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Journey of Faith

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Summary: Following a wish from Alan Finch's vengeful widow, Faith Lehane finds herself deep beyond enemy lines of a war for Humanity's survival. Faith/Barolay

Categories Author Rating Chapters Words Recs Reviews Hits Published Updated Complete
Television > Battlestar Galactica > Faith-CenteredTheStonerGuruFR15740,1170143,11717 Jan 1328 Jan 13No

Occupation, Part 1

Journey of Faith collage

Journey of Faith


Disclaimer: Buffy is owned by either Joss Whedon or the Kuzui family. Battlestar Galactica is currently owned by Syfy and/or Ron Moore. Either way they aint mine, and I pray Disney never gets hold of them.

Los Angeles, 2005

”This woman, your husband's murderer, is living free. Doesn't that just burn you up?”

Cathryn Finch turned to look at her new friend and co-worker, Teresa Steinbeck. Her eyes blaze with anger at the memory of Faith Lehane's re-trial and acquittal, which she'd witnessed herself.

The past few days since the conclusion of said trial had been emotionally draining for the widow Finch, and her nerves were more than frazzled. Opening her mouth and closing it again several times as she struggles to gather her thoughts in the whirlwind of her mind.

“I hate her.” Cathryn finally gets out, and Teresa allows a small grin to grace her features.

“Don't you wish they'd just given her the death penalty the first time around?” the second woman presses, but Cathryn shakes her head.

“No. It would be too quick for her. I wish she has to experience loss and suffering a thousand times worse than I did when Alan died.” the widow unwittingly gives the vengeance demon exactly what she'd come for.

“Granted.” Teresa rasps, turning her now visably demonic features to face Cathryn, who lets out a bloodcurdling scream.


Faith let out a tired grunt as she dropped onto the bar-stool, her entire body sore from the fight she'd had just a few minutes prior with a particularly irritated nyxac demon.

“Lemme get a shot of whiskey, straight up.” the formerly dark slayer orders from the bartender as he comes around. She gives a small smile as he nods and moves away to get her drink.

“Have them put it on my tab.” Faith looks to her right to see a balding man in a fedora sitting a few stools away from her. Her eyes narrow as he tips his hat in her direction, and an uneasy look comes over his face as her own expression turns angry.
“Now, now... no reason to get excited here.” He says placatingly, as he realizes that he won't need to introduce himself.

“Whistler.” Faith growled low as her drink was placed in front of her, and she turned away to grab the shot and slam it back. “Angel told me about you.”

“Shouldn't be surprised I guess.” The balance demon replies with a shrug, keeping his gaze locked on her. “We need to talk.”

Faith grimaced as she felt the burning sensation of the whiskey as it travelled down towards her stomach, and indicated for the bartender to bring her another. “So talk.”

Whistler looks visibly uncomfortable as he takes a quick glance around the barroom.

“Okay, so here's the sitch. One of D'Hoffryn's 'employees' exacted a vengaence wish against you on behalf of a Cathryn Finch.”

Faith paled as she recognized the woman's surname, and her gaze falls downward for a moment as regret and guilt hits her. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Whistler intoned solemnly, hating his job for what was far from the first time. “The Powers have decided to give you a choice. Hard times lay ahead of you either way, but if you choose to accept a mission for the powers, we can make it that in the end, you'll have your redemption... and a little something extra if I can wing it.”

“Huh.” Faith remarked drolly, pulling her head up to look at the messenger. “I doubt this.. opportunity comes without a catch.”

Whistler gave her a stiff nod in response, and she let out a tired sigh. She turned away briefly, and grabbed up the new shotglass to quickly slam it back.

“Well, out with it then.” the Boston native demands feeling a bit tipsy as the buzz begins to build up within her.

“You won't be a slayer anymore, and you won't remember your life here.” Whistler informs her, and Faith gives him an incredulous look before turning her expression serious.

“I'll do it, but where the hell are you sending me?” She questions.

“You wouldn't have heard of it.” Whistler answers as their eyes meet once more. “There is one other catch that you should know-”

“No, there isn't.” Faith disagrees with a shake of her head. “You just told me that I won't remember my life here, so I'm not even going to even remember this conversation, am I.”

“Fair enough.” Whistler says, slowly rising from the stool, and preparing to leave. “If you want to say goodbye to your friends, do it before you go to bed tonight. When you wake up, your mission will have begun and you might not get the chance to see them again.”

Faith gave him a slow nod and watched as he tipped his hat to her, then turned on his heel and strode out through the front door. She remained on her stool motionless for a few moments, then reached back to pull her wallet from her pants' pocket.

She tossed a twenty dollar bill out and tosses it onto the bar, then follows the path that the Balance demon had taken just moments before.

Stepping out into the cold night air and onto the street, she pulled her pack of cigarettes from her jacket and took one out to press it between her lips. The slayer fumbles with the zippo lighter for a moment before successfully igniting it.

She begins the walk toward the hotel that she had been staying at since her official release from state custody a few days ago, and takes a deep drag of smoke into her lungs.

The walk to said hotel takes about fifteen minutes and she had just finished off her second cigarette when she reached the entrance. She tosses the cancerstick to the sidewalk in front of her, and crushes it underfoot before making her way inside.

Quickly crossing the lobby, she jumps into the empty elevator car on the far left just before the door closes, and jabs her thumb against the round button marked 13.

The ride is relatively short, stopping only once to pick up a middle-aged couple on the eighth floor, who were heading for the roof-top resturaunt. She gave them a polite nod as the car reached her floor and she stepped off onto her floor.

She makes her way down a couple hallways, and finally reaches her room. She unlocks the door and pushes it open to enter, and pulls it shut behind her. Once it's locked, she makes her way to the bed, dropping down heavily upon it, and a moment later she finds her gaze drawn to the telephone on the bedside table.

She stares at the communication device for a few long, almost agonizing moments, wanting to make good use of Whistler's advice, but not having the slightest clue as to how she was even going to say goodbye, or if any of them would even want to hear it.

Finally her hand reaches out and takes the phone from it's cradle. She holds it up to her face and uses her shoulder to keep it held up as she shakily reaches out to dial a number.

She listens to it ring four times before the click informs her the other end has been picked up.

“Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless.” Faith holds back a chuckle as she hears Gwen's voice on the other end, towing Angel's company slogan.

“Hey Gwen.” She greets amicably. “It's Faith, I need to talk to Angel.”

“Yeah, no problem. Give me a sec.” Gwen says and Faith hears her yell out in the background, clearly holding the phone away from her a bit.

A couple moments later she hears her mentor's voice come over the reciever.

“Faith?” The ensoulled vampire asks, not having expected to hear from her so late at night. “What's going on?”

Faith was silent for a moment, then steeled her nerves and decided to get down to the heart of the issue at hand.

“I got a visit from an old friend of yours.” She says, tears beginning to well up behind her eyes. “Whistler came to me with an offer from the Powers.”

“Oh.” Angel replies, never having really cared for the Brooklyn-accented demon. “I can come and help you with whatever he wants you to do.”

Faith felt a pain twisting in her gut, but forced herself to remain steadfast.

“No, you can't. Not this time.” She says, reaching up with her left hand and rubbing her sleeve against her eyes, which are starting to redden. “This is something I have to do on my own, and then I'll be squared with the whole redemption thing.”

“Are you sure?” The vampire asks her, his tone searching.

“Yeah.” Faith nods to herself, since Angel can't see her. “I don't know if you'll see me again, so I thought I might take advantage of the time I have to say goodbye.”

“Faith, I'm not gonna ask where you're going, if they've even told you. But as I'm not getting any older, I'll be sure to find you when you get back, if you don't find me first.” She hears Angel say, and feels her heart break a little bit.

“I love you Angel.” She whispers, barely audible to even the vampire. “Goodbye.”

She doesn't give him a chance to reply before disconnecting the call and returning the phone to the cradle. A couple moments pass, and then she breaks down in sobs, collapsing across the bed.

Within a half-hour, she'd cried herself to sleep and that's when everything changed for her.


~Occupation, Day One~

At the sound of the first explosion in the distance, Faith's eyes shot open and the on-leave viper pilot shot up into a sitting position on the bed she'd been laid on. For a couple moments she just sits motionless atop the matress and then another explosion goes off, this one sounding closer than the first.

Her eyes go wide and she more or less jumps off the bed to run over to the window of the small cabin she was staying in for the duration of her vacation from duty on the Battlestar Triton. She reaches the window in seconds and throws open the drawn curtains, filling the room with light from outside.

“Frak me.” She curses at the sight of the mushroom cloud on the horizon, pretty sure that it used to be the capitol city. She backs up a couple steps from the window, her expression horrified for a couple seconds before she burst into action.

She runs over to the closet and throws the door open, before reaching down and grabbing up her emergency pack, which she'd kept in the case she'd need to make a quick return to duty.

Faith swings the pack secure over her shoulder, and quickly vacates the cabin, heading down the wooded path to the east that led down to where her viper was 'parked' in the valley. She lets out another curse as another boom sounds off in the distance and she spins mid-stride, very nearly tripping over an upturned rock, but she manages to grab hold of a treetrunk to keep upright. She stays motionless for a couple seconds, then continues her run towards the valley lot.

Coming up to the valley at the bottom of the hill, she suddenly stops short and then throws herself into the brush at the forests edge, as she catches sight of several metallic beings standing amidst the docked ships. She hits the ground with a muted thud that she hopes isn't heard by what she is fairly certain were Cylons.

In a quick movement she rolls over onto her stomach and pulls her service pistol out of her waist holster, taking aim in the general direction of two of the ten or twelve foot tall robots that were milling around. She keeps herself from firing, knowing the odds were that she was vastly outnumbered and it was doubtful that rescue would be coming.

Her gaze falls upon a blonde woman in a blue jacket as the woman walks into view from where she'd been hidden by one of the docked ships. Faith's eyes widen with alarm and concern for the woman's safety, but she reins herself in from attempting to shoot and save the blonde's life.

Her decision is fortunate, as the woman walks right up to one of the cylons, no fear visible on her face as she says something that Faith cannot make out from where she's hidden.

A few moments later, it becomes fairly evident what had been said as the cylons and woman both begin the way up the path to where the cabins reside, passing right by Faith's hiding spot, no more than six to eight yards from the Colonial officer. She thanked her luck, and is about to move out to get to her viper when the explosives that had been attached to the various ships is remote activated.

Having just risen to her feet, Faith lets out a scream as the force of the explosion lifts her right off the ground to bounce off a tree a couple yards behind her.

“It's a human! Kill her!” Faith's head snaps to the right as she pulls herself up, and she finds that the blonde woman is staring directly at her.

The next few seconds are a blur of insanity, Faith jerks to the side as a bullet impacts her shoulder, thankfully missing anything vital, but still it hurt like a son of a bitch. She spins around to the other side of the tree, which would keep her from the line of fire for a moment or two, and takes sight of the cliff face about three dozen yards from her position. She knew that there was a deep river about forty feet below, and with a little luck she could make it to the edge, dive off and let the river carry her far enough away. She jerks a little bit as a bullet whizzes by her head, telling her that the cylons are moving around and knows if she doesn't move now, she's dead.

“See you in hell motherfrakkers!” She screams, and runs as hard as she can toward the cliff, firing her gun wildly behind her. In a few short seconds, she reaches her intended destination and flings herself from the top, falling the distance to the turbulant waters of the river below.

She hits the surface with a heavy splash and is dragged about fifty to sixty feet downstream before she breaks the airlevel again with a deep gasping breath.

Looking up as the currents carry her further away, she can see the blonde woman standing atop the precipice above, her eyes following Faith's journey until the brunette pilot is pulled around a bend and disappears from view.

After maybe fifteen minutes, she decides that she cant stay in the cold water much longer without risking serious health problems, and slowly paddles her way to the shore.

By the time she manages to pull herself onto the grainy sand, her shoulder is throbbing from the bullet wound. Shakily rising to her feet, she sees that the small beach is bordered by a paved road, and she can hear the sound of a truck's engine rumbling and growing louder with each passing moment.

The pain from her injury increases with each passing moment and step towards the road, and she stays conscious just long enough to see the truck come into view before collapsing in a heap just a few yards from the road.

It was dark outside when she regained consciousness with a shuttered gasp and panic in her eyes.

“Whoa, easy.” She hears someone say to her left, and slowly turns her head to face the speaker. “You were shot, and the stitches are still fresh. Wouldn't want to tear it back open.”

“W-who are you?” Faith manages to rasp out, her throat scratchy and dry.

“Brother John Cavil, it's an honor to meet you Lieutenant Lehane.” The middle-aged man introduces himself, pausing for a moment before speaking again. “Or do you prefer Nightshade?”

“Faith is fine.” The twenty-six year old viper pilot replies with a bit of hesitation, keeping in mind that the cylons were working with humans, and for all she knew this man could be one of them. “Where are we?”

“A lodge at the base of the Chamele range, with the radiation from the nuclear attack, going up into the mountains is the only safe option. At least until the fallout settles.”

“How's a priest get so knowledgeable about nuclear fallout?” Faith inquires, her tone belaying her suspicion.

“I was a medical assistant on the Columbia during the Cylon war, and we had a few patients that had been exposed quite badly. I daresay it wouldn't be recommendable that either of us get caught up in it.” The priest replies, his tone solemn.

“Are there any other survivors here?” 'Nightshade' presses as she pulls herself up into a sitting position and then bringing her left hand up to press against her bandaged shoulder. “Your work?”

“Yes. I apologize if there's any discomfort, admittedly I'm a bit out of practice but I got the bullet out.” Cavil tells her with sideways look as he rose from the chair he'd been sitting in. “There are a couple others in the front room, they picked me up about twenty minutes before we found you. One's a cop, grabbed the others when the first round of bombs fell, and fled here from Avens. It's been destroyed as well.”

He pauses for a moment, and to Faith it appears he is thinking heavily about something. After a long moment of silence, he speaks once more. “If we head south after the fallout settles, it'll be weeks on foot to reach Karn, but if we can get through the mountains, Delphi is maybe six days.”

“What, are you asking me where we should go?” Faith asks incredulously, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, and shakily rising to her feet. She turns to face Cavil, her eyes having lost a bit of the earlier suspicion, only to be replaced with uncertain disbelief.

“Of the five people in this building, we are the only two with any affiliation with the Colonial Army, and as I'm just a resigned medic, you have rank.”

“Frak that. I'm a pilot, not a commander.” Faith curses, shaking her head at the idea of giving orders to anyone.

“Be that as it may, you are the best hope of protection for us, at least for now. The others already know that you're an officer, they saw your tags when we found you on the side of the road. They're hoping that you'd know of a way to get off planet.”

“Sorry to get your hopes up, but those frakin' toasters blew up my ride.” Faith replied wistfully. “I'm just as lost as you, if this was a normal day I'd be on the Triton, in the fight.”

“If you were on the Triton, you'd be dead.” Cavil intones gravely, and Faith's head jerks to look at him, a horrified look on her face.

“Triton is..” She trailed off, the memories of all her friends and fellow pilots on the Battlestar that she'd called home for the past two years.

“The Fleet Acadamy on Picon and the Naval yards were destroyed in the attack. It was on the wireless while you were unconscious.”

A tear trailed down the side of Faith's face as she turned away, barely keeping herself from falling back upon the bed in her grief. Instead, she steels her nerves and when she speaks, her voice holds a new determination.

“We head for Delphi, and pray that there are more survivors, and maybe someone with real rank.” She tells the priest. “As ranking officer, I am officially putting a suspension on your retirement Brother. Welcome back.”

“Well I'd say glad to be, but given everything..” He doesn't finish his sentiments, he doesn't need to. Faith knows, and gives a curt nod. “And if we run afoul of the cylons?”

“Then it's the same thing as the first Cylon war, fight em until we can't.” Faith says, her tone now filled with resolve.

“So say we all.”

~Occupation, Day Four~

Faith had taken a few minutes to discuss things further with Cavil, inquiring as to the supplies that they had and what they needed, especially anti-radiation meds, which thankfully Cavil replied that the police officer, one James Foley, had managed to grab a couple of emergency packs when he and his fiance, Ava Carver had stopped at the police station on the run and had been joined by the other two members of their party of six.

One was a nineteen year old brunette named Anna Frost, who had been planning to join the Academy in a month, though it was clear that was now nothing more than a shattered pipe-dream. None the less, with a look Faith could tell that the girl was a born fighter, and immediately started making plans in her head to get her and anyone else interested in fighting back the proper training.

The second was Bodie Stone, a professional card player that was being held for his own protection when it had been discovered that he'd cheated a local casino out of several hundred thousand cubits. He'd been the only one of the four in the station's clink that was deemed safe enough to bring with them, the others being freed from the cells and left to make their own way, without a word of the travel plans of the four that had been there.

They had stayed at the lodge for the duration of the first night and began the trek through the Chamele range early in the dawn hours of the following morning.

Three days passed and they'd reached the apex of the Vanez peak, where they'd set up camp for the night. Faith had ordered James and Ava to take the first watch as the group settled in, and within twenty minutes she'd fallen asleep.

She was shaken awake a few hours later by Anna, who had taken over the shift with Bodie, and takes in the perturbed expression on the face of her fellow brunette.

“Wha'zz the matter?” 'Nightshade' asks, her voice laced with sleepiness and she shakes her head in an attempt to clear it.

“I'm not entirely sure that there's a problem, but Bodie just radioed in from his patrol, he spotted a fire about a click and a half from here, on the decline toward Delphi.” Anna informs the ranking officer of the small resistance. “He got closer and ascertained that the people who made the fire at least look human.”

“Yeah well, you heard that last transmission on the wireless. The frakkers look like us now, and as we're only six strong, we can't afford to take any chances.” Faith replied as she pulled herself to her feet and took a look around their small camp, taking in the slumbering forms of Cavil, James and Ava. “Wake the others and arm up.” She commands decisively. “Radio Bodie and tell him to hold his position until we get there, and we'll see about meeting our neighbors together.”

Anna gave a nod and moved off to the other side of the camp where the others were laid up.

Twenty-five minutes or so later, Faith and the others reached Bodie's location, where he'd hidden himself amidst a rocky outcrop to keep from the view of the other people in the area.

“Over here.” He'd hissed out as they'd approached, motioning for them to stay low to the ground as they got close. Faith deftly made her way right up to where Bodie was crouched, and clambered down next to him.

“How many did you count?” She hisses out, taking the binoculars that are offered out and moving slightly to get a good vantage point for a look at the makers of the campfire about a hundred yards in the distance.

“At the least five, but it is late, and there could be more sleeping out of sight that I missed.” the dark-skinned man replies, his voice sounding a bit unsure.

Faith let out an annoyed grunt, and considered her options for a few moments. Finally she comes to a decision in her mind and turns toward where the other four are waiting and motions for James to come over.

“What's the situation?” The cop asks as he drops into a crouch next to Faith.

“I”m going in blind. If they shoot me down, run like hell.” Faith tells him. “That happens, take the others and head east for a day, then head down the decline of the next peak. It'll take an extra three days to get to Delphi, but if I'm gone you'll have enough supplies to make it down.”

Faith moved to enact her announced plan, ducking out from the outcropping and hurrying into the treeline before either of the two standing with her can stop her.

Using the brush and trees as cover, she slowly makes her way around the potential enemies' camp to come up on them from the other direction.

When she was about thirty feet from the camp she decided to make her presence known, and ducks behind a thick tree trunk.

“Colonial officer coming out.” She called out in the direction of the camp, and as she listened to the small din it causes, trying to make out any specific voices and what was being said. “I won't shoot if you don't!”

She holds her firearm out in front of her, hanging loose from her grip in an attempt to appear as friendly as possible.

“Fine, come out.” A male voice calls out. “Try anything we don't like and we'll shoot though.”

“Fair enough!” Faith agrees and steps out from behind the tree and into the view of the people of the camp. A sweeping glance of the area ups Bodie's number to ten, with her call having served to awaken the second half of their entourage.

“Are you with the cylons?!” a second man demands with anger, standing a few feet from the first speaker. Both have guns aimed at her and she shakes her head negatively.

“I already told you, I'm a Colonial Officer.” Faith rebuts, trying to keep her annoyance down.

“Well excuse me for being suspicious, but on the way up here we saw identical triplets with a bunch of the toasters, so how do we know you aren't working with them?!”

“I guess you don't but if I was, do you really think I would risk my ass to come here alone?” Faith countered, staring at the man who'd spoken first unblinking, as she was fairly certain that he was the leader apparent. For an odd reason, he seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

“Got a name?” a lithe redhead standing behind the supposed leader asks, garnering looks from several of the others.

“Lieutenant Faith Lehane, formerly of the Triton.” Faith introduces herself after a slight pause. “Can we put the guns down?”

The 'leader' gaves her a hard stare for a couple more moments, and then slowly lowers his weapon. To Faith's relief, the others follow by example, and she takes the opportunity to reholster her own service pistol.

“You said that you saw humans working with cylons, but you didn't. Your triplets aren't human..” Faith trails off for a moment, trying to choose her next words carefully to avoid her potential new allies from panicking. “The cylons look like us now.”

“Gods.” She hears the redhead mutter softly, in the midst of looking around at the faces of the survivors around her, looking both shocked and horrified.

“Yeah.” Faith gave a curt nod in agreement and turned her attention back on the apparent leader. “So you got my name, only fair you tell me yours?”

The man is silent for a few moments, a reluctant look coming over his face as he finally speaks again.

“Samuel T. Anders.” He gives up and Faith's eyes widen in interest.

“Oh this is too good.” She lets out a throaty chuckle, and another look around the group allows her to identify. “Godsdamn stuck on a dead planet it with a bunch of guys that make a living tossing a ball around.”

Anders stares at her silently for a few more moments and then lets out a low chuckle himself, and thats when the mood changes, all previous tension fleeing the group.

~Occupation, Day Nine~

Faith had an severe look on her face as she sat at the dining table in the room she'd claimed for herself in the abandoned school just outside the Delphi city limits. A council of Faith, James, Cavil, Anders and the redhead, who she'd learned was named Jean Barolay, had convened and they'd decided to make the school into the base of operations for the burgeoning army of guerilla fighters. Spread out over the table in front of her were a number of maps that she was poring over, marking off specific places within the city that they could raid without alerting the cylons to their presence in the area. There would be a time and place to make said presence felt, but they needed more time. Right now it was about scavaging supplies and food, and finding as many survivors as they could. The ragtag army still currently only numbering sixteen, between the two groups that had merged following Faith's stand off with the Caprica City Buccaneers Pyramid team.

She tears her gaze away from the maps at the sound of a knock on the entry door to her 'quarters', and her eyes fall upon the door in question.

“It's open!” She calls out as she rises from her chair, and waits for whoever it is to come in.

She gets her answer a moment later as Jean Barolay enters and closes the door behind her. For the briefest of moments, Faith is thrown for a loop at the happy expression on the redhead's face.

“What?” The former Viper pilot demands, her voice belaying her confusion as to what there was to possibly be happy about.

“Anna and Bodie just got back from that recon on the storage depot.” Barolay replies, her voice lighter than Faith had heard in the near week since they'd met.

“Great, but that doesn't explain your near giddiness.” Faith points out, still in the dark.

“Probably because they didn't come alone, they found more survivors.” The redhead informs her with a slight smile.

Faith felt her own spirits lifting with Barolay's words, and she stammers slightly as she tries to form a coherent response. “H-how many?”

“Didn't get an exact number, but upwards of seventy, according to Bodie.”

“Shit.” Faith cursed despite herself, as the realization of what would entail keeping close to a hundred people fed and sheltered.

“Sir?” Barolay inquires, her voice low and tensed in response to Faith's outburst.

“We're going to need to sort out the able fighters, and press heavily on raiding the local stores, sooner and more than we'd anticipated, got a lot more mouths to feed now.” Faith decides, and Barolay gives a slow nod after a moment. “Did you see Sam or Foley hanging around?” The commander of the resistance asks, and recieves another nod.

“Foley was watching the road with Rally and Morris Fink, they covered the rear as Bodie and Anna brought the new group in. I saw Sam coming up from the other direction with Sue-Shaun and the doc when I was coming to tell you.” Barolay answers, and Faith motions for her to follow as the former pilot strides out of her quarters and out the front doors where a decently sized crowd has formed.

Faith is speechless for a long, almost agonizing moment, her eyes taking in the new faces that were staring back at her, some filled with a renewed hope, but all with the same weariness. Her sweeping gaze pauses for a moment as one face in particular catches her attention, but she quickly continues her scan.

As she finishes her examination of the arrivals, she glances skyward for a brief moment and mutters a prayer to the Lords of Kobol that they could somehow get through the days ahead. Lowering her eyes to ground level, she bursts into a stride towards the truck that one of the C-bucs had brought back from a raid on a farm a few miles to the west. She climbs up onto the back of the flatbed and her gaze once more falls upon the crowd. She stands silently for a moment before finally opening her mouth to speak.

“We thought that we were safe, that the Colonial Fleet would always be around to protect us from any threat, be it cylon or human. Nine days ago we discovered just how wrong our assumptions were. Nine days ago, the fleet which we have come to rely so hard upon, was obliterated with the barest of effort on the part of our enemies. Our greatest fears have been more than surpassed.” She pauses for a moment, feeling her resolve waver slightly, but pushes her nerves down and plows on. “The Cylons have come back, and now they look like us. I don't know what the future holds, and I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers, but I swear to you on the eternal souls of my ancestors that I will do my damnedest to get us through this.”

Faith pauses once again, turning to give Barolay a quick look, and a moment later the redhead gives her nod that belays assurance.

“My name is Faith Lehane. I am, or rather was a Lieutenant serving on the Battlestar Triton. I stand before you all today and I beg forgiveness. Forgiveness for the lack of a proper response by the Colonial Army before it was too late. We've all suffered unbearable loss, and will no doubt suffer more. But we can not allow our grief to control our fate, if we do then the Cylon's victory will have been total and our race will fade from memory. This WILL NOT STAND!” She pauses for a couple seconds and then continues. “We fight back, until our last man breathes his last breath. We will not give up, and we will NEVER accept defeat!”

Seeing that the crowd has nearly worked themselves into a frenzy, she throws out one final exclamation and cheers echo off the side of the abandoned school behind where she was standing in the truck bed.

“Welcome to the Resistance!” She yells out, and raises her clenched fist skyward. The assembled group roars in approval and many more fists shoot up to mirror Faith's proclamation.

Nightshade remained standing there for a few long moments with her fist raised before she finally drops it and turns to hop off the truck. As soon as her feet hit ground again she makes her way back to where she'd left Barolay standing, finding that Anders, Foley, Ava and Brother Cavil have joined her.

“Sam, I need you to have the C-Buc's get these people settled, the auditorium should be big enough for a temporary refuge.” Faith requests, her eyes meeting the Pyramid star, who gives a quick nod. Faith glances back at the crowd for a moment, her eyes seeking out the face of interest from earlier, she wanted to be completely sure.

With a second look, she's convinced and turns back to the others. “Foley, Ava. I need you to stay with the tall blonde woman with the singed red shirt, don't let her out of your sight.”

“Why?” Ava asks from where she was standing next to her now husband, who Cavil had joined in a short ceremony two days prior when they'd gotten clear of the mountains.

Faith is silent for a moment, her eyes conflicted. “Because she's a dead-ringer for the bitch that helped blow up my viper and ordered the godsdamn cylons to shoot me on the first day. Bitch is one of 'em.”

She pauses briefly as she considers their options. “Forget watching her. While the C-bucs are getting everyone else inside to get settled, I'm going to take her out into the woods and shoot her in the head.”


To Be Continued....
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