Chapter 14 - 5 Years Before the Fall
TN:- Just to be clear I've had some time off work which is why there are more updates than usual.
Caprica City - Presidents Office
Adar has been president for 5 years and he has centralized the majority of the power of the colonial government but there have been problems along the way both Civil and Military. What has annoyed him the most is that he still hasn't found a reason to replace the current fleet admiral Corman and put one of his own guys into place and the mission he issued by bypassing the fleet admirals office didn't help matters.
Flashback - 6 Years before the fall
Adar sat in his office going over the paperwork of his latest policy to again reduce the fleet budget and use it for his social projects to secure the support for the election that's being held in 6 months. He was just signing the last form when there was a commotion in the reception room loud enough to be heard through the sound dampening around the doors to his office. It was less than a minute after it started that his doors were thrown open and in walked Fleet Admiral Corman who didn't look at all happy.
"What convoluted idea gave you permission to bypass my office and issue orders to my ships and commanders." Corman all but shouted at the president.
Adar looked at him arrogantly. "Last time I checked I was still commander and chief."
Corman looked ready to jump across the table and strangle him. "Yes you are but there is this thing called chain of command that is instrumental in making sure fuck ups dont happen as it did this time."
Adar looked confused for a moment as he hadn't received the report from the mission he issued through his pocket Admiral as he called him. "What do you mean fucked up?"
Corman looked at him like he was an idiot. "That mission you issued to break the armistice and scout the other side of the agreed on border has ended with them finding the ship and chasing it down. If it wasn't for the quick thinking of commander Adama by destroying the scout ship and killing one of his own men, something I wouldn't ask any of my commanders to do."
Adar was contemplative and asked. "Did the Cylons attack the Valkyrie?"
"No they didn't or we would be having a different discussion right now but that doesn't mean that you haven't re-started the war with the cylons because you couldn't leave well enough alone." Corman said back.
Adar was looking troubled when he saw his closest advisor Brother Cavil walk in the room. "What's all the commotion about." He walked up to the arguing pair and sat in a chair as if he owned the place. Corman narrowed his eyes at this as he doesn't like this supposed religious man as he has a habit of poking his nose into things that he shouldn't, just like right now. "And what business is it of yours as I don't remember it involving anything religious." Corman snapped back.
Adar at that point after being conditioned by Cavil to defend his being there, snapped back. "Now Admiral i think i can choose who should be here and who shouldn't and Brother Cavil is my closest friend and ally so you can either accept him being here or resign." You can tell by the way he said it that he was hoping Corman would take the second option but knew it was too much to hope for.
Corman looked back to Adar and said. "So you would trust the advice of a religious man over your Fleet Admiral when it came to military matters." He asked this question but didn't expect an answer that he would like. "Anyway, what do you want to do now that you could possibly start another war?"
Before Adar could respond Brother Cavil inserted himself in the conversation. "If as you said this Commander Adama destroyed the evidence that it was a military ship then why do we have to do anything but watch the border like we already are. If we start to make too many moves to prepare for war it will cause panic and chaos with the civilians and might give the cylons if they are still there the impression that we are going to attack them."
Adar was happy with what Cavil said and agreed with him. "I think Brother Cavil is right, we don't need to do anything but tell the border patrols to be more alert for the next few weeks."
Corman wasn't happy but knew he was fighting a losing battle so he moved on. "What do you suggest we do about the death of the pilot as you have the crew of a whole battlestar who knows that they were near the border and fired across the line at one of their own and word will get out as it's just the way things go." He asked.
It was Brother Cavil who again came up with an answer. "Simple we say the pilot was trying to steal and get away with the craft and Adama had no choice but to destroy it as he couldn't follow them across the border. Then because it was one of his own men we demote and move Adama to a position where he can't cause any problems."
Corman was about ready to murder Cavil there and then when he suggested throwing one of his commanders under the bus to save their own ass's, not to mention dishonoring one of his own men. "Not going to happen, I will not dishonor one man who has died doing his duty and then punish another for doing his best to prevent a war."
Adar was less than pleased with Cormans response but he didn't want a bigger headache so he modified the plan slightly. "Fine, It will be a computer mishap and Adama had no choice but to destroy the ship or cause a war. Adama will keep his rank but transfer him to a non-important position till he retires."
Corman was still not happy but knew this was the best he was going to get so he agreed and left the office.
Flash Back End.
Adar was less than happy after that happened as his pocket admiral got reassigned to a fleet depot station to sit and watch decommissioned ships sit in space which made him useless to Adar and any prospect of making him Fleet Admiral in the future non-existent. He has spent the last 6 months looking into the other Admirals in the fleet to find someone else he can either sway to his side or blackmail into doing things his way to be his new fleet admiral prospect but he was coming up short.
What isn't helping matters is the current problem he was having with the teachers as his new policies that cut back on funding for updating resources and school's has the teachers up in arms and what he did by freezing any pay rises for the next 5 years all but had them up in arms. He has already had to deal with several minor strikes in the other cities of Caprica but instead of dying down its gaining traction and spreading to Caprica City itself.
He was currently looking for a new Secretary of Education and Laura Roslin was his top candidate and what helped was that she was easy on the eye and looked to be willing if the flirting they had done so far was anything to go by. Even though he was married he still had relations with several women as his marriage was a political alliance and he was not in love with his wife so didn't really see it as cheating. He finished daydreaming and went back to work as he started to look over the proposal to do with the finished CNP program that was submitted by the genius Gaius Baltar for fleet wide updates to make FTL travel more efficient and opens up the option of more networked computers so they can cut back on even more fleet personnel.
Cylon Meeting Virtual World
Cavil was having a good day; they had finally gotten the CNP finished and submitted to Adar to be implemented fleet-wide. They had everything in place to make sure their back door program doesn't get found and that over the next 4 years for all Battlestars to have the system installed.
Cavil looked at the rest of the lead models and spoke. "Ok with the CNP finally in place we can start the next phase of the plan." He looked towards the Eight. "How is the progress of inserting people into the fleet to be in position to take out troublesome officers."
The Eight responded. "We are progressing well and with a little data manipulation we have managed to put in place over 50 agents in positions which will give them easy access to the officers on the day of the attack." The Eight paused before continuing. "The only person where unsure on if we should place anyone with Adama as he has been assigned to the Galactica that is due to be decommissioned on the day of the attack and turned into a museum ship."
At her questioning a Three spoke up. "We should still put someone into place as if even one battlestar survives it could cause problems for our future plans with the colonies." The rest of the Models agreed, even Cavil and the Galactica were added to the list for infiltration.
Cavil Stood up and asked. "So what is the progress of infiltrating Kosta enterprises and its affiliates?"
The models looked at each other before the two stood up and said. "We have been able to infiltrate some of their operations within the colonies but we have been unable to place anyone within the upper levels of their leadership or their high level research posts. Lastly we have been having trouble getting any tech onto there ships as everything is checked and checked again before its installed and we didn't want to risk the devices being found and the alert going out before the attack."
Cavil was not pleased with the level of their success that they have had with infiltrating the company and he realized it's probably his fault especially after the play he made using Adar as they would be fools not to verify every applicants background before they hire them after they had a confrontation with the President Elect at the time. What made it worse is that they have been unable to affect the company much even though they have used rival companies to out maneuver them several times by purchasing mining claims right from under them on several occasions but they always seem to find the resources they need even without them.
"Just try harder or I will look for someone who can." Cavil all but spat out after moving the blame about his own failure to the Two who stood up after all he was the future supreme leader of the cylons, he cant make mistakes or fail.
The Two acknowledge the rebuke as they have learnt that no matter what they can't argue with One as he has had others boxed when they have attempted to in the past.
Cheyenne Mountain Complex - United States - Earth - 5 Years Before the Fall
In a large room that had several tables and whiteboards covered with notes and books old enough to be made of animal skin you would find Dr Daniel Jackson looking over his translations of the cartouche that was found in Egypt during the late 1920's by the Langford expedition. He was unknowingly being watched by a group of 4 ascended as they watched him work out the gate address and rush out of the room.
The first ascended said. "Well the people of earth have finally discovered and learned their first address and will be taking their first step among the stars."
The Second ascended, looked at her companion and replied. "Oma, it's their time and hopefully they will learn fast as it's a lot more dangerous out there than when we first took our first steps beyond our home world."
The first ascended who turned out to be named Oma nodded and replied in kind. "Yes and they have many years of challenges ahead for them. I just hope that the right people stay in charge and we don't see the start of another bloody path to domination." She then turned to the third ascended in their group and asked. "So Athena what do you think of this as they could cross paths with your chosen in the future and although Leo and his kind are our genetic descendants the population of earth are as much our children as well."
Athena looked in thought for a minute and then commented. "We can see many futures ahead for both groups but free will is still a large part of what we believe in so I will watch and hope that they meet peacefully and not become enemies."
Her brother Aries, who was the fourth member of their group agreed with his sister but remained silent. They followed Dr Jackson until they got to what looked like a conference room where an older man with graying hair and a thick mustache was looking out a window at the Astria Porta in the bottom of what was a nuclear missile silo. He was dressed in a blue dress uniform and had the rank pins of a Major General and his name tag said West. He turned as Dr Jackson came into the room and asked. "Dr Jackson have you made any progress."
Dr Jackson smiled and replied. "Yes sir, if you could follow me to my room I will show you."
General West nodded and called out to his staff to ask for the relevant people to go to Dr Jackson's lab.
The Ascended looked on as they went back to the lab and Dr Jackson explained how he came to Translate the tablet and that he figured out the complete sequence of symbols. They then discussed the forming of an exploration team and what they were to do if they are successful with using the new sequence of symbols.
The group of ascended decided that they will watch the progress of this history making first trip through the Astria Porta for the people of earth.
Picon Fleet HQ - 4 Years before the Fall
Leo was sat in the Fleet Admirals office's waiting area after being called back from patrolling the border with the Cylon's and was waiting to go into the office for whatever the meeting is for as they all agreed they would not discuss anything to do with what they decided to call operation Safe Haven. It was while he was contemplating this the door to the inner office opened and Admiral Corman came out with Nagala on his shoulder and directed Leo to follow them as they left the office at a moderate pace.
Leo was still trying to figure out what was going on as they entered the elevator and proceeded down even further than was normal for everyday work. After a Few minutes the lift came to a stop and they exited the lift and walked down a corridor to a set of doors that took both senior admirals ID to open and they walked in with Leo still following them when they entered the room.
"Leo what you are about to see can be told to no one and we are only showing you this as we both fear that given the current climate we will be forced into retirement in the next decade or so as we are fighting the changes to the fleet but we are losing most battles and we feel we will lose the war with the bean counters soon. What you see is the original Cylon Mainframe that was on caprica before their rebellion. Those before us decided that it was a good bargaining chip to keep but only if the enemy didn't know we had it so a copy was made and shown to be destroyed in public but the real one was secretly moved here and has been locked up down here since." Corman looked at Leo and then continued to press a code into a pad as a blast door rose up showing what looked like a massive computer core in the center of a room. "We are worried that the wrong people will find out and try to use the information on this core to make the same mistakes our fathers and grandfathers made that lead to the start of the war. We are planning to destroy the core and fill in this level with concrete in the coming weeks but what we want is for you to take a copy of all the data and keep it outside the colonies where only you and someone you trust knows."
Leo looked shocked at what they were revealing and before he could answer Nagala spoke. "Leo, we are worried that there will be another war within the next 2 decades but we are not sure where it will come from. We are seeing more and more unrest between the colonies and the government is doing nothing but making it worse with its bias towards the more developed colonies. We and others like us believe that if it does devolve into civil war and the Caprican government finds this server core that they will use it against their fellow humans and we can't have that happen. We have decided to promote you to Admiral and give you a battle group consisting of your current command and 3 other battlestars as well as a number of escorts and support ships." As Nagala finished what he was saying Leo was both happy and reserved as he understood their fears but didn't want to let them know that they are worrying about the wrong thing and that a civil war is the least of these worries.
Leo knew that they were probably worrying over the wrong thing but he needed the rank so he agreed and accepted the promotion. They then handed him a sheet of paper with the composition of his battlegroup and what support ships he was going to get. It turned out that he was being moved to one of the new Mercury Class ships that will be his Flagship when it was officially commissioned into service in 2 weeks. His other Battlegroup ships are going to be his previous command and 1 other Mars class and he was also getting one of the new Valkyrie class as well which gave his battlegroup a nice mix of ships for a more well rounded combat profile.
It was as he was going over the sheet of paper that they made their way back to Cormans office to go over his new standing orders and to officially sign the paperwork needed for the promotion. They then sat down to continue to discuss the plan to move the core and what Leo will be doing with his battlegroup which turned out to be patrolling the gaps between the systems and hunting down pirates.
Leo spent the next 2 weeks meeting up with Louise going over updates of their plans and he was happy with their progress. He asked her to start putting into place plans to have ships in place to evacuate their people and their families. The plan they came up with that wouldn't attract attention was to have all their workers on their orbital dockyard which had a jumpdrive that could travel 20 Light Years Per Jump. They planned to use the excuse of the armistice day to have all their families there and to say it was the company's gift to pay for all their families to join them for the celebration and he would include contracting a few circus ships as well and they will just so happen to have a large tender nearby that will be able to house the cirque ship to escape. He also asked the same for the families of his battle group and that he will have a list of personnel confirmed 6 months before the attack so they can begin to approach the families and arrange for them all to be on liners with hyperdrives ready to flee at a moment's notice. He also made some plans with special ops teams to rescue important people such as scientists and high ranking officers.
Also they started to put plans into place for clearing out as many of the outer systems as possible considering the Cylons will be busy with the planets and the fleet at the time of the attack.
Two days before he was due to report he and Louise were out for a meal, They were in a back room of one of their favorite restaurants. The mood was set and they had just finished the main course when Leo gave the waiter a small nod and then music started playing and Leo got up and down on one knee holding a ring box up to Louise and asked. "Louise you're my rock, my partner and the other half of my soul, will you marry me?"
Louise was shocked but quickly said. "YES, I will marry you." She then grabbed him and pulled him off his feet into a passionate kiss and they celebrated with dessert and champagne and went home to tell others the good news.
TN:- Just so you guys know I changed the whole finding the address slightly as I just wanted to mark the beginning of Stargate and the fact that the ascended are going to be watching.