Colonel Frank Hathaway took the tray from the server. He always had his breakfast brought to his cabin; he hated the crowds in the mess hall. He set the tray down on his table then switched on his radio to listen to the news. After that he ate his eggs and bacon. He then went to the bathroom and began shaving his beard and trimming his moustache. He prided himself on his neat facial hair. He only half paid attention to the radio.
"You're listening to P.N.N., Picon's favorite news network. Stayed tuned for continuing live coverage of the decommissioning ceremony of the legendary battlestar Galactica. Coming up next: Commander Adama will make a speech."
"Must be a slow news day." he muttered to himself. After he finished cleaning himself up he put on his jacket and headed for C.I.C. Colonel Hathaway was executive officer of the battlestar Perseus, one of the old Cerberus class ships built just after the cylon war. It was a good ship even if a bit outdated. It wasn't expected to be in service much longer but the crew felt it had some fight left in it. At least it would if they actually did any fighting. He entered C.I.C. and was greeted by Thea Brammel the commander of the Perseus. She was a Geminese woman in her early forties with green eyes and brown hair that she kept in a ponytail. Colonel Hathaway said good morning to her and took his station. C.I.C. was composed of two sections: One was shaped like a rectangle with its corners cut off that held the main command controls. This was where the commander and X.O. worked. It also held the stations of operations officer lieutenant Anna Erikson and communications officer Dmetri Talos. The other section led off of one side of the first and was long and relatively thin. It held a great number of computers where lower ranking officers worked on gun control, navigation, damage control and other unglamorous but necessary tasks.
"Are we ready to depart yet?" Hathaway asked the commander.
"The last shuttles full of supplies are landing now. We'll be ready in a few minutes." The Perseus was currently getting re-supplied at Marathon station in orbit over Picon. The battlestar was too large to fit in the dry-docks so the supplies needed to be brought over in large shuttlecraft.
"Sleep well colonel?" asked commander Brammel.
"Well enough."
"Did you hear they're decommissioning the Galactica today?" she asked.
"Yes, I heard the coverage on the radio. This makes us what? The third oldest ship in the fleet?"
"Something like that. As far as I know the only older ones are the Cerberus and the Titan."
"Final supply shuttle now departing port landing pod," announced lieutenant Erikson.
"Commence jump prep," ordered the commander. Lieutenant Erikson began activating the F.T.L. jump systems. Anna Erikson was one of the younger officers aboard the Perseus. She had blonde hair and blue eyes like most people from Libron.
"All systems ready."
"Jump," ordered colonel Hathaway. There was a disorienting moment where the universe seemed to stretch into infinity as the ship made it's faster than light jump.
"Jump complete," reported the operations officer.
"Resume patrol route," commanded the X.O..
"Aye sir. Beginning patrol four seven five."
For the last few years the Perseus had been conducting patrols near Libron. The most distant of the twelve colonies of Kobol. Colonel Hathaway settled in for another day of monotony. I became a soldier to fight, not run useless patrols around some freezing rock. Frank Hathaway had planned on being a soldier since he was a child when his father had been killed in the cylon war. He'd wanted to fight the cylons and protect other people from dying. But instead he'd spent twenty-three years of his life patrolling, drilling and generally wasting time.
Captain Jack Tiryn smiled and showed his cards,
"Full colors." The other pilots groaned and threw down their cards as the captain swept up the money on the table. Jack chuckled to himself.
"Care for another game?" he asked in his raspy Airlon accent.
"Nah, you cleaned me out," said Jim "Brawler" Daxos.
"Gunner? Aaron?" They shook their heads.
"I don't know why we bother to play this stupid game. We're supposed to be flying vipers not playing cards in the mess hall."
"You didn't think it was stupid last week when you were winning, Aaron. We'll fly vipers once it's our turn to patrol. In the meantime we might as well have some fun." Aaron got up and began to pace. He was a non-descript man extremely short hair.
"When I joined up they said we be heroes protecting the colonies from the cylons. Not just sitting around gambling with the C.A.G."
"I don't know what you're problem is Aaron. I for one am glad the cylons have decided to disappear for the last few decades. I hope they stay on that fracking world we gave them." Aaron growled and left the room.
"Well how about us three play some dice?" asked the C.A.G.
Gunner laughed, "Do you ever think about anything other then gambling Jack?"
"Sure I do. I also think about women, whiskey and sometimes I even think about commanding you pilots." Gunner chuckled again. This was how Jack spent most of his time outside the cockpit. Playing cards or dice with Gunner, Jim and Aaron. Gunner's real name was Jenna Roberts but she preferred to go by the nickname she'd picked up in the marines that had become her call sign when she transferred to pilots. She had shoulder length red hair and brown eyes. Jim was a large dark-skinned man who shaved his head and was always smiling. Aaron joined them only occasionally. He preferred playing soldier boy, hoping the toasters would show up so he could start shooting.
"You know I'd say you had a bad habit Jack but you usually win. That's a whole months salary you've gotten from me in the past two days!"
"You're just too easy Jim. If you get a bad hand everyone can tell because you start tapping your foot."
Jim grunted and lit up a cigarette. Jack looked at his watch.
"Still half an hour till it's our turn to patrol. Gotta find something to pass the time."
"Anybody do anything interesting over at Marathon station?" asked Gunner.
"Nah. Why is it that the military can build a battlestars so big they have their own viper factories but they can't put decent entertainment on a station like Marathon?" said Jim.
"I found a nice bottle of whiskey from Troy. I'm not gonna drink it until I have a nice lady to share it with though," said Jack. They continued to banter and kill time until it was time for their patrol.
Jack stepped up to the podium in the pilots briefing room.
"Alright beta shift, same as every other day. Get out there; keep an eye out for cylons, smugglers or suspicious activity and keep in formation. Hack, chief Campbell tells me you're going too fast and burning too much fuel. Slow it down. Tillium doesn't grow on trees. Hound, Cobra and Brawler take sector one. Me, Gunner and Javelin will take sector two. Phoenix, chummy and - "
He was cut off by lieutenant Erikson speaking over the intercom,
"Action stations. Action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship; cylon raiders incoming. This is not a drill. I repeat: Action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This not a drill." The briefing room erupted into pandemonium.
People started running for the hangar deck or shouting things like, "Is this a joke?" or "What the frack?!" or just sitting there looking confused.
"Be quiet!" shouted the C.A.G..
"You call yourselves soldiers? You heard the lady get to your fracking vipers! Move! Move!" That managed to get some order from them and they all ran to the hangar deck and began preparing for combat. He tried to run them like a proper C.A.G. but really he was just as confused. What the frack is going on? The cylons haven't shown up for decades. Is this some kind of joke? A flaw in the identification protocols? He jumped in his viper mark seven and prepared for launch. The deck hands moved him into the launch tubes and the airlock began to close behind him. This isn't why I joined up. I joined for good pay and pilot groupies not risking my neck fighting toasters. The outer hatch of the tube opened and the magnetic rails engaged launching him out of the ship at fantastic speed. He was pushed to the back of his seat by the G forces. Once in space he looked around for the cylons. He was surprised to see they were actually there and not a bunch of misidentified civilians. It looked like there were a dozen of them. He throttled up his engines and headed for them. The other pilots from green squadron followed close behind.
"Perseus this is Snake eyes. I have visual contact on the cylon raiders. Moving to engage."
"Acknowledged snake eyes. Seek and destroy," responded petty officer Talos. Gunner began firing on the raiders. She was the best shot on the ship and could hit things well outside the official range at which viper guns could hit accurately. Without warning the cylon ships broke formation and accelerated going around and in some cases through the colonials.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Jack. The raiders each launched a missile from their underbellies that slammed into the side of the Perseus. They then spun around in place and began firing their guns at the vipers. The colonial pilots attempted evasive maneuverings. One sped by Jack's viper. He shot at it but missed. As it flew by he was able to get a good look at his adversary. It was not like the clunky ships he'd seen in the museums. It was sleek and deadly looking. It had arching pointed wings. It was a predator. He spun his fighter around and pursued the raider. He fired off a few short bursts but the cylon ship was just too quick and unpredictable. It took all his concentration just to stay with the thing. A few high-caliber bullets just barely missed his windshield as another raider flew by. A few moments later Gunner followed it guns blazing. The wireless was filled with reports, people cheering hits and cursing close calls. Then one voice drowned out the others; it was Hack.
"I'm hit! I'm hit! They got my engine! I'm out of control. Repeat I'm out of - " the line cut out.
"Frack! Frack you toasters!" screamed the C.A.G..
"Perseus, this is snake eyes; we're losing pilots out here!"
He fired a long burst at the raider he was chasing, but it missed. Suddenly the raider spun completely around and headed straight for him shooting its guns. He's making a suicide run. Jack held his course for as long as he could then at the last moment spun his viper down with the front pointing up and fired his guns. He shredded the raider from the bottom. He pulled from the wreckage and went to look for other targets. He heard Aaron over the wireless,
"This is Hound. I have a raider on my tail and I can't lose 'em." Jack turned his viper and went to help Aaron. He found him flying near the edge of the vipers with a raider not far behind him firing indiscriminately. It looked like Aaron's viper had been hit on the top wing.
"Hang in there Hound, I'm coming." He got in a few hundred meters behind the raider and began firing. The raider kept shooting and started making its flight path erratic enough to dodge Jack's bullets.
"On no I'm not falling for your fancy flying again. If Gunner can do it so can I." He steadied his hands on the controls, moved in closer and focused on the raider. He fired. There was a burst of fire as one of his bullets hit its right engine. The raider spun out of control. Jack turned his viper to follow and shot another burst of hot metal at his opponent. The cylon fighter was blown apart.
"Yeah! Take that you metal bastard!"
"Thanks boss," said Aaron over the wireless.
Jack looked down at his D.R.A.D.I.S. and saw that there were only two cylon ships remaining. As he was watching one of the blips indicating an enemy ship disappeared.
"This is snake eyes; only one left. Finish it!" The vipers crowded in and quickly dispatched the remaining enemy fighter.
"Pilots, this is Perseus. D.R.A.D.I.S. shows clear. Pack it in." The pilots turned their vipers and headed for the landing pods. The landing pods on Perseus were a bit different then on most other battlestars that generally had angular pods. The Perseus had oval shaped pods that looked similar to an egg on its side, supposed to make for an easier F.T.L. It meant the ship could jump without needing to retract its landing pods. Modern ships just used more powerful jump drives, but they hadn't been feasible when the Cerberus class was designed. Unfortunately it meant a smaller target for pilots trying to land.
The hangar deck was a scene of organized chaos as the vipers were brought in. Some needed repairs, all needed refueling and one had a wounded pilot. The knuckle-draggers attached a stair to Jack's viper and he climbed out. Aaron's damaged viper was just being hauled in. Chief petty officer Campbell walked up to it and began yelling,
"What the frack did you do to my viper?!"
"It's not you viper, it's the ship's! And I didn't do it! Blame the fracking toasters!" Jack saw that this could go on for a while, and headed to the edge of the hangar deck. He met a group of pilots there talking about the battle.
"What are the cylons doing breaking the armistice after so long?" wondered Javelin.
"Maybe it was all a ruse to give them time to build an army again," said phoenix conspiratorially.
"Are the other colonies under attack? Should we go help them? What do you think Jack?" said Gunner.
"I don't know anything you don't know. I never thought I'd see an actual cylon raider, I can tell you that." For once Jim wasn't smiling.
"A dozen of them, we outnumbered them and we still lost a man. What would a basestar full of 'em do?"
"I don't know. They certainly have good pilots for a buncha walking toasters," said Jack.
"If they have raiders this far out already they've either gone all the way around the system or they've already gone through the other eleven colonies," said Cobra.
"I doubt they could do that much. In the last war they were only able to land on four colonies after we drove them into space. This was probably just an advance party that slipped through," Jack reassured him. At that moment he heard the officer of the deck calling for him,
"Hey Tiryn! Get your ass over here I have the commander on line!"
"Frackhead," muttered Jack as he went to pick up the phone Campbell was holding,
"C.A.G. here."
"Captain we have received word of a cylon boarding party in the aft section of the ship."
"A boarding party? How did they get onboard?"
"We don't know; no ships landed in the pods other than your vipers. Nonetheless we have two groups of centurions carving their way across F deck. They seem to be headed for the port and starboard ordinance bays. We think they're trying to blow the munitions stored in them."
"…which would destroy the ship," said Jack.
"The marines are not having much luck holding them off and we are suffering heavy casualties. We are ordering all crew with any kind of weapons experience to help fight the cylons. That includes your pilots. I want you to take all the pilots in the port landing bay and go to junction F thirty-one. We are attempting to halt the enemy advance there." Jack sighed inwardly and started to get frightened.
"Yes commander." He walked out to the center of the hangar deck and started waving his hands to get attention.
"Everybody listen up! We've been boarded by cylon infantry. Don't bother asking me how, I don't know. The commander is ordering everyone on the port side that's good with a gun to junction F thirty-one. Move it!" The pilots were slow to get moving and for the most part looked even more worried then he did. Maybe I should have spent more time drilling them and less time playing dice. He went to his place at the front of the line and led them to the nearest small arms locker. Most of them just ended up with pistols, but a few who were trained with them (like Gunner) took the handful of assault rifles that were stored there. Jack put on a spare marine helmet and took a few explosive rounds just to be on the safe side. Armed as best as they could be under the circumstances, the pilots headed for junction. When they got there they found a group of colonial marines and other crewmembers that had been conscripted into fighting the centurions. They were commanded by Major Taylor, the officer in charge of the marines on Perseus. He was a large man in his late thirties. They had set up a makeshift barrier out of crates, chairs and whatever they had found in the adjacent cabins. Jack crouched down behind one of the crates. Major Taylor turned to him,
"Watch yourself fly-boy, these ain't the toasters you heard about. They're bigger, faster. I lost a dozen men in the first engagement and we outnumbered them."
"Good men," he added bitterly.
That makes me feel much better. He turned the safety off on his pistol and loaded up an explosive round. The waiting was horrible. No one spoke. Jack looked around at all the nervous eyes. No one here had seen combat before today and a large portion of them were like him; joined up for good pay thinking the cylons were a footnote in history. The calm before the storm is overrated. The deck had been cleared of all non-combatant personnel and things were eerily quiet. Then he heard them: Mechanical footfalls and the whine of gears. They sounded like they were running. He straightened his pistol and tried to calm his nerves.
The centurions rounded the corner and all hell broke loose. The air was filled with the sounds of gunfire and people screaming. The soldiers sprayed gunfire into the column of cylons to seemingly no effect. A marine next to Jack went down in a hail of bullets. The centurions, like the raiders, were not what he had expected; they were tall, sleek and had a predatory look. They moved quickly, almost lithe in their mechanical agility. They could almost be called artistic in a ruthless kind of way. Jack fired at one and its leg exploded. It kept firing. The colonials were taking heavy casualties while only three centurions had gone down and of those only one was no longer fighting. Jack loaded another explosive round and fired. He was lucky; it hit a centurion right in the neck and the machine went down.
"They can't handle explosive rounds!" he called out. The colonial soldiers began loading their guns with explosive rounds when they could, but most hadn't brought any and even fewer had the opportunity to stop firing. However, enough were able to that the centurions began to have loses. Jack loaded his gun again and fired at one centurion that had gotten so close he didn't need to aim. The bullet hit the centurion where its midsection was thinnest and it collapsed. The cylon next to it turned and fired its guns on Jack and he narrowly avoided being blown to bits by ducking behind the crates. The bloodied body of a marine collapsed next to him. He tried to fight off both nausea and fear and loaded his last explosive bullet into his gun. He tried to stop his hands from shaking and got up. He quickly targeted the nearest cylon and squeezed the trigger. He was only able to remove an arm. It didn't even pause in its shooting. The colonial force in the junction had now been more then halved, but the cylons were beginning to take heavy losses as well. The corridor was beginning to take on the look of a scrap metal yard. Suddenly the remaining cylons split into two groups. Four made a reckless beeline for the human soldiers while the other six turned and fled back down the corridor. One leapt over the crates, extended metal talons and ripped out Cobra's throat before he could even scream. Blood spewed everywhere. Jack fired his pistol at the thing but he was on normal rounds now and they had almost no effect. It turned on him and drew back its artificial claws to rip him in two. He fired blindly at its head and two shots went through its single red "eye". It collapsed on top of him. Its metal shoulder struck his head and he blacked out.
Less then a minute later he could feel people dragging the thing off him. His head felt - well - like a centurion had fallen on it. Still dizzy, he got up and saw that the battle had ended. He almost felt happy until he saw the carnage behind the barricade. More then a dozen of his pilots had been killed and there were also numerous bodies of marines and other crewmembers. There were also plenty of wounded moaning in pain. There was blood on everything. My gods, that was less then thirty centurions. What would an army do?
Major Taylor began barking out orders, "Smith, Jenkins, Daxos, Xavier; get the wounded to safety. Calvin, leave your squad here in case they come back. Everyone else follow me." Numbly Jack got up to follow him. He noticed Gunner was still alive, as was Aaron and Jim. Aaron was covered with blood but it didn't look like it was his. Several of the soldiers had to stop to empty their stomachs. I pity the crew that'll clean this place up. He was rather amazed his own breakfast stayed put. He realized he had no idea where they were going.
"Major, where are we going?"
"We didn't stop them we just drove them off. The only other way to get to the ordinance bay they could fit through is the corridors in section F gamma four. That's where they'll be heading. We need to cut 'em off. First we need to get more explosive rounds so we gotta pick some up at the nearest arms locker." They quickly arrived at the same small locker Jack and the pilots had visited. Explosive rounds were distributed to everyone who was left. Unfortunately there weren't many to go around and many including Jack were only given three or four bullets. Afterward they half walked, half jogged to cut off the cylon advance. When they reached the corridor it was the same as before. One of the marines found a supply room nearby and they set up a crude barrier out of crates of air filters and water pipes. It did not take long for the centurions to catch up. They rounded the corner with the same relentless speed as before. They began shooting immediately. The first centurion was completely destroyed by a barrage of colonial fire.
"Make your shots count!" bellowed the major. Jack fired his gun but only managed to hit a bulkhead support. Damn! He reloaded and fired again. This time he hit one in the midsection but it still advanced. The human soldiers began to take casualties once again as the cylons fought with deadly efficiency. He loaded his final bullet and waited for one to get close. One broke away from the pack and charged at the colonials firing all four of its guns in a deadly sweep. One of the pilots, "Chummy" went down in cloud of red. Jack fired at the centurion and was able to hit it square in the chest and it was knocked off its feet. It began to get up but Gunner unleashed a punishing barrage of bullets that ensured it stayed down. Now there was only one left. Jack emptied a clip of standard bullets at it with little effect. Aaron blew one of its arms off and it went down under a bombardment of colonial fire. Jack stood up. Not as bad as last time. Less then five dead or dying. Major Taylor began giving orders for people to take the wounded to sickbay. He then found a nearby phone and called CI.C. After a brief conversation he hung up and returned to the remaining soldiers.
"C.I.C. reports the centurions are on the starboard side are still fighting but have been cornered in the aft laundry room. They have ordered the marines here to reinforce them there. The rest of you are to get back to your normal jobs. Tiryn, you're to go to C.I.C. and give a detailed report on the fighting." Jack realized he had been just standing there like an idiot and hurried off to C.I.C. He was in shock. Before an hour ago he had never expected to see a cylon. Now he'd lost close to a dozen of his pilots to them and nearly been killed himself. Most of them had been younger then him and he was only thirty-two. He thought the biggest problems he'd ever have to contend with was keeping the X.O. happy and avoiding that slave driver Campbell. Now it seemed he would have to lead his pilots into a war. And there was that concern in the back of his head that if the cylons were already out this far they were probably in the heart of the system too. He shuddered at the thought of an army of those centurions on Airlon. They could turn the farms there into a living hell.
And I thought this would be a boring day. "Be careful what you wish for it might come true." Colonel Hathaway had wanted to fight cylons and now they were running through the corridors killing people at will. Things had turned crazy after the raiders had appeared on D.R.A.D.I.S. That would have been bad enough but then reports had come that a group of cylons had appeared seemingly by magic in the ships belly. What was worst was the confusion. They didn't know how large the invasion was or where they were attacking. And it was certain that this was part of an invasion. One of the doors to C.I.C. opened and the C.A.G. stepped in. Hathaway grimaced. Gambling addicted idiot. I don't know how commander Brammel let him on board. Captain Tiryn was by most standards an adequate C.A.G. even if he was a bit lax in his discipline but Hathaway had very exacting standards for those serving under his command. Captain Tiryn saluted.
"Commander. Colonel," he said nodding to them as he greeted each one.
"Report captain," said Hathaway.
"The centurions weren't like the ones from the last war. They were fast and deadly efficient. I've never seen anything like it sir. I lost a lot of my pilots down there. Our bullets hardly did anything; we had to use explosive rounds to have any kind of effect. We were facing what looked like about twenty-two and we lost nearly twice that. If they landed an army of those on one of the colonies it would be a disaster. Do you have any idea how they got onboard or what's going on?" The commander sighed,
"We think they may have been hiding in the supplies we picked up at Marathon, seeing as they seemed to have originated in the cargo bays. The raiders that attacked transmitted something at us that we now believe to be an activation protocol. As far as the larger picture we have no idea. We haven't been able to raise fleet command or any member of the government on any wireless channel. We are planning to jump to Picon as soon as we mop up the last of the centurions."
"Is that wise? We have no idea what's going on. If we are facing an invasion we could be leaving Libron undefended in the event of a cylon attack," said the C.A.G.
"No it's not wise, but we can't just sit on our hands while the cylons are invading."
"Aye commander. I understand."
"We may very well be facing a cylon fleet when we jump to Picon, so make sure your pilots are ready for battle. It took far too long to launch when those raiders jumped in," said Hathaway.
"Aye sir."
Just after captain Tiryn left lieutenant Erikson called out.
"D.R.A.D.I.S. contact!" The C.I.C. flew into a flurry of activity.
"Action stations set condition one," commanded colonel Hathaway.
"Sir, we're receiving colonial transponders. It's the battlestar Lernia," reported Lieutenant Erikson.
The wireless crackled and a voice began speaking,
"Perseus, this is Lernia actual please respond." The colonel breathed a sigh of relief.
Commander Brammel picked up her radio,
"Commander Albert, it's good to hear from you." They talked over wireless for a few minutes. The subject matter of their conversation was clearly very dire. The longer it went on the less colour there was in the commander's face.
"My gods," she said, "the crew needs to hear this, I'll put you on speaker." She put down the phone and commander Albert's voice came over the speakerphone.
"The cylons have broken the armistice. A massive force has invaded and is attacking sites throughout the system without out any kind of discrimination. We know for a fact that Caprica, Geminon, Sagittaron, Picon, Airlon and Tauron have all been attacked and it seems clear from how widespread the attack is that most if not all the other colonies have been attacked as well. They are hitting the cities and all other significant settlements with thermonuclear weapons. Optimistic estimates put the civilian death toll in the millions. The government seems to have collapsed; we don't think the president made it out of Caprica City before it was bombed. Fleet command is not responding and we believe it has been destroyed as well. The cylons seem to have some kind of computer virus that's knocking out our ships. We tried to make a stand along with the other members of our group, the Pacifica, the Ionia and the Typhon when they attacked Picon. The other ships shut down before they could fire off a shot and we had to jump away before we were destroyed. The only ones unaffected from what we hear are old ships that, like yours, were built with non-networked computers and other safeguards against cylon hacking, and ships like us that need a computer overhaul." The C.I.C. was as quiet as a tomb. Not one person didn't have a family member or a loved one on at least one of the colonies mentioned.
The commander cleared her throat,
"We have been attacked here, but only by a small group of enemy fighters; we believe cylon agents have somehow infiltrated the fleet. A group of centurions was somehow placed in our hold. We were planning to jump to Picon to join the fight imminently."
"I wouldn't advise it. When we jumped away it was being bombarded by five basestars. It is our belief that Libron is the last colony still standing."
"Then it is your belief that we should make our stand here rather then going to reinforce the fighting deeper in the system?" asked commander Brammel.
"You don't understand. There is no fighting deeper in the system. What little is left of the fleet is in complete disarray. The cylons are slaughtering us like cattle."
The commander turned to Hathaway, "What do you think?"
"I don't see that we have much choice," he said.
"Very well Lernia, I'll contact planetary defense and begin preparing for battle." She deactivated the speakerphone.
"Hathaway tell the C.A.G. to have his pilot ready on a moment's notice. Erikson, keep on eye on D.R.A.D.I.S. Talos, get in touch with planetary defense and tell them to pull up whatever reserves they can. Gun control, make sure all weapons are ready and armed." He and the rest of C.I.C. moved to carry out her orders.
The waiting was terrible. C.I.C. was completely silent save for the slight pulsing of the D.R.A.D.I.S. "I can't take this waiting much longer," thought the colonel. It had been nearly two hours since the Lernia had jumped in. The remaining centurions had been destroyed not long after. All preparations for combat had been made. The Libron defense force had supplied all it could, which wasn't much. A few spare squads of vipers and a handful of light cruisers that didn't even have F.T.L. Everyone was scared. None of them had seen combat before today. Lieutenant Erikson was trying to appear professional and only managing to look strained. Poor Dmetri looked like an animal about to be run over. Even the normally stalwart commander Brammel looked nervous.
"I wish there was a priest onboard," she muttered.
"Me too," he said. She looked a little surprised. He was not normally a religious man.
"D.R.A.D.I.S. still shows clear commander," reported Lieutenant Erikson yet again.
"What are they waiting for?" said the commander. The X.O. sighed and began to pace. All my life I've wanted to fight the cylons, well now I have my chance. All his life had been preparing for this moment and now he just wanted it to end. I thought I was prepared. I thought I could handle it. I'm not ready. Decades of training and I'm still not up to it. The commander knelt on the floor and began to pray, "Lords of Kobol hear my prayer. Grant us the strength to survive. Give to us the conviction to cast out the unholy." Hathaway recognized the prayer. It was an ancient prayer some claim to have originated on Kobol. He didn't believe in Kobol, but it was clearly an ancient prayer. He began to recite it with her.
"Allow us to defend our families. Cleanse our hearts of fear that the righteous may prevail this day." Everyone in C.I.C. began to join in.
"Let our aim be true and our cause be just. Oh my mighty gods of our forefathers, grant to us victory in the coming battle."
"So say we all," she added.
"So say we all," repeated the C.I.C. crew. He began to pace again.
The ship was unusually quiet. Everything had been made ready and all there was left to do was wait. Captain Tiryn sat at the edge of the hangar deck with the rest of his pilots. He had washed off the blood of comrades but he couldn't get the image of Cobra falling with blood spraying from his torn throat out of his mind. Nobody said much. Aaron hadn't said a word since the centurions. Jack kept thinking of his parents and his brother back on Airlon. They were probably dead.
"So many dead. So many…" Phoenix had been repeating that off and on for some time now.
"I joined the service to get away from my parents. I guess I got my wish," muttered Gunner. Jack remembered her saying her parents lived in Caprica City.
"We're going to die aren't we?" said Phoenix. Jim walked over and punched him in the jaw.
"Pull yourself together! We're all scared, but talk like that will get us all killed. Now sit down and shut up!" Jim returned to where he'd been sitting. Phoenix just leaned against a column and said nothing. Jack went over the battle plans again in his mind. When the cylons jumped in the Perseus and the Lernia would turn their batteries on the basestars and bombard them with everything they have including nukes. The vipers would launch along with every raptor they could find pilots for loaded down with as many missiles as they could carry. The vipers would ensure that no raiders were capable of attacking the battlestars and the raptors would support the vipers and if possible hit the basestars a bit. The planetary defense forces would reinforce them wherever the line was weakest.
Chief Campbell came strolling over, "Don't you pilots have something better to do then sit around on my hangar deck?"
"Go frack yourself Campbell!" said Gunner. He growled and walked away. A few of the pilots farther up the deck were playing dice. Jack knew he was upset because he didn't feel like joining them. If it were possible, now would be a good time to drink. But if he got into his viper drunk and managed not to get killed by the cylons he would be killed by the X.O. when he landed. Several of the pilots were praying. Jack was tempted to join them. Lieutenant Erikson came over the intercom,
"Action stations. Action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. Four cylon basestars incoming. This is not a drill. I repeat action stations, set condition one throughout the ship." Jack and the rest of the pilots leaped up and ran for their vipers. Four basestars. Lords protect us. He climbed up the ladder and jumped into the cockpit of his viper. He closed the windshield and put on his helmet. The deckhands moved his viper into the launch tubes. Here we go again. The magnetic rails activated and then he was in space.
"My gods," he whispered. There were the basestars. Four of them. They looked like colossal snowflakes and each one had what appeared to be hundreds of raiders pouring from them like hornets from a hive. The Perseus and the Lernia began firing and he moved to engage the raiders. So many. We had trouble with a dozen and now we look like facing a hundred times that. The basestars started returning the colonial shots. The space between them looked like a river of fire flowing in two directions at once. The raiders were getting closer and he began firing at them. The raptors had now launched and their missiles destroyed several of the raiders. One of the cylon fighters broke away from the pack and headed for Jack. He fired at it but it was too fast. It launched a missile from its underbelly and then flew off toward the Perseus.
"Oh Frack." Jack moved his viper off in a series of complex and extremely quick maneuvers that under any other circumstance would be considered out of control in an attempt to shake off the missile's targeting lock. It was still there. Alright we're kicking it up a notch. He turned his throttle to full and headed straight for the field of destruction between the basestars and the Perseus. There were raiders and colonial ships trading fire all around him. He entered the spray of missiles and shells above Perseus and began dodging and weaving madly to avoid being blown to bits.
"Snake eyes this is Perseus actual, what are you doing?"
"I'm all right," he responded. The missile was still on his tail. He headed for an even denser area of friendly fire and dodged between two streams of high caliber bullets. A shell headed for the basestars collided with the missile following Jack and his viper was rocked by the shockwave. He turned and maneuvered himself out of the Perseus' field of fire. What the hell did I just do? He suddenly realized how crazy that had been. Jim came over the wireless,
"This is brawler. I got one on my tail and I can't shake him!" Jack looked around and saw Jim's viper not far off being chased by a raider. He moved to intercept and began firing. The raider hadn't seen him and was quickly dispatched. Jack felt his right wing get hit and an enemy fighter flew right over him. He quickly checked his systems and saw no damage then turned and pursued the raider. He fired off a burst but it turned and suddenly was coming at him from the side firing all guns. He sent his viper into a roll downward and to his right so that the cylon ship was now above and to the left of him. He spun his ship around and tore into it with a long burst of fire. He flew off in search of new prey. A shell from of the planetary ships missed him by a few meters.
"Perseus, this is snake eyes. Tell those yahoos from Libron to watch what they're shooting at!" A radiological alarm went off on his control panel. The Perseus had launched a nuke at one of the basestars. A raider broke away from the raptor it had been shooting at and headed straight for the path of the warhead. Jack covered his eyes as a blinding explosion lit up the space between the colonial and cylon ships. Unfortunately it only destroyed a few raiders.
"Snake eyes, this is Gunner. There's a group of three cylon ships I don't recognize heading straight for Perseus. They're escorted by six raiders. Recommend we commit all available vipers to destroying them."
"Gunner; Snake eyes. Roger." He found the group she was talking about on his D.R.A.D.I.S.
"This is Snake eyes, all available pilots proceed to sector four zero and intercept a group of unknown cylon ships inbound to Perseus." He headed for them at full throttle. Unfortunately most of the raptors had fired all their missiles and were landing on the battlestars to resupply. Jack was now in visual range of the new ships. They weren't much similar to raiders. They were a fair bit larger and lacked the broad sweeping wings. They had large machine guns located just underneath their red "eye". They were clearly less maneuverable then raiders but they looked very dangerous. He moved in to attack them along with all the other pilots who had answered his call. The raiders escorting them broke off and began firing on the colonial ships. Jack managed to fly underneath them and get a clear shot, as did Gunner and Aaron. The three larger ships now turned on them and began shooting. The human pilots avoided their shots and attempted to return fire but to no effect. Gunner flew under one and shot a volley at it but was only able to get three hits in. It did not seem to affect the ship. Jack tried to get in another volley but it shot first and all his concentration was taken up by trying to avoid being killed. Aaron attempted fly over and behind one but it turned upward and unleashed a punishing blast. His viper was completely destroyed.
"Aaron!" screamed Gunner. Jack spun his viper around to the ship nearest him and fired his guns in a long burst. The ship was destroyed. The one that had killed Aaron turned on him and began firing. Jack flew his viper in the opposite direction. He tried to maintain an erratic flight path to evade the cylons shots. A damaged and out of control raider flew into the ship chasing him destroying both. He turned his fighter and saw the last one pursuing Gunner. He flew up behind it and fired. He must have hit a fuel line for its engines exploded and the whole ship turned into a fireball. "Take that!" he shouted. He turned to look for more toasters to kill. The battle continued.
C.I.C. shook from the constant impact of cylon missiles.
"Snake eyes reports the unidentified ships have been destroyed," said Dmetri.
"We've lost two more of the light cruisers from Libron," reported Lieutenant Erikson. Hathaway looked at the D.R.A.D.I.S.
"The Lernia's lost most of its vipers," he said.
The commander turned to Dmetri, "Tell Snake eyes to send over whoever he can spare."
"Yes ma'am."
"One of the basestars is taking heavy damage, they've lost one of their arms," said Lieutenant Erikson. "Gun control, focus on that basestar," he ordered. He looked at the D.R.A.D.I.S. and within a few minutes the blip representing the basestar vanished.
"One down," he said.
"Let's try and thin the herd further," said Commander Brammel.
"Load nuclear launch tubes two through four and fire on the center basestar when ready. Set the missiles for random trajectory. Hopefully this time we can hit something."
"Yes ma'am, firing nukes," said Lieutenant Erikson. Hathaway watched the D.R.A.D.I.S. as the warheads moved towards their target. One was intercepted by a raider but the other two made it home. The D.R.A.D.I.S. turned fuzzy for a moment from the electro-magnetic pulse and when it returned to normal there were only two basestars.
"Two down." He stumbled from a particularly violent impact.
Lieutenant Erikson looked up from her D.R.A.D.I.S. screen, "The Lernia has stopped firing. They're loading their nukes."
Hathaway turned to Dmetri, "Talos, ask them what they're doing."
"The Lernia is launching a nuke at us!" screamed the lieutenant.
"What?" said the commander. She picked up her phone.
"All hands brace for impact. I repeat all hands brace for - "Everyone in C.I.C. was knocked to the floor by a bone rattling impact. The lights went out, as did the D.R.A.D.I.S. After a moment the shaking stopped and the D.R.A.D.I.S. and some of the lights returned. Hathaway looked at his screen and saw that the Lernia was launching all its nukes at the cities on Libron. My gods. What are they doing? It began moving towards the planet. A quick mental calculation showed that it was on a collision course with Libron's capital of Corinth. Have they lost their minds? No one else was up yet in the C.I.C; he saw that there was an incoming transmission from the Lernia. He went over to pick up the radio, stepping over Dmetri who was on the floor either unconscious or dead. His glasses were broken and he was bleeding profusely from his head. He picked up the radio. A woman whose voice he didn't recognize spoke. She had a refined sounding accent,
"Humanity's children are returning home." The line went dead and he put the radio down in confusion. The commander picked herself up,
"What is going on?"
"I have no idea commander. The Lernia is entering the planet's atmosphere on a course to crash in the middle of downtown Corinth. All that was in the call was a woman saying, "Humanity's children are returning home." The ship was rattled by enemy fire. Lieutenant Erikson began listing off damage,
"Fires reported on decks C and E, explosive decompression on B deck. Main power is down; we're running on auxiliary. Casualties reported on all decks."
"We have to get out of here. We can't fight two basestars on our own, especially not in this condition. Lieutenant, begin jump prep." said the commander.
"To where?"
"Anywhere. A blind jump,"
Hathaway moved over to her, "Hold on the jump lieutenant. We can't leave. Everyone on Libron will die."
"I'm aware of that colonel, but everyone here will die if we stay. Order the vipers and raptors to land. See if we can rescue any of the vipers from the Lernia."
"I can't do that. There are one hundred and twenty million people on Libron. We can't leave them there to die!" The commander started to raise her voice.
"Are you questioning my authority? Because it sounds like you are. Now you will carry out my orders or face the consequences." The ship shook and the D.R.A.D.I.S. went down again for a few seconds.
"I can't in good conscience leave millions of innocent people down there do die! Better I die defending them then leave them like a coward!" The lights flickered again.
"There is nothing cowardly about avoiding certain death. Have you read the Pythian prophecy? It tells us that there was a great cataclysm and the survivors had to flee. It also tells us that all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again. It may be our destiny to run."
Hathaway was starting to really get angry, "To hell with your fracking scriptures! I don't believe in destiny! We are not leaving those people to the cylons!"
"Blasphemy on top of insubordination! You will carry out my orders or I will throw you in the fracking brig! Bring in those vipers now! Lieutenant! Prepare for jump!" Hathaway clenched his fists and ground his teeth,
"Yes commander," he said frostily. He returned to the comm. station and ordered combat landings. He was filled with emotions that he didn't know how to deal with. He was furious at the commander. As well as shocked; he had never seen her anywhere near that angry before. He was also more then a little frightened. A blind jump could land them inside a planet as easily as in space. He also felt a great sadness at how much life had been lost that day and how there were about to be many more lives lost in a few minutes.
"All fighters onboard. As well as those left over from the Lernia," he reported.
"F.T.L. is spun up and ready," said the lieutenant. She tried and failed to keep her voice steady as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Jump!"
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