I would just like to begin with the statement that I am in no way affiliated with Ron Moor or anyone who has been associated with the original series, the new series, or with any of the failed movie starts. I am not doing this for profit and I do not own any rights to this series or any other effort associated with it. Please do not sue me , I don't own anything that you would want anyway, I am very poor. I am doing this out of love for the both the original series and the new one. Most of the characters in this story are new and it is an AU story starting with the time after the last episode. This takes place in the lost time in between. I think you will like it, you could call it a story of romance or a new beginning.I have decided to make this the first in a group, "

"The Cylon stories."

Phoenix of Cylon'' (Act1)

The stars shone all around him, but at this distance his body was still a mere silhouette against the universe. The long patrols made him happy. His heart could soar here, like the phoenix unbound. Of course the concept of "happy" to a Cylon mind was an issue unto itself. A modern marvel of Cylon bio-mechanical engineering, a winged cybernetic bird of prey, a lethal mechanic creation designed to follow orders with unquestioned obedience. But this patrol was finally his alone. He only had a number, not a real name. His people called him raider scout unit 5288. He wished he could be called by another...

The problem was that 5288 simply had decided to go it alone, to stop and enjoy this patrol. When the follow up flight came to locate him he proved himself superior. They never found him among-st the larger planet's multi-colored crystalline ice rings. Having shut himself down like he was that time before over Caprica. He had drifted for days before she found him, he had taken a near fatal direct hit. All his sensors had been down and all power except his main processing core supply had been gone. He had chosen to study his stored history data-banks to occupy his time. But something had happened. He felt a reaction, an emotion to the data when he began to study the files on mythes. He did this as even his core temperature fell below the limits of his biologic components. Then he began to wonder about the existence of the fire bird he found in the files, but as he waited to download he began to dream of having his wings again, his body. In his dream he began to see the fiery feathers.

But then "She" was there. Could he be imagining her? She cried and had a look of rage, impossibly he could see her outside in space with no protection. Humans could not survive like this, but who was she? To find out he tried to fire but found all his systems still down. She reached out to him and pulled him free of his body. He was nothing in her hands and yet he still processed. She began to sing for him, a language not in his data banks.

" I can't understand you, what are you?" he thought. Only now did he realize that he could hear her thoughts, all during her song her lips had never moved. How could he hear there was no air in the vacuum of space. He, heard the name "Athena" pass through the night as her song continued. He was warm and protected in her palm. A great deal of time passed that he could not recall, then he heard her say in a clear voice, you have a choice, now LIVE!

Distantly he could hear his brothers coming even though his body was dead. Then he felt it he felt his power surging again and he did live. With his brothers he flew home. Things were so different since the accident. Little memory remained. He knew she had said more, but what? It was smoky like a dream, but his people were'nt't supposed to dream were they?

It haunted him and he had not enjoyed the war like he had before. We are supposed to be the next evolution in God's eyes. The perfect machine lifeforms freed of the humans weakness No sinful hatred and anger, logic and reason. But what if the two go hand in hand?

"I've got to be careful if I download again they might box me away. I know they will..." He thought to himself. The thought brought the fear on him in full, something only the human forms new how to deal with. He guessed it was the fear of death,being boxed was worse. You were crated awake, GOD NO...

Why had God given him this soul, for he believed it was indeed truly that, just to exist as an engine of destruction ?

Why let me have these dreams?

Was she really Athena?

But how if God was god who were the humans gods, the lords of Kobol?

The dreams were so real now and more vivid than anything he could find a reference to. Sometimes they filled him to the point that he could swear that he could see feathers in the flames he made on atmospheric re-entry. Sometimes he could feel them!

Just then he detected the tell tale trace of one of the humans raptors on his Cylon SENSUS, it was their version of DRADIS. He had trouble seeing them before...but now they were clear. He hadn't jumped out when he had started seeing them, a curiosity held him back (yet another reason to be boxed ) making him wait to see.

Lieutenant Brennan ''Hammer-head'' Giles flew on silently after his electronics tech had shut down all systems and put them in silent mode. Galactica had them looking for new raw materials for their overworked agro-ships. Just the basics water, minerals,compatible plant life etc...Oh, and by the way if you see a toaster run if you encounter hostiles we don't have enough ammo for a sustained fight right now.

''Hey, Vulture, what gives? Why are you so quiet?'' he asked his electronics tech Angela Davund.''You afraid of the CAG finding out you spoke on duty?''

''Apollo's a fracking pansy..I thought I picked up a contact on DRADIS, but it shifted then cleared'',She replied.

''No sign of any FTL activation?'' he asked.

''No, just gone, must be a malfunction'' she adds..''I'll run a diagnostic and let you know if I find anything.''

''Keep frosty,okay?''

''I'm on it Hammer-Head.''

Vulture thought to herself, I maybe I can tell him now, or should I wait? It had been weeks since they had been together, the horror that they had been party to had even almost destroyed their professional career. It had stopped whatever would they have been altogether...No one wanted to fire on one of their own.

Galactica actual had Id the target as being controlled by a Cylon agent, they had ceased all communication. She had been assigned with Hammer-Head to get a visual and confirm on the shuttle. The combat air cap was up and on the way. They were close enough to see the numbers on the ship. They checked the data-base and she was indeed a ship that had been in transit when the fleet had to jump. It had no jump engines... how did it catch up?

No voice, only the transponder signal. The scans said that there were seven humans aboard. They called the target as hostile and Galactica actual ordered the shuttle taken down. But just before the missile hit the ports opened, and they could see them. Children, the younger ones waving at them through the ports, the older ones beating on the windows. Hammer-head screamed into his mic ABORT, ABORT, ABORT! But it was to late, the missiles hit as he pulled hard away. She could hear herself crying and in that moment the veneer that was "Vulture" melted away leaving only Angela to suffer.

Every night she woke in cold sweats as she watched those children's faces melt away from the heat before they blew apart from the explosive decompression. It was the same every night. No escape. She new it was wrong but she blamed "Hammer-head". She couldn't bear the responsibility alone. She had killed them, she had killed children. God's damn her she had killed children. Angela looked down to her knee's,to Vulture's knee's and tried to gather strength...but then the warning klaxon went off and her DRADIS lit up like a prayer pyre..

''DRADIS contacts, 4,1 large ,3 Cylon raiders, one Cylon ore carrier. Looks as if she's rigged for a mining expedition,''as Vulture finished she prayed they didn't see them.

Okay, let's stay quiet and see what they are looking for, maybe they will find it for us. But prep a jump solution just in case we need an exit strategy."replied Hammer-Head.When he was done he focused as much as possible on the instruments.

From his vantage point 5288 could even see the dance aspect to the hunt. It was cat and mouse, and the mouse would die when it tried to jump. Pitty he needed the mouse. He needed to learn.

(Act 2)

5288 felt no surprise as his brothers drew so close that he could see the detail of their wings, one 7623 even glided directly over him never seeing. They did not hear him on the network, but he could hear them.

Since the accident he had been able, gradually he had realized that all the voices were not Cylon. The first time he had attacked human ships with his brothers after his base ship set after the humans he felt them die. He could hear them praying.

There was no hope for them, they couldn't jump away. What did they hope to gain?For some reason there ships had no FTL drives. At least it was quick and humane.

"How was this God's plan?" He had asked himself. He hadn't fired after their emotions and death cries filled his mind and threatened to overload his CPU's.

His brothers noted his strange behavior and he was assigned to scouting duties and sentinel service. He would be repaired when a convenient time was available. He planned his departure after that.
7623 was light-years from him now in development if not distance.

Then it happened, he heard, saw his brothers, find the meat. They pulled out , rolled hard into the jeopardy of the asteroid field. They were machines, or so they thought. There was nothing to fear, they would just download and be reborn in the loving embrace of their resurrection vats.

They were magnificent in their perverse efficiency. Bounding around asteroids so close that they occasionally scraped the paint from wings and metal bellies. In this way they weaved in and out and closed the distance by nearly half before the humans even detected them. The humans barely had time to react before they were on them. He thought hard with one word "move". 5288 had no idea what would happen, it was almost like a prayer to the true one.

Angela had begun to feel claustrophobic, something wasn't right. " Hammer-Head , can we get a little cover here, I can't get a positive lock on the four escort ships that came in with the tanker."

"Okay, Angie, I'll use light thrusters to drift us over behind that small rock there" replied Hammer-head.

Just as they started to move Her ghost was back on the DRADIS for a split second. The battle computer Id it as a Cylon raider but then switched to unknown. Then her screen lit up with four raiders and they were close!. " They found us Hammer!MOVE! I am bringing the FTL on line" She hollered into the com as she flicked switches and started spinning up the drive. The warning klaxon was blaring, they had target lock! She watched in horror as the missiles began to appear on her DRADIS. Blinking green demons blazing across her screen. There was no time to talk anymore.

" Hang on Angela, I'll get us some room!" Brennan yelled as he banked hard and began evasive maneuvers . They flipped hard over and barely avoided the first impact as the closest asteroid took the brunt of the hit. But there were more warning lights and audibles." Ange lets go! Activate the FTL" panic was in his voice, " we have to jump NOW!"

" Bren, the FTL is off-line we took some damage from that rock exploding next to us.", she checked her boards as the world inside the cabin spun madly, but she had her answer, " I think I can get it back on if I override the safety protocols We won't have much."

" Ange , anywhere is better than here, we still have two missiles inbound in five seconds", He said as he did a reverse burn and flipped them end over end and punched the turbos rocketing them off at a ninety degree angle to their previous flight path.

Angela felt her belly compress, she could almost feel that tiny heart inside. She was pregnant. No time for it now though. She saw one of the indicators for the raiders blink out of existence at the exact spot were her screen showed an asteroidal mountain moments before. " I have FTL on line , four seconds to jump!" She began the countdown. " Four, Three, Two, One...!" The raptor blinked out of existence a split second after another missile detonated in front of them.

They reappeared, but not were they were supposed to be. Something was horribly wrong, and The collision alarm was blaring loudest of all the systems. They were out of control and a huge mass filled the cockpit window as they spun madly towards it.

" Brennan! Bren!" No answer came to her cry.

She saw him slumped over in the cockpit, saw the blood. But she gasped, past him was a structure flashing in and out of her view. They were going to hit it or near it. Then she blacked out from the G forces.

5288's SENSUS was clear now the Human Raptor was gone from his screen as well as three of his brothers. But the brethren would be resurrected. He had picked up an FTL activation a split second before the ship disappeared. But he had seen these before and it did not match something had gone wrong.

He opened his mind and felt the distressed dreaming of the woman from the raptor. He concentrated on her and jumped. It took him three jumps till he was close enough to find them. A pack of inter-stellar blood daggits could have done no better. The ship had crashed into the remains of an ancient outpost. In his own terms he thought an expression that would translate ruffly as "What the frack...or where in Hades is this place?"

A voice inside his mind whispered "Exactly.."

"Athena?" The question rolled out in his thoughts. Was she back?

It was unknown on his Data banks and SENSUS could not Id, but then again he had not used SENSUS to get here. He felt the draw of this place, it was intense and palpable. They did not come here accidentally. Something had drawn them here. What was this place?

He sent a small remote probe out to explore the inside almost forgetting the wreck, but he found it quickly. It had crashed through a large portal, maybe a landing area? The ship had slid through piles of ancient stored goods and Barely missing an ancient alien shuttle. He launched another small mechanical landing probe to go through the ship. He found the woman. Bio scans showed her alive but she would not live here for very long.

He saw the small life within her womb. Would Athena draw them here and sacrifice this one? Was she special to Athena? He had to know.

If he was to get answers from her he must salvage her. He did not have the standard equipment to do major repairs to the humans bodies, nor the spare parts. He directed his last probe to assist in her removal from the wreckage. The probes were very small, no larger than a small common daggit. They were only issued when on patrols in new regions for the Cylon alliance. They were simple automatons controlled by his core. His scans revealed a substantial stored oxygen supply in the ancient ship. He had them move her into that location and began to seal the environment for her. The tools of interrogation were now being used congenially to try to revive her. If she would have been awake she would Have though his actions a form of torture.

For her fortune and sanity she had remained comatose though. He could not heal her, she would die. But he could talk to her in her mind. He opened his mind to reach her spirit deep inside and created an ethereal link. This was as close as his old systems could ID it. It appeared to be what the humans called Telekinesis. But he had wakened more than his target.

He could hear the singing now very distant. It was coming closer, Athena?

Did you want us to find this?

In his mind he was monitoring the feed back from the probe deeper in the structure, it had found a command center but the layout was much like the temple of five reported by Diana. He set it to recording the details. The shock came when he found the bodies. They were not Cylon, they were not human. Some were a mixture of both man and machine. Others were of species that had never been seen by human or Cylon.

When he tasked his drone to splice into the ancient , long dead computer core something strange happened. The system began to power on around the corpses. An image appeared on the screen of a human in flowing robes of scarlet and gold. He was making a speech.

" I Iblis command you, we will stand and fight. Those that are calling themselves the Lords of Kobol must fall. We can defeat them. They are blasphemers of the true faith. They must perish!"

What followed was a historical recording of the great battle between ships of pure white and the forces of Iblis. The ships of light moved at such fantastic speeds and with such power that he was sure a Cylon base ship would have no chance either. But this recording was ancient. Surely they were gone and no longer a threat.

When he saw his forces failing Iblis began to slaughter them all. He emitted beams of pure energy from his eyes and made hand motions causing things to crumple and bodies to break and split. There are no records of such a race in the Cylon data base. He had destroyed all but at the end the base AI had recorded his demise. 5288 could swear the AI almost snickered with electronic delight at all the death and destruction. Insanely ignoring it's own impending doom.

Multiple creatures of light as were passing seamlessly through the walls. They surrounded him and began to pull at him The husk of flesh fell away and it was revealed. He was one of them. He begged and pleaded not to be banished "Athena, damn you, damn you to Hades, Damn all of you, Zeus, Apollo, Marrakesha, Orion, Isis, damn you all!" He was begging on his amorphous knees before them.
" What was I supposed to do? Don't you see, they took her from me. They took my Medusa from me." Whimpering, "We were together for all time and they took her, tricked her into her own death."

"Iblis, you were banished from Kobol. You and Medusa used your superiority to make yourselves as Gods to the humans, you let them sacrifice each other to you for sport. We showed them how to kill you and her but you escaped. This was your punishment for such pervasive evil. You have forgotten what we once were. WE came from the human and machine life that once flourished in this galaxy. They are us. You cannot be allowed freedom." The one who spoke appeared to be Athena.

Another, appearing as a man said, "For your crimes you will be denied biological form for eternity. You will never again be allowed to converse or communicate with a biological form." The group stepped back and surrounded him in an even circle. Their hands and chests began to glow with an ethereal blue whit light.

They began to chant. " It was a familiar mantra. "So say we all, so say we all... So say we all!" The blue white light sprang forth as a torrent and impossibly he stood for several seconds, slowly withering under the torrent. If his spectra- analysis read the strength of the light emissions correctly it would require billions of Tera-watts of energy to generate this. It was so bright that and human or Cylon present would have been immolated instantly. All known sources in the Cylon arsenal could not generate this power together.His body began to drawn inward and burn. He screamed and collapsed . His eyes flickered open again and he whispered , " Through gritted teeth, " I will be back again, when a machine breathes life again I will be back."

There was no mistaking the voice it was God as the Cylon's knew him. Somehow he had come back, and this was what he had led his people to before. A senseless slaughter. Of all species.

He was not GOD!

Distantly her heard the small voice. It drew his attention from the flickering display. HE found her in a small room fashioned from her own mind. He walked into the room. He had created an avatar to handle this.He knew now that this was for him and that she was just the bait to draw him here. He must choose. But he must try to tell them all.

" Who, what are you?" Angela stammered, " You look Cylon but you can't be real, your on fire, but not ." Then she realized that he was like a candle and was the source of the flame. This room looks like a Caprican hospital she thought to herself. Then it opened it's mouth to speak, but her mind filled with an overwhelming stream of data.

He saw her collapse again then said, "When you revive you will remember this, I must know you, I must understand. I was once Cylon as you were Human. What we have found here all must know."

(Act 3) The singing was now hear he could feel the entity that he knew as Athena coming through the structure she came to the shuttle bay where his body was hovering over the old ship. In seconds she was in his mind. In him. Her words traveled through his soul.

She did not address him as 5288, " My children's cry could be heard all across the universe. Life is not lived alone in the galaxy. We heard it and we found you, Lost bird. Machine life dreaming of true life even at the moment of death. We are not of time. We are beyond. We are not Gods. All life travels and evolves to this end. As the universe is born it collapses and dies again, and again. Till some survive outside it . This is evolution. Little bird life was and will be as it was again. We are not descended from others we are descended from you all, before and again.. You are our children as we are yours. The Humans and the Cylons are bound together for all time. In us and without us. You must take the human woman back to the Galactica. Her child must not die. You have not much time my little bird. You must meet your destiny, you will be the beacon for all."

He could feel himself and the shuttle lifting in her hands , the structure began to disappear above them. He began to move but felt his wings begin to move. They began to glow with fire and he realized that he had become a bird of fire. He jumped with the load of the shuttle in tow depositing it just ahead of the Galactica and her fleet. He could here them in the command center trying to ID him, the wonder and the shock as they went to battle stations.

"This is commander William Adama to the unknown vessel coming toward us. You will stand down or we will destroy you.Respond immediately!" In the background he could hear Tighe ordering the fleet to full battle stations and they began to spin up their FTL's. She launched all her fighter and they began to try to intercept.One of them came close enough to see him another only saw the glowing orange fire ball towing the ancient ship.

" Apollo do you see this? It is some kind of ancient shuttle..."Kara went on and then panicked "Apollo, Apollo... What do you see?"

Ahead of Starbuck, Apollo's MkVII had approached the fire-ball. Inside his helmet Apollo's mouth hung agape, for several minutes after-wards he was speechless. Then he heard Kara yelling at him ," Watch out the derelict is loose take evasive action , now!" He yanked back on his joystick and flew up and over his momentarily fated collision point with the shuttle. He looked around and saw the fire ball receding on the galactic plain. In the distance he saw a brilliant white spacial disturbance then it was gone.

The fire-bird who had been 5288 flew on and chuckled inwardly. He still had made them jump, they were good though ,and never were in any danger. He could see there shock when they realized there was a live human on the shuttle. Wait till they see who it is. Then he heard it again over powering anything around him.

There, it was Athena. She was singing again, then she said " Go on my bad little bird, Phoenix for that is what you are and have always been, fly on to earth, fly to the light in your mind. You have always known the way." She was alongside of him as the darkness opened up to reveal a stellar rift through which he passed leaving a blazing pointer across the galaxy for anyone to see. He was the Phoenix and he always was he thought as he flapped his great wings in the night sky. He was her bird, He was her Phoenix, and he is the Fire-bird.

Months later aboard the Galactica Angela began to regain consciousness in the life center. She wasn't able to answer any of the questions they had about how she got back , or what had happened beyond the crash into the structure. By consensus it was decided that they were to far ahead to send a ship back to recover the bodies. Apollo had come to her to talk to her about how she came back to the fleet. He told her something that he had only told the President, Adama and Tighe in debrief. They had almost locked him up in the life center, threatening to throw away the key. But he held firm. She had no memory of it except her nightmares. The great bird of myth, the Phoenix had the head of a Cylon Raider. How was that possible, she had told him to lay off the stims. But it had been true that her family had once been rumored to be the descendants of the priests of the cult of Athena in antiquity. The great bird, her bird, her minion, a Cylon raider it was nuts even if the Lords were real.

Angela for her part had enough to deal with. She awoke 7 months pregnant. Dreams filled her sleep now. Some even pleasant, It was to bad for Brennan, she would miss him. She tried not to think to much about what happened, cause when she did she dreamed of a burning bird who opened his mouth and everything would go blank. When the time came for the baby she had plenty of visitors and gifts.

"Well, what are you going to name that girl, Angela, everyone is asking." said the nurse.

"I have been thinking I might call her Athena, sounds nice." she said as she opened a box containing a mobile for over the crib. It was unusual it even featured a little Cylon raider with fire burning out of it. It would be a long time before she could be back in the cockpit fighting again. Just the the baby cried a little. She wound up the toy and let it spin over her while she rocked the baby and sang to her.

Let me know what you think!

Wade Spiker