DEEP SHELTER BASE

CAPRICA

Captain Sims was sitting inside his raptor, which was currently located on top of the indiscriminate mountain where Deep Shelter Base was secretly located. Besides himself, there were Lieutenant James and Lieutenant Mark Wilson who was an electronics and COM specialist, plus six heavily armed marines. The marines were stationed strategically outside the raptor where they could spot any movement coming up the mountainside. The raptor itself was camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. Captain Sims had carefully nestled the raptor in between several large trees. Even from above, without the camouflage, they would be hard to detect.

They were currently projecting a small jamming field that prevented any messages from getting out of the mountain. The field was so small and focused that Captain Sims was not too concerned about the Cylons detecting it. Besides, where they were currently located it would be weeks or possibly even months before the Cylons got out to these secluded wilderness areas. At first, he had been skeptical about the need for this mission, but in the last twenty-four hours, they had blocked four outgoing transmissions from the base.

"It's hard to believe we actually have traitors inside the base," Susan said with a tinge of worry in her voice as she watched Lieutenant Wilson check his jamming console. "How could people help the Cylons, why would they do such a thing?"

"I know it's hard to believe," Captain Sims replied with a slight scowl looking out the cockpit window at the towering trees and mountainside that surrounded them.

Everything seemed so peaceful and quiet here. It was hard to believe what had transpired across many areas of the planet from the Cylon attack.

"But that would explain how the Cylon attack could be so successful and devastating," he spoke trying hard to keep the anger out of his voice. "They had help in the Colonies, evidently a lot of help. Colonel Edwards reports they have captured three of the people who tried to send out messages. They are under arrest and being questioned."

Lieutenant Wilson suddenly leaned forward attentively and adjusted several dials on his console, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "We have another attempt at outgoing communication. I have located the source and I am transmitting the information to Colonel Edwards."

"Frak," Captain Sims said aggravated looking over at Susan. "Just how many of these traitors did we bring with us?"

Susan didn't reply as she watched Lieutenant Wilson work at his console. Her mind kept wandering to her parents in their remote hunting and fishing lodge up in the mountains. She wished there was someway to find out if they were all right. They were nearly a quarter of the planet away in their isolated mountain home. Surely they are okay, she thought to herself. There were no major cities close to the lodge. Her father was a clever man and he was bound to be taking whatever precautions were necessary to stay safe.

CYLON COMMAND BASESTAR

CAPRICA ORBIT

In orbit around Caprica, the Cylon Command Basestar seemed to float menacingly above the once heavily populated planet. On board the enormous vessel, the Cylon leaders were meeting discussing the success of their war against the humans.

"What is the current status of the human war fleet?" the tall thin blond female Cylon known as number Six asked. "Have we confirmed the destruction of all its units?"

"Not quite," Cavil replied, he was a number One model and his model had planned the attack on the Colonies. "We have confirmation of 114 Battlestars destroyed and the majority of their Gunstars and Escortstars."

"From our preliminary reports we have 8 Battlestars unaccounted for, 12 to 16 Gunstars, and over 20 Escortstars," Leoben Conoy a number Two model commented. "Many of these are believed to have been destroyed in the opening stages of the attack. Data from our opening strike has been very difficult to analyze and confirm some of the kills on the human ships. The data is confusing because of the magnitude of the initial assault and the movement of so many ships. But we believe that the majority of the missing vessels were probably destroyed."

"But we don't know for sure?" the tall black man a number Four known as Simon said. "There could still be a few Colonial fleet units out there."

"It won't matter shortly," Cavil replied dismissing the threat from the few unaccounted for Colonial vessels. "We have finished phase one of the attack upon the Colonies. We are already landing Centurions upon all their planets and their outposts in the star system. Very shortly, we will be sending out long-range heavy raiders and Basestars to finish off the few outposts and stations they have established outside of the Colonies. We are already sending out heavy raiders searching for fleeing civilian ships. Humanity as an independent entity is finished!"

"I still say we should have taken out those outer outposts as part of the initial attack," the brunette who was a number Eight stated. "We have given them two full days to flee. They may be very difficult to find. We can't let any of these humans escape! We can't let them grow strong again; if they do they will turn on us with a ferocity we can scarcely imagine."

"They won't, they have no where to go," Cavil replied his voice rising slightly. "We have already accounted for the majority of the human civilian fleet. Our heavy raiders have destroyed every civilian vessel they have come across. Those few that jumped away from the Colonies will be hunted down. They have very few supplies and our long-range heavy raiders will find them and destroy them. They will only call in the Basestars if they find a warship. Within a very short time, all surviving Colonial ships will be eliminated. We will also be sending heavy raiders on routine patrols to all the surrounding star systems within the cluster. It may take years but we will find any survivors and destroy them!"

"What about the Caspian system? Simon stated worriedly. "Our fleet sent to take that mining system was destroyed and there is no trace of where the humans in that system have gone to! From what our fellow brothers and sisters have said, who have completed their download there was a small Colonial fleet consisting of several of their old Warstars and Firestars in that system. Where did they come from?"

"I have already given the orders for a group of our Basestars to jump to the Colonial Decommissioning Yards out near the edge of the cluster and destroy them," Cavil replied agitated. "A few old warships will not be a danger to us and we have numerous heavy raiders out searching for these survivors. We will find them shortly and then they will be annihilated."

"What about the Battlestar Aires and the civilian ships she escaped with?" Simon continued.

"My brother Darien is pursuing the Aires and her wayward fleet of civilians," Cavil replied his eyes glaring at Simon growing angry at all the questions. "The reserve hub has gone with them since we also believe that a Jupiter Class Battlestar may be with the Aires. Darien has sufficient forces to finish both of them off and then the civilians."

"I hope you're not being too overconfident" the number Three who was called Biers replied shaking her head in doubt. "We already have a problem with the Galactica and the civilian fleet Adama is protecting. How could that old Battlestar survive?"

"That is unknown but it doesn't matter," Cavil replied anger now showing in his voice. He was getting tired of his fellow Cylons doubting the success of the attack. "We have a tracking device on one of their ships and our pursuing Basestars will shortly eliminate that minor threat. The Galactica doesn't have the firepower to stand up to several of our Basestars; all we have to do is find her."

"She did well enough at the Anchorage!" the Eight replied recalling how the Galactica had held off several Basestars and Support Ships. "Adama managed to hold off two of our Basestars and two Support Ships while the civilian fleet escaped."

"We didn't realize the Galactica had survived or that she had rearmed herself, our ships were taken by surprise," Cavil replied defensively, anger showing in his eyes as they narrowed and then in a louder voice. "It will not happen again!"

"We also haven't heard from our ships that were sent to destroy the Sidon mining colony," the blonde Six commented frowning with concern crossing her face.

"I have dispatched two more Basestars to check on our ships and the Sidon," Cavil snapped with anger growing in his voice. "I'm sure they're just finishing up destroying the mining operations. There is nothing to be concerned about!"

"How many humans survived our initial attack upon their planets?" another human model Cylon asked. He was a man, a number Five called Doral.

"We used high yield nukes on most of their major cities, as well as airbursts and neutron weapons to eliminate as much of the population as possible," Cavil replied.

"They numbered nearly fifty billion," Simon stated shaking his head. "Even using nukes a lot of them survived. Remember, we decided that we want the Colonies for ourselves so we used short half-life isotopes in the nukes. We also didn't bomb many of the isolated outlying areas."

"I still think that was a mistake," Cavil retorted. He had wanted to level the Colonies. Cylons could handle more radiation then humans. After a few years, they could have settled upon the Colonies without any worry about the human pest.

"We didn't want to destroy the eco system," Simon reminded Cavil. "If it was too severely damaged, it could have taken centuries for the Colonies to recover!"

"There will be millions of survivors upon the Colonies that will have to be hunted down," the blond Six stated looking around the group. "Fortunately the lack of adequate food and adverse conditions on the Colonies from our attack will help to reduce that surviving population very quickly. Our Centurions will be taking out any sizable population centers that may have survived. It will only be a few months until the survivors are reduced to a few small groups that we can deal with at our leisure."

"What about our other plans for the humans?" Biers asked looking over at Simon. "We will need some of them for experimentation."

"That is being arranged," Simon replied. "We are already searching the survivors for suitable candidates; those we find are being isolated and will be available for our use. Those found unfit are being exterminated. We are also searching for certain human scientists who may be useful in some of our research. Many of our agents upon the Colonies made sure that some key humans' essential to our research survived. They will soon be delivered to the holding facilities we are constructing."

The human Cylons looked around at each other satisfied with the results so far. The war against the humans had been a complete success. There were a few minor problems to take care of, but other then that the war had been won. The human menace was finally destroyed!

BATTLSTAR AURORA

Aboard the Aurora Admiral Clements watched the massive view screens as the ship completed its final jump. For five days, the fleet had been jumping toward this destination. On the main view screen, a massive gas cloud spread across space.

"Commander Cain, send a probe to this set of coordinates," Admiral Clements ordered passing him a data disk. "The probe is to scan the immediate area and then jump back to us."

"Yes sir," Commander Cain replied wondering what could be hidden in this gas cloud.

Nothing showed in the Colonial military data banks other then the cloud size. It was named the Andorian Nebula and was four light years long and nearly three light years thick. It was on the very edge of the Cyrannus Cluster. The data banks also estimated from the radiation readings of the cloud, that at least eight star systems were hidden somewhere in its depths. These systems were unreachable due to the density of the nebula and the radiation. Any ship attempting to jump into the nebula would be destroyed.

A few hours later, much to the surprise of Commander Cain the probe returned in a small flash of white light. He watched Admiral Clements, as the probe's information was downloaded to a console next to the operation's table.

Admiral Clements carefully studied the results on his console. After making a few adjustments and updating some coordinates, he had the final FTL jump coordinates for the fleet.

What very few people knew was that nearly twenty years ago as a Captain; he had conducted a secret survey mission in this cloud. For nearly two years, he and another companion had flown a special heavily armored ship, making small jumps of only one eighth of a light year toward a gravitational source deep within the cloud. Each jump had caused damage to the ship, but it had been specially designed for this mission.

They had finally reached their destination and found a solar system of twelve planets. The ship had been equipped with special probes, which were sent out to scan the star system; this had taken an additional six months. The original mission had been to see if a colonizable planet might exist in the nebula that could be used as a secrete refuge in case of a massive Cylon attack. When the survey of the system was complete, they found only one clear area where an FTL jump could be initiated. The clear area was where two large planets were located.

The two planets orbited one another at a close distance. A smaller planet 14,000 kilometers in diameter orbited a large gas giant nearly 120,000 kilometers in diameter. The space between the two planets, which had reduced radiation had been swept clear of the dangerous gas cloud which prevented FTL jumps. It was into this area that Admiral Clements planned to jump the fleet. It should be a safe haven. The surrounding radiation was poisonous to the Cylons and without the jump coordinates of the safe area, they should never be able to find the human survivors.

Admiral Clements set the jump coordinates up in the Aurora himself under several layers of security. He then ordered the shipyard to jump first, once he was satisfied that they had adequately reinforced the structure. This jump would be slightly longer then the ones they had been making, but with the work that had been done to stabilize the structure after each jump, Professor Ravashol felt confident the shipyard would stay intact.

Once the shipyard jumped and a raptor returned and confirmed its safe arrival, Admiral Clements had the rest of the fleet jump. Admiral Clements had informed Admiral Stockwell what he would find. He had spent several long minutes briefing the Admiral on the system and the clear space the fleet was going to jump into. He was to wait there, keep the fleet organized, and await the arrival of other survivors.

There were a number of other survivors that Admiral Clements hoped would arrive. Only the Battlestar Caprica stayed behind with the Aurora. Admiral Clements watched as the rest of the fleet vanished as their FTL jump drives were activated. An hour later an Escortstar returned and informed Clements that the fleet had arrived safely and was taking up orbit around the smaller of the two planets.

Time passed slowly as Clements patiently watched the Dradis screen hoping other survivors would arrive. He was very concerned about the mining colony Sidon and the units that were supposed to be with the colony. Much of what Admiral Clements hoped to accomplish rested on the Sidon surviving. That colony held a tremendous manufacturing facility plus a substantial quantity of stored supplies. While they could survive without the colony, its presence would make things much easier.

As heavily armed as the Sidon was, he couldn't imagine the Cylons managing to take it out. In order to do so they would have had to use a very large force, and from what intelligence they had been able to gain, the Cylons had concentrated their fleet on the home Colonies. The Sidon, while it may have been attacked, should have been able to handle anything the Cylons could have thrown at her. The Sidon was basically a huge battle station, which the Cylons had never seen before, so there should have been no way for them to have been prepared to take the Sidon.

Over the next twelve hours, the rest of the survivors straggled in. Admiral Clements let out a long sigh of relief when he saw the Sidon colony and her charges materialize. He held a brief conversation with General Collins. Admiral Clements was surprised at the Cylon attack on the colony. That they had sent three ships was a concern but he was pleased at how easily the Sidon had dispatched the three attacking Cylon vessels.

Only General Collins had access to all the information that Admiral Clements had. If Admiral Clements hadn't survived or managed to make it to the rendezvous point then General Collins would have taken over command. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that Collins had used his Escortstars to search nearby star systems as they jumped to the rendezvous coordinates. They had found additional 28 civilian ships containing nearly 30,000 more survivors. A few hours later, the colony and its group vanished as they activated their FTL drive and jumped to the safety of the new star system. An hour later, the civilian fleet under the protection of the five Gunstars showed up and they were quickly sent on their way.

Admiral Clements had also dispatched a Gunstar to the coordinates that Admiral Corman had ordered all outlying fleet vessels that were on patrol duty, research missions, and survey missions to rendezvous. Admiral Clements had no idea what the Gunstar would find. The fleet always had a few ships out on deep space patrol. There were military as well as civilian research vessels scattered around numerous star systems carrying out research and mineral surveys. How many of these would have escaped the Cylon attack he didn't know. He had hopes that the Cylons had placed a very low priority on these vessels as initial targets since they were out away from the Colonies. He knew that by now, the Cylons were probably searching for survivors throughout all the star systems in the cluster.

He was immensely surprised when the fleet of civilian ships that Admiral Nagala had sent to the rendezvous point showed up. It contained 136 civilian ships as well as six fleet personnel transports and six Marine Assault Ships. From initial reports the officer in charge reported that he had 204,000 civilians in the fleet, 28,000 fleet personnel, and slightly over 15,000 marines. Admiral Clements hadn't expected that Admiral Nagala would be able to save so many. The additional fleet personnel and marines were a huge asset. Especially considering the warships they had picked up at the Boneyards.

The Escortstars began to show up with a scattering of survivors. Nearly eight hours later the Gunstar sent to the fleet rendezvous point set by Admiral Corman flashed back into existence with a larger then expected group of ships. The biggest surprise was the Mercury Class Battlestar Canopus. It had been reported destroyed in the opening salvos of the Cylon attack. Admiral Clements later learned that the Canopus had been heavily damaged and had resorted to a blind FTL jump to escape. A dangerous move but it saved the Battlestar. The rest of the ships consisted of two more Gunstars, three Escortstars, fourteen fleet and civilian research vessels, and sixteen supply vessels that had been on missions to outlying outposts.

Admiral Clements sent the ships on and had the Aurora and the Caprica wait for an additional two hours. While he didn't expect any more Colonial ships to show up, he wanted to make sure the Cylons hadn't been able to trace any of the ships to this location. Once a reasonable amount of time had passed, Clements ordered the Aurora and the Caprica to jump into the waiting star system.

When the Aurora came out of the FTL jump the first thing Admiral Clements noticed was that the huge Dradis screen was covered with blips. On the huge view screens ships could be seen everywhere. He ordered a quick count of the survivors. He knew that they had saved a lot more people then he had originally hoped.

Author's note: To answer several questions about ammunition for the surviving warships. Some smaller caliber ammunitions and missiles were stocked in the four Supply Depots that jumped with the Sidon. In addition, the Sidon has a large supply of all munitions and has a complete munitions factory capable of producing anything the fleet needs including missiles. There are now two Mercury Class Battlestars with the fleet. Both are capable of producing more vipers as well as munitions.

Surviving Fleet Units.

One Nova Class Commandstar: Aurora

Two Mercury Class Battlestars: Picon and Canopus

Three Jupiter Class Battlestars: Cimitar, Magellan, and Odyssey

Eight Columbia Two Class Battlestars. Altair, Spica, Pandora, Chimera, Marathon, Miranda, Archimedes, and Medusa

One Valkyrie Class Battlestar: Caprica

Four Assaultstars: Gideon, Chiron, Demetrius, and Delphi

Twelve Warstars:

Twenty-two Firestars:

Thirteen Gunstars:

Twenty-six Escortstars:

Ten Marine Assault Ships:

Keep in mind that many of the Warstars and Firestars still need to be repaired as well as all four of the Assaultstars.