The Fall
Zoe had been living a secretive life on Caprica for forty years. According to her credentials, she was now almost sixty. Zoe was working with the Colonial Ministry of Defense on coding a new piece of defense software called the CNP. Zoe had decided the best thing she could do was work in a field that would help stop another Cylon war. The work was difficult but not because of the coding, which was rudimentary next to Zoe's talents. The main problem was her supervisor.
She was working under an arrogant man named Gaius Baltar. Zoe didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, which was considerably less now than when she was a robot. Gaius didn't appreciate the work of anyone other than himself and on top of that, Zoe was fairly sure, his accent was fake.
Zoe was working late one night when Gaius came sneaking in after hours. There had been rumours of him having a romantic affair with someone but Zoe didn't know any details. She listened carefully as the two came in whispering in hushed tones.
"Okay. I told you I could get you in to the defense mainframe," Gaius said, "just hurry up and get the information you need for your employers."
"I need your authorization codes," Zoe heard the woman accompanying him say.
"Alright, but hurry this up, we aren't supposed to be here," Gaius said, "my authorization codes are..." Zoe decided now would be a good time to come out of hiding.
"Your authorization codes are what?" Zoe asked.
"None of her concern," Gaius said giving Zoe a reassuring smile, "what are you doing here so late Miss...?"
"Silverrock," Zoe said, "I always stay in late, it's a habit of mine. The real question is, what are you doing here? I never see you around at these late hours."
"Yes, well, I'm always trying to do my part for Colonial society," Gaius said, "the Cylons don't sleep, why should I?"
"Who's your...?" Zoe began but was shocked when she saw the face of Gaius' companion. Zoe instantly recognized the tall blond woman that was based on her. The Number Six standing before Zoe obviously had not recognized her. But then, why should she?
"Just a friend," Gaius tried to assure Zoe.
"A friend with security clearance I hope," Zoe said after finally coming to her senses. At this the reassuring smile that Gaius was giving her dropped.
"Look Miss Silverrock, how many Cubits do you need for this to go away?"
"It's not about the Cubits Dr. Baltar, its about keeping the Twelve Colonies safe from any future attacks by the Cylons."
"Come on. You must need the money to pad your pension."
"I can't be bought out Baltar."
"It can't just be the Cylons. I mean, do you really believe they’re are going to try that again? We beat them, they flew off with their cybernetic tails between their legs, end of line."
"Actually," Zoe said looking at the Number Six in front of her, "I think a Cylon attack may be closer than you would think." Zoe turned and walked away.
"You'd better watch yourself!" Zoe heard Gaius yell behind her, "this isn't over! If you say anything, my lawyers will make you wish you had accepted my Cubits!"
"I'm sure you'll try," Zoe said, "but I'll be sure they have you shot for treason first."
Zoe left the building. She drove back to her home in Delphi. That night, however, Zoe couldn't get any sleep. All she could think about was the woman that Gaius had betrayed the human race to.
Gaius watched Zoe carefully until the CNP had been released, making sure that she was too preoccupied with other work to tell anyone what she had seen. Finally, one day, Gaius was in an interview. Zoe took her chance to talk to one of the lead scientists on the project, Dr. Amarak.
Dr. Amarak was usually quite a light hearted old man. He was usually found wandering the aisles of computer banks and looking over people's shoulders at what they were working on. Lately, however, the CNP had taken its toll on Amarak. They had just managed to get the finished program to the fleet on schedule. Knowing how stressful the work had been on him, Zoe was hesitant to tell him what she had seen. But she had to warn him of the threat.
"You think the Cylons are going to attack?" Amarak asked incredulously after listening to some of Zoe's claims, "what makes you say that?"
"I've been checking the code for the CNP. There are clear back doors for entry," Zoe said, "I can even show you." She handed him a tablet computer she had been working on. He took a good long look at the tablet before speaking again.
"The same back doors are in our defense mainframe," Zoe said.
"If this is true," Dr. Amarak said, "then how would the Cylons have gained entrance?"
"I think it might have been Gaius sir."
"Baltar? What makes you say it was him?"
"He has a relationship with some woman that I've never seen before."
"So? Just because he's got a girlfriend doesn't make him a Cylon agent."
"He brought her in late one night to have a look at the defense mainframe. She may have been here multiple times since then. I think she might be using him to gain entrance."
"So you believe he unwittingly let a Cylon agent open back doors to our defense mainframe?"
"Just think about it. Gaius specializes in medical and biological technology. He must not have been able to finish his code in time so he asked his Cylon agent girlfriend for help."
"So he gave her his authorization codes in return for her help on the CNP."
"Yes, it's the only explanation for the new lines of code."
"Okay, I believe you. But what can we do now? The CNP has already been released to the fleet."
"Get off world," Zoe said, "find the fleet and tell them to shut down their wireless networks.”
“Won’t that cripple the fleet?”
“No, Battlestars have always had redundant manual back-ups in case of a loss of their navigational network."
"Alright," Amarak said, "you find President Adar and let him know what's happening. I think I heard that there's a ship called the Olympic Carrier in the spaceport. I'll see about arranging transport."
"Go. If anything happens here, I'll be sure to get away," Zoe said. Amarak left quickly.
It didn't take too long for Zoe to learn that her fears had been founded. News soon came in about an opening attack by the Cylons on Pycon. Adar attempted to negotiate a cease fire to no avail. Zoe had just managed to arrive at the main government building on Caprica when she saw the first of the space-born missiles launched from orbit. The missiles split apart into many smaller rockets. Each rocket flew through the air, spreading its nuclear payload throughout the planet's atmosphere and filling it with radioactive ash. Zoe could only watch in horror and wait for it all to end.
But it didn't end for her. As the nuclear missiles hit the capital city, Zoe was overwhelmed by the searing pain of death. But death for her wasn't Heaven or a final void.
Zoe found her consciousness floating in the endless code of the Cylon Datastream. Her consciousness had been caught by a Resurrection Ship but their was no body for her to be placed in. The Six was close, but Zoe's body had been grown by the Final Five specifically for her and no official model had ever been made.
The memories and personality that made Zoe who she was floated around in the Datastream for what seemed like an eternity. She was surprised to realize that the Cylon Datastream was a direct descendant of the Colonial V-world and that her sixteen year old avatar, which she was now represented by, was still on file. Zoe eventually learned to move through the Datastream of her own accord.
Being an unusable piece of data, Zoe had been carried a great virtual distance from the Resurrection Hub's database. She felt she needed to find her way back there for reasons she couldn't explain other than a gut feeling that she would find someone there that could help.
On her way, Zoe managed to find out a few things about the outside world. She learned that Amarak had been unsuccessful in reaching the fleet before the attack and that the Olympic Carrier had been destroyed after it had been taken over by Cylon agents.
Zoe was surprised by what she found about the remnants of the human fleet. The majority of the fleet was made up of civilian ships and was protected by the Battlestar Galactica under the command of Bill Adama. Zoe smiled remembering Adama as a boy. He had said even back then that the Cylons would look human and they would wind up at war. It was amazing just how right he was.
Zoe also found out that the Final Five were hidden, apparently as sleeper agents, amongst the Colonial Fleet although their identities had been shrouded in mystery by John Cavil.
As Zoe moved through the Cylon Datastream, she was also able to help the humans in fights. Zoe managed to slow the thoughts of the Hybrids controlling the Basestars during key battles. Zoe walked through the Cylon Datastream as a guardian of the humans, unseen and unheard.