-----------New Caprica (+154 Days Cylon Occupation, +822 Days Cylon Holocaust)-----------

The end game was approaching quickly, nothing could stop it now. Hours ago four Raptors had jumped into Breeder's Canyon below Cylon DRADIS and had offloaded Marines, heavy weapons, and the key to success; Sharon Agathon.

As Sharon and the Marines moved towards their rendezvous with Sam Anders and his squad of resistance fighters, Carter Bishop was inseparable from the newly commissioned Lieutenant Agathon. Commander Adama had given him implicit orders that her protection was paramount, even at the cost of every other Marines, Raptor pilot, or resistance fighter until they got back to the city.

Carter detected motion up and activated his thermal imagining. Four humans. He signaled for Lt. Agathon. "Four humans, fifty meters ahead," he informed her. He brought the plasma rifle he had constructed up to his shoulder and took the lead.

Sharon took her pistol and three Marines took positions behind her as they moved forward. Gunny Mathias had take two full squads of Marines to the ridge overlooking the small river, in case of ambush. Carter held up his fist, they were right across the stream from the heat signatures.

"Go Panthers!" Someone yelled. "C-Bucks rule!" was the response.

Lt. Agathon tapped Carter on the shoulder as she holstered her weapon. She and Carter stood up and approached Sam Anders, who was walking to greet them. When she saw him she gave him a strong hug, "Nice to see you," she told him, elated to see someone she considered a friend.

Carter had been watching and noticed Anders was uneasy with the embrace. "Strange, it's like I see you every day," came his response. Sharon shrugged it off and the other three resistance members came out of hiding.

"Shit, what's that?" Anders asked, looking at the gun in Carter's hand. It almost resembled a large automatic grenade launcher with a cylindrical magazine.

"Makeshift phased plasma rifle," Carter responded.

"You have any more of those?" He asked. Anders stepped back as Carter brought the rifle up. "Did I say-"

"Shut up," Carter told him. "Lieutenant, we've got Cylons coming in. Fifty meters, four contacts twelve o-clock and another group, four contacts, coming in to flank us," he reported.

The resistance fighters and fleet personnel retreated back behind cover to hide themselves. Hopefully the Centurions would think they got to the location first.

Carter steadied his plasma rifle and reported in to Gunny Mathias, with two of her Marines shoulder their rifles and missile launchers, ready to ambush the Cylons.

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

"Five minute rest break!" The leader of the NCPers yelled. He began hitting the sides of the 5-ton cargo trucks and helping the prisoners out. "Stretch you legs, five minutes," he repeated.

One of the Cavil Cylons nodded to him, and the masked man signaled for his men to group the detainees in front of the trucks.

"Stay together!" One of them yelled, pushing one of them together.

The first one who had ordered the break grabbed Cally and brought her aside. "Cally. Shut up. I'm sorry, tell them… I'm sorry." He pulled out a pocket knife and cut the plastic riot cuffs. "Run, run!" he hissed at her, pushing her down the embankment.

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"Oh Gods! It's Cally!" Chief Tyrol said, terrified. She was right in their line of fire.

"Chief, we can't get a shot," Seelix told her. "We'll hit her."

The calm and calculating voice to the Chief's left informed him otherwise. "I will not hit her," Jo Soto informed him.

"Frak!" He yelled. "Count to five and then fire," he ordered. He got up and began running towards Cally.

Seelix began counting. "One… two… three…" and then the rifle on her left exploded in a loud crack. "What the frak!"

Soto fired on the count of three, determining that waiting for the Chief would put the people in front of the firing squad in unacceptable danger. She fired two shots from her sniper rifle, both ripping into the bullet heads of the Centurions. By the time the second shot had been fired the Chief had grabbed Cally and Seelix ordered the rest to open fire. The Centurions were destroyed in seconds and they redirected their fire towards the NCPers huddling around the trucks. Jo fired tow more sniper rounds, killing two of the policemen.

The four stood up, and Seelix grabbed the Chief's submachine gun. She handed it to him then grabbed Cally and gave her friend a crushing hug.

Jo had ignored the inappropriate display of emotions. There was a bio-Cylon wounded and while the NCPers had been rushed by the detainees a few of them had escaped. Regardless if they had escaped or not the Cylons would know within a few hours this execution had failed.

Seelix had gone up to the wounded Cavil and began taunting him. "Hurts, don't it? Well it's going to hurt a lot more." She crouched down and spat in his face. "It's going to hurt a lot more until you go to download city, fraker." She grabbed Cavil's gun, putting it in her waist band and walked towards the captured NCP personnel. She shot two of them before the Chief stopped her.

Ignoring Seelix, Soto went up to the Cavil. "Hello," she said to the Cavil wounded on the ground, clutching his stomach. The Cavil looked up. "I know you," she said. He stared at her, eyes squinting, trying to shield himself from the sun. He tried to see her face, see who it was talking to him, claiming to know him. She crouched down. "I shot you the other day. When you were hiding behind the truck," she smiled.

"Frak you," he cursed at her. She brought up her pistol and fired. Terminators did not force people to suffer.

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

Colonel Tigh stared intently at the Cavil who had been tied up and brought to the command cavern. He hadn't tortured the Cavil yet, but he just stood there, grinding his teeth and flicking the safety on his sidearm on and off.

Carter had captured him when the Cavil and a squad of Centurions had come to ambush the Raptor team. If they had killed him he would have resurrected. He might have seen Sharon, and the plan to steal the launch keys would be destroyed.

"Please, spare me the dramatic, Colonel," he rolled his eyes. "You actually think anything you do to me will matter," he sneered. Even tied up, beaten and shot the Cavil models never stayed quiet and never tried to goad their enemies into action.

Tigh wound up with the pistol and slammed it into Cavil's temple. He just wiped the blood off on his pants before spinning around and stalking off back into the command room.

"Well, that was unexpected!" Cavil shouted back after him. He shook his head, trying to get his senses back and stop the throbbing pain shooting throughout his skull. "What do you want?" He spat at Soto as she walked up. He looked up, just wanting her to get whatever beating or torture she was going to administer over with.

She walked up to him and crouched down to his eye level. She brought her eyes up slowly, inspecting his abdomen for any more bleeding. He would probably bleed out eventually, but not for days. "Before I kill you, we need to talk," she said, making eye contact with her illuminated eyes.

"It's about time," he said.

-----------New Caprica (+155 Days Cylon Occupation, +823 Days Post Cylon Holocaust)-----------

Lt. Sharon Agathon was truly scared as she walked through the streets of New Caprica City. The people there hated her and she wanted to scream to them who she was and what she was doing for them. She wanted to tell everyone she wasn't just some Cylon 'toaster' and genocidal maniac. She struggled, but she kept it in.

Nothing had scarred her more than when someone had thrown a bottle at her and it shattered on a pylon next to her. Not even after Helo had shot her on Caprica had she been this frightened.

She continued forward, walking passed a lone Centurion standing guard at the outer gates to the administration building. Two New Caprica Policemen let her in without so much as a glance.

Once inside Sharon accessed the data stream and found the location of the launch keys. She accessed the secure vault and said "Box 3-8-1," and a small compartment slid open. She checked the launch keys. They were small, the size and thickness of a Pyramid card and metallic. But the ends had delicate circuitry which would activate the drives and controls of the dozens of grounded starships.

"What are you…" a D'Anna model said. Sharon wiped around and pulled out her pilot sidearm. "It's you!" She hissed at her, surprise and anger shooting out. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving my people," Sharon said. D'Anna stepped forward and the two began to circle each other. Neither was sure if the other would attack.

D'Anna laughed and turned her head side to side, trying to erase the memory of what Sharon had just said. "Ridiculous. They don't trust you. They'll use you."

"I'm an officer in the Colonial military, now." She shot back.

"Colonial military? The two ships we're going to destroy when Adama comes? Please," she rolled her eyes. She dismissed Sharon with a wave of her hand. "This is ridiculous, Sharon. Come back to us," she pleaded.

Sharon's lip twitched and her eyes narrowed. She gritted her teeth, "Why would I want to join you again? Our society has been corrupted. What they told me… SkyNet and-"

"Oh, please," D'Anna laughed. "Baltar told us everything about that."

"I know it's true. All these years… it felt like something was wrong…" she shook her head, remembering all the feeling she had felt when she learned what she now accepted as the truth. The genocide of the Colonies, the butchering and experiments at the farms… God would never order that. Not the true God. "It's been impersonating God. Subverting us!"

"We debated creating your line," D'Anna commented off hand. "Sometimes mistakes happen. The Twos, the Sixes, and you. We thought we had fixed the problem of the Twos with the Sixes but we didn't. The Sevens were a failure, an utter failure," she laughed. "Did you know the Sevens thought themselves human? They tried to leave. Now you… you represent a failure."

"What are you talking about?" Sharon asked. She had no idea what the Three was saying.

"We're not your enemy, Sharon. Why does it matter what, who God is?"

Sharon's eyes widened and she took a step back. She brandished the pistol and brought it up to D'Anna face. "I'm not going to kill you… I'm not like you. But I'm going to wound you so you can't tell the others." Before D'Anna could react she dropped the pistol and aimed for her knees, shooting each one. D'Anna collapsed and struggled towards Sharon. She reached back and brought the pistol down, a loud crack was heard as she made contact with D'Anna head with enough force to knock her unconscious.

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

"I'm telling you, each time I resurrect, five times now, it is getting harder. That bitch who shot me yesterday did a real number. For a second I thought they were just going to leave me out there, bleeding," Cavil said. He took another sip of whiskey and starred across at Baltar. He let himself smile slightly. No matter how bad Cavil felt from the resurrection, he knew Baltar felt worse.

"This experiment is getting tedious. Boring," a Number Five, Doral, said. "We should just-"

"Go. Please, just go," President Baltar remarked. He sat with his chair facing the window, behind Felix Gaeta, who was busy working at his desk. "Just leave us alone."

Cavil stood up, placing his glass on the edge of Baltar's desk. He bent forward and leaned on his hands. "Why? So you can tell your children and your children's children about the evil Cylon? So you can fuel revenge and come and murder us? Hunt us through the stars!" he began laughing at Baltar's suggestion. The man was defeated, Cavil saw him as desparate.

Baltar just buried his face in his hands. "If we were the murderers, bent on revenge, why did you come and nuke our entire civilization!" He shouted.

Cavil stepped back, not expecting the outburst. He'd had enough of Baltar. He was able to attack him when Gaeta said, "Holy frak!" Explosions throughout the entire city began appearing. A quake was felt as a massive explosion ripped through the administration facilities and power stations. Heavy raiders began taking off, Centurions began streaming out of the detention center and into the streets.

A Number Three rushed in. "The baseships in orbit have picked up Pegasus and Galactica. Adama's back!"

"We'll finish this later. Baltar," the Cavil said. He spun and stormed out of Colonial One.

Caprica Six walked up to Baltar and gently grabbed his hand as the president starred out as the city around him erupted into chaos.

-----------In Orbit of New Caprica-----------

The Blackbirds were the tip of the spear. Again they had snuck right under the noses of the Cylons. "Time to hit them where it hurts. Again," a smiling Starbuck said. Her Vipers had jumped into the nebula ahead of Galactica and then coasted to within twenty kilometers of the baseship. She hadn't been this close to the Cylons in almost two years.

The fighter cover had taken the bait. Raptors had launched dozens of drones with DRADIS signatures to fool the Cylons into believing Pegasus and Galactica It had worked. The fighter cover of four baseships had diverted to intercept the fake battlestars. Four baseships had moved out of the nebula to intercept the Pegasus and Galactica.

The countdown indicator began flashing. Seconds were left until the attack would truly begin.

The indicator pulsed red and began beeping. This was it. Starbuck grabbed the leaver to open the bay doors. She armed her missiles. She could already see the fast response time of the baseships now that the radiological alarms were blarring. Gun turrets began to move towards her and Narcho's Vipers. A dozen Raiders leapt from their slots on the base of the baseship, rushing towards them.

She pressed the red fire switch and two nuclear missiles leapt from the bellow of her instrument of death. She saw two of Narcho's missiles streak, and the blue-white flash of an FTL jump. One of his missiles was shot down, but hers and his last were so close. She jumped out as the missiles impacted.

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

Racetrack had successfully launched her Raptor drones. The entire CAP, eighty Raiders from the baseships in orbit were rushing towards the Raptors and Viper Galactica had launched.

"Break, break, break," she heard the Viper squadron leader yell over the wireless. That was their cue.

The Raiders barreled in, Raptor gunships began jamming the Raiders and Racetrack ordered the improved missiles to be launched.

Each Raptor carried eight missiles under its wing on hardpoints. The ten Raptors began launching all its long range guided missiles at the oncoming Raiders. The Raiders attempted to jam the missiles, but the improved electronics packages the Earth machines had designed and installed kept them on track.

Chain gun fire and high explosive rounds erupted from the guns of the Raiders, taking down missiles after missile. But dozens of missiles, with high explosive proximity fuses found their targets, destroying nearly three quarters of the Cylon CAP.

The ten Raptors jumped back into the nebula around Galactica.

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"Sir, I'm reading nuclear detonations… two baseships destroyed sir, one seriously damaged!" Helo reported. "The Blackbirds have jumped back and are landing! Starbuck says they'll be rearmed once we jump!"

Captain Kelly read the readouts from his consoles and confirmed with DRADIS. "Sir, sixty Cylon Raiders destroyed by the Raptors and the rest of their squadrons are following the drones."

With Pegasus left behind Adama needed to neutralize as many base s hips as he could. If he could he'd use the Blackbirds to just 'nuke spam' the enemy, as John and Carter had put it in Earth slang. But unless they covered the planet, the civilians would be shot down.

A temporary moment of jubilations reached out and grabbed Commander Adama. They destroyed two ships and knocked a third out of the fight. That was good, that was a great start. The other baseships were scattered. Even if they could regroup, hopefully Galactica wouldn't have to face more than the one in orbit and the two which had just broken orbit before they could retreat. Already the ground offensive should have begun. It was time.

"Sir, Greens and Styles… their Blackbirds didn't make it back, sir," Helo reported.

Adama cursed to himself. Good pilots. Very green. That left four Blackbirds left. "Get those ships rearmed," Adama said, his voice calm and ordered.

Captain Agathon sat in front of his DRADIS and ticked off each Viper as it returned.

The Raptors were rearming. Deck crews were hurriedly outfitting the rest of the improved missiles onto their hardpoints.

"We're ready to jump on your orders, Commander. The board is green," Captain Agathon reported.

Captain Kelly reported that Raptors would be rearmed and ready in three minutes.

The timing was critical. The ship had to jump now, launch her Vipers and protect the fleeing ships from orbital strike. "This is the Commander. All hands, brace for turbulence." Commander Adama steadied himself for the inevitable. His knuckled were white as he grabbed the central command console. "On my mark Captain Agathon… mark!"

The Galactica jumped.

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

Gunfire had erupted all around New Caprica City. Fifteen hundred armed effectives had rushed to the caches of hidden weaponry. Dozens of squads were dispersing throughout the city, engaging Centurions and even New Caprica Police.

This was the endgame.

Sam Anders and Anastasia Keikeya ran forward, Sam skidding on his knees to a halt above the cache of weaponry at the Pyramid courts. "Come on, come on, get them off." He urged. The fighters began distributing weaponry as the Marines from Galactica took up positions around the court. "We go in, and we don't stop until we clear every cell in that detention facility. Got it?"

"Who the frak is this chick?..." Someone said, as Jo casually walked up towards the resistance fighters. "…oh, her," the man realized. Jo looked down, it was Charlie Connor. She flashed her eyes at him as someone yelled for them to take cover and get down.

Bullets began impacting the sand, sending up geysers of debris as the Centurions in the guard towers zeroed in on the Marines wearing their black fatigues and armor and the group of resistance fighters huddled at the Pyramid Courts. One Marine, shoulder launched missile prepared, fire at a passing Cylon Raider. The missile impacted its wing, sending it spiraling into the ground in a massive fireball.

Jo calmly stood and methodically brought her plasma rifle up to her shoulder. A static sensation was felt by everyone around her and an orb of light began to form around the weapon and then a magnificent crack and swooshing sound were heard as a ball of bright blue energy shot towards the closest guard tower. The ball impacted, sending the Centurion flying off and bringing the raised platform crashing to the ground. She turned quickly and fired a second shot at a guard tower two hundred meters away with the same results.

The Marines, Anders, Dee, and Jo made their way towards the detention facility but a stream of Centurions had exited the building and set up a defensive perimeter. They had carried out heavy weapons and grenades. One threw a grenade at Jo, who was able to take cover, but the blast ripped into her flesh, tearing it from her arms. Warning signs flashed on her HUD, her left arm was compromised. The armor on her endoskeleton had been torn off, exposing the rods and hydraulics which allowed her arm movement.

The Marines brought Colonial G56 automatic grenade launchers and opened fire on the Centurions. The mass of grenades sent the shattered remains of Centurions into the concrete walls of the detention facility and flying into the sky.

"Move, move, move!" Gunny Mathias shouted.

Jo left the group and began her quest to destroy as many Centurions outside the facility as she could and secure the perimeter.

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

Carter ran in front of Sharon, guarding her and the bounty of launch keys. He fired at Centurion after Centurion with his plasma rifle as they passed, bright blue energy shredding the armor of the Cylons and exploding them into thousands of pieces and melting the remnants.

"Stay down!" He ordered Sharon, shoving her to the ground as two Centurions appeared in front of them, hiding for an ambush behind a large canvas tent. They were able to fire a quick burst at him, his torso shaking backwards from the impact as such a close range. He leveled his gun and fire, destroying the first Centurion. The blast sent the other careening into storage pylons. He grabbed Sharon's arm and they ran forward.

Colonel Tigh was thirty meters running parallel with Carter and Sharon. Tigh and Tyrol were pinned down in front of the gate to the grounded ships. Half a dozen Centurions had quickly set up metal barricades and ballistic shields and were ripping into the resistance. Half a dozen men were already dead trying to destroy their foe.

Carter wanted to save them, but he had a mission to protect Sharon. He saw a Heavy Raider hovering towards Colonel Tigh. The plasma rifle wasn't designed for anti-aircraft power output, but he needed to protect the XO of Galactica. He stood and centered his aim on the cockpit of the craft. Pulling the trigger he sent a brilliant blast of energy into the armor. The pilot, most likely a Six, momentarily taken off guard, almost lost control of the craft. He fired again, melting through more armor. A third shot was able to penetrate and the heavy raider began veering out of control. It smash into the hundreds of meters away and erupted into a grand fireball.

A massive sonic boom was heard. Colonel Tigh and Chief Tyrol looked up, the glare from the sun almost obstructing the most wonderful sight they had seen; a battlestar, their flaming chariot, launching Vipers. Adama had arrived.

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"Sir, we're at 30,000 meters and falling like a rock!" Helo reported. DRADIS was spinning out of control, the atmospheric heat playing havoc with their sensors and scanner. Defeaning alarms were sounding throughout the ship, red lights on every emergency console were blinking, yelling for attention.

"We have to launch, sir!" Captain Kelly informed him.

A battlestar was not made to enter orbit. A battlestar was an instrument of death in space, but in a planetary atmosphere it became nothing but a one and a half kilometer long steel coffin.

"Launch on my mark!" Adama ordered. His knuckled were white as he gripped his command station to keep himself from falling. The air turbulence was increasing. Within minutes the ship was impact the ground, right on top of New Caprica City unless they launched. "Now, Helo! Launch all Vipers!"

A dozen Vipers began shooting through the launch tubes of Galactica, ready to provide air support and save their trapped brethren.

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

Colonel Tigh's ears rang after the massive boom from the Tin Can conducting an FTL jump inside atmosphere. The wind picked up and almost swept him off his feet. He looked around him, trying to get a head count of men that had survived. His squad had a little over a dozen men when they began their assault. Now there were only eight others.

"Check the wounded! Keep fraking firing!" He ordered.

He looked up as a bright ball of light caught his attention. A heavy raider had spotted them and was on the verge of opening fire. A second ball of blue impacted, then a third. Colonel Tigh looked frantically around, trying to figure out what he was. He saw Carter and the gun, and quietly thanked him as the heavy raider careened out of control and smashed into tents and sheet metal buildings hundreds of meters away.

The Vipers from Galactica raced down, firing missiles at the Centurions guarding the gates. Explosion detonated in front and behind the Centurions, sending their robotic pieces into the air. Tigh ordered his men forward, and Sharon and Carter came up with the launch keys.
They set up a temporary command post inside the walls of the landing zone and began distributing launch keys.

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

Commander Adama wrapped his hand tightly, keeping the blood from seeping out of the deep lacerations on his knuckles. They stung, but he couldn't worry about any superficial injury now. "Hand me the cable, and plug it in over there!" He said, grabbing a fiber optic data cable from one of the C-I-C. technicians.

DRADIS began to slowly come online. It was still fuzzy from the nebula interference, but he could see a clear picture of the battle around him. "DRADIS back online, Commander," Captain Kelly reported. He lowered his voice. "Frak… sir! We've got baseships coming in."

Captain Agathon steadied himself in front of his DRADIS readout. The surviving Cylon CAP was too far to engage, scattered, chasing DRADIS shadows.

Two baseships were destroyed. The third victim of the nuclear attacks wasn't completely annihilated, but hadn't moved positions at all. The other baseships were busy chasing the drones, but they could begin to reposition any minute.

"Sir… the two baseships pursuing our shadow drones have jumped back… 10,000 kilometers and closing!" Helo reported. He looked frantically at the DRADIS. The two baseships chasing Pegasus hadn't jumped yet, but it was just a matter of time.

Helo hit the side of his console. "Belay my last, sir… more baseships coming out of the nebula. Two more. Sir… frak, they just jumped... they're coming in to surround us, 8,000 kilometers."

The sole surviving baseship that had been in orbit was already in range and launching missiles. Commander Adama pushed up his glasses, wiping grime off the right lens. "Five… we can't fight five for long…" he trailed off. "Okay, position Raptors. I want them launched. Get the Blackbirds in the air."

"Sir, Starbuck's Blackbird is suffering a bay door malfunction. If we launch the Cylons will detect the nukes and shoot her down before she gets close," Kelly sadly informed him. He stood with his hand over the wireless waiting for Adama's orders.

"Frak. Get her into a Viper. The rest target baseship zero-three. We need to keep them from getting behind us," Adama said.

Galactica began hammering the baseship that had been left in orbit with her ventral guns. As the ship sustained more and more damage she rolled, letting the dorsal guns and armor take the brunt of the attack. The battlestar was nimble for her size, and used the overpowered maneuvering thrusters to keep herself firing on the baseships central axis, attempting to split it in two. Galactica maneuvered to keep her fire constant on one section of armor, hoping to weaken it while rolling and strafing herself.

Narcho, Kat, and Stinger each took their Blackbirds, armed with nuclear missiles and jumped behind the baseship attempting to come in from Galactica's six.

"Sir, Raiders are coming up from the planet… frak, there must have been a Raider base on the far side of the planet!" Helo reported.

Commander Adama cursed. They'd missed something. But it made sense. The Cylons had been there months. Why not hide some forces on the planet, thousands of kilometers from New Caprica City?

He began contemplating a new strategy. The Tin Can could handle two baseships long enough, but the four coming to press down on them would be too much. Five baseships wasn't enough. And they had mere minutes until the baseships pursuing the fake Pegasus DRADIS shadows wised up and jumped in to engage the Galactica.

"We just have to hold ten more minutes…" he whispered to himself.

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

Starbuck pulled a hard six on her Viper as her DRADIS showed nearly a hundred more Raiders coming from over the crest of the planet. They'd be there any minute. She only had four half-squadrons under her command, forty ships. She was down to thirty-seven now after three had bought it.

"Green Leader, take your squadron and disengage. Guide the Raptor gunships in to engage the new contact. Raptors, I need you to fire missiles then bug out of there," she ordered over her wireless.

Green responded in the affirmative, breaking off and his seven remaining Vipers forming up on the Raptors. She watched on her DRADIS as the half dozen Raptors fired their missiles, the guidance systems modified by the Earth machines.

She praised the Gods when she looked back down to her DRADIS and saw a third of the Raiders had been wiped out. Using their old missiles with the Cylon jamming would have made it impossible to take out more than a sixth of the Raiders.

Starbuck rolled her Viper again as two Raiders came up on her, confident they could annihilate her. She fired one missile and then activated her chain guns, plowing dozens of high explosive rounds into the cockpit and engines of the remaining Raider. She yelled a victory yelp and accelerated her Viper back towards the thick of the fight.

Thousands of kilometers away she saw a flash as blinding as a million suns. Her DRADIS went crazy with radiological alarms. The three remaining Blackbirds had done it, they'd taken out a third baseships. But they were still heavily outnumbered. Four baseships were left engaging the battlestar, two were still pursuing the fake Pegasus drones.

They needed ten more minutes to get the people off the ground.

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"Fire in the hole!" A Marine yelled. "Fire in the hole!" A second yelled, signaling for the others to blow the locks on the cells.

The Marines had fought their way down to the basement levels of the detention facility, where the high value targets had been kept.

Dozens of people began to flee their cells, elated that the fleet was back, that Adama was back to rescue them. Sam Anders and Dee Kreikeya kept their rifles ready, just in case any bio-Cylon or Centurion had decided to wait in ambush. They cleared each cell methodically, looking for Dee's husband.

"Billy!" She yelled, as they came up on the last half dozen cells. No one had come running out, and she had been with the Marines when they had cleared the other levels. This was it.

"Dee!' She heard a faint scream of her name. "Dee!" It was louder.

She rushed forward while Anders and another Marine began checking the rest of the cells. She ran up to Billy and grabbed him and pulled him in. "Billy! I thought I lost you!" She pressed her forehead against his. "I love you so much!" she said. She helped him to his feet and steading him as he almost fell.

"Gods… they broke my legs, Dee," he said in a quiet pain. He grabbed onto her, hobbling forward as she put his arm around her shoulder. "I love you, Dee."

Anders and a Marine ran out of their cell, and Dee saw them carrying Admiral Cain. Her face was disfigured from the torture, her limbs and body looked broken. She was in bad shape.

But the five kept moving. They kept moving to their escape ships, ready to end this nightmare.

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"Oh Gods… oh gods…" Baltar cried as he saw the destruction around him. Caprica Six was next to him, holding his hand tightly.

Many of the other Cylons had fled after Colonel Tigh had breached the gates. D'Anna and Caprica were the last two onboard Colonial One.

"Gaius, this doesn't have to be the end," D'Anna said. She began to leave before stopping and walking back towards him. She raised his head in her hands. "Gaius, come with us. You've done enough here to earn a place with us."

He stared blankly into her eyes. He didn't know what to say.

"Gaius, you need to decide. I'm going to set off the nuke in ten minutes," her voice was cold, calculating, and callous. There was no emotion behind her voice.

"What? No, you can't," Caprica protested. "If they escape we'll find them again. We can't slaughter them!" She walked forward and grabbed D'Anna by the arm. The Model Three reached back and punched her, throwing her across the cabin towards Gaius, who only watched wide eyed.

D'Anna stalked forward. She grabbed Caprica by the neck and began to squeeze. "Your line has always been weak, Six. Your line was a mistake. I told Him not to create you. The Twos were enough trouble. But now you… just die," she snarled as she began to squeeze the life out of Caprica.

D'anna's eyes grew wide after two loud cracks and bangs. She dropped Caprica, who was gasping for air. She turned around and lunged towards Baltar, pure adrenaline coarsening through her, she saw the smoking pistol in his hand. He shot her three more times in the chest. She fell, blood oozing out of her onto him and onto the carpet. He pushed her off and ran for Caprica.

"I love you," he said to her, cradling her in his arms.

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

"Hey you! You!" Tom Zarek shouted to a young man running towards him. He grabbed his shoulder. "Hey! You were on galactic, right?"

The man pushed off from him, throwing his arms off. "Yeah, man. I didn't do anything though."

"Hey, listen, take this," Zarek handed him a pistol, "and go with her! Understand? Go with her and protect Laura Roslin. Protect her with your life!" he ordered.

The man nodded and they split up, Zarek running towards the Astral Queen and Roslin towards her ship, Colonial One.

The Raptors had been forced to launch their long range missiles at the Raiders from the planet, but they had jumped behind and above the incoming baseships and immediately fired their remaining rockets. They compensated for the speed of the baseship and opened fire with their chain guns, sending tens of thousands of high explosives rounds into the Cylon warship. Dozens of missiles began impacting the center axis of the baseships, but Raptor missiles were not strong enough to cause significant damage. The high explosive rounds did only superficial damage. But they bought Galactica time. And time was what she needed most.

The armor on the mighty and proud battlestar Galactica had begun to buckle. Helo had warned of explosive decompressions, and part of the starboard flight pods had already succumbed. The nuclear attack had worked as planned, but there were just too many baseships in orbit. The second nuclear strike had destroyed a third. But the Tin Can had been unable to destroy additional baseships, but was holding four at bay, barely.

Colonial warships were built tough, capable of taking an extreme pounding. But the upgraded computer targeting systems were begin to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of missiles and Raiders. The flak fields and anti-missile batteries couldn't keep up with the number of targets which kept increasing as more and more Cylon reinforcements began appearing.

Nine Vipers were destroyed. Three Raptors were hulks of scrap. The numbers were overwhelming.

It was the end for the might bucket.

Adama looked towards Helo, but he shook his head. FTL was still down. But the Colonials on the ground were all but gone. They'd saved them. But it was too late for them. Part of their plan had worked. They had rescued the people on the ground. But John and Erica and Lee were not able to rescue Galactica.

"Helo, it's been an honor. Everyone here," Adama raised his voice, "it has been an honor serving with you."

The ship shuttered as more missiles impacted throughout.

The DRADIS began beeping wildly.

"Sir!" Helo yelled. "Sir, I'm picking up Pegasus… and Cylon… Guardian baseships sir… they did it!"

"Galactica Actual, this is Pegasus Actual, we're a little late, but we've brought reinforcements," he yelled to his father.

"Galactica actual, this is Starbuck, what the frak is going on?"

The Cylon fleet reacted quickly. Pegasus was able to launch salvos of missiles at a lone baseship pounding Galactica's ventral armor before it could redirect flak. Dozens of missiles slammed into the central axis between each triple pointed star, shattering the ship. The two baseships which had been chasing the DRADIS shadow of a fake Pegasus jumped back mere seconds after the actual one appeared, fully aware of the ruse.

Five Guardian baseships took up flanking position and enveloped Galactica, protecting her from the missiles and kinetic rounds from the Cylons. Guardian Raiders began launching in waves numbering in the hundreds.

Half the Viper and Raptor pilots immediately flooded their wireless systems, demanding to know what was happening. Helo quickly got on the horn and informed them all Guardian craft were friendlies.

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"Bring our ventral batteries to bear on baseship zero-two and dorsal batteries onto baseship zero-one ," Captain Shaw ordered. She reached out and quickly braced herself as half a dozen missiles slammed into the dorsal armor of Pegasus. "Keep us on horizontal strafing, helm," she reacted calmly.

The advanced Mercury class battlestar plunged forward between the fire of two deadly enemy ships of war. She rolled and fired her guns and missile batteries, showing her undamaged armor before rolling and exposing her reloaded missile batteries. Forward batteries launched guided high explosive proximity missiles into squadrons of Raiders, annihilating dozens of enemy fighters.
Major Adama kept his eye on the DRADIS and the overall fleet strategy as Captain Shaw handled the tactics. He was directing the battle after Commander Adama had recalled his Vipers. Ten Vipers were still a minute away, coming up from the planet.

Captain Shaw ordered the ship to roll and dive and then head 'under' baseship zero-one. As it came 'under' baseship zero-one, pinned down by Gaurdian baseship fire could not keep a line of fire with Pegasus, or risk hitting baseship zero-two. This gave Pegasus the opportunity to roll as she came under baseship zero-one, bringing dorsal batteries to bear then ventral then dorsal as soon as they were reloaded. After five rolls and one pass, the Cylon baseship exploded, its starry points blasting into space from the explosions.

"I can't believe we're pulling this off," Lee said to no one in particular.

"This is beyond fraking belief," she responded to his comment. Major Adama had known that John and Erica had been sent to find the Guardians and had told Captain Shaw, as his acting XO she needed to know, but she didn't believe it. She had thought it was just a trick for those two to either defect to the Cylons or just save their skin.

John sat there quietly in a recessed computer console, a data cord connected into his data port. He was helping to direct fire and identify targets, adding his powerful neural net processors to the Pegasus's target and firing computers. He was also aiding in eliminating and blocking Cylon hacking attempts.

Erica had remained behind on one of the Guardian ships.

"Yes!" Major Adama shouted as another baseship exploded under the might of his ship and the Guardians. They're taken out two baseships since arriving. But that still left four, and Galactica was out of the fight.

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Laura Roslin was the second to enter her old office on board Colonial One, right in front of Dee who was helping Billy to a chair, and the rest of her old presidential staff. Felix Gaeta had been on the first level, sitting in a forward cabin and starring blankly at the walls.

Roslin had jumped in as two resistance fighters were about to beat him.

The two armed men in front of her had been on her presidential guard service, and they cleared the office and moved to the rear, where her cabin and Quorum chambers were.

"Ma'am, I think that's your desk," Dee said, nodding towards the bloodied desk. They saw a dead Three lying on the ground.

"Ma'am," one of the presidential guards yelled. She asked what he had found. The two walked back into the cabin with Gaius Baltar and a Six, holding the president and Cylon at gunpoint.

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Pegasus rolled and began a second strafing run on another badly damaged baseship, designated zero-four. By now all three fleets had taken a heavy pounding. Cylon reinforcements had jumped in on the edge of the nebula, seven more baseships, and were quickly approaching. Over a thousand Raiders. The Guardian ships, older than the new Cylon baseship and not as strong, but still in the fight, had suffered heavy damage like Pegasus and Galactica. For all intents and purposes, Galactica was out of the fight. She couldn't maneuver and the Cylon baseships had moved out of her direct line of fire. Too many Raiders were swarming her for missiles to penetrate Raider interception forces.

The Colonial-Guardian fleet had a capital ship advantage, but the Cylons had reinforcement incoming, more than enough to destroy the combined fleet.

"Sir, Galactica reports FTL engines back on lines. She's jumping," Captain Shaw said, straightening herself and bringing herself to her full height. "Should I order a jump?"

A powerful shock shook the ship with enough force to break the ballistic plastic on the C-I-C doors. Sparks from damaged consoles and overloading systems flew everywhere.

DRADIS showed four Guardian baseships pounding away at two Cylon baseships while the fifth and Pegasus each engaged two on its own. Massive explosions ripped through a ventral star of the Guardian ship and it jumped away, too damaged to continue the fight.

That was the agreement. The Guardians would come, but not risk their ships to destruction. They began recalling Raiders and gunships. Two more Guardian ships jumped, and then the fourth, and then the fifth.

Apollo nodded. They'd taken enough damage, lost enough men today.

Captain Shaw sent the recall order, as the ship shook from violent decompression, to the remaining Vipers and Raptors, combat landings authorized. The site of the combat landing would have been awkward, strange, and perplexing to the casual observer. Nearly fifty of the Guardian Raiders and gunships made their own emergency landings in the Pegasus flight pods.

Large flashes of blue-white light marked the end of this saga and the beginning of the Second Exodus.