Chapter 9 – 62 days since the Cylon Holocaust
Planet Beta, Carillon Star System
Outside of the 12 Colonies
Admirals' quarters on Battlestar Mars.
"Let me see if I am understanding this Commander Marcus. You believe there is…" Admiral Taylor was clearly struggling for words."
Marcus offered, "Merit, sir?" The Commander of the VIrgon was standing at attention.
Taylor thought it over for a second, "Very well Commander lets go with that. You believe there is MERIT in the objections that ADMIRAL Kahn has raised to his sentence and those of the others?" From the harsh edge to MERIT and ADMIRAL it was obvious that Taylor wasn't happy.
"Admiral what I think of Kahn and the rest is one thing. You asked me to review Major Pluto's briefing and the appeal of the defense. I wasn't party to Kahn's actions or part of the trial and I have training as a lawyer even if its civil rather than military law. I am an outsider in all of this. You want to follow the forms of the laws. Well by the Articles of War a sentence of death from a Court-Martial is to be confirmed by the President of the 12 Colonies. Before it gets to the president's desk it has to be confirmed up the military chain of command."
It took all of Taylor's control to not show how annoyed he felt. "Commander I confirmed the death sentences and in time of war we don't need the President to confirm the sentence."
"That is true admiral but the Congress didn't declare war…" Before Taylor could object Marcus raised his hand, "OK, lets set aside all of the issues revolving on around civilian authority. After all there is no civilian authority at this point, the Cylons saw to that."
"There is still a military chain of command even if a shattered one within this battlegroup Commander." Taylor knew this was an important moment for fleet he assembled and very much wanted it done right. "Hence why I want military law and precedent followed as much as practical under our circumstances."
The Virgon noble nodded in agreement, "I am with you sir and applaud your objectives but a system of justice has certain features beyond a fair trial and that is some form of appeal process. You were both the Presiding Officer of the Court-Martial and also the Convening Authority. There was no separation between the two and while I personally feel that Kahn's line about you being 'biased' is bullshit someone might try to spin this."
Part of Taylor wanted to just toss Kahn and his other scumbags out a handy airlock. Having to deal with this legal nonsense was proof that no good deed goes unpunished. "Very well Commander how do we resolve this conflict of interest? Obviously in the future I will not sit on any more Court-Martials."
"For the future that will work. For our current situation we have a few options. First is we try to re-establish some form of civilian authority and allow a new president to hear the appeal but there are all sorts of problems with that idea."
"Obviously." Taylor had been thinking about that very point. What to do about setting up authority for the fleet outside of his role as a Colonial Flag officer. "That needs to be addressed but its too complex and we can't settle today. What else?"
"I don't think a new trial will work; it will just drag it out. Best option is I fully reviewed the case and all of the briefings. You only asked me if I felt there was merit. Which I think there is. It would be irregular but if you want you can empower me to as the appeal authority. We hold the appeal hearing and I preside."
On some level Taylor knew it was going here. It was on one hand unfair to the young Commander to place him in spot of perhaps overriding his commanding officers ruling. Life wasn't always fair and it was for the good of the fleet. "That is odds are the best we can hope for under the circumstances. Get with Major Pluto…"
Marcus opened a folder he had been carrying. "I took the liberty Admiral. If you would carefully review and if you are satisfied sign it. At that point I would suggest we move to schedule the appeal hearing"
Taylor glanced over the two-page document that Marcus and Pluto created. "Very well and thank you for your efforts"
XXX
CIC of Battlestar Herja
Orbit of Planet Beta
Commander Hender was at a side station on the Valkyrie Class battlestar work on list of crews to be drafted for the Neptune. Tomorrow she and 300 other crew of the Herja would become the core crew of the Neptune. It would be a great deal of time before the Neptune would leave Daidalos but settling a crew into a ship was a process that started well before leaving dock. More transfers would be coming from Mars and other ships but over half of her crew would be drafts from the 220 civilian ships that made up the bulk of the fleet. Integrating so many along with putting the draftees through basic and technical school was going to be massive headache. The upside was the Neptune was twice as long as the Herja and far more capable; if they could really repair her. A part of Hender's mind told her she was letting her tendency to be overly worried get the better of her.
"Commander report from the scouts of the orbital fuel depot. Toasters opened the passageways up to space and dumped the Tylium stores." The report pulled Hender away from her musings on the Neptune.
When the fleet first arrived at the outer colony in the Carillon Star System it first appeared by some luck the Cylons hadn't attacked the place. The orbital depot had its transponders going. But that brief hope died quickly when the lack of response to challenges and of course the radiological readings from the planet itself were noted. A mining outpost had been established 58 years ago but abandoned less than ten years later because of the First Cylon war. After the war the outpost had been re-established and had grown to be home to over 50,000 people on the planets surface and in space. The planet was very metal rich, so rich that surface mining was worthwhile compared to doing asteroid mining. If the world wasn't marginal in terms of habituality, low on water and some locations might as well be toxic waste dumps from the metal deposits. Last the planet was home to a large carnivorous insectoid species that viewed humans as being on the menu. If it wasn't such a harsh location the colony would no doubt have been home to even larger population.
"Very well pass the report onto Mars. Inform the scout Raptors they are clear to do over flights on the settlements." Hender didn't expect much from the overflights they could tell from orbit that the Cylons nuked the planet.
XXX
Basestar in outer reaches of Carillon.
A Gold Centurion entered the command center of the basestar. "We have arrived at our desired jump coordinates."
The IL Series Cylon known as Lucifer nodded, "What of the Colonials are they still here?" Lucifer had set scouts at each of the six closest systems to the 12 Colonies waiting for Mars and or its fleet to arrive. When Mars showed up the scout had jumped way to summon Lucifer and his basestar.
"Yes sir. They are still in orbit of the mining planet. No change in location and no sign of the heretics."
This was perfect. Lucifer wasn't certain of the Imperious Leaders logic here but for now carrying out the mission was all that mattered. "Launch the captured Raptor on its mission as planned."
"By your command."
XXX
Basestar in Orbit of Caprica
One of the humanoid Cylons, a Four, was running their hands through the fluid that allowed them to interface with the organic systems of the ship. "A report has come in from one of the deep space pickets. Mars and her fleet are in the Carillon System."
A smile broke out on the One's face, "At last we have them. Carillon is only just 5 light years away. Assemble the fleet and jump there."
The Eight shook her head, "What are we dealing with? This is the first time we have reports of Mars outside of the area near the 12 Colonies."
Consulting the data. "The picket reports there are over 200 ships in the fleet now."
"God damn, that is four times as large as the fleet Galactica has." The two was horrified.
There are is brief shouting and arguing over what has been learned until the humanoid Cylons all use the pool to get the data. The Cylon leadership is shocked at the number of ships the humans assembled. This was without hitting the last anchorage! After a brief debate the Cylons agree to attack.
XXX
Twenty Light Seconds away from Planet Beta, Carillon Star System
FLASH!
A colonial Raptor appeared and started to broadcast a message.
"This is Raptor 51204 of the Battlestar Brunhild to any colonial units please respond."
XXX
In CIC of the Mars
The communication officer on Mars went through their scripts, "Raptor 51204 this is the Battlestar Mars provide recognition codes and state your intention."
Almost exactly forty second latter came the coded response that Mars' computer decrypted.
"Challenge Response Cipher: Omega Psi
Cipher Version: 5.3
Colonial Aerospace Registry Code: 7436306
Colonial Fleet Vehicle Type: Raptor-D
Colonial Fleet Registry Code:51204
Colonial Fleet Unit Code: BSG-51"
On the colonial priority channel was an audio message, "The Commander of the Battlestar Brunhild wants to meet with your representatives. The Brunhild is in orbit of Deep Space Anchorage Nine. We will remain there for 12 more hours."
DRADIS then noted the disappearance of the contact.
XXX
The captured Raptor returned to Lucifer's basestar
XXX
Bridge of Nostromo
"Ash" was sitting at one of the stations and noted the priority messages that went back and forth between Mars and the Raptor. There were no Cylon ships around the he was aware of so he waited.
XXX
Orbit of Planet Beta
It took several hours to assemble the attack group that Number One wanted. Many basestars were hunting Pegasus and Galactica. Many more where guarding the 12 colonies. In the end six basestars were gathered for the attack.
FLASH!
The Cylon fleet arrived exactly on target the problem was the Colonials had moved and so the Cylons were a good distance away from Mars and its fleet.
XXX
In CIC of the Brunhild
"Multiple DRADIS contacts! ID as hostile. They are launching raiders!" A chief called out from the DRADIS station. The station had been repaired with parts pulled from other sections of the ship and didn't match up exactly plus faint blood stains still marred the floor.
Captain Thomas Riker the acting CO of the Brunhild cursed at the warning. "Set Condition one throughout the ship!" Turning to his guest, "Sir I don't think we can get you back to…"
"Fight your ship Captain Riker. I need a fleet wide channel." Admiral Taylor was touring the CIC of the latest addition to the fleet when the Cylons arrived.
At a nod from Riker a young ensign had a receiver over after setting it to the correct channel. Despite the rush from the attack part of Taylors mind couldn't help but be drawn to the side of the ensign's face. A mass of angry red scar tissue dominated the jaw and most of the left side of the young woman's face. More than a few of Riker's crew sported such wounds. They had a rough time of it, after all Captain Riker had been six in chain of command when war started! "This is Taylor, flag will be Brunhild. Launch the alert fighters, set condition throughout the fleet and start the jump clock."
At the command from the Admiral, Riker ordered the Brunhild's airwing into space. "I guess we will not solve the mystery of how we found each other today Sir."
"I guess not Captain Riker."
XXX
Taylor had the battlestars form up between the fleet and the Cylons; the line of battle was Herja, Mars and Brunhild. The cruisers picketed the civilians. The DRADIS showed a massive wall of raiders closing in on the fleet with the baseships lumbering behind them. The fighters were ordered to prevent the Cylons from getting loose in among the civilian fleet.
"Captain we haven't had time for a detailed debriefing. What's your ammo status, especially your FLAK batteries?"
Riker for once had a wide smile that suggested his relative youth to the Admiral. "Magazines are full we were able to strip the deep space anchorages."
"Excellent! Communications battleline orders. All batteries full automatic fire, set medium range."
"Admiral order acknowledged. Messages coming in from the fleet. Civilians' ships are reporting in ready to jump."
Glancing at the DRADIS showed the Cylons passing through the long-range defense envelope. They were going to press the attack home. No surprises here, time to leave. "Order the Civilian to jump. Military continue to cover."
XXX
Lucifiers Basestar was observing the conflict from some distance away. Far enough away that their ECM could prevent them from being detected as long as they kept their own sensors offline.
From their location deeper in space Lucifer was behind the Heretics and so his passive sensors picked up something the Colonials were not noticing.
"Commander what can you tell me of the contact astern of the Heretics? Bogie Mu-412?"
The Gold Centurion in charge of the Basestar checked the displays. "We are detecting Heretic DRADIS."
"Can you tell me more? Speculate if you must."
The Gold Centurion pulled in the optical display, with the distance involved it was blurry. "57% confidence that Bogie Mu-412 is heretic resurrection ship."
Lucifier looked at the blurry image, "That is an unforeseen possibility. How to take advantage of this without violating our orders?"
The Gold Centurion assumed Lucifier was speaking to him and responded with a suggestion.
XXX
Command ship of the Humanoid Cylons
The battle was not going according to plan. The Colonials had a third Battlestar! The wall of flak the three were putting out was strong enough to hold off missiles aimed at them. The colonial's military units were far more difficult to handle when they were prepared and ready for battle. Meanwhile all of the battlestars Vipers were keeping the Raiders occupied as civilian ships jumped away. Their agent had provided them with the coordinates of the next jump location but this was looking to be a very drawn-out engagement…
A report came in from the resurrection ship. Two Colonial Raptors had jumped in and where attack the resurrection ship! Then communication traffic with the resurrection ship disappeared. Either it had jumped away or…
"It's time to disengage." The Number Five said flatly.
The Six agreed, "We do not serve God by dying needlessly."
The Number One wanted to disagree, he wanted to watch the humans die! A thought occurred to him if Mars was here then perhaps, the humans were not going to return to the colonies. "Agreed let's disengage."
XXX
Twelve hours after the battle of Carillon a Cylon fleet had assembled above the Zeus anchorage.
The Number One was very pleased. This would go very different. If Mars had left there was no point in using Zeus as bait. "Order the attack."
A Number Eight was feeling a little snarky as she used the liquid to send the raiders in, "By your command."
XXX