Flashback to the past
Day 564 Since the Fall
Battlestar Galactica CIC
"Prepping for the next jump sir," Lieutenant Gaeta reported, as he continued inputting data into Galactica's own Nav computer.
"Chief Tyrol has said that our recent pit stop for a few days without travel to focus on repairs should be enough to let us continue on our current, but we may still need another day or two without jumping on the way," the communications officer said, clicking off the comms relay connected to the hangar deck.
"Very well," Admiral Adama said.
"Already over halfway home," Commander Tigh commented thoughtfully, "Hopefully we'll get the crew to breathe a sigh of relief as we get closer, several are still on edge."
"Maybe," Admiral Adama said quietly.
"Jump coordinates have been distributed, Sir. All fleet ships show green for jump formation Gamma," Lieutenant Gaeta said, standing up straight as he completed his task.
"Initiate Jump," Admiral Adama said.
"Aye, Sir. Jumping in three, two, one, jump," Lieutenant Gaeta said.
The fleet began jumping to the next set of coordinates in their roundabout trip to return to Avalon, taking a less direct path from Adama's caution; just in case the Cylons could be trying to track them, particularly since it became clear that the Cylon fleet had moved a large portion of their fleet ahead on the way towards Avalon.
"Jump complete, all ships reporting in Sir," Lieutenant Gaeta said as the ship came out of FTL at the chosen point in proximity to a nebula.
"Very well Mr. Gaeta, commence DRADIS scan, let's see what's out there," Admiral Adama said.
At that moment, an Electro Magnetic Pulse within the nebula spread out to cover the fleet. As the pulse came into contact with the ships, all technology shorts out and the ships are left in darkness. Aboard Galactica, the power goes out, darkening the ship to pitch black until emergency lighting came online a moment later.
In the chaos within the ship and attention diverted elsewhere with the power loss, no one in CIC notices Colonel Tigh go limp and slumping to the deck. Outside CIC, several other people aboard the ship likewise collapse in a heap.
"Sit Rep!" Admiral Adama ordered loudly, as CIC members frantically move about their stations.
"Uh, sensors show major power fluctuations, checking on the fleet. It looks like some kind of power surge sir, no intel on the cause as of yet," Lieutenant Gaeta said.
"Check auxiliary power," Lieutenant Gaeta said to other CIC personnel.
"We have negative auxiliary power, we're on batteries only," the communications officer said.
"Get ready for an engine restart." Admiral Adama said, hanging up the plot table's comm relay after speaking with personnel from the hangar deck working on getting the main engines and power back online.
Commander Tigh begins joining in with other CIC members in working on getting power restored, recovering after the splitting headache and flashes of memories began streaming through his head. A few minutes pass as the crew works frantically to restore power until the main engines come online and all systems started rebooting.
"Get me a damage report, immediately," Admiral Adama ordered.
"The power outage was fleet wide Admiral. It was also simultaneous aboard all ships," the communications officer said.
Admiral Adama looks at the communications officer in shock, contemplating the issue at hand.
"Dradis contact! Massive Cylon fleet on intercept course!" Lieutenant Gaeta reported in a panic as contacts began appearing across the dradis consoles in CIC, with no colonial recognition codes leaving little wonder as to the likely culprit.
"Mr. Gaeta sound action stations immediately! XO, I want to emergency jump the entire fleet," Admiral Adama said.
"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship this is not a drill. All Viper pilots report to Vipers immediately. Inbound Cylon fleet. I repeat action stations, action stations set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill," Lieutenant Gaeta said over the communications unit relaying his message over the loudspeakers throughout the ship.
"Sir, all ships have power now, but FTL is an issue. All fleet ships were powered down during the outage. It could take twenty minutes to spool up the FTL drives," Commander Tigh said.
"We just don't have twenty minutes," Admiral Adama said worriedly, "I want nuclear weapons loaded in all launch tubes."
"Yes sir," Commander Tigh said.
"Sir, the Cylons are acting sluggish. I think they might have been affected by the power outage as well," Lieutenant Gaeta said cautiously, speaking slowly as he processed what the ship's sensors were reading.
Commander Tigh looked closely at the dradis readouts, "I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Gaeta Admiral. They haven't launched more raiders yet and so far no movement to get close to the fleet."
"Then let's take this time to get our fleet out of here. All evacuation and noncombatant ships are to maneuver at sublight away from the Cylons with military ships as escort covering their withdrawal. Galactica will maneuver to cover the front of the Cylon attack force with our vipers alone. We will cover the rest of the fleet's escape," Admiral Adama ordered, his eyes and demeanor turning hard and cold, showing how serious his resolve was.
Several CIC crew members hearing the Admiral had a sharp intake of breath at the implications of what they were being asked to do.
"Aye sir," Commander Tigh said determinedly, grabbing the comms relay to deliver the Admiral's orders to the fleet himself.
In moments the fleet separated, leaving Galactica alone against the Cylons, with the military ships covering the flanks of the noncombatant ships' withdrawal from the area.
Fifteen minutes later
"The fleet is starting to jump out sir. Cylons have been moving again for a few minutes, but it looks like now they're all rushing in towards us. Baseships are maneuvering into bracketing position, with raiders lining up to swarm over our defensive lines," Lieutenant Gaeta reported.
Four Cylon baseships began closing on Galactica's position, firing off their loads of missiles towards the lone Battlestar. Raiders engaged the vipers guarding their home ship, engaging in a massive dogfight with a 5 to 1 ratio against the vipers.
"Guess they decided taking us out was the priority," Commander Tigh said, chuckling darkly.
"Works for us for the moment," Admiral Adama said, smiling a little as he looked at his oldest and closest friend.
"Pulse cannon defense grid is taking out a large number of the missiles sir, but from four baseships some will get through shortly," Lieutanent Gaeta said, coming to his conclusion after reading into the latest sensor and dradis data.
"Have laser turrets one through eight to focus on the nearest portside baseship. Let's even the odds a little," Admiral Adama ordered.
"Aye sir," the weapons officer replied.
Galactica's laser turrets locked onto the front portside baseship and fired. The baseship took heavy damage as several sections of the ship were instantly penetrated inside the baseship, the lasers burning straight through the armor and causing secondary detonations in affected inner sections of the baseship. Severely wounded, the baseship quickly turned away from the battle and rotated to show its undamaged armored sections to the enemy. There was little room to celebrate as Cylon missiles starting getting through the Battlestar's point defense grid. Several flak guns and a heavy KEW cannon were destroyed in addition to a couple nukes impacting across the Battlestar's heavy armor. Most of the blast was stopped by the armor, though some bled through causing damage and fires with short circuiting in multiple frames inside the ship.
"Sir, hostiles inbound! Reserve forces of raiders are breaking through the vipers' defensive lines and on intercept course with us within 90 seconds. Two hundred plus!" Lieutenant Gaeta said.
"Commander Tigh, I want all reserve vipers launched immediately. Everybody that's ever held a stick, I want them up there now," Admiral Adama ordered loudly, seeing Commander Tigh was distracted he continued louder "Saul! I gave you a frakkin' order. Put 'em up there!"
Shaking off his fugue and distraction as memories filled his mind, Tigh picked up the comms relay from the plot table, "Sir. Attention, this is the XO. Launch all reserve fighters. If anyone's ever so much as daydreamed about being in a cockpit, I want their asses in a plane and launched RIGHT FRAKKING NOW..."
Vipers launched from Galactica in short order, heading off incoming raiders. Several raiders broke off and began strafing runs on Galactica. Flak guns and pulse cannons quickly unleashed huge concentrations of munitions straight towards the raiders, cutting the enemy fighters apart. Missiles launched towards Galactica breaking through the point defense and impacting across the ship's heavy armor. Despite low damage inside, the ship shook from the impacts.
Eight raiders launched toward Galactica, throwing themselves at the heavy armor covering the ship. Their combined explosions at one area of the armor, with munitions they carried detonating, blew a hole in the heavy armor covering Galactica and starting fires inside.
The CIC crew was shaken as the latest impacts to the ship shook several off their feet, with one of the computer consoles exploding in a shower of sparks.
"Not sure how much more we can take of this sir. The rest of the fleet is jumping out within the next few minutes," Lieutenant Gaeta said.
"Then we just have to last until then," Admiral Adama said determinedly.
Commander Tigh watched the dradis as the battle waged outside the ship. Thinking to himself that this couldn't continue, Saul Tigh suddenly knew what to do as memories filled his mind.
With the CIC personnel focused on their duties to keep the ship running throughout the battle with the Cylons, no one paid any mind as Commander Tigh walked over to one of the communications computers and began inputting a series of numbers on a wide band frequency.
The battle continued outside Galactica, growing fierce as time went on. Thirty seven vipers had been destroyed so far with others lost but with pilots ejecting, against the few hundred raiders taken out of the fight. The remaining vipers and raiders continued in dogfights, accumulating losses on each side. Starbuck shouted out orders to her pilots and divvied up her viper squadrons in small groups weaving through the raiders' formations, blasting away many of their number as they moved through and losing vipers here and there as raiders retaliated and locked onto the vipers.
Two baseships continued firing their missiles towards Galactica, joining their two heavily damaged compatriots in a retreat to a longer range to get away from the intense laser and KEW fire Galactica was pushing out at the Cylons with devastating effects.
As a group of raiders began closing to launch another strafing run on the enemy Battlestar, the raiders' sensor red lights began flashing with information being received on a recognized communications channel. Other raiders received the same information at the same time, with recognition codes being accepted after quick verification.
All raiders turned around and quickly maneuvered away from the fighting and the Galactica, heading back towards the baseships.
"Sir? The Cylon strike force has just turned back to their ships. Baseships are spinning up," Lieutenant Gaeta reported in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing together as he tried to understand this latest development.
"They're pulling out," Commander Tigh said standing back at the CIC plot table under the main dradis screens, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief as his plan worked.
"We're gonna do the same damn thing before they change their mind. XO, have our fighters cover our withdrawal," Admiral Adama ordered.
"Yes sir," Commander Tigh said, lifting up to speak over the communications system, "All fighters, assume rear cover formations as Galactica retreats back to the fleet's position."
A few minutes after the Cylon fleet jumped away, Galactica joined the colonial fleet in FTL jumping on the next jump point on their route to Avalon. They would continue as is, more alert to Cylon activity, and eventually make it home within a couple weeks.
Day 567 Since the Fall
Cylon Baseship
Basestar Conference Room
"The Hybrid is clearly telling us something," Natalie Six said.
"The Hybrid is always telling us something. They're supposed to maintain operations on each ship, not vomit metaphysics," Jack Cavil said dismissively.
Leoben, a Number Eight, and Natalie Six shared looks among each other.
"All right, I give up. What. What is she trying to tell us?" Jack Cavil asked.
"They're in the Colonial Fleet. With the humans," the Number Eight said.
""They"? They who?" Jack Cavil said uncomprehendingly, smirking slightly.
"The Final Five," Leoben said.
Jack Cavil's smirk disappeared as shock overcame his features.
"The Raiders refuse to fight because they received Cylon recognition codes. They sensed the Final Five might be in the Colonial Fleet, it's the only logical explanation..." Natalie Six said.
"- They could've ... could've been caught, they could be in hiding..." Leoben said.
"No, stop. Stop right now. Turn around, go and take a cleansing walk, and I am gonna try and forget what I just heard. Not to mention that it's always possible other Cylons in hiding managed to send out the recognition codes for whatever reason, or even the Cylons actively helping the humans like Athena," Jack Cavil said angrily.
"They wouldn't have had those codes Cavil, they were old and to our knowledge no one but the final five could've had them, and it makes sense given their disappearance that they'd have codes to give when the time was right for them to return. The Final Five, Cavil, they're near. This is far too important..." Natalie Six said.
"- What their eyes must have seen, witnessed over time..." Leoben said excitedly.
"- Think they look anything like us?" the Number Eight said grinning widely.
"That's enough! Don't you realize what you're doing? You're openly discussing the Final Five! That's forbidden! You're toying with our very survival. Look at yourselves. Millions of Twos have that nose; millions of Sixes possess that mouth. Eights share those breasts, and Ones have this brain. We're mechanized copies. There's a reason the original programmers clearly felt that it's a mistake for us to contact the Final Five!" Jack Cavil said furiously, slapping his hands together and gesturing with his hands as he spoke.
"No!" Natalie Six protested vehemently.
"Violating that programming threatens our survival," Jack Cavil said.
"Something has changed," Natalie Six said pleadingly.
"Thoughts have changed. Yes, they change. The Raiders changed. That's where all this started, with them. They turned away from the fighting when we could've scored a major victory against the humans and would've left us defenseless if we hadn't ran once they returned to the baseships. Somehow they exceeded their programming, and unlike us, they can't correct themselves. So we're gonna have to do it for them," Jack Cavil said.
"Do what?" Natalie Six asked.
"We'll reconfigure their neural architecture, and shave down their heuristic responses. Make sure they don't turn away from a fight again when ordered to battle the humans," Jack Cavil said.
"Dumb them down? Lobotomize them?" Leoben asked incredulously.
"They're tools, not pets. But in any case, it has to be done, to maintain the safety of the fleet and our race," Jack Cavil said.
"Says who?" Natalie Six asked, outraged.
"Says God Almighty the voice of reason, that's who. When are you gonna hear it?" Jack Cavil said.
Natalie Six leaned down closer to Cavil, "You don't have the authority to make any change without a majority vote."
"Well, we'll vote. The Fours and Fives will be on my side," Jack Cavil said confidently.
"There will be a vote. The Raiders hear what we hear," Natalie Six said determinedly, standing up straight.
"The Raiders are simple machines," Jack Cavil said.
"No. Something extraordinary has happened. Something is calling to us. Pushing us to discover our origins, to understand our place in the universe. The Raiders are part of that, and the Final Five..." Natalie Six said.
"Are anywhere but with the humans," Jack Cavil said interrupting Natalie.
Natalie Six crossed her arms, glaring at Cavil and huffing in frustration.
Day 574 Since the Fall
Basestar Conference Room
"We've all conferred with our models, and we have the results," Jack Cavil said.
"Yes, and we also know how you circumvented the vote to begin with by beginning to lobotomize the raiders days before we were even voting," Natalie Six interrupted furiously, glaring at Cavil.
"Water under the bridge Six. I simply thought there wasn't a need for a vote to do the only logical thing to keep the Cylon race defended. I of course stalled the work on the raiders once the voting process began," Jack Cavil said innocently.
Natalie Six stayed silent, glaring daggers at Jack Cavil.
"As I was saying, the votes are in. The Fours and Fives have joined the Ones, voting to reconfigure the Raiders," Jack Cavil said.
"What a surprise. The Twos, Sixes, and Eights voted against reconfiguring the Raiders," Natalie Six said.
"Yes, and the Threes are of course sticking to the sidelines waiting to see who the victor would be before casting their official vote. Apparently they're fifty-fifty for and against so they won't choose," Jack Cavil said, rolling his eyes.
"Which means we're deadlocked," Natalie Six said simply, satisfied that Cavil couldn't get his way even if it meant not winning the vote.
"Well, you were right Six. I'm machine enough to admit when I'm wrong," Jack Cavil said.
"What are you talking about?" Natalie Six asked in confusion.
"Well, something extraordinary has happened. ...Eight!" Jack Cavil said, raising his voice to call in an Eight from outside the room.
"What's going on?" Natalie Six demanded.
A number Eight known as Boomer entered the Basestar's conference room.
"Boomer?" Natalie Six said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this. I'll just say that this Eight has voted to reconfigure," Jack Cavil said.
"What?" Natalie Six asked in disbelief, panic in her voice as she began to realize Cavil's plans.
"Shocked? I was shocked too," Jack Cavil said.
"But no one has ever voted against their model. No one. Is this true?" Natalie Six said, furrowing her eyebrows in consternation.
"We have to be able to defend ourselves," Boomer Eight said simply.
"No, this is unconscionable. This is wrong. She can't. You had something to do with this," Natalie Six said, looking to Cavil accusingly.
"No, it was her decision totally," Jack Cavil said.
"You cannot allow this," Natalie Six said, turning to Leoben.
"There is no law. There's no edict. There's nothing that forbids it. It's just- it's never happened before," Leoben said, unsure what to do.
"Yeah, try and remember you said that when he boxes your line," Natalie Six said quietly, rolling her eyes in frustration and taking a deep breath.
"Now don't be a sore loser. You can choose to look at it as a swing vote in our favor, or the Eights' vote being cancelled out, either way this is decided fair and square by the democratic system you so desired us to use. The Raiders will be reconfigured and will begin doing the jobs they were made for in safeguarding our race," Jack Cavil said smugly.
"If you do this, we all lose," Natalie Six said, looking around to the other Cylons by Jack.
"We think it's for the best," a Simon Number Four said.
"For the best. Have you lost your mind? Our identities are determined by our models. Each model is unique. We belong together. You know this better than anyone. "Mechanized copies," those are your very words." Natalie Six, looking to Cavil.
""Something has changed." Those are your very words. And I wholeheartedly agree," Jack Cavil said.
"The Raiders are sentient, just as we are. There was a plan, a divine plan in our design. You're butchering them," Natalie Six said pleadingly.
"We're reconfiguring them, that's all," Jack Cavil said.
"You are not God," Natalie Six said furiously.
"No, I'm a mechanic. The Raiders were designed to do a specific job. They stopped doing it, I'm fixing that. And when the cutting's all done, they'll go back to being happy warriors. So let's move on, all right?" Jack Cavil asked, considering the issue closed.
"I'll pray for you. I'll pray hard," Natalie Six said angrily, breathing loudly and coming close to Cavil as she spoke, before leaving the conference room in a huff.
Day 575 Since the Fall
Basestar, Secluded room outside surveillence
"We're here to discuss what must be done about this madness," Natalie Six said, looking to other gathered Sixes, Eights, Twos, and a handful of Threes leaning towards Natalie's side.
"What can we do though? Cavil won the vote," a number Eight said in distress.
"There may not have been a rule or precedent in place for this, but Cavil won the vote," a Leoben Two said in frustration.
"The vote of a single Cylon of her model should not be the deciding factor of the future of the Cylon race. We engage in majority vote so we all contribute in the matters that affect us. Cavil blatantly disregarded the majority rule by reconfiguring the Raiders for days without a decision on the change; before we even started voting. I don't care if Boomer made this decision on her own or not, this is wrong," Natalie Six said.
The other Cylons in the room began nodding in agreement as they listened to Natalie, a couple Eights had fear on their faces as they did so while others began to show determination.
"If majority rule is going to be disregarded and this unconscionable act forced upon the Cylon race, then change is needed. I for one will not stand by and do nothing while Cavil butchers the Raiders," Natalie Six said determinedly, looking at each of her fellow Cylons in the eyes as she spoke.
Gaining courage to begin airing her views, a number Three stood up to speak, "Not to mention the Final Five. Cavil will never change his mind about going to find them and gathering all twelve models as we should have been from the beginning."
"This latest action by Cavil will just be repeated in any future debate, particularly on the Final Five, and frankly majority rule is now meaningless. If we stick to voting, then anything Cavil wants he'll get and anything not in line with his views won't be allowed," another number Three added, looking to her sister who nodded in agreement.
"I agree. We can't let this happen to the Raiders," a Leoben number Two said.
"So we stop voting and take action ourselves," another Leoben number Two added.
"To what end? Do we go to the humans and just demand they hand over the final five? We can't even make peace with them to retrieve our brothers and sisters. They will never forgive what we did to the twelve colonies. Never," D'Anna said.
"We reunite with the Final Five and make our family whole, and if the others don't want to join us in that then frak them. And we can make peace with the humans if need be. Don't forget the other Cylons from our lines that are even now working with the humans, and one of which is a part of their colonial defense forces treated as an equal among them," Alison Valerii said.
"For now, we need to focus on stopping what Cavil has done. If we can't vote and get the others to see reason, then we must take action and do the one thing that will force their hand. If need be we must be ready to accept that they won't accept our terms even then," Natalie Six said.
"What do you mean?" a number Eight asked.
Natalie Six went to the door and approached the Centurion she had tasked with guarding their secret meeting place. Turning him off for the moment to work on him, she quickly removed the telencephalic inhibitor device before restarting the centurion. The centurion rebooted and its red eye began weaving back and forth as it began processing things in a new light.
"What have you done?" a number Three asked in shock.
"It was Cavil who made the Centurions be dumbed down with the inhibitors restricting their high functions and self-awareness. No more! History has come full circle with the Raiders now being altered from their original state with their freedom restricted just like the Centurions. It's only fair that we now correct that mistake, and this will force Cavil's faction to stop the atrocity they are committing. If necessary we will use force," Natalie Six said viciously.
"And if the centurions use their new freedom of choice against us in anger for allowing Cavil to restrict their freedom all this time?" a number Three asked quietly.
"They won't. It's time for changes my brothers and sisters. The centurions should always have been treated as our equals, and in doing this, freeing them, we will earn their loyalty. Together we will restore the Cylon race," Natalie Six said.
"We can't free them all though. Cavil's faction controls a majority of the fleet so freeing the centurions unnoticed, and keeping the rest from attacking us once Cavil realizes what we're doing, isn't possible throughout the entire fleet, and we can't even steal away all the raiders before they're reconfigured for the same reason," a number Two said sadly.
"Then we focus on the baseships last in line for the raiders to be reconfigured. Gather those loyal to our cause and not with Cavil there, while we bring all the centurions and raiders we can to join us there. And we take the baseships, removing any opposition," Natalie Six said.
A few Cylons gathered in the room shared uneasy looks, while the majority began growing bold and nodded in agreement with Natalie's plans.
"Centurion. You've heard all we've said. Will you stand with us?" Natalie Six asked, looking to the centurion she'd given freedom to.
The red eye of the centurion vroohmed and flashed back and forth while the centurion processed.
"I stand with you. By your command," the centurion said, spooking several of the human Cylons as the centurion spoke with its voice for the first time.
"Your part will be to free the other centurions on this ship, quietly and without drawing attention to yourself," Natalie Six said, looking to the centurion as she spoke and then turned to her fellow human Cylons as she continued, "I will send word to the rest of our lines with us to begin doing the same on the other baseships we can get to. The rest of you gather there and talk to the rest of your lines to convince as many as possible to come with us."
"Let's go to work," a number Two said, grinning widely in anticipation.
Day 593 Since the Fall
Basestar Conference Room
"We want you to stop lobotomizing the Raiders, Cavil," Natalie Six said.
"Raiders with free will? Not going to happen... Do you know what just really rankles my ass? You've been pointing fingers, falsely accusing me of manipulation just short of tyranny, when you're the one that's been leading the charge here," Jack Cavil said.
"We want you to stop," Natalie Six repeated, crossing her arms.
"You're not in charge. We had a vote," Jack Cavil said.
"For the last time: Will you stop lobotomizing the Raiders?" Natalie Six said pleadingly.
"It's unbelievable, isn't it? Unbelievable," Jack Cavil said looking to a Simon Four, then looking back at Natalie Six he drew out his answer slowly, "For the last time, noooo."
"I was afraid you'd say that. Come in," Natalie Six said regretfully.
A pair of centurions entered the room.
"This is cute. Centurions can't vote, Six," Jack Cavil said mockingly.
"Oh, they're not here to vote, Cavil," Natalie Six said viciously, narrowing her eyes at Cavil.
Natalie stared determinedly without breaking eye contact with Cavil as the Centurions converted their arms in to guns. Cavil, the Four, and a Doral Five grew concerned and scared watching the Centurions.
"Now, this, uh... this isn't funny. Leave," Jack Cavil said looking at the Centurion. Jack stared in shock and surprise as the centurion merely looked at Natalie before turning to look at Cavil defiantly.
"...I said, leave! ...Why don't they leave?" Jack Cavil said in confusion.
"The telencephalic inhibitor that restricts higher functions in the Centurions... we had them removed," Natalie Six said, producing an inhibitor which she held between her hands for the human Cylons to see.
"Say What?!" Jack Cavil said in outrage.
"You dumbed down the Raiders. We, the Leobens, the Sharons, gave the Centurions the gift of reason and free will to stand as equals among the Cylon race as they always should have," Natalie Six said.
"You have no authority to do this. None. You can't do anything without a vote!" Jack Cavil said angrily.
"No, we can't do anything with one. So we're finished voting," Natalie Six said.
The Centurions stepped forward menacingly, aiming their sights to lock onto the human Cylons. Beyond the conference, gunfire and screams started occurring which could be heard inside the conference room.
"What have you done?" Jack Cavil asked.
"First thing they learned is what you were doing to the Raiders. You can imagine how they felt," Natalie Six explained.
"Oh, no," the Number Five Doral said.
The Ones, Fours, and Fives try to get up and run while the Centurions open fire gunning them down. Natalie averted her gaze, and stands in the smoke when it's done. The Centurions look to her while Natalie removes the horror from her face and stares stoically ahead.
The same process of centurions rising up and gunning down the ones, fours, and fives occurred on several other baseships across the Cylon fleet. A few baseships didn't have enough centurions with their inhibitors removed and lost the battle to the other centurions with the inhibitors who were defending their masters from the onslaught of death. Twos, Sixes, Eights, and the Threes, finally taking their stand on whose side to be on, joined together on the same baseships that the centurions quickly took over, taking advantage of the chaos in the Cylon fleet to do so. The rebel baseships with as many of the rebel human Cylons, centurions, and raiders as could've been saved on the baseships they controlled jumped away.
Present Day
Day 621 Since the Fall
Basestar Conference Room
"I see you cleaned up your mess. Took us long enough to find you and arrange this meeting though I suppose," Jack Cavil said, sitting down in the seat opposite Natalie Six, an Eight, a Leoben, and D'Anna, each representing their lines.
"We made a clean break to prevent more bloodshed among the Cylon race Cavil. We only let you find us so we could give you one more chance to see reason and reunite our family, the Cylon race, as it was meant to be," Natalie Six said.
"Really, Six, if you had wanted some room to spread out, you could've just asked," Jack Cavil said.
"Is there anything that isn't fodder for a joke with you? Or is that really how you see our very existence, as some sort of nihilistic punch line?" Natalie Six asked, feeling revulsion as she looked at Cavil and curling her lip in disgust.
"Nihilistic punch line? I like that. But quite honestly, I'm feeling very serious. Getting riddled with bullets affects me that way. But I want you all to know that I place the blame for all of this squarely on myself," Jack Cavil said.
"Go on," Natalie Six said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
"Well, you had legitimate concerns, but I refused to hear them. But now I'm listening. So tell me, what's to be done to stop all this and let us get back together?" Jack Cavil said, leaning forward and trying to look like he cared what they thought.
"Well, for starters, you can stop lobotomizing the Raiders," a Number Eight said.
"Done," Jack Cavil said.
"You talk about restoring our unity. Well, we think it's time to restore our greater unity. To unite the twelve models once and for all. Even if that means a peace with the humans to get the final five out of their fleet," Natalie Six said.
"I don't think the others will accept this, but I'll make your case," Jack Cavil said consolingly, inwardly boiling with rage at Natalie's audacity.
"Please, escort him off the ship, Alpha 001," Natalie Six said, looking to one of the Centurions in the room.
"By your command," Alpha 001 Command Centurion said looking at Natalie, then turning to Cavil with his fellow Centurions in formation.
"You're going to find out you've opened Pandora's box and it's too much for you to handle before long Sister. We'll meet back here soon enough with a decision," Jack Cavil said, eyeing the Centurions, then walking out of the room with them escorting him to the hangar bay.
A few hours later
Cavil's forces jumped back into the system where the rebel baseships were holding out, sending out a message to begin their meetings on Natalie's baseship. The rebels allowed the lead baseship to get closer.
Natalie's Basestar CIC
"No Heavy Raider has been launched from the command ship," a number Eight reported.
"Problems with their launch systems?" Natalie Six asked.
"No response on communications questioning them about the issue," the number Eight replied.
The other baseships from Cavil's faction began moving forward to join the lead ship, crowding around the rebel basestars.
"Cavil's baseships are breaking formation, taking positions around our periphery," the number Eight reported in panic.
"They're going to attack," Natalie Six concluded, "Alert the others! We need to jump now!"
Cavil's baseships began launching missiles towards the rebel basestars. A blastwave from missiles impacting on Natalie's baseship shook her off her feet.
"Other baseships are reporting their FTL is down. Heavy damage is accumulating. They're firing back now, but it may already be too late," the number Eight said.
"No resurrection ship... Pretending to meet us for communications and they start attacking without warning... They're really trying to kill us!" Natalie Six said in outrage and fear.
Missiles fly from baseship to baseship. The rebels begin firing back sporadically, with several baseships already having a significant portion of their weapons taken offline and firings raging across their ships as damage continued accumulating. Three baseships in Natalie's force of twelve standard baseships exploded as more missiles found their mark, the detonations destroying the ships.
One heavily damaged baseship from Natalie's forces, facing imminent destruction from damage, launched forward defiantly and crashed into one of Jack's baseships. Both ships' munitions detonated and their reactors went critical from impact, the ensuing explosion consuming both ships.
Another three of the rebel's baseships were destroyed as swarms of missiles detonated across the ships.
With several of the rebels' ships having lost FTL, the rest refused to leave without them and the remaining basestars crowded together in a circle, Natalie's command ship in the middle, and combined their fire on the encroaching baseships from cavil's faction.
One of Cavil's baseships blew up as three rebel baseships focused their missile barrages at it. Cavil's baseships continued fighting the rebel baseships in a single pattern line, without combining their efforts.
Raiders jumped in around the rebel baseships at close range, and fired off nukes at the basestars. One basestar blew up as nuclear fire ravaged the ship, with two others barely remaining in one piece and returning fire to destroy the opposing raiders.
"Now Cavil's even using raiders to try and kill us?!" Natalie Six yelled in outrage.
"He's a monster," a number Eight said, tears streaming down her face as she continued to getting readings on the area from the datastream.
"Can't take much more Natalie," a Leoben Two said warningly, looking at damage reports among the baseship.
Natalie slammed her fist down on the table in frustration, unsure of what to do and unwilling to leave the others behind.
Cavil's Basestar CIC
"Just remember. They started it," Jack Cavil said consolingly, looking at the lone Eight among his faction as she watched the unfolding battle in dismay.
"But we're killing them. We're truly killing them. My own sisters..." Boomer Eight said in distress.
"They can trust their God to watch over their immortal souls," Jack Cavil said indifferently.
"What about ours?" Boomer asked, looking to Cavil pleadingly.
"We're machines, dear. Remember? We don't have souls," Jack Cavil said coldly.
Cavil's baseship shook as missiles from the rebel baseships found their mark and impacted across the ship's hull.
The two heavily damaged baseships in the rebel's formations blew up as they submitted to the barrage of missiles from Cavil's basestars and the heavy damage became too much to bear. Debris spread among the area, weakening Natalie's baseship as damage from the impact to the hull began appearing on the ship's sensors.
Natalie's baseship went dark as an especially large piece of debris impacted along the ship.
The other remaining rebel baseship maneuvered away from the graveyard of basestars from the rebel forces and launched every nuke and missile remaining in her bays. Two more of Cavil's baseships were destroyed as nukes sailed home and obliterated the ships. Trying to break away on sublight speed and preparing to jump out, the rebel baseship was hit hard by dozens of nukes in retaliation from Cavil's baseships. Initially bearing the brunt of the vicious assault, the rebel basestar eventually gave way under the heavy explosions ravaging the ship and detonated in a large explosion, damaging two nearby baseships from Cavil's faction.
Cavil's faction jumped away soon thereafter, leaving the graveyard of dead Cylon ships behind. Unknown to them, a heavily damaged baseship among the graveyard began moving again and jumped away when able, escaping the slaughter that occurred in the star system.