Thirteen
Chapter Eighty
Silicon Revolution
On Gemenon, Alwyn, Na'Toth, and G'Leel were heading up the operations there, along with Earthforce Colonel Sharon Valerii, who was in charge of the Earthforce troops assigned to the assault. One of the remaining Colonial Marines, Sergeant Lucas Venner, was there with them as well, as this was his homeworld and had asked for the assignment from former president Roslin, whom he had once helped when she was in captivity years before.
At the moment, Venner's jaw was on the ground as he looked at the golden dragons above Gemenon City, which were drawing the fire of the Cylon forces on the planet. They were a specialty of Alwyn's, as were the holodemons he had launched against the forces inside the city. Valerii, on the other hand, watched them with a smile on her face from their position several kilometers away.
"Have I mentioned how cool those dragons of yours are, Alwyn?" Valerii said.
"Now that you mention it, you haven't." Alwyn said with a twinkle in his eye.
Valerii smiled and said, "Well, they are cool, and pretty damned effective. Using them to draw their fire so our forces can take them out and gain air superiority was something they never taught at the academy!"
"Well, I've always found that the best kind of education is in the real world and not in the classroom." Alwyn replied.
Like on Tauron, Earthforce ships had taken out the basestars, and with both orbital and air superiority achieved, they set about making their advance on Gemenon City. The smaller cities on the planet had already been liberated as the Centurions had been recalled to Gemenon City to defend it. They never made it, though, as the heavy raiders were shot out of the sky by the Thunderbolts.
Entil'zha Ivanova and General Cain joined them at their field headquarters after checking with the forward commanders. "It shouldn't be long until they're out of ammo to shoot at your dragons, Alwyn. Once they can't shoot down our fighters anymore, we'll send in them in." Ivanova said.
"All part of the service, my dear Susan! When do we go in to teach those rapscallions a lesson?" Alwyn asked.
"Probably the morning after next. We'll let the fighters have at them all day tomorrow, then head in with our ground troops the next day. See anything through your probes?" Ivanova said.
"They're rattled. Those IL-series Cylons are clearly not sure what to make of all of this, so they're panicking. They're thinking about fleeing, so I would expect them to try to make a run at the spaceport." Alwyn replied.
"I'll double up on our forces there, just in case they do try to make a break for it." Cain replied and went to the communication link to inform their forces of what Alwyn had seen. Hours later, close to midnight, the Cylons tried just that, but the allied forces were waiting for them and were routed before they even came close to their transports.
The next morning, the Thunderbolts started pounding the defense building where the Centurions and the IL-series machines were hold up. The Centurions tried to break out of the city again, this time towards the harbor, but the Thunderbolts sunk all the ships that they could have used to escape. PPG artillery then began to pound the enemy with burst of super-heated plasma, melting the Centurions into slag.
The bombardment continued through the night, finally ending off around midnight. Alwyn watched as the surviving Cylons looked around their battered headquarters and were trying to devise a way to defend their base from the allies. They were heavily depleted, but still very dangerous.
The next day, they made their way into the city, and soon found themselves facing desperate Centurions heading towards them with all guns blazing. Ivanova had set up a killing zone and lured them into it one by one. It didn't take them long to wise up to that tactic, which just made them prone to Cain's flank attack that snuck in behind the Centurions and decimated them before they could even turn around and return fire.
After they overran the headquarters and interrogated the remaining IL Cylons, they headed towards the main temple in the northwestern part of town. Another firefight broke out as they approached the facility, and it confirmed their intelligence that had this as yet another Cylon farm. Slowly and methodically, they made their way into the temple, searching room by room and making their way to the sanctuary.
When they got there, they were met by the sight of not of humans breeding, but of scores of fluid-filled tubes with clones inside them. They soon found more IL Cylons and discovered that the farm was in a secret underground lab under the nearby medical center.
Like on Tauron and Picon, they had found scores of men and women emaciated and weak from the machines that milked them of their sperm and eggs respectively. Carefully, they took them off the machines and hooked up IV bags to them to help them gain enough strength to survive the moving process. They also gained the locations of other farms around the planet, and Ivanova sent forces to liberate those farms.
The day after, Ivanova and Cain were walking out of the medical facility in a very sober mood. They had managed to save most of them, but several were not able to make it. Ivanova broke down suddenly and sat down on a nearby bench, unable to contain her emotions any longer.
"What's the matter, Susan?" Cain asked, looking very concerned.
"It's seeing those poor souls hooked up to those machines. I know it's hard for you to understand how I feel. Only a Jew would really understand how I feel." Ivanova said.
"About the Holocaust?" Cain asked, having studied enough of Earth's history to understand what that was.
"Not just that, but all the pogroms and all the hatred my people have suffered over the centuries. Being Russian doesn't help either, because the Russian people have seen unthinkable cruelties as well. God knows I think I'd be used to stuff like this after all I've been through, but those poor people…" Ivanova wiped more tears from her eyes as Cain sat beside her.
"I've never seen you like this before." Cain remarked.
"Well, I tend to keep my emotions locked tight. I've learned the hard way not to let them out." Ivanova replied.
"That's not really the best way to handle stuff like this. Hiding it inside just leads to a blow up later on." Cain advised.
"I know, I know, but it's hard for me to trust anyone."
"Do you trust me?" Cain asked.
Ivanova nodded and said, "Just give me time, okay? I may appear to be strong on the outside, but inside, I'm still the same fragile Russian girl that I've always been."
"I know the feeling. I'm the same way, except I'm not Russian!" Cain said. The two women laughed at that and Ivanova's mood seemed to rally. "Ready to head back to the barracks?"
"Yeah. I'm fine now, thanks." Ivanova got up and they walked back to where they were staying inside the city. They had managed to restore power and water to the place, so living there was manageable, albeit still difficult. Three worlds had been freed, and the main thrust of Operation Supernova had yet to be launched.