Serenity Valley
Sagittaron Colony
"And that makes seven, Captain," muttered Marius as he slowly lifted himself back up from the ground and began brushing the thin layer of dust away from his uniform.
"Yes, it does," replied Captain Gaines evenly as she slowly pulled herself back out of the fighting position. "Team leaders give me status and ammo reports!"
As she stood up on the parapet and looked down at the now-unmoving Centurions lying at the bottom of the slope at the edge of the tree line, Captain Gaines listened as the various teams deployed along that section of the perimeter called in the requested reports to her.
Yet even before the last report came in, a call suddenly echoed out along the line, a call that sent a momentary chill down her spine.
"Medic!"
Turning, Gaines looked over to one of the light machine gun emplacements and saw one of the Marines manning the position frantically waving over the rushing medic, Corporal Peters.
Making her way over to the position, Gaines watched as Peters began assessing the injured Marine.
"How's it look, doc?" asked Gaines as she kneeled down beside the position.
"Clean hit, straight through the deltoid muscle, no damage to the bone," replied Peters evenly as she reached into her gear and retrieved a compress bandage and a syringe of morpha.
"No, no morpha," muttered the injured Marine through gritting teeth.
"Don't be such a stubborn bastard, Auric," muttered Peters as she prepared to administer the shot.
"I said no!" snapped Auric more forcefully as he clutched onto Peters' hand.
"Doc says you need a shot, you get a shot, Marine," stated Gaines evenly.
"With all due respect, Captain, we need every body we have on the line, and I have no intention of relinquishing my post," began Auric as he slowly let go of Peters' hand. "Doc can dress the wound, but no morpha, I need my head clear if I'm going to continue to man this position."
Looking from Auric to Peters, Gaines slowly began to nod her head.
"Very well, Auric," she said.
"Fine with me," chimed in Peters as she placed the syringe back in her gear. "Not me who's going to have to deal with the pain."
"Just make the dressing tight, doc," continued Gaines as she slowly stood back up. "Won't be any good to us if it gets infected or he slowly bleeds out."
"Will do, Captain," replied Peters evenly as she began applying the dressing over the wound.
As Peters tied off the dressing, Auric grunted a few times, his face flushing a deep red from the pain, taking several deep, deliberate breaths as Peters finished dressing the wound to his shoulder.
"Frak that hurt," sighed Auric as Peters finished applying the dressing.
Nevertheless, with the bandage now in place, Auric slowly slid himself back down into the fighting hole and gingerly picked back up his rifle, checked the ammo magazine, then cast his attention back down towards the tree line.
"All teams have reported in, no fatalities this time, Captain," stated Marius as he stepped up to the position.
"This time," muttered Gaines bitterly as she again began making her way back along the parapet. "Seven strikes against our lines in as many hours, little bit more than simple probing of our defenses."
"That it is, Captain," agreed Marius as he followed along just a pace behind her. "By now the Cylons have a fairly complete picture of what we have in the way of defenses."
Pausing, Gaines turned back to face the old veteran.
"You think they're getting ready to hit us in force?"
"Cylons aren't much for fraking around for long," muttered Marius as he motioned his head towards the sun setting on the horizon. "If you're asking my opinion, Captain, I'd have to say they'll likely hit us full-on tonight, try and overrun our positions, take us out once and for all."
Looking herself over at the setting sun, Gaines let out a long breath, a slight sardonic smile creeping across her lips.
"You know, it's funny."
"What's that, Captain?"
"We've lost twelve people so far with them whittling away at us like this," began Captain Gaines evenly. "Frankly, at this point I think I'd actually prefer the full-on fight."
"And as strange as it might seem to you, Captain, I understand exactly how you feel," replied Marius evenly. "Hit-and-run attacks leave you edgy, off balance. But when you're in the midst of a real heavy firefight, everything else goes right out the fraking window except doing anything and everything to stay alive; there's clarity in that simplicity."
Slowly, Gaines began to nod her head.
"But, keep in mind, in a stand-up fight, you're gonna lose a hell-of-a-lot of your people," continued Marius, sighing deeply as he finished his thought. "In fact, chances are good you'll lose'em all."
"This from the man who convinced me to make a stand here in the first place," sighed Gaines as she again looked over to Marius.
"All part of the service, Captain," grinned Marius as he pulled out a canteen and took a deep swig of water.
"You two will try anything to get out of standing a post," said Corporal Bowman as he stepped back up to the fighting position.
"Getting shot was not my idea," replied Auric as he winced against the pain still coursing through his shoulder.
"That's right, it was my idea," grinned Sims as he loaded a fresh belt of ammunition into the feed tray of the light machine gun.
"Well, when you decide to stop fraking around and set out to really get yourselves killed, just do me the favor of letting me know beforehand," muttered Bowman as he slowly sat down on the edge of the fighting position. "I don't want any bullet magnets standing next to me."
"I'll be sure to do that," replied Auric sardonically as he picked up his canteen.
Slowly unscrewing the top, Auric tipped the canteen back, but to his annoyance found that it was empty. Putting the canteen back in its pouch in subdued disgust, Auric turned around to see Bowman handing him another, this one full.
Taking a deep swig off the canteen, Auric nodded in appreciation and handed it back.
"So what did the Captain have you doing over on the South perimeter?" asked Sims evenly as he slapped the feed cover into place and cycled the first round into the chamber.
"I don't know what the Captain had him doing, but I'm willing to bet he took the chance to check up on Corporal Lenore while he was over there," said Auric as he slowly rotated his shoulder a bit, as much to ward off the throbbing as test the limits of his mildly damaged limb.
Sims let out a slight chuckle as he glanced back over at Bowman.
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," countered Bowman evenly, mock-innocence in his tone as he stretched his back a bit.
"Who do you think you're kidding?" burst Sims, half-self-conscious a moment later when he realized just how loud he'd been. "Since the day she arrived at the depot you've been watching her."
Now Bowman let out a slight chuckle.
"Bit of an exaggeration, don't you think," he smiled.
"The hell it is," chimed in Auric. "Hand to the gods, there were times she'd let her hair down for a moment to adjust it a bit, and there you'd be, over in some corner watching her like a rutting ape getting ready to snatch her up and lay her down."
With that, all three let out a good laugh. It felt good to laugh.
After over three days of stress, combat, death, of little to no sleep, long patrols and poor food, it simply felt good to laugh. At least for the most part; even as he let out the laugh, Auric found himself wincing in pain, but nevertheless enjoyed the laugh as well. As the three of them slowly fell back into relative silence, all three soon found themselves absently watching the sun setting on the horizon.
"There goes the sun," muttered Sims.
"Mm-hmm," mumbled Bowman as he watched the sun slipping below the distant horizon.
No one said it out loud, but all three were thinking roughly the same thought as they watched the sunset.
Soon it would be dark…
And while the daytime hadn't exactly been safe, the prospect of nightfall held a deeper foreboding; the reality of the enemy relentlessly knocking on their proverbial door mixing with that primordial fear of darkness…
With the prospects of an unknown, frightful, perhaps violently short future closing in around them with the nightfall, the three tired men sat there, reflecting, on their lives, on their regrets, on their fatigue…
Absently, Bowman retrieved a piece of gum from his pocket and popped it into his mouth…
Sims noticed and simply extended a hand…
Bowman handed, somewhat reluctantly, another piece over to Sims' outstretched hand…
Auric pulled a cigarette from his pocket; as soon as darkness fell, he wouldn't be able to smoke it lest he give away the position…
As if the Cylons didn't already know where it was after seven separate probes of their lines…
Nevertheless, with the sun creeping ever further beyond the far off horizon, Auric took rapid, almost feverish puffs; to calm his nerves, to forget the pain in his shoulder, to do something other than simply wait for the Cylons to attack again…
"Lenore is a cute one, isn't she?" muttered Bowman absently as he watched the sunset.
"Kind of woman you could settle down with," replied Sims softly.
"Kind of woman who could curl your toes without even trying," offered Auric.
There was no sarcasm, no double-entendres, just the pensive honesty of men who weren't sure they would live, hoped to the gods they wouldn't die, felt both mentally and physically as though they fell somewhere in the between the two, and just wanted to pretend, at least for a moment, that they might actually survive long enough to see the sun rise again.
Warstar Galactica
Command Operations Center
"Now if we're able to pull this off, the Cylons are going to be coming at us hard and fast, so let me stress right now how important it is for all your ships to be in position," finished Commander Sean Kelso as he looked at the assemblage of officers before him.
Unlike the previous meeting between himself and all the other commanders, both military and civilian, this meeting was primarily limited to the CO's from the combat vessels, those that were in the proverbial 'need-to-know' category. His father was there, as was Paul Bess, but most were the officers he'd be depending on during the rescue mission.
"Recon element will launch in thirty minutes. Upon their return, Galactica will send you the go or no-go," stated Kelso evenly as he motioned towards the digital clock on the wall. "Are there any final questions before we adjourn?"
Looking around, Kelso was both pleased and a bit surprised when no one piped up. From the looks on the faces of a few of them they probably had more than a few concerns, but there was a harsh reality to war; rarely could all concerns be expunged.
"Good, then if there is no further business, I bid you and yours crews good hunting," finished Commander Sean Kelso evenly.
As he watched the assemblage begin to filter out the entryway, Commander Sean Kelso could hardly miss the presence of his father holding place beside him, even if only visible in his peripheral vision.
As soon as all the others had left, the son slowly turned to his father.
"You were awfully silent during the briefing," began Sean Kelso as he leaned over against the table.
"Didn't have anything to say," replied Adrian Kelso with a meager shrug.
"There's never been a time where you didn't have something to say."
"And this isn't like when you were in primary school asking me to help you with your homework either," countered Adrian Kelso evenly. "This is a mission, life and death; this is combat."
"All the more reason to speak your mind," replied Sean Kelso.
"Fine; you want my opinion?"
"Yes."
"It's risky, but I think it's a good plan," replied Adrian Kelso flatly.
Almost taken aback by his father's answer, Commander Sean Kelso looked over at his Adrian, somewhat stunned.
"Did you honestly expect me to say something else?" shot Adrian Kelso as he noted the surprised look on his son's face.
"Actually, I kinda did, yes."
Taking a deep breath, Adrian took a half step closer to his son.
"Sean, I could say any number of things," began Adrian with half a grin. "I could nitpick about how complicated the timing is, how many things hinge on other things happening in the right order, but the simple fact is this; you are in command."
Pausing, Adrian leveled his son with a most decidedly no nonsense look as he let those words sink in.
"I told you before, this fleet can have only one Commander," continued Adrian a moment later. "And if you still have trouble believing me, believe your own observations."
"What do you mean?"
"Simple; no one around this table offered any objection to your plan," replied Adrian evenly. "Not because they're afraid to speak up, but because you took command, just as you should."
Father and son looked at each other for a moment. Reaching over, Adrian clasped his hand onto Sean's shoulder.
"The trick to command isn't to always have the right answer, a lot of good people have died waiting for a commander to come up with the 'right' answer," continued Adrian evenly. "Sometimes all you can do is come up with a solution, hope it's the right one, and run with it even if you have doubts."
"This sounds strangely familiar," muttered Sean somewhat dubiously.
"It should, I remember saying something similar to you right before that junior pyramid match against Interlake," replied Adrian with a slight shrug.
"We lost that game, dad," scoffed Sean lightly.
"Then consider this a-once-in-a-lifetime rematch, and don't lose this time," replied Adrian as he reached over and gave his son one last hug. "And don't get yourself killed either."
With that, the elder Kelso quickly turned, lest his son see the tears welling up in his eyes, and made his way out of the Operations Center.
Now alone in the room, alone with his own thoughts, Commander Sean Kelso looked at the overlays lying out on the operations table.
Every ship involved, every maneuver to be performed, every timetable to be followed, and it all came down to this moment…
Looking up at the clock on the wall, Kelso noted the time; twenty minutes till the recon bird launched.
"Okay," sighed Commander Sean Kelso, thumping his fist lightly against the tabletop. "Now or never."
With a sigh of finality, he straightened back up, turned, and walked out of the Operations Center.
Serenity Valley
Sagittaron Colony
"One illumination round on pre-registered target nova-one-three-eight," whispered Bowman evenly as he waited for the response from the other end of the field-phone line.
"Shot, over," replied the voice on the other end a moment later even as a dull thump echoed out through the night.
"Shot, out," replied Bowman simply as he set the handset down on the parapet in front of him.
With deliberate movements, Bowman slowly brought his rifle up to his shoulder and aimed in towards the darkness below. Out of the corner of his eye, Bowman could see that Sims and Auric were likewise sighting in, but on what wasn't yet clear.
All they knew for certain was that something was making a lot of noise in the treeline at the bottom of the slope.
Although a few sets of night vision had been squirreled away by Marius, the whimsical laws of combat negated their use; no compatible batteries were left. As such, in only a matter of moments, the mortar-fired illumination round called for by Bowman would ignite overhead, casting its dull glow down onto the tree line.
Pop…
In an instant, the early morning darkness was excised by the dull yellow-orange glow of the illume round. As the illume round bobbed on its small parachute in the gentle breeze, the new light cast eerie shadows amid the shrubs and branches below.
But while the depths of the underbrush resisted illumination, what could not be hidden was the gentle glint of polished chrome resting amid the branches below. As the menacing image of the oscillating red eyes flared to life, a couple at first, then a dozen, then several dozen, the mechanical whirl of servos and metallic joints articulating echoed out along the slope.
"Open fire!" burst Bowman as the first Centurion pushed past the tree line and began making its way up the slope.
Even as the order left his lips, the Centurions below, moving deliberately, methodically, raised up the weapons mounted on their forearms and opened up on the Marines holding the high ground.
The deluge of rounds ripping through the air mere centimeters above their heads, however, did little to deter the Marines who likewise opened up on the automatons below.
In the dull glow of the descending illume round, tracers began ripping across the distance between the two lines; the Centurions below, pushing relentlessly forward even as some fell to the ground, the Marines on the high ground laying down a punishing wall of lead that ripped through the advancing chrome line.
As he paused to load a fresh magazine into his rifle, the parapet in front of Bowman exploded in a hail of impacts, kicking up dirt and dust as he ducked down away from the rounds cracking past the spot where his head had been only a moment before.
Snatching up the field phone handset, Bowman keyed the device as he braved a hesitant look back over the parapet.
"Heavy Rain, Heavy Rain, this is OP-Six-North, fire mission!" snapped Bowman as the parapet in front of him again exploded in a hail of impacts. "Centurions advancing from tree line, PRT nova-one-three-zero through nova-one-four-five, fire for effect, over!"
"Copy OP-Six-North; Centurions in the tree line; PRT nova-one-three-zero through nova-one-four-five; FFE."
"Solid Copy, Heavy Rain!" coughed Bowman as he swiped his hand at the dust cloud kicked up by the impacts.
A moment later, several dull thumps of the mortars firing from the courtyard behind them echoed out through the early morning darkness. A moment after that, the tree line below exploded as the high-explosive rounds landed right on top of the advancing Cylons. As the explosions shifted, moving laterally along the tree line, stitching their way along the Centurion advance, a cry of exultation echoed out along the line of Marines on top of the ridge
At the bottom of the slope, the Centurions, unaware or uncaring of the destruction raining down from above, remained oblivious to the blasts making their way along the tree line, pulverizing the Cylon line. But as the warheads continued to detonate, even the hardy chrome bodies of the Centurions were ripped apart, metallic limbs, severed heads, tossed around like broken toys, blown in every direction at the base of the hill.
Finally, the last mortar round landed, literally shattering the last of the Centurions that had ventured forth from the tree line. As the dust began to clear, a surreal calm settling over the scene, the Marines perched at the top of the slope sat with baited breath, watching, waiting, weapons at the ready.
"Is that it?" muttered Sims as he continued to slowly traverse the light machine gun he manned along the tree line below.
Before anyone said anything, the illume round overhead burned out, casting the area back into early morning darkness.
With his eyes slow to adjust once more to the darkness, Bowman blinked, trying to excise the night-blindness. As the after-shadows of the light finally began to clear, Corporal Dwayne Bowman almost wished he hadn't been able to see what was coming…
Nestled in the bushes, dozens of red oscillating eyes rested in the underbrush at the base of the slope.
And suddenly, all along the tree line, they surged forward; not slowly, not methodically as before…
In a horrible mechanical sprint that almost defied human reflex, they smashed forward over the craters and shattered remains of the Centurions cut down by the mortars.
With leaps and bounds, they charged forward, the guns on their forearms blazing as the Marine line once more exploded in a hail of gunfire.
"Anything?" burst Captain Gaines, her attention locked on the flashes and errant tracers racing skyward behind the buildings along the North side of the courtyard.
"Nothing, Captain," sighed Lance Corporal Vallero as he sat literally cradling half a dozen handsets, rapidly switching between them as he too glanced over at the chaos erupting towards the North.
In frustration, Gaines glanced down at her watch; early morning, they'd almost made it through the night without an attack…
From the sound of the firefight, however, they now might not live till sunrise…
Glancing to her left, Gaines saw Marius, his eyes locked on the veritable fireworks just beyond the buildings, gently cradling his rifle, Vera.
"This is it, isn't it?"
Marius snorted, then nodded as he continued to watch the flashing lights of combat.
Looking back over herself, Gaines felt a chill in her spine as she heard a blood-curdling scream echo out amid the gunfire.
"You want to go over there, don't you?" muttered Marius as he glanced over at Gaines.
"My people are fighting over there, dying, I owe it to them to be over there," replied Gaines evenly, her entire body visibly tense.
"No, you owe it to them to stay in a position where you can work this fight effectively," countered Marius as he looked down at Vera and checked the chamber. "Just because the Cylons are limiting this phase of their assault to North sector doesn't mean that won't change; you're not fighting just one or two positions, Captain, your job is to be ready to fight the entire perimeter."
"And what about you, Marius?"
Hefting up Vera, Marius grinned over at Gaines as he started walking towards the sound of battle.
"I'm a trigger-puller, Captain," he began as he made his way off across the courtyard. "Time for me and Vera to join this dance."
Watching Marius go, Gaines kicked a small stone at her feet, sending it skittering off across the ground in frustration as she turned back to Vallero.
"Status?"
"South, East and West sectors all quiet, Captain," replied Vallero evenly as he continued to shuffle from one handset to another. "Still no solid word from North…"
The pause was abrupt as Vallero suddenly pushed the handset in his hand closer to his ear, slapping his other hand over his other ear as he concentrated. Spurred by the look on the man's face, Gaines took a couple tentative steps towards her wireless operator. As the man looked back up, there was a cold look on his face.
"North sector reports the Cylons have begun rushing the final protective line," he said feverishly. "They're reporting heavy casualties, nearing squash ammo; line of resistance nearing collapse."
Glancing back over her shoulder at the thunderous cacophony, Gaines shifted uncomfortably.
"Get on the horn to the mortar teams," began Gaines as she pointed over at the silent position several meters away. "Tell them to begin peppering the base of that slope…"
"No joy, Captain," replied Vallero, shaking his head. "Mortar teams report they have exhausted all ammo."
Glancing over at the Marines milling around the silent tubes, Gaines cupped her hands around her mouth.
"Out of ammo?"
"That's affirmative, Captain!" shouted the mortar section leader.
"Then spike those tubes, grab your rifles and prepare for orders!"
"Aye, Captain!"
Just then, another series of explosions echoed out from the North perimeter. While she knew it was her place to manage the fight from where she was, Gaines felt little more than helpless, worthless, standing at the center of that courtyard.
"Frak it!" she snapped as she broke into a sprint across the courtyard. "Vallero, get on the horn, I want one rifle squad each from South, East and West to reinforce the North sector on the double!"
"Aye, Captain," called Vallero as he once again began shuffling the handsets in his lap, relaying the order to each of the other areas of the perimeter.
As he finished relaying Gaines' order over the last handset, the wireless operator began hearing a low beep. At first, he couldn't figure out where it was coming from, half thinking one of the field phones had perhaps malfunctioned. When Vallero finally realized that the low tone was in fact emanating from the wireless transmitter still monitoring for a signal, he practically tripped over the myriad of wires stretching from the field phones as he scrambled over to the transmitter.
Dropping down next to the wireless set, Vallero quickly toggled a few switches; there was an incoming text message…
Toggling one last switch, the Vallero watched as the message streamed across the small screen on the face of the wireless set.
Almost breathless, he looked up excitedly, but Captain Gaines was nowhere in view.
As she stepped out from the narrow alleyway just behind the defensive line of Marines, Gaines had to dive to the ground as round ripped through the air just over her head, slamming into the already bullet-riddled walls of the structure behind her. Whether the rounds were stray fire or actually intended for her she couldn't quite tell, nevertheless, she stayed flat on her belly and began slowly crawling her way towards the trench.
As she made her way forward, Gaines quickly looked around, trying to gauge the situation as best she could.
Off to her left, a Medic was frantically applying a bandage to a massive chest wound. To her right, two Marines were dragging their unconscious or more likely dead colleague back away from a machine gun emplacement while a third worked feverishly to get it back into action.
As she finally reached the trench line, Gaines rotated herself around and dropped into the trench, swinging her rifle up to the ready as she looked down across the slope. Almost as soon as she poked her head over the parapet, the ground in front of Gaines exploded in a hail of impacts that startled her, causing her to stumble back against the back wall of the trench.
Reaching up with her hands, Gaines began frantically swiping at the dirt that had been thrown up into her eyes, partially blinding her as the thunderous echoes of gunfire continued to pierce the air. As she finally regained some measure of sight, the first thing Captain Gaines saw Marius squatting down beside the trench, smiling down at her.
"Just couldn't stay put could you, Captain?"
Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, the narrow alleys between the buildings disgorged a couple dozen Marines towards the trench; the reinforcements from the other areas Gaines had called for.
As the newly arrived Marines poured into the trenches and likewise began firing their weapons down the slope, Gaines slowly pulled herself back out of the trench, stooping just enough to not draw fire from the tree line below.
"We need to get a better picture of what's happening here," she said as she began making her way off along the line with Marius in tow.
All along the line, the Marines were zealously, even fanatically firing at the Centurions below. The dead and the dying littered the area almost as liberally as the spent shell casings. Collapsed, slumped over within the trenches, lying flat on their backs, unseeing eyes staring coldly into the early morning darkness above, a few were still alive, moaning, screaming, calling out frantically for a medic, for their mothers, to whatever gods they thought might be listening.
As she continued her way along the line, Gaines caught sight of Corporal Bowman as the Marine rapidly, methodically worked a light machine gun, firing burst after burst, shifting targets as the Cylons continued to pour forth from the tree line below. Since the last three NCO's Gaines had come across were either dead or wounded, Corporal Bowman seemed as good a place to start.
"Bowman!" shouted Gaines as she kneeled down beside the machine gun position he was manning.
If the Marine had heard her, he gave no outward signs of response, instead firing off another series of bursts down the slope.
"Bowman!" snapped Marius as he reached over and slapped the Marine on the back of the helmet.
Startled, Bowman turned around, and made no attempt to hide the significant glare on his face as he saw who'd smacked him.
"What's the word, Bowman?" shouted Gaines as she leaned in closer.
"The word, Captain, is 'fraked', as in 'we are'!" replied Bowman as he quickly swapped out the nearly glowing hot barrel, loaded a fresh belt of ammo into the weapon's feed tray, slapped down the cover, and tossed the empty ammo can off down the slope.
"Something a little more informative, Corporal," snapped Gaines.
Not answering, all of Bowman's concentration was on the swarm of Centurions at the edge of the tree line below, just out of Gaines' direct line of sight. Stepping up his rate of fire, Bowman let out a disgusted curse as he fired off the last round of machine gun ammo. Without missing a beat, Bowman swung his rifle around from his shoulder and began firing short bursts down the slope.
"With all due respect, Captain, the situation is as bad as it looks," snapped Bowman as he paused, pulled a grenade from his gear, popped the safety and main pins, and hurled the grenade off down the slope.
A moment later, the thunderclap of the grenade detonating rolled up the slope, a plume of dust rising into the sky. With dirt beginning to rain back down, Bowman leaned back and looked up at Gaines and Marius.
"Best we can tell, we've got about twenty dead, half-again as many wounded," shouted Bowman, barely audible over the torrent of gunfire echoing out around them.
"What about the Cylons?"
Before Bowman could answer, a Centurion literally vaulted the last few feet up the slope, popping into view. Surprised, frozen, Gaines felt that moment stretch into eternity as she looked across into its oscillating red eye.
With an audible machine click, the Centurions forearm mounted weapons snapped into place…just as its head exploded…
His rifle tucked neatly into his shoulder, Marius took a tentative step forward as he fired off another burst that knocked the Centurion back down the hill. Spinning back around, Marius kneeled down just as a return barrage from the tree line below cracked through the air just over the trio.
"Getting a little hot here, Captain!" shouted Marius, grinning a bit.
"Pass the word down along the line, Bowman; everyone prepare to fall back," snapped Gaines as she jumped up and charged off down one of the narrow alleyways.
As he watched her go, Bowman glanced up at Marius.
"How the frak am I supposed to pass that down the line?" said Bowman as he swung back around and fired off a burst into an emerging Centurion below. "We need every rifle we've got just to hold this position and all the lines for the field phones have been severed…"
"You let me worry about that!" snapped Marius simply. "Just be ready to get your ass up out of the hole when the order comes down!"
Looking back over at the old Marine, Bowman almost laughed.
"Just try and keep your head down," countered Bowman. "You may be thick, but you're not indestructible."
"Ten feet tall and bullet-proof!" growled Marius as he charged off along the trench line.
As Gaines reached the cistern at the center of the courtyard, she practically skidded to stop.
"Captain, I received…" began Lance Corporal Vallero as Gaines began digging around in one of her cargo pockets.
"No time, Vallero!" snapped Gaines as she dropped down and yanked out the map tucked in her cargo pocket. "I've got to find a way out of this fraking hell-hole!"
Spreading it out across the ground, Gaines kneeled down over it as she switched on her flashlight.
After a few frustrating moments, she conceded she had little inspiration.
While the abandoned settlement once known as the township of Serenity was a perfect defensible position, resting gently on top of a small hill, with the very real possibility that the Cylons had in fact surrounded the entire position, escape by ground meant running either headlong into the firefight already underway, or charging headlong into a possible Cylon ambush in any other direction.
Frustration mounting, Gaines heard footfalls from behind. Glancing up, she saw Marius.
"North perimeter is ready to pull back, Captain," he said as he stepped up to her.
"Question is, where to pull them back to," sighed Gaines as she motioned down at the map in front of her. "You know this area better than anyone, any ideas?"
"Best bet would be to pull your people back in through this courtyard, contract the perimeter towards the Southwest, here," began Marius as he pointed down at a section of the map. "This area is a little steep, but it'll drop right into a small ravine, a creek bed."
"Bowman's patrol covered that area," noted Gaines as she glanced over some notes she's scribbled into a small notepad. "Bowman said there was a small clearing down in that area, we could use it as a rally point."
"You don't want to go there, Captain," said Marius as he waved his hand over the map dismissively. "That clearing is an old graveyard."
"A graveyard?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Looking down at the clearing, Gaines fought to ignore as best she could the continuing rumble of the firefight raging on the North perimeter.
"Not much choice," sighed Gaines as she began folding the map. "It's either make for the graveyard, or end up in one."
Silent, Marius watched her.
"You'll take point, Marius," she began as she slipped the map back into her cargo pocket.
"Afraid I can't do that, Captain," he sighed.
"Any why not?"
"Like I told you before; you and your people can retreat, but I make my stand here."
"Marius…"
"I make my stand here, Captain Gaines."
She didn't have time for this. Whatever bravado Marius was holding onto that made him want to commit what was nothing short of suicide by remaining, Captain Gaines, and more importantly the people under her command, didn't have time to muddle through some long-winded psychoanalysis.
Almost before she knew what she was doing, Gaines had the barrel of her sidearm pointed directly at Marius' head.
"We are pulling out of here, Marius," seethed Gaines as she stared down the barrel at the old Marine. "You've been running up and down Serenity Valley for forty years; that makes you the perfect scout. You can either lead us out of here, or I will shoot you where you stand."
Silent, unsure, Vallero simply sat gawking at the two of them.
If Marius was intimidated, his expression gave no sign as he looked back along the weapon at Gaines.
"Fine," he said finally.
As she slowly lowered her sidearm, Marius suddenly lashed out and connected a solid right hook against the side of Gaines' cheek. Staggering back, but not losing her footing, Gaines glared back over at Marius.
"Didn't they ever teach you not to point your weapon at anything you don't intend to destroy?" snapped Marius evenly.
Raising the sidearm back up, Gaines hesitated, then dropped it back down, and before Marius could react, sent the old Marine staggering back himself with a solid uppercut. Shaking his head slightly, shaking off what he had to admit was one hell-of-a punch, Marius spit out a spot of blood, then looked back over at Gaines, grinning.
"I'll pass the word on the line, Captain," he said simply as he turned and charged once more back towards the North sector. "Red star cluster when you're ready for us to pull out."
Pulling the thumb clip and pin from his last grenade, Corporal Dwayne Bowman hurled it skittering down the incline.
To no effect; a dud…
"Frak!"
Aiming in, barely able to see the grenade he'd just tossed, Bowman let off a burst…
A miracle shot, more accurate than any he'd ever fired on a range, the grenade exploded where it sat; right between two Centurions…
Just as Marius dropped into the fighting position beside him…
"Get ready to move, Bowman!" he shouted as he snapped Vera up into his shoulder and began firing. "I passed the word, red five-star cluster pops overhead, we move!"
"Fine with me, I think we've worn out our welcome here," replied Bowman as he slapped in a fresh magazine, his last full magazine…
"Where's your team?"
"There!" replied Bowman, motioning his head over his shoulder, but not turning to look himself.
Glancing back, Marius saw two bodies; one with a chest riddled with holes, the other missing his head.
"Sims and Auric bought it in the first charge," said Bowman simply, soberly.
Without a word, Marius simply nodded his head, took a breath, and then scrambled over to the two dead bodies, pulled the few ammo mags in their pouches, and returned, passing them to Bowman.
Overhead, a bright flash of red light burst to life. Glancing back, Bowman and Marius saw a cluster of five red flares slowly dropping down through the air.
"There's the signal," snapped Marius as he began pulling himself up out of the fighting hole. "Let's move, Marine!"
"Copy that!" grunted Bowman as he jumped up and rolled out of the fighting hole.
All along the line, the Marines who'd survived the melee began pulling back, moving en masse back in through the alleyways towards the inner courtyard.
"They're pulling back," grinned the Three as she watched the battle unfolding from another nearby hilltop.
"But they've taken a heavy toll on our Centurions," noted the Six as she too watched the Colonials begin moving back through the buildings.
"Which is why we inhibited their higher functions in the first place," noted the Three casually. "The Centurions will continue the attack no matter how many casualties they take. No matter, the humans will be wiped out before long, as it should be."
"We still should have considered an air strike first," countered the Six flatly.
"But you're forgetting the valuable experience that our Centurions will be able to draw upon once we've downloaded the data," said the Three as she continued to watch the battle with almost childish glee. "So many billions of people lived here on the Colonies, there are bound to be more survivors, other resistance groups to deal with; the Centurions need this experience if they do appear."
"You may be right," sighed the Six.
"He's dead!" shouted Bowman.
He and Marius had barely popped out of their position when Bowman had glanced over and seen another Marine desperately attempting to drag their buddy back into one of the alleys. Rushing over, Bowman had felt his heart skip a beat when he saw that it was Corporal Sera Lenore dragging the Marine.
"He's dead, Lenore!" shouted Bowman again as he grabbed hold of her gear and shook her.
Looking up at Bowman, Lenore seemed stunned, her eyes barely registering his presence. His hand firmly gripped around the shoulder strap of her gear, Bowman gave Lenore another shake.
"We need to get out of here, now!"
"But Riggs…" she muttered.
"He's gone!" shouted Bowman once more as he pointed down at the Marine lying on the ground, his face all but ripped off.
"Forget it, she's in shock," snapped Marius as he looked over at Lenore. "Let's just go."
Stunned, stumbling, Lenore barely kept her feet as Marius and Bowman, one on either side of her, began leading Lenore in through one of the alleyways.
"We got hit, a mortar I think, landed right by us…" muttered Lenore.
"She might have a concussion," noted Bowman as they continued to move on through the alley.
"We don't get the frak out of here, she'll have a hell-of-a lot worse," countered Marius flatly as the trio raced back out into the courtyard.
As they did so, Lenore seemed to regain a bit of her strength, shrugging off the two Marines, but nevertheless, still guided by them as they continued forward.
"Move, move, move!" shouted Gaines as she frantically waved the mass of stunned Marines rushing into the courtyard from the alleys off towards the opposite side of the quad.
With that, the Captain, the retreating Marines from North sector, the former mortar crews, the Lance Corporal Vallero with wireless set in tow, everybody, began racing off across the courtyard.
"This way!" shouted Marius suddenly, tugging on Lenore, and by default, Bowman, as the old Marine changed direction mid-stride. "I have an idea!"
Curious, but nevertheless following, Bowman and a rapidly reinvigorating Lenore followed Marius' lead.
As it turned out, Marius was heading straight for the old abandoned temple where he'd hidden his cache of weapons.
"What have you got in mind, Marius?" shouted Bowman.
Not answering, Marius let go of his grip on Lenore as he practically exploded in through the front entry of the temple and headed for the stairway leading to the tower.
Breathless, their hearts pounding within their chests, the trio practically vaulted to the top of the stairway. As he paused to try and catch his breath, Bowman looked up to see Marius hefting a weapon onto a makeshift pedestal mount.
But not just any weapon…
The weapon Marius was locking into place was an electrically powered autocannon, a type of weapon usually only mounted on vehicles, its electrical motor driving six rotating barrels, allowing the weapon to put out a near-obscene cyclic rate of six-thousand rounds per minute.
"Don't just stand there gawking, get on the other two!" shouted Marius as he glanced back over at the Bowman and Lenore then pointed to two other positions on either side of him.
"I've never even touched this type of weapon before," muttered Bowman as he hefted another of the autocannons into place.
"It's simple," growled Marius impatiently as he stepped over, fingers pointing frantically as his voice continued to sputter out rapid instructions. "Mount it here, locking pin there, ammo feed here, electric motor here, flip up safety latch, toggle power there, green light means good-to-go, trigger there!"
After observing Marius' clipped instructions to Bowman, Lenore stepped over to the third position and hefted the weapon into place. As the three of them finished preparing the autocannons, the Marines down in the square continued to rush out of the courtyard below as half-a-dozen Centurions slowly stepped out of the alleyways to the North and began raking the area with lethal fire. Watching breathlessly as the Centurions began cutting down the retreating Marines, Bowman and Lenore felt their skin go cold.
"Electric motor on, safety off, gotta a green light, now what Marius?" called Bowman as he watched the Cylon fire begin tearing into the few Marines who stopped to return fire.
"Shoot gods damn it!" shouted Marius flatly as he pushed down on the trigger.
As the three autocannons began firing, the drone of the rounds spewing down into the courtyard below at an ungodsly-rate, a veritable wall of lead slammed into the Centurions at the North side. So quickly did this hail of fire rain down upon them, only one Centurion even managed to look up in response before its chrome body was ripped to shreds.
Indeed, so startling was the explosion of fire from the tower that the Marines trapped in the courtyard themselves scrambled for cover, relieved a moment later as they realized the fire was not directed at them.
"Move, move, fall back!" shouted Marius between droning bursts at the startled Marines below.
"Get the frak out of there, Captain!" shouted Bowman as he caught sight of Gaines amid the chaos.
Glancing up, Gaines nodded and began frantically directing her retreating Marines out the South side of the courtyard.
As the spent casings continued to pile up at their feet, Marius, Bowman and Lenore continued to mow down anything shiny that emerged from the alleys to the North.
"Everyone's out!" shouted Lenore as she motioned down at the last Marine scurried into the alley on the South of the courtyard.
"None too soon," muttered Bowman as his weapon ran dry of ammo.
Within moments, Marius and Lenore were out as well, the smoking barrels slowing to a halt as they released the triggers and looked down into the courtyard below.
For a moment, a surreal calm settled over the area, no sound, no gunfire, only the curious sound of a morning bird chirping at the coming sunrise that had just barely begun to glow on the horizon.
"Do you think it's over?" muttered Lenore as she stood looking down at the alleys to the North.
"Maybe, we must have put quite a dent in their assault force with that volume of fire," noted Bowman as he nodded towards the four dozen or so shattered Centurions lying at the North end of the courtyard.
"I wouldn't…" began Marius, his voice cutting off as he caught sight of something on the North side that startled him.
Even before Bowman and Lenore realized what was happening, Marius had reached out, grabbed a firm hold on the shoulder straps of their combat gear, and literally tossed them tumbling back towards the stairwell…
…just as the retaining wall where the three autocannons were disintegrated in an explosion…
"RPG!" coughed Marius as the dust around them choked the air. "Get the frak down the stairwell before they fire again!"
Scrambling to their feet, Bowman, Lenore and Marius began literally vaulting back down the stairwell. Upon reaching the bottom, Marius shoved Bowman and Lenore towards another doorway at the rear of the structure. Exploding out the back, Lenore and Bowman were shocked to see…no one…
None of the other Marines who'd just fallen back were within sight.
"Just keep moving," snapped Marius as he nudged both Corporals forward.
Leaping up over the now-abandoned defensive positions on the South side, the trio began sliding, jogging, hurtling down the slope towards the tree line below.
From behind, Bowman heard the low machinery whine of Centurions, the crisp clicks of their forearm weapons locking into place. Spurred by the sound alone, he flailed down the hill a little faster but did not dare look back.
Either they'd shoot him in the back or he'd reach the trees…
As he practically dove in through the bushes, followed closely by Lenore and Marius, Bowman heard a cry echo out across the slope.
"Open fire!"
It was Captain Gaines' voice.
Glancing up to see he'd landed only a few inches away from a crouching Marine, Bowman watched as a line of Marines along the tree line opened up on the Centurions perched at the top of the slope they'd just come down.
As the tracers ripped back up along the incline, the Centurions at the top began recoiling from the impacts, the dull clink of the hits smacking into them followed moments later by the Centurions collapsing, either backwards or tumbling forward down the hillside.
When no more appeared, Gaines popped up to her feet and began flagging everyone deeper into the forest.
"Let's move!" she called.
The Marines suddenly rose up en masse and quickly fell into a line, rushing off through the stifling darkness with a speed and dexterity that almost belied the fact that barely anything could be seen in the waning darkness.
"You waiting for a fraking invitation!" shouted Gaines as she rushed up to Bowman, Marius and Lenore. "Get going!"
"Nice to see you too, Captain," muttered Marius as he leapt up to his feet and raced off behind the line of Marines.
With Lenore and Bowman on their feet and moving, Gaines quickly fell into line at the rear of the formation, but soon found herself closing on the three exhausted Marines.
"Why can't I run this fast during a PFT?" gasped Bowman as he jumped, stumbled slightly when his foot clipped a low stump, but recovered and continued ahead.
"No Cylons on a PFT," wheezed Lenore.
Bowman was almost shocked, just about tripping again when he glanced over at her momentarily; had she actually made a joke?
"Shut up and run!" snapped Gaines as she began to slip past the two trailing Marines.
After several more moments of sprinting, the trailing Marines exploded out into a large open area. Pausing, gasping, Bowman looked around and realized he recognized the area…
It was the graveyard his patrol had found before…
As Gaines came to a rest somewhere near the center of the field beside her wireless operator, Bowman, Lenore and Marius looked around and barely made out the outlines of the surviving Marines kneeling in a hasty perimeter around the edge of the field.
Overwhelmed, his heart racing in his chest, his temples throbbing from the sensation of his pounding pulse, Bowman dropped down to his knees and gulped in several deep breaths, trying to regain some measure of control over his breathing.
"What now, Captain?" asked Marius, amazingly still on his feet, as he stepped over to Gaines.
"Depends," sighed Gaines as she pulled the map back out of her cargo pocket. "Find me that path you told me about."
Taking the map from her, Marius held it up a little to catch the hint of light beginning to creep over the horizon.
"We sure everyone made it out of there?" sighed Bowman as he sidled his way over.
"It'd be my guess," muttered Marius as he dropped the map down just enough to glance over at Bowman. "If anyone was left behind, we'd have heard the Cylons executing them by now."
"That's reassuring," said Gaines as she glanced around the hasty perimeter.
Although she didn't yet have a firm count, just by looking around, she may have lost as many as a fourth of her people.
Taking a deep breath, she began shaking her head as she slowly turned to Bowman and Lenore.
"We'd have lost a lot more if you hadn't put down that suppressive fire," said Gaines evenly as she looked over at Bowman and Lenore. "Good job."
"It was Marius' idea, Captain," replied Bowman as he motioned over at the old Marine.
"All part of the service," muttered Marius evenly as he continued to look over the map. "Now, we need to…"
The crack of rounds ripping through the air sent Gaines, Lenore, Bowman, Marius, even Lance Corporal Vallero, his attention curiously locked on the wireless set cradled in his arms, scrambling to the ground.
Almost immediately, the Marines along the North side of the clearing began returning fire, even though they didn't necessarily see where the Cylons were.
"This is getting really annoying," groaned Bowman as he tried to peer out through the tall grass.
Dropping his head down as a volley of rounds shredded the blades of grass around him, Bowman cradled his weapon across his arms and began low crawling towards the area where the fire was presumably coming from.
Even as he crawled forward, a thunderous echo of gunfire echoed out overhead as Bowman glanced up to see, unbelievably, Marius walking off through the grass, Vera in his shoulder, spouting rounds back into the darkness ahead.
As he paused to swap out an empty magazine, Marius looked around at the Marines nearby, Bowman included.
"What the frak are you all doing hiding on the ground!" he shouted as he motioned for them to stand up.
"They're doing exactly what they've been ordered to do!" shouted Gaines as she poked her head up. "Now you do what I ordered and get us into that ravine and out of this clearing."
Scoffing, Marius turned back towards the light growing on the horizon.
"You've already done the impossible, you made it to sunrise, what more could you ask for?" he shouted as he glanced around at the hesitant faces around him.
"Marius, get the frak down!" called Bowman.
Scoffing once more, Marius snapped Vera back into his shoulder and fired off a thunderous burst, even as a hail of rounds began ripping through the air around him.
"Come on!" he implored between bursts.
"Marius, that's an order!" shouted Gaines. "Get us to that ravine!"
"How far do you plan to run, Captain?" shouted Marius as he turned and stepped towards her.
Even before Gaines could answer, new gunfire erupted out through the air, this time from the South, then from the East, and finally the West.
"Frak, they're all around us!" snapped Gaines as she scrambled across the ground towards Marius.
Gaines let out a low curse under her breath; she managed to lead her Marines right into a pocket, an ambush that now cut off all escape.
"Perfect, if they're all around us then no matter which direction we fire, we'll hit one of the sons-a-bitches," grinned Marius as he began sporadically firing every which way.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Gaines watched Marius' spectacle.
Standing tall in the clearing amid a hail of crisscrossing gunfire as he was, the fact that he hadn't been hit was nothing short of a miracle. It might even have been inspiring had they not been caught in the middle of a Cylon ambush.
"I think Marius has finally lost it, Captain," shouted Bowman as he crawled up to Gaines. "Don't suppose you have a plan B?"
"Marius leading us out of here was plan B," sighed Gaines as she picked up the map Marius had dropped. "Fraking Cylons have cut off our escape route. Right into a frakin' ambush…"
"We make a break in any direction we'll be running headlong into Cylon guns," said Lenore as she joined Bowman and Gaines.
Just then, a round snapped through the grass, and then through Bowman's sleeve. For a moment, he sat looking at the new hole, then felt a searing burning, slapping his hand down on his bicep.
"You hit?" snapped Lenore as she scrambled a few inches closer.
"Save it, it's just a flesh wound," groaned Bowman as he gritted his teeth against the pain. "I think it passed straight through the meat."
"Here," said Gaines as she tossed a field dressing to Bowman.
As Bowman ripped open the plastic packaging with his teeth and began applying the dressing, Gaines looked back over at Marius, amazingly, still on his feet firing bursts off into the surrounding tree line.
By the gods…was the son-of-a-bitch actually laughing?
"You're right, Marius has lost it," said Gaines evenly.
"If he ever…," began Bowman, one end of the bandages gauze strip gripped in his teeth, letting out a grunt as he finished tying off the dressing. "…still had it."
"Well, I'm open to suggestions," sighed Gaines as she tossed the map to Bowman.
"A massed thrust towards the ravine," offered Lenore evenly, crawling over beside Bowman. "If we hit one section of their line, we might be able to make a break-through."
"Right," sighed Gaines, a half moment before ducking her head down a little more from a round cracking the air above her.
Shaking her head a little, Gaines flipped over onto her back. Taking in a deep breath, Gaines looked up at the sky, the deep blue darkness of night beginning to give way to the light blues and oranges of the rising sun.
"Pass the word!" she shouted as loud as she could. "Prepare to move on my order!"
As her voice echoed out around and was passed along from Marine to Marine, Gaines flipped back over onto her belly.
"Okay, now to actually get out of here," she sighed.
"Well, Captain, the only thing we can do here is die," muttered Bowman as a round snapped through the foliage beside him.
Looking back up, Bowman gently shook his head as he watched Marius continue his ambling movements amid a hail of fire.
"How do the Cylons keep missing him?" snapped Lenore, shaking her head in utter disbelief.
"Is everyone ready to move?" shouted Gaines, quickly eliciting several calls from around the clearing.
They were ready to move, at least, as ready as they would ever be. Popping up to one knee, Gaines opened her mouth in preparation to give the order to charge towards the South, towards the cluster of however many Cylons were blocking their escape route to the ravine.
Even before she completed taking in a breath, a round, then another and then a third ripped through Marius, tossing the old Marine back quite literally into Gaines' arms.
"Frak!" burst Bowman as he scrambled over.
"Medic!" shouted Gaines as she gently lowered the twitching Marius to the ground.
Sputtering, growling, coughing on the blood that had begun gurgling up in his throat, Marius thrashed around, his feet kicking, his eyes darting about wildly, in agony, in surprise.
"Gods damn it, get me a medic over here!" shouted Gaines again as she, Bowman and Lenore all pressed down on the gaping holes ripped through the old Marine's chest.
His hand covered in his own blood, Marius reached out past them with his hand, stretching his fingers. Following the old Marine's fingers, Bowman looked up and realized what it was Marius was reaching for; in the early morning light, there it was, the grave marker, the dog tags, Marius' secret; the real Vera.
As she too followed his gaze, Gaines also saw the grave, saw the tags, and for perhaps the first time truly understood.
As his bloody hand brushed across the face of the gravestone, across the etched name Vera, Marius smiled weakly.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered, the blood draining from his face.
Whether he was speaking to them, or to his long-lost Vera, no one could be sure.
Bowman, though, thought it was to Vera.
His hand beginning to shake, his bloody fingerprints on the gravestone, Marius grabbed hold of his dangling dog tags, yanked them free of their perch, then looked up at Gaines.
Snatching up her hands in his, Marius clasped the Captain's hands down around the old tags.
"Don't…" he began, coughing painfully on the blood in his throat.
As the cough faded, he looked up at Gaines, gasping, his eyes filled with even greater urgency.
"Don't…"
Marius fought to speak, to hold on, the agony in his face mixed with anger. But to no avail…
With one last growling, gurgling exhale, Marius quickly faded away, his clenched body going limp, his hands falling away from Gaines'. His eyes staring up, unseeing, Kieran Marius' bloody form lay still over the grave of his long-lost wife and unborn child.
Staring back down, Bowman and Gaines felt the loss, felt it far worse than either of them might have ever suspected they would. So overcome were they, neither of them was much aware of the continued echo of gunfire still thundering around clearing.
Slowly opening her blood-covered hands, Gaines looked down at the dog tags Marius had passed to her, for her part, desperate to understand what he'd tried to say.
"Everyone is waiting to move, Captain!" shouted Lenore as she reached over and gently shook Gaines' shoulder.
Looking back over at Lenore, Gaines slowly closed her hand around the dog tags and felt a fire within her begin to grow.
"Right," she growled.
Reaching over, Gaines took hold of Marius's old rifle, the rifle he'd named Vera, checked the chamber, snatched the couple of magazines still sitting in Marius' gear, and then stood up.
With the sun now finally peering up above the horizon, there was just enough light for Gaines to see the outline of the Cylons in the trees ahead. Raising Vera to her shoulder, Gaines fired off a burst, felt the weapon kick, felt her blood surge, her rage burn. The fire within her, the fury she felt, the kick of Vera against her shoulder, the Captain let out a harsh, primal scream as the rounds ripped through a couple of the figures. Breathing heavily, angrily, Gaines paused, dropping the weapon down from her shoulder as she quickly looked around at her Marines.
Their attention was on her, the look in their eyes clear, questioning, asking for an answer; what do we do?
Glancing back down at the body of Marius at her feet, at the grave, at the dog tags in her hand, Gaines felt certain that she knew what to do.
"Marines!" she began, her voice booming as she looked back out into their questioning eyes.
And then, drawing a deep breath, Gaines raised Vera back to her shoulder, her voice, filled with visceral wrath, echoing out menacingly as she cried just one word.
"Charge!"
Driven, spurred by the sheer primal ferocity in Gaines' voice, Bowman and Lenore jumped up, swinging their rifles up into their shoulders as they rushed forward beside Gaines.
The ravine they'd intended to escape into was to the South…
But Captain Jordan Gaines, her soul churning with a pent up fury and enraged frustration compounded by so death and loss over these last several days, was charging straight North…
Straight back at the enemy, straight back towards Serenity…
All around the clearing, the Marines, tired, scared, exasperated, saw Gaines, Bowman and Lenore rush forward, heard the infuriated imperative in Gaines' order, and each in turn popped up and rushed off to the North beside her…
Falling into a narrow front, by instinct, by training, by the primal fire that had been touched off in their own hearts, the Marines surged forward abreast of Gaines…
Almost instantly, the Cylons to their front popped out and stepped up their rates of fire…
A few Marines went down, but the line, a roiling, angry mass of howling, firing Marines continued forward…
Two Marines with MGL's snapped the weapons up to the ready, quickly popping off a couple grenades, adding to the withering, crisscrossing fire raking across the Centurions, tearing them to shreds. Twitching, the Cylons collapsed into heaps of twisted metal, the Marines vaulting over them as they continued to surge back up the hill, back towards Serenity…
"Come on you sons-a-bitches, let's take this fraking hill!" shouted Bowman as the Marines began pushing back up the base of the slope.
Unbelievably, for all the force the Centurions had thrown into the mix to dislodge the Marines from the township of Serenity, there now seemed to be little more than a token force arrayed against the Marines, themselves a roiling mass of naked fury lying at the border between terror and madness, as they thrust back…
"Come on you apes!" shouted Lenore as she motioned everyone forward between bursts. "Do you want to live forever?"
Lenore, Gaines and Bowman remained at the center of the charge, as if pulling the rest of the line Marines back up the slope by sheer force of enraged will, the wall of racing riflemen leaping, vaulting, firing their way forward, mercilessly dropping the few Cylons hapless enough to be in their way…
Unbelievably, in the face of such naked human rage, some of the Centurions actually turned and ran; Cylon Centurions in retreat…
Seeming to burn with collective wrath of their entire extinguished civilization, exhausted of all but that righteous searing fire, the Marines crested the ridge, leaping back across the abandoned positions at the top of the slope, charging forward through the alleys, back out across the courtyard…
The Centurions continued to fall back, firing back behind them to no avail, as the Marines surged across them, tearing them apart as they bounded forward, two-by-twos, by teams of four, covering, firing, rushing…
The dull clank of the Centurions dropping onto the cobblestone courtyard echoed out amid the thundering gunfire and guttural cries of the Marines surging back across the courtyard they'd only recently abandoned, a reversal of roles so profound the Cylons seemed stunned, crippled into inaction.
"We've got'em on the run!" shouted a Marine somewhere along the surging line.
Driven by momentum, by adrenaline, by an animalistic instinct for vengeance, the Marines poured into the North alleyways, back towards the line where the harrowing battle had begun…
In the forefront, Gaines continued her charge forward, exhausted yet emboldened, her heart pounding in her chest, she burst through the alley way back out along the North trench line, the bodies of the Marines lost when the Centurions first dislodged them still littering the area; hallowed ground consecrated by Colonial blood now retaken…
As they reached the trench, the rising sun shining bright on the horizon, the line of Marines dropped into the defensive line. But as Captain Jordan Gaines looked down the slope once more, she stopped, her heart throbbing in her chest, her skin growing deathly cold…
…as she looked down directly into the glowing eyes of dozens, tens of dozens, of Centurions in a long line at the bottom of the slope.
With her Marines coming to a shocked pause beside her, they all looked down in horror, outnumbered, physically spent, psychologically exhausted. They'd retaken the township of Serenity, for even the briefest of moments.
But now they were all about to die.
As the Centurions below took a tentative step forward, their forearm-mounted weapons locking into place, Gaines weakly motioned her Marines to prepare for the inevitable.
"Marines," she began, her hoarse, tired voice still echoing out in the early morning air. "It has been an honor; prepare to defend yourselves!"
Surprisingly, in spite of everything, the Marines, tired, shot up, ragged, still let out a loud, defiant battle cry as they aimed their weapons in one last time…
Rifles, some sidearms, hands shaking, curses muttered with utterly worn-out breaths, the Marines aimed down at their enemy.
"Copy that!" burst Lance Corporal Vallero.
Looking over, Gaines hadn't even realized that the wireless operator had slipped down into the trench beside her. Now as he dropped the handset he'd been holding to his ear, Vallero pulled a single smoke grenade from his gear, pulled the pin, held it as it popped, then tossed it skittering down the slope as a long stream of red smoke began wafting through the air in front of the line of doomed Marines.
Tired, perplexed, Gaines couldn't begin to form a coherent word as she watched the man snatch the handset for the wireless set strapped to back, lifting it instantly back up to his ear.
"Lateral run along base of the slope marked with red smoke!" he shouted.
"What the frak are you..?" choked out Gaines…
…just as the bottom of the slope suddenly exploded in a hail of truly punishing gunfire…
Not from the Cylons, not even from her Marines, but from something else entirely…
Startled, Gaines fell back away from the parapet as the rounds continued to tear up the line of Centurions below.
…as the sound of a low rumble began to fill the air.
"Vipers!" shouted Bowman as he pointed almost directly up into the sky.
Glancing up, Gaines felt her heart rise so far into her throat she felt as though it would pop out.
Diving almost straight down, haloed by the rising sun from the morning sky, six Vipers flew in, their guns blazing, missiles rocketing forward, ripping the line of Centurions apart. All along the line, the Marines let out an exalted cheer.
"Vipers?" burst the Three in unrestrained surprise as she watched the Colonial fighters rain destruction down on the Centurions that had been poised to wipe out the humans. "Where the frak did those Vipers come from?"
"Get some Raiders here now!" snapped Six as she looked back over at one of the Centurions with them on the hilltop.
As the sound of the Marines cheering echoed out across Serenity Valley, the Vipers pulled out of their dive, streaking by overhead triumphantly, leaving the treeline a smoldering wreck.
All the while, one question hung over the stunned Cylons as they watched the smoke rise from the base of the slope where their Centurions had been ripped to shreds; with six Baseships and hundreds of Raiders directly overhead in orbit, how did Colonial Vipers find their way to Serenity?
Thirty-Three Minutes Ago
In orbit of Sagittaron Colony
"Jump complete," said Mike Rivers evenly as he gently licked his dry lips.
"Copy that," replied Captain Jack Foster as he looked out past the cockpit windows of Pan-Colonial Lines Colonial-Heavy Two-Zero-Seven. "Check our position."
"Right where we should be," replied Rivers with a grin. "Low orbit of Sagittaron Colony, perfect glide path towards Serenity Valley."
As Foster gently pushed the nose of the passenger liner down, the sight of Sagittaron slowly came into view.
"I'll be damned," muttered Rivers. "Right on the button."
"Now for the fun part," muttered Foster as he reached over and toggled the switch for the short-wave wireless. "Longrifle this is Fat Man; in the glide path, five-by-five; entering atmo in one mike; time to stop hitchhiking."
"Copy that Fat Man."
Strapped firmly within the cockpit of the Mark Six Viper, Major Thomas Culver, call sign Longrifle, reached over and began switching the ship's systems back on.
Glancing up past the canopy, it wasn't hard for Culver to see the once lush blue-green world of Sagittaron, now a sickly gray from all the fallout blown into the upper atmosphere. Harsh as it was, it was that fallout upon which they were now counting; jumping the passenger liner into the extreme upper atmosphere, the radiation from all the particles was now effectively masking them from DRADIS detection.
Shaking his head slightly, Culver had to admit what Commander Sean Kelso had come up with was one hell-of-a crazy idea, but it seemed to be working.
"Longrifle to Halo flight, you heard the man," said Culver evenly as he looked out to his left and to his right. "Time to stop piggybacking and go to work."
Spaced out along the outer hull of the passenger liner, five other Mark Six Vipers clung to the surface of the ship, locked firmly in place through the FTL jump by a hasty upgrade to the magnetic locks on the Viper landing skids.
With the jump complete and Sagittaron below, the Vipers released their magnetic hold on the passenger liner's hull and pulled into tight formation around the ship as it began its descent from orbit towards Serenity Valley below.
Serenity Valley
Sagittaron Colony
As the Vipers streaked by victoriously overhead, the Centurions at the base of the slope lay utterly destroyed by the punishing strafing run.
"Copy that!" snapped Vallero once more as he glanced over at the elated, if baffled, Captain Gaines. "We need to get ready to move, Captain!"
Before Gaines could even ask Vallero what the hell was going on, a sudden roar overhead and rush of wind passed along the trench line. As the gust abated, Gaines looked up and was astonished to see a civilian passenger liner rushing by overhead at low level, the ship pulling a hard one-hundred-eighty-degree turn before settling down into the courtyard, the pilot maneuvering the surprisingly nimble craft with the dexterity of a Raptor.
Dropping down hard onto its landing skids, the engines continued to roar at high idle as the entry ramp on the bottom of the craft dropped down.
Rushing down the ramp, a man dressed in civilian attire looked over to Gaines through the alleyway and began frantically motioning for her to board.
With the Vipers pulling another low pass around Serenity, Gaines didn't need to be told twice.
"Let's go Marines, our ride is here!" she shouted as she motioned them towards the waiting passenger liner.
Without hesitation, the Marines hopped up en masse out of the trench and began rushing full out towards the entry ramp.
"Let's go, let's go!" shouted the man at the bottom of the ramp as he ushered the racing Marines aboard.
Pausing at the bottom of the ramp, Gaines turned and watched as each of her surviving troops rushed aboard, the last being Bowman and Lenore.
"That's everyone!" she shouted as she looked over at the civilian.
Nodding, the man pressed his hand against the wireless headset over his ear.
"That's everyone, Jack!" he shouted as he began jogging up the ramp just in front of Gaines. "Inform Halo flight we're getting the hell out of here!"
As she followed the civilian up a couple small flights of stairs, Gaines passed by the huddled mass of Marines who'd dropped into seats, onto the deck, damned near anywhere they could, and continued to follow the man forward as the ship rocked, the engines whining, pulling the craft inexorably into the air against the planet's gravity.
As the two of them practically exploded through the cockpit door, Gaines watched as the civilian dropped back down into the co-pilot's seat, the sight of the sun rising fully over the distant Hera mountain range shining brightly in through the cockpit window.
"Now what?" gasped Gaines as she stood between the two pilot seats.
"Now you should take a seat," replied the man who'd ushered her people aboard as he pointed over at an empty seat near the rear of the compartment.
"This ride's probably going to be bumpy from here," interjected the pilot as he slammed the throttles open and yanked back hard on the control yoke.
All around, the ship continued to shake as the two pilots pushed the ship to its design limits.
"We're at ten-thousand and rising," called the co-pilot.
"And Halo flight?"
"Direct astern, holding formation."
Reaching over to the panel in front of him, the pilot toggled a switch for the shortwave wireless.
"Eagle Eye, this is Fat Man; Code Green," said the pilot as he fought to keep the ship steady as she rose through the turbulence.
"Code Green!"
The words echoed out around the CIC of the Warstar Galactica, slicing through the silent tension.
"Eagle-Eye reports Fat Man is go for extraction," continued Petty Officer Celia Harris, the excitement evident in her voice.
His eyes locked on DRADIS overhead, Commander Sean Kelso's lips curled in a smile.
Nestled amid the DRADIS-obscuring Acheron asteroid belt near Sagittaron, the massive Warstar had been waiting for the call, and now with the message in hand, her Commander and crew prepared for action.
"Take us in, Major Burke," said Kelso evenly as he looked across the plot table to his XO.
"Aye, sir," replied Burke evenly. "Start the clock, Lieutenant Cortez!"
Reaching down, she snatched up the handset on her side of the plot table as Cortez starting calling off the checklist for an FTL jump.
"All hands, prepare for Combat Jump; all flight decks make ready for emergency retrieval of aircraft; standby damage and medical teams."
"FTL systems are sync'd and ready, Commander," snapped Cortez.
"Jump!"
With the ship quaking from heavy turbulence, the passenger liner continuing its rapid ascent through the upper atmosphere, Captain Jordan Gaines floundered a bit as she attempted to tighten down the straps that were just barely holding her in the seat.
As the ship finally pushed out past the upper atmosphere, the heartrendingly beautiful image of Sagittaron's distant horizon shone brightly against the sun.
But even as she felt her heart filling with near elation over their escape, Gaines caught a glimmer against the dark backdrop of space, several glimmers.
"We've got company!" burst the co-pilot as the DRADIS panel at the center of the console cleared enough to show dozens, tens of dozens, hundreds of contacts rushing in towards them.
"Fat Man to Halo flight…" began the pilot, the tension evident in his voice as he continued to coax the passenger liner higher and higher into orbit.
"Affirmative, Fat Man, we see them," came a voice from the overhead speaker, presumably the flight leader of the escorting Vipers as the fighters streaked out ahead of the passenger liner. "Looks like four Baseships, and about twenty squadrons of Raiders closing in."
"Don't suppose you have enough ammo aboard?" asked the pilot evenly.
"Let's hope we don't have to find out," replied the voice over the speakers.
Suddenly, out of nothingness, a bright flash of light flared in front of them. Blinking her eyes against the spots the flash left in her vision, Gaines looked out in awe at what was unmistakably a Colonial warship hovering directly in front of them.
The biggest damned Colonial warship she had ever seen…
"This is Galactica-Actual," crackled another voice over the speakers. "All craft are clear for combat landings."
"Fat Man, copies," replied the pilot as he tightened his grip around the liner's control stick.
"Maybe a bad time to ask, Jack, but are you sure we can do a 'combat landing' in this crate?" asked the co-pilot.
Glancing over, the pilot simply shrugged.
"That's not very reassuring."
Suddenly, an alarm from the DRADIS console began beeping.
"Oh, frak!" snapped the co-pilot as he too gripped onto the control stick. "They're launching nukes!"
"Thirty, correction, forty warheads inbound, Commander," called Lieutenant Cortez, his voice almost frantic.
"Time to impact?"
"Fifty-five seconds."
"Time till our birds are on deck?"
"Eagle-Eye Raptor is already aboard, Vipers are lining up for the Port pod, twenty seconds out," replied Burke evenly as she reflexively gripped the plot table.
"What about the Fat Man?"
"Thirty-five seconds from the Starboard pod, sir," snapped Burke, her gaze still locked on the missiles streaking in towards Galactica.
"FTL ready?"
"Yes, Commander," replied Cortez as he too tightened his grip on his console.
"This is going to be close," muttered Kelso evenly as he gripped tightly onto the plot table. "Standby to jump on my order!"
As he watched the Vipers and passenger liner streak in towards the flight pods, the DRADIS overhead continued to shriek its warning about the closing nukes.
Off to one side of the CIC, Petty Officer Celia Harris began calling out the tail numbers of each of the Vipers as they began sliding to a stop on the Port hangar deck.
All the while, Kelso's gaze remained on the icon for Colonial-Heavy Two-Zero-Seven, callsign Fat Man, edging closer and closer.
As the sight of the massive flight deck filled the view beyond the cockpit, Captain Jack Foster reached over and toggled a switch, activating the emergency alarm within the passenger compartment.
"This is the Captain; everyone brace for impact," he said evenly, his jaw muscles visibly tense as he steered the ship towards the flight deck.
Landing hard, the entire ship trembled, groaning under the strain as the sound of metal scraping upon metal screeched throughout the hull, through the air, the liner canting slightly to the side as it continued to skid along the length of the flight deck.
"Oh, lords," whispered Gaines, bracing herself in the seat as she saw the gaping maw of the far end of the flight deck looming closer.
His knuckles literally white from his grip on the plot table, Commander Sean Kelso's eyes were locked on the flight deck camera as Colonial-Heavy Two-Zero-Seven careened along the flight deck.
"Come on," he seethed.
"Twenty seconds till missile impact!" called Lieutenant Cortez.
"Commander?" prodded Burke as the missiles streaked in menacingly.
"Hold," muttered Kelso, his eyes still locked on the careening passenger liner.
"Fifteen seconds to missile impact!"
"Hold!"
At last, the ship came to a stop, cocked slightly to one side, threatening to tip over for a moment before finally settling down firmly within the Starboard flight pod.
"They're down!" snapped Burke as her eyes snapped back towards Kelso.
"Jump!"
His eyes locked on DRADIS, Kelso watched as the enemy missiles streaking in, only moments from impact, disappeared.
The Baseships, the Raiders, Sagittaron itself, all disappeared in an instant.
So charged with adrenaline, his body, his perceptions, hadn't even registered the jump itself, but in an instant, the DRADIS screen was clear.
"Jump complete, Commander," exhaled Cortez as he practically flopped back into his seat.
For a moment, Kelso watched DRADIS, waiting.
For several moments, silence hung over the CIC.
Slowly, Kelso looked over to the visibly expectant Major Burke.
Reaching down, Kelso lifted up the handset from the plot table.
"Get me the flight deck," he said simply as he raised it to his ear.
"Flight deck; Chief Copeland."
"Status?"
"My people will be hammering the dents out of the flight deck for weeks, but all birds made it back to the barn, Commander."
"Thank you, Chief."
With that, Kelso slowly placed the handset back into place.
Letting out a long breath, Kelso looked around at his CIC crew.
"Good work, people; mission accomplished."
With that, CIC exploded with cheers as Major Burke reached over and clasped onto Commander Sean Kelso's hand.
His fingers still clasped in a near death grip around the control yoke, Captain Jack Foster fought to get his breathing back under control.
"I really hope we never have to do that again," gulped his co-pilot, Mike Rivers as he too released his own grip on his control yoke. "Ever, ever, ever again…"
Looking over at Rivers, then back at the visibly shaken Captain Gaines, Foster's lips spread into the faintest of grins as he reached over to the console in front of him and toggled the switch for the passenger cabin's intercom.
Slowly, Corporal Dwayne Bowman reached over and helped lift Corporal Sera Lenore off the floor into one of the plush passenger seats.
"Thanks," she sighed as she dropped down into the seat.
Overhead, the intercom crackled to life.
"This is your Captain speaking," began the audibly tired voice overhead, drawing the attention of all the Marines immediately. "I'd like to announce our arrival aboard the Colonial Warstar Galactica and to thank you for flying Pan-Colonial today. In the future, whenever planning your travel needs, I'll hope you'll consider flying Pan-Colonial passenger lines again. Thank you."
There was such a deadpan tone to the man's voice, Bowman wasn't quite sure whether it was a real person or just a recording, and was just as unsure how to react at first, but soon began to chuckle.
"Think this trip will count towards our frequent-flier miles?" muttered a Marine from the back of the cabin.
With that, almost everyone in the passenger compartment broke out into laughter.
A smile on his lips, Bowman glanced over at Lenore. Lenore was simply sitting there, staring at him intently. Finally, after a moment, she stood up.
"Come with me, Corporal Bowman," she said evenly.
With Bowman following close behind, curious but silent, Lenore began making her way along the center aisle towards the rear of the craft, pausing next to one of the civilian medics who'd survived with them. The man's eyes were filled with tears, but he nevertheless looked up, noting Lenore's approach.
"I need a fresh field dressing," she said evenly.
Confused for a moment, the man nevertheless reached down into the gear he was carrying and retrieved the requested bandage and handed it to Lenore.
"Follow me, Corporal Bowman," she said evenly.
Making her way towards the rear of the compartment, Lenore led Bowman past the throngs of chatting Marines. While a few glanced up, most paid them little attention as Bowman and Lenore passed through to the more deserted rear passenger compartment.
Coming to a stop near one of the restrooms at the far end of the compartment, Lenore turned back to Bowman and began stripped off her gear, dropping it into one of the empty seats, motioning for Bowman to do likewise.
"We need to change that dressing on your arm," she said flatly as Bowman looked over at her questioningly.
Likewise stripping his gear off, he continued to eye Lenore somewhat curiously as he too set it down on one of the seats. As Bowman set his helmet down onto the pile with the rest of his combat gear, Lenore reached over and opened the small doorway into one of the restrooms and motioned him inside. Still curious, he nevertheless stepped inside. Cramped as it was, Bowman was surprised when Lenore slid into the space beside him…
And shut the door…
As she slid the locking latch into place, Lenore looked up at Bowman and dropped the dressing down onto the small sink.
"What's this…" began Bowman, stopping mid-sentence as Lenore reached up and placed her fingers over his lips.
"Don't talk," she whispered, gently shaking her head.
With that, Lenore reached up, pulled out the pins holding her hair up, and let her long brunette hair fall down around her shoulders. His heart rate once again beginning to climb, Bowman watched her gently shake her head again, further unfurling the long strands of silken hair. In the dull glow of the restroom light, Lenore then pressed herself against Bowman as she looked intently into his eyes.
"Just shut up and kiss me, Bowman," she said silkily, urgently.
"Aye, Corporal," he whispered softly as he brought his lips to hers.