"Haddad." Baltar said with a faulty whimper as he tried to gather himself. Baltar then tried it again with a little more gusto and urgency. "Haddad!"
Baltar looked at the sight of Galactica as flames arose from the impact and explosion of the live nuclear warhead. From behind him Haddad entered the command center.
"Yes, Master Baltar?" the android said, seemingly unaware of the mishap.
"Look." Baltar said frantically, pointing at the monitor.
Haddad leaned over. His red glaring eyes stared at the display. "It appears the missiles warhead had somehow become active?"
Baltar gave Haddad a look of disbelief. "Somehow became active? How do you suppose that happened? I specifically requested that the warheads to be disabled."
Haddad originally heard the order and intended to follow through with it. His programming demanded it. But Baltar was not aware that Haddad was following another order from a much higher power with the ability to override the IL-Series primary protocol. Shortly after leaving the command center Haddad had received a command from another location in space located within the Cylon fleet. His order now was to ignore Baltar's command to disarm the warheads, leaving them active to cause the most amount of damage possible to the Human's fleet. He followed the orders of Ones and Zeros exactly as he received them. Included in that overriding order was another. Once decoded by Haddad it gave him an artificial sense of satisfaction. An order that Baltar would wish he could override himself.
Aboard the Galactica the radiation alarms sounded throughout the Battlestar. In the CIC the crew began to gather themselves as most were knocked off of their feet from the blast. After a few anxious minutes of confusion, Adama reached his feet.
"Damage report." He said as a thin stream of blood ran down the side of his temple.
Colonial Tigh tugged on the bottom of his officer jacket as he straightened himself out from the impact of the missile. His eyes met Adama's. The Old Man after all these years was a shell of the officer Tigh once knew. He had to admit that he himself was no spring chicken either. Between the Galactica's Sharon's failed assassination attempt on Adama's life to Caprica Sharon's sacrificing her own life to save Adama, he had changed. Depending on whom you asked, you would get different answers. Tigh tended to think that Adama had lost faith. Not in a religious manner, but more so of not being able to trust his own instincts.
Adama gave up trying to trust Sharon only to be proven wrong by her taking a bullet for a man who had imprisoned her as well had taken her baby away. Both actions were in the best interest of the fleet. But Adama had a hard time dealing with the realization that it was his lack of trust that led him to both decisions. Still, after all he had done, Sharon sacrificed herself. He has since pondered that perhaps the wrong person died that day. He often thought that she was right. Maybe humanity didn't deserve to survive.
"Reports are just coming in." Lt. Gaeta said between gasps of air. He had fallen against the Dradis console when the missile hit, knocking the wind out of him. He had taken a look around the CIC and it appeared to his relief that everyone seemed to not be suffering any major injures. The reports had been rolling off the printers and he hoped the news on the 4 corners clipped sheets of paper was just as good.
"Aft hull damage is being reported, sir." Gaeta continued. "Faster Then Light Drive's Navigation systems are offline due to the direct hit to engineering and…" Gaeta paused. Even though it was all bad news that he read, it was the next line that caused him to shutter nervously. With his pupils dilated Gaeta continued. "Coordinates for the fleets new location have been lost."
"We've lost the fleet?" Tigh responded. "How soon till we have their location, Lieutenant?"
Gaeta left his post and walked over to Tigh and Adama at the Dradis Console. "With the FTL Navigation system offline it could be hours before we could plot a accurate jump to the fleet or anywhere. That is if we can repair it."
"Well, get to it then." Tigh ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Adama continued to stare at the Dradis. Tigh looked up at the Dradis screen as well on his side of the Dradis console. He knew exactly what Adama's attention was focused on. "The Basestars have recalled their Raiders. We're ripe for the taking and they're recalling their fighters?"
It didn't sit well with Adama either. There was only one reason for this.
"They're going after the civilian fleet." Adama announced. "They know we're stuck in the mud and they have the fleets coordinates."
"We need to do something." Tigh said with urgency.
"Mr. Gaeta, do we have firing capabilities?" Adama inquired.
Gaeta looked over his information hectically. "Yes."
"Concentrate fire on one of the two Basestars. Lets at least eliminate one of them before they jump. We need to give the fleet some kind of a fighting chance."
"Yes, sir." Gaeta responded. "It appears the fire has been brought under control in engineering."
"Even one Basestar will cut the fleet to shreds without the protection of Galactica." Tigh said with a dark matter of fact tone.
Adama took off his glasses to massage his tired eyes. "I know."
Baltar paced the command center frantically. He needed to give himself some extra time to think. Recalling the Raiders was a beginning, as that would give him just enough time to come up with something. What that was, he wasn't sure. He knew someone was now working against him.
"Their next move will be to kill you." Six said as she sat in Baltar's command chair with her legs crossed and her eyes fixed on Baltar.
"Do you think?" Baltar said shortly. That realization that his life was in danger more so then before came shortly after seeing the Galactica aft in flames. He did not need Six to explain the looming doom of his situation.
"You need to escape."
"Really. How do you suppose I do that? Where shall I go?"
Six stood up from the command chair and walked over to the flush faced Baltar. She began combing her fingers through his hair. His eyes rolled back and then closed. For a moment he felt relaxed by her soothing act. "Galactica appears to have put the fire out from the blast. I'd figure within minutes they will be jumping to the fleet. That is if they're capable of a Faster Then Light jump. If not, they'll just sit there, unable to come to the rescue of the fleet."
"The fleet is fine, no one knows their location except for me and…" Baltar paused. Everything that had happened was beginning to make sense. "Haddad."
Six had a look of pride on her face as a mother would when her child accomplished a goal. "He has probably already sent the coordinates of the fleet to the Imperious Leader. It would only take a matter of minutes for a Cylon fleet to intercept it and even less to annihilate the unarmed civilian ships."
In space the Galactica began firing their turrets at the Basestar stationed next to Baltar's. Gaius was pleasantly surprised at the Galactica's actions. They're not jumping; they're firing back. This was an odd play for the Galactica indeed. It appeared that they didn't have FTL capability. Everything was falling into place and Baltar could hardly believe it.
He gave himself a minute to gather all of the information swirling around in his head. With little amazement of himself, he had devised a plan to save his own skin. It was a simple plan, but it needed the Galactica to stay right where they are. Keeping Adama alive was no longer a concern for him as the Cylons wanted Baltar dead. He had stopped caring about finding Earth a long time ago. He really couldn't remember the last time he concerned himself with that issue at all.
Baltar needed proof that the Galactica was dead in the water and the incoming fire that the neighboring Basestar was taking was proof enough.
He knew he could no longer trust Haddad to follow through with his Baltar's orders. It was up to him to make the destruction of the Galactica so. Now in his command chair, he began typing boisterously on the keyboard attached to the command chair. The Basestar continued to take fire, without any responding attack. The destruction of the Basestar appeared to be part of Baltar's plan.
Baltar continued typing with Six now by his side. "What are you doing?" Six asked as she looked on quizzically over his shoulder.
"I'm stealing a page from your own Cylon playbook, my dear." Gaius replied. "I have command of these Basestars. And with that, access to the Cylon Mainframe of these Basestars. I'm letting Galactica do the dirty work for me. I need that Basestar destroyed."
"There are thousands of Cylons on that Basestar." Six responded in anger.
"Better them, then me."
In the CIC, Adama and Tigh watched as the ease of the destruction of the Basestar was becoming apparent.
Tigh, still trying to recover from the aches and pains of the nuke's impact turned to Adama. "Why are they not returning fire? Who ever has control of those Basestars is a fraking idiot."
Baltar sat firmly in his command chair as he stared out at the one-sided firefight commencing in space. Behind him Haddad entered with two Centurions on each of his side. Baltar could hear the clanking of the Centurions march towards him. The brooding bullet head designed Cylons lurked closer. Baltar reflected an unusual calm on his face, even with the Centurions edging closer, with no doubt sharing the intent with Haddad to end Baltar's life.
Haddad now stood in front of Baltar as the Centurion's lifeless red beam of light swaying back in forth. "I am aware of your infiltration of the Basestar Mainframe. I will now need you to relinquish your control over our defenses." Haddad said.
Baltar stared at Haddad. With a fortified smile from Baltar, Haddad had his answer.
"I see. I was commanded to wait till we found the civilian fleet again to discard you of your life, but with your treasonous actions you have forced me to commence in that order earlier then expected."
"I have control of the mainframe, Haddad. There is nothing that you can do." Baltar replied quite confidently.
"Your control of the Basestar's systems has no affect over me. I am not linked to the Basestar's network. Your plan has failed."
"You're right, I do not have control of you." Baltar confessed. "But, I do have control of these Centurions."
With a tap of a button on his command chair console by Baltar, the order ran though the Cylon Basestar Mainframe backdoor he had created. In a second the command reached the two centurions. As the command computed, the two Centurions turned on their fellow Cylon and opened fire on the IL-Series android. In the process each centurion was caught in each other's crossfire. In a loud violent sight of flying bullets and sparks, all three Cylons fell to the ground. Simultaneously in space the Basestar under attack by the Galactica exploded within a chain of explosions.
Baltar stood up from his command chair and walked through the smoke of the smoldering wires and hardware of the three dead Cylons. He comfortably knew that due to the IL-Series out of date programming he did not have the ability to resurrect. The Cylon fleet, he was sure would try to communicate back to the IL-Series Android to confirm the completion of his orders. He had little time to act. He knew the Cylons had the civilian fleet location and were probably already in route to them. Baltar had to get there quickly, but he still had one last pressing issue. What to do about the Galactica?