Cavil's Run – The Fall of the Twelve Colonies
02 - Aquaria
As the great ship passed the massive cliffs of ice and snow, Topside One accelerated to 22 knots, and into the open sea. The rough waters almost immediately had an effect on her crew, the worst – unfortunately – being Colonel West, who spent the next thirty minutes hunched over the railing immediately outside the bridge.
Admiral Johansson didn't seem to mind. He knew West was the son of a famous explorer and his family had preferential treatment on Aquaria, despite not having any sea legs. Johansson stood up and gazed out the large windows, scanning the horizon. Weather reports were accurate for once; a southerly squall was indeed land bound.
"Conn SARDIS, what's the state of our minnow?" he said, attempting to stand and hold his hot cup of coffee at the same time.
"SARDIS conn, Poseidon is at 600 fathoms, holding steady, speed approx 17 knots."
"Good" said Johansson, burning his lip slightly. Outside, a large blue iceberg floated past less than a kilometer away. He wondered why, with such natural beauty was his colony the least populated. Then he remembered – it was just so frakking cold.
"Topside One, Poseidon, do you read?"
Johansson walked over to the communications station and took the receiver personally. "What time do you call this?" he yelled, "that fjord shouldn't have given you any grief."
…
Below the surface, the Substar Poseidon glided along silently in the darkness of the oceans. The powerful craft, over 300 metres long, was carefully navigating the peaks of an abyssal plain, but the drop off to the deep ocean was only a few miles away.
In CIC, Commander Greer was gathering his notes while Colonel White was at present looking rather offended speaking with the surface.
"Admiral, I assure you Poseidon handled the fjord without any difficulties. Besides we were hardly gonna to risk denting the Navy's new billion cubit sub now were we?"
Greer smiled. He knew White and Johansson were old Navy buddies, and always riled each other up like this.
"Set course for the Descent Islands, lets see if we can break some speed records. We'll race you. Last one there buys the rest of the crew the largest Aerilon steak on the menu."
"You're on" sad White, "Poseidon out."
Greer filed his paperwork away while White replaced his receiver. "Crazy old bastard" said White, moving over to the helm.
"Lieutenant, set course for the Descent Islands, deploy the new meridian drive. Open her up."
"Aye sir."
A door opened at the rear of CIC and an older gentleman stepped through. Greer and White both turned and saluted. The old man casually saluted back.
"Senator Cavil, you're just in time" began Greer. "We're about to deploy our revolutionary new propulsion system. Should give those on the surface a run for their money."
"Literally" said White to himself.
"I look forward to it" said Cavil, "please, don't let me stop you."
Cavil stood at the back of CIC as the hum of power filled the room. The gradual acceleration could be felt, slowly but surely. Commander Greer monitored the SARDIS screens over his head, checking for any signs of trouble. None came.
"Impressive vessel" said Cavil, noting the readings on a panel nearby. "Got any buyers?"
"Picon military naturally. Caprica and Canceron are also interested" said Greer.
"Would Gemenon care to invest in the project?" said Colonel White, asking Cavil at point blank range.
Cavil smiled. "We'll see. Gemenon has too few large oceans for such a vessel to be effective. Or worth while."
Cavil noticed White's reaction. "Don't worry" said Cavil, "we're all very impressed at Aquaria's contribution to the Colonial military. My constituents are always keen to support your colony in it's endeavours."
"Sir… sir I'm picking up a garbled message from Topside One."
Greer went back to the communication desk, the concern only fleeting at this stage.
"Sitrep."
"Still unknown. Vipers have been launched. Could be a drill but… I doubt it."
Greer leaned in. "Why lieutenant?"
"Sir… it sounds like Admiral Johansson is… scared."
"Lieutenant, I'll pretend that word didn't come out of your mouth. And I'll advise you Admiral Johansson isn't scared of anything. He had a hard time adjusting to life after the Cylon war but that's the worst-"
"Conn DRADIS, multiple enemy targets inbound. Topside has scrambled two squadrons, enemy- oh frak"
"Talk to me" yelled Greer, watching both the SARDIS and DRADIS screens.
"Action stations, set condition one throughout the sub" countered White, addressing their ship while the Commander took care of the rest.
"Conn DRADIS… our Vipers are gone."
Greer followed his eyes back to the screen showing the surface situation. Topside One was now indeed alone, a solitary green blip surrounded by dozens of red intruders.
"Lieutenant, get me the-"
The green blip shimmered and vanished from DRADIS. A few gasps filled the room.
"Shut the frak up" yelled White. "We're Colonials, we're trained for frakked up crap like this. Man your stations." He leaned over towards Greer. "Think we should open the silos."
"I concur."
"Sir" the lieutenant at communications spoke up, "I'm picking up distress calls from Heim, Darkland, other major centers. Reports arriving of ships landing and… Gods… Centurions emerging."
Everyone in the room was stunned. Greer's mind was racing. Was this the first stage of an attack on the colonies? Was this part of a much larger invasion? His thoughts were cut short as the room shook with what felt like an explosion and was suddenly plunged into total darkness, brought back into the light a second later - emergency supply only.
"Senator, you picked a hell of a day for a visit, might I recommend you-"
Greer suddenly realized the senator was no longer in the room with them.
"Frak it, I should've stayed in bed this morning" said Greer. "Colonel White, take as many men as you need and find the senator. Then send Corporal Haynes to guard the sub control room."
"Aye sir" said White, already half out the door. Greer knew the sub control room was their last link between a powered ship and falling below crush depth.
…
White rounded a corner, four soldiers behind him when he encountered Corporal Haynes coming the other way, a nasty bloodied gash on his forehead. White helped the man to lean against a wall. Haynes pointed wearily down the corridor.
"Sub control room… some guy in there smashing stuff…"
White charged past Haynes, almost knocking the poor man off his feet.
"Everyone with me, weapons free but for frak's sake be careful what you hit in here!"
White barged into the room, swinging his pistol around as his men followed close behind, weapons ready.
Senator Cavil stood in the middle of the room, holding a detonator. The rest of the room had been ransacked. Consoles smashed.
"Senator… begging your pardon sir, but what the frak are you doing?"
Cavil just smiled, keeping his eyes on all the rifles pointed at his head and chest.
"Me? Oh I'm just doing what I'm told. Conducting murder and mayhem, that sort of thing."
White didn't really understand what he was hearing. Senator Cavil arrived virtually unannounced from Gemenon, though as educated on parliamentary systems White felt he was, he couldn't recall ever hearing of a Senator Cavil.
"The Poseidon is a wonderful ship" continued Cavil, "but it's very hard to get at down here. Can't allow anyone to survive. No hard feelings, you understand."
"Senator, I'm gonna frak you up-"
"No… you're not" said Cavil, and pressed the trigger.
The explosion killed White and two of the soldiers, throwing a third though the full-length window at the far end of the room. Cavil ended up in a bank of wall-high computer banks, both his legs broken. Despite in pain, he knew he'd done enough.
In CIC Greer was watching the Poseidon's fate unfolding before him on one of the few remaining functional screens. The sounds of the hull creaking was already audible as the now-powerless vessel began to fall towards it's crush depth. Greer knew it wouldn't be long.
"Anything from the Colonel?" he asked.
No one in the room could answer.
The lieutenant at communications appeared beside the Commander, hand outstretched. "It's been an honor serving with you sir."
Commander Greer stood up to his full height, and shook the man's hand. Somewhere on the ship another explosion rocked the room.
In the sub control room, Cavil felt the pressure changing as the ship continued to compact in on its self. A loud crack and the sound of sudden rushing water made him smile.
Well below the crush depth, the Substar Poseidon twisted and imploded.
…
Striding into the meeting room, Aquaria-Cavil saw Picon-Cavil sitting at one of the chairs, sipping a cup of tea.
"That's not like you brother" said Aquaria-Cavil.
"Thought I'd try something human, before everything is burned. I hope you're not offended."
Aquaria-Cavil laughed, and grabbed his own drink from the dispenser.
"Any others?"
"Not yet" said Picon-Cavil. "Did you have fun?"
"Not really. Aquarians seem to be so needy, wanting to prove themselves to the other colonials. Stubborn independence my ass."
"I wasted mine" said Picon-Cavil. "Should've played with them more. Such pathetic wastes for lifeforms. Managed to kill a few personally before the end."
The sound of a door opening down the corridor caught their attention.
"Excellent" said Aquaria-Cavil, taking a seat. "I wonder who it'll be this time?"
…
Next Colony – Tauron