"That's one hell of a ship, I served on her in the first war." He said, holding out a hand. "Former Commander John Grinham, former commander of the battlestar Rycon."
John Grinham describing the battlestar GalacticaChapter 24: Valley of Darkness
Galactica made the jump into the coordinates that the computer had calculated, to the place that they suspected the colonial fleet was at right now.
When DRADIS contacts began emerging, it was confirmed that they were back with the fleet. A wave of cheers erupted throughout the CIC. The Galactica had found her fleet and survived the Cylon's extensive attacks against her. She'd need some fairly extensive repairs, and there was grief for the many crew members lost in the Cylon attacks, but it was good to be home.
However, this excitement was short-lived. A team of 40 centurions had boarded the ship and were making their way throughout the ship in two groups of 20. Their goal was to get to the damage control and fire control systems of the vessel, which they would use to vent the ship's atmosphere and then turn its guns on the fleet, tearing into the defenseless civilian ships. It might not destroy the fleet entirely, but it would damage them so that continued long-term survival may become impossible.
However, marines were soon on their way to secure these strategic locations and therefore save the ship. What was once less than a platoon's worth was now two companies' worth, and many of them were veterans of the Battle of the Tylium asteroid, already having seen the brutality of combat.
Captain Marks was on his way to lead a strike team that would take down the centurions. He had a dozen marines with him, prepared to do whatever was necessary to fight the Cylons and stop them from taking control of the ship. Every member of the colonial fleet except Chaplains was trained in the use of firearms. They may not be expert marksman, but they could put up a fight. By the time the Cylons had gotten close to the location that they wanted to attack, he and his squadron had set up an ambush to destroy or at least halt them. To take the centurions down, each of them was equipped with half regular ammo and half armor piercing. Some of the centurions were resistant to most small-arms fire, but this wasn't the case with all of them. It seemed like this new heavily armored model was the exception rather than the norm.
Due to everyone else on the ship, they had a good idea of where the Cylons were and had set up an ambush that would eliminate it. Being deep in the ship and not near any critical systems, they did not need to be as restrictive with their fire as they had to be in other parts of the ship. For example, they could use grenades and other types of explosives and decided that they would set up a small landmine that would then destroy at least several of the centurions.
To begin with, the group of centurions that they were encountering, had been reduced in size from its original 20 centurions to 12, as some other marines and other members of the ship's crew had destroyed several of the other centurions. This group was on its way to the aft damage control where they would try to vent the ship. The group on the auxiliary fire control had been degraded more and there was another group of marines that could handle them.
So he and his group had to do what he could. They heard the centurion advancing and it was known that they would be going down this corridor. So they had set up at a crossroads.
They heard the centurions coming, as they were not exactly quiet. The mine had been hidden under a wet floor sign and had a proximity sensor around it which would explode if anything got close.
The centurions approached, and the squad prepared themselves. When they heard the explosion, they turned to the corridor and sent out a controlled burst from all of their weapons. Several centurions were destroyed in the combined barrage, and they began laying down suppressing fire which led the colonials then pop behind cover. Marks popped out to fire a grenade from his underbarrel grenade launcher. With that, the colonials returned fire, cutting down several others. The centurions continued to advance, however, even though over half of them had already been destroyed.
As they advanced, several more were destroyed and soon only five remained. Several of the marines prepared the underslung shotguns that were attached to the lower rail of their G36 rifles. When the centurions got into close quarters, they didn't stand a chance. The combination of the dozen marines led to an impressive field of fire which destroyed all of them with no casualties.
"Well good job, let's go get those other frakkin toasters!" Marks said, rushing towards
Meanwhile, the other group of Centurions had taken heavy casualties in their fight with the colonials who were defending their ship like one defended their home. Marks and his marines snuck up behind the marines and easily took them out. They were dead in seconds, and the threat to the fleet was over. Galactica was no longer at threat of being destroyed from the inside by the Cylons.
Back on Caprica, Helo, and Starbuck also had their weapons drawn and faced the old man who was pointing a trifle at them.
"Sir, we're with the colonial fleet. We're here to save you." Helo said.
"Well, how do you know that we aren't another frakin toaster?" He asked. It was a valid question. As the Cylons looked like humans now, it meant that any one of them could be one. However, Starbuck produced a piece of paper that had been folded in her pocket before lowering her weapon and giving it to the man. Helo still had his gun pointed at the man, however.
"This is a list of all known Cylon agents who look like humans." She said, with several clear models such as number 6 and Sharon. The man lowered his gun.
"Well, it helps that I've seen almost all of those models. What ship are you from?"
"Galactica, sir," Starbuck replied. "The old girl is still kicking." The man chuckled.
"That's one hell of a ship, I served on her in the first war." He said, holding out a hand. "Former Commander John Grinham, former commander of the battlestar Rycon."
Starbuck and Helo introduced themselves and asked about what was going on with him.
"You know, I was always sure that the Cylons were going to come back. I wasn't so sure about when, but I knew I needed to be prepared. This bunker is that preparation. Some of the stuff in here is less than legal, but I don't think it matters anymore. Is the fleet still around?" He asked.
"We're part of a fair-sized group that's trying to run from the Cylons and reach Earth. We have three battlestars including the Galactica, Valkyrie, and Cunningham, and a few dozen support ships and escorts along with over two hundred civilian ships."
"That's a damn fine task force. Do you know of anyone else that survived?"
"We have suspicions that at least some did but we can't be sure," Starbuck said.
"I saw a bunch of ships jump out of here once it became clear that holding this place was not going to be possible." He said. "And several times ships have come back, often to salvage the wrecks in orbit. They've been effective at waging a guerilla war, and I've seen several Battlestars in their mix. The Cylons are now guarding the wreckage though they are not destroying it for some reason."
He said. "Was that you?"
Helo and Starbuck shook their heads. "No, that wasn't us." They responded. "So there must be other colonials alive? Regardless, there are some other people here who are alive on Caprica. Several big bases were built after the first war ended for something just like this. They're deep in the mountains and the Cylons don't know about them, and a decent number of civilians and surviving military units over there. It should be a lot safer than up here."
"Well, I guess I'll come, but I don't exactly see much room in your vehicle. But I have one of mine, don't worry. Let me just get a little bit of supplies." He said and began loading some stuff into a deuce and a half, a type of 2.5-ton truck that had been used in the colonies for well over a century. In its earliest iterations, it had served on Picon during its wars of unification where various nation-states had fought against each other in an era before widespread space travel. The design had evolved convergently in many other colonies, and been used in the Intercolonial Wars, where various colonies had fought against each other in the early era of space travel. The design had served as long as the first war, and while there were still some around it had mostly been replaced by newer vehicles. They were still used by civilians however, along with some organizations that were less than legal such as unofficial settlements outside of colonial space and criminal organizations in the colonies themselves.
Grinham led the way, as he was far more familiar with this territory than both Helo and Starbuck were. though not before locking everything up. The supplies in there were still valuable and if they managed to get back to the base they could send raptors and shuttles to pick them up.
They continued along, making good time as three of them got to higher altitudes. A Geiger counter that Helo had showed that radiation was within acceptable levels of human exposure, so they would not need to keep on taking the anti-radiation meds. This would keep the supplies going longer, which would be useful if for some reason they were unable to get back to base. They continued along at a deliberate but rapid pace, taking a road that continued to go up the mountains.
However, gunshots rang out from both sides of the road. However, none of them managed to manage to hit their targets. The two vehicles stopped and Helo was soon in the heavy machine gun turret.
"Those must have been warning shots," Grinham yelled to the other vehicle. "And the toasters do not fire warning shots."
"We're not fracking toasters!" Starbuck said.
"Get out of the vehicle." A voice replied. The three did so as several people advanced at them, weapons drawn.
"Is that Sam Anders?" Starbuck asked with a raised eyebrow.