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Defiant and the Courageous
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Prologue
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The Cylons were created by Man.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
The Cylons send no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
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Until Now.
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Eight years before the attack;
Picon;
Thirty-eight year old Rear Admiral Peter Gallant stood in front of Picon fleet headquarters. Clutched in his right hand was a briefcase that contained his resignation to the Colonial Navy due to the death of his father under mysterious circumstances. Taking a deep breath, he walked up the fifty-eight steps towards the glass doors. Made of white granite, the building was nine stories above ground and twenty below. From inside the building, thousands of colonial personal ran the vast military aspects of the fleet. From the smallest long range Raptor to the mighty Titan class battlestars. As he reached the door, it opened electronically and he walked in, pulling out his military id card to show at the security desk.
"Can I help you?" the lieutenant asked as he looked up from his computer.
"Admiral Gallant, to see Admiral's Nagala and Corman," Peter replied as he handed his id to the young man.
"Yes, Sir. Please sign in," the Lieutenant asked as he slid a clipboard over.
Peter signed the paper as the Lieutenant typed on the keyboard.
"Admiral Nagala and Admiral Corman are waiting for you in Admiral Nagala's office," replied the officer as he set the ID badge down on the counter.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Peter said as he picked up the ID badge.
Peter walked up to the elevator and pressed the call button as he thought of what had happened in the last week. The death of his father and grandfather last week when their shuttle had exploded as it was heading to the Milcove foundry station in orbit of Virgon, had hurt the family business. The death of the two CFOs of the business, plus ten of the twelve board directors, had basically shut down the business. Called in by his mother, he had been ordered to resign, and take over the business. One of the things he found was several hidden folders call Operation Azure Deep. The basics of the plan called for the building if a secret colony as a last resort in case the Cylons came back in a full fledged war.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open on the ninth floor. Walking down the hallway to the glass doors at the end, he nodded to the two marines and stepped inside. There were three secretaries working in the room. There was one to his right and to his left. A third was directly ahead of him, which was his destination.
"Good morning. Admiral Gallant, to see Admirals Nagala and Corman," Peter said as he came to a stop.
"Yes, Admiral. They are waiting for you in Admiral Nagala's office," the young woman said as she stood up, "Please follow me."
Peter followed the woman and they weaved their way through the hallway to another door where she knocked.
"Come in," a voice called out.
The woman opened the door and Peter strolled into the room.
The room was seventy feet wide and fifty feet deep. Directly ahead was a large black desk with several monitors on it along with two stacked boxes that said IN and OUT. The floor was black marble, and there were four crystal chandlers hanging from the ceiling. Shelves lined the walls that had models of all the ship in the fleet. Stepping into the room, he looked around. To his left were several blue couches, and a small coffee table. Sitting on two of the three couches were his bosses. Nagala was sitting on the couch while Corman was making a drink at the bar.
"Peter! Come on in," Thomas Nagala said from where he was sitting sipping his drink.
"Peter, want something to drink?" Corman asked.
"Ambrosia, if you have it," Peter replied as he walked down into where the couches were and came to attention and saluted.
"Knock that shit off. I've known you too long for it. Now what's up Peter?" Nagala asked.
"Sir, it's with great difficulty that I tender my resignation as an officer of the fleet," Peter said as he opened his briefcase and handed one of the folders to his boss.
Thomas took the folder and opened it. Looking at the sheet of paper he said, "Why?"
"With the deaths of my father and grandfather, it falls to me to continue running the family business," Peter replied as Corman walked over and handed him his glass.
"You will be missed but we understand the reasoning since Milcove supplies twenty percent of our small craft and thirty percent of our armor for our marines and that's not counting what Milcove Foundries supplies the fleet," Thomas said as he closed the folder.
"Thank you, Sir…" Peter stopped talking and looked at the second folder in his hand.
"What is it, Peter?" Corman asked as he saw the young admiral hesitate.
"Sir… it's… Well, it seems my father and grandfather were… no, they had an operation under way. This operation was to be a last resort… a way to save some of our people if the Cylons came back and we lost. Here, let me show you," Peter said as he ran his finger down the folder and unsealed it. Opening the folder he pulled out two more and handed each of his former bosses one.
"My grandfather named it 'Operation Azure Deep,'" Peter said as he leaned back onto the couch where he was sitting.
Admiral Nagala and Corman read through the proposal, and then started again at the assets that Milcove was putting together.
"It's a good plan, but could be classified as treason if the government became involved," Admiral Peter Corman said as he closed the folder and set it on the coffee table.
"I don't see how. It's not a crime to leave the twelve colonies," Peter replied as he set his drink down.
"No, but asking for those military assets could be," Corman said and then added, "He wants a minimum of four battlestars and twelve Gunstars for system defense."
"It can work, and we have the spare ships in the storage yards..."
"Thomas, those are for use in an emergency," Corman said.
"I know, but think of it this way. What if we use this to move some of the ships out of the storage yard to a new storage yard? I know we cannot send many of the Battlestars, but we have several hundred lighter ships… including auxiliary ships… just sitting and rotting away," Thomas replied and then asked, "Peter, can your people keep them up to snuff?"
"We can, if we're not overwhelmed with too many ships, at first. It would take time to get everything up and running. We could probably handle about thirty ships at first, and then maybe ten to fifteen a year after that," Peter replied.
"Could you keep them upgraded?" Corman asked.
"That's a good question, as you know most upgrades are done at Scorpio shipyards, and all the parts would have to be locally made. The best way would be if something is upgraded on a ship at Scorpio, pack the items removed and ship them out to us. That way we're only one upgrade behind," Peter said.
"Sounds good to me. It says in your plan that your father picked out a world. What's so special about it?" Thomas asked as he looked up from his folder.
"It's a water world, similar to Aquaria, but with no major land masses. She has two moons, and tens of thousands of islands and coral reefs. My grandfather's scans said the native fish life is editable along with the birds that fly from island to island. There are no native animals but I was thinking of introducing cattle, swine and chickens and such to the islands," Peter said.
"It would take a long time to build domes…"
"My father has seven city domes under construction out at Milcove Construction, near the belt. He used them as attachments for the station but in reality they will be for the world we want to use. Each is based on the city 'Aqua,' but are thirty percent larger. Each city will be able to hold fifty thousand inhabitants, once all the construction is finished in each. Right now, I'm only planning for about five thousand people at this time…"
"Not many people. Why so few?" Corman said.
"True. I plan on increasing that number, later. Currently we have seven of the cities under construction, with two complete. The reason for having so few, is I want to move my people out there, first… meaning the families of my workers. Now, each city will be connected by transit tubes, just as they have connected Aqua to Heim. That, as you know, is the only city on the surface of Aquaria," Peter said.
"How will you get the cities there?" Thomas asked.
"That's where I need your help," Peter said and then added, "Due to budget cuts, the fleet is going to be reduced. Some of the ships on the list are repair ships. The first of these are two of the oldest Ranger class mobile yards. I want to buy them from the fleet…"
"Those are strategic assets. We cannot sell them," Corman stated as he picked up his glass.
"True, but you can rent them out…"
Nagala burst out into laughter as he set the folder down, "you sly dagget, you! That we can do. If I remember right the Crayfin and Corus are the second and third ships in line, and will be the first to be decommissioned. I will rent them out if you bring them up to fleet standard," he said.
"I can do that. It will take at least three years for all the domes to be finished and to launch several other ships that are under construction," Peter said.
"Good, then we'll get you the fleet you need to defend your world. It won't be a full Battle Group, but what we can get you should keep you safe, for now," Thomas said and then added, "This must be kept top secret. There will be no paperwork that could get found. If anyone asks on the ships, your company has taken up a contract to store the ships at your construction station, and then decommission the older ones that we don't need. What you do with them after they are signed off doesn't matter, as long as you have a few parts from the ships stored, as if they had been dismantled: like the name plate sections, for instance."
"That would work," Peter said with a smirk.
"We'll cycle some semi newer ships to you as well. It won't be many, but even some will help with your plan," Corman said as he thought of several ships that could be sent to Milcove Industries.
"Thank you, Sir. Shall we meet, say, twice a month? The 1st and 16th would be convenient for some golf. We'll talk out on the grass if we have any new ideas," Peter stated.
"Sounds good to me," Thomas said as he stood up and handed the folder back to Peter, "Peter it's with great reluctance that I accept your resignation from the colonel fleet's active duty list. I will have the paperwork drawn up stating you are on leave indefinitely, as of this date. May her many strengths follow you in your endeavors," he said as he held out his hand.
Peter shook the hand of his former boss, and took the folders back.
Shaking Admiral Corman's hand, he said, "Thank you, Sirs."
Peter turned and left the room, heading for the elevator and a new mission.
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New Chapter will be up by Tuesday
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Proofing by SneakySis
First Edited By Futurist
Final Edit By TeNdErLoin
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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Battlestar Sword and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2010.