Ch 6
"Interesting." Nechayev said, as she read part of Adama's logs, at the part where Sharon helped turn the table against a large Cylon strike force.
"If only I had access to Cylon tech. I need to capture a baseship intact, or a few fighters." Nechayev said, putting the log away.
Nechayev contacted the Galactica, and received an urgent message.
"Get to the Pegasus right now. Something important has come up." Adama said, and hung the phone.
Perplexed, she beamed over to the Pegasus and was directed to the hanger deck. She found Roslin, Bill, Lee, Tigh, Sharon, Baltar, an unknown woman wearing an XO's uniform, and a few marines standing guard.
"Long time I'd seen one of these outside a museum." Tigh said.
Adama touched one of the dead cylons and looked at the dry oil in his hands, remembering something.
"Why would the Cylons resurrect a machine that's hopelessly obsolete?" Roslin asked.
"Maybe they didn't resurrect it." Sharon said.
"Have something you want to tell us?" Roslin curtly asked.
"There's references in our database of a force of centurions, early models like these who escaped being scrapped. They were called guardians." Sharon said.
"What did these guardian's guard?" Shaw asked, her voice above a whisper, but had a cold edge.
"A hybrid. The first hybrid created in an attempt to go from that, to us." Sharon said.
"A Cylon missing link?" Lee asked.
"More like evolutionary dead end. More hybrids were created to control our baseships, and the project was quickly abandoned. And some thing the hybrid is still alive, protected by these guardians. Still trying to evolve." Sharon said.
Adama then remembered something important.
"The last operation of the war. Galactica, was part of a task force that destroyed a Cylon base. I was on that mission. It was rumored, that the Cylons were building a superweapon. 3 battlestars plus support ships. I was in a viper, helping various squadrons fend off cylon raiders. Columbia was destroyed after taking multiple hits. I saw two raiders flee to the planet, and I pursued. I shot down both raiders, but was shot down as well. I parachuted to the plane's surface, into a large building. I saw what was going on in there. The Cylons had captured a convoy, and taken the colonial's prisoner. They began to experiment on it them. Cutting body parts off in a systematic order. If they wanted to study a specific part, such as an arm, brain, you name it, they took it from a live person. And there were still POW's trapped, having been spared. I had to leave, and watched the baseship leave the planet, and got word of the armistice. They escaped with it, right before they signed the armistice." Adama said.
Nechayev covered her mouth in shock. The Dominion and Borg were bad enough, but this was probably worse.
"And if this hybrid has captured some of our people…" Roslin said.
"I don't want to know." Adama said.
"How old is this ship?" Nechayev asked.
"40 years old." Tigh said.
"We can use your help, Admiral." Bill said.
"You said 'captured some of our people.' What happened?" Nechayev asked.
"I let some scientists take two raptors to scout a supernova. Looks like they were captured." Bill said.
"They're already dead. If it was up to me, I'd warp in there, blow the Cylon ship to pieces, and warp out. I'm not throwing my crew to be turned into slabs of steak." Nechayev said.
"You can beam them back onto your ship." Kara said.
"Beam?" Tigh asked.
"I looked over her ship a bit. Found out some things." Kara said.
"Your people are already dead." Nechayev said.
"I still want them back. And I'll need your ship to help." Bill said.
Inside Bill's quarters, they discussed the plan.
"Tyrol and Balter were able to pull intel from the raider's computer, and find the location of a base, though it's more of a base ship. We'll find our people there." Bill said.
"So we'll be taking my ship." Nechayev said.
"I'm temporarily transferring my flag to the Graff Spee." Bill said.
"You're coming along?" Nechayev asked.
"You'll still be in charge. I have a personal stake in this mission." Bill said.
"Admiral, since I'm in charge, I still want to pull the trigger the second I warp in." Nechayev said.
"Destroying that base ship with people onboard, is the last resort. I'm getting my people back, no matter the cost." Adama said.
Both admiral's glared at each other.
"Okay. I'll try to bring them back, but no promises. Since we'll be sending in a team onboard, the second we run into fierce trouble, or it looks like they'll be captured and sent to the slaughter house, they get beamed out, and bye-bye base ship." Nechayev said.
"Deal." Bill said.
"Good. Lets start up the plan." Nechayev said.
In Galactica's war room, the two made the plan.
"Remember. If we jump to weapons range, they'll either jump away, or self-destruct the ship. And we can't trace a ship thru a jump. It's impossible." Bill said.
"And even if I could disable the self-destruct, that ship is armed with missiles. They can use that to destroy themselves." Nechayev said, picking up the model of the Galactica, acting impromptu as her own ship.
"In the American revolution, general Gates lead a campaign against his British enemies. He lost all of his battles, but he was retreating up north, and drew the British redcoats away from their main base, stretching their supply line, leaving it vulnerable for counter attacks. We'll bring the Graff Spee just inside their detection range. We let them think they take out our warp drive, and we move away, drawing the raiders away. Raptor jumps in to secure the POWs." Nechayev said.
"Who's piloting the raptor?" Bill asked.
"Starbuck. You say she's the best pilot in the fleet. Now's a chance to prove it." Nechayev said.
"Good. Will you be sending in your soldiers?" Bill asked.
"No. My ship is staffed by a skeleton crew, so I'll need everyone to keep her running, let alone repel boarding parties. But I'm going on that base ship." Nechayev said.
"Admiral, that's a dangerous plan." Bill said.
"I need intel on the Cylon's capabilities in combat. Now, these Cylons are obsolete, but it'll give me an idea of what me and my crew are up against." Nechayev said.
"Any weapons?" Adama asked.
"No. If one phaser falls into Cylon hands, we could be in some serious trouble." Nechayev said.
"So how do we destroy the baseship?" Adama asked.
"First, we'll have to get the crew off the ship. Dropping the shields to beam them out is risky, but as long as the Cylons don't fire nukes, we'll be fine. Once they're back on board, we blow the baseship with our phasers. And just to be sure, the strike team will leave a tracking device so we can follow the baseship if they escape." Nechayev said.
"Good hunting, Admiral." Bill said.
Neyachev was in the holodeck, practicing her martial arts and hand to hand skills.
"We're one hour from being finished." Kara said, walking into the holodeck, surprised to see the inside of an old gym, where Nechayev was practicing some jujitsu.
"Good. I can use a sparring partner." Nechayev said.
Taking her jacket off, Kara faced Nechayev, who also discarded her Starfleet issued uniform. Kara quickly ducked as Nechayev threw a punch at her. Kara grabbed the extended arm and threw Nechayev on the ground.
Nechayev knocked Kara's legs out from under her and moved quick to straddle her.
Kara grabbed Nechayev and threw her off. Both stood up to face each other again. Kara moved forward and punch Nechayev who blocked it, grabbed her arm and tossed her aside.
Kara swung a kick at Nechayev who grabbed the leg and pushed the now unstable Kara unto her back and followed, forcing her leg to stretch all the way to her head.
"Impressive." Nechayev said, letting go of the leg.
"You missed something." Kara said, locking her free leg around Nechayev and rolled the two, so she was on top. Kara pinned Nechayev's arms above her head and straddled her so she couldn't use her legs.
"I'm on top now." Kara said.
"For now. We got a mission to complete." Nechayev said.