Disclaimer: I do not own Battlestar
Cerberus
"Set condition one throughout the ship, the shipyards are under attack. Get our planes in the air!" Maine barked over the intercom as alarms blared all through the ship.
Wilma looked around nervously as people ran to and fro, deck hands forcing Vipers into their launch tubes, crews rushing for their Raptors, pilots hastily looking for flight gear as the alarms blared over the hangars.
"Frak this." She said to herself, heading to pick up a helmet, she wasn't about to sit here and let herself get shot at by the Cylons, no, she was a pilot and she was here to fight.
"Hey, you one of the new pilots?" a voice called out to her, and Wilma turned to see a man about her age and slightly taller than her with slightly spiky brown hair and blue eyes approaching her.
"Yeah, but before I could even begin to get settled, we were under attack." She said, falling into step behind him as he ran to a launch tube.
"Hope you're good love, otherwise I'll never get to know your name. Chief, this shiny is taking the Viper next to mine. Stick close to me, I'll try to keep you safe, I'm pretty lucky with ladies." He said with a grin and Wilma was so taken aback by what he said that at first she didn't notice that he had leapt into his Viper. Shaking her head, she donned her helmet and leapt into the Viper beside his as the alarms continued to blare.
Being a brand new ship, Cerberus was now the first ship in the fleet to have the entire attack wing outfitted with the brand new Viper Mark IIIs. Longer and sleeker than the Mark IIs, they were also considerably more manoeuvrable and better armed than their predecessors, and were the chosen trial ship for any pilot at the academy. Wilma jammed the helmet onto her head and brought the Viper to life, seeing all systems green. Turning to the left, she received a nod from the air coordinator, and gunned the engine, sending her Viper hurtling up the long narrow tunnel and out into space.
Dozens of Vipers were shooting out of Cerberus as the ship's battalion of Vipers left the ship. Several Raptors were also flying out from the flight pods to help coordinate the battle. Wilma took a deep breath to calm her anxieties. Panic and fear got you killed, but so did overconfidence and bloodlust. Her tutor had always taught her to be cool, calm and collected, and that was what she was going to be. She twisted the Viper to the left, forming up on the wing of the pilot who had talked to her before launch, just as a voice came over their radios.
"This is Captain Hay, you'll address me as Haymaker or Sir. I know a lot of you don't have call signs yet, and I don't really care. The Cylons are trying to take down our shipyards, its our job to stop them, so lets hustle people. All craft, form up on me and let's take down these toasters. Go!" he barked, gunning his Viper, adorned with gold paint, into action and the rest of the Vipers soared after him, just as the Raiders that had come from the Basestars descended upon them. The bullets started to fly and the battle truly began.
Wilma cursed as she rolled her Viper right into the path of an oncoming Raider, her bullets ripping the craft to shreds. They were clearly outmatched in this battle, but if the Cylons thought for a second that they would let the shipyards fall without one hell of a fight they had another thought coming. Shunting her power to her brakes, she flipped around, her weapons fire shredding two more Raiders that were stupid enough to fly right over her. Gunning her engines, she brought her craft in a tight arc and blasted another ship apart as all around her the entire battle descended into red chaos.
Space was filled with debris, fire and bodies as the two forces clashed. Small arms artillery fire was blasting out in waves from Cerberus, taking down many Raiders that were stupid enough to get too close to them. But the Cylons had the clear numerical advantage, that much was clear, and though their fighters were doing as much as they could, it was clear that the Vipers of Cerberus would not be able to repel this attack on their own.
Wilma rolled her ship around in a tight corkscrew, catching one Raider with her weapons fire, sending it hurtling into another one, destroying them both in a large explosion. Despite their victories, screams were being heard over the radio, demands for dead friends to answer as the space around Cerberus was flooded with bodies, fire and debris, as the Basestars began to advance, heavy weapons firing their long ranged attacks at Cerberus. At that far range, all they were doing was irritating their mothership, but eventually, the Cylons would be in range to start throwing nukes around, and then no matter how good Cerberus was it would be in severe danger. A blast clipped the back of her ship, and Wilma swore as she saw a Raider descend on her from behind, firing its weapons. She zigzagged away from it, rolling her ship, stopping and flipping, but she still couldn't shake it, it just wouldn't let her go.
"Get a life you chunk of tin, leave me alone." She snarled, as she once more flipped her ship around and missed the wily devil with her own attack.
And then she saw her mistake, it had gone down and was now going to come up from beneath her and blast her out of existence...at least until it exploded in a fireball, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Told you I was good luck for ladies. Watch your back sister, you owe me a drink." Her earlier saviour told her, and Wilma then flipped her Viper over his and blasted apart the Raider that was about to destroy him.
"Make us even. So how about we keep an eye on each other and then we can buy each other drinks?" she asked pointedly, and she heard him laugh.
"Alright deal. Haymaker, we need to get out of here, there's too many of them!" her saviour said, calling the leader of the Viper squadrons.
"Less of that talk Player, we can hold them. Form up in a wedge and we'll split them apart!" Haymaker barked, and even Wilma frowned at that one. Bringing them all together in a wedge would make them easy prey for the Raiders, who were clearly trying to swarm them. And when those Basestars got into range, they could be able to blast them apart with ease.
"Sir..." Player said nervously.
"Stow it, you have your orders, let's go people!" Haymaker barked, and Wilma bit her lip and preyed they weren't making a mistake.
XX
"What the hell are they playing at attacking here?" Mandell demanded as their Vipers battled the Raiders, but she could see that they needed help, there were three Basestars worth of them, and they only had one Battlestar.
"No idea ma'am. But what is Haymaker doing, attacking in a wedge is going to get them all killed." Sampson said worriedly, looking at DRADIS in concern as the Basestars were getting ever closer.
"The entire thing doesn't make sense, they're too far out to even launch nukes, so what are they up to?" Maine asked curiously.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out. Miss Rayden, any sign of us getting reinforcements?" Mandell asked, and Rayden nodded.
"Yes ma'am, Galactica, Columbia, Trident and Hermes are all en route, as is half the shipyard Viper force." She reported, and Sampson frowned.
"That leaves hardly anything to protect the shipyard." He said worriedly, and Mandell was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all this.
"Signal our Vipers to fall back and scout out the shipyard." Maine ordered, and Rayden relayed the orders, only to have them countermanded by Haymaker.
"Commander, with all due respect," he began but Mandell quickly cut him off.
"Captain you're about to get your birds wiped out, the Cylons are swarming you in case you've missed it. Besides, we think it may be a diversion, there's no reason for them to appear this far out unless they're trying to take the shipyards, so get your birds back to the shipyards pronto." She ordered angrily, her eyes narrowed as the DRADIS readout.
"Commander, the Basestars are in firing range, the lead ship is launching a nuke!" Rayden yelled as a nuke did indeed appear on DRADIS, hurtling right for Cerberus.
"All hands brace for impact!" Mandell yelled, exchanging a dark, reminiscent look with Maine, who scowled at the screen.
The entire ship rocked as the blast hit, knocking Sampson off his feet and several other people from their chairs. Knowing full well she would laugh at him were they not under attack, Mandell helped him to his feet.
"Word to the wise colonel, spread your legs, gives you more balance when she rocks under you." She said, and he nodded thankfully, before looking at her in surprise.
Deciding to ignore what else her comment might be applied to, she turned to Rayden, who had survived the blast intact.
"Report!" she barked.
"Mostly radiological damage ma'am, no casualties reported as yet, significant damage to port energy levels." She reported and Mandell nodded before noticing the reinforcing Battlestars were soon to join them.
"Cerberus actual to fleet, be warned this may be a trap." She reported and she heard a response a second later.
"Cerberus, this is Admiral Corman of Trident actual. We do not have time for your fables, we have a battle to fight here, now countermand the orders you have given to your Vipers and help us deal with the attacking Basestars." He snapped, and Mandell resisted the urge to crush the phone while Sampson looked on in shock.
"Admiral, this is Nash in Galactica actual, Commander Mandell raises a good point, we ought to..." Nash began but he was cut off.
"Enough. All forces, concentrate all your firepower on those Basestars!" he ordered, and Mandell sent the icon that marked Trident on DRADIS a look of deepest loathing before turning her full attention to the battle.
"You heard the Admiral." She hissed, and Sampson, his eyes clouded with worry, nodded.
"Bring all batteries to bear, open fire!" he ordered as the Basestars finally moved within range of their heavy weapons, and the satisfying thud of the heavy weapons filled the CIC.
"Ma'am?" Sampson asked cautiously and she scowled.
"I don't doubt you want answers colonel, but they will have to wait. If we survive this I will tell you exactly what just happened here." She assured him and he gave a reluctant nod while she exchanged a dark scowl with Maine.
Corman was the admiral who had had her stand down her investigation into the destruction of the Isis. He had been the one who had threatened her with disgrace and death if she didn't toe the line, and the fact that he had just openly mocked her in front of half the fleet showed that he had very little care for military propriety, for listening to anyone's opinion other than his own and also had very little sense, whether it be common sense (as one didn't dismiss another commander's theories when the entire fleet could hear your argument) and military sense as there was now a gaping hole in the defences of the shipyards.
Outside a delighted Haymaker was now once again trying his wedge tactic, clearly determined to get his pilots killed. Mandell made a note to check his performance records later, he clearly didn't have much imagination. The three Basestars were now moving in to blast their way past Cerberus, but now the other Battlestars had arrived and even now their Vipers were rushing to join the fight. Battery rounds were now beginning to pound into the advancing Basestars, fire erupting up their central column as the four Jupiter class Battlestars and the single Valkyrie blasted away at the Basestars, stopping the advance of the ships. Outside the dogfight was fast and furious, they were losing many Vipers due to Haymaker's unimaginative approach, and it was clear from the worried glances of the three senior officers that they had severe reservations about this battle.
A further nuke rocked Cerberus, Sampson learning from his mistakes and staying on his feet this time. As he rightened once again he looked up at DRADIS, which suddenly started to blare and he gulped as a fully armed and unharmed Basestar appear right behind them, right in the centre of the shipyards.
"For once, I don't even have the heart to say I told you so." Mandell whispered, but before she got to the phone, Maine swore.
"Commander, that ship isn't firing at the shipyards, it's firing nukes at the lot of us!" he yelled in alarm.
"Helm, evasive action now, lose that nuke or at least make sure it doesn't hurt us as much as a blast up the rear would!" Mandell snapped as Cerberus began to bank away from the oncoming missile as the newly arrived Basestar bore down upon them, nukes firing in all directions. While most did indeed seem meant for the five Battlestars, several were now flying towards the Scorpion shipyards, the shipyard's dedicated Vipers trying desperately to shoot them all down.
"Commander!" Sampson cried as the DRADIS depicting their battle with the original three Basestars suddenly went haywire as every Basestar seemed to fire their entire nuke complement all at once, all their missiles heading right for the Battlestar fleet.
"Brace for impact!" Mandell yelled as the horde of missiles zoomed right for the five Battlestars, and it looked as though Cerberus maiden voyage would be her last.
XX
Wilma swore as the entire air became filled with nukes, the Cylons were crazy, they never did something so obviously suicidal before. At the close range that they were to Columbia and Galactica, they would be annihilated in the nuclear explosion as well.
"Evasive action, all Vipers pull out to a safe distance!" Haymaker ordered.
"Sir, with all due respect, frak that order! Every Viper in this fleet who doesn't want to watch our home ships get annihilated by the Cylons, form up on me!" Player announced over the radio feed.
"Player, there's nothing we can do, pull back, that is an order!" Haymaker ordered frantically but he didn't have a leg to stand on as every other Viper in the fleet suddenly pulled into formation with Player, all of them forming up on his wing.
"This is Husker from Galactica, we're with you Player." Someone said.
"This is Bulldog off the Trident, we are too." A further pilot said, and the radio was then squawking with the pledges of the Viper flights of each ship.
The air was then filled with fire as the hundreds of Vipers responding to Player's call opened fire on the nukes that were now threatening to annihilate half the fleet. Wilma was squeezing her trigger as hard as she could, the banging of her weapons making her entire ship vibrate as she and every other Viper out here blew apart nuke after nuke. Space all around her was nothing more than a glowing orange light as explosions of rounds, missiles and eruptions along the hulls of the various battling capital ships filled her viewscreen as another nuke was ripped apart.
"Positive nuclear impact on Galactica and Trident, but both ships seem to be alright!" someone's Raptor pilot said, and Wilma was beginning to dare to hope as she saw that the number of nukes on her DRADIS were being cut down. Until one ploughed right into the engines of the Hermes.
The Valkyrie class Battlestar, at the outer edge of the colonial formation and hence unprotected by the more durable Jupiter class ships, was edging away from a nuke fired by the one of the original Basestars that was bearing down on it when by moving, it placed itself right into the path of an oncoming nuke. Wilma swore as the ultraviolet blast exploded, temporarily blinding her as the nuke went off against one of the most sensitive areas of the ship. Hermes trembled with the impact, and a split second later a further flash erupted as the engines, overloaded by the power of the nuke, blasted apart, a further plume of flame blasting into existence as the engines were destroyed and with a final shuddering, the fiery shards of Hermes were ripped apart with a broiling, flaming explosion and the cruiser was no more.
"Frak!" someone cursed over the line, a sentiment she had to agree with.
They had lost a Battlestar, which in the midst of a Cylon attack on one of the most important worlds to the Colonial war effort was potentially catastrophic. There was a Basestar at the rear of the Colonial formation trying its hardest to take out the fleet while also trying to take down the shipyards, and the other three Basestars, despite the damage they had sustained, were ploughing onwards, firing a swarm of nukes as they did so and were determined to take down every ship in the Colonial formation.
However, the lucky break they got with the destruction of the Hermes didn't last long. Galactica fired a massive broadside into one of the oncoming Basestars, the heavy firepower ripping apart the structural column of the ship and with a series of micro explosions the two halves of the Basestar broke apart into pieces, ending its threat as its interior was vented into space in a spray of jagged metal and fire.
"This is Haymaker, we have our opening. Husker, your birds are yours, take them in." He ordered.
"As ordered. Form on me!" Husker ordered and the Vipers from Galactica formed a mighty throng as they blazed over the top of the fighting Battlestars, coming around in a sweeping curve that took them right towards the battling Basestars.
Wilma blasted apart one of the last few nukes. Cerberus had received a bump on the nose by a nuke but it had mostly skimmed her home ship, only knocking the Battlestar off slightly. As a result, Cerberus brought itself around, and being the furthest forward of the Colonial forces, it put on a burst of speed, performing a tight turn that edged it behind where the Raiders were still dogfighting with all the Vipers that hadn't streaked off to stop the nukes. Cerberus blazed past them, her guns ripping apart numerous Raiders as she cut through the swarm, heavy guns blasting at the back of one of the Basestars, ripping the enemy ship to shreds as it did so. Wilma grinned, as Columbia and Trident turned to face the other two, their heavy guns pounding away at the Basestars, their attack thwarted, started to lose momentum. Galactica turned its back on them, firing missiles at the remaining Basestar, pounding away at it before the last enemy ship destroyed the shipyard. Wilma brought her Viper around, shooting down a further Raider that was blazing past, trying to assist the dying Basestars. She then cursed as the partner of the Raider that she had just wiped out zoomed around behind her, and as she began manoeuvres she realised it was a persistent bugger, the Raider was right on her tail, its weapons firing around her Viper, she wasn't going to make it...and then the ship behind her was ripped apart by weapons fire from a Raptor.
"You're welcome noob." A gruff voice came over the wireless.
"Thanks for the save, you from Cerberus?" she asked curiously.
"The Raptor leader no less. Eyeball. See you back at base, keep your tail clean." He said and Wilma smiled as she watched the battle enter its closing stages.
The Raiders, being ripped apart by the combined forces of the Vipers, were now all blazing towards the remaining Basestar, which, its attack on the shipyards thwarted by their defending Vipers, was now making a break for freedom, the remaining Raiders acting as a screen as Vipers, Raptors and Battlestars moved to obliterate the last of the Basestars. Galactica, the one in front, was rapidly gaining on the Basestar, guns pounding away at it as it ran, its bottom hull aflame. Columbia and Trident were rapidly gaining, following just behind Cerberus as the combined Viper and Raptor forces let loose with their weapons, annihilating the top hull of the Basestar. The Raiders, twisting and turning, were soon wiped out by the combined firepower of the assembled fighter force, Wilma shooting down four more herself. The battle winding down, Wilma watched with half an eye as the final Basestar, both hulls aflame, finally shredded to pieces by the guns of the Battlestars.
"This is Admiral Corman. All forces stand down, the battle is over. Bring your birds home. All commanders, I want a meeting on board Trident within half an hour please." The voice came over the wireless, officially bringing an end to the battle.
As the Vipers broke away from one another, Husker of Galactica giving her a salute as he passed, Wilma frowned. This mission had been foolhardy for the Cylons. True the Scorpion shipyards, aside from the Picon Fleet Headquarters, were one of the most prominent military targets in the war, being the main Colonial shipyard. The Gemenon shipyards and Caprican shipyards were nowhere near as productive, and Caprica in particular had to juggle civilian ship orders as well, as did the other smaller shipyards on the various colonies. Yet they had never made a move to take the much more lightly defended (usually anyway, rumour had it parts of the Ghost Fleet would be coming here to take up sentry duties) Taurus Space Complex, a significant way post in between the two solar systems of the colonies and hence a fleet waypoint, or the Gemenon shipyards, so why in the name of the gods had the Cylons tried Scorpia for their attack? Cylons may not be human but they weren't stupid.
Deciding to ponder this at a later date, she offered a quick prayer to Athena and Artemis, she followed the large convoy of Vipers and Raptors heading back to Cerberus.
XX
Commander Nash and Commander Nagala had been dismissed, leaving Mandell in the quarters of Admiral Corman, who, if looks could kill, would be nothing more than an unpleasant memory, as Mandell was currently drilling him with a nuclear glare.
"I think it best we leave this unpleasantness behind us." Corman said in what he obviously thought was a consoling tone of voice but all he sounded to her was stupid.
"Really? With all due respect admiral, I warned you of what they were planning and you ignored me, as a result we lost many more pilots than we ought to have done, though I'll admit my CAG didn't help much, and we lost the Hermes! How can we put that behind us?" she demanded angrily and Corman sighed.
"It was regrettable I admit, but..."
"But it was your call and it lost us a lot of good people, I warned you..."
"Enough! Once again commander I see you are determined to destabilise the fleet with your ravings. I made the only choice open to me and the losses are regrettable, but you deriding a superior officer will only give the Cylons another chance to undermine the unity of the fleet!" Corman yelled and Mandell bit her tongue before she got herself courtmartialed, or worse committed murder.
"As ordered sir. Am I to continue with my mission?" she asked waspishly and he nodded.
"Yes, I'm sending some of the pilots from the Hermes to join you. Now get out of my sight, and if I hear that you are spreading your sedition to the rest of our forces I will take steps." Corman snarled, and with a final look of loathing, Mandell swept from his office without bothering to salute.
As she made her way through the corridors of the Trident, she was seething. Corman was a fool, and because of him a lot of good people had died, and once again, as seemed to be the policy of the Admiralty when confronted by something they didn't like, the response was to bury their head in the sand and hope the problem would go away. Which described Corman to a tee, he was determined to keep her from rocking the boat. She knew full well that the news of what the Charbydis had done would severely impact morale, and lose the incentive they had gained with the success of the Ghost Fleet Offensive. But ignoring her advice had led to the destruction of the Hermes and it also meant that the Charbydis was still out there and potentially undermining the entire war effort. The entire thing just didn't make sense.
She scowled. There was nothing she could do about it, she knew that, at least not until the inquiry about the destruction of the Hermes and that would be months away since they lost ships actually on the front line every day. And even then her recent experience with the Admiralty didn't fill her with much confidence that they would do the right thing anyway.
Mandell sighed. She was no expert but this didn't seem the way to run a war, in fact it seemed downright bizarre, especially considering their actions were creating as many enemies as they were destroying. It was bad enough that the Cylons could cause all sorts of havoc with their electrical systems without their military systems being frakked up by human stupidity.
She had a job to do, a ship to command and a crew to protect. A crew that would soon be joined by some of the surviving Vipers from the Hermes so she could have a full complement for her mission. But that didn't mean she had to like it. The Admiralty was not acting the way it ought to be, not if it wanted to keep its people on its side. Something had to have happened to make the Charbydis turn traitor. And with the way the Admiralty was acting, she was surprised more ships hadn't defected and that there weren't more defectors. The way they were sticking their heads in the sand and turning on loyal crews was beyond reproach. Whatever the hell they were doing, it wasn't winning the hearts and minds of the fleet and could potentially cost them the war. Mandell would do her duty as was expected of her, if only so more people weren't killed by the increasing corruption of the Admiralty. But, something had happened to turn the Charbydis, and then as a result destroy her ship and for all she knew, possibly more. She would find out what happened to it, that was for damn sure. She deserved answers, and the Admiralty sure as hell weren't giving her them. And she needed to find out just what could cause an entire ship to turn traitor.
Or otherwise, the way the Admiralty was going, there would be more defections before long, and then they were all screwed.
XX
The headquarters of Colonial Intelligence was based on Virgon, a towering tapered needle like structure in the capital city of Boskirk. Its doors flanked by statues of Hestia, the towering needle was just as much a centre of the Colonial war effort as the shipyards, the fleet headquarters or the centre of government on Caprica. The office of the Director of Intelligence, one Hans Marking, was a bright and open affair in cooling tan colours, with the Director himself sat behind his handsome desk.
He was a tall rigid man, dressed in a pure black uniform with no markings other than the admiral pips he was technically allowed to wear due to his position. His black hair was streaked with silver, but his eyes were his most defining feature. One was such a deep brown it was basically black, with no remorse or warmth in it at all. The other eye was just as frightening. A run in with a Centurion had resulted in the Cylon whacking him above the eye, and as a result his eye was now permanently bloodshot and vivid red. The Cylon had been smuggled onto Virgon by a sympathiser of the Soldiers of the One, giving him a deep mistrust for any and all other Colonials, a mistrust he tried to instil in all of his agents. This mistrust had served them well, and many traitors (which were becoming more and more numerous in a war that seemed to be without end) had been discovered as a result of their investigations.
But the recent debacle with the Charbydis had been an embarrassment.
One of Marking's best agents, Thomas Newland, had discovered that there was a traitor on board the Battlestar. However, as he had investigated, Newland had discovered that the corruption was a lot deeper than they had thought. Commander Kirk Jarvis was a very powerful and charismatic man. He had easily instilled the loyalty of his crews, so much so that everyone on board the ship would be willing to die for him a thousand times over. He was a good, solid reliable man and had risked himself for a single crewmember many a time, easily winning the hearts and minds of the crew. And Newland had discovered that Jarvis had turned traitor. Disenchanted with the Colonial effort and the loss of his wife in a thwarted rescue mission of a civilian colony, he had rallied his crew around him and they had prepared to defect, giving the Cylons everything: intelligence, routes, weapons and worst of all a fully armed and operational Jupiter class Battlestar.
Intelligence had been in an uproar. Newland had discovered that there was a traitor aboard a Battlestar, but no one had expected it to be the commander. The recent intentional betrayal of the Ghost Fleet Offensive had already been straining their nerves as they put plans into effect, and the news of the Charbydis preparing to defect had caused a panic, how were they meant to stop an entire Battlestar defecting without it becoming known throughout the Colonies, and completely destroying the morale of the fleet and potentially losing the entire war?
And what was worse, Newland had discovered that the Charbydis was just the tip of the iceberg. There were other traitors throughout the fleet, all of them plotting to undermine the Colonies and destroy everything that they had built. Jarvis had spread his poison throughout the fleet, and there were as many as one hundred traitors in the fleet.
Marking had known that an example had to be made. They had to strike hard and fast, make an example to the traitors and show them that they would not be allowed to destroy the Colonies. But, to the wider Intelligence community, there was no way to root out this nest of traitors, or even prevent the oncoming defection of Charbydis without alerting the entire fleet to the deadly peril they were in, and as a result perhaps precipitate even more treachery.
Marking hated traitors, despised them because of what the Cylon had done to him. And after becoming the leader of intelligence many years ago, he had vowed that no traitor would be suffered to live while he was director. Newland had found proof of a massive nest of treachery, one that could not be allowed to endure, because if it did it would destroy everything they had been fighting for. And so, when he had become the director, he had done two things. The first was to make sure his agents were as suspicious and untrusting as he, and as a result they had successfully protected the Colonies for many years from enemies both within and without. And the other had been to establish a partnership with Commodore Arwin Leonard. By doing so, Titan Command had been formed.
Titan Command had been set up by the two as a last line of defence. Realising that treachery could spread throughout the entire fleet before anyone was any the wiser, Marking and Leonard had agreed that there must be a last line of defence, a group of people dedicated to the cause and who would do what needed to be done, do whatever was necessary to protect the Colonies from all its enemies, within and without, who could move without attracting undue attention and more importantly could with the help of intelligence agents prevent treachery before it happened. Seconding Leonard to intelligence, Leonard had taken control of the few ships Intelligence had and had formed them into a small and lethal fighting force. But, with agents needing the ships for their own missions, they couldn't be given the really dirty jobs, not without alerting someone. So, with the two of them working together, they set about getting themselves a true task force, one that could match any threat and deal with any rogue, and so Titan Command had been born. A powerful force, it was exactly what they needed.
And the two of them together had unleashed their creation against the Charbydis and others of its ilk, their destructions listed as tragic accidents or Cylon ambushes. Tipped off by their agents, who found evidence of treachery on board, treachery that could have long since contaminated the rest of the crew, they would act to stop the spread of the contagion any further regardless of the cost. By the time their evidence came to light, it would be too late, and so Titan Command would act, destroy the ship of the traitor and end the contagion before it spread any further. The Athena, Anubis, Elysium, Eris, Medea, and Valhalla had all been destroyed by the tireless efforts of Intelligence and Titan Command, who upon discovering traitors in their midst, had acted to make sure they didn't threaten the rest of the fleet and had stopped the spread of contagion any further. And so it had continued throughout the entire war, and they thought it had continued with Charbydis as well, until the ship they had reported destroyed came back and blew up the Isis. Since then it had also attacked a Sol class Battlestar, one of the original prewar models that had been converted to warships but that ship, the Priam had been destroyed properly unlike the Isis so there was no commander to rock the boat. The destruction of the Isis had caused all sorts of problems. Not only had the Charbydis, which was meant to have been destroyed, returned and was worse doing what they had attacked to prevent it doing in the first place, there were some survivors of the Isis who sounded the warning that could have undone everything. They could have told them about Charbydis and that could have led to Titan Command. However they were spared by the actions of the Admiralty, who, unlike Intelligence, couldn't face the cold hard truth that sometimes they did indeed develop traitors, so many of them that it becomes like a plague, and they had discredited the poor commander of the Isis and basically done their job for them.
But that still meant the Charbydis was out there, and due to the Admiralty's foolishness it would be up to Titan Command to clean up the mess. And on top of that, their never ending battle against treason, treachery and sedition went on, and now Newland was sitting across from Marking, who had Leonard standing behind him, both of them frowning at the news he was giving them.
"A traitor on the Cerberus you say?" Leonard asked, and Marking looked at his accomplice.
A small man with a little bit of brown hair on his otherwise bald head, he gave the impression of a mole, his glasses magnified by very thick glasses. He was peering with a dark expression at the much younger agent Newland, who was sat opposite Marking reporting this troubling news. Fairly young, he was dressed in a suit, indistinguishable from the thousands of office workers throughout the Colonies and easily able to fit in almost anywhere. Sharp green eyes accented his rather dashing good looks, his brown hair gently slicked back. And he looked just as grave as the others did.
"Yes sir. I've had my eyes on them for quite some time. The traitor is part of Commander Mandell's old crew from the Isis. I only waited this long because I hoped that the traitor had died when the Isis was destroyed, but they weren't. I request permission to go aboard Cerberus and investigate the depth and breadth of the corruption." Newland said, and Marking and Leonard exchanged dark glances.
The Cerberus was the last place they wanted a traitor at the moment. With their mission to see to a peace deal with the Cylons, there was nowhere more fraught for a traitor to be, and one move by them could end the entire peace process in one swift stroke. However, the peace process aside there was another reason they didn't want a traitor on the Cerberus. Commander Mandell was determined to find the Charbydis and bring it to justice, and if news about Titan Command got out, it would rip apart all of Intelligence and then they would all be put out to pasture.
"You believe the corruption has spread?" Leonard asked suspiciously, and Newland nodded hesitantly.
"I think there's a chance. After all, with the way the Admiralty treated Commander Mandell there's a good chance that she is the traitor, awful though that sounds." He said grimly and Marking nodded.
"Very well, you have approval. Let's see. With the Cylon attack on Scorpia, Cerberus has been delayed on her flight to Picon, if you leave now you can get on board with the ambassador she's picking up there." He said, and Newland nodded.
"As you wish sir."
"And while you are there, keep an eye on the peace process too. The ambassador they chose isn't exactly the best one available. I know we can't trust the Cylons and I don't believe this offer of peace is anything more than total pigswill, but still, keep an eye on them would you? If it does seem to be progressing the way we want it to, I'd rather it was not messed up for anyone." He said and Newland nodded, getting to his feet.
"Yes sir, I won't let you down." He said and left the office.
"A traitor on Cerberus...will it never stop Hans?" Leonard asked, and Marking scowled.
"Not until the Cylons are stopped and this war ends. And if that can happen with these peace talks, we can't allow a traitor to frak it up. Prepare Titan Command." He ordered and Leonard gave him a sharp salute and left the office.
They would protect the colonies. Whatever it took.
Even if it mean destroying another of their own ships.
XX
"We need to get you a callsign." Eyeball, otherwise known as Benjamin Hastings said.
Older than most, he was beginning to lose his hair however his eyesight more than made up for it, especially in Wilma's book since he had saved her. In the seat beside her was her other rescuer, Cain Dartmouth, otherwise known as Player, of medium build, muscular and lounging in his seat easily, flicking his already spiky hair to give it more definition.
"Damsel would work." Cain said with a grin and she gave him a mock glower.
"Yeah for you too, how does it feel being saved by a shiny?" she taunted and both of the others laughed.
The pilots rec room was busy, filled with the survivors of the battle, and now they had extra pilots from the Hermes with them as well. Cerberus had lost a dozen pilots, partially due to Haymaker's lousy tactics. Maine had summoned both Haymaker and Player before him and had chewed Haymaker out for his lousy tactics, much to the CAGs disgust, and had also chewed out Player for disobeying orders, though did mention Mandell had put him forward for a commendation due to his actions potentially saving the entire fleet. It was most likely due to what he perceived as unfair treatment that explained Haymaker's absence from the rec room, that and settling in the new pilots from the Hermes. A Valkyrie class Battlestar had only thirty Vipers, three squadrons worth on board as opposed to the eight squadrons worth on Cerberus. Cerberus had lost sixteen pilots in the battle, and Hermes crew had been largely transferred to fill these gaps, with only a few more being sent to shore up the shipyards defences since the battle. As such there were now about seventeen pilots from the Hermes on board to shore up their complement for the mysterious mission they were being sent on.
"Well you know what, I don't care if you want to meet the others, if you want a drink or anything, what I want counts more around here, not what you want...frak ups." A scathing nasal sounding voice taunted from the doorway, and Wilma, Cain and Benjamin all turned to see two pilots, their suits showing they were from Hermes, trying to enter the room but being blocked by a pilot from Cerberus.
Wilma frowned as she beheld the situation. The two guys the pilot was taunting looked miserable enough as it was. After all, they had just lost their ship and had been shunted to a new Battlestar, they had just lost a lot of friends and here was one of the pilots on their new home giving them a hard time. Wilma scowled and got to her feet, making Cain lean towards Benjamin, who was grinning slightly.
"My money's on the new girl." He whispered and Benjamin grinned.
"No bet." He said, as Wilma, the light bouncing off her red and gold hair strolled over to the disagreement at the door.
"Look sir, we just want to get in, we just lost our ship." One of the two guys said, the taller of the two a thin pale guy with slightly messy black hair and a nervy disposition said tiredly, and the woman scowled.
"Yeah, and I don't want frak ups of your sort on my ship, so you can take a hike. Go on, get out!" the woman said, but the disagreement was beginning to attract the attention of the other Hermes pilots in the room and some were already on the move, but they wouldn't get there before Wilma who reached the woman's side at first and tapped her shoulder, turning the woman to face her, and Wilma resisted the urge to step back.
The other woman was much the same age as Wilma but that was as far as the similarities went. Slightly smaller, she had cold blue eyes, cold and hard with none of the warmth that were in Cain's. She had jet black hair with a streak of purple, tied back into a tight ponytail. But it was the expression on her face that almost made Wilma recoil. The woman had a scar running from the right hand side of her mouth back to her right ear. However, long and thin as it was, it probably wouldn't be that much to remark about, it was the truly angry, bitter and generally unpleasant look on her face that made Wilma almost recoil. Without it, scar aside, she would probably be quite beautiful.
"What's going on here?" she asked, and the woman, who ran a critical eye over Wilma, shot her a look of pure loathing.
"None of your damn business, now back off." She snarled and Wilma gave her a scolding look.
"Look, none of us want any trouble. These guys have just lost their ship, it was nothing to do with them, if anything it was a frak up by Admiral Corman that lost the Hermes, not the pilots, so just let them in." She said, and the woman gave a bark of unpleasant laughter.
"She comes here and tells me what to think? Who the hell are you?" she demanded nastily, her tone of voice equating Wilma to a piece of shit.
"Wilma Mellor, and you?" she asked coolly.
"Maisy LaTroy, Pinwheel to you. Now, this is my rec room, so back off shiny." She snapped, and Wilma glowered, steeling herself for a fight.
"Look Pinwheel, these two had nothing to do with the loss of the Hermes, so why not drop the attitude and let them in?" she asked as the two guys from Hermes looked on in confusion.
Pinwheel glared at her in contempt.
"Why don't you just back off and mind your own business?" she demanded angrily, and the two Hermes pilots looked at them hesitantly, clearly sensing this was about to become violent.
"Hey we don't want any trouble." The taller one said, and Pinwheel sneered at them.
"Well maybe you should have thought of that before you bodyguard here got involved." She said, and threw a punch at Wilma.
Wilma however had had enough fights to know what was coming and had already moved out of harm's way, bringing her own fist up sharply into Pinwheel's jaw, making her grunt in pain and, off balance, slam to the ground in a defeated mess. Pinwheel snarled and was about to spring when Benjamin put his foot in the way and stopped her.
"Problem Pinwheel?" he asked casually, and the Viper pilot gave him a blistering glare.
"Yeah, that nosey bitch you're blocking, get out of the way Eyeball." She growled but Benjamin just glowered.
"Now I trust you didn't just give an order to a superior officer, I'm sure that breaks some form of military etiquette. Just as I'm also sure you weren't blocking these fine, upstanding young gentlemen from entering this room for being from a different ship. Now, get yourself off the ground and get yourself back to your quarters were you belong." He said, and, glaring mutinously, Pinwheel got to her feet and shot an unfazed Wilma a deadly look.
"You stay out of my way." She warned and then stormed off, making Benjamin narrow his eyes in dislike.
"She just gets nicer and nicer doesn't she?" Cain asked, glaring at Pinwheel's back while Wilma headed over to the two new boys.
"Her attitude is pissing me off. Ever since that deckhand frakked up and never sealed that leak properly she's been even more bratty and foul than usual." Benjamin grumbled, and Cain shrugged.
"Well she did get the scar because it flew off when she did a manoeuvre and sliced her open."
"Still, her attitude sucks, it isn't life threatening and you can hardly even see it. She's been riding the deck crew since she arrived as well and screwing around with the other pilots, terrifying them or inciting infighting. She needs to cool off, or a trip to the brig. Pain in the ass." Benjamin said with a scowl as Wilma checked over the two new guys.
"Thanks for the help, what's her problem?" the shorter one asked and Benjamin shrugged.
"Believe me kid, no one has any idea. You boys from Hermes? I'm Benjamin Hastings, Eyeball. This here is Cain Dartmouth, or Player, and the shiny who just saved you is Wilma Mellor, and because she's new she doesn't have a callsign yet. You boys are?" he asked, and the taller one extended his hand.
"Blair Nicolson, Skydive, and this is Sandy Tipper, or Cactus." He said, indicating his companion who was around normal height, had a slight scar over his blue eyes and a short scrubber like blondish brown hair.
"Nice to meet you both." Cain said as Wilma scowled after Pinwheel.
"I get the feeling her and I aren't going to get on." She said and Cain grinned.
"Don't worry sister, her bark's worse than her bite. All bets were on you." He said and she smiled a little.
"And we owe you one. She wants you, she can come through us and when we aren't reeling from the loss of our ship, we can be quite handy to have around despite appearances." Sandy said with a grin and Wilma nodded.
"Now, you boys have had a crappy day, and Cain is undoubtedly eager to break in both of you and Wilma here, so why don't we get a drink? Sandy, I'm looking for a new ECO, you offering?" Benjamin asked and Sandy nodded as Cain got them all drinks.
Wilma looked around at the room. Pilots of Cerberus and Hermes, thrown together for this mission, in her new home. She looked across at Cain, who grinned as he saw her looking, prompting her to roll her eyes in amusement. Beside her, Benjamin and Sandy were talking and Blair was over helping Cain with the drinks, and he gave her a friendly smile as he did so. This was her new home, her new squadron. She smiled as she considered what lay ahead of her, as Cain set a drink down in front of her. A new ship, a new home, a new life and a new purpose.
Just what she needed.
"To the newest members of Cerberus, and to the Hermes." Cain said, and the table clinked their glasses together.
A deep rumble then came from deep within the ship as the ship gently nudged itself away from the still chaotic shipyards. Wilma had almost forgotten they had a mission to get to before the Cylons attacked.
"All hands, this is Commander Mandell. Prepare to jump the ship." The voice came over the wireless.
And with that Cerberus, already with the first grizzled marks of battle, flashed away, leaving the Scorpion shipyards behind.
XX
Cerberus flashed back into existence, the blue orb of Picon in the distance. Sampson had put the ship through its paces with a series of alternating jumps, all of which she had performed magnificently. She was like a dream, the damage sustained in the battle mostly superficial, her heavy armour having sustained most of the damage. Her crew was becoming integrated with the new pilots they had been given and now all that remained was to perform a couple more tests (there wasn't much point in carrying out a weapons test anymore, Mandell was fairly confident they worked) hence they had dropped out further than they would have originally so they could put the new ship through its paces.
"Let's see what her acceleration is made of." Mandell said, and the crewman nodded and applied force to the rudder.
"Commander, we're receiving a transmission from Fleet Headquarters, correction Battlestar Pacifica. Admiral Scott says 'welcome to Picon'." Sylvia reported, and Mandell nodded.
"Send a response Lieutenant." Mandell said and noticed the curious look Sampson was giving her and beckoned for him to talk.
"The Pacifica ma'am, I've never heard of it." He said and she looked at DRADIS where the Pacifica was starting to come into view.
"There's a reason for that colonel. A month or two before the Ghost Fleet Offensive, I'm sure you saw we lost the Semele and her entire task force." She said, and Sampson nodded.
A Jupiter class Battlestar, backed up by two Valkyrie class ships and two Polaris class ships, the entire task force had been ambushed just off Troy which had caused an uproar.
"I remember, caused fleet no end of problems." He said, and she nodded.
"Indeed it did. With the loss of yet another fleet and funds and options short, Admiral Scott came up with the idea to use the ships in the Picon Fleet Museum, of which the Pacifica is part of." She explained and his eyes widened in realisation.
"It's a Sol class." He said in a realisation and she nodded.
"Indeed it is." She said with a smile as Cerberus blazed towards the planet.
The Sol class was the original military class warship used by the Colonies, the ships used during the conflicts between the worlds before the unification of the Colonies ten years ago. With the unification, the Sol class, seen a relic of the time of civil war and dissension between the Colonies, was retired and the fleet was soon made up of Jupiter, Valkyrie and other such classes and with everyone focused on the war with the Cylons, many people forgot the Sol class had even existed. However, Admiral Scott, desperate for ships, had brought the ten remaining Sol class ships out of retirement and had successfully destroyed the Cylon fleet that had wiped out the Semele task force.
An hour later, Cerberus had been put through its paces and had drifted into orbit above Picon, and an increasingly irate Commander Mandell was trying to get through to the ambassador they were meant to be bringing aboard.
"I understand that Miss Hawes, but the fact is that Cerberus was significantly delayed by the attack on the shipyards and what is more, we alerted the ambassador to our presence in the system when we arrived, so why am I still waiting for him to join us?" Mandell asked, her frustration at being forced to wait for a civilian making her incredibly angry, this was an important mission and here she was, forced to wait around for a civilian who clearly did not understand when 'hurry the frak up' was implied in his general direction.
"I'm sorry commander, Ambassador Croft was making sure he had everything for the trip, but he and his staff will be leaving shortly." The ambassador's secretary reported and Mandell resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance.
"Very well, I shall have some Vipers escort him in." She said and hung up, scowling across at Maine, who was failing to suppress a grin.
"I hate having civilians on board." She growled, and Samspon, who had been talking to Rayden (Mandell made a note to keep an eye on that), looked over at her.
"Well, this might alleviate your mood ma'am. The Battlestar Trojan apparently has a gift for us." He said, coming to stand with her by the console, and Maine turned his red optic onto the new XO.
"What sort of gift? And isn't the Trojan meant to be protecting Virgon?" he asked and Sampson gave him a nod, casting him a significant look.
"Yes." He said simply, and Mandell frowned at both of them, beckoning them up to the observation deck above them.
Chasing out the workers, they appropriated a booth and Maine turned with a scowl to Sampson.
"Are you telling me we've got some intel agent coming onboard?" he demanded, he and Mandell had very low opinions of intelligence even before they had lost the Isis, but ever since their failure to discover the defection of the Charbydis they had even less patience with the silent shadows who served the war effort.
"Seems to be, he's landing in a Raptor, which the Trojan is saying we can keep. Frankly I think they just want the agent off his ship." Sampson said and Mandell frowned.
"Why would an intelligence agent be involved in the mission?" she asked in a low voice, and Sampson shrugged.
"No idea ma'am, since I don't know what the mission is." He said, impressively managing to keep any reproach or annoyance out of his voice, and Mandell gave him a sheepish look.
"Sorry colonel I forgot. Alright, here goes. Cerberus is to go on a mission to investigate the possibility of peace with the Cylons." She said, and a second later, she was profoundly glad they had sealed the compartment, the string of invective that came out of her XO's mouth was enough to turn the air blue and even Maine looked as though he was put to shame.
"They can't be serious?" Sampson demanded angrily and Mandell shrugged.
"Apparently so. We're to go to a deep space rendezvous with the Cylons to investigate the possibility of ending this war. It's most likely a trap hence why we got the job. And that's the reason the ambassador is coming on board, we're to take him to the meeting site to discuss the truce." She explained and Sampson then looked at her in bewilderment.
"Alright, so if we're meeting the Cylons to discuss the truce, what the hell do we need an intelligence agent for?" he asked and she frowned.
"Your guess is as good as mine colonel. Alright, I need to do to the meet and greet for the ambassador. That means you get to play with the agent. Meet him, land him on the starboard deck and escort him to my quarters, I'll meet with him after I meet the ambassador. Captain Maine, you have the room." She said, as both she and her new XO left the CIC.
"An intelligence agent and an ambassador? Ma'am the crew are bound to notice something is amiss, how much do you intend to tell them? None of them are going to like this peace mission." Sampson warned in a low voice as they walked down the corridor.
"I know. We have to make a trip to Ragnar Anchorage after this, that ought to keep them guessing, but you are right. As long as we keep the news quiet until after Ragnar we ought to be fine. But the agent will have them guessing, crews tend to get very antsy when there's a spook on board. Try to keep him as out of sight as possible until he's in my quarters." She said as they prepared to split ways.
"Yes ma'am." Sampson said, preparing to give her a salute, but she held up a hand to forestall him.
"You wanted answers colonel. How about dinner tonight in my quarters at nineteen hundred hours, gives me and Grant a chance to get to know our new XO and you can find out what's going on?" she asked, and he smiled and saluted.
"I'll look forward to it ma'am." He said, giving her a respectful nod as she returned the salute and he headed starboard and she headed port.
Mandell headed down the corridors of her new ship. Her leg was killing her, but pride refused to allow her to even consider fetching her walking stick before she met the ambassador. She had lost seventeen crewmen in the battle, much to her disgust. If Corman had only listened those men would probably still be alive. However, a shuttle of workers had landed on board before Cerberus left Scorpia, brining her crew numbers back up again. The loss of the crewmen and the Viper pilots did not sit well with her and she had already vowed to keep an eye on Hay, after his lack of tactical planning in the battle.
As she progressed through her ship, she saw the lost looks on the faces of new crewmembers, and the despondent looks on the faces of others, who she assumed were people from the Hermes, a few of which she had also gained due to them being on the shipyard during the attack at the time. Other faces, the faces of her actual crew differed between wonder, excitement and acceptance, she couldn't ask for much more in a crew that much was apparent.
However she was still yet to get a feel for them. They were a good crew, effective and professional, but their feel, their spirit, their soul, she still didn't have an idea about that. She wanted to know what sort of crew they would turn into emotionally, and she suspected the coming mission would have a lot to do with that.
And speaking of the coming mission...
The fact that the ambassador was coming aboard made sense. While she was less than thrilled about having to wait for him, his presence at least made sense in the wider view of their mission. However, the agent was another matter entirely. She had very little use for intelligence agents even before the loss of the Isis and due to their inaction in that affair she had even less use for them now. But what was an intelligence agent doing coming here of all places?
She pondered this as she entered the hangar deck, receiving a salute from the orange clad knuckle draggers and smiled as she spotted her deck chief, an older man with a shock of electrified looking white hair by the name of Patrick Milne, who saluted her as she approached.
"Good to see you commander, your guests just being driven in now." He said and she nodded.
"No problems I trust?" she asked and he shook his head.
"No, since the attack the place has been fairly quiet. So who's this big cheese who's got you coming down to meet him in person or is that classified?" Milne asked and she scowled as the shuttle descended onto the deck.
"Picon's foremost ambassador. I'll talk to you later chief." She said and strolled over, her leg hobbling her as she did so, to meet the ambassador as he came off the shuttle.
The ramp extended and four people strolled down. The first was clearly the ambassador. Tall and ramrod straight, he had neat grey hair, a neatly trimmed moustache and was dressed in a classy suit, complete with a cane which seemed to be more of a fashion statement than serving any actual purpose. Just behind him was a boy of about twelve, looking wide eyed around the hangar deck of Cerberus. Tall for his age, well built and judging by his clothes he was quite athletic as well, his blond hair gelled into a fauxhawk which he smoothed as he looked around the room. Next in line was a small man, grinning broadly, dressed in white shorts, sandals and with a loud, colourful orange shirt marked with palm trees. He had a small smattering of brown hair, and in his hands he carried a box with the tools of the journalism trade. The last one out of the shuttle was a tall and bulky man, bald head marked with tattoos, little eyes and a bloated look about him, dressed in unmarked fatigues and in his hand was a large rifle.
Mandell stepped forward and offered her hand to the ambassador.
"Ambassador Croft, welcome aboard Cerberus, I am Commander Dorothy Mandell." She said, as he shook her hand firmly.
"Thank you for having us commander, however, where is my reception?" he asked coldly and she looked at him mystified.
"Reception?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yes commander, reception, when a dignitary comes aboard is it not custom for him to be greeted with full military honours?" he sniped at her, and she seethed.
Yes, technically he should have been met with full honours however with the crew still putting right the ship as a result of the attack, and with her preoccupied with his lateness and the arrival of an intelligence agent, the thought had completely slipped her mind.
"I'm sorry ambassador, as you are no doubt aware we were caught in the Cylon attack on the shipyards, my crew has been forced to repair the damage done to the ship as a result, no offence was intended." She said smoothly, and he gave an irritable jerk of his head.
"This is my son, Keenan." He said, gesturing to the young lad behind him.
"Keenan." Mandell said, shaking his hand and he grinned at her.
"Nice to meet you. Cool ship." He said and she smiled a little before turning to their other two guests.
"Thank you, I'm still getting to grips with her myself. Ah, the press." She said indifferently, and the journalist (whose shirt, had any of her crew been wearing it, would have been stuck out the airlock into the nearest sun) smiled and shook her hand eagerly, his palm all sweaty against hers.
"Eric Rose, can't tell you how glad I am to meet you, maybe I could get an interview in with you, about how you feel about the mission to secure-"
"Thank you Mr Rose, I will take that under advisement." She snapped, and he wisely shut up, the last thing she needed was for him to blurt out in the middle of her busy hangar deck that they were going to meet the Cylons.
"And my bodyguard, Trent Bolger." Croft said, and she shook the heavyset man's hand, not at all liking the look of him.
"Commander." The man said gruffly, his eyes clouded with dislike and she made a mental note to keep an eye on him while he was on board.
"All of you are welcome aboard Cerberus. I will have your things sent to your quarters. Ambassador, I must ask that you keep our mission as low key as possible, only my command staff know of the extent of our mission, and I would prefer it to remain that way, at least until we reach Ragnar Anchorage." She said in a low voice as she fell into step with the ambassador as his entourage followed them.
"I was under the impression that the crew would know what they were doing. I will not have my safety compromised by your actions." He said harshly and Mandell resisted the urge to hit him with his own cane.
"I never said I wouldn't tell then, I will tell my crew what is going on after we leave Ragnar. I just think that telling them of a potential peace with the Cylons right now would cause undue attention and distraction, which we could do without, after all this is only Cerberus maiden voyage. I'm sure you understand." She said in a hard voice and Croft, who was sending her a contemptuous glance, suddenly nodded, perhaps sensing he would lose that round if it came down to it.
"Very well. I would have a tour of your ship commander, get to know where I'll be staying during this mission. You'll arrange it for me." Croft said and Mandell clenched her teeth.
Where did this civilian tosser get off telling her what to do on her own ship? She knew politicians were generally arrogant as a breed but he was taking it to a new level. She had to get away from him, otherwise this mission could very quickly be over before it began. Fortunately, events had given her an excuse
"Of course ambassador. However I'm afraid I must take my leave of you, there's been an unexpected development and I must meet with another recently arrived guest." She said and he scowled.
"I was led to believe I would be your only guest, I trust this will not infringe on your duties to me, after all I am the main player in this mission?"
She wanted to say that it would, and if she had her way it certainly would, but she was a commander and had a job to do and a reputation, however tarnished by the Isis affair to maintain.
"As little as possible ambassador. Shall we say dinner in my quarters, eight o'clock?" she asked, and he nodded, that meant she could catch Ivan up before she had to deal with him and if need be she could foist their 'esteemed' guest off onto her XO.
"That will be fine." He said and she smiled to his much politer son.
"And you are also welcome to join us." She said and he smiled.
"Thank you." He said and Mandell turned to the other two.
"I'm afraid my quarters won't be big enough to accommodate the two of you as well however feel free to make use of the ship's mess." She said, and both of them nodded, though Bolger looked to Croft.
"I'll be sticking around him, it's what I'm paid for after all." He said and she narrowed her eyes, so not only was his arrogant boss mouthing off now she had a mercenary telling her her marines wouldn't suffice.
"My troops are more than up to the challenge." She said and he gave her a smile, which looked more like a grimace.
"Regardless." He said stubbornly and she nodded in irritation and looked around to see two pilots, one of which she recognised as Player from just after the battle, heading across the hangar deck.
"Lieutenant, over here please!" she called, and both of them looked at each other and came across, both Player and the girl beside him saluting as they reached her.
"Lieutenant Dartmouth and Lieutenant-?" Mandell asked of the young woman.
"Mellor ma'am." She said and Mandell nodded.
"Ah, one of my new pilots, I vaguely remember reading the report with your name. Well Lieutenants, something has come up. Could I ask you to escort the ambassador and his companions to the guest quarters, then round the ship and end in the observation deck in CIC? I will meet them there." She said, and Player nodded.
"Yes ma'am. If you'd like to follow us sirs." He said, and Croft gave Mandell a nod before he, the reporter and his guard headed after him.
"Sorry about him commander." A small voice said and Mandell turned to Keenan, who was looking sheepish.
"Pardon?" she asked politely and he nodded after his father.
"He's always been stubborn and rude but it's gotten worse since mom was killed. I'm sorry." He said and Mandell smiled.
"That's alright young man, it's not your fault. Now why don't you follow Lieutenant Mellor, and I'll meet you in CIC later." She said and the kid nodded and Mellor beckoned him.
"Come on kid." She said, leading him off and Mandell finally allowed herself a sigh of irritation.
The man was a right ass. How the hell he was potentially meant to be bring peace between their two warring factions the gods only knew. How could such a nice and polite kid be the son of a man like that? Must be his mother's influence. She frowned as she watched them disappear. Croft was clearly going to make all sorts of trouble when he was on board, the last thing she needed right now was a civilian like him on board. Something just didn't feel right about all of this and she didn't like it, not one bit. And that mercenary, he could also cause all sorts of problems if they weren't careful. She sighed. She truly did hate having civilians on board.
"Rough day commander?" Milne asked and she sighed.
"Afraid so, and it's only going to get worse." She said as she headed back to her quarters.
XX
The commander's quarters on a Jupiter class Battlestar were a spacious affair. Upon entering there was a large couch and table to the left, with the dining table to the right. In most quarters in the corner there would be a set of shelves or a statue or some other sort of thing. However, at her request a small cooking unit had been installed, as Mandell enjoyed cooking and so she had a basic oven and preparation area in the corner of the room where she could cook if time allowed. The other part of her quarters was the more personal area. Her desk faced the door, next to the door to the head and opposite her bed. There was also another table in that section as well.
Being the commander, Mandell had decorated the room with many of her own personal belongings. Being a spacefarer, she had always enjoyed the wonders of the universe, and pictures of stellar bodies such as supernovas and nebulae adorned the walls. Cook books were along the unit beside the table, along with a few books she would read for pleasure when she got the opportunity. On her table beside the couch was a fruit bowl, laden with bananas and other exotic fruits. A chess board was on her other table, always ready to be played. In the cabinet behind her desk was a small altar to the Lords of Kobol, more specifically Hera, surrounded by small pink candles which flanked the small statue of the queen of the gods. A flute stood on a music stand next to the wall for when she fancied to play herself a little tune. Finally in the corner was a small water fountain, which provided a nice soothing trickle of water, which had always fascinated her.
As she entered the door, pointedly ignoring the walking stick she had left by the side, she turned to the table, where Sampson and who could only be the agent were standing. Sampson saluted as the man smoothed down his business suit, nodding at her in greeting.
"Commander Mandell, this is Special Agent Thomas Newland." Sampson reported, and Mandell gave him the once over as she shook his hand.
"Welcome aboard. However I must admit, I can't see why we would need an intelligence agent for this mission. What is your purpose here?" she asked and Newland sighed.
"While I am to keep an eye on the peace process commander, I'm primarily here to make sure the meet isn't sabotaged." He said, and she arced an eyebrow at him.
"Sabotaged? In what way?" she asked, though she was privately wondering if the ambassador wouldn't sabotage it just by breathing.
"By exactly that ma'am. Sabotage. You see, the reason I'm here is, well, it's delicate, but..." he said, and she rolled her eyes, and her temper, already strained by the long wait for the ambassador, the personality of said ambassador and the unexpected and unwanted presence of an intelligence agent, snapped.
"Presently come to the point man!" she barked, making the man flinch and he sighed and looked at her sadly.
"Well ma'am, I'm afraid Cerberus has a traitor on board. And it's my job to find him."
Hello again!
Here's the second chapter, I had hoped it would be up a bit earlier but I was watching the end of Battlestar (i cry every time Roslin dies, and Galactica too, always gets me) but here we have the second chapter.
The plot is beginning to thicken! A traitor is on board Cerberus, do they intend to disrupt the peace talks with the Cylons? What were the Cylons up to attacking the shipyards? What is the nature of the mysterious Titan Command? Will Mandell encounter the Charbydis again? And now that we have met the majority of the characters, just what will befall them in days to come? And just as important, what will be Wilma's callsign?
I've planned out the entire story (I also already have an idea for three more stories, one more during the war, one during the peace and one during the fall) and it looks to be about seven chapters all told. And next chapter we see Ragnar Anchorage, a new Battlestar, a battle (which includes a link to someone from the series) and the ups and downs of life on a ship at war, with civilians with murky motives and higher up officers and politicians with even murkier ones affecting life on the ship in general. All told, the crew of Cerberus have their work cut out for them!
So until next time, please read and review!