Medical Building, New Kobol, 1530 hours.
A doctor had just changed the bandage over Talia's gunshot wound while she was thinking about Roslin telling her that she and some of the senior staff were leaving for another world, and that if she needed to talk to anyone Vice-President Hunt would be available. Talia remembered saying that she was bored, that she wanted to do something.. at least to atone for her part in what was happening in Caprica. She told the President that she had her doubts about the Ori, but the resistance leaders were taken in by the promise of enlightenment.. as were many of the resistance fighters.
"But killing innocents… I…," said Talia as she looked at Roslin and Hunt before the former left for Lozan.
Talia remembered Roslin telling her that she was only one person, and that she didn't know who she could trust. Roslin and Hunt then said that they'll get something set up in under a years, that the Earthers were helping them to fight Cain so that they could rescue their people from the radioactive worlds of the Colonies.
Back in the present, Talia recalled just nodding her head before she was left alone once again. She knew that the Vice- President was busy, but there was an idea in her head that was festering. It was something she knew that could help their cause and she really wanted to do something to help her people. Finally making her choice, Talia picked up the red call button that lay next to her and pressed on the top. She then lay back on her bed while waiting for the doctor to come to her, which he did five minutes later. Talia looked at the man who smiled at her and asked her if she was doing alright, if she was still feeling pain.
"N…no," said Talia shaking her head. She knew that it had taken some time, but the language of teh Earthers that the Priors had downloaded into her mind was slowly allowing her to make sense of words and numbers, and their meanings. She instinctively knew what to say even though it took her some time to say it, "sp… speak vice-pre…presi.. presi.."
"You want to speak to the Vice-President?" asked the doctor.
"Ye.. yes," said Talia nodding her head, "and.. and.. Col… Col… Colonel Finn."
"Alright," said the doctor nodding his head, "just stay put, I'll get them for you."
Talia looked on as the man walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind him while she looked back up at the ceiling and went over what she wanted to talk to the Colonel and the Vice-President about.
'I know they'll say it's crazy,' thought Talia to herself, 'but it's the only way to get some allies on Caprica itself. Maybe find someone… someone's to help me.. to help us convince the people that the Ori are lying. The Earth President and that General O'Neill person confirmed yesterday what President Roslin told me about the Ori… they want worshippers. They want power…. If I can convince people. Convince the resistance leadership than we can fight back. We can have a chance at beating them.'
It was twenty minutes later that Riley walked back into the infirmary building with Colonel Dixon who was with him in the control room, along with the Vice-President and a translator.
"Miss Gallo," said Colonel Dixon while Riley nodded his head.
"Speak… speak Colonial?" asked Talia while the two Earth officers nodded their heads before looking at the translator who told them that he'll translate everything she says.
"Mr. Vice President," said Talia while the translator translated for the Earthers, "I was thinking about… well, maybe I should be sent back to Caprica."
"Why?" asked the vice-president as he grabbed a seat and pushed it to sit next to Talia while Riley and Colonel Dixon just stood there silently listening to what Talia had to say.
"I'd like the opportunity to go back and try to convince people I hope I can trust that the Ori are dangerous," said Talia as she looked at Hunt, and then at the Earth Officers, "like I have already explained, the leaders of the resistance have been taken in… but I feel that maybe some of the fighters are scared for their lives. Maybe some of them need to hear someone speak out or…"
"That hasn't worked always," said Colonel Dixon while the translator was telling Talia and the Vice-President what the man was saying, "if you're found out; or if the people you trust are found out.. listen, our people tried to get the aid of someone to fight the Ori before they came to this galaxy. But they failed… we couldn't prevent them from coming, and the people who tried to help ours were killed."
"I want to do something," said Talia pleading her case, "maybe gather intelligence or… I don't want to remain here helpless. Please."
"These Prior can read people's minds," said the Vice President, "that is what the Earthers have said. They will know that you asked to be let go and you will be punished for it. In addition… look, Miss Gallo… I understand you want to help, and you feel that by going back to Caprica you will help greatly. But the truth is that you know the location of this planet. Even if you haven't seen the address to this world, I fear that the Priors will search your mind and… and you will lead them here where we are still vulnerable."
"But…," said Talia when the Vice-President shook his head. It was then, after listening to the translation, did Colonel Dixon come forward with an idea.
"Yea," said the Colonel, "we may be able to help with that. But, I'll have to talk to my superiors first. Mr. Vice-President? If you'd excuse me?"
"Wait," said the man before Colonel Dixon could turn around, "you are saying that there is a way to prevent the Priors from looking into her mind?"
"Kinda," said Colonel Dixon while Riley looked at the man before leaning in and whispering into his ear.
"The Galaran Memory Device?"
"Yep," whispered the Colonel before he told Hunt that he'll be back after talking to General Landry.
The Vice-President could only nod his head in response before looking at the woman who was lying down on the bed, and wondering what the Earthers had under their sleeves.
Lozan, Orban Colony World, 1555 hours.
It had been nearly fifteen minutes since the Cylons, Colonials, and the Five were separated from each other and asked to take some deep breaths, and calm down while they absorbed the new information they just learnt from teh Orban, and Triana.
While the groups were talking among themselves, Tory and the other Five were on one side in the tent, the dark skinned woman jerked away from Anders hold on her shoulders. She looked at the other four and told them that if the Earthers found nanites in their bodies, then there are nanites in their bodies; that they have had to reason to doubt the Earthers technology.
"And after what just happened with Starbuck, do you really think that we'll be accepted in New Kobol?" Tory asked as she looked at Colonel Tight, Ellen, Anders, and then finally she turned to Chief Tyrol, we don't belong with them."
Colonel Tigh's face twitched at the way that Tory said the word 'them' and stepped forward in a threatening manner just as Tory stepped back and Chief Tyrol and Anders held him back.
"Them? They're our people," said the Colonel as he was pulled back just as two Earthers noticed the commotions, and were heading their way, "we're part of this fleet and.. and we are not Cylons. We are…"
"We're Furlings" said Tory as she put up her hands in frustration, "we're not Cylons. Triana said we're different and… and tell me how did she know who we are? How did she know our names and…."
"Easy, easy," said Colonel Mitchell who ran to them with Willow and stood in the middle of Tory, and the others, "take it easy."
"This is all because of your people" said Colonel Tigh as he looked at Colonel Mitchell, and then at Willow, and then he glanced over at Commander Adama who was standing with Roslin and talking to Starbuck with Helo. Colonel Tigh then looked at Willow and told her that she herself could be a Cylon, that the Commander said he saw her decades ago and her results could have been tampered with even though her blood was taken in front of the very first delegation that arrived on what would later be called New Kobol, "all lies; you've ruined lives and…"
"Colonel" said Colonel Mitchell with the device on Willow's BDU translating for them, "I understand that this is all new, this is all too much information. But it's something you needed to know. The truth of the matter is that we weren't going to bring it up, we weren't gonna tell you or your people about the five of you. But with Triana running into a team on her Earth; a team with both humans and Cylons conducting archaeological digs, we have no choice but to tell your people. We'd have to tell the Cylons because something like this can't be hidden, we've already told the Cylons in that team not to report this to their Council. We needed your peoples to learn at the same time so that neither one can hold this information over the other."
"We… I want to stay with Triana" said Tory as she looked at Colonel Tigh, and then at Colonel Mitchell and Willow, "she knows who we are, she said she can help us and… and I want to know. You've just seen what Starbuck tried to do, what if she tells others about us when we get back to New Kobol? What if…?"
"We'll be discussing all that later" said the Colonel who interrupted Tory.
While the Five Furlings were talking with Colonel Mitchell and Willow, the Cylon Council and the D'Anna who was still the prisoner of the Colonials were standing under the shade of some trees close to the tent. They were out of earshot of the other groups as they spoke to each other, while Teal'c and Vala where standing some distance away guarding them.
"Have they treated you well, sister?" asked the Council's D'Anna as she rubbed the arm of the one who was still in custody of the Colonials, "the Colonials and the humans… I suppose we call them the Tau'ri."
"Tau'ri?" asked the prisoner D'Anna.
Natalie discretely nodded towards Teal'c before telling the prisoner D'Anna that the Jaffa had referred to these Earthers as the Tau'ri. Prisoner D'Anna nodded her head as Natalie explained everything that's happened to them, prisoner D'Anna looking at her sister and the others when she listened in shock to what happened to her people.. that they were nearing extinction due to the Or attacking them with powerful weapons; she continued to say that they were decimated when they went to the Colonials for help, she talked about how the Earthers had protected them from the firepower of the Pegasus and the Galactica and gave them the coordinates to the planet that they christened Eden.
"Eden," smiled the prisoner D'Anna, "a new beginning."
"But we have some news" said Leoben as he glanced at Triana who was speaking with the blonde Erath officer and one of the Orban, 'I think she said her name is Merrin; but, I was created in the image of Triana's father and.. this is strange. Very strange.'
"Leoben?" asked Natalie when she noticed a far away look in his eyes. The woman then looked at the person her was looking at just before he shook his head and looked back at Natalie. Natalie looked at Triana and recalled what she told Leoben just a few minutes ago before she looked at her friend while thinking to herself that it was unbelievable that the both of them were created in the image of a father and a daughter, 'the others would be either sickened since I know some of them have entered into relationships of pleasure on Eden to cope with the stress; and others will be excited, while others while want to question the validity of those claims.'
"Ummm…," said the prisoner D'Anna as she looked at both Natalie and Leoben, "what is this news?"
"Oh, right," replied Leoben as he looked at the other woman, "it's the Colony. After the attack, we separated from Cavil's faction and… and he must have taken over. You know without the hub, and the resurrection ships that there is no way to track the Colony. And we what little connection we had through the Baseships hybrids."
"He must have changed something with the jump drives" said Simon with his hands folded over his chest as he looked at Triana, and then back to his group, "the Tau'ri have told us that Cavil attacked two non-Colonial worlds. One world was just a farming community where only one person survived, a little girl who managed to use the Gate to the Stars to head to Earth. And the other world's been ripped apart, but they don't know how many people survived."
"I… I honestly don't know whether to be upset or happy that humans are being punished" said the prisoner D'Anna shaking her head while she rubbed her forehead, "I know these… Tau'ri saved you all and gave you a new home, but I've seen the look on the faces of the Colonials… and like it or not, humans will stick together and… and look, I admit they found me and didn't harm me. But they're still humans and…"
"There was another of our sisters that the Tau'ri found on a ship that was left behind by the Pegasus" said the Council D'Anna as the prisoner D'Anna nodded her head before telling them that she was there when Roslin revealed the truth from the evidence given by the Tau'ri. But she said that she hadn't read anything on another of their sisters being found. The Council D'Anna told her sister that the Tau'ri hid it from the Colonials, she said that they wanted to help both races… that they didn't want to see the extinction of two peoples. The Council D'Anna continued to say that the one they had found was heavily traumatized and that Simon and two of the models in their line were councelling her, "she's slowly recovering but, we know she'll never fully recover. These Tau'ri could have handed her over to the Colonials, but they didn't. She was sent to us and we've been taking care of her, with the humans on Eden helping us here and there. We're more advanced than the Colonials so we've been able to handle more while requesting less; but these Tau'ri are still helping us recover."
"If I can get the help of Trina, some human scientists, and some of my other copies we found in our fleet on Eden" said Simon, "then we could have a way to procreate; we can grow our civilization again. As it is, we are immortal as machines but…. like Triana said, our programming's made to grow and evolve. That is what we have to go, grow."
"It won't help in the short term" said Natalie as she looked at the Colonials who were still talking silently, before she noticed Dr. Burke and Dr. Gardner walking towards the Colonials, Dr. Burke holding something in her hand that looked like a small back box from where she was standing. Shaking her head, Natalie then looked over her shoulders at her fellow Council members, and then at the Colonials while they were talking to the linguist and the female archaeologist, "but now, with what happened to us… we know what the Colonials are going through. We killed their people and…."
"It was genocide" said Leoben, "and God's already punished us for it."
"That's what we tell ourselves," said Natalie as she leaned against a tree and rested her head on the trunk while crossing her arms over her chest, "we need to heal; it's going to be difficult and… nearly impossible."
"Are you thinking of doing what I think you're thinking?" asked Boomer as she placed a hand on Natalie's shoulder.
"We apologize" said Natalie, "it seems so empty now; but that's what I think we should do. Begin a healing process, even if the Colonials continue to hate us because of what we did."
"They'll never apologize for enslaving our ancestors" said Simon as Natalie looked back at him.
"Does it matter in the grand scheme of things" said Natalie as she looked back at the Colonials, "we killed billions; the First war killed millions on both sides, and we responded by murdering billions. If we knew then what we know now… Oh God, if we knew, we could have had an alliance and fought the Ori together."
"They would have refused" said the Prisoner D'Anna as she looked at the Colonials, and then switched her focus to Dr. Gardner and Dr. Burke who were walking towards them, "they hated us with a passion, I doubt they'd accepted any alliance."
"I don't know," said Natalie as she stood up straight as she too saw Dr. Burke and Dr. Gardner heading towards them while the other Colonials were heading towards the tent once again, "maybe they would have, maybe not. Maybe if we stayed in our sectors in peace, we could have warned them or… it's too late for thoughts like those. What happened, happened… now we look to the future."
"You haven't steered us wrong, Natalie," said Boomer.
"Here we go then," whispered Natalie as Dr. Burke and Dr. Gardner talked to Vala and Teal'c before the four of them headed towards the Cylons.
In the meantime, Helo stood with the video camera that Dr. Burke had handed to him. He and the other Colonials were talking with Starbuck, who told them that seeing Tory demanding to be let go, and then looking at Anders and imagining what she did with him on New Caprica made her lose her mind just for an instant. She said that she wasn't even aware of what was going on, that her body was on auto-pilot while she thought about all the times she spent with Anders. Helo put his arm around her shoulders when she said that she felt herself reaching for her gun, she remembered the guns that were pointed at her; then she heard Roslin's command to hand her the weapon.
"I looked down at it," Starbuck had said, "I wanted to kill myself and.. and it must have just fallen from my hand. I…"
Starbuck then started to rub her hands on her face while mumbling that she didn't know.. that she had no idea that Anders was a Cylon. That if she knew, she'd never have done the things she did.
"None of this is your fault, Starbuck," said Commander Adama as he sighed before rubbing his forehead, "my best friend, my X.O – he's a Cylon and.. and I didn't know. My Chief is a Cylon.. and Ellen… Ellen too. None of us knew."
"Tory too," said Roslin.
Helo just stood there as he recalled everything that was said while he walked over to the nearby Stargate pedestal and sat down on the stairs. He looked up and saw that the talks had begun again in earnest, but right now… he wanted to listen to the message the mother of his child had sent him. It was Dr. Burke who told the Colonials that Sharon had recorded a message for him; it was something that surprised the others who looked at Helo, who reached for the machine after Commander Adama gave permission for him to see the message.
That was before Dr. Gardner told the Colonials that they were ready, and asked if they wanted Starbuck to remain… or if they wanted someone to accompany her back to New Kobol.
"I'm unarmed," said Starbuck as she raised her hands, "my weapon's with Helo, and…. it's difficult for me, alright?"
"I understand," said Dr. Gardner, "which is why…"
"I… I think I can handle it," said Starbuck with Commander Adama telling Dr. Burke and Dr. Gardner that if Starbuck reacts the same way again, then he'll order her back.
While Helo was listening to Sharon's message, the meeting between the groups had begun again. This time, with Natalie standing up and taking a deep breath before speaking. She looked at her own people, and then at the Earth officers, followed by the Five, and the Triana. Finally she stopped at Commander Adama and Roslin.
"The First Cylon war ended with millions dead on both sides of the conflict," said the leader of the Cylon Council, "we know why that war started, and we all know the resulting armistice ceased hostilities. As machines, we should have just stayed on our side of the border and explored space… we should have tried to be the best we could be."
"But you didn't, did you," said Roslin as she leaned forward and glared at the Cylon who shook her head.
"No," said Natalie, "some of us couldn't let go of our anger; we wanted revenge for what happened to our ancestors. I can tell you that I don't know who created us… but they gave us emotions. Through those emotions we felt angry for the suffering that the Centurions had gone through at the hands of the Colonies. We were told we were better… that we were the way that God would bring his vengeance on the Colonies. We knew… Cavil knew, that the Colonials would never stop. So we infiltrated every level of their society, learned everything we could so that we could blend in. And Cavil was right, they were planning missions against us… they were planning for a war; at least the possibility of a war. We decided to strike first; to show the humans… to show the Colonies that their children were coming back home with a vengeance."
"And then you nuked twelve worlds," said Roslin in anger, "billions of dead men, women and children."
"Yes," said Natalie as she looked at Roslin, and then at Triana, "we did. We let our emotions get the better of us, and… and we lashed out in the most horrible way possible. There is no excuse; there is nothing that can bring those people back."
"No," said Commander Adama as he looked at the ground, and then up at Natalie who looked back at him, "nothing can bring them back."
"We should have been exploring," said Natalie as she looked at everyone, "exploring outside our own star systems and maybe we'd have found life on other words. But we were focused on revenge; and I can't help but think that if… just if we weren't so short sighted that maybe Cylons and the Colonies could have pooled our resources to help fight the Ori. Instead, the Colonies are gone… and we're nearly extinct."
"Yea" said Starbuck as she leaned back on her seat and glared at Anders, and then at Natalie, "I don't see a problem with you people being extinct."
"I know," said Natalie as she looked at Starbuck, and then at Roslin and then at Triana, followed by Roslin again, "what I have to say will never bring them back… I know it will not close the wounds, but it's something that needs to be said; we're sorry."
"That's something I never expected," whispered Willow, leaning into Colonel Carter while she mentally talked with Faith, who was on the other side of the tent with Vala and Daniel.
"It's a start" whispered Colonel Carter who watched Starbuck rise to her feet in anger with her hands rolled into fists. Willow could feel the mental alarm bells coming from the other members of her team before she 'told' them that Starbuck's mad, but not thinking about doing anything rash. Colonel Mitchell then mentally spoke through Willow, telling them that it was better she vent but they still had to suggest that the Five be taken to the Beta site, along with the D'Anna that they found on the Galactica.
"You… you're sorry?" said an angry Starbuck, "you.. you're kidding me? Right?"
"We cannot bring them back" said Natalie before she glanced at Triana, "we gave in to our emotions, and… and we lashed out. There's no excuse."
Natalie then looked at the angry Roslin, and the quiet Adama who was just looking straight ahead at her. However, the humanoid Cylon couldn't tell if he was angry, or If he was upset. She couldn't see emotions on his face; it felt as if he switched off.
"I can tell you that when we were created," said Natalie, "we heard whispers of five unknown Cylon models. It was always denied.. Cavil always told us that there was a reason our creators didn't want to know about them; didn't want us to think about them; that they were a myth. The war.. the Second war involved seven models… I know that we never saw the final Five until today. When we had the Resurrection Ships, and the Hub, some of us covertly searched the database for the Five… we knew we weren't supposed to but we did anyway. We forced ourselves but there was nothing; we found nothing. We thought that maybe they really were a myth like Cavil said."
"And you want us to believe that?" asked Commander Adama softly, but gruffly, as he looked up at Natalie.
"It's the truth," said D'Anna, "I've searched for them… I knew there was something missing but… I had to look."
"You may not accept our apologies," said Leoben, "and there is no reason you should; and we don't expect forgiveness."
"Oh, you won't," said Starbuck.
"But," said Natalie ignoring Starbuck while taking one step forward, "I am asking that the Five; Colonel Tigh, Ellen Tigh, Sam Anders, Tory Foster, and Galen Tyrol, not be punished for something they did not do. They didn't participate in the war; all of us would have known if they did."
"And we should just take the words of murderous machines?" asked Starbuck.
"Because it's the truth," said Tory as Starbuck looked at her and then scoffed before she sat down again.
"Madam President," said Natalie softly as she looked at Roslin, "please don't harm them."
"President Roslin" said Merrin, "SG-1 and the SGC have offered to bring the Five to their outpost for the protection of the Five. I realize that emotions are heightened among your people, and we've seen the results of that emotion losing control. Tomin, Kalan and I have spoken with SG-1 and if their Beta Site is unsuitable, the Five can stay on Orban if they wish. Either way they will be safe."
"And you'll still be able to question them to your heart's content either on Orban," said Colonel Mitchell, "or at the Beta Site. It's your call on how you want to tell your people this, or if you want to tell your people this; but we're asking that the Five remain safe, and alive."
"D'Anna stays with us" said Roslin as she looked at the prisoner D'Anna who was now sitting behind the Five.
"She's had access to high level areas of the Galactica" said Commander Adama, "she knows her secrets and… and there is no way that I'll have her sent back to the Cylon homeworld to tell them about my ship."
"She can stay with us on Orban as well, Commander" said Kalan.
"Or she can stay at the Beta Site, for her protection" said Willow as the Commander looked at her, and nodded his head, "it's up to you to choose. Either way, they are still your captives… just that they'll be housed somewhere else; it can be at us at the Beta Site where Triana can help them try to remember their pasts, or she could help them on Orban. Either way, they won't be in the hands of the Cylons."
"But if Triana proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that these are the Five" said Natalie, "if she can get their memories back, then I request an audience with the people who created us."
"Why?" asked Roslin.
"We want to know why we were created" said Natalie, "we want to know why we're here. When we talk with the Five on the Beta Site, or on Orban, you can have guards listen in. If they hear us ask questions about the Galactica, or the address for your planet… then they can shot me or anyone who asks. And we won't resurrect… we'll have permanent death."
"I want to know what Baltar knew about the CNP program" said Commander Adama who stood up and looked at Natalie, "the President said that he was working with one of your model's, she witnessed an interaction back on Caprica; so I'd want to know what he knew, and… and what made him do it."
"That can be arranged" said Natalie nodding her head, "I'll talk to her, and the meeting can be held on a neutral world."
"That's possible" said Dr. Burke.
"In exchange for sending Colonel Tigh and the others to Earth's Beta Site" said Roslin as she stood up and looked at Dr. Burke, and then at Colonel Mitchell, "we request that a small delegation be allowed to visit Earth, please. It's a small concession and…"
"We can't" said Colonel Mitchell, "I'm sorry; but we can do the next best thing."
"The Goa'uld have kidnapped people from Earth after they brought your ancestors to Kobol" said Dr. Burke, "but they kidnapped many others from the same region and took them to other planets; one of these Goa'uld is called Pelops."
"The builder of Olympus" said Roslin while Commander Adama looked at Starbuck, and then at a surprised Colonel Tigh… before looking away again.
"He kidnapped humans from the region your ancestors were taken from" said Dr. Burke, "and took them to four worlds that we know of; Argos, Tiryns, Aegis, and The Land of Light."
"We encountered his experiments before" said Daniel as he recalled what happened to Colonel O'Neill on Argos many years ago, "but he took humans to those words and… well, the humans thrived differently on those worlds."
"Which we'll explain at another time" said Willow, "but the artifacts and buildings, monuments they built to worship this so-called god; are similar to the ones we have on Earth, and well taken care of. It's like visiting Earth, but it's another planet."
"And I'm sure that they'll like to meet your people" said Dr. Burke, "but going to Earth? For both Colonial's and Cylons will be a no-go, at least for now."
"President Roslin?" asked Dr. Gardner.
"Very well" said Roslin, "but the Cylons cannot get those addresses; for the same of…"
"That's not fair" said Natalie, "we have as much right to discover what's out there; we just found out that we're not alone in the galaxy. I mean… we're not going to go set about exploring immediately, we need to deal with our population, with the attacks on the humans, with the Colony… once we're stabilized, then we'll want to explore."
"And destroy more humans?" asked Starbuck while Natalie shook her head.
"The Cylons will be given safe addresses as well" said Colonel Mitchell who looked at Natalie, "first world is gonna be Orban; for the both Colonial and Cylon. They'll still be archaeological trips to Cylon or Furling, depending on how you look at it, Earth for both Cylons and Colonials. And there'll be archaeological trips to Kobol once we've found its Gate to the Stars address for both Colonials and Cylons."
"Kobol's the home of humanity.. or at least our version of humanity and having Cylons there and…," said Roslin.
"Kobol's our home too," said Natalie, "you heard what Triana said, humans and machines were…."
"As much as I loathe to put myself in the same category as the Cylons" said Triana closing her eyes and shaking her head while the two main groups looked at her, "they are the descendents of my race; they were created using my people's technology… they are what my people used to be. They have as much as a right, as you, President Roslin to visit the planet."
"Thank you" said Leoben.
"I didn't do this for you" said Triana as she looked at Leoben, "both of your people need to see where you came from."
Willow then looked over at Faith, who was on the other side of the tent, and sighed.
Willow: "This is gonna be a long day."
Faith: "Oh, yeah."
Kobol, Cylon encampment, 2300 hours.
Tessa was still shaking from what she had seen in the cave yesterday afternoon. The humanoid Cylon ran as fast as she could, she didn't care about the blood that was still flowing from the wound in her neck… all she wanted to do was get as far away from the cave as possible. She knew that she was hours away from the camp, that she had gotten deeper that the others had wanted to since they believed that help would be coming from their brothers and sisters very soon. It was Cavil, one of the three Ones out of the ten humanoid Cylons in the makeshift camp who saw her panting as she ran into the camp, and then went past him without any sort of a greeting; just a look of terror in her eyes as she ran to her sister model and hugged her before falling apart sobbing.
Between her trembling body and difficultly speaking due to her sobbing, Tessa was only able to give the ten humanoid Cylons bits and pieces of what happened; of what she saw. Tessa heard one of the Cavil's say that what she described was a blood demon, and that there was no such things.
"I've seen that ridiculous program while I was one of the Brothers in the Temple of Poseidon," said the man as he looked at the sobbing young woman while his arms were crossed over his chest, "and I will emphasize on the part of it being a TELEVISION program. What you saw was a trick of the light, your processor of a brain playing tricks on you and…."
"Is this a trick of my mind!?" shouted Tessa as she looked back at Cavil and pointed to the bite marks on her neck.
"Dear God," said Sophia, the other Number Six who was holding on her sister and looking at the bite marks which had by now stopped bleeding. She brushed her fingers over the two points.. smudged a bit of blood on her finger tips before looking at it, and then at Cavil and one of the Sharon's and a D'Anna, "it… it's not possible but…"
"It's a trick," said Sharon as she kneeled in front of Tessa while the Cavils shook their heads and walked off exasperated. In the meantime, D'Anna told Tessa that there was no one on this world… that if there was anyone, why hadn't they come out to meet them. She said that if, in the very unlike scenario, that there were still humans on the planet… then why didn't they see the Colonial's ship crash.
"Maybe they were too far away," said Sophia while she held her sobbing sister close to her tightly, "look at where the Colonials crashed, we are further away now than we were months ago. Perhaps… D'Anna, you know that God created us… so what's not to say He didn't create the Blood Demons?"
"You can't believe that," said Sharon as she looked around nervously before looking at Tessa again, "Tessa, are… are you certain and…."
It was then the entire group stood up, while Tessa yelped and her eyes opened wide, when they heard the sounds of howling and growling far off into the distance. Even the Centurions who were watching the perimeter activated their arm weapons and scanned the immediate area; ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"What was that?" asked one of the Sharon's as she scanned the distance, as did the Cavil's.
"We… we need… need to get out of here," said Tessa while her body was shaking, "go… go back to.. to the Colonial crash site and… and…"
"Oh please," said Cavil as he looked back at Tessa and then back towards the trees in front of him again, "it's been thousands of years since humans lived here…. they probably left some of their pets here. The things howling are the descendents of those things. You're a Cylon… a machine, and we don't fear."
"You didn't see what I saw," said Tessa.
Back in the present day, Tessa was spending an uneasy night in the camp. She was sitting alongside her sister and scanning the area for any movement while the Cavils and the Leoben were standing to one side, talking. Suddenly, the entire camp became alert when they heard growling all around them; with the light of the fire in the middle of the camp, they were able to make out movement in the trees. Tessa stood up and looked around, as did the others, and swore that she could see the light from the fire being reflected off yellow eyes. The group of Humanoid Cylons gathered close together, with Tessa nervously asking one of the Cavil's what he thought about her warnings about blood demons now.
"These aren't dogs, or animals," said Tessa as she looked around, the group was unarmed… their weapons being the twenty Centurions who were surrounding them with their wrist cannons pointed into the trees. Tessa and the others noticed that the Centurions were still scanning the area, as if they were searching for the targets… it was then that she suspected why they hadn't started to fire yet.
'They can't see the blood-demons,' thought Tessa to herself before she spoke out loud, "Centurions, according to the legends… these things are already dead. They emit no body heat… search for humanoid outlines with bodies at room temperature. Fire on only those… do not fire on anything emanating a body temperature. And the Colonial legends say that…."
"What are you…," said Cavil when the Centurions suddenly opened fire into the trees. The group then heard the snarls and growls of animals, as what they called Blood demons, ran towards the camp, some of whom were mowed down by the gunfire, only to get up against and snarl at the Centurions and at the people they were surrounding.
"We have to leave!" shouted Tessa as she put her hands over her ears while she looked around her at the other Humanoid Cylons doing the same. She then saw what seemed like dozen of creatures running towards them from all sides, like a very ravenous army… an army that could very well tear the humanoid Cylons apart. Tessa turned when she heard a scream from behind her.. she stumbled back onto the ground and then almost immediately got up again before she and some of the others stepped back from five of the creatures who were bleeding heavily from bullet wounds, before they jumped onto two Centurions. They looked in shock as the Centurian retracted it's wrist canons before using it's shard finger-like appendages to grab a creature and then slam it into another one. Soon, another three Cylons cam to help their comrade when they were set up upon too by heavily bleeding creatures. This time there were ten of the blood demons trying to take each Centurian down; and Tessa and her brothers and sisters turned around to see that even more were running through the trees.
They were making the sounds made by hungry animals as they ran towards the group.
They saw the Centurions continue to fire while some had gone to hand to hand combat. Tessa had heard the legends, she had seen the Colonial program known as 'The Protector' about a super powered female who battled the forces of darkness to protect the Colonies; Tessa thought that they blood-demons on the show were just a myth.. that demons that drink the blood of humans was just ridiculous.
But here it was; she was witnessing the impossible.
She and the others heard a crack behind them. Turning around, they saw one of the Centurions fall onto the ground without a head; one of the ten blood demons holding it in his hands before he glared at the Humanoid Cylons and threw the metal object onto the ground. One of the demons then bared his fangs and growled before leaping towards the females when shots rang out. The Cylons ducked to see that the creatures head was getting shredded before finally vanishing in a poof of dust.
"Dear God," said Leoben as he and Tessa looked behind them as two Centurions raised their arms slightly and fired again. The bullets shredding the heads of some of the demons, turning them to dust while the demons attacked the Centurions, they recognized that they had to get rid of the metallic beings before they could get to the flesh and blood they craved so much, the same smell of blood that they hadn't tasted in thousands of years… the blood of humans; until now, all this particular group of demons had tasted was animal blood.. but now things had changed. One of this particular group had tasted blood and went to tell the others of her clan, now they wanted the humans whose blood had a odd but still familiar taste to it.
And nothing was going to stop them at night.
Tessa saw the Centurions defending them; she saw them killing many of the creatures with their cannons and by swiping their clawed hands through the heads of the creatures, however.. she also saw four more Centurions fall due to the sheer weight and combined strength of the monsters attacking them.
"I want fifteen of you to find us a way out of here!" shouted Cavil to one of the Centurions who was trying to shake off some of the creatures that were trying to destroy it. The old man could see two of the creatures grabbing its head and trying to pry it off the body, but having seen what happened to its partner, the Centurion quickly grabbed the monsters and then slammed them onto the ground before stepping on their heads, crushing the skulls and turning their bodies to dust. The Centurian then nodded its head at the Cavil before it wirelessly relayed the humanoid Cylon's orders. The Centurions then picked up the humanoid Cylons in their arms and ran as fast as they could, and as far as they should.
As they were running, Tess looked over the shoulder of the Centurian carrying her and saw the remaining metal beings crushing more and more of the demons that were attacking the group. She saw them slash at the demons when they ran out of ammo and, just before she lost sight of the group attacking the centurions and the group that was chasing them, Tessa saw two more Centurions fall while the others continued to fight. Tessa then looked up at the Centurion who was carrying her and whispered.
"I'm sorry about your brothers," she whispered, "I know this is difficult, but tell your surviving brothers with us not to relay the location of a safe place where we end up to rest. The creatures may back off, and follow the other Centurions if they happen to know our new location once we've reached it."
The Centurian looked back at her while it continued to run, it's roving red eye moving from left to right, for a few seconds before nodding it's head. Tessa then thanked the Centurion as they were taken to a safe place kilometres away from their previous camp, and towards the ruins of the old City of the Gods where the Colonial Raptor had crashed months ago.
'It's not over,' thought Tessa to herself as she relaxed in the Centurion's hands, 'I'm… I'm scared. I'm really scared that we'll die at the hands of these demons.'
Tessa then looked at the night sky and silently prayed that the other Cylons would come by soon to pick them up.
'I think there's more of these things,' thought Tessa to herself as she watched the ground beneath her feet fly past in a blur, 'they're going to come after us. I… I.. I don't want to die.'
TBC.