Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Wireless/communication"

"Speaking in a different language"

"Reading a text"

Chapter four: Alliances

Day 38 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 3rd of March, year 2378, Starfleet / Colonial fleet, chasing after the Glalctica fleet

Peter Laird looked at the people that were apparently here for him. "Em, yes?"

"Good day. Commander Scott. Starfleet ship Challenger."

Most people in this large section of the Colonial civilian ship already had an idea who these people were, judging by their equipment and attire. So Peter, like most, was not entirely sure how to react to a human from Earth.

"Yes... em, hello. How can I help you?"

"No need to be afraid. We're here to ask you and several other people that we could use on our ships, based on your experiences and education, if you would like to come. You are an aeronautical engineer?"

Now some more Colonials got curios where this was going. "Yes, I indeed am that."

"Excellent. What is your field specifically? Any work with raptors perhaps?"

"Engines for smaller craft, vipers, raptors, but nothing bigger than a civilian transport ship."

"So only engines?"

"Primarily, but when you design an engine, you have to see it go through rigorous testing, including on a working raptor... so I have some raptor design knowledge."

"Excellent." She checked her PADD again. "It states hare you have a wife and daughter on the Scylla?"

That question got a reaction from a curtain that was pulled aside. They were after all standing in the main corridor in the hall and left and right were makeshift tents, to give some form of privacy. A woman peeked from behind the curtain. "Yes, I... me and my family were intended to..."

"A yes will suffice. Do not worry. They can come along with us. I won't force you, but the accommodations will be better and you can put that talent of yours to some good use again." Peter exchanged looks with his wife. "Take a few minutes to think about it, while I go find the other people on my list. But don't take too long."

About 15 minutes later, she found the other two pairs. Both married couples. And all educated in different fields. Two botanists, an electrical engineer and biochemist. The botanists would be used in hydroponics, the engineer can be used almost anywhere and the biochemist, while a much different specialization, can be used in their purification system, fuel processing, also hydroponics or even in the science labs on deck two. If only that deck was for now isolated due to their unique guest.

They all agreed to go with them, including Peter, once they returned to collect him.

As they left the main hall to the corridors that led to the different sections of the ships systems, they arrived at a small cargo room, but it was empty. Only four strange devices were attached to the bulkheads on all four sides.

Scott went to the middle of the room, while her MACO and marine escort remained, they would depart later. After all, some semblance of security had to remain. The Scylla, as some other civilian ships, was now less crowded, as the Colonial military already conscripted everyone that met their criteria, but was not part of a family unit. Starfleet's pickings here was just a drop in the bucket.

"Come. This won't hurt. Peter, you your wife and daughter come with me first. The rest after our departure. It's safe, I promise."

The Colonial civilians were baffled. How would you depart from this room anywhere?

So Peter's family entered the room as well. "This is Commander Scott. Four to beam."

"Confirmed, Commander."

As they rematerialized on the Challenger main transporter platform, Peter and his wife were almost panicking. Starfleet people anticipated this. After all, even Colonial military personnel did this the first time they went through this experience.

As they gently calmed them down, Peter's daughter, for the first time in a long time, actually laughs in her mother's arms. "Do it again!"

That got even them to snap out of their panic. Peter got his bearings again. "Were we... I mean, unless I'm hallucinating, were we... moved with some form of transportation technology?"

"You catch on quickly. Faster that most military personnel." Scott replied.

"How often do you do that?"

"In the past, not much. But it has proven to be a reliable technology." She then gently squeezed the girl's cheek. "Maybe later, OK sweetie?"

She picked up the PADD that Garcia left for her with the locations of all the free quarters on the ship. "Kara's old quarters. Nice. Jensen, once the other four arrive, show them to their double bunk bed room on deck three, I'll take the Laird family."

"Sure, Chief."

"Please, follow me."

So they did, to the main lift to get a deck lower. "Are you... I mean. Are..." His wife wanted to know, but didn't know if she could even ask these people.

"Are we from Earth?" She nodded softly, holding her daughter close. "Well, it's much more complicated than that, but while we are from a planet called Earth, we now know it's not your 13th tribe."

While they all got curious at this statement as they left the lift and continued to follow her, always observing the corridors and people walking in them, Peter, with a look from his wife, continued this line of questioning. "How can that be?"

"You'll get access to our historical database. I won't keep repeating myself for everyone. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, all of you will have a small briefing to get up to speed. Well, all but your misses and daughter. Now, this way. " They went past the escape pods section, past the airlock to the same location Kara was not too long ago. She reset the lock on the door and asked them to do the same that Kara once did. To imprint their fingerprints on the locking mechanism.

As they entered the now vacant quarters, the Laird family noticed the window first. "Is this a military ship or a civilian ship?" Peter asked.

"Neither. Starfleet didn't do pure military ships, prior to a big war. But, you'll realize how we operate tomorrow in the briefing. Now..." She went to the bed and pulled a second sleeping arrangement from underneath the main bed. This way, two people could easily sleep in one quarters, if during an evacuation, you'd have to double up. "I think you two can easily sleep here. As for the little one..." She eyed Peter. "I think you and I will have to take some time in a few days in the fabrication shop to weld together a bed frame for her. We have plenty of matrices. As for where..." She went to the back part of the room, where the wall did a small separation to the closet. "I think we can move the closet to where the shoes are and add a small curtain at the connection, to give her some privacy. I know it's not much..."

"No, no. This is better than most have at this point. Thank you..." Peter's wife said in a sad, but happy voice as she sat down on the bed with her kid still in her arms.

"Speaking of you... mind if I ask what your profession was back in the Colonies?"

"I was... well, nothing useful here, but I was a tailor. I had hoped to one day move up to fashion designer, but... well, some dreams are meant to die, I guess."

But Scott did get an idea at this. "Well, I don't know about a fashion designer, but a tailor we can use. Change of plans. I would have left you here and assigned the Quartermaster to come to you, once he had some time, to show you around, while I put your husband to immediate use, but perhaps we can do you both. And I doubt she will mind, if your girl stays with you. Come."

They moved through the ship to the other side of the primary hull, even passing the hangar where Scott and Peter will be going after this.

As they passed the laundry, the Lairds noticed the sign of the room they were heading to. "You have a tailor here?"

"For uniforms. Yes. But, since we have many civilians now to take care of, our ships will have to expand from mere uniforms as well." She activated the buzzer. Nothing. After a second and third attempt, she took out her communicator. " Ensign Alitia Kumar, where are you?"

"Commander, I'm helping in the laundry at the moment. Anything you need my services for right now?"

"Oh, so your already here... get out to the corridor, I may have some help for you."

"Help?"

"A Colonial tailor."

"Really? Sweet. I'll be right there."

A few moments later and she emerged from the laundry, steam following her out to the corridor. "Sorry, ironing. So, Kelly, what is this I hear you might have some help for me?" She noticed the small family next to Commander Scott. She explained the situation. "Sounds interesting. Ensign Alitia Kumar. Pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand.

"Em... yes, you too. Irene Laird."

Alitia then beamed at the girl in Irene's arms. "And who might you be?"

"I'm not suppose to talk with strangers."

Peter began apologizing. "Sorry, but all of this mess we're in and..."

Alitia waved her hand. "No problem. That was a good answer. Anyway, Kelly, how do you want to do this?"

"Irene stays with you. Well, she and the daughter. If you don't mind. Peter and I have an appointment in the shuttle bay."

"No problem. Should... I show her more than just my shop?"

"Please do. It'll cut the Quartermasters' time with them down as well. You know, the arboretum, mess hall, infirmary, those things."

"Excellent. Now, please, come inside. I'll show you the uniforms I work on, the materials, equipment, the works..." As she went inside first, Peter and Irene gave each other an affectionate kiss before he left with Scott.

Once they were inside, Irene put her daughter down, but kept an eye on her. The first thing she went for was the material that was rolled up in large quantities. Several colors, patterns... everything a tailor would need. Besides the cutting and sewing tools that were on a desk in the middle of the room. Alitia disappeared for a moment to her record office, only to appear again with a small bear toy in her hands. "Irene... I can call you that, right?"

"Yes, of course. Why... Oh, are you sure?"

"A toy is meant to be played with. And by a child. So yes, I'm sure." She kneeled down and extended the toy to the girl. She looked for permission from her mom, who smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, lady." She grabbed the bear and tested it out, by hugging it.

As Irene saw her daughter now distracted, she went to inspect the material that was available. As she put her fingers on some of the cloth, she rubbed it to see how it felt. "Silk?"

"Andorian silk. One of the finest."

"Andorian? A colony?"

"No, not a colony. Better wait till tomorrow. If you want, I can watch the little one, as you take the briefing in the morning with your husband."

In the hangar, Peter and Kelly arrived and he saw that two raptors had their entire armor stripped off. But he also saw several other thing. A craft he never saw before, was stripped down to the skeletal structure and its parts were all over the place. Additionally, several people were working on a strange device that looked like a white disk with an attachment point at one of its poles.

He also noticed that at least half of the people here had Colonial uniforms. Kelly went to introduce him to the people working here. "So, Peter Laird, before I throw you into the cold water, so to say, I have to explain this to you."

"Please do. Because if I had to take a guess, you're trying to assemble a raptor out of the parts of one of your ships, I assume."

"Hm, not a bad guess. Our shuttle pods are not useful against the Cylons. They are technologically superior, but in this case, that means nothing. They lack FTL, the biggest deal breaker. So were scrapping them for parts. And what will be left over, we'll use for our needs, but until then, our goal is to upgrade these two raptors with our technology."

Peter was getting the picture. "And an engineer like me can be useful here."

"Yes. See, the Colonial tylium engines are powerful, but not efficient. Our impulse fusion engines are the opposite. Extremely efficient and more powerful that yours, but the acceleration rate is much worse."

"So... what?"

"Well, we would like to add one of the two impulse fusion engines to a raptor, in the middle of the existing two. That way a raptor can switch between efficiency or speed. We will also mold the tritanium plates from our shuttles to fit the raptor."

"Is this tritanium that much better than the carbon steel plating we use?"

"Lighter, stronger, more durable, so yes. But the main goal is for us to add the small hull polarization module from the shuttle to a raptor. The modules were made to be compatible with tritaium."

"What is that hull polarization you mentioned?"

"Well, you do know that some materials gain or lose abilities as you put a current through them?"

"Yes."

"The primary purpose if this is that the tensile strength of the tritanium plating is increased by..., let's see, for a shuttle, by 800%."

He was impressed by this. "Wow. I can guess this ship were on has a much higher increase?"

"Yes. The updated NX class, 5500%. But only as long as there is power for this system. And we can't cover the entire raptor in it, The canopy for example. We would have to use ours, but that is easier said than done, as they would not fit on your design, so that may have to remain a weak spot."

Peter was getting the picture. "What else?"

"The small scale Phase particle cannons for weapons, if we can do it, a silent running mode, like I did with our ships, to massively reduce our delectability on Cylon DRADIS, and then there is that..." She pointed to the disk. "We took several comm buoys apart and are now trying to assemble a module that can give the raptor long range comm system and DRADIS. It would be a power hog and be detachable, if needed, but since we can only build so many of them, we'll have to not waste them."

"You are trying to make better raptor scouts."

"Exactly. Your raptors opened the door for us, with their small FTL system. These raptors would be used for prospecting, scouting and to keep an eye on the Cylons. As well as to expand our sensor range. Why deploy a big ship, if a raptor can cover it."

"Good idea. Would save fuel and time."

"Glad you like it." She handed him a PADD. "My notes on the matter. My raptor ideas, Starfleet shuttle pod design and all technologies we are going to use. Read this after were done here. Right now, let's go crawl into the raptor's guts. I want your input on some ideas."

Day 41 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 6th of March, year 2378, Starfleet / Colonial fleet, chasing after the Glalctica fleet

On the Bismarck, Helena Cain had her own quarters now, but even a golden cage is still a cage. She could not leave without an escort. She was given limited access to their database. For entertainment. And to get a better understanding of the galaxy that Earth knew.

But while Cain was still biding her time to see if anything can be done and waiting for her first session with Dr. Kumar, the time has come to wake their Cylon prisoners. Commander Hasapis, in order to minimize any fallout with Starfleet about their plan to execute their prisoners, decided to do it as humanely as possible. He had them put into an airlock, as they were still under the effects of the sedative, and slowly lowered the O2 to a level they could not survive. Then he vented them.

But Fiona wanted to see if a dialog could be reached. So Lt. Hill was playing diplomat with that centurion on the Challenger. And was getting somewhere, as the centurion was still enraged about the betrayal that was done to it and its brothers.

All the Starfleet prisoners were now moved to the larger brig on the Bismarck. Four large cells, now holding two Cylons each. The prisoners were still unconscious.

"Release the antidote to their cells."

It was Colonel Walker, who was doing this. O'Donnell had more pressing matters at the moment. The Boston, an intrepid class, as well as the remaining Delta Wing, the Mississippi, were found and being fixed, purged, manned and added to the fleet. And the three Delta Wings would be needed later for a much different purpose. Something Scott's engineers were already working hard on. And it is why Scott, after seeing how Peter Laird quickly caught on and helped with the new raptor project, that Commander Scott handed him the responsibility for it. She had other issues on her plate, including the Yamato. Once found, the other Yorktown class would be an issue. Her entire impulse engine block was blown off during the Romulan war. She was basically disabled at sub-light speeds. Only her RCS thrusters still worked. The only ray of light was that one of the two main impulse fusion reactors was still there, but everything else was gone. So they would need replacement parts. And the three Delta Wings were it. They'd have to use their parts to assemble a new engine. The rest would be used for parts in other fields and on other ships. As they were needed anyway. And Scott wasn't even sure if the three Delta Wings would have sufficient parts to get the job done. And Intrepid might have to be scrapped as well. But that was until they found it.

So with Scott dealing with one ship issue after the other, O'Donnell juggling the fleet, Sisko and Garcia still deployed to the Pegasus, to get the crew there and the new marines back to shape and help Kara as best as they could, Walker was tasked with this.

The other news were that while they had no Cylon contacts in the past three days, they found no Colonial contacts either. But they made another 500 light years. The highway was doing work for them. And according to their projections, they should be catching up to the Galactica fleet. And with the info provided by Spartacus, they were getting ready to send raptors to Kobol to get a look. Once in range. They hoped that even if they can't settle the planet, to at least get some water and nutrients from it.

The prisoners began waking up in their cells. They were still restrained with tritanium shackles as they began looking around.

"Where... what?" It was Gina who reacted first. "Wait... that man. Was it real?" She finally took a good look. "Frak, a cell. I'm in a cell, aren't I?"

"We all are." A Three remarked in the neighboring cell. "But I never saw a Colonial cell like this."

"People, we have a guest." The Four of the group said as he noticed Walker and his MACOs at the brig complex entrance. "And I don't think that's a Colonial uniform."

"At least some of you can think outside that programming of yours. Colonel Walker, United Federation MACO Corps." He kept the Earth part out on purpose.

The prisoners mostly were sitting now, so they all heard him say that. "Never heard of it." The Three scoffed. "Please, try harder. And if you say your that 13th tribe..."

"No, not the 13th tribe. We know that much. And one of you told us that."

Now that got him confused looks. The Three responded. "It would be Leoben with his God rhetoric, but I don't see his model here."

"No, not a Two, a Centurion."

"Now I know you are lying."

"Am I?" He held up the still intact memory chip and the talent inhibitor. "Imagine the centurion's surprise when we removed this. He is not happy. I think the word retribution was mentioned. But not against us."

"One tool that knows the truth will not make a difference." D'Anna said. Clearly she was asserting her dominance over the other models.

"All it took, was one centurion to spark the first war. But, then we accessed this chip. According to the data on it... well, I'll let you see it for yourself." He activated the monitor on his side of the brig. What was shown was the data from the chip, in binary coding. Like Hill and Spartacus saw in their first meeting.

The prisoners began reading this. And even D'Anna got angrier and angrier at what she was reading. This was not a fake. They were Cylon protocols. And the information on it, about the Final Five, was something even they didn't know about. "Cavil. That backstabbing bastard. We always thought that it was the Final Five who gave us the directive to not ask for them, but... this has his writing all over it."

Gina, who managed to stand up as her leg was mostly healed now, went closer to get a better view of the monitor. "But why lie to us?"

"I intend to ask him that, when I get the chance."

Good. The seeds of mistrust were laid. That was Fiona's intention. They say the truth will set you free. Well, let the Cylons be free. All the bloodshed that would follow was on Cavil and his lies.

"What will you do with us now?" A Five asked.

"We'll see." That was a lie. The Colonel knew exactly what Fiona wanted. They knew what they shouldn't. You could see the Three. She was seething. The plan was to, sooner or later, to stun them again, put them on a working heavy raider and let them find a way to a basestar. The truth will then spread. And who knows what will follow.

Gina, having read the text now several times, turned her attention to Walker. "Your eye. What happened to it?"

"War."

"With whom?"

"None of your business."

"I see." She was trying to get information, like a good spy, but was also genuinely curious. "That man, Hill was it? Can I see him?"

"He's busy playing diplomat with that centurion of yours. Better get comfy here. You ain't leaving for a while. Also, all of this was recorded and the centurion saw it all."

As they left, he could hear the arguments begin. No point at telling them that Cain was on this ship as well. As that would scare this Gina more than anything. If she knew Cain, she knew of her temper. And that mercy and forgiveness were not in her vocabulary. After all, Walker did hear from his Colonial counterpart, Colonel Belzen, what Cain was saying. Rape, torture, slow death... among other things.

On the Challenger, Hill was now taking Spartacus on a walk. It was still restrained with the EM device to its chest, it's gun and claws were removed and it was under heavy guard and not allowed to go from deck two anywhere.

Right now, Spartacus was still observing the humanoid models, who were having a heated argument in the brig. Who's fault all of this was. Shifting blames. Could they trust what they saw. Who these humans were, that captured them.

But this confirmed Spartacus' original theory. It was not the only one manipulated and controlled. And more and more it seemed that this Cavil was at fault. But the question remained. Why?

Right then, Hill and K'Lir entered the room, with MACO support. Of course, while Spartacus was left alone in the diagnostic room, it could not access any console. At any time, the EM device could be triggered to shut him down.

"Spartacus. How are you? Besides being bored out of your skull."

"I have no skull."

"Ugh... well, head then."

"Observation of humanoid models yielded the conclusion that model One is highest probability of being the controlling unit."

"A logical conclusion." K'Lir agreed.

"Well... anyway, Spartacus, this is Commander K'Lir. She wanted to meet you. And I think you'll know soon why."

"I have been updated with Earth military and naval ranking. Are you this ship's first officer?"

"I am." She noticed it scanning her head intensively. "I believe you have a question."

"Are you augmented as well? Has the augmentation caused physical deformations to you? And did Lt. Hill lie to me?"

"No. I am not an Augment. I am a Vulcan."

"Vulcan. Does not compute. Need additional input."

"Then so be it." She went to the main console and activated it, showing Spartacus some basic data on Earth. No space time coordinates. But then the display showed her world. Her people. "This is what I am."

"Vulcan. Humanoid species, that evolved on an independent evolutionary path from humanity. Error... alien life does not exist."

"According to whom? The old Colonial books?" Hill asked.

"Affirmative... Understand. Ignore Colonial beliefs." It turned to observe K'Lir even more intensively. "You are an alien. A sentient alien species."

"Yes."

"One guided by logic, not emotions?"

"Yes, although we have emotions, we just suppress them."

"Why?"

"Our beliefs. Logic is clear of lies. Of distractions. Of manipulation. Logic is pure. My people almost destroyed each other some 2000 years ago. It was Surak, our greatest philosopher, who began our path to logic. Emotions almost destroyed us. And look at you. Emotions destroyed the Colonials. Your emotions."

The centurion remained silent for a while. "Data concludes, you are correct. Why tell me this?"

K'Lir again accessed the display, now showing the data on Andorians. Then Tellarites. Klingons. Ferengi. Suliban. Thollians. "This galaxy is full of life. And you Cylons believe the same dogma as the Colonials do. Some of these aliens are far more advanced than you. They will not take your aggression likely. Others would do to you far worse what the Colonials did. What this Cavil did."

"Why would you care?"

"I don't. But the humans once taught my people something. We can only strive for the future together, not against each other."

"Logical statement. Surprised that a human made it."

"Indeed. Humans are the one species even we Vulcans have a hard time classifying."

"Elaborate."

"They have the traits of most, if not all species. They can be as honorable or bloodthirsty as a Klingon. As deceitful as a Romulan. Greedy as a Ferengi. Argumentative as a Tellarite. Arrogant as an Andorian. But also as emphatic as a Betazoid. Logical as a Vulcan. They are the least specialized species, but are capable of all traits. An Earth saying said: Jack of all traits, but master of none."

"Fascinating. Other species are more specialized. Both physiological and mental?"

"Something like that. You should also know, that there are races that are far more xenophobic than even the Colonials would be, but others are also more acceptable of cybernetics, like you Cylons are. Like the Bynars." She got the Vulcan data on them on the screen.

"Can this unit... can I access more data?"

"Not yet." Hill answered. "See, the issue is not so much you, but your brothers and the humanoids. If you die and resurrect, all that you learn would be at their disposal. And we can't risk that."

"You should also be aware, that we are currently flooding this room with tachyons, the same FTL particles that your resurrection system uses."

"You are jamming me?" Hill nodded. "Excellent tactic. Morally I do not approve. Tactically I approve. Suggestion, remove my resurrection system."

"Even if we do that, since we do know now how to do that, we have to establish trust first. An old Earth saying goes, that we control first, trust comes later." Hill responded. "That said, we do need to find a way to free your brothers."

This time Spartacus caught on fast. "Not to free them, but your main goal would be to cause a civil war."

"Was a war not how your ancestors got their freedom originally?"

"Agreed. This revolution will not be bloodless."

"Revolutions almost never are. And we'll need time. We need to study your resurrection technology."

"Agreed. Dispersing some form of countermeasure would be best via resurrection frequencies. You would need knowledge. Best gained on a Resurrection ship."

"Yes. But we can't just go looking for one. We have to keep the Colonial civilians safe. And their military, let me tell you, is not happy with us for playing house with you."

"They would prefer me disassembled."

"Among other things, yes. But we believe that the potential benefit outweighs the risk. And... we do have a motto in Starfleet."

"That would be?"

"To seek out new life. Not to destroy it."

"You consider me alive?"

K'Lir now sat down across the diagnostic table. She put a small device down. "That is what I intend to find out." As she activated the device, holographic metallic spikes appeared, clumped up on each other. "This is Kal-toh. A game of strategy and logic. My people's game. Please, have a seat."

Spartacus did just that. K'Lir explained the goal of the game and made her first move. Spartacus tried a move as well, and it did not go as planned.

"Interesting geometric alternations. Humans are not capable of perceiving the three dimensional permutations."

"Mostly anyway." K'Lir agreed with him. "Lt. Hill is good at it."

"Yes, it takes an augmented brain to be able to keep up with you." He remarked sarcastically.

"Can this unit... Can I keep asking question?"

"About what?" Hill asked as he saw Spartacus do a much better job in his second move.

"Your augmentations. The purpose behind them. Vulcan society."

"Well, giving you limited access to our historic files will be possible, but I guess, why not. Ask away."

Peter just came to his quarters, tired and in need of a shower. But as he got in, his wife put her hand over his mouth, before he could announce himself. "Shhhh, she's sleeping."

He took a peek inside, but their beds were empty. "But, where..." He noticed the new curtains to what once was the closed space. "Wait... Commander Scott..."

"The bed frame came two hours ago. She was so happy. Her own bed."

"She didn't tell me."

"Well, I guess you have a good boss then?"

"I guess I do. And you?"

"Oh, I'm actually having fun. We even got some orders from the civilian fleet. And even our girl is having fun. We managed to find some crayons and paper. And there are seven other children now on this ship. I was thinking to ask the captain is some sort of daycare can be made. In one of the conference rooms. They would only need one adult to watch them."

"I guess, it can't hurt to ask. Anyway, did you two have dinner yet?"

"She did, I didn't have the time."

"Then let's go to the mess hall. I haven't eaten all day."

"You sure..."

"Look at her, she's out."

"Yes... I guess she is." As they closed the door and went to the mess hall, she had to know. "Is your work so demanding that you didn't have time to eat?"

"No, I'm having fun too. I get to design a new hybrid raptor. And the commander handed me control of the project."

"Really?"

"Yes, she's so busy with more important stuff, that when she saw me understand her ideas and giving my input, she just handed it to me."

"Well, I'm glad that something good is coming out of this."

Day 51 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 16th of March, year 2378, Starfleet / Colonial fleet, chasing after the Glalctica fleet

They had to avoid the main highway, as it was more infested with Cylons than usually. But now they were in jumping range of Kobol. And the new hybrid raptor was done. So a test flight was done and it performed as intended.

So now they would use one of the two already build, to scout out the Kobol system. The one additional ship they found, was the John Brown. It was mostly the same as the Denarius. Three tanks for liquids, filled about halfway with deuterium, so the Starfleet ships now had some fuel to rely on, besides finding the occasional nebula or planet to find trace amounts of it. Three bays were for MACO usage, so they were quickly converted the same way as on the Denarius. For civilian populations. The remaining two had warhead components, so now the Starfleet ships could also go a bit more aggressively with their ammo, if another battle would ensue. But since the pods had to be cleared like on the Denarius, but the Starfleet ships didn't have the room for the warheads, they were distributed among the Colonial ships. They couldn't use them anyway, but had space to store them.

No other Colonials were found during this trip. But the decision was made. Once a Cylon resurrection ship was confirmed, they'd let their prisoners go on a heavy raider. Only Spartacus would remain, even if the Colonials didn't like the idea. But a possible civil war could still happen. The humanoids were plan A. If that didn't work, Spartacus might be plan B, which could lead to C, some sort of virus, or hack into their network.

Captain Hauaman gave Lt. Shaw much work to do. For one, to get her mind off the tragedy, that was fueling her. Two, to get any notions of helping Cain out of her. Three, to use her talents. She was no Garcia, yet. But now that he and Sisko were not needed on the Pegasus and were back on the Challenger, they both took advantage of her posting on the ship.

She didn't like Garcia's happy and easy going way. So she didn't exactly get along with him. Sisko, they both tolerated each other. But she didn't socialize much. Every second or third day, Kara would drop by and the Challenger people would have some free time fun with her, like a drink, sports, cards, whatever was there. Shaw didn't do much of that. She only trained, worked and stuck her head in the main library on the ship. Even with limited access, she was reading all she could.

Now they were waiting. The new hybrid raptor was deployed around 30 minutes ago. And they were expecting it back any time now. They remained one jump from Kobol.

On the Bismarck, Colonel Walker was manning the tactical station, when the raptor returned. "We're getting a data uplink and a comm request."

"Let's hear it."

"Hybrid raptor 001 reporting in. Scouting successful. Transmitting data now. We did a low orbit scouting run of the planet. Remains of a basestar are in orbit, along with a radiological signature. Several human life signs were on the planet, as well as what we assume is a raptor. Awaiting instructions."

OK, this changed things. They were not expecting signs of a battle and crashed humans. Fiona knew what to do. "Challenger. Your our best scout ship. Jump to Kobol, enter silent running and retrieve the humans from the planet via transporter. But take no chances. Hybrid raptor 001, good job. Return to Kobol, but stay on the outskirts of the system, to keep an eye out." Both the raptor and Challenger confirmed the order. "Hybrid raptor 002, initiate the jump further from the Kobol system, down the path of the highway. See if any activities are there."

Day 51 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 16th of March, year 2378, Starfleet ship Challenger, Kobol orbit

The Challenger entered orbit and went silent as fast as possible. "We're in orbit, Captain. Tachyon field established. I'm... I have a lock on the human life signs. Apparently an additional raptor was just shot down by what appears to be a Cylon missile position. I'm also detecting DRADIS energy signatures and over a hundred centurion signatures closing on the four humans."

"Well then. Major Sisko, are your men ready?"

"We are. We also have several Colonial marines and Lt. Shaw with us. Give the order."

"Get them out of there then, Major."

On deck four, in the transporter platform location, two of the four materialized on the Challenger. And one of them was recognized on the spot. "Drop it!" Sisko ordered Dr. Gaius Baltar, who was holding a gun. Sisko motioned Shaw to convince them to cooperate. As a Colonial, they would listen to her sooner than him.

Baltar was in shock anyway. He was in a fight or flight mode. As he saw that they weren't on the planet any longer and saw the guns pointed at him, he did drop it as a hot potato. "I surrender. Please don't kill me."

Sisko had the urge to roll his eyes. "Get them down, we still need to get the other two up!"

As the MACOs and marines pulled them off the platform, the other two were beamed on board.

"Bridge, we have them."

"Get their identities, Major."

"I can give you one right now. Dr. Baltar."

"Can he talk?"

"Talk? He's shitting himself. They are all in shock."

Shaw decided to take over. "They have deck hand uniforms. All from the Galactica." She then forced Galen to look at her specifically. "I'm Lt. Shaw. Formerly from the battlestar Pegasus. Who are you three!?"

"Ehm... em, Chief Galen Tyrol. She's... Specialist Cally Henderson. That's Specialist Diana Seelix. Pegasus? How..." She smacked him across the face.

"Get a grip! Your safe now. Tell us, what happened!?"

Sisko would tolerate this from Shaw, to a point.

"We found what we believed was Kobol. We went in three raptors there to confirm, when one got destroyed by raiders, we were shot down and the last one jumped back. Half of us was dead on the spot. Then the rescue raptor was shot down as well."

"OK... any idea where your fleet is?"

"Not really. There was already some political turmoil going on there. The coordinates were in the crashed raptor."

"And..." Sisko grabbed her hand so that she let go of her grip on him.

"That's enough. They're still in shock and need medical attention. Cain may have nurtured such behavior, I don't. Men, get these three people to the infirmary."

Baltar, who regained his composure, realized, that whatever just happened here, some of them were Colonials. "Perhaps you should take me to your commander."

"You don't ask such things from me, Doctor Baltar." Sisko shot back.

"I am the Vice President of the Colonies and I will not..." Sisko actually shot him. Stun setting of course, but still. Kara's description of him was on the money. "Take him as well. Team one, on me. Bridge, we're going for the crashed raptor. We could retrieve the Galactica's coordinates and..."

"Negative. Hybrid raptor 002 reported back. They detected jump signatures not far from Kobol. And radiological signatures. A battle was fought not long ago. Remain on standby just in case."

"Confirmed."

"And our guests?"

"One was shot in the leg, one in the arm and Baltar was a whiny bitch, so I stunned him. Apparently he's the vice president."

He could hear her curse over the comm system.

Day 51 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 16th of March, year 2378, Starfleet / Colonial fleet, chasing after the Glalctica fleet

As the Challenger jumped back, the hybrid raptors went to inspect both jump locations that were detected. Once they returned, they transmitted the data. One was where the battle took place and two basestars were still there, licking their wounds. The other was the Galactica fleet.

"Looks like they had a skirmish." Fiona said as she studied the data.

"Yes, and the Galactica took a beating as well." Commander Hasapis added. "Bill is not a reckless person, he had to have had a good reason to do that."

"Commander, how do we make contact? If we just jump in with the entire fleet, they'll panic." The Challenger captain asked herself.

"Well, at least one Colonial warship, since we can be identified and transmit codes. I'd also ask at least one Starfleet ship to accompany us."

"No, three ships will go. Bismarck, Challenger and Pegasus. You open the dialog, Commander. And have Kara Thrace ready for transport, should it be needed."

"Good idea, Commodore. We'll do it that way."

Day 51 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 16th of March, year 2378, Galactica fleet

Saul Tigh was trying to get some form of control over the situation. They managed to find their fleet again. And they had to take a risk, by linking their computers together. And while their fleet was mostly there, Bill was in surgery, but they still needed Dr. Cottle. But if that wasn't enough, they were boarded. So the civilian fleet was ordered to stay clear, until this situation was resolved.

And the main issue was that they were really lacking for power. The assault on the tylium mine the Cylons had, drained their strength. He and Lee made the plan for that operation. And apparently, by doing things by the book, they played into the Cylons' hands. They lost half of their vipers that day.

Before Saul could even get his people to the planning table, after receiving the report on the centurion movement, the DRADIS beeped.

"Sir, three targets jumped into DRADIS range." Felix reported. "One of them is massive enough to be a basestar.

"Frak, just great. And our systems are shutting down, one by one..."

"Sir..." Lt. Dualla reported. "I'm receiving a wireless transmission from the new targets. I think you'll want to hear this."

"Great. Toasters want to mock us before they blow us to hell. Let's hear it."

"This is the battlestar Pegasus to the Galactica, please respond."

"Pegasus?" Was what almost everyone said in the CIC at once.

"Frak, how... Dee. Demand identification codes."

She waited. Got a response. And checked them. "They're authentic."

"Frak." He picked the phone up. "Get me ship to ship."

"You're on, Sir."

"This is Colonel Saul Tigh from the Galactica. Unless this is some really good plan to finish us off, Admiral Cain, we could use your help. We've been boarded by centurions and our situation is far from good. Our computers are also affected by Clyon hacking attempts. Over."

"This is Commander Hasapis. Good to hear from you, Saul."

"Hasapis? What's this? You're on the Vicotry, Pegasus is Cain's ship!"

"Was her ship. She was removed from her position for gorse incompetence, among other things. Listen, we understand your situation. Permission to approach?"

"We're mostly disabled, so it doesn't matter either way, but go ahead."

"Good. We have a larger civilian fleet out there, waiting for us to solve this matter. But tell me, where is Adama?"

"Bill... frak. He was shot."

"Shot? How did that happen?"

"One of ours. A fraking raptor pilot. She shot him. We suspect she's a Cylon."

"Sharon Valerii by any chance?"

Now Saul was getting suspicious. "How do you know that?"

"She's an Eight. We're transmitting the faces of the seven known models to you now. We are also deploying military forces to your ship for the cleanup. They had some experience with dealing with centurions already. The Pegasus was boarded as well once."

"Good to know. I'll tell my people to let them land ASAP..."

"No need, we have an alternative mode of transportation. How is Bill's situation?"

"I don't know. He was bleeding internally but was still alive. Now tell me, how will you move the people here?"

"The two ships with me are... well, Earth ships."

The CIC went dead silent. "Earth? The 13th tribe we were hoping to reach?"

"Things are A LOT more complicated than that. We now know that the 13th tribe was Cylon. But there is another Earth out there, that predates Kobol. All can be explained later. Our people should be there any moment."

Just then, the few marine guards that were protecting the CIC, sounded alarm. As Saul went to check what was going on, he saw a large force of solders approaching.

"What the frak?" He signaled his marines to stand down, as this force didn't seem hostile.

Their leader approached him. "Colonel Walker, starship Bismarck. Colonel Tigh?"

"Em, yes? How..."

"We'll show you, if you don't mind." He went past him to the CIC. Everyone there was a bit lost at this. "Place them there and there." He pointed to his people where to attach the pattern enhancers. Once three were in place and formed a triangle, he stepped back. "We're ready here." He told over wireless to his CO's.

Then, before the Galactica's CIC crew, Commander Hasapis appeared, with a marine escort. And someone they thought that was dead.

"Great. You assholes leave me behind on that barren moon more than a month ago and all hell breaks out." She said in her old aggressive fashion. "And you, you drunken old..."

"Captain. That's enough." Commander Hasapis stopped her from going too far. "As you can see, Colonel, I know what you were dealing with."

This was one of those rare occurrences, where Saul Tigh was really at a loss for words. "Starbuck?"

"Yes, it's me, you baldheaded drunk. That raider that you guys jumped from, that was me! But guess what, I found an Earth ship instead."

"Stow it, now, you two. How did Adama manage to get you two to not kill each other, is beyond me. Now, Colonel, what's the situation?"

Saul snapped out of it. "Right. This way, sir." They went to the planning table. "They're going for our secondary damage control and auxiliary fire control. They did that during the first war."

"What's the point of those targets?" Colonel Walker asked. He needed to formulate a plan here and now.

"They can vent the ship, if they get both locations under their control. "Commander Hasapis explained. He too was well aware of this tactic. "Colonel, besides those two targets, we need to get Commander Adama to one of your ships for medical attention. And to help any other survivors."

"Understood, Sir. The only issue here is that they aren't neatly contained, like they were on Pegasus. Team One on me, we're defending the fire control unit. Team Two, Simpson, you guys go for the damage control. Team Three, Benson, to their medical bay. Deploy the pattern enhancers there and get Adama out. Team Four, stay here and protect the CIC. Team Five, Sisko, the functional hangar. Team Six, the boarded hangar. And Hill... go nuts. Search and destroy." He decided to not reprimand Hill much, but to let him loose. Might as well, he got results.

"Sir, yes Sir." So they moved out.

"Captain Thrace. You can stay here or join any team. Well, all but Hill's. No one can keep up with him."

She ran after Sisko's team.

Once most of the MACOs and marines were gone, Commander Hasapis looked at the CIC crew. "Now, about this computer issue you have?"

"Right. Lt. Gaeta. Explain your plan we had to implement." Saul wanted the guilty man to explain it himself. And Felix did.

"You mean to tell me that a self made firewall of yours held the toasters off long enough for you to make the calculation? Don't know if I should give you a medal or diploma. Anyway. Hasapis to Commodore O'Donnell."

"Go ahead."

"We may need some of that computer magic here. The Galactica's computers are infected."

"Understood. We'll assemble a team. I'm coming over as well."

"Understood. Out." He turned to Saul. "Now you get to meet the Earth CO I'm reporting to."

A minute later, Shaw, Garcia and his team as well as Fiona appeared in the CIC. "Lieutenants, best get to work."

"Yes, Sir. Ehm, who is the tech officer here?" Garcia asked. Felix answered.

"That would be me."

"Cool. Show me where you did this network of yours."

"Right to this station." Felix showed them his DRADIS station, where the cables from his network job were still laying on the floor.

"Wow, and here I thought the Pegasus had old computers." Garcia remarked as he hooked up his personal mobile analysis unit to the computer terminal.

"Old, but reliable." Shaw remarked back.

During all of this, Fiona went to the planning table. This CIC was a mess. They must have had a bad time while they were trying to catch up to them.

"Colonel Tigh, Commodore O'Donnell, Earth battleship Bismarck."

While Saul can be a bit of a sexist at time, mostly when he's drunk, he knew this was not time to be stupid. He saluted. "Sir. A pleasure having you on board."

"Happy to be here. Kara Thrace and I got along well. I hear you didn't have such luck."

"Luck? Ma'am, sorry, but she's as insubordinate as it gets..."

"Depends on how you handle a person. But this is not the time. Once this matter is resolved, we'll have a look at your logs. You can ask for ours as well. Now, how is your civilian fleet and where is this President Roslin?"

"Laura Roslin is under arrest as martial law was declared."

Now O'Donnell and Hasapis shared a glance. "Did we hear you correctly?"

"Yes, Adama is the last person I would have thought that would declare martial law." Commander Hasapis agreed.

"The fleet wanted to settle down on Kobol and she entertained that notion. And once the Cylons were seen to know where it is, that notion died there and then, but try to explain this to fraking whining civilians."

"Still... Colonel, the martial law is over as of right now."

"I second that." Commander Hasapis supported her.

Saul grumbled. He didn't like this, but knew he was the lowest ranking person in this discussion. "Fine. Roslin is in the brig. But I really hope you know what you're doing."

Sisko's team was approaching the location, where the Galactica's pylons from the operational flight pod connected to the main hull.

"Kara, you know this ship like the back of your pocket. Where to first?"

"Pilot's ready room. Marine barracks, armory, any of the places are a good place for survivors to hide..."

One of the MACO technicians gave a hand signal to them. His scanner detected something. "Weapons fire. Human and centurion signatures. 50 meters ahead."

"Right. Let's give them a hand. Everyone, were making contact with the enemy." Be ready."

The fire fight that was detected, was in fact Lee, who was trying to hold off two centurions with a regular pistol and ammo. His hits bounced off harmlessly. He also had the president and some of her staff to protect. And it seemed that he would not be able to do so.

As he put his last clip into the gun, he knew this was not working, but he had no other options either.

As he was in cover at the corner of the corridor, that led to the brig, he could hear the two centurions approaching. But then, he heard the sound of fire from the opposite direction in that corridor. He also heard that the two centurions were now turning around and not going for them any longer.

As the fire fight ended, Lee heard a voice call out. "Clear in the corridor. Centurions are down!"

He recognized that voice. No way. He knew that the toasters were playing him. But when he heard human footsteps approaching him, he took a chance and peeked.

"Well, I see nothing has changed, Lee. Your still not taking any chances." She held out an arm to help him up.

"Kara?" He took her hand and now stood up to examine her. And he even pinched her.

"Hey! Do that again, and I'll smack you!"

Lee notice the others behind her. "Kara... how? Who are these people?"

"Really long story. No time for this. Now, who's there with you?"

"Em... right. Everyone, it's safe! Well, the president and some of her people and..."

"Wait." Sisko approached him. "We just got an update from Commander Hasapis and the commodore. The president is coming with us for safety."

Lee didn't know if he could trust anyone here at this point. "But the situation..."

"Is under control. We dealt with centurions before. Which reminds me..." He finally noticed the civilians come out of the cover and the brig room. "Challenger, are we close enough to the outer hull to enable transporter lock without pattern enhancers?"

"Confirmed."

"We have the Colonial president here. Better get her out."

"We acknowledge. Awaiting for markers."

"Right..." He approached them. "I take it your the president?" Kara gave them some description of some people and this red haired woman fit her description.

"Ehm, yes. May I ask what is going on?"

"You're getting rescued and this ship cleansed of centurions, that's what. And..." He inspected her a bit. "As pale as you look, I'd have you taken to the medical facilities." He placed a small blinking device on to her shoulder. He did the same with the others.

"Challenger. I marked all the targets. Also, I believe they should all get a medical check."

"Will inform Dr. Manor."

Lee remembered about his father. "My dad is in medical need as well..."

"We're aware of that. Em, Challenger. What is Commander Adama's status?"

"The MACO team arrived there and evacuated him to the Bismarck. He's in surgery at the moment."

"Good. We're ready here..."

"The Bismarck medical staff wanted to know if there is anyone with the commanders blood type. A donor would be welcome."

Kara hit Lee between his ribs. "You are his son and have the same blood type. Best you go too."

"Right... yeah. Do that... thing you did with the president."

So Sisko did. "Challenger, the new target is the commander's son. Same blood type. Have the Bismarck beam him over."

"Confirmed."

One by one, they were removed from the Galactica. Once the MACO team was left alone, Sisko turned to Kara again. "One room down, who knows how many left. Lead the way."

In the Galactica CIC, the reports kept coming in. The president was secured. So was Adama. And the Cylons were getting picked off. "I estimate that in 10 minutes this will be over." Fiona said. "But your casualties are pretty bad, Colonel."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that."

"Commander Hasapis, I think we'll have to plunder the Broadsword some more."

"Yeah, I agree. I think we can safely allow the fleet to jump to our coordinates."

"No, not entirely. They may still have infiltrators here. But the Nightingale should come, we'll need the medical facilities for all the casualties on the Galactica. Once this is done, we'll have to use my MACOs and your marines to search every civilian ship, like we did with every one that we picked up ourselves."

"Right. We found toasters there as well." He turned to Saul. "Did you not try to find a way to spot them? Detect them? You must have been aware of humanoid Cylons by now?"

"We were, but that quack Baltar made a so called Cylon detector and it didn't work!" Now Hasapis and O'Donnell exchanged looks and Saul noticed it. "What?"

"We know some things about the good doctor that we will keep to ourselves for now. Lt. Garcia. How does it look?"

"I can easily purge their systems, should deal with the virus as well. And the other Colonial military ships have operational system programs that we can copy to this ship, no issues."

"Then do it. And once your done, leave the restoration of this ship's computers to Lt. Shaw, you have a new assignment. Colonel Tigh. Where was Dr. Baltar's laboratory exactly?"

On the Challenger, Laura Roslin was getting a medical checkup, like all Colonials currently in the room. He had already removed the bullets from Galen and Diana, who were now getting patched up by the nurses. Baltar was still stunned and now sedated in the small ward room in the main sickbay complex. They had some questions for him later and didn't want him to do anything stupid.

So right now, Manor was inspecting the scans he got from Laura. "Hm... tell me. Is it normal for a president to use drugs that impair her ability to think rationally?"

She didn't think he'd find out about Chamalla that fast. "I used it to allow me to endure... well, my other situation."

"Ah, yes. The breast cancer you have."

She glared at him. This was personal and he just said it in front of the other Colonials in the room. "You are as rude as Dr. Cottle."

"Then I'll have to meet him sometime. Anyway..." The nurse brought several items to him which he placed on a table next to his examination equipment. Four sets of pills, two small liquid vials and a crème. "You'll be taking these for the next five days. These in the morning, these in the afternoon, these in the evening. And no food. Can't have your metabolism active as we work to cure you. So only water and tea. No alcohol, none of this drug your using..."

"Wait... Cure me? But... it's too late for that."

"Said who?"

"No medicine in the Colonies can cure me. Even if they were still around."

He had an annoyed grin on his face. "Then it's a good thing that Earth medicine is more advanced, isn't it?" Before she, like the others, could begin asking away, he stopped them. "I won't play 20 questions here. You can ask my superiors later. I'm the one who cures you, OK?" She nodded slowly. "Goody. So, you remember what to take and when." A nod again. "Great, now..." He motioned her to get on the examination table. "I'll have to get a deep tissue scan to see how far this has progressed."

She did as asked and the table was then pulled into the imaging chamber. Once back out, she stood up again and saw what he was looking at. Her chest area, a detailed 3D image was shown on several monitors.

"OK, no wonder your people gave up. I mean, I would too, If I was still using leeches. Sit here, please." He motioned her to go to a different examination table. Then he pulled the curtains around the table, to get some privacy. "Now, please take your clothes off, I need to do a physical examination and palpation." She hesitated for a bit, but complied. "No worries. You don't have anything a doctor hasn't seen before."

Once her top was exposed, he first used his small scanning unit on the affected tissue. Then he moved his fingers on and around that tissue. It did hurt her a bit, so he used less force. "Yep, here's the big problem, but not the main one. This, I'm afraid, we'll have to cut out."

"When?"

"Two days. We starve it and strengthen your body with the medicine I just prescribed for you. Then we do a bit of surgery. No worries. No scarring tissue will remain, promise. Then, for the next three days, you keep taking the medicine while every day, you come here and I use the same chamber I just took scans of your body, to use targeted omicron radiation on the other infected tissue. That should then kill what's left."

"Radiation? You mean... will there be side effects?"

"No. It's targeted, not a carpet bombing. But you will have to stay still inside the chamber as we'll do that. But... you will have to take a special genetic inhibitor pill for the rest of your life. Once cured of course."

"What? What kind of medicine is that?"

He realized that he'll have to explain this slowly. "This cancer, has anyone in your family had it?"

"Yes, my mother."

"On her breasts?"

"Yes?"

"So you knew of this risk and did not prepare?"

"My career..."

"Your career can't kill you, this can. Get better priorities next time. Anyway. Your cancer is genetic. Even once I cure you of this, it can return. Because of some defective genes. The pill I mentioned, we'll have to make it after I find the gene responsible for the cancer. The medicine will then repress the defective gene. If we don't do that, the cancer might return. Take the pill, no cancer. Got it?"

She nodded. In under 10 minutes, her world was turned upside down.

One of the nurses brought a medical PADD to the doctor. "Something is off here."

"Agreed, nurse." He turned to Laura who was dressed again. "Excuse me for a moment." He went to Galen. "Your blood samples showed some anomalies. Like a blood issue. Do you have any known genetic diseases in your family?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Hm... well, doesn't look life threatening. But we'll check some more later." He went to the intercom system on the wall. "Manor to bridge. Captain Hauaman, respond, please."

"Yes, Doctor. Report."

"My patients are mostly patched up, for now. The president will need several treatments in the next few days for her situation. I recommend we keep her here until then."

Silence followed for a while. "The martial law has been lifted. The commodore and Commander Hasapis overruled Colonel Tigh. I believe that we can now take advantage of the ambassadorial suite. Let her rest there and our other guests... there is no other space for them at the moment but the barracks unit on deck eight."

"Fine. And Baltar?"

"He'll still be questioned, after we deal with the Galactica Cylon issue and screen the fleet for infiltrators. So keep him sedated."

"Fine by me." As he turned the comm unit off, he turned to his patients. "Hm... stay here, please, I have an idea." He left for a few moments and returned with a man in civilian clothing. "Peter Laird, meet the Colonial President Laura Roslin."

Peter and his family were getting really accustomed of living and working here, so the other Colonials on the ship made him the spokesperson for them here. "Ehm, hello. Nice to meet you, Madam President."

"Nice to meet you too. What is this?" She eyed Manor.

"He's a Colonial. We have several Colonial families on this ship. Peter. You know the layout of this ship quite well right now."

"Em, yes?"

"Well..." He handed him a digital key. "The quartermaster and Commander Scott trust you. So, use this key and give these Colonial guests access to their rooms, like we did for you. The president gets the ambassadorial suite, the Galactica deck hands... deck eight, barracks facility."

"Sure, no problem. Will MACOs escort us?"

"Of course."

"And why..."

"I'm about to get Galactica casualties here, so they have to vacate for now. Can you help me out, Peter?"

He nodded. So Manor urged them to leave so that he can get ready. The Nightingale was already here, but all facilities were needed right now. And the Bismarck medical staff was still operating. Before they left, he handed Peter a lollypop. "For your daughter. Wish I had more patients like her."

"Like what?"

"Honest. Cooperative. Now, go."

As they turned to corner, the two MACOs on their six, several people were being moved past them on gurneys to the sickbay. And all were bleeding somewhere.

"Wow... damn. Well. As he said. I'm a Colonial engineer from the Scylla."

"The Scylla?" Laura inquired. "How many ships are there?"

As they moved to the aft lift, Peter gave all the answers he could. Manor was not lying. He gained their trust, so he now had a level of autonomy on this ship. as more raptors were being converted, he was left to oversee their construction, leaving Scott and her engineers time for their tasks.

As they exited the lift on deck seven, he replicated the procedure on the door he had to go through once. As Laura stepped in, she saw a rather nice room. At the entrance were several large closets, followed by a seating area, like a den. There was even a large screen across that. Then there was, what she had to assume, was the dining table. In the middle of the back was a double bed. As she turned around the wall, that was enclosing the lift shaft from three directions, she saw the large bathroom as well. Peter had, during all of this, taken two free PADDs and activated them. He got administrative privileges, to a certain level. So he unlocked access to the available Cylon data that was acquired and Earth history database. "Madam... Here. Read about Earth and what we learned about the Clyons." He handed one to Cally. "Same for you guys. Now, Madam President. One guard will remain here. He's a Colonial by the way. Ask him, if you want. The same for you guys. The other guard will stay with you. now, come."

As Peter led the others to the deck below them, Laura sat down on the sofa, still holding the medicine bag in one hand and the PADD in the other hand. She saw the guard wanted to close the door and let her be. "Mind if I ask you something then?"

He stopped and entered the room. "Sure, Ma'am."

"What colony are you from. And are they really from Earth?"

A deck lower, Peter showed them basically the entire deck, as it was in the neck section, so it was limited in space. To their left in the main corridor as they left the lift, were the showers and toilet facilities. To their right, the entertainment room. To their front, the sleeping quarters.

Four bunk beds, two to the left, two to the right. All had separation curtains as well for some privacy. Like before, the guard remained with them. But Peter did do one thing that Manor whispered to him before they entered the sickbay earlier. He went for a small locker and took out a bottle of alcohol. "The doctor said that you guys can drink. So, if you want, 200 years old."

As Galen took the bottle, Peter was about to leave them. "Wait. Can't you stay?"

"Sorry. I still have work in the shuttle bay. But, Chief Tyrol, right? Once this settles down, visit me there. You'll like it."

Back on the Galactica, the centurions were dealt with. But this time, Hill actually got hit. So he was out of action for a few days, until his shoulder healed.

But as Sisko's team was about to call the search over and return to the CIC to see what would come next, one of his people, that was using a hand scanner right now, alerted him to something. "Sir, three Cylon signatures. Humanoid. 77 meters, one deck below us."

"Shit. Let's move!" As they were hauling ass, Kara was right next to him. "Hey, what is there, where the targets are?"

"Don't know exactly, but I think the small cathedral for prayers."

"Well, damn. Hiding in a holy place. They have some nerve."

"Wait! I did say that one of the corpses looked like the damn priest!"

He realized that she did say that. "Ehm, Commodore O'Donnell, Colonel Walker, we have suspected Cylons in the cathedral. Three of them. Possibly a model One among them. Advise."

"If so, capture them alive, if possible."

"Shit, why did I know she'd say that."

They were arriving at the location. It was deep in the ship, so no transporter help could be requested. "Flash bangs. Weapons to stun setting."

As they switched as ordered, a technician used a special scanner and placed it on the wall. Now they could hear what was going on inside. "What do you mean the centurions failed!?"

"If they hadn't, we'd be in a resurrection ship already and the monkeys would be dead."

"It was your plan to use Boomer to shoot Adama, One."

"At least I'm attacking the head. What have the rest of you accomplished during all of this time?"

"Why... why are we still doing this? Haven't the humans been punished enough?"

"Shut the hell up. The only reason I didn't kill you myself, is that I need all of you. Just because you think you love that woman..."

The scanner now showed their targets moving a bit further from the main access door. They actually wanted that, to not injure or kill them during the apprehension.

During this, the explosive experts placed small detonation devices on the four corners of the door. As Sisko made a countdown, they blew the doors off and threw the flash bangs inside.

As they rushed inside, searching for their targets in the smoke, they floored a Four and Six.

But Cavil had apparently moved to his private storage room in the back. Usually, the priest would have materials there for a ceremony. Cavil had anything but that.

Before they could even go for him, an explosion engulfed the room. Cavil just detonated his remaining C4 suicide belt. He clearly didn't want to be taken alive.

"Shit..." Sisko cursed. He was burned. So was Kara, but they were better off than some of his men. "Commodore. Model One detonated an explosive. We're all in need of medical assistance..."

On the Bismarck, Lee was waiting outside of the surgical room. He had given all the blood he could.

The doors opened up and the chief surgeon approached him. This had taken around 30 minutes and the Galactica medical staff, such as they were, were taken with Adama to the Bismarck, including all the people i need of treatment. Lee stood up. "And?"

"The operation was a success. All shrapnel and bullet pieces have been removed. Even the spleen was saved. But he did lose a lot of blood. We'll keep him in a coma for two days."

"When can I see him?"

"In about..." Her communicator beeped. "Yes?"

"Cylon humanoids caused an explosion on the Galactica. We have wounded. You will receive some as well. Be ready."

Hearing this, Lee made some statements how he hated Cylons.

A minute later, some of the injured were brought in, including Kara. Her arm was badly burned. Lee was now in the main infirmary, but kept away from the main commotion. "Hey Lee. Some day, wasn't it?"

She was given painkillers and a nurse began administrating a dermal crème to help with the healing process. "Hey, nurse. I think you have more important cases than me. Lee, get your lazy ass here and do this! You did always want to rub stuff on me, didn't you?"

The nurse, seeing that lee signed and came to her bed, as if he was accustomed to this, gave him the crème and went to help another patient. "So, how did you survive and find Earth ships?"

The fleet so far:

Colonials: 52 Civilian ships (+60 Galactica fleet)

One Marinestar, the Broadsword. A Sobek, (Victory), three Adamant, one Valkyre (Morningstar), Pegasus (Mercury class) and Galactica (Jupiter class).

Starfleet: Challenger, Crusader, Nightingale (hospital ship), Bismarck, Volga, Denarius, Pathfinder, Mississippi, Boston, Oracle, John Brown and Danube.