Another chapter and thanks for anyone who review. I love to here from my readers.
Another note about the plot of the story. Starbuck didn't vanish and she stayed with Galactica.
Chapter 2 – The Metamorphosis begins Part 1
Then a distant Cylon Bomber launched two nuclear missiles at Aristotele, the deadly streaming projectiles…
And now the conclusion
Closing in on their target, the lumber giant as its crew watched helpless as their impending doom came closer.
Then a spark in the circuits ignited the FTL drives and the ship promptly vanished
Leaving the two missiles to hit two nearby Cylon Raiders and explode, taking most of the ships around it with them.
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3 Days after the attack…
The now battle scarred Training Star Aristotele was stationary in the broken moon of a gas giant somewhere out side of the core systems. Hiding amongst the rubble, using it to disguise them. The crew not daring to leave encase the Cylons were still looking for them, until they had completed the repairs to the ship. The Communication System had been hit hard by the enemy's initial strike, wrecked and needed to be replaced. They were slowly working on it but it would take a couple of days.
The attack had cost 176 cadets and 6 officers their lives. The Commodore himself was lying in the sickbay under the medical track cadet's care. His old body fighting a losing battle against his wounds.
Seth Trakiss was in CIC directing the repair efforts. Getting his hands dirty by working on the consoles setting a good example to the rest and they worked tirelessly to get the ship going again.
Kendra Shaw herself was rebooting the navigational systems and defensive computers. Replacing circuit boards and rewriting computer code to allow them to be brought back on line.
Sheba Cain was in main engineering trying to figure out how to rebuild the FTL's which had shorted out after their jump. As well as trying to fix pretty much every system on the ship, bar life support which thankfully hadn't been too badly damaged in the sudden battle. On top of that they were having to patch up the outer hull as in some areas it looked like Swiss cheese.
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Seth was replacing the circuits inside the centre console before placing the cover with a new one from storage while giving orders to the other cadets about how to proceed with the repairs. He hoped as soon as they were up and running that they could make a run for the nearest colony. Hopefully they wouldn't run into the Cylons again.
Kendra was picking up a pile of circuit boards from the floor. He was so happy, unbelievably happy that she was still here. She had been in her quarters during the battle and away from her usual station which had exploded and killed the cadet standing in for her.
If the attack had come an hour later, she would be the one in the body bag.
He completed his task and went up to her, as she finished installing the new boards and replacing the screen. He tapped her on the shoulder and she sighed, turning around. She brightened a bit when she realised it was him, rather than another cadet asking her what needed doing.
"You alright Goddess?" He asked with concern as he took her hands in his, referring to her by his nickname for her, Kendra meant in at least one meaning a beautiful women that was almost goddess like.
"Yes, just a bit tired" She answered, leaning into him as he wrapped his arms around her. When they'd first met she'd been so embarrassed by such a show of affection in public or event in private. But when he finally convinced her to go out with him, she had come to know that there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Best go get some rest. I'm going to give the crew a few hours of sleep and a bit to get a bite to eat. I'll stay up with a few volunteers to keep an eye on things" he whispered in her ear, cradled her close.
"You know if I wasn't so tired I'd argue. But you need rest too" she said
"I know, but I'll sleep better when I know that we've got the FTL's online so we can run, if were found" He said gently swaying her in a soothing motion
"Colonel Sir, sickbay is asking for you sir" interrupted a first year cadet from navigation from over his shoulder
Seth almost growled, but bit his tongue and turned to face the 15 year old anxious "Tell them I'll be there in a couple minutes" He turned back to Kendra "I'll see you tomorrow, get some sleep" He said, gently kissing her slowly on the mouth, before letting her go slowly and setting off into the corridors of the ship.
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Sickbay was the grimmest place on the ship right now. Cadets with limited medical training doing whatever they could to delay the inevitable in most cases, while trying to patch up those not as badly injured so they could make space for those that were in worse condition.
The Commodore was lying on a bed at the far side of the bay, with so many machines attached to him that it looked like he was growing wings of wires.
The old man, tiredly opened one eye and it visibly caused him pain but he kept the eye open. He croakily said
"Why so solemn boy, you'd think, it was you who was dying" And Seth quickly banished any solemn expression from his face and asserting the military discipline he'd learned into play
"Yes Sir" Seth responded
The old man relaxed a bit but kept on going "Status report"
Which Seth gave him "FTL's are offline, so are weapons and launch systems sir. We have only limited passive sensors, external communications are wrecked and sublight engines are at 30% power. We've hid in a broken moon outside of the core systems sir while we repair the ship to use the Mergetline deposits to prevent the Cylons from finding us. We should have most those systems on-line within a couple of days and the external comm systems in about five"
"Any sight of Cylons?" Willis asked
"Two days ago we saw a small recon craft past the outer system on the passive visual sensors, it might have been Cylon but we can't be sure"
"Did they detect us?"
"No Sir, the moon fragments and the Mergetline deposits prevented us from being detected"
"Good, my people will not find us here" Willis said
"What do you mean your people?" Seth asked with a cold chill running down his spine
"Why the Cylons, cadet. Use that brain of yours" Said the thing that everyone believed had been his commanding officer
"But I thought the Cylons were machines"
"Most of us are, but we now are organic beings as well"
"Where is the real Commodore Reggie Willis?" Seth said some anger coming through his voice now
"The real Commodore was replaced three years ago. When we began planning this attack we needed to make sure that all the Colonial elements were in the right place, so I made sure we were where we should be so we could be destroyed. Most of the fleet has new software that we could hack into and sabotage, but this ship doesn't have that software so we put her where we could get her"
"Why are telling me this?"
"Because I like you cadet. You got the ship out of danger and you're keeping it together. I wonder if all the commanders were as good."
"What do you mean 'all the commanders'?" Asked Seth fear creeping through him
"All the commanders and leaders throughout the Colonial fleet of course, you didn't think you were the only ones attacked do you?"
Seth gripped the front of the Cylon's hospital gown "What have done?" he snarled
"A huge co-ordinated attack on all planets and ships with the Colonial forces. By now it will have been completed and you'll be near extinction" Willis gave a bemused smile
Shock was the first thing to come to Seth. It couldn't be true. Not all the ships and planets. There were 120 Battlestars in fleet; they couldn't all be gone. But then rage overcame him and he placed and tightened his hand around the Cylon's throat
"You bastard"
"To bad cadet you don't get your revenge today" The Cylon must have had a suicide implant, because his heart just stopped and his brain shorted out
And in Seth's grip
The Cylon died
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Explaining to the crew, that the man who they had thought to be their Commodore was in reality a Cylon in human form was difficult to say the least. Worse yet was trying to explain that everything they'd ever known might be gone.
The senior cadets were worried that order would break down when news got out, but thankfully the crew chose to keep their cool and repair the ship, hoping against hope that the Cylon was lying.
5 days later they found out that they were true
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Mining Ship Shovel…8 days after the attack
The head foreman aboard the mining ship had been overseeing the Shovel when it had been extracting Tylium from asteroids on the outer edges of the core systems when the Cylons came. Under attack he and his rust bucket had used their FTL drive to escape. The miners horrified at the scenes they seen.
Caprica, Aries, Tauron, and all the other colonies nuked.
The fleet burning
Any civilian ships that could running away
As images of holocaust flooded through his mind, he broke down and cried. His wife had been on Tauron with his sons. His daughter was on board their ship as the mineralogist, but they didn't talk.
She'd wanted to go to the military academy and become a Viper Pilot but he'd stopped her and forced her into College to study mineralogy to follow him in the family business of mining. Now they were further apart than ever as she grieved alone, rejecting any attempt he made to make peace.
His crew were much like him, most had loss their whole families. And although they had heard echoes of communication traffic from other ships so at least they knew weren't alone. But they guessed what comes next.
The Cylons would hunt them down, wipe them out.
If only some military had survived then maybe they would have a chance, someone to protect them. They were only unarmed civilian ships, no match for the Cylon war machine.
As the ship slid into the dense debris field, Hal Forrest (for that was his name) called his daughter Alison to the bridge, he wanted her to look for useful minerals or ore in the debris.
Then their limited senses picked up something. A large object that was located in an area of Mergetline. The element prevented the sensors from scanning the object but from what limited information they could get it seemed to be metallic in nature. Fearing a Cylon Basestar from the size he turned on the visual sensors and took a look at it.
Wonder and joy and hope filled him and everyone on the bridge who could see the screen.
There was a god, he'd answered their prayers.
It wasn't a Cylon Basestar
But a Colonial Battlestar.
It may have looked like a cold piece of metal, but to them it looked like an angel.
They were saved.
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Meanwhile on Aristotele
"Can someone explain to me why, I wasn't told that a strange ship appeared in system, came up close and is now heading towards until just a few seconds ago?" Seth asked in a strained voice. Thankfully the crew seemed to have elected him leader and gave him the rank of commander so he could keep things going.
"Well Sir, we hoped they'd just go away sir" replied the same nervous first year cadet that had interrupted him and Kendra a few days ago.
"Well don't do it again. If a ship suddenly appears, I need to know. Okay?" he asked trying to maintain a semblance of calm. Handling the responsibilities of being in charge was weighing on his shoulders heavily. If it wasn't for Kendra he would have sagged under the pressure. But as time passed he grew more able to handle it.
Thankfully their newly repaired sensors told them it wasn't Cylon but Colonial which was a relief in more ways than one. Not only were they not in danger of being attacked but they could finally find out what had happen to the colonies. But if the Cylon was right...Seth shuddered at the thought. Maybe it was best not to know.
"Their hailing sir" reported the 17 year old cadet at the comms station
"Scan the vessel and identify" Seth ordered
Kendra worked her magic at the science station to find out what they knew about the ship. She then reported what they computer found
"It's an old Scavenger class called the Shovel. Commissioned 20 years ago on Tauron, it is owned by a man named Hal Forrest, the chairman of the Colonial Mining Corporation. Crew about 300, no weapons to speak of. Sensors confirm computer ID and register a crew of 249. Sir, their hailing again, should I put them on speakers?"
"Yes, put up them on" Seth replied
The comm system crackled as there was some limited interference from the debris
"Thank God! We thought you military lot had had it! Sorry this is Hal Forrest of the Shovel. We so glad to others are still alive!"
"Well Mr Forrest, good to see you too. This is acting Commander Seth Trakiss of the Colonial Battlestar Aristotele. We should meet face to face. I'll send a Raptor for you if you want?" Seth said into the speaker
"That'll be great! Me and my daughter will come over right away. With you around me and my crew feel a lot safer, sir" and with that the system closed down as the communication ended.
A dead weight settled in Seth's stomach. The way those people sounded and what they'd said confirmed their worse fears. And they looked towards Aristotele for protection. Well they were going to be sorely disappointed.
To be continued…
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Kendra has a few different meanings, in Poland it means a long-haired woman, it is also an Anglo-Saxon is means understanding or knowledge, meaning beautiful woman that is goddess-like or in Hindi it saids middle or center.
Commodore is a rank between Commander and Rear Admiral, unique to the academy principle