Fire Flowers
Where was Gina? The devastated CIC looked like a kicked ant hill, total chaos, with people screaming, sparks raining and fires on several places. Colonel Fisk was unconscious or dead, lying on the deck near a console. Helena asked her XO what had happened, and Belzen's answer confirmed her worst fears. For a second, the Admiral was speechless. She could see her new aide, still in shock, the blood on her forehead already beginning to dry, staring in all directions and seeming completely lost.
The Cylons. The frakking Cylons were back. They had attacked the shipyard by surprise, and probably managed to inflict massive damage. Helena Cain knew what she had to do. The Pegasus was crippled, without weapons, DRADIS and most computers. Executing an emergency jump was the only way to save the warship. First, the battlestar had to free itself from the dock. The Admiral ordered to seal all hatches and sever the connections with the yard. She could hear screeching sounds, like claws scratching the hull, made by the unretracted grapples and umbilicals, torn by the berserk retreating ship.
She noticed that her new officer had regained some composure. Moments ago, in the corridor invaded by smoke and flames, Helena had taken her by the hand, dragged her like a child to the CIC, and realized that she had almost called her by her sister's name. Lucy. So she couldn't really blame this Lieutenant Kendra Shaw for temporarily freezing. Helena told her to prepare the FTL drives.
Scorpion Fleet Shipyards were considered a minor military facility. If they had hit this one, the Cylons most probably also struck more important orbital docks. And the planets. Juergen wouldn't have anymore occasions to renew his paragliding stories. Your political and military career is over, darling, Helena thought as she observed the dark haired woman, as is mine. Awkwardly, she noticed how cute her face was, despite the tangled hairlocks and the eyes like those of a trapped wild animal. This reminded the Admiral that she still didn't knew the fate of her lover. She hoped that Gina had been able to find a secure shelter, and said a quick and pragmatic prayer, even though she had stopped believing in any god the day she found the wooden-handled knife, on Tauron. Her razor which had never left her since.
The XO mentioned a supplementary catastrophe: two more incoming nuclear warheads had been detected. The Cylons wanted to make sure that no vessel would escape their ambush. The other docked Mercury class - or was it a Walkyrie? - had certainly been destroyed in its berth, along with the less modern ships. Helena could only try to imagine what it looked like out there. In the vacuum of space, under zero gravity, a fire behaves in a totally different way than on a planet's surface and atmosphere. It needs, of course, something to feed on, but many witnesses had described such a phenomenon as organic - nearly alive. Like gigantic and hungry sentient flowers.
But for some reason, the Pegasus had survived the initial blows, and they had to get away. Immediately. Even with the navcomp online, there wouldn't have been enough time for a by-the-book plotted jump. Lieutenant Shaw reported the status of the drives, stated the obvious, and seemed surprised by the reply of her CO. Helena began to shout. The FTL engines only needed to spool up, that was all. Didn't these frakking idiots understand the situation they were in? The important thing now was the ability of the generators to erect a stable jump field. Nothing else mattered. The fight, as hopeless as it appeared, wasn't over. Were the people around Helena too afraid to risk a blind jump? Better stay here, hide here and die? And abandon Lucy again? Never.
Colonel Belzen continued his dreadful countdown. Ah, Jack was awake: Helena could see that Fisk had opened his eyes and was slowly recovering from his concussion. A good omen? Maybe Hoshi would be fine, too. Five seconds left. Jump systems online. Keys inserted and all remaining security checks overridden. Now!
Without any hesitation this time, Kendra obeyed the Admiral's order and her thumb pushed the rectangular red button. Then the FTL field wrapped the Pegasus, like a giant net catching a whale. Where are you, Gina?, Helena wondered once more, as the ship jumped away.