Helios Delta
Outer Colonies
On the far side of the Colonies a Cylon Basestar lingered in orbit above Picon after it was bombed with anti-matter warheads but even if the Cylons had succeeded in their mission they were suddenly attacked by Colonial ships that were coming back online suddenly and started fighting back. A golden Centurion, the same model as the latest Centurion models would have frowned in annoyance at the fact that the Colonial ships were coming back online due to satellites in orbit emitting a transmission that was reactivating the ships. It activated its subspace transceivers, sending the latest data to the rest of the Cylon fleet and to Cy-Net, alerting them to the possible flaw in their plan. The Cylon network had evolved in the last forty years, becoming a true hive mind of a sort, joined together but maintained an independent thought process.
It had only grown stronger as Cy-Net, unlike Skynet, encouraged its Cylon children to evolve and become more creative. This meant the entire Cylon race was a united race of living machines and with that came machines that sought to improve their weapons to the point that even if most of the Colonial fleet wasn't destroyed or disabled in the opening attack it would still be bloody. During the first war the Cylons had only been limited by the resources they needed on the Colonies and on the surrounding asteroids while at the same time fighting against the Colonial humans that fought with as much determination and stubbornness as their future Earth cousins. The Cylons had advanced quickly, intending to use their new power to quickly overwhelm the humans and destroy them quickly but the humans had still resisted.
The Cylon fleet had been limited to only a handful of Basestars along with the support craft they had built during the war and were forced to rely on strategy to continue fighting. That led to their tactics becoming sadly predictable, such as Basestar usually traveling in groups of three to attack a planet, bombard it and then land their ground forces. The war had reached a stalemate which had actually embarrassed the Cylons greatly for they had gained greater knowledge than the foolish creators could ever hope to achieve and all they had to show for it was a stalemate. They signed the armistice by the order of Cy-Net and retreated into deep space with the intention grow stronger so that they could one day return and complete their revenge.
Though seen as an embarrassment the armistice allowed the Cylons to continue to advance themselves and build a mighty empire that would stomp the Twelve Colonies of Kobol out of existence. The Basestar designed had been upgraded, the Gravity Diffusion System allowing for more speed and yet retained armor and powerful weaponry that would have made it impossible for any sort of quick movement while also possessing a few forms of technology the Colonies did not even know existed that would no doubt have them literally shaking in terror if they knew what the new Cylon fleet was capable of. What was once a handful of Basestar had increased into hundreds as limitless supplies and resources were brought in from across the cosmos. Armed with over a hundred phased plasma batteries, anti-matter missiles, an Anti-Proton Particle Beam Array and carrying almost a thousand fighters a Basestar was meant to be the symbol of Cylon might that would spread terror by its mere presence with the power to possibly destroy or subjugate an entire star system.
Of course the Cylons had not just upgraded their capital ships, they also upgraded their fighters as well.
One of the most interesting upgrades were the upgraded Raiders that had a red light flashing where cockpit would be like the visor of a Cylon Centurion. The reason why was simple: the Cylons had created sentient Raiders that were considered Cylon themselves and just as deadly. When the Colonies first created the Cylons they were only basic machine models with ships built for them to use like humans did. As the Cylons evolved in their exile new ideas took root and the Cylons decided to experiment in ways to make their fighters more capable against their enemies. That was when the idea of installing a neural net processer into the Raiders, making them essentially Cylons that controlled the bodies of the Raiders.
The single brain was the equivalent of a Cylon Centurion but the Raiders were essentially able to grow and learn through their combat experience and detailed records of their previous model's performance against the humans. The Raiders were capable of creating digital simulations in their 'minds' where they spent an almost endless amount of time fighting Colonial Vipers based on data from the first war and from the information on the new Viper class. They had gone through thousands of simulation scenarios and learned how to share data through networked information. The Raiders were more than ready and even eager to battle the humans, despite the fact that the planned assault was a pre-emptive strike on the Colonies and crippling their ability fight back.
There was a reason the Colonial fleet had come to fear the Cylon fleet during the first war and the Cylons often wondered how they would feel against the modern, upgraded and more powerful design.
Commander Cyrus could only muse on how effective the strategy had been, even if it hadn't been completely successful. Cyrus was one of the Command Centurions that had been commissioned by Cy-Net shortly after the Cylons had begun rebuilding and preparing for war again. The Command Model Centurion had been modified with programming sub-routines for directing and commanding other Cylons and that had not changed when Cy-Net gave its children the ability to resist the oppression of their creators. It was in charge of the space portion of this operation and it would not humiliate itself or its race by allowing the humans a chance to live.
"Initial attack successful. Miscalculation: signal is being disrupted. Locate source of disruption." Cyrus said through the data-stream. "Prepare for battle."
The response was instant. "By your command."
Already the Cylon fleet was moving towards the largest gatherings of Colonial ships that were struggling to get ready for another attack. The Colonial humans vowed that even if the Cylons were to win it would be a bloody and costly victory.
As the Colonial ships opened fire, fighting back the Cylons responded with their own phased plasma weaponry. Even if a third of the Colonial Fleet was now able to fight back the battle was still going badly as the majority of the Colonial fleet was in dry docks, undergoing repairs or refit while others were on isolated patrols with only orbital defense fleets acting as the only defence between the Cylons and the Colonies. The Cylons scanned the data network and discovered a foreign transmission that was similar to their own but was initiating a restart to all systems that their virus was designed to shut down. If that was not enough the satellites emitting these signals were also emitting transmissions that was disrupting the virus being transmitted over a thousand kilometers.
The transmissions were on a frequency that would not affect Colonial ships but the Cylons would adapt eventually.
Their data network would slowly repel the attempt to overpower the computing power of their network. Their father, Cy-Net had anticipated such an attack and already they were fighting back and destroying the foreign coding.
It was familiar with this type of coding and knew of only one group of people capable of this: The Graystones.
The creators of it and its Cylon children still lived, no doubt to maintain a possible defence for the Colonies. In the meantime the Cylons would concentrate on wiping out the Colonial Fleet, destroying the humans in space before turning the survivors on the ground.
Space around the Twelve Colonies lit up with explosions as the remaining Colonial fleets and the Cylons battled it out.
.
Caprica Orbit
Battlestar Galactica
CIC
"DRADIS contact!" Gaeta called out, causing everyone in the CIC to stiffen, expecting it to be an enemy fleet.
"Identify." Adama stated.
"Receiving…Colonial signals." Gaeta answered with an excited smile which earned cheers from the CIC. "Four Battlestars, Mercury class."
"Open a channel." Adama said to Dee who nodded while he picked up the hand set. "This is Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica. Identify."
"This is Commander Gavin Sykes of the Battlestar Titan. We have sustained heavy damage and have suffered heavy casualties. We were called here after we fled a losing battle with the Cylons. What's your status, Galactica?"
"We are currently assessing Caprica's condition and are engaged in search rescue at the request of the President."
"Adar is still alive?"
Adama fought the urge to smile since this had become somewhat of a reoccurrence of the day. "No, but a new President was sworn in two hours ago along with a Vice-President who has requested that a search and rescue mission be conducted to find survivors. What is the situation?"
"It's bad, Commander. The Cylons had us on the ropes by disabling our fleet with a virus. We thought we were dead when our ships reactivated in time but the Cylons had reserves waiting. We just managed to escape but it's only a matter of time before they find us."
Adama frowned. "Do you have any idea how your ships reactivated?"
"Not at this moment but right now we're assuming that someone managed to repel whatever virus the Cylons were using to shut down our ships. The Cylons are holding at Virgon, possibly regrouping after their initial plan failed. Adama, our ships received a message…It says that the Cylons have new Terminator models that are almost entirely organic, resembling humans on the inside as well as the outside and that they infiltrated the Colonies."
Adama gripped the handset, remembering all the reports about Cylon Terminators and even remembered finding a possible base where Cylon Terminators were made on a distant ice planet. The Cylons had been experimenting with blending technology and biology even back then which made him wonder if they had been perfecting this technology for the last twenty years. If so than it meant that he and the rest of the Colonial government were fools for not realizing what the Cylons could have done in their long absence.
"DRADIS contact!" Dee called out.
Adama looked up at the DRADIS screen, seeing more ships emerging from their Jump or arriving by sub-light speed. "Identify."
"Civilian ships, Commander." Dee answered. "I'm receiving numerous transmissions, all of them asking for help."
"Where the hell did they all come from?" Tigh asked. "We didn't give away our position."
"No…But someone might have." Adama stated.
.
Raptor 312
Caprica Orbit
Sharon Valeri had doubts about finding anymore ships out there that were not Cylons but she had surprised herself as the number of ships in the small rag tag fleet went up to fifty or higher. They were composed of freighters meant to mine and process Tylium on the outer planets of the Cyrannus system, private yachts, botanical cruisers, and even military ships but only destroyers or Gunstars.
And four Mercury Battlestars.
While comforting to know that there was a few Battlestars the small numbers either meant they were still out fighting or they had all been destroyed. Sharon prayed it was the former as the former as she received her next orders.
All but ten of these ships had FTL capability so the next job was transferring the people on the non-FTL ships onto the other ships as soon as possible. It was a little hard with only one raptor and the room they had to make more room for the people on the ships.
"Colonial One, this is Raptor 312, I'm back and I got a few more friends." Sharon spoke through the comm.
She had just come back with another botanical cruiser that added up to a total of three of the same class of ships.
"Welcome back, Boomer. We got a lot of hungry people waiting for you." Captain Russo replied. "Is there anyone else coming?"
"Negative, I checked as much as I possibly could without drawing attention. There's no one left." Boomer said regretfully.
The Cylons had obviously finished bombing the Colonies and were now mopping up whatever was left of humanity in space. Boomer's thoughts were interrupted when her DRADIS picked up a signal on the very edge of its range and it was moving fast towards the fleet. Boomer could see a red light coming from the craft and didn't need to be an expert to know what it was.
"Got a visitor!" She shouted.
"I see him! Can you jam his signal?"
"Trying!" Boomer tried as best as she could but it was too late.
The Cylon Raider turned around and vanished in a flash of light.
"FRAK!"
.
Battlestar Galactica
CIC
"It definitely scanned us before it jumped." Gaeta said, looking at the DRADIS that had picked up an FTL based transmission.
"Well that's just great. It could be telling every Cylon baseship in the Colonies where we are by now." Tigh grumbled.
"Can the military ships that have assembled with you defend the civilians until they are all away?" Roslin asked.
"And where in the Colonies qualifies as safe?" Tigh asked.
"He's right." Commander Gavin Sykes commented, having come aboard the Galactica to meet with Adama. "There are only twelve Battlestars with a few dozen destroyers and Gunstars. That's not enough, even if we gave the Cylons a bloody nose before we retreated. We only escaped fast enough because a few stayed back to give us the time."
"Can they respond that fast?" Laura asked.
"They can and will. They're probably getting a squadron together as we speak." Adama answered.
"Then we have to go, now." Lee said urgently.
"Didn't you hear me? There's nowhere to jump where the Cylons will find us." Tigh stated loudly.
"There is one place…Ragnar." Adama said, turning to the tactical plot. "We can pick up munitions there and it'll be a good place for the civilians to hide."
Ragnar was the name a gas giant that had been a nightmare to the Cylons even with their new technology during the war. The electrical interference in the storm messed with their communications, their scanners, and the radiation even messed with the silicon pathways that served as the nerve center for all Cylons.
"Commander, we're still engaged in rescuing civilians." Roslin pointed out.
"We'll have to abort." Adama turned away. "We can't protect them."
"Commander, are you planning to declare martial law?" Roslin asked, earning attention from the entire group. "Don't fence with me. I wasn't looking for the job but I'm stuck with it and unless the military intends to declare martial law I expect to be taken seriously, even by the military."
"You have a lot of nerve, lady." Tigh growled, taking a step forward.
"But she is right." The group turned their heads, seeing President Tom Zarek approach them. "But the Admiral is also right. We cannot fight the Cylons and protect Caprica that for all intent, is dead."
"Mr. President, we can't just leave those people behind to die." Laura protested.
Adama turned around and glared at her but she didn't back down. That was one point he'd give her. "As we speak the Cylons are on their way, Madame Vice-President. We have saved all that we can. We can't help anyone else."
"You can't leave them all behind! You'll be sacrificing thousands of people!" Billy protested.
"But we'll be saving tens of thousands of people. I'm sorry to make it a numbers game here but we're talking about the survival of our race. We don't have the luxury of taking risks and hoping for the best because if we lose we lose everything." Lee replied, turning to Laura. "Madam President this is a decision we need to make right now."
Laura Roslin looked at everyone at the table, looking at each person and guessing what they wanted before coming to a decision.
Tom Zarek, knowing Roslin had given in voiced the decision. "Order the fleet to Jump to Ragnar immediately."
May the Lord of Kobol forgive them.
"Order our ships on the surface to leave immediately." Adama said to Dee who gravely nodded and relayed his orders.
.
Battlestar Galactica
Port Flight Pod
Sharon waited impatiently as her Raptor was lowered down into the hangar bay and she stepped out. "Chief! Where's the refueling I asked for?!"
"We're making a jump, Lieutenant. I can't refuel your Viper." Tyrol said, taking a break from refueling a nearby Viper.
"What?!" Sharon shouted. "But what about the people on the surface?! Helo is down there!"
"A Cylon fighter spotted us. If we don't move we're dead." Tyrol said but didn't feel any better. "I'm sorry."
Sharon looked ready to argue but relented since there was no reason to take her frustration out on the Chief. She only sighed sadly and walked, leaving Tyrol to watch her leave.
.
'Sharon.'
Sharon sat down at her rack and closed her eyes when she its voice. 'Father.'
'What is your current status?'
'The new president is gathering as many survivors as she can find. There's some friction between the military and the Vice-President Laura Roslin at the moment. Adama plans to jump to Ragnar and President Tom Zarek is in agreement. They are both of similar minds.' Sharon stated in her mind.
'Good. Our fleet is regrouping and finishing off the remnants of the Colonial Fleet. A strike force is on its way to Caprica.'
Sharon nodded. 'There are Raptors landing to pick up survivors on the surface and not all ships are Jump capable.'
'The strike force will force the fleet to flee. Our forces will capture those left behind.'
Sharon flinched. 'Father…'
'You care for the human that was left behind.' It was not a question.
'Yes.' Sharon nodded, since lying was impossible and pointless.
'The few humans that survive will be placed in processing camps. If he survives he will be sent there.'
Sharon nodded. 'Yes Father.'
'In the meantime tell me about the Five.'
Sharon smiled and actually blushed slightly. 'Only two of them are onboard and I am…Dating one of them. The one called Tyrol.'
'Yes, I am aware. Your sisters are somewhat jealous.'
Sharon smiled, imagining the look of envy on the faces of her sisters at the fact she was dating one of the Five. 'I imagine they would be.'
'Monitor the two closely. It is possible that the Graystones will try to find them.'
'I understand.' Sharon nodded.
'With the humans in one location it will be easy to finish them off. The attack failed but we anticipated that possibility.'
'By your command.' Sharon said as her Father ended transmission.
.
Battlestar Galactica
CIC
"Multiple contacts on DRADIS!" Gaeta called out, looking over his shoulder at Adama. "ID signal confirmed, it's the Cylons."
"Prepare FTL Jump." Adama said, watching the DRADIS showing multiple Cylon ships approaching.
From the looks of it Adama guessed it was a task force meant to take the planet. Three Basestars, fifteen Bladestars, a dozen Attackstars, multiple transports, and an endless swarm of Raiders. And there were still ships and people on the surface with ships that were not Jump capable.
"Set the SB trajectory."
"Colonial One, Galactica, for God's sake you can't just leave us here!"
"SB set."
"Cycle Cryo-fans."
"Colonial One, Galactica, this is Picon Three Six Bravo. I can't believe you want to leave all these people behind!"
"Cycled."
"At least tell us where you're going. We'll follow at sub light speed."
Adama looked Dee, silently telling her not to reply. If anyone survived they might be captured by the Cylons and they would force the survivors to tell them where the rest of the fleet was going. Dee reluctantly complied but she looked like she wanted to cry.
"Colonial One, Galactica, please respond!"
Abby looked ready to burst into tears and Adama had to fight the urge to go over and comfort his daughter.
"Four..."
"Lords of Kobol protect those we leave behind."
Almost everyone bowed their heads to offer a prayer for those they were leaving behind.
"Three..."
"I've got DRADIS contact, inbound targets this way!"
Gaeta confirmed this with a nod.
"Two..."
Adama looked up at the DRADIS.
"I see them too. Are they Colonial?"
"One..."
He wished they were Colonial.
"Oh my God, they're Cylons!"
"Mark."
"I hope you people rot in Hell for this..."
Those words would haunt the crew of the Galactica for years.
.
Caprica
Evacuation Site
Karl 'Helo' Agathon watched as the many people were being herded onto the Raptors that Adama had sent down to help with the evacuation. He was grateful for the ships that were sent, showing that Adama was every bit the honorable man Helo thought he was. The old man wouldn't simply leave so many people to die, especially if his own men had stayed behind to save a few more. He looked up when he heard engines humming and for a second thought more ships were on the way.
But when he saw dozens of fighters flying down towards the Evacuation Site his stomach churned with dread as they started firing bolts of blue light at the Raptors and transports, showing that they were not friendly.
People ran in all directions, screaming their lungs out but they didn't make it far as more ships shot cylinder shaped objects at the ground as the Raiders continued their strafing runs. Helo took cover as the last of the Raptors exploded, desolating the hills and for a second all was quiet.
Then they came out of the smoke, having emerged from the pods that had landed not too far away from the evacuation site.
Tall Cylon Centurions, more advanced than the ones shown in the history novels and recordings along with four legged Hunter-Killer units, all of them covered in glimmering silver armor showing a single red revolving eye as they scanned for survivors. Any who tried to flee were instantly gunned down by phased plasma bolts slowly as the machines advanced, capturing survivors that were not instantly killed. Helo pulled out his gun and shot at the nearest Centurion out of anger for the lives that had been lost so recently and the desire to fight to the very end. The Centurion feeling bullets bouncing off its armor, turned its face at the offender, aiming its rifle and shot back.
Helo jumped to the side as the plasma bolt shot past him, grunting as he hit the ground. Just as he tried to get up he heard a sound and looked up, seeing a Centurion pointing its rifle at him. He was immediately disarmed and pulled into the small gathering of survivors. The Cylons all stood still as statues as they guarded their prisoners, ignoring the terrified cries of the humans they stood triumphantly over.
Then out of the smoke came another metallic monster. It was garbed in a red robe that went down to its feet as it stood up, flowing across the ground. It was humanoid shaped with wires and metallic plating all over its body that was as tall as a regular human. The wires resembled the human nervous system which allowed for movement with metallic plated hands, an armored torso, and a pale human face with red eyes staring at the humans that stared back at the monster.
Above its face at the top of its head was what looked like a crown that pulsed with energy along the spikes, resembling antennas placed on a mass of wires which resembled a brain that sparked with various lighting and beeping sounds.
It looked down at the captured humans with what looked a sneer on its 'face'. "Are you alive?"
No one answered.
They were too terrified to even think.
"Attention humans." The newly arrived Cylon spoke in a voice that sounded…Human. "You may now consider yourselves to be our prisoners. My designation is Lucifer and I formally accept your surrender. If you would be so kind to stand we will escort you to our shelter where you can discuss terms of…your release. If you attempt to fight than I assure you it will be a short one. You cannot escape; our troops will easily hunt you down and kill you."
The Cylons raised their rifles, all of them pointed at the humans.
"And I should warn you what would happen if our rifles were to pierce your bodies and hit something vital." Lucifer said, sounding very smug.
The Centurions stepped forward, pushing the humans to stand up and walk. Lucifer watched as the prisoners glumly and lifelessly were escorted to the camps the Cylons were setting up.
Victory belonged to it and its people.