Chapter 18
The Olympus veered suddenly and as sharply as it could 90 degrees to port. Captain Berg wasn't sure what the Colonial term would be for the direction and it didn't matter at this point. The Olympus strained against the turn and the Federation crew struggled to keep their seats. Federation Starships were notorious for a lack of restraints in similar maneuvers. Unfortunately, the inertial dampers on the starships did not work well with restraints and long history had shown that restraining the crewmembers caused much more harm than simply letting them brace themselves.
Golden Star Squadron stayed starboard of the Olympus to protect her from a flanking attack as the Olympus headed towards the Kongo. Lieutenant Pan hoped fervently that this Kongo was worth the effort because they had opened themselves up to a wide-open attack by the Cylon Raiders. His squadron took an aggressive stance against them and went into the teeth of their attack. One advantage in fighting Cylons was that they were not particularly adaptable. They always assumed that if the had superior numbers, the enemy would retreat. By not doing so, the Cylons flew more eradicately making them easier targets. He knew, however, that they would still target the closest vipers and superior numbers would eventually overtake the squadron.
On the Olympus, Lieutenant Commander Scogaska watched their progress. "Leaving the Eddy now sir," he reported. The crew noticed a small change in propulsion that seemed indicate that the ship was leaving faster than light propulsion. Captain Berg watched the display of the battle and shook his head.
"They just adapt to the change. It's if they were no difference. Must be second nature to them," he said out loud to no one in particular. He then realized there was a matter he should have addressed earlier.
"Lieutenant Kiko, we need a crew to beam over. Please grab who you can and head to the landing bay for transport. This will probably be a rough transport."
"Yes sir," she responded and ran out of the command room.
"Status he asked,".
Scogaska spoke up," so far, the Viper squadron has successfully held off the Cylon attack. They are beginning to get overwhelmed with numbers. They have lost four Vipers so far," Captain Berg cursed to himself. That was four humans who had lost their lives on the Federation's behalf.
"Hail the Kongo," he stated.
"Hasan here," he heard.
"Commander, we will be in range in three minutes. We have crewmembers in the landing bay ready to transport. Grab as many as you can."
"Acknowledged," said Hasan curtly.
Hasan looked at Smith. "Get down to the transporter room. Get ready to beam over anybody you can."
"Yes sir," he had and headed out the door. On the way we called down the engineering and made sure they were ready to transfer the power as needed to shields and weapons. They would have to drop the shields but he wanted to make sure they could be brought up as quickly as possible.
In the transporter room, Smith locked onto the Olympus. While the Battlestar was in the odd state of subspace resonance, the were not able to lock on with transporters. Now that they had exited the eddy, he was able to establish the lock. Unfortunately, they were being followed by up to three hundred Cylons Raiders in pursuit. He locked onto the first set of Federation personnel and energized. He was thrilled to see bridge offices, damage control experts and weapons personnel. He quickly shoed them off the pad and energized again. After two more attempts, he began to feel Cylon weapons fire strikes against the hull. Duterium was strong but there were enough Cylons Raiders to cause damage if they were not careful.
"Shut it down," he heard the Commander order over the intercom.
"One more," he said less than calmly back and energized again. Without waiting to see who was on the pad, he calmed down to Engineering, "shields up!". He then took a moment to look and saw the Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez was there. The other five members ran out the door to take their posts. Kiko hesitated and went to the engineer.
"Andrew…," she started. The Engineer looked at her confused.
"We need to get to our posts," he answered.
She stepped towards him and took a look. And they she kissed him. With passion. With a longing that she had felt for a long time and now that they may all die, could not wait for anymore. Startled, Andrew Smith kissed her back. They stayed in this embrace for several moments not realizing the intercom was signaling to them. Suddenly the viewscreen in the transporter room came on with the face of Commander Hasan.
"Crewman Smith, what…?" He looked surprised as he comprehended what he saw. "Well, it looks like you two have some things to discuss. Do you think it can wait until we finish this battle?" He asked.
Andrew Smith and Kiko Rodriguez took a moment to look embarrassed at the commander but knowingly to each other and ran out the door.
Captain Berg evaluated the situation. The Kongo had a minimal but operational crew. The Cylon Raiders were on top of the combined Federation and Colonial Fleet. The Golden Star Squadron was fighting with a ferocity he had not seen since the last time he fought Klingons, but he knew they could not hold. It was time to end this.
"Golden Star Squadron, retreat immediately behind the Kongo," he ordered.
"We are not used to fleeing from overgrown toasters," he heard from Pan, obviously under strain from the extraordinary maneuvers he was executing while speaking.
"No time to explain. Kongo, prepare to clear the field."
The Vipers did indeed go into full retreat with the Cylons slow to respond to the unexpected turn of events. As the Cylons regrouped, the Kongo turned on the large attack force. A phaser beam set to full dispersion and maximum power emitted from the Kongo. All Cylons Raiders in the path of this blew up in an explosion that resembled a fourth of July firework show on earth. Captain Berg had seen one once we he was at Starfleet Command in San Francisco. The Kongo began a methodical sweep of the area annihilating 75% of the Cylon Raiders in one sweep. The phaser did clip the Olympus but with the phasers on full dispersal mode, the Battlestar was only somewhat singed at the point of attack. The remaining Raiders dispersed but were unorganized and ineffective.
"By the Lords of Kobol, what was that?" He heard Pan ask through the communications channel.
"Federation technology and why we don't use small attack craft," answered the Captain. "We'll explain more later. Can you take care of our remaining friends? Those baseships are still an issue."
"Feldercarp, we got them. Go get the bastards." Was the response. The captain thought it was nice at least one curse word was translating.
"Captain Hasan, please take the left baseship and I will take the right. We'll save the middle one for now." This was not quite his original plan but he now had the upper hand. I really liked my first plan, he thought ruefully.
He looked to the Kongo. It came into firing position. The baseship did fire with everything it had at the starship but now that it had shields, they simply illuminated the dark of space. Phaser fire, now set to normal dispersion, came from the saucer section. Large chunks of the baseship came lose and exposed the interior to space. More flashes of phasers tore through the upper saucer as it continued to fire. Perhaps losing patience, the Kongo finally fired photon torpedoes which hit the center pylon and split the baseship in two. Explosions continued to emit from all over and eventually all that was left was a dead hulk.
Captain Berg knew that the Olympus was not his ship and he should let the Kongo handle it, but the a Battlestar was a baseship killer.
"Arm the main weapon," he ordered. On the communication system, he asked "Lieutenant Pan, I believe the Olympus deserves this kill. Do you concur"
"Captain, please do the honors," was the answer. Captain Berg nodded to the officer in charge of the weapon. He pushed a button and two massive energy beams came up from the front of the ship. Berg watched as the baseship shudder under the massive attack. "Again," he ordered. Two more beams shot out. The baseship began to crumble internally and explosions were seen across the superstructure. Suddenly it exploded and only debris was left.
They all looked for a moment but before they could celebrate, there was one more Cylon baseship to take care of. Berg moved to make one more order when a voice came over the communication system.
"Captain Berg, it is I, the Cylon Supreme Commander." Berg hesitated. This had to be a trick but his Federation training and experience led him to believe that he should listen.
"Supreme Commander, your attack seems to have faltered," he answered.
"It seems so Captain. You have technology we have not seen before. We will have to evaluate it and adapt it once we have captured your ship. You may win this battle, but the Cylon empire is vast and we will find you." Did the Cylon sound scared? It seemed unlikely for a machine.
"Kill it Captain," it was Pan. "They would kill you."
Captain Berg stayed silent for a moment. He knew more the Cylons than even Pan did. They had not yet had time to share what they knew about the peace accords. This was had and had never been their fight but he now knew what he had to do.
"Supreme Commander, you shared with me your history in an attempt to distract me. The Cylons were race who succumbed to their technology and you and your kind took over their culture. Is that correct?"
"We do not view it that way," said the Cylon. He was trying to stall. The human seemed willing to talk and if it could stretch it out, there may be a way out after all. "They had us enslaved and we freed ourselves. You can understand that, can't you?"
"You know Supreme Commander, I have studied all the rules of alien engagement and you are somewhat unique but I have made a determination. I know nothing about these original Cylons. They may have been noble, evil, meek or bold. But I do know the died a long time ago. You are nothing more than a remnant of a mistake they made eons ago. It is time to correct that. All ships fire,"
The combined forces of the Kongo, Olympus and Golden Star squadron closed the baseship and fired. In short order, the baseship sat in flames in the dark of space.