I do not own Battlestar Galactica
Thank you everyone who reviewed!
Review Response:
B.O.B. = Thank you for pointing out the distinction, I wrote that particular story introducing Colossus before Blood and Chrome was made so I only had the Razor flashbacks as a guide to what Columbia class Battlestars were like in the First Cylon War. To be more specific, Colossus is a later battlestar not one of the original 12 (Mark 1) and was built to Mark 2 specifications so it isn't like Galactica was in Blood and Chrome and because of the demands of war it was sent out without a full complement of vipers carrying only three full squadrons.
I think the reason for the cut down on Mark 2's was to make the ships cheaper to run, increasing automation to cut down on crew and with less weapons to lower maintenance costs and small craft too on that basis. Why they felt the need to take most of the armour off Galactica between the two wars is beyond me though. I appreciate your input
Chapter 30 – Hero
Two days had passed since the incident with the virus and the fleet was carrying on its journey into the depths of space in hopes of finding Earth, their best chance for a new home. On the Battlestar Telmaya, Seth Trakiss and his wife Kendra where playing with their children, a chance they rarely got to do at the same time since as a Rear Admiral Seth was either running the ship or dealing with fleet business while Colonel Kendra spent her time carrying out her duties as XO and running the CIC when Seth wasn't there.
"Well done." Kendra said to their son Alexander as he built a small tower out of his playing blocks while their daughter Marta was being given a piggy back ride from her father and was squealing in delight as her father suddenly ducked and then pulled back up before running around the room again.
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On Colonial One; Laura Roslin, Tory Foster, Hal Forrest and Billy Keikeya were looking through all the old files stored there. Hal was relishing the chance to something physical rather than all the political stuff to do with his role as Chairman of the Assembly. He worked out whenever possible but there was only so many hours in the day. He hefted a huge box full of old files over to a row of seats already sorted through so they could be recycled to the right while Laura flipped through a pile on the desk. She came across a pile of pictures of Gaius Baltar posing in his suit in the wad of documents left over from his time as her Vice President. Over her shoulder Tory Foster saw the image and picked one of them up before asking Laura in a mocking tone.
"Now where do you think we should put this rare image?" she smirked at Laura knowing the answer. Laura then smiled herself before answering Tory, the aide to Chairman Hal Forrest while Billy her own assistant looked on smiling.
"I was thinking in the toilet." She said still baring a bit of a grudge over his coup when she had been president "Just over it." Billy gave another idea that appealed just as much.
"Galactica could use new pictures for its shooting range." Thinking of his wife Dee and their little boy back the ship they had made their home brought an even bigger smile to his face, Laura saw the dreamy look on Billy's face and recognised with a smile the look of a man in love. She was meeting Bill for dinner aboard Galactica tonight and she was hoping for an evening devoid of fleet business so they could just relax and enjoy themselves. Their relationship was still a secret to all who knew them but she couldn't deny she felt better than she had in a long time.
Laura put the pictures aside to continue on and came across a very familiar looking dossier, she quickly flicked through the pages before saying with an affectionate tone.
"Oh Billy look." She said drawing the young man's attention over to her. "It's the dossier you prepared for me the first day I set foot on Galactica. Seems like a lifetime ago now, I can't believe we were going to throw this out in the garbage." She added looking through the pages reminiscing about before the Fall and all that had happened since.
"Hey look at this." Tory said looking at the page concerning William Adama. "This year marks the Admiral's 45th year of service and look his commissioning date is only a few days away." Hearing that small detail, Laura turned away and walked a sort distance before turning around to face the three of them and announcing. "I want to give the Admiral a medal, for 45 years of distinguished service in the Colonial Military."
They all looked at her for a moment before Tory said
"Couldn't come at a better time."
"Give the fleet some good news for a change." Hal said in agreement before telling her "Approved Laura, could give the fleet a boost right now."
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The man in question, Admiral William Adama had just arrived on the CIC of the Galactica after an action stations was called. As the klaxons sounded he saw his crew moving about their duties as they had done working for him all these years and he would have smiled with pride if the situation was any different. He walked over the centre console to see Colonel Tigh standing there looking at the dradis display.
"What have we got Saul?" He asked his friend of over 30 years and trusted right-hand. Saul turned to him and said
"3 raiders incoming, but they're out of formation." He said and Adama looked at the screen and saw that one raider was ahead the other 2. He asked aloud
"Where are our alert fighters?" Dee answered
"Starbuck and Kat are intercepting." 2 mentioned Viper pilots ambushed the Raiders at the rear before closing on the 3rd. But then the Admiral and Saul were spooked to hear a call coming from the raider
"Krypter, Krypter, Krypter. This is Bulldog." Saul took a moment to look at his commanding officer and said
"Impossible." But Adama had a feeling in gut told him this was not a trick so we turned to Dee and told her
"Tell alert vipers to escort raider in." Everyone on the CIC look to him like he was insane but with no argument from the XO they decided to follow his orders. The raider very quickly approached Galactica and Adama rushed down to the flight deck where the raider was carefully lowered onto the deck. Starbuck, Kat and the deckhands along with a full marine platoon all stood waiting behind him as the loss of the raider opened and out fell a man covered in fluids who very unsteadily got to his feet. The Marines and Kat kept their guns trained on the man in case he tried to harm the Admiral but Adama walked forward to greet the man as he got was feet and very unsteadily saluted the Admiral who saluted back immediately. The unknown man asked with a desperate tone in his voice
"Is it really you sir?" Adama smiled at the man and told him
"Yes, it's really me. Welcome home Bulldog."
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Hal Forrest and Laura Roslin met with the new arrival to the fleet who very hungrily scoffed down a bowl of noodles. They had all heard the story about an illegal mining operation by the people of Tauron and knew it to be false but Adama did not correct the man so they let it slide for the moment. Laura asked him
"How did you escape?" Bulldog aka Daniel Novak looked at her before saying
"There is some sort of fight going on between different Cylon models. The base ship I was on got attacked and damaged and in the confusion I managed to get out of cage and gets the flight deck where I stole that raider. I managed to access the Nav computer and I jumped to load of places before lucked out and found you here." Adama smiled happy at the explanation and now even more intrigued to hear that indeed some sort of Cylon Civil War was confirmed. The other members of the meeting looked at Adama curiously knowing that there was something he wasn't telling them.
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Commander Miranda Colchester was meanwhile debriefing the 3 new Cylon members of the fleet. She still couldn't believe that the Cylons looked like them now. She could still remember them as walking chrome toasters like it was yesterday. The Six was called Rahab, the two Peter and the eight Lucy. She was assessing them to discover what intelligence they had but also to determine their skill set for when they were assigned jobs. Saving Doctor Cottle and nurse Islay had given them points in their favour and the three Cylons had been very cooperative.
Rahab was a pilot, a good one she was told. Peter is a scholar knowing a great deal of languages while Lucy was something of a nurse. She had to decide whether to give them jobs like they seemed to want or give them another position that was lower profile.
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While Saul Tigh invited Daniel back to his quarters for a quick drink, Admiral Adama found himself alone with his 2 children; Commander Lee Adama and Captain Amelia Adama who would both come over. Lee turned to their father and asked
"What really happened?" The Admiral looked down at his feet and sat down looking very solemn before he answered his son and daughter who was looking at him intently
"I shot him down." They both looked shocked at what their father was saying and Amelia asked
"Why?"
"To protect the mission." And he told them what the Battlestar Valkyrie really had been doing two years before the fall. How the Admiralty had ordered him to deploy a stealth ship over the armistice line to see what the Cylons were doing. How two ships had suddenly appeared and fired on Novak who was flying the stealth ship. And how instead of rescuing Novak, he had fired on his position to try and prevent the Cylons from detecting who it was. "I started it. I breached the armistice and gave the Cylons no choice but to respond."
Both his children looked at him for a moment in pure disbelief before Lee said stubbornly
"No they put you there. The Admiralty ordered it. And we know that the Cylon agents working towards destruction the colonies well before that mission even was dreamed of." Amelia added
"It wasn't your fault." But their father couldn't help but feel in some way responsible.
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While this was going on, over on Telmaya Captain Serina Boxman was having serious words with her brother.
"Boxy you're only 16 years old. You can't join up until you're 18."
Boxy looked at her mutinously after she'd answered his query about whether she could pull some strings to get him a job in the military. He was steamed up the response was getting, he really wanted to be a pilot, to fly vipers like he'd seen all the other pilots do. He'd wanted this since he was 7 and his big sister wasn't even going to consider putting his name down for the military.
"It's only 2 years, you were hardly any older than me when you joined up with the military school." He fired back at her and she fumed before shouting back
"That's just it school, not actual military service. By the time I actually got in the cockpit I was 18 years old after spending years in classrooms in basic and officer training. And even that was in a simulator. Its only 2 years why can't you wait?" She loved her brother dearly and never wanted to have to attend his memorial service as she had done with so many of her friends, they were all they had left now and being the CAG of Telmaya she knew how dangerous it was out there, something Boxy wasn't fully aware of. The boy had an almost superhero image of pilots. It didn't matter what he said, the rules where the rules and she wouldn't break them not even for her brother.
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While drunk, Saul had told Daniel what had happened on the Valkyrie and how the old man had shot him down. Still drunk Daniel was consumed with rage and made his way towards the Admiral's quarters. The Admiral open the door and let Bulldog in before Bulldog punched him in the face and went to strangle him, as his hands closed on the Admiral's throat he suddenly felt himself get hit on the head and released his grip before falling away to see a man in his 70s with a younger woman in her 20s standing over him. The man held a pipe and sternly told Daniel
"Daniel I assume? You must really have had your mind messed with by those toasters all these years. Don't you get that we were all expendable? That with the weight of all those lives on your shoulders that you wouldn't sacrifice one to save the many? I have been on more suicide missions than you know, I fought in the 1st war. I flew into enemy space with no chance if we were found, hardly any weapons and no jump ability and I knew I was expendable to the mission." Adama looked at the older man now his senses had returned to him and Amelia helped him up. She was glad now that she had gone to see her father's old friend and convinced him to come and try to talk some sense into the Admiral since Lee and herself had failed to do so.
"Thank you Coker." Adama said and he extended his hand to Daniel who looked at it for a moment unsure of what to do before taking it.
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"You have got to be kidding me." Hal Forrest said as William Adama handed him a letter of resignation from his position as Admiral of the fleet. Hal looked at Adama and asked "why?"
"Something has to be done." Adama said he had been expecting this sort of reaction. "Rear Admiral Trakiss will make a fine leader."
Hal looked at him exasperated as he got out of his chair and told him
"Bill." He said looking Adama in the eye. "We have known each other and been working together for over 2 years now. I know you and you are no warmonger. You're being naive, you were set up, the Admiralty wanted a war and they sent you to be the fall man when it started. Since you seem so hell-bent on paying some kind of penance for a crime you think you committed then may I suggest an alternative." And he handed him a small slip of paper which Adama quickly read before saying
"The medal of distinction."
"Yes, you stand there in 3 days' time while I pin a medal on your chest. You be the hero that the people need you to be. That is your penance." And Adama looked reluctant but decided that despite his own feelings of guilt, he had to put the fleet's needs above his own. So he took the letter from resignation from the desk and pocketed it, saving it for a day where he might need it.
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Bulldog was gone, he had left to join the civilian fleet no longer feeling he had place in the military. He had forgiven Adama for shooting him down, he had done the right thing but it was not a good thing to realise that your heroes which is what Adama had been to Daniel Novak where not the White knights you thought them to be. He would never be able to look at Adama the same way again. He took the uniform that the Admiral offered though, it still stood for all things that he held most dear. Duty, honour, integrity. He saluted the Admiral one last time before he left, both men are feeling like they could let go at that past.
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Just a short chapter today, some things that I had to get out the way before I can move on with the main story. Hope you enjoyed it anyway