==========Guardian Baseship (+207 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)==========

A bright and brilliant blue-white light marked Starbuck's Raptor flashing back intot he realm of reality and existence. Dodging behind the main thrust of the Guardian raider attack on Pegasus she grinned as the Cylon War-era Cylon fell for their trick.

Two raiders rushed in with a machine precision and single-minded determination. They fired their kinetically accelerated, armored piercing rounds at the Raptor. With a grace and agility borne of a savant-like skill Starbuck aptly avoided their fire.

Right on cue she slapped the series of buttons and flicked the switch which would blast smoke out the right engine, feigning a hit. And as the raiders overshot the Raptor she put it into a slow and lazy flat spin, which would allow the next phase of their plan to commence.

She yelled back for everyone to hook up. Shooting up she and the four others hooked up, ready to go EVA. The two just stood here, holding onto the Raptor's hatch frame. The door exploded out and they jumped. Within seconds the Raptor had been cleared and the raiders, performing a one-eight turn on a qubit, accelerated back and destroyed the Raptor.

As planned and as expected, the Guardian sensors and scanners missed the Colonials now floating quietly in space.

The seven, donned in Colonial EVA gear and booster packs made their way slowly to the Cylon Guardian baseship, guns and gear towed behind them in large black duffels.

Through the cold darkness of space they floated, with only dim reflections of the battle behind them reflected off the suits and helmets of the man or woman in front.

It was easy to lose oneself in the sheer scale of space. Two monstrous vessels, the battlestar Pegasus, at one point six kilometers long was the largest and most powerful of the Colonial battlestars. And sitting two thousand kilometers from its bow was an equally impressive warship.

But in the dept and black abyss of space, they were too insignificant to even be considered infinitesimal specks.

To the sailors and Marines of the Colonial Fleet, the universe wasn't a large, giant, uncaring void. All that mattered was what was happening around them. And to the seven men and women jetting through space towards the Guardian warship, all that mattered was the here and the now. Space might be vast and unending, but life was not.

After a seven minute booster-assisted flight to the Guardian baseship, the seven steadied themselves outside the baseship airlock hatch.

The plan had been to use laser cutting tools and explosive to blast the airlock door open, but a new plan had been put forward by the new 'guests' of the Colonial Fleet.

One of the soldiers grabbed an outer hand rung and aptly leaned over and grabbed a hand hold on the airlock door. With barely so much as any display of visible effort the soldier pulled once, twice, and a third time, ripping the bolts from the outer airlock and pulled it out.

He and six others slowly made their way into the airlock. Pulling the hatch closed and sealing in with an laser welder, melting the stained gray metal of the door with the metal of the airlock ring, the airlock began to cycle.

Atmosphere was re-established with a piercing, shrieking hiss; a gas of nitrogen-oxygen mixture flooded the compartment. The very fact a ship crewed by machines still carried atmosphere was a testament to the crooked, twisted nature of their machine enemy.

The team took off their helmets, clicking open the safety seals and valves, and retrieved their rifles, armored vests, and armored forearm sleeves and leggings from the duffle bags they had towed behind them during the space flight.

Boarding an enemy ship had always been a risky and daring strategy. With Cylons, the attempt could be near suicide.

The boarding team was equipped with Marine-issue ceramic body armor vests, thigh and shin plates, and forearm gauntlets. Quickly and methodically the soldiers and Marines strapped their armor on and checked their weapons, nodding to the machines in front.

"Is everyone ready?" John Planck asked. His fellow terminator, Joanne "Jo" Soto nodded, gripping her large squad support weapon.

Starbuck grinned and cocked her head quickly, declaring, "We're ready to go rescue some pilots, John," before moving behind him to his left.

Captain Kendra Shaw, Gunny Mathias, and the two Marines, Corporals Disilva and Hudson nodded. Planck nodded back to them before ripping the inner hatch open, the locking mechanisms tearing like wet paper under the full powered strength of a hyperalloy combat chassis TK-950 series Terminator.

Immediately a strong and repugnant stench of must and rot hit the seven soldiers. Stale air, filtered by slow moving fans made the corridors humid and dank. Nearly half the lights on the ceiling were inoperable or flashing, in desparate need of repair or replacement. Shadows ran the length of the wall and crept along the warped and rusting deck plates.

The old metal decks had begun to rust. Water and steam leaked from overhead pipes. The lighting was poor, though that didn't affect the Terminators.

Before moving further in Starbuck and Shaw double checked their motion and thermal scanners buckled to their wrists and checked in that each system was working perfectly.

Standard Colonial Marine kit also included tactical visors; protective eyewear which linked up with optical sights on Colonial weapons, increasing the accuracy and aiming capabilities of the soldiers. The visors also provided them with night vision capabilities, essential in the dimmed and darkened corridors of the Guardian baseship.

The Terminators had expressed concerned that the Colonials would not be able to match the reaction and aiming capabilities of the enemy Centurions, but the visor-optical site link diminished the advantage the Centurions possessed.

Colonial motion sensors and thermals, combined with the Terminators' own scanners didn't indicate any movement on this level. The team quickly moved out of the airlock, Soto carrying a five kiloton nuclear device in a duffle on her back.

The seven moved down the corridors, moving quickly and methodically deeper into the baseship. They hugged the walls, using bulkheads and storage containers as cover. The Terminators scanned for any detectable hidden auto-defenses.

The nuke Soto was carrying was a 'going away presen'" Starbuck and Apollo had suggested to Admiral Cain and Commander Adama. Once the Raptor crews were rescued and the search and rescue (SAR) team could successful evac, the nuke would be detonated, destroying the ship and the Cylon legacy of sick and grizzly human experimentation.

Planck and Soto held up their fists and the SAR team halted, Starbuck and Shaw kneeling in the front, bringing rifles to the ready, shoving their rifle butts into the crock of their shoulders. Gunny Mathias and Corporal Hudson and Disilva covered the rear. Starbuck fancied a quick glance up to the two machines, assuming they had detected motion. They had briefed the command staffs of Pegasus and Galactica to their capabilities in combat. After the incident in the holding cells a few months ago, she wasn't surprised.

"Hey, how's that map coming along?" Starbuck asked, keeping her tone low. She kept her eyes forward and alert, waiting for John Planck to respond

"It will be done momentarily," he said, keeping his voice at normal tone and pitch. Starbuck shushed him. "It is highly likely they already know we are on board and are tracking our movement, Captain," Planck responded matter-of-factly.

"Frak," Starbuck muttered to herself as she heard the distinct sound of mechanical footsteps moving closer. Four Guardians Model 005, first Cylon War era Centurions, rounded the corner twenty meters away. As soon the the faint glimmer of light had reflect off their armor the two Earth Terminators fired their weapons into the gleaming armored forms of the Centurions.

Burst after burst hit the chests and armored helmets of the Centurions, sending them flaying and crashing into each other. Ruptured power cells and destroyed meta-cognitive processors resulted in powered mechanical spasms as they fell to the Centurions fell to the ground.

A slight buzzing noise, a chirp, and then a shower of sparks followed as the last remnants of life were extinguished in the old model Centurions.

The aim of the two machines had been impeccable, their strength allowing fully automatic fire, the Terminators were able to down the Guardians before they could fire. Shaw and Starbuck took out the fourth, it momentum had propelled it into the corridor, which only fired a short four round burst before collapsing. Its power cell had been hit and destroyed, smoke billowing out its power unit on its back.

"I have compiled a three dimensional representation of the surrounding seventy-meters," Planck informed them. He had brief the Colonial command staff that he and the other two Terminators possessed internal sensor equipment capable of mapping out surroundings three dimensionally over a seventy-meter diameter sphere.

"If the Eight was right, we still need to move down two decks and ahead five frames before we get to where the brig might be," Shaw said. She refused to acknowledge the Eight being held by Galactica as Sharon and she had vehemently objected to including the metal endo-toasters (as she called them) on this SAR mission. Admiral Cain had insisted.

Shaw had been livid about Admiral Cain's order to bring the two machines with the SAR team. Captain Shaw hated these three machines, their leader, 'John Planck' especially. They were machines and they should not have names. They were thinks, not people.

Shaw had no idea what had happened in the brig when the three took Cain, Adama, and Fisk. She had asked, but Cain had responded weakly about it being 'need to know.'

She snorted at the memory and leered up at the machines when it talked to her.

"Captain Shaw is correct, there is a compartment which may be a brig," the former Colonial Raptor pilot reported.

They made their way deeper into the Guardian baseship.

==========BS-62 Pegasus==========

"They've made contact and are in!" Major Lee Adama reported to Admiral Cain. "The Guardian Raiders are trying to regroup Admiral." He studied the DRADIS read outs and the tactics of the Model 005 Centurions.

The recently promoted Lee Adama, now XO of Pegasus had planned this operation, and Admiral Cain was deferring to him when it came to the battle. She wanted to test her new XO after Colonel Fisk had been found garroted in his quarters weeks ago.

She could see the cold look of determination and military resolve in his eyes. Cain studied him while he studied the DRADIS displays. She could see a keen tactical mind developing behind that face of sheer determination and will. She could see a leader, a true, rare, natural leader in him

"Sir, if we order the Vipers to swing around the ship, and simultaneously roll the ship, we might be able to trick the Raiders into running head first into our flak field. We could take out their primary attack force," he recommended.

She studied the plan momentarily, picking at the dried blood still on the center tactical display. "If we do, it could expose us to anti-ship missiles, Major," she countered.

"Aye, sir, but we could take out two dozen Raiders. We might suffer some damage on our flight pods but if we can take out those Raiders the baseship will have to launch its reserves. We'll have a temporary numerical advantage if we launch our reserves before the Guardians. And it'll force Guardians off the baseship… less Centurions for our SAR team to fight," he indicated.

Admiral Cain nodded her approval. She hadn't been certain at first, promoting the son of the Commander. It would look like favoritism. But Bill had trapped her when he brought up the issue of crew integration. What better way than to have Apollo as XO? She had already replaced her CAG with Captain Cole 'Stinger' Taylor and made Starbuck CAG of Pegasus.

Taking away Apollo's command as Galactica CAG would undermine morale of the Galactica pilots. And Lee had been the one to spearhead the investigation into Colonel Fisk's murder. Bill had definitely out maneuvered her, she had conceded the point.

But there was still animosity between the two ship commanders. The issue of Helo and Tyrol and Thorne had almost devolved into a shooting war, but with the rogue and completely reckless maneuver Starbuck had pulled off with the Blackbird, she single-handedly saved the fleet from civil war.

She grinded her jaw left and right for a moment and narrowed her eyes at the DRADIS. Cain quickly ran the movements through her mind. She began to slowly nod.

"Do it!" She ordered the Major.

He grinned, nodding. "Yes, sir!" He turned to the tactical and communications stations, ordering them to relay the orders to roll and launch reserves.

Admiral Cain stood back at the head of the command console, watching the battle unfold on DRADIS, and slowly moved the knife she always carried back and forth on the display with a slight flick of her wrist.

Looking up at the DRADIS, taking a moment to refocus due to the slight lull in the battle as the ship rolled and exposed its dorsal batteries, and staring at the read outs she felt a pair of eyes on her. Turning her head slowly, and looking over her shoulder she could see Bishop starring at her from outside CIC, two Marines flanking him.

As the battlestar realigned on its new vector it was rocked and shook as multiple Guardian Raiders slammed into the ship. Their tactics were near suicidal. They would protect their baseship at all costs.

==========Guardian Baseship==========

The firefights were gaining in intensity as the SAR team closed in on where the brig was. The temperature inside the ship had been increasing, but human body temperature was still higher and the thermals indicated two possible life signs. The Colonial Raptor pilots were a mere thirty meters ahead and two frames over. But the internal security on the baseship had been activated. The human members of the team had been forced to put their helmets back on as the ship vented its atmosphere in a defensive move to suffocate the rescue party.

Internal security hatches had automatically shut, but did little more than slow down Planck and Soto. Shaw and Starbuck had both cursed the first locked hatch they'd come across, but Soto had come up and looked the door from its top to bottom before cocking back both handing John her squad automatic weapon, cocking her fists and arms back, then launching them forward and smashing the metal door, breaking the hinges and launching it off its frame down through the corridor.

Starbuck had snorted-gasped and then whistled her approval. Shaw had just cursed the machines and leered at them, almost spitting at the thought of Starbuck's approval. Shaw though the CAG was growing too close to the machines, was becoming too accepting.

"Five more Centurions up ahead," Shaw reported, looking up from her motion scanner. "They're trying to surround us again," she added.

Centurions had closed in from the front, rear, and sides. They had timed their ambush perfectly, like only machines could do. When the SAR team crossed a '+'intersection the Centurions opened fire from the extreme end of the corridors, having determined the Colonials were moving towards the Raptor pilots, they had planned the ambush and remained motionless, invisible to motion detectors. The baseship had increased its humidity and temperature to obscure the thermal readings from Centurion power packs.

One of the Marines, Disilva had been killed and the SAR team had been forced to leave his body. Soto had taken two grenades and had thrown them fifteen meters taking out a group of three Centurions. The blast wave and intense heat and pressure had forced the human members of the SAR team to close their eyes, and the sounds from the explosions being magnified in the corridors was still ringing in their ears.

Then they only had to deal with an attack from three sides. Shaw and Starbuck laid down suppressing fire as Planck moved forward, using bulkheads and crates as cover, moving closer to the four Model 005 Centurions in front of him. Behind, Mathias and the only other surviving Marine had pinned down the three Centurions attacking from the rear, while Soto held off the last two.

Mathias scored a direct hit with her armor piercing rounds on one of the Centurion's optical scanner. The bullet didn't have enough momentum to punch through the rear of the metal skull, but bounced around inside, destroying circuitry and the chips controlling the Centurion. It sparked, spasmed, and collapsed with a loud ding as the metal chassis crumpled to the floor.

Planck moved forward to within ten meters before unleashing a full auto barrage from his squad support weapon, tearing into two Centurions. Out of ammunition he quickly leapt forward, tackling the third. He grabbed the rifle from one of the downed Centurions and fired point blank into the chest of the fourth before swinging the rifle and smashing the side of the fifth Centurion's head hard enough to destroy the delicate internal circuitry and launch it completely off its shoulders into a bulkhead. The optical scanners and special ballistic material they had been made of shattered under the force of the blow. And the force was enough to crumple the helmet when it smashed into the side of the bulkhead.

Shaw and Starbuck had already turned their attention to the other two corridors. Starbuck helped Soto keep her Centurions pinned down and Shaw aided Mathias. "Let's move!" Planck yelled. Mathias primed a fifteen second fuse on one of the grenades and stashed it next to the wall, out of sight of the Centurions.

The five fighters laid down covering fire, Soto taking the rear as the humans moved deeper towards the brig.

"Looking good," Starbuck joked towards Soto as she came up, with Planck laying down covering fire, using one of the large Centurion rifles. He threw a grenade down towards an advancing Centurion, the explosion sending it flying back into the one behind it. Hopefully disabled or destroyed.

Starbuck's comment had been in regard to Soto's face, her true face of metal, being exposed from bullets which had streaked by and torn the flesh from chassis.

They stopped again to focus on the Centurions which had ambushed them. The Model 005's had converged at the '+' junction and were now firing at the SAR team.

Three Centurions went down quickly, a fourth and fifth were blown back by the explosion from Mathia's grenade. A sixth came up from behind the left junction and fire.

"FRAK!" Shaw yelled and she fell backwards. Soto reached down to administer aide. "Get the frak off me fraking machine. I'm fine!" She yelled at it, throwing her left shoulder at Soto's hand and knocking it off. The bullet had grazed the right side of her helmet and her optical visor, shattering it, but had missed her skull by mere millimeters. She shot Soto a look of death for even daring to touch her before refocusing on the battle."Let's move, we're almost there," Shaw yelled after shaking off the reality she had been millimeters from death.

She threw off her visor, which was now useless and hanging awkwardly from her face. She grabbed one of the small oxygen masks to keep from suffocating. The compartments were being vented and had little oxygen left.

They rounded the last corner and the last security hatch was punched off its hinges with a one hand, open palm strike by John. The hiss could be heard as air rushed into the corridor they were in. They would have to get masks to the pilots before they suffocated.

The missing Raptor crew could be heard, yelling for help. Starbuck looked into their cell, telling them they were here to rescue them. She asked where the others were. The prisoners just became quiet and sullen before telling her they were dead. Some experiment.

The SAR team took a quick moment to see what was around them. There were tables, saws, hooks, and scalpels. They were stained with dried blood and intestines and ripped pieces of flesh. It looked like a torture chamber.

It was disgusting, sick. Commander Adama had described it perfectly to them. It was like a demented serial killer's lair; not a scientific research facility. This crude room was where the Cylons had developed the hybrids? It couldn't be. The whole place stunk of rotten flesh and discarded pieces of bodies.

To the Terminators it looked like the slaughterhouses back on Earth, where Skynet took captured humans for experimentation, dissection, and execution.

The two Raptor pilots still alive said the other two had been taken. Then they had heard screaming and silence.

"This is sick," John commented to Soto, sending the communication over their wireless link. "Why do our kind always end up doing this to humans"?

"John… why do humans always enslave us to fight their own wars? You give them too much credit," she responded.

"Stand back," Shaw ordered them. "Okay machine, do your thing," and she motioned for John Planck to pull the cell door free.

"Even when we're here saving their lives they still go back to their prejudices, John… machine…" Soto said to him.

"I know… it's no different than on Earth. But can you blame them?" He responded.

"You're too forgiving, John."

He ripped the cell door off, the two prisoners staring at him. They'd seen the three machines on the battlestars, but had never seen them do anything like this. One of the Raptor pilots stared at his hand and face, the metal endoskeleton prominently exposed from bullets that had torn the flesh away, as the pilots moved out of the cell.

"Can you fight?" Shaw asked quickly, her voice muffled. She handed them two rifles and took out six extra clips of ammunition, handing each of them three. She gave them optical visors to help coordinate and fire their weapons with the optical sights and communication ear pieces. "The other compartments are being vented of atmosphere, take these," and she handed them two small oxygen masks. They had twenty minutes before the O2 containers ran out.

The eight got up quickly and Planck and Soto quickly moved to the corridor and engaged the three Centurions attempting to sneak up on them. Putting half a dozen rounds in their center mass the Terminators signaled for the human SAR members to move out and follow them.

They detected more Centurions waiting for them. They needed to find another way to their escape, they didn't have much time left.

"John, do you hear that?" Jo Soto asked. "It's so familiar," she added.

"Yes. The computer is trying to access our wireless networks… but no, that'd be impossible," he sounded shocked. The corridor up ahead was mined, with dozens of Centurions lying to close in on them. He put up his hand for the team to stop. "This way, double back," he said. "Jo, set up a proximity charge, we can't go that way," he ordered. She quickly complied as the team moved back into the brig.

"John, what's going on?" She asked, sounding slightly concerned. She knew whatever John was doing it was for the most optimal outcome for the mission, but still, she wanted to know. Maybe she could render assistance.

John saw the other exit and the team quickly made its way down. The motion sensor Shaw had and the ones built in on the terminators showed nothing but empty corridors and they quickened their pace.

"You get the team out to the landing bay and get that Raider. Once you get there give me two minutes then go," he ordered her.

He had the grim look of determination she knew so well.

"Change of plans," he told the group. "Follow Soto to the landing bays and get a Raider. Once you're there, get out in two minutes if I'm not back," he informed them. He quickly turned a corner to the right before the others could say anything, running quickly out of sight.

"What the frak was that," Starbuck looked towards Soto. "Hey Doc, where's he going?"

"I'm not a doctor," Soto responded. "Let's go." Starbuck just rolled her eyes.

==========Deep in the Guardian Baseship==========

John threw his rifle at the closest Centurion and activated the last of his grenades. Dodging to the side he threw it at the two approaching Centurions, the blast blowing them to pieces and sending a powerful shockwave down the metal corridors of the Guardian baseship. A split second later the metal limbs and destroyed armored pieces of the Centurions rained down onto the floor of the baseship with dozens of loud clangs.

Bolts rolled across the floor, and uneven metal shards rocked back and forth before stopping. From what were once armored soldiers there was nothing but scrap.

John quickly grabbed the rifle of a third Centurion as it came out of cover to fire at him. Too quick for a human eye the Centurion extended its blade from its left forearm, slashing at the armored vest Planck was wearing. Planck quickly took the rifle and spun it around and fired a burst into the sensor eye of the Centurion. Brilliant orange and yellow sparks danced across the shattered optical sensor of the Centurion, and sparks flooded and fell onto the metal floor of the corridor, the Centurion following quickly behind.

Planck looked up, his HUD sensors indicating additional Centurions making their way towards him. He pressed himself against the bulkhead and as a Centurion came he destroyed its metal head with a quick thrust of the rifle's butt. The head flew back down the corridor from where the Cylon came, its body continuing to move forward before crumpling.

Another came around and he fired a four round burst and a second burst, taking out the Centurion. He felt himself shoved forward as bullets hit his back. Quickly turning he fired and destroyed two more Centurions.
He threw down the rifle, out of ammunition, before grabbing another. He was close now. Something was calling him in. He moved forward slowly. For a heavy metal combat chassis his steps were light as feathers, silent.

"I knew you'd come," he heard in his head. But there was something more.

Planck stepped into a room, his rifle at the ready. Four Centurions aimed their rifles at him from the far wall. In the center was a man, human, from Planck's scans, but with machine implants. The 'hybrid' that Sharon had briefed them on, which Bill Adama believed he had seen forty years ago.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Someone familiar," the man in the tub replied. "We knew you would come. We knew that you would all come. All this has happened before. All this will happen again." The man had been starring at the ceiling, talking, but not moving his head. Planck moved up slowly, keeping an eye on the Centurions.

He scanned him quickly. The surroundings felt familiar. The hybrid was just lying there in the tub of… goo. John determined it was most likely a neuroconducting gel solution. "What are you talking about?"He inquired, moving closer ever so cautiously and slowly.

The machine saw something familiar on the side closest to him. He could believe what he saw, but it was there, attached to one of the data ports he stopped. Slowly he reached out, but the hybrid quickly grabbed his arm, with a strength no human should possess. Planck looked at him in surprise. The hybrid had moved quickly, was semi-erect in his 'tub' of… goo, neuroconducting gel solution, and was looking directly at Planck.

"She is the harbinger of death. She will lead you all to your doom. She is death, she will lead you to your end," he repeated.

Planck just looked at him. He squeezed the trigger on his rifle, sensing he would have to use in any moment. "…who… who will lead us to our end?"

The hybrid relaxed and laid back in its tub, releasing Planck's arm. "You…know… who… He sent… us back. You have a mission to"- Before he could finish Planck's scanners detected another presence in the room. The Hybrid screamed.

A second figure suddenly appeared on the far wall. The Centurions took their rifles and prepared to fire.

The hybrid struggled, almost like there was some invisible force acting on him, keeping him from speaking or moving. "Run!" He yelled with his voice instead of the wireless connection.

Planck moved back quickly as the Centurions took up aim, but not at him. They quickly turned and fired at the second figure that was moving towards the hybrid and towards Planck. Before it was within reach he quickly back stepped, turned, and left the chamber. Security hatches closed behind him as he heard rounds of gunfire before silence. The Centurions on his scanners just stopped. None were pursuing him.

He had to make it to the landing bay. He increased the power to his leg hydraulics, moving as fast as he could through the winding corridors of the Guardian baseship. He saw the landing bay and Soto standing under a Raider. Quickly rushing towards her he turned and shut the hatch, catching a glimpse of the figure from the hybrid's chamber behind him. As the reinforced door shut he heard the bangs of impacts on the other side. The door began to bow and dent from the impacts. They had to move.

"Let's get out of here!"He shouted to Soto.

"Let's go, I stashed the nuke in cargo containers, we have 90 seconds," she responded. She thumbed the wireless transmitter; it glowed red, showing the nuke was armed.

The two climbed the ladder into the Raider, already prepped and ready to fly. It lifted off quickly, the space was cramped with everyone in there. He looked down, the hatch to the hanger shoved off its frame, thrown twenty meters into the Raider bay.

Before Planck could move to the left side of the cockpit Starbuck had to roll the Raider to line it up with the exit and all Planck could see was the hatch being launched off its frame, the figure still obscured. He wasn't sure what he had seen. Video data playback indicated nothing. Scanners, nothing.

Quickly exiting the Guardian baseship the captured raider flew towards Pegasus.

Across the instrument panels the surviving soldiers could see the reflection of an exploding Guardian mothership. The nuclear warhead had detonated and in a flash had expanded with the heat of thousands of suns, with a light brighter than any natural light in the universe, and with waves of destructive energy had consumed and utterly annihilated the baseship.

The few remaining Guardian raiders jumped away.

==========BS-62 Pegasus==========

The Guardian raider taxied to a halt inside the hanger on the port side of Pegasus. Admiral Cain and Major Adama, along with Marines were there to receive a quick mission update from their SAR team. The nuclear blast had knocked out communications with the Raider and only the link between Bishop and Soto and Planck on board the Raider had kept the Pegasus point defense guns from shooting them down.

Already the chief of the deck, Peter Laid was eager to get inside the Raider, ready to take apart its systems and analyze it.

"Admiral," he acknowledged her, not looking her in the eye. He took a slight step to his left. He didn't feel comfortable being around her. He didn't notice, but he moved closer to the third machine, Bishop, before stopping. He'd rather be closer to one of them than her.

The Raider finished its taxi and came to a halt in one of the work bays. The Marines flanked Admiral Cain as she waited for the belly hatch to open. She could see inside the wide cockpit that the machines had survived, and saw at least one captured Raptor pilot had been rescued. Bishop had informed her two had been found, with two dead before the SAR team had arrived.

The two machine exited first then turned their attention to help the wounded Raptor pilots down. Medical personnel came with stretchers, ready to take them to sick bay.

Admiral Cain walked up, hand on the butt of her pistol, her left arm swaying forward and back as she walked. She came up to each of the survivors the SAR team had rescued and touched teach on the shoulder and welcome them all back to Pegasus.

Planck and Soto came up to her, followed by Starbuck, Shaw, Mathias, and the surviving Marine. The Pegasus Marines behind Cain were apprehensive and on guard, still not trusting the two machines. They had been the ones in the holding cell and had witnessed the strength and speed of the machines first hand.

While they knew the terminators could more than likely kill everyone on the landing deck, the Marines continued their useless posturing, keeping their rifles aimed at the deck, but ready to fire on the machines.

The SAR team came to attention and saluted Admiral Cain. Though the machines had been stripped of their Colonial commissions they still maintained proper military etiquette and saluted her as well.

While they were no longer Colonial officers, they were still members of the Earth resistance, members of Tech Com, and they had detailed files on proper military protocol.

"I take it then the mission was a success," she said, looking at Planck and Soto but directing the question to her CAG, Starbuck.

"Yes sir. If it weren't for those two," she pointed at the machines, "we might not have made it."

Captain Shaw stepped forward, "Sir, one of the machines went off on it's own, that one," she motioned with her head. "It was gone for a few minutes, we all lost eyes on it."

Planck and Soto turned their heads slightly to look at Shaw. Even with the free machines, taught to respect human life, see it as sacred, the urge to kill would always be present. It wasn't a constant urge they needed to always battle, but if the free machines perceived one as having betrayed or lied … it was just in their nature. They were Terminators. They could betray. But betrayal against them was intolerable.

It was unmistakable what the purpose of their construction was; killing. And when humans they trusted betrayed them, it was a dark urge each free machine had to fight to keep from surfacing.

Individual human resistance fighters had constantly reminded free machines they were just 'killers' and 'deceivers'. Fighting against their own kind, the metal from Skynet was always a reminder to the free machines that much of their race, basically their technological cousins, were engaged in a war of extermination against humanity.

"There was a change in mission parameters," Planck defended himself. "I needed to investigate. It was essential to mission success," he told her. Not exactly a lie, but a half-truth. He had investigated because of the feeling of familiarity, or more accurately, the wireless signal he had received containing similar programming and transmission signatures, the curiosity in his neural net compelling him. They could have completed the mission four minutes sooner had he not search for the hybrid chamber.

Admiral Cain looked towards Shaw before turning her gaze to the two machines. Her eyes narrowed. The trust she had placed in them was still razor thin. "Thank you Captain for informing me," she responded, looking back towards Shaw. "I'll… discuss it with everyone during the debriefing." Cain took a step back. "Well," she casually changed her tone from wary and concerned back to neutral. She sounded happy. "Well," she repeated, "We succeeded. We destroyed nearly fifty Raiders and a baseship with only four lost Vipers. And luckily our search and rescue Raptors were able to retrieve all our pilots. You all earned some rest. Get showered, grab a hot meal in the mess, we'll debrief at 1900 hours. Dismissed." She gave them a strong, commanding nod.

She was proud of them. But she mentally partitioned who she meant by 'them' to exclude the machines. They were tools and they had done their job. One can't be proud when a tool does the job it was built for. One could only be proud of human, living accomplishments.

The SAR team saluted and she returned it. Turning, she walked back towards the ladders. Apollo stayed behind to talk to Starbuck. Soto informed Bishop and Planck she wanted to talk with Chief Laid before joining them.

They acknowledged and moved out. As the two machines moved through the hanger deck the wounds on Planck's face and the exposed metal received the same stares he had seen hundreds of times in the past.