Battlestar Galactica
Nightmare?
Chapter Seven
Adama stood on the command podium of the Galactica monitoring the ever changing tactical picture of the battle. A sense of dread began to creep up his spine as he watched his hopelessly outnumbered squadrons attempt to stem the tide of advance by the relentless hordes of Cylons. He had watched helplessly as his finest warriors, those of the three strike squadrons, flew off to meet the enemy. Outnumbered as usual, they engaged the Cylons just over a centar ago and as yet had not been heard from. This was especially disheartening to him since the warrior in command of the Galactica's strike wing was his eldest son, Apollo. He had already lost his youngest child, Zac, to the Cylons, two yahren before at what was laughably still referred to as "the peace conference". Now he couldn't help but think that he would never see Apollo again. A voice from off to his right brought his attention back to the present. The voice was that of his daughter, Athena, who was manning her post at the long range scanners and communications console.
"Father, I'm picking up a signal on the viper channel!" she said excitedly.
Adama quickly moved over to where his daughter was busily trying to clear up the incoming signal.
"Can you tell who it's from Athena?" he asked in a tone that made it clear that he was both worried and hopeful.
"Not yet father, there's still a good bit of interference coming from that Cylon task force." Athena said as she continued to work her controls. After a few more moments, she began to smile.
"I think I have them!" she said triumphantly. Then she looked up at her father, "It's Apollo!"
Feeling a wave of relief sweep over himself, Adama said to Athena, "Thank the Lords of Kobal. Transfer him to my console Athena!"
Adama returned to his command console and plugged in the headset he was wearing. With the press of a button, he began speaking to his son.
"Galactica to Blue leader, come in please."
"Blue leader to Galactica, I read you." came back the voice of Apollo.
With a smile on his face, Adama gave a quick, silent prayer of thanks, and then continued.
"What is your status Apollo? Where are you?"
A short wave of static drowned out the reply at first, but quickly cleared.
"We are returning to the Galactica to refuel. Request we be allowed to do a "hot refueling" then launch from the landing bay instead of moving to the launch tubes." Apollo said through the static.
Colonel Tigh had joined Adama on the command podium and was listening intently.
"Permission granted for "hot refueling". Use both landing bays for minimum turn around time. How many ships do you have with you Apollo?"
There was a short silence that seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and then came the answer that sent a shockwave through the commander.
"I have eighteen ships with me commander. That's all that's left of our three squadrons." Came the reply from Apollo, both sadness and anger detectable in his voice.
The shock of what he had just heard was displayed on Adama's face for all to see. Did he hear his son correctly? Had he misunderstood? He keyed his comm unit and in a slow, deliberate voice asked Apollo to repeat what he had just said.
Colonel Tigh had plugged in his headset so as to hear what had taken the color from his friends face. When the words were repeated by Apollo, Tigh too felt the universe tilt on end. He looked at Adama with his mouth hanging open, speechless.
Adama closed his eyes and forced the horror of the news away as best he could. There would be time to mourn (he hoped) for those brave souls later. Now he had to concentrate on getting what few pilots were left aboard and refueled before the Cylons found them and attacked. Adama turned to Lieutenant Omega and asked, "Do you have the position of the Cylon fleet Omega?"
Omega ran through several commands on his console before answering.
"Long range scan shows a large body of ships moving in our direction. They're at extreme range so positive identification is impossible at this time." Omega said. "But they appear to be Cylon sir."
Adama shook his head. How could the Cylons have found them? Certainly they didn't follow Apollo's group back. They were coming from another sector. So how did they find them? Perhaps it was another, previously undetected attack force? It mattered little, because they were on their way,
in force and they would have to be dealt with. The question was, would they be able to stave off their attack with just nineteen vipers? Adama was sure the answer to that question was not what he hoped.
It took less then five centons for Apollo and the survivors of the Galactica's strike wing to land after making contact with the great ship. Several vipers had to be towed into the landing bays by their comrades, their fuel cells having run dry before they could make it back. Apollo was the last to land, not a micron before his own engines began to cut out from the lack of fuel. As each viper landed, it was moved to one of several fueling ports at the far end of the landing bay. There, ground crewmen attached fueling hoses and grounding straps to each ship and began fuel flowing. This was normally done with the engines shut down for safety reasons, but under the present circumstances, this procedure was being ignored so as to expedite the quickest refueling turnaround possible. With word that a large attack force was less then fifteen centons out, this could mean the difference between life and death for everyone on the Galactica. Making things even faster was the fact that they were using both landing bays to refuel. With a bit of luck, all nineteen vipers could be refueled and back in space in five centons.
Apollo called the bridge for an update on the Cylon attack force that was approaching and the other squadrons. He felt that there would be little he and the rest of the remaining pilots could do against such overwhelming odds, but he would lead his people out to meet the enemy anyway, there was no other choice at that point. They could not run away and leave a fleet of unarmed civilian ships with what was left of humanity to be wiped out, though it was likely even with their best efforts, it would still happen. Apollo didn't believe there was any way to stop it.
"Blue Leader to bridge, any word from Orange or Green Squadrons yet?" Apollo asked.
Apollo heard the voice of his father come through his comm set.
"No word as yet Apollo. We do know that they did engage the Cylons about thirty centons ago and inflicted heavy losses on them. They also reported taking heavy losses themselves. Since then we have heard nothing."
Apollo shook his head in sorrow. Two more squadrons of brave warriors apparently gone and still the Cylons keep coming. How could they hope to stop them, even with a thousand vipers, the Cylons would simply build more fighters and more centurions and send them out after them, a never ending stream of mechanical horrors to be defeated. Would they ever see the end of them?
Apollo's musings were interrupted by the voice of his father again.
"Apollo, the Cylon attack force is closing on us much faster then what was anticipated. We estimate less the TWO centons before they are in weapons range. You and your squadron are to secure fueling and launch immediately!"
"Yes sir!" Apollo replied quickly. He motioned to his crew chief to disconnect the fuel lines and switched his comm unit over to the viper channel.
"Blue Leader to all vipers, cease refueling operations immediately and launch as soon as fuel lines are clear. That Cylon attack force is less then two centons out and we need to get off this deck right now!"
"Two centons! I thought they said fifteen!" Starbuck said somewhat perturbed.
"That's what they said, but evidently these Cylons can move a lot faster then the normal ones. Now get those fuel lines clear and launch." Apollo yelled into the comm as he saw his crew chief fighting with the fuel lines.
"What's the hold up with those lines Chief?" he yelled down to the man on the deck.
"The fuel line coupling is jammed. We can't get it to disconnect!" the crew chief yelled back as two more crewman ran over to assist.
Apollo slammed his fist into the side of his cockpit in frustration as the three crewmen struggled with the stubborn fuel line. Apollo watched as one of the pilots from Red Squadron, Ensign Lorne pulled away from the refueling area and began his run for the landing bay opening. He cleared the fueling area and hit his turbos for launch a few microns later. Just as he lifted off the deck and cleared the opening, his viper was struck by several blue laser blasts, exploding in a huge fireball. Another viper was just beginning to make its run when the pilot saw what happened and cut his engines. Unfortunately, the forward momentum had already carried the viper past the gravity shield and the ship floated out the end of the landing bay without the benefit of its engines. This made it an easy target for the Cylon fighters that were now closing in on the Galactica.
Apollo, seeing the two pilots killed before they even had a chance to defend themselves knew it would be suicide to try and launch now. The Cylons simply had to wait for them to come out of the launch bay opening. Apollo clicked on his comm and made the only decision possible.
"Blue Leader to all vipers, abort launch! I repeat, abort launch. The Cylons are sitting outside the bay openings waiting for us. We'll never make it out alive."
"So what do we do Apollo?" asked Bojay.
Before Apollo could answer, two Cylon fighters swooped down below the defensive laser fire that had begun just moments before and began firing into the landing bay. This set off fires in several fuel lines that were damaged by the attack. The two fighters flew in over the threshold of the landing bay and continued firing on the stationary Colonial Vipers. Apollo began yelling orders over the comm system as soon as he saw the Cylon's.
"Everyone out of the landing bay, NOW! Let's go, move it people." He yelled.
Pilots and ground crewmen began scrambling away from the conflagration as the flames raced towards them. One unfortunate crewman slipped on some spilt fuel from one of the disconnected fuel lines and went sprawling to the deck. Before he could regain his feet, the flames engulfed him.
The two Cylons continued firing all the way thru the landing bay before they both crashed into the abandoned vipers that still sat at the fueling ports. This caused another huge explosion as more fuel was ignited.
Apollo and Starbuck both managed to escape their vipers and high tail it thru one of the nearby hatches leading to the long corridor that ran the length of the landing bay. Automatic fire doors began closing throughout the landing bay, trying to contain the fire as much as possible. Apollo and Starbuck made their way to another hatch that lead to the passageways thru the support struts to the main body of the Galactica. They were joined by Boomer, Sheba, Bojay and several members of the ground crews.
"Where are the rest of our people?" Apollo asked.
Boomer shook his head slowly and said, "I saw them running for the lift. I doubt they were able to get clear of the fire."
"What do we do now Apollo?" asked Sheba, her voice a bit shaky from all that they had been thru.
Apollo looked at her for a moment, wanting to take her in his arms and hold her, comfort her for just a few moments, but he had to maintain his air of command, so he refrained.
"Well, for now we need to get away from here. Bojay, take these crewmen with you and see if you can get to Beta landing bay. Find out what their situation is and if there are any vipers left there. The rest of us are going to head for the bridge and find out what the commander is going to do."
Bojay nodded and motioned to the ground crewmen to follow him to Beta bay while Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba headed for the bridge.
On the bridge, Adama and Tigh watched as the mass of Cylon fighters closed in on them. There seemed to be no end to their numbers as more and more came up on the Galactica's scanners. At that moment, Omega's voice interrupted the silence of the command team.
"Sir, gunnery control reports that they're having difficulty getting targeting locks on the incoming Cylon fighters. They seem to be generating some kind of jamming field."
"Jamming field?" Adama said perplexed by this new development. "That could explain why we couldn't get an accurate reading on their distance before."
He turned to Colonel Tigh, "Have all laser turret crews switch to manual control and use visual tracking." He ordered.
"Manual control Adama? It's been yahren since our gun crews did any manual gunnery." Tigh said uneasily.
Adama nodded his head, understanding his friend's trepidation.
"I know Tigh, but we have little choice. If our scanners can't get a lock on the Cylon ships, we'll have to rely on the old fashion skill of our gun crews." Adama said with far more confidence in his voice then he felt.
Just then the entire battlestar shook violently. Adama and Tigh maintained their footing by grabbing hold of the railing of the command podium. Adama began yelling orders immediately.
"Damage reports, all decks. I want to know what that was and how bad we've been hurt immediately! Helm, hard to starboard; bring us around to course zero five five delta, ahead full."
Acknowledgements came from the helmsmen and the damage control stations as the great ship heeled over to the right and began to accelerate. Within just a few microns, the entire ship began to shake violently. From the damage control station, a young crewman called out to the commander, "Commander! We have reports of massive fires in Alpha landing bay. Severe structural damage is reported likely by the on scene damage control leader."
Adama slammed his hand down on the railing he held for support in frustration. There seemed to be no end to the problems they faced. He nodded to the crewman and then ordered for their speed to be reduced to half speed; this did not stop the shaking entirely, but did make it much more manageable. They would never be able to outrun the Cylons at that slow speed. Something had to be done, and fast, before the Cylons could bring their full strength against them. The crewman at the damage control station called out as another wave of Cylons made their attack runs on the Galactica.
"Commander, damage control parties report landing bay Alpha is now fully engulfed in flames. Support struts to the bay are beginning to weaken. The on scene leader says Alpha bay will be ripped from the hull in less then fifty centons unless we reduce speed at once."
Adama's eyes locked with those of his executive officer. Both men knew they could not slow down, not if they hoped to survive this attack. Colonel Tigh was the first to voice the thought that was going thru both of their minds.
"Adama, we have to separate Alpha landing bay at once. If we don't, it will rip the entire ship to pieces."
Adama knew he was right. He also knew that Apollo was in that landing bay and that he had lost communications with him not long after the first explosion in the bay. Was Apollo still alive? He had no idea. Most likely not! But, whether he was alive or not, the landing bay had to be separated immediately. Adama nodded to the colonel and turned to Omega.
"Pass the word to all hands, evacuate Alpha landing bay immediately. All fire teams are to pull back to their secondary boundaries at once. We will be separating Alpha bay in five centons!"
Omega nodded and passed the orders along to all hands.
Separating the landing bay from the primary hull would be done by explosive charges placed in the support struts shortly after the attack that nearly destroyed the Galactica nearly a yahren before. The landing bay was saved on that occasion by Apollo and Starbuck placing Solinite charges on the hull and blowing holes in the hull of the bay, thus allowing the vacuum of space to snuff out the flames. This time however, this was not an option. The fire was far too intense and there was far more structural damage, especially to the support struts that connected the landing bay to the primary hull.
"Commander, all emergency bulkheads and fire doors leading from Alpha landing bay have been secured." Omega reported.
Adama glanced at the bridge officer and nodded. He then took a deep breath and gave the order to begin the final countdown to detonation. With that, Omega began to countdown the last centon before the charges went off. Adama sat in his command chair, something he rarely did, and braced himself for the inevitable shock wave. His thoughts strayed for a moment to Apollo and all those warriors that had been in the landing bay when they were engulfed by the fires. He said a silent prayer for them.
Throughout the Galactica, people braced themselves as they heard Omega counting down the last few microns before the explosive separation of the landing bay.
"Twenty microns till landing bay separation……. Ten microns…….Nine…… Eight…….."
Colonel Tigh tightened his grip on the command console.
"Seven……. Six……. Five……"
Athena and Rigel removed their headsets and held on to their consoles tightly.
"Four …….Three …….. Two……."
Adama tightened his grip on the armrests of his chair and closed his eyes.
"One!"
Throughout the great battlestar, a loud rumbling could be heard…….. And felt! Deck plates began vibrating, then bouncing so violently, they threatened to come up out of their frames.
Out in space, the scene was one of fascinating horror as the charges went off in the precision set order. From the forward most support strut to the aft support, huge directional charges blew away the bulkheads, framework, and decking of all three supports and the cross ship passageway that connected the two landing bays directly, separating the bay from the primary hull. Scores of Cylon fighters were caught off guard by the separation of the landing bay, as it twisted away from the speeding battlestar, crushing those fighters that didn't react quickly enough to avoid it. The severed landing bay continued to tumble thru space, flames clearly visible thru the many holes blown in the hull by the attacking Cylons. Suddenly, it erupted in a massive explosion. Hundreds of Cylon fighters were caught in the fireball and even more by the shockwave caused by the explosion.
On the bridge of the Galactica, the ship shook violently for several microns, sending some crewmembers soaring thru the air. Then things began to smooth out and the great ship began to pick up speed. Adama's opened his eyes slowly, not sure what he would see. Most of the bridge crew had maintained their positions and were already busy compiling status and damage reports from all stations. Adama looked over to where Colonel Tigh was still gripping the command console and asked for a status report.
"So far it looks like everything went off without a hitch commander. Reports are coming in from all areas around the separation and all are positive. No fires. No further structural damage."
"Can we increase speed to full?" Adama asked.
"There's only one way to find out." Tigh said, a slight smile on his face.
Adama nodded and gave the order, "Helm, ahead full. Be ready to drop back down to half speed if it gets too rough."
"Yes sir!" replied the helmsmen.
With that, the Galactica began to pick up speed. It took several centons before the huge ship was able to reach its top speed since they didn't want to push it too hard before they were sure it could handle the increase.
The best thing about ejecting the landing bay though was the fact that the Cylons had backed off for the moment, perhaps thinking that the Galactica was about to go up in a fireball. All the fighters had pulled well away from the wounded battlestar. Now they were regrouping and beginning their pursuit.
Adama watched the scanner screen as slowly, the Cylon fighters began to fall behind them. Had they pulled off yet another miracle? Had they survived another encounter with their adversary? It was beginning to look as if they may yet survive the day.
But that belief was soon to be ripped asunder.
"THREE BASESHIPS DEAD AHEAD!" yelled Athena from her place at the scanners.
All heads turned to where Athena sat working her controls. Adama and Tigh both hurried over to her station to confirm her report. One look at the scanner screen was all it took. There, directly in their path were three Cylon baseships, closing fast on their position.
"That makes at least SIX baseships we have after us Adama. Where did they get so many?" Colonel Tigh said more then a little confused……… and scared.
"I don't have a clue!" Adama said just as confused as his first officer. "But we sure can't continue in that direction."
He turned to the helmsman and loudly ordered, "Helm, hard over to starboard. Come to course Delta seven one, flank speed"
Immediately the huge ship turned nearly vertical on its right side as the helmsman threw the Galactica into a flank speed turn. People all over the ship were tossed from their feet as the inertia from the turn increased. Those on the bridge were able to hold their places only by hanging on to their stations or by fastening the safety restraints on their seats. Adama and Tigh likewise were nearly thrown from their feet by the sudden turn, grabbing hold of Athena's scanner station at the last moment.
Slowly the Galactica steadied up on its new course, allowing the crew to relax their holds and get back to the business at hand ….. survival!
Adama asked for an update on the now six baseships that were no after them. He had never faced this many Cylon Baseships in one engagement before, not even when the Third Fleet was in tact. Now, with just a single Battlestar, the odds didn't look so good.
"Three Baseships bearing Theta five three and three more at Sigma two two." Omega said as he watched the scans coming in.
Adama exchanged a worried glance with Colonel Tigh. Both men knew they were being boxed in, that they were being herded in a specific direction for an as yet unknown reason, but they had no other choice. They could not go toe to toe with six Baseships. All they could do was hope they could make it out of the Cylon's trap before they had a chance to spring it. Just then Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba arrived on the bridge.
"Father!" Apollo called out, winded from the long trek from the landing bay.
Adama turned quickly at the sound of his son's voice and was overcome by emotion. He had been so sure that Apollo had perished in the landing bay, and now here he was, safe. Apollo ran up the steps of the command dais and was greeted by his father and sister.
"I thought we'd lost you when the landing bay blew!" Adama said joyfully.
"You almost did. If it hadn't been for one of the fuel lines getting stuck, I may well have been blown to bits when I tried launching out of the landing bay. The Cylons were sitting outside waiting for us. I lost a couple of pilots while they were trying to launch." Apollo told him.
"How many ships did we lose in Alpha bay?" Tigh asked.
"At least ten." Apollo said. "The rest landed in Beta bay."
Adama turned to Omega and asked him if there had been any word as to the situation in Beta landing bay.
"Only a preliminary report when the Vipers landed. They confirmed nine Vipers landing and the start of "hot refueling", but nothing since."
"Try and contact them. Find out if any ships survived down there." Adama ordered. Then he turned back to Apollo.
"Without our Vipers, we'll be hard pressed to survive. As much as I dread the prospect, I may have to recall our remaining squadrons and make a run for it!"
Apollo's face went white at hearing this.
"You can't be serious father? If you pull the Galactica out, the rest of the fleet won't stand a chance!" He said, not believing what he had heard.
Adama turned away from his son and looked out at the stars.
"There might not be any other choice Apollo." Adama began, still staring out the forward view port. "If we lose the Galactica, our people won't stand a chance of survival, but if we can save the Galactica and perhaps those ships that can still travel at light speed, we might be able to save at least a portion of our people."
"And what of those we leave behind?" Apollo said angrily. "Have you thought about what will happen to them?"
Adama turned around quickly to face Apollo, he face a mask of both anger and anguish.
"I know exactly what will happen to them!" he hissed thru clinched teeth. "But there is no other choice! We have to …….."
Adama was cut off in mid sentence by the voice of Athena, calling up from her place at the main scanner console.
"Father! Incoming baseships bearing zero zero four, heading directly at us! Time to intercept ….. forty centons. We're surrounded!"
Adama and Apollo stared at Athena for a moment then turned back to each other. A look of fear crossed both men's faces as they realized they had just run out of places to run.
"What do we do now Adama?" asked Tigh, who was standing next to Omega at the command console.
For the first time in his life, Adama had no answers. He moved to the railing of the command dais and leaned on it with both hands. It seemed that a huge weight had suddenly fallen upon him as he stood there with his head hung and shoulders slumped. Not even the comforting gesture of Apollo's hand on his shoulder could help him now.
"Father, we have to do something." Apollo said softly, the anger of a few moments ago forgotten. "What should we do?"
Adama made no sign that he had heard his son, nor did he seem to be aware of his surroundings. He simply stood there leaning on the railing. Apollo tried again to bring his father out of his stupor, but was unsuccessful.
Tigh turned to Omega, "I need a quick scan of the entire sector. We need to find a way thru the Cylons."
Omega began working his controls while Tigh moved closer to Athena, who was sitting at her console, staring at her father, tears running down her face. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a soft voice, "Athena, I know you're worried about your father, we all are. But I need you here. I need you to keep distance and bearing readings on those Cylon Baseships."
Athena looked up at the Colonel and nodded, a small smile crossing her lips.
"Yes sir." She said softly as she returned her focus to her work.
Tigh looked back to where Adama and Apollo stood. His heart went out to his old friend. No one man should have had to deal with all that Adama had. He had taken on the worries and the responsibility for the entire human race, from the time their home worlds had been destroyed until now. It was just too much to ask of one man, and now it looked as if the weight of it all had finally taken its toll and claimed yet another victim. Tigh began to wonder what the next few centars would bring.
Apollo stood next to his father trying to bring him back from whatever dark place it seemed he had suddenly slipped into. Adama stood there motionless, his hands planted firmly on the railing of the command dais, his head down and his eyes shut tight. He would not respond to anything Apollo said or did. He had simply shut down it seemed. Apollo looked down at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the command dais and saw Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba all looking up at them. Sheba had tears running down her face while Boomer and Starbuck had worried expressions. They were all scared that the Commander had finally circum to the weight of all that had happened since the defeat of the colonies.
Inside Adama's mind, a new war was being fought. This war was not between humans and Cylons, but was a battle between Adama and himself! He fought with himself over every decision he had made since the destruction of the colonies. Over whether he should have led his people out into space on what many called "a fools journey", looking for Earth. Over whether or not he should have taken Baltar's offer on Kobol to lead the Galactica back to Cylon, where they could have attacked the Cylon capital and possibly ended the war with one decisive blow. He fought with himself over his choice to ignore his old friend, Commander Cain and his advice to take and hold Gamoray, instead opting to take the safe route and only take the fuel they needed to get out of the sector. Those and many, many more decisions, each of which could have kept them from having to face this fate now spun around in his head. It was enough to make one go mad!
But no, he wasn't mad. He had made the right decisions! He had done the right thing! No one, not even Cain could have done what he had in saving as many of their people as he had. He had done the best job that was humanly possible and if this was to be the end, it was not because of his failure.
Failure!
It was a word that had never sat well with Adama. He had never accepted it in those who served under him and he could not ……. WOULD NOT …… accept it in himself!
"NO!" Adama yelled as he slammed both hands down on the railing. He slowly brought his head up to stare out at the still unseen Cylon Baseships that were approaching, his eyes burning with a fire that spoke of great determination. He looked about him to see every eye on the bridge directed at him. He turned around and saw Apollo standing two paces away, a look of trepidation and fear on his face. Then he saw Colonel Tigh, he too had that same look, as if he thought Adama had lost his mind.
"I need to know the exact position of each and every one of those Baseships. If were going to survive this, we'll have to make a break for it and try and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet."
For a few microns no one moved or said a word, then Tigh began giving orders to get Adama the information he had requested. Once the bridge staff was back at work, Tigh turned his gaze back to his old friend. Adama was looking at him with a slight smile on his face.
"It's alright Colonel, I'm fine." Adama said reassuringly
Tigh smiled slightly and nodded. "I was a bit worried for a moment."
"So was I old friend, so was I!"
At that moment, Athena called over to the two senior officers.
"Colonel, I'm picking up a large number of craft inbound from the Baseships in front of us."
"They must have launched their fighters, but why launch at such a great range?" Tigh said.
"I don't think their fighters Colonel. They don't match the profile in the war book." Athena told him.
Tigh and Adama both moved over to her station to see what it was the Cylons were throwing at them now.
"Have you run an analysis on the inbound ships yet?" Tigh asked.
"Yes, and they match nothing in the known Cylon inventory. Whatever they are, their new to the computer." She told them.
"Let's see what the scanners picked up of them." Adama said as he placed a warm, fatherly hand on his daughters shoulder.
Athena ran back the scans she had made off the unidentified vessels and displayed them on her monitor.
As the three dimensional representation of the strange craft began to form, Adama's eyes widened and his face began to pale with an expression of fear.
"What is it Adama? What are they?" asked Tigh.
"By the lords, it can't be!" Adama said to himself.
"What is it Adama?" Tigh insisted.
Adama stood up and looked over at his exec and said, "I had hoped never to see such as these ever again old friend."
"Then you know what these new ships are?" Athena asked.
"Yes, I know what they are, their called "Penetraters". The Cylons use them to infiltrate spacecraft and space stations." Adama said.
"Penetraters, I've never heard of them." Tigh said somewhat confused.
"That's because they don't use them very often." Adama began. "Most of the time, the Cylons simply destroy the ships of their enemies, but whenever they feel the need, they send out a group of these Penetraters to capture a ship and its crew."
"Capture! How!" Tigh asked.
"The Penetraters have a tapered front section, heavily reinforced with large amounts of triridium." He told them. "What they do is they ram their victims, penetrating the hulls. Then the entire front section opens up like a Caprican lily, locking the Penetrater in place. Inside each Penetrater there are hundreds of Cylon Centurions that move out and take control of the ship."
"Good lord. Why is it we've never heard of these ships before?" Tigh asked.
"Because there's only been one time in the long history of the war that a ship was able to fight off an attack by Penetraters and that was nearly sixty yahren ago."
"I don't ever remember hearing this." Tigh said. "What ship was it?"
"The Galactica!"
Tigh and Athena both stared at Adama in shock! They were both unsure they had heard the Commander correctly.
"The Galactica, are you sure?" Apollo asked from behind his father. He had walked over to them while they were looking at the scanner readings and had been listening to the conversation.
Adama turned to face his son and simply nodded.
"Yes, it was during your grandsire's command of the Galactica. He and the rest of the Third Fleet were ambushed by a huge Cylon fleet. Over a hundred ships were destroyed and twice that number damaged. The loses in human lives went into the hundreds of thousands as I remember. I was an Ensign on my first assignment and was attached to Blue Squadron."
"I thought you were in Bronze Squadron aboard the Rycon?" Apollo said.
"I was, but that was after I did my first tour of duty on the Galactica. I was reassigned to the Rycon while the Galactica was being repaired." Adama told him.
"So what happened? How did you survive?" Tigh asked.
Adama's mind flew back to that fearful day so long ago, when it seemed that the end of everything was about to come into being. How he and the rest of the squadrons of the Third Fleet set out to meet the deadly Cylons in their old fashion Asp fighters, outnumbered five to one.
"We fought them as best we could, but there were so many of them, we ended up retreating. We tried to regroup and attack again, but they never let up their assault. Finally, my father, Commander Adam, ordered us to return to our Battlestars and prepare to retreat. I remember how humiliated he was at having to pull back, but he knew there was no way to win, outnumbered as we were. So we pulled back. My father ordered the fleet to pull out while he held the Galactica back to protect their rear quadrant. It was then that the Penetraters struck."
Adama walked over to his seat on the command dais and sat down heavily, his eyes focused on a memory of long ago. He seemed to age a score of yahren in just the past few centons. Apollo and Tigh walked over to where the Commander sat, worried expressions on their faces.
"How did you all survive father? What did you do to save the Galactica?" Apollo asked softly.
Adama looked up at his son, his eyes focusing of his face. He turned and saw Colonel Tigh looking on with an equally worried look.
"We were coming under heavy attack by the Cylons. The rest of the fleet had pulled out of range so they concentrated their attack on the Galactica. We maneuvered to draw their fighters away from the fleet so as to allow them more time to regroup. My father had just given the order to pull out when something hit the main thrusters. The entire ship shook violently; I remember being thrown to the deck myself as I went back to my fighter. I knew something was dreadfully wrong because I could feel the Galactica slow down. Then there were more explosions, only these were in the landing bays. The Cylons began hitting the launching tubes and the landing bays. This took away our ability to launch our fighters, what few we had left anyway."
Tigh and Apollo nodded their heads, understanding what was to com next.
"There were about a score of them." Adama began. "Our gunners were able to destroy half a dozen or so and the few fighters still in space knocked out another two or three, but the rest made it thru and hit the Galactica with tremendous force. My father ordered all the outer sections of the ship evacuated and sealed to help slow the Cylons down and had every available Warrior take positions to try and repel their attack."
"You went hand to hand with Cylons?" Tigh said, astonished by the mere thought of trying to fight one of those monsters.
"Yes Tigh, hand to hand. Many a good Warrior perished that day. It was a miracle we survived. Perhaps the one thing that helped save us more then any other was when my father ordered all outer hull sections to be blown loose. That sent all but three of the Penetraters spinning off into space. Unfortunately we still had nearly a thousand Cylon Centurions to deal with."
"How did you destroy so many of them Commander?" asked Starbuck, who had joined in the conversation.
"Mostly by using our knowledge of the Galactica to get them into crossfire's and then moving off before they could flank us." Adama said. "We were able to force them into one section of Gamma deck and from there we took our time with them. It took the better part of a secton before we found the last one, but we got it."
"What happened to the rest of the Third Fleet?" Apollo asked.
"They were able to regroup and counter attacked while the Cylons were busy trying to take over the Galactica. With their help, the Galactica was saved, thou over half the crew was dead and we had to be towed back to Caprica."
"Commander, I have the information you requested." Omega called out from his station.
"Transfer it to my station Omega!" Adama said as he turned on his command station. A moment later, the screen was filled with a variety of different symbols, all moving toward the center of the screen.
Toward the Galactica.
Adama studied the readout on his screen and he immediately saw that there was a gap between the Baseships in front of them and those they had just turned away from. He also noticed that the Baseships were beginning to spread out behind them, as if they were trying to block their escape rather then trying to overtake the Galactica. This detail was most strange, and somewhat frightening. Adama had the feeling that the Cylons were trying to "herd" them into this gap.
"It would seem that they have left a gap in their trap, but the question is, did they do it on purpose?" Adama said to no one in particular.
"A trap inside a trap?" Apollo said softly.
"Almost certainly, it would be just the type of thing they would do." Tigh said.
"They've cut off every other means of escape, their forcing us to move in that direction, just like they did at Arcta." Adama said as he ran his finger along the route of which he spoke.
"You don't suppose they have another one of those giant lasers out there do you Commander?" Starbuck said nervously.
"No Starbuck, I don't think so. Whatever they have out there, I doubt that it will be as easy to defeat as that laser was." Adama said as he continued to stare at the screen.
"Easy?" Starbuck thought to himself. "The mission on the ice world the Cylons called Arcta was anything but easy, what with two dead, three others injured and one missing, not to mention the loss of three Viper pilots.
"We have to find out what the Cylons have out in this sector." Adama said tapping the gap in the Cylon forces. "Colonel, have all scanners focus on that sector. We have to find out what it is their up to and how we can avoid it."
"Yes Commander." Tigh replied as he relayed the message to Omega and Athena. They began concentrated scans of the area Adama had indicated and the results were worse then any of them could imagine.
"Commander, long range scan shows a group of no less then five Baseships closing in from that sector." Omega said, the horror of it evident in his voice.
Adama and Tigh looked at each other in total disbelief. Where could the Cylons have gotten so many Baseships? And how could they have gotten so far ahead of them. It just didn't seem possible!
"Well that pretty much seals the trap!" Adama said softly. "We can't go forward, we can't go back and we have no where to run."
All those on the command dais felt a cold chill radiate down their spines at that comment. Had their luck finally run out? Had they played their last card?
"So what now Commander? What can we do?" asked Starbuck.
Adama walked over to the railing and stared out at space for a long moment, and then turned around to face his officers.
"We do the only thing we can do …… FIGHT!" he said with a new fierceness. "We fight like we've never fought before. The time has come for us to quit running and face the Cylons in an all or nothing, winner take all fight."
"But father, we only have a few Vipers left, if even that. We still haven't heard from Bojay." Apollo told him.
"It doesn't matter Apollo. We have no other choice but to go on the offensive." Adama said emphatically. "If we try and fight a defensive battle, we won't last a centar. Our only hope is to hit the Cylons at their weakest point and hope we can punch a hole thru them. If we can do that, we might have a chance."
"A chance at what?" Apollo asked. "Escaping this trap? What then? Do we just head off into deep space, abandoning our people?"
Adama's gaze fell on his son. They had already had this disagreement and there was no good way of solving the issue. He knew there was no way to save all of their people, just like when they left the colonies. The best they could hope for was to save as many as possible. It was a hard, cruel fact. One Adama would have to live with ….. again!
"Colonel, send a coded message to the fleet, inform them that they are to move all personnel off those ships that do not possess faster then light drives to those ships that do. Also have them transfer all fuel and food. Tell them that we will rendezvous with them in three centars and that if they do not hear from us by then, they are too set out at maximum speed in a direction of their own choosing. They are to do whatever they need to do to insure their survival."
Tigh was caught somewhat off guard by this order, but after only a slight hesitation, he had the order passed on via the secured frequency.
Adama then moved over to Omega's station and had him plot the relative positions of the Cylon forces. He entered a few commands on the keyboard and a couple of microns later, a diagram of the Cylon positions appeared on the screen. Adama studied it for a moment then tapped the screen.
"There, that's the spot!" Adama said, still pointing at the screen. "That's where the Cylons are the weakest, just to the right of the Penetraters. If we move swiftly enough, we could slip thru without having to engage them at all."
"Commander, I have Lieutenant Bojay on the com." said Omega cutting in on the Commander.
Adama nodded to Omega and ordered the signal be put thru to his station where he put it on speaker for all those present to hear.
"Lieutenant, it's good to hear from you, what's the situation down there in Beta bay?"
There was a bit of static on the speakers and it was hard to hear over the background noise, but Bojay's voice was understandable.
"Thanks Commander! Things looked pretty bad for awhile, but the damage control teams were able to contain the fires in Beta bay before they got to the fuel stations. Unfortunately, we lost all nine Vipers."
Adama's heart sunk at that bit of news. Without those few Vipers, it would be impossible to keep the Penetraters from attacking. Oh well, it didn't matter. With or without Viper support, they had no other choice but to make a run for it.
"Understood Lieutenant, continue to monitor the situation down there and have all Warriors prepare to repel boarders."
"Boarders!" Bojay exclaimed. "Are the Cylons going to try and board the Galactica Commander?"
"They very well could Lieutenant. I want you to move all personnel on the starboard side of the Galactica into the central core of the ship, well away from the outer sections in case we have to blow them. Do you understand Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir, I'll see to it."
"Good luck Lieutenant. Bridge out!" Adama said as he cut the connection. Then he turned to Colonel Tigh and the others and began issuing orders.
"Colonel, I want you to have all personnel evacuate the outer sections of the ship. Have them move to the central core. I also want every available Warrior prepared to repel any Cylon boarders. Tell them to use any means necessary to stop them, even if it means blowing out a section of the ship. We can not let them take the Galactica!"
Tigh simply nodded his head and began issuing the orders. Adama then turned to Apollo.
"Apollo, I need you, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba to set up a defensive perimeter around the bridge. Secure all routes of egress. We can't let them get to the bridge, no matter what the cost!"
"What if we can't stop them?" Apollo asked. "What do we then father?"
Adama frowned deeply at his son and in a voice as dead of emotions as Apollo had ever heard, he said.
"If worse comes to worse, I will destroy the Galactica rather then let the Cylons have her."