Messages from the Past
"Sir, I think I've discovered a few things you need to see."
"More confusion and desperation from cut off colonial units?" The archaeologist said tiredly looking up at his electronics undergraduate. He really had been good getting some of these old computers cough up what information was available on to them. But of late he had been exploiting a communications satellite that had been found completely undamaged. Well except for the hundred and fifty thousand years of wear and tear without maintenance. The data cores it least had been solid state and if gently coaxed back to life with power could have their information read. And this young man had been a genius at doing so. Unfortunately most of what he'd been finding with horrifying disaster and carnage. Please for help that would never come. Interspaced with brief terrified and short transmissions of those being killed.
"No sir, just the opposite I think. It looks like Galactica was deliberately kept in a bit of a black hole electronically at least. We know the Cylons had very thoroughly compromised colonial delete communications, with a concentration on the battlestar fleet. Especially with the last communications upgrade Galactica received prior to the Holocaust. But this appears to point to the fact supported by the breakaway factions of Cylons that a significant portion of the fleet did scatter, not just Galactica and her civilians."
"Oh well let's see your proof, I hope it's not just one or two communications."
"No sir, it appears to cover quite a bit of the colonial military, pre-attack at least two or three days prior. It also points to the fact that ships using Galactica's identical series of decryption software and hardware were even harder hit than previously suggested."
The older archaeologist tiredly took the clipboard from the electronics technician. And began reading the series of short military format transmissions the older style Hypercom then available to the colonials FTL communications limited them to.
Even provided a handy translation from the bastardized Doric Greek the colonials had used.
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FM CO TG 109
TO PICONFLTCMD / ALLSTAT
ZT 2315 CUT 13 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
TOP SECRET - CRITIC
BACK DOOR DETECTED IN PROG 50-1457A DURING FLT EX / BACKDOOR IS HEURISTIC CODED CYLON CYBERWARE / COURIER IN ROUTE WITH DETAILS / PURGEING PROG 50-1457A FROM BSG 109 AND 66 UNITS AT THIS TIME AND REBOOTING WITH OLDER PROGRAM PER GLACIER OF SHATTERED AEGIS / HAVE EXECUTED SHUFFLEBOARD OF CASE BLUE AS PRECAUTION / RECOMMEND ALL UNITS AND SMALLCRAFT WITH PROG 50-1457A DO SAME IMMEDIATELY / BSG 109 AND 66 AT CONDITION TWO / MONROE IC G-527-325-W
BT
C FTLC
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He looked up excitedly at this message.
"They knew?"
"It appears so sir and also appears that they did have the ability to track jump engines at a distance. Something the Adama scrolls, from the tomb on Mount Olympus, did not have any detail on but did suspect. Keep reading it will begin to explain some of the other ruins and stripped facilities we've been finding out here."
"What's this 50-1457A program."
"The latest colonial navigation program they used it to navigate between the programs of their ship systems. It appears the information we found in the scrolls about it being compromised and reports from the Cylon breakaway faction we do have contact with just got confirmed. The rest of it gets very interesting"
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FM CO ULYSSES BS - 519
TO PICONFLTCMD / ALLSTAT
ZT 0015 CUT 14 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
TOP SECRET - CRITIC
150+ CLYON BASESHIPS PLUS ESCORTS MASSING AT CIMTAR NEAR ARMISTACE STATION / COUNT STILL RISING / FLEET TRAINS AND CENTURION LEGION TRANSPORTS IN FORCE / REASON FOR SUDDEN MASSING OF CLYON FORCES UNKNOWN / SEVERAL NEW CAPITAL SHIP TYPES OBSERVED / NEW RAIDER OBSERVED TO BE FTL CAPABLE / COUNT AT THIRTY THOUSAND PLUS RAIDERS / COURIER WITH INITIAL SCAN DATA IN ROUTE / CIVILIAN SURVEY SHIPS AND UNREP SHIPS PER SHUFFLEBOARD OF CASE BLUE AS PRECAUTION / WILL HOLD AND AWAIT ORDERS / SHIP AT CONDITION TWO / FTL AT JUMP HOLD.
BT
C FTLC
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C FTLC
FM VIRGONFLTCMD – FLTADM WALTON
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 0130 CUT 14 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
TOP SECRET - CRITIC
CODE RAINDROPS / CODE LIGHT WAVE / CODE SHATTERED AEGIS / EXECUTE OPLANS SHUFFLEBOARD OF CASE BLUE AND GLACIER UNDER SHATTERED AEGIS / IMMEDIATELY PURGE PROG 50-1457A FROM ALL SHIPS IN FLEET / ALL COLONIAL UNITS UNDER CASE BLUE SECTION MU WILL EXECUTE TOMBSTONE TO PART TWO HOLD / WALTON IC U-958-025-V
THIS IS NO DRILL
BT
C FTLC
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"What's this shuffleboard?"
"No details yet sir. But it appears to be a preset plan to immediately scatter all their patrol and fleet units from known prewar locations, especially their fleet.
"They actually did suspect the Cylons would be able to do something like this. A computer search of recovered and translated documents found some references to such a plan among the few survivors scrolls and from the military codebook vault we recovered from before the time of the Holocaust across the twelve colonies. The prewar diaries that do mention it use phrases and are tensed to make me think most thought it wild blue yonder planning for wargames than actually something they seriously consider doing.
"It appears some of the older and more cynical or realist, take your pick, of them actually planned for things to go as bad as they did. And got a warning out to portions of the fleet in time so that they could save a lot of the fleet. This message also explains why the Cylon reported such heavy losses during the attack. Some of them were waiting and while not fully mission capable were able to inflict a thirty to fifty percent losses the attack force reported."
"Fleet train units? Railroaders in space?" The older gentleman said betraying his complete lack of military experience. The younger man who'd been put through college by the NROTC and did his two weeks a year two days a month after his five-year active, grimaced. Then again it had never really surprised him that civilians never understood the vast and esoteric military world. Then again archaeology could be very complex. Every profession had its own series of words only they used.
"No sir warships generally can't carry all the spare parts and supplies they need to keep going beyond a thirty to ninety day window even today, not be able to function as a warship. Fleet trains are a series of ships that are lightly armored and defended in comparison to the mainline warships configured as mobile warehouses and repair ships. They follow along, not close but close by, and would come forward to provide; ammunition, fuel, food and repair parts at as needed or after a battle. We do the same thing nowadays. And the Colonial Navy appeared to take the same kind of precautions."
The professor grunted, "that makes a lot of sense really. And explains why the expedition cook here has that truck he reconfigured as his support base as he calls it."
"Very much the same sort of things, and allows them to make some really good meals. And he doesn't just have the one truck, he's got that one refrigerator truck with perishables three dry trucks filled with canned and dry goods, solar panels on all of them. Oh and a 5000 gallon tank of potable, that is clean and drinkable, water. Plus several pallets of bottles and consumable parts for his equipment that he could expect would run out such as filters and some compressed gases. He really is good at prior planning and from the meals he cooks worth every penny we pay him." The professor smiled patting himself mentally on the back for hiring the brusque old gentleman all those years ago. The young computer tech continued.
"Something like that would be part of the fleet trains unit only on a much larger scale. Remember warships would have had compliments of between hundreds and thousands and for a small fleet unit you're talking tens of thousands of men and women needing a hundred tons or more of food a day. Plus, water and sanitation recycling for the smaller warships which have less endurance and repair ships. To include ships with large holds carrying parts they could manufacture on a forge ship like we have upstairs, it appears the colonials had something similar back then."
The professor returned to reading.
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C FTLC
FM CO ULYSSES BS - 519
TO PICONFLTCMD / ALLSTAT
ZT 0455 CUT 14 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
TOP SECRET - CRITIC
COUNT NOW 350+ CLYON BASESHIPS PLUS ESCORTS AT CIMTAR / COUNT STILL RISING / FLEET TRAINS AND CENTURION LEGION TRANSPORTS 200+ / THREE BASESHIP AND TWO DESTROYER TYPES OBSERVED / SCIMITAR RAIDER COUNT AT SIXTY THOUSAND PLUS / LARGER GUNSHIP TYPE 15,000+/ SHIP AT CONDITION TWO / FTL AT JUMP HOLD.
BT
C FTLC
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FM PICONFLTCMD
TO ALL CIVILIAN SHIPS AND MILITARY PERSONAL
ZT 0625 CUT 14 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED - CRITIC
A MAJOR MASSING OF CYLON FORCES HAS BEEN DETECTED AT ARMISTACE LINE / REASON UNKNOWN / BUT AN ATTACK AGAINST THE COLONIES MUST BE CONSIDERED PROBABLE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS CUT / BY ORDER OF THE COLONIAL MILITARY, ALL CIVILIAN SPACECRAFT ARE TO REPORT TO WAR RALLY POINTS FOR ASSIGNMENT / ALL CIVIL RESERVE SHIPS SHALL CONSIDER THEMSELVES ACTIVATED / ALL COLONIAL MILITARY RESERVES AND PLANETARY DEFENSE PERSONEL ARE ACTIVATED FOR THE DURATION OF THE EMERGENCY AND DIRECTED TO REPORT TO THEIR DUTY STATIONS / ANY SHIP OR PERSONS DISOBEYING THESE ORDERS MAY BE SUBJECT TO ALL PENALTIES UNDER THE LAW.
THIS IS NO DRILL.
RPT: THIS IS NO DRILL.
BT
C FTLC
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FM CO ULYSSES BS - 519
TO PICONFLTCMD / ALLSTAT
ZT 1605 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED - CRITIC
CODE BLACK / ARMISTACE STATION DESTROYED BY CYLON CRAWLON CLASS BASESHIP / CYLON FLEETS JUMPING FROM CIMTAR TOWARD COLONIES / NOW UNDER ATTACK BY FOUR PREDETAOR DESTROYERS AND TWO CRAWLON BASESHIPS / HEAVY DAMAGE WITHDRAWING TO DEEP POINT GAMMA HYDRA 11
BT
C FTLC
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C FTLC
FM PICONFLTCMD – FLTADM CORMAN
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 1632 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED - CRITIC
CODE BLACK / CYLON ATTACK IN PROGRESS / CORMAN IC J-159-201-F
THIS IS NO DRILL
RPT: THIS IS NO DRILL / LOKWOY-SSWA
BT
NC FTLC
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C FTLC
FM PICONFLTCMD
TO ALL CIVILIAN SHIPS
ZT 1635 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED - CRITIC
A MAJOR CYLON ATTACK HAS BEEN LAUNCHED AGAINST THE COLONIES / CURRENTLY, MOST HOMEWORLDS REPORT SOME LEVEL OF ATTACK, INCLUDING THE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGAINST CIVILIAN GOVERNMENTAL AND MILITARY TARGETS / BY ORDER OF THE COLONIAL MILITARY, ALL CIVILIAN CRAFT ARE TO REMAIN CLEAR OF CLOSE ORBITAL SPACE / ANY SHIP DISOBEYING THESE ORDERS MAY BE FIRED ON BY COLONIAL MILITARY CRAFT OR SPACE PLATFORMS WITHOUT ANY FURTHER WARNING
THIS IS NO DRILL.
RPT: THIS IS NO DRILL.
BT
C FTLC
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"That's a rather draconian method for traffic control. You would think they would want to try and keep things going."
"Not really, this looks like an automated message that somebody put into the message queue and sent out at the start of the attack. And I can see why they would want to do so. If the defense grids had been up anybody dropping out of FTL in the normal manner would drop out into the middle of a war zone and be subject to destruction by their own orbital fortifications and fleet units. This tells everybody to hunker down and stay out of the way the big iron is going to be shooting things that are big mean and nasty and you don't want or need any part of it getting between them!" He said a tad dramatically.
"Yes, that definitely makes sense. But also just provided clusters and individual targets for the Cylon raiders. From what the Cylon remnants tell us."
"True. But the colonials didn't expect to lose the battle either. If they had actually won the orbital battles over the colonies they could is expected to get most of their civilian shipping back rather quickly. And this message makes sense if that's was what they were expecting. With only a few problems from the shorter duration high speed transit craft. As it was the scrolls depiction of a confused and increasingly desperate civilian fleet being hunted to extermination as fuel and navigations beacons failed or destroyed is also confirmed." He paused and looked at the professor in charge of the excavation and exploitation program.
"Makes you appreciate how fast things can go bad when you don't control your own orbitals on the people who were supposed to be defending you aren't around anymore."
The very liberal academic paused and looked at his student with a wry smile. Then went back to reading.
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C FTLC
FM PICONFLTCMD – FLTADM NEGALA
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 1645 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED - CRITIC
CONFIRM CODE BLACK / CYLON ATTACK IN PROGRESS / EXECUTE WARPLAN TROJAN / NEGALA IC A-664-348-G / LOKWOY-SSWA
THIS IS NO DRILL
BT
C FTLC
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C FTLC
FM CO SCYLLA BS - 509
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 1915 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED
PICON FLEET COMMAND STATION SHATTERED BY 50 MEGATON GAMMA LANCE / NO SURVIVORS / LAST BATTLESTAR IN BSG 22 / SIXTY PLUS BASESTARS OVER PICON / HEAVY DAMAGE / WITHDRAWING TO ALT DEEP POINTS / LOKWOY-SSWA
BT
C FTLC
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"What's that gamma Lance?"
"A weapon using a fusion warhead to charge a massive A one-shot directed energy particle beam. A weapon that scale would be able to fry any warship or fortress built even today. We use something similar for fleet engagements, this is just a larger size version of one. Probably the deployed it via a Cylon Raptor against the fixed fortifications. George Patton's old saw is still applicable 150,000 years after the fact."
"George Patton's old saw?"
"A Military saying dating back to the second Global war, attributed to one of the Western Allies better ground force commanders. He said I quote 'Fixed fortifications are monument to the stupidity of man.' He was generally interpreted as saying that even with the relatively primitive gunpowder weapons available to him and his forces they could crack any fortress on the planet. Which they did prove in the later half of that war in Europe. Which is why the planetary Congress and the defense forces have an ongoing argument about defense spending and its priorities even today. Mobile forces are more survivable but fixed installations and less mobile forces are cheaper to maintain."
The professor grunted and went back to reading.
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C FTLC
FM CO HADES BS - 489
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 1932 CUT 15 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED
CAPRICA CITY DESTORYED BY 30 MEGATON NUCLEAR WEAPON / THIS SHIP LAST BATTLESTAR IN BSG 14 / FIFTY PLUS BASESTARS OVER CAPRICA / SURVIVING SHIPS ORDERED TO DEEP POINTS / CRITICALLY DAMAGED / FTL DESTROYED / WILL RAM / LOKWOY-RU
BT
C FTLC
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"What is LOKWOY-RU? Something you couldn't translate?"
The technician grunted and laughed with a grim humor.
"No sir we could translate it. Apparently, text message prices were expensive even for the colonials and caused the same sort of abbreviation we saw in the early Internet years among users for blackberries and the early Twitter feeds. In this case it's a little more grim; Lords of Kobal Watch Over You – Remember Us. Hope and a prayer expressed in the fewest possible letters in a time when they did not have much left, by people who knew they were going to die very shortly."
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C FTLC
FM PO12C / CITADEL
TO ALLSTAT /ALL COMMANDS
ZT 0225 CUT 16 APRIL 2,000 A.E
BT
UNCLASSIFIED
CITADEL UNDER CYLON GROUND ASSAULT / DEFENESES FAILING / NO OPERATIONAL BATTLESTARS OR OTHER COLONIAL SHIPS OVER CAPRICA / CYLONS USING NEUTRON AND TYLIUM-TRITIUM WEAPONS ON POPULATION CENTERS / LAST ORDERS / CODE BLACK SKY / CODE RED SEA / CODE PYRRHIC / FLEET WILL EXECUTE CASE TOMBSTONE PART THREE IMMEDIATELY / ALL COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WILL EXECUTE CASE ORANGE AND CASE PROMETHEUS UNCHAINED / ADAR IC L-444-385-S / SAVE WHO YOU CAN - LOKWOYIYT-RU
BT
C FTLC
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"IYT?" The professor looked at his technician expectantly one eyebrow raised.
"In your travels. Most of that was codebook gibberish we don't have details for. The codebook vaults we have were damaged and we are still slowly working through all of it and there's a lot. Most of which would change depending on how the message was be sent. But that's to be expected if they were dealing with an enemy that could compromise all their communications. The 'in your travels' bit though opened up the rest of it for me."
"Don't keep me waiting."
"I would suspect that prior to the Holocaust, probably starting almost immediately after the armistice was signed several the admirals were either extremely pessimistic. Or as has been demonstrated in the few colonial populations we discovered have persons who were Oracles. And upon receiving one or more warnings from a oracle or oracles made plans to save what they could in the event of a total disaster.
"The messages we are finding among the gibberish and confusion of that day tell me that just before the fighting started one or more at of the admirals got a warning about a possible attack and pushed the button on this plan under their own authority.
"For their subordinates this may have seemed like paranoid fantasies run amok but they were given an order by an admiral so if you're any fleet you gave a salute and carried out your order. This got the majority of the fleet trains not assigned to the frontier task forces plus not a few escorts out of position for the initial attack. Plus, it explains why the Cylons were very unhappy to be unable to account for what they say is a significant portion of the colonial civilian fleet that was jump capable and a very large portion of the fleet trains. Both of which I have confirmed with the local Cylon representative. Furthermore, the same representative told me they suspect several of the humanoid nations that have grown up beyond this cluster of worlds here say over ten thousand light years from Caprica may have colonial origins."
The professor was quiet for several minutes as he mulled the information he was given.
"So, you're saying that aside from the thirty thousand or so that made it to earth a hundred and fifty thousand years, and the three or four million that survived the Holocaust and Cylon occupation. An unknown number of ships and survivors got away from the scramble afterward?"
"That hypotheses appears to be supported by the data."
The room was silent for several minutes.
9