Chapter 11
Fight and Flight
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I'm just borrowing the characters.No profit is being made from this story, save for the satisfaction of reviews.
The group made their way through the massive battleship on an impromptu tour. While the classified sections were kept off the path, Adama did make sure to lead them past the infirmary- still a bit crowded and running low on supplies; and the memorial wall.
"Jesus…"Cam said, looking down the seemingly endless corridor, its wall covered in pictures. "Puts things into perspective, doesn't it?"
"Sad as it is to say, we've seen things like this before." Carter remarked quietly to Mitchell. "Though in most cases, there wasn't any civilization left. That at least made it a bit easier."
"I'm not sure Cassie would agree." Daniel pointed out. Carter swallowed heavily and nodded, then continued walking besides the Admiral.
"How many survivors do you have, Admiral?" Carter asked.
"A little over 50,000." He replied. "Mostly courier ships, a few mining ships and cargo ships. Almost none of them were built for extended tours, and none of them were built for continued FTL jumps. Every single ship out there is in need of repair or refit-this ship especially."
"She looks like she's taken a pounding." Mitchell noted. "Held up pretty good, though."
"Times may change, but thankfully this ships' battle-readiness did not- structurally, at least. She was being decommissioned on the day the attacks occurred; being turned into a museum. What's left of that is still on the starboard flight pod."
"Any chance of seeing it?" Daniel asked.
Tigh shrugged. "We can try, but it's probably a mess. That whole exhibit was opened to space when a Cylon Heavy Raider crashed into it a few months ago."
The group finally made its way to the briefing room. Adama ushered the Earthlings in, and followed with Tigh close behind him Laura stepped through, intending on closing the door on Zarek and Baltar, but the doctor was too quick.
"Thank you, Madame President," Zarek said with his trademark smile as he grasped the door, "But you didn't need to hold the door."
Roslin's smile was forced. "No problem, Mr. Zarek. Always happy to help the Quorum."
Everybody sat down around the u-shaped table- Adama and Tigh took the head, while Carter, Mitchell and Jackson took one end and Roslin, Zarek and Baltar took the other.
"I'm sure you all have many questions, and we'd like to provide you with the answers. But for the moment, let's concentrate on the necessities." Sam started out.
"That will be acceptable." Lara acknowledged. "Right now, my sole concern is the safety of the people in this fleet."
"What are the major concerns right now?"
"Food and medical supplies." Adama replied instantly. He glanced over to the politicians, who nodded in agreement. "Several of our ships are stretched beyond the breaking point. Despite our best efforts, disease is starting to spread through some of the older, dirtier ships." He sighed. "It doesn't help that we only have one fully qualified Doctor in the fleet."
We have a full medical staff on our base," Carter replied, "We can have one of our other ships ferry them here, along with food and medical supplies."
"You have more ships in the area?" Zarek asked.
"We have an outpost a few light-years from here." Carter replied. "A city created by a race of beings we call the Ancients. One of our expedition members is actually a direct descendent of them, and helped us locate it."
"We haven't detected any outpost on our recons." Adama said, frowning. He didn't like the fact that he hadn't even found any trace of these people, if they were so close.
"Well, Avalon- that's the name of the city- is fairly well hidden." Daniel said. "It's on a planet deep inside a nebula…" he paused at the shocked looks on the Colonials' faces, "Which you've already found."
"So you were the ones we detected doing fly-over's near the equatorial belt." Carter exclaimed. "We had wondered…"
"That belt is the only place on the planet that people could survive!" Tigh exclaimed. "So where the-"
"Saul!" Adama barked. Tigh shut up immediately. "There is no way our people missed an entire city on that planet."
"It's cloaked." Carter said, resigning to the fact that she would be giving away some of their secrets early. "The jumper we came in is equipped with a cloaking device- Captain Thrace can verify that. The city, when it was abandoned centuries ago, was cloaked to keep it safe. Our person was able to penetrate the cloak and find the city, which allowed us to start to repopulate it."
Gaius smile in anticipation. "Astounding! You actually have functioning cloaking technology?" he turned to the Admiral. "The Science Council had several theories about cloaking technology, but we never got far enough to even make a prototype."
"Would it be possible to install these devices onto our ships?" Adama asked. "It would make a powerful defense against the Cylons."
"I'm not sure." Carter said. "It takes a tremendous amount of power, and right now we're short on those."
"You don't have more on Earth?"
Sam looked to Cameron, who gave a slight nod. Sam then turned to Daniel and nodded at him.
"The power supplies are only made at our outpost at the moment." Daniel started. "As for Earth…" Daniel trailed off, until he spied a blackboard in a corner of the room. "May I?" he asked, getting up and moving towards the board. He picked up the chalk and drew a large, spiral shape. "This," he started, "Is what we call the Pegasus galaxy. This is where we are right now."
"Don't tell Lee, he already has a big enough head." Tigh murmured to Adama.
"This," Daniel drew and X on a spot near the end of one of the spiral's arms, "Is where your Twelve Colonies were. This," he drew another X, "Is where we are now. This," he drew another X, a little farther down from where he placed the last one, "is where Avalon is. This," he drew another X, farther away and close to the edge of the arm, "Is where our first outpost Atlantis is." He waited a moment to let that sink in. Then he moved down to the far end of the board and drew a larger spiral shape, then placed an X near the end of one of the spirals. "And this is where Earth is."
Elizabeth Pierce sat back in the commander's chair, her hands steeped in front of her face and a pensive look on her face. She stared out of the forward viewport at the ragtag fleet, her eyes scanning for the danger she felt building up in the back of her mind.
"Captain Ramsey, have shields on standby." She said suddenly. "I want them on in a moment's notice."
"Yes, sir." Ramsey replied immediately. Briefly he glanced over his shoulder at his commander. "Smell somethin', Boss?"
"Just a feeling," Pierce responded. "And my feelings have been pretty on the mark so far." She finished quietly to herself.
"You expect us to believe this?"
Daniel sighed. "It's the truth. Earth is in another galaxy, which we call the Milky Way."
"So you're telling us that you are so advanced that you can travel between galaxies?" Zarek asked.
"It's complicated," Daniel continued. "Look, from what I've been able to piece together, there was a race of advanced humanoids called the Lanteans. Later on, they came to be known as the Ancients. They designed a system for transportation between planets known as Stargates, and seeded our galaxy with human life. But something happened- a catastrophe, a disease of some sort. So The Ancients left our galaxy in thirteen city-ships, each of which went to a different galaxy throughout the universe. Three city-ships actually made it to the Pegasus galaxy- Atlantis, Avalon, and a third city, whose name has been lost. Eventually the Ancients came into conflict with a race of beings we know as the Wraith, and they were forced to scatter. The third city presumably crashed and was buried for the most part, they sunk Atlantis to the bottom of the ocean to prevent it's capture or destruction by the Wraith, and Avalon was taken to this point," he pointed to the third X on the board, "and was taken off of the Stargate grid in this galaxy to prevent the Wraith from ever finding it. Soon, the Ancients began exploring this part of the galaxy, and discovered an advanced race of beings on a planet you know as Kobol."
"You know of Kobol?" Rosalyn asked. Carter nodded.
"When we arrived in this area of space, we ran across a ship very similar to your Pegasus called the Atlantia…"
"The Atlantia!" Tigh exclaimed. "She was destroyed in the attacks!"
"She's a wreck," Carter conceded. "There were no survivors, although we did recover several bodies. We're keeping them in Avalon's morgue, until we could arrange a proper burial. The Atlantia is undergoing repairs in our allies' orbital shipyard."
"We also recovered a lot of books, including those that dealt with your history." Daniel continued. "That's how we know about Kobol."
"So you're saying that these Ancients and the Lords of Kobol… what? Fraternized with one another?" Baltar scoffed. "You can't expect us to believe this, that everything we've ever believed about where we cam from is a lie…"
"Never pictured you as the religious type, Mr. Vice-President." Adama said dryly. Baltar glared at the Admiral.
"You think this reaction is bad, wait until the Geminese or the Sagatarians hear this. They will be up in arms!"
"Look, I know this is a lot to take in," Mitchell stated, "A lot of things you thought you knew have been turned upside down, and I know that's going to cause a lot of tension. But right now, all we want to do is help your people…"
Klaxons suddenly blared throughout the ship, and the assembled people looked around in confusion. All except Adama and Tigh, who immediately went to the phone hanging in the wall.
"This is Adama. What's going on?"
"Massive Cylon fleet just jumped into the system, Sir." Gaeta replied. "Two of the Base stars just took out the Earth ship, and they're maneuvering to fire on the rest of the fleet. They're launching Raiders!" he added suddenly.
"Set Condition one throughout the ship." Adama ordered calmly. "All hands to battle stations. Launch the Vipers ASAP."
"Yes, sir!" Gaeta replied, hanging up on his end. Adama turned back to the group."We're under attack from a massive Cylon fleet." He announced. "They're already taken out your vessel, Colonel," he added looking at Carter, "And they're trying for the rest of us. If you want to join us in CIC, follow me."
Galactica's CIC was a hive of activity when the group arrived."Report!" Adama barked.
"Viper's have been launched, Pegasus has done the same. Civilian ship won't be able to jump for five minutes, though."
"Bring us about, 47 degree down angle on the plane. Maximum cover for the civilians." Tigh shouted and the helm rushed to respond.
"The Titan?" Adama asked. Gaeta shook his head.
"As soon as they jumped in, they launched five nukes. By the time the interference cleared, she was gone."
"It'd take more than that to take her out." Cameron said softly. "What do you think- playing possum?"
"She'll come in from behind them." Carter agreed.
Galactica, Starbuck. Kara's voice called out over the speaker. We got a lot of frakking toasters incoming. I suggest you get the civilian's ass' in line and bug them out!
"Starbuck, Galactica. Roger that." Gaeta replied.
"All Vipers, weapons free."Adama said, studying the DRADIS display. He did not like what he saw. Seven Base stars, and hundreds of Raiders. And all he had was two Battlestars and a couple dozen fighters- not good odds. Adama sighed. This was going to be a long fight…
Out in space, Kara stared ahead in growing horror as wave after wave of Raiders flew towards her. In the background, seven massive Cylon Base stars maneuvered to launch their missiles at the civilian fleet.
And then two of the ships exploded in a brilliant flash, and inexplicably another ship flew through the tumultuous ball of fire and metal-
The Titan.
Kara whooped into her mic as the Earth vessel flew through the fiery remains, her shields flaring with munitions impacts, her own rail guns spitting out their lethal payload into the two nearest Cylon ships. Forward guns cleared the path of raiders, even as other Cylon fighters slammed into the ship's shields, destroying them instantly. The Titan veered off right and continued to fire on the Cylons, turning in space to present its top most guns towards the genocidal robots.
On the Galactica, stunned looks and shouts of joy mingled as the Titan appeared once more on the screen, taking out two Base stars at once. Adama looked over at Carter unbelievingly.
"Cloaking device." She said. "Also doubles as a shield, when needed."
Galactica, this is the Titan. Come back.
"Titan, Galactica Actual." Adama replied. "Good timing."
"Pierce, this is Carter," Sam shouted over the wireless. "What the hell took you so long?"
Sorry, sir. Pierce replied. I forgot I left the oven on; had to go home and turn it off. Decide to start the party without me?
"Wise-ass."
Pierce chuckled over the wireless. How long till the civies bug out?
Gaeta flashed four fingers. "Four minutes." Adama replied.
Acknowledged. Pierce said. Be aware, friendlies are incoming in two minutes.
"Good." Carter said. "Until then, do your best to shield the civilian ships. We'll stay out of the way over here and let the Admiral do what he does best."
Roger that. I'll coordinate my defense with the Pegasus. Pierce out.
Adama looked over at Carter, then turned to his XO. "Coordinate our defense with the Pegasus as well. And verify jump coordinates with the Civilian fleet. I want them out of here ASAP."
"All right, people! Clear this deck. I want this bay prepared for incoming in two minutes!" Chief Tyrol stalked though the port bay, yelling at his tech crew as the ship shuddered around him. "Get DC teams into position, and all techs to station!"
"What can I do, Chief?" Colonel Sheppard asked, coming up besides the Colonial soldier. "I don't like standing around doing nothing when I'm under attack, and my Jumper won't do squat out there right now."
Tyrol nodded. "Sure. Help the guys move those crates off to the side, then get ready to help us move the Viper's into their bays once they get back."
"No problem." Sheppard replied, heading towards the flight crew to help them out.
Sparks flew around the bridge as more missiles impacted the Titan's shields. Crew members rushed around to lock down stations and repair damaged consoles; all while Major Pierce sat calmly in her chair.
"Ramsey, how are the shields holding up?"
"Shields' holding steady at 82 percent." The Captain replied, keeping his eyes on his board. "Remaining enemy vessels are maneuvering to bracket us."
"Cut them off." Pierce replied. "Helm, ahead two-thirds. Inform the Pegasus what we're doing, and keep out of their firing solution. Ramsey, target that third Base Star, fire at will."
"Should I bring the Asgard weapons on-line?" Ramsey asked.
Pierce shook her head. "Not yet. Leave them and the drones as a last resort. No sense giving everything we have away in the first two engagements."
The fight was fast and furious around the ragtag fleet. The Pegasus and Galactica faced the five remaining Base Stars, their dorsal guns firing continuously at the Cylons, trying to drive them away from the civilian ships. The Titan weaved impossibly in and out of the lie of fire, launching her missiles at one of the Base Stars. Six missiles left their launch tubes; only two got through. But the naquadah-enhanced warhead was unlike anything the Cylons had ever faced, and its explosive power was equal to several nukes. The resulting explosion sent shrapnel into two of the nearest Base Stars, damaging them.
Starbuck flew like a bat out of hell, weaving in and out of her fellow pilots while trailing an elusive Raider. She finally managed to score a hit, and the Raider exploded. Momentarily blinded by the flash, Starbuck didn't see another Raider fly through he debris until it was too late. The Raider's fire sheared off her wing and took out two of her engines; the wounded Viper went into a flat spin. Out of options, Kara ejected, blasting free of the wrecked fighter just before it exploded under her pursuing Raider's fire. She looked on helplessly as the Raider turned and headed straight for her. She closed her eyes, said a quick prayer to the gods and prepared for the inevitable….
A blinding white light flashed before her closed eyelids, and Starbuck felt a tingle through her body, before she suddenly dropped to a hard, metal deck. Starbuck opened her eyes and looked around in shock as she recognized the architecture of an Earth ship, though this one wasn't the Titan.
"What the Frack…" she started, pulling herself up from the floor. Sitting in what she recognized as the command chair was a man in his mid thirties clad in one of the earther's Air Force jump suits.
"Welcome aboard the Odyssey," the man said. "I'm Colonel Paul Emerson, commander of this ship. Major Pierce just called and asked us to pick you up."
Unable to process what just happened to her, Kara pushed it to the back of her mind and just shrugged her shoulders. "Guess that's two I owe her now."
Colonel Emerson hit a control on the arm of his chair, "Colonel Carter, this is Colonel Emerson. Do you read?"
Loud and clear, Colonel. Good to see you.
Emerson smiled. "Good to be seen. Colonel Chekov and I though you all could use a hand."
We do. Civilians will be gone in about two minutes. Launch your fighters to cover them until they do.
"Copy. Odyssey out." Emerson hit the control again. "Colonel Chekov, this is Colonel Emerson. Launch your fighters and cover the civilians."
We copy, Odyssey. A voice with a heavy Russian accent answered. Korolev out.
Both Earth vessels launched their compliment of fighters, which immediately flew into the fray. The 302's bobbed and weaved in between the Vipers, taking out several Raiders in quick succession. Kara marveled at the speed and turning of the new fighters, but automatically noticed that they were flying them as if they were in atmo, instead of taking advantage of the zero-g environment of space like the Vipers did. Soon the Raiders picked up on this, too, and were soon starting to score more kills. Emerson noticed this, too.
"Worthington, target those enemy fighters. Get them before they get any more of out people!"
"Yes, sir!" The British weapon's officer replied, re-tasking the forward rail guns to take out the dwindling Cylon fighters.
As the Raiders were thinned out, the last of the Civilian ships jumped away. Lee turned to his XO.
"Signal our Vipers to come on home. Helm, prepare to jump the moment our birds are on board."
"Yes, sir!" Hoshi said as he signaled their planes. On the Galactica, Adama had just given the same order before turning to their guests.
"I hate to do this, but we can't afford to waste time getting you off the ship. I'm afraid you'll have to come with us." He said plainly, hoping the Earther's wouldn't think they were being kidnapped.
"That's all right." Carter replied. "I'm sure our people will be able to find us in no time."
"I hope so." Adama responded earnestly. "It'd make me feel better.
"The last of our Vipers are on board, hanger bays' are closing." Tigh said, watching the display.
"All hands, get ready to jump!" Adama announced over the 1MC. "Brace yourselves," he added to SG-1, who all braced themselves against the plotting table.
Out in space, the F-302's were mopping up the remaining Raiders when suddenly the Pegasus vanished in a flash of light. A minute later, the Galactica followed, leaving the three Earth ships and their fighters alone. The remaining Base Stars turned their fire onto the Earth ships, whose shields shrugged off the ineffectual blasts as they launched their own missiles. In a few minutes, the remaining Cylon forces, seeing the devastation the Earth ships were causing, jumped out as well.
On the Titan, Pierce watched as the massive Battlestars jumped out. She turned to Cassie. "Cadet, contact Avalon, ask them to track were the Colonial fleet jumped to…"
"No problem" Cassie replied. "Major Chu is on the horn. About fifty ships just jumped into orbit around the planet- including one that matches the configuration of the Atlantia."
Pierce smirked. "Excellent. Advise Colonel Emerson that we're jumping back to Avalon."
The forty-odd ships floated silently in space around the barren planet, the Pegasus standing guard. Suddenly a bright flared, and the Galactica appeared.
In the CIC, Carter and Mitchell were bent over the planning table, fighting a wave of dizziness and nausea. Daniel gave into defeat and had already slumped to the floor.
"That was not fun…" he groaned as Laura knelt down beside him.
"God…. What was that?" Sam asked.
"Hyperlight jump." Adama said calmly. "It takes some getting used to."
"We've been doing it steadily for months, so it doesn't phase us anymore." Tigh added. "You three okay?"
"No." Daniel replied. "Sam?"
"No." she agreed. "Mitchell?"
"I'm fine." Cameron replied, desperately trying not to throw up. A sudden noise caught everyone's attention.
"DRADIS contact!" Gaeta shouted. "Several new contacts…"
"Cylon?" Adama demanded. Gaeta shook his head.
"No, sir. These ships don't match any known configuration…."
This is the US Air Force vessel Prometheus, trying to reach Colonel Samantha Carter. Jack's voice suddenly boomed over the 1MC. Sam? Where the hell are you?
Carter smiled and shook her head. 'Only Jack,' she thought. Out loud, she merely replied "Present, Sir. I'm here with Admiral Adama of the Colonial fleet, and the Colonial president Laura Roslin."
Good. That makes things easier. Admiral? This is Brigadier General Jack O'Neil of the United States Air Forces' Stargate Program. On behalf of the Stargate Alliance, on the advice of my officers, we'd like to offer you and your people sanctuary here at Avalon.
Adama let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "General, on behalf of the survivors of the Twelve Colonies, we gratefully accept." He paused for a moment. "But you should know that the force the Cylons sent at us a few moments ago was only a small portion of their fleet…"
Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Jack said, the smirk evident in his voice. They try anything, and they'll quickly find we have a few more surprises in store for them.
"Sir…" Gaeta said, studying his DRADIS screens as they suddenly filled with massive shapes. Out in space, as the Earth vessels jumped back into orbit around the planet, the combined forces of the Asgard and Free Jaffa ships came out of he nebula and took positions screening the civilian fleet.
On board the Odyssey, Kara watched in stunned silence as the massive ships took positions around the fleet, facing out towards the rolling clouds of the nebula. Slowly a grin spread across her face.
"Man, those toasters are so fraked…"
TBC...
