I do not own Battlestar Galactica
Just to clear something up Kendra's daughter's name is Talia, not Telia sorry I misspelled it a few times
Chapter 25 – Liberation
Day 134 of the Cylon Occupation of New Caprica…
Saul Tigh was lying on the hard stone floor as the intense lights burned down on him. His lips were dry and his throat was rough with lack of water. His bones ached with the discomfort of his cell but he never cried out, he would rather die than give the toasters the satisfaction of him begging. Then to his surprise the lights began to dim and his cell door opened. His exhausted eyes looked up and he saw one of the new Kendra Shaw skin jobs standing at the cell door with a flask in her hand. She kneeled down and opened the flask and offered it to him but he could barely move so she moved the opening to his mouth and poured some of its contents onto his closed lips. He tasted it quickly with his tongue and it was just water, ordinary water. His opening of his mouth allowed her to pour the rest of the precious liquid inside and down his parched throat. He gulped it greedily but she poured it carefully to avoid giving him too much too fast.
After he had drank the whole flask's contents she told him as he got to his knees as his strength began to slowly return
"You're being released, your wife is waiting for you outside, be grateful as Cavil was about to remove your eye." And shrugging her off as she went to help him, he got to his own feet and slowly walked out of his cell and down the corridor towards the exit and all the way along he could hear the sounds of his fellow humans as they struggled with their own captivity. Whatever the toaster had told him, he didn't trust her and as soon of the sun's light met his two eyes he took a breath of fresh air. Ellen was upon him before he knew it, wrapping a jacket around his shoulders and escorting him away from the prison towards their tent. Unknown to Saul, Ellen looked back at Kendra who gave her a small smile before returning inside.
Releasing the personal prisoner of Cavil was a big risk but she thought it worthwhile to end her father's suffering. God it felt weird calling Saul Tigh her father but it was no weirder than calling Ellen her mother or one of her clones sister. Her adopted father the husband of Marta Shaw had not exactly been the best example of parenting to say the least but Saul wasn't either, trying to imagine being actually raised by the two of them and she barely contained a shiver, something's are best left unthought-of.
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As Laura Roslin lit a candle in the temple, Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders were rigging up G-4 explosive and a detonator in preparation for the bombing that they were planning. They rushed out and planted the bomb right next to the landing pad where a heavy raider was due momentarily to arrive. What they didn't see was Caprica Six watching them from the prison, she smirked as the raider came into land and its passengers disembarked. That raider should have been carrying Sixes and Eights but she had been watching the lead resistance members closely and arranged it so that her sisters and their allies were spared needless death and resurrection. Out of the heavy raider emerged Ones and Fives possibly the worst of their species and with not a little satisfaction watched them blown up.
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Later on Laura Roslin was writing in her diary, she remembered today was Mars Day and sniffed at the irony. They hadn't heard from Galactica in nearly four months but despite what everybody else was telling her she could not believe the William Adama would just give up and abandon them. She thought about the resistance and their continuing efforts to hurt the Cylons. The moral of the people hinged on them right now, the hopes and dreams of the population since most of them had lost faith that the battlestars might come back. But since it was nearly impossible to kill a Cylon they needed to hit a more 'meaningful' target. Gaius Baltar; the puppet president propped up by the Cylon occupational authority.
While a plan to assassinate him had yet to be decided, the man was marked for death at the first opportunity. She gritted her teeth as rage at him built inside her. She thought back on the days when he had been her Vice President and she really wished that she had just flushed him into space when she had the chance. All of this was his fault; the squalor of the colony, the lack of preparation and worse his willing collusion with the Cylons to occupy and kill their own people to save his own hide.
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Kendra was sitting in the main cabin of Colonial One while Cavil bitched about the insurgency. She tuned out his ranting and raving as she thought about her daughter. Talia was here somewhere and even after four months plus of searching she had yet to find her.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and out of the corner of her eye she could see that damn six in the red dress again. She didn't look over given that she was in the presence of other Cylons that couldn't see Virtual Six. Six pouted however before saying
"Look at you, the amazing Kendra Shaw secret agent extraordinaire. Working to bring down the evil Cavil and save the universe."
Kendra didn't flinch at her touch or show any reaction to her words and Six's smile increased
"Not even a flicker of response, maybe you should have been an actress instead of a Colonial military officer but don't worry your little girl will be in your arms soon." That comment made Kendra turn her head slightly but the Six had disappeared. Swallowing her frustration Kendra tuned back into the conversation to hear Cavil proposing to execute Baltar. She bit her tongue to stop herself voicing her support for such a measure, that man was the most despicable human being she had ever met. Lazy beyond measure and an unspeakable coward signing off on the execution of human beings without hesitation to spare his own life. The poor state that the New Caprica colony had been in prior to the Cylon arrival, all of it his responsibility. Caprica Six spoke up however strongly making it clear that anyone who tried to hurt Gaius would answer to her. Kendra remarked in astonishment at the depth of the feelings Caprica had for Baltar. He could be quite charming when he wanted to be and Kendra admitted grudgingly that he was something of a looker but his two faced personality poisoned those good attributes and still Caprica still loved him anyway. Kendra supposed that you can't choose who you love, Sam had cheated on her and even killed her but she still loved him with all her heart. Sometimes when she went to sleep at night, she dreamed of the three of them; Sam, her and Talia living a normal life together, as a family. Those moments made her heart ache with longing, to have that or a part of that dream.
When Cavil suggested rounding up rebels and even random humans and executing them to put down dissent. Kendra beat Caprica and Boomer who was also attending the meeting in voicing her objections.
"Are you truly blind Cavil? All you would do is make them a martyr to their cause and drive more humans into the rebels fold. They are not afraid to die for what they believe in, something that we Cylons don't really understand since we have never faced true death. The heaviness of our presence here is what is causing this insurgency. You have turned this into an occupation, oppressing the humans like they oppressed our robotic forefathers and like our forefathers the humans will fight for their freedom." Kendra said passionately to the other Cylons around the room who looked at her with different expressions.
Cavil (1) looked annoyed that the opportunity to kill some humans was being denied him by this young upstart. Leoben (2) looked at her with admiration at her deep reading of the situation. D'Anna (3) was confused since she was considering what it must feel like to be that devoted to a cause that you were prepared to really die for it. Simon (4) was unable to comprehend such emotion as it went against logic and mathematics, his way of understanding the universe. Doral (5) like Cavil was angry that she was denying him the opportunity to kill some humans as his model had become a favoured target of the rebels. Caprica and her two sisters (6) looked at her with warm friendship and did Boomer (8) for defending the humans so readily and making a strong case against killing the people they were swore to protect.
Looking around him and knowing his cause was lost, Cavil turned to Kendra and asked her condescendingly "Well what would you suggest?"
"For starters we reduce the number of raids and level of our presence here. If they don't feel so threatened they might be less inclined towards violence. We could also try to improve our standing in the humans eyes by giving them something to make their lives easier and I'm not just talking about food." She said anticipating what they all were thinking of and suggested. "We could build a water treatment facility and plumbing to bring fresh clean water to the population."
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A few hours later, Kendra was standing on the command centre of a baseship with her hand in the control gel to direct the action of the capital ship as it held a defensive position over the planet. She was alone except for the three clones of her that had joined her in monitoring the baseship's status. They were nearly physically identical to Kendra herself but as time went on they were developing their own individual quirks, making them unique rather than merely duplicates of the original and these three were the ones Kendra was beginning to trust as her deputies.
Polly was the first, a shy but kind woman who was in love with music, any music counting it as the ultimate expression of a person's true self. She had her long black hair long and loose down to her mid back and wore a black summer dress and no shoes which wasn't uncommon amongst Cylons on a baseship, she was about to be posted to a baseship designated to follow potential clues to Earth.
The second was called Bella; like Polly she was quiet but not necessarily shy, she just didn't speak up unless she had something worthwhile to say choosing her words careful. Out of the three she was probably the smartest and most studious with a sharp intellect. She had a streak of white dyed into her hair which was forced into a long ponytail and dressed in a fitted white shirt and black knee length skirt and sandals.
The last of the three was Alex; who unlike the other two was not quiet in anyway. Daring and brash, never one to hide her opinions Alex reminded Kendra a lot of Starbuck. She loved a fight and stuck firmly to what she believed in. Alex wore her long hair in loose curls around her face and back while dressing in a white tank top with hipster jeans and boots. Alex and Bella were soon to join a baseship that was commanded by a three that was tasked with shadowing the Colonial Fleet when they managed to find it.
"Remember." Kendra told them as they looked up from the gel. "Anything suspicious I want you to contact me immediately before you check it out."
"Boss chill. We will let you know if anything is out of place." Alex told her with a smirk that wouldn't be out of place on Kara Thrace
"Yes you can trust us." Bella said to reassure her and Polly nodded with a smile. Kendra realised she was acting like a mother hen afraid of letting her chicks out into the big bad world. She smiled back at the three sisters and told them.
"I know I can."
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Meanwhile in a secret bunker underneath the school tent; Saul, Ellen, Sam Anders, Galen Tyrol, Laura Roslin and Jean Baroley were meeting to discuss the insurgency's next move. In the background Kerri, Lucy, Terry and Alex stood. The four hidden agents of the 2nd Generation listened intently.
"Congratulations on the attack today." Saul told Sam and Galen. "Hopefully we can put the toasters on notice."
"Colonel how are you?" Jean asked and he grimaced
"Fine, apparently one of the Kendra Shaw skin jobs handled my release and Cavil was about to take one of my eyes." They all looked shocked at Cavil's intention and were relieved that it had been aborted but the fact that one of the Cylons had released him so it didn't happen confused them.
"Is it just me or does there seem to be some Cylons helping us?" Ellen said and they all thought back. Each of them had seen some Cylons acting strangely, protecting them directly or indirectly through inaction.
"I've noticed it too. Mostly it looks like the twos, sixes, eights and thirteens." Galen said remembering how one of the thirteen's had removed his wife from a temple before a raid so she and Nora Farmer weren't hurt.
"They're just Cylons, whatever the purpose they have for helping us it's just to serve their own ends." Sam Anders said firmly, it was hard enough to see all the cheap copies of his dead wife running around without one of them trying to trick him into thinking she was Kendra. He had made it a hobby to kill any thirteens he could. The mere sight of one of them was enough to get him boiling with rage.
"Anyway I have chosen the next target." Galen told them, nervous of the intense look on Sam's face. "The graduation ceremony for the New Caprica Police Academy." They looked up at him. "Intel from our source confirms Baltar is meant to be there."
"Really." Saul said his interest piqued.
"Be hard to avoid human causalities though." Galen said worried
"It will send a message to any human who co-operates with the Cylons." Saul told them and Ellen suddenly exploded with rage slapping Saul right on the face. He staggered with the blow before she started yelling at him
"What the hell is wrong with you Saul? Each human killed brings us closer to extinction, why are you so intent on doing the Cylons work for them?! We can't kill them, they just resurrect we on the other hand don't. And what if we kill our source in the government, then we have no information at all."
They all looked at her in sheer surprise. Since her imprisonment at the hands of the Cylons Ellen had changed. She never flirted with anyone other than Saul anymore, took everything more seriously, she worked hard to help the resistance, planting several explosives herself and softening the moves the resistance was making to avoid hurting other humans. She suggested instead still breathing rapidly
"Maybe we could infiltrate the police, use them to hide our actions. Give us more room to move without so much scrutiny." Ellen suggested and the others and they nodded having been reminded that the reason they were doing all this was to save the human race.
Deciding to leave that point till a later date, Galen then told them some important news
"The wireless picked up a transmission from a raptor, it said "We're listening" and that they'd contact us at a set time every Friday."
The reaction in the room was instant, relief that Galactica had not abandoned them and maybe Adama had a plan.
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However Admiral Adama did not have a plan as his throwing of a model raptor across the war room was testament too. His frustration with not being able to come up with a plan was palatable, everyone around him even his own son and daughter in law were treading on egg shells around him. The foul up on the recent training exercise had only served to stoke his temper and the objections of Karl Agathon and Lee only made it worse. He knew that they were right that he was pushing the pilots and crew too hard.
He and his officers were meeting in the war room an hour later to discuss tactics for the rescue mission. With him was, his XO Captain Karl Agathon, his CAG Captain Louanne Katraine, Pegasus CO Commander Lee Adama, Lee's XO Lieutenant Louis Hoshi and Pegasus's CAG Major Kara Thrace. Captain Agathon remarked
"The resistance is too weak to make any significant impact." And Kat said
"We need to figure out which pilots are going to fly the ships off planet." Then Admiral Adama spoke of a more pressing concern.
"First the resistance will need to get the launch keys for all the grounded ships, without them pilots won't mean much. After they invaded the Cylons they confiscated all the keys."
"We could give the resistance weapons to help." Kat suggested but Lee shot that plan down immediately.
"If we give them weapons it will tip the Cylons off that we're coming, we need another way." Kara then smirked and told them
"I may have an idea." She said going over to the hatch and opened it revealing Sharon Agathon and Simon O'Neill on the other side who entered the room and Kara said "Meet the aces up our sleeves."
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Galen Tyrol was walking away from his conversation with Jammer and Gaeta feeling disturbed at what was going on. His wife and child had been taken by the Cylons and although Gaeta had said that he would help him if he could, Galen didn't trust that collaborator any further than he could throw him.
Before he knew it as he passed a tent, he was grabbed by a cloaked figure and pulled into the tent. He got ready to defend himself from his assailant but the figure held up feminine hands and pulled the hood down to reveal an eight looking at him. She said
"Chief it's alright, I don't want to harm you." She said hoping to stop him attacking her. "Cally is safe, she will be released." Galen looked at her disbelievingly and asked
"Why would you do that?" Before he knew it, the Eight had closed the gap between them and kissed him firmly on the lips before backing away to tell him.
"Because I love you." And without realising it, his arms wrapped around her back pulling her to him, kissing her again passionately. After breaking the kiss to get some air he said "Boomer" before kissing her again and pulling her deeper into the tent. Galen's only thought was that he hoped Cally didn't mind sharing.
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"You can't be serious." Lee said at Kara suggestion
Kara told her husband however "Sharon can easily infiltrate the colony, get the launch keys and distribute them amongst the resistance while Simon does his part." Simon then said himself
"I can change Galactica's ID signal to resemble that of a baseship, they don't do visual checks so until you're right on top of them they won't even notice."
"Then we pound them at point blank range in orbit while the resistance escapes on the ground." Helo concluded, while he wasn't crazy at the thought of his wife going down there he agreed that this plan might just work.
"So we return to New Caprica, while Pegasus remains here to wait for their arrival." Admiral Adama told them, they all looked at him shocked but he told them. "Even if this plan works we are going to suffer terrible damage when the Cylons see through the deception and we still need to safe guard the two thousand people here in this fleet. No sense in losing both battlestars."
They all looked worried at his speech, it sounded like he wasn't planning on coming back.
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Hours later, Baltar signed off the execution order for all the prisoners that they currently held in the prison. Five smirked as none of the other models where here to stop it this time. As he and three walked out the room leaving a trembling Baltar behind he said to the human "You really are a coward aren't you." Laughing as he went.
Cally and her son Nicolas were being quietly escorted out of the prison by Boomer who had released them without telling anyone. Disguised by cloaks they quickly made their way to the tent where Galen Tyrol was waiting. Removing their hoods Galen quickly grabbed Cally into a close embrace, kissing her with all the passion he had. Cally responded back with just as much enthusiasm and when they finally broke the kiss, Galen gently kissed his son's forehead before extending a hand to Boomer and thanking her profusely as she approached.
Cally was shocked and feeling a little jealous at the energy of Galen's enthusiasm for Boomer although she had to admit right this moment she was feeling very grateful towards her old friend at returning her son to her and freeing them both from the Cylons. She was however surprised when Boomer kissed her square on the lips and in her own surprise Boomer deepened the kiss. Cally's shock from the surprise kiss was quickly replaced with feelings of pleasure, Boomer sure knew how to kiss, nothing like the girls she had experimented with back in high school.
She had felt attracted to Boomer even when she was with the Chief. The gorgeous raptor pilot had been a good friend before her crush on the chief had got in the way. Afraid of ruining that friendship and nervous of the frat regs which didn't allow relationships between personnel in the same command she hadn't let either the chief or Boomer know about how she felt towards either of them till they had started their own 'secret' relationship, turning her feelings to jealousy and later hate.
Boomer broke the kiss and asked Cally with a smile "Do you think he can share?" nodding her head towards Galen who was very surprised to see Cally nod before kissing Boomer again.
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Later that day, newly minted Lieutenant Sharon Agathon flew a raptor to New Caprica with a company. Their destination: Breeders Canyon, the meeting place. Admiral Adama's trust in her was surprising considering everything that had happened. But it was heart-warming, the bond that seemed to have developed between them. With a carefully calculated FTL jump her raptor plus another arrived in the planet's atmosphere and flew low to avoid detection.
When they landed the raptors in a concealed position they all disembarked before powering down the ships and concealing them beneath camouflage netting. She and the marines careful made their way to the canyon where they saw Sam Anders and a group of rebels including Arden waiting for them.
"Go Panthers." Sharon called out letting Sam Anders know that she was there and that she was the one they were waiting for.
"C-Bucks rule!" Sam called out in return
With confirmation that everything was alright, Sharon emerged from the bushes on the opposite bank of the river, the marines hung back to keep an eye on the area. Sam walked out to meet her and only the fact that she was the Sharon that had helped them escape Caprica prevented him from killing her. He had lost so much to the Cylons, his every breath and thought devoted to killing them.
She gave him a hug but he shrugged it off and told her "I can't believe Adama would send you." And without another word led her into the bushed to talk more secretly.
Meanwhile in a canyon not far from the meeting site, Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek stood with the rest of their fellow humans and the centurions clanked their way closer to them as one of the Cavil's stood there with a grin on his face that was positively sinister. The metal soldiers readied their gun arms while the humans braced themselves for the end. Only at the last moment from the ridge above the execution sight, gunfire directed by Saul Tigh and Ellen struck down the five centurions facing the two hundred detainees.
Cavil dived under the truck to avoid the shooting as the centurions fell to the ground. He tried to crawl away only for something to grab his legs and pull him out. He was turned on his back and looked up to see Laura Roslin, Tom Zarek, a red headed young woman, Saul Tigh and Ellen Tigh. They all looked at him with the utmost disgust and Zarek said with a sneer
"Immortal, but still a coward."
"Finish him off and let's go." Laura Roslin said but Ellen with a strange glint in her eye replied
"Oh no I've got something a little less humane in mind for him." She said looked at him with the greatest loathing on her face. Cavil couldn't understand what could inspire such loathing on Ellen's face especially as she didn't have her memories of who she really was and what he had done to her and the rest of the Five.
"Give me your knife." She said to Saul who looking at her confused handed it over and Ellen quickly stabbed him precisely in the top of the spinal column, he cried out in pain but then the reason for the strike became clear as he noticed the numbness in his body below the neck. He couldn't move his limbs he thought to himself terrified for possibly the first time in his life. Now he was truly helpless as Ellen made a series of small cuts here and there before standing up to tell him as the rest of the resistance looked on in fascinated horror, it was like a car crash. Horrible but you couldn't look away.
"You can't move below the neck and I have made a series of small cuts all over your body. You will die but not until you have gone on for hours maybe even days. How long before you bleed out, very slowly perhaps you will die of dehydration before then. How long can you go without water in the direct sun light?" She turned to Kerri who was standing next to her and said. "Move him over there, if the toasters come looking them he'll be harder to see." Kerri now scared of her creator's cruel logic quickly did as she was told, dragging Cavil to the bushes while Tom Zarek leaned over to Saul and said quietly
"Your wife is scarier than you are." And despite the comment being something of an insult to him, Saul could only agree, shocked at Ellen's cold and ruthless vengeance.
Ellen heard the two men and decided to ignore the comment, this was the first chance she had had to get some payback on John for everything he had done; destroying the Colonies, betraying herself and the Five, taking their memories away, chasing them across space, tormenting her on the Rising Star and so much more. But despite all that she really wanted to hurt him for what he had done to Kendra, touching her in that tank. No one she thought to herself feels up my daughter and gets away with it.
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Later on in the bunker which doubled as the Resistance HQ, the leaders gathered to discuss what the meeting had established. The group from Galactica all stood there led by Lt Sharon Agathon and Gunny Sergeant Erin Mathias who proudly showed them boxes filled with RPGs, rifles, grenades plus a few others and told them.
"We brought enough weapons to help, the question is can you evacuate everyone in the middle of a battle after Lt Agathon gets the launch keys from the detention centre." Sharon sat there nodding, now dressed in a standard outfit of her sisters, a white jacket, blue tank top, grey shirt and brown cargo pants. She had refused to be parted from her dog tags given how hard she had worked for these.
"Don't sweat it, we have pilots standing by and we have been practicing evacuation routines under the pretence of fire drills." Sam Anders told her and they nodded, he then told Sharon. "When you are going to the detention centre be careful, a lot of people out there are looking to shank an unwary Cylon so make sure someone doesn't stick a knife in you." She gave him a sarcastic smile and told him.
"Thank you for the concern, it's heart-warming."
After the meeting, Arden and Kerri made their way into the streets and ducked into a deserted tent where Arden pulled out a beacon and activated it. Minutes later, Kendra made her way stealthily into the tent where she took in the dishevelled pair and asked them.
"How are you two?" and they chucked before Kerri said
"Nothing a bath wouldn't cure." Kendra smiled before giving the two a hug each and they told her about the meeting and the plan to free the colonists. Kendra listened intently and told them
"I'll make sure that Boomer is in place on one of the Baseships immediately."
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Hours later Galactica was hovering as it waited for conformation that the launch keys had been retrieved. When the signal was received, the ship jumped into near orbit of New Caprica and the crew all held their breath as the baseships just ignored them. Admiral Adama turned towards Simon O'Neill who was standing at the communications station with Dualla and her husband Billy and asked him.
"Any reaction to our presence?" and Dee told him in an amazed tone
"None at all sir."
"Well that won't last, ready vipers to attack ground targets and…" the Admiral however didn't get to speak his next order as suddenly all the baseships and raiders stopped moving under their own power and drifted. "What the frak?" Adama asked as he turned to Captain Kelly at the tactical station who told him
"Sir they're just drifting."
Adama turned to Simon who was looking puzzled at the dradis screen as confused as anyone. Shaking his head Adama said bringing everyone back to the job in hand.
"Right then, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, tactical I want nukes and main batteries firing at the baseships immediately and vipers are to proceed to their targets, all defence batteries start clearing the raiders."
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Boomer was on the command deck of one of the baseships in orbit and ran from the room as her fellow Cylons tried to understand what was happening now that the virus had wrecked the data net. As the ship started shaking from Galactica's attack, Boomer jumped on a raptor in the ship's hanger and took off carefully dodging the curtain of flak from Galactica.
On the surface of New Caprica however it was not as easy. Dozens of explosions erupted from all around the city as armed rebels emerged into the open from their tents and began herding people towards the ships and scrapping toasters all the way. All the activity sowed confusion amongst the Cylons, not knowing which way to turn.
Sam Anders led a group of Resistance fighters towards the shipyard when a platoon of centurions appeared in their path. He and his people ducked for cover as they were raked with machine gun fire from the centurions. He heard a cry from his side and he looked to see Jean with a bleeding bullet hole in her shoulder.
'Not Jean.' He thought to himself in desperation. She was the only one of the C-Bucs left besides him, his oldest friend and confidant. She had never given up on him after Kendra's death, making sure that he ate and drank when all he had wanted to do was die so that he could be with Kendra and their baby. He was not about to lose Jean now, he tore a piece of fabric off his jacket sleeve and pressed it hard to her wound.
He heard the clanking of the centurions as they moved closer despite his guys doing their best to hold them back, he honestly thought they'd had it and he bent over Jean to try and protect her from the gunfire when a roaring from overhead started. He looked up and saw Vipers approaching the ground, their guns glittering in the distance as they fired on the Centurions on the ground and the towers that watch over them. The Centurions stopped their advance only to be shredded by high calibre rounds from the vipers, reducing them all to scrap.
"Thank you." Sam shouted at the fighters as they moved overhead.
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Kendra looked around her at the chaos of the evacuation. Her heart was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. One of those people was carrying her precious daughter away from her again, nearly a half a year of searching and not a sign of her. This liberation was something she had worked tirelessly towards but it was with an aching heart that she watched it. Her centurions bodyguards clanked around her as she moved through the tent lined streets. They just turned a corner when nearly inaudible over the noise of the evacuation she heard a small cry.
She turned her head in the direction of the cry and saw next to the bodies of a man and woman, two small children were crying. Kendra moved slowly over to the two small bundles, her heart began racing as she neared them. In the crook of the dead man's arm, a little face peered up at her. Kendra's heart began thundering in her chest as she leaned closer and picked up the bundle. The little girl's eyes met her's and the moment that the same shade of brown connected with each other, something elemental happened.
Beyond words, beyond any doubt Kendra knew who this girl was as she held the little girl to her neck where she wrapped her short little arms around Kendra's neck. Tears began to well up in Kendra's eyes as she gently rocked the child, humming a gentle lullaby from her childhood.
"My Talia." Kendra said through tears of pure joy. "My baby." Right now Kendra was complete, her baby was with her again, and every other thing that mattered just feel away, leaving them the only two things in the universe.
She didn't even see Baltar, D'Anna and Caprica approach and pick up Hera and Caprica looked on at the pair of them and said in amazement.
"Incredible, she recognises her mother and she recognises her daughter."
But mother and daughter remained oblivious to this and Kendra just held her baby, vowing never to let her out of her sight again.
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On Colonial One, Captain Russo the ship's pilot since the fall of the Colonies was holding his side as a gunshot had torn its way through his left side. While his wounds were seen to, Laura Roslin looked around and asked.
"Is there anyone who can pilot this thing?" a lot of people fearfully shook their heads till a red headed young woman that she recognised as one of the resistance members that had escaped prison at the same time as Ellen Tigh moved forward and speak up.
"I can, my dad used to fly one of these things for the government. He taught me." Kerri said sticking to her cover story as she moved into the cockpit after Laura Roslin stepped aside so she could do so. Kerri strapped herself into the pilot's seat and put on the headset. She flicked the switches to start powering up and without any hesitation, took the controls and lifted the ship off the ground into space. Around her she could see Galactica and surprising Pegasus clearing up the last of the Cylon space forces, by secure laser com she then received some co-ordinates from Galactica for a rendezvous point. Inputting the numerals into her jump computer she started the countdown, wondering how her undercover mission for the 2nd generation was going to pan out now that they were off New Caprica.
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Later on the landing deck of Galactica, people joyfully got off the raptors so happy to be free from the prison New Caprica had become. Adama was greeted by so many people rushing to shake his hand and thank him for their rescue. He could see Sharon being greeted by her husband but he only stopped moving when he found his best friend and trusted second in command Colonel Saul Tigh straight off the Raptor and Ellen at his side giving Bill the biggest smile she could manage.
"Permission to come aboard sir?" Saul asked him and Bill told him back with relief in his voice.
"Permission granted." Bill gave a salute to Saul who returned it. Ellen then told him.
"Thank you Bill. Thank you." Smiling wider now Bill turned to Saul and said.
"You did it. You brought them home, Saul." The words made Saul down turn his head a little.
"Not everyone." Saul said sadly, thinking of all the people he hadn't managed to save. But Ellen not wanting him to beat himself up, gently held his bearded face with her hand and turned it towards her so she could kiss it. Bill took a step back to give the couple some space when a person started chanting.
"Adama, Adama, Adama." The voice grew louder as others joined it and before Bill knew it, he was being picked up by the crowd and carried across the deck by the people they had just saved. He could see Gaeta, Galen and Cally Tyrol, Duck and Nora and other members of his crew, elation filling the air.
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On the Pegasus however, Boomer was getting a quite different reception.
"Get on your knees with your hands behind your head." The Marine in charge demanded after she stepped off the Raptor. Stepping off the raptor, she obeyed the order, sliding to her knees and putting her hands behind her head. Before they could shoot her she shouted in as loud a voice as she could manage.
"I Sharon Valerii am a number eight Cylon and I announce my intention to defect to the Colonial Fleet."
The marines could only react by looking stunned.
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A day or so later in contrast to the almost deserted corridors of Galactica and Pegasus over the last half a year, they were now a hive of activity buzzing with people and the noise made the Admiral's heart sing as now he had a true ship and crew to lead again. The danger was still great, maybe worse than ever now but at last the family had come home. He was so caught up in this that he failed to see Ellen Tigh entering the CIC, she went over to the reinstated Lieutenant Gaeta who was back at his old station. The young man looked up from his paperwork to see Ellen approaching him and he gave her an uncertain smile. Ellen was not supposed to be on the CIC in any case but she was also one of the few escapees from New Caprica who didn't show him any malice for his role as Baltar's aide during the occupation. No one as of yet knew that he had been the spy slipping information to the resistance and he planned to keep it that way for now.
"Mrs Tigh can I help you?" He asked her politely and she gave him a small smile before saying gently.
"Yes I thought Saul might be up here, I looked in all his other hangouts but he seems to have disappeared. Any idea where he might be?" Gaeta's expression relaxed when she gave her explanation for her presence. So he told her
"I think he said something about going to the gym to do some weights." Ellen smiled before telling Gaeta.
"Thank you." And without another word she left. When she was out of the CIC and back in her own quarters she locked the door before pulling a concealed transmitter out of small bolt hole behind the bunk. Pressing her finger into the gel pad on the top she concentrated on the message she wanted to transmit before releasing the pad and stuffing the transmitter back in its hiding space.
On a heavy raider hiding near the fleet for the prearranged broadcast, Ashley and Lacy of the 2nd Generation received the coded data burst from Ellen. She confirmed the activation of the new beacons on the Galactica for the 2nd Generation to monitor but also the fleet's general heading which Ellen had seen covertly on Gaeta station when she had visited the CIC earlier.
"Right." Ashley said to Lacy as they set course for base. "We just need to move the salvaged ships ahead on that baring and make sure that Galactica finds them."
"We could activate the emergency transponder on the colonial frequencies, it should pique their interest a bit." Lacy suggested
"Good thinking." Ashley said before starting the jump back to base.
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1 Week later… Baseship 45
Polly stood in the command centre of the baseship she'd been assigned to when a Six to her left spoke up, breaking the silence.
"The raiders have spotted a man-made object straight ahead. Unidentified in origin." She told them all, they all connected to the data points and viewed the object through the visual sensors on the raiders.
"It's a beacon of the thirteenth tribe." Eight announced joyfully.
Elsewhere – Baseship 39
Alex and Bella had also taken their new positions on a baseship shadowing the Colonial Fleet. The three that commanded the ship was without a doubt a smug bitch. She lorded her position over the other models and was hated in equal measure by all the other Cylons on bored. Only her fellow three's got any respect here. They had even closed off an area near the hanger deck for their model only. Remembering their lead sister's instructions to keep her appraised of anything suspicious they made quick contact and she advised them to carefully investigate.
Bella kept a look out as Alex worked the lock on the section, Bella said
"We could get boxed for this." Alex gave her a snort of derision before telling her.
"Bella you need to get more fun out of life. What's life without a little danger?" Bella replied with an exasperated sigh and answered.
"Alex, it's sure longer." Alex gave her a small laugh before crying out quietly in triumph as the door opened. Without a backwards glance Alex slipped inside and looking annoyed at being dragged into this Bella followed suit.
The pair of sisters crept along the corridor and saw nothing that might be bad enough for the Threes to have this area closed off till Alex discovered a small chamber and once she looked inside, she told her sister.
"Bella, you are not going to believe this." Bella who had been looking in an empty room at the other side of the corridor for concealed compartments moved over to look at what had Alex so shocked and could only say.
"You have got to be frakking kidding me."
There in a large cage in the centre of a big chamber was twelve human beings of various ages, sexes and ethnic groups.
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Sorry this chapter was later but real life has been taking most of my time
Please let me know what you think and review