Authors notes: Sorry for the long delay in updating. The final part is coming soon.

2672.240 Briefing room 1 Battlestar Galactica: Apollo had called all of the ship commanders over for the briefing/strategy meeting.Once everyone had taken a seat, Apollo had Commander Jacorski explain to them what had happened to the TCS Lexington.

"Well sir, after we jumped from the Kilrathi, we found ourselves in an unknown sector of space. We were picking up long-range communications from the nearby system. We made our way there, and discovered a partially destroyed facility, on an ice moon orbiting the fourth planet. We also discovered that there were survivors on the planet. Most of them were young men and women, but there were a couple of older women. It seems that the parents of these young people were clones, and that they had rebelled against a race of robots called cylons. They had managed to defend their world for more than twenty years, because of the inventions of their creator, a Dr. Ravashaw."

Apollo smiled and thought to himself, "He said he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. I guess he did."

"But eventually the Cylons had overwhelmed them. We offered to help them, and while we were there, the Cylons returned. When they found out that we were human, they attacked us. We surprised them, and defeated them rather quickly. It was then that the survivors asked if they could come with us. I told them that we would be making our way back to the Confederation, but they didn't care. They gave us plans for a few new weapons, and they also went over our ships systems, and made some rather unique improvements."

Admiral Eison looked at the commander, "What sort of improvements?"

"Well sir the Mega-Pulsars they designed for the Lexington use one half the power of standard M/AM guns, have twice the range, and recharge in half the time. They also redesigned our shield generators, and they now recharge at double their old rate."

"After we left that system, we started to run into more and more cylons. Soon we were fed up with it. I made a command decision to confront these Cylons once and for all. So we made for their home system, and we started to methodically wipe them out. Their hierarchy decided to leave their home world, and we've been chasing them ever since."

Now the commander looked at all of them. "The main problem we've had is attrition. We manage to find and destroy the cylons, but each time has cost me people. The cylons just make more warriors when they run low. And when we thought we finally had them, these new battle groups jumped in."

Apollo waited for the Commander to finish, then looked at his people. "We've got less than 15 hours before the cylons return, and I want a working battle plan in 3. William, I want you and Chris to work with the commander, and go over the computer data he's provided, it may help us. That's all people dismissed."

..
Two hours later, the commanders had what they believed was a viable battle plan. Athena laid it out for Apollo, "As all of us know, the Cylons don't vary their tactics to much. They use large numbers to overwhelm their targets. For a long time this worked well, except for when they ran into humans. Our ability to improvise, and change our tactics has been our strength. We propose that we use the Cylons own tactics against them."

She activated the wall monitor. "We know the approximate location of their jump tunnel exit point. The plan is to have the Lexington near that point. Now if the Cylons follow their normal tactics, they'll send at least one battle group out first to secure the area. We let them see the Lexington, and let them chase her to these coordinates."

A point on the monitor began blinking. "Here we will have the Beta Group waiting in full stealth mode. And then when the Cylons get there, we hit them like we did yesterday."

Apollo looked at what she had laid out, and allowed himself a small smile, "I like it, projected losses?"

Athena smiled now, "Minimal."

"Good, and what about the rest of the cylons?"

..
Chris now stood up, "Once we have the exact jump tunnel exit point, we send in the Paradigm frigate cloaked and packed with as much Solonite as possible."

He smiled a little, "The Cylons had a rather large stockpile of it on Terra. Once the jump tunnel starts to open, we send in the Paradigm and detonate the Solonite. Theoretically this will cause a cascading collapse of the jump tunnel, and destroy anything inside the tunnel."

Apollo looked at him, "And how do you get the ship into place, with that much Solonite on board, you won't be able to remote pilot the ship into place. Hell even the cloaking device is risky."

William looked at him, "That's true Apollo, that's why were attaching an Anubis to the Paradigm, and wiring a breakaway connection to the ships main control circuits. The pilot will be in the Anubis, and will steer the ship into place. Once it's on course for the jump tunnel entrance, the pilot detaches and turbo's out of the area."

Apollo looked at him, "And hopefully escapes the blast radius."

William just nodded his head.

"So who did you get to volunteer for this job?"

Chris looked at him," We know that every pilot in the fleet would volunteer, myself included, but the computer has put up a list of eight names of pilots with the best chance of pulling it off."

Apollo looked at the list, "And do these pilots know what their chance of survival is?"

Everyone just looked at him. "All right, get things started, and I let you know my decision on the pilot in an hour." and Apollo left and went to his office.

..
Fleet Commander Apollo's office: Apollo looked at the list, and had the computer run the program again, and the list was the same. Apollo knew that Chris was right, and all of the pilots would have volunteered. So now it was his decision as to who should take this mission. He looked at the list again, and read the names to himself. (Col. Starbuck, Maj. Vagabond, Maj. Bojay, Capt. Troy, Capt. Hera, Lt. Dalton, Ens. Adama, Ens. Tigh) He had no idea how he would choose which pilot to send. He closed his eyes, and remembered a conversation he once had with his father.

"Apollo, there's only one way to make a decision which will affect peoples lives. You look at all the facts that you have, then you listen to both your mind and your heart."

"And what if I make a wrong decision?"

"Apollo, that's a worry that every Commander has to live with their entire life."

Apollo looked at the battle plan again, and then had Captain Valus contact William and Chris.

William and Chris came to Apollo's office, he told them of his choice. They asked him if he was sure about his choice.

"Yes I am."

Chris looked at him, "Why him, and not one of the others?"

Apollo looked at him, "Experience Chris, plain and simple. That and a feeling that I have."

Chris and William looked at Apollo, and they knew the feeling that he was talking about.

Chris nodded, "I'll let him know right away. He should be allowed some personal time before the flight."

Apollo looked at Chris, "Thanks."

Now William looked at him, "Apollo, I have a small personnel rotation to check with you. Colonel Taylor has asked for permission to transfer to the Lexington as their new XO."

Apollo thought about it for only a second, "Granted. If this battle goes to hell, she might as well be with the person she cares most about."

"I'll let her know right away."

Chris and William left his office, and now Apollo just had to pray that everything went perfectly.