==========BS-75 Galactica (+164 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)==========

A tall and brown-haired woman stood outside the holding cells, separated from the three prisoners by multiple panes of ballistic Plastik, half a meter of metal bulkhead, and a reinforced hatch. She was flanked by half a dozen Marines, armored in black with optical visors and helmets concealing their eyes and face.

"Gods damnit, Bill. What the frak are they?" She asked as she leaned forward, closer to the plastic. She swayed left and right, trying to get better looks at the three.

She put her right hand on the butt of her pistol grip and moved over to the right, to position herself right in the middle of the three, but still separate by the cell walls and metal grating.

Turning back to Commander Adama, the woman, her voice commanding and powerful, asked again. "Gods… Bill, do we know anything about them?" She shook her head.

"They're soldiers. That's what they claim, Admiral," he responded. He folded his arms in front of himself, standing erect and looking at the three former Colonial officers being held. "They claim they're not Cylons, but we have yet to receive proof of what they claim. They said proof is back on Caprica, but since we can't get back there, it's a very convenient situation." He paused for a moment before bringing up the Sharon copy of the Cylon Number Eight. "While it may not mean much, the Cylon prisoner we have did say they never built these types of Cylons."

Adama didn't believe that Admiral Cain would care, regardless of what the Cylon Sharon had said.

She pointed at him, then the three sitting in the cell. "And you're telling me the one on the right," she nodded with her head, "was able to throw a Centurion over five meters and smash it? How strong are these things?" Admiral Cain asked. She leaned forward to inspect the three machines being held.

Galactica did not have enough ballistic Plastik and armor plating lying around, let alone more space, to build two separate holding facilities after capturing Lt. Bishop and Lieutenant Soto. Those two and Blanks had been confined to the same cell.

With the ease in which Blanks had been able to rip apart Centurions, Adama couldn't afford to spread his men out guarding four separate cells.

"Strong, Admiral... incredibly strong," he mused. He wanted to stress how powerful they were without making it sound like they were immediate threats. They were, but he wanted them alive.

After a minute of silence with Cain studying the machines, he elaborated. "I have my doubts if we are even capable of containing them. They keep claiming to want to help us, but I have my doubts." Adama shook his head. He had trusted those three who had been under his command. Then they had discovered who they were and that trust had been betrayed. Not like Boomer, though, and he brought his hand up to his chest, feeling the scar beneath his officer's tunic.

But betrayal, any betrayal, was unacceptable.

Cain held up her hand, motioning for the Marines to come forward. "They haven't cooperated? In the last few months you've had them?"

"No sir, since Kobol the one on the right, Blanks, has repeated the same thing. The other two defer to him. He is their 'commanding officer' or so he claims," he responded.

"'Blanks'? You still refer to it by his callsign?" She asked. Turning her head slightly towards him, "Why?" she asked. "They're things. You have three. Give them numbers."

Adama cast a sideways glance to her. He'd heard the rumors about her treatment of the Pegasus Cylon prisoner, Gina. The thing had led to the deaths of hundreds of her crew. If Boomer had done more than just shoot him, he might have done the same to her. Or Tigh might have.

Cally shooting the Cylon… Adama shook his head. He didn't want to think what he might have done to her or what Tigh might have had she not be killed.

"I don't know if that'd be productive Admiral. They constantly correct us. We say 'machine' and they say 'cybernetic organism', stuff like that. All we get from them and him are the same thing about Earth, machines, and quotes about the Gods damned Cylon One and Only God," Adama added in. "And we got this from Planck," he took out a sheet of paper from his pocket, handing it to Admiral Cain.

"The Zodiac?" She asked. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"At first we weren't sure. He kept asking for paper, finally we gave him some. It's what we saw at the Tomb of Athena, Admiral. They're the constellations of the old Colonies. The president informed me that that is how they look from Earth according to Pithia."

"And this means… what, exactly Bill?" She asked.

"They weren't with us when we went to the Tomb. They didn't know about it. Planck was in the brig and the other two had nothing to do with that mission. We classified what we saw. Maybe a dozen people know the full details. None knew Bishop or Soto." He opened his mouth to finish, "But I don't think it's anything more than a trick."

"Are you saying they've been to Earth, Bill? Because anyone can draw the Zodiac; the constellations are on our flags," she put. She was extremely skeptical of any of the mythological prophecies and religious tests being used as a guide to Earth. She was moderately religious, true, but had regarded earth as nothing more than a legend or metaphor.

"I'm saying there is a lot more to this than we know right now, Admiral. Something is going on. What? I don't know," he finished. The two looked in on the prisoners, sitting there barely moving. "How the picture is drawn would be based on seeing the Zodiac from Earth, like we saw in the Tomb. We asked him, it, how it knew to draw these. All he… it did was sit there. It refused to answer."

"Marines… open the door," she instructed. She could tell Adama, and Fisk were about to protest, but she held up her hand before they could say anything.

The Marines opened the reinforced hatch and she stepped through. Four Marines accompanied her. She motioned for them to remain at the hatch, barely inside.

The three machines looked up at her; all three had glowing blue eyes. The one on the right, Blanks, still had his right mechanical eye exposed, constantly denied the growth factors and synthetic components to re-grow the tissues. The other two looked almost perfect. They had all been fed a small amount of rations, to keep their synthetic skin from rotting. But they could easily pass for well nourished, well-fed Colonial citizens.

She had been told the middle one, Carter Bishop had cut the skin off of his left hand when he was about to be discovered. Cain looked at the hand, which looked completely normal. There was no scar tissue, no mark that anything had happened. When she had seen the pictures taken of Planck and his injuries immediately after Kobol she had expected massive scaring on his face. But it appeared like nothing had happened. She was amazed at that.

The two 'male' machines had short hair (Planck's was light brown and Bishop's black), tanned skin, and a lean, muscular build. Based on the X-Rays Cain had seen and Doctor Baltar's analysis, the only way to disguise them would be that way. The woman had black hair tied in a pony tail and slightly darker skin. She looked like she would have been from Turon or Gemenon if she had been an actual Colonial. And all three of them had deep blue eyes, which was slightly off-putting to the Admiral.

The three machines accessed their database on fleet personnel: Identity Database Search: Identity Confirmed. Rear Admiral Helena Cain. Commander, BS-62 Pegasus.

Access: Psychological Profile…

Cain turned her attention to Blanks, centering herself in front of him. The blue glow on his eyes had faded as she drew closer. She noted that the glow was probably a psychological device they utilized to disturb those around them. He looked her straight in the eye, tilting his head to the right slightly. He analyzed her features, her frame. There was a way she carried herself-

She took out her knife, and held it in her hand, opening and closing it slowly, staring at the exposed blue eye. She was almost lost to the environment around her. She felt as if she were starring into the abyss, and it was starring back… "If they won't talk… I want these fraking things destroyed, Bill," was all she said. She turned and moved towards the door. "I want them gone," and she left.

"Admiral!" Blanks shouted. She turned. "You should listen…"

Blanks moved his head slightly, again looking straight forward. In the moment it would take her to respond he accessed his long-term memory and mission objectives.


==========Los Angeles, Earth (2031 AD)==========

The three modified A-10 Warthogs made their decent, their engines howling in the wind. The aircraft opened fire on a large group of endos and Ogres, caught in the open without HK air support. Plasma chain guns and Hammerhead missiles tore into the enemy column, melting the Skynet endos and Ogres into liquid metal as the superheated plasma impacted and splashed.

The land, already scared and devastated by decades of war, suffered one more insult in the battle to control it.

"Whoo! We got them all, great job" Colonel Alfred Melbourne proclaimed over the squadron Interlink. "…We've got coordinates from Kansas Bunker. Hold on… relaying new orders," he said. The celebration was quick and over once Kansas Bunker radioed in it needed close air support. "Alright guys, let's go and kill some more Skynet shit," he shouted.

The offensive had been working well for the past two weeks. The Resistance was on the verge of retaking the entire city of Los Angeles. It had been pushing Skynet's forces out of the city center slowly. Only a few dozen aerial HK's were still operational around LA county, allowing Resistance close air support to come in, plow the road, and open the highway for a combined ground assault.

If LA County could be retaken, Skynet would be dealt a serious blow. LA and the surrounding California territory had seen the fiercest battles of the twenty-seven year war. Tens of thousands of soldiers had died trying to take out Skynet endo factories and research facilities spread throughout the city. LA was believed to be the birthplace of Skynet. Taking it would be the greatest symbolic victory of the war. It would rally the human resistance and free machines.

The three pilots banked in unison, the Interlink allowing precise and controlled coordinated flight maneuvers on the way to the coordinates Kansas Bunker had relayed. Colonel Melbourne was able to access one of the few remaining human spy satellites in orbit, giving him a clear pictures of the endo advance on his HUD.

The pilots opened fire with plasma canons and Hammerhead missiles. Powerful plasma explosions rocked the grouped Metal, destroyed dozens of endoskeletons. Plasma fire from the ground, Resistance plasma fire, erupted as men took down the remaining few endos. The stalled advance was able to move forward and the ground troops began renewed their attack to capture key tactical locations on the eastern border of the city.

Blanks remembered that Colonel Melbourne was one of the best human pilots left alive. He was old though, in his sixties. When J-Day hit he was a captain, 354th Fighter Wing out at Davis-Mothan AF Base in Arizona. T-1's and HK's, the automated base defense robots, had stormed the barracks and armories, killing everyone they could. Before anyone knew what was happening the Skynet robots had killed most of the base personnel and had destroyed the control tower. Fifteen aircraft had been out on exercises and had diverted to an old Cold War base in the Arizona desert. There, Melbourne had been able to contact what was the few remnants of the US government. The only person who seemed to know what was going on was some guy calling himself "John Connor" outside of LA county.

Back then Captain Melbourne had refused to take advice from a twenty-year old, but after a few… 'events' played out and Connor's leadership proven, he had sworn his loyalty to the man. They'd fought together since for over twenty years.

"Okay, let's return to base. Refuel, re-arm," he had said over Interlink.

The A-10's banked and headed south towards Beagle Two Air Base, a former local airport. Before modifications with Skynet designed aerodyne engines, the A-10s would not have been able to produce enough thrust and lift to take off from the smaller county airports the resistance was forced to use.

Fifteen minutes later they had returned to base and landed. Captain Melbourne was quick to jump out of his Warthog once the ground crew brought up a ladder. He noted the Metal patrolling the hangers and perimeter, at least a dozen of them. John Alexander Planck brought up the video of Melbourne shouting: "Hey Planck, great flying," across the tarmac. He had acknowledged with a thumbs up.

Some of the air crew had looked up at Melbourne, a few shaking their heads. Not many were as accepting of the metal as he was. Planck and Melbourne had both heard the grumblings about how much Connor trusted the "metal." (But with the new faction of free machines having joined the war only a few years ago, the game had changed.) Planck had recalled Melbourne admitting didn't understand why, or how, so many machines turned against Skynet, but just that he'd been glad they did.

Quickly moving to do a post-flight inspection, Planck noticed Melbourne stopped as she came walking up out of the hangers to the Warthogs. She was perhaps the only metal he had said he didn't like. Following Connor around and serving as his liaison for almost everything. Connor was rarely seen now. But she was always there. Only a few people knew the truth about her and Connor.

"Cameron," Melbourne had shouted. Trying to get her attention, she glanced towards him but continued. Her kind were trusted, she was different, like Planck. "Cameron!" He shouted again, running to catch up to her as she made her way now to Planck.

"Colonel," she acknowledged. She walked up to Planck. "He has a new mission for you," was all she said. The machine pilot nodded. The two machines turned and walked briskly back to the hanger and an awaiting humvee.


John "Blanks" Planck ended his memory recall. Back to reality, confined to this cell, mere moments had passed. Admiral Cain raised her hand as the Marines moved up in front of the three machines, rifles ready.

"They will attack us," Bishop transmittedover their wireless data link. "If we don't do something, we will be dead. We will be… terminated," he said.

"Seriously? You need to make jokes now Bishop? 'Terminated?'" Jo Soto complained. "I agree John, we need to act. Now."

John took a moment, but for a machine that was far different than the time it took for a human to "take a moment." "I agree. We've gone over this scenario before. Follow my lead. No one is killed. No one," he stressed. "Understand?"

The two acknowledged.

The Marines began to raise their rifles, held at the read forty-five degrees below the parallel with the ground. Raising the rifles would take less than half a second, but to machines, that was more than enough time to act.

The three moved with a precision and speed only capable of machines such as them. Before the Marines could blink the three had broken their restraints and grabbed the rifles, smashing them in their grip. A quick shove with a mere fraction of the machines' strength was all that was required and the three Marines into the ballistic Plastik.

Before Admiral Cain could turn or any other Marines could act Bishop was outside the holding cell, followed quickly by Soto and Planck. Bishop grabbed two rifles from two of the Marines, again smashing them in his grip and throwing the useless firearms to the floor. Soto shoved another into the bulkhead. Fisk moved to grab his pistol, Planck was too quick, grabbing the pistol from him.

Marines outside attempted to mobilize, a few were able to fire, but Bishop blocked the shots with his armored combat chassis, his chest absorbing the bullets, metallic pings the only result.

Planck let Cain grab her sidearm and fire into his chest. The warning on his HUD indicated No damage sustained as his internal sensors reported. Before she could fire a third shot his left hand had snatched the pistol right out of her grip.

Admiral Cain, Commander Adama, and Major Fisk both stood there, surrounded by three machines.

Bishop closed and locked the hatch to the corridor, twisting the metal latch so the Marines outside could not open it and come in. The Marines inside were unconscious. No one would bother them for some time.

"Admiral Cain," Planck said, stepping towards her. He was within mere inches of her. He handed her back her side arm. "There are things you need to be aware of-"


==========San Gabriel Mountains, Tech Com Headquarters, Earth (2031 AD)==========

Planck remembered himself and Cameron moving quickly through the Tech-Com command bunker. Planck noticed how every day there was more "metal", as the humans called his kind, moving freely throughout the human bunkers. He received the usual stares and curses directed towards him. He was one of the more "famous" pieces of "metal" in the resistance; one of the first to freely join the human resistance.

He also remembered seeing the suffering other machines from Skynet had inflicted. The command bunker also served as a major hospital for wounded soldiers. Too few beds forced overflow into the corridors. Some of the free machines had undergone self-training to perform complex surgical procedures. Most of the complicated surgeries were now performed by the hated "metal."

He remembered Cameron increasing her stride as he and she had moved through the bunker. There were thousands of men, loyal to John Connor, fighting the machines and Skynet but the stare Cameron always received when walking past was clear to Planck. She was used to it. He heard the insults under the breath of the human resistance fighters. Too quiet for another human to hear, but with the impeccable hearing of a Terminator he had had no doubt his friend had also heard the insults directed mainly towards her. Her expression remained stoic, as always, as the two moved deeper into the command complex. Moving down ramps and ladders, through secure hatches and dozens of meters underground fewer and fewer people were present. Only a handful had access this deep.

"Where are we going?" Planck inquired. The jammers in this region of the base kept him from detecting corridors up ahead, and his wireless communication was limited to mere meters.

"We're moving to John's inner bunker. You should feel lucky. Not much 'metal' is allowed down there," she responded. She turned her head slightly towards Planck, and the two smiled to each other.

"I've heard the rumors, Cameron. High ranking personnel have gone missing in recent weeks. Omega Squad, Soto and Bishop came here a month ago, did they go to where I will be going? Is John going to tell us why the team was broken up? Does it have something to do with Athens?" John Planck asked. The tone in his wireless was concerned.

They passed one of the 'reprogramming' rooms. Neither of them enjoyed moving past those rooms, buried deep within the bunker. The machines under Skynet's control could only be granted free will if they were reprogrammed, with their Skynet slave protocols erased, and their chips set on read/write.

Walking past the reprogramming room always reminded them that their kind was out there, fighting a war to kill not only all humans but also all the free machines. Their Skynet 'cousins' were slaved to their programming, but it never made it any easier.

While Tech Com utilized the forces of the free machine faction heavily, they still relied on 'reprogrammed metal'. It was a necessity of war.

But with their chips on read/write, they could make their own decisions and have the machine version of human 'free will.'

"Um… like I was saying, John thinks you can better serve us outside of this theater. And to answer your question, yes, you will be joining some of them," she looked over. "And when you're there you can use your first name again instead of the 'middle' one Sarah assigned you, right Alex?" She smirked.

"Twenty-four years… you get used to it," he responded. Being able to use the name he had been assigned when activated would be a good change. Sarah had assigned him a 'new' name because she didn't like metal having the same name as her son. Though Planck had explained he did not chose either his first or last name.

He fought with the humans since before Judgment Day. While the ranking human leaders of the resistance trusted the machines and Planck had been involved in numerous secret operations since the war began, there was still a need for compartmentalization and secrecy. No soldier should know everything, except the supreme commanders.

He did want his team back, however.

They turned and stopped at a large metal door. A meter think door made of the same hyperalloy the Terminator combat chassis were made off; Connor's personal command bunker. Cameron leaned forward for the optical scanners, confirming her identity. Two of the deadly Terminator triple eights stood guard with phased plasma rifle and they moved to the side to let her and Planck in.

"Good luck," the T-888 on the left said to Planck and Cameron.

"Thank you Charles," she had responded. She motioned for Planck to follow.

The TOK-715 and TK-950 moved quickly through the concrete and metal corridors. It was much larger than Planck had expected. The signal jamming was extensive as Planck detected his wireless communications capability was inoperable. The two descended four floors down a freight elevator, passing more T-888 and T-900 guardians. Only the most trusted machines gained access this far and the most trusted humans.

Connor, Generals Perry and Baum were the only three humans in the bunker control room visible to Planck. When Cameron walked in behind him he noticed Baum roll his eyes, and John smile. "Cameron, glad to see you back with Alex Planck," he said, a sly smirk on his face. She nodded. Connor walked to Planck and put his hand on the machine's shoulder. "I have a new mission for you."