Missing Links or 'Why it is not a good idea to be stuck on a Cylon Basestar you just glued a nuke to'

(Cylon Basestar – Outer Hull – Day 1506, Time Unknown)

They were down to thirty seconds, but the Lords of Kobol were smiling down them. Because they were exactly where he had hoped they would be. (It had taken him all of ninety seconds to come up with the plan and it hinged on hope, a prayer or two and the few things he remembered about Cylons Basestars.) They reached the Raider launch tube and he pushed Williams inside, then entered himself.

"Keep running !"

"We'll never make it." Williams said.

"Tyler, shut the Frak up and run !"

They kept running. The clock reached ten seconds and then something happened. One of the things that set Basestars apart from Battlestar was the Halfway Pressure Door. Battlestars had two pressure doors in their launch tubes. One at the very end of the tube and one in front of the Viper. But Cylon Basestars had a third door halfway down the tube. This model of Basestar had less launch tubes, and the third door allowed them to load two Raiders in each tube. And when the clock reached ten seconds, McIvers and Williams ran past it. Which triggered an automated safety protocol and caused the door to slam shut. Two seconds later, the door in front of them also slammed shut.

"Down." McIvers yelled. "And hold on !"

They dove to the floor and grabbed the magnetic rail normally used to launch the Raiders. And then all hell broke loose.

The explosion was a monster. It took out everything behind the door. Pure heat assaulted the door. It flashed into heat, which poured straight into the air around McIvers and Williams. The temperature in their suits skyrocketed. McIvers knew they couldn't take this for long. His vision became blurred and then he passed out.

(Battlestar Xanthi – Commander's Quarters – Day 1508, 1715)

"You passed out." Magnus said. "You should have been vaporized in a split second."

"Yes, sir. We should have been."

"Then…why weren't you ?"

"I don't know, sir. The only other thing I can remember is that…" His eyes went wide. "I didn't see the door close, sir."

"Because the tube was filled with nebular gas ?"

"Yes, Commander."

"That gas has a huge heat resistance. It takes a whole sun to heat it up." He paused. "And if the coolant pipes next to the magnetic rail burst, the heat resistance would only get greater."

"So, we basically survived because something on a Cylon Basestar broke down ? Fan – frakking – tastic."

Magnus smiled. He didn't really care about how they had survived. (He had only asked to please the Admiralty.) He was simply happy that they had.

"Dismissed, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

McIvers got up, saluted and walked out.

(Battlestar Xanthi – Duty Locker 47 – Day 1508, 1720 Hours)

Leyton walked into Duty Locker 47 and lay down on her bunk. Above her was Ensign Peter Aurellius. During the Battle of Hades and Misery, he had flown Viper 18. He had been the pilot who had covered Xanthi One on her final approach. Which made Leyton wonder how he had gotten there in time.

"O, what the Frak do I care ?" She got up and shook Aurellius. He opened his eyes and blinked. "Pete, how'd you make to Xanthi One in time ?"

"What ?" He blinked again. "What did you say ?"

"How did you make it to Xanthi One in time ?"

"You woke me for that felgercarb question ?"

"Magnus made me CAG, Pete."

"Really ?" Aurellius was now fully awake. "He made you CAG ?"

"Really. And that means I need to know for the paperwork."

He swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and sat up.

"Okay, I was at the far edge of the formation…"

Aurellius had let go of the stick as ordered. He breathed calmly as he waited for the charge. Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, but it came in the end. The charge ran through his ship. He looked out the window and saw it jump through the other Vipers and Raiders as well. Then it was gone. Once he had powered back up, he looked at the Dradis display and saw that the Cylon fleet had been decimated and that his fellow pilots were attacking the survivors. But he also noticed something odd. A tiny dot on the edge of the screen. He turned his Viper in the proper direction and blasted away. When he got there, he couldn't believe what it was.

"A nuke ?" He shook his head. "You've got to be kidding me."

But it was indeed a nuke. And then he saw the markings. It was one of the six nukes Xanthi had launched. They had all missed the Basestar. And five of them had been blasted to pieces by the Cylons. But this one had survived long enough for the safety protocols to kick in. If a warhead missed, after a while, it powered down and began transmitting a recovery signal. Which was he had picked up.

"Okay, let's mark your…"

Then his Dradis display beeped. It showed a shuttle spinning out of control. Two seconds later, a Basestar came into range. Aurellius cursed under his breath. It was only a matter of time before the Basestar targeted the shuttle and blew it to pieces. And even at top speed, he couldn't make it in time to safe her.

"Come on, Pete, think. There was to be…"

And then he realized he had found the solution already. He quickly keyed a code into his wireless control panel and hit the transmit button. The nuke responded instantly.

"I always thought these codes were rubbish until now."

As part of their recovery programming, nukes were fitted with codes that allowed Vipers to access their systems. Aurellius quickly found the program he wanted. It allowed the Viper pilot to set coordinates for the missile to fly to. He set the program to fly the missile towards the Basestar.

"Now comes the hard part." He extended the landing gear. "Let's do this, baby."

He put his Viper above the missile, then turned on the magnets in his landing gear. The effect was exactly was he hoped. His Viper clamped itself to the missile.

"Okay, time to go."

He opened the throttle all the way. Then he triggered the program. There was a massive burst of speed as the nuke's engine engaged. It pushed him back in his chair.

"Come on, come on, come on !"

After fifty-seven seconds, the missile ran out of fuel. He turned the magnets off and pulled away. The missile reacted to the change in weight by changing course. It made a slow turn into Misery's gravity well. The star pulled it in and burned it out of existence. Viper 18, however, kept going. As he closed on the target, the shuttle broke out of her spin and the Basestar fire a missiles salvo…

"And you know the rest." Aurellius said.

"You rode a missile ?" Leyton began. "You're nuts."

"It's a crazy war, ma'am."

"You'll get no argument from me there. Congrats, Pete, you're a Squadron Leader as soon as we pick up our load of nuggets. Now, get some sleep. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am."

She left Aurellius to get his shuteye. But she knew she would not be able to get any of her own. So she headed for the pilot's ready room. She had a feeling there were tons of paperwork waiting for her.