Number Seven read the reports from the Command Base Star and it's run-in with the Battlestar identified as the ITHACA, skimmed through the report pertaining to the destroyed base star over Cancer (the probes investigating the loss of wireless contact found only debris from the base star, and a nearby listening post when they arrived), then read the after-action report from the three base stars that had arrived too late to successfully attack the unknown battlestar. His base star was now undergoing repair for the heavy damage suffered at the hands of that human warship. Not only the base star, but the loss of a large number of raiders would have to be made up. Their local 'resurrection ship' would be working overtime, that was for sure...
Number One was not overly happy to hear about Number Seven's withdrawal from the battle, enabling the humans to rescue that Peregrine, but realized that it was the only logical thing that could have been done, given the tactical situation. Thanks to the recently enacted policy that had concentrated on hunting down the Battlestar GALACTICA, the relative lack of forces in the Cyrannus Sector had enabled this multi-pronged attack to succeed. True, the Battlestar ITHACA had been destroyed, and intelligence gleaned from the wrecked battlestar had determined that it was definitely the one that had attempted to save Valhalla Station - but failed, was good news, but the fact that another battlestar was in this system with substantial numbers of fighters meant that the humans were far from being defeated.
"There will be a greater number of base stars deployed in this system from here on out", she had directed at a council-of-war that he, and others had been ordered to attend, "Also, one task force will be detached from the Promar Sector in order to free-lance through other sectors for any trace of this rogue battlestar. The recent losses are unacceptable", she continued.
"But this will cut down on the searchers for the GALACTICA", Number Eleven objected, "The Promar Sector is immense, and for all we know it could have been the GALACTICA who made that other attack".
"All of our intelligence says that no substantial numbers of fighters from Task Force Five - where the PACIFICA was - had made it to the GALACTICA when it was at Ragnar Anchorage, and Number Seven reported that an entire wing of fighters had the designation of the wing that was based on that particular warship, and it had been definitely confirmed destroyed", she replied.
She was annoyed at Number Eleven - after all, it was his idea to have as many Cylon forces as possible to concentrate on the GALACTICA, believing that these other human forces would not be capable of anything really serious. As a result, she was forced to transfer her command to a replacement base star while the damaged one was moved to another orbit for repair - depleting their resources even more. She had been fortunate that only two of the six heavy projectiles fired from the rail gun had hit. The other four impacted on the surface of Caprica, leaving some rather sizable craters. One of those unfortunately had hit a recently completed hunter-killer control station, neutralizing whole units of drones on the surface. If it wasn't for the fact that his consciousness would be transferred to another entity of his model type, she would have seriously considered having Number Eleven killed for this error of judgement. The Battlestar ITHACA was a case in point. It was not regarded as a anything close to a serious threat, and look what had happened as a result!
"So where does that leave us?", Number Twelve asked her, putting into words that all of the others present were thinking. No one would admit it, but all of them were shaken at this brazen in-system attack at the hands of these remnants of humanity.
"It leaves us with a problem that has to be solved. We cannot stop until the human race has been annihilated!", Number One replied forcefully, "These attacks - and this recent attack would have had to have been co-ordinated for them to occur simultaneously - are a clear message from the humans to us".
"What message is that?", Number Four asked.
"That they are prepared to fight the war to the finish, and that nowhere will be safe for us while they survive", Number One answered. The others fell silent. Number One had made it clear: If they don't destroy the humans, eventually, the humans will destroy them.
Shortly after the council had broken up, a message was dispatched to all Cylon task force units: RECENT ATTACK IN CYRANNUS SECTOR BY TWO HUMAN BATTLESTARS NECESSITATES REDEPLOYING ADDITIONAL UNITS FROM PROMAR SECTOR. WHILE PRIMARY GOAL OF LOCATING AND DESTROYING GALACTICA IS UNCHANGED, TWO TASK FORCES (FORCE SIGMA AND FORCE CHI) WILL BE DEPLOYED BACK TO CYRANNUS SYSTEM WHILE ONE TASK FORCE (FORCE RHO) WILL CONDUCT SECTOR-TO-SECTOR SEARCH FOR OTHER BATTLESTAR. IDENTITY OF THIS BATTLESTAR STILL UNCERTAIN, BUT TWO REPEAT TWO VIPER WINGS FROM THIS WARSHIP WERE DEPLOYED IN RECENT BATTLE. ONE OF THESE WINGS WAS ORIGINALLY BASED ON DESTROYED BATTLESTAR CALLED PACIFICA. REVISE ALL ATTACK STRATEGIES ACCORDINGLY.
PRIORITY IS NOW GIVEN TO OPERATION 'LIVE BAIT'. UNITS DEPLOYED FOR THAT WILL REMAIN ON-STATION UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. RAIDERS TO BE DISPATCHED FOR REINFORCEMENTS TO COMMAND BASE STAR WHEN COLONIAL FORCES ENCOUNTERED BY ANY BAIT UNITS. FURTHER ATTACKS BY THE VESSEL KNOWN AS PEREGRINE ARE TO BE EXPECTED. THIS VESSEL HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OR SEVERE DAMAGE OF FOUR BASE STARS AND NUMEROUS RAIDERS. IT IS TO BE DESTROYED BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Number Seven returned to his still-under-repair base star after the council with renewed determination. Like the others, they were comforted by the evidence confirming the loss of Valhalla Station, along with the loss of the battlestar that had tried to escape with it. The two cutters that were part of the station however were still on the loose, but that little annoyance as well as the search for the Peregrine that had destroyed the base star over Cancer and the listening post close by was being addressed by another Number Seven model. Those elements of humanity, plus the GALACTICA and the battlestar that he had encountered were it. And despite this success, they would be destroyed, he swore to himself.
With a flash of light, the PEGASUS re-emerged from it's lengthy FTL-jump back to the Promar Sector not far from the asteroid where the miners and refiners were still busy with their work. They were all glad to see the return of their battlestar. So was Lt. Higgins, who communicated with Core Command from his viper.
"Good to see you back, PEGASUS", Higgins said, "and have we got news for you from the probes that had returned while you were gone".
"Very good, Theta Leader", Core Command replied, "Have your flight return to Home Plate. Normal patrol schedule will resume from this moment".
"Understood, Home Plate. Heading home", Higgins acknowledged.
With the nine midshipmen forming a v-formation behind Higgins, the ten vipers headed back to their base. Higgins knew that these snotties would very soon become squadron rooks. They did themselves proud.
As Core Command started to download the transmitted data from the returned probes, another voice came over the wireless.
"Home Plate, This is Deputy Prospector", Petty Officer Miller communicated from the command shuttle down on the asteroid, "We've got a fair amount of semi-refined high-grade tylium ore ready for pick-up. I assume your recent trip left you all a little thirsty".
"That's affirmative, Dee-Pee", Core Command replied, "You can start getting the mass-driver warmed up. We'll send out the receiver shuttles forthwith".
"Will do, Home Plate. Dee-Pee Out", she said. When the support shuttles were deployed with their receiver 'nets', then the mass-driver would start flinging the semi-refined ore up to it.
Over the next two days, the semi-refined tylium ore and the other extracted precious metals had been loaded aboard for final refining, while the minor damage to the battlestar from the recent battle was tended to. There was enough refined high-quality tylium to refill the PEGASUS' fuel tanks and supplemental storage silos, which was great news for Wyatt Thyssen.. Down in the arsenal, the refining of the rest of the extracted ore into ammunition was also well under way. The attack had expended a fair amount of ammunition which had to be made good, but that asteroid had provided all that was needed to get their magazines filled again. It was during this time that Captain Sanders was going over the reports from their probes and the Cylon intercepts, and other business which was taken care of.
Black Knight Wing had suffered the loss of eight vipers in all. Given the circumstances, it was a light loss, but still felt keenly. The numbers were made up by eight newly commissioned ensigns from Higgins' training cadre. The ninth was assigned to Silver Spar Squadron Three, which had the only loss from their wing. Several vipers had varying degrees of damage, but Chief Brubaker's maintenance techs were taking care of them. They would all be able to return to flight readiness shortly.
"Well, Rogue", Syke said to Higgins in his office after the ceremony where the nine former snotties were given their field commissions and wings, "I think Ratchet wants you back to help her in Spar One. You did a great job with the midshipmen".
"They'll do okay, Bojay", Higgins confirmed, "Now that they're rooks, they'll learn more of what they'll need from the old hands".
"So long as one of those old hands don't do any more landing bay fly-bys", Syke said with a smile. Higgins did not reply directly. He stood, saluted Syke, then headed back to report to Lt. Halley. He was now back on operations and had a lot of catching up to do.
Syke had also gone over the wing damage report that Tricia had given him. Chief Krag reported that only four vipers had any substantial damage and that by the next watch, all of the damage would be made good. Now, it was time to welcome the one new ensign from Higgins' training cadre to the wing.
Lance Voight had also welcomed his eight new ensigns. It was something to take his mind off the recent memorial service. Eight deaths, and now eight replacements. He had given the squadron commanders instructions to make sure that the new rooks got experienced pilots to assist them. Despite the loss felt by the pilots of Black Knight Wing, their morale was once again high. They had all felt that they had inflicted payback for the loss of the PACIFICA. Forty-five raiders were confirmed destroyed by the pilots of Black Knight Wing. The ten raiders that did break through the defense cordon were all taken care of by Silver Spar Wing. And more important, there was now a new asset to the PEGASUS.
"Welcome aboard the Battlestar PEGASUS", Cain had said to Lieutenant Hunter and Ensign Sims after they had secured the Peregrine and reported to him up in CIC. The Peregrine was now under repair and reconfiguring to it's designed role as a recon gunship and troop transport.
"We're glad to be on board, Commander", Hunter had replied, shaking Cain's outstretched hand. Sims echoed Hunter's sentiment.
"So am I", another voice said. They turned to see Dutch coming into CIC. Both of them smiled and shook hands with their friend, before turning back to face Commander Cain.
"Your ship is being well taken care of, and we have received news indicating that another Peregrine is giving the tin-heads a lot of trouble", Cain said. He nodded to Dutch, who gave out more news.
"It's one of the two that was involved with the weapons aspect of the program. It's almost certain that Dragon is out there somewhere giving the Cylons a fair dose of grief", Dutch said.
Cain added, "Captain Sanders - our 'Comms' - had picked up data from intercepted transmissions pertaining to another series of attacks upon Cylon assets over Caprica and Cancer, and the preliminary information seems to indicate the other Peregrine being involved".
That was good news to both Hunter and Sims. Cain got their attention again with more news - this time affecting them personally.
"From this moment on, you'll be on TDY as an independent reconnaissance unit assigned to support both strike wings on the PEGASUS. We're going to continue on our mission to find the GALACTICA, and then once we find her, we'll be going back to the colonies to do a lot more damage upon every single miserable tin-head we can find. Hopefully then, you'll be reunited with Captain Masters and the combatants that he's based with. Until then, welcome aboard, and once a final report from Comms has been compiled, if there's more news about the other Peregrine, I'll let you know".
Both saluted Cain, and then - accompanied by Dutch - they left CIC and headed down to get settled in to their new quarters. Cain watched them go. He had found the time to take a quick look at the Peregrine and knew that the PEGASUS had an excellent piece of firepower with the addition of this gunship.
Later on that afternoon, Captain Sanders finally had a more concise report to give to Cain regarding the other battlestar attack at Caprica, which gave Cain another reason to smile. Sanders gave it him when he retreated to his cabin that evening. Cain and Tolen were sitting in chairs listening to the brief.
"Based on both the reports from the Cimtar probe, as well as the last batch of intercepts, The ITHACA definitely was the battlestar destroyed by the Caprica Base Star, but the information from the probe shows that she was moved into it's attack trajectory by another ship, due to the damage evidently sustained to the ITHACA's engines. And as the ITHACA's landing bays were not configured for launching vipers due to it's target ship conversion, it's just not possible that this was the ship giving the Cylons problems earlier", he reported.
"What makes you so sure about this, Comms", Cain asked.
"The Command Base Star had reported getting damaged by a rail gun - which the ITHACA did not have operational, judging from the probe data - and this other message indicating the loss of contact with a base star over Cancer... it was under attack at about that same time, it would also support this conclusion of another capital ship being involved", Sanders had replied.
Cain nodded, reading the specs. The ITHACA had indeed been downgraded to a target ship before the war, so it's ability to attack was severely limited, given the limited number of light weapons it had left after being converted to it's target duties. The recent intelligence intercepts about the Command Base Star being damaged by a rail gun - a weapon that was something that only a capital ship could carry - plus other reported losses by the Cylons in other raids (such as a recent raid on Sagittaria) tended to bear this conclusion out. And the loss of contact with the Cancer base star- while it could mean a simple wireless failure - more likely meant that it had been attacked and probably destroyed, given the timing of it's wireless failure with the other attacks.
Well, Cain had thought, whoever it was that was behind the ITHACA's attack - and the incident over Cancer - had helped them by holding back additional Cylon reinforcements from engaging the PEGASUS. If all seven base stars had gotten into the battle, there was no way that the PEGASUS would have survived, but the attacks - which could very well be regarded as co-ordinated by outside observers - had effectively split the response.
"When things settle down some, Captain", Cain said to Sanders, "We'll deploy more reconnaissance probes and try to fill in the gaps in our intelligence. At the moment, we'll finish getting our fuel refined, then continue on our way. Thanks for the report", he finished. Sanders sensed the note of dismissal in Cain's voice. He saluted, then left the cabin. Tolen stood, and after saying "See you in the morning, Garris", followed Sanders out, leaving Cain to his thoughts.
Cain knew that this apparent 'co-ordinated' attack would result in more Cylon forces currently involved in hunting down the GALACTICA getting pulled back to the colonies, and forcing extra Cylon ships to embark on roving expeditions in an effort to locate them. Anything to take some of the heat off the Promar Sector would be welcomed by Adama, despite some of the heat being redirected at him. That letter he had received from T.J. Flinn still made him think that the GOLIATH was the one other capital ship involved, and until evidence to the contrary came up, he would rely on his 'gut instinct'. Perhaps when the probes returned to the colonies, there will be more answers forthcoming.
Overall, the hit-and-run operation had been a resounding success, and it served to give notice to the Cylons in plain language that they would never know victory while a single human remained alive. When the GALACTICA was located, they and the other group of human combatants would take care of the Cylon menace while the refugees made a new colony to restart the race. Cain knew that just running would not be able to eliminate the Cylon threat, and for the race to survive, the Cylons had to be destroyed. He looked forward to that day, as did all the others on board the Battlestar PEGASUS.
END OF BOOK FIVE