Chapter 30 of The Phoenix and The Wolverine.

"She comes with us as well."

D'anna was speechless; part of her was screaming at her to protest and fight but the other logical part was telling her to stay calm, keep quiet and observe.

The Number Three knew they would not kill her because she would only download; unless they injured her in such a way that would not kill her.

She glanced at Sharon and suddenly remembered when the Number Eight shot both her knee caps to pieces.

It had taken a lot for D'anna to recover; the Number Three had actually thought of killing herself just to download into another body.

But she had not done it; because a meaningless suicide was a sin against the One God.

"And how the frak do we stop her from alerting the whole basestar?" demanded Starbuck in an acid tone.

"She won't," said Caprica confidently.

"Who in hades asked you?" hissed Starbuck as she covered the female cylon.

The blonde cylon ignored her and continued looking at D'anna.

"Because Hera's life depends on this and you promised to protect her.

Swear you will help her get off this basestar."

D'anna stared at her fellow sister; Caprica had to have something else planned.

She knew her sister; giving up was not how she operated.

"Fine; I will help you get Hera off the basestar."

Logan frowned but a part of him realized they had wasted enough time.

"Let's get moving..."

"We need to put Hera in a container..." started Caprica.

"No!" Sharon's voice overrode the female cylon's suggestion.

"We will stick out like a sore thumb if we are seen carrying her!" shouted Caprica.

"Hold up; she's right," said Q Junior who had already grabbed a moderate sized box with a soft lining and a cover; he scanned it to see it was entirely safe then he put it on a metal trolley.

"We put Hera in here and push it towards the shuttle; anyone will think we're delivering supplies."

"Do it," said Logan at once; giving no one time to argue.

Sharon took one look at the stern look on his face and started moving reluctantly towards Q Junior.

The hologram held out his hands patiently and she surrendered the child who to everyone's amazement stopped crying and seemed fixated by the young man's face.

"Hello little one," he said in a soft voice "be quiet now; we're going for a short ride." Then he stunned them even more when he removed what looked to be a small cuddly toy from his bag and placed it in the baby's arms. He also put his tricorder inside the box.

Logan narrowed his eyes; the cuddly toy looked suspiciously like something he recognized but he decided to wait until later to examine what Q Junior had given the child.

The hologram looked up to see everyone staring at him.

"It will keep her calm," he then covered the container with a semi-transparent lid "by the way it is imperative that the tricorder gets to Dr Grey."

Logan stared at the container expecting the child to start screaming but amazingly the only sound his keen ears could pick up was the breathing and soft cooing sound of a calm baby.

Q Junior definitely had to be a mutant of some sort to get the child that calm that quickly.

"We better get going; we have less than 5 minutes," continued the hologram with a worried look on his face.

Logan turned to Caprica and D'anna who were still staring at Q Junior.

"You two ladies will lead; do not mess this up," he tapped a short sequence on his holo-emitter; the others were following suit and within seconds; the two cylon females were surrounded by 'centurions.'

The image startled them even more than the first time.

"Move," ordered Logan in a chilling manner.

Caprica looked at D'anna and nodded before straightening her shoulders and walking out of the medical bay. The Number Three glanced at the silent sentinels and followed her sister out of the room.

One of the 'centurions' pushed the trolley with the box while the others quickly flanked the cargo.

No one spared a glance for the dead female cylon on the floor of the medical bay.

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Somewhere in the database a significant huge stream of information had been shunted through to the nearest resurrection ship.

It had taken precisely 60 seconds.

Then 90 seconds passed before the brain patterns were properly aligned.

The next stage was for the entire neurological system to come on line; but as this was going on the Number Eight physician awaiting the awakening of the body in-front of her was asking herself a very important question.

How had the female cylon before her died?

As far as she knew; none of them were currently among the enemy.

To do that would be suicidal and stupid as the cylons had been informed that the colonials now knew the image of each cylon model.

Unless someone had an unfortunate accident but she had not heard of anything.

The Number Eight finally shrugged and decided to wait as she observed the bio-readings of the still unconscious patient before her.

She was confident that all questions would eventually be answered.

Then the female cylon doctor looked at the cyto-EEG readings and realized something was seriously off.

She had seen similar readings in the recent past.

It took a while to search her memories before she realized that what she was looking at was similar to the brain pattern of a cylon patient who had a massive haemorrhagic stroke or extensive brain damage.

Such injuries occurred due to severe cranium and brain trauma...like a bullet to the head or a fall from a great height.

The Number Eight turned back to the still body; such brain damage meant the download would be delayed for a few more minutes.

Well; she had all the time in the world.

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Starbuck was scared and angry at the same time.

Captain Logan was making a big mistake; she knew D'anna and Caprica.

The bitches would certainly screw them over the first chance she got; the colonial pilot felt her fingers itch as she wanted to draw her weapon but the wiser part of her warned her to appear normal.

Appear normal.

She felt like laughing hysterically; here she was disguised as a centurion on board a basestar with a baby who could cry out at any moment.

Kara glanced at Sharon's 'centurion' ; amazingly she seemed a bit composed only sneaking quick looks at the trolley as Q 's 'centurion' pushed it.

Though the group walked quickly; it seemed too slow for Starbuck but she knew if they walked too fast that they would draw attention.

Cylons and centurions passed them but fortunately they appeared very busy.

Kara tried to keep her breathing even; it sounded too loud and she was just waiting for someone to hear it and yell that they were imposters.

Finally they reached the flight deck and the area where their ship was seemed more busy than usual; but luckily no one was standing close to their 'raider'.

Q Junior picked up the box and gave it to Sharon and calmly told her to wait; he looked at the captain 'centurion' who was already moving up the ship's ramp.

Caprica and D'anna looked puzzled and worried.

Q Junior approached them. "We have not finished yet."

His cryptic words seemed to relieve Caprica but not D'anna who appeared more anxious.

Kara was beginning to wonder who the colonial prisoners were and in what circumstances they had been caught.

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D'anna could feel Kara watching her as she in turn observed the boy called Q Junior. He walked over to the 'terminal' control which needed to be accessed by either cylons or centurions before a 'raider' was cleared to leave the deck.

There was no way the boy would be able to inter-face with the terminal; surely this was the moment he would be caught...

Her mind went blank when she saw him put his hand against the screen for a few moments; then he began to press symbols in rapid succession.

What D'anna did not know was that when he first came aboard; Sharon had helped him scan the terminal with his tricorder.

Using the data from the scan and also the information he collected from the cylon raider; he had been able to create a 'fake cylon' order which was to collect more materials from the asteroid belt.

That order was what he was typing into the interface.

However D'anna came to a different conclusion which drastically changed her plans.

She had been waiting to see the hybrid child leave the basestar; then her plan was to raise the alarm.

But seeing the boy called Q access the terminal the way he did could mean only one thing.

She was looking at a cylon male child of the Thirteenth Tribe.

D'anna knew if she raised the alarm now; shots would be fired that could lead to his death and maybe downloading into an unreachable resurrection ship somewhere in an unknown location.

She glanced at Captain Logan's form and the other silent girl who was looking in their direction.

Were they cylons as well ? Or were they the boy's masters?

Either way she had to get the male cylon child deeper into the basestar; keep him safe and if possible eliminate the rest.

Q Junior safety and capture was now her top priority.

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Caprica tried to look around casually; her mind was screaming that they were wasting time. The captain had gone into the ship earlier and Sharon was waiting on the steps with the box and it's precious cargo in her arms.

Suddenly the captain was out and beckoned Sharon in; he said a few words to her quickly.

Her centurion seemed to stare at him then she nodded and entered the shuttle.

Logan closed the door behind her and walked up to Caprica.

"Let's find the colonials."

Caprica was about to say something and was stunned to see the raider was quickly leaving; she cast a questioning look at Logan's centurion.

He said nothing and simply looked at her.

The Number Six was aware of the seconds ticking by and simply nodded and started walking towards the CIC.

She did not look back as D'anna fell in step with her.

However after a few seconds she glanced at the Number Three expecting her to be angry, but to her surprise the female cylon had a thoughtful look on her face.

Behind them; Q Junior risked a look back and saw the raider was almost to transit tunnel that would take it out of the basestar.

He sure hoped they got to the Xavier unseen.

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Oma had spent the past few minutes pacing the shuttle.

It had felt like a life time.

This waiting was killing her but she could not leave the ship.

Never had she felt so helpless and so scared.

She tried hugging herself but that made her feel worse.

Oma looked at the sensors several times; no one had approached so at the moment she was safe.

But the deck was becoming a bit too crowded for her liking.

Then she saw a group of 5 centurions and 2 humanoid women approaching her shuttle. One of the grey robots was carrying a big box.

Shit! Thought Oma in despair; they know.

What the hell was she to do?

Then her sensors told her something she did not expect.

There was a live humanoid child inside the box.

That could not be right...had the captain completed the mission already?

The shuttle door soon opened; her immediate thought was that only someone familiar with the craft could do so; but she raised her weapon.

"Magneto," whispered a familiar voice then a 'centurion' entered the shuttle.

Logan turned off his emitter and Oma finally relaxed.

"No time to speak; you're taking back Sharon and her child.

We still have not received the intel we need."

Oma was no fool. "You're staying behind?!"

"Yes," answered Logan simply "you need to get the child back to Xavier; she's very sick and may need surgery now."

That stopped Oma's words of protestation.

"Listen to what Sharon says; try not to let on you are a shuttle but be quick within reason. Q Junior is telling the hybrid you are going for supplies.

Do not come back for us; we will eventually get back to the Xavier.

You know the verification codes ?"

A stunned Oma nodded; Q Junior had given her a copy and she had memorised them as well.

"Good; be careful," then he beckoned Sharon in who was carrying the box , put his emitter back on and he left the ship.

Oma was still for a moment ; then forced herself to act as she sat down and initiated take off.

Behind her, Sharon took the box cover off to see Hera had put the leg of the soft cuddly toy in her mouth and appeared to be chewing it cheerfully.

The female cylon tried not to cry; part of her was warning her to concentrate on what was going on.

Ensign Kadretti paid particular attention to her flying and was trying not to think that she had just done the unthinkable.

Abandoned the away team.

Before long the same bored male voice asked for her verification codes.

She tried to answer smoothly and as mechanically as Q Junior did.

To her surprise it worked and this time there was no scanning. Apparently they must scan only ships coming in; not those leaving.

In less than a minute, Oma was out of the basestar but to her it had felt like hours.

Oma tried not to release a sigh of relief as she picked up speed and set a course for the asteroid belt.

She looked back briefly to see Sharon had switched off her emitter and was trying to wipe tears from her eyes.

The female cylon eventually looked at her.

"We shouldn't have left them."

That simple statement from the colonial pilot impressed and saddened Oma.

"Captain's orders Lieutenant." The reason rang hollow in her ears.

Sharon was silent for a long time. "I know."

Oma decided to keep silent; there was nothing more she could say.

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Anders could feel himself sweating as they followed the Number Three at a brisk walk down the white and grey corridors.

This mission was definitely going to get most of them killed.

When they reached the shuttle he had been so tempted to get on it and convince the others they had to leave now.

The whole basestar was giving him palpitations; he felt as if they were living on borrowed time.

They were beginning to see more and more centurions as they got to the centre of the basestar and even Caprica appeared a tad bit more anxious.

D'anna kept a blank expression on her face.

Anders tried to walk as calmly as he could.

He had a very bad feeling about this.

The male Junior Lieutenant found himself praying very hard to whoever was listening.

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Laura tried to take in her surroundings as well as keep an eye on the two women ahead of her.

She personally thought Logan was insane to trust these two cylons but she reluctantly saw the reason for it.

One of them had killed her cylon sister in order to protect Sharon's kid and the other...well lets' just say Laura had her reservations about the Number Three cylon model.

First of all she seemed like the kind of person who could not be forced to do anything but would not openly oppose one; just strike when your back was turned.

Second and most important of all; Laura had not liked the way she had been staring at Q Junior.

For a brief moment ; she had stared at him in shock then the look had turned to the expression similar to when a cat saw a mice it wanted for supper.

So. Not. Going. To. Happen.

Laura touched the back of her hands briefly; if it came down to it and somehow she knew it will...she would cut the female cylon down without hesitation.

The female teenage mutant glanced at her father's 'centurion' form.

Sending the shuttle away had surprised Laura.

Then she realized it had to be done.

Q Junior had been very worried about the child; and apparently she needed treatment.

However Laura was wondering how Logan was planning to get them off this ship.

She was sure of one thing; whatever he had in mind was bound to be interesting.

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Caprica tried not to glance at the centurion walking beside her; she knew it was Captain Logan. The 'man' she had shot.

She was still trying to figure out how he survived...was it his suit?

When he removed the 'holographic' image she had noticed for a short time the sleek lines of the obviously advanced body armour.

Part of her wanted an ensemble just like his while the saner part wondered what the colonials must have given the crew in return to be able afford such armour as well.

And the weapons.

The guns Starbuck and Anders carried were both familiar and strange; Caprica was not that eager to see how they worked.

For she was certain a particular colonial pilot would be only too happy to use her as target practice.

The Number Six wondered why Starbuck hated her so much; it wasn't her who had imprisoned her on Caprica and then on New Caprica as well.

"Caprica! Finally!"

The Three closed her eyes briefly and cursed inwardly.

Why oh why did Leoben Conoy have to choose this particular moment ?

She was aware of how the still the centurions around her became as she tried to casually turn and look at him.

The Number Two appeared flustered and upset.

"You need to speak to Cavil soon! He is not listening to anyone anymore," then he noticed a silent D'anna.

"You could help as well."

The Number Three said nothing.

Caprica plastered a fake smile on her face as she looked at him.

"My dear Leoben; I understand your worry...but right now I have somewhere to be. We can always discuss this later in..." she looked around " better less observed quarters."

The Number Two appeared puzzled; unaware that one of the grey centurions following Caprica had taken up a position right behind him.

Caprica tried not to look at the grey robot which had to be Kara Thrace.

She just kept praying that the insane female pilot did not frak things up!

Leoben seemed to take forever to answer.

"I suppose you're right...my place or yours ?"

Caprica hid her relief behind her smile. "Yours; I will find you once I am done."

He nodded then seemed to notice the centurions around him. He frowned.

"By the by, what are you up to?"

The Number Six tried not to give in to the strong urge to strangle him.

"Personal project...which I will explain later once I put it in place."

She added an edge to her voice to indicate that Leoben was wasting her time.

He went pale a little. "Oh...I understand. Will speak to you later."

Then he looked curiously at the centurions for a brief moment before leaving.

One of them made a move towards him but another centurion blocked it's path and slightly shook it's head.

The Number Six was certain the first one had been Kara; after what seemed like an eternity it turned back to face the female cylon.

Caprica quickly turned and resumed walking towards the Hybrid quarters when all she wanted to do was slump in relief.

She knew that any moment now; the alarm would sound.

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The Number Eight copy supported the wet upper body of her sister as the recently resurrected cylon tried to speak.

At the moment; her words were very slurred but she appeared determined to say something.

"Sister; you must rest. Your brain pattern is yet to recover fully."

Instead of reassuring her; it seemed to make her even more agitated.

"Emmm...Emmtuderzz...emmtuderzz..."

The female physician frowned; that word almost sounded familiar.

Meanwhile; the female cylon known as Boomer closed her eyes tightly then took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and finally screamed the word she had been desperate to say.

"INTRUDRERS!"

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With her heart beating rapidly, Caprica entered the CIC; there were only 6 crew present due to the obvious fact that the Hybrid actually controlled the ship.

"People; I need to do a routine systems check on the Hybrid; leave this place now."

A Number Eight looked at her in surprise. "But we...?"

"You have your orders" snapped Caprica.

The cylons appears puzzled but slowly left the area.

"Where's the Hybrid?" demanded Kara in a cold voice. She and the others were still in their centurion outfit.

The Number Six looked at her. "You can't kill her...unless you were planning on this mission being a suicide one..."

"Found her," interrupted the young girl with the claws.

She had quietly walked unseen to a glass shielded part of the CIC where the Hybrid was housed. Two of the centurions walked rapidly towards the female teenager.

Caprica recalled the sharp blades in her hands and panicked; she tried to walk towards her only to find her way blocked by Kara who was now pointing a weapon at her chest.

She could see the colonial's metal-hued finger tightening on the trigger.

"Don't Starbuck; we will need her to get us off this ship."

Logan's voice stopped the female Lieutenant from squeezing the trigger but she still kept pointing the weapon.

D'anna who was standing close to Caprica opened her mouth to speak but was drowned out by the blaring of the klaxons.

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The Number Three had been silent as she waited for the opportune moment; but that did not stop her dread from rising as they all walked to the CIC.

Cavil was going to have her head when he found out but the cylon known as Q Junior had to be kept safe so that he could be questioned.

To her dismay; there had been very few cylons in the CIC; this was the norm usually in stand-down situations.

They had never dreamt of a scenario where the colonials would blatantly infiltrate a cylon basestar as centurions!

That made her reverse her opinion of them a lot.

Then they ran into Leoben; she dismissed informing him as she doubted he would respond appropriately.

She would have preferred Aaron Doral; now though he was a tad bit too aggressive, he also had a tactical mind that would come in handy right now.

D'anna had felt even more frustrated when she entered the CIC only to see a handful of Eights and Fours.

Could her day get any worse?

Then the female child with the blades had discovered the area where the Hybrid was kept; two centurions rushed to join her and she was certain one of them was Q Junior.

Just as D'anna was waiting for Kara to kill Caprica; the alarms went off.

Part of her was relieved that the infiltration had been discovered while the other half was annoyed that she had not yet completed her objective.

She dimly heard Captain Logan ordering Kara to watch the entrance; something else had grabbed her attention.

It looked like Q Junior was using the semi liquid inter-face right next to the motionless hybrid.

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"Boys and girls; they know we're here. Turn off the emitters so we don't shoot each other. Kara; watch the entrance," Logan turned to Caprica.

"How do we close the entrance to this place?"

The Six was already shaking her head. "You can't; current basestars were not built that way."

Logan stared at her. "A command centre...without a door?"

The Six was exasperated. How was she going to explain that they had not felt a need for a door because no one had ever infiltrated the New Age basestars before ?

She knew the dead military leaders of the 12 Colonies would have considered that as a suicide mission for surely they would have been detected before they even entered the basestar.

"Captain," called Q Junior "I am attempting to access the interface."

Caprica frowned. " No, no; you can't do that!" she ignored Kara who though reluctant to let her pass had to; the colonial pilot knew that what ever was going to come through the CIC entrance was a bigger threat.

D'anna followed the Six in order to see what Q Junior was up to.

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Logan wanted to follow the two female cylons but he had to check out the CIC entrance with Kara.

Laura and Anders were watching Q Junior's back; the three of them were more than a match for the two female cylons.

One thing was clear; the basestar CIC was twice the size of the Galactica and 4 times the size of the Xavier's bridge.

He had been astonished to see only 6 cylons in the command centre and a bit suspicious about how quickly they left at Caprica's sharp orders.

Perhaps she was really a big wig on this ship; but his main concern was getting what they came for and leaving as soon as possible.

Already he had decided that the best way to prevent the cylons and centurions from trapping them in the CIC was to hold the doorway until Q Junior was done.

Then; it might be time for the young Starfleet ensign to use that phaser rifle of his. The idea made Logan uneasy; not because he suspected the boy of turning on them but because he doubted the lad had ever killed another living being.

When one took another one's life, whether face-to-face or not; it changed that person forever.

A certain look was forever in that person's eyes.

Logan had seen that look in the eyes of mercenaries he served with in Guam and other exotic dangerous places.

He saw that look in 13 year old Laura's eyes; in Jean's eyes; in the eyes of the colonial officers assigned to the Xavier and every time he himself looked into a mirror.

But that look was absent from Q Junior's eyes.

The former X-man was determined to keep it that way.

These thoughts raced through Logan's mind as he ran to the entrance; Kara was already peeping around the corner.

"Sitrep lieutenant," asked Logan

"No one so far; which kind of makes me wonder where they could be? If this had been the Galactica; the marines would have been storming the CIC."

Logan nodded. "Perhaps but since we grabbed Hera; maybe they think we're on the flight deck."

Kara gave him a quick glance. "Even if that were the case; at most we have a few minutes before they come up here," she paused.

"Caprica and D'anna will betray us captain; we may have to terminate them."

"I understand what you mean...we will cross that bridge when we come to it," said Logan in a firm tone.

Kara sighed. "Sure hope we live to cross that frakking bridge sir."

Logan gave her an odd look. This was the first time she had called him sir in a respective manner.

He didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.

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Caprica looked at the Hybrid; she was still alive and Anders was slowly circling the immersion tank as he kept a close eye on her and Q Junior.

The young girl with the claws was checking other parts of the immersion chamber as if making sure no-one else was in there.

Then Caprica looked up at what Q Junior was doing and was struck speechless.

He had his right hand on the liquid interface while his left hand was rapidly tapping sequences at an un-human speed into what had to be an e-pad of some sort.

This boy before her could not be a human.

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Anders could not believe what he was looking at.

When Laura had found the Hybrid and alerted the others, Anders and Q had quickly approached the immersion tank. However despite what Sharon had told them they had not expected what they had found.

There appeared to be the sleeping form of a naked young woman in a tank of bluish-whitish fluid. A closer looked revealed what appeared to be black thick cable wires that were connected to several parts of the body.

It was definitely not human and appeared to be more machine than one's average humanoid cylon.

Anders waited as Q Junior quickly scanned the body, giving a quick running commentary as he did so.

"A different form of a cylon model but consists of 51 percent human tissue and nerves and 49 percent cybernectic implants. She appears to be connected to the mainframe of this basestar's computer."

Once the hologram completed scanning the body; he began to examine the semi-liquid interface on the wall beside the tank. Above the interface with a large view-screen roughly 32 inches wide, a thin line of data was visible on it.

"Can you access the computer?" asked Anders as he stared at the immersed female form of the Hybrid; it appeared to be asleep and it's head was covered by a dark cap.

"Yeah; I can," said Q Junior as he quickly attached a small tricorder to the liquid interface that was next to the head of the Hybrid. Soon afterwards; the view-screen flickered and began to show some hazy images.

Q Junior put his right hand on the interface and began to press symbols; gradually the images became clearer. He looked at the tricorder and one of the symbols flashing indicated that a download had been initiated.

"Access granted; I'm in." The view screen was showing what was being downloaded into the small tricorder.

"Be careful," warned Anders , he was worried for many reasons. Before coming on this mission he and Kara had discussed the possibility of Q Junior being 'compromised ' by the cylons.

One possible way of that happening was by the hologram's being reprogrammed by the Hybrid.

That would be an unthinkable disaster. By the time he and Kara left the Xavier; they still hadn't come up with a foolproof plan of preventing that from happening. All Anders could do was to keep an eye on the hologram and hope for the best.

But he really felt very uneasy around the Hybrid " we don't know what it's capable of."

Q Junior nodded as he began to use the interface to access the basestar's main frame computer.

The sound of people approaching made Anders look up to see the two female cylons bearing down on them.

The blonde took one look at what Q Junior was doing and gasped.

"You...you're a cylon," breathed Caprica in shock.

Anders shot the Number Six a jaundiced look. "No; he's not."

D'anna moved closer to him. "Then what is he? How come he is able to access our inter-face?" she ignored the female teenager with the claws who was now watching them closely.

Anders moved towards the Number Three; this woman had been the cause of a lot of deaths and suffering on New Caprica and she had the guts to ask him questions?

"What he is or what he isn't...is none of your business," said Anders firmly with a cold look on his face.

D'anna opened her mouth to reply when her attention was suddenly drawn by something behind him.

Before Anders could turn he heard an odd electronic feminine voice behind me.

"Father...end of line."

Anders froze then slowly turned round to stare at the body in the tank with surprise on his face.

"What did you say ?" he moved closer to it as the Hybrid looked like it was struggling to speak.

Even Q Junior paused in his work to watch the Hybrid.

"Careful Anders." There was a tone of warning in the hologram's voice.

"Don't touch her" ordered Caprica. Anders ignored the Number Six and moved closer to the Hybrid. Laura also approached silently.

"What did you say?" the male colonial pilot asked again as he leaned in closer.

Then the Hybrid suddenly reached out and grabbed his right arm.

"Hey!" protested Anders as he tried to free himself from the biomechanical construct's wet iron grip.

But the Hybrid started talking very fast but clearly.

"Father of us all; returned at last.

Betrayed by the first, forgotten by the rest, end of Line

Memory incomplete, memory erased, "

It's grip was strong as it tried to pull Anders into the tank; Q Junior left what he was doing and rushed over to help the colonial pilot.

Only D'anna noticed the view-screen image freezing when the boy took his hand off the inter-face.

Q Junior reached Ander's side and tried to pry the Hyrid's hand off the pilot's arm. When the boy's hand came in contact with Hybrid's skin; she turned quickly and stared at the face of young male teenager.

"Not flesh, not metal, nor code are thy either, end of Line.

Son of the Gods, Q is thy name, Q is thy kin."

Q Junior went very pale as he tried to remove the Hybrid's hand without crushing it but it kept speaking.

"Bow, bow, I am not worthy, end of Line.

The Thirteenth Tribe here; the Thirteenth Tribe cometh

Heed the bells of war, end of Line."

Suddenly a small feminine open hand hit the back of the Hybrid's head and it's eyes rolled up before it fell back into the tank, splashing the bluish glowing fluid everywhere.

Q Junior and Anders stared at a grave faced Laura.

"Don't worry; it's not dead...yet."

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D'anna's jaw dropped as the Hybrid rambled on; even Caprica was speechless.

They watched as Anders and Q Junior struggled with the Hybrid then without warning; the girl called Laura quickly walked up to the Hybrid and hit the back of it's head with her right palm.

It certainly did not look like a fatal blow but it caused the Hybrid's eyes to roll back in it's head before loosening it's grip and letting the two males go.

"Thanks," muttered a shaken Anders while Q Junior nodded showing his gratitude. The Hybrid now appeared to be unconscious once again.

"Sure; sure. Q Junior the info we came for?" asked Laura a bit impatiently.

The boy nodded and went back to the viewscreen and the interface.

Caprica approached the girl slowly; the memory of her sharp claws all too vivid.

"What did you do to her? You can't just..."

"You wanted us to find the two colonials right? I just tapped her on the head, nothing to worry about" interrupted Laura.

Caprica opened her mouth to speak.

"Six," she turned to face D'anna who was now standing behind Q Junior , her eyes were on the screen above his head.

"You need to see this."

Something in the Three's voice had the Six model walking up to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

When D'anna realized Q Junior was hacking into the mainframe; her first instinct was to stop him even if it meant her death.

But some factors made her stop.

Anders looked all too ready to kill her if she moved any closer to the boy and also she was curious as to how much data the boy would be able to get before the fail safe kicked in at the usual time of 30 seconds into an illegal data request.

35 seconds later; Q Junior was still downloading data.

That was when D'anna started panicking; then Caprica stated Q Junior was a cylon. Anders looked ready to shoot the Number Six at her words.

At that moment the Hybrid woke up and called Anders 'father'.

I must be hallucinating, thought D'anna before the Hybrid grabbed Anders and started speaking.

The Hybrid's words had frozen D'anna in place.

She more than the other cylon models believed the Hybrids had a direct line to the One God.

D'anna took what the Hybrids said very seriously and now the one on board this ship had called Anders 'father' and called Q Junior 'son of the Gods.'

Something very strange was going on; while she still tried to sort out the Hybrid's rambling ; she had not noticed Laura creep up until the girl knocked out the Hybrid.

That had alarmed her and Caprica. Her sister challenged the female teen who had thankfully retracted her claws before 'tapping' the Hybrid unconscious.

Then an image from the viewscreen above the inter-face got D'anna's attention.

When Q Junior had rushed to help Anders free himself; the speed of the images on the view screen had slowed down considerably and had stayed stuck on a certain image .

It was showing a real time security feed of 5 capsules that looked like the earliest model resurrection immersion tanks. D'anna recognised that ancient model because the history of the Cylon race was her sub-specialty.

Those capsules had been de-commissioned more than 30 years ago.

So why were those five in particular still in use?

D'anna was still looking at the screen when Q Junior resumed his work.

"Q, please wait," her soft worried voice made him go still.

The male cylon teenager turned round to look at her. "Why?"

D'anna was still looking at the screen. " I need Caprica to see this."

She raised her voice so as to get the attention of her sister who looked ready to argue with the female teenager with the sharp looking claws.

"Six, you need to see this."

Caprica turned and after a brief moment, she approached to stand beside her sister.

"What is it?" Caprica glanced at the screen and her face assumed a puzzled expression. "Are those...?"

"First generation resurrection capsules," completed D'anna " and according to the time and date; they are still in use."

"That's impossible!" said Caprica "Q can you identify who is inside those capsules?"

Both female cylons ignored Anders who was now staring at them in shock.

"You're saying you don't know who is inside those capsules ?" asked the male colonial pilot.

Laura had a quizzical look on her face. "Apparently not."

"Well I want to know now. Q, you didn't answer my question," demanded Caprica.

Laura frowned and stepped infront of her as if she was shielding the male teenager. "He doesn't have to answer to you." Her voice was soft but threatening. The Number Six model found herself talking a step back.

"I can identify who is inside; but I thought you were more interested in where the colonial prisoners were...or were you lying to us?" asked Q Junior calmly.

Caprica tried to look at the screen, Q Junior and Laura at the same time.

She opened her mouth but D'anna spoke first.

"Q Junior, it's really important," said the Number Three in a calm but pleading voice "please."

The boy stared at her. "I was just about to get to that part before I was interrupted..."

"And we don't really have time to discuss this," said Laura as she kept her eyes on the two female cylons " we really need the rest of the intel."

Q Junior looked at her briefly and turned back to the interface. "Maybe when we're in a more secure area...then we could talk."

D'anna had a worried look on her face; she glanced at Caprica who looked ready to explode. Then all of a sudden the Number Six went pale and shouted.

"Stop!"

Q Junior went still again as Laura stepped up close to the Number Six; she was flexing her hands.

"Look!" pointed Caprica.

Everyone looked up at the screen; the live feed was still on the capsules but there was now someone else in the room.

A middle aged man in a black suit, he was standing near one of the capsules.

"That's..." began a stunned D'anna.

"Cavil," said Anders and Caprica at the same time. They both looked at each other briefly; clearly startled they had spoken at the same time.

"Where exactly are those capsules, Q?" asked Anders who was now interested to everyone's surprise.

Q gave him a puzzled look. "From the data-stream they seem to be located close to section...let's see...XC137."

Laura noticed an odd look on D'anna's face. "You know where that is?"

"It's Cavil's private research lab...why..."

The Number Three's words were drowned by a yell from the entrance to the CIC.

"We got company!"

Anders swore when he heard his wife's voice. "Q! Keep working, Laura guard them!" then he took off for the entrance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX

Cavil had been checking the bio-signs of the capsules of the First Five when the alarm went off.

At first he hoped it was just a drill; then he remembered the drill had been yesterday; Cavil activated his interlink device.

"Aaron, what's going on?"

The Number Six answered immediately. "That's what I would also like to know! Apparently it came from one of the resurrection ships!"

Cavil was suddenly worried and he walked to the capsules to check that the occupants were still stable.

"Is there something wrong with the download sequence?"

"No; I'm getting a message from the Resurrection Ship Alria...it's...it's Boomer,"said the male cylon in a surprised voice "oh frak Cavil! She's saying we have intruders on board the basestar!"

Cavil felt a shiver of fear in his heart. "What basestar?"

"Are you frakking kidding me ?! This basestar you dimwit! Sharon and the crew of the Xavier came for the child!"

The Number One suddenly felt very faint but that did not stop him from thinking quickly.

"Secure all flight decks; scan all outgoing ships..."

"Already on it...the centurions on the flight deck are aware but have not noticed anything odd yet.

Also just so you know; they also took Caprica and D'anna."

"Then how did Boomer escape?" demanded Cavil.

"How do frak should I...wait, wait...Boomer's saying she was shot dead by Caprica herself."

That revelation almost rendered the Number One speechless. "That's...that's not possible..."

"What do we do now?" asked a worried Aaron.

Cavil looked around him; then suddenly a thought struck him.

"Secure the CIC."

"Surely you don't think they would go there..." started a stunned Aaron.

"Do as I tell you Doral !" snapped Cavil as he checked the capsules once more before leaving the lab and locking it securely.

Moments after he left; the 5 bodies of 2 women and three men continued to sleep peacefully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Logan knew trouble was on it's way when he saw 1 gold centurion with 11 grey ones appear at the end of the long hallway; they were heading towards the CIC.

"Showtime, inform the others," he said without looking at Kara.

The colonial pilot swore softly as she ran into the CIC and yelled.

"We've got company!"

Logan resisted rolling his eyes; he was sure the whole basestar heard her.

He stretched his neck to loosen the metallic kink and also straightened his knuckles; he was finally going to get a chance to go up against the centurions.

The funny thing about the whole mess was that he was actually looking forward to the fight.

"What have we got?" asked a worried Anders as he joined Logan and Kara.

"12 tin men," said Logan unconsciously using a reference from the Wizard of Oz " one gold and 11 grey. The gold is the leader I suspect.

I'm going to delay them."

Kara and Anders stared at him in shock.

"What?!" they asked at the same time.

Logan nodded without looking at the couple. "Kara, get Q to work faster; we are going to have to leave this place in a hurry."

The female pilot stared at him for a moment; then nodded and ran back towards the Hybrid.

"Anders, how good is your aim ?"

"Pretty good sir," said Anders automatically responding to the firmness and confidence in Logan's voice.

The captain of the Xavier gave him a wry look. "That's the second time one of you has called me sir today, I must be dreaming.

Keep a look out for the reinforcements and try not to shoot me."

"What will you be doing?" asked the male colonial pilot.

Anders was chilled by the almost feral light that came into Logan's eyes.

"What I do best."

Snikt!

Ander's eyes went automatically to the long metallic blades that erupted from the back of Logan's hands.

Before he could say a word, Logan stepped out and began to run towards the centurions.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

Q Junior knew they were on borrowed time; he began to type the symbols faster in order to quicken the download. He already had a lot of data but he had to be alert to the various fire-walls and innocuous looking viral packages that were hidden within the data.

Geez! These cylons were a paranoid bunch alright; they must really distrust each other to place so many safeguards on their data-stream.

Q Junior finally found the information they had come to get and also what Caprica wanted.

The location of the two colonial prisoners.

"I've got where the two colonials are being kept," said Q Junior.

Caprica gave him a sharp look. "Where?"

Laura frowned at her again; she really did not like the female cylon's tone or attitude.

"Detention Cell section X12; we better hurry and get there."

"Why?" asked Laura.

"Because; there's a kill order for both of them if Caprica is seen approaching the cell."

Caprica went very pale.

"Q!" everyone turned to face Kara.

"Get a move on it! We're got 12 unfriendlies approaching and the last thing we need is to be trapped in here!"

Q Junior nodded as he typed in one more directive.

"Understood, just about done," he grabbed the tricorder off the inter-face and put it in a small back pack. D'anna watched his every move then she turned to see Laura was giving her a cold look.

"Don't even think about it."

The Number Three stared at her. "I would never hurt him...for he's just like us."

Q Junior almost froze at her words. "You have no idea of what I am."

The sound of gunfire stopped D'anna from answering.

Kara swore as she ran back to the entrance with the others not far behind.

They arrived in time to see Anders fire a quick shot before ducking back down as several shots went over his head.

"Where's my father?!" demanded Laura.

D'anna and Caprica stared at her in shock.

The captain of the ship had brought his daughter along?!

"He ran out and engaged them!" yelled Anders; over the sound of gunfire.

Laura swore loudly as her claws popped; she made a move to go out but Q Junior got there first. He already had the phaser rifle drawn.

"No! Let me!" before Laura could protest he also ran into the corridor.

"Q! No!" shouted D'anna and Laura at the same time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Logan had decided cutting down as many centurions as possible was the best way out of the CIC. The centurions had not expected anyone like him and had seemed a bit startled but by the stars they recovered fast.

As they began to shoot, Logan picked up speed. He felt the bullets hitting his chest and abdomen but the body armour prevented them from penetrating.

He guessed the centurions had not switched to armour-piercing bullets yet.

When he was 6 feet from them; he dived forward and his claws sliced into the gold centurion like a warm knife through butter.

Logan tore the gold centurion's chest apart and as the red head light died he turned on the surrounding greys.

The one on his right went down in a hail of bullets; it looked like Anders was a good shot after all.

Logan made a cutting motion with his left hand and took the head off of one of the centurions, then he dropped to his knees and swung his adamantium claws upwards as he sliced through the metal arms of centurions in the second row.

Without weapons they were a bit easier to cut down, Logan then felt a blow to the right side of forehead.

Someone had just tried to blow his brains out; that made him madder than before.

He roared as blood tricked down into his eyes and went for the attacker with both claws and ripped a huge gash from it's abdomen to the neck area. Flinging the centurion away he realized his back was exposed to the next centurion which had changed its hand guns to scimitar shaped hand.

Said hand was descending rapidly towards Logan's neck.

Before Logan had a chance to turn, the centurion went down when a phaser shot hit it in the chest and obliterated half of its upper torso.

Suddenly the only person standing was Logan and whoever shot the last centurion. He turned to face a nervous looking Q Junior who had his phaser rifle pointed at the floor.

"Great shot kid," said Logan as the rest of the group began to move towards them. He paid no attention to the rapidly healing injury on his forehead; by the time wound had closed up; there was only blood on his face.

He wiped some of it away; he hated it when it got into his eyes.

"Eh...thanks," said Q Junior a bit uncertainly as he gaped at the destruction Logan had wrought against the 12 centurions. "You okay?"

"Just peachy," said Logan dryly as the others surrounded him and Q Junior

Laura looked pissed while Kara and Anders looked a bit stunned.

As for D'anna and Caprica they looked like they had just seen Death.

"You're...hurt?" asked D'anna in a puzzled tone; she could see the blood but not the injury.

Logan gave her a dark look "None of your concern," then he turned to Q Junior "we got what we needed?" The klaxons kept on wailing.

"Eh...yeah. I even got the location of the colonials and it's deeper into the basestar."

"We can't leave them, Cavil will kill them," said Caprica at once.

Logan stared at her. Why was she so concerned about these two prisoners?

"She's right," surprisingly this came from Kara.

"If Cavil knows they mean something to her; he will kill them once he knows that she is gone," she paused " we need to get off this corridor."

Logan nodded. "Q, plot us the safest and fastest route to the Detention cells."

Q Junior nodded and looked at the tricorder part of his phaser rifle.

Caprica smiled at him. "Thank you captain..."

"Don't thank me, until we find ourselves off this ship," said Logan as he walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

D'anna was speechless; she had risked getting her head blown off to sneak a peep around the corner and she had witnessed Captain Logan using the blades identical to his daughter's.

He had systematically and rapidly taken out the centurions as if they were less than nothing.

Even D'anna had almost missed the way Q Junior used his rifle to destroy the last centurion.

If this was how the soldiers of Earth fought; then the cylon race was in a bigger frakked up mess than they realized.

Then also this was the second time the captain should have been mortally injured; the first time was when Caprica shot him in the medical bay.

D'anna had guessed it was the 'suit' that had stopped the bullet from injuring him.

But the blood on his forehead should mean he had sustained a head injury of some sort.

However the captain was still standing and the light in his eyes were clear and focused and there was no obvious sign of an injury.

There was more to this man than D'anna realized.

What in the name of the One God was he ?

D'anna's thoughts were brought back to the present when Caprica almost begged for them to rescue the colonials.

She stared at her in amazement; why was Caprica doing this?

Was she really in love with Baltar? Did she not realize that if caught the rest of the models would have no mercy for her.

As for D'anna , she had ceased to ask herself why she was helping the infiltrators.

She had just realized that Cavil was up to something really sinister. For some reason she could not get the image of the five old resurrection capsules out of her mind.

What were they doing in Cavil's personal lab and who was in them?

D'anna kept quiet as she followed Captain Logan and his group.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Detention cell block; Section X12

Gaius sat up when the alarms went off; he looked at Daniel who was standing and staring at the entrance.

"What's going on?" asked the scientist.

Daniel smiled dryly and looked at him.

"Oh; so now we're on speaking terms?"

The scientist grimaced. After his semi-nervous breakdown he had tried to completely ignore his fellow prisoner as he mentally tormented himself with a list of his so-many sins.

Baltar felt stupid, low and almost suicidal.

"I...I'm sorry; was having a hard time."

"Aren't we all," added Daniel in a wry tone.

"So, what's going on with the alarms ?"

Daniel sighed. "And I'm supposed to know because I'm the head cylon around here ?"

Baltar winced again. "I don't think you're really a cylon."

Daniel laughed softly. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that."

The scientist was not sure if his words were genuine or sarcastic.

"The noise sounds like an alarm of some sort. Are we under attack?"

Daniel was silent for a long time. "There's no way of knowing Gaius.

My advice to you would be to start praying...if you believe in divine intervention."

Gaius stared at him; the last few words had sounded almost bitter.

"What about you? Won't you pray as well?"

Daniel gave him an exasperated look. "Why should I? I stopped believing 7 years ago.

In fact, forget what I said about praying...I doubt you science types tend to be religious."

Baltar was quiet for several moments. "You would be surprised," muttered the scientist to himself as 5 centurions assumed a guard position right in front of the entrance to the cell block.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX

The Xavier, the bridge...

Jean found herself checking the readout for the umpteenth time.

So far there were no nearby raiders and the shuttle had left them about 25 minutes ago.

It felt like hours had passed.

She looked at Rogers who was reading an epadd she had given him and at Helo who was just staring at the viewscreen. The colonial captain had not been keen to read the material she had provided.

Both men were on edge and very worried.

She didn't blame them but there was very little she could do to ease their anxiety.

"Dr Grey," asked Rogers as he looked up from his reading "who's...who's the Phoenix?"

Jean stared at him in surprise. That was so not what she had given him to read.

In order to pass the time; she had provided both men with epadds stating the full history of Earth and the Federation.

The last time she checked; there was nothing in the epadds about the Phoenix.

"What...what do you mean?"

Rogers appeared a bit hesitant to answer. "When I first came on board the ship...in the medical bay; I heard a voice in my head."

Helo turned from the viewscreen and gave him a worried look; clearly he was concerned about the younger pilot's insanity.

"She said...My name is Phoenix, welcome to the family."

Oops! Thought the Phoenix.

Jean closed her eyes briefly and warned the Phoenix to keep out of it.

"You heard correctly Rogers...the Phoenix is the other part...of me."

Helo now transferred the stunned look in her direction. "Excuse me?"

"Excuse me Dr Grey."

Interrupted Xavier before the doctor could reply.

Jean hid her relief at the AI's impeccable timing. "Yes Xavier."

"I believe the shuttle has returned."

Everyone stood up quickly.

"Status?" asked Helo rapidly.

"Sensors; indicate; three occupants...all female humanoids; two are adults and one is an infant."

Helo and Jean shared a stunned look.

"Guide them to the shuttle bay; we will be there shortly," said Jean as she and the two male colonials headed for the turbolift.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX

The ride to the shuttle bay was tense and silent.

Helo had an idea of who was in the shuttle but he would only believe it when the shuttle bay doors opened.

They got to the bay as the smaller craft was coming in for a landing.

Helo found himself amazed at how smoothly the craft came through the force-field and gently touched down on the deck.

Whoever was flying was very good.

The image of the ship changed to that of the shuttle before the bay doors opened.

Helo released a sigh of relief as Sharon came down the steps with a bundle in her arms; then he began to panic when he saw the worry on her face.

The female colonial pilot went straight to Dr Grey.

"The captain told us to leave; that he will come after...he told us to bring Hera to you...she's...she's sick," Sharon looked close to tears.

Dr Grey looked horrified.

"She's right Dr Grey," said an anxious looking Ensign Kadretti "Captain Logan ordered us to return; from the tricorder Q Junior sent us...it looks like Hera has acute appendicitis."

The female ensign handed the device to the female doctor.

Dr Grey first looked at the child in Sharon's arms who had picked that moment to start crying as well. The doctor frowned; the cry sounded weak.

That was not a good sign.

"We're going to the medical bay."

"I need to go back for them," said Ensign Kadretti to everyone's surprise.

Rogers looked alarmed.

"Logan must have a really good reason for you not staying..." began Dr Grey.

"And I have completed that part of the mission; please...I really need to go back for them." The ensign looked scared but determined.

You have to let her go...you can't protect them all Jean. Said the Phoenix in a calm voice.

Oh yes I can! Countered Jean.

"No, Ensign Kadretti, you..."

"Dr Grey!" cried Sharon in alarm "she's burning up!"

Jean turned at the interruption and touched the infant's forehead , she was practically boiling to the touch.

"Xavier, beam us to the medical bay!"

" Yes Dr Grey."

Before the AI had finished responding Dr Grey, Sharon and Hera had disappeared.

Helo looked like he was about to protest then shook his head.

"Would you like to be transported there as well captain Agathon?"

The colonial pilot was startled by the AI's perception.

"Ah no...thanks for the offer; if it's alright I will walk. I know the way," Helo was still very uneasy with their 'beaming' technology.

"As you wish."

Helo turned to Ensign Kadretti and Rogers. "I have to go."

They both nodded and watched him leave.

Silence reigned for several moments; then just as Rogers had summoned up the courage to ask Kadretti a question the girl looked at the ceiling.

"Xavier; what is Dr Grey doing at the moment?"

"Prepping for surgery, do you need her assistance?"

"No; just asking that's all."

Roger stared at her as he suddenly realized something. "You're planning to go back for them."

Kadretti glanced at him as she turned to go back into the shuttle.

"Only following Starfleet protocol."

"Protocol my ass!" Rogers moved to stand in-front of her. Oma raised an eyebrow at his anger.

"Your captain ordered you not to go back for him and Dr Grey just did so..."

"Captain Logan and his team are stuck on a basestar right in the middle of hostile territory. They will be discovered and captured or worse and all because I left them behind.

I am going back for them," hissed Oma as she leaned in close. Her eyes were fiery and determined.

Rogers was struck speechless; for some reason he just kept thinking how pretty she was.

Oma glared at him for good measure; then walked around him.

"Fine; then I'm coming with you," said the male ensign.

That stopped Oma in her tracks. "That is unacceptable and you don't have a suit."

"I am definitely coming with you and don't worry about a suit...I won't need it," said Rogers with a firm conviction that he could not explain.

"And if I refuse?" asked Oma.

Rogers walked up to her. "If you refuse...I'm telling Dr Grey."

She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity then she looked at the ceiling.

"Xavier."

"Miss Kadretti?" answered the AI.

She took a deep breath. "You have the conn."

"Yes Ensign Kadretti."

Then she turned to glare at Rogers. " Welcome on board Mr Rogers."

Oma sounded really pissed but Rogers felt warm inside.

Finally he was doing something.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Medical bay...

Dr Grey appeared calm as she scanned the abdomen of the crying 5 month old child.

Instantly the results were displayed on the holographic projector; showing the site of infection.

The appendix was swollen however not ruptured but it looked close to doing so at any moment.

She had to operate.

Jean was panicking inside; her medical experience had been working in the emergency departments treating trauma patients. She had done a few surgical rotations but had never done an appendicectomy on her own before.

And even when she had assisted; it had been operations on adults; no one as young as this.

The child's temperature was currently 40 degrees celcius and heart rate was 165beats a minutes. She had to do something soon.

Jean barely registered when Helo joined his anxious wife.

Jean called the Phoenix. You can do this.

Jean knew what the entity was talking about. She shook her head slightly.

I can't; I know there is Starfleet medical tech that can treat the child but I have never handled it before and I am not ready to start experimenting on a small child!

Then do it the 'old fashioned way'...perform the surgery.

Jean tried not to gasp in disbelief.

I have assisted in appendicectomies Phoenix but never in a child this young. I could kill her!

Not if you let me do the surgery instead.

Jean frowned. What do you mean?

Do you think that when you did all those surgical and emergency department rotations that I was idle?

It was so much fun to go through the minds of all the specialists you worked with. Now some of them had 'really juicy' secrets but quite a number of them were very good at what they did.

And I have a very good memory of how an operation is done on a child with this condition.

All I need from you is to let me use your hands and expertise to save this child.

Jean hesitated then she looked at Helo and Sharon who were regarding her with hopeful but scared expressions. Hera's weak cry also drew her attention.

Finally she made her decision.

I accept; what do you want me to do?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

The AI of the Xavier watched as the operation in the medical bay started and also watched as the camouflaged shuttle left the bay.

Xavier had heard when Ensign Kadretti stated Captain Logan had ordered her not to return for them; but the AI did not protest when she passed command to the AI before she and Ensign Rogers boarded the shuttle and left.

It was aware that something very important was happening on both fronts but it had no one to ask what to do.

So it decided on it's own.

Xavier's duty was now to protect Dr Grey, Captain Agathon, Lieutenant Agathon and the child Hera until the others got back.

Unbeknownst to the current crew of the Xavier; the AI was gradually getting smarter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

The basestar; hallway to the CIC...

Cavil stared at the pieces of centurions on the floor.

There had to be at least 10 centurions here but they were in so many pieces that he was finding it very hard to imagine how they had been ripped apart so quickly.

It had only been less than 4 minutes ago when he ordered Aaron to secure the CIC and yet that had led to this.

What kind of weapon had ripped the gold centurion to pieces and also obliterated the entire upper torso of one of the grey centurions as well as ripped off the heads of several of the centurions ?

"Cavil!" the Number One model looked up to see Aaron approaching him a worried look on his face.

"They were in the Hybrid chamber!"

Cavil immediately left the centurion pieces and walked up to him.

"Show me where."

The two men walked back into the CIC which was now over-run with centurions and armed cylons of the different models.

All were in shock that the enemy had the audacity to infiltrate the basestar.

Cavil reached the immersion section and saw Simon was checking the vitals of the unconscious Hybrid.

"Status," asked Cavil sharply.

"She's alive and well; observations are stable so far but something must have happened here."

"Like what?" asked a Number Six known as Natalie. She was calmer than Caprica Six but equally as deadly.

Simon shook his head, a worried look on his face. "There is evidence of bio-fluid splashed on the floor and for some reason the security cameras in this region are not allowing me to access the feed."

Cavil's eyes narrowed at that piece of information. "How come?"

Natalie sighed. "He's right; I have also tried to access the security feed for the entire basestar and it seems to be frozen or inaccessible..."

"Impossible," barked Aaron "I upgraded the security feed 2 days ago; no one else has the access codes."

Natalie was in no way cowed by the male cylons aggressive attitude. "Then maybe you can explain why I can't access it?"

Aaron exchanged a quick look with Cavil.

They had blocked most of the access for all Number Six models; Natalie was not aware of this as she had just returned from a mining mission.

"Let me check," said Aaron as he approached the inter-face and put his right palm against it.

Seconds passed before all witnessed the write out on the view screen.

"ACCESS NOT GRANTED."

"What now genius?" asked an irritated Natalie as the Number Five stared at the screen in shock.

"Also; can anyone tell me why I can't get in touch with Caprica Six?" asked Natalie.

Everyone looked at her.

"You have tried contacting her?" asked Cavil carefully.

"Yes, ever since the alarm went off. She's not answering and neither is D'anna."

"That's because they have them," everyone turned to face Boomer.

The Number Eight was in a tan jumpsuit and looked very angry.

"Come again ?" asked Natalie in surprise.

Boomer stared at them. "Did you not listen to my announcement? I specifically stated that D'anna and Caprica were with the colonials and that they had taken Hera!"

Natalie stared at her. "I only heard from Cavil that colonials had infiltrated the basestar...no one mentioned anything about our sisters being hostages."

Boomer shot Cavil a disgusted look. Trust the old man to hide everything even when such was not needed.

"Who said anything about hostages?! I'm sure Caprica is helping them!"

Natalie's back stiffened. "Be careful what you say Boomer, Caprica would never betray our cause."

"Then why the frak did she shoot me in the head?!" yelled the Number Eight model.

"And this is why I did not say anything about D'anna and Caprica helping the colonials!" shouted Cavil "this division right here is exactly what the colonials wanted.

While we stand here arguing; they are doing only God-knows-what in the basestar. Please bear in mind that we haven't found them yet!"

Boomer glared at him then looked away after a few moments.

"Cavil is right," said Simon " we find them then we ask questions later.

The problem now is how do we track them?"

"I think I know how," everyone looked at the Number One.

"If...and only if Caprica is helping them; then there is only one more place on this basestar they might be interested in."

Aaron frowned. "If it's the flight deck; we have searched that place and there is not sign of..." Cavil raised a hand silencing him.

"I'm talking about Detention Block X12.

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A grey 'centurion' sneaked a peep around the corner then ducked down as a score of grey robots led by one gold robot went past.

"Clear," whispered Ensign Q Junior to the other 'centurions' hiding behind him.

The group of seven had been hiding and sneaking past centurions and cylons; amazingly the enemy had no idea where they were and that was all thanks to Q Junior.

He had quickly explained to Logan and the others that while he was downloading the information he had slipped in a subroutine program which froze the security feed so that they could reach the cell block undetected.

D'anna and Caprica had shared a significant look at his brief explanation; a viral sub-routine was almost identical to how the cylons had brought down the networked-defence system of the 12 Colonies of Kobol.

For the two female cylons; this was one more key piece of evidence that Ensign Q Junior was a cylon.

He certainly thought like one.

"How close are we to the cells?" asked Kara in a low voice. Her centurion form was currently crouched between Logan and Q Junior.

"It's right round the next corner and should be lightly guarded with only 5 centurions at the entrance to the cells," replied Q Junior as he looked at the tricorder part of his phaser rifle.

"Do you have the names of the prisoners and how long they have been with the cylons?" asked Anders in a low tone.

Q Junior shook his head. "No names but their identifications are as prisoner numbers A139 and D617. The first one has been their...guest for 8 years."

Kara and Anders frowned at that bit of news.

"...and the second has been an inmate for the past 4 weeks; 2 days and 39 minutes."

The colonial pilots shared a significant look; that meant the poor soul had been grabbed around the time of the escape from New Caprica.

"Another thing to note," a sound that was a mixture of disgust and horror crept into Q's voice "is that both have been subjected to extensive physical and emotional torture.

Prisoner D617 has just recovered from his last...session."

Caprica felt her face burn as the centurion forms of the two colonials turned to stare at her and the Number Three model. She was pretty sure that if looks could kill; she and D'anna would be cinders by now.

Logan glanced at them for a moment then turned to Q Junior; he could tell the talk of torture had disturbed the young man. "Is there something else we should know about?"

Caprica and D'anna's ears picked up at the tone in the captain's voice.

Q Junior flushed lightly as he answered. "Well...since we were in a rush I was only able to partially disable the inter-com network."

Anders gaped at him. "Come again?"

Q Junior stole a quick look around before answering.

"The inter-com network on the basestar is quite intricate and surprisingly complex.

Humanoid cylons can speak to each other with their cerebral implants."

Kara and Anders shared a quick look. "We knew that."

"Good," continued Q Junior "but also they can relay orders to centurions as well; the lines of communication to cylons and centurions differ so each has to be treated differently.

However since we were pressed for time; I interrupted the link between the centurions around the cell block and the humanoid cylons."

"You're saying Cavil cannot give the kill order directly," said Kara in a surprised tone "what of the interlink between the cylons? Couldn't you destroy that as well?"

D'anna hid a gasp as Caprica went pale; Starbuck noticed their alarmed expressions and smiled knowingly.

"That's significant isn't it?" The glee in her voice was chilling.

Q Junior turned to the female colonial pilot. "I could have disrupted the link but I chose not to. Doing so without preparation might cause untold damage to the cerebral cortex of the cylons linked to communications network."

Anders, Kara, D'anna and Caprica stared at him with expressions of disbelief.

Kara was stunned. Didn't he realize that they were at war and needed every advantage they could get ? He could have used their own network against them and he hadn't?!

Her expression turned to one of annoyance as she prepared to respond with a scathing remark.

"Enough with the techno-babble people; we still have prisoners to spring," interrupted Logan with a growl.

"Then let's get moving," said Laura before quickly stepping out and heading for the next corner.

"Laura wait!" hissed Q Junior in alarm before he followed her.

Logan was heard to curse as he went after his daughter and the ensign.

In her concern for Q; D'anna also tried to move forward but stopped she felt a hard object in her back.

She did not have to turn to see it was the business end of the semi-automatic in Ander's hands.

"Easy does it D'anna; you only move when I say so."

The Number Three did not have to guess what would happen if she disregarded Ander's orders.

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Laura was fast as she ran around the corner to face 5 centurions; her blades had barely popped before Q Junior had caught up with her and started shooting rapidly.

5 shots were fired; five centurions fell; each one's chest was practically blown apart. In all it had lasted less than 6 seconds.

But Laura was not pleased.

"Q!"

He stared at her. "Oops, just trying to help Laura."

The female teen mutant almost saw red. "Don't give me that! I know what this is about! I could have taken them!"

Q Junior raised a placating hand. "I know...just watching out for you..."

"Well don't!" hissed Laura.

Before Q Junior could reply he heard Logan's voice; he had come up behind them when they were arguing and saw something the two teens had not acknowledged.

"Kids; you do realize you have an audience."

Both teens turned to see two men in white shapeless tunic and trousers staring at them in shock from behind the bars of two cells.

"I believe we found the prisoners."

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It had happened so fast; one moment there had been 5 centurions guarding the entrance; then another grey tin-can ran in and odd looking blades appeared in the back of its hands.

Before he could register that fully; another grey ran in and did the fastest shooting Daniel Novacek had ever seen in his life.

He could bet it had lasted less than 6 seconds and no shot was wasted but the weapon it had used was nothing the colonial pilot had ever seen before.

He heard Gaius mutter. "Gods in heaven" as he too stood transfixed by the destruction of their five guards.

Then if that was not enough the two remaining grey centurions turned to face each other and started arguing.

In fact they had sounded like children.

It's official thought Daniel I have finally; after 8 years, well and truly lost my mind.

Somehow the appearance of the third grey centurion did not alarm him; even when it told the two 'odd' tin-cans that they had an audience.

But what occured next almost made Daniel pass out.

The tin-can with the blades touched it's left shoulder and then the image shimmered before changing to that of a young girl with black hair in a ponytail. She was wearing black body armour and her age was probably 13 yrs old or even younger.

And the one with the gun changed to that of 14 or 15yr old male teenager with dark slightly wavy brown hair. He was also in identical body armour.

The one behind them transformed into a muscular built man in the same body armour, with oddly shaped black hair and fierce looking eyes. His age could be around middle 30s.

Daniel was desperately trying to find the words to speak as two more 'centurions' entered the cell with two cylon women he would recognize anywhere.

The three people before him were not alarmed by the presence of the two robots but Daniel thought the whole thing looked odd.

It seemed like D'anna and Caprica were being held at gunpoint.

That was not possible.

"What the frak is going..."

He had barely completed the question when one of the centurions stormed up to the cell that contained Gaius.

The colonial scientist went very pale and walked backwards rapidly.

"I do not frakking believe it!" yelled the centurion in a female voice.

A look of stunned recognition appeared on Gaius' face.

"Lieutenant Thrace...Starbuck is that you..."

The centurion raised it's gun threateningly. "Never, ever say my name again, Mr President!" the voice contained so much venom that Daniel instantly recoiled from the hate in that voice even though it was not aimed at him.

The robot rapidly touched it's left shoulder and the image changed to that of a female blonde with a look of rage on her face.

"You lost the privilege of that the moment you sold us out to the cylons!"

"Lieutenant," asked the man with the odd hair as he approached the livid colonial officer. "Who is this man?"

In the end it was the other 'centurion' who answered once it's image changed to that of a man.

"This is Dr Gaius Baltar, our former president and also one of the worst traitors in our history," said Anders in a controlled voice which somehow held a lot of hate.

Daniel looked at Baltar. He had a resigned expression on his face.

"Please...don't shoot him. I can explain everything..." started Caprica.

Starbuck swung the rifle round rapidly only to find Logan was standing in front of the Number Six cylon model.

"Captain Logan," said Kara Thrace through gritted teeth "move aside now."

Logan walked up to her until the barrel of the gun was pressing against his chest.

Laura tensed. If Kara pressed that trigger; she would be dead before she hit the floor. To hell with the diplomatic consequences.

"No," replied Logan simply.

Kara's hand began to shake. "If I had known that the colonial prisoner we were rescuing was that...snake! I would have left him here to die!"

Logan stared at her for a long moment.

"Lieutenant Thrace; are you emotionally compromised?"

Everyone stared at him as if he had gone mad.

"What?" said a startled Kara. Of everything she had expected...it had not been this.

"You heard me Lieutenant, are you compromised or not?

If that is the case then you are not fit to be part of this mission."

Kara kept staring at him. "I...I am not compromised."

"That's great to hear," there was a trace of sarcasm in Logan's voice "because if you were I would suggest you putting the gun to your head and blowing your brains out."

Anders stared at him in horror but Logan ignored him and continued.

"Because your current approach to the situation at hand is bound to get you and some of us killed on this basestar thus preventing us from completing a mission that would benefit the lives of more than 40,000 colonial refugees.

Or did you forget the real reason we came here ?"

Kara seemed to wilt under his sharp gaze. "You don't understand..."

"Oh I do, believe me I so do," replied Logan , he pointed at Baltar without taking his eyes from the woman in front of him "you blame him and others for what happened on New Caprica and that is to be expected.

He was the leader and he dropped the ball but here is not the place to be judge and jury.

We do not have time for this."

Kara had a haunted look in her eyes as if she had just realized what she had almost done. She slowly lowered her weapon.

"You all agreed to follow my orders...is that not so?" asked Logan as he included Anders in the question. The two colonial officers nodded slowly.

"Glad we've sorted that out," he turned to Laura and Q Junior.

"Get them out of the cells now; it's time we left this place."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX

Daniel was still trying to figure out what had just happened when the young girl approached his cell door. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a particular sound.

Snikt!

Her blades were once more out as she sliced though the cell door hinges as if they were made of butter.

As the door fell with a clang; Daniel had one word in his mind.

Cylons?

But a little voice in his head was stating he was mistaken this time however he found his feet moving backwards until he hit the edge of the bed and sat down abruptly.

This had to be a trick; he could not leave this cell.

The girl called Laura gave him an odd look.

"Eh pops; we've got a problem."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Leoben was in his quarters reading his copy of the Holy Book of Kobol.

Since it had led them to the planet where they had encountered the Thirteenth Tribe it was considered necessary to research each part of it in the hope that the cylons could discover more about Earth.

When the alarm went off; he ignored it, thinking it was another practice drill.

That thinking changed the moment Natalie got in touch with him.

"Leoben where are you?"

He frowned at her tone of voice; she sounded upset.

"In my quarters; is something wrong?"

"What the...? Leoben did you not hear the alarm go off?"

"Yeah I did; thought it was another drill..."

"No it's not!" replied an exasperated Number Six "we have intruders on board and they hacked the datastream in the CIC!"

Leoben felt himself go cold. "That's...that's impossible. I just came from there and I even saw Caprica and D'anna..."

"Leoben, were they alone?" interrupted Natalie.

"Eh...no they had about 5 centurions with them and they were heading to the CIC..."

"Leoben," began Natalie almost gently and immediately he knew whatever she was going to say next was bad news.

"Those five centurions...were the infiltrators; two of them are colonial pilots and we think the remaining three are members of the Thirteenth Tribe."

Leoben did not know when he stood up. "Please tell me you're kidding."

He heard Natalie sigh via his inter-link. "Get down to the CIC now Leoben; we have an idea of where they may be."

"An idea?!" asked the shocked male cylon.

"They did something to the security feed and also disrupted the com-line to some of the centurions...also be aware that one of the colonial pilots is Starbuck."

Leoben froze. "What?"

"They are armed and very dangerous...she will not hesitate to kill you."

The male cylon was already moving towards the door as he grabbed a nearby weapon. "Natalie; don't let Cavil harm her."

"Leoben, I don't think..."

"Help me with this Natalie, she must not be harmed," said the male cylon anxiously as he ran out of his quarters.

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"Eh pops; we've got a problem."

Logan turned at the sound of Laura's voice and walked up to her as Q Junior used his techno-skills to disable the electromagnetic lock on the other man's cell.

"What's wrong?"

Laura was still looking at the man who was cowering at the corner of the cell.

"I don't think he wants to escape."

Logan looked at the dark skinned man and recognized a certain look in the man's eyes that Logan had seen in American POWS rescued from Guam.

The man before him was teetering on the edge of insanity.

"Caprica," called Logan loudly without turning round.

A moment passed before the female cylon approached him.

"Who is he and how long has he been with you?"

The cylon glanced into the cell. "Senior Lieutenant Daniel Novacek...he's been our...guest for 8 years."

Kara and Anders stared at her in shock.

"What...how?" began Anders.

"Maybe you should ask your Admiral when you get back," the two colonials looked at D'anna "...that is if you get back."

Logan ignored her as he took a step into the cell.

"Mr Novacek, my name is Logan. I'm not a colonial...I'm from Earth and we're here to take you back to the fleet."

Daniel's lower jaw dropped as he stared at the man in front of him.

A long moment of silence passed before he could speak.

"You're...you're from Earth; you expect me to...believe that?!"

Logan did not sigh or express disappointment; he instead kept calm as he answered. "No; I don't. In fact I would have been concerned if you had.

But the fact remains that this is a rescue...do you want to die fast or slow?"

Daniel's stunned look was replaced by one of puzzlement as Logan changed his tactics.

"What...what do you mean?"

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D'anna raised an eyebrow at Logan's questioning.

The man was an enigma that she would like to solve; the few minutes she had spent in his company had impressed her even though she was a hostage.

She still did not think they would get off the basestar alive.

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Logan answered the senior lieutenant's question.

"You stay and probably you will die slowly if the cylons don't execute you out of spite; you come with us and possibly you might die quickly as we try to get off this basestar.

However there is the slim possibility that we might make it...if I were you and I had nothing to lose...I would take that chance."

Daniel stared at him for a long moment; then he finally noticed the dried blood on Logan's forehead.

This man had already fought to get here and possibly bled as well.

Never in his eight years of imprisonment had the cylons played so cruel a joke; in fact he had thought they had forgotten about him until they dumped Gaius in the cell beside him.

"I'd take it Daniel," the colonial pilot turned to face Gaius who had left his cell and was standing close to the boy with the large rifle "there's no point waiting here to die."

He's right said a certain part of Daniel.

The senior lieutenant nodded and stood up. He slowly left the cell.

"Eh people," everyone turned to face the male teenager "news flash and it ain't pretty. We have a lot of centurions heading this way fast. I think they have guessed where we are."

Logan nodded. They were running out of luck and time. He looked at Caprica.

"You're still our ticket off this ship?" he sounded very suspicious.

The Number Six model hugged herself and nodded quickly. "If I stay; I'm sure to be boxed," she saw the puzzled looked on Logan's face "it's a fate worse than death...believe me."

"Couldn't happen to a much nicer person," said Kara darkly apparently she had recovered from her emotional outburst.

"So how are we getting out of here?" demanded the young female teenager with the blades.

"We need to get to the main flight deck and commandeer a raider," said Caprica, she turned to the boy with the rifle.

"Q; from which directions are the centurions coming?"

Q Junior looked up from his tricorder with a grim look on his face.

"All of them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Aaron's heart beat rapidly as he walked quickly with the towering centurions.

6 of them were in-front of him while 12 brought up the rear with 6 armed Number Five cylon models.

If Cavil was right; then the infiltrators and their cylons sisters were in the detention block.

He could understand Caprica wanting to rebel because of her ill-conceived affection for that stupid scientist-turned-president but what he could not begin to fathom was D'anna's attitude.

She more than him was almost fanatical about their cause; he could not think of her working with the enemy.

Unless there was a very good reason for her actions.

"We're approaching the detention block Aaron; Natalie and the other groups are also in position, no sight of the enemy yet so keep your eyes peeled."

Cavil's voice brought him back to the present.

"Understood," said the Number Five shortly.

They had them surrounded; they had nowhere to go. He just hoped they were sensible enough to surrender, after all a stray bullet could very easily kill the human-cylon hybrid child.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX

"Q Junior; what have we got?" asked Logan. He, Laura and Q Junior were at the front.

D'anna and Caprica were behind them with Gaius and Novacek while the couple known as Anders and Thrace were covering their six.

"This is the smallest group of 25 combatants; 18 are centurions and 7 are cylons; once we turn the corner they will be 65 metres away.

We need to move fast because the other groups are converging on this point."

Logan nodded; he could feel the clock ticking, they had to act now.

But first he had to make sure that they approached the centurions properly.

"Listen carefully, we do this as a team," he looked at Q Junior " your job is to take out as many centurions as you can."

He turned to his daughter. "Laura and I will be the mop up crew for the humanoid cylons."

Logan was relieved to see the two teens nod solemnly.

"You cannot risk him for this."

The captain of the Xavier knew who spoke before he turned to glare at D'anna.

The Number Three model refused to back down. "You have no idea how important Q Junior is. Please surrender...no one has to die."

Caprica looked at her sister in shock. "Don't listen to her; she has no idea what Cavil is capable of. We have to get off this ship!"

Logan shared a silent look with Kara Thrace.

"We'll watch them captain," said the female colonial pilot firmly.

Logan nodded silently before turning back to the front.

"Do we do this with the holograms on or off?" asked Q Junior.

"Might as well leave it off," said Laura dryly "l'm certain our true forms will scare the crap out of the cylons."

Snikt!

Daughter and father shared a small smile as they popped their claws simultaneously; then without a word, they sprinted forward like a hundred metre Olympic runners.

Q Junior sighed and took off after them.

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Once the three went round the corner, Kara quickly moved up and cautiously looked around the corner; she had to see what was going on.

Seconds later; her eyes widened with shock as the shooting and the screams began.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

The first moment Aaron knew the enemy had been sighted was when the centurions went into attack mode; their arms transforming into gun barrels.

Aaron had to look around the towering centurions and he saw three humans come round the corner and race towards his group of cylons and centurions.

They were wearing black body armour; but what surprised him was the difference in the ages and the weapon they carried.

He had to blink twice as he saw a young girl who had to be 13yrs old or younger with blades at the back of her hands, beside her was a man in his 30s with oddly shaped black hair with blades identical to the girl's and behind them was a male teenager of maybe 15 years old with a strange looking rifle.

There was no sign of Sharon or the child or the two missing female cylons.

Anyway the three people before him were not going to be alive for long.

"Open fire," said Aaron as he wondered where the cylon-human hybrid child was; then his mind almost went blank with shock when he saw the first bullets hit the chest of the man at the head of the charging trio...and shatter on impact.

What the frak?! Thought Aaron as his mouth shouted something else.

"Keep firing!"

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Logan barely felt the bullets hit his chest as he reached the first centurion; a powerful right hand swipe with his adamantium claws and it's head was separated from its shoulders. His left hand followed through with the same motion and another centurion fell as well.

Laura at a run, jumped towards the wall on her right and used both feet to propel her into the crowd of centurions with both arms outstretched; Q Junior on seeing her airborne, slid down to his knees and started taking out centurions from the waist down.

In mid-air; the female teen mutant slashed her arms sideways and the two centurions in her path fell minus their heads ; then she turned a small somersault and was in the midst of humanoid cylons who had been shielded by the centurions.

They barely had time to scream as they all tried to shoot at her at the same time.

Laura grabbed the nearest male cylon and used him as a shield; before long he was dead, his body riddled with bullets. All the cylons had practically emptied their loaded clips into their unfortunate colleague.

She then used the body to ram into the next nearest male cylon who was trying to replace his spent magazine. The heavy dead body falling on him further disrupted the loading of his weapon and as the ammo fell to the floor, he tried to go after it only to be stopped by a searing pain in the left side of his chest.

The Number five model's look of shock was replaced by unseeing eyes as Laura rapidly withdrew her right hand claws from his heart.

She moved her left foot slightly and kicked upwards and sideways.

The foot blade protruded and slit the neck of male cylon who had been standing beside the one Laura had just terminated. There was an arterial spray on blood on the wall as the cylon's body slowly crumbled.

Then Laura's went to her knees as one of the cylons finally loaded his weapon; but he never got to use it because there was a sudden excruciating pain in his abdomen as Laura rammed both hand blades into his middle abdomen, severing his abdominal aorta and causing massive bleeding some of which splashed on her face.

He was dead before he hit the floor.

Laura was already moving on to the next target; she propelled her body upright rapidly as the target tried to bring the gun round to aim at her.

She retracted her blades as she grabbed his head and rapidly turned it 360 degrees, there was an audible crack as the second and third cervical vertebra of the Number Five cylon before her was broken which resulted in the traumatic severing of the spinal cord.

Then Laura felt a blow on the side of her chest; she took a step sideways from the force of the gunshot. She turned just in time to see blades protrude from the chest of a Number Five who was still pointing a gun at her.

The male cylon fell to reveal Logan standing with bloodied blades.

There was now one cylon alive and he was lying on the floor, pinned down by one of the centurions that Logan had decapitated. A weapon lay far away from his right hand.

He was rapidly speaking aloud as if into an invisible comm. device.

"Change ammo to armour piercing Cavil! Change it now..." Laura walked quickly towards him and before Logan could say a word she retracted her claws and backhanded the Number Five.

Aaron's eyes rolled up in his eyes as he descended into darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Q Junior came and stood beside Logan as Laura walked towards a male cylon in the corner.

Taking down the centurions had not been as hard as he expected but he reminded himself not to get cocky; they still had a long way to go.

He took in the grim scene around them and swallowed nervously. He had known what Logan and Laura were capable of; but seeing it in action was another thing entirely.

Q Junior looked up as he heard Laura hitting someone. Instantly he looked at his tricorder and saw that there was a life-sign still near them.

He looked at Laura's bloodied face with a slightly stunned expression on his face.

"He was defenceless," she said in a slightly irritated and hurt voice.

"Ah...okay; you alright? That's a lot of blood," said Q Junior tentatively.

Laura wiped some of the blood away. "Yeah; I'm fine. We've got a problem though," she looked at her father "that one was saying something about armour piercing bullets."

Logan nodded, he had heard as well.

"Get the others."

"Yes captain," said Q Junior as he ran back to get the rest of their team.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

D'anna had never prayed so much in her life for the safety of the male cylon child. Part of her told her to give up as by now he must be dead.

Even one advanced 'rifle' was not enough to withstand the force of 20 centurions and 7 Number Five cylons; who were the most militant and the strongest of the cylon line.

D'anna saw Kara slowly stand up, she was still looking around the corner.

"Hall is secure," said Kara in a slightly awed voice as she backed away from where she had been standing.

Anders heard the odd tone in his wife's voice. "Kara, you okay?"

She never got a chance to answer because someone came around the corner at that point.

"Hey guys, it's clear but we have to move fast," said Q Junior as he turned the corner. D'anna's shock was so great that she thought she was having a heart attack.

How had three of them stopped a force 9 times their number?

"But we think by now the cylons know we have body armour," continued Q Junior oblivious of D'anna's thoughts.

Kara and Anders shared a significant look.

"It will be armour piercing bullets next," said Caprica grimly.

Q Junior nodded solemnly. "We have to leave now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Caprica failed to hide her surprise and dismay at the destruction in the corridor.

While she wanted to escape the basestar...she had not thought it would be this brutal. The brief look she had as they ran down the hall was sure to give her nightmares for a long time.

She glanced quickly at D'anna; the female cylon looked like she already in a nightmare. Baltar and Novacek also had stunned expressions on their faces.

While Anders and Thrace looked grimly pleased by the results.

"Think they will send more after us?" she heard Anders say.

Kara stared at the destruction. "Definitely and they will be more in number."

"Not to talk about the flight deck we are heading to," said Laura. The young girl looked so calm despite the amount of blood on her face and chest.

Caprica was certain that blood did not belong to the female teen; she looked too well to have lost that much and still be moving steadily.

"Heads up people; we're got two groups near us; 1st group is 30 centurions and 12 humanoid cylons 110 metres directly ahead and there is a small group of 30 centurions and 5 cylons who will be coming down a corridor on our left hand side which is 90 metres ahead in less than 4 minutes," announced Q Junior solemnly as he looked at his tricorder.

"Move faster!" yelled Logan, he looked backwards as he popped his claws once more. Laura was running beside him easily matching his speed.

Caprica and the others took one look at his bloodied face and found themselves picking up the pace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX

Cavil and the others had picked up Aaron's frenzied message; more importantly, his chilling scream at the end before it was cut off abruptly had obviously unsettled them

They had shared stunned looks before running to the Number Five's last reported position.

What they saw almost made Cavil throw up.

Never had he seen so much carnage; it looked and smelt like a butcher shop in the midst of a pieces of centurions.

"Who or what is capable of this?" muttered Natalie in dismay; Leoben was busy being sick in the corner.

"Sir." Cavil turned to face a gold centurion.

"Number Five copy, Aaron Doral is alive but unconscious."

The Number One walked to the unconscious form of his cylon brother; he was pinned under a centurion who had been decapitated.

"Transport him to the medical bay at once."

"By your command," said the gold centurion before walking away.

Cavil found his hand shook slightly as he changed the ammo clip of his handgun.

"Alert anyone you can reach to instruct the centurions to change to armour piercing bullets," he looked up to see his fellow cylons staring at him with no small amount of fear."

"Move out! They can't be far!" snapped the cylon leader.

Natalie stared at him for a moment before moving on. She had seen his fear and now felt it as well.

What in the name of the One God had come on board their basestar ?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

Kara tried peeping round the corner again as Logan, Laura and Q Junior charged the next batch of centurions and cylons.

She had to duck back rapidly as shots flew too close to her head.

"Trying to get yourself killed Starbuck?" asked D'anna dryly as she too tried to take a peep.

"I assure you; resurrection will not bring you back."

Kara ignored her while she tried to look again; so far she had seen Logan and Laura get shot twice but considering the way they were moving, maybe the bullets had not been changed...Kara's mind froze as she saw several centurions rapidly modify their in-built hand guns.

Even from where she was; she knew those barrels were bigger.

"Oh shit!" she yelled as she pulled D'anna down.

Kara heard Q Junior yell a warning as the sound of the gun battle got louder.

The enemy was now using armour piercing bullets.

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The Number Three was shocked when Kara pulled her to the floor and it was just in time because large holes appeared in the wall where D'anna had been sitting against.

She barely had time to absorb the fact that the colonial pilot had saved her life because Anders appeared to be shouting something very important.

"We're got contacts on our rear! Stay low!"

D'anna looked and sure enough behind them was a group of centurions and cylons, they were approximately 60 metres away. A quick head count revealed there were roughly 30 centurions and maybe 6 or 5 Number five cylons who were behind metal soldiers.

The centurions sighted her and Caprica at the same time; they quickly modified their guns to scimitars.

Standard procedure when trying to rescue cylons from the enemy.

Maybe she and Caprica would get out of this alive after all.

Surely the colonials and escaping prisoners knew their best chance at survival was surrendering at once.

The guns that Anders and Kara had could not withstand the onslaught of the centurions.

Then Anders fired the first shot and everyone saw a centurion's head get blown to bits.

D'anna watched her illusion of superiority collapse as Anders remorselessly mowed down the centurions in rapid succession.

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Daniel's first thought when he left the cells was that he had made a big mistake; this had to be some sort of trick.

Then 'Captain Logan' and two of his team took on the first group of centurions and cylons. He had not seen the fight but he had definitely stared at the aftermath.

At that point; he began to wonder that maybe this was a real rescue attempt.

Now they were sandwiched between two attacking groups.

Daniel had thought; yeah this was how a real rescue attempt would end up...with him dying in a hail of bullets or being cut down by the scimitar blades of the centurions.

The odd thing was that he welcomed it; he was tired of being a prisoner.

However when Anders started shooting down centurions (who are notoriously hard to bring down); he began to have a glimmer of hope.

He suddenly recalled the weapons the dead Number Fives had and regretted not picking one up.

If they lived through this ; he was not going to make that mistake again.

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Baltar watched in shock as Anders and Kara stayed on one knee each and continuing firing at the oncoming centurions.

The colonial pilots were destroying them; the centurions kept their scimitars active , probably because they did not want to harm the cylons.

Come to think of it; the scientist had never heard of a centurion harming a cylon.

He glanced at the two female cylons and was shocked to see Caprica was holding D'anna to the floor.

It looked like the Number Three was trying but failing to get up from the floor.

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When D'anna saw Kara and Anders concentrate on the approaching group she had wanted to run in the opposite direction to ensure Q Junior was okay.

She had heard his shout of alarm and was certain the young cylon male had been harmed or worse.

D'anna never got far because Caprica slammed her down to the floor and practically lay on top of her.

"What are you doing?!" yelled D'anna over the gun fire " I need to keep Q safe !"

Caprica grimaced; by the One God her Number Three sister was strong. "You go round that corner and they will kill you as well!"

D'anna tried to answer as a shot went over their heads. Both female cylons covered their heads as debris fell on them.

They looked forward, the two colonials were now crouched very low but still firing.

The enemy was now less than 30 metres away and the male cylons were shooting from behind the centurions. However due to the fact that they could not see their targets clearly; they were shooting blindly over the heads of the centurions.

D'anna and Caprica shared a scared look.

They were definitely between a rock and a very hard place.

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Q Junior had just shot down one centurion when he saw the grey robots modify their gun barrels. One of them aimed at Laura's back.

The female teen mutant was busy ripping one of the centurions apart and did not notice the change.

"No!" shouted Q Junior as he quickly moved into the line of fire.

The centurion pulled the trigger and there was a very loud report as the several bullets were fired in rapid succession.

Each armour piercing bullet impacted the extra-solid form of Q Junior's holographic form and shattered.

The centurion paused as if it was stunned that the shooting had no effect on the 'human' in-front of it.

"My turn," hissed an irate Q Junior as he pressed the trigger spot on the phaser rifle; a short phase shot blew a wide hole in the chest of the centurion.

Q Junior now turned on the remaining centurions and kept firing; from the corner of his eye he saw Logan take multiple shots in the chest.

His chest armour was penetrated after the first three shots.

The male mutant staggered back; his chest now a mess of blood and flesh.

"Logan!" cried Laura in alarm as she stood over a centurion who had been hewn into two by her claws.

Logan dropped to one knee then looked up; an expression of rage on his face.

"Keep firing!" yelled one of the surviving Number Eight cylons who had been firing from behind the remaining centurions "he's down so concentrate on the others..."her voice trailed off when Logan suddenly stood up and dived towards her.

She had a clear view of the insane light in his eyes and heard his roar as his claws sliced through the centurion in front of her.

Then he was up close and she felt a sharp pain in her chest; she looked down in shock at the claws that had been rammed into the left side of her chest.

As her life-blood began to leave her; she stared up in wonder at the lacerations on his face; they were closing up and appeared to be healing rapidly.

"What...are...you?" said the Number Eight before she died.

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Logan retracted his claws quickly and turned to see Q Junior stand in the way of another centurion who was firing towards Laura.

The girl was fighting off two centurions who had approached with scimitars.

Then Logan heard gunfire; it sounded suspiciously like FNP90s.

Kara and company were in trouble.

Logan quickly assessed their current situation as he rapidly dispatched two more cylons who were trying to load their weapons.

They still had approximately 12 hostiles to terminate; Kara needed help now.

"Q!"yelled Logan.

The lad shot another two centurions as he looked up.

"Kara's in trouble! Take Laura with you and help them now!"

Instead of replying Q turned to him with the weapon and shot 5 times in quick succession. It took a few seconds before the captain realized Q was not aiming at him. He looked behind him to see the last 5 centurions down; their heads blown off.

"Yes captain!" said Q Junior before looking at Laura as she finished a cylon who was trying to reload his weapon. She looked up and took off after him without a word.

Logan turned to the remaining enemy; they were four Number Five male cylons who had just reloaded their semi-automatic weapons.

They started firing but Logan had moved faster and they had fired at an empty spot. With adrenaline flowing through his body; Logan's considerable speed was increased and he hit the first Number Five sideways.

The force and mode of attack was enough to snap the male cylon's neck; he was dead before he hit the ground.

Logan moved on to the second male cylon and rammed his claws into his chest. As the body slid to the floor; the remaining two opened fire.

The bullets penetrated and tore the remaining body armour and penetrated the skin and muscles.

This time Logan stood as the bullets impacted against the adamantium frame and shattered.

Both male cylons stared at him in shock after emptying their clips.

They were transfixed by the injuries on his chest.

Injuries that should have killed him; but were now healing at an astonishing rate and even as they stood there; they could see parts of the shattered bullets protrude from the skin on the chest.

As if the healing tissue was pushing the bullet fragments out.

"What the frak...?" began one of the Number Fives in a frightened whisper that was drowned out by Logan's roar as he charged them and rammed his claws into their hearts.

Both male cylons 'died' at almost the same time.

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Kara felt an odd calm as she kept firing at the approaching enemy.

She could see the bodies of the centurions had slowed the survivors a bit; but they were determined to reach Kara and her small group.

All that stood between the prisoners of war and death was the accuracy of the two colonials firing at the enemy.

The centurions were down to roughly half their number now; but she was more concerned about the cylons firing from behind the grey robots.

Their random shots were getting closer.

Then one of the centurions suddenly had it's chest blown to pieces; exposing a stunned male cylon behind. Anders quickly shot the Number Five in the chest.

Kara didn't blink as Q Junior dropped down beside her on one knee and started delivering centurion head shots with his phaser rifle.

The hologram apparently did not like to waste any shots.

Laura stayed behind the three shooters; her claws out.

The girl was smart enough to know that getting in the way of the three would hamper the accuracy of the three shooters. She was there to watch their six in case more of the enemy passed Logan.

Somehow; she doubted that would happen.

In less than a minute; the hall was filled with silence as the last centurion was stopped at less than 10 feet from their defensive position.

There was now a sizable pile of centurion body parts lying over the bodies of the male cylons.

Laura turned suddenly as she heard approaching footsteps; she relaxed a bit when Logan turned the corner.

Caprica gasped at the state of his chest body armour.

It had been ripped away to reveal a muscular upper torso covered with drying blood. Though the Number Six looked closely she could see no sign of injury on the flawlessly sculptured masculine chest.

Part of her wondered whose blood it was while the other part marvelled at his physique.

Her hold loosened on D'anna who scrambled up quickly and approached Q Junior with a frantic look in her eyes.

She ignored Laura who tensed as if expecting an attack.

"Are you hurt?" she reached out to touch the young boy. Q Junior gave her an alarmed look and stepped back wards, moving closer to the pile of destroyed centurions.

"Eh; I'm okay...why are you...?"

His voice trailed off as he realized D'anna was staring at something over his shoulder.

"No! Don't shoot!" shouted the Number Three as she quickly shoved the startled male teen aside and put her body between Q Junior and the figure rising from the pile of centurions and cylons.

Three shots rang out in rapid succession.

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Evan was a Number Five and he had met up with four other male copies as they organized an attack force of 30 centurions.

There was no way the infiltrators would get past them.

He quickly checked each cylon had changed their ammo to armour-piercing rounds; then the group set for the last reported co-ordinates of the intruders.

Less than two minutes into their movement; he got an urgent inter-link message from a Number Eight.

Her group had engaged the enemy just 120metres from the entrance to the flight deck.

Evan quickly made a tactical decision to attack the intruders from the back; hemming them in and preventing any chance of escape.

They had found the rear of the intruders all right; but he had not expected the effect of the weapons they carried.

He watched in horror as centurion after centurion fell; and then it was the turn of his brothers.

Evan had ducked and kept silent as pieces of a centurion fell on him; before going to ground he had seen a young male join the two firing humans.

The weapon the new arrival carried had taken out 10 of the centurions in less than 15 seconds.

When the guns fell silent; Evan tried to quiet his breathing as the enemy looked at the destruction they had wrought.

He had to take out the youngest fighter who could not be more than 14 yrs or at least 15years old. That fighter was the most dangerous as far as he could tell.

Evan waited until the boy stood up and turned his back.

Then the Number Five erupted from the debris; his finger already pressing on the trigger of his handgun.

Evan had clearly not expected D'anna to step in the path of the bullets and each of his shots hit her point blank in the chest.

The Number Five stared at her in shock for a brief moment before he heard a shot and then felt two powerful blows to his chest. He looked at an enraged brown haired man who had been kneeling beside the female blonde during the fire-fight.

Evan looked down at his chest as his knees gave way; the last thing he saw was Caprica and the teenage shooter kneeling beside the body of D'anna.

Then Evan knew nothing more.

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Q Junior heard D'anna cry out in alarm and he forgot to phase as she shoved him aside roughly. He almost stumbled but he turned in time to see the figure of a male cylon rise from the debris and shoot D'anna in the chest three times.

The cylon appeared stunned by what he had done; but before he could say a word; Anders pulled his hand gun and shot him in the chest twice.

Q Junior dropped to his knees in shock; D'anna was coughing blood as her front shirt showed an enlarging red spot.

The female cylon had been hurt badly.

He automatically pulled out his tricorder and began to scan her chest.

"Shattered sternum; lacerations to the pulmonary veins and also to the arch of the aorta...and a punctured left lung," he shook his head and looked up to a grave Logan who was now standing beside him.

"I can't heal her with this; I will need the medical bay of the Xavier like right now!"

"Don't...worry about me," said the Number Three weakly; she then had to stop speaking as that simple act made her cough up blood.

"Why did you step in–front? There was no need," asked the confused male teenager.

She tried to speak again when the coughing fit stopped. The Number Three reached out to touch Q Junior's face. The worried teen did not move again this time.

"You...you are the future...must keep you and Hera safe."

Q Junior paled as he realized what D'anna was implying. "I..."

But the female cylon had removed her bloodied hand from his cheek and used it to grip Caprica's hand.

"Get them off the basestar...protect the children...Q and Hera.

Only way...we can have peace with...Earth...with our fellow cylons."

Anders and Kara shared a worried look; behind them Daniel and Baltar listened attentively.

There was an odd light in Novacek's eyes at the Number Three's words; he suddenly felt someone was watching him and turned to see Laura was observing him with a cold look in her eyes.

Caprica found herself crying; even though she knew the Three would only be resurrected again.

"I was hoping you would come with us D'anna."

The Number Three smiled weakly; she knew the end was near. "Not this time...I...need to watch Cavil.

Besides I always wanted...new knees..." then she closed her eyes and died.

Logan stared at the body before him.

"We have to go now."

There was no time to mourn the female cylon...especially when she was going to wake up in a few minutes.

Anders replaced the empty clip on his semi-automatic. "Definitely; they are bound to try grenade launchers next time."

Logan nodded as he gently tapped Q Junior on the shoulder.

The poor lad looked a bit shocked and guilty at D'anna's demise.

"Q; where do we go from here?"

Q Junior looked at him for a moment; then blinked for a few moments before looking at the tricorder part of his phaser rifle.

"We're close to the flight deck; but it's got lots of centurions and cylons."

"What's the energy reserve on your phaser like?" asked Logan.

Q Junior checked. "79 percent battery power remaining; ready for a lot more sir."

"I have an idea on how to get to a raider while reducing the risk of another fire-fight," said Caprica firmly as she stood up from the dead body of her cylon sister.

Logan stared at her. "Let's hear it."

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Oma glanced at the readings; so far so good not a single raider had been seen on the way back to the cylon territory.

"Can't we go any faster?" asked the blonde male colonial pilot beside her.

The female ensign gritted her teeth to refrain from lashing out. Oma was worried and very tense. She so wished she could go faster but she had to remain the current speed of the disguised shuttle so as not to raise any alarms.

"No, we can't" she said as calmly as possible " besides remember what I said about not talking?

We're supposed to be a raider piloted by a centurion; who is not known for conversation...so please keep silent until we get the away team on board!"

Rogers held up two hands in a placating manner and mouthed the word 'sorry'.

Oma took a deep breath which failed to calm her nerves.

She was sorry for lashing out at him but there was a lot riding on this mission.

Oma just prayed they were in time.

Her sensors bleeped ; she and Rogers stared at it at the same time; they were approaching the 'cylon territory'.

Very soon; one of the basestars was visible.

Here we go.

Thought Oma to herself.

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Basestar main flight deck...

Alina looked around the deck; noting the significant number of centurions present; she watched as more were diverted towards searching the basestar for the intruders.

The Number Six copy found it hard to believe that colonial fighters had actually gotten unto the basestar without being detected.

She had heard rumours that they had entered the CIC and done something to the Hybrid! She was not certain of that last part because the basestar was still functioning even though communications between parts of the ship had been disrupted.

However that was being worked on at the moment.

Alina's thoughts returned to the present when she saw something.

A centurion jogged out of one of the corridors carrying an odd weapon; before Alina could say a word, the centurion pointed the weapon at a part of the ceiling and fired off 3 laser like shots.

The Number Six turned her head rapidly and watched each shot hit a specific area on a very large cooling tube which regulated the temperature the deck.

The shots penetrated the thick insulating cover; sparks flew and large amounts of lethal nitric oxide and cold steam began to vent into the flight deck.

Alina heard cries of alarm ; she turned to the centurion guards beside her as cylons ran from the flight deck.

"Destroy him!" she pointed in the general direction of the 'odd' centurion who had to be an intruder. It's position was now hidden by the mixture of nitric oxide and steam that was filling up the flight deck.

That did not matter to the centurions who began to fire into the haze of steam and nitric oxide smoke.

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Logan heard the shots.

"That's the signal, now move!"

The small group ran out into the haze which was now everywhere; they stayed close together behind Caprica.

All except Logan and Laura were holding their breath; as long as they got to the raider quickly, they would be fine.

So they hoped.

Laura tried not to worry about Q Junior; he had to get to the raider on time.

The plan involved him creating the diversion then using the tricorder part of his rifle to locate Logan and the rest of the team so as to join them on the raider.

Laura resisted coughing as the noxious gas entered her lungs and damaged the tissue lining ; her healing factor kicked in as she heard a shot go off close to them.

The female teen heard Anders cry out in pain and alarm as he fell to the floor. Laura looked at where the shot came from; one of the centurions was shooting randomly and had hit them by accident.

But Anders' cry had alerted it to their position; it quickly advanced into the haze and tried to approach their position.

However it came to a complete stop when Laura silently ran towards it, slashed at it's knees then as it's height was shortened she cut it's head off.

Laura turned and now realized she had been cut off from the others; she tried to look through the whitish haze and was suddenly startled when someone grabbed her right shoulder.

Laura tried to slice of the hand and was at first stunned when her blades phased through the hand.

"Hey! I was only trying to help!" said an irritated unharmed Q Junior who materialized out of the smoke.

Laura could not help but smile with relief.

"Come on; we're got a raider to catch!" said Q Junior as he solidified and pulled at her arm.

The female teen followed him without a word.

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Logan was beginning to worry when the two teens suddenly materialized from the smoke.

When Anders got shot in the right thigh; he had been sure they had been discovered. Logan and Daniel had carried the injured colonial officer between the two of them as Baltar and Kara kept pace behind them.

It was when they got to the cylon raider that Logan realized Laura was missing.

He began to curse when he realized the girl must have silenced the centurion that had shot Anders. Just as Logan was about to dive back into the smoky haze which still had centurions shooting randomly, the two teens appeared.

"You're on time," said Logan dryly hiding his relief as the two ran up the ramp.

He hit the door switch and it closed quickly.

"Laura, ride as co-pilot with Six; Q help me with Anders. He's been shot."

The boy immediately brought out his tricorder. Daniel had already ripped the lower part of his shirt and was using it as a tourniquet.

The former POW tensed as Q Junior approached him.

"Relax Mr Novacek, I'm not a cylon," said Q Junior with a small smile as he scanned Ander's thigh.

"He's right sir," said Anders to the suspicious former POW "Q Junior is not a cylon; he's a hologram."

Daniel looked at Anders as if he had lost his mind.

Q Junior tried not to sigh as he located the site of bleeding; fortunately the armour piercing bullet wound had been through and through.

It had not hit any major blood vessels but the right femur had a hairline fracture.

He found himself admiring the pilot's pain tolerance.

"Can you fix him?" asked an anxious Kara; she had been keeping an eye on Caprica but when Laura slid into the co-pilot seat, the female pilot decided she could now check on her injured husband.

"I will fix this as much as I can until we get back to the Xavier; but he needs painkillers..."

Anders was already shaking his head. "No; I need to be awake."

Q Junior wanted to argue but he didn't really have time; even though no major blood vessels had been hit the pilot was still bleeding significantly.

"I'll try not to make it hurt." the raptor began to move and he steadied himself as Caprica lifted off.

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Caprica did the fastest pre-flight check she had ever done and soon initiated lift off; she ignored the fact that Laura had slid into the seat beside her and was observing her closely.

It took a few seconds before she got an enquiry from whoever was manning the communication sector.

"Raider Zelta-427; you are not cleared for take off."

Caprica cleared her throat and answered quickly as she picked up speed.

"This is Natalie of Six; I have received a report that the intruders have already left the basestar. I am in pursuit."

"But...but I have been monitoring and received no report of such kind!" protested the communication officer.

Six sighed. "Well I had to try."

The voice on the other end suddenly became suspicious. "Who is this?"

Caprica turned it off and raised her voice.

"Every one! Buckle up! It's about to get turbulent!"

She glanced sideways to see Laura obey her instructions but the female teen kept her eyes on the cylon at all times.

Six shook her head slightly; it was going to take a lot before they trusted her completely.

Frankly she was surprised they were letting her fly them out of the basestar.

Six pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind as she targeted the closed doors of the flight deck.

She fired several shots as she flew at the shattered doors ; there was a significant loud noise as the raider punched through the ruined doors.

Behind her; Kara stared at the head of the female cylon in surprise.

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Cavil was getting more concerned; two groups had stated they were about to engage the enemy; but no one had heard a whisper from them for the past 5 minutes.

What the frak was going on?

Cavil stopped suddenly as a frantic Number One communication officer informed him that one of the raiders had suddenly taken off and shot the flight deck doors to pieces before punching through.

Cavil spent precious seconds swearing before he could gather his thoughts.

"Darren; initiate special order 24."

He heard the Number One copy gasp in dismay.

"But, but we have not completed the tests..."

"Do it now Darren!" shouted Cavil.

"What the frak is special order 24?" asked a suspicious looking Natalie.

Cavil fought the temptation not to shoot her and answered in a barely civil tone.

"The best chance of us destroying those idiots if the ship of the Thirteenth Tribe is nearby."

"But what of the child?" asked a stunned Leoben "she is still important!"

Cavil glared at him. "Not any longer," then he walked off before anyone could say more.

Leoben and Natalie looked at the other cylons; all including Boomer refused to acknowledge their pleading expressions.

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Logan felt himself pushed back in his seat as Caprica flew them out of the basestar.

"I need co-ordinates if I am to jump this vessel to a safe place," said Kara over her shoulder.

Logan looked at Q Junior and nodded. The male teenager had already done a lot on Ander's injury and the colonial pilot looked much better.

Q Junior stood up and walked up to the cockpit.

"The co-ordinates are..."

His voice was drowned out by sensor warnings; before he could ask what was going on, Caprica started shouting.

"Hold on!" The female cylon suddenly turned the controller sharply right

Q Junior instantly gripped the back of Laura's seat as a force slammed into the left side of the raider.

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5 cylon raiders were bearing down on the escaping Zelta-427; the first shot went wide but the following attacks came closer to the ship thus causing the sudden change in the direction of the single chased raider.

The other raiders commenced firing as soon as they were in range and most shots came quite close as the targeted rogue raider executed death defying turns and glides so as to avoid the deadly shots.

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"Were we hit?!" yelled Kara.

"Not yet from the sound of it!" answered Logan as the craft shook around them. Suddenly electronic panels began to shower sparks as another shot delivered a glancing blow to the raider.

"Can you jump now!?" asked a worried Q Junior.

"No!" shouted Caprica as she tried to keep an eye on her flying. The readouts indicated that the shots were getting nearer and nearer and that more raiders were being deployed from the nearest basestar.

She could not outrun them for long.

It looked like they would have been safer on board the damn basestar !

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Basestar CIC...

Cavil ran into the crowded control information centre; he quickly motioned someone out of the way so that he could observe the DRADIS.

The escaping raider had been outlined in red while the pursuing raiders were blue in colour.

"Can we not just capture them? " asked an out of breath Leoben who had run after the Number One.

Cavil did not turn round. "One more word Conoy and you will be resurrecting shortly...along with D'anna."

The male cylon kept quiet; he knew what that meant.

Before getting to the CIC; they had received reports that D'anna's body had been found. No one was entirely sure on who had shot the female cylon.

Most suspected the intruders had done it.

They just had to wait until she resurrected.

"Why do the raiders keep missing?" asked an irate Number One "I know their targeting system is a lot better than that!"

He looked at Darren who looked very flustered.

"I know that too Cavil; but they keep reporting back that there are cylons on the Zelta-427."

Cavil gave his cylon brother a sharp look.

Natalie frowned. "I thought D'anna and Caprica were the only ones taken by this group...D'anna is currently in the datastream so who else besides Six do they mean?"

"Maybe they mean Sharon," contributed Boomer " she's still a cylon."

"But apart from you; we haven't seen any evidence of Sharon coming on board this basestar; besides the child may be on that ship. We should not kill her," said Natalie.

Cavil felt his hand going to his gun and stopped; it took a lot for him to restrain from shooting the Number Six.

He turned instead to Darren. "Give me the communicator."

His brother handed it to him without another word.

"Initiate program directive obey-without-question-139Z." The order was broadcast to all raiders pursuing the rogue raider.

"What?" asked a suspicious Natalie.

"Destroy Zelta-427," continued Cavil.

"Cavil, what are you doing?!" shouted Leoben; he shut up when the Number One turned and pointed a gun at him.

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Inside one of the raiders; it tried to bring it's guns to bear but was finding it difficult each time to aim properly.

It's sensors were telling it's brain that there were two important cylons inside and that they should not be harmed but at the same time the raider had orders to kill the occupants of the ship.

As the raider's organic and electronic brain struggled with the conflicting orders; a new order came through triggering the recently downloaded directives that a certain Number One had created a few days ago.

"Initiate program directive obey-without-question-139Z; destroy Zelta-427."

The raiders single red roving eye began fixed and it proceeded to carry out it's mission.

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Anders had the strong urge to be sick as the ship shook uncontrollably again.

"Can't we fire at those frakkers?!"

"Weapons are offline!" shouted Q Junior; he was still standing behind Laura's seat. Somehow he had been able to keep standing; then Anders looked down and saw that the boy's feet had disappeared into the floor.

He was doing that weird 'phasing' thing again.

Anders opened his mouth to ask another question when Caprica cursed loudly.

"What the frak is that raider doing?!"

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Another raider joined the growing number of cylons craft that were chasing the rogue raider but instead of firing it simply picked up speed until it was level with the targeted the raider.

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Cavil looked at the DRADIS screen.

"Who is flying that raider?" he pointed at the blue dot which was now beside the red dot.

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Caprica tried to move away from the raider as the other kept pace; then something strange started happening.

First she had an odd sound like muffled tiny bells ringing then she looked sideways to see Q Junior and Laura were covered with twirling white light.

Caprica looked down to see it happening to her as well as the raider exploded around her.

Then she was somewhere else that was very strange to her.

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"Cavil; the raiders' collective sensors are picking up an odd energy pattern from the second raider beside the one we're targeting ," shouted Darren from his own readout.

Cavil suddenly had an idea who may be in the second 'raider'.

"Shoot it down! Shoot it down now!" yelled the Number One into the communicator.

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Oma still had the shields down when the side of the shuttle was hit by a glancing shot from an approaching raider.

She bit her lower lip and she concentrated on the transporter; she just had one more person to 'bring over'; she had to do it now before the person's pattern was lost completely.

Then she energized the patterns she had collected from the fleeing raider which was now in pieces.

"Computer resume shields!" she shouted as the ship suffered a second hit.

The sound of transporter working was barely heard as eight figures materialized in the centre of the shaking shuttle.

Five of them she recognized; the other three were complete strangers.

She was stunned when a frightened Kara brought up her weapon to fire.

"Oma! I need your help here," called Rogers without looking back.

After a very quick lesson on the controls; he had been keeping the ship's course steady while Oma tried to beam the crew of the rogue raider on board.

Roger's voice stopped Kara from pressing the trigger

Logan put his hand on the female pilot's gun and lowered it.

"Oma; you still have your centurion form on."

"Oh so sorry about that!" said the female ensign as she quickly shut off the emitter "get seated now please," she turned made her way back to the cockpit and sat down taking the controls from Rogers.

Q Junior quickly sat in another seat with the communications array and sensors.

Laura somehow got Rogers to vacate his current seat; the reason for it was obvious. That station was responsible for tactical and weapons.

Logan looked at Oma and Rogers; he had specifically told one not to come back and the other that this mission did not need him at this point.

And now they were getting their asses saved by the very two he had ordered to stay put.

Talk about the ironies of life.

"Eh Oma; you might want to get us out of here like right now," said a worried Q Junior "because I believe the cylons now know what we really look like."

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Cavil was at first speechless when the second 'raider' was hit and changed into a strange looking ship.

It did not look like the Xavier but he was certain it came from it.

He snatched up the communicator again when he noticed the second shot barely hit the shuttle this time. The blasted thing must have shields like it's mother ship.

"Raiders initiate jump attack. I repeat initiate jump attack now!"

Natalie and Leoben shared a worried look; somehow those orders sounded very worrying.

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Oma looked at the sensor; the one shot that had hit the side of the shuttle when the shields were down had taken the shuttle's warp drive offline and damaged part of the weapons.

"I can't believe this; weapons offline here too?!" asked Laura angrily.

Oma tried not to sign and was about to increase the impulse speed when a sensor went off on Q's station.

"Wait; it's saying a raider is about to appear...within our shields in..." his voice almost trailed off before he began to shout frantically "Oma! Bank hard left now!"

The urgency in his voice had her obeying before her mouth opened to ask the question 'why'.

Suddenly she felt the shuttle shake violently as a raider 'appeared' on the right side of the shuttle and exploded.

Panels exploded and sparks flew in the cockpit.

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Natalie was standing close to the DRADIS and saw one of the raider execute a 'jump' which stopped very close to the odd ship.

She frowned not believing what she had just seen; it appeared that the raider had tried to jump into the same space the odd ship located.

Then the raider exploded spectacularly...the readings indicated an exceptionally high radiation reading.

What type of nukes had it been carrying?

Other raiders began to copy the first raider.

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Oma felt a sense of déjà vu as she used her abilities to stop herself from hitting the controls in front of her.

"Shield status!" she heard herself yell.

"Down to 87 percent! Readings indicate they detonated an anti-matter nuke onboard the raider when they tried to jump into our shields!" yelled Q Junior.

Oma hid her horror at his words.

"I'm picking up more sub-space disturbances! They are going to try this again !

Oma ; move when I tell you, do not hesitate!" said the male ensign anxiously.

Oma barely nodded as Q Junior quickly gave her a direction to move to.

The ship shook violently again as another raider exploded on the left side this time.

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Cavil watched the view-screen this time; the odd ship was trying to dodge the 'suicidal' cylon raiders. Each time the raiders were getting closer; soon they would eventually succeed.

The Number One always knew that the anti-matter would come in handy one day; maybe this display would finally convince the others of it's importance.

"You're using anti-matter with nukes," muttered Leoben in horror " we took a vote not to use it until we understood it better and you did this without telling us!?"

Cavil sighed, counted to 5 slowly and turned round to face his brother.

"Considering how the Xavier easily blew up one of our basestars; you should see this as a vast improvement in our defence abilities.

Now please keep quiet; before you really piss me off."

Cavil turned back to the view screen before the Number Two could say a word.

Leoben frowned and made to moved forward only for Natalie to touch his arm and shake her head slowly.

The look in her eyes said it all.

Wait.

Leoben joined his fellow cylons on watching the one-sided battle on the view-screen.

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Oma lost count of the number of hits they sustained as she tried to avoid the exploding raiders.

"Shields are down to 55 percent!" shouted Laura. She had taking over ship's status while Q Junior concentrated on using the sensors to predict where the raiders jumped from.

Oma bit her lower lip; she was not going to crash or destroy another shuttle; then she realized the impulse speed was reducing.

"Q! Impulse is slowing; I think the last explosion may have damaged the drive!"

"You're right," said Q Junior " but if I stop giving you directions; one of those raiders is going to jump into us!"

"We need a diversion!" said Oma as she noticed a large odd looking cylindrical structure that was close to the centre of the basestars.

Earlier on she had noticed there were only three ships of it in the area.

"Get the weapons online and I'll give you a diversion!" said Laura.

The hologram instead shouted another direction at Oma; she moved the ship quickly and was able to stay further away from two exploding raiders.

"Q; is that cylinder like ship important to the cylons?" asked Oma.

Q stole a look at her. "Yeah; it's a resurrection ship; it's very important to them. Why do you ask?"

Oma felt the ship shake violently as the shockwave of raiders reached them.

"Cause I have an idea," Oma checked and saw the tractor beam was still online she did a quick calculation and then turned the shuttle and began to go after one of the raiders.

"What are you doing?" cried Laura in alarm.

"Trust me!" said Oma as she attached a tractor beam to one raider which was carrying an anti-matter nuke then she turned the ship round quickly and used the tractor beam to sling-shoot the raider towards the cylindrical ship.

Oma cut the beam at the last moment and the raider spun straight for the resurrection ship.

The viewscreen showed the raider spinning uncontrollably as it tried and failed to control it's flight. It ended up hitting one end of the resurrection ship.

The anti-matter nuke on board the raider exploded as the raider impacted with the resurrection ship; within moments the whole structure was catching fire and exploding.

Instantly the raiders that had been attacking almost came to a complete stop.

"There's your diversion!" said Oma as she quickly looked at Q but the hologram was already at work. His arms were phased into the wall of the ship as he frantically tried to fix the warp drive.

"Oh God in heaven," cried Caprica in shock ; her eyes fixed on the viewscreen as the resurrection ship kept exploding.

"What have you done?!"

Beside her Kara and Anders were smiling broadly.

Even if they died; they were going to take a lot of cylons with them.

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Cavil went numb with shock when one of the resurrection ships exploded.

That was not possible; this could not be happening, he barely registered when Natalie took the communicator and was talking.

"All raider units pull back and defend the remaining resurrection ships now."

Cavil returned to the present and tried to snatch the communicator from her; he was stopped when he saw the weapon she was pointing in his direction.

"You devised a deadly weapon that was just used against us; we will not risk the safety of the remaining resurrection ships because of your need for retribution."

"They will escape," said Cavil bitterly.

"For now; but later we can follow," said Natalie calmly.

On the view-screen the odd ship which had just taken out a resurrection ship suddenly vanished in a flash of light.

Cavil held his hands up and nodded as Natalie slowly lowered her weapon.

"Yes; we will follow...and next time we will succeed."

He looked at his fellow cylons and saw each of them nodding their heads slowly in agreement.

The only ones whose expressions were neutral were Leoben and Natalie.

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Oma sighed in relief when she saw the familiar view of stars streaking past; they were in warp one. That was a lot better and faster than impulse speed.

"You guys did good," said a familiar male voice "despite two of you disobeying orders." Rogers squirmed as the owner of the voice glanced at him briefly.

The three teenagers in the front of the shuttle looked up to see Logan had silently approached them.

"But without you guys we would be toast; so...well done once again.

Now how long until we get to the Xavier ?"

Laura checked her readings. "In less than 6 minutes at warp one," she glanced at Q Junior.

"Hey ! Be grateful I could fix it to give us at least warp one; push it any further and the warp drive will come off line."

"May I just say that watching the resurrection ship explode was absolutely fr...brilliant!?" said Kara cheerfully as she walked up to the cockpit.

Laura gave Oma a wry grin. "It was her idea; not bad for a rookie."

Oma felt her cheeks redden as she concentrated on her flying.

"Do you realize what you have done?" asked a distraught Caprica.

Anders had his weapon on her and was in no way moved by her distress.

Kara turned to face her with a hard look in her eyes ."Oh yes we do, we completed a mission with outstanding results."

"So...this rescue...is real," those words came from Daniel. He appeared shell shocked. Beside him Baltar was holding his head in his hands; he looked overwhelmed by the harrowing escape.

Both former POWs had watched the resurrection ship explode.

That had been unbelievable.

"Yes sir," said Anders as he respectively answered the senior lieutenant's question "you're safe now."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "I'll reserve that comment until we're back on the Xavier."

"So Ensign Q, do you know how they are tracking the fleet?" asked Kara with a worried look on her face.

Q Junior nodded solemnly. "They are using tracking devices that are embedded in the vipers and raptors that made it off Hera's planet."

"That's not possible..." started Anders then he noticed the uncomfortable look on Caprica's face "you know something about it."

"Yes she does," said Q Junior gravelly "she designed the devices."

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The Xavier; medical bay...

Jean suddenly found herself blinking.

"Dr Grey...are you alright?" she turned towards Helo's concerned voice.

"Hera; is she...?" she could not trust herself to ask but Helo smiled at her.

"She's well; you both saved her Dr Grey. We cannot thank you enough."

Jean tried to swallow through the lump in her throat. She could not remember anything!

And had Helo just said 'you both saved her '?

"I...I need to see her," said the female doctor as her senses picked up the mind of Sharon and a much younger immature mind of a female child.

Jean approached the small bio-bed to see the baby was sleeping peacefully.

Sharon was gazing at the child in wonder and there was a sheen of tears in her eyes as she looked up at the doctor who had saved their daughter's life.

Dr Grey picked up a tricorder and after hesitating for a second she scanned the child.

The observations were normal; the swollen appendix had been removed and the op-site had been healed with no scar remaining.

You truly gave your body over to me for the operation; but you didn't stay to watch! The Phoenix sounded a bit upset.

You did a great job replied Jean.

Though I am glad you approve; I would have liked you to have been there.

Being alone in your head is not fun; do not do that again!

Jean was a bit surprised at the Phoenix's attitude.

Why is it not fun?

You won't understand...not right now.

Jean was trying to think of a response when the Phoenix spoke again.

And oh Jean ? Xavier's about to tell you something; try not to take it out on him okay?

What are you talking about ?

Jean had barely completed the thought question when the ship's A.I spoke.

"Dr Grey, Ensign Kadretti and Ensign Rogers are approaching with the disguised shuttle; the rest of the away team is on board as well as three new guests."

It took a few moments before Jean realized what the AI had said.

"What!?"

Her angry shout woke up the baby who began to cry.

"I'm so sorry; I'm really sorry," apologized Jean as Helo and Sharon tried to comfort the baby.

"I'll speak to Xavier in the corridor," she quickly walked out before the couple said a word.

In the corridor Jean looked up at the ceiling; she took a deep calming breath before speaking.

"Xavier; how did Oma and Rogers get off this ship?"

"They used the disguised shuttle Dr Grey."

Jean tried not to kick herself for her stupid question. "I mean...I specifically stated she should not go and Rogers was not ready for a mission!"

She stopped because she realized she was almost shouting.

"I'm sorry it has caused you distress Dr Grey but you never did complete the order insisting that she stay.

And even if you had; you did leave her in charge."

Jean shook her head. "That's not the point! Why didn't you warn me?"

"Dr Grey; you had just begun delicate surgery; it did not seem appropriate."

The doctor rubbed her head and sighed. She laughed softly when she realized she was arguing with an A.I.

"Fine...you did the right thing not calling me at that point; it was delicate surgery," she remembered the Phoenix warning about not taking it out on the A.I. She winced.

"Sorry for yelling at you."

"No harm done Dr Grey."

Jean looked a bit surprised at it's answer then shrugged, Q Junior must have programmed it to respond appropriately...still it was a bit uncanny.

"What's their ETA?"

"They will be here in 2 minutes and 13 seconds."

"I'll inform Helo and Sharon."

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In the end Helo accompanied the doctor down to the shuttle bay while Sharon stayed to watch their daughter.

Jean noticed the extra bounce in the colonial pilot's steps; finding their daughter had changed a lot of things for the couple.

She wondered what kind of mutant ability the child would have; because she certain Hera would have a functioning ability.

As the two entered the shuttle bay; they saw the bay doors were already open for the returning shuttle.

Jean gasped in dismay as she and Helo stared in disbelief at the smaller ship.

It looked like it had gone through a hard fought space battle; part of the outer panels were missing in places and there was significant dents all over the small ship.

A worried Jean extended her senses and could feel three strange minds and also realized that one person had been injured.

The doors opened and the first person out was Rogers. He turned an outstanding red colour when he saw Dr Grey's stern expression.

He was followed by Laura and Anders who still carried his weapon as if he was about to use it. He pointed it at the entrance of the shuttle as three more people came out.

One was a beautiful blonde woman in a blood stained white pant suit; next were two thin men in shapeless white shirts with trouser.

They had a hunted look in their eyes that Jean had seen in some US vets at the military hospital where she had done her orthopaedic posting.

Those vets had been former POWs.

She was so worried about them that she almost forgot to glare at Ensign Kadretti as the female ensign exited the shuttle.

Behind her came Logan and Jean was worried again when she saw the front of his uniform had been ripped away. She walked up to him and touched his chest even though it had dried blood on it.

She knew it was his blood.

"You got hurt," it was not a question.

Logan smiled at her. "We got back okay," he glanced at Oma and Rogers " wouldn't have if not for those two.

However we've got bigger problems."

He looked up. "Xavier?"

"Welcome back captain; what are your orders?"

The three new arrivals looked up sharply at the smooth male electronic voice.

Caprica appeared stunned while Baltar was curious and Daniel was very worried.

"Set a course for the colonial fleet at maximum warp; we have to warn them."

"Understood; arrival with be in 8 hours; 12 minutes and 31 seconds."

"Warn them about what?" asked a very concerned Helo.

Logan looked at him but it was Kara who answered with a grave expression on her face.

"We found out how they are tracking the fleet and it's a lot worse then we realized."

"Also considering the fact that you just destroyed a resurrection ship, Cavil will be out for blood so yeah; I suggest you hurry," said Caprica sharply.

Helo's eyes widened as he looked at the Six then turned back to Kara.

"You did what?!"

Kara smiled tiredly. "Oh it wasn't me this time; just wait till you hear the rest of it."

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Hi everyone; sorry for the long wait; was really trying to end this chapter at the right place.

Hope you all enjoy the story. Thanks so much for all your support and reviews.

Please read and enjoy.

And this is my longest chapter ever!