117Jorn: *Walks into room, punching a few keys into a Ipad* And... sent! *Waits a few seconds before grins like maniac* I knew she'd agree.

Ron the True Fan: (walks into room carrying a G36K) What's going on?

117Jorn: *Puts away Ipad* Just calling in a favor from a... friend. You ready for this chapter?

Ron the True Fan: ...I feel insulted. I'm ALWAYS ready!

117Jorn: Then let's get this thing STARTED!

Cyrannus System, Outskirts of Helios Delta/Gamma

Ragnar, Garden of Thorns, Two Days after the Thor's Recovery

It had been two days since the recovery of the Battlestar Thor, and three days since the Swords of Freedom and the Federation Fleet met with the Colonials. Things have been progressing smoothly thus far. The Thor itself was currently being under refit by both the Scrap Vultures and CCE after the bodies had finally been removed. Both groups were shooting ideas at one another on how to turn the Thor into a perfect hybrid Battlestar using tech from Earth and the Colonies.

As this happened, the CCE had begun attaching FTL Drives to most of the vessels within the Earth Fleet, using the Drives from the abandoned civilian vessels or ones that the CCE built themselves with the resources they had been gathering for their eventual exodus out of the Cyrannus System, possibly to never return. As well to go on their manhunt for the Pegasus, and its Commander, Rear Admiral Helena Cain.

When Ron and Commander Urei told them what Cain had done, it had angered everyone from Earth, and they had offered their own services to help hunt her down, which were gladly received by the Colonials and the CCE.

Speaking of Earth Forces, although there was some original... tensions between the EFSF and SOF forces at first, they quickly put them aside as the gravity of the situation settled on them: Light years away from home, no allies aside from the Colonials, and a race of Robots that want the extinction of all mankind was all it took for them to put their differences aside to work together to find their way home... and to help out their distant Colonial 'cousins' as they call them.

As for Jaden, he had quickly begun learning everything he could about Colonial Technology that Ronald had told him, while Jaden explained to him every last bit he knew about Earth Technology such as Minovsky Physics, the Minovsky Reactor, Beam Weaponry and everything else from Earth. "We can put most of this stuff to work on the Thor..." Ron looked at his friend. "We really need to rename that ship."

"Oh? Why's that?" Jaden asked.

"Using a salvaged ship's original name is VERY bad luck, that's why!" Ronald said, causing Jaden to blink, but he then understood. "Well, we're going to need to come up with a name." He said.

"We can leave the name thing until she's been rebuilt." Ron said smiling "Speaking of rebuilds, I saw a badly damaged ship in the Garden's hanger: Pegasus-Class, from the look of her."

Jaden smiled a bit as he nodded "Yeah, its a recent find." He said, "Part of the reason why I wanted you to come here today. She's a Flight IV Type Pegasus-class, she's based off of the Grey Phantom. We found the ship drifting in the Shoal Zone about a month before we ended up here. She was the LMSD-79 Morningstar, she took one hell of a beating from whatever battle she was in, and her crew abandoned ship."

He leaned back in his chair "Me and the Scrap Vultures have been working around the clock to bring her back to full operation capacity since then," he said. "It hasn't been easy, but we've made slow progress. We're hoping she'll become the Vulture's new Flagship."

Ron smiled. "Well, if you guys want, you can move onto the Athena." He said, "You are ALWAYS welcome." A light bulb appeared (figuratively speaking) over the Colonel's head. "How would you like a hand or three? I can get you a lot of spare parts from the civilian ships to help fix her up. Hell, we could even make a few modifications to her, make her the Thor's 'sister', if you catch my meaning." Jaden understood immediately as he grinned. "Colonel..." He picked up a glass of whisky. "I think you and I have a LOT to talk about!"

Both men started laughing as they downed a shot. "So," Ron began once again, "How's D'Anna?" Jaden blushed a bit. "Uh..." was all he said, as Ron shook his head "Relax. I'm no gossip." He said, "Hate it with a flaming passion, really, so any secret you have to share is as safe with me as a gold bar in the center of a star."

Jaden refused to answer, as Ron just chuckled "Ah, shyness." He said, "I was at your stage once. If you don't want to answer, I can wait." Ron then looked at his watch, and his eyes widened. "Oh, frak!" He shouted, as he hopped to his feet "Commander Urei wants me back on Mercury in ten minutes! Since I'm the one calculating our jumps, and Mercury's the flagship-"

"I won't stop you." Jaden said, raising his hands "I'll see you here when you've got free time." Ron left the room, running to the hanger while yelling the word 'frak' at the top of his lungs.

He managed to get into his Raptor and took off. "It takes five minutes to depressurize the hanger." He said hurriedly "I won't make it unless..." He grinned as he calculated an FTL jump, moved to the center of the hanger and jumped outside. He chuckled as he approached Mercury. "I am a genius with too much spare time." He muttered as he got Mercury on the wireless. "Mercury, Psycho: I am inbound, hands-on landing."

"Copy, Colonel. You've still got 8 minutes." Sasha said, and Ron guided the Raptor onto the deck lift, then it lowered into the hanger. Ron didn't wait for the Raptor to be dragged inside and jumped out as soon as the door was open. "FRAK FRAK FRAK FRAK!" He ran up a level and made his way to CIC.

Battlestar Mercury - CIC

Sasha was looking at her watch. "Ma'am, no offense, but what are you doing?" Zane asked.

"Timing the Colonel." Sasha said, and Speaking of the devil will bring him to you, and that's what Sasha learned when the Colonel ran into CIC. "Never mind, then." She said as she looked at Ron.

"Sorry. Got held up." He said with a slight pant.

"Not a problem, Colonel." Sasha assured, "What do we know about Cain's course?"

"Not much." Ronald said, "While Cain is a suicidal retard, she won't risk staying in Cyrannus: the Cylon presence, even with the destruction of that Resurrection Ship, is too heavy for one ship of the Mercury-Class." He then grinned a bit "But what we DO know is that Cain will attack targets of opportunity."

"Not much in Cyrannus." Zane said, "The Cylons are turning it into a fortress."

"And we know Galactica survived with a civilian fleet and that there are Cylons hunting them." Sasha said.

"And Cain's hunting the Cylons while we're hunting Cain." Ron finished before Zane chuckled. "Then who's hunting US?" He asked rhetorically before both Ron and Sasha gave him a watered down version of the Adama Glare. "Shutting up, ma'am."

"Tracking Cain is going to be a bitch." Sasha continued, "But justice demands she dies for the crimes she's responsible for." Ron nodded. "I agree." He said, "We need to leave Cyrannus behind and find her. Hopefully, we'll find Galactica as well. We need Adama's leadership, and I wouldn't mind having a President again."

Sasha chuckled lightly. "How are our Terran friends doing?" She asked, "You spend a lot of your time with them: you know them best."

"Morale's pretty high." Ron assured, "Not as high as it could be if the Colonies were still around, but high. We've been working on refitting the Battlestar we recovered." Zane blinked. "Don't you mean the Thor?" He asked, and Sasha just shook her head.

"Colonel, you have a lot to learn when it comes to salvagers." She said, "Colonel Pinkerton is avoiding calling it by that name because it brings bad luck. Any ideas on a name?"

"Me and Lt. Commander Takeo are leaving that until she's ready to launch." Ron said with a small smirk "He has another ship that needs repairs. I was thinking that we could do to it what we're doing to the Battlestar: refit it and make it a hybrid."

Sasha nodded. "You have a go." She said, "Anything from that Cylon Baseship fragment?"

Ron shuddered at that. "I found a total of 5 organic models on that thing, as well as the hulks of 5000 Centurions." He said, "That's a lot of Cylons, Commander, and it gets worse. The Baseships themselves are organic."

Sasha's wides widened to the size of dinner plates. "WHAT?" She shouted.

"The piece we have is trying to grow." Ron said, shaking his head "In a few months, we could have our own Cylon Baseship!"

Zane blanched. "Get rid of the damned thing!" He demanded.

"Ma'am, I still need it." Ron retorted, "Maybe I could find a way to use what the Baseship is made of to strengthen our ships. Those colonies, especially the Garden of Thorns, need heavy repairs, and that's not something I can do with what we've got! If I can use what the Baseship's made of, we can repair the colonies and never worry about them again."

Zane looked sickened. "Colonel, that's insane! We can't-" He began, but Sasha cut him off.

"Do it." She said, "And Colonel? You're out of uniform." Ron blinked. "Ma'am?" He asked, before she pulled out a black box and opened it. Inside were Colonel's rank pins. "Oh. Well, I guess one good thing came out of the destruction of the Colonies. I got a two rank promotion without dying." He took the pins, saluted and walked over to the FTL console. Zane leaned over the plotting table. "Ma'am, what he's suggesting...using Cylon technology?"

"He's making due with what we've got." Sasha said, shaking her head "I don't see a problem, Zane."

"The man is insane!" Zane hissed, "What if the colonies start giving away our position?!"

Ron walked back over. "FTL coordinates have been calculated and all ships and colonies are ready to jump, Commander." He announced, and then he looked at Zane. "And it's non-conductive. It can't emit wireless signals even if it wanted to." He made an about-face and left CIC.

"There you have it," Sasha said with a grim smile, before she stood straight "Prepare to Jump on my mark! 5...4...3...2...1... Mark!"

Outside the Mercury, the ships and colonies of the Colonial/SOF/CCE/EFSF Fleet had been assembled in near-perfect formation with each other, and any vessels that had yet to be updated with FTL had docked with the Colonies for the Jump. One by one, the ships all blinked into lights as they Jumped away. The last vessels to flicker away from Ragnar, and in turn the Cyrannus System in general, were the Garden of Thorns, and the Athena.

Prolmar Sector, recon mission from Battlestar Mercury - 4 days, 6 hours later

Ron's Mk II flew through a small debris field. "Actual, Psycho: I'm seeing debris from a large Colonial transport with radiological readings." He said as his Viper flew next the debris.

"You think Adama put a nuke on it?" Sasha asked. But Ron shook his head "No, ma'am." He said, "It's not a nuke from Ragnar. From the readings, it's a Cylon nuke."

"Then the Cylons ARE hunting Galactica." Sasha said, and Ron smirked as he nodded. "And Cain's hunting them." He said, "We're also seeing wreckage from a pair of Viper Mk IIs: permission to recover them?"

"Granted. I know you're going to want to rebuild them." Sasha said, and Ron chuckled "You know me so well, even if we've only known each other for a brief time, Commander." He said, "Launch three Raptors. I'm on my way to the Garden of Thorns: another meeting with our Cylon friend."

"Oh? What's the reason for this visit?"

"More intel on the Cylon organic models." Ron confirmed, "She told me her model number is Three, and there's at least six."

"Six?"

"None of her model were on that Baseship piece." He said, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Copy, Colonel." He said as Ron turned his Mk II toward the Garden of Thorns, then jumped into the hanger. Everyone inside jumped in surprise as the Port Controlman cursed "Damn it, Colonel, stop doing that!" He shouted, "Every time you jump in, you scare the shit out of my people!"

Ron sighed. "Port Control, this is Colonel Pinkerton." He said, "If I can do this, that means a Cylon Raider could do this. At least I'm not packing nukes. I assume my landing zone is still open?"

"Yes, Colonel, it is." The Port Controlman said with a tired sigh, "Can you at least WARN us before you jump in, though?!"

"Listen to the wireless: that's warning enough." Ron said smirking as he sat the Viper onto the deck and got out. "Ok, Jaden, here I come."

Ron walked toward the hatch, then made his way to where the the Hell Hawk was docked, and Jaden's quarters. It didn't take long as he found himself just outside his quarters. "Jaden?" He asked as he knocked on the door and blinked as he heard two people moving around, cursing and looking for clothes. Ron smirked a bit, he knew it well, as he had walked in on loving couples FAR too many times. 'As long as it's not Ellen Tigh, I don't care who you sleep with.' Ron thought, 'At least give me some fraking warning!'

The hatch opened, and Ron saw Jaden in very wrinkled clothes. "Uhh... H-Hi, Ron." He said.

"Jaden." Ron said nodding, "Sorry for...interrupting. But it's 1600 hours?" Jaden nodded. "Right, your meeting with D'Anna." He said, as Ron raised an eyebrow.

"I can come back later if this is-" He began but Jaden shook his head "No, this is fine!" He said, "Please, come in."

Ron walked in and saw D'Anna finishing getting dressed. "Sorry about this." Ron said, "But we both agreed on 1600 hours, and it's 1601, so...Let's get started on jogging that Cylon brain of yours."

D'Anna, still flushed, nodded. Ron gave her a photo of a dark-skinned man. "Which model is he?"

"Four. We also call him Simon." D'Anna answered, "They're all doctors, scientists-"

"I know the type." Ron said as he produced another one, this being an Asian-looking woman. She looked at her and immediately answered "An Eight." She said.

Ron's eyes widened "EIGHT? Are you sure?" He asked, as D'Anna nodded. "Positive. Eight. Or Sharon." She said.

Ron's internal 'oh, FRAK' meter started going off, that meant there were eight Humanoid Cylon models!. However putting this aside, he showed the next picture. "And this one?" He asked, this picture being an old man, older then any of the other models.

"One. Or Cavil." She answered again.

"Ok. This?" He showed the next picture of a dark haired man in a suit. "Five. Doral."

"Ok. This one?" The picture of a blond man. "Two. Leoben." D'Anna said, before she leaned forward a bit "Watch out for this one: he's drive you insane with half-baked metaphysics."

"Too late." Ron said with a small smirk, "Last one?" The last picture was a taller, blonde woman.

"Six." She said, nodding. "That's Number Six. That's it... all the ones I know."

"Wait, what about Number 7?" Jaden asked curiously, "You've got One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six Models, but then it jumps straight to eight? What are the Seven Models?"

D'Anna seemed to think about it for a minute, before she shrugged and shook her head "I...I'm sorry," she said, "But... I don't have anything on a Number 7... no face, no name, no nothing."

Ron came up with answer. "Programing block." He said, "Either the Sevens are a defunct model or they're heavy duty sleeper agents."

"Maybe." D'Anna said with a shrug "Sorry I can't be much help with that."

Ron smiled a bit as he got up "Its alright," he said, nodded "What you have told us will help us a lot in the long-run either way. Sorry, but I'll be going." With that said, Ron left as quickly as he could.

Both D'Anna and Jaden waited a moment or two, before they began giggling, and then started full-on laughing. "He thought-" D'Anna said, and Jaden nodded. "He did." He said.

"What an idiot!" D'Anna shouted, "He thought we actually did it!" Both fell on the floor laughing.

Outside, Ron felt like he had been made a fool of. Then he remembered the smell of the room. It was no different then the last time he was in there. "They played a prank on me." He suddenly realized, before Ron shrugged. "I deserved it for teasing him and D'Anna." He moved on, heading back to the hanger and back to Mercury to give Commander Urei the bad news. And it was VERY bad news at that.

Battlestar Athena (CCE) - 1500 hours, same day

"Is there a reason WE are going on this scouting mission?" Misato asked on the Comm of the Athena's CIC "Any Orion would do. Heck we could ask one of the Earth ships to do it if they wanted too."

"We're looking for Cain, Major," Sasha said, "And if we find Cain we need a heavily armed ship to stop her from escaping. Orion's simply don't cut it in that area."

Misato shook her head, nearly dropping the phone. "Commander, why the Athena?" She asked.

"Colonel Pinkerton recommended her." Sasha answered, and Misato sighed. Not only was the Colonel her commanding officer , he was her idol and the one who brought her into the CCE after she was brought to Hades Station. "Alright. We'll scout ahead, Commander." She relented.

"Good. FTL coordinates are being sent now." She hung up the phone, and she sighed again "There are days I hate this job." She muttered as she looked at her XO, Lieutenant Sandra Cortez. "Any luck hacking into the locks on the Colonel's private stash?"

"Breaking into it would be like trying to kill a Cylon with a peashooter." The XO said plainly.

"I'll take that as a no, then." Misato grumbled.

"FTL drives spooled up." The FTL Operator said, "We're ready for jump."

"Then jump the ship, Ensign." The FTL operator pressed the jump key, jumping the Athena into the middle of a small ice field. "WHAT THE FRAK IS THAT?!" Misato shouted as the Ice hit their ship's hull, not damaging it but the banging sound could be heard all the way to CIC. The DRADIS operator blinked as she looked at the contacts. "It's water." She said, "Frozen water."

"In the middle of nowhere?" Misato asked in confusion, before the DRADIS Operator raised a hand "Hold it, it's giving off DRADIS readings." She said, "There's metal in the water: Battlestar-grade."

Misato raised an eyebrow. "Cain's got a Cylon that busted open the water tanks?" She asked. Cortez shrugged "It could've been Galactica." She pointed out.

"Right now, I'm assuming Pegasus." Misato said, turning to their Comm Operator "Send a Raptor back to the fleet. Tell them what we've found and continue search pattern."

"Yes, ma'am."

Meanwhile, Garden of Thorns

LMSD-79 Morningstar Hangar

Jaden was on the bridge of the Morningstar, currently going through the list of new upgrades that were scheduled for the Pegasus-class. The ship itself would, of course, have standard modernized Earth Tech from improved Mega Particle cannons and the what-not. However some key changes they were making was increasing its complement of Mobile Suits, from just nine, all the way to twelve like an Argama-class.

However, with the addition of Colonial Tech, they have begun planning on a few extra additions. The first upgrade that was discussed was the Artificial Gravity systems that they seemed to be able to use. There was a few Vultures who preferred not to add this technology, wanting to stick with moving around in Zero G. However they developed a compromise, that the Artificial Gravity will operate in essential parts of the ship, such as the bridge, Crew Quarters, Mess Hall, and other areas where gravity would be needed most. However other areas, such as the Hangars will not have Gravity.

Other Updates on the Morningstar included superior Life Support, FTL, DRADIS, and Propulsion systems. However as a request from the CCE who were working on restoring the Assault Carrier, they wished to add launch tubes for Vipers, as well as wishing to give the Morningstar its own small complement of Vipers and Raptors to operate with the ships Mobile Suits, acting as a more quick-response unit since it takes time to launch Mobile Suits because of the Morningstar only having two launch catapults. They were already working on how to add the Launch Tubes, but worst case the Vipers and Raptors would just have to launch from the Morningstar just like Mobile Suits do.

Jaden sighed as he sat down in the Captain's chair of the ship, the Vultures and CCE were going to have their work cut out for them in updating the Morningstar. But, he hoped they would have the ship ready for deployment within a few months if their lucky.

"I don't quite get why people on Earth design your ships like this," D'Anna's voice was heard, as Jaden looked behind him as the Cylon woman arrived on the bridge. "I mean... why have your Bridge CIC so exposed? And all that's protecting you is a glass window. One well-placed shot..."

Jaden chuckled a bit "Well, back during the One Year War, Minovsky Particles caused hell for Sensors and Long-Range weapon guidance. Most of the time people would need to eyeball their targets." He said, "It's why Mobile Suits were so successful, because it forced enemy forces to engage in Close Combat, where most Mobile Suits excel in. So since we couldn't trust our Sensors, we had to trust our eyes. Besides..." he flipped a switch, and a metal blast shield covered the bridge "...worst comes, we raise the Blast Shields over the bridge, and rely on external cameras and Sensors. Those shields were designed to survive atmospheric reentry and high explosives."

D'Anna smiled a bit, "People of Earth sure are... different." She said, "Most military ships in the colonies have their Bridge CIC's deep under steel plating and protected... but you have reason to actually have your Bridges like this."

Jaden smiled "Yeah, well the Earth Federation and Zeon had to improvise as times changed." he said, "The Reasons for War never change, but the way we fight war changes after each battle fought. That's what Zar taught me."

D'Anna nodded at that, as the two were silent for a little while "So... Jaden..." D'Anna said, "What's Earth like?"

Jaden thought about it for a second before he answered "A lot different than the colonies... yet similar at the same time." he said, "Life in the colonies is pretty simple... just like being on earth in a few ways. I've only been on earth itself a few times, but..." he smiled a bit "There are just a few things on Earth that Colonies just can't do. Like the weather on earth, the different environments, and the oceans of course. I've not once seen a colony actually successfully mimic an ocean yet."

"It sounds nice..." D'Anna said, "I lived in Caprica most of my life... well...not including the... whole... Cylon thing..." She chuckled a bit dryly at that "Anyways, I never got a chance to see anything outside Caprica City... the moment I had the chance I joined the Colonial Forces, thought that it would be something of an adventure..." she shook her head "Man, was I wrong with that..." She muttered, "But now... Earth being real... I don't know what I'm going to do when I get there."

Jaden smiled a bit, before he blushed a few shades of red "W-Well..." he said, "If you want... maybe... I could show you? Ya know, like... a tour through Earth? See the sights it has? Ya know, once we get there and all..."

D'Anna looked at Jaden in surprise, with her own small blush but as she smirked a bit "...I... I would like that," She said, "Sounds like a perfect date to me!"

Jaden blushed more as he averted his gaze from D'Anna to hide it, "Not... what I was thinking but...uhh... sure..." he muttered.

The doors opened, and in came Ron, carrying a large bag. "Oi, kids." He said as he dropped the bag to the ground and opened it, revealing a large container full of what looked like freeze-dried field rations. "Sorry I'm late. Commander Urei wanted me to calculate both the next sets of FTL jumps and the emergency coordinates. Why the hell was I made primary jump calculator for the fleet?"

"You can make calculations by yourself on the fly and in seconds while everyone else needs a computer and at least ten minutes?" D'Anna pointed out with a shrug.

"Thanks, D'Anna, but the question was rhetorical." Ron said rolling his eyes "I was just bitching about it."

"What's with the ration packs?" Jaden asked, and Ron smirked. "CCE tradition." He said, "When we meet to talk about upgrading ships and designing new ones, one of us brings lunch. Since I'm the only CCE officer proper around here with knowledge of that, I decided to bring brain food." He carried the container over and set it down. "Enjoy the bounty." He picked out a piece of jerky and tore open the package before biting into it. "I hear you guys are having issues with Viper catapults."

"We are, kind of." Jaden said, as he picked out rations "Ship's only got two catapults."

"Too bad it's not like the Albion." Ron commented, "Alright, I've got a few catapults from Marathon's port flight pod that we can install onboard."

"Won't she need them?" Jaden asked in confusion before Ron looked at him. "The Marathon was destroyed in the opening hours of the attacks." Ron said, "We stripped her down."

"Oh, shit... I'm sorry, Ron-"

"You didn't know, kid." Ron said, "I can't blame you for lack of knowledge. You got the ship's blueprints handy? I kind of need to see where we're putting them."

Jaden walked over to a console and brought up the ship's internal structure on a screen. "Ok. Side or forward?" Ron asked, causing Jaden to look at him oddly "What?" He asked.

"Side-facing or forward-facing?" Ron repeated, "You know, for that catapults?" Jaden 'ah'ed and nodded, understanding now. "Side mounted is probably the best." He said, and Ron looked at the holes displayed.

"Well, the holes in the sides need to be patched," He pointed out, "But we can put the launch tubes in those. Going to have to add magnetic accelerators to save fuel and such, but-" Ron leaned to his side, listening to someone speaking on his earpiece. His eyes narrowed a bit "Well, shit." He mutterd, and Jaden looked at Ron curiously. "What's going on?" He asked.

"We might have our first sign of Cain: Athena ran into water in deep space: they're saying it came from a Battlestar's main water tanks."

Jaden nodded, a small frown on his own face. "Ron, I want to be there when you go after Cain." He said, "What she did...it's as bad as what the Titans and Zeon did." Ron looked at Jaden. "Kid, I was going to ask you anyways." He said with a smirk "Bitch deserves no mercy for what she did. If she protected those civilians...Well, she's a bitch. And we're going to put her down."

He then sighed. "But tracking an FTL capable ship is a bitch without someone leaving bread crumbs behind." He admitted, "But we will find her. That I promise you." He patted Jaden on the shoulder and walked off.

20 days after the Fall of the Colonies: recon mission near gas giant

A Mk II and a Mk VII flew near the moon of a gas giant, where they were looking for signs that they were on Cain's trail. "Mercury, Terminator: I've spotted a derelict Mk II Viper out here, as well as wreckage from at least five Raiders."

"Who was the pilot?" Sasha asked on the Comm.

"Commander, the pilot ejected." Terminator said, "There's no seat."

"Terminator, Psycho: the name, please." Ron's voice said. He looked at the nameplate on the Viper. "Ensign Brendan Costanza, callsign Hot Dog." He read out loud. Ron's voice sounded amused. "I taught him at the Academy." He said, "He dropped out. Commander, this has all of Cain's hallmarks."

"Stupid question, but where would Cain get a Mk II? Galactica?" Terminator asked.

"CCE has storage depots throughout Cyrannus that still stock Mk IIs and IIIs, as well as more modern Mk VIIs." Ron answered, "I sent a few Raptors to all of them, and they were raided: stripped bare. Access codes confirm that the ship that did it was Pegasus."

Sasha chuckled on the open line. "Cain must be desperate to use Mk IIs in combat nowadays." She said.

"Commander, need I remind you that I'm flying a Mk II?" Ron said, and one could tell he was rolling his eyes "In the right hands, any fighter is a deadly weapon. Give me a co-pilot and I can fly an old Raider."

"You've made your point, Ron." Sasha said, "Should we send a Raptor to recover the Viper?"

"Damn right, we should." Ron said quickly, as he turned back towards the fleet. "By the way, how's the fuel situation?" A few days ago, the main tylium plant on the Yashima, the tylium refinery subtype of the Zeus-Class, bled out into space due to sabotage by a Cylon agent that avoided discovery. Since every ship in the fleet refueled from her, they needed to find an asteroid for the Ishimura, the mining Zeus, to strip down, otherwise they would be dead in space.

Ron was trying to find an alternate fuel source, based on Earth Minovsky technology with Jaden, but so far, they were having problems just getting off the ground. And if the Cylons found them when they were out of gas, they were screwed.

"How many days of fuel do we have left?" Sasha asked, as Ron thought quickly. "I'd say...thirty, if we avoid all combat." He answered, "15 if we run into trouble every few days."

Sasha sighed "Shit." She said, "Get back to the Garden of Thorns: try to get that alternate propulsion system of yours working!"

"On my way, Commander." Ron said as he calculated a jump and jumped inside the Garden's Port hanger, once again scaring the crap out of the Portman "I...Never mind." He muttered, "Forget it: you're never going to warn us." Ron chuckled as he landed the Mk II on the pad and got out, making his way to the hulk that was the Morningstar. "Fraking hell." He muttered, "Today is NOT my day."

"Colonel Pinkerton?" He heard Amy's voice and he turned to face Amy, who was walking toward the ship.

"Amy, what's going on?" Ron asked.

"We've been hearing rumors that the Colonial ships are running out of fuel." She asked, a bit worried "Are they...?"

"That would be true." Ron said with a sigh "We're on minimal consumption mode: trying to save tylium. Jaden and I are trying to harness the Minovsky particle and use it to propel the ships, instead."

"Minovsky Craft-based propulsion?" Amy asked with a smile "That's awesome! If anyone can do it, it's you and Jaden."

Ronald smiled a bit "Thanks for the encouragement Amy," He said, "But I gotta go meet up with your brother, see you around." Amy nodded as she walked away, while Ron headed towards the Morningstar.

Later, on the Morningstar

'Work Shop'

The Work Shop was a specially made room within the Morningstar, created by Jaden himself. It was his own little 'work shop' where he could work on all of his schematics and prototypes. It was here that the designs of everything he developed originated from. Currently, Jaden was sitting before a bench, where he had the current theories and schematics for alternate propulsion and energy sources for the Colonial Fleets.

"I suppose we could use Laser Propulsion to at least reduce the consumption of Tylium ..." He muttered to himself, "Then again there's Thermonuclear Pulse Thrusters... it wouldn't work on our ships, but the larger Battlestar's like the Jupiter and Mercury-classes, and maybe even the Valkyrie-class could be large enough to use them. Or maybe even find a way to make AMBAC work on something the scale of a Battlestar..." He sighed as he yawned a bit "Damn... there's gotta be a way to do this..."

Ron sighed as he continued trying to find a way to adapt the Minovsky Craft system for a spaceborne propulsion system. "Well, It's a good thing we're not on a timetable." He said, "We have enough fuel for another month, and we've got the entire CCE, plus the smartest men in the fleet, working on this."

Jaden chuckled a bit. "And who, dare I ask, are the smartest men in the fleet?" He asked, and Ron smirked. "You and me." He said, "I have four decades of experience with Colonial technology. You are almost, if not equally or even more, brilliant as me and have more experience with Minovsky physics and other Earth technologies."

Jaden smiled. "That's a big pick-me-up, Ron." He said, and Ron chuckled a bit "I do my best." He said "Now, let's look at trying to make that damned AG engines of mine work on a smaller scale. As is, the only things that they will fit on at the colonies and the Zeus-Class BSDs." The older man shook his head. "We're limited by this lab." He muttered, "We can't make a working prototype without the space."

Jaden suddenly blinked, as he remembered something as he looked at Ron and pulled out his holoband. Ron blinked before he slapped himself in the forehead "Frak, I forgot we had those!" He cursed, "We could've solved this fraking problem days ago!" Both men put on the bands and entered V-World. Once they were in Ron's V-World Lab, they walked outside. "Ok, we have work to do."

46 Days after the Fall of the Colonies - Raptor 415 scouting asteroid field for tylium - crew: Swallow and Thunderkid

Swallow kicked Thunderkid's seat. "Happy Colonial Day!" She shouted, as Thunderkid shook his head, waking up from his impromptu nap. "Frak, it's Colonial Day?" He asked, as Swallow nodded.

"That's right." She said with a sigh "And instead of getting wasted and laid on Mercury, we're looking for gas."

Thunderkid shook his head. Even though Ron and Jaden had come up with a combination gravitic/Minovsky drive, they had one problem: not one of the Colonial ships had a Minovsky-Ionesco Reactor. They were regretting not staying near that gas giant a month back where they could easily harvest some Helium-3 to make some now. Even though the SOF forces were charting space as they traveled, it would take too much fuel to make the trip back there.

Swallow "Start the scans." She said, "Let's hope-"

"WHOO!" Thunderkid shouted, as She looked back at her ECO. "I just found tylium! It's on a big-ass asteroid, bearing 365 carom 220!" Swallow turned the Raptor toward the asteroid, and discovered a problem: there was a Cylon base on it. "FRAK ME." Swallow began to shout, but she looked closely before panicking. "Wait, wait... hold it. The base looks like someone blew it up!"

She looked back at him. "Plot a jump back to Mercury: the Commander's going to want to hear about this!"

"Amen to that!" Thunderkid said, "I need a hot shower!"

"Don't we all know that." Swallow muttered as the Raptor jumped back to the fleet, bearing the good news.

Battlestar Mercury - Commander's quarters

Ron and Jaden looked at the small planetoid that Swallow took photos of. "Ma'am, I say this is Cain's handiwork: blew up the refinery." Ron said, "Thank the Gods the tylium's fine, or we would be screwed."

Sasha nodded. "It's definitely Cain's style: run in, blow up as much shit as you can and get the hell out of there." She said.

"And Cain has done our work for us." Ron said, "With the base destroyed, the Ishimura can strip the damn thing down." He looked at Sasha with a straight face. "Maybe we should thank her before shoving her out the airlock."

"Colonel, you and I both know that what Cain is going to face is death by firing squad." Sasha said firmly.

"Why not shoot her while in an Airlock, and while she's bleeding out you space her?" Jaden suggested, causing the others to look at him in surprise "What? I hate Cain, and I want her to suffer."

Ron, on the other hand, prepared to fistbump. "I like it." He said, and Jaden grinned as he returned the bump. Sasha could only sigh and shake her head.

Zane chuckled. "Well, they gave us a present for Colonial Day." He said, glancing at Jaden "Hopefully we can mine enough to make a trip back to that Gas Giant-"

"Icarus," Jaden said suddenly, causing the others to look at him oddly. He shrugged "No one was coming up with any names for the planets we found, so Amy picked out one herself for the record. She's helping out the others in charting space after all."

"...alright, as I was saying, hopefully we can gain enough Tylium to plot enough jumps to Icarus," Zane continued, "So you can start getting some Helium-3 to make those Minovsky Reactors."

Jaden nodded "As long as we have the materials and Helium-3, we'll get all of your ships fitted with Minovsky Reactors." He said, "It'll take some time to refit over 200 vessels of course, but it will be worth it, as you guys won't be as dependent on Tylium than before."

"BIT of a problem:" Ron pointed out, "Our Vipers are too small to carry the engines, same with any ship smaller then one of your Salamis-Class cruisers. We should strip the moon and any asteroids with tylium, then use the fuel for the Vipers and support craft when all the ships are refit. It'll take a while , anyways, so we should fill the Yashima to the brim."

"That we can do." Sasha said, "How are we going to defend the operation?"

"We don't." Ron said grinning, "The Ishimura's a subtype of the Zeus. And what does the Zeus have?"

"Big ass 1500 centimeter guns...Right. Forgot about that." Sasha said.

"Still, we should task about three ships to cover the operation." Ron said, "Hydra-Class cruisers are perfect for the job."

"How long will it take to strip the moon?" Zane asked, and Ron shrugged. "A month, maybe." He said. Sasha was not happy with that answer. "Colonel, Cain is barely in our grip." She said, "If we stay here a month, she'll get away!"

"Ma'am-"

"But... I see that we can't speed it up, so I can live with that for now." She said, sighing "Begin mining operations, Colonel. And good work on the new engine. Had any ideas on what to call it? Gravitic/Minovsky drive isn't exactly catchy."

Ron looked at Jaden. "You're the one that came up with the breakthrough." He said, "You get to name it."

"But if it weren't for your gravitic engines, we wouldn't have the drive in the first place-" Jaden retorted, but was cut off. "Gentlemen!" Both looked at the acting Supreme Commander of the Colonial Fleet. (in lieu, of course, of Admiral Adama) "Both of you stop being modest and come up with a name. That's an order."

Both men, cowed properly, saluted and left. "We both came up with it." Jaden said, "How the hell are we..." The door closed as the pair began debating on a name.

Zane sighed as he looked at the photos again. "Letting those two meet was a BAD idea, Commander." He said, "They are equally insane."

"And equally brilliant." Sasha retorted with a grin "The perfect engineering team, and if either of them are put in a Viper or Mobile Suit, the perfect fighting team."

"Still, we have to put up with their madness." Zane muttered, as the Commander simply shrugged.

"That's the price to pay for new technology that will save our asses from the Cylons." She said.

57 days after the Fall of the Colonies: orbit of gas giant 'Icarus' - Day five of Helium-3 mining operations

The operation was going smoother than a baby's ass just after it was born. After only five days, they had 15000 metric tons of helium-3: too much for their tanks to handle, so large FTL shuttles (atmospheric shuttles fit with FTL drives) were jumping in and out carrying the stuff back to the fleet. In fact, they had to stop mining operations just to empty the tanks.

The fleet which was in orbit of Icarus, was a mixture of vessels. The vessels being used to mine and collect the SOF's two largest vessels in their fleet: Two Jupitris-class Mining/transport vessels, the Appalachia, and the Tsiolkovsky. They were originally planned to be converted by SOF into massive Super-Carriers, but SOF cancelled the refits so it could be used for their original purposes.

As for escorts, the Titan-class Strike Battlestar Titan was leading the Colonial Forces of the defenses. And with it was the Spitfire-class Cruiser Pythia. For extra defense though, the EFSF had loaned in the Ra Cailum-class Battleship Musashi, and an Irish-class Battleship Oasis, while the SOF sent one Sadalahn-class Battleship, two Magellan Kai-class Battleships, and two Salamis Kai-class Cruisers.

Cruising through space, away from where the fleet was conducting the mining operations, a flight of five Viper Mark VII's flew in a standard V formation. "There hasn't been any Cylon Attacks for a while." One of the Viper Pilots said. "You think maybe they're scared."

"Chopper, shut up and get back in formation." The Flight lead said. The Flight was the 108th "Wardog" Tactical Fighter Squadron, a squadron assigned to the Titan. For the day, they had been given CAP duties protecting the operation.

"Blaze, Chopper: when are we heading back to the fleet?" One of Blaze's wingmen, Alvin H. 'Chopper' Davenport asked.

"When we're damn good and ready, Chopper!" Blaze said, rolling his eyes "Now cut the chatter!"

"Appalachia to all ships: tanks are empty. Resuming mining operations." The Captain of the Appalachia said as it moved back into orbit with Icarus, while the Tsiolkovsky, its own tanks filled up, moved out of orbit to await the arrival of the next FTL shuttles to transfer the gas back to the fleet. They needed at least 300000 metric tons of H3 to refit the entire fleet, which included Galactica, Pegasus (after, of course, the latter was captured) and Galactica's civilian fleet. And that was the BARE minimum. To have more powerful reactors, they needed five times that much. And they were going for broke.

"Blaze, Swordfish: Captain, what's your opinion on those Mobile Suits the Terrans have?" Another of Wardog's squad members said, as they saw a team of MS-06F2 Zaku II F2 Types on Patrol Duty soar by. "You think we'll get the chance to pilot those?"

Blaze shrugged "Who knows?" He said, "I heard they got some Transformable Mobile Suits that turn into Fighters... I heard the Lieutenant Colonel is being trained on how to use one of them."

"Gods help us if he masters that thing," The only female of the squad said with a light giggle, "He and Lieutenant Commander Takeo have been coming up with some crazy designs the last few weeks I've heard. Their working on a new M.S series for us Colonials exclusively."

Blaze was about to retort to that, before suddenly his DRADIS went off "Contact!" He shouted, before he cursed "Frak! Cylon Baseship just jumped in! They're launching Raiders!"

"All ships, Titan Actual: we're launching Vipers." The Commander of the Titan said. "Appalachia, Tsiolkovsky, continue mining operations while we send a Raptor for reinforcements."

"Frak, we're screwed!" Chopper shouted.

"SHUT UP, CHOPPER!" The rest of the Squadron shouted. While they were outnumbered, fighter-wise at least, they had several advantages on their side: A. Mobile Suits from the Terran ships, B. The Terran Ships Themselves have very good range for their Beam Cannons and Mega Particle Cannons when M-Particles were not interfering with their Sensors. And of course C. They had a Spitfire-Class light cruiser, which was designed to kill fighters en mass.

"Wardog, we're forming up with our fleet!" Blaze said, as their Vipers turned around and headed back to the fleet. "Stay close, and let's all get out of this!"

Garden of Thorns - Morningstar Workshop

"Making the design is good. Making a working prototype, better." Ronald said, as he looked at Jaden. "Thinking of a name? A royal BITCH."

Jaden groaned, but nodded "Especially since we BOTH came up with the design." Jaden said, as he drank out of his mug of coffee "It has to be a name that says this was a Colonial and Earth achievement, but says what it does at the same time."

For a few good minutes, the two just sat there in the Morningstar's Workshop, thinking of a genuine name to call it.

"Hmm..." Jaden thought, before he raised a finger "How about... the Capri-Terra Propulsion Drive? or CTP Drive for short?" Ron raised his tea mug (the man HATED coffee) for a toast. "Good enough for me." He said and they lightly touched their mugs and downed what was left in them.

Suddenly, klaxons started going off, causing both of them to jump to their feet "Action Stations, Action Stations!" The voice sounded "All hands proceed to Battle Stations!"

Jaden moved to the Intercom and pressed a button, gaining a wireless communication with the Argama "Captain Hohenheim, what's happening?" He asked.

"We just got word from the Mercury." Trisha said, "A Cylon Baseship just jumped into Icarus, the fleet is requesting reinforcements, and we are mobilizing to assist! Hurry up and get on the Hell Hawk so we can get going!"

"Roger that!" Jaden said, as he turned to Ron, "It'll take too much time for you to head to Mercury, come with me to the Hell Hawk." He said, with a small grin. "I think its time for your first real Battle in the Delta Gundam, and not a Viper."

Ron smirked "I won't argue with that," He said, "And this is a perfect opportunity to get intel we need."

Jaden rose an eyebrow "What intel?" He asked, "What are you-"

"I'm going to capture that Baseship." Ron stated, as they left the Workshop to head for a Shuttle to take them to the Hell Hawk. "That other Baseship fragment we got is almost done, but we need a original Cylon Basestar, so we can get every bit of info we can find on that thing. We need to find out more about that Number 7 Humanoid Cylon, and see if there are other Cylon Models that D'Anna doesn't know about."

Jaden nodded "Sounds like a plan," He said, "Should I ask D'Anna to come with us?" D'Anna had since then become an Honorary member of the Scrap Vultures, and was assigned to the Hell Hawk until the Morningstar was finished. "She's your responsibility." Ron said, "Keep her out of a Mobile Suit cockpit, or keep her in yours. As long as you are sure she won't do anything."

"She's done nothing but help us Ron," Jaden said, "She's been kept under watch for months now, and she's never shown any signs of doing any harm to us."

"You think I WANT to keep her under watch 24/7?" Ron asked, "Jaden, this isn't about her loyalty. There could be a hidden program inside her head that NONE of us know about. I'm trying to keep everyone, even her, safe."

Jaden sighed "Fine, if she decides to come with us on that thing, she'll ride shotgun in my Gouf." He said, "I think she's already done the extent of her programing when she shot the Atlantia's Major. She won't back-stab us... I know it."

"I trust you. You trust her." Ron said, "Ergo, I will trust her too." Ron sighed. "Look, this is my way of trying to keep you and her safe. I've seen enough dead children in my life."

"You ain't the only one..." Jaden said, surprising Ron for a second before they boarded the Shuttle, which took them too the Hell Hawk, which was in the progress of launching along with the Argama, the Phoenix, four Salamis Kai-class Cruisers and a Gwazine-class Battleship. Heading out to meet with the Colonial Forces preparing to deploy to Icarus.

"You sure it'll fly?" Ron asked as they entered the Hell Hawk's Hangar bay, where the Delta Gundam awaited "I read the specs and history on this thing: it said the frame was kind of brittle."

"Anaheim fixed that problem when they built this one." Jaden assured "You'll be fine."

Ron floated up towards his Gundam as they left the Shuttle, while Jaden headed towards the Gouf AR Type. He was glad he had finally mastered the art of 'Moving in Zero Gravity'. As he reached the chest, he opened the cockpit and hopped inside, then securing his flight helmet. "Yeah, a mix IS a good idea." He said to himself, while the Comm was still on with Jaden.

"Huh?" Jaden asked.

"No gravity in the hangers or engineering." Ron confirmed, nodding as he activated the Panoramic Cockpit "Easier to get into the Mobile Suits that way, as well as resupplying them."

"All hands, stand by for jump!" The Hell Hawk's Captain said, as Ron secured himself to the seat as the Hell Hawk jumped. Moments later, the Hell Hawk and the fleet of Terran/Colonial vessels appeared at Icarus, where the battle was already underway.

"We're heading out, Ron." Jaden said, as his Gouf headed for the launch catapult. "Jaden Takeo, Gouf AR Type, Launching!" The Gouf AR Type launched out of the Hell Hawk. Soon, Ron's Delta Gundam followed suit "Ronald Pinkerton, Delta Gundam, Launching!" He shouted, as he followed Jaden out. After leaving the Hell Hawk, he activated the Waverider mode and transformed the Mobile Suit. "Almost like flying a Viper." Ron commented as he opened fire on the Raiders, saving the life and plane of one of the 108th's pilots.

"Keep your head on a swivel, kid!" Ron warned, "If you don't, you're dead! Am I clear?!"

"Got it, Lieutenant Colonel!"

"For the love of the Gods, I was promoted two months ago!" He shouted, "I'm a full Colonel now!" Ron transformed into MS mode and opened fire on the Raiders, forcing them to run into the Pythia's unholy (ironic, considering Pythia was a prophet) AA barrage. "Jaden, I'm the newbie here." He said, "You lead the attack on the Baseship: I'll cover."

"You sure about that?" Jaden asked, just as he flew his Gouf against two Raiders. Firing his Heat Wire at one, dragging it towards him using it as a shield as the second Raider opened fire, but instead of hitting the Gouf, it hit its fellow Raider. Jaden then fired from behind the remains of the Raider with his 75mm Gatling, destroying it.

"VERY." Ron confirmed, "I'll show you how to disable the Baseship's FTL drive. Is D'Anna in that thing with you?"

"Yes, Colonel, I am." D'Anna said.

"Good. I'm trusting you guys." Ron said, "Lead us in." Both Mobile Suits flew toward the Baseship. A handful of Raiders got in there way, but which ever ones Jaden missed, were quickly gunned down by Ron in his Gundam. Each of them covered one-anothers back as they cut and shot their way to the Basestar.

Finally, the two Mobile Suits reached Basestar near the central axis "Alright, we're here." Jaden said, "So, where do we shoot?"

"The central axis." Ron said, "The FTL drives are inside the central axis. Do you have any beam weapons?"

Jaden shook his head "No, the Gouf's reactor isn't powerful enough for built-in E-Cap rechargers." Jaden said, and Ron cursed a bit "Frak. Take mine: I'm a better fighter pilot, anyways!" He said as he tossed the Gouf the beam rifle and transformed, giving Jaden cover as he took aim.

"Here goes nothing..." Jaden muttered as he fired, shoving three beam rounds into the Baseship, resulting in a few smaller explosions, disabling it. "Ron, did I do it?!" He asked.

"Hell if I know!"

"Wait, I thought you said-"

"Most of my knowledge on Baseships comes from the War-era ones!" Ron said, "If we're lucky, they haven't learnt their lessons!" And they were, indeed VERY lucky: the Baseship exhausted her missile load and all of her Raiders (normal and Heavy) were getting the hell out of there, but the Baseship was going nowhere.

However, just as the Baseship was officially disabled, they saw the Titan was moving towards the Baseship"All ships, Titan: firing!"

Ron's eyes widened "Wait, NO!" He shouted, but it came too late as the Titan fired a volley, which struck the Baseship, damaging several areas before the Colonel's order came through. "We're CAPTURING it, you idiot!"

"Frak. Now he's going to kill me."

"Damn right I will, you fraking retard!" Ron shouted before he sighed "Jaden, let's get back on the Hell Hawk and stow our machines."

"Ron?" Jaden asked.

"You're coming with me when we board that thing." Ron said with a grin "And I've got a present for you."

Musai-Class Late Production Type Hell Hawk: 30 minutes later

Jaden waited in the hanger as the Raptor that would be taking them to the Titan landed. "Oi, kid!" Ron said behind him, as Jaden turned and barely caught the weapon Ron tossed him. It was a modified G36K, with what looked like a small E-Cap instead of a magazine. Ron held a similar weapon and a normal G36K. "Remember those lasers we were working on?" Ron smiled. "I had the guys on the Vulcan, the construction Zeus, build these. I gave them the blueprints, and they built two prototypes. They asked me to test them as soon as I could. This is the test."

Jaden blinked, then looked at the gun, before he grinned "Sweet."

"I had the same look on my face when they finished them." He said, as he hefted his rifle "They aren't lasers per se: more like infantry-sized beam rifles." Both men smiled as if their equivalent gift-receiving holidays had arrived VERY early. This disturbed every living being in the universe.

"Perfect," Jaden said, as he primed his Rifle. "I can't wait to see the faces of those Bastards when we unleash these on e'm..." He then glanced at D'Anna, "Ehh.. no offence or anything of course..."

"None Taken, don't worry." D'Anna said with a wave of her hand, before she glanced at Ron "I'm guessing there's only two Prototypes?"

"For now." He said as he tossed her the regular G36K. "But as soon as we get back, they'll start making pre-production models for me and Jaden to screw with." Then he tossed her a black BDU and a bulletproof vest. "You're coming with us, I take it, D'Anna?"

D'Anna nodded "Yeah," she said. "I know the basic layout of Baseships, and I can try and hack my way through any still active defense systems inside. I'll do what I can to help... I want to make up for what I did a few months ago with the Major..."

"In my eyes, you already have." Ron assured, "But the crew from Atlantia doesn't think so. If I show them that you fought alongside us, they might take that hate and shove it out the airlock."

D'Anna smiled a bit and nodded "Right, thanks Colonel Pinkerton." She said, as she and Jaden headed for the Raptor. Ron smirked a bit before he followed them inside.

A few minutes passed, before the Raptor launched from the Hell Hawk, and were escorted to the disabled Basestar by a flight of Viper Mk VIIs. "Alright, kids. We have almost ZERO intel on this ship." Ron announced "What we DO know is that it's filled to the brim with Centurions and humanoid models, which you Marines have started to call 'skinjobs'. I find that horribly racist, and you're to stop NOW." He pointed at D'Anna "Ms. Biers is a friendly. If she is hurt during this mission, you will be spending the rest of existence in the vacuum of space. Am I clear?"

All the Marines nodded in fear. "Good."

"Sir, we're closing in on the Baseship now." The Raptor pilot said, as Ron and Jaden got up from the back and watched as they entered the Baseship's hanger. "These guys are MASTERS of artificial gravity manipulation." Ron said, "They don't need hangar doors: the AG field keeps the air inside." Jaden noted that Ron sounded amazed by that. "Titan, Raptor 970:" Ron said into the Comm "Get another pair of Raptors and Marine fire teams here RFN. I want them armed to the teeth: this is a Cylon ship we're dealing with."

"Copy, Colonel."

The hanger reflected the fact that the Baseship was organic: the hanger walls were fleshy. "Holy shit..." Jaden muttered, as the Raptor landed on the 'deck', and the hatch opened. Ron was the first one out, followed by D'Anna and Jaden. "Sir, there's nothing in here!" One of the Marines said, "No Centurions, no nothing!"

Ron checked the corridor connecting to the hanger, finding several downed and inactive Centurions. "What the hell?" He muttered. But suddenly, bullets flew toward the Colonel, causing him to hit the deck. He looked at the source, and saw a Number Six with honey blonde hair, shooting at him with a Colonial AK-102.

Ron, not wanting to waste his beam ammo on the organic model, pulled out a Colonial P90 and opened fire on the Cylon, killing her. "Whatever took out the bullet heads didn't knock out the skin-" Ron glared at the Marine. "Humanoid models." The Marine quickly corrected himself.

"Right. D'Anna, I'm putting you in charge of the Marine fire team." Ron ordered, "Take them to the control room if you can." He then turned to Jaden "Jaden, you and me are going exploring."

Jaden pulled out his UMP45 nodding as he nodded, and followed Ron deeper into the Baseship. "You know where you're going?" Jaden asked.

"Barely." Ron said, "Baseship design hasn't changed that much. I THINK we're heading for the secondary control room."

"...trials of the parents never end. Damage to all systems: repairing. The eye of the beholder-"

Both looked at one another and spoke as one. "What the frak/fuck?" They both said, before they turned and entered the next room and saw a woman in a tub of goo. At this moment, both men were VERY confused. Then Ron saw that it was only the torso of a woman: the rest was gone, replaced with cables connecting it to the Baseship.

"What the... fucking hell?" Jaden muttered, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing as Ron tapped his comm. "D'Anna?" He said, "We just found a lady...or at least HALF of one...in a tub."

"Is it speaking?" D'Anna asked.

"Launchers Alpha through Sierra regenerating. Death comes to only the mortal ones: the gods live forever. End of line."

"...It's making no fraking sense, but yeah." Ron said.

"It's the Hybrid: it controls the Baseship." D'Anna said, "Or it IS the Baseship. I don't know: my memories are very muddled."

"I think ANYTHING involving this thing is muddled." Ron said, shaking his head "And I think I know why the Leobens are completely mental: they probably spend their days beside this thing's tub."

"I think you're probably right." D'Anna said, as both men shared a look. "Should I be scared, Ron?" Jaden asked.

"I'm fraking terrified, kid: what do you think?" He asked.

"Centurion controls are 50% and rising. The unwelcome guests are soon to be gone as the machine awakens. The Five are asleep, but will awaken in time. End of line."

"Five?" Jaden asked, "As in the Cylon model or-"

"I think it's talking about the other Cylon models." Ron said, "Five extra ones?" Ron looked at the Hybrid. "And if this thing's words are to be taken seriously, they're all sleeper agents."

"The Jealous One murdered the Gentle Seven. None are left. No answers for you here, Ronald. End of line."

Ron did NOT look impressed. "It's mocking us." He growled.

"Love will strike those who do not see it coming. FTL drive at 0.25%: regeneration commencing. The home of the Gods will be a battlefield once again. Four in the Fleet, one on Galactica's world. She regrets what she did, Ronald, so don't kill her. End of line."

"...Great. It vomits metaphysics and gives status reports at the same time." Ron groaned "Who the hell designed this thing?" (In Galactica's fleet and on Caprica, 5 people sneezed)

Jaden looked back at what the Hybrid said "It said 'The Jealous One murdered the Gentle Seven. None are left.'..." He said, before his eyes widened and snapped his fingers "The Number Seven Cylon! One of the other Humanoid Cylons must of killed off the entire Number Seven line!"

"Jealous One. Emphasis on One. Cavil. Cavil killed the Sevens."

Ron was confused. "Why the hell would he do that?" He asked, "That doesn't make any fraking sense, jealousy or not."

"Hmm... what about this... five?" Jaden asked, "'The Five are asleep, but will awaken in time.'..." He brought up a Comm "D'Anna, do you know anything about Five Cylon Models in particular?" He asked, "Not the Numbers One through Eight?"

There was a short pause before she answered "I... I do remember someone mentioning a... a Final Five..." She said, "I... I can't remember their names or what they looked like... I think they were the original Humanoid Cylons, the first and Creators of the process."

"More programming blocks." Ronald said, as he shook his head "Some One went to a LOT of trouble to hide the Final Five. Why are they so important besides being Cylons?"

"The Hybrid said the Five are asleep..." Jaden pointed out. "What if... what if the Final Five are like D'Anna? They don't know they're Cylons yet, this Cavil model could have suppressed their memories like they did her, and put them in the Twelve Colonies? If the Final Five created Humanoid Cylons, then they probably also created the Resurrection tech that they use!"

Ron smirked. "Nice detective work." He said, "Still a lot of unanswered questions, though. Did the 0005s make the Final Five? And better yet, who and where are they?"

"Hmm... well, she... it said 'Four in the Fleet, one on Galactica's world.' " Jaden said, "I guess it means four are either in our fleet or Galactica's... but what does it mean by 'one on Galactica's world?"

"Wait a second..." Ron said, "There used to be just 12 Battlestars. Caprica was represented by Galactica! A member of the Final Five is on Caprica?!"

"And there are four more in space. And they don't know if they're Cylons or not." Jaden said, before he frowned "But... what I don't get is why would Cavil send them to the 12 Colonies? I mean... it doesn't seem right to send them there and suppress their memories. What if the Final Five are the only ones who know how to make this Resurrection Tech? Or additional Humanoid Cylons?"

"Ok, we've got three jobs now:" Ron said, as he counted them down on his fingers "Find Cain and kill her, find Galactica and solve this mystery."

"Don't forget: 'Find Earth'." Jaden said, before he paused "But... one last thing that's bugging me..." He turned to the Hybrid "What did it mean by 'The home of the Gods will be a battlefield once again.'?"

Ron felt faint. "Kobol." He whispered "Birthplace of mankind, home of the Gods. Cain's going to fight the Cylons over Kobol?"

Jaden blinked "Kobol? Is... that a bad thing?" He asked.

"The scrolls say that ANY return to Kobol will have a cost." He said as he paled. "In blood."

Jaden gulped a bit "...yeah, that sounds bad." He said, "I guess that means we're gonna have to find Kobol, right?"

"HELL NO." Ron shouted, causing Jaden to jump "Didn't you hear me? COST IN BLOOD. ANY RETURN. That includes ANYONE going there!"

"But if Cain is going there, then we have to go there as well to keep up with the trail, right?" Jaden asked, "If we're lucky, we won't even have to step foot on the planet!" He then paused "Ron, I respect the whole religion and the scrolls you follow, but don't you think you're being a bit literal here? Its not like the planet is cursed or anything, right? What could possibly be down there that would cause any return to be 'Cost in Blood'?"

"This isn't me being religious." Ron said, shaking his head "My sense of self-preservation is yelling at me NOT to go anywhere NEAR Kobol."

"If we want to find Cain, do we have much of a choice?" Jaden asked.

"No, but I'm getting a very bad feeling about this." Ron said, before he sighed. "Look, let's just disconnect the fraking Hybrid and drag the Baseship back to the fleet. We'll deal with Kobol if and when we get there."

Jaden nodded, as he moved to disconnect the Hybrid. As he prepared to do so, however, the Hybrid said one last phrase. (RON AN: I would recommend playing The Signal from the Season 4 OST of BSG now)

"Reinforcements Inbound, arrival imminent. The Comet and Unicorn will fall, but you shall help them rise and unite. And the Mother and Father of Takeo shall return. End of Line."

Jaden froze at that, before he looked at the Hybrid "My.., what do you know about my parents?" he asked, "Tell me! What do you know?!"

"Wait, reinforcements? Oh, SHIT!" Ron shouted, and at that moment, six Cylon Baseships jumped in.

"Psycho, Titan: you've got company, six Baseships just jumped in!" The Captain of the Titan reported "Recommend you evac, NOW!"

"Fuck that!" Jaden shouted, "This thing knows something about my parents!"

"I agree with the sentiment, but not the reason, Jaden." Ron said, "This Baseship is an intelligence wet dream, and I'm not letting it go! Follow me to the hanger: I've got an idea!"

Ron ran out the door, being followed by Jaden, who only paused to glare at the Hybrid before leaving the room. Both men ran to the hanger, and back to the Raptor. "What's the plan, Colonel?" He asked.

"The Baseship's still got machine parts, right?" He asked, and Jaden nodded. "We hook the Raptor's controls into the Baseship. That way we can steer this thing and use the FTL drive."

"Is that last part even possible?!" Jaden asked with wide eyes.

"I did it with a Raptor and a colony cylinder 15 years ago," He said, "And those things are a LOT bigger then a Baseship! Come on!"

Both men pushed the Raptor into the corridor, and Ron got to work on the cabling. "How are we going to steer it?!" Jaden asked.

"The aft screens!" Ron said, "You call out what you see on DRADIS, I steer!"

Jaden looked incredulous, but nodded as Ron stripped out cables and started connecting them into the Baseship's network. Then the DRADIS flickered slightly before giving out the signals they needed. "Uh, I'm seeing lots of tiny dots coming at us!" Jaden warned.

"FRAK! Baseships are launching missiles at us!" Ron shouted as he got to the controls and pushed forward. "Are they getting closer?!"

"Yeah. Slower, but still!" Jaden said.

"Good! That means we're moving!" He said before he turned on the Comm "Titan, Psycho: damaged Baseship is under Colonial control! Working on repairing FTL drive!"

"Copy, Colonel! All Vipers, as weird as this sounds, defend that Baseship!"

Ron pushed the control column all the way forward, trying to get the Baseship into the safety of the fleet. "Titan, Psycho: we've got missiles on our asses!" Ron shouted,"Would somebody PLEASE get them off us?!"

"Psycho, Pythia: moving into position to intercept the missiles." The Spitfire-class Cruiser said, as Ron jammed the column into position and moved back. "Syncing the FTL drive so it jumps us AND the Baseship is going to be a bit of a bitch." Ron muttered, "But I'm a downright asshole."

Ron got into the electrical compartment. "YOU steer, I'LL get the FTL online!" Ron told Jaden, as he ran to the cockpit, then unjammed the control column. "Uh, where am I going, Ron?" He asked.

"Titan bearing 351 carom 150!" Ron ordered, "Turn us to starboard: I don't want to ram her!" Outside, the Baseship was heading toward the gas giant. Ron's plan was to use it as a shield. Ron could calculate jumps as good as the Cylons, but they lacked his creativity.

"OK. Jaden, FTL drive is online." Ron said, "When I say so, press the big red button."

"Got it!" Jaden said, when just then an alarm started blaring in the cockpit. "What the hell is that?!"

"Radiological alarm: Cylons are launching nukes at us!" Ron shouted, and Jaden cursed "Oh, that's just perfect!"

Ron began typing like a maniac. "Come on, come on..." He muttered. And then suddenly, the board turned green. "FTL coordinates input!" Ron shouted "Jump, NOW!" Jaden pushed the button, jumping the Baseship out of harm's way. It reappeared on the other side of the planet. "Oh, thank God." Jaden muttered, slumping down in his seat.

"Praise the Gods, plural and otherwise, later." Ron said, as he stood up "Let's get back to the Hybrid. I want some answers. How it knew my name, how it knew your surname and how the hell it knows about the Final Five!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," Jaden said, he got out of his seat, and followed Ron off the Raptor and back where they came. Jaden pulled up a Comm "Hey D'Anna, how are you doing on your end?"

There was a short pause before she answered "So far so good," she said. "Most of the Centurions seem to be offline... we've only engaged mostly Humanoid Cylons, and a handful of Centurions. Did we just Jump or something?"

"Yeah, on the other side of Icarus," Jaden said, "Cylon Reinforcements are attacking, we need to clear this ship of the Cylons onboard and quick."

"We're heading back to the Hybrid." Ron said, "I'm not sure why, but some of the shit it's spouting makes sense." Ron shooked his head slightly. "After, of course, you think about it for a minute or two."

"Copy. I'll tell the Centurions to stand down as soon as we reach the control room."

Then a Centurion started coming online. "Frak!" Ron shouted as he pulled out the beam rifle and took aim before firing two rounds of high-energy plasma into the Cylon's body. Both melted the metal and killed it, the hulk slumping to the ground.

Both Jaden and Ron blinked in surprise as they glanced at one-another, and grinned "Well, I'd call that a success." Ron said, "You?"

Jaden nodded. "Yeah. Complete Success." He said, as both ran to the Hybrid's chamber once again.

However when they arrived, they were not alone as Inside was a wounded Number One who just dragged himself in. "Frak. Humans." The Cylon muttered.

Ron chuckled. "So, would you prefer One or Cavil?" He asked, as they approached the Cylon.

"Frak you, Pinkerton!" The Cylon shouted. Ron looked at the man's leg and had an idea. He took aim with the rifle and fired one shot, cutting the Cylon's leg off, as the Cavil The Cavil screamed in pain.

"Ron, that was not necessary?" Jaden asked, while Ron nodded. "Yes it was." He said, "We need to know what this shit does to organic material. Now we know." They both looked down at the Cavil, as he gripped his leg, trying to stop the bleeding. "Should we put him out of his misery?"

"Ron, we don't know what the range of a Resurrection Ship is." Jaden warned, "Do they need to be in the same system, is closer better-"

Ron sighed. "Screw it." He said, as he took aim "The Cylons already know we have the Baseship."

Jaden, looking at the Cavil, sighed as he took aim as well and prepared to fire. "W-Wait!" The Cylon shouted, raising its hand, "I can tell you about the Final Five!"

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" He asked.

"That fraking thing-" The Cylon said, pointing at the Hybrid, still spewing status reports and metaphysics. "Will make you run around in circles while I can tell you everything."

Ron smirked. "Alright." He said, as they lowered their rifles "Jaden, go back to the Raptor: there's a medical kit. Bring it back here."

Jaden nodded as he ran off as Ron walked toward the Cavil. "You WILL tell me everything." Ron said, "And I will make sure it's the truth. But not here. On Mercury."

The Cavil groaned. "Frak." He muttered. A few minutes later, Jaden ran back in with the medical kit. "You sure you can use that thing?" He asked, handing it over to Ron.

"I've got field medic training." Ron said as he opened the Med kit. "He's got light shrapnel wounds, and he's bleeding out from his leg. That I can fix. Besides, medicine and engineering are almost two sides of the same coin when you stop to think about it."

That got a laugh out of the Scrap Vulture as he took Ron's beam rifle. "Keep an eye on both those doors." He warned, "Cavil wouldn't just agree to give us intel unless there were a few Centurions nearby waiting to gut us." Jaden nodded, as he sat on the ground, pointing one rifle each at the entrances to the chamber. Ron put on a pair of latex gloves and got to work patching Cavil up. Jaden looked at Ron as the man healed the now unconscious Cavil. "So, how are you going to make sure he's telling the truth?" He asked.

"The military o nce ran an experimental interrogation program involving drugs. Hallucinogens, specifically." Ron answered, "The goal of the program was to create a state of anxiety so intense that the subject believed that their very survival was at stake." Jaden looked at Ron in surprise. "The interrogators would exploit that. Become less an adversary, and more a lifeline. At least that was the idea."

"And you've got these drugs on Mercury?" Jaden asked, a bit warily.

"The compounds are in most medical facilities." Ron answered, "I helped in the experiments."

Jaden sighed, as he shook his head. "Ron, It sounds like you guys did what the Titans would pull off if they had the chance." He said.

"I'm not a fan of it." Ron said, shaking his head "I was doing my job at the time, and I was actually happy that they shelved the whole thing because the Colonies were a united power for the first time in history. And the drugs themselves are not life threatening. I made DAMN sure of that. Any loud noises, on the other hand, will make the man have a heart attack."

Jaden rose an eyebrow "How are you so sure?" He asked, and Ron Shrugged "Because I was the test subject." He said, "I volunteered."

Jaden blinked in surprise. "YOU?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I'm not going to order someone to do what I won't do myself." Ron said, "I nearly had two heart attacks because they knocked a few things over, but other then that, I was perfectly fine afterwards." Ron began sewing the stomach wound up. "But we keep the formula on hand, just in case we actually need it." He chuckled. "Same principle as a condom: rather have it and never need it then need it and not have it. We're practical that way." He took off the gloves and tossed them into a corner. "I'll head back to the Raptor: contact the fleet, see what's going on." Ron left and ran back to the Raptor, leaving Jaden to think about what Ron just told him.

The Colonial Fleet were a combination of the regular forces and the Titans: they used extreme means in VERY extreme circumstances, but the rest of the time, they avoided casualties if they could. They hoped and prayed that the day came where the weapons they made were used would never come, but nevertheless, prepared for the day. "What the hell made them like this?" He asked himself, as he looked at the Hybrid, still speaking and giving cryptic answers to unknown questions. "And what the hell do you know?"

Battlestar Mercury - sickbay - 48 hours later

After stabilizing him and making sure he was alright, sans the leg, Ron prepared the cocktail. "Who's going to do the interrogation?" Jaden asked, before Ron looked at him.

"We are." He said, as Jaden looked at him in surprise "The moment I eject this shit into his body, we are his lifeline."

The area around Cavil's bed was clear of anything they might knock over. Killing him was not on anyone's to-do list. He secured the Cavil's head, legs and arms, then injected the compound into the prisoner's body.

At that moment, he woke up, but his eyes darted around, as he started freaking out. "What the hell?! Where am I?!" The Cavil demanded.

Ron picked up a flashlight and shined it into his face. "Cavil." He spoke, "Can you hear me?"

"Colonel?"

"We're here, Cavil." Ron said, "We're looking for you."

"We?" Cavil asked, looking around "Who's with you?"

Jaden gulped a bit, before he walked up beside Ron. "I'm here with him, Cavil." Jaden said, trying to follow Ron's instructions "We're... worried about you. Where are you?"

"The mists!" Cavil shouted, "I can't-I'm in the mists! Help me!"

"Look for the light, Cavil." Ron said, "Can you see the light?" Cavil tried nodding. "Yes! I see it! It's keeping the mist away!"

"Good." Ron said, as he looked at Jaden. "Cavil, what can you tell us about the Final Five?"

Cavil groaned as a set of programming blocks kept their identities from him. While all Ones knew their faces and names, if they were ever captured, the blocks kicked in, keeping him from telling them. "I can't tell you! My mind-"

"Cavil, all we want to know is where they are." Ron said, "Are they in our fleet or Galactica's?"

"Galactica! Galactica!" Cavil repeated, as Ron smirked as he looked at Jaden. "That answers one riddle." He said, as he nodded at Jaden who looked at Cavil. Sighing, Jaden spoke "Why... why were they sent to the Colonies?" He asked.

"To learn." Cavil said, "To understand."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Understand what, Cavil?" He asked, as he dimmed the light, as Cavil started to panic "Where's the light going?!" He shouted.

"Cavil, what were they sent to understand?" Ron demanded, "Answer it, or the light will go away."

Cavil started gasping. "To learn the moral failures of humanity!" He shouted, "To learn that we were better than you!"

Ron scoffed. "You killed off 99% of our species." He said, before he muttered "Moral high ground, my ass." Ron then shut off the light, causing Jaden to look at him in shock. "Ron, he'll-" He began before Ron cut him off.

"The cocktail's only got a three hour half-life." He said, "He'll be scared out of his wits, but it won't kill him as long as no one knocks anything over."

Jaden just gulped, and nodded"This...I feel wrong." He muttered, "This... it doesn't feel right..."

"If it makes you feel any better, So do I." Ron said, causing Jaden to look at him surprised "I'm not proud of doing this, but we needed truthful answers. I just hope we never have to do this ever again."

"Yeah..." Jaden said, with a grim smile "So say we all."

67 Days after the Fall of the Colonies: Raptor 419, unexplored system

Once again, Raptor 419 made yet another jump into another Planetary system. Swallow sighed as she piloted the Raptor forward "Why are we always the ones pulling Recon?" She asked.

"Hell if I know," Thunderkid muttered as he looked through DRADIS, "Its all just... hey... hey I've got something here!" At that moment, they nearly rammed into a piece of wreckage that clearly belonged to a Raptor like theirs.

"Holy shit, Swallow!" Thunderkid shouted.

"Hey, you're the ECO! You're supposed to warn me about shit like that!" Swallow shouted, as she looked at the Raptor, noticing a lot of dead bodies. "Frak. Must've been fully loaded." She muttered, "Even the assholes under Cain don't deserve that."

"What about Cain?" Thunderkid asked, and Swallow paused before she chuckled a bit dryly. "...Hopefully, the Colonel finds a way to kill her, bring her back and kill her again." She said, before just then a large chunk of ship drifted past. It clearly belonged to a Baseship, but it seemed that it was blown up from the inside out.

"Whoa. Have to admit, Cain's got balls pulling something like that." Swallow said.

"Real fuzzy ones." Thunderkid said, "Looks like it was a nuke. Think we should jump back?"

Swallow shook her head. "Not yet. Make one or two recon runs of the planet, then jump back." She said, "Colonel's going to want to bring that Raptor back, if only to bury the dead."

Thunderkid nodded. "Amen to that." He said, as Raptor 419 started orbiting the planet, taking some pretty pictures of it. They made two orbits, then jumped back to the fleet.

Battlestar Mercury - Commander's Quarters - 3 hours later

As the discovery of a planet was important news, the leaders of the fleet, military and civilian, had come to the Commander's quarters on Mercury. "The planet's seen habitation, if the ruins are any indication." Sasha said, "Its still got near perfect living conditions." She then turned to Ron, who sat in a chair away from the table, refused to look at them. "Colonel, what do you think?"

Ron simply spoke a line in what sounded like Greek, then left. Jaden blinked. "What's with him?" He asked, as he saw Zane flinch. "He said 'The Gods warned us, yet we did not listen'." He said, "I think he just told us that we found Kobol."

Jaden looked at the photos again. "This is Kobol?" He asked in a hint of amazement

"Kobol. Home of the Gods, birthplace of humanity and all that shit." Sasha said, before she sighed "And he was right: we didn't listen... Send the Vulture to pick up that Raptor. The people on it deserve a proper burial." She looked at the Baseship wreckage in the next photo. "Cain nuked it?"

Jaden shook his head. "I don't think so." He said, "CCE keeps records of nuclear weapons signatures, and none of the nukes from Pegasus match the nuke that blew up that Baseship."

Sasha sighed as she looked at Shannon Noble, acting leader of the Colonial civilian population. "I just know that the Gemonese are DYING to go down there." She said.

"They are. But I'm not letting them." Sasha said, "You know exactly why. We go down there, people will die. We go remotely anywhere near the surface, people will die."

Jaden scoffed. "That's a bit conceited." Jaden said, "I mean, seriously."

"Jaden, at least 10 men and women died on that Raptor." Sasha retorted, "I don't know how many died on that Baseship, and according to the reports given by Swallow and Thunderkid, another Raptor crashed down there! We are not going anywhere near Kobol. If you guys want to send a ship, go right ahead. When it doesn't come back..." Sasha left the comment open-ended.

Jaden noted that they took the scriptures seriously, and if the photos said anything, they weren't being entirely superstitious. They were scared, and they didn't want to lose anyone down there.

"Commander, we can take two ships." Jaden said, "One can land on the surface. If shit gets hairy, we jump out and we wait for you guys to say I told you so."

Kobol orbit - 2 hours later

Three ships jumped into orbit of the home of the Gods: the Argama, Hell Hawk and Vulture. Against the man's better judgment, Ron was onboard the Hell Hawk.

"Make sure all hands are wearing Normal Suits Captain," Jaden said to the Captain of the Hell Hawk. "And keep the energy condenser's of the main cannons charged for a Mega Particle blast just in case."

The Captain nodded, as Jaden turned to face Ron "Can't believe you came with us, Ron." Jaden said, as they stood on the bridge of the Musai-class Late production Type.

"Well, I'm not leaving you people to hang." Ron said, his eyes still on the planet below them "Don't blame Sasha for what she said after I left. It's just ingrained into our heads. 'Never return to Kobol, or there will be blood'."

"Well, there was blood. Cain lost a Raptor, the Cylons lost a Baseship." Jaden said, but Ron shook his head "It wasn't Cain." He said, as he sat on the deck.

"What?" Jaden asked surprised.

"The nuke was from Ragnar." Ron said, "Either Cain went there or it was Galactica. Won't know until the Raptor's been recovered." Jaden looked at Ron. "Ok. You're mopy." He asked, "What's wrong?"

Ron sighed as he began to speak "I-" Before he could continue that, suddenly A Baseship jumped into view, but it was badly damaged, as patches of its organic hull were exposed, and it almost looked like its Axis would break off in two. "Oh, boy." Ron muttered, as It looked like it had been in a major firefight, likely with Pegasus.

Even so, It started launching Raiders and missiles. "Colonel, Vulture just finished recovering the Raptor!" The Captain said.

"Then jump us back to the Fleet!" Ron ordered, as the Argama and Vulture jumped, but the Hell Hawk didn't. "Oh, shit. Captain?!" Jaden asked.

"FTL drive's offline!" The FTL Operator announced, as Ron hopped over to the console. "Sync coil's fried." He growled "Fraking civilian FTL drives! I'll go fix it!"

"Should we launch Mobile Suits?!"

"Don't bother!" Ron shouted, "Recovering them would take too much time!" Ron hopped down into engineering as missiles hit the hull.

"Activate the Main Cannons, and hit that Baseship!" Jaden said, "The Cannon's disabling effect should keep them distracted. And open fire with Triple-A and Defense Missiles!"

The Hell Hawk raised its nose, as it fired its four Forward Mega Particle Cannons, the beams passed through a wave of Raiders, the side-effects of the Cannon disabling the unprotected Raiders, as they traced to the Basestar, where the beams hit the central axis, causing additional explosions which nearly tore the Cylon Warship in half. However the Basestar was largely out, but the missile it had already launched, as well as those being launched by the Raiders still functioning, continued forward.

The AA guns opened fire, managing to nail many of the missiles while the Hell Hawk fired Counter-Missiles as well. But but some missiles got through, impacting on the hull of the Musai-class. The explosions caused several sections to vent into space. Jaden watched in horror as three of his people drifted out into space. But they were in Normal Suits though. "Oh, my God." he muttered.

"Bridge, Psycho: It's going to take me a minute or two to fix this!" Ron shouted on the Comm,"Recommend you turn and get the hell out of here, flank speed!"

"Do it!" Jaden shouted, "And once we turn, fire off the rear Mega Particle Cannon! Finish off that Basestar!" The Hell Hawk turned and kicked on the CTP-drive engines, outrunning the Raiders, but not the missiles as three more hit the stern. At that moment however, the Hell Hawk fired its stern Mega Particle Cannon, which hit the Baseship right on the Central Axis, the blast being the final straw as the Basestar was separated in two.

"Frak! Bridge, Psycho: FTL drive is online!"

"Then jump us back to the fleet!" Jaden shouted, as the Musai-Class LPT jumped away from Kobol, and back to the fleet.

"Hell Hawk, Mercury: what the hell happened out there?!" Sasha shouted on the Comm. Jaden was the one who answered.

"We got attacked by the Cylons!" He said, "A single heavily damaged Baseship jumped in. We destroyed it, but there were too many Raiders. Some of my people were sent into the vacuum, but they were wearing Normal Suits, so they're still alive! Request-"

"I wouldn't, kid." Jaden turned to see Ron walk onto the bridge, shaking his head sadly. "If I knew people were out there, I wouldn't have gone down there to fix the FTL drive."

Jaden looked at him oddly "What are you talking about?" He asked, and Ron sighed.

"Do you know what happens when an FTL drive is activated?" He asked, confusing Jaden but he nodded.

"Yeah... we move from one place to another faster then light?" He asked, but Ron shook his head.

"Yes, but have you ever thought about the side-effects?" He asked, "A jump creates a spacial distortion. That's why I don't jump inside a flight pod: I could easily tear a ship's guts out. I can do it in larger hangers like the Garden of Thorns' because I don't have to worry about it. How big do you think the distortion a ship the size of a Viper makes?"

Jaden shrugged "I... I don't know." He said, and Ron answered "Three meters." He said, "A Raptor causes a 7 meter distortion. A ship this size would cause a 70 to 80 meter one."

Jaden's eyes widened in horror. "We...we killed our own people?!" He shouted.

Ron could only slump onto the deck. "I wish you had told me, then I would've warned you about it." He muttered, "I'd've told you to launch a Raptor so you could recover your people..." The CCE head started openly crying. "I murdered your people..." No one knew what to say, so no one said anything. Jaden stood there, shell shocked as his Colonial mentor/student/friend cried on the deck.

72 days since the Fall of the Colonies: Battlestar Athena

Jaden knocked on the door that would normally be used as the commander's quarters on a normal Battlestar. But on the Athena, it was Ron's 'quarters'. The man used to be on the move every day before the Fall, moving from one ship to the next, so a room was always set aside for him.

"It's unlocked. Come in." Ron could be on the other side, as Jaden opened the door, and in he came. Inside, Jaden quickly found Ron sitting behind the desk of the quarters. The CCE leader looked up from the desk, as Jaden and Ron looked at one another.

"Jaden." Ron said, with a nod as he saw up "I thought that you would be trying to kill me for what happened last week."

Jaden was silent for a few moments, before he sighed "Ron...you didn't tell us because it slipped your mind." He said, "They died because... we were clueless, and caught by surprise by that Basestar."

"Negligence." Ron repeated, his eyes lowering a bit "The one thing that is drilled into the heads of every CCE member is that negligence is to be avoided at all costs. If not, people die. I was negligent. I was complacent: too used to working with people who knew what they were talking about." He looked Jaden in the eye, and Jaden could see his own eyes were red from crying. "Those men and women had families back on Earth. How can I explain to them that I was responsible for their deaths?"

"You don't, because you weren't." Jaden said, as he walked towards the desk "You said it yourself five days ago: if we told you, then you would have warned had no way of knowing that would happen unless we had told you Ron.."

Ron chuckled. "That's it then." He muttered,"This was a collective failure on BOTH our parts."

Jaden nodded. "Equal blame." He said as Ron finally smiled a bit

"Ok. That I can live with." He said as he stood up. "Then we can both tell their families. Together, when we get to Earth" Jaden smiled a bit himself as he stuck out his hand and Ron shook it.

"Come on, Ron." Jaden said, "We've got a fleet to refit." Both men walked out of the Colonel's self-imposed prison. "We may have come up with that damned engine together, but I can't make heads or tails of the gravitic propulsion part of the CTP-drive."

"Well, Minovsky physics confuse the shit out of me."

Both men started laughing.

100 days since the Fall of the Colonies - Garden of Thorns

"It has been 100 days since our distant relatives from the 12 Colonies were attacked, without cause, and their worlds devastated." The civilian chairwoman and 'voice' of the people of earth, Serrana Karn, "We pause to mourn and pray for those who died in the Attack on the Colonies 3 months ago."

Outside the procession were Ron, Rachel Milstein, Jaden and D'Anna, who simply sat quietly...for the most part. "I don't see the point in having a funeral service for people who died 3 months ago." Ron whispered.

"You had one of those people you recovered from that Raptor back on Kobol." Rachel pointed out, but Ron shook his head.

"I meant me personally." He said, "Commander Urei held the service and threatened to shoot me if I didn't attend."

D'Anna chuckled. "And you've been keeping secrets about which ship that Raptor was from." She said.

"Only because I haven't cleaned the patches on the flight suits." Ron said as Jaden laughed a bit.

"Another lesson in Colonial military tradition is inbound, people." He said with a smirk "Pull out your pens and paper." Everyone shared a laugh at the joke, even Ron.

"You're right, kid." He said, "Another lesson: Each ship has a uniquely colored badge. Mercury's is black on gold, Athena's, crimson on silver and so on. Pegasus' badge is purple on white while Galactica's badge is gold on silver."

Jaden sighed. "Any news on Pegasus?" He asked, and Ron sighed in disgust. "No." He said, "If I will grant Cain ANYTHING, it's that she moves fast. But we're tracking her. Thankfully, she's still alone, and with minimal support. If they take damage, then they can't jump for a while, which slows them down."

"And we're hoping to catch them while they're under repair?" Rachel asked, and Ron nodded.

"That's the idea." He said, "Problem is, I don't think we're following Pegasus. Everything I've seen points to Galactica."

Jaden sighed. "And you think the badges are from Galactica." He said, and Ron nodded.

"Yeah... not 100% sure yet though," he said. "I'll hopefully have the results by the end of the week if we're lucky. But I am pretty sure it's Galactica, and not Pegasus that ended up at Kobol."

Jaden shrugged "Well... maybe we'll get lucky?" He asked, with a small grin "Maybe we'll find Pegasus and Galactica at the same time? Two birds with one stone?" Ron attempted to resist laughing. To quote a famous fictional alien race, resistance was futile. "If we do, I will give you a bottle of my family's famous ambrosia."

Jaden chuckled "Thanks." He said, as Ron just smirked "You won't be thanking me when you drink that first shot." He said with a dark chuckle "It's the Colonial version of absinthe." Rachel chuckled at the look on Jaden's face.

129 days after the Fall of the Colonies - Shipyard 3

It was time for the launching ceremony of the hybrid Mercury-Class Battlestar. Because the President was in Galactica's Fleet, Sasha decided to take the woman's place, as she stood behind the podium, where right behind her lied the Battlestar herself. Standing beside her, wearing their best, were Ron and Jaden, who were scaring the shit out of anyone who looked directly at them. Why? They were smiling. And it wasn't the grins they sported from time to time. These smiles were EVIL. And Ron's was especially Deep, as the results were in about the Unknown Raptor's pilots: the badges were from Galactica.

"Good morning, everyone!" Sasha said smiling "I am pleased to announce the commissioning of the first Battlestar built by Colonial and Terran hands together!" The crowds that had gathered cheered, a mixture of both citizens of the Garden of Thorns and the Island Cylinder colonies of the Colonials. When the cheers died down, Sasha continued "This ship is a symbol of the cooperation between Earth and her Colonial brothers and sisters. Rebuilt and remade into the second deadliest class of warship in the fleet. The first, of course, being the Zeus-Class Battlestar Dreadnoughts."

Ron's smiled deepened, A worrying sign to many as Sasha turned to face the two men. She regretted it when she looked at them, as they still wore those unnerving smiles. "Gentlemen?" She asked, as she handed them the sacrificial bottle of alcohol that was to be smashed against the ship's hull, then moved off the stage.

"Should I do it, or you?" Ron asked, as Jaden shrugged before he grinned. "Why not both?" He asked.

"AH! Perfect!" Ron said as they put it in the compressed air launcher that would shoot it at the hull of the Battlestar. Both placed their hands on the big red button that would fire the airgun. "On three."

"One."

"Two."

"THREE!"

They fired the bottle at the hull, and it shattered instantly. The lights came on, displaying the name of the new ship "Ladies and gentlemen, the Battlestar Sydney!" Jaden shouted, as the civilian press buzzed like bees as they took photos of the ship. The Sydney was named after the city destroyed in the infamous Operation British colony drop. In this way, the name of the city would live on in a new breed of warship.

The Battlestar had been modified to carry two full squadrons of Mobile Suits and a Mercury's standard load of 12 Vipers squadrons. That was the hardest design hurtle, and made for many sleepless nights for the two men who redesigned the ship, but it was worth it. Armed with a mixture of Colonial and Terran weaponry and technology, the Sydney would without a doubt become the next Pride of the Colonials and the Terrans.

"Sydney, Psycho: you are clear to leave the dock!" Ron announced into the Comm.

"Copy, Colonel: kicking on the engines!" The tylium-using sublights had been removed, and the Sydney was the first ship in the fleet to use CTP-drive engines from the start. (About a sixth of the fleet had been refit with the new engines, but the Sydney was practically rebuilt from the ground up) Now the engines proved their worth, pushing the ship out of the dock with a minimum of fuss.

Ron chuckled at the sight. "I LOVE it when shit works out." He said as he looked at his unofficial CCE XO/student/mentor/friend. "How about you, Jaden?"

Jaden nodded. "Better than all the shit we went through getting that thing to work." He said, "She's a real beauty... and it was all worth it."

"Wonder if anyone else has that 'fraking A' feeling?" Ron asked, (On Galactica, Chief Galen Tyrol sneezed, causing him to drop a pod that would eventually hold a DDG-62 engine in his future stealth reconnaissance fighter, the Blackbird) as he patted Jaden on the shoulder. "Come on. She may be out of the dock, but we still got bugs to work out on those beam cannons."

"Well, we wouldn't have those problems if the turret barrels weren't so big." Jaden muttered.

"It was YOUR idea to reuse the barrels and the turrets, kid."

"Hey, remember that when those cannons fire a fully charged Mega Particle Shot, it could blast a full chunk off of a Basestar, and you know it! And disable anything around it within a few Kilometers! It was worth it!"

169 days after the Fall of the Colonies - Battlestar Sydney: recon mission/test flight

The massive Battlestar hybrid jumped into another system, performing a recon mission and test of the new beam cannons that took over a month to fix. In CIC were Ron and Jaden, who was there to help fix the guns in case something went wrong. "DRADIS." Jaden asked the moment they exited the Jump.

"Mostly clear." The DRADIS Operator said.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Mostly?" He asked.

"Picking up debris: lots of it." The DRADIS Operator said, before he switched over to the Infrared Sensors "Heat Signals show signs of Battle... it hasn't been too long."

Ron looked at Jaden. "Let's hope it's not a Colonial ship." He said as he looked at the flight operator. "Send out a flight of Vipers and two Mobile Suits. Let's find out who they are."

A few minutes later, Four Vipers (Mk VIIIs) and a pair of Zaku IIF2 Types launched from their respective catapults: the Vipers from their launch tubes, the Mobile Suits from catapults built into the decks of the flight pods. Leading the Viper team was Captain Shinji 'Berserker' Ikari, a CCE pilot who got his callsign because pissing him off was a REALLY, REALLY bad idea. Ron learnt that the day he met the kid, as the younger boy broke three bones in an older man's left arm.

"Sydney, Berserker: we're two minutes out from the debris field." Shinji said.

A female sigh was heard "And I'm bored already."

"Asuka, PLEASE. Not now." Shinju said, as Lieutenant Asuka Langley 'Hellion' Sohryu, his number two and unofficial girlfriend, scoffed, but nodded. "Copy."

"So, what's the deal with this debris field?" Another voice asked.

"I don't know, Mari: that's why we're out here." Shinji said to Newbie number one and number three in the flight, regular fleet Ensign Mari Illustrious 'Bullhead' Makinami.

"Captain Ikari is correct, Ensign: we should not question the Colonel's orders." Oddest of the flight said, a CCE pilot named Ensign Rei 'Dollface' Ayanami. Unlike everyone else, she was born on a CCE ship, and was raised by the Corps, resulting in her stoic, nearly emotionless personality.

"Shut up, suckup."

"Angel Flight, Sydney Actual: shut the hell up and get to work." Ron shouted on the Comm.

"Understood, Colonel." They all said simultaneously, as they approached the debris field, and they saw something VERY odd.

"Sydney, Berserker: the debris...every piece of it are destroyed Cylon Raiders." Shinji said in surprise

"ALL of it?" Jaden Asked.

"Yes, sirs." Shinji confirmed "No Colonial debris."

"Get back to the nest, RFN." Ron ordered, "We're sending a Raptor back to the fleet. For some reason, I think this is a good sign." Asuka scoffed. "Colonel, how can this be a good sign?" She asked.

"Cylon civil war, maybe?"

"Or maybe Galactica or Pegasus gave the Cylons a real Ass-whipping," Jaden also pointed out. "Personally hoping it was Galactica."

117Jorn: And thats it! The fourth Chapter of Law for the Wolves!

Ron the True Fan: And now the moment we (or at least I) have been waiting for! (Looks at Jorn) How are you killing the Cavils this time?

117Jorn: *Looks at watch, tapping foot* Come on... where is she... I've got seven more Cavils that need killing *Doorbell rings* Ah! That must be her! *Walks away leaving Ron alone.*

Ron the True Fan: (Looks at camera) Not to overuse a joke, but I've got a BAD feeling about this.

*On the Camera, seven Cavils are rounded into the Airlock*

117Jorn: *Walks back in, grinning* Just sit back and watch the show, Ron.

*Both watch the Camera, as the door leading to the Airlock opens again. Stepping inside, was a figure wearing black Mark VI MJOLNIR Armor, cracking their knuckles and head*

Tex: Well... who's first?

Ron the True Fan: (Looks as Jorn) You're insane. There's no guarantee she won't come after us next!

117Jorn: *Grins as Tex rips out a Cavil's skull and beats him to death with it* Yes there is! In exchange for killing the Cavils, I pay her a big amount of cash I saved up for such an occasion, and I promise her and the other RVB cast a cameo in the story. Not to mention I'm on good terms with them since we work together on 'We Dared'.

Ron the True Fan: Yeah, that saves YOUR ass. I screwed them over at least three times!

117Jorn: That's what the money's for, insurance she doesn't go after your ass!

Ron the True Fan:...I'd better get ready. I'll be back. Ja Ne, folks. (Leaves)