DR: Ever so sorry for forgetting to put this up this morning! Have a multitude of 'Real Life' issues crowding for my attention right now... Anyway, here's the chapter. Hope you like it...
Chapter 51: Cleaning Up & Return From the Grave
When the Colonial ships returned to close Zi orbit, they were bombarded with messages and hails from the planet's surface. The people of Zi were in full celebration, full of nothing but praise for the Colonial Fleet and jubilation. Even from their own people on the surface they received lavished praise. The Council of Twelve made a speech to the fleet, full of the empty promises that politicians are famous for.
And yet… the people within the ships could not feel the same level of cheer that those who had not fought felt. The civilians had only seen the result, they were not looking at the cost. They unconsciously ignored the lost pilots, the crippled ships. Having only seen ships explode they were removed from the actual experience of the battle.
But the crews of those ships knew the truth. They knew the cost of their hard fought victory. Two of the destroyers were ruined, their hulls too badly cracked to ever fight again. Both might battlestars were crippled, despite the heavy shielding they had been fitted with. The Cylons may have suddenly lost their shields, but they had fought on regardless, and they had nearly won. The Pollex was disabled, her engines nearly shorn off. Three more Guardians were adrift.
And then there was the Thunderchild.
The most advanced fighting ship the Colonies had ever built, reduced to a twisted, burnt out hulk. She now drifted in a slowly decaying orbit of Zi, her blackened and twisted hull slowly tumbling. She was barely recognisable. Pacing her, as if standing watch over a fallen comrade, the Rosetta idled alongside, while within her scarred hull Athena cried without end.
The actual shooting may have been over, but the battle was far from over. Medical shuttles rushed wounded from ship to ship, searching for spare places. Search and Rescue craft hunted for pilots trapped in ruined or disabled fighters, while the vast expanse of debris and wreckage was mapped and tagged for later policing. There were more important things to do at that moment.
Within the Matriarch Mal gently helped one wounded young man ease down onto a gurney before he was whisked away for surgery. Taking a moment he looked about the Life Centre, at the dozens of wounded who were overwhelming the staff. More were coming every minute. And Mal knew that it was just as bad on the other large ships. Like any professional doctor, the medical officers were sorting the patients… those who could wait, those who needed immediate attention, and those who were beyond help. Mal was surprised at how few fell into this last category.
"You've seen this before I take it?" Mal turned to regard Leon, stood in the doorway, supporting a warrior pilot whose legs were clearly broken.
"Yea… Seen my share of war and casualties." Mal answered as he took the warriors other arm and led them both to a empty spot. "Though it's not as bad as back then. In Serenity Valley most of those who came in were beyond help. Here…" He waved around at the waiting wounded. "…Very few are like that."
Leon grimaced. "In this type of battle, you won't get many fatally wounded."
Mal paused, realising what Leon meant. Shaking off the sudden realisation, he looked across in time to see Leon sag back against the bulkhead. "Whoa, you should not be helping out right now. You're exhausted."
Leon waved him off. "Could you rest right now?"
Mal had to admit that he had a point.
"What about your team mates? Surely their not all carrying wounded up here?"
Leon shook his head. "No. Since they powered down the gravity plating in the landing bay, we brought the zoids inside. Leena's been helping the incoming damaged fighters land safely." Leon looked away for a moment. "You hear about Thunderchild?"
Mal nodded slowly. There were very few words to say on the matter.
Leon was about to speak once more, but then Vega and Bit entered, each pushing a gurney with wounded crewmen on each. He pushed against the wall and moved to assist.
X-X-X-X-X-X
It was nearly seven hours later that things began to come under control. The wounded had stopped arriving, and at long last the gruesome process of counting and identifying the dead could begin. But it was clear to Pierce as she came in to land at the temporary landing zone established in the centre of the Europa plains just how many pilots had fallen. All four planetary squadrons, as well as the Vipers from the ships were landing here, until such time that the Colonials could get their landing bays back into some form of order.
The Scorpion bucked a bit, due to the missing section of wing, but a firm hand got the fighter under control. Settling down, Pierce sagged back in her seat, barely noticing when the canopy rose. After a few minutes she took a deep breath of Zi's cool, fresh air before shucking off her flight helmet and standing up in her seat.
Looking around her, it was clear the level of loss. The various squadrons had formed up together as they landed, and even without counting the reduced numbers were clear. Only two of the former Eastern Destroyers returned. The ZBC craft was still in orbit, abandoned but salvageable, while the Guylos ship was gone, erased from existence when a megapulsar bolt had washed over it. The poor crew would not even have had time to scream before they were gone.
Swinging a leg over, she climbed down the side of the fighter, before taking a moment to look it over. She had cast a critical eye over the tiny thing when she had first laid eyes on it. Compared to her Storm Sworder it was a tiny, frail looking and basic thing. The interior was primitive looking, and the design had a 'retro' look.
Now, after flying and fighting with it, her opinion of the antiquated Colonial craft had greatly changed. It didn't look flashy because it was not designed to do so. The design ethos had been very simple: dog-fighting. The controls were exactly what she needed to know, nothing more or less. The designers had clearly understood that by doing away with the bells and whistles and having the crafts onboard systems deal with everything it could they would allow the pilot to focus on his real job… finding and killing the enemy. A role for which the Scorpion was very well suited for.
Slowly smiling, she reached out and patted the craft just below the cockpit rim. The Storm Sworder would always be first in her heart, after Jamie of course, but this little, simplistic fighter had earned top marks in her books.
Turning away, her smile widened when she saw Jamie climbing down from his craft near her. Moving quickly she strode up behind him before wrapping her arms around him in a hug from behind. "I'm so glad your safe…"
Jamie yelped for a moment when he felt someone wrap their arms around him rapidly. However he calmed down instantly when he heard Pierce's voice. Too weary to protest, he allowed her to pull him back into her, letting his head tip back to rest just beneath her collarbone. Brown eyes rolled back to met sparkling green.
"I haven't been far away…"
"Still too far…" She whispered as she kissed his forehead, her long sweat soaked teal hair falling about both their heads.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Far above the surface the Rosetta paced silently besides her much larger cousin. As the ship was still operational, it should have been with the other Guardians, once more standing watch over deep space. But Adama had let her off that duty. Her captain had enough on her plate.
In the darkened bridge, Athena sat alone in her chair, her tear soaked gaze locked on the hulk that was silhouetted against the planet below, the planet it – he – had died to protect. Normally even during the late centares of the day the bridge would have had at least a couple of other personal there, but Athena had relieved them all, not wanting any other witnesses to her grief.
When the massive Cylon ship had finally blown, she had stood there on her pedestal, trembling. For an instant she had wished it was still there, so that she could continue to pound it. But as the rage faded, the grief and sense of loss rose, and it had taken all of her willpower to make it to her quarters before she broke down.
Now, almost a day later, she sat alone staring at his ship. Yet the emptiness of the bridge was as nothing compared to the yawning chasm that ran right through her heart. When he had died, she had felt a large part of herself die to. It was far, far worse then how she had felt when she had seen Zac's fighter vanish from the screens, even deeper than the gulf that the thought of her mother's death had caused.
This was more, because Achilles had been a part of her future, not her past.
As the ruined Thunderchild slowly spun, Athena studied it, seeing how each hit had wounded the once proud vessel. The main bulkhead, the ships spine, was twisted by almost thirty degrees. The engine section was missing half of its volume, a huge bite out if testifying to the catastrophic destruction of an energiser. The forward section of Alpha landing bay was simply gone, while the thick 'arm' that linked Beta bay with the rest of the ship had a hole burned right through it. And lastly there was a massive crater, big enough for her ship to fit inside, burned in the back just behind the forward section, nearly taking the bow off. It was a wonder the battlecruiser had held together at all.
She didn't know how long she had been sat there, watching, but eventually the bleeping of the scanner brought her thoughts back to the present. Glancing at the screen, she saw that another ship was approaching. Looking up, she scanned space with her eyes until she saw it.
"Rosetta, this is Serenity." Wash's voice emerged from the speakers. "Anyone awake there?"
Wiping her tears away with one arm, Athena opened her end of the channel. "This is Captain Athena. What do you want?" She knew that she shouldn't be so abrupt, but her grief and rage wouldn't allow it.
"Athena, its Mal." Captain Reynolds answered. "Your father asked us to ferry a team over to… her. To…" He trailed off, unwilling to say the words. But both knew what he was tasked with doing.
Before Athena could respond however, there was a crackle on the line, and over the new hiss a voice could be heard.
"It's a bit early for that Captain…"
Athena stared at the speaker, her eyes wide in shock. Was it possible?
The silence dragged on, as neither she nor Mal spoke. Then the other voice spoke again, though a bit fainter as if the speaker had turned their head to speak to another.
"You sure this thing is working?"
At last Athena founder her voice. "Achilles?" She half whispered, barely able to vocalise her sudden hope.
"Athena?" He sounded just as surprised to hear her voice too.
Another long moment dragged past, before Athena finally accepted the truth… he was ALIVE!
"ACHILLES!" She yelled out in joy, fresh tears running from her eyes. "You stupid, stubborn…"
In Serenity's cockpit Mal shifted as Athena went on. It was very clear underneath her words what her feelings were. It made for uncomfortable listening as she berated Achilles over and over. He didn't need to see her face to know that she was crying; it was clear just from her voice.
At last Athena ran out of words, and just glared through tear soaked eyes out of her view port at the broken ship. Even as she watched some of the lights came on, scattered about the more intact sections of the ship.
Faintly over the comm she heard Achilles speak once more to someone on his bridge. "Finally! Now get me a status report!"
"Hate to break it to you, but your ships a mess." Mal cut in apologetically.
Achilles was silent for a moment. "Yes… we figured as much. I won't deny that I thought we were goners for sure. Thank the Lords for those shields." There was true relief and admiration in his voce. He paused again, longer this time. "Did we win?"
Athena smiled, the first smile she had worn for almost a day. "Yes Achilles, we won…"
X-X-X-X-X-X
On a level of existence that no mortal would ever realise was there a stream of vehement curses filled the void. Indeed, the string of curses from over two dozen languages, some of which had not been spoken for thousands of years, had been going non-stop even since the Cylons lost the battle.
Iblis was for the first time in his existence absolutely furious. His hands were clenched so tight he would have draw blood had he been human. Every instinct in him was screaming for vengeance, to strike down those who defied him. The region around him crackled with suppressed power and rage, black lightning that would destroy anything in the real world it touched.
And yet, he knew he couldn't unleash it. Had he even started to destroy the humans before him, the others would have stepped in and stopped him. And while one day he planned to take them out completely, he knew he was not yet powerful enough to do so. He needed more time, more worshipers… more souls.
"My my, someone sounds angry…"
Iblis' hate filled eyes snapped from the battered Colonial Fleet to the gleaming orb that was Zi, untouched by the battle that just played out before it. As he watched the mischievous face of Eve formed, her smile of satisfaction further incensing Iblis.
"So, what were you saying before about your forces crushing all in their path, hmm?"
"Laugh it up Eve!" Iblis snarled. "This is not over!"
"Really?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "Your forces attacked and lost, quite convincingly I might add. We played our cards, and humanity came out on top. Face it; your vision is flawed."
"NEVER!" Iblis' roar shook the heavens. His flaming red eyes burned with rage and hate. "I'll return Eve. And when I do, there will be a reckoning. Your precious humans won't survive next time! I will feast on your soul yet…" And with that he faded away, his incorporeal form leaving the system.
Eve continued to look out after him. "Oh there will be a reckoning Iblis. We'll be ready for you…"
Zeke: (starts dancing) I knew it! I knew he would survive!
DR: (smiles) Did you really think I would kill him off?
O'Neill: Well, it looked a bit doubtful for a moment...
DR: Dramatic tension. Next chapter is going to be a long one, and it's the final one too. well, expect for the eiplogue... And all you zoid fans will like it, for we have one last zoid battle... between Bit & Kane!
