The Domaran Cluster remained the focal point of Cat's scans while the Aurora continued its holding pattern near Domaran H. The stars here behaved much the same as they did in other universes. This included the disruptive influence of Domaran D, this universe's version off E5B1's Delta Serpentis.

Even with her scans for personal, scientific reasons, Cat was focused on the bandwidths for subspace that responded to Cylon jump drives. They had to know the moment hostile ships arrived, for the good of the team on the planet.

Such signatures appeared without warning. "Captain, we have ships jumping into Domaran H." Cat's fingers ran over her controls, pinpointing the readings. "Looks like they've jumped into the atmosphere and orbit."

"Thank you, Commander Delgado. Lieutenant Tra'dur, notify Defense Command."

"Ensign Rawlins, take us in," Locarno added.

The two officers responded with "Aye"s and enacted their orders. The Aurora changed her heading and her warp drives thrummed to full, bringing her ever closer to the fray.

They were out of time.

Lucy and Megaera wound up in front during the charge up the path. It flattened ahead, winding through a forested plateau upon the mountains.

Overheard two raiders were heading toward the mountain. One clearly peeled off toward them, the other for the mountain itself. "How do they see us through the dampening field?" Liara asked.

"Because they can sense us," Robert said. "And we can sense them." As he spoke those words he frowned. The raiders all had gifted Cylons aboard, beacons of hate and darkness cooling the Flow of Life with their very presence.

"Do they have some means to counter the dampening field?" Julia asked. Her eyes were on the raider moving to a point further up. "Because they're going straight into it."

The answer was provided when the second raider's engines went out in a blink. Without its engines to keep it aloft the craft lacked any kind of aerodynamic shape to level its unpowered descent. It dropped swiftly and broke apart against the mountainside.

The same happened to the raider coming overhead. With its engines dead it began a fatal descent. But as it passed over head the raider's rear door opened and a number of figures jumped out. They landed around the group, softening their landings with their powers. Many were identifiable Cylon models, but some were wearing different garb and carried themselves differently, their armor and robes marked with the segmented hexagon of the Brotherhood of Kohbal.

With a chorus of electronic snaps and lingering hisses, a multitude of red energy blades snapped into existence. One of the Cylons, a "Leoben" model, raised a hand, his eyes yellow from the corruption within him. "The secrets of Reshan shall finally be ours! The Circle will be broken!"

Megaera's lightsaber flashed to life along with Lucy's, and everyone else with the weapons did the same in the following two moments. They were ready when the enemy charged for them.

Another raider banked toward the mountain, heading for the fight below, ready to be sacrificed to get more Cylons and Brotherhood into the fight.

It didn't get the chance.

Repeated pulses of sapphire energy slammed into the raider, bashing down its deflector shields and blasting the ship to pieces. The other raiders that jumped in turned to engage the Jayhawk, newly de-cloaked, as it banked to avoid the dampening field and find a new target.

In the cockpit Jarod's hands flew from control to control. The weapon systems were set to automated engagement, leaving him to focus on piloting the special operations vessel.

A glance at the sensors told him another raider was breaking for the mountain. Two of the remaining ones were behind it to provide protection. Their angles would mean exposing him to fire or forcing him to go through the dampening field.

At least, they would under normal circumstances.

Jarod twisted the Jayhawk into a maneuver to gain altitude, drawing with him other heavy raiders trying to engage. The engines on the craft gave him the maneuverability to avoid their fire as the ship headed past the clouds, the pursuing craft following doggedly. He judged the angles carefully and precisely.

He spun the ship around and drove it toward the ground. On the way back down the pulse turrets targeted and managed several hits on one of the pursuing raiders, blowing out its engines and leaving it to a more fatal descent.

The seconds were key. If he pulled up too quickly, he'd be in the sights of a heavy raider's weapons. Too late, he'd likely plow the ship into the ground. His mind raced, calculating all of the variables with the aid of his immense intelligence. He felt the sweat on his brow and his hands as the ground loomed through the cockpit.

The tactical systems acquired a lock and fired the main cannons and the turreted guns, all aimed toward the Raider heading for the mountains. The full fury of the Jayhawk ripped into the vessel. Its deflectors were quickly overwhelmed and the ship was torn apart.

Jarod carefully waited before twisting from his downward course, pulling the Jayhawk back to a level course on an angle carrying her away from the heavy raiders that were escorting his target in. He sighed in relief.

The warning light barely gave him time to react. He banked the ship hard. A pulse of disruptor energy zipped through the space the Jayhawk was just occupying. He checked sensors and noted that two Cylon Basestars were now hovering overhead in orbit. More raiders, both normal ones and heavy raiders, were appearing as blips on the sensor returns.

Another shot came he had to evade, and another. Jarod found himself pulling the Jayhawk away from the mountains just to keep the ship intact. The Cylon orbital fire wouldn't let him through. I hope the Aurora's almost here, he thought. At this rate I'll have to cloak and slip away.

He was quite happy to see the new contact on his sensors when it appeared.

The Cylon ships in orbit numbered two, but above them were four more, and all six were fully upgraded models with the best Multiversal technology that the Cylons could acquire. Together they were more than a match for an Alliance star cruiser, even one with its own fighters and attack ship in support.

There was barely a minute left before they were due to engage. Kaveri considered the tactical plot carefully and weighed her engagement options.

Locarno spoke up. "I'd say we could make hit and run attacks, but they might just decide to level the entire site."

"Agreed. We must present a significant danger to keep their attention." Seconds passed. Kaveri made up her mind. "Helm, tactical, Attack Plan Whiskey Sierra."

She was answered with a pair of "Aye"s. The other officers on the bridge focused on their instruments.

The Cylon ships saw the Aurora coming. Their weapon systems targeted toward her, ready for her to drop from warp and present a target.

That was their mistake.

The Aurora zipped past them in less than a blink of an eye, her warp drives never disengaging as she went by. Her weapon systems lashed out, sending torpedo barrages into half of the Cylon force. The deflectors on all three ships held, but required effort to do so.

Return fire was offered, but it was wasted. The Aurora was already turning in the outer system, still under warp power.

The Koenig zipped in from high warp. She stopped only long enough to thoroughly strafe the nearest Basestar with pulse phaser cannon fire before jumping back to warp and cloaking.

A moment later the Aurora came by once more. Their target was the ship the Koenig strafed. Again the shields of the ship held as plasma beams lashed out at it, but they were too weak to withstand the torpedoes. Half of the spread hit home, blasting off two of the arms and hulling part of the ship's central core.

As the Aurora pulled away again, Kaveri watched the Cylon response on the tactical holotank. The ships in orbit pulled away, gathering together in a tighter formation. "It looks like we got them out of orbit," Locarno said. He glanced toward Kaveri. "What next?"

"Now, we keep their attention. This is what I have in mind…"

The mountain path echoed with the buzz of lightsabers slicing through the air, each strike parried by another until inevitably a blow landed.

The Cylons and Brotherhood had numbers and the easy power of darkness at their side, but against those numbers they contested with the skill of the fighters. Robert swung his blade defensively with one hand while using the other as a focus, pulling rocks and fallen tree limbs from his surroundings to slam into his opponents. When one came to his weak side his hand came up and force struck out. His attacker, a Cylon D'anna model, tried to absorb the strike with her own energy, but the sheer power Robert put into it overwhelmed her and sent her flying off the path and into a tree.

Gina's opponents were both the same model as her. But the similarity ended there: they had more passion than skill. Their hate for her, a "traitor", empowered them, but Gina's training with Mastrash Ledosh was its own empowerment. Her lightsaber was in constant motion from an offensive form that kept them from concentrating in the attack.

Meridina's foes, both Gersallians, were pressing her to push her away from the group, using vigorous strikes to try and corrall her. She stood her ground with quiet resolution, meeting those attacks rapidly and relying on her own skill with the blade to re-direct and stymie their efforts.

Lucy made sure of it, staying near Meridina and ready to aid her if she were to be driven from the others. She deftly handled her opponents, Gersallians as well, keeping her lightsaber moving in short, swift arcs to repel or re-direct their blows. Occasionally the weapon would bite back at them, burning robes and armor, even flesh at a couple points. Pain and rage gave short boosts to her enemies at the cost of the debilitation the pain provoked.

Talara was having the roughest time. She had some natural skill with her weapon, but while her lavender blade met the crimson of her enemies with success, their darkness was painful to her. She could feel, keenly, their cold rage and hate, and it put her off-balance.

One of the lightsabers descended on her head, a fatal blow, but it didn't land. A powerful gust of wind threw the attacker off-balance, buying Talara time to avoid the strike. Miko brought her other fist up and projected a tongue of flame that licked at the Brotherhood member. The hissing Gersallian woman brought her arms up and projected force that acted as a deflector field, causing the flames to miss.

Miko wasn't acting alone, however, as a bolt of dark matter flew past her and over her foe before exploding into a singularity. The Gersallian shrieked in surprise as she was pulled off her feet and into the twirling mass, its very nature ripping at her body. Liara let out a cry of effort in generating a second bolt, even larger, that struck the singularity. The resulting blast of dark matter energy threw the Gersallian over the ledge.

Talara concentrated on her remaining foe. Remembering Yellow's critical words she forced the feelings away and concentrated on her enemy. She let her connection to the Flow of Life guide her arms and her blade met every blow aimed at her. Her opponent's frustration reached new heights at being denied over and over. Ignore the feelings, ignore the darkness. Focus on the present. On yourself. She waited for her opening until, in frustration, the Cylon man opened himself up on the side. Her blade struck home with a fatal blow. She let out a harsh breath at feeling the life drain from the body. As dark as the Cylon had been, he was still a living being, and she'd ended his life.

With her enemies defeated Talara turned to help the others, but there was little need. Miko and Liara were already aiding Meridina in finishing off her foes. Lucy struck down her last opponent with a slice across the neck, her expression neutral and her spirit quiet. A moment's consideration told her that Gina was the model still standing, given the lack of darkness in her being.

Robert had two foes left. He got a solid blow on one, a slice across an arm that removed it and the lightsaber in the lost hand. The other Cylon was so focused on him that he didn't see Julia coming in until it was too late. She smashed the butt of her pulse pistol on the Cylon's head, knocking him down, and used a follow up kick to his belly and punch across the face to render him unconscious. When Robert leveled a bemused glance at her, she huffed, "What? The dampening field makes my pistol useless. And I saw what happened when Angel tried to fist-fight Goras."

He chuckled in reply. "Let's help Megaera…" he began, letting his words trail off as he turned toward the last member of the group.

One who needed no help.

Four dark-robed bodies were already strewn around the path and surrounding trees. Three fighters, a Cylon "Simon" model and two Gersallians, were still standing, and through their rage he and all the other could sense their fear as they fought desperately against the unstoppable force that was Megaera.

Every move of her lightsaber was deliberate. Every move of her enemies was not just seen, but foreseen, despite the covering of her eyes. The pale but dusky woman was a force of nature, much like her fellow Fury Tisiphone. A certain bemused satisfaction filled her as her blade hit home. Megaera seemed to find a lot of death and destruction funny, as she thrust the tip of the lightsabre up through the ribcage of her opponent and removed it; the cauterized wound had destroyed the heart, and the Simon model Cylon was dead before hitting the ground.

Worse, she had methodically integrated her telepathic abilities with her lightsabre fighting. She took over the minds of her attackers and froze them in place for killing blows or directed them back on themselves, forcing them to use every bit of their force talent to defend their minds. When they did that, she took advantage of the distraction as they fought, and with subtle slips and thrusts of the blade, killed them as they attacked her. Moving only very slightly, she killed on the defensive, and turned her telepathic powers on anyone who tried to flee from fighting her. They would die facing her or running from her, but death was assured.

"Mmmn. Is that all you have for me?" She shook her head, and then counter-thrust her blade into the arms of one of the Gersallians as they tried to strike her from behind. Her sidestep to clear the thrust of the other attacker was preternaturally fast, and then she froze him in place with her telepathy finally overwhelming his defences, and spun to face him.

As she did, she whipped one of her pistols out with her left hand, and pointed roughly behind her, toggled the trigger. A violet beam swept out of the emitter and tracked across the battlefield, neatly sectioning the Gersallian, already badly, wounded in two. Megaera now advanced on her final opponent and with a single stroke of her lightsabre split her torso from hips to neck, releasing the telepathic control a moment before: Unlike many other telepaths, she seemed inured to the Door.

There was no further time to enjoy their victory. With the exception of Liara and Julia, all sensed the enemies further down the path, racing toward them. "We'd better get going," Robert said. "This way!" He moved ahead of them, Megaera and Lucy behind him.

Lucy, grinning with amusement, whistled a familiar adventure theme tune as they went along.

Missiles rippled from the Cylon ships, filling the space that the Aurora was heading into on another strafing run. Ensign Rawlins twisted the ship to evade and nearly succeeded at the effort. Only one missile made impact.

More missiles fired, but they were too late. The Aurora zipped past at warp, strafing away at the weakest of the Basestars. Multiple flames appeared from the wounds carved into the ship through its dying deflectors.

The Aurora broke away to line up for another run, leaving the ship for the Koenig to finish off. The ship rippled into view just inside the field of missiles and fired away at the Basestar. On the bridge Zack watched with quiet satisfaction as the Koenig's weapons fire blew massive chunks of material out of the wounded ship's guts.

"Firing torpedoes." At tactical Sherlily triggered the launchers. White-blue sparks of light, the drive fields for the torpedoes, erupted from the bow launchers. They struck the core of the faltering Basestar. "Direct hit." Even as she provided that report the Koenig's tactical officer poured more phaser fire into the wounded core, aided by Hajar's piloting at the helm to keep the cannon emitters on target.

By the time the Koenig was flying past its target, the core was collapsing. The Basestar collapsed into two pieces, utterly crippled.

"Target is down. I'm not seeing any power from the broken pieces," Magda said from Ops.

Zack nodded. A small, grim smile of satisfaction formed on his face. For all the harm they'd caused, the deaths and the grief that included his own, it was truly gratifying to strike back at them.

The ship shuddered from a pair of near-missile impacts, but Hajar prevented any significant hit that might harm the Koenig. The ship slipped free and executed a warp jump before cloaking, then came around to repeat the maneuver while the Aurora was already moving in on another strafing run.

The mountain still loomed over the group's head when they found the path reach its abrupt end. Ahead was only a ledge and a long drop toward a mountain stream nearly a kilometer below. They glanced around. "Why would the path end here?" Robert asked aloud. "What sense does that make?"

"Maybe there used to be a bridge?" suggested Liara.

"Well, it's long gone now," Lucy said, almost growling. She could feel the darkness looming behind them. More enemies were coming. Powerful ones. The sheer concentration of dark power chilled the Flow of Life with its very presence.

But there was something else. She could feel an energy here, a presence, quiet but strong. The others could to, and like her they were looking around, trying to find what they were missing.

A line of Brotherhood members, these mostly consisting of Cylons, became visible around the corner of the path. They ignited their lightsabers at the sight of the group.

"Liara, Miko, we need time," Robert called out.

"Right!" Liara took a step toward the Cylons and concentrated. Purple, dark blue energy coalesced around her as she tapped fully into her biotic gifts. A solid field of dark matter formed in the air ahead of her, creating a barrier across the path.

The enemy was not dissuaded. Several channeled their own talents, battering at the field with sheer force, while others went at it with their crimson lightsabers. One tried to grip Liara's throat and was stopped by Robert, who applied himself to protecting her.

"I'll help!" With that announcement Miko moved into a form and started generating gusts of air that she sent down the mountain path. The Brotherhoods' robes fluttered and they fought to keep their feet on the ground as Miko's summoned gusts increased in vigor.

This bought time, but Talara pointed out the obvious. "They have us trapped, we'll have to go through them to go back down!"

"The answer is around us," said Megaera. "It is your place to find it."

The others concentrated on the power they felt, the quiet presence and what it could mean. Where was it? What weren't they seeing?

Julia watched all of this with quiet, seething frustration. She had no powers. She had a gun that she could only use as a club and the silver weapons Megaera provided, weapons she suspected would only be useful if there were more of those Pretenders. She had nothing to offer but her wits.

She pivoted on her foot, turning her head from side to side to take in their surroundings. What were they missing? The path ended. Even the bridge idea didn't sound right, as across from them wasn't another ledge, just a solid mountain side. Maybe we're supposed to go down? Maybe it's in the stream? I can hear the stream from here.

Her brow furrowed. Her face twisted from confusion. Wait, how can I hear it? She looked over the edge at the stream below. It was running, true, but it didn't look like it was a swift current. It certainly wasn't strong enough to be heard this high up.

Liara groaned. Despite Miko's efforts to blow them down the path some of the Cylons were holding their ground, their weapons slashing against the biotic field. They wouldn't take long to break through.

Julia followed the sound of the water. It brought her to the group's right, and the mountain face there. It was a solid wall of rock. Nothing special about it stood out.

At least, not at first. Julia let her eyes rest on the wall. She unfocused them, as if trying to see a 3D painting. Instead of looking for something, she looked for nothing.

That was when she noticed the markings.

They were old. Very old. They were so worn and faded they were barely existent anymore. She followed the flowing shapes, an alternating series of differing ones. One set looked like an alphabet of some kind, with something like the number "7" at the start. She didn't recognize the characters.

But she did recognize the others.

Gersallian calligraphy… and Darglan lettering.

"It's here," she breathed to the others. Roaring flame sounded from nearby: Miko was forming roaring fires now, trying to set the Cylons alight. But their powers protected them, creating raw force to repel the flames.

Everyone else looked toward her as Julia stepped up to where the lettering was. As she drew closer, the sound of water grew in volume ever so slightly. Gentle air brushed against her face. Compared to some of the winds off the mountain it was barely a zephyr, but her attention was drawn to the fact it was coming from the rock wall before her.

Gingerly Julia pressed her hand against the rock. She expected cold stone, but instead… nothing. Her hand went straight through the wall like it wasn't there.

"It's an illusion," she gasped. "A hologram."

"Despite the dampening field?" Lucy stepped up beside her. She put a hand through the wall as well before grinning at Julia. "Well, so much for the Flow of Life connection stuff. The normie finds the secret."

Julia returned the grin. But it didn't stick. "How do we get through without them seeing?" She turned her eyes to Meridina. "Meridina, can you trick them? Telepathically, like you did those natives?"

Meridina nodded. "I can." She turned toward the attacking group. Her mind reached outwards, buoyed by her will, and tested the defenses of each. They had powerful mental shields to protect their minds from attack.

Liara dropped to a knee. "Any… time…?"

Meridina took in a breath and concentrated. A direct mental attack, no… but the enemy was more concerned with her seizing them physically. Their visual cortices were less protected. It took much of her telepathic strength, even augmented as it was by the Flow of Life, to bypass those protections, but she did. She slipped into their minds and took over their visual centers. She showed them their group, one by one, going down the side of the mountain. Break off your attack, Miko, she urged the young Avatar

Miko did so. Moments later the Brotherhood broke off their attack on Liara, rushing toward the side of the mountain instead. They started going over the side themselves, jumping down to cut off the enemies they perceived as rappelling down the side.

The group gathered around Julia. Robert clapped a hand to her shoulder. "Great job." He did the same with Liara, who looked ready to collapse. "Both of you."

"Thank you," Liara replied. "I just need a moment." She reached for one of the energy drinks in her provisions.

Julia smiled at him. "Let's see what's in here."

Together the group stepped through the wall, Julia in the lead this time. A stone-laid path, unlit, beckoned, while distant light provided the promise of something other than darkness. They traveled ahead, following the path until it became upward stairs. The air grew cooler and the sound of water louder. A sense of wonder and uncertainty filled them. They were going deep into the mountain, to the heart of the dampening field. What would they find within?

The top of the stairs came, with light glinting from beyond. They crested the stairs and emerged into a courtyard. Mountain water ran down falls from either side, creating the rushing water that guided them here.

Between the falls was a large stone structure. It had a certain stark appearance, built into the side of the mountain. A couple of the columns were carved in the form of alien beings, cone-headed with eyes to either side of the head. Their smiling mouths depicted sharp teeth.

"This isn't Gersallian," Gina said. "But something about those aliens looks familiar."

"I think I've seen them too, from Darglan records," Robert noted. "But I don't remember anything more."

They walked toward the structure. Two great doors were in the center of the building. No sign of a control panel or handles was visible. "Someone forgot a door handle," Miko mused.

"These doors were meant to be opened with the Force," Megaera said.

"The what?" asked Talara.

Megaera showed a half-smile toward the Falaen woman. "The Flow of Life," she corrected. "Swev'a, or swevyra as Swenya insisted on calling it."

They approached the doors. Robert, Lucy, and Meridina stood together and acted in concert. They felt for the doors and willed them to open. The grinding of stone filled the grotto courtyard as the doors slowly swung open.

They stopped when they sensed the growing presence behind them. The doors stopped moving, leaving them only partly open.

Everyone turned to see the assemblage of dark-robed figures approach. Robert and the others frowned at the visage of Goras in their number. His hair had grown back and, like the others with him, he had the bandanna with the segmented hexagon of the Brotherhood. Beside him, his former apprentice Intalarai grinned wickedly, malice in her unnatural yellow eyes. Around them were a mixed group of Gersallians and Cylons.

Or so it seemed. The darkness in the group pulsed strangely. Among the hooded figures were some sets of pale hands, unnaturally pale. One stepped up with Goras and Intalarai, a satisfied look on his face. Under the hood, his face rested in shadow, and only the faint trace of inhuman eyes were visible.

The others felt the tension from Megaera and her strict attention to this foe.

"At last, Reshan's secrets will be ours," Intalarai said. "And we will end Swenya's treachery once and for all!"