DAY 34
Grace had never felt lonely on a baseship before. The whole concept reminded her of fleas on a dog, the way they lived and existed on the ship. When she left a month ago she hated humans and would have been the first in line to fire the first bomb, now she was back and she couldn't feel more different. She hated her own people, not only had they robbed her of the man she loved, they had robbed them both of their unborn child. If stepping out of an airlock would end the pain she felt she would do it, but she would only end up in another body and probably boxed for her troubles. As she walked onto the bridge she was met by one of her sister models.
"How are you today?" 6 asked her.
Grace put on a smile with her reply, "Better today thank you." She lied.
1 came up to her with his usual smug smile, "6 I'm so glad to hear you are starting to feel better. We look forward to you being able to get back to your work."
"I was going to talk to you about moving down to Caprica." Grace replied.
"That wouldn't be because of a certain pilot would it?" 1 replied.
"Of course not. I want to get back to what I was meant to do in the first place. Before you all decided to send me to live with humans." She replied.
"Well we've all been talking and we agree that you should go down to the planet. You need something to help take your mind of recent, tragedies." 1 said.
It took all of Grace's self control not to tear out 1's throat with her bare hands.
"A heavy raider will be ready to take you down this afternoon." 1 said.
Skeeter woke up feeling quite rested for a change. The last couple of days had taken their toll on everyone. They had managed to stay in the same location for a couple of days, but Michaels had found them an easily defendable location they were moving too later. He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly as he sat up. He saw Bria, Vannick and Michaels sat talking over a cup of coffee. He reached into his bag and took out a cigarette, which he immediately lit. As he looked to his side he saw a piece of paper laying next to him with his name written on it. He picked it up and began to read it.
"Oh frak." He said to himself.
He stood up and headed over to the others.
"Mark's gone." He said.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Vannick replied.
"He left me a letter, he's gone to his parents home to try and find them." Skeeter said.
"Will he come back?" Bria asked.
He nodded his head in reply, "I should have seen this coming."
"Where do they live?" Vannick asked.
"Oasis, it's going to take him a couple of days to get there and back. He'll be back."
Being on his own was helping Archangel to calm down. So far he had come across one centurion and had no problem at all in dealing with it. Caprica had taken a lot more damage than Sagittaron. He had come across a fire someone had made but it had been out for a long time now. He had always hated Caprica since the day his parents told him they were moving, now he hated it even more. He could see the spiralled church in Oasis in the distance. It was the largest building in the town and it was an impressive sight, even for him. It was still going to take him a few hours to get there. A few more hours alone with his thoughts. He had no idea what he was going to find, even though he really wanted to see them, he doubted very much that his parents would be there. Just being in their home would be enough for him for now though, just being there, he hoped would make him feel better. He had been hard on himself recently for not spending more time with them, it had been nearly a year since he had seen them and that was only for a day when he had been promoted.
1 YEAR BEFORE THE FALL
Archangel sat in his Viper as he flew CAP. His wingman Lieutenant Mal "Whirlwind" Thomas, as usual was putting the worlds to rights as only he could.
"Still can't believe the Bucks lost again. I thought when they made Anders captain things might look up but my gods could they get any worse?" Mal exaggerated.
Archangel sighed to himself, "To be honest as I was yesterday when we had this conversation then, I am still a Sagittaron Raiders fan and as we just beat the Bucks, I don't really care how shit they are."
Mal seemed shocked, Archangel knew it was all for effect, he had the same reaction yesterday.
"Oh of course, your mind is on the new job coming up." Mal replied, "Well don't worry about it as I am convinced the new CAG of the Battlestar Atlantia will be yours truly."
"Well we find out this afternoon." Archangel replied.
"Gentlemen we have you on dradis and if you're ready to stop whining about the Bucks, Whirlwind the starboard hanger bay is clear for you both to land." Major Hans Ritter said over the com, "Both your speeds are 150, call the ball."
"This is Whirlwind, speed 150, I have the ball."
"This is Archangel my speed is also 150, I have the ball." he added.
Whirlwind turned and pulled a moronic face as they flew in.
The Hanger bay of the Atlantia was bustling with life as usual. Whirlwind as usual was already out of his plane and waiting for Archangel.
"The XO is on his way down here, apparently they've made a decision." He said like a hyperactive child, a huge smile across his face.
Archangel walked down the ladder off his ship, he was a mixture of excited and extremely nervous. Three years of hard work and putting everything else in his life second. They both saw Colonel Philip Black, the ships XO walk onto the deck.
"Here we go, may the best man win." Mal said.
Archangel shook his hand. They both waited where they were and watched as the XO walked over to them
"Gentlemen." He said.
"Sir." They both said as they saluted him.
"At ease. The old man has asked me to escort you to his quarters, he's made his decision on who got the job." Black said with a smile, "One of you two yahoo's is about to get a frak load more work to do."
The walk to Admiral Negala's office seemed to last a lifetime, all the time Archangel couldn't get what was about to happen out of his head. As much as he would be happy for his friend, he still would be disappointed, he'd worked so hard to get to this point. When they reached his quarters he was sitting behind his desk.
"Please gentlemen sit down." He said.
Both men sat down. Mal had a huge stupid grim across his face while Archangel looked very nervous.
"I'm going to cut to the chase. It's been a tough decision, both of you have qualities that would make you both excellent CAG's, but I have made a choice. Lieutenant Hunter, I'm pleased to inform you that you are the ships new CAG."
He couldn't help the smile on his face, Mal patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Well done." He said.
"Congratulations Captain, I know you won't let me down." He shook Archangel's hand, "Also, Mal I am pleased to inform you that I have decided to make you the new squadron XO."
"What? What happened to Black Ball?" he asked.
"She's been offered the position of CAG on the Triton. Now Admirals Corman and Greenway, along with myself have decided that due to all your hard work we are going to officially promote you at a ceremony next week." Negala said grinning.
Archangel had not expected this and was a little embarrassed, "Erm, thank you."
"I've already invited your family as well as a couple of your friends for the ceremony."
Archangel visibly cringed which made the Admiral smile. On occasion making his men cringe made him smile!
Grace sat in her quarters while she waited for the heavy raider to take her down to the planet. Being alone in the quiet made things a little easier to deal with. She had found herself putting her hand on her stomach over the past couple of days, the death of her unborn child had left her with a bigger hole than the loss of Archangel. Suddenly she became aware someone else was in the room with her. She opened her eyes to see another 6 standing in the doorway.
"May I speak with you?" 6 asked.
Grace nodded her head and the 6 walked in and sat by her.
"I was so terribly sorry to hear of your loss."
"Thank you." Grace said.
"I wanted to fill you in on some news I wasn't sure if you were aware of."
More idle gossip. Before the attack she had never known her people to care about things like this, now there were whispers everywhere about the little things that were happening, the things that were not important.
"An 8 has turned her back on us." 6 said.
This, Grace did not expect, "Why?" she asked.
"A man she was asked to watch over, a stranded pilot from the Battlestar Galactica." 6 replied.
Grace was unsure how to react to this news. Was this a trap to see how she reacted?
"What happened?" Grace asked.
"The pilot was stranded here on the day of the attack. We found that his co-pilot had been an 8 so they sent one in to frak with him. It seems she fell in love and has cut off all contact, now they are on the run."
This was news she didn't know. "What are the others doing about it?"
"Searching for them. 1 wants them found before they could be rescued. There is a Battlestar still somewhere in the system running regular rescue missions."
This was news she wanted to hear. If she could find them, she too could get away.
"Also the 8, she is now pregnant."
This hit Grace like a wall. She was lost for words.
"I thought you should know this. Some of our sister models and I, we are not happy with 1 and his hold over us. Things are not happening how they were planned. There are also whispers of Cylons who believe we were wrong doing the things we did." 6 stood up and kissed Grace on the forehead before placing a folded up piece of paper into her hand before she walked away.
When 6 had left the room, Grace opened the paper, there were coordinates on it and a date, two days from today.
"So what are we going to do?" Mantill asked angrily.
"We wait for him to get back." Skeeter replied.
"We wait, like sitting ducks for someone who may not even come back? Are you stupid?" Mantill asked sarcastically.
Skeeter dived on the man punching him hard in the mouth. He held Mantill by the throat.
"We wait till he gets back." Skeeter said through gritted teeth.
Vannick took hold of Skeeter's arm making him release his grip on the doctor's throat.
"You keep your fraking hands off me." Mantill said.
"Then watch your fraking mouth, we're alive because of him. If any of you want to leave go, frak off, I'll wait by myself." Skeeter said. He paced as he spoke, he could feel his anger rising.
"You're a fraking fool." Mantill replied.
As Skeeter turned to go for him again. Bria fired her sidearm into the air.
"For fraks sake all of you calm down and shut up." She holstered her weapon and stood between the two men. "Unless we're found we wait. Archangel said to wait for his return so we wait. Mike has been working on a tracker that detects Cylons when they get close. How far away are you from completing it?"
Mike looked up from his work. Nothing even fazed him, despite he was only 17 years old he was a mechanical and computer genius. As the others had found out over the last couple of days however, he had no people skills whatsoever.
"Well Lieutenant, if people would stop shouting so I could concentrate it would be closer to completion." He replied.
"All I want is an ETA." Bria replied.
"The end of the day. We will be able to detect them from 500 metres away, not just Cylons I've tweaked it to detect people as well." He replied without even looking up.
"Then we at least wait till it's completed. If anyone doesn't want to wait, then go, no one is stopping you." Bria said looking over at the doctor.
"And who put you in charge?" Mantill asked.
"The Lieutenant speaks for me." Vannick said.
"Me too." Skeeter added.
"Listen going anywhere is suicide. We owe Captain Hunter the decency of waiting for him. I'm staying too." Michaels said.
Mike didn't speak he just gave Michaels a thumbs up.
"Dr Mantill I think you need to take a deep breath and sit down. We need to stick together in order to survive. If we start fighting amongst ourselves and splinter apart, the Cylons will have no problem at all in killing us." Ramok said, "Listen to Bria."
Mantill turned and walked away mumbling under his breath.
"Thank you." Bria said. She turned and walked over to Skeeter, "You okay?"
"Yeah I'm sorry it's just been a rough few days." He replied as he lit a cigarette.
"I understand that. Just keep your cool. I need you and Vannick to keep it together, especially if we're attacked. If you two aren't on your game we're all dead." She replied,
"No problem, I'm okay." Skeeter said.
"And you're right, he'll be back." Bria said.
It had been a long time since Archangel had been to Oasis. Although it hadn't been hit as hard as other places had been, there were still clear signs the Cylons had been there. Bullet casings, as well as bullet holes in walls. There were streaks of blood splattered in places as well. Archangel was trying to keep out of sight as much as possible. It was the first time he had noticed the silence. Other than the wind there was nothing. As he reached the main street which he had to cross, it hit him the hardest. The children's play area was deserted. Shop windows smashed and cars burned out. He reached as far as he could with the cover he had. He checked through his binoculars, nothing. He took a deep breath before taking a step into the street. He remembered the first time he had seen this street. He had been a 16 year old boy and had fought his parents every step of the way. He still hated Caprica, more so than before. As he reached the other side, he walked down the alleyway to take him towards the street his parents had lived on. He stopped in his tracks when he saw two decaying bodies in front of him. They had clearly died holding onto each other. As he got closer he felt a wave of relief, even through the decay he could tell it wasn't his parents. He took a deep breath and continued to walk. In the distance he could see a Cylon raider flying in the opposite direction. He kept on walking, not far now.
As the heavy raider left the Base Ship, Grace couldn't see anything of Caprica through the nuclear fallout. There were dozens of other Base Ships that she could see. She wondered how Archangel and the others would ever be able to get off world, never mind any rescue ships getting through. She did have hope though, if anyone could do it she knew he could.
"Must be nice getting back to your original job?" the 8 flying the raider asked.
"It seems like a lifetime ago I was supposed to be on Caprica." She replied.
As they broke through the fallout, Grace could see her destination. Caprica's biggest Farm. The guilt of what went on in these facilities hit her hard. What made it worse was that she was supposed to be running it, that had always been her position. Unlike other 6s she had been given all the medical knowledge that a 4 would usually have. As the raider touched down she was met by a 4.
"6 it's good to finally meet you." 4 said holding out his hand.
Grace shook it, "I never thought I would actually get here."
"I hear you did good work with the humans." He said as they walked into the facility.
"I'm not here to talk about the past." She coldly replied, "How are things progressing here?"
"Very well. We have 400 women here all in various stages of impregnation." 4 said.
Grace knew what she was going to do here. She had to make up for what her people had done.
"Would you like a tour of the grounds?" 4 asked.
"Please." Grace replied.
Most of the building was uninteresting. As he led her into the "populated" area the emotion hit her. All those women, all there against their will. It took everything she had to hold it together. She watched the 4 smiling and laughing as he spoke. As she passed a scalpel she picked it up and gripped it tightly. All she wanted to do was slit his throat from ear to ear. She put the blade into her jacket pocket and let out a slow deep breath. She would deal with him when she dealt with this abomination. As the tour finished he showed her to her living quarters and left her. She calmly walked over to the bed and placed her bag onto it. She then picked up the pillow, held it in front of her face and screamed as loudly as she could into it. When she had finished she dropped it onto the bed, her hands shaking. Picking up the bag she opened it and smiled when she saw what was inside, enough explosives to wipe this place off the map.
As Archangel reached his parents home he stood in the driveway and looked at it. No matter what he said of Caprica he had fond memories of the two years he lived here before enrolling in the military. He walked down the long driveway to the back of the house. His fathers car was in the drive at the back of the house, he tried not to let that give him any hope that they might be here. He tried the handle on the back door but it was locked. Using his elbow he smashed the window on the door and reached through to open it. As he stepped into the Hunter family home he closed the door.
"MUM. DAD." He shouted. He waited for a reply that never came. He walked through the kitchen through the hallway and into the living room. On the coffee table was a sealed envelope with Mark written on the front. He placed his bag and rifle onto the sofa as he sat down and picked up the letter in both hands. For what seemed like an eternity he sat holding it, staring at his mothers handwriting before opening it up.
Son,
We knew you would make it here, unfortunately we will not be there to see you. We want you to know how proud you have made us. Everything you have ever done has been with such passion and dedication, we have never been anything but amazed and proud by what you have accomplished. We knew no matter what you said you were going to do you would succeed, no matter what it was we were always so proud of anything you did. You are such an amazing man.
Know that at the end we were all together and we are at peace with what is coming. We have all lead full lives and there are no regrets. We know you are not alone, you were on Sagittaron when this all began so we know you're at least with Skeeter and Danny and that gives me some peace of mind.
Know that we love you and know that we are all proud of you. We know you will have been fighting for your survival and that you are strong enough to make it, all we ask is that you do not do anything too reckless. Stay alive, try and stay safe.
We know you love us and we all love you more than words can say.
Mum, Dad and Illum
Once again tears rolled down his face as he finished reading. He carefully folded the letter and put it back into the envelope before putting it in his bag. He looked up and smiled when he saw a photo of him with his family from when he made Captain.
1 YEAR BEFORE THE FALL
Archangel stood in his uniform waiting for Mal to finish getting ready. He had been dreading this since the old man told him what he was planning. He hated public spectacles like this, especially when he was the focus of them. They had docked at the Caprica Fleet Ship yards the day before and all he had wanted to do was run but he knew Negala would have had someone come and bring him straight back.
"Got your speech ready?" Mal asked sarcastically.
"He knows how much I'm gonna hate this." Archangel replied.
The outgoing CAG Captain Joanna May appeared at the door.
"Are you two not ready yet?" she asked.
"I am, it's just Mal holding us up as usual ma'am." Archangel replied.
"Please it's just Joanna now, anything else wouldn't seem right." She replied with a smile.
"Nice to know Joanna." Mal replied.
"It's still Captain or Ma'am to you. And in about an hour it will be Major."
"Yes ma'am." He replied with a joke salute.
"I'm so glad he's going to be your responsibility from now on." Joanna said.
"He's always gonna be SOMEONE's responsibility." Archangel replied.
"HEY!" Mal replied punching both friends in the arm.
"Anyway gentlemen there are people waiting for us."
The sectioned off hanger deck was full of people. Archangel didn't even recognise most of them. As he took his seat he saw his parents and brother wave to him. He then saw Skeeter and Danny both looking very smart sat with them. Danny waved at his friend beaming from ear to ear. He stopped when Skeeter said something quietly to him and then looked apologetic. A hush went over the hanger deck as Admiral Negala stood up and walked to the podium.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Today is quite a day, the day we promote the youngest CAG in the history of the fleet. I first heard about Mark Hunter when he was still in flight school. The buzz surrounding him was unlike any we had heard before. The first time I saw him fly was a few months later during a war game exercise. He was alone against ten of his fellow cadets, the aim they had to take him out before he got all ten of them. This is done every year with the best students in vipers and the one pilot by him or herself has never won, until that year. It took him less than five minutes to eliminate all of his enemy contacts. He performed manoeuvrers that I had never seen anyone manage before. When he graduated he had already gained the reputation of being the best pilot Vipers had ever produced. He was given the opportunity to pick where he wanted to be stationed out of eight different Battlestars and I was delighted when he chose to serve about the Atlantia. Over the last three years he has worked tirelessly to prove himself worthy of this promotion. He hasn't let anything else get in his way and he fully deserves this promotion. Captain May as the outgoing CAG would you please give Captain Hunter his new rank pips."
Joanna saluted the Admiral before taking the pips from him. She turned to Archangel and removed his Lieutenant pips before replacing them with his new Captain ones. She saluted him and he her.
"Ladies and gentlemen may I present to you not only the youngest CAG in colonial history but the youngest flagship CAG, Captain Mark Hunter." Negala said.
Everyone clapped, there were even a few cheers as he replaced the Admiral on the podium.
"Thank you. I've been racking my brain for the last week trying to figure out what to say here. As those of you who know me know I'm not good with public attention like this. I've ignored a lot of you over the past three years and I've only had time for my career and for that I am sorry. But this is a dream come true for me. I want to say thanks to Admiral Negala, you know how much I wanted this and I promise I won't let you down..."
PRESENT DAY
Skeeter sat by himself smoking a cigarette. He had managed to calm down after the scuffle earlier in the day. Other than Vannick most of the others had left him alone, which he appreciated.
"Can I join you?" Bria asked.
"Sure take a seat." He offered her a cigarette as she sat.
"No thank you, it took me a long time to quit. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm sorry about earlier. But he had no right to talk about Mark like that." Skeeter replied.
"I know but I don't think he'll ever see it like that. I think you're going to have to accept the fact that he likes the sound of his own voice and opinion a little too much." Bria said.
Skeeter let out a laugh, "I think you're right there."
"I know everyone looks up to Archangel as the groups leader and I wanted to say thanks for getting behind me. You know I don't want to step on any toes if you think you should lead the group?" Bria said.
"Me? Frak no, I'm too hot headed for that. I think you or Vannick are a way better choice than me. Vannick follows you, so do I."
"I meant what I said earlier about you and Vannick, if the shit hits the fan I'll be looking to you two to keep these guys alive." Bria said.
"Don't worry I'm always ready to drop some toasters." Skeeter replied.
"It's finished." Mike said sitting down next to them. He handed Bria the small handheld pad. A small digital map of the area was on the screen.
"Wow this is impressive." Bria said.
Mike snatched it back from her, "If you press this button once it will show you any humans within 500 yards." A small green blip appeared for each of the survivors in the camp, "Press it again and it will show you any Cylons in the area. If there are any they will be red blips." Thankfully when he pressed it there were no contacts. He passed it back to Bria and then walked off.
"Good job he's a genius with all the people skills he has." Skeeter said sarcastically.
Bria laughed.
As Grace walked passed two centurions she wasn't used to not shooting at them yet. They just ignored her as she passed, she wondered what they would do if they knew about the sheer amount of explosives she had planted. As she headed to the door 4 appeared in front of her.
"Everything okay 6?" he asked.
"Everything is fine. I'm just going outside for some air, I'm still not used to being cooped up after being outside for so long." Grace replied.
"I'll walk with you." 4 replied.
"Of course." Grace put her hand around the handle of the scalpel in her pocket.
4 carried on talking as they walked. She had forgotten how all the 4's loved the sound of their own voice. It was taking all her control not to plunge the blade into his throat but she decided to bide her time.
"…. You seem distracted?" 4 asked her.
"Sorry I'm still adjusting to this new body." She said placing her free hand over her stomach, "It's been a lot to adjust to."
"Is this your first download?" 4 asked.
Grace nodded her head, "Yes and I hope it's the last."
"We have to be careful here, there are a lot of people still alive who would jump at the chance of killing us." 4 said.
"I bet there are."
"There is a group of resistance fighters somewhere. They keep striking but we cannot seem to find them. Still it's only a matter of time now."
Grace noticed they had walked a safe distance so she could set off the bombs.
"There is just one thing I need to do." Grace said as she took her free hand and pressed the detonator in her pocket. The whole farm went up in one giant magnificent explosion. As 4 turned to face her she took the blade and plunged it into his throat before ripping it back out. As he gurgled for air, Grace let the rage take her over and stabbed him several more times.
"Tell 1 and the others that I will never forgive them for what they have done to me. I am ashamed to call you my people and I won't stop till you are all dead." As she finished speaking she repeatedly stabbed him in the throat and chest until he stopped moving. As she stood up she dropped the blade and spat on 4's lifeless body before turning and walking off. She breathed a sigh of relief and managed to smile to herself a little as she walked away.
Archangel felt clean for the first time in weeks. His father had always had a sealed tank of water in the back garden and he had used it to take a shower. He smiled to himself as he walked into his brother's room, it was it's usual chaotic mess. He had always said there was order to his chaos yet he could never find anything that he wanted. Archangel took a picture of the wall of him and his brother from when he had been promoted, he would definitely be taking that with him when he left. He also picked up several photo albums and put them into a pile on his brother's bed. Hung on the front of his wardrobe were his brothers Caprica Buccaneers and Sagittaron Raiders jerseys. On the back of each was their surname printed with the number 1. He took another look around the room and smiled to himself before walking back downstairs. It had begun to get dark outside so he lit a couple of candles. With the photographs he had already taken from his parents he managed to squeeze everything into his bag. He opened the bottle of beer he had found. He had chilled it in some cold water in the kitchen sink and took a long swig from the cold bottle.
"Here's to you guys." He said looking over at one of the photos. He finished the beer before blowing out the candles and lying down on the sofa. Sleep came quickly for the first time since the attack. As he drifted into his slumber he was unaware he was being watched. Grace stood by the front window watching Archangel as he slept. She wiped away a tear from her face and touched the window. All she wanted to do was walk inside and wake him but she knew she couldn't. In time he might accept her for what she was but not now, it was far too soon. She kissed her hand and pressed it to the window before turning and walking away.
1, 4 and a 6 walked around the ruins of what had once been the biggest farm on Caprica.
"How did we not see this coming?" 4 asked.
"Because she has learned how to lie and lie convincingly." 1 replied, "This is becoming a habit, first an 8 and now a 6."
"We had no idea this would happen, but we agree with 4, we should have seen this coming." 6 said.
"Is there any sign of her at all?" 1 asked.
"No she's gone, there's a chance she's been picked up by the colonials." 6 said.
"We'll find her, eventually. Till then our experiment is definitely over I want Archangel and all his friends dead, they've cost us too much already as it is." 1 said.
Archangel had slept very well indeed. As he put his pack on his back he walked out of his family home for what would be the last time, turned off the safety on his rifle and started the long walk back to the others. As he reached the end of the driveway he stopped dead in his tracks. Facing him at the other end of the street was a 5 with six centurions flanking him. The 5 smiled and waved before the centurions opened fire.
