Landing Bay Alpha was filled with activity as the klaxons blared in the background. Jolly looked to Master Chief Kessler. "Tell me you have more than a dozen vipers refitted?"

"We have some of Red and Orange Squadrons…"

"Frak." The CAG whispered. "Okay, have the refitted vipers ready." He scrambled to his own fighter as Brie hung up the telecom.

"It's Cylon raiders."

There was a rather ominous silence as the pilots realized that the few vipers they had ready to fly would be outnumbered if a basestar's full complement of raiders was utilized against them.

"Okay people, let's get a move on. We're the Columbia's first and last line of defense." Jolly said as he sat himself in the cockpit and accepted his helmet from one of the deck techs.

As Jolly's viper was moved to the launch tube, Brie was getting into hers. Maverick, Goose, Iceman, Stretch, Jughead, Neat-Oh, Bones, KaBoom, Lips and ALF were also scrambling, as were a dozen more.

Once in the crimson soup that was the Void, onboard scanners were having a hard time picking up anything beyond a certain range. Colonial transponders indicated the vipers that were nearby and were so indicated on the scanner.

"My scanner's not picking up anything." Grumbled Goose. "And eye balling isn't any better."

"Keep your eyes peeled, they're out here." Answered Jolly. The waiting, however anxious it may have been, was short as the first Cylon contacts appeared on the scanner. "Okay, here we go."

"Sweet motherfraker!" Growled Lt. ALF. "This baby is really pissing me off. Damn monotronic crap."

"It's just like riding an auroch. You grab the reins and hang on!" Laughed Lt. KaBoom, who by his callsign, liked to blow things up.

"Just like the simulators. Hang on to your stick; ease into maneuvers, don't force them. You'll do fine." Jolly instructed.

"Captain! I got multiple Toasters attempting to make a run for the Columbia." Reported Flt. Sgt. Neat-Oh, whom was the clean freak in the pilot's barracks.

"Neat-Oh, Stretch and Mad Daggit, intercept the Toasters. The rest of you engage the main force. Keep alive people." Jolly then fired his boasters, as did the others as the two waves of opposing fighters soon met.

For the other three warriors, it was not as easy to intercept, especially flying the refitted Mark VII. They each fired their heavy caliber rounds that tore into some of the raiders of which two were destroyed but the other four seem to be more determined than ever.

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"Selas, report in. What's your D20?" Squawked from the dead marine's radio.

Aaron Dorel checked his handy work knowing the pulse was active and that the humans had nothing to detect it. Any centon, raiders would arrive and annihilate this bastion of humanity. However, he would give them an added advantage.

He took out a Solenite explosive charge that he had 'borrowed' from the Armory. Attached to any of the Solium storage tanks and the Columbia would be either severely crippled or destroyed depending on the effects of the fires. Solium, derivative of Tylium, was a necessary fuel but highly volatile.

The klaxons went off and he smiled. His pulse was detected.

"Selas?"

Dorel ignored the radio. There would be no response.

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"Got me a Toaster!" Screamed Mad Daggit as he flew through the debris of another destroyed raider. "I think you all owe me a drink at the Officer's Club." He was all smiles. "What's the frak is your problem ALF. She fly's like a charm." Laughter filled the comlink.

"Listen, I wish you all stop calling me ALF. I said my callsign should be Hawkeye." ALF complained, as it was the usual banter in barracks when his callsign was ever addressed.

"What's wrong? You are an Annoying Little Frak!" Mad Daggit continued as he took bead on another raider. "Stretch, Neat-Oh, are you going to let me have all the fun?"

"Enough chatter Mad Daggit." Came Septo, Orange Squadron leader. "Let's not let our Green Squadron brethren think we're a bunch of unsophisticated folk."

"By the Lords of Kobol they are fast. Mad Daggit, Stretch, Neat-Oh, you've got incoming. I'm in pursuit." Reported Goose.

"Felgercarb! I'm hit!" Brie snarled as her viper was riddled along the side.

"Return to the Columbia."

"I'm okay, Captain." She answered Jolly not quite as confident in her words as warning lights began to go off.

Jolly could see Brie's viper. "That's an order Flash."

Brie reluctantly veered for the supposed safety of the battlestar. There wasn't nearly enough vipers out but that didn't mean carelessly sacrificing a pilot who was more a target than a help because of a damaged fighter.

Raiders had come up on Mad Daggit's six and he was forced to break off pursuit and attempt to lose his tail. This forced Neat-Oh to also break off in order to help Mad Daggit.

That left Stretch to continue the chase as a lone raider tried to reach the Columbia.

"I can't shake them!" Exclaimed Big Daggit. "I thought these motherfrakers were supposed to be as slow as a Testudine!"

"That was thirty years ago." Neat-Oh added. "These guys are not your daddy's Toasters." He managed a target lock on one of the Cylons and unleashed a barrage, cautiously looking at the amount of ammunition so that he didn't run dry out among these sharks. The raider exploded in two as its wings blew away from the point of impact.

It certainly looked like they were getting the drop on these raiders that broke ranks from the main attack force. Others did join but so did vipers as the death ballet between man and machine continued to be played out.

For Mad Daggit, who had just escaped from being blown to bits, found himself yet again in the target sights of a raider. This time, there was no hope of rescue, no magic maneuver. His Number One engine and his tail fin were hit by the opening strafing rounds. As he struggled with the stick, another raider opened up with two .50 cal slugs penetrating the canopy and ripping through his face shield to scramble his cranium. Mad Daggit was killed instantly as further rounds disintegrated his doomed viper.

Stretch heard what happened over the comm but he could not think about it as he closed in for the kill on a raider that had managed to slip through the skirmish line on a direct course for the Columbia. He didn't like how the bird was handling and found it not as smooth as it was before the refit. He figured his hands would be covered with blisters just keeping the stick steady. His tactical monitor was showing the elusive raider was almost in the cross hairs.

"There will be time to grieve for our fallen comrades later. Right now we have a job to do." Came the rather stern voice of Jolly over the comm.

"Die you motherfraker!" Stretch snarled as the raider finally was in his sights. He pulled the trigger just as the raider jumped. His slugs continued by momentum into empty space. "Felgercarb! They can fraking jump!" When he saw the raider materialize, it was practically kissing the Columbia's hull when it fired.

Under normal conditions, the Columbia's hull could take anything less than heavy ordinance and this raider did not carry a payload. However, the hull had been weakened during the initial Cylon attack on the Colonies and one in particular section failed miserably.

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The explosion ripped open a twelve-maxim size hole as Aaron Dorel was heading for the Solium tanks. It was a fatal coincidence for the Cylons' plans as the Humano-Cylon was instantly sucked into space with his Solenite bomb in his hand. Emergency bulkheads sealed the damaged compartment before the vacuum could cause even more destruction.

The only Triple A gun that was operational in the target area opened up when the raider was within range, disintegrating it before it could make another run.

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In the CIC, the expected alarms of depressurization was added to the other calamities affecting the command deck. Dradis was showing an alarming number of Cylon contacts which meant a basestar was lurking closeby. If it too ventured into the Void, it would be over as quickly as it began. The navcom was still counting down till the next jump; precious centons that the vipers had to buffer however just one raider had gotten through…

"Deck 18, section 12 has had a hull rupture. Emergency bulkheads in place." Reported Vega.

"How many did we lose?" Vinn gritted his teeth, expecting the worse.

"Only one biosign detected in space."

"Did that raider do what I think it did? They can jump." Athena took a deep breath. "Tell the DC teams we need those batteries up and running ASAP." She ran her fingers through her hair knowing that if raiders had FTL then they were in a more weakened position than they ever could have conceived.

"How big is the breach?" Vinn asked as he looked at the Dradis. "Will it affect our jump?"

"Twelve maxim in size." Responded Vega. "Within safety margins…"

"A scientists' safety margin." The commander scoffed. "It is possible that the hull integrity will collapse due to the natural stresses of FTL as well, Lieutenant."

"Yes sir, that is a possibility."

The officers and crew in CIC knew they were between a rock and a hard place and waited for Vinn's order.

"We continue the jump. Recall the vipers. Have what batteries are operational at the ready once our warriors are within our defense perimeter."

Comm Specialist Nikoli Bellal spoke into his headset. "All vipers, you are ordered to return to the Columbia."

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Jolly heard the order. "Okay people, we have our orders; make for the LB stat." He didn't let on to the others that he was grateful for the RTS- return to ship - because it was becoming all to clear that the enemy numbers were going to have a devastating effect on his warriors.

Bones was one of the last to be reduced to space debris when his viper was ripped apart as he was preparing to make his way back. The Cylons were intent on taking them all out. Lips and Jughead had a similar fate. Too many of them, not enough of us.

Iceman was the last to slip into the defensive perimeter when the batteries opened up. Not sufficient to stop the attack completely because of the lack of Triple A that were operational but it did not have to hold them off for long.

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"All surviving vipers are in the bays." Bellal reported.

The Columbia rocked again and the CIC crew had to grab onto something to prevent them from being knocked hard against a bulkhead or deck plating.

Vinn looked at the chronometer. The last centon was now counting down to the few microns left. The ergon level was still stable considering the pounding the ship was under so he grabbed the telecom. "All hands, this is the Commander. Prepare for jump."

All eyes were on the chronometer as it hit 10 microns…9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1

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Lucifer was in his command chamber of his basestar when Six entered. He turned to look at her. He knew why she was here; Basestar 7449's report was due.

"The Columbia has jumped. We are attempting to locate them but…"

"Why do we not have their new coordinates?" He cut her off. As a machine, he did possess anger or frustration. Yet, they were originally created by flawed humans whose personality algorithms were somewhere in his subroutine, buried but not gone.

"The Void's properties have made any search difficult. We have at least 3, 476 possible locations. The network is attempting to narrow that down."

"I see."

"Lucifer, Imperious Leader wants an update on our search for the Battlestar Columbia." Informed a gold first centurion.

Lucifer paused a moment, thinking of the millions of variables that could be used as an appropriate response to Barkol's order. "Put him through." He waited until Barkol's image appeared. "Your Eminence."

"What is the status of your search for the Battlestar Columbia? Has it been destroyed?"

"Not exactly. It seems the commander of Basestar 7449 has made a gross error in carrying out the order and allowed the battlestar to escape. Had I been able to carry out the order myself, it would have been carried out." Lucifer boasted, as any IL Series Cylon, who was on the short list to succeed Barkol as Imperious Leader, would do.

"Basestar 7449's commander will be dealt with momentarily. Since you are of the confidence to succeed where he had failed, then it will be your sole task in hunting down the Battlestar Columbia and destroying her."

Lucifer was, for the few times in his existence, speechless. It took him 4 microns to respond and for a machine, that was an eternity. "Your Eminence, my duties here-."

"You will be relieved of those duties of course. Spectre will lead the continued eradication of the Colonies of Humanity in your place."

"Spectre!" It was all Lucifer could do to contain his disapproval. If there was any IL Series Cylon he detested the most, it was self-serving Spectre.

"My decision is final." Snapped the Imperious Leader who was not used to his orders being challenged.

"Though I am certain that I will succeed, hypothetically, if for some reason, the Columbia should elude me…"

"Attila is in need of a commander though I am told the extreme cold temperatures are not conducive to our circuitry."

Lucifer did the only thing he could. "By your command."