A United Land

         "To be alone, to have your life in your own hands, to use your skills, single-handed, against the enemy. It was like the lists of the Middle Ages, only the sphere in modern warfare where a man saw his adversary and faced him in mortal combat, the only sphere where there was chivalry and honor. If you won, it was your own bravery and skill; if you lost, it was because you had met a better man."

                            -Cecil A. Lewis

         Discord sat in the front section of the Galactica with the rest of the Marines, ready for the assault. Discord was in his general outfit, armed with a machine gun. Several "red stripe" centurions went with them, to fool the defenses.

          "This is the Admiral. Just so there are no misunderstandings later. Galactica's seen a lot of history. Been through a lot of battles. This will be her last. If we don't fail her, she will bring us home. And if we don't, it doesn't matter anyway. Action stations!"

          *eerk! eerk! eerk!*

          "Start the clock."

          "Start the clock!"

          "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Mark!"

         *heerrkszzkt!*

         Jumping right in front of the guns of the massive space station, Galactica revived a pounding from the guns, but Ace, using his Cylon installed wireless command signal, shut them off.

         Galactica and the ships all received FTL upgrades from the Cylons. A combination of Colonial accuracy and Cylon Red Line tech, the range and accuracy of both the Rebel Basestar and the Colonial FTL improved drastically. Ace, temporarily Galactica's hybrid, could signal any Cylon go stand down and do his bidding.

         "They'll be launching raiders any minute."

         "Launch all Vipers and Shooting Stars! And Ace!"

         Vipers, Shooting Stars, and a distinct Biomech sped out, ready to defend the battered Battlestar.

         Raptors made a direct jump from the flight pods to several miles away, the team that would take a second assault team, including Sharon Valerii.

         "All ahead, flank speed! Three, two, one, hit it!"

         "All hands, brace for impact."

        Discord felt that he wasn't going to make it that day, and told Ace to go whisper "The task is complete" in Derpys ear, if he died.People and ponies all were slammed into the ground. The ship rocked and rolled, trying to find the easiest way through the wall. The ship suddenly stopped, and the marines along with Discord and the Red Stripe Centurions lept down onto the ground after the doors opened.

       "Here they come! Let's get em'!"

       Ace fired everything he had at anything Cylon that came across his path. Constantly changing directions, he understood why Viper pilots were literally bred to fly. He was Equestria's finest fighter pilot, but he would have been only counted as a nugget by the colonials. The big guns finally began to fire, taking down plenty of Raiders, but several were destroyed by Cylon missiles.

       The raptors finally made it to the roof of the colony, and cut holes in it to allow the assault team in. Any small bit of a disturbance got a bullet. The red stripe 008 centurions fought with the older 005 Cylon war era models, punching, kicking, shoving, and shooting.

       *boom!*

        "Cylons just blew a hole on deck 21! Frakking centurions are pouring in!"

       Ace went head in with a raider. His screen was broken, his wings were filled with bullet holes and multiple scorch marks adorned his body. But he didn't care. Ramming the Raider, it split apart, but he was fine. His compact and strong body took the shock.

       As the assault team slowly went further in, a number eight suddenly came around the corner with the girl.

       "Hold up!"

       "Here she is."

       "Doesn't change anything you did though!"

       "No. We all make choices. Today, I made my biggest. I think it's my last."

        "We need to get out of here!"

        "Your raptors are destroyed, you cannot go back that way."

        "Yeah, that's not the plan."

        "Can you not tell her the plan?"

        Sharon locked and loaded her gun. Then she shot the number eight.

         "I repeat, we need marines on deck twenty one to repel the attackers!"

         Discord popped right in. "Chill out, bro! I got this!"

        He teleported in front of the centurions with a shotgun. Cocking it, he said. "I hope you heard my last wish, Ace."

        Ace was in a rolling fight with a raider. "Come on, come on!" Suddenly hearing the report of needing support in deck 21, he put in coordinates and jumped in. It was already too late to save Discord, and Cavil's centurions already shot several of the retreating marines. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were losing.

        In the CIC, Cavil realized he was in enemy territory a bit too late. Holding a gun to the girl, he said "Just give me the girl and no one gets hurt." He began to inch away.

         "Cavil, we're not gonna let you get away with this."

         "She is the key to the survival of my people."

         "She is also the key to the survival of humanity."

          Everyone had a gun pointed at him.

           "They're pulling back!"

           "It's a trick!"

           The Cylon humans opened fire, but Cavil turned tail to try and run off with the girl. Ace suddenly leapt in, and fired a burst into Cavil. He fell dead.

            Lt. Edmundson and Lt. Mccall flew a recon mission earlier. With debris hitting the raptor, the atmosphere was destroyed and the pilots suffocated.

            Another rock hit the raptor, and Mccall's hand hit the launch for the nuclear tipped warheads below the aircraft. They impacted the Colony, and the explosion rocked it from it's low orbit over a black hole.

            Galactica began to shake uncontrollably. "Starbuck, jump the ship!"

            Kara ran to the FTL computer. "I don't know the rendezvous point!"

            "Doesn't matter! Just jump us out of her now!"

            She suddenly remembered a song she used to play on the piano when she was little. The Cylon song, it was. Pressing in the numbers, Kara thought of the song and the numbers she assigned to them.

           1123.6536.5221

          She placed the key in the socket, then turned it.

          "Jump, dammit, jump!"

         *heerrkszzkt!*

         *ba-boom...*

          The ship shook and buckled, throwing off Vipers, Shooting Stars, and Landrams. Everyone on board, even Ace, were thrown onto the floor. After a while, the ship finally settled down, and the six sublight engines started up again. Amazingly, the ship was in one piece.

           Kara was still holding the key. Moving away, she looked at the others. People and ponies were picking themselves up.

           "Damage report!"

           "We're losing air. She has red lines through her lateral structures. She's broken her back, she'll never jump again."

           Ace nudged Kara's leg. She looked down at him. He didn't seem to be faring off better than the ship. "Where have you brought us, Kara?"

           She just looked at everybody.