In the barracks Lucy faced a Cylon doppelganger yet again. It was disconcerting to see her face marked with the sign of corruption, a feeling her very survival forced her to keep suppressed. As with prior Cylons she'd fought, she sensed the raw aggression and anger fueling her copy's movements and power. Her foe was given over, completely, to dark power, and it made the Cylon dangerous.

Given the close quarters Lucy kept to the defensive, goading on her opponent with the swift defensive parries that frustrated all the attacks against her. She willingly gave ground as well, and this for another reason: by doing so, she was bringing her powerful enemy further from the others, especially Ursa and the Beifong cousins, that might otherwise be threatened by her doppelganger's sheer power.

Her opposite went for a series of high attacks toward Lucy's head and shoulders, then dipped low with a swipe at Lucy's belly. Her blue lightsaber intercepted the red five centimeters from her armor. The lightsaber pulled back, but instead of another strike the next blow was from the Cylon's corrupted gifts. Her counterpart willed that Lucy be thrown backward. Lucy could not prevent that motion, but she could will herself to stop before she flew into the wall behind her, allowing her to roll from her back and to her feet. Her lightsaber came up and intercepted the overhead swipe at Lucy's head.

Beside her, Gina fell back from her own doppelganger, evading one swipe at her shoulder and deflecting another. Unlike Lucy Gina did not hold back from any attacks, responding instead with a strike aimed at her counterpart's side. This was deflected at the last moment. Another series of exchanges resulted in frustrated attacks.

Without looking at each other, Gina and Lucy knew what they were to do next, and moved in near-sync with each other. They moved away, side-stepping their attacking foes until they were facing the wall of the barracks. After thwarting attacks, they gathered their will and lashed out with their wills, bound together in common action.

Their counterparts were ready for the attack, but they were mistaken about its intent. They steeled themselves for a solid wave of force against themselves. What happened instead was said force acting against the wall behind them, smashing it down and revealing the outside. Individual chunks of debris showered on them, causing injury and general irritation.

This brought the opening for Lucy and Gina to slam their foes with pure force, throwing them through the open hole and outside of the barracks. Both tumbled across the ground before rolling to their feet, meeting Lucy and Gina's weapons with their own again.

Hopefully that will give the others the room they need, Lucy thought before she returned her attention to her deadly foe.

On the Aurora bridge, the deck shook from a missile impact. Tra'dur noted the loss in shield strength but did not immediately relay it, judging the change insufficient to warrant interrupting the orders Jarod and Meridina were issuing.

At those orders, the Aurora continuing maneuvering and firing. Her secondary weapons were busy spitting sapphire light beams at smaller enemy ships while her main bow battery pounded away at the enemy battlecruiser's shields. The enemy ship's super-disruptors fired in reply, aiming not at the Aurora but the vessels in Hanraq's force. One of their void cruisers fell apart from the sheer damage to its structure from the direct hit.

The General Iroh came up and engaged before another super-disruptor shot could be fired, joining their barrage with one from the Avatar Kiyoshi.

With all three ships focusing fire upon it, the Reich battlecruiser's shields were nearly out, and multiple wounds already showed on the dark hull of the SS ship. Around this combat the other ships were fighting Fassbinder's forces to a stalemate, buying time for their ground teams.

Meridina sensed this would not be enough. Whatever shock Hanraq's flotilla caused the SS ships was rapidly fading. They were recovering quickly, and the battle was still one they might win. She looked to Jarod and said, "Have the Koenig break away. They must get out of range of the enemy jamming system as quickly as they can and alert Admiral Maran."

Jarod nodded and transmitted the order.

For his part, Zack took the order without emotion. It worried him in that the battle was tight enough that without Koenig in it, the SS could easily take the advantage back. But the reasoning was clear regardless, and the battle had forced a change in the enemy formation sufficient that the Koenig had an opening to get away. "Break us away from the combat space," he ordered Hajar. "Maintain evasives until we're clear to make the jump to warp."

"Aye sir," Hajar answered.

The Koenig twisted, breaking off from a fight with an SS-crewed A-2000 gunboat and racing for open space beyond a formation of cruisers. Their disruptors blazed away with lethal emerald light, missiles joining them. Some of these hit the shields of the attack ship, but only some: Hajar's maneuvers evaded most of the incoming fire, and at tactical April Sherlily's skilled use of the Koenig's weapon systems eliminated a number of the incoming missiles. The gunboat they were engaged with followed, pulse disruptor cannons blazing away as it pursued its quarry. It might have caused them some problems if not for one of the United Republic destroyer-sized ships, which engaged with missiles and a barrage of purple-hued energy fire that forced the gunboat to break off.

A corkscrew maneuver brought the Koenig through the disruptor fire of an enemy cruiser and toward open space. Hajar immediately started the process of powering up the warp drives.

"Enemy warp signatures!" cried Magda from Ops. "They're dropping out of warp right…"

She didn't need to finish. The viewer showed Zack all he needed to see, as another dozen enemy vessels came out of warp ahead of the Koenig. Which, by its maneuvers, made itself their first logical target.

The disruptor beams and missiles and torpedoes converged on the attack ship as Hajar swiftly changed her heading. With her impulsors to full the Koenig was agile enough to evade much of the incoming fire, but given the enemy behind them firing as well, they could not evade everything. Disruptor hits degraded shields already worn by the intense fighting, with a couple of the enemy missiles managing partial strikes against unshielded hull.

"We have a plasma leak on the starboard nacelle, shock damage," Magda reported. "Warp drive inoperable."

Zack clenched a fist at the news. Now we can't escape. They've got numbers on us. The Aurora will never get away. C'mon, Rob, take out that jammer already…!

The newly-arriving SS vessels not only stopped the Koenig's withdrawal, they immediately shifted the battle back in their side's favor. Meridina watched with quiet grief at the annihilation of one of the Republic cruisers, overwhelmed by three enemy cruisers before it could evade the incoming fire. SS destroyers came screaming in on a torpedo run on the Avatar Kiyoshi herself. Angel's quick thinking and quicker trigger finger kept that torpedo run from completiong, as the Aurora's torpedoes and plasma fire intersected the destroyers' attack vector, forcing them to break off with one destroyer badly damaged. Nevertheless five torpedoes struck the Republic battleship, degrading the shields as they were designed to do.

"Suggestions?" she asked.

"If we could slip a runabout equipped with a portable IU radio out, they might be able to get away," Jarod proposed.

"The enemy's numbers would make pursuit and destruction far too easy," Tra'dur pointed out. The ship rocked from another solid hit by the enemy battlecruiser. "Shields down to twenty-nine percent, Captain."

"We must buy time," Meridina said. "Divert all available power to tactical systems."

"Aye Captain."

It is in your hands, she thought, considering the ground team.

Two crimson lightsabers swung toward Robert while a third nearly clipped Talara's right arm. Her lavender-colored blade came up to catch the next strike. She was holding her own, barely, but with increasing confidence.

Robert caught one of the incoming blades with his own while he maneuvered to the side, allowing the other to harmlessly slash across the very edge of his left shoulder. He felt nothing but a twinge of painful heat, indicating the blow barely penetrated his armor there, not even enough to endanger his arm's function. He continued his maneuver and directed his will toward the SS trooper who gave the successful strike. By instinct he not only hit his opponent with enough power to overcome defenses, he also threw the SS soldier into one of his compatriots menacing the Beifong cousins. Both toppled to the floor. Before they could get up Yeshe bent the air down around them, creating a downward gust to keep them down long enough for Komin to bend the metal frames of a couple of nearby fallen bunks, turning them into ad hoc restraints to tie down the two men.

This opened Robert up to his other opponent, but said foe never got to exploit that opening. A bolt of blue flame slammed into the Nazi before he could strike, throwing him off-balance. Ursa quickly struck him with more bolts, culminating with a vertical kick that created a wave of blue flame that not only set the trooper on fire, it knocked him onto his rear.

Freed from battle, Robert turned to help Talara against her foe. He immediately saw it was unnecessary, as Talara's lavender blade was already scything through the man's extended arms, removing them at the elbow. A cry of surprise was cut off by Yeshe blasting the same with a gust of wind that knocked him back into one of the standing bunk frames. Komin moved his hands in the air and the wire frame parts of the bunks bent with the motions, forming rings around the soldier's arms and ankles to hold him in place.

With only the Cylons left to fight, Robert turned to do so, but they were missing. He'd been so occupied with his own opponents he missed someone blowing out one of the walls, and Lucy and Gina were gone, as were their foes. Lucy, where are you? We can help!

No! The Aurora needs us to take out that jamming device! We've got this!

Robert felt worry. Despite the confidence, he could sense Lucy forcing some of the confidence. She was in a difficult fight, as was Gina, and victory was not guaranteed at all.

Go Rob!

Her insistence was persuasive. Robert's own feeling that he needed to heed it decided the issue for him. He motioned to the far door, the one their opponents had originally gone through, and said, "This way."

The others fell in with him. It was just the five of them now, given the ongoing battles around them. They continued a path through the central tower toward its heart. "This jamming device, do you have an idea on where to find it?" asked Talara.

Robert shook his head. "Not sure, but I can feel a pull in this direction. I think it's where we need to be."

Behind them Komin was taking in their surroundings. "The design of this place doesn't give any clues as to where to look. But maybe instead of finding the jammer, we should find the city's power core."

Talara responded by checking her omnitool as they ran. "Power emissions are this way," she said. "If we…"

The sight ahead brought them to a stop. Numerous SS men were unconscious on the floor. None showed signs of being shot by weapons, but they had visible burns in some cases and blunt trauma in others. "None of ours have been this way, have they?" Robert asked.

"I do not believe so."

"Miko," said Ursa. "She is free!"

"Not just Miko." Talara's omnitool was on wide-scanning mode. "I've got blood traces in this hall. They match Captain Andreys!"

Robert felt a surge of elation, followed immediately by worry. Julia being free brought that elation, just for him to consider what it might mean if their enemies got to her first. They might just kill her over escaping.

"I wonder where they're going?" Yeshe asked aloud. "Certainly they would try to leave the complex."

As the Airbender posed that question, Robert's eyes ventured to a sign bolted onto the wall, arrows matched with the SS-preferred Gothic German script. Reading the entries, a small smile came to his face. "I think I know what they're doing," he said. "Come on!"

They turned the corner, and danger prompted both Robert and Talara to turn and raise their weapons, deflecting the incoming fire. A squad of SS troopers was approaching from the other direction. "Go on!" Talara urged. "I'll hold them!"

The Beifongs stepped up to join her. "We'll watch your back, Highness," Komin said. "Get to Miko!"

Robert and Ursa turned and continued on, spurred by the desire to regain their loved ones as much as they were the mission at hand.

Miko was the first into the chamber where the city's power was being provided. Julia walked in behind her and fought down the strong desire to just stop. Whatever cocktail of combat drugs had been in that syringe, it was clearly wearing down. Nor was she sure another dose was wise, if it resulted in an overdose.

Fortunately the defenders of the room were not so much that Miko couldn't take them. Again the young woman sprung into action. Julia noted her fighting style and thought she recognized some of it, bringing to mind exhibitions she'd seen of Shaolin practitioners. And another style too, but one she couldn't remember. She was still getting used to the fire and air manipulation involved. Miko's attacks were swift enough that none of the enemy got off more than a wildly-inaccurate shot that hit nothing.

Julia moved on into the room and approached what looked like a control station. It was rigged to a triangle-shaped middle platform, with three distinct circles in the surface with black outlining like a framework, and an orange-yellow glow emanating from within. She examined the station, her knowledge of German tested by the effort.

Behind her, Miko twisted on her foot, her fist coming up in a motion that the air on the floor followed, creating an upward gust of air that blew the weapon right out of the hands of her last opponent. She continued the circular motion and swung her other arm forward, creating a second powerful gust of air, more of a horizontal tornado, that sent the soldier flying into the wall behind him. "Do you know what to do?"

"I'm not sure. My German's never been the best." Julia blinked and forced her tired mind to think. It looks like the SS weren't sure how this worked either. The power source is beyond their technology… looking at these figures, it's even more advanced than naqia-based power generation. What is…

Without warning pain erupted across the surface of her body. Julia let out a cry and collapsed, stunned by the ferocity of it. The nanobots! was the agonized thought that came to her.

Miko heard her scream and turned toward her. Through the portal beyond, Erik Fassbinder stood, flanked on each side by a soldier. A sinister sneer formed on his face while malevolent glee shined in his unnatural yellow eyes. He pulled his right hand away from the gauntlet on his left hand and wrist. "Well well, I see you had some fight left in you," he noted. "Perhaps we should have put you through sessions as well."

"Leave her alone!" Miko went into motion a moment later, diving for cover as a green energy beam came at her, narrowly missing. She hit the floor opposite of the power station. Another strangled cry came from Julia as Miko crouched in readiness.

"We have you cornered, untermensch," Fassbinder continued. "Your… metaphysical talents will not avail you, especially against me." He nodded to the soldiers, who moved forward to flank Miko.

Through the pain Julia tried to command her body to move. To tackle, to retrieve her own stolen weapon, anything, but the nanobots were doing their job too well. She simply couldn't do more than writhe from her body's desperate, instinctive attempt to escape overpowering agony. The only thing her effort gave her was another strangled cry.

"You have much spirit, Kapitan, but it will be broken." Fassbinder tapped at the gauntlet again, or rather an omnitool interface that formed around the same lower arm. A holo-viewer popped into place showing video from orbit. The Aurora was central to it. Blackened patches of hull were visible, and the blue flickering of her deflectors was noticeably weakening. Beside her a small vessel with a dark gray hull was suffering from multiple hull breaches and related fires. "I wanted you to watch as your precious ship dies. With all of your friends aboard."

Through the pain Julia noticed the viewer. Desperation filled her at the sight.

"I have called for reinforcements from the fleet. Your allies on the planet may hold out for a time, but they will be overwhelmed," he continued. "Their rescue attempt will be for naught. I suppose I could just kill you here…" A wicked grin came to his face. "But we have so much left to do, Kapitan, so very many things…"

By this point his troops were almost in position. Each was ready for Miko to pop from cover as well.

Not quite as ready, perhaps, for her to come at one of them.

Which is precisely what she did, with flames streaming from her feet. Instead of bending air or fire at her target, the one coming from Fassbinder's right, she tackled him physically with such speed that both went flying into the wall. Or rather, her foe did, but she jumped away at the last moment, again with such speed that the other soldier was still tracking to shoot at her. She hit the floor hands first and swept her legs parallel to the ground. A wave of flame rushed across the room and slammed into the SS trooper and his weapon, knocking it out of his hands as he hit the ground.

She was turning to Fassbinder when the lightning stuck her. The same purple tinged lightning Fassbinder had tormented Julia with for days enveloped Miko, drawing a cry of agony from her as she went to her knees.

"Do you think your talents are a match for mine?! Against my superior blood, my natural perfection, and the power that it is enhanced by?!" Fassbinder intensified the lightning shooting from his hands. "I know what you are supposed to be, and it makes me laugh! A whelp like you is the champion of your world, their precious Avatar?! How pathetic! You are nothing!"

Through clenched teeth MIko forced herself back up to one foot. The pain was excruciating. She felt like the energy assailing her was not just harming her body but her spirit, draining her vitality. It was going to kill her.

She glanced toward Julia, who visibly struggled with the pain paralyzing her. Her eyes were locked on the viewer hovering over Fassbinder's lower left arm, the viewer showing her ship struggling to survive, turning and twisting and taking fire and returning it. Julia's head twisted to face hers, and while there was pain in her green eyes, Miko saw the same determination she'd noticed before.

They'd come so far, despite everything.

And, Miko decided, they would go further still.

With a roar of pain and defiance forming in her throat, MIko gathered her energy and swung her right fist forward. Flame erupted from the air in front of her fist, forming a vast crimson tongue that enveloped Fassbinder's left arm. He let out a surprised, agonized shriek and stumbled backward, the lightning he was channeling into her ceasing. Freed from it Miko rose to her feet and channeled a gust of wind that slammed Fassbinder against the far wall. It didn't knock him out, but it bought her another few seconds.

Her… and Julia.

The flame hadn't merely harmed Fassbinder. Miko's power made it hot enough to melt the circuitry of the composite materials inside his gauntlet. The loss of signal disengaged the nanobots that were tormenting her. The pain filling her body ceased. She remained on the floor for a moment, gasping for air.

Her eyes remained fixed on the screen still beside Fassbinder's forearm, the holo-viewer displaying the ongoing fight in orbit, and her ship, her friends, continuing a desperate struggle to survive… a struggle to save her.

Why isn't the rest of the fleet here? she wondered. Why haven't they called in help? The comm systems or jump anchor couldn't have been taken out that quickly…

Fassbinder got back to his feet and channeled his lightning again. Miko dodged to the side and threw another bolt of flame at him, one he dodged as well with speed beyond normal human levels. Undaunted Miko nearly caught him with a wide-arcing wind gust generated by a roundhouse kicking motion, causing him to fall back into the wall, but not knocking him down.

Julia forced herself to think. They can't call for help… that's it. That's the jammer mentioned before. She wasn't sure how, but something about this city - a city that was clearly made by another species, not the Darglan - something in this city allowed the SS to jam interuniversal technology.

How much power would that require? She wasn't sure, but she suspected it might be a lot. And that meant her instincts had been right. They had to disable the power systems.

Her muscles protested Julia's commands to move. She ignored the resulting pain, the ache, demanding her legs and arms to shift. To get her back on her feet. The effort was taking everything she had left, with the combat drugs now nearly depleted, but she had to move. Her ship, her friends, her comrades, her crew, they all needed her to move.

She got back to her knees while, nearby, Fassbinder caught Miko with a blast of lightning even as she nailed him with another fire blast. Both faltered, which let Miko avoid the follow-up attack. Julia reached up and used the nearby station to pull herself up. She didn't know if she could stand, but at least she could reach the controls. She read over the German language on the display and, by more intuition than knowledge, hit one of the keys.

The three circles on the triangular platform rose. Underneath the flat top of each circle, the rest looked almost like a crystal, still glowing that same yellow color. Black lines ran over the objects. Whatever they were, she wasn't sure, but it was clear they were part of the power system.

Behind her now, Miko somersaulted over another burst of lightning from Fassbinder. Julia overheard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating, and the fast buzz of it scything through the air. Fassbinder grunted a moment later, having presumably missed his attack on Miko.

Julia gripped the station and pulled herself up. Her arms threatened to quit. Her legs didn't want to take her weight. She made them. She forced them. This got her high enough to lean over the platform and start removing the crystalline objects. The light within each died as she pulled them out, one after the other.

When the last one came out, the room's lights temporarily died before flashing back on.

Julia had only seconds to feel victorious before Miko slammed into her, sending both to the ground. Before she could even begin to think of moving, Fassbinder's deadly lightning played over her and over Miko, drawing cries from both.

"Enough games," he roared, his voice full of impatience. "Die!"

The Aurora bridge shook once more under the command crew, straining them against their harnesses. "Shields down to nine percent, cohesion loss is escalating," Tra'dur reported from Ops.

Meridina didn't react. There was no point. The Aurora, while fighting back, was under as much fierce fire as the other ships. The General Iroh was nearly crippled at this point, the Koenig was suffering major damage, and multiple flames and hull breaches were visible on the Avatar Kiyoshi. By all appearances, the battle was lost.

And yet, Meridina did not feel like they were lost.

"Maintain fire," she ordered.

On her board Tra'dur noted the damage increasing to the ship's hull. Ensign Mallory, at Engineering, reported the loss of ten percent effectiveness in the armor self-repair systems, while she noted the system damage from the incoming fire no longer being stopped by the failing deflectors.

For the hundredth time since the battle began, Tra'dur checked the IU comm system.

Even as she did, Cat cried out, "Captain, the interference pattern from the planet, it's dissipating!"

Meridina felt the hope fill the others. Tra'dur breathed a silent prayer of thanks to her own gods and preempted Meridina's command of "Contact Defense Command with our situation". She sent the signal out into the network, including a data packet on everything happening, including the enemy concentration.

The ship shook again. One of the remaining Republic ships came apart from an SS-fired missile, leaving only half a dozen of them, most nearly crippled. A disruptor beam created a plasma leak in the lower starboard nacelle.

Did they receive us? Tra'dur wondered. They should have received us, they're not going to just…

Her board blinked. "Multiple signatures are locking onto our jump drive!" she called out.

Moments later, the natural result came. "Interuniversal jump points forming!" Caterina cried.

Given the events of the past week, this no longer carried the immediate and instinctive relief it used to, even given Tra'dur's report. Not until Cat added, "They're ours!"

Even as a multitude of Alliance starships appeared, more jump points formed. Cat tried to identify individual ships, but she gave up when their number hit thirty. Her screens showed a varied number of vessels. Earth Confederacy ships, Sol Republic, Colonial Confederation, a number of the Alliance dedicated designs…

...and Gersallians. Lots of Gersallians.

The arriving Alliance fleet engaged with a gleeful vigor. Weapons fire of all types descended upon the SS flotilla. An SS cruiser trying to finish off the General Iroh found itself assailed by an Alakin warbird, two Dorei starbirds, and a Sol Republic cruiser. Gersallian destroyers launched a barrage of torpedoes that blasted away the shields of another SS cruiser, allowing one of the arriving Excalibur-class battlecruisers, the Zulfiqar, to devastate the cruiser with its powerful pulse plasma cannon armament. Another of the same, the Kusanagi, blew apart an Innsbruck with her starboard weapons even as her bow armament wrecked a Sedan-class ship. SS destroyers attempting a torpedo run on the Avatar Kiyoshi found themselves under the gun from multiple Trigger-class attack ships, cousins of the Koenig, and a light Dorei starbird.

The command officers on the Avatar Kiyoshi were more than grateful from the sight, and also quite astonished. The variety of the incoming ships was like nothing they'd imagined.

"We're picking up a signal from one of the incoming vessels," Tra'dur noted. "It's the Kentan."

"This is Admiral Maran of the Allied Systems to friendly vessels," stated the esteemed Gersallian admiral. "Do what you must to protect yourselves. We will assume your burden."

Even as he spoke, Meridina and Hanraq and Saizen and Zack all noted the Kentan joining the fray, turning her guns on the SS battlecruiser trying to kill the Aurora and Avatar Kiyoshi. Powerful beams started eviscerating the damaged battlecruiser, which lacked the shield strength to resist the Kentan's batteries. The tactical officers on the Gersallian flagship proved efficient in their carving up of the SS vessel.

The SS ships responded gradually, without cohesion, with one clear goal: escape. And with that came an end to the threat against the Aurora and the other vessels that had fought so hard at their side.

Fassbinder's rage, his hate, poured through his being and into the lightning assailing Julia and Miko. They struggled, they cried out, but nothing could free them from the grip of the lightning.

Fassbinder was so focused on them that he failed to notice the arrival of Robert and Ursa. They stormed through the door to find the sight of their loved ones under his assault. Ursa rushed forward, driven by maternal fury, and thrust both palms forward, screaming, "Leave my daughter alone!"

As she did, Robert took in Miko's features. Recognition shot through his mind. He'd seen her before, in his dreams, in the visions the Flow of Life had often given him. The same red and gold outfit, tattered, the same face and amber-colored eyes.

And beneath and beside her, Julia was laid out, spent utterly. Just seeing her brought a surge of emotions through him. Worry for her condition, relief that she was alive, happiness that he'd found her, he wasn't going to lose her...

He was so intent on that that he didn't sense the danger until it was too late.

The blue flame that came from Ursa's palms was so tight as to almost be a beam. Fassbinder reacted almost immediately, moving just enough to avoid the flame. He turned to face his new foe and the lightning from his hand followed, enveloping Ursa. She stopped in place, seized by it, and struggled to move forward.

Fassbinder didn't give her the chance. He shot forward and plunged his lightsaber into her chest.

Robert was already in the middle of reacting as the crimson energy blade came out through Ursa's back. She let out a surprised, pained choke as his hands came up. Raw power rushed from his being and struck Fassbinder, or rather his gathering defenses. Fassbinder turned his lightning on Robert, who intercepted it with his lightsaber.

Whatever battle they might have had was terminated with a loud, terrible wail. "Mother!" screamed Miko. Grief and horror filled the young woman at the sight of her fallen parent. "MOTHER! NO!" Both combatants felt the power shift in the room, a sudden and terrifying thing.

Again Miko cried out, "NOOOO!", and with that cry power, pure energy, surged and exploded from around her. Her eyes flashed to pure white and the air beneath her wrapped around until it literally picked her up from the ground. She looked to Fassbinder with pain and rage written on her face, while the SS officer was utterly transfixed by the raw power he felt inside of Miko. So transfixed, in fact, that he did nothing to stop the flame that erupted from her outstretched hand. It enveloped the right side of his body, drawing from Fassbinder an agonized and terrified scream. A wind gust exploded from Miko, throwing both Robert and Fassbinder back into the chamber wall, even pushing Julia's prone form at least one meter away from Miko. The wind and the impact put out most of the flames afflicting Fassbinder.

Robert managed to absorb the impact partially with his own power, keeping it from causing injury. He stared at the sight of Miko, her eyes glowing with solid white light, sheer power circulating around her. The Flow of Life itself seemed to burn with the intensity of the energies. Indeed, there seemed to be an entirely new presence within Miko, as if a second being was manifesting within and through her, fueling this display of raw energy.

With the right side of his face a massive burn, Fassbinder reached his left hand out. One of the crystalline power core pieces flew through the air and into his palm. A finger on the right hand, burnt as well, struck at the omnitool interface over his left forearm. He bellowed "Transport me now!" in German and vanished in a column of bright light.

Miko screamed in frustration. Not just at Fassbinder's escape, as Robert could feel her terror at the realization that she couldn't control this power raging inside and around her. The winds still whipped around her, turning Miko into the center of a tornado. Robert took a step forward and felt like the wind might throw him off his feet.

Nearby Julia's head rose. Her eyes widened at the sight of Miko.

"Julia! Julia, help me!" Miko cried. "I… I can't control it!"

The sudden feeling of a surge of power interrupted the ongoing duel that had now made its way to the outside of the city. Lucy parried a blow from her clone while Gina, behind her, had an offensive strike parried in turn. These were the last strikes made as all four felt the energy whipping up within the city's heart. "My God, what is that?" Lucy gasped.

Their counterparts briefly seemed ready to keep fighting, but their aggressive intent suddenly vanished. Frowns came to them. "We will end this another time," Lucy's clone informed her, her hand going to her belt. Gina's copy did the same, and both were claimed by the buzzing white light of transporters.

Lucy lowered her weapon. "Damn," she muttered at the escape of their foes.

The Six and the Twelve materialized inside one of their heavy raiders, already launching from the tower. They found Fassbinder at the controls with one of the alien power generators beside his foot. The right side of his head was a burnt ruin, as was his right hand, and his uniform was still smoldering. He looked to them with savage fury in his intact left eye and they opted not to inquire. Behind them, more of his personnel were transporting aboard.

The Six sat down beside him at the controls. "Alliance fighters are inbound," she noted. "We must flee."

"The fold drive is already spooled," Fassbinder said. "Get us out of here."

The Six nodded, her disheveled blond locks shifting position on her head as they did. She reached for the controls and tapped several keys. "Rendezvous point coordinates loaded. Jumping."

The Cylon vessel jumped away in a flash of white light.

"I can't control it!" Miko wailed. And she couldn't. She knew what this was, of course; the Avatar State, which she'd never experienced before. She never imagined it had so much power, and that power was now wrapped up with her fury, her horror, while before her Ursa was laying on the ground, wounded badly. Mortally, she feared.

Robert watched her with fascination and worry. He'd seen this before. Another of the dreams, the visions from his life force, was now coming to fruition. But he didn't know how this would end.

Hearing Miko's words, Julia tried to rise. It was a struggle to do so, not just from the winds, but from a sheer lack of energy inside of her for such movement. With a cry of effort she managed to get herself up to all fours. Her limbs threatened to quit on her.

They never got the chance. The winds grabbed her first. She felt like she'd been sucked into a tornado and could do nothing as she was pulled into the air.

Robert, panicked by the prospect of Julia being smashed against a wall head-first, reached out with his own power and plucked her from the air. She shot through the winds to his side, and he held tightly to her, spreading his power to protect her from the winds. "We have to get to Miko!" she called out to him.

"Hold on!" With his right arm holding Julia around the waist as tightly as he could and his left stretched before him, Robert forced himself forward one step at a time. The winds threatened to tear Julia from him, or to draw them both off their feet, forcing Robert to focus the power in his own being to absorb the wind. It sloughed around him gradually, allowing him to make the forward movement.

When they were within arm's length of Miko Julia mustered every erg of energy she could to reach up and take Miko's ankle. Robert took it as well. They couldn't pull her down, but the contact helped as Robert projected himself into both. He became the bridge, allowing Julia to reach for the anguished turmoil and fear inside of Miko. Robert reached into the Flow of Life and its warmth, projecting it into Miko, while Julia's voice filled the room. "Miko, it's okay! You're safe. He's gone. We can still help your mother! Please, Miko, you can control this!"

"I… I can't," she protested. "I'm… I'm not strong enough!"

"Yes you are!" Julia insisted. "I know you are! I've seen you! You can do this, Miko! Trust me!"

As she spoke Robert continued to fill Miko's being with the power of the Flow of Life. He felt it resonate within Miko, and through that he felt her own connection to it, through it. He sensed now the presence within her, a great and powerful force. A gentle blue and white light suffused her being in his senses, and a formless being around Miko took on a translucent appearance as if an aura.

"Mother." Tears flowed down Miko's face. "My mother!"

Robert felt for Ursa. She was hurt. Badly. But her life was there, and he connected Miko to it. Your mother is alive, Miko. She's still with us.

I don't want to lose her!

I know.

We both do, Julia added.

Together, they shared their pain with her. Their mothers, their fathers, were gone. They knew the pain she feared, and they would not see her suffer it. Not here, not in this way.

The power is within you, Miko, Robert projected into her. You can control this. Just as I had to! He shared with her his fears about his own powers once they expanded. His fears. His need to accept the power, to focus on it and control his use of it.

"You're strong enough," Julia added, speaking aloud. "Take control. You can do it."

Their thoughts, Robert's power, Julia's words, they got through to Miko. She closed her eyes and focused on the power. She felt within. I am the Avatar. I control this, it does not control me. With that thought echoing in her head, in her heart and very being, Miko's will focused on the power and directed it. She bid the winds to die down, and so they did. She ordered calm within, and the calm came, grudgingly, but it did so.

Miko dropped to the ground and then down to her knees. Immediately she crawled over to her fallen mother and pulled her up to embrace her. She wept. "Mother, hold on."

Robert turned toward the door in time to see Komin, Talara, and Yeshe enter. They all showed signs of having been in a vicious fight, but none looked deeply harmed by it. Instead their concern immediately went for Miko and Ursa. "Spirits, what happened here?" Yeshe asked.

"She needs medical attention," Robert said. "We…"

Julia reached for his face. "Robert, help me. I know where to take her!"

Despite the hoarseness of Julia's strained voice, Robert understood completely. He picked her up, lifting her feet from the ground in what was effectively a bridal carry. "Get Ursa!" he called to the others.

The Beifong cousins did so, and Komin took the burden of carrying her while Talara tried to focus her power on Ursa's lightsaber wound.

Julia didn't speak, and didn't need to. Robert sensed what she was thinking and where she thought they needed to go, and he led the others out of the power chamber. Their destination was in the tower, indeed on this floor, and while Julia wasn't completely sure of the direction, Robert felt the Flow of Life direct him toward it. He sensed her recognition of the halls, the rooms around them, the stairs they went past.

They entered a room dominated by a tank full of green fluid, attached to a wider series of fluid tanks. "Put her in! Quickly!" Julia urged.

Komin carried Ursa up the metal steps beside the tank, eventually bringing him high enough to set Ursa into it. Talara used her powers to levitate the breather mask onto Ursa's face in the second before they dropped her in with a splash of the green fluid. Robert couldn't help but notice the restraint frame built into the tank, and he wasn't surprised when the controls Julia directed him toward included a dial marked for voltage. Yeshe stepped up beside him and set her hands on it. "I do not understand this," she admitted.

"Raise the circulation," Julia instructed. "That's what I overheard them talking about."

Robert found the controls for such and shared them with Yeshe, who operated the console. Machinery began to thrum and vital signs flashed on a holo-screen. Ursa's body was in bad shape, Robert was sure, but the system seemed to consider her saveable.

Miko stepped up to the tank and looked into it. She set a hand on the tank while, within, Ursa's eyes opened slowly. "Mother," she said, setting her hand on the tank. Tears flowed freely down her eyes.

Within, Ursa slowly did the same.

Robert and Julia watched as he took a seat on the ground, his arms still holding Julia. He turned his eyes to hers at feeling her hand weakly touch his shaven chin. "You shaved? Finally?" she croaked.

"Yeah." Tears were welling into his eyes. "For you."

"For me." Tears formed in hers as well. She let out a small, low laugh. "And you cut your hair. You look… you look like you again." She giggled. "It took all of this to get you to do that!"

He laughed in response, fighting back a sniffle. "Yeah, I guess so."

For a moment they continued to chuckle and laugh, even as the tears flowed down their cheeks. Robert felt the lingering pain inside of her and tried to soothe it as best as he could, and Julia could feel him try. "You were trying to help me," Julia said in realization. "When I was in that chair…"

"I tried. Until I could get to you. Rescue you."

"Like you promised."

"Yeah. Like I promised."

Julia nodded. She still let out a few giggles, but gradually the giggling became sobbing. All of the pain, the fear that she would never get away from Fassbinder, the despair that she would never see Robert, her Robby, again, never see any of them again, it all just came flooding out of her in deep sobs.

Robert felt that. His own fears and despair that he'd lose Julia, his Julie, to the lingering and horrible death Fassbinder planned for her, and that he'd destroy who he was trying to save her, make himself unworthy of her, it flowed out too. His laughter became sobbing in turn, and he tightened the embrace, as if Julia might yet be yanked away, while he felt Julia embrace him with what little energy she had left.

Given the ordeal behind them, there could be no surprise they cried. But there was happiness in that crying.

After all, they were crying together.

Tag

Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 24 October 2643 AST. Captain Meridina reporting. Our rescue mission has been a complete success. Captain Andreys and Princess Miko have been recovered from SS captivity. The SS exiles' forces have been dealt a telling blow with our victory over their trap against us. The Alliance fleet is continuing to secure the system and perform search-and-rescue operations for those vessels crippled or destroyed in the battle, with the aid of another force of vessels from the United Republic and affiliated states. There is much we still have to learn about these Humans and their particular nature, but there is no doubting their courage and willingness to stand against the forces of darkness.

While this victory has not removed the threat we now face, I believe it has aided with the morale of not only our crew, but the entire Alliance. I have found my own spirit recovering from the shock of what happened to Gersal and New Liberty.

When Jarod arrived in the ready office, Meridina was staring out the window at the sight of the ships around them. The battered Avatar Kiyoshi was now joined by a sister ship, the Avatar Aang, which looked pristine compared to the damage of the former. She turned from the sight to face Jarod. "What have you found?"

"Anders and his Marines came through for us," Jarod said. "They took the enemy command center before they could complete a memory wipe. We didn't get everything, but we've recovered quite a lot of information and intelligence."

"That is excellent news. Do we know more about their remaining facilities?"

"Some. There are four more SS bases we have coordinates for, and Maran's already sent parts of the fleet to deal with them." Jarod's expression showed his satisfaction at that. "A couple are in universes we haven't entered yet."

"Then we may yet find other allies like Princess Ursa and her world." Meridina returned to her seat. "I feel as if we have made a first contact that, on its own, would have been a momentous occasion."

"People who can literally influence elemental forces with their own will and bodies?" Jarod chuckled. "Oh yeah. I mean, biotics is one thing, there's a physical aspect to it. The same with psionics. But this is more like your abilities. It's all metaphysical. Leo's already confirmed there's nothing in their physiology that powers this."

"Indeed." Meridina gave Jarod an intent look. "And now, Commander Jarod, I would suggest you get some sleep. We all need the rest."

"So do you," Jarod pointed out. Meridina sensed his concern. "Julia… do you think she'll be okay?"

"She has suffered a terrible ordeal. It may be some time before we know for sure," Meridina said. "But I am confident she will persevere. And she will return to us, when she is ready."

"And when the service agrees to it. I'm sure they'll require evaluations before letting her resume command. In the meantime…"

"In the meantime, we will do what we must, to ensure everything is here for her to return to."

"Right." Jarod let out a small sigh. "Well, I'd better get some rest. And so should you."

"As I said, I intend to," Meridina assured him. "And I will see you in the morning."

The door to the medbay OR slid open and Leo emerged, Doctors Opani and Hreept behind him. The latter two went to remove their surgical scrubs while Leo approached the waiting patients and visitors in the receiving area. Julia and Miko were in anti-grav chairs. Robert, Lucy, Gina, Talara, and the Beifong cousins were crowded around them. Miko especially showed deep apprehension when Leo stopped in front of them. "Your mother's going to be fine," he assured her. "She took some severe damage to vital organs and her spine, but whatever that healing fluid is down there, it stabilized her condition enough that we were able to repair the organs with replicated tissue. She's not a hundred percent yet, but I'm confident she's going to recover. Right now she needs to recover for a while before we can begin the spinal repair operation."

"Can I see her, Doctor?" Miko asked.

"When we've got her in the Critical Care Ward, yes. The nurses should have her transferred shortly." He turned his attention to Julia. A deep frown came to his face.

"I'll be okay, Leo," Julia said weakly.

"Right. Well, you're going to be here for a few days," he told her. "And no duty until evaluations clear you."

As he spoke, Robert felt Leo's quiet fury at what he'd found attached to Julia's body. The Eubian nanobots were nothing more than torture machines, and they'd left their mark on her nervous system.

"I figured," she said. "And I'll be a cooperative patient, don't worry. Right now I… I'm just glad to be home." Julia's voice cracked as she spoke.

Leo nodded. "I know. Let me go clean up and write my surgical report." He nodded to them and left.

Miko looked toward Robert and Julia. "Thank you," she said, for the hundredth time it seemed. "For saving my mother. I... the last time we talked we fought. We were each angry. I don't want that to be the final things we said to each other."

"I understand that, and no thanks are necessary," Robert assured her.

Miko gave him a small smile before turning to the Beifong cousins, who pushed her chair to take them to wait in Critical Care.

"Thanks for coming for me," Julia said to the others. "Thanks for everything."

"Just returning the favor," Lucy said softly. "You pulled me out of a torture chamber too, remember?".

"Duffy," Julia said simply.

"We should leave you two to talk," Lucy added, glancing to the others. She looked back to Robert and continued, "Although we should talk about Gina."

"I already processed the paperwork to add her to the team," he said.

"There's… another matter involved with that which we need to go into," Lucy said. "But it can wait." After sharing a look with the others, the three walked out.

Robert brought Julia back to the Standard Care Ward and helped her up onto her assigned bed. They were not alone here, as wounded from the battle filled nearly every bed. Julia laid down and closed her eyes for a moment. She savored the simple pleasure of a soft surface beneath her and a similarly-soft pillow under her head. With her eyes closed she didn't see Robert pull up a chair. But she did feel it when Robert took her right hand and held it within his. She opened her eyes and looked at him again. "You look better this way," she said.

"I suppose I let the long hair and the beard go on for too long," he admitted. "A goatee and a mustache, maybe?"

"I like you just the way you are," she replied. Julia felt her eyes droop close and let out a contented sigh. "I was afraid I'd never feel comfort again. Fassbinder was determined to let me have nothing."

"He's a sadistic bastard. He was even before he tapped his potential," Robert said, his voice heated. "And we let him get away again."

"We'll catch up to him eventually. And I can't imagine his bosses are going to be happy with him."

"I wouldn't think so." Robert looked at Julia's face and let out a ragged breath. His emotions welled up within him again, relief being the most powerful. "Julie, I… I'm so sorry this happened. Maybe if I'd come to you on New Liberty…"

"He would have murdered Beth," Julia said. "Just… be happy you got me back. Don't regret what happened, okay? We have enough regrets."

"Yeah." He sniffled. "I…" Robert blinked back the tears in his eyes. "Oh God, I almost lost myself," he admitted. "I was so angry with myself and with Fassbinder, with everything getting between us… I could've become something terrible. I… I just couldn't stand the thought of losing you."

"You didn't," she pointed out. "I was worried I'd never see you again. That you all died on the Colony. And that I was going to die there, alone, in pain. I was so scared that's how I was going to end. It didn't seem fair, not after everything we've done." She shook her head weakly. "I keep thinking back to all the times he was hurting me. How that might have been what the rest of my life was like."

"He'll never touch you again," Robert insisted. "I swear to it."

"Don't. You don't need to, and I don't want it," she said. "I just… right now, I want to stop that thinking. I want to forget it all happened. I just want to rest."

There was little Robert could say at that point. He simply nodded and remained quiet, even as he sensed Julia gently slide into much-needed sleep.

After leaving the medbay, Lucy and Gina left Talara to go rest and headed to Meridina's quarters. Meridina was in casual sleeping robes of cream white and blue, seated on her couch and reading a datapad when they entered. She looked up. "You fought a hard battle," she noted.

"Tell me about it. I'm getting tired of my clones trying to kill me," Lucy said. "Hell, I wonder why they cloned me in the first place."

"I am beginning to wonder if they knew, from the start, your potential for a connection to the Flow of Life," said Meridina.

"I don't know. Although I thought it wasn't just hereditary? What guarantee would they have that a clone of me could use it?"

"They might terminate any formed versions of you without the power," Gina said.

"Right. Well, we have other things to discuss."

"Indeed." Meridina set the pad down on her table. "Julia has been recovered. We have damaged the SS exiles. Certainly we have won a victory for the Light to offset what occurred. But so much remains unexplained."

"I've got one big question for you," said Lucy. "Who took Swenya's Blade, and why?"

"It wasn't the Inner Circle, that's clear," said Gina. "And the Order has found no evidence it was taken by one of our own during the attack."

"At least nobody who survived," Lucy said. "But we do have another suspect. That mysterious ship that helped us, the one that bought us time to evacuate people. Who were they and what were they doing there?"

"Who would steal the blade and turn around and help us?" Gina asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"There is something about this we still do not know," Meridina remarked. "This calls for meditation."

"And work," said Gina. "Ledosh gave his life to ensure we got the Life of Reshan, not the Brotherhood. We need to figure out the secret he thought he'd found."

"Well, we'll help in anyway we can," Lucy promised. "You've got the books in your room, right? Maybe I can get Jarod to help out too? He finished learning Gersallian, and he's always up for puzzles."

"An excellent idea."

"I'll take it up with him tomorrow, then," Lucy promised. She let out a tired breath. "I think we should get some rest too. It's been a tough week, and I have a feeling things are only going to get worse."

"Indeed they will," noted Meridina. "The forces of darkness have revealed themselves to us, and their strength is greater than we imagined. We must be ready for their next move."

Lucy and Gina nodded, and left to take up their own rest. Meridina, for her part, returned to her bedroom and laid down in her bed. She would get what rest she could, knowing that it would likely not last long for the Alliance, not with their enemies working together.

But whatever came, Meridina had faith they would prevail in the end.