Chapter 12: Attack on the Colonies
Chapter 12:
The beautiful statuesque blonde watched as Gaius Baltar, President Adar's chief science advisor and good friend, walked away from her heading toward the ministry of defense. As she turned to leave, she recognized the short, older man standing behind her. "It's about time. I wondered when you'd get here" is all she said. The two moved in the direction of a small café, took a seat in a back booth, and ordered coffee. After the coffee arrived, the shorter, older man named John asked if the plan was progressing on schedule. In a hushed voice to prevent from being overheard, Caprica informed him that Gaius had agreed to let her 'take a peak' inside of the Ministry of Defense's mainframe computer. Gaius was unaware of her true intention to sabotage the defense program and all ships utilizing the computer programs distributed by the defense mainframe. He rationalized that she was probably an employee of a company who was trying to get a 'leg up' on current defense software suppliers. Truth is, he really didn't care what her intention was; if he could use his position to provide her the access she desired and in return, she gave him what he desired (HER) then what harm could come from that? As brilliant as Gaius was, his major flaw was that he often acted on personal gratification reasoning instead of thinking things through.
Caprica told John that she would upload the computer virus into the new navigation program developed by Baltar within the week. On Gaius' recommendation, all ships and stations utilizing the program will upgrade to the new CNP. Once the virus is delivered, it will remain dormant until activated by the cylon attack force. John acknowledged her report, stood, and left the café. As Caprica was finishing her coffee, she reflected on the plan and how the outcome would affect her. If their plan was successful, Gaius Baltar would be killed along with every other human. She wasn't sure that this outcome was desirable to her. She enjoyed her contact with Gaius. Somehow she was able to look past all his obvious faults and gain pleasure from just being with him. She thought that she would truly miss these times. Although she knew for certain that she was identical in every way to well over a thousand other cylon model sixes, she enjoyed being called Caprica (a name identifying her as the key cylon in the master plan initiating from the ministry of defense on the planet with the same name). Caprica knew she wasn't human or born from two parents; she was manufactured in a cylon facility. Not even her memories were her own. All her previous memories and experiences were passed down from one model six to another after the previous six dies and downloads all her consciousness to a central data collection point to be stored and passed on to the next six to be created. The feeling of individuality was not only foreign to her but oddly enjoyable. She knew she was not human, but found herself sometimes looking forward to seeing Gaius. Was this just rational anticipation or did the interaction between her and the human give her pleasure? Can a machine feel pleasure? It shouldn't. Then why every time she catches Gaius staring at a female other than her does she feel a pain inside her chest. She was an instrument of war. A machine created and programmed to carry out one terrible mission; the extermination of the human race. And if that were true, why does she have feelings for this human? Why does she have some slight apprehension that what her kind was going to do might be wrong? For now, the mission takes priority over these questions; she must complete her mission. As she looked around the crowded café, she began wondering if each one of these people had someone in their lives that meant the same to them as Gaius did to her. Her last thought as she strolled out of the café was what a shame it was going to be to rob these people of these feelings forever.
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John prepared his forces for the attack on the colonies. Present in the control room were representatives from all current human-form cylon models. The three model standing next to John leaned over to ask him a quietly, "Are you sure about this, brother? Are you sure this is what God wants?" John sneered, "Of course I am sure! God wants us to rid the universe of the defective plague called humans." Seemingly satisfied, the number three, D'Ana, turned back towards her data stream connection and continued her work. Deep inside she still had doubts about whether or not this was actually God's plan or John's. She wondered what the final five would say about what they are about to do. John announced to all that could hear, "Our trap has been set. The extermination of the human race begins. Contact all battle groups and begin the attack now. The other cylon models in the command center began carrying out John's orders.
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Admiral Corman was in his office reading the latest dispatch from President Adar's Administration, outlining deeper defense budget cuts when the alarm klaxon sounded. Seconds later, a nervous sounding young man's voice was heard announcing, "Action Stations, Action Stations! Admiral Corman to the Command Center PLEASE!" As ADM Corman entered the command center he ordered, "Report!" The Officer of the Watch (OOW) replied, "Sir, we have 25 unidentified capital ship sized vessels that just jumped into the system and are heading directly towards Picon. They are ignoring our friend-or-foe challenge and maintaining speed and course this direction." Corman asked, "Have they made any hostile moves?" The OOW replied, "No sir; they act like they are waiting on something. The Achilles and her battlegroup are headed to intercept the vessels and determine their intentions." ADM Corman picked up the communication handset and ordered the station's communication officer to put him through to the Achilles. The next voice Peter heard on the phone was CDR Phillips, "This is Achilles Actual." "CDR Phillips, can you describe the vessels configuration? Is it the cylons?" "It is hard to tell from this distance, but the ship's shape seems to have two halves connected at a central axis, but instead of two disc shapes of the old cylon basestars, these ships have two large three spired halves rotating around a central axis." At that point ADM Corman heard a crewman on the Achilles report to her CO that the larger vessels had just launched hundreds of smaller vessels (presumably some type of fighter/interceptor attack craft). CDR Phillips reported, "Admiral, the capital ships have just launched what we think are fighters. We are responding in kind. Then Peter heard Phillips order the launch of his vipers. After about a minute, Peter heard CDR Phillips say, "What just happened? Why are we dark? Report!" Shortly after the confusion and panic voices began, CDR Phillips reported, "Sir, all vessels seem to have lost power and are just drifting defensively in space! Even the vipers are powerless." Then, in an even more terrified voice, "Admiral, the unidentified fighters and capital ship are firing on all defenseless vessels. We are helpless to respond. I am not sure…" Everyone in the stations command center looked toward the DRADIS screen and watched in silent horror as all the green icons blinked and disappeared from sight. The Picon Station's communication officer spoke next, breaking the silence in the room and confirming what everyone already feared had just happened. "Sir, the Achilles and her battlegroup have been destroyed." The Tactical Officer announced, "Admiral, the enemy has changed course and is heading straight for us!" Corman turned to the communications officer and ordered, "Get me Admiral Nagala on the phone, NOW!" Shortly afterward, the Comms officer informed ADM Corman the ADM Nagala was on the line. Corman picked up the handset and spoke, "Admiral Nagala, we are under attack. I think it is the cylons. They have found a way to completely shut down our ships rendering them defenseless. Nagala informed Corman that he has intercepted a message from Caprica describing the same situation. The Tactical Officer interrupted the Admiral's conversation with a report, "Admiral, the enemy will be in range in one minute." Corman continued, Admiral Nagala, I don't have much time. If it is the cylons, they have found some way of penetrating our computer defenses and controlling or deactivating our operations. Gather as many forces and defend what colonies you can. Figure out what is causing this..." Then the lights went out in the Picon Defense Station. Numerous reports were being given to the Admiral at the same time, but Peter ignored them. With back power still available to communications, Admiral Corman gave Nagala one final order, "Admiral, contact the Zeus, give them the order…" and with that the phone went dead. Admiral Corman had just enough time to tell his command center crew what an honor it was to serve with them; before the missiles fired from 25 basestars struck the station leaving only debris and death where the pride of the Colonial Defense Forces once existed.
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John issued the following order to his attack force, "Now that those pesky ships and station are destroyed, concentrate all nukes on the planet. Let's cleanse the universe of the human scum." And with that, mushroom clouds could be seen forming on the planet's surface. Even from high above the planet in orbit around the doomed planet, the devastation was obvious.
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Onboard the Atlantia, Admiral Nagala issued a fleet wide order for all operational ships to fall back to Ragnar Station to regroup and prepare for a counterattack. As the reports kept coming in about total power failures on all newer ships, ADM Nagala surmised that the computer virus must have been inserted recently and only on newer vessels and stations. He quickly gathered his senior staff and asked what recent upgrades have been installed meeting his theory's parameters. After tossing around ideas, the two most likely causes would be the sensor upgrade for remote traveling ships and the CNP program upgrade. Since the virus effected both ships and stations and seemed to be fleet wide, the CNP seemed like the most likely cause. ADM Nagala ordered his team to come up with a plan to remove the new CNP and reinstall the legacy program. One hour after his meeting, the Atlantia was just finishing replacing the CNP when the Comms Officer notified Nagala of friendly vessels jumping into the system. Nagala ordered a report on the status and number of ships available at their location. The Comms reported, "Four battlestars, six gunstars, three military support vessels, ten civilian passenger vessels, one Tylium refining/storage ship, and one Agro ship." Nagala had his Comms Officer establish a communications link between all vessels in the system and the Admiral's ship. He ordered the civilian ships to power up their FTL drives and enter his emergency jump calculations into their computers. At that moment, 24 contacts appeared as red symbols on the Atlantia's DRADIS display. Nagala ordered all civilian vessels to jump to the designated emergency coordinates. He ordered all combat ships to engage the hostile targets. The XO relayed his orders to the fleet, then directed the next comment to the Admiral in a low tone of voice, "Sir, we are outnumbered 24 to 8, this will be a quick fight." Nagala looked his XO directly in the eyes and replied, "Let's just hope it is long enough for the civilians to jump out." Comms reported, "Hostiles are launching fighters." Nagala ordered all vipers and raptors to launch and attack at will. By the time the hostile fighters were almost in range, most of the civilians had jumped out. Suddenly three of the battlestars and all fighter aircraft lost all power and began to drift hopelessly. This was reported to Nagala. He surmised that he was right about the CNP. His ship still had power as well as the three older Minerva class battlestars that had never been upgraded to the new CNP system. The powerless ships were the first casualties, each destroyed by the incoming barrage of missiles fired from the hostile capital ships. The Atlantia was rocked by several missiles and the Minerva battlestars took heavy damage. The Tactical Officer reported over 2000 hostile fighters were incoming to Atlantia's position. Knowing he would never survive such a zerg attack, Nagala ordered the Minerva battlestars to jump to the designated coordinates and protect the civilian ships until help arrives. He made sure that they knew about the virus in the CNP and ordered them to relay this information to anyone that could be saved. When the last battlestar jumped out of the system, Adm. Nagala ordered his ship to maneuver at flank speed into the heart of the oncoming enemy force. He was going to take out as many of them as he could. Seconds later, the weapons of 2000 enemy aircraft struck the Atlantia's hull, ending her existence.
