Chapter Thirty-Six.
Admiral William Adama and Saul Tigh watched the Cylon base star on Adama's repeater station in Galactica's CIC. "Gods," Tigh was saying. "I reckon those toasters are feeling pretty uncomfortable being surrounded by this much firepower."
Adama nodded. "I daresay you're right, Saul," he said. He looked at his longtime exec. "Have we launched our contribution to the escort that's being formed up to escort the Cylon representatives to the hospital complex?"
Tigh nodded. "Ours and Nike's" he replied. "Think the mix of Vipers and First Cylon War vintage Raiders will get the message, whatever it is, across to them?"
"It could. But we won't know until we hear back from the President." Tigh nodded. Laura Roslyn had been asked to attend the initial meeting between the Cylon representatives and the Terrans as an equal partner, something that was calculated to send yet another message to the Cylons about the Terrans.
Adama changed the topic. "Has Chief Tyrol reported back on his survey of the old girl's structure?"
Tigh nodded. "He says that the old girl's stood up pretty well to both the jumps and the manoeuvres we've put her through. Seems that the treatment the Terran yard dogs gave both her and Nike involving these 'nanites' of theirs worked. But he also says that he'll be a hell of a lot happier when we finally get to Alquonde Naval Hub and get both ships into a TIN refit dock for a thorough overhaul." During her stay in the Terran Imperial Navy spacedock the Terran naval surveyors had detected extensive stress fracturing in Galactica's structure and hull plating. Although Adama and Tigh had both been shocked at the news, in hindsight they agreed with Tyrol's statement that it shouldn't have been so surprising. After all, Galactica was over forty years old and had gone through a great deal, including being hit by at least one nuke, a free fall into New Caprica's atmosphere, countless jumps through hyperspace and a pounding from four Cylon base stars over New Caprica.
Luckily the Terrans had extensive experience in treating stress fractures of this type and had sprayed both Galactica and Nike with a compound that consisted of simple, microscopic machines they called nanites and liquified hull compound. Using this as their raw material the nanites had then proceeded to repair the stress fractures in both ships to the extent where they were virtually gone. The Terrans, however had warned the Colonials that this was not a substitute for a thorough overhaul in a refit dock where the damaged parts would be more extensively repaired or even replaced. When the Colonials had queried the expense of what the Terrans had proposed they were told that this sort of thing was routine in an extension programme. "We call it 'building a new tub around the old bung'," they said.
Adama and Tigh had gotten the joke straight away. In their careers in the Colonial Fleet they had seen similar examples done to old warships, most notably the Valkyrie and Atlantis-class battlestar refits. So they were not all that surprised to find that, wherever possible, the Terran Imperial Navy carried out a similar sort of programme. They had also been shocked to learn that the Colonial Fleet, in their urgency to commission warships during the First Cylon War, had made several shortcuts in Galactica's construction, most notably using hull plates that were thinner than those called for in her original specifications. Thankfully the Colonial Fleet's constructors had only used these in noncritical areas of the ship's hull, but it was still somewhat upsetting. In any case those plates, along with any damaged beams and armour that had been too far gone to repair in situ, had been replaced by the Terrans, who had immediately reclaimed the removed material for recycling.
Their attention was drawn to a small vessel that suddenly departed from the Cylon vessel. "Looks like their emissaries are on their way to the hospital complex," said Tigh. On seeing the escort form up on the heavy raider he continued: "And I wonder just how they're liking their escort?"
A slight grin split Adama's face. "Probably not all that much."
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Adama's guess was pretty good. The Cylons were not at all happy with the fact that they were being escorted in. Nor were they happy about the escort's composition.
"Frack," muttered Boomer as she accessed the heavy raider's DRADIS. "We've got an escort. And I really, really don't like the message this is sending us."
Caprica Six shrugged. "We knew going in that the Terrans really have no reason to trust us."
"Yeah, but having the Colonials take part... Well, the good news is at least they're not behind us."
"Can you throw up a schematic that we'd be able to see?" Baltar asked. "I have to admit that I am curious about the Terran vessels." In response Boomer threw up onto a screen a live feed that was coming in not just from the heavy raider's DRADIS suite but also from some external cameras that were mounted on the vessel.
"I see what you mean," Caprica Six said. "The Terrans are behind us." Behind them could be clearly seen four Terran space superiority interceptors. And the images showed that not only were they flying in a formation that was completely unfamiliar to both Cylons and Colonials, but also showed off their long, lean lines. The DRADIS data that was next to the images showed that these vessels were formidably armed.
Off to the right hand side of the heavy raider was a flight of three Colonial Viper Mk. VIIs. They were flying in the traditional wedge formation, but off to the left was a flight of what were clearly First Cylon War Raiders, flying in an almost identical formation to the Vipers. "So they've managed to refit at least some of that old base star's Raider complement," said Caprica Six.
"And DRADIS shows that they're carrying nukes of some sort," said Boomer. "Possibly some from the old base star, but I would not be at all surprised if they're carrying some of those Terran attack missiles, the ones with the coherent light emitters in the tips."
"Which would make them capable of taking down a base star," Baltar mused.
"Looks like we're coming up on our destination," Boomer said. She shot a look at the others. "Everyone ready?"
Baltar nodded. Caprica Six nodded but said "I just wonder at how they are going to take to the fourth member of our little embassy." She looked at the fourth member of the group. "Are you really sure you want to go through with this?" she asked.
The fourth Cylon nodded. "At least we don't have to worry about Cavil trying to frack things up," she said.
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One human and four Cylons looked around the entrance foyer to the hospital complex. "Frack me," said Baltar as he looked at the pool with its waterfall and the plant life. "This puts the best hotel in Caprica City to shame." Caprica Six said nothing but simply nodded agreement.
Their attention was drawn to some movement next to the exit from the entrance foyer as several Terrans, some wearing what were obviously nurses' uniforms, walked into the foyer. One, however, was wearing the uniform of an officer of the Terran Imperial Navy, with a dark green lining showing on the backs of the folded back top lapels of his double-breasted frock coat. They were, however, all wearing filter masks.
The Terran officer walked up to the group. "I'm Surgeon-Commodore Knowles, Terran Imperial Naval Reserve, and the senior officer in command of this hospital complex," he said. "We're here to take you to your suite, where you will be held for seventy-two hours for medical observation after you've been given your vaccinations." He gave a small smile. "Believe me when I say that we are doing this for your own good, as I doubt you have any immunity against some of the diseases that the Raptors have let loose on us in the past."
"I see," said Caprica Six. She looked at the others. "Well, then, please lake us to our suite so that we can get this over with. I'm sure you'll agree that time is of the essence."
Knowles bowed his head in agreement. "This way, please," he said.
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