Chapter 22:
Battlestar Hyperion, CIC
The Near-Kobol Evac Point
Day 116, 16:40 PFT
Emily stood to the back of the room while the Admiral made his calls. She was listening in on a separate cord phone, but was mostly keeping out of the arguing. Serikov from the Battlestar Sirius and Lin from the Battlestar Theia seemed to be the ones doing the most arguing. All were in agreement that they should return and retake Kobol, but the way in which that would happen was entirely up in the air. Serikov, as Emily expected, advocated for them to jump back with the Draconis, hit the Cylons with everything they had and reoccupy the planet and to refortify for a Cylon counterattack. Lin argued that they should withdraw from the system, find ways to repair the Eos as much as they could, and return when at full strength. Lin also supported Captain Matsuyo of the Zeus' suggestion that Kobol should be abandoned as soon as a rescue operation had taken place.
The Admiral continued to be characteristically silent. He listened intently to the bickering, making notes on a piece of paper on the desk in front of him. Emily couldn't see what he was writing, but it looked like a list of pros and cons.
Finally, the Admiral put down his pen. "Commander Serikov is right. We have no way to repair the Eos other than by what we left in orbit. Trying to work around that will take months, if it can even be repaired at all." The rest of the call was silent while he paused. "We go back as soon as we can. Virgon and I made contingency plans, but only short term."
"And with all due respect to all of you, we only left four Basestars behind, potentially partially damaged ones as well. With all of us, we can take that," Serikov added quickly.
"That is if they haven't reinforced already," Caspersen said. "If they have, we need to remember that my ship can't play any kind of part in the action."
"Caspersen, will your ship be capable of protecting the civilian ships here?" The Admiral asked.
"Of course Admiral, although maybe with a few extra Vipers on hand."
"We can hold some aboard," Matsuyo piped up. "The Zeus might not have launch tubes, but we can static launch Vipers."
"As we're down a flight pod, we'll have to join you," Caspersen echoed. "We'll be at full readiness while the action goes on, don't worry Admiral."
The Admiral nodded and crossed a couple of notes off of his pad. "Excellent. The number of Raiders at their disposal may be an issue, even for our fighter groups. If we can get them away from the main fight, even for a bit, it will help to even the odds."
"A distraction then?" Lin asked.
"If we jump in over Orcus and wait, they'll eventually detect us and might race at sublight to find us, then be trapped out there while we jump to Kobol?" Emily suggested, speaking up for the first time.
"The Raiders have far more advanced FTL than our ships, we've seen them skip about before." The Admiral corrected.
"But they'd still be engaged out with part of our force, which will allow us time to focus on the Basestars in orbit."
"And who will provide this distraction then, Colonel?" Serikov asked, his voice laced with attitude.
"Hyperion and Draconis can hang back, then arrive at Kobol as the vanguard. Four Basestars is manageable between the two of us until the rest of the Fleet is able to jump from Orcus," the Admiral explained, all the while writing out more notes onto his pad.
"Best take the Persephone with you as well. Those two ships are used to working together," Lin said.
"And three Battlestars seems like overkill for a distraction," Serikov added.
"Would that not make the distraction seem more convincing?" Emily asked.
"We've not yet fought in our full force, they probably don't know how many of us there actually are." Serikov replied.
"For all they know, we still have the Themis," said Caspersen.
"Then that is our advantage. Five combat ships arriving in orbit of Orcus should be enough for them to bite. Then when they have, a Raptor can travel back here, and inform the vanguard to jump," the Admiral summarised. "That Raptor can then come back to you and inform you to jump on to Kobol. Understood everyone?"
"And the evacuation of the surface?" Lin asked.
"To happen once we have control of orbit. Commander Virgon should have led the people in the settlement to a secure location from which we can collect them. If not… well there's nothing more we can do from here right now." Silence fell over the call as everyone waited to be dismissed. "Thank you for your time everyone, remain at Condition Two and begin preparations immediately. Operation will commence an hour after the Draconis returns."
Battlestar Hyperion, Sick Bay
The Near-Kobol Evac Point
Day 116, 17:12 PFT
Spinner gritted his teeth as the nurse applied a cold, damp cloth to the side of his head. There was no blood, but gods was it sore. He lay back as the nurse pulled it away, putting it down on his trolley and walking to the next bay. Spinner still felt like his head was just continually spinning, appropriate perhaps, but definitely not comfortable. Being a while since he had last been there meant he had forgotten quite how cold it was in sick bay. As he lay there, every move he made in that battle swirling in his head, thoughts of Polo… Yolt… Mixup… pilots lost during that fight. Every fight cost them more and more. Today, thankfully only a few, others – such as the battle in the mining asteroids – many more. It was almost impossible for Spinner to know every pilot on his ship, let alone the Fleet, but more and more he found himself less willing to spend time amongst the rank and file, lest he learn a new face he'd never see again.
He wasn't quite sure on the time, or how long he had been down there, but eventually the people awake in the other beds sat up and reacted as the Admiral entered. The Admiral returned the salutes that a few of them gave him, but otherwise walked through them right towards Spinner.
"Admiral, sir," Spinner said, struggling to sit up quickly.
"Stay down Major, I heard you had quite a spin out there," The Admiral said, pulling up a chair beside Spinner's bed.
"Yes sir, a lot of people have made that joke today," he replied.
"I bet. What's the prognosis from the Doc?"
"Nothing too serious. They're not even sure if it's concussion but she's still telling me that I shouldn't get in a Viper just yet."
"Doctor's orders are never fun," the Admiral told him, resting back a bit. "Back in the war, I sprained my wrist on just an escort flight leaving Aquaria for Picon. Wasn't even in action, one of my engines started spluttering and chucked me around. They got me back on-board Columbia, but that meant when we set out to intercept a Cylon scout group, I had to sit it out in sickbay listening to a wireless someone had smuggled in for me."
"But sir," Spinner interrupted. "I get that that was important and all, but this is about saving everyone on the planet. This isn't intercepting a small fleet. It's keeping our race alive."
"Very true, Sid, but the principle's the same. I can't have my CAG out in combat when he's not capable of it. You're one of the best pilots I have left, but you won't be the turning point of the day."
"Of course sir, I'm sorry," Spinner flumped back, accepting his grounding sentence.
"However," the Admiral started, catching Spinner's attention. "If you can still fly a Raptor, I might have a job for you."
Viper M-320
Kobol
Day 117, 18:24 PFT
Lieutenant Adora sat back in his Viper seat, head rested, eyes closed. It was dark now and his spot at the foot of a mountain would be secure now thanks to the lack of light. Somewhere, a few kilometres from there, was another two Vipers, each sat down in their own secluded location. Since the Cylons arrived, the planetary squadron had kept moving stop/start across the surface. Trying to keep on the move after they had scattered following the city's evacuation. While the Cylon fleet held such a presence over the orbit, they weren't able to extract themselves into the atmosphere. And even then, they didn't have anywhere safe to fly, or enough supplies to make it if they did.
They were at least, not without a plan. Stashed in each of the planetary squadron's Vipers was a small, hand-held, short-wave radio. Just about strong enough to reach the nearest couple of Viper's hiding places. They had been ordered to stay silent outside of emergency calls, one such being when one of the other pilots – Tiptoe – had to warn them all of a pair of Raiders passing down a valley a bit south of their hiding spots. However, while they had definitely remained 'silent' the rest of the times, their radios had not remained unused.
Using the bleeps from the transmission activating and deactivating, Adora and the others had been sending coded messages. Nothing much, in fact, mostly just rude comments or explicit jokes. Several mothers had been insulted, and several liberties had been taken describing the more unique aspects of Leonian culinary customs. That was until a message was tapped through that wasn't from one of them. One that was calling for help. Adora had replied that there wasn't much 3 Vipers could do to help, but still, a lost Colonial explorer was asking for help. There had been a few people, sick of the claustrophobia of the fleet in transit or who sought to pilgrimage across the planet, who had broken free to wander the newfound world. Apparently this one had hurt themself, and they figured they could at least administer first aid before sending for SAR once Hyperion had returned.
With no authority to check with, Adora decided himself to power up his engines. The person in need shared coordinates and off the three Vipers took. No matter what, they could at least perform a pass over and see what kind of situation they might be dealing with.
Pilot Briefing Room
Battlestar Hyperion
The Near-Kobol Evac Point
Day 116, 20:07 PFT
"What in the Gods names are you doing here?" Hera said with a snort as she stood behind the front podium. The room was empty, and just a few of the pilots – specifically the squadron leaders – were sat scattered in the seats. Crow was bouncing a ball against the wall and Twinkle-toe was doodling on his notepad. Hera was standing, her hands full of a stack of papers she had been trying to sort.
"So you don't want help with the paperwork then?" Spinner said, giving a smile that belay the strain on his arm in its sling.
"Since when do you do paperwork for yourself, let alone Gemini?" Twinkle-toe said, noticing Spinner walk over.
"I do more than you've ever done," Spinner retorted.
"And he still leaves the details to Jartell," Hera scoffed, chucking the papers back on the podium.
"Alright, alright. I'm walking wounded here, do I get a break?"
"Ha!" Hera said. "We're doing just fine."
"I think Gemini likes your podium Sid. Gotta watch your six, it might not be a Cylon gunning for you next time," Twinkle-toe said, going back to his notepad.
"Won't be anything on my six this time, at least I hope not."
"This time?" Hera quickly glanced down at the sheets on her desk.
"Not on the sheets I'm afraid, Admiral's orders," Spinner said with a smug smirk.
"You're flying?" Twinkle-toe said, looking up from his notepad again.
"With that arm?" Hera asked.
"I'm the Raptor messenger. I'll ride on Theia out to the Orcus extraction point, then jump back once the group is engaged."
"And the Admiral thinks you're fit to fly?"
"I think he's just desperate to have everyone else in the air, if I'm honest." Spinner wiggled his hand from in it's sling. A bad idea, as a shot of pain ran straight up his arm.
"Probably wants as many people out of sickbay as possible," Crow added, finally stopping bouncing his ball.
"Also possible Stoneham," Spinner said, sliding into one of the seats and sitting down next to Twinkle-toe.
"I thought you had special orders?" Hera asked, still not any further through sorting her pages.
"I am. Doesn't stop me from seeing you do my job though, does it?"
Viper M-320
Kobol
Day 117, 18:42 PFT
The lights from the Vipers were bright, but not very good at picking out anything through a forest canopy. While all the trees in this area were tall, thinly spread pines, that didn't make seeing a person on the ground easier. By this point, they had decided to cease bothering with code and began speaking on the short-wave. "Unidentified civilian this is Viper M320, have you got anything to signify your location?" Adora called out, eyes scanning around as they flew, as low and as slow as they could.
"Oh, hold on," Came the reply. This was the first time they'd heard the person's voice. It sounded old, an old man specifically. Gravelly and strained. Just down the hill to their side as they passed, they saw a glint of light flash up at them.
"Looks like this is our guy," Adora said, slowing the Viper's engines and beginning to turn. Clearly the man with the light had noticed them change direction, as he started beckoning them down. "Borg, stay low but stay in the air. Keep an ear open."
"Aye LT," their fellow pilot said.
Adora pulled down low and descended steadily. The ground was uneven but the man was lighting up the ground below them as best as he could. It was a grassy clearing in the middle of the forest, but still on the slope of the mountain, which made resting the Viper's weight down. Eventually, the two who were lowering down managed to settle themselves, Tiptoe landing just a few metres behind Adora. They climbed out, kicking out the few inbuilt steps their Viper had to get up and down. When he landed on the ground, he pulled off his helmet and approached the man. The Vipers' engines were left to just tick over, so their floodlights were now lighting up most of the clearing.
"Bless you all for coming. I apologise that I'm so far out," the man said. As they approached him, they could see that he was older, wearing a big dark coat and limping ever so slightly.
"That's alright sir," Adora said. "We were just laying low anyway."
"Laying low? Why's that?" The man asked. Adora and Tiptoe shared a glance.
"Well, since the Cylon's invaded we have been keeping quiet until Hyperion returns for us."
"The Cylons? On Kobol?" The man asked again, seeming shocked, but not entirely convincingly.
"They attacked a day ago," Tiptoe said, cutting into the conversation. He was taller than Adora, and stepped up alongside them to assert a slight sense of control over the man, who was getting closer.
"Look sir, we're happy to lend you some supplies, but we can't carry you to safety. There are no Raptors or shuttles of any kind that we're in contact with." Adora told him.
"Oh, well that's alright. How long will it be until the Hyperion returns?"
"Not known at this time I'm afraid sir."
"Well, I mean, I have a day or so of supplies left and I can't hunt for more with my leg." The men pointed down at the leg he could barely stand on. "If I knew how long it would be until the planet is retaken, I could plan for my rations…"
"All I can offer you is rations, I'm sorry. Any information about Hyperion is classified."
"Um, Adora," Tiptoe said, tapping Adora's shoulder. "Can we…?" He gestured to the side. The pair stepped off out of earshot. The man gave them a polite smile and walked back over to a rucksack that was lying on the ground where he had come from. "We don't have enough supplies to be giving out. We have no idea how long it will be before Hyperion returns."
"We were equipped with two weeks' worth, I'm sure we can spare a few days' rations for him." Adora replied, already mentally counting what rations he could part with. "If nothing else, we could help him set up shelter in the trees for the night."
"Look, I'm just a bit confused about why he's out here. Surely, he must have heard the stay low messages over the wireless?"
"Only if he was listening. He may not have been if he was out here." Tiptoe was unsure about Adora's answer, but conceded. They started walking back to man when he shouted across to them.
"You say there was a battle then?" He shouted. Tiptoe tried to share a glance with Adora, but clearly Adora hadn't thought it worthy of one.
"Big one," Adora said, leading Tiptoe back over.
"Oh. How did you make it out alive?"
"We never made it out into space, we were told to cover escaping ships from the city and then scatter."
"So people in the city escaped?" The man seemed curious. He shifted his weight across his feet and crossed his arms as he listened.
"Some escaped aboard ships, others…" Adora stopped speaking as Tiptoe nudged them in the ribs.
"Others escaped on the ground?" The man said. Tiptoe took a step closer to the man.
"We don't know, I'm sorry," Tiptoe said, not sounding remotely sorry.
"How did you end up out here anyway, sir?" Adora asked, finally noting the way the man had begun to stand. His foot had been unbearable to put any weight on at all a minute ago, now carried his full weight.
"Oh I am but a pilgrim. I always was a man of the Gods, and being on Kobol, well, that was just an opportunity I couldn't pass up." The man spoke with the confidence of someone who revelled in speaking to group, telling stories, preaching his truth.
"You're a preacher?" Tiptoe asked, looking past the man to his bag.
"At a time, I was. Since the Cylon holocaust I've been put to work."
"Haven't we all…" Tiptoe said, walking past the man to inspect his things.
"So you're sure that Admiral Jenkins is coming back for us then?" The man said, watching Tiptoe walk past and not trying to stop him.
"Of course." Adora said, trying to drag the man's attention back as Tiptoe knelt down to look in the bag.
"I'm sorry, why am I being searched?" The man said, his tone changing to indignation.
"Just checking what rations you have already, to make sure we don't give you too much of the same thing," Tiptoe said, putting his hand through the main bit of the bag. Mostly he found clothes and a few packets of food, until he saw a glowing red light. "What's this?" He said, rising up to his feet again, a small metal object flashing red in his hand.
"It's a beacon. I activated it when I fell, did you not see it?" The man replied quickly.
"No beacons showed up to us," Adora said, also walking past the man to go and look at the device. Whatever it was, it wasn't familiar, and didn't look at all like anything the Colonial Fleet would construct.
The man approached, clearly about to press them further, but as he did, anything he tried to say got drowned out by the sound of engines. Viper engines, specifically. Above them, Borg flew a low pass. Adora started back towards the ships when they heard bleeping coming from inside the two cockpits. He ran over and clambered up to the cockpit and looked in.
"Tiptoe! DRADIS alarms!" Adora shouted. Tiptoe dropped the beacon and ran back to his ship. "Wait, is that a radiological alarm?"
Ahead of them, the man was approaching, waving his arms and shouting something about waiting. Adora chose not to listen. He leapt over the edge and sat down. Helmet in his lap, they fired up the engines and slid the cockpit closed.
"-do either of you read me?" Borg was saying over the radio, to no response until Adora put his helmet back on.
"Borg, Adora: I copy. What is there?"
"Two Raiders and they're getting closer."
"Carrying nukes?" Tiptoe asked, his Viper powering up to launch beside Adora's.
"Looks like it," Adora replied.
"Are we leaving our friend here?" Tiptoe asked.
Adora hesitated. They saw the main standing, watching them. His hands fell from waving to resting on his hips "Either he tipped them off, or he's innocently trapped out here. Whatever it is, we can't help him with Raiders coming."
Finally, the two Raiders managed to get airborne. At almost the same time, the radiological alarms started warning of ordinance in the air. The Raiders had fired missiles.
"I can see them, two missiles inbound," Borg said, passing just within sight to their left.
"Shoot them and run guys," Adora told them. With Tiptoe alongside, they blasted their engines and zipped off towards the faint glow of a missile. They were a few klicks out, they had likely 30 seconds or so before they would hit. The three of them filled the sky with orange tracers as the missiles closed in. They managed to splash one, before avoiding both the second as it passed, and the cloud of the missile as it passed. They couldn't get a clear sight of the Raiders ahead before the nuke impacted the mountain behind them, lighting up the sky and causing the trio to fight their controls from the shock wave; made only worse by the last of the second missile hitting the ground and detonating behind them next.
The Raiders seemed to bank off. DRADIS screens were useless from the radiation, so Adora ordered the three Vipers to get moving. "The Cylons probably thought we got caught up in the explosion," Adora said, banking away and ducking back low again to follow the mountains.
"Do you think that tracker is what the Cylon's locked onto?" Adora asked.
"So he got himself killed?" Borg said.
"He didn't seem that scared about us leaving. He must have known something we don't," Tiptoe explained. The three fell into silence as they flew on, looking for a new place to hide.
Battlestar Hyperion
The Near-Kobol Evac Point
Day 117, 19:07 PFT
"Wait for the right moment, and jump straight back," Sidney repeated, for probably seventieth time. "No heroics."
"No heroics," Emily recounted back to him. She was stood a couple of metres back from him while he ran through checks on the Raptor, arm still up in a sling. "And you're sure you're going to be able to make flying with one arm work?"
"I've been these things for almost a decade now, I can probably do it without eyes as well," Spinner let a wry grin slip across his lips. "Did you just come down to doubt me?"
"Not at all. I was just making sure you felt up to the task, Major," Emily snapped at him. Spinner stopped what he was doing and stepped back from the ship, turning to face her.
"You didn't just come down to check on me though, did you, Colonel?"
She stood back, arms crossed over a clipboard. "I'm the XO now, I can come down to inspect my pilots if I want to."
"Ah, but are you really sure you want to?" Spinner asked, leaning up against the ramp of the Raptor and sitting himself down with his free arm.
"It's not that I don't want to. I just…" She trailed off. "Look, Sid, can I ask you something?"
"I don't know, can you?" He smirked.
"Please, seriously?" He took note took note of the stern look in her eyes and wiped the smile from his face. That look she gave was a commanding one, but he wasn't sure she believed it was.
"Sorry, of course."
"You were mad CAG young," She began.
"Twenty-five. As interim on Battlestar Hercules," He added quickly. Back came that look again.
"I remember. I just wanted to know… how did you deal with having no one above you?"
"Well, I mean, I always have the Admiral, and the Commander, and-"
"But with the people around you. They were older than you, some of them? That's not counting the deck crews, the Chief, people who have been doing this far longer than you."
"You don't think they respect you? Up there?" Spinner gestured up towards CIC. She nodded. "Emily, these people have served with you for years. We've all fought through this whole conflict, every Cylon encounter. Your camaraderie is like ours. I saw how they celebrated with you when you were promoted."
"To LC, yeah. Not to XO," Emily pondered. She was looking around her skittishly.
"No one had time for that. But I've not heard one person complain,"
"Really?"
"Well, that's not quite true..." Emily's face fell. Spinner stood up. "A few people have mentioned how they miss Virgon but that's because he was around for so long, that's what we were all familiar with. Not a soul has had an issue with you. Why would we, between you and Hermes', you guys are the voice of Hyperion for us, when we're out there. You're our favourite pen pusher!"
"Gee, thanks," Emily rolled her eyes, but had visibly relaxed a bit, her shoulders weren't so tight as they were.
"But seriously, most guys who get that high up in the Fleet are pilot. Picon loved to promote pilots above everyone else. You've gotten to your station through certain circumstances, but none of us are anywhere near as qualified as you," That managed to eek out a smile from Emily. "No matter what Serikov thinks, he wouldn't know a Mercury-class DRADIS from a pyramid table!"
"Thanks Sid," she said, puffing out her chest just a little. "You know, when you're not taking the mick, you might fool people into thinking that you're actually a good man."
Spinner snorted. He wasn't expecting a compliment, least of all one from upstairs. "I don't know about that. You'd best get back to the Admiral before he misses you, I'm supposed to be busy." He turned back to the Raptor and started back at his checks.
"Get some rest Major, don't get yourself killed out there tomorrow," Emily told him, starting off back out of the hangar.
"If only you let me see any of the action, I might actually get a chance!"