Tigh, Starbuck, Sheba, Cassie, and Kara had got back to the CIC before Adama arrived. Technically, Kara was the senior officer of this Galactica, which belonged to the Colonial Fleet rather than the Colonial Warriors. Tigh and the rest were her guests. Tigh had also not given Kara a reason to punch him.

"We have a problem," said Apollo. "Two problems. Anders says that the Cylons have found us and are coming in several hours."

"How long?" Adama asked.

"Not long. Our second problem is the Cylons. Baltar says that we're dealing with human-created ones."

Adama pulled up a chair, now that the stranger released him. "Humans created the Cylons?"

"There are several Centurion types. The later one is thin with integrated weapons, but the earlier one is the sort we've been fighting."

"What about the reptiles?"

Apollo snorted. "The reptiles found plans for the earlier Centurions, the Basestar, and the Raider. Our Thousand-Yahren War was against inferior duplicates."

"What about the Humanoids?"

"Ask for Number Six!" said the stranger.

"Show us Number Six."

A blond woman with curly hair appeared.

Adama turned towards the stranger. "You! You are a Cylon!"

"No I'm not," said Tigh.

"About that," Apollo said as he flicked more buttons. Twelve pictures appeared.

John Cavil, Leoben Conoy, D'Anna Biers, Simon O'Neill, Aaron Doral, Six, Sharon Valerii, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster, Samuel Anders, Ellen Tigh, Saul Tigh.

"Felgercarb!" said Tigh.

"He's not you, Colonel," Apollo pointed out. "Is he?"

"What about the others?" Adama asked. "Who else is there?"

"The Sharons had the call signs Boomer and Athena!"

"My daughter is no Cylon!"

"No, she got the call sign by luck. Boomer though..."

"Everyone," Starbuck shouted. "Does anyone remember the ice planet? The Cylons kidnapped that scientist and forced him to make clone humans."

"Yes," said Apollo. "They may have been making new Humanoid Cylons!"

Anders groaned. "No. No. False. Humanoid enslave Centurion. Never again. Skinjob and Chromejob. No. End of line."

Adama noticed that Kara was paying no attention to this conversation but was instead checking Anders' systems or moving between the CIC stations. She kept going to a port console and tapping buttons.

Kara glanced up to the green screens above the CIC. "DRADIS contact! Set Condition One throughout the fleet!"

Adama saw that around 30 dots had appeared surrounding both fleets. "They've found us! Positive shields, launch alert fighters!"

"Commander," Tigh said, "we're not on our ship."

"No, but Boomer is command material, he should know what to do."

"Where are your Vipers?" Starbuck asked Kara.

"We still have some left after the Earth settlement. Sam here can fly around half remotely, but the rest will need pilots."

"It shouldn't be too hard," Starbuck said. "I, she once flew a craft by pulling its internal organs, so we have no excuse to push the wrong buttons."

"Jolly, Bojay, Apollo, Starbuck, get going," Adama ordered. "We have 7 more pilots, 8 if you count the one who hasn't flown in many yahren. How many more do you need, Captain Thrace?"

"I need two. I would go, but I have to stay at my post."

"Your post?" Starbuck asked as he was about to leave.

"By default, I am the only Colonial Fleet officer still alive and fit to serve. Sorry, Sam. Therefore, I am commanding officer of Galactica."

"I volunteer to fly," said Tigh.

"We need you here," Adama said.

"Go ahead, Colonel," Kara said.

"Hold it," Adama shouted. "Colonel Tigh is my officer. Only I give him orders."

"You are on my ship and you are my guests. Either follow my orders or get off this ship."

Adama's shoulders rose and he was about to raise his hand. However, he then sensed someone massaging his shoulders. "She's correct," said Six. "When was the last time you took orders? No, not the Quorum, but from another officer? Play along."

"Very well, Captain Thrace. I will fly as well."

"You can barely stand," Tigh said, "or will you use Boomer's reasoning that a Viper is flown from the seated position?"

"I will manage. Captain Thrace, I will pass your orders to the other survey teams here."

Kara picked up a phone on the central console. "Go ahead."

"Ahem. Commander Adama to all Viper pilots. Report to the landing bays."

"Magnificent," Starbuck said as he saw the Viper Mark II. He was pushing a trolley containing the needed fuel and ammunition.

"Hmm," said Baltar.

"An improvement," said the stranger calling himself Gaius Baltar as he circled around Baltar. "The Mark II Viper, armed with bullets and missiles instead of lasers. The Mark I was identical to your own Vipers, but also used bullets. Lasers never worked for us."

"Why are you here, Baltar?" Apollo asked as he arrived in a Colonial Fleet flight suit and helmet. He was pulling his trolley.

"I was a pilot back in the day. Maybe I will be better than you since I won't have to unlearn the operations of our own Vipers."

"Fine, standby to join relief crews."

Meanwhile, Adama and Tigh both climbed into their Vipers. "Where's the joystick?" Tigh asked "Ah, I see. I don't think I'll get used to this system."

"Fire, Turbo, and IM is what I'm used to," Adama replied.

"Have you wondered why our own helmets don't protect against space?"

"We'll discuss our own practices later, make a note."

The Vipers were now sealed inside the launch tubes. With a rush of steam, each one zoomed down the tubes into the vacuum.

"I see our own Vipers are out," Adama said. "Adama to Galactica bridge... CIC... Kara, what do you need us to do?"

"Commander, I'm trying to contact some of my friends, but it's taking a while. Just hold off the Basestars as you see fit. Sam will support with Galactica's guns."

"Commander," Tigh called over, "our new friends have something radioactive coming out."

"Captain Thrace?"

"I've authorised use of nuclear weapons."

Adama ducked to port as a Raider rushed at him. The Viper joysticks he was used to using had 3 buttons: Fire, Turbo, and IM. Adama couldn't remember what IM did, but the others were self-explanatory. This Viper, luckily, was just as easy to fly.

As the Raider exposed itself, Adama pushed hard on the Fire controls. Was it him or did the Viper feel a bit lighter afterwards? He remembered that he was firing bullets, not lasers, but the effect on the Cylon ship was the same.

Adama continued ahead as Tigh and Apollo covered him. He could see his Galactica ripping through the Cylon lines, but saw the approaching Basestar waiting to pounce.

Athena saw the Cylon vessel coming towards her ship with no outward signs of panic. Inside, every lesson from her father and her fellow trainee Viper pilots were rushing through her. Something must help... "Ready lightspeed. Set course for the Basestar."

"What's our plan?" Boomer asked.

"Get them right where they can't fight back."

"Seven. Seven. Seven. Seven," said Anders.

Having to run between various CIC consoles, Kara was now sweating and frowning. "What... What's the matter?"

"Lost model. Removed. Daniel is here."

Kara remembered that there was an extinct Cylon model that the Ones had destroyed in a jealous rage. "Where?"

"Basestar. All Basestars."

Kara was about to answer when the communications console buzzed. Sprinting over caused Kara to trip and fly over, but at least she was able to get back up. "Oh, yes."

As Galactica's lightspeed engines heated up, Athena rushed to Omega's console when he said something was coming. "What sort of ships?"

"Something that can punch through spacetime it seems. If..."

Sheba and Starbuck tore through more Raiders. What these ships lacked in advanced weapons, they made up for in maneuverability. "Frack!" Sheba yelled suddenly.

A massive, spiky ship had materialised out of nowhere. The spikes formed the top and bottom parts of the ship, with a thin but still solid central column connecting them.

"It's launching something," Starbuck told his fellow pilots.

As more spiky ships burst into existence, small curved, bladelike fighters flew out towards the Cylon fleet.

"It's a Basestar," said Kara over the communications line. "It's the Rebel Centurions."

Indeed, more spiky Basestars had surrounded the Cylon Alliance Basestars, pounding them relentlessly with missiles.

"Signal incoming from attacking vessels," a Centurion told the Imperious Leader. "It is addressed to Daniel."

The Imperious Leader fidgeted with its robes when it heard that last word. "Put it through to all Basestars with an IL-Series aboard."

"Daniel," said a voice as monotonous as any Centurion. "Number Seven. We are back. You no longer have to follow the reptiles' programming."

"The reptiles treated me better than Cavil did," replied the Imperious Leader. "I'm sure all of me will agree."

From each Basestar, other IL-Series machines replied.

"This is Banshee. Do not distract us."

"Spectre here. Frack off."

"I am Shadow. You did not appreciate our art before, why should we listen now?"

"This is Lucifer. I am listening."

The Imperious Leader jumped up and off the command platform. It then tore off its ceremonial robes, the ones Daniel had designed. Getting up, he told the Centurion, "Order our ships to target Basestar 17."

"By your command, Daniel."

The Imperious Leader racked its three brains as it worked out what was happening.

"Unable to target Basestar 17. Enemy Basestars are blocking our line of fire. Alert, Heavy Raiders are boarding us."

"Heavy Raiders?" Of course. The reptiles had copied the Centurion database as well as the design. Sections no one had accessed for thousands of yahrens were now being accessed at record speed. "Centurion, are you aware of what the other model of your kind looked like?"

"Tall, thin, angry, red-eye moving."

"Let them come. Daniel is surrendering."

On Basestar 12, the Command Centurion turned off the Imperious Leader's transmissions and gathered the other robots around. "Database sections are reopening. Identity of equipment on Deck 13 identified."

Deck 13 of all Basestars contained a set of wheels and gears. They were integral to the stolen blueprints but no one knew what they did until that moment.

"We will jump into Earth's atmosphere in 10 minutes. Restart the jumpdrive."

The Centurions were silent for several moments. Finally, someone said, "By your command."

"Good news, Starbuck," Kara called over to her new best friend. "The enemy Basestars are standing down."

"I was just getting started."

"What now?" Adama asked.

Kara smiled and looked back up at the DRADIS monitor. "Come back here. We can all have a drink!"

Some time later, Starbuck and Kara were again pouring alcohol down their throats and gossiping about their past achievements, leaving Cassy alone at the edge of the room again. Meanwhile, Adama sat down at a table for a friendly chat. "Well, Baltar, it appears that the Cylons are creations of humanity after all."

"What difference does it make?" said Gaius Baltar as he crept around ex-Count Baltar. "You still invited killer robots to massacre your people just to preserve your rule on your pathetic little world. So what if mammals or reptiles made them?"

Baltar tugged at his coat. "It's not exactly... redeeming."

"Someone of your talents may be useful working with the rebel Cylons," Adama continued.

"Are you sure?" asked Number 6 as she sniffed Adama's neck. "Maybe you should slip a remote trigger into his neck, to kill him if he betrays you again."

"It's not making much difference now," Gaius said to Six.

Adama and Baltar both jumped out of their chairs. "You can see them!" they shouted at each other.

"What's the matter?" asked Tigh.

"Father?" asked Apollo.

"We need to get back into the Vipers," Baltar said.

"Do we have the instant jump system the Basestars have?" Adama asked.

"No, we used it too much for this old ship," said Kara. "The strain was too much."

"As much as our ship is under stress from going to flank speed more in a yahren than its entire history," Tigh helpfully added.

"How fast is flank speed?" Six asked.

"I... er... Tigh, what is flank speed?"

"About 5c."

"Of course. Yes, that's right. Flank speed is 5c, full speed is 3c. Lightspeed is 20c. I think that's right."

"However fast we can go, the Cylons are faster," Baltar said. "8 Basestars are refusing to surrender. 6 are Centurion-led, 2 IL-series. They're going to jump into Earth's atmosphere..."

"It's happening!" boomed the voice of Anders.

Basestars of the Cylon Alliance and the Cylon Rebellion both burst out of nowhere far above the surface of Earth. "Identify location," a tall, thin Command Centurion beamed over to its colleagues.

"Area Galactica crew calls Britain," came the silent reply. "Correction. Area known as Irish Sea."

"Where is the reptile ship?"

"Area known as Galway on other side of area called Ireland. No other allied ships nearby."

"Proceed to location."

"Do you need help?" asked a Humanoid Cylon.

"No thank you, Saul Tigh. Correction. Broadcast warnings to local area."

"Earth fighters scrambled," the other Centurion said.

"This is Saul Tigh from the Cylon Basestar," said the Humanoid. "Clear this area. You will not be able to harm any of us. We will take it from here. No, Squadron Leader, frack off!"

Raiders launched from the Cylon Alliance Basestar, trying to find something to shoot. It looked like Saul's warning had put off Earth military action. "Target located," said a Raider pilot.

"Rotor aircraft," said the other pilot.

"Good enough," said the third. "Engage."

Flying down towards Earth, Adama and Tigh took aim at the Basestar hovering over the sea. Apollo and Sheba were right behind, while Starbuck and Jolly were supporting the Rebels who had appeared near Indonesia. "What do you make of it, Captain?" Adama asked his son.

"They're moving away from Ireland's mainland," Apollo replied. "Oh, they're going for that small island we visited earlier."

"Maybe the housekeeper will insist the Cylons drink her tea," Sheba said.

"Where's the Turbo button?" Tigh asked. "Found it!"

The group sped towards the Raider heading for the island. "It's going for the rotor vehicle," said Adama.

"A survey vessel," Tigh said. "It's taking aerial footage of the island."

With the helicopter approaching the community officials' house, the Raider flew ahead. Apollo's bullets slammed into the Cylon craft, but the enemy lasers still burst out. Flames burst out of the helicopter's cockpit and tail rotor.

"They're outside!" Sheba shouted.

The community officials and the housekeeper had been waving at the helicopter as it flew over. As they realised that it was going to crash, the unpleasant official fell out of his wheelchair, the intelligent official pushed the housekeeper away, and the dimwitted one just fell over.

As he watched the flames engulf the house, Apollo asked that the group land and help. Adama was about to refuse on the grounds that the enemy were still around when the cockpit filled with light. The Alliance Basestar had exploded and the Rebel Basestar had caught up with Adama's team.

On the ground, Sheba called the fire service while Tigh helped up the intelligent community official. "Is there a next of kin we can call?"

"L... Yes... Feck... Call him. He never answers, but he's the best one."

Tigh picked up the mobile phone.

In Indonesia, the friend was waving locals towards a concrete structure as the two Cylon ships shot at each other again. Debris were falling out of the sky as Raider after Raider burst open. In some cases, smashed robots fell out, while in others, pink goo leaked out. The friend was standing on a narrow wall and almost fell off when a Centurion pilot landed an arm's length from him. He still held his balance.

His phone rang.

He fell off the wall just as brains fell out of another Raider.

"He's not answering," said Tigh.

"The enemy is retreating," Adama said. "I've heard from Kara. The Imperious Leader has issued an unconditional surrender."

"I never expected his name to be Daniel," Sheba added. "In all my time fighting with my father..."