III

1400

Felix Gaeta was doodling on a piece of paper, as there was nothing to do. D'Anna and Gaius were doing what they always did-argue about the future of the settlement, Gaius telling them go leave, and D'Anna saying she'd rather nuke the place. Felix had learned to tune it all out. It was simply background noise to him.

From within the confines of Colonial One, most of the outside world went unheard, as the ship was a natural buffer for outside noise. Of course it hadn't stopped everyone from hearing Gaius and Caprica, or one of Gaius' young hanagers-on when he had taken them to the old bedroom. Caprica had enough decency-at least for a Cylon-that she insisted the bedroom be moved to the lowest level, and soundproofed.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Gaius noticed something through one of the windows. He looked up.

"Oh, my Gods."

Gaius and D'Anna stopped their arguing. He had gotten their attention, as well as that of Caprica and one of the Dorals, who were also present.

Felix moved toward the window.

Outside, they could hear and see muffled explosions, happening all over New Caprica.

Tory Foster and others were out of their tents, many who didn't know what was happening watching in amazement. She was standing with some of the Block Leaders, who would rally and round up their people. They were waiting for the explosion that would be their signal to move.

They didn't have to wait long.

A massive explosion directly to their front lit up the area. Tory turned to give her Leaders some last minute instructions and a brief prayer, and they scatted, chaos now gripping the area. Tory ran off to the area she was assigned to.

All over the city, groups of people made their way to the hidden storage of weapons and ammo that dotted the area. Everyone had different assignments. Saul and Galen were to lead an assault on the gates of the prison, then Charlie and Diana Seelix, and a host of others, would storm the compound, with Laura Roslin in tow.

Tom Zarek and his men quickly made their way through the compound, Tom holding on to Kacey, and the three men with him ready to kill any Cylon, humanoid or machine, that approached them. They took down a few Centurions on their way to Colonial One.

There was chaos inside Colonial One, as The Cylons were on their phones, trying to find out information on what the hell was going on. It was quite obvious what was going on, but they needed information. So far, they weren't getting much.

Above The Planet

"OK, this is it, guys", Kat said with urgency, "stand by!"

All the practice, and hours of frustration and learning were coming to a head. This was the moment all of them had been working for.

"All Vipers break, now, now, now!"

Kat's Vipers made way for Racetrack's Raptors, who came through in good order.

"Deploy drones on my mark", Racetrack said calmly-much more calmly than Kat. "Three...two...one...mark!"

At that moment, a hail of drones left the launch rails, banking in one of two directions. The plan was to have the drones move at a speed, and create a Dradis image that would lead The Cylons to think two battlestars were present.

Galactica was still hiding, and would remain hiding for a while longer. The job of the drones was to pull the Cylon Raiders out to them, while Galactica knocked on the back door.

Colonial One

As Gaius sat, defeated at his desk, Boomer entered the office. The other Cylons were on phones or talking to each other.

"Two Battlestars just jumped into orbit."

"I thought we were tracking them", D'Anna protested.

"Well, Dradis says they're here."

On the ground, Raiders were pinning down the armed insurgents, Saul Tigh wondering where the frak Galactica was. They were supposed to supply air cover and support for the uprising on the ground.

"Move, move, move!" He screamed to those around him, Galen Tyrol doing the same.

"Colonel", Galen screamed, "we're gonna get slaughtered unless Galactica shows up! We need to find some cover!"

Tigh looked around at the men and women near him. "Everyone, find some cover, right frakin' now!"

Everyone dove behind something, to keep the Centurions in front of them, and above them in the guard towers, from getting easy shots at them.

"Kat, Racetrack, two Baseships on Dradis, bearing 002, carom 015. They're launching Raiders."

Racetrack waited another beat, "Kat, we've done our part. All Raptors, kick in the turbos, let's get the hell out of here!"

With that, the Raptors turned back toward Galactica. They needed to get their quickly, so Galactica could do her part.

Inside Kara's Cell

Leoben had just spread Kara's legs, and had entered her, doing his usual, monotonous thrusting. Kara, as usual, had her eyes and mind closed off.

Suddenly, there were large explosions outside the prison. Leoben immediately went limp, and jumping off the bed, putting his clothes on. Starbuck did the same.

A wave of confusion came over his face, forgetting completely about Kara. Starbuck tried to use that confusion to attack the Cylon from behind, jumping on his back, trying to twist his neck. In her weakened state, however, she simply didn't have the strength to do so. Leoben threw her off of him. Kara got back up and charged him.

Leoben barely side-stepped Kara's attack, catching her arm as she went by. The man landed a solid right to her cheek, knocking the woman out cold. With that, Leoben left the cell to find out what was going on outside.

Saul Tigh knew they couldn't take much more of this. If they stayed where they were, the Centurions would begin advancing on them. If they got up and moved toward the mechanical Cylons, they'd be cut to pieces.

Suddenly, the air was filled with a sickening, high-pitched screeching sound above them. It was so loud that Tigh had to cover his hears for a moment. He looked up.

All he could see at first was a fireball heading down from the heavens, moving at an incredible pace. A few seconds later, he realized what was going on.

Galactica, he said to himself.

Everyone looked up in utter disbelief-even the Centurions seemed stunned at what they were witnessing.

"Everyone, get ready to move!"

He glanced over at Galen, who nodded, as he, too, looked again above them.

Onboard Galactica

Lieutenant Aaron Kelly looked at his Dradis display. "99,000, and falling like a rock!"

To Bill Adama's knowledge, what he was doing had never been tried: a jump into the atmosphere, where gravity was pulling it at blinding speed to the ground. They'd have to time this just right.

He turned quickly to Helo, who nodded.

"Launch! Launch them all!"

Adama nodded. "Standby FTL!"

With that three full squadrons of Vipers began leaving their launch tubes. The G's of a normal takeoff were exacerbated by the G's that would momentarily hit them when leaving Galactica, which kept falling.

In his Viper cockpit, the Pegasus CAG, Brendan Costanza, briefly closed his eyes then put his game face on. He gave the thumbs up to the launch officer.

"Well", he said calmly, "this ought to be different."

His Viper catapulted forward, and in moment, he and other Vipers were feeling more G's ripping their ships upward against the force of the falling Galactica.

Within moments on the ground, Vipers began to appear and engage the Raiders that were in the air, and the Centurions on the ground and in the towers.

"Vipers, hold, hold!" Galen held up his hand, warning everyone to hold in place a little longer.

A pair of Vipers took out the guard towers on either side of where Saul, Tigh, and a host of others were crouched down, making themselves as small as possible. When the towers blew, and the gates in front of them took a hit from another Viper, everyone stood up, as if on cue.

"That's it", screamed Galen, "everybody get to the ships! Move, move, move!"

"Let's go, godsdammit", Saul yelled as well, as the wave of Humanity surged forward.

Behind them, Charlie Connor, Diana Seelix, Laura Roslin, and the group that would storm the prison, rose as one and moved forward. A little out of their view, and to their rear, Tom Zarek nodded to his men, and they moved in earnest toward Colonial One.

Onboard Galactica

"They're clear", Kelly hollered over the mayhem.

"Stand by!" Adama kept a close eye on his readouts.

"Jump!"

Still high above the battle on the ground, there was a cataclysmic sound, as Galactica's FTL kicked in. In the vacuum of space, no one would hear anything. But with Galactica only about 40,000 above ground level, the noise it made was so enormous that it knocked everyone outside, Human, Cylon, or Centurion, momentarily off their feet.

Tigh had never heard anything that loud in his life. Well, shit", he thought. "The Cylons took my eye, and The Old Man's gonna take my hearing.

By this time, the insurgents were starting to roll over the Centurions.