11 – Lazarus Days

(Battlestar Xanthi – CIC – Day 4570, 1400)

Xanthi was in horrible shape. They had lost a lot of good people, including the Commander. And the ship itself was badly damaged. As for her birds, that was even worse. Only twenty seven of her Vipers and three of her Raptors had survived the mad scramble. Those survivors were currently gathered aboard the Yashuman, because both flight pods had decompressed. Peters was overseeing the collection of the bodies when Petty Officer Jennifer O'Connell walked into the room. She had a nasty cut down her left cheek and her face was covered in soot and dirt. Peters also know that she hated having to come down to CIC, preferring to spend her time with the planes. If she came to CIC, it was bad. He struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice as he asked…

"Fixer ?"

She shook her head. Peters looked into her eyes and he could sense her question. O'Connell had come up here to ask about the air wing. However, the look on his face made the question unnecessary. A tear rolled down her face and she looked away. Peters let out a sigh loaded with darkness, then went back to work.

(Battlestar Xanthi – Corridor – Day 4570, 1400)

Major Gaius Nash navigated the halls of the Big X as if it was a minefield. He had managed to get his hand on a Raptor and dock it at an airlock. Now he was making his way to CIC. There were dead crewmembers all over the place and the extensive damage made the corridors unsafe. But that didn't keep the medics from doing their job. He felt a pang of pride as two orderlies came rushing by, carrying a wounded knuckle dragger. Then his attention was taken by a loose electrical cable. He dodged it and finally reached his destination.

"Bloody Hell."

CIC was in pieces. There were bodies – covered in sheets – and a lot of the consoles were damaged. Jennifer O'Connell was standing next to the helm, frozen like a statue. And the fact that Zachary Peters appeared to running things, told Nash enough about the Commander's fate. He took a deep breath and turned to O'Connell.

"Petty Officer ?" She remained frozen in place. "Petty Officer ?" Again, nothing happened. So he decided to try something else. "Jennifer ? Jennifer ? Are you still with us ?"

She blinked one, twice. Then she looked at him. "Gaius, you're alive." She threw her arms around him, something that normally would have been extremely out of character for her. Of all the knuckle draggers, O'Connell was the biggest stickler for protocol. But today was far from normal. "Thank the Gods, you alive !"

"I'm alive." He said, gently untangling her. "And I need a status report." He said it with a professional, yet gentle calm. "What's our girl's condition ?"

Her professionalism slowly slipped back into place. "It's bad. It'll take three weeks in drydock, just to repair the flight-pods. And that's presuming we can jump her to the nearest facility, which right now…."

Before she could finish, the Communications Station beeped. Lieutenant Jonas had spent the time since the attack puzzling it back together. And now it was finally fully functional again. The console's build-in printer/decoder immediately spit out several messages. Jonas collected them and began reading. The last message made him curse. Nash and O'Connell joined him.

"What is it ?" O'Connell asked.

Jonas offered them the message and Nash took it, holding it so that O'Connell could also read. It was an order from Fleet Headquarters. They were to abandon the Xanthi. The Admiralty had – for some reason – decided not to salvage the Big X. Gaius cursed and shook his head. To him, it made zero sense. What the Hell was the brass thinking ? He exchanged looks with O'Connell and Jonas, then turned away. Peters was talking to several junior officers, directing them as part of the repair efforts. After what felt like forever, he finished and looked at Nash.

"Major ?"

"You should read this, sir."

Nash gave Peters the message and watched as the Colonel read it. When he finished, he looked up and sighed. Then, he grabbed the intercom handset.

"All hands, this is the XO…" He began. "…by order of the Admiralty, we are to abandon ship. I repeat, all hands, abandon ship." He put the handset down. "Blast…bloody brass idiots." He ran his hand through his hair, then turned the CIC crew. They were all staring at him. "You heard the order, people. Abandon ship."

Peters put the handset back in its cradle, closing the line. There was a moment of silence, then the CIC crew set to executing the order. And thus ended the wartime service of the Battlestar Xanthi. Her crew was evacuated. What supplies and spare parts could be salvaged were taken, while the ship was powered down. And forgotten.

(Lazarus Raptor 001 – Cockpit – 730 Days BCH, 0711)

Antonia Lazarus looked out the window and whistled. The Caesar Nebula was pretty. Alas, it was also were large and very close to the Armistice Line. So most folks – Fleet and civilian – steered clear of the place. But Lazarus Shipyards was on the edge of bankruptcy. Last year, Antonia's father – Victor Lazarus – had passed away. Up until then, things had been going well. But afterwards, the company's accountant – a piece of slime called Romulus Paxton – had emptied all their accounts and done a runner. (The latest rumor was he was hiding on Gemenon.) Antonia had managed to land several small contracts since then. It had been enough to keep the company from sinking completely.

But in order to truly salvage the company, they needed a big contract. And rumor had it there was a massive piece of salvage floating somewhere in the Caesar Nebula. So Antonia had send the companies three Raptors to go look for it. She had been sitting in the back, watching the DRADIS display. And then a contact had appeared. So now she was standing between Alexandria Newton and Remus Paxton. Alex was the Lazarus' best pilot and Remus was their best engineer. Remus was also Romulus' twin brother. When Remus had found out what his brother had done, he had offered to resign. But Antonia wouldn't have it.

"How are we doing, Remus ?" She said, while looked at him.

"Looks like we found our pot of gold, skipper."

Antonia peered into the nebula again. Slowly, a silhouette appeared in the gas. Then Alex took them through a dense cloud of gas. The shape vanished for a second, but then came back as a crystal clear shadow. And the shape was exactly what it should be. The outline of a Jupiter-class Battlestar. A huge grin formed on Alex face.

"Hello Xanthi."

"The Big X." Remus began. "In her full glory."

Alex took the Raptor closer and the Xanthi was indeed revealed in her full glory. She was damaged and battered, but in her mind's eye, Antonia could see what see had been like before. The old wreck was oozing potential and hope. After taking a deep breath, she turned to Alex and told her to take the Raptor in. It was time to see what condition she was in on the inside.

(Battlestar Xanthi – Corridor – 730 Days BCH, 1205)

They had been taking a survey of the Xanthi. The ship had taken a serious pounding and the damage was extensive. In order to speed things up, the two other Raptors had been shuttling in extra people for the last hour. Nevertheless, it was slow work. Antonia was in a spacesuit, making her way to CIC. Remus was right behind her. After what seemed like forever, they stepped into the room. The bodies had been removed, as had been the supplies. But it was still a mess.

"This is going to take a lot of work." Remus said.

"You love a challenge, Remus." Antonia began. "And I know you'll get it done."

Remus grinned. Antonia looked around the CIC and noticed something small and shiny on the floor. It wasn't easy, but she managed to pick it up. It was a one cubit coin. An old one, which she figured dated from the Cylon War. She figured it was a good omen. Antonia pocketed it and then went back to work.

(Fleet Headquarters – Admiral Nagala's Office – 120 Days BCH, 0759)

Commander Gaius Nash hated dress uniforms. The last time he had been in one, had been when he had taken command of the Valkyrie. It was a post he had landed after her previous Commander – William Adama – had been reassigned to Galactica. He had not met Adama that time, but he had met Adama a long time ago. It had been just after Operation Raptor Talon.

Adama had crashed on an ice planet and he had been flying the SAR Raptor send to recover him. He had found the young Viper pilot next to a Cylon facility. Adama had told him that the toasters had been experimenting on people inside the place. Gaius had gone inside and checked the place out. What he had seen inside, had given him the chills. After returning to the Galactica – where he had been based for Operation Raptor Talon – he had written a full report on the place, which the Admiralty had ignored. And that was another reason he was no big fan of being here. Nash did not like the Admiralty.

But Admiral Lexington Nagala had ordered him to here. So he had shown up. At exactly 0800, Nagala walked into the office and sat down behind his desk. He gestured for Nash to take a seat, while he did. Nash leaned back and waited for Nagala to hit him with whatever he was here for.

"Before we get into the dreary details of why you are here. How is Jennifer ?"

"She's doing fine, sir." Nash said. "She's enjoying her assignment aboard the Triton, sir."

Nash had married Jennifer O'Connell two years after war. They were still married and had three children. The oldest two – Claus and Zachary – were lawyers on Sagittarion, while their youngest – Ingrid – had followed in her parents footsteps and was the Chief LSO aboard the Battlestar Pegasus. As for Jennifer, she was the XO of the Triton.

"Glad to hear that." Nagala leaned forward. "Now, let's get to business…" He paused. "I have a new assignment for you, Gaius."

Nash frowned. He was a little over six months away from retiring. Well, technically, he still had two years to go. But he had tons of leave coming and if he took it all in one big lump, he would be able to leave active duty much sooner. Nagala handed him a folder. Nash opened it and blinked.

"Xanthi ? But the last time I saw the Big X…." He remembered the sight of the damaged ship as he had seen it from the Raptor that had taken him away. "She was in pieces….how ? I thought the Admiralty had forgotten all about her."

"To be honest, we had. But Lazarus Shipyards needed a miracle…." Nash read on and spotted several paragraphs about Lazarus Shipyards and their operations. He made a mental note to read the whole report. "And we need a replacement for the Alexander." Alexander was a support ship assigned to training duty. She had a crew of 1500. 800 of those were regular Fleet personnel and the rest were trainees. "Her capacity is too small. Fleet Academy has been cutting corners."

Nash nodded. He had heard rumors about this situation. The current recruiting numbers were very good. In order to keep the system from choking up, the training time had been cut short. And that had has led to incidents. Unless something radical was done, it would become a major issue.

"What will the ratio be ?"

"Three-thousand Fleet personnel and two-thousand trainees." Nagala began, while handing him another folder. "Here's a start. The crew of the Alexander. They are to form the core of you crew. And supplemented by your choices, Commander." He paused and leaned back. "Good luck, Gaius. And dismissed."

Nash took the folders, saluted and headed out. He had plenty of homework to do. But as he walked out, that was not on his mind. He had been given command of the Xanthi. He remembered his days aboard the Big X during the Cylon War. It seemed like a life-time ago. But that didn't change the fact that he would happy to be aboard the old girl again. He grinned and headed for the exit.

(Battlestar Xanthi – CIC – 90 Days BCH, 0800)

Antonia Lazarus walked around CIC and smiled. Her people had done excellent work. The room was identical to the (current) CIC of Galactica. And it was fully operational. But more importantly, it was now fully manned for the first time. Over the last few days, the permanent crew had been arriving, while the bulk of Antonia's people had been moving out. But before the Big X was officially reactivated, she had to undergo a ninety-day shakedown cruise. Which was why Antonia and twenty nine of her people – including Remus – were staying aboard. Since they had done the rebuild, the Lazarus Shipyards folks would be able to troubleshoot if anything went wrong.

Lazarus settled at the Command and Control table. As she did so, Commander Nash walked into CIC. He was followed by Colonel Bert O'Neill, the ship's XO. The colonel had been the commanding officer of the Alexander. How the man had made colonel was beyond her. He was rude, condensing and arrogant. She had asked around about the man and found that she was not the only one who thought that he was not the best leader in the Fleet.

"What is she doing here !?" O'Neill snapped.

"Her job." Nash said, with his tone making it clear that he was not taking any nonsense from O'Neill. The commander took his post at the Command and Control table, while O'Neill stood on the other side. Lazarus settled to the right of the commander. Nash turned to the navigational station. "Ensign Walters, we are jumping to sector twenty-seven. Sound condition two and begin jump prep."

"Yes, sir."

Walters set to work. Xanthi was currently still in the Caesar Nebula. Lazarus Shipyards had put her in a stable orbit around The Pupil and then build scaffolding around her during the repairs. When the work was done, the scaffolds had been dismantled. The Caesar Nebula filled the bulk of sector twenty-six, which meant that Nash had ordered them to make a one sector jump. From there, they would make their way to the Prolmar Sector, where they would put the Xanthi through her paces. While Walters did her thing, Nash turned to Lazarus.

"Time to transfer command, Miss Lazarus."

Antonia nodded and reached into her inner pocket. She took out a piece of paper. It was the official transfer contract. She had signed and once Nash did, Xanthi would be his ship. She handed his the paper and a pen. He sighed the contract and offered both to her. Antonia took the contract – putting it back in her pocket - but not the pen.

"It's a gift. Speaking of which…" She reached into her trouser pocket and took out the one cubit coin she had found in CIC. "…I believe this belongs to you now, Commander."

"Where did you get this ?" Nash said as he took the coin.

"I found it on the floor." Antonia began. "Next to the Communications Station."

Nash ran his thumb across the old coin. His face made it crystal clear that he was remembering something. And that the coin was something special. Before Lazarus could ask about it, Ensign Walters began running the final FTL checklist. The Commander pocketed the coin and the pen. As he did so, the flight pods were being retracted. Xanthi was ready to jump.

"Board is green." Walters said. "Ready to jump."

"Start the clock."

Walters made her way to FTL station and grabbed the intercom horn. "All hands, prepare for immediate jump. Repeat, prepare for immediate jump." The coordinates were already programmed, so she stuck jump key into its slot and turned it. "Clock is running. Ten….nine.…" The CIC crew prepared for the jump. "….three….two….one. Jump."

A bright flash lit up the Caesar Nebula as Xanthi jumped out. And ninety days later, her Lazarus Days were over. And the Twelve Colonies of Kobol fell, while the Xanthi survived. But that was another story, for another time….

THE END