Cimtar Station
Aralt Sagremor of the Scorpian Cartel stood in the operations room of his newly acquired station. He looked at his gold chronometer. It was almost time and he knew he'd have just one chance but if he was successful, the Toasters would probably not even notice him and he'd be able to build his criminal empire unscathed. It was a plan that required his undivided attention and only his underlings he could trust were in this room, at this moment.
"Power up the ion cannon." He said, glancing at his watch. The weapon required ten centons to reach full power and while operational, soaked up energy to the point several large generators had to be installed to deal with this. As far as weapons went, this was far more advanced than mere bullets and missiles and for that, he gave the Khressari credit. However, he needed enriched Tylium shipments more often which meant dealing with the scrupulous Ovions on Carillon. The Tylium ore needed to be processed into the volatile Solium fuel, which also cost him more quantums than he was willing to part with.
It was still his only real defense against a major threat and so he waited for what he knew must take place.
"Ion cannon activated. 2,000 ergons and rising." Reported one of his techs.
Sagremor rubbed his hands together as he moved from one monitor to another, finally hovering near the Dradis console. No contacts as yet but that was going to change very soon.
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The Cimtar station was more industrial than commercial. There were no shops or restaurants (if you didn't count the cafeteria). It simply was a repair facility. Its Khressari design did not take into account any particular reason to pamper their clients and the Cartel, having taken it over only recently, had not done any major refurbishments. Many of the decks were machine shops or cargo holds with Khressari script still on signs and touch access computer displays.
Detective Inspector Phelan Hunter and Ensign Runa Rigelian had found themselves in these service decks. Access to the ion cannon control room was simply not possible. The security locks could not be breached. Though Runa was prepared to continue trying, Hunter considered that they were running out of time and needed to take out the source of power instead. Even this was not a cakewalk but down here, only the techs were working and those who had some familiarity with the gangsters running the show now, still thought Hunter was one of them.
Runa had taken off her uniform jacket, on Hunter's request, because a military uniform was more than likely to cause trouble or get her killed. Being from Virgon, she wasn't use to strolling around in a t-shirt but accepted his reasoning, however regretted it because of the higher humidity by all the machine shops located in this section made her t-shirt stick to her like a second skin. It wasn't long before Hunter had tossed his tie and jacket as well. The station's operators did not really care to waste Solium fuel for the comfort of the techs below decks and thus no air conditioning. Power output was always a concern for a station not located on the major space lanes.
"Just for curiosity sake, Ensign, how many times have you participated in a tactical operation?" He asked her as they walked down one of the narrow access corridors.
Runa didn't answer right away. When she did, she tried to sound confident. "This is my first."
He stopped to look at her. "You're the security officer?" He paused. "So fresh out of the Academy that you haven't gotten your hands dirty yet."
"I was a Bridge officer. I was reassigned after the master-at-arms was killed during the Cylon attack." She offered as an explanation.
Hunter didn't say anything and she assumed his opinion of her was not of high regard. She would have done anything to return to her old duties and disappear.
He took out a PDA type device. "The Solium tanks are down this corridor behind a six-metron, reinforced bulkhead."
"I thought we were going to sabotage the power generators?" Runa asked quizzically.
"Hitting the ion cannon's power generators would only make Sagremor switch over to the main generators and there are too many of them scattered around the station. It would be a considerable drain on the rest of the station's systems but he'd still be able to fire the cannon. No, our best bet is to hit the Solium tanks. This will cause emergency systems, like life support, to switch to reserve batteries but not enough power to fire the cannon."
"Solium is highly volatile. If it ignited, half the station - if not all of it - would be vaporized." She was no engineer, but every Colonial knew the dangers.
"I'm well aware of that fact, Ensign. My intent is not to commit suicide." He looked at his chronometer. "We don't have much time. Sagremor would have already ordered the cannon to be powered up." He took a step and half turned to face her. "The Colonies, 12 billion people, all gone?" It sounded so incredible, so horrific, to believe.
"Yes." She replied, attempting to keep the deep emotions from surfacing. It is not an easy task as a single tear ran down her cheek.
"Everyone back on Scorpia…Rachel." He stopped, a long pause as he too understood that what had transpired was not some military offensive by the Cylons but genocide. How many survived, he could not know, that he did was truly a heavy burden to bare. He looked down the corridor. "The Solium tanks are hooked to power conduits which feed directly to the generators. There are dozens of auxiliary conduits throughout the place as a redundancy but only one main conduit. As I said, I wasn't going to commit suicide."
Runa followed him down the corridor. The lighting was dim, to conserve power, and it added to the claustrophobic sensation as overhead pipes at times forced them to lower their heads.
The door ahead had a warning in Khressari script but the accompanied universal symbol for danger was hard to ignore. No guards were present, not unexpected since Sagremor lacked any significant presence, at least in numbers to fully sweep the station with armed thugs.
There was an interactive keypad but Hunter just tapped in the code and the door hissed open. Inside were more warnings including a sign for explosive. All these were clearly visible in bright, impossible not to see, colors. Another sign with the safety codes was also impossible to miss, as were emergency overrides. Four large cylindrical tanks took up much of the space.
"Hard to believe we use this stuff as fuel. There's got to be something, a crystal of some kind that could do the job without the high risks." Hunter put his hand on one of the tanks, extremely cold to the touch.
"What if it doesn't go like you assume it will?" Runa glanced at the exit occasionally, to make sure they had no company. "Any mistake and we'll be -."
"Vaporized. Yes, I think you said that already but I might be mistaken." He smiled as he looked at the bank of monitors. "They are almost at optimum power." He looked over at the power conduit than the monitors again. ".03 megons should be enough." Hunter pulled a strip of Solenite from his jacket.
She simply watched in amazement as if watching an episode of Agent X3 on the vidcom. Indeed, he looked the part of a Colonial Fleet Intelligence operative than a copper.
He placed the Solenite on the power conduit. From another pocket, he took out an igniter. She watched as he seem to be analyzing the situation. "Once the conduit goes, so will main power. Your people will be able to replace this conduit and get power back online but until then, Sagremor will be deaf, blind and toothless."
Runa saw movement near the exit. One of the techs had seen them and being unarmed, dashed out into the corridor for the nearest telecom. She left Hunter and chased after the guy.
She didn't want to shoot him if she could help it but was aware that there may be little choice. If the tech notified Sagremor, it could endanger the Columbia. The only thing the tech did not take into account was that Runa was in great shape and running even in these confined spaces did not slow her down. She remembered where the nearest telecom was so she had mere microns to take him out.
The distance between them had narrowed, mostly because the tech constantly turned his head to see how far behind she was. To intent on her and not ahead, he tripped. He did get up but she knocked him back to the deck and grabbing his hair, shoved his head hard into the deck. The tech was out cold.
The ensign decided to check ahead, just in case they had more company but not so far that she couldn't render Hunter assistance if needed. Depending on how one interpreted it, there was no one else. She backtracked to the room.
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In the Operations Room, several levels above, Sagremor was impatiently waiting for the inevitable; a flash of light followed by the appearance of the crippled battlestar. A first strike and he could render his problem solved. It never occurred to him that the human species had been dwindled to just a few hundred thousand and that killing the Columbia's crew wouldn't help in the repopulation effort. He was, and always would be, a gangster bent on his own self-interest.
"I've got something on the security cam." Reported one of his underlings at a bank of computers screens. "It looks like Hunter with that dame from the Columbia…"
Sagremor was soon hovering over the man. "Where are they?" His voice was but a growl.
"It's the Solium tank room."
"What! Zoom in; I want to see what they're doing!" Sagremor looked over at one of his thugs. "Send some men down there. I don't care about the girl but bring Hunter to me."
The magnified image on the screen revealed Hunter attaching his Solenite explosive to the power conduit.
"Frak!" The crimelord exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the console.
"They won't arrive in time to stop him." Reported the tech. "If that conduit is destroyed, we will be on reserve power only, not enough for the ion cannon. If the tanks ignite, the whole station could go. I suggest we evacuate-."
Sagremor slammed his fist on the console again. "Is there any way to stop the detonation?"
"Not enough time." The tech had zoomed in on the Solenite explosive. "All we can do is try to minimize the effects. Hopefully the Solium tanks won't get damaged."
Sagremor slammed the man's head into the console then holding his hair, pulled him back, blood dripping from a broken nose. "I don't think so. Seal the bulkheads for that room. If Hunter wants to play hero then let him by a martyr for the cause."
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With the bomb in place, Hunter motioned with his head for the door but before Runa could take a step for it, a hissing followed by a clang was heard. Having served on ships, she knew the sound instantly and rushing over to the door, found it confirmed.
"We're sealed in!" She shouted tugging on the door but the red light above it was simply added proof.
Hunter rubbed his chin as he considered their limited options. He could defuse his bomb but then the Columbia would be exposed to the ion cannon's might. If he allowed it to explode, they could be ripped to shreds.
"Hunter." Came Sagremor's voice over the intercom. "Defuse your bomb or else you and your girlfriend will die with it. Hardly a perfect outcome for whatever traitorous notions your fraking mind was thinking." His words echoed through the room.
"You can't." Hissed Runa, worried about her shipmates.
Hunter looked around the room. There was no shelter from the explosion. The tanks should take the impact if they were built to standards but the shrapnel would cut them to ribbons. Think, he told himself, can't let Sagremor get away with this. His eyes fell on a ventilation shaft.
"Up there, hurry!" He pointed to the shaft.
Runa slung the SMG over her shoulder and attempted to remove the cover. It didn't budge. She saw a pipe, grabbed it and began prying it. With some elbow grease, the cover popped off. She had a penlight attached to her belt and she illuminated the shaft. Tight, confining spaces…"Ready." She said with some measure of reservation.
"Start crawling. We'll have about thirty microns before it detonates. I can't put it any longer in case Sagremor has his goons on the other side of that door just waiting to defuse it." When he saw only her boots poking out of the shaft, he primed the igniter. Hunter ran for the shaft and once inside yelled at Runa. "Go, go, go!"
The explosion was intense, tearing the power conduit apart and sending fragments to scatter around the room. He shoved her toward an intersecting shaft, just avoiding the flash flames and heat that came through.
They both looked at each other before he spoke. "The tanks held."
"No thanks to you. How much Solenite did you use?"
"Enough." He snapped. "Keep moving."
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In the Operations Room, It suddenly went dark as monitors, the lights and practically everything else shut down. Emergency lighting did come on a few microns later but that was about it. There were collective sighs of relief that the Solium tanks must had held since the station itself was not obliterated.
"Main power is down, though we still have life support." Reported one of his techs.
"What about the ion cannon!" Sagremor yelled, clenching his fists into sizable hammers.
"Without main power, we won't have sufficient ergons to bring it to operational status."
"What if we use every bit of power in this place, will we have enough then?" He was grasping at straws and he knew it.
"No. The batteries don't have the ergons." The tech looked at the black monitors. The station had enough generators should some fail but that didn't take into account major power failure.
"Frak. At least tell me that Hunter is dead!"
"Internal sensors are offline." The tech quickly added, "But if he was in that room, he'd be dead."
"Have the conduit repaired immediately."
"There was no spare in inventory and we simply don't have the time to repair from scratch if we want to go on the offensive when the battlestar arrives."
"We're a repair facility and we don't have a spare conduit! What fraking nonsense is that? Start repairs anyway. Where is Deric?" Sagremor asked about his lieutenant.
"We haven't heard from him since he was escorting the Columbia officers."
"They're here!" Shouted one of the thugs, looking out the view port into space, saw the Columbia coming out of jump.
"Initiate self destruct." Sagremor commanded. "If they want the station so badly…"
There was an ominous sense of doom among Sagremor's lackeys and many of them just wanted to escape rather than spend the rest of their natural lives incarcerated or blown to bits. Those in the Operations Room could not even attempt to flee, not if they wanted to survive the sire's wraith.
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Hunter and Runa felt the rumble as well but their position was far more perilous than those in Ops. Intense heat traveled through the vents and to them, it felt like they were in an oven but the sensation would get a lot worse if they stayed.
Seeing a vent, Hunter kicked it open and motioned for her to crawl out first then him. There was a drop to the floor into a partially darken room filled with an assortment of crates. He had scrapped his arm in the fall but she had escaped unscathed. Runa had her flashlight out to give a better illumination.
"Since we're still here, I guess the Solium tanks held up." He said, feeling his wounded arm and wincing as he did so. "We best get to the operations room."
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Sagremor watched in utter frustration as the Columbia slowly approached; a pair of vipers whizzing around her. "Frak." He hissed. His intentions were never honorable for if he had succeeded, it would simply been purely business. Now, the thought of dozens of marines flooding the docking ports made him realize what was at stake, his own survival.
He was about to head out one of the exits that lead to the landing bay when Hunter and Runa appeared, weapons trained on him and those unlucky to still be there.
"What's your hurry, Sagremor? Take a seat." Hunter motioned with the muzzle of his SMG to a chair.
"Drop the guns!" Runa ordered the three thugs that had attempted to reach for their pistols. They complied, grumbling and cursing.
"What the frak is this, Hunter? Selling us out to save your own skin?" Sagremor then smiled. "Wanting to take over the Cartel yourself…"
"Draken and the other bosses are dead. There isn't a Cartel anymore to take over or has it not gotten through your thick skull that the Colonies are gone." Snarled Hunter. "I'm with the Scorpian PD you stupid frak!"
"A fraking copper." Sagremor laughed. "I suppose I should have known. Your superiors are dead too, you need not have played the hero to this bitch." He motioned his head to Runa. "There is still profit to be made, regardless of whether Scorpia and the other Colonies exist or not and you could have gotten a piece of that action." He glared. "You going to arrest me, is that it? No judges, no courts; what did you have in mind?"
"Take out your gun nice and slow, Sagremor?" Hunter ordered, keeping his SMG trained solely on the crime boss.
"You killed Deric didn't you?" Sagremor shook his head as he pulled out his pistol and dropped it to the floor.
"The rest of you, on your knees, hands behind your heads!" Ordered Runa as she motioned her own weapon on the thugs and techs left in the room. "Move!"
The techs left their consoles and did as they were told. One of the thugs went for his back up piece. Runa saw it out of the corner of her eye and fired a short burst, taking him down. The other thugs soon obeyed her command and everyone but Sagremor was on their knees.
"You too. On your knees, hands behind your head." Hunter growled at Sagremor who stood definitely before slowly sinking to his knees.
Runa took a chance and glanced out the windows behind her. The Columbia loomed large as two raptors, filled with Marines, and escorted by vipers headed toward the station. Her radio chirped to life.
"What's your status, Ensign?"
"We have control of Ops and have Sagremor in custody. Main power is out, Sir. Suggest sending an engineering team to replace the main conduit." Runa replied into her radio.
"I'd suggest one of your techs as well." Sagremor sneered. "Self destruct sequence has been initiated. Soon we'll be nothing but bits and pieces."
"Check it out." Hunter ordered the ensign, as he watched the prisoners.
Runa went over to the consoles and soon saw one counting down. "Lords of Kobol. He's telling the truth. Five centons."
Hunter approached Sagremor and pressed the barrel of his SMG into the kneeling man's head. "Shut it down!"
"After ten microns, it will be impossible."
"In one micron, your head will be splattered all over this deck!"
"I may be agreeable to help under certain conditions." The crime boss stated, ignoring the threat of death imposed upon him. "Complete immunity for my crimes."
"Not my call."
"Then tell Commander Vinn. If he wants to repair his battlestar in an intact station, he'll agree. If not, we're all dead in less than ten centons."
Hunter grabbed a hold of Sagremor's sleeve, forced him to his feet, and shoved him to the console. "Deactivate it or I swear to Aries, I'll fraking kill you now."
"Police brutality, tsk, tsk. I told you my demands. You have less than nine centons now."
"Inspector?" Runa asked, waiting to know what to do, her voice betraying her anxiety.
"Frak! Tell the Commander." Hunter finally said.
Runa passed on the message, looking down at the chronometer counting down the time to oblivion.
It seemed like yahrens had passed but she suspected that Vinn was discussing his options with his key officers. Runa knew there wasn't any, not in the time available. They needed the station.
"Tell Mr. Sagremor, he'll get his immunity if he deactivates the destruct sequence and all his men disarm." Vinn finally replied.
Sagremor didn't answer and Hunter forced his weapon hard into the gangster's back, forcing him to lean over the console. It must have been agreeable for the gangster tapped commands into the interface and the chronometer stopped then came up DESTRUCT SEQUENCE DEACTIVATED.