Chapter Three: Red Sky Morning

Heraclea Salvage Company, Administration Section:

It had taken over three hours since the boarding party had come onboard the structure the Heraclea Salvage Company used for its Administration Department,but they had actually done it. The complete staff of the Heraclea Salvage Company had been brought over to the Battlestar Stryker, and all of the useful materials had been taken onboard as well. Major Arthur Wallace of the Ministry of Intelligence took one last look before stepping through the airlock and back onto the Stryker.

When the airlock had closed behind him, Wallace rushed over to the phone and pressed the buttons for the CIC.

"CIC," said Lieutenant Rajesh Suman.

"Lieutenant Suman, get me Commander Cyprian," Wallace said and moments later, he heard the voice of Commander Jerome Cyprian.

"What is it Wallace?" the Commander's terse voice asked over the line.

"The personnel have been brought onboard and we have loaded every supply that looked to be of value to us," Wallace said as he turned to see the deck gang putting away the items that had been brought onboard. Importantly enough, they had brought over the food that had been stored on the station for the personnel.

"Excellent work, Wallace. I'll see you when you return to the CIC," Cyprian said before ending the call.

Wallace put the phone back into its receiver and walked over to where Chief Alice Johnston was directing her deck gang.

"Your people did good work there, Chief."

"You didn't do so badly yourself, Arthur," Johnston said, using Wallace's first name after he insisted she not call him Major.

"Thanks, Chief, I'm off to the CIC to see what's going on," Wallace said. He had no idea exactly what was going on with Cyprian, but the Commander seemed to have been wakened from the shock that had seemingly paralyzed him when the Cylons attacked.

CIC:

"I got here as quickly as I could," Wallace said as he bounded into the CIC and headed towards the Command and Control Station.

"Thank you for being so prompt, I need you to come with Colonel Bradford and me to the Wardroom," Cyprian said.

"What's going on there?" Wallace asked.

"I've gathered a group of people who I think will be instrumental in sorting out this whole mess we're in," Cyprian said as he turned and made eye contact with Lieutenant Rebekkah Stotland, the Stryker's Tactical Officer.

"Ready when you are, Commander," the twenty-seven year old officer from Aerilon said.

"Prepare to jump," Cyprian said.

"Where are we heading to?" Wallace asked.

"At one point it was anywhere but here, but now it's going to be the Hekla – Beta System," Cyprian said as he turned his attention to the DRADIS.

"We have contacts," Stotland said before she identified them, "we have a Cylon baseship off our port beam."

"Jump," Cyprian called out and a moment later, the Stryker had jumped away.

Eleven Minutes Later:

Officers Wardroom:

There were seven of them sitting at the large wood table in the middle of the wardroom. Stotland had calculated the necessary jumps they would need to do if the Cylons were to show up, that bought Cyprian the time he needed to get this one meeting out of the way.

On one end sat Cyprian, Colonel Cecil Bradford, and Wallace. On the other side sat Elizabeth Stryker, Alan Stryker, Assistant Secretary of the Fleet Alvaro Sanchez, and Governor Jarrod Franklin of Scorpia.

"Is there a point to this meeting that I'm not aware of?" Franklin asked.

"Yes, there is. As of now, the Cylons have us on the run. We also have civilians onboard from the decommissioning ceremony as well as from the salvage company we jumped to. I have given it some thought and have several announcements to make," Cyprian said as he scanned the faces to see what effect his words might have on them.

"I am placing Elizabeth Stryker in charge of the civilians. Secretary Sanchez and Governor Franklin, the two of you are going to be her two top lieutenants on this task. I expect you to give her your full cooperation. Anything less will result in some rather unpleasant duty being assigned to you."

"You can't be serious!" Sanchez exclaimed.

"It's my belief that the people on this ship will be more than willing to follow Mrs. Stryker. She's lived through this and that experience can be an asset to us," Cyprian said as he looked each man in the eye to see what type of emotion would be on their faces.

"I have to agree with Secretary Sanchez," Franklin said before continuing, "I'm the Governor of Scorpia and am more than qualified to lead the civilians. I have to protest!"

Cyprian put his hands on the table and leaned in, "Scorpia was hit pretty hard by the nukes the Cylons used on it. The Scorpia you were the leader of doesn't exist anymore. You may hate for me to say this to you but right now you are on my ship and therefore if I say Elizabeth Stryker is in charge of the civilians then that should make the argument mute."

"You know you are crossing several lines of common decency here," Franklin said.

"Not to mention that I can report you to the President and have you removed from command," Sanchez said.

"You sound like you cannot handle being on my ship with the terms that I have put forth here…I will gladly find you a planet you can stay on. Personally I doubt the Cylons will be merciful when they come across you, think about that for a moment."

Neither man said a word.

"Good," Cyprian said before adding, "I want you to follow Mrs. Stryker and organize the civilians."

"Mr. Stryker, you have volunteered your services if needed and I feel they will be. Colonel Bradford has asked to be given his old rank of Lieutenant Colonel, creating a void at the Executive Officer position. Therefore, in keeping with the orders from Picon Fleet Headquarters reactivating all former Colonial Fleet personnel, you are returned to active duty at the rank of Colonel and are now the new Executive Officer of the Battlestar Stryker."

"Commander Cyprian, may I have a word with you in private," Wallace said to Cyprian.

"Sure," Cyprian said as the rest of the group began to file out of the room.

"Before you try to go all the way to the Hekla – Beta System let me see if I can find you another recommendation that should be able to help us. See if you we can round up any civilian ships while I check something out," Wallace said.

"Alright, Major, we'll search for survivors while you investigate whatever it is you're investigating."

"If I may ask, why was it that Colonel Bradford asked to be demoted…the real reason if you don't mind," Wallace said.

"I think the most diplomatic way I can put it is that there are those of us who froze when the Cylons attacked and pulled themselves together in time to do our jobs. I was able to make it happen once I snapped out of my confusion. I know I won't let that happen to me again…I can't say the same thing about him."

"I'm sure that was a hard thing for you to do," Wallace said.

"I've known Cecil Bradford for some time now, we've worked together on the decommissioning of several battlestars over the years. I think he was fine for that role but being in an actual shooting war is something different. He's still my friend but it's not fair to have him in a position he feels he's not cut out for."

Wallace gave a nod of understanding, "That's the thing about being in command, sometimes you have to make the hard decisions."

"Indeed, I'm needed back in the CIC. Let me know when you've finished looking into whatever it was you wanted to check on."

"Will do, I'll meet you in the CIC whenever I'm done," Wallace said as he left the Wardroom to head to his guest quarters.

CIC:

"Colonel Bradford, plot us a jump to the Tesma Sector. We're going to round up whatever survivors we can and take them to a destination that should be safe."

Into the CIC walked Alan Stryker, wearing one of his father's old uniform just with a set of Colonel pips attached to his collar as opposed to the Admiral pips that his father would have had on there. .

"Colonel Stryker, glad to have you here," Cyprian said.

"Thank you Commander, it's good to be back on active duty again."

"Right now we're prepping to jump to the Tesma Sector where we shall begin picking up survivors. Your friend Major Wallace says he may have an idea for a place we can jump to."

"Arthur's a good one; my parents have always held him in high regard."

"What I find so surprising about that is that a man such as Admiral Stryker would hold an MoI agent in high regard," replied Cyprian with a look on his face that was a mixture of shock and surprise. Perhaps it was all of the spy movies that had been made but it seemed that the Ministry of Intelligence had a reputation that did not give the average person comfort.

"Yes, do you know who Arthur's great grandfather is?"

"No."

"Arthur's great grandfather is Commander Alan Wallace, the man who was Stryker's mentor and the man I'm named after. Plus, my father always thought of Arthur as a son. He's sort of an unofficial son to my parents."

"Well if Stryker holds him in high enough regard to trust him, I'll at least give him a chance. So far his instincts have been helpful to us."

"Glad to hear it, how long do you plan to spend out there searching for survivors?"

"I don't want to spend too much time out there, we'll search for ships out in our immediate area but I don't want to travel too far. I don't think we're ready yet to meet the Cylons in battle. One battlestar against a force of baseships…it may not exactly end well for us."

"What was that project you gave to Lieutenant Stotland when Arthur was away on the supply mission?"

"I'm having her and the Tactical department checking over our computer systems to see if there may be any vulnerability that the Cylons can exploit. Maybe it's my gut feeling, but the reports we received showed that battlestars were just shutting down as if the Cylons flipped some switch from 'On' to 'Off' and I don't want us to suffer that fate."

"Shouldn't that be something for Colonel Bradford to be working on?"

Cyprian shook his head, "I want him to get acclimated to being our Tactical Officer. Stotland will do well with this, I have a good feeling about her and I have learned over time to trust my instincts."

"Commander Cyprian I think I found something," Lieutenant Rebekka Stotland said.

Cyprian noted that she seemed to have turned her focus onto the assignment with a laser-like accuracy. Perhaps the twenty-five year old from Gemenon was devoting her attention to the task he had given her as a way of not having to think of the destruction that had been visited upon their worlds.

"I'm impressed, you finished this more quickly than I had imagined," Cyprian said as he took the report from her hands.

Her hazel eyes gave the impression that the statement had been taken as a compliment, "Thank you Commander, I was searching through our CNP program and found a backdoor that had been put into the program that would allow someone to bypass our security protocols and shut down all vital systems. We'd have no weapons, no propulsion, no…well the Stryker would turn into a giant tomb and we'd be unable to defend ourselves."

"Any ideas on what we need to do about it?" Colonel Stryker asked.

"I disconnected the CNP program, and I recommend we do the same with our Vipers and Raptors. It should keep the Cylons from using whatever this backdoor is."

"Alright, send word to Chief Johnston to do that with all Vipers and Raptors immediately," Cyprian said and Stotland gave an acknowledging nod before heading off to relay the message.

Tesma Sector:

The ships they had gathered were a mix of both civilian and military vessels; the Edenton-class heavy cruisers Auburn, Tarrant, and Triton Island. The Pulaski class frigates Somerset, Stroude, Argyll, Tamar, Eurydice, and Ulster; plus the cargo ships Jack J. Pendleton, Joseph F. Merrell, James E. Robinson, and Cape Ducato, the agro-ship Merak, along with the transport ships Octavia, Latona, and Antheus.

"Commander, we have another ship coming within range…" Bradford said as he checked the DRADIS signatures to confirm the identity of the ship.

"Sir, we're receiving a wireless message from the ship," Suman announced.

"Put it through," Cyprian said as he picked up the wireless receiver at Command and Control.

"This is Captain Althea Benjamin of the passenger liner Orpha. Gods, are we glad to see you," the woman on the other end of the wireless connection said.

"Captain Benjamin, this is Commander Jerome Cyprian of the Battlestar Stryker. Close in on our location and fall in with the rest of the ships," Cyprian said.

"Copy that, do you have any idea what's going on?" Benjamin asked.

Cyprian funneled through some of the reports that Suman had put together for him, "It appears we are at war with the Cylons again. All twelve of our worlds were hit. I won't lie to you, it looks grim."

"In that case, I'm glad you found us. We received word that there was an attack of some kind and we jumped here to try to get away from whatever was going on."

"I want your FTL spooled up and ready for a jump, I'm taking this group to what I believe is a secure location where we should be safe for the time being."

Arthur Wallace's Quarters:

Arthur Wallace entered the guest quarters that had been assigned to him on the Stryker. He had planned for it to be a short stay but brought a few extra items anyway in his overnight bag along with something that he believed could be of value to keeping him and the crew of the Stryker alive.

Lieutenant Rajesh Suman, the Stryker's Communications Officer, had given him the order that the Ministry of Intelligence had passed out after the Cylon attacks had begun. Headquarters had been taken out with the nuclear warhead that had destroyed the city of Gray, Picon and command of the MoI had been assumed by Deputy Director Alec Sterling. He had sent word for all MoI personnel were to make their way to Libran immediately before the Cylons invaded the colony.

Wallace thought of two reasons why that would be a bad thing; the Gemenon class battlestars Gemenon and Libran. He had been refurbishing the Gemenon to use in his ruse to draw out the Erebea so the pirate group could be destroyed. The Libran had been recommissioned and assigned a group of Cylon War era faststars to engage the Erebea and eventually destroy them. The Gemenon was now under the command of Curtis Bond, Wallace's top lieutenant.

The Libran was under the control of the Colonial Fleet; however it had a contingent of MoI personnel onboard headed by his nemesis Major Evan Windsor.

If all worked out then Windsor would not try to force the Libran's Commanding Officer, Commander Nicholas Tattnall, to head to Libran and Bond would ignore the order from Director Sterling and stay hidden for the time being.

He sat down on the bed and promptly looked to what lay beside him on his right side. Next to him was the overnight bag he had brought with him. He opened it and pulled the leather-bound book out so he could read the passage that had tickled part of his memory. He had the journal of the legendary Fleet Admiral Jonas Stryker. He flipped through the pages and found the section he was looking for and began reading the journal's entry:

'Today I am joining my most trusted flag officers at the new station that has been built in the Sertis - Beta System…'

Forty Years Ago:

Five Days before the Armistice:

Fleet Admiral Jonas Stryker boarded the station through the primary airlock. From the Raptor, they had borrowed from the Courageous came Vice Admiral George Carnac, Admiral William Acland, Admiral Thomas Hood, Rear Admiral Robert Vallette, Vice Admiral Aali Zaid, and Akio Kanon of Epsilon.

"Who knows we're here?" Carnac asked.

"Nobody knows. Officially we're all meeting with Admiral Kronus to discuss the Cylon forces that have gathered near Aquaria."

"You've gathered us here and swore our meeting to secrecy. Can you let us know why now?" Hood asked.

"Not to mention the fact that you have an Epsilon member here," Zaid said with a glance towards Kanon, who was standing silently at the entrance to the meeting room.

"I have met Mr. Kanon before and he has my complete trust," Stryker said, the effect was obvious as Zaid seemed less wary of the man.

"If you trust him then that's good enough for me," Carnac said.

"Alright Jonas, you have us here and our oaths of secrecy. Any chance you can let us know why we're here?" Hood asked.

"What you see here is something that I felt needed to be shrouded in secrecy. Officially this was a monitoring station that has been built, and when the Armistice is signed it will be 'decommissioned' and stricken from the list of military utilities. I'll personally make sure it's not listed on any type of maps or charts."

"Why is it so important that this base stay a secret?" Acland asked.

"Because I don't trust the Cylons, it doesn't make sense for them to suddenly sue for peace," Stryker said.

"We did have the Canceron Surge that finally got the last of the Cylon forces out of the major cities on the colony," Vallette said.

"That's just one colony though; they have a strong presence on every other colony expect for Aquaria and there have been some recent reports that wound seem to say that the Cylons are preparing for a major offensive against Canceron before the Armistice talks started. There is some reason for the Cylons wanting to sign the Armistice but for the life of me I can't figure out exactly what it is," Carnac said.

"We use our time to rebuild our fleet and they'll be ready when the Cylons show up again," Zaid said.

"I have no doubt that we can rebuild the Colonial Fleet and make up for the losses we've suffered, but this base is a sort of fallback plan. You see, it's going to serve as a weapons stockpile so that we can have a place to serve as a base of operations to plan our attacks against the Cylons. It will have full repair facilities, food storage that will allow it to function with a full complement of crew, the best of what we can offer in self defense weaponry, and a modern Command and Control suite that will allow whoever is here to keep track of all that is going on," Stryker said.

"How do you plan to make this happen?" Acland asked.

"I'm Admiral Stryker, I give orders and people follow them…it's amazing how much work you can get done when you have the right name," Stryker said.

"I guess the next question is, why are we here?" Hood asked.

"You are among the highest-ranking flag officers in the Colonial Fleet and the ones I trust enough to share this secret with. However, for this to work we need to make an oath that we will take the secret of this base to the grave. We will tell none of the people we work with…or even those we live with. The secrecy of this base is that important," Stryker said as he made eye contact with each of the officers.

"What is the point of Epsilon being here?" Zaid asked.

"He is going to lead a select group of Epsilon personnel who will board the base to make sure that the security measures are working properly. Mr. Kanon will report here to check for any signs that the base has been boarded."

"Here it is, our fallback plan in case the Cylons attack us once more. Swear to me that you will keep this a secret," Stryker said.

One by one each of the admirals and Kanon swore that they would never reveal the location of this base.

Present Day:

Guest Quarters of Elizabeth Stryker:

"Arthur, this whole situation is unbelievable," Elizabeth Stryker said as she took a seat on a nearby sofa.

"It's hard to believe the MoI didn't see this coming," Arthur Wallace said as he took a seat in a chair not far from her.

"Jonas would feel a sense of vindication here, till the day he died he said that Adar was leaving the Colonies open to an attack."

"I know if he were here he'd be thankful you and the family are alive," Wallace said.

Elizabeth gave a sad smile, "Yes he would be. I'm hoping that Commander Cyprian is up to the challenge."

"He should be. I think you helped to get his Commanding Officer side going. I think he's going to do fine."

"He's got potential; I want to trust him. His ability to command this ship determines if we live or if we die. It surprised me when you went into the MoI instead of the Colonial Fleet. What happened there?"

Wallace shrugged, "I was made an offer that I couldn't refuse."

She laughed, "When you put it like that it sounds like a negotiation done by the Basileus."

"Do you know where we're going next?"

"I've recommended a location in this dust cloud that should keep us safe. It's a secret base that was created by Admiral Stryker shortly before the Cylon War ended."

"That's odd. Jonas never mentioned it to me."

"He didn't mention it to anybody, but he put it in his journal."

"You're telling me you have his journal?"

Wallace nodded, "He trusted it to me. It was after the Tolan confirmation when he handed it to me, and swore me never to reveal its contents. I'm only telling you this part so you'll know where we're heading to."

"It's just hard to believe that my husband never told me something like this."

"With all due respect, I think he was trying to keep you safe from a lot of what was going on during his active years and even after his retirement. "

"That was Jonas, I think the one thing he truly feared was that the Cylons would return and he would have not done enough to keep the Colonies safe from the attack."

"Yes, and then that frakker Adar came along and made us even more vulnerable to attack."

Elizabeth Stryker stretched and said, "I'm going to get a short nap, you let me know what you find on that base whenever you return."

Wallace leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, "I will, get some rest and I'll see you when I return."

Officers' Mess:

"Is this seat taken?" Ensign Chelsea Ware asked.

Ensign Paul Stryker looked up from his plate of pasta and motioned for her to sit.

"Thanks," she said as she sat across from him, "are you doing OK?"

Stryker shrugged, "Lieutenant Suman told me that the Poseidon was lost over Aerilon. It's hard to believe that the entire ship and its crew are gone. Not to mention…"

Ware seemed to know where the sentence was heading to, "Joseph being at the Fleet Academy."

Stryker gave her a tired smile, "It's wrong, I mean, if that Raptor pilot hadn't have been delayed by having to stop on the Tulare then he could have been here."

"Perhaps he was on the Tulare then and got off Picon," Ware offered.

Stryker shook his head, "It would be better for him to be on Picon. The Tulare was reported as having been destroyed over Canceron."

"I don't know exactly what you should do but find a way to stay positive about this. It's better to believe he's alive since there's no way of confirming that he's dead."

"Chelsea, how did you get to be so optimistic?"

Ware laughed, "It's part of what's kept me sane at times when I don't think I'm living up to the family name. Something I know you can relate to."

"Yeah, I think that's part of what makes us so unique. My family is here on this ship, it's something that's hard to comprehend. Before we were all so busy with our lives that we never really got together except on the major holidays and that was when we were able to fit it into our schedules. Now the Cylons have attacked and with the exception of my brother we're all here on the ship bearing the family name."

"The crazy thing about it is that it took the decommissioning of this ship to get all of you together. If there's an afterlife then I'm sure Admiral Stryker is laughing at how fate has kept all of you safe."

Stryker, CIC:

"Commander Cyprian, is the ship ready to jump?" Wallace asked as he approached the Stryker's CO.

"All ships are ready; do you care to tell me where we're jumping to now?" Cyprian asked.

"We're heading to the Sertis - Beta System, there's a base there that we can use for a base of operations."

"Wouldn't the Cylons know its location as well?" Cyprian asked, not quite convinced about the location's viability.

"Admiral Stryker intended that the base never be listed or its existence even acknowledged. That is how important he considered this base to be. Anyone who knew of it was sworn to secrecy, considering the Cylons have returned I'd say his fears were justified."

"I have to admit the idea of having a base the Cylons don't know exists is perhaps the best piece of news I've had all day," Cyprian said and for once allowed himself to smile.

"Couldn't have put it better myself Commander," Wallace said. For once he allowed himself to wonder how the Libran and Gemenon were doing. The two ships were being used for an Ministry of Intelligence operation that was designed to rid the Twelve Colonies of the pirate group Erebea once and for all. His fiancée, and fellow MoI officer, Whitney Thompson was a part of that group. Even though he did not want the thought to enter his mind, he had to wonder if she was alive or not. He also wondered if Cinta Melati, the leader of the Erebea, was alive or not. He hated to admit it but he had grown close to her in the last few years as he worked undercover as a weapons dealer in the operation against the Erebea.

I don't even know if the planet it's near is on any of the maps of Colonial space. If you think about it, this is a place where we can establish a base of operations," Wallace said.

"If we can find other units perhaps it will allow us even more flexibility, especially if we find a flag officer who is still alive."

"That's all fine and good but let's focus on our own survival first, let me give your Tactical Officer the coordinates and we'll jump there before the Cylons come across us."

Cyprian did not say anything he simply nodded, a sign of his approval of the plan.

Sertis - Beta System:

With a flash the Stryker and its small flotilla of ships jumped into the Sertis-Beta System, the location where the secret base of Admiral Stryker was said to have been located.

"Have Major Artemisia send two pilots out there to see if they can spot the base Major Wallace told us about," Cyprian ordered.

"Sending word to her now," Suman said as he transmitted the Commander's orders to the Stryker's CAG.

A minute later he announced, "She's sending Ensigns Stryker and Ware on the recon mission, they are on their way to the hangar as we speak."

Seven minutes passed until word reached the CIC that the Vipers had been launched.

Orbit of the planet Sionia:

"Looks like this place hasn't been touched in some time," Stryker said through his headset.

"It's been some time since a Colonial was last out here," Ware said.

"Yeah, I'm picking up a visual on some debris up ahead. If it's what I think it's from we may want to fly around it," Stryker said. He looked to his left and in the distance he saw the object he was looking at, the Little Big Horn Nebula.

"My grandfather talked about Admiral Ozawa at times, said he rushed in and got his ass handed to him," Ware said.

Vice Admiral Yoshiro Ozawa had been in command of the Colonial Seventh Fleet when he received a report that the Cylons were massing their forces in the Sertis-Beta System near the Little Big Horn Nebula. He took his force of eight escort battlestars and five battlestars and headed into battle before the other fleets were prepared to join him, the result was a massacre as the Cylons obliterated the entire Seventh Fleet. The names of the eight Orianos class escort battlestars were immortalized on a wall in the Colonial Fleet section of the Cylon War Museum in Auburn, Caprica along with the other ships that were lost in battle during the conflict: Virago, Deucalion, Bellatrix, Zerast, Mauritius, Dunedin, Absalon, and Arun. The five battlestars were listed on that same wall; the Coronis, Glorious, Malabar, and Temeraire. Also lost in the battle were Rear Admirals Randall Olson and Audra Cantrell.

The destruction of the Seventh Fleet's battlestars and support vessels cleared the way for a Cylon onslaught that could have caused massive destruction on all twelve colonies had it not been stopped at the Battle of Glennon. Even then, that battle had proven costly to the Colonial Fleet in terms of both materiel and personnel losses suffered during the battle.

"I'm sure my grandfather would have said something similar if I had asked him about it," Stryker said as the two Vipers sped over the remnants of what had once been the proud vessels of the Colonial Fleet.

Neither of the pilots talked each other as they navigated their way across the wreckage of the ships, as though to even engage in conversation was something that would do a disservice to those who had lost their lives here at this location.

Ware looked towards the outer edge of the nebula, with planet Sanjin close by in the distance, when she thought she saw something.

Once they were clear of the wreckage she said, "Hey Torch follow me, I think I see something."

"Copy that Two Shots, I'll follow your lead," he said as he placed his Viper behind hers as she lined up her Viper for an intercept course with whatever it was she had seen.

Minutes passed as they zeroed in on the structure that Ware thought she had spotted. The Stryker was closing behind, trying to stay close enough in case trouble came their way.

"I see it!" Ware exclaimed as she saw the structure. It was a three ringed structure with a central core connected to the various docking areas; it looked as though it was here waiting for someone to find it and put it to use. At least that was how it appeared on the outside…

"Stryker this is Two Shots, Torch and I have found the base," Ware said.

"Two Shots this is Actual," Cyprian said, "Do you see where we can dock?"

"Affirmative, I see several docking clamps where you can dock with the station."

"Go ahead and return home, we'll dock and take it from there."

Stryker, CIC:

"Helm, dock us with that station. Major Wallace, you and I are going to board that station and see what's on there," Cyprian said as he turned to see where Wallace was at.

"With all due respect Commander, I believe you should stay here," Wallace said as he got close enough so only Cyprian and he could talk.

"This is something that can have an effect on what happens to my ship and crew; I need to see what is on that station."

"You have to trust me, remember how Stryker trusted me. That should say plenty to you. I don't even know what's on the other side of that station, you are right about one thing…the Stryker and its crew needs you. This is one of those occasions where you need to trust me."

Cyprian wanted to argue but he decided that he could at least trust Wallace on this one, "Alright Wallace, get down to the air lock and when we have a hard seal you can board the station. I am going to have the Marines give you a wireless set and you will check in me to let me know what progress you are making and what you find over there."

"Will do and you know I prefer to be called 'Arthur' right?"

"Well truth is we're nowhere near the point where I'm calling you by your first name. Just grin and bear it Wallace…oh and get your ass over to that station so we can see what we've come across."

Without a word Wallace left the room and headed for the airlock he had used for boarding the administration station at the Heraclea Salvage Company.

Cyprian turned his attention to Bradford, "I want us to stay at Condition One and have Viper Squadron One and Raptor Squadron One deployed until Wallace returns from the station. I want the other squadrons in their ready rooms ready to launch if I give the order."

"Mr. Suman, let our other ships know that they are to take up a defensive formation to keep our civilian ships safe. They are not to go down from Condition One unless I order them to do so," he ordered and waited at the Command and Control Station hoping that the Cylons would show up. The worlds were going to hell and he had no idea just what was going to happen but just maybe they had enough of a reprieve for the ships and their crews to get their bearings.

Viper Squadron Two Ready Room:

"We are still here at Condition One for the time being. Commander Cyprian has given orders for all Viper squadrons to be ready to deploy on a moment's notice. For the time being we are all here until either we're summoned to fight against the Cylons or we cease to be at Condition One," Captain Caitlyn 'Cavalier' Raborn said from her podium. The ready room had at one point in time resembled the kind that would have been found on an older battlestar such as the Galactica. When the Orion class battlestars were given an extensive overhaul designed to extend their lives further the ready rooms and other interior rooms were redesigned to give it a more modern feel. To Raborn this room was a sort of hybrid between the two, only because she had seen pictures of the Orion that had been taken before its refit.

"Do we know anything else that happened?" Lieutenant Rayen 'Crash' Zyanya asked.

"At this time all we know is that the Cylons have attacked the Colonies and the Fleet has suffered severe losses," Raborn replied.

"Is that what happened at the dock during the ceremony?" Ensign Atifa 'Game Show' Shirin asked.

Raborn nodded, "Yes, the Cylons were so focused on the new Stryker that it bought us the time we needed to get away from the dock and jump away from here."

"What are we going to do if they find us?" Lieutenant Niusha 'Dagger' Khurshid asked.

"We're going to do what we're trained to do and that's fly our Vipers to take out the enemy. This isn't the Erebea or the Eastern Alliance we're dealing with here. These are the frakking Cylons and from the reports I've read the toasters are determined to wipe us out," Raborn said as she mentally checked all of the information that had been shared with the leaders of the Stryker's squadrons.

"We can do that," Ensign Valerija 'Gadget' Senka

"I second that, we've trained for this," Lieutenant Tsubasa 'Electroman' Katsuro said.

"Get us out there and we can put in some payback for our people the Cylons killed," Lieutenant Sebastian 'Gunslinger' Waldemar announced.

"Easy there," Raborn cautioned, "We have a chance to get out there and shoot some Cylons but we have to be careful about it."

"What do you mean?" Ensign Tore 'Sandman' Hjalmar asked.

"Going by everything we know…well let's face it we're not sure what other battlestars are still out there. If you get killed out there then that's one less pilot the Stryker has at its disposal. I don't need to start losing pilots, especially to recklessness," Raborn said. The situation they were in required a combination of both audacity and restraint with how they dealt with the Cylons.

"So we get to engage the enemy but you don't want us to push our luck?" Lieutenant Steffen 'Point Man' Werner asked.

"I'd rather we go that route before start losing too many pilots in battle," Ensign Marita 'Raven' Gunvor said.

"Same here, being picked off by the Cylons because I was reckless would just be insulting," Ensign Katharina 'Meteor' Rakel said.

"Just hang tight here for now and when we get the call we'll make out way to our Vipers and fly out to engage the toasters," Raborn said as she left the podium to head to the adjacent office. The pilots would do what they could to entertain themselves until the call came in. She only hoped that when they did see combat that they would all come back to their ship in one piece.

Seventeen Minutes Later:

Airlock 3-C:

Wallace stood there in front of the airlock waiting for the clearance to cross over onto the station. He held the wireless set provided by the Marines and waited to hear the words. He had a sidearm strapped to his belt and in his pocket were pages from Stryker's journal that dealt with this base. He had photocopied them so that he would not need to bring the whole journal with him. When he was done he would burn the pages to make sure anyone would see them. He may have revealed the existence of the journal to a select few, but he was not about to let another soul look upon the contents of its pages. That was one promise he did not want to break to Admiral Stryker.

'Well Admiral, if this station is anything like what how it read in your journal then you are going to be vindicated for having never trusted the Cylons,' he thought to himself. He remembered the times when visited Stryker on Picon and the subject of the Cylon War came up. The old warrior's eyes would flash that hardened resolve of his, the same will that helped to forge the militaries of twelve independent worlds into one single fighting force. He trusted the Cylons less than he trusted the Tolan family...and his ill feelings towards them ran deep.

He had read Stryker's journals about the mission to Canceron to enlist the aid of Carl Tolan and his criminal organization, the Basileus, in order to help drive the Cylons from the major cities of Canceron. After that he held Carl Tolan and the Basileus in a contempt that came close to his feelings for the Cylons.

"Major Wallace this is Actual, we have a hard seal with the airlock. You are cleared to board the station."

"Copy that Actual, I'll see you when I'm done," Wallace said before he pressed the button to open the airlock. For the first time in over forty years the secret base of Fleet Admiral Jonas Stryker was about to be boarded.