Disclaimer:I don't own Battlestar Galactica, Harry Potter or any related registered trademarks. No money is made by the author for this work of fiction.
AN: Updated at long last. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing.
Chapter 02
Scorpio Fleet Shipyards
Battlestar Pegasus CIC
"Well did you enjoy your coffee lieutenant?" Admiral Cain asked. "Just say yes so we don't get off on the wrong foot"
"Yes sir."
"Good. You see because I figure you either got lost on the way to CIC or you stopped and got a coffee, and frankly I'd rather it be that cup of coffee than realise that my new aide can't find their way around a Battlestar." Cain paused for a moment to give the lieutenant time to flounder.
"I know why you're here. You think that this job is just a stepping stone to a still better one. So let me guess you had your mother pull some strings and…"
"My mother's dead, Sir, she died from cancer," Lieutenant Kendra Shaw interrupted.
"Yes I know, I read the papers. And while I'm very sorry for your loss, that better be the last time you try to play on my sympathies. Between you and me I'm feeling a hell of a lot sorrier for myself. Mr Hoshi, please direct the new lieutenant to her quarters. You're dismissed."
The CIC crew watched out of the corner of their eyes as the Lieutenant left the CIC. The admiral and executive officer chuckled and a couple of the crew hid smirks of their own.
"A mid morning snack," Cain said to her XO who chuckled. "I'm going to be in my quarters."
"Yes, Sir," the man said with a smile as Rear Admiral Cain left the Pegasus CIC. The pair of marines guarding the swivelling reinforced glass barriers to the CIC snapping to attention. The doors opened and Cain stepped out into the hall, men and women saluted her as she walked down the hall to her quarters.
The new Pegasus was one of the shining jewels of the Colonial military. Currently she was one of the most advanced ships around, although this was not meant to be the case. President Adar had made it difficult, very difficult over the last couple years to allocate appropriate funds towards defensive purposes. Six Battlestars were meant to have been constructed over the last four years. Only two ended up being completed. Of the other four, two were cancelled and the remaining two were in the middle of a funding war. If there was one thing politicians were good at it was cutting budgets from 'non-essential' projects so that they could line their own pockets or boast on how they balanced the budget. Never mind the consequences of this later down the track.
Cain pursed her lips. By the gods she hated politicians. Most of them were only children during the first war, and those that weren't were the lucky few that never had to hold a gun. Never had to watch a Cylon murder a loved one. All the current politicians did was care about their popularity and not the populace they were elected to serve. Not surprising really. The people that were competent and gave a frak about the colonies also hated politics and everything that went along with it. Hence the Colonies were left with an assortment of self-serving civvies with no sense of what it was like outside of their cosy little Caprican apartments.
Young upstarts like Gaius Baltar even had the audacity to appear on television and criticise military security protocols. If it could be removed, reduced or revaluated the Adar administration was all for it. The Battlestar Pegasus was twice the size and power of the older models with need for only half the crew. Such was the running mentality of the current government. Newer, more efficient ships was all fine and dandy for the admiral, but not with the way things were heading.
The military wasn't being given sufficient funding anymore. Not enough to replace older out of date vessels, not enough to maintain fully manned vessels, not even enough to have security teams in proximity, never mind onboard weapons depositions. The war against the Cylons may have been out of time and out of mind for most, but not for her.
In absence of Cylons they had been left with a thriving arms trade. The once proud Colonial military was now a poorly funded, partially operational coalition of pirate hunters. First the Adar administration cut military funding (streamlining to use their word), and then they turn around and act surprised at a rise in inter-colony crime, arms dealing and freedom fighting terrorists such as the now famed Tom Zurich. It was enough to almost wish for a war.
BOOM
Cain send sent sprawling to the side, impacting the ground and landing painfully on her side. "Gah," Cain cried at the impact, a searing pain tearing at her side. Alarms and emergency lighting lit themselves up blaring loudly. She looked up the corridor, a scene of carnage reaching here eyes. Damaged sections hung precariously from the walls and ceiling, and crew members in various states of injury and bereavement, littered the hall.
"Admiral," a marine in the black military gear called from beside her leaning down and assisting her to her feet. "Are you all right, Sir?" the man asked.
"Fine. Tend to the injured," she ordered.
"Yes, Sir," the man replied quickly moving off to check on a fallen man.
Cain moved forward, her side stinging painfully. Tearing open the button on her uniform she quickly checked her side. 'Bruised but not broken' she thought. 'It can wait.' Cain moved down the corridor towards the CIC. Every now and then she would stop to check on a crewmember. A few moments later she sighted her communication officer Hoshi with the new aide she had just finished chewing out. The woman's eyes were open but she was bleeding from the forehead and nose.
"Are you okay?" she asked the lieutenant. Getting no response, she struck the young officer across the face. The blow evidently brought the lieutenant back to her senses. "Come on soldier get up, on your feet. C'mon. Follow me to CIC." Cain pulled the woman along with her for a couple steps before she was able to walk by herself.
A few hurried moments later she was walking into the bridge. The bridge was a scene of anarchy too. One of her senior officers, Colonel Fisk, was unconscious on the floor of the CIC. "What the hell hit us?" she demanded. The XO, Belzen answered her.
"From the radiological reading it looks like nuclear detonation. Multiple hits."
"It's the Cylons it has to be," Cain said, more to herself than anything. Helena had a vivid recollection of her sister, and hiding from the Cylons on the last day of the first way. She never saw her sister again. She shook the thoughts form her mind. Now was not the time.
"They've broken the armistice and this is part of some massive offensive. At least we still have power."
"But that's about all we have. Dradis is erratic, weapons are offline same with our computers. We have to do everything manually," Belzen continued.
"Sirs!" a major called out. "Marine teams are reporting intruders on the Port side. Enemy units, we're being boarded." There was a moment of silence at this as Cain composed herself. "Alert all marine teams and redirect as necessary. Cylons are attempting to board us."
"Yes, Sir," the man said as he began shifting marine units of the starboard side to assist.
"I want all hatches sealed. Docking connections severed. …Lieutenant, prepare to boot up our FDL drive."
"Yes, Sir," Lieutenant Shaw replied moving towards the requisite console, before swearing.
"Sir, the console's offline, I can't activate the FDL drive from her," she reported.
"Frak," Cain swore. "More good news."
"Admiral, marine teams report that the enemy has broken through and are heading straight for the CIC. ETA two minutes."
"What the hell!" Cain shouted at the man. "I told you to redirect marine teams to assist."
"I'm sorry sir!" the man returned tensely. "The marine teams were redirected by they've never faced anything like these intruders. There's impervious to standard weaponry."
"Frak," Cain replied. "Tell the marines to dig out the explosive shells. Don't worry about collateral. Equip the cooks with guns if you have to but stop those intruders!"
"Yes, Sir," the man replied. Cain moved over to the communication panel that Hoshi would usually be working from and attempted to raise engineering. From there they would be able to manually perform a FDL launch. "Engineering come in. Engineering! ….Frak!" Cain swore as the engineering department failed to answer to her hails.
"XO," Cain continued. "I'm going to Engineering to get our FDL online. Take over."
"Yes, Sir," Juergan replied.
"Move it, Lieutenant!" Cain directing dragging the junior officer along with her as she exited the CIC, a conscious Fisk and five of the eight marines stationed in the room following after her to escort the pair to engineering.
Setting out a fast pace the group began to run down the corridors towards engineering, past dead and dying. Ordinarily Cain would like to be able to stop and check on the health of her crew members but they didn't have time. At any moment the ship could be hit with more nuclear strikes.
Passing round a corner Cain nearly collided with a startled looking woman. "Helena, what's going on?" the woman began frantically.
"Cylon attack, you better come with us. I may need your computer skills," Cain directed to her lover. "Of course," the computer tech stated, twisting a sidearm in her grip.
"Where did you get that weapon?" Cain asked. Gena looked at the gun in her hand.
"Off a marine," Gena began giving a smile. Cain tensed. She had never seen Gena smile like that. A cruel, knowing smile fashionable on a predator looking at an easy meal. "He really didn't like me taking it from him."
The blond woman's arm came up and the sidearm levelled at the rear admiral's head. Helena wore a shocked looked as her lover's fingers began to squeeze the trigger.
Bang! The gun went off as a marine grabbed for the weapon, the shot going wide and impacting Colonel Fisk in the head blowing cranial matter across the rear wall. Gena backhanded the marine whom had tried to grab her from behind and re-aimed the weapon upon Cain. "Admiral!" Lieutenant Shaw cried as she shoved the shocked flag officer to the side into the adjoining hall. The blond woman snarled and fired her weapon at one of the marines killing him instantly. Shaw tried to tackle the blond but Gena kicked out knocking the lieutenant into the bulkhead.
Seeing the remaining marines come to their senses, Gena fired a shot into the wall striking a panel. Emergency glass bulkheads fell downwards from the roof, separating the blond woman, the dead Fisk, the dead marine, Shaw and three more marines from Cain and the marine that had been backhanded by Gena. With glass on three sides and bulkhead on the last there was nowhere to go.
"Drop your weapon!" one of the captive marines shouted at the tech analyst. "Drop it!" he repeated as the two other marines aimed their weapons on the blond woman as well. Gena shrugged slightly as allowed the weapon to slip through her fingers and fall to the floor. "Kick it over to me!" Shaw directed stand-offishly. The blond gave her a hard look before kicking the sidearm over towards the lieutenant. Shaw picked the weapon up and aimed it at her. The blond woman turned to face the heavy blast resistant glass separating her from Cain.
The admiral was looking shocked still somewhat but her face became hard after a long moment of eye contact. "Why Gena?" Cain asked tersely. Gena shrugged, resting one hand against the frame of the wall on her side of the barrier.
"You have nothing to fear Helena. God loves you, just as he does all his children. You'll be reunited with Lucy soon enough." Cain's face formed a shocked look.
"How do you know that name! I never told you about her. How do you know my sister's name?" Gena smiled devilishly.
"You're more alike her than you realise." The blond woman tapped her finger and Cain was distracted by the motion and directed her gaze towards the sound. Gena's finger was tapping on the wall. Just below her hand was a large red push bottom. The words 'Emergency Vent' were clearly visible to Cain through the glass.
"Gena…" Cain began but it was too late. With a deft movement the blond woman pressed the emergency vent. Warning lights began to flash.
"What the Frak!" Shaw swore.
Cain reacted quickly. "Marine radio engineering! Tell them to abort the emergency vent in our section" The man fumbled for his radio quickly retrieving it.
"Engineering come in. Come in Engineering!" Cain approached the glass. Gena smirked at her. "All this has happened before," the blond said. "Goodbye Helena." With a whoosh the bulkhead slide sideways, opening the glass cube to space. Cain could only watch as Gena, Shaw and the three still living marines were sucked into space, dead from hypoxia and exposure in moments.
"No," Cain said forlornly. The ship rocked and Cain fought to remain standing. That must have been another nuclear detonation. She snatched up the radio from the marine. "This is Admiral Cain come in… Answer me for Frak's sake!" there was a pause before someone answered.
"Admiral, this is Chief Garner, we're a little busy right now so if you can be quick," came the annoyed reply of the Pegasus's chief engineering officer. Cain was incensed. The man would answer for his disrespect and borderline insubordination if they made it out of this.
"Are the FDLs still operational?"
"Yes," came Garner's terse reply.
"Can you manually dial up a jump from there?"
"What? …Yes! Of course we can."
"Then do it!" Cain ordered.
"You want me to do a blind jump Admiral? We could end up in a black hole for all I know."
"It doesn't matter were fraken end up, just fraken do it Garner!" Cain yelled at the man through the radio.
"Fine! …The jump's heating up we'll jump in 5 seconds." Cain mentally counted to five in her head. A few seconds later there was a great lurch as the beleaguered battlestar broke through the subspace barrier for a destination unknown.
Cylon Basestar CIC
Edge of the Scorpio System
A man of around twenty odd years watched unemotional as relayed images of the destruction of the Scorpio Fleet Station were displayed in real time across the wall of the Combat Information Centre. A myriad of Cylon heavy raiders and the more nimble fighter variety were moving in swarms all over the base explosions and devastation following in their wake.
"Two of the Battlestars and three other colonial warships have been destroyed. The base is crippled and the remaining Battlestar has been hit with five nuclear detonations," An Eight reported aloud to the room. The green-eyed man gave no notion that he had heard it. He watched dispassionately as a nuclear missile headed towards the last remaining Battlestar. The Pegasus if he were not mistaken. The Cylons had their agent Gena there.
"We just uploaded our agent from the Pegasus. She must have been impeded," a Three announced.
'Or not,' the man thought as the missile impacted upon the hull of the Pegasus damaging it further but not destroying it.
"Have the fighters lock on to the Pegasus. If our agent is no longer present then there is no reason whatsoever to entertain their existence further," the man said coldly.
He vaguely heard the sounds of a Five relaying his order in the background. As he watched, a pair of nuclear missiles streaked towards the severely wounded battlestar. There was a flash of light around the Pegasus and then an implosion as the vessel jumped out, sucking in surrounding space to fill the void. The nuclear missiles veered off harmlessly. The man frowned in annoyance. He turned away from the screen and headed towards the room's exit.
"Finish off here, Three," he directed to one of the female models as he walked out not waiting for a response.
The man walked down a corridor, past centurions and the various human form Cylon models aboard this particular basestar. Coming to a doorway with a pair of centurions standing guard outside, he passed through. The room was spherical in design and with a thought the man projected an image of a sky blue day green trees at his back and a great wetland in front of him. He stood watching the imagined landscape, the sounds of birds and wind and water in his ears.
A few minutes of contemplation later he heard the sound of feet approaching. A woman in a red dress and heals drew near.
"Your thoughts are so chaotic I can practically feel it from the other end of the ship," the blond woman thought drawing near.
"And what interest would you have in my thoughts," the man said coolly. The blond woman hugged him from behind.
"I have an interest in you," she said languidly. The man gave a derisive snort the landscape flicking out of existence back to cold metallic reality. He shrugged of the embrace.
"So you keep telling me," he remarked. "Though you've never been able to give me a satisfactory reason for your interest." The woman smiled at him.
"God has a plan for you. You're integral to his design." The man's eyes rolled in his head.
"So you have told me time after time, and I believe you as much as the first." The woman sighed.
"Belief isn't required. Only faith in God." The man gave her a blank look. "And faith in me," she added. The man tilted his head at her before walking out of the room. The woman followed a moment later.
"What ires you so, Thirteen? Are you having second thoughts about the Colonials?" The man snorted again.
"Hardly," he replied. "I have seen what humanity has to offer and I thoroughly endorse their extermination. It would be best for all if the universe saw the last of them," he spat out.
"Then why so heated. The war of the Colonies has begun, and by day's end it shall all be gone," the blond woman assuaged.
"Not all of it," the man said chillingly once more. "The Pegasus escaped from Scorpio," revealing his irritation. The blond quirked an eyebrow.
"Is 'this' what is plaguing you?" Six asked in disbelief. "The fate of one ship? A ship that had been struck by six nuclear missiles and by any account is of no immediate threat?"
The man gave her a hard look. "It is not the ship but that particular attitude which annoys me. Complacency. How alike you are becoming to the model Ones," he said snidely. The blond woman immediately became angry.
"Do not compare me to that boorish man," Six said vehemently. The man starred at her for a moment before nodding his head.
"My apologies, my qualm is not with your line. I did not agree with the decision to mount an attack this early. It was your line that was responsible for aligning Gaius Baltar to gain access to the Colonial Military Databases, for developing the algorithms to override the Colonial systems and your agents like Gena that ensured the program uploads."
"Then what is your problem?" The woman began.
"My problem is this, my dear Six" the man said stopping. "The model Ones have been pushing and pushing for this war since I've been here. I've let it be known and it is still my opinion that this attack is premature. The programs you developed have not completely filtered through military vessels and have barely made any dissemination into Colonial civilian channels."
"Almost 95% of the colonial military has already…" the man cut the woman off.
"Almost 95% is not 100%. That ship the Pegasus should have, according to the Colonial's own databanks, should have had the program installed weeks ago."
"A minor oversight," Six allayed, "nothing to be concerned about."
"I do concern myself, Six. And I am concerned that one as intelligent as you, as fascinated as you and your line are by humanity, that you would be so dismissive of humans. There is by Colonial book keeping 5% of their fleet expected to be unaffected by the shutdown code. Add to that this injured Battlestar. Add to that the additional ships which for some reason or another failed to receive their program overhauls on schedule. Add to that the civilian fleets. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
The woman looked abashed for several moments before she spoke up. "The council voted for this war, Thirteen." She reminded.
"And only won by a single vote," the green eyed male countered. "Your model voted with me Six. You yourself agreed that we were not ready. My motion was defeated not by votes but by arrogance. The model Ones arrogantly believed they could successfully eliminate humanity at present without cause for concern. Such mentality is self-destructive. I suggest you pray that I am wrong on this, otherwise the future could be distinctly uncomfortable, for all involved." The man gave her a hard look before walking away.
"All this has happened before, Thirteen," she reminded him. He turned to face her.
"And yet if I don't clean this mess up, all this will happen again."
END CHAPTER
EDIT: 30/09/11 Fixed up a myriad of typos that were long overdue.
EDIT: 01 April 2012 Fixed up even more overdue typos.