DAY 6

The rain on Sagitarron had not stopped for days. Captain Mark "Archangel" Hunter lay in the undergrowth hidden from sight. As he looked through the scope on his rifle he could see his intended target 300ft away down the hill in front of him. The Cylons chase of the survivors had been relentless. Archangel had sent the others on ahead and set a trap for the pursuing centurions. The explosives he had placed on the fuel cans below should be enough to take out a whole garrison of troops. He was still remembering the day before when if it hadn't been for Skeeter he wouldn't be alive. Danny had frozen under fire when they had been ambushed by a group of centurions. Skeeter thankfully had been on top of this game and taken its head off with his shot gun.

After two hours he was still waiting but he knew they were coming, he'd left enough of a trail to lead them this way. Moments later his wait was over. He saw the silver shine of a centurion, seconds later eight of the 7ft monsters appeared.

"Come on you metal sons of bitches just a little closer," Archangel said under his breath. They may have been made to kill but they hadn't been made to sneak up on anyone. The metal slicing noises of their movement gave them away.

Through the scopes he saw the cylons hit the target. He pulled the trigger on his rifle and hit one of the petrol cans. The explosion was instant and as destructive as he had expected. Pieces of metal flew in all directions. Archangel smiled to himself. He'd show the cylons no matter how far they chased the group they wouldn't be beaten. He waited for a few moments before standing up and walking away.

Skeeter, Grace and Danny all sat in Skeeter's truck. They were waiting off the side of the road way waiting for Archangel.

"When do you think he'll be back?" Danny asked from the back of the truck.

"Gods damn it Danny for the 50th time I don't know. He'll let us know when he's on his way."

Skeeter was beginning to loose his patience with his friend. They had lived and worked together for a couple of years now but the last 4 days were beginning to take their toll. Nearly getting Archangel killed had been the last straw.

"I'm going to a smoke, Danny stay in the truck."

He opened the door and walked into the pouring rain. He walked over to some overhanging rocks and sat down and lit a cigarette. He instantly began to calm down. He felt bad shouting at his friend but he was getting very irritated. He looked up as Grace came and sat down next to him.

"Mind if I have one of those?" she asked.

Skeeter looked a little surprised, "sure, I didn't realise you smoked."

"Only when I get a little stressed, or I'm drinking." They both had a little laugh before she lit the cigarette.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry for exploding back there, he just knows how to press my buttons. Normally I'd get some space before getting to that point but that's kind of difficult now."

"It can't have been easy for you taking care of him all this time."

"What kind of friend would I have been if I hadn't? His mother was his entire world and when she died he had nothing."

"Even so you're a good friend to him."

They sat in silence for a few seconds.

"I'll apologise to him a while and it'll all be fine."

"I wonder if Archangel is okay." Grace asked before taking another drag.

"He'll be fine. If anyone can get us to safety it's him."

"You have a lot of faith in him."

Skeeter let out a laugh, "He certainly does. We go way back and he's helped me in some of my darkest moments. I wouldn't be here no without him."

"Sounds serious."

"I'll tell you about it sometime. But I'd follow him into the bowels of hell if he said that's where he said to go."

The more time Grace spent with these people the more she liked them. The cylons had never expected to find a human like Archangel, a human who actually impressed them. Skeeter as well, despite herself she actually liked.

The silence was broken by Danny from the truck.

"Guys it's Archangel, he's on his way back."

Skeeter ran to the truck and picked up the radio.

"You okay buddy?"

"Yeah it's all good, there are bits of centurion scattering the countryside. I should be with you in a couple of minutes."

"I'll meet you by the side of the road."

Skeeter turned to his friend, "Danny, now he's on his way back!" He patted his friend on the shoulder and turned to pick up his shotgun from the back seat. "I'll be back in a minute, hold tight guys."

Skeeter walked back outside into the downpour. He made his way back down the hidden trail towards the road. They had chosen this position as they couldn't be seen from the road. As he reached it he stayed behind a tree so he could see the road but no one could see him. Moments later the sound of Archangel's truck could be heard. Skeeter stepped out towards the road and waved at his friend as he neared. He pulled up along side his friend and smiled.

"You kicked their asses then?"

"Blew them into a million pieces. Get in."

Skeeter sat in the truck before he drove down towards the others.

"The others okay?"

"Yeah, snapped at Danny earlier but we're good"

By night time the rain had stopped for the first time in 5 days. The group sat round a small fire eating some food.

"So where do we go next?" Grace asked.

"We're going to reach the first landing strip tomorrow. If we're lucky there will be a Raptor there and we'll be off this planet by the end of the day."

"Do you think there will be anyone at the strip?" Skeeter asked.

"I don't know. I'm assuming before the attack there will have been people stationed there, whether or not they're still there is another matter."

"Are these the people we need to be careful of?" Danny asked.

"If there's anyone there they'll be military so we should be fine. We can always use more people who know how to fight. Right now I suggest we rest up, it's going to be a long day tomorrow, whatever happens."

DAY 7

Grace awoke after what had been a reasonably good night's sleep. She looked over at Archangel who was still sound asleep not far away from her. It was the first time she'd seen him sleep in a couple of days. She wondered how someone who looked so peaceful was capable of the amount of carnage and destruction he had displayed so far in such a short space of time. Suddenly the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit her. She turned to see Skeeter sat, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He smiled at her and took a sip from his cup. She walked over to him and sat down, he poured another cup and handed it to her.

"Notice anything different?" he said as he handed it to her.

She then realised what he was talking about, the rain, it had stopped. The sun was trying to shine through the thick radiation clouds giving the light a strange orange glow.

"Finally I was getting sick of being wet all the time," she replied taking a sip from her drink. The coffee was amazing, unlike anything she had tasted before. Being with humans she was experiencing new things everyday. Some unpleasant but others, like this simple drink was very pleasant indeed.

"Wow this coffee is amazing."

"Well if there's one thing I know it's good coffee and this is good coffee. It's from Virgon and it's the best you can get. I found a couple of cans of it when we went to the market back in Freedom. If the worlds coming to an end there are two things I'm not depriving myself of, cigarettes and good coffee."

Grace smiled and took another sip. It seemed to her that it was the simple things in life that Skeeter enjoyed the most and things like Virgon coffee were starting to become some of her favourites.

Minutes later Archangel and Danny had both woken up and they were all preparing for the day ahead. Skeeter had made them all something to eat and they were all enjoying the peaceful morning.

"Well this is a morning of firsts. Not only are we not being rained on there are no centurions shooting at us." Skeeter said.

"Enjoy these moments while they last." Archangel said.

"So where are you taking us on Caprica?" Grace asked.

"Not to sure yet. I was thinking somewhere near Delphi but not too close, it's a major city but it'll be crawling with toasters. But if there are survivors or if there is anyone out there looking for survivors we need to be near a city."

"Doesn't that apply to Sagittaron too? Shouldn't we be near a major city?" Grace asked.

"We're on the ass end of the colonies as far as most people are consirned. Caprica, Tauron, Picon and Virgon are the ones where anyone will look for survivors first."

"And sorry to confront the elephant in the room but what if we can't find anyway off planet?" Skeeter asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Archangel replied.

A couple of hours later both trucks were back on the road. Grace sat quietly in the front of Archangel's truck looking out of the window. This was the last place she had expected to be when the attack happened. She thought she would be on her base ship watching everything unfold from there, it would seem however, fate, god or whatever you wanted to call it had a different plan for her.

"You okay?" Archangel asked.

She nodded her head in reply, "Yeah trying not to think depressing thoughts."

"I can understand that." He replied.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"You're not just a pilot are you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Little things you've said over the last few days. I know a couple of people who are pilots in the military and none of them seem to be trained like you or have the knowledge that you have."

"Well truthfully I am a pilot, I'm the CAG of the Atlantia, all that's true."

"I don't doubt that at all."

"But the truth is no I'm not just a pilot. I do or I did some black op's missions for the admiralty."

"Like secret agent stuff?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"No like an assassin, nothing as glamorous as the movies."

"You're an assassin?"

"I was. I was sent after the worst of the worst. The kinds of people who were planning on things like this."

"I wouldn't have thought there were people who would be capable of something like this."

"I wish that were true. We're nearly there."

Archangel picked up the radio.

"Skeeter you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, all good up there?" came the reply.

"Yeah we're about a mile away from the base. I want to pull off the road up ahead and hide the trucks. We'll go on foot and scope out the lay of the land. If it's all good we'll bring the trucks up and load up the Raptor. If not we just keep going."

"No problem."

Archangel pulled off the road into the bushes and stopped the truck.

"Ready for a little walk?" Archangel asked.

Grace nodded in reply.

As they both got out of the truck Skeeter and Danny pulled up along side.

"Okay lets take some weapons and a few supplies. We'll get the rest in a little bit."

As the four survivors reached the airbase it looked deserted. There were three large hangers, a control tower and a large building that made up the base.

"Okay guys I want you to keep your eyes peeled. Danny go check the hanger over there, Skeeter take the other one."

They all walked over to the large hangers. Danny reached his first. The main doors were locked shut. He saw a small door along side and walked over to it. The door was shut by a large padlock. He looked up to see the others arriving at the other two hangers. He stopped himself from calling out what to do but stopped himself, he could find a way in himself.

Archangel tried the hanger door but it was locked.

"There's another door here but it's locked as well." Grace said.

Archangel walked over and examined the lock. When he turned to look at the key hole his eyes widened.

"Oh my gods."

He turned to see Danny about to hit the lock with the butt of his gun.

"DANNY STOP!"

He was too late as soon as the butt of the sidearm hit the lock there was a pop followed by the explosion of his hand gun. As they all ran towards him he screamed in agony.

Danny looked down to see most of his hand was gone. Only his thumb survived and blood was gushing everywhere. He looked up to see his friends reach him.

"We have to stop the bleeding." Grace said.

Archangel looked down at the wound and could only think of one way to stop it. He picked up his rifle and fired off a number of rounds. He took the hot barrel and began to cauterise the wound as best he could. Danny's screaming stopped as he passed out from the pain. Moments later the bleeding had stopped. Archangel stood up with both his sidearms raised. Skeeter and Grace turned to see four men with rifles pointed at them and raised their weapons as well.

"This is a military base and you are trespassing. Lower your weapons and leave now or we will kill you," one of the men shouted.

"My name is Captain Mark Hunter and I'm the CAG of the Battlestar Atlantia and I order you to lower yours first." Archangel replied.

"This is your last warning before we kill you." The man replied.

"Lower your weapons, he's telling the truth."

Another marine appeared, "That's an order!"

The marines lowered their weapons as did Archangel and the others.

"We have a wounded man here he needs help." Skeeter said.

"Harris, Welch take that man to the infirmary and see what you can do for him."

"Yes sir." Harris replied.

He walked over to Archangel and saluted. "Corporal Darius Vannick. I was on the Atlantia when you first came aboard sir."

Archangel saluted back "Good to see you Corporal, you in charge round here?"

Vannick paused for a moment "No sir that would be Sergeant Hackerson."

"Can you take me to see him?"

"Of course sir. Jarvis, Meech take these two to the mess and get them something to eat."

Grace looked at Archangel looking slightly concerned.

"It's okay, I'll see you in a minute."

Vannick lead Archangel into the building to meet Hackerson.

"Have you seen much from the Cylons sir?" Vannick asked.

"Yeah a little too much. Have you guys?"

"No sir, they haven't found us yet. Here we are." He said gesturing to the door.

"I'm glad you're here sir." He said before knocking on the door.

"Come in." a mans voice said from inside.

The door opened to a small but well maintained office. Sergeant George Hackerson looked to be in his late 40's. His bald head, facial scars and sheer size made him intimidating, intimidating to everyone but Archangel.

"Sir this is Captain Mark Hunter, they've just arrived."

"Thank you Corporal you can leave now."

"Yes sir."

He looked at the young Captain for a few moments before gesturing to the chair facing him.

"Please Captain sit. Can I get you a drink?"

"Please. Corporal Vannick tells me you've had no Cylon contact."

Hackerson handed him a glass of whiskey.

"No we haven't we're a little out of the way and not on the map. I think we're fine here. So what brings you to our base?"

"We're looking for a Raptor."

"And where do you intend to go if you find one?"

Archangel had taken an immediate dislike to the Sergeant, "Caprica."

"And why would you go there, they'll have been attacked the same as us, if not worse."

"Because if any Battlestar's have survived they'll be looking for people on the more populated planets. So are there any Raptor's here?"

Hackerson paused for a few seconds, a smirk crossed his face before he replied. "Yes there is one."

"Excellent."

"But it won't fly. It's been too badly damaged."

"Frak. We'll have to move on then."

"To where exactly?"

"Another air base. You're men of course can come with us."

Hackerson let out a laugh, "No they'll be staying here."

Archangel finished his drink and stood up, "Well that will be up to them. Sergeant."

"Of course. Sir."

"If you don't mind we'll spend the night here before we move on."

"Of course, Sir".

As Archangel left the room Hackerson smashed the glass with his grip. Who did this punk pilot think he was interfering with his command.

Skeeter sat in the back of the Raptor with his head in his hands. Everything in the cabin was destroyed past fixing. He turned to Grace who was sat on the wing.

"There's no way I could even begin to fix all this. Even if I could half of these systems I have no idea what they do."

Archangel walked into the hanger and smiled at Grace.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

She shook her head. Skeeter popped his head out from inside.

"Man this ship looks like someone took an axe to it. I was just saying to Grace there is no way I can fix this."

"Sergeant Hackerson told me it was too badly damaged."

Archangel took a quick look inside.

"Frak me what did they do to this."

"So what's this Hackerson like?" Grace asked.

"I don't like or trust him, there's been something going on here. We'll sleep here tonight and then get back on the road in the morning."

"How far to the next air base?" Skeeter asked.

"About 300 clicks north."

"Oh man can we even make it that far?" Skeeter asked.

"We have no choice." Grace replied.

"Okay lets go see Danny, there's no point wasting anymore time here."

Private Jessica Welsh finished bandaging Danny's wound and stood looking at the unconscious man. Thoughts drifted through her head of putting him out of his misery. She wished she'd died in the initial blasts. She hated the military and just wanted to end everything most days. The newcomers were not welcome here. They would destroy what little harmony the small unit had left. But her C/O needed her and she wasn't going to let Hackerson down. If the newcomers rocked the boat too much while they were here she new what Hackerson would have his marines do. After the events of the past few days it wouldn't surprise her. Vannick was already getting too close to finding out what had happened and she already new Hackerson didn't like him. She looked up as Archangel, Skeeter and Grace walked in and forced a smile towards them.

"How is he?" Skeeter asked.

"He'll be okay. I gave him something to knock him out for a while. The pain from that wound is going to be horrible for him for a while to come."

"Thank you Private." Archangel said.

"You're welcome sir, I'll come back to check on him later." With that the young woman walked out of the room.

"I can't believe this has happened. He's not going to take it well when he comes round." Skeeter said.

"He'll be okay. He has to be." Archangel replied. He turned and closed the door behind him and spoke in a quieter tone, "We have to be very careful here. Watch each others backs. I'm going to have a word with Vannick."

"Why do you think you can trust him?" Grace asked.

"I don't. Worse case scenario we have to fight our way out of here, either with him on our side or not. Something he said to me earlier made me think something has been going on."

"What did he say?" Skeeter asked.

"Just that he was glad I was here."

"Frak me man and cos of that you're gonna trust him?" Skeeter asked.

"I have to agree. If you say the wrong thing to him it could get back to Hackerson and then we could be screwed." Grace added.

"I'll sound him out, ask him what's been going on and see how he replies before I say anything I shouldn't. I won't do anything that puts you guys in danger."

Skeeter sniggered, "You mean anymore danger than we've already been in?"

"You know what I mean. I'll be back soon."

Corporal Vannick sat alone in the watch tower. More and more over the last week he had been given solo duties, more and more he was being shut out of the things that went on around the base. He was relieved Captain Hunter had arrived, someone who could take over from Hackerson. Hackerson had been loosing his grip for a while now. He had been posted to the base as a last ditch attempt by his superiors to try and calm him down. Vannick didn't know the specifics but he knew the Sergeant had been involved in things the military hadn't been too happy about. He wanted off the base and if the opportunity came to leave with the new comers he would take it. He was suddenly aware of noise coming from the ladder hatch behind him. He span around with his rifle raised but relaxed when he saw Archangel come through the hatch.

"Sorry to startle you." Archangel said.

"It's okay. You lost sir?"

"No I actually wanted to talk to you if that's okay?"

"Sure pull up a seat."

Archangel sat down next to the marine.

"What's been going on here since the attack happened?" he asked.

Vannick took a deep breath. "Nothing, that I know of. We received some reports when it first began but they dried up pretty quickly. Hackerson ordered us to stay on the base and keep to our duties. We started taking radiation meds straight away. After three days some of the guys wanted to leave to see if they could find any survivors. Hackerson went mad when he found out and ordered them to stay put. They decided they were going anyway. That's the last time I saw them."

"Did they leave?"

"Truthfully I don't know, he says they did."

"And you don't believe him?"

"Hackerson was given this job to keep him out the way of other people. Honestly I wouldn't put anything past him, anything at all."

"That explained his reaction when I said when we leave you can all come with us if you want."

Vannick paused for a few moment. "I'm the second in command of this unit and I'm being treated like some rookie. When you go I'd like to come with you."

"Of course. What about the others?"

"Some of them came from his old unit, they all seem fiercely loyal to him. You can ask them but I don't think they'll come."

"Okay here's what I want you to do, gather together as many supplies as you can, food, water and medication, without drawing any attention to yourself. When we go we're going to go quickly, okay?"

"Understood."

Grace and Skeeter sat with Danny waiting for Archangel. They had been sitting in silence for some time now. Grace was beginning to get a little unnerved. She didn't like the way some of these humans were looking at her. She was also getting concerned for the humans she was with. For some reason he gave her a bad feeling and she worried for all their safety. Moments later Archangel walked in.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah we're good. How does it lay with the Corporal?" Skeeter asked.

"He's with us. He says that he doesn't think the others will come with us. I told him to be ready to move quickly. Skeeter when we leave I need you to get here to Danny as quickly as you can."

"No problem." He replied.

"What do we do till then?" Grace asked.

"We get some rest. They've given us two rooms. Grace if you want it you can take the single Skeeter and I will take the twin."

"Honestly I'd rather not be alone here. I don't like the looks some of the men here are giving me." She replied.

"Of course. Take the two bed with Skeeter, I'll probably not get much sleep anyway and I wouldn't want to wake you."

Hackerson sat in his office smoking a cigar. His mind was made up, in the morning he would deal with the visitors. There was a knock on the office door.

"Come." Hackerson said.

Lance Corporal Dane Harris walked in, "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes Corporal. Our new guests, do you know where they are?"

"Yes sir, they've retired to the quarters we set aside for them."

"Good we will let them rest tonight. In the morning I want you and the men to take them into custody. Put the pilot into the interrogation room and the other two in a cell."

"Yes sir, what about the one in the infirmary?"

"Leave him, for now. He's sedated so he shouldn't be any trouble. When the time comes, we will, ease his pain."

"Yes sir."

Archangel lay on the bed in his quarters. One of his sidearms sat on the desk next to him, safety off, ready. Sleep, tonight wasn't forthcoming. He thought about the Atlantia. The men and women he had served with for so many years and began to face the thought they were probably all dead now. As he began to slowly drift off he snapped back awake by a quiet knocking on the door. He immediately picked up the gun and walked over to the door. He slowly opened the door and relaxed when he saw Grace standing outside.

"I'm sorry did I wake you?" she asked.

"No come in, is everything okay?"

"Yes I couldn't sleep."

They both walked over to the bed and sat down.

"I can't wait to get back on the road." Grace said.

"Me too. So tell me about your life on Leonis."

"There's not much to tell. No family to speak of. A couple of close friends and some acquaintances. I lead quite a boring life the more I think of it. I work most days, business is good. People have bad teeth, I make lots of cubits. Then the cylons come back and I realise that the only thing I have to fight for is my life."

"That's the most important thing you could ever fight for."

"So what's it like to be the CAG of the Battlestar Atlantia and an assassin for the military?"

"Truthfully it was exciting. The rush of being in a Viper cockpit is unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life. Doing Black Op's for the military, well the shine went off that around the first time I pulled the trigger."

"Have you killed many people?"

Archangel didn't reply straight away.

"Sorry I shouldn't have asked that."

"No it's okay. I've killed a few, each one worse than the last. Murderers, terrorists, evil men and women who had done evil things."

"So is there anyone in your life?"

"Family, friends the usual."

"A woman?"

Archangel let out a laugh. "No for the last three years I've done one thing, work my ass off till my C/O made me the CAG. Lived, breathed and slept for the military. I've barely seen my family."

"Good then I can do this."

Grace leaned over and kissed Archangel.

DAY 8

Skeeter yawned loudly as he awoke the next morning. As he stretched he momentarily forgot where he was. As his eyes became accustomed to the room he looked over and saw Grace's bed was empty.

"Frak." He said to himself. He quickly got out of bed and dressed. He picked up his shotgun and headed for the door. As the door opened everything went black. Private James Meech stood over him holding the rifle he had knocked Skeeter out with. He looked over to Harris and Welch who were preparing to enter the other room.

Archangel awoke to see Grace getting dressed.

"Good morning." He said with a smile.

"Hey." She leaned down and gave him a kiss. "You ready to get us out of here and get us off world?"

"Sure am."

They both dressed in silence but smiling at each other. The night before had been the best of his life and the most unexpected. As he reached for his holsters the door broke open and the two marines stormed in with rifles raised. Archangel's instinct was to go for his weapons but he ignored them, he knew any attempt to get them would end badly.

"Don't even think about it," Harris said, "I will blow your brains all over the wall."

"What the Frak do you think you're doing Corporal?" he snapped.

"Exactly what the Sergeant ordered. SIR."

Hackerson stood outside the interrogation room. Welch came out of the room to meet him.

"Is he still alive?

"Yes sir per your orders. The other two are in a cell." She replied.

"Good."

He walked into the room to see the Captain tied to a chair, bloody and beaten. Harris stopped the brutal beating as he saw his C/O walk in and stood to attention.

"Sir."

"Good work Corporal."

Archangel spat out a huge mouthful of blood onto the floor and looked up at Hackerson with a grin. He wasn't going to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing him in pain.

"What no breakfast in bed?" he said.

Hackerson let out a laugh. "No I'm afraid the kitchen's closed this morning."

"Pity. So what's the plan Sergeant?"

Hackerson walked over to him and grabbed the back of his head.

"The plan is to get rid of arrogant little pukes like you. You come here and destroy the harmony of this unit. Well I won't let that happen?"

"Harmony, that's almost funny. You guys aren't soldiers any more you're just a group of armed thugs who aren't worthy of the uniform or the oxygen you suck down."

That was the final straw for the Sergeant he backhanded pilot as hard as he could. Archangel felt one of his back teeth break under the pressure and his mouth once again filled with blood. He took the opportunity to play possum and pretended to be out cold. The pain coursing through his body grew by the second but it had to be ignored. He had been trained to deal with pain like this and how to ignore it.

"What do you want us to do with him sir?" Harris asked.

"Get him and his friends ready for execution bring the woman to my office and kill Vannick."

"Yes sir." Harris replied.

Grace and Vannick sat cuffed in a small dark cell.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Grace asked.

"Sure he will, any minute now that door will fling open and he'll be standing there."

As he finished speaking the door began to open. Skeeter and Grace looked at each other in total surprise but hope faded when they saw. Private Jarvis stood there with his side arm raised.

"You come with me." He said pointing to Grace.

"No leave her alone and take me." Skeeter said standing up. Jarvis hit him square in the nose. The pain was instant as he felt the bone break. He fell back onto the ground.

"You get up again and I'll kill you." Jarvis said as he pulled Grace to her feet.

Before Skeeter could even think about getting back up the door was closed and locked.

Welch and Harris stood in front of the apparently unconscious Archangel.

"Let's just get this over with." Welch said.

"Over with, you have to be kidding me I wanna make this last as long as possible. Hackerson better let me pull the trigger on this guy."

They moved behind him and unfastened the cuffs round his wrists. Both marines picked him up and put his arms around their necks and dragged him up from the chair. Archangel prepared himself once he was on his feet he used all his strength to smash both their heads together. Both marines fell to the floor with a thud. Archangel steadied himself and spat out another mouthful of blood, this time all over Harris. Welch began to stir, Archangel walked over to her, she looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Archangel said as he reached down and broke her neck killing her instantly.

Harris staggered to his feet with a knife in his hand. He swayed from side to side slightly.

"You're a dead man."

He lunged towards Archangel with the knife. Archangel grabbed his wrist with one hand and with the other one pushed Harris' elbow upwards making a sickening crunching noise. Harris screamed in pain. Archangel took the knife and plunged it straight into Harris' throat. The screaming was replaced by gurgling as Archangel ripped the knife back out. Harris dropped to his knees clutching at his throat. Archangel watched as the life slipped away from the marine. Moments later he slumped to the floor dead.

Archangel took a deep breath and walked out of the room. Outside he saw all their gear on a table. He searches through the gear and takes out his anti radiation meds and quickly injects them into his neck. He takes a deep breath and steadies himself. He walks over to the closed cell across from him.

"Skeeter you in there?" he asked.

"I'm here are you okay?" came the reply.

"Yeah I'll get you out of there in a minute. I'll be right back."

Archangel walks back into the interrogation room and searches the guards for keys. He quickly found them and heads back to the door. He opens the door and sees Skeeters face drop when he sees him.

"My gods what did they do to you?" he asked.

"I'm fine it looks worse that it is, we have to move quickly."

"They took Grace a few minutes ago I don't know where they took her."

"I do Hackerson told them to take her into his office. Listen you have to go and get Danny. If you see Vannick tell him we're leaving, now."

"How do we know we can trust him?"

"Because Hackerson told Harris to kill him. Listen if you come across any of the marines you have to shoot first."

"There are four of them though."

"Not any more only two, one of them is heading to Danny and the other taking Grace to Hackerson."

"Did you kill them?"

"Take your gear and get moving."

As Skeeter picked up his gear he saw through the two marines bodies through the door. It looked brutal. He decided not to say anything and just get on with the job in hand.

"Just don't think about it, if you see a marine just point and shoot, it's us or them."

"Don't worry about me, I can do this."

Hackerson sat at his desk smoking a cigar and looking at Grace who sat opposite him.

"What are you going to do to us?" she asked.

"Execute you all." He replied.

"Billions of people are dead and you're going to kill some of the last remaining people. With people like you I'm surprised who needs the Cylons."

"The Cylons, we haven't even seen any Cylons yet. I'm starting to wonder if they even exist. You people are damaging my units morale and there's only one way to stop that, remove the cause of the damage."

Skeeter walked as quietly as he could down the corridor with his shotgun gripped tightly in his hands. He actually found himself terrified. The strange thing about it was this was the first time since they saw the first nuclear clouds that he had. Fighting the Cylons had been kind of exciting, a rush he'd never experienced before and he kind of enjoyed it. As he reached the end of the corridor he stopped and peered around the corner, he quickly moved back when he saw one of the marines walking towards the door of the infirmary. He swapped his shotgun for his sidearm, as he wasn't close enough to use it. He took several quick breaths and then walked out of his hiding place with the gun raised in front of him.

"1… 2… 3…" he whispered to himself before pulling the trigger.

The bullet hit its target. The marine died instantly from the gun shot wound to the back of his head.

Vannick who had been sitting with Danny grabbed his rifle at the sound of the gunshot and saw Meech fall to the floor dead. Seconds later he saw Skeeter appear by the door.

"What the frak did you do?" Vannick yelled.

Skeeter kept his gun at his side, "Hackerson had sent him to kill you and Danny, and I couldn't let him."

"What are you talking about?"

"The fact that your C/O is fraking nuts. He's just had the shit beat out of Archangel and has taken Grace somewhere. He was going to kill you, I just saved your life."

The fact was that Vannick wasn't even surprised by this. He lowered his weapon. Skeeter walked to his friend.

"I need him up, we have to leave now." Skeeter said.

He shook Danny who groggily began to stir.

"Danny I need you to wake up, we have to leave now."

As Danny came too he looked down and saw the dressing around what was left of his hand.

"Oh gods what happened?" he said beginning to cry.

"Danny look at me, we have to go, people are trying to kill us," he looked across at Vannick, "Help me get him up."

Hackerson backhanded Grace across the face. Grace had reached her limit, she summoned up all her strength and broke the cuffs around her wrists and grabbed Hackerson's windpipe so he couldn't make a sound. The mixture of shock and pain came across the Sergeants face.

"People like you are the reason we came back to the colonies. The human pestilence had to be wiped from the galaxy once and for all. However due to your lack of humanity you have almost ruined an experiment we are running. The only human worthy of surviving will not be put to death by an oxygen thief such as you. You have fumbled your way into what will now be your execution. I am a Cylon and I have relayed the coordinates of this base to the others who are coming here right now. I think I'll leave you for them."

As she let go of him she took his sidearm out of his holster and hit him as hard as she could, knocking him out cold.

Archangel had spotted the marine outside Hackerson's office. He drew both his sidearms out and quickly moved out from his hiding place. Every bullet hit its intended target, killing the marine straight away.

Grace heard the gunfire out side the office and knew Archangel would be breaking down the door any second. She looked down on the unconscious body in front of her and fired a round hitting him in the leg.

Archangel heard the shot from inside the office and suddenly for the first time in as long as he could remember he felt fear, fear that Grace was dead. He kicked the door breaking it open and was immediately relieved to see Grace standing there, gun in her hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded in reply, a tear running down her cheek.

"He tried to kill me, we fought and I managed to get his gun, I think I've killed him."

"Good, you've done good."

He walked over to her and kissed her.

"You're okay now."

"What did they do to you?" she asked seeing all the blood, cuts and bruises on his face.

"I'm okay, we have to go."

She nodded her head again and they both left.

The main doors to the base flung open and Skeeter and Vannick walked out with Danny propped up between them.

"Where the frak are they?" Vannick asked.

"They'll be here." Skeeter replied.

"What's going on? Skeeter who is he?"

"This is Vannick he's coming with us, I'll tell you the rest later," Skeeter took a deep breath, "Okay I'm gonna go find them."

As he turned to head back inside Archangel and Grace appeared at the door.

"Did you find the other marine?" Archangel asked.

"Yeah I delt with it." Skeeter replied.

"What about Hackerson and Jarvis." Vannick asked.

"Not gonna be a problem. Come on we have to get going."

"Where are we heading?" Vannick asked.

"We have two trucks about a mile down the road."

Hackerson coughed as he began to come round. As he tried to stand he realised the cylon bitch had shot him in the leg. He pulled himself up onto his chair and took several deep swigs from his whiskey bottle. He opened his desk and pulled out a loaded revolver. He wasn't going to let them get out of here alive and managed to get to his feet and stagger out of the room.

As he reached the main doors he steadied himself before moving out. He turned to be faced by 6 centurions and three copies of number 6.

"She told you we were coming." One of the 6's said.

"Frak you." He said raising the gun in his hand. Before he could even get a shot off the centurions opened fire.

Grace lay awake. She turned to see Vannick, Skeeter and Danny all asleep but there was no Archangel. She stood up and began to walk. She headed up towards the cliff face up above. As she passed a group of small caves a number 3 stepped out in front of her.

"We need to talk." The 3 whispered turning to walk into a cave. Grace followed.

"This is dangerous Archangel isn't asleep." Grace said.

"He's sitting up on the cliffs, we're okay for now. We have a new mission for you. We want you to kill one of his friends."

"What?"

"We want to see how he copes with the death of one of his friends. He's been impressive so far, we want to see exactly how much he can cope with."

"Which one?"

"That would be up to you, either Skeeter or Danny, you choose."

Grace couldn't believe what she was being asked, she had not expected this.

"And we need you to choose now."

"Danny." She said without another thought. Archangel would need Skeeter if he was to survive and she wanted him to survive. Danny was too much of a liability.

"Good."

"When do you want me to do this?"

"You'll know when. We'll split the group and it will just be you and Danny."

Grace turned to walk away.

"We're very pleased with you so far, you've done well."

"Thank you." She said as she left.

Archangel sat looking up at the stars. The pain killers he had taken had kicked in and he didn't feel as bad now. He turned when he heard movement behind him and saw Grace walking up to him. She sat down next to him.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. No I don't tend to sleep that much these days."

"After todays adventure I can't sleep. My mind is too active."

They both sat quietly for a few moments.

"You know I think I'm going to have to find a dentist, you don't know any you can recommend do you?" he said with a smile.

"I think I can find someone."

"That's good, just don't tell them I'm scared of them."

"You're scared of dentists?" she said sounding surprised.

"Childhood trauma."

"Well I'm sure she'll be gentle." She said leaning over and kissing him.