Okay, I decided to rewrite the story based off of the original, revised a few things here and there added a bit there and here you go. Story's basically the same. Side note: I do not own anything but the names. Battlestar Galactica is the property of its respected owner not me!

COLONIAL BINARY SYSTEM 33 DAYS BEFORE THE ATTACK

As silent as a hunter stalking its prey the massive Colonial Third Fleet slid through the empty space near the Cyrannus asteroid belt. In total there were 250 ships assigned, all heavily armed and well protected by layer upon layer of defenses. Each one designed to be better than the one behind it. For the last six years the Colonial Fleet had begun a massive buildup of arms. Despite limited budget cuts on certain expenditures, the buildup had continued. President Adar had refused to specify his reasons for the buildup but as long as the quorum supported him people didn't question his decision.

For just a month now the Third Fleet had been undergoing a training exercise ordered by Admiral Nagala, half the fleet didn't have the CNP systems installed, it was here that Nagala planned to prove to the Admiralty that Fleet efficiency didn't suffer without the CNP.

As the battlestar Atlantia, the flagship of Admiral Nagala, fired its weapons at targets down range. The battlestar Achilles was maneuvering away from the fleet to simulate boarding action. Another twenty six battlestars and two hundred other ships were engaged in mock battles, as vipers dogfighted all around the massive ships. Raptors were recording every second of the massive war game, for analysis later. Over the Colony of Caprica the peace and beauty of the planet seemed almost unreal as ships came and went.

28 DAYS LATER

DELPHI CITY CAPRICA

A young woman by the name of Haley Aaron slowly rose from her seat on the charter bus that was taking her home to her family. She hadn't seen them in over three months since the Therion had been ordered to take part in Nagala's war games. She couldn't wait to see her nephew Scott. He was just seven years old, son to her older sister Amy. The two sisters were closer than most sisters their age having gone through things most people never have or ever will. Haley had graduated from the fleet training academy with top honors; her sister had graduated eight years ahead of her but was impressed with her ability to lead. Her sister was currently assigned to the battlestar Olympic as the ships Tactical Officer. Haley had chosen to fly Raptors, to the surprise of no one who knew her well.

As the bus stopped outside her stop she paid the driver and stepped off. She immediately heard the shouts of her nephew Scott as he ran up to her and hugged her. Laughing she gracefully picked him up and kissed his cheek, making the boy smile ear to ear.

"I missed you Aunt Haley, hurry up! Come on! Come on! We got pizza. With everything on it too!" Said Scott as he tugged at her arm dragging her along.

"Okay, okay I'm coming" said Haley as she hugged her sister.

The ride to her sister's house where her dad was staying was filled with smiles, laughs and for seven year old Scott lots of tickling from his favorite Aunt.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP WAR PIG - 12 MILES OUTSIDE DELPHI

"OORAH!" shouted the Marines as they continued their deadly game of marsh pit. Soon over two companies of men were involved in the brutal game. Many would later find themselves in the Emergency room for minor cuts and bruises. When asked why the Brass never bothered to stop the deadly game they had only one response: You'd have to be a Marine to understand the kind of bond beating each other up creates.

General Stanley Griggs watched as his Marines continued on with their game. As he turned to go inside he couldn't help but remember when he too had played those games. Despite the war when he was a young lieutenant he loved to be in the field with his troops. The moments when all was quiet before a battle were the perfect moments for that very game. It was a feeling of letting loose and getting to beat the shit out of anyone you didn't like, as long as it wasn't too bad. He had loved carrying the rucksack on his back, but more importantly he loved wearing the uniform. He loved what it represented.

As the general walked inside waiting by the entrance to his office was an agent from the Military center for Intelligence. The MCI agent stood up and shook his hand and said in a very serious voice heavy with experience.

"General we have a lot to talk about so let's get to it."

"After you their young man" Said the 58 year old General wishing he was a young lieutenant again.

CAPRICAN FLEET SHIPYARDS - 6 DAYS UNTIL THE CYLON ATTACK

The hulls of the mighty ships could be seen as they lay in their docks, some were to receive the upgrade to the CNP while other acting on Admiral Nagala's strict orders weren't. Of the 367 ships in the Third fleet 110 now had the CNP. Admiral Nagala was taking steps to ensure that number didn't climb and most importantly reduce. Doctor Gauis Baltar had accused him of being afraid of computers, and wanting to keep the Colonies in the Stone Age and finally a coward. The whole fleet knew it was only because he was losing almost twenty billion cubits as a result of the Third Fleets numbers. Admiral Tolls of the Fifth fleet was rumored to be considering the same thing, much to Baltar's fright. The mistrust of a Networked computer system ran deep in the veterans of the Cylon war.

The Atlantia, pride of the Colonial fleet and flagship of Admiral Nagala, disembarked from its moors and began to head for Virgon, the Atlantia while based at the Third fleet headquarters at the Virgos shipyards had stopped at Caprica with the Fourth fleet to refuel and give its crew some shore leave.

In six days it would be at Virgon and would resume its duties as a Flagship.

Aboard the Atlantia Admiral Nagala sat in his quarters and read the latest report from the black-ops unit known as Delta team. Officially the unit didn't exist. There were no records of them paper or electronic. They operated under the guise of system mapping and exploration. In their last mission they had tracked a Cylon raider to what they believed to be a staging area for a potential cylon invasion, their report had him worried. A total of twenty four baseships were there. The report had immediately set off alarms throughout the military, but after a nearly three hour meeting with the president, he had simply ordered them to remain vigilant and keep an eye on them. Nagala suspected he was scared that if they upped their alert levels accordingly the Cylons would suspect a Unit had crossed the line and gained some sort of useful Intelligence, and they would respond with an attack

5 days later

A Young Marine Specialist walked into the chow hall and sat down with his friends for Taco night

A Nurse stitched a Marines cut as she flirted with him.

A female reporter reported the decommissioning ceremony of the Galactica was due to take place tomorrow.

A woman went jogging in the park.

A Pilot waves goodbye to her Nephew as she loads up to return to her ship.

A young boy looks up into the night sky and wonders if the cylons will ever come back.

An Admiral lies down to sleep and wonders if he'll awake the next day.

CAPRICAN FLEET SHIPYARDS - 4 HRS BEFORE THE ATTACK

The 29th Expeditionary unit of the Colonial Fourth Fleet had been ordered to rendezvous at a position near the Armistice line. All 28 ships were there except the Columbia still at Virgon. The battlestar Solaria was the lead ship.

The only ships at the Caprican Fleet shipyards were independent units that operated on their own. Mostly cutters and orbital defense units permanently assigned to the colonies

Soon the colonial space lanes were filled with traffic as the system wide holiday weekend began despite the teachers strike and the flooding on Canceron.

COLONIAL BATTLESTAR THREION BSG -52 ETA TO ZERO HOUR - 2 HOURS

Lieutenant Haley Aaron silently waited for the hatch to open. Just returning from a three day shore leave, she couldn't wait to get back in the cockpit. She was a raptor pilot herself but she preferred to be the one flying the raptor not the passenger. Her call sign Star was because of how much she loved to look at the Stars when she was flying, ever since her days at the Athenian academy on Caprica she had dreamed of being a pilot and six months ago she had made that dream come true. Her fellow pilots loved to pit themselves against her as she was one of the best raptor pilots in the fleet.

"Hey Star, heard you were back aboard, care for a game of cards later on?" Said her ECO Lt Michael "Hunter" Wilson

"Sure as soon as I get my stuff put up" She said as she smiled. She was glad to finally be back

"Well hurry up, you know it's not the same without you in there kicking everyone's ass!"

She laughed and said "You all would be hopelessly lost without me!"

CIC

As the CIC crew went about their business, the room snapped to attention when the Marine guard at the door yelled

"Commander on deck!"

"As you were. Lieutenant Forsen what's our status?" Asked the commander Jason Griggs was a legend among the fleet, while he hadn't seen combat during the Cylon war, he had seen it against pirates and smugglers even terrorist. He had organized the massive colonial military offensive against the SLA 2 years previous that had resulted in the Capture of Tom Zarek. He was probably the most relaxed commander in the fleet in regards to regulations and Military law. Yet his ship was by far the best in the fleet. His crew was loyal to him to the point that they would follow him to hell if they had too. Not a single member of the Therion crew hated their Commander, while his punishments were strict; he emphasized the fleet values of Teamwork, Loyalty and Honor. He was greatly respected by both his crew and his peers. His loyalty to the fleet had cost him his first wife, and with her his first child. He had married again and he and his wife had two children both were preparing to enter the fleet academy. His family including his ex-wife was on Vacation aboard Cloud 5 near Gemenon.

"Ship is fully armed, stocked and loaded to the brim with fuel sir. We are cleared for departure." Said Lieutenant Amy Forsen with her best 'I knew what you were going to ask' voice. She had been on the Therion for five months but she had become the best Tactical officer the Therion had ever had. She had graduated with honors from War College. The Therion was her first assignment out of War College and she was excelling at it. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a bun behind her. At 5'11 she was taller than the average woman. Her sleek athletic form toned by years of swimming, running and playing pyramid. She loved her Job more than anything in the world. She loved her CO to the point where she viewed him almost as a god. The whole crew did.

"Very well, Helm's take us out for our shakedown cruise." ordered the Commander as the ship gracefully slid out of its dock. After undergoing a refit to install new systems, excluding the CNP per Nagala's orders, she had been renovated. Her turrets were now larger packing a much more powerful slug that was capable of tearing through the Armor of the most advanced ships in the fleet. The Mercury's. The Therion had been commissioned as a Mercury class, but the renovation had made her almost a completely different class. On the outside the differences were hard to see unless you put another Mercury class battlestar right next to her. You would see the bow was 134 meters longer than standard Mercury's. She carried four extra Dual Kinetic Energy weapons on her bow, center exactly where they could deliver the most firepower. In addition to the bow being longer, the Therion's flight pods were larger, as to accompany two extra Marine drop ships. Each battlestar had four on each flight pod but the Therion had six. She carried a massive air wing composed of 280 vipers with 75 raptors. Her crew compliment numbered just over 4,300.

PICON- ZERO HOUR- THE FALL

The massive shipyards know to the Colonies as Picon Fleet Headquarters was an eye catching sight.

With eighteen battlestars docked at it. It was by far the biggest shipyard in all of the Colonies. Fleet Admiral Corman was in his office reading a report about the Fourth fleets deployment which he hadn't authorized. He grew increasingly angry as he continued to read just where they had been sent.

"Captain, get me Admiral Nagala please" he said in a way that made the young woman tremble.

"Yes Sir" Said Captain Paige Terrence as she walked away to carry out the Admiral's orders. She had been hand selected by the Admiral to be her aide and she had rarely seen him as mad as he was now.

As she went to carry out her orders she was thrown to the floor by a massive explosion. The Admiral was thrown into his desk and was incapacitated instantly, the Young Captain tried to move to her fallen Admiral as explosions enveloped the Shipyards. As she looked out the window towards the shipyard she could only stare in shock.

A Valkyrie class battlestar was split in two drifting out of control, Vipers and Raiders were everywhere. Most of the Vipers however began to lose power and drift right towards the Cylons.

Of the eighteen battlestars that had been docked, only eight were now firing at the Cylons. The other ten were adrift, destroyed or heavily damaged. She saw a whole section of the shipyard break away and fall towards a basestar. As she tried to stand up to get to the admiral and administer first aid, her leg collapsed, and she realized it was broke just as a steel beam collapsed over her waist, pinning her against the wall. In vain she tried to move out from under as more and more explosions occurred all around her.

Outside it was chaos, the Civilians were desperately trying to get away from the carnage and wreckage that was once Picon Fleet headquarters, soon FTL flashes began to envelope the Colony as hundreds of Civilian ships jumped away. Thousands of battles began in the area surrounding Picon as the Cylons moved away from the Shipyards and engaged the defense fleet. On the surface the Marines were springing into action, their response almost instant, not needing confirmation of what was happening. The appearance of dozens of miniature suns told the Generals all they needed to know. Rushing to set up defensive batteries in the cities, the Marines were moving at a speed never before seen. Their efforts were for nothing as the nukes would start to fall in mere hours.

Thousands of Vipers and raptors of the Picon defense fleet roared up into space. The cylons however were shocked to find the CNP ineffective on them. The home defense fleet had never purchased the CNP. The battle of Picon began, with the opening bombardment of Picon fleet headquarters which was now being boarded by the cylons as the shipyards defenses had been defeated. Of the eight battlestars that hadn't been destroyed or disabled in the initial attack, only four remained. Those four heavily damaged battlestars were desperately trying to regroup with the defense fleets forty cruisers and establish a defensive battle line to allow for reinforcement to arrive. None would.

Over Caprica it was a different story, the shipyard hadn't been under control of the CNP. The moment the baseships appeared on DRADIS, the KEW's opened up with a ferocity never before seen by the cylons, of the sixteen battlestars over Caprica, six were disabled by the CNP virus. The vipers and Raptors of the defense fleet were soon all over the atmosphere and surrounding space around Caprica. The Third fleet was the only unit not suffering major loses. Soon after the Acropolis jumped in the cylons were forced to fall back, even though the Defense network was down, the fleets over Caprica and Virgon were giving the cylons hell. The Columbia, flagship of Admiral Green, was soon destroyed. Dozens of baseships were now at Caprica. While there were only nineteen battlestars, some had jumped in when they had received the attack warning, they were fighting as hard as they could. Altogether almost 256 Military vessels were engaged in combat with the cylons, the vapor trails of the explosions in orbit were clear for all to see. None doubted what was happening, the Military was fighting desperately to give the Government time to make decisions and issue orders.

The Government was in chaos, the president was being evacuated to a military bunker north of Caprica city. While the Marines and Army was moving into positions to repel any potential invasion. Soon the spaceports were being overrun with people. Almost six million people were now taking to the skies as they attempted to escape the carnage that was sure to come.

BATTLESTAR THERION 2 HOURS FROM VIRGON

With the alarms blaring and the Marines rushing to get to anti-boarder positions, the Secretary of Defense didn't know what was going on. The crew members were sprinting to their action stations. A dozen pilots ran by heading for the hanger deck. As he walked into the corridor with the Joint Chiefs following he was knocked down by a heavily armed Marine Fire team moving to an airlock. He could clearly tell something wasn't right. The Joint Chiefs were looking around attempting to find an officer to tell them what was going on. They had all been aboard for a demonstration of the new weapons system so they could decide whether to install it on all of the Mercury's. Suddenly the voice of Commander Riggs came over the PA

"Attention this is the commander, moments ago this ship received word… that a Cylon attack is underway. At this time we do not know the size or strength of the enemy forces but all indications point to a massive assault on all colonial defenses throughout the system. With Picon fleet headquarters destruction in the opening wave of the cylon assault, admiral Nagala has assumed complete command of the entire fleet…. I know that you're scared, that you're worried about your families. I am too. But now isn't the time to think about that. We have a job to do. Lives depend on us to do our jobs and do them well. It is our duty to the colonies to defend them from this very thing. Remember your training, remain loyal to this ship and trust the men and women next to you, for this ship and its crew are about to bring some steel rain to those Toasters! So say we All."

The crew repeated the chant until the Commander told them to prepare for a combat jump to Virgon.

As the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs made their way to CIC they couldn't help but notice just how proficient the crew was, the Marines were standing at the ready, they could hear the ships massive gun turrets swiveling in prepositioned firing points.

VIRGON

With a flash the Battlestar Therion appeared in orbit over Virgon, just as the Atlantia rammed a baseship, sending debris into the battlestar.

Commander Riggs was flown into the glass window of the CIC. Lieutenant Forsen was thrown to the ground hitting her head on the tactical station as she fell to ground. The XO Colonel Sean Branson managed to avoid the fall by bracing his hand on the navigation table. As he looked around at the CIC he saw most of the CIC crew if not all were unconscious and clearly wounded. He looked at the DRADIS and saw a horrifying sight. There were twelve green dots on the screen, surrounded by twenty three more red dots representing Cylon baseships.

The Atlantia had bought the Therion a small amount of time to escape. She had plowed into the basestar that had been leading the cylon attack over Virgon. Thus causing utter chaos and confusion in the cylons ranks. They quickly adapted and another ship assumed the role as the command vessel. As they began to reorganize the twelve green dots representing five Colonial battlestars, four heavy cruisers and three colonial destroyers, jumped away leaving the Therion as the only Colonial Military ship left over Virgon. Five baseships began to head for the Therion, recognizing the ship as the only threat left over the once pristine world, with their raider wings already moving in for the devastating attack that would kill the Therion.

Tears started to swell around the Colonels eyes as he realized that Virgon was lost. He silently walked over to the Tactical station and looked at the screen. The flight pods had lost all power preventing the Vipers from being launched. Four of their engines were off line. But to his amazement the FTL drive was still online. He knew his time was limited. The forward batteries were firing at the nearest baseship, but he knew they wouldn't make much of a difference. As another missile struck the ship, he struggled to press the red button that would make the ship jump.

Despite another dozen explosions he managed to press it. The ship commenced a blind jump and landed itself near the Cyrannus asteroid belt.

The Therion was heavily damaged; the flight pods had limited if any power, most of the ship was cut off from the rest by fallen ceilings, steel beams and sealed hatches that wouldn't open due to pressure loss that was a result of disconnected wires and false reading. It would take engineering over four hours to restore most systems and unseal all the Hatches that had been falsely sealed.

Soon the crew learned through the fleet comm. Traffic that Commander Adama had assumed complete command of the remnants of the fleet and had ordered a regroup at Ragnar anchorage. Of the ship's crew of over 4,000 over eleven hundred had been lost. The Commander and six hundred more of the crew were wounded. Only two hundred and fifty fortunately had life threatening wounds. While the CO was down as was most of the senior staff Colonel Branson was busy organizing the ships repairs. He had steered the ship into the asteroid field in an attempt to avoid detection. The battle was still waging at Caprica, but he knew the Colonial forces there could only hold out for so long. He knew his ship had no chance of getting into the fight as it was. The flight pods were still without power as a piece of the Atlantia had severed the energizer that supplied power to the pods. Another piece of debris had impacted the alligator head of the ship opening up 12 sections to space.

STARBOARD FLIGHT POD - THERION- FOUR HOURS AFTER THE JUMP.

Lieutenant Marissa " Butterfly" Stas had been sitting in her viper for the last four hours due to the power outage. Initially she had thought the ship had been destroyed but the deck gang could be heard outside the Blast doors working furiously to get the power back on. She could hear their voices as they reassured each of the pilots that it would be okay and they'd have the power back on soon.

Lt. Stas had joined the fleet right out of high school, as soon as she had finished basic she was chosen by Commander Riggs to be a viper trainee aboard the Therion, Riggs had a talent for spotting natural viper pilots and Marissa was one of them. She had some trouble her first couple of weeks, with other recruits that kept trying to get with her, but that ended after a rather embarrassing kick to the groin to one of them. She was exceptionally beautiful, having won too many beauty contests to name. When she had told her father she enlisted he had been furious, all she had done was laugh in his face and say a bunch of stuff about honor and how he would never understand her decision. Her dad had been divorced for over eight years and he was never with a woman for more than five months. She had distanced herself from her family for several reasons, the biggest being they didn't support her decision to enlist.

After nearly eight hours of sitting in her cockpit, the power was soon restored. The engineering crew had been forced to use the auxiliary main energizer. The one that supplied power to the flight pods was a smaller one designed to reduce the strain on the primary energizers, the Therion boasted an enhanced DRADIS package that required more power to operate. Thus the smaller Energizer for the flight pods was built into the ship.

CIC 5 HOURS AFTER THE ATTACKS

"Okay so most of the pilots are out of their cockpits and are getting some rest. So that's one good thing, but we just received word from our listening raptor. Caprica has been lost. The cylons have now started bombarding the surface with nuclear ordnance. All of the colonies themselves have been hit with at least a hundred Nukes. Picon, Virgon and Gemenon have been hit with as much as three hundred." Said Ensign James Hastings who was filling in for the unconscious Lt. Forsen.

"My gods…. the Cylons are trying to annihilate us" stated the CAG Major Jessica "angel" Burton.

"Looks that way. Alright our first objective is to find out where the remaining colonial forces have retreated to, we know not all of the fleet was destroyed, hell the entire 5th fleet wasn't even in the fight. That's twenty five battlestars right there. Plus other units that made the rendezvous at Ragnar Anchorage. We know the Galactica and at least seventy civilian ships plus twelve other military vessels made the rendezvous." said Colonel Branson as his eyes darted from person to person

"Where are the SECDEF and Joint Chiefs?" Asked Branson

"They were wounded when a section collapsed near them sir. They're in pretty bad shape" Said Harris as he found the right report

"Okay when their conscious I want to see them" Said the Colonel as he read off more reports.

"First things first we need to find the Fifth fleet, chances are they don't even know about the attack, I mean the time it would take for one single report to reach them at the distance is at least a day." said Angel

"It's been over 25 hours since the attack, chances are by now they know, who's to say they weren't the first unit to be destroyed." said the Colonel still reading reports strewn all across the tactical console.

"Well we can't assume they were Colonel! Chances are the remnants of the Fleet are attempting to reorganize and launch a counterattack as we speak. We need to get back out there!" Said Commander Riggs as he stood heavily leaning on a cane in the glass doorway that leads to the CIC. A Marine stood at his side helping him when the need arose.

"Sir are you sure you should be out of Sickbay?" asked the CAG

"Don't question my ability to perform my duties Captain. I'm perfectly capable of doing them. If you want to question my ability to lead maybe we should go over your latest performance reports. Now what's the status of our vipers?" asked the Commander as he limped over to the Nav table. His voice and tone was that of a man with pure anger and rage. The crew was shocked, never had the Commander used a tone like the one he had just used on the CAG.

"All good to go sir" Stated the CAG her voice one of a child that had just been scolded for the first time, the Commander had never spoke to any member of the senior staff in a tone like the one he had used on her.

"Helm's bring us out of the asteroid field. Plot us a jump to Ragnar anchorage, while we may be battered we're still in this fight." said the Commander his eyes glassy and still watery

SICKBAY

Lt Forsen gently started to open her eyes; the first thing she noticed was the Marine in the bed right next to hers. He had cuts in his face and was unconscious. As she started to lift herself up, a nurse appeared out of nowhere and said

"Lay back down Ma'am. You took quite a hit to your head; I'm surprised your even awake right now much less not in pain."

"Who said I wasn't in pain Doc?" answered Forsen who's head felt like hammers were beating against it. She heard a constant ringing in her hears that was giving her a massive headache and her hand was at the least sprained.

"I'll get you something for the pain ma'am." Said the nurse as she walked away to tend to other patients. Her stomach growled as she realized she hadn't eaten in a long time.

In walked Lieutenant Casey "Charger" Hast. While she would never admit it she actually liked the man. He was charming, strong and was probably one of the best Vipers sticks on the ship.

"Hey I heard you got hurt up in CIC, You Okay there Amy?" said 'Charger' his voice sounded of worry and sympathy. He was obviously worried.

Amy couldn't help but smile at his concern. She had grown to like him over the last five months.

"Yeah, just a concussion probably, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking though." she replied not wanting to sound weak.

"Okay… but if you need anything don't hesitate to ask okay?" said the young Lieutenant as he walked towards one of his wounded pilots who had suffered a concussion when the flight pods had lost power.

"Oh you can count on that. Can you start by getting me some food please?" Said Amy giving her best smile. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day of the cylons initial assault, which had been over 15 hours ago.

Casey just smiled and said "Sure thing, just let me talk to my pilot over here."

CAPRICA 18 HOURS AFTER THE INTIAL ATTACK

Everywhere as far as the eye could see there was smoke, bullets were flying all around as the Centurions advanced up the street. The 23rd Marine Division (Light) had been fighting for almost nine hours straight. Ever since the cylons had landed, they had launched only small scale counterattacks and had given very little ground. General Stanley Griggs was proud of his Marines; they had done their duty as best as anyone could ask for. With over 60 percent of his division gone. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the end came for him and his men. But he knew that for every inch the cylons took from them they were paying with dozens of Centurions. What shocked him most were the humans, or what he had initially thought were humans, that were leading the Cylon army. It wasn't until his snipers reported they were killing dozens of the same person that he realized it. The cylons could mimic human form. He knew the end was near but there were still millions of people left in Delphi alone and he was determined to give them as much time as possible to flee into the hills. He could see the Marine Vipers that were flying up against the raiders and while they were winning now, he knew that once again it was only a matter of time. But he also knew that this was when he was the most dangerous. The cylons knew it too.

OUTSIDE OF DELPHI CYLON COMMAND CENTER

"Gods dammed humans, why can't our centurions defeat the 23rd Division, if the 47th Marine Division breaks out of the containment zone we have for them before our artillery can be brought to bear it's only a matter of time before they can successfully disengage and once that happens, we'll have a counter-insurgency on our hands and that's not a kind of war we want to wage. This will frak up our plans so frakking much." Said the number one known as John Cavil, he was clearly infuriated at the reports constantly coming in.

"We can't allow this, if it were any other city I would say let's just nuke them but we don't have that option here." said the model known as Leoben Conoy

"We can't allow the 47th to reach the 23rd if that happens it will be a disaster." stated the blonde model known as number six, her face clearly showing concern. This was not going according to their plans.

But one thing the cylons didn't know was that the 13th Marine heavy division and the 18th Marine division (light) were maneuvering into position to launch a massive counterattack against the cylon four division sized force that was threatening Delphi. In less than thirty minutes they moved in to position using the smoke that the burning woods were giving off as cover from airborne detection.

General Hector Gorton was one of the best Marine Corps generals in all of the Colonies. Due to the fact that the cylons had encountered extremely heavy resistance over Caprica it had allowed the Marines on the surface time to position themselves to best fend off a potential invasion, they had no illusion an hour into the battle that Caprica could be held. The fleet in orbit had simply taken too many loses at the time. Once the remaining battlestars in orbit had either retreated or been destroyed the Generals knew it was only a matter of time. They had seen the nuclear detonation that had taken out Caprica City. But for some reason four divisions worth of Centurions had landed about eight miles from the city. The Marines had scrambled to put themselves between them and the Civilians that were trying to escape into the surrounding mountains. The 23rd had fought admirably but now it was his turn.

"All units this is General Gorton, Fire at will! Blow the cylons back to wherever the hell they just came from."

All around him Mortars started to fire as well as the Divisions artillery. On the frontline the Tanks opened up on the closest cylon rank and annihilated it. Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV's) rolled into the cylon lines, Machine guns blazing their passengers firing from the many firing ports in the IFV's. It wasn't long before the cylons were retreating. As soon as the advancing Centurions had begun to withdraw the 23rd had launched its own counter attack. Both attacks worked to perfection with the leading elements of the 13th Heavy destroying around four hundred centurions before rendezvousing with the advancing elements of the 23rd and then beginning to push north to drive the cylons into the ruins of Caprica city. The counterattack of Delphi became the most famous battle during the invasion of Caprica.

Soon general Griggs, Gorton, Manchester(18th) and General Morton of the 47th were plotting their next attack to break the cylon siege of Marine Corps Base Camp War Pig, where over fifty thousand Marines were desperately fighting to hold on until the 13th 18th and 47th could come to their aid.

The Battle of Camp War Pig lasted throughout the night as the Colonial divisions overran their enemy with overwhelming sweeping maneuvers into the enemy's southern flank. While Camp war pig had been built at this location for a specific reason its primary purpose was to prevent the nuclear bombardment of Delphi. Yet the base had run out of Firewalker anti-ballistic missiles about thirty minutes into the battle. But something that was puzzling the Base Commander was why the cylons hadn't even tried to nuke his base or Delphi. Griggs knew that as long as War Pig remained the cylons would never gain access to Delphi. He had taken the 23rd to stop the cylon units that had landed behind the Major Marine Base. The Cylons hadn't even bothered to attempt to attack the base from the rear as most of the bases defenses were pointed outwards. They had been too competent in their initial aerial and ground attack that they didn't even see the need for a rear attack. The centurions that had landed behind war pig initially hadn't even been as heavily armed as the later units that had landed. General Griggs speculated that the cylons were after Delphi's civilians for torture and experiments.

BATTLESTAR THERION - BSG 52

Commander Jason Riggs walked the halls of his ship and wondered whether or not he would ever get good night's sleep ever again. He had scolded his CAG out of anger, something he regretted deeply. She was by far one of the best CAG'S he had ever had. Her performance was spotless. The Commander knew that she was always worried about her performance and the way she looked. He would have to apologize to her later. But what was really troubling him was that the fleet had lost, they we're no more. He began to question why he and his ship had survived. That's when he realized that he and his crew might have survived by luck. When the Atlantia had been destroyed its nukes had cooked off taking the surrounding four baseships with it. Jason knew that even if they had survived by pure luck, he and his crew were alive and they were on a battlestar. The most destructive ship the Colonial fleet had in its inventory. He was going to put that to use in a rather creative way he had some of the best and brightest aboard, he had no doubt they were above and beyond.

As he walked into the CIC the crew snapped to attention. They were broken, they had seen so much death in the last day it unnerved even him. He knew he was going to have to bring up morale and quickly.

"At Ease. Listen up!" said the Commander, he waited before he knew he had their complete attention.

"I want all senior staff in the war room in ten minutes. Who's the officer on deck?" Asked the commander as a young woman raised her hand.

"Okay lieutenant. I want all vipers in the launch tubes except for the CAG, have gun batteries hot and ready. I want all DC teams ready to move and the Marines ready to repel boarders. When we jump to Ragnar, you can count on the cylons being there, but we're going to send em' a little message. Understood." said Riggs, he had dispatched a raptor to Ragnar to inform commander Adama of his ships survival, but they had been shocked to see the cylons there. While the SECDEF was technically the higher ranking on board he was currently incapacitated.

"Yes sir" replied the very young lieutenant who had now been charged with preparing the ship for battle.

The CIC crew stared at him, their eyes betraying their emotions. He could see it in them. While they looked calm and professional, deep down he knew they had all lost a part of their souls. He knew that they had all become the perfect weapons. They were heartless, emotionless in combat and were itching for some payback. He was going to give it to them.

Suddenly the Dradis consoled beeped twice and then twice more.

"Dradis contact, two cylon basestars bearing 349, Coram, 486. Weapons range two minutes, enemy contacts launching fighters." yelled Ensign James Hastings.

"Well looks like the cylons are giving us a little fight." the CO chuckled before saying "Action stations! Set Condition One! Scramble all Vipers and only Raptors equipped with heavy ordnance."

Outside the hull of the battlestar began to turn towards the two cylon basestars that were now launching hundreds of raiders towards the mighty battle scared battlestar. One by one Vipers streamed out of the launch tubes as they made their way towards the major battle that was sure to come. The gunners of the Therion trained their guns on the two double y shaped ships that they had so much hate for. Two Minutes later they let loose with a barrage of Flak and HEAP rounds. The vipers and raiders streamed in at each other guns blazing as the two baseships began to experience the fire-power of a battlestar who's commander was hell bent for revenge.

PICON FLEET HEADQUARTERS- 12 HOURS AFTER THE ATTACK

Slowly her eyelids began to open. The young Woman began to come to her senses as the last explosion for the battle of Picon was seen. The last Colonial Cruiser left over Picon was destroyed after having fought for twelve hours. She silently moaned in pain, the steel beam was still pinning her against the wall. She couldn't move, her leg was broken but the wound wasn't open. Captain Paige Terrence was just 26 years old. While she had been one of the Poseidon academies for gifted student's best, she had chosen the fleet. Soon she had found herself at the Colonial fleet Academy. That was where Admiral Corman had taken an interest in her as an aid. Silently she knew he was grooming her for command. Just three days ago he had told her he was making her his Tactical officer aboard the Erasmus for three years. She had been overjoyed when he had told her. She had grown to have a respect for him as any Admirals aid would but more of daughters like respect. Sadly she had almost no life outside of the fleet. Her whole life was the fleet. She knew nothing about romance even though she was beautiful in the eyes of the Marines who guarded the Admirals office. That's when the sound of gunfire startled her into moving, causing her to hurt her leg even more.

"We'll never surrender to you" Shouted a Marine as he fired his rifle. Taking down a Centurion.

A flash bang went off; the Marines went down writhing in pain. Her ears started to ring and her eyes became blurry. But she could make out the shiny silver body of a Cylon Centurion as it lifted the steel beam from her waist. As her vision came back she saw the centurions were just standing there, not even pointing their weapons at her or the Marines who were starting to come around. Suddenly a Centurion picked up her and the Marines and began to carry them to a cylon shuttle. She screamed in pain the whole way.

"She'll live, put her in the shuttle with the other females." said a man who at first she though was a collaborator but later realized was a cylon. Before they put her into the shuttle with a dozen other wounded Females she saw Admiral Corman being dragged into another one. Four marines were being dragged with him. She overheard one of the human cylons say

"You have to give the Marines credit; they gave us one hell of a fight. Over a thousand Centurions were destroyed by the Marines on the station. Even more on the Picon alone and the battle isn't even over yet."

"It will be soon, and those that didn't die in the nukes will enjoy our prison camps"

That was the last she heard before the hatch closed. She looked around at the other and noticed all of them were hurt much like she was.

CAPRICA

With all of Delphi now evacuated on either ships or into the mountains, the Marines abandoned Camp War Pig and headed north towards the mountains. They had defeated the main Cylon Invasion force for Delphi but they knew more were on the way. The generals all agreed the heavy equipment would be put into Caves that would be sealed up for the time being. The Marines themselves would conduct no more large scale battles for some time. They began to expand the caves in the mountains, soon they stretched for miles. For weeks the Cylons wandered the mountains in search of the Four Marine Divisions and the four Million people they had escaped with. The Cylon occupation of Delphi began. But General Griggs was determined to retake the city.

BATTLESTAR THERION

With gun batteries blazing and vipers locked in furious dogfights the Therion was slowly gaining the upper hand in the fight. Her KEWS' were firing dozens of HEAP (High Explosive Armor Piercing) rounds into the baseships arms where the missile batteries were. Not even ten minutes into the fight, and the baseships were taking a serious beating as the Therion began to circle the now helpless baseship. With Raptors jamming every transmission the Cylons made for help, Commander Riggs knew he had the basestars dead to rights. With their rate of fire dropping rapidly from his gunners work, Jason knew it was a matter of time. His vipers had sustained loses but they were quickly wiping out the enemy's fighter wings and were starting to focus on the baseships missile batteries. Riggs had ordered them to focus on the raiders only but as a former viper pilot he knew what it felt like to be winning. They had gotten lost in their feelings of revenge.

"Order vipers to return to the Therion. Have them cover the Raptors as they land. Prepare to jump to Ragnar anchorage." said the Commander as one of the baseships blinked out of existence.

The other baseship was quick to follow.

Five minutes later the Therion jumped to Ragnar and immediately detected the debris from a battle. Three baseships were destroyed their hulks floating powerless in space.

WAR-ROOM BATTLESTAR THERION 6 HOURS LATER

"So Adama's left the sector. Can't say I blame him with over four hundred Civilian ships to guard. First things first, Lieutenant Forsen I want you to plot out a jump to the Fifth fleets last known position we can try to find them and hopefully link up our forces and then give the cylons hell." said Commander Riggs as he looked at the tactical chart.

"Yes sir" said Lt Amy Forsen. She still had a pretty bad headache and her left hand was in a splint but she could do her duty.

"Alright then Dismissed. Angel I would like you to stay for a few minutes." Said the Commander as he dismissed the members of the senior staff that were still alive.

Major Jessica "Angel" Burton didn't say anything as the hatches closed. She was nervous.

"I'm sorry Jessica, I should never have spoken to you like that in the way I did. Your record is amazing and you know I said that out of anger not meaning it. You're a damn good officer and I would hate to lose you. Please accept my apology?" asked the Commander with the sadness in his voice as clear as the sun.

Jessica only moved to hug him. As they hugged she said

"I forgive you Jason, but please don't talk to me like that again, it reminded me of my father." she said as she remembered her now dead father.

Jason Riggs chuckled and said

"I'm Glad were squared away. Now I need your pilots at a hundred percent okay?"

"You can count on us sir" She said as she saluted and exited out the hatch

ARMISTICE LINE- COLONIAL FIFTH FLEETS LAST KNOWN POSITION

With a flash the Therion appeared where the fifth fleet was last known to be.

"Sir we have nothing but debris on sensors. I'm registering fourteen battlestars, forty three cruisers and dozens of destroyer's sir." Said Lieutenant Forsen

"Launch Vipers, scramble the search and rescue raptors, head for the battlestars first" ordered the Commander.

As the vipers launched the pilots could see the devastation that had been the fifth fleet.

"Gods this was one hell of a fight." Said Lt Haley Aaron as she maneuvered her raptor into the hanger deck of a destroyed battlestar. Outside the remains of thirty baseships floated idly. Vipers screened the debris field for survivors or disabled vipers and raptors.

The White riders found the first survivors in the area surrounding the destroyed Battlestar Poseidon. A dozen vipers had had their EM suites fried by the explosions leaving them helpless in space for ten hours. The fifth fleet had been one of the last units to engage the cylons.

Over the course of ten hours the Therion recovered over a hundred viper pilots and a dozen more Raptor pilots. With fifty more vipers brought aboard from the battlestars that hadn't been able to launch their fighters due to the CNP. Only two battlestars in the Fifth Fleet had been destroyed because of the CNP. The fight had gone on for six hours, leaving the crews exhausted when the last baseships had been destroyed. The Survivors confirmed that the Universal and eight other battlestars had survived with about a hundred other Colonial ships. They had engaged in rescue operations before they had jumped away. While they had missed almost four hundred survivors the Therion hadn't. Riggs knew that the Remnants of the Fifth fleet would head for the Colonies and attempt to rendezvous with other surviving Colonial units. His problem was how to find them before the Cylons did.

PICON

Captain Paige Terrence woke with the sound of centurions entering her cell. For the last twelve hours she had been tortured, beaten and deprived of sleep. Every ten minutes she was kicked punched and was asked random seemingly unimportant questions. After thirty minutes the man left only to return ten minutes later and start all over. She was surprised she hadn't been raped by her captors. Her leg was in a cast; her wrist had been broken when a centurion had thrown her into the cell. They picked her up and dragged her through the camp. She winced in pain yet could not scream as her throat was dry from hours of screams she saw thousands of tents and wooden structures being put up. Thousands of POW's were being pushed around by the cylons. She like everyone else in the fleet had seen the footage of what the cylons did to prisoners. She knew what was going to happen. She tried mentally to prepare herself for what was coming.

The centurion dragged her into a room with a single bed in the middle. It then went and stood guard outside. She sat down to relieve the pressure on her leg. Almost immediately an old man walked in and said

"Good Morning Captain." Said a cylon who introduced himself as John as he walked into the cell. "No please don't get up. I just want to let you know were not going to torture you anymore." with that Paige huffed and rolled her eyes. "What? You don't believe us? We could have killed you and all those aboard the disabled battlestars, but we didn't. No we have something else in mind for you. If you Cooperate we won't kill you and you might actually enjoy your new life." said the old man as he walked out, Paige knew he had said every word forcefully hating it.

"Oh and a doctor will be by later to look at your leg, just don't try anything captain, we know Admiral Corman had you trained in self-defense. In fact you received your training from some individuals who right now are giving us a lot of trouble in the Colonies." With that he left and a young female entered the room with a medic's kit.

Paige smiled she knew that if her Self-defense instructors were alive then the cylons were in for a world of hurt. She could have easily killed the old man without any effort but the Centurion was another story. Even with a broken leg she believed she could

As soon as the woman approached Paige spun, her right foot connected with the woman's jaw twisting her neck. She had not placed any pressure on her broken leg instead using her hands bracing against the bed to spin and land safely. The woman was knocked unconscious by the kick. Then she heard laughing

"Didn't I tell you not to do anything? If it makes you feel better she wasn't a cylon, she was a Colonial lieutenant aboard the battlestar Olympic before we boarded it. We've been forcing the Medics to go around and do their jobs." said the old man as the centurion picked up the unconscious woman and put her on the bed

Another medic came in ten minutes later and tended to both of them. All three of them were then taken back outside and put into cabins with civilians. The Cylons were making sure that the military personnel didn't try anything. A lone woman walked down the streets taking pictures of the camp that was only now being set up. Paige guessed millions were kept within its confines.

BATTLESTAR THERION

With a flash the Therion appeared over the moon of Trevor near Caprica. Instantly vipers were everywhere. The raptors left the flight pods and headed for the colonies to search for what few survivors were left. The ship unknown to the crew was a high value target to the Cylons as she currently carried the SECDEF and Joint Chiefs.

CAPRICA

Raptor 245 piloted by Lt Haley Aaron arrived silently over the now occupied colony. Hundreds of thousands of Centurions were on the surface rounding up civilians and killing what military forces were left on the planet that weren't in hiding or already taken as prisoners. She instantly saw twenty three baseships over Caprica and thousands of Raiders. She saw the remains of forty three more. Floating all around the colonies was the disabled Colonial defense Satellites that had been shut down by the CNP. Twenty nine Colonial battlestars were floating destroyed in the space around Caprica, with eight hundred other ships that had been destroyed by the cylons.

There was so much electromagnetic interference from the amount of nukes that had detonated in orbit that Dradis was useless. She was forced to fly using mark one eyeball.

She saw another raptor threw her cockpit and signaled it, the raptor signaled back.

They initiated line of sight Communications and she heard

"Colonial Raptor, Colonial Raptor this is Raptor 816 of the battlestar Zeus, please respond"

"Raptor 815 this is Raptor 245 of the battlestar Therion confirm identity with recognition codes immediately." she said knowing that it could be a cylon trick used to hunt down survivors and eliminate them.

"Got em star, their good. Let's send the rendezvous coordinates and head on home." said her ECO

"No I don't want us to miss any other survivors, let's get some shots of the ground" she said. She was silently holding out hope that her sisters and her Niece had made it. She knew her sister had been aboard the Olympic over Picon when the attacks happened.

"Alright no longer than we have to thou. Last thing I want is the cylons seeing us."

"Agreed Hunter alright let's take her over the southern hemisphere near Delphi." said Star as the other Raptor jumped back to its ship.

For the next four hours they continued to take pictures of the destruction that was Caprica and they witnessed a Marine Divisions last stand near Oasis. But what shocked them most were the massive POW camps that were being built. The Colony wasn't even secured yet and they were already building Prison camps. Millions of Colonials were being rounded up and put into the camps.

When Lt Star Jumped her raptor back to the Therion she was shocked to see the Therion, The Zeus and the hospital ship Comfort. Surrounding the ships were dozens of frigates and four cruisers.

Commander Jason Riggs and the CO of the Zeus and the Comfort were inside the wardroom discussing their next move. The SECDEF and Joint Chiefs had been made aware of the situation but were still to critically wounded to assume command and had been evacuated to the Comfort for treatment.

"We can't hope to retake any of the Colonies as of now. The cylon forces there are too strong. We wouldn't last ten minutes."

"I agree" said Commander Amy Barnes, of the Comfort, "we need to find the fifth fleet or what's left of it anyways."

"We think there preparing for a counterattack but we don't know where they might launch it." Said Riggs as he brought up the list of destroyed battlestars. There were 68 on the list with twelve more listed as unknown.

"Well that's a lot of battlestars that didn't get destroyed" Said Commander Thomas McNamara as he read the list with watery eyes.

"Most were disabled by the CNP virus, and boarded by the cylons. They took the crews and put the battlestars into a geosynchronous orbit over nearby moons. We don't know where the crews are being imprisoned but you can bet there aren't very many Marines with them." said Riggs knowing that the cylons were probably torturing the crews.

PICON POW CAMP

It had been only 2 days since the cylon attack on Picon fleet headquarters. Her leg was getting worse and the headaches were still coming. She had spent most of the last 48 hours sleeping until about forty Marines from one of the Divisions stationed on Picon had launched a mortar attack on the cylon guard posts. The firefight had lasted for an hour until the Marines had withdrawn. She had tried to get the medics that were with her to go and get some other fleet personnel but the cylons were enforcing a lockdown until they had more troops to maintain security.

The Cylons were heavily engaged with eight Marine Divisions in the Countryside of Picon. Nearly ten thousand centurions had been destroyed by the advancing Marine Division who were fighting with a ferocity never before seen by the cylons.

They had no idea that the troops would refuse to surrender and fight to the death as the 56th Infantry division had done. Only 220 soldiers had been captured. Over 18,000 Centurions had been destroyed attempting to overwhelm the surrounded division. Their courage was admired by the human model cylons and the 220 survivors were aboard a cylon baseship in orbit awaiting treatment for their wounds. They would later perform several experiments on them.

Captain Paige Terrence got up from her bed, wobbling over to her improvised crutches made from two long sticks and started to walk outside. It hurt like hell to even move. She barely could anyway. Despite the lockdown she made it over to the next hutch with the medics helping her. Inside were a dozen Colonial Pilots from different ships and bases. All were wounded to some degree or another. The cylons had beaten them to the point where they could no longer walk. Soon the sound of gunfire could be heard over the mountains as the 13th Colonial Army division battled the cylons in the Piconese Mountain range. The Colonial troops just kept coming and the cylons only had so many forces left on the planet.

She was still hoping that the fleet would somehow manage to retake Picon. But she knew that it was unlikely seeing how bad the fleet had lost in orbit.

CAPRICA- DELPHI- CYLON COMMAND CENTER

With screens lining the wall and centurions coming and going one knew that the War on Caprica had only just begun.

"Four, Four! That's how many divisions of Marines we're up against in those mountains. And we have no idea where they went in those mountains. Then we have the twenty eight battlestars that managed to survive not counting the Galactica and the other six battlestars in its fleet." Said a Six model in exasperation

"It's only been two days six, doubtless the Colonials are preparing for a counterattack. We have to be ready. But the forces chasing the Galactica fleet need reinforcements. They've lost fourteen baseships so far. They do have an agent in the fleet that's transmitting their position and we are engaging every thirty three minutes. For the last two hours thou we've laid off. Six baseships against six battlestars and seven other military vessels aren't even. They won't last ten minutes against them." said a four

"Dispatch another twenty baseships to assist them. Now we need to find these other battlestars. We know a lot of them are heavily damaged and chances are their preparing for their final battle. But I'm more worried about the land battles." Said Cavil as he read the latest report

"Yes. The Marines sure have hampered our plans but it's only a matter of time before they are either forced to surrender or we kill them." Said the three that had only just joined them from the field.

"But the citizens of Delphi! Well never have enough to initiate our plans" said a Simon model.

"We have plenty of subjects for you to use. Don't worry brother." said cavil as read the number of humans that were in the POW camps.

"Forty two Million in total. Two million are military. However most of the military personnel are in pretty bad shape" said cavil reading the report.

"That's more than enough" said Simon as he smiled.

As they cylons discussed their plans, a Colonial Marine zeroed in on their command base. He spoke silently into his radio

"Target grid location confirmed, Fire 6 125 Mike Mike, on target, Wind speed 12 north. Bring the rain!"

A dozen high impact mortar rounds slammed into the building causing it to collapse. The Marine specialist smiled and ran back to his squad as they pulled out of the city for the last time.

THERION

Lt Amy Forsen lay down gently in her bunk. As she closed her eyes the events of the past day hit her. She knew that her family was gone and that her life was never going to be the same again. Yet she felt bad for thinking of just her family, billions of others had died. Why hadn't she? She cradled her knees into her chest and cried. Images flew through her mind as she cried images as vivid as if they were happening. She got up out of her bunk knowing no sleep would come to her that night, or anytime soon.

Commander Jason Riggs was in his quarters silently staring at the wall. Knowing that the Colonies were still burning yet powerless to stop it. He hated this feeling of defeat. He knew that the Marines were still fighting but he just didn't know what to do. He couldn't take his two battlestars into a fight over a colony and hope to win. He knew the Marines and the Army would fight until their dying breaths. He felt sad to know that he was powerless to stop any of it.

Commander Amy Barnes silently laid herself down to sleep letting her long blonde hair hang over her bunk. She too cried herself to sleep. For eighteen hours her ship had taken on over four thousand wounded service members. She had seen the rows and rows of the wounded. She knew that she would never forget their faces much less their screams. She had thought the Zeus finding her ship had been a miracle, now she wondered if those two battlestars were about to go on a suicide mission.

CIC BATTLESTAR THERION

Colonel Sean Branson was watching the Dradis as he heard a sob from the communication station.

He looked up to see Ensign Jamie Harris with a tear going down her cheek. He knew that the whole crew was depressed. The colonies had been lost. While the ground troops were still fighting after two days, The Colonel knew it was just a matter of time before they were defeated. The Zeus had lifted their spirit's a little but he knew they were so down that many were just simply sitting in their racks, crying themselves to sleep. It hurt him to realize that there was nothing that could be done about it; even the pilots were crying themselves to sleep. It seemed even their ego's weren't invincible.

In her bunk Lieutenant Haley Aaron was trying not to think of her niece and her sisters. But she couldn't stop the tears as she saw his seven year old face in her head. She couldn't help but wonder if he had made it out of the city before the bombs had fallen. She didn't know if he had been aboard the Olympic for family day or if her family had even gone. When she had realized that the Cylons hadn't nuked Delphi she was overjoyed only to find that the 23rd Marine Division had given the citizens very little time to escape. They had held the cylons off for nearly a day but they had eventually retreated. She had seen the long line of survivors that were heading into the caves of the mountains. She just wanted closure. The sheet that covered her bunk was opened. Her co-pilot put his arms around her and cradled her while she cried. She fell asleep in his arms after nearly ten minutes of crying. Lieutenant Michael Wilson sighed as he realized that she was asleep. He hadn't said a word the whole time. Sometimes it was best to just let people cry. He couldn't help but smile and lie down taking her with him. Her head rested on his chest while he fell asleep. He made sure to close the blind before the CAG walked in and started yelling at them for fraternization.

PICON FLEET HEADQUARTERS

With most of the station inaccessible due to the damage that had been inflicted in the attack, Cavil knew the station was useless. But he wanted it left here as a reminder of their triumph over the Colonials. A symbol of their defeat.

PICON POW CAMP

Amazingly to the cylons the Marines had managed to break their lines and were now advancing towards the POW camp. Every single centurion available was being mustered to meet the advancing divisions head on. The forty two hour battle was devastating to both sides. Over twenty two thousand Marines died in the first day alone. They never reached the POW's, even after four days of heavy fighting. For the cylons they lost over four thousand raiders and forty eight thousand Centurions. As a result of the battle, the cylons knew they no longer had the numbers necessary to hold Picon if the remnants of the Marines and Army divisions linked up with other units throughout the planet. They began to evacuate all of the POW's to Caprica for fear of losing them. Thousands of ships were involved in the evacuation as the Marines slowly continued to advance. Small units of elite Mortar and sniper teams continued to harass and interdict patrols and cities that were occupied. The troops just wouldn't give up.

Paige Terrence was shoved aboard a Colonial Luxury liner. Her leg was starting to feel better. But she was scared. What few soldiers and Marines that were prisoners were helping the wounded to their seats. A Marine lieutenant put his arm around her hip to help her to the rear of the craft.

"SITREP" She said as she wobbled down the isle

"Cylons are moving us Caprica. The units that are still fighting are giving the cylons one hell of a fight ma'am. The Marines almost broke through to us last night from what I heard. The baseships in orbit had to start an orbital bombardment" Said the Marine proud of what his fellow Marines had done.

"Damn, I wish they had. It'd be nice to get out of here huh?" said Paige as she sat down.

The Marine lifted up his pant leg to show her a sidearm. "Were working on it Ma'am

Paige smiled and said "Pretty good for a Jarhead"

The Marine laughed and walked away smiling. She laughed to herself and realized that she had just made a joke to a Marine. One that she didn't even know at all. She was starting to become more open and friendly. The two medics, one being the one she had knocked out, already followed her orders blindly. They had laughed and made jokes together. But she knew it was just to relieve the pressure over whether or not the Army would get to them those two long nights.

Suddenly a centurion stepped inside the shuttle and stood by the hatch. Frak! She thought to herself. The Marines couldn't risk firing an explosive round while the Cylon was near the hatch. She knew she had to do something in order to get it to move. The liner lifted off the ground followed by a dozen more. Suddenly she screamed out. Faking pain she waved the other POW's off. The Centurion began to walk over to her. The Marine that had helped her over stood up and fired. The explosive round was not designed to be used in a cabin but the Marine had no choice. The round struck the centurion dead center. It collapsed, its head a smoking ruin, the ships fire suppression system turned on instantly. In seconds she was soaking wet as was everyone else. Two Marines ran to the cockpit and two more shots were heard. Suddenly two pilots stood up and ran to the cockpit. They immediately imputed a set of coordinates and jumped the ship. Two more luxury liners did the same. The Marines didn't have the weapons to take over all of them. Captain Terrence raised her head and smiled at the Marine who did the same back to her. He nodded his head and walked to the cockpit.

A Commander stood up and walked to the cockpit. She was the youngest of the Commanders in the fleet. Soon she looked out the window and knew this was where the Cylons had taken the disabled Colonial ships. Thousands of them were in orbit around the moon. Including A dozen battlestars, the luxury liner she was on was headed for the battlestar Olympic. A mercury class battlestar.

All three shuttles docked and the now freed POW's ran to secure the ship and wipe the CNP from the ships systems. The Marines were running to the ships armory securing weapons and vital areas of the ship. Captain Terrence and about twenty other officers were heading for the CIC. They passed by a hundred bodies of Marines who had died to defend the ship. As soon as they reached the CIC they saw the body of Commander Joseph Wright. His hands around the throat of a human model cylon with eight bullets in his back. Slowly the ships systems came on line and they began the ten minute long process of wiping the hard drives of the CNP. Paige took up her station as tactical officer before Commander Sammie Tanner told her to go down to sickbay and recover. She silently nodded and went down to the sickbay. She was limping down the hall when she felt a pair of hands on her hips and a face come near hers. She spun only to see the Marine who had taken out the centurion. He put his hand around her backside and under arm. He then pushed her arm over his head to help her.

"You don't quit do you?" said the Marine as he guided her to the Sickbay.

"Nope, I sure as hell don't." she said with a sly smile.

"That was good work aboard the Civie. Im Jacob, Lieutenant, Jacob Stark"

"Nice to meet you Lieutenant and thanks by the way. For saving my life and helping me out, it means a lot. I really appreciate it." With that she planted a kiss on his cheek, and felt the butterfly's in her stomach.

He smiled and said "don't mention Ma'am. I don't think I caught your name?"

"Oh uh Paige Terrence, Captain." she said nervously.

"Okay Ma'am. Let's get you to sickbay." said Lt stark as he picked her up by her uninjured leg and around the waist. She put her arms around his neck and smiled. "Marines" she said. He just chuckled and kept walking.

The doctors gave her a sedative and she fell asleep. When she woke up the ship had jumped to an asteroid field to sort it out.

"Commander Tanner we have 121 Viper Pilots with 38 raptor pilots. 53 marines and over 600 knuckle draggers. Fifty eight officers not pilots of them eighteen are in sickbay. The rest are regular battlestar and cruiser personnel who know what they have to do. The senior staff are organizing their departments and will give you a more detailed report by tomorrow." said Colonel Michael Fisk as the reports throughout the ship came in.

"Excellent. Let's get some raptors out there and see if we can link up with the remnants of the fleet" Said Tanner knowing she had a lot of work to do

With that the Olympic launched her raptors to search for survivors.

THERION TREVOR MOON

For the last fourteen hours the Therion had been sending out raptors and Probes to search for survivors. Lt Aaron had intercepted communications between two cylon baseships over Virgon.

7 Colonial Battlestars Destroyed by Cylon forces over Aerilon attempting to retake Colony.

Four Cruisers escorting-Location now unknown after FTL jumping from battle.

2 Colonial Raptors spotted over Leonis attempting to scout planet's surface.

4 baseships destroyed by 3 Colonial battlestars near Sagatarion. Identity of battlestars unknown

3 Baseships destroyed by battlestars Pegasus and Mercury- Boarding of Pegasus unsuccessful.

2 baseships destroyed over Picon by unknown number of colonial units attempting to retake Colony. 1 colonial heavy cruiser destroyed.

Finding of twenty one remaining Battlestars remains top priority.

Colonial Marine Divisions have successfully retaken Picon after linking up near the destroyed capital. Cylon units on surface defeated at 1634. Cylon Centurions from all occupied colonies except Caprica to immediately rendezvous in orbit over Picon for renewed invasion. All prisoners except 2,400 aboard three Colonial transports successfully transported to Caprica- location of three transports unknown but retaken by Colonial Marines. Marine and Army units evacuating the surface of Picon to unknown location

Basestars are too continue to track Galactica fleet and attempt to destroy it. 68 baseships now designated to Galactica task force.

56 designated to occupation of the Colonies.

Remaining baseships to resume search for Colonial 7th Fleet – 25 battlestars and four hundred and sixty warships and other Combat support ships. Fleet is believed to be headed for Promar sector.

7th Fleet is at Full strength. Fleet did not; repeat did not suffer any casualties as a result of the attacks due to inactive status, believed ordered by Admiral Nagala to assume readiness state due to unknown reasons

Battlestars Zeus, Therion, Acheron , Acropolis and Sagatarus not seen since engaging Cylon forces near the asteroid belt. All battlestars are believed to be alone at this time except Zeus with the Hospital ship Comfort and four heavy cruisers.

Riggs sighed as he read this. The cylons were hunting down the Galactica and the 7th fleet in the promar sector. He was glad the Marines had retaken Picon and were evacuating to an unknown location. He knew that it would be awhile before they got off and he decided not to reveal the Zeus just yet. The cylons didn't know they had linked up and he hoped to keep it that way. He was overjoyed to finally have some useable intelligence. He planned to make use of it.

CASTER ASTEROID FIELD 7 DAYS AFTER THE FALL

The Colonial Fifth fleet once the proudest of the entire Colonial Fleet, now a shadow of its former self. Having suffered heavy losses in the one week since the fall, they had destroyed a total of eighteen baseships since the deadly first battle that had decimated their numbers. Half the fleet had been lost at the battle of Caster. The asteroid Caster was named for the battlestar Commander who during the first war led a massive counterattack against the cylons destroying a dozen baseships inside of an hour. He had used the asteroid as a staging area for his forces. The Fifth fleet had fought its first battle there in over forty years. They had won but at a price that wasn't worth celebrating.

BATTLESTAR OLYMPIC 7 DAYS AFTER THE FALL 2 DAYS AFTER RETRIEVING BATTLESTAR OLYMIPA

Captain Paige Terrence awoke with the sound of an explosion. The ship shook violently as the battlestar suffered an internal explosion. She was knocked off her hospital bed by the explosion as were several others. She cried out in pain as her leg hit the steel floor. Tears began to swell in her eyes as explosions continued to rock the ship. She heard gunfire from the down the hall and realized the ship had been boarded or there had been Centurions aboard to begin with. The hatch was thrown open and a centurion appeared. She gasped silently as it approached its machine guns pointed at her. She began to shake violently, the images of what the cylons had done to her and other POW's popping into her head. As the Centurion approached she began to cry. She instantly threw her head to the ground as the centurions head blew apart.

A piece of shrapnel embedded itself in her shoulder. She felt the warm liquid began to flow down her arm and onto the floor. Her breathing started to get shallow as she went into shock.

"Medic!" shouted several people as they ran to assist

CAPRICA 2 DAYS AFTER THE RETREAT FROM DELPHI

Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion 29th Marine Infantry Regiment had set up dozens of IED's in the valley where they waited to ambush the cylons. Their chrome plated armor shining bright against the reflection of the sun. A sniper raised his powerful rifle and centered it on the centurion. He slowly put his finger on the trigger and began to squeeze. The battle began as several other snipers did the same.

THERION

Lieutenant Haley Aaron woke up looking into the face of her ECO. She moaned slightly and he opened his eyes and said "Good morning there sunshine. How are you feeling?"

"Better I guess, still can't believe it thou, It's just so…" he cut her off and said

"Don't. Let the historians do that okay? Our job is to put bullets in cylons. That's in the past now. " he said with a cold voice that would have sent shivers down Haley's back if she didn't want it too.

"So say we all" She said as she stretched.

'Damn she's amazing' thought Michael Wilson as she sat up.

"Wait…did we… sleep together?" she asked suddenly wide awake and alert.

"Ah technically yes, but in the way you mean no. you cried yourself to sleep." Lt Wilson went on to say that he would be there for her if she ever needed her and that what happened could stay between them.

"I'd like that" She said just before she kissed him and rolled out of the bed. "I'd like that a lot"

Lt Wilson sat there dumbstruck as she walked out; when she was out of the hatch a small grin appeared the edge of his mouth. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

CIC- BATTLESTAR THERION

Jason Riggs stood looking at the Dradis console wondering if he would ever see it full of green dots again.

He looked at his XO, Colonel Sean Branson and remembered how they met. It was when he had led the massive military offensive against the SLA two years ago. He had ended up catching tom Zarek and practically ending the terrorist organization. The Colonel had been a Major at the time. He had been the CAG of the battlestar Acheron. His viper had been shot down and he had been taken prisoner. The Marines had managed to rescue him after eight hours of brutal torture and interrogation. The SLA had wanted to know how many ships were in orbit. The Colonel was happy to tell him the entire Third fleet. The SLA had started to retreat after that. But they didn't know that the Third fleet had hit every single SLA base and safe house in all of the Colonies in a massive attack that made Adar, one of the most popular figures in the Colonies. His approval had started to fall after the Sagatarion massacre and the budget cuts in the fleet. While the Military budget had been massive, the cuts weren't large enough to hurt the build-up of arms. In fact the Military had trillions of cubits stockpiled over the years. In the event that war broke out they would be able to build and get whatever they needed

Lieutenant Amy Forsen was silently watching the Dradis while tending to her regular duties. The Zeus was just off the bow of the Therion. With the Comfort directly behind. The cut on the side of her head was starting to heal after the long days and she had finally stopped thinking of her dead sisters as much as she had. Her blue eyes shifted from screen to screen as she watched them for anything that could go wrong. Her head was pounding from her headache that still hadn't gone away.

Commander Amy Barnes was at her station in the CIC of her ship the Comfort. Currently housing four thousand wounded Colonials. With a crew of two thousand five hundred, the hospital ship was crowded to say the least. For the first two days she hadn't gotten any sleep. The last three days she had cried herself to sleep. But she refused to cry in front of her crew. She wanted, needed to be strong for them, to give them some hope. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, reliving those first few hours in seconds. She opened her eyes and brushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face. The Marine at the door looked at his commander and smiled. She was highly respected by her crew; most had been with her since she had taken command two years ago at the age of thirty six. She had one daughter who had been on Picon the day of the attacks. Her ex-husband was the governor of Picon's chief of staff. Their marriage had always been rocky, with her always on deployments and him always working for the governor. They had split when he had supported the governor's controversial bill to reduce the military to a force necessary to defend the Colonies only with strict limitations on the amount of troops and spending. She wished he was still alive now. But she didn't regret the split with her ex-husband. She had gotten command of Mercury. While it was a hospital ship. It was still a mercury class hospital ship. A Variant of the battlestar with minimal weapons and a very small defensive fighter wing, just forty vipers, but nearly two hundred raptors and dozens of shuttles. She considered herself lucky she hadn't lost any of her crew during the cylon attack. That in its self was no small miracle. Her ship had fired at the cylons, recovering wounded at the same time. She had jumped her ship along with the four other medical frigates that were with the Comfort to the asteroid field where she had found the battlestar Zeus. The Zeus had just finished off two baseships and was preparing to jump when she had jumped in. The commander of the Zeus Commander Thomas McNamara had led her ship away from the cylons. By rapidly jumping along the asteroid field they had avoided the cylons. Commander McNamara had launched raptor probes to the colonies in an attempt to find survivors. She was overjoyed when they had found the Therion.

BATTLESTAR OLYMPIC

Captain Paige Terrence tried to get her breathing under control. She was sobbing uncontrollably and breathing heavily. Seeing a Centurion after escaping from the POW camp rattled her to the core. For twelve hours after her leg had been put into a cast, they had kicked her to keep her awake. For about eight hours after they had left her in the cell, naked and cold. The cylons red eye going back and forth was what had done it. The whole time she had been in her cell, it had gone back and forth being the only sound in her cell. The Centurion had broken her wrist when it had thrown her into the cell. Now sitting on the infirmary of the battlestar Olympic, she had a piece of shrapnel in her shoulder and she was starting to get cold from the loss of blood

"Doc, Its Lieutenant Stark, you guys okay in here?" said Marine Lieutenant Stark as his Marines secured the surrounding hallways.

"Yeah I think so, specialist tend to Captain Terrence" said a male Major who was now the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Olympic.

The Medic was at her side instantly. She winced as the medic pulled out the piece of shrapnel and began to close the wound. She suddenly felt herself being lifted onto the Bed. The medic started an IV instantly. She felt someone squeeze her hand and she looked to see Lieutenant Stark smiling weakly at her. She smiled back through the pain and then started to fall asleep due to the sedative she was getting from the medic.

CIC - BATTLESTAR OLYMPIC

Commander Sammie Tanner sighed as she heard the report; four hundred more personnel had been killed. The cylons had locked themselves in various compartments waiting for the lights to be turned back on, and to start their killing. The Marines had done an amazing job in preventing the Cylons from taking over the ship again. At the cost of forty one of their own. She needed Marines. The ship had taken moderate damage from the explosion when the cylons had detonated a charge near the ships armory. She couldn't keep taking casualties like this.

THERION 5 DAYS SINCE THE FALL

"It's time to hit the cylons where it hurts, we've done nothing but jump randomly, basically were running and that's bull. This is a Goddamn warship. It's time to prove that. For all of our ships. Now I want some suggestions and I wanted them a week ago." Said Jason Riggs with a cold to his voice that meant he was pissed.

"Sir we still have ships that are damaged it could take weeks." Lt Forsen was cut off harshly by her Commanding officer

"NO!" He screamed "I don't want to hear frakking excuses I want it frakking done. Nothing else, I want somebody to tell me where we can hit the cylons and hard" Said Riggs as he looked around. He was tired of hiding and the SECDEF shared his sentiment.

Lt Forsen just looked straight ahead. McNamara and Barnes said nothing as they looked at the tactical plot.

"Well sir…. Look at the formation of the cylons, their moving entire divisions to Picon right? They know that we still have fleet units capable of inflicting large amounts of damage on those transports. So their close together. To provide protection the baseships are spread out evenly too, what if we exploited that?" said Branson.

"What do you mean? Asked Barnes as she thought it over in her head. All of the commanders around the table started to get the same idea.

"Raptors!" Said McNamara

"Loaded with Nukes and lots of em." finished Riggs with a smile.

"Sir we should also look to exploit the depleted cylon forces around Caprica, they left only a few."

And with that the commanders got down to true business.

"Let's get this show on the road people" said Riggs as he walked into the CIC.

"Action stations, Action Stations, Set condition one, all hands prepare for combat jump." Said Lt Forsen as she gave the thumbs up to her CO.

The Therion moved slightly behind the moon. Waiting for the signal from the Zeus. A dozen fast attack frigates accompanied the Therion. Lieutenant Haley Aaron sat silently in her Raptor waiting for the word to launch. Her Raptor loaded to the Brim with Jaywalker Nuclear anti-ship missiles. Thirty other Raptors were waiting to head out with her. Major Jessica "Angel" Burton sat in the cockpit of her Viper silently waiting for the order to launch. All 186 Vipers of the Therion's Air wing were primed and ready to go. While the Therion had 280 Vipers aboard she had only a 186 pilots left to fly them. All of them were waiting for the order to launch. Lieutenant Amy Forsen was at the Tactical station in the CIC waiting for the signal that would send her into ship into combat once again. Her eyes were betraying her emotions. She wanted revenge. Her eyes were that of pure steel. But beneath they were shattered, she like many other had been wounded during the combat jump to Virgon. She had been unconscious for twelve hours. She didn't sleep for the next twenty eight hours, eventually crying herself to sleep in her bunk.

Major Jason Steel sat at his command post waiting to give the order to his Marines. He had lost his wife and family in the attacks and he wanted to satisfy, for a while at least, the burning hate he had for the cylons. Thirty Minutes later the signal came and the orders were given.

Zeus had jumped to Caprica, which now had only five baseships guarding it. The four heavy Cruisers had gone with the Zeus. The Therion was jumping to Picon to buy the Marines time.

With a flash the Therion appeared over the now dead world. Thirteen baseships were in orbit. Along with hundreds of transports that undoubtedly held Cylon Centurions. The Raptors launched, the Vipers shot out of the launch tubes headed for the oncoming Raiders. The raptors implemented their part of phase one immediately. Thirty one Raptors appeared inside the Cylons ranks, missiles flying in every direction. Dozens of Nuclear explosions rocked the space around the planet. Visible to the Marines and Soldiers still below.

PICON

The Marines were still loading up on the transports when the sky was suddenly lit up. Instinctively acting on training alone, they all ducked. Then they started to cheer. The explosions were clearly visible to them. Hundreds of them began to light up the night sky as the Cylon fleet lost another eight baseships and almost a third of its Centurion Army to the well-aimed nukes from the hell bent on revenge pilots of the battlestar Therion.

"Yeah, get some!" Shouted a Marine as he waved his fist in the sky

"My gods I thought the fleet had bought it. I'll be damned; the fleet pukes are kicking some ass" Said a young Marine Lieutenant.

"Took them damn flyboy's long enough"

Several explosions sounded in the atmosphere.

ORBIT OF PICON

The ship shook violently as another missile hit. The fast attack frigates were ganging up on two of the baseships that were damaged. In less than three minutes both were gone. Vipers were flying all around guns blazing, blowing apart Raiders by the dozens. The pilots performing the most difficult attack they knew, yet also the only one ever created that had almost no practical counterattack that could be used effectively against it. The pilots had practiced in the simulators for hours on end. Yet the tide was turning against the pilots as more and more enemy raiders came into the fight.

The Raptors had not escaped unscathed, thirteen had been destroyed with four more heavily damaged. The remaining four baseships were finally committing their fighters to the fight after ten minutes. The leading fighter formations had been taken out by the massive nuclear assault. The fighters from the rear ships were only now getting into the fight, ten minutes in. The Therion itself was fighting two baseships while the Fast attack frigates focused on the other two

COLONIAL FIFTH FLEET REMNANTS

The CO of the Battlestar Heliopolis looked at his tactical officer with eyes wide in shock. He knew the remnants of the fleet would launch a counter attack eventually, he just didn't expect it to be so massive. Over two hundred nukes had detonated in orbit over Picon, another twelve at Caprica. The Cylons were taking a beating according to his raptor scouts that had been at the colonies since they had arrived back in the Cyrannus system.

"XO jump the ship to Picon order Universal and Nexus and the Trinity to come with us, I want the Acheron and the Pacifica to head to Caprica to assist the Colonial units there. Titan is to stay here and guard the non-combat ships. Let's kick some ass Colonel" Said the legendary Admiral Willington. The crew hurriedly went about to carry out his orders and prep the ship for combat.

HOSPITAL SHIP COMFORT NEAR SAGATARION

Commander Amy Barnes listened as her XO reported the nuclear detonations over Caprica and Picon. She was shocked at the amount of destruction one ship could cause. She had known the battlestars were extremely powerful but she never would have guessed one could be capable of taking out seventeen baseships in one blow. A tear started to swell in her eye as she heard her XO say more detonations were taking place. This battle would last a long time.

BATTLESTAR OLYMPIC

Captain Paige Terrence awoke with the alarms blaring and the crew rushing to get to their new action stations. While they had been aboard the ship for just under three days, the departments were mostly organized and the crew had been assigned stations and quarters in less than ten hours. She tried to sit up but the pain in her wrist and leg became too great. She was beyond exhausted at this point.

Commander Sammie Tanner was waiting for her new XO to report the status of the ship. Nuclear detonations had been picked up at both Caprica and Picon, meaning a fleet counter attack was under way. She intended to join it.

"All decks report Condition one is set, ship reports ready to jump ma'am" Said her XO with the voice of an old warrior used to saying it over and over.

"Jump us to Caprica!" Said Tanner as the ship jumped.

CAPRICA

The Zeus' opening assault had taken out three of the baseships. The other two had managed to intercept the nukes that had been bound for them. The cruisers had immediately moved to engage in close quarters combat with the Baseships, preventing them from using a retaliatory nuclear salvo for fear of destroying themselves in the process. The Zeus launched its fighter wing and Raptors with heavy ordnance as the Great War ship went directly between the two enemy capital ships guns blazing. Aboard the Zeus Commander McNamara looked at the Dradis and felt his heart sink. Two more Dradis blips appeared. The Zeus was a formidable ship but even it couldn't defeat four baseships on its own. But with two of them heavily damaged it was possible. Even with the six cruisers they were in for a tough fight. When they changed from red to green and the word changed from 'unknown' to 'Colonial battlestar' his face was a mixture of shock and joy. Both ships began to launch vipers and raptors to assist and began to fire at the two remaining baseships.

"Tactical identify those ships!"

"Sir colonial battlestars are squawking mode three, friendly forces confirmed, transponders read as battlestars Acheron and Pacifica." Reported his Tactical officer as he looked up in shock.

"I'll be damned" Was all the he could say

A minute later another red blip appeared only to change again from red to green and say 'Colonial Battlestar'. The Acheron , Pacifica, and the Olympic began to pound the baseships with heavy weapons fire at an increasingly deadly rate.

Captain Paige Terrence grabbed onto the edge of her bed with her good hand as the ship shook from another explosion. Her mind was going through the endless possibilities as to what was going on.

PICON

The Therion was now heavily engaged in combat against the remaining four baseships, having destroyed two more after they had jumped in with a nuclear strike. Missile after missile struck the massive ship. The space above the planet was lit up with explosions.

THERION

"Dradis! Contact! Forty Two new contacts just jumped into weapons range!" Commander Riggs felt his heart sink as red dots filled the screen. His mouth fell open in disbelief, as thirty five of them changed to green representing four Colonial battlestars, sixteen heavy cruisers and seventeen other colonial military vessels who were all now engaged in combat with the cylons.

"Helms! Left full! Order starboard batteries to focus on the enemy troop transports. Contact Vipers tell them to plow the road!" Said Riggs as he saw another Baseship blink out of existence.

Lieutenant Marissa " Butterfly" Stas smiled from ear to ear as she lined her viper up for the shot.

"Yeah, ha-ha! God damn that was nice!" she said as she wiped out another raider. This was her thirtieth kill inside of an hour. She maneuvered her viper to cover her wingman as he lined up on a heavy raider.

She silently thought to herself, as she watched her wingman waste the heavy raider, that combat from the seat of a viper was amazing. For most of the fight her mind had been blank. She had tried to focus on nothing but the fight but the mental exhaustion of combat had caught her unprepared after nearly an hour of maneuvering and engagement.

CAPRICA

The Zeus was firing rapidly into the baseship as another missile impacted the flight pod. Vipers flew in every direction, guns blazing into the fray with a renewed vigor at seeing more survivors. The Acheron was in front of the Zeus firing half of her gun turrets towards the baseship in front of her, and the other half towards the baseships slugging it out with the Zeus.

The Olympic had committed her Vipers and Raptors into the fight and was maneuvering to take the lead baseship while the cruisers laid down a flak field to protect her from missile hits.

Captain Paige Terrence listened to the sound of the KEW's as they fired. She knew the ship was heavily engaged, it was obvious by the seemingly endless and steady stream of missiles that kept hitting the ships armor. The Mercury's however had been built to take a lot of punishment. There were small Meter wide gaps in between her outer and inner armor to dissipate the explosion thus reducing the damage to the ships interior. The Guns were firing at twice the rate of fire as during the first war and the ship itself was moving and firing at an incredible rate.

She gripped the rail of her hospital bed with her good hand as another explosion shook the ship, silently wishing to herself that she could be in the CIC where she belonged.

Lieutenant Jacob Stark listened as the ship fired round after round into the cylons. He learned that he loved to hear the massive gun turrets firing. He smiled every time they did. Yet every now and then his mind would wander to Paige Terrence in the sickbay. Shaking his head he focused on the Tactical battle net as reports came in from his few Marines aboard.

ZEUS

Thomas McNamara kept his face clear of emotions even as the crew burst into cheers and shouts of joy, as the last baseship succumbed to the ferocious amount of firepower that four battlestars had unleashed on it. The last remaining Raiders jumped away leaving the four Battlestars as the last ship in orbit of Caprica. Commander Thomas McNamara began to plan for their attack on Aerilon. Intelligence provided by the Fifth fleet unit confirmed only five baseships per world. Why the fifty other baseships in the system weren't launching a counterattack on his ships was lost to him, but he intended to take advantage of the cylons grievous mistake. McNamara gave the order and the ships jumped.

PICON

Commander Jason Riggs looked at the Dradis screen and was relieved to see only debris and Friendly ships. Seven Battlestars surrounded the Therion, with seventy six other military vessels. Several other surviving ships had jumped in. All were pointed outwards to repel any potential cylon counterattack. Raptors had landed on the surface and they now knew where the Marines were headed; a small asteroid field near Aerilon. This was a problem due to the Zeus' assault on Aerilon that only now was beginning. The Fifth fleet sent six more heavy cruisers to assist. With thirty other fast attack frigates headed in for a rear attack. The battle lasted for less than an hour with Aerilon being retaken as well. The Zeus returned to Picon. With Picon and Caprica along with outlying Aerilon now in the hands of the Colonial Remnants, Riggs knew that it was just a matter of time until they came back, spaced out, in attack formation and ready to fight. He considered ordering an attack on the other colonies, but that decision rested now with Admiral Willington aboard the Heliopolis. For now twelve heavy cruisers were holding Caprica while Civilian ships lifted off the surface. Hundreds were jumping in to both Caprica and Picon after the Therion had sent a message in the clear saying Caprica and Picon had been retaken. All were being referred to the Comfort's location, for rendezvous and medical treatment. Some were landing on the surface and picking up survivors. Even some ships the cylons had captured were being brought on line and used to evacuate the four Marine Divisions that had held Delphi and the other fifty thousand Marines and two million Civilians they had fought to defend. Forty seven other military vessels none combat capable except for basic defenses, jumped in. Two more mercury class hospitals ships showed up after an hour of recovery operations. All were being referred to the Comfort and ever growing refuge fleet she guarded.

Suddenly Lt. Forsen shouted

"Dradis contact, it's the cylons! Twelve baseships three minutes to weapons range"

'Why twelve, there no match for nine battlestars and almost seventy other military ships' thought Riggs as he looked at the Dradis. It made sense to him as another twelve jumped in behind them. Five Battlestars and half of the cruisers made a rapid speed run in an attempt to protect the unarmed transports still lifting off and evacuating.

The Therion's vipers reacted immediately positioning themselves in between the civilian's ships and the Cylons. Eighteen cruisers all damaged to one degree or another, moved in to a standard V-attacking formation headed for the lead ships of the cylon formation. The battlestars moved in on selective targets and began to engage. Lt Amy Forsen relayed orders through the wireless for the next six hours. The vipers came and went from the flight pods nearly a dozen times, rearming and refueling as the battle became more and more pitched as eight more baseships showed up.

"Sir we've just lost two cruisers with all hands sir" Riggs just sighed and ordered SAR raptors to be dispatched.

The two cruisers were lost to heavy missile fire from the baseships after thirty minutes and three more were lost when the cylons launched a nuclear salvo and took them out.

"Sir we can't keep taking hits like this"

"Multiple hull breaches on several decks"

"Port battery twelve is out of action"

"Vipers report another wave inbound"

The reports kept coming in one after the other. The Therion and all the other battlestars were taking damage. Their guns hadn't stopped firing since the first minute, ammo was running low and pilots were showing fatigue.

"Sir the Heliopolis just took two nukes amidships. We no longer have wireless contact with the flagship." reported the exhausted Lt Forsen. Twelve hours of condition one always took its toll.

"CAG reports the Heliopolis is lost sir. They're in an uncontrolled spin and taking heavy fire and returning none sir." Stated Lt. Forsen with a worried look on her face

"Contact the Universal and Nexus tell them to plug the hole. Get SAR to the Heliopolis and inform all other ships that I am assuming command."

"Sir… Heliopolis just took four more nukes…. She's gone sir…. All hands lost." Reported Lt Forsen with tears in her eyes. Four thousand lives had just been lost, all represented by the green icon on the screen

Jason Riggs could only stare at her his mouth wide open as he looked down. The whole CIC crew was now looking at their commander. A missile hit on the flight pod drew them all back to the fight

Admiral James Willington was lost with the Heliopolis.

"Order all ships to close distance and engage at close quarters, take them out with KEW batteries. Get in close so the cylons can't use their nukes." Said Riggs as the battle progressed even further.

"ETA to the last civilian is away?" asked Riggs as the damage to each ship grew immensely. Twelve cruisers had been destroyed or had had to retreat due to damage. Four hundred and seventy two civilian vessels of all different size had managed to jump away and despite the number of vipers in the air some had been lost to the raiders.

"Ten minutes sir and all civilian ships are now taking fire from the cylons sir. Vipers and fast attack frigates are moving to intercept." reported Lt Forsen. The fast attack frigates had taken a beating in this fighting, losing eighteen and six more taking severe enough damage that they had to retreat.

"All ships break off the battle line. Include the Defenders, engage in ship to ship combat, break the cylons lines!" shouted Riggs as more and more civilians jumped away. They just had to buy a little more time.

"Radiological alarm! Inbound nuke! Brace for impact!" Shouted Lt Forsen as the missile got closer.

"Oh God" said Sean Branson as he was thrown to the deck and

The weapons officer was killed when he fell and broke his neck. Lt Forsen was again knocked unconscious and suffered a severe abrasion on her left side again. Commander Riggs was severely wounded after the Dradis monitor exploded due to a power surge and showered him with debris.

"Comms! Get a flash message to the Zeus tell Commander McNamara to take command. Tell our vipers to come aboard and bring back as many other friendly fighters as possible. Spin up the FTL drives we have to go now. We're not gonna last much longer!" Shouted the XO as a Marine Medic tended to the wounded.

ZEUS

"Sir signal from the Therion. We are to take command and direct the fallback of all colonial forces to the rendezvous point. Therion is no longer combat effective. Nuclear detonation against their starboard flight pod has crippled their starboard batteries and opened several sections to space. Therion is retreating sir"

"Very well acknowledge recite of orders. All Units are to fall back to alpha line, Cruisers are to launch missile barrage to suppress the cylons. Prep for nuclear strike as soon as all units are at the alpha line" Ordered McNamara as the Zeus turned and fired a full broadside at a baseship, destroying it. Only nine baseships remained for the now six combat effective battlestars.

"Sir all ships have reached the alpha line, last civilian ship will jump in two minutes." Reported the Zeus' Tactical officer.

"Cylons weapons range?" asked McNamara as he watched the red blips draw closer the green line that had been formed.

"Forty seconds until weapons range sir" Their speed run had bought them time. Initially they had pushed the cylons back as far away from the civilians as possible in order to put distance from the cylons and civilians while at the same time giving them freedom of maneuver. It had paid off by buying them more time. The battle had lasted nearly six ours, with heavy casualties on both sides.

"Prepare to recover our vipers and Raptors, all ships stand by to jump on my command. Standby on warheads one through twenty"

"Enemy force closing, fifty thousand yards"

"Weapons range in five seconds"

"Launch!" shouted McNamara

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" shouted the weapons officer as the cylons drew into the weapons envelope of the Battlestars.

"Thirty seconds to jump!"

"Come on, Come on!" Shouted McNamara

"All fast attack frigates and Cruisers are away sir only ships left are capital vessels and the last civilian vessel sir"

"Ten seconds, cylons are closing on the nukes sir"

"Fifteen seconds to jump

"Ten"

"Nine"

"Raiders are firing on the nukes forty percent of our missiles were intercepted and destroyed all remaining missile are on course. Detonation in five, four, three, two, one." and once again the space over Caprica was lit up with the fury and destruction of nuclear infernos engulfing eleven cylon baseships. Two of which had only just jumped in.

The Zeus was the colonial Ship to leave the space around Caprica.

CAPRICA 2 HOURS EARLIER

General Stanley Griggs looked out at the stars and saw them littered with debris. Most of it was Cylon but fourteen hours ago it had been mostly Colonial. The Heliopolis had been destroyed, with it Admiral James Willington. The Sagatarus had been forced to abandon ship after four nukes from one of the baseships detonated on its engines leaving the ship dead in the water. The Mercury Class Olympic had sustained moderate Damage over Aerilon and had been taken into one of the Mobile Dry-docks of the Fifth Fleet. The Therion itself had taken severe Damage and was now in the Venturous being repaired. Four thousand civilian ships had made the rendezvous carrying over two million people. General Griggs couldn't believe the massive battles he had witnessed over the last week. He looked out at his Marines loading into transports to head to the rendezvous. He grinned knowing his Marines would live to fight another day.

THERION 1 HOUR AFTER THE RETREAT

With most of the ship heavily damaged the DC teams were the only the people on the ship. The crew of the Therion were in quarters aboard the Venturous. The Venturous was one of the best mobile dry-docks in the fleet. She was also the largest, which was why the Universal was also inside the dry-dock.

Lt Amy Forsen was still unconscious after the nuke had detonated on the starboard flight pod killing over three hundred of the crew. She and eight hundred other crew members would remain in sickbay for days as a result of their concussions. She would stay asleep for the next two days.

WARDROOM 10 DAYS AFTER THE ATTACK

Commander Jason Riggs still wounded but once again able to stand on his own looked on as Rear Admiral Scott Keyes spoke. Keyes had been aboard the Mercury which had jumped into the battle at Aerilon. Unfortunately the ships there hadn't been able to assist the battle at Picon. But now with twelve battlestars, nineteen cruisers and over forty eight other combat arms ships they could all rest easy knowing the heaviest fighting was more than likely over. They couldn't have been more wrong

"…it's by my order and the approval of the Chief of staff of the Colonial fleet, that I'm Promoting Commander Riggs and McNamara to the rank of Rear Admiral effectively immediately. Now for the rest of you, damn fine job in keeping your ships intact and your crews alive, especially you Commander Tanner. What your Marines did to get the Olympic was damn fine work. Great Job getting her into the fight. The Comfort will take your wounded and transfer those that have recovered to you. Contact General Griggs and get him to give you some Marines."

"Yes Sir, I'll get with General Griggs right away." Said Commander Sammie Tanner as she saluted and left.

"Commander Barnes, you and your crew did an exceptional job. You demonstrated outstanding leadership during those chaotic first days and your crew and ship are a testament to that. Be proud of yourself commander"

Barnes smiled and simply nodded her head, she was at a loss for words.

"The Rest of you are dismissed." said the Old Admiral as he watched the assembled group of officers leave the room. He was sad yet proud of these men and women at the same time. Sad that it had taken this of all things to bring them together. Proud of what they had accomplished with the little they had.

HOSPITAL SHIP COMFORT 3 DAYS LATER

"Hey sleeping beauty. Good morning." Said Lieutenant Jacob Stark as Paige Terrence opened her eyes.

"What are you doing here, what happened to the Olympic?" she asked before she saw the bandage on his arm. She didn't know how long she had been out

"Broke my arm when the ship took a nuke fell pretty hard to the deck." he said with a grin "anyways they're kind of cramped in here. So I agreed to stand until they can stabilize some of the other patients and get them to the other ships." he said pointing to the severely cramped quarters of the hospital ward

"It's noble, you can sit at the end of my bed if you want, but if you touch my broken leg I'll kick your ass" she said grinning and laughing.

The Marine laughed and sat at the end of her bed.

"Doc said your leg was getting better. Said you could be back on duty in a few months. Wrist should heal inside of two months. Same time frames as my arm so I guess were stuck together." Said Stark as he handed her a glass of water.

She took a sip and handed it back.

"What's wrong with that? I get to make fun of a Marine for a few months" she said as she sat up even more trying to avoid hurting her leg.

He laughed and they started to talk about their lives, Past Assignments, school, their childhoods, everything. She fell asleep about three hours later. He sat down on the stool and watched her sleep for about ten minutes before heading to the ships mess hall.

Commander Amy Barnes was sitting at her desk doing paperwork approving personnel transfers to the Olympic when she heard a knock at the door.

"Enter" she said, in walked her husband and her two year old little girl

"Mommy! Mommy!" she shouted as she grabbed her in a hug and started to cry tears of joy.

"Oh My gods, I'm so glad you made it" she said as she ruffled their hair. She couldn't believe her eyes as she stared into the eyes of her daughter, were only days ago she assumed her dead. She was overjoyed.

"We were in a POW Camp on Caprica, the Marines on Picon forced the cylons to move us to Caprica and then the Zeus launched its attack. When the baseships went up in flames, we knew the fleet was back and then the Marines all over the planet launched attacks on the camps. The cylons got overrun and we loaded up into the transports and jumped away." Said her Ex as he picked up a book one of her kids had knocked over.

Just as she was about to say something the Alarms started to blare

"Action Station, Action Stations, Set Condition one throughout the ship, Commander Barnes to the CIC ASAP"

'Damn it what now?' thought Barnes as she stood up and hugged her child. She put her two year old down and walked past her husband

"Works always came first" said her ex-husband as she walked past him without saying a word.

"Don't start with me!" She said as she walked out the door to the CIC

The Marines at the door escorted her to the CIC

CIC

"SITREP" She said as she walked in.

"Eight Baseships at extreme range. Battlestars are moving to engage. Cruisers are in standard blocking formations between us and the cylons, Civilians should be gone in thirteen minutes." said her XO

"How long until the cylons are in weapons range?" She asked as her kids walked in to the CIC with her ex

Her XO hesitated looking at her ex before answering "Four Minutes"

"Okay. Launch Vipers; order them to focus only on enemy fighters that break through the cruiser and frigate defense line. Order all civilian ships to begin moving at sub-light speed away from the Cylons." She said. When the fleet became engaged she was in charge of the Civilians. She knew what had to be done. Distance from a fight was crucial to the civilian's survival.

Nine battlestars were now heading straight for the cylon basestars that had just doubled in strength to sixteen. Three battlestars were in dry-dock and weren't combat capable.

Commander Amy Barnes looked at the Dradis screen became filled with green and red dots as Vipers and Raiders sped at each other, guns blazing. Admiral Jason Riggs silently knew that this was going to be a turning point. Sixteen baseships were nearly half of the surviving cylon capital ships left in the Colonies. The Fifth fleet and the Therion, Zeus and Sagatarus had claimed thirty five baseships over Picon, Aerilon, and Caprica. They had learned that almost two hundred baseships were chasing the Galactica fleet and the rest were staying inside the Colonies.

Paige Terrence listened as the alarms blared again. She had gotten only four hours of sleep. She sighed; the ship had been engaged in operations for nearly six hours now. Transferring wounded to other ships, receiving wounded from other ships and now this. 'God when does it end?' She thought. The fleet had been assembled for less than three days. She was wounded and lying in a hospital bed and was exhausted, she could only imagine what everyone else was going through.

The Civilians had slowly begun to jump away leaving just half of their number behind. Soon the battlestars opened fire. The kinetic energy rounds slammed into the baseships sending spouts of flames and debris out into the other ships. The vipers and Raiders twisted and turned engaging in the hell known as combat. Long range missiles slammed into the cylons from the cruisers and frigates. Colonial Defenders moved to attack the baseships in close quarters preventing a nuclear salvo from wiping them out. They moved behind the Colonial nuclear salvo of almost a hundred nukes that had been fired first. The amount of nukes left in the fleet was starting to become dangerously low as the number of times their use was necessary started to become more frequent. Luckily the ships of the Fifth Fleet had the means to procure more and they were just beginning to spin up the necessary tools to do so.

The battlestars had opened up offensively but had now formed a battle line. Overlapping their 160 degree flak fields. Each battlestar was providing time for the civilians to escape before they allowed the battle to become full-fledged. Once the civilians were gone they would break the line and initiate ship to ship action with individual baseships while the Cruisers moved to hold off the other nine baseships so the Battlestars could even the odds. Forty two cruisers were mixed in with thirty six fast attack frigates in a scattered battle line protecting the one hundred civilian ships that were left.

'In a minute all of the Civilians will be out of danger and the real fight begins' Thought Admiral McNamara as his ships rocked from another missile detonation. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It almost seemed too easy.

"Get me Admiral Riggs on the Acheron"

"Admiral we have to recover our vipers and jump as soon as the civilians are away. This fight just doesn't seem right to me, the cylons moved in to slow. There were no scouts either. Just eight baseships followed by eight more. Sir this feels like a trap to me."

"I Know, it probably is but we have to cover the Civilians withdraw. Commander Barnes is taking the last civilian transport into the Comforts flight pod because their FTL drive got blown away from a cylon agent. The damn thing blew itself up frying their FTL. It'll be at least another ten minutes before the Comfort can get her aboard. The Raiders aren't even picking a fight with our vipers their headed straight for the big ships. Including the Cruiser Line." Said Riggs..

"Their trying to draw out our Mobile docks and wipe 'em out." Said McNamara realizing that if the cylons got the Mobile dry-docks then the Battlestars and their crews inside would be gone, and the fleet would lose the ability to repair large amounts of Damage to their ships.

"Those Docks are strategic assets now; order the Hospital ships to dispatch their viper wings to protect the Mobile docks. The last Civilian ships just jumped and the Comforts beginning to attach the disabled transport now. We have to hold out a little longer. The docks are almost ready to jump" Said Riggs in an exasperated tone.

"I'll dispatch a few squadrons to help the hospital ships squadrons." Said McNamara wishing that the Therion and Universal's air wings could be in the fight.

With that the last FTL capable ship gone. The Cruiser- Frigate Defensive line broke apart and began to engage. The viper wings now had the authority to pursue and destroy their targets wherever they went inside the battle zone. The Battlestar line began to fall apart as the Cruisers came up and began to engage. The battlestars gunners all began to zero in on their targets firing at the enemy's missile batteries and fighter bays. Soon a dozen viper squadrons were in an air defense formation protecting the Mobile dry docks and shipyards.

Five minutes later the Comfort had finally brought the Transport into the Flight pod and the vipers were being instructed to land on the Acheron. The Comfort Jumped away taking the transport in its hanger with it. The Mobile Dry docks soon followed. Despite their size, the FTL jump cores of the Mobile dry docks required several more minutes to warm up then a normal ship. Fifty nine Vipers had been destroyed to give the Dry docks time to jump away.

The battlestars began to recover their fighters and raptors to jump when three more baseships jumped in and fired a salvo of nuclear missiles at the Trinity. One second the ship had been firing then the next it all stopped as the ship became engulfed in several miniature suns. The flight pods were blown off and the engines blew out from the ship. One headed directly for the Zeus.

"Sir we've lost the Trinity, vipers reporting a piece of debris is headed right for us." reported the Comm. Officer

"Jump!" shouted Admiral McNamara as the Trinity blew apart.

"Jumping in three two…" The Tactical officer never finished his sentence as the trinity's engine hit.

The whole ship shook as the engine from trinity skimmed the massive warship barely avoiding taking out the Zeus' flight pod.

Admiral Thomas McNamara was knocked to the floor. The room went dark and the ships emergency power kicked in. The Auxiliary CIC took over operations and jumped the ship to the Nebula. McNamara was unconscious inside of two minutes as was most of the ship.

ACHERON

"Get us out of here!" said Admiral Keyes as the Zeus jumped away. Admiral Riggs who was standing next to him shook his head; they had just lost another battlestar with all hands. 'When does it stop' he wondered as the ship jumped. He would have another moment of silence in their memory as soon as the wounded were taken care of. 'Gods don't let the Zeus be too bad'

COMFORT

Commander Amy Barnes was rushing to the operating room. When the report had come in that Admiral McNamara was inbound and unconscious she had nearly screamed. They had become extremely close in the week they had known each other. She had heard of him before but she had never met him before the attacks.

As she walked in to the ward room and saw him lying next to Captain Paige Terrence she gasped. The Captain was asleep the Admiral had a gash on his head and the bandage was soaked red.

She silently walked over and took his hand in hers and cried.

"I don't know if you can hear me tom, but just stay strong. It's going to be okay. It has to be"

THERION- TWO WEEKS LATER

The Therion slowly slid from its moorings and slid back into the cold dark of space as she was released. After two weeks of being in the dry-dock she had been fully repaired and was once again fully crewed. The Battlestar Nexus quickly replaced her in dry-dock.

"Finally my ships repaired, I got a full crew again. My pilots are back aboard and we can get to work" said Admiral Jason Riggs to the Aerilon representative who had been rescued from the surface after the Zeus had retaken the planet.

"Well admiral I would love to have your support for my election. If you would accept my thanks for rescuing me and my staff off that battlefield without you we all would have perished." Said the Black haired woman as she extended her hand to him in thanks.

He shook it and said "You can count on my support but just remember all Military Decisions rest with the Admiralty and the Joint Chiefs ." he said firmly, the Admiralty had decided it was in the best interest to set up a limited government to keep the people in order. The SECDEF would be her personal adviser in the matter but wouldn't take any orders from her.

"Of course, now that the cylons aren't showing up every two hours and hell week is finally over we can establish a working government at least until we rendezvous with the Galactica and President Roslin."

"Good now if you'll excuse me I have business to attend to." said the admiral as he walked out. He was glad he didn't have to deal with a presidential election. That was the last thing he wanted.

COMFORT

Paige Terrence laughed as Jacob Stark finished his story.

"You Marines are unbelievable." she said through her laughter.

"Hey, give me credit I saved your ass" he said as she smiled at him

"Yeah, Yeah okay credit is given where it's due but don't push it" Paige said as he laughed again.

For the last thirteen days they had had no contact from the cylons and the fleet was busy getting itself organized. The wounded were recovering nicely as she was. Her leg was healing remarkably fast. Her leg would be healed inside of another four weeks instead of six more. She smiled as Jacob Stark gave her a kiss on the forehead and headed to the mess hall to get them some food.

Commander Amy Barnes was sitting next to the bed of Admiral Thomas McNamara discussing the current situation in the fleet when she decided to ask him to a game of tennis on Cloud four.

"Hey I heard there was a tennis court on Cloud four, feel like getting smashed?" she said in her soft Caprican Accent.

The Admiral smiled, chuckled softly and said "well it's been awhile since I played but I'm pretty sure I could give you a good fight."

"Really? Well I guess I'll have to put your viper jock cockiness to the test huh?" She said as she gave him a hug before returning to the CIC.

"Yeah I look forward to it." Said the Admiral as he walked her out of his quarters. The Marines at the door instantly snapped to attention and started to walk about two feet behind them. They walked into the CIC and said goodbye. Admiral McNamara returned to duty within the hour.

COMFORT

Lieutenant Ashley Goodwill walked in to the CIC with her Daughter Amanda in her hand.

Amy smiled as her two year old ran to her and gave her a hug. Her XO smiled as the child said

"Mommy when can I have some chocolate?"

"Well why don't you have Lieutenant Goodwill take you down to the Mess hall and get some."

"Yay!" was all the kid said as she took the lieutenant's hand and dragged her to the mess hall.

Amy smiled and turned around. Her XO was smiling and shaking his head

"She reminds me of my niece. Cute little angel I swear" He said as she took her station near the Dradis Console.

THERION

Lieutenant Marissa "butterfly" Stas was sleeping in her rack when several shots rang out. She jumped out of training and reached for her sidearm. She had absolutely no clue what was going on. The other two pilots in the room did the same. All three of them were wearing tank tops and shorts. A dozen more shots rang out and the alarms started going off.

Lieutenant Haley Aaron held her sidearm towards the door ready to fire. She heard a Marine through the hatch yell as he was hit. Two more Marines were heard yelling curses and battle cries as they fired their weapons. All three of them assumed the ship had been boarded sometime in the night. Several human model cylons had been discovered by a roaming Marine patrol in one of the ships massive Armories. Lt Jessica "Firefly" Brookes leveled her sidearm at the hatch as it slowly began to turn. All three of them had their guns trained on the hatch as it opened. They instantly fired a dozen rounds into a human model cylon. He fell as part of his jaw was blown off, the teeth clattering to the ground. Another round had struck his left eye leaving a star shaped hole. Four rounds had struck him in the heart, with another six ripping open his stomach. His intestines fell to the floor in a jumbled mess as a Marine behind him fell to more weapons fire. Soon more Marines appeared and a dozen more human cylons were killed in the same gruesome manner. One was blown apart by an explosive round from a trigger happy marine who had anticipated centurions. The Medics were quick to get to the wounded as the Marines began sweeping the hallways and corridors for more. The three pilots stared at the bloody corpse that was lying face down in a pool of blood and guts. Lt Brooke doubled over and vomited instantly

"Oh Frak me" said Lt Stas as she too did the same

Lieutenant Haley Aaron quickly followed in the vomiting as the Marines and the Medics took several steps back and waited until they were done before asking if they were okay.

CIC

"Sir Major Dandridge reports his Marines have secured most of the ship, last few sections are being searched now. They have six KIA and twelve wounded." reported the Tactical officer Lieutenant Amy Forsen who was a wreck. She had still not been able to go to sleep without crying. Even after hell week had ended. The Cylon agent who had been transmitting their location had been found by Marines from the 18th Marine Division aboard a civilian freighter locked away in a cargo hold. The cylons hadn't been seen since then, until now.

Admiral Jason Riggs had noticed it too. Lt Forsen was falling apart, she was dying inside put she was standing tall. He knew that eventually she would pull herself together and be herself again. It was just a matter of time.

"Very well. Contact Admiral Keyes and Admiral Stevens aboard the Mercury and inform him the ship is secured." said Riggs as he made a note to speak to the Marines and thank them for their swift response. In truth he was impressed

COMFORT

Commander Amy Barnes sighed in relief as her XO reported the Therion secure.

"Prepare to receive any wounded they might have." She ordered as she picked up the headset.

MEDICAL WARD 12

Paige Terrence moaned as she opened her eyes. Lt Stark wasn't there. She was in a new room. A recovery room she realized looking around. Her condition had finally become stable enough that she didn't need the constant monitors and nurses to watch her. She wobbled out of the bed and to the door where her crutches were.

Outside in the Ward dozens of Marines, Pilots and crewmembers of various ships were going about, exercising and relaxing. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped.

She turned to face Lt Stark.

"Relax, welcome to your new home for the next few weeks." he said as he pointed to a chair.

"Thanks for scaring the crap out of me." She said as she sat down.

He sat down opposite to her and brought her leg up on his knee and started to rub her foot.

"Umm that feels good." She said as she closed her eyes and leaned back

"I know my mom was a doctor, got use to rubbing sore feet, she taught me how to rub hers" he said as he started to rub her ankle.

She smiled as she realized that she was falling in love with him.

THERION

With the ship secured Lt Amy Forsen returned to her bunk. The mess made by the Marines had been cleaned up along with the diner deposited by the pilots. She still however found it hard to sleep

Admiral Jason Riggs looked at a picture of his wife as he cried in remembrance of their anniversary.

Lt Haley Aaron had been ordered to take three days of shore leave aboard cloud four after her experience in the bunk room. All three of them sat in the raptor that was taking them to cloud four. They were joking and laughing when the raptor docked and the hatch opened. All three of the female pilots who had escaped death so narrowly got out of the raptor with Lt Michael Wilson and Lt James Carson.

CLOUD FOUR

As they walked down the hall, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her legs, nearly tripping her. She looked down to see her seven year old nephew Scott. Her heart leap with joy as she picked him up. For a second she couldn't believe.

"Aunt Haley, you alive, thank you for getting us off Caprica. The Cylons were scary." Said the seven year old as her sister walked up to her and gave her a hug.

"Damn you made it, can't say I'm surprised." Said her sister as kissed her cheek. She was a Colonel now and the XO of the Olympic.

"Oh thank the god's sis. I'm so glad you're alive" she said as they hugged and Scott hugged her leg

"Thank the Marines, they kicked ass on Picon. Got us off that battlefield alive" Said her sister as they let go and Haley picked up Scott.

"I'll be sure to pat them on the back" she said in between tears

"It was family day on the Olympic, mom and dad made it too, the Cylons took most of the ship prisoner" Said her sister who was now that same ships executive officer.

For the next two hours they talked and Haley took Scott to the ships game room as her sister got some sleep. She was overjoyed that he was alive; she treated him as her own child as they licked a pair of ice cream cones together much to amusement of her two fellow pilots.

CAPRICA

Cavil walked the streets of the now destroyed city of Oasis where the 32nd Marine Division had made its last stand. They had fought for hours, fending off one attack after the next. He had been disappointed to learn that some had escaped the magnificent death that was the 32nd Marine Divisions graveyard. Most had gotten on the shuttles and transports that had landed when the Zeus had retaken Caprica. Thankfully they hadn't taken the forty two million prisoners that had been taken. The four were having a field day with so many subjects. But most were being treated like they were guests. The Civilians at least. What few members of the Military hadn't fought to death were now being rigorously tortured. What amazed him was that none had broken the first week. Even two weeks later only a fraction had broke to their torture. He was beginning to have doubts about whether the humans were so inferior.

ORBIT OF PICON

Six stood on the command section of the Command baseship over Picon and looked at the massive debris field of several hundred cylon and Colonial ships.

They had put up a fight here; she knew that the Fifth fleet under Admiral Keyes was a force to be reckoned with. They were powerful and they had not been seen for about two weeks now. This worried her. The Universal and Therion had been heavily damaged during the Second major battle over Picon that had resulted in over a dozen baseships being taken out by a single battlestar and a few cruisers. She couldn't understand how one ship had done so much damage. One ship had wiped out a whole fleet. A densely formatted fleet of ships that had been too close together that when the nukes had hit they had taken dozens of Fighters, transports, and two or three baseships with them. They had been incompetent and she wouldn't let it happen again.

CAPRICA POW CAMP

Admiral Peter Corman had lost track of time. He had been beaten to the point of death and was ready to give up. He knew that the fleet was still fighting. Giving the cylons hell he was sure. But the torture was too much. They hadn't skinned him alive like during the first war instead they had tortured him with words, and electric wires hooked to his chest. The door opened and The Once mighty admiral screamed in pain again.

BATTLESTAR ARES - NEAR THE CYRANNUS NEBULA FIELD

The hulk of the giant warship was scared, beaten and lifeless. She was floating helpless in space, her crew was alive but without propulsion or the ability to abandon ship. Her flight pods had no power and for two weeks she had been floating aimlessly in space after her last FTL jump from Virgon. Commander Christopher Williams had lost any sort of hope. The Dradis was gone. All the relays had been destroyed or completely disabled. The Maintenance crews had tried for hours to re-boot the FTL drives only to learn they were fried. Most of the ship had given up on rescue. They were slowly waiting to die.

Suddenly the ship rocked lightly. Everyone in the CIC looked up as the Lights dimmed. The Energizer had finally gone out. Lt Mary Carter closed her eyes and tried to fight the tears.

THERION - 3 DAYS LATER

Admiral Jason Riggs was in the War-room with Admirals McNamara and Keyes with Commander Barnes of the Comfort.

"We don't know if the ship was boarded so the Marines will go in first and use the loading hatches as breaching points, they'll use the Airlocks as well but the flight pods are without power so their out for breaching." said Admiral McNamara

"The ship didn't respond to any transmission so we can safely assume their without power. Their weapon batteries appear to be locked in the firing position but nobody's manning them. Either they abandoned ship or their just sitting around waiting to die." Said Admiral Keyes bringing up new images from Lt Haley Aarons raptor.

"I'll have the Comfort ready to receive any wounded that we find. Our shuttles will be standing by for the word Admirals" She said looking at Admiral McNamara.

"Alright Admiral Riggs this is your operation coordinate with General Griggs and get me another Battlestar." said Admiral Stevens as he stood up. While being the Chief of staff of the fleet he knew better than to interfere in the inner workings of the Admirals own units. He simply trusted them to get the job done. It was a well laid trust.

TWO HOURS LATER

The Therion was launching raptors and vipers to surround the disabled battlestar while the Marine Corp boarding shuttles moved into position. As one they latched onto the hull and began to open the hatch

"Sir we have Confirmation from General Griggs the Marines are boarding, the first few frames are depressurized and their moving into the ship now, they've encountered no resistance or crewmembers." Reported Lt Amy Forsen as she received the communiqué from the general.

BATTLESTAR ARES SECTION FOURTEEN AIRLOCK TWELVE.

A lone Marine was patrolling the corridor when suddenly he heard what was indistinctively known to the Marines as a ship docking with the airlock. He Radioed in

"Boarders, Boarders, I say again we are being Boarded." Said the Marine Sergeant as he leveled his rifle at the hatch

All over the ship the Marines woke up and rushed to their stations, flash bangs could be heard going off all over the ship. General Griggs had ordered the Marines to take the ship even if the crew was alive. They were ordered to search for any human model cylons. The flash bangs were to prevent the crew from resisting and turning on each other after two weeks alone in space. Commander Barnes and her medical staff were concerned about space dyslexia.

"Move out, watch the right, Flash!" she heard a Marine say just as one went off.

Lt Mary Carter ran down the corridor as the flash-lights of the Marines could be seen. Then a flash bang went off and her head started to ring. She collapsed, her head ringing and spinning. She was lifted on to a stretcher and taken to the Comfort.

THERION

Admiral Jason Riggs looked over the reports from the Marines. They had found no human cylons aboard the Ares and most of the ship was secured and the Venturous had brought the ship in for repairs. While the Marines were still securing the fleet, all military vessels were training and performing drills to keep their crewmembers occupied and busy. Their victories at Caprica, Picon and Aerilon had been overshadowed by the loss of the Heliopolis and the Trinity. The crews from all the ships had been exhausted after the first six hour battle had ended; the next one had lasted eight and had taken a heavy toll on the military. The viper pilots who had pulled CAP right after the battle had collapsed as soon as they were out of the cockpit.

Lt Amy Forsen laid in her bunk in shorts a tank top and her hair in a ponytail. She rolled over and moaned softly as she fell asleep. Her blue eyes dreaming of once again walking the Caprican beach and feeling the sun on her back.

Lt Marissa Stas was in the pilot's ready room watching a video made on Caprica. She was silently thinking in her head about all the pilots and friends she had lost after the attack.

THERION

Major Jessica Burton was just about to take off her clothes to take a shower, after a six hour long patrol when a hand grabbed her from behind and shoved her into the wall. She instantly spun and tried to block her attacker. His right fist connected with her jaw and sent her to the ground. She looked up to see one of her pilots Lieutenant Jason Rills. His eyes were watery and blood shot, and his breath smelled heavily of alcohol.

"Their dead because of you. Half of my squadron died when you ordered us to provide defensive fire for the Trinity. They didn't have a chance. All cause of you." he said. Gargling the words through the ambrosia. His voice was shaky and hesitant. Which gave her the impression he wasn't sure about what to do?

"Listen, it was combat okay? You can never know what's going to happen, I lost a lot of my friends too but we just have to move on you can't change what happened and this isn't going to help." she was struggling to sound calm and stern.

"Move on…just like that? Like it's nothing at all!" His voice was now clear and laden with anger. In a second he moved downward his hand in a fist

Jessica Burton raised her forearm and blocked his first hit, but then his left fist hit her in the armpit and her forearm fell. His fists connected with her jaw and her head was knocked into the deck. He hit her several more times until he stood up. Her face was bloody with bruises and cuts all over. Her left eye was swollen shut. Rills looked down at her and then got on top of her. Sitting on her waist. She knew what was coming as he began to push her pants off. She tried to resist but he was too strong for her to even try. As her pants came off. He looked back at her face and he hit her again. He took off her shirt and hit her again repeatedly. An hour later he pushed her in too a bathtub and started to fill it with water. She was completely naked and shaking from the experience when he began to beat her again. His pupils were dilated and his eyes completely blood shot. An explosion rocked the ship and He fell to the floor and began to breath heavily, as he collapsed Jessica saw her chance, and started to get out of the tub. She knew the ship was probably under attack and it was her job to be out there with her squadrons directing them in the fight. She had to end this now. The alarms started to go off and out of the corner of her eye she saw her pants with her sidearm lying beside it. He saw her through the corner of her eyes and started to get up groggily, she was limping. He started to walk towards her as she grabbed her sidearm and turned. He froze.

"Don't" he said his hands out.

"Go to hell" she said as she pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into his stomach. The lieutenant reeled back and spun. He managed to catch himself on one of stalls and steadied himself. She fired again and he arched his stomach forward as the round sailed through him. Deep dark blood began to drip from the wound but Rills remained standing. She fired again and aimed higher. The round struck his left lung and this time he fell to the floor. The sound of air rushing from the wound, forcing the blood out as his lungs filled with it. The lieutenant was desperately trying to get air into his shattered lung when Major Burton collapsed and began to sob in her knees. She pulled down a curtain and wrapped it around herself. She sat there for a minute before a Marine rushed in and immediately called for a medic.

CIC 5 MINUTES EARLIER

"So what you're telling me lieutenant is that we have a problem here." said admiral Riggs as he tried to understand what Lt Forsen was saying.

"Yes sir, the engineering crew failed to notice it when they plugged in the auxiliary to return power to the flight pods. The energizer's unstable sir. Something went wrong when we got the new one from the Fifth fleet replenishment ship." she said as calmly and slowly as she could.

"Okay contacts the Venturous, we're going to need an extended stay in the dock to replace it and get it right this time. I want all the senior staff in the wardroom in thirty minutes. Tell the CAG I want the squadrons based on different ships until repairs are complete." ordered Riggs as he looked down at her sleeve and noticed a drop of blood. He made a mental note to ask her about it but now wasn't the time.

Lt Amy Forsen went and carried out her orders, leaving a message in all of the departments. She looked down and realized a speck of blood had soaked through her shirt. She silently gasped. She had started to fall backwards. She had cut.

She was thrown to the floor as was everyone in the CIC when an explosion rocked the ship. Pain shot through her arm as her wrist snapped. She realized that it was dislocated. She tried to get up using the tactical console as a counterweight. As she got to her feet she looked at the damage. The Energizer for the flight pods had blown. The engines were okay and most of the ship was intact.

"Damage Report!" shouted Admiral Riggs as he steadied himself.

"Several sections have been sealed off due to the explosion, the flight pod energizer just blew, no report on casualties" she said as she relayed the rest of the report.

"Contact Zeus and Venturous. Get us aboard and have the marines get to those areas along with medical teams." "Goddamn when does it end, one problem right after the other' thought Riggs as he shook his head

"How many people were in those sections lieutenant?" Asked Riggs with great concern.

Lieutenant Forsen just looked at him with her deep blue eyes that were so filled with pain and sorrow.

"Around three hundred sir, waiting on the initial reports sir"

ZEUS

"Affirmative, transfer of flag by Admiral Riggs to the universal confirmed." said Admiral McNamara as he acknowledged the flag ship of Riggs was changed for the time being. The Venturous had already taken the Therion in and the crew had been ordered to take some shore leave on cloud four.

COMFORT

Major Jessica Burton had been transferred from the Therion to the Comfort due to psychological trauma. The Medic's had been able to save the Lieutenant and Admiral Riggs had been to see her few times offering support and a hand if she needed it. She just couldn't stop crying and sleeping with the light on. Her sidearm stayed under her pillow.

CLOUD FOUR

Lieutenant Amy Forsen walked the artificial sand of the beach on cloud four. Everything aboard was simulated but she needed to fell the sand under her feet again. The sand itself was real but the skyline and the simulated ocean wasn't. She missed the breeze of the Caprican Beaches and the smell of the sea. Her father had been a fisherman and she had loved the sea since her father had taken her out at the age of seven. She walked out and headed to the bar to be with Lt Haley Aaron and Lt Jessica Brooke. They had become friends after a long night in the Infirmary in the days after the attacks.

Captain Paige Terrence was now at the point where she could finally walk again with crutches. Her wrist still hurt and she exercised it every morning. Lt Stark was still on the Comfort healing a lot faster than she was. They found themselves spending a lot of time together and they often stayed up late simply talking and laughing. The doctors had seen them hug but never kiss. They hadn't. But she couldn't help but long for it. Over the last three weeks she had grown more close to him than any other man before. He knew more about her than most, even her close friends. She had always been withdrawn and shy but that had changed after her days in the fleet academy.

In a separate part of the Cloud four luxury liner, other members of the Therion's crew went about their leave and relaxed. Cloud Four had narrowly survived the attacks themselves. At the time she had been carrying several celebrities and wealthy individuals. Many had now gone to other ships to gain influence and some remnant of what they once had.

Lieutenant Michael Wilson looked at Haley Aaron with an awestruck look. He was amazed at her beauty. While they were co-pilots he had never seen her in civilian clothes before. She saw him looking at her and blushed. He quickly averted his gaze and looked at his drink. She was beautiful. He had never seen her like this before. While he had been a lady's man in his fleet academy days and even more so before, he had never stayed with a woman for more than a few months. But tonight he thought to himself maybe it's time to change. He silently scooted over and began to talk to her. She smiled as he talked, her eyes sparkling once again.

A young group of rowdy pilots walked into the bar and sat down at the stools.

Ensign Cody Carroll was ready. He was ready to take on the cylons and get some revenge. His class had been completing their viper qualifications with the fifth fleet when they had been ambushed by the cylons at the battle of Caster. The training ship had been ordered to retreat and provide protection for the non-combat ships. He was the best pilot by far out of their group. And he couldn't wait to get in the cockpit and prove it. In his mind he was invincible, as strong as Ares and ready to kick some ass. His assignment was to the Therion to replace a loss to the Fighting Falcons. The squadron had suffered eight losses during an engagement with the cylons. They're had been a critical shortage of pilots in the weeks following the attacks. He was just filling the gaps. But for now he would have to endure the next two weeks on Cloud four while the Therion was repaired. As he and his friend walked into the bar they saw a group of Lieutenants talking in the corner. He smiled at them and they got shy smiles on their faces and looked away. The three women were beautiful he thought. His buddies thought the same.

Lieutenant Michael Wilson and Haley Aaron walked silently down the hallway of Cloud Four, both drunk, both in love. As she opened the door, Michael tripped, landing his hands around her hips. Her eyes were so beautiful he thought as they kissed and he closed the door and moved over to the bed.

Lieutenant Amy Forsen walked over to the bar to pay for her drink with Lt Jessica Brooke beside her. Lt Marissa Stas was already drunk and being supported by Brooke

"You know what we need; we need three guys and a nice room." Said Brooke as she paid

"Yeah I'm not so sure I want that." she said as she too paid. She had said it nervously a fact not missed by Brooke.

"What?" Said Brooke practically screaming it.

"I'm still a Virgin" Amy said sheepishly looking down. While she knew she was beautiful she still didn't want any distractions in her job.

Jessica smiled and said

"Well we end that tonight sweetheart, let's go"

"No wait, Jessica come on, really?" said Amy laughing as Jessica pulled her out towards the beach laughing the entire way.

"Yeah really" she said laughing hysterially

COMFORT- TWO WEEKS LATER

Lieutenant Jacob Stark took off the cast. It had been four weeks since he had broken it. Now he was ready. Ready to be a Marine Again. Of course now he was on the Therion and in charge of the ships quick reaction force of Marines. But he was ready for it.

Captain Paige Terrence finally had her cast off, the leg was almost fully healed and in another four weeks she would be able to walk all on her own again without the crutches or a cane. She looked in the mirror at her face and began to brush her hair as she prepared to get some sleep once more on the ship she had come to call home the last four weeks.

Lieutenant Amy Forsen walked with her arm around James Carson's. They had known each other for a while and two weeks ago her and Jessica had cornered him and a new ensign and asked them to go out and have a drink. All four of them had had the same idea and it wasn't long before Lieutenant Amy Forsen had lost her virginity. Later she found that he was everything she wanted. For the last two weeks they had spent it all together, getting to know each other and becoming closer. She had come out of her depression and she was finally happy again. She and Jessica had gone on several double dates and a few triple dates with Stas.

Ensign Cody Carroll had had the same thing happen to him. He had fallen in love with Lieutenant Jessica Brooke after that long night. At first it had been slow, but like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it just keep gaining steam and eventually lost control. After hours of talking, laughing and sleeping together, they too had gotten to know each other and now as they prepared to head back to the Therion, finally repaired and ready for action again, he couldn't help but want a few more hours with her alone.

Major Jessica Burton had slowly allowed herself to be comfortable around men again. After two weeks of intensive therapy. She always had her sidearm with her and in easy reaches and she kept a light on whenever she slept.

THERION 6 WEEKS AFTER THE FALL

With the crew settling in again after nearly three weeks of leave aboard Cloud Four, Admiral Riggs thought it was time for a drill. They had been hiding near the asteroid field for the last three weeks while the fleet was organized and repairs were conducted. So far a limited government had been set up, which exercised the office of the president in her absence. A fleet police force had been established as well as news services and regular transportation between vessels. A fleet registry and tally would be done in the coming days.

"Lieutenant Forsen set condition two, sound action stations, begin our lovely six hours of drills" he said with the sarcasm obvious.

"Yes Sir" she said smiling.

For the next two days they drilled back to proficiency.

Lieutenant Haley Aaron walked up and hopped into her raptor. She smiled and gave her ECO a kiss as they suited up.

"Ready to have some fun?" he said as he put his helmet on.

"Depends on what kind of fun you have in mind?" she said in a sexual tone of voice. Michael just laughed and went through the checklist.

CIC

Her mind kept drifting, she had missed one contact already but she couldn't stop thinking about Lieutenant James Carson and the way he had moved all over her those nights. She wanted it again. Suddenly the Dradis screen went blank. She frowned; the simulation ran all by itself with the computer creating random scenarios. The screen had just gone blank and no Dradis jumps had been detected but one. Then it hit her, her eyes went wide just as Admiral Riggs said "Lieutenant what happened to the Dradis?" The XO was already walking over to her to see what was wrong.

"Dradis Contact, single Cylon Raider bearing three-one-one Coram two-Niner six. CBDR on the Acheron. No Drill Repeat no Drill single Raider." she yelled as the room snapped into action, the crew instantly anticipating the orders from the commander.

"Emergency recalls all vipers, bring the ship about and have bow batteries stand by for enemy suppression barge." Ordered Riggs as Colonel Branson took his station.

"Action Stations, Action Stations, Set Condition One throughout the ship, this is not a drill, repeat not a drill. Action Stations, Action Station Set Condition One, Not a Drill Repeat this is not a Drill" the Comm. Officer said over the PA as she relayed to the vipers

"All Therion Vipers, emergency recall, single cylon raider at your four o'clock position. This is not a drill repeat not a drill."

"Sir Flagship is signaling for us to take the lead" Said Forsen as she read off the orders

"Very well, bring us about and prepare to engage the enemy" Said the Admiral in a gruffly voice.

FIGHTING FALCONS

"Alright all vipers on me. Let's waste this Frakker." Said the squadron Commander as he rolled his viper 30 degrees to the right and moved in at attack speed.

"Yeah baby, come on. We got this in the bag already." Said Lieutenant Carson as he formed up on his squadron leader.

"Vipers stick to your wingman, don't get cocky, open ranks….. And engage!" Said Captain Wilder as he began the dogfight with a volley of rounds from his cannons that missed narrowly.

"My turn" said Lt James "Header" Carson as he lined up and fired, missing just barely. Suddenly the Raider flipped and fired. The rounds missed his viper by a hair and he pulled out as his wingman fired blindly to break the Raiders concentrated burst of tracers.

Lieutenant Marissa Stas lined up on the raider and fired just as it swerved. Her rounds never came close.

"Damn it this frakkers good" she said as another viper fired.

CIC BATTLESTAR THERION

"Sir civilian ships have begun to jump, ETA till all are away is sixteen minutes." Said Lt Forsen as she too listened to the dogfight

"…Header, raiders coming about on your six, watches it…"

"….He's on my six, I can't shake him…"

"…Header, butterfly, break right on my mark… three two one, Mark!" the rounds could be heard over the speakers

"Damn it I missed. This bastard knows how to move" Admiral Riggs winced, this had to end now or it would jump out and they would have a dozen baseships bearing down on them inside of ten minutes.

"…. This is tailgate, engaging" again the rounds could be heard "…. Clipped him, raiders hit… I think I hit his jump drive"

"…Lets finish the bastard" Said one pilot as he rolled into the fight

"….This is header I got him lined up…firing….. Yeah! Splash one toaster. HaHa" The CIC erupted into cheers as the raider blinked from the Dradis.

"What's the status of the fleet?" asked the Admiral as he smiled celebrating the victory in his head.

"Fleets jumping now, ETA till all ships have jumped is ten minutes" Said Lt Forsen as she released a sigh of relief. She would have a little extra something to celebrate with James to tonight, his first kill.

"Recover our fighters. Let's commence evasive jumping away from the asteroid belt. I don't want the cylons to find us again."

"They're gonna notice there missing patrol sir" Said the XO

"Well that's why we're gonna be long gone when they do"

"Flagship to all vessels, prepare for jump. Coordinates to follow." said Lt Forsen.

"XO as soon as the jumps are complete, I want to meet with all the senior commanders and ship captains in the wardroom. And the civilian legislative to, whatever her name is." Said Admiral Riggs as the ships began to jump away

"Yes sir. Have something in mind sir?" asked Colonel Branson as he looked at his commanding officer

"As a matter of fact I do" said the Admiral as he walked off. Thinking about the shape of things to come.

Please do review, I revised a few things here and there added some more details, but I know I have a lot more to improve on so don't hesitate to let me know! Chapter 2 up soon!