Aprilius 9th, 2354

Deep Space

Battlestar Prometheus

"I see it. I still can't believe it," Admiral Jones said, eyes wide in shock as she looked at the enormous ship filling up the view screens above the CIC plot table.

"We knew they'd be around here from the Ovions' records and it just took some poking around before our Raptors pinpointed their exact location to where they were hiding from a search pattern. Still, the size of Haven is indeed awe inspiring, sir," Commander Rodrigues said, nodding in agreement with the look of amazement Admiral Jones still wore.

Before Battlestar Prometheus and the rest of BSG 8 stood the battered and damaged colonial Heavy Warstar Haven, the first and last of her kind.

The largest ship ever constructed in the colonies at 4000 meters in length.

Built on the same design as a Battlestar with a crouching alligator formed elongated head of the ship, and two twin flight-pods on either side of the ship, Haven was a larger size with appropriate increased weaponry across the hull and more spacious inside…

Burn marks and missing hull plating was apparent across the vast surface of the ship. Several weapons emplacements were missing or bent sideways and thus rendered inoperable.

"She was intended to serve as the main command ship for the entire fleet, while Atlantia would have served only as a supporting command ship. Though, I imagine if Admiral Corman had it his way, Haven would've been kept secret and used as part of the reserve fleet among Operation Ragnarok. A rather large surprise to any enemy of the colonies if necessary," Admiral Jones said, nodding in approval.

"Kind of doubt that Haven could've been kept a secret given her size, sir," Commander Rodrigues said laughing lightly, "Still, she would've been an incredible boon given her strength and may yet still be if we can get her returned to the colonies and completed to full strength."

"Indeed," Admiral Jones said with a nod, continuing to gaze at the massive warship highlighted on the view screen above, "After her disappearance, she became the largest and most expensive failure in colonial history. Fleet Command was blamed, of course, because they insisted that the ship be built. Last I heard before we left, they used Haven's loss to further efforts to swiftly downsize the fleet."

"Mother frakkers…," Commander Rodrigues said, shaking his head. Suddenly, he grinned, bemused, "Well they won't be able to justify downsizing anymore, not once word reaches the colonies of alien threats out here."

"Yes…" Admiral Jones said thoughtfully, giving the massive warship one last once-over before turning away.

"Anyway, let's get setup to meet aboard Haven with the command staff and get underway ASAP. We're still technically in enemy space and if we found Haven, so can the Ovions. We'll need to get moving and quickly," Admiral Jones said, narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists in anticipation.

"Aye sir. Though does that mean we're done with our mission? We just head back home?" Commander Rodrigues asked, grinning at Admiral Jones.

Though he felt disappointed at not getting to explore further, the rather large reminder of home sitting outside Prometheus strengthened the feelings of homesickness and longing to return to the colonies which had been eating away at him during their long journey.

"I think Admiral Corman himself would agree that what we've found is important enough to end our mission ahead of schedule. The likelihood of other enemies to the colonies and the importance in returning a strategic asset like Haven are simply far more important," Admiral Jones said solemnly.

30 minutes later

Heavy Warstar Haven

Admiral Jones and Commander Rodrigues disembarked from their raptor, quickly dismissing the deck crew standing at attention on the hanger deck.

Dozens of additional DC teams left other raptors arriving on Haven and began moving out to aid the DC teams working throughout the massive warship to repair the damage present.

Walking through the numerous sections of the massive warship, Admiral Jones and Commander Rodrigues grimaced as they saw the sight of the conditions of the ship firsthand.

Entire sections had blinking lights along entire corridors, sheets of metal mangled and twisted as they were bent inward from damage outside the ship…

Admiral Jones and Commander Rodrigues continued on their way to reach the ship's commanding officer. Occasionally, they sent out orders to DC teams on changes of where to concentrate to repair the ship.

Haven, Commander's Quarters

Admiral Jones did a double-take as she took in the imposing figure before her. Six-foot seven, with spiked black hair and piercing black eyes, the figure was a large man with a bulging muscular frame. She relaxed as he went to sit down as she and Commander Rodrigues entered the commanding officer's quarters.

"You are the commanding officer, then?" Admiral Jones asked, raising an eyebrow as she appraised the colonial officer before her. He made no move to salute or otherwise follow protocol, relaxing as he reclined in his chair across from the Admiral and her subordinate.

"Suppose I am…" Major David Magnus mused, chuckling darkly, his wide grinning face turned sour as he remembered, sadness tinging his voice, "I'm afraid Commander Cifer and Colonel Skylar were lost among many of the crew in the time since Haven's been active. I was the next in line for command… Sir."

"Well, you've lasted this long and from the records the Ovions kept of your encounters with them, you did quite well. I'm field promoting you to Commander as of this moment, Commander Magnus," Admiral Jones said firmly.

"Sir!" Commander Magnus said, a little more volume in his deep and husky voice, his eyes widening briefly. He saluted the Admiral in respect, slightly surprised but taking his promotion in stride.

"Now, DC teams from the fleet are streaming in, so the repairs your ship obviously needs as seen from the outside will begin immediately. We need to leave shortly as I'm sure you can understand and agree with. If Haven's FTLs can't be made operational quickly, then our deck crews have orders to dock Andromeda and Hades, and make it possible to tow Haven along in FTL jumps.

I would like to hear your story of what happened in the meantime and a rundown of what Haven needs to get operational in short order, as soon as possible," Admiral Jones said sternly.

"Yes sir," Commander Magnus said, sighing loudly as he began remembering the sad events that had led Haven to getting here and explained to the Admiral what happened.

38 months ago - Februarius 8th, 2351

Confederation Station, in space three hours sublight travel to Picon

Heavy Warstar Haven CIC

Commander Marcel Cifer stood in the center of the large CIC, checking on the various sections of the ship to prepare for a jump.

"Good to see we're finally getting out of dock even if it's just for this test. Took them long enough to get the ship up and ready," Commander Marcel Cifer said excitedly.

"Aye, sir. Though we're still relatively lightly armed with about half our weapons not yet functional," Colonel Llora Skylar said, rolling her eyes.

"Pfft. You'd think with all the cubits pushed into getting Haven up and running the weapons would've been prioritized so they were all online," Commander Cifer scoffed, "Still, even if we had to face combat, we've got enough teeth as is to rip apart pretty much any conceivable enemy."

"The firepower of around three mercury class Battlestars combined. Stronger than any other Warstar ever created, and meant to literally take on a war by herself. Yes, even with a fraction of her weapons, she's too deadly and stubborn to be in trouble in combat no matter her situation sir," Colonel Skylar said in agreement, smiling slightly, though she still wished Haven could be at 100% on her maiden voyage.

"Well if nothing else we'll get to see Haven jump farther than any other ship in the fleet could dream of. Given her eight large and powerful engines, along with the Olympus class FTL, giving the ship a jump range of around 100 light years. Should provide an interesting test to see today," Commander Cifer said, nodding slightly.

"Indeed sir," Colonel Skylar said.

"Let's get a message out to that civilian engineer to finish up her work on the ship's FTL systems so we can get going. I'm starting to get antsy about waiting and I'm excited to see our beloved ship in action," Commander Cifer said, eyes sparkling in excitement and in anticipation.

"Aye, sir. I'll make sure she hurries up and gets off our frakking ship post haste. No need to take her with us for the test after all. You know how much I detest the civilian contractors from Intrinsic Espada Engineering," Colonel Skylar said, grinning. Her eyes flared briefly with anger, thinking of the civilian contractors.

Waste of space, and unnecessary, people aboard taking credit for the arduous work her crew and the overall efforts the colonial fleet had put in. All for civilian contractors to swoop in at the end and get all the glory. There'd be hell to pay if they made mistakes that led to her ship so much as messing up its paint job because of them… Colonel Skylar shook her head clearing her thoughts to focus as Haven's crew members called out each section of the ship one at a time were ready to go.

"Thank you, Colonel. Knew I could count on you to feel the same," Commander Cifer said, closing his eyes and sighing with satisfaction at soon getting his wish.

10 minutes later

A tall woman with flowing blonde hair in an orange jumpsuit, a typical fleet engineer's outfit, walked aboard a raptor, the ramp walkway closing up behind her as she was the last to board. She grinned looking around the ship one last time, catching the eye of a large pilot watching nearby.

She cheekily waved at him, her grin becoming flirtatious. Her full face came into view as the raptor's hatch closed, a person matching D'Anna's appearance…

The hatch closed over the raptor, sealing shut, the pilots aboard engaging final checks before lift off from the ship was engaged.

"Let the Colonel know that pesky blonde civilian engineer she hates so much is now away from the ship," Major David Magnus said dryly, a note of boredom in his voice and his eyes drooping slightly, as he spoke into his earpiece connected wirelessly to the ship's CIC. He watched as the raptor carrying the civilian engineer, and her assistants, lifted off and began heading away from Haven.

"Aye, sir," the communications officer replied, then relayed the CAGs message to the Colonel and Commander in CIC.

"Good," Colonel Skylar said, grinning mischievously and turning to her CO in expectation.

"Great to hear. Now let's get going!" Commander Cifer said excitedly, raising his voice to ensure the crew heard him and knew he was talking to them.

"Yes sir!" several crew members replied quickly.

Haven began moving farther away from the shipyard docks that had been her home for so long, while the crew finished preparations to jump the ship.

"FTL jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Jumping!" Lieutenant Anabel Drake said happily, raising her arms and jumping up and down slightly in excitement.

Commander Cifer glanced at the jubilant operations officer in bemusement before looking ahead as the ship FTL jumped, and quickly arrived at its destination.

Haven jumped away from the colonies on her intended single one hundred light-year jump as a test for the ship's new, state of the art, systems. Everything went ahead like clockwork. A bright flash surrounded the massive ship and they were displaced, arriving at their new coordinates as planned. Then it all went wrong…

"We've arrived out of our FTL jump sir," Lieutenant Drake reported smiling widely, but her smile turned down into an uncharacteristic frown moments later as she gave the FTL computer her full attention, noticing something odd.

Commander Cifer was grinning in excitement and ready to begin looking around at the historic jump point for his ship's first of many amazing accomplishments. He was shaking Colonel Skylar's hand, exchanging congratulations as he noticed the operations officer hunched over one of the control consoles.

He turned serious as he noticed the operations officer's sudden change in attitude. Rarely was the Lieutenant not smiling or excited. It was just in her nature, an integral part of her personality, always appearing bright and bubbly. Commander Cifer moved closer to the Lieutenant knowing something was wrong, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Report, Lieutenant," Commander Cifer said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Sir… I don't know what's causing this, but the FTL computer immediately started plotting another jump and spun up the FTL drives for a second jump sir," Lieutenant Drake said, frowning in confusion and consternation.

"What do you mean Lieutenant? We're not scheduled for a jump until after surveying the area. Could it be a malfunction?" Commander Cifer asked angrily, not liking his brand new ship becoming full of bugs in her systems right off the bat.

"Sir, like I said I don't quite understand what's going on," Lieutenant Drake said, scratching her head and narrowing her eyes at the FTL computer in annoyance, "It seems though that the FTL is carrying out commands inputted to jump the ship again in short order. It's already set to go within 30 more seconds, sir."

"Can you stop it and fix it, Anna?" Commander Cifer asked.

"No sir. I'll have to get into the system after the jump. It's just programmed to jump too soon after our first jump to do much of anything before…" Lieutenant Drake said trailing off as the ship jumped while she was midsentence explaining the situation, "That."

"Hmmm," Commander Cifer said, frowning in annoyance.

"Getting right on it, now, sir!" Lieutenant Drake said, mock saluting the Commander and smiling again as she started going through the FTL systems, fingers running across the keyboard at breakneck speed.

A few moments later Lieutenant Drake began opening up the FTL computers and narrowed her eyes at the machine as it disobeyed her, not giving what she wanted right away.

As the Lieutenant worked, the ship jumped again after a few minutes. The ship was following preset commands in its computers to jump long distances in regular intervals at the shortest time possible for the ship to keep up with.

Most of the crew was used to the nauseating sensation, the feeling of dizziness, which accompanied an FTL jump. None had experienced so many jumps in quick succession. Much of the CIC crew put a hand to their heads, steadying themselves. One technician couldn't hold it in any longer, moving his head to the side away from his computer console and threw up. The rancid odor caused another technician across from him to follow suit…

"Get it fixed now, Lieutenant! I'd like to not break our ship right away or get lost somewhere if we continue jumping!" Colonel Skylar said sternly.

"On it, sir! However, the coding on the FTL computers is extensive. It's blocking all attempts to stop the systems from engaging in an FTL jump. I can't understand it, but it's almost like someone intentionally programmed these commands to go off when we jumped away, and it's nowhere near done.

If I can't stop it, we'll keep blindly jumping long distances and eventually face trouble with the ships systems or we could run into some celestial body like a sun," Lieutenant Drake said, turning to her superiors with a look of fear on her face…

30 minutes later

Haven appeared once more out of FTL. Her systems shorted out and several consoles and machinery detonated in small explosions from overloading, creating sparks that caused several fires. Several crewmembers were strewn about the ship, many with small injuries and more than one on their knees puking their guts out after so many FTL jumps in a short time.

"Sorry sir, I couldn't get it in time. The programming's just so complex. However, we can do a complete reboot now that the systems are down, and purge the programming entirely," Lieutenant Drake said.

"Do it. And someone find out where the frack we are, now!" Colonel Skylar ordered heatedly, flustered as she kneaded her head with her hand to fight back her own nausea.

Present day

"We'd jumped out over a thousand light years away from the colonies. Thankfully no permanent damage was sustained and casualties were minimal, but we had lost our way home… Without any recognizable markers on our star charts, we were completely lost. Unable to return to the colonies even when the FTL got fixed," Commander Magnus said, chuckling darkly.

"Guess that explains why you couldn't try and get back right away and avoid the Ovions altogether," Commander Rodrigues said, nodding in understanding.

"Did you find out the cause of what happened?" Admiral Jones asked, looking at Commander Magnus intensely.

"At the time no, but we later figured out the programming had been inputted when the civilian engineer had been aboard. It was considered the most logical explanation given how convenient it was that she had left the ship right before Haven jumped and started the inputted commands placed in her systems.

Quite possibly Haven was intended to be lost or destroyed, for reasons unknown. That soon became the least of our worries not long after we arrived. When the Ovions found us," Commander Magnus said, his expression dark, teeth gritted, as he remembered.

6 Months After Haven Left The Colonies - August 16th, 2351

"Six unknown contacts on dradis sir!" Lieutenant Drake reported excitedly, jumping up and down at the prospect of something new finally happening after the ship had been drifting aimlessly through space since they'd arrived so far from the colonies. With no way back, as they were without any familiar interstellar markers to pinpoint a roadmap home.

"Open a channel to them, standard hostile ID challenge. Though, be a little formal since we're likely not coming across someone from the colonies at this distance from home," Commander Cifer said, looking meaningfully at the communications officer.

"Aye sir," the communications officer replied, then began speaking over the wireless, with the headset speaker she wore over her head, to the unknown vessels, "Attention unknown vessels. This is the Heavy Warstar Haven of the Colonial Fleet from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, of a race known as human beings. We are on a somewhat unintended exploration mission. We come in peace and mean you no harm. However, if we are met with hostile action, we will use deadly force and return fire in due course."

Commander Cifer nodded in approval at the communications officer's wording, waiting the next few minutes in anxious silence before a response came in.

"Sir, I'm getting a response. A verbal one which sounds like clicking, perhaps their form of talking, and a typed message. It's not in colonial standard so we can't understand it, but the ship's computers are working at translating it," the communications officer said.

"Not like we've had a lot of practice with alien languages. Let's see if anything useful comes out of the computers," Colonel Skylar said skeptically, quirking an eyebrow.

A few minutes later the computers finished a rudimentary translation. Though with time and further exposure to the foreign language, the translation software would get better and faster. The ship's onboard V.I. (Virtual Intelligence) system, helped run through the translation software at a faster pace to get the first translation out as fast as possible. Few ships in the colonial fleet had such technology, and without which foreign language translation might've proved impossible.

"Sir, I've got the response, as best as our translation could make of it for now. Message reads: Welcome to the people of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. We belong to the defense forces of Carillon, of a race known as Ovions. Our people have met other races before and found them to be hostile. If your words of coming in peace prove to be false then know we are prepared, and it will not end well for you. Until your trespass upon our area of space proves to be of hostile intent, we will not fire upon you. To begin dialogs between our peoples, a meeting of a small group of ambassadors among either of our ships would be advised, if you find it agreeable," the communications officer said.

Commander Cifer and Colonel Skylar looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Tell them we accept their offer and are sending a single transport over. Have a raptor prepped and sent over. Lieutenant Trenton has some experience in diplomatic matters if I remember correctly and can be escorted by a few marines to the Ovions' command ship," Commander Cifer said.

"Better to see their ship and get Intel on the Ovions than to let them do so?" Colonel Skylar said mischievously, grinning slightly.

"Yes. Though we'll be putting our people more at risk, hopefully the benefits outweigh the risk. We can't even send out an escort with the raptor since we need to keep this as peaceful as possible. They'll be sitting ducks if this goes south," Commander Cifer said quietly.

"Yes, sir. The Ovions sent recognition of our intent and are allowing us to proceed," the communications officer said.

Over the next few minutes the marines and Lieutenant Trenton boarded a raptor and then made their way over to the Ovions' larger ship. A few more minutes passed with Haven's crew anxiously waiting as the raptor crew made contact with the Ovions after boarding their ship.

A report from Lieutenant Trenton showed that initial contact went about as well as expected, with the use of translation software in devices that could be latched to the colonials' head that the Ovions had in order to ensure both sides understood each other. Contact was made peacefully, and everything seemed to be going alright. Not long after is when it all went wrong…

"Sir, we received a transmission from Lieutenant Trenton's team, whatever was said was overrun by the sound of gunfire," the communications officer said.

"They're shooting at the Ovions?" Colonel Skylar said incredulously.

"Do we know any more about what happened?" Commander Cifer asked.

"No sir," the communications officer replied, looking closely at the instruments before her, "Lieutenant Trenton's transmission cut out: we've lost all contact."

"A misunderstanding?" Colonel Skylar wondered aloud dubiously, looking at Commander Cifer.

"Doesn't matter at this point if what I think is about to happen..." Commander Cifer said trailing off.

"Ovion ships are turning towards us and appear to be powering up weapons sir!" Lieutenant Drake exclaimed in alarm.

Colonel Skylar turned to Commander Cifer, silently awaiting his response.

Commander Cifer stood silently looking at the view screens above the plot table while the Ovions moved closer to Haven. With a heavy heart Commander Cifer said words he truly didn't wish to have to say, "Action stations. Set condition one. Gunnery crews are to take aim and be prepared to return fire if the Ovions fire on us."

"Aye sir," Lieutenant Drake replied, sending the message to go to condition one throughout the ship while the communications officer relayed the Commander's orders to the gunnery crews.

"This'll spiral out of control fast, sir. Could be the beginning of a war," Colonel Skylar said cautiously, looking to her commander.

"Probably. It's out of our hands now. We will defend ourselves as is our right if they attack us. I don't know what happened on their ship and frankly, I don't care right now. If they attack, they'll be the ones escalating the situation. No matter what reasoning they might have for doing so," Commander Cifer said angrily, gripping the plot table tightly.

"Very well, Commander," Colonel Skylar said, then turned and began relaying orders to the crew to prepare for battle now that it seemed all but inevitable.

Heavy Warstar Haven came fully online as the crew aboard moved and readied themselves as well as the ship for combat, with the ship's weapons beginning to pick out targets. The Ovion ships closed to point blank range around Haven, while powering up their own weapons.

"Sir, the ship's sensors are detecting something odd about the Ovion ships. I think… They could have energy shields, sir!" Lieutenant Drake said in shock, absorbed in the data she was receiving at her station.

Commander Cifer and Colonel Skylar shared a grim look, neither liking the implications of the information they were receiving being accurate.

Colonel Skylar looked back at the view screen showing the image of an Ovion ship and had a sharp intake of breath, before exclaiming, "They're firing!"

Blue pulses of light were visible on Haven's view screens as the Ovions fired on the colonial warship. Haven's heavy armor held up against the onslaught of raw power as the blue pulses impacted across the ship's hull, with a layer of armor being burned through and several weapons platforms in the line of fire detonating in secondary explosions.

The crew held onto their stations or got knocked around as Haven shook from the impact.

"Sit-rep!" Commander Cifer ordered, grimacing angrily as he kept a firm grip on the plot table.

"KEW cannons 18 through 23 were quite literally incinerated in the blast, sir. The armor held where the weapons fire from all the Ovion ships impacted, but DC (damage control) teams are reporting markers of stress on the superstructure from the impact and layers of armor being melted through. Concentrated fire on a single point wouldn't take long to toll heavy damage," Colonal Skylar reported, quickly going through reports coming into CIC.

"Those were high intensity energy beams, akin to lasers, sir!" Lieutenant Drake reported, her eyes going wide and reading through information coming to her station eagerly.

"No fighters in the air yet, sir. Just us and the capital class ships. Should we launch vipers?" Colonel Skylar asked anxiously.

"They're gauging our strength, or they'd have launched fighters before now. No, we'll match them and gauge their strength in return. If we need to, we can retreat without fighters needing to return to the ship first," Commander Cifer said determinedly.

"It's a pain that so many of our weapons aren't online to bring our full strength to bear," Colonel Skylar said dully, narrowing her eyes at the view screens showing the Ovions.

Commander Cifer chuckled quietly. He glared at the view screens showing the Ovion warships coming about, spread out in front of Haven in a staggered formation. They slowly began maneuvering to put themselves in a position to encircle Haven and fire at her from all sides.

"All weapons are to commence firing on the Ovions," Commander Cifer ordered.

"Aye sir," Colonel Skylar said, relaying orders sternly to crew members around the ship.

Haven's Heavy KEWs began pumping out rounds towards the Ovion ships, followed by missiles launching at the Ovions.

Heavy shells and high explosive rounds impacted along the Ovion ships. The energy screens surrounding the ships impeded the oncoming weapons fire, but the heavy fire continued pummeling the shields until rounds began piercing through. Missiles fired added to explosive weapons fire ramming into the Ovion ships.

Despite not having much more than half her weapons fully functioning, Haven was no ship to be trifled with lightly as the Ovions were rapidly learning.

Haven's weapons fire focused on the nearest ship, 1100 meters in length, and pummeled the ship into submission quickly with the majority of her weapons firing all across the ship.

Out in space, it appeared to be a light show as the vibrant blue bubble of energy forming the shields around the Ovion ship were continuously harassed by yellow KEW rounds impacted across the vast majority of the ship, with ripples across the bubble of energy forming as the shields strained.

First the energy screen was knocked down and then rounds began penetrating deep into the ship until the Ovion ship succumbed to the explosions roiling inside its guts and detonated in a large explosion.

"Remaining five ships evading the debris and pulling around for return fire, sir!" Colonel Skylar reported.

The two larger Ovion ships at 1600 and 1900 meters in length moved to the forefront while the other three smaller ships backed away behind them to provide supporting fire, the combined fleet firing lasers at Haven at full strength. The force of the impact shook Haven violently, the ship careening to starboard and the strain seeming to make the ship scream in agony. Layers of armor peeled off from the impact and the weapons fire super-heated the metallic structure of Haven, melting straight through the armor, creating hull breaches and starting fires inside the ship. Over a dozen KEW platforms were ripped through by the weapons fire, being taken offline or outright obliterated.

"Heavy damage to starboard and casualties climbing, sir!" Colonel Skylar called out from the main DC control panels console showing an array of red lights up and down Haven's starboard, signifying hull breaches and fires present.

Commander Cifer narrowed his eyes at the view screens, popping his dislocated left arm back into place painfully. Several CIC crew members were slumped at their stations sporting their own injuries, with medics helping those they could and moving away those that had already passed into the next life.

"Are enough KEWs still functioning for combat functionality?" Commander Cifer asked coldly.

"Aye, sir. 60% are still working of the original amount we started with since only half were online since we launched from the colonies," Colonel Skylar said, briefly glancing over the console showing the ship's weapons systems which showed a series of red lights signifying damage or destruction of KEW cannon and defensive turret mounts across the ship. Over two-thirds were lit up with red.

"Have them all target the 1600 meter Ovion ship. I want all launch tubes filled with nukes and launching at the other larger Ovion ship as we come about, turning our Starboard side away from the Ovions," Commander Cifer ordered angrily.

"Sir?!" Colonel Skylar exclaimed in shock. Nuclear launch orders had been scarce, even going as far back as the Cylon war, and had never been taken lightly.

"You heard me, Colonel. Haven is the best the colonies have to offer, but even she can only take so much punishment that the Ovions seem to be powerfully and effectively dishing out. We need to end this now and get the frack out of here. Or we're dead," Commander Cifer said, giving Colonel Skylar a hard look, staring into her eyes.

Colonel Skylar stood still for a moment, locked in place by indecision as she stared at Commander Cifer.

"Aye sir," Colonel Skylar said finally, turning to relay the new orders throughout the ship.

After Haven took another blast from the Ovions' lasers, she unleashed her return fire in force. All the KEWs fired on the 1600-meter-long Ovion ship, pummeling at the ship repeatedly and mercilessly; breaking down the shield in time.

Over sixty nuclear missiles launched towards the 1900-meter-long Ovion ship at the same time. Catching the Ovions slightly off guard. Point defense cannons on the Ovion ship opened up and fired at the nukes destroying several as they closed distance. Over twenty impacted on the Ovion ship, detonating in a massive wave of explosive power. The combined megatons of the nukes incinerating the ship even as secondary explosions with the fuel aboard setting aflame added to the destructive power, ripping apart the Ovion ship.

At such close range, neither Haven nor the other Ovion ship could evade as debris making it through the explosions incinerating the large Ovion ship streamed towards them.

The weakened 1600 meter long Ovion ship broke apart as the wreckage tore through the ship.

Haven was hit by a very large piece of debris among various shrapnel, tearing through the ship's armor and blasting Haven backward through space.

Fires raged inside Haven even as hull breaches opening areas of the ship to space snatched away crew members to the cold blackness of death waiting outside. Emergency alarms rang throughout the ship.

Screaming could be heard among several crew members as they shook from pain, loss, and sheer shock at what they could see inside the ship.

Lieutenant Drake pulled herself up, moving away a male crew member that had thrown himself across her to protect against shattering glass that had subsequently claimed his life.

"Commander?" Lieutenant Drake said tentatively, looking around for the commanding officers, knowing they needed to get the crew working to get the ship up and running and escape the Ovions.

Lieutenant Drake felt despair as she looked on at Commander Cifer's body, blood gushing out from numerous wounds. She could feel it within her that he was simply gone. Looking to the left, she saw Colonel Skylar close to the Commander with her arm reaching out to the fallen Commander. Frozen in petrified shock, Drake could only look on as Colonel Skylar closed her eyes in defeat and succumbed to the significant wounds on her own person.

Drake's blood curling scream rang throughout the ship, long and loud, unleashing the anger and shocked despair within all at once.

Present day

"Our casualties were heavy in that first battle. Over a thousand crew members were lost, with even more injured. Both commanding officers were lost at the end, and the tactical officer, taking it hard, still enforced order in the ship and got us to jump out as quickly as possible.

I made my way to CIC as quickly as possible when I heard the full extent of what happened and took command," Commander Magnus said, eyes narrowing and feeling uneasy as the memories of that day rolled through his mind graphically.

"From that point on, the Ovions hunted us. We would jump farther away, go days without seeing them, only for them to eventually catch up with us. With no other options I ordered Haven to search out targets of the Ovions and strike back, hit them hard enough to weaken them and allow us time to escape. We destroyed a number of their warships and installations in their territory over the past few years in that endeavor and finally got away.

We found this area to hide away from the Ovions. Which your fleet managed to find, clearly more capable of predicting our tactics to escape the Ovions than they were... We've been fixing the damage across the ship the best we could with what we've had in the meantime, and we were considering our options in what to do next without a clear fix on where home was," Commander Magnus said darkly.

Admiral Jones and Commander Rodrigues stood, slack-jawed, in shock staring at Magnus.

Admiral Jones looked down, rubbing her eyes and shook her head. She turned back to Magnus, taking in his look of wildness and the air of danger about him with new appreciation.

Commander Rodrigues listened to reports coming over his communications headset, a small black earpiece over his left ear, receiving information on the ship's status that the Prometheus' deck crew chief had compiled. Their ship's chief engineer had spoken with Haven's deck crew and looked over the ship to decide what needed to be done for Haven in the time Prometheus and Haven's commanding officers had caught up on Commander Magnus' account of Haven's adventures.

"Haven's FTL drives are functioning Admiral, but several of the ship's engines need repairs that would be lengthy. The chief's suggesting tying in one of the Battlestars' FTL drives in a combined jump. We can boost Haven to the required level and can still sustain a farther jump with our FTL's tied in thanks to Havens systems. Should be safe enough, and the shipyard can begin repairs on Haven in between our jumps back to the colonies," Commander Rodrigues said.

"I see. That's good news. How long are we talking to get home?" Admiral Jones asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"With Haven somewhat slowing us down, we'll be taking a number of additional months of travelling to return. Still, we'll be within our original target range on when we were meant to return home," Commander Rodrigues said.

"Very well. Let the chief know he's to begin prepping immediately. If we can go within another hour or two, then we do so. Also, I want to gain distance away from Ovion space, so I want consecutive jumps immediately after as far as we can get as fast as possible," Admiral Jones said.

"Yes, sir," Commander Rodrigues said, getting up and leaving to oversee getting Haven and the fleet ready to go in person.

"We have a number of reserve personnel aboard the Avondale. For now, we can bring some of them aboard Haven to supplement your crew. We can probably bring more DC units over to help with repairs that way as well," Admiral Jones said.

"Thank you, sir," Commander Magnus said gratefully.

"Is there anything else we can go over or that you need for Haven?" Admiral Jones asked, looking at the commander and sensing he had something on his mind.

"No, sir. It's just… I have to give you my opinion over our encounters with the Ovions. I don't think they actually tried to take us out after our first battle with them. Granted we ran into them by chance, but when we fought it seemed like they could've done more. I think they were gauging Haven's capabilities and strength. Possibly they wanted to capture more of our people for finding more information about the colonies," Commander Magnus said.

Admiral Jones was silent for a moment, considering the Commander's words.

"You could be right. The Ovions clearly have a technological edge, but Haven outclassed them with sheer mass and blunt unrefined firepower. If they could make a ship the size of Haven with shields and their other advancements…

I shudder to think of what that would mean for us. You could be right that they possibly gauged Haven in battle to get more data on the ship, to that end – building something similar. They may also have wanted more information from capturing people, but sadly that wouldn't be the only reason to capture your crew. We learned in our own encounter with the Ovions that they have a taste for human kind. Quite simply, they might've wanted to eat your crew, Commander," Admiral Jones said, grimacing.

Commander Magnus turned pale and grew horrified at that, gathering himself together before continuing his argument, "Though they went to a good deal of trouble, so that alone couldn't have been it sir."

"Well if they suffered losses, certainly. Not quite feasible to go through so much effort for such a small catch… Unless they wanted a bigger source of 'food'. Like say, the colonies. Ripe with billions of humans," Admiral Jones said coldly, gripping the chair she sat in tightly, her hands turning into fists.

"My gods, sir, you don't think they could do that?" Commander Magnus asked in shock and horror.

"They're quite possibly capable of it. If not that, we know they'll eventually come our way in their search for tylium. Either way, the Ovions would be greatly interested in the colonies, and I doubt there's anything we can do to dissuade them except with war," Admiral Jones said, staring at the floor hollowly before looking back up at the Commander.

"Did we make a mistake that will make the colonies suffer sir? Should we not go away and purposefully lead the Ovions in a direction away from the colonies?" Commander Magnus asked.

"Time will tell. It's too late to worry about what could or should have been done. We could try and lead the Ovions another way, but we know they're bound to head in the colonies direction eventually, even if that's years, if not centuries, away. No, our best option is to head home and warn the fleet. Whether the Cylons require our attention or not seems unimportant now. Regardless, when we get home, the colonies will be preparing for war. There are threats to the colonies and it's time we started getting ready for them," Admiral Jones said determinedly.

After a few hours, BSG 8 and Haven began jumping away, then continuing on their way on the long distance that they needed to go through to get home. Damage to the fleet was repaired over time in the midst of breaks between jumping required on the long journey. The thought on several people's mind aboard the fleet was whether they'd make it in time before something changed in the colonies…