Chapter 22 - The Fall Part 5

TN:- Sorry for the delay this weekend. I had a thing called work that got in the way. How inconsiderate of my boss to schedule shifts when I had chapters to release. LMAO.

Special Opp's retrieval team Beta - Picon - Secluded exit of Fleet Command Bunker - 12 Hours Into Attack

Staff Sergeant Clemens was leading his team towards where picon HQ used to be as they had made sure there VIP got aboard the extraction ship before they made the trip here on orders from Louise Corman to check for any survivors.

He was given the location to an entrance to the emergency tunnel that only the higher ranked officers in command knew about so here they were in the mountains located a few miles away from the actual base.

They were taking it slow as they got closer to the entrance as they were trying to avoid being detected by the Cylon raiders who were flying patrol over the area. The squad he was leading was made up of 8 people including himself, There were 4 regulars who specialized in infiltration, then there was the medic, comms specialist and demolitions expert.

It took them 2 hours to traverse the mountain paths to get to the entrance hidden inside an old hunters cabin. They had just got within visual range of the Cabin when they noticed movement inside. Sgt Clemens Held up his hand to halt their movement and then signaled his squad to spread out and take fire positions on the cabin.

They held their positions and waited to see if whoever was inside would exit the cabin when luck was in their favor as the cabin door opened. But they were surprised and glad to see marines exit the cabin while surveying the area for threats.

Clemens signaled his squad to stay in their positions when he called out. "Colonial Marines I am Staff Sgt Clemens, search and rescue, hold fire as I reveal myself." He waited a few seconds then stood up with his hands raised away from his weapons as the marines who exited the cabin aimed in his direction quickly.

The marine he guessed was the leader called out in return. "Why are you here?" He asked, having no other way to verify who he was or why he was there.

Sgt Clemens decided a bit of truth was needed. "I work for Kronus Security and was sent by Admiral Cormans Daughter to see if there were any survivors from the colonial fleet HQ." He then decided to add a bit of explanation to why he was there. "Admiral Kosta shared data about this location before he went radio silent after the initial attacks."

The Marine held his hand up to his ear as he was receiving a message and then signaled his men to lower their weapons. "Ok Sgt you can enter but keep your hands where we can see them until we get the ok from the Admiral."

Sgt Clemens decided it was best to bring the rest of his team with him as things could go very wrong if they get found before he could say something. "Ok, The rest of my team will be revealing themselves so don't shoot." He waited for a nod from the marine and signaled for his men to reveal themselves.

As the team stood up the marines were surprised so many people were so close and they didn't even know. "Ok Sgt you can follow me the rest of your team will stay here until who you are is verified, understand."

Sgt Clemens nodded and gave orders for his men to keep an eye on the surrounding area then followed the marine who turned out to be a sergeant himself. "Lead the way."

Battlestar Galactica - Entrance to Ragnar Anchorage Tunnel - 12 Hours Into Attack

Battlestar Galactica had just finished their last jump into the same system as Ragnar Anchorage and was firing its engines to make the final journey to the entrance of the tunnel.

It was as they were approaching the tunnel that they received a I'D challenge. "Battlestar Galactica Please send verification code." Was the message they received.

Commander Adama nodded towards Lt Dualla and she sent there verification codes. "Verification sent sir." Was her reply.

They waited for about a minute when they received another message. "Battlestar Galactica permission to enter Ragnar Anchorage granted please maintain course and heading and enter Ragnar Station."

Commander Adama ordered his helm to do as requested. They spent the next 10 minutes transitioning the tunnel when their dradis started to beep as it finally got a clear sweep of the area after entering the bubble of normal space.

The crew of the Galactica CIC watched as more than a dozen colonial fleet IFF's appeared and a couple dozen other IFF's. Colonel Tigh put voice to their thoughts. "By god. It's a whole battlegroup." He then turned to Adama and said. "Do you know who's in charge of this Battlegroup?"

Commander Adama nod's and says. "Admiral Leonidas Kosta and he happens to be a distant cousin of mine."

"What kind of luck is that?" Tigh replies. "But the question is why was he here instead of above picon with the rest of the fleet."

Adama looked pensive as he agreed with his long time friend but he wanted to give his family the benefit of the doubt. "We will see when we meet him."

It was 10 minutes later when Galactica took up position with the rest of the colonial fleet units. Commander Adama was standing in the hangar of his only functioning flight pod waiting on the Admirals Raptor to touch down. As the raptor finished taxiing to just in front of the marine detail who stood at attention in full honors for the visiting admiral.

The Raptors Hatch opened and Colonel Tigh Shouted. "Admiral on deck." Everyone present snapped to attention and saluted as Admiral Kosta stepped out of the raptor and saluted back.

"At ease, Permission to come aboard commander." Admiral Kosta asked.

Commander Adama replied in kind. "Permission granted, Welcome aboard Galactica, Sir."

Admiral Kosta then smiled and walked up to Adama and held out his hand for a handshake. Adama took the hand and shook it then introduced him to a few of the crew starting with Colonel Tigh and Starbuck.

"It's a pleasure, Kara Thrace, is that any relation to John Thrace?" He asked.

Starbuck looked at the admiral and then replied. "I think he is a great uncle or something. Never actually met him after he had a falling out with my grandfather."

Leo smiled at this. "Well I guess some good news for you then is that he is alive as he works for my company as is currently away from the colonies. Maybe you could meet him and get to know who he is." He enjoyed the look of shock on her face at this revelation and it seemed Adama did as well.

Starbuck replied after coming out of her shock. "I might do that. What does he do for you?" She asked.

Leo smiled at her and said. "Well he leads my security company's intelligence division. But personally I think he does it so he can still fly the ships himself when my grandfather is not looking." He added with a bit of humor.

Starbuck smiled. "Sounds like we have that in common." She then smiled when Commander Adama coughed to interrupt their conversation to get them back on track.

"Well i think that's enough of the pleasantries, I believe we need to speak about a few things and for me to fill you in on where we stand." Leo said to Adama.

Adama nodded and led the way to his private lounge. He entered and was followed by Leo and colonel Tigh. "Would you like something to drink?"

Leo nodded and replied. "Just some water Please." Adama handed him a glass of water. "Thank you."

He waited for Adama to sit after handing Colonel Tigh a drink and pouring himself one. He started off by asking. "So I think we should start off with why you weren't over Picon when the fleet engaged the Cylons."

Leo nodded and said. "Well i think i should start from the beginning..." Leo then went on to tell him what happened between the attack and now. " So there you have it, The reason i wasn't over picon with the rest of the fleet is that we didn't get the message about the attack until after it happened as between the Cylon jamming and the interference we weren't getting much of anything from any source and it wasn't until the Cylons relaxed there jamming that the influx of messages came through and by then it was too late to do anything apart from wait here for you."

Adama nodded as it made sense as they too experienced a lot of the jamming and only got a few messages through the fleet communications before losing all contact altogether. "Ok well our report is a little simpler than that. After the initial attack message we encountered a pair of raiders that launched nukes at us and another pair at our squadron who were returning to the ship. The pair that launched on our Squadron was intercepted by someone but were still not sure who. The pair that came after us were shot down by Starbuck and a few other mark 2's we got into the air. Then it was as simple as we made our way here to re-arm when we got the message about Picon and I made the decision in place of any active leadership to take command and direct all ships here to regroup."

Leo nodded and said. "I have no problems with the decisions you made and can agree that given what you knew that taking command was the right thing to do." Then he took a sip of water. "Well I think now that is out of the way i can explain what we are going to do. First is that we will be gathering with the civilian fleet being led by the now president Laura Roslin, I believe you have already had the pleasure."

"Yes, it wasn't the most pleasant of encounters but we can be civil at least." Adama said as a reply with a snort from Colonel Tigh who was already on his second drink at that point.

"Well moving on from that, I have already written to her when I sent a raptor team to guide them here that I was declaring martial law until such a time that we are no longer at risk of immediate attack." Colonel Tigh Smiled and Leo heard him saying something about school teachers under his breath. "Apart from that there is something else you should know is that between myself, my company Kosta Enterprises and Fleet Admiral Corman we built a colonial colony some 36 months away by jump drive just in case something like this ever happened given the cuts in fleet funding during the last administration."

To say they were both shocked was an understatement. Adama was the first to recover. "So what you're saying is we have somewhere we can retreat to and regroup without the threat of the Cylons over our heads." Leo nodded and he continued. "So I take it the plan is to evacuate with whatever we can save then rebuild and eventually come back and recover the colonies?"

Leo looked him in the eye and said. "Well the retreat there and rebuild is part of the plan. What happens after that is still not determined yet as there are a lot of factors that will determine what actually happens."

Adama nods then asks. "The only problem I see is getting there as yes the military ships and some of the more up to date civilian ships can hold up to the maximum amount of jumps and time frame but the older civilian ships will be lucky to make it even half way."

Leo nodded and replied. "Yes and we have plans in place for such a situation but until we can weed out any infiltrators in the fleet the plan will be confidential and I'm not saying I don't trust you but I need to speak to the president first before divulging more information."

Adama agreed as he understands that the chain of command is the backbone of the fleet and needs to be upheld now more than ever. "That's fine, it's just good to know there is hope for a future for us."

Leo then fills them in on a few other plans and there progress before finishing up with something a bit more close to home for the commander. "Well I do have some good news for you Commander, I have had short intermittent reports from my raptor crew that went to meet with the President and they reported that they met up with some colonial fleet officers. One was someone with the callsign Boomer and the other had the call sign Apollo." Leo smiled and waited for Adama to settle down after showing some relief that his son was alive and then continued. "I am also glad to say that less than an hour ago I received confirmation from a team I had on Caprica that they managed to save your wife and the majority of our other family. You may ask how and all i can tell you is after my discussion with Admiral Corman i put into place an emergency order with Kronus security that in the case of any catastrophic attack that they where to use any means necessary to rescue my extended family and that included your wife, It doesn't matter that you are estranged as she is still the mother of Lee and would still be family in my book."

Commander Adama just shut down at the revelation and just stared at Leo for what seemed like an hour when he came out of it and just said the only words he could. "Thank you Leo, you don't know how much this means to me." Leo nodded and got up and left the commander and colonel to their private discussion while he went to explore the old girl that is Galactica.

Alteran Battlegroup Charlie - 9 Hours Into Attack

Battlegroup Charlie jumped into the same system as one of the Cylons biggest tylium mines and refineries and got into formation to face the 2 base stars that were in the system to guard the mine.

The plan was for the Alteran Mars class to focus on one of the base ships and the 2 revamped Jupiter's to focus on the other while the Gunstars would jump in later and from a different direction and attack the mines and refineries and any tankers that they find in orbit.

The plan went well to begin with and the battle was progressing as planned and the Gunstars had just jumped in when 4 more base ships jumped into the system and launched their raiders. Commander Walker who was in charge of this group issued an immediate recall of the vipers and ordered the Gunstars to launch every nuke they had loaded at the planet then jump out.

The Base ships didn't waste time and launched a massive nuclear strike at both the battlestars and Gunstars. A few of the missiles managed to hit the two Jupiter's causing their polarized hull to overload and cause damage but wasn't enough to stop them from jumping out.

What the Leader of the Cylon reinforcements didn't think it through and several of their own nukes hit the planet and caused a cascading explosion that destroyed the planet and all but one of the base ships as the debris from the planet smashed into them before the base ships could jump away.

Back at the battlegroup Charlie's rendezvous location the Jupiter's had just arrived and you could tell that they had taken a beating as there were compartments open to space where the hull had just melted off and other areas where there used to be weapon placements were just chunks of slag.

Commander Walker ordered all available repair teams to make there way to the ships and make sure they were jump capable as they couldn't progress with there secondary targets considering the amount of damage half his task force has taken so he decided to fall back as the survival of his ships and crew where more important than hitting some supply depots that may or may not slow the Cylons down.

Colonial 1 - Entrance to Ragnar Anchorage Tunnel - 13 Hours Into Attack

Colonial One had just finished its last jump into the area above Ragnar and they went about making sure everyone made it. They finished their confirmations and decided to move towards the entrance when they were challenged by the raptor keeping watch. They sent their identification code to the raptor and received instructions on entering the tunnel.

It took the better part of an hour for the fleet to transition the tunnel with Colonial One going last and when they cleared the tunnel President Roslin looked out of the cockpit at the gathered ships which now numbers over 200 including 5 Battlestars and a number of other escort and support ships.

She looked around at each of the ships with new hope that they could survive and thrive after they have escaped the Cylons as she has already accepted the fact that they will have to leave the colonies behind if they are to survive.

It was as she was contemplating their future that the co-pilot got her attention. "Ma'am you have been requested to go aboard the station to meet with the Admiral and the other battlestar commanders. They have requested that you take Captain Adama and Lt Valerii with you."

Roslin didn't like being told to go but knew the meeting needed to happen so she just nodded and left the cabin to go to the cargo hold that they have used as a makeshift hanger. On the way she gathered both Apollo and Boomer and told them the orders she received for them to accompany her to the station for a meeting.

In the end it turned into Roslin and Billy in the raptor with Boomer as the pilot followed by Apollo in his viper. They exited the cargo hold of the Colonial Heavy and made their way over to the station and landing in the bay as directed to be met by a marine guard of honor and several ranking colonial officers.

As Roslin left the raptor one of the officers shouted out. "President of the Colonies on Deck." All the colonial military present snapped to attention.

Admiral Kosta walked up to her and saluted and said. "Welcome aboard Ragnar Mobile Station Ma'am."

"Thank you Admiral but I thought this was a static station." Roslin asked in confusion.

"Well that will be covered in our meeting Ma'am, First i think i should introduce you to some people first." He led her over to the commanders who accompanied him and starting from left to right he introduced each commander while allowing them to shake her hand. "These are Commander's Agathon of Battlestar Rycon, Johnson of Battlestar Mystic, Davidson of Battlestar Courageous, Ferguson of Battlestar Virtuous and lastly but certainly not least is Commander Adama of the re-activated Battlestar Galactica."

Roslin shook each of their hands and then turned back to Leo and said. "Admiral, Commanders it is a pleasure to meet you all but i think we need to talk and we don't really have the time for niceties given everything that's going on."

Leo nodded and replied. "Very well Ma'am if you would follow me to the briefing room I will fill you in on all you need to know." He then led her through the maze of hallways to the briefing room on the command level. They all entered the room and sat down while Leo gave orders for the guards to not disturb them unless necessary and then closed the door and flipped the switch to activate the anti-espionage measures.

He then went to the foot of the table as President Roslin sat at the head without direction clearly stating that she was in charge. "Now that we're all here and settled I will make a couple of revelations that I think will influence our decisions going forward." He then picked up a clipboard on the table and started. "First of all, not the only colonials left as I have reports of several ships and small fleets scattered around colonial space but have been unable to safely contact them at this time. Secondly we believe there are possibly hundreds of thousands if not millions of survivors in remote areas of each colony who have yet to face the Cylon clean up operations."

He waited for the exclamations to settle before moving on. "Next is that while we the biggest colonial element that have survived in the colonies i have received word that my companies private security forces have survived as well and they have another 4 battlestars and a number of other ships with them and will be here with in the next 3 hours which gives me more hope that we can defend the civilians." He waited for any questions but he got none.

He went to the next page of his reports. "Next is that my techs have gone over the CNP and have reported that it wasn't a hack and that the back door was deliberately placed in the program from the start and that whoever placed it had first hand knowledge of both the program and the defense mainframes. It was also speculated that to get this through the rigorous checks and trials it would have gone through to be allowed to be uploaded on the military ships in the first place they would have had to have infiltrated both the government and military and also taken advantage of the corruption that has been rampant in the current colonial system."

Laura didn't like what he was suggesting and said as much. "Now Admiral i don't think that is right as there couldn't have been that much corruption as there are too many checks and balances to spot and punish it." She argued passionately.

Leo just looked at her and said, "I'll be honest with you Ma'am i think you're deluding yourself as i have been privy to both the military and civilian structures and i can tell you that there is corruption in both. For example we have someone who suffered from the worst of it here in this room with Commander Adama who was used as a scapegoat for the whole Valkyrie fiasco. That whole situation started because Adar used his influence to bypass the chain of command and used military assets on a recon mission that didn't need to happen and when it went wrong instead of owning up to his mistakes he passed the blame off to Commander Adama here costing him his promotion to Admiral and forcing him in to a stalled career path."

It was Commander Adama that asked. "So what you're saying is that the mission I was sent on that cost us one of our best pilots was not approved by fleet command and was actually instigated by the president's office and when it went to Frak I was the one who took the blame." He looked right pissed off right now.

Admiral Kosta looked him square in the eyes and said. "Unfortunately that is all true and i'm sorry that it happened to you as the president did not give Admiral Corman much choice when it went wrong and he used all his ability at the time to keep you in the fleet at all as he knew how much effort you put in to getting back in the fleet after being discharged after the first war so he did his best to keep you active and a commander but it cost you any chance for promotion at the time."

Leo held up his hand to stall any more replies. "I will go into more detail with you at another time as we need to move on." He waited for them to settle and continued. "What we have also discovered is that they have infiltrated nearly every level of the government and are high enough in the fleet to get the program installed without the usual checks."

He handed out a folder to each commander and the president. "We believe that there are two types of infiltrators: those who know what they are and actively work to further their cause and then there are the sleepers who have no knowledge of who they are and are used to infiltrate and then assassinate high ranking officers." He then went on to show then 5 out of the 7 models of Cylons he knows about as he had proof for those 5 as he hasn't managed it with the other 2 yet. "The first is an older Caucasian man who regularly takes on the role of a preacher or priest and often uses the name Cavil. The second is a tall blonde who we have found often uses her good looks and seduction to get what she needs and we believe that she was instrumental in planting the CNP back door as we have witnesses that saw her hanging around with Gaius Baltar for years leading up to the attack."

He was stopped there by President Roslin. "Well it just so happens that we have Gaius Baltar aboard Colonial One as the Eco of Boomers crew gave up his seat to allow him off Caprica."

Commander Adama was the first to respond. "You're telling me Lt Agathon gave up his seat for a possible traitor."

When it was revealed who it was that gave up his seat Commander Agathon stood up and leaned in and asked with a growl. "Please tell me that his first name is not Karl as that's my younger brother?"

Commander Adama looked at him with a little sympathy. "Unfortunately I can't."

Commander Agathon looked ready to rip Baltar to pieces. "With permission sir i would like to send scouts back to Caprica to try and find him."

Leo knew it was coming so he looked him in the eyes and said. "Permission denied, For now as we need to consolidate ourselves before we can save anyone as much as I want to save someone who would willingly give up his own chance of survival for the colonies, I won't risk more lives until we have a proper plan in place."

Commander Agathon was about to protest until he heard the full explanation and understood that risking more lives just for his brother would make the sacrifice he made even more pointless than it already was. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Ok with that, give me a minute to send a detail to arrest Baltar for questioning." Leo then walked to the door and opened it to speak to the Sgt outside. While he was there he was handed a note as well and he smiled and walked back to the table. "Well i have some good news, A team i sent from Kronus security to Picon after we established contact has found the emergency exit to the command bunker below Picon HQ and they have just reported in that Admiral Corman has survived with another 200+ others and as soon as we can arrange it safely will be evacuated back to the fleet."

They were all glad to hear that the leader of the colonial fleet had survived and would be joining them soon. "That is very good news as he would have access to a lot of hidden plans that the rest of us wouldn't and would also solve any problems with the chain of command if we encounter any more admirals that may have survived the attack." Commander Davidson said.

Leo nodded then said. "Well let's continue with what we were discussing." They all nodded and he continued. "The third picture is a tall coloured man who has been found to take on the role of a doctor or researcher. The next one is a medium build man with dirty blonde hair and from what info we have managed to gather takes on the role as an arms dealer and we captured one here when he tried to infiltrate the station to destroy the stores and called himself Leoben. Then there is the last picture of a woman with strawberry blonde hair who from what we have gathered takes on the role of a news correspondent for smaller agencies with limited reach so they don't overlap with each other."

They all took some time looking over the photos and deciding that they needed to institute a fleet wide photo id and database so that they could weed out any more of these agents.

Leo then came to his last revelation for the day which turned out to be the colony he helped the colonial fleet set up and explained that the idea was if an attack happened they would evac and survivors they could to the colony and then decide if the colonies where in a position that it was worth fight to take the 12 colonies back or to abandon them fully.

After that they discussed a few small issues such as supplies and moving fleet personnel and civilians around. Leo also asked the president to get some rest and that they would meet up for a private meeting to discuss how they were going to run things going forward the next day once they have gathered everyone into this one place ready to leave the colonies.