AFTERMATH : THE JOURNEY BEGINS

          "Damn, where could he have gone?" Rodolphus asked as they reentered the elevators after searching the final residential level.

           "You think he may have gone to one of the lower levels?"  he asked after nearly a centar of searching.

          They had been searching for the boy after seeing him chase after his mechanical daggit his uncle had asked the R & D department to design after learning of his depression of losing the real one in the attacks on Caprica.

          Rodolphus shook his head.  "I don't see how. The other levels are off limits to guests."

          "Yes, they are," came the response as he looked at the control pad beside the door, "and I have been wondering WHY those floors are restricted.  What are the Ovions hiding?" 

           "Let's find out.  Stand back,"  Rodolphus drew his laser suddenly, firing a single, low-level shot at the control panel, exposing the wiring behind it.  Pulling at several, he picked out two, and cut them.  "So, which level would you like to look at, darling?"

          Roark grinned, stepping up beside him.  "Let's see what's on the lowest level."

          "The lowest level it is," he said, tying the two wires together to start the elevator moving.

          After a few moments, it stopped and the doors opened into a stone corridor, veins of crystalized Tylium running through it, lit with small wall lights.  Stepping off the elevator, they began to follow the passage, hearing what sounded almost like moans

          "What a lovely place," came wryly.

           "Well, except for what sounds like moaning, it does have a certain... ambiance."

          Rodolphus chuckled as they came to a three-way split.  They stopped, looking at each one.  "Well, which one shall we take?"

          Suddenly the sound of a mechcal barking reached them from down the middle tunnel, deciding for them.  "There you are,"  Roark said upon spotting the seven-year-old.

          He turned as soon as he heard his voice, looking relieved to see them.  "Hi, Mr. Lestrange."

          Roark shook his head.  "You know better than this, Boxey.  You could have been lost down here for a very long time if Dolph and I hadn't come looking for you."

          He grinned up at them.  "Naw.  Muffy would have found us--"

          He broke off suddenly when the daggit was up and issuing mechanical growls, the sound Roark and Rodolphus knew well reaching their ears.

          Drawing his laser, he fired just as five Cylons appeared.  One sparked and fell when the shot hit him.  "Time to go!  Run, Boxey."

          Boxey took off back down the corridor, Roark and Rodolphus following.  At the next intersection, they encountered more Cylons, forcing them to turn down another, then another.

          "I'd say," he gasped, firing back at them, "that they're springing their trap."

          "Sure looks that--FUCK!"  he fired three quick shots, turning them down another corridor, then--

          The room they suddenly appeared in had them freezing, Rodolphus quickly reached out to grab Boxey and pull him around against him so that he couldn't see more than he already had.

          "My GOD!" Roark fired a shot against the wall, scaring the Ovions away from the struggling woman.  "No WONDER the Ovions didn't mind us wanting to stay."

          "Free food source," he said as he cut through the straps holding her, and lifting her out of the bed.  "Are you alright?"

          She nodded.  "Thank you Lt. Colonel..."

           "Introductions are going to have to wait," he told her as more Cylon appeared in the room, one of them, he noted, was gold.  "Run now," he told her as Roark fired.

          "What are the Cylons doing here?" she gasped as they reached a bridge, seeing the elevator on the other side.

          "They've been here all along," Roark answered, firing at the ceiling to bring it down and cut off their pursuers.  "Waiting for just the right moment to spring their trap."

          As they began to cross the bridge, a group of Cylons appeared from another tunnel near the elevator.  As they approached, the elevator door opened and Harry and Rabastan stepped out into them.  Before they had a chance to react, Harry and Rabastan had their lasers out and were firing on them.