Orbit of Ragnar Anchorage, five minutes later, five minutes until arrival of the Odyssey.
There were fifty flashes of light, one after another, as Baseships appeared in orbit of the gas giant Ragnar. Once all of them had arrived, the Cavil on one of the Baseships stared at the greenish planet below with his hands behind his back. He knew that the orders from his copy on the Resurrection ship near Caprica was to have them wait the humans out… to wait for them to leave the safety of the radiation in the gas giant. But this particular Cavil didn't want to wait. Before leaving the Colony, he told the Resurrection ship Cavil that he would be sending six raiders in through the eye of the storm towards the Anchorage.
He believed that the Raiders would flush the Colonials out, "they'll send a ship out to investigate, and then they will see our forces. They know they can't hide for long, and if I know humans… and I do, they'll want to fight us before making an escape. If we can swarm the Galactica with our raiders, we can destroy it."
The Cavil on the Resurrection ship who jumped his fleet to sixty light years from Ragnar agreed. He didn't like the plan, but there was a part of him that wanted this to end so that they could move on to the next step. And with the overwhelming force of fifty ships, he knew that even the Earth vessel would not be able to hold out for long if they were with the Galactica.
Once the order was given, six raiders launched from one of the Baseships and flew silently towards the eye of the storm. They travelled through the winding tunnel that made up the eye of the storm while keeping themselves steady. The Raiders, living beings unto themselves, knew if they were destroyed…which was very likely to happen, their memories would be sent back to the Baseship and uploaded to new Raider bodies. At the same time, the humanoid Cylons would be able to tie into their datastream and absorb whatever information was relayed back.
So for now, all the Raiders could do was fly towards their destination.
The Britannia, at that same time.
"Captain," said the Lieutenant on the port console next to the Command Chair, "sensors are reading six ships, about the size of F-302's, heading through the eye of the storm. Contact in one minute."
Dr. Lang and Woolsey, who were on the bridge, were watching the scanners as the last of the humanoid Cylons were being arrested and taken away to the Galactica. The final Raptor boarded the giant ship through the flight pod just as the warning from the Lieutenant had Woolsey and Dr. Lang rush to the Captain who was still seated on his command chair.
"Dr. Lang, please inform the Galactica we have unknown birds heading to our location."
The Galactica, CIC.
It had been twenty minutes since Commander Adama and his senior staff, as well as the President and Billy, re-entered the CIC. The Commander and the others had thought it best that the meeting between their peoples be held on the anchorage in one hour.
With a little under forty minutes left before the meeting, Apollo, Commander Adama, and the others looked up at the DRADIS screen when Dr. Lang contacted them about the six fighters that were heading their way. It was a few seconds later that the screen showed the Colonial officers the six dots which were identified as Cylon Raiders. And it was confirmed as much by Starbuck and her CAP when they broke their patrol to head the Raider's off before they could do any damage to the civilian ships.
Commander Adama notified Dr. Lang that the ships were Cylon, and that they would be heading back to their Baseship with the location of the fleet. "And if they do, Dr. Lang, then we have a problem. They could very well bring their entire fleet down upon us."
"Galactica, Starbuck," the blonde Colonial officer said over the communications system to the giant ship as she and the other Viper pilots flew towards the Raiders which were about to begin turning back, "permission to engage."
"You are weapons free, Starbuck… I repeat, Weapons-free," said Apollo after receiving the go-ahead from his father.
Britannia, that same time.
While Starbuck and the other Vipers, including the recently launched Alert Fighters, started to fire on the six Cylon Raiders, Captain Fitzgerald ordered his crew to run a subspace scan on the area of space above the gas giant. While the scans were being conducted, the Captain ordered that the railguns track any missile launched towards the Britannia or the civilian ships. And if missiles were fired, the railguns were to destroy the projectiles. The Captain then turned to Woolsey, while Dr. Lang was speaking with Commander Adama, who reminded him that the Britannia could not interfere unless the ship itself was under attack.
"Sir," said the Lieutenant on the starboard console next to the Command Chair as he turned to Captain Fitzgerald, and then back at his screen, "sensors are detecting fifty large ships, similar in size to the reports from the Avalon. We're also detecting over… this can't be right…"
"What is it?" asked the Captain.
"Sir," said the Lieutenant as he looked back at the older man, "we're detecting over one thousand two hundred of these Cylon fighters. As well as hundreds of other ships that are simply waiting out there."
"Just waiting?" asked Woolsey.
"Yes, sir," said the Lieutenant as Dr. Lang, who also heard the exchange, just looked on in stunned silence. The Captain then had Dr. Lang relay the information to the Galactica in case their sensors weren't able to pick up the waiting Cylon fleet.
Commander Adama, Roslin, and the others in the CIC were surprised when they heard that the Britannia had such advanced sensors that they were able to 'see' through the storm. The news of the Cylon fleet also worried them since the Galactica was only one battleship, and it was protecting a large civilian fleet. The President then asked Dr. Lang if this was the time when the Britannia could help against the Cylons. While Roslin was listening to the answer from Dr. Lang, Commander Adama had Captain Kelly and Apollo send the coordinates of the refugee planet to the rest of the civilian fleet.
"I want two Raptors to take off for the Colonies," said the Commander at Apollo and Captain Kelley, "get to Picon, and contact the Hermes, Athena, and the Pieces. Contact the other ships as well, tell them to stand-by for jump coordinates to the planet the Earthers told us about."
"Yes, sir," said Apollo before he picked up at phone at the center table they were surrounding, and made the call to have the Raptors ready for launch in five minutes.
"Saul," said the Commander as he looked at Captain Kelly, the man who was the temporary Executive Officer. The Captain, Apollo, Billy, Roslin, and a few others stared at the Commander who looked back down at his table, rubbed his head in frustration, and he shook his head before looking back up at the Captain once again. It kept going through the Commander's mind that his best friend and Executive Officer was a suspected Cylon. He tried to push the thought to the back of his mind as he sighed. "Captain Kelley, my apologies."
"It's alright, sir," said the man as he looked at the exhaustion on the Commander's face.
"We have the final coordinates. I want all jump points, from the mouth of the Eye to the refugee planet, given to all ships' Captains. Work with Captain Adama to plot those jump points." The Commander then nodded his head before ordering the Captain and Apollo to get to work.
"Understood," said Captain Kelly who then rushed off with Apollo and a few other officers to make the necessary calculations. In the meantime, the President and Billy were standing next to the Commander before asking him if he had a plan.
"The Earthers said that they won't interfere," said Roslin, "and those Cylons are simply awaiting for us to get out of here."
"They can wait as long as they want," said Billy as the Commander stared at the table and nodded his head, "and we are the ones who need food, water, air… they'll wait for us to make a move."
"The Earthers said that they won't make a move while they aren't being attacked," said Commander Adama, "and they said that they'll protect the civilian fleet at least."
"What are you saying?"
"Madam President," said the Commander, "once we have the Coordinates, I will ask the Earthers to escort us to the mouth of the eye. There, we'll fire all of our guns… everything we have… while the civilian fleet is protected by the Britannia. The Britannia will be hit, and if they survive, then they would be in the same situation as us. They would have to help."
"We would have to confirm what they're saying, don't we?" asked Billy.
"Dee," said the Commander as he turned to the young woman, "have Starbuck head out the through the tunnel and conduct a recon mission. I want to know if the Earther's scans are accurate.
While the CIC on the Galactica was abuzz with activity, Captain Fitzgerald turned to another crew member and asked for him to open a channel so that they could send a message to the Cylon fleet; that they needed to disperse.
"Radio signals are not going through this storm, sir," said a young woman.
"Captain, Commander Adama is asking if we're sure about the fleet over the planet. They can't see out of the storm using their sensors." Dr. Lang stared at the Captain who then said that he was certain, just as the last Raider was destroyed. The bridge crew then saw a viper heading out the eye of the storm while Commander Adama was telling Dr. Lang that he sent out the Vipers to conduct a recon mission.
"Mr. Woolsey," said the Captain as he turned to the diplomat while the Galactica began undocking procedure from the anchorage, "whether we go out, or we stay here protecting these people, either way we're in the crossfire of the Cylons. If what happened to the Avalon was any evidence, then the Cylons WILL attack us too. Even if this isn't our war."
"But the Odyssey is on the way with those people from Earth… or rather the fake Earth," said Woolsey.
"Sir," said another Lieutenant, "I'm reading data bursts from the destroyed fighters to a ship in orbit of the gas giant."
"So, let's assume that the ships already know about the Galactica and all these civilian ships," said the Captain as he looked at Woolsey, "we can't risk waiting for the Odyssey."
"But…"
"Mr. Woolsey," said the Captain, "the enemy has our location. And they could very well send missiles and nukes down here without us even being able to fight back. Or at least without the civilian ships being unable to fight back."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Woolsey.
"Niles," said the Captain as he looked at a Lieutenant to his left side, "contact the Galactica. Dr. Lang, send a message saying that we're going to head out there and talk to these people. We'll try and get them to back off while they begin evacuating the civilian ships."
After the Captain received a nod, he then told Woolsey that he had an idea of what to do in case the talks failed. The Commander then looked at the officer on the port console and asked him to run a scan for any fleet of ships in a radius of sixty light years to seventy light years, "Lieutenant, keep an eye out for the ships similar to that our recon Jumper examined earlier. I want the one that especially looks like the massive glass cathedral."
"Understood, sir," was the reply.
"Captain?" asked Woolsey, "what are you planning?"
"Something that could save lives," the Captain answered while Dr. Lang said that Commander Adama responded by saying that the Galactica would be ready to go in a few minutes, with the civilian ships following them. The Captain then looked back at Dr. Lang and asked her to tell Commander Adama to give them five minutes before coming out with the other ships.
"Five minutes?" asked Dr. Lang.
"The Odyssey should be here by then," said the Captain before turning to the starboard Lieutenant. While Dr. Lang was relaying the message to Commander Adama, Captain Fitzgerald was ordering that the Britannia activate its sub-light engines and leave the Anchorage. "Activate the Ancient shields, charge all energy weapons, prepare to fire the Railguns." The bridge lights then dimmed as Dr. Lang told Commander Fitzgerald that Commander Adama told him the Galactica would be ready in ten minutes before telling him the question Roslin wanted relayed.
"He'd like to know if we've changed our minds in regard to interfering in their war?" asked Dr Lang.
"We're just protecting ourselves," said the Captain, "if these Cylons fire on us, then we'll be forced to fire back, so will the Galactica. How many Cylons were alive in that large glass ship we conducted the recon mission on?"
"Four hundred," said a young woman from the rear of the bridge as the sub-light thrusters fired and the Britannia moved off.
"And how many of those bodies that registered no heartbeats?" asked the Captain.
"Over five thousand," replied the young woman.
"The Odyssey is already on the way, Captain," said Woolsey, "and they have the people from that fake Earth. I'm sure that once these Cylons hear from them; that there is more to their ancestry that perhaps even they know about, that we could open talks."
"And how long until the Odyssey is here?" asked the Captain after telling the diplomat that he agreed with him
"Four minutes," said another officer.
"We still have to be prepared," said Captain Fitzgerald as he looked back up at Woolsey. "Attacking that glass ship may have to be the only way these people surrender."
"We could always run," said Woolsey as the Britannia headed to the 'eye-tunnel' towards space. He suggested that the Britannia, Odyssey, and Galactica could leave if they were too overwhelmed.
The Captain then shook his head before saying, "running away would show the Cylons that we're afraid to make the decisions that have to be made. They need that glasss ship to be reborn, so if we take it out… we're looking at five thousand four hundred bodies lost. But if they attack and we fight back with all the weapons at our disposal, then… wait… Niles, how many lives on those ships. In total."
"Thrity five thousand," said the young man, "all of them are alive."
"So which would you rather see," said the Captain as he looked back up at Woolsey, "four hundred living people killed? Or Thirty five thousand?"
Woolsey just looked at the man without saying a word. His feelings were mixed on the issue before he looked up at the front viewport at Starbucks's viper rushing past them towards the Colonial fleet. Her intercepted communications confirmed the Britannia's sensor reading; the Earther ship was right, there really was a fleet of ships just waiting for them out in space. And it was that message that had Commander Adama rush Apollo and Captain Kelley on the jump points to the refugee planet.
In the meantime, the Britannia had come out of the 'eye' and face to face with the fifty Baseships and the over one thousand Raiders.
"This is Dr. Lang on behalf of the Captain of the HMS Britannia, Captain Fitzgerald." Dr. Lang then looked back at the Captain after she was told to translate a message while another officer told the Captain that the Odyssey was three minutes out. The Captain nodded his head before asking the young officer to contact the Odyssey via subspace, and then send to them the coordinates of the Resurrection ship. He then turned to Dr. Lang and asked her to translate what he was saying.
"Cylon vessels, we need to talk," said the Captain as Dr. Lang translated. In the meantime, the Odyssey, which was still in hyperspace received the message from the Britannia telling them about the fleet of fifty ships in orbit of Ragnar. Colonel Pendergast was then told about the Resurrection ship and the possibility to stop major hostilities before they even begin. While the situation was tense over Ragnar the Odyssey, with General Leoben, Triana, and Natalie on the bridge watched the hyperspace tunnel in front of them while Major Marks input the new coordinates and headed for the fleet protecting the resurrection ship.
Natalie couldn't help but look on as a few minutes later, the tunnel vanished and they were in real space flying towards the Resurrection fleet. Leoben and Triana looked on stunned at the large fleet in front of them as they imagined the destruction caused in the Colonies. Their view switched to the gigantic glass ship when Womack said that the ship was powering up.
"Weapons?" asked Colonel Mitchel as he turned to Natalie while Tara translated.
"It's the jump drive," said Natalie as she looked at Colonel Mitchell, and then looked away and at the viewport in front of them, "it has no weapons." The Colonel then looked at the side of Natalie's face, and then he glanced over at Triana, and then back at Natalie before hearing Willow go, 'Ahem!' The Colonel then turned to Willow who was grinning at her superior officer before mentally telling the man he could feel his attraction for the humanoid Cylon woman, and the original Furling template.
The Colonel narrowed his eyes at the redhead just as the ship banked and the lights dimmed.
"We're being targeted, sir," said Buffy from the rear of the ship, "they're firing nuclear weapons, and launching fighters."
"Raise shields. Target the power surge, lock railguns on the source and on the missiles coming at us, and then fire," said Colonel Pendergast while the two Furlings looked at each other upon hearing the word 'shields' while Natalie remembered what she had seen the day she defected. She remembered the shields and energy weapons that decimated the Cylons over Caprica before she was allowed onto the Avalon. She and the others watched some of the missiles and fighters destroyed by railgun fire while the Ancient shields took care of a few strays that were missed by the railguns. A second later, railgun rounds smashed through the source of the surge, destroying the jump engines on the Resurrection ship completely before the Odyssey moved off and then came about firing on the Raiders that were heading towards it.
"You may want to tell them to stop," said Tara as she looked at Natalie while nodding at the Cylon fleet in front of them.
Natalie nodded her head before being taken to another console.
"Cavil, this is Natalie. Listen to me very carefully. I need you to stand down… do you understand me? Stand down, stand…"
"You traitor!" yelled Cavil after he got up after stumbling onto the floor following an explosion that completely destroyed the engines. He looked at one of the Sharon's who said that they lost Jump engines, and were stuck in space. She then added that the Baseships were already firing on the Earther ship. He placed his hand into the basin of water, as did the other Humanoid Cylons in the Resurrection ship and connected to the Cylon datastream. The others ordered the Baseships and raiders to attack, while an enraged Cavil admonished Natalie. "You helped the humans bring about the death of your own kind, and…"
"I've been to Earth! Now… surrender… please. Listen to these people." yelled Natalie into the radio as the Odyssey, using all her engines to manoeuvre past the missiles before being fired upon by the Baseships. All while destroying the raiders. Colonel Pendergast hoped for a surrender before he had no choice but to fire the Ancient energy weapons at the Baseships. He listened to Tara's translation of Natalie's words while Satterfield translated the responses. In the meantime, a subspace transmission was sent to the Britannia who was facing off against the massive Cylon fleet. While the Cavil on the resurrection ship was stunned at the revelation by Natalie that she had been to the Earth of the Thirteenth Tribe, who were the ancestors of the Cylon race; the Cavil on the lead ship in the Cylon fleet of fifty ships was incredulous at the gall of the Captain of this one lone ship asking him to surrender.
All just so that they could open a dialogue. He then listened on enraged as the Captain explained that an Earth ship was with the resurrection fleet. He then added and that he received news only seconds ago that the Jump drives were destroyed.
"The ship is dead in the water," said Captain Fitzgerald as Dr Lang translated. Their shields were still raised, and all their weapons were locked onto five of the baseships while the Captain said that the Odyssey was prepared to destroy the Resurrection ship, and that if any Baseship jumped to that location as reinforcements, "then they will destroy the entire fleet. Your people depend on this resurrection technology. What happens if you die and can't resurrect? Are you willing to find out?"
Cavil was enraged, as were the other humanoids on the Baseships. Thanks to the memories of the dead Cylons over Caprica being placed into a 'data pool' on the Resurrection Hub, Cavil and the other Cylons knew about the shields and the energy weapons of the Earth ships. However, despite the shields and the advanced technology, Cavil believed wholeheartedly that the Earth ships could be destroyed by sheer overwhelming force.
And he had the anger of the Humanoid Cylons who resented being dictated to by humans guiding his crusade. Cavil was about to order the launching of nuclear missiles at the small Earth ship when Dr. Lang's voice once again came through the speakers in the Command Center; this time admitting that the Odyssey had been to the home of the Thirteenth Tribe.
Cavil brought his hands out of the water in the basin just before everyone shared, through the data stream, a moment of surprise. The older man however, wasn't surprised, although he played it really well based on the expression on his face. He knew about Earth, about the truth of the Thirteenth Tribe. His 'parents'; Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, Sam Anders, Galen Tyrol, and Tori Foster told him the truth of who they were after he and his models were created.
Only Cavil knew the truth. And he didn't want the others to know. The old man was stunned to hear that the Earthers had found survivors from the Earth of the Thirteenth tribe. And that two of them wanted the fighting to finally end.
"They're lying," said Cavil shaking his head. He knew that it was impossible. While his 'parents' hadn't told him the location of Earth, he knew that it was completely and utterly destroyed based on what he heard. 'But now, there are survivors? Really? After a nuclear holocaust?'
"There are civilians with us," said Captain Fitzgerald, "and I don't want to see anymore deaths… on either side. But know this… if you fire on us, I will send the message to the other ship that's showing constraint by not firing on your star-shaped ships who are still lobbing missiles. The Odyssey is just firing on the smaller fighters. So, how about we stop fighting? You pull back your fleet, and we'll get the civilians out of here. We'll give you a world where…."
"Fire everything at them," hissed Cavil as he glared at the Cylons in front of him.
"They know about the Thirteenth Tribe," said D'Anna, "they have survivors and I want to speak to them. As do the rest of my line."
"Mine as well," said Simon, followed by Leoben, and then Sharon after they conferred with the rest of their models through the data-stream.
"I don't agree," said Doral, "the humans are lying to us. I say we retreat, and then think about this."
"We'll be leaving our resurrection ship out here by…"
"We should talk to them," said a D'Anna staring at Cavil who she had interrupted, "you said it yourself, we have a disabled resurrection ship out there. We know what kind of weapons they have, but if they destroy the resurrection ship, then we die here for real. I say we listen to what they have to say."
"Tell the Resurrection fleet to stop firing on the other ship," said Simon as he looked at an angry Cavil. The older man nodded his head before putting his hand back into the basin of water. And then smiled. Cavil then input his hidden knowledge of Earth and the Final Five into the Datastream shared by the fifty Basestars. The Humanoid Cylons in all ships looked up stunned at their Cavils, at the treachery perpetrated by the humanoid Cylon.
And then he had one order for the raiders after locking the other humanoid Cylons out of their systems. "Destroy the Earther ship."
"No!" yelled D'Anna just as the Raiders attacked the Britannia. Sighing, Captain Fitzgerald ordered the attack on the Cylons ships.
"Full thrust, constant evasive manoeuvres, we do not stay still for an instant!" yelled the man as the ship shook slightly thanks to missiles impacting the shield while the energy weapons took out five Baseships while a subspace message was sent to the Odyssey. The larger Daedalus class ship was still under attack when they received news that the Britannia was being fired upon. A stunned Natalie watched as bursts of energy were fired at the resurrection ship while reports came through from Willow, who had rushed to the engine room after the battle started, said that shields were down to eighty percent thanks to the incredible number of multiple nuclear weapons hitting the shield after being fired from Raiders.
After the resurrection ship was destroyed, the Odyssey turned to the other ships in the fleet and proceeded to destroy them while Natalie and the Furlings could only watch in stunned silence. In the meantime, while the Britannia destroyed another ship, the Cavil in the lead ship ordered the Centurions in all remaining ships over the Ragnar gas giant to kill all humanoid Cylons, except for him. He didn't want any of them jumping to safety with the knowledge that he knew the truth of their creators. He turned as the Cylons around him, even the Doral's, screamed at him before being gunned down by the Centurions.
Cavil then ordered the Hybrid controlling his ship to move to the rear of the fleet, while ordering the rest of the ships.. now under the control of the Centurions, to continue firing the Earth vessel. He wanted to see how much damage the Earth ship could take before the shields fell. He was then going to jump out of there and return to the Colony with information of how barbaric the Earthers were; that he had believed that they wanted peace when they called for a truce. But instead, once he and the other ships approved the truce to hear what they had to say, they were fired upon by the advanced weaponry.
It was just then that the Galactica and her vipers, as well as two Raptors which vanished in flashes of light, flew out of the 'eye' of the storm and fired on the Raiders. Now was the first time that the Colonials, particularly Commander Adama and the others in the Galactica's CIC, knew the reason for the debris in the orbit of Caprica. They listened to an amazed Starbuck who screamed through the radio that the Britannia was firing energy weapons that had destroyed a Cylon Baseship while the Avalon class ship, as it weaved through a barrage of missiles, was hit by a few missiles that impacted against the shield.
"A shield?" asked Apollo in the CIC with a look of surprise on his face.
"At least now we know what happened over Caprica," the Commander said as he stared at the DRADIS screen before barking orders to fire weapons at the Raiders and to lock onto the nearest Baseships. While the Galactica and the Britannia, soon joined by the Odyssey, fired at the massive Cylon fleet, the civilian ships travelled behind the Galactica acting as a shield before jumping away.
One civilian ship after another jumped away while the Baseships were being destroyed one by one.
All the while, Natalie was screaming at Cavil.. or to anyone who could hear her, to stop the fighting.
"Sir," said Marks as the Odyssey banks before opening fire once again, "sensors are detecting.. this can't be right… sensors are detecting weapons fire from inside the alien ships."
"No," whispered Natalie after Tara translated.
"Life signs are… sir, there are no more life signs on any of the ships," said Marks as he looked at Colonel Pendergast while the Baseships continued firing missiles. The commander of the Odyssey then had Marks confirm with the Britannia while the ship shook when the shield was impacted by sixteen normal missiles. Womack was the one who said that the Britannia confirmed their sensor readings- there were no more lifsigns.
It was carnage in space as debris and bodies were floating as twenty-five Baseships remained after ten minutes of constant firing. Colonel Pendergast turned to Natalie and asked how it was possible that the ships were still firing.
"The Centurions," said Satterfield just as Willow said that more than half of their railgun ammunition had already been used up. The three ships; the Odyssey, Britannia, and the Galactica continued to fire at the Baseships and the Raiders for the next twenty-five minutes. Eventually the three ships lay in a wasteland of floating space debris and bodies after a single Baseship had jumped away. Natalie, Leoben, and Triana had watched the destruction from the bridge as the Vipers returned to the Galactica. In the meantime, Leoben and Sharon watched from their quarters holding on to each other at the destruction all around them.
"What do we do now," whispered Sharon before she closed her eyes and shook her head, "what do we do now?"
TBC.