When two Tribes go to war...(Part 10)

"I want to see her!" Chief Tyrol stood outside the Andromeda's brig, glairing at Trance, "I want to see her now!"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Trance stood her ground, "She woke up a while ago and started yelling about how we are all going to die, and how it is all gods will. I don't think she's the woman you knew…"

"I. DON'T. CARE!" Tyrol shouted, "We are supposed to be getting married for frack sake! I want to see her!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you…" Trance reluctantly opened the door and led the way along to the seldom-used maximum-security cell at the end.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Boomber stood with her back turned to the reinforced Perspex screen. She slowly turned, her wrists bound by a pair of inertia-restraints, "Hello Galen: I was wondering when you'd turn up."

"Sharon?" Tyrol took a step forward, resting a hand on the partition.

"The woman you knew as Sharon Valerii is no more." Boomer smiled coldly, "I am Number Seven."

"That's not entirely true." Number Six's holographic form appeared in the cell, "The mind and memory's of the cover personality remain intact. It is impossible to remove them without destroying the body. And this room it too well shielded for her to transfer her mind to a replacement on the Cylon fleet."

"Traitor!" Boomer went to lash out at the hologram, but the restraints stopped her, "God will punish you for this!"

"I wouldn't be so sure." Six shrugged, "I've been doing a lot of thinking the past few years, and I've spent a lot of time talking to Andromeda since I was uploaded into her systems, and I've come to the conclusion that if god does exists, there is no way he'd want the human race exterminated."

"Is it possible to recover Sharon's mind?" Tyrol asked, discussed with himself that he had to ask a Cylon for help, "Could I get her back?"

"It's possible, but dangerous." Trance shrugged, "I've been doing some research into it, but I'd want to run it by a few other people before I try anything: it could kill her."

Tyrol looked at the body of the woman he loved and turned away, leaving the brig without saying a word.

"Dylan, I'm picking up a massive release of energy from the Hercules' last known position." Andromeda reported from her main screen, "It matches the signature of an exploding exotic-matter pulsar."

"Any word from Rommie, Harper or Tyr?" Dylan asked, moving to the sensor station.

"Nothing: they seem to be in the middle of a dampening field. Hold." The A.I. had a far away look in her eyes for a moment; "I am picking up two Centaur class slipfighter's hading our way. They interference is still too strong to make contact or scan them."

"You want me to plot an intercept course?" Beka asked from the pilot's station.

"I would recommend against that." Andromeda's holographic avatar appeared as the main screen changed to show long-range sensor reading, "Seven more Cylon Basestars just entered the system, heading our way."

"With the two that are left from the original fleet." Dylan sighed, "I'm sorry, but the others are going to have take care of themselves for now. Sound actions stations thought the fleet. Deploy fighter in a cover formation, but reframe from firing except under my personal order: we still have a chance to talk this out peacefully."

Rommie made her way through the maze of service corridors and maintenance shafts that honeycombed the Pegasus, trying to find Admiral Rhade. She knew the basic layout of the Battlestar from the schematics of the Galatica that she had been given by Commander Adama, but it was obvious that the Pegasus had been refitted several times, and wasn't laid out the same.

She stopped when she heard voices from the other side of a hatchway.

"I trust you believe me now?" A voice asked in Colonial, "I told you the Cylons had adapted to a new forms and infiltrated the Commonwealth."

Rommie stood dead still.

"Indeed, your information proved to be correct." Cain replied, "That fool Adama as walked my people right into his trap!"

"There is still a chance to save them: my people can be here within the hour with enough ships to eliminate the Cylons and rescue your people."

"Adama would never stand for it!"

"The fog of war sometimes clouds peoples judgement, and the Galatica is but one ship. Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good."

"I am unwilling to sacrifice the lives of those under his command: they are Colonial Warriors, people I have served with…"

"And they no doubt swore and oath that they would give their lives to save your people?"

"Yes…"

"Then you can rest easy knowing that their sacrifice will not be in vain: The Knights of Genetic Purity will save the human race, one way or another…"

"Andromeda, order the fleet to form up between us and the Cylons, with the Achilles in the centre, fighters screening our flanks." Dylan stood at the technical station, "Open a frequency, all channels."

"Fleet is responding." The A.I.'s holographic form nodded, "Channel open."

"Attention all ships, this is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Systems Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant." Dylan crossed his arms behind his back, "The fleet under my command is taking up a defensive position between the Colonial and Cylon forces. We have no interest in seeing this situation escalate out of hand, but we will return fire if fired upon. The full force at our disposal will meet any aggressive action committed against a Commonwealth vessel. You have scanned our ships and you know our potential. This is your only warning." He cut the link.

"You didn't really mean that, did you?" Beka asked, "You wouldn't fire on those civilian ships?"

"My main concern is the safety of the people on those ships, but I will not allow a trigger happy Colonial pilot to start a shooting war." Dylan looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, "Any further contact with Tyr, Rommie or Harper?"

"Just a garbled transition." Andromeda looked tense, "The only word I could make out was Pegasus."

Rommie slowly opened the hatch that seemed to lead into the pilot's ready room. There was only one person there: a tall man in duty uniform with his back turned to the hatch. Silently as a cat, Rommie crossed the room and grabbed his side arm from the holster, pressing it against the back of his head.

"One word out of you and I remove your capability to reproduce!" She hissed into his ear as she dragged him backwards into the service corridor.

"Who the frack are you?" The man asked after the hatch was closed. Rommie saw the name 'HELO' stitched on the front of his uniform.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Ascendant of the Systems Commonwealth Heavy Cruiser Andromeda Ascendant." Rommie held her gun level, "Where is the prisoner being held?"

"I don't know."

"I will not ask again, I will just shot you through the left kneecap: where is he being held?"

"I told you: I don't know!"

Rommie lowed the gun towards the man's leg.

"By the Lords of Kobol, I don't know!" The officer begged, "I'm not trusted with information like that: I was picked up with a group of survives on Caprica at the start of the war. My name is Lieutenant Karl Agathon; I was a Raptor pilot on the Battlestar Galatica before all this started…"

"Did you know Lieutenant Valerii?" Rommie asked.

"Boomber?" Helo blinked, "Did she make it?"

"Lieutenant Valerii is a Cylon agent!" Rommie pointed her gun in the pilots face, "Did. You. Know?"

"Sharon's a Cylon?" Halo sank to the deck, "Oh my god…"

"Yeah, well, the universe is just full of surprise." Rommie shrugged.

"Dylan, I need to speak with you about Lieutenant Valerii." Trance ran into command, "It's important."

"We are a little busy right now." Dylan didn't take his eyes off the tactical display, "Can it wait?"

"Not really: I was running some tests on her to see if we could recover her personality, when I discovered something." Trance took a deep breath, "Lieutenant Valerii is three weeks pregnant."

To Be Continued…

And you thought that last one was a cliffhanger?

I know what happed to Helo in the series, but this entire story is AU from the end of the original miniseries.

Reikson; newsflash wiseass: the new series isn't on in the UK yet, so I can only go by what I read online at the official BSG2003 website. I know that sucks, but then life normally does…