Chapter Thirteen: A Price to Pay
Moon Rhesus, Orbit of Canceron:
The stealth ship Hunley successfully completed its jump from Amasen and it would have been noticed had it not been for its stealth system engaging.
On the bridge of Amasen the crew at their stations breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Jump completed and stealth systems are engaged," Lieutenant Raquel 'Gold' Maddox said after checking the status at her console at the helm.
"Excellent," Commander Caden Charka said before turning his attention to the person standing beside him.
Major Arthur Wallace rubbed his chin in thought. "We're close to Rhesus. Let's get on the side that faces away from the planet and we can get our final prep done."
"Is there anything special about Rhesus?" Charka asked.
Wallace shook his head. "It's a large chunk of rock that had a research station built on it. I'm sure the Cylons destroyed it just because it was there and moved on. It's close enough to Canceron where we can hide behind it until we're ready to go down to the planet."
"Helm, lay in a course for the dark side of Rhesus," Charka said to Maddox.
"Aye sir, laying a course now," she said as she pressed the right buttons and began maneuvering the Hunley into position. Moments later she had guided the stealth ship to the desired position.
Wallace walked over and picked up the phone receiver from its cradle over at Communications, "Attention all hands, in exactly one hour we are going to making our way down to the surface of Canceron. In the time between now and then feel free to get a bite to eat, exercise, or do whatever you need to do to work out any nerves you may have."
"Will you be staying here on the bridge?" Charka asked once Wallace had put the receiver back into its cradle.
Wallace shook his head. "No, I'm heading back to my cabin. I have worlds of nerves that I need to work out before this mission begins."
Crew Recreation Room:
The recreation room of the Hunley served the same function as a wardroom would on a battlestar; the only difference was that a small gym area had been set aside. The few crewmembers present were watching the two new arrivals take turns sparring with the punching bag.
"That was kind of weak," Archangel teased as Lacey delivered what she probably thought was a hard enough punch.
"If you want to see how hard I can punch, you can always move the bag to the side," she teased as she delivered a right hook to the bag.
"Just trying to get you to be your best," Archangel said before asking, "Just where did you learn to throw a punch like that?"
"I have an uncle who was a boxing champion at his academy. He gave me a few lessons here and there," she said.
Archangel nodded his head. "He must have had a damn good hook then. I wonder if he ever taught you how to fight dirty, too."
Lacey shook her head. "I asked him that once and he told me that he fought hard but he never fought dirty."
"So all you know how to do is fight fair then?" he asked.
"You forgot my last name," Lacey said, grinning slyly at Archangel.
"Ah yes, those Basileus tough guys must have taught you a thing or two about how to fight on the streets," Archangel said.
She laughed. "If you want to go on thinking that, then go right on ahead."
Lacey knew it was a lie but she was not going to admit it yet. Growing up she had kept away from the crime syndicate her family had given birth to on Canceron. It was during her teenage years that she had spent time with her Aunt Lydia and in a way she had made sure the time she spent around the 'family business' was minimal at best.
"I don't know if you've figured out why I brought you here," Archangel said.
"To see if I'm as tough as the other gangsters in my family?" she asked.
"This is going to help you work out some of that nervousness," he said.
"What makes you think I'm nervous?" she asked with a bit more of a defensive tone than she was comfortable admitting to.
"Regardless of the mission I was on I felt like my nerves were on edge, it comes with the territory. If you try to admit you don't have that then there's something wrong and at worse it can lead to mistakes. Call me crazy but I don't want a promising rookie to go down because she didn't have her nerves under control," Archangel said as he nudged her away from the bag and hit it with a quick succession of blows from his fists.
"Uncle Artimus would say you believe the best defense if a good offense," she said.
"I could even throw in a few kicks if you really want to be impressed," Archangel teased.
"Oh please don't, I think the ship might explode from all the awesomeness," a man's voice said from the entrance.
Both Lacey and Archangel turned to see who it was, and both realized they had not met him before now.
"Major Arthur Wallace; this is my ship you're on so please try not to mess it up too much," he said as he walked over to the pair.
"I don't think you have to worry about that," Lacey said.
"Ensign Lacey Tolan, you do have your mother's eyes and cheeks and other nice features," Wallace said with a warm smile.
Archangel stepped between them. "Major Mark Hunter, but you can call me Archangel."
"Ah yes, Archangel…I've read your profile too. I honestly thought you'd be taller. Oh well, life is full of disappointments I suppose," Wallace said and continued speaking before either pilot could speak, "So you two are my pilots for this mission. I want you to know that you both have my utmost confidence, and I know both of you are going to do fine."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence," Lacey said.
"As I said, Lacey, I've read your profile and know that if the Cylons hadn't have attacked you'd have become the kind of pilot your cousin was in the early days of his career," Wallace said to her with a smile before turning his attention back to Archangel, "You, Major Hunter, are a bit of a mystery to me. There are sections of your profile that are blacked out; is there something you're hiding from me?"
That was an exaggeration on his part, the Ministry of Intelligence had plenty of files on Archangel and Wallace knew the man had lived an interesting life since he joined the Colonial Fleet. However, he was not one to show all of his cards at once and the misdirection was simply a part of the game to him and he was enjoying it.
Archangel arched an eyebrow at him. "Nothing that I think you should concern yourself with. You don't need to know everything, Major Wallace."
"You forget who I worked for, it is my job to know everything and I hope you're not hiding something serious from either me or your young co-pilot in particular. Secrets can be so damaging to morale," Wallace said.
"It really is a shame we couldn't have met when you toured the Ark Royal back when we first found you, or that we didn't meet on one of the Colonies before the Cylons attacked," Archangel said.
"What if we did and you just didn't know it, you'd be well to remember there's more to me than you know, Archangel. I wasn't just some paper pusher in the Ministry of Intelligence. Can you honestly tell me that you were just some Viper jock with the Colonial Fleet?" Wallace asked.
"No comment," Archangel said tensely.
"I need to head back to my cabin to work out some last minute details. I'll let you get back to trying to impress Lacey, but do remember that her dear cousin is missing and has yet to be found. I would hate to think that you would try to take advantage of her at a time like this," Wallace said before turning to walk away.
Archangel waited for Major Wallace to leave before he walked over and slammed the hatch shut.
"Well, he's an interesting character," she said.
He shook his head. "Oh, he's something. I don't think the term 'bastard' really does him justice."
"Cubit for your thoughts," Lacey asked when she saw Archangel had a far off look on his face.
"Just some of what he said. He was trying to get under my skin," Archangel admitted.
"Well I don't think you're trying to take advantage of me, it would seem kind of odd seeing as how we just met. I'm not the kind of woman who moves that fast," she said and she hoped she would get a laugh out of Archangel.
"It makes me wonder just what all the Ministry of Intelligence had on me, or why the Fleet would share that with them," he said.
"Any idea on what you can tell me about the blacked out stuff?" she asked.
"It's nothing that's important right now, we need to get ourselves focused on this mission," he said.
She nodded and took up a position away from the punching bag. "By the look on your face I think you need to take a shot at this more than I do."
"Thanks," he said as began delivering a swift set of punches and kicks to the bag. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Admiral Tolan. From what people have told me he was a good officer."
Lacey nodded. "Thanks and he was a good man, too; he'll show up. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet."
Olympica, E-Deck, Gemenese Restaurant Nuada:
"So," Helen Octavia said once the waitress had brought them their food, "Got any conversation starters?"
Mitchell Cain gave her a sly smile. "I do actually, but most of them require you not being able to see."
"Here I was thinking your idea of talking someone was to drop a witty one-liner and shoot the person in the face," she said with mock seriousness.
"I can give you the same advice I gave the women I dated during my time with the Ministry of Intelligence," he said.
"Who said anything about us dating?" she asked quizzically.
"You wanted a conversation starter and you're getting one," he said before continuing, "If you can't live with secrets then you have no business dating a spy."
"You must have a hard time trusting people," she said with more of an amused tone in her voice than she had planned on.
"Of course; that comes with the territory. When I was an officer with the MoI I didn't trust anyone except my own brother," Cain said.
"What made him so special? I mean, apart from being your brother,"she said.
"Like me, he was an MoI officer but there was some drama that came with that too. I don't know if it's something you'd understand," Cain said.
"I have four sisters so don't think you have a monopoly on sibling drama, "Helen said.
"Fair enough; in our profession seeing the worst in humanity every day can take its toll. I know that was true for Tim and before Virgon I think it was getting to the point where it was true for me too," he said.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, are you religious?" she asked.
Cain looked at amused. "Is there any reason why you want to know that?"
"I was never very religious growing up and I know from people I've become friends with that there are some who found religion and others who haven't. I was curious as to which camp you fell into," she asked. It was something she thought she could parlay into a news commentary down the road, and it would be interesting to get the perspective from someone who had been both a spy and an assassin.
Cain pondered the question. "I suppose I am, in my own way at least. Helen, the thing is that I've seen a lot of evil. Here on the Olympica and all over the worlds. I've been up close and personal with the horror of war, injustice, and other things that are too horrible for words. If I have a religion it would be belief in the idea that in spite of everything there is still good in humanity and having faith in that belief."
"Did you ever have a partner you worked with all the time?" she asked. She was honestly intrigued by what stories he had to tell and there was a part of her that wondered if this was somehow therapeutic for Cain.
"I did at one time, in the early days of my career. That was before I went through the Specialized Operative Training program; when I was done with that there was never a need for me to work with a partner," Cain said.
"What did that program do for you?" she asked.
"In the MoI it was known as 'SpecOps' and we were the operatives Gray sent in to carry out jobs that would result in assassinations more often than not."
"Any special jobs that stand out?" she asked.
"Before I get to that one, let me tell you about my mentor. His name was Bruno Alvis and when he was placed in charge of SpecOps he insisted that I be selected to train to become an operative. During some downtime I was summoned to his office. He had a job for me; there was a person on Caprica who needed to be assassinated. He was none other than Roderic Ferran."
Octavia's eyes widened. "The Roderic Ferran, the Kingpin of Caprican Smuggling, and one of the most wanted men on the whole planet…"
Cain nodded. "The one and only; and Gray wanted him eliminate in the worst way. So when the MoI captured one of his people on Picon I was chosen to interrogate him and then use the information to assassinate Ferran."
"Let me guess, you were going to put a band-aid on his arm and rip it off?" she said half jokingly.
"Funny thing about the way I had to work on that interrogation. You see I played a version "rip the band-aid" off. Believe me my version hurt a lot more," Cain said and he saw more recognition come over Octavia's face.
She shook her head. "What did you do, trade in your conscience when you became an assassin?"
Cain shrugged. "I had a job to do and I was good at it. All that Gray cared about were results, and until that day with the Basileus I got plenty of results."
"Did it ever get to you? All that had to eventually catch up to you at night when you were laying in bed," she said as she tried to imagine just what kind of things Cain had seen that he had yet to tell her about.
Cain gave her an understanding smile. "Most people would but when it came to my line of work I had to bury those thoughts and make sure I never had to think about it. Helen, they don't make medicine strong enough to deal with that."
"What would your higher-ups have said if you had tried to deal with it," she asked.
"We had a phrase for things like that in the MoI, 'incredibly frakking stupid.'"
"Major Cain, I'm glad you're here," a woman said as she walked up to the table where the two were sitting.
Octavia took in the sight of the woman what looked to be a sort of business attire one would find on a woman who worked in an office. However she did seem to have the demeanor of someone who had spent time in the military.
Cain saw her looking and quickly said, "Helen Octavia, allow me to introduce Lieutenant Jessica Jennings. She was with the Colonial Fleet until I convinced her to cross the line and join the new version of the Ministry of Intelligence."
Octavia reached out and shook Jennings' hand. "Lieutenant Jennings, it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope I haven't kept Major Cain from something urgent."
"President Fowler needs to meet with you as soon as possible, he sent me to find you and bring you to him," she said without commenting on what Octavia had said.
Cain nodded his head and turned his gaze to Octavia. "Helen, I'm sorry to run like this but perhaps when the President is done meeting with me then we can pick up where we left off."
She smiled at him. "That would be great; I just hope you don't keep me waiting too long."
Ariston System:
Patrol Ship Ketzin:
CIC:
Major James Houston drummed his fingers on his command chair in the CIC in a rhythm that the rest of the crew was sure that was only playing in his head. The Ketzin had received its orders from Fleet Command earlier in the day and so far it had been fairly monotonous duty. The Admiralty wanted his ship to scout the outlying systems in case the Cylons may be closing in on Amasen.
He had forgotten how many months they had been at Amasen but Houston understood that to the people who had called the secret station their new home it was something that had to be kept safe. To many it had become a beacon of hope in the aftermath of losing practically everything they held dear.
"Do you think this is going to be any different from the last systems we checked?" Lieutenant Alvah Konrad said from the helm station.
Houston stopped drumming his fingers. "There's a part of me that's okay with being bored. That means the Cylons aren't going to be getting closer to Amasen."
"We'll be ready to get the frak out of here if the toasters are waiting for us," Lieutenant Alexander Torok said from Tactical.
Houston nodded his understanding. Patrol craft such as the Ketzin were designed to keep an eye out for the enemy then get away as quickly as possible if they had to. It was up to the larger ships of the Colonial Fleet to stand toe to toe with the enemy. While some may have chafed at the idea, he was actually fine with it.
"Anything out there?" he asked as he continued his rhythmic drumming on his command chair's arm.
Torok began scanning the system. "Nothing yet, sir; looks…"
Houston immediately noticed the pause and asked, "What is it?"
"Major, we need to get out of here…"Torok said as the shock of what he had seen began to sink in. "There is a massive armada of baseships gathering on the far side of the system."
Houston did not hesitate. "Helm, get us jumped out of here and back to Amasen!"
"Plotting the jump now," Torok said.
"Entering the coordinates into the helm," Konrad announced.
Moments later the Ketzin jumped out of the system and back to Amasen. Houston let out a deep breath to settle his nerves before he began mentally put together the message he was about to have sent to Fleet Command. He looked at a printout of Torok's data and he rolled it over in his mind but one thought came to him over and over…the Cylons were coming.
Battlestar Helios:
Hangar Deck:
A new group of Viper pilots had arrived on the Helios and now they were standing at attention waiting for their meeting with the CAG. They had been pulled from battlestars such as the Stryker, Libran, and Ark Royal to replace the combat losses the Helios' air group had suffered during the Battle of Ostarsis.
Lieutenants Tomas 'Matador' Rivera, Walter 'Battle Axe' Boone, Jabid 'Gemini' Ali, Lavell 'Moose' Jenkins had served on the Battlestar Repulse until it was lost in battle with the Cylons. If it had not been for the timely arrival of the Stryker then they would have never stood a chance. Now after a brief shore leave on the Olympica they were starting a new deployment as pilots on the Helios.
"So what do you know about our new home?" Ali asked.
"From what people have told me, it sounds like the Helios is a lucky ship," Rivera said.
"That's what you said about the Renown and look what happened," Boone teased.
"In my defense that was more the Cylons' fault than mine," Rivera said in his defense.
"CAG on deck," a voice called out and the pilots immediately came to attention and waited for the CAG to arrive.
"At ease," a woman said as she stepped in front of the group and began to pace across the front line of assembled pilots. She was a blonde woman who looked too young to be in command of an air group but beneath that exterior was a pilot who over the past eight months had managed to become as seasoned of a Viper pilot as many officers who had been in the fleet longer than she had been.
She stopped in front of the center of the group and took in the new group of pilots before she said, "I am Major Aimee Nelson… some of the pilots who know me well enough call me 'Bullet' but you are allowed the privilege of addressing me as 'CAG'. You are standing on the hangar deck of the Helios, the luckiest damn battlestar in the Colonial Fleet."
"What makes them think this ship is that lucky?" Boone muttered.
Rivera wanted to say something in reply but he saw the look on Nelson's face and he could tell right away that the CAG was not happy with what she had heard. He glanced over at Boone and saw his friend close his eyes as though he were mentally bracing for the upcoming stream of anger that was about to hit him.
"This ship has fought the Cylons on several occasions and has managed to come away with little more than some scratches and at Ostarsis with the whole frakking Cylon force trying to beat down on us, all the Helios got was a scratch and a few guns destroyed. This ship may have gotten knocked around a little but never to the point that it was out of the fight. When you fly your Viper, if I haven't grounded your sorry ass by then, you can look at the ships out there that are either in the mobile drydocks or waiting their turn. You see the damage the Victorious took and you'll see what I mean. I'll even get you pictures of the Battlestar Sphinx and you can see just how we can get away with calling this a lucky ship. Now, what do you have to say?" Nelson asked. She was certain that she had asked the question in way that it should have been apparent to the pilot that there was really only one correct answer to give.
"CAG, the Helios is the luckiest ship in the whole damn fleet!" Boone quickly echoed her earlier statement.
"That's more like it," she said approvingly before turning her attention to the rest of the pilots, "Get yourselves situated in your berthing compartments then meet me at the training simulator in an hour. I want to see what my new pilots have to offer me. Dismissed!"
Nelson watched as the pilots quickly made their way to the nearest hatch to find their way to the berthing compartments. She had read up on the group and had a good idea of how they would do, but she wanted to give them the impression that they needed to try hard to impress her. At this stage of the game it was impossible for beggars to be choosers, but she needed to know that the air wing she commanded could hold up against whatever the Cylons threw at them.
"Bravo, CAG, are you sure you didn't channel your grandfather for that speech?" the newly appointed Commander Jose Cordova said as she descended a stairway and walked towards her.
"Do you think it was a bit much?" Nelson asked.
Cordova shook his head. "You asserted your authority, and that's what you have to do if you want to be taken seriously in this role. I had to do the same thing when I was CAG on the Majestic."
"Some of those pilots, Commander Cyprian told me, had been rescued fighting the Cylons after their battlestars had been destroyed. It's a frakking miracle they haven't lost their minds after all they've seen," she said.
"I read the reports too, and if they're still with it mentally as they were when Cyprian rescued them, then I like their odds. You handled that well; I'm glad you take as much pride in the Helios as Admiral Sakura did when she was in command."
The mention of Sakura caused a bit of a sad smile to come to her face, "She's not returning to take command…is she?"
Cordova shook his head. "That's part of why I was promoted to Commander and given command. She's needed elsewhere right now, and the last thing Admiral Kronus wants is to cause more confusion. I'm still in the process of picking an XO. If you're interested in the job it's yours."
"Thank you, sir, but I'd rather stay a Major and command the air wing. I belong behind the controls of a Viper. I'm not ready to fight from the deck of the CIC," Nelson said.
Cordova gave her a smile. "I understand completely, but something tells me if you haven't already then one day you're going to realize that your grandfather is looking at you from the afterlife and is impressed with the officer you've become."
Hunley:
Commanding Officer's Quarters:
Wallace stared at the computer terminal on his desk and looked over the report. This was something that he had kept from President Fowler and Admiral Kronus; it dealt with someone from his days in the Ministry of Intelligence…the man who almost got him sacked from the organization. He remembered when he had received the report that the base on Canceron had gone online. He had seen the codename 'Daylight' highlighted in green, meaning that it was now online and fully functional.
He quickly hit a few keys and the view on the screen was replaced with a listing of all of the bases belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence, all types of bases ranging from the publically acknowledged to the ones that were sworn to be purely fictional, and the majority of them were now colored red. That meant that this base was the only one still functional, the rest were either offline or destroyed. Wallace knew the odds were better than good that they were destroyed by the Cylons.
"Well, Jonas, you'd be proud of me. The Ministry of Intelligence was brought down after all," Wallace said even though there was not a person to hear him.
Admiral Stryker had been the closest thing he could have called to a father figure in his life, and the man who had encouraged him to join the Ministry of Intelligence for the sole purpose of destroying it from the inside. He knew the reason for this, and the more he was in the agency the more he agreed that it needed to be brought down.
The person who brought 'Daylight' online was none other than Vice Director Aaron 'The Bear' Bailey. Bailey had claimed that his nickname had been earned from his demeanor and his physically imposing size. Wallace had heard from his secretary that the real reason for his nickname was because when he went into his office he would go to sleep and hibernate during the workday.
It had been Bailey who had tried to put Wallace on the sideline during the campaign against the Erebea a few years ago. It resulted in Wallace being pulled from the mission and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation from one of the members of the MoI's mental health staff. By the time it was done and Wallace had been cleared to return to the mission he had to play an intense game of catching up in order to lead his part of the mission. He had never forgiven Bailey for that, and if he had his way then this would be the day he would finally get his revenge.
Olympica:
Presidential Suite:
President Michael Fowler looked at the report that Admiral Kronus had handed him. He had asked if it was serious and Kronus told him that it had been quadruple checked to ensure its accuracy.
"I don't know if this means the Cylons have found us or if they just got lucky with using a nearby system as some kind of staging area," Kronus admitted.
Fowler nodded his head with understanding. "I wish there was a way to know for sure."
"I've been working on a couple of solutions to our problem," Kronus offered.
Fowler looked up from the piece of paper at the admiral, "What have your people come up with?"
"We're thinking of putting the warstars to use against the Cylons. Along with the rest of the gunnery task forces we've cobbled together, we can pack a serious punch without jeopardizing the wellbeing of our battlestars. Perhaps we can even lead a diversionary attack to Aquaria and that might help convince the Cylons that that's going to be our focus for the next phase of this war," Kronus said.
"Who would lead this battle group?" Fowler asked. The time he had been in office had gone by in a blur; he was sure there was a flag officer among the Admiralty but he could not say for sure who it was.
"We have Rear Admirals Ramos and Ware at our disposal," Kronus began before continuing with, "Ramos can have overall command from his warstar while Ware can lead the cruisers and provide backup leadership in case the worst happens and he had to assume command."
"Will there be any way to provide any Viper support?" Fowler asked.
"We have two possibilities…the escort battlestar Maytoria and the Marine battlestar Xanthus are still available and can be combat ready in no time," Kronus said.
Fowler looked over a memo on his desk detailing the strengths of the Colonial Fleet. "The Maytoria is currently being used as a training ship and as for the Xanthus…what exactly is a Marine battlestar?"
"Experimental design, the Xanthus deploys a vertical takeoff version of the Viper that the Marine Corps wanted in its arsenal. There are also specially equipped Raptors that the Marines can deploy if needed."
"Should we assign a flag officer to handle the battlestars?" Fowler asked.
"I'll worry about that one. If the Cylons are getting this close, though, we should get the task force together and use them before the toasters get lucky. I have a couple of candidates in mind for promotion, I think if you look over the rank of candidates you'll agree that we have some promising candidates," Kronus said.
"I want you to promote Colonel Stryker," Fowler said.
"I just told you that I'd worry about who to promote," Kronus countered.
Fowler pressed, "I know you don't want to have your toes stepped on, but look at it from my point of view. We need heroes now more than ever and Colonel Stryker comes from good stock, being the youngest son of Admiral Stryker has to count for something."
"He's a Colonel though, there are other more senior officers who should be promoted instead," Kronus said.
"Does that mean you're going to demote Sakura back to Colonel then? I mean Tolan promoted her to Commander and then to Admiral even though there were probably other more senior candidates," Fowler said.
"You don't have the authority," Kronus said.
"As the continuation of the Adar Administration I believe I do, after all we don't want to dispose of the provisions of the Articles of Colonization that we find inconvenient," Fowler said and he saw by the look on Kronus' face that he may have won this round.
"I'll give you this one," Kronus finally said.
"Make it happen," Fowler said and he watched as Kronus simply nodded and left the room.
Kronus left the room and started down the corridor when a familiar voice called out to him, "I should have known that if a prick like Gary Ware could survive then you'd have had a chance to also."
Kronus turned around and smiled as he recognized the aged figure of Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd Thomas approaching him. While Gary Ware had been an ace pilot during the Cylon War and had earned a great deal of fame in the media because of it, there was little debate needed about Thomas being on the same level of skill as a pilot.
Thomas had earned the moniker of 'The Black Devil' and would have probably kept flying until the end of the war if he had not injured his leg during an engagement against the toasters. Kronus had remembered hearing that Thomas' wound was so severe that there was a chance he might lose his injured leg. However his leg was saved but he had to walk with the use of a cane from then on.
"Here I was wondering if the damn toasters had finally done you in," Kronus said as he allowed a smile to come to his face as he closed the gap between him and Thomas.
"The first time they couldn't finish me off because they were such lousy shots; this time they couldn't do it because they don't have the first damn clue about timing," Thomas said as he shook Kronus' hand then patted his old friend on the shoulder.
"For that I think we should all be grateful," Kronus said.
"The pilots on the Ark Royal would agree with that too, someone had to take those nuggets and tell them a thing or two about how to be a real pilot," Thomas said and he saw the pins on Kronus' uniform, "So they went and gave you your old job back.
Kronus nodded. "They need people who know a thing or two about having to fight, and with Admiral Tolan MIA right now someone has to step into the breach."
"Stryker always said you enjoyed being in the big chair, even if you weren't smart enough to keep Adar from retiring you," Thomas said.
"Funny, I thought Stryker was retired against his will too," Kronus said remembering when Fleet Admiral Jonas Stryker had stepped down as the head of the Colonial Fleet.
"I tried to tell him that once but he said that he left of his own free will. In his opinion they didn't fire him so much as he just quit," Thomas said and the two officers shared a laugh at the statement.
"We've stayed alive so far, so I think he'd at least be a little impressed with how I've handled things," Kronus said.
"Yeah, except for that whole Tolan business…seriously, John, what were you thinking?" Thomas asked. While an officer of his rank could not get away with calling the current head of the Colonial Fleet by his first name, Thomas knew he could get away with it.
"What are you talking about?" Kronus asked, even though he knew why.
"You knew as well as I did that Stryker would have never trusted a Tolan no matter what his rank was. You could have easily sidelined him until he wasn't a threat anymore.
"At the time he was the only surviving flag officer I was aware of and he had the Victorious and all I had was the Olympica so you could say he had all the guns or at least the most guns. Besides, until that business at Ostarsis I think he had done a decent job overall despite some hiccups along the way," Kronus said.
"I get what you're saying, but Stryker would not have approved of you doing that, "Thomas said.
"Well Stryker's not here anymore to second guess me, is he?" Kronus asked and he knew he may have said the words a little more heatedly than he had intended.
"Okay, you don't need to go get your blood pressure up too high right now. Any chance I can follow you to wherever you're going?" Thomas asked.
Kronus nodded and motioned for his friend to follow him. "We have a problem that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later."
Hunley:
"What brings you here?" Archangel asked when he saw Wallace coming down the corridor towards him.
"Just wanted to get a feel for where the crew's minds are. I've already talked to Ms. Tolan and now I'm here to see you.," Wallace said as he closed the gap between him and Archangel.
"You're worried about my where my mind is?" he asked.
"Absolutely, there's so much riding on this mission that I'd hate for it to fail because one of my pilots either lost his or her nerve," Wallace said.
"So you think I'm going to lose my nerve…are you questioning me as a pilot?" Archangel asked.
"Listen, Archangel, you're an okay pilot but I don't think outside of the box thinking is really your strong suit. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and you should completely stick to your strengths because your weaknesses are going to be too obvious. Besides from what your file showed it's that you're enough of a pilot to fly two Vipers at once…at least in your own opinion," Wallace said as he walked away.
Archangel watched Wallace head down the corridor and he shook his head. The last thing he was going to do was let the MoI bastard think he got under his skin and made him mad. The thing was that Major Wallace must not realize the danger he was putting himself into with his obnoxious behavior.
'One day, when this is all said and done there will be a reckoning,' Archangel swore to himself.
He began to make his way towards the Hunley's Crew Recreation Room. He was going to need another session with that punching bag.
Crew Recreation Room:
Maddox walked into the Recreation Room and she was sure she had heard the punching bag begging for mercy, at least that's probably what it would have said if its squeaks were actual words. She remembered hearing the pilot introduce himself as Major Mark Hunter and his call sign was 'Archangel'. She watched him practically assault the punching bag with his fist and legs delivering a series of punches and kicks that would have probably been crippling to a human.
"Care to ask me who you're killing in your mind?" she asked as a way to try to lighten the mood.
Archangel stopped his attack and grabbed the punching bag to steady it. "Right now only one person, but that's another story."
"I don't know if you heard, but we're getting closer to starting the mission," she said.
"I have an internal clock that's pretty accurate, did Major Wallace pay you a visit?" he asked.
She nodded. "He did actually, and he wished me luck flying the Raptor and said something about me justifying all the faith in me. It was actually kind of sweet of him to do that."
He fixed her with a curious look. "Are you sure he didn't have an ulterior motive?"
She chuckled. "Ever since I was a teenager I've had to deal with men and their 'ulterior motives'. If the Major was trying to get into my pants he'd at least have to put in a few rounds of dinner and a movie."
"You strike me as a woman who knows what she wants," he said.
She shrugged, "It's a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing. So why are you punishing this poor punching bag?"
"Working off some stress, I'm picturing it as a certain person and the blows just keep coming," Archangel said as he delivered a punch that caused the chains holding the up the bag to rattle longer than he thought they would have.
"Stress release is good, at the rate you're attacking this poor punching I think you'll be completely stress free when we leave for the surface," she said.
"If it weren't for the fact that we're going to head down to Canceron soon I'd offer to help you work off some stress," Archangel said as he stopped the punching bag long enough for him to give Maddox his full attention.
Maddox had a feeling he was talking about a session with the punching bag but the idea of giving Archangel a hard time was too much for her to resist. She gave him an appraising look. "You're cute and kind of handsome, it's a pity we don't have the time or else I might take you off on your offer."
"Wait, I meant…well that went somewhere other than I intended," Archangel said as both he and Maddox laughed.
"For what it's worth, I know you'll have my back out there and I'll make sure I have yours," she said.
"Thanks, and I did mean a session with the punching bag," he said.
She rolled her eyes playfully. "Yep, no doubt that's the kind of session you had in mind. We're meeting up at the hangar in five, I'll see you there!"
Archangel watched her walk away and he shook his head at what had just transpired between him and Maddox. He was about to start back on the punching bag when he heard footsteps coming from the far side of the room.
"You know that punching would have screamed for 'Mercy' if it were able to speak," Lacey said as she entered the room.
Archangel saw her and smiled, "It seemed like a good idea before we leave for the mission, which I should add is going to be in five minutes."
"Well I'm as ready for it as I'm going to be, I don't need to go punishing inanimate objects into submission," she teased.
"Had a meeting with our friend Major Wallace, or should say your friend Major Wallace," he said.
Lacey chuckled, "I don't he qualifies as a friend, I don't know if he would even be an acquaintance right now. He's been nice enough to me so that's got to count for something."
"I don't trust him, something about him seems shady enough to make me question his motives," Archangel said.
Lacey nodded her head as though she understood, "Worked with many spies have you?"
"I don't believe I'm at liberty to say," he said.
"Let me guess, if you told me you'd have to kill me," she teased and then said, "The Colonies are gone and I'm sure any confidentiality agreements went along with it."
Archangel held his hands up in mock surrender, "You win Miss Tolan, I was actually sent to help the MoI during an operation against your people."
She raised an eyebrow, "My people? The next few words out of your mouth may decide how I take that comment."
Archangel looked in her eyes and saw a mischievous gleam, "I mean the Basileus, which I know you were never a part of, and it was a raid near the Northern Territories. Your Aunt Lydia was probably not happy with what we did."
"She did her good points believe it or not, but yes if you interfered with the operations of the Basileus she could show her ruthless side very easily," Lacey said as she remembered the Aunt Lydia she remembered from visiting time to time as she grew up with the Aunt Lydia she heard about from people who had dealings with her family's criminal enterprise.
"I understand that, I wouldn't try to change your mind," Archangel said and then he continued, "There was a small island named Acala that the Basileus had taken over for use as a sort of distribution hub for their smuggling operations. The Ministry of Intelligence knew about this and since they had that shadow was going on against the Basileus they thought they'd take it out."
"So you were a part of this?" she asked.
Archangel nodded, "There was a new missile that had been developed at the Colonial Fleet's Bureau of Weapons Development, and they wanted a pilot to put to use."
"Those geniuses at Argos actually came up with something?" Lacey asked.
"I take it you've heard them?" Archangel asked.
"Yes I have, the Bureau of Weapons Development is located in the city of Argos on Tauron and from what I was told is that it's a place where to good ideas to go to die in a sea of red tape," Lacey said as she remembered what she had been told in the past.
"Who said that?" he asked.
"Scott did, it was back on Caprica when I came home early and he was there with the door to his office door still open. He was on the phone with someone and the talk seemed to be about experimental weapons," she knew now that he had been talking about the weapons his battlestar group would be testing at the time when the Cylons attacked.
"Well I was the top test pilot on Sagitarron at the time so I was loaned out of the MoI for this assignment. My job was to fly my Viper as close to the sea as I could and then fire my missiles directly at the loading dock," Archangel said as he played the mission over in his head.
"So you only had four missiles to fire, how did that work out?" she asked.
He let out a chuckle, "It was the best example of overkill I have ever seen, whatever chemicals had been mixed together in those missiles set everything on that island ablaze from one end to the other. I can still remember looking at my wings as I began to fly back into the sky and seeing the orange blaze from that fire as it consumed everything and everyone on that island."
Lacey was going to say something but the alert began to sound that it was time to assemble in the hangar.
Olympica:
Kronus' Office:
Now that the press conference was over and the ceremony concluded there were now three people in Kronus' office. The newly promoted Vice Admiral Antonio Ramos and Rear Admiral Alan Stryker took in the report of the Cylon battle group and did not say anything. It was then that Kronus delivered the battle plan.
"Admiral Ramos, you're taking overall command of the gunnery task force and it will be you leading the assault at Aquaria. Our goal is to draw the Cylons away from Amasen and keep them guessing as to where we are. I think there's enough firepower between the warstars and cruisers that we can easily deal the toasters enough of a blow to slow them down," Kronus said.
"What about Admiral Ware?" Ramos asked.
Kronus knew that question was coming. Rear Admiral Lewis Ware, the son of Admiral Gary Ware, had been in charge of a cruiser battle group when the war began. It did seem natural for Ramos to want another flag officer with gunnery experience coming into battle with him.
"Admiral Ware is going to be here for the time being, we're short on flag officers and I have to hold a few back," he said.
"I'm going to be his backup," Stryker said more as a statement than a question.
"You're going to have either the Xanthus or the Maytoria as your flagship; both are currently in the process of being prepped for this mission. Your job is to use the Vipers to provide support to the cruisers in case any of the Cylon Raiders are able to get through the flak screen," Kronus said.
"Thank you, sir, I'll make sure I justify the faith you've shown in me," Stryker said.
"You're a Stryker, with your gene pool you'll rise to the occasion nine times out of ten," Kronus said with a fatherly smile
"I promise you the warstars won't let you down," Ramos said. In a way he was happy to put his battleships to the test of seeing how well they could work with minimal Viper support.
Hunley:
Hangar Bay:
The Hunley's deck tilted slightly as the ship began to make its descent towards the outer atmosphere of Canceron. Lacey and Archangel watched as Wallace, Maddox, and Melati went about the last of the preflight checklist.
"Okay people, the stealth systems are engaged and our operation is a 'Go'," Wallace announced.
"Where on Canceron are we going?" Archangel asked.
"Well, I guess now is as good of a time as any to tell you," Wallace began before continuing with, "We're heading to the town of Pavo in the Northern Territories. As cold as it is I doubt you're going to need your sunscreen and a beach blanket."
None of the group said a word after the announcement was made in the hangar that the Hunley was fast approaching its position. So far its stealth systems appeared to be living up to the name as the Cylons seemed oblivious to what was going on above them.
Bridge:
Charka sat in his chair on the bridge and waited anxiously for the Hunley to get into position on the outer edge Canceron's atmosphere. He had gone from being stuck in the brig of the Ark Royal to having command of a ship again. It was interesting how all that time on the sidelines had given him a different perspective on things. He admitted to himself that he had let the situation at the beginning of the war get to him eventually and the hopelessness he felt had consumed him for all intents and purposes. Now he saw himself as having been given a chance to redeem himself.
"We're now in position," the replacement pilot announced.
"Excellent, send a message to Major Wallace that we're in position," Charka said.
Moments later Tactical reported that the Raptor had disengaged from the Hunley and was now making its way through the atmosphere of Canceron.