Defense Array Rho and The Unit.

-
Defense Array Rho.

So you're looking for information about the History of Rho? Then you've come to the right place Sir, come this way and I'll give you the little tour we do. Mind the steps, they're mighty slippy if the pipes start leaking again.

Well, let's go back to the beginning, shall we?

Back... oh, over a century ago, the last great Imperial War was in full swing. I'm sure you know about that conflict from school, it's all the rage these days I hear. Anyway, during those years Caprica was still building up her power base in Helios Alpha, but we weren't able to contest the two great powers up in the void. Worried that in case of invasion our DRADIS network in orbit would be destroyed, the Defense Ministry at the time commissioned a DRADIS array all along the mountains north of Caprica City. It was a massive undertaking back then, as part of the Array they built a series of bastions to act as a Nexus for the network, redundancy to the extreme people would say these days.

Geothermal power was built, at great cost mind you. to ensure an uninterruptible supply to each Bastion like Rho here and the Array itself. C'mon in out of the wind, it's much nicer indoors. As you can see, the Hangar doors here are a foot of battlesteel, a precursor to the plating we use today actually! The thickness makes sense when you consider this is the only way in for each Bastion. Given our altitude and the nature of these mountains, air-lift is the only way in or out. It looks rough around the edges, but believe me, it's much harder than it looks. Back in the day, they used huge piston-engined VTOL craft, hence the size of this place, the two lifts we're heading towards are used as combined aircraft elevator and in case of attack, a blast door to impede an attacker.

These old things look rickety, but back when we refurbished them they all got upgraded. I'm sure you're not here for the actual hangar left, so let's take the lift down to the training hall. You're one of the first people down here since the project got declassified so I'll give you some juicy details. Wait for the lift to stop, but as you can see the hall itself is part training and part dorm for the Unit's resident Beastie. A lot of the training her was done using the pre-war VR systems, hence the hall not being larger. I can see you're looking at the dorm section, C'mon, let's go see it.

You've only seen her in pictures you say? Oh, I don't blame you for being spooked, she was certainly a fright to most people. Me? She wasn't too bad, damn friendly given her looks mind. I can see your skepticism Sir, but if you'll come through and see the dorm itself. To our left is the recreation we mocked up of her resting area, feel free to look at the trophies, grisly though a few are. And to our right is the genuine pool we hacked together way back then for her. It was an ingenious use of an old engine bath, but then again I was the one who worked it out, so forgive an old man his pride.

Ever since the Unit left, we've kept things here as close to how it was, baring personal effects taken. The pool is off-limits currently, too deep to safely swim in given the temperature. Gives you an idea of her size, doesn't it? Right this way and we'll arrive at the main rec-room. Seems small, doesn't it? You have to remember, the unit was only at it's largest a dozen strong. Everything was enlarged to let Nike through, hence the ceiling being so high. You said you have seen pictures of Nike? Then have a look at the collection we've got on that there wall, for a sense of scale.

Don't feel embarrassed Sir, it's only here where you see her size compared to the humans in the unit. Huh, who's the Cylon with them? One of the old, and I mean old, U-87's, the precursors to War-era Cylons, let alone the modern ones. Big bastards, if you pardon my language, rumor has it that one there was the Progenitor of his model, but that's all I can say on that. The armor you see them wearing is what would eventually lead to the modern Powered Combat Suits the Military uses to this day. Bulky looking aren't they? That's cause they were based on Industrial Exoskeletons, surprising, I know.

Of course, I can't go into too much detail here, a lot of the stuff the Unit performed is still classified, but what I can say is that their work, in its own little way, helped us win the war.

What was my relation to the unit? I was the man in charge of keeping Rho running and modifying it to suit the Unit's needs. I spent years of my life up in this remote, tiny outpost and I'll say this with full honesty, I'm honored to have done so.

You want to know what happened to the unit post-war? On that, I'm afraid it's not my place to say. Not just secrecy mind, I swore an oath with each and every person here to keep the other's secrets just that, secrets.

How about I show you the Gym setup here, it's surprising for reasons you'll see in just a moment.

Major (Ret) Idrian Scheer, chief historian and curator of Defense Array Rho speaking to a tour group: 35 years post Cylon Rebellion.