Disclaimer: BSG belongs to Glen Larson and the corporations respectively. Sorry I am uncertain who owns which rights at this time unfortunately it is not me. No infringement is intended and this is just a fan fiction for the author amusement and to hopefully entertain others.

Chapter 18: Family Reunion.

Colonial Raptor 612 – 2nd jump forward from the fleet.

Lieutenant James 'Wave' Barolay and his ECO, Lieutenant (JG) Ryan 'Preacher' Short from the Battlestar Minotaur had spent the last 2 hours running sensor scans of a small sysem of planets that the fleet would shortly be passing through. The only thing of interest in this fairly barren system had been the discovery of bovines on the fouth planet, that the fleet could use to restock their freezers with fresh meat.

"Hey Wave. Check your Dradis will you?" Preacher called out from the ECO station in the rear compartment,as an object suddenly appeared on his display.

Wave turned in his seat. "What's wrong, Preacher?"

"Either I'm getting a sensor echo or there's another raptor just jumped into the system" he replied. The curiosity and concern evident in his voice.

Quickly adjusting the controls on his Dradis display Wave called out "that's no sensor echo!" Keying his radio,he took a deep breath. "Colonial Raptor. This is Raptor six-one-two. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon".

For what seemed like an eternity, all they heard was static. Then came the reply. "Raptor six-one-two, this is Colonial Raptor three-niner-six from the Battlestar Nemesis. Sending recognition codes now".

Wave looked back at his ECO questioningly. "Wasn't the Nemesis assigned to the Ghost Fleet at Borallis?"

Preacher nodded before checking the incoming data transmission against the Fleet database. "Codes read as authentic" he said incredulously.

After a brief exchange of information regarding their respective ships, Wave sent the co-ordinates for the Nemesis to jump to for a rende-vous with the fleet, before the two raptors jumped away to return to their base ships.

Battlestar Orpheus CIC - 30 minutes later.

Admiral Kronus was standing at the Dradis console with Govenor General Elaine Fields and Colonel Omega. He had just finished filling them in on what the Raptor scouts had found.

The smile on the Govenor's face at the thought of more survivors was enough to heighten the moral of all those in the CIC. "It's incredible Andrew. Two other fleets of ships, a source of fresh food and another stopping point for Galactica. Who would have believed it possible this far from the Colonies. Although I admit I'm confused about the terms you referred to...Redline Fleet and the Ghost Fleet."

Kronus smiled. "It's quite understandable Madam Govenor. After the armistace was signed, the Colonial fleet suddenly found themselves with an excess of ships. The Quorum decided that after all the money that had been spent to build up the fleet, that it wanted to get it's money worth. Some bright spark came up with the idea of a hidden fleet that could be re-activated quickly if the Cylons ever returned and over-ran the Colonies again like they did during the war on Tauron and Sagittaron. And so the excess of ships was divided into two fleets and sent to the remotest parts of the system. Borallis and Lemuria. After a few years, the Quorum realised just how much money was being spent on keeping the ships crewed and the decision was taken to mothball the ships and just maintain a patrol presence at their respective locations. In recent years, those two fleet basically became a source of scorn in the Adminstration. President Adar was even petitioning to have those ships sent for scrap."

Elaine nodded her head as she took in all this new information.

"Dradis Contact off the starboard bow. Sir, It's the Nemesis" Lieutenant Gary Roberts, the tactical officer called out. Then he glanced across towards his superior officers, "I'm confirming Colonial recognition codes coming from 26 ships. There's Battlestars, Cruisers, Warstars and Fleet supply ships. Sir, it's the entire Ghost Fleet!"

"Well I'll be!" Colonel Omega exclaimed loudly.

Glancing down at his console again as an alarm sounded loudly and running his fingers swiftly over the keyboard, Lieutenant Roberts called out "New Dradis Contact off the port bow. Sending standard challenge. Admiral, I'm getting recognition codes from an additional 32 ships. And Admiral... 7 of them are the Militech Frigates that we thought had been lost back in the Colonies!"

Shaking her head in disbelief, Elaine turned towards Admiral Kronus. "That's another 58 ships that have survived the holocaust. I'm glad I was never a gambler because the odds of all those ships plus our own fleet and those with the Galactica, not only escaping the destruction - but also following the same route across the vastness of space and meeting up - why it's beyond incalculable. The Gods must surely be looking out for us!"

Looking across the CIC towards the communictions station, Admiral Kronus got the attention of Ensign Cain. "Send a message to those ships, I want to see the commanding officers of those two fleets in the wardroom in one hour."

"Aye, Sir"

Turning his attention back to the occupants around the central plotting table he announced. "Govenor, I assume you will want to sit in an this meeting". Elaine only nodded her head in reply. "Colonel, why don't you join us as well"

Battlestar Orpheus Wardroom - 1hour later.

Letting out a sigh of resignation, Admiral Kronus straightened his uniform, before opening the hatchway that led to the wardroom. Stepping through he glanced across the room at the occupants who were milling around the refreshments. A look of surprise and smile came across his face as he recognised an old friend.

"I should have know you would find a way to survive, Paul. It's great to see you again. How longs it been - 10 years?"

A short, slightly overweight bald man, wearing the uniform of a Rear Admiral, raised his head from where he had been helping himself to a cup of java. "Well, what have we here? Andy Kronus, back in uniform and it only took the end of the worlds to do it!" he remarked with a smirk on his face. "I take it your responsible for this circus then."

The Govenor Fields, Colonel Omega and the four other Fleet officers chuckled quietly at this interplay between the two old friends.

Admiral Kronus sat down in the seat at the head of the table. "I always had a feeling that the Cylons weren't done with the Colonies, you know that. I'd have given anything to have been wrong, but at least I spent the time preparing just in case. Unlike those fools at Fleet HQ and in the Government. Now that your here, I suppose that you'll be taking over as Fleet Admiral."

The others gradually sat themselves down around the conference table after grabbing a cup of java. Admiral Paul Urie sat himself down at the opposite end of the table from Kronus.

"Andrew. If President Adar had not have issued a recall of all ex-military personnel I would have been the senior surviving member of the Admiralty, but as it stands there are two surviving Fleet officers that are senior to me. You and Bill Adama. I won't insist that you step down, anyway aren't a lot of these ships yours?"

"Ok. If you two gentlemen have sorted that out, why don't we get on with reason we assembled here for in the first place." Surveying the faces around the table Elaine continued. "Just so that you gentlemen are aware, my name is Elaine Field and I am here in my position as the head of the government for this fleet. As we found out that Laura Roslin, who is with the Galactica's fleet, has been duly sworn in as President. We have established the position of Govenor General and a senate of representatives to act as the Government until such a time as we meet up with the Galactica. Now, maybe you can tell us more about your respective commands."

Admiral Urie leaned back in his seat. "Well, I suppose I should start. My ship is the Columbia II class Battlestar Nemesis. When the Cylon attacked the Colonies, we were on station patrolling the area around Borallis. When we heard the message from Picon Fleet HQ, I sent my engineering and deck crews aboard the ships of the Red Line Fleet in order to to get them operational. Then we heard that over half the Fleet had been destroyed and Admiral Nagala was leading a counter attack over Virgon. We waited as long as we dared, but no-one came to activate the Fleet. My computer specialist came up with the idea of linking the systems on the ships to the Nemesis and remote piloting them out of the area. We sat in the asteroid belt for a couple of days whilst I sent our raptors out around the Colonies to rescue as many personnel as we could that were trapped aboard the remains of the Fleet. We managed to save around 15,000 officers and enlisted. I used them to provide each ship with a skeleton crew and made the decision to try and find the 13th Colony and try and start over. We thought that we were the only survivors until our patrol came across your raptor."

The young, dark skinned officer wearing a commanders insignia who was sitting beside Colonel Omega then spoke up. "Madam Govenor, Admiral. My name is Commander Jonathon Nelson from the Valkirie Class Battlestar Sphinx. We were on a routine patrol of the Greystone yards at Lemuria when the Cylons attacked. I was going to jump my ship to Virgon and join up with Admiral Nagala, but before we could jump your frigates arrived with enough personnel to start re-activating the Ghost Fleet with skeleton crews. That is when we found out that the ships were in a right state. It seems that the Fleet had recently started to cannibalise the ships stored there. We managed to cobble together enough parts from the worst ships to get the others operational. Your Frigates meanwhile, in conjunction with our raptors were able to make runs around a number of outposts in the system rescuing personnel and stripping the outposts of anything they could. Food, medicine, clothing and machinery. Just as we were jumping out of the yards, the Cylons arrived with 5 Basestars and launched a barrage of nukes at the yards. I believe the detonations masked our jump signatures as we have not picked up any signs of the Cylon since then. Commander Cameron of the Charon informed me of your plans Admiral and we made the decision to try and join up with you and now here we are."

"Gentlemen, it seems that the Cylons were not as thorough with there genocide as they thought. Now, those ships of your are all outdated and will need time in the yards to bring them up to current fleet standards. Luckily we have to construction yards in the Fleet that are currently busy converting some supertankers to provide accommodation for the civilian population. When those have been completed we'll start work on your ships. In the meantime, I'll have Aaron here start to find personnel to fill out the crews of those ships."

The officers all nodded their agreement with those plans, even as Admiral Kronus stood.

"We still waiting on one of our scouts to report in before we jump out of the system. Why don't you all join me in my quarters for a celebratory glass or two of ambrosia."