DAY 30

It hadn't rained for days. Despite the clouds it was actually quite warm. The orange glow of the sun through the clouds shone through the window and down onto Archangel and Grace as they lay in bed. Archangel watched her as she slept, seeing how beautiful the glow of the orange sun off her hair looked.

They had found the small motel two days before hand and had taken the time to rest up before going to the final airstrip. The others were worried about not finding a ship to get them to Capri ca, but now, today in particular Archangel didn't care at all. Archangel watched as she began to stir. As she opened her eyes she looked up at him and smiled.

"Good morning." He said with a smile.

"Good morning to you too." She said giving him a kiss. "So today is the big day."

"It sure is, the last chance saloon." He replied with a chuckle.

"I hope there is a ship there." She said.

"Honestly I don't care one way or the other."

Grace looked at him, feeling rather confused by this statement.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because right now all I want to do is to stay here with you." He replied.

"Wouldn't you rather be heading off for Caprica?" she replied.

"No, I'd rather stay here with you. I can't remember the last time I was this happy." he said with a smile.

"Same here," Grace said, smiling back at him, "I think the others might have something to say about that though."

"I'm the pilot," he replied with a chuckle, "We go on my time table."

"Aye aye sir." Grace said saluting him while laughing."

As they both began to get ready Grace couldn't help but smile to herself. When she had received this mission it had been the last thing she had wanted, love was the last thing she had expected to find. Yet amongst all this death and destruction, that is what she had found.

THE DAY OF THE ATTACK

Grace walked onto the bridge of her Baseship. The attack was underway and she was keen to see how things were progressing.

"How is it looking?" she asked.

"Better than we even imagined." 5 replied.

"The code your sister installed into their mainframe is working wonderfully." 2 said.

"Good, we've been waiting a long time for this." Grace said.

"Now this is interesting." 1 said from behind them all. They all turned to see him listening to a conversation and reading something.

"What is it?" 2 asked.

"The Hybrid has intercepted a call between the Admiral of the fleet and his CAG."

"So?" 5 asked.

"So his name triggered the watch list that one of our spies put together. Captain Mark Hunter, they call him Archangel. I've just been reading his "sealed" records and I must say they are rather interesting, even I am finding myself to be impressed with him." 1 replied.

They all began to read the file, each of them looking more and more surprised as they read.

"He seems capable of massive destruction." 5 said.

"So what, he is a human, I thought we came here to kill them all?" Grace replied.

"We are, but I am starting to think we could have a little fun with this one. His Admiral has told him to try and get to Caprica as it will be his best chance of rescue. I say we let him try and get there and put in a few games along the way to see if this file is as accurate as it says." 1 said.

"And how are we going to keep track of him while we're wiping out his race?" Grace asked.

"We send someone to go with him." 2 answered.

"That is a very good idea." 1 replied "And while were at it if we send the right Cylon we can see how our problem of reproduction is when it's one human and one Cylon."

Grace suddenly realised all eyes were suddenly turning to her.

"You can't be serious?" she exclaimed, "There is no way. I have a job to do."

"I think you will be the perfect choice. Your hatred of the humans should make things more interesting." 5 said.

"We agree." 2 said.

"So do we." 1 added "Get prepared for a little trip to Sagittaron."

Grace tried to protest but no one would listen.

PRESENT DAY

Everyone was sat together eating a meal before they moved out.

"I've looked ahead at the terrain and it should be a straight forward walk to the valley." Michaels said.

"When we get there we should find a path that leads down the side to the bottom, there we'll find the entrance to the base." Archangel said.

"Sounds straight forward enough." Mantill said.

"Don't jinx us man!" Skeeter said.

"Sorry." Mantill replied putting his attention back onto his food.

"If we run into any Cylons it will be business as usual. We put them down and keep going regardless. We have to get into that base if we want to get out of here." Archangel said.

"What can we expect from Caprica?" Sarah asked.

"More of the same. I would imagine it will be worse than here. We need to find somewhere we can make a camp and wait to get picked up." Archangel replied

"Sorry to ask the obvious but what if we don't get "picked up"?" Mike asked in his usual cold way.

"Then we make the best of what we find." Vannick answered.

"I'll wait for you guys outside." Archangel said getting up and picking up his pack. As he walked outside he took a look at the scenery. This could be the last time he ever saw his home planet and part of him was a little sad.

"You okay?" Grace asked as she walked up behind him.

Archangel put his arm round her and kissed her forehead, "Yes I am. Just taking one final look around before we leave."

"You sound confident."

"I am."

Sometime later the group was under way.

"You know I'm actually gonna miss this place." Skeeter said.

"I hate this planet." Mike replied under his breath.

"I hate Caprica!" Archangel said in reply which made the others laugh.

Grace watched them as she walked. The mood was good, it had been for days. When she thought about the last thirty days and what she had experienced she knew now that she was a different woman. She almost felt, human.

"Well I agree with Skeeter, I have a lot of good memories from here." Grace said.

"Yeah just none of them from recent days." Mantill added.

"Actually there have been quite a lot recently. If nothing else the Cylons brought me to you guys, so in a fraked up way, I'm kind of grateful to them." She took hold of Archangel's hand as she spoke.

"Me too." He said to her.

As the trees began to thin out the mountains came into view, in front of them, they could see Angel valley. The longest and in places deepest dry riverbed on the planet. It was an impressive sight for anyone to behold.

"Wow." Vannick said.

"No kidding." Archangel added.

"It shouldn't take us much longer, the trail more or less takes us to the path down to the bottom." Michaels said.

"Well lead the way." Archangel said.

It didn't take them long to reach the end of the trail and to see the magnificent view in front of them. Angel Valley ran for hundreds of miles along the continent. For as long as there had been Colonials on the planet it had been dry. During the summer the area was packed with tourists taking one of the many trails along the riverbed. No one however came this far. The airbase was the only thing for miles and if you didn't know it was there then it would have been quite easy to miss. They walked to the top of the path.

"Vannick take Michaels and the others down to the bottom. Use the code I gave you to get in. We'll be right behind, just want to make sure the area is clear first."

"No problem." He replied.

"This really is quite magnificent." Grace said.

"Like I tell everyone who will listen, this planet is the most beautiful place in the colonies." Archangel replied.

As they took a few minutes to look at the scenery for the last time the silence was broken by the voice of a woman they didn't know.

"FRAKING RUN, CENTURIANS ARE COMING!"

THE DAY OF THE ATTACK

Grace sat in the back of a Heavy Raider on the hanger deck of the base ship. A ruck sack in front of her, she was not pleased with the group's decision.

"This is a mistake." She protested.

"Maybe but we have all decided." 1 replied.

"Everyone but me." She said.

"Yes but your sister models agreed with the rest of us. This could be a very interesting time for you. You get to see first hand how the human filth lives, you will get to feel new emotions that you don't even know about."

Grace stared at the 1 in front of her, wanting to rip the smug smile from across his face.

"All I ask is when this is over I get to be the one who kills him." Grace said, hatred in her voice.

"Of course, call it a perk of the job."

Grace managed a smile.

"Are you familiar enough with your cover?" 1 asked.

"My name is Grace Dent, I am a dentist from Leonis who is on Sagittaron because I love the mountains."

"Excellent. Feel free to make any embellishments to the story that you see fit."

Another 6 and an 8 boarded the ship and headed to the cockpit.

"Are we ready to go?" 8 asked.

"Of course my dear." 1 replied.

As the back of the heavy raider closed the thought that this was a bad idea grew stronger in her gut. At the same time there was the beginnings of a sense of intrigue. She had never seen a human face to face before, she never really thought that she would have the chance. She may as well try and find some kind of pleasant outcome to all of this, the thought of killing this human at the end would have to do.

As the raider flew through space Grace walked to the cockpit and saw Sagittaron for the first time, she didn't know a lot about the planet. She did know though that it's population was divided, most of them had archaic religious beliefs, then there were those, like this Captain Hunter, who didn't. Often in it's history, the planets people had clashed due to this and with it's history regarding the SFM, it was often a planet other Colonials would avoid. Besides the nuclear clouds however, it was quite a beautiful place. Here come the human emotions she thought, great, one more thing she could do without. She had never had any interest in feeling them and now she was going to and any choice of it had been taken away from her. As they passed through the atmosphere she could see the mountainous horizon and hated that she found it impressive to look at.

"The sooner this is over the better." She said to herself.

Minutes later they had touched down, unseen by anyone who was left to see. As they looked down below Grace saw the town of Freedom for the first time. Nothing at all special, it was like any backwater town on any of the 12 worlds.

"His home is two miles east, you can't miss it, it's the only one up here." 1 said.

"Still no way I can talk you out of this stupid decision?" Grace asked.

1 smiled at her, "At least try and find something to enjoy."

Grace scowled at him before turning and walking away. She didn't even turn to look back, all she wanted to do when she looked at 1 was choke him to death and she didn't think that would be the best way to start this "mission" off. As she reached the end of the two mile walk, she saw the house in front of her.

"Here goes nothing." She said to herself before she took a deep breath. She began to walk down the hill towards the back of the house. Half way down she lost her footing and slipped a couple of feet down the hill.

"Frak." She said to herself as she looked down at her now bleeding ankle. She knew from the medical knowledge she had that it was okay and nowhere near as bad as it looked. She got herself back to her feet and limped towards the back door of the house. After climbing the steps the handle was locked. She stopped herself from smashing the window and decided to go look round the front of the house instead. As she reached the front door it was unlocked, she took a deep breath and headed inside.

"Hello." She said as she walked inside, "Is there anyone here?"

A few silent moments passed before she realised there was no one there. Frak she though, what if they had already gone? Well 1 would have to come back for her and she could go back to the comfort of the base ship. She walked to the kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs. After taking out her little first aid kit she heard a noise at the front door. The game was about to begin now, whether she wanted it to or not.

PRESENT DAY

Lieutenant Bria "Typhoon" Thirren ran at full pelt. She had to make it. 30 days on her own were not going to end with her being gunned down by some toasters when she was this close to getting to a raptor. She turned and fired her last three rounds blindly behind her. As she dived through the undergrowth ahead she saw two men and a woman standing at the top of the path in front of her.

"FRAKING RUN, CENTURIANS ARE COMING!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Archangel and Skeeter saw the four Cylons seconds before they opened fire. Their volley of bullets was relentless and wild. Skeeter took out two of the Cylons with his shotgun. Bria took a clip from Archangel's belt and opened fire with them. Moments later it was all over.

"Whoa, thanks for the help there but we have to move there are more of them on their way." Bria said.

"Who are you?" Archangel asked.

"Lieutenant Bria Thirren."

"I'm Captain Mark Hunter."

"Pleased to meet you Captain."

"Pleasure is all mine." He replied.

"Mark." Skeeter said.

As he turned round all the air drained from his body. Grace lay on the top of the path, blood pouring from the six bullet wounds in her torso. Archangel quickly ran over to her and cradled her in his arms.

"Oh gods no. DOCTOR!" he yelled, "You're going to be okay." He said frantically, "DOCTOR!"

Grace looked up at him and tried to smile. "I love you." She managed to say.

"I love you too but it's gonna be okay, just need the doc and you'll be okay."

"Mark we have to get out of here." Skeeter said.

The sound of centurions could be heard in the distance. Grace smiled up at Archangel and touched his face as she died. Tears began to well in his eyes inside he felt pure rage.

"Mark we have to go." Skeeter said.

He didn't respond he held Grace to him and cried.

"MARK we have to go, now." Skeeter said putting his hand on his friends shoulder. Now the coming Cylons could be heard a lot louder. Without saying a word he picked her up and began to run with the others down the path. Moments later they reached the bottom. Vannick stood in the door way was the first to see Archangel with Grace's lifeless body in his arms.

"Oh no." He said.

"We have to move there are centurions on our six." Bria said.

Inside the huge base three raptors sat waiting for the survivors. Bria closed the door behind them and shot out the electronic lock sealing them in.

"What happened?" Michaels asked as the doctor moved into look at Grace.

"Cylons, they were chasing me here." Bria replied.

"Everyone get onboard we have to go." Archangel said. He lay Grace down in the back of the Raptor. He dried his eyes and sat down in the cockpit. No one spoke, the shock of Grace's death seemed to have hit everyone the same.

"Do you know how to do an ECO's job?" Archangel asked.

"I am an ECO she replied. Where are we going?"

"Plot a jump from Sagittaron's orbit to Caprica's?" he said.

"Caprica?" she exclaimed.

"Yes Caprica." he replied coldly.

"Yes sir." She replied as she began to type the coordinates in.

Skeeter came up and sat next to him.

"Mark I'm so sorry." He said.

"Not now." Archangel replied. As the raptor's systems came online he saw the chain cannons on the wings were fully armed. He turned the safeties off and prepared for take off.

"Okay we're set." Bria said.

"Bria, when we come out of the other side, try and get a quick dradis sweep of anything in orbit." Archangel ordered.

"Yes sir." she replied.

Archangel remotely opened the hanger doors as the craft began to take off. Outside a dozen centurions were waiting. Archangel opened fire taking them all out with the heavy shells of the Raptor's cannons. As they flew into the sky dradis began to beep.

"We have six enemy contacts bearing down on us. They will be in range in forty-five seconds. We are one minute away from the jump." Bria said.

Archangel said nothing. The Raptor flew out of the riverbed and upwards towards the sky.

"You're all going to want to hold on." Archangel said, "This are going to be rough."

The civilians in the back all looked terrified. All the warning sounds blazing around them.

"It's going to be okay." Vannick tried to assure them. But with Grace's body in front of them, not one of them were reassured.

"Contact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." As Bria stopped speaking the sound of enemy fire could be heard very close to the Raptor. Archangel with expert ease wove the Raptor away from the enemy fire.

"Jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Bria said.

The Raptor jumped. As it reappeared inside Caprica's atmosphere it took all of Archangel's strength and skill to keep the craft steady.

"Frak me." He said as the force pushed him back into his seat.

Out of nowhere the Raptor clipped a raider sending it into a spin.

"Hold on we're going down." Archangel said. As he managed to level out the Raptor, Pilgrim Bay started to come into view below. Just as he managed to slow down, they hit the shallow water in the cove.

"Everyone okay?" Bria asked. Everyone nodded.

"Okay let's move. Vannick, Skeeter there should be first aid kits and weapons in the locker at the back, everyone else out." Archangel said.

He picked up Grace and walked out into the shallow water with the others. The sight of Pilgrim Bay would usually have been a sight to behold, today it may as well have been the sight of a thousand Cylons as far as Archangel was concerned. As he looked down at Grace the feeling of rage and moved to a feeling of total emptiness. As they moved onto the shore raiders could be heard over head.

"Blow it." Archangel said. "It might buy us a little time."

Vannick took out one of the rocket launchers and fired blowing the wrecked Raptor to pieces.

They had been walking for hours. Archangel just kept going with Grace in his arms, he couldn't stop, and if he did he feared he would never get up again.

"Somebody has to talk to him." Ramok said.

"I will." Skeeter said. He quickly jogged ahead to his friend.

"Buddy we have to stop for a while." Skeeter said, "Find somewhere to stop before it gets dark."

"I can't." Archangel replied quietly. "I can't stop."

Skeeter stepped in front of him making him stop. "You have to. Mark we have to lay her to rest."

Archangel looked down again at the woman he loves and broke down falling to his knees, Grace still in his arms. He gently laid her on the ground. Skeeter put his arm around his friend.

"It'll be okay, remember, that's what you told me. It will be okay." Skeeter said.

"I can't do this any more." He said, "I'm ready to give up."

"I know, but you can't." Skeeter wiped a tear away from his own eye, "Because we need you."

Archangel turned to see the others a few feet away, looking over at him with shared pain and sympathy in their eyes. Ramok walked over to them.

"My friend we must give her to the gods. Let her rest with her family now. Let me take her and prepare her."

Archangel lifted her head and kissed her before Ramok picked her up and took her under the covers of the trees, once he had laid her down he began to say prayers for her.

"How did you manage?" Archangel asked.

"I didn't." Skeeter replied. "When she died, it was the worst time of my life. If it wasn't for you I would have either been dead or in prison."

As night fell they all stood around Grace's grave.

"Lord of Kobol hear our prayers. Take the soul of Grace Dent into your arms and guide her into her rest. Let her be in eternal peace with her family and friends who have gone before her. She was a brave woman who fought hard for her friends since the fall of mankind. Let her heroism be remembered by those of us who survive. Let her love live on in the heart of the man that she loved. Until we meet her again, keep her safe and let her watch over us and keep us safe in the days to come." Ramok said.

All the survivors sat around a fire as they ate a meal.

"It was horrible, I've never seen anything like it. It was over so quickly." Bria said.

"What happened?" Vannick asked.

"The fleet were all together, ready for the counter attack. Most of the fleet, thousands of Vipers, Raptors, Gunstars, we were ready to throw everything we had at them. Then everything stopped. They flipped a switch and 99.9% of everyone just stopped. They launched missiles and that was it, it was all over." Bria said, sadness in her voice.

"How did you survive?" Michaels asked.

"Our Raptor just kept going, maybe because we were in need of an overhaul? We weren't in a new Raptor. Before we knew what was happening there were hundreds of raiders coming at us. I typed in the first co-ordinates I could think of and we jumped here. We crashed on the planet and managed to get out before the cylons found us. A couple of days later we were in a hospital getting some anti rads when they found us. Jackhammer was killed then and there, his brains were blown all over me. I ran as fast as I could and I've been running all the way to the airbase ever since." Her youthful features and her beauty were replaced by sadness when she mentioned her pilot Jackhammer.

"What Battlestar were you from?" Archangel asked.

"Aries, I saw it blow up right in front of me. I'm sorry to tell you that the Atlantia went up first." She said.

"How did you know I was from the Atlantia?" he replied.

"Are you kidding? You're Archangel, every pilot in the fleet knows who you are. I saw you with the display team once, wow, I've never seen anyone fly a Viper like that." She replied, "You're a legend."

"On your own for all this time though that's impressive. We've struggled being in a group." Vannick said.

A group of Cylons sat around a resurrection tank containing the body of a 6.

"She's downloading." 2 said.

Grace's consciousness began to come into her new body. A flash of Archangel's records, his home on Sagittaron followed by the first time she saw him. The first time they kissed followed by choking Hackerson in his office. Lots of fast flashes of Archangel followed by her beating Danny to death, "I'm sorry," she said. Followed by walking to the path leading to the airbase, Cylon Centurions shooting her and then a flash of an unborn foetus.

As Grace's new body gasped to life she screamed at the top of her lungs, "I was pregnant."

The smiles of her fellow Cylons dropped as they heard her words, what had they done.

"God will never forgive us for this." 2 said.

"What have you done?" Grace said as she began to cry.

Archangel stood alone with one of his sidearms in his hand and was looking out onto the horizon.

"I can't do this any more," he said to himself, "I was doing it for you. I can't go on without you. What's the fraking point?" he cried as he spoke.

He ejected the magazine on his gun to make sure it was loaded before putting a round into the chamber. He took several deep breaths before putting his gun to the side of his head as tears began to stream down his face.

"Can I interrupt?" Ramok said as he walked up to Archangel.

He lowered his weapon and turned to the preacher.

"Sure why not." He replied.

"That would have been a drastic step to take." Ramok said.

"Why? I'm so tired, I don't want to do this any more. You guys have Bria now, you don't need me."

"I think your best friend would have something to say about that. These people are alive because of you. You've saved all our lives how many times now? What would you say if you found out she was a Cylon?"

"What the frak are you talking about?"

"I mean what would you say then? You could see her again, then you killing yourself would be for nothing, you wouldn't see her in any afterlife."

"She wasn't a Cylon." Archangel replied firmly.

"But if she was?"

"Then I wouldn't care. She loved me no matter what she was, human or cylon and I love her."

"Then do what you promised to her and the rest of us, save us."

Archangel holstered his weapon and sat down, Ramok sat next to him.

"You know if we were found I was going to leave the military and make a life with her. I've never wanted any other life that wasn't in the fleet until I met her. She made me feel alive. It took the end of the world for me to find her and now she's gone."

"All I'm going to say is if nothing else, you have to think of Skeeter. Not only has he lost your friend Danny now he has lost Grace as well, I don't think he could take loosing you again. Do one thing for me, give us some more time, give life some more time."

Archangel looked over and saw Skeeter talking to Bria.

"Okay."