Thirteen
Chapter Eighty-Two
Stellar Supremacy
Lee "Apollo" Adama was crammed into the shuttle like a sardine with all the other ground pounders on board. Rank held no special privileges in terms of better seats, except for the pilots. Normally Apollo would have preferred to be seated up there, but the two Earthforce Marine Corps pilots were well experienced with piloting the transport into hostile territory. So he contented himself with being squashed into his seat, the gravity of the descent forcing his body to lean against Earthforce Marine Corps Staff Sergeant John Angle, who was leaned against Sergeant Angelique Morineaux.
Angle looked like a linebacker from American football: stocky, muscular, and ready to pounce. Morineaux seemed to be too lithe to be a Marine, but she was a martial arts expert and current Marines judo champion, so her skinny frame was quite deceiving. Her nickname was "Bloody Ballerina", because she looked like a ballerina but was one of the best fighters in the force.
The anti-aircraft fire was taken out by the Mark X Vipers and the Thunderbolts, who ran interference for the shuttles and cleared the way for them to land at the designated landing site. Despite their attempts to suppress the anti-aircraft fire before they attempted the landing, they still had to contend with a lot of flack being flung at them from the enemy.
They made it to the landing site without incident, although three Vipers were damaged in the landing. They did manage to land on the runway that had been hastily created by the special ops forces that had been snuck onto the planet before the full operation was launched. As the shuttle bumped to a landing, Apollo ran one last check of his gear and piled out with the others.
As fate would have it, they had to hurry for cover as three Cylon heavy raiders came over the hills to the east and launched an attack on the base. The shuttle went up from being shot up by the Cylons, but all personnel had managed to escape the vessel before it was destroyed. The base commander, a Ranger named Droshonn, ordered damage control teams to put out the fires and to drag the remains of the shuttle off the runway. The tall Minbari female towered over Apollo as she approached, but she bowed deep as she introduced herself to the others. "Welcome to Leonis!" said Droshonn, "I apologize for the rude welcome by the enemy, but they've been rather canny since we got here."
"That's understandable. Have you seen any Centurions around?" Apollo asked.
"Several, but we've been able to beat them back. We've deployed sensors around the perimeter, so we have more than enough warning before they attack. We're still trying to figure out how they surprised us with this attack. They may have flown low over the hills, just at tree top height, to get the drop on us. We've only been here for a couple of days, so we've not been able to fully deploy everything as we'd like to have done." Droshonn replied.
"Sounds like that's what they did to me. How many people do we have here already?" Angle asked.
"About a thousand. We've set up the portable barracks and other buildings over next to the hillside there. We're expecting another Whitestar with more troops soon, then we'll be ready to commence the operation."
Apollo asked, "When they do land, let me know so I can determine when we'll be ready to move out!"
"As you wish, Apollo. It's an honor to serve under your command!" Droshonn said.
Later on, Apollo and Angle were sitting in the mess tent, chowing down on some dinner. The food wasn't the greatest in the world, but it served the purpose of filling their bellies. "I doubt the chefs in Paris could make this taste any better!" Angle said with a rueful chuckle.
"Beats the canned stuff we'll be eating soon enough, though!" Apollo added as he forked in some Salisbury steak.
Angle nodded and said, "I've been in a field enough to know that's the truth! I'm grateful this stuff's hot and the java's strong!"
"Any news about what the weather will be like for the attack?" Apollo asked.
"It's supposed to be sunny and cool. Not the kind of weather that I ideally like, but those metallic Centurions will have a hard time hiding from us!"
"They'll be able to see us though." Apollo said cautiously.
Angle shrugged and said, "Well, that's the risk you take in this business. I'd rather see what I'm shooting at than not."
The Whitestar landed without much difficulty a couple of hours later, commanded by Samuel Anders. He got off long enough to run up to Apollo to brief him on the latest. "We've just taken back Canceron and Libron, Apollo, and landed on Aquaria and Virgon."
"Damn good news! How's Kara?"
"She's doing good. They've cleared the way at Caprica and will be landing shortly. It's going to be a lot more complicated, because they are heavily concentrated on the world. You know Starbuck, though. She's ready for a fight!"
"You tell her to take care of herself, and you take care of her, okay?" Apollo said as he extended his hand.
Anders shook it and smiled, replying, "I'll do just that, though I can't guarantee that she'll listen to me."
"That's for sure! Catch you on the flip side!"
"You too, Apollo!" Anders said and headed back to the Whitestar to supervise the disembarkment of more ground troops as well as taking the few wounded they had away for medical care. Within the hour, the Whitestar was streaking into space, but not before making a strafing run on several batteries of anti-aircraft guns that had opened up on them as they landed. Apollo nodded with approval at Anders' tactics, which weren't bad at all for an old pyramid player.
The Cylons chose that night in an attempt to make a raid on the base, but were dispatched before they came close by those on watch. The others had been awakened by the alarms anyway, so Apollo rushed over to the headquarters to find out what was going on. "Sir, I think they believe that we're about ready to launch our operation, so it looks like they made a spoiling attack to try and soften us up." said Midoron, another Minbari Ranger who worked at the base.
"I agree with you, but it won't help them. We're moving out tomorrow, so they'd better get their punches in while we're stationary. Come the morning, we'll be on the move and headed towards their main base near the spaceport." Apollo replied.
"We're expecting some support from the fighters in the morning. Galactica and the other ships will be their Vipers and Thunderbolts to go along with our ships. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to rock and roll come the morning!" Angle said.
"Rock and roll? What the frak's rock and roll?" Apollo asked with a laugh.
"We get through this, Apollo, and I'll introduce you to some classic stuff from centuries ago. It may be old, but it's still damn good stuff! C'mon, though, we'd better get some rest, because we sure won't be getting any come sunrise!" Angle said.
They managed to get three or four hours sleep before the sun rose above the eastern horizon. Apollo got washed up before the dawn broke, having not been able to sleep much the night before. After the grabbed some breakfast, they assembled and began to march away from the base, broken up in a plethora of different groups. Some would head down to smaller settlements to liberate them, but Apollo and Angle's group were headed towards Leopylae, the capital of Leonis. No one knew exactly what they would face when they arrived there, but Apollo was confident that they would succeed. Whether he survived or not didn't matter, because as long as the Colonial worlds were freed, it would be worth the cost of his life.
He thought of Dee, though, and missed her terribly. He hadn't expected to fall in love with her, but fate had a way of throwing curveballs at you. If things had gone as he had expected, he might have been with Starbuck, but now she was with Anders and never would be more than a close friend to him. It was fine, though, because he had fallen for Dee hard, to the point that he had her picture in his breast pocket to remind her of him. He had promised her that he would return to marry her, and he would be damned if the Cylons would stop him from fulfilling that promise.