A flash of light disturbed an otherwise dark patch of sky. A small passenger transport appeared from nothingness, drifting amongst the stars.
"Jump complete. Board is green. Dradis coming back online".
Captain Maynard frowned to himself. If they were to survive they needed everything working, but after fleeing the colonies in a panic, systems were becoming unstable. The ship was long overdue for an overhaul, something he would've taken up with Eversun should the chance of seeing them again ever arise. But he knew it wouldn't.
"Status of jump drive?" he asked. His younger pilot, Alan, checked his systems.
"Functioning well. Looks like they got most of the blockage out of the pipes."
"Thank the Gods for that."
"Sir, Dradis is still down."
"Keep trying, I'm going aft".
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Maynard moved amongst the passengers at the rear. Suprisingly a decent amount of them were coping well. Some were traumatised. Two of them had become near catatonic and were retired to a private cabin, for the sake of the other passengers. Maynard reached the berth he was looking for.
"Morning captain. How did the jump go?"
"We're where we want to be. But…"
"But…?"
"Still no Dradis."
The looks on the faces of the group told him they shared his concerns. Stokes, a Tylium refinery engineer, who was travelling as a passenger, became their new master technician on board. Jenny, a physician who was due to start a new job at Picon Fleet headquarters, began looking after the people on board. David O'Brien, the only military officer on board, was assisting with tactical decisions about where they should be jumping. His younger brother Alan was fresh out of flight school, and had taken the helm of the ship after their former pilot died of a heart attack as the attacks began; they were travelling to Picon for Alan's graduation ceremony, after which they would receive their fleet assignments. Finally Peta, a young teenage girl who joined the group and was travelling alone, but showed considerable aptitude for problem solving, though Maynard wondered if she simply was there because their group looked 'cool'.
"Status of the engines?"
Stokes rubbed his hair. "Doing fine Cap. Managed to purge the fuel lines with minimal fuss but FTL 2 is a bit flaky. I'd love to take it out of service for maintenance, but it means we'd be down to one lung for the interim."
"We'll see how we go."
"We're also down to about 40% fuel. Which ain't bad, these ships are fairly efficient. Just depends on how long we're gonna be running for."
"That's the question, isn't it. We're looking at what's on the charts but we don't know if the Cylons are doing the same."
"I would steer clear of anything on record" said David, leaning against the bulkhead wall. "If they're committing genocide then they'll be targeting all locations known to harbour humans. And they'd probably wipe out any place suitable for human life on the off chance anyone survived."
"Your thinking terrifies me" said Jenny, "but I know you're also talking sense."
"So, we can't go home again?"
The group looked at Peta, trying to ignore the innocence. She realised this got their attention. "Look, I know they're attacking the colonies but once they're done they might leave, we could slip back in and live a quiet life-"
"They're using nuclear warheads" began David. "What isn't destroyed by the blast is irradiated. It won't be habitable for humans for a while."
Peta's face dropped. She, like all of them subconsciously, had hoped for a slim chance of salvation, no matter where it occurred. "Good question though" David added. "Keep suggesting things like that, we may find something we missed." Peta smiled at the comment.
"What's the status of supplies on board?"
"Running very low" said Jenny. "This flight was only supposed to last six hours, so the ship was stocked accordingly. We've been on the run for six days."
"We're on to emergency rations" David added, "but without help soon-"
An alarm sounded all through the cabin, startling them and waking those passengers that were asleep.
"Action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. All flight personnel please report to the cockpit."
David was ahead of the others, responding to his brother's call.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
As the team filled the cabin, David took the seat beside his brother. "We're not on a Battlestar kid, but I appreciate the lingo" he said.
Alan ignored him. "Dradis came back online, detected a single bogey at the extreme range. Likely a Cylon baseship."
"FTL status?"
"Spooling now. Need a few minutes as we only just jumped in."
Stokes headed for the door. "I'll check on that."
"How did they find us?" said Jenny.
"More likely we found them" said David, his eyes glued to the Dradis screen. The large red UNKNOWN target was sitting at the top of the arc.
The panel in front of Alan went green. "Checker board is green. Ready for jump."
"Execu-"
"Jump hold" yelled Maynard, reaching for his headset. "Attention unknown vessel. This is Colonial Heavy 326. Please identify yourself, over."
"What the frak are you doing?" yelled David.
"That's what I'm doing" said Maynard, pointing at a screen.
David saw the readout of data coming from the unknown craft. He saw the unmistakeable signature of colonial transponders.
"No response" Maynard said, to himself.
"Try again" said David.
"Attention unknown vessel, this is Colonial Heavy 326, please respond."
"Anything" asked Jenny.
"Static."
"They're launching raiders!" yelled Alan.
"Hope to frak they're Vipers" said David. He noticed his brother still had his hand on the FTL jump key.
David took off the headset and pressed a button on the forward console. The room filled with low static.
"I've sent a beacon pulse every five seconds. Will see if they respond."
"Why haven't we jumped yet?" came a muffled reply from Stokes in the engine room.
"Stand by, Stokes."
"Attention Colonial Heavy 326. This is the Battlestar Pandora. We have you on Dradis. Standby, we're sending in the cavalry to bring you home."
The room filled with smiles. Alan updated the Dradis to reflect the newly identified Battlestar. Outside, a blur of silver and grey flashed past the cockpit window. Down the corridor, Maynard could hear passengers cheering as Vipers ducked and dived outside the windows.
"With luck" he said, "we'll be eating well tonight."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Colonial Heavy 326 pulled up at the starboard side of the large Battlestar. At least a dozen Vipers circled in formation around them. A sense of relief no one aboard the ship had felt since they left the colonies six days earlier, was now starting to come back.
Alan piloted the ship to the rear of the huge vessel, slowly turning the ship around. They had been given approval to dock in the starboard hangar. As the shipped lined up for approach, David saw something out the window.
"That's odd" he murmured.
Maynard looked to follow his gaze. It was hard seeing past the glare of the sublight engines but he could make out what David was talking about.
The port flight pod appeared to be sealed. The standard triangle aperture was covered with thick metal panels. Maynard wondered if it was for repairs, but without speaking to the crew they were just playing the guessing game.
Colonial Heavy 326 drifted into the starboard flight pod, and with a dull 'thunk' the landing pads magnetically locked to the deck.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Maynard helped his passengers disembark and were being treated by Pandora flight crew. Stokes had been able to get some deck hands to assist with the FTL situation, and was confident the ship would be back to 100% capacity in a couple of days.
"Thank the Gods you're safe".
Maynard turned to see an officer in a dress uniform standing before him.
"Commander Bruce Hawthorn. Welcome to Pandora."
Maynard shook his hand with more gusto than he planned, but he suddenly felt the emotion surging through him. "It's an honour captain, truly is. You have no idea of the relief we're feeling."
"I can imagine." Hawthorn stepped back to look at the groups gathering. "Still hard to believe this is happening."
"I know. How bad were you hit?"
"We haven't seen combat. In fact you're the first people we've seen in a very long time."
"Really?"
Hawthorn saw Maynard's puzzled look and smiled, ushering him to a nearby hatch. "It's a long story. I'll debrief you."
As they left the flight deck, Maynard smiled as he saw Jenny and Peta running between groups of people tending to their needs.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
In his private quarters, Commander Hawthorn sat with Colonel Green, and Jeff Mitchell, his CAG. On the other side of the table, Maynard and David sat, nursing their hot drinks in front of them.
"When we first heard the news we didn't believe it" began Hawthorn. "It didn't seem real. I mean, I always believed the Gods would never allow us to be wiped out like that."
Maynard was puzzled by his words, then saw the Gemanese flags around the room, and realised Hawthorn's religious background.
"We were on deep space assignment. We left the colonies about eight or nine months ago. Packed with supplied, we didn't need to come back for three years."
"Why did you, sir?" asked David.
"Sublight Engine Four has developed a periodic fault which we can't fix ourselves. It was deemed mission critical and so we started jumping back. Three days ago we began receiving the distress calls."
"But we couldn't intervene" began Green. "We had no idea why the Cylons were suddenly overrunning the Colonial fleet. We wanted to help, Gods knows it was a tough decision to stay out here, but we didn't want to risk the crew by blindly jumping into what could've been a suicide mission."
"Understood sir. A wise decision."
Maynard couldn't help but smile at David's reactions. He could tell he wanted to get back in and serve – and no doubt he and his brother would be easily assimilated into the crew – but David sounded like he just wanted to be their best friend.
"From what we can tell" began Maynard, "it was related to a Cylon virus infiltrating the computer network. We were in Picon orbit when the Basestars jumped in. We saw fleets of Battlestars heading towards them, but then they just shut down, out of control, squadrons of Vipers drifting powerless towards them. Then they nuked them all. I'll never forget that as long as I live."
The room was silent for nearly half a minute as the men contemplated what had been said.
"You're with us now." Hawthorn broke the silence.
Maynard smiled. "So what's you're story? Where was your assignment?"
"I'm sorry Captain, that's classified. Can't tell you."
"Really?" said Maynard, a little confused. "I just figured given the circumstances we'd have no secrets between each other."
Maynard saw Mitchell out of the corner of his eye, shift in his seat uncomfortably.
"It's our decision Captain." That was the end of it as far as Hawthorn was concerned. "You must be tired. Our ship was only operating with half a normal complement so we have plenty of spare rooms for your passengers."
Maynard stood. "Thank you Commander, we look forward to a good night's rest."
As he moved to the door, Hawthorn stood up. "Oh Captain, one last thing. Please avoid the port flight pod. We've been running some maintenance over there and we suffered a rather nasty Tylium leak. Went all over the bay. We have crews over there cleaning it up as we speak."
"Will do Commander. Goodnight."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Alan was sleeping soundly when a chime made him stir. He looked around the room but when he saw nothing he put his head back on the pillow. A second later her heard the chime again. He realised it must be a door alarm of some sort, and walked to the hatch.
Peta was standing in the doorway, smiling at him. Alan smiled back. They'd been flirting with each other on and off since the attacks and one night alone in the cockpit of Colonial Heavy 326 she had kissed him. He got goosebumps thinking about what might be about to happen.
"Let's go exploring" said Peta, and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him into the empty corridor. Alan resisted, wanting to pull her into his cabin instead.
"Peta, I'm tired, I need sleep."
"Oh don't be an old man. I'm bored sitting in my cabin. Let's go see what this ship is like."
Alan realised Peta wasn't going to leave this alone. He dashed back inside, pulling on proper pants and a flight jacket the Pandora crew had loaned everyone, and followed her out.
After a few minutes they turned a corner and saw a few technicians walking into a hatch, closing it behind them. Two armed men stood on either side. A sign above the hatch read "PORT FLIGHT POD ACCESS CORRIDOR C". Alan was reluctant to carry on but Peta had already stepped out into the corridor.
She walked right up to the soldiers. "Hi. Are we allowed in there?"
"No ma'am, please leave this area, it's restricted."
"Oh go on-"
Peta took a step towards the hatch. Both soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at her head. Alan lunged forward and pulled her back, hurrying her out of the corridor. "I don't think they'll give you another go."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"They tried to shoot her?"
Maynard was meeting with Alan and Peta. Maynard had had a troubled sleep, and didn't mind the intrusion.
"Well, I wouldn't say try but they were very forceful about protecting that hatch."
Peta sat on Alan's knee, quiet. Maynard could see she was appreciative of him looking after her.
"I wonder what they're guarding. Hawthorn said the port flight pod was out of bounds due to a Tylium leak. But Hawthorn also said he wouldn't discuss anything about their mission with me."
"You think this ship is hiding something?"
Maynard smiled at Peta. The three of them mimicked three characters from the famous Alex Durant novels, about a young couple and an older sheriff who deal with mysteries in a small town on Virgon.
"Whatever is happening over there isn't our concern. Hawthorn doesn't want us to go looking so we need to respect his wishes." Maynard could see Peta was about to protest but he held up a hand. "I mean it. We've only just arrived here so we need to behave. Got it?"
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Less than an hour later, Peta was crawling through a maintenance conduit somewhere over the forward arm of the port flight pod. They reached a junction where the conduit began slope downwards at a steep angle.
"I wanna go on record and say this is a bad idea" said Alan, crawling over bundles of wiring and minding sprinkler attachments above him. He didn't feel like being coated with fire suppressants at 2am.
"You've said that three times already, it's fine." Peta eyed the sloping corridor ahead. It clearly wasn't designed for human access. It was big enough but there were numerous obstacles in the way.
"Why are you so desperate to come out here anyway?"
"I hate locked doors."
Alan rolled his eyes. He was always attracted to the crazy ones.
Peta flipped around and started lowering herself down looms of cables. It looked to be only about 20 metres long then levelled out again. They should be somewhere above the port flight pod by that stage. Alan bang his head for the sixth time as he swung himself round, following Peta down in the low light.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Jenny was awake and standing in sick bay, going over the reports the ship's doctor had allowed her to see. After treating her now-deceased son for a debilitating disease for the last few years, she had grown accustomed to lack of sleep. He was about to put the file back in the tray when a group of soldiers ran in with someone on a stretcher. The poor man was drenched in blood, and his right arm looked like it had been caught in heavy machinery – it was not resting at a natural angle. The man was taken to a bed, the ship's doctor, Booth, went to his aide. Jenny stepped forward. "Can I help?" she offered.
One of the soldiers looked at her, then without a word grabbed the curtain and pulled it in front of them, cutting her off.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
In the belly of the Battlestar, Stokes was rummaging through a supply cupboard. He had been meaning to get to bed an hour ago, at least that's what he had been telling himself for the last few hours. He was dedicated to getting Colonial Heavy 326 back into full working order, and had been given permission to raid their spare parts. After hours of searching, he pulled out what he thought was the compressor he needed when he froze. Through the door he could hear a deep thudding noise.
He stepped into the corridor. After a few seconds he thought he must've misheard, and started to go back inside.
THUD. There it was again. Whatever it was it doesn't feel like machinery, nor weapons fire on the hull. THUD THUD THUD. Holding the compressor, Stokes decided to retreat back down the corridor, and head back to his quarters.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"You hear that?"
Alan and Peta had stopped. The loud banging noise seemed like it was coming from right beneath them. Alan removed an access panel and peered inside. The small octagonal space had a constant stream of air blowing at him.
"Come on. I've found a ventilation shaft. This should lead us to-"
The loud THUD sound echoed even louder through the shaft. He flicked Peta a look.
"You sure about this?"
"Move it loser."
Peta shoved him out of the way and dropped herself into the shaft. By the time Alan was in he saw she was already eight metres ahead of him.
Peta turned a corner and froze. Ahead she could see light pouring into the shaft. Behind her, Alan nearly collided with her. "What is it?" he asked.
"Vent cover. Stay quiet."
Both of them crawled up to the cover and slowly peered through the vent. The floor of the hangar deck was over 80 metres below them.
"They enclosed it. Filled it with air. Wonder why…"
Alan shifted his position to see if he could see better. Peta held up a hand, indicating he stop.
Below, two soldiers walked across the deck. Alan looked over his shoulder. He indicated they should carry on and find another vantage point.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Stokes bumped into Maynard walking the other way.
"Found the compressor" he said proudly.
"You hear banging before?" asked Maynard.
"Yeah. Really loud. I was on a lower deck. No idea where it was coming from."
Jenny rounded a corner and joined them.
"You alright?" Maynard asked her.
"Yeah, they just brought in someone who looked like he had an horrific accident but they hurried me out before I could assist."
"I don't wanna be the suspicious type but something is going on here. Something they're not telling us."
"You think we should go snooping?" asked Stokes.
"Gods no. carry on working with their teams to make sure the liner is functional again. We may need it."
"Need it?" asked Jenny.
"Just got a feeling. That's all. No, definitely no snooping. Last thing we want is to be caught in places we're not supposed to be in."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Alan helped Peta down from the shaft and into a small junction area. They slowly made their way along until they came to another access port. They glanced through and saw the junction feed a small vent roughly thirty centimetres in width and two metres long – they would only be able to view the room from a distance.
This time it seemed to be onto a room with a normal height. They had trouble making out what was going on in the room. People talking, but they couldn't hear what was said as the loud extractor fan in the junction was deafening. Peta tried to bend the angled vent cover to give them a better view when she bumped a wrench left nearby onto the floor. Both of them pulled back out of sight, hoping no one had seen them. They heard what sounded like heavy steps walking towards the vent cover. They waited a good couple of minutes before getting the courage to take another look. Peta slowly popped her head up and glanced through the vent.
A Cylon Centurion was staring back at her.
Peta screamed, and Alan pulled her back out of the way, both of them scurrying back up to the shaft. The Centurion behind them began smashing it's way into the air vent, tearing the metal back with it's claw-like hands. Alan made sure Peta was in the shaft, when he turned back to their pursuer. The Cylon had widened the vent to fit its body through and turned to look at the two humans. Alan used all his strength to close the hatch and lock it, although he was sure the Centurion would tear through it in no time.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"Sitrep?"
Hawthorn was standing at the combat table in CIC, observing the red lights going off.
"Deck chief reports Specimen 3 has broken out of it's cage, currently moving through the air vents." Green was reading the reports as they came in.
"What triggered that? It's been docile up until now. Specimen 4 is the misguided one. The banging on the walls last night kept me awake."
"No idea but unless we stop it we'll have a major frakking incident on our hands."
"Mind your language, Colonel."
"Aye sir." Hawthorn's decorum demanded utter respect when in CIC, or any situation where someone was expected to 'behave like an officer'.
The officer of the watch ran up to Green, handing him a paper, who turned to Hawthorn.
"Commander, the master at arms reports unauthorised movement near the port flight pods. Teams en route."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Alan helped Peta up the bundle of cables and along the top of the pod arm. Behind them they heard a loud screech of metal tearing.
"Another hatch gone. We need to move faster-"
Torches suddenly illuminated them and they stopped. Four heavily armed guards pointed their weapons at them.
"You gotta help us there's a Cylon-"
"Shut the frak up" yelled the lead soldier. "You two are likely to be spaced for being in here. This is a restricted area-"
"We're dead if you don't stop that thing behind us-"
The soldier indicated with his rifle. "Move, now. And no funny business."
Alan and Peta climbed slowly out along the remaining length of the conduit and through hatch, back into an open corridor. More soldiers were waiting for them. They were grabbed and thrown against a wall, their hands binded together with cable ties. As they turned around, they noticed movement behind the guards.
The Cylon Centurion climbed out of the hatch behind them.
Peta screamed again and Alan struggled to get free, but the guards held him solid.
"We are sorry these two interrupted you. Please return to your cabin. We will deal with them."
The Cylon looked at the two intruders, then at the soldier. "By your command."
The Cylon then turned and climbed back into the hatch, and disappeared from sight.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"Why can't I see them?"
"They're being held for committing a crime on a Colonial Battlestar" said Green, showing no emotion. "There are procedures to follow."
"To hell with your procedures. They're just young-"
"They violated a prohibited area of the ship. They're at the mercy of the Commander."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"What were you thinking!?" yelled David, standing and pacing as his brother sat in front of him. David was now in a military uniform, the patch insignia of Pandora BSG-46 proudly visible on his shoulders. Alan shifted his hands behind him, the cable ties were starting to hurt.
"She wanted to explore. I couldn't let her go alone."
"And you expect us to believe her story?"
"Out story. I saw it as well. Came out of the hatch behind us like a demon-"
"Cylons on a human Battlestar? That's insane."
"It's my story. It's the truth. And I'm sticking with it."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Two hours later, David, Jenny, Stokes and Maynard were all having a private conversation in his quarters.
"Cylons? Here?" asked Maynard, standing over David.
"Yeah. And it looks like they haven't changed a bit. Alan said they resembled and sounded like the ones we fought 40 years ago."
Maynard paced the room. "This is crazy. How the frak could they let them on board."
"More to the point" offered Jenny, "why they're keeping them alive."
Someone banged on the door outside. The four of them looked at each other. They didn't expect any trouble from the crew of the Pandora but then they had opened a galaxy-sized can of worms.
David cycled the hatch and opened the door. Jeff Mitchell stood on the other side.
"Can I come in?"
The four of them eyed him suspiciously.
"I know what you're thinking" said Mitchell. "There's a lot going on aboard ship at present. But I bet you have a few questions to ask."
Maynard indicated for him to enter, and David shut the door. Mitchell stood at the head of the table, while the others sat and intently stared at him.
"What I'm about to tell you is classified, but it needs to be said."
"Why break silence for us?" asked David.
"Some of us… don't agree with the Commander's vision for the world."
"Go on, Captain" urged Maynard.
"Six years ago there was a classified mission beyond the red line. The mission went south and a pilot was lost. Then 18 months ago a signal was received from deep space, warning of a growing Cylon threat in the region. They dispatched the Pandora to investigate the signal. We were under complete wireless silence and had no idea what we'd find out there. Eventually we did."
"What did you find?" asked Jenny.
"A Cylon colony. Thousands of Centurions. But it was different. They had set up a planet as their own, functioning as they wanted. From what we gathered, they didn't want humans to be around. At all."
"Did they attack you?"
"That's just it. They virtually welcomed us with open arms. Then the Commander agreed to allow a Cylon transport aboard. That shocked the crew. While the Cylons were on board, something we didn't expect happened. Another fleet of Cylons arrived, and nuked the colony."
"Gods…."
"We jumped away with the surviving Centurions on board, and gave them sanctuary, though after we learned what happened to the Cylon colony we didn't trust any Cylon, especially after what happened 40 years ago."
Stokes shifted in his seat. "So… what did the Commander want to do after that?"
"Hawthorn is a good man. I just want to clarify that before I say what I say."
"Your words are safe with us Captain" said Maynard, "please continue."
"His upbringing on Gemenon has shown him to be more in-line with scripture than I have with other Commanders I've served with. He felt that the holocaust was a sign from the Gods that humanity should… merge with the Cylons."
"Merge?"
"I don't know what or how he has planned. I don't know if Colonel Green knows it all. Lords know not all of us are allowed over there in that flight pod. There's a rumour they took a second transport but if they did I only know of how many are officially here. What I do know is we have hostiles on the ship, and at present they're not a danger. But if the true Cylons are sending signals out to shut systems down, there's nothing stopping them from sending out a signal to rewrite the base program in these Cylons."
Maynard leaned in. "How many are on board, Captain?"
All eyes went to Mitchell.
"Seven."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
In his cabin, Commander Hawthorn was sitting at a table, finishing a cup of coffee. Beside him, a gold centurion stood motionless.
"Tomorrow I want to review the safety procedures concerning the Cylons in the flight pod. The incident with that poor cadet last night was unfortunate. Specimen 4 needs to learn to react better."
"We have lived far from Humans for decades. We must learn to adapt again."
Hawthorn put his cup down. "I'm sorry about the intruders earlier. They will be punished."
The gold centurion turned to face him. "If the humans understood that we mean them no harm, they would see we are here to serve."
"And you shouldn't serve us. We should live together in this new universe."
The Cylon said nothing. Only the red eye shifting backwards and forward betrayed any kind of emotion.
"I think we should-"
A loud klaxon erupted from the speakers. "Action stations, set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill."
The commander rose and nearly bowed to the Cylon. "I have to go, please excuse me."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
In CIC, Hawthorn entered what was already a hive of activity.
"Sitrep?"
Green responded. "Sir, unidentified target just jumped into Dradis range. Size indicates possible Cylon raider."
"Give me direct contact" he asked the executive officer, and grabbed the handset from the combat table.
Everyone in the room froze, not sure what to do. Green faced him opposite the table.
"Sir, the Cylon doesn't know who we are you, we shouldn't reveal that to them-"
"The Cylons are our friends. We don't need this." He pulled the handset to his mouth. "This is the Battlestar Pandora to the unidentified vessel. We come in peace. Please relay a message to your commanding officers that we-"
"Radiological alarm!" yelled the officer of the watch. On Dradis Green saw two, then three, targets screaming towards them. He didn't hesitate.
"All defence batteries open fire, flak suppression. Get a firing solution on that ship."
Outside, the sky lit up as the powerful flak barrier shredded the incoming missiles before they could arm themselves.
In CIC Commander Hawthorn was less than impressed. "Colonel, cease fire immediately!"
Green ignored him, thoughts of protecting the ship more important.
"Launch the alert Vipers."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
In the corridor, Mitchell and the others poured out of the room, people running past getting to their stations.
"I have to get to my bird" said Mitchell.
"Good hunting" yelled David, but Mitchell was already halfway down the corridor by then.
"So what do we do?" asked Stokes.
"I don't like how things are progressing here. I used to think finding a Battlestar would provide good cover but now I'd rather be out there in the liner."
"So we go?" asked Jenny. Maynard took a long pause.
"Yes. We get as many passengers back on the ship as we can. What's her status?"
Stokes smiled. "Crews worked through the night and she's good to go. Hawthorn didn't want us sitting in the hangar forever. We're fully fuelled, heaps of food and medicine-"
A large explosion rocked the ship.
"We're running out of time. David, trying and get Alan and Peta out of jail. Stokes, you and Jenny alert as many passengers to get to the flight deck. We'll use whatever excuse we can to get past the deck hands."
"What are you gonna do?"
Maynard paused again. "I need to see if the Pandora really is a lost cause. I'll be in CIC."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Maynard entered CIC with very little resistance. In fact, most people were pre-occupied with something that had just occurred. Maynard walked into the main area and stopped.
Lying on the floor lay Colonel Green, a large pool of blood slowly growing around him. A single bullet hole in his forehead.
Beside him, Commander Hawthorn was holding his pistol. Maynard saw by the look on his face that Hawthorn was now clearly insane. His desire to play nice with the Cylons had shown everyone in CIC that he no longer respected humans. Beside him, Maynard felt a presence. He turned slowly.
Beside him, the Cylon turned a look at him.
Maynard had no idea how to react, but after a couple of seconds the Cylon broke it's gaze and walked down to stand next to his 'friend'.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Outside, the Cylon Raider scanned the Battlestar. It detected twelve Vipers heading for its location, plus two Raptor support ships. It detected the standard systems it was expecting on the Battlestar, but so far all virus signals had not deactivated the ship's defensive systems. Then it detected the anomalies. Seven unidentified readings that shouldn't be there. Seven Cylons on board. But the readings receiving back were incorrect. It interpreted it as error in programming. The raider opened the front protection plate and began transmitting another signal to correct the anomalies.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
"Forty years ago our fathers decided to destroy their creations. But now they've come back. And we should welcome them with open arms. I feel the Gods have sent us a- are you alright?"
The gold centurion beside him suddenly hunched over, grabbing the combat table for support.
The Cylon stood up. The red scanner light faded briefly, then returned more intently. It glanced around the room, scanning for the humans it could see. Maynard instinctively took a step back. He didn't like where this might suddenly be going.
"Friends" began Hawthorn, "Don't be alarmed by the Cylons. They are our friends, we need to-"
The Cylon beside him swung its fist into Hawthorn's neck, breaking it and killing him instantly. The pistol Hawthorn had been holding fell, but the Cylon caught it, turned and shot dead two officers before people could react. People grabbed their sidearms but their pistols were no match for the Cylon's armour. As Maynard cleared CIC he dodged and handful of soldiers heading the other way, noting it was unlikely any of them would survive.
Maynard rounded a corner, watching concerned faces on technicians reporting various 'anomalies' and 'loss of contact' from the port flight pod.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Deep in the belly of the Port Flight Pod, a single centurion walked over to a console and flicked a few switches. Hidden panels rotated round, revealing storage cylinders. Almost on cue, the cylinders began to shake and split apart. Metal fists punched their way through the outer membrane. The lone Centurion watched as 120 additional warriors emerged from their hiding place. The second transport containing the survivors of the new-Cylon attack was largely kept from the crew, and the gold centurion agreed to keep them in stasis until such time as the humans would accept them. The single centurion opened a hatch, allowing the newly woken platoon to leave. "Conquer and destroy" it said as they left.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
The large hatch swung open and Alan stood up. Peta rushed in, hugging him, then spun him round as David cut his cable ties.
"They're letting us go?"
"They have bigger fish to deal with, trust me."
Another explosion rocked the ship. "Things are getting worse" said Peta.
"Time to go" David alerted to his shipmates, and they departed.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Mitchell dived his Viper in against the weaving Raider but it was too quick for him. He had studied Cylons during the war and noted their combat tactics, but this ship was smaller and faster. Then his wingman got a lucky ship, striking it on its starboard wing. Three Vipers converged and finished it off. Mitchell was about to contact his squad to commend them on a job well down when the skies lit up behind them. Pandora's flak barrier had been targeted at them, and his squad were forced to scatter. Seven Vipers were hit before they could react, but Mitchell managed to get the rest away. Then he had to avoid the shells which were set to long range dispersion fire, which took out another Viper.
"Blue squad, we gotta get out of Pandora's range, let's get the hell out of here!"
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Scores of Cylons poured into the corridors as the crew attempted to repel their invaders, but they were outnumbered. Cylons were able to infiltrate individual systems faster than humans could lock them down. 17 pilots were killed when they were sealed in their cabin and the air removed. Fire suppressant systems engaged in closed quarters, and while the humans struggled the breath, the Cylons had no requirement.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Stokes was watching the various passengers they'd rounded up from their bunks pass through the portal and up the access stairwell without being stopped. For some reason no further Vipers had been launched, which meant the landing deck wouldn't be a target for whoever was out there attempting a combat landing, while their heavy transport was blocking the deck.
Jenny ran up to him. "How many?"
"Almost all here. A couple didn't want to leave, they said they felt safer on the Battlestar. I didn't have time to argue."
"Where's everyone else?"
"They're not here. Not yet."
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Alan, Peta and David rounded a corner to see a Centurion blasting away at a group of crewmen it had cornered in a corridor. David eyed a rifle on a fallen soldier beside them, and swooped in to pick it up.
"We should find another way" urged Peta.
"We can't, that's the quickest way into the flight deck" said David, "if we back track now we might run into more of them. If I can get a well-aimed shot-"
"There's no point, not at this range, besides, you were a lousy shot anyway."
David turned on his brother. "I was not!"
"Can we deal with this later" Peta interjected, "I'd like to leave."
The Cylon turned and began walking towards them. Peta quickly looked about the corridor for anything that might help them, then she saw it.
"Target the emergency release valve, there!"
A small turn wheel was sticking out of the wall, with danger signs all around it. The Cylon saw the rifle David was carrying and aimed his weapon. David levelled his rifle and fired, hitting the valve.
A small fireball erupted from the wall, a stream of ignited Tylium gas exploded right beside the Centurion, the blast sending it careening into the opposite wall, firing as it went. After the explosion had cleared, Alan saw the Centurion was laying still, its red eye no longer functioning. He turned and saw Peta crouching beside David. A large bullet hole in his chest.
"David!" Alan ran over to him, but could see he was already gone.
An explosion went off in a nearby corridor. Peta grabbed Alan's arm and dragged him away. "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. We have to go, NOW!"
Peta and Alan ran through the damaged corridor and into the hangar.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
Maynard ran through the sick bay looking for survivors and anyone else that may need saving. He found Booth and the other medical staff dead. He grabbed an open bag and began loading more medical supplies into it, fearing this may be the only time they'd ever get a resupply. Unbeknownst to him, a Cylon was staggering towards him, it's left leg damaged from human resistance. Before it could reach him a few shots rang out. Maynard turned to see the Centurion returning fire from a handful of soldiers, who were ruthlessly gunned down. Maynard ran from the room, deciding enough was enough. He made his way to the hangar.
- - - - / / / / - - - -
At the base of the access stairwell Maynard saw Stokes waiting.
"Is everyone on board?"
"Yes. We lost David, but we have everyone that's coming."
"Damn." He indicated Stokes to go up, and he followed quickly after.
Maynard entered the cockpit and saw Alan already at the controls.
"Engage sublight engines, get us off the deck."
"Stand by. Engaging thrusters. Umbilical's clear."
The huge hulk of Colonial Heavy 326 lifted off from the landing deck and slowly moved forward.
"Uh oh."
Alan glanced up at Maynard. "What?"
"That." Maynard nodded ahead.
The forward hull of the Pandora was being lit up from the flak barrier. "We can't fly through that. Spool up the FTL, we're leaving now."
"You wanna jump from inside the flight pod?"
David took the co-pilot's seat beside him. "You got a better idea, now's the time."
The ship's forward momentum took them near the end of the flight pod. Stokes entered, and out the window he could swear the walls were getting closer.
"What the- they're retracting the flight pods! They'll slice the ship in two!"
"Engines spooling."
"We got ten seconds or less!"
"Alan, jump the ship, now!"
"Hang on!" yelled Alan, and he turned the jump key.
Colonial Heavy 326 jumped away, the shockwave causing damage to the interior walls of the flight pods.
A short distance away, Colonial Heavy 326 reappeared back into normal space.
"Sorry" said Alan, "I didn't have time to program a decent jump. Respooling."
"Don't worry, we-"
"Dradis contact!" yelled Stokes. "Bearing 189 carem 263."
Out the window, Maynard saw a sight he'd hoped never to see again. Two Cylon Basestars were bearing down on Pandora. Despite all that had happened, and what may still be on the ship, he wanted the ship to jump away to safety. But it stayed where it was, despite the flightpods retracting. The Basestars launched 62 missiles at the Battlestar, then jumped away.
"Radiological signatures detected!" yelled Stokes.
Maynard grabbed the mic beside him. "All hands all hands, this is the Captain, shield your eyes from the windows. High intensity explosion imminent."
The nukes contacted with the hull of the Pandora, and the sky outside the ship went as bright as a sun. Maynard closed his eyes, but all he could see was the memories of Picon being destroyed. When he opened his eyes again the blast had faded. He looked out of the forward window to see if he could see the Pandora.
What was left of it was a shattered wreck. The ship had practically been torn in half, the starboard flight pod gone and two of the sublight engines had been ripped from the ship, drifting helplessly away. Ironically, the one part of the ship that remained recognisable was the port flight pod.
After a long silence, Alan spoke. "FTL ready for jump."
Maynard slowly nodded. "Ok… ok…. Lets get out of here, stand by for-"
"Dradis contact, colonial signatures."
"Colonial Heavy 326 do you read?"
Maynard smiled. "Captain Mitchell. Glad to hear your voice. Do you need help?"
"We lost our mothership but we're intact. I'm guessing you guys wouldn't say no to a small fleet defending your ship?"
"Absolutely. It'll be a tight squeeze but we'll get you on board."
Outside, the four surviving Vipers and two raptors made their way towards the ship. Stokes opened the aft freight doors and after a little manoeuvring they managed to get them all on board.
Maynard stood before the small group of humans gathered in the main lounge of the liner.
"I can't say the words you want to hear. I can't stop the Cylons from chasing us. One day, we'll be able to stop running. Until then, we defend ourselves. We protect this small ship. And one day, we'll stop running. So say we all."
"So say we all" the crowd repeated. Maynard nodded and retreated to the cockpit. Stokes, Mitchell, Jenny and Alan all stood by as Maynard drew a breath. "Ok… we jump for the Prolmar sector."
"That's a big jump."
"You can do it, Alan. You've all done well under the circumstances. We've lost so much. And we can't go home again. Time to move forward."
Maynard looked out of the window. "You did well Captain" said Jenny. "If you hadn't given the order to leave when we did we would've died with the rest of them. There's 141 people on this ship alive, thanks to you."
"Thanks to all of us."
"FTL course plotted. I think."
"You think?"
"It's a big jump sir. I don't think anyone has ever jumped out that far."
"First time for everything. Let's go."
Colonial Heavy 326 flashed then disappeared, leaving nothing but stars.