CH 7

With help, John and his friends got a real landing area set up. finding a few dead standing trees a mile away, Jasper and John downed the trees for firewood. Eleanor, Victoria and Greg worked at building a stacked stone structure next to the oven. Derek got the solar panels set up, and erected the windmill / science station.

While the cyborgs set up their camp, Mother watched from the side. The young raptors followed workers and pulled up rocks to bring over to them in their fore paws. John noted that they also went in and came out of the ship freely. If the hatch was shut, they opened it.

Mother let out a short fog-horn sounding hoot. John saw she was on her feet now, motionless and watching a hill. John looked over to where she was watching and saw grass moving. By the motion, it looked like a snake. A really big snake.

"Hunting time," he said. that got people to stop working and watch.

The snake was tracking to the left and towards them. John walked slowly out from the camp and across the snake's path. Watching it closely, he noted Mother also moved slowly towards it.

"John, what are you doing?" Jasper asked via short range electronic link.

"Snake hunt," John send back. "Big snake, at least thirty feet long. Move far behind Mother, get ready to grab it's tail."

"We hunt snakes?" Greg asked.

"Raptors need meat. We help the raptors hunt," John explained. Seeing Mother had stopped, John angled towards the snake on it's other side. The young raptors were moving to complete the circle. One was following Jasper, one by Mother and the other two moved behind him.

The snake kept moving until it saw him. It stopped and lifted it's head, which was closer than John thought. It was big, all right. The head had to be a foot across. It tasted the air with it's tongue and moved towards him.

Mother jumped. Flying at it, her back feet with those long sharp claws and her head first, she drove the snake's head to the ground with one foot, pinned it to the ground with her other and bit hard on the snake's body in between. The snake contracted, trying to coil up. It twisted and wiggled as Mother bit down hard and shook her head. Jasper raced in and grabbed the tail. He was dragged towards the head until Greg also grabbed the tail. Together they kept it from coiling up around Mother.

Seeing Mother had missed the head itself, John raced in and punched the head hard, smashing it's skull.

The snake fought hard, twisting and trying to get free. It was a doomed effort, Mother had bitten through the place she'd grabbed. Even though the head and a piece of fore body was severed from the rest of the snake, the body still withered and pumped blood for fifteen seconds before it settled down to quiver, then relaxed in death. By the time it stopped moving, all four young raptors were also on it, ripping and tearing.

John wondered how roasted snake was going to taste.

.

On the planet below, John, his team and the raptors were pulling their meal apart. In orbit above, a pair of Vipers were verifying their readings.

"Pegasus, this is Blue Leader. We have located the source of the signal on the surface below. IFF shows contact is a Colonial Raptor, 106, from the Galactica. No radio contact."

"We read you, Blue Leader. Hold position and standby to cover landing team. Raptor en route to your location."

.

Unlike the raptors who ate chunks of snake, skin, bones and all, John preferred to peel the skin off the snake meat and cut it into serving platter sized steaks to roast in the oven. He got several thick steaks from the mid body. Seeing the feast, other raptors came out of the tall grass to get some. They waited until Mother, John and their group were done and on their way back to their camp before they moved in to scavenge the rest of the reptile.

After feasting on snake, Mother returned to her nest. Three of the four young Raptors went inside to lie on the remains of the bed. The cyborgs returned to work on their camp. John brought the antenna out and mounted it on a rotating frame base to easily aim it at Earth.

Greg discovered some rocks here had a high metal content. High enough that he was able to melt the rock and pour it out on flattened ground to make large slab pieces to give their structure a roof. Making a mold, he poured rock into the molds to make cement block sized bricks. By the time the sun went down, they had a twelve by fourteen shelter up with a roof on it.

Not having to sleep, work continued on through the night. The only one who went into the ship to sleep was Victoria. She curled up to share space with the raptors. They also cuddled up with her. It felt strange to Victoria, but it was nice and warm.

At pre-dawn, just before sunup, John had thirteen pounds of snake jerky drying in the oven. The antenna was aligned with Earth. John send a message that he had made contact with the team and they were setting up a camp. Soon they would be studying the feasibility of this planet for habitation. He also sent all the information he had on the Raptor species they had encountered, and how they were working together.

Once the message was sent, he turned the antenna down to keep from collecting rain water. Settling down just outside the ship hatch, he sat down to go into standby for two hours.

.

Inside the ship, Victoria was awakened by a kick against her back. The rear foot touching her wiggled then kicked again. Her head was on a pile of feathers she was using for a pillow, and something was balled up behind her knees. Another quiver and a kick.

Lifting herself up, she saw the Raptor behind her was asleep, but it's legs were jerking in kicks. What the hell? She looked outside. It was getting light out. She may as well get up for the day.

Victoria got up. The restless raptor shot up and looked at her, then ruffled it's feathers and stepped over another one to follow her out. She passed by John and grabbed the water buckets. Seeing John's eyes open, she announced, "I'm going for water."

The sun was peaking up over the horizon, right in her eyes. Victoria kept her head down. Beside her the raptor ran ahead a little, then stopped to sniff and dig at the ground until she passed, then caught up again.

Coming to the pool, Victoria dipped each bucket in to fill it. Used to the raptor running around her, she didn't pay attention to the footsteps behind her until she saw the raptor in front of her standing in the pool. It was watching something behind her.

Then a rifle butt smashed into the back of her head.

Victoria cried out as she pitched forward into the water. Curled up in pain, she let out a cry and held the back of her head. The raptor hissed.

"GET UP TOASTER!" a man with a rifle growled.

The raptor leaped up on him. He saw it jump too late. His rifle was ripped out of his hands as the raptor landed on his chest, bit his helmeted head and ripped down with both back feet as it gripped his shoulders with it's fore claws. Falling back, the raptor shook it's head and tore his body armor off as the man screamed and flailed. A short burst of gunfire and the raptor fell to the side. It flopped briefly and another burst splattered it's blood onto the ground.

"That frackin thing tried to kill me!" the man on the ground wailed.

.

John shot to his feet upon hearing the gun shots. Looking over at the pond, he saw one colonial looking soldier on the ground by the now dead raptor. Three others were hauling Victoria up to her knees.

FUCK!

The other cyborgs also came awake at the sounds, as did Mother. Armed gunmen ran towards them from a short ways away. John could see another raptor ship a hundred yards away. "Everyone, hands up, quick," John called.

Seeing her dead child and Victoria being abused, Mother didn't listen. She stayed motionless behind the ship, eyeing the men who killed her child. She flexed her leg muscles, ready to leap. One of the dark clad men stayed with the one on the ground. Two others pushed one of her hunting mates along forcefully back towards her. When they were about to be lost from view, she jumped up and came down on the men, one powerful back claw raking each. Both were driven to the ground screaming. She bit one's head and shook his head off his body.

Wailing screams sounded, loud noises filled the air. Hot bees stung her flesh. Mother bit the other one and shook it to fly in the direction of the bees. More dark men were coming, making the loud noises. With a roar of anger and pain, she charged. Her hunting mates charged with her. The pains increased and her sight failed. She fell down, unable to get back up.

John didn't fall. He charged the men with rage in his heart. The bullets did penetrate his flesh before pinging off his endoskeleton. He didn't look, but knew the other cyborgs were right behind him. The men shooting at them backed up in fear, seeing their guns weren't doing any good.

John also noted the pilot was still in that ship. He charged into the men, punching one hard enough to destroy his helmet. "Get them!" he yelled, and raced on for the ship powering up to take off.

The ship lifted and John jumped up to catch the edge and pull himself into the hatch. A man at the ECO panel screamed. John grabbed him by the neck and threw him out.

"We're boarded!" the pilot yelled. The copilot shot John again. John pulled his helmet off and knocked him out, then knocked the pilot out and pulled him from his seat. Jumping into the pilot's seat, John got control of the craft and brought it back down to land. He shut it down and raced off to see who was left.

The marines who'd attacked hadn't stood a chance against five cyborgs and a full grown raptor. Four were still alive. Two Eleanor and Greg only wounded with broken bones, then took their guns. The one who was helping the man downed by the young raptor saw the carnage, tossed his gun down and his hands in the air.

That didn't save him from the surviving raptors. All three raced at him. He screamed, "NOOO!", but they jumped on him and ripped him and the wounded one apart anyway. The men screamed until they bled out from being torn to pieces.

Hearing the sound of jets coming, John looked up. "Fighters inbound!" he yelled and pointed. He then raced over to pick up one of the guns. "Pick up a gun, make yourselves small and shoot!" he yelled. He quickly checked the clip. It was almost empty. He searched the body and slapped in a fresh clip.

The fighters were a mile out. John shot a short burst to track the trajectory, then aimed at the fighter on his right. He shot two more bursts to verify the arc then shot repeated bursts at the fighter. The fighter shot rounds back, stitching into the ground on either side of him, throwing up clods of dirt. An engine caught fire and the viper banked away.

By now, all the cyborgs had guns. The remaining fighter's rounds chewed up ground, then it too began to smoke then caught fire. It tried to bank away and exploded.

"Damn Colonials!" John roared. He went back to the men's ship and got on the radio. Keying the mic, he asked in a growl, "Who the FRACK is this? Is that you Adama?"

"This is the Battlestar Pegasus, Admiral Cain commanding. Who is this?" a hard female voice asked in return

"John Connor," he replied heavily. "WHY are you attacking us?"

"You are cylons, and we're here to destroy you!"

"We're not cylons, you twisted piece of shit!" John spat. "The only thing you killed was local wildlife! Take your ships and GO, before you force us to do something very bad to you!"

"You will surrender. Failure to comply will result in death by nuclear fire!"

"Are you really THAT fracking stupid? You'd nuke this planet with your own men down here?" John asked in disbelief.

"Acceptable losses," the voice said flatly.

"John," Eleanor said from behind him. "If they are on a spaceship, we need to get up there to stop them. We copy voices and drive these ships up to them. We can't let them drop a nuke. It would devastate this world."

"We're going to have to fight a lot of people," he warned.

"We are."

John keyed the radio. "All right, to keep you from destroying life on this planet, we'll let your men bring us up."

"I want to talk to one of the marines."

"Fine."

.

Admiral Cain waited. Another transmission came in. "Pegasus, this is Corporal Bishop. We have control of our raptor, and the one from Galactica. Seven dead, and we have prisoners."

"Who is on the other Raptor?" Cain asked.

"This is Sargent Genov, Sir. Prisoners are secured and the wounded are on board. We're ready to take off."

Cain turned to her Gunnery Sargent. "Is that them?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. I will have the proper restraints for cylons waiting in the hanger deck."

"Get to it." Cain told her. "Flight, bring those raptors home. Did either viper pilot survive?"

"No Ma'am. One died on impact, the other got eaten by something down there."

Cain shook her head. "Such a big loss for a small gain. Maybe these cylons know something useful."

.

Interrogating the pilot and co-pilot and having listened to them talk, Jasper flew one raptor, Greg flew the other. The pilot and copilot readily gave their names and call signs to the freaky looking things that had to be a new form of centurion. They were then stripped and tied up in the back of the Galactica raptor. Jasper and John were wearing their flight suits. The men were shocked that these things were able to duplicate their voices.

On the Galactica raptor, Victoria played co-pilot. The three raptors were back on the bedding, refusing to be left behind. Eleanor and Derek were by the hatch, each toting two guns set on full auto and all the clips of ammo they could salvage. The surviving Pegasus marines were left on the ground. Wounded and weaponless, John didn't figure they had too long to live. The raptors in the tall grass were probably getting hungry. Those men had mercilessly attacked for no reason. Now they would be food.

On the Pegasus raptor, Jasper flew, John sat copilot. All their equipment they could pull up and bring quickly was stacked in the back. They had guns, but what this raptor had was better. John had control of the loaded chain-gun attached to the front of the ship.

"What are we going to do, John?" Jasper asked as they raised up through the atmosphere.

"First off, we're not going to land on that ship," John told him. "Victoria has the coordinates I want to jump to. I set them into this jump system as well. When we're clear of the planet, we jump and leave these bozos behind. It's a system that has a good chance at having a habitable planet."

They cleared the atmosphere and saw the single, huge ship. John got on the radio with his own voice. "Is the wicked Witch of the West who calls herself Cain available?" he asked.

"What? Who is this?" Cain snapped.

"John Connor. I just wanted to say bye. Your marines who lived are on the ground. Better pick them up before something eats them. Three, two, one, Jump!"

With that, both raptors disappeared.

.

Relaxing in John's old room that was now hers due to having Officer privileges, Julie read while she sucked on a spoon she'd kept. She had no idea why metal tasted so good now. It was like having candy, but without the calories. The spoon in her mouth felt thin. Pulling it out, she saw it was thinner. This one was almost gone. Why her saliva was now able to break down metal, she had no idea. Maybe she really was turning into a cyborg.

Putting the spoon back in her mouth to suck on it some more, she thought about that concept. John said it might happen, and even though she was trim and tight, she had gained another three pounds. She should be pudging out with the weight gain, but she wasn't. Was she growing metal bones?

Thinking about John, she wondered where he was. At least he was alive and not floating about in space with that frame he'd made, trying to find a planet. Although that gave her some comfort, she really missed John. She grinned at the way he refused to 'respect' those who were mean to him. Even the XO, who was grouchy and miserable, wasn't able to do anything to him.

The ships loudspeaker announced, "Attention crew, the Galactica picked up a new contact on Dradis. We are not the only battlestar left. We have made contact with the Pegasus."

Through the door, Julie could hear cheering. If they had found John and a ship full of cyborgs, THEN she would cheer. They would be real fighting power.

Julie was called to have her platoon ready in dress uniforms for an official welcoming ceremony. She hated those, but got her troops together and had them dress up, then did a personnel inspection before marching down to the flight deck. A few didn't have dress uniforms, so she begged some off other platoons. With ten minutes to go, she had her platoon dressed, then quick marched down to the hanger bay where Mr. Grumpy, as John called him, was pacing and waiting.

Julie suffered through the abuse of 'almost' being late, and got her platoon into ranks. Even thought they were in place on time, they stood motionless for almost an hour before President Roslyn came aboard. It was another half hour before Admiral Cain arrived with her own 'honor' guard of armed marines. Julie called salute, and they held their salute as Cain, Adama and Roslyn talked.

Staring at nothing and bored out of her mind as the meeting and 'happy to see you's' went on, Julie didn't listen to a word. That was said until Admiral Cain asked, "Have either of you head of a cylon that goes by the name John Connor?"

Adama grumbled a "We're familiar with him, yes."

"You know where he is?" Roslyn asked.

"Now now. We found one of your raptors," Cain said tightly. "I sent a raptor down to the surface of the planet it was on. This Connor wiped out the marine squad and most likely my pilots, shot down two vipers, then stole our raptor and got away with yours too."

It was all Julie could do not to smirk at the woman's outrage. 'Bad John', she thought. Then again, she knew John didn't initiate that conflict, than wasn't like him.

"We need to have a private discussion about him," Adama stated. "My best suggestion, Admiral, is don't fight him."

"He claims to be from Earth. We sent him away on a raptor to get rid of him," Roslyn explained.

Cain cast her a hard gaze. "You gave a cylon a raptor?" she asked.

"We don't know what he is, but he is not a cylon," Roslyn stated. "On the chance that he is from Earth, we put a tracker beacon on that raptor to follow him. We lost the signal, but apparently you found it."

"Admiral, we do need to speak in private about this matter. There are a few things you need to know," Adama said again, stressing his point.

They finally walked off, talking about the fleet. Once they were clear of the hanger deck, Julie got to march her troops back to the barracks and dismiss them. Although she wasn't feeling as sore as usual from standing in the same spot for hours, she knew her troops were.

"Guys, do some working out to loosen up then take a rest. Keep those uniforms ready in case we need them again," she told them.

"Hopefully not," Harlan said. She then pulled a spoon out of a pocket. "Got you a snack," she said with a crooked grin.

Julie laughed. Her habit was becoming known. "Thank you, I'll save it for an after dinner mint."

Julie had just gotten changed into her normal uniform when the Captain called her. Admiral Cain wanted to speak with her.

Frack.

.

Once again, Julie stood at attention outside Commander Adama's ready room until she was called in. She swore the brass loved to make people wait. One of Cain's men came out to usher her in. She marched in, came to attention and saluted. "Sirs! Lieutenant Junior Grade Colin reporting as ordered!"

Adama and Cain eyed her. Cain got up and walked over to stand by her side, out of her view.

In a smooth but firm tone Cain said, "Lt, I understand you know this John Connor fairly well?"

"That is correct, Admiral. He went on a mission with us, and I kept track of him much of the time when he was here on Galactica," Julie stated to the wall.

"Did you frack him?" Cain asked.

"What?" Julie asked indignantly and stared at the woman.

"Eyes front, soldier!" Cain loudly barked. "I asked, did you frack him?"

Julie had to force herself not to belt Cain, even if she was an admiral. Red faced in anger, she said, "I. Did. Not …. Admiral!"

"Then why did he use his cylon ability to heal you?" Cain asked in a harder tone.

"John Connor is a cyborg, NOT a cylon, Admiral," Julie stated.

"Answer the question!"

"I was wounded, he did what he could to help me, as he did with everyone," Julie stated.

"Did you ever wonder why he was so helpful?" Cain asked. "Perhaps he was looking for recruits inside the Colonial forces? Cylons have been trying to do that since the beginning of the war. Apparently, he was just a little smarter than your average toaster."

Julie clenched her jaw to keep her mouth shut.

"What will it take to kill him?" Cain asked.

"I do not know." Julie stated. She forgot to add 'admiral' onto her statement. Frack it.

Cain turned to Adama and said, "Commander, I am going to reassign Lt. Colin to the Pegasus to find out what it is that this John Connor did to her."

"Admiral, we have been keeping track of minor changes to Lt. Colin. Other than healing at an amazing speed, and looking better, there has been no significant changes," Adama said firmly.

"I will have my people determine that," Cain said stiffly. "Major, take charge of Lt. Colin and take her over to Pegasus. Have her medically checked out."

"Yes Admiral," the man said, snapping a salute.

"Admiral, Lt. Colin is one of my people," Adama stated.

"Was, Commander," Cain retorted. "She may be of vital strategic value. I am taking her."

Frack, frack, frack! This day had gone to hades, Julie thought.

"Lieutenant, you have your orders," Cain stated.

Julie saluted with the hand she wanted to smash into Cain's face. "Yes, Ma'am."

Julie thought she would be allowed to get her belongings. Nope, the Major steered her straight to one of the raptors and made her get on. "I don't even get to bring my things?" she asked

The major grinned as he swept her body with his eyes. "Don't worry, you won't need them."

Wonderful, another pervert.

.

Julie was taken to the Pegasus infirmary. There, the med techs had her strip and put on a white hospital gown. They took a blood sample, then gave her a full body X-ray. After the x-ray they took her vitals then had her sit on a cot while they waited for the test results.

The whole time, a Pegusus Colonel was there with her. At least the Colonel was a woman and not another pervert. A nurse came in and quietly talked to the Colonel. The woman left briefly then returned with two more marines. She glared down on Julie.

"So, you are a Colonial officer, huh? Tell me why you have metal in your bones," the Colonel asked.

"I seem to be growing it," Julie replied.

"I do believe a sir goes onto the end of your replies," The Colonel said in a harder tone.

"Oh, is this a military matter, Sir?" Julie asked. "And here I thought it was a medical visit to find out what's happening to me." She was really beginning to understand why John was the way he was with higher ups.

"There are micro organisms in your blood that are mechanically based, and you have a substantial amount of metal in your bones. You are not human," the Colonel stated.

"Possibly not, SIR, I may be turning into a cyborg. I was warned that may happen," Julie told her.

"Colonel Shaw," a crewman said as he came in and handed her a paper. Shaw read it and handed it back saying, "Thank you. Bring me the cylon restraints."

"Cylon restraints?" Julie asked.

"Yes," Shaw said crisply. "You are not human, so when not in holding, you need to be in restraints."

"What did I do?" Julie asked, shocked.

"Nothing yet, cylon. Don't worry, we have the perfect place for you," Shaw stated.

The restraints, heavy cuffs strapped together with thick steel straps and ankle cuffs connected by heavy chain, were brought in. Julie was turned around and cuffed.

"Hey! Why are you doing this? What is the charge?" Julie cried.

"Being a cylon is enough to throw you out an airlock," Shaw stated heavily. "Before we sent you on your way, we want some answers. Take her down with the other one, in the opposite cell."

"Cell? Cell! Wait! At least let me get dressed!" Julie cried.

"That uniform is too good for you. Get her out of here!" Shaw snapped.

Julie was then jerked and marched down corridors in the hospital gown. Coming to a closed hatch, a marine opened it and shoved her though into a hallway lined with bars. Holding cells. A cell door on the left was opened and she was thrust in. The door slammed shut behind her.

"Hey! At least take these cuffs off!" Julie yelled.

One of the men eyed her with a lecherous grin and said, "Not until you've been softened up some."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Julie asked in a demand.

"Ask her," he said and jerked a thumb over his shoulder before he left.

Julie then noticed a blond woman lying on the floor in the cell across the hall. The shift she was in was a light mottled gray, maybe white at one time but now it was filthy dirty. she was chained to the floor, her hair was in disarray, one eye was purple with the reddish yellow highlights of an old bruise. Another bruise showed on her leg. Her eyes were vacant. The hair was different, blond instead of dark, but Julie knew that face. As Julie looked at her, she asked, "Victoria? Is that you?"

"No," the woman said weakly. "My name is Gina. Who are you?"

"Julie Colin, Lieutenant Julie Colin of the Galactica."

Lifting her head slightly, Gina said, "Well, Lieutenant Julie Colin of the Galactica, welcome to hell."

Julie started at the condition of the Six. By the dark spots on the gray shift, she had been beaten more than once. The vacant look in her eye told of more abuse than that. Suddenly, she knew what the 'softening up' comment meant. 'Oh GODS, John, I need help!' she thought frantically. John was long gone. It was clear her own command wasn't going to do anything, and seeing the woman across from her, she knew what her fate here was going to be.

Shuffling around in a circle due to the heavy foot cuffs now chained together, Julie racked her brain. What could she do? Adama had let that bitch Cain put her down here. "I'm not a fracking cylon!" she snapped at no one. No she wasn't a cylon. She was becoming a cyborg. A cyborg like John. Stronger, faster than she ever was before. That would mean nothing unless she got out of these cuffs. She had to before they came back to 'soften' her up.

"You'r not a cylon," Gina said.

Julie looked over to see Gina sitting up.

"But they don't believe you," Gina added. "This Victoria, she was a Six? Do you know what happened to her?"

Julie nodded. "She was found in the holds on Galactica. John had me put her in the brig so no one would shoot her. When he left, he took her with him. I don't know where they are now, except that John will not let anyone hurt her."

"I'm glad she got away," Gina said with a tiny smile.

"Yeah. I wanted to go, but I had responsibilities," Julie said sadly.

"Why do they think you are a cylon?" Gina asked.

Julie let out a snort and said, "John helped me. I was wounded, he put these tiny micro-things he called nanites in my water. They healed my leg ... they are healing everything. I get shot, it heals. I'm also pretty fond of eating metal now. I weight about fifteen pounds more than my measurements suggest. The Doc here said I have metal bones now. I'm turning into a cyborg like John is."

Gina struggled up and came over to the bars of her cell, holding onto them. "What is John?" she asked.

Julie cracked a grin and said, "A cyborg. The toughest, kindest person I've ever met. He tried to help people, but Adama, Tigh, Roslyn, they all hated him. They hated him worse I think, because they couldn't do anything to hurt him. Bullets just bounced off him. Roslyn was going to throw him out an airlock, so he made this contraption to propel himself through space with. They could not threaten or control him. John was awesome. He told them like it was, and they hated him for it."

"Will he come back for you?" Gina asked expectantly.

"I doubt it," Julie said, looking at the floor. "John is not very fond of Colonials or Cylons. I can't blame him. He does what he can to help and everyone spits in his face. Would you ever come back here if you managed to get away?"

Gina was quiet for a moment, then said, "Julie, you said you eat metal now. Can you eat those cuffs off you?"

Julie looked at her. Why hadn't she thought of that? Kneeling down, Julie bent low and crunched her body together, wiggling to force the bar joining her hand cuffs down around her butt. Grunting with effort, she strained her arms and folded on herself pushing the bar lower. "Come on!" she groaned out, stretched her arms a little farther down. The bar slipped below her butt onto the back of her legs. She fell to the side. The next problem were her feet being chained together. She worked her hands lower just beyond her knees, and folded one leg to the side, then the other. Another groan due to the unnatural position and she got one foot out, then the other.

"Yes," she said as she flopped back flat on the floor. Even Gina gave a small cheer for her.

Julie sat up. Looking at the cuffs and bar, the bar was bolted to the cuffs. Julie brought the bolt of her left cuff to her mouth and began sucking on it. She licked it to get more spit on it, hopefully to dissolve it faster. Yum, she had a treat.

It took a while, sitting on the floor and licking / sucking on the bolt but she did get a small piece of metal into her mouth and down her throat. The last of the bolt head. A shake and rattling it some and the rest of the bolt dropped out. She started working on the bolt for her right hand.

.

Chas and Ron came on guard duty for the cylon slut. No one was in the cells with them, the last shift had gotten their fun time early in their shift.

"Chas, heard we got a new one. She was caught pretending to be a marine officer," Ron said. "Heard she is fine looking too."

"Good, let me get us logged in for a couple hours of doing nothing, then we'll got check her out."

Ron elbowed Chas. "Let me go first, I want to break her in."

Chas eyed him. "It's called privilege of rank. I go first. Besides, she might be really feisty until she knows her place. Can you frack and fight at the same time?"

"What fight? She's got hand and foot cuffs according to this sheet. What's she gonna do, try to bite me?"

"Maybe, or crack your skull between her legs," Chas said with a grin.

"Like I'm gonna put my head down there," Ron replied with a snort.

"Look, we wait until feeding time. Make it easy, she fracks, she gets food. She'll give in or starve. If she wants to starve, she'll get weak and make it easier for us. Don't worry, we'll be getting some."

.

Julie sat on her bunk, hands behind her back. Once she'd gotten her hands free, she was able to uncouple the chain holding her foot cuffs together. She laid it in place so it appeared she was still bound. It already seemed like she'd been here days. Gina said food should be coming soon, so she impatiently sat quietly, waiting for it.

Eventually the hatch in the hallway opened. Two guards came in with trays.

Chas looked at Julie. Yes, that was a fine piece of ass, slim, sexy, and a nice pair of tits. He bet she'd struggle for all she was worth. He told Ron, "I got this one. You can have the other one."

"Asshole. We're swapping next time," Ron replied. He eyed Gina and said, "It's time for you to be fed. Be a good girl and you can avoid bruises."

Julie perked up as her door opened. Looking across the hall, Gina laid on her back, spread her legs and stared at the ceiling. "What are you going to do to her?" she asked loudly.

"Same as you're getting. You want food? lay down and spread-em," Chas stated.

Julie glared at him. "He touches her, and I will beat the both of you bloody!" she snapped.

Chas dropped her tray on the floor. "Yeah, how about you go ahead and try that? I'm gonna love uglying up your face."

Ron was dropping his pants. Julie yelled, "Don't you DARE!"

"Shut up!" Chas growled and grabbed her by the neck. Julie did the last thing he expected.

Her right arm came around in a hard roundhouse punch, connecting with Chas' cheek. The man's head snapped back, he fell to the floor, out cold. Jumping up, Julie ran through the open cell doors and was on Ron before he realized what was happening. She grabbed him from behind and threw him into the wall. Upon impact, he stumbled and turned to face her. Julie charged and rammed a knee up into his groin so hard he lifted off the floor.

"You. Frackin. Scum!" Julie yelled, kneeing him again with each word. She dragged him, curled up and puking into the hallway and left him. Looking back at Gina who was watching her, she asked, "Are you OK?"

"Yes," Gina said meekly.

Julie shut her cell door, then went into her own cell and dragged Chas out. He let out a moan, starting to wake up, so she punched his bruised cheek with another hard punch. She felt a crack this time when she connected. She dragged him over to drop him in Ron's puke, then went back into her cell and shut the door.

Going over to her tray that had splattered some food on the floor where it dropped, Julie turned to Gina and said, "Now we can eat in peace." Going over to the ankle chain on the floor, she held it up and asked, "Want some?"

.

In the spirit of cooperation, which was strained, Adama and Cain began integrating crew members. Since Baltar was the 'cylon' expert, he was called to interrogate the Six Cain had prisoner. Lee Adama was to be Cain's new CAG. Since Lee was the new CAG, he got the download of discipline problems. Right away, he got a surprise.

On the list was a pending court martial. Lt. Colin was accused of killing two men who'd been guarding her. Two questions immediately came to mind. The obvious was why one of his marines would kill fellow colonials. The other was why did Lt. Colin need guarding in the first place.

Going down to the cells where Colin and a cylon were being kept, Lee went in with two guards armed with rifles and sporting hand grenades. The incident report stated two guards had been found dead, one with a broken cheek and neck, the other with a broken pelvis who had his pants down. The cell doors had been found shut. Neither prisoner refused to answer any questions about the dead men.

Lee was shocked at the appalling conditions in these cells. The female cylon had nothing in the cell except the chain that bound her to the floor. Lt. Colin was in a similar white shift, with a single cot and an exposed toilet. The door to Colin's cell had a metal bar woven through the bars that continued into the barred wall. There was no way to open that door.

"Why is this here," Lee asked the guards as he pointed to the bar woven into the cell bars.

"We don't know, Sir, but it's just as well to make sure she can't get out."

"It's so YOU perverts can't get in," Julie stated.

Lee looked at her sitting on her cot. He noticed the head rail on her cot was missing. Right, it was woven into the bars to keep the door shut. "Lt. Colin, did you do this?" he asked firmly.

"I did, Captain. It keeps the perverts out," she said flatly.

"Explain yourself, Lt," Lee said firmly.

Julie got up and walked over to him. She bore hand and ankle cuffs, but nothing connected them. "NO Sir!" she snapped. "YOU explain yourself! Why was I brought here, stripped of my clothes and thrown into a cell? I have done nothing! On top of being held for no reason, two men attempted to rape me and now I understand my execution is being planned."

"You deserve to die," One guard sneered at her.

Julie eyed him. "What was the name of this pirate ship again?" she asked.

"Stop it!" Lee barked at the guard. "Until a trial is held, nothing is going to happen." Snapping his head back to Lt. Colin he said in a hard tone, "Those two men who died down here in the hallway, what happened to them?"

Julie shrugged and said, "Sorry, I was sleeping."

"You killed them!" the other guard stated.

"Wow, I must be good," Julie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I unlocked my cell door, killed two men then locked myself back in. Don't you realize how stupid that sounds?"

"I just want to know the truth," Lee said.

"I just want a bit of justice, I have done nothing to deserve to be treated like this!" Julie retorted.

Lee indicated the cuff-bracelets Juile was wearing. "What happened to the binding bar and chain that was tying those cuffs together?"

"I got hungry and ate them," she stated.

Becoming irritated, Lee said, "I want a real answer."

"I just gave you one."

"Damn it, Colin, I can't help you if you do not cooperate!" Lee snapped.

"Help me? how?" Julie asked. "Are you going to get me out of here? Are you really going to look into what the guards here do? I have done nothing but defend myself!" she went on, her voice raising, "And if I wasn't thrown in here for NO REASON to begin with, then there would be no problem, and if one of these guys is brave enough to attempt it, I WILL show them that I WILL NOT BE RAPED!" she ended in a scream.

Lee understood. Those men had tried to rape her. Lt. Colin was turning into a super-strong cyborg, and had defended herself. One man punched so hard he died. The other suffered mass trauma to his groin and a broken pelvis when his pants were down, causing him to die from internal bleeding and shock. "I see." he said calmly. She had killed them trying to get them off her. "You shut your own cell door after you dragged them out," he said softer.

"Prove it," Julie said crisply.

Lee turned and left. He had to talk to his father to tell him what was going on here. He also found out that Athena in the Galactica brig had been assaulted by a pair of men from Pegasus, and Helo and Galen Tryol were under arrest for another man's murder. The situation with Cain and her crew was quickly getting out of hand.