I do not own Battlestar Galactica
Chapter 12 – One becomes Two
Lieutenant Amelia Cartwright was monitoring the Dradis when she noticed disturbing signals from Rycon
"Sir Rycon just went to action stations" she quickly reported to her commanding officer who was startled
"What the hell is he doing? Go to Combat stations and tell the fleet to retreat to a safe distance. Colonel Ishii would you like to explain?" he said taking action quickly and looking accusingly at the Asian officer standing across the console from him
"Look I don't know anymore than you do…sir" she answered back, deciding since she was surrounded by his supporters to respect his rank
"Well if he is gunning for a fight we have the advantage. We're far more powerful than he is and better armoured" Sheba offered to the conversation
"Yes but I would rather not engage in a battle with our own ships while the Cylons are knocking at our door" Seth responded and then suddenly Amelia reported
"Sir Missile launch from Rycon!"
The smaller Battlestar launched a missile at the much larger Telmaya. It impacted on the starboard pontoon, leaving some burns but the Telmaya's strong armour shrugged it off.
The Telmaya's CIC felt only a slight tremor as the missile impacted, Seth turned to the tactical officer
"All point defence weapons shoot down any incoming enemy fire, but no return of fire on Rycon"
"No return of fire sir?" Amelia asked
"Yes lieutenant, I have no intention of killing Colonials if I have a choice. Get me the Rycon now" he answered his communications officer
"Yes sir" she answered and went to work
"Fire Mark 17 High yield striker this time, missile tube 5" Robins ordered on the CIC of the Rycon, his crew looked at him as though he had completely lost it
"But sir, that's a colonial vessel" said the third officer Major Quintus is shock, he had been unable to stop Robins from firing the first missile which he did himself after ordering action stations
"That ship is degenerative to the continued survival of mankind and must be destroyed" Robins explained as perspiration formed on his brow and a head ache formed, the nebula was beginning to affect him
'Come on shoot back, you stupid ape descendant" Robins thought to himself
Then the communications officer Ensign Mahield reported "Sir Signal from Telmaya, putting it on speaker"
"Ensign close that channel-" Robins started but couldn't finish before Seth started speaking
"Crew of Battlestar Rycon hear me. You have fired on us without provocation and your captain is accused of violating the Caprica Accords of Civilian Rights. Stand down immediately"
In an instant all the CIC crew of Rycon turned to their CO and Major Quintus asked "Telmaya actual this is Major Quintus on Rycon please repeat. Did you say Rycon Actual is accused of breaking civilian rights?" the usually quiet major asked his suspicions growing
"Yes, he attempted to dissolve a legitimate civilian government" Seth answered him
"Commander, under the Caprica Accords I hear by relieve you of command and am placing you under arrest" Quintus said motioning for the marines standing guard by the door to the CIC
Robins seeing what was happening pulled out his side arm and aimed at Quintus
"You pathetic ape!" he yelled but before he could fire the marines snapped into action and raised their rifles, gunning the dark skinned commander down
The silence permeated the CIC and Quintus said quite clearly "Stand down combat stations"
From the statement Robins had said before he died and a quick search of his quarters the truth about him being a Cylon emerged but there was no time to deal with this issue as the beacon was soon discovered, and a scout patrol spotted three Cylon Baseships jump close to the cloud's perimeter and hold position
One the Telmaya, Seth asked the senior officers to join him to make a plan
"With this cloud we can't see out and they can't see in. But we don't know if they know our numbers" Seth said to the gathered officers and civilian leaders
"But I'm convinced they don't know about Rycon" Seth said to the audience after a pause to let what he had sink in
"Why?" Colonel Ishii asked
"I think it was Robins task to try and turn us against each other so we couldn't organise enough to become a threat" Seth explain and she nodded her head
"So we have Rycon as our trump card. In a straight battle we could probably take them down but not before suffering heavy damage" Sheba estimated and Quintus said
"Which plays into their hands; is there no way we could just retreat?" He asked Lieutenant Cartwright who shook her head
"No sir, by the time half our fleet is in a position to jump, they'd be in a position to fire"
"Then we need to distract the Cylons long enough for the civilians to jump without being too badly damaged ourselves" Colonel Shaw surmised
"Speaking of which has your chief engineer and flight crews removed the software that the Cylons used to infiltrate our computers from your craft?" Seth asked and Quintus nodded
"Yes we stripped it out of the computers in Rycon, Raptors and Vipers and we deactivated the networking of the computer systems as ordered"
"Good then they won't be able to shut you down, but that still leaves the problem with the three baseships" Tyber said
The room was silent and then Seth had a brain wave
"I have a plan, now this is what I want you to do…" he explained to his captive audience
When you must fight a battle, choosing where and when to fight can change the odds greatly in your favour.
The Colonials hadn't chosen the exact field of battle but they had the advantage of the Cylons not knowing their exact numbers
Telmaya emerged from the cloud much as Galactica had during the battle of Ragnor Anchorage and established a perimeter to distract the Cylons while the civilians jumped out from the other side of the cloud.
Firing her main battery and deploying her fighters she managed to heavily damage one Baseship and defend herself from another, but as the third closed in Telmaya fired a nuke in its path.
The nuke exploded before it hit the target but to avoid another shot the Baseship moved closer to the cloud so to throw off the Battlestar's aim.
This was a mistake that the Colonials had been waiting for
From inside the cloud a rapid fire barrage emerged ripping into the Baseship which was too close to avoid the attack
The Baseship quickly succumbed to the vicious assault that reduced the Baseship to a smouldering hulk that broke apart in a fiery explosion
The Battlestar Rycon then emerged from just inside the cloud and moved to join the main action. The nuke had been a signal from the Telmaya to its follow Battlestar telling it was time to join the fight and the nuke was strong enough to detected exploding even in the cloud which gave Rycon a baring on where to shoot
Surprised by the sudden appearance the other two Baseships were quickly destroyed and after the remaining civilian ships where gone, they recalled their vipers and jumped away too.
Some time later on a Baseship orbiting Caprica, 2 Model 1's met
"The 4 'Robins' failed use, now instead of making the colonial fleet weaker, we made it stronger now they have joined together" one of the Cylons 'Sim' said
"The Robins plan has failed; the Battlestar Telmaya has become too big of an irritation to ignore. We must take stronger action" the other one 'John' replied
"What are you proposing?" Sim asked
"Rest assured it will destroy them, I promise you that" John said with a sinister grin on his face
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