Battlestar Galactica

Past, Present, Future

Chapter 30

The Liberation of Gamoray

The cavernous room full of Warriors came to attention as the senior staff arrived for what would be the most important briefing they had held up to that point.

The ten members of the group moved to the platform at the front of the huge room and took seats at a table on the platform. One of those that had just arrived moved to the podium near the front center of the stage and placed a folder on the stand. Then he began to speak.

"We have called this briefing to inform all of you, the commanders, executive officers, and tactical officers of the fleet that we have completed our plans for our next, and by far, our largest operation to date!" Apollo began. "The invasion of the planet Gamoray!"

A murmur swept the room as the news was passed down to them.

"We have made several long distance scans of the system and the planet itself and we believe we can take and hold the system." Apollo continued. "It will not be easy, but we believe with our "hit and run" tactics that we have been employing and the precision deployment of our fleet, we should be able to easily overwhelm and defeat the Cylons. Further, once we have destroyed the Cylons on Gamoray, we will be able to use the planet as a base of operations for our future operations against Cylons. There is ample food, water, and most importantly ….. tylium! The Cylons it seems kept the tylium production plants functioning over the nearly forty yahren since they destroyed the Gamorians and took over their planet."

Another round of murmurs ensued.

"It is imperative that we take those facilities intact. If we don't, we might find ourselves running short of fuel in a very short time. So please do be very careful where you're aiming your lasers!"

This brought a bit of laughter to the assembled officers. Apollo continued.

"As I just mentioned, we have been conducting long range reconnaissance of Gamoray and the surrounding space to see what kind of forces we'll be facing. Up until three cycles ago, it seemed that the Cylons had made good their plans to turn Gamoray into their outer capital. We had counted upwards of a hundred baseships in and around the planet and several hundred others in the space surrounding the system."

The murmuring began anew.

"But it seems that in the last three cycles, something has happened, and the bulk of the Cylon fleet in this sector have departed to parts unknown!" Apollo said in a very serious tone. "We are not sure where they've gone, nor what triggered this sudden departure from Gamoray. All we do know is that as of four centars ago, there were only six baseships in and around the Gamoray star system."

The officers of the fleet rejoiced at this. They seemed to believe the gods had favored them and their mission, removing their enemy on the eve of battle!

Apollo was not so optimistic.

"I'd like to think that the Cylons heard we were coming and decided to pull back to their own homeworld, but I doubt that's the case. The Cylons have not, and most likely will not, give up the Colonies without a fight. They could be pulling their forces back to make Gamoray look like an easy target to lure us in, or they might be gathering them between here and the Colonies for a winner take all battle. We don't know. What we do know is that for the moment, Gamoray is a ready target and we believe we have the strength in numbers to take the planet and hold it. And thus, we have devised our plan to do just that."

The Warriors of the fleet erupted in cheers at the prospect of battle and the destruction of the Cylons outer capital! It would be the grandest stroke yet taken in the war to reclaim the Colonies. Everyone was jubilant.

"Without further delay, I turn this briefing over to Commander Leonitus. He will outline the details of the upcoming operation and the timetable by which it shall be carried out. Please take notes as need be so that there are no mistakes or misinterpretations. One mistake in the timetable could have major consequences! Commander, if you will sir?"

Leonitus rose from his seat and moved to the podium, pausing only for a moment to salute Apollo. This he did more to reinsure to his officers that, even thou he was their King, he fully supported Apollo as overall commander of the fleet. He reached the podium and began reading from a folder he had just placed on it. He looked around the room for a moment and smiled. Many where the faces he recognized before him. Men and women he had served with for over fifty yahren. Others that he had seen born and raised from babes to full grown Scorpian Warriors. Men and women he had trained and fought beside many times in his lifetime of war and service. He thought for a moment that this might be the last time he looked upon many of them? His smile broadened as he thought that there could be no better way to die then in glorious battle against ones greatest foe. That he thought was the way for a true Warrior to die!

"My brothers and sisters, today we take the next step in our journey! Today we take the next step in reclaiming that which was stolen from us! Today ….. we place our foot on the throat of our enemy and crush the life out of them!"

The room exploded with whoops and yells of enthusiasm at Leonitus' statement.

Of course Leonitus and all the others knew that the Cylons did not truly live and that standing on their necks would do a Centurion no harm at all, but it was the simple mental image of grinding a Cylon under ones heel that made the Warriors of Scorpia cheer!

"And so my friends, pay heed to that which I am about to tell you, for it is the outline to the end of the Cylon Empire!"

And so Leonitus went through the plan of attack with the commanders of the fleet. Every detail it seemed had been addressed. Every movement of ships and personnel scripted down to the micron. Every contingency noted and addressed. Everything was covered in minute detail. All that was left was to put the plan into action. And that is exactly what they were about to do.

Leonitus finished the briefing and returned to his seat as Apollo once again stepped to the podium.

"As you just heard, we have covered every conceivable detail. Nothing has been left to chance. That being said, if something does happen that we did not foresee. Something totally outside of the realm of possibilities, do not panic! If you find yourself in a bad situation, fall back to your rally point and regroup. Do not try to slug it out with the Cylons! We tried that for centuries and it cost us heavily. We can't afford to let our emotions overrule our common sense."

A muttering of ascent moved through the host.

"We shall begin our operations in twenty five centars. I want to send one more long range scanning mission to confirm the number of baseships in the system and their locations. Once we get the updated intel, we will be a go. Are there any questions?"

"Who will get the honor of being the first ship to strike at the Cylons?" came the voice of Commander Obamas of the Warstar Sharlianos.

Apollo glanced over his shoulder at Leonitus, who had risen from his seat and stepped up close to Apollo. Without saying a word, they told one another that they had not thought about that as yet. Apollo turned back to Commander Obamas and said, "We are still undecided as to which ship will go first."

"Well then, as you have yet to figure it out, I want to put forth a bid for the Sharlianos to lead the way!"

"The Sharlianos has not performed an attack using the hit and run methods as yet." Leonitus said. "Perhaps you should wait until we clear out the baseships before you join the attack?"

"And why is it we have not had the chance to perform even one of those attacks?" Obamas said with no little contempt in his voice. "I'll tell you why that is! Because you and your Colonials have been monopolizing those missions! You haven't let any other Commanders have one of those missions, that's why! Are you afraid to share the glory ….. Leonitus?"

Leonitus chose not to react to the obvious lack of respect from the Sagittarian daggit mong. He instead turned to Apollo and had a short discussion before answering.

"Very well Obamas" he said with an equal lack of respect. "if you think you and your crew of Sagittarian daggits can handle this mission, we'll let you have it. You and your command staff will report to the war room aboard the Galactica in two centars for your mission debrief."

"We'll be there!" Obamas said with an air of superiority.

"And now that that's settled, are there any more questions?"

No other questions were forthcoming, so Apollo dismissed the ship commanders and watched with Leonitus as Obamas and his staff left the room, patting each other on the backs, proud of the fact that they had stood up to the "great" Commander Leonitus and his Colonial allies. When they had all departed, Leonitus and Apollo exchanged a glance.

"What do you think Commander? Are we crazy to allow that daggit to lead the charge against the Cylons?"

Leonitus thought for a moment, and then said, "Maybe we are, but if by some miracle the Cylons do make a stand, they will be the ones to take the brunt of it. That might not be a bad thing, considering their attitude towards every other unit in the fleet!"

Apollo looked at the Scorpion King, and even thou he was smiling, Apollo thought that he was more serious than he was letting on. Apollo knew that he and Obamas had a long and cantankerous history.

"Come Apollo; let us go prepare for our briefing with Obamas and his people."

"We'll use the standard attack profile for your first run." Apollo said to the officers of the Warstar Sharlianos. He wanted to make it as easy as possible for this first time crew. But of course, the attitude of the Sagittarian officers was far beyond conceit! They were downright narcissistic! It was hard for Apollo to keep his composure during the briefing.

"So you understand the parameters of the mission?"

"Yes Commander, I understand every aspect of the mission profile." Obamas said haughtily! "You are not speaking to that witless fool, Seleukos you know!"

Leonitus started to rise up out of his seat to rebuke the insulant Sagittarian, but remained seated.

"You had best remember Commander!" Apollo said in a very deadly tone. "Because if you fail to follow the mission parameters as Seleukos did, you'll be facing the same charges that he did, only I doubt you'd get off with such a favorable sentence as he did since your record is not nearly as good as his. I dare say that if you fail on this mission, you will be spending a very long time on the prison barge! Do you understand me?"

Obamas still had his smug smile on his face when he answered!

"Oh I understand thoroughly Commander! I'd expect nothing less from ….."King" Leonitus! We Sagittarians have always been treated as second class Warriors by him and his people. But now we have a chance to show him and all the rest of you who the greatest Warriors truly are. When this is all over, the people of Sagitaria will be the premier military presence in the Colonies! Mark my words Commander! We will reign supreme!"

Leonitus rose from his seat now and leveled his gaze upon the pompous fool of a commander.

"You had best hope you live up to your boastings swine, because if you do not, I will have you and your entire crew executed!"

The smile left Obamas face at this. A trickle of nervous sweat ran down his face.

"We'll see who is executed." He said with a ferocity to match Leonitus'!

"That's enough! Both of you!" Apollo roared! "Nobody is going to be executing anyone while I am in command of this fleet! And anyone that even mentions it again will find themselves spending the rest of this war on the prison barge! Do I make myself clear?"

Both officers were taken aback by Apollo's pronouncement! Neither had ever heard the mild mannered Caprican blow up as he just had!

"You are right Apollo!" Leonitus said. "I was out of line for making such a statement."

"As was I" Obamas said with far less conviction. "Now, if you will excuse me, I will go and prepare for the mission."

And with that, Obamas, Taurisis, and the other Sharlianos officers departed.

Apollo and Leonitus watched them leave with their ever present smug grins on their faces. The two senior commanders exchanged a glance that spoke volumes.

A look that said that they both wished the Cylons would get in one lucky shot on the arrogant Sagittarians!

Preparations were made throughout the fleet for the invasion of Gamoray. In all, twenty ships would make hit and run incursions on the baseships in the Gamoray system, five ships attacking in a rotating pattern on each of the five remaining baseships in the sector. Sometime during the past twenty centars, another of the baseships had left the system bound for points unknown. These sudden departures made Apollo very uneasy.

Aboard the Colonial Gunstar Chimaera, Commander Jolly sat at the bridge officer's station monitoring the long range scanners. Normally the stations was maned by one of his bridge officers, but since there were only three of them to cover the station and they had been working around the chronometer for over a secton, he decided to take over for a few centars here and there so they could get some extra rest.

Everything had been pretty quiet in the Gamoray system during the time his ship was assigned to long range scanning duty, that was until a few cycles ago when all of a sudden, most of the Cylon baseships in the system suddenly departed! It was quite a site, watching over three hundred baseships moving off all at once, and in the direction of the old human home worlds. Jolly was unsure if that was their destination, but he had calculated that that was the course they had set out on. He wondered what was cooking back in the Colonies that would require so many baseships.

He of course reported all this to Apollo aboard the Galactica, who then ordered him to move in closer to Gamoray to get more detailed scans of the planet and the surrounding colony worlds in the system to see what the Cylons had been up to prior to leaving in such a hurry. Thus far, he had found little changed from the last in-depth scans of the system done a secton before the mass exodus of baseships. Seems that their presence had yet to be discovered.

Just then, Jolly received a call from the Galactica.

"Hey there skipper!" Jolly said when Apollo appeared on his monitor. Apollo smiled at his old friends familiarity with him. No matter how high in the ranks Apollo rose, he knew Jolly would always call him "skipper"!

"Anything to report Jolly?" Apollo asked.

"Nothing since that last baseship left. I'm still tracking five baseships in the system. Three in orbit around Gamoray and two others at the large outpost we found on the fifth planet of the system."

"What about on the other planets and moons? Anything odd there?"

"No, not really, except there are a lot fewer Cylons on Gamoray then the last time we were here." Jolly told him. "I'd say there's less than a hundred thousand of them in the entire system! It's like they just shut everything down and left. All the buildings and factories are still there, as are the tylium refineries. And I've run scans for any type of explosives in the buildings and such. They all seem to be clean skipper."

Apollo nodded at the report.

"Okay Jolly, stay on it. Let me know if anything changes in the next ten centons. We're going to start our attack then."

Jolly whistled and said, "Wish I was going in with you Apollo. I've wanted another shot at the Cylons since New Caprica!"

"I know! We all have." Apollo said, his smile fading a little at the memory of their defeat at the hands of the Cylons on the planet they had named New Caprica. The one that Apollo's father, Commander Adama was killed on.

"Don't worry Jolly; there will be plenty of Cylons for you and your crew when we hit the colonies. For now, I need you and your scanners watching and recording the attacks. This is our biggest operation yet and I want full coverage of it to critique each ships attack."

"Understood Apollo. I have the list of who and where the attacks will be so I can focus all scanners on each attack as it happens. I'll get you what you need!"

"I knew I could count on you. Keep an eye out for anything new. Galactica out!"

With that, the screen went black. Jolly called down for his Alpha watch team to report to the bridge. He wanted his best people on duty just in case anything happened. Not that he was expecting any trouble, but it was always wise to be ready just in case!

Apollo turned to his second in command, Colonel Sheba, who just happen to be his wife as well, and asked, "Is everyone ready Sheba?"

"All ships are in position and standing by Apollo." She said with a slightly nervous smile.

Apollo flashed her a reassuring smile in return and ordered a fleet wide channel opened.

"Can I have your attention please. This is Commander Apollo. In about eight centons, we will begin our largest operation to date, the invasion of Gamoray. Many of you were not with us when last we were here and may not know the history of this system. Many yahren ago, this was a system of well over twenty million living beings. The Cylons wiped them out. We will avenge them and use this planet as our base of operations for the retaking of the Colonies. You have all been briefed on the mission and understand your part in it. Stick to the mission profile! Do not deviate from it or you could end up colliding with another ship. I know you will do your best and that when all is said and done, we will be victorious. Stand by to initiate attack plan Gamoray. Galactica out."

Apollo then sent a call to the lead ship, the Scorpion Warstar Sharlianos.

"Galactica to Sharlianos, are you ready to move out Commander?" Apollo asked the commander of the Sharlianos, Commander Obamas.

"We've been ready for over a centar!" came the curt response. "But we had to wait on you to make that fine little speech, didn't we?"

Apollo would have liked nothing better than to replace Obamas and his cocky crew of Sagittarian daggits, but it was too late. Things were already in motion and they could not be stopped now.

"Very well Commander. You may start your run into trans-space in three centons. Good luck Commander."

Obamas smiled smugly and said with his usual air of superiority, "Luck is for lesser Warriors! So I wish you luck ….. "Commander"! Sharlianos out!"

Apollo could not miss the jab throw at him and the rest of the fleets Warriors. He decided that when this operation was over, he would be bringing Obamas up on charges of insubordination. The man had been asking for it for a long time, so he was going to face the music now!

Apollo stepped over to the bridge officer's station and looked over the shoulder of Lieutenant Teal. He watched as the Sharlianos moved into position to make the jump to trans-space. Apollo looked at the chronometer on the screen and saw that the Sharlianos was right on schedule. For all his arrogance, Obamas was a decent commander.

One centon to trans-space.

On the bridge of the Sharlianos, Obamas was monitoring their progress like an avian of prey! He wanted to make this mission the best ever! He wanted to show those fools from Scorpia and the cowards from the Colonies what real Warriors looked like. He was looking forward to finishing this mission so he could rub his superiority in that smug fool, Leonitus' face. He was going to show everyone who was the greatest Warrior of all!

Thirty microns to trans-space.

"Helm, stand by to engage trans-spacial drive." He ordered. "Open the portal!"

The helmsmen did as he was ordered, pushing in the proper sequence of switches to open the trans-spacial portal thru which they would travel almost instantly across the tens of millions of kilometrons between where the fleet was and their intended target, a baseship in orbit around Gamoray.

"Portal open sir. We will enter it in ten centons. Nine …. Eight ….Seven …. Six …. Fiv ….."

Just then, an extremely bright burst of energy ripped forth from the portal and slammed into the giant Warstar. It hit on the underside of the nose of the Sharlianos, tearing a massive hole in it. Flames were everywhere and the great ship shook from the impact! Not even five microns later, a second energy blast came from the portal and struck the Sharlianos, this time on the Alpha landing bay. It hit the support structure that held the landing bay to the primary hull, ripping thru it and partially tearing the landing bay away from the ship.

On board the Galactica, Apollo watched helplessly as the Sharlianos was hit repeatedly by these energy bolts. He only hesitated for an instant before going into action. He grabbed a headset from the bridge station and opened the fleet wide channel himself.

"Galactica to all ships …. Abort! Abort! Abort! Do not open your portals. I repeat, do not open your trans-space portals! All ships stand down!"

He turned to Sheba who was watching in horror as a third and fourth blast ripped into the huge warship. Flames could be seen coming from all parts of the forward section of the Sharlianos and the Alpha landing bay was now hanging by one support arm. The ship was listing to one side now, nose down. It looked to have lost steerage and was adrift.

"Galactica to Sharlianos. Do you read me? This is Commander Apollo. Come in Sharlianos."

He waited for a few microns and tried to reach them again. This time he received a static filled answer from the Sharlianos.

"Galactica …. Is Sharlia …. We have sustained mass …. Damage to the bridge…. Comm ….. Obamas and Colonel Taur ….. dead. Bridge is all but destroyed…. Losing power."

Apollo did not recognize the voice of the person reporting, but he knew they were terrified beyond belief, and yet were maintaining their professionalism.

"Understood Sharlianos. Can you close the portal?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try!" came the reply.

Another blast of energy ripped thru the portal and into the dying Warstar. Apollo knew the Sharlianos would not last much longer. He ordered Sheba to have the fleet move away from the Sharlianos. Then to the person on the wounded ship, he said, "Are you able to shut the portal Sharlianos?"

Just as he finished the question, the shimmering portal closed. But it was too late for the once mighty vessel. The Sharlianos was now adrift, the fires rampaging throughout it unchecked. One explosion after another tore at the ship. It was a total loss.

"I got the …. closed sir. What are your orders?"

Apollo was amazed at this young Warriors dedication. He hoped that whoever they were, they could get off the Sharlianos alive!

"I want you to order abandon ship! Do you understand? Abandon ship immediately! Get everyone off there now!"

"Will do sir."

There was a long silence as the person gave the order to abandon the dying Warstar. The Sharlianos was now almost upside down from its original configuration, the Alpha landing bay was now floating free of the primary hull and the forward section looked to be ready to come away as well. Apollo could see hundreds of escape pods launching from the doomed ship and moving toward the rest of the fleet. He wondered if they could get far enough away from the Sharlianos before it blew up.

No sooner had he thought about it, he seen a ship speeding toward the mass of escape pods.

It was the Carpathia!

He watched as the ship circled around so that its landing bays were in line with the flood of escape pods. In less than two centons, all the escape pods were aboard and the Carpathia was underway away from the Sharlianos.

Fifty microns after the Carpathia had pulled away, the Sharlianos exploded in a huge white fireball. There was nothing left of the great Warstar.

"Galactica to Carpathia. Starbuck, do you copy?"

"I hear ya Apollo." Came the voice of Commander Starbuck, Apollo's oldest and dearest friend.

"Do you mind telling me what you think you were doing?" Apollo fumed!

"I didn't think those people in the escape pods had a chance to get away if the Sharlianos blew up, so I moved into a position to pick them up and get the pogees out of there! In all, we got two hundred seventeen pods with just over a two thousand of the Sharlianos' crew aboard."

"Good job, but you could have gotten yourself and your entire crew killed with that hair brained stunt! Did you think about that?"

"Tell ya the truth Apollo, I didn't think about anything but getting those people out of harm's way."

Once again it seemed Starbucks luck had paid off huge!

"Well, for what it's worth, you did a damn good job! But if you ever do something that stupid again, you better hope you don't make it! Do you get my meaning buddy?" Apollo said with a great deal less venom.

"Roger that!" Starbuck said with his usual boyish charm. "So what the frak happened? Where did those energy blasts come from?"

"I have a theory about that. I'll discuss it with you and the rest of the senior staff as soon as you all can get here. Be in the war room in fifty centons."

"I'm on my way! Carpathia out"

Apollo was sure he knew where the energy blasts came from. He just didn't know how they had come thru the trans-space portal. There was someone he needed to talk to right away! To Sheba, he asked her to get the senior staff together in the war room in fifty centons while he had a conversation with Jolly!

Fifty centons later, Apollo walked in to the war room aboard the Galactica. The entire senior staff was there except for Sheba who was on the bridge trying to reorganize the fleet after that disaster with the Sharlianos.

He took his seat at the large table and looked at the somber faces of each person. Leonitus face was almost unreadable, but Apollo knew this tragedy was causing him no little grief, for even thou he hated Commander Obamas and Colonel Taurisis with a passion, he knew that a lot of fine Warriors had lost their lives needlessly. He wanted answers!

Commander Dieanicas was also very stoic, but one could see he was angry and confused about what had happened. First Minister Solon wore an expression of pure sorrow, as did Minister Demokritos. Commanders Ptolemy and Teris looked angry.

The Galactican personnel wore very similar expressions. None of the members of the senior staff spoke or even looked at one another. They all sat quietly, lost in their own thoughts.

"We are all of us aware of the events of sixty centons ago. The Scorpion Warstar Sharlianos was destroyed while attempting to traverse from normal space to trans-space. They opened their portal as planned and before they could enter it, they were attacked and subsequently….. destroyed."

"And I believe I know who did it and how!"

All eyes turned now to Apollo as he made this pronouncement.

"Who do you think did this Apollo?" came the blunt question from Leonitus. "who could have destroyed the Sharlianos so easily from inside trans-space?"

"I don't believe they were in trans-space Commander." Apollo said softly. "I believe that it was the Cylons that destroyed the Sharlianos and that they fired into the exit portal from Gamoray!"

Now everyone in the room stared at Apollo in disbelief! How could the Cylons fire thru the portal ….. thru trans-space ….. and hit and destroyed a Warstar? It was inconceivable!

"That is impossible! No one can shoot a ship entering a trans-spacial portal! Especially not the Cylons!" This from Commander Teris.

"As crazy as it sounds Commander, that is exactly what happened. Or at least all my evidence points toward that."

"What evidence is that Apollo?" asked Commander Dieanicas.

"As you all know, we had the Chimaera standing by doing long range reconnaissance for us." Apollo said. "Commander Jolly was monitoring the movements of the Cylons within the Gamoray system and feeding us back data on the precise positions of each ship there."

The members of the senior staff all nodded that they knew about that.

"Jolly reported that he picked up the signature of the trans-spacial portal on his scanners." Apollo said. "He also reported that no sooner had the portal appeared, that the Cylons moved into a direct line with the portal and began firing into it with both of their pulsars! Jolly said they fired thirty six times in just the few centons the portal was open."

"As I recall Commander, the Sharlianos was only hit five times." Commander Dieanicas said. "If the Cylon baseship fired over thirty times, why did not more of those blasts hit their target?"

"That I don't know. From what Jolly said and what his scans show, they were not truly aiming at the Sharlianos, but rather taking pot-shots into the portal."

There was a prolonged silence as everyone let this sink in!

"So …. It seems that the Cylons have figured out how to detect us before we can attack." Leonitus said softly. "This puts our strategy of hit and run tactics in jeopardy. Seems we will have to find a new avenue of attack."

Everyone nodded their agreement with his statement. All that is except Apollo.

"I think I know how we can beat the Cylons and still use the hit and run tactics we've been employing." he said.

"And how is it you think we can do that Commander?" First Minister Solon asked.

"It seems the Cylons have figured out that the trans-space portals are easy to detect and can be fired through, all we have to do is give them more than one portal to shoot at!"

"What do you mean, "more than one portal"?" asked Commander Ptolemy.

"Quite simple Commander, we have several ships open portals at the same time near each baseship. We wait a few microns to see which portals they begin to shoot at and then we send our ships thru the ones they are not firing on. We can also try firing thru the portals ourselves. Who knows ….. we might get lucky and take out the baseship before we even see it."

The members of the senior staff thought about this idea for several moments before Leonitus spoke.

"Since we started using our trans-spacial drive, we have never fired our weapons thru the portals. I'm not sure why we never have except that until now, no enemy was able to detect the portals quickly enough until it was too late. But it seems the Cylons are a much craftier advisory then we had given them credit for. That will not happen again. I say we give Commander Apollo's plan a try!"

The members of the senior staff all nodded in agreement.

"We will have multiple ships opening portals at the same time on all side of their baseships, and when they start firing on those portals, we will slip thru the ones they are ignoring and destroy them."

"We'll have to be sure not to be in line with the portals when we open them." Said Starbuck. "Otherwise they might get lucky and hit another of our ships."

"Agreed! We should fire our laser cannons as soon as the portal opens and then move to the side to see if there is any return fire. If there is not, then the ship will move thru the portal and engage the baseship at close range and follow our hit and run protocol." Apollo said.

All agreed with the new strategy. They would pass down the new instructions to all the ships that would be taking part in the attack. After a little more discussion, it was decided that they would make their next attack in three cycles.

Onboard the flagship of the Cylon fleet in orbit around Caprica, Daemon listened to the initial report from the command Centurion of the baseship that the Sharlianos had attempted to attack. The report pleased Daemon to no ends. It proved his deductions about the attacks were correct and that his strategy to counter them was spot on. He was looking forward to telling The Imperious Leader the news!

"So tell me again how you countered the attack by the humans!" Daemon said. He had heard the initial report already, but wanted to hear all of the details this time so he could record it for the Imperious Leader.

"We were in orbit around the planet Gamoray waiting to evacuate the last of the civilians from the surface. A spacial disruption was detected fitting the parameters outlined in your orders." The gold command Centurion droned in its electronic monotone. "so we immediately opened fire with both pulsar cannons as stated in the orders."

"And how many times did you fire into the rift?" Daemon asked.

"We fired eighteen times from each pulsar cannon."

"And what effect did this have on the enemy?"

"Unknown."

Daemon was a bit perplexed at this.

"What do you mean "unknown"? Did you destroy the enemy ship?

"Unknown." The Centurion replied.

"Did you at least hit the enemy ship?"

"Unknown."

Daemon was getting frustrated now. He realized that Centurions, on a whole, lacked the ability of independent thought, but he had expected better of a command Centurion.

"Why do you not know what damage you caused to the humans? You did see them didn't you?"

"Negative."

"You never saw the human ship?" Daemon asked, confused all of a sudden.

"Negative. No vessel was seen."

Daemon thought about this for a moment. Could it be that by firing into the spacial rift, the baseship could have destroyed the human ship before it could emerge? If that was the case, it would be possible to destroy the human interlopers before they could emerge from their spacial rifts, thereby lessening the potential losses of their own forces.

"You have done well Centurion. I will be passing your report on to the Imperious Leader. I'm sure he will be pleased with your actions." Daemon told the Gold Centurion. "I want you to take command of the remaining baseships in the Gamoray system and instruct the other commanders to do as you did. They are to open fire immediately, without delay, at any spacial distortions fitting the one you fired on. Is that clear?"

"Affirmative."

"Very good. There is a fleet of baseships in route to your location as we speak. When it arrives, the fleet commander will take over command of the Gamoray sector. Until then, you are in command. Hold that system and you will be rewarded Centurion."

The Gold Centurion said nothing. Unlike the IL Series Cylons with their two "brains", the gold Command Centurions were not programed for ambition. They were programed like their silver comrades, only they were given a number of extra programs and protocols that allowed them to command baseships and other units independently of higher authority.

"The fleet should arrive in your sector in just under a secton. You have done well Centurion. Keep up the good work."

"By your command."

"Alright people, listen up!" Apollo said loudly as he entered the briefing room for the ship commanders of those vessels that would be taking part in the cycles attacks. The senior staff had worked day and night to be sure that every detail was covered. That every contingency was covered. That every move by each and every ship was carefully plotted and choreographed into a deadly dance around the Cylon killing machines. This time, there would be no mistakes ….. they hoped!

The destruction of the Sharlianos was a horrible miscalculation. Nobody could have foreseen the Cylon baseship firing into the trans-spacial portal like it did, nor that the pulsars would travel through the portal and find the Sharlianos as it was about to enter the portal. They would not make that mistake again.

"As you all know, we lost the Warstar Sharlianos three cycles ago when they tried to enter a trans-spacial portal to conduct an attack on a baseship in orbit around Gamoray. We're not sure how they figured out what the portal was or that they could fire into it and destroy our ship, but we have got to try again. Only this time we will have several ships creating decoy portals around each baseship. They will each create a portal, perhaps fire into it themselves, and then move away from the aperture so as not to get hit by any shots fired by the baseship. The ships assigned to open the decoy portals will also be responsible for closing said portals in the event that one of those baseship commanders gets the idea to try and pass thru it themselves. We'll have a couple of ships conducting long range scans of the baseships around Gamoray to let you know when this might occur."

"It takes a baseship on average, twelve to thirteen microns to recharge its pulsar cannons between shots. That means it can fire about eight rounds a centon. We will assume the Cylons will fire their pulsars in a staggered fashion so as to limit the time we have to slip thru our portals. It takes roughly three to five microns to pass thru a portal at this distance, so you people that are conducting the actual attacks won't have a lot of time to enter your portals, exit near the baseship, fire your missiles, and then make your retreat. Even a slight delay might cost you, so don't hesitate! If you don't think you can make your attack run and escape, abort your run and reposition yourself for the next window. Don't chance losing your ship! Is that clear?"

All the ship commanders nodded that they understood.

"Some new directives for you are as follows …. First, don't pass thru a portal aimed directly at a baseship. As it seems the baseship that took out the Sharlianos had to reposition itself slightly to fire into the portal, we can summarize that only those pulsar and laser blasts fired into the portals on a straight line will exit them. What happens to those blasts that are fired at angles, we don't know. So when you open your portals, open them at an oblique angle to the baseships and adjust your fire accordingly. Second, do not wait to open your exit portals. As soon as you clear the entry portal, close it and open your escape portal. Fire your missiles as soon as you've exited the portal and enter your escape portal. Don't slow down or stop to admire your handy work. Get out of there fast and close the portal as soon as you're clear. And lastly, if you are hit and cannot escape thru your portal, close the portal!"

This last directive brought a great deal of conversation amongst the ship commanders.

"I know this is a harsh order to follow, but it is necessary that you close your escape portal so that a baseship cannot enter it and find its way to the rest of the fleet."

"If we close our escape portals before we make our escapes, we'll be destroyed." Said a ship commander Apollo did not know.

"Apollo looked at Leonitus for a moment and then turned back to the commander.

"That's true Commander, you and your ship will most likely be destroyed. That is why I say you to do this only if you are sure you cannot make good your escape. If you can enter your portal, then by the Lords of Kobol, do so! But if you can't make it, don't give the Cylons a way to reach the rest of the fleet."

The Commander that has made the statement nodded his understanding.

"It shall be as you say Commander. No Cylons shall ever enter my portal, even if it means the death of my entire crew!"

"I pray it never comes to that!" Apollo said softly. "Are there any questions?"

No questions were forthcoming.

"Very well then, return to your ships and be ready to begin the assault on the Cylon baseships in two centars. Dismissed!"

The ship commanders left the room with a variety of moods in play. Some were jubilant at the prospect of battling the Cylons, while others were more subdued, remembering the site of the Sharlianos becoming a fireball. Apollo watched them leave, wondering how many of them would not be returning from this mission. Apollo's revere was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Leonitus smiling at him.

"I know what you're thinking Apollo! You're wondering if this is the last time you'll see those people. I have those same thoughts every time I send people into battle. We torture ourselves trying to figure out if we are doing the right thing. Is our plan going to work? Can the people we are sending attain victory or will they just die needlessly? A hundred questions and more!"

"And what's the answer?" Apollo asked.

"Who knows?" Leonitus said with a shrug and a smile. "All we can do is our very best and hope that we did our job well enough so that those we send to carry out our orders can achieve victory. For what it's worth, I think we have done the best job possible in planning this attack. If everyone follows the plan and performs their duties accordingly, we should be victorious."

"I hope you're right Commander."

"Come my friend; let us go get a little something to eat before the battle begins, it might well be awhile before we have time to again."

And that said, Leonitus and Apollo left the briefing room, each wondering what the next few centars would hold.

Two centars later, Apollo was standing on the bridge of the Galactica, watching and listening to his crew prepare for the battle that was about to begin. They had been shocked by their failure in their first attempt to take Gamoray. The Cylon baseship that was the initial target of the assault was able to detect the trans-spacial portal the Sharlianos had created and without delay, had begun firing into it. It was an expensive lesson they learned that cycle, but one they would take to heart and use to their advantage. There would not be another incident like the Sharlianos again.

"Apollo, all ships of the first attack wave report that they are in position and standing by for your orders." Sheba said.

Apollo nodded and adjusted his headset. Then he opened the fleet wide comm channel.

"Can I have your attention please? This is Commander Apollo on the Galactica. We are about to begin our new assault on the Cylons on and around the Gamoray system. Our last attempt failed horrifically, but this time, we will be victorious! This time we will destroy our enemy and take over the Gamoray system ourselves. From there, we will have a base of operation from which we will be able to plan our offensive to retake the Colonies from the Cylons. But before we can do that, we must rid Gamoray of the Cylons there now. So stand by to begin the taking of Gamoray!"

"Alpha decoy group, begin opening your portals in fifteen microns. Do not fire thru them and be sure you are not in line with them. Be ready to close them on my order."

Acknowledgements came in from the five ships assigned to the Alpha decoy group. In all, there would be four decoy groups opening and closing portals in and around the five baseships near Gamoray. They would open and close their portals in a carefully choreographed pattern around each baseship to draw fire from the baseships and distract them from the portals from which the attack groups would emerge. The decoy group would also allow Apollo to get a better sense of the timing of the Cylon gunners as far as timing between shots and time needed to draw a bearing on each new portal.

For this attack, Apollo had also placed one ship on long range scanning duty for each baseship as well as three Warstars on the far side of the system to jam any signals from Gamoray and prevent any baseships from escaping. Apollo was taking no chances of those five baseships getting away to warn anyone!

All was in readiness for their assault!

On que, the ships of Alpha decoy group began opening portals near each of their target baseships. The portals were confirmed open by the ships conducting the long range scans. And right on que, the Cylons started firing at them within just a few microns. So far, all way proceeding as planned.

"Beta group, open your portals, NOW!" Apollo ordered.

The ships of the Beta group opened up their portals and as was the case with Alpha group's portals, the Cylons began firing on them as well. Four of the baseships it was reported were firing on both portals at the same time using just one pulsar on each, but the fifth baseship was using both pulsars on the newest portal, ignoring the first one now. Apollo made note of this and ordered the next decoy group to open their portals.

As expected, the one baseship turned both of its pulsars on the new portal, ignoring the other two altogether. This would be their first target!

"Galactica to Aniketos" Apollo called on the ship to ship channel. "Do you see your target Commander?"

"That I do Apollo!" Leonitus said with a smile. "It will be an easy task to destroy them if they are kept busy while we sneak out of trans-space!"

"Agreed, open your portal when you're ready and I'll have the decoy groups open up portals on the far side from yours. With a bit of luck, they will never know you were there until it's too late."

"Very good. I'll wait until the decoy groups open their portals and attract the baseships fire before introducing ourselves!"

"Roger that! Galactica out!"

No sooner had the monitor went dark, the Aniketos opened up a portal near the chosen baseship. True to its previous pattern, the baseship swung both of its pulsars around to fire on the new portal. After a few microns, the decoy ships from Delta and Epsilon groups opened up portals on the far side of the baseship. It took nearly ten microns for the giant guns to swing around and begin firing, just as they had hoped.

On the bridge of the Aniketos, Leonitus gave the word to enter the portal and lock onto the baseship as soon as they were able. He ordered a ten missile spread to be fired as soon as they had cleared their entry portal and an exit portal be established as soon as they were thru as well. He wanted to be gone before the first missile hit.

The giant ship entered the portal and in less than five microns, it was emerging from the portal, no more than fifteen hundred metrons from the baseship! Leonitus was awed by the site of their enemy so near.

"Fire weapons! Ten missile spread as planned!" he ordered! "Open exit portal and increase speed to full! Let's show them our thrusters!"

On the port side of the giant Warstar, ten powerful missiles left their launchers, trailing their fiery plums behind them! They shot forward at ever increasing speed as they gained momentum thru the vacuum of space.

"All missiles away sir! Entering exit portal now!" came the call from the bridge officer aboard the Aniketos. "First missile will strike its target in three …. Two …. One!"

And right on que, the first missile struck home in the area of the landing bay of the baseship. The resulting explosion rocked the baseship hard and started massive fires in the landing bay. The next missile struck the lower pulsar gun, destroying it and causing a chain reaction that ripped half of the lower section of the baseship away. The third and fourth missiles slammed into the upper section of the baseship, tearing most of one side of it off. The fifth missile hit the center of the baseship where the two sections connected and broke the entire ship in half.

The last five missiles never hit their intended target because before they could reach the dying ship, it exploded into a massive fireball!

Of course Leonitus did not get to witness any of this because the Aniketos had already passed thru its exit portal and closed it up behind. What he did see were the scans coming in from the Chimaera detailing the entire operation! Leonitus was pleased at the results, but disappointed that he had wasted so many missiles. He would not fire so many on the next run.

"Galactica to Aniketos! Well done Commander!" came Apollo's jubilant voice! "That was a perfect attack"

"Thank you Commander, but it was far from perfect!" Leonitus said. "I wasted five perfectly good missiles! I'll need to use less, perhaps only three or four next time?"

"Always the perfectionist!" Apollo laughed. "Well, you'll get your chance Commander. There are still four baseships we need to take out."

"Perhaps we should try a more …. Direct approach Commander?" Leonitus said with a smile.

Apollo knew that smile!

"What did you have in mind?"

Leonitus outlined his plan quickly for Apollo, whose smile began to match that of Leonitus!

"I like it! How long will it take to get your people in position?"

"Give me five centons to alert the proper ships and position them Apollo. I'll let you know when we are ready."

"Will do. I'll have our people ready to go too." Apollo said. "See you soon Commander!"

And thus, the two Commanders readied their people for the next assault!

When all was in readiness, Apollo waited for word from Leonitus. He didn't have to wait long.

"We're set Apollo. With a touch of luck, we will have those baseships wrapped up in no time!"

"I hope you're right. Good luck Commander!"

"You too!"

And the next assault began!

Apollo opened a channel to the ships of his group. They were going to open up a dozen portals, well away from the four remaining baseships, that were still being occupied by the decoy groups. The Cylon commanders had deduced that most of the portals were just decoys and had ceased firing on them as they opened. Still, the decoy groups continued to open them as planned and began firing thru them every so often. The baseships would take the bait on a number of them and had received a number of minor hits, but nothing disabling. Just enough to keep them interested. Now it was time to make them pay!

"Okay people, let's move! All ships open portals and form up on the Galactica. Be ready to engage those baseships if this doesn't work!"

All ships acknowledged Apollo's orders and opened up their trans-space portals. They quickly moved into them and found themselves on the far side of the Gamoray system, close to the planet Gamoray itself. They were well out of weapons range of the baseships, but in range of their scanners. Now to get their attention!

"Galactica to Carpathia and Corinthia, let's get their attention!" Apollo called out to Starbuck and Boomer's ships. "Let's make our first attack run on the aerodrome. That's where the civilians look to be. Let's take them out!"

"Roger that Apollo, I'm on your left!" Boomer said.

"And I'm on the right! Let's give em a taste of their own medicine!" came Starbucks enthusiastic call.

And thus, the three Battlestars moved in formation, like giant Vipers, heading toward the planet's surface to rain death and destruction upon their enemy! The giant ships glided in close to the surface of the planet and unleashed a firestorm of laser blasts from their massive laser cannons. The energy released by each blast could level a mountain or destroy a baseship, so the aerodrome the Cylon civilians had taken cover in was as feeble as if they had stayed out in the open. The laser blasts ripped apart the building and shredded the civilian Cylons! After just one pass, there was not a single Cylon left on the surface of Gamoray.

The planet was secure.

Now they had to deal with the four baseships that still remained in the system.

"Okay guys, let's get these old girls away from the surface and back into space where they belong." Apollo ordered. "Where are those baseships Sheba? Did they take the bait?"

Sheba had been monitoring the baseships on the other side of the system while they made their attack. At first it didn't appear they had seen the Galactica's group appear in the system, but once they made their attack on Gamoray, all four baseships were moving at high speed to engage them.

"Oh, I'd say you got their attention Apollo." She said with a slight smile. "They are heading right at us."

"Good! Now it's up to Leonitus and his people!"

And as if on que, four trans-spaceial portals opened up in front of and off to the side of each of the baseships and from each appeared a Scorpion Warstar!

The baseships were moving too fast to stop and engage the new threat nor even fire weapons at them. They were at the mercy of their human enemy at that point!

But no mercy was going to be shown to them!

The four Warstars began firing their laser cannons at nearly point blank range with deadly effect. The Aniketos, under Commander Leonitus' command was the first to open fire and it cut the baseship in half with its first salvo. A second blast destroyed the upper section of the baseship and before a third round could be fired, the lower section became a fireball.

The Alewndrinia, under Commander Dieanicas, had a similar result as they fired at the fast moving baseship. Their first volley struck the baseship from above and sliced off half of the upper section. The second shot punched thru the lower section and the third blast turned the main hull into a fireball that engulfed the detached section.

The other two Warstars, the Phrixus under Commander Ptolemy and the Thanatos under Commander Teris destroyed their targets with equal efficiency! All four baseships were destroyed without them having the opportunity to fire back. Everything had gone exactly as planned!

"Galactica to Aniketos." Apollo called to the Scorpion flagship.

"Go ahead Apollo." Came Leonitus' voice.

"Congratulations Commander to you and your Warriors! That was most impressive!"

"Thank you Commander! It was a little move we pulled on a group of Braglions a few yahren back." He said matter of factly. "It worked quite well back then too! So what is our next move Commander?"

"The first thing we need to do is get the rest of our fleet up here and in orbit around Gamoray and the other planets and moons. "Apollo said. "We need to get each of those places scanned and secured before we set foot anywhere on a planet or moon. I want every micrometron scanned for explosives or bio weapons before we send our people down."

"I'll order the rest of the fleet forward." Leonitus said.

"Good, once we get everyone up here and the star system is secured, we need to check every tylium production plant there is to see if they are operational and if so, will they produce a high enough quality solium for our usage? If it's not of a usable grade, we'll have to make some adjustment to the plants, and that will take time we don't really have!"

I'll get our teams down there as soon as we clear the planets Apollo!" Sheba said from behind Apollo.

"Good! Once we get the tylium plants up and running, we can off load the livestock onto Gamoray so they can feed on some natural vegetation and get some much needed exercise. We can also start planting some of our food crops to see how well they will grow here."

"I also want teams to search for any food sources and fresh water for use by our people." Apollo continued. "And I want Warriors to search every building that looks like it was used by the Cylons. I want them to check every level, every room, and every millimetron of them. Anything of military importance is to be reported immediately. I want to know everything we can about what the Cylons have been up to the past thirty plus yahren. Any questions?"

No questions came from Leonitus or Sheba.

"Okay then, let's get this show on the road!"

Leonitus sent word back to the fleet to move up to the Gamoray star system and to take up orbits around the four habitable planets and the nine moons that had been used by both the Gamorians and the Cylons. Leonitus dispatched a number of ships to the outer edge of the system as well to conduct long range scanning of the space between them and both the Colonies and the Cylon home space. He wanted no surprises.

Sheba began directing ships to perform the duties of scanning the planets and moons for any type of traps or unsecured weapons. It would take a while to scan every metron of the system, but they had no choice! They couldn't afford to miss anything. The scanning went surprisingly fast in some areas of the planets where there were few buildings, so Apollo allowed the agro and livestock ships to land in those areas once the Warrior teams did their visual checks of the areas. The bovines and other animals were elated to be off of those ships. Most of them had never been off of them, having been born in space. It was an entirely new experience for them.

It was a new experience for many of the people of the fleet as well. So many of them had never known what it was like to not be aboard a ship of cold metal in the colder realm of space! The feeling was amazing!

But it was not to last long.

"Apollo! Message coming in from the Commander Deitra aboard the Egidon." Sheba said worriedly. "She says she has what appears to be a large fleet of ships heading this way from the direction of the Colonies. She thinks they are Cylon."

"Patch me thru to Deitra" Apollo ordered.

Sheba opened a channel to the Battle Cruiser Egidon under command of Commander Deitra.

"Egidon, this is the Galactica. What do you have there Deitra?"

"Looks like the entire Cylon fleet is heading this way Apollo!" She said with a touch of dread in her voice. "I can't make out an exact number of ships as yet, but I'd say they have well over a thousand, maybe two thousand ships. They're still way out on the edge of our scanner range, but they are heading this way in a hurry."

"DAMN!" Apollo said under his breath.

They were not ready for a confrontation with the Cylons yet, especially not a fleet the size Deitra was scanning. Many of their ships were low on fuel and their tankers were nearly empty. It would take a minimum of a secton to refuel every ship to maximum capacity. He was sure they didn't have that much time.

"How long do you estimate it will be before they are in scanner range of the system?" Apollo asked Deitra.

"At their present speed, I'd say we might have five, maybe five and a half cycles at best. They are moving pretty fast, but they are not at light speed. I don't think they know we are here yet Apollo!"

"That's good to hear. Stay on them Deitra and let me know when you get a good count on them. Galactica out!"

So they didn't know that Gamoray had been taken! This was a definite advantage.

"Sheba, alert all the ship commanders and their staff's to stand by for a briefing from the senior staff in three centars. Have the senior staff report to the Aniketos war room in twenty centons. I want to let them know what we have heading this way."

Twenty centons later, Apollo walked into the war room aboard the Aniketos. All the members of the senior staff were already there, and from the looks on their faces, they already knew what was going on.

"So how long do we have before our guests arrive and how many of them are there my friend?" Leonitus said without any hesitation.

Apollo looked at the Scorpion King and chuckled. It was impossible to keep anything from him.

"I just received an update from the Egidon on the way over here. Commander Deitra said they were a little over six cycles out from here, which means they will reach scanning range in about five and a half cycles."

"That soon huh?" asked Boomer, whose wife was the Commander of the Egidon.

"Yep! That means we have to either vacate the system before then and figure out a way to refuel the fleet elsewhere or return to Scorpius." Apollo said dejectedly. "For what it's worth, I do not want to do the latter!"

"Nor do I!" voiced Leonitus! "I did not come all this way just to turn tail and run away at the first real difficulty! I say we see this thru to the end, and if that means we die, then we die in battle against the enemy of our forefathers!

The members of the senior staff all agreed with Leonitus' statement! Apollo too was in full agreement!

"Then it's agreed! There will be no turning back!" Apollo said smiling at Leonitus. "So now we have to figure out how to refuel every warship in the fleet in just four cycles! I know from the daily fuel reports I get, nearly every ship in the fleet is running low right now. Any suggestions?"

"How about we use the tankers to ferry up fuel to the bigger ships, the Warstars, Battlestars, Gunstars, and the like that can't really land on the surface and have the smaller ships like the Destroyers and Cruisers land close to the Solium storage tanks and do their refueling on the ground?" suggested Starbuck.

"That would probably work, but we've only cleared about ten percent of the Solium storage facilities. Most haven't even had a simple scan done on them yet. There's no telling if the Cylons set booby traps on them." Apollo said.

"I think under the circumstances, we might just have to take a few chances and pray that the Lords of Kobol will look after us!" Starbuck said!

Apollo gave his lifelong friend a mock look of shock and said, "Don't tell me you've suddenly got religion Starbuck?"

Starbuck look aghast and answered, "Not even, but I figure any help we can get is worth trying."

Everyone laughed again!

"So let us throw caution to the wind and get these ships fueled immediately!" Dieanicas said loudly! "We have little enough time to be so timid! We can send Warrior teams down to do quick checks of the refueling stations and if they find anything, they will remove it. That should speed up the process don't you think?"

"It would definitely help!" Apollo said.

"Good, now that we have that settled, so how many Cylon ships are we expecting to this party?"

"Commander Deitra counted no less than four thousand baseships and another fifteen thousand support craft in the Cylon fleet. So we can expect between nineteen to twenty thousand ships in all."

Everyone in the room looked as if he had misspoken. He could not have said what he did!

"Did you say twenty thousand ships?" Starbuck asked, his usual self-assuredness all but gone.

"That's right Starbuck. Nearly twenty thousand!"

"That's like a hundred times as many as they had when they destroyed the Colonies! Where did they get so many ships?" Tigh said thoughtfully.

"Evidently the Cylons have spent the last thirty plus yahren increasing the size of its fleet." Apollo said. "So they now outnumber us by better than three to one, which means we're pretty evenly matched!"

This brought a round of laughter from the senior staff.

"Seriously thou, with a three to one advantage and their ability to counter our hit and run tactics, they could very well overwhelm us by sheer weight of numbers if we have to fight them straight up. So I'm thinking that we will have to use a tactic similar to that which was used against those four baseships earlier. I suggest that we use the Galactica and its group to lure the Cylons away from Gamoray and its system and draw them into a trap where your fleet Leonitus, can use that quick hit technique on them. I don't know if we can destroy their entire fleet, but if we concentrate on those baseships, we should be able to effectively cut that fleet down to size. Then we can go after whatever ships are left and fight them straight up. What do you say?"

Everyone sat staring at Apollo, or the table, or their hands, until Leonitus stood up and said, "I like it! If your fleet can draw them away from the planets and into open space, we can hit them fast and hard!"

"But haven't the Cylon's figured out our hit and run tactics?" asked Tigh.

"They have to a degree, but if we enter our portals at full speed, instead of the usual half speed, we will cut down the transit time to only a micron or two. They won't even know we're there until it's too late, let alone have time to fire on us! And we will enter our exit portals almost immediately, firing our missiles as we emerge. Each ship should be able to attack several baseships in less than a centon. With all of our Warstars, Battlestars, Gunstars, and Cruisers attacking at the same time from different directions, we should be able to overwhelm them. And as you said Apollo, once we take out those baseships, the rest should be mop up fighting that we won't need any fancy flying for. A straight up slugfest!"

The Scorpion officers were excited at this prospect. The Galactican officers, not so much.

"Even if we do destroy all of the baseships, it won't be easy to finish off the rest of their fleet." Apollo said. "They will have their Battle Cruisers and Destroyers with them; as well I'm sure they will have their smaller attack vessels, the Corvettes and Sloops. Those ships are small, but they are heavily armed and very fast and maneuverable. It's not easy to hit them, even with our laser turrets!"

"We will find a way to take them down Apollo." Dieanicas said. "We have done battle with many a small craft with great speed. Perhaps we will just launch our Scarabs and Asps and let them handle those pests?"

"I wish it was that easy" Apollo said. "We tried doing that with our Vipers and we were less than successful."

"Perhaps your Vipers didn't have the bite of our Asp fighters." Teris said with a smile. "It matters not. We will engage the Cylons and defeat them! That is all there is to it!"

"I hope you're right Commander!" Apollo said, not believing it would be as easy as the Scorpion Warriors thought it would be. "So let's get the details of our first attack hammered out before the other ship commanders arrive."

By the time the briefing was scheduled for the commanders of the other ships, Apollo, Leonitus, Dieanicas, Boomer, Starbuck, Ptolemy, Teris, Alexios, Atrueus, and President Tigh had worked out the details of what was in their opinion, a masterful stroke of warfare! Now if they could get everyone to do as was needed. The timing had to be precise! Every ship had to be on time and on station exactly as planned! If they were not, even if they were but a micron off, it could spell disaster for the entire fleet!

For the entire human race!

Apollo began to address the commanders and their staffs throughout the entire fleet about the coming treat and the battle plan devised to counter it. He laid out the general plan and then turned over the briefing to Commander Dieanicas, who was the most ingenious strategist Apollo had ever met! He was as good as, possibly even better than the legendary Commander Cain!

As he finished the briefing, Dieanicas asked if there were any questions. As usual, there were none, as Dieanicas had covered every contingency thoroughly! He told the commanders of the fleet that a copy of the war plan was being sent to each of them with copies of only their part of the plan. Even thou he trusted every man and women in the fleet, he knew that nobody should possess the entire plan for security reasons. Dieanicas stepped away from the podium and nodded to Apollo to take over again. He started to move forward, then turned and asked Leonitus to close out the briefing. Leonitus rose from his seat, grasped Apollo's arm in the traditional Warriors handshake, and moved to the podium.

Apollo knew that the vast majority of the fleet were Scorpion Warriors and that in this time of uncertainty, they might want to hear from their King! He was not wrong.

"Brothers and sisters of Scorpius! In a very short time, we will again be engaged in battle with the ancient foe of our ancestors! The Cylons! The same foe our forefathers fought for a millennium. The very same enemy that took from them their home world and forced them and our brothers and sisters of the other colonies out into space as refugees. Hunted continuously by those godless creatures that are still to this cycle, intent on our destruction."

"But that is about to change brothers and sisters, for we are about to take the step toward destroying this foe and reclaiming that which was stolen from our people over thirty yahren ago. We are about to destroy the Cylon Empire! I know we have had some minor skirmishes with them over the past few sectons, but those were simply practice run's for what we are about to face. In those operations, we had the element of surprise on our side. And yes, the Cylons did figured out our tactics and we paid for our over confidence with the loss of the Sharlianos, but we too have learned from those mistakes and with this new knowledge, we will not be caught so readily off guard again."

"So my brothers! My Sisters! Let use throw ourselves into the heat of battle with the strength and spirit of those that have gone before us and leave a tale of great deeds and heroic acts for future generations to read about! Let us end the Cylon tyranny here and now! DEATH TO THE CYLONS!"

Apollo knew it was impossible, but he would almost swear that he could hear the cheers from across the entire fleet! He knew he could hear them from those present in the war room.

"Now go and prepare your crews for what is about to be the greatest victory in the history of the human race!"

And with that, Leonitus turned and walked toward the rest of the senior staff, who were standing and applauding in earnest! Apollo shook his head softly with a wide smile on his face. Leonitus saw this and with a perplexed look asked him, "What?"

"I was just thinking how grand it would have been to hear your father speak, because if you are not even close to the orator he was, he must have been something else."

Leonitus laughed as he remembered telling Apollo and President Tigh about his father's ability to make speeches.

"Yes, my father was quite the speech maker. I dare say that had he the chance to speak to the Cylons, he may have convinced them to lay down their arms and surrender!" he said half joking.

Apollo smiled and nodded.

"What say we go and get ready for the next battle? I have a strong feeling this one could decide the fate of this entire enterprise." Said Leonitus as he slapped Apollo on the shoulder in a fatherly manner. "I want to have another look at our ship placements and the attack patterns. I also want to review and revise our contingency plans for if things go awry."

And so, the people of the human fleet prepared for what was sure to be the deciding battle of the entire, thousand plus yahren war with the ruthless Cylon Empire. The crews from the Galactican fleet for the most part had lived thru the death and destruction rot by the Cylons during the war before the destruction of the Colonies, during the holocaust that nearly ended the human race, and in the long yahren that followed as the meager number of survivors tried to make their escape across the cosmos. The destruction of New Caprica was most devastating for many as they had lost so many in that battle. Some had forgotten the scope of the devastation the Cylons had put upon them during those long yahren.

They were reminded of the great losses they had experienced while following along the path they had traveled to get to the great dust cloud and to the planet Scorpius. The ruined planet of New Caprica stood as a painful reminder of what had happened that day so long ago. The Galactica slowed to run scans of the planet. They revealed absolute devastation. The cities and towns that had begun to take shape were nothing but ruins, nature having reclaimed most of the human tenements. There were some life signs on the planet. Animals that had been left behind seemed to have flourished on the planet since the battle with the Cylons.

They found more signs of the Cylon pursuit as they had come closer to Gamoray.

The planet Terra seemed to be untouched and thriving, a result of the protection guaranteed by the beings on the Ships of Light who had helped them against the demonic Count Iblis. The same could not be said for the planet Paradeen nor the satellite world of Lunar 7, where long range scans had shown the destruction of those worlds surfaces. Apollo wondered in Michael, Sarah, and their children had somehow survived, but doubted that anyone could.

Apollo shook the memories from his mind. He had more important things to concentrate on just then, like the upcoming battle with a Cylon fleet that outnumbered his own fleet, more than three to one. This battle would decide the fate of the Colonies and of the human species in that galaxy. It was an all or nothing gamble that they had to win.

They had a plan that on paper, looked flawless, but the plan first used to retake Gamoray looked that wat too, before the loss of the Sharlianos. Could this turn out the same way? Was this to be the last stand of the human race?

Apollo shook his head again to rid himself of such thoughts.

"Not this time!" he said under his breath.

"Did you say something Apollo?" asked Colonel Sheba, Apollo's second in command on the Galactica and even more importantly, his wife.

Apollo didn't realize that he had left his quarters and was now standing on the bridge.

"No, I was just thinking out loud!" he said, playing off the dark thoughts with a slight smile. Sheba knew he had been lost in thought, but also knew not to inquire further on the bridge.

"Status report Colonel. Are we about ready to send the Cylons into the pages of history?" he said with as much bravado as he could muster.

"All ships are standing by Apollo." She reported. "The Scorpion fleet is waiting for the word to deploy to their stations. Shall I give them the word?"

"I think I'll do it Sheba. I want to talk to Leonitus myself."

Sheba didn't say a word, she simply nodded her head and handed him the headset. Apollo placed it on his head and flipped the appropriate switch to open the fleet battle channel.

"Galactica to Aniketos, do you read me?" Apollo said.

"This is the Aniketos, Commander!" came the familiar voice of Commander Leonitus. "Are we ready to begin this battle?"

Apollo shook his head slightly as a slight smile came to him. Did Leonitus know everything?

"Yes Commander, it's time to deploy the fleet." Apollo said. "I'm sure everyone knows their positions and their assignments."

"That they do Apollo. I have gone over every detail with ever ship commander and I am sure they will follow our plan to the letter."

"Very good Commander." Apollo said. "Then go ahead and pass the word to your people to deploy to their positions and stand by. As soon as I get word from you that everyone is in place, The Galactica and our group will start on our way towards the Cylons. With a bit of luck, they'll come after us and leave Gamoray alone."

"I sure hope that's the case Commander, being that we are only leaving an eight hundred yahren old destroyer and three nine hundred yahren old frigates there to protect our fueling and armament teams." Leonitus said. "

"Good point Commander. I guess we'll have to make sure they take the bait."

"We should be within their scanner range in less than five centars. I'm going to move the Galactica out in four. Be ready to hit them fast and hard Commander."

"We'll be there Apollo. You just get their attention and leave the rest to us." Leonitus said with a smile. "Aniketos out!"

The comm went dark as the connection ended. Apollo stared at the blank screen for several moments before looking away to see Sheba looking at him worriedly.

"Are you okay Apollo?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I good. Just wishing that I knew we'd be successful."

"We've done everything we possibly could Apollo. All we can do now is wait until the Cylons get here."

"I guess you're right. All we can do now is wait!"

And so they did. The call came in from Leonitus that his fleet was in position and waiting. Apollo looked at the chronometer and seen that they were right on schedule. Now it was up to the Galactica and her small group of three Battlestars, two Battle Cruisers, two Gunstars, and five destroyers. A dozen old ships to face twenty thousand Cylon vessels. Granted, from what Deidra's long range scans had confirmed, only about half of those ships were combatant vessels, the rest serving as support ships to their battle fleet. It was still an impressive force, one that they would be hard pressed to defeat.

"Apollo, message coming in from Jolly aboard the Chimaera." Sheba reported.

"Let's hear it."

"Hey there skipper, I have a lock on the Cylon fleet. They are about three centars from scanner range of Gamoray. They've been sending out signals to the baseships that were there for the last five centons. So they will probably be speeding up here real soon."

"Understood Jolly. Looks like it's time to put our plan into motion." Apollo said. "Keep monitoring their fleet and let me know of any changes, I'm going to inform the rest of the fleet."

"Will do skipper. Good luck!"

Apollo switched channels and called the Scorpion fleet to let them know he was moving out. Leonitus acknowledged and passed the word down the line to his people. The battle to end all battles was about to begin!

Apollo switched channels to the Galactica fleet channel.

"Attention all ships of the fleet. We are about to get underway for our position. Hopefully, we'll attract the attention of the Cylon fleet well before they are in scanner range of Gamoray and draw them away from the planet. Once they are in pursuit, we will turn away from them and make our way to our rendezvous point with the rest of the fleet. Once there, we'll unleash Hell on the Cylons and we don't stop until we have achieved victory. Remember to stick to the plan and if anything goes wrong, fall back to your regroup point and reenter the pattern. Remember people, this is for all the mushies. All or nothing! So let's do this. Good luck to one and all. Galactica out!"

He turned to Sheba and with a serious look, gave the order to move their group into position.

The Galactica stared moving slowly ahead, the rest of her battle group falling into formation around their flag ship. Twelve ships to lead the prey to the hunters.

"Stand by to open trans-spacial portal."

"Standing by!"

Apollo opened the fleet channel again and made the announcement they had all been waiting for.

"Galactica to ships, stand by to enter trans-spacial portal. Starbuck, you'll be the last one thru, so let me know when you are clear so we can shut it down. Stay in formation and have all scanners on maximum!"

"Will do Apollo!" came Starbucks reply, a slight tremble in his voice.

"Open portal now!"

The bridge officer, Lieutenant Teal, opened the trans-spacial portal and as if by magic, a shimmering orifice opened in the fabric of space. Without hesitation, the Galactica and her group sailed thru the portal and were almost instantly transported across the distance that would have taken the over a cycle to traverse.

As the Galactica emerged from the portal, Apollo ordered an immediate scan for the Cylon fleet. Just as he had hoped, the Cylon fleet was almost directly in front of them and just coming into their scanning range. He smiled at the accuracy of the plot that placed them exactly where they needed to be. Now to get the Cylons attention.

"Sheba, what say we dangle a little something in front of our friends out there to get their attention? Have Blue Squadron launch and get them to follow them back to us. Then we'll change course toward Leonitus and his fleet."

Sheba looked a little nervous about launching fighters into the jaws of a fleet that size, but gave the order.

Down in the Alpha launch bay, the pilots of Blue Squadron had been anxiously waiting for the order to launch, and hoping it would never come.

The newly promoted Major Boxey was sitting in his Viper, going over the launch procedure for what had to be the thousandth time. It wasn't that he was nervous, but rather anxious to get the ballet started. His father, Commander Apollo had gone over what could be his mission with him several times, making sure he knew that if they did launch, they were not to engage the Cylons, but to simply get their attention and lead them back to the Galactica and her small, outnumbered task force of twelve old warships. Once the Cylons had taken the bait, Boxey's squadron was to land, refuel and be ready to relaunch in the event that the Cylons overtook the Galactica or if after the trap was sprung and the Cylons tried to make a run for it, they would pursue and destroy any ships they could. He was hoping that the latter would be the case!

Just then, the klaxon sounded. It was time to entice the Cylons into the trap!

"Let's go Blue Squadron! Time to earn those pay vouchers of yours!" Boxey called over the comm system. He switched to the Flight operations channel and informed them that Blue Squadron was ready for launch.

Word was relayed to Apollo that Blue Squadron, the group he had lead for so many yahrens and that his son now led, was ready to go!

"Launch Blue Squadron!"

The word was passed down to the pilots of Blue Squadron to launch.

One by one, the pilots of Blue Squadron thundered out of their launch tubes and out into the vastness of space. How many thousands of times have the pilots of this legendary unit done this? Who could say? And even thou they would not be directly engaging the enemy this time, no mission in their illustrious past would have a more direct bearing on the future of humanity.

"Alright, Blue Squadron, form up on me and let's go dangle the mushies in front of those chrome plated refuse containers!" Boxey said over the comm channel.

"Right there with you boss." Came the reply from Captain Horas, his wingmate.

The Vipers of Blue Squadron headed out on an intercept course with the incoming Cylon fleet. The Vipers they flew had been equipped with the so called "Super Scanners" that the former Lieutenant, now Doctor Nagy had invented about a yahren ago. These new scanners had increased the scanning range of the fleet a thousand times over with such improved detail and accuracy that Boxey was able to scan the entire Cylon fleet from a range that even the Galactica's original scanners could not.

Boxey began running a count on the incoming ships and getting a detailed breakdown of their makeup. He was almost beside himself when the information came thru.

"WOW!" he whispered into the comm channel. "Well boys and girls, here's what we're facing. There are four thousand twenty one Baseships, one thousand seventy seven battle cruisers, two thousand nine hundred eight destroyers, one thousand four hundred six corvettes, and six hundred fifty one sloops in their Battle Fleet.

Add to that eight thousand forty seven tankers, four hundred eleven of what look like repair ships and another three hundred sixty five ships of unknown usage and that brings the total fleet size to eighteen thousand eight hundred eighty six ships."

"WOW! That's a lot of firepower." Horas said. "How in Hades are we supposed to stop that many ships?"

"We're not! That's what the Scorpion Fleet is going to do. We're just the bait for the trap." Boxey said. "Okay people, heads up. We're entering their scanning range. Be ready to turn around and head back to the Galactica on my signal."

It took several moments for the Cylon fleet to pick them up on their scanners, but once they had, there was no mistaking it. As Boxey had once seen a huge group of avions on Caprica as a child do, the entire Cylon fleet turned enmasse and headed right towards them. Boxey's initial reaction to this was to turn away from them and start back right away, but he knew he had to be sure they would take the bait and not let on that they had been seen as yet, since to the Cylons knowledge, the Colonial Vipers didn't have that much range on their scanners.

He watched the distance from the Cylon fleet count down quickly as the enormous body of ships hurled itself right at his small group of Vipers. Just as they came into range of what was their old scanner range, Boxey ordered all Vipers to turn and use maximum turbos to return to the Galactica.

The bait had been taken.

Aboard the Galactica, Apollo was white knuckled as he watched on the Galactica's scanners the game of felius and rodent that Boxey and Blue Squadron were playing with the Cylons. He knew what Boxey was doing and why! He himself had told his eldest son what he had to do and how to do it, but that made it no easier to watch. Sheba stood next to him on the command podium, watching the same readouts. The knot in her stomach was almost as large as Apollo's.

They both exhaled when Blue Squadron finally made their turn and started back to the Galactica with nearly nineteen thousand Cylon ships in hot pursuit. They smiled when they realized they had both been holding their breath.

Apollo stood up from the console and began giving orders.

"Alright everyone, it looks like the Cylons have taken the bait. Get ready to bring us around. Sheba, let the rest of our group know that we will be turning to our designated course in thirty microns. Have both launch bays ready to land Vipers and get them ready for relaunching. Teal, send a message to the Aniketos and let them know the Cylons are on their way."

People started moving to their duties immediately. There was a buzz of excitement moving throughout the Galactica as everyone prepared for battle. Thou it was true that the Galactica was not going to be directly involved in the initial attack on the Cylon war fleet, they would have an even more important task. It was their responsibility to watch for any Baseships that tried to make a run for Gamoray and to stop them. A task that would not be too easy considering they would only have three Battlestars, two Gunstars, two Battle Cruisers, and five Destroyers.

Twenty five microns later, the first of the Vipers from Blue Squadron were landing aboard the Galactica. The flight deck crews wasted no time moving them to the refueling stations then onto the launch bay deck to be readied for immediate launch. Boxey had jumped out of his viper before he had even shutdown his engines and made his way to the bridge to find out how things were progressing.

He was not disappointed!

"Did they take the bait father?" he asked as he mounted the steps to the command dais two at a time. "See for yourself." Apollo said, motioning toward the monitor at the bridge officer's station. There he could see the entire Cylon fleet closing in on the Galactica and her small task force. He hadn't realized just how many Cylon ships there were until then. Seeing them on the screen made a knot start to form in his stomach.

"Sir, all Vipers are aboard." Reported the landing bay officer.

Apollo nodded to the young officer and then turned to the helmsman, "Les, set course to the ambush area per our plan. Teal, inform all ships to form up on the Galactica and proceed at flank speed. We don't them to catch up too fast, do we!"

The giant Battlestar healed over to starboard as it turned onto the course that would place them and their pursuers in the place that Leonitus and the rest of the human fleet would be waiting. So far, everything had gone as planned. With a bit of luck, the Cylon fleet would be destroyed soon and the Galactica and the rest of the human race would be on their way back to the Colonies.

"Commander, we're five centons from the ambush site." Ensign Les called out.

Apollo nodded and turned to Ensign Winrich at the communications station. "Contact Leonitus and let them know to stand by to make their trans spacial jumps."

"Yes sir!" Winrich said as she made the call.

"Stand by people! Things are about to get real exciting!" Apollo said with a smile.

Apollo watched the monitor closely as the countdown started. In just fifty microns, all hades would be unleashed on the Cylons. At twenty five microns, Apollo made the call to Leonitus and his fleet, "Galactica to Aniketos, start your attack! Take them out of our space!"

"My pleasure Apollo!" came the response of Commander Leonitus.

No sooner had the order been confirmed, then all around the Cylon fleet, glimmering trans-spacial portals began opening, disgorging hundreds of Scorpion Warstars, Battlestars, Battle Cruisers, Destroyers and every other type of warship one could imagine. They were not even fully out of their portals when they started unleashing barrage after barrage of missiles and laser fire upon the Cylon fleet. And as swiftly as they appeared, the Scorpion vessels disappeared from the area in their escape portals.

The initial attack was most effective and quite devastating to the Cylons. As they were totally caught off guard by the sudden appearance and attacks of the Scorpion fleet, over three thousand Cylon warships were destroyed outright and as many others damaged beyond salvage! The second wave of attacks proved to be just as effective as another five thousand Cylon ships were destroyed.

There was total confusion amongst the Cylon fleet.

One centon they were in pursuit of what appeared to be the human Battlestar, Galactica and several other warships that had yet to be identified other than the type of ships they were. The command Centurion, Mortis, was confused about the number of ships he pursued and their make up. His information said the Galactica was a lone Battlestar with no other warships among its one hundred sixty or so ships. Of course the information was over twenty five yahren old, so there was no telling what went on during those yahren.

But now suddenly, his fleet of Baseships and other warships was being decimated! In a matter of centons, his fleet of nearly nineteen thousand ships was all but destroyed. The Baseship he was on had been cut in half by several missile hits, with the section Mortis was on now tumbling thru space. His right arm was missing from the shoulder and his left arm gone from the elbow down. One leg had been torn away, held floating by a few wires. His power supply was damaged and he knew he would not last much longer. He tried to send a signal to the other ships, but there was no way to do it. So he simply watched space sail by thru the massive hole in the command center.

As for the rest of Mortis's fleet, the ships of the Scorpion fleet had made five attacks in all using their "hit and run" tactic before settling in on a more …. Direct approach to cleaning up what was left of the Cylons.

The Galactica and her task force had joined in on the fun when a group of Cylon Destroyers broke off from the main battle and tried to make a run for Gamoray. They were no match for the Gunstars and Battle Cruisers of Apollo's group.

When all was said and done, all eighteen thousand eight hundred eighty six ships of the Cylon fleet were destroyed with only one lose to the human fleet, the Scorpion Frigate Oles, which had the misfortune of being too close to one of the Baseships when it exploded. The mission otherwise was a complete success!

"Galactica to Aniketos. Well done Commander! You and your people performed to near perfection!"

"Except for the Oles, I'd say you were right Apollo! There will be some well deserved celebrations this night for sure!"

"Agreed. So let's head back to Gamoray so we can do just that before we start to refuel, rearm, and let our people get some much needed and deserved rest. I'd like to start working on our plan for the retaking of the Colonies as soon as possible."

"Very well Commander, I'll give the order to all ships to form up on the Galactica and set course for Gamoray." Leonidas said gleefully. "How long do you think it will be before the Cylons realize they just lost their fleet here?"

"Not long Commander. That's why I want to get started on the next phase of the operation. I'd like to get started toward the Colonies within a sectar!"

"I like the way you think Apollo. The sooner we destroy the Cylons, the better!"

"Amen!"