Delphi - 21 Years Ago

The rain had been torrential for hours. Vanessa Garrett sat next to her bedroom window, looking out as she had been for the last hour. It was dark now and was past her bedtime. The nine year old had stayed up hoping that she could see her father before she fell asleep. He had been away for eleven months now and she missed him as she always did. When he always came home after being away he was always in a good mood, granted that would never last long, so she tried to enjoy how loving he could be, even if it wouldn't last.

She turned to look at the door as it opened. Standing in the door way was her mother Caroline. She smiled as she usually did. Her mother was always so kind and always smiling. People always told her that she looked like her mother, she hoped she did, she always thought her mother was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

"Shouldn't you be in bed young lady?" Caroline asked.

"Please can I stay up a little longer? I really want to see Daddy before I go to sleep." Vanessa replied.

Caroline had always had problems saying no to her daughter. She smiled at her Vanessa who was beaming up at her.

"Okay, one more hour and that's all whether he is here or not." she smiled.

"Thank you." Vanessa ran over to her mother and gave her a big hug, "I love you mommy."

"I love you too baby."

Thirty minutes later Vanessa kept catching herself nodding off, despite desperately trying to stay awake. As she nodded off again she snapped back into consciousness when she heard a car door close. She looked out of the window and saw her father walking down the pathway from a taxi.

"HE'S HERE!" she shouted as she ran out of her room, down the landing and then down the winding stairs. As she reached the bottom step the door opened and in walked Colonel Lionel Garrett. He put his bags down and ran his hand through his rain soaked hair.

"DADDY!" she shouted and ran towards him with her arms open for a hug. When she reached her father he held his arm out and pushed her away.

"Go to bed." he said coldly.

Vanessa stopped dead in her tracks staring at her father, not knowing what to do.

"But I stayed up late to see you." She replied.

"Well you shouldn't have, GO TO FRAKING BED!"

Vanessa burst into tears and turned and ran towards the stairs, she stopped when Caroline appeared.

"Go up to bed baby, I'll be up soon." her mother said with a smile.

Caroline watched and waited as her daughter ran up the stairs and out of sight.

"You couldn't have just given your daughter a hug and a kiss?" Caroline said to her husband.

"Don't start with me woman." Lionel said as he took off his uniform jacket.

"Eleven months gods know where and this is how you treat her."

"It's been a long journey, I do not want to argue with you."

"It's always the same, why do you even come back, you clearly hate it here?"

"Because my money pays for this house. The house you and your child live in all year round, while I'm away protecting the Colonies."

"My daughter? I thought she was our daughter?"

"So you tell me, as far as I know she could be the daughter of one of the men you frak while I'm away."

"How dare you." she replied slapping her husband as hard as she could.

Lionel looked at her with fire in his eyes, this was a look she had never seen from him before. Before she could even react Lionel punched her hard in the face making her fall to the ground in a thud.

"MOMMY!" Vanessa shouted from her hiding place at the top of the stairs.

Lionel looked up at her and opened his mouth to yell at her again.

"Go to bed baby, everything is okay, I'll be up soon, I love you, please go to bed." Caroline pleaded.

Vanessa nodded, tears streaming down her face. She turned, ran to her bedroom, slammed the door and hid under her covers.

Caroline slowly and shakily got back to her feet.

"In the fourteen years we've been married, I've never even so much as looked at another man, let alone slept with one."

Lionel chuckled, "Of course not, that's what you would say isn't it? Lying, cheating whore that you are. I come home to relax and to recharge before I have to head back out and every time it's a relief to get away from you and that whimpering child. You've made her weak, just like you."

"Well there is an easy way to fix that, I'll go to the solicitor's in the morning and file for a divorce." Caroline spat back.

"A divorce? Do you think I'm going to live with the shame of a whore divorcing me?"

"I don't care what you have to go through, I'm getting Vanessa and I'm taking her to my parents. Enjoy your shore leave."

"You know the thing about me, I'll be widowed before I'm divorced." Lionel snarled before lunging for his wife.

Vanessa awoke suddenly and sat up in her bed. She rubbed her eyes and saw it was morning. The sun was beating through her window, the rain having long stopped. She listened before she moved, everything seemed quiet. She got out of bed and put her slippers on before creeping across the room. She silently and slowly opened her bedroom door. Normally when she opened her bedroom door in the morning, she was met by the smell of her mother's cooking wafting up the stairs. Maybe her mother was taking her out for breakfast? Every now and again when she had been good her mother would take her to the little café a few streets away and she would have a bacon and scrambled egg breakfast wrap, other than her mother's cooking it was the nicest food she had ever eaten.

Slowly and quietly she crept down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she turned and headed for the kitchen. When she reached the door she slowly opened it and peered inside, her mother wasn't there.

"Mommy?" she said out loud.

She waited for a few moments before she heard a reply.

"Vanessa please come to my study." her father said.

She took a deep breath before heading into the room that when her father was home, she was banned from going into. The walls were lined with book shelves and the shelves filled with books. At the far end of the room by the huge windows which over looked the back garden. Lionel sat on one of the old leather sofas and took a cup of coffee from the table in front of him and didn't take his attention away from the newspaper he was reading.

"Your mother isn't here," he said without looking at her, "She went out earlier this morning and she won't be back until later. I'm sorry for what you saw last night." He looked up at her before he spoke again, "If you ever tell anyone what you saw, I will leave and I will never come back. You will have no home and no money to live do you understand?"

Vanessa nodded her head and fought back the tears threatening to appear.

"I said do you understand?" he said again.

"Yes, I understand." the young girl answered.

"Good. Now go and make yourself some breakfast, I don't want to hear from you again today."

Vanessa turned and walked out of the room.

"Oh and Vanessa."

She stopped and turned around, "Yes Daddy?"

"Close the door behind you."

She closed the door and headed to the kitchen. She would make herself some toast and have some orange to drink. She could hide out in her bedroom until her mother came home. As she opened the fridge she heard the front door bell ring. Closing the fridge she turned and walked out into the hall way. She saw her father open the door, two police officers stood waiting.

"Sir my name is Detective Mason Trent and this is my partner Detective Sandy Jones, are you Colonel Lionel Garrett?"

Vanessa smiled to herself at the thought the police had come to take her monster of a father away from them.

"Yes I am, how can I help you Detectives?"

"Your wife is Caroline Garrett?" Mason said.

"Yes she is." he replied.

Mason sighed before he spoke next, "I'm sorry to tell you Colonel that forty minutes ago we found your wife's body, we think she has been murdered."

Today

Vanessa and Bojay walked quickly through the corridor's of Orion, heading to the airlock that would take them back to the Lexington.

"Vanessa I need to know how we're going to handle this?" Bojay said, "After everything he's done we need to have a plan of action."

Vanessa didn't reply. She took her side arm from its holster and made sure it was fully loaded with a round in the chamber.

"Commander please." Bojay said.

"We go to the station and we arrest him for what he did. He's not getting away with more death."

"What do you mean getting away with more death?" Bojay replied confused, "There are more than the Olympus crew?"

Before she could reply they reached the airlock and came to a stop. Archangel, Wedge, Jawbreaker, Vannick, Jennings and several other marines stood waiting for them. She noticed the safety straps on their holsters were unfastened.

"Are you going to get out of my way?" Vanessa said.

"Nope but we are coming with you." Archangel replied.

Vanessa looked at them all and managed to smile, "Thank you." she said.

"Like I told you, we've got your back." Jawbreaker replied smiling. There was something in his eyes, she'd seen it before in Archangel's. They were all prepared to do whatever they felt necessary.

As they moved aside Vanessa walked on through, with them flanking behind her. Archangel looked at Bojay and nodded, Bojay responded the same. They all flinched slightly as Jawbreaker cracked his knuckles as they walked. They reached the wardroom aboard the Lexington and walked inside. Waiting for them, Rear Admiral Lionel Garrett stood with twenty marines behind him. Archangel and the others stood the same behind their commander.

Lionel took a step towards Vanessa with his arms open for a hug, "My daughter, I feared I would never see you again."

Vanessa put her hand to his chest and pushed him away.

"What's wrong? It's me, your father!" he said.

Vanessa gave him a cold look, "After twenty one years you finally recognise that Admiral?" she said.

He put his arms down. His expression changed to be as cold as hers.

"Are you on the run from the Colonies Commander?" he asked.

"Yes we are, we docked here for supplies, we'll be leaving shortly, Admiral. Don't worry we won't get in your way." she replied.

"Excuse me what? Now we've found each other you'll be joining the Icarus fleet." Lionel said.

"No we'll finish what we're doing and then we'll be on our way." Vanessa replied.

"Are you going to disobey a direct order from a superior officer?" Lionel replied.

Vanessa let out a loud, brief laugh, "If I don't are you going to leave us for dead like you did with the Olympus?"

Lionel went to slap his daughter but Bojay grabbed his arm before he could connect. Vanessa's men all drew their weapons, followed by Lionel's marines. Jawbreaker growled, the five marines he was facing flinched, intimidated by the large man. Seeing this was going to go bad any second Vanessa took charge.

"All of you give us the room." Vanessa said.

"No way Commander, there's no way we're leaving you in here with a murderer." Archangel replied.

"No it's fine." she replied.

"Men do as the commander says, give us the room." Lionel says.

The marines hesitate for a second before realising what would happen if they refused his order. They lowered their weapons and began to file out the room.

"I'll be okay." Vanessa said.

Archangel looked at her and then back at Lionel.

"Archangel, she'll be okay." Jawbreaker replied.

Lionel looked at him, "So you're Archangel? Wow you are so not what I expected."

"Don't worry, Admiral, you'll get to know me real well." Archangel replied before holstering his weapon and walking out of the room.

Vannick was the last to leave the room and closed the door behind him.

The marines lined one side of the corridor while the Orion Crew members were on the other.

"What did she mean leave you for dead like the Olympus crew?" one of the marines said.

"Don't insult us." Bojay replied.

"Seriously, we lost contact with the Olympus, we went looking for her. Did you find her?" the marine asked.

Bojay let out a laugh, "Oh we found her, with three quarters of her crew dead. Are you telling us you really don't know the Olympus was purposefully sent the wrong co-ordinates?"

"What the hell are you talking about? You're fraking insane, that never happened." the marine replied.

Bojay launched for the marine grabbing him by the throat, "Try telling that to Streaker and all the other survivors we found." he let go as he finished speaking. Two of the marines grabbed Bojay by the shoulders. Jawbreaker grabbed them both and wrenched them away, throwing them down the corridor like they were rag dolls. Seconds before a fight was about to break out President Vents and Skeeter appeared in the corridor.

"What the frak is going on?" Milo shouted.

Vanessa looked at her father with nothing but disgust in her eyes, "We know what you did to Fincher and the Olympus, sending them the wrong coordinates, leaving them for dead."

"You have no idea what happened." Lionel replied.

"Commander Fincher's logs seemed to spell it out quite well, you two had a fight and because he punched you and dared to question you, you decided to sentence them to death."

Lionel laughed, "So suspicious, just like your mother."

"You have no right to talk about my mother and you have no right to give me any orders. My ship is more powerful that every Battlestar you have under your command, you test me and I'll blow you out of the sky, do you hear me?"

"You're a Colonial officer, act like it instead of a spoiled daughter with daddy issues." Lionel said.

Vanessa punched him as hard as she could connecting with his jaw and sending him crashing to the ground.

"How dare you." she said.

"How dare you." Lionel replied getting to his feet. As he was about to lunge for her, the door opened and the President walked in, he could see immediately what had happened.

"STAND DOWN!" Milo yelled.

"Who the frak are you?" Lionel said.

"This is President Milo Vents. Admiral." Vanessa replied.

"Really? That's the game you've been playing?" Lionel replied, "I'm here now I am your superior officer and you will do as I say, and I do not recognise the authority of some President you've been playing house with." Lionel said.

"And I don't recognise your authority either. We're going to finish what we're doing here and then we will be on our way." Vanessa said.

"Oh and a there's a small matter of you answering for what you did." Milo replied.

"The Cylons committed genocide on our race and you want to have a pissing contest?" Lionel asked, "We need our share of whatever you found here. Unlike you, on the run, we're going back to the Colonies to kick them the frak out of our home."

"What home?" Milo said, "They left a nuclear wasteland."

"It's our duty." Lionel replied.

"Duty? You've changed your tune since you and Fincher had your disagreement." Vanessa said.

"We are going back and you are coming with us, one way or another."

"What part of there's nothing left to go back too don't you understand?" Milo said.

"Traitors!" Lionel snapped back.

"Rear Admiral Garrett, I am placing you under arrest for the the murder of 1434 members of the Battlestar Olympus crew." Vanessa said.

Lionel let out a laugh, "That's cute, but no you're not." He pressed a button hidden in his hand. Seconds later his marines came in, "This isn't over Commander and unless you want unnecessary bloodshed you'll stand down and let me go back to my ship."

Vanessa looked at Milo who nodded to her.

"This isn't over." Vanessa replied.

Vanessa sat alone in her quarters looking at the only picture she had of her with her mother and tapped her pen on the desk. The meeting with her father couldn't have gone worse. She had wanted her father in custody and instead he was back on board his ship. If she hadn't let her anger get the better of her then he'd be on Orion.

She was trying to figure out how to get him back off his ship, but the chances are he would stay on board. She had to think of a plan to sort this situation out and she had to do it soon. Her father would be doing exactly the same thing.

She was startled by a knock on the door. She looked up to see Bojay standing there smiling at her.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked.

She smiled at her XO, "Of course."

"I have information on their fleet. There are six Battlestar's. Two Valkyrie class, the Icarus and the Trinity and four Mercury class, the Sulaco, Sutherland, Phoenix and Storm. There are twelve Gunstars, several different classes. A medstar, four tankers and twenty two other various support craft."

"That's some fire-power." Vanessa replied.

"Yes it is. In my opinion though we have the advantage, we have the specs of their ships, he knows nothing of Orion."

"Anything else?"

"I have the Medlia listening in on their com chatter."

"And?"

"Not much at all. It's been very quiet, which is a little strange."

"Knowing my father he probably demands they keep inter-ship chatter to a minimum."

"He runs a tight ship then?"

"He rules with an iron fist." Vanessa replied. "What the frak are we going to do?"

"We carry on doing what we're doing. Archangel, Wedge, Vannick and Jennings are trying to figure out a plan for how we can get on board." Bojay replied.

As he finished speaking the com on the wall began to buzz. Vanessa pressed the loud speaker button.

"Garrett." she said.

"Commander it's Lieutenant Phillips. We've just received a call on a scrambled channel from the Battlestar Trinity. Commander Allen Knox wishes to speak with you."

Vanessa and Bojay looked at each other puzzled.

"Put him through." Vanessa said.

"Yes ma'am."

"Commander Knox this is Commander Vanessa Garrett, my XO Colonel Johnson is here as well, what can I do for you?"

"Commander may I say it's a genuine pleasure to hear your voice. I'm calling to let you know that the Trinity, Sulaco and Sutherland are with you. I'm sure other ships will be too."

Now Vanessa and Bojay both looked shocked.

"Erm I'm not quite sure how to respond to that Commander." Vanessa replied.

"Of course, I'm sure you're wondering if you can trust us. Commander I know he's your father, but Admiral Garrett is a very great threat. We've wanted to remove him from power for months now but the opportunity hasn't arisen, yet."

"May I ask why Commander?"

"For a long time now his decision making has been, strange. We encountered the Cylons five times before he would even consider that we should go back to the colonies to warn them. The threats that came from him if anyone questions him, have been getting progressively worse."

"Commander can I ask you what you know about what happened to Olympus?" Bojay asked.

"They jumped to the wrong coordinates and then we couldn't find them when we went looking for them, at least, that's what the Admiral said. It was no secret that Fincher and your father were butting heads more and more and that he was publicly questioning him more and more. Some of the other Commanders and I have been wondering if what we've been told is the truth."

"It's not." Vanessa replied, "They were sent the wrong jump coordinates. Eventually they were attacked by the Cylons. They tried to take refuge on one of the planets you found and three quarters of the crew were killed. We managed to rescue the survivors."

"That son of a bitch." Knox said. "Commander whatever you decide to do, we're with you. If you go your own way we would like to come with you. If you want to take the Admiral out of command, then we're with you there as well, whatever it takes."

"Thank you commander, we'll be in touch with you. If you go to the station then let me know so we can try and meet." Vanessa said.

"The Commanders and Xo's have been told to remain on their ships."

"Very well Commander, we'll talk soon." Vanessa replied.

After she disconnected the line she turned to Bojay, "What do you think?"

"I think he's legit." Bojay replied.

"I certainly hope so," Vanessa said, "I need to speak to the President."

Lionel Garrett stood in the Observation lounge on the Battlestar Icarus. He watched Orion docked with the Lexington and all the civilian fleet which his daughter had had moved out of weapons range. He had seen that Orion's four Gunstars had moved into a defensive formation, waiting. Orion was a sight to behold. He had lost count of the cannons across the entire heavily armoured surface. He had never seen anything so impressive, he didn't think the military would have it in them to build such a ship. How his daughter would end up in command of it, he couldn't fathom, but he would no doubt find out soon enough.

"Admiral you sent for me?"

"Yes, Wesley please come here." Lionel replied.

Colonel Wesley Imlay stood next to his CO. Imlay was a large tall man, immaculately presented. Lionel had always liked his XO but the two men couldn't be more different. Lionel had kept him in the dark about many things, including what happened with the Olympus.

"How did your meeting with Commander Garrett go?" Wesley asked.

"Not as well as I'd hoped. Having no one to answer too in all this time seems to have gone to her head."

"She must have been doing something right though to keep a civilian fleet alive for all this time." Wesley replied.

"Because of all the resources they give her, trust me old friend, when they hold no more value to her she will discard them. I want to remove her from command."

"Excuse me?"

"Orion is a dangerous ship to be in the hands of someone who isn't ready to be in command. The last I heard, she was the LSO and second officer aboard Pegasus, that's a quick jump through the ranks, too quick. We need to make sure that a ship like that is in the right hands."

Wesley looked at Lionel, not sure what to say.

"It's not like I want to kill her. We take her into custody, until she can be put into a role, more in keeping with her skills. Meanwhile I will take command of Orion and you will take command of Icarus."

Wesley was still unsure what to say to Lionel. Of all the things he had could have called him to talk about, he hadn't expected this.

"May I ask what you want me to do? Removing her from command is going to be difficult and may I say potentially unwise considering her crew are not going to like it."

"I appreciate you being so candid Wesley, but this is something we have to do. I want you to take a raptor to the station and I want you to take a look around. Orion is docked with the station, I want you to see what kind of security measures they have in place at the airlocks, if any and report back to me."

"Then what?"

"We will discus that later." Lionel replied, "Can I count on you?"

Wesley nodded his head, "Yes of course you can."

As he walked out of the room and off to the hanger bay, he was conflicted. Lionel over the last month or so had become more withdrawn, kept to himself more than usual. Lionel had always been a man with two personalities and Wesley had been one of the only people to see both sides. The hard nosed soldier, who you did not cross and you did not question. The man who had a knack of getting his own way no matter who or what stood in his way. A man who could manipulate a situation to get out of it exactly what he wanted, often without having to do anything himself in order to get it. A man who kept his crew in line through a level of fear and intimidation. He had always said to Wesley, that it was necessary for the man at the top to rule with an iron fist. He said that he had chosen Wesley to be his XO because that's the kind of man he wasn't, a kind hearted man who could forgive a crew member for their mistakes and someone the crew would go to. He said they had complimented each other well, because they were both so different.
Then there was the other side that only people like Wesley seemed to see, the man who did ask for advice or opinions and while he often didn't use them he would still listen to them. At times he thought that he and Lionel were friends, other times he had felt he was his human shield or scapegoat. Right now he wasn't sure which Lionel he was dealing with and with so much at stake, that worried him. If bullets were going to fly, Wesley had to be sure that the crew of the Icarus and the people in her fleet were doing the right thing. So he would go to the Lexington and have a look around, but he would also do some of his own research and talk to some of the Orion crew. He had to be sure before he let Lionel do anything.

Archangel had needed a break from plotting the downfall of Lionel Garrett. He had found one of Orion's gyms that was completely empty and was taking out all this frustrations on one of the punch bags. If any plan they could think of didn't work, there was one other way, he would do it himself, quickly and quietly. Doing what he used to do best. As he daydreamed about choking the life from Lionel, he didn't see his sister come into the room.

"And who are you imagining that is?" Carrie asked.

Archangel turned and smiled at her, she always brightened his day and he hadn't seen her in over a week.

"There are a few people." he replied, "How are you sis? I'd give you a hug but I'm a little sweaty."

"Yeah I'd rather you didn't I have a Quorum meeting soon. I'm good but the civilian fleet is getting restless. All these new colonials, people seem excited. But no one from Orion or even the President seems to be saying anything about them?"

"They shouldn't be excited." Archangel replied.

"Isn't it a good thing?" Carrie asked.

"Has no one told you which ship is in command of that fleet?"

Carrie shook her head, "No, no one wants to say anything. The President has been on Orion since they arrived and has been in meetings he can't be contacted. No one seems to want to say."

Archangel looked at her but didn't say anything.

"Come on, you can't just not tell me?" she said.

"It's the Battlestar Icarus." Archangel replied.

Her face dropped at the name, "Are you serious?"

Archangel nodded his head, "Very and now you know why no one is saying anything. The whole fleet knows what happened to Olympus. This will bring back memories of the Pegasus."

"There's only so long they can keep this quiet."

"We only need to keep it quiet for a little while longer." Archangel replied.

Carrie looked worried, "What are you going to do?"

"Look, you should be asking the President these questions."

"But I'm not, I'm asking you."

"Take a guess, whatever happens is what has to happen. We're going to try to take him into custody, to talk some sense into him."

"And if you can't?" Carrie asked.

"Then I take matters into my own hands."

"I know what that means, Mark you can't."

"If it comes to it, then I'll have too, because it will need doing. That man is responsible for a lot of terrible things."

"And what about the rest of his crew? Do you think they'll just lay down and take it?"

"I don't think they know what's been going on."

"But you can't be sure?"

"We'll find out soon enough." he replied.

"This is going to get bad isn't it?"

"There's a very good chance of that. Just keep the fleet ready to go."

Hydra and Hardcore flew their raptor to the far side of the system, behind the giant blue sun. There was a dradis blind spot, so they decided to put a raptor there every hour since they had noticed it.

"So who do you think would win in a fight?" Hardcore asked, "Archangel or Jawbreaker?"

"Are you serious?" Hydra asked.

"Yeah a few of the guys were talking about it this morning. Man there are some weird rumours going around about Archangel. Some people think he was some sort of hit man."

Hydra laughed, "All I'm going to say is, don't get into a fight with either of them. They could both easily kick the shit out of you."

"I know that, I was just wondering who you thought would win?"

"That is a question I'm not touching with a cattle prod. Why, who do you think?"

"Honestly I've no idea. Jawbreaker scares the shit out of me, but there's something about Archangel that is just plain terrifying."

"You know how Jawbreaker got his call sign right?" Hydra asked with a smile.

"Someone said he broke someone's jaw in like nine places with one punch."

"It was three places." Hydra replied.

"That's crazy." Hardcore replied, "Holy frak, dradis contact." he said jumping up in his seat.

"What have we got?"

"It's a raptor, but it's not one of ours, it's from the Sulaco. I have their pilot on the com on a scrambled channel."

Hydra thought about it for a moment, should she head home? "Put them through."

"Channel open." Hardcore replied.

"Sulaco Raptor this is Captain Anders, what do you want?" Hydra asked.

"Captain Anders this is Captain Anthony "Buck" Wilkins just wanted to say hi." the voice replied over the com.

"On a scrambled channel?"

"Yes indeed Captain, we wouldn't want the Icarus listening in now would we?" Buck replied.

"No we wouldn't," Hydra replied, "May I ask what you're wanting to talk about?"

"Commander Knox of the Trinity and the commander's of the Sulaco, Sutherland and other vessels wanted me to let you know that if anything goes down, all our attack wings will be falling in with you." Buck replied.

"Is something going to go down?" Hydra replied.

Buck paused, "That depends on the Garrett's. Let's just say the Admiral is getting twitchy."

ICARUS CIC

Everyone stood to attention as Admiral Garrett walked into the large room.

"Admiral on deck." Captain Lara Clark said.

"At ease everyone." Lionel said. Everyone went back to their work, "Anything to report?"

"The Orion fleet is still in the same position sir. The mk2 vipers launching from the station stopped twenty minutes ago." Clark replied.

"They must have unloaded them all." Lionel replied.

He looked up at the dradis console. He looked puzzled as suddenly Sulaco raptor 1 and Orion raptor 1 appeared behind the sun.

"What is Buck doing all the way out there?" Lionel said.

"No idea sir, probably just doing a run of the system?" Clark replied.

"Maybe. Open a channel to the Sulaco please."

Moments later Clark nodded to let him know the channel was open.

"Sulaco actual this is Icarus actual please respond." Lionel said.

"Icarus actual this is Commander Hicks how can I help you?" Commander Clara Hicks replied.

"I'd like to know what your CAG is doing with an Orion raptor on the edge of the system?" Lionel asked.

"I asked him to do a sweep of the system Admiral. I wanted to make sure no other blank spots had been missed." Hicks replied.

Lionel pondered her reply for a moment, "Fair enough, please ask them to return immediately. I'm sure Orion has checked them all."

"Of course sir, I'll recall them straight away."

Lionel put his hand set down without signing off, "Captain I want you to keep an eye on the other Battlestar's and any ships they may launch. I want to know."

"Aye sir." Hicks replied.

The Quarrum were restless. As Carrie walked in some of them were arguing amongst themselves. She sat down where the President would usually sit and banged the gavel down. Everyone went silent and all turned to look at her.

"Is there any reason why you're sitting there instead of President Vents?" the Scorpio Quarrum member asked.

"The President is still aboard Orion." Carrie replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"A situation has arisen and Commander Garrett needs his help."

"Would this have anything to do with the newest members of the Colonial fleet parked just out there?" Wallace Grey, the Speaker of the Twelve asked.

Carrie turned and looked out of the window for a moment, "Yes it would."

"Why have we not been told anything about what is going on?" The Canceron representative asked.

As Carrie opened her mouth to speak chaos erupted again. Wallace had had enough, he stood up from his chair, "All of you shut the frak up." he yelled.

Everyone went silent, startled by Grey yelling at them, "Madame Vice President."

"Thank you Mr Grey," she took a sip from her glass of water before she spoke again, "The situation out there is on a knifes edge right now. That fleet is being led by the Battlestar Icarus, under the command of Rear Admiral Lionel Garrett." realisation dawned on their faces, "Judging by the looks you all currently have on your faces, you all know why nothing has been said. The President and the Commander are trying to come up with a plan and how to take Admiral Garrett into custody. It would appear at the moment the Icarus crew has no idea what happened to the Battlestar Olympus. As I'm sure you all appreciate things are a little tense and the President has asked me to ask for your patience."

"Wouldn't it be wise for us just to leave?" the Tauron representative asked.

"The Commander doesn't want to leave unless we have too. She wants the Admiral removed from his command."

Colonel Wesley Imlay had been walking around the station for nearly twenty minutes. He had been careful to keep out of everyone's way. In all the years he had been on this deep space mission, he had often thought about what it would be like to go home again, or to meet up with some other Colonials, someone new. No matter how many times he thought about it, he had never imagined it like this.

As he reached the last of Orion's airlocks, just like the others there were marines guarding it. They ignored all of the Orion's crew members or they smiled and greeted them. Things couldn't be more different when they saw him though. One of the marines walked over to him.

"Is there anything we can help you with Colonel?" the marine asked.

Wesley looked at the man. One thing he had always been good at was reading people. He immediately knew the man in front of him was a Captain and his name was Jennings. He knew the man, even though he wasn't tall at all, was very physically strong and that he had little patience.

"No thank you Captain. I'm just having a walk, having a look around the station." Wesley replied with a smile, "Captain can I ask you where all the hostility is coming from, from your crew? We're on the same side after all."

Jennings laughed out loud, "That's a good one sir. Anyway I'm not really the right person to ask. She is though." he said pointing behind Wesley.

He turned just in time to see Streaker's fist a split second before it connected with his jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.

"You mother fraker." she screamed, her eyes filled with rage.

"What the frak?!" Wesley replied.

Streaker took out her side arm and pointed it down at him.

"Whoa," he said putting his hands up, "Streaker what the hell are you doing?"

"Three quarters of my crew are dead because of you mother frakers! Why did you do it? Why did you kill us?" she screamed.

"What are you talking about? We went looking for you. No one killed your crew, it was just a terrible accident." he replied.

"We were sent the wrong coordinates, you sent us the wrong ones and we got lost."

"I swear to you that we didn't. Why would we do that?"

"Because Admiral Garrett is fraking insane, he is an evil bastard and you are all no better."

"Amy I swear to you.."

Streaker fired a round which missed Wesley's head by inches.

"Captain STAND DOWN." Bojay yelled as he appeared.

Streaker didn't respond to him, "The things that happened to us. First at the hands of the Cylons then on that planet. We were murdered, by you."

Bojay took out his sidearm and pointed it at Streaker.

"CAPTAIN." he yelled, still no response, "Amy please don't make me shoot you."

She snapped out of her rage and looked up at Bojay who she hadn't even noticed was there. She lowered her gun and began to cry.

"Captain Jennings please escort Streaker back to the ship." Bojay said.

"Yes sir." Jennings replied.

She holstered her sidearm, "I'm sorry Colonel," she said to Bojay, "But someone has to pay."

As she walked off Bojay holstered his gun and helped Imlay to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Bojay asked.

Wesley nodded, "Yeah I think so. Colonel I think you need to tell me what this is all about."

"Yeah I think I do." Wesley replied.

The President, Commander Garrett, Archangel and Wedge all sat in the Commander's quarters.

"How is it going?" Milo asked.

Archangel and Wedge looked at each other, "There's only one way we can think of doing this and it's not going to be easy. We launch EMP warheads at Icarus and then we land five raptors. We land on one of their flightpods. Myself and Vannick will lead the marines. Vannick will head to the CIC with his marines while I head for the Admiral's quarters."

"I hardly think they're going to just stand by and let you all go through their ship." Vanessa said.

"I doubt they will too," Archangel replied, "We'll take non lethal rounds and put down anyone who tries to stop us."

"I can't help but think this is a bad idea." Milo said, "Just because you're using non lethal's doesn't mean there won't be casualties."

"In all honesty I can't help but think no matter how we do this it's not going to work." Wedge said.

Vanessa sighed, "I know what you mean."

"What if we reach out to some of the Icarus officers. If it's as it seems and they don't know what happened, when they find out, then maybe they'll be willing to help us." Milo said.

"I don't think that's a bad idea." Wedge said.

"He's going to get away with it all, again." Vanessa said.

"Some how we'll get him," Archangel said, "Trust me, he's not going to get away."

Bojay and Wesley both sat in an office aboard the Lexington.

"I don't know what to say." Wesley said after being told everything that had happened.

"You really had no idea?" Bojay asked.

Wesley shook his head, "None at all. He was so convincing."

"We need to remove him from command." Bojay said.

Wesley looked at Bojay, "That's not going to be easy. Some of the crew, especially certain marines are fiercely loyal to him. I don't even know if they'll believe me if I tell them."

"We have to make them believe us. Once Streaker has calmed down she could be of use." Bojay replied.

"At least I understand now why she wanted to blow my head off!"

They sat in silence for a moment, Wesley clearly in turmoil. He looked up at Bojay, "There is another problem."

"What?"

"The reason I was on the station. The Admiral had sent me to check how much security you had posted at each airlock. He wants Orion and he wants your fleet."

"We can't let that happen." Bojay replied.

"I need to head back to Icarus." Wesley said standing up.

"Hang on I think you need to speak to Commander Garrett and the President." Bojay said.

"I need to get back to Icarus, before Lionel starts to wonder where I am." Wesley replied, "You can tell Commander Garrett what the situation is."

"Okay." Bojay replied, "Wesley, can we count on you?"

Wesley looked at Bojay and nodded, "I'll see what I can do. One thing to remember, Lionel will keep referring to the chain of command. He outwardly prides himself on be a stickler for the rules, no matter how full of shit he is. In his mind he is in command because he is the Admiral."

Both men shook hands before Wesley left the room.

Archangel stood on the Lexington flight deck on his own. He walked down the empty bays. Down the far end of the deck were the shuttles and the raptors of the crew who were aboard.

"Mark Hunter as I live and breathe."

Archangel recognised the voice immediately. He turned at the voice he had not heard in years. Standing in front of him smiling from ear to ear was Captain Alisa 'Dagger' Stark. Archangel smiled and walked towards her and hugged her.

"My gods Stark I've missed you." Archangel said to her.

Alisa smiled at her friend, "I couldn't believe it when I heard your name mentioned over the com. I've missed you too."

"What are you doing here? Which ship are you on?" Archangel asked.

"I'm the Trinity's CAG." she replied.

"You've been with this fleet the whole time?"

Alisa nodded, "Me and Tripswitch."

"Cooper's here?" Archangel's smile became even broader.

Alisa smiled, "Yes she is and she is going to be happy to see you."

Archangel hugged her again. Skeeter was his best friend, but Stark and Cooper were the only people alive who had ever truly known him and he them. They started their Shadow training together. Out of a group of thirty six people, they were the only three to finish the training. They were the only people he could truly be himself around, the only ones who knew everything.

"I've always wondered what happened to you guys. I pushed hard to find out where you were, it's the only time Greenway and I have ever truly argued."

"Penny begged him to let her see you again, one last time. He told her, if it had been up to him he would have. They needed a fall guy, and Penny and I were left holding the bodies."

"But you finished what I started, you saved one hundred and eighty seven kids that night and finally took down the traffickers."

"Yeah but seven kids didn't make it home and we made such an explosive mess of it, the media were swarming outside when every emergency service in the city turned up. It could have been worse, someone in the government wanted us sent to jail, for a very long time. Coop made sure that didn't happen, he and Negala really stepped up for us. It didn't make it any easier though, Penny struggled not being able to see you. Were you guys really going to leave the service together?"

Archangel nodded, "We were. But that was a long time ago now. Why did you end up on the Trinity?"

"Well after that little incident we were assigned to the misfit fleet. It's full of all the people the brass wanted as far away from the Colonies as possible."

"Greenway wouldn't tell me where you'd gone, neither would Negala."

"It happened quickly. I suppose it was better than prison."

"Definitely."

"What about you, I thought you were Atlantia's CAG?"

"I was. I was on extended shore leave when the Cylons attacked. After a few months we were picked up by Orion and the rest is history."

"We're you still a Shadow when it happened?" Alisa asked.

"I was although, there weren't many of us left at the end. When you guys left, Negala and Greenway gave me less and less to do. They let me focus on being a CAG." Archangel replied.

"Cutting through it all, I need to ask you something?" she asked.

"Anything."

"Is it true? About Admiral Garrett and Olympus?"

Archangel nodded, "Yeah and we need to get rid of him."

"Sounds like you've got an idea of how to do that?" Alisa asked with a smile.

Archangel smiled back, "Yeah blow his fraking brains out. First though I need to get on Icarus, there's no way they're going to let me on board."

"Well then it's a good job we found each other," Alisa replied, "My raptor is here, they may not let one of your birds on board, but they'll let one of ours."

"Can I use it?" Archangel asked.

"As long as I get to come with you." she replied.

Archangel shook his head, "No I have to do this on my own. If we get caught then it'll we're both dead."

"This is no time to play the martyr. I'm hardly some little girl who needs protecting." Alisa said.

"It's not that and you know it's not. If I frak this up, then we need to have another option, a second wave." Archangel replied.

Alisa looked at her friend for a few moment, "What about when it comes to docking with Icarus, they're going to know something's up when they hear your voice instead of mine!"

Archangel thought a moment, "We know exactly what they're going to say to you, so we record your answers and I play them over the com. Problem solved."

Alisa looked at him for a moment, "Fine."

"When they ask you, you'd better tell them I took your bird without you knowing."

She smiled and winked at him, "I know the drill. Just don't get yourself killed, we have a lot of catching up to do."

Bojay walked onto Orion's CIC and walked straight over to the command console, where the Commander and President were standing.

"I've just had a little chat with Colonel Imlay." Bojay said as he walked up to them.

"And?" Vanessa asked.

"I filled him in on everything and after Streaker nearly blew his head off, he was inclined to believe me." Bojay replied.

"Streaker did what?!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"She saw Imlay and her temper got the better of her. I defused the situation and I was hoping you'd let me deal with her."

Vanessa nodded her head, "Okay."

"What did he say Colonel?" Milo asked.

"He told me the reason he was on the station was because your father had sent him to see what kind of security we had at each airlock. He wants you removed and Orion and the fleet for himself."

"I knew it." Vanessa replied.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Milo asked.

"I think we can. We'd better be able to as I told him everything." Bojay replied.

"This is the in we needed aboard Icarus." Milo said.

"Before he had to go back though he did say to remember that Lionel likes to outwardly follow the chain of command. He's going to keep flaunting the fact we're colonial officers and that he out ranks you. I think he's going to try and get the rest of the colonial fleet to side with him by throwing the rule book at them." Bojay said.

"It's his leg to stand on if you know what I mean," Vanessa said, "We're following the same rules as we did before the fall. We're acting like colonial officers, the same as before. It's all he's got and with some people it might actually work."

Milo stayed quiet for a moment. He suddenly realised that Vanessa and Bojay were both looking at him, wondering what was going through his mind.

"There is one way to nip this in the bud." Milo said "Colonel Johnson please note in your log that on this day at," he looked at his watch, "15.37pm I Milo Vents, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol hereby promote Vanessa Garrett to the rank of Fleet Admiral."

"What?!" Vanessa exclaimed in utter shock at what she'd just heard.

"Vanessa you're in command of a massive fleet, this is something I should have done a long time ago. Congratulations Fleet Admiral." He said shaking her hand.

She stood their in utter surprise and turned to see everyone on the CIC was saluting her.

"Thank you. Here's hoping this works." she said.

So far so good. Archangel had landed on Icarus' port flightpod and was being lowered down to the hanger deck. He had decided, for now to leave his helmet on. He was starting to feel a little nervous. It had been a while since he had done something like this. He took a deep breath and managed to calm himself. He put himself into the right mind set and was ready. As the hatch opened there was no one there waiting to greet him. He quickly got off the raptor, unseen by the deck crew and moved to the back of the deck. When he was out of sight he took off his helmet, as wearing it off the flight deck would be noticed straight away. He exited the deck as quickly as he could. Finding a quiet corridor he accessed one of the ships computers to get a read out of the decks. He watched the route to the Admiral's quarters, memorising the path he would have to take and then the quickest route back to the flight deck, should he make it that far. He took a deep breath and unfastened his holsters, then was on his way. As he walked no one seemed to pay him any attention. He tried to keep his side with the Orion flight patch to the wall at all times so no one could see it. As he reached the corridor where the Admiral's quarters were he was surprised at the lack of crew members. He had expected that a man like Lionel Garrett would have marines guarding his quarters at all times, but in fact there were none. He put his hand on one of his side arms and pressed the buzzer on the Admiral's door. He waited for what seemed like an eternity for Lionel to answer. The Admiral's face dropped when he saw Archangel who stood smiling at him.

"Good afternoon Admiral." Archangel said before drawing his weapon and walking inside, closing the door behind him.

Lionel backed into his quarters and nearly fell backwards over a table.

"I told you that you'd be getting to see more of me." Archangel said.

"Whatever you came here to do, it's a mistake, a big mistake." Lionel blurted out.

"Funny it really doesn't feel like one." Archangel replied, "I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time indeed."

"The things my daughter has told you, they're all lies. Her mother and then her grand parents, they all filled her head with crap. They turned her against me." he pleaded.

"You did that yourself, you didn't need them to help. The main thing I want to know, more than anything, how can you sleep at night after what you did to the crew of the Olympus?"

"Fincher was a fool," Lionel spat with venom, "He was never fit to be in command."

"You'd know." Archangel replied.

"You have no idea, no idea of the things I've done to get where I am today."

"And where are you exactly? In command of a fleet full of personnel the Admiralty wanted to see the back of, so what did they do? Send them as far away as they could."

"Frak you." Lionel said.

"No frak you." Archangel replied.

As he was about to pull the trigger the snap of a taser gun fired. Archangel began to convulse as a debilitating current coursed through him. Behind him stood three marines, one of them holding a taser gun. Archangel tried to keep control of his body, but he just couldn't. He dropped his gun to the ground then seconds later he fell to his knees. Lionel was amazed at how much the young pilot could take. Archangel looked up at him, the pain unreal as it coursed through his body. Lionel smiled, walked up to him and then kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out cold.

"What should we do with him sir?" the marine with the taser asked.

"Put this piece of shit in the brig, I'll deal with him later. Thank you sergeant, you just saved my life." Lionel said.

As Admiral Garrett walked onto his CIC he saw the bruise down the side of his XO's face.

"What the frak happened to you?" Lionel asked.

"The power went out while I was aboard the Lexington, I lost my footing and hit my head on a hand rail." Wesley replied, "Sheer clumsiness."

"Have you been to sickbay?" Lionel replied.

"No sir, I'll be fine." Wesley looked at his CO, he seemed shaken, "Admiral, are you okay?"

Lionel took a deep breath and looked his XO in the eye, "Major Hunter from Orion, he just tried to kill me."

"What?!" Wesley exclaimed, "Aboard Icarus?"

Lionel nodded.

"Is he still alive?"

Lionel nodded again, "Yes, I threw him in the brig. I'm hoping my daughter is still as soft as she always was."

"Admiral, we have Orion actual on the horn." the com officer said.

Lionel smiled, "Put her through."

He and Wesley both picked up their handsets, "This is Icarus actual, what do you want?"

"Icarus actual, this is Orion actual. I hereby demand that you stand down from your command immediately." Vanessa said from the other end.

Lionel laughed, "On what authority Commander. I do not take orders from you."

"You have my rank incorrect Rear Admiral. The President of the colonies has promoted me to the rank of Fleet Admiral. I hereby take command of all the vessels in your fleet."

Lionel laughed again, "Please. Commander, I do not recognise Mr Vents as being the President of the Colonies. We are at war, therefore as the ranking officer, I am in command. So your promotion, Commander, isn't worth shit."

"I have just sent the order for your fleet to come and join us, we'll see whose orders they follow. Again I order you to to step down, immediately." Vanessa replied.

"Here's the flip side to that coin. I currently have your Major Hunter in my brig. The mission you sent him on, he failed. Your order to kill me failed." Lionel replied.

Vanessa paused for a moment, this had taken her by surprise, "I don't know what your talking about, I never sent Major Hunter to kill you. If he is on Icarus then it is of his own volition. My orders still stand."

"As I was saying, here is the flip side to that coin. I order you and your entire command crew to step down. All of you and Mr Vents are to head to the Lexington where you will be met by my XO, Colonel Imlay, you will all be taken into custody and brought to Icarus. You have thirty minutes before I will get back to you. If you do not agree then there will be severe repercussions."

On Orion's CIC Vanessa slammed her hand set down.

"GODS FRAKING DAMN IT." She yelled in anger. "Did you know what Archangel was going to do?" Vanessa asked Bojay.

He shook his head, "No I had no idea, I would have talked him out of it if I had."

"What about you?" Vanessa snarled at Skeeter who stood next to Milo.

Skeeter shook his head, "No Admiral, otherwise I would have done the same as Bojay said."

"Vanessa you need to calm down and we need to discuss this rationally." Milo said.

Vanessa looked up at him, "Sorry. I can't believe Archangel has gone and done this."

"This doesn't change anything." Milo said.

Everyone looked at him.

"I'm sorry but it doesn't. Archangel knew what he was doing when he went aboard Icarus. This isn't the first time he's done something like this. I know as well as you all do what Lionel meant."

"What about the Icarus fleet, Mr Phillips have we had any response?" Vanessa asked.

"Yes ma'am, Trinity, Sulaco and Sutherland have all reported in and it seems they are as good as their word. They're moving themselves and their Gunstars over to us."

"That's a start." Bojay said.

"Bojay I want you to ready EMP's to launch at Icarus and any other of their ships that don't join with us. Have the Gunstars do the same." Vanessa said.

"Aye Ma'am."

"Are you prepared to let him go?" Milo asked, "If you have too?"

Vanessa thought about it, she looked at Skeeter and then back to the President, "If I have too. This is bigger than him, it's bigger than all of us, he cannot get his hands on this fleet."

Archangel sat on the floor of the empty cell rubbing the side of his head. He had fraked up this time, well and truly fraked up. He had the feeling that this could be where it all ended for him. He looked up as the door to the room outside slid open and Admiral Garrett walked inside, alone. Archangel looked up and waved.

"Lionel." he said disrespectfully.

Lionel took a chair from the empty marines station by the cell and sat down in front of Archangel.

"Fancy a chat do we?" Archangel asked.

"Tell me about my daughter."

Archangel looked at him for a moment, "I didn't think you thought she was your daughter?"

"She told you that."

Archangel grinned, "She did."

"She certainly inherited her mother's devious side." Lionel replied.

"One of the things I've learned about Vanessa is that she doesn't lie about anything."

"Come on Major, in the time that you've known her, tell me about her."

"She's strong, a natural leader, well respected. Every member of that crew would gladly lay down their lives for her."

"She claims that she had no idea that you had come over here to kill me. So you took it upon yourself to do this?"

Archangel smiled and laughed, "Oh now there are some secrets that even you with the rank of Rear Admiral have the clearance to know."

"Oh now I'm intrigued." Lionel replied.

Archangel laughed, "I'll do you a favour, you tell me why you let all those people on Olympus die and I'll tell you my secrets."

"He questioned me. A commander, he questioned my orders." Lionel replied coldly.

"But he was right." Archangel replied.

"He was, I don't deny that, but he questioned me. I will not be second guessed by Fincher or anyone else, I'm the commanding officer of a fleet, I cannot be questioned or show weakness in front of my crew or any other."

"You really are not fit to be in command." Archangel said.

"You impress me in a strange way. You know I have no qualms about putting a bullet through your skull or throwing you out of an air lock, but still you goad me, push me."

Archangel smiled, "What can I say, I like to press people's buttons."

"So now your end of the bargain." Lionel replied.

"I had no problem in coming over here to kill you, because I am a killer." Archangel said.

Lionel looked at him, utterly unconvinced.

"Seriously I'm a killer, an assassin. Hand picked by colonial black ops. I have killed people much much more dangerous than you."

"And yet I'm the one who stopped you." Lionel replied.

"That you are. For now."

"So how far do you think your Commander will take this?"

"Lionel you don't know your daughter, you have no idea the lengths she'll go to in order to make sure you're stopped."

"We'll see."

"Be sure to let me know how it goes, if you're still sucking down air that is."

"I'll see you soon." Lionel said standing up.

Archangel waved as Lionel walked away. He took a deep breath and decided he'd wait for the inevitable, however it happened. A few minutes later the door opened again and Colonel Imlay walked in.

"Colonel come to take over where the good Admiral left off?" Archangel asked.

"Hardly." Wesley replied.

Archangel sat up.

"Does that mean you're starting to have doubts?" Archangel asked.

Wesley sighed, "I had a chat with Colonel Johnson, he filled me in on a few home truths."

"And what are you going to do about it? Now that you know."

"I don't know." Wesley replied.

"The way I look at it there are two things you can do. You can either remove him from command or you can open that door and let me do it." Archangel replied.

"I can't do that." Wesley replied.

"Then you only have one other option, you have to do it yourself. You have to make up for all the crap that is now tied to this ship. He's not going to be able to do it, he's on the verge of making this much much worse. If you don't, you have as much blood on your hands as Lionel does."

"How far will Admiral Garrett take this?"

"You should know, he's your commanding officer." Archangel replied.

"No, I mean your Admiral Garrett."

"I think you'll find it's Commander."

"Not any more. I just listened to a conversation between her and Lionel. She said she's now been promoted to Fleet Admiral."

Archangel smiled, "Good for her." he looked up at Imlay, "There are two possible things she'll do now. She'll launch an EMP warhead at Icarus and then send marines to board the ship and take him down. Or, she'll launch an EMP and then blow the Icarus out of the sky."

"What if we end up firing first?"

"This ship doesn't stand a chance against Orion. You fire first and your signing your own death warrants." Archangel replied.

"Lionel gave her an ultimatum, half an hour to stand down and hand over her entire command crew and the President or."

"I don't think I need to ask what the or is!" Archangel replied, "So here's the deal Colonel, either you stop him or you have another body on your head."

"Admiral, no other ships have moved over yet." Phillips said.

"Not to worry," Vanessa replied, "They're probably undecided."

She looked up at the countdown clock, thirteen minutes remaining.

"All our personnel are off the station and we have detached from it." Bojay said.

"Good. What about our birds?"

"Wedge is briefing them at the moment. They'll be in the air in a few minutes. The pilots from the other battlestar's linked in on the briefing and they're all coordinating through him."

"I get the feeling as soon as they launch, that clock is going to abruptly stop." Milo said.

Wesley walked back onto the Icarus CIC. He took his position and took a deep breath. Lionel stood there signing some paperwork.

"Admiral all nukes are loaded." Captain Clark said.

"Nukes?!" Wesley exclaimed.

"You sound surprised Colonel."

"Are you sure that's no overkill?"

"No Colonel, I would say it's just enough kill." Lionel replied with a chuckle. He looked at his XO for a moment, "You don't approve?"

"I just think trying to talk it out would be better, before jumping to such extreme measures."

"The time for talking has been and gone. If she doesn't do as she's told then we have no other choice."

"Admiral, Orion, Icarus, Sulaco and Sutherland have launched vipers and raptors and they're making a defensive perimeter." Clark said.

"Time's up." Lionel said, "Captain open a channel to Orion."

"Yes sir." Clark nervously replied. She nodded as soon as it was ready.

"Orion Actual, this is Icarus Actual may I ask why I am looking at my dradis and there are nearly a thousand vipers and raptors looking at me?"

"Because this ends now." Vanessa replied.

"I take it that means you're not going to obey my orders?"

"And I take it you're not going to follow mine?" Vanessa replied.

"I'll give you one last chance." Lionel said.

"Whatever happens now, Lionel, is on you." Vanessa said before the line went dead.

Lionel calmly put his handset open, "Sergeant Miller please go to the brig and take Major Hunter to the nearest airlock, Colonel Imlay, your nuclear key please."

"Belay that order sergeant." Wesley said.

"I warn you Colonel, do not test me."

Miller and the other two marines looked confused.

"Go to the brig NOW!" Lionel said.

"Sergeant Miller am I right in thinking your sister was a raptor ECO aboard Olympus?" Wesley said.

"Erm yes sir she was."

"Do you want to tell him Lionel? Or shall I?" Wesley replied.

Lionel looked at him, "You have no idea what you're talking about. Sergeant go to the brig and take Colonel Imlay into custody as well."

"Our Admiral had an argument with Commander Fincher, an argument that led to Fincher putting Lionel here on his ass. Then Lionel made sure the Olympus had the wrong jump coordinates. While we were searching for them, he knew where they were. While your sister was dying of a virus she picked up on the planet they limped too, HE knew where she was. All these years I've stood by your side, all this time. What orders have I followed that have wound up getting people killed? I knew something had been off with you over the last few months, but still I didn't question it. I will not let you kill anyone else. Sergeant Miller please take Rear Admiral Garrett to the brig and send Major Hunter to the CIC."

"Yes sir." Miller replied.

As the marine moved towards Lionel, he pulled his sidearm and shot the young sergeant through the head. Wesley drew his weapon and in a second the CO and the XO were looking down the barrel of each others gun.

"You're done." Wesley said.

"I will not be questioned and ordered by you!" Lionel yelled.

"And I will not take any more orders from you." Wesley replied before pulling the trigger. The bullet hit Lionel in the shoulder. He dropped his gun and fell to the ground. Before he could reach the gun, the remaining marines dived on him and dragged him to his feet.

Wesley picked up the handset.

"Admiral this is Colonel Imlay, I trust you heard all that?" Wesley said.

"Yes Colonel, we heard everything. Thank you." Vanessa replied.

"Admiral, Icarus is standing down." Wesley replied.

He put the handset down and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Corporal take this son of a bitch to the brig, the medics can see to him there. Captain Clark, please get someone from sick bay up here to see to Sergeant Miller and get Major Hunter out of the brig."

"This isn't over." Lionel yelled as he was being dragged away.

"Yes Lionel it is." Wesley replied.

Fleet Admiral Vanessa Garrett was pleased the morale in the fleet had gotten much better on all sides since her father had been taken into custody. The crews were interacting and getting to know each other.

She, Bojay and The President all sat in her quarters waiting for Colonel Imlay.

"So that's definitely how you want to handle things?" Milo asked.

Vanessa nodded, "Yes. It's the only way to even start getting things back to some kind of normality for them."

Moments later the door opened and in walked Colonel Imlay.

"Admiral, Colonel, Mr President." he said as he walked in and stood in front of them all.

"Please take a seat." Vanessa said.

Wesley took a seat next to Vanessa's desk.

"Before we begin, it's nice to meet you all properly," Wesley said, "There are a couple of things that I would like to speak to you about. Firstly I have been speaking to the other Commanders and Captains from the Icarus fleet. Some of them would still like the chance to go back to the Colonies. They want the chance to try and make up for all the death that has happened, to see if they can find any more survivors. Several of the ships of course from our fleet we would leave with Orion so she isn't on her own any more. Of course I understand that you would need to talk about this before you even think about an answer. The second thing I would like to say is I would like you to accept my resignation from the Colonial Fleet and I am here to hand myself over for court martial."

"Excuse me?" Vanessa said.

"It's as much my fault what happened to the Olympus as it was Admiral Garrett. We were both the men at the top and the buck lies with us."

"Colonel what did you do when you realised the Olympus wasn't with the rest of your fleet?" Milo asked.

"I immediately suggested that we go back to look for them. When they weren't there I came up with the most efficient use of our fleet and raptors to go search for them Mr President."

"Colonel I could accept your resignation or you could accept my offer." Vanessa said.

"What would that be Admiral?" Wesley replied.

"I want you to take command of Icarus and I want to promote you to the rank of Rear Admiral."

"Seriously, after everything that's happened? I don't know what to say?" he said.

"You can say yes. Your crew need a new leader, someone to lead them as my father should have. Someone to help give them their dignity back."

Imlay sat quietly for a moment, clearly deep in thought, "Then yes Admiral, I accept your offer." Wesley replied with a smile.

"Good. Now I have one favour to ask you, I need to speak with your ships Doctor." Vanessa said.

Lionel was being led through the corridor's of the Lexington. None of the marines would tell him where they were taking him. His shoulder had been patched up, he wondered if they would have bothered to help him if they were just going to kill him. After they had been in the lift it opened on the control deck. Waiting for him was Vanessa, Bojay, the President, Archangel, Jawbreaker, Streaker and Wesley.

"Judas." Lionel said to Wesley, "Those are my rank pips."

"Not any more." Wesley replied.

"We've been thinking long and hard what to do with you." Vanessa said.

"I'm surprised you had the courage to make the decision yourself." he replied.

"Before I tell you what we've decided there's something I have to know. Did you murder my mother?" Vanessa asked.

Lionel just smiled at her.

"I need to know you son of a bitch, did you kill my mother?"

Lionel didn't reply again. Vanessa lost her temper and punched him hard sending him crashing to the ground.

"TELL ME!" she yelled.

"Yes I murdered you whore of a mother. She was an embarrassment to me. Fraking her way through all the men in Delphi while I was away. Once you had gone to bed she wouldn't shut up, nagging me with her incessant whining about a divorce. I was not going to be shamed into a divorce by a whore! I caved her skull in and then took her out and dumped her body."

Vanessa punched him again, hard in the face. He spat blood onto the ground before shakily getting back to her feet. She looked over at Jawbreaker who nodded at her.

"You know I remember that night. I remember how you insisted I wasn't your daughter. My mother told you the truth, she had always been completely faithful to you, gods only knows why. You were an evil son of a bitch then and you're an evil son of a bitch now. I decided it was time to show you once and for all that I'm your daughter." She handed him the results of a DNA test, "I had your ships doctor run a DNA test on us both, the results seem pretty conclusive to me."

He looked down at the test, it indeed showed that Vanessa was his daughter. He looked at the signature on the bottom and was his ships Doctor.

"This doesn't prove anything." Lionel said throwing it to the ground.

"Well you can ponder that until the day you die." Vanessa said.

"If you're going to execute me, do it now." Lionel replied.

Vanessa laughed, "You're not going to be executed, death is too good for you. You enjoy being king of your own castle, being the man at the top, well that's what we're giving you."

"What, I don't understand?" Lionel replied, utterly confused.

"This station, we've decided that we're going to leave you here. You can live out the rest of your miserable life with no one to answer to, just how you like it."

Lionel looked shell shocked, "You can't leave me here, Wesley, please, tell them they can't leave me here."

"Just so you know, my vote was to throw you out of the fraking airlock. You murdered a man in front of me, for no reason," Wesley replied, "Think yourself lucky."

"We've left you enough supplies to last you the rest of your life, however long that may last. You've got food, water, medical supplies, all your crap from your quarters and a raptor. You won't get very far in it as the jump drive is less than worth the name, but hey you can explore your system." Vanessa said with a smile. "Goodbye Lionel, I'm just glad that I never have to see you again."

Vanessa took out her side arm and looked at it for a moment. She looked at her father and smiled. She ejected the magazine and pulled the barrel back, catching the bullet that ejected from it. She put the gun on the work station next to her, "Just in case."

As she turns to leave Lionel lunged for her. Jawbreaker caught him by the throat with his massive left hand and lifted him off the ground and pulled Lionel in front of his face.

"Do you want me to do you a favour and end your miserable life for you?" Jawbreaker asked, "One squeeze, that's all it would take and your neck would be snapped in half. Nod your head, that's all it will take."

Jawbreaker could see the terror in Lionel's eyes. Everyone else carried on to the lift. Lionel tried to shake his head.

"No." managed to escape his lips.

"Shame." Jawbreaker said before throwing Lionel across the room. As he came to a stop with a thud against the wall. He gasped for air and looked across the room as Jawbreaker stepped inside the lift. He tried to shout out but couldn't. He watched in vain as the doors closed.

"Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself." Jawbreaker said.

"No need to apologise Captain, the look on his face was priceless, finally a memory of my father I can happily hold on to." Vanessa replied with a smile.

Moments later the lift stopped and they all filed out. Once everyone was out Bojay placed a small device onto the lift controls.

"The lift is locked down. It won't come back online for twenty minutes." he said.

As they reached the airlock that would take them back to Orion, Vanessa looked at the bullet in her hand. She bent down and placed the bullet by the airlock door. She smiled to herself and then followed everyone through.

Lionel sat in the control room aboard the Lexington. He sat watching the fleet he was no longer a part of. He watched as they all began to move away. He knew no one was coming back for him, but he couldn't help but have a small sliver of hope they might. It took twenty minutes for all the ships to go out of sight around the other side of the blue sun. He sighed to himself. He looked over at the empty hand gun and wished he had a bullet.

Two days later Admiral Garrett, Bojay and Archangel walked onto the Icarus CIC.

"All ready?" Vanessa asked.

"Yes ma'am." Wesley replied, "Everyone is ready to head back to the Colonies. The Sulaco and Trinity will be staying with you along with the Gunstar's Sirius and Noble.

"Are you sure you can manage without them?" Bojay asked.

"I'm sure we can Colonel." Wesley replied with a smile, "I just wanted to say what a pleasure it's been to meet you all. I hope that one day our paths cross again."

"That's something we wanted to talk to you about." Vanessa said, "Major."

"Admiral that's something I can help you with," Archangel said as he took a piece of paper out of his pocket, "Since we left the colonies I've been dropping what are known as jump drones every time we come out of a new jump."

"Jump drones?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah. That's what this is for." he handed Wesley the paper.

"What is this?" he asked looking for it.

"It's the frequency that you'll need to be broadcasting on every time you make a jump. It's a Colonial black op's trick. Every military vessel that has been built in the last twenty five years has some programming built into it that virtually no one knows about. That program will allow you to broadcast on that frequency. When you make a jump after about thirty seconds the jump drone will activate and it will send you the exact coordinates of the jump before or the jump after. After you've been to the colonies, that is how you will find us again." Archangel said.

"Thank you Major." Wesley said with a huge smile across his face.

"You're very welcome Admiral. Good hunting out there." Archangel replied.

7 MONTHS AGO

A single raptor made it's way into the Acheron system just outside the system that held Caprica. In front of the small craft the civilian science station Tabula Rasa. Nearly two hundred ships surrounded it. Fifteen Battlestars, some of them new, some of them very old were amongst them. Several of the old Columbia Class Battlestars in various states of repair in dry docks.

"Tabula Rasa this is Captain Lehane, requesting permission to dock." Captain Caroline "Echo" Lehane said as she piloted the small bird.

"Echo this is Tabula Rasa, docking bay seventy two is clear for you."

The raptor flew through the mass of ships and docked inside. The side hatch opened and the six marines getting back for the mission to Sagittaron stepped out and were met by Colonel Sophie James. The lead marine took his face mask off.

"Good to see you back Boyscout. Is in intact?" Colonel James asked.

"Yes ma'am, can't wait to see what's inside." Boyscout replied.

"Admiral Greenway is waiting for us."

The command room for the station was massive. Split into two floors, work stations ran all the way around the outside of the giant circular room. Four sets of stairs on each side of the room led up to the second level where there were twenty more station and a bank of massive view screens.

Admiral Cooper Greenway was in command of the station and all the vessels outside. The fifty seven year old man, before the fall had been in command of the Colonial's Black Op's unit, the Shadows. Once the Cylon's had left the system, he had coordinated the rescue of every surviving human on the colonies. As James and Boyscout walked up to him, Greenway stood stroking his beard watching the Dradis console.

He turned when he saw the two officers walk up to him.

"Well done son." Cooper said shaking Boyscout's hand.

"Thank you sir. I think you'll be wanting to see this." Boyscout replied reaching into his bag and handing the Admiral the black box.

Cooper looked down at it and smiled. "Lieutenant Marx please hook this up."

"Yes sir." the young officer said taking it off the Admiral.

"I hope there's something on that." Boyscout said.

"Me too Ensign. Was there any sign of anyone or any Cylons left behind?"

"No sir, Freedom was a ghost town." Boyscout replied.

"Admiral it's ready." Marx said.

Cooper took a deep breath, "Press play Lieutenant."

Seconds later Archangel's face came across the screen, "This is Captain Mark Hunter, Shadow 5. If you're watching this then I'm not the only survivor of Shadow Company. It's been over twelve hours since the attack and the Cylons haven't got this far yet. I managed to get in contact with Admiral Negala earlier, he instructed me to try to get to Caprica as that was the best chance of being rescued. I haven't been able to get in contact with anyone since, so I'm assuming the worse. I'm with a very small group of survivors. In the morning I intend to hit the road and head for the off map airstrips to see if I can find a Raptor to get to Caprica." he took a sip from a beer in between talking, "Whoever is watching this I hope we find each other, if I'm still alive at this point. I'll be dropping jump drones where ever I go, hopefully that will help in you finding me." He sighed and rubbed his head, "So on that note I'll bid you fair well. Whoever you are I hope you manage to survive, good hunting out there." the screen went blank.

"If anyone survive, it was always going to be Archangel." James said.

"Yes Colonel it was." Cooper replied.

"Admiral the jump drones are coming online." Marx said.

An image of Sagittaron appeared in front of them and a series of red dots representing the jump drones appeared. Then next to it Caprica appeared.

"Frak me he did it." Boyscout said.

Then suddenly all the drones stopped on Caprica. Then the coordinates appeared throughout space before the last one signalled they had crossed the red line.

Cooper smiled and patted Boyscout on the shoulder, "Illum I think you'd better go tell your mother that it appears your brother might be alive after all."

"Yes, yes sir I will." Ensign Illum "Boyscout" Hunter replied before he walked off.

"Colonel James how long before we can start heading after him?" Cooper asked.

"At least another week." James replied, "Some of the Colombia Class Battlestars are still being put back together."

"We're coming to get you Archangel." Cooper said with a smile.