== Part 51 – Trial of Wits ==
"So, how does this Trial thing work exactly?" Sharon asked.
"Among the Clans, there is a pre-Trial process called 'bidding' where the participants state the minimum forces they will require to win the Trial," Arrow explained. "The lowest bidder 'wins' the pre-Trial bidding if none of their competition is willing to underbid them because they don't believe they can win with forces that small."
"Like private companies supplying the military who promise the lowest cost when competing to supply a given product," Adama said.
"Exactly," Ampersand confirmed. "Except the bidder is held directly accountable for the... um, 'quality of their product'."
"That makes entirely too much sense," Adama muttered. After dealing with the Galactica's buggy systems for almost a year now, Sharon could only agree with the Admiral. Adama waved dismissively. "Continue."
'Yeah, so, we don't do that," Arrow said. "As Pound said, the terms of the Trial have to fit what's being fought over. Since Ampersand wants to challenge Sharon's abilities as a battlestar Commander, then Sharon at least will be commanding a battlestar for this Trial. Well a simulated battlestar at any rate. Her opfor will be controlled by Ampersand since she's the challenger. Everything else about the Trial, additional force composition, victory conditions, et cetera - is negotiable between the participants and any third part witnesses, with the general aim being that all Trial participants and a majority of the witnesses agree that all Trial participants have roughly equivalent forces."
"However, nothing requires a Trial participant to use all the forces they have at their command," Pound pointed out. "As in the Clan system, if you can win a victory while using fewer forces than you actually have available to you, that's a huge honor gain and a great testament to your skill. But if you use fewer forces than you have and lose, that's extremely shameful because you just showed everyone how foolish you are."
"I don't know about Ampersand," Sharon began, "but I have no intention of fighting with one arm tied behind my back."
"Hmm... I suppose it would be insulting to you if I didn't give it my all either," Ampersand said patronizingly, as if she were already conceding an advantage to Sharon.
"Very well," Dot said, stomping up to the holotable and putting one finger in its control fluid. The holographic projector sprang to life and a generic looking battlestar model appeared on Sharon's side of the table. It didn't match any specific class that Sharon knew. "What forces do you bid for Trial?"
"You get to go first," Ampersand told Sharon with a smile. "I'm the one who challenged you after all."
"Okay," Sharon said thoughtfully. "I'd be remiss in my duty as a Colonial Fleet Officer if I provided you the specs for our current battlestars, 'obsolete technology' or not. So I'll go with something you guys should already have the all specs on. I bid one Columbia class Battlestar with the full Jupiter II refit from the end of the Cylon War with a full complement of two hundred Mark II Vipers and forty Raptors. That means full armor, not the stripped down version from the show that you guys like so much."
"Bid accepted," Dot noted. The battlestar model changed into the specific class and configuration that Sharon had specified. Next to it appeared Mark II Vipers and Raptors, each small craft type arranged in their own easily countable grid patterns.
"Seriously? You're going with those old relics?" Ampersand asked, surprised.
"I am," Sharon answered. She grinned a challenge at the other Cylon. "Why? Were you planning on curb stomping me with superior Inner Sphere weapons and armor technology? I thought this was supposed to be a Trial of command skill, not who has the better hardware."
"Well, I... uh that is..." Ampersand stammered. She stopped, took a deep breath, exhaled loudly, and then said sheepishly, "I figured you'd be using Inner Sphere technology for your forces."
"But Ampersand, none of our battlestars or Vipers have Inner Sphere technology on them," Sharon told her disingenuously. It wasn't quite true after all; the Vesta had a shiny new coat of Inner Sphere armor, the Galactica was getting refitted with the same, and the Cylons ought to know that since they had people watching the ongoing refit. But again, the exact specs of those refits fell under the whole "things Colonial Officers shouldn't share with outsiders". "I can't fight at my best if I don't even know the capabilities of the forces that I'm commanding," Sharon added.
"To be fair, we shouldn't be providing the Colonials with the specs and performance data on our current hardware either," Asterisk added. "Amp, your bid should probably consist of generic Inner Sphere units whose specs are already public knowledge."
"What? Oh, no. Hell, no," Ampersand replied adamantly. She turned to address Sharon. "You'd love that wouldn't you? If I use Inner Sphere technology at all, you can just tell everyone that I beat you with superior tech no matter how small a force size I bid. Isn't that right?"
Sharon said nothing. She just raised an eyebrow back.
"Fine, have it your way," Ampersand all but growled. "I bid one War era Basestar with a full complement of four hundred Tauron Raiders."
"Hurgh..." Dot emoted aloud as the requested double disk basestar and Raiders appeared neatly arranged on Ampersand's side of the table. "Bid accepted."
"Is there a problem?" Adama asked Asterisk quietly.
"Centurions don't like being reminded of the war," Asterisk whispered back. "And they certainly never liked flying Raiders. So Amp's bid is bit triggering for Dot, but I think Dot can handle it."
"Two Raiders for every Viper?" Pound said questioningly. "Ampersand, isn't that ratio a bit low given the actual exchange rates during the war?"
"I don't need more," Ampersand insisted. "This is about command skill, remember? And a good commander can make up for a lack of individual effectiveness."
"I couldn't agree more," Sharon said confidently.
"Are these bids acceptable to all parties?" Dot asked. "Vote yes or no."
All of the Cylons present voted yes.
"Admiral Lee Adama, how do you vote?" Dot asked, looking directly at the Admiral.
"I get a vote?" Adama asked, surprised.
"You are Sharon's commanding officer," Arrow pointed out. "And Sharon is the challenged party. So yes, you get a vote."
"Okay then," Adama said slowly. "Then yes, I'm fine with the given force sizes."
"Thank you, sir," Sharon said.
"Very well, bids have been accepted by eight seven percent of all parties," Dot announced.
"Eighty seven percent?" Adama asked, confused.
"Yeah, we've got some Cylons tuning in to watch by remote," Asterisk told him. "It's like... what? A quarter of Langhorne's Cylon population?"
"And it's only that low because most of them have day jobs that need doing," Ampersand added.
"Great. Then I get to show you up in front of everyone," Sharon said confidently.
"You mean I'll be the one showing you up," Ampersand countered, just as confidently.
"What are the context and victory conditions of the Trial?" Dot asked, formally.
"What does that mean?" Sharon asked.
"Battles aren't always just kill or be killed affairs. In fact, they usually aren't," Arrow explained. "A battle will typically occur in the midst of a greater conflict, with objectives beyond just 'kill the enemy'. Taking and holding ground. A lightning raid by light forces aimed at destroying valuable supplies and installations. Covering friendly forces to buy them time as they reposition or retreat. That sort of thing. 'Kill or be killed' is usually the means to an end, not the end itself. Dot is asking what the objectives for both sides are, what any special rules of engagement that they're going to be bound by, and that will tell us what the victory conditions are going to be."
"I'm hearing a lot of suggestions for the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage," Sharon said slowly. "What is that? I've heard of Ragnar Anchorage, but I don't remember there ever being any battle there."
"It's from that pilot miniseries you guys made," Asterisk answered. "Basically, the Galactica has to protect a fleet of civilian ships as they exit the gas giant Ragnar and jump out. The waiting Cylon force has to destroy the Galactica, or at least as many civilian ships as they can."
"Oh, not that show again," Sharon groaned.
"Wait a minute," Ampersand objected. "Those are some very asymmetrical victory conditions that hugely favor the defense. The defending battlestar only has to last long enough to get all the civilian ships and itself out. The attacking force actually has to destroy the civilian ships while they're in the middle of jumping away while the battlestar is distracting them, or destroy the battlestar before all the civilian ships get away. We've gamed this out lots of times; it's near impossible for the attacker to win without some huge numerical advantage or there being a ridiculously large number of civilian ships to protect."
"Okay then, so remove the civilian ships and make the victory conditions be the Commander with the last ship still flying," Sharon suggested.
"A simple kill or be killed scenario?" Ampersand mused. "Fine. It's not like we're holding a Command Trial for an actual mission."
Murmurs of agreement came from everyone watching.
"Very well," Dot said finally when the votes were tallied. "Starting conditions for Commander Sharon Tyol is battlestar with all smallcraft on board located by Ragnar Station. Starting Conditions for Ampersand is basestar with all Raiders on board waiting outside Ragnar's atmosphere directly above Ragnar Station." The holographic display changed to reflect Dot's stated deployments. "Victory conditions for both sides is the destruction of the opposing party's flagship or if the opposing party FTL jumps to flee the battle zone. Is there any additional context that any party would like to add?"
"Yes, I would like to add a rule," Sharon said, staring straight at Ampersand to gauge her reaction. "All commands to my forces are to be done entirely verbally."
There was a momentary pause as before Ampersand, Asterisk, and Arrow began all shouting at once. Dot was as impassive as ever. Pound looked like his dog had just permanently died. Adama looked alarmed. The situation wasn't much different on the Cylon network as questions flew back and forth, mostly questioning if Sharon had lost her mind. Sharon just stood by the table and waited with a small smile on her face, as if she had already won.
"Sharon, why would gimp yourself like that?" Asterisk asked when the hub bub died down a bit. "This is a simulated battle. You can give all your battle commands via direct connection to the command table here."
"It's because I am a battlestar Commander, not a basestar Commander," Sharon explained. "Colonial battlestars do not have direct neural links that translate my every thought into orders. I can't compress complex orders and meaning into a fraction of a second burst of information and still have any of my crew or pilots understand what I want them to do. When I have to give orders, I have to use spoken words. Yes it's slow and clumsy compared to the Cylon mental network, but that's all I have to work with.
"You on the other hand," Sharon continued, pointing at Ampersand from across the table, "you can use the network to command your forces. If I recall correctly, the Cylons have always had the mental network. You just didn't have proper tactical commanders until Nine practically invented the job for you at the Battle of Langhorne."
"But, if you only give your orders verbally, I'm going to have a hugely unfair advantage," Ampersand said slowly as she worked through the implications of Sharon's rule. "It won't be a proper, honorable victory if I use my advantage in giving orders to beat you. I won't actually prove that I'm the better Commander."
"Ampersand..." Pound began in a warning tone.
"Look, Pound, I know what you're going to say," Ampersand said, cutting him off. "And yes, in a real fight, I'd exploit the hell out of our network advantage. But this isn't a real fight with real stakes. This is a friendly competition where the only thing on the line is our pride. So Dot, put me down for verbal orders only too."
"Very well," Dot acknowledged. "Objection: Standard Trial Rules are that Trials must be conducted double blind. Verbal commands will be heard by opposing Commanders, violating the double blind rule. Do you wish the verbal commands only rule to override the double blind rule?"
"I have no problem with Ampersand eavesdropping on me," Sharon said. "This is as she said, a friendly competition, not a real fight."
"Ditto," Ampersand agreed.
"Are there any additional context that any party would like to implement?" Dot asked.
"No," Sharon and Ampersand said simultaneously. A similar negative consensus came in over the network.
"Trial context and special rules have been defined," Dot continued. "Are these acceptable?"
A general positive consensus came back.
"Bargained well and done. The Trial terms have been accepted," Dot announced. "Participants, you have fifteen minutes to organize your forces and formulate procedures and plans for them to implement. Place your hand in the control trough to begin."
Sharon and Ampersand did as they were told, dipping one hand each into the control fluid in the trough in front of them. As they did, opaque holographic walls appeared cutting off their views of the central battle display. In front of Sharon, multiple 2D windows appeared, status displays of her virtual battlestar group that appeared antiquated but still readable to her eyes. As Sharon uploaded pre-formulated plans, Colonial SOP, and default organizational charts from her mind, she saw the Viper status display organize itself into wings and squadrons and nodded her approval.
Sharon also noticed that individual Vipers came with piloting and gunnery stats with enough variation between them to make for what she assumed was a standard mix of veteran, average, and green pilots. She began manually moving Vipers between squadrons in order to get what she felt would be an ideal balance of veteran and green pilots for each individual squadron.
Sharon was still doing fine tuned tweaks to her plans and unit organization when she felt her direct connection to system cut off.
"Organizational phase is complete," Dot announced. Sharon withdrew her hand from the command fluid and assumed Ampersand was doing the same. Or at least, no one was calling her out on failing to do so. "Trial begins... now."
In Sharon's mind's eye, the world around her shifted. With her real eyes and ears, she could still see the Symbol Constellation office and the people in it. But in her mind's eye, Sharon was standing in what looked eerily like the CIC of the old Galactica, the first battlestar she had ever served on. Around her, nondescript virtual crew went about their duties as if they were the real thing. This was Cylon projection, an ability Sharon had rarely used since she had been awoken from being a Sleeper.
"Commander," a virtual Petty Officer called. "All Viper squadrons report ready for launch."
Wow, Sharon thought, impressed by the verisimilitude. Dot was really going all out on the simulation.
A quick scan of the Dradis display showed no Cylon forces. But of course it wouldn't; the highly charged and radioactive clouds of Ragnar would block the Ampersand's basestar and raiders from view until they closed the distance with each other, or until Sharon's battlestar left the cloud cover. But by the same token, they blocked Sharon's forces from Ampersand's view.
"Launch all squadrons," Sharon ordered.
"Launch all squadrons," Ampersand echoed almost immediately.
Lee could read Sharon's displays over her shoulder, but they only told half the story. He stepped a quarter way around the command table so he could get a good view of actual disposition of all units and wound up standing next to Pound.
"While cheering is permitted," Dot said, looking directly at Lee, "Providing tactical advice may be considered grounds for forfeiture of the Trial, especially when you have access to tactical data that the participants do not."
"All squadrons form up," Ampersand was saying. "First squadron, shift your position north by five hundred meters..."
Sharon said nothing. She just continued to watch her own Vipers deploy and form up on their own.
"Understood," Lee replied to Dot. He noticed Pound was still looking despondent. "You don't look like you expect your team to win," Lee whispered to Pound, keeping his voice down so as to not distract the participants.
"I think you know what's about to happen as well as I do," Pound whispered back.
"Eighth squadron, form up behind First," Ampersand was saying. "No no on, I mean the other behind..."
"Blue squadron, take recon," Sharon said suddenly. A squadron of Vipers started breaking upwards through the relatively clear tunnel created by the eye of the permanent storm that Ragnar Station was parked in. "Gold and Silver Squadrons, execute Plan A." Another pair of squadrons flew off an upward forty five degree angle into the storm itself. "All remaining squadrons are on standby."
"What? Dammit, I haven't finished deploying yet," Ampersand said, annoyed. "Frak, I said that out loud. Uh, First Squadron, start recon descent. Spread out a little more..."
Lee nodded in agreement. Ampersand was giving far too much away with her orders because she was doing far too much micromanaging of her Raiders. Sharon in contrast was being far more efficient with her orders, because her virtual Vipers already knew what was expected of them. Lee supposed that it was as Sharon had said; the Cylon network allowed for complex orders to be transmitted and understood in a fraction of a second, which allowed a far greater level of micromanagement than any competent human military would have found acceptable. Being limited to the speed of her mouth was tripping Ampersand up.
As Lee watched, the rising Viper recon squadron ran into their descending Raider counterparts. Naturally, there was a clash as they began dogfighting each other, and the Raiders were clearly getting the worst of it.
"Frak! All squadrons, move to reinforce First," Ampersand ordered. As one, her Raiders began their descent into Ragnar's atmosphere. "Third squadron, shift left and spread out. Fourth squadron, shift right and spread out. Dammit. All squadrons, try to maintain clear forward lanes of fire."
It was too late, Sharon's scouts finished off Ampersand's First Squadron, spotted the incoming tidal wave of Raiders, and began retreating back to Sharon's battlestar without orders. Ampersand's orders actually slowed the pursuing Raiders down a notch, allowing the faster Vipers to build an even greater lead.
"Battlestar and Standby Squadrons," Sharon said suddenly. "Move up to support Blue."
"What? Dammit, I forgot... Basestar, begin descent and provide fire support to Raider Squadrons," Ampersand said quickly. "Sixth through Tenth squadrons, try to flank around..."
The Viper and Raider main bodies ran into each other, with Sharon's battlestar providing a wall of exploding flak right up through the middle of their furball while Ampersand's basestar began its painfully slow descent into Ragnar's clouds. The flak wall didn't nail many Raiders, but that wasn't the point. The point was to disrupt the Raiders' formations to prevent them from ganging up on the outnumbered human piloted Vipers, a tactic straight out of the Cylon War.
For several long minutes, that was the state of the battle. Ampersand kept trying to micromanage her Raiders, which only seemed to hurt their performance as her orders were often obsolete before they finished leaving her mouth. Sharon continued to say nothing. A force status counter provided for Adama's benefit showed the number of Sharon's Vipers dropping, but nowhere near as fast as Ampersand's Raider count was going down.
"Hmm, I'm thirsty," Sharon said suddenly, which seemed totally inappropriate to the Trial, She turned away from the display in front of her. "Asterisk, could I get a cup of water?"
"Oh, uh, sure," Asterisk agreed uncertainly, moving to the water cooler in the corner.
Sharon was taking her first sip when Ampersand's basestar finally began dropping missiles into the fighter furball. Ampersand didn't have to worry much about hitting her own Raiders as they were now well outnumbered by the Vipers killing them.
"Took you long enough," Sharon told Ampersand. "Gold and Silver Squadrons, execute Plan B."
"What..." Ampersand began, but her aborted question was answered when two fresh Viper Squadrons charged out of Ragnar's storm clouds right into the face of Ampersand's basestar and gleefully started blowing away exposed weapons, Dradis arrays, and anything else that was exposed and looked vaguely important. "Frak! Basestar all defensive fire go!"
"Red and Green Squadrons, finish off the Raiders," Sharon said casually. "Everyone else, move to support Gold and Silver and engage the basestar." She paused for a couple seconds and then added irritably. "That includes the battlestar."
Ampersand fell silent and stared dumbfounded as her basestar started getting swarmed under and the last of her Raiders were picked off. When Sharon's battlestar began opening fire on her basestar, Ampersand finally conceded.
"Okay, I give, Sharon. You win," Ampersand sighed. The sim froze. She gave a slight laugh. "Damn, I really walked into that one."
"Good job, Commander," Adama complemented after they had left the Symbols' office.
"Thanks, sir," Sharon replied. "I doubt I would have been able to beat her if we had both used the Cylon network to pass out orders instead of our voices. She'd have had far more practice using it than me." She shrugged. "But this was a Trial to test Command ability, and as they say, seventy percent of winning battles is what you do before the fight even starts." Sharon paused thoughtfully. "Or was it ninety percent?"
"So what made you decide to go with entirely vocal commands?" Adama asked.
"I listened closely to the story of how the prototype Nine managed to make the Cylons' original hardware much more effective by assuming direct control," Sharon told him. "It seemed likely that the Cylons would only have improved and refined that system since then, so if I had any hope of winning the Trial, I had to talk Ampersand into not using it.
"Oh, and sir? I think things would have gone very differently if it had been Pound that had challenged me to the Trial," Sharon added. "I'm pretty sure he and the Blue model he's based on are the smartest Cylons we've met so far, almost as smart as Duchess Eve Steiner. He almost certainly wouldn't have let me talk him into using vocal commands. And if he did, I'd give it an even chance that he'd beat me anyway."
