24 DAYS AFTER THE FALL
Fred Richards sat in among the survivors of the SFM camp. He had managed to save thirty three people from the Cylons. He had tried to get that fraking pilot who had blown their base to hell after he had found Asher's body, but the chaos had been too much. The screams of his friends would haunt him for the rest of his life. How they had all managed to escape from all those Cylons he had no idea, maybe the gods had been looking out for them after all.
"What are we going to do?" Joanna Horne asked.
Fred suddenly realised she was talking to him and everyone was looking over at him.
"I don't know." He replied, "We have to find somewhere we can hold up, somewhere we can defend."
"What the frak happened? One minute everything was fine then those explosions." She said.
"It was the pilot and his fraking friends. They killed Asher and then lit the place up to make their escape. The Cylons had no problem finding us after that." Fred replied.
"Do you think he knew? That it was an SFM base." She asked.
"I'm sure of it. I hope we catch up with the frakers, I'll beat them to death." Fred said angrily.
Suddenly they could hear movement from behind them. Fred and some of the others took up defensive positions. He hoped, if they were Cylons, there weren't many of them. He knew they didn't have enough ammunition for a prolonged firefight. Moments later a group of Colonial marines appeared in front of them, they lowered their weapons when they saw the survivors.
"My name is Corporal Jennings from the Battlestar Orion, we're here to rescue you."
"Thank you," Fred said walking up to the young marine and shaking his hand, "We were hit badly last night, lost over sixty people. You just saved our lives."
PRESENT DAY
Fred Richards had come a long way since Sagittaron, he now went by the name Mr Sagittaron. His plan for revenge was finally beginning to take shape. He wiped the blood off his hand as he looked down at his prisoner. Skeeter sat tied to a chair, bloody and bruised.
"You may as well just kill me, because there is no way I'm going to let you use me to get my friends here." Skeeter said.
"I don't need you to let me do anything Mr Kent, you just being here is enough to get your friends to come. The only reason they're not already here, is because I wanted some time alone with you first. Do you know what it's like to watch your friends bleed to death in front of you while there is nothing at all you can do to save them?" he asked
"Yes I do." Skeeter replied.
"Really? Tell me." Mr Sagittaron asked.
"My friend Danny, I'd looked after him his entire life. He was literally torn apart by a centurion and he died bleeding to death, choking on his own blood in my arms, so yeah I know how you feel." Skeeter replied before spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
"Did you cause his death?" Mr Sagittaron asked.
"No."
"Because you and your friends caused the deaths of all of my friends. Let me tell you that if you are very lucky you'll die choking on your own blood." Mr Sagittaron replied before leaving the room.
Jasper Vents had underestimated how tough this training was going to be. As he looked at himself in the mirror he wondered if he was going to be strong enough to finish this. He looked around the shower room at the other new recruits and wondered if they were feeling the same way. He picked up his shaving bag turned and walked into one of the biggest men he had ever seen in his life.
"Sorry." He said.
"Excuse me?" the man replied.
"I said I'm sorry." And moved to walk around the man who stood in the way. Jasper looked up at the man who was looking down at him with a look that terrified him.
"While all you new recruits are here I want you to listen up. My name is, Lieutenant Andy Thomlins, but you can all call me, Jawbreaker and I'm squadron leader of green wing. Should any of you make it through your training and make it into my squadron then well the frak done. But before then while you're nuggets, you better watch yourselves. This ship is the one thing keeping the Cylons from totally wiping out the human race and we are very proud of what we do and of each other. Should any of you bring embarrassment to us and to this ship and it doesn't matter who the frak you are you'll find out why I got my call sign," he leaned towards Jasper, "Watch yourself cos if you don't, you better sleep with one fraking eye open, do you understand me?"
Jasper nodded.
"I asked if you UNDERSTOOD ME?" Jawbreaker replied.
"Yes sir." He stammered.
Carrie had been getting back into running. Living on a ship like Orion helped that. The ship was four miles long from top to toe, the corridors wound around so much that it made the run interesting. She had been given free reign of the ship except for one or two key areas, but they were parts of the ship she had no interest in anyway.
"Hey aren't the new recruits supposed to be on the flight deck?" a voice said.
Carrie stopped and turned to see a pilot talking to her.
"If you say so, but as I'm not a new recruit that doesn't really have any effect on me." She replied.
"You new to Orion?" the young man asked.
"Yeah I've been here a couple of days, Carrie Spence." She said holding out her hand.
"Max Grant but everyone calls me Temper."
"Temper?" she asked.
"Yeah it's from when I was a nugget and it's exactly what you think. But don't worry I'm a lot calmer now." He said with a smile, "So what are you doing on Orion?"
"Running," she replied with a laugh, "I just met my brother for the first time and he brought me here."
"Wow, who's your brother?"
"Mark Hunter, Archangel." She replied with a smile.
The smile left Temper's face a little as he became a little nervous, "It was lovely to meet you, I err, I need to get ready for the CAP."
"Nice to meet you too." She replied as the pilot walked away.
This was a little confusing and it had happened a couple of times now. She thought that it must be because he was their boss. She sighed before turning and running again.
Skeeter's face hurt. He'd been punched before, he'd been in more fights than he could count, but this was something else. What annoyed him more than anything else was how often he was getting hurt these days. As soon as he seemed to recover from one thing then something else happened. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground before looking up at Fred or Mr Sagittaron, or whatever the frak he wanted to call himself.
"So I think you've earned a break my friend. You know I'm impressed, you should have done right by your people and joined the SFM, we could have used more people like you." Fred said.
Skeeter laughed, "I'm not a terrorist. You're all the same, STO, SFM, NCO, just people who want attention. Killing in the name of freedom well guess what? Our colony got freedom along time ago."
"That's what the government wanted you to think."
"No that's the truth, it's just people like you had got a taste for killing in the name of freedom. You're just fraking terrorists plain and simple." Skeeter said angrily.
"We were freedom fighters."
"Well you know how the saying goes, one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. It's people like you who gave our home the bad reputation it had."
Fred punched Skeeter again. Skeeter let out a little laugh.
"You know when I was recovering from being shot in the chest I read a lot, more than I've read in my entire life and I found a book of poetry, my friend Bria gave me it and there was this one poem by a woman from Canceron, Claire Thompson I think her name was and not only does it apply to you, it applies to what's going on right now. Scrambled tongues, Distrusting mouths, Breed contempt and fear, Submerged eyes Hold such grace within conflict Till nights end, Dreamers once lost in the innocence of night Return in realities wake, Morn the loss of peace, Morn the life of humanity.
By definition that which should be kind, only strangles itself with breath, Whilst the babes of the world lie unaware in their cribs, Unknowing of the harsh fate that awaits.
Once of age they will be sent to fight, But To fight only themselves, Humanity awaits beyond their confines, Humanity infects us all, Humanity that breads sufferance, Humanity that educates war, Humanity that is kind. I think it's beautiful, it's almost like she knew what was going to happen when she wrote it."
"You're quoting poetry now?" Fred laughed.
"I just thought it was apt. There isn't enough beauty left in the world any more and it takes my mind off what you're going to do to me and my friends."
"Let's talk about your friends. Tell me about the mighty Major Mark Hunter?" Fred asked.
"What do you want to know?" Skeeter replied.
"Is he as bad ass as everyone says?" Fred asked sarcastically.
"You have no idea. If an army of 7ft robot monsters couldn't stop him what makes you think you can? You don't stand a chance. Even if you capture him and tie him to a chair like this, no matter what you think, no matter how much of an upper hand you think you've got, when he's ready he'll kill you. I've seen it before and the people who were doing it last time were a lot tougher than you guys."
"Wow that's impressive, I very much look forward to meeting him. You have a lot of faith in him."
"He got me this far."
"That he did. Anyway I'll leave you with your Canceron poetry while I go make a call." He said patting Skeeter on the shoulder.
As he left the room he was met by Joanna Horne.
"We have control of this deck as well as the two above it and below it. I stationed men at all the areas you said, I think we're ready."
"Are you sure you're prepared for this? This could end up with us all dead, I'm giving you the option now of walking away."
"What? Why would you think I would want to do that?" she asked him.
"Because you're the only thing keeping me sane, I love you and the thought of you walking away and having a life after this, is a good one." Fred said.
Joanna smiled, "I love you too and no matter what we're in this together. Let's face it, now we're doing this our number is up. If we're successful and the military don't kill us, then the NCO will. Let's just make sure we kill those frakers first."
Frank kissed her on the forehead. They both walked into one of the nearby rooms where a radio set waited for them.
"We've managed to single out a channel directly to Orion, when you speak,
they'll hear you." Joanna said.
Commander Garrett stood on Orion's CIC looking over some star charts. These were the next few systems they would have to go through, it looked straight forward enough, nowhere for any Cylons to hide, plain sailing.
"Commander Garrett can you hear me?" Fred's voice came over the COM.
Garrett looked over at Lieutenant Taylor who looked as confused as she did.
"It's broadcasting directly to the CIC, I can't shut it off." Taylor said.
"Commander, I know you're there." He said again.
Garrett picked up a hand set.
"This is Garrett, who am I speaking too?"
"Ah Commander I was beginning to think you were ignoring me. My name is Fred Richards."
"What do you want?" she asked angrily.
"I see you're as direct as everyone said you were. What do I want? I want Major Hunter, Sergeant Vannick and the Cylon to get on a Raptor and head to the Mussa Sala immediately, unarmed of course." smugness oozed from his voice.
"And why the frak would I send them to you?" Garrett asked as she wrote "Get Archangel" onto a piece of paper and held it up for Lieutenant Taylor to see.
"Because I have his friend Mr Kent or Skeeter whichever you want to call him and if they don't come over here then I'll publicly execute him."
"What is this about? Why are you doing this?" Garrett asked.
"Vengance. On Sagittaron they murdered nearly seventy of my friends, now it's time they were avenged." He replied.
"You're from the SFM base?" Garrett said.
"Correct Commander, I did wonder if the Major would tell you about that?!"
Archangel walked onto CIC, "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Is that Major Hunter I hear?" Fred asked.
"Yes it is." Garrett replied.
"Good I'm glad he's here to hear this part. Major say hello to your friend Skeeter."
"Don't come over here, it doesn't matter what happens to me just don't give into them." Skeeter yelled.
There was the sound of him being hit followed by a yelp of pain.
"Major I suggest that you ignore your friend. If you, Vannick and the Cylon are not in the Mussa Sala in one hour then I will broadcast on all video screens in the fleet, your friend being burned alive. The choice is yours."
The line went dead.
"What the frak is that all about?" Archangel said.
"SFM survivors." She replied, "You can't go over there, they'll kill you."
"If I don't my best friend will be burned alive, there's no choice."
"I can order you." She said.
"And I can quit and go anyway. You'll just have to find away to get aboard the Mussa Sala and rescue us." He said with a smile, "I need you to tell Carrie what's going on but wait until after we leave Orion."
"Don't you think you should tell her?" Garrett replied.
"She's the only one who could talk me out of this and I can't let my best friend die."
"Frak me," Vannick said, "This is going to be bad."
"Yeah but Wedge and the XO are already working on a plan to get marines onboard and get to us," Archangel replied, "I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this, but I can't let Skeeter die."
"I'm in," Grace said, "Like you said we can't let our friend die."
"What the hell," Vannick said, "Let's go be heroes."
All three stepped into the waiting Raptor.
"Talk to me." Garrett said as she walked back onto the CIC.
"Getting people onto the Mussa Sala isn't going to be a problem," Wedge said, "We can shadow their dradis and there are so many blind spots on that ship that even one of the nuggets could land on it without being seen."
"What will be the problem?" Garrett asked.
"We don't know what we're walking into," Rae said, "Have they taken the entire ship or just part of it? How many of them are there etc."
"This is going to be a problem." Garrett replied.
"Ma'am I'm sorry to interrupt, but Jenna is onboard the Mussa Sala." Taylor said.
"Jenna?" Garrett replied.
"Hawkeye." Wedge replied.
"I was talking to her yesterday morning, she's definitely there." Taylor replied.
"Can you get in touch with her? On a totally secure line?" Rae asked.
"Yes Ma'am that's not a problem, no one will be able to listen except us." Taylor answered.
"Do it." Garrett replied.
Jenna "Hawkeye" Riley lay in her quarters. She had been feeling better over the last week than she had in a while. Days like these almost made her forget her brain tumour. She stretched as she woke up. The phone next to her bed began to buzz.
"Hello?" She said as she picked it up.
"Jenna, it's Georgia." Lt Taylor said over the line
"Hey I thought you were on duty this morning?" Hawkeye replied.
"I am, we have a situation, the Commander would like to speak to you."
"Of course." Hawkeye replied sitting up.
"Jenna this is Commander Garrett I'm going to have to come straight to the point, do you feel well enough to help us with a situation aboard the Mussa Sala?"
"Yes Ma'am, what's happened?" she replied rubbing her eyes.
"Somewhere aboard the ship the remnants of the SFM have secured an area and are about to get their hands on Archangel, Vannick and a couple of others. I need you to find out where they are on the ship and report back to me."
"Of course," Hawkeye replied, "I'll get back to you as quickly as I can."
"Thank you. Just be careful and don't do anything rash."
"Yes ma'am."
As Hawkeye put the phone down and got out of bed. She walked over to her bag on the sofa and took out her old sidearm before checking it was loaded.
"This should be fun." She said with a smile.
"I'll try and keep them occupied for as long as I can manage." Archangel said as he flew the Raptor towards the Mussa Sala, "Hopefully I can buy enough time either for you guys to escape or for the marines to come get us."
"Do you think Skeeter is still alive?" Vannick asked.
"Yeah they need to keep him in case we don't come. By now they should have us on dradis so they know we're coming." Archangel said.
"Fraking SFM, I hate terrorists, shame we didn't manage to kill them all back on Sagittaron." Grace said.
"Certainly would have saved a lot of trouble." Vannick replied.
As they landed in one of the Mussa Sala's hanger bays they could see the ten armed men waiting for them. Archangel powered down the Raptor and turned to his friends.
"I'm sorry that I didn't deal with them probably when I had the chance. I just wanted to say thank you for doing this. I owe you both." Archangel said.
"There's nothing to say sorry for. Skeeter's family, he saved all three of us back on the Colonies at one point or another, it's time to return the favour." Vannick replied.
Archangel took hold of Grace's hand.
"I love you." He said to her. He hadn't said those three words out loud to her for so long. She smiled at him.
"I love you too." She replied kissing him.
As the side hatch opened Archangel led the way with his hands raised.
"I want to see my friend, immediately." Archangel said.
Before he had the chance to react one of the man hit him across the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out cold.
As Carrie walked onto the CIC for the first time she couldn't believe how impressive it was. It was nothing like she had imagined. She couldn't help but wonder what she had been called there for. Commander Garrett walked over to her.
"Carrie we need to talk." Garrett said.
"Is everything okay?" Carrie replied.
"Come with me." Garrett said leading Carrie into one of the small side rooms off the CIC.
"Is my brother okay?" Carrie asked, fearing the worst.
"He's asked me to talk to you. He's had to go to the Mussa Sala. There is a group of surviving members of the SFM there who he has had dealings with before. They've demanded your brother go to them or they will kill his best friend."
"What are they going to do to him?" Carrie asked.
"I have no idea, we're putting a plan together as we speak to send marines in to rescue him."
"Why didn't he tell me himself?"
"Because he thought it would be too hard. He told me that he knew you were the only person who could talk him out of what he was planning to do. But this is what he does best, save people and trust me when I tell you, he'll come back."
"Just hopefully not in a body bag." Carrie replied.
Hawkeye had been checking each deck of the Mussa Sala, stopping by elevator at each deck. As the doors opened for deck eleven she wasn't able to get further than a step, before a very large man blocked her way.
"And where may I ask are you going?" the man asked.
Hawkeye smiled, "I'm looking for my friend, I'm a little lost and still rather drunk from a party last night."
"Well this deck is out of bounds," the man replied, "There is some structural work going on, and anyone who lives on this deck has been moved."
"Okay I'll go check the next deck." She replied with a smile.
"The next four decks down are the same, some structural work is being done. But if you're interested come back later on this afternoon and we can have a party of our own."
"I'll see you this afternoon." She replied with a smile.
As the lift doors closed the smile dropped from her face, "Gotcha." Hawkeye said to herself.
As she walked into her suite she looked at her watch. The direct channel to Orion was still open.
"Georgia can you hear me?" Hawkeye said.
"Is everything okay Jenna?" Taylor replied.
"I need to speak to the Commander." She said.
Seconds later Garrett's voice appeared on the other end of the line.
"What do you have?" she asked.
"When I got to deck eleven I wasn't able to go any further. I was met by a man who told me that deck eleven and the four other decks below are all out of bounds for structural testing. I don't know where Skeeter, Archangel or anyone else is but I can find out."
"How?" Garrett replied.
"The man I spoke to asked me to go back this after noon, if I go there I can question him and find out where they are." Hawkeye replied.
"I don't want you to do anything too risky." Garrett replied.
"That's the thing Commander when you're in my situation "anything to risky" kind of looses all its meaning. I'll go see him this afternoon."
"Okay we're going to send a squad of marines to the Mussa Sala within the hour, they'll come to your quarters in plain clothes. They'll give you an ear piece so as soon as you find out any details they can move on it." Garrett replied.
"Not a problem." Hawkeye replied.
When Archangel came round he felt the throbbing pain in his head. He already knew that his hands were cuffed to a chair. As he looked up he saw Fred Richards looking down at him.
"Nice to see you're awake Major." Fred said.
"Nice to be awake. Do I know you?" Archangel asked.
"No but I know you, you killed nearly seventy of my friends back on Sagittaron."
"Oh yeah you mean those terrorist frakers, sorry I wasn't able to do you a favour and kill the rest of you." Archangel smiled as he spoke.
Fred punched him as hard as he possibly could. Archangel's head snapped back but he didn't make a sound. He looked back up at Fred with the same smile on his face.
"So what's the plan Mr Terrorist, we going to trade insults, you beat me and then eventually you kill me?" Archangel asked.
"That sounds like a good enough plan to me. I think I'll add a bit of creative torture in there as well." Fred replied.
"Really now that doesn't sound like the fun I had in mind." Archangel replied.
"Really? What do you have in mind?"
"I let you punch me around a little, we talk every now and again and then when I figure I've bought enough time for my back up to secure the area, I'll kill you and your friends."
"Well looks like we'll have to wait and see which of us is right, but I wouldn't bet any money on your outcome."
Archangel laughed, "We'll see."
Fred took a pair or brass knuckles out of his jacket pocket, "For now flyboy, I just want to hear you scream."
He punched Archangel hard.
Wedge stood in front of a handful of selected Raptor crews and Viper pilots.
"…..okay now you all know the situation. The Raptor crews are going to be taking marines to the Mussa Sala. Orion is going to shadow their dradis so that they can't see us coming or know anything has changed. We're lucky they chose the Mussa Sala, there are so many ways we can approach the ship without being seen. Hydra will lead the Raptors in and attach at the points you've been given. Marines will cut through the hull and head inside to meet up with Hawkeye, who is working on the inside to help us. Raptor pilots will stay with their birds in case there is anyone around who may find them. Vipers we will keep a safe distance, make it look like we're engaging in battle manoeuvrers. If they have taken over the Mussa Sala completely even though the ship has no weapons we all know what kind of damage a ship of that size can produce, should it look like they're going to do something stupid like ram another ship, we put them down."
"Why don't the marines go to the bridge and take control of it?" Bria asked.
"They will, this is in case something happens before they can take control of it." Wedge replied, "Okay you all know where you're going, skids up in twenty minutes."
"I'm impressed, I'll give you that," Fred said as he sat down in front of the beaten Archangel, "You sure can take one hell of a beating and you haven't even made a sound."
"I aim to please." Archangel replied after spitting out a mouthful of blood and one of his molars.
"But it is a problem. You see I want to hear you scream in pain, like I heard my friends scream while the Cylons slaughtered them. Since I don't seem to be able to make you scream, I'll have to settle for listening to your Cylon whore scream instead."
He picked up a radio and switched it on. From the other end they could both hear Grace screaming in agony. Rage filled Archangel.
"Stop. I'll do whatever you want, just stop." Archangel said.
Fred smiled, "Joanna can you hear me?" he said into the radio.
"Loud and clear." Came the reply.
"You can stop what you're doing in there, for now." He replied.
He switched the radio off before taking out a knife.
"Now let's see what we can do about making you scream." Fred said.
Grace gave out a little sigh of relief when Joanna headed for the door. But as the door opened she heard the agonising screams coming from Archangel. She tried to use all her strength to break the cuffs but they were too strong for her. There had to be a way out she thought to herself. She felt anger towards them for doing this to her and her friends and a twinge of anger for letting herself get into this position to begin with. She looked up as the door opened and two more men walked in.
"Well look what we have here Tony!" One of them said.
"Oh yeah, I can't tell you how long I've wanted to get my hands on a Cylon. Do you know what your people did to us?" Tony asked.
"Nothing less than you deserved." Grace replied.
"What did you say?" the other man asked as he walked behind her running his hand over her head.
"You can say what you want about Cylons, but we don't commit genocide against our own people." Grace replied.
"That's funny," Tony said, "Because I though you had turned you back on your people and had been going around slaughtering them wherever you found them, you know what that makes you by your logic?"
"Enlighten me." Grace replied.
"Exactly like us." He told her.
Hydra led the small group of Raptors towards the Mussa Sala. They came towards the ship from below where there was no chance of being seen.
"Orion this is Hydra, we're making our final approach." She said over the COM.
"Hydra this is Orion, our interference is working perfectly they can't see you coming." Lt Taylor replied.
"All Raptors you know your positions let's do this." Hydra ordered.
The four Raptors cut their engines and moved towards the large ship on thrusters. Minutes later all four birds hit their targets.
"Orion this is Hydra we are in position, we have hard seal and are proceeding to cut through the hull." She said.
"Hydra, Orion keep us informed, let us know when you're through." Taylor replied.
Hydra sat and watched as the marines dressed in plain clothes began their work.
Wedge and the other Vipers watched from a distance as the mission progressed. They could see the Raptors had attached to the underside of the ship.
"Okay guys let's make this look good." Wedge said.
Hydra's voice came over the COM, "Orion this is Hydra we're in." she said.
"Okay boys and girls be prepared in case they need us." Wedge said.
Hawkeye had found herself pacing in her quarters. She stopped at her dresser and picked up two of her painkillers before taking them with a drink of water. She could feel a twinge of pain in her head and knew she couldn't afford one of her full-blown headaches right now. She was startled by a knock on the door. She picked up her handgun before walking over to the door and opening it. She sighed a relief when she saw the hulking figure of Gunnery Sergeant Harry Trent stood smiling.
"Gunny, it's so good to see you." She said giving him a hug.
"You too LT. You feeling okay?" he asked.
She nodded her head, "Yeah I'm okay."
Harry walked in and closed the door behind her, "The Commander asked me to give you this," he said handing her a small ear piece, "We can hear everything that's going on. When you're ready we'll be with you before you know it. One of the teams has positioned themselves by the bridge, as soon as you know where Major Hunter and the others are, they're going to take command."
"All eyes on me then." Hawkeye said with a nervous laugh.
Vannick had been alone cuffed to a chair for nearly five minutes now. He had to try and make a move, he had heard both Archangel and Grace screaming in pain. The cuffs weren't going to budge, he had used all his considerable strength to try and force them open but that wasn't going to happen. He took a series of slow deep breaths as he could only think of one other way to get these cuffs off and he knew it was going to hurt, a lot. Without thinking about it he dislocated his left thumb. It took everything he had not to scream in pain himself. Seconds later he managed to squeeze his hand out of the cuff and he was free, he braced himself for a moment before popping it back in the socket. He quickly moved to the door but it was locked.
"Frak." He said to himself. He scanned the room for something he could use for a weapon. To his relief he saw a knife, "Thank the gods." He said picking it up and waiting behind the door.
As the lift to stopped at deck eleven, Hawkeye smiled when she saw the man standing waiting for her.
"So what can I call you?" Hawkeye asked.
"Greg," he replied, "And you?"
"Jenna," She replied, "Shall we go somewhere quiet?"
Greg smiled at her, "Come on."
He took her hand and led her down the corridor into an empty suite. He closed the door behind them.
"So what are you in the mood for?" he asked. As he turned around Hawkeye shot him in the left knee, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Not what you're thinking." She replied.
At first Archangel had screamed to try and save Grace, but some of them had been for real, he just hoped that Fred didn't know that. He felt numb all over. The shallow stabs he had endured had been the worst. He couldn't even begin to think of a way to get out of this situation, his head was spinning. He would have to wait for the help he knew would be coming. He looked up at Fred who was smiling from ear to ear.
"You going to let me in on the joke?" Archangel said.
Fred let out a chuckle, "This isn't nearly over Major. I'm going to make this last as long as I possibly can. You know your friend Skeeter said you were this big bad ass who would kill me when he wanted to. Looks to me like you can barely move, let alone kill me."
"Oh I'm full of surprises." Archangel laughed.
"Well I look forward to seeing what they might be." Fred replied before backhanding Archangel so hard he toppled Archangel onto the floor.
Greg looked up at Hawkeye smiling down at him pointing her gun to his face with a silencer on the end. She had already relieved him of his weapon.
"What the frak?" he said.
"I have some simple questions to ask you and for your sake, you better give me some honest answers."
"You're from Orion?!" He replied.
"Used to be, now I'm a civilian who is trying to help her friends. What deck are Major Hunter and the others being held on?" she asked.
"What no foreplay?" he asked with a smirk.
Hawkeye pressed the gun to his right kneecap and pulled the trigger. Greg screamed in agony.
"Where are my friends?" she yelled.
"I'm telling you shit. Go frak yourself." He yelled back.
Hawkeye put her gun on his right elbow and pulled the trigger again.
"Looks like you've run out of limb joints, guess where I'm going next?" Hawkeye said moving the gun above his groin.
"They're on deck 13." He replied immediately, pain in his voice.
"How many of your friends are there?"
"Eighteen."
"Do you have control of the bridge?"
"I don't know, that's the truth."
"Did you hear that?" Hawkeye asked.
"Yeah we did, we're heading your way now." Harry replied over the COM, "Take him out and we'll meet you in a minute."
Hawkeye stood up.
"You can't just leave me like this." He said.
"Don't worry about that." She replied putting a bullet between his eyes.
Vannick felt like he had been waiting forever. He could hear someone outside in the corridor. Then moments later he heard the door open.
"Oh frak." He heard the man who was walking in say. As he entered the room Vannick moved quickly and slit the man's throat. Vannick took his gun, extra magazines and his radio. He carefully looked out of the room and saw there was no one there.
"Time for some thrilling heroics." He said to himself.
As he moved out he knew Grace was in the room next to him. He knocked on the door and raised the gun. When the door opened and he saw the man standing the other side he pulled the trigger shooting him in the head. Before the other man could react Vannick moved inside and pulled the trigger one more time killing the man in one shot.
"You okay?" Vannick asked quickly unfastening Grace's cuffs.
"Yeah I'm okay."
"We have to hurry, people probably heard those shots."
They both took the weapons off the two men and checked the corridor, still no sign of anyone.
Archangel lay on the floor. All he could taste in his mouth was blood. He had heard the gunshots and had assumed that his friends were dead. When he heard the door open he didn't even bother to look up. If they were going to kill him, it seemed now like there was nothing he could do about it.
"Just fraking do it." Archangel said.
"Hey, it's us." Grace said.
He looked up and saw Vannick and Grace.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked.
"Yeah we're fine, we have to find Skeeter and get out of here." Vannick replied.
"Are you okay?" Grace asked.
"It looks worse than it is." Archangel replied with a grin as he painfully got to his feet.
Vannick passed him a gun and a couple of clips of ammo.
"Thanks." Archangel said.
As they went for the door gunfire erupted from outside. Vannick fired back but the gunfire kept coming.
"What the frak are we going to do? We're trapped in here." Grace said. Suddenly the gunfire stopped. They all looked at each other surprised and waiting for the next move. They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Hawkeye at the door.
"You guys need some cavalry?" She asked.
"Your timing is perfect," Archangel replied, "It's good to see you."
A single gunshot rang out. Hawkeye looked down as blood spot appeared on her chest and began to get bigger and bigger.
"Frak me, I really liked this top." She said as she fell to the ground. Vannick grabbed her and dragged her further inside.
Rage, rage like Archangel hadn't felt it in a long time began to swell up inside him. He had had enough of humans and Cylons alike. He walked out of the room his gaze fixed on the single man who was frantically trying to reload his gun. As Archangel reached him he hit the man in the face as hard as he possibly could with the butt of his gun, shattering the man's nose. Archangel grabbed him by the hair and put his gun between the man's eyes. Without saying a word he pulled the trigger, blowing the his brains all across the wall behind him. He turned around and walked straight back into the room where Grace was trying to help Hawkeye.
"Please stop." Hawkeye said.
"No, I can't, I have to stop the bleeding." Grace replied.
Hawkeye took hold of her hand, "This is a better way to die than what I have in store for me, please Grace, stop."
Grace turned and looked at Archangel.
"Please Major, please let me die here." Hawkeye begged, "This is so much better than how I'll die in a couple of months."
Archangel nodded his head and kneeled down next to Hawkeye, cradling her head in his arms.
"Thank you." She said with a smile.
"It's okay." Archangel replied, "Thank you for saving us."
"You're welcome, again. There are marines on the way and Raptors attached to the bottom of the hull." She replied, her breathing getting heavier and heavier, "Can you tell Bojay that I loved flying with him, he scared the frak out of me sometimes but I loved it all the same."
"I will."
"And do me one last favour?" she asked.
"Anything." Archangel replied.
"Kill them all."
"I promise." He replied. He smiled down at her and stroked her hair as her breathing began to slow before it stopped.
"Major."
Archangel looked up to see Harry and his marines standing in the doorway.
"Gunny have one of your men take Hawkeye, we have to find Skeeter and kill every last one of these fraks."
"Yes sir." Harry replied handing Archangel another side arm, which he put in the back of his belt.
Carrie stood outside Orion's CIC. She had been told that it was one of the off limits areas of the ship for civilians. She had been hoping to catch the Commander's eye to find out if there was any news, but she had been too focused on her work to look her way.
"Carrie, are you okay?" Colonel Rae asked as she walked up along side her.
"I'm just waiting to see if I can hear what's going on." Carrie replied.
"Why don't you just go in and ask?" Rae replied.
"I was told that it was off limits to civilians." Carrie replied.
"I think under the circumstances we can wave that this time." Rae replied, "Come on."
Carrie followed the Colonel onto CIC.
"Hey Carrie." Garrett said as she saw her.
"Hi I was wondering if there was any news?" Carrie replied.
"There is, we just heard that the marines have taken over the Mussa Sala's bridge and they have found your brother." Garrett replied.
Carrie was obviously relieved by this, "Are they on their way back then?"
"Not yet, they still need to locate Skeeter and try to stop the SFM." Garrett replied.
Carrie didn't know how to reply.
"Do you want to wait here for any more news?" Garrett asked.
Carrie nodded, "Only if I'm not in the way."
"Of course not." Garrett said.
Archangel led the way through the dark corridors of deck thirteen of the Mussa Sala. As they reached a T-junction in the corridors gunfire came at them from both directions.
"Got any grenades?" Archangel asked.
Seconds later two grenades were handed to him. He passed one of them to Vannick and pointed at the left side corridor. Vannick nodded as he took the grenade. Both men pulled out the pins and threw them. Seconds later the gunfire stopped as the loud explosions took over. Archangel and Vannick both took separate corridors and began checking rooms. Grace turned to check on the marines and raised her weapon. All the marines looked shocked and panicked, it all happened so quickly, then Grace pulled the trigger. Harry felt the closeness of the bullet as it whizzed past his face. All the marines turned and saw the bullet hit an unseen SFM right between the eyes and it all made sense.
"Thanks." Harry said a little shaken.
"You're welcome." Grace replied.
As Archangel walked into one of the rooms he could have kicked himself for barging in and being so sloppy, inside a man grabbed his gun out of his hand and threw it across the room. Archangel was quick to block the barrage of punches that came his way. He grabbed the man's right arm at the wrist, spun him round twisting his arm behind him and kicked down with his left leg shattering the man's elbow. He grabbed the man by the throat and wrenched him up against the wall summoning all his strength. He didn't feel any of the injuries he had sustained, no pain just the rage that he was using to fuel what he had to do. With one hand around the man's throat Archangel had lifted him off his feet by a few inches, he tried to gasp for air and grabbed at Archangel's hand with his unbroken arm.
"Where is my friend?" Archangel asked.
The man just grasped at Archangel's hand and tried to suck down air.
"Where is my friend?" Archangel let go of the his throat and hit him in the stomach as hard as he could.
"WHERE IS MY FRIEND?" he screamed.
"The end of the corridor, turn left, room 432." The man replied gasping down air.
"Thank you." Archangel replied before snapping the his neck.
Archangel turned to see one of the marines standing behind him, he was trying to hide how shocked he was at what he'd seen.
"You okay sir?" he asked.
"Yeah, he told me where Skeeter is." Archangel replied as he picked up his gun.
As he walked out of the room he whistled once before heading in the direction the man had sent him in. Everyone followed. Three times in a row people appeared about to open fire and each time Archangel shot them in the head before they could get off a single shot.
As they neared room 432 the door burst open and Fred walked out holding a battered Skeeter in front of him as a shield. As others poured out behind him, Archangel and the others took them out. Archangel stopped with his gun raised. Fred had his gun pointed at Skeeter's head.
"I told you you'd pay for what you did to my friends?."
"Blah blah blah that's all I hear coming out of your mouth," Archangel replied, "You are a terrorist what the frak do you expect? The only reason you survived was because you were planning your own little nuclear holocaust, but the Cylons just beat you to it. You got what you deserved."
"MAJOR if you don't put your gun down Mr Kent here is going to get what he deserves. I don't care if you kill me, if I kill your friend, I've won, now PUT DOWN your fraking weapons. NOW."
Grace stepped up a long side him with her gun raised.
"I won't tell you again." Fred said.
"Just fraking kill him." Skeeter said.
Archangel dropped his gun to the ground, "You all heard him, put your guns down."
Grace wondered what was going on in Archangel's head, as she turned to look at him she saw what the other marines behind him had already seen, the gun in Archangel's belt. She threw her gun to the ground as well.
"So much for the mighty Archangel and his Cylon whore, you're not as bad as anyone says, you're a fraking pussy." Fred said.
When he moved his head out from behind Skeeter's it was the split second that they needed. Grace grabbed the gun from Archangels belt, Archangel moved out the way and Grace took the shot hitting her mark perfectly. As Fred fell so did Skeeter. Archangel rushed over to his best friend.
"You okay?" Archangel asked.
"No not really." Skeeter replied with a pained laugh.
"Where do you need help?" Grace asked as she ran over.
"I need to stop getting fraking beaten and fraking shot!" Skeeter replied with one of his grins.
Archangel helped him to his feet. Skeeter turned and kicked Fred's body before spitting on him.
"You can't say I didn't warn you, you fraking piece of shit." Skeeter said.
The first anyone saw of Joanna Horne was as she ran out of room 432 screaming at the top of her lungs with a knife in her hand.
"YOU FRAKING BASTARDS!" she screamed.
Grace was the first to react, she grabbed Joanna by the throat with both hands and smashed her head against the wall. Her grip didn't stop as she began to choke the life out of the woman.
"Grace." Archangel said, "Stop."
A few seconds later Grace released her grip dropping Joanna to the ground as she coughed for air.
"You're lucky I don't rip your head from your shoulders for what you did to my friends." Grace said with venom Archangel had never heard before in her voice.
"Gunny take her, we can torture her for information when we get back to Orion." Archangel said.
"My pleasure." Harry replied grabbing the woman by the hair and wrenching her to her feet.
"Can you guys sweep the rest of the area?" Archangel asked.
"Yes sir. Your orders if we find any more?" a Corporal replied.
"Blow their fraking brains out." Archangel replied.
Carrie stood by Colonel Rae in the CIC, she had kept her questions and worry to herself as she didn't want to distract anyone from their work.
"Commander, Wedge report Hydra's Raptor has just detached from the Mussa Sala." Lt Taylor said.
"Get her on the horn." Garrett replied, "And put her on speakers."
Seconds later Archangel's voice came through instead of Hydra's.
"Thanks for the rescue." Archangel said.
"Are you all okay?" Garrett replied.
"We're all going to need a trip to sickbay. I have bad news though, we lost Hawkeye." He said.
That news hit everyone on the CIC, Lt Taylor began to cry at the loss of her friend.
"I've instructed the other marines to do sweeps to find any other SFM. We've taken out quite a lot of them and we have a prisoner."
"Good work Major." Garrett replied.
Garrett put her handset down, "Colonel can you escort Carrie down to the hanger bay. Georgia are you able to carry on?"
Lt Taylor wiped her eyes, "Yes ma'am."
"Instruct medics to meet them on the hanger deck."
"Yes Commander." Taylor replied through her tears.
Archangel, Grace, Skeeter and Vannick were all sat in sickbay having their wounds attended too. As one of the medics stitched up Archangel's stab wounds he looked at his sister.
"You okay?" he asked taking her hand.
"I was so scared for you," she replied, "Look what they did to you."
"Trust me I've had far worse. It's okay."
"It's going to be like this every day, every time you go out in your Viper or every time you have to deal with someone like them?" Carrie said. She saw the mass of scars covering his torso front and back, she had never seen so many on one person before.
"I know it's hard, but I have to do this. The people of the fleet need us, they need us to do what we do to keep them alive."
"What about today?" she said, "That wasn't to keep the people of the fleet safe."
"That was to save the life of my best friend." Archangel replied.
"I'm sorry," she said wiping tears away from her face, "I've only just found you, I'm not ready to loose you."
"Me either."
Commander Garrett stood in Dr Hammond's office looking out at the wounded.
"Are they all okay?" Garrett asked.
"Yeah they all took one frak of a kicking. Archangel was beaten the worst and they didn't go much easier on Skeeter."
"They certainly are tough sons of bitches." Garrett replied.
"You're not kidding!" Hammond replied.
"Will they have to stay here long?"
"No, I'll patch them up and send them on their way. I'd take Archangel out of rotation for a few days, he's going to be hurting way more than he's likely to let on."
The port hanger bay was full of people paying their final respects to Hawkeye. Although she had left the service, the Commander had wanted to give her a military funeral.
Archangel took the podium, "What can I say about Hawkeye? She was one of the bravest soldiers I've ever fought along side. Despite being ill she still stepped up and she saved all of our lives. I didn't serve with her for long but for the short amount of time that I did she was one hell of an officer and ECO. I know what you all thought of her and how much you loved her, the words that Captain Johnson shared with us show that. Every single person here today can learn something from Hawkeye, she was someone to look up to and had bravery that we all should aspire to have. I want to tell you all that at the end she wasn't afraid, if anything she was relieved to be spared what she had in store. No one deserves to die the way she was supposed to and as much as I would rather she was standing here with us today, happy and healthy, she had the death she wanted. She was fearless, she was a warrior and she was a hero. Tonight I want every single one of you to raise a glass to Lieutenant Jenna "Hawkeye" Riley."
As Archangel stepped off the podium Brother Ramok took his place.
"And now we lay our fallen sister to rest. We should be secure in the knowledge that she is with the gods and those close to her who have passed before. So say we all." Ramok said.
"SO SAY WE ALL." Thundered the response from across the hanger deck.
The launch tube that held her coffin began to close. As Hawkeye drifted silently and gracefully into space Orion's main battery sprang to life and fired five shots each in respect to it's fallen sister.
This had been the President's first public appearance since his accident and he wished it had been a happier one. He stood with the Commander who kept her eye on him as he walked with the aide of a walking stick.
"I'm so sorry about Lieutenant Riley." He said.
"Thank you." Garrett replied, "There he is." she said, pointing towards, Skeeter.
"Now is as good a time as any." Milo replied.
"Mr Kent can we speak with you?" the Commander asked.
Skeeter seemed a little taken aback but walked over to them.
"Commander, Mr President, it's good to see you on your feet." Skeeter said.
"Thank you," He replied, "I'd like to talk to you if you have a spare few minutes?"
"Of course." Skeeter replied.
Skeeter felt very nervous sat in the Commander's quarters with the President, what the hell could they want to talk to him about?
"Mr Kent I'll be blunt if I may?" the President said.
"Of course sir." He replied.
"I've been told of the difficulties you've been having since you joined the fleet, trying to find your place in the world."
"That's one way of putting it." Skeeter replied taking a sip out of the whiskey Vanessa had given him.
"Since my accident and everything that has been happening, first with the NCO and now with the SFM, it seems that my government and Commander Garrett both feel that I need a personal body guard."
Skeeter was sure this wasn't going where he thought for a moment it could be.
"I need someone who knows how to handle himself, someone who I can trust absolutely and after talks with the Commander and Major Hunter I think you are that man." Milo said with a smile.
"What? Sorry What?" Skeeter replied in shock.
"I'm offering you the position as my personal body guard. You fit all the criteria that the Commander and Major Hunter insist on. To be honest the more I hear about you the more I agree with them that you are the right person for the job." Milo said.
"I really don't know what to say." Skeeter replied.
"Yes I would hope. All I need you to do is follow me around while I do my work, look tough and protect me should the need arise."
Skeeter thought about it for a second, "What the hell, why not." He said.
The President smiled, "Welcome aboard Mr Kent." He shook Skeeter's hand.
"There is one condition though." Skeeter replied.
"Anything."
"Please, please don't call me Mr Kent, it makes me feel a lot older than I am," he said with a laugh, "I prefer Skeeter or Mike at a push."
"Skeeter it is." The President replied.
Nathan Perez walked down the corridors of the Starburst. His suit hid a lot of his traditional Tauron tattoos, but the ones on the top of his neck and the side of his face couldn't be hidden. People didn't mess with him, if they did it tended to be the last thing they ever did. He walked into his mother's room where she was sat with Mr Caprica.
"Any news?" Miss Tauron asked her son.
"Yes mother and I'm afraid neither of you are going to be happy." Nathan replied.
"What has he done?" Mr Caprica asked.
"Well gotten himself killed for a start," Nathan replied, "He went against your wishes and he took Major Hunter and his friends captive. It was a massacre, I would say virtually all of his surviving SFM are now dead. To top it all off they killed one of Orion's pilots."
"Frak me, that stupid son of a bitch." Mr Caprica said slamming his fist onto the table, "I told that fraking fool what would happen."
"Do they know he was with us?" Miss Tauron asked her son.
"I do not know mother. I know they took at least one prisoner. I tried to get to her to put a stop to this, but I couldn't get there in time. Before I knew what had happened, Orion had marines onboard and I thought it would be better to keep my distance rather than be discovered." Nathan replied.
"Thank god someone around here has some sense." Mr Caprica said, "As soon as this comes out to the fleet we have to put out a message to say how terrible this is, Mr Arilon could be earning his keep a lot sooner than we thought."
"Do you think it's a good time to have him come out to the fleet?" Miss Tauron replied.
"I think we could use this to our advantage to gain more support. If it is revealed to the fleet, we have to take the opportunity." Mr Caprica said.
"I agree. I also think we should start making more decisions ourselves," Miss Tauron replied, "Instead of putting things to a vote. If we decide what's best for the group we can work individually to turn the others to our way of thinking, make them think they were in on the decision process."
"I think you're right. You're the only one of the Twelve I trust anyway. We need to call a meeting and prepare Mr Arilon for his potential public debut."
"If I may, I'll put the word out." Nathan said.
"Thank you Nathan, as always you've been one of the few we can truly rely on. I'll speak to our source on Orion, their prisoner cannot be allowed to talk." Mr Caprica said.