" Raven battle group within weapons range,arm all weapons.........Those who live by the sword shall die by many........prepare to move omega basestar to within lethal range,nuclear trigger armed.........The messenger of victory shall be the bearer of bad news........Prepare to launch all raider groups for mass attack........He who laughs last shall shed no tears..End of Line."

Several weeks after the end of the Kronos Battle,Cylon Model Zero has finally caught up with the Raven and her Fleet; How did they find them..Infiltrators? A question for another time....

Model Zero's Fleet of 10 ships fills the DRADIS of every ship in the Battlegroup...

" ACTION STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS! SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE FLEET! LAUNCH THE ALERT FIGHTERS! ALL SHIPS WEAPONS ACTIVATE!"

The Raiders strike first;Those who break through the wall of vipers sent out to meet them concentrate on the Raven and the other capitol ships,Railguns blazing against them...

But what are the basestars waiting for...? Soon,they have their answer:

The Omega Basestar,actually, A Hades class basestar left over from the first war over 40 years ago, Converted into A 100 Megaton Nuclear Bomb,designed to be placed in the middle of A major fleet or facility and detonated,causing massive destruction and damage to it's intended target; The Raven Air Wing encountered such A ship while probing A starless void years ago;The Detonation of the ship at the entrance to the void sealed it up.

Many of these basestars were converted as such;There are unconfirmed reports of one being used to obliterate Colonial Fleet Headquarters on Picon.

Now, Cylon Model Zero has the Raven Battlegroup in her sights;Two of the newer Basestars flank the Omega,controlling it,moving it towards The Battlegroup,while the Raiders distract the bulk of the fleet;The other basestars begin opening fire to further distract them....

" Distance closing ...prepare to detonate.."

However, Alarms scream on the Raven...

" RADIOLOGICAL ALARM!........THAT THING IS LARGE BOMB!"

Admiral Dragonlady puts an immediate call:

" RAVEN TO FLEET,CONCENTRATE ALL FIRE ON THE LARGE BASESTAR.....EVERY GUN AND MISSILE!"

Every armed ship opens up on the omega..but it still keeps coming....

Unknown and unseen,one of the Raven's stealth craft,known as 'Blackbirds', Jumps to just underneath the omega;The Pilot is Lt. Kelly 'Kellbell' Ranson,daughter of Cdr.'Leonidas' of the Gunstar Trireme, and  Capt.Alice Ranson,Chief Engineer of the Battlestar Themistocles; Kelly carries A Tactical Nuke to try to stop the omega before it gets any further; She lines up on the target,aiming for the large ventral vent underneath...she arms and fires....the missile flies dead center up the vent...she then jumps out quickly...

The omega shudders....as if having stomach problems.....then....

The omega disintegrates in A massive fireball,sending chunks of debris in every direction;The first the feel it are the two flanking basestars;One is destroyed,the other is severely damaged and drifts away from the battle zone; Unfortunately, some Colonial ships are hit too; The Battlestar Themistocles suffered the worst damage,and is crippled;Even worse, she is isolated;Model Zero aboard her ship sees this,and decides to pick the helpless Themistocles off; She touches the matter stream and fires A missile...

Most of the command crew on the Themistocles are already dead;The ship is drifting helplessly,no chance will she receive help in time; Alice Ranson,the last officer alive,grabs the intercom:

" All hands ABANDON SHIP!....REPEAT,ALL HANDS TO ESCAPE RAPTORS....ABANDON SHIP!"

She repeats the order several times..it is even heard in the fleet...

Then....the Cylon missile finds it's target.....

Themistocles dies in flames

Only Two Raptors manage to launch in time....

On the Gunstar Trireme,Cdr. Leonidas drops his PA phone as he now realises his wife is gone...

Kelly,who just jumped back to the fleet,watches in horror as she flies past A chunk of debris with the name 'THEMISTOCLES'...

" Mom!  oh, gods no...!"

Cylon Model Zero withdraws her fleet...thinking she has crippled the Raven Battlegroup beyond repair;She will finish them off later....

The shock passes...The Battlegroup recovers and begins to asses the damage...and the Losses...

The Two Themistocles Raptors land aboard the closest ship..the Trireme; Aboard are just 23 survivors...some needing medical attention;The Raven is requested to send A shuttle to the Trireme to transfer the badly injured to the Raven.

One of the Raptor pilots is Lt. Ali 'Covergirl' Larter;Leonidas trained her when he was on the Themistocles years ago;At that moment,he had slight hope perhaps....?

Covergirl just shook her head " I'm sorry sir.....she didn't make it...she gave the order to abandon ship...but never got to A raptor...I'm truly sorry..."

KellBell piloted the shuttle from the Raven and had just landed;She was looking for her father;Then found him and covergirl in the hangar deck;The look on their faces confirmed the worst for her; She fell on her knees,sobbing;Leonidas picked up his daughter and took her into A tool room..

" Listen to me Kelly....There will be time for tears later...right now, all of what is left of the human race needs to stand together and fight like hell to survive...right now, let that sorrow turn into purpose..."

" You're right,dad...absolutely.....I vow before the Gods that I will KILL every Damn Toaster in existence...until there are no more.."

" ....Good...."

How much more tragedy can the men and women of the Raven Battle Group endure?

As much as it takes...

 Music for this particular Episode: youtube.com/watch?v=JKBmE8sD_fo