can I ask a question?" the retired Admiral asked after they'd finished their beers and talked some more.

"What about the Cylons?" Jack tossed back and Adama nodded.

Jack smiled slowly. "They're contained, Bill. I promise."

~*

Thor nodded in satisfaction, tinkering with his computer. The time dilation device was working perfectly. It would be a hundred thousand years before the Cylon's would be able to leave their planet. Meanwhile their cloning technology had been added to the Asgard's, speeding up their research considerably.

On the planet below the Cylon's were creating the new planet in their own image, unaware that it was taking time...

Fin~