Battlestar Galactica - The Lost Warriors Chapter 1
Chapter 1.
Admiral Adama's Private Quarters
Bill Adama and Saul Tigh sat in Adama's private quarters sipping rare Libran brandy; both men were off duty and were relaxing with conversation as the ship remained under the command of the very capable JOOD; Captain Aaron Kelly.
"Hell of a job on the new Raptor, eh Bill?" asked Tigh as he downed his brandy. Adama was leaning back in his chair as if in contemplative thought, hands together at the fingertips.
"Lensherr and the chief really came through; they adapted, improvised, and overcame almost every obstacle put before them in constructing a raptor from scratch. I can foresee big things for Matt Lensherr." Replied Adama.
"Doesn't he remind you of someone we both knew?" said Tigh.
"Who?"
"Culverhouse!" replied Saul helping himself to the bottle of brandy. He was referring to Rear Admiral Mack Culverhouse, the former commanding officer of the Battlestar Pacifica of Battlestar Group 66 that both men knew very well.
"Mack Culverhouse…" said Adama leaning back and closing his eyes remembering their old comrade.
The years came back to Bill Adama like a tidal wave. Mack Culverhouse was the type of Colonial officer in general, Battlestar commander in particular; that he thought most officers should emulate. One memory was quite vivid.
Battlestar Pacifica - Rear Admiral Mack Culverhouse commanding
Battlestar group 66 was in the final leg of their long patrol, and Admiral Mack Culverhouse looked forward to returning to Gemenon for shore leave. He had been separated from Katie for too long. Mack Culverhouse was a rising star in the Colonial Military, he was the youngest officer ever to assume the rank of rear admiral, and he could hardly ask for a better assignment, Pacifica was a well decorated Battlestar, and usually within the top five choices for duty assignments. His executive officer Colonel T. Morlock would be taking a transport to his home colony of Canceria upon their arrival at the Gemenon air base.
"Colonel Morlock, have you had the opportunity to see to those details regarding Colonel Adama's send off?" asked Culverhouse discreetly. He was talking about the small gathering of senior officers that were planning to meet later that evening to give Colonel Bill Adama a sendoff party to celebrate his impending promotion to Commander, and subsequent transfer to his new command; the Battlestar Valkyrie.
"Affirmative sir, all victuals have been prepared and the officer's quarters have been secured. The room has been locked down for "maintenance purposes" until further notice, Husker shouldn't suspect a thing." Said Morlock. His attention to detail, and planning such events were legendary in his Battle group, and Culverhouse recognized that T. Morlock's career would be stellar.
"Where is our Caprican pretty boy now?" joked Culverhouse.
"You assigned him to inspect launch bay Alpha, he should have his hands full for the next few hours." The communications officer, who now stood at the command chair, interrupted the men, clipboard in hand.
"Admiral, we're receiving a distress call on a civilian channel that we normally monitor. The shipping freighter Pulsar en route to Ragnar Anchorage reports they are being attacked by pirates, possibly from Sagittaron."
"Damned Sagittarons," muttered an irritated Culverhouse. "How far off are we?" The Sagittaron people endured centuries of exploitation at the hands of the other Colonies, leading to the colony becoming one of the poorest planets. Piracy and terrorism was not unheard of, and most professional military personnel came to despise them and their tactics.
"We're at least an hour from their location." Replied the tactical officer, now turning towards Culverhouse.
"XO, launch Gamma squadron to intercept; I want that freighter protected, and confirmation as to who the aggressors are. I want to make sure that its pirates and not Cylons we're dealing with."
"Aye, aye sir." Within minutes, ten gleaming Mk. IV vipers and their assigned raptor from Gamma squadron hurtled through space to intercept the civilian freighter in distress. At the first soundings of action stations, Colonel Bill Adama raced for the CIC. In minutes, he was at Culverhouse's side at the plotting table.
"What do we have, Admiral?" asked Adama.
"Nothing major Bill, we're getting a distress call from civilian freighter claiming to be under attack by pirates from Sagittaron it would seem. Gamma squadron is on an intercept course."
The tactical officer looked perplexed; she was doing a long-range scan of Pulsar's last location. The Dradis positively identified the Pulsar, and surprisingly another ship with Colonial Military transponders. "Admiral, I'm picking up the pirate's transponder…war book positively identifies the ship as the Spawn."
"The Spawn?" repeated Culverhouse. "What the hell is an old Fighting star doing attacking another Colonial vessel?" The Fighting star was a small style warship that once numbered in the hundreds in the Colonial military, smaller than a Destroyer and moderately armed. They were phased out of active duty two decades before, most were scrapped, and some were sold to private owners over the objections of most senior military command staff. Those sold to non-military buyers were stripped of their offensive weaponry prior to taking possession. Apparently, this Fighting star was rearmed and now wreaking havoc on civilian ships.
"Communications…instruct Gamma leader that I want a complete sit rep as soon as he's on scene!" demanded Culverhouse. He deplored the thought of military vessels being sold to private ownerships whether obsolete or not. He thought they should have been scrapped entirely, but political interference trumped the concerns of the Admiralty.
Gamma squadron arrived on scene to find the Fighting star pulled up alongside an obviously damaged freighter that was listing to one side. Gamma leader opened an unsecured civilian frequency and broadcast a hostile challenge to the Spawn. The response was a blistering barrage of triple-A cannon fire that destroyed two unsuspecting vipers.
"Krypter, Krypter, Krypter…Fighting star has opened fire on us, Gamma two and six have been taken out." announced Gamma's squadron leader over the secured military frequency. The aging Fighting star catches the Colonial military unprepared, and the vipers return fire.
Culverhouse is outraged, the concerns he voiced along with other senior officers many years ago now came to fruition. A well-armed warship was now in the hands of pirates, and now two of his pilots and a civilian freighter were paying a price for it.
"Helm, bring us around on course 224.6, increase speed to flank. Launch remaining squadrons immediately." The Pacifica lurched forward as it traveled on an intercept course for their rogue Fighting star
The pirate in command of the Fighting star knew he was in trouble, while he knew his ship can hold off the vipers, a full Battlestar was an entirely different matter, and one very large one was bearing down on his location at flank speed. The Spawn pulled away from the freighter under full power and put some distance between the two ships. The vipers swarmed all over the ship attempting to take out the ships offensive batteries.
Bill Adama and Culverhouse were longtime friends, and Adama knew that Culverhouse had an intense hatred of pirates. They had gone too long without a serious challenge to their lawlessness. Culverhouse had long advocated using the military to hunt them down and safeguard the shipping lanes between colonies. The use of military intervention was always struck down, much to the thanks of political interference. Culverhouse had landed himself in hot water when he speculated loudly if certain politicians were financially benefiting from protecting the pirates from the wrath of the military.
The Pacifica was coming into effective firing range, and Culverhouse instructed his communications officer to signal the Spawn to 'stand down and prepare to be boarded.'
The response was not what anyone expected; the Fighting star opened fire on the crippled freighter with its main guns. The freighter exploded violently, 200 souls perished in a matter of seconds.
"Fraking savages." said Culverhouse through clenched teeth. Executive officer Morlock was quickly at his side. Everyone in the CIC was shocked at the destruction of the civilian ship.
"Should I target their engines, Admiral?" inquired the reserved Morlock.
"Negative XO…it's well past time to deal with these fraking lowlifes as they should have been treated a long time ago." Replied Culverhouse. "Weapons…ship to ship missile." Adama was quickly at his side, he leaned in close so that only the Admiral could hear him.
"Mack? What are you doing, aren't you going to take them into custody?"
"That ship has sailed, Bill. I warned them what would happen if they continued to sell off excess military surplus, they did not listen! Those lowlife, bottom-feeding politicians made sure that their bribe-paying supporters were kept happy."
"That's quite the indictment, Mack. Think about this."
"I've already considered it, Colonel. Let this be the signal to the pirates that their days are numbered." Culverhouse turned towards the weapons officer and nodded. Two ship-to-ship missiles streaked from the bow tubes and hurtled towards the Spawn. Vipers cleared the immediate vicinity around the fleeing Fighting star; the missiles struck their target with extreme prejudice. The ship exploded; to the mind of Admiral Mack Culverhouse, justice had been served.