The Twins of BG-99
Hiding
Chapter Two
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....
Until Now.
Ten minutes after the attack:
Battlestar Providence BS-122
Mathew groaned as pain wracked his body. Opening his eyes, he blinked them as he tried to focus them on the light above him. He remembered turning the key, and that was the last thing he remembered. His stomach heaved and he rolled over and puked on the steel deck plates.
"That's gross, sir," Michelle said as she grabbed the garbage can near her and puked in it.
Wiping his mouth, Mathew climbed to his feet and stood there swaying on shaky legs. "Sorry. Oh I feel like I did when I graduated into fleet, the party we had afterwards had me sicker than a dagget from all the booze we consumed," he said as he shook his head and felt a spike of pain from his headache.
"I know what you mean," Michelle replied after she wiped her mouth as well, reached into her back pocket and pulled a silver flask out. She took a sip of the Ambrosia in the flask and passed it to Mathew.
"Here, Sir, rinse your mouth," Michelle said.
"Thanks," Mathew said and took a swig of the liquor and gasped out after he swallowed it, "Smooth."
"Thanks," she replied as took the flask back, capped it and put it away. She then went and checked on the three ensigns who had been in the room when they had jumped. All were alive, just knocked out.
"They're alive, and don't seem to be injured. I can wake them if you want me to…"
"Do it. We need everyone awake," Mathew said as he turned to the Dradis board and started the reboot of the system. He then walked around to the other stations, doing the same, by the time he finished with the last station. Everyone was awake and the calls started coming in as he walked back to the ship's status display and saw they had lots of red compartments, but several major sections of the ship were in the green. Both flight pods, engineering as well as medical, water reclamation, food storage and the assembly bay.
"Well, we have flight pods, engine room, medical, and several other critical systems still in the green, but a lot of the ship is in the red. We need to get crews out…"
"Destiny to Providence, what the frak happened and where are we?" came through the speakers.
Mathew grabbed the handset and shouted, "Andrew?"
"Yeah, and you owe me a bottle of ambrosia. Now what happened? Did we jump?" Andrew asked.
"I think we did. Not sure what happened, and you can have your pick of my bottles. Bro, it's so good to hear your voice," Mathew said as he looked around the CIC and saw Michelle working at her station and then she looked up at him.
"Michelle, what is it?"
"Sir, I have a count of the survivors by using internal sensors. Of the six thousand three hundred and fifteen personal onboard, we have three thousand, and twelve left alive. We lost half the ships personal, most of them in the bow section, and no senior officers have answered," Michelle reported.
Mathew staggered and sat down as he thought, 'Over half the crew dead. My god!'
"Mathew, what's the matter?" came through the handset.
Raising the handset to his ear, he replied, "Sorry, Andrew. Just received the casualty report. We lost over half the crew including all senor officers."
"We're not as bad as you. We lost over two thousand in the attack. We have just over forty-one hundred left. Mathew, I'm giving you a battlefield promotion to Commander. You have command of the Providence. Let's combine the crews for now and get the ships repaired. Then, we'll figure out what to do," Andrew said.
"I'm not a pilot. I cannot command a Battlestar," Mathew replied.
"Doesn't matter. This is an emergency and in emergencies you can command. Admiral Laurence promoted me to Commander just before he died, which was just before we contacted you. That allows me to promote you. So let's get to work. Destiny out!"
Mathew listened as the handset was hung up and he slowly hung his up.
"Congratulation, Sir," Michelle said.
"Thank you Colonel Howards," Mathew replied with a grin.
"OH NO! You're not making me an officer!" Michelle snapped back.
"Too late and it looks like we're both out of uniform, but we can deal with that later. For now, let's see about getting repairs done. Ensigns Anderson, Jackson and Vermont, I'm promoting you all to the ranks of lieutenant with one minute between each of you starting with Andrews. That way you have a chain of command. You know your expertise, so man your stations. Michelle, get with the crew and start getting the repairs done. I also want you to get the best computer people we have left and start downgrading the CNP software on all the Vipers. While I'll start on the repairs…"
"Sir, I know my job. And right know there could be crew alive in the red sections and just cannot answer. While I get the marines to form teams of four together and start searching the ship, you need to figure out where we're at," Michelle suggested as she stood up.
Mathew stopped and looked at his XO and nodded his head, "All right, I'll do that. You get going," he ordered.
Just as Michelle took her first step, everyone stopped when something hit the hull of the ship with a loud clang.
"What the frak was that?" Mathew said as he turned to the Dradis screen and kicked the computer, "Boot up you son of a toaster reject!" he snarled.
Before everyone eyes, it started whirling and then booted up. When the main screen stabilized, it showed hundreds of contacts around the ships.
The handset squawked and Mathew picked it up.
"Lin here!" Mathew said.
"Matt, what the hell hit us? We have no power to our CIC so we're blind here," came through the speaker.
"Andrew, I don't know. Our Dradis is booting up now," Mathew replied.
"I have Dradis contacts!" Michelle shouted and everyone on the bridge jumped to their stations.
"Just a second Andrew," Mathew said and looked at Michelle, "What are they? Are they Cylons?" he asked.
"Weapons online!" Lieutenant Rick Anderson shouted.
"No, I have colonial beacons!" Michelle said.
"Who are they?" Mathew asked as he started tagging the icons. He saw freighters, liners, water ships, Tylium ships, hospital ships, Botanical cruiser, military cargo ships, and even some cruisers, destroyers and frigates.
"What the frak? Where are we?" Mathew said as he looked over at Michelle.
"Don't know, I have a satellite about thirty thousand meters off our port bow… Sir, we're at 'The Graveyard,'" Michelle reported as she looked up from her station.
Mathew turned and looked at Michelle and grinned. "The… Perfect! All stop, shut down running lights. I want all systems down to a minimum," Mathew ordered.
"Yes, Sir," Michelle replied.
"Andrew, shut all your external ports if you can, if you can't, shut power down to those rooms. We need to make us look like derelict ships; I need your computer specialists up here. I want to upload the old CNP software into the Vipers and Raptors. When finished, I want to position Raptors around the graveyard to watch for Cylons or any other ship as we do repairs…"
"What about the fleet?" Andrew asked.
"I believe the fleet is gone. I believe the colonies are gone. If what shut us down hit the fleet, then we were wide open for a massive attack…"
"We don't know that. We should use our Raptors to check, and scour the planets. If what you say is true, we need to rescue as many people as we can. If that is the case, then those ships out there need to be restored and used for the survivors," Andrew replied.
"I agree, so let's get our crews working on it," Mathew said.
"So say we all," Andrew replied and hung up.
"So say we all," Mathew said as he hung the phone up and turned on the intercom. "This is Lieutenant, I mean Commander Lin, by order of Admiral Laurence, I've been appointed commander of the Providence. Captain Andrew Lin has been appointed Commander of the Destiny. As you know the Cylons are back. My brother and I have just been talking. We believe that if what hit us, hit the fleet, then the fleet is gone. The only reason we survived is due to the bravery of Lieutenant Sharon Boils who separated the virus from many of the systems of the ship, if she hadn't we'd be dead as well. Currently we're hiding in the 'Graveyard', and I'm sure you've all heard of it. There are over four thousand deactivated and stored ships here. We can use them.
"Now listen up, all of you, we may be the only two Battlestars left in the colonial fleet. Remember that, we're fleet. We have a higher calling, so at this time, we need to repair the ships. Of the fourteen thousand three hundred and fifteen crewmembers between the two Battlestars, and not counting the six hundred on the two ammunition ships, we have between the two ships just over seventy-one hundred crew left. Now, we need to work together to repair the ships. At this time, I want all of you to form up into teams, either repair, or SAR teams. Marines will be positioned at all vital areas to protect the ships in case the toasters get aboard.
"People, we need to be ready, but first we must get ready. I want all computer specialists to report to both hangars of the Providence. The first job you must do, is replace all the CNP software in the Raptors, Heavy Lifters and Vipers as well as the Battlestars CNP to prevent them from shutting us down again. If you can, I want more firewalls in our systems as well. When you're finished with the Providences hangars, report to the Destiny and do the same. Then we'll start on the rest of the computers.
"Raptors, as soon as we have all forty Raptors fixed, I want all of you loaded with full combat loads including two nuclear weapons each. Vipers, full missile and cannon rounds as well. When we launch the CAP, I want you to set down in pairs on the derelict ships and stay hidden. That way we can get the upper hand if the toasters attack again. Ten will be kept here for security, the rest of you are to check out the home worlds, and patrol areas of the fleet. As you know, the Providence and the Destiny are equipped with the larger extended Raptors, so you can carry more survivors if you find them. One thing you need to look for is surviving ships, be it colonial fleet or civilian. If you find civilian ships without FTL drives, guide them to a place to hide and then we'll get them some FTL drives.
"Heavy Lifters, you will go with the Raptors checking the patrol stations of the fleet. You will go in, and check for survivors. If there are no survivors and you see things we can use, snag it and bring it back in your internal holds or with your claws. Raptors, remember, the heavy lifter can use its FTL drive to jump smaller ships. Or if several are used, they can jump a small freighter. So if you find survivors and they need a lift, give it to them. They can grapple with the ship, series their drives and jump.
"Repair crews, we took several nuclear missiles on the bow and sides, we need to fix any damage we took, plus check the armor to see if it ruptured. Also, several of the rail guns are out of order; those are a priority as well. We also need to fix the emergency escape trunks so we can separate from the Destiny. So more repair teams will need to fix them as well. Now Destiny took heavy damage to her guns and portside landing bay that we know of, what's happened internally, we don't know at this time. Whatever her damage is, those are priorities for her, most of her repair crews will be working on them.
"Internal housekeeping, I want you to keep doing your jobs. We need fresh uniforms, hot food and clean bunks. I know cleaning the rooms and marine barracks are not your job. But I ask you to step up and help. I also need an inventory of all supplies on board as well as what we need. That way we know what to look for.
"Fabrication deck, we need to fabricate as fast as safely allowed. One thing we'll need is armor plate. We will send crews to the worst ships and start hauling the smaller ships into the recyclable bay once we separate from the Destiny. We will also need to set up molds for the ammo for the new railguns, because we will need to make our own once the supplies we have are gone. Also, see if you can turn our standard missiles into nuclear tipped ones, we only have thirty onboard and may need more, later, if we meet too many baseships, especially if we cannot find anymore or get to the factory on Virgon to search there.
"Marine Security, I want guards outside the vital parts of the ship as well as magazines, and internal patrols. I want you to randomize your patrols; don't become complacent to the same patrol pattern. Also, start setting up drills to repel boarders in case the Cylons get aboard. Now let's get to work, emergency CIC out," Mathew said and then hung up the handset.
The next few hours were a nightmare of work for the crews of the two ships, as they rushed around like ants, trying to be everywhere at once to make repairs. The first job finished was the Vipers and Raptors and then they were launched after the pods were extended. Then the trunks came online as well as the FTL drive, emergency CIC and the internal light systems for both Battlestars. Next was shoring up damaged compartments, and replacing the damaged armor plates as well as repairing the rail guns and mounts.
Raptor 374632
Moon of Libran
The Raptor appeared near the moon of Libran. Captain Laura 'Farmer' Jones used her Mark one eyeballs while her ECO did a low powered Dradis scan.
"Farmer, I have some faint contacts over Libran, one is about the size of a Battlestar and is circling the planet. The rest of the contacts seem to be wreckage. I have no contact with the Libran space port," Ensign Wally 'Shark' Edwards reported.
"Frak!" Farmer said softly as she watched her home planet spin.
The computer system started blinking and Wally turned to it. "Hey! I got an id on the big contact, it's a baseship," Wally reported.
"Good, revenge time. Spin up the FTL, and arm the nukes. I want to jump right next to her, fire our missiles and jump away," Laura snarled in anger because that was her home planet under attack.
"Sir?" Wally asked.
"You heard me," she replied as she set up the attack computers.
"Yes, Sir," he replied and started setting up the jumps.
Seconds after he inputted the coordinates he said, "Coordinates are input. Missiles armed. We're ready."
"Hang onto your hat," she replied and hit the FTL icon and they jumped.
Vanishing from where they'd been sitting, they appeared next to the ship, and looking at the huge ship. Laura pressed the fire control and all the missiles in the weapons pack fired. Before the Cylons could react, twenty-four normal missiles were launched from the duel missile packs as two nuclear tipped missiles dropped from their hard points. The Raptor vanished as the ship started firing her cannons at the sudden intruder, missiles blew up as they were targeted, and one of the nuclear weapons was shattered. The second missile flew in and hit the central spine of the ship and blew up. The three-megaton warhead shattered the support structure, and the ship collapsed in on itself as the gravity of the planet started pulling it in.
Raptor 374632 appeared over the ocean of Libran. The deep blue waves were washing ashore. Banking the craft, she flew north and jumped up over a ridge and they came to the city of Libris, the coastal city looked intact, but there were fires burning out of control in some areas. Laura brought the ship over the spaceport and saw a dozen liners sitting on the edge of the runway as well as several dozen other ships. Over near the space guard, there were at least fifty Raptors sitting there. There were people running around the port while others seemed to be firing into the surrounding buildings.
Dropping down to the deck, Laura saw hundreds of Cylons advancing on the spaceport from dozens of large landing craft. They were firing indiscriminately into the masses, killing men, woman and children. Angling the nose of her Raptor, she emptied the two top missiles pods containing her air to ground missiles at the murders. The missiles shot through the air, and landed among the advancing Cylons, blowing them up into the air as she pressed the cannons on her Raptor. Cannon rounds marched through more of the toasters, blowing them away, and allowing the survivors to regroup.
"Wally try and raise those ships," Laura said as she watched the toasters fall back.
"Raising them now, by the way, radiation count is rising from the nuclear bombardment the planet received," Wally replied and turned to his system.
Laura continued to fire at the larger groups of Cylons, leaving the smaller ones to the ground forces.
"I have all ships on line," Wally reported.
"This is Captain Laura Jones of the Battlestar Providence. I want you all to start taking on as many civilians as you can. You're also to raid the port commissaries for as much supplies as you can. If you don't have enough people, draft them. But you need to hurry. I'm not sure how much time we'll have to get as many people as we can off the planet before more toasters arrive. When you're loaded with food, fuel, water and civilians, you will lift off; I'll supply you with coordinates for where to jump. Once there, you'll obey Commander Lin of the Battlestar Providence as if your life depends on it, because it does. Any colonial forces listening to this message, you are to help the ships to prepare and lift off. We have lost this battle, so we must fall back and regroup, but to do so, we need as many of our people as possible. Now get going, Raptor 374632 out!" she said as she flew along the battlefield.
Coming to a hover, she turned the craft slowly, ripping more of the metal abominations to shreds and then flew back and landed at the main port. The thousands of people had stopped running when she had appeared. Laura opened the hatch, and stepped out on the step. Taking the handset, she turned the external speakers on.
"People of my home world, you must stop this insanity!" she said quietly into the handset. Above her, the speakers blared out her message and the people slowed what they were doing and looked at the colonial warrior.
"What can we do? They're murdering everyone!" someone shouted.
"This is what you do. You see those liners over there?" Laura said as she pointed at the graceful ships.
"Yes!" came the reply.
"Go to them, and board them. They will get you out of here, but you must behave. Anyone who abuses their fellow civilians will be left behind. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" she snarled into the handset.
When the people nodded she added, "Good. Now anyone who can fly Raptors, we need you to head over to the guard facility and start powering up the Raptors and other FTL capable ships there. Now go, and may the Lords of Kobol watch over us."
Around the craft, the civilians stopped pushing and started helping their comrades to the waiting ships while marines and army personal started loading the many ships. Laura lifted off again, and started flying CAP around the spaceport, using her cannons to help suppress the enemy as the survivors broke away to the ships. As each ship was loaded it started lifting off. Wally sent them the coordinates and they started spooling up their FTL drives for the jump.
Laura looked at the twelve liners of the Libran Passenger service that had lifted off and were floating over the port. "Wally, tell them to hurry up and jump," she ordered as she fired at a group of ten Cylons using a truck for cover.
"I am, they said they can jump in two minutes," he replied.
"Good," she said as she fired one of her last missiles and it hit what looked like a tank advancing down the street with twenty Cylons hanging on its side. It exploded into ruin as more ships lifted off. Her mind registered that there were eleven freighters, three flattops, two small botanical cruisers, two tugs, several barges and fifty Raptors in the air at one time. Wally sent the coordinates again and the ships started jumping as their FTL drives hit minimum power. On the ground, the Cylons had reformed and were advancing again as Raiders started coming in from the distance.
Grabbing her handset, Laura snapped into the set, "Get out of here!"
The fifty Raptors turned and air-to-air missiles started flying from their launchers at the hundreds of incoming Raiders. Then the Raptors jumped as the rest of the evacuation ships followed. On the ground, the remaining marines and army personal fell back to an old Ironwood class military freighter and it lifted off. The museum ship started flying north along the coast as it gained altitude. Raiders started raining cannon shells down on the armored ship and explosions started detonating off its armor as it climbed to escape the planet.
"Jump, you frakken idiot," Laura snarled as she watched the ship under heavy attack.
"They are waiting on their FTL drive so they can jump," Wally reported.
"I know, she's old, and it will take a few minutes," she said as she dodged an incoming Raptor.
"Hercules is under heavy attack, they report their engine room is on fire," Wally shouted.
"Who?" Laura asked as she started looking around.
"Behind us. She's a heavy lifter, course 229.2 degrees," Wally replied.
Laura jerked the ship around to the new course and in the distance she could see the heavy lifter under heavy attack. Shoving the throttle to full power she flew towards the ship firing her cannons at the attacking Raiders. The lifter had another ship clutched in its massive claws below it. The sleek long ship was all black with fleet markings, and she wanted to ask what it was but didn't.
The boxy little vessel was out classed and outgunned as dozens of Raiders turned on it.
"Tell them to jump. I'll hold them… frak that was close," she snapped as a burst of cannon fire ripped across her bow.
"Two more coming up behind us fast," Wally shouted out over the explosions.
"Tell them to dump their cargo and jump," Laura said as she did a back flip with the Raptor, and salvoed a pair of air-to-air missiles.
"Telling them now… Hercules, Farmer orders you to dump your cargo and jump," Wally said.
The missiles streaked towards the incoming Raiders as they activated the CNP virus and was kicked out by the old program. The two missiles nose cones came apart and a dozen steel rods were ejected at mach three. The rods ripped through the Raiders like bullets and they exploded. Several that missed, hit a third ship coming in behind them and it went spinning off towards the ground to explode as the lifter jumped.
"Last ship is gone, can we please get the frak out of here?" Wally asked as he used the ships ECM gear to mess with the Raiders missiles.
"Shark, spin us up," Laura ordered.
"It's been spun up for ten minutes. Jump us for frak sake," Wally snapped.
"Jumping," Laura said as she typed a new set of coordinates for the FTL drive.
The ship vanished and appeared over a smaller continent, she was in a long valley, and she came to a hover over a small farm.
"Where the frak are we?" Wally shouted as he looked around for Raiders.
"My home," Laura said as she lowered the ship to the ground behind a large barn as the doors to the house opened
"Oh," Wally replied.
Laura shut down the Raptor and climbed out of her seat as people crowded out onto the veranda. Opening the door, she stepped down onto the ground and started walking across to the house.
She was looking at her mother and father and tears started running down her face as she took the flaxen haired woman into her arms and hugged her, "Hello Mama."
"Laura, you're alive!" Nancy Jones said to her daughter as she held her daughter at arm's length and looked at her.
"Yes, Mom. Mom, Dad, everyone, pack a single bag. You're all coming with us to the Providence…"
"Run? I don't run from the toasters. I didn't run from them in the last war, and I won't in this one," Donald Jones said as he interrupted his daughter.
"Dad, we lost. We have to run and find a new home. We're rescuing as many survivors as we can. Then we're leaving…"
"What about the fleet? We put billions of credits into building those damn Battlestars you love so much…"
"They're gone, or most of them are. The Cylons hacked the ships systems and shut them down. Most were destroyed without firing a shot or launching their fighters… Only two Battlestars survived that I know of, that's the Destiny and Providence of Battle Group 99 and even we suffered heavy casualties. Now please everyone, we have to go," Laura ordered.
"There are over thirty of us, surly that small craft of yours cannot hold all of us," her father asked.
Laura looked at her extended family and asked, "Dad, does the old guard base still have ships there?"
"Yes, a dozen Raptors, four shuttles and two small transports last I knew. I don't know if the Cylons have taken the base yet, but I doubt it. We haven't seen a sign of them here," he said.
"Ok then, then here's what we do. I want you all to load up into the vehicles. I'll scout for you and head down to the base. If it's clear, you come in and we'll get what we can up into the air. Pack as much food and supplies as you can," spotting her brother, she shouted to him, "Thomas, you're a pilot. You can fly a ship as well, so get over here.
As her brother came over carrying a small baby in his arms, she continued, "We need to go to the base and get the ships ready. The rest of the family will follow by land. When we get there, we need to hurry and get the ships airborne. I'll have Wally here preprogram all FTL drives with the jump coordinates and then we'll take off. Once in the air, you jump. Don't wait for any of the other ships. Do you understand me?"
"Sure do, Sis," Thomas said as he handed his son off to his wife who came up to them.
"Good, let's go. Dad, Thomas, you're with me, along with anyone else who can fly," she said and she turned and walked to her ship.
Behind Laura, the two men turned to their families who were busy loading the farm trucks with supplies, and luggage as more vehicles pulled into the farmstead. Laura watched as her dad ran over to the vehicles and started talking to the men and women in the cars. When finished, two people climbed out and they slapped the roofs of the cars. They ran for the Raptor as the trucks turned around and sped off down the road and out the gates.
"Laura, I'm sure you remember Jason and Tina Astons?" Donald said as they joined them at the Raptors.
Laura hugged her best friend Tina and then her old boyfriend as she replied, "Damn right I do. How you two doing?"
The twins looked at their old time friend and replied, "We're surviving. What's happening with the fleet?"
"Gone, get in," she said as she climbed in followed by her family and friends.
Last in craft was Wally and then they were airborne, heading down the road at treetop level. Flying over the small village of Butte, they saw panic and destruction as the town's people looted the buildings around the town as they turned to the airbase ten miles up the road. People were pointing up at the Raptor and cheering as they went out of sight, while the looters started firing guns at the craft.
"Dad, I hope everyone is taking the back way to the guard station," Laura asked as she came to a hover a mile from the station and did a quick look around. On the road below them at the crossroad, two cargo trucks were burned out wreckage.
"They are, they are taking Appleton Road to highway 365 to Baker Avenue and the back gate," Don replied as he came forward and knelt beside his daughter.
"Good," she replied and picked up her mic, "This is Raptor 374632 to Butte guard station, please respond."
"This is station Butte, please authenticate or be shot down," came the reply.
"Sending now," Laura said as she reached over and sent her ship's recognition code.
"Received and authenticating… good to see you Raptor 374632 what can we do for you?"
"Prepare to receive civilians at the back gate. All craft are to be ready for evacuation from the colony by order of Admiral Laurence," Laura said.
"Evacuate? Over a few toasters? Never," came the reply.
"Be advised, that the fleet has been wiped out. Only a few warships remain along with a few hundred civilian craft. We are leaving the colonies. You can stay and die or come and live. That is your choice, but we are taking all your craft for civilian evacuation," Laura ordered.
"That bad? We had over a hundred Battlestars. How?" the voice asked.
"Sabotage! The Cylons hacked the CNP systems and shut all of them down and then blew them up. Of the support ships and lighter units in the fleet, no idea on them," Laura replied as she headed for the base and came to a hover. She spotted army personal manning their positions, but two items caught her attention. One was the cargo ship with eight heavy pods attached to it, and the other was an army assault transport parked next to two Spruance class shuttles.
Three men walked out of a tent and headed their way as she lowered the Raptor to the ground.
Opening the door, she stepped out and saluted the two-star general who came to a stop and looked at them.
"Young lady, who the hell are you?" the man said as she saluted him.
"Sir, I'm Captain Laura Jones code name Farmer from the Battlestar Providence, sir, we need to get all of your troops, and supplies aboard your ships. Once airborne, you will get the FTL coordinates for the jump so you can jump and join the fleet," Laura said as she lowered her arm.
"General Mike Lancet, Colonial Army. You say we're evacuating the colonies. Where are we going?" he asked.
"No idea, we want to get far away from the colonies, leave the Cylons behind and find a new home. It's all we can do, radiation count is going up on the planet, and soon it will be to toxic for all of us," Laura replied.
"Then we're going to need lots of medicine, in the next valley is the pharmaceutical company Lionel, and its run by my sister. They make tons of medical supplies there, they also build the Comfort class medical ships at the shipyard as well," General Lancet said.
"General, have your people start loading everything we can use on the base. What we can't take, set it to be destroyed, one thing we need is missiles, so if you have them, please pack them. Now, when the civilians get here, load them as well. We're taking a trip over there," Laura replied as she thought of the supplies they could get.
"You're on. Captain Wallace, you know the job, get it done. Also, empty the supply bunkers of all those ready to eat meals… yes I know they taste like crap, but they will keep us alive. We'll be back, Sergeant Bold, you're with me," Mike ordered as he looked at the two men with him.
"Yes, Sir, and I'll have your aide move your stuff back to your cabin," Captain Wallace said, saluted and ran off shouting orders.
"Follow me, Sir," Laura said as she headed back to the Raptor and shouted, "Thomas, stay here and help out. Our people are going to need to see someone they recognize when they get here."
"You got it sis," Thomas said and limped off after the Captain.
"Everyone else, get aboard the ship, we lift off in one minute," Laura ordered as she scrambled in and sat down in the pilot's seat. General Lancet sat down in the empty copilot's seat.
"Sealed," Wally said as he sat down.
"Lifting off," Laura said and hit the afterburners.
Laura flew the Raptor quickly towards the mountains, she hopped up and over them and in the distance, a large plant sat on the bank of the river, just north of it, was a pair of large gantries for ship construction. Situated south of the factory were several towns with lots of houses and businesses. Coming over the first town, they saw a missile stuck in the ground and scattered around the town's sidewalks and roads were bodies.
"Frakking toasters used chemical weapons," General Lancet said as he looked out the window.
"Bastards," Laura said
She turned and headed for the shipyard, and came to a hover. Sitting on the main runway were three Comfort class medical ships, two with freighters. Around them, hundreds of people were loading them with supplies from the warehouses and semi trucks that were being backed up to them. In the gantry were two more Comfort medical ships and they looked like they were almost completed.
"Frakking A, they're loading them," General Lancet said as Laura brought the Raptor down.
Shutting down, Wally had the door opened while they climbed out. Sergeant Bold was standing on the wing of the Raptor with his rifle at port arms as a dozen people started walking towards them. As Laura and the General stepped out, a blond woman stopped and then started running towards the Raptor shouting.
"Mike! Thank the lords you're ok," she said and jumped into her brother's arms.
"Angela, I'm glad you're ok, what about your kids?" he asked.
"Fine, they were here with me at work on a kid's tour when the attack happened. Mike, everyone is dead in the outer towns. Some type of biological attack by the toasters…"
"We know, we saw, now, what's the status of your ships?" Mike asked.
"Fueled and almost loaded. Except for the Console, and Relief over in the gantries, we don't have enough crew for them, well we have crew, just no pilots," she replied.
"We have pilots, get them loaded," Laura ordered.
"Who are you?" Angela asked.
With a sigh, Laura replied, "Captain Laura Jones, Colonial forces, stationed aboard the Battlestar Providence… What the frak?" she said as she pulled her pistol and pointed it at the woman who walked up.
"What are you doing? That's Maria Hastings, she is one of my kid's teachers," Angela said.
"She's a fraking Cylon agent we killed two of them on the Destiny and Providence. Both of them murdered half the crews of our ships. Don't move BITCH, OR I BLOW YOUR FRAKKING HEAD OFF!" she snarled as the woman made a step to her left.
"What's going on? Angela you know me, I've been teaching here for three years, I love your kids like they were my own," she said with a quiet voice.
Before anyone could move, she reached out, yanked Sergeant Bold's weapon from his hand and was turning it on the humans when Laura fired one round. She flew backwards, dead before she hit the ground. Laura walked up to the corpse and spit on it.
"Frakking toasters! Listen up everyone, we don't have much time. We don't know how she was reporting to her friends or if they're on the way here. So let's get the ships loaded, and ready for launch. Jason, Tina, you are both in command of those two medical ships. As soon as you're loaded, get airborne. Wally will supply you with the coordinates to jump to. Now hear this everyone, where we're going, we must conserve power, so interior lights will be dimmed, and all viewing windows closed. Now let's GO!" Laura yelled at the stunned people.
"MOVE IT! YOU HEARD THE CAPTAIN!" General Lancet said through the bullhorn he took from one of the men using it to direct people to the ships.
People jumped at the super loud voice and scattered to finish loading the ships. Within minutes trucks were heading for the two medical ships in the gantries while peopled started going aboard the others. Two large containers were brought out on a flatbed system and hoisted up onto the freighter and locked down.
"What are those containers?" Laura asked.
"Pharmaceutical chemicals so we can make more medicines. We packed both with everything we make. The two middle containers had been commissioned and converted into hydroponics bays for a special customer. The bottom four containers are loaded with freeze-dried foods, frozen foods, and canned foods. We raided several supermarkets in the nearby towns. The other two are bandages, and medical equipment we manufacture. Those were already loaded and were meant to be delivered to the Scorpion Shipyards for the new Nova Class Battlestar under construction there," Angela reported.
"How many people do you have," Laura asked.
Six thousand company personal, their families and several hundred survivors. Roughly eleven thousand people," she said.
"Frak me! Well, get them loaded up. Also, if you can, move those six medical shuttles, two heavy lifters, and ten Raptors into their landing bays," Laura ordered.
"Already planned it. We just didn't know where we were going to go, now we do," Angela said and reached over and pulled one of her helpers over and whispered in his ear. He nodded and took off running.
Fifteen minutes after killing the Cylon, the first ship, the Mercy lifted off, activated her FTL and vanished along with the freighter Franklin Lionel. Repose followed along with the Console and Relief as they lifted off from the gantries. The last two ships continued to load personal, and supplies when Wally shouted from the Raptor. The last ship was revealed behind the gantries; it was the Lionel Corporation's small liner they used for their head people.
"Farmer! Incoming ships, ETA fifteen minutes."
"All right, contact the base and tell them," Laura shouted back.
"Already did, they're jumping now. Everyone has shown up including a lot of farmers with livestock. They're trying to figure out where to put sixty cows and two thousand chickens, chicks and hundreds of eggs in incubators from the chicken hatchery."
"Cows? Chickens? We don't have room for them. Tell them to leave them," Laura shouted as she started running for her Raptor.
Behind her, the last Raptor was towed up into the Expectation's landing bay. As she started lifting off, the Laura Lionel lifted off and both ships vanished as she turned towards the base in the other valley.
"I have radiological signatures," Wally shouted as his equipment started going crazy.
"Tell them to take off, leave everything else," Laura replied as she pulled the nose of her craft up and shot straight up into the air.
"They're lifting off and jumping now. Captain Wallace reports they left nothing behind of value, even the Raptors are fully loaded with as many children and women from Butte. The men say if you can come back, come, but don't endanger their families," Wally reported.
Behind them there was a bright flash of light and the canopy polarized. When it cleared, Laura looked behind them and saw the massive mushroom clouds forming over her hometown and the nearby valley towns. Tears ran down her face as she said, "FTL?"
"Ready," Wally said and then added, "I'm sorry for your home."
"Thanks, jumping."
First Edited by Bill Lewis
Final Edit By TeNderLoin
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