We are on Tauron, forty two years ago, in the final hours of the Cylon War. A scientific compound is under attack; blasted by mortar fire, through the wisps of mist and smoke we can see Centurions bearing down on its perimeter as the last Colonial troops fall back from the overwhelming assault. Inside a laboratory inside, there are three men, the oldest in his mid twenties, the youngest in his late teens and none other than a young Viktor Perseun. The eldest of the Perseun brothers shouts at the middle son to hurry; the latter is desperately trying to retrieve data from the network and cursing the system’s speed. Suddenly, a volley sounds from down the corridor and the first brother drops; the second grabs a rifle and begins firing wildly at the Centurion as it strides into the room. It falls, but a moment later, there is a concussion and the roof caves in. Viktor runs to his dying brother’s side to start digging him out of the debris when, with horror, he realises the Centurion is not dead, only damaged, shot and half-crushed. A blade emerges from the Centurion’s arm and we watch Viktor scream as it slides into and down his leg…

An older Viktor Perseun sits bolt upright in bed, emerging from the dream of those events, three years previously. Hearing him awake, his father enters the room; the two talk about the Gods and life after death; Hector Perseun grows angry at the idea that their lost family might still exist somewhere and changes the topic, showing Viktor about his latest project: to replace his son’s crude prosthetic with an artificial leg modelled on those of the Colonials’ one time foes.

Eddard Stanton is promoted to Commander as the fleet continues its flight to Chiron, locating en route an ocean planet designated ‘Circe’. A wing of Vipers and Raptors are dispatched to investigate possible resources when a Cylon baseship jumps in, separating the two groups of ships, and opens fire on the fleet. At that moment, another Battlestar jumps in: the Charybdis, one of the other four ships reported to have survived the holocaust. Together, the Battlestars make short work of their assailant.

The Commander of the Charybdis tours the Myriad, expressing distaste that Cylon prisoners like Nereus were kept alive; this proves to be a ruse, however, when the entire command crew of the fleet visits the Charybdis. Their Raptor is disabled by the CNP as it lands and another baseship jumps in, forcing the fleet to jump to standby co-ordinates. Another two baseships follow immediately, trapping and boarding the fleet before their FTL engines can respool. Aboard the Charybdis, squads of Centurions secure their prisoners. Nicholai Crane arrives and notifies them of the truce between human and Cylon, demanding their unconditional surrender, but not before the command crew has been introduced to the final two unknown Cylons. As numbers One and Three enter the flight pod, the Colonials realise with horror that Althea is, and always has been, a Cylon agent.

The ship is occupied, its ordinance and small arms removed and a Command Navigation Program installed. All civilian ships, FTL keys removed, are garrisoned with Centurions. The fleet databanks are captured, but not before the 2^nd Officer, Thanus, deleted the co-ordinates for Chiron; his refusal to surrender, however, is met with a death sentence. Nereus is found dead in his cell, an apparent suicide. Stanton and Zetes are threatened into co-operation, accepting when they learn that the crew of the Charybdis were systematically executed until they agreed to collaborate. The Battlestar Myriad belongs to the Cylons.

But not all is well in the Cylon ranks. Nicholai Crane is warned that he is considered corrupted and must find something aboard the Myriad that the Cylons desperately need. Meanwhile, Althea Ward, who had been unaware of her true nature, is debriefed, but the Cylons are unable to restore her former personality; she is  made liaison to the human fleet. Dorian tells Stanton about her special projects with Nereus and Perseun, as well as the Cylon technology to which she has had access. She also informs him that she is pregnant and Darius is the father.

Furik is still allowed to train his new pilots but the Cylons use this as an excuse to test his khamala-enhanced abilities; these confirmed, he is taken to the baseship and tortured. But there are plans in motion against the occupiers. Dorian locates a cache of Variant weapon supplies even as Stanton is introduced by Stefan Holtz - himself a Variant - to the dozens of Variant Cylons hiding among the crew. They will save the Myriad for a price: a Free Zone within it to call their own. Perseun works with Ward to continue developing technology to give the Cylons dreams and subconscious differences, thus breaking their model-based uniformity. Even as he proposes this, Gamma 569, whose intelligence inhibitors he was trying to remove, surges into full sentience. Together, Perseun and Ward convince him to bring the original Centurions into the fight against the Cylons; Gamma 569 agrees, but only if Perseun will free and then give Resurrection to his fellow slaves.

Weeks pass. Perseun begins broadcasting his signal to interfere with the Cylons’ minds, even as they make him the token Governor, fooled by Gamma 569 into thinking the Doctor compliant. Dorian continues organising an insurgency, stockpiling weapons, creating a cell network, and working to paralyse the CNP and Centurions long enough for an attack to take place. She meets with Rex Corvallo, working underground in the fleet, who commits to reacquiring the fleet FTL keys from the Cylons with help from Sheryl Timuc, who has turned on her people. However, there are other efforts in motion. Ward is contacted by members of the Cylon Main turned renegade by Perseun’s signal; they tell her the Cylons are looking for something aboard the Myriad and will share all their secrets if they are permitted to flee aboard the Battlestar. Stanton visits the Charybdis and discovers that the 1^st Officer, Peter Ephesian, is a Variant; they discuss plans for the two Battlestars to co-ordinate an attack on their occupiers.

Aboard the baseship, tortured and drugged, Furik cracks and tells the Cylons about the Variant experiments on he and Jena. When his other hallucinations fade, one remains: a vision of Nicholai Crane that only he can see. But even as he is returned to the Myriad, Dorian is black-bagged and taken away. The Cylons have the lynchpin of the insurgency and sooner or later, she too must surely be broken…

Survivors: 2,794

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