Prologue

For a near seventy-six hours, the Marathon-class Cruiser Bolt of Zephyr drifted aimlessly. Its crew was slain, save one man, gripping onto the edge of consciousness as he lay on the bridge with the fallen crew. The ship's sensors detected an unknown contact, Corvette sized...

A Heavy Raider recently launched from the Baseship made soft seal with one of the Cruiser's airlocks and dispatched the Cylon group within.

As they explored the derelict, they frequently paused to note the peculiar design and markings of the ship, as none of it was familiar to them.

A Six and an Eight made their way through the corridors, flashlights in hand, finally reaching what looked to be the mess hall, with spent clips, shells, blood and dozens of bodies littering the area.

As they analyzed the bodies, they took note of the insignias and uniforms they wore, which were as equally mystifying as the ship.

"Some of these people weren't shot..." the Eight said, as she found two tiny puncture marks on the neck of one of the victims, and the same wounds on another. "...but how could someone have gotten close enough to stab them?" she murmured.

"Dog tags," the Six said as she found said items in the possession of a dead female marine, who from what the Six saw, looked to be in her late twenties. "S. Dante," she read.

"All of these others have them too," the Eight said. "This is a military ship."

"From where?" The Six wondered. Before the Eight could comment, a soft bang was heard from one of the exits.

"Did you hear that?" said the Six. The Eight nodded.

They followed the sound through the exit, noting the arrow marking the path to the bridge. A second bang confirmed the location of its source.

When they entered the bridge, with weapons drawn, they found the remnants of a gunfight. Numerous bullet holes were spotted, along with blood sliding down to the floor. The lighting was considerably low.

The Eight took note of some of the bodies, particularly the ones who suffered the same wounds as a number of the Marines in the mess hall.

As the Six explored the bridge, she found a body next to a rather large view screen, which lit the surrounding space in red, projecting the words "Alert Alpha."

"Looks like the commander," the Six guessed from the pips he wore.

"More spent shells, the clips in these guns are missing some bullets," the Eight observed. "It...seems as though they killed each other."

"A mutiny..." the Six commented as she looked over the view screen and the rather complex control panel that held it.

When she heard a faint knock from behind her, she turned to find another crew member near the commander's body, lying against the wall. She checked the body, and found a pulse.

"This one's alive!" She said.

Thirty minutes later, the survivor was brought aboard a Basestar, given a quarantine shower and afterwards examined by the Number Four, Dr. Simon O'Neill. An IV tube linked his arm to a reserve of basic nutrients, while another machine monitored his pulse, blood pressure and brain activity.

The Number Six known as Natalie Faust stood near the bedside, looking over her first human subject since the Holocaust. By majority rule, she was assigned the task of extracting the location and affiliation of the vessel he was stationed aboard, as some of the Cylons already suspected that it may not have been of Colonial origin.

The human looked rather young, and couldn't have been older than nineteen or twenty. He had dark brown hair, and looked rather lean, likely the result of malnourishment during his stay aboard the mysterious warship.

As she considered what kind of rank and position the human could possibly hold, she began to wonder if this one would be of any use to the Cylons.

After consulting with EmeraldReporter, it was agreed that this prologue needed to be revised, as future scenes regarding this ship and the...incident that occurred here have been retconned.