I do not own Battlestar Galactica
Chapter 15 – Victory
The Baseships immediately started to fire missiles into the large Colonial Warships who shuddered under the impact and quickly moved into combat maneuvers
Vipers scrambled from their carriers, rushing to engage to Raiders which came screaming down from the other direction. The two forces slammed into each and explosions lit up the battlefield as small craft exploded and began their dogfights
Battlestar Vulcanwas struck by a nuclear warhead and on her CIC, Commander Erickson was thrown threw a glass tactical display and came crashing to the floor, Colonel O'Donnell was also thrown slamming his head into the center console
Sheba Cain was in engineering when she was called to the CIC, frustrated at being called away at such a crucial time but her heart leapt to her mouth when she saw why she had been called
Colonel O'Donnell was lying on the deck, blood pooling from a wound on his head and Commander Erickson was lying on the deck, his body was punctured with glass and his eyes open but no longer filled with anything, just emptiness
Out in space, the Achilles fired its main battery into the centre column of a baseship and its high powered warheads slammed and the explosion ripped the Cylon warship apart while the Ulysses managed to destroy another with a nuclear strike.
The other ships deployed into an organised combat formation and the disorganised chaos became a full blown battle
As the warships fought in orbit of the planet, Raptors and dropships jumped in and sped towards the surface accompanied by some Vipers as the rest remained in orbit to help their motherships fight off the Cylon onslaught
The Colonial Ships descended upon the prison camp and the captive humans looked up at the sky as did the Cylons on guard both organic and machine alike. A missile was fired by a Raptor and hit the control tower which exploded sending the cylons into chaos as the troops landed and spilled out of the ships, engaging the centurions in a fury of gunfire as they secured both the slave tents and captured vessels that had brought the slaves to this planet
The Battlestar Vulcan's drive units suddenly burned at full intensity and the ship picked up speed, and flew close to a baseship which had no time to move as Vulcan unloaded its main batteries into the ship at point blank range, shredding the baseship and the surrounding Raiders to pieces
Sheba Cain stood next to the center console and watched the Dradis display and ordered the helm officer
"Put some distance between us and next closest Baseship and tactical load a nuclear warhead into missile tube 4" Sheba ordered first to the navigator and then to the tactical officer who both immediately followed her orders
Once they were far enough away a single projectile burst free of the ship's missile tubes and slammed into the baseship which was sheared in to pieces by the blinding light of the explosion
Meanwhile a heavy raider carrying boarding centurions had assaulted its way into Telmaya's hanger bay and its metal occupants spilled out and gunfire spread all around as they managed to overrun the marine barricades and the fighting moved into the corridors
Selena sat on her bunk in her cell as the sounds of battle echoed around her, she couldn't help but wonder who was winning but her focus was drawn to the fact that the sounds of gunfire seemed to be getting closer
A marine came through the door and was immediately gutted by gun fire and falling to the floor bleeding but still alive and over him loomed an shadow. The Cylon Centurion walked over the marine and its single red eye locked with her own
"Release me" Selena ordered and the Centurion complied, shooting the cell door open and Selena walked out but her face immediately met the fallen marine whose labored breathing was shallow and rapid, she was only 18 years old, a pretty thing with hair the color of burning copper and enchanting soft brown eyes but they were filled with fear as the metal killing machine towered over her. Selena knew the girl, she was part of the regular detail assigned to the bridge and her name was Catherine or Cat for short and one of the few who bothered to talk to her and a mutual friendship had developed
Selena crouched down and picked up Catherine's side arm that had fallen from its holster and the human girls eyes widened with terror
What happened next surprised Selena herself nevermind the Centurion or Catherine and would change the curse of her life forever. Selena whipped the pistol suddenly whipped up, aiming right at the glowing eye of the Centurion and fired two rounds straight through the weak spot into its CPU, which deactivated the robot straight away
Catherine looked relieved and mouthed "Thank you" and Selena smiled before she pulled a grenade off Catherine's belt and peered out of the door to see five centurions coming up the corridor, so she pulled out the pin and threw the explosive in the direction of the robot foot soldiers and ducked back behind the door, the explosion ripping the centurions apart
She then went about treating Catherine's wounds
Serina out in space was just shooting down her 15th kill that day when she saw ships lumbering into space from the surface and came under fire from an orbiting Baseship as they tried to jump away. One large liner was unlucky as missiles struck the large vessel sending it plummeting to the surface of the planet as it fell into its flaming wreck was pulled down by the planet's gravity
Professional detachment rigidly took possession of her mind swiftly after rage and she carried on hunting raiders
Tyber was heralding people onto the last remaining transports, as his communication officer kept him informed of how the operation was going, despite the ambush in space the tide of battle had turned in favor of the Colonial forces and nearly all of the civilian transports had escaped
A young boy fell as a dark skinned man knocked him to the ground as he scrambled to get to the transport, Tyber went to pick the boy up and failed to notice the Centurion coming from around the corner of an adjacent tent. The Centurion fired and bullets impaled themselves into his body, pain gripped his body as he fell to the ground, a few seconds he looked up at the sky before his eyes closed
As the last transports jumped away from the planet all fighters flew towards the nearest colonial carriers and started emergency combat landings so as to not be left behind and once the fighters were on board the big carriers jumped away
The Life stations across the fleet were buzzing with activity as the sick and wounded were treated and those who could not be healed, made as comfortable as possible
Tyber was one of the former, the civilians had picked him up and carried him to the transport, the medics had done their job and his internal bleeding was now corrected, right now to stop people pestering him about how he was feeling when they knew all to well he was pretending to sleep
"You better open those eyes soldier; I know when a guy is faking" a voice said to him and an unconscious but small smile came to Tyber's face, he opened his eyes to see Commander Trakiss looking down at him with a small grin of his own
"The operation went as planned sir?" Tyber inquired to his CO who nodded
"With the exception of the ambush the toasters sprung but we managed to fight our way out and still got the people off that rock. Even better the people on the planet pointed out a few cylons who got aboard the transports" Seth told him
Tyber asked "How many?"
"Four, but 3 different models altogether, we're questioning them now" Seth told him taking the seat at his bedside
"Doubt we'll get anything out of them" Tyber told him and Seth nodded in agreement and confessed something to his top marine
"When I signed up for the academy I had two goals, the first was to command my own ship, the second to raise a family. Now I find myself responsible for about fifty-five thousand people and command of five military ships. The Assembly is telling me to assume the rank of Admiral to formalise my position as commanding officer of more than one ship"
Tyber understood "And you don't want to be an Admiral, you were happy with reaching your first goal and working with Colonel Shaw on the second" Tyber said with a teasing smile
It didn't faze Seth at all who said back in a similar teasing tone "Spot on, the same reason why I relaxed the fraternization regs, we need to replenish our numbers and if I'm not mistaken you've been getting close to the good Doctor Forego" and at that the two young men stayed silent in a moment of contemplation of their partners
Selena was standing in Seth's office under the watchful eye of a marine and for once not handcuffed, the blond woman looked over when the door open and Seth and Kendra walked in
Seth gestured towards the seat in front of his desk as he went to sit in his own chair and Kendra remained standing at his side, she felt nervous as to why he might have called her here and in that chair behind the desk he looked just as imposing as a man twice his age
"You saved some of my crew today" he simply stated "I own you their lives and you turned against your own people" and he leaned back in his chair and arched his elbows on the chair's arm rests and intertwined his fingers "My thanks seem ill fitting so maybe its time we give you something to do"
She was confused "To do?" she asked, trying to imagine what job they would trust her with
"As this ship was made to serve the academy we have a library of both books and electronic documents on board but its been mostly abandoned since the all this started. Hundreds of books and documents that need to be looked after and there's no-one in my crew who has either the time or the desire for the job, so would you be willing to become the ship's librarian?" Seth asked her
She was stunned, she'd imagined some menial cleaning job or something like that, not to be charged with preserving and caring for knowledge. But then suspicion kicked in
"Conditions?" she asked
Seth replied "No real conditions, you will be granted secure quarters and spent six hours in the library everyday. You will be able to take out a few books a day back to your quarters. Food will be delivered to your quarters at certain times in the day, there'll be a marine stationed with you at all times when out of your quarters but that is more for the crew's state of mind than concerns about you causing trouble. The library is a separate hub to the rest of the ship so there's no chance of accessing the ship's other computers, now will you take the job?" giving nothing away as to his feelings with an emotionless tone and impassive face
Selena knew this was too good an opportunity to pass up and slowly she nodded
"Good choice" Colonel Shaw told her and the young Caprican woman turned to the marine "Please escort Miss Selena to her quarters" and the marine saluted and quietly led the unresisting Cylon to her new home
Seth leaned back in his chair but could not relax and Kendra told him something that in three words would change both their lives again
"Seth, I'm pregnant" and Seth's face froze in shock
Once the new ships and people were integrated into the fleet, they gathered to mourn the dead
On the hanger deck, what bodies that had been recovered from both the planet, death on the Battlestars and pilots in the vipers were all laid out and the area was decorated with the flags of all twelve colonies, the priest they'd found was singing the hymn and carried out the service
The mood in the bay was somber and Seth walked forward and turned to face the crowd, looking at the faces who stared back at him, his own crew along with Hal Forrest and the members of the Civilian Assembly, Colonel Ishii with her officers and from the other ships in the fleet including the new commanding officer of the Vulcan, Colonel O'Donnell. Seth had offered it to Sheba but she had decided to return to her duties on Telmaya. They all diverted their attention straight to him
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Colonial Fleet we now stand ready to take a leap into the unknown space that lies ahead. Our victory over the Cylons may have cost us some of our brothers and sisters but it has gifted us with many new people to our ranks and that is their legacy, that those new people will have the chance to live and we now must find a new home from where we can rebuild. I have no doubt that we will make it and that one day we will defeat the Cylons once and for all. So say we all" Seth said in a rousing speech.
The assembled people on the deck replied with an strong and loud "So say we all" and Seth smiled and Kendra caught his eye her hand instinctively going to cover her abdomen
Thank you those who have been patient, real life is really making hard to find both time and energy to write
Please let me know what you think