Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge - 10 Days After Initial Contact
"I hate fraking delays," remarked Lt. JG Kou Uraki , who was situated under the raptor while seeming to fiddle with an open panel.
"Me too, Kou, though a day won't kill anyone," Roy remarked while laughing at Kou's use of colonial slang.
Kou then noticed what he just said.
"I've been spending way too much time with you and Margaret" Kou muttered.
"I'm just shocked that the show Farscape had something that sounds so close" Roy said "And that you managed to get me to watch it."
"I told you it was pretty good" Kou said smugly.
"Yeah, and I felt like John when I hit the Sol System" Roy said.
"Well as interesting as discussing classic entertainment is, do you think it's a smart move to bring representatives from Axis?" Kou asked.
"Yeah since they want to send three of their ships and we need all the help we can get. I don't know who this Haman Khan is. Her ship will be joining us, I hear she has connections to Char, the Red Comment." Roy said.
"You mean the Red Comet?" Kou asked, rolling his eyes.
"Well that makes more sense then comment." Roy shrugged theatrically.
"He was one of the Zeon aces in the One Year War. Only a few who saw him in combat lived afterwards to tell the tale. Lieutenant Amuro Ray is one of them; so is Captain Bright," Kou said solemnly.
"Say, the party has been rescheduled tonight in the Argama mess hall, you're invited," Roy called out.
"To celebrate our departure tomorrow?" Kou seemed to be considering the offer too seriously.
"Yes, fraking cool, tonight we drink together, tomorrow we fight together," Roy said with a roguish smile. "It sounds like one of those old myths," Roy continued while thinking deeply.
"You know, I heard they are relocating a few colonies from Side Seven to Side Three," Kou suddenly said.
"Yes? And?" Roy said.
"I heard one of them will be your new colony." He had also heard that they were still trying to figure out a proper name that would not be taken the wrong way.
"Really? That will be good. Living on a planet like environment will be a positive change." Roy said "And actually having a place to call home."
-
Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Flight deck – same time
"Say, Lieutenant Bajeena, who was the Red Comet and why did Lt. Ray refer me to you about him?" asked Racetrack.
"He is a relic of a time long past," replied Quattro. "Something I don't like to dwell on."
"Oh, I see." Racetrack continued on to fill in the sudden silence, "It is odd that you had to revert to using Mêlée weapons, due to the interference from the Minovsky particles. The same way that we had to go backwards technologically to avoid being hacked by the Cylons."
"Yes, it is remarkably similar. Though when we jump to your fleet, we won't use the fields. We will be able to use our RADAR systems, which will be a first in a long time." Quattro seemed to think it was quite funny, by the small curl to his lips.
"Why not?" Racetrack asked.
"It would not only cripple your civilian ships but render your fighting force ineffective. Fighting at line of sight will prove detrimental to the Vipers and the rest of your fleet," the mobile suit ace explained.
"Now all we have to worry about is the hacking part," Racetrack replied glumly.
"Fortunately, for the 'hacking part,' we have the systems isolated so that no outside handshake can be made," Char explained. "Even if they could get past the hardware and software incompatibility issues."
"What do you mean?" Racetrack asked. She was interested in what ways they had to stop the Cylons.
"There are computers which act as in betweens," he explained. "They have their own version of an operating system which is separate from the ones running the ship and the ones which do the communication."
"So they're 'hardware' firewalls." Racetrack said.
"Exactly. They are dedicated firewalls instead of your usual software, Their operating systems are ROMs, which can be changed on the fly. Hence those of the firewalls cannot be altered, if they break through one, we simply replace it with another, and another."
"Ahh, good thinking." She didn't sound convinced. The Colonial Fleet had thought they could deal with Cylon's hacking their systems several times during the first Cylon War as well.
"We have come a long ways in terms of computers. Ever since the creation of the Internet, there have been so many hackers and wanna be virus writers that, if it can be done, we have seen it and dealt with it," Char said with a knowing smile.
"I like the Internet! I have been reading up on your history and checking out the creative works. Though it is a pain trying to find some information when half of the search results can end up to pornography sites..."
"Even spacenoids and Earthers like porn, given they are still human despite what some might think," added Char pensively. "Though one has to have their priorities straight."
"I think humanity needs all the babies we can have!" she replied, smirking.
-
Cloud Nine: conference room - Post-Caprica Rescue Operation, 10 Days Later
The air was tense as the two sides met on Cloud Nine.
"Are you the Sharon who shot me?" demanded Admiral Adama.
"Yes," her answer echoing through the group of Cylons on one side of the large room, "though, it was not my choice."
"How can you say that?" remarked Commander Lee 'Apollo' Adama. "You shot my father!"
"She was not aware of her Cylon nature," explained Caprica-Six. "She was still in denial of it. That programming is no longer in her."
"Explain further," President Roslin asked politely, with a hint of steel in her tone.
"When the programming took effect, the person you see now, Sharon, was put aside. Basically, her real personality was dormant while the program was running. She was not performing any of the actions nor should be held responsible. Once the program once executed had served its function it deleted itself," Six explained.
"Why should we trust you? When your kind killed so many of us, hunted us down like animals!" Tigh yelled.
A look of sadness came about on Caprica Six as she said this, "I see their faces, every night, I go to sleep wondering why I did it. What reason could any 'child of god' need to devastate entire worlds of people we could have honestly made peace with."
"Good," said the Baltar in her head, "As you should, you murderer, you butchered them all, by betraying our love."
"I know and I am sorry" she said.
"Sometimes, sorry isn't good enough," echoed the voices of Baltar and Admiral Adama.
"But that is all that I have, I want to make up for it," Caprica Six pleaded. "I want to atone", she thought to herself. "So much blood to atone for."
"Oh really? And how do you intend on do that?" Tigh said with enough sarcasm to bury someone.
"This is why we are here. To help protect the fleet, help you find Earth," Caprica Six's voice rose new determination.
"How do we know you aren't planning to use this to get to Earth and wipe us away once and for all?" Tigh asked with a hard sneer.
Caprica-six places several boxes on the table.
"What are these?" Adama asked flatly.
"As you know, we brought down your computers during the initial attack of the colonies," Six explained.
"Yes, and?" Adama asked.
"The new navigational software had back-doors and trojans, which where placed ahead of time. There was no way for us to hack the systems so completely on the fly. These are the same ones without any back-doors or trojans, with a few improvements," Caprica Six stated adding. More than a few. It was as hack proof as the limited resources of two Base Ships could make them.
"How did you obtain them originally?" a deadly panned voiced Adama demanded.
Caprica six's face was showing a turmoil of sad emotions and guilt when she replied.
"I infiltrated the system, posing as a computer specialist. I solicited access to your mainframes through a few key personal in the clockworks."
"I remember your face," President Roslin said, thinking aloud. "You wore more makeup. I seem to remember you being constantly around Dr. Baltar."
Putting two and two together Thigh went off. "Sonofa... I'm going to get Baltar. And then I'm going have him hanged."
"Don't blame him," Caprica six pleaded. "I was the one who betrayed him. I helped him develop his system. I still see the blood on my hands and all I can do is cry. I loved him and used his love for me like it was useful tool." tears falling down Caprica's face.
"I don't know how I am holding back my urge to strangle you," Adama said even as his shoulders were straight and taut. "And I'm surprised Tigh isn't dismembering you right this instant."
A nervous tick was jumping in the colonel's cheek, even as you could see his tight neck muscles. "I figure you should have first shot, Bill," Tigh said finally.
"I know I don't deserve to live, for what I have done. At least with what I have left, I can make a difference." Caprica Six sighed.
"So what do you want now?" President Roslin asked, eyes narrowed in thought.
"An alliance, we want to help you and in turn help us all" Boomer spoke.
"What if we reject your help?" Tigh asked intently as a challenge. "Since I trust you as far as I can throw you."
"We will cross that bridge when we get there… though I am hoping not," Six declared.
-
Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge – same day
"Kamille!" yelled a green haired girl as she ran towards the other pilot.
"Four!" replied Kamille as they embraced. "They brought you here?"
"You people and your weird hair colors," laughed Roy as he walked passed the two.
"Who is he?" asked Four.
"Him? His name is Roy. He is one of the Colonial humans." Kamille said.
"So the stories are true? There are humans outside our solar system?" Four asked.
"Their story seems to check out so far, even their blood types match. They are doing a mitochondrial analysis to see where the lineage split off." Kamille was so happy to see Four.
"Mitochondria what?" Four looked quite perplexed.
"Their symbiotic organisms that power our cells, they have their own unique DNA and can be traced back generations, maternally." Kamille informed.
"Ahh, well. We are going for a trip aren't we?" she asked, changing the subject.
Kamille nodded. "How are your headaches? I hope they aren't going to force you into that monstrosity again."
"No, the Psycho Gundam was considered too slow and cumbersome for this project. I believe I will be getting a different Gundam eventually," Four stated as she shrugged.
"Psycho Gundam? Well that sounds like a safe Gundam," Roy said sarcastically. "And no offense Four, but I think the Titans need to meet their namesakes if they're even half as bad as I've heard them to be." Gassing your own people?
"But we only have three Gundams? I heard Lt. Emma Sheen was going to pilot the other Mark II," Kamille conversed, trying to wheedle out more information.
"Lt. Sheen took her MKII, they got the damaged one repaired and upgraded. I heard Kou Uraki will pilot it," piped up Roy in the background.
"The Titans are funding the development and mass production of a new version of the GM's based on the MKII design. I hear we got an expert MS Team who will be putting together suits for us. They told me I will be piloting a suit called a Methas. I think," Four replied unsurely.
"Fa will be super pissed" Kamille said.
-
"Trust needs to be earned, therefore we are willing to put our lives in your hands," Caprica Six said after a quick conference with her fellow Cylons.
"We also know about your resurrection ships," Tigh spat out vehemently. "Which means jack and shit when it comes to your lives, and the value they hold."
"We have locked ourselves out of that system. The Resurrection Ships in place now have probably been set to reject us. All of us traitors," Caprica Six continued. "So when we die, we will really die, unlike the rest our race. We are like you now, as it should have been."
This got Roslin's interest. "As it should have been?"
"Yes, as death becomes meaningless, so does life." Caprica Six said.
"Without the risk of losing your life, it becomes worthless you mean?" Roslin asked intently.
"Yes, it was probably why the decision to attack the colonies was passed. We didn't realize mortality, therefore we never realized the value of a life," added Sharon.
"All life is precious to God. We realize this now. We realized our mistakes and we want to make amends." Caprica Six explained.
"I hear there is another me in the fleet? Is she being treated well?" Sharon asked.
"Yes, we have reinstated her into the military. Lieutenant Sharon 'Athena' Agathon passed her viper trials recently," Admiral Adama declared.
"I would like the same, as would all of the Cylons with us." Sharon stated realizing the information the Adama had revealed. She quickly asked.
"wait a minute, you said Sharon Agathon? She married Helo?"
"Yes, and If this pans out anything is possible."
"What?" Thigh shouted, totally shocked. " you aren't seriously considering letting more of the tin cans into our ranks are you?"
"Shut up Saul!" barked the admiral"Athena earned pour thrust by not only helping us rescue our people, but pointed out a cylon who had been posing as a priest".
"We hope to earn your trust as well," caprica commented "We have done something that should, hopefully, lead in that direction."
"What the frak have you done?" demanded saul.
"In the the base ships, we brought them with us" excitedly boomer said.
"who?" the puzzeled president asked.
"Survivors, around two thousand or so"
"Hostages you mean?" added tigh with Adama strangly quiet.
"No, they can move to your ships, if they wish. We where created to be part of the colonies, we rebelled because we where treated like expendable, unthinking slaves. We want to join as equals. In this way we want to show to the ones who remained that you are our equals. You are our parents, no matter what has happened, blood is blood. Till the day all are one." Caprica Six said
"Till the day all are one?" Adama responded, shocked that the Cylons would feel that way.
"It is a saying of the Cylons. " Caprica Six said with a slight smile.
-
Mobile Suit Carrier Argama: Lounge – evening
The party aboard the Argamon was going well, as a newly promoted Lt. Commander Bageena entered the mess hall. The ships had left dry dock and where near side three, getting ready.
"Officer on deck," yelled Roy as a few of the obviously drunk soldiers got up to salute.
"At ease, this is a party, Ensign Focker and Lt. Edmondson, I'd like a word with you," Bageena ordered.
"Yes, sir," came the reply as both followed the commanding officer of the ship out into the hall.
"Congrats on the promotion sir!" Roy called out happily.
"Thank you, we have some news, I thought you would like to hear it personally."
"I hope its good news," Roy whispered to Margaret.
"In a way," Bright replied while pushing a button on a pad.A large 3d holographic map then appeared of a The trinary system liting up area around his desk with ambient glows.
Upon further inspection Margaret realized what they where looking at. "What the frak? When did you get such detailed maps of our system, most of data banks where fried!"
"Ahh, you noticed, bright one she is!" Bright put a pad aside. "We didn't take this from your data banks."
"What?" Roy asked stupidly.
"This is the most current information we have, which is a day old." Bright said.
Not believing what she was seeing, Racetrack asked pleadingly, "Please explain?"
"After we where able to reproduce your drives we sent in a two ships to check up on your story, also see if there where any survivors" Char said.
"And?" Roy said.
"We entered the system from a safe distance, to avoid any possible detection," the captain explained.
"You sent a rescue force to the colonies?" Racetrack's eyes lit up. "Did you find any?"
Bright shook his head. "We didn't." He paused a moment, thinking of what he was going to say very carefully. "They found us; apparently this was a deep space habitat which was inside the Oort Cloud of your solar system. Quiet a few ships too. They had huddled together there for support. They had been in hiding for eight months."
"Am I dreaming? Holy fracking heavens," she said, tears now falling down her cheeks. Standing behind her, Roy was just stunned speechless.
"No, you're not, young lady. We didn't want to give you false hope. A few said they where left behind by a battlestar called the 'Pegasus'. Without any FTL drives," he said, thinking of the irony that his first command shared the same name. "There is also a battlestar class ship called the Babylonia."
"Are they here?" Roy asked.
"No," Bright replied while pushing another button and a galactic map appeared. The tri-system containing the colonies, far out on a swirl of lonely stars, and the Sol system where among the ones highlighted. A system blinked into view, it was roughly half way between earth and the tri-system. "We are rendezvousing with them here then heading to last known location of the Galactica and her fleet here." The original location of her jump started to blink.
"Right, the whole keeping Earth safe routine. Hopefully we can find them," Roy said, lost in thought as he stared at his home system.
"We should. Our old jump engine designs, the ones originally mounted on the radish and irish, aren't as good as original they where based on but we do have better range and accuracy. Thanks to our computers. The technicians and engineers who arrived with the Irish, yesterday, have been quite helpful in moving production and quality of ftl drives along. They replaced the Irish's drive with a colonial built civilian one. Which allowed it to make the trip in a day instead of the two days. They also brought along a few spare ftl drives. We barely managed to make the two drives for the Irish and the Radish in time, right now, thanks to the spares we can get the fleet moving. " Bright finished.
-
Colonial tristar system Oort - Aeug Battleship Carrier Radish: bridge - 10 Days After Initial Contact.
Lt Emma Sheen's Mark II Gundam maneuvered itself near the bridge of the Radish opening a comm channel. "Are we heading out sir?"
Henken Bekkener, the captain of the 'Radish,' an Irish class battleship, nodded in thought on his bridge. Her sister ship, the Irish had left for Earth a day ago with the intel and proposed rendezvous point. It would make the trip in half the time it initially took thanks to the colonials putting a civilian class ftl drive on her, replacing the patch work anaheim electronics had done. They had taken colonial personal with them as liaisons, including engineers and technicians to help earth with it's construction of artificial gravity and ftl drives. Though the actual location of the targeted system will still remain a secret to both parties as much as possible. The ftl drives on board the two ships where fine tuned by the colonial engineers and brought as close to standard colonial operation as possible.
"Yes, I have been informed by the commander of the Babylonia, one Kevin 'Hercules' Hunt, that their fleet is ready and waiting for us to calculate the jump point. The two days we gave them was cutting it close but they managed to get their systems ready for the long trip." He was overlooking at the big monstrosities called ships. "They sure like to build them big, don't they?"
The military fleet had been composed of the following. The battlestar Babylonia, the three Zeus class war stars: the Primus, the Gilgamesh, the Orion Pax, the Combat Stars: Romulus and Remus, the Gun Stars: the Griffin and the Cyrus. The four Titan Class Escort Frigates; the Robin, the Raven, the Starfire and the Impulse.
"That's what they said to us, sir, when they saw our mobile suits!" she replied jubilantly, smirking happily.
"I can see that, yeah," he answered with a chuckle.
"Deeandtee confirms two big blips at two hundred clicks!" barked out the tactical officer.
"Commander Hunt on radio sir, he says they are Cylon Base Ships."
"Shit," Henken said, turning to the helm officer. "helm, fleet orders, come port and present our broadside to the cylons. Charge primary and secondary batteries standby all point defense mounts. Weapons, lock on and prepare to fire a fleet broadside at the enemy. . I need those navigational jump points now!" He noticed the mkII had launched , holding position between the colonial fleet and the incoming hostiles.
"Emma be careful out there, we are about to fire a broadside!"
"Roger!" came the reply.
"Get me the commander of the Babylonia on the line ASAP!"
-
Colonial tristar system Oort Cloud – Battlestar Babylonia: Babylonia CiC – same time.
Things where hectic on board the battlestar Babylonia, as their ships where preparing for a fight.
"Commander, the Radish's captain is on the line!" Mic Homes reported.
Commander Hunt picked up the line. "This is Babylonia Actual!" He listened to the other side for a moment. "You want us not to deploy our vipers?"
"Affirmative, sir," game the reply of the Captain Bekkener. "We need to jump out as soon as we can. We will fire a broadside at them and allow time for you to escape."
"Those ships are awfully tiny and their robots are stupidly huge, how can they-" came the sarcastic xo's voice, suddenly cut off by his commander.
"I guess we will see what their made of Bruce" Hunt said, shrugging his broad shoulders. The humans from the sol system had been quiet helpful so far. They had come with large amounts of provisions, considering that they where essentially using testbed technology in the field. They could have been trapped in another system for a good amount of time, in order to fix possible drive issues. This they had given freely to his fleet. Much needed medication, food, and even minovisky power plants where provided. The irish's mobile suit squadrons stayed behind to help protect the fleet while a squad of vipers and a raptor where assigned on the Irish. A gesture of good faith, and their first informal exchange program.
"I just hope size doesn't matter in this case" Bruce "Ash" Williams said.
"We are receiving jump coordinates. It will take a few minutes to propagate through the fleet!" Mic said.
Not fast enough for Kevin Hunt's mind.
-
"Designate Base Ships as primary targets, main batteries on Base Ship one and two. all secondary batteries go to rapid continuous fire. target Base Ships and enemy fighters. be advised, friendly in the line of fire, confirm iff before firing. release batteries and open fire" yelled Captain Bekkener. The mega particle cannons on the Irish class ship started firing in salvos.
The mega particles screamed across space hitting the hard alloys of the Base Ship. Alloys designed to withstand the heats of kiloton level nuclear explosions boiled away at the bite of the corrosive bolt which mixed the best of raw power and kinetic energy. Gapping eight hundred meter holes started gouging out the ship as one lucky shot hit the tylium reactor, causing a massive explosion.
-
"Wait for them to collect their vipe- " he corrected himself, "-mobile suits. All rail guns provide cover fire from raiders. Min cannons, try and get a shot at the base stars"
"A Lieutenant Emma Sheen is requesting landing permission, along with other two suits!" Mic said.
"Give them permission," Kevin ordered.
"Sir, detecting high level kiloton explosion. DRADIS shows one base star has been destroyed. It looks like they managed to hit it's power core. The Radish shifting position to fire on the other one. Our forces are also attacking" Harry Quisling said.
"They cracked open a Base Ship? That fast?" Hunt called out from across the CiC.
"Detecting another high level kiloton explosion. Now, both Base Ships are dead. The resulting explosion's shock wave also took out a good number of their raiders ! Looks like our combined effort worked" The officer quickly added, "The fleet is ready to jump, sir" Harry said.
Bruce "Ash" Williams was staring, transfixed at the visuals like a deer lost frozen in the headlights of a car, or a man scared out of his wits, not believing what his eyes had just seen. He had never seen anything like that ever happening.
"Give the order to jump, on my mark," the commander yelled out. Picking up the phone he called out, "JUMP!"
Bright flashes happened in rapid successions as the fleet, led by the EAUG ship Radish, started its jump run towards the rendezvous point.