21 Years before cylon attack
William Adama age 43
Location: Picon Controlled Space – Approximately 10 minutes from Picon
"This is just cruel," Tobias sighed. William looked over from the cockpit of his Mk II to his right where Tobias had settled in formation beside him. The young pilot mustered a smile and a weak thumbs up.
"I hear you," replied William. He blinked hard a few times and tried to focus his vision on his readouts. "Torrent, how are you and Valor doing?"
"Oh, you know boss, just taking it easy," replied Nia. "Valor's still with us, but he might be napping for all I know."
"You're all a bunch of pansies," quipped Alexa. "Forty hours, is nothing. I could do another twenty four easy."
William chuckled and shifted slightly in his seat. "Dear Gods 'Kaze, don't give the CAG ideas," he replied.
This was their last training mission. Their flight had been deployed, alone, forty hours out from Picon. Their assignment consisted of over thirty-six hours of sitting in a cockpit without stims, combat landings every six hours to refuel and skids up in thirty minutes after every landing. They barely had enough time on deck to go to the head, devour a ration bar and down a cup of water before they were back in their Vipers, launched and in open space. And that was only stage one.
"Hammer, you've been awfully quiet," said William. "Still with us?"
"Yes, sir, just stargazing, sir," Danny replied.
William took his right hand off the stick and flexed it a few times to keep it from cramping. He returned his hand to the stick and tried to sit up straighter in his seat. His whole body hurt. His left leg kept falling asleep on him, he had a knot in his neck and he could feel the bruises on his shoulders that had developed over the last five landings. He was a mess of tight muscles and there was a nagging band of pain across his lower back.
"We're closing in on stage two," said William. "Everyone stay sharp. We'll be in visual range in under a minute."
"Oh holy frak—"
"Lords of Kobol…"
"I guess that's why CAG called it The Gauntlet."
William blinked a few times and shook his head, not really out of exhaustion, but just to be sure that he was seeing correctly. There were no less than a dozen battlestars positioned in a loose hexagon formation between them and Picon.
"They can't be serious," said Tobias.
"Can't we just, you know, fly around?" Alexa asked.
"Mission rules state we have to go through or we fail," reminded William. "Besides we don't have enough fuel for that. Remember, at least half of us have to make the landing or we get to do this all over again in two weeks. Watch yourselves. We've clobbered Blue Flight for the last six months. We can do this. Let's show 'em how it's done."
"Roger that Husker," replied Tobias.
"You got it, boss."
"Wilco," said Danny.
"Yeehaa!" cheered Alexa.
As they neared the battlestars William saw that the ships were in a staggered formation so that they wouldn't be firing on each other and there would be a wide enough gap between their flak barriers that a fresh pilot would be able to navigate the course easily. But none of them were fresh. They had been awake for nearly forty hours and were all physically drained. This is gonna be one bitch of a ride. His breathing quickened and he felt his heart rate increase.
They neared the first battlestar and William squinted to read the name. Poseidon.
Red Flight passed by it and nothing happened.
Areias. They passed that one too.
Taurus. Still nothing happened.
"What the frak is going on?" whispered Tobias.
The next battlestar they neared was Galactica. Hey old girl, I remember you… Then it started.
A casual shot from one of Galactica's port guns and an instant later the space all around them erupted into bursts of fire.
"FRAK!"
"Break—Break—!"
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
"Motherfakker!"
"Everybody, move!"
Adama hit the afterburners. He was wide awake now. He dropped below Galactica's firing solution and realized belatedly that he had strayed into the range of another battlestar. He rolled his craft and was momentarily wrenched to the right. The restraint strap bit into his left shoulder, but at this point pain and adrenaline was just another way to stay awake.
"Contact! Contact!"
"Oh shit!"
William checked his Dradis. Multiple contacts. Vipers. They had launched from the battlestars that Red Flight had already passed. Frak! Tobias had forced his way ahead. Alexa was gaining on William. Nia and Xander were in a close pair about a hundred klicks behind. Danny was last and the Vipers were closing on his position.
"Not—Friendly!" shouted Danny. Adama winced at the noise. Big mistake. He had almost flown into another wall of flak and barely managed to save himself. There's no way we're making it through this—
"Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! Viper one one niner, request rescue.…" Xander was out.
"Frak! Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! Viper zero five three, request rescue. Repeat. Krypter! Krypter! Krypter!" Danny was out too. "Sorry guys."
"Hold it together," called out William. There must be a better way through—Think of something! Tobias had fallen back. William could barely keep up. If not for the Vipers behind them they might stand a chance. Now I have an idea…
"Red Flight, listen up!" snapped Adama. "Let them close. Loop back when you hit the next flak wall and run for home."
"Woooo! Wilco!" responded Alexa.
Tobias wasn't so enthusiastic. "Husker, are you nuts? They'll chew us to pieces."
"It's called a hard six. Trust me." William dodged out of the firing range of the battlestar Virgos and instead of correcting to avoid the next flak wall he accelerated toward it. The Vipers trailing him were within in twenty klicks. At the last second, he yanked the stick back and pulled his Viper into a tight loop. Every muscle instinctively tensed as the G's piled on.
Six, seven, eight.
He couldn't breathe and his vision pulsed gray. Come on.
The afterburner cut out half a second later and the G's lifted. Adama gasped for air while he fought off disorientation. He used his reaction thrusters to slow down and banked his Viper into a gentler turn back toward Picon. His gamble had worked. The pursuing Vipers had overshot and were struggling to reverse course. There were only three more battlestars left to contend with.
"Scramble! Scramble! Now! Now!" He endured one last burst of acceleration to make it over the top of the next flak barrier. By the time he had cleared The Gauntlet and decelerated to a manageable speed Tobias had overtaken him. Alexa wasn't far off his right wing and Nia was still trailing by at least two hundred klicks. The pursuit Vipers had broken off and were headed for their landing zones.
William allowed himself a moment of relief. There was Picon right in front of him, a massive sphere of blue and green. It looked so serene. And silhouetted near the edge of the horizon was Cerberus. For just an instant, he let himself be enchanted by the beauty of it all, but his troubles weren't over yet.
"Ah, damn. Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! Viper seven seven one declaring an emergency. I'm losing main power—" Nia was out.
Now it was up to the rest of them to make their landings.
"Godsdammit," came Tobias' weary voice over the wireless. "Check nav."
William looked down and brought up his navigation readout. Cerberus was in an extremely low orbit right on the edge of Picon's mesosphere. At that altitude the atmosphere was dense enough to cause drag, which was actually helpful, but it also carried with it the risk of planetary waves, atmospheric tides and wake turbulence.
"We'll just have to watch our landing intervals," replied William.
"Viper twelve four four, Cerberus, you are clear for approach. Check speed to zero seven zero. Call the ball."
"Viper twelve four four, wilco," replied Tobias. "I have the ball."
William reduced his speed and continued his steady descent to line up with Cerberus while Tobias went through the landing procedures and made it home safely.
"Cerberus, Viper eight three five I am bingo fuel, with a slightly bent bird. Request priority," said Alexa.
"Viper eight three five, Cerberus, you have priority. Checkers green. Speed zero six nine. Call the ball."
"I have the ball."
William watched her make the final descent. Right before she entered the landing bay Alexa's Viper pitched violently and William saw one of her thrusters flare and die out.
"Frakki—" Her communications cut out. She'll be fine. She better be fine.
William tightened his grip on the stick as his own Viper started to shake. Frak. It became increasingly difficult for him to concentrate on his instrument panel and every muscle in his body started to protest. Don't break up on me you bastard.
"Viper two seven one, deck is closed," said the LSO. "Delay indefinite. Execute circle-to-land maneuver until all clear."
"Negative Cerberus. Unable to comply. I am bingo fuel."
"Proceed with extreme caution, two seven one. You are clear to execute emergency landing."
"Acknowledged." William suddenly heard an alarm and looked down to see his status readout flashing red. Fuel pressure zero. The flak must have clipped a line and the vibration from his descent finally caused it to rupture. His speed had dropped to under forty and was still falling. Another alarm. RCS valve failure. He had lost yaw maneuvering. Then his entire reaction control system went down. Aux RCS failure. Frak. Power failure— His Viper was dead.
He was going to make the deck, but he had no way to maneuver. Come on. Hold together for me. His skids touched down with his speed at twenty, but only half the length of the deck in front of him was clear. Alexa's Viper had rolled and rested lengthwise across the landing strip. Frak. Frak frak frak, slow down!
"Oh son of a—bitch."William managed to brace himself in the seat before the nose of his Viper slammed into the side of Alexa's craft. The shoulder restraints where the only things that kept his helmet from striking the console. He did his best to assess himself and his Viper. He still had pressure in both the craft and his flight suit.
"LSO, this is two seven one I'm still green."
"Acknowledge. We'll have a crew up there as soon as the deck is sealed and pressurized. Should only take a minute."
"Roger that," he sighed. "'Kaze you all right?" William could only see the underside of Alexa's Viper and so he couldn't see her or what kind of damage had been done. Tobias and his Viper were still by the right hand wall. He had missed the lift and was stuck on the deck until they could tow him.
"No cabin pressure," replied Alexa. Her voice sounded steady. "But I should be—oh, frakking shit—"
"What's wrong. Talk to me."
"Impact must've busted the seal on my collar—suit's losing pressure. No air—" William tried to think of something he could do, but fog clouded his mind. Now that he wasn't flying, his body wanted to rest. He forced himself to look around. The blast doors had come down and sealed the bay, but it would take another few minutes for it to fully pressurize and the deck crew hadn't made it through the airlock sequence yet. Then William noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.
"Tobias, what the frak are you doing?" The lieutenant's canopy was open and he was in the process of undoing his restraints.
"I'm going to get her."
"Just wait a minute, deck's sealed, the crew can—"
"She might not have a minute!" snapped Tobias. He was already out of his Viper and headed for Alexa's craft. Dammit.
William followed suit, but he had a hard time moving. He fumbled with his restraints and it took him three tries to unseal his canopy. He climbed over the side of his Viper and dropped onto the deck. He fell to one knee and had to fight to stand up. Ah—frak. By the time he made it around the tail end of Alexa's Viper to her cockpit Tobias was already busy trying to pry the canopy open.
"Gimme a hand," he said.
The crash had bent the frame on the canopy and Tobias couldn't get it open by himself. William found a handhold near the side and helped him pull. It wouldn't budge. He took a deep breath and they tried again. This time it broke free. Tobias scrambled to help Alexa and get her free from her restraints. William just wanted to lie down. He leaned against the damaged craft for support and slumped into a half sitting position.
"I got you. I got you," mumbled Tobias as he pulled Alexa away from the wreck. "Alexa. Alexa!" She wasn't conscious.
William was having a hard time breathing and he had a sudden headache. He looked down at his oxygen gauge. His vision blurred, but he could tell that it was still in the green. What…can't… Sleep deprivation and the stress on his body had finally taken its toll. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and passed out.
-xxx-
"Captain Adama. Captain Adama can you hear me?" William twitched and opened his eyes. He squinted in the sudden bright light. "He's fine." The deckhand that had awakened him walked out of view. Adama heard him call someone over.
William reached up and felt his head. Then he realized he shouldn't have been able to do that. His helmet was gone. He took a quick appraisal of his surroundings. He was on the hangar deck, propped up against a bulkhead. His helmet was on the floor next to him and his Viper was just a few meters away on his right.
"Our fearless leader rejoins the conscious," said Tobias as he walked over and stopped to help William to his feet. "You gave me a bit of a scare there."
"How's Alexa?"
She appeared out from behind a Viper and moved to join Tobias.
"Got a preview of the hereafter. I wasn't impressed," she said with a tired smile. "Rest of the flight transferred in a couple of minutes ago. Technically I did land on the deck so I'm pretty sure we passed."
"I hope so. I don't think I can do that again for awhile," replied William. Before he could say anything else, a loud cheer from Danny interrupted them. Nia and Xander followed close behind. They both looked exhausted and leaned on each other for support.
"That was some mission," said Danny.
"Oh, please." Alexa rolled her eyes. "You were the second one out."
"At least I didn't completely trash my Viper," he retorted.
She was about to try and put Danny in a headlock when the CAG strode into view.
"Red Flight, attention!"
They did their best to line up and stand straight, but after everything, it was a hard for them to keep from falling all over each other. Nia in particular seemed to have developed the giggles and William had to fight to keep a straight face.
"Even though the knuckledraggers are still hauling pieces of Viper off the deck," began Major Barath, "you will all be happy to know that you passed. To mark the occasion you will be given new callsigns and three months leave starting tomorrow at oh-nine-hundred. Now get the hell off my hangar deck and get some frakkin' sleep. Dismissed."
Adama was more than happy to obey those orders. He barely made it back to quarters and out of his flight suit before he collapsed onto his rack and immediately fell asleep.
-xxx-
The next morning Red Flight assembled in the Cerberus' ready room. They stood at attention in a line at the front of the room while Major Barath finalized their new status as a Colonial Fleet Unit. William knew that without a doubt all of them were battered and still exhausted, but that each of them stood there as if it was nothing, as if the thought of sitting down in the comfortable red leather chairs behind them wasn't the most tempting thing in the universe.
"Lieutenant Tikaru, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. For the purposes of all further special operations your wireless callsign is Nomad. Congratulations."
Major Barath pinned a silver and black Colonial seal onto the sash that ran across Nia's dress grays. The new callsign was not only to signify their completion of training, but it was a security measure meant to prevent them from being identified while they conducted what the Colonial Fleet euphemistically referred to as "unofficial" missions.
"Thank you, sir," she said with a salute. He returned the salute and moved down the line.
"Lieutenant Simms, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. Your new wireless callsign is Snipe. Congratulations." Major Barath repeated the process with Xander. The young pilot nodded and saluted.
"Lieutenant Novacek, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. Your new callsign is Bulldog. Congratulations."
"It's about time." Danny laughed and saluted.
"Lieutenant Ciazo, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. Your new callsign is Kalypso. Congratulations."
Alexa didn't say anything, but her guarded smile gave her away. She was overjoyed. She saluted and the major moved onto Tobias.
"Lieutenant Cain, senior grade, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. Your callsign is Hades. Congratulations."
"Thank you, sir," he said with perfect military composure, but as soon as the major had returned his salute, Tobias' expression was one of untainted delight.
Then Barath stopped in front of William.
"Captain Adama, you are henceforth a member of Fighter Squadron One, Colonial Fleet Special Operations, Section Fourteen Bravo. Your callsign is Zeus. Congratulations."
Adama's muscles ached, he was bruised and he could barely stay standing, but at that moment, as Barath pinned the seal to his chest, none of that mattered. He had made it back into the Fleet and back into a Viper. He had survived solo training and unit training.
William saluted the major and looked to his left toward the rest of his team. They had all survived. They were family. He knew that, no matter what happened, they would stay family. It was one thing that would never change.
"You should all be very proud of your accomplishments," continued Barath. "You've completed unit training without any serious injury or loss of life. Blue Flight wasn't so lucky. None of them made the landing this morning and they lost Lieutenant Durante. Because they lost a pilot, they will be reassigned and will have to repeat their training. You might not see them again for a long time. Never forget that this is a dangerous business you're in. I look forward working with you all when you return from your much deserved leave. Primus, Fourteen Bravo, fall out!"
They filed out of the ready room and returned to their quarters. Before they could change into their day uniforms Tobias grabbed a camera from his locker and persuaded a passing crew member into taking a picture of them. They crowded together with William in the middle. He rested a hand on Tobias' shoulder. Nia had her arm around Xander as they stood together on William's left. Danny was half on one of the bunk ladders with Alexa trying to pull him down. Every one of them had a triumphant smile on their face.
Once Tobias was satisfied and had retrieved his camera, they all changed and packed for home. Cain was going to go back to his family on Tauron. Nia and Xander would be returning to Scorpia. Danny had a girl back on Virgon to visit and Alexa was going to stay on base at Fleet Headquarters.
William, of course, would head home to Caprica, to his wife and his sons. He hadn't seen them since he started training a year ago and he wondered how much he had missed. And yet… part of him didn't want to go back. Part of him wanted to stay on the Cerberus because even though his life in the Fleet wasn't safe, it was something that he knew he could handle.