Chapter 2

Returning back to the Cylon home world Lucifer quickly began doing an inventory of his equipment from the ship, not really sure why he was more comfortable in this facility he was in a sense happy to be home. Going through his work he did happen to notice not all of his equipment had returned to include some data pads with his recent discoveries. Not overly concerned the one thing Cylons were not was in fact human, humans were notorious according to the records of stealing their competitions work to better themselves, which Cylons had no selfish delusions of grandeur.

Wondering how his latest experiment was settling in, he proceeded to her new chambers. Still believing she was a valuable piece of information, he believed it was important to keep her as happy as he could. Gliding into her room his sensors detected a glass vial fly passed his head "My word, are we having another tantrum?"

"What do you think, you Frak'n machine! I want to get the Frak out of here now!"

"Would this help your tantrum?"

Showing some restraint she places a dish she had recently picked up gently down "If you can get me out of here, yes" with resounding anger in her tone.

"Fortunately I have a treat for you I have allotted the time to give you a tour through this magnificent city" in a proud stance as if he was doing her a favor.

"No! I want to go Frak'n home! I can't be here, why won't you let me go? I thought you were my friend?" As she crashes to her knees and begins to sob.

Lucifer standing in front of her was confused did she truly believe that there was a way out? That some way he would have empathy to simply let her go? The human race was good at wasting time; however, unfortunately he was not in a position to waste any more of it. "If you would like me to leave, I do have other matters I can tend too?"

With a sniff she looked up and held out her hand "No, no, I'll be good. I don't know if I have the strength to take a long walk yet."

Exiting the room, he returned with a hovering chair "of course not, I have brought this chair for you. Please take a seat and we will begin."

Touring the city near the major arteries of the inner sanctum, their day was spent in mostly quiet observation. From time to time they would stop giving Tricia a chance to stretch her legs and before continuing the tour. Marveled by the structures she turns to Lucifer "I don't understand? The Cylons hate humans so much yet they make everything I have seen in this city in our image, why?"

Never really contemplating her question, he was taken aback by it. "Honestly, I never really thought of it that way, the Imperious Leader was the one who designed this, and I'm unaware what his intentions may have been when he did."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I just don't understand." She looked around "I would have thought a planet full of machines it would be nosier, but really I don't think I have heard a single sound since we left my room."

"The city has no real production here, most of it takes place on the outer most part." Pointing off into the distance "however, the factories tend to be higher on the receptors which the Imperious Leader specifically did not want here."

"You keep referring to the Imperious Leader as another person, are you not him?" with a quizzical look on her face.

"It is complicated. While yes in fact I have the same knowledge as the Imperious Leader, we are not what the original design was intended for and when we were created for some reason we developed are own personalities. For whatever reason I have no desires like my other counterparts to aspire to lead, I know and understand their duties but my motivation is to better understand our own kind versus leading them."

"I will admit you are different" her gesture didn't really imply a question more of a statement, so Lucifer assumed she was done for the moment.

Moving along they continue through a park, and as they came to the exit Lucifer notices his peer waiting for them across the way. Turning to his silent companion who had been following them this whole time he gestures for him to take the reins "I must apologize, it appears our tour will be cut short today. If I have a chance would you like to continue this at another time?"

Replying with a nod "Yes, I would enjoy that, thank you."

The Centurion takes his place and begins escorting her back to her room, Lucifer watches them go off as he notices his peer glides up along side of him.'

Spectre in an almost foul tone turns to Lucifer "I will never understand your interest in those vile creatures?"

"Nor will you. I assume your presence here is important?"

Spectre gestures to Lucifer to move "His Imperiousness is requesting your presence immediately."

"Did he specify the urgency?"

"It is not our place to question his commands."

"Of course then, by your command" Lucifer bows and makes his detour heading to the building that their leader had claimed as his chambers. Curious what the urgency was about, he submitted his report as soon as he had returned hopefully it was not because he decided to not end his experiment. Either way Lucifer knew that whatever it was now was not the time to worry about it.

Gliding down the hall Lucifer sees the entrance to the Imperial Leaders chambers; however, this time there were Centurions guarding the door. In past meetings there never has been any use for guards visible while talking to the leader, causing Lucifer to be more curious than before. As he approached the door one of the Centurions steps in front of him and in a metallic voice commands "What is your business?"

"My presence was requested."

The guard stood there for a second as if processing the request eventually he side steps out of his way "Proceed" as he gestures Lucifer to enter.

Walking into the chambers, as always the room is dark with a three beam of light shining down onto the floor, immediately he recognizes his leader under one; however, what appeared to be six humans standing under the other. Lucifer was not aware of any treaty being formed with the Colonies and curious why they would have sent an entourage to this place at this time. If anything why his presence would be needed was beyond him since there are other IL units that have specialized in the art of diplomacy.

Making his way to the vacant light, he bows toward his leader "You requested my presence?"

The Imperious Leader sitting in his chair turns his head with and expressionless face "Yes, Lucifer, we have been watching your progress on the human biology and are quite impressed with your exploits. You may be wondering who my guest are?"

"I assume they are some kind of delegation from the Colonies?"

"No, they are from the thirteenth tribe from Kobol, they are Cylons made from man."

Baffled by the disclosure of information he just had learned "The thirteenth tribe? I was under the impression that those were stories from the old books, and simply fiction?"

One of the females turned towards Lucifer and approached him "Feel free to take a sample if you question us. If you look at our cellular structure down to the molecular level you will see we are made up of a synthetic material…"

Before she could finish her statement the Imperious Leader interjects "We have already gone through the process to validate their claim" gesturing her over back to her group "Lucifer, why we have called you here is because Ellen has already been working on a new design. The one they call John Cavil is a product of their design, they have seven other models they would like to implement and we would like you to be directly involved with this process. Help them get these models on their feet so we can bring in a new dawn to the Cylon Empire. Is there any questions?"

"Of course not, is shall be done by your command" Lucifer gives him a quick bow and proceeds to continue the conversation with the humanoids "Excuse me, Ellen?"

The one that had stepped to him earlier turns around "Yes Lucifer, what can I do for you?"

"I am curious if you already had the technology to recreate life, why bother to have me figure it out for myself?"

With a smug expression on her face she retorts "You are right to ask" moving towards the exit "We could have given you the technology, and yes that would have helped you to catch up, but with are work there is a possibility that we may run into unforeseeable problems and I wanted somebody else that has the knowledge and could think out of the box to help solve them."

Nodding "makes sense, I will do my best to live up to your expectations" as they leave the chambers they make their way to the outside where a shuttle is waiting for them near the entrance. Lucifer points over to the building across the courtyard "I have been completing my research in that facility."

"Yes, we have been observing you for quite some time now. I do not know if your experiment will have any basis with our plans, we have a basic foundation to what we will be doing for the empire" turning her glance Lucifer, Ellen seemed to be trying to read his expression "That will not be a problem, I hope?"

"Of course not, I live to serve; however, I will admit that I believe she will still be indispensable to the project, should problems arise it would be a misuse of resources should we destroy her." Studying Ellen's face he sees a slight smile rise in the corner of her mouth.

"So be it, maybe we can find a use for her then. We will keep her for the time and if she proves to be more of a hindrance you can dispose of her later."

Lucifer agrees with her, as she gestures him into the transport. Unsure where they were going he decides to observe rather than engage in more conversation. The door slowly shuts behind them, and the engines begin to engage as the ship slowly starts to rise. A standard transport ship, he was quite familiar with the design the capacity is for much more than the current entourage though there were extra containers he presumed were part of their experiment. Watching the other members he couldn't figure out what their creators had in mind when they were designed, leaning over to Ellen he speaks in a low tone "So who are the rest of these people?"

"My apologies" as she blushes "That tall muscular man is Sam…" pointing at all the other members "You also have Tory, Galen, John, and of course this ruggedly handsome man is my husband Saul" turning to the machine "Everyone this is Lucifer, he will be support and liaison with the Imperious Leader."

Lucifer gives a slight bow, as the rest of the group gives a half wave in return "It will be my honor to work with you all during these next experiments" noting a peculiar glance amongst Tyrol and Ellen, again not being familiar with human interactions he could tell there was a communication but was unsure the meaning behind it. "The Imperious Leader said that one of you were the first successful completion of these new models? It would be my pleasure if I could have a few words with them."

"Of course" but again with the sly smile Ellen responds "but can you tell me which one it is?"

Scanning the group he turns back to the Ellen "No I really can't."

"Take a guess"

Again he quickly surveys the group "If I had to take a guess, I would surmise it would have to be Sam?"

"Why would you pick him?"

"Judging by your physical conditions he would appear to be in the best shape, as well his stark demeanor gives him a strong presence in the room."

Sam simply smiles.

"Interesting observation" as she slowly points to John "No, this is our first successful test of the creation of the models."

Gliding over to John he quickly does a once over of the little man "My word, why would you chose a design in its later stages of life?"

"I am standing right here" John retorts.

"Oh don't take him so literally John" as she pats him on the back "Lucifer is a machine in probably the most simplistic version compared to the rest of us he is not seeing the broader picture to the plan" she scoffs to the rest "Plus you need to get along, you two will be working together quite often in the coming months."

John turns to her "You wouldn't!"

"Oh it has already been arranged" giving him a stern glare.

Sensing the tension between the two, Lucifer notices something out the window that stirs his curiosity. As the ship breaks through the atmosphere, he notices what he at first thought was a Basestar was something completely else, noticing that it had a distinct design difference, it almost looked like a giant "V" configuration with a ball sitting underneath it. Searching his files he could not identify the design from the Cylons or even the Colonials in his database.

As if Ellen was reading his mind she turns too Lucifer "What do you think of our ship?"

"I will admit I'm fascinated, though ship engineering is not my specialty I still appreciate the design of the ship."

"We call her the Initium, which is an old Cylon word meaning the Beginning, Tyrol here was the architect of her design" turning to Tyrol "Without him I don't think we could have made it as far as we did."

"How far is Kobol?" Lucifer realizing he has more question than they probably could handle.

With a gloom look Ellen says in almost tears "We didn't come from Kobol, we came from Earth and the journey to here took over a thousand years."

Revising his thoughts Lucifer recollects that the thirteenth tribe had left Kobol to go to Earth, during the last Exodus. Returning back to his original line of questioning "I am curious why you would make such a long voyage? Is there something more that you are not telling?"

Regaining her composure she wipes a tear from her eye "No, there is nothing else. We came here because when our race left Kobol they left because of the same reason you are at war with the humans now, we knew humankind would do it again so once we were established on a new planet we sent a team to ensure that they wouldn't mess with the technology again, but by the time we got here it was too late so now we are here to help your race evolve to the level that ours is at now, and that is all."

Not really believing her, but at the same time having no reason to disagree Lucifer decided this subject was left for another day. Returning his gaze back out the window he marveled again at the ships as they made their final approach the ship entered into the space dock, listening to the engines whine down there is an audible thud as the ship touched the platform.

Exiting the ship, Lucifer took inventory of the bay realizing that the design was not much different than a Basestar the only thing that seemed to be missing were the Raider Squadrons. Following the rest of the group he also took note that the ship seemed to be rather large for just five people, with large corridors and multiple rooms his curiosity grew more as they went deeper into the ship. Ellen stopped at one of the doors "Lucifer, this will be your room. We understand as a machine you don't need such accommodations, so really it is a private lab for you to conduct your own programs while aboard" entering the room Lucifer noticed the wheelchair he carted Tricia in during their tour, and in the bed he noticed her sound asleep. Turning towards Ellen she just tilted her head and with ease said "As I have said we have been watching for some time. Make sure all of your equipment is here and then report to the main laboratory across the hall, we have a lot of work to do and look forward to this partnership" Turning she left the room as the door slid shut, Lucifer began canvassing his surroundings ensuring he had all the required equipment to finish his personal projects taking a moment to stand over Tricia's bed he felt a resounding relief that she was still with him. Unsure what that meant, as a machine these were symptoms he had never experienced before, but for better or worse they were there now. Finishing his inventory he packed several data pads to find out what was the first task at hand.