Thirteen
Chapter Eighty-One
Operation Supernova
Admiral William Adama knew about the farms that the Cylons were using in an attempt to breed new human Cylons, but when he saw the survivors of those farms, something deep inside him began to rage. As he stood beside his son in the Command Information Center going over the latest reports, he told Apollo, "We have to win this war. If not to bring back our people, but to bring justice to those bastards who created those farms!"
Apollo nodded and said, "I think the whole fleet wants that, and not just those of us from the Colonies. I can imagine the Earthers are outraged by this as well."
"You bet your ass they are! Since Picon's been liberated without our help, I've decided to get a little closer to Caprica." Adama told his son.
"Leonis?" Apollo said, and his father nodded his head. "Makes sense. In its current orbit, it's close enough to launch a full-scale assault on Caprica. So when do we take down the basestars?"
"Soon. I've decided to change the game plan a bit, to really give us the element of surprise, and Earthforce has decided to go along with it. Instead of conquering one world at a time, we're going to simultaneously hit all the other nine worlds that we do not have control over. We have the starships to do just that, and it'll give us time to bring in more ground troops to do the more difficult job ahead."
Apollo nodded and said, "The Vipers are ready to go when you need them. I've been drilling them myself when I have the chance. And the ground pounders are ready to go when you need them. Do you have the latest intel from Leonis?"
Adama handed him a folder containing a thick stack of papers. "Damned thing about those technomages is that they're thorough. Look them over and come up with a plan to take the planet by tomorrow at 0800."
Apollo snorted and said, "I haven't crammed this much stuff into my head since war college."
"Well, this class is on a pass-fail basis, and passing isn't going to be easy. Head back down to your quarters and get some rack time, then study up on those plans and let me know what you want to do."
"Yes, sir! I'll get right on it!" Apollo said, nodding to his father as he left.
Lt. Col. John Matheson of Earthforce, who had once been Adama's second in command after the Battle of Babylon 5, had signed back on to be Adama's liaison for the operation, and joined the head of the Colonial fleet at the map table in the center of the room. "Just got word from the other ships, sir. They're about six hours from getting into optimum range for the attack."
Nodding, Adama said, "Good. I suspect that they don't see us coming?"
"No sir! Your idea of taking out any hyperspace beacons they set up seems to be working like a charm. They've built their forces up a bit due to the attacks on Gemenon, Tauron, and Picon, but not nearly enough to face what we're about to launch at them."
"Is Starbuck ready near Caprica?"
Matheson replied, "She is indeed, sir. She wanted to inform you that she's changed the plans up a bit and will be using the Whitestars to make some strafing runs at the forces they have on the planet instead of against the basestars."
"Really? Tell her that she has my approval for her change in plans and good thinking on her part." Adama ordered and Matheson walked away to send the message off.
Six hours later, all the ships linked in and informed Adama that they had reached the pre-assigned locations to launch the attacks. Galactica was about to jump into orbit around Leonis along with Colonial battlestars Andromeda and Olympus. Warlock-class destroyers Thor, Xena, and Venture comprised Earthforce's contribution to the assault on this world, and Omega-class destroyers Birmingham, Sheffield, and Melbourne joined them. Several Whitestars also comprised the Leonis task force and would assist the fighters in taking out the Cylon raiders.
Adama looked over at his second Matheson and asked, "Still no sign of Drakh ships?"
"None at all. We've suspected that their forces may be diminished from their previous levels. The Centauri have been hammering them on other fronts, so intel looks to be right about them being unable to send any forces our way." Matheson replied.
"Doesn't hurt my feelings that they're not here for the party. We'll deal with them in time, though. As for now, we launch in ten minutes. Inform the fleet." Adama said.
"Yes sir!" Matheson replied and went to contact the fleet.
"Action stations! Set condition one throughout the ship! Power up the jump engines and prepare to jump on my command!" Adama ordered. The FTL drives Galactica had were still available, but Adama preferred the element of surprise that the jump engines gave him. They had been installed after the battle around Earth almost eight years before, and they gave the intensely overhauled battlestar another way to surprise the enemy.
In the eight years since that battle, the remaining ten Colonial battlestars had been completely overhauled and fitted out with the latest in Earthforce defense technology. Galen Tyrol and Apollo had worked on the design of the new Mark X Vipers, which were a match for even the versatile Thunderbolts, especially when it came to atmospheric maneuvering. As Adama looked around at the CIC shortly before he gave the command to launch the operation, he remembered how ancient that the old Galactica had been. It still had that intimate feeling of home, but with a major makeover.
This was the moment that he had never thought would come. It was closing in on eight years to the day when the Cylons launched their attack that wiped out the Colonies. At that time, it had seemed unthinkable that they would ever reclaim their homeworlds. Now, though, the hour had come. They had already taken three of their worlds back, but it was a tenuous beachhead at best.
He looked at his watch and saw the second hand tick down to zero hour. He looked over at Matheson and said, "On my mark, Mr. Matheson!"
He remembered the twelve billion souls lost in the nuclear blasts. He remembered his ex-wife, even though they had been torn asunder by his commitment to the military. He remembered the friends that had been lost. He remembered the village he had grown up in that had been wiped out. He remembered all those on his ship that had lost family and friends in the attacks, and the feeling that they were all that was left of humanity, and that the light of their race was dimming out, and that they would be extinguished soon enough.
Now, the light was to be lit again. "Jump!" Adama ordered, and the jump engines on Galactica powered up and formed a vortex back into normal space. The massive battlestar raced out from hyperspace and fired at the closest basestar with her bow particle cannons, ripping into the hull of the Cylon ship.
"Launching raiders!" Abernathy over at the tactical position called out.
"Launch the alert Vipers!" Adama ordered. Moments later, the Mark X's were racing out towards the enemy, joined by Thunderbolts off the Melbourne. They split off into two forces and went to flank the enemy fighters, leaving the middle to Galactica and Melbourne's pulse cannon batteries.
"Set defense grid for long range dispersion fire! When those raiders get into range, tell the batteries to fire at will!" Adama ordered.
"Sir! The Andromeda's just hit the reactor on the basestar they're attacking! One down!" Matheson called out.
"Three more to go! Are we in range for our missiles?" Adama said.
"Yes sir! Missiles ready to fire on your command!" Matheson replied.
"Launch a full volley at that basestar! Let's get this over with!" Adama said with relish, and Matheson complied with the order. From the eight missile tubes on the bow, Earth-designed missiles with conventional warheads blasted out and headed towards the enemy basestar. Their high yield warheads slammed home and opened a huge gash in the basestar.
"Sir! Their reactor's exposed to space! One volley from our bow cannons and we can destroy the basestar!" Abernathy informed the admiral.
"Target their reactor and fire at will!" Adama ordered.
The particle beams flared out and shot their beams of energy towards the breached basestar. Seconds after the beams hit the exposed reactor, it blew like a Roman candle, and the explosions rippled up through the spokes and shattered the basestar into scores of chunks of debris.
"Two down!" Adama shouted, pumping his fist in a rare show of emotion.
"Three down, sir! Olympus just took out another one!" Matheson announced.
"What about the other one?"
"It's heavily damaged! Wait! It's powering up its FTLs! It's trying to flee!" Matheson announced.
"Tell the Thor, Xena, and Sheffield to take that basestar out at all costs! I don't want them getting away!" Adama said loudly over the buzz inside CIC.
Abernathy scanned the enhanced DRADIS system and saw that the basestar was having trouble with its hyperdrives. "Sir! Engines on the basestar going critical! Our ships are moving away! Chain reaction in progress!"
The basestar shook as the reactor breached and sent the explosive force through the hull, ripping the ship apart from within. The last of the basestars blew apart in a dramatic explosion, leaving only the Cylon raiders and a scant number of heavy raiders remaining.
Once the remaining enemy fighters had been taken out, Adama recalled the Vipers and turned command of CIC over to Matheson. He quickly made his way down to the launch bay, where his son was prepping the next phase of the operation.
"Admiral on deck!" Apollo called out when his father entered the flight bay. The assembled ground pounders came to attention, and Adama looked them over for a moment before saying, "At ease!"
"You men and women are about to embark on a highly dangerous mission! A mission that many from my worlds have only been dreaming about! Some of you are from the Colonies, but most of you are from Earth. The hopes and dreams of my people are going with you as you depart. Go down there and kick some Cylons ass for us!" The grunts yelled excitedly when Adama finished and the old man smiled and walked towards his son.
"Son, be careful down there, okay?" Adama said.
"I'll do my best, dad! Regardless, we're going to kick their asses out of this system!" Apollo replied.
Adama looked over at the enthusiastic troops and said to his son, "I think if they'd heard you, they'd agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment!" He hugged his son and said, "Gods go with you, Lee!"
"Gods go with you, dad!" Apollo replied and Adama smiled and walked away. Before he left the deck, the admiral turned to see his son and the troops he commanded board the transports that would take them down to the surface. He walked off the deck and managed to compose himself before heading back to CIC, but he still had to discreetly brush a couple of tears from his eyes.
On the other worlds, the operations had been just as successful. Starbuck's forces had a harder time around Caprica, but managed to take down the dozen basestars and two motherships, which gave them what they had wanted to achieve before mounting the landing operations: stellar superiority.