Chapter 46 of the Phoenix and the Wolverine.

Cylon occupied space; Basestar…

Natalie paced up and down as she waited. Leoben should have been here minutes ago. Something must have happened.

This was unlike him; she looked at her chronometer again , she couldn't even dare call him. That would only incriminate her.

Hurrying steps made her reach for her gun as Leoben suddenly hurried into the room.

"I'm so sorry I'm late…"

"What happened ?" interrupted Natalie in a sharp tone which hid the fear she had.

Leoben held up a placating hand. "Cavil; but it's not what you think." The Number Six cylon's expression was warning him that he better have a pretty good explanation.

"Remember Hera's temple where we first ran into the Thirteenth tribe ? Cavil is convinced there are other bases out there that belong to Earth and he is certain that their co-ordinates are in the Scrolls of Kobol.

He came to my lab to ask what my progress was on the Scrolls and he spent more than an hour pointing out cryptic texts in the book of Athena."

Natalie was now intrigued. "So where's the next base ?"

Leoben gave a frustrated sigh. "I don't know but I think we are close in deciphering the text. Do you realize what this means ?"

Natalie nodded thoughtfully. "Earth's location could be at any of those bases provided they are still standing however you must delay giving the co-ordinates."

"I know that but finding Earth is important…"

"So is finding out why D'anna was boxed," cut in Natalie "you were there; she said we need to get to the Galactica to find the 'First Five' who she also referred to as our fathers and mothers." She saw the pensive expression on Leoben's face.

"What is it?"

Leoben took a long moment to reply carefully. "What if Cavil was right ? What if…D'anna was really going mad."

Natalie stared at him. "You're actually taking Cavil's side in this matter ?"

"I don't agree with his methods, he went too far with the boxing but D'anna talking about 'our fathers and mothers'? That makes no sense…"

"So how were we created ?" interrupted D'anna.

"The colonials created us all cylons know that."

Natalie was quiet for a long time. "But what if that's a lie ? What if we were created by someone else ?"

For several moments; Leoben appeared unable to answer the question. "Even if that is remotely possible; where do we go from here ?"

"We need to find the Galactica; someone on that ship knows what D'anna was talking about."

"What of her quarters?"

" I turned it upside down," replied Natalie " and there was nothing apart from her own copy of the Scrolls."

"Which the colonials also have," said Leoben in a thoughtful voice.

Natalie frowned at him. "Your point?"

"We found the Xavier crew on Hera's planet; they may already know the location of the next base and where the Xavier is; the Galactica…"

"Won't be far behind," completed Natalie "you're right; the next location is important. I take back what I said earlier, work faster but give the co-ordinates only to me."

Leoben was worried about the intense expression on Natalie's face. "What are you planning to do?"

Natalie looked out the view-port at one of the nearby basestars.

"We're going to need a basestar and a resurrection ship." Leoben opened his mouth and then shut it. He was too scared to ask what she meant by that.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

"Incoming !" yelled Q Junior as Oma ran from cover to intercept the missiles headed their way.

Good God; that had been the third volley and the enemy was getting smarter. She was able to divert most of the missiles but at least 5 snuck past her 'grasp'. Oma heard the young Q yell for everyone to get down as he grabbed her and pulled her behind an over-turned red double decker bus and also tried to shield her with his extra-dense frame.

Oma felt the ground shake as the missiles hit the ground a few feet from their shielded position; for one long moment there was a ringing sound in her ears and she could hardly see anything because of all the dust in the air.

So this is what it's like to get shelled by the enemy and she certainly wasn't enjoying it. It took a long moment before she realized that a dust and blood covered Laura was standing in front of her and Q Junior.

"You guys okay ?" The ringing in Oma's ears was subsiding but it seemed like Laura's voice was coming from far away.

"Yes," said Oma as she and Q Junior stood up. She flinched again as another shell hit the ground close to them.

"How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," answered Laura calmly as she peeped quickly without exposing herself. "Before you two dived in here; I saw that they sent for reinforcements. In less than 2 minutes we're going to be surrounded."

"So what now?" asked Q Junior; his uniform still looked clean and brand new; the perks of being a sentient hologram.

Oma tried to rearrange her thoughts. " We need to get out of this kill-zone."

"Well whatever it is you have got planned; you need to act now," warned Laura "we've got company." She was using a broken piece of a rear mirror to observe the on-coming army. The other two joined her; then Oma looked at the over-turned double decker bus and smiled grimly.

"I have an idea."

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Hidden Observation Booth…

Logan ignored the nervous colonial ensign beside him.

At 0700 hours this morning he had assembled Oma; Q Junior; Laura and Rogers on the corridor in front of the holodeck entrance.

It had been obvious that the four young people had been curious about the early start. Logan had simply ordered Oma; Laura and Q Junior into the holodeck, the three crew members looked at themselves with bemused expressions and calmly walked into the holodeck. Logan then told Rogers that he was welcome to watch.

The confused male colonial ensign had followed him to the observation deck and in seconds his confusion changed to shock before turning to horror.

What Oma; Q Junior and Laura had casually sauntered into was a warzone.

To be precise it was a danger-room simulation of the battle of London during the Eugenics War of 2012. The sun shone brightly as sky scrapers lay in ruins; bodies littered the streets of the capital of the United Kingdom as shells rained down on humans and the mutants.

Already Logan could see the three young people running to take cover.

"You sent them into that with no warning?" Logan didn't even mind Roger's raised voice.

"Yes I did," answered Logan calmly. Rogers waited as if expecting an explanation but realized after a long moment that none was forthcoming. His instincts told him to thread carefully with Captain Logan. He struck him as someone who would never harm his crew.

But he had to know.

"Sir…the safety protocols are on; aren't they?"

Logan took a long moment to answer. "In life there are no safety protocols."

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Oma braced herself against the bus; she could feel the metal vibrate beneath her fingers. Q Junior and Laura stayed behind her.

You can do this; you kept a shuttle intact through a hellish journey via an unstable wormhole. This will be a piece of cake.

The bus began to move slowly; but what she needed was speed. She had to crush the sentinels in front so that they could escape from the kill zone. Gradually the bus seemed to pick up speed; she lifted it at least a feet above the ground and felt a pressure begin to build in her head.

The sentinels as if knowing what was heading for them; began to shoot at the bus. Oma stopped the bullets from penetrating to their position; that was easy but pushing the bus was taking more effort than she expected.

"They are behind us!" warned Laura, before Oma could say a word she ran towards the sentinels at the rear.

"Laura wait!" yelled Q Junior as he ran after her.

Dammit; this plan is a disaster thought Oma as she tried to 'push' harder. The pressure in her head was building up into a lovely migraine; she ignored it as she exerted more of her power. The shooting intensified as Laura and Q Junior engaged the enemy attacking from the rear.

She missed seeing Laura using her hand and feet metallic claws to terminate three sentinels as Q Junior swiped one of their dropped semi-automatic weapons. He began to fire at the humanoid sentinels who disturbingly moved and looked identical to each other.

With a final yell; Oma gave one more push and the bus went flying into the packed approaching sentinels. She should have felt exhilaration at the accomplishment but all she felt was dread because that had taken way too long.

"Retreat ! The way is clear!" However Oma and Q Junior seemed not to hear her as they kept fighting.

She ran towards them. "Get back; we have to move out…" she was cut off as she heard a sound above them. She looked up to see 3 army helicopters and what appeared to be more humanoid sentinels rappelling out of them.

Oma cursed in Klingon and lifted her right hand to pull down the choppers but for some reason the strength of will was exhausted. She could barely move even one of the helicopters.

A sentinel landed less than 3 feet from her and took aim; Oma barely deflected the bullets as she rushed him.

She knew that they had failed but she was taking him down with her.

"End simulation."

The sentinels and the burning city of London disappeared on Logan's command.

Oma released a sigh of relief as she tried to calm her racing heart. That had been the most intense and scariest holo-deck simulation she had ever taken part it.

So this was the danger room; she shook her head and she had failed miserably on her first try.

"And it was just getting interesting," said Laura in a sardonic tone. Q Junior had a disturbed look on his face.

Oma had no time to speak as the doors opened and Logan and Ensign Rogers walked in. She noticed how the colonial ensign looked quickly at her with a concerned expression and then looked away.

Now that was worrying; ever since they got back from the press conference the day before, Oma could have sworn that the male colonial officer was avoiding her.

Something had happened on the Galactica; she was sure of that.

"Thanks for sending us in with no intel old man," said Laura in a hard voice. To say she was pissed would have been the understatement of the year.

To Oma's surprise Logan took it well. "You're right; that was a bit extreme. However the only difference between this and the mission to infiltrate a cylon basestar is that this holodeck had the safety protocols on."

Laura had no comeback to his words.

"The question you should be asking is what did you learn from this…minor exercise ?"

Oma's eyes widened. He called this minor ?

There was a long moment of silence before someone spoke.

"That the sentinels were pretty tough?" said Q Junior in a tentative tone.
"And?" asked Logan. Oma swallowed hard and decided it was time to be honest with herself.

"I allowed us three to get trapped and completely failed in finding a way out for my team."

Logan looked at her for a long time. Oma had impressed him when she took charge quickly and tried to protect the other younger members of her team but she was right. Mistakes had been made.

"First off let me show you something; Xavier play program M39X."

The sterile scene changed to show a tall dark haired Caucasian male in his mid to late 30s standing in a junkyard which was full of old abandoned cars. Oma looked at the image in surprise.

"Eric Lensherr aka Magneto; also a mutant and a general pain in the ass," Q Junior couldn't help smiling, Logan really didn't like this man very much.

"However he was a very formidable fighter and controlled his ability like a maestro."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "Had no idea you knew the word."

Logan didn't bother rising to the bait; instead he looked at Oma.

"He used to come to this junkyard for target practice."

All watched in silence as Eric pointed his hand at a car and it rose up in the air; he disintegrated it into it's individual parts and further shredded those parts in sharp pieces of metal. He then used the lethal looking pieces to target a large board in the middle of the yard.

Oma felt her face go red. That was what she was supposed to have done; she should have turned the bus into shrapnel which could have been used against the choppers as well.

She knew the other two realized this.

"However you did manage to create a way out and could have possibly escaped," then Logan frowned at Laura and Q Junior " if only certain persons had followed orders."

Laura had the sense to keep silent while Q Junior turned a bit red. "Instead you two stayed back to compete on who slayed the most and thus got yourselves captured or even killed. Do either of you disagree ?"

Q Junior and Laura glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"So yes; this first danger-room was a disaster however you came out learning something new. There are ways to maximise your ability without tiring yourself out; also practice doesn't only make you perfect but helps you adapt to unpredictable situations and helps you to strengthen your mutant ability." He looked at Rogers as he mentioned the last few words.

The colonial pilot swallowed hard; he had a lot to learn.

Logan wasn't done. "Because adaptation, improving your skills and knowing when to pull back are the keys to the ultimate goal…which is survival."

He let that sink into their minds.

"Lesson is over for the day; get your breakfast, rest for 2 hours and report to your respective duties. Class dismissed," Logan walked out of the holodeck.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

Jean woke up as her alarm went off. She looked at the clock; it was 0800hrs. She so wanted to sleep in but there was too much work to do…especially after yesterday's press conference.

She sat up; stretched and put on the large view-screen in her room. Jean quickly connected it to the colonial news network. Something told her it was important to know what the colonials thought of the press conference.

There's a much easier way of doing that you know. Said a familiar presence in her mind.

"We're not reading anyone's mind Phoenix," muttered Jean under her breath. She heard the equivalent of an unlady-like snort in her mind.

The screen went on to show the familiar logo of the CGN network.

"Good morning; this is Karienne Cole reporting for the CGN.

Colonials are still talking about the shocking reveal at yesterday's press conference…"

Jean sat up straighter. Shocking reveal ?

"…that apart from aliens ruling the Thirteenth Colony there is another significant group that lives on Earth who are known as Mutants.

With me is Professor Gaile Lane; she was a historian and lecturer at the Caprica University." The reporter turned to the woman sitting beside her.

"Thanks for joining us this morning."

"Glad to be here," answered Gaile.

"So to start off; what are your thoughts on the existence of these…mutants?"

She makes us sound like a sub-species. Jean found herself reluctantly agreeing with the Phoenix.

"Well; I have questions. Dr Grey stated that rising levels of radiation led to the mutations being more widespread to the point that more that 80 % of the human population are mutants. My first question is why didn't the authorities of Earth seek treatment or a cure for the mutant gene ?"

Oh they did produce a 'cure' and the Registration Act which led to the Eugenic's War in which millions died. Jean tried to keep calm as the news anchor continued speaking.

"Well ; the crew of the Xavier don't particularly appear ill."

The historian smiled gently. "That may be the case but this mutant gene is new and strange. There could be side effects of such a gene. After all the Sickling disease is linked to a gene that directly affects the structure of the red blood cells thus leading to a low immune system which is easily attacked by the common flu or cold and in many cases those with the Sickling disease tend to die way before their time."

Jean's scientific mind suspected the colonial Sickling disease may be identical to the Sickle Cell Disease of Earth but at the same time she felt frustrated by the historian's choice of words. The mutant gene was not a disease !

"From what Dr Grey and the crew of the Xavier have told us; being mutant appears to be the norm on Earth."

Gaile raised an eyebrow. "We only have their word on that; we'll never truly know until we get to Earth and then what we find may be difficult for many of us to comprehend."

Karienne had a thoughtful look on her face. "In what way ?"

"These mutants appear to have abilities like Dr Grey. Does that make them dangerous ? How are they monitored and controlled ? And also if they are the dominant group of the Thirteenth World ; how will we colonials be viewed ? As second class citizens ? Will we be suppressed ?

Maybe we might be better off never reaching Earth."

Karienne's eyes widened. "You can't mean that!" It was Gaile's turn to look at her in surprise.

"You seem to forget that we have cylons on our tail; we have no choice but to go to Earth. Where else do you expect us to go ? Who else do you expect us to turn to ?!"

That was not part of the script. Whispered the Phoenix as Jean stared at the screen in shock.

On screen Gaile tried to regain her composure. "I'm only stating my questions which I'm allowed to state. Isn't that why I'm here today speaking with you ?"

Karienne nervously wiped her forehead. "Of course; sorry about that but you just stated we should forget about going to Earth; so I'll ask this. Where else should we go ?" Her voice was calmer but her body language was too stiff.

Gaile took a long moment to answer. "There's nowhere else I can think of."

Karienne's professional smile hid a moment of triumph as she looked at the papers on her desk. "Next question is what is Earth's history and what is the main religion ?"

Gaile answered in a dry tone. "From the little we have heard; Earth's history seems even more violent than ours…"

"You have no bloody idea" muttered Jean as she kept watching.

"…as for religion… according to Ensign Kadretti; our cousins the Thirteenth Tribe apparently allow all sorts of religions to be practiced on Earth and it's colonies.

Is this disturbing ? Definitely; religions that are not regulated would surely lead to chaos yet if one were to believe Ensign Kadretti that doesn't seem to be the case. I for one find that hard to believe."

Jean tried not to bite her lower lip in frustration.

Karienne seemed to frown slightly. "But this is all conjecture surely the only ways we can know more is by obtaining more data."

Gaile nodded sagely ." In that I agree , one option would be to get Dr Grey on the Colonial Network and ask her questions for an hour or two. I'm certain the entire fleet would tune in to hear what she has to say."

Jean stared at the screen in disbelief. These colonials had to be joking.

Nope they ain't . Added the Phoenix darkly.

The female mutant shut the screen off before she was sorely tempted into breaking something. She stared into space for several moments amazed at the stupidity of humans.

Jean was relieved that Earth had survived this long and had seemed to come to terms with the fact that being 'different' didn't mean being 'dangerous'.

But many of the colonials were stuck in that retarded mentality. She rubbed her face thirdly. Sitting in bed wasn't helping.

She had to get up and do something useful.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

Jean walked down the spotless corridor and found herself comparing the gleaming walls of the Xavier with the battered and dull dirty-grey walls of the Galactica.

The colonials were almost as scarred as their ships; running for two years from their destroyed homeworlds would do that to a person.

Jean suppressed a shudder; she could barely imagine how terrified they must have been when the nuclear bombs began to fall. 20 billion souls extinguished in a blink of an eye.

She wondered if Earth and the Federation knew how lucky they were.

It didn't take long before she reached the turbolift.

"Bridge."

The ride was smooth as usual but Jean felt troubled; she was only beginning to realize the herculean task that they had taken on.

Being responsible for the lives of more than 40,000 scared people was no joke. Come to think of it; this was the biggest and possibly the most difficult mission she had ever been on.

"Wish you were here Storm," whispered Jean. She found herself missing the strong willed female mutant; Ororo was known for being gentle and kind in the classroom but a formidable warrior on the battlefield.

In fact she wished the entire X-men team was present, Professor Xavier; Beast, Storm…and Cyclops. But they were all dead and two of them by her hand.

Phoenix wisely kept silent.

Jean found that her eyes were stinging with unshed tears; she hastily wiped them away. Logan couldn't see her like this.

The turbo-lift came to a stop as she reached her destination. As she expected Logan was already on the bridge.

"Morning" she tried for a bright tone but Logan gave her an odd look.

He turned away from the readouts he had been observing to walk quickly towards her. "What happened ?"

Jean wanted to say nothing but knew he wouldn't believe her. "I…just realized how massive this mission was when I watched the news this morning."

Logan's face darkened he didn't have to ask which news she meant. "How bad is it?"

Jean shook her head. "I don't know yet; but it doesn't look good.

They are scared of so many things; I still think it was too soon to tell them about mutants…"

"But it was bound to come out sooner than later Jean," interrupted Logan gently "it's not your fault."

She was already shaking her head before he had finished speaking. "We should have contained it…I have this sinking feeling that it's going to blow up in our faces."

Logan was silent for a long moment. "Too late for that Jean; it blew up the moment we touched down on Hera's planet; we had no control over this whole situation right from day one."

Jean felt a wave of frustration; not at Logan for he was only telling the truth but for once she just didn't want to feel so overwhelmed all the time.

"We need help."

That made Logan smile a little. "Don't I know it." Jean's answering smile was strained; so he decided to change the topic before she got too depressed.

"So guess what I have been up to this lovely morning?"

The female telepath gave him an odd look. "What?"

Logan rubbed the back of his neck. "We had our first danger room session." Jean stared at him.

"And I wasn't invited? " her tone was light but Logan flushed all the same.

"The last two days have been quite hectic for you; I thought you might want to sleep," he snuck a look at her and was relieved to see her smiling.

"I appreciate the thought," she leaned against the bridge railing " now give me all the details. How did it go ? Did you include Rogers?"

Logan couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. "Well it wasn't a complete disaster but it was close." He proceeded to explain in detail.

At the end of it; Jean raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't as bad as my first danger-room. I practically got everyone including myself killed."

To Logan's relief he didn't detect any distress from Jean as she went down memory lane.

"And why didn't you let Rogers take part?" continued the female mutant.

Logan shook his head. "He wasn't ready; besides haven't you noticed he's been a bit different since he got back from the Galactica."

Jean frowned. "Phoenix was muttering something the whole way back that she wished she could dump certain colonial senior officers in a tub of freezing cold water."

Logan was speechless for a moment. "Well at least she's…being somewhat reasonable in her approach."

"They are applying pressure on him to spy on us," said Jean abruptly " I don't have to read his mind or theirs to know this."

"It's to be expected," said Logan in a thoughtful tone " he's a good kid; has honor and integrity but right now he's battling between doing his duty and being a good person."

Jean nodded grimly; both of them knew that doing one's duty and being good was not always the same thing.

"So what do you think we should do?" asked Logan. Jean was quiet for a long time.

"He's a mutant and we were once like him. He needs a lot of training; I say we give him that training, put him in the danger-room simulations, let him be part of the team and maybe we can win him to our side."

Logan for one moment wondered if it was Phoenix talking but mentally discarded that thought before it fully formed.

"Agreed."

"Captain Logan."

Both looked at the ceiling "What's up Xavier?" asked Logan.

"Incoming transmission for USS Dunkirk."

"Put it through."

Both mutants turned to face the view-screen and within a minute it changed to show a room which was occupied by a significant number of people some of who Logan and Jean recognized.

Rear Admiral Janeway; Captain Singh of the Dunkirk; his second, Commander Bishop, Commander Shran who was in charge of security, the second of the Prometheus; Commander Kadretti and the brooding Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Harrison.

However there were three new individuals. The two former x-men barely had time to concentrate on them because Captain Singh started speaking almost immediately.

"Captain Logan; this is the USS Dunkirk."

Logan tore his eyes away from the three silent newcomers on the screen. "This is the Xavier; we see you."

Singh nodded. "I would like to introduce our honoured allies; Captain Karath of the IKS Y'tem; his second, Commander Mirta and his chief of security Commander K'Laz."

So these are klingons, thought Logan as his brain scrambled to recall what he had read about the warrior race.

In the end he just nodded at Captain Karath . "Nice to finally put a face to a name." Jean gave him an odd look at his lame greeting.

To his surprise; Karath smiled knowingly as if he knew that Logan was a bit surprised at his appearance and also at loss for words.

"Likewise Captain Logan; it's not everyday that one meets a legendary warrior from Earth's warring past."

Logan felt uneasy at his words and wondered what exactly had Karath being told about him.

Karath turned to Dr Grey. "It is also a pleasure to meet you as well Healer Grey; the crew of the Xavier are extremely lucky to have you as their hakausu."

Jean smiled warmly at the charming Klingon captain; Logan tried to stamp out the flame of jealousy he felt. She was just being nice; that was all.

"Why thank you; it's a pleasure to meet you and your crew as well." She looked at the other people on the screen "I guess you're calling in for an update."

"I hope this is a good time for one," said Janeway graciously. She ignored the raised eyebrows from two of the Klingons. Karath had a dry smile on his face as if he was not surprised by the Admiral's relaxed manner.

Logan looked at the Klingons for a long moment. For Janeway to include them in this briefing was very significant. "Well; your timing is impeccable Admiral. Jean would be in a better position to explain the current situation."

Jean nodded at him and proceeded to give a brief summary of the most recent events. She tried to be diplomatic in explaining the Quorum's attitude towards the non-human members of the Federation; but she saw Karath's smile disappear when she mentioned how they reacted towards Oma.

"Where's Ensign Kadretti ?" asked Karath in a very deceptive calm voice; Jean saw Janeway tense from the corner of her eye and knew that the Admiral could sense the intense rage that was rolling off the Klingon captain.

"She's back on board the ship and she was never left alone while we were on the away mission," Jean paused "besides she's a very capable officer and did blow up a massive resurrection cylon ship as well as keep the Xavier in one piece while it was being bombarded by the cylons."

In summary she can take care of herself!

Karath looked at Jean Grey for a long moment. "As to be expected; she is a Klingon warrior; she has done her house proud." He turned to a stern looking Commander Kadretti and gave him a nod of respect. Karath's security officer appeared shocked at the gesture while Commander Mirta had a neutral expression on her face.

Logan had no idea what had just happened and something told him trying to find out now may not be the best idea.

"Well; there you have it. They now know about mutants; the Federation and the Klingons. Reactions have already ranged from disbelief to outright anger. We are sitting on a power-keg people and it will most likely blow up in our faces before your ships get here."

"Are you implying that you are not up to the task at hand?" smoothly asked Harrison.

Commander Shran's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the Starfleet Intelligence officer. Janeway bit his lower lip in annoyance while Singh and his officers glared at a relaxed Harrison.

Logan laughed coldly. "We can only work with what we have ; besides I have a question for you."

Harrison raised an eyebrow as Logan kept speaking. "Did you join this mission to help or just be a royal pain in the arse ?"

A booming laugh erupted from Karath which had everyone looking at him. After he calmed down a bit; he pointed at Captain Logan.

"I like him."

Logan grudgingly found himself feeling the same way towards Karath. Clearly both of them had something in common when it came to a certain annoying Starfleet Intelligence officer.

"Captain Logan is right," said Admiral Janeway "…considering the isolation of the colonies, it's going to be extremely hard for them to accept what life is like in the Alpha Quadrant.

We can however try to mitigate the crisis by having a video conference meeting with the current military and civilian leaders of the 12 Colonies."

Jean wasn't sure that she heard right. "You want them to see you ?"

"They are going to see us eventually; we might as well prepare them before then," said Mirta.

Jean and Logan looked at each other.

"It's not going to be easy and they tend to disbelieve what they don't understand…" started Jean.

"…until it's right on top of them," muttered Logan loudly.

"What of the colonial officers who are currently with you? Would you consider them more reasonable than the others?" asked Captain Singh.

Logan rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "The five assigned to us are more…accepting. That may be because we fought together to achieve a common goal. But the rest are scared and we all know that scared people do stupid things." He looked at the screen.

"A live feed from your ships is going to make things harder, I just know it…"

Janeway hid her disappointment but Logan wasn't done yet.

"…however it's the right thing to do. So what now ?"

Admiral Janeway smiled gently at the captain of the Xavier. He may be from their distant past however the man was a born survivor.

"We have a few suggestions that we can discuss now."

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Oma stared at her hands.

She had failed woefully in her first danger-room session.

In the Academy there had been different scenarios such as First Contact, Diplomatic away missions, multiple combat situations and she had never failed one until today.

She closed her eyes tightly to hold back the tears; how could she had been so stupid ?

The captain, Dr Grey and even Laura probably had been in several real battle situations. And she had thought she could measure up to them?

A soft pinging noise interrupted her thoughts, someone was at her door. She really didn't want to see anyone right now but she walked to the small view monitor by her doorway to see who was at the door.

To her surprise and worry it was two people that she least expected to see.

Without wasting time she opened the door quickly.

"What's wrong ?"

Laura sauntered casually into the room as a nervous looking Q Junior followed her. "Nothing's wrong, just wanted to see what you're up to."

The female teen stopped in the middle of the room and sniffed the air. "Looks like Rogers hasn't spent the night here yet."

Oma's expression quickly went from confusion to shock. "What!?" She turned to Q Junior who was beet red in the face and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in her quarters.

Laura flopped on Oma's bed. "Don't act so surprised; the guy is half way in love with you already. Everyone on this ship apart from you knows this and I believe his superiors know it too."

Oma had to take a moment to recollect her wits. While the thought of Rogers being in her quarters filled her with part dread and excitement she had to concentrate on the last words Laura said.

"How do you know his superiors know this…that is if he really feels that way about me?"

Laura rolled her eyes. "Come on I can't be the only one who noticed that he has been a bit 'distant' since we got back from the Galactica yesterday." She looked at Q Junior.

The young Q sighed. "Laura is right; he's more closed off and seems to avoid eye contact when anyone of us talk to him."

"Lieutenant Agathon didn't seem that way," muttered Oma.

Laura shook her head. "Nope; she was high strung when we got there but on the way back she was calmer and just relieved to be back on the Xavier. If you ask me the colonial superiors are or will be putting more pressure on our resident colonial officers to give them more intel about this ship."

Oma looked at Q Junior and saw that he agreed.

"Rogers is an honourable officer but he is still a colonial officer," said the young Q solemnly " we just have to be careful."

Oma decided to sit down. "What I'm curious about is why Captain Logan invited him to the danger-room session?" She felt a flash of shame at her pitiful performance.

Laura's eyes narrowed. "I don't know; pops probably has some cards up his sleeves which brings me to my next question. Why are you kicking yourself Oma?"

The female Starfleet ensign was taken aback by the sudden change in topic.

"Excuse me."

Laura tilted her head. "Q and I didn't see you in Ten-Four and knew you were in your quarters mopping over the danger-room session."

Oma wanted to deny but thought better of it. "My performance was less than satisfactory…"

"So was mine and Q Junior," cut in Laura with a surprisingly gentle tone "but we don't have time to dwell on the past. We just learn from it and move on. We will have more sessions, they are just to prepare us for real life situations which will be a lot worse."

Oma could not help but smile wryly. Here she was being schooled by a cadet who was not yet 14yrs old. As they say out of the mouths of babes.

"Thank you Laura, I won't forget that."

Q Junior coughed softly. Both girls looked at him.

"Which brings me to my question," he looked at Laura " why were you swearing during the news conference yesterday?'

Laura raised an eyebrow. "That was the only thing about the fucked up conference that you were concerned about ?"

Q Junior looked a bit flustered to Oma's amusement. "No; it's not that.

I know you don't like attention drawn to yourself and you did that repeatedly yesterday..."

"Logan and Jean haven't talked to me about it yet," cut in Laura "I keep waiting for them to sit me down and give me a lecture."

"You want that?" asked a puzzled Oma.

Laura sighed. "No…" she sounded frustrated "…it's just that I feel like I'm getting ignored or something."

Oma and Q Junior exchanged a knowing look. That made Laura frown.

"What? You know something !"

"It's called the silent treatment," said Oma in a dry tone.

"A well tried and truly ancient method that parents use to make us feel extremely guilty," added Q Junior as he sat down lotus style on the carpeted floor.

Laura stared at the two Starfleet junior officers in surprise. "It actually works?"

"Quick question, how do you feel ?" asked Oma.

Laura was silent for a long moment. "A bit guilty; I know Jean doesn't like me cussing but the colonial reporters were really pissing me off. I didn't like how they were treating you."

Oma was touched by Laura's protection. "I am honoured by your defence me, truly I am. However we can address such ignorant idiots as the ones we saw yesterday in other ways."

"Like beating them up," suggested Laura with a small smile. Oma's answering smile was equally fierce. "Not all the time little sister; just when it's required."

Q Junior looked at the blood thirsty expressions on the girls' faces and made a mental note to never ever get on their bad sides.

Laura clapped her hands. "So, I want details of when you two pissed your parents off."

Oma and Q Junior shared a glance. The young Q raised his hands.

"You both already know of one of my transgressions; it's Oma's turn."

The young female Starfleet ensign rubbed the back of her neck a bit nervously. "There was this one time that I got into trouble for playing a prank on one of mum's cousins…"

Both Q Junior and Laura had intent expressions on their faces as they listened.

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Rogers reached out to knock on the door in front of him and hesitated. He felt so conflicted but he had to know how to proceed. Ever since they got back from the Galactica he had felt like he was between a rock and a hard place.

He took a deep breath and reached out to knock on the door; at first there was no sound from within then he remembered that he was in a Starfleet ship and touched the small square panel on the left side of the door.

A few moments passed before a familiar voice asked him to come in; the door slid to show him that Sharon and Hero weren't alone.

Anders was present as well as Kara who was to Roger's amazement carrying a sleeping Hera.

Sharon took one look at his face and knew something was wrong.

"What happened?"

"Nothing alarming," Rogers tried for a calming tone " I…em just came from the holodeck where Captain Logan put Oma, Q Junior and Laura through a training exercise."

Helo raised an eyebrow. "What type of training exercise?"

Rogers could still see the sentinel soldiers that had rained missiles upon the embattled mutants.

"A pretty scary one." He wasted no time in describing the scenario.

There was silence for several moments after he was done.

Anders whistled."That would have been some battle to watch."

Kara rocked Hera who stirred in her sleep. "So Captain Logan is a teacher as well as a warrior. That's a bit hard to believe."

"Well ; he does have an un-orthodox way of teaching but I doubt anyone would fall asleep in his classes," said Rogers, because his students would be too busy trying to stay alive during the danger-room sessions.

"What did the battle of London look like?" asked Helo with a solemn expression on his face. Rogers took a deep breath before answering.

"Brutal and very worrying. I've read some of the history that Q gave us but seeing it is something else. The government of that time created the sentinels to wipe put the mutants only to have their creation turn on their creators and the mutants."

"Sounds familiar doesn't it," said Sharon softly. None of them had to ask her what she meant by that statement. The cylons had been created to fight rebel and terrorist groups on the 12 Colonies only for that to backfire with far reaching consequences.

"Well the silver lining is that we have something in common with Earth and it's people," said Kara. "They were able to defeat the sentinels; surely they would be sympathetic to our plight."

"Not if the Quorum fraks it up," muttered Anders loudly. Kara sighed and looked at her chronometer; she regretfully transferred a sleeping Hera to Sharon.

"Anders and I have to go; it's time for guard duty for Six and Baltar on the holodeck."

"Really wish they didn't have access to it," said Sharon " Six is smart and that much advanced technology must be driving her crazy."

"I hear you sister," said Kara " but this isn't our ship. I'm sure the captain knows what he's doing." She shared a silent look with Anders who had no trouble reading it. Both prayed that Logan knew how truly dangerous Six was.

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Rogers watched the couple leave; then he turned back to Sharon and Helo. Words seemed hard to come by.

The female cylon could sense that there was something bothering the young male colonial ensign. "Are you okay?"

He looked at Helo who had a worried expression on his face.

Rogers swallowed hard. " I need to ask you something…you don't have to answer just let me know if I'm being stupid or it's none of my business." He knew he was talking too fast; part of him wondered if the ships A.I was recording everything while part of him didn't care.

"Was it…how hard was it…for both of you in the beginning? How did you cope ?"

Sharon and Helo shared a telling look before turning back to Rogers. The female cylon sighed. "Have a seat Rogers, this may take a while."

XXXX XXXX XXXX

The holodeck…

Six tried to ignore Kara and Anders; to her annoyance the two colonial officers had joined her and Baltar on the holodeck. She knew the two were 'guard-dogs' and if their roles were reversed she would have done a lot worse to the colonials. She knew she was lucky not to be locked up permanently in a cell somewhere or being in the hands of the colonials but this constant supervision was irritating.

Six forced herself to return to the white walls of the soon to be activated holodeck. Last night she hadn't been idle; she and Baltar had spent hours going over Earth's documented history especially parts that involved the 'mutants.'

Which was why she had decided to skip a few years in the visual history.

"Morning Xavier," she tried for a cheerful tone; it always paid to be on the good side of someone you were trying to influence; especially an incredibly smart A.I of the Thirteenth Tribe.

"Where would you like to start today?" asked the ship's A.I in a neutral tone.

Well it looked like Xavier wasn't buying her cheerful attitude. "Please start at January 21st 1970. Location the Xavier Learning Institute for the Gifted." Behind her Kara and Anders shared a puzzled look before turning back to Six. Beside them Baltar smiled grimly; he knew what was coming.

The scene changed to show what the familiar setting of the Xavier Institute; but now it had military buses packed in front of the main doors. Kara's eyes widened in shock as she saw armed uniformed men march male students out of the school; they were all teenagers; some barely older than Ensign Laura. Among them she recognized Havoc and Banshee; the students looked resigned to their fate. Then she saw Professor Charles Xavier; he was in a wheelchair. The years had not been kind to him; he looked haggard and already had some grey in his dark brown hair. The four watching could see him trying to go after the soldiers as he shouted that they had no right to take his students.

"What's going on?" asked Anders.

"The drafting of able mutants for the Vietnam war," calmly replied Xavier.

"A war which had already claimed tens of thousands of lives and which the United States of America was trying very hard not to lose; so they decided to forcibly conscript all able bodied male mutants in order to 'weaponize' their unique talents." Six turned back to the colonials " it does kind of remind one of a certain part of colonial history doesn't it?"

She turned back to the front without waiting for an answer; she had made her point made. Even colonial historians couldn't ignore the fact that cylons had been created as weapons against the terrorist organizations only for the 'weapons' to turn against their creator.

"That's pretty high and mighty coming for someone who murdered billions of colonials," snarled Kara. Part of her knew that Sharon had said something similar but it sounded a lot worse when it came from someone like Six. Kara would have lunged at Six but her husband held her back. None of them noticed the guilty look on Baltar's face

The female cylon waited for a long moment before she replied while being very careful not to look at Baltar.

"We dropped those nukes…and that was a mistake." It was Ander's turn to glare at her.

"A mistake is when you forget to set your frakking alarm clock; what the cylons did to the twelve colonies was genocide !"

Baltar winced at the vehement tone in the colonial pilot's voice. Six didn't look away from Ander's eyes.

"Which is why I want to see how Earth succeeded where both our races failed ! Look at this," she indicated the unfolding scene behind her as students had their names taken before being pushed into the military buses as their professor was yelling abuse at the impassive uniformed men.

"The Vietman war is just one of the countless wars in their history and that was while they were on one planet. The mutant race was different from the rest of the planet and they were hated and killed for it. Yet somewhere in their path through history they overcame that self hate and now they live with peace with each other while being more powerful than anyone of us dreamed of."

"So you expect me to believe that you are only interested in Earth's history because you want peace between us and your people ?" Kara sounded both disgusted and exasperated.

Six tried not to sigh. Kara could be so dense at times. "You intend to have children right ? Don't you want them to learn from our mistakes ? That is the only way of preventing history from repeating itself."

"Only if we learn from history and not forget it," said Baltar in a solemn tone. The other looked at the former president of the 12 colonies; he ignored their expressions as he continued to watch the mutant students being loaded onto the military buses.

Kara snorted in disgust. "For the record; I don't buy your act."

"No matter; I wasn't selling anything by the way," continued the scientist in the same bland tone. Kara closed her eyes and counted to ten before she gave in to temptation and strangled the man before her with her bare-hands.

Six stared at her for a long moment before turning back to the visual record still unfolding around them.

She was clearly wasting time on making them see reason; she had better things to do with her time. Silence reigned as the four of them watched the conscripted mutants being put processed through a 'special boot camp'.

Six felt sick to her stomach as she watched mutants being taught and at times being forced to perfect their unique talents in the act of killing the enemies of the United States. She had known it was going to be bad when she read the historical files last night; but nothing prepared you for seeing it.

The holodeck technology was a marvel and so perfect in showing what was almost real; for a brief moment she wished it wasn't the case.

All too soon the scenes changed and the new U.S marines were flown to the warzone of Vietnam. The conditions were dismal and the atmosphere was depressing; combined with the hidden animosity and fear directed to the mutants when the other soldiers realized that these fresh inexperienced 'kids' had special abilities.

The commanding officers made it worse by making sure that the mutants were isolated and put under military guard at all times when not engaged in combat.

Six saw several of the mutants go from being scared to becoming hardened and thus changed permanently. It was very obvious with Havoc; the mischievous light left his eyes only to be replaced by the look of someone who had dealt death to the viet-cong several times. It aged the poor boy.

It only got worse when Banshee disappeared; presumed missing in action at first before being up-graded to killed in action. Then more mutants died; some killed by the enemy…some in questionable circumstances that occurred on and off the marine base.

Unbeknownst to Six; Kara and Anders were also affected by what they were seeing. Anders had to stop himself from throwing up at one particular scene; a group of marines had been pinned down at the bottom of the hill when the Vietcong at the top started shelling them. Havoc using the aid of one of his mutant friends; was able to sneak up to them undetected before he hit them at very close range with a full blast of kinetic energy. The Vietcong were blown up into several bloody pieces.

As Anders covered his mouth in shocked; a pale faced Kara stared at the bloody image of Havoc before noticing the hardness of his eyes. He looked like Death had taken residence in his soul.

Six closed her eyes briefly; it was time to look at something else. She had tried to do some digging on Captain Logan but the historical files hadn't yield much. She suspected the files were a summary of the full history of Earth. Maybe she could try something else.

"Xavier; where was Captain Logan at the time of this conflict ?" She knew she wasn't going to get a satisfactory answer.

"He was also based in Vietnam."

Six was at loss for words for a moment; she hadn't expected that. "What; where and why…no just show me where he was stationed!"

Baltar sent her a warning look which she ignored. Kara and Anders frowned and shared a silent look.

To Six's continuous amazement the A.I compiled.

The scene changed to show another part of the jungle of Vietman. A group of marines were shown on day patrol in the sweltering heat; they were walking through grass which was almost as tall as a full grown man. At the front was the recognizable figure of Captain Logan chomping on a cigar; but beside him was a taller stockier man who had light brown hair with side burns and a ferocious almost feral look on his face. Both men walked with the easy almost lazy gait of predators while they chopped away at the grass before them and it was noticeable that the other marines gave them a respectable space.

"Who is that beside the captain?" asked Baltar.

"Victor Creed also known as Sabertooth…and brother to Captain Logan."

That made Kara pay attention. Logan had a brother ?

Six's eyes narrowed in speculation; so he had a brother ? Where was he ? Why wasn't he on this ship ? Was he still alive ? She was about to ask another question when the images of Logan and Sabertooth stopped in unison and started sniffing the air.

The other marines stopped as well and took up a ready-to-fight stance.

" See anything Sarge ?" asked one of the marines close to Logan.

"More like smell," chuckled Sabertooth darkly. Logan glanced at the marine. "Victor and I will check it out. Wait here and don't come until we clear the area."

He turned to his brother and nodded; before a word could be said the two brothers dropped their machetes and rifles and dived into the foliage before them. Six stared at the dropped weapons; what were they planning to use for defense ?

She and the three colonials followed the two brothers.

The female cylon found herself following Logan and Kara was beside her; which meant Anders was with Baltar who was tracking Creed.

Six decided to ignore the female colonial pilot; before long she saw the trap the black clad Vietcong had set for the U.S marines. Several of them were waiting in the grass; thigh deep in mud and water and also covered with the same material. Which begged the question; how had the two brothers smelt the enemy ?

Was that their mutant ability ?

Six's train of thoughts were cut short when she heard terrified screams coming from the direction Victor Creed had disappeared to. It also distracted Logan who turned and cursed. This alerted a nearby Vietcong who turned round to shoot Logan but the mutant dodged and then pounced on the shooter and then there was an odd sound.

Snikt !

That was all she heard before she saw long bone claws erupt from the back of both of Logan's hands; her eyes widened as he used the claws to disembowel the shooter. Then chaos broke out as other Vietcong jumped up and started shooting at Logan; the bullets didn't stop him and that was when Six saw the unbelievable happen.

For every bullet he was taking; his skin was healing at an astonishing rate and in addition he was taking out the enemies around him.

That is not possible said the scientist in her. Beside her Kara said nothing; but inside she was equally still amazed and envious.

What would it be like to have such an ability ?

Before long the Vietcong were either dead or fleeing; those that ran he let them go. However bone chilling screams were still coming from Victor's sector.

"Damn it Victor!" yelled Logan as he started running towards that direction. Six and Kara took off after him.

Before long they heard crashing sounds coming towards them; someone was sobbing loudly in a foreign language while a menacing laugh followed the cries.

"Where are you going pretty one ? Don't you wanna play ?!" yelled Creed.

All too soon a young woman clad in the black uniform of the Vietcong burst out from the tall grass ; she almost crashed into Logan. The mutant held her and saw that the terrified woman was holding her right arm. It had several lacerations; was bleeding badly and was bent at an odd angle. She saw Logan's claws and almost collapsed. Creed chose that moment to appear. He flexed his shorter bone claws and grinned when he saw his brother.

"Thanks Logan for holding her for me."

Logan looked at the terrified Vietcong fighter. "Run!" he yelled; she stared at him for a moment in shock before taking off.

Creed was at loss for words for a moment. "What the...hey ! Come back here !" He made to go after her but Logan swept his legs out from under him and sat on his brother's chest.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" screamed Creed from the ground. "She's getting away!".

"Creed we have killed a lot of them and scared the rest; no need to torture the wounded!" hissed Logan.

"She's the enemy; they are all the fucking enemy!" yelled Creed.

"That doesn't give us the excuse to act like fucking animals!" roared Logan at his brother's face.

Creed stared at Logan in surprise. "But that's what we are little brother; we both will always be animals and don't forget that Uncle Sam recruited us for this bloody war. I sure as hell didn't start it." His voice was surprisingly calm

Logan looked at his brother for a long moment. "Are you gonna be cool when I let you up ?"

Creed tried to shrug. "Yeah; why not? She's long gone anyway." Logan sighed and stood up; he helped Creed up.

He turned to walk away but Creed stopped him. "Hey; this war has fucked us up more than the others we have been in…but we're still brothers; now and always right?" He held up his hand.

Logan looked at Creed's hand for a long time. "Yeah; right," he walked away without taking his brother's hand.

Creed had a hurt look on his face which quickly turned to anger. " You know what Logan ? Go to hell!" Logan didn't look back.

After spending an eternity cursing Creed went after him.

As Six was trying to make sense of what just happened; she heard a crashing noise behind her. Both she and Kara turned round apprehensive about the source of the noise and it turned out to be Anders supporting a very pale looking Baltar.

"What the frak did you do to him?" demanded Six as she took the former president away from Anders.

The male pilot looked at her in disgust. "Nothing; just ask him your self."

"It was horrible," said Baltar in a hoarse voice before Six could say a word. "Victor Creed has not a trace of humanity or decency in him; he…he…" The scientist couldn't go on.

Six and Kara looked at Anders who had a very grim look on his face.

"I hate to agree with Baltar but he's right. Creed is one sick bastard."

Kara made to go behind Anders. "Don't," said her husband solemnly " please don't…it's not something anyone should see." He looked at Baltar. "This guy was vomiting like there was no tomorrow and I was this close to joining him."

Anders looked around. "Where's the girl and Creed ?"

"Logan helped her escape while he delayed Creed," answered Six. Both colonials looked at her. She looked disturbed and pale.

"I think I'm gonna take a break for a few minutes," she helped Baltar up and both of them walked away.

Kara and Anders were not far behind. Both of them with thoughts of their own. Creed was Logan's brother ? What had happened to him to make him so twisted ? Was he still alive ?

Somehow Kara knew that asking Captain Logan about what they saw today…may not be a smart thing to do.

XXXX XXXX XXXX

The Galactica; Admiral's office…

Admiral Adama kept looking at the viewscreen for several moments; he was still trying to process what Captain Logan had told him.

He didn't know whether to be elated or depressed. One thing he was sure of was that he was certainly worried.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in."

His XO walked in followed by Lee and Gaeta. The three officers greeted him.

"Take a seat gentlemen," ordered Admiral Adama. They looked at each other; before staring at the viewscreen which was a direct link to the Xavier.

Adama didn't keep them waiting. "I just had a chat with Captain Logan; apparently his superiors want to have a meeting with us and the quorum via a video link."

The three officers looked at him in surprise. "When Admiral ?" asked Adama.

"Tomorrow." Lee blinked.

"That's on extremely short notice; the Quorum may not even have time to convene for this meeting."

"It get's more…complicated," added the Admiral " the Klingon commanding officers of the IKS Y'tem also want to sit in on this meeting."

All three were speechless. "Oh Hades no," said Saul Tigh " this is sorely for humans and doesn't involve them. They will only make the situation worse."

"But with all due respect sir," said Gaeta hesitantly " we can't just tell them no…"

"Like Hades we can!" hissed Saul.

Admiral Adama understood his friend's stance. Even though they had met Ensign Ihuoma Kadretti; one couldn't deny that she looked quite human but the Klingons were very alien. Adama had the luxury of not thinking of the alien members of the Federation because frankly they had more important things to worry about.

But he knew that certain incendiary elements of the Quorum might go so far as calling the Klingons 'ungodly' or 'abominations' to their faces.

"It might be better if the Quorum doesn't attend; then we can avoid any potential political and diplomatic fallouts," said Lee as if he read his father's mind.

"Sir; they will accuse us of hiding something if they don't attend," said Gaeta.

Admiral Adama nodded. "You all have valid opinions but maybe having this meeting at such short notice is actually a very good thing. I for one is very curious about how the Federation is run. The crew of the Xavier have tried to give us a picture of their leaders but it's not enough," he paused " may actually never be enough until we get to Earth and then we might actually have extreme difficulty understanding their way of life."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a long moment. It was no secret that while many wanted to get to Earth; there were several more who were scared that the Thirteenth Tribe might be so different to the point that they had to be classified 'alien' in all things.

"Well one thing for sure is that we're not having the press being present like last time," said Saul Tigh " they will only frak up this whole diplomatic mess."

Admiral Adama sighed. " Truth."

"So what happens now sir ?" asked Lee.

"Now…I tell the president." Gaeta looked sympathetic; it didn't take a genius to know that she wasn't going to take this well.

"Better say a prayer before you do so Admiral," said Saul dryly.

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Cylon Basestar…

It was late and she was tired. Problems in engineering had kept her there longer than she had liked. It was days like this that's she wished that she could delegate certain repairs to centurions but there would be impossible. The centurions just weren't smart enough.

The female cylon walked into her quarters; she reached for her zip as the lights came on.

"So how was your day?" the Number Eight cylon already had her gun out and pointing at the owner of the voice who had just stepped out from the inner room.

Cavil smiled dryly. "Come now; is this how to treat a friend ?"

It still took a long moment before the Number Eight put down her weapon. "These are …difficult times Cavil; next time give me ample warning."

The male cylon leaned against the wall. "Duly noted; so I ask again; how was your day?" Though he smiled; it didn't reach his eyes.

"Problems in engineering as I'm sure you are aware " then she saw the impatient look in his eyes "…but we both know you're not here for that. Natalie has been asking questions of certain cylon models."

Now Cavil looks interested. "Which ones?"

"The Number Twos and my group; the number Eights. She's asking them how comfortable they are with the boxing of Anna and with your leadership."

There was silence for a long moment. "Those are valid questions; nothing wrong with that…is she asking all number Eights or just some of them ?"

The female cylon tilted her head. "As far as I'm aware she hasn't asked Boomer yet."

Cavil nodded. "That's why I picked you. Boomer is not reliable and would frak everything up."

The number Eight laughed dryly. "No argument there. A word of advice; Natalie and Leoben are planning something."

Cavil frowned at her. "How do you know this?"

"They have been meeting up quite bit in the last week."

"Conjugal relations ?" mused Cavil. Eight snorted.

"Leoben is not her type; this is something else and that maybe why he's dragging his feet on the translation of the Kobol scriptures."

The number one cylon was silent for several moments. "Watch them for now and do try to find out more about…whatever those two idiots are planning." He moved to leave then turned back. "And don't get caught because I'll leave you to burn on your own."

The number eight cylon waited until he left. "Frak you too Cavil; frak you too." She walked towards the showers.

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Hi everyone! So glad to be back. I added a little bit of Xmen: Days of Future Past! Just a little. Hope you are all having an awesome week.

Take care every one and see you soon with more chapters !