Chapter 12: Ground Mission
"Hold up," Mathias ordered her marines as they looked down into the canyon where they would be rendezvousing with the resistance. "There's too much cover on the trail. We could catch enfilade fire from there, there, and... there," she informed her team as they gathered around her. "We need to cover the rendezvous point from the ridge. Lieutenant, head on down and we'll cover you from up here."
"Got it," Sharon replied as she began her slow descent into the heart of the canyon.
It took her forty minutes to make her stealth approach to the river's edge. Once she sat and listened for fifteen minutes she called out the code phrase, "Go Panthers!"
"C-Bucks rule!" was the response she heard from the other side of the river.
From both sides of the river two heads cautiously came into view. Seeing her contact, she then crossed over to their side of the river. "Hey, Sam. It's been a while."
Anders smirked, "Funny, I feel like I see you every day. Come on."
They crouched behind some trees as Sharon briefly filled them in on the plan. "So Galactica's got a rescue plan in place and ready to go. My job's to get the launch keys for the civilian ships still on the ground, Mathias and I will then coordinate the rescue mission with your evacuation plan. When can we meet with Colonel Tigh?"
"We're gonna wait until nighfall before we head back into the city. There's a system of tunnels we been using that runs parallel and under-"
"Shh! Do you hear that?" Sharon whispered as her head scanned the area around them.
Any response was muted when a barrage of bullets rained down on their rendezvous site. "Cover!" Anders yelled as his resistance fighters all ducked down and raised their weapons to fire back at an unseen enemy. "Frak this! We gotta get out of here," Anders called out as he planned to get his team mobilized and away from the fire.
Sharon placed a hand on his arm, "Stay put. Just wait for it... There!" she called out as she heard an RPG land some distance away from where they were stationed. The gunfire that was directed at them died down as their assailants now came under fire. Within a minute the gunfire had ceased.
Sam turned to Sharon and offered a humble, "Thanks."
From the canyon walls the Marines from Galactica came out into the open and converged on the dead Cylons as the insurgents approached from the riverbed.
One of the insurgents who was checking the Cylons for weapons and intel came up with a piece of paper and immediately headed for Sam Anders. "Sir, you better take a look at this. I found it on a dead skinjob. It's your handwriting, isn't it?"
"Yeah, damn right it is." He shook his head as he figured out how they got a hold of the map he had drawn, "We were sold out. Ellen."
"Sharon?"
She looked back to Sam Anders. "Yeah?"
He stepped closer, "Do me a favor. Just keep an eye out for Starbuck. I don't know if she's alive or dead, but-"
"Sam, Starbuck is on the Galactica."
His eyes widened as he nearly fell backwards, "What? She's on the Galactica? How?" He would have fallen backwards if it wasn't for Sharon's hand that had come to rest on his shoulder.
Sharon shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know why she was up there when the Cylons showed up, but I saw her on the deck of the Galactica just before we came down here."
She lowered Sam to a nearby crate, "I gotta get going, Sam."
Sam nodded absently as he stared at the ground. Several minutes after Sharon had left a smile graced his face as he looked up and found Mathias and another individual staring at him, "Kara's okay!"
Mathias scoffed, "Mentally she's as crazy as ever though."
Sam looked at her expectantly, "Wha..?"
"The whole evacuation and assault is Captain Thrace and Major Carter here's idea."
Minutes later the team from Galactica was gathered with most of the heads of the resistance to go over the evacuation plans.
"We've stored arms and munitions in key areas throughout the city," the Chief told them all.
Mathias nodded her head, "I can supplement that with mortars, RPGs, even a few shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles aboard the Raptor."
"Great. When we give the signal, our people are gonna attack the airbase, the detention center, the power station, other critical facilities. The plan is to sow as much chaos and confusion as possible the moment Galactica and Pegasus arrive. That should help cover the evacuation."
Mathias shook her head now, "No Pegasus. Just Galactica."
Roslin's head shot up, "Why? Why no Pegasus? What happened?"
"Don't know, sir. Way beyond my pay grade. You'd have to ask one of the brains behind this operation, Major Carter" she said pointing at Sam Carter.
Roslin crossed her arms, "I'm sorry, who are you? I don't recognize you from the Galactica or Pegasus?"
Sam shook her head slowly as she noticed several hands belonging to the insurgents reach for their weapons. "No m-sir," she still hadn't gotten used to that Colonial custom. "I'm Major Samantha Carter, and this is Daniel Jackson. We crash landed on this planet mere hours before the Cylons showed up. Captain Thrace was the one who found us and got us transported back to the Galactica. That's how she escaped the planet," she said as an aside to Sam Anders.
"You crashed on the surface here? From where?" she asked suspiciously.
"Daniel, myself, and two others back on the Galactica are all that's left from a deep space mission that left Caprica fifteen years before the First Cylon War."
The Chief raised his gun, shortly followed by several other insurgents raising their guns. Sam Anders and Tory Foster stood between Laura Roslin and the two new individuals as soon as the weapons came up.
"No frakking way are you going to tell me that you are over sixty years old."
Sam and Daniel who had raised their hands as soon as the guns came up looked to Mathias to help explain their situation.
"They're not," the Gunnery Sergeant told them. "Their parents however were on that mission."
"What was the name of the mission? I've never heard of such a-"
"It was the Odyssey mission. And you wouldn't have heard of it. The mission was top secret and was apparently deemed to be a complete failure when they didn't return after ten years."
"Who's to say you aren't making that up?" Tyrol called out.
Mathias spoke up, "They're not. The Admiral vouched for them. His older brother was on that mission."
Laura blinked slowly as she looked at the marine, "Bill had a brother?"
"Apparently. You'll have to ask him for the details though, sir."
Laura nodded her head, "I intend to." She then looked at Tyrol and the other insurgents and gave them a warning look to restrain themselves a little bit longer. She then turned back to the Major and Daniel, "And you helped come up with the evacuation plan?"
"Yes sir. Captain Thrace and I came up with the plan together."
"Do you know why the Pegasus won't be partaking in the evacuation?"
"The Pegasus will remain with the ships that jumped away four months ago. If we don't show up at the rendezvous point within eighteen hours of the Galactica jumping here than Commander Adama is to lead the rest of the ships away from here and find Earth."
Laura nodded her head at the explanation that sounded like something that the Admiral would do. "Very well." She turned to Tyrol and the others, "Lower your weapons."
Once the tension in the room had noticeably dropped Erin Mathias brought them back to the task at hand, "What do you guys have for evacuation plans."
Laura looked away from Sam and Daniel and turned to Tory imploring her to reveal what they had planned.
"We've designated and assigned 500 block captains to cover each sector of the city. Each block captain is responsible for rallying and guiding the people in his or her sector along their escape route to their designated ship."
Zarek spoke up, "Don't suppose you've been able to rehearse any of this."
Roslin took over, "Indeed. We've had three full-dress rehearsals under the guise of fire and natural disaster drills."
"Be different when the balloon goes up. Explosions, shooting, chaos. There's gonna be some panic out there," Mathias pointed out.
Roslin defended the work they had done so far, "They'll do fine. These people know that at some point, they're gonna be responsible for saving themselves. All we need to do is be ready and hope for the best."
Heads nodded in agreement as Roslin quietly turned to Sam, "What about Maya and Isis??
"I'm on it. I've got my two best shooters here. They're gonna be their escorts and make sure they get back to the ship."
Roslin turned to the two most important escorts, "Gentlemen, I can't tell you why, but it is imperative that this woman and her child get off this planet. I trust you because I trust him."
On the other side of the room Sam leaned over to Mathias, "Who is she?"
Erin looked over at the Major in shock before recalling that there was no way she could have known who she was. "That's Laura Roslin. She became the President of the Colonies when the Exodus began and served in that position until just before we settled on this clusterfrak of a planet."
Jack and Teal'c stood anxiously on the hangar deck as the two Raptors that had first gone to New Caprica were rolled onto the deck. As the doors opened he pushed his way through the throng of people. When he didn't see his teammates come down from the first raptor he made his way to the second one. Once again though, he didn't see his two friends. He turned back to Teal'c with a worried look on his face.
He scanned the crowd for Mathias and once he caught sight of her he made a bee line for her.
He yelled to her as he approached, "Where are Daniel and Carter?"
She looked at him quizzically, "What sir?"
Jack leaned in even closer so that she could hear him over the chants of 'Adama!' that were filling the hangar deck. "Where are Daniel and Carter?"
"They got separated from us, sir."
"What?" he yelled back at her in anger. "You're team leader! You don't leave anyone behind!"
"We didn't sir," she told him indignantly. "They joined up with Former President Roslin's group; they were heading for Colonial One."
Without another word, he turned around and headed for the nearest phone. "Lieutenant, this is Colonel O'Neill. Is Colonial One on Dradis?"
"Yes sir. They were the last ones to get here."
Jack hung up the phone and turned back to Teal'c, "Colonial One made the jump."
"Any word on Major Carter or Daniel Jackson?"
"No. We won't be able to get that kind of information for hours."
It took four hours for Jack to know that both his teammates were alive and aboard Colonial One. It took another ten hours before a raptor was able to transport his two teammates and the former President of the Colonies to Galactica.
"Daniel!" he yelled out as soon as he saw his favorite archaeologist wearing only a t-shirt and a bandage on his left upper arm. "I told you no scratches!"
TBC
Author's Note: Assume everything else that happened in the first four episodes of Season Three took place. Differences being that Starbuck wasn't on New Caprica, of course.
Enjoy the next chapter, it's a long one!
