Chapter 11

Conner Gailec was sitting anxiously in the chair that was in the room that was given to him. He didn't know what was going on and no one would tell him. He had eaten or drank anything in hours. He was too stressed out. One minute he was sitting in a raptor and the next he is in mortal danger as twenty-four baseships jump into orbit around Canceron. He had never been that close to death and he personally never wanted to again, but that was wishful thinking.

He jumped when their was a banging on his door. He got up and answered it. He saw the soldier standing on the other side and asked, "Are you going to tell me what going on or do I have to wait for your superior?"

"I am the superior. I'm Admiral Adonai, and I need you to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to tell you what's been going on," said Adonai.

"Well, you could've said that first, Admiral," said Conner.

Conner followed Adonai down the corridors of the Centarus to Adonai's quarters. Adonai let Conner go ahead of him. In the room were four marines, Persephone and Allison. Conner looked at Adonai and asked, "What's going on?"

Adonai shut and locked the door behind him. He said, "We have a huge problem. The Cylons look like us now."

"What?" asked Conner.

"Straight down to our blood," said Persephone.

"You're serious?" asked Conner.

"The admiral is serious," said Persephone.

"Then that's a very bad thing," said Conner, "That mean if Cylons looks like us then..."

"Anyone could be a Cylon," said Adonai, "I know about you, Gailec. You studied biology when you were at the Virgon Global University."

"I dropped out," said Conner.

"Right now you are the closest thing we have," said Adonai, "I need you to find out the difference between human biology and, lack of a better term, Cylon biology."

"You do realize that the human body is just a very advanced biological machine so that would make Cylon biology the correct term," Conner explained.

"That's not the point," said Adonai, "Find a way to tell the difference. These four marines will be your guards."

"I understand why you, the marines and this woman in the military uniform are in here, but why is a Colonial celebrity standing in this room with us?" asked Conner.

"She was involved with one of the human model Cylons," said Adonai, "And I believe her when she says she didn't know about that. The Cylon who was involved with her is locked in the brig. He's going to be your test subject for the Cylons."

Allison was looking down at the floor, listening to what was going on in the room. She spoke up and told them, "There are only thirteen Cylon models."

"How do you know that?" asked Persephone.

"Nathan told me," said Allison.

Adonai looked at Conner and said, "One of our Cylon prisoners."

"You have more than one?"

"We now the identities of at least two models," said Adonai, "Nathan's model and a model who's named Hanar."

"The Nathan one seems to be very cooperative, but it could just be a rouse," said Adonai, "As for the Hanar, it's not very cooperative."

"So you want me to test the Nathan?" asked Conner.

"Yes," said Adonai, "When you find out what's the difference between human and Cylon, you find me and tell me."

"I will, Admiral," said Conner.

"Good," replied Adonai, "Marines."

Allison looked up at Adonai. Her eyes were red from silently crying and she told him, "If you're interested, Nathan is a Number 2 model and Hanar is a Number 5 model."

"Thank you, Santorini," said Adonai.

"You can call me Allison," Allison told him.

"Okay," said Adonai, "Thank you, Allison."

Allison didn't reply and looked down again.

Conner asked Adonai, "Where do I go?"

"My marines will show you," said Adonai, "I have set aside a lab for you. If you need an assistant, let me know so I can debrief that person. This matter of Cylons looking like us is classified as not to cause a panic."

"I understand," said Conner. With that, the five of them left.

Adonai motioned for Persephone to come to him. He told her, "She doesn't have to go back to the Orbiter. I'll have her stuff transported over here when we get out of the danger zone, and I'll find a room for her to stay in as soon as I can."

"Thank you, but I think she shouldn't be left alone," said Persephone, "I told her she could stay in my cabin until she wants to get out."

"That's fine," said Adonai, "She looks like she needs the company. She loves him."

"Yeah, she does," said Persephone.

The phone in the room went off and Adonai walked over and answered it, "Adonai...Really? I'll be right there."
He hung the phone up and walked to Persephone. He told her, "Make sure you can do whatever you can to help her."

"I will. What was that about?"

"A ship just jumped in claiming to have the president on board."

"Adar's alive?"

"Maybe, maybe not," said Adonai, "I'll meet the president. You take care of her."

Adonai walked out of the room and towards the starboard flight deck where the president was going to land. Adonai was met by Moriarty and few other knuckledraggers. Moriarty asked, "Do you think it's Adar, Sir."

"To be honest," said Adonai, "I don't think it's Adar."

The raptor carrying the president was brought around and Adonai waited as the door hissed as it opened. Several people jumped out and then a woman around the same age as Adonai stepped out. She had brown hair that went down past her shoulders and she was a few inches shorter than Adonai at an even six feet tall. Adonai recognized her immediately, "Helena!"

The woman looked at Adonai and said, "Oh my gods. I never thought I'd see you again, Struchen."

"I could say the same thing about you," Adonai told her.

She jumped down and the two of them hugged each other. "It's been so long."

"Yeah, about ten years," said Adonai, "I'm not a lieutenant anymore. I'm an admiral."

"An admiral?" asked Helena, "How did you become an admiral at 31 years old?"

"I'm great at my job," said Adonai.

"You no idea how you did, do you?" asked Helena.

"No, I don't," said Adonai.

Someone cleared their throat behind Adonai and he turned to see Moriarty and Persephone standing there. "This is?" she asked.

"This is Helena Justice. We grew up together on Sagittaron and we've known each other since we were babies," said Adonai.

"Then Struchen here ran away when he was seventeen years old."

"I couldn't take it anymore," said Adonai, "Anyway, Helena, this is Commander Persephone Johanson and Deck Chief Jason Moriarty."

"Commander? Shouldn't you be commanding a battlestar if you're of the commander rank?" asked Helena.

"A lot of things don't make sense on this ship," said Persephone.

"Okay, whatever you say," said Helena.

Moriarty raised a finger and said, "I have a question. Are you the president, Ms. Justice?"

"Oh! Yes, I am," said Helena.

Adonai turned to Helena and said, "You were talking about me being an admiral at 31 years old. We're the same age and you're the president."

"I'm the president because everyone ahead of me in succession was killed. There were nine people between Adar and me. I got the message that they were all killed just a few moments before we jumped. I've been the president for an hour."

"Now that you are the president, there is something Persephone and I must tell you in private," said Adonai.

"What is it?" asked Helena. She didn't get an answer and she said, "Oh, I get it."

The three of them walked towards the inter sections of the ship and left Moriarty to his flight deck. He told a blonde knuckledragger in an orange jumpsuit, "It looks like the president and our beloved admiral are close friends, Ester. Who knew?"

In Adonai's quarters, he told Helena everything about the Cylons and that she was one of only eight people that knew. Helena couldn't believe it, but she knew it was true deep down. She didn't know what to say as Adonai's phone rang again. He answered it and said he'd be in the CIC in a minute.

"What is it?" asked Persephone.

"The Gemnes just jumped in. It's support vessel," said Adonai.

"So we've got three warships now," said Persephone.

"A battlestar is a lot stronger than the support vessels though," Adonai said.

The internal sirens went off in the ship. Adonai and Persephone took off towards the CIC with Helena in pursuit. Adonai ran into the CIC and asked, "Viera, sit-rep!"

"Several baseships jumped in," said Viera, "Civilian fleet is jumping to Ragnar like you told them to."

"I hope there are no baseships at Ragnar," said Adonai, "Tell the Gemnes to jump to. What about Byzantium?"

"She finished about an hour ago," said Viera.

"Get our birds back!" said Adonai.

"We've got to get to the civilian fleet. Tell the pilots to land on the nearest battlestar and not go to their assigned ones," said Adonai.

"Enemies launching nukes!" said Viera, "We've lost three of the civilian ships!"

"Fire until all planes within our vicinity are aboard then jump," ordered Adonai.

"Yes, Sir," said Viera.

"What about Byzantium?" asked Persephone.

"Commander Bhuta has that ship under command," said Adonai, "He'll jump when all the birds in his vicinity are aboard."

The nukes launched by the Cylons smashed into the Icharus Station and broke it in two. The heat and fire inside caused the remaining munitions in the station to start firing. Debris and weapons' discharge from the station shot at the two battlestars and their planes. All the vipers around Centarus were aboard and the battlestar jumped away to Ragnar. When the vipers around Byzantium were aboard, the ship tried to jump but didn't. The Cylon's fired several nukes at the ship. The Byzantium tried to jump again as soon as the nukes came in. There was a blinding white light and the Byzantium was gone and the baseships jumped away.