Seeker
Part Three of the Mailman Saga
by Chaoseternus
Agreed rankunonalpha1, but I'm afraid as cold as it was, it was nessecary and believable
Two: Command
There had been no time to organise the resistance against their aptain and her Cylon allies, no time to figure out who the highest ranked loyalist officer was, who was actually in charge and so in the end, it had devolved to who had actually sounded like they had a clue what to do.
She had sounded like she knew what she was doing, she had put forward a simple plan she knew everyone could get behind, she had shouted that they would retake their ship.
And she certainly hadn't expected her assumption of Command to be legal.
It was certainly a shock, but in truth, she should have expected it to be a distinct possibility after all, what with all the officers killed as Helva assisted the Cylons in taking command of the ship, those officers she had been forced to order the deaths off to ensure the safety of the resistance forces she had little doubt were gathering at Earth. It had left her the as the Senior-most Bridge officer.
Sure, she was outranked by several of the Marines and a few of the Pilots but whilst a few of the Pilots had been working towards the rating, only she had the coveted QTC rating required to serve as a bridge officer, only she was Qualified To Command, legally speaking anyway.
Ironic considering her assignment was Stores Officer, a job that on any ship not belonging to E&E would be an NCO slot. It was a slight jump from the essential job of controlling all the distribution of supplies, the masses of fabrication equipment, the forty strong team of dedicated miners, artificers and general supply gatherers to Command the Colonial Exploration and Evaluation Vessel Seeker.
It was also a jump she would have to get used to.
"Okay" Cade shock herself awake, looking back at the expectant faces of the Department heads around her, most were NCO's uncomfortable with filling an officers slot, but like her if they were the most senior survivor of their department then they would have to get used to it, "first things first, engineering, we need to clear dodge and we need to do it now. I want engines back online and running yesterday, we don't have long before the Cylons start wondering about what's going on here, reinforcements could already be on there way"
"Marines I know you are still trying to figure out whose in Command, but drop it. I'm placing Cade in Command till you can come to a consensus between yourselves, right now; I want the ship searched from bow to stern, I don't want a single compartment or access tunnel skipped, clear?"
Cade nodded wearily at her officers as they voiced their agreement, "I will be on the bridge plotting a few jumps out as best I can, until then, do your best to get the ship as near to operational as possible, and for Kobols sake, try and get a personnel manifest for your departments up to me at some point, dismissed"
"Do we know the location of Earth?"
Cade shook her head wearily at her brother, "If anyone on the ship knows, they aren't telling. Frankly, whilst we all knew it existed the senior officers were very tight-lipped about where exactly it was, somewhat understandable but it leaves us in a bind now"
Her brother sighed, deep and resigned, "so, we cant flee to the only Colonial Outpost likely to be safe and uncompromised, we don't know the status of the Colonies but considering the sheer advancement shown by the basestar and the new warriors, its likely to be bad, bad enough the jumping in blind would certainly not be a good idea..."
She nodded acknowledgment of the swift salute of a passing NCO, "that's a fair assessment, but we also have to consider that we are duty bound to determine the status of the Colonies now we know there is a threat and if the Colonies are still effective, join in the fight against the Cylons, maybe even warn them of the developing threat if they don't already know"
"Our course is decided then," Her brother said, "we head for the colonies"
She nodded, "pretty much, but we have to be damned careful how we do it"
He nodded, "I'll warn the Marines and the flyboys. Is it safe to assume we will be jumping into a gulf region near the colonies and sending a Raptor in to recon?"
Cade nodded, "that sounds a sane plan, yes. Minor problem, we don't have any working Raptors"
"Ahh," the Marine shock his head, disgusted, "that would be a problem"
"We deployed with four online Raptors and parts for two more in storage," Cade nodded at the sentry as they entered the, no, her bridge, "we lost two after that Fubar in Mx-679, number three was caught in that unexpected eruption on Mx-565, four and five I ordered shot down after they were seized by the cylons and six was damaged beyond repair during the initial firefight in the port launch bay"
Cade shook her head, annoyed, "the shuttles aren't jump capable, the Commanders gig was unreliable as hell and shredded for parts a long time ago, apart from Seeker herself, we have nothing that is jump capable, and we aren't ready for a fight, not by a long shot"
Her brother grimaced, glancing around the bridge before moving closer, speaking into her ear quietly so no-one else could hear, "you need to take definite action though, and you need to do it now. The crew is unsettled and having an officer as young and low down on the Command chain as you were isn't helping. Understand this sis; your control over this ship is not firm. I am already hearing of mutinous talk from what I would normally consider reliable personnel"
Cade glanced startled, wide-eyed and more then a little fearful at her brother, "Are you...?"
His nod was all the response she required, and with a sigh she headed into her office, closing the door between herself and her brother. She had some thinking to do on her own.
Seeker finally arrived in the gulf on the edge of the Colonial Home system just three weeks after they had retaken their ship from the cylons.
In that time, Cade, supported by her brother and a few NCOs had been busy. First, she had rebuilt the essential core of ships officers, largely by promoting senior and experienced NCOs into the slots whether they wanted the extra rank or not.
Second, she had arranged for a few copies of the relevant regulations on mutiny to slip into the hands of those considered to be the worst offenders in the mutinous talk circulating the ship, putting them on notice that if they did try to take the ship from her, that they better do it right the first time, or they would face the full force of those regulations. Reminded that a Commander, regardless of how they came into that position, could legally do whatever the hell they wanted to mutineers in wartime helped damp the talk.
The fact that the bulk of the surviving Marine contingent made it clear that thanks to her actions during the battle, she had earned their respect also helped.
Cade had also been forced to shuffle crew, the severe depletion of personnel caused by the fight and the death of the bulk of the ships officers was placing a strain of those few personnel trained in shipboard operations. Cade had been forced to use the Marines, normally available just for shipboard security and ground operations as ships crew, arranging for them to be trained to operate the ships weapons systems, then shifting the navy weapons crew to other duties. The fact that several of the weapons technicians were suspect was secondary to the task of getting the best use out of the crew she had.
Those Marines who were trained in the use of ground support platforms were also retraining, their Atmospheric Pilots ratings receiving a swift upgrade to full Colonial Fighter Pilots ratings. That and a few other tricks meant that by the time Seeker arrived she was as close to fully operational as she was likely to come.
Seeker jumped into the Colonial System near Gemon the day after arriving at the gulf, and quickly went to full emcon. It become quickly clear that Gemon had been rendered uninhabitable by a nuclear bombardment, most likely by the Cylons considering the masses of Colonial debris they were stumbling across but other then a faint signal of an out bound jump that looked Colonial and several expanding debris fields that looked Cylon, there was no sign of any movement around Gemon.
A little puzzled and very angry, Cade ordered a jump to Caprica.
Unfortunately, as soon as the Seeker jumped in she was attacked by a pair of basestars and knowing that in a straight fight, the exploration ship couldn't face off against one of the new basestars, let alone two, Cade ordered an immediate retreat.
But, the Seeker had been noticed, and not just by the Cylons.
Cade grimaced, glancing around the council that was her senior officers, or more accurately, her senior NCOs, most of them hadn't gotten used to the fact that they were officers now, too long spent working up the Non-coms promotional chain.
"Question is simple people, what do we do now?"
"Fight back! Get some vengeance for what those things did to the colonies!"
"Simple to say," She shot back," harder to do. You've seen the new basestars and at a very close range at that. They are more then a match individually for a modern Battlestar and this isn't a full Battlestar. Seeker is designed for Exploration and Evaluation, not all out warfare and May I also remind you that we were headed back for refit when the former Commander had her little attack of barratry? We're short on those spares we cannot make ourselves, short on crew, the hull armour has become depleted simply because we have travelled through so much space, so much dust at high speeds..."
Cade shook her head, "and worse yet, no-one here knows where safety lies, nor have we found a written copy of its location anywhere"
"Your saying," the new Cag said, softly as ever, "that we cannot fight and we cannot run. What do you propose we do then?"
"That's what I asked you all here for" Cade replied, glad of the cue, "I want ideas, suggestions and I want them now"
Nodding, the Cag replied, "well, the Cylons are certainly searching for other survivors and whilst I wouldn't want to put any serious money on it, there was that outgoing jump as we arrived at Gemon"
Her brother nodded, "and the Cylon debris. Debris pattern was very tight, hadn't yet expanded very much, she's right. Whilst I wouldn't want to put serious money on it either, it does lead to the possibility of other units out there carrying on the fight"
Cade nodded, "I like it, maybe a little too much, if there are other units still fighting then it is in our best interests to make contact and continue the fight in a more co-ordinated manner but it also runs a heavy risk where ambush is concerned. But I don't think we should make our reason to be contact with other survivors, it would blind us to other opportunities and options"
"Agreed" the Cag rather reluctantly responded.
"What about old outposts such as Ragnar Anchorage and Midas Station?"
Cade shook her head, "risky, for the Cylons to have successfully destroyed the colonies in such a short amount of time they would have had to have achieved complete strategic surprise. For that to occur, well they would have needed to have a real good idea where all the Battlestars and the few surviving lesser warships were. For them to do that they could have spent a lot of time and effort observing ship movements, but compromising the central mainframes would carry a lot less risk"
"Frak" was the rather succinct and heartfelt response to that.
"Exactly," Cade glanced around the table, "and if they compromised central mainframes, then they knew the locations of at least 95 of all the Colonial Military units and outposts when they launched their attack, maybe about 60 of E&Es fixed facilities. They would certainly have found a good number of the remaining percentage points in short order. Frankly, any surviving locations must be considered suspect mainly because they are very nice bait"
"You're not helping get our spirits up here boss"
Cade grinned at the wry comment, "You want me to lead, expect me to try to consider all the possibilities, even those you don't want to hear"
She sighed, and continued, "Whilst we know there are a number of 'Last Resort' caches out there from the first Cylon war, we don't know where any of the surviving ones are, if they are compromised or if they are still safe. Many of them would be small caches set up by individual Captains, the big official ones would be the most useful to us but the most likely to have ended up on the mainframe at some point. Plus, we would still have to find them"
She shook her head, "we're in bad shape people, you might not want to make that obvious to the crew, but we are seriously in bad shape here"
"It might be worth having a word with the older hands, see if they might remember anything that may be of use"
Cade smiled, "A good suggestion Cag, could easily not give us anything but it costs us nothing to do. I'm sure you all know who best to talk to in your departments, add that to you're to do lists please."
"Any other ideas?"
"I know it might seem a little morbid, but if we find a debris field the Cylons aren't watching too closely "
"Salvage," Cade smiled, "that's certainly an option to remember. We'll brainstorm options and ideas for getting the most from such fields in a safe and quickly exitable way later. Consider it a new item on the agenda"
"What about a surface survey for survivors and equipment?"
"Unnecessarily risky," it was the Cag, a Jig Athena who fielded this one, "hostile territory, both space and ground threats, high probability of Cylon infiltrators trying to hook up with any resistance groups, high probability of prepared ambushes at surviving installations, plus we are more then a little low on radiation protective gear, we have none left that's rated for combat"
"And," the CMO, "a Captain Hellstein our stocks of the relevant drugs are unsafe, out of date"
Cade nodded once more, "We see an opportunity, and we'll use it. Other then that, it will have to left. I don't like it, but that's the way it has to be. Any more suggestions? No, then lets start talking debris fields..."
