"Commander, Starbuck has just made an unauthorized FTL launch. The raider is gone, sir."
Lieutenant Felix GaetaChapter 19: Kobol's Last Gleaming
The day after colonial day was perhaps the day when the most amount of people took off from work back in the colonies. An interesting correlation was that Colonial Day had the largest amount of alcohol consumed each year, consistently topping the charts when compared to every other holiday.
But officers in the colonial fleet needed to do their duty, especially since the colonies were burning radioactive wastelands.
That's what Amanda Garrett thought of as she awoke from her sleep in the arms of Vincent Akardy. The two had a storied history, which had interestingly begun their relationship before their first mission on a Caprican beach before realizing that Chris was the new pilot that would be transferred in as a squadron leader. The two had tried to put that behind them, but that didn't work and soon they found themselves in each other's arms once again. Another boundary had been broken after they decided that they wouldn't engage in any romantic activities onboard the ship but that was soon busted harder than the nuts they were busting inside themselves.
Regardless, both of them were just glad to be alive, and for the other to also be alive at this point. And they both had duty shifts soon.
"Mmmm." She said as she rolled over, and Vince got out of bed. "I have to get on duty in a half hour."
"Should give you enough time," Vince said, getting up and putting his arms around her.
"Well you should probably go back to your quarters otherwise we are going to miss our shifts. But of course later tonight…"
"I won't complain." He replied, giving her a quick kiss before getting his clothes back on and heading to his quarters. He luckily avoided all of the other crew members who were milling about, as it would be suspicious to be seen coming from the commander's quarters. Though to be fair, almost all of the crew knew that something was going on, and enjoyed that their CO was having some fun every once in a while.
Meanwhile, the situation was a bit different on the other ships. Hudson had had a wonderful night but it hadn't involved going back to either of their quarters. He remembered it, as the dancing wound down and he left along with Audrey.
"Thank you." He said, now suddenly a bit nervous. "I enjoyed the night."
"Thank you as well." She replied. "I had a great time."
"You know we should do this another time." He said. "Well, maybe not this exactly but you know…"
"Was that Jake Hudson asking me on a date?" She said with a big smile.
"Yes." He said, leaning in and kissing her. The sensation that both of them felt was akin to a shockwave piercing through their entire body, leaving nothing behind.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Jake."
"You two, Audrey." He replied. Despite not drinking that much, he had trouble sleeping, as his thoughts went back to her and both of them together. He wanted to be with her more, talk with her, hold her, and do naughty things with her. Assuming that they could continue to survive, it would happen all in good time. A similar situation had occurred with Christine and Marks, and while the relationship looked like it was still in its early stages.
Meanwhile the next day, Adama, Roslin, and Gaeta were going over photos taken by reconnaissance raptors that had investigated a
"It's Kobol, I don't know any way else to look at this," Roslin said.
"From my analysis of the scriptures, the images appear to match what would be on Kobol, at least according to the knowledge of the matter," Gaeta said as he compared the images taken with religious texts. There were clear similarities between the images, and though the image in the book was only an artistic interpretation the resemblance was uncanny.
Perhaps they would get what they wanted.
"I concur," Elosha said. The priestess knew far more about the scriptures than anyone else in the room and probably the fleet unless there was some sort of religious extremist running amok. So her opinion brought credibility to what was going on."
"I think we should look at the viability of setting down here," Adama said. "They're aren't that many worlds that are habitable to humans, and this may be the last one we see as a while. We could set up a small, isolated colony that the Cylons would not discover unless they flew right over it, and the fleet could continue on its journey."
"This may be the path to Earth," Roslin said. "Setting down here might be a fool's errand. It would distract us from our real goal of finding Earth. But we should send a survey mission regardless." Adama said. "We need to figure out what is on this planet and if anything here is going to be useful to us. There might be something that prohibits us from inhabiting the world."
"Commander, I suggest we send one of the cruisers. It can use its raptor complement more effectively." Gaeta said. "And it can hold its own if the Cylons show up."
"Very well then, due to the number of raptors onboard and its better sensor suite, I'll send the Lansing." Adama said. "Transfer four of our raptors over there so that we can pull this off more effectively.
Roslin was walking back to the raptor that she would be taking back to Colonial One when she saw Starbuck. An idea that she had contemplated for the past few minutes came to fruition.
"Lieutenant, I want to talk to you about something for a minute. "Roslin said as she saw Starbuck. "Something sensitive and private."
"There's a room that we can stay in here, Madam President," Starbuck said, leading her into the room.
"Lieutenant, I need you to carry out a very dangerous mission for me." The President said. "You are familiar with the Arrow of Apollo, I'm sure."
"Yes, I believe it's back on Caprica," Starbuck replied.
"I need you to take the raider back to Caprica to retrieve it," Roslin said. "We've found what seems to be the temple of the gods, and by using this it could unlock it. Adama is calling this religious nonsense and is refusing to follow my suggestion. I understand that you would need to go behind his back to do this and that it would be detrimental to your relationship. I can't force you to do this, but I understand you are quite religious."
"My mother forced it on me, but I've kept it due to my convictions." She replied. "I feel in contact with the gods when I fly, like I'm reaching out to them and they are listening. But I'm still reluctant to do this. Why do we need the arrow when we already know the coordinates to Earth?"
"Because Adama is lying. He doesn't know the coordinates to Earth he doesn't even have a general idea. This mission is crucial to us because of that. Starbuck, the gods are watching. What do you think they would think of this?"
"They would think that what you are doing is right. Give me a day to get some supplies in the raider, and I'll go on a test flight, and not come back. I'll even see if I can get authorization to test the FTL drive. That should cover your ass, Madam President."
"Good". Roslin replied with a smile. "The gods will smile upon us."
"There is something else I want to do." Starbuck said, "Zarek talked about pirate and smuggler hubs across the colonies, which are probably intact. If things go south and I can't find the fleet, I want to get the coordinates of that so that I can see what's going on and join them if I can't get back."
"OK, if you need payment for the information let me know."
Starbuck went over to Cloud Nine to see if she could find Zarek. He would likely be near where the Quorum would be meeting.
"Well Lieutenant, is there anything I can do for you." He said with a smile. He had been treating her well as he had been trying to curry favor with the military since he had been freed.
"I need to tell you something very sensitive, and if you tell anyone else I'll make sure you die a rotten death."
"Well, what is this?" He led him into an unoccupied room. She then discussed what she was going to do with the raider. She knew that like many Saggitarons, Zarek was religious. Not as much as some others in his movement as he probably was using it to gain favor with highly religious groups, but it was still important.
"I know that you know people back in the colonies, pirates, and other criminals. If things go south I might need to stay with them for a bit. Can you give me their coordinates?"
"How do I know that you just won't give them to Adama?" He responded.
"Because why would I be going on a mission that involves destroying my relationship with him and disobeying direct orders? I'm probably going to get court-martialed if I manage to get back. If you want proof, talk to the President." She said,
"Alright then." He produced a piece of paper with coordinates neatly handwritten on it. "This has coordinates for a large number of pirate meetups and bases, including from my organization. There are several phrases here that I only give out to my trusted Lieutenants, and if they give you any trouble they won't be in a good position with me afterward."
"Thank you," Starbuck said. "The survival of the fleet may very well rest upon your actions, Mr Zarek."
"I wish you luck on your journey lieutenant. I'm sure the gods are smiling at you. Godspeed."
Thrace returned to Galactica and began putting as many supplies in the raider as she could without arousing suspicion. A little bit of extra rations here, an assault rifle and some ammunition there, and as many anti-radiation medications as she could find. People mostly didn't give her any fuss, even superior officers knew that messing with Kara Thrace could be a big mistake.
Soon, she was ready to depart, and after talking to Adama he authorized a test flight but not an FTL launch. That was unfortunate but could be worked around, as she could simply get pit without their approval.
And that was exactly what she did.
"Commander, Starbuck has just made an unauthorized FTL launch. The raider is gone, sir."
"Well, where the hell has she gone this time?" Tigh asked. Adama was lost in thought. Starbucks was impulsive like this but she wouldn't just throw her life away from something like this.
"Sir, we have a message from Colonial One. It looks like the President is responsible for this."
While the situation was rapidly escalating throughout the fleet, Hudson meanwhile was overviewing the survey teams sent to Kobol. It was a difficult process, but one that ultimately needed to be done. The crews would look at the ruins, and try to piece together what had happened and more importantly, see if the world could be inhabited once again. It would be a difficult process, but one that needed to be accomplished.
The area was constantly being swept by Vipers who were looking for raiders who might be in the system, and the ship was in condition two. However, they hadn't found anything. This was a major issue, as in a gap in the sensor coverage of the fleet, a single raider had collected recon data on the events around Kobol. It returned to its mothership, as it prepared to engage the heavy cruiser.
Everything was going well and Hudson was just starting to think about maybe taking some time off when a DRADIS contact was detected. It was an entire basestar, which was rapidly launching raiders. The Lansing was a heavy cruiser, a capable and formidable ship but not one that could take on a basestar by itself and leave the battle a functioning ship. He would have to get out of there as fast as he could, but he could still delay what was going to happen.
"Tell all fighters to return to the barn, and get all the raptors off of the ground now!" He yelled as the ship went to condition one and work began on surviving the incoming barrage. Cylon missiles began streaking through the air, but flak batteries kept them at bay.
All of the 20 vipers out on combat air patrol returned to their carrier without incident, but the same could not be said for the 10 slower raptors that were out and about on the planet. Six made it back successfully, albeit with two damaged, and two others were shot down with all hands lost. Of the last two, one was destroyed on the ground before the survey team could reach it and another was heavily damaged a few minutes after takeoff, crashing but managing to save all of its crew. This was a major issue. The Lansing were forced to withdraw after the losses as they would be unable to drive the Cylons out alone. Perhaps with its escort fleet it could, and most certainly with another battlestar, but not alone.
He returned to the fleet just as Roslin's declaration was being made. They had left one shitshow to deal with another.
Meanwhile, on the Galactica, Adama was furious. The President had overstepped her authority, as she was supposed to not get involved with military matters. So the only thing that needed to be done now was getting her out of office.
He had a message detailed to the President telling her to resign. There was no response.
"Tell Captain Marks I want a strike team prepared to board Colonial One," Adama said.
While Adama was furious with the decision, others were less put off. Commanders Garrett and Baker for example saw the situation as less clear-cut. Sure, they didn't agree with the fact that Roslin had ordered Thrace to go and use the raider to find the arrow, but in their minds, she had the authority to do so. The agreement that Adama would have the final say on military matters had been a verbal agreement only and had never been written down. But even if it had been written down, it would need to have been codified into law, which could have only recently done so due to the quorum only being sworn in recently. So more confusion, and therefore the legal right to oppose Adama's move was clear. If there wasn't a government or a member of the line of presidential succession, then Adama could declare martial law. However, that was also illegitimate due to the circumstances. This situation was fracked, at least as far as both of them could see.
"Commander Garrett, what should we do?" Audrey said.
"I think that we should try to talk Adama out of anything. If he doesn't, our job is to obey the orders of the president above him." She said,
"I agree." Said Baker. "I hope that he doesn't tear the fleet apart."
"I hope so as well. It looks like he's trying to talk to us." A comm laser link was established between the three ships, and Adama's voice crackled over the radio. He explained the situation and then outlined the fact that he wanted to send a strike team over to the president.
"Commander, with all due respect, this may be a grave mistake," Garrett said. I don't agree with the fact that Roslin ordered Thrace to go and use the raider to find the arrow, but I think that she had the authority to do so. The agreement that you would have the final say on military matters had been a verbal agreement only and had never been written down. Even if it had been written down, it would need to have been codified into law, which could have only recently done so due to the quorum only being sworn in recently. So more confusion, and therefore I don't think you have the legal right to oppose her decision in the way you are thinking. If there wasn't a government or a surging member of the line of presidential succession, then you could declare martial law, but that simply isn't the case." Garrett replied.
In a similar manner to the Adama family, Garrett's father had been a lawyer. She had considered becoming a JAG but preferred being in command of her squadron. Ultimately, she hoped that this situation wouldn't escalate. The more it did, the greater issue there would be for the fleet going forward. So she hoped that it wouldn't be the case.
There was silence on the line with Adama before he responded.
"Commander Garrett, Commander Baker, I am ordering you to assist me with removing the President." He said.
"Commander Adama, that would be illegal under the Articles of Confederation themselves. Right now what you are trying to do sounds awfully like a coup." She replied.
"Garrett, the law doesn't matter anymore. What matters is who has the power to enforce order."
He's lost his mind. Garrett thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Galactica assembled a raptor team to go and assault Colonial One. Captain Marks was ordered to lead it, though Colonel Tigh was also sent due to his seniority and Captain Lee Adama due to his good relationship with the president. The team departed in two raptors, raptor one carrying all three of the officers along with some marines and the other carrying all the rest of them. Marks had doubts going into the mission from the beginning; as with Garrett, he didn't feel that he had the legal authority to do so.
Meanwhile, on Colonial One it was soon clear that the ship was being boarded. There were two dozen members of Presidential Security, which had been recruited from civilians who had firearms and security experience or from a few current members within the fleet to protect the president. They were all mobilized, grabbing rifles, pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns from the ship's recently created armory and stationed in critical areas around the ship. The colonial marines might be somewhat better armed, with better armor and in most cases a fair amount more training but these security forces knew the ship that they were fighting in and had trained with one purpose: to protect the president, whatever the cost may be.
The marines used a high-powered laser cutter to breach into the ship, and the 21 of them (along with the three officers) took up position before consulting a map. They scared away any civilians that passed, and quite frankly no one was interested in anyone but the president or anyone who stood against them. As they rounded the corner they were confronted with four members of presidential security, their weapons all drawn in anticipation of having to use them.
"Drop your weapons!" Tigh ordered. They refused, with everyone's guns pointed at one another in a tense standoff.
"You have no legal authority to threaten us." One of them said, "The colonial fleet is not a law enforcement organization."
"To hell with the law, I'm ordered to arrest the president," Tigh said.
"On what grounds?" The same guard replied. "Her overriding the military chain of command," Tigh replied.
"That's not a legal reason. She is the commander in chief of the colonial military, which makes this into a coup attempt."
Marks looked at Apollo, as both of them were thinking the same thing. This situation was getting worse and worse, and it seemed that Tigh and Adama were starting to go off of the rails. This couldn't be allowed to continue. Added to the issue was that Tigh had recently had a drink. Not enough to make him inebriated, but enough to make him go a little off the rails. Hell, something was probably going on with Adama as well. And right now this was exactly what they didn't need.
"Captain Marks, disarm these men," Tigh ordered.
"Sir these people are pointing guns at me." He replied to the colonel. "Look, just let us pass. You can't do anything against over 20 of us." He walked forward and everyone followed, their guns still trained on each other.
"Colonel, I think we should focus on the President's office. The goal isn't to kill anyone." Lee said.
"Captain, the goal is to carry out the mission. If that involves killing people then so be it." Tigh replied. Soon they reached another patrol of presidential security, near the president's office. There were eight of them, all behind cover, and they looked to be better armed than the previous team which had easily been pushed over.
"Stop, if you come any closer we will open fire!" The lead guard said. Marks looked at Apollo again. This was not a decision that they wanted to be taking right now.
"Get out of the way and drop your weapons or we will open fire on you!" Tigh replied.
No one would be sure who fired the first shot, but it would later be revealed from the security footage that it had been a young colonial marine who must have gotten nervous and accidentally fired. Nevertheless, there was soon a shooting war going on between the 20-plus Marines and the presidential security team. This didn't look like a good combination, and in the chaos 5 the Marines got shot, however, they managed to kill all of the presidential security forces.
The marines rushed forward, rapidly entering other corridors as they soon found the president's office. Using another laser cutter, the door was breached and the team of marines rushed in.
"Madam President, you are under arrest for refusing to follow orders of the Commander," Tigh said.
"I'm the commander in chief, I never knew that was a law on the books."
"Well bring it up with Commander Adama," Tigh said, looking around at the other members of the Presidential security forces in the area. "Drop your weapons and you will not be harmed."
"Marines, I am rightfully the commander in chief of the colonial armed forces, though that is not an authority that I have been exercising. Stand down and turn your weapons on those who are pointing them at me." She said,
Marks looked at Apollo. This was the final straw. The law was clear in what it saw the correct position as and they were going to follow it. Both pointed their weapons at Colonel Tigh.
"Stand down Colonel." Marks said. "Everyone, we just received orders from the President of the colonies, and I'd anyone does not follow them they will be court-martialed." He said. One by one, each of the marines turned their weapons on Tigh.
"Commander Adama." Marks said over his two-way radio. "I have received orders from the president of the colonies to stand down and ensure that she is kept safe. These orders came from the commander in chief of the entire colonial military, and therefore overwrote your orders." He said.
"Bullshit. Your orders are to arrest the president, not join her!" Adama said.
"Sorry sir, but what you're doing right now is essentially a coup attempt. I'd stand down if I were you."
Meanwhile, as this was going on the heavy cruiser Lansing returned to the fleet. As it did so, it was confronted with a bombardment of messages, including what was going on with the fleet at the moment.
"Open a channel to Adama."
"Commander Hudson, what's your status?" Adama asked.
"Well sir, the Cylons showed up. All the Vipers that were deployed got back without issue but we lost four raptors with survey crews aboard. Two were lost with all hands but two have their crews intact from what we can see, so I hope that a rescue operation is in order."
"It will be done, commander. A situation has unfolded within the fleet." He explained what had happened.
"Commander, what do you want me to do?"
"Stay at condition two, and prepare for a potential battle." He said and then closed the line.
"Sir, do you know if this is the right choice?" Colonel Carry Foln, the executive officer asked.
"Quite frankly I don't." He replied. "We're only hearing the story from Adama's point of view. I need to talk to someone else." He ordered his communication officer to contact Commander Baker.
"Audrey, are you alright?" He asked.
"Yes, but this fleet certainly isn't." She replied. "Do you know what happened?"
"Somewhat, but I've only heard from Adama, and single perspectives are dangerous." He said. He then explained the situation from her perspective, with the arguments of how it technically was illegal to overthrow the government and Roslin hadn't done anything technically wrong.
"What do the battle lines look like?"
"Looks like the majority are on the side of Roslin, both civilian and military. But Adama still has Galactica and what honestly could be described as a lot of the military ships."
"I just hope that this won't turn into a shooting war." He said.
"Me too."
Author's note: Well, this is going to be different. Having multiple people with multiple warships and multiple viewpoints is going to mean that you're going to be put in an interesting position. Now before anyone asks it isn't going to come to a shooting war, but it's going to come damn close, as you're about to see. Next episode we're going to go back to Caprica and see what's going on there; since the series began I've been a bit sparse on what's going on there.
A couple of other things: The crashing of the raptor never made sense in my opinion. The colonials should have sent in a scouting raptor beforehand to watch and make sure the area was clear. Sure, if a raider was running dark or magically appeared out of FTL then there isn't much you can do, but they jumped into an ambush. And that's because, with the limited assets that were available to the colonial fleet with only Galactica and the civilians, this equation gets a lot more favorable as you account for the large number of military assets that are.