Chapter 62 – The Hub
Battlestar Pegasus
Fisk stared resolutely at the dradis console, his body still on edge from the adrenalin of the last fight. Their encounter with the first baseship had been standard and the crew had undertaken their duties without fault, but then they had jumped into more chaos. They had sprung into action immediately but the crew were out of position and there was a dangerous wait for the FTL to spool up again. Fortunately the cylons had been mostly preoccupied with themselves, only some of the raiders turning their fire onto them.
Through the chaos in the CIC, the sound of Captain Rogers had broken through. Fisk had just begun to talk with him before they had abruptly cut off again.
Fisk had shouted down the comm, "Rogers, do you copy, Rogers!" He had then turned to Shaw, his voice faltering slightly, "was there an explosion, do you have them on dradis!?"
Shaw had fumbled slightly, trying to decipher the various blips on the dradis, but then a call had come through from Helo.
"Pegasus, this is Helo, do you copy?"
"Copy you Helo, we've lost contact with the Salvation can you see her?"
"Negative, it's chaos out here but we would have seen if she had been destroyed. A few moments ago the remains of a Baseship jumped away."
"The Salvation was attached to the debris of a baseship," replied Shaw.
"If that's the case the Salvation must have jumped with it," said Helo.
Fisk had hesitated for a moment before giving the order to prepare for a jump. And now the Pegasus waited at the rendezvous coordinates. It had now been nearly ten hours with no word. Fisk glanced up at the dradis every so often in the hope of seeing their missing ship. He could tell that others in the CIC had given up hope, but he refused to, he had to have faith and besides he really didn't want to have to explain to the Admiral that he had given up on his son so quickly.
"Sir," interrupted Shaw, "I've had reports in from across the ship, we've made all necessary repairs and are fully prepped and ready for another fight. I await your orders for the next jump."
"We're not going anywhere for now, tell Stinger to double up on the caps until further notice."
"Sir, with all due respect, do you really think…"
"With all due respect Major," bit back Fisk, "do you really think that we will be able to continue our mission without that ship? We couldn't risk running out of Tylium, we'd be forced to head back to New Caprica with nothing to show except dead pilots and a missing Admiral's son." Fisk was also starting to believe, not that he would admit it, that Thrace was their best shot at finding Earth and without her their mission would be a failure.
"Sir," replied Shaw and returned to her post.
Fisk sighed as he leant up against a console, glancing up at the dradis again briefly. He then grabbed his nearby pile of papers and sifted through it, stopping at a lengthy report which had been written by his missing Majors. The report hadn't been requested, not recently anyway, they had both just appeared at his quarters and handed it to him with the explanation that they had both finally written their full and unabridged reports into their capture by the cylons. They had then saluted at his nod and left. Fisk had to admit that he hadn't quite been ready for what he read, no wonder Major Adama had been in such a mess when they had found him. His next job was to file the report for the Admiral, and then try and explain this next disappearance.
"Sir," broke through Shaw.
Fisk looked up quickly to see that a blip had appeared on the screen.
"It's Colonial sir," added Shaw, pausing a moment before adding without much shift in her emotions, "it's the Salvation sir."
Fisk's shoulders relaxed slightly and he let out a long exhale of breath, "patch them through."
There was a crackle and then the voice of Rogers broke through, "its good to see you again Pegasus, we were beginning to think that we'd never make it back."
"What the frak happened?"
"Majors Adama and Thrace are launching to you now, they can fill you in, meanwhile I will start transferring our previous jump co-ordinates."
Fisk looked up and saw another blip on the dradis as a raptor launched from the Salvation.
The voice of Lee now broke through, "Sir, we found something out there, sending you the images now. We need Athena to take a look them immediately, we may not have much time."
Various mutterings erupted around the CIC abruptly as Shaw brought the images up on the screen, halted only by Fisk's voice rising above the rest, "What the frak is that? Get Athena and Stinger up here now." Fisk rubbed his temples, he had a feeling that this one was going to be another difficult entry into his log.
It didn't take long before Kara and Lee landed and appeared in the CIC slightly out of breath as if they had been running. Fisk was still staring at the footage with Stinger and Athena stood by his side. Kara and Lee stood to attention beside the group, making Fisk turn to them.
"At ease," he said, "welcome back, I'm sure your reports will provide the detail, just give me the highlights."
Lee obliged the Commander, "the wreckage we were on started to make multiple jumps until it reached this ship Sir."
"Multiple jumps?"
"Yes, without pausing for breath."
"Any ideas what this thing is?"
"Based on how damaged the Baseship we were stuck to was, we're presuming it must be important, maybe even the Hub that Leoben talked about. The Baseship could've been jumping to the Hub in order to repair itself."
Fisk looked over at Sharon who pulled away from the footage, "the Hub was only a rumour between the Eights, but others believed in it. I have never seen this ship and it's different to the small resurrection ships. If the Baseship had to jump multiple times to find it, it must have been for a reason, it therefore makes sense that it's the Hub."
Fisk nodded his head, "if it is this Hub then I assume that it won't be there for long, it's been ten hours it may have already jumped away."
"It's damaged," added Kara. "You can see the debris in the footage, it's been in a fight recently and we witnessed a large explosion at the peak."
Lee stepped in, "We assume that it must have been the rebel cylons that attacked it, and it makes sense that the first thing they would go for would be the FTL drive."
Fisk suddenly looked very interested, "that's a lot of assumptions. Lieutenant, can you confirm the location of the FTL?"
Sharon glanced at Lee and Kara before turning back to Fisk, "No, I'm not even sure if it has a hybrid, but if the rebel cylons were trying to destroy it they would disable it first."
"Is it armed and defended?"
"The cylons wouldn't leave something so important undefended," replied Sharon firmly.
Stinger intervened, "it's damaged, and so who knows what happened to the cylons protecting it. Sir, this is our best chance to level the playing field, no more resurrection. It needs to be destroyed now."
Fisk nodded and looked back at the footage, "it could also be a trap."
Lee stepped forward, "we considered that, but we weren't drawn to the ship it was an accident. They can't have known we'd land on that Baseship, let alone jump with it. I suggest we start jumping closer and then send the Blackbird in for a closer look."
"I think we need to go in now before it leaves," replied Stinger, "if it's even still there now."
Fisk paused in contemplation, "I want to know more before we jump in blind, we're sending the Blackbird. Shaw start the jump prep, Stinger I want you to formulate a plan for destroying this thing in the next three hours. I want a rested crew for any big fight, we'll start the attack at 0700hours tomorrow."
"Sir," replied Stinger with a salute.
"You're dismissed," said Fisk to Stinger and then turned to Kara and Lee. "You two have been on duty for over twelve hours, I need you rested."
Kara shifted uncomfortably, "Sir, we… "
"Non negotiable Major, you're both dismissed."
Lee saluted and then touched Kara gently on the arm, drawing her away. Once they had reluctantly gone Fisk relaxed slightly until he remembered Sharon was still next to him.
"You're dismissed too lieutenant."
"Sir, permission to make an observation." Fisk couldn't help the shocked look on his face, but then he pulled himself together and nodded his acquiescence. "It's about the rebel cylons sir. We keep asking ourselves if we can trust them, but now we've seen their war with our own eyes, and we should remember what they're willing to sacrifice by blowing up the hub."
"Sacrifice? Is that what you'd call it?"
"Would you give up immortality?"
Fisk paused for a moment, a small frown forming on his brow, "noted, thank you Lieutenant."
Sharon started to walk away and then turned back, "no-one ever thought a cylon could be trusted, but then you made me a member of your crew."
Fisk focused his gaze on the footage of the hub, "trust is earned Lieutenant, and these rebels still have a long way to go to earn mine. You're dismissed."
Sharon nodded and then saluted sharply before walking out of the CIC.
ooooo
For the crew of the Salvation it had been the longest ten hours they had ever experienced as they had slowly worked their way home. The ship wasn't designed for multiple jumping, but she had held together with only one small fire breaking out. For Lee and Kara it had been the most uncomfortable FTL experience of their lives and they were beyond relieved to be back on the Beast. They were exhausted and their bodies ached, but that didn't stop their frustration at being stood down. The Hub discovery had been theirs and they should have been the ones to formulate a plan.
Kara was fuming when they were dismissed, cursing "Frakking Fisk" as soon as they were out of earshot of the CIC.
"Kara," said Lee softly.
"We need to get out there now."
"Come on, you know we can't just jump out there with a half cocked plan, sending the Blackbird first is the best way to get some intel."
"Which was your plan by the way," replied Kara stubbornly without admitting he was right. "We should be planning this mission."
"I agree, but then again Fisk is right that we need to be rested for tomorrow or we'll risk flying into the side of that hub."
"We've coped with the worse sleep deprivation possible Lee, we can handle it" said Kara remembering when the cylons had come for them every 33 minutes.
"Yes, and I remember you falling asleep in your cockpit every time we landed."
Kara shrugged, "it killed time whilst waiting to be towed in, and I remember finding you asleep in the head. The point is, we didn't get blown out of the sky did we."
They paused as they reached the hatch to their quarters. Lee turned to Kara and took her hand into his, "we were running on a frak load of adrenalin back then and we didn't have two kids to look after."
Kara yawned widely making Lee raise his eyebrow at her. "Frak off," replied Kara jokingly making Lee smile.
The voice of Shaw echoed on the comm system, warning them to expect an imminent jump. They waited until they felt the familiar tug on their stomach and then the ship jumped. There was always a few tense moments after a jump, when everyone waited to see what was now out there. Once the moment was gone, Kara and Lee entered their quarters. It was partially dark and they could see Megan standing at the door to the kid's room.
She turned to them, "FTL woke them up."
They heard a muffled "momma" from inside the room.
"You head off Meg, we'll get them back down," said Kara heading to the room.
This took a bit longer than expected and required lots of hugging, which had to start over again when the ship made another jump. When they were finally asleep, Kara slumped onto their bed exhausted with a small huff, smiling when she felt Lee's hand stroke gently under her tanks and across her stomach. She was still wearing her flightsuit, which after 12 hours was really starting to chafe. Lee seemed to sense her discomfort and leant down to remove her boots and then pulled it off in one swift, but gentle, movement.
He the stood at the foot of the bed and held out his hand, "shower?"
"Mmm yes," purred Kara and took his hand.
He pulled her to standing, their lips meeting in a deep kiss. They made swift work of removing their remaining clothes as they backed into the small bathroom. Lee stroked his hands down Kara's body and then lifted her onto the sink, and entered her slowly making him groan. They started a steady rhythm, the waves of pleasure flowing through them, barely registering the voice of Shaw warning them about another imminent jump. Their pace quickened, until Kara let out a cry of pleasure sending Lee over the edge, just as the pull of the FTL kicked in. After the jump they paused panting, their forehead softly touching.
"Well that was new" said Kara with a grin. "We'll have to time it like that again."
Lee grinned and then turned on the shower, which mercifully was just above lukewarm temperature. "We may have another chance in a bit." He pulled her tightly into the shower, his arms encompassing her as the water cascaded over their sated shoulders.
After a night of frequent FTL jumps and a surprise wake up frak, Kara was feeling tired but also playful. They had awoken to an allegedly fully formulated plan, which Stinger droned on about in his briefing but she was much more interested in thinking about how she could grab Lee afterwards and frak in the nearest storage room.
The parts of the briefing that required her attention were boring, the plan lacking finesse, and Kara couldn't help the yawn that escaped her lips as he droned on about their next mission.
"Am I boring you Major?" he asked from the front. Kara could feel Lee's eyes glance at her.
"No sir," she replied, trying to suppress a grin. It had been a long time since she had been reprimanded in the Ready room by the CAG.
Lee leant in towards her slightly, whispering, "sorry for keeping you up last night."
This time Kara did grin, whispering back, "you can wake me up like that anytime."
They both giggled, which earned them a stare from Stinger. "Care to share the joke with the rest of the room?" he asked, glaring up at them.
"No sir," they said in unison and the CAG carried on.
Kara whispered to Lee, "thought he was about to put us in detention." Lee took her hand underneath the bench in front and stroked her hand softly.
"Major Adama," said Stinger, "can you remember your landing assault skills from basic?"
Lee didn't respond forcing Kara to nudge him with her elbow whilst trying to suppress her laughter.
"Sorry, what?" said Lee as the entire room turned towards him. "Sir," he said sitting to attention.
"Obviously you've forgotten normal protocol whilst you were in charge of the ship," said Stinger with a sneer that reminded Lee of when he had first come aboard the ship.
"No sir," replied Lee. Kara raised her hand to her mouth to hide her grin as she tried to contain her laughter.
"As you were not listening, you've personally volunteered yourself for the landing party."
"Thank you sir."
Despite Kara's need to laugh, she felt a tug in her stomach as Stinger assigned Lee to the first landing party. She would be landing in the second party and she hated the thought of not being able to cover his back. She despised Stinger's arrogantly confident plan, which was obvious and predictably by-the-book. Kara couldn't help the nagging at the back of her mind, telling her that they needed a more out-of-the-box plan, and she was afraid that they were about to walk into a disaster. She bit back this fear as she felt the gentle squeeze of Lee's hand on hers, the feelings of lust and amusement returning to her.
ooooo
It took another three hours of preparation before the first assault teams were ready. Lee had a bad feeling in his stomach as his raptor launched out of the hanger. He tried to keep his face neutral, but when he looked up he saw the same somber look on Helo's face. Lee nodded his head slowly to let him know he felt the same. Their raptor was full of anxious looking marines, ready and waiting in their combat gear and they were flanked by another raptor full of marines and three vipers.
Lee tugged at his jacket, he was uncomfortably hot and felt unprepared for a landing party. After much discussion, it was agreed that his role was to stay in the raptor until the marines secured the facility and to then take a look around and confirm if the ship was indeed the resurrection facility they were hoping it was.
"That thing is frakking massive," said a marine staring out of the front. "How the frak are we supposed to destroy it?"
Lee was sat looking away from the front and didn't attempt to look round, he had already spent hours staring at that thing. He preferred to close his eyes briefly and imagine Kara sitting on the steps of her raptor waiting with impatience. She was to travel over in the next wave and bring the nukes to destroy the ship, and as usual hadn't taken any chances, donning full combat gear and arming herself to the teeth. Lee was starting to wish that he had ignored Stinger and followed suit.
The light in the raptor darkened as the hub loomed closer, but still there was no attack as they neared an airlock. It was as if the ship was welcoming them on board as it closed gently behind them and they landed with a soft thud.
Everyone waited for an agonising moment until Helo unclasped his harness. "Come on, what are you waiting for, a written invitation?"
The marines brought their guns to the ready as the hatch opened and they swiftly disembarked with trained precision leaving Helo, Lee and the raptor pilot behind. Helo turned to Lee and grimaced, "Is it just me or does something feel really off about this mission?"
Lee stood up and peered out of the hatch, "no it's not just you." He took out his sidearm and chambered a bullet. He turned to Hawk, "stay frosty, we may have to get out of here quickly," and then walked down the wing of the raptor closely followed by Helo, their guns raised. In the distance they could just make out the marines disappearing up a corridor on the far side of the hanger. Lee sat down on the bottom of the wing and sighed as Helo jumped down beside him.
After a few minutes the flash of chrome appeared in an instant in the corner of Lee's eye. He barely had time to react before he felt a strong grip pulling him sideways, wrenching him up to standing.
"Run!" shouted out Helo.
Lee didn't hesitate, his body launching itself into a run just behind Helo. He heard the sound of the rocket launching and then the explosion of the raptor behind him, throwing him forwards with powerful force away and into a heap on the floor. His vision blurred, his ears rung, but he knew that if he stayed here he'd be dead. Pooling all of his strength, he pushed himself forwards into a crouched run, tripping over the leg of Helo. He fell and rolled over onto his back, his gun raised ready to take out any toasters. Thick smoke filled the hanger, blinding him to what was ahead. He coughed sharply as Helo pushed himself up to sitting.
"We've got to get out of here now," Helo said, also coughing.
Lee motioned his head towards what he hoped was another exit to the hanger and they both scrambled on their hands and knees just as they heard the sound of gunfire erupting.
"Frak," grunted Lee as he rolled himself through a small hatch way, closely followed by Helo, and pushed it shut. "Frak, frak, frak."
"We need to keep moving," said Helo pulling himself up to standing.
"We're cut off from the others," replied Lee following suit whilst also checking his extremities. They had been lucky, apart from being covered in dust and debris, they appeared to be uninjured. "It won't take those toasters long to get through that hatch."
They heard gunfire again, seemingly distant. Lee and Karl nodded to each other, a silent acknowledgement that they had to move now. With guns raised, Karl covering their flank, they continued along the long corridor for what seemed like forever. They had just rounded a bend when they heard an explosion from behind.
"They breached the hatch" said Lee. Their pace quickened around another bend, but they knew the toasters could out pace and out gun them. They had to get to the end of, or out of, this corridor and quickly. As they continued onwards, Lee glanced upwards and spotted a vent in the ceiling, he stopped and motioned silently to Helo who cupped his hands in front of him so Lee could boost himself up, continuing to hoist him up as the vent opened. Lee crawled into the small space and then wedging his legs to the side folded the top half of his body out. Helo grabbed his outstretched hand and Lee pulled him up into the shaft. They pushed the vent shut quietly and then held their breath. Within a few minutes they heard the thundering footsteps of a number of toasters pass below them. When all was quiet again Lee let out a slow breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
Helo motioned silently over his shoulder, indicating that they should head that way. It seemed to direct them back towards the hanger and hopefully their comrades so Lee nodded and then Helo twisted in the shaft and as quietly as possible began crawling. They had no idea what they were crawling through, but anything was better than being exposed down below. As they crawled Lee found himself being thankful that he was a lot smaller than Helo who barely fit and was obviously struggling ahead of him.
They lost all sense of time as they continued along until they finally came to a dead end where there was another vent that lowered into what looked to be a large and silent room. Carefully Lee lifted up the vent and tentatively looked out. The room was huge and so dimly lit that he couldn't see the far side, but he could clearly see what looked to be hundreds of individual pods decked out in no particular order. Lee looked up at Helo who was frowning and breathed "resurrection pods?"
Lee raised his eyebrow, and wished for a moment that he was with Mrs Agathon who might be able to shed more light. He had wanted to find their way back to the hanger, but now they were definitely lost and hovering above gods knows what. If these were resurrection pods then this ship had to be the hub, so they had to check. Lee lowered himself gently down with his strong arms, with Helo following quietly behind. They ducked behind the nearest pod and looked around it until they came to a control panel.
"I wish Sharon was here," said Helo.
"Me too, no offence," replied Lee with a small smile as he pushed the largest button with a wince, raising his gun straight afterwards. The pod seemed to come alive with a deep red glow, illuminating the inside. Lee peered in, his eyes widening slightly at what he could only describe as a giant bath of white goo. "What the frak?" he whispered under his breath as he saw the naked form of a woman inside. He paused for moment, transfixed on what was in front of him before finally saying, "you know what? I used to have a really normal life before all of this."
"You think your life has become frakked up?" replied Helo, his gun also raised, "these are my in-laws."
Lee laughed briefly shaking his head, "so what now, can we close it again?"
But Helo didn't get the chance to respond as the woman suddenly burst out from beneath the surface with a huge inhale of breath.
To be continued
