Captain Belmac looked around the passenger lounge and frowned for his passengers didn't impress him very much, at least not at this moment. Liz Koch, their medico on this run, flashed him a warning look from where she hovered over a sleeping man, so he tightened his mouth and said, "May I have your attention?" he said firmly.

The babble of moans, curses, and mutterings slowed then started anew, now directed at him. Some were crying, tears floating around their faces in the null G, while others were yelling. One man sat by himself near the refreshment dispenser staring into the distance and twisting his hands.

"What are you going to do about this?" a man dressed in a black suit practically screamed. "And why is the gravity off?"

Another man, middle-aged with a furrowed brow started up. "I must get a message off! I will need priority access to the Central Bank of Scorpia as well as to my headquarters!" he paused for breath giving Archer a moment to respond.

"Shut up!" Archer yelled and even Dr. Koch flinched. "All of you!" he breathed deep. He got silence as well as resentful looks.

Now, first things first! First off, the Cylons have attacked the Colonies and we are at war. Second, there will be no outside communications possible or prudent for some time, and third…" he shook his head, "Sorry, didn't mean to come out that way… ah, our artificial grav is off to save fuel and elude detection."

"Captain?" a fair-haired young woman raised her hand. She wore a unitard of Tragis Mining blue like most of the others, but had accessorized with a lavender scarf and upswept hair held back with a matching hair band.

"Yes? You are?"

"I'm Amanda Newsome. Elude detection, you said?"

Archer glanced down at the printout in his hand. Amanda Newsome, he read, asteroid mining engineer, rotating home on leave after an internship in the Acheron Belt. "Go on," he told her. The one guy must be Regis Kepler, who was a pain when he came on board. He snuck a quick look at the list. The one in black must be Milo Smits; worked for a shipping company.

"So we're going to hide?" she asked.

Archer nodded. "Yes or try to. The Cyclons will have hunter-killer units active thru the system so I prefer that we remain off their dradas as much as possible. You'd probably like that too." He popped his neck. "Mind if I join you?" he waved at the table they were seated around.

No one protested so he floated to a seat and belted himself down. "Now, here's what I know. All three colonies in the system have been hit; Scorpia, Libron, and Sagittaron. All off-world communication is down near as far as I can tell, other than sporadic messages – likely from ships like ourselves."

"Captain, have you sent out a distress call?" Smits asked, a bit calmer than before. "There must be other ships out here. Perhaps we could help one another?"

Archer turned soulful eyes at Milo Smits, the account manager for Momont Freight. He wore a jet black business suit which looked good despite the white face staring out of it. "No. We have monitored comm bands and picked up very few messages. Unfortunately each of those calls was silenced soon after, I assume by someone homing in on each signal and destroying it."

Someone sobbed.

"I know; this is hard; too hard," Archer sighed to them. "So here we are; staying silent. Ms. Rogers, my first mate, is outside doing some work on our transponder so that stays quiet."

Even if the main circuit breaker was pulled on that unit, Archer knew that safety regs required an omnidirectional signal was automatically broadcast once per hour, so Talia was EVA taking a wire cutter to it as well as taking other actions.

Dr. Koch cleared her throat. "I have tranks if any of you feel the need, but not to excess. I will control the drug cabinet."

Archer scratched at his jaw looking around the small compartment. "I have to ask you to remain calm. Life support is quite adequate and we have propulsion. No need to worry on that score, but…" he looked around at his charges, some still scowling, others frightened out of their wits. "We are working on a plan to put you off at the Rufus Station at Ophion."

"Oh?" said the man who had yelled. "Out of the way then? So you can escape." Sarcasm dripped from his words. "And I still need to contact my bank."

Archer asked through gritted teeth, "I will ignore your remark and its implication, mister?"

"Regis Kepler."

Archer forced a smile at him and he recalled this guy had some dealings with the Scorpia Network. Well Regis I think your net value is zero, he thought but he held that away from his lips.

"Mr. Kepler need I remind you that this ship, Hercules, is a cargo-hauler? We have no faster than light capability. There will be no escape from the Cylons in the Gamma system, of that I am sure, as least not in this ship. And where to? Where would we go?" he sighed. "Each of the Twelve Colonies has been attacked according to the news out of Scorpia; that is before they got hit and went silent. You know as much as I do."

Amanda spoke up. "Indeed. You mentioned Rufus. I know there's a research station there."

Archer nodded. "It's small and unimportant. We could drop you off in the life boat there."

"But where would you go after that?" a petite blonde woman asked. "Oh, I'm Phyllis Herald by the way."

Archer stared at the scrap of paper in his hand. "You're the shuttle pilot."

"Yes, I am, or was. Just Belt mining station to mining station." the woman sighed. "Why?"

"Every done any aero braking?"

Her blue eyes widened and she shook her head. "Only in simulations."

Archer unbelted and rose. "I need you on the bridge; come with me." He looked around the lounge. "I will return in a few moments."

Archer escorted the Herald woman forward through the crew berthing space and life support then onto the bridge. There he introduced her to Danny. "Ms. Herald, this is Danny Bergos who is our cargo specialist. How's Talia doing?"

Danny pointed to a screen showing the airlock door closing. "Done and almost back in."

"Good, would you get Ms. Herald…"

"Call me Phyllis," she said softly.

"Fine. Set her up on the aux board to review life boat ops. Pull the training tapes on emergency planetary entries for a start." He watched Danny stiffen. "Best we can do Dan, as we discussed."

Danny shook his head. "Got it."

Archer checked the situation board and watched the transponder blip of a passenger liner between Sagittaron and Libra wink out. He sighed. "Either you killed your IFF like we did or you just joined the Lords of Kobol," he muttered bitterly and for a few seconds his long lost faith almost came back. The screen also showed locations of major asteroids near their trajectory, as well as Cetus Station behind them, which blinked on and off then stayed off as he watched. "Damn it," he muttered. "Here there be Cylons." He stayed at the display station for a few more minutes, watching further idents disappear from it and as each tiny light was extinguished it profoundly sank his spirit more. People were dying out there and he sat here watching it like a vid game.

But Hercules was secure, on track and the big burn he wanted to make in two hours should pose no problem. Ship systems were good, so far. He heard the lock finish cycling and the inner hatch cracked open so he went to help Talia doff her environment suit when she came out.

She gave him a thumb's up. "No sweat," she muttered when she took her helmet off.

"Great." Archer helped her strip off the clinging garment, so much more difficult in zero-G then when the grav plates were on.

"I… I looked around," she said softly. "There are explosions out there in the Belt. About ten degrees behind. Must be some action."

"I know. That was Cetus," Archer whispered to her shocked face. "Just keep that to yourself." Then he went aft to his passengers, bracing himself for the next step.