Battleship Iowa, Bridge.
Iowa was a happy ship. She had a large human crew of six hundred working inside her hull, and so far, the results were excellent. Human tactical instincts combined with the mental models' abilities had produced a lethal mix in the fleet exercises. Her sisters, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Missouri, were maintaining station in an open square formation, with light and heavy cruisers forming a three-dimensional web around the battleships.
However, one ship outclassed them—a Lexington-class Space Suppression Ship stationed at the center of the diamond. All around the fleet, twenty packs of four destroyers patrolled the perimeter. Another defensive zone of twenty destroyers and five light cruisers provided close support to the Lexington. The carrier itself was far from helpless, with its missile and torpedo launchers, main batteries, and secondaries promising a quick death to any ship unfortunate enough to enter its killing zone. She was capable of deploying one hundred and sixty fighters as a long-range weapon.
This time, a complement of colonial officers, including Adama, his son Lee, and Kara Thrace, were on the bridge of the Lexington as advisors. The holograms of the Iowa and Bismarck sisters, dozens of cruisers, and a group of light cruisers and destroyers were present in the Operations Room.
The mental model of the Lexington—a young red-haired girl with freckles, usually called Lex—was showing Adama how she was deploying her ships around specific areas with humans. "Unfortunately," said Lex, "this is going to take a while, although the battleships and I have activated a jump disruptor, so we won't have any unwanted visitors."
For Lee, this was an amazing experience. The chance to speak with the Lexington's mental model was a complete surprise. The idea of being inside a synthetic living ship was mind-blowing from the beginning.
It was a pity that the colonial Vipers couldn't be here rescuing his own people, but the old ship was still moored to Akashi. The armor was complete, and her complement of Vipers, thanks to Vestal, was being replenished. What was more important to Adama was that all the museum pieces were "digested" by Akashi, and the starboard pod was opened to space again. The Repair Ship told Adama that flight operations would resume depending on the condition of the launch tubes, but at least the battlestar had two operational landing tracks again.
The jokes from that immature pain in the ass, Kara, about how he blushed in front of Iowa still bothered him. The mental model was stunning, and he had to remember he was in front of a ship avatar every second.
In the middle of the room, a circular space displayed a large hologram with the fleet units' positions and statuses. For Adama, this was a new experience, and it allowed him to observe the level of cooperation between Lex and her human crew.
An alarm klaxon started to sound, and one of the sensor operators reported, "Lex, we have a massive jump event located 3 light seconds on the port side, elevation 21 degrees above the Helios Alpha plane, bearing 260 degrees from your bow. At least fifty ships in a rhomboidal formation, five flotillas of ten ships each."
"So they came," said a happy Iowa, "finally, we can reduce their numbers a bit." Adama watched the hologram with worry in his eyes. "Iowa, they have too many ships. We can't rescue and fight against fifty basestars. We're talking about more than twenty thousand raiders." As if the Cylons were listening to Adama, a literal cloud of thousands of raiders and heavy raiders left the baseships and accelerated quickly towards the Fleet.
"Are you sure of that number, Commander Adama?" the smiling redhead said. "Boys, are you sure?" asked Lex to the bridge crew. The XO, a short man with dark skin and black eyes, said, "So far, that seems correct, Lex, but we could do something about that."
"Iowa, could you and your sisters be so kind as to rectify that number?" the redhead asked. "Of course, Lady Lex," replied the blonde. For many men on Earth, that particular mental model was the perfect recreation of a famous actress from the first half of the twentieth century. Her platinum hair and curvaceous body were truly distracting, as the poor Lee had found.
The huge viewscreens on the bridge showed the four battleships and their escorts moving against the Cylons. However, at least for Adama, it was foolish to expose four capital ships in that way. Everything became even stranger when the escorts decelerated and remained side by side with their charges. Adama remembered how a heavy cruiser had obliterated a basestar. What kind of firepower could four battleships have?
His thinking was interrupted by a sensor operator, "Lex, the Iowas report they are ready to fire." Quoting the very famous—and abused—phrase from Terran science fiction, she recited, "They may fire when ready."
Adama could see generalized smirking plastered on everyone's faces, and he was about to ask her what was going on when he observed the real-time feed on the viewscreens. The battleships had somehow separated the upper and lower hulls into two halves joined by articulated members. Inside the space between the hulls, six rotating disks were glowing with energy.
The baseships recognized the danger and launched a massive number of missiles equipped with conventional and nuclear payloads, some of them in the gigaton range.
After five seconds, a continuous beam of light extended between the first and last disks. The disk closest to the bow opened its diaphragm and released a powerful stream of gravitons towards the Cylon fleet, but instead of a focused beam, it was a wide dispersal one. The beam lacked the destructive power of a concentrated one, but it was perfect for small targets. It reached the Cylons, annihilating the missiles, raiders, and heavy raiders around the baseships, which were too weak to resist the searing force of the gravitational disturbance
Cylon Flagship, a few minutes earlier.
"Jump complete, we are out of the target range by 3 light seconds," said a Five loudly.
"That is not the problem; we found them," a Three declared with a bit of tremor in her voice.
"Time for a little payback. Launch all raiders, lock targets on the capital ships advancing on us, and fire now," ordered the Six in command. The baseship shook as the missile strike was launched.
"Energy emissions and gravitational spikes detected," the same Five shouted, "it's the same observed changes from that heavy cruiser but several orders of magnitude bigger."
"All baseships, evasive maneuvers, random courses," the One commanding the fleet said.
Around the baseship, the fleet was changing course as fast as they could, but they had jumped too close to each other.
"Incoming!" a Five alerted, but he had no time to say more. The SGC made grotesque things to the organics inside the ship, killing them before the ship was mauled.
The Fleet.
The baseships located in the main particle stream suffered heavy damage, losing armor plates from arms, collapsing or shutting down reactors, and detonating tylium stores. The ships around the center survived in better shape, but external structures such as communication and DRADIS arrays or missile launchers were twisted or torn off from their frames.
These survivors were in no condition for a long fight, and the disruptor was collapsing the jump field, preventing escape. Four baseships finally exploded, damaging their neighbors with hull fragments.
The Cylons lacked experience in non-static fleet combat. Colonial and Cylon ships were typically slow, engaging in fire exchanges until one side was annihilated. There was no real strategy or combat maneuvers to intercept enemies at different locations or times. The idea of an adequate combat formation to avoid friendly fire and maximize firepower was unknown, as they relied on missiles rather than bullets. Consequently, the Cylons jumped as a disorganized group, close for mutual protection but vulnerable to wide-area attacks.
Given their numerical disadvantage, the four battleships, joined by twenty-six heavy and light cruisers and forty destroyers, formed to attack an exposed flotilla far from the rest of the support.
Free from the threat of missiles and Raiders, the four Iowas adopted a vertical line formation, each with four heavy cruisers protecting their flanks and light cruisers with destroyer squadrons as a rearguard. As the fleet advanced against an exposed side of one Cylon flotilla, they aimed all their main batteries and missile launchers at the baseships while the other four flotillas were too far to help. Every turret on the upper and lower hulls turned, and the barrels glowed hot, preparing to fire.
The new baseships, the Cylon's response to colonial battlestars, were strongly armed with numerous missile launchers and could launch hundreds of Raiders. However, they were quite fragile compared to the old Guardian-class baseships. The new baseships' armor was designed to protect against battlestars' railguns and small tactical nukes for short-term engagements. The Cylon planning involved targeting weakened opponents affected by the viral attack. They never anticipated facing plasma weapons or engaging in prolonged battles against battlestars.
The Cylon crews realized that all their training hadn't prepared them for the strong and fast Terran ships. Iowa's maneuvering of the fleet's battleships as a giant hammer against the weaker part of the Cylon fleet left a trail of severely damaged baseships, while the heavy cruisers used their main weapons to finish the wounded ships.
The destroyers and light cruisers, with weaker shields and weapons, successfully intercepted the missile barrages aimed at the battleships. They wanted their prey too, launching a missile barrage of corrosive warheads, damaging and destroying several baseships. Their jobs were far from finished as the Cylons continued firing more missiles, and a fresh wave of Raiders was forming to attack.
The new Cylon baseships, the machines' response to colonial battlestars, were strongly armed with numerous missile launchers and could launch hundreds of Raiders. However, they were quite fragile compared to the old Guardian-class baseships. The new baseships' armor was designed to protect against battlestars' railguns and small tactical nukes for short-term engagements. The Cylon planning involved targeting weakened opponents affected by the viral attack. They never anticipated facing plasma weapons or engaging in prolonged battles against battlestars.
The Cylon planning involved targeting weakened opponents affected by the viral attack. They never anticipated facing plasma weapons or engaging in prolonged battles against battlestars.
Battleship Iowa, Bridge.
"All main batteries, charge and fire on that baseship." The main tactical viewscreen added a new red reticle to the image of her next prey. "Sisters, prepare a missile broadside with every tube on every Cylon baseship," Iowa ordered her weapons officer.
"Aye, Iowa," the officer said. The battleship was accelerating with her sisters, ascending above the system plane, trying to catch one of the Cylon fleets attempting to evade them. The baseships were large but designed as weapon platforms, unlike the agile Fleet units, so they couldn't avoid combat any longer.
Finally, Iowa and her sisters completed their turn, positioning themselves for optimal firing. More missiles came from the Cylons, and the destroyers and cruisers began suppression fire, intercepting and destroying missiles and Raiders. Some missiles, evading the counterfire with agility, detonated against the battleships and cruisers.
Gigaton-range nukes detonated close to the battleships, their Klein fields enveloping the explosions and absorbing the radiation and plasma released. A couple of nukes detonated directly against Iowa's hull, damaging the armor and exposing two decks to vacuum. Ten crewmen were lost, and a few were exposed to radiation. The wave armor kept most of the attack far from the hull, but some damage leaked through the shield. Four heavy cruisers were slightly mauled by nearby explosions but continued to follow the fleet. Damaged, Iowa transferred the flag to New Jersey.
Fleet Carrier Lexington, Bridge.
So far, while the battleships from her battle group were busy killing Cylons, Lex waited for the Iowas' first move and advanced with her own escorts to attack the other exposed flank. The sudden Cylon maneuver, dividing the fleet in two halves, even if disorganized in her expert opinion as flagship, effectively split the Fleet's attention. Unable to follow Iowa, Lex dived under the plane and focused her attention on the other half of the Cylon fleet.
"It seems they will try to attack Iowa from above and below at the same time," Lex observed, looking at the hologram to keep up appearances. Her mind was monitoring everything simultaneously, but she liked to teach a nice lesson to their students—correction, her crew—and she had already made a decision. Adama was analyzing the battle and didn't like what he was seeing.
"Iowa will face fire from two sides, and she is dividing her guns. She must move out of there," Adama said to Lex.
"She knows, Commander, and I know. We will engage them too. Captain Gonzales, launch your birds with anti-ship missiles. Follow the destroyers for cover and wait for my signal." The Lex leader from the fighter group, only present on the bridge via hologram, nodded and disappeared.
A couple of minutes later—too slow in Lee and Kara's opinion—sixty fighters left the carrier and accelerated to meet the destroyers. Lex's sigil glowed, and her flotilla accelerated to catch the Cylons. Lex wasn't helpless, but she was not a battleship. Her strength was projecting force at long distances, but her screen of heavy cruisers and destroyers—ten heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, and twenty destroyers—was an interdiction force, not a proper battle group, and she knew it.
However, she was faster than the Cylon ships, and in one minute, she was close to the Cylons trying to get under Iowa. The fighters left the destroyers' umbrella and accelerated at maximum speed to get close and fire half of their missiles. A five hundred Raiders were protecting this side of the fleet and tried to intercept the fighters, but when they detected the massive launch, they naturally tried to change course quickly to stop the missiles. Already engaged, they couldn't stop the second half of the remaining missiles. The disorganized response did nothing, and many missiles kept flying to their targets without opposition. Eight baseships were severely mauled by the explosions, losing attitude control and drifting into space.
Since the Raiders had few ships to protect, they accelerated fast towards Lex. Their intentions became clear seconds later when a destroyer and a light cruiser were impacted by nukes and a kamikaze attack. Adama had seen during his career how devastating the flak and anti-aircraft batteries from a battlestar were. His opinion of Lex's defenses changed when the carrier erupted into a storm of rapid pulse lasers, plasma guns, and interceptor missiles. Her Klein fields absorbed all the incoming nukes, and her batteries killed dozens of Raiders every second. Her escorts were busy, too, killing Raiders and using their heavy guns to send a hot greeting to the Cylon baseships. When Lex reached her optimum distance, she aimed her main batteries too, and since they were battleship grade, the killing rate increased.
The trio of Colonial officers had never been in the middle of a battle like this. Adama was more accustomed to battles from inside a battlestar, but his son and Kara were out of their element. Lex observed their reaction and, kidding a bit, said, "Nothing like a big space battle before lunch, right, Commander?" She received a dirty look, especially when a nuke exploded really close, causing the carrier to tremble. "Don't worry, everything is okay," she said.
Battleship New Jersey, Bridge.
That was the last attack from the Cylons. "All launching tubes, fire," Jersey commanded. All the ships fired hundreds of missiles, rivaling the Cylons' broadsides in number and flight pattern complexity. A significant number reached the baseships, causing severe damage to each ship and leaving the typical "bitten" mark of the corrosive warheads. Among the warheads, twenty Tsars went deep into the cloud of confused raiders. The magnitude of the explosion, almost a little nova by itself, destroyed ninety percent of the little ships.
While the Cylons were dealing with the missiles, battleships and heavy cruisers aimed their main batteries and fired again. From the original fifty Cylon ships, only sixteen survivors remained, and they learned in the worst possible way the concept of local fire superiority. The ships were targeted individually by small groups of Earther ships, their hulls perforated by many plasma lances, and they began to explode one by one.
In the end, only a trail of broken pieces of baseships remained in orbit around Caprica. A couple of baseships, too damaged to maintain orbit, were caught by Caprica's gravity and fell into the atmosphere.
"Number reduced to zero, Lady Lex," said the XO. "It seems so, my friend," the young red-haired girl accepted. "Iowa, status report, please," she asked through the virtual window showing Iowa's face. "I am rebuilding two decks, but damn, I lost ten sailors. Twelve were exposed to radiation. Cleveland and Cumberland will need dock time, but they can follow us."
"OK, form your fleet with us," said Lex.
Battleship Iowa, Damage Control.
The mental model and her chief engineer, LT. Allard, were together close to the power junction number 16, located before the closed hatch isolating her inner space from the vacumm. She has no active cameras in the corridor, and for the first time in her existence, she was happy to be blind in that place. She was rebuiding the hull around a big hole of one meter of diameter, responsible for killing inmediately ten of her sailors. Her doctors and subnodes were assisting several wounded and burned from radiation exposure, but they will survive. So this is how a real battle with human beings inside my hull felt, she thought. Five minutes later, her hull was sealed and pressurized again. She had used a small Klein field to absorb the remaining radiation, and she opened the hatch. Only two burned corpses remained, and the rest aspired to the vacum.
"Damn cylons".
Fleet Carrier Lexington. Bridge.
"The first human losses under my command," Lex said, sighing. "Now, we will not be disturbed for a while, Commander Adama," she added. "I will dispatch the ground forces to establish a beachhead."
While Kara was drooling and Lee was sweating, Adama, who had seen many battles in his extensive military career, found this slaughter overwhelming. He only nodded in agreement with Lexington, still needing to recover his voice. The Fleet was not invulnerable, but they fought with determination, and they were relentless. "All Raptors and destroyer groups from one to six, initiate atmospheric maneuvers," Lex's voice sounded through the speakers, adding, "Everything not human is a target."
In the flying pods of Lex and the battleships' hangars, the Raptors and Earth's Marine transports were launched and flew to Caprica, joined by the destroyer escorts.
Fleet Carrier Akagi, Bridge.
At the same time, the other fleets folded in on their targets, and Akagi did the same with her battlegroup above Aquaria. The oceanic world was indeed beautiful, with numerous beaches and islands hosting research laboratories around the equatorial line. Now, the planet was, like the other eleven, a mass grave. Since the population lived on the islands, it was easy to hunt them to the last one. Only a few surface ships had eluded the Cylon patrols, or they were left alone as bait. They were located by the Raptors and guided to nearby islands so the crews could be rescued.
Akagi was analyzing the data packet when she received a transmission from Iona. She frowned as she analyzed the data from the farm, as the Cylons had named that infernal place. "It seems the Submarine Corps took the glory from us," she said to the bridge crew, "but they still could use a bit of help."
"Sparks, open a channel to Titanic."
It was an old habit among the girls to use the services of the sailors for communication and other maneuvers. It was not necessary nor practical, but it kept the sailors informed and working, and it was useful training for the ships without cores.
"Titanic, it seems we have quite a situation on the planet," Akagi said. The mental model on board the hospital ship responded quickly, "Yes, and I'm lucky I have a Colonial doctor and a nurse with me." "The situation is terrible," added Akagi. "I don't know what we are going to do with the fetuses."
"We will stabilize them and ask them," Titanic explained without a trace of doubt. "As a doctor, it's the only thing I can do."
"Well, I suggest that you descend to the planet. I'm sending you the coordinates," Akagi said.
"I'm reporting to the Supreme Flagship, the Ambassador, and the Admiralty," Titanic informed her.
A new voice joined the conversation. This time, it was a battleship, Roma, who said, "The Tactical Network has been upgraded with this... situation. It will be hard to stop a Cylon hunt." "Should we?" asked a heavy cruiser, Myoko. "We should release our destroyers' mental models and hunt these abominations to the last one," she said with venom in her voice.
"Hmm... every leader of a battlegroup is free to decide the extent of her tactical maneuvers," reminded them Akagi. "According to Iona, the island where the farm was located is free of Cylons," she said. Putting a finger on her chin, she added with a frown, "The other islands are fair game for us."
A chorus of vivacious voices from the destroyers and cruisers was heard through the link, asking for action, while Akagi and Roma frowned. Akagi made a slight cough and said, "When they are like this, we use their control keys, or we leave them to do as they please."
"May I go too?" said Roma with an innocent face. Akagi looked at her comrade and said, "Roma, we are supposed to be the guides for the little ones, not a Terminator's example."
On the planet's surface, the Cylons, both mechanical and humanoid, knew about their fleet's destruction. They were prepared for a bloody and personal fight, knowing that they wouldn't be reinforced anytime soon. An improvised network of fixed defenses was already built to stop the invasion around empty human houses. They knew that the farm had gone silent, so humans already had knowledge about their activities with human females. Logically, revenge was something to be expected.
From time to time, the girls needed to land on a planet expediently, and there is nothing faster than jumping to the surface. Since shielding the mental model body with a Klein field required too much energy, it was easier to use a capsule like the old Apollos. The ablative armor filled the atmosphere around with sensor ghosts, making it hard to shoot down. The marines were using the same capsules for combat landings like this. Their powered armors could protect the boys and girls in combat from the mechanical Cylons, making it a nice test for their abilities.
For many humanoids, the short siege was a nightmare. They could fight advantageously against the Colonial Marines since they were stronger than humans. However, they left that notion behind when they saw Centurion limbs and heads flying through the air in front of them. Astonishment and fear invaded them, but the worst was yet to come.
When both groups reached the minimum effective shooting distance, they stared at each other, and without any order, opened fire. The grenade launchers wreaked havoc behind the improvised defenses, but the Cylons kept firing and scoring hits on the armored beings. For the humanoids, it seemed the Earthers had made their own Centurions. Charging at full speed, fast like a Centurion, the powered armors closed the distance quickly and fell upon the Cylons' defensive line.
Since the Cylons were always sure of being resurrected, they didn't ask for mercy and kept shooting. If the armored beings weren't enough, the destroyers' mental models reached the defensive perimeter, too. The little ones made short work of the few mechanicals still fighting and focused their efforts on the humanoids.
What followed was a massacre. The Cylons tried to fight back with heavy weapons and portable missile launchers, but they had waited too long for them to be useful. The armored things discarded their guns and took the Xifos from their backs. From this point, the fight became very personal, and the humans and mental models were not kind warriors. The stories about the farm and how twelve worlds had been nuked didn't help with being merciful.
The Cylons who resurrected later from this battle opened their eyes screaming in panic and fear, trying to feel if their bodies were still in one piece, remembering how they had been butchered by the Earthers.
SSS Lexington, Bridge
"The fight on the ground has ended, Commander Adama," informed a worried Lex. "However, I must inform you that the Cylons have been conducting medical experiments on women," she added slowly, waiting for the inevitable reaction to erupt from Adama and the other Colonials. The crew had been discreetly informed about what was happening, and they had time to cool their tempers.
Adama showed all the external signs of contained fury while Lee and Kara wanted revenge. "Were the women rescued?" asked the old commander. Lex admired the restraint the man was showing, but she nodded, "Thirty-two women were rescued by Iona and her sisters, but they are being treated by Titanic. They are isolated from the fleet for their own health and safety."
"Why?" an angry Adama inquired. "They have suffered enough to be isolated from us."
Lex took Adama by his arm and gently pushed the old man a bit away from the others. Adama was a bit surprised by the strength, but he remembered who he was dealing with. Before Adama could retort angrily for being treated like a cadet, Lex explained carefully, "Commander, all the rescued women are pregnant with some kind of hybrid fetuses, so I don't need to explain to you how they are going to be treated by your people."
The horror painted on the old man's face was evident. "How?" he finally asked.
"According to Iona, the Cylons were using females to solve some kind of reproductive issues," explained Lex. "My girls butchered the Cylon humanoids with extreme prejudice. There are no survivors to interrogate."
"Good," it was the only thing Adama was able to pronounce. "I need to report to my President, Lex," said Adama. "And you are right about the medical quarantine. Some people will see these poor victims like plague carriers," admitted Adama.
"Unfortunately, such is human nature," admitted the fleet carrier.
"Sparks, please accompany Commander Adama to a comm room so he can speak to his President," Lex said. "I appreciate that," thanked a serious Adama. How is she going to react? he thought while he was being led to the comm room. The comms officer explained how the instrument worked and he was left alone. He still remembered that he was, literally, inside a huge synthetic living ship so she could be listening to everything.
Adama finished his report to Roslin. He had to be careful when he explained the quarantine and the reasons. "What are we going to do with the things growing in these women?" inquired Roslin.
"Ma'am President, I think that we can't allow these pregnancies to go on," he suggested while slowly, methodically, he cleaned his glasses, "these... things are the product of experiments, I believe they wanted to study how to avoid the need for cloning."
Laura reclined in her armchair and sighed while she closed her eyes. It was a long day, and it was becoming worse. Could she order these women to terminate their pregnancies? They were still under martial law, and the Articles of Colonization guaranteed her some laxity. "For now, we will keep all this information contained inside Titanic," said Roslin. Adama knew the president, and he could feel the authority behind her words. No more arguments.
"While I am glad about the Fleet butchering Cylons everywhere, I would prefer to rescue everybody and get out of the colonies as fast as we can," said Roslin. "I agree, Ma'am President, we must start again," agreed Adama tiredly. On the twelve colonies, the clean-up operations were proceeding well with the ground troops doing their jobs.
Bismarck Fleet in orbit around Picon
This time, Bismarck had ordered to capture at least a few functional humanoids for interrogation. The Bismarck fleet over Picon had its share of action since a Cylon fleet had the bad idea to show themselves in front of her. This time, a baseship was boarded, and the Cylons had their first experience with Earther Marines assaulting a baseship.
Seconds before, the Baseship 12, commanded by a Six named Stella, was part of a powerful strike force of fifteen ships. Five minutes ago, the two Earther battleships and what looked like a carrier, joined by cruisers and destroyers, had opened fire almost immediately after they had left the jump. For a Cylon ship, it was its most vulnerable time. Fourteen baseships became the target of these new humans and machines, and they accumulated so much damage that half of the fleet was listing without control and the other half was fighting for their lives with everything they had.
Her ship had its jump drives destroyed, and Stella remembered what had happened to the Baseship 104. She steeled herself for what she most feared, a boarding action. She could send the self-destruction order herself, but the anger was stronger, and she prepared her centurions and humanoid troops. Heavy machines were placed in choke points, and crates from the deposits were moved by the centurions to slow down the advance of the Terrans.
A last impact had killed the dradis, and if she wanted to know what was going on outside, she must stick her head out the hull. She prepared her troops and waited. A metallic noise, almost a scratch on the hull, flooded the ship. Several heavy noises reverberated inside, and heavy steps were heard. Stella waited.
Soon, a chorus of screams and broken things, explosions, and weapons fire was heard. More heavy steps were getting close, and for the first time, she watched what had invaded her ship. Something vaguely humanoid in shape, three meters tall, painted black and green, was walking through the choke point. The right arm had something that looked like a gatling gun, and a giant sword was peeking out its back. A couple of centurions ran against the thing, firing their handguns uselessly. The 30 mm ammunition ricocheted against the armor, leaving pocketing marks and scars, but the giant kept advancing and finally fired his gun, blowing the torso of the Centurion. The other Cylon switched to the hand blade and almost reached the head when the sword cut the left arm and head in halves. The bodies fell on the floor, and the thing looked at Stella.
The woman fell to her knees. "I surrender." To her surprise—and relief—the helmet revealed a human face. A human male answered, "And I accept your surrender. Put your hands behind your back. I will restrict your movements." The Six obeyed, and the armored figure approached, placing a pair of handcuffs around her wrists. They walked together back through a corridor and found a young girl dressed in tactical gear with a bloodied xifos on her right shoulder.
"Did you fish something?" Phoenix asked.
"I have a living prisoner," said the human.
"Right, let's go to the extraction point," said the girl. "Are you hurt, Cylon?" she asked. The woman only shook her head. The duo reached the extraction point, finding eight Cylon prisoners ready to be moved to the Terran ship.
A tunnel had been perforated through the hull, and suddenly, a blond head appeared. Bismarck asked jovially, "Are you ready? We need to move on, guys." The Cylon looked at the girl, and then the Cylons exchanged scared looks. What kind of mess were they into?
After a few hours, the cylons decided that it was useless to send more ships to the butchery. The number of rescued people, even if it was significant compared to the survivors, was really low. So far, six thousand people, even if they were inside caves, were rescued. Lack of food, proper clothing under the nuclear winter, and radiation did its share, and it was painfully obvious that the rescued will need a lot of advanced medical attention.
The fleet scanned extensively the planet surfaces, but they couldn't find anybody alive. Some people were rescued from the asteroid belts, but they were close to a hundred people. So far, after a lot of explanations by colonial officers and mental models, the colonials agreed to board the hospital ships. Adama, being a known person in the Colonies, had transferred to Titanic so they could receive his people and give them a lot of explanations. It was a bit disappointing the almost total lack of children among the rescued. Since the main objective was completed, Bismarck sent a simple message "Mission accomplished" to Yamato and Roslin. The fleets folded back to the colonial fleet.