Battlestar Galactica

Past, Present, Future

Chapter 26

Saxton's Decision

It had been several sectars since Sergeant Duggan, now Lieutenant Duggan had discovered the signals of the Cylon Task Force being destroyed by a as yet still unknown enemy.

He had managed to tap into the Cylon Command Communications grid and had became privy to what were the reports of a Cylon task force that was under attack and eventually destroyed by an adversary that the Cylons could not identify. Not only did the Cylons not know who it was that had attacked their task force, but they could not even defend themselves from the attackers. This enemy used technology and tactic's that the Cylons could not defend. These attacks had started a flood of communications throughout the Cylon Empire! He had spent countless centars tapped into the Cylon Command grid listening for more information about the strangers.

He had learned that the as yet unknown hostiles had over the course of the past several sectars attacked and destroyed some sixteen Baseships, seven outposts, and two Cylon colonies, one on the planet Paradeen and one on the planet Lunar Seven, wherever they were, and were on a course directly toward Caprica.

Duggan remembered when he first heard of these two planets. They were in a report from a Baseship that was sent to check into why the Central Command had lost communications with those planets. As it turned out, both planets had been attacked and all Cylon presence had been destroyed! An occurrence that did not bother Duggan in the slightest since he had also learned that both of these planets had been populated by humans before the Cylons following the Battlestar Galactica discovered them.

When the Cylons discovered this they "Cleansed the planets of the human infestation." Duggan thought, still remembering that phrase, "Cleansed of the HUMAN infestation"! The Cylon report referred to those people as if they were nothing more then pests, insects to be destroyed out of hand. He could not understand how any culture could have such a blatant disregard for another!

Well now someone had done the same thing to them, and Duggan thought it was justly deserved!

So now, here he was, once again plugged into the Cylon Command Communications grid, or as he called it, the "CCCG". He would spend most of, if not all of his shift listening into the goings on of the Cylon military command, hoping for some new piece of information as to what these new antagonists were up to.

Since his first discovery, he had become a bit of a celebrity. He was the guy that discovered the new foe of the Cylons! This had gotten him not only a promotion for being able to break into the CCCG, but made him the shift leader for his section. His military career was looking much brighter.

And his social life had begun to improve as well.

He had finally had the chance to get together with the pretty brunette that worked in the mess hall. Her name was Helena and she was in training to be a base security officer, but worked in the mess hall between classes. He really hoped that things would work out between them, because for the first time in his life, he was sure he was in love! Time would tell.

Anyway, he was back in the "Pit", doing what he did best, listening to and deciphering Cylon message traffic. It was a tedious job, but someone had to do it and he had proven that he was one of the best at it.

The "Pit" had changed somewhat over the past sectar too. It had been renovated with all new equipment and a lot more space. Now Duggan could actually stand up and walk around inside the small room. The ancient electronics gear that had filled the space before had been replaced with new, integrated components that took up less then a tenth of the space of the old stuff, and had tens of thousands of times more power and capacity for listening and recording. It was a huge improvement over what he had been using.

So Duggan was in the "Pit", listening to the Cylons as they went about their usual routine. The usual, mundane status reports were coming in from all corners of their Empire. Not a word had been mentioned about the strangers that had been attacking them in nearly two sectons, so Duggan was curious as to if this was because there had been no attacks, or were they using some unknown code word for the attackers.

The thought had barely hit his mind when the grid came to life with a number of priority signals. Duggan was all over it this time and with the new equipment, he began recording dozens on different calls at the same time. He started scanning the calls trying to find the best one to listen in on and after just a few microns, he locked onto a signal that was unlike all the others. This signal had a video feed attached to it.

Duggan flipped on the switch to the monitor that had been added to his domain and there, on the screen, came to life the real time images of what appeared to be a battle being fought in space between the Cylons and another group.

Could it be the unknown enemy that had plagued the Cylons of late?

Duggan didn't know and wasn't going to wait and find out!

He pressed the switch to the communication system, another new item added to the "Pit", and called over the base intercom system for Commander Saxton.

Commander Saxton was standing at the head of the conference table, leaning forward with his fists resting on the tabletop, his eyes locked on those of Doctor Prior. Once again, the good doctor was up in arms about one of his experiments being closed down before its completion because of the volatile nature of what he proposed to do. This was far from the first time the two men had squared off over one of Prior's experiments and he was sure it would not be the last, though he could hope!

So the Commander had called for a review of what the doctor was proposing to do.

"Doctor Prior, we have already gone over this a hundred times before! You are not going to set off an explosive charge inside the Dreamworks, and that is final!" Saxton said in a tone that would have told anyone else that there would be no further discussion. Unfortunately, Doctor Prior had never learned to take "NO" for an answer. He was bound and determined to have his say and push the issue until he either won his argument, which he rarely did with Commander Saxton, or was escorted out of the meeting, which had happened more times then he cared to remember.

"That is true Commander, we have gone over this time and again, and I will admit that there have been times, in my …. exuberance, to see a program or project through, I have made some very "unreasonable requests of you." Prior said, faining sincerity. "But this time is different. This one experiment could provide us with a weapon powerful enough to wipe out the Cylons forever! I only need to conduct one, very small detonation of this new compound, and if it works as I think it will, it will make it possible to destroy a Baseship with a single missile the size of your arm!"

"Or it could cause a cave in that the Cylons could detect and if that happened Doctor, we'd have little chance of escaping! No Doctor, I will not allow you to set off this new explosive compound inside the base. It's far too dangerous. Even if it didn't cause a cave in or damage the base in some way, I'm sure the sound vibrations could be detected by our friend's topside." Saxton shot back.

"Maybe they could, but I seriously doubt it." Prior countered. "I plan on conducting this test in tunnel 41 Epsilon."

This caused nearly everyone in the room to give the Doctor a quizzical look.

"What is "Tunnel 41 Epsilon"?" Colonel Nader asked.

Prior smiled ever so slightly.

He had them!

Now to close the deal.

"I'm glad you asked Colonel." he said with a smile. "Tunnel 41 Epsilon is the deepest, longest, most isolated place in all the Dreamworks. There are only a few of us here that even know of its existence."

"Is that so?" Nader replied. "And why is it that you failed to inform us of this place before Doctor? We've been down here thirty yahren! Don't you think you should have mentioned this before now? Where is this tunnel and what kinds of felgercarb have you and your minions been hiding down there?"

Prior chuckled a bit at the Colonel's indignation and said, "I have not been hiding anything Colonel, down there or anywhere else."

"Then why didn't you tell us about this place?" Nader asked again.

"Because you never asked Colonel."

This caused Nader to come up out of his seat as if he was going to launch himself across the table at the scientist. Only a firm hand on his shoulder from Commander Saxton kept him from doing so.

"Doctor Prior, we should not have had to ask you about this "Tunnel 41 Epsilon". You should have disclosed it when we first arrived here.

"Commander, I showed you everything you asked to see. I showed you the hanger bay, where we keep all of our experimental craft. I showed you our labs, where we design and built everything you've seen down here. And I have taken you to the test facilities, where we do all of the testing of the items we developed." Prior countered. "And I told you on many occasions that if you had any questions about anything, you could ask me and I would tell all to you!"

"How are we suppose to ask about something we didn't know existed Doctor?" Nader asked. "We don't even know where it is!"

"Really? You have stood right in front of it Colonel." Prior said with a smile. "You even stood looking at once, but you never asked anything about what was down the tunnel opposite the test labs, did you? You simply ignored it and went back to your command center. Do you remember that Commander?"

Saxton thought back to the day when he, Nader, Sergeant Kelso, and Doctor Prior all went down to the lowest levels of the Dreamworks to look around. He was extremely impressed with the facility, especially the fact that it sat over six kilometrons beneath the capitol city of Caprica. It was an amazing facility.

He also remembered Doctor Prior taking them all to the testing facility on the lowest level, and showing them all the different areas and telling them what they were used for. It was a truly fascinating place. And he did recall looking down the unmarked tunnel on the opposite side of the chamber and wondering where it lead to, but he neglected to ask. And none of the others asked about the tunnel either. So, in fact, Doctor Prior was absolutely correct. None of them had asked about the tunnel and they had evidently forgotten all about it over the yahren.

"You're right Doctor. We never did ask you about that tunnel." Saxton admitted. "But I'm asking you now! What is "Tunnel 41 Epsilon" and why do you think you can detonate an explosive down there with what you're telling me is a more powerful compound then anything we have right now without collapsing the tunnel or sending a shockwave up through the ground that alerts the Cylons that something down here just isn't right?"

"Because Commander, Tunnel 41 Epsilon was designed to handle explosions a hundred times greater then that of an exploding Battlestar!"

Every face in the room wore an expression of total shock at this statement.

"What do you mean "an exploding Battlestar"?" asked Major Leia.

"I mean just that Major. Tunnel 41 Epsilon can withstand the blast force and heat release of an explosion one HUNDRED times as powerful as a Battlestar being destroyed and not suffer any significant damage." Prior said. "It was designed to disperse the energy and heat thorough thousands of smaller tunnels and shafts that form a lateral maze for hundreds of kilometrons in all directions. Tunnel 41 Epsilon is also an extra two kilometrons deeper then the rest of the Dreamworks, so even if the Cylons had their most sensitive detection devices sitting right on top of Tunnel 41 Epsilon, they would only read a small rumble, not even as much as a small ground shift. We've conducted some pretty large scale detonations down there before without anyone noticing."

"Oh really! And just when have you been doing this Doctor?" Colonel Nader asked incredulously.

"Well, we conducted a few experiments down there for the past forty yahren Colonel, the last of which was just a few centars ago!" Prior told him. "Nothing too exciting, but we have done a few large scale tests there just over a sectar ago."

The looks on the faces of the senior staff told Prior exactly what he wanted to hear. They had no clue that he and his team had been conducting moderately large scale operations right under their noses without anyone knowing! More proof that his plan would work.

"Do you mean to tell me you have been conducting explosive tests down there without our knowledge or consent?" Saxton said in a tone that Prior knew very well and still flinched at.

"Y-yes sir. I have conducted a great many tests that were not cleared by you." Prior said, his voice shacking just a bit. "Nothing to extravagant mind you, but very vital to our work here."

Saxton fixed the doctor with a very dark look. It was a look he knew all too well. The look that said he had crossed the line once again and was about to pay for it!

"Doctor Prior. I have been abundantly patient with you in the past. Mostly because, even though you were "officially" in the military, you were working in a civilian environment here in the Dreamworks and were never properly ….. indoctrinated into the Warrior way of life. But since the holocaust that destroyed our world thirty yahren ago, we have all been under what amounts to marshal law, meaning that anything that goes on in this facility has to have my approval. Yet you still find it necessary to go behind my back and do whatever it is you want."

Prior stood silently, knowing that to say anything would only make matters worse.

"Most of your defiant acts have been minor, but this time you have crossed the line! This time you have not only defied and ignored the chain of command, but you have willfully and deliberately put this facility and all of those who live here at risk, not only being discovered by the Cylons, but at risk of being buried alive. This is intolerable! Therefore Doctor Prior, I am shutting down all your operations. As of this moment, I am ordering the immediate cessation of all of your activities in the labs and testing facilities. I am ordering the immediate locking down of all power to the labs and test areas and security will be placed on these areas."

Doctor Prior stood there, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth hanging agape. He could not believe what was happening. He might have expected to be reprimanded again, or at the very most be restricted to his labs, but to have his entire section shutdown entirely was unthinkable!

"Furthermore, Doctor Prior, you and your staff will be restricted to the living quarters and public areas on level two. I am having your access level down graded to reflect these restrictions until further notice."

"Commander please! You can't do this!" Prior pleaded. "I know I made a mistake by not keeping you informed, but you can't keep us from continuing our work! We are so close to a major breakthrough …."

"Doctor Prior, I don't care what it is you're close to." Saxton said in a voice that was just short of yelling. "You have violated every rule, restriction, and confidence we have here. You have endangered the entire population of this base and the safety of this facility. Your work might be important doctor, but it does not supersede the safety and wellbeing of the people that live here."

Prior looked completely deflated. He knew that he had been wrong in the past not to keep the Commander in the loop, but in his exuberance, he routinely forgot to go through channels. This time it was going to cost him!

"Alright Commander, you've made your point." Prior said with little strength. He seemed resigned to what was happening. "I'll have my people power down everything in the lower levels and secure all experiments. Once they do that, you can safely cut all power to those areas. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

Saxton was caught a bit off guard by this sudden change in the doctors persona. He had expected a much more defensive and defiant response, not one of total capitulation.

"Doctor Prior, what I need from you and your people is ….." Saxton began before the base intercom interrupted him.

"Listening post nine to Commander Saxton. Urgent!"

Saxton sat down in his seat and placed the headset for the communications system on his head. He flipped the switch to open the link to listening post nine and responded.

"LP nine, this is Commander Saxton. What is it you need?"

"Commander, this Duggan sir. Lieutenant Duggan that is sir. I have something going on here that you really need to see sir!"

Saxton thought for a moment. The last time he gotten a call from the young Warrior in the listening post, it was about the new enemy that had been attacking the Cylons over the past few sectars. This news had given both a boost of enthusiasm and caused a bit of dread to nearly everyone. The fact that the Cylons were being beaten by what appeared to be a very advanced foe was great for the spirits of the people in the Dreamworks, but it was not known who these people were or how they would react to the human refugees if and when they found them. This made Saxton and many others a little less then thrilled.

"Alright Lieutenant, I'm right in the middle of something rather important right now, but I will get down there as soon as I'm done."

"Commander sir, I think you'll want to look at this right away sir." Duggan insisted.

Saxton exhaled his frustration, then nodded his head and said, "Okay Lieutenant, I'll be down there in …. "

"No need to come down here sir." Duggan interrupted. "I can send you the visual feed"

Saxton looked around the room at the other members of his staff, who were in turn looking at him with rather confused and concerned looks. He raised a hand to let them know that he would be with them in a moment, then to Duggan he said, "Okay Lieutenant, send the feed to the main viewer in the Command Center briefing room."

"Yes sir! Sending visual feed now!"

The large video screen at the front of the room began to come to life as the young Warrior in the listening post routed the signal he had intercepted to it. The signal was a bit off, probably from the difference in technology between the Cylon equipment sending the signal and the equipment Duggan was using to listen in. After a few micros though, the signal steadied up and the images cleared. And what they showed made everyone in the room's mouth drop open.

They were watching a space battle between the Cylons and, could it be …. A GROUP OF BATTLESTARS!

They were seeing the action from what must be the view point of a Cylon aboard one of their Baseships. From what Saxton could make out, the images could be coming from the Cylon Commander itself! He wondered if there was any audio signal with the images.

"Lieutenant Duggan, do you have any audio with this?" Saxton called to the young Warrior.

"Yes sir, I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to … wait! Audio is coming through now sir!"

Just then, the sounds of battle began pouring through the speakers in the briefing room.

"Baseship one zero two destroyed." came the voice of a Cylon Centurion reporting the destruction of one of their Baseships. "Baseship four seven severely damaged and retreating. Baseship five nine severely damaged and retreating. Baseship seven one damaged but still serviceable."

"The command Centurion of Baseship one zero eight requests instructions. Should they attack the damaged Battlestar or cover the retreat of our damaged Baseships?"

"Have Baseship one zero eight attack!" sounded a new voice. "If those other Baseships wish to run away, let them do so at their own risk. Have Baseships five five and one two three form on us and follow us against the human's left flank. Order Baseship nine seven to make a run at the damaged vessel that is with the Battlestars. Have them try and board and capture it. It might be one of those vessels that have been attacking from the other sectors."

Saxton called up the information about the previous attacks and had it projected into a star map. Then he had the computer plot the battle they were watching now.

The two groups of locations were nowhere near each other! The previous attacks were all along a line heading from deep space in sector three four seven. This new attack was in sector eight seven seven, almost the exact opposite direction. Was this another group of Battlestars coming to plague the Cylons? One could only hope! At least these WERE humans!

Saxton watched as the two fleets maneuvered and attacked each other.

He could see several Battlestars, but did not recognize any of them. He also saw hundreds of Vipers making runs on the Baseships as well as engaging the Cylon fighters. And he could also make out a few Colonial Gunstars and Destroyers. This wasn't the Galactica coming back to fight … This was an entirely different group. This was a full battle fleet!

There were many other ships, large and small that he did not recognize at all that seemed to be fighting alongside the Colonials. Ships with odd shapes and strange weapons. They did not seem to be very well organized, but they were doing significant damage to the Cylons with their sheer weight of numbers.

Saxton was pulled back to the moment when the images jumped significantly, as if the ship that whoever was recording the battle had just taken a major hit. There were flames throughout the room the images were coming from and several Cylon Centurions could be seen lying on the deck. The sound was not so clear as before, but Saxton could still make out what was being said.

"Centurion report!" the voice of what Saxton assumed was the Cylon Commander could be heard. "What was that?"

The voice of a Centurion was heard responding.

"Baseship five five was just destroyed."

"Destroyed? How?"

"A Colonial Gunstar and two Colonial Destroyers have maneuvered behind our formation and destroyed it." the Centurion said. "They are now attacking Baseship one two three."

"Then there is only one thing we can do. Centurion, intercept course with that damaged Battlestar. We are going to ram it!"

Just then the images began to shake violently and cut in and out, as if something huge had happened. After nearly a full centon, the image returned.

"Damage report all stations!" the Commander ordered. "What was that? Where we hit?"

"Baseship one two three has been destroyed. Part of it hull has struck our hull and has cause considerable damage. Propulsion is functional but we are discharging large amounts of Solium. It is only a matter of time before this ship is destroyed."

"In that case, best speed toward that damaged Battlestar!" the Commander ordered. "We will make the humans pay for what they did here"

The damaged Baseship could be seen moving again, picking up speed as it closed the distance between itself and the heavily damaged Battlestar. It shook violently as the stress of so much damage made the once sleek Baseship an almost unmanageable mess to pilot.

Faster and faster the dying Baseship moved, getting closer to its intended target. Then out of nowhere, a ship crossed in front of the baseship.

A Colonial Gunstar!

It began a barrage of laser fire from it massive turrets, punching huge holes through the hull of the dying vessel, causing more and more fire and explosions.

Then Saxton saw the "coup de grace" as no less then ten missiles were fired at the Baseship at nearly point blank range. The Gunstar, having released its wave of death upon the Baseship, made a quick exit from the screen just as the missiles struck home.

The Baseship shook violently again and again as explosions torn the once mighty ship apart. A large piece of the hull was torn away, spinning off into space. More explosions followed. The Baseship was losing speed and was now drifting far off its intended course. The Baseship Commander was not moving any longer, but the images were still coming through. Then there was a sudden, loud rumble and a bright flash! Then empty black.

The Baseship had exploded.

Everyone in the briefing room sat in stunned silence for nearly a centon before Colonel Nader spoke.

"So Sax, what do we do now?"

Commander Saxton sat very still for a few moments, almost as if he had not heard his long time friend and second in command. Then he looked at Nader and said, "Those were Battlestars, weren't they?"

Nader looked at his friend questioningly for a moment, not sure how to respond, then he nodded his head slowly.

"Yea Sax, those were Battlestars. At least they looked like Battlestars to me. And I saw at least one Gunstar and a few other Colonial ships. It looked like a whole battle fleet to me."

Saxton looked at his friend with a look of concentration, as if he was putting a great deal of thought into what Nader had just said.

"Do you think that was for real? I mean, you don't think that was some kind of fake signal do you?

Nader shook his head a little and said, "It looked like the real deal to me Sax! I have to admit, I didn't recognize any of those ships I saw, and those two Battlestars looked awful new, but it would be damn hard to fake a space battle of that size."

Saxton nodded his head slowly. He looked around the room at the others, all of whom were looking back at him, waiting to see what he would have them do. What course of action were they to take? After a few microns, his eyes locked on those of Doctor Prior. He held his gaze there for half a centon, then said to the good doctor, "Doctor Prior, a few centons ago you asked me what else you could do for me. Well doctor, I have an answer for you!"

Doctor Prior's mouth went dry as he tried to speak, but he did manage to croak out a response after swallowing really hard.

"A-a-and what is that Commander?"

"I want you and your people to get down to your labs and test that frakkin explosive compound you have and, if its everything you claimed it is, I want you to start producing it in very large quantities and replacing the solinite warheads on every missile we have in this complex with it!"

Everyone looked at Saxton as if he'd gone mad. One moment he was ready to shutdown everything that Doctor Prior had been working on for the past thirty yahren, and the next, he was telling him to ramp up his testing and production. Prior especially was unsure what was going on or what to do.

"Is there a problem Doctor?" Saxton asked when the doctor didn't respond or start moving.

"No sir, I'm just a bit confused is all. You want me to go ahead and conduct the testing?" he asked.

"Yes doctor, I want you to start testing immediately! And I want your results on my desk within the secton, is that clear doctor?"

"Yes sir, very clear. I can have the first results to you in six or seven centars if we start right now."

"Then what are you waiting for doctor?" Saxton said. "Get to it!"

"Yes sir." Prior said as he turned to get things moving for the tests he had been wanting to run before Commander Saxton shut him down. He didn't know why the sudden change of mind came about, but he was happy it did.

Once Prior was gone, Saxton began shooting orders to all his staff.

"Major Keitha, have that Lieutenant Duggan continue to monitor the Cylon Command channels for anything involving this recent battle and any new engagements in that general direction. Major Leia, contact all of those personnel that have been trained to work aboard the ships in the hanger levels and have them report immediately to those ships for refresher training. I want the ship Commanders to begin running drills as soon as they get their people aboard. Sergeant Kelso, I need you to get your security people up to speed on their urban combat tactics as soon as you can. Once you have them ready, deploy your people according to War Plan Alpha. Colonel Nader, I want you to insure that all ships are properly stocked with as many weapons and supplies as you can pack aboard. I want every vessel prepped and ready for immediate launch within the secton. Then I want you to have all the non combat personnel to be ready to move into the secure areas of the Command Center. I want this base to be ready to defend itself from the Cylons in case this goes bad."

"In case this goes bad? In case what goes bad? War Plan Alpha? Manning the ships in the hangers? Moving everyone to the Command Center? What are you doing Sax? What's going on?"

Everyone that had been given a task had automatically jumped to getting it done without question, but they all stopped to hear the answer to Nader's question, for they too wanted to know what was going on. They would of course do as they were ordered, but knowing why they were doing all these things would be nice.

"Because my friend, I believe you're right about that signal we watched. I think that was a real space battle between the Cylons and what appears to be a battle fleet of Colonial forces and some other group. I think that whoever is in command of that fleet is heading this way, back to the Colonies. Now I know that sector eight seven seven is a long ways from here. A VERY long way, but, if they are doing what I think they are, they will be heading for the Colonies and trying to retake them. And if that is the case, it is my intention to render any and all support we can to them. We will, if they do come here, launch all the ships in the hangers against the Cylon defensive systems here on Caprica and destroy them. Then we will join them in battle against the Cylons and with a bit of luck, we will win back our world. That is what we're doing Nader. Are you with me?"

Saxton looked around the room at the faces of his staff. He could see in their eyes the trepidation of doing what their commander was talking about, but he thought he could also see the flame of the Colonial Warriors that he had known and had served with for the past thirty yahren sparking to life. The flame that yearned for battle and a chance to reclaim that which was torn from them long ago.

"What say you my friends? Are you ready to go to war?"

The smiles on each persons face was all the answer Saxton needed!

If this was the return of man to the Colonies, then Saxton and his command would join in in what could very well be the last battle for humankind!