"Until every soul aboard this ship stops breathing, this war will not be over". – Admiral Helena Cain's speech a day after the attack on the colonies.
Near Delphi, Caprica
29 Years Earlier, a year after the fall.
Captain Kara Thrace walked through the thick Caprican forest, surrounding her was a squad of heavily armed Marines, as rain fell lightly on the Caprican landscape, now in the early stages of winter, Kara checked her map in order, Five clicks till' we reach Delphi, piece of cake, she thought.
She and a Marine Platoon from Pegasus' detachment were on the first ground recon mission since the rescue of the Caprican Resistance, made mere six months earlier, as the cylons had supposedly abandoned the colonies; Galactica had been sent back in order to find out if the cylons were really gone.
So far she and her marine platoon had walked eight miles and hadn't seen a single cylon, she wondered if they were really gone or if it was just an elaborate ruse made to make the fleet return to the colonies and wipe it out once and for all.
"I'm freezing my ass in here" Corporal Thomson commented.
"Amen to that" Sgt. Mathias agreed.
As they climbed a middle sized hill and made their way through the thick forest, she noticed that it didn't rain anymore, but that it was snowing, she had always loved snow as a kid but as it never snowed in Delphi because of the warm weather she had never been able to see it before.
Suddenly she saw a metallic glimpse in a clearing that was about a kilometer away from their position.
"Marines, we got contact" she whispered.
"Where?" Sgt. Mathias asked.
"10'o clock, a clearing near that hill, right side" she responded.
Mathias pointed the sight of her Mk59 Tactical Sniper Rifle; with the 8x Magnification scope she was able to clearly see a patrol of four centurions and two humanoid cylons, a Sharon and a Six.
"How many toasters?" Thrace asked.
"One bullet head and two skin jobs, range seven hundred meters" Mathias reported.
"I knew it, no frakking way they would have left the colonies just like that" Thompson commented.
"Maldonado, take out the " she ordered to Cpl. Maldonado, one of the Pegasus marines, which had brought an MkIII Buster anti-materiel rifle, which was able to take out Centurions in one shot although very heavy, the rifle had an incredible muzzle velocity of 1.800m/s.
Thrace took the rifle, set it up on the ground and activated the 12x thermal sight.
"Mathias, on my mark, take out the Sharon, I'll take the Six" Thrace ordered and aimed at the humanoid cylon.
"Ready sir" Mathias said.
"3...2...1" Kara took a deep breath "Fire" she whispered.
She pressed the trigger and felt the recoil of the anti-materiel rifle, a mere second later the bullet hit the six right in the head, she also saw the Sharon on the ground dead as a bullet had hit her right in the heart, the centurions were confused at the sudden attack, she took aim at one of the "bullet heads" and fired, the bullet blasted the centurion's head, making it fall to the ground.
"Good shooting sir" Mathias said.
"Thank you; now let's get out of here before the cylons start missing their patrol" Kara said.
370 days after the fall.
Battlestar Pegasus, in orbit of Ragnar.
Admiral Helena Cain looked at the DRADIS screen, the sound of the clear DRADIS gave her a strange sense of comfort, she was just starting her morning shift when the DRADIS beeped twice.
"Two unknown contacts, bearing one seven nine, karom four two, ten k-klicks away" Lt. Sorto reported from the DRADIS screen, suddenly the contacts shifted from unknown to marking "CYLON RAIDER".
"Set condition one, launch alert five, send CAP to intercept" Helena barked.
"CAP says they will engage in six minutes" Lt. Hoshi reported from his station.
Suddenly the Raiders disappeared from the DRADIS, sending a chill though the Admiral's spine.
"Raiders jumped away sir" Lt. Sorto reported from the DRADIS station.
"Godsdammit" she cursed.
Suddenly one large red icon appeared on DRADIS.
"Cylon basestar, bearing one five karom one eight, a hundred clicks away" Lt. Sorto reported.
"Launch Vipers, nav, take us in, time for some toaster shopping" Cain ordered with fierce determination.
Blackbird 2-5, in orbit of Caprica.
Cpt. Marcia Case looked at the irradiated world that used to be home to seven billion, she spotted what used to be Caprica-City destroyed, the crater of the fifty-megaton nuke that hit the city was visible from space.
She had been floating on Low Caprica Orbit for the last six hours, and she was extremely bored, she definitely hated recon missions.
Suddenly her DRADIS beeped twice.
As she saw two Cylon Baseships appear on her DRADIS, she spooled up the FTL drive.
"Time to get the frak out of here" she said to herself and her ship jumped.