Battlestar Hermes
Wardroom

Chief Imlay stood before the most senior members from both the Battlestar Hermes and the Faststar Eurylade giving his report. He had spent the last eight hours crawling around the Eurylade's FTL drive making plans on how to adapt the FTL drive from the Alexis to the warship and was feeling quite worse for wear as a result. Before that he was supervising his team as they rigged up a hardline between the helm of the Hermes to the Faststar so that it would automatically compensate for any change in course the Battlestar made. The hatch the Eurylade was docked to was not designed for underway replenishment and lacked the necessary locking clamps for holding a ship in place during maneuvers. Despite this link up Imlay had recommended that Hermes make as little maneuvering as possible while the two ships were docked.

Directly in front of the Chief behind the large oak desk was Bowman who sat with the immense painting of Hermes, the patron God of the Battlestar, adorning the wall behind him. The Commander sat quite lazily with his jacket unbuttoned at the front in a rather untidy fashion. Imlay was not used to seeing him like this and during the course of the briefing he noticed that Bowman's eyes spent a lot of time on Galit Malka who sat two chairs to his left. Imlay, who had been on the same mission to rescue Adar's sister and niece six years earlier as Bowman and Malka, noted that the look he gave her was not quite the same as six years ago when the two of them were becoming close. They were more suspicious of her somehow. In truth, Imlay himself eyed the MoI Major with suspicion. In his mind anyone who was reported as dead should actually be dead. It's perhaps the worst kind of deception.

Either side of Bowman and Malka were their respective Executive Officers. To Bowman's left was Dytto who made it no secret that he was untrusting of the two MoI officers who sat opposite. For his part, Keene Barron didn't seem completely with the rest of them. His mind was clearly wandering off onto other things that seemed to be infinitely more important than what was going on around him. He only ever spoke whenever he was spoken to and contributed very little, unlike Dytto.

"I have a question, sorry Chief," interrupted Dytto as Imlay was half way through explaining how he was going to have to modify the inverse coil on the Alexis' FTL to accommodate the bigger spool on the Eurylade. "Since the Eurylade was heading into 'Big Red' as well why are we going to the effort to fix their ship? Why not just take Hermes in?"

"That will become clear later," said Malka before Bowman had a chance to speak. She then turned back to Imlay. "Please continue Chief."

"Actually," said Imlay. "There's not much more to say. I estimate that to pull the FTL from the Alexis and modify it before reinstalling it in the Eurylade could take upto thirty six hours. That's working in shifts around the clock."

"Thank you, Chief," said Bowman. "You can begin work when I tell you. You're dismissed."

"Aye sir," said Imlay turning to leave the room.

"Good to see you again, Chief!" called out Malka in an almost playful tone.

Imlay stopped and looked back at her. He tried to say something but couldn't muster the words and so instead he simply nodded a polite acknowledgement before continuing to leave. This reaction did not go unnoticed by Dytto. The Hermes XO looked over at Malka and Barron who sat opposite him, neither of them giving away anything about what they were thinking which annoyed Dytto. It was like he was looking at a pair of machines sitting opposite.

"So what is this all about exactly?" asked Dytto to anyone who would answer him.

"Well I was hoping the Major would be kind enough to fill us in on that," added Bowman referring to Malka. Galit and Bowman shared a look as Bowman added, "I won't authorize any work on the Eurylade until I know exactly what it is we're getting in to."

"Getting in to?" quoted Galit. "You make it sound so insidious."

"You're not denying it," said Bowman which amused Galit somewhat while Barron remained silent.

"Alright then," said Galit getting upto her feet. She casually strolled around the table with her arms folded and upto the painting of Hermes that adorned the rear wall making it unmissable to anyone who walked into the room. Having admired the artwork for several seconds she turned back to face the three men, in particular Dytto. "About six years ago the three of us were on a mission to rescue President Adar's sister and niece from the Sagittaron Liberation Army. The SLA hoped that by kidnapping them they would be able to use them as bargaining chips for creating an independent Sagittaron."

"Yeah I remember it," said Dytto. "But I saw the rescue team on TV being decorated by the President. I don't ever remember seeing any of you."

"That's because our part of the mission was classified," added Bowman. "The team you saw being decorated was lead by an officer named Myra Aperlae. The least said about that individual the better."

Both Bowman and Galit shared a sly grin before she continued with her briefing.

"The SLA had taken over an abandoned base in the Erebus Belt. The base was built in secret during the Cylon War and when the war ended it was decided to shift the operations conducted there to a new base established in 'Big Red'."

"That's a long frakking way to go!" said Dytto. "Why so far from the colonies?"

"The base was used for weapons research and development. Some of the research that was carried out there was considered…'questionable' by some elements of the government."

"Questionable? How?" asked Dytto. "What were they building there?"

"Weapons such as turret launched guided missiles, cluster bomblets designed specifically for Centurions, metal-breaking acid. They carried out research into the effectiveness of these advanced weapons against Cylon ships and Centurions."

"Well that seems pretty standard stuff," said Dytto.

"Yeah but the research was conducted on Cylon prisoners."

"Prisoner!" gasped Dytto. "You can't take a Cylon, prisoner. You can capture one but…"

"Well, towards the end of the war there were those in some circles of the government who believed that the Cylons had evolved into truly sentient lifeforms in their own right and that their revolt was a result of their mistreatment by Humanity. They had quite a following up to the point where they persuaded the government to keep the base a secret from the Cylons for fear of derailing any hope of peace talks."

Dytto scoffed but Bowman listened intensely.

"So why did they relocate it to 'Big Red'?" asked the Commander.

"The base was originally maintained by the Colonial Fleet but when the Armistice was signed control of the operation was handed over to the Ministry of Intelligence. They felt that its location in the Erebus Belt was too much of a risk given that the belt is used by several pirate and smuggler groups like the Erebea so they decided to move the operation away from the colonies altogether. A space station was built out here to continue the work but after five years it was decided to abandon it since the Cylon threat didn't seem so immediate anymore and the funding for the base could be better spent on reconstruction but not before many of the weapons were completed and stored there."

"So you're telling me there is a space station filled with weapons just left derelict out here!" gasped Dytto. "What was stopping some maniac from jumping out to go and get them?"

"Trust me, that station is well defended," said Galit in a way that implied the weapons there were quite safe. "That's why Hermes can't jump directly to the station. Its defenses are designed to recognize the Eurylade but that's it. Anything else would be fired upon."

"Can these weapons be adapted to fit Hermes?" asked Bowman.

"Almost certainly," said Galit returning to her seat having walked a full circuit around the table. "I should also point out that several Vipers were taken there for testing some of these weapons. You may be able salvage some of the parts for them to help keep your own air wing operational. So, do we have the FTL from the Alexis?"

Both Dytto and Galit looked at Bowman waiting for an answer. The Commander remained silent while staring at the edge of the desk in deep thought. It took a few seconds before he finally spoke to them.

"Caleb, Keene; would you give me and the Major a moment alone please?"

Silently, Keene Barron and Caleb Dytto stood up and walked out leaving Bowman and Galit alone. Once they were gone she looked at him and smiled as she joked, "So 'Ace', you going to ravish me across the desk or something?"

"Hardly," he uttered.

"I didn't think so. Well?"

"I want to know what you are keeping from us about this base. Don't try and deny it. I know there's something because I know you…'Psych'."

"You definitely would have made a good agent," she said commenting on this darker side of Bowman that she was seeing. This aspect of his personality was more distrustful and suspicious, the result of a negative view of Humanity, a view that most MoI Agents learned to embrace hence her comment. "Perhaps we should have tried harder to recruit you before you got yourself a Battlestar?"

"No thank you. I prefer pistols at dawn rather than knife in the back."

She smiled before adding, "Same old Artimus. Y'know, I haven't lied to you about anything I've said so far."

"A lie of omission is still a lie. Listen to me; I have five thousand people on this ship I have to think about. They're not all soldiers. They are some of the last survivors of our people and before I go risking them by helping you and your crew I want answers."

"I'm not asking you to risk Hermes or anyone onboard your ship," protested Galit. "All I want is the FTL from the Alexis to be fitted to the Eurylade. After that I will head out to the base and if you're that concerned I give you my word that we won't come back. Just ships passing in the night. Like it should be."

As he listened to her, Bowman suspected that the last few words were aimed more at their relationship history rather than the current operational environment. He fell silent as he went into deep thought once more. Although she hadn't come out and said it she made it clear that she had no intention of revealing all her cards until she was ready and he knew how stubborn she could be. Without him realizing it the silence had dragged on for almost a minute and it was Galit who broke it once again but it was from an angle Bowman didn't expect.

"I was really happy to hear that you got married to Brooke," she said to him which caused him to look up at her. "I wish we could have been friends after the mission. Perhaps then you would trust me more now."

"It's not a question of trusting you as my friend," he said to her honestly. "You know that I started to have feelings for towards the end of the mission. You know that I don't give out those feelings to people just on a whim and that's still a factor in all of this."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," she said looking away momentarily with a mix of guilt and shame over having deceived him for so long. "It means a lot to me."

He simply nodded before continuing, "But I don't trust Major Galit Malka of the Ministry of Intelligence. The same MoI officer who led me to believe that my friend was dead for six years. The same officer whom I know is willing to torture people for information; yes I remember what you did back then. The truth is there are two separate Galit Malkas and I am man enough to admit that the MoI side of you scares me to no end. When you are on a mission you change. I can see it in your eyes. You only see the mission and nothing else and when I sit here and look into your eyes across this table I see that side of you more clearly than ever. Maybe it's because the colonies are gone and all you have left is this mission, I don't know. You just seem so sure about completing it."

"So," she sighed with disappointment. "I take it you're not going to authorize the work to be carried out?"

"Are you going to tell me what's really at that base?" asked Bowman offering her one last opportunity to cooperate.

"Artimus-" she began trying to plead with him not to force her to lie to him.

"No!" he shot back firmly. "I want an answer now and I want it to be the truth. I'm not asking you as Commander of the Hermes, I am asking you as someone who was close to you once. Tell me!"

Galit stood up and composed herself. The MoI officer was now beaming through for him to see, there was no mistaking it.

"In that case Commander," she said to him through a neutral tone of voice. "Me and my crew shall have to bid you farewell. We have a long way to go without an FTL drive to take us there."

Bowman stood up alongside her and asked, "You're still going to proceed with this mission?"

"I am. I don't think there's anything more to be said here, do you?"

Bowman was silent. With no other answer from him she silently said her good bye before turning her back to him and walking away. She was almost at the hatch leading into the wardroom when he called out, "Wait!" She stopped, keeping her back to him while tilting her head to the right to hear what he had to say. "I'm authorizing the work to be carried out. I'll have Chief Imlay pull the FTL from the Alexis and install it in the Eurylade."

She turned around and faced him. "This will benefit Hermes, I swear it to you. When my crew and I return to this ship you will have those weapons to help defend the people onboard because I know how much they mean to you."

"I'm not finished," he interjected firmly. Galit remained silent as she listened. "I'm going too. I'm also taking a team of my own people with me to look over whatever is there. Call them an assessment team if you like."

"That won't be necessary," she replied but Bowman was undeterred.

"That's the condition of me giving you the FTL drive from the Alexis. I don't think it's an unreasonable one."

Bowman watched as her eyes glanced away for a moment before she finally acknowledged his request.

"Alright," she said. "You and your team may come too." She began to leave but not before adding, "I like this new Bowman. You're not the angry man I used to know from the Battlestar Valkyrie. You're more controlled than ever. I wonder; what will one day break that control?"

Her words had deliberately touched a nerve with Bowman. Perhaps it was her way of making sure that she left with one up on him or maybe she was just reminding him of the man he once was. Either way, as Bowman lowered himself back down into his chair his mind cast back to a time when he did lose the control he so desperately wished to hold onto…


Delphi, Caprica
Eight Years before 'The Fall'

Artimus Bowman walked with Brooke Garner along the pier that stretched out over the sea like a long wooden finger protruding from the land. It wasn't a very big pier being only twenty meters wide and a third of a kilometer long with a small arcade at the bottom that echoed with the sound of gambling and video game machines.

It was a cold and gloomy evening. The clouds were low and heavy-looking with a cocktail of blue and grey intermixing as they rolled overhead. Both of them were wrapped up tightly in long thick jackets as they walked arm in arm down the pier. As far as they were concerned it was a perfect day. They had been together for almost five months now and arranging time to see one another around Brooke's classes and Bowman's duties with the fleet had been a real headache but nevertheless they always made sure they had the time.

"So tell me something about you I don't know yet?" she asked as they were halfway along the length of the pier.

"Well what do you want to know?" he asked back, Artimus Bowman never being one for creating idle chit-chat.

"If I knew that then I wouldn't be asking," she laughed in that way he loved so much. "Just…I don't know. Anything. Why did you want to fly, what are they called again, Raptors?"

"Simple answer really," he replied. "My grandfather flew Raptors during the war. I wanted to honor him by following in his footsteps."

Artimus Bowman had lived with his grandparents ever since he was thirteen after he ran away from his parent's home. His father had been abusive to both him and his mother and when it was revealed he had been having an affair Artimus couldn't stand the sight of him any longer. His mother stayed with his father however despite her son's pleas.

"I think it's time I met some of your family. It's been going on five months now and you've met mine."

"Yeah, that was a success," chortled Bowman. Brookes' eldest brother was Barry Garner, an Engineer within the Colonial Fleet who had a distinct dislike for two kinds of people; pilots and boyfriends of his little sister. Sadly, Artimus Bowman was both.

"I mean it," she said coming to a stop just before the arcade. "I want to meet your grandparents since you talk about them so much."

"Alright but I should warn you first," he laughed. "My grandfather is like me and only ever wants to talk about Raptors and my grandmother will probably try to feed you up with her chocolate cakes."

"I think I know a bit about Raptors by now," she replied. "As for the chocolate cakes; how about I get in some practice. There's an ice cream stand over there."

Bowman looked over and saw the stand that she was referring to. He smiled and kissed her softly before walking over to get them an ice cream each. He ordered a chocolate one for her and a vanilla one for himself before handing over five cubits and feeling like he had willingly been mugged.

As he turned around he looked back across at Brooke and saw she was no longer alone. A rather scruffy looking man was hovering around her trying to talk to her despite her polite rebuffs. He proved quite persistent on the matter and when she tried to walk away from him towards Bowman he reached out and grabbed hold of her left arm causing Brooke to wince in pain.

Everything went hazy for Artimus. He didn't remember running over to help or dropping the ice cream onto wooden deck of the pier. He didn't remember anything for the span of five seconds or so. It was as if that part of his life was gone. Instead he seemed to jump from standing there next to the ice cream stand to looking down at the scruffy man bleeding profusely and hearing Brookes' screams for him to stop.

As his senses returned he stood up and looked around at the people who had gathered to see what was happening. The badly beaten man lay at his feet with a broken nose, a split lip and eyebrow and was coughing from the blood and tears. All the eyes on the pier were firmly on Bowman and he couldn't be sure why until he looked at his right hand and saw it was bloodied. He wiped the warm red liquid away before realizing that it was not his own blood. His hand had no injuries and it was at that point he knew that he had been the one to beat on the man at his feet.

He looked over at Brooke for an explanation but found her with her back to him sobbing bitterly, more scared than anything else. The Police soon arrived and Bowman was carted off to the station. It could have been the end of his career had it not been for several witnesses who had told the officers what had happened and that the man he had beaten was a known troublemaker. Bowman was let off with a warning.

Artimus Bowman had only one true fear that preoccupied his mind; what would happen the next time he lost control of himself. It had happened before that day on the pier and if he was honest he had let it happen since but that one time was the worst time for him because that was the only time Brooke had ever seen him that way. He wouldn't have blamed her for leaving him but she knew the real man inside and that was the man she had fallen in love with. Still, the incident seemed to hang over him for the rest of their relationship…


Battlestar Hermes
Bowman's Quarters
40 Days since 'The Fall' (Present Day)

Bowman walked through the hatch that led to his quarters before closing it behind him. Once it was sealed he picked up the telephone handset from off the wall and selected the button marked with a '1' before waiting for someone in CIC to answer.

"This is the Commander, have Chief Imlay begin work right away and then send Colonel Dytto to my quarters."

With his command acknowledged he hung the handset back up and made his way across the room to his bookshelf. He had a respectable collection of books aboard Hermes although most of them were factual rather than fiction. While he enjoyed reading novels every so often, he preferred the cold and emotionless logic of hard fact. Many of the books were technical manuals of varying kinds ranging from the mundane to the complex.

As he looked over them his eye fell upon one quite special book. He pulled it out and carried it over to the leather clad sofa that sat perched up against the starboard side wall with a short coffee table in front of it. With one hand holding the book he shuffled out of his duty jacket before tossing it onto the table and proceeding to sit down.

The aged looking book was called 'The Enemy' and was credited as being written by Dr Charlotte Gallivan. Dr Gallivan served aboard the Battlestar Galactica during the last days of the First Cylon War as a psychiatrist. After the war she took a fascination in studying the behavior of the Cylons as had been witnessed following the revolt. On the cover of the book was a rather faded stamp that said 'Battlestar Cerberus Library'. He opened it up and read the inscription that had been hand written and signed by Neveah Ratliff, a movie star who had given him the book while filming a movie aboard the Cerberus when he was XO of that particular Battlestar.

As he skimmed through the pages there was a knocking on the hatch and Bowman called for the visitor to enter while his eyes didn't leave the pages as they flicked through the length of the book. Dytto walked in and stood infront of Bowman.

"You wanted to see me," said Dytto.

Bowman didn't answer right away. Instead he kept looking until finally he found what he was looking for near the back of the book.

"Listen to this for a minute!" he said to Dytto before reading aloud from the book. "How can we label Cylon behavior as unusual? Perhaps it is unusual for subservient, non-sentient automatons to be capable of truly independent actions but the Cylons are not automatons. They were built to be able to function like a Human but with improved strength, agility and intelligence. How then can we honestly describe the Cylon Revolt as being 'unusual behavior' when it is one of Humanity's most basic needs to be free of oppression and tyranny. Perhaps they are more human than we give them credit for?"

Bowman lowered the book to wait for Dytto's response. He didn't have to wait long.

"Don't tell me you're subscribing to that crap Malka was preaching about Cylon prisoners?" he scoffed.

"I'm not subscribing to anything of the kind, Caleb," said Bowman. "I'm simply reading from a book."

"Oh yeah, my priest at temple used to say that if you tell someone something through word of mouth then we are more likely to question its authenticity because it is from an unreliable source; a Human being. However if you put it in a book we are more inclined to believe it because a book doesn't appear to be corrupted by emotion and bias."

"Even if you know it to be a load of…crap?" asked Bowman smirking as he quoted his XO.

"Especially then," replied Dytto.

"Your priest sounds like he was a smart man," commented Bowman who had never reserved much room in his heart for religious belief and worship.

"He was Chloe…I mean, Captain Burmeister's father," explained Dytto as Bowman gestured for him to take a seat opposite him which the XO accepted.

"I see. Have you managed to resolve things with her yet?"

"If that's what you called me here to talk about-"protested Dytto to which Bowman raised his hand to cut him off.

"No," he said lowering it. "I can't order you to be friends with people. If I could then I would have had to bring you up on charges a long time ago."

The edge of Bowman's lip curled in amusement. Even Dytto found himself engaging a short, faint chuckle.

"Then why did you call me here?" he asked his Commander.

"Malka!" Bowman explained. "What does your gut tell you about her?"

"Well for one, I don't trust her. I never have trusted the MoI."

"A wise man," uttered Bowman as he placed the book down on the coffee table.

"But then again you know her better than I do."

"I only wish that were true," said Bowman leaning back against the sofa. "Remember what your priest said when you're dealing with her, Caleb; question everything she tells you. She won't come out and lie to you but she will try to mislead you. As long as you keep on the path you should be ok."

"Understood," said Dytto. "If she's not to be completely trusted; why then have you permitted Imlay to start work on fitting the Alexis' FTL to the Eurylade?"

"Because I am going with her to this station she's on about. You will be in command of Hermes until I get back. Your orders are to avoid the Cylons at all cost whilst remaining inside 'Big Red' and effect repairs as best you can to the ship. I'll take a team with me, probably Callisto, Imlay and a few Marines and Specialists for good measure."

"I see," said Dytto before asking in a joking fashion, "And what makes you think I won't just take off with Hermes and leave you for dead?"

"Two things; firstly you couldn't stand it if that was how you got command of Hermes and secondly, I'm confident the crew would shoot you within a second if you tried. This might come as a shock to you but you're not that popular."

"Maybe I should offer them all a pay rise?" said Dytto which caused the two of them to share a long sought after laugh. "I'll speak to their union representative in the morning." That made the laughter become heavier and more heart felt until after a minute or so it subsided and they fell silent once more.

"Seriously though," said Bowman. "Keep your cards close to your chest around the MoI crew. Question everything."

"You make it sound like you're not coming back?" asked Dytto referring to the tone that Bowman was using.

"I guess we will see won't we."


Battlestar Hermes
'The Slum'

Maria Tyler watched as her younger brother slept soundly in their bunk, their miniaturized home aboard Hermes. Although there was effectively no day and night in space the Battlestar operated on a standard daily time unit for the benefit of its crew. Therefore, aboard Hermes it was in effect night time. Even in 'The Slum' things seemed to quiet down as people tried to get what sleep they could.

She stroked his head lovingly in a way their mother used to. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing this was the only way she could get him to sleep. It was now the only thing that reminded him of home. Once she was sure he was fast asleep she lifted her hand up off from his head and rested it in her lap as she sat leaning up against the side of the small space reserved for them. There was barely a minute that didn't go by when she didn't think about her rape by Private Abbott, one of the Marines aboard the Battlestar. Worse still was the knowledge that it may happen again since Abbott's deal with Armand Lee was incomplete.

Hermes wasn't supposed to have been like this for the civilians living onboard, themselves victims of the Battlestar Pegasus as well as the Cylons. When Hermes found the only three surviving ships from the civilian fleet encountered by Pegasus, Bowman had sworn that Hermes was here to help them. It took some convincing for the three thousand people to abandon their crippled ships and come aboard Hermes. As Maria sat there feeling like she was somehow broken by Abbott's assault part of her began to wish she had stayed aboard her ship and died. Only the need to keep her brother safe kept her going now.

That in itself gave her mixed feelings about what she may now have to endure. The protective side of her personality told her that as long as she cooperated with Armand Lee and did as she was told then her brother's safety was almost guaranteed for he would have the protection of the Basileus, a criminal organization whose brutal reputation appeared to have survived the destruction of the colonies and was flourishing aboard Hermes.

She didn't know when it happened but at some point she too had drifted off to sleep. As her head began to fall to the side she awoke with a start and clutched the side of her bunk to stop herself from falling. It was a sensation she had become accustomed to over the past month and she quickly recovered before trying to get back to sleep.

Her bladder had other ideas however as it began to complain of having processed her daily ration of water and was ready to expel the waste. Seeing that her brother was still asleep she dangled her legs over the side before jumping down as quietly as she could not to wake the thirty or so people who shared the small living space designed for eight Marines for only a short period of time.

She stepped outside the hatch and began walking down the corridor that led to the toilets or 'latrine' as the Marines all referred to it. As she walked the short distance she heard a faint baby's cry echoing through the walk space. It was not an uncommon sound in 'The Slum' and like most things here you became accustomed to it. In other words if it didn't concern you then you just ignored it. She reached the hatch that led to the toilet and stepped inside without knowing she was being watched.

Unusually, the toilets were empty. Although efforts were made to keep them clean the truth was the hygiene of the facility left much to be desired. People didn't seem to care as long as they had somewhere to relieve themselves. Having the whole facility to herself she decided to look in each cubicle for what she deemed to be the cleanest one and found it to be the third one from the left. She stepped inside and proceeded to twist the lock over to the right giving her what could be considered as the only place she could truly do anything in private.


Two Marines walked up to the hatch that led to the toilet where Maria was inside. One of them was Private Dashforth while the other was Abbott. Both had been on patrol through the civilian section of the ship when Abbott had spied Maria stepping out when everyone else was asleep. Abbott had told Dashforth that he and Maria were having sex but he left out the deal he made with Armand Lee. As far as Dashforth was concerned the sex was purely consensual.

"Come on, ten minutes?" asked Abbott.

"Ten minutes!" gasped Dashforth in quite a juvenile manner. "You won't even need three and I can't say I blame you. She's a hot one."

"Come on it's worth one of my last smokes, what do you say?" pleaded Abbott.

"Show me the colour of your paper first," demanded Dashforth. Annoyed, Abbott threw his rifle over his right shoulder and reached into a pocket sown into his black fatigues to produce a white cigarette which he handed to Dashforth. "Ten minutes! If anyone asks I'll say it's closed for maintenance. Go on!"


Maria flushed the toilet and stepped out of the cubicle. She walked over to the sink and placed her hand under the tap before twisting the handle on the top. A small squirt of water gushed out sprinkling her hand before it cut off. The taps had been set to do this in order not to waste the limited water supply left aboard the Battlestar. The water was more important to the people aboard Hermes as drinking water rather than for washing.

She shook her hands dry as she looked at the young woman who stared back at her in the mirror. The girl looked tired and hurt. Her dark and alluring Tauron features that had attracted Abbott in the first place were now like scars across her face that she felt ashamed of. She hated her natural beauty so much that she wished she could tear it from her body to make herself ugly if only to protect herself from men.

"You are so beautiful," uttered a voice behind her.

The voice caused her to spin around with fright as her eyes confirmed what her ears were telling her. Abbott stood by the hatch that he had closed behind him and was undoing the strap for his Kevlar helmet. He placed the black coloured protective headwear down on the basin before walking slowly over to her.

Maria was terrified. It was a fear she had never known before. Now that she knew what she could expect made it worse than before. Unlike that time however Abbott didn't seem as determined as he walked up towards her. His eyes seemed almost pitiful rather than lust crazed. He walked up to her until he was only a few inches from her.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "I've tried to get hold of you. To talk! That's all I want to do."

Maria's eyes stared at his rifle that sat slung over his right shoulder. Was he going to use it to force her not to resist? Was he already doing that just by showing it to her? These were the things that were running through her head as she found she was backing up against the basin in a subconscious effort to try and escape. He stepped in even closer to her and she could feel his warm breath on her skin causing her to cringe and feel like vomiting.

He placed his hands on her arms in a grotesque act of compassion as he tried to comfort her if only to settle his own disgust at what he was doing. In his mind he was somehow justifying what he was going to do.

"You know that I can look after you and your brother? You know that don't you?"

As his grip got tighter she felt herself shaking in his hands but he didn't seem to notice. He was too busy leading in towards her as he reached to kiss her.

"All you have to do is just-"

He placed his lips on her and she fought the urge to cry bitterly. He kissed her again and again before he slithered his body in close to her. Maria suddenly felt a surge of energy run through her body. She felt such fear that she believed she would catch fire if he kept touching her.

Her knee shot upwards with such violence and force that it impacted into his groin like a sledgehammer. Abbott yelped in pain as he released his grip on her and began to fall backwards. This was her opportunity to escape but she was momentarily paralyzed by fear over the consequences of what she had just done.

In almost blind rage he suddenly threw himself at her. Her head fell backwards over the sink as he collided with her and it landed hard against the mirror shattering it into several shards that fell from the wall. Abbott was now tugging on her clothes trying to get them off to carry out his vile attack. Pinned and unable to move her torso her arms fell down onto the basin. Her right hand landed on top of a long piece of broken mirror that was shaped to a point. As her fingers curved around the piece of mirror the darkest thought she ever had in her life came into her mind before transforming into the signal that raced down to her hand holding the piece of broken reflective glass.

In one quick move she lifted it off the basin and thrust the pointed end into the right side of Abbott's neck. Abbott immediately let go of her as he stumbled backwards trying to cradle the wound. Blood began pouring from the gash in his neck and out of his mouth as his gargled screams rang out. He fell to the floor, drowning on his own blood.

Still holding the broken piece of mirror in her hand she screamed in a volume she never thought was possible. Her screams alerted Dashforth who came rushing in just in time to see Abbott take his last breath as he lay on the floor surrounded by his own blood.

Seeing Maria holding the murder weapon in her hand, Dashforth cocked his rifle and thrust the butt into his shoulder as he aimed it squarely at her head ordering her not to move. Staring at the barrel of the rifle, Maria silently wished for him to pull the trigger and end this nightmare once and for all.