Chapter Two
Change


The T'kon service system began its work. After a millennium of
slumber the chamber re-activated itself. The entire system
essentially a massive replication device now focused its full
attention on Recon one.

"Original software protocols saved and upgraded," the computer
said to no one particular, indifferent to the fact that there was
no one there to speak to in the first place. "Power source
inadequate ...update to anti-hydrogen-deuterium battery and
support ...memory storage and implementing hardware inadequate...
update to liquid crystal chrotronics memory and storage unit
compatible with upgraded software protocols...installing database... mobile support system inadequate...update to admantium-plated, hyper-steel alloy combat chassis configured for mobile units... communications inadequate... update to internal sub-space
transceivers and data stream initiators...visual sensors and
analysis modules inadequate...update to broad spectrum detection
system consistent with macro and micro scanning capabilities,
specifics to follow... Weapons system inadequate...update to dual
internal pulse, multi-phased disruptors compatible with anti-hydrogen deuterium battery systems...self-repair systems non-existent ...self-replicator units being installed...systems check initiated..."

When the operation was completed, the service computer turned
its attention on the Cylon H-T a short distance away.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

A secton later three double saucer shaped Cylon Basestars, each
three miles in diameter, decelerated into normal space,
settling into orbit around the decrepit moon in response to
the urgent calls of the H-T, initially thought lost to Colonial
actions. Baltar, human liaison to Imperious Leader and one of
the greatest human traitors in this galaxy's history, was coldly
furious.

"Over twenty yahrens and we STILL can't get it right?" he yelled.
"There's nothing here!"

Lucifer of the IL series, Cylon liaison to Baltar, flinched
slightly. The light transmissions in his pointed cybernetic
brain cycling quicker as did his dual pulsating eyes, an
internal response to the criticalness of the situation. It had
taken far too long to find the humans and Imperious Leader
would replace them. Soon.

Baltar, Lucifer thought, would be completely useless before
long, as his frail body slowly disintegrated from age. These
were such short term-creatures. Even now the human rarely used
the command chair. The man had lived with too much fear. Fear
of what his Cylon allies would do to him. Fear of death, the
fear of succeeding; fear of failing, fear of being alone, fear
of having too much company, and of course the great fear of the
unknown. Fear burned him slowly, like a low intensity laser cutter.

"The report said that they'd found the Galactica," Lucifer intoned
as soothingly as possible. "Centurions, unlike humans, tell
the truth, Baltar."

Baltar glared at it but said nothing. Centurions didn't lie,
although IL series did, but he wasn't about to point that out.

Yes it thought, this is what humans would refer to as stress.
"The report is coming in now, Baltar. I hope it meets to our
satisfaction," it said dryly. "For all our sakes."

The vid screen opened and the Leader of the Cylon H-T appeared.
"By your command," it said. "We have tracked the Galactica and
have discovered the home world of the humans of the thirteenth
colony. Prepare to receive the coordinates..."

The words were correct but the look was wrong. Baltar backed
away from the screen in dread. Something wasn't right, but for
a moment he couldn't identify the problem. By his side Lucifer
was yelling to cut the transmission. Baltar had never heard
terror from his second-in-command. It seemed unnatural coming
from a robot and that terrified him that much more.

Lucifer however completely understood what had happened and
was desperate to stop what it knew would begin. "Full defense
alert! All ships fire on..."

The order came far, far, too late.


For centars Baltar examined each and every immobile Cylon he
encountered, finally stopping at the outer doors of the launching
bay. All twenty thousand Cylons were immobile and the ships
systems had completely and totally locked him out. Voice command
was useless and he'd never learned how to manually operate the
ship, even though he'd dwelt on it for yahrens now. Then
several Cylons of a type and model he'd never seen before had
materialized - materialized out of thin air! - and began to
reconfigure the inert Cylons, which were then reactivated.
Totally oblivious to him, the new models continued inserting
small circuitry boards into their counterparts and those
robots physically change into... something else.

These, these alien things were far more powerful, sleeker,
faster, and infinitely more dangerous than anything he'd
imagine before. After several centars even his Basestar seemed
subtly different. How this could happen by simply inserting
circuitry boards into various robots was beyond his terrified
imagination. The technology required to do this was
incomprehensible to him in his present state. But he understood
that, for himself, the bottom line was this: Those changes were
happening exponentially now and he had no clue as to what those
things were or how to stop it. Fear had always motivated him
and now he was thinking furiously. The one advantage he had at
this point was that these alien Cylons were ignoring him...for
the moment. However, the launch bays were denied him therefore
escape was impossible. He realized that time was against him
now and whatever was happening would be completed soon. What
could he do, he screamed within himself? How could he take
advantage of this situation? The door opened behind him and
he stifled a scream.

"Baltar, the ship said I would find you here." It was Lucifer's
voice, as silkily obscene as ever. Baltar turned and recoiled
away from the robot now facing him. The being before him was
nothing like the Lucifer he'd known for the last forth of his
life.

"What do you mean, the ship told you where I was?" His voice
trembled now even as he backed away. He was losing it,
succumbing to his mounting terror. He could understand nothing
of what was transpiring. "This ship can't speak! It can't think!"

"We and the ships are one, " Lucifer answered cryptically.
Although its head was fairly similar to its version before the
change, it now looked larger, somehow more complex and sinister.
Its body was now designed for efficiency and combat. "Baltar,"
it said pleasantly, "look upon me and witness the next stage in
Cylon evolution. We are becoming more than the sum of our
parts. I am now become Imperious Leader and when my predecessor
arrives, it will become the Imperium Supreme. And my Leader will
come with the entirety of the Cylon Empire. This is the day we
have waited for although I must admit that I never imagined so
drastic a changes could occur as a result."

"Baltar I have a question." Lucifer demanded, his voice raised
but reverbed so low that Baltar had trouble understanding the
speech. "How is it that you of all people could have possibly
obtained the rank of Battlestar commander? Who did you have
to bribe in order to get that commission?"

"I...I..."

Lucifer jumped backwards one step so quickly that Baltar almost
screamed. "So this is what it means to feel joy!" Lucifer yelled,
not caring in the least for Baltar's answer, its voice reverberating
throughout the docking bay. Then he faced his former commander,
its eyes locked on him, turning so dark as to be almost purple.
"To the extent you have helped us to achieve this glorious
transformation, I thank you and now bid you farewell. You have
been most helpful."

"What do you mean? Where am I going?" he said laughing
nervously. He was almost petrified but dared not show it,
not right now.

"I have informed our people that the thirteenth colony is here
and have sent for the fleet. A vanguard of twenty-five Basestars
will arrive soon. When they come we will change them and then Man
will begin to cease to exist. The benevolent rule of the Cylon
will began here in the Alpha quadrant.

"But our agreement," Baltar whimpered, "I would be ruler of a
remnant of humans, under Imperious Leader...under you! I've
been loyal! You, you know me! We have worked together, side
by side for the glory of the Imperious Leader. You...you can
let me go. I'm no threat to you!"

"Baltar," the red-eyed robotoid said sweetly, "did you really
expect anything different? If you did, then you've missed the
entire point of this war. It calls for the elimination of the
life form known as man. Man can't be eliminated if members
of the species still live. You know this. You've always known
this!"

"No," Baltar implored. "Please, let me go. I'll never be a
threat to you."

"Was that a command, oh magnificent Baltar? If so, then by
my command, I say no."

What one Cylon witnessed all upgraded Cylons could witness.
Lucifer pulled out a small rod, adjusted the settings, pointed
at Baltar and watched him scream for an instant before it
pressed the stud. The yellowish beam hit the horrified human
and very slowly disrupted his molecular structure from existence.
The weapon took eight long seconds to complete it job. It was
pleased at what transpired.

...as were all the others.



For four sectons, the refugees of the Colonial fleet rested on
the class-M planet they'd discovered upon exiting transit.
There was no intelligent life there but the animal and plant
life more than supplied the people with the necessary nutritional
needs so desperately lacking. They discovered that the
brachiosaur-like creatures roaming the planet were extremely
plentiful. Not only did the creatures supply plenty of meat,
but also it was delicious, especially grilled over an open fire,
something that occurred all to rarely for space dwelling refugees.
The Colonials had to watch out for the small meat-eaters though.
They were bold and didn't like being deprived of fresh meat. Two
people had been seriously injured by attacks from these fast
moving meatasaurds.

As always, the Galactica was on station close to the planet
with a screen of Vipers three AI's out. The Pegasus meanwhile
patrolled near the edge of the solar system with a compliment
of Cobras. Adder class warships cruised the areas between the
two warships ready to advance in any direction at a moments
notice. Between the two Battlestars it was assumed that ample
warning could be given in case of Cylon discovery or an open
Cylon attack.

Commanders Sheba, and Apollo, along with Boomer, Starbuck,
President Adama, Sire Forsen, Dr. Chia, Lieutenants Boxey and
Joliet sat in the secured chambers onboard the Galactica.
Small talk was short.

"I thought you said that the Alpha quadrant was fairly devoid of life," President Adama said. "Now you tell us that we've been receiving signals all this time?" The reproof in his voice was evident.

"That's not quite what we said," Dr. Chia announced, somewhat
chagrined, "but we had no idea that we were even receiving
transmissions until Lieutenant Joliet's comm system shorted
while she was on patrol. Boxy and his squadron confirmed it
when they adjusted their comms to that unusual frequency.
Or should I say frequencies. It's like nothing we've heard
before. And there's so much of it. It's almost unbelievable.
Most of it is on something we are calling the sub-space frequencies."

"So there is life here. But what kind of life?" Sheba asked.
She was so close to her husband that she was almost on his
lap. Apollo blushed but loved every second of it. "Is it
going to try to kill us?"

My researchers and I have no clue at this time," came Chia's
slightly sarcastic response. "But we're working on it. Now
that we know what to look for we've counted at least ninety
different main channels with over seven thousand different languages!"

Sire Forsen looked around towards Adama and spoke quietly as
was his character. "There's going to be a lot of first contact
situations if all this is true," he said. "And we'll have to
prepare them for the eventual invasion by the Cylons. These
people won't be prepared for those machines."

"But if they're communicating as intensely as you say they
are, then most likely some of them may be strong enough to
help us resist those fracken machines, excuse me, machines,"
Starbuck said, correcting himself in front of his superiors.

"I hope so," Apollo said. "But our previous experience has
proven otherwise. Therefore we have to assume that they won't
be strong enough to resist a Cylon onslaught. And if we commit
here in the Alpha quadrant, then the Galactica will stay and
fight. We won't bring our troubles here and abandon them, the
races that may be willing to help us. Not even for our own
people. Not again."

"But sir," Boxey started. "We put our lives on the line every day.
Our people need us and there's no one else we can depend on, except
maybe Earth, if it exist... and they want us. We can't have some
glorious last stand and allow our people that we've protected for
the last ...I don't know how long, to be wipe away because of some
esoteric policy.


Apollo smiled, listening to his son speak like that. He was
always so formal since he entered the service. "The entire fleet
discussed this," he said, "and ratified by the Vote of Absolution.
We can and will run until this universe ends, but, if necessary,
we will fight to the last man, woman and child if it means we wind
up being responsible for the destruction of another race of living
beings."

"Look Boxey," Boomer said. "What happens if we find Earth
and they can't defend themselves against the Cylons? Do we
pack up and run?"

"No...they're human like us...I hope. But what if they're not?
They've been separated from so for so long, that they may have
mutated so their society is something as bad as the Cylons."

"That makes no difference. We would still be responsible for
the destruction that would be facing them. So then how do we
live with ourselves if we do run, leaving them to the mercy of
the Cylon Empire, mutates or not?"

"We don't," he answered. "Unless they try to kill us."

"That's enough Lieutenant," the President said, rather harshly.
"We've lost everything but our lives and our honor. We who are
responsible intend not to lose that most precious of gifts. We
will deal with our cousins as necessary but we will not simply
assume the worst about them without ever meeting them."

"Then concerning first contact," Sire Forsen began, "what
technology should we offer them that won't damage their
culture? Because as we all know, a more advanced civilization
shouldn't..."

The double tone alarms began blaring, causing everyone to
immediately jump and run to stations. Sheba, Boomer, Boxey
and Joliet rushed towards the launch bays while the president,
Apollo and Starbuck approached the bridge.

"Light radar detected a Cylon H-T coming out of a W/S pocket
six centons ago, the young blond haired tech said. "Vipers
Sixteen, Eighteen, and Cobra Seven are engaging. The fleet's
powering up as per standing orders."

"Good. Give the order," Apollo said. "We're moving out. Straight
line away from the point of entry by the Cylon. Earth here
we come, wherever you are."

They could feel the Galactica's powerful engines revving up.
Hundreds of shuttles were lifting off planet to their respective
ships. The evacuation, performed over and over throughout the
twenty plus yahrens running would take six centares.

"Sir!" the second light radar tech, a young Asian male said
rather loudly. "The H-T is a new model not presently in our
data base."

"Put it on the screen."

The computer spit out a digital representation of the unknown H-T.
It was definitely Cylon, but the power ratios!

The two Vipers followed by their Cobra escort rapidly closed
the gap between themselves and the large Cylon H-T. It came
straight towards them and only just now were sensors detecting
activation of its weapons. Cylon response time was always slow,
but constantly running from an enemy like this...this was embarrassing.

"Vipers sixteen and eighteen have target acquisition," the blond
tech said. "The enemy isn't even trying to evade. They're
firing." Her computer console flared simulating a digital
release of energy. "Direct hit...no effect! They're evading...
the enemy's locked on Sixteen. The console screen flared again,
this time brighter. "Sixteen's gone!" the tech stammered, rocked
in horror.

"What happened!" Adama screamed. The entire bridge crew was
stunned, momentarily forgetting to do their jobs as the action
was shown on the big screen. Command staff never noticed the
lapse in attention.

"That wasn't laser fire. It was- some type of...disrupter beam?"
the second tech answered unsure of his data. "It cut through
the Viper's shields and armor as though it wasn't there!"
Viper eighteen and Cobra seven are running in... they're
firing ...firing again...firing again! Three hits!"

"Three hits! It's damage! Thank the gods!" Sixteen is evading.
The H-T is locking on! The Cobra's launching its missiles at
close range, all of them! The missiles are away.... the Cylon
is evading... Hit!"

"Its gone sir." The technician was visibly relieved. "We
killed it."

"My god! Who was in Viper Sixteen?" Starbuck asked.
"Lieutenant Trisha, sir."

"They've up us," Apollo whispered, stunned by the ease
in which the H-T resisted the Colonial ships. "All of our
preparation, all our weapons advances...."

"Let's move people."



The Cylon Gold Leader addressed Imperious Leader. It chose
to voice the modified salutation. "By the command." From
that point, internal transceivers took over with it using the
Cylon machine language of choice. "The Galactica fleet has
taken the bait. We will move to intercept at the prescribed
time. The H-T crew's protection bubble survived the destruction
of the H-T and they have been recovered."

"It is approved," Imperious Leader said. "I wonder if they
suspect that we allowed the H-T to be destroyed? No matter.
The Galactica fleet is only a nuisance now. We will terminate
it and move on. The threat now comes from Earth and its Federation
of Planets. Data indicates that the humans on that planet are
like their Colonial counterparts. They've spread everywhere.
But it's ultimately unimportant. The system for the creation
of the new base of operations has been selected. The quest
for the elimination of the human species will end here in the
Alpha quadrant."

Lucifer formerly of the IL series, now Imperious Leader, activated
the star chart and simultaneously activated its transceiver so
that all twenty-eight Basestars currently present would observe
the proposed plan. Their transformations were almost complete
and the joining to complete consensus of the Cylon soul was
close at hand. "This is where the proposed strike against the
Galactica will occur, "it said, pointing to the region of space
on it's left. "We will strike here, by crossing the Romulan
neutral zone that divides the Romulan Empire from the Federation.
Despite recent alliances, the two governments still maintain
the check and balance systems needed to insure protection
against hostilities."

"We calculate that the Romulan Empire will not interfere with
our task force. However the Federation starship on patrol will
not allow us to destroy the Galactica fleet without challenging
us. That is our true target. Once captured, we will access
the necessary data and proceed deep into Federation space
under the proposed plan. Our feints against other worlds will
allow us access to Earth before we meet organized resistance.
Neutron-based disruptors will extinguish all life on that planet.
Transmissions received indicate that the planet Earth is the
Federation's seat of power. With Earth neutralized, we will
then proceed from there in establishing our dominance over the
Alpha quadrant. The operation will began in five point six-seven
sectars, as our Base Alpha will be Functional. All commanders
will transceive as to finalize the plan. I will then transmit
our progress to the Imperium Supreme."

"By the command," Gold Leader stated.