On board the basestars, the surprise changed to ire, and the ire changed to fear when dozens of logical bombs and worms crawled into their systems, deactivating main power, weapons, and artificial gravity. The Cylons had never experienced a cyberattack in their lives, considering that humans always thought that a fight in cyberspace against AIs was useless. The Cylon Race was exposed for the first time to a corruption in the data streams of an unexpected magnitude.
Both ships were flooded with floating humanoids and mechanical ones. The latter were better adapted to a zero-gravity environment and they could use a form of magnetic boots to avoid floating, but the organics were suffering disorientation and nausea. Finally, the hybrid could isolate the circuits controlling the artificial gravity and reestablish a semblance of control.
"What the frack was that!", several Ones screamed, "My head is exploding". To be fair, the other lines were not in better shape, trying to think what was going on and failing miserably.
"The new ships attacked us!", a model One named John said. "Can we destroy those frakkers?"
"Weapons and targeting systems are down. The targeting protocols are being rewritten, and I can't stop it!", a Six said. In complete frustration, she disconnected from the flow. With a calculated expression on her beautiful face, she added, "They seem to know about what we did, John".
The taunting message from the ships had a certain feeling of menace that the cylons couldn't ignore. "Can we use our own cyber weapons?" asked the same Six, "we need time to recover our ship".
"Nice idea, use it!" John said, hoping it could work.
Fast Battleship Kongou.
"Oooh, look at these children! They are trying to hack us!", an annoyed Kongou exclaimed.
"Well, in their defense, they believe that they are the last word in cyber warfare", replied Choukai
"It seems it's time to begin a proper education about the benefits of security and real weapons," said Kongou. "Oh, how Lexington would love to teach them a lesson!"
Baseship 104.
The attack was more or less contained thanks to a massive physical purge of the affected systems. The hybrid was in a complete state of panic, babbling the usual incoherences that only the Twos tried to understand. The only logical sentence was about Earth's fleet, something the humanoids rejected plainly since they knew that Earth was a dead planet.
Ten minutes later, the Cylons had recovered enough to consider a counterattack.
"Are our firewalls closed?", an irate One asked, "Did you isolate the affected system from external communication?"
"Yes, and yes to every question, but let me remind you that the communication ports were closed before. I don't know how they infiltrated our system", a furious Three exclaimed. Something was really wrong here, and she wanted to run away from this place as soon as she could.
Fast Battleship Kongou
"Should we talk to the Cylon baseship?", Choukai asked Kongou.
After mimicking a pensative expression, Kongou slowly expressed how she felt about this particular pest, "It would be better if we destroyed them and rendered assistance to the humans. My readings about their ships show that a lot of this fleet will fall into pieces in no more than six months without maintenance. Its main warship requires shipyard time due to the presence of a lot of microfractures in her structure."
"True, Akashi and her sisters would have a field day with those ships", Choukai agreed and as an afterthought she mentioned, "Kongou, in the very remote case these people don't start shooting at us as soon as we explain who and what we are, we need the main fleet to assist us. And, they need to join with the humans from Earth, I'm sure they will feel safer with them".
"Yes, my dear, you are completely right, especially about our humans," Kongou said and added, "The data we collected about the Colonies warrants the complete destruction of these beings. For now, let's reduce our problems in half," Kongou said with a wicked smile.
What happened a bit later was an interesting show of high energy physics. The Cylons launched hundreds of biofighters known as Raiders, only to watch in horror as the excellent antiaircraft guns were killing them. A combination of lasers, fast plasma pulses, and missiles obliterated enough raiders to make the Cylons recall them.
What really made the Cylons think twice about their chances of survival in the next seconds was what happened later. When the Raiders were overwhelmed by the furious show of advanced weaponry, they launched a massive missile strike in retaliation, soon joined by the basestar's own batteries. Hundreds of missiles targeting two close ships were enough to overload the defensive fire so that a dozen nukes reached the ships and detonated.
What happened was something like out of a bad science fiction show from the now extinct colonies. Every nuke was enveloped by a spherical shield which contained the nuclear explosion. The powerful Klein fields absorbed and channeled the heat and radiation into a different dimensional space.
A lot of very surprised cylons were petrified while they tried to understand what they were watching. However, the evidence was clear for everyone. Energy weapons were the Holy Grail for weapons research in the Colonies and the Cylons. So far, the results were unpredictable and sometimes, dangerous.
"How was it possible?", several Sixes, Fours, and Eights asked.
"The nukes have detonated?", a number One model said in a low voice, "What is happening?"
"I don't know and I really believe we should put some distance between them and us", a Six added. Several cylons nodded in agreement with the Six named Natalie.
"No, never! We didn't kill the humans yet!", John screamed. The obvious madness behind his behavior was becoming more and more extensive every day, and the other models had begun to discuss among themselves how they were to deal with this particular One. The absolute control the Ones had over the Centurions was what stopped every plan to remove him from the network so far.
"Incoming transmission from...them!", an Eight alerted.
"At least they want to talk and not shoot us", another Eight commented.
"I suppose we attracted enough of your attention", a female and melodious voice in the communication system alerted the surprised humanoid cylons.
"Please, tell me, can you stop wasting my time and your little nukes?"
"By the way, Natalie Six, that's a nice dress - can I copy it?," and a few seconds later, "however, you have been bad boys and girls, and an appropriate punishment is necessary."
"Stop the bitch!", the One called John yelled, "How is it possible she infected our systems again!" He looked at Natalie and her dress, "Frack, she is watching this room and possibly hearing us!".
"My friend by my side is a heavy cruiser. She will make you to understand a few things about your place in the universe"
"Hey, look, what is the little one doing?", a number Three said. The external cameras had sent the information to the data flow, and the cylons watched in amazement as the ship opened its command tower in two halves. From the inside, two big disks floated forming a line. The strange devices started to rotate, and a mass of pulsating white light started to accumulate among the disks. When the energy was enough, a white lance of pure energy emerged from the heavy cruiser and reached the Baseship 134.
The beam of highly compressed gravitons impacted the central point of the basestar, causing the ship to implode and compress the matter into a small sphere. When the sphere reached critical mass, a fusion reaction destroyed the ship completely in a huge explosion of light and heat.
What was absolutely terrifying was the news from the Resurrection Ship. The downloading process was disrupted and many resurrected were terminated due to being barely functional. The realization that the enemy in front of them could kill them forever was devastating. It's so easy to fight when you don't fear death. All these organic reactions were playing havoc with their decision process, and literally, they felt paralyzed with fear and uncertainty.
"Only half remains, Kongou", a smiling mental model said. "Who was mentioning my aggressivity?", Kongou asked, "Time to talk again."
"Hello, my little friends," the voice taunted again. "I think so far you have changed your clothing into brown pants, and the mechanicals need an oil change," the female added.
"I know your slow brains so far have understood how outclassed you are", she added with certainty.
"What I am asking you is quite simple: leave the humans alone. Let me remind you, our humans will be very pissed with you when they learn about your attack on the Colonies."
"Kongou?"
"Yes, Choukai?"
"They are not our pets!!"
"Details, details..."
A very lonely Baseship.
Looking at the other models being unable to offer any useful ideas, Natalie was exchanging ideas through the mental link. A Six named Selene said, "What that asshole said might be true. Only a machine can fight us in the same terms. If they are machines like us, maybe we could talk and reason about our issues with mankind."
Among the different models, the fanatical Ones were the most affected. All their beliefs in machine superiority were crudely thrashed away, and they know why. The realization that the enemy in front of them can kill them forever was devastating. It was so easy to fight when you don't fear death. All these organic reactions were playing havoc with their decision process, and literally, they felt paralyzed with fear and uncertainty.
"They must be machines!", John said to the One's mental link.
"I can't penetrate their hulls, how could you know that", another One asked.
"Didn't you listen to that bitch?, he said 'our humans', he reminded them.
"Or alien overlords," another added.
"I don't care, they are a threat to our race, so it seems our pest extermination campaign has become bigger", he declared with certainty. After all, time was always on their side.
Getting out of the communal link of her own line, Natalie approached John. This particular One was particularly hateful towards humans. The other four Ones' discussions about how to kill humans more efficiently were priceless, and what worried Natalie most was their delirium.
Natalie sighed and said, "What if we invited her to our baseship?"
Showing a shadow of doubt on his face, the One acting as the facto lider of the Cylons said, "Why not?"