When the attack came not all chose to flee. Some decided to make a stand. On the Battlestar Perseus there are 1858 survivors fighting to regain what they have lost…
Colonel Hathaway sipped his coffee and picked up the next form, a report on the amount of fuel salvaged from the Uria Four mining complex and the fleet the Pegasus had abandoned. Not nearly as much as I'd hoped but it should keep us going for another month or two. He took a few bites of his eggs and then read the next form from the pile on his desk. This one was from Doctor Devarro.
I have examined the cylon calling itself Cavil as ordered. At first glance I can see nothing to tell it apart from a human; blood tests, anatomy and brainwave patterns all conform to established norms for a human male of its apparent age. When I performed a detailed examination of the composition of tissue samples it showed readings that may indicate an artificial origin of the material. The difference was slight and had I not been looking for it I would have dismissed it as random variance or perhaps a flaw in testing. As of now I can see no reliable way to detect cylon agents among the general population.
Hathaway sighed and put down the paper. It just gets better and better. He ate a piece of toast and was about to move on to the next bit of paperwork when someone knocked at his door.
"Come in." The door opened and Lieutenant Erikson stepped through. "Good morning lieutenant, please sit down." He gestured to the chair across the desk from him. She greeted him and sat down. "What brings you here?" he asked.
"I wanted to talk to you colonel because I'm a bit concerned. I don't believe the Perseus can continue operating the way it has, skirmishing with the cylons off and on and picking up whatever groups of survivors we can find. We still act as though we're part of the fleet but we aren't, not counting the Pegasus, we're all that's left."
"Do you have any better idea?"
"No but I am sure we can't keep fighting like this forever. Our supplies are running low, we have an overcrowding of civilians who are kept barely under control at best, our ship is badly damaged and our crew is overworked. Sooner or later there will come a breaking point where one of these things will fail and then we all die." Hathaway stroked his moustache in thought. She makes a disturbing amount of sense.
"I think you might be right; there was another fight among the civilians last night. We just don't have enough marines left to keep them all in check. And Chief Campbell tells me that there are a lot of sections where it's only a matter of time before some lucky shot blows through what's left of the hull." She nodded. Hathaway sighed and sat back in thought. Reality is often an unwelcome guest.
"Let's talk to the commander about this." They stood up and headed for the door; Hathaway grabbing a piece of toast to eat along the way. A few minutes later they were standing outside Commander Brammel's quarters. Hathaway brushed crumbs off his uniform and made sure he was presentable before knocking.
"Enter," the commander called a moment later. They stepped in to find her at her desk with a half-eaten breakfast to one side studying photos taken of the ruins they had found on Uria. She looked up after a minute and gestured for them to sit down. "I've been able to decipher a bit more of these glyphs," she said. There was a tone of excitement in her voice he had never heard before,
"It seems this shrine was built by a military company from Kobol led by a demigod. This could be one of the greatest discoveries of the millennium. Now it says they were left behind on Kobol to prevent pursuit when the tribes left but its location and frequent mentions of the thirteenth tribe seem to indicate they got away at some point." She continued staring at the different pictures for another minute before she put them away and resumed her role as commander.
"So what brings you here?" she asked. Lieutenant Erikson explained her concerns and the commander's expression turned serious, "You're right, we can't operate as we would in a normal war. There's no dry-dock for repairs, no supply ships or reinforcements. We need some permanent solution."
"But what? We don't have the resources to defeat the cylons, we can't keep running forever we'll run out of fuel," said Hathaway.
"Settle on a planet perhaps?" suggested Erikson.
"If the cylons found us they could just nuke us like they did the colonies," Hathaway pointed out.
"The scriptures tell us of Earth, the thirteenth colony, we could attempt to find it. Settle there where the cylons hopefully won't find us," said Brammel.
"There are those among the crew who would object to searching for a place whose only evidence of existence is the scriptures," said the XO.
"Such as yourself?" inquired Commander Brammel.
"Such as myself." She sighed.
"Even if we could convince everyone it was a good idea. It's a big galaxy, the odds of finding Earth would be negligible," said the commander.
"So we can't fight and we can't run, what are we to do?" asked Lieutenant Erikson. No one answered for a moment that felt much longer than it was. Finally the commander spoke,
"Well, search the star charts for a good planet to settle on, something where the cylons aren't likely to find us. Hopefully we'll think of something better but if all else fails it will be good to have a hiding spot ready with a jump already plotted."
"Yes ma'am," responded the lieutenant. Hathaway nodded. Brammel looked at her clock.
"It's getting about time to start the day watch. Shall we?" They got up and went to CIC. The repairs on the command center following their rescue attempt on Sagittaron were mostly complete; as complete as they were likely to get with resources the way they were. Hathaway, the commander and Erikson relieved the night-watch and took their stations.
"I got the report on Cavil from the doctor," said Hathaway to Commander Brammel.
"And?"
"She says the difference between cylon and human is almost unnoticeable. She has no means to accurately tell us apart from the machines." The commander shook her head,
"Gods protect us, it just gets worse. How are the civilians holding up?"
"Well the good news is there haven't been any fights since last night. Major Phillips increased security again, he's asked for volunteers from among the pilots to help maintain order. The fact is we just don't have enough marines to keep things well controlled. And I'm beginning to regret making public the knowledge that cylons can look like us. It seems everyone with the slightest behavioral oddity is a cylon in the eyes of our guests. Erikson is right; we can't keep this up much longer." They fell silent. An ensign handed the commander a form that required her signature, she signed and sent him on his way.
"I have a DRADIS contact! Make that three DRADIS contacts. Cylon raiders incoming!" declared Lieutenant Erikson.
"Sound action stations!" commanded Hathaway. The CIC leapt into action.
"Order the vipers into the tubes but hold on launch. Gun Control, target those raiders for AA barrage and fire at will. Lieutenant, spin up the FTL and prepare to jump," ordered Brammel.
"One destroyed, the other two are breaking formation. One is heading for us the other away," reported Erikson.
"Don't let it escape!" said Hathaway.
"Too late, it's jumped away. The other is launching missiles," said the lieutenant. Hathaway swore.
"It'll bring basestars down on us," he said. The deck rattled lightly from the impact of the cylon missiles.
"FTL ready."
"Execute jump," said Commander Brammel. The familiar distortion wave came and went.
"Jump complete. DRADIS shows clear," said Lieutenant Erikson.
"Stand down from condition one," said Hathaway.
"That was a close one," Brammel said.
"Too close," Hathaway replied.
"Want to play some cards?" asked Jack.
Jim shook his head, "Ain't no point anymore now that money doesn't mean anything. Besides I got almost no cash left after the last game."
"What about you Phoenix?"
"Naw. You know I don't like to gamble, Jack." They were sitting around a table in the pilot's quarters. The two days since they found the fleet abandoned by the Pegasus had been profoundly dull, with the exception of the raiders' arrival an hour before. Could be worse, things could be interesting. The room was unusually lacking in people in large part because Gunner had ordered red squad to the gym for drills and the fact that many of the pilots had responded to major Phillips' request for help in keeping order among the refugees.
"Well I gotta do something to pass the time until my scouting mission," said Jack. The commander had recently ordered they return to surveying cylon activities in the colonies using the stealth ship they had recovered from Aegis station.
Jim shrugged, "Nothing to do." Jim had lost much of his usual humor as of late. Jack suspected the constant threat of cylon attack was wearing him down.
"Anyone seen Captain Domas?" Jack asked.
"Not since breakfast, why?" responded Phoenix.
"Just curious, she seems to have disappeared." Jack drummed his fingers on the table impatiently.
"Well since things are so exciting here I guess I'll head down to the hangar deck early. Launch as soon as the ship is ready." He got up and walked in the direction of the hangar deck. A few minutes later he was in his flight suit and walking up to chief petty officer Rick Campbell, a large, poorly groomed man with a perpetual scowl. "I want to launch early, is the Raven ready?"
"No it's not ready; I didn't know you wanted to launch early so of course it's not ready. It's still being refueled. Damn pilots." Jack ignored his characteristic rudeness and went to the edge of the hangar deck to wait. It wasn't long before Campbell called out:
"Hey! Captain In-a-rush your ship's ready!" He's lucky I'm a tolerant CAG, Hathaway would have torn him a new ass for that. Jack climbed into the cockpit of the Raven stealth ship and locked the windshield into place. Counter-intuitively the Raven Mark One was a rather large and chunky ship; one expected a stealth ship to be sleek and small. A group of deck hands slid him into a launch tube and the magnetic rails shot him into space. Jack spun up his FTL and dialed in coordinates for an area of space not far from Tauron, as he was to make a survey of Tauron and the surrounding area.
"Perseus this is Snake Eyes, initiating jump to Tauron."
"Acknowledged Snake Eyes, good luck," responded the ship's comm officer. He made the jump and began his survey route, a spiraling sweep ending at the planet. I always wanted to see Tauron, I suppose I'm getting the chance. He altered his course slightly to avoid a group of basestars. How did a machine come up with those ships? If they aren't shooting at you they're really quite beautiful. The survey continued for sometime, then as he was making an orbital survey of Tauron itself he noticed an unidentified DRADIS contact nearby. Changing his heading he was able to see it. It was clearly a cylon ship; it looked like one of the spokes from a basestar save broader and flatter. It had three large engines at the back and he could see a couple of small ships going back and forth between it and the planet. Better get some pictures. As he moved closer he activated the Raven's optics package and took several shots of the ships. Once he got close enough Jack could see that the smaller ships were of the same design of the one that had killed Aaron the day of the attack; larger than a raider and without the broad, sweeping wings. Looks like they're using them as shuttles, like raptors. I wonder what they're shuttling? He thought for a moment. If I set a steep approach vector I can land in the foothills southwest of where they're taking off from, then get in close on foot and see what they're up to. It's risky, but there haven't been reports of the cylons doing anything like this before and the commander will want to know what they're doing. Attempting to ignore his nervousness Jack turned the ship towards the foothills of Tauron's Salrian mountain range.
The birds sang as he ran through the forest. Having landed in the hills Jack was now moving across land to where he had seen the cylon ships taking off. They better still be there when I arrive. He held his pistol at the ready should he encounter any cylon guards. After moving at a good pace for what felt like twenty minutes he paused to catch his breath. Gods, this place is beautiful, the postcards don't do it justice. Tauron was famous for it's forests; composed of extremely tall and ancient trees forming a dense canopy overhead they were considered one of the greatest natural wonders of the twelve colonies. Jack resumed his running. After about another ten minutes of travel he heard what sounded like footsteps up ahead; he slowed down and began to creep forward. He encountered a break in the trees and peered out. Ahead was a small country road winding between the trees ending in a large clearing containing three of the ships being used as shuttles as well as a group of people he took to be cylons. One he recognized as Shelley the woman from Sagittaron; there was also a tall man starting to lose his hair and a short woman with a ponytail. Every few meters along the road a centurion stood watch, and coming up the road where several small groups of women each being led by a centurion. What the frack? He assumed the woman were humans and not cylons seeing as the way they reacted to the cylons indicated they were prisoners. His theory was confirmed a moment later when one of the women broke away from the group and ran for the trees opposite Jack. The centurion leading her group turned and mowed her down with its guns. It took all of Jack's military discipline to resist leaping out and destroying that centurion. Just here to observe; focus. As he watched a group six prisoners were ordered onto one of the ships by the woman with the ponytail. The ship's engines engaged once they were onboard and it took off. Since when do cylons take prisoners? Jack watched for another minute then left in the direction of the Raven.
Where's it off to? He had been back in space for only a few minutes when the ship had left orbit. It's using sublight not FTL so wherever it's going can't be too far. Jack followed the ship at a safe distance. I'll bet it's transport taking prisoners from Tauron to a cylon base somewhere. Jack's assumption proved correct, within minutes he registered three DRADIS contacts along the course taken by the transport. Two were identifiable as basestars but the other was unknown. As he got closer he was able to see it clearly.
"Gods." It looked much like a basestar at first glance but was significantly larger. It had the same basic design of spokes jutting out at the top and bottom of a center stalk but it had a much larger midsection and four spokes on the bottom instead of three. Glass ridges ran along the top of each upper spoke, getting taller until they met at the center forming one gigantic glass spire. It was beautiful and majestic but at the same time cold and frightening. He could now see a number of transports identical to the one he was following docked on the various spokes and hundreds of raiders patrolling around it. He took a number of pictures of it then retreated to a distance where he could jump back to the Perseus without being detected.
Jack threw the pictures on the table, "Near as I can tell it's some kind of space station." He was in the strategy room with the commander, Lieutenant Erikson and Colonel Hathaway. Commander Brammel had ordered a meeting to discuss his findings.
"And you say they were only taking women?" asked Hathaway.
"At least when I was watching."
"I wonder if they're only taking people from Tauron or from the other colonies as well?" said the commander.
"Judging by the number of transports docked at this thing I would say they're rounding them up from all the colonies. I doubt there's that many survivors on Tauron," said Erikson.
"What would the cylons want with captured human women?" wondered Hathaway.
"I don't know, nothing the cylons do seems to make sense anymore," replied Jack.
"Why doesn't really matter, the important question is what do we do about it? There are possibly hundreds of survivors being taken to that station. There must be some way we can rescue them," said Commander Brammel.
"I agree in principal but practically I don't know that we can. That station is guarded by two basestars and gods only know how many raiders. It's even possible the station itself is armed. We are in no condition to fight those odds. There's also the problem of where do we put them? The ship is already badly overcrowded," said the XO.
"I may have a solution to that," said Lieutenant Erikson, "The commander ordered me to look for a planet we can settle on where the cylons would have trouble finding us. I think I may have one. Galeos Three is far away but close enough; we can get there in two jumps, one if we want to push the FTL to its limit. The star it orbits puts out a great deal of radio interference and the planet is just past an iron rich asteroid field that creates a vast field of EM distortion making DRADIS next to useless. It's possible the cylons could find us there but it would take them a lot of work. We could rescue the prisoners and settle them there." Everyone was silent for a moment as they considered this.
"It's still a pretty big risk, there's a good chance we wouldn't be able to survive long enough to get the prisoners off that station and if the cylons find us on Galeos we'll be sitting ducks," said Hathaway. The commander didn't seem to have heard him; she seemed lost in some thought of her own.
"Commander?" said Lieutenant Erikson. She looked up.
"I was just thinking. The glyphs we found in those ruins mention the thirteenth tribe. Some of what it says could be interpreted as someone trying to enslave the thirteenth tribe as it left Kobol and it being rescued by the company that built the shrine. The scriptures tell us that all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again. What if we are repeating the same role played by that company. If that is the case then it may be our destiny to liberate these prisoners. It says they were led by a demigod, Perseus was the son of Zeus; that makes him a demigod."
"With all due respect to your faith commander, I'm not sure we should be basing life and death military decisions on the scriptures." said Colonel Hathaway.
"You have to admit it's an intriguing possibility," she replied. The colonel grunted noncommittally.
"Didn't it also say they were defeated?" asked Jack.
"Yes, but it also said they were victorious so it's a bit confusing," responded Brammel.
"It looks like this thing is still under construction," said Lieutenant Erikson, who was still surveying the pictures. Everyone looked where she was pointing.
"See these external struts on the lower spoke? They look like what you put on a ship while adding the outer shell."
"I think you're right lieutenant. That would make sense, a station that size would take a prodigious amount of effort to complete in the time since the attack," said Commander Brammel.
Jack spoke, "I say we attack it. Scriptures aside, those are people that need to be saved. I don't know what the cylons have in mind for them but it can't be good. If it's still being constructed there isn't going to be a better time to attack. And if we're destroyed there will still be the Pegasus out there somewhere so it won't be the end of humanity."
"I'm not sure it would be a good thing to have Admiral Cain in charge of our race's future." said Colonel Hathaway.
"It wouldn't be my first choice either but that's why we try not to get killed," responded Jack. The commander thought for a moment.
"Does anyone here object to attempting to liberate the human prisoners and settle them on Galeos three?" Her question was met with silence. "Very well then that's what we'll do. But we'll need a couple of days to prepare, plans need to be made and there are still some ship's systems that need to be repaired before we can even think of battle. Colonel, I want you to interrogate Cavil about this station they've built, try and see what it's for and what they want with human survivors. Tiryn, prepare your pilots. Lieutenant Erikson, I want you to oversee the repairs, make sure we're ready when the time to fight comes."
Jack missed the bull's-eye. It was about an hour after the meeting and he was in the firing range practicing with his pistol. After telling the other pilots about what was coming and a quick lunch he had come here to hone his marksmanship in preparation for the upcoming attack. The news they were planning to assault a cylon stronghold had been greeted with mixed feelings among the pilots but most agreed with the reasoning behind it. One surprise had been Phoenix who seemed eager to get into the fight. Jack fired off three rounds and hit reasonably well with two of them. The comm officer came over the intercom.
"Call for Captain Tiryn, Captain Tiryn please respond." Jack went over to the range's phone and picked up. "Jack Tiryn here."
"This is Corporal Tabern down in the port brig, Captain Domas just came in here and had me lock her up in one of the cells. She said something about her trying to kill a pilot. She's not making a lot of sense. You'd better get down here."
"On my way." Jack put the phone down and returned his pistol to the adjoining weapons locker. He then set off at a quick walk to the port brig. Frack me, what now? The port brig was mainly used for overflow from the main brig but had become the more commonly used of the two out of a desire to keep Cavil separated from other prisoners. Jack arrived to find a confused corporal standing watch over Captain Domas who paced in one of the cells.
"Open the cell," he instructed. The corporal opened Domas's cell and Jack stepped in.
"Go take a coffee break, I'll deal with this." Jack told the marine. The corporal saluted and left. Jack turned to Captain Domas.
"Now would you mind telling me what the frack is going on?" he asked with a mixture of irritation and resignation. The ex-CAG looked up at him; she appeared angry but also frightened, an emotion he had never seen her display.
"I was going to kill Phoenix," she said.
"What?"
"I thought he was a cylon and I waited in alcove with a knife for him to come by and…" She talked very quickly and he gestured for her to stop.
"Whoa, slow down. You thought Phoenix was a cylon?" This is messed up. She nodded.
"You've noticed he's been acting differently since Sagittaron right? More confident, calmer." He nodded. "So I get to wondering why and I also thought it was weird he managed to survive and make it back when so many others didn't and somehow I got convinced he had been killed and replaced by a cylon." That kinda makes sense in a paranoid sort of way. For a moment Jack wondered if Phoenix could be a cylon but he ignored the feeling. Domas continued. "So I decide he's a threat to the ship and I have to kill him. I got my knife and waited in a storage locker near the showers for him to come by." There were now tears running down her face. "I was there for awhile and then it hits me. What the frack am I doing? I'm sitting in a closet waiting for a fellow pilot to walk by so I can slice him open like a fish!" She suddenly became very angry and slammed her fist into the bars hard enough to make Jack wince. She then sat down on the cell's bed and put her head in her hands. "What was I thinking?" Gods this fracked up. What the hell am I gonna do with her? He knelt on one knee in front of her.
"The important thing is you didn't hurt anyone," he told her.
"But I was going to! Frack, I wanted to be a cop I should know better than this!"
"Well I'm not gonna lie to you and say you didn't frack up pretty bad but what matters is you stopped yourself in time. You're not likely to make this mistake again. I need all the pilots I can get, we're launching a big attack in a few days and I need you to command orange squadron."
"I'm not fit to command! Haven't you heard what I said?!"
"Listen Allia, we all have our demons. We've all looked into a crowd and seen cylons but none of us have given in to fear and none of us have given up. You've come closer than most but you still took a step back before it was too late. If times were different I'd send you on leave but I can't. We can't afford to lose any more pilots, either to the toasters or to their personal conflicts."
"I don't know Jack. I don't know if I can trust myself anymore."
"All you have to do is take control and not let your fear control you again. It's your life, you can live it how you want." She seemed to recover somewhat.
"Alright if you think I'm up for duty, I'll try. Damn it, why did the toasters have to start fracking with our minds like this? I can fight a raider no problem, but going to sleep every night not knowing if the next bunk has a cylon in it is too much. Frack!"
"Things are bad all over; we just have to deal with it as best we can," Jack replied. Captain Domas seemed to have gotten her emotions under control somewhat and they left the cell. Jack went to find Corporal Tabern wondering what was going to go wrong next.
Hathaway stepped into Cavil's cell flanked by two marines. One quickly placed shackles on the cylon while the other watched him. They then brought in a table and two chairs, Hathaway sat down at one chair and Cavil was placed at the other. The two marines then stood to either side of the false priest.
"Colonel Hathaway. How are things?" asked Cavil with mock friendliness. Hathaway placed several pictures of the station Captain Tiryn had found on the table.
"What is this and what is its purpose?"
"Why should I tell you?" The colonel nodded to a marine who hit Cavil with the butt of his rifle.
"That's why. Now what is it and what are its weaknesses?" Cavil said nothing so he ordered the marine to hit him again.
"Ah frack!" he exclaimed as blood began to run from his nose. Hathaway let him recover for a moment before resuming his questioning.
"What is it, what is its purpose and what are its weaknesses?"
"Since you're clearly planning to attack it I'll save you the trouble and tell you not to." Hathaway raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And why not?"
"Well aside from the fact that this ship has taken a pounding and those basestars will chew you to pieces, destroy that station and we will hunt you down and destroy your ship if it takes us a hundred years."
"And why would that be?" His question was met by silence. Hathaway gestured at the marines and they began to beat Cavil again. "Why will they hunt us down?" It took several more minutes of interrogation before Cavil answered.
"The station is considered to be a holy place." Hathaway was taken aback.
"The cylons believe in the gods?"
"We do not worship your false idols. The station is considered to be a place where we will be able to carry out the commandments given to us by God. I personally don't see it as much more than a space station but there are many who consider it a sacred place."
"And just what are these commandments you'll be carrying out there?" Cavil didn't answer. One of the marines delivered a backhanded slap to his face.
"I will ask you again, what are these commandments you're carrying out? What is the purpose of this station?" He again refused to answer. The marine on his right punched him in the cheek. "Let's try this another way, why are you taking human survivors to the station?"
"They are there to carry out God's commandment."
"What commandment?" No answer. Another punch. "What commandment are they carrying out?!" The marine on Cavil's left elbowed him in the head. This is going nowhere. Try something else. "Alright then, who is this God of yours and how did you get these commandments?"
"It's beyond your ability to understand, human," he spat.
"Try me." Cavil once again failed to answer. He got another blow to the face for his silence. "Answer!" He said nothing. It seems it's only going to tell me enough to confuse us. "Let's go back to the beginning, what are the weaknesses of this station?" When he didn't answer the marines once again began to beat him. The interrogation continued for several more minutes with Hathaway learning nothing new. Eventually he called off the marines before Cavil became too severally damaged and left to report to the commander.
Hathaway entered the CIC and took his station.
"Learn anything from the cylon?" asked the commander. He shook his head.
"Very little and none of it useful. It says if we attack the station the cylons will never stop hounding us because they believe it's sacred."
"Sacred?"
"I'm as confused as you are; it says the station was built to carry out commandments given by God. Not gods, just God. Cylons believing in the gods would be absurd enough, but a single God? As far as who this God is or what commandments they're trying to carry out it isn't saying."
"Does anything make sense anymore? Cylons worshiping God, what next?" said Commander Brammel.
"It said they do not worship our false idols, that its God is beyond human understanding; what in the frack does a machine worship?" said Colonel Hathaway.
"Well it doesn't matter; the cylons will never stop hunting us anyway so we might as well attack something important to them. Hit 'em where it hurts," said the commander. Lieutenant Erikson looked up from her station.
"Three new DRADIS contacts; cylon raiders inbound," she reported.
"Sound action stations! Gun Control, target for AA fire. Spin up the FTL and prepare to jump," ordered Commander Brammel.
"One of them is breaking away from the other and preparing to jump," said Lieutenant Erikson.
"That tactic again, target the raider and do not let it escape!" said Brammel. Hathaway watched his DRADIS as the raider flew away from the Perseus. Then it vanished from the screen.
"It's jumped." stated Lieutenant Erikson.
"Damn," Hathaway muttered. The two raiders were quickly dispatched.
"New DRADIS contacts! Two cylon basestars, they're launching raiders."
"What's the status on the FTL?" asked Brammel.
"Engineering has just reported a glitch with the FTL commander; it's going to be a few minutes."
"Frack! Launch the alert vipers, gun control fire at will. Helmsman, take us about and make sure we show them our starboard side." As the ship began to shake from enemy fire Erikson's words from that morning echoed in Colonel Hathaway's head. "Sooner or later there will come a breaking point where one of these things will fail and then we all die."
Jack was launched into space and moved to engage the enemy ships.
"Snake Eyes to all pilots, our orders are to hold off enemy fighters and take some of the pressure away from the Perseus while they nail down an FTL problem. Make sure to stay away from the killing field between the Perseus and the two basestars." Jack crested the port side of the ship and saw a wave of raiders flying towards them just above the spray of shells between the larger ships. One was close and he was able to dispatch it before it noticed him. The raiders in the front row each launched a missile into the Perseus and then broke formation to engage the vipers. One soared right over Jack firing a spray at him, thankfully none connected. He flipped his so that he was now upside and facing the opposite direction and set off in pursuit of the raider. He fired several short bursts but none connected. Pushing his engines to the limit, he closed the distance from his quarry and fired again. He managed to hit its right engine; it became out of control and slammed into another raider, destroying them both. Jack spun his viper around and flew towards the heart of the battle. As he was turning a raider came seemingly from nowhere and strafed his viper. He felt an impact but none of his systems showed damage. A voice came over the wireless.
"This is Dodge to any available pilot. One of my engines is hit, I have a toaster on my tail and I can't lose it!" Jack looked around and saw him, his left engine was on fire and a raider was close behind. Jack set off to intercept Dodge's pursuer at full throttle. Before he had made it halfway the raider fired and Dodge's viper was torn apart. Jack swore and slammed the windshield with his fist. He closed on the raider and shot a burst at it. He missed and the cylon fighter swerved away. It flew between two other raiders and Jack followed at close range and narrowly avoided crashing into the raiders above and below. He fired a long burst and it went up in a ball of fire. Seeing a potential weakness in the cylons, he activated his wireless and spoke.
"This is Snake Eyes, green squad and red squad form up with me. I think we can punch a hole in their formation." The members of the two squads formed up behind him and he led them into the heart of the enemy fighters at full speed. Both sides opened fire and numerous ships, both colonial and cylon, were destroyed. The wireless became filled with screams of the dying and the cheers of the victorious. A raider flew directly towards Jack; it shot off several quick bursts and a bullet smashed into the nose of his viper. His DRADIS went offline momentarily then came back, albeit not at peak performance. Frack that was too close. He was about to pursue the raider when Phoenix flew by and unleashed a barrage which disabled it. "Thanks buddy," said Jack.
"Anytime boss." Despite taking heavy losses the colonials were able to create a hole in the enemy formation as the cylons were either scattered or destroyed. Jack was about to congratulate the other pilots when he saw another wave of raiders heading towards them in a staggered formation. The cylon fighters launched missiles from their underbellies that arced towards the humans.
"Incoming missiles! Scatter! Scatter! Scatter!" Jack screamed into the wireless. The colonial formation flew apart in disarray as they attempted to avoid being killed by the missiles. Jack turned his throttle to maximum as a fleeing viper just above Jack was blown apart.
"Gunner to Snake Eyes red squad is taking heavy losses! We just lost Marcus!" Damn it! Marcus was a good pilot! The missile pursuing him allowed no time for regret; Jack rolled off to his left at incredible speed then shot forward towards the wreckage of a destroyed raider. At the last minute he swerved around the destroyed ship. Jack struggled through the G-forces as a ball of flames erupted behind him. An enemy ship flew in front of him and on instinct he fired. It was hit four times and crashed into the hull of the Perseus. That was lucky. The battle had now lost any semblance of order as colonial and cylon ships flew in every direction. Bullets and debris flew everywhere. Suddenly an alarm sounded and his DRADIS flashed red. "This is Snake Eyes I have a radiological alarm! Repeat I have a radiological alarm! There's a nuke inbound for Perseus! All available pilots move to intercept it!" Jack set off in the direction of the nuclear signature but had trouble pinpointing it due to his damaged DRADIS. He was quickly joined by Jim and a handful of fighters from blue squad. "Brawler. Snake Eyes. Take point, my DRADIS is damaged and I can't pinpoint the missile."
"Roger that Snake Eyes." Before long they had zeroed in on the nuke and Jack could use his eyes to pinpoint it. It was more than halfway to the Perseus. They opened fired at the missile but it was a small target taking a weaving path towards its destination and was extremely difficult to hit. A group of five raiders moved towards them and began shooting.
"Take evasive action but do not fire on the raiders! Focus on destroying the missile!" Jack shouted. He began swinging his viper back and forth in wild attempt to evade being hit by the cylons while still firing at the nuclear warhead. Finally a bullet connected and Jack was forced to close his eyes as a blinding light exploded in front of him. All the fighters colonial and cylon broke away at full speed to avoid by consumed by the massive explosion. Tracker, a pilot from blue squad, was too slow. Jack spun his viper around and shot off a spray at the raiders who had been attacking them. In the confusion he was able to destroy one. The rest turned on him and began firing. I really hope they fix that FTL soon.
Hathaway stumbled and had to grab his DRADIS console to keep from falling.
"That last shock was a hull breach a deck below us," said Lieutenant Erikson.
"What the frack is taking so long with that FTL?!" said the commander.
"One of the EM coils isn't powering up, they've had to replace it," Lieutenant Erikson replied. Several of the lights went down and others began to flicker. "Power surge on deck D, fires reported," said Erikson. There was another large jolt and she added: "Another hull breach, deck A at the join between the forward and mid sections."
"Tilt the port side up, get a clearer shot at them and target their midsections," ordered Commander Brammel.
"Heavy casualties reported on all decks!" shouted captain Sallib, the head of damage control.
"We can't keep this up much longer, if that FTL doesn't get working soon we'll be too badly damaged to manage the jump," said Hathaway to Brammel.
"Radiological alarm! Inbound nuke!" warned Lieutenant Erikson. Oh frack. Captain Tiryn was heard over the wireless.
"Perseus this is Snake Eyes. My pilots are too hard pressed; we can't intercept the nuke."
"All hands brace for impact!" yelled Commander Brammel. A deafening boom was heard and several people including the XO were thrown to the floor. The lights went out, as did most of the computers and DRADIS displays.
"Power surge detected in CIC!" screamed Lieutenant Erikson. The commander's DRADIS console exploded hurling her backwards into the operations console behind her.
"Medics to CIC!" commanded Colonel Hathaway. He crawled over to where the commander lay. A piece of shrapnel had cut a deep slash into her throat and blood was gushing out in time with her heartbeat. Oh no. Oh no. This is bad. She looked up at him. In a barely audible voice she said one sentence.
"Save the thirteenth tribe." Her head rolled to one side and she stopped breathing. In a dead voice Hathaway said:
"Cancel the request for medics." He stood up as some of the lights returned to operation. Everyone in CIC stared at the commander's body in open shock. "What's the matter? Is the battle over? Do you people not have anything to do?" said Hathaway. They got back to their jobs, though all maintained an expression of disbelief.
"Sir, engineering is reporting that the FTL drive is back in operation and we should be able to jump shortly," said Erikson.
"Order combat landings!" The Perseus continued to be pounded by the enemy as the pilots landed and the FTL was spun up.
"FTL ready." Thank the gods.
"Execute jump immediately!" The distortion of the jump was made worse by the damage to the hull, which caused jolts and shakes.
"Jump complete. DRADIS shows clear commander." Hathaway nodded numbly. It's all on me now. He looked down at the commander's body. Lords of Kobol, I don't know if you are truly watching over us but if you are, have mercy on her soul. She was a good woman. She will be missed. Captain Sallib came over with a report on the damage and Hathaway buried his grief and doubt to focus on running the ship.
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