Chapter 11: Divine Intervention.

The buzz of the florescent lights irritated Val; he hated the brig, and only had the unpleasant experience of visiting it once before after a dispute with a squadron XO back on Tauron. But here he was again, but this time it wasn't he who was being punished, but a man claiming to be a Cylon. Sergeant Major Williams was not subtle with his questions, which usually ended with him slamming the end of his fist into the face of the prisoner. This was grisly work, but he felt no remorse for a machine, even one who looked like a human. Commander Cain ordered him to oversee the interrogation, ask the questions and let the marines get their hands dirty. So far he has only given them lines of scripture and spewing his beliefs of a one true God.

Williams grabbed him by the flight suit collar. "You sure made us all look like fools, acting like one of us all the while you wanted to stab us in the back. Answer the question, or things will get bad."

"Sergeant, let me ask the questions now. Leave him be." He hesitantly complied, and let him go to keep his balance on the metal chair bolted to the deck floor, his hands and ankles held secure by thick shackles. Val pushed off the unbreakable observation glass wall and stood in front of Leobon, he still couldn't believe this was Tally, but a part of him was glad.

"How can it be, that you are a Cylon?" He crossed his arms.

Leobon grinned, looking at him through swollen eyes. "God blesses his children, and gifted us with the knowledge of genetics, to create a pure race of Cylon in the image of their parents, to return and cleanse the Colonies of evil."

"Sounds like your God approves of Genocide and mass murder." Val became angry, but kept his anger in check to continue questioning him.

"God turned his back on man, making room for his new creation, the Cylons." He replied.

"God has nothing to do with Cylons... you are clearly a tool that's been twisted and misinformed to blindly follow orders. Oh that's right; of course you blindly follow them, because you're a programmed machine."

"Blindly no, what I do is for your own good. You are on borrowed time, and asking the wrong questions. You should know Captain, time is a precious thing." He smiled then, but winced, lowering his head.

Val glanced at Williams, and then turned his attention back on Leobon.

"How many other Cylons are there like you? Are there more on this ship?"

He remained silent. Then Val nodded to Williams who belted him in the stomach causing him to cough and wretch between his legs, veins stood proud on his swollen face. Val then reached into his pocket pulling out the device found on Leobon.

"And this?" He turned it between his fingers; the shape and appearance resembled a smoke detector, but had a glass center eye.

"I used it to send a signal. You know, she takes after your looks, Cassie." His lips curled into a smug grin, and he watched for a reaction.

Val froze; the mention of his daughters name coming out of the mouth of a Cylon caused him to nearly drop the transponder to the metal deck.

"What did you say?" He blinked several times, not quite sure a Cylon used his daughter's name.

"You'll see her again Val, I've seen it. God has a plan for you... how could I have not seen this before? It all makes sense now don't you see?" He laughed seemingly pleased with himself.

Val managed to regain his composure after taking a step back. "Shut up."

Leobon only pressed his double talk and manipulative attack. "You should ask your leaders, why you really came out here. Cain's orders from the Admiralty are quite interesting. Now I can't blame you really, you're human; the need to quench the killing urge is insatiable. It sits, and rots like a cancer, infecting everything until it's too late."

"Disable the virus!" Shouted Val waving the transponder in front of his face, and Leobon shut his eyes and remained silent. Val drew back and put his weight into the punch, he caught him in his cheekbone and another gash opened, blood seeped freely from it, and Val knocked on the glass to be let out. He left the brig breathing sharply in and out, how does he know about his baby girl? He walked to the pilot head to splash cold water on his face, the other pilots present saluted, but Val only concentrated on the running water. He didn't notice Blackball lean against the sink next to him.

"What's up Raven? You look like you've seen a ghost." He furrowed his brows with a small smile, then sighed changing his expression to quizzical.

"Close enough. My daughter she... uh, nothing, don't worry about it." He muttered.

"I didn't know you had a daughter, sir."

"I said it's nothing! I – just, carry on." He left the head with a bewildered man staring after him, Blackball snorted then continued on his business.

While walking back to the brig, the lights flickered on and off randomly, he cursed knowing he was running out of time, that fraking Cylon could play one hell of a mind game, he approached a station phone and clicked the receiver twice.

CIC.

Commander Cain was more severe, her stance and tone of voice were strained and monotonous. The encounter with the Cylon shook her deeply, and she was trying to cope. The Ulysses was still holding position in the safe zone, and the crew were getting more restless, rumours about the Cylon were spreading, and crewmen were getting nervous. For the past four hours ship systems were acting sporadically, the crew was working on discovering the cause, and Rebecca knew the Cylon had something to do with it.

"We may be in real trouble this time Ken." He nodded, and the phone rang near his hand, and he picked it up, and brought it to his ear. Rebecca watched him talk.

"Combat, XO, go ahead." He narrowed his eyes as he took in what was being described to him."You have to be joking Captain he-" He rubbed his eyes. "You will, by any means possible get that bastard to disable the virus!" He set the phone back into the receiver, and pursed his lips looking at Commander Cain. "The cause of the ships systems malfunctions have been discovered, there's some kind of Cylon virus. Captain Bonen says the prisoner likely knows how to disable it."

She nodded, and then gritted her teeth. "Major, I thought you told me you detected no malicious software on board after disconnecting the network." Major Vash approached the operations console between the two senior officers, and tried to explain.

"Sir I did... however it disguised itself to match our other lines of code, there wasn't any way for me to detect it, it must have bypassed our encryptions while we were repairing the ship after the initial attack. But so far this is what we know: It's definitely some kind of self-aware virus, it activated some time during the night. From what we can tell it's testing our systems. This may very well be the same virus that shut down fleet defences; its pattern is exactly the same. It will likely try to manipulate certain systems to harm the crew."

Ken shook his head, keeping his eyes focused at the illuminated table top of the operations console. "What can we do?"

Major Vash breathed in, and proposed her desperate plan. "Sir, there may be only one way to do this, delete all computer drives for every system, and use the emergency backup files to restore control. We have a digital library on board to reinstall lost excess files. That would delete the virus along with all the system data."

Rebecca shook her head, and pinched her bottom lip before voicing her concerns. "That's a risky gamble Major, and what about that unauthorized transmission sent earlier? The Cylons may already know our position and are just waiting for this virus to take complete control. Gods know what will happen to us then. Keep trying to flush out the virus with software; try to buy some more time."

"Aye sir, I'll do my best." She left the side of the operations console to perform the task. Rebecca felt a pang of truth; this may be the end after all. "We can hope for the best, and trust the Captain, is up to the challenge." She said with a flat tone devoid of enthusiasm.

Brig cell 1-C.

The marines kept their weapons on Leobon at all times, blank looks on their faces, and Williams waited inside for the Captain's return. He wanted to put a bullet right in between his eyes; it took all his self-restraint to avoid killing him. The Cylons took everything from him, his family, and his home, just like everyone left alive after a holocaust. All he felt and knew, all he wanted, was revenge, and he hasn't had the opportunity to fight. The pleasure of interrogating this machine had to tie him over.

"So you toasters have been planning this for awhile huh, just taking your time, perched high in your supposed superiority. But, here you are, at our mercy." Leobon laughed dryly, and hung his neck low until swinging it around to set his eyes on the soldier. "We are all, at God's mercy." Before Williams moved to club him to death with his rifle, the glass brig door slid open and Captain Bonen stepped in. The marines saluted, and Williams withdrew from Leobon. "Ah welcome back Captain, for a moment there I thought you lost yourself in the dark." His eyes sparkled with an intense hate, but his face remained as passive as before.

"You're going to disable the virus, or face the consequences." Val's features were set in a determined and serious way, and he stood in front of Leobon. "Kneel before God, and beg for forgiveness to receive penance." Val dragged his eyes up and down over his body with malice; he was pushing him close to the edge of no return. "So you think you're God now? I'll have to be a dead corpse to kneel before a Cylon."

"If that is your wish, it shall be granted soon enough." He replied. Val sneered, and once again took out the Cylon device. "Remove the restraints from his wrists." Ordered Val and Williams moved to comply, taking off the tempered steel restraints. Leobon rubbed his bruised purple wrists and grinned at Val.

"Disable the virus, and we'll talk more about God." Val conceded.

"Kneel, and ask for forgiveness." He repeated.

Val blinked, and his limbs moved on their own, and found himself kneeling a foot from Leobon as he sat on the steel chair, the marines watching couldn't believe their eyes, but kept their weapons aimed steadily. Val handed him the transponder, and Leobon took it carefully from his palm. "Now beg for forgiveness." He repeated yet again. "Ask God to grant penance for all your sins." Williams couldn't keep watching this insane display. "Captain what the frak, are you doing? Don't buy into this shit! Val!"

The sergeants words faded, and Val's only thoughts settled onto his six year old daughter, back home on Tauron which is nothing but a smoking ruin now. He neglected her for three years while he was away on duty, rarely talking to her, and when he did he made the conversations short. His mother died in a car accident four years ago, outside Hecate, a moderately large city North of Tauron's Capitol, also Val's hometown. The last time he talked to her, she was getting ready to visit his parents, who lived on Virgon. And Leoban's words struck a chord in him, and he wanted to see her again more than anything, how or why he didn't know, but that's all he felt in that moment.

CIC.

All of the stations reported major malfunctions, systems were shutting down and giving instructions to other programs, and the only half-functional system was the DRADIS.

Major Vash gave a surprised shout, and loudly reported it. "Contact, reading one unknown contact CDBR, no transponders or recognition codes! It must be a Cylon Basestar!"

Rebecca snapped her head up in disbelief, and glared at the red dot approaching their position, they were truly fraked. They had only two more minutes until they came within weapons range.

Major Vash approached the operations console again. "Sir the virus has nearly taken over every system; it must be waiting for activation from the Basestar."

Rebecca couldn't see any hope now, but kept her face passive and hard, and stared at the DRADIS as it finally shut down, and nothing but a black screen stared back. She looked at her two most senior officers, her lower lip quivered before she spoke. "It's been a pleasure, we did all we could, I wish we could only have done more damage to the Cylons. It's too late to delete the computer drives, this is it."

Brig Cell 1-C.

"I repent my sins, may God have mercy on us all, and forgive us." The rivets of the metal deck dug into Val's knees, but he didn't flinch as he said the things he promised himself he would never say. Leobon looked directly into his eyes, seemingly calculating and collecting his own thoughts, until he spoke again. "And can God forgive a human? Can he give any of you another chance of redemption after all you've done?" Val couldn't find any more words; reason and rationality had been thrown out the airlock. He only stared blankly at Leobon. God's will be done." Leobon stated.

CIC.

The CIC seemed frozen, crewmen unable to move, but waiting to feel the imminent attack as the Cylons destroyed them in the most cowardly way. But the impossible happened, power jumped back on and all system control was restored. Rebecca was truly beside herself, how could this, figuratively and literally, happen? She was too shocked to issue any orders, but Ken stepped right in. "Spin up the FTL and jump the ship to secondary emergency co-ordinates!" He shouted rapidly, the crew came alive to follow the instructions.

Cylon Basestar, closing on the Battlestar Ulysses.

"He did well as expected, we could use this ship intact, send Centurion strike teams aboard to clean out the humans, and signal the virus to activate, vent as many as possible into space" The Cylon model five stated, he looked to his fellow machines for agreement.

"We agree this ship will be used for future plans."Announced number six, followed by number three and eight.

The Model known as "Leobon" voiced his own agreement. "Very well, let's proceed-" Suddenly he jerked his head towards the data stream and pressed his hand into the bio-gelatine.

"The ship has jumped away." He announced in almost disbelief. The others looked at each other in confusion.

"Impossible, the report indicated only one hour timeline before the logic bomb shut down the ship." Number six said in her puzzlement.

"Unless the virus became corrupted from some form of interference, it must have fought itself for control and essentially destroyed itself. They've been stationed here for days until now; we don't know what kind of frequencies may have affected it." Number three added.

Six conceded. "That's the most likely scenario."

"This is unacceptable; we cannot risk them finding the other survivors. This has gone on long enough. We'll have to destroy them with a large attack force, four Basestars. We must not fail a third time."

Battlestar Ulysses, currently standing by at alternate emergency co-ordinates.

"Someone tell me, what just happened." Rebecca asked, leaning palms down onto the operations console, her eyes wide and skin paling.

"Best not to ask sir, were alive and that's all that matters." Ken said a small smile forming on his lips; some of the crew were so relieved of escaping death they clapped and shed tears. Rebecca couldn't help feeling relief herself, she was prepared to die, and that was the first time she really knew what facing death felt like, and it made goose bumps form on her skin, she rubbed her arms in return. "The virus Major? It's gone?" She finally asked her officer of the watch.

"It's gone sir... it must have, well sir I, don't know exactly what happened I... can look into it, and make sure the trace program is gone." She stammered.

"Good." Rebecca reached for the station phone, and pressed the announcement switch patching her across the ship. "This is the Commander, what just happened is being looked into, but we're still intact. Station officers submit all system analysis data and damage reports to combat, the ship will remain here until all functions and systems are secure, thank you." She placed the phone back into the receiver, and breathed out, then turned her attention to Ken. "Colonel, set up a standard CAP around the ship, and page Captain Raven to report to the wardroom, you have the deck." She began to make for the CIC exit.

Brig Cell 1-C.

"Perhaps your past can be atoned Captain. God has shown, his love for his creations, you see faith can bring you the ultimate salvation." Leobon began his preaching, and the marines were now genuinely feeling superstitious dread, could this Cylon be telling the truth after that miraculous happenstance?

Val was already on his feet; he played to the tune of the Cylon and felt ashamed for it, throwing away his dignity to live. He realized he was being manipulated all along, how this Cylon found a chink in his armour and ripped it open disturbed him the most. He was ready to kill this monstrosity of nature, but disposing of a prisoner without Command authorization was an illegal act. He was prepared to accept the consequences and lowered his hand to his sidearm, but he heard his name over the ship wide speakers.

"Paging Captain Bonen, Captain Bonen please report to the wardroom ASAP, thank you."

"Out of the Cell, don't let anything this fraking toaster has said influence you, it's the enemy." He managed to say in a low husky voice. Leobon's words twisted into Val like a knife, and he couldn't stand the pain. "Proof of God is nothing more than speculation and denial isn't it?" Val snatched the transponder back into his grasp. "Go to hell, you frakking machine." He responded with all sincerity, and Williams put the heavy shackles back around his wrists. The men left the cell, and Val made sure five marines were guarding the observation space and the outside access before he made his way to the Wardroom, feeling completely unsettled.

Wardroom.

Rebecca wanted answers, and she paced impatiently back and forth in the lavishly furnished room, her mind racing in a thousand different directions. And she knew Captain Bonen would have some interesting things to say. She still could not wrap her mind around how Cylons could have taken human form, it was a stretch so surreal she was still unsure if it was true, but the proof was there, and a nauseas feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. She managed to take a seat, and tapped her foot as she thought about their predicament. She then discovered a startling truth; there may very well be other survivors, military or civilian in Colonial space, trying to escape. It's only been over a week since the attack, and the chance of finding anyone still alive was possible. How she didn't take this into account before baffled her, she was too focused on their own well being before all other considerations. The chances of killing literally every human alive was not plausibly realistic, there were billions of humans before the attack, and some would still be alive, it was only logical statistics. But she had to choose her actions carefully, she has her crew hell bent on revenge, and the idea of rescuing survivors was not a strong case in the face of that promise. More problems, more heartbreak, it all added up to one thing, human nature. She crossed her arms below her chest, she shut her eyes tightly, and before she decided she was crying, she tasted the salty tears in the corner of her mouth.

She may be a Battlestar Commander, but she was still, a human being with feelings, and a heart that could only endure so much before breaking down. Tentatively she reached to her eyes, wiping away the sorrow, and took a deep breath to steady herself. She slumped into the couch, and delved into her past to reform her current condition, and find her source of personal strength.

Rebecca Cain was born into a world of personal gain and status. She grew up on Tauron in a life of luxury and unequivocal debauchery. Her youth was the hardest to endure; she experienced a life devoid of any kind of childlike notions of joy, and was plunged into the life of political forays of public medium and deceitful privies. Her father owned a multi corporation shipping industry spanning over three of the Colonies, racking in millions if not billions of cubits. The ultimate destination of these funds was unknown to her, but everywhere she was taken was a parade, people smiled and touched her endearingly. Her father explained the benefit of these tours; her future would be secured in the hands of the most powerful influential people of the twelve worlds. Rebecca began to despise these ramifications of her father's wealth, and would not accept any platter offered to her.

As hard as she tried, the influence of Seraph Cain preceded her, and at her lowest points in any endeavour were simply rectified with well wishes and fixed translations of actual fact. When she was fourteen her mother died of leukemia, and was left with only a bitter father who fell into alcoholism. He remarried soon after, and only invited whole new problems into an already complicated life. Her sister in law Gianne Cain was the newest addition to the family through Seraphs second marriage, and Rebecca didn't want to have much to do with her. But over time she grew close to her, despite her own personal goals. When she turned twenty six, she joined the military to follow her aunt Helena Cain, who she idolised as a woman free of social intervention and declared her own interest and path away from the tapestries of the family bureaucracy of power. She was told otherwise, but refused to believe it was just another enterprise to stretch the hand of the family in the affairs of the Colonial military.

Despite her beliefs, she was scrutinized by others in the service, rumours always spread surrounding her and her families far reaching grasp into the affairs of major enterprise. But she felt truly free in a disciplined and honourable field, where nothing was handed to you without earning it. She had a choice between two fields which interested her, Vipers or strategic command, and she chose the route which would put her into the CIC. During her first year of fleet academy she met Kenneth Reid under the strangest circumstances, or rather the luckiest kind.

The incident happened a decade ago. The day started as it usually did for Rebecca, early morning briefings and strategic war games. Everything was graded critically, and it was the responsibility of the student to plan and co-ordinate their own battle tactics in computer generated scenarios. She usually graded third from hesitant restraint to commit fully to a sound tactic for fear of losing more men, but in her mind it mattered completely, what's the point of sacrificing more to achieve the same outcome with less? The instructors knew what family she belonged to and seemed to fear that, and kept their honest opinions to themselves. This forced Rebecca to have to solve every flaw in her plans on her own, and correct them to her line of thinking, which often worked in her favour.

The day ended soon to her relief and she could retire back to quarters. The halls of the academy were covered in plaques with the names of every officer who graduated and went on to War College to serve on Battlestars, along the opposite wall were all those who died in the first Cylon war, and stood always in memorial, she could occasionally see flowers set next to it. This was the only academy known to have it, as Picon was the home of the largest military community among the twelve Colonies. She shared the room with two other females, one training for Vipers and the other engineering. She grabbed a black duffel bag kept safe in her lock box at the foot of her bunk, making sure she had everything for the night. She grinned, and set it back into the metal box, when she sat upright on her bed one of her roommates settled down next to her, eyes sparkling.

"So, ready for tonight? I heard that the Columbia is shipping out tomorrow, and the Viper jocks want one last get together with some fleet cadets." She made a husky growl causing Rebecca to blush. "Yeah all set, I'm not sure I should do this..." She was poked playfully, her roommate was in fact six years younger and experiencing everything a woman at that age normally would. She often pressured and pulled Rebecca along with her.

"It'll be fun Cain, we won't get caught, I know the MP's, and they'll look the other way while we mysteriously disappear for the night. We'll be back before sunrise; Gods were getting so frakked up!" She squealed, and Rebecca rolled her eyes, she has had her share of alcohol in the past, all those political and company parties. She was treated like an adult at the ages ten and over, so why couldn't she try to act like them? She got into drinking at a very young age, a child had no business at any of those events, but there she found herself anyways. And she helped herself to the alcohol on display without anyone realizing a drunken adolescent laughing at every lame and dumb joke told. "Right, no problem, just come get me when it's time to go." She smiled. Rebecca was sought after by men, and for years she turned them down, but lately she had no such strictures, and allowed herself to partake in human beings most basic need. She didn't feel ashamed, and didn't realize she was doing it to spite her father and standing, and the night would prove nearly fatal because of it.

She killed the time by reviewing and studying more battle formations and fleet wide tactics, something way over her head, but she wanted to learn as much as possible to get into War College, which would take three years if she didn't fail any classes and score high in skirmish tests. She swore she would do it, because she knew she could accomplish her goals. She was reading over old Cylon War battles, when her roommate came back into the room. "Oh my Gods Becky, you're still studying that crap? I mean what's up with you?" Rebecca opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted. "Ok get your bag; we'll change at the hotel." She turned and left her lying on the bed, she sighed, truly not feeling in the mood to intertwine with a random Viper pilot.

'I won't drink tonight' she decided. She swung her legs over the beds edge and pushed off, stretched and walked to her lock box to collect the duffel bag containing her revealing silk black dress and makeup. She met Sophie near the academies east exit, used for supply trucks. She was touching the sleeve of one of the MP's, a wide grin was set on his face, then he coughed as Rebecca approached, trying to regain his composure.

"So you both have until the next rotation, and that's in exactly six hours. If you're not back, well you're on your own, and we never let you out. Got it?" The other MP remained quiet, and his eyes scanned the area, the east exit was out of view from anyone who could see two cadets being illegally let out from the base. Rebecca nodded, and the MP unlocked the gate. "Have fun girls." He winked at Rebecca, and she forced a half smile. They only had to walk two kilometres until they caught a ride from a passing car, and were taken into the small city known as Rorik. It was modern but out of the way, and catered to mostly all the military personal stationed near it.

The car pulled up to the end of the street with the hotel in sight, and they walked over to it. Sophie would rent a room when the two went on their escapades, a place to change and dress back into their uniforms before stumbling back to the academy. Rebecca undressed and slid into her black silk dress which kissed her curves and left little to the imagination. Soon after the two left the hotel and made their way to the bar where a quarter of Columbia's Viper pilots were binge drinking before shipping off for another six months of border patrol.

They approached the entrance and suddenly a man ran out onto the street emptying the contents of his stomach, his friend ran after him laughing hysterically, both were in civilian clothes, but from Rebecca could make out they were two of the Viper pilots. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, and walked around the duo into the loud and smoke hazy room. Sophie whispered into her ear, and pointed to the tables where the pilots were enjoying their last night on solid ground. Rebecca glanced at them, dozens of empty bottles occupied the tables they sat around, and many of them were laughing and acting rowdy as expected. Rebecca recognized some of the woman sitting with them, cadets from the academy, who they got out was beyond her. Sophie tried to lead her to the tables, and already some of the pilots were staring at her hungrily. She in turn fingered the side of her brow, and moved away to the bar itself.

In the corner two men noticed her immediately. "Now that is one hot piece of ass." He was breathing heavily. His friend turned to follow his gaze, and smirked. "Looks like someone is lost, what you think Yuri? Slummin' it?" Yuri craned his neck and shook his head rapidly, shaking the cobwebs from his head. "I think so, and she's just standing there alone, she needs a little company. Watch my back..." His friend laughed and nodded, fingering the nine mm tucked under his belt. Yuri made his way to the woman, already taking in all her features, long slender legs, defined frame, and flawless skin. His eyes travelled up the rest of her, settling on her breasts a moment, biting his bottom lip. Her hair hung loosely falling onto her shoulders, and he pushed his way to get next to her. In the corner of his eye Yuri's friend watched them talk a moment, and raised his brows when she slapped Yuri's face, and made for the door, Yuri looked directly at him, and motioned to follow, he took another sip of his beer before getting up to follow them out.

Lieutenant Kenneth Reid was tired, he finished his tour of the Battlestar Pacifica and decided to rejoin fleet academy to further his command experience. He felt it was the right choice, he wanted a command of his own, and was willing to go back to get it, forsake his future as a pilot. He was getting old so to speak; at thirty six he felt the time pressure. He had a week before the new semester, and was just able to get back in. He would be taking advanced tactical command and operations, and the facilities at Picon fleet academy were second to none. He arrived back at fleet HQ two days ago, and wanted to relax. The downtown core of Rorik city was the best he could find, it was between fleet headquarters and the academy, but it bordered more on town then city. It was late, and began heading back to his hotel. He wasn't big on drinking, and never really had been. His family has a long history of military service, and he was proud to serve his Colony Gemenon. His parents were killed near the end of the Cylon war, killed in action, leaving him and his sister on their own. It was a hard life, and he had his share of fights growing up.

He sighed rubbing his temples walking down the sidewalk, all the shops were long closed and the street lights bathed the buildings in a dull hue. He turned the corner onto the street his hotel was located, probably a rundown shack with soiled sheets. He noticed a bar across the street from it, and stopped, a strikingly beautiful woman was trying to escape two rough looking men who kept harassing her with crude remarks, he was about to walk into the hotel until it got physical, the apparent leader grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the alleyway. It took only another second until Lieutenant Reid was running full speed after them into the shadowy alley.

"You frakking bitch! You're gonna have a taste of Yuri, and then Felmen will take his turn!" He punched Rebecca hard in the stomach, causing the wind to be knocked out of her, she couldn't scream. He roughly grabbed her hair, and began taking her further down the alleyway; the smell of trash was strong. Rebecca tried to fight back, she managed tearing at the face of the one called "Yuri" taking away a price of his face, he cried out in pain only to increase his abuse. Then Felmen pulled out the pistol and pressed the barrel sharply into her face. "Shut the frak up, and take it. We may even let you live, but anymore of that shit and you're dead." His breath was foul with beer making bile rise in Rebecca's throat, she glared at them with fury. Yuri laughed then licked her face, and began undoing his belt.

Before he got any further a rock came out of nowhere smashing into the side of Felmen's head, he reeled in pain falling to the concrete. Yuri looked down at him in sheer surprise, but the blow to his nose crushed the cartilage, and he fell back as well. Rebecca pushed away to escape, and saw a man who blended perfectly with the dark come to her aid. "Stay back! I'll handle these bastards!" He told her sternly, and then turned just in time to see the gun lowering on him, but he snapped his leg out and his foot kicked the weapon from the hand of Felmen, followed by Ken's knee connecting with his head, knocking him out cold. Yuri was on his feet and came swinging, but his drunken state made it easy for Ken to finish him quickly. It took only minutes and he left behind two broken men. He reached down a hand to Rebecca, and helped her onto her feet, tears wetted her bloody face, and she sobbed against his shoulder. "Come on, I'm getting you out of here." He said soothingly, then picked her up and carried her back to the light of the street. The news of the assault on Rebecca Cain travelled through the news networks like wildfire, and attracted many powerful people. Her Father came within days, but her Aunt Helena Cain, was there the next morning when she heard about her niece being attacked.

Rebecca woke a changed woman, for the first time in her life she was afraid, brought down in pain to reality. She had almost been brutally raped and murdered, and if not for the heroic actions of one man she would be dead. The white ceiling of the hospital greeted her eyes, and she took in her surroundings. Hospital heart monitor sat close to her, and she could feel the burning of her injuries, she knew her skin must have been scraped off from the concrete while she was dragged away. She lay comfortable in a bed and could see only one person in the room, sitting next to her, eyes closed and looking haggard with worry. The rank insignia of Commander stood proud on her collar, and her uniform was slightly wrinkled now, no doubt from sitting all night.

"Auntie?" She inquired, and Helena's eyes opened and she stretched, offering her a small smile, and rose to sit next to her on the bed. "Hey sweetie, it's me, I'm here." She ran a hand through Rebecca's hair. Ever since her sister died leaving a young Rebecca behind, she took it upon herself to act as a mother when possible, and her feelings for her niece were strong, as if she were her own daughter. "I thought, you were out on assignment." Rebecca asked, and Helena shook her head and replied "Frak that, I ordered a jump here when I learned about this. Let me worry about the consequences, I know how to work the admiralty." She grinned, then her face tightened, and she clenched her jaw. "The ones who did this to you, I made sure they are going to get what they deserve. No doubt Seraph has the same thing in mind." Rebecca then thought she really didn't want to know, but then she remembered the man who came to her aid. "And that man, who was he?" Helena pursed her lips and nodded. "Lieutenant Kenneth Reid, he just finished a tour as a squadron XO on the Pacifica." Rebecca could hear shouting from outside her door, and Helena followed her eyes to it. "Reporters, I'll handle them. Yes, that man has impressed even me, and it won't go unrewarded. Saving you has put him on my good side, and that's a rare thing. You can meet him later when this settles down, but for the meantime, you'll be here until the Doctors clear you. Seraph will be here any day now."

Hearing her father's name made her nervous, she could never truly know what her father's agenda was, and if he would simply use this as a publicity stunt to raise his own status further. She loved him and hated him at the same time. "And, are you staying?" Helena tilted her head and nodded, and reached down to hold Rebecca's hand. Helena Cain wasn't the touchiest kind of person, but didn't mind at all when it came to her family, especially Rebecca; she held a soft spot for her. "The Admiralty will be angry with me for leaving the patrol line, but I made sure someone took my place before I left. So I can stay until they send for me, a couple of days at the most. You have my full support, and never hesitate to ask me for anything. Seraph may have his wealth and power, but not the kind of respect I have, and influence. But, that's a discussion for a completely different time." She snorted lightly, and then shook her head; thinking about Seraph Cain provoked her defence and made her irritated. "Right now, you should try to go back to sleep, I need to deal with the press, get them out of your hair for now. I'll be back later." She squeezed her hand before standing, and then headed to the door; she turned to look back at Rebecca before opening the door into the frenzy of reporters who raised their voices a few decibels with questions. Soon she drifted back to sleep, and awoke the next morning.

A woman in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck seemed to be checking Rebecca over. "Ah good morning, how are you feeling today?" She asked with a small smile, holding a clipboard, pen in hand. Rebecca breathed in, "Better then I was, thank you." She nodded. "There isn't any sign of penetration from the attempted rape, and you've suffered only mild scrapes and bruises, you can be out of here in two more days. After that we'll just need to prescribe some pain medication and dressings for your scrapes to prevent scars. I'll check back in with you in a few hours." Rebecca nodded, at least she wasn't afraid to call it an attempted rape, because that's exactly what it was, and she found herself sobbing alone. Another hour passed and Commander Cain came back to visit her. She smiled softly at Rebecca. "Are you feeling hungry? We can get some lunch, and don't worry about those reporters; my men tossed them out on their asses." She chuckled when Rebecca smiled knowingly at her. "Sounds great, I just need... frak, my uniform." Helena reached down beside her bed and low and behold was her duffel bag. "Your roommate, brought this in. Care to tell me what you were doing out there after night call?" She inquired with a quirked brow. Rebecca felt ashamed at that moment, what could she say? She was out to party and have sex with servicemen? She wouldn't lie to her.

"I snuck out, against regulations, and-" Helena raised her hand as if saying stop, "Just promise me, you'll never do anything of the sort again." Her demeanour was dead serious. Rebecca honestly felt inclined to agree, what she did was against even her character, "I promise." Helena stared into her eyes with her brown orbs, and nodded crisply. "Good," then relaxed. "Get dressed, and we'll get something to eat." She sat down as Rebecca entered the bathroom, and took off the hospital gown. She was horrified at the extent of bruising and scrapes across her creamy skin, her legs received the worst of it. She changed into her academy uniform and stepped out of the bathroom; Helena focused her attention back on her while sitting cross legged, and then stood. Lunch was pleasant; her Aunt referred to her the affairs she was currently engaged in with the fleet, her success made Rebecca proud, and only more eager to follow in her footsteps. Rebecca in turn told her of her studies and the newest family affairs, which were always something of interest to her Aunt despite her tendency to avoid talking about Seraph. Helena then told her she had to leave for fleet headquarters for a new assignment, turns out leaving her post opened up a better opportunity. She left out any detail of reprimands, and said it had been handled already. Helena Cain embraced her gently and wished her well before leaving with her marines, and Rebecca walked around the hospital.

When she finally made her way back to her room, a man was knocking on her door; she narrowed her eyes trying to think who it could be. She approached him and he turned, and looked surprised. "Well hi there, caught me I guess, I was just coming to visit you." He reached his hand out to her. "Lieutenant Kenneth Reid, good to see you're up and about." He smiled, his teeth a bright contrast to his dark skin, no wonder he blended in so well with the shadows, she thought he was a ghost at first. She found herself smiling brightly in return, and shook his hand. "It's, so wonderful to meet you, again, I guess." She chuckled lightly, "I'm in your dept, and truly you saved my life." He smirked. "I'm just glad those thugs didn't do worse before I got there on time, I'm not the kind of man to let things like that happen." Rebecca realized how handsome he was, his blue Colonial uniform did his obviously muscular body justice. She realized she was staring before he coughed, seemingly amused. "Care to go sit somewhere?" she blinked embarrassed. "Yes of course."

They walked outside where a beautiful maintained garden was kept, and sat on a wooden bench. "My Aunt, I mean, Commander Cain, told me you just finished up a tour on, the Pacifica?" He nodded, and made himself comfortable on the bench. "Yeah, I actually talked to her for a few minutes yesterday. She seemed quite pleased with the outcome of the situation, and told me my future was in good hands." He shrugged, and Rebecca realized her Aunt would dip her hands into his career, she wasn't sure that was a good thing or not. "Piloting Vipers has been my passion for years, but the pull of command has always caught my eye, and it's now or never. So, I'll be joining the academy again, and work my way to the top." He grinned. From that point on, Rebecca and Ken grew quite close, and realized early on that they would be together in the chain of command, simply because of that bond. Three years later they were accepted into War College, and graduated with exceptional grades. They went on to serve aboard warships for three more years of active duty, and Rebecca was promoted to Commander soon after, and given the Ulysses, the newest ship in the battle group 89.

So many good years, years of meaning to Rebecca, but recent events have pushed those memories so far into the back of her mind she thought she would turn into a different person. The loss of her Aunt was the worst thing to endure, she loved her deeply, and she was dead. She didn't even realize Captain Bonen had already sat down, and she looked across the wardroom and saw Ken sitting down in a chair a few feet from her instead. She blinked in surprise. "Ken?" He nodded and closed his eyes, then got up and sat down next to her on the sofa. "You've been staring at the carpet for an hour, the Captain gave me his report, and I relieved him, he looks like he has been through hell dealing with that Cylon." Rebecca tilted her head, and looked into Ken's eyes, her closest friend. "I'm sorry about, screaming at you Ken; I don't know what came over me." He let out an exasperated sight, and shook his head. "It's alright Rebecca; you were nearly killed, again." She nodded, and then chuckled. "Don't you mean third time?" He didn't find it funny, but simply shrugged.

"I was thinking about, all those years ago, when we first met. Do you think we've changed? Were not the mischievous duo anymore?" He grinned then, "Wow that does bring some things back, well I guess were just how we saw ourselves back then, stuck up, stodgy and strict like any of the toughest Battlestar commanding staff." Rebecca rubbed her eyes, and then swallowed. "Well not exactly." She smirked, and he laughed softly. "So, I suppose I should hear about the interrogation, how wonderful." She remarked dryly. Ken nodded, "As you would expect, it's nothing good," He handed her the report. "Basically the Captain relates how manipulative and cunning it is with psychological games, and the preaching of his God. When I asked him if he had been manipulated, he avoided the question like a plague, but insisted on getting rid of the Cylon for the greater safety of the crew." Rebecca read the report, and then glanced back over to Ken. "No, we need it for intelligence, if Captain Bonen has been affected by it, then we need to replace him with someone else. The biggest question, I think on everyone's mind, is how we came out of that alive. Do I want to know? No I don't think I do, we have other things to consider now. And one of those things is if anyone who survived the attack could still be alive, and trying to find a place of safety."

Ken scratched his face, and then sat up slightly in the sofa. "Rebecca, you have to consider, what we would do with any civilians? Were not babysitters, our jobs are to defend the Colonies, and we can't be straddled with ships that would need constant protection. I mean, you know we have trained for scenarios like this, and no matter how unlikely they seemed at the time, they're completely relevant. Gods know, I want to return to Gemenon and see if my sister is alive, but the fact of the matter is, reckless lines of thinking only gets you killed. After all, we have over 1800 people aboard, and their lives are affected by our decisions." Ken was right; she was letting human emotion cloud her judgement. "Well we can keep an eye out for them while we maintain our own objectives. Now, I want the ship ready in two days; let's make sure all of our systems are working soundly. The Cylons will expect us to attack that base now, and will probably have something unpleasant in mind. We'll find different targets for the time being, and attack Dogma when appropriate." Ken agreed, "Also, I need to get some sleep now, I'll see you in the morning Colonel." Ken rose as she did, and saluted, he sat back down after she left, and began to read the report over again shaking his head.

Rebecca felt strange now whenever she went into her quarters, that eerie feeling knowing something almost terrible happened here, unnerved her, but she was certain that feeling would pass eventually. She now had two marines posted outside her quarters every minute of the day. She walked to her bedroom, slipped out of her uniform and undergarments, and stepped into her shower. The water felt soothing, and loosened up her aching muscles. Her ribs still felt terrible, and every breath was painful, but she thought she was getting used to it. After the long shower, she felt clean, and slipped into a silk nightgown that ended a few inches from her knee's, and climbed into bed. That aching sensation of when one's body tries to settle was excruciating with her injuries. She reached over to her end table and found the medication Doctor Barsec gave her. She took two and popped them into her mouth, and swallowed them down. She yawned, and a deep sleep enveloped her.

Authors Note: Gianne is a character whom Lee Adama was engaged to on Caprica prior to the attack. (Black Market) Who was in fact pregnant, tying her to the Cain family seemed to be an interesting avenue, and will open lots of interesting character interactions in future chapters, hope you enjoyed!