------New Caprica City (+360 Days Post Colonization, +650 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)------

Gaius Baltar finished the last entry on his computer and brought the screen of his laptop down, powering down the device. He unplugged the last cable from its X4 data port and ran his hands through his hair.

It's beautiful, Gaius, the Six said, admiring his work. The device in the back stateroom of his private suite on Colonial One was filled with equipment, computers, and communication gear. He had worked diligently to complete his task. Have you activated it yet? She asked.

"Yes. Four weeks ago, just like you told me to, remember? It'll progressively degrade their link. They'll think it is EM from the nebula," he smiled, rising out of his chair and walking over to where the beautiful Six stood. She had her red dress on, the one she had seduced him and earned his love in.

I'm just admiring your work, Gaius. Come, look. The key to it all. She stood over something he couldn't make out, not at the late hour.

He cocked his head, the night was out in force, and the lights inside his cabin had dimmed. He'd been up for forty hours already, dealing with Chief Tyrol threatening to strike and part of the crop land that was cleared had flooded. Now he had thought he could sleep. But his lover in her gorgeous red dress beckoned for him to come over.

Baltar brought his glasses up and took a quick look. Intrigued, he moved closer. "I don't remember this," he said to the Six, perplexed. He knelt down on the warm cabin floor and crossed his legs. He began to run his fingers over the box, small transmission lines running from the box into his jumble of electronics he called a "terminator jammer."

It's the work of God, Gaius, she informed him. He works through you.

He snickered at her comment and she moved back behind him, upset over his mockery of her faith. Even after two years together she would always talk of God with Baltar, an atheist who believed in no God or Gods.

"I seriously doubt that," he countered her, bringing the box closer to inspect it. He groaned as he got back up to his feet and flicked the lights of his cabin on. Moving back to where Six pointed out the device he sat back down. "I don't recognize it. "

Look closer Gaius she said, bending down and whispering seductively in his ear. Remember when you built it? This is the key to it all. That tiny device. Just like a human heart is the key to salvation, Gaius.

"No, I don't remember," he answered. He ran his hands down the wires and around the jamming device. The wires converged in an adapter plugged into the main communication switch.

I do, Six moved off the bed and stood over him. She bent down and sat crossed-legged on the floor next to him. You were with me and we were working on this together. Last month. It was the last piece Gaeta delivered. He delivered the mother board. You added a communication card and modified the board, right back there, and she pointed to his work station, cluttered with electronics, papers, and soldering equipment. I helped steady your hands that night. The Quorum had upset you, remember? Six grabbed his hands and held them gently in her. She moved her thumbs up and down the sides of his hands, comforting him.

Baltar shook his head, trying to retrieve the image, trying to remember when he had built it. He couldn't remember exactly, but he had spent so many nights at his work station, building the jammer or building the transmitters for their wireless network in the city or just tinkering with electronics and computers.

"I… I think so," he stammered after a long silence. "I don't know. It's just been so… busy. You keep pushing me to do more and more. I don't know if I can keep up," he confessed to her, sadness in his eyes as he disappointed the woman he loved. "I'm sorry."

Her eyes narrowed and she moved herself closer to him. She brought his head into her chest. Gaius, I love you. I want you to be a success and lead your people. You can't do that while they're here. You can let Admiral Cain know you've completed your project. She will love you for it. She held the side of his face in her hands, looking him lovingly in the eyes. She will be in your debt, Gaius. And the people here will love you.

"If we want to be discreet, it will still take weeks to degrade their signals without alarming them," he looked up at her. "And it'll only work on the planet. The battlestars are shielded against EM," he reminded her through a deep yawn.
Gaius. Don't worry. You will know what to do when the time comes to act. Just tell Admiral Cain tomorrow and tell her to get ready, she reached and caressed his cheek. Now, my love, it's time to sleep.

His eyes closed and he leaned into her. His kind smile brought a quick tear to her eye. She eased him down as he began to fall asleep, not wishing to wake him. She laid next to him on the cabin's deck, making sure he was asleep before disappearing yet again.

------ (+378 Days Post Colonization, +668 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)------

Jo Soto had joined two squads on Colonial Marines for their monthly training sessions. Even after a year past colonization, and nearly twenty months since the last Cylon sighting, few Marines still wished to participate in the training session Admiral Cain had made very clear would still continue.

Jo was an observer, having volunteered to be a 'referee' for the mock battle between the two Marine squads.

She watched as one Marine squad began to make its way slowly to where the second squad was hidden. Both were visible on her thermal imaging. She noted that the Colonials were training today without use of thermal goggles on insistence from Gunny Mathias, who tried to keep the dependence on technology to a minimum. The Gunny was hardly one to rant against new weapons of war. She and Jo Soto had had interesting discussions on new weapons which were in development before the Colonies fell, and on new 'toys' the Marines would have received. Her insistence on training without thermal goggles or optical visors or electronic maps was to keep the Marines sharp. She didn't want her Marines becoming dependent on something and it breaking in the field.

The most advanced killing machine Earth humans had created went back to concentrating on the training exercise when dozens upon dozens of sonic booms erupted from the atmosphere.

-------------------
Admiral Cain was not the type of sailor to dislike the ground and planets. She loved planets. She loved Tauron and Caprica. But she hated New Caprica. She avoided this planet as much as she could. It was cold, the city had a bad smell to it, and it was noisy. It wasn't the dull hum one could hear on a battlestar from the reactors and bustle of the crew. It was a loud noise filled with hundreds of different pitches and tones from the mouths of hundreds and thousands of people.

Unfortunately she had been called down to the planet by President Baltar. He had informed her a little under three weeks ago about his plans to take down the Terminators. The first one, Jo Soto, to be destroyed was in the forest, practicing maneuvers with the Marines. He hadn't gone into much detail.

Cain stepped off of her Raptor onto the soggy ground. Spring rains had brought moderate flooding to some parts of the city, overwhelming the nascent sewer system. She and her Marine escort quickly made their way into Colonial One where President Baltar greeted her.

"President Baltar," she said, nodding her greetings. "I take it you have an update for me on our situation?"

Say exactly what I say, Gaius, Six told him, appearing from his cabin wearing a blue dress with slits coming up the side to her upper thigh. His eyes followed her as she walked around and behind Cain before she came back around to his side. I activated the jamming device a little over two months ago to degrade their signals- she began.

"I activated the device a little over two months ago to degrade their signals-" he repeated.

And I believe that it would be safe to give attack orders. I have three people in the forest trailing Soto with rocket launchers.

He shot a look towards Six. She moved for him to repeat what she had said. "But that's not true," he whispered so quietly, and barely moving his mouth Admiral Cain couldn't tell.

Trust me, Gaius! Six yelled.

"I have uh… people in the forest, they have shoulder missile launchers. They're trailing… the female one. Soto," he lied to Cain.

"Missile launchers? I wasn't aware that Commander Adama or myself authorized missile launchers, Mr. President," Admniral Cain questioned.

"Well, I am the president, thank you, Admiral, " he shot back. He didn't want her assuming she had authority over him.

Excellent, Gaius. You are the president, not her.

"Yes, thank you," he smiled and said. Cain wasn't sure who he spoke to but he quicjkly recovered. "Yes, thank you very much for your concern but since I am the president I do need to do things without informing everyone. This was very hush hush, need to know. But once she is dead then we need to get the other two down here."

Admiral Cain starred at him for a moment bringing her hands up to his chin in thought. She kept her other hand on her pistol grip, tapping her fingers on it. "I wish you had told me, Mr. President. While I… appreciate all the help you have given-"

This was only possible with you, Gaius. Tell her that the Six goaded him. She had moved opposite Cain and was staring at her up and down, disgusted with how Admiral Cain was treat her love.

"Admiral, this whole thing was only possible with me," he interrupted, the cockiness in his voice not lost on the Admiral. "All the technology I built and designed. The equipment I put together. No one else could have done this."

"And that's why it took a year?" She asked him, rolling his eyes. She had put up with the man's insecurities and egocentrism for a year as president, and for months before that. This was unpleasant. But she didn't make flag officer by holding anything back.

Patience! Six yelled at him.

"Patience!" He yelled at the Admiral. Baltar had been disrespected since the first day he joined the Fleet. He had been Caprica's greatest scientist since Daniel Greystone, and he was growing more and more tired of people underestimating his abilities.

Admiral Cain just sighed and was in the middle of preparing to argue when dozens and dozens of sonic booms were heard over the city.

Felix Gaeta rushed in. "Doctor Baltar! The Cylons! They've found us! The fleet is jumping away sir! They're gone! The Cylons… they found us!"

The distinct sound of Cylon Raiders and Heavy Raider transports were heard as hundreds and hundreds of craft swooped over New Caprica City. There was no resistance. No one was screaming the streets. The formations were not combat formations. They were victory formations.

-------------------

Admiral Cain, President Baltar, Felix Gaeta, Tome Zarek and half a dozen other government officials could hear the metallic footsteps of the Centurions as they entered Colonial One.

"This is a mistake, Baltar," Admiral Cain said one last time. She purposefully dropped the honorific title. The disgust and disappointment burned like fire from her gut and into her words. She leaned forward and whispered. "You will never be forgiven for this, Doctor," she spat.

When the Raiders had come, he had done nothing. She had watched him go back and slouch in his leather chair behind his oak desk. He did nothing. Admiral Cain knew the situation was hopeless. The battlestars and fleet had jumped. Heavy Raiders began landing Centurions. She knew she had to act quickly, her military mind reacting faster than the clouded and soft mind of Gaius Fraking Baltar.

She had ordered the armories aboard all the vessels immediately emptied. Hundreds of rifles, pistols, thousands of rounds of ammunitions, grenades, explosives, all had been taken by Colonial crews from Pegasus and Galactica and hidden throughout the city within minutes. She had run out of Colonial One with Colonel Tigh, Chief Tyrol, and Col Garner already running up to the presidential ship. They had dozens of men with them. Cain had recognized them as former Caprican resistance fighters, like Sam Anders, or Marines and sailors from the battlestars. She had ordered them to empty those armories and they had their stash of weapons now hidden.

Thirty minutes ago the sonic booms had been heard. Fifteen minutes ago Centurions had begun landing. She couldn't see them, but hundreds were marching down Colonial Avenue, street where the main market and school were. And the street that led to the ship landing yards.

"You will pay for this," she added in one final time as the door to the Quorum chamber opened, outside the office of the president. They could see the light from the corridor beyond come into the room. Two metallic Centurions entered, their ominous forms filling the sides of the doorway from the Quorum room to Baltar's office.

Behind them four Cylons entered. Two Sixes, an Eight, and a Five appeared, cocky and proud of their final victory over their Colonial nemesis.

President Baltar steading himself on the desk began to open his mouth, closing it when no words would come out. The Cylons stood opposite him, waiting for him to say the words. Their icy and soulless stare never wandered. They stood, waiting. Finally, his jaw began to function and he summoned the little strength he had left and looked the Six, Caprica Six, in the eye.

"We unconditionally surrender," he said.