HYPERION TASK GROUP

Volume 2: Decisions and Discoveries

By Jim Quigley

Word Count – 14,530

Date: 2006
Pairing or Focus: Original Characters
Warnings: None
Summary:
Spoilers/Disclaimers:This story begins more than two months after the cylon offensive.

Over the past month the refugees had begun to settle in a routine. The two Geminon Liners had set up a school for the children in which Jason Tillman's middle child was a teacher. The Pan Galactic Liner was serving a dual role of hospital ship in addition to housing the families of the HYPERION that were onboard the battlestar at the outbreak of war. All able body civilians in addition to colonial service personnel were working on the MYSTIC, TESTRA and CARPUS as well as, restoring Naylor Station. The decision was made to bring the station online shortly after TANTALUS left the Crodus sector. Tillman felt that after two months with no Cylon activity close by it was safe to attempt to establish a home base of operations.

Commander Jason Tillman was in raptor 594 returning to the HYPERION. A pair of vipers was escorting them. He had just finished inspecting the final round of modifications to the civilian vessels when he glanced through the window and saw the BOREAS, he immediately thought of the TANTALUS and her crew. Over a week had passed since they left Naylor Station to search for the other survivors of the colonies and still no word. What had become of them? Tillman thought to himself as he read through a reconnaissance reports that were over two days old. They all stated no sign of activity, Cylon or otherwise in the system. The one thing that interested him was the Cylon communiqués the PROTEUS had recovered from a communication relay satellite. Tillman had sent PROTEUS to the edge of the Cyrannus System a few weeks ago to see if they could pick up any type of communication.

"The Cylons have started to make themselves at home," Tillman thought to himself as he continued to read.

PROTEUS was able to decipher the "low-priority" encryption sequence the tin-heads were using. The messages state that the Cylons are still having trouble with the few remnants of the colonial service back at the home worlds. These remnants are continuing to inflicted minor damage to numerous basestars and outposts around the system. As a result, the Cylons have had to scale back the search for the GALACTICA again until more reinforcements arrive. McKnight also stated that the I.C.S Array emitted its diagnostic report this month without the Cylons detecting the message we incorporated in its signal.

As the raptor flew passed the BOREAS, Lt Powers lined up for final approach to the HYPERION

"HYPERION / Raptor 594. Beam acquisition lock" Glider started, making sure he followed protocol precisely.

"Raptor 594 / HYPERION. Copy your acquisition lock" Dyson (LSO) responded. "Standby for landing clearance."

A moment passed and Dyson was back on the wireless. "Raptor 594 / HYPERION. Approach starboard handing bay, checker yellow and call the ball."

"Confirmed HYPERION, starboard handing bay, checker yellow and I have the ball," replied Glider.

The raptor entered the landing bay and proceeded toward the yellow elevator. After the raptor landed, the elevator slowly made its decent from the flight deck to the hanger deck.

"Nice job Glider, thanks for the ride." Tillman commented as he unbuckled himself.

"No problem sir, my pleasure," responded Glider as he saluted the commander.

Tillman returned the salute and headed for the raptor door.

Colonel Hayes was waiting for Jason to exit the raptor to give him an updated status report. It was routine that they had started once Tillman started visiting the other ships in the fleet.

"Lt. Walkers' team has finished her evaluation of the E.M.P. (Electro Magnetic Pulse) weaponry and would like to meet with you regarding their findings," Hayes began as they started walking towards the crew quarters. "JUNO reports that they have eighty-five percent of the port flight pod repaired. All launch tubes are operational. They're working on the flight deck and elevators."

"DAEDALUS checked in this morning, CF139 cargo holds are filled and the refinery ship is at ninety percent of capacity and with tyllium. Finding that vein on the planetoid was pure luck. They report that they'll be at one hundred percent in two days," continued Hayes.

"How was the survey?" he asked.

"Good, although the civilians are starting to get a little restless. They expressed that they should be involved in any decision made. I finally agreed to let one representative from two passenger liners be present at the general briefing sessions. I also informed them that the fleet would start evacuation drills in the event we have to leave Naylor Station quickly," Jason responded.

"What was their reaction?" inquired Hayes.

"Not happy, especially after we spent so much time and effort restoring the station. When I told them that sooner or later the Cylons could start searching this area and if they find our ships they'll return in masses. They seemed to settle down after that," answered Jason. "Any word from the patrols? The last reconnaissance report I have is over two days old."

"PROTEUS reported that their probe retrieved more messages from that relay satellite. We haven't been able to decipher all of them. It seems that the Cylons have multi-layered encryption protocols," answered Hayes. "I have Ensign McCall working on cracking that code. She hopes to have something soon," he added as they reached the ships elevators.

"Have they retrieved any more information on the unknown resistance?" Jason questioned.

"No more than we already knew, an old battlecruiser has engaged in a few hit and run skirmishes near the home words and that at one point, an unknown battlestar was spotted near Sagittaron.

"What about GALACTICA and TANTALUS?" Tillman asked.

"Still nothing other than what we know. The Cylons initially chased GALACTICA and the civilian fleet around for almost a week after the attacks and then lost them shortly afterwards" responded Hayes. "We've had no contact with TANTALUS since she entered the Cyrannus system."

"Give a copy of what we have to JUNO and ADELPHIA, have them work on it as well. We have other resources at our disposal. Lets use them." Jason said as he entered the elevator by himself. "Inform Lieutenant Walker We'll meet with her after the morning watch has begun." Hayes acknowledged Jason's orders and the doors closed.

Jason entered his quarters and was surprised to see his wife. Anne was in the middle of her rotation onboard the hospital ship, which was nicknamed "HAVEN". Anne had picked up a regular rotation on her once the fleet reach Naylor Station. Due to the demands of running the fleet, Jason had spent little time with his wife and kids.

"I thought you had a another day left in your rotation?" he inquired.

"I was able to switch shifts. I figured I'd surprise you and Kyle is staying with the girls until tomorrow." Anne said as she brought him dinner.

As Jason started in on his dinner he asked how her rotation went and how the girls were. Jason's daughters were living on the HAVEN for the last two months. They had decided share a room there since they were working so much.

"Five more died from radiation poisoning. Which brings it to a total of one hundred and twenty three. We released over a two dozen patients including a couple of pilots and Colonel Edwards who emerged from his coma two weeks ago has begun his physical therapy," she began. "Dr. Chapman feels that he'll could eventually return to duty with extensive rehabilitation soon." Anne sat down next to Jason and continued, "Cassidy been working in the Rehabilitation Center on a regular basis. She's also been seeing a pilot," she added.

"Who?" inquired Jason?

"Lt. Ryan McMillan." Anne started. "He was on the HERMES."

"How long has this been going on?" The surprised father said.

"They've been seeing each other for about six weeks. They meet when he was rehabbing his fractured legs. Kayla let it slip a few days ago. I promised I wouldn't say anything. Anyway, he's been cleared to return to duty." She finished as she stared at her husband and saw for the first time since the holocaust, he looked like a surprised father, rather than a person with the responsibility of ten thousand refuges.

"How were your inspections?" Anne asked trying to change the subject.

"They went well," he started, still thinking of Cassidy and her new boyfriend. "We've upgraded the defensive capabilities of the civilian ships. One of the liners recently adapted its arboretum to grow its own fruits and vegetables. They want to try and augment what they're receiving from the agro-ship. A few of the other ships have started similar projects." He finished, as they moved from the table to the couch. The two continued to talk for the next few hours before retiring for the evening.

After the morning shift had begun Lieutenant Walker and her team were called to the pilots briefing room. When they arrived they were surprised to see most of the senior officers of the fleet waiting. Commander Tillman was standing at the podium and motioned for Walker to come forward. As Walker took the podium, her team members passed out a report on their finding.

"Good Morning, I would like to introduce my team at this time. To my left are Lt. Kirby of TRINITY, Lt Barnes and Capt Clark of JUNO and Kendrick Ralls. When we inventoried Naylor Station we found thirty creates from the Colonial Weapons Division. Inside these creates we found cutting edge technology, from what we're able to surmise; they were working on Electromagnetic Weapon Systems. The effect is characterized by the production of a very short (hundreds of nanoseconds) but intense electromagnetic pulse, which propagates away from its source with ever diminishing intensity, governed by the theory of electromagnetism. The Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is in effect an electromagnetic shock wave. This pulse of energy produces a powerful electromagnetic field, particularly within the vicinity of the weapon burst. The field can be sufficiently strong to produce short lived transient voltages of thousands of Volts on exposed electrical conductors, such as wires, or conductive tracks on printed circuit boards, where exposed. It is this aspect of the EMP effect, which is of military significance, as it can result in irreversible damage to a wide range of electrical and electronic equipment. The damage inflicted is not unlike that experienced through exposure to close proximity lightning strikes." Walker stopped for moment to direct a team member to turn on the monitor and continued. "What you see is the three types of delivery systems, a prototype pulse rifle, a small portable case about the size of a briefcase, and a warhead that may be fitted to a missile frame. What you are now seeing is footage taken from KALLIOPE, as a test, we launched an EMP missile on a unmanned MKII shuttle." Everyone watched as the missile affected the shuttle causing an electric surge throughout the shuttle and then a total lose of power. Lt Walker then open the meeting to questions.

"Lieutenant, how many of these warheads do we have?" ask Commander Jones.

"Our present inventory of warhead type is one hundred sixty, eighty of the portable, and six pulse rifles." Walker responded.

"What could these do to a Cylon basestar?" asked Colonel Walsh.

"It's unknown, we could disable all of it or a section. The closer the target, the higher the probability increased damage."

"So do we have the capability to build replacements?" asked Commander Roberts.

"Yes, we can." She began. "There is one problem. Do the limited resources at this time; we would need to cannibalize a good segment of our electronics."

"Mr. Ralls, what is your connection to this briefing?" Hayes asked, wondering why a thief was included in Walkers' briefing.

Ralls stepped forward and began. "The Lieutenant wanted to know how I was able to get my hands on this weaponry. Nine weeks before the Cylon attacks I was contacted to appropriate certain containers located at the Aerelon Shipyards. My contact stated that I was to take only those containers and deliver them to the Tairac system. They heard that the Weapons Division was ready to conduct testing on radical new systems that they wanted it. I was given access codes to storage areas and the Shipyards' mainframe."

"Who was your contact?" inquired Tillman.

"I don't know her name. She was definitely a looker. I could never forget a tall blonde." Ralls added.

"Thank you Mr. Ralls," Tillman began, "Could you please wait in the mess hall. I would like to speak with you on a different matter."

Tillman waited for Ralls to exit before he continued. "This morning I spoke with Colonel Walsh. They were able to decode one of the older Cylon messages intercepted a few weeks ago. It seems that while an unknown battlestar was sighted in some type of recovery effort over Sagittaron, another was engaging the tinheads over Caprica." Tillman could hear the chatter level raise from murmurs to normal voices around the room.

"The Cylons destroyed the battlestar over Caprica," Tillman declared, which quieted the chatter among the officers. "The message states that it was the ITHACA."

"ITHACA?" questioned Roberts "She was stripped down to a target vessel. There's no way she could have been turned around that quickly. She must have been a decoy," he concluded.

"Someone used her. Judging by the communiqués it was used as a diversion. For what purpose we're not sure. Until we have further information this is strictly classified." With that, Jason dismissed the meeting. Only Commander Roberts remained and the two continued privately.

"What are you thinking?" asked Roberts.

"With what we have now, the more I'm convinced that there are two separate resistance cells and one is definitely around the home worlds. It's tempting to go back and see what's going on," started Tillman. "But, we also have to consider what we have now. We can't just leave the civilian ships out here alone. We need to find either GALACTICA or somewhere out of Cylon reach."

"I agree the tinheads have been quite. It could be a matter of time until they start looking around this sector," answered Roberts.

"What's your status? Is TRINITY ready to start surveying nearby sectors?" asked Jason.

"We're good to go. All systems are up to specs. The raptor flight crews are a little green, but Jackson is confident," replied Roberts.

"Good, have TRINITY start scouting the Tairac System. I'll assign one of my raptors to the mission. If I recall correctly, you surveyed that system before. Schedule your departure in twelve hours and take a some of the EMP missiles." ordered Tillman.

As Roberts headed for the hanger bay, Tillman was off to the Mess Hall he had a few things to attend to.

Cmdr Jones was inspecting the restored launch bay in the port hanger pod of the JUNO with his XO.

"It's hard to believe the repair crew could get these tubes operational this quick," said Colonel Brice.

"They pulled doubles for the last two months along with the teams from the other ships" began Jones.

"They were able to appropriate the components from the Naylor Station. Its launch tubes were similar to ours. In a week or so, we can start to move vipers to this pod." Matt continued

"Clark (Capt. Todd "Woody Clark CAG) said that with the squadron integration of the survivors from Leonis, Spitfire Squadron is probably the most experienced squadron in our fleet, although one could argue for Omega squad from HYPERION." started Brice as the two crossed into the service bays and were greeted by CPO Conner Marshall.

"Hello Sirs," followed the salute by Marshall. " All launch tubes are now online and hopefully we can scavenge some paint and have them looking tiptop," stated the CPO.

"That's fine Chief," started Jones. "Once the flight deck is complete we're scheduled to get additional vipers for our pilots from HYPERION,"

"Well, we might not need as many as we thought. The deck crews have something to show you." Marshall started walking toward the rear of the hanger bay (SB). "After we restored life support and gravity, we were able to get in to the launch bays and storage areas to assess the damage. Two suicide runs by Cylon raiders caused most of it."

As the trio finally made their way to the Hanger bay Jones and Brice were stunned to see ten vipers.

"After we cleared the debris, we were able to get to the launch tubes. The vipers in tubes sixteen to twenty were salvageable and the explosion didn't touch two of the five in storage bay," continued Marshall as the senior officers inspected the vipers. "The other three were rebuilt from vipers that escaped Picon."

"What's their status?" asked Jones.

"A few of them need more work, but should be able to go in a week. Once this pod is fully operational, we can transfer another ten that were rescued and restored from Picon and Leonis to this pod from the starboard pod. That will give us forty functioning vipers," replied the chief.

Brice kept walking around the vipers giving them the once over when he noticed a table with the viper nameplates; he knew each and every name very well especially his bother. Marshall walked over to the table and spoke.

"We planned to place a plaque above each launch tube as a memorial to the pilots who were killed before they could launch."

"Make sure there's one for the deck crew as well." Brice spoke softly.

"Aye sir," responded Marshall.

Colonel Marcus was late for the senior staff meeting on TRINITY. The Doctor had just removed the bandage over his eye. As predicted, his vision was normal. Only a three-inch scar above the eye and some slight discoloration remained. When he finally arrived, he took his seat. Present at the staff meeting were Lt Kirby of Tactical, Capt Lisa Jackson CAG Blackjack Squadron and CPO Peter Dunbar of Flight Deck Operations.

"I'm sorry to call this meeting at the last moment. We've been assigned to scout the Tairac System for any Cylon activity and raw resources for the fleet." Roberts began. "Before we do that. I would like an section report from all of you first."

Marcus was the first to speak. "With the integration of experienced personnel over the past few month our battle simulations have improved to ninety three percent. All the communication system and navigational program have been removed from the main network."

"All weapons are fully operational and security teams are ready," reported Kirby.

"All vipers and raptors are online. My flight crews are ready," added Dunbar.

"My pilots are good to go. We've had plenty time to coordinate with the raptors," stated Jackson.

"Good, we're getting a raptor from the HYPERION it will give us an extra set of eyes. I think it would be good idea to assign one of the new ECO recruits to them." Roberts suggested.

"Yes sir," replied Jackson as she took notes.

"How long the scouting mission was scheduled for?" asked Marcus.

"Ten to fourteen days," responded Roberts. "Prepare the ship for departure. I want to rendezvous with CF 157 (Colonial Freighter) in two hours to obtain a few of those EMP missiles and get under way shortly thereafter. Dismissed."

A few days after TRINITY left to scout the Tairac System, DAEDALUS and her group returned loaded with tyllium.

"Enter," responded Captain Nix to the knock on his door.

"Sir, Lt. Ryan McMillan reporting as ordered," spoke the young officer as he saluted.

Nix returned the salute and asked him to take a seat.

"Lieutenant, I understand you were cleared to return to duty," Nix stated.

"Yes, sir. I was cleared two days ago. I haven't received an assignment yet," answered McMillan.

"Tell me about your injuries? What happened?" questioned Nix.

"We were in the port launch tubes when CIC called to scramble all remaining vipers. I was getting into my plane when a massive explosion rocked us and I was sent flying out of the cockpit. I was out cold and the next thing I know, I'm on a hospital ship. I later found out that a deckhand dragged me to sickbay," recounted McMillan.

"How long were you deputy CAG?" inquired the CAG.

"Sir, I was deputy CAG for the last five of the nine months onboard HERMES. Prior to that, I was on battlestar COLUMBIA for over two years," replied McMillan.

"I just reassigned my former second-in-command to training new pilots and in some cases, recertify old ones that have come forward within the fleet. I'm in need of a deputy. I need an officer with experience who can run a squadron. I spoke with Major Ashley (surviving senior officer from HERMES) he spoke highly of you. Are you interested in the position?" asked Nix.

"Yes sir," responded McMillan.

"Good, you'll be charge of beta wing of Omega squadron. There's a recon patrol scheduled for 0500, I would like you to tag along with them as an observer, and it'll give you a chance to log some flight time." Nix ordered.

McMillan acknowledged the order and thanked Nix before leaving. As Nix watched him leave, he hoped this would be the last reassignment to his squadron. "To many changes lately, they need more time to gel as a unit," he hoped as he sat down to review the viper maintenance logs of his squadron.

The PROTEUS was drifting under minimal power near the edge of the Cyrannus System. It was her rotation to sit and listen for any signs of activity coming from the home colonies. McKnight was down in the cargo bay helping with repairs to a raptor that they had salvaged when he was paged.

"Colonel McKnight, please report to CIC."

McKnight exited the raptor and proceeded to the closest intercom and called up to the CIC.

"This is McKnight. What's going on Major?" he asked.

"Sir, We broke another message. The Cylons are planning something soon and it looks big," answered the Major.

"I'll be right there," replied McKnight as he wiped as face of sweat.

McKnight made is way up to the command center and found Major Brian Canton his XO, who handed him a clipboard. McKnight carefully read what was on it and finally spoke.

"If this is correct, the Cylons are trying to push one of the resistance cells to the edge of the Varden sector where three basestars are waiting for them," he began. "Are you sure the deciphering is correct?"

"Haggerty checked it three times. She says the tinheads altered their encryption methods but was able to bust the code. She swears by it!" stressed the XO."

"Shouldn't we send this to the fleet immediately?" asked Canton.

"No. We should deliver it in person. I don't want to take the chance of the toasters stumbling on to the fact that we broke the transmission. How long to recall all of the probes?" asked McKnight?

"Probe three is the farthest out. It'll take about fifty minutes for it to receive the recall command," answered the exec.

"Issue the recall. Go to condition two throughout the ship. I want to jump back to the fleet as soon as it returns," ordered McKnight as he grabbed a map of the Varden sector.

The XO issued the recall and then grabbed the intercom headset and upgraded the ship to condition two. Slowly the systems on the PROTEUS came back to life as it awaited the probe three to return.

Colonial and civilian workers had spent the last two weeks removing debris from corridors in an effort to reclaim damaged sections of the station. This included an immense repair and fabrication bay that was inaccessible since the first Cylon War. MCPO Brian Perry's team was in an access tunnel trying to find one of the electrical junction rooms deep inside the asteroid. Their assignment is to find a way to restore power to those sections. The Station was constructed with the purpose of being self-sustaining. If they could get again access to the bay and get it operational again, it would ease the burden on the HYPERION repair facilities.

"Getting the defensive grid online was a piece of cake compared to this!" mused Specialist Kelly.

"That only took a week. Demolition crews have been at it twice that long manually hauling debris out of collapsed corridor leading to the blast doors. We still can't access a third of the station and we might leave at a moments notice, it doesn't make sense to spend all this time." retorted Deckhand Russell.

"Look, during the second wave of the original attacks, the decision was made to evacuate. There wasn't enough time to salvage anything. Who knows what we'll find and besides all the shipyards have been destroyed so there's no chance of replenishing the fleet anywhere else," stated Perry.

"Why didn't the Trade Syndicate dig out the station?" asked Russell

"The best I can figure is that all they wanted was to use the main bay as storage of what they stole," answered Perry as the continued downward.

When they finally found the junction room they were not surprised at the mess. Perry ordered his team to survey the damage. After a few minutes his team made their report.

"Sir," started Kelly. "The main power line comes in and splits into two panels; one feeds the lower launch tubes that were stripped to repair JUNO and the other feeds the fabrication and repair bay. The circuit panel that powers the latter is melted. It needs to be replaced which would take a couple of days. I was able run a jumper and get partial lighting and the oxygen system running again and it's holding pressure," he reported.

"We found a service crawlspace that runs from this room to the bay itself!" Russell exclaimed with excitement as he pointed to the hatch on the other end of the room.

Perry instructed Russell and one of the electricians to continue to do what they could to keep getting the systems running and sending another topside to report what they found to CIC. He and Kelly would continue through the service tube to the bay itself.

A short distance from the entrance to "the chute" PROTEUS materialized from its hyper-light jump. After completing a scan of the area, the ship started its journey down towards the station.

Perry and Kelly finally reached the hatch. Perry keyed in the access code and the light on the panel went from red to green. He then reached for the hatch levers and gave them a twist and pushed the panel upwards. Perry poked his head through the hatch; he couldn't see much, only one or two of the emergency lights were working. Once through the hatch, he flipped on his flashlight trying to figure out were exactly in the bay he was.

Commander Tillman was giving his son a tour of the station's Command Center when the Duty Officer interrupted him. He was informed that Perry's team accessed the fabrication bay. Tillman was surprised by what he's been told. Tillman and the officer talked for a few moments. Afterwards. Jason explained to Kyle that he had to leave to check what was found below and asked if he could accompany his father. Jason agreed to it only under the condition that they wouldn't tell his mother.

Perry started to look around the room. "We're in the machine shop." He thought to himself as he moved his flashlight until he found the door. Perry checked the gauges on the panel to see if the main bay had power, which it did. Kelly was surprised to see the remains of about a dozen men scattered about.

"They must have tried to reach the service tunnel," Perry spoke as continued down the hallway. Suddenly a bank of overhead lighting flickered in the main area. "He must be cross wiring panels" referring to the electrician back in the junction room.

As they entered the partially lit area Perry recognized the fabrication equipment, outdated by today's standards, but barely used. They continued through the shop looking around until they reached the main bay. When they entered the bay Perry knew that they had found the jackpot, still packed in there original shipping creates were almost fifty Mark II Vipers. Kelly continued forward as the intercom panel buzzed. Perry picked up the receiver.

"This is Perry," proclaimed the chief.

"This is Cmdr Tillman, What have you found?" the voice asked.

"Sir, the tunnel leads directly into the machine shop. The equipment looks like its in working order but there's no power, so we can't tell for sure. We also found fifty unassembled Mark II's still sealed in their shipping containers. I sent Kelly forward to see what else is here, " replied Perry.

"I'm coming in," announced Tillman.

It took about twenty minutes for Tillman's group to reach the bay. Perry was able to find something to cover the dead before they arrived. When they did, Perry made a formal report.

"According to the manifest, Naylor received a this delivery of Vipers, raw materials, replacement provisions and armaments about two days before the first wave of attacks on the station." Perry began, "One of the deckhands left a note that the chief and the senior crew were killed when the corridor collapsed causing the blast doors to close. Something must have happen during the second wave and they died trying to get to the access hatch in the machine shop. Once we clear the corridor we'll get these birds assembled and ready to fly."

"The Cylons must have knew about the vipers and attacked. Taking the station out gave them a tactical advantage," assessed the commander aloud.

"How long to get the bay online?" inquired Tillman?

"At least a couple of weeks. It'll take five days just to rebuild and rewire the panels in the electric substation while the repair teams to work on the collapsed passageway," Perry responded.

Perry acknowledged Tillman's order as the intercom system buzzed. Tillman picked up the headset and identified himself.

"Sir, this is Specialist Mora in the Operation Center, I have Colonial Hayes wishing to speak with you on a secured line." The young female voice announced.

"Very well. Put him through," ordered Tillman.

"Jason," Hayes began. "Sensor drones have picked up the PROTEUS entering the chute."

"She not due to return for a couple of days. Are you sure it's them? Did you made contact?" inquired Tillman.

"Yes, They sent all the correct cipher authorizations. McKnight said that they intercepted and decoded a Cylons transmission. He won't say anymore over the open channels. He wants to meet with you immediately to discuss this," Hayes responded with concern tone.

"Send a raptor and bring him to the station, we'll meet here once they get here," decided Tillman.

The commander commended Perry and his men on their find and told them to get the bay online and start assembling the Vipers as soon as possible. Tillman and his son left via the way they entered.

Colonial Williams was getting dressed in an examination room in the DAEDALUS sickbay. He had just received the results of his latest rounds of tests on his heart. His condition is slowly deteriorating. Months before the attacks on the colonies his personal doctor told him that he would need valve replacement surgery. It would have ended his military career. He was scheduled for surgery shortly after he was to return from his final space assignment.

"You need to have surgery soon," began the ship's chief medical officer (CMO). "That valve could fail on you anytime."

"I know, I've been to busy overseeing the repair to the station. Once we get full access to the repair bay, I'll advise Commander Tillman of my condition and I'll submit my retirement papers." replied Williams.

"I wouldn't worry about retiring in our present condition. We need experienced officers, which were short of. Other than the Admiral and Commander Roberts, you have the most time in the service. I'll recommend that you be returned to active service." Pinto stated.

"Alright, that will be up to the commander when the time comes. I'll let you know in a day or two," conceded Williams. "I just want to get into that bay and get those vipers."

Tillman sat quietly as he studied McKnight's intelligence report. He wanted to make sure he completely understood the material presented to him. If the report were correct he would have a major decision on his hands. After a few minutes Tillman turned to Commander Peterson and asked her opinion.

"What if it's a Cylon trick?" she began, "It's been almost two months since the attacks. They could be baiting us to make us reveal ourselves."

"That's a possibility." McKnight retorted. "But, what if they hid like we did? What if something forced them to make a run for it? We have a chance to not only strengthen our forces, but to save human lives! We can't leave them to die."

"If the Cylons knew we existed they would have searched for us buy now," added Walker.

"Col McKnight is correct. It's our responsibility to protect human life. This could very well be a setup or it could be Cylon arrogance. It doesn't matter we have a duty to those people," announced Tillman.

"How do we find the Cylons forces that are pushing the Colonial forces toward the three basestars?" asked Peterson.

"We don't," Tillman began, as he started walking around the table in the conference room, "We go after the basestars in waiting."

"We'll be easily outnumbered and we don't truly know the capabilities of those basestars," added Major Madden who until now remained quite.

"Yes, we will," Tillman started. "But we have the element of surprise. They're expecting small response from the unknown resistance back home. Lets see how they will react to our task force." he said with determination.

Over the next few hours they brainstormed a battle plan. It was very risky. If it were effective, it would strike a blow to that Cylon arrogance.

"We'll need TRINITY," stated Peterson.

Tillman turned towards Major Timlin and spoke; " I need you to find Commander Roberts at once. We strike in twenty-six hours. Find and inform him of our plan. Colonel Hayes will have his last know position and a their general survey grid. Afterwards you're to return to Naylor and prepare for a quick exit if something goes wrong."

"Yes, sir" Major Timlin replied as she saluted and proceeded to exit the conference room.

Tillman turned towards the other two officers and instructed them to set condition two throughout the fleet and to make all preparations necessary. The fleet would leave the station and rendezvous in the Varden Sector in eighteen hours and go to condition one. He would inform Commander Jones and the rest of the senior officers to the plan after returning to HYPERION.

Raptor 594 had just begun surveying its first of three assigned grids in the Tairac Sector. It was the sixth straight day of three a day jumps. As with the nineteen previous jumps, they had found nothing to indicate any recent Cylon activity. As there usual routine Hanson would take the first watch while Powers would rest.

Tillman watched as the last shuttle exited the starboard pod. On it was the last of the nonessential personnel, which included his son. He was hoping this was not the last time he would see his son. After today, HYPERION would become a hunted ship as much as GALACTICA is. All the C.O.'s felt as he did, they could not ignore the chance of other survivors. As Tillman made his way towards the situation room HYPERION made its final turn towards the exit of the chute. Once they cleared the chute they would jump to the Varden Sector.

Captains Nix and Brown were in the pilots briefing room reviewing data and video from their last encounter with the Cylons. It was probably the hundredth time they reviewed the material but now they had a purpose.

"Amanda estimates up to three hundred raiders are in each basestar. That's a lot for us to handle." Brown surmised.

"I spoke to Major Ashley," Nix began. "He stated that the Cylons conducted a frontal assault on the HERMES and did the same thing with JUNO. The commander thinks they'll do the same with us. After HYPERION jumps in, she'll try and take out as many as possible with her point defense turrets (PDT). Afterwards we launch and engage."

"Hopefully they'll find TRINITY and her vipers in time," replied Brown.

"Dradis contact, fifty-two degrees to port," shouted the specialist manning the dradis console.

"Is it TRINITY?" asked Captain Baker, the acting executive officer.

"We can't get a positive confirmation. It's at the edge of scanning range and moving off," he replied

"Helm change course to intercept. Full power to sub-light drive," ordered Timlin as she moved towards the center of the CIC.

ZEPHYRUS changed course and headed towards the contact.

Lt. Barnes, Colonel Hayes, Commanders Peterson, Jones and Tillman were in the Situation Room on HYPERION. They were looking at a map of Varden sector; through a recon probe they were able to confirm the location of the three Cylon Basestars.

"Sir, We should strike now. The Cylons are just sitting there," whispered Hayes.

"I know I was hoping we would have TRINITY. But, it looks like that's not going to happen." Tillman replied.

"How about rigging a probe with the jump coordinates?" Barnes began, "When they show up, they can download our plan and join us. We can adjust the IFF program to recognize TRINITY only. Anything else and it will self-destruct."

"Do it," spoke Tillman. "Notify the fleet we jump in fifteen minutes. Get ready to deploy phase one."

Hayes barked out the order to set in motion phase one. The hanger bays came to life with activity. All deckcrews were busy prepping their vipers for launch as the pilots finished their preflight checklist.

"Sir, Dradis contact!" shouted Kirby.

Roberts turned toward Marcus and asked if it was one of the raptors.

"No sir, it's larger than a raptor. It will be in range in fifteen seconds," replied Marcus.

The klaxon sounded throughout the ship and the voice of Lt. Kirby came over the internal ship speakers.

"ACTION STATIONS, ACTION STATION SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP."

"Launch alert fighters now!" bellowed Marcus.

"Alert fighters away!" responded the LSO.

"Commander, It's the ZEPHYRUS!" announced Kirby. "Their authentication codes are correct. I have Major Timlin on a secured line.

Roberts picked up a headset and motioned to Kirby to put the signal through.

"This is Commander Roberts," he spoke as he looked at Marcus.

"Sir, We were sent us to recall you." Timlin began. "We deciphered a Cylon transmission. It seems that the Cylons are trying to push one of the resistance cells to the edge of the Varden sector where three basestars are waiting for them. A recon probe confirmed the position of the basestars. Commander Tillman has decided to launch an attack against the Cylons."

Roberts also knew that sooner or later that something would draw them out of hiding and figured Jason thought this was as good as any. Roberts ordered Timlin to dock on the portside so they could offload unnecessary personnel and to get a look at the battle plan. Fifteen minutes later Timlin was in TRINITY's situation room.

"How long until the attack" asked Roberts who by this time grabbed a chart of the Varden Sector.

"In little more than one hour. We're offloading our reserve artillery." Timlin replied.

"What are your orders Major?" inquired Commander Roberts.

"Return to the station and prepare the fleet in the event of an emergency evacuation. No matter what," Timlin answered

"Major, I have three raptors out on patrol. They're scheduled to return at 23:00 hours. I need you to recover them," stated the commander.

"That would put us an hour behind schedule." Timlin questioned.

"I know but we're not leaving eight men and three raptors behind. Please see Colonel Marcus for the recognition codes." ordered Roberts.

"I understand," acknowledge Timlin.

Hanson who had just finished the pre-jump checklist, gave the "all clear" to Powers to initiate the hyper-light jump to the last survey area of the day.

"Initiating FTL drive" started Powers "In 3…2…1, JUMP"

The raptor jumped and its collision alarm sounded. Hanson yelled to veer off, but it wasn't in time. The impact rocked the ship and sent it into a violent spin. After a moment Glider was able to pull the raptor out of its spin and bring it to under control using the RCS thrusters. As soon as glider could catch his breath, he asked for a systems check.

"FTL drive and engines are out, dradis and communications out, were venting fuel and our power level is slowly dropping." Hanson replied.

"I their any good news?" asked Lt. Powers whom, was still trying to steady the raptor.

"Sure, oxygen levels are holding and the thing that hit us hasn't exploded." Hanson answered drolly "What the frak did we hit?"

"I'm not sure. If it was a piece of rock it would of tore the raptor apart." Powers said as he unbuckled himself from the pilot seat. "Power down everything, we need to save the batteries."

Lt. Powers hooked his tether line and proceeded out the hatch. Slowly, he made his way to the damaged area of the raptor. He was amazed by what he discovered.

"Blinky, We ran into a Bloodhound Class Reconnaissance Probe," announced Glider.

"Could it be a Cylon trick?" asked Hanson.

"All identifying markings have been removed. Hopefully TRINITY will send a search team after we're overdue until then we sit and wait" responded Glider.

"Initiate FTL jump now!" ordered Tillman.

Instantly HYPERION was transported within weapons range of the closest Cylon basestar and unleashed a volley from her rail turrets that connected to the lower section of the basestar.

"Colonial Battlestar! Directly…" started the Humano-Cylon (Doral type) before getting knocked to his knees from the volley launched from the unknown battlestar.

"Launch all vipers!" Hayes ordered.

"All vipers launch!" relayed Walker to Captain Dyson who was in Port Landing Control Room. Omega and Silverhawk squadron exited the port launch tubes instantly.

"Is it the same battlestar that recovered the Peregrine Class gunship?" inquired a duplicate model.

"Unknown," the first one began. "Fall back! Have one of the basestars flank the battlestar. All basestars launch the first wave of raiders"

"Commander, the first basestar is falling back another is trying to flank us. All three basestars are launching raiders." Walker announced.

"How many" asked Hayes?

"Over three hundred!" reported Walker.

Tillman while looking at the dradis monitor ordered that the Point Defense Turrets (PDT) be realigned for barrage suppression fire. Walker acknowledged the order. Tillman turned to his communication officer and nodded.

McCall opened a secured frequency and spoke. "Targets are committed. Team two deploy now!"

"All batteries commence firing!" Tillman spoke over the public address system.

HYPERION's barrage suppression fire connected with the oncoming raiders.

"A short distance from where HYPERION first appeared, DAEDALUS and JUNO jumped in and cut off the flanking basestar and open fire with their primary rail turrets while launching their vipers. The basestar returned fire and connected with DAEDALUS, rocking it violently.

Tillman grabbed a headset and ordered all vipers to engage the raiders only.

On the first basestar the Humano-Cylons were surprised when informed about the new contacts.

"Two battlecruisers, Protector Class" one began "We don't have any record of those surviving."

HYPERION shuttered when it was hit mid-ship by two incoming missiles.

"They must have been hiding. Notify our command center of Virgon about this and ask for reinforcements," one said to the other.

"We can't get a signal out. The humans are using numerous raptors and communication drones to jam all frequencies" the clone replied.

"Have the basestars step up their attack and launch the breaching pods!" ordered a clone.

"Damage Control reports no structural damage. Fires in sections 189 to 193." Walker announced while looking at the damage control board.

"Initiate fire control protocols and deploy DC teams," barked Hayes.

"Sir, DAEDALUS is reporting that they're being boarded." McCall reported.

"Cylon have launched a second wave of raiders," declared Walkers.

"Order Clark's squadron to focus on those breaching pods." Tillman began, "Have team three deploy.

"Spitfire squadron you are ordered to destroy all breaching pods! Repeat, All breaching pods! Confirm!" ordered McCall.

"Team actual this is Spitfire actual, copy that!" replied Clark.

As Clark relayed to his squadron the new orders, McCall ordered team three to deploy. A moment later PROTEUS, KALLIOPE, ADELPHA and BOREAS appeared. The four ships paired off and proceeded into the battle. The paired off Guardians began strafing runs on the basestars.

"Four new ships have appeared," announced a clone. "Smaller than the last ones!" he added.

"How can this be?" the other pondered aloud as the basestar shook. "We had records of all colonial ship. How could this be missed?"

"The smaller ships are Guardian Class. We assessed that these were minor class ships that posed no major threat. The colonials only had thirty-eight still in service."

"Order the other basestars to spread formation. We can't let them surround us."

"Primary energizer damage! Rail gun turrets are down. Point Defense Turrets still functioning!" declared Carter.

"Where are the Cylons?" asked Peterson.

"It looks like they're heading forward, towards the auxiliary damage control!" reported Carter.

"GET THOSE THINGS OFF MY SHIP!" she demanded.

Carter removed his headset and motion to a specialist to take over. He proceeded out of CIC towards the small arms locker two decks below with two marines. In that locker Carter had placed one of the EMP rifles. Once there, he switched it on and it began to charge. The three men left the locker and headed towards the Cylons heading aft.

"Com-scan reports that we've lost over twenty vipers including Captain Brown." McCall announced.

"Tinheads are moving. They're trying to spread out our fire," spoke Hayes.

"Ensign McCall," began Tillman. "Send the following; FLASH!"

McCall opened a channel and followed the order. "All teams this is team actual, FLASHFLASHFLASH!"

"Load the EMP warheads." McKnight began as he turned from his XO. "Haggerty send an acknowledgement to HYPERION and have the others form up."

"All vipers this is Omega actual. You heard the order; BREAK AND RUN repeat BREAK AND RUN." All vipers broke and headed away from the basestars.

All four Guardians swung around for another strafing run only this time they were using the new EMP warheads."

"They're making another run," announced a clone.

"Have the basestar concentrate fire on the last ship to pass through!" ordered the other one.

Each one of the guardians launched two missiles at their assigned basestar as they sped amid the basestars.

"Cylons are returning fire! Multiple missile locks on KALLIOPE! She's breaking formation!" reported Walker.

Colonel Perry instantly knew their fate was sealed. His final order would make sure that the others would not be caught in the blast zone. As KALLIOPE exploded most of the EMP missiles hit there targets.

"One of the basestars appears to have shut down, the other two seem are firing intermittently" announced Hayes.

Tillman gave the order to continue the attack the raiders and the two active basestars. He wanted to make sure they wouldn't escape.

"NEW DRADIS CONTACT!" shouted Walker. "It jumped in behind the three basestars!" continued the tactical officer.

"It's TRINITY! She's launching her vipers and awaiting orders!" announced McCall.

"Tell Commander Roberts to engage the active basestars" ordered Tillman.

Tillman knew the battle was turning their way and wanted to keep the advantage. He also wanted to know more about these Cylons and based on that he ordered one raptor to approach the disabled basestar and gather as much information as possible.

"Copy that Team Actual." Brock acknowledged on his headset. "Damon, We're going sightseeing," Lt Brock spoke as he increase the raptors' speed and headed for the inactive basestar.

Slowly the Humano-Cylon rose to his feet and looked around, and made his way to the other who was injured and dying.

"Why haven't they finished us?" asked the dying one.

"The other two basestars still must be active, they're focusing on the them," the uninjured one stated. But before he could finish his sentence, his clone had died in his arms. After a moment, the other started making his way to an escape ship waiting for them.

Brock's raptor made it way around the motionless basestar. The raptor was focused getting as much information as possible. After a few minutes Brock spoke.

"Damon, that looks like a entrance to a hanger," he noted.

"You're frakking kidding me right! We're not going in!" responded the nervous ECO.

"Our orders are to get as much information as possible. This is might be our only opportunity to get a peek." He answered as he swung the raptor toward the opening.

Over in the CIC of HYPERION all hands were watching one of the basestars explode on a monitor. Everyone gave a deafening cheer.

The raptor entered the massive interior of the darkened basestar. The two men were shocked at what they saw when the turned on the raptors' flood lights.

"Look at the walls! What is that?" asked the anxious ECO officer.

"It almost looks alive," replied Brock as the continued deeper inside the mammoth basestar.

"Ensign McCall, contact the fleet and get a status and casualty report," instructed Tillman as he watched the second of three basestars explode in a dazzling fireball.

"Lt. Walker, contact JUNO and TRINITY, have them close in on the last basestar and tell them to stand ready," ordered Hayes as he checked the dradis.

A moment later McCall returned with the update. JUNO and TRINITY were in good shape and were deploying as ordered, out of the three remaining Guardians' only PROTEUS was reporting mild damage. Tillman was concerned with DAEDALUS they had sustained heavy damage mid-ship and still hadn't contained the boarding party.

The DAEDALUS command center was near chaotic. The ships main power grid was offline and the cylons had split into two groups. Carter had stopped the group heading aft, but there was still no word about the group heading forward. After a few minutes with still no word Commander Peterson had decided to head forward and help stop the intruders leaving Williams in charge until she returned.

Raptor 616 was deep inside the interior of the basestar. They had reached the center of the ship and it was mostly hollow. A minute later Harrison picked up a faint power reading in which they headed for. When they reached the source, they couldn't believe what they saw.

"I can see seven humans down near that cylon transport. Maybe they're trying to steal it," stated Brock as he brought the raptor closer.

"Wait! Look at them! The men and woman are identical!" shouted Harrison.

"What the Frakk!" murmured Brock as he watch one of the seven run into the cylon transport as the others raised their weapons and started firing on the raptor to distract it from the transports' escape. Brock instinctively pulled the raptor backward to try to avoid the cylon gunfire but, before he could get out of the way, the cylons were cut down in a strafing run by a colonial viper.

"Raptor 616 this is Omega Actual, "Flapper" its time to leave. The task force is about to smoke this thing." Nix announced as his viper hovered near the raptor.

"Message acknowledged. Full burn to exit and thanks," replied Brock as he swung the raptor around and headed out.

As both ships cleared the cylon basestar, Captain Nix notified HYPERION that they were clear. Tillman gave the order to commence the attack on the motionless basestar.

Three marines on DEADALUS had finally pinned the last of the cylons in the forward cargo bay when Peterson arrived.

"Sir, we have them trapped but we can't get deep into the bay, they got the angle" reported the sergeant.

"Have one of your men go to the armory and bring back a G-4 charge. We'll blow them out in to space" ordered Peterson.

The officer returned shortly and handed the charge to Commander Peterson, She set the timer for only eight seconds and then handed the charge to Sergeant Ginnis.

"I know you play pyramid," responded Peterson to the confused look of the sergeant.

Ginnis ordered two of his men to lay suppressing fire into the bay. He then cocked his arm and hurled the charge through the open doorways. The explosion and decompression of the cargo bay instantly pulled the hatch door closed while knocking them violently off their feet.

Tillman and Hayes were reviewing fleet status reports in the situation room when they received the news that DAEDALUS had finally been secured. Tillman gave the order for all to recall all vipers with the exception of Echo Squadron, which would fly the first combat patrol.

"DAEDALUS is nearly crippled. Her primary hull has an ninety foot gash where the starboard cargo bay used to be, her flight pods are damaged and main power grid is still down." Hayes began. "Commander Peterson is in sickbay with fractured ribs, clavicle and punctured lung. Colonel Williams is in command. He thinks they can get the FTL computer up in a few hours." Hayes relayed as he read the note handed to him.

"Commander, we have another problem," whispered Lieutenant Walker. "I've just finished debriefing Brock and Harrison. There's a possibility that the cylons look like us!"

Jason ordered the situation room cleared and waited to it was empty before motioning Amanda to continue.

"What do you mean they look like us?" he responded.

"Flapper went inside the basestar to look around and found a landing platform, when he went down for a closer look he saw two sets of identical humans of which one ran into a cylon transport while the others fired on the raptor. Thumper took them out in a strafing run" relayed the lieutenant.

"How many know about this?" he inquired.

"Only five people including us. The raptor crew and Thumper" she answered.

"Keep a lid on this. I want more information before we say anything" he ordered.

"Sir, we can't wait any longer. Raptor 594 is thirty minutes past due. We should jump back to Naylor," whispered Captain Baker.

"I will not leave a team behind without knowing what happened. Get the raptors' flight plan and prepare to jump to their last survey grid," ordered Major Timlin.

"Commander, Raptor 724 reports new contacts, extreme range heading toward his position!" barked McCall.

"Return the fleet to condition one!" ordered Tillman.

"How many Basestars?" questioned Hayes.

"He's not sure. He had to shutdown a relay drone once he made contact so he wouldn't be detected. Targets in his range in two minutes," replied McCall.

"Sir, Raptor 724 reports six contacts. Forward contacts identified as a freighter, two traveler class ships and a Civilian Liner. Fifth is still unknown and sixth is definitely a basestar. The unknown bogey and basestar are exchanging weapons fire." relayed Ensign McCall.

Tillman ordered TRINITY, JUNO and ADELPHIA to jump with HYPERION to the raptors' position immediately leaving PROTEUS and BOREAS to protect DAEDALUS until it could escape. Once the jump was complete, Hayes ordered all vipers to launch.

"Mother ("callsign" for HYPERION)/Blackjack One. I have visual contact. The unknown bogey is protecting the forward vessels. It's an old colonial design something I've never seen before. Two squadrons of raiders are advancing towards the bogey." relayed Captain Jackson.

"Blackjack One/Spitfire Two. Bogey is an old Defender Class escort cruiser," announced Lt. Dykes. Deputy CAG of Spitfire Squadron.

"Target raiders only. Do not contact the cruiser or the other vessels," ordered Tillman.

"Blackjack One/Mother. Target raiders only. Do not make wireless contact with any of the ships. Do you copy?"

"Team Actual/Blackjack One. Copy that!"

"All Vipers/Blackjack One. Target raiders only! Let's go!"

As the vipers engaged the first wave cylon raiders Tillman turned to his tactical officer and told her to have ADELPHIA target the center of the second wave which, now included troop carriers, with a pair of EMP warheads and set them for a proximity blast. Tillman wanted to send a message to the basestar. He wanted to give them something to think about.

"ADELPHIA reports missiles away!" announced McCall.

"Contacts coming into range," reported a Simon clone.

"Good. I tired of pushing these human around this sector. Make sure the bording parties not harm the females on the liner," ordered the Leoben clone.

"The contacts are not our forces assigned to this sector. The contacts are colonial warships." anncounced the Simon clone.

The blast caught the leading edge of the second wave knocking out over eighty percent of the cylon ships. Tillman ordered all vipers to pick off the helpless targets.

"Withdraw from this sector! Return to the Cyrannus System," ordered the Simon clone.

A moment later the basestar was gone.

"Sir, the cruiser is hailing us, they identify themselves at the TERTIUS (TUR-shus)" reported McCall.

"What if it's a cylon trick?" asked Hayes as he stared at Tillman.

"Ensign, relay through Raptor 724, vessels to change course to heading 280 degrees and to maintain present speed. We're sending teams to your ship." Tillman ordered. "Keep us within weapons range. One false move, we'll open fire" he whispered to his tactical officer.

"That should keep them clear of DAEDALUS" announced Hayes.

After McCall relayed the message Tillman wanted a secure line to TRINITY. Jason ordered Commander Roberts to lead a team to board the TERTIUS while Walker and Colonel Brice would board the other vessels.

"Carter, Sit-rep!" asked Colonel Williams who was standing in the middle of the smoke-filled CIC.

"Main power still offline. Power in the port bay is sporadic, starboard bay is depressurized, and emergency bulkheads aft of the hole in the forward hull are holding pressure.

"What about our vipers, FTL computer and casualties?" inquired Williams as he moved over to the DC board.

"HYPERION is receiving what's left of our squadron. FTL computer is up; they're running a final check. Initial figures are 89 dead and 68 injured" replied Carter.

"Shutdown weapon systems, hopefully that should reduce the strain on the backups," Williams began. "Start offloading the injured including the commander"

Two raptors from TRINITY made their final turn towards the old escort cruiser. Inside Commander Roberts instructed his security detail to be ready for anything.

"TERTIUS/Raptor 712 and 719. Beam acquisition lock." Inquired the raptor pilot.

"Raptor 712 and 719/ TERTIUS. Copy your acquisition lock. Stand-by for landing clearance," replied the young voice.

"Raptor 712 and 719/ TERTIUS. Approach landing bay, hands-on, speed one two zero, checkers red and yellow respectfully, call the ball." The young voice ordered.

"Well, at least he knows the correct protocol. Probably a cadet" thought Roberts as the raptor entered the landing bay.

After the raptors landed they made their way to the main hanger. Commander Roberts who was sitting in the co-pilots seat could see about a dozen people some on uniform were armed. Roberts ordered the pilot at the last second to turn the raptor's hatch away from greeting party in ordered to protect his assault teams when they exited. They assumed a defensive position around the raptor. After a moment Roberts asked for their identity.

"Captain Kester Rhodes, retired, acting XO. To whom am I addressing?" replied the gruff voice from behind a storage container.

"Commander John Roberts, battlecruiser TRINITY" he said as he walked around the raptor while holstering his sidearm.

"How about lowering your frakking weapons" replied Rhodes as he holstered his sidearm and came out from behind the container. When the two men came face to face, they shook hands.

"It's good to see other survivors" started Roberts "Sit-rep"

"The TERTIUS is operational. Only our Point Defense Turrets are online. We're low on fuel and food. We have about seventy people with military experience between the five ships. The rest are contractors," reported Rhodes.

"Our records show this ship was supposedly floating in a salvage yard for the past twenty years. Can you explain how the ship is fully operational?" asked Roberts as they started towards CIC.

"Intersun Carriers purchased the ship over two year ago in order to restore her to original specs and give it to the fleet museum as a gift" started Rhodes. "TERTIUS was moved to the same construction dock as the AULUS. We were almost complete when the cylons attacked. After the attack started, Admiral Jensen ordered a jump to deep space."

Before Roberts could reply he was beeped on his wireless, he politely excused himself so he could talk the call.

"This is Shaker, Sit-rep."

"Shaker/Brice," he began. "Walker reports that the freighter is non-military registry. She's carrying five planetary defense satellites that they recovered from Tauron. Currently has about fifty civilians mostly picked up right after the cylon attack. The liner belongs to Intersun Carriers. It was on her final shakedown during the attack. All ships are low on food and fuel. There are signs of borderline malnutrition. " Brice relayed.

"Anything else?" asked Roberts.

"We've counted almost two thousand survivors. The majority of which are children and young adults," reported Brice.

"Understood, contact HYPERION and see if they can send over a disaster pod. Shaker out."

"Jensen, didn't he retire years ago?" asked Roberts.

"Intersun hired him to oversee the restoration. He was C.O of TERTIUS before she was retired" retorted Rhodes.

"I look forward to speaking with him. I haven't spoken with him in ten years" countered Roberts as they entered CIC.

"That's going to be hard. Admiral Jenson was killed almost two months ago. The Major has been in command ever since" replied Rhodes as they came upon the major who was underneath the tactical console making repairs.

"Commander Roberts" began Rhodes as the major began to stand up from under the console. " I like you to meet our C.O. Major…"

"Braylen Tillman" Roberts said aloud.

Roberts stood and gazed in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was looking at Jason Tillman's younger brother and in a colonial uniform no less. Almost eleven years ago Braylen was dishonorably discharged from the military for striking a superior officer among other things including suspicions that he was involved with the Cyrannus Trade Syndicate. Roberts also knew that Braylen had walked away from his family years ago.

"Hello Sir. It's been a long time," replied Major Tillman who extended his hand.

Roberts didn't return the jester as he bristled.

"Why are you in uniform! What are you doing on this ship?" asked an irritated Roberts who normally doesn't lose his temper.

Major Tillman turned to Captain Rhodes and asked him to grab the late Admiral's journal and meet them in the situation room in ten minutes. Major Tillman then turned to a crewmember and asked him to finish repairs to the dradis console. Afterwards he and Roberts exited the CIC to the situation room.

"Now that we're alone I want some answers!" demanded Roberts.

"After I was kicked out of the service, I drifted from colony to colony looking to make a name for myself. Eight years ago I found what I was looking for. Peace of mind," Braylen began. "I was working in a salvage yard on Picon. I was restoring an old Mark III when Jensen walked in saw my work and offered me a job. It didn't matter to him who I was. Two years ago we were hired by Intersun to restore this ship as a gift to the museum. The liner AULUS was on a "dry run" before her maiden flight next month. She was returning to dock when the cylons attacked. We grabbed them and headed for deep space.

"Where did all the children come from? What happened to Jensen? Roberts asked.

"Intersun sponsored a field trip for one of the secondary schools on Scorpia. The rest are from a children's school from Virgon that Jensen had made arrangements with," answered Braylen. "We had another transport with us. Jensen was conducting an inspection of her when the cylons jumped in on us. She was attacked before it could jump. That cylon basestar has been playing with us for almost three weeks. Making us expend our resources. Every time we jump they show up a few days later."

As Roberts listen intently he thought to himself "Could he have changed after all these years?" as he spoke, "What's the status of your ship?"

"Right now, we don't have enough fuel for another jump. No vipers and our food reserves are just about gone. Most the crew is made up of restoration and dock crew from the construction yard. We have some military personnel but most of them are on the liner," replied Braylen as the phone on the wall rang.

"Tillman, go ahead," uttered the Major.

"Dradis system is online. Sir, there's two battlecruisers, a guardian class cruiser and a battlestar in range," the joyous voice announced almost forgetting to mention that marines on the AULAS will not let the shuttle depart.

"That shuttle has our DC teams onboard" declared Braylen as he looked intently at Roberts.

Roberts shook his head no.

"Tell the shuttle to standby until it's cleared. Tillman out" ordered the major who was clearly agitated. He slowly placed the handset back in its cradle and asked why his DC party cannot return to their ship.

"Security reasons. For all we know this could be a trap set by the cylons to lure any colonial forces out to the open. Until we complete our surveys, no movement between ships. Those are direct orders from the Fleet Commander," announced Roberts

"That's not your battlestar? You're still in command of TRINITY. I figured after all this time you were in charge of that fleet," a flabbergasted Braylen said aloud. "I want to speak with who ever is in command. I need my people back here," he barked.

"I'll let you speak with him as soon as I figure out how to tell him that his brother, who he hasn't seen in over eight years, is alive and well." Roberts responded.

"Jason?" an astonished Braylen said softly. The last time they saw each other it almost ended in a brawl. It placed a great strain on the marriage of their parents with Jason siding with their father and their mother always trying to maintain the peace.

Colonel Hayes had was hanging up the phone when Commander Tillman stepped into the Situation Room and asked about DAEDALUS.

"All non essential personnel have been evacuated. She should be ready to jump home in sixty minutes. Maybe we should just scuttle her. Why take the chance of losing those men?" stated Hayes.

"Numbers," started Tillman. " Colonel Williams is sure that if we can get DAEDALUS back to the station, she can be repaired. The cylons have us outnumbered every ship is vital to our survival."

"What's this about you going over to TERTIUS?" asked Hayes.

"Shaker has completed his survey from what he can tell everything checks out. Those three ships have over a thousand survivors and most of them are children. According to the ship's log, the TERTIUS was fully restored to specs as some gift to the fleet museum by Intersun Carriers. The project was overseen by its retired commander." Tillman stated.

"How did they evade the cylons this long?" wondered Hayes.

"I'm going to find out. In the meantime tell Brice to release the shuttle after I have landed on TERTIUS. " responded Tillman.

Thirty minutes later, Raptor 616 with Jason Tillman onboard was heading towards the old escort cruiser.

He used the time to personally debrief the pilots of their experience in the basestar. On their final approach, Brock informed Commander Tillman that the shuttle had launched from AULUS.

Commander Roberts was waiting in the hanger bay for the raptor. Braylen thought it would be best for him to meet Jason and fill him in on the basics. As they debarked Roberts introduced Captain Rhodes and then asked to speak in private to Jason.

"Where's the C.O.?" asked Commander Tillman

"Jason" started Roberts as he handed Jensen log to him, "As you know Admiral Jensen's company was hired to restore this ship. He was killed shortly after they escaped the colonies, his project manager replaced him."

"Where is he?" asked a puzzled Jason.

Roberts pointed to Jason's brother who was standing a few steps behind the raptor and walked away. He just stood there dumbfounded. The two men stood still gazing at one another. Braylen could see anger in Jason building without either of them saying a word. As he would come to realize, he has a way to get under Jason's skin and didn't want to inflame an already awkward situation. Years ago Jason had written him off as dead. He buried his feelings for him long ago.

"I can't believe this." Jason blurted.

Jason was flustered; his anger for his brother is his weakness. Braylen had put his family through a lot pain. Jason had blamed him for their fathers near fatal heart attack.

"Look if you want to say everything was my fault then fine, I'll admit a lot was my fault. I didn't know how to escape your shadow!" started Braylen before getting cut off by his brother.

"My shadow?" Jason blurted

"Yes, your shadow. I could never meet dad's standards. Ever try to emulate someone and not be able to?" Braylen began. "That what I tried to do for many years. Be like Jason. After years of having your life measured by what your brother has accomplished, it starts to eat at your self-esteem. Everyone was telling me how I should be, not letting me find my own way. So, I started drinking and mixing with the wrong people. To be honest, I don't remember too much about striking that commander. But, it seemed the right thing to do at the time. After I was discharged, the pressure was just too much. I was suffocating; I decided that I had to breathe so I left. I needed to find myself," he concluded as he walked around a workbench.

"So you take off and disappear. We looked for almost a year." Jason shot back.

"Attention all hands, Shuttle One has returned from AULUS" was announced throughout the ship.

"Gentlemen! I think we have other problems to worry about. Save this for another time," suggested Roberts

The Mark II shuttle came to a stop across from the raptor. When the hatch opened a woman and five children emerged. Two of the children were looking around, searching for someone and when they spotted Braylen they ran toward him shouting for their father.

Jason watched as Braylen reunited with his wife and daughters. Commander Roberts made his way over to him and handed him Jensen's personal logs. "You should read these. Jensen thought highly of him. Even knowing his background. They have me questioning my notions about him."

The small hanger deck was filled with people reuniting. It was almost a celebration until Ensign Harrison who was standing near the hatch of his raptor with Lt. Brock spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Harrison point the face out to Brock and both men instantly upholstered their sidearm and quietly made there way to the woman and finally pointed their weapon at her.

Shouting and panic ensued with everyone was pointing a weapon at each other. Finally Commander Tillman along with his brother made his way to the center of the commotion and demanded to know what was going on.

"Sir, this thing is a cylon!" answered Brock.

"What are you talking about? The cylons are machines and I'm not. I was born on Picon" she replied.

"This woman was headmaster of one of the schools visiting the shipyard." Braylen responded whom by this time made his way towards the woman.

"My ECO and I saw three of the exact same one on that basestar we scouted. We have recon footage onboard the raptor to prove it." Brock said with the same conviction.

At this point the cylon knew her cover was blown. All she had left to do was die and be reborn again. She swung her hand around and connected with the jaw of the marine snapping his neck instantly while kick the one on the left in the midsection. "Don't kill it! We need it alive!" ordered Jason. Hearing Tillman's command, Brock lowered his rifle and used the butt end to hit cylon in her head. The cylon staggered back then a marine kicked the cylon in the knee, dropping her instantly. They all stood there staring at her. After a moment Commander Roberts turned to Major Tillman and asked if there was a place were they could secure the cylon. Braylen ordered his XO to put it in the brig.

Jason watched brother hug his wife as she escorted their children out of the hanger deck. Commander Roberts had joined Jason by the time Braylen returned. Roberts asked Jason what was his next step.

Jason told both of them that they had to find out if there were anymore human looking cylons on the three ships.

"How can we?" asked Roberts

"We need to interrogate that thing! I'll bet she was the one sending signals back to the basestars." replied Braylen angrily.

"We need to see if radiation effects these versions," Roberts announced.

"Ragnar," murmured Jason "Ragnar Anchorage, She was built on that premise."

"GALACTICA used it to rendezvous survivors and then jump past the red line after they held of the cylons," started Braylen. "The cylons are watching that place. There must be somewhere else.

"We go back to the Hatari Nebula, they produce the same type of radiation. The nebula will provide cover from the cylons while we wait and see if our prisoner has any reaction." announced Jason who then turned to Captain Rhodes and told him to order the two traveler vessels to offload all everyone to the AULAS. Only the pilots will stay onboard to pilot the ship.

"I'll notify the team leaders and prepare TRINITY for the mission." Roberts replied.

"No, wait!" began Jason, "I want you to take the fleet home. I'll oversee the mission from JUNO. I want HYPERION protecting our interests. Besides, I have some questions that need answering!" he finished as he stared at his brother.

"I need to notify our people," insisted Braylen. "They can see your ships. We need to tell them something."

"Fine, but do not tell them about the cylon," ordered Jason as they headed to CIC.

Braylen turned to his communication officer and asked to be patched in to the other ships.

"Attention this is Major Tillman onboard TERTIUS. As you might be aware by now, we have been rescued from the pursuing cylon baseship by remnants of the colonial fleet. We have discovered that the cylons have placed tracking devices on one of our ships. This is why the cylons have been able to repeatedly find us. They have offered us protection and safe harbor and I have agreed. As part of our agreement we will jump to an undisclosed location to thoroughly inspect our ships. I feel that this is our best hope for our continued survival. As ships will prepare for immediate FTL jump."

Jason had radioed HYPERION and informed Hayes about the discovery of a human cylon agent. He ordered two squadrons of marines to AULAS to help Colonel Brice and his detachment incase more agents should be found. Hayes was not happy with the situation but he also knew that he couldn't change Jason's mind. About an hour later, the fleet held a brief memorial service for the crew of the KALLIOPE and then jumped back to the station.

Jason was getting familiar with the design of the CIC of TERTIUS it was similar to the design of the Guardian Class vessels. He noticed that civilians mostly manned her but did see a few military servicemen augmenting the CIC. Braylen and Rhodes were at the plotting table looking at charts of the Hatari Nebula when Jason joined them. He pointed at a spot on the chart and told them to jump there.

"Why there? Why not follow your previous course into the nebula?" asked Rhodes

"We engaged and destroyed a basestar that attacked a newly established colony near the nebula. The cylons might be monitoring that corridor for activity. The southern edge gives us our best option for protection.

"Mr. Karnes inform the engine room to spin up the FTL drives and notify all hands to stand ready," bellowed Rhodes.

"Sir, engine room is ready. All station are go!" replied Karnes.

With that, Commander Tillman ordered the six ships to jump to the Hatari Nebula.

Anne Tillman was sitting in the observation deck of the HAVEN with her children when they noticed that HYPERION and her task group were returning. She watched each ship pass by noting the severe battle damage to DAEDULAS. She also noticed that there were two ships missing.

"All triage teams report to emergency stations incoming casualties," announced the voice over the loudspeaker as both mother and daughter made their way to the staging area.

Almost thirty minutes had past when Major Timlin reported to Commander Roberts in the staging area. She informed him that they were delayed in returning to the station as ordered due to the search and recovery (SAR) of Raptor 594. She informed him that they were trying to piece together the data in the probe, but due to the damage from the collision, she didn't know if it was possible. He understood and commended her on the find and ordered Timlin to continue working on the probe. Anne was about to move on to someone else when she noticed Roberts and went over to him.

"Where's Jason? What about the ships you found?" she asked.

"Twenty hours ago we engaged a cylon fleet that was lying in wait for a small band of civilians refugees. We pretty much cleaned their clocks. We found about two thousand survivors running from a cylon baseship that we took out. Jason stayed on JUNO. We need to make sure these people are who they say!" Roberts said quietly as he pulled her aside.

"What do you mean by that?" a puzzled Anne inquired.

"We have reason to believe that some of the cylons look human," he started. "Jason didn't want to take a chance on revealing our base. He wants to test a theory and see if the human cylons have the same vulnerability to radiation as the machine do.

"Why Jason? He could have ordered someone else!" she replied with a nervous anger. But, before she could finish Roberts spoke.

"We also found Braylen among the survivors. He's the ranking officer onboard the only armed ship." Robert revealed hoping it would calm her down.

"Braylen! How? He's been gone for almost ten year and he now shows up? It's a trick!" Anne was no longer angry, confusion had now set-in.

"I don't think so. I think he actually has straightened himself out. He has a family now." Roberts responded. "Jason was upset as you are. But, the safety of the fleet comes first. That's why he stayed behind."

Jason was sitting at the Admiral's desk; he had just spent the last hour interrogating the cylon prisoner. She offered up very little information. She was trying to bait Jason to kill her, claiming that she wouldn't die. He walked over the desk and found one of the Jensen's old journals. He sat down and began to scan through the pages and stopped at an entry from over six years ago.

"Went to the salvage yard outside of Caprica City today looking for that Mark One thruster pedal. They finally got it in. While I was there, I meet a man restoring a MK III. He is incredibly talented. He was very reluctant to talk at first. He finally started to talk and we ended up talking for almost two hours. I'll make an excuse to check on his progress in a few weeks."

Jason found two relevant entries dated a month later and a year after that.

"I just returned from second interview with Braylen and offered him a job. He accepted. I'm glad he did. I have respect for a man who can admit his mistakes and accept responsibility for them. He told me that a few years ago that he wouldn't have done so. I'll admit I still can't believe some of the things he did. I told him that he'd need to relocate to Aerelon within a month."

"Braylen has been outstanding. The boy just keeps amazing me. I just promoted him to Vice-President of Operations. I also gave him my retreat in the Aerelon Mountains. The complex has its own flight hanger and workshop. I haven't used it since my beloved Grace passed away. I'll never forget the look on his face. I'll have to send Admiral Greene a bottle from my private stock and thank him again for telling me to give the boy a chance."

The phone rang and Jason grabbed the receiver and answered.

"Commander/CIC," the voice began. "You had asked to be notified if the prisoner's condition turned. Major Tillman is on his way down to sickbay.

Jason acknowledged the information and made his way to join his brother.

A few minutes later, Jason, Braylen, Captain Rhodes, Commander Jones and Doctor Flood of JUNO were standing outside a decompression chamber looking at the cylon who was strapped to the table. Doctor Flood informed them that the cylon was dying from a form of radiation poisoning.

"As I stated earlier her anatomy is almost identical to ours. There must be something in this nebula that's affecting her."

Jason turned to Rhodes and ordered him to contact Brice on AULUS and find out if any one else is showing any of the same symptoms and place them in custody.

"At least it looks like we have found a way to tell cylon from human." Jones offered.

"I feel better about our fleet of survivors." Jason replied.

"There are more survivors?" asked Braylen.

"We have over ten thousand including military at a secured location." Jason responded while watching the cylon wheezing in agony.

Rhodes returned and notified them that all other ships were clear. Jason turned to back to Rhodes and told him to notify the other ships that were leaving the nebula and will hold position just outside for the time being. Jason then went into the chamber and stood next to the cylon suddenly grabbing her dislocated knee. The cylon let out a cry.

"It seems that you feel pain like us," he started. "I wonder how much you can tolerate."

Jason let go of the cylon an exited the room and told Doctor Flood that once the cylon stabilized the interrogation would continue.

Six hours had past when Jason returned to the chamber to watch Commander Jones question the prisoner. Standard questioning methods were not working. They had decided to step up their means. Jones pulled out a syringe and showed it to the cylon.

"I want to know what your mission was." Jones asked assertively.

"I told you I'm not a cylon." She replied.

Jones went over to her arm and injected a quarter of the fluid. The cylon reacted violently, trying to breakout of the restraints. It's blood pressure and pulse jumped. " In a minute or so your body will feel like it in flames." He stated. "In my other pocket I have something that will make you feel better." The cylon for the time remained quite. Over next seventy-four hours they continued to subject the cylon to different methods of interrogation until the cylon let something slip while drugged. Jones had broken the cylon; it didn't take long to find out the cylon plan.

They all sat there horrified listening to the taped recording of the cylon confession. She had told them that they infiltrated all aspects of colonial society and what there plans for the humans are.

"Her mission was to deliver the woman of childbearing age for these Farms," stated Jones.

"They are trying to create hybrids," declared Jason

"They had targeted those schools months prior to the attack. AULUS was part of their plan." Jones began. "She also knew when Jensen was going to be on that freighter and orchestrated the attack that took out that ship."

"She's been in contact with that baseship all the time!" Braylen sputtered angrily.

"What about this ability to transfer her memories to other cylon?" Jason asked.

"She claims that when they die, their conscious is transferred to another. Everything the old one knows is known to next. Do I believe her? I don't know." Jones responded.

"Maybe that radiation can block the transfer. She almost died in that nebula." Rhodes volunteered.

"What's the condition of the cylon now?" inquired Jason.

"We have her full of hallucinogens right now. She's harmless." Doctor Flood replied.

"Can she be induced into a coma?" Jason asked

"Yes, I'm pretty sure can do it," the doctor replied.

Commander Jones asked Captain Rhodes to find a non-military shuttle and strip it down to life support only. They would put the cylon in the shuttle with enough supplies and set it adrift towards the nebula.

Jason then turned to his brother and offered his refugees shelter as long as they were willing to follow the command structure that was in place. He also told him that he knows they still have personal issues with each other but is willing to work on them. Braylen took a moment to think, he knew he really didn't have a choice. He told them he would accept his offer as long as he kept command of his ship. Jason agreed with the stipulation that it was up to colonial regulations.

One hour later, a raptor returned after towing and releasing the shuttle towards the nebula. JUNO and the other ships jumped out of the sector and headed for Naylor Station.

Commander Roberts was in CIC reading the status report from transmitted from JUNO after they jumped back into the system when he was interupted by Major Timlin.

"Sir, we've done the best we could recovering the data from that probe, but there was just too much damage. We could only recover one word," Timlin reported.

"What was it?" Roberts inquired.

"Cain" replied Timlin.

"Which one? Helena or Garris?" pondered Roberts.b