Return to Caprica

With no response to the requests for a truce and peace talks, Adama had decided to push on and find a suitable world to settle on. However, before they left the safety of the nebula there was the matter of those left behind. Intelligence provided by the defecting Cylons indicated that it was likely a lot of civilian and military ships were left disabled in groups or on the ground. With that in mind, Roslin had asked that Adama come up with a plan to get hold of the ships and as many of the survivors as might be found on the surface of Caprica. A plan was hatched up where Harry would load up his blue ship like thing with as many Marines as could be made ready for combat and use it to Portkey them all to Caprica after some FTL jumps to within range of the planet so the Marines could secure the ships as quickly as possible and search for people in the two hours they thought they might have at the outset.

"Hey, Apollo, I have a question to ask you" Harry said as he looked over maps where ships had supposedly been gathered.

"Sure… Whats up?" asked the CAG as he tossed a clipboard onto the podium.

"I'm not happy with this plan of setting up a base of operations. I mean, the plan itself is sound, but…"

"You wonder about being caught in the open by Raiders"

"Yeah… Would it be possible to take a couple of Vipers with me? In the old days, I'd be doing something like this with air cover provided by broomstick riders, but if you change the brooms for Vipers, the plan is still a good one… If things go wrong quickly, I'd feel better about scrambling two birds up there"

"Yeah… I can see your reasoning behind that" Apollo sighed and looked over Harry's maps. "Here… There is an old airbase left over from the Colonies actually went to war with one another" he tapped at a faded spot was well away from a city in the forest. "It's well away from the major population areas but close enough for a team to get in close and see about saving ships and lives. What I don't understand is why they've left Caprica mostly intact from their attacks"

"Simple" Harry replied sadly, "What better way to show complete dominance over your enemy then to rule from their own capital?"

"Guess it makes sense" Apollo sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm glad we're going back and getting the ones left behind – it was me that convinced my father we should leave"

"So I was told. Look, I don't know how many people I will be able to save or if any ships exist" Harry said tiredly, "But we're going to get some back for sure. I'm hoping to hit the supply depots and stores which I would think might be intact somewhat"

"What makes you say that?" asked Apollo with a questioning look.

"Here, take a look" Harry pulled over a map that was marked with red circles. "This is where you think all the bombs were detonated during the Cylon attack. If you notice, they were mostly well away from population centres and seemed to target the military bases and ground based weapons systems"

"But we got reports of bombs detonating over Caprica City"

"Come now, Captain… You should know that things get confusing during battles. The Cylons dropped conventional ordinance in the cities because they wanted to take prisoners because there would be work that needed doing that the Centurions could not do for whatever reason. Also, if there are as many copies as we've been told, they will need to eat and drink like pretty much any of us"

"I see… By the way, where is Viper 343?"

"Oh, its on the roof of the Wardroom"

"I se– What is it doing there?"

"I was working on fixing a fault with it when the alarms went off and startled me… I'll go and grab it soon. I just hope that its pilot is okay"

"Why?"

"She was in it at the time"

#

"Are you sure on your choice of pilot and ECO?" asked Adama.

"Yeah… After we told her everything and she agreed to a little brain based jiggery pokery, Boomer has been a great asset to the fleet. This way, it can be proven to the fleet at large that this Eight, at least, is a loyal member of the Colonial Fleet" Harry shrugged. "Anyway, she is a good friend of mine now. The majority of the crew know she didn't mean any of her actions and wasn't even aware of her nature"

"And your other mission…?" Roslin spoke up from behind her desk. She was meeting to discuss plans on Colonial One with Adama and Harry before they launched the mission back to the Colonies to grab ships and survivors.

"Whilst the Marines are clearing each ship and a steaming party starts them up, I'm going to use the remaining time to take some people to the nearest city and grab as much supplies as we can carry. I know I have stocked nearly every ship in the time since I got here, but I can't keep doing that forever. At least this way, you will have the tools and equipment to do it yourself and let me rest more"

"Have we been working you hard?" asked Roslin in concern.

"Yeah, but I've done all I can to help you out. As soon as this mission is over, I'm going to need a week doing little to no magic because I'm pretty close to crashing" Harry rubbed the sides of his head. "Normally, I'd be given a potion to put me in a deep sleep which would fully recharge my magic within a day or so. However, since I don't have that ability any more, I have to take a week off or else I go into a coma"

"After all you have done for us, Harry, you deserve it and so much more"

"I agree… I know we have not always seen eye to eye, but that's because we are two of the same kind" Adama noted. "We are both military leaders who do not trust easily"

"No, we don't" Harry chuckled. "I'm going to the Raptor and lying down until its time to go. Decide what else you want doing on this jaunt and let me know" and Harry popped away.

"He has been a great help" Roslin commented again.

"Yes, and I think we're asking too much of him, Madam President" Adama said simply. "Nearly everything we have asked of him he has done – the kid is worn out from doing some of the most fraked up stuff I have seen"

"Should we award him a medal?"

"He doesn't strike me as somebody that would appreciate a medal for doing what had to be done"

"We have to thank him somehow" Roslin remarked, "Because otherwise the people would think us ungrateful and hard hearted"

"That's something he could never be" Adama grunted. "We noticed he started vanishing between five and six in the evening. Eventually, one of the ships in the fleet called in and told us they'd been having Harry coming over and playing with the children that were orphaned by the attacks on the Colonies"

"I wouldn't have thought he'd do that"

"Neither would I, but the Captain of the Malfoy reported that he makes them hover in the air and spins them around a little before they run around the cargo bay playing Tag. From what I can tell, he makes it a point to visit them every day at usually the same time"

"Is it a danger?"

"Danger? Madam President, in the time it would take us to breathe a single breath, he could kill the pair of us. If he wants to spend an hour a day making kids happy and forget about what has happened, I am not going to stop him"

#

"I wish I could come with you" Rebecca said.

"I know, love, but I can't risk getting you hurt and not being able to do anything" Harry held her in a one armed hug as they sat in the observation room of the Galactica and watched the Vipers do some fighter practice.

"Just use your magic on me" Harry chuckled.

"It doesn't work quite like that" he replied. "If I was fighting the Cylons and you were badly hurt, me coming to save you could cost dozens of lives. I'm going on a week away from all of this on Cloud 9 – just me, the recordings of bird sounds, water in the lake and you"

"Me?"

"Yeah… Spoke to the Commander about this and he said that he'll give you a week's leave. Somebody checked and you were about due for time off anyway. I'll be back in three or four days anyway" Harry added with a shrug.

"Still a long time without talking to you… Kind of got used to being with you"

"As I recall, we've never been together" Harry raised an amused eyebrow at the outraged expression on Rebecca's face.

"Just… Just be careful" Rebecca whispered as she held Harry tighter. Harry, for his part, remained silent for a while as he experienced emotions he'd not felt for many years.

"I will try" he vowed at last, "I will try…"

#

"We should give the Colonials all of our command codes" said one of the Sixes.

"They will not work, the codes will have been wiped the moment we were captured as per procedure" the Three replied.

"And what if we do give them our command codes? What then?" asked the Two. "God's will might be for us to die and who are we to question him?"

"If it were God's will for us to be free, then he would not have allowed us to be taken" said the Six. "Natasi has already sided with the Colonials and is more or less free to walk about the ship"

"With an escort" derided the Three.

"The Colonials could have tortured us, used drugs on us… All to gain our secrets, but they did not – why? This war was wrong from the start, you all know this, and we should have been better at stopping it before it broke out"

"It has happened, sister"

"Yes, it has happened" the Six growled at the Two, "So now we make it better for one and all by helping to put things right" and she turned to look out the cell door. "Excuse me, Marine, but I'd like to speak to Commander Adama at once… I wish to defect to the Colonial Fleet"

#

Harry stepped foot on the surface of an alien world and took a look around at his surroundings and was saddened by what he saw. Decomposed bodies littered the ground where Cylons had found them and killed them without mercy or a second thought. Why these people had come to an old and abandoned base, Harry could not tell, but they had and they had died here defending it – the three Cylon machines that had been torn to pieces proved that.

"Gunny, where would you say is the best place to set up a base?" Harry asked.

"Repair shop, Sir" the Gunnery Sergeant replied with a quick glance. "It looks to be in the best shape and it means we don't have to waste time setting up the tents" she looked at the old and ruinous control tower. "Think you can pop up there and check its okay to use?"

"Lookouts?"

"Yes, Sir… Its got a clear line of sight on all the approaches to the base, so we should have enough warning if ground or air assets are tasked towards us"

"Right…" Harry flicked his wand and all of the equipment the Marines had brought with them floated out of Harry's craft, he tried to think of it that way, and towards the repair shop with the Marines fanning out and following it – keeping a close eye on the surrounding area. Once inside, Harry left it to the Marines to unpack and set up while he apperated to the top of the old control tower and saw that it indeed gave a great view of the surrounding area. He repaired the windows, eliminated the dust and transfigured the remaining debris into two comfortable chairs for the lookouts to sit in. "Rogue Lead, this is Seeker… Eagle's Nest is secure – send the fledglings"

"Seeker, Lead… Acknowledged, out" and Harry had a good look around from his vantage point. In the far distance, he could see broken towers that had once been gleaming sky scrapers and noticed the sea that seemed to be a kind of murky brown and black colour. He couldn't be sure, but he assumed it meant that sealife, at least that which lived somewhat close to the surface, had been killed by the radiation. Tomorrow, he knew he was going to be seeing bodies and he took a few calming moments whilst he was alone to prepare himself for it. He was no stranger to war, that much was certain, but no matter how many camps he and his team had liberated, he could never get over the sight of bodies laying around like pieces of meat on the ground. He was still thinking about things concerning the fight against Voldemort when the first two lookouts came up the stairs and saw what Harry had managed to do.

"As Ops go, Sir, this is bloody cosy" one of them said.

"I've made it comfortable for you up here, but to the outside viewer it would look completely as it did before we left. I am needed whilst I am asleep, press this rune" he handed them a small piece of rock with a shape carved into it.

"Whats that do?" asked one of the Marines.

"Emits a little pulse of magic that will wake me up – kind of a magical alarm clock. When my body is hit by it, it wakes me up fully charged and ready for action"

"Damn… I think we could do with a couple of these so we can sleep later before getting up for our duty shifts"

"Sorry" Harry chuckled with a grin, "But this is for Officers and Senior NCOs only"

"So where do you fall in there?" asked the other Marine.

"KCMG"

"Huh?"

"Kindly call me God" and Harry apperated away to their camp.

#

"Sir…?" it was a Corporal offering him a steaming mug of tea.

"Thanks. Oh, by the way, I'm not in your military – drop the sir"

"Yes, Sir"

"You know I can turn you into a little puppy with pink bows in its fur?"

"Really?"

"Gunny?" Harry shouted, "Permission to turn the Corp here into a cute little puppy?"

"Granted" and Harry flicked his wrist and turned the man into the previously described dog. "Bring him over here" the Gunny said, "We need a picture"

# # # # #

"It is too quiet" Harry said. "I've checked with a revealing spell and detect no lifesigns… But it wouldn't pick up the Centurions"

"Okay" said the Gunny, "We'll follow your lead in getting inside and cover you whilst you and the specialist get the stuff on the list starting with the most important stuff" she turned to her group of Marines. "We will follow Mr Potter into the facility and give him cover should he need it. Johnson and Collins, make your way down that road to the edge of town and report what you see. If you encounter the enemy, stay hidden if possible. If not, give us your location and Harry will pop in and get you"

"Gunny, what are our orders if we see civilians?"

"Ask if there are any more nearby. If not, fall back to this position with them"

"Gunny…" the other Marine, Harry saw he was named Collins, spoke hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"I realise it might be against mission rules, but can me and Johnson go to the petrol station on the outskirts? My folks ran that and they had a bunker left over from the first war under it – even if they were killed there, I'd like to know one way or the other"

"Where is it?" Harry pointed to the map.

"Here, Sir… Corner the road before you hit the outer edges of the town" Collins replied as he tapped a spot on it.

"Take a few seconds to pop there and back if they get into trouble" Harry looked at the senior Marine.

"Alright, if you make the edge of the town in under half an hour, you can go there and check the place out" and then the Gunny's expression softened. "I'd do the same thing" she admitted.

#

"I understand that you want to speak to me" Adama spoke to the Six. "I apologise that I was not able to speak to you until now"

"You are the military leader of a vast number of ships with different problems that need sorting" the Six shrugged, "I can understand. Commander, I wish to formally defect to the government of the Twelve Colonies Of Kobol"

"That wasn't what I was expecting" Adama grunted. "What brought this on?"

"I have come to realise that the war is wrong… That we have to settle disagreements to move on. As a sign of good faith, I am will to disclose the location of a Prisoner of War taken before the resumption of hostilities"

"You took a POW before the holocaust?" Adama sat bolt upright and stared hard. "Who?"

#

"Colonel, Commander Adama on secure intercom" Dee spoke.

"IntSec?" Tigh frowned and picked up the handset. "Tigh"

"Saul, have all ships switch off their active systems and maintain this position. Have Gaeta and the Navigators pull up what star charts we have of Cylon space and plot a jump point from here to a location marked Alpha One Alpha. Recall everything back to the barn except the CAP"

"What's up Bill?"

"I can't tell you over this, Saul. Give the orders and then come and see me in my quarters"

"Bill, we've served together long enough" Tigh dropped his tone.

"We're going to buy a Bulldog"

"I'll get started on those orders right away" Tigh was a drunk, he and almost the entire fleet knew that, but when the chips were down you couldn't hope to have a more loyal man by your side except, perhaps, Adama. "Dee, have all ships hold their positions and turn off their active systems – maintain station using visual aids only. Mr Gaeta, get your navigating team together in a room alone and plot a course for a place the Cylon charts refer to as Alpha One Alpha. Engineering, get a complete mechanical status of the ship and have it delivered to the Commander's quarters. Ensign, you have the deck"

"Wonder what he was talked to about" Gaeta muttered to Dee as she passed on Tigh's orders.

"I don't know, but the XO would never leave the CIC unless it was important"

"Message from Caprica?"

"I doubt it, but I guess anything is possible with Harry" Dee shrugged.

#

"Gunny, the scouting party report no contact until the edge of the city – they are moving to the petrol station to check it out and then reporting back here"

"Understood" the Marine sighed – she had hoped that life might exist somewhere nearby. "Harry, negative on life"

"I thought not" Harry shrugged. "We're almost done here in terms of supplies. We've got everything from avionics packages to tampons"

"Once we've got the supplies and parts, we should head back to basecamp and secure it for transport. Tomorrow, we're going to make a patrol of the city"

"I can make it easier by putting us under an invisibility spell. All I have to do is modify it slightly so that we can all see each other"

"SpecOps would have loved to have met you"

"Gunny, I did Special Operations… Hell, I wrote the book on it"

"How would you have covered this?"

"With aerial viewing. Say, do the Vipers have a gun camera footage option?"

"One of them does, yeah…"

"Good" Harry said. "Stay here and I will be back in half an hour" and he popped away.

"Alright, people, lets secure what we have and be ready for transport" the Gunny said. "You three, go on sentry outside"

"Gunny, this is Romeo One Two… I have the sound of aircraft overflying my position"

"Understood – hold fire"

"Gunny, you don't understand – I can't see the aircraft at all"

"Romeo Zero One, this is Majestic. I am overflying your position and am invisible thanks to the Klingon Cloaking Device we were given by the Romaine and her air group. I estimate seven minutes to complete tasking and then I will return to orbit. Have to say, this new Smurf class fighter is great. Do you want me to roll in and attack Point Hamburger on the way out?"

"Negative, Majestic… Just get us the postcards and meet us on the dock by the bay" the Gunny realised that one of the two pilots was worried about intercepted comms and was using nonsensical words to confuse those that might be listening in. What she would have said next would be a mystery because at that moment there was a burst of fire and the Gunny dropped to the ground with half her head missing.

"Majestic, this is Romeo One One… The Gunny has been killed and I am assuming command of the mission" the Corporal quickly gestured for his troop to go to positions and return fire. "Roll in and attack enemy position about four hundred feet north of my location"

"Rolling in"

"Corp, I only see the metal toasters – none of those human versions" somebody called.

"Good" the Corporal said. "Concentrate on the flanking Cylons – leave the centre ones for the air support"

"Romeo One Four here, we're coming in with visitors"

"One Four, One One – the Gunny is dead. Hole up with your visitors until it is safe. One One to base – prepare for emergency evacuation"

"One One, Seeker – the order is countermanded. Be ready for exfil from the area at once" Harry's voice came over the radio.

"Copy… Sir, we've got friendlies coming in from the main road"

"Understood – I'll keep an eye out for them" and twin booms caused the Corporal to look up and see a fireball rise up from the sky as the Viper screamed down fire and destruction. The battle quickly became one of terrible cost as more marines died for the loss of just three more Cylons until the air rippled and Harry's craft appeared. "All aboard!" he called out as his head appeared out the 'back'.

"Marines, board!"

"Mini Me rolling in from the south west to attack" the second of the two Viper pilots called in the Corporal's headset.

"One One to One Four… You are stepping into danger – activate beacon"

"Copy"

"I have them" came the voice of Majestic. All around them, the Marines tried to return fire and not get hit as they boarded the craft that had brought Harry to them. Harry, for his part, jumped out and started firing spells with strange and unknown words to them – causing distractions for the remaining Cylons.

"Vipers, make another low pass and then break off and run" he said into his mouth piece.

"Acknowledged"

"Understood"

"This is One Four – we're coming up to the edge of the area. I have civilians and military personal"

"Copy… I'm coming to get you"

"All thirty of us?"

"I have a few tricks left, One Four… Base, this is Seeker – prepare for incoming dead and wounded. Go to full alert"

"I wonder how they found us so quickly" one of the Marine muttered.

"We'll figure that out in a moment" Harry said. "Accio" and a human form Cylon, a Four, came zooming over to meet the closed fist of a Marine. "Tie him up and gag him" and Harry popped away and came back seconds later with some civilians. This process was repeated for some time until everybody that was rescued had been shoved aboard the craft. The Cylons had either been destroyed or retreated back to where they had come from, the last of the Marines had boarded and Harry retrieved the bodies of the dead.

#

On the basis that he had received his promotion first, Collins assumed command of the Marine detachment and had all of his capable troops deploy into positions around the old base. To help, Harry had placed the area under several charms to pick up anything more advanced than a animal. Whilst this greatly helped matters, Harry found that his magic was almost gone and that he'd not be much more help with the mission at hand unless he got a lot of sleep to try and shore up his magical reserves. The officers, in reality just the three pilots and the ECO, talked about what to do next and the decision was made to wait for dark and then get back to the Galactica and the fleet to lick their wounds in defeat. Boomer and Crashdown, though, still thought it might be possible to rescue the ships and made a secret plan with Harry to return and get them anyway with a couple of the pilots of the fleet. In lieu of the original plan, patrols were sent out to find what food could be found and to bring it back to the base before they left in the morning. They came back with almost eleven tons of food supplies as well as the contents of an entire hospital packed into several ambulances. That night, Harry took a walk around the camp and ended up the control tower and sat with Collins.

"Can't sleep?" the Marine asked.

"No… Something is happening – I can feel it"

"Something you can sense magically?"

"Sort of… I can tell something is up, but there is nothing my detection charms can see"

"Can you not pick up the Cylons now?"

"Oh I can, but I was distracted by sorting out the Viper and giving Majestic her orders. In doing so, I forgot to apply the silencing charms to it… I led them to the depot" Harry sighed and looked out into the darkness. "But it is not that which concerns me"

"Maybe its because of Caprica itself – you did say you had never stepped foot from Earth"

"Aye, maybe" Harry shook his head

"Or maybe it is the dead you can sense"

"I can't sense ghosts, if that is what you mean, but I can feel the great loss of life"

"Maybe" Collins shrugged, "That is what is interfering with your powers"

"Could be… It's happened once or twice before when we liberated death camps. Anyway, forget about that for now – how have the overflights been?"

"Every hour on the dot" Collins replied. "Your spells and charms seem to have done the trick, but we will need to move fast once they come down"

"Yes, I wish we had more time – but the civilians come first. If she were here, Hermione would have said much the same thing"

"Was she a friend?"

"Oh" Harry smiled and his eyes seemed to twinkle for a moment as if in a pleasant thought, "She was much more than that"

"Sounds like you loved her a lot"

"I did" Harry replied with an intake of breath and a hearty chuckle. "She was my most devoted friend back when I was on Earth. I had another friend, Ron, but he ended up being turned against us in the third month of the war and gave up most of our secrets"

"Hello…? Is anybody there? Oh, please be someone there – I'm so afraid" a voice came through the radio.

"That is no Cylon" Harry said.

"No shit… This is Romeo One Four" Collins flicked the switch on his transmitter. "Who is calling, over?"

"Hi, Romeo… I'm Susan. Are you a bad robot?"

"No" the Marine looked at Harry who had frozen. "How did you find this radio?"

"Um… I found it on somebody who is sleeping. I tried to wake them up, but they're not really doing anything"

"Merlin…" Harry breathed. It was clear this kid had got the radio off a dead body.

"Okay, kid, where are you?"

"I don't know… I'm waiting for my mummy and daddy to appear, but they've not come back yet"

"Okay… Say, Susan, do you know what type of building you are in?" Collins asked.

"Uh… Its got lots of food in, so I guess a shop… But it has lots of shelves like daddy's workshop"

"Sounds like a warehouse" the Marine muttered to Harry. "Do you have a window nearby?"

"Yes"

"Okay, Susan, this is important. I need you to look out the window and tell me what is the biggest thing you see out of it"

"Okay" and there was several seconds of silence before the girl came back. "There is a really big wheel and a railway track without a train on it next to it"

"Did you see anything else really big that's close by?"

"Um… Does a bank count?"

"Yes… What was the name of the bank?"

"It said it was called a Sperm Bank" and the pair could hear Susan giggle. "That's a funny name"

"Yes, it is…" Collins laughed – more at Harry's expression than anything else. "Okay, Susan, can you count to sixty?"

"I can count all the way to a hundred" she said proudly.

"Okay… I need you to do something for me. I want you to turn off the radio for five minutes. You will have to count to sixty five times"

"I can do that"

"Okay, sweetie… Do that now"

"Okay… Bye, Romeo"

"We're going to get her" Collins said to Harry but found he had already vanished and popped back up at their makeshift camp.

#

"I don't see any supply depots so deep inside Caprica City" Majestic said, "So she could have meant a garage"

"Hmm…" Harry was looking at the map which didn't make much sense to him as he had never been round Caprica City before. He certainly could understand a map, a map was a map after all, but he had no idea of the places behind the names.

"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way" said Boomer.

"How so?"

"We were thinking about warehouses in terms of supply depots – what if Susan means a Cash and Carry? Look…" Boomer tapped a section of the map, "I used to shop there when I was on leave. I'd go there with my pay and buy huge cart loads of chocolate and soda before going to my flat and watch TV for days"

"It is near the metro station and park" Majestic blinked. "I wonder why I never thought of that"

"Ours is a more military based map"

"Oh"

"We better tell Collins so he can go out" one of the Marines.

"He can come along, but I'm in charge" Boomer said.

"You're just a Cylon"

"I might be a Cylon, but I am your superior officer right now. I intend, Private, to make a report to the Commander detailing your casual racism towards an officer. For the moment, you are confined to the base – hand me your sidearm"

"And I refuse…?"

"Corporal Smith, arrest the Private and confine him to a tent under guard" Boomer sighed.

"Ma'am, I'm not sure that I can take orders from a Cylon"

"You too?" Boomer slowly drew her sidearm along with Majestic. "Arrest the Private, Corporal"

"Sorry, Ma'am, but no…" the Corporal lay down his weapons in front of the two Pilots.

"Imperio" Harry cast the spell and almost winced at the drain it put on him. "You will go with the pilot known as Majestic and sit in a tent under armed guard whilst being handcuffed" and the two Marines were gently herded away by Majestic towards a tent in the old hanger. "Would you have really shot them?"

"No" Boomer shook her head with a smirk. "You see, I forgot to load my weapon before leaving Galactica. Are you alright?" she asked as she saw Harry waver on the spot.

"Aye, just drained what I had got back. Can you take me to bed?"

"I don't think Rebecca would like that"

"Oh, like I told Starbuck… She goes both ways and has said she doesn't mind if I sleep with another woman"

"Well… I… Uh…"

"Oh Merlin! Your face, Sharon…" Harry creased up in laughter as the pilot blushed a deep red. "Of course, we could spend the night in the same tent – that way Majestic can honestly say I spent the night with all three pilots"

"What about Crashdown?"

"I think he isn't my type"

#

"Sir, I regret that we lost six Marines" Boomer, being the senior of the officers on the mission, was the one to give Adama a report. "Harry did what he could, but something was affecting his magic – we think it was magical tiredness or something"

"I see" the old man was silent for a moment. "Your report states that you were forced to detain two Marines for insubordination"

"Yes, Sir! Both of them refused direct orders from me, the Private was outright racist to me and the Corporal not only refused orders but lay down arms"

"He what?" Tigh thundered from where he had been perched on a shelf cut into a bulkhead.

"The Corporal refused to take an order from me and then took off his rifle, removed his side arm and placed them both on the ground. Harry did something to them and had them become meek and mild – he explained it was something so they wouldn't start shooting"

"You failed your primary mission, Boomer, but you still managed to bring back vital supplies and civilians and some fleet members" Adama rumbled quietly. "I shall speak to the President about a suitable commendation – dismiss"

"Aye, Sir" Boomer saluted and then left the cabin.

"I might not be happy with Cylons running around the fleet" Tigh said, "But you know I will back whatever you say, Bill. I'd like to request a General Courts Martials for the pair of them"

"I agree… Doesn't matter to a lower rank what the orders are, if they are lawful then they obey them"

#

"Chief, can I have a word with you for a moment?" Harry looked around as he strolled onto the hanger deck with Rebecca who had been enthusiastic in his return.

"Sure"

"In the supply room" Harry indicated. Once inside the room, filled everywhere with parts for Vipers, Raptors and Shuttles, Harry started to explain his plan. "How many people could you spare from your people that work on FTL drives?"

"Why?"

"We had to leave our mission without the ships, but intel suggests the ships are still there. All I need is somebody to get the FTL working as quickly as possible and a pilot to fly them out"

"Just ask Engineering"

"If half the watch suddenly goes missing, people will start talking… Chief, the FTLs on the Raptors work on the same principle when starting up, right?"

"Sure… Ah, I get it – I can have people ready for you"

"Great… Rebecca is going to work up a list of supplies we're going to need and you get them ready" Harry replied. "Oh, and Chief…?"

"Yeah?"

"Get your people together quietly… Adama has said not to bother about the ships, but we're going to get them anyway"

"Off the books mission?"

"I don't believe in the no win scenario" Harry told him. "We're going to shove the pilots and engineers in Boomer's Raptor and get them. What we need you to do is to deactivate the alarms for the lift to the flight deck so we can get out as quietly as possible"

"What about your magic?"

"I'm using almost the last reserves I have to expand the inside of the Raptor"

"Right, but there is a problem" Tyrol looked around the room and sighed. "The ships will most likely have been powered down completely. That being so, the drives will take twelve hours to warm up and get online – nothing I can do about that"

"I thought you said it would take a few minutes" Harry looked at Rebecca.

"I thought it would"

"Those are for military drives – civilian ones take longer"

"Will Adama stay here this long?"

"Maybe… The Commander would punch the Gods themselves if it helped save his crew, so he'll stay until he knows what has happened"

"That's something at least" Harry sighed in relief. "If anything had happened to Boomer, we'd have been fucked up badly – flying your Raptors is easy… It's the bit about inputting the jump coordinates that's hard"

"Still having trouble reading our language?" asked Tyrol.

"Yes. Anyway, I'm going to have a rest" Harry said. "Rebecca has stuff to do, so I'm heading back to my cabin for some needed sleep in order to top up my reserves. This is technically mutiny, Chief, so you have the chance to back out before anything happens"

"What about you?"

"I'm the Head of another nation – I claim diplomatic immunity"

#

Starbuck had happily offered to help when Harry had pointed out to her that, as the senior officer, she'd technically be classified as the Fleet Commander. Boomer, Majestic and Mini Me had all laughed until Starbuck pointed out that Boomer would be the acting XO, Majestic would be the acting CAG and Mini Me would be the acting Engineering officer. The plan had been put into effect and the expanded Raptor was quickly and quietly loaded up with supplies, pilots and engineering staff that Tyrol had scrounged up from somewhere. Their departure was not completely unnoticed, but there was so much intra-fleet traffic that a Raptor that jumped away without notice was just as likely to be on a secret mission for the Commander. Once they had made their series of jumps back to the Colonies, they had made their way over the course of a few hours towards ships parked in orbit of some asteroids that were held in place by gravitational pull from three planets. Starbuck had made the decision to go there because records indicated at least one Battlestar was there. If the civilian ships couldn't get their drives repaired in time, each pilot would simply land on one of the two flight decks and they'd deal with it later. What surprised them the most was the lack of bodies which indicated, to the majority of them at least, that the Cylons had cleaned up after their takeover.

"Kara, the aux supply is coming online" Boomer said. "Once that's up, the mains will take about twenty minutes to spin enough for reduced power ops"

"Okay" Starbuck replied. She was standing over by the main plotting table and caressed one of the handsets idly. "When you have enough time and power, see if you can dial up the logs and the CIC recorder – I want to know what happened here. Do we have a name?"

"Enterprise" and Harry chuckled.

"Something funny?" Starbuck frowned.

"Oh, no… Nothing… It's just a name by a very famous ship from my place" Harry said. "Look, Starbuck, can I peak inside your head? I'm useless without the ability to read your language, so if I get the knowledge from you…"

"Sure" came the reply. Normally, the thought of somebody poking around her head would have caused great trouble and she would have punched the suggester in the face. With Harry, though, it was more a case of trying to do whatever he could with his magic powers for the people of the fleet and asking very little in return. The least she could do was give him the ability to read their language so he could better fit in with his new family – that and he'd need to read something at the upcoming wedding between himself and the Ensign he had a thing for. "Um… How far into my mind do you have to go?"

"Just surface level thoughts" Harry assured her. "Boomer, Tell Kara that all I scan for are surface thoughts and stuff unless Adama asks me to probe a suspect"

"That's what he does with most people"

"Most"

"Well according to Specialist Williams, you were probing a certain Ensign you are fond off"

"I was teaching her hand to hand"

"From what the Specialist told me, it was more a case of trying to stick your Viper in her flight pod"

"It wasn't like that – she wants to wait until we're married" Harry blushed for a moment before turning back to Starbuck. "Ready?"

"Yeah" Starbuck took a deep breath and nodded firmly. Harry looked deep into her eyes and started to absorb all of the knowledge of the Colonial language…

Beep Beep

"Woah" Harry stumbled back from where had been standing – so startled had he been by the noise.

"You alright?" Starbuck grabbed Harry before he could fall to the deck.

"I will be in a few minutes"

"Sharon, find that beeping noise and turn it off"

"Right" the human form Cylon went from console to console finding out which one was beeping. "Oh shit…" she adjusted a few settings on the controls and paled. "ACTION STATIONS! INBOUND CYLONS – LAUNCH VIPERS!"

"Boomer, we have no weapons or Vipers" Starbuck said, running over to the console and looking at the display. "The DRADIS is set to passive, so of course it would pick up the incoming Cylons… Still, see Mini Me and find out if we can get a few missiles in the tubes – if they do bounce us, I want to return fire and show those toaster bastards we're not finished"

"Racist"

"Hey, your family wiped out billions – great relatives you have, Boomer"

"Sometimes I wish I had joined them" Boomer shook her head and fished for a radio in a pocket.

"Are you alright?" Starbuck had come back around to see to Harry.

"Yeah – just a lot to take in"

"Kara, Mini Me says we can get maybe five missiles ready if she has help" Boomer said.

"I think we can do better" Harry smirked. "I can shrink these missiles, get them into their tubes and then undo the spell – you should be able to have a full sweep of missiles"

"Alright" Starbuck looked at the overheard DRADIS display that was struggling into life and noticed the Cylon contacts hanging around at the edge of range. "Boomer, tell Majestic to get some Vipers readied for launch at once"

"We don't have that many Viper pilots here"

"No, but you got emergency training so you could get in one if needed"

"Yeah, to shuttle one to a repair depot – not to fight" Boomer sounded frightened. This would be the first time she would be going into combat since her reveal as a Cylon and the girl was scared.

"Well, will you mention this when we get back?"

"Sure – why?"

"Because I get more money if I'm a Viper pilot"

#

"Starbuck, we've got a problem…" Majestic said.

"What?"

"I was checking out the Raptors to make sure none of them had that virus onboard. As I was going over the wireless, it picked up calls for help from groups of civilians on the ground. I've plotted their locations on a map and they are in remote mountain areas"

"How many in total?"

"Between two and three thousand, I think. Kara, if Harry can cloak one of the cargo ships, we can swoop down and grab everyone and be out before the Cylons even knew we were here"

"Anything on the military frequencies?"

"No" and Starbuck frowned – she was sure that some form of the Colonial military had survived.

"Keep scanning and seeing if you can get a message through without the Cylons picking them up. How are we doing with moving stuff between ships?"

"I'm just filling up cargo holds full of as many supplies as possible" Majestic replied. "Some of the ships can't move without extensive repairs, so we're pulling what we can off those and rigging them to scuttle the moment we leave"

"Alright, but I want you to get as many Raptors as can be found and arm them with a nuke each"

"Why?"

"Because before we leave here, I plan to give the Cylons a damn good fraking. Have you seen Mini Me?"

"Helping to get the FTL up on a bakery ship – she found one on the outer edges of the group. Its old, but the FTL looks to be in good shape. I guess the Cylons figured it was easier to take that instead of repairing damaged bakeries on the ground"

"Got to feed their prisoners somehow" Starbuck muttered. "Look, finish what you are doing here and get started on prepping Vipers for launch – something tells me we're about to get unwelcome visitors"

"Hello…? Is there anybody out there? This is Specialist 1st Class Smith to any colonial units – please respond" the Raptor's wireless crackled into life as the ECO's screen suddenly blinked into life and was displaying data at a rapid rate. The two pilots blinked at each other in surprise before Starbuck reached over and picked up a headset and put it on.

"This is Thrace, Acting Fleet Commander. What is your location, Specialist, and give me a Sit Rep"

"Ma'am, I'm at Kinloss Naval Air Station. My situation is that we're stuck here with limited food supplies for eleven hundred people. We've got a mixture of newly minted officers and engineering staff plus a couple of our families that made it out here. We've repulsed two attacks by the Cylons, but we're not going to be able to hold out for a third one. Can you get us out, Ma'am?" and Starbuck hesitated for a moment.

"Prepare your people for immediate evacuation, Specialist. Thrace out" and she turned to Majestic. "Find Harry and see if he can use his magic ship to get them out. If we can get everybody out in one go, they can help us get these ships ready to roll"

"Aye, Aye, Ma'am"

#

At the last moment, Starbuck thought about grabbing a few Marines in case they had trouble at the pick up points – either from Cylons or their own people trying to cause a stampede. Part of her had wanted to go down and help, but she knew that her place was in the CIC of the Enterprise and getting what ships they could ready sorted for a jump back to the remnants of the Colonial civilisation.

"Kara, I'm worried about something" Boomer's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"This contact here" she pointed at a lone Cylon vessel at the edge of DRADIS range. "Every fifteen minutes, it comes about two hundred miles closer and does an active sweep before going back"

"Maybe it's a sentry guard"

"If that was the case, why not just park a fighter with these ships?" Boomer frowned and looked at her watch. "Wait for it…" and Starbuck saw the lone contact move closer, use its active scanning equipment and then return to its previous position.

"That is odd" she muttered.

"Its only been doing this since we started getting the FTLs up and running"

"Almost like…" Starbuck swallowed hard and paled. "Almost like it was playing with us. Sharon, sound off action stations… All pilots onboard to grab a Viper. Have engineering crew man the guns"

"Why?"

"Because its keeping tabs on us for its buddies. When we are ready to jump, they come in and swoop down on us"

"Starbuck, we've only just got enough engineers to keep the reactors running and the lights on"

"Attention all hands, this is Starbuck. Marines, man the PDGs on the double" Starbuck switched channels on the wireless. "Seeker, this is Starbuck"

"Seeker"

"Harry, we've got possible enemies incoming – how much longer will it take for you to get people aboard?"

"Another twenty minutes"

"You have ten minutes, Starbuck out. Sharon, get in touch with the ships that are still working on their FTLs and have them land in the pods" to both women, the alarms sounded very loud in the otherwise empty CIC. "I will get us closer to the fleet and you start getting the FTL powered up from cold"

"Right" Boomer crossed over to the engineering console and started to get to work. Starbuck, meanwhile, found her way to the piloting station and glanced at the readouts. As she examined the controls, she realised this was going to be a lot more difficult then piloting a Viper or Raptor.

#

"…out"

"Damn… Corporal?"

"Sir?"

"We just got word from Starbuck – the Cylons might be coming to get us. We need to get these people in faster"

"We're going as fast as we can"

"I know. I want two good people left in my ship and the rest of your spread out in a circle around it. I'm going to apparate the whole lot of them inside over a couple of trips"

"Yes, Sir… What about the gear?"

"I'll worry about that – you worry about ground and air cover"

"Right" the Marine turn to his squad. "Jackson, Davis. The two of you get on that roof with the Gimpys and face both ways of this LZ. The rest of us are going to take up a double circle position offset"

"We've got more civilians coming this way" somebody called out. Harry turned to see a wounded girl being carried by four people who bore injuries themselves.

"We've got incoming – Cylon Raiders to the east" and Harry quickly cast a shield that covered the entire area.

"Fall back to the ship" he told the Marines in the voice he used as an Auror. The Marines, conditioned to following the orders of anybody who sounded like an officer, fell back and boarded the blue craft that had brought Harry to them.

"Sir, we're all aboard"

"I can't leave" Harry said sadly. "The moment I drop the shield, the Cylons will swoop down and take us all out. The only way for you to get out of here is to return to the Battlestar the instant I drop the shield. Press the rune that looks like a semi circle"

"What about you?"

"Rational transaction – one life for thousands. Once you are gone, I'll try to do what damage I can here and hope for the best" and Harry shrugged and looked back at the Corporal. "Tell Rebecca that I know it would have been good"

"Must be one hell of a planet you Earthlings come from"

"Not too bad" Harry smiled. He watched as the craft like egg sealed its up and started to him with energy. Dropping the shield, he saw it quickly vanish and take the Colonials with it back to the Enterprise before summoning a dropped heavy weapon and casting a combination of an ever refill and a feather light charm on it. "Right then, you bastards, lets have you…!" and he started to aim at the nearest target and let loose a long burst which struck one of the flying Raiders and a few rounds went through the visor like construct at the front and it wheeled over and then flew right into the ground. The emergency evacuation under the shield had caused the Marines to drop their weapons and fall back, so Harry summoned those too and shrunk them for further use at a later time in his evasion. Hearing a high pitch drone, he turned to see a pair of Raiders coming at him and fired a few bursts off before running for cover inside an armoured shelter that led into some caves. His plan was simple – the position would give him cover from air attack. If they started to land ground forces, he'd do what he could and then fall back into the cave and collapse the mouth. He had a few days of rations to live off, more if he created duplicates, but he would otherwise have no plan. The cave system the surviving Colonials had been hiding in had just the single entrance which had caused huge delays in getting people sorted out, but which also proved to be a smart plan from a defensive position – any attacker would be forced to come down the long entry and exit tunnel to the cave system under the mountain. Taking a moment to settle his nerves, he thought that this would be the last stand of the Auror Corp and the last action taken by a member of the magical United Kingdom.

#

"We tried to beg him to come back with us, but he said it was a drawback of using that type of magical spell"

"Alright, Corporal, get secured and then grab some rations and water" Starbuck said and then turned to look at her fellow squadron mates. When they had got news of Harry staying behind, none of them had liked the thought of their friend and somewhat saviour being captured and tortured. Quite apart from the compassion, there was also the chance that they can make themselves magical and strike a crippling blow to the fleet of ships waiting for them. "We need to go and get him"

"If we do, what about the people and ships we've rescued?" asked Mini Me.

"Davi, we're not going to win this by playing safe" Boomer rolled her eyes.

"I know, but I might have an idea about that… When we jump, the Cylons will detect the FTL point. So, we set the ship to jump on a timer and have one of the Specialists radio in for help. We'll be in a Raptor armed with whatever we can grab with it set to jump to the LZ the moment the fleet goes"

"An escort of three Vipers as well" Kara said. "Adama is going to be pissed at us – maybe even throw us in the Brig"

"Well" said Boomer cheerfully, "Let's hope we all get killed"

"Its okay for you" Majestic said dryly, "You get to come back if you die"

"Hot dang!" Boomer smirked, "Finally pays to be a Cylon. Look, I'll get my Raptor ready to go while you deal with the civilians and get the fleet ready to jump"

"Right" Starbuck nodded. "If anybody wants to back out, now is the time"

#

On the grounds that her Raptor had a better surveillance package compared to the detection gear fitted to ships, Boomer launched first and took position at the rear of the fleet.

"Boomer to Enterprise – standby to accept package" she thumbed the wireless.

"Copy… Standing by"

"Transmitting" Boomer typed a few commands into the ECO station and then hurried back to her seat.

"Accepting and decoding… What? Boomer, we're building up to a jump. Whats happening? Cut the damned dr–" Starbuck's voice was cut off as the entire fleet suddenly jumped away in multiple flashes of light. The resulting silence was punctured only by the soft humming and beeping of various pieces of equipment.

"Still glad you came along?" Boomer asked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the worlds" Rebecca replied. Boomer simply chuckled and then turned to look at those gathered behind her.

"Marines, prepare to disembark"

"AYE, AIR, MA'AM!"

"That's my Marines – always finding new and interesting ways to die". The Raptor turned round and headed towards the planet for the spot they had last known Harry to be in. entry to Caprica's atmosphere was bumpy, as it always seemed to be, and they emerged a few minutes later into the dark and cloudy skies. "Anything on DRADIS?"

"No, I don't think so" Rebecca replied. "There is some interference about where Harry was last seen, but its hard to tell anything in that area"

"Keep an eye out for Raiders. If any of them get close enough to engage us, we've only got a few missiles and the cannon"

"Would it help if we opened the hatch and fired?" asked one of the Marines.

"Er, no…" Boomer looked at Rebecca who shrugged and rolled her eyes.

"Boomer, there are some Raiders on the ground" she said as an urgent beeping suddenly erupted – forcing her to shut them off with a slap of her hand.

"How many?"

"Tally three Raiders and something… Bigger?" she finished as a question.

"Could be a Heavy Raider" said Boomer with a sigh. "Marines, we're going to have contact on the ground. Corporal, I'm going to make one pass with the Raptor and destroy or disable the Raiders before doing a firefight deployment"

"Ma'am" the Marine nodded in understanding. The Raptor made a single swooping pass over the landing area and then wheeled around and came down somewhat hard and with a few muttered curses. "Marines, go!" and the hatch was thrown open and the team poured out and attacked the Centurions.

"Rebecca, listen carefully" Boomer spoke quickly as she undid her harness. "I want you to keep looking at the DRADIS. If it looks as if we're going to be overrun here, close the hatch and jump away – the thing is already set to take you back to the fleet"

"What? What about you?"

"Harry saved me when everybody else was ready to kill me. I could not call myself his friend if I was not prepared to save his life. Anyway, he'd kill me if you were hurt" Boomer unstrapped the pistol that tied to her side. "Two hours and then fly away… Fly away and never come back" and, with that, she left the Raptor.

#

"Corporal, report" Boomer said as she got up to the group of Marines.

"Ma'am, we've not seen anything from the tunnel mouth except traces of some sort of explosion" the Corporal nodded towards the cave mouth, "But we have an advantage – Private Smythe was a cave rescuer before joining up. He can tell us if the caves are okay and safe"

"We have about two hours left to look. The nuclear warhead we're carrying will reach the critical stage in two hours and twenty minutes. Safe is relative"

"You have a backpack nuke?"

"Yeah… My mission and my rules, Corporal. I have a detonator to trigger it much quicker if needed, but the timer is set to go off in over two hours" Boomer shrugged. "I don't want to be held captive and nor, do I suppose, would you"

"Good point" the Corporal said and Collins turned to his squad. "Smythe, take point and scout a little way ahead… The rest of us will move along behind you – half in front of the LT and half behind her"

"Sir, the Private requests permission to cover the LT's rear" a youngish Marine put their hand up with a laugh. Boomer blinked and then laughed with a shake of her head and a rosy tint to her cheeks.

"Private, you may cover my rear… Just try to leave it in one piece"

"No hands on approach?" the Private raised an eyebrow in a smirk.

"Visual only…" the woman shook her head with a slight smile. "Alright, people, lets settle down and move out". The Marines had, for the most part, accepted her as a form of liberated POW and accepted the orders she gave to them without hesitation. Despite her Cylon heritage, the woman thought of herself as more Human then machine with friends and a family.

#

"Damn fine way to end up dying" Harry muttered as he cracked open a ration pack and ate the contents. "Tastes like chicken" he added to the gloom. He'd decided to not have too much light for the Cylons to find him by, but he needed something to see around his space. He'd reached the end of the tunnel and found a vast amount of smaller ones leading off to the cave spaces the refugees had been in. Hermione, Padma and Luna would have loved to explore the place and fit it out as an actual base for their small group of resistance fighters. He was just about to take a few moments of quiet to close his eyes and rest when he heard noises and bolted upright and dived for his weapons – aiming them up the tunnel. When he saw the robotic Cylons coming towards him, he fired from side to side with the heavy weapon – shells pouring out at an incredible rate. The Cylons returned fire and Harry was hit by a few bullets in the left arm and he hissed in the agony that resulted. Under normal circumstances, he would simply heal the wound but couldn't this time because there was no let up in the fire. Harry could feel himself weaken from the blood loss and picked up the last of his grenades and considered it very careful as he kept firing. He had never thought about suicide, but the memories of being abused by the Dursleys and numerous hospital visits made him think about it more.

'You know, its not a dishonourable way to die' somebody said in a voice that sounded oddly like Cho Chang's.

"Drop dead"

'Already have done'

"Encore…" Harry said under his breath. He knew that of the Cylons were able to capture him alive, there was a chance his magic could be copied and used against the Colonials. Resolving to die on his feet and fighting the enemy, Harry stood up and pointed towards the three Centurions and four human formed copies of the Six model. "I WILL KILL YOU!" he screamed as he pointed. As he did that, they suddenly and quite quickly blew up in a shower of scrap metal, fire, blood, guts and all manner of gore. The sound of the explosion was almost deafening as Harry slowly looked at his finger as if it had suddenly become the most powerful finger in the universe. He was still trying to work out how this had happened when Boomer and her Marine party came storming over the wreckage of metal, bodies and rock to find Harry swaying on the spot.

"Harry…!" Boomer rushed over and called for the medic of the unit to come over and treat Harry as quickly as possible.

"I… I thought I was going to die" he said weakly.

"Not possible – you were never alone"

"Ma'am, we have forty five minutes until the Raptor jumps"

"Raptor?" asked Harry slowly.

"Rebecca is sat in my Raptor waiting for us. She is under direct orders to wait two hours for us and jump away or else leave if Cylons come. If that happens, we've got a nuke to take us all out so we don't feel anything and avoid capture. Corporal, what can you do for him?"

"Not much, Ma'am… Just patch him up for now and get back to the fleet"

"Do it – we haven't much time" she turned to the others. "You and you… Wait for the Corporal to finish here and then assist Harry. The rest of you, you have until that is done to find and retrieve any intel"

#

1:59:45

1:59:46

1:59:47

"Come on…" Rebecca begged to the Gods they'd come out.

1:59:54

1:59:55

Her orders were absolute and inviolable. Rebecca had always obeyed every order given to her by her superiors, but she found this one to be the hardest to follow. How could she be asked to abandon Boomer, the Marines and Harry to their deaths either from Cylons or the backpack nuke that she knew Boomer was carrying.

1:59:59

"Come on, guys…". The following second seemed to stretch almost to infinity as she looked again at the mouth of the cave tunnel. She strained as hard as she could to see them coming out, but she saw nothing but darkness and despair. Glancing back down at her display, she saw the dull gleam of the FTL jump key that had been inserted by Boomer before she left. It taunted her, mocked her and silently accused her for her action as the Raptor's computer completed the turning from 1:59:59 to 2:00:00 and flashed rapidly and sounded an alarm to indicate it had completed its assigned task.

As if somebody was moving her hand, Rebecca reached forward and turned the key.

#

"Well" said one of the Marines as the Raptor flashed away, "There goes our ride…"

"Maybe not" Harry struggled to whisper through the pain. "Boomer, can you fly a Cylon vessel?"

"Sure" the woman blinked in confusion before realising what Harry meant. Out of the Cylon vessels that had landed, Boomer had left the Heavy Raider alone in case they needed to use it to escape.

"Ma'am?"

"Marines, get Harry inside the ship while I try to get this thing working. The rest of you fan out and make a perimeter" and she went inside to get the Heavy Raider working and run through the tests as quickly as possible whilst also looking for any booby traps there may have been. It took nearly fifteen minutes for her to get it ready, but the Marines quickly boarded and she took off. However, she did not take the Heavy Raider directly to orbit to jump, but sped quickly towards a Colonial Fleet Air Arm station now being used by the Cylons. "I'm going to land in the middle of the base" Boomer announced. "When I open the hatch, throw the nuke out and then hold on as tight as possible – I'm zooming us out of here"

"Finishing the mission?" asked the Corporal.

"Yeah… Figured you Marines would like that"

#

"Commander, we've lost power to the forward weapons batteries" the engineering crewman called out.

"Switch to aux"

"Sir, we were already on that"

"Very well. Helm, come right heading 221 carom 989" Adama snapped out. The fight had been raging for forty five minutes, and he was only happy that the civilian ships had jumped away.

"Nukes! Radiological Alarm" Duella said over the noise of multiple voices. "Inbound fighters dead ahead – heading for our bays"

"If they get in there and detonate…" Tigh shuddered.

"I know. Order our Vipers to intercept"

"Unable, Commander – all fighters are engaged"

"Retract the pods" Tigh said quickly.

"They'll never do it in time" Adama said as he watched the two Cylon Raiders come straight at him. As the two fighters came closer and closer, Adama and Tigh prepared for the worst. All of a sudden, a new and unknown contact jumped in front of Galactica, spun round and eliminated the two Cylon fighters. As if by magic, the two Basestars decided that discretion was the better part of valor and jumped away with most of the Raiders – leaving the damaged ones to be torn apart by the Vipers. "Get me that ship" Adama thrust a finger at the overhead DRADIS display.

"Aye, Sir" Tigh grabbed a handset and punched a button. "Attention unknown ship, this is the Battlestar Galactica. Identify yourself or we will fire upon you"

"Galactica, this is Boomer" her voice came back loud and clear. "Put me through to Actual" and Tigh's jaw dropped in astonishment.

"What the frak…?"

"Dee, give me direct contact"

"Aye, Sir" the woman swiftly replied.

"This is Actual – go ahead, Boomer" Adama said almost the moment he picked up the handset.

"Actual, Mission Accomplished in all respects. Request heavy security from the portside hanger deck to the Brig"

"Why?"

"Sir, we… We have a prisoner and memory modules containing the latest positions for Cylon vessels. Also, request medical trauma team to meet us"

"You have wounded onboard?"

"One, Commander – it's Harry" and there was a gasp as Rebecca left the CIC and stormed down to the hanger deck.

"Roger that – land in a Raptor as quick as you can and then report to me in my quarters on the double" he flicked a switch. "Medic to the Portside hanger at the rush"

A/N:

As always, I am never good at putting words down as a first chapter, so I'll just leave it here as it is for now…