CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BATTLESTAR PEGASUS – LIFE STATION
"We've been infiltrated", Glen Sanders remarked as he finished reading the recent message sent from the Shi Lang, "And if it happened here on the flagship as well as the Galactica, then how many more of these Templar fanatics are out there on the rest of our battlestars?"
Glen was laying in a bed with several tubes and intravenous needles attached to his arm. The bullet – thankfully – did not hit any vital spots, but he had still lost a lot of blood. The Pegasus' doctor had informed him that he was in no state to go back on duty at the current time.
"You need to stop worrying, Glen", Inara said from her chair beside him, "Gene Syke is handling things okay up in CIC and Admiral Cain will soon be on the scene. Given your condition, worrying isn't going to speed your recovery".
"I'm hoping that Truly can stop those fanatics on Kobol", Glen said next, "you'd better get Gene to contact the Galactica and have Admiral Cain redirect…" He stopped speaking as Inara put a finger on his lips.
"You're ceded command to Admiral Cain for the time being, Glen, so rely on him to do what's needed", Inara gently reminded him.
Nodding, Glen reluctantly accepted Inara's argument. Garris Cain would certainly know what to do, but Glen still worried about the integrity of his battlestars. Who else out there was a traitor? And on what other battlestars apart from the ones encountered thus far on the Pegasus and the Galactica?
BATTLESTAR ANNAPOLIS – ORBITING PLANET GEMIMON
Commandant Harry Ford looked at the flash communication handed to him by Major Kimberly Richter – his comm-scan officer. Jerking his head towards to the CIC's conference room door, Richter followed Ford.
"XO", Ford called out to Vice-Commandant Oswald Duren, "you have CIC. I have to go over a couple of things with Comms".
"Yes Commandant", Duren acknowledged. With that, both Richter and Ford entered the conference room and closed the door behind them.
"It looks like we've been compromised, Kimberly", Ford remarked, "With De Buys dead on the Pegasus, and Spears off the Galactica, that in effect leaves us to prevent the Holy Mission from being interfered with from the Cyrannus group".
"Hopefully Spears did contact Brother Forrest, Commandant", Kimberly said, "and with Brother Manna there on Kobol as well, our Holy Mission should succeed. Both Forrest and Manna are thoroughly dedicated".
"But if Spears is caught, she could end up letting Cain know about the rest of us", Ford pointed out.
"Maybe so", Richter conceded, "but if she does get caught, by the time she does tell them, it will be too late".
"I don't want to take that chance", Ford said, "and thanks to your taking in all communications from the Pegasus, noone here is any the wiser as to the recall order, so this is what we'll do…"
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – ORBITING PLANET GOMORAY
"Countdown started to FTL jump, Admiral", Major Vansen reported, "China Actual reports that he'll make the jump five seconds after ours".
Cain nodded. He had just read a follow-up message from Gene Syke on the Pegasus that a probe had just sent to him:
FLASH NEW HOME PLATE ACTUAL TO FORCE ALTERNATE STOP FORCE ACTUAL ADVISED OF CURRENT SITUATION STOP ALL CYRANNUS GROUP BATTLESTARS TERMINATING SURVEYS AND PREPARING TO FALL BACK TO POINT THETA STOP FORCE ACTUAL'S CONDITION STABLE BUT WILL NOT BE RESUMING COMMAND DUE TO MEDICAL CONDITION STOP ALL OTHER ACTUALS INFORMED OF YOUR ASSUMPTION OF OVERALL COMMAND AND OF RISK OF FURTHER SECURITY BREACHES BY TEMPLAR AGENTS STOP RENEGADE STATUS OF PEREGRINE MEMPHIS BELLE RELAYED TO ALL ACTUALS WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO DETAIN PILOT IF FOUND STOP MESSAGE ENDS
"If Spears didn't go to the Colonies, then she must have jumped to her colleagues on Kobol", Tom Sanders theorized after Cain showed him the message. Tom was quietly relieved that his older brother's medical condition was stable.
"Mal will have informed Ice of what had happened, but don't you think we should be jumping to Kobol instead, Admiral?" Tom asked next. Tom preferred using Truly's old viper call-sign of 'Ice' to 'Sunray'.
"There are more than likely other Templars in the task force, Tom", Cain replied, "so if we do an immediate jump to Kobol without finding out whom, there could be other nasty surprises in store for us".
Tom nodded. He knew that they were lucky that Spears did not have the time to complete her efforts to sabotage the Galactica. Still…
"I hope Ice can deal with the situation", Tom said.
"If anyone can cope with crisis situations, then Richard Truly certainly can", Cain replied, "especially with the little 'gift' he got from me earlier" …
BATTLESTAR AMETHYST – ORBITING PLANET KOBOL
"Comms", Truly ordered, "get CAG to deploy his squadrons. Make sure that those PEST ships don't get off the surface".
As Comms went over to Core Command to relay Truly's order, the commander of the Marine contingent on board the Amethyst - Captain Lewis Puller – entered CIC. He walked up to Truly and saluted.
"Admiral", Puller reported, "my troops are ready for deployment. Peregrine 'General Ike' will head towards the Icarus. I'll be on board her. Lieutenant Holcomb will command the contingent on the Peregrine 'Tondolayo' heading to where the Jerusalem is located. We're heading out in ten minutes".
"Very good, Captain", Truly replied, "but remember that these people are probably well-armed and fanatical to boot. They have TADS so if you see them getting deployed, take them out. Take them out with extreme prejudice. And just in case they contact you and try to call you off with their non-belligerency authorizations, read this".
With that, Truly handed Puller the document that Cain had given to him earlier before the deployment to Kobol. It was a Presidential Executive Order giving the bearer full authority to override any previous authorizations of non-belligerency. Lewis looked over it, whistling silently at both the Presidential seal, and the signatures of Fleet Admiral Thomson and Vice-Admiral Tolen beside it.
"Understood, Admiral", Puller replied, "I formally acknowledge that you have full authority here and will conform to your orders based on this authority".
"Good. You'd better get going, Captain", Truly ordered, "Take no chances. We're up against die-hard fanatics with the ability to destroy that planet. Do what you have to do to stop them".
Puller nodded, knowing just how serious that order was. The destruction of Kobol would not only obliterate his troops, but also destroy any ship in orbit, so a lot of lives were at stake. Saluting, Puller headed out of CIC.
"Commandant", Core Command reported to Lee Chung-Hua, "CAG reports that he has fighter escort ready to cover the peregrines. Also, Serenity requests permission to land".
Lee was about to approve Mal Reynold's when Truly shook his head. Lee raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"As Serenity's presence wasn't announced until the last minute, I'm positive that there are no Templars aboard her. We can't guarantee that there aren't any on board either us or the Pensacola. In case anything happens to us, Serenity may be our last line of defense until Force Alternate gets here", Truly explained.
"Serenity may have been converted to long range exploration, but she's hardly a warship, Admiral", Lee pointed out, "and in any case, Force Alternate will be here shortly to assist us".
"Force Alternate will be having the same concerns about infiltrators as we're having right now", Truly replied, "so he won't want to risk jumping immediately here without making sure the possibility of sabotage doesn't take place. In any case, I don't want Forrest or his goons to intercept our communications with the Pensacola, so for the time being, have Mal be on hand to receive laser-link messages from us and to relay them to Commandant Hunter."
"Understood, Admiral", Lee acknowledged.
"Speaking of which, have Serenity relay this message to him…" Truly said.
BATTLESTAR PENSACOLA – COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER
FLASH MESSAGE SUNRAY TO YANKEE ACTUAL STOP GEMSTONE HAS DEPLOYED MARINE FORCES TO KOBOL TARGETING TEMPLARS AND TADS STOP REQUIRE YANKEE TO LEAVE ORBIT AND MONITOR KOBOL SYSTEM IN EVENT OF HOSTILES APPROACHING WHILST MARINE MISSION UNDER WAY STOP ALL FLASH COMMUNICATIONS TO BE MADE VIA SERENITY STOP ASSUME TEMPLAR INFILTRATION OF YANKEE AND TAKE FULL COUNTERMEASURES STOP ASSUME FORCE ALTERNATE NOT ARRIVING IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE OF SIMILAR CONCERNS STOP FORCE ALTERNATE GAVE TO SUNRAY PRESIDENTIAL ORDER BEFORE DEPLOYMENT OVERRIDING ALL PREVIOUS NON-BELLIGERENCY AUTHORIZATIONS STOP MESSAGE ENDS.
Sims – who was reading it at the same time as Hunter – whistled and shook his head, saying, "I can't believe that this is happening".
"It's on the level, XO", Hunter replied, pointing to the authorization codes, "Templars with TADS and the strong possibility of Templar agents on the Pensacola. No wonder Ice is having Serenity relay these messages".
Turing to the Core Command duty officer, Hunter ordered, "Transmit an acknowledgement to Serenity and have Mal relay this message to Sunray: YANKEE ACTUAL TO SUNRAY STOP ACKNOWLEDGED YOUR MESSAGE STOP WILL CONFORM TO YOUR ORDERS STOP MESSAGE ENDS".
"Hondo", Sims said to Hunter sotto voce, "why isn't Ice having our Marines deploy as well?
"I suspect that in the event of mission failure and Kobol gets destroyed, he doesn't want the Pensacola caught in the blast", Hunter (correctly) surmised, "besides, if there are other infiltrators or toasters coming in to crash the party, he'll need early warning from us".
Nodding, Sims headed over to Helm in order to direct him to power the Pensacola out of orbit and to head to a position where the local system could be scanned whilst still maintaining contact with Truly. For his part, Hunter was not happy at leaving the Amethyst unsupported, but knew that Truly's decision was the right one. He only hoped that the marines would be able to intervene in time…
SERENITY - BRIDGE
"Going from exploration survey to relaying and delivering messages", Mal grumbled, "Boy, have we gone down in status".
"I don't know, Sir", Zoe replied, "if these Templars are somehow able to listen in on warship communications, then what we're doing is probably the most important thing right now".
Mal was about to reply when he saw River's expression turn pale. He knew that she was sensing something…
"I'm sensing urgency down on the planet", River said quietly, "It seems that they are aware of the fact that we are going to try and stop them".
"Add that to the message to Truly", Mal ordered, "We may not have much time…"
PEST SURVEY SHIP ICARUS – CAANANIA – PLANET KOBOL
"Brother Forrest", one of the bridge technicians reported, "our LIDAR has detected the departure of two peregrine gunships from the Amethyst. One is on course towards us, and the other is heading toward the Jerusalem. Peregrines are heavily armed gunships designed to deploy troops".
Forrest replied, "You'd better raise the Jerusalem and tell Brother Manna to expedite getting his TAD's deployed and ready for immediate detonation".
Forrest turned to the person he was talking to – a person chained and under guard – who was looking rather pleased at Forrest's vexation.
"Looks like you're busted, Mister Forrest", Ginnie said, "Your ships will have no chance against a peregrine. Once they land, they'll take you out with very little difficulty".
"Assuming that they'll have the time to do it", Forrest shot back. Forrest turned back to the technician who had bought him the report.
"How long before our TADS are deployed and readied?" Forrest asked.
"I have been informed that they will be placed and primed for detonation within thirty minutes, Brother", the technician replied, "the camouflage is in place so that they can't be easily located".
"Not enough time for you to escape, unfortunately", Ginnie pointed out.
"You're making one mistake, Commandant Annan", Forrest said with a very earnest expression, "you're assuming that we would have any intention of escaping. If necessary, we will detonate while still on-planet. You know what that means".
Ginnie looked wide-eyed at Forrest. That man and his crew were willing to die in order to destroy Kobol! These were religious fanatics determined to become martyrs to their cause!
Forrest looked smugly at Annan's shocked look. He then turned back to the technician.
"Inform the Jerusalem to ready their TADS for immediate detonation on my order once theirs are primed", he ordered, "then have our brothers ready to repel incoming attackers".
JERUSALEM SHUTTLE 1 - POINT GAMMA - SOUTHERN GALATEA - PLANET KOBOL
"Damn!" Marcus Colville muttered to himself as he looked over the TAD.
Coleville was the technician assigned by Brother Manna to place the third TAD in position and to ready and prime it for detonation. After flying the shuttle from the Jerusalem to the co-ordinates indicated on his digital map and deploying a camouflage cover over the shuttle, He had used the shuttle's forklift to take the TAD out of the shuttle's cargo bay, but as he was giving it a once-over before placing it at the precise detonation point indicated on his digital map, he suddenly noticed that the plastic cover that was there to protect the detonation circuit controls had been stove in. It had probably happened when the TAD's had been secretly removed from Blue Sun, he thought. But after Coleville had removed the over, he saw that the circuit controls beneath the damaged cover did not escape damage. After running a diagnostic that showed that both the primary and secondary detonation circuits for immediate detonation were not functioning, he had to see if he could get it fixed, as well as letting Brother Manna know...
PEST SURVEY SHIP JERUSALEM – NORTHERN GALATEA – PLANET KOBOL
While Coleville was assessing the damage to the TAD, back on the Jerusalem, Manna walked into the brig. He saw that Grant Wise – under guard and chained to his bed - was looking curiously at his expression.
"Something bothering you, Manna?" Wise asked, "Please tell me as I could certainly use some good news".
Manna gestured to the guard, who swung his rifle butt into Wise's side. Wise grunted in pain.
"I wanted to let you now that your friends up in orbit are heading down to try and stop us, but given that we're just about ready to detonate the TADS, they are going to be greeted by an exploding planet instead", Manna replied.
"You won't escape either", Wise pointed out.
"If that is what God intended on this Holy Mission, Commandant Wise", Manna calmly announced, "then so be it. But as your wife will die along with you and the rest of us, plus the debris from Kobol taking out the Pensacola and Amethyst in the process, well… I thought you'd like to hear that from me personally".
"You're crazy!" Wise blurted out. That earned him another hard hit from the guard's rifle butt.
"You probably have time to pray to your heathen gods before this obscenity of a planet gets destroyed, not that it will do you or your wife any good", Manna said next, "so think on that for the short time that you have left".
Just then, a technician came into the room. Manna turned to face him.
"Sorry to interrupt, Brother Manna We've got a report from Brother Coleville at Point Gamma. He's reporting that both the primary and secondary instant detonator circuits on TAD-3 were damaged. He's trying to repair the secondary circuits, but he's not hopeful that he can get them working with the tools that he has", the technician reported.
"How long will it take him to finish his work?" Manna asked.
"He says at least sixty minutes, given the damage sustained and the complexity of the work", the technician answered, "but he can't guarantee that it will function".
"How about the detonation circuits for delayed detonation?" Manna asked next.
"Bother Coleville reports that those circuits are intact, but he informs you that the delayed detonation on these TAD's are hard-set for thirty minutes after the detonation order is transmitted from the master detonator, and that there's no way to adjust the timing for delayed detonation".
"Where is Point Gamma, Brother?" Manna demanded.
"Four Hundred and Ninety-Five clicks south-south-west of our location, Brother Manna", he replied.
"And the progress from TAD-4?" Manna demanded next.
"Shuttle 2 reports that TAD-4 has not yet been precisely placed. Final placement and priming will take approximately forty-five minutes, according to Brother Shipstone".
Manna frowned. For a planet the size of Kobol to be destroyed, the four TAD's would have to be simultaneously detonated. If one of them were incorrectly primed, it's signal would not be 'confirmed' by the master detonator which was on board the Icarus. As the TAD's were hard-programmed to respond only to the signals from the master detonator, the others simply would not detonate. They could not be individually manually detonated because of this setup, and if they could not utilize instant detonation, then delayed detonation was the only other option. And THAT of course was only going to be possible when TAD-4 was placed and primed. Damn these delays, Manna silently cursed.
"Tell Brother Coleville to hurry with his repairs and tell Brother Shipstone to expedite! Inform Brother Forrest about the delays and ask for further instructions", Manna ordered.
At that, Manna headed out of the brig. Wise watched him go. Will the delay be enough for Admiral Truly's troops to do their job?
DEEP WITHIN KOBOL
"Interesting", the first intellect commented, "Seems that even worshiping a mono-deity doesn't stop their destructive nature".
"Enough evidence here to warrant a through 'weeding' out of Humanity, I think", a second intellect suggested.
"Let us see how this all turns out first, but let the others know in any case", a third intellect stated.
"By Your Command", the other two intellects acknowledged.