CHAPTER TWO
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Her consciousness evaporated into the heavens. For a split moment she was one with all things in the universe. Space and time was revealed to her. She knew of humanities future, and of its fate to come. Everything was peaceful as her mind just floated in the sea of stars. It was tranquil and beautiful. If this was death, it was nothing to fear. Death was something to embrace. Her mind floated down to the rocky body below her. It was a planet surrounded by six moons. Just below her, in the far distance, a ship appeared.
-
We reappeared from the jump. I was startled. Something felt. . .off.
Then the ships main engines fired. We didn't have time to brace. When you jump, you jump with your current speed and direction. We had to speed up to the orbital momentum of Scorpia. FTB was a tiny moon that orbited outside the system's heliosphere, in a 27ยบ orbital inclination to the ecliptic plane. With such a distance from the center, FTB moved slower than any other planet, especially the core worlds. Once we jumped from FTB we needed to speed up to reach the mean momentum threshold of the system. That required an acceleration maneuver, which was usually done slowly in increments.
But to jump from the station directly to orbit a planet was hard. This acceleration maneuver exceeded the gravitational plating tolerance, and we all had to compensate with our bodies for the difference. I held on to the information table railing. Marks entire body was slumped over the table. Several crew members fell over. The ship shimmied and shook. I felt myself being pulled into the bulkhead.
Then the pull stopped as we reached Scorpia's orbital velocity of 36.5 kilometers per second, or roughly 81,000 miles per hour. Now we had to find the Athena, and hope the Cylons didn't detect us. "Slaton, what do you have?" I asked staring at the blank DRADIS sweep.
He responded, "approaching planet. DRADIS isn't picking up anything. We are still pretty far out though."
Marks looked at me then the DRADIS screen, "could be on the other side of the planet."
I sighed. "James, get on the scrambler and see if you can pick up Athena." I heard James in the background relaying over the comm. I sighed again. I listened to James try the broadcast a few more times while I stared at the DRADIS screens, hopeful for the ship to turn up.
Marks looked at James, who just shook his head 'no' while he continued to broadcast. Then Marks looked back at me, "recommend we lower our orbit. Their signatures could be masked by geographic features. Scorpia has some of the tallest mountains in the Colonies."
I thought about it for a moment. "Very well. Maintain Condition One. Helm lower our altitude to 200 miles. David, initiate weapons program nine." We watched and waited while DRADIS swept the area again and again. James kept broadcasting.
-
Floating in space, with its engines off, a modified Cylon Raider watched. It observed the Battlecruiser Craton lower its altitude. It took note that the ship was moving towards it. The Raider anticipated the moment. Once the Craton lowered its orbit, the moment arrived. The Raider retracted its visor and transmitted. The process took less than a second. Then its FTL spooled and it jumped.
-
James grabbed his headset with both his hands. Marks and I both looked at him. We could see he was trying to make out something hard to hear. I picked up one of the headsets hanging from the lighted table. Marks followed. The three of us listened to the static.
"Battleship Athena, this is the Battlecruiser Craton. Do you read me?" James was always very clear and disciplined on the radio. His broadcast was returned with a different pitch of static from the background noise. "Battleship Athena, this is the Battlecruiser Craton. Do you read me?" Again the message was returned with a different pitch of static. But this time we heard mumbling. James kept pressing buttons on his computer. I saw he was trying to fine tune and filter the static.
I pressed the headset onto my ears as I looked up at the DRADIS screen. Our altitude was low. This was both good and bad. Our DRADIS sweeps were more powerful now. However, they didn't go as far. The same was true for the comm bands.
James did something different, because I now heard garbled mumbling. James held his headset firmly in place. Then he began writing down some notes. I walked over with Marks and read his notes. THIS IS BORING, IM BORED. OH GOOD SOMETHING TO DO. SHIPS JUMPING, AWESOME! I LOVE JUMPS. The page continued like this until I found where he was writing what he was hearing. OOF HARD RE-ENTRY. CYL(ONS) FO(LLOW)IN(G)(RAID)ER (W)ING T(RA)P. Other than noticing James got bored quickly and liked to doodle, I also noticed the last thing he wrote and was immediately reminded why I valued this kid. He had good ears.
I tossed my headset back on the table, "David, you got it yet?" Marks put his headset back and walked over to Weapons Control to talk to Dyson about the trap.
"I have a bearing," responded Slaton. "Transmission is coming from 060 carom 328. And moving fast! Carom 322, 319, 315. It has to be her sir."
I watched DRADIS but didn't see anything. The mountains must have still been masking the Athena's signature. "I agree." I rubbed my eyes. I needed coffee. "Helm, put us over that contact. Everyone keep an eye on DRADIS." I felt and heard the ship move against the wind. We were moving against the rotation of the planet. The air was so dispersed up here it was practically zero. But at our altitude, we were still low and fast enough for the friction of the atmosphere to considerably push on our hull.
We reached our target and turned to follow directly over it. "James?" I asked looking at him. He still held his hands on his headset pressing the speakers into his ears. He nodded 'no' at the computer screen. I understood that meant he was trying with no luck. "Slaton?" I asked looking at David.
He was putting variables into the computer. When I squinted my eyes to focus on him, it looked like he was reprogramming DRADIS to differentiate the Athena from the mountains. If he was doing that, it meant the Athena was low, too low for us to see them visually. And I wasn't wild about the idea of taking the Craton into the atmosphere. Slaton looked over to me as he pressed 'ENTER' in a melodramatic fashion. He gave a thumbs up as a blip, accompanied by a tone, popped on the DRADIS screen.
"DRADIS CONTACT!" yelled Marks from Weapons Control. Him and Dyson were planning the inevitable attack. Marks walked back to the other side of the information management table.
Then I remembered the communication static. James was still having a problem broadcasting and receiving. I looked at DRADIS. The contact was identified as 'UNKNOWN'. "Standby weapons. That's the Athena?" I asked looking at Slaton.
"Yes sir. The computer just can't pick up her IFF. It's either not transmitting or being scrambled."
"Can you apply the same algorithm to the background static in the comm band?" I had a hunch.
"Yeah, but we might get a number of false positives," answered Slaton. He turned and carried out my order.
"What are you thinking?" asked Marks.
"If our comms are being jammed, we would know. Everything is fine with us. I think the Athena is being jammed with some new kind of electronic warfare." I sighed and rolled out a map of Scorpia's surface directly below us. I pointed softly at the grid, "Athena is in the Scorpius Mountain Range, so we can rule out a DRADIS countermeasure system in use. To maneuver at those speeds in those mountains would require DRADIS to be up and running. Our DRADIS can't see them because they are being masked by the terrain. Their IFF is being garbled so the computer can't identify them. We are directly over them but can't talk to them. That leaves only one conclusion."
"The Cylons are jamming them because they don't want them to broadcast," concluded Marks.
"We have to assume the Cylons saw the Raptor leave. So jamming a call for help is pointless at this moment. Which means?" I asked. I knew the answer but wanted him to follow.
"Athena found out something. Something big," revealed Marks. "How do we get a message to them and let them know we are here? I'm not wild about taking the ship into the atmosphere."
I smiled. I was thinking the same thing just a moment ago.
Just then, a Cylon Raider Wing appeared on the DRADIS screens, as did Athena's IFF right in front of the wing. I looked over to James and smiled. I was going to congratulate him, but before I could he said, "It' wasn't me. They stopped jamming."
I looked up at DRADIS. I instantly got worried. "Marks, point defense stations, scan their areas of responsibility. James, get Athena up here." I watched DRADIS closely. "Slaton, is the background noise still there?" As I asked, Marks had walked to Weapons Control to relay the order. Our point defense cannons were usually automated, but we still had crews in them for an emergency manual override. These crews had the only people that had windows looking out into space.
"It is," answered Slaton. I looked to him with a certain level of frustration. He understood that I wanted him to continue programming to find the background static.
"Admiral," said James. "Athena is on her assent. Their FTL is fixed."
"Begin jump prep," I ordered. I watched the Raider Wing ascend with the Athena. The automated point defense cannons began to target the Raiders. Then it happened.
BEEP. BEEP. BE-BE-P-B-P-EE-B-P.
Displayed on the DRADIS console was the trap we begun to expect. "DRADIS CONTACT!" yelled Slaton from his station.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP
The contacts kept appearing. Each one was designated 'UNKNOWN', but each one was from the planets surface. Just in the area we were scanning, we were receiving thousands of contacts. Slaton spoke up, "I finished the program."
I walked to his station to look over his shoulder. "Filter out stationary targets," Slaton cut me off.
"Admiral, when I filtered out the stationary contacts from the background static, the result was zero. So I compensated for size, distance, amplitude and modulation and crossed that with all known Cylon frequencies. This is the result. What is this? What are these contacts? What did we find?"
I grew worried. Slaton was asking what I was thinking. "I don't know." I became aware I wasn't the only person hovering over Slaton, Marks was there. I stood up and walked back to my customary spot in the middle of the CIC next to the information management table. I heard the point defense batteries firing. "Athena?" I asked James.
"Athena is ready to jump," relayed James.
"Tell them to get out of here," I replied.
"Stand by for jump people!" ordered Marks.
While this was my last order, I had a different idea. "Hold jump."
"Hold jump, aye sir," responded Marks. I heard the relay among the crew.
"Athena is clear," said James.
"Nuclear launch order," I took the key around my neck and slid it over to Slaton. He didn't miss a beat, but everyone else in the CIC stared at me. "Weapons, all missiles and warheads. Target all the contacts you can." I refused to repeat myself. I just stared at Marks who was surprised.
It took an instant for him to snap out of it. Then he yelled, "you heard the order people!"
"IDENTIFIED DRADIS CONTACT!" yelled Slaton. "Three Basestars 225 carom 221. Weapons range in two minutes." The CIC returned to ordered chaos, but it was a lot quieter now, except for the point defense guns firing. The helmsman began turning us into the approaching base ships in preparation for the main batteries to fire.
Slaton quickly walked over to the Nuclear Arm-Release Terminal. He inserted my electronic key into the slot designated 'COMMANDING OFFICER'. The computer prompted a personal identification code. "Sir, I need your key," instructed Slaton to Marks. Marks took his key off his neck and gave it to him. He inserted Mark's key in the slot designated 'EXECUTIVE OFFICER'. At that moment two lock boxes opened up on the terminal to reveal a special keyboard with characters, symbols, letters and numbers. Marks and I entered our codes.
Dyson signaled Slaton a thumbs up. Slaton nodded. This meant the programs for the warheads were ready. I turned my attention to the advancing base ships. "Standby jump. Helm, flip us over." I watched the attitude indicator move as our Z axis rotated. Then I heard Slaton engage each missile tube door lock. Ten loud thunks accompanied one another. I looked at the Arm-Release terminal and watched as one by one the ten missile indicator lights tuned from red to green.
"Missiles armed and ready for launch," informed Slaton.
"Radiological contact," informed James.
"Base ships launching Raider Wings," said Marks.
With a firm knot in my stomach, I gave the order. "Fire!" I watched the terminal display each missile as solid green, blinking green, blinking yellow, to off. Once all the lights turned off, which took seventeen seconds, I ordered the jump.
We disappeared.
-
The missiles departed their launch bays and accelerated towards the planet. They scattered in a formation resembling a spiders web. Other missiles, from the planets surface, were fired to intercept the nukes. On board the nukes, the computer saw the surface missile launches and computed speed, time, and trajectory. Each nuke made a calculated decision. All ten nukes were talking to one another, it was a way at maximizing efficiency. They agreed that to reach their targets, they must enter stage two. Each missile ejected its launch rocket, and blew off its nose cone. All that remained on each one were six warheads connected to secondary rocket. The surface missiles were compensating to intercept, so all the computers gave the high altitude override. The warheads launched off from their secondary rockets, and accelerated in different directions. The sky of Scorpia was littered with sixty pointed objects falling towards the surface. A handful of warheads were hit by missiles. Another few were destroyed by gun fire. The rest hit their targets. Half the planet lit up with a brilliant flash of light.