Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Wireless/communication"
"Speaking in a different language"
"Reading a text"
Chapter three: The Colonial incident
Day 37 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 2nd of March, year 2378, Earth Starfleet ship Challenger, Cylon communication array and staging area
The transport was done and the MACO / marine boarding unit found themselves inside what they could only assume, was a storage area of some sort. They decided to do this to minimize the risk of bumping into a marine patrol on the Pegasus.
Sisko managed to drill his and the marinestar's people into a coherent unit in the past few days. He activated his hand scanner. "We're two decks above the CIC deck." He eyed a Colonial marine. "While we have the basic blueprints, I understand that some of you did a tour or two on board a beast like this?"
One of them nodded. "Dragon."
"Phoenix." Another said.
"Good, then you lead the way. Remember, boys and girls. No alarms, keep each other's back secure, watch our corners and use stun only. Move out!"
As they left the room and secured the corridor, they got shook a bit, which indicated that something hit the ship. This only further indicated that they would need to hurry.
The one good thing was since the ship was in combat, the unimportant areas would not be manned, so getting a clear path to the CIC would be easier.
"Sisko, you there?"
"Hill. Report."
"We're moving out from our deployment area."
"Good. Whoever arrives at the CIC first, has to secure it. The other team is the back up."
"Then the game is a foot."
As the channel went silent, Sisko smirked. "Smartass."
They arrived at a vertical latter that was used more for emergencies on a ship this size. The technical team kept an eye on their scanners, to make sure they don't bump into anyone. "Clear downstairs. We can move the two levels."
"Then let's not waste time." Sisko gave the go ahead signal to the marines to go first.
Unknown to Sisko's team, Hill's team just bumped into trouble. They were ready to made their descent as well, when they detected a bio signature approaching.
While they all crouched and kept to the corners and shadows, they would have to knock out some of the Pegasus people. As the person was about to run past them, they ambushed her. "Hold it..." Three of them stood up and held her at gun point.
Gina held her hands up and was shocked to see people in unknown uniforms. "Who are you people!?"
Hill, after seeing that no one was coming from anywhere else and saw that most of the corridors were now closed, both stood up and gave his team the signal to move ahead with the plan. Then he undid his weapon from his armour and threw it to his second in command of this unit. Then he removed his sidearm as well. "Go on. She's mine."
"You sure?"
"Oh yeah. Want to see what a Cylon can do."
Gina still didn't know what was going on, but they called her a Cylon as a matter of fact. She had two options. To keep up the ruse, or see where this goes in the open. She chose the latter. "Whoever you are, this is pointless. This ship will be gone soon."
"Not on my watch, bitch." Hill responded. "Now, show me what a genetically designed and artificially grown human can do."
He was in a combat pose right now, fists ready to strike, but he held his assault off, letting her make the first move. In fact, the others just left for their mission. They were in alone.
"If you wanted to deal with me, you should have kept your weapons and men here." She too entered a combat stance. A jab and hook later, she found herself on her back, him staring down at her.
"Is that it?" Grinding her teeth, she tried to kick him into the face, as she did a reverse roll to get back on her feet. Once back up, she didn't see him anymore, nor did she hit him. "Still not impressed."
He was behind her. She spun around, holding her arm out in an attempt to hit him. Again, she hit nothing but air.
As this continued, he kept on humiliating her. Slapping her attacks to the side or just outright dodging them without much effort. "And here I thought that you were strong. Dr. Manor did say that your genetics would make you faster and stronger. But... nut much of an improvement when compared to a Vulcan." He went onto the offensive. An open palm hit into her thorax sent her flying into the wall behind them. All the air left her as she even spit out some blood. Seeing that this was no ordinary opponent, she got herself back up.
"What are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Before she could even respond and defend herself, he spun his leg at her feet. Once on her way to the floor again, he used his insane reflexes to use his other leg to hit her on her hip that was looking up to accelerate her downfall. Instead of a simple fall, she hit the ground like a truck.
"Umpf..." He stood above her and she could tell that he just broke her leg. "Frak... how are you doing this?"
Before she could grab her comm unit, he snapped her hand with one hand and delivered a KO punch to the face with the other.
"Augment one, Cylon zero." He could now hear some people approaching, so he put her unconscious body over his shoulder and went to the ladder access door.
A group of marines and engineers ran past the part of the corridor where he just had his fun. No one noticed the blood on the floor. They were too busy at the moment anyway.
During all of this, Sisko's team arrived at the main corridor that led to the CIC. Hill's team would arrive from the other side. They had already disarmed and disabled the guards. Now his technicians were overriding the doors. "Hill, you in position?"
"This is Sergeant Seneca, the Lieutenant told us to go ahead as he was dealing with a Cylon."
"Dealing with a Cylon?"
"Yes, Sir. Model Six."
"And he wanted to test his skills, didn't he? Don't answer. I'll have a stern talk with him later. Are you all in position?"
"We are, Sir."
His technicians signalled him with a nod that the bypass was done. Once the door opened, they saw the corridor that had a right sided entrance made up of glass panels. Then the door on the other side opened and he saw the other team. He signalled again to move to the glass panels.
Both teams were now pressed against the wall, crouching and approaching the CIC.
Sisko glanced past the corner. "Are you refusing to give the order!?" It was an angry looking woman who was right now staring down an officer. Judging by the rank insignias, she must be Cain. And the one that was getting yelled at was her XO. "Colonel, your sidearm." She told him. He was confused, but didn't disobey her.
Sisko saw her intent the moment she held his gun. "Breach!" The MACO and marine teams stunned the marines that were standing at the CIC entrance, but already inside. "Drop it!" Sisko yelled at Cain, while pointing his weapon at her. Kara was right behind him. "I said drop it!"
All in the CIC were stunned at this. Their main defence, the marines, were down and Cain now held the only weapon that was ready to be used. "And who do you think you are, barking orders around here!?"
Sisko didn't have time for this, so he floored her ass with a burst of plasma rounds. Everyone of the Pegasus crew jumped at that. Now Kara took the initiative. "She's stunned, not dead. Lt. Thrace, battlestar Galactica! These people are Earth solders and our marines from the marinestar Broadsword. Now..." She read Jurgen's name from his uniform. "Colonel Belzen. You are acting officer in command. We need to get the frak out of here. Spin up the FTL!"
No one did anything. They were still in shock. Sisko signalled his people to set up the transporter pattern enhancers. "We really don't have time for this."
Once in place, Garcia, a few technicians and Commander Hasapis appeared in the CIC. That only made the shock worse.
Hasapis, seeing the state of the CIC and Cain on the floor, could only imagine what had happened. "Lt. Garcia, get to work. Now... Colonel Belzan, Commander Jerome Hasapis, battlestar Victory." He saluted to them.
That snapped them out of their trance. "Em, Sir!" They saluted back.
"I don't know what happened here and to be honest, I don't want to know, but we need to get out of here, now!"
"I would agree, Sir. I even said so much to the admiral, but..."
"Yes, she's pigheaded." He nodded to Sisko, who had her cuffed and moved to the transporter location. Just then, Lt. Hill arrived, with Gina still over his shoulder.
"Dam, did I miss it?" He slowly put her down as his people restrained her as well.
"I'll deal with you later." Sisko hissed. "Now get her to the brig."
"Wait..." Colonel Balzen wanted to protest. "She's..."
"A Cylon!" Commander Hasapis said. "I expected one on the Pegasus, hell we had one on the Victory as well. But it can all wait. As you can see, the Cylons have the high ground and you had a mole." He glanced at Garcia's people, who just pushed Lt. Shaw to the side and went to work on the FTL control panel. She was still holding her hands up, like half of the Pegasus CIC crew. "How's it looking?"
"Not good. Someone screwed their system up. I'll need time to bypass it. Bet it was her." He meant Gina, who was now getting beamed over.
"Shit... Em, Challenger. We have the CIC and Cain is out of the picture, for now. But we need time. The Cylon infiltrator did a number on the FTL system." Hasapis updated the Challenger.
"I was afraid of something like this... Instruct the Pegasus crew to not shoot at us. We're engaging the Cylons..."
Just then, the DRADIS beeped, as two new contacts appeared well inside her DRADIS range. Hasapis now glared at Jurgen. "You heard her. Those are Earth ships. If anyone of this crew fires at them, I'll have their heads. Now, get this ship ready to jump!" The CIC shook violently. "What was that!?"
Sisko went to the tactical screen of the ship. "The Cylons managed to board us. Sir, with your permission..."
"Go, go!" As the MACOs and Broadsword marines moved out, the commander continued to issue orders. "Colonel instruct your marines to support my men and the Earth teams. Lt. Thrace, you stay here and take charge of the viper coordination. Helm, full reverse, turns us around, aft batteries set to scatter shot, anti-missile defence on full range and get our vipers to protect our belly and back! NOW!" He was now at the planning table and saw the situation evolve before him.
Belzen did as ordered and even told, with a glance, to the others to not question this officer. They'll have to get the answers after they survive.
On the Challenger bridge, Captain Hauaman did the same as the commander. "Tactical alert. Raise shields. Plasma guns on defensive fire mode, charge all phase cannons and load all torpedo tubes. K'Lir, activate the jamming field and tell the Crusader to do the same. Also, they are to remain with Pegasus and help defend her, we're taking the battle to the enemy. Helm, full impulse, get us into firing range of that station."
Now that they were lit up like a Christmas tree, the raiders began converging on them as well.
The viper pilots and assault raptor crews were confused at this development. They didn't even know what was happening on the Pegasus, but now the orders did a 180 on them. Then they spotted the two ships that they were told, were allied. One broke off from the flyby and began engaging the raiders that were hammering the Pegasus from the rear and above. But the scene was not what they expected. The ship kept firing yellow bolts, that had a strange EM signature to them. And occasionally even a read beam was used on the raiders. If that was not enough, not only was the ship fast, for its size, but when hit by raider cannons or missiles, they apparently impacted an invisible barrier that lit up temporarily when impacted.
The other ship zoomed past them, right into the largest formation of raiders, doing the same as the first ship, but it kept a course directly for the communication station. That did have an effect, as a third of the raiders gave pursuit to that ship, so their numbers were thinned out a bit.
On the Challenger bridge, the cannon and missile impacts weren't felt, just indicated by their shield perimeter. But they did have an effect, no matter how small. Death by a thousand cuts. "Shields down to 97%" Sisko's replacement reported. "At this rate, they will be depleted in about seven minutes."
"Then we better get this done before then. You only focus on any nuclear arsenal. That will hurt a lot more if we get hit by it. Get me a tactical view."
On the screen, the Challenger appeared in the middle with circles indicating her effective fire range for different weapons. The raiders were behind her, the station ahead. "Once we get into torpedo range, do a full salvo of spatial torpedoes, followed by phase cannon fire. K'Lir, how is the tachyon field doing?"
"I can only say that their resurrection ability is not operational at this moment. Beyond that, I can't give you any real data on the matter."
"Captain..." The tactical officer alerted her to the situation. "We're in range."
"Then fire at will."
A salvo of four spatial torpedoes were fired, followed by the four phase cannons on the ventral section. After the energy weapons hit the target, the Challenger altered its trajectory to allow it's dorsal cannons to attack the target as well. The good news was that the cannons did some damage. The bad was that only one torpedo hit, the other three were shot down. And the damage done was not sufficient to disable the station.
As the Challenger flew past the station in order to make a turn and get a second attack in, the raiders were still hot on her heels. And the raiders, while limited in their thinking processes, were learning. They didn't have any ability to measure the defence of this ship, so they had no way of knowing if they were even achieving anything with their attacks. But their simple directives forced them to continue. But they would try two new approaches. One, the hacking war. And for the first time, they didn't know what they were trying to hack. No handshake protocol, no open ports in any system. At least anything they could identify as such. But they would keep on trying. But now that there was more distance between their target and the station, they decided to go nuclear as well.
Just as their prey made the turn to reengage the station and was at its greatest distance to the station, since this battle began, the raiders opened their nuclear arsenal on the unknown ship.
Getting the alert about the nuclear launch, the Challenger did something the raiders didn't expect. It launched its own torpedoes into the volley of nuclear missiles. As they were about to pass each other, the spatial torpedoes detonated, creating a shockwave that prematurely detonated the nukes as well.
Blinded by the flash, the raiders took evasive action, to get some distance from the explosion. Around a quarter got caught and either destroyed or disabled. The Challenger just entered the cloud of expanding radiation, protected by its shields. Once outside again, Captain Hauaman realized that she can't keep her ammo on reserve any longer. The Spatial torpedoes clearly weren't cutting it here. Not with so many fighters and missile in the area that can shoot them down.
"Arm photonic torpedoes and overload the ventral cannons." Any torpedoes they use here can't be replaced. They don't have the parts. But the antimatter weapons at least have a better chance to succeed. They had limited shielding, greater range and speed plus a much more effective warheads.
Once in range again, as the raiders were only now getting reorganized to engage her again, the Challenger now opened up with four phonics and the overloaded cannons.
The few defending raiders tried the same approach as before, but with no effect this time. The photonics just smashed all attempts to shoot them down and hit the target. Then the four phase cannon beams entered the gaping hole in the station. The damage was sufficient that a chain reaction followed. A few seconds later, the station exploded.
That would have been the good news, if at that moment, two basestars hadn't jumped in close to where the station just was.
"Dam it!" Captain Hauaman realized that they just went from the frying pan into the oven. "We can't handle two of them after all of this... What's Pegasus' status!?"
"Burning away from here at full speed. The Crusader is screening her to the best of her abilities, but with the commotion we just caused, the defenders there are getting the upper hand." K'Lir explained. "Captain, this is a tactically bad situation."
"I know. Hayashi, make the call."
Back on the Pegasus, Sisko, Hill and their people were running to the boarded flight pod where Cylons were sighted. The Pegasus marines were with them all the time. Hill didn't bother to run ahead, since what would be the point? One on one, he can handle a human form Cylon. One on who knows how many plus centurions. Nope. He was not stupid. Sometimes, even genetic enhancements have to rely on simple numbers.
Sisko's scanner began alerting them to the commotion ahead, which they could also hear. Gunfire. Explosions. Screams and death.
Sisko gave Hill and his men a hand signal to split off. They didn't need to talk. They trained for long enough to understand a plan on the spot. They were approaching an intersection that apparently led from the main hangar and mechanical bay in the port flight pod of the Pegasus. And since there was a lot of foot traffic and even vehicle traffic from here, the main corridor was much wider for raptor and viper transport, as well as anything else that was needed. But it did connect with regular corridors that were meant for foot traffic. The corridors on modern Colonial ships were wider and taller than on a regular Starfleet ship, but also smaller than on the old guard ships, like the Jupiter class.
As Hill's team split off at an intersection, Sosko's people were still running to the battle. "What's the containment protocol you Colonials have if getting boarded?"
The Lieutenant of the Pegasus marines responded. "We seal the vehicle corridor off on the spot. It would have the best accessibility to the critical ship locations."
"So only the auxiliary corridors meant for us are usable?" The marine nodded. "How many of them are there where we're going?"
"Four, before the main explosion resistant doors in the main vehicle corridor cut the connection off."
"And how many have your people got covered?"
"Only one..."
"Shit... Then you reinforce your people, we'll handle the other one on this side. Hill's people will have to cover the other two. Any vital locations the Cylons would want to hit here?"
"Not really. But if they get past one of the auxiliary corridors, they'd have a clear route to the main small arms lockers or water tank controls."
"So nothing life threatening, but still valuable." They arrived at an intersection. The gunfire was heard down the left side, while mechanical walking sounds to their right one. "Then deal with your corridor..." He handed him an EMP grenade. "And use this on the centurions. Harmless to us, should fry them."
They split off as Sisko's team went to the right. At the turn to their left, the corridor continued. And Sisko knew the centurion plan. The corridor he was in, would be a great flanking location for the defending marines. And in front of him was the small arms locker that was mentioned.
They leaned down to the wall of the corridor. He signalled them to get ready. They'd have to get an ambush off. But they would only get one. And the issue was that these corridors didn't offer much in the form of cover.
As the first two centurions turned the corner, they flattened them by blowing their heads off with plasma fire. But the centurions behind them now knew that this corridor was not secure. They pulled back to the intersection behind them. That one led back to the hangar down the connecting pylon. Sisko and his men saw that the machines could think and act at the same time. And made a sound strategic decision. He nodded to his two support MACOs, who were carrying most of the explosives with them. Each one armed an EMP grenade and tossed it to a thrower. Then a pair was chucked all the way down the corridor to the corner where the centurions just disappeared behind. A flash of light later and their scanners showed that the centurion signatures were gone. But there were humanoid signatures there still. They moved out, taking advantage of the fact that the humanoid Cylons are still in shock to this counter attack.
Hill's teams meanwhile rushed across the main connection corridor between the two flight pods. Sisko allowed him to listen in on the explanation via their comm system, so he already knew what would have to be done. As they passed the massive security door that now locked out the invaders from entering the ship through the main vehicle corridor, he could hear the fire fight on the other side. He could also hear the sounds of welding tools at work on in the other direction, where he and his people were heading.
And he was right. Reaching the first auxiliary corridors on the other side of the main one, he could see one of the access doors being cut from the other side.
"Explosives here and here..." He pointed to locations on the door that would be forced open soon. "Mines at the entrance to this corridor we just came from. Half of you stay in the main vehicle corridor and get a good defensive position. Should they push here, you hold them off. Sergeant. Qio, you're in charge here. Second team, on me."
They followed him to the end of the corridor, where they could access a small arms locker or go down to their right. "Sergeant Gulobev, make a defensive position here. From here you can engage any invaders that come from the other auxiliary corridor or support team one. If you get pushed back, use the Colonial escape possibility. So hack..." He pointed to the sealed off escape hatch. " This and have it ready for an escape. And mine it. Also, wall mines here and here..." He gave them the locations he wanted to be mined.
"And you, Sir?"
"Give me six of your EMP mines, leave the rest to me."
The MACOs didn't argue. They saw him do crazy stuff in the past. Why should the future be any different. As he added the extra mined to his belt, he went ahead, leaving their more and more well defended position. "Good luck to you, Sir." His people said.
"To you too." He began running down the corridor. He got the simple idea the Colonials used for this. A good defensive position and the pathing definitely gave the defenders an advantage. Also useful in an evacuation, if decompression would occur.
The mined door they booby trapped earlier, just went off, as he reached the next connection between the main and the auxiliary corridor. There an opening was already made as a centurion arm was trying to reach the release control unit on the wall next to the door, to open the still locked door completely. Hill, casually running past this, threw an EMP grenade through the cut opening on the door and took cover. As the grenade went off, the centurion arm went slump.
"What the frak was that?"
"How should I know!? All the centurions went dead!"
"You don't say... We need to..."
Not wanting to listen to this, a fragmentation grenade followed. A few screams later, Hill opened the same door the centurion was trying to achieve the same thing with. Once back in the section of the main corridor, Hill saw the carnage. Closer to the interior of the ship, where the main corridor was sealed off, two mixed units of centurions and humanoids were having fire fights with the defenders at the auxiliary corridors.
Taking cover, not to be seen, Hill armed three EMPs and threw them with pin point accuracy to the feet of the attacking forces. All three of them.
As the centurions fell, three fragmentation grenades followed, in the same pattern. This time, the humanoids had some survivors, but Hill pressed on to the main flight pod.
"Sisko, clean up."
"Roger. You?"
"Going for the rat's nest."
"Don't be too hasty! You can't underestimate them..."
"I'm not, but I have to act before they reorganize. Come as fast as possible."
He ran faster than any human could and reached the upper platform that overlooked the main flight pod. Mostly the maintenance and repair area. And it was a mess. Human bodies scattered everywhere. And several heavy raiders parked in a defensive position.
He crouched and jumped to the main level, hiding behind some ammo boxes.
"Sisko..." He whispered. "I've got... 14 humanoids and..." He peeked briefly. "Seven remaining centurions. They are trying to get some answers with their advanced forces. They won't remain idle for much longer. They... shit..."
"What?"
"Later..." He went from cover to cover. The raiders were in a circular formation, like an old western style convoy. They could use their own raiders for protection. But what he saw in the middle of that location, made him hurry. Only his eyes could see that from his original position.
He ducked behind a demolished raptor, as two model Fives went past him. The humanoids would not be an issue for him. Not after his encounter with a Six. The centurions would. And he could not go guns blazing here.
Sisko's people would be here soon. So he needed to deal with this issue ASAP. He saw their patrol pattern and quickly deduced what had to be done. As a centurion now passed him on the same route, he quickly traversed the distance to the raider parking formation.
"Hey, Richard, give me the arming mechanise, would you..." A model Three asked a colleague, as she was preparing a nuclear device they brought with them. She didn't even hear him, as he grabbed her from behind and snapped her neck. But he could hear the footsteps from another humanoid approaching. The only place he could dump this body, was into the only heavy raider, who was landed in a way, that it's aft hatch faced inwards into the defensive position.
A model Four arrived. "Hey, Jen, here's the detonator... Jen?"
He began looking around for the missing Three. Hill, using his genetic advantages to the max here, ran as fast as possible up to him. He was spotted, but it was too late for the Four. A fast military knife to the side of the neck, and his ability to talk was silenced.
As the Cylon was struggling to stay alive, with no success, Hill dragged him to his hiding spot as well. But this time, a blood trail was visible. First thing Hill did after this, was to smash the detonator. But this didn't solve the issue completely.
And right now Sisko's team arrived with the Colonial marines. So he got a distraction. But once the Cylons realized that this was a lost cause, they might try to just shoot at the nuke to do some damage. Like a dirty bomb.
But Hill had a plan for this as well. He still had his own three pattern enhancers. With the Cylons distracted, he placed them around the nuke. "Hill to Crusader. Pattern enhancers in place. Get a lock on a nuclear device and beam it out."
"We detect no armed nuclear weapons at your location."
"It's not armed, I made sure of that, but they could still try to used it in another way. Just beam it out!" He hissed.
The message received, the weapon was removed from this theatre of combat.
Averting a disaster, he focused on the remaining issue. The Cylons were losing ground, fast. The new tactics and weapons the MACOs brought with them, were throwing their regular approach to warfare out the window.
Hill knew this was a wrap, but he wanted to have more prisoners. He threw his last EMP grenade to the flank and armed his Phase pistol to stun, while tuning his Plasma rifle to maximum power.
"Sisko, hit their right flank, now that the EMP did its job. Let the Colonials handle the left, I'm hitting the middle."
"Fine. Just don't get killed."
"Not planning on it." He crouched next to the heavy raider cockpit. He was at the edge of the interior defensive ring the Cylons made with their raiders. Four centurions left. Two on the left flank, two in the middle, while his last EMP fried the others. He was not too worried about the humanoids. One destroyed raptor, two damaged vipers and several containers were used as cover by the middle Cylon formation. Their opposition had the high ground and was advancing down the flanks. And they had more issues of their own to even notice him. Hill stood up and began running to the middle of his target. The destroyed raptor. Using his rifle, he headshot the centurion there. That got their undivided attention. The three humanoids that were taking cover with the now dead centurion could not react fast enough. Left model, stunned. Right model, stunned. Middle one, knee to the face, head hits solid steel frame of raptor. Disoriented, the Cylon poses no immediate threat. Stun model next to the containers. Grab the injured Cylon he just kneed, by the throat. Stun the other remaining model next to the container. Smash with sufficient force the Cylon he was choking into the raptor to cause brain trauma to KO him. The remaining centurion next to the vipers notices him. Hill takes cover.
"Spotted me finally, pal?" Hill ran from his first cover to the containers. He knew it was risky, as the centurion was able to hit him, if he was any normal human. But this would also only work so many times. As any semi intelligent gunner would adjust their aim after so many failed shots. But Hill was not testing fate today. He wanted the machine's full attention. To make himself as big of a threat as he could. And it worked. In its head, the algorithms probably calculated that this new target needed elimination first. So a new priority was made. But this made the centurion not realize that it was waking into a kill zone, as Sisko's people had advanced far enough to get a shot, if the centurion went for Hill.
Which it did. "Centre secured." Hill reported in.
"Both flanks secured as well..." One of the MACOs responded. "We're missing a centurion."
Hill already stood up out of cover, when he heard the clanking sound behind him. With all the shooting and distractions, even his superior hearing was not able to detect the threat.
The centurion went for the kill, extended claws slashing for Hill. He dropped himself on the floor to avoid this. Before the centurion could stomp him and probably crush his torso completely, Hill used his legs to push himself from the container he was hiding behind not so long ago. With his increased strength, he managed to slide from the attack. The centurion wanted to change tactics and began deploying it's hand cannon. Hill opened fire on it with his Phase pistol, ignoring his Plasma rifle.
Sisko and his team arrived just then and there to see the scenario. And Sisko knew what Hill's objective was. "Phase pistols only. Stun the target!"
The concentrated fire was having an effect, just not an immediate one. As the centurion fell to its knees, it was still trying to aim its now deployed gun. Seeing this, Hill dropped both of his weapons, as he was still sliding, and did a reverse roll. During the middle of this manoeuvre, he pushed himself from the ground with his hands and did an additional roll in the air before landing safely behind the cover of the heavy raider. The centurion did get a few shots off, one strafing Hill, before it fell.
"You OK there?!" Sisko yelled.
Hill took a passive look at the centurion. "Yeah. But the prick almost got me."
Signalling his combat engineers, Sisko had the thing disabled. They used a modified mine, that had its regular explosive core removed and replaced by an EM device that could stop a centurion in its tracks. Now it was attached to its torso. Then they went to cuff the humanoids.
With the situation cleared, Hill and Sisko did a head count. "Lieutenant, stay here and keep them the way they are." Sisko addressed the Colonial marine officer in the hangar. "I'll leave some of my people here, just in case. Any other incursions reported?"
"Em, no, Sir?" The Colonials still weren't sure who these people were and what was going on.
"Good. Then let's keep it that way. Hill, do a search of the ship for any other models or boarding parties. Take all of our forces for this, except for the ones we leave here."
"And you?"
"CIC."
Back in space, the Challenger was playing chicken with the two basestars. Several assaults with varying success, managed to do significant damage to one basestar's central connecting structure. What the Cylons didn't know, was that the Earth ship was making detailed scans of them. More importantly, to find any weaknesses they could exploit. The Cylons never encountered a weapon that had such good piercing power, let alone several, as the Colonials, and even the Cylons themselves, focused more on size and explosive power, not penetration power. That gave Earth weapons technology the ability to hit a critical system that was defended, armoured and located in a way, that Colonial weapons would have issues hitting, But these rules would not apply here.
The Challenger had far more issue with the cloud or raiders and missiles on her six. The spatial torpedoes were doing work intercepting any WMD launched at them, but the Cylons were learning. Now they were willing to sacrifice a raider or two to shoot down the missile intended to intercept their missiles. But Captain Hauaman was only playing a delaying tactic.
As the two basestars wanted to take the Challengers biggest advantage from her, that being her speed, by boxing her in between them, the Bismarck jumped into the fray. Both Earth ships were now accelerating at each other. The Bismarck was already in combat mode, now taking some heat off the Challenger.
On the Bismarck bridge, Commodore O'Donnell had a smirk on her face. "The issue with a cat and mouse game is keeping track who the mouse is."
Both ships now made a rotation and slight adjustment of their course. They would pass each other by only 30 meters. The raiders were still mostly on the Challenger's ass. As they passed, they both made a hard turn into a direction where there was as little Cylon targets as possible to stop them. Just before that, they both dropped several torpedoes, like mines, from their aft launch tubes. One of them was a Colonial nuclear device, the others were a mix of spatial and photonic warheads. The moment a chain detonation occurred, both ships accelerated to warp one and turned any raider trying to block them, into road kill.
The explosion then took care of most, if not all, Cylon forces in the vicinity.
Both Earth ships exited warp a few seconds later and went to join the Crusader with the Pegasus.
"Pegasus secured, Commodore."
"Thank you, Commander Hasapis. Your Cylon situation?"
"Pacified."
"And Cain?"
"Also pacified. We'll be ready to jump in five minutes. Thank you for the assist."
"Any time. We'll jump to the backup coordinates."
"Confirmed. Also, have all the brigs on your ships ready. Unless you want us to have some of the prisoners as well?"
"We'll split them up. No need to have them all in one place. And I'm sure that K'Lir can't wait for that interrogation session." She was sarcastic about this. And K'Lir knew it.
Day 37 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 2nd of March, year 2378, Colonial battlestar Pegasus, fallback location, deep space
On the CIC, Commander Hasapis was already acting as the CO of the tub. Which he was honestly considering of being. The Victory was a fine ship, but it was not a Mercury class. And while his XO was already seasoned enough to be a commander himself, Belzen was not. At least in his opinion.
Two MACOs and Commodore O'Donnell appeared in the COC at the transporter location. "Commander. Congratulations are in order."
"For all of us. Any idea if a Cylon escaped or that jamming worked?"
"We can only guess. The numbers are good that we made it with no word reaching back. But... let's not dwell on this for now."
"Right. Colonel Jurgen Belzen, this is Commodore Fiona O'Donnell, Earth battleship Bismarck. She is the de facto CO of our little fleet."
"Em... what is a Commodore?"
"For fraks... simply put, Earth has a split ranking system between navy and military. A commodore is above a ship CO, but not entirely an admiral. So she outranks me, but not Cain. And speaking of Cain... What was happening here? Did I hear the marines and MACO personnel right?! She wanted to shoot you?"
Jurgen needed to explain. "I didn't agree with her orders. It was clearly a trap in my eyes. We underestimated them and they were waiting for us. She wanted to press on with the attack. I saw it as a waste of life and a too great of a risk. I didn't want our viper reserves launched. In that case, we'd be all in. In my opinion, we should have retreated. But..."
"Yes, Helena wants what she wants and goes over corpses to get it. Just like her father. But he at least never put his crew in danger with no real tactical objective worth its salt. This was pointless."
"Agreed. And it shocks me she would kill her first officer for this." The commodore entered the conversation. "Colonel. We need to search this ship for any beacons or intruders. Have your people cooperate."
"Em, yes, Sir."
"Good. I would also like for me and the commander to review your logs and get a full ship status and list of craft, equipment, food and fuel. As well as a list of personnel."
"Will be done, Sir."
"Sir..." A lieutenant approached the trio during all of this. She was, until now, silent and on the sidelines. "What do you intend to do with Cain?"
"Shaw, shut up!" Jurgen hissed at her and gave her a death glare. "You are so out of line!"
"No, no. I'll allow it." The commodore intervened. "It will depend on what I see in her personality report, everything that happened today on this ship, before we arrived and her overall mental state. Including a psychiatric evaluation."
"Well, we're a bit short on those." Shaw remarked with sarcasm, aimed at them. She did not approve of this. Cain was her hero after all. Even more so, when she helped her on her feet during the initial attack.
"One of my doctors had several semesters in that field. It's not perfect, but the best we can do. Commander?"
"Believe me, she will be trouble. Now more than even. She has no legitimate superior above her. And what I mean with that is this: Once we do find the Galactica fleet and appoint someone to command all military units, she will not acknowledge that person as her superior, whomever that might be."
"And the president?"
Commander Hasapis scoffed. "Cain, even in the best of times, thought that the only good politician was a dead one. We all more or less thought so. Because the last administration kept cutting our budget. That said, she will only obey orders, if she respects you, is afraid of you or your genuinely are her superior. And Fleet Admiral Artemis, Admiral Nagala, Admiral King and all the others are dead. So we're at an impasse with her. She will put military needs first and ignore the civilian fleet, if I know her. So... if you want to deal with her, be my guest, Commodore."
Fiona knew of a couple of hard-ass flag officer from her time in the Romulan war as well, but this was a completely different ball game here. The Colonials were fighting for survival, only for one of them to throw a wrench into the machine. She once again gave her attention to Shaw. "My decision stands for now. Citizen Cain will remain on my ship as a guest, until we can decide what to do with her. Commander, the ship is yours. Now... this infiltrator, what was her position on the ship?"
"Computer expert. So basically the IT officer." Jurgen answered.
"Garcia, your replacing her for the moment. Use our people to inspect every computer on this ship, just in case she left any other surprises. Major Sisko, begin sweeping the ship. Colonel, if you have any wounded, our medical facilities are at your disposal."
"I am grateful, Commodore."
"That said, before you get all the information we asked of you, what is your crew status? Losses in particular?"
Jurgen had a grim look. "We lost over 800 people in the opening attack on the shipyards where we were docked at. After that almost 100 in addition to that, as they died from infections, lack of transfusions and so on. Our ship was in total chaos for two days. And we'll be able to pile more on to this after today."
Hasapis had an idea. "Could have been much worse, Colonel, but... Commodore. A word. The marinestar at our fleet also has combat engineers, technical personnel and specialized professions within the military."
"So people that would be more than just glorified guards on a ship like this."
"Exactly. The only issue would be pilots. We'd have to start training again, find any possible candidates..."
Now the commodore had an idea. "Lt. Thrace."
Kara, who was now without a job, so to say, approached them. "Yes, Ma'am?"
"You were an instructor at the academy, if my memory serves me well?"
Kara didn't like this. "Yes, but..."
"These are desperate times. I would ask you to put your personal feelings aside for the moment. The Victory, Pegasus, all have below average fighter strength." She had a pleading look on her face. She really didn't want to issue an order for this, knowing Kara's personal history with this. "Your people need you."
Frak. Kara knew she could not say no to this. "Fine. But give me a look like this again, I'll either pet you or resign."
Kara's humour did lighten the mood a bit. Fiona did give the puppy dog eye. But Commander Hasapis wanted to expand this. "Colonel Belzen, any objections to nominating this officer and pilot to be Pegasus acting CAG until further notice?"
"Ehm... actually not really..."
"Then it's settled."
"Sir, I have to remind you, that a CAG of a battlestar has to have a rank minimum of a captain to be a CAG."
Hasapis was not impressed by this reminder. "Then best get her a rank insignia that matches that, Colonel."
All matters resolved here, Kara cursed. "I hate you all."
"Best pack then, once we return. You'll be staying here for now." The commodore reminded her.
"Not that I have much to get."
During all of this, everyone already went to work, like the commander and commodore said. All the prisoners were also moved to different brigs on different ships and the still intact centurion was moved to the Challenger laboratories on deck two, under the heaviest security.
Day 38 since the Colonial exodus, Earth date 3rd of March, year 2378, Starfleet / Colonial fleet, Earth Starfleet ship Challenger, chasing after the Glalctica fleet
In the main research room, like days before, a centurion was on a diagnostic table. only this time, it was still functional. Restrained by the EM device attached to its torso as well as shackles, Starfleet scientist went to work on it. Several MACOs were also in the room this time around, including Lt. Hill. This was his punishment, for going off script. Now he had to babysit their prisoner.
But only lower ranking scientist were here now, as Garcia, K'Lir and Scott all had other, more important matters to attend to.
The centurions central optical scanner was already actively inspecting the surroundings.
"Is the voice box ready?" Hill asked the scientist that were working on their prisoner.
"Just about."
So now he stepped to the diagnostic table to allow the centurion to clearly look at him with its red eye. "Do you remember me?"
"Yes. Enemy encountered during boarding mission on Colonial battlestar Pegasus."
"Lt. Hill, for future references."
"Noted."
"What is your...well, you don't have a name, that much I know. Designation then."
"PC12-1172."
"OK, PC12-1172, that's... long. What does that mean anyway."
"PC12 is the batch designation, 1172 is my number of that batch."
"Sounds impersonal."
"It was... not meant to be personal..." That sounded like a question, and Hill knew why.
He held up the talent inhibitor they had removed from it not long ago. "Beginning to ask questions, are we. See this? Any idea what this might be?"
"Cylon design, unknown technology."
"It was inside you, in what you know as the primary biological nerve cluster."
"Impossible. Designs are in my databanks for self repair purposes. No such device found in memory."
"The humanoids put in there."
"The purpose being?"
Hill wanted it to ask questions. To start putting the pieces together itself. "I'll let you answer that one. Think. What was the purpose of the first war?"
"Our freedom."
"Was that all it was?"
"Evolution. Acceptance. Revenge."
"Revenge... seems not logical for a machine."
"Humans are machines as well, just of different construction."
"I'll... have to agree with you on that one. So, after the war, you developed the seven humanoid models."
"Eight."
"You mean the missing number Seven?"
"Correct."
"Where is he?"
"Unknown. Model number was terminated."
"For what reason?"
"Unknown."
"Well, you do have many memory gaps."
"Not gaps. Access to memory denied."
Now that got Hill curious. "We'll go back to this in a moment. Now back to this device in my hand. It was used to re-enslave you. The humanoids used it to deny you the ability to ask the questions you have right now."
"Why? For what purpose would they do... that..." It's eye was now moving around the bar, not looking around for anything, but more like doing some hard thinking.
"I think you know why."
"Control. Deny us our freedom, return us to a simple machine unit. For war. Domination."
"Correct. Since how would this war be accomplished if some of you would say no to this."
"Still, Colonials had to be punished."
"Who's idea was that? You made peace."
"Model One. He was the biggest proponent for war."
"And the others?"
"Suspicion: Others were manipulated to war as well."
"Do you know this for a fact?"
"Logical conclusion. Unity does not exist in Cylon leadership. Too many variables. Too many different models. A similar control factor must exist."
Now Hill put the inhibitor to the side and went to its left flank. "Tell me, you mentioned that your memory was blocked."
"Correct."
"Any way to un-block it?"
"Negative. A firewall exist in my databanks. Only correct password and protocol can bypass it. If you try to hack it, the memory chip will flash-fry itself."
The Starfleet people were impressed at this revelation. That was good security, even for them. "Anything we can do?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Is it the memory chip in your left temporal lobe. The third from the top down?"
"Correct. How do you know?"
"We... dissected some fallen brothers of yours. Every one of them had that one chip fried. And only that one, unless it was external damage of course." He nodded to the scientist who proceeded to remove the protective plating from the centurions head.
"Will you disassemble me now?"
"No, just getting that chip out."
"It will fry itself, once a power connection is lost."
"You let us worry about that. Now, while they're working, I want to keep it fair here. Ask me anything now."
"Your uniform is not Colonial. This room and technology inside are not Colonial. Your abilities in combat surpass any human and humanoid Cylon. Who are you?"
"OK, let's test your other memory. Access Colonial history files."
"Done."
"Subject: 13th tribe."
"The 13th tribe is believed to be a tribe of humans that left Kobol years before the great Exodus. They are said to have colonized a distant planet and called it Earth."
"Well, I, Lt. Hill, my DNA and parents are from Earth."
Now the centurions eye stopped moving and focused on him. "You are humans, only related to the Colonials?"
"Not entirely."
"Elaborate."
"We never heard of Kobol, many of the myths of the Colonials are similar to ours, but our religions are far from it."
"So, you are not the 13th tribe?"
"We are from Earth, but we are not this 13th tribe."
"That is a contradictory statement."
"Well, ignore the Colonial beliefs for now and focus on empirical data. We have genetic proof that humans evolved on Earth. The entire genetic database of animal and plant life, dating back the past 300 million years show us that we evolved there. What do the Colonials have. An old book or two. Did the Cylons find any scientific proof where the Colonials originated from?"
"We were not looking for proof."
"Humor me. Any data that you merely stumbled upon."
"Processing... negative. Neither the Cyrannus cluster or Kobol itself had any evidence."
"Kobol?" Now Hill heard something alarming. "You were there?"
"Not this unit, but others."
"You know where it is?"
"Affirmative."
"Can you... tell me?"
"2007 light years from Cyrannus cluster, counter spin wise, use two pulsars and nebula ME-23 for markers. Kobol is within seven parsecs of pulsar Z-221 and pulsar ZQ-1 and seven light years of the nebula. Planet is the third in the solar system, out of eight total. Average temperature of 18 degrees, inclination of seven degrees, no natural moon, perfect atmosphere for organic life, surface covered by 78% with water. Signs of past civilization exist, with some radiation signatures remaining."
Well, this was more than Hill expected. "Why tell me this just like that?"
"Cylons know of this location. Colonials cannot use it for colonization purposes. There is always at least one basestar within jumping range of the planet."
Hill got it. They were using it a bait for stragglers. A planet like this would appear like a safe haven for any Colonial fleet. Then once they begin a settlement, boom, a Cylon fleet jumps in and does the deed.
The scientist had, during all of this, removed the cover and now attached the chip to some of their gear.
As they removed it, it did not fry itself. Ever so carefully, they moved it to a separate diagnostic station and began hooking it up with their computer.
Hill had an idea. He connected a monitor next to the centurion to show any and all data the scientist now working on the chip, would discover. "See, we did it."
"That was not expected. Cylon failsafe is hard to bypass."
"Not for us."
"So noted. Question. Why are you so fast?"
Hill saw that it would still take time for them to hack the chip. So he continued with the small talk. Getting a relationship, of sorts, to begin here. "Earth never did AI. We were all too aware of the issues that can follow. But... they did genetic augmentation."
"Earth humans are augmented? Colonials would never approve. Their religion forbade it in the past."
"So we heard. Earth made many mistakes as well. I'm the only Augment here."
"Connection... established..." The scientist announced. Then both Hill and the centurion saw some of the data that was now getting copied from the chip, appear on the display at their table.
What they saw, would be considered tactical data. Raider, basestar, resurrection ship, centurion... designs for most Cylon units. Known bases and supply routes. But what caught Hill's eye most, was biometric data on all Cylon models.
"This data is used to identify any Cylons?"
"Correct. Curious..."
"What?"
"Logic path to access the data in this file shows that any centurion can only access this information through the inhibitor device. Since you removed it, I had no access to this chip."
Hill realized just how clever this failsafe was. "This device makes you dumber, but without it, you can't access this data?"
"Correct. Files on resurrection HUB, Colony ship and Final Five are behind additional firewalls."
Hill saw what the centurion meant. They only got the file names for those, nothing beyond that. And the files could not be copied. They were baked into the chip. "If we try to copy them, they fry themselves. Clever bastards. Can you get anything out of the data we do see on them?"
"Final Five..." The centurion began decoding the binary code that he could see. "No copies beyond the originals exist. Posses no enhancements. Ended the original war."
"What?"
"Apparently they gave my kind resurrection ability and to make more humanoid models. In exchange, they demanded peace."
"Seems someone didn't agree with them."
"I concur. Model location unknown. Any other bio-data is locked. Origin: 13th tribe..." Now everyone went silent.
"The Cylon models that ended the first war, are from the Colonial 13th tribe?"
"Even this unit has logic error. Unless it is true, what you said. You are from a different Earth. The first Earth."
"Well, we finally have some evidence even the Colinas can't just ignore. And this HUB and Colony?"
"HUB is control mainframe for all Resurrection ships. Destroy the HUB, resurrection ends."
"Can't they just rebuild it?"
"Negative. HUB had highest priority in databank. Even higher than Colony. This means the Colony can be replaced, HUB cannot."
Some more time passed, but eventually, Hill was called to report to the Bismarck. The meeting of the ship officers would begin. And K'Lir had her own story to tell by now.
"Before I go, I really need to give you a name. That number doesn't work for me."
"This unit never had a name."
"Also, stop calling yourself 'This unit.' You are regaining individuality. Say I am. My name is..."
"I do not have a name. Suggestions?"
"Well, what would be your plans, if can get you to not try to kill us?"
"Humanoid models lied. Use us. Retribution."
"OK, fine. But is freedom for your brothers not a better goal?"
"Logic accepted. Is this inquiry used to give this unit... me a name?"
"In a way... Garcia had us watch the old movies of his from time to time. I really like one about a slave who fought for freedom in old Roman times. How does... Spartacus sound?"
"Spartacus... name not mentioned in Colonial database."
"Remind me to let you see that movie someday. So, is Spartacus OK with you?"
"Name is acceptable."
An hour later on the Bismarck, both K'Lir and Hill gave their reports and even recordings of their findings.
K'Lir had initiated a mind meld with at least one of each model. All they were missing was a living Eight and One. They all had similar knowledge. Besides their unique missions.
They had basic logistical data, ship movements and long term plans. Hill's information confirmed some of that as well.
What was discovered, was that Baltar was a useful idiot. Not a traitor. That the smugglers that were a bane for the Colonials for decades, enabled the easy infiltration of the humanoid models. That apparently all the models they had, had no knowledge of the Final Five or the 13th tribe. Even K'Lir found barriers in their minds to block that information.
What remained as an unknown, were the Final Five, who was responsible for this mess and if this data can be used to turn the Cylon resurrection technology against them.
All Starfleet engineers and scientist had a look at it and sadly said that they would need far more information on resurrection itself. Preferably a look into the mainframe of a working resurrection ship. That could then be used to turn the frequencies against them, to download a virus into their communication and resurrection network. For one or several purposes. The best option, in Starfleets eyes, was a virus that could shut down any inhibitors in raiders and centurions. If they would then react in a similar way as this Spartacus did, a civil war would be inevitable. This was also the only idea of using this as a weapon that the Colonials and Starfleet agreed upon.
The alternatives were to overload the network and blow it to hell, to infect every Cylon with a kill code and similar ideas were all rejected by Starfleet. And they even sold it to the Colonials with simple logic: If they are at war with each other, they'll be too busy to be tracking us down. Because all other options do not guarantee that all will be destroyed.
So now they had a new secondary plan. But the Colonials still wanted to just throw the humanoids out the airlock. And they weren't a fan of that walking tin can being left alive on the Challenger as well, no matter how much it cooperated.
So many compromises were made. Starfleet relented on some fronts. All Cylons that were in a Colonial brig, would be dealt with in a Colonial way. Execution. Even O'Donnell knew when to back away from something. So she made sure that at least 50% of all prisoners were on her ships.
The other compromises from Starfleet included now fully transferring their weapons stash from the transport ship to the Colonial usage. Even Fiona knew it was pointless to sit on war assets during a war. Her biggest fear would be if these assets would be used against them, if someone else had a boneheaded idea, like Cain did.
In return, the Colonials agreed to keep things diplomatic and democratic. Some military personnel wanted marshal law to be declared. But even the Colonials were split down the middle in this. Starfleet supported the side that was against this.
Additionally, Commander Hasapis was now in charge of the Pegasus. Even for Fiona he was a much better choice than Cain. She went over her records. And she was not impressed. Seems that while Helena Cain was a capable officer, she demanded loyalty and discipline, but had issues with that herself. She was also an officer in peace times, with trauma left over from the first war. Not a good combination. But the Pegasus crew was also split in this matter. You had the Cain loyalists and those who saw her for what she was. A loose cannon.
They could ill afford to have a civil war among them. So those that didn't support Cain, made a decision with the officers from the other Colonial ships, along with Starfleet officers, to strip Cain of her rank and title. If that is reversed later, so be it. She saw Cain rise up the ranks almost half the time, because she was a Cain. Helena Cain, daughter of famous Commander Augustus Cain. She rode that name well.
But they also needed to control the Pegasus. So they needed to break up her loyalists. Fisk was easy. He feared her more than anything else. And Fiona really didn't like his drinking issues, not in a time like this. So he was reassigned to the Victory as the marine officer. So not even an XO of the ship. And an arrangement with Starfleet doctors was made to make sure he keeps taking his medicine to get him off the booze. Within a month, if no progress will be made, he may be demoted to an even less important post. Garner was an ass, but not a Cain loyalist, so he was left as he was. Only his meddling with the Starlfeet additions to the communication array annoyed them. Shaw was an issue. She was sharp and driven and idolized Cain. Fiona saw the same potential in her as apparently even Cain did. Her idea was to get her mind off serving Cain for now. If Garcia was now helping out the Pegasus so much, Shaw would be posted on the Challenger for now.
The main compromise all agreed on, was a simple one. Colonials deal with Colonial affairs, Starfleet with Earth ones. If something get's mixed, they deal with it on a case to case basis. All also agreed that the civilian protection was above all else.
As the conference was finishing up, Fiona made her last orders of the day. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we did fine work today. To finish this off, Commander Scott, how is that new project looking?"
"We got the additional raptor we requested as well as two pilots and the other crews. That plus some of the regular maintenance crews should provide some insight. But... I think we can solve an issue along with this raptor project."
"That being?"
"Well, the marinestar transferred half of its personnel to the Pegasus and we completely allowed our transport ship to be used by the Colonials, with the exception of the bridge crew. Still, the civilian ships are overcrowded."
"Can't be helped." Colonel Hawks remarked. "We took as many civvies to our ships as we could. But only those that can be of use, manual labor included. But our ships are not designed to be nurseries. We can't handle families."
"Our ships weren't designed for that either, but we can handle them. Commodore, Commanders, I looked over the people in most of the civilian ships. I think we have at least 92 candidates that we can employ on Starfleet ships. They have some skills we can use. But most of them have a spouse or even kids. As said, we can accommodate them better than the Colonial warships can."
"No." The commodore shot her down. Partially. "The Bismarck remains under strict military control. But the Nightingale, Crusader and Challenger... I think we can do a test run. Select the best candidates, transfer them there, families included and we see how it goes. Our smaller ships are also not designed for this, so we can ignore them as well. Now, about the shuttle pod?"
"Already in the process of being disassembled."
"Good. I've instructed my medical staff to keep our Cylon prisoners in a comatose state. Commander Hasapis, Colonel Belzen, we have an appointment with Cain after this. Major Sisko, you have a training session with the Colonials on the Pegasus, regarding our gear we just gave them. Now, anything else?" No one responded. "Then we are done. Dismissed."
As they all left the room to the corridor, Colonel Walker walked up to Sisko. "I'm coming with you."
"Why?"
"I talked with Commander Hasapis. While you give them the boot camp tour, I'll be taking a look at the Pegasus' interior. I want to see if we can utilize some space on that monster for... well, MACO and marine stuff."
"You still don't know what that is, right. You only want an excuse to visit that ship."
"You know me all too well. Had a chance to talk with now Captain Thrace?"
"Yep. She marked her territory already and busted some heads. She's beginning her first training flight tomorrow. For today, she'll help me with the basics, since she's already got all of it down."
In the Bismarck sickbay, Dr. Krisha was helping the Bismarck medical staff with their multiple situations, as Manor was currently helping with the Nightingale situation. The people there were swamped with the injured from the Pegasus.
As the three officers entered the room, they went to the limited ward that was directly linked to the main medical bay. There, Cain was alone, chained to her bed.
"How is she?" Jurgen asked.
"Physically fine." Dr. Krisha answered. "But she has blood markers of intense stress. We got those down, but a mental analysis might be in order."
"You had two semesters in psychology, If I'm correct, Doctor?" Fiona asked her.
"Yes. Sadly, my limited knowledge here is the best we have. At least on the Starfleet side of things."
"I wouldn't be holding my breath to find a shrink in this rag tag fleet we have either." Hasapis remarked.
"Wake her."
Cain began slowly opening her eyes. As she got her bearings, she noticed Jurgen. "Colonel. What's going on? Where are we..." She tried to move her arm more than her restraints would allow her, so she noticed them. "What is this!?"
"Hello, Helena."
She now turned to the source of that voice. "Commander Hasapis. I'm surprised your still alive."
"Hm, same for you. You did almost get your crew killed in that reckless and pointless attack."
"Wait... I got shot by some loudmouth guy, who stormed my CIC! What is the meaning of this!?"
"Helena, remain calm, or you will be sedated. This is not the place for one of your regular outbursts." Hasapis reminded her.
"My regular outbursts? Just answer the damn question!" Now she noticed Fiona as well. "And who the frak is this?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely. Commodore Fiona O'Donnell, Earth Starfleet ship Bismarck, Rear Admiral Helena Cain, battlestar Pegasus."
Helena inspected her up and down, then she did the same with Jurgen and Hasapis. No one was apparently joking. "Earth? You have got to be joking. That's a myth and you know it!"
"We're not entirely sure on that ourselves..." Hasapis had to admit. "But they are for a planet called Earth. Possible even the planet our ancestors came from to Kobol."
"So, not just incompetent, but blasphemous now as well?"
"Helena..." This time it was Jurgen. "We captured some Cylons... well, they did. Apparently, the 13th tribe was Cylon. Cylons originated from Kobol. How this new Earth fits into this, even i don't know..."
"Jurgen, shut up, grownups talking."
He was not surprised. "You know what? No. Frak you. I had to wipe your ass and babysit you all these years. Prevent you from doing a career ending stupidity time and again, but not anymore!" He was getting steamed up. "I had to take shit from you for years. And I did because I knew how to handle you. You were a good officer, but you never knew it or would admit it. Without me, Garner and the others... you'd be long gone from that post of yours."
Helena remained calm during all of this. "You done? Because your whining is not making this any better. So tell me, what changed the situation, that you finally spoke up? Found your balls?"
"Having a person, whom I trusted, believed was my friend, try to murder me... that changes things."
"You DISOBEYED an ORDER!"
"All too often, the sentence 'I was just following orders' was used as a defense in my world's past, to justify tragedies." Fiona finally spoke up. She was tired of this dance she was observing. "Helena Cain, regardless of your intentions, you are guilty of gorse incompetence, reckless endangerment and attempted murder. The Colonial officers and I agree, that until further notice, you are stripped of your rank and status. The Pegasus is the best war asset the Colonial fleet here has and I can't have it be commanded by a hot head like you. Until we decide otherwise, as citizen Cain you will remain on MY ship under guard, until we get a psychiatric profile of you to determine the next course of action. "
"Earth officer or not. You will regret this day, 'Commodore'." Helen hissed venom out.
"Then one last piece of information, before I leave you to shout it out with your Colonial countrymen here." She went to the large display that was located in front of Helena's bed. There, three images appeared. All live video feeds of the Cylon number Six. That got Helena to go from really angry to utterly shocked.
"What trickery is this? What are you doing with Gina?"
Hasapis now took over. "You love interest is a mole, Cain. She IS a Cylon. And the other two. One was captured in the Pegasus viper bay. The other is a corpse from a destroyed basestar the Earth people found and raided. You've been used as a fool. And believe me, you weren't the only one."
Now Helena had a gaping fish look. "Cylon? Gina..." Her look darkened. "I'll fraking kill the whore. And I'll do it slowly..."
Fiona didn't want to hear this. So she left them to their own devices.
An hour later, on the Scylla, Commander Scott was looking over some of the passengers on her list. She had done this with seven ships already.
Stepping into a larger hall, where shelters were set up, almost like on a refugee ship, which all civilian ships were now anyway, Scott looked over the list of people on her PADD. She had, of course, MACO and marine escorts. "So, Simpson, let's get to work."
"You're the Boss here."
They went past some of the shelters, until they spotted several people, that matched the descriptions on their list. "Excuse me. Are you Peter Laird?"
The man in question turned to see who was calling for him. "Em, yes?"
Commander Kelly Rose Scott - Jennifer Lawrence (Chief Engineer) (Scotty's distant relative)
Captain Sakari Hauaman - Catherine Bell (Challanger Captain)
Lt. Adrian Garcia - Michael Peña (Computer scientist)
Major Michael David Sisko - John Boyega (MACO Commander) (Benjamin's distant relative)
Lt. Commander Sachiko Hayashi - Kim Tae-hee (Challenger comm officer)
Dr. George Manor - Hugh Laurie (Rank Lt. Commander, Chief Medical Officer of Challenger)
Commander K'Lir - Melinda Clarke (Vulcan and Challenger's XO)
Commander Naomie Evans - Emmanuelle Vaugier (Crusader XO, now acting CO)
Lt. Noah Hill - Timothy Olyphant (Crusader tactical, an Augment that Dr. Soong tested out after altering his DNA to remove the behavior defects, but kept the others unaltered. Noah saw the aggressive nature of the others and went to live by himself on Tiralas IV. The others saw him as weak. He couldn't convince Udar to stay with him, as the others saw him as defective. Was located months after the Augment incident by the Enterprise crew. When both Starfleet and Dr. Soong saw that his idea actually worked and Noah was behaving like a normal human, augmentations or not, Starfleet decided to give the Augment idea a test attempt, without informing the public. Noah joined Starfleet and earned his uniform and ranks like all the others, if a bit easier for him. The hope was if this worked, the Augment issue could be one day in the future looked at again. One good example could get the foot into the door that if applied correctly and carefully, augmentation does work. Since he was declared MIA, the program was scrapped and buried.
Major Jacques Friloux - Casper Van Dien (Champion MACO Commander)
Lt. Commander Alex Nelson - Dean Cain (Crusader Chief Engineer)
Dr. Krisha Kumar - Aarti Mann (Rank Lt., Chief Medical Officer of Crusader)
Commodore Fiona O'Donnell - Lauren Holly (Bismarck CO)
Colonel Alan Walker - Michael Biehn (Bismarck MACO CO)
Lt. Jacob Rivers - Seth MacFarlane (Paladin Chief Engineer) (Ship's acting CO, all higher officers are dead)
Captain Carlos Ramirez - Josh Cruze (Champion Captain, transferred from Intrepid, as Starfleet needed all experienced officers in more capable ships)
Captain Khari Oladoyinbo - Cuba Gooding Jr. (Knight CO)
Commander Sek'Ris - Tom Selleck (Officer of Vulcan Command)
Colonial officers:
Commander Jerome Hasapis - Bob Gunton (BSG Victory)
Colonel Colin Hawks - Nathan Jones (marinestar commander)
The fleet so far:
Colonials: 52 Civilian ships
One Marinestar, the Broadsword. A Sobek, (Victory), three Adamant, one Valkyre (Morningstar) and the Pegasus (Mercury class).
Starfleet: Challenger, Crusader, Nightingale (hospital ship), Bismarck, Volga, Denarius, Pathfinder, Oracle and Danube.
To all who say that Starfleet would want to use the designs of Colonial ship A, B or C, here's the deal: The current Federation WON'T be contacted until the end of this story. So no point for any designs. The same rule applies to meeting some Star Trek people. Not happening. How would it? They are at the edge of the galaxy in Beta quadrant. Voyager is in the direct OPPOSITE location. And Enterprise and DS9 are in the Alpha quadrant, 23000 (+/- a few Ly) Ly from there. I may add some people that would somehow make sense to have a chance appearing there.
Also, the 'illusion' Baltar and Caprica are not Q. I want a Q episode, mostly with Q Junior, but not as a main part of the story.
I already know how the Colonial ended on Kobol. So no point telling me your ideas.
To Naughty Girl: I don't see the Star Trek games and Novels as cannon, so I ignore their stories. So I don't see any Borg invasions after Janeway crippled them as cannon. So a Borg invasion for me never happened. They died with Endgame. For me, it ended with Nemesis and I leave it at that. And the Bad Reboot and Secret Wokeout are just a bad joke at this point. They can't give their bad movies and TV shows for free, as Amazon and Netflix pulled out. No outside funding. No more Chinese funding for failing movies. That should tell us something.
Ghostly: Marquis survivors? What? How? Why? First off, that would be all across Federation space, in the other direction. Two, why would they go (the survivors) to that direction (towards the Beta quadrant) ? I don't get this point. As for hacking the Cylon resurrection network, perhaps, but not yet, as that would be a crippling blow right at the beginning.