CYLON OCCUPIED SCORPIA
THE NORTHERN POLE
59 MINUTES 12 SECONDS REMAINING

The Raptor burst into the atmosphere as it emerged from its FTL jump at an altitude of fifty-seven thousand feet. The smooth ride of space was immediately replaced by heavy buffeting and both 'Stinger' and 'Walleye' felt their harnesses violently tugging them back into their seats as their bodies tried to force their way in every direction. 'Stinger' raised the nose of the descending Raptor and leveled it out which went some way to smoothen the ride but the turbulent air still made for a relatively uncomfortable ride.

"Report!" called out 'Stinger' whose heart was beating a little faster than usual.

"We are approximately five miles north of our aim point! That's not bad" said 'Walleye' reading the magnetic information on his screen that he was using to determine their location on the planet. Because the orbital navigational satellites had all been destroyed 'Walleye' had to get their position by identifying the magnetic strength of the northern pole in their present location. It would be a rough estimate but it was enough.

"Five miles!" blurted out 'Stinger' horror stricken. "That's all very well jumping to Scorpia but what about when we attack the Baseships?"

"Don't worry about it" pleaded 'Walleye'. We will have the second FTL computer online for that. Then we could jump into a flea's ass!"

"Let's just hope it don't come to that then shall we?" said 'Stinger' only mildly amused. "I'm putting us on the deck. We're still pretty high and for all we know there's a Cylon SAM battery down there!"

The nose of the Raptor dipped and was once again in a steep descent towards the surface. Breaking through the dense cloud base that sat at just over three thousand feet revealed a marble blue ocean below. Several white blocks of ice varying in size, some the size of a small house, bobbed in the water having broken off from the main ice pack during the nuclear bombardment.

'Stinger' nudged the control column back and the forward ventral thrusters fired to lift the nose up and shallow out the descent. White vortices streamed from the Raptor's wingtips as the warm hull cut sharply through the cold air. Leveling off at around five hundred feet the Raptor continued to buffet in the denser air at the lower altitude. Although it was designed for atmospheric flight the Colonial Raptor is more accustomed to flight through the vacuum of space.

On the horizon ahead of them was a long white line that seemed to be getting larger the closer they got to it. This was the northern ice cap of the colony of Scorpia. It offered numerous places to try to hide as the Cylon Baseship passes over head thus allowing them to get a fix on its location ready to jump and attack with their nuke.

"Ok" said 'Stinger'. "Find us that Baseship!"

UNIVERSITY OF SCORPIA SCHOOL OF ATHLETICS AND SPORT
THE NORTHERN TERRITORIES

The column of trucks hissed and growled as they drove out onto the athletics field where in just over an hour the Colonial Heavy Liner Alexis would be landing to pick up the supplies. The trucks had assembled on the running track that ran around the circumference of the field. As soon as their wheels stopped the Marines burst into action to secure the site while the civilian volunteers began to unload their cargoes.

Adrastos jumped from the passenger side of Rory's truck, landing heavily on the red asphalt. Pulling his rifle around from his shoulder he ran to the third truck along the way just as Gunnery Sergeant Callisto was leaping from the cabin.

"Callisto!" he called out through his respirator. Callisto acknowledged his senior officer and rushed towards him to receive his orders. "The commentator's box is where we are going to establish our CP. Take Myers and the transponder with you!"

"Yes sir! Myers!" barked Callisto as he went in search of Private Myers who was carrying the transponder on his back. Finding him three more trucks down the line Callisto tugged on his left arm and he seemed to yank the young Marine towards the commentator's box which sat high over the athletic field providing excellent all round visibility.

Adrastos ran back to the truck he had arrived in just as Rory Blake was opening the trailer doors to reveal three dirt stained yellow forklift trucks tucked away inside. Rory climbed in the back and reached for a pair of ramps which he then began to hand to Adrastos.

"Come on! Help with these!" bellowed Adrastos at two civilians standing nearby who seemed to be lost in the rush of events that was taking place. The two civilians darted over and took hold of the ramps. The two ramps were quickly placed on the lip of the trailer and they locked firmly into place.

With Adrastos acting looking on, Rory and the two civilians climbed into the seats on the forklift trucks and began to start their electric motors. Rory had driven these little vehicles many times during his career in the road logistics business but the other two had never even sat in one before except for a quick lesson they had all received back at the distribution centre.

With the forklift's electric motor humming Rory turned the steering wheel to the left as far as it could go. The small wheels at the front swiveled through ninety degrees and the forklift seemed to turn on the spot before trundling its way down the ramps.

"Ok!" announced Adrastos. "Mr. Blake, unload the next vehicle!" Rory nodded and guided the little forklift toward the second truck in the line up. Adrastos then turned to the civilian on the second forklift. "You, take the third truck along. When you're done keep moving along the line. Let's go! Come on!" The rather nervous civilian turned the steering wheel to the left and began to make his way towards the rear of the trailer. Cautiously, he guided the forklift onto the two ramps and after Adrastos had ensured him both front wheels were safely on he applied the throttle and the forklift whirred loudly down onto the asphalt. This left just one forklift inside the trailer. "Ok, you unload this trailer. Same goes for you, once you're done just keep moving on to the next one. Ok?"

"Y-yes!" stuttered the nervous young man who began to maneuver the forklift inside the confined space of the trailer in order to pick up the first pallet beside him.

Adrastos left the young man to get on with it and went to inspect the progress of the Marines securing the site. As he stepped back from the truck he could see that Rory Blake was already darting down the ramps of the second truck with a pallet and was packing it on the grass beside the track. Within seconds he was turning the little forklift around and zooming back up into the trailer for the next one.

Standing clear of the trucks he looked up at the downward sloping roof covering the spectator stands that ran along the entire periphery of the stadium. Teams of two Marines were positioning themselves along the roof to establish Observation Posts, OPs in military parlance, at six different locations. Staying down low to keep themselves covered the high placed roof offered ideal visibility for several miles. The only limiting factor was low cloud, humidity and the human eye.

Adrastos then looked to the right at the commentator's box which sat perched just higher than the stands. He could clearly make out Callisto and Myers making their way inside to establish what was effectively going to be a make-shift air traffic control tower.

There was suddenly a loud crashing sound from behind him. Adrastos turned round quickly to see what had caused the commotion. To his horror he saw that the forklift truck that had been left to unload the first truck was lying on its side on the ground. Rory, Private Peterson and two other civilians went rushing over. Adrastos quickly followed them. As he reached the trailer it didn't take long for him to figure out what had happened. The inexperienced young driver had misjudged boarding the ramps to bring his first pallet down from inside the trailer. The wheels had gone between the ramps and the forklift carrying its pallet fell over. As it did so the young driver had fallen out and the one ton forklift landed on top of his chest crushing his rib cage which in turn punctured his lungs. Adrastos could do little except watch as the young man drowned on his own blood.

"Oh frak!" uttered Adrastos into his respirator. His military logic immediately replaced his emotional state. His mind overruled his heart. Yes it was sad that this man had died in a tragic accident but the truth was it changed little regarding the overall mission. Time was still their immediate enemy and they had to keep unloading the trucks. "Alright, Blake!" Rory didn't hear him. "Blake!" barked Adrastos as loud as any drill sergeant ever could. Rory pulled his eyes away from the young man's lifeless face and looked at the Lieutenant. "Get that other forklift over here. We need to lift this one back onto its wheels to continue the unloading. Peterson, when it's lifted off him I want you to move the body aside."

"Yes sir!" replied Peterson.

Adrastos then turned to the two civilians standing next to Peterson. "You two are going to take over unloading this truck. One of you drives while the other acts as a safety marshal. Let's get going, come on!"

Rory appeared to the right of them as he positioned the forks of the little truck underneath the toppled over forklift being careful not to prod the young man's body. Raising them upwards the forklift cleared the body and Peterson reached in and tugged on his blood soaked clothes. Both Adrastos and Peterson dragged the young man aside and he was placed rather carefully onto a row of trackside seats. Adrastos folded the young man's hands across his chest in a respectful sort of way before uttering softly, "Sorry kid." He then stood up and left him there. There was of course no point in bringing him aboard the Alexis when it landed and the silent, empty stadium where he died was going to have to be his tomb until Cylons or the natural elements removed what was left.

With all the forklifts working again it was not long before the first three trucks were emptied and they continued on down the line to empty the next group of three. Now that the unloading process had begun to move more fluidly Adrastos ran up the stairwell adjacent to the commentator's box towards Callisto's CP.

He burst through the door, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he fought to catch his breath, and found Myers on the floor with the transponder checking that it was working properly. Callisto stood with his rifle watching over what was happening below. He couldn't believe how quickly things were moving now compared to the previous plan of using Raptors to haul up the supplies and for the first time it felt like this plan could work although even he had to admit that it was still early on.

"SITREP?" asked Adrastos.

"We're good here, sir" said Callisto. "Our OPs have been established. No enemy contacts as of yet."

"Transponder is operating on receive only, sir" added Myers.

"Very good" said Adrastos checking his watch. "But we're still behind schedule. We took too long getting here." Adrastos looked down at the teams unloading the trucks and saw that eight of them were now empty. It was a damn fine effort on their part but he wondered if it was going to be enough. His watch showed that they now had fifty two minutes before the attacks on the Baseships and the Alexis jumping in. They were looking at another fifteen minutes of unloading and then around thirty minutes back to the Caprimart distribution centre. Then there was another ten to twenty minutes loading up the next group followed by another thirty minutes back here. The longer they were on the second trip the longer the Alexis would have to remain on the ground and thus the more vulnerable it was. "Ok Gunnery Sergeant, keep everything in order until we get back."

"Don't I always, sir?" joked Callisto who then respectfully saluted his senior officer. Adrastos returned the gesture before turning around and making his way back down the stairwell towards the track. As he reached the trucks he saw that Rory and his colleagues were beginning to unload the last three vehicles with increased confidence and speed. Rory in particular seemed to be throwing the pallets out of the trailers as if the forklift was an extension of his own rather burly arms.

Waiting quite impatiently, Adrastos was relieved to hear Rory bellow at the top of his lungs, "That's the last of it!" as he maneuvered the little forklift and its pallet out of the last trailer and onto the ground.

"Alright!" yelled Adrastos to the civilians and the Marines who would be going with him back to the Caprimart distribution centre. "lock 'em back up and let's move out!"

There quickly followed what appeared to be a mad rush as they locked the now empty trailers and clambered back into the trucks. Once again Adrastos found himself sitting beside Rory who aggressively rammed his foot down onto the throttle to move the powerful truck forward. Like a herd of startled animals the trucks began to move and headed back towards the entrance watched over by Callisto and his OP teams who were securing the site and the supplies already deposited.

As the trucks made their way back out onto the road Adrastos looked at his watch and felt as though he were running late for an important meeting. There was now forty two minutes and thirty one seconds remaining.

THE JUNGLE OF DEMETER
NEAR THE EQUATOR OF SCORPIA
32 MINUTES 55 SECONDS REMAINING

The Jungle of Demeter, named after the Goddess of fertility, is the largest of all of Scorpia's jungles stemming half a continent. It is a misty and murky place that is no friend to man. It swarms with snakes and spiders all of which carry numerous ways to kill a human being. It was this thought that went through 'Magma's mind as her Raptor cruised overhead just several feet above the jungle canopy.

Looking out from the cockpit she couldn't help but notice that the once bright green jungle she had seen in numerous photographs and television shows had darkened considerably. At first she thought it was simply because she had never seen it with her own eyes and that this was how it really looked but she soon came to realize that the jungle was in fact dieing. The poisonous clouds emanating from the destruction of numerous towns and cities across the planet was poisoning the rich wildlife. Several migratory bird species as well as small ground animals had already perished since the bombing. They spent their last days totally oblivious to the fact that every breath was killing them. In a richly intertwined environment such as that of a jungle the death of one species adversely affects the others. The survivors must learn to adapt to the new life or they will perish – much like the crew and civilians of the Battlestar Hermes.

"We're coming up to thirty minutes. Anything?" asked 'Magma' after she had tore her gaze away from the dieing vegetation.

"Only what's left of the shipyards and that aint much" said 'Fuzz' who was working the Ultraviolet telescope mounted on the top of the Raptor. The UV telescope works by detecting UV radiation emanating from the sun. When a ship passes over head it interrupts this radiation and appears as a black hole on the readout. So far 'Fuzz' had only been able to detect the charred remains of the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards and the Battlestars that were docked there.

'Magma' sighed her frustration. "Are they sure this is where the Baseship was supposed to be?"

"Captain Burmeister said this was her best guess but she was going on second hand information" explained 'Fuzz'. "Just passive readings our Raptor flights got when making the supply runs to the ground team."

"So there could be fifty Baseships up there for all we know?" snarled 'Magma'.

"Yep!" said 'Fuzz'. "Or there could just be-. Wait one!" One of 'Fuzz's readouts had started beeping. He accessed his console to investigate.

"What?" asked 'Magma'. "What is it? Is it the Baseship? 'Fuzz'?"

"Oh Gods!" gasped 'Fuzz' before screaming, "SAM! Break left!"

'Magma's heart seemed to jolt violently as the adrenalin burst through her body. Without hesitation she yanked the controls to the left and banked the Raptor into a hard left turn. The port wing dipped through eighty degrees and the nose began to swing around. As the Raptor continued to turn 'Magma' looked out and saw a thin grey smoke trail rising up from the jungle. It rose above the Raptor's height and began to arch back down towards them.

"I see it!" said 'Magma'.

"I'm trying to jam the seeker!" shot 'Fuzz' who was working hard on his control panel.

'Magma' kept the Raptor turning until it was pointing in the direction of the missile that was still arching above her. Keeping the Raptor level she applied full throttle and the little craft roared forward with its engines glowing hot. Her aim was to get the Raptor under the arch left by the missile before it could rain down on top of them. If she timed it just right then the missile wouldn't be able to follow them through the turn due to the low latitude and crash into the ground. If she timed it wrong then the missile would impact on their roof.

The Raptor roared over the jungle below causing the trees to shake violently. Keeping her eyes on the missile that was now passing over them 'Magma' knew she had judged this wrong. The missile's arch was big enough for it to follow them through. Knowing she had only milliseconds to react she pulled the nose of the Raptor upwards and aimed for the top of the arching smoke trail. This forced the missile to try and follow her. It couldn't. It was beyond its atmospheric tolerances and coupled with the jamming from 'Fuzz's ECM equipment the seeker head lost the Raptor and shot downward. It disappeared beneath the jungle canopy where it exploded sending up a grey and white plume of smoke.

"Frak! Where did that come from?" screeched 'Magma' as she tilted the nose down and began a descent back to tree top level.

"I've got two DRADIS searches emanating from the north and the east. I'm trying to jam them but they're switching frequencies too damn fast!"

"We got to jump away!" said 'Magma'.

"What!" gasped 'Fuzz' at what seemed like yet another act of cowardice from the most unpopular pilot aboard the Hermes. "We can't abandon the mission!"

"We're not going to" explained 'Magma' as the Raptor leveled out once more. "Fire up the second FTL computer. It could plot us a jump to take us a few hundred miles from here."

"Right!" said 'Fuzz' who could barely believe his ears that it was 'Magma', of all people, planning this dangerous maneuver. He switched on the second computer as his console beeped loudly once more as a second missile rose into the air. "I'm powering it up now. FTL is spooling." The seconds seemed to become hours as the two hardwired FTL computers planned the jump. 'Magma' had spotted the second trail as it rose in the air and began to surge towards it in an effort to repeat the maneuver that had saved them the first time. To her horror however a third missile streaked upwards shortly behind it. Even if she could repeat the dodging maneuver with the second one the third missile would undoubtedly hit them. "Ok! Jumping!"

The Raptor flashed away leaving the two missiles to streak through the empty space where once it had been only to fall harmlessly into the ground below.

'Magma' and 'Fuzz's Raptor reappeared over five hundred miles away. It was at an altitude of eight one thousand feet and was still climbing. Looking out of the cockpit 'Magma' could see the horizon was beginning to curve as they approached the edge of space. This was of course a bad thing since they were nearing the 'hard deck' that was the known Cylon orbital DRADIS.

"Ok I'm taking us back down" said 'Magma' who felt as though she were on some crazy rollercoaster ride that was going up and down and then back up again. As she began her descent she heard 'Fuzz' utter, "My Gods!"

"What is it?" asked 'Magma' expecting more bad news.

'Fuzz' sat back in his chair in total disbelief at what he was seeing on the UV telescope readout. There on the screen was the perfect outline of a Cylon Baseship as it sat comfortably in an equatorial orbit. They had found it.

SEA OF PONTOS
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
23 MINUTES 41 SECONDS REMAINING

The Raptor calmly cruised above the ocean being held in the air by its thrusters. In contrast to 'Magma' and 'Fuzz', 'Sundried' and his ECMO, 'Decca', had found their Baseship relatively easily and unmolested. The geosynchronous orbit that the Baseship was in meant that the distance it operated from the surface of the planet varied. At the moment it was at its closest and was compensating for the absence of the other two Baseships which were both on the opposite side of the planet.

There was little for the two of them to do now except keep stalking their prey until the time was right for them to attack.

BATTLESTAR HERMES
THE EREBUS BELT
18 MINUTES 20 SECONDS REMAINING

Slowly and silently the Colonial Heavy Liner Alexis slipped out of the protective cover of the Hermes' Starboard Hangar Pod. The large fishlike vessel, under the control of Colonel Caleb Dytto, continued on under the watchful eyes of a Raptor crew assisting in its departure.

Standing in the CIC Bowman could do little except listen to the wireless chatter between the Alexis and the Raptor. The nervousness in Dytto's voice was evident as it was seemingly spat through the garbly speakers above Bowman's head. He looked over at Adonia who stood on the opposite side of the Operations Desk. Adonia seemed extremely agitated as Alexis left the Hangar Deck. It was the waiting that was always the worst part of any operation. To help take his mind off things Bowman issued him an order to have the ship go to Condition One once the Alexis was clear.

"Uh, yes of course, sir" stuttered Adonia. This did little to help the Major's nerves and looking at him Bowman suspected there was more to it than simple pre-combat nerves.

"Something else Major?" asked Bowman. The question had opened a door to Adonia, one that would probably have stayed shut otherwise. He composed himself and stood upright before asking, "Sir, request permission to join our Viper squadrons?"

"You're not the CAG anymore, Major" said Bowman firmly. "You're my XO."

"Sir, respectfully, I feel my place is with the air wing. With 'Stinger' already on mission our pilots are going to need someone to command them in battle." Adonia didn't want to say what they were all thinking but merely hinted at the fact that in all likelihood 'Stinger' already was or soon would be dead.

"You could command them just as well from here" explained Bowman.

Adonia paused momentarily as he thought how best to reach his Commanding Officer. "Sir, you were a CAG once. If it were you in my place what would you do?"

Bowman had always thought that these types of questions were unfair but nevertheless he had to agree that if the tables were reversed he would probably be doing the same. With that in mind he made a decision.

"Very well, 'Griffon'" said Bowman. "Report to the Hangar Deck."

"Yes sir!" said Adonia saluting. "Thank you, sir!"

Bowman watched as Adonia walked out of the CIC. Although he was in a room filled with busy people he suddenly felt quite alone standing at the Operations Desk watching the clock ticking down to zero.

Sixteen minutes went by. Fifteen. Each minute seemed to drag terribly.

Fourteen. The Alexis was clear and Bowman ordered the ship to Condition One.

Thirteen.

Twelve.

Eleven.

For the next ten minutes Bowman felt more helpless than he had ever done in his life. The events he found himself caught up in seemed so far beyond his control that it was as if he would never again command his own destiny.

CYLON OCCUPIED SCORPIA
0 MINUTES 55 SECONDS REMAINING

All across the planet the three Raptors had stalked their targets like a pack of wolves circling an unprotected flock of lambs waiting for the signal to attack. Of course the Cylon Baseships were no baby lambs. They had teeth of their own and it was going to take all the cunning of the human mind to pull off this feat. Attacking the Baseships like this was the metaphorical equivalent of sticking a knife in someone's back. Their three crews knew what was being asked of them and as the clock counted down its last few seconds they each made their peace with the universe before making that one move that would decide their fate.

The clock reached zero and three Raptors jumped simultaneously from the planet into orbit.

'MAGMA' & 'FUZZ'

The Raptor emerged from the jump one mile from the central axis of the Baseship. 'Magma' had mentally prepared herself for this moment. In her mind she was no longer human. For someone such as her who had such a strong sense of survival it was an alien experience. Her heart had become as metal as it hardened to protect herself from the fear and apprehension that was now buried down inside her. In a way she had become the enemy she had once feared so much that she had actually murdered her first ECMO in order to return to the safety of the Hermes. She had all but blocked out the memory of that day and as she stared at the Baseship ahead of her she saw her own mortality and somehow knew that it was nothing to fear.

The immense Cylon Baseship dwarfed the tiny Raptor as it continued to slowly rotate its way through its orbit. 'Magma' spotted the hangar bay door that was the bull's eye and threw her Raptor into full burn, rushing towards them. The Cylon's reaction was swift. Several Raiders were already popping out from their sacks in the long arms of the Baseship in an effort to intercept the Raptor but it was too late.

The missile streaked from underneath the Raptor's wing and impacted just passed the now closing doors of the hangar bay. 'Magma' didn't even try to turn away. There was no point. They had got too close in their efforts to get the missile into the bull's eye. Both 'Magma' and 'Fuzz' were immersed in the white flash of the nuclear blast.

They felt nothing!

'STINGER' & 'WALLEYE'

'Stinger's Raptor emerged from the jump approximately four hundred meters away but above the armoured upper half of the Baseship. This was bad! With no clear shot the Raptor was going to have to maneuver into position and the Cylon's radiological alarms were no doubt screaming their arrival.

'Stinger' threw the Raptor around and began a hell bent dive for the hangar bay doors. As they hugged the hull along the central axis the Raiders began swooping down like startled bats. 'Stinger' had to maneuver wildly between them in order to get the right angle to launch the missile.

"There it is!" he screamed as found himself facing the target. Moving quickly into position at a range of almost seven hundred meters he lined up the Raptor as best he could before squeezing off the trigger. The missile streaked from underneath the Raptor and headed towards the target. Automatically 'Stinger' pulled away as the seemingly panic stricken Raiders tried to organize themselves to defend their Baseship. Taking advantage of this, 'Stinger' kept close to the forward upper arm of the Baseship as the two FTL computers quickly plotted an escape jump. 'Stinger' was gambling that the Cylons wouldn't fire in such proximity to the Baseship for fear of damaging it. The Raptor almost reached the end of the arm when it disappeared in a brilliant flash as its FTL drive engaged.

The missile glowed against the wall of the access tube that led to the loading bay aboard the Baseship. Detonating inside the ship its warhead vaporized the loading bay and the Centurions manning it. The explosion forced its way through numerous bulkheads and decks until it reached the outer hull. The central axis seemed to burst open in a brilliant flash as shards of debris flew out destroying hundreds of Raiders either still inside their sacks or swarming around their burning mothership.

'SUNDRIED' & 'DECCA'

Emerging from their jump, both men saw the long arm of a Cylon Baseship just one hundred meters away. They were staring directly into the bio-organic Raider sacks still housing their parasitic little warriors. Without even thinking about it 'Sundried' released the missile. It traveled for less than a second before impacting against the target and destroying the Raptor in the process. The detonation against the softly armoured sacks ignited the fuel cells the resulting explosion of which caused several nearby missile batteries to ignite. These in turn caused a cascade reaction amongst the other missile batteries and the arm became severed from the main hull.

The resulting explosions did not completely destroy the Baseship but it did destroy the bulk of its Raiders thus ensuring that they could not interfere when the Hermes and Alexis jumped in.

BATTLESTAR HERMES COMBAT INFORMATION CENTRE

The Battlestar was at Condition One. Vipers were in their launch tubes with their pilots eager to get stuck into the enemy. The Raptors were sitting on the Landing Deck ready to depart to provide electronic warfare support for the operation. Outside the ship was the Colonial Heavy Liner Alexis waiting to make the jump back to Scorpia and take on the desperately needed supplies.

All that was left to do was for the order to be given by just one man. Standing in a silent CIC, Commander Artimus Bowman simply said, "Jump!"