III.
As the countless workers and servicemen toiled to re-supply the ships which had been bequeathed to them for eight hours every day, and the men and women of the Apollo enjoyed their liberty on shore, the higher-ranking offcers of eight battlestar groups met in a paneled conference room in the administration building of Picon Headquarters. Among the red and yellow piping of officers stood Commander Seldon Pascal and Colonel John Greene, representing the Apollo. Admiral Ordway sat near them, representing Group 15, of which Apollo was the flagship.
The officers grew quiet as Fleet Admiral Peter Corman, accompanied by Vice Admiral Richard Canon, entered the room. Both immediately took their seats, Corman at the podium situated near a large projector screen. He motioned to a yeoman, who flipped it on.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We have a lot of things to cover today, so I'm going to keep this as concise as possible," he opened. "As many of you have already learned, Rear Admiral Foley and the DCI have been collaborating to make this year's exercises especially interesting for the participants. The really fun stuff will have to be a surprise, though, so the sole purpose of this meeting is to lay out the command structure for the exercise and brief you on the tactics and weapons. Each of you have a copy of the requisite information, which you may disseminate among your crew on a need-to-know basis.
"This year, Blue Fleet will be Division Two of Fleet West. We have Admiral Nagala commanding Group 15 for the exercise, Group 51 under Admiral Ordway, Group 75 under Admiral Hilbert, Group 25 under Admiral Lucy, and Group 13 under Admiral Koch ," Corman read, pointing out each commanding officer as he came to them. "Overall command resides with Vice Admiral Nagala, his flagship is the Atlantia, Admiral Ordway, the Apollo has his flag.
"Simulated Nuclear Ordnance will be used during this exercise, so the Nuke Officers of Groups 15 and 51 will answer to their respective Commanding Officers. Other than using live ordnance, anything goes. Again, the force assembled here will be referred to during the exercise as 'Team Blue', the opposing side will be 'Team Red'." As Corman continued to detail the procedures for the exercise, Colonel Greene leaned over to Commander Pascal.
"Is that the Admiral Corman?"
"Assuredly so," came the whispered reply. "He's the head man around Picon."
"Looks imposing."
"His reputation carries him"
"I should think so." Both officers continued to flip through their packets for the rest of the meeting.
On the other side of the campus, at Intelligence, Captain Pritcher was had just finished reporting for orders at the DCI's office. As he flipped through the packet, he noticed a header at the bottom of one page that read, "PRECAUTIONS." Glancing at it, he read that the networked computers on the air wing should be disconnected should any sudden power surges be ordered from the Mode Control Array. He stored away the information in the back of his mind, as just another unimportant redundancy.
Two and a half days later, the last crate of munitions was loaded onto the hanger bay of the Apollo. Protocol dictated that formation departures be executed from dock before Fleet Exercises, so the CIC hummed with activity according to the complexity of the procedure. Lieutenant Avery was at his seat adjoining the mode control console, Captains Prindle, Weber, and Schmidt were at their usual stations overlooking the chart table. Avery was busy attempting to receive airlock detach clearance from dock control.
"Desk 4, Apollo ready at stand 19 for airlock detachment and pull-out." The garbled reply came almost immediately.
"Apollo, Desk 4, standby number one for airlock detach, traffic ahead of you is the Atlantia. Expect callback in two minutes or so."
The noisy chatter of the assembled voices coming through Avery's headset would have baffled a lesser man, but an experienced comm officer knew how to pick out the voice he needed to hear.
"Okay, expect callback in, uh, two. We'll give way to Atlantia." Since Admiral Ordway was second-in-command for the duration, Apollo would follow Atlantia in the long procession of ships exiting the dock.
Admiral Ordway, Commander Pascal, Major Deitch, and Captain Pritcher were meeting in the ready room on Causeway A when Colonel Greene rapped lightly on the hatch, opening it as he did so.
"Two minutes, sir." "Okay, John, we're moving." The officers walked briskly down the hall and into the CIC. Everyone except Pritcher, who took a seat across from Avery, elected to stand around the chart table, staring at the screens overlooking the surface. "Mister Greene, if you would call for pre-undock checks," said Pascal.
"Helm?" called the XO.
"Ready, free and correct, sir," replied the officer stationed at helm.
"Comm?"
"Standby for clearance. On speaker, sir." "FTL?"
"Go."
"Engine?"
"Go."
"Network?"
"Ready and updated, sir."
"Nuclear?"
"Go."
"Weapons?"
"Go."
"Counter-weapons?"
"Go."
"Commander Pascal, all stations report ready for airlock detach and undocking," added Greene with an air of finality.
"Very well. Mister Avery?"
"Desk 4," intoned Avery, "Apollo cross-checked and ready."
"Apollo, airlock detach approved, follow lead in sequence for undocking."
"Apollo, roger." Avery switched channels momentarily. "Ground, Apollo at Stand 17, detach airlock." There was a pause for several seconds before ground replied.
"Airlock off, A/C and interphone disconnected. Good hunting, Apollo."
"Pressure differential confirms A/C disconnected, sir. Undocking following Atlantia's lead." Commander Pascal drew a breath, watching as the Atlantia's dradis contact slowly moved away from dock. Colonel Greene took the initiative.
"Mister Avery, set condition two." Avery quickly echoed the order over the PA.
"Now hear this, now hear this: all hands set condition two throughout the ship, set condition two throughout the ship." The voice of Commander Pascal next filled the CIC.
"Mister Galway, engage RCS, ahead right factor of four. Three seconds." For three seconds the ship's lateral thrusters fired, gently edging the battlestar away from the dock. They then abruptly stopped, the counter-thrusters firing to compensate for the inertia produced by the initial thrust.
"Helm, bear to port heading 221, carem 19, and follow the Atlantia out. All ahead full, Mister Galway." The Apollo's main engines slowly spooled up, driving the ship out of Picon. "Coordinates checked and in, Mister Prindle?" "Yessir," replied the FTL officer, "ready for jump."
"Very well. Mister Avery, put Admiral Ordway through to the Atlantia."
"On speaker, sir." Now it was Admiral Ordway's turn to speak.
"Admiral Nagala, Apollo is ready to jump, all ships from point to three report ready."
"Thank you, Admiral," replied Nagala. "Standby to jump in line, on my mark…" Prindle inserted the blue FTL key into the drive slot. "Three…two…one…jump." In a single flash of light, "Team Blue" jumped millions of miles to a predetermined starting point, and the Banner Red exercises began.