IX
The Cylonshad also dropped ground troops in around the planet as well. They couldn't conquer the planet, but most were tasked to go after power grids, dams, and other infrastructure items at different locations around the world. They could and did do plenty of damage.
One place they had dropped in a large number of Centurions was near Omaha. The Cylons weren't dumb and had studied the audio and video coming from the planet and had, in a short time, deduced that one of the main leaders if not the main leader on the planet was holed up in a military base in that vicinity. They wanted to take the soul out of any resistance if they could.
They had landed about 400.000 Centurions in the first two days, and they would work independently of the nuclear bombardment from the Baseships and of the attacks on cities that the Raiders were carrying out. They set up a perimeter that began near Columbus, Nebraska to the West. To the North, their ring went around about twenty miles South of Sioux City, New Caprica, then Southeast between Atlantic and Villisca, also part of New Caprica, then Southwest between Nebraska City, Nebraska, and St. Joseph, Missouri. The circle was completed back up to Columbus. It was pretty open territory, and the Cylons intentions were quite obvious, so they began to close the circle two days after landing.
Captain Kara Thrace's Charlie Squadron of the 20th UED Air Force flew missions against the marching Cylons as did other squads from Offutt, as well as from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, Minot AFB in North Dakota, Wright-Patterson in Dayton, Ohio, and Whiteman in Missouri. American Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force F-35's also were in action near Omaha as well.
The Cylons met the Allied forces on the fifth day and had made some progress, although not as much as they had hoped. The Allied land forces and the continuous strafing from above made the going quite slow for the Toasters. They had taken Nebraska City in the South. To the West, they had only advanced a handful of miles to David City and had actually been pushed back closer to Sioux City to the North. They had made the most gains East of Omaha, taking Avoca, New Caprica on the seventh day of the campaign.
Kara's squadron was tasked to stop the movement from the East, and while they were doing damage to the Cylons the Toasters kept coming. She was even flying missions when her squadrons of Falcons were not in the rotation. She was pushing herself almost beyond her physical and mental endurance.
If she didn't let up, she wouldn't be around the see the war end.
President Justin Bond could hear the sounds of war above him. There would be a loud crump of incoming from the Cylons, with their laser cannons and even some bomb-like ordinance being released on or near Offutt Air Force Base. He was in the underground Command Center, which wasn't just a command and control for Offutt, but it was his new Situation Room to monitor the movement of the U.S. Military, the Battlestars, and the fighting around the globe.
Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York were gone. Not just damaged, but gone. The Cylons had hit each city and about twenty or so others around the planet with thermonuclear devices in the vicinity of seventy-five megatons, an astounding explosive power. The largest device ever detonated by anyone on Earth had been in 1961 when the now-dead Soviet Union had tested the fifty-seven megaton Tsar Bomba. That explosion had been some 1500 times larger than the weapon used at Hiroshima. The largest his nation had tested was the Castle Bravo thermonuclear detonation in 1954, and that had "only" been fifteen megatons-and that had only been scheduled to be ten megatons. These weapons were two-thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima.
The ones dropped today around the planet from those Baseships in space...the effect would be incalculable by all accounts. He couldn't even wrap his head around it. The one dropped on New York would affect an area halfway across Long Island to the East, Northward almost up to Newburgh, New York; Westward it would reach near Hackettstown, New Jersey, and South just beyond Ashbury Park. Fully fifteen million people were within that zone.
But humanity wasn't beaten, either. That much was clear. Both sides had unveiled a few new tricks and now both were regrouping to see what they'd learned and what their next moves would be. The shield against nuclear attacks that the Cylons had devised came as a nasty surprise and, for now, had precluded a quick victory for UED. They would keep trying, but in the back of his mind, he was hoping the BattlestarVictory would be completed post-haste.
He wasn't surprised that a few hours after the Cylons had jumped away to regroup, Bill Adama had called him with a personal update.
"Yes, Mr. President, the electronic shielding was a nasty surprise, no doubt about it. Although they've had a few years to upgrade their defense. I don't think they were able to add any additional nukes, or at least not many, in that time but I wasn't shocked they had done some improvements."
"So have you, with the better armor on Pegasus, and improved armor on Galactica. I'm sure that's one reason they've gone off some distance."
"Correct. I'd have done the same thing if I could have, which is to jump, regroup then find them and hit them again. But we can't jump and they know that. They'll be back." Bill was all too certain of that. So was the President.
'How long, Admiral?" The more time the merrier, Justin Bond thought to himself.
"At least a few days. Like us, they need to analyze their attacks, and ours and come up with some revisions. Even for machines, that isn't instantaneous. We have a little breathing space. Not much, but a little."
"I'm sure you've received the reports about the damage down here?"
"I have, Justin. Those bastards did some real damage today. We lost a lot of good people."
"The numbers can wait on that, Bill. The Cylons have also set up a ring around Omaha, and are trying to strangle us. I think the Cylons know someone of importance is here. They're making it a little hot for us right now."
"How are the forces arrayed against them doing?" Adama had read the reports but wanted a human voice to back it up.
"They're doing all that can be expected of them. We have them pretty much stalemated except in the East, where they continue to move towards us. We've moved a good chunk of our Air Force to counter that advance." He paused to take a sip of water. "Any word on Bulldog?"
"No, and I don't expect we'll get any word. If the mission works, we'll know when they come back to tangle with us. The Six knew this was a one-way mission." Bill lost a bit of enthusiasm for the subterfuge. He never wanted to deliberately send someone to their death, but when you were in a fight for your very existence, extreme measures needed to be taken.
"Hmm, let's hope it works. Two days since the first round of attacks ended, and it seems like an eternity.Victory can't get done fast enough."
"We have to take what we've been handed, Mr. President. We can't wish and make it true."
"I know, Admiral, don't remind me. I know you'll go above and beyond for us, and please thank your people for me."
"I will Mr. President. They don't need any more motivation, believe me, but word from you will pep them up. Hopefully, we'll get to talk again soon."
"OK, Admiral, good hunting and Godspeed"
"Thank you, sir, Adama out."
Cavil wanted to press the attack again, but he also knew time was on his side. The two Battlestars and that planet weren't going anywhere. It wouldn't matter if he and his brothers and sisters pondered on what the first round had taught them for a few days or so. They needed to get it right.
The first lesson learned is that the humans were as cunning and stubborn as ever. Cavil had wished they had turned into wimps, but in the pitiful little heart Ellen had given him he knew better. He would never underestimate them. They were tough, resourceful and cunning fighters. Too many Baseships had learned you can't underestimate a Colonial Battlestar. Especially one commanded by an Adama.
He had been more than a little surprised that the two Battlestars had hung back while the planet was hit with nukes and bombarded by a bevy of Raiders. He had expected human sentiment to force Bill and Lee Adama to run in like Cavalry of old. He hid his consternation from his brothers and sisters simply telling them that this was all part of the plan. But it had shaken him somewhat.
The second lesson was that they would have to concentrate more on Galactica and only harass Pegasus, at least for the time being. Neither ship could jump because of the layout of the field of battle, but he was convinced that Galactica could be taken out, and quickly if they hit her harder. This first encounter had been like two boxers feeling out each other in the first round. Round Two would be more robust for both sides.
"How many Raiders had to fly into the hangar for repairs?" He had asked Sharon after the jump was complete. Most Raiders would go back into their alcoves after a battle, but those that needed some work done would go into the hangar. Most could repair themselves, but some would need help from Centurions.
"Seventeen to be exact", she replied. "A few had an engine blown out, one had even lost about half the starboard wing, but managed to get back. Repairs shouldn't take too long. A day, maybe two."
"That's good, that's good", Cavil was thinking. "I think it will take a few days beyond that to hone our battle plan. I noticed that we only hit the ships on the sides and the top, no underneath attacks. I know standard battle tactics say to do what we did, but maybe we should test the soft underbelly to see if, well if it's soft."
"We can, but we have to assume, they're re-armored the undercarriage as well, Cavil", Simon replied, like the scientist or the doctor he often was. "But as you said, we have the initiative here, it can't hurt to check."
"No, it can't, and that will be in the orders we send out to the Raiders" Cavil nodded his assent. "I find something delicious about the humans going to a slow, agonizing death. It's somehow more satisfying, at least for me. How many times have I been resurrected after one of those heathens put a bullet in me, or severely injured any one of us, and made us suffer for hours or days? We've all experienced that. Maybe a little payback is justified in that regard."
"I don't care how fast, or how slow, or how sudden, or how painful their destruction is", Doral spoke up, in that uncompromising tone he was infamous for. "I just want them gone so we can at least try and see if we can rebuild our race."
"Right now", Cavil said with a deadly menace in his voice, "I don't care if we rebuild our race. I just want to live long enough to see the last human die in front of me. Maybe then, we'll try to see if any resurrection ships remain, and if, somehow we can rebuild. But I want revenge!" He said, almost shouting in vindictive anger.
"You'll get it, Cavil, calm down a little", said Sharon. She did get a little tired of his theatrics. He may hate humans, but he also acted just like many of them. I wonder if he's even thought of that irony? she thought. No, I don't think it's ever crossed his mind.
Cavil regained his composure, knowing that the others didn't appreciate his fire and theatrics. He became more civil. "I apologize to all of you", he said, not really meaning it for a second. "I do sometimes get carried away. Now is not the time to lose focus."
They then communicated with the Hybrid and continued their planning for the next round against the humans.