Archangel ran as fast as he could through the crowded corridors of the Starburst. He tightly gripped one of his side arms in his hand. He wasn't going to let this killer get away, he had to know why they had done the things they had.
"MAKE A FRAKING HOLE!" He yelled as he ran. The people in front of him looked startled and moved as quickly as they could out of the young pilots way. Whoever he was chasing, they were fast. As Archangel turned into the next corridor he ran a few metres before stopping dead in his tracks. He raised his weapon and held it tightly in both hands.
"TURN AROUND." He yelled, "I WON'T TELL YOU AGAIN!" Archangel's face dropped and he slowly began to lower his weapon, "You." He said quietly.
12 HOURS EARLIER
Commander Vanessa Garrett walked through the corridors of her ship with purpose. She and the crew had successfully stopped the NCO on the planet a few days ago, she felt confident that if they could end that with so few casualties, then they could face any problem that came their way. Things hadn't been quiet though, bodies had begun turning up across the fleet. They had all been so brutally murdered, she knew they had to find whoever was doing it. She smiled and said hello to the crewmembers she passed. She walked with her head held high. She had learned many things from Johannsen in the small time she had served under him, one of the most important she felt was to treat her crew, no matter what their rank, with respect. This was something while serving aboard Pegasus, had been lacking. She was beginning to find her tough side as well. The day before she had dealt with a very angry Captain of the Liner, Persephone when he had become abusive towards her. However Colonel Rae was more than making up for her softer side with the crew, by keeping them in line. As she walked into sickbay the marines on guard stood to attention and saluted her.
"Please gentlemen at ease." She said as she passed them.
Dr Hammond and Archangel stood waiting for her. Archangel gave her a little smile and a wink, she smiled back at him.
"So do we have another one?" Garrett asked.
"We have another two." Hammond replied.
"How many is that so far?" Garrett asked.
"Six." Hammond answered.
"However, want to hear something really interesting? These two are Cylons." Archangel said.
"What?" Garrett replied, that she hadn't expected, "Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah. This one I've killed more of than any other. I think they called him Doral I even heard them call him 5. This one I saw a couple of copies of on Sagittaron they called him 2." Archangel replied.
"What if the rest of these people are Cylons? Could someone have found out and be hunting them?" Hammond asked.
"That would certainly put an interesting spin on things." Garrett replied.
"Yeah do we stop them, or let them carry on?" Archangel said.
"We have to find out who is doing this," Garrett said, "Where did these bodies come from?"
"The Starburst." Hammond replied.
"Okay Major I want you to head over there. Take a look at where they found the bodies, see if you can find anything on any of the camera footage." Vanessa ordered.
"Yes ma'am, I'll instruct Bojay to take over till I get back." Archangel replied.
"Let me know as soon as you find anything at all." Garrett said.
"Of course." He replied.
Archangel walked out of the room, Garrett turned to Hammond, "Have you examined these bodies for anything, different?"
"Inside they're the same as the Cylon who killed the Commander. As far as I can tell they are no different from humans." Hammond replied.
"There has to be a way of telling them apart." Garrett said.
"Trust me Commander I've tested everything I can think of." Hammond answered.
"I know that wasn't a slight against your work doctor, I was just thinking out loud. If we could test them, then we could find every Cylon in our fleet. Did the kid genius Archangel rescued on Sagittaron ever come over to see what he could find?" Vanessa asked.
"No he didn't. I've tried to get him onboard, but there is always something else that is taking up his time." she replied.
"I'll have a word with him, see what I can do." Vanessa replied with a smile.
Archangel was beginning to get tired of the Starburst. It seemed to be a mecca for death and destruction. If there were somewhere else his friends who lived there could move to, he would suggest it. As he flew a raptor through the fleet, he looked at all the ships he was passing by. Ranging from the very small to the massive, carrying the last hope for their doomed race.
"Starburst this is Major Hunter requesting permission to dock." Archangel said.
Moments later a voice replied over the COM, "Major this is Starburst, you are cleared for landing in our main hanger. The Captain will meet you when you land."
"Thank you Starburst." He replied as he guided the small craft towards the hanger bay. As the Raptor flew into the bay it was full of shuttles and transports from lots of the other ships in the fleet. Archangel touched down and powered off the engines. As the back hatch opened he saw Edward Jonas, captain of the Starburst waiting for him. The tall middle-aged man smiled and shook his hand. The man looked a lot older than the last time he had seen him, events on his ship and in general were beginning to take their toll on him.
"Thank you for coming Major." Jonas said.
"Have your men found anything yet?" Archangel replied as they walked.
"My XO has found someone on video surveillance but it's difficult to make anything out." Jonas answered.
"Can I see?" Archangel asked.
"Of course, we'll head to the bridge." Jonas said with a forced smile. He knew that the Commander didn't mean anything by sending the Major, but sometimes she made him feel as though he wasn't in command of his own ship.
The bridge on the Starburst was bustling with life. Like the rest of the ship even this was luxurious, well compared to the CIC of Orion anyway. The crew all sat at their posts in comfortable chairs and even they were waited on by people brining them food and drink when they wanted it. Archangel though this was no way for a crew to work and gave a little laugh to himself. The front of the bridge was a large window looking out into space. He could see other ships in the fleet with Orion leading the way. They walked over to Elizabeth Price, the ships Executive Officer.
"Miss Price this is Major Hunter." Jonas said. They briefly exchanged pleasantries.
She began to play the security footage from the corridor outside the quarters. Moments later a figure appeared from the room and she paused it.
"Whoever it is has covered their face well." Elizabeth said.
"It looks like a woman." Archangel said.
"This must be the killer." Jonas said.
"Well considering she's holding the murder weapon, I would say so." Archangel replied.
"Murder weapon?" Jonas and Elizabeth both said together. Archangel pointed to the knife the woman on the screen was carrying.
The science vessel Columbus was full of the most state of the art equipment and labs. Since the attack they had been working on ways to help the fleet survive. Commander Garrett had been here a couple of times before and only for a flying visit. As she walked into Mike's lab she saw a large amount of completed EMP warheads, along with more being made. Mike's small staff busied themselves with their work and hadn't even noticed her walk in. She saw Mike working on a circuit board and walked over to him.
"Good afternoon Mr Campbell." Garrett said.
He looked up from his work and was surprised to see her standing in front of him.
"Commander I didn't know you were coming." He said.
"Well Dr Hammond has been trying to get in touch with you for some time, so I thought I'd drop in and see how you were doing." Vanessa replied with a smile.
"Apologies Commander, things have been very busy getting these warheads together." He replied.
"Do you think you can spare some time to help her try to distinguish between human and cylon?" Vanessa asked.
"Honestly Commander I'm not sure I have the time at the moment." He replied.
"While I agree this work is important and I am happy with the sixty warheads you have delivered so far, surely your staff is capable of continuing in your short absence." Garrett replied with a smile.
"I'm sure they could, but I'm sorry I need to remain here." he said firmly.
"I'm not sure you're understanding me, I'm afraid I must insist that you come with me and leave your staff to continue your work." Vanessa said calmly.
Mike prepared to argue and looked up at the young Commander. He could tell by the look on her face that she was not joking and he realised that to argue would be futile.
"Please Commander, allow me to collect some of my things." He replied.
"Be my guest." Vanessa replied.
Captain Jonas led Archangel to where they had found the last body. The quarters of the Cylon were sparse. Blood was spattered all over the bed and the wall behind it.
"My gods whoever did this has some anger issues." Jonas said.
"Or they found out they were killing a Cylon." Archangel replied, "Have your men looked through his belongings?"
"No Major, we left everything as it was for you to look through." Jonas replied.
There wasn't much for Archangel to look through. He opened the small wardrobe, it didn't take him long to look through the few items of clothing the Cylon had, there was nothing else in there. He opened the blood-splattered cabinet next to the bed and took out the few pieces of paper in there.
"Well I've seen this before." Archangel said looking at the NCO leaflet. He handed it to Jonas.
"Fraking NCO, they've caused hell so far, I'm hoping you guys manage to stop them." Jonas replied.
"One thing at a time," he replied, "Now this is interesting. Have you heard about the Plan."
"What plan?" Jonas asked.
"I have no idea but I do recognise the face on the front, he's a Cylon." Jonas took the leaflet and looked at it.
"If he's a Cylon why would he broadcast himself?" Jonas asked.
"It could be a call to other Cylons in the fleet, calling them out of hiding. This was probably put together before we found out about them." Archangel replied.
The last piece of paper was a flyer for one of the bars on the Starburst, a triad tournament.
"Where is this?" Archangel asked.
"F deck section seven." Jonas replied nervously.
"Looks like I'm going to a triad tournament." Archangel said with a smile. He turned and headed for the door.
"Wait." Jonas said, "You need to be careful down there."
"Why?" Archangel replied, he could tell by the sudden shift in the Captain's tone there was more that wasn't being said.
"The people who have taken charge down there, well let's just say they don't follow my or your orders." Jonas replied.
"And why haven't you mentioned this before?" Archangel asked with a look on his face that let the Captain know he wouldn't ask twice.
"Because they told me if I did they would kill my son. They're thugs, criminals. We stay out of their business and they don't cause me any problems. Can I talk you out of going there or at least get some back up. They're not nice men." Jonas answered.
"Trust me I'll be fine, I'm not a nice man either." Archangel replied, "Get on the horn to Orion and tell them everything we've found out, tell them where I am going, but you can leave out the part you told me if you like, it will only make the Commander worry about the mess I might have to make." he patted Jonas on the shoulder as he walked past.
When Archangel reached his destination it almost felt like he was on a different ship. The bar had been transformed from a fancy wine bar, into something that resembled a strip club called Delphi. The door was flanked by two giant bouncers who moved into his way.
"I'd like to get in there please." Archangel said with a broad smile on his face.
"Move on flyboy, this place ain't for the likes of you." One of the bouncers replied menacingly.
"I'm not asking you to move gentlemen, I'm telling you." Archangel replied with a smile.
"We don't take orders from you," the bouncer said again, "Frak off." He reached for Archangel, who in one move, grabbed the giant man's arm and twisted it behind his back, breaking it with a sickening crack. He fell to his knees in agony as Archangel backhanded him knocking him out cold. As the other bouncer moved towards him, Archangel drew one of his side arms.
"Back off cupcake." Archangel said with a wink.
The bouncer held up his hand, "Head straight in we won't bother you."
"Thank you." Archangel replied holstering his weapon. As he walked in, people were looking at him as they had seen what had happened outside. He walked to the bar, the burley barman just looked at him.
"I'm hoping you can tell me if you've seen this man?" Archangel said showing him a picture of Doral. The barman looked at it and then looked back down at the glass he was polishing, "Excuse me I'm being polite, I take it you saw what happened to your door men?"
"You know you really didn't have to do that to my doormen." A man said from behind him.
Archangel turned and saw a very smartly dressed man standing in front of him, "Well they weren't going to let me in, so I had to persuade them." Archangel said sarcastically.
"I'm Curtis Turner and this is my bar." He said holding out his hand. Archangel shook it.
"Major Mark Hunter." He replied.
"I know who you are Archangel." Curtis replied.
"That's good because I know who you are as well and the kind of things you used to get up to on Scorpia." Archangel replied with a smile.
Curtis laughed, the young pilot amused him, "I like you Major, please come sit with me so we can talk."
Archangel followed him to the back of the bar and sat with him in a booth.
"Can I see the photograph?" Curtis asked.
Archangel handed it over to him. Curtis looked at it for a few moments, "I know this man, Aaron Doral, he joined the Triad tournament we held last week. He was knocked out in the first round. May I ask why you're looking for him?"
"I already have him, he's dead." Archangel replied.
"So I take it you're looking for who killed him?" Curtis asked.
"That's why I'm here. Do you know if anyone had a problem with him?" Archangel asked.
"As far as I know he kept himself to himself. He was talking to a woman, I remember because she was fine, Kelly I think they called her." Curtis said.
"Is she in here now?" Archangel asked.
"No, haven't seen her since yesterday. Don't know where she lives, she just comes in sometimes." he answered
"Thank you for your help, I'll come back again later." He said standing up.
"I'll tell the guys on the door to let you in if you do." Curtis replied.
Simon Given had just finished his shift on one of the mining vessels. Since leaving Delta Seven, he had begun working on the mining vessel Explorer, processing the ore they were using to make new fighters. He loved living on the Starburst, he and Kelly had managed to get some quarters together and he had never been happier. As he reached their room, he saw the door was open ajar. He walked inside and saw Kelly lying in a pool of her own blood, clearly dead. He ran over to her and checked for a pulse, there was nothing. As tears rolled down his face he turned just in time to be knocked out by the unseen murderer. The murderer, had covered their face, stopping a moment to look at the dead body, whoever it was, quickly turned and ran out of the room, Archangel was nearly barrelled over by them. He looked into the quarters and saw the 6 laying dead in a pool of her own blood and the young man laying next to her. He unholstered one of his side arms and ran after the killer at full pelt. Whoever it was ran into a crowd of people that Archangel had to fight his way through.
"MAKE A FRAKING HOLE!" he yelled at the top of his voice.
The people began to move for the young pilot. As he rounded the next corner he could see the killer a few metres away from him. He raised his weapon.
"TURN AROUND." He yelled, "I WON'T TELL YOU AGAIN, I AM ARMED AND I WILL KILL YOU." As the killer turned around he couldn't believe his eyes, "You." He said slowly lowering his weapon.
"Hello Mark." Grace said as she stood in front of him.
"Grace." He said, not sure whether another Cylon was playing a trick on him. Her hair was longer and other than that she looked like any other 6, but he just knew.
"I've missed you." She said.
"How do I know it's you?" he said.
She took a step closer to him and he raised his weapon again. She stopped and held up her hands.
"After you arrived at Caprica you went to your parents house at Oasis. That evening I saw you through the living room window as you slept on the sofa. I wanted to come in and talk to you but I didn't know how you would react." she replied.
They stood looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Some people behind them broke the silence. Archangel grabbed her hand, "Where have you been living?"
"Follow me." She replied.
For the entire walk neither of them spoke. Archangel was full of conflicting emotions. He had longed to see her for all these months, now he didn't know what to do. All the feelings he had for her came surging back to the surface, the anger he felt for Danny's death was there, but not as strong as the love he felt for her. She led him into her quarters and shut the door behind them. As she turned, Archangel grabbed her and kissed her, he had wanted to do that so much.
As the kiss ended, he looked at her for a moment, "Did you kill Danny?" Archangel asked outright.
Grace nodded her head, "Yes I did." She replied.
"Why?" he asked.
"I had no choice, they made me decide between Skeeter and Danny. If I had refused they would have killed all of you. They would have just located us and dropped another nuke right on top of us." She replied.
"Why Danny?" Archangel asked, for a moment, he saw that she was scared.
"It was a horrible choice, but it was the better of two evils, you needed Skeeter to stay alive." she replied, "Danny was a sweet man, an innocent soul and I will never forgive myself for what I did to him, but he wasn't strong like Skeeter is and I know you know that."
Archangel let out a sign and sat on the bed in the room.
"But I do need you to know that I've turned my back on them, I'm a traitor to my own people. That's why I've been going through the fleet killing all the Cylons I could find. Once I had done that I was going to hand myself in with the proof of what I've done to show I'm loyal to you. I can show your doctor how to identify Cylon from human. I can't go back to my people. At worst they'll kill me with no resurrection ship in range at best they'll box me. I have a lot to offer this fleet." Grace pleaded.
"I need to know, do you really love me or was it all part of the trick?" Archangel asked.
"At first I didn't want to be assigned to you. I had no interest of interacting with humans. My time with you changed me, when I told you I loved you I was telling the truth. Being apart from you has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do." Grace replied sincerely.
"If I take you back to Orion and the Commander lets you stay, Skeeter can never know what happened to Danny." Archangel said.
This surprised Grace, "Why?"
"Because he'll kill you." Archangel replied.
Archangel stood up and kissed her again. The moment was broken by the door being bashed in. Two large men rushed in followed by Curtis Turner. Archangel drew both of his weapons and stood in front of Grace. The two men stopped dead in their tracks, as they both reached for their own weapons Archangel shot them both in the head before turning his weapon towards Curtis who had his own drawn.
"Major there's no need for us to kill each other." Curtis said in as friendly a tone as he could muster.
"Then put down your weapon and back the frak up." Archangel replied.
"That's not going to happen, clearly if you knew me you'd know there is only one of us walking out of here." Curtis said.
"And if you actually knew me, the way you claimed to earlier, you'd know how someone like you, saying something like that, doesn't really bother me all that much." Archangel answered.
"You're Mr Scorpia." Grace said.
"How you knew that I don't know Cylon, but I look forward to finding out. Major here are the only options, you walk away and let me take the Cylon or I kill you and I take her anyway. My men are on the way and we both know you don't have the balls to…." Curtis didn't get the chance to finish what he was saying before a bullet went through his left eye, killing him instantly.
"They always think they know me." He said to himself. "If you have any belongings you want to take, get them together, we're getting out of here now."
Grace grabbed a rucksack and took Archangel's hand. With one of his side arms in his other hand Archangel began to lead them towards the hanger bay. As they rounded one of the corners another one of Curtis' goons stood waiting for them. He raised his gun but didn't get the chance to fire it, Archangel fired a single shot once again between the man's eyes. They continued to walk in silence. As they walked past another corridor, more gunfire erupted in their direction. Archangel pulled Grace back behind the wall. People screamed at the gunfire. Grace had seen him go into this mode before, there was now only one thing on his mind, killing anyone and everyone that got into his way. The assassin in him had taken over now. He drew his other side arm dropped to the ground and slid out firing both weapons, killing both men who had been shooting at them. He holstered the other weapon and took hold of Grace's hand again and they continued to the hanger.
"I can see you haven't lost your touch. Do you want me to take one of your guns?" Grace asked.
"No, having you kill Cylons is one thing, I don't think it would be good for your cause to kill a human, even if they are these guys." Archangel replied.
As they walked into the final corridor there was one more man waiting for them, once again he didn't see it coming and within seconds his brains were spread across the door he guarded. As the door to the hanger opened Archangel quickly checked to make sure there was no one else waiting for them, before they both ran over to the waiting Raptor. Moments later the side hatch opened and they both went inside. Grace sat next to Archangel in the cockpit. He picked up his earpiece as he powered the raptor to life.
"Starburst this is Major Hunter, I need clearance for immediate take off." He said over the COM.
"Archangel this is Starburst, you are clear." came the reply.
"I need you to send people to cabins 357 and 379 there are bodies in both. I need you to hold onto them till I can send someone back for them." Archangel said.
"Archangel, Starburst we will dispatch someone immediately." came the reply.
Archangel flew the Raptor into space and headed to Orion as quickly as he could.
"Orion this is Archangel." he said.
"Archangel, Orion everything okay?" Lt Taylor replied over the COM.
"I need a meeting with Commander Garrett in her quarters the moment I touch down and I am en route now." Archangel replied.
"The Commander is in a meeting with the President." Taylor replied.
"Are they on Orion?" Archangel asked.
"Yes they are." Taylor answered.
"Good they're both going to want to hear this. Lieutenant this is very urgent." Archangel said.
"Of course Major, I'll get in touch with them now, sir." came the reply.
There was silence for a few moments before Archangel spoke again.
"Was he one of the NCO?" Archangel asked.
Grace nodded, "Yes. While I've been looking for the Cylons in the fleet I came across him. There are twelve people who run the NCO. Mr Caprica who broadcast across the fleet seems to be in overall control."
"Do you know who he is?" Archangel asked.
"No." she replied.
"I missed you too you know." He said to her, "I nearly went out of my mind when I thought you were dead. If it wasn't for Ramok I was about to end it all."
Tears ran down Grace's face as he spoke.
"When that 3 told me you were a Cylon I nearly lost my mind all over again. She said she had no idea where you were, I prayed you were in the fleet. Even though she told me you killed Danny, all I wanted to do was see you again." he said.
Grace reached over and held Archangel's hand.
As Archangel's Raptor came to a stop in the hanger he turned to her.
"I don't know how this is going to go, but I need you to know I'm on your side." He said.
She nodded her head before he leaned in and kissed her, before opening the side hatch. He took hold of Grace's hand and they both walked out of the back. Bojay walked up to them.
"I need to talk to you about the new recruits." Bojay said.
"Not now, I'll come find you later." Archangel replied as they continued to walk right past Bojay.
As Archangel and Grace began to walk up one of the ladders that would lead them off the flight deck Bojay walked over to Bria.
"Now I'd like to know who that is with Archangel." He said.
Bria turned to look, "Oh my gods." She said as she saw her, "Oh my gods, that's Grace."
"What the frak? I thought she was dead." Realisation dawned across Bojay's face, "Then that means? Holy shit!"
"Oh yeah, she's a Cylon." Bria replied.
It didn't take Archangel and Grace long to get to the Commander's quarters. The guards let them in without saying a word. The Commander and the President sat inside.
"Sorry to interrupt your meeting but there is someone I need you both to meet. Commander Garret, President Vents, this is Grace." He said.
"It's an honour to meet you both." Grace said.
Both the Commander and the President knew what this meant, "Sit down, both of you." Garrett said.
"She has some things to tell you." Archangel said.
"The bodies you've been finding in the fleet, if you hadn't already guessed, they're all Cylon. I took it upon myself to find as many of the Cylons who are living in your fleet and kill them all."
"Why kill your own people?" Milo asked.
"Two reasons, first I turned my back on them back on Caprica, I am a traitor to my people. Second in an attempt to show my loyalty to you and this fleet." Grace replied.
There was silence for a few moments, "Loyalty?" Garrett said.
"I don't, I can't go back to my people. I am prepared to share any information with you that I can, to help you in the war with them. I have full medical knowledge, I can show your doctors how to tell the difference between human and Cylon." Grace replied nervously.
"And in return you want what?" Vents asked.
"I want to remain here on Orion, I want you to give me a chance to prove I'm loyal to you, that I can be of use." Grace replied.
"Are there any other Cylons left in our fleet?" Garrett asked.
"At least one. We call him 1. He arrived with other Cylons when you rescued the crew of Delta Seven." Grace replied.
"Was he one of the miners who worked there?" Vents asked.
"No he was one of the crew of the Journey's End who were posing as survivors." Grace said.
"Before we could get off the Starburst, a man called Curtis Turner came in with his men and tried to take Grace. Before I blew his brains out, Grace identified him as Mr Scorpia, one of the Twelve from the NCO. We should be getting a call from Starburst shortly. I asked them to keep an eye on the bodies till we could get them sent over here." Archangel said.
"Can you identify any other members of the NCO?" Milo asked.
"No I can't, but I've been hearing things about them. They're planning something, it sounded like they were going to try and attempt to take over the fleet. They're trying to get the public on side and turn all of you into the bad guys." Grace replied.
"Mr President I think we need to have a private conversation with Major Hunter." Garrett said.
"I agree." Milo replied.
"I'm going to get some marines to take you to the brig while we decide what to do about all this." Garrett said.
"Of course." Grace replied.
"Major please ask the marines on the door to come in." Garrett asked.
Archangel walked to the door, "Guys can you come in here?"
The two marines walked into the quarters.
"Corporal I'd like you to take this woman to the brig please. When you get there please ask Sergeant Vannick to stand guard till we come down." Vanessa ordered.
"Yes ma'am." The Corporal replied.
"Thank you Commander." Grace said before walking out of the room. As the door shut Garrett turned on Archangel.
"Did you know about this?" she asked.
"That she was in the fleet?" he replied.
"About all of it?" Garrett snapped back.
"The Cylon who killed the Commander told me that Grace was a Cylon and that she had turned her back on her people and they now viewed her as a traitor." He replied.
"Can I ask why you didn't tell us about this?" Milo asked.
"With all due respect tell you about what exactly? I didn't even know if I believed her. The Cylons frak with our heads, that's what they do, that's what I thought she was doing. And no I didn't know she was in the fleet, I certainly didn't know it was her killing off all the Cylons." Archangel said, "I am loyal to this uniform before anything and everything else, I've dedicated my entire adult life to it. If I ever knew anything that I thought you needed to know, I would tell you, Commander."
"My instincts tell me to just throw her out of an airlock." Milo said.
"I beg you not to do that." Archangel replied.
"Commander what do you think about all this?" the President asked.
"I believe her." Vanessa said in a matter-of-fact way.
Both Milo and Archangel seemed a little taken aback.
"I recognised her as soon as you walked in with her. I was in command of the mission that brought her to Orion. I asked the Commander if I could go down to Caprica to lead the SAR mission. After we found the group of survivors she was with, we were cut off from the Raptors by a lot of centurions. They managed to get past the defensive perimeter we set up, while I was fighting off a Cylon, I hadn't noticed another that was virtually right on top of me. Grace destroyed it, saving my life. If she hadn't done that I would have been dead, her identity would still have been safe and when the Raptors found us minutes later she would have got away to the fleet." Vanessa said.
"She certainly saved my life on a number of occasions." Archangel said.
"I'm leaving this decision to you Commander." Milo said.
Garrett sighed, "She can stay alive for now. Her insight into the Cylons could prove invaluable."
"Thank you." Archangel replied.
"Major if she this is a trick, if she betrays us and puts our fleet in danger, she dies and more to the point, you will be the one to pull the trigger, do you understand me?" Garrett said.
"Yes ma'am. If it's okay I would like to be the one to go and tell her." Archangel answered, relief evident in his voice.
"Of course." Garrett replied.
When Vannick walked into the brig he looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Oh my gods." He said.
"Hello Darius." Grace replied.
"Is it really you?" he asked.
Grace nodded her head in reply, "Yes it's really me, no tricks."
"You've been in the fleet all this time?" Vannick replied sitting opposite her.
"I was picked up shortly after you all arrived on Caprica. I've been passing time, waiting. I wanted to say thank you for keeping Archangel alive." Grace answered with a kind smile.
Vannick let out a chuckle, "Are we talking about the same Archangel, the guy who kept us alive?" He sat down as he spoke.
"Well then thank you for having his back." Grace said.
"He was never the same after he thought you had died," Vannick said, "I want you to know that if you're here to frak with him or betray us, I'll kill you myself."
"I wouldn't expect anything less. But I'm telling the truth and I have to say it's good to see you." She said with a smile.
"Even though you're a Cylon, it's good to see you too. For what it's worth, you saved my life enough times when you didn't have to, you could have let me die so thank you and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Vannick replied.
"Thank you." She said letting out a chuckle.
Moments later Archangel walked in, "Can you give us a minute?" he asked Vannick.
"Sure thing." He replied.
"Darius, I meant what I said, it's good to see you." Grace said.
"You too." Vannick replied.
When Vannick had shut the door behind him, Archangel spoke again, "Okay they've agreed to let you stay on Orion."
"Thank god." She said letting out a sigh of relief.
Simon Given paced back and forth, tears streaming down his face and a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He stopped pacing as the door opened and 1 walked in.
"John thank you for coming." Simon said.
"What's wrong?" he asked walking over and putting his hand on the young man's shoulder.
"It's Kelly, she was murdered this afternoon. Someone killed her, stabbed her in the heart for fraks sake." Simon replied, his voice stricken with grief.
Another dead Cylon, this was getting out of hand 1 thought to himself.
"Simon sit down, come on." 1 said leading Simon over to the sofa in the room.
As Simon sat down he took a drink from the bottle.
"That's not going to help, you know that, give it to me." 1 said.
Simon handed him the bottle and put it on a table.
"They're not going to do anything about it." He said through his tears.
"What do you mean they're not going to do anything about it?" 1 asked.
"Some officer on Orion said she was a Cylon, that someone's been killing off Cylons, they have the killer and they're going to do nothing." Simon said, tears flooding down his face.
"She was a Cylon?" 1 said trying to sound surprised.
Simon nodded his head, "I have to do something, you have to give me something to do."
"What do you mean?" 1 asked. He thought he knew where Simon was going with this, but he needed to hear it to be sure.
"Come on John you recruited me into the NCO, you're the one who always said about the military not giving a frak, you were right. Give me something to do." Simon said again before sniffing and wiping his eyes dry on the sleeve of his shirt.
"Like what?" 1 replied.
"Like walking onto their CIC with a bomb." Simon said.
"Now wait a minute, that's not what the NCO is about." 1 replied trying to sound concerned.
"I have nothing left to live for, nothing. Everyone from Delta Seven is off doing their thing, Hydra's back flying raptors, Kal is working on their deck, Dash is on one of the repair platforms, the only thing I had was Kelly, Cylon or not I loved her." Simon said.
1 put his hand on the young man's shoulder, "I'll find something for you. Come to my quarters this evening, we will pray for Kelly."
Archangel walked into Skeeter's room on the Medstar Compassion. He had been transferred there to recover from the damage the bullet caused to his lung.
"Hey buddy." Skeeter said.
"Hey how you feeling?" Archangel replied.
"Better, the drugs are great, although the ones that are supposed to stop the cravings for cigarettes, not so good." He laughed after he spoke.
"Grace is a Cylon." Archangel blurted out.
"Holy frak, are you serious?" Skeeter replied.
Archangel nodded, "There were bodies that have been turning up in the fleet that turned out to be Cylon, she's been hunting them down and killing them. It turns out that after she downloaded she turned her back on her people and now she's a traitor to them."
"Does Garrett know?" Skeeter asked, he was utterly surprised.
"Yeah Grace is on Orion now, in exchange for information on the Cylons Garrett is letting her stay." Archangel said.
"How are you doing with this?" Skeeter asked.
"I don't know. I mean I don't know how I'm supposed to react, yes she's on our side, but she's a Cylon." Archangel asked.
"Do you love her still?" Skeeter asked.
"Yeah I do." Archangel replied, without even needing to think about it.
"Well then I think you have your answer." Skeeter said, "No matter where she started, she's one of us."
Commander Garrett walked into sickbay, there were bodies everywhere, the Cylons Grace had killed and the seven people Archangel had killed getting off the Starburst. Grace and Mike stood at one of the computer terminals, he was clearly impressed by something she had shown him. Dr Hammond walked over to her.
"Well?" Garrett asked.
"Wow yeah we now have a way to test human from Cylon." Hammond replied.
"And it's for real?" Garrett replied.
"Yeah it's for real. Come into my office we need to talk." The doctor said.
Garrett followed the doctor into her office and she shut the door behind her.
"I got your test results back." Hammond said as she sat down.
"And?" Vanessa asked, clearly eager for an answer.
"You're pregnant." The doc replied.
"Oh gods." Garrett replied.
"Tell me if I'm out of line Vanessa but Archangel's the father isn't he?" Hammond asked.
Garrett nodded her head, "Yes he is." she said quietly.
"This isn't a terrible thing, a baby in light of what happened to our race is a good thing." Hammond said, sounding supportive.
"I can't have a baby," Garrett replied, "I'm the commander of a Battlestar, if all this hadn't have happened then maybe things would be different, but I don't have time to raise a kid and do my job."
"So what do you want to do?" Hammond replied.
Garrett took a deep breath, "Can you terminate it?"
"Yes, but are you completely sure? Don't you want to go talk it over with Archangel?" she asked.
"No he can never know, he has other things on his mind anyway." Garrett said looking through the office window at Grace.
1 walked down a corridor on the Starburst looking very smug. The deaths of these Cylons looked like they could turn into a good thing. He walked into one of the most luxurious suites on the entire ship, it was massive. Mr Caprica met him.
"John it's good to see you, can I get you a drink?" Mr Caprica asked.
"Yes thank you. Have you heard about the bodies turning up throughout the fleet?" 1 asked.
"Yes I have, Mr Scorpia wound up being one of the victims." Mr Caprica replied.
"Well up until Mr Scorpia, the other bodies, it would appear were all Cylon." 1 revealed.
"Really, who has been hunting Cylons?" Mr Caprica asked in surprise.
"Another Cylon if my intel is correct. Mr Scorpia tried to get to her but he was stopped by Major Hunter from Orion." 1 replied.
"So the Major killed Scorpia?" Mr Caprica asked.
"Yes he did, blew his brains out. He is becoming an annoyance." 1 replied.
Mr Caprica laughed to himself.
"Do you want me to send someone to deal with the Major?" 1 asked.
"No, under no circumstances is Major Hunter to be targeted by anyone in our organisation, you can kill everyone else on that ship but not him." Mr Caprica said firmly.
"May I ask why?" 1 asked, now it was his turn to be surprised.
"You can ask." He replied handing 1 a glass of Ambrosia.
"Seriously? I work my fingers to the bone for you and the Twelve, I never ask for anything from you." 1 replied.
Mr Caprica sighed, "John you are my most trusted advisor, you're my friend, the only person in this fleet that trust."
"And I would never betray that trust." 1 replied and it was true he wouldn't, unless it would benefit him.
"Major Hunter," Mr Caprica paused for a moment, "He's my son."
The shock on 1's face was genuine this he had not expected, at all.
"He can never know. If he knew the kind of man I was before the attack, the kind of man I am now and the things I'm planning on doing he would tear this fleet apart looking for me and if he found out I left his mother and brother on Caprica, he would kill me." Galen Hunter replied.
