Battlestar Galactica, created by Glen A. Larson

© Copyright Ronald D. Moore and Universal Studios

ZERO HOUR

Colonial Year 7342

Battlestar Columbia in Caprica orbit

Commander James Vinn rubbed his snow white beard as he stood on the bridge. He didn't like the sudden rash of computer malfunctions that had seemed to escalate over the past few hours. What worried him more was that this seemingly random event was being paralleled aboard the Rycon and Atlantia.

His ops officer had no explanation and had been seated in front of his console - without a break since it began.

Vinn turned to his raven haired, young XO, Colonel Athena Adama. William Adama's niece had not followed his path, instead coming up quickly through the ranks as a deck officer rather than a pilot. "Do we have any indication what is causing this?" His tone was accusatory and tired.

"No Sir." Athena wished she could convey more but there was a short supply of answers.

Vinn grimaced. "This is supposed to be a state of the art vessel, a technological wonder…Now I can understand why your uncle loved the lack of these toys on his ship."

"Sir, we have picked up two Cylon basestars on the navcom." The ops officer was stunned. It had been forty years since the Cylon War… "They have launched raiders!"

Athena went over to his station. The navcom wasn't picking up a patrol or a squadron but literally thousands of fighters on an intercept course. "By the Lords of Kobol…"

Vinn tapped the commlink. "Flight deck, this is the Commander, launch all vipers!" He then turned to his ops officer. "Lieutenant, bring the weapons online and prepare to fire on my command."

"Commander…Weapon systems are not responding. I can't activate any of the gun turrets."

"Missiles then." Athena attempted to bring these ready for launch but the missile launchers were not accepting the launch codes. "Commander, we're sitting ducks."

Vinn stabbed at the commlink. "Captain Seth, I need those vipers in action!"

Kevin 'Jolly' Seth was not the typical, robust looking pilot. He was slightly overweight and blamed it on exquisite Caprican cuisine that was simply irresistible. Jolly was the ship's CAG, having come aboard yehrens ago as a flight sergeant, moving up to be the top pilot.

"Jolly here Sir. We're in the tubes and ready to launch. I had a problem with my viper but the first squadron is already out there and I'll soon be joining them."

Vinn watched the sleek Mark VII vipers heading toward the wave of Cylon raiders. He knew that it had come down to those pilots being the Columbia's only chance. He punched a console. So much power at his disposal but when he needed it, someone pulled the plug. He was dead in space, a perfect target.

He expected to see the dogfights begin but instead his vipers simply seemed to stop, as if having hit a barrier. Every one of those modern vipers were reduced to space debris in a matter of seconds, none of them got off a single shot and the raiders pressed on.

"Frack." Athena hissed under her breath.

"Sir!" the ops officer stood up. "The Cylons are using some sort of EMP. We launch the remainder of our vipers, we'll lose them all."

"EMP?" Was all Vinn could say before the first salvoes began to impact the battlestar. Monitors and consoles exploded around the CIC. Bulkheads crashed to the deck, exposing circuitry. Emergency red lighting came on soon after the bridge went dark.

The Columbia seemed to be a lightning rod for more strikes, rocking violently as she was targeted.

"We've lost main power. Life support is on auxiliary power supply. Breaches on Decks 12-16. Damage Control teams responding." The ops officer continued to read off the litany of bad news until his monitor fizzled and died.

Athena gently removed the dead helmsman and sat herself at that console. "Helm is not responding."

Vinn tapped the commlink again. "Engine Room, I need power." It wasn't until he saw the comm panel's lights all off that he realized it was down like everything else. "You, go down to the Engine Room and tell them we need all available power right now." He ordered one of his deck officers who immediately left.

The acrid smell of burning circuits and flesh, the coughing and groans filled the CIC. On the view screen, barely functional, showed an equally burning Rycon and beyond Caprica was being hit by numerous nuclear strikes. None of which he could prevent.

"Why didn't they finish us off." Said one of the junior officers.

"We're dead in space and they know it." Vinn answered. "They'll come back to us soon enough."

An engineer, his uniform covered in grime, made his way over the debris and gave Vinn a radio. "Major Ojbo thought it might be useful, sir."

Vinn smiled as he pressed the transmit button. "Major, I need our engines working."

There was static before the chief engineer replied. "I'm doing my best, Commander. The whole primary system has crashed as well as some of the secondary ones. I've never seen anything like this before. Attempting to do some serious jury rigging but I can't say it will work."

"I need enough power for a jump." Vinn hated the idea of retreat but what else could he do. He promised to return when he had a fully functional battlestar that could do something other than be an immobile target.

Again there was static. "I'll do what I can. Best you can hope for is a short jump, anything more is simply impossible."

The commander then looked at his ops officer. "Begin the count to jump."

"Destination?" The ops officer had to go to an operational console. He was nervous, knowing full well that they needed enough power to attempt a jump.

Vinn looked at the star chart display. "The Void. The Cylons won't be able to scan for us there."

"We have to consider abandoning ship." Athena knew it was not a desirable option but reality dictated that it be on the table. If the jump failed, they would be stuck on a dead ship, unable to do anything to help the Colonies.

Vinn nodded toward the screen as Caprica burned. "Where would you have us go, Colonel? Many of those raiders were heading for Virgon and Sagitaria if they keep to their course. I assume the outer colonies will suffer the same fate." He tugged on his tunic. "The Cylons aren't taking prisoners today."

Some medics had arrived, attempting to give first aid to the wounded, trying to stabilize them for transport to Sickbay, one of the more protected areas of the ship.

The Commander pushed some debris off of a console but it was inactive. Was there any sense on staying aboard? Was he jeopardizing the lives of his crew? He turned to Athena. "If the jump fails, we'll proceed with abandoning ship." He had no choice but to accept that if the jump failed, secondary systems might fail as well, meaning life support would fail.

Looking at the screen, made him angry and helpless.