Chapter Six
O'Neill's office
Department of Homeworld Security
Washington DC
"What the hell is a Cylon?" Jack asked.
Daniel had returned to Washington courtesy of the orbiting Daedalus after his brief meeting with the dark haired woman. His first impression was that the woman had been insane and needed to be removed from the population at large before she hurt herself or any of the other prisoners. The ease of which she broke the chains holding her in place made him change his mind rather quickly. The woman snapped the chains pulling the links apart and merely sitting where she was.
She had gone on to ask Daniel what he knew of the Cylons as a whole. His information had been inadequate being what little he had learnt in his original dealings with the Colonials several years prior and a few conversations whilst debriefing some of the more senior officers he had been shown.
"A Cylon is some form of robotic life form that was constructed by the Colonies around sixty or so years ago to make things easier for them. Apparently at some point the Cylons evolved and became self aware. Most of them were shut down due to 'malfunctions' as their manufacturers claimed. I'm not sure what happened but they rebelled against what they saw as a form of slavery and fought back."
"So it was a machine verses human war of some kind?"
"Apparently."
"Remind me never to allow them to see 'Terminator'. We could end up with a worse problem. Sorry go on."
"Well both sides agreed on a cease fire and the Cylons left the Colonies. Over the last forty years since the end of the war they've been rebuilding their forces and designing new models of Cylon soldiers and what they term 'infiltrators'. Some kind of cybernetic creation to literally infiltrate the colonies themselves. Captain Knight has some form of evidence to support her words."
"I was wrong they've already seen Terminator. How does she know all this Daniel what does she think she's one of these Cylons?"
Daniel just sat there impassively and looked at his friend. O'Neill stared back and lowered his head to his hands. Shaking his head Jack didn't know whether to laugh, cry, shout or throw up at the news.
"She thinks she's a Cylon and you believe her."
"Breaking her chains kinda let me to that conclusion Jack. One of the Asgard ships is going to perform a detailed scan of her body and anything in it. But if she is one of these infiltrator Cylons then there might well be others in the POW camps or even still on the ships we're evacuating. Their bodies apparently can sustain even high level radiation for considerable amounts of time."
"And she told you all this out of gratitude or something?"
"Not exactly," he explained. "She offered the information free of charge including information about the Colonies we don't have. She didn't say much more but I think she can tell us a lot more about the Colonies, the people, culture and yes Jack, she probably knows a lot about their military capabilities as well."
"I wasn't going to say anything."
"Well if the Cylons are the enemy of the Colonies as they claim then any information they can give us would be of use wouldn't it?"
"Daniel, look, we've been through a lot and you've grown up since I've known you but your still naïve as hell when it comes to stuff like this. For all we know she's some kind of plant to make us try to trust some of their people in order to infiltrate our side. Unless this Captain Knight can prove anything about what she says we're just gonna stick her back in prison… hell, she's going back even if she is some kind of robot in human's clothing."
"I'm not that naïve Jack and you know that it's possible that this is real. If there is some kind of fifth column within the colonies then we might have some kind of 'in'. Obviously the Colonials can't detect these Cylon infiltrators otherwise they would have been discovered by now."
"They may not have found them Daniel because it's a load of crap. Let's say for arguments sake that these Cylons are now somehow magically human. One: how did they become human from being machines and Two: how can we trust then as far as we trust the Colonials? For all we know they could be as bad as the Aschen or the Genii just waiting to stab us in the back like everyone else decided to."
"I can't promise that these people are who they say they are Jack but it's worth the attempt to find some kind of common ground with the Cylons, especially if the records we've managed to decipher are real and the Cylons did have to break free of their captivity."
"We've got the word of one possibly psychotic pilot and a bunch of half translated records that could easily be forgeries of some kind to get these people into our midst. Unless you can convince me that this is in any way not a trap of some kind, then this is conversation is over."
"Jack…"
"DANIEL, I said it's over with now. We've seen this kind of thing too often for me to trust this kind of Intel even if it's coming from you. If the Asgard find something then come get me if they find nothing then we forget about it and stick with our own ways of gathering Intel."
"But…"
"Don't make me call the Odyssey Daniel," Jack warned. "Last time I remember you weren't happy with where you ended up." The General seemed to calm down slightly and return his gaze to the archaeologist. "Look Daniel we've been friends for a long time, and I do trust you on a lot of things including first contacts with god knows what races we find out there. I don't trust them. Even if these Cylons are on our side for now what if they decided that we're just the next target? One human may just be like another to them same as most of us see on Goa'uld being the same as another even if they go under other names."
"Come on, Jack you trusted Jacob and Selmak. You trusted Martouf and Lantesh. I know you're not one of those people that paint everyone with the same brush, no matter what they've done over the years to us or anyone else. You trusted me before right? Then please trust me this time. There's something telling me this Captain Knight is being truthful."
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"So noted. Anything else?"
"We've get the translator working more or less. Your professionals can begin their questioning when you like. But at least allow me access to the list of personnel she's going to give us. If she's telling the truth we may be able to filter them out quickly and easily."
"Alright, alright, fine. But if this all goes pear-shaped, I'm blaming you."
From the desk a buzz emitted from a small speaker. "General, Doctor Felgar's team are expecting you in ten minutes," the secretary's voice said through the intercom. "Doctor Jackson is being requested by the joint chiefs as soon as possible."
"Thank you Captain," .Jack replied. "Alright Daniel, I'll let you continue talking to this Captain Knight. A couple of marines will stay with you at all times and no arguments." He cut off the younger man. "You want to talk to this woman, you do it under my rules; otherwise we leave it there."
"And if she is a Cylon?"
"If she is one of these Cylons then we'll remove her from the encampment completely along with any others we find. Then we'll get down to the actual interrogation and whatever else we need to do. I want new allies as much as anyone but we've had bad dealings with other robotic races Daniel, most of them have wanted to kill us in one way or another."
"Yeah I know, but we've had some good dealings with other robots as well as artificial intelligences. We should at least give them the benefit of the doubt, until we can figure out if they are a danger or not."
"You've got three days it figure this out, after that if we've not got anything conclusive we'll have her and those she's named removed from the population at large. Hell we might get some useful Intel out of them anyway."
"Thank you."
"Alright Space monkey, but I'm sending Teal'c and Feretti with you just in case. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting of geeks anonymous to get to and with no Carter to help translate what the hell they are talking about."
Jaffa Council Chambers
Capital City
Dakara
Shortly before the creation of the Free Jaffa nation, Dakara had been a place of worship dedicated to the praises of Ra and his people. The aftermath of the battles against the former loyalist Jaffa and the replicators had left the capital of the planet damaged and desolate. The space around Dakara was itself a graveyard of destroyed warships and debris that was still being collected and repaired even a year later. As a memorial to the battle the Jaffa had rebuilt the massive city into a capital for the fledgling Galactic power. The construction was still continuing albeit with assistance from the engineering corps of the IOA. This had allowed the Jaffa themselves to make up the shortfall that the short lived civil war had wrought on their already limited forces. The mix of old style Jaffa and new modern Earth construction techniques were an interesting sight.
"Teal'c, nice to see you again."
"Indeed Colonel Davis, my congratulations on your promotion."
"Thank you. How is the rebuilding of the city coming?" Davis asked, falling into step with the towering Jaffa.
"It is coming well, some of the more esoteric of our people do not wish for the Tau'ri to assist us with rebuilding what they see as the very centre of the Jaffa people. More so with the more advanced facilities that you have assisted us with thus far. They are however in a minority, many of whom were in one way or another affiliated with Gerak's faction."
"I didn't realise they still held sway within the council."
"Indeed, their influence is uncomfortable for those of us that wish to work together with the Tau'ri and other races that helped to bring about the downfall of the Goa'uld. Their adherence to their beliefs that the Jaffa themselves would have been capable of gaining our independence from the false gods is making this problematic."
"So what can we do to help?"
"That is something for another day, for the moment we are to discuss other matters pertaining to our alliance." Teal'c gestured to the main doors and followed the Colonel through to the council chambers. "Brothers the ambassador from the Tau'ri wishes to approach the council circle, I sponsor this request."
The circle of councilmen looked at Davis making him feel slightly uncomfortable as if he was a piece of meat at market. He walked into the circle his peaked cap already under his arm he fidgeted slightly before calming down.
"Colonel Davis, it is good of you to come," Bre'tac said.
"Thank you Master Bre'tac. I wish to thank you all for this audience. We were not expecting such a rapid response to our requests."
"It is our pleasure Colonel, our condolences on the attacks on your world. We know that many of your people were lost and in mourning. We will help in any way possible and the ships we have dispatched to Earth will stay until such time as you are able and willing to defend your own world."
"That is generous of you Master Bre'tac. I am also the bearer of bad news. Two days ago the Colonial fleet attacked Earth again and managed to jump into the gravity well. Out of the fifty weapons launched a single multi-megaton missile managed to impact within the United States. Half of the lower states have had nuclear fallout damage their crops and biosphere. A city by the name of Memphis and its surrounding area was destroyed by the attack."
"How was it they were able to get so close to the surface to do this?" asked one of the Council, an older grey haired Jaffa woman. "We were informed that your defences had been tightened and increased by the actions of both ourselves and the Asgard."
"They managed to get a single missile through Councillor out of fifty from close range, that one missile was a fluke hit that would not happen again. It is believed that this was some form of revenge strike by some of the survivors of the first attack to sow doubt on our abilities to defend our people as well as to cause as much damage as possible to knock us out of this war completely."
"Then this was a cowards attack on an unknowing population," Bre'tac said. "Then it seems that this meeting is more urgently needed than it was before. We invite you to sit with us Colonel and inform us as to the plans and requests of your leaders."
"Thank you Master, we wish to bargain with the Jaffa nation to acquire materials for construction and some technical assistance to upgrade our own ships. As you know, our ships are geared towards the heavy use of modified nuclear weapons and an anti fighter/missile system for use against smaller ships. But with the war with the Colonials the fleet, our fleet, is badly armed to take them on with the pure amount of projectile firepower they use. It will be very difficult for our missiles to make it through their anti missile defences in the numbers we can launch."
"So you wish for our help to upgrade the weapons and defences of your ships?" one of the council, a younger looking blond man with the golden mark of the first Jaffa of Heru'ur on his forehead asked. He was a lucky survivor of the all but annihilated legions of the former system lord. "The mighty Tau'ri warships need help from the lowly Jaffa to fend off yet another enemy that they have made during their rampage through the Galaxy when they should have left well enough alone. I do not see why we should even offer help past what we already have."
"You have made your position quite clear, Kar'ck" A third council member said. Davis recognised the much younger man as Rak'nor, one of Teal'c's allies within the original rebellion. "The Tau'ri have been good allies to the free Jaffa since the rebellion began, especially when many of your brothers were willingly trying to murder their people purely for not following a false god, your own included. You malign their sacrifices when they had no reason to help the Jaffa in any way and yet did even against those that would kill them in cold blood."
"Enough the both of you," Teal'c said. "This is not the time, or the place for this. The Tau'ri have helped us rebuild our city and saved many lives where we could not. You may think me biased in this but I have fought against both Tau'ri and Jaffa, and both are as honourable as the others. They have never asked for anything after saving us from our slavery until now."
"Yes, they want our help only after they have found something they can not take on by themselves. These Tau'ri have been responsible for as many Jaffa deaths in the last ten years as many System Lords did in one hundred or more; even destroying ships of the free Jaffa after we became their allies."
"We were made aware of Gerak's plans by his own words Councillor. He wished to bring Earth into the Free Jaffa Alliance under his own power as a vassal state. We refused and he brought the majority of the remaining forces that the free Jaffa had, including the attempt to secure the Antarctica weapons platform using cloaked landing ships. We had every right to defend ourselves and the remove any danger to our planet."
"Including those that surrendered after Gerak's command squadron was already destroyed by your own ships? What about the thousands of Jaffa that didn't know that they were attacking Earth because they weren't told the truth and wanted to surrender?"
"The 'surrendering' ships you claim wanted to give up fired on our ships even after flagging their stand down. Two of our ships that had come in were damaged by the point blank firing of your ships. It's the friendship and requests by members of the council that stopped our people from declaring war on the Jaffa nation, something that neither of our peoples could survive."
"You destroyed dozens of ships that held the greatest of our people and you expect us to assist you with the rebuilding of your world and fleet."
"We don't expect the Jaffa to do anything they don't want to. We have spent time and effort to save your people and help rebuild your capital because you needed that help. We didn't expect anything back unless you were willing to give it, however now we are simply asking for the same help in recovering from the attacks and making sure that Earth and by extension our allies, never have to go through this again," Davis snarled. "The Jaffa are warriors and proud of it. I understand this. I also understand that your people will need help to repair and begin production of ships and equipment throughout the Jaffa Nation. We agreed to assist with this and you yourself agreed that you needed this help because of the innate superstition within the Jaffa, now you don't want assist us in any way."
"You said yourself that your government isn't helping us for profit," another of the more opinionated Jaffa K'aru spoke up from beside Kar'ck. "The process of rebuilding is ahead of schedule within the city. Our engineers will soon be ready to start reconstruction of our fleets on their own without any interference from the Tau'ri."
"But until we've completed the transfer of supplies and information to your people, you are still vulnerable to anyone who builds a suitable force to take on the Jaffa Nation," Davis said. "In this regard I am authorised to remove those technicians and builders not engaged in the immediately necessary construction from all Jaffa help planets as well as remove any materials that we have brought with us that have gone unused so far."
The tone and words of Davis' speech did not go over well with the Jaffa council. In essence they were being blackmailed into helping the Tau'ri rebuild otherwise they themselves would be unable to completely copy the technologies of the false gods or create more advanced versions as time progressed.
"Then you will also refuse to treat us with Tretonin?" The last of the assembled Jaffa, the Lady Hacbur asked. "Many thousands of Jaffa are now reliant on the medicine and the maintenance that your people assist us with to keep production continuing, does this count as the necessary assistance that you claim that you will allow for the good of all Jaffa?"
"The Tretonin will continue to be supplied until your own people are capable of keeping the planets running. After that point we'd have no choice but to recall our personnel. What you all have to understand is that we have spent a lot of resources on helping the Jaffa become independent and even more helping with the rebuilding. This kind of draw is economically costly to those of us involved in the Stargate program. With aid needs and defence spending across our world we will be hard pressed to give any help to you. If we have nothing to show for it the people of Earth will demand we spend the resources on our own world."
"The President of the United States is the most powerful man on Earth. If the people decide to withdraw support to off world allies then he will have to cut down or stop the aid completely." Teal'c said, "It is at his sufferance that the Tau'ri have been willing to even help us considering what the Jaffa have done to their people for ten years. The alliance we have is necessary for the continued prosperity of both worlds and as such we should embrace them as they have us. The Jaffa nation owes them too much to simply make them leave and continue without our assistance. I too feel the loss of our brothers and sisters aboard the ships of Gerak however his action were without honour and without necessity. The Tau'ri will receive the help they need as and when we can provide it Colonel Davis, we simply request that the specialists that you supply remain."
Davis was surprised at the fervour that appeared in Teal'c's speech. The big Jaffa had rarely spoken as much as he had here and Paul as amazed at the oratory that he had supplied. Bre'tac, Rak'nor and a number of others were nodding their heads at this agreeing that the people of the Tau'ri had helped them.
Bre'tac took up the thread. "We will keep our ships where they are, we will also assist you with the creation of energy weapons based on our own ships and surplus foodstuffs and building material that we can spare to help the areas devastated by the Colonials. There is little more we can do without compromising our security or emptying our necessary supplies."
"Whatever you can help us with would be appreciated Master Bre'tac. Thank you all for listening to our requests."
"Much as some of our people wish for us to sever ties with the Tau'ri, the people of Stargate Command and your government have been there to assist us from the beginning. I will not throw away that friendship on the short sighted views of those of us that have not fought for their freedoms as we have. We shall begin the gathering of the useful materials as soon as we can in honour of our alliance with the Tau'ri."
"Thank you. That is all we ask."
"Now to other business. We have been given word that the Tau'ri wish to lease or buy several smaller craft within our fleet…."
Former site of the Picon Fleet Anchorage
Picon Orbit
Twelve Colonies
The area surrounding the former site of the fleet base was a mess. The remnants of close to a hundred billion tons of metal had been blown out, creating an orbiting ring around the planet. Massive chunks of the hull had already begun plummeting to the surface. The heavy armour and exotic alloys of the station survived the uncontrolled re-entry. Impacts on the surface of Picon had already churned up clouds of dust and ash.
From orbit, the mass of rescue and defence ships were streaming back and forth trying to save the people living far enough from the multiple impact points to have survived. The rain of smaller fragments had been making any aid operation difficult. Particles throughout the atmosphere were already causing even more disturbances across the land masses, the oceans and the very sky itself.
Tens of millions were dead or missing on the facing side of the planet with more injured each day, as the larger pieces that were missed by the trawling vessels hurtled towards the surface. High above tens of thousands of vessels from the military and civilian fleets orbited the devastated world, haulers and tugs were pulling massive chunks of what used to be the anchorage and its attendant ships away from the planet.
Warships were taking on more and more casualties as the evacuation shuttles evacuated the people of the facing side out of the impact areas. Super tankers, container ships and marine landing vessels were being pressed into service as refugee and hospital ships. Their copious decks were cleared of cargo or munitions and the injured or homeless were stacked inside each vessel as the rescue ships began to ferry them to camps being set up throughout Colonial space.
"Shit, that's a mess."
"The Tau'ri nukes did a hell of a piece of work on the entire area. We've got debris, radiation waves and unexploded ordnance from the armouries that were blown up all over the place."
"News from the surface isn't much better Colonel." The Commander handed a report to his exec. "More than a quarter of the planet is already uninhabitable because of the debris impacts, the radiation waves from the detonations and the station's own reactors spread across the entire hemisphere. Most of the planet's food and supply inventories are contaminated beyond use. The water supplies and farm lands in some areas will be completely useless for the next few thousand years. We've been ordered to cease brining up refugees in two days time."
"Two days, Sir?"
"After that the radiation bombarding the planet will have fatally infected anyone left," the commander explained. "Remind all crews that they need to rotate shifts to avoid radiation sickness. Both the fleet and the people have taken serious losses Colonel. I have a bad feeling that we won't see the last of the Tau'ri."
"No Sir, I don't think we will. We will make them pay for what they've done here."
"So say we all."
"Commander, Fleet Command is online for you." A voice came from behind, the Comms officer, interrupted as the two men conversed."
"Put it though to the phone, Lt."
"Aye Sir."
"This is Hercules Actual."
"Commander, this is Admiral Corman on the surface."
"Yes Sir."
"Commander this is a Code Alpha Blue transmission switch scramblers."
The scramblers on either end of the tight beam communication activated coding the frequency to an unbreakable rotating code. The Alpha Blue authorisation bring the commander's attention fully on his senior officer.
"Scrambled, Sir."
"Good, we require a security shuttle and an armed escort immediately. We have sensitive materials to remove from the…." A harsh cough erupted from the other end of the radio, "from the surface. Assemble them and have them report to the following co-ordinates immediately."
"Yes sir, do you require any medical assistance?"
"Negative, just a few scrapes and problems with dust and ash. We'll be awaiting the shuttlecraft, Corman out."
The radio disconnected as the Admiral broke off communications. The Commander of the Hercules was already moving ordering the shuttle and security contingent to the surface. A Raptor and a larger personnel shuttle dispatched from the portside bay of the Battlestar heading into the upper atmosphere of the planet.
"What do you suppose that was all about?" the XO asked.
"With that coding Colonel, It could be anything and I'm not totally sure I even want to know. Status."
"Bays are almost full Sir. We're still pulling hundreds of civilians and military personnel from the sites around the impact craters and the good news is that the majority of the opposite hemisphere is pretty much intact. We've got most of the debris before it hit. Looks like we won't have to evacuate the entire planet like we thought. BSG 27 is incoming to replace our group as soon as our ships are ready to leave. Close range FTL by all ships both civilian and military has been authorised by the President's office if and when necessary."
"Good, as soon as we're ready retract the bays and take us out."
"We've been seconded to the Aerilon refugee group. Do we wait for the Admiral's party to embark?"
"No. Knowing the Admiral, he'll use the FTL on those ships to get where he's going. Carry out my orders, Colin. I'll be on the port bay flight deck."
"Very good, Sir."
BBC News
London
England
"This is the Nine O'clock news from the BBC with Moira Stewart and Hew Edwards"
"Good Evening. In our top story tonight, in the aftermath of the nuclear attack on the United States, the Colonial warships involved have been tentatively identified by the International Oversight Authority as belonging to a group led by the heavy carrier vessel Pegasus believed to have been one of the command ships that led the retreat from the battle in which the majority of their fleet had been destroyed.
Several of those ships have been confirmed destroyed with one more disabled by the quick actions of the Asgard Ship Slepnir which also intercepted an unknown number of nuclear weapons that seemed to have been launched at their own ships in order to prevent any information from being gathered from their on board computers and crews.
This has led to widespread riots as it was revealed that the Colonial survivors were being treated by the United States and allies, as well as the Red Cross for radiation and a number of serious injuries to a large number of crewmen from those ships. A leaked report has informed the general public of the general area that the Colonials are being held and treated not far from the coast of Australia. Two American carrier groups and an amphibious force, courtesy of the British and French Navies are currently making their way into the Pacific Ocean to join in the defence of the unknown island.
In other news in Greece today, several towns were in ruins today as mobs destroyed enclaves of their fellow Greeks that worshipped the old Gods of Olympus, as is known the major religion of the twelve colonies is that same religion. Greek officials within their law enforcement agencies believe this to have been a revenge attack on the towns in response to the fallout and hazardous conditions throughout all parts of Europe. In Athens, we go over to Keith Tranton."
"Throughout what remains of the Greek population, tonight mobs rampaged throughout several small towns and some major cities that still houses those few believers of the old religions that included the gods including Apollo, Athena, Zeus and Hera. The Olympic religion dates back thousands of years and was once the major theological and physical belief throughout Europe and Asia. Several versions of the religion were practiced mostly in the Greek and Roman empires.
Across Greece, priceless works of art, statues over two thousand years old and even ancient manuscripts and museum pieces collected over the last few hundred years were destroyed in the rampages. Cries of 'false gods' and 'burn the lies' were heard from several of the mobs in both Greek and English. Several of the employees that attempted to save the irreplaceable collection were beaten and in some places killed by the mobs. Surviving practitioners of this religion were hunted down and killed by roving mobs, many left hung from lamp posts or impaled on garden instruments and railings. Several towns that have not been attacked have been evacuated by IOA forces and relocated elsewhere. It is unclear how so many of these towns were attacked so quickly and so easily but what is known is that thousands lay dead today due to the actions of their fellow countrymen…."
Click
"Well that went better than expected I must say."
"That it did Sir. The agents within the mobs have all reported back in. The chemicals that you provided did just what they were supposed to. The agents say that they are ready for the next group of targets when and where you want it to happen."
"Begin moving our agitators to the bases within the IOA countries and ready them to cause some problems for Stargate command and their affiliates. After all, we don't want them to think that we've forgotten about them do we? Once they are in place have them go to ground until we contact them, they know what to do."
"Yes Sir."
Colonial Bone yards
Nova Madigon Shipyards
Colonial Space
The bone yards at the Nova Madigon was one of a number of massive fields of ships that had been decommissioned and set for scrap or for reactivation in case of war. With the founding of the colonies many of the vessels were transferred to a number of massive facilities constructed for the antiquated ships. It was only the Cylon war that had the majority of those ships re-commissioned and sent to the front lines, only the oldest and most decrepit ships were left behind.
Attrition and combat damage had wheedled down those numbers over three quarters. Each yard was all but emptied as cruisers, battleships, carriers; even the huge and unwieldy monitors, were pulled from mothballs and sent back out en masse into battle to back up the small but growing number of Battlestars being built by the colonies. They were brought online just as the war reached its absolute climax with the Battles of Caprica and Picon. Out of the hundreds of warships brought back online or built during that time very few survived to return to the reserves. As the war ended the fleet had been in a shambles, huge numbers of escorts and capital ships have been wrecked or crippled and left to rot in space. Pre-war and war era ships were commissioned en masse to make up the shortfall until the newer generations of Battlestars and other warships were completed.
By the time the next generation of ships came online the fleet had already rebuilt to an impressive scale as the paranoia of the war still reigned through the colonies. Confidence in the fleet began to wane forcing the older ships to decommission as damage or age caught up. Entire squadrons of escorts were decommissioned as Battlestars came online, yet more were broken up on the slipways or used as targets for the newer escort classes.
"I don't reckon these things have even been touched let alone powered up in frakking years."
"Well, the maintenance crews here are supposed to go over them once a year to check the ships are in working order; frak knows if they actually have been or not. Bring us along here, the original Hyperion should be behind those frigates and down a bit our target is a little further on"
"DRADIS scans are completely screwed as it is," the third of their team said. "Harry, you sure we got the right section."
"Yeah, according to the logs the damn thing's here somewhere, those are Calypso class frigates right?" the leader said.
"Your asking me? You're the expert around here I just break stuff."
"Alright, alright," the leader replied. "Those are Calypso class- those are Phalanx class missile cruisers; the Warstar should be right around here somewhere if those morons haven't messed up on the book keeping."
"Can't see it, loads of destroyers and cruiser but no… holy frak."
"What?"
"Over there behind the missile ships look."
"I can't see anything."
"Its right there, it was unmasked as we flew past the Calypsos."
"What are you…. ohh crap."
"I'm seeing that right aren't I?"
"You sure are mate," the Chief replied his eyes widening as he watched the behemoth slowly being revealed as they banked around the clusters of antiquated vessels. For years the older generations of warships had been fazed out until only the advanced or efficient ships were retained en masse within the fleet. As the newer ships had gone online the older ladies had been retired.
"Which one is she?"
"I don't know. She's Galactica class though probably the second production run during the war. All but the Galactica went down out of the originals. I thought the older Battlestars were all at the Cimtar anchorage."
"They obviously missed one, Chief can you bring us around let us see the nameplate?"
"Hell, yes."
The shuttle moved up closer to the massive hulk. Its spotlights raking the armoured hull concentrating on the closest landing pod, the nacelle-shaped bay was damaged from a number of massive asteroid impacts and what seemed to be wounds made by railgun and nuclear ordnance. A ragged tear started mid way down the pod right up to the nameplate; the nameplate itself was blackened from some kind of explosion that had the Colonial navy cut down the lady in her prime.
"Frak, she's one of the first."
"Chief?"
"She's one of the first twelve, the Prometheus. She was reported as lost in action about a light year or two from here then recovered by the Galactica and Hermes about five years after the war. Her FTL engines were blown and life support had been frakked by a nuke. They dragged her back here and left her to rot probably as a supply of spares for the remaining Galactica class and the follow on classes "
"Then why is she here and not with the rest of the Battlestars?"
"There's your answer." The Chief said pointing at the bow of the desolate spacecraft.
An entire chunk of the 'head' of the Battlestar was missing from the point of the bow right back to where the CIC would have been, the ragged metal showing where the hull had been blown open ripping the armoured structure off the hull bracing underneath. Burns and hole dotted the entire rest of the flank evidently where the massive railguns and missile launchers of the Cylon Base ships had broadsided the Colonial Vessel.
"What a mess."
"Why didn't they just strip her down and use her parts?"
"How the hell should I know? I've only just found out the damned thing's here. Hell of a shitter though… why didn't they let anyone know she was out here? People would have loved to have seen another of the twelve even one as banged up as this."
"With people like Adar Chief," the second man said. "You know better than that."
"Suppose so, but I doubt she's going anywhere except the salvage yard for the Galactica and the Rycon."
"So much for the scrapping of those old birds," the third replied. "Not if they're making us bring the rest of these antiques out."
"Alright enough sightseeing, we've got work to do although now we know the yard dogs have screwed up the locations of some of these ships. We might be several hundred kilometres from where we should be."
"Guys…."
"It says it should be here near those frigates though."
"Guys….."
"Boss there's nothing here except…." Prior's head was forcibly turned by his companion rapidly followed by the same figure pointing the Chief's head the same way. "Ok never mind."
The shuttlecraft rotated through ninety degrees, cutting underneath the derelict frigates into open space. Behind the constellation of escorts stretching around that section of the bone yards sat a massive ship. The behemoth loomed at them from the darkness, its bulk larger than anything built prior to the Mercury class or her very few variants. The heavy black armour pitted in places by the micro-meteorites and larger debris that inevitably hurtled through space slamming into the hull.
Every weapon and armour plate was still in place. The heavy cannons locked down and the point defence weapons stowed down or pulled into the hull. The viper tubes were still sealed a few with temporary patches where damage had been sustained by a few lucky hits from floating debris or battle wounds left over from the Cylon war.
"There she is."
"Frak that's a big ship, why the hell did they let her go."
"Too big for the 'New Fleet.' One of the morons in power about twenty years ago decided that the Battlestars were more than enough. They put these girls into mothballs and left them to rot. She's the only one left intact."
"Where's the rest of them?"
"Only four were ever built, one was blown apart at the last Battle of Cimtar. The others were crippled but it means we've got a decent supply of spares for this old girl. All we have to do is make sure that the engines and generators work and that she's safe to move. Prior, get in the back and tell the teams we're ready to dock. There's no atmosphere on board so we'll head for engineering and life support first."
"You always give me the greatest jobs boss," the second said disappearing out the back of the bridge.
"You know a lot about these old girls, don't ya boss?"
"You could say that Conoy. I really hate the way they treated the old girls and the veterans after the war. People didn't care what happened to our boys and girls as long as anything that made anyone think of the War was quietly swept away. Well not frakking likely as long as I'm around."
"You were born in the wrong time boss. You sound like you'd have loved being out there blowing the shit outta the tin cans."
"Damn right, and now I'm too damned old to join the fleet to make up the numbers killed by the idiots in charge."
"Come on Bossman, the Earth born bastards killed our people not our own side."
"Kid you have a lot to learn about life. The guys in charge sent that fleet for their own bloody gain not for any frakking righteous crusade. Adar's people are the ones that got our fleet killed not the Earthers. Hell those guys probably figured that they had as much right to life under their own laws." The Chief snarled. "Frak Adar, him and his ilk have been pissing on my home for generations and what do we get out of it. Frak all, if Sagittaron decided not to keep feeding Caprica, they'd go batshit insane and come and take the world by force even though we're all suppose to be 'equal'."
"Isn't that the point of the colonies? To be equal?"
"Where is it your from again, lad?"
"Caprica."
"Figures, kid you probably didn't see much of the crap that goes on out here but the Sags and the Leos get the rough end of the pole almost every time and now we're treated as second class citizens on our own planet. Years ago, there was the thinker, dunno his name but he said that 'all men are created equal'…"
"That's in the sacred scrolls though, all men and women are equal none shall be treated as unto the animals that graze or feed from the muck. Brothers and Sisters all stand together as one."
"Buncha shit, a greater thinker got it right. 'All of us are created equal in the eyes of the Gods, however some may be more equal than most.' and he ain't wrong, the big planets like Caprica and Picon are always nice and happy living off the work that the rest of us do. Do you know how many Sagitarron Battlestar Commanders there are kid?"
The younger man shook his head.
"Three. Three Sagittarons in over one hundred and twenty Battlestars and Warstars, and how many Capricans? Thirty seven including the Admiral of the fleet and two of the joint chiefs as well. There's been no Sag Admirals in twelve years either; even Aerilon has had at least one. Now they want to start rebuilding the fleet using the exact same rules as they have before and none of us will get any chance whatsoever. I'm willing to bet my entire pension that if you went for a pilot rank you'd have no problem, I'd have been kept down as a knuckle dragger."
"Cool down Chief, I should never have brought it up."
"No it's alright Conoy. I'm just kinda pissed off that they are only allowing Sags into the pilot and command ranks because the fleet's been blown apart. Even money says that as soon as enough of the upper class fraks of Caprica get out of their nappies and into their cockpits that the rest of the 'lesser' colonies will be pushed aside because of course we can't be anywhere near as good as the real warriors of the great colonies."
"And you know what else will happen, kid? Picon was a massive influence throughout the colonies as a whole. Now that the planet's been fragged to frak. The Picons will demand that they be helped by the other eleven colonies because it's their right. The fact that the destruction of one planet will send the rest of us into all kinds of crap because Picon kept a lot of their damn wealth and power to themselves screwing the rest of us.
"You right there Chief. The other Colonies are already feeling the hit. Combined with the mobilisation just how bad is it gonna be?"
"I was ten years old when the last war ended Conoy. I remember what it was like, the time after the war was rebuilding the fleet and increasing production, costs and gods know what else across the colonies and let me tell you something. After my dad was killed in the Cylon war we had to live on his pension and my mom's earnings. After the war, she lost her job to one of the fleet turds that 'had more experience'. Then after that they cut the pensions down again because they needed the money to rehouse the lost and homeless and to rebuild the fleet. They never put it back up again afterwards."
"More from the Peace party?"
"You got it, Kid. They figured rewarding the people that fought the war would give the wrong impression and so left the veterans with a pittance and a lot of the crippled and injured with almost nothing. I know that a lot of people went into the fleet to find their way but ended up confused and desperate. Hell, my best friend's daddy went and became a pirate to provide for his family. Poor bastard was fragged by a customs cruiser."
"Chief." Prior's voice popped up from behind interrupting the conversation. Looking at the red face of his boss and the passive face of the younger man he decided he didn't want to know. "All teams are set we just need to link up with that ship and we'll be all sorted to check the old girl over."
Wiping his face the Chief sat up. "Nice work, alright stations people we're gonna have to go for hard dock as the landing bays are still sealed. There should be a major umbilical point somewhere on the underside near the lower engine decks, right about here."
Directly above them a large armoured port could be seen flush with the hull of the vessel. The outer doors and docking clamps still unlocked from the last time the ship have been serviced. Approaching slowly, the upper side of the smaller vessel linked up with the hard docking system. Well maintained automated locking systems held the shuttle tight with the ship the airtight seal locking down and pressurising.
"As easy as Cylons in an airlock." The Chief said, "Let's get aboard and see if this girls even capable of being brought back."
The teams in the rear passenger compartment had already begun climbing out and into the Warstar. The hundred or so technicians and recalled fleet engineers were awaiting their orders from their commanding officer. Like many of the assembled personnel, the officers that were leading the groups had been recalled from retirement by the remains of fleet command to man and repair the ships that were as old as they were.
Many honourable and dishonourable discharges were being overturned and reactivation clauses brought into use to increase the numbers of soldiers needed desperately by the military. Even the Army and marine corps were losing personnel with any artillery or piloting experience to bring up the numbers in the naval force. It was believed by many of the surviving command that normal ground combat soldiers would be much easier to train in numbers than the specialised naval experts needed to run the battle fleets.
All of the technicians were clad in versions of the ubiquitous fleet pressure suits to protect against the lack of atmosphere or from floating debris. Pushing out from the hatchway each floated towards the inner hull the last of the personnel locking the inner and outer doors shut.
"Listen up. Team Beta there should be the emergency depressurisation system on the deck above, starboard section G-9. Activate the gravity systems then the heating, then the atmospherics, and let us know before you start I don't want anyone hurt because they were still floating when the gravity goes back on," the Chief told them. "Teams Alpha and Gamma head for the secondary command center, the rest of you know your jobs. Let's get this bucket up and running."
"What about fuel? This thing shouldn't have anything left in the tanks."
"They left enough in here after the last start up and maintenance for another one. Once she's up and running they'll send in the experts we're just here to see if she's spaceworthy. Ok people, lets move."
A chorus of Ayes and affirmatives came over the radio as the teams began to split up heading throughout the rear section of the kilometre and a half long ship, each team heading directly for their assigned section leaving the three command crew of the shuttle behind.
"So what are we here for boss?" Conoy asked.
"We're going to the landing bays and see if there's anything in there. If so we might have to rip 'em out and start again, if not then it's a simple check later."
"You just want to see the old birds don't you Chief," Prior Smirked.
"Maybe Prior, Maybe."
Briefing Room
Homeworld Security Building
Washington DC
"Alright Felger you've got ten minutes. Make this good."
"General O'Neill good to see you again, we…we've come up with a suggestion on how to increase our stocks of materials to build up the fleet. Going through the records of the SGC we've been trying to find anywhere that a large amount of minerals might be found... well since Motherlode was tapped by the Air Force the Naquada supply will begin flowing soon enough. We however have an idea of how to gain a massive trinium deposit relatively quickly."
"For once Felger you have me interested me. Where in the records have you found this 'supply'?"
Tapping on a computer tablet the wireless connection between it and the main screen began to link up, the screen changed from its usual blank screen to a complicated and vaguely familiar diagram of a planet several areas were shaded in silver or black. A string of gate co-ordinates came up beside the diagram pulling on a half forgotten memory of Jack's annoying him thoroughly.
"That's kind of the only real problem; the planet itself is in unclaimed space but is a known target for scavengers and pirates in this area of the galaxy. The trinium itself isn't just an ore or buried in the planet's crust but a lot of more refined metals are on the surface."
"The only way to do that is for that planet to have been heavily mined and the refined metals used for construction…." The thought came unstuck and the memory entered the forefront of his mind. "This better not be what I think it is, Felger."
"Well, sir it's a lot of refined metals almost perfect for construction of the ships and fighters we need to defend Earth. The buried ores can still be mined using the facilities that may still exist or we do it ourselves. Either way General, we can easily get the materials we need; it's just a bit icky."
"Really?"
"The only other way would be a lucky strike, Sir. Trinium in the areas we control is getting rarer as we excavate it." Felgar's enthusiasm began overriding his nervousness. "We know there are hundreds of thousands maybe millions of tons of refined trinium on the surface of Tollana enough to supply the shipyards for the next build of 302s and Daedalus class."
"What he means, General," Felger's assistant Chloe spoke up for the first time. "There is a way of sorting the material out quickly, but it will mean removing one of our ships from the defence or borrowing a ship from the Asgard. Access to any Asgard transporter equipment will allow us to filter out the trinium from anything else and then we can bring it back home and refine it here like we've been doing with the ore."
"Felgar, you may be a right royal pain in the ass but you're quite right. It is a perfect place to gather trinium and other resources. The idea was brought up several times in the last few years but we've had no way to get to the resources they have there without a ship. Now we're even more reliant on our ships to stay right here and without a stargate, Tollana is a remote planet for anyone to get to."
"But…"
"But?"
"There's another reason for the trip to Tollana General. Their technology was centuries ahead of us. There's all kinds of things we might be able to figure out from the debris left behind. We might even be able to replicate their phase technology now maybe even their weapons," Felger reiterated. "Stuff for ships, for planetary defences anything we can put them on."
"Ion cannons? Haven't you already got the technical stuff for that from before Anubis nuked their planet?"
"Yes Sir, we have but. It's always easier to reverse engineer equipment if you've got a copy of the actual technology to hand..."
"You have no idea how to build them do you," O'Neill surmised.
"Well we have the schematics, a working knowledge of the theory behind the frequency nullification and energy boosting properties of the ion cannon's main…"
"You have no idea how to build it," O'Neill repeated.
"In a word… No."
"That's all I wanted to hear. Alright I've been making deals all day with people what's one more? If, and I reiterate, IF Colonel Davis' conference with the Jaffa is successful, I'll send one of the new ships to Tollana for a scan and recon. And then – IF its successful – I'll consider an expedition to gather resources. Once we get a stargate up and running again, then we'll send people through, but until then no go. I need your people doing their jobs and upgrading our warships as quickly as possible Understood." It wasn't a question.
"Yes Sir we understand, a request however, Sir."
"Go on."
"The main weapons of some of the Colonial ships were rail guns. We can't get the new weapons past the three inch calibre stage. We'd like access to a few of their heavier guns to see how they've managed to address the problems we're having. We've got a list of the types we need to have a look at if and when the Air Force can get them down to us..."
"If it's weapons-base, the Air Force will probably be bringing pieces down once we can separate them from the debris. We're kinda occupied with finding places to treat the survivors of the last attack on both us and the Colonial ships in system. I will try to get you what you need, but no promises."
"Thank you General that is appreciated." Felger knew he would get very little else out of the General and as such he ushered the group out of the room with a goodbye to O'Neill. Jack was already exhausted from the very long day. So far and he still had several meetings to go to including one with the President himself to inform the Commander-in-Chief of the status of the defences that were being erected across the planet and in local space.
"General?"
Looking up, Jack saw one of his attachés standing in the doorway and he gestured to the Captain to come in. The young woman looked hesitant and upset as she approached putting Jack's senses on alert.
"Captain."
"Sir a message just came through from the United Nations building in New York… Sir, you're to report to the United Nations Security Council within a week to answer the charges being brought against you at The Hague.
Slumping back Jack rubbed his tired eyes and looked up at the junior officer.
"This day just gets better. Contact the White House, I think we need my meeting to be brought forward a few hours. This is going to be a very, very long day."
Unknown Location
Unknown Time
The young woman gasped as her head broke the surface of the water, desperately needed air filled her lungs as the feeling of near drowning began to fade from her mind. Two pairs of hands grabbed her shoulders holding her in place and helping her to stay upright in the liquid, looking around she looked into the face of a darker skinned woman and a pair of eyes exactly like her own.
"Easy little sister, easy" the blonde woman said. "It's okay. You're safe amongst family now."
"Where… where am I?" The other woman croaked. "Who… who are you?"
The olive skinned woman leaned over and removed some of the wires and cables that were attached to her body, wires she could feel attached to her head, spine and a number of other critical points. The needles and cable ends were pulled out with care as the blonde helped the confused woman from what she could only describe as a pod of some kind.
"It's ok, it's ok. We're not here to hurt you. Give yourself a few minutes and you'll begin to remember what happened."
"I… there was an explosion… I don't know."
"It's ok, just breath deeply and relax everything will come back to you. It's always difficult the first time."
"The first time?"
"Yeah the first time."
Images of her life flashed through the exhausted woman's mind as she calmed down enough to think, the flash of light as her ship exploded around her vaporizing her body in the fire of a massive nuclear detonation. Then a feeling of weightlessness for a second or so, the choking feeling and pain as she downloaded into the body overtaking her senses totally as she tried to understand just what was going on.
Downloaded? she thought.
"I'm a Cylon. Oh frak, I'm a Cylon!"
"Good it's all coming back. Give yourself a few minutes; the shock will wear off as your real memories take precedent over the others. We need to know what happened to the fleet the Colonials sent out, we know when it went but we don't know why and where they attacked."
"What… no I don't believe you. Get off of me! Whatever it is your trying to pull here won't work with me."
"Calm down, it's alright. We're family."
"GET THE FRAK OFF ME!"
"It's alright." The blonde woman struggled to hold down the other woman, the burst of strength that the adrenaline rush had given the Colonial officer dying down as she was held by the two unknown people. "It's alright, you'll be ok just rest then you can tell us what you need to."
"I… I can't…." The blonde woman looked down at her. "Foreman, Marcie, Lt Colonial Fleet, See Eff Two Nine Nine Six Four Seven Nine Seven."
"I was afraid of this," the woman with the almond shaped eyes spoke. "Her primary personality wasn't fully downloaded with the rest. The cover is still taking precedence over the actual identity."
"Then the reports coming from the agents within the colonies were correct." The olive skinned woman looked at her companion. "There is something to the Tau'ri weapons above and beyond that of simple nuclear materials. This could be a significant problem for all of us."
"So it seems." The unfamiliar woman looked at Marcie. "We really aren't here to hurt you. We'll leave you to get used to your surroundings. The centurions will watch over you make sure that you will be ok."
"Foreman, Marcie, Lt Colonial Fleet, See Eff Two Nine Nine Six Four Seven Nine Seven."
Outside the enclosed room several dozen of the humanoid Cylons were gathered in conference. Seven of the twelve models were in evidence most sitting within their own groups with very few even interacting with the other models. The entire group was watching the repeating signal broadcast throughout the colonies. President Adar's speech and the reactions of the Colonials to the actions of their human brethren had been amusing to the assembled beings.
The speech was running through the link for the third time as the humanoids rechecked the video feed, translating the subtext of the President's words, and the movement of his body as he continued his rhetoric.
"He's lying," a number three said. "The Tau'ri didn't attack them in any way and he's really afraid that he'll be caught in his own lies."
A Cavil spoke up. "He is a politician, D'anna. He is also human; therefore anything he says and does is suspect. He is also very well enamored with the trappings that go with his rank within the human society. Evidence of his excesses has been found by our agents within Caprica City, which has also given us an advantage that we had originally considered as secondary at best."
"Our sister has managed to ingratiate herself into the confidence of Doctor Baltar, one of the Colonial's brightest computer experts. It seems that one of Adar's ploys was to have a program added to the networks of the entire Colonial fleet in order to standardize the computers and to increase their response times in combat," one of the sixes explained. "Once the programming begins on the new system we shall have one of our agents begin modifying the codes within the program."
"This is however a problem for us," a Simon model announced. "The attack on the Tau'ri was fortuitous in that a large section of their front line units and many of their veteran commanders were killed in battle. A number were destroyed in the counterstrike by the Tau'ri at Picon. We estimate at least a quarter of the Colonial's total war fleet was destroyed in these two actions."
Beside him, another of his type commented. "This would have been useful perhaps a year or so from now. The Colonial fleet would have been unaware of us and if they had taken the losses we have seen this far then we may have had the chance we needed. As it is our own forces are not ready and we are not even close to being prepared to take on the Colonial fleet and subjugate their worlds."
"Then we wait," a Cavil said. "We wait for the program to be installed. The losses they will take against an enemy as powerful as this Tau'ri will means that they will try to find better and more effective ways to fight their new enemies. This will mean that we will be more than ready when the time comes to take them on."
"What about the Tau'ri?" one of the Number Threes asked.
"We shall deal with them when the time comes."
"That is not what I meant," Three scowled. "The Tau'ri, if they are this thirteenth tribe, could be an answer to something we were looking for. The majority of our technology is far in advance of the humans as we know them. But the technology that these new humans have outstrips any of ours. Defense wise, they can easily take any firepower our limited fleet can supply. Their weapons likewise can destroy us with as much ease as they did the Colonials. In addition, they now have access to the Colonial's best weapons and equipment. Granted, they are not as advanced as our own but in the numbers deployed they will easily overwhelm our own vessels. In addition our knowledge of Tau'ri's fighter strength and deployment is lacking."
"Then what is your suggestion?" asked the Simon.
"I suggest that we approach the Tau'ri and meet them face to face. While we do not have any great information on their abilities, we do have records of the original meetings between the Tau'ri Ship Prometheus and the Battlestar Group. Their scans would quite possibly pick up our ships and destroy any attempt at landing agents within seconds."
"I do have to agree with our sisters," Number eight said. "As much as we wish to remove the Colonials from their worlds. We have to understand that there are more humans out there now than we thought."
"Then we do the same as we are doing here, infiltrate and remove them from consideration as quickly as possible," Cavil snarked. "The second we decide to attack the colonies the humans will band together as they did in the first war. Their hatred of each other will be simply set aside until they destroy us. I think we have to set back our attack plans for a while. The Colonial build up will affect both our ability to break their systems and to take down their fleet. Until we have the numbers to remove any chance of a possible counterattack against both the newer ships and those that are being returned to service, we do not attack."
"Well no help will come from our sister," A number six walked through the door.
"Did the transfer succeed?" asked a Number Three.
"To an extent yes. The weapons these Tau'ri used to destroy the Picon Anchorage are formidable. Whatever it is they use to create these weapons are a danger to our agents within the colonies," The Six responded. "The human template is intact in her mind as are the memories of both her times as a human and as a Cylon; however sections of her original mind and the program that switches between the two personalities were erased completely from the download. It seems almost a third of her mind didn't make it through the interference caused by the Tau'ri weaponry."
"Then they know of the sciences behind our ability to continue on after death," a number five replied. "This could pose a problem whether we wish to fight the Tau'ri or not. If they can corrupt our data streams then we will lose any conflict that may happen between us and the humans."
A Number Eight did not look convinced on this course of action. Sitting well towards the back she mused as the conversation went back and forth. Information from her sisters in the colonies had already pointed towards a massive mobilization of ships and equipment they couldn't hack.
"If that is so then I think we need to talk to the Tau'ri, not to fear them. They are not the same people as the Colonials are. Remember that it was on the orders of Adar that the fleet attacked." She moved to the center of the congregation. "The Earth humans took more losses in one strike on their surface than we did in the entire war. They replied with a strike just as we would to anyone that breached our borders from their side. The Colonials took a bigger hit from that one attack on Picon that we did when we attacked any of the colonies themselves. For now we're the smaller threat to either of them and we need to keep it this way."
"You are too soft on the humans Sharon," Cavil Sneered. "Too much like your other sisters, let us just hope that you don't go the same way as the others that turned against their brothers and sisters. The humans are the same on every world they have inhabited. I find it highly unlikely that the humans are any different even on the other side of the spiral arm."
"Like all Cylons are the same, Cavil?"
"Precisely."
"Strange. I thought we were different models, human like and robot, centurion and raider. You consider yourself the same as the mindless drone that repairs and sanitizes our ships and homes then?"
"What I…"
"I'm as loyal to the ideals of our peoples as anyone, can you say the same?"
Cavil was apoplectic at Sharon's words. It was well known that some of the Cylon types were all for the total destruction of the colonies and every human there was. Others opposed it for the simple reason that they believed they were better than the humans and should not follow the examples set by the Colonials. Both sides were at an uneasy détente at this point due to the actions of the Tau'ri.
"Enough," A Number Three said. "What is the status of the survivors?"
"We confirmed four agents on the Picon station and the ships in the area. Only one made it back through the interference we found with the radiation or whatever it is in the area. We wish for a consensus."
"You mean to box her," Three said.
"Yes, we do box her and remove the Cylon from the human memory and try to bring our sister back. If we are unsuccessful we will decompile her code to discover what we need to about what the truth was during their attack on Earth. We agree with Eight that this is a world that needs watching and possibly contacting their leaders if only to have them stay away from us."
"We agree with boxing her until our sister can be brought back," Three spoke. "However approaching the humans on Earth will not go ahead until such time as we can be sure that we will not become targets purely because of who and what we are."
"We agree," said the Eights.
"As do we," spoke the Doral model. "We do not need any more problems than we already have."
"Well it's four to three in any way, but we do also agree," said the Simon.
"Cavil?"
"I think this is still a mistake, so no. 'We' do not do either, and you and I both know that without a consensus that we will go no further with this foolishness. If our sister has been corrupted then remove her from the resurrection net. We have more than enough time to infiltrate more agents into the Colonial fleet. The losses we have had mean little compared to what we can do."
"You really are a total bastard." Six said. "We will not simply kill our sister any more than one of us would kill any other Cylon, no matter the provocation that might be given."
"Your sister is a danger to this assembly now. She will consider herself first and foremost a Colonial soldier. If she somehow manages to escape from this ship then we may as well give up and run because they will come after us," Cavil replied. "Not one of our ships can take on even the oldest Battlestars if they decide to come for us. That's the entire reason behind our infiltration of the colonies."
"Considering, she has no access to the databases, nor has any idea how to move around this ship let alone escape. We will not kill one of our own. We are not like the humans as you remind us at every opportunity Cavil. Our sister is damaged and we owe it to her to bring back the woman she was and is."
"I see that logic will not overcome your emotional attachment to your indisposed other. I will leave but understand this if your actions here endanger our mission then I will have no problem in boxing your entire type and removing them from the resurrection net," Cavil growled as he faced the Sixes. "We may not be human but we sure as hell can die like they do remember that."
Barging through the assembled sixes the Cavil model stormed out of the door ignoring the stares that came from the other models. The Six that he had insulted forced herself to calm down as she turned to the rest of the versions of the various models that made up their ad-hoc quorum. The Eight that had been watching turned to the model beside her.
"What was up with him?"
"He's just found out he's being assigned to the Colonial fleet infiltration," an identical Cavil said. "They are sticking him on board the Battlestar Galactica. He's afraid that if we get discovered he's going to get it especially if his ship gets ordered out into the fighting."
"The Sixes' news that they can scramble the uploads can't have made him feel any better about it," Eight said. "You don't seem overly worried about this though."
"Why should I be? Not all of my model is as anti-Colonial as my brother is. Most are but there are always differences between members of each model. After all, we were designed to be individuals as well as a whole, weren't we?"
Eight smiled. "Next you'll be telling me you believe in God and his entire plan for us all."
He grinned back. "I wouldn't go that far child, but you never know, you never know."
