Sequel to 7 Points
By Chaoseternus Chapter 24: Peace and Protection
Adama smiled, his eyes flickering all over from his perch atop the tallest building in first settlement, the only hospital the Colonials currently had.
The new arrivals had made their presence known, and in style.
In the days since the second group of refuges had arrived, first settlement, which was being referred to as Galactica City more and more often nowadays, had practically doubled in size with temporary housing being rigged up from disaster supplies that were always kept on Colonial Military hulls, even if they weren't in front line use. This had been followed by more permanent constructions made from metal hull segments and structural supports scavenged from two of the Sentinal destroyers whose hulls had been compromised during the escape of the Red Line Fleets.
Galactica City was truly a city now, with almost three quarters of a million people living there, though, Adama had to admit, that did include the resident Tau'ri, mainly specialists required for some of the equipment the Colonials were now using. They would most likely leave once the colonials knew for themselves how to use every piece of equipment on Freedom.
Now the influx of civilians and Colonial warriors were being turned to other tasks, the mines, the factories, the fields. They were well ahead of their original schedule and Adama was proud of them for that.
A sign sounded at his side, and Adama smiled as he watched Roslin slip slowly, relieved into the extra seat he had set up when he arrived.
"Here again, Commander?"
Adama turned, gesturing the view all around them, "here I get to see what we have accomplished, what we have managed to create from the ashes of what we once were"
"Ahh" Roslin glanced around once, and then slowed, taking a far longer, more searching look, " Ahh…"
Adama chuckled, from her tone he knew Roslin had just gotten the point.
A great boom, followed by a crashing, rumbling in the distance caught their ears and they glanced towards the distant gorges with a knowing smile, watching for the pail of debris and dust that would soon be rising.
Hydroelectric power, it would be their main source of energy for years to come, that one station backed up by the Naquadah generator that was their current supply would be more than sufficient for their needs.
And whilst the river was dead, the flow of water blocked by what would soon be a hydroelectric plant, its sides would be shored up, a hard concrete barrier placed between the soft and quickly eroded loam of the river, and the city but especially between the river and the colonial military facility which ran adjacent on one side to the river.
They would also leave space for a port but that would not be built yet, for they had no other city or town to which a river connection would be needed yet.
Roslin frowned, glancing quickly at her watch she reached for her mobile phone. Adama reached over, stopping her with a chuckle.
"Theirs a jammer in place, and guards at every entrance to this roof"
Roslin shot him a querying look.
"I wanted one place, just one where for a few hours at least I could just get away from all the paperwork, all the decisions, I mentioned it to Tigh who had a word with Doctors Cassiopeia and Salek and together they arranged this. Here we cannot be disturbed, unless it is very very urgent"
"Ahh" Roslin replied, and then smiled, "so do I have an open invitation?"
"You got past the guards without any trouble didn't you? I hear they are already planning to bring some flowers and plants up here, start a garden"
"That would be nice" Roslin smiled, "we don't exactly have time for many things that are purely decorative anymore"
Adama nodded, agreeing "in time, we will"
"Yes, in time"
" Double arrow!" Boomer snapped, grunting as the small war craft lurched, forcing her forward in the straps of her seat.
The Caprica shuddered again as a pair of enhanced nukes rocketed out of her torpedo tubes, followed by two from her wing mate, the Picon . Instantly, the Raiders in front of them shifted course, their weapons firing on the missiles that had now acquired their own lock on the upgraded Basestar that was the frontship for this probing attack, a test of Colonial and Tau'ri defences.
Their distraction cost them, as it allowed Virgon and Libra to pounce, their Gauss rifles tearing the unshielded cylon fighters to shreds.
Then Boomer groaned, cursing as the missiles vanished, intercepted by fire from the baseship itself, the large vessel quickly turning its weapons batteries on the Colonial Motor Torpedoes Boats which danced around it like flies, or more like mosquitoes, mosquitoes after all have a sting which can be deadlier than a bullet.
The screen in front of her abruptly cut out, displaying a Filter/Safety alert that had Boomer wrinkling her brow in puzzlement before the screen cut in again, allowing her to see a pair of glowing balls of fire slowly growing on the flipside of the basestar.
She flicked the comm. switch on, "nice shooting whoever that was"
"Well, you know us, don't like to miss a party" came the quick response, and Boomer smiled as she recognised the voice of the Aries's commander.
They were all here at last, all six members of the Colonial MTB squadron, good.
"I don't think she's got any Raiders left," Boomer replied, "but she will try to make a run soon, we got to kill her and fast"
"Copy"
Quickly forming up, the MTB's attacked, the six craft diving across the length of the baseship, their Gauss Rifles and Pulse Batteries firing constantly, their shields flashing as return fire slowly degraded their protection.
Gemon spun off, and then dived frantically for safety as the main batteries of the Basestar scored a direct hit, instantly overwhelming her already decaying shields.
The cylon warship, sensing a possible kill, diverted all its energies to firing on the evasive, darting Gemon.
Boomer, sensing the opportunity, brought her squadron above the baseship, where their previous attack run had already degraded the shields and ordered the MTB's to empty their magazines.
Torpedoes, gauss rifles rounds from the main weapons and pulses of laser energy from the MTB's anti-fighter/anti-missile batteries flashed across space, all hitting the same shield.
The cylon ship, realising the danger, tried to shore up the shield, and diverted it weapons away from the Gemon, firing everything at the five MTB's that held almost stationary, firing constantly,
It was too late; its shield gave allowing the constant stream of projectiles and energy to impact against the hull itself, tearing the thick armour plate into so much rubble and debris.
Then the Libra fired its last torpedo, the first of the MTB's to reload its tubes.
The torpedo flashed across space, the MTB's diving away almost gleefully as they realised what was about to happen.
The torpedo passed through the shattered armour into the hull itself.
Then detonated.
An expanding ball of brilliant orange and yellow fire consumed the cylon warship from within, blasting the hull into fragments which span off before hitting the rapidly dying remnants of the other shield segments.
Contained by these failing shield segments, the force of the explosion turned back in on itself, the energies contained within a small sphere, only escaping through the one segment the MTB's had destroyed.
The result was inevitable.
When the shields energies were finally expanded, the shockwave of the enhanced nuclear detonation allowed to escape, there was not a single piece of the cylon vessel larger than a teacup remaining.
"I'm sorry to disturb you" Adama and Roslin looked up surprised, glancing at the Colonial Guard who had disturbed their peace, "but the MTB Squadron has engaged and destroyed an upgraded Cylon Basestar engaged in reconnaissance of this system"
"Any losses?" Adama asked, rising swiftly from the comfort of his seat.
"Not sure as yet, we do know that Gemon was forced to disengage however"
Adama and Roslin exchanged glances, then sighed, Roslin voicing the though that was in both their minds, "Back to the office then"