The Cylons were created by Man.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
Where Cylon and human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer...
The Cylons send no one.
No-one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
--Opening text of the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries
THOSE LEFT BEHIND
Chapter 1: Calm Before The Storm
The battlestar Victorious hummed with all the regular activities of a ship in the Colonial Fleet. The Victorious and the other ships of Battlestar Group 66 were originally scheduled to be put into the Lampetia Shipyard for six months of overhaul and maintenance. Instead, Admiral Scott Tolan and his fleet were being sent back out into space for a top-secret weapons test. His group had been selected by Admiral Corman to conduct the effects of newly developed weapons on the decommissioned battlestars Athena and Ares. Also to be tested would be the effects of a terrorist attack on a battlestar, should the Saggitarons, the Eastern Alliance, or other groups become inclined to commit acts of terrorism. The tests would last approximately five weeks, and then the battle group would receive its scheduled overhaul at Lampetia.
Normally a battle group would consist of three to four battlestars. Group 66 had the minimum number. This consisted of the Illustrious-class Victorious, the Mercury-class Helios, and the Valkyrie-class Sphinx. There was a rumor that the Titan-class Heavy Battlestar Geryon or Colossus would be added once the ships were through with their shakedown cruises.
Admiral Scott Edward Tolan, at the age of thirty-nine one of the youngest admirals in the Colonial Fleet, sat in his office going over the plans for the upcoming weapons tests when he heard the buzzer announcing someone's presence. He walked over to the door and opened it. The man was wearing a colonial officer uniform, and had the commander insignia. He realized it was Commander Charles Watts, his temporary Executive Officer for the tests. He motioned for Watts to take a seat, "Sit down Commander, we have quite a bit to discuss before we get under way. I know this is probably not what you expected, you get promoted to the rank of Commander and then find yourself on a battlestar serving under an admiral."
Watts let out what sounded like a mix of a laugh and a scoff, "That about sums it up Admiral. I saved the Icarus from destruction, was thanked by being promoted to Commander, given command of the Salacia, then find out that I am to temporarily serve as your XO for five weeks while we blow up a couple of battlestars just so the Admiralty can feel better about the weapons they've developed."
Tolan nodded his head, "I had a feeling you weren't going to hold back on how you really felt about the situation. For what it's worth, I understand how you feel Commander. I was in the process of selecting my new XO when I found out that you would be coming along for this trip. I only know you by reputation, I'm sure you can say the same for me, so we are going to have to learn to work together and make the best of this situation." He turned his attention the papers he still had laid out on his desk, "We have about four hours until the Sphinx and Helios are ready for departure, and we are basically ready to jump to our coordinates. I'd like to welcome aboard Commander Watts and I'm looking forward to working with you over the next five weeks. I'll give you the chance to get settled into your quarters, and then I will see you up in CIC." With that said he shook Commander Watts' hand and waited for him to leave before getting back to work.
Tolan's thoughts went to his former XO. Bridget Woods had served under him for the past four years and now she was in command of the Victorious' sister ship the Kios. He had put in a recommendation for her to the Selection Board and called in various favors to get her the position. She had asked him if he thought she was ready for command, and he told her that he wouldn't have put her name forward if he had doubts about her.
He turned his attention back to the matter at hand and hoped that he and Watts would be able to work together, even though he understood the man's unhappiness with having to wait five weeks to take command of the Salacia.
FOUR HOURS LATER
The battle group had successfully jumped to their coordinates close to the Charon system. Charon was a gas giant that housed an armory that dated back to the Cylon War. The weapons that were to be used for the tests were stored there, waiting for the Victorious to load them and put them to use on the Athena and the Ares. The Admiralty had told him that they would not allow him to load the weapons at Leonis due to the risk of weapons smugglers or terrorists getting their hands on them and using them against the Colonial Fleet or the civilian population. It was an explanation that made sense to Tolan, though he found the Admiralty to be more than a little on the paranoid side of thinking than he was used to.
Commander Watts was overseeing the loading of the weapons onto the Victorious, with the assistance of Chief Ayers' gang of knuckle draggers, and the task would be complete within the next couple of hours. His shift wasn't due for another twelve hours, the prospect of some sleep sounded incredibly nice. As he lay there in bed, Scott Tolan reflected on the journey he had taken through the ranks of the fleet. He had been a hotshot Viper pilot when he was out of the Academy, and when he achieved the rank of Major he was promoted to CAG of the battlestar Mercury. It was during that time that he married Emily Graystone, a member of the very prominent Graystone family of Caprica. Upon his marriage he was moved up to the rank of Colonel and served as XO on the battlestar Atlantia. Five years after that he was promoted to Commander and given command of the Mercury-class battlestar Vanguard. After four years as its commaning officer, he was surprised to find that he was being promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and being assigned to become the CO of the battlestar Victorious once the ships construction and outfitting was complete at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards. Perhaps it had been the influence of the Graystone family; they were as prominent as any family could hope to be in the affairs of the Colonies. He hadn't married Emily because of that, he genuinely loved her and didn't try to use her family as a stepping-stone up to the rank of Admiral. He knew he was a controversial figure because of his family. His grandfather, Carl Tolan, had founded the Basileus crime syndicate on Canceron. Though he had no involvement with the criminal aspect of his family, the reputation seemed to follow him for the longest time. It wasn't as prevalent as it had been in the past, though it would still come up on occasion.
When his cousin Lacey had joined the Colonial Fleet and was accepted to the Academy, he warned her that the fact that she was a Tolan would cause her some trouble but she had to make sure it didn't get to her. Judging by the last letter he had received from her it seemed she was doing just that. He knew he could thank his mom for the way she had turned out. Lacey was the only child of his Uncle Erich and Aunt Nora. They had died in a car crash when Lacey was five and she was sent to live with his mom. The woman had done all she could to ensure that Scott didn't follow in the family footsteps of a life of crime. She had done the same with Lacey and her being at the Academy was proof that her hard work had paid off.
He would have much rather been home on Canceron with his wife and kids. His wife Emily had recently turned thirty. Their triplets Andrew, Henry, and Lisa, would be turning four later on in the year. He wanted more than anything to be there with them instead of being out in space destroying two battlestars. It was the influence of Admiral Corman that played a huge part in his decision to take this mission. The Colonial Line had recently finished fitting out the Olympica, a passenger liner that was unrivaled in luxury and comfort. The maiden voyage was completely booked, or at least Tolan had thought so. Corman offered the tickets for Emily and the kids, with the promise that once the mission was over and the Olympica had made it back to Caprica from the maiden voyage then Tolan could have all the time he wanted with his family and that was the thing that swayed him to take the mission. Emily was originally unhappy with him, but they eventually made peace with the circumstances and they would see each other in a few weeks. With those thoughts going through his head, Tolan drifted off to sleep.
He was sure he had slept for a while, but he had no idea how long it had been. The buzzer for his door was going off, and just managed to wake him from his sleep. He opened the door to his cabin, and there stood Commander Watts. He saluted Tolan and he returned the salute while still trying to wake up. "SITREP Commander…" He yawned and waited for Watts to respond.
"The weapons have been loaded onboard and have been put away in the Viper Arms Locker. We have also received word from the Superintendent of the Boreas Reserve Fleet that the Ares has been fully prepped for the tests and will be jumping into the system within the hour. The Athena is taking longer to prep, she is more heavily stripped than the Ares and they've been cannibalizing other ships and decommissioned battlestars to get the parts they need to make her space worthy. Depending on how long it takes the shipyard to get the work done it might be between five days and two weeks. I also received a classified message from Admiral Corman that I was told to deliver to you right away." With that he handed over the piece of paper he was holding.
"Thank you Commander…"Tolan was sounding more awake now, he was curious as to what the message was he had been sent from Admiral Corman. He was going to dismiss Watts, but thought otherwise. "Take a seat Commander; I'd like to have a word with you after I finish reading this." Watts nodded and found a seat; Tolan stood and read what Corman had written him.
To: Rear Admiral Scott E. Tolan, Commander Battlestar Group 66
From: Fleet Admiral Peter R. Corman, Chief of Fleet Operations Colonial Fleet
Admiral Tolan, I wanted to once more impart upon you the top-secret nature of your mission. The Adar Administration has taken our fleet to a low it has not been at since the early stages of the Cylon War. Apart from the two of us, as well as your crew, nobody knows that you are on this mission. As you are aware, the official story is that your battle group has put into the Aquaria Fleet Yard for an extended overhaul. I have made sure our computer systems have this logged, and none are the wiser. I look forward to the results of these weapons tests, this is an invaluable service you and your crew are doing for the Twelve Colonies. I do ask for a moment of silence for the battlestars Athena and Ares. They have served well, and deserve to have their sacrifice honored. Good luck Admiral Tolan, I know you will do your job and prove my faith in your abilities has been justified.
Peter R. Corman
Chief of Fleet Operations
Tolan laid the paper down and looked at Commander Watts, "Well Charlie, nobody knows we're out here. As far as the Colonial Fleet is concerned, we have been put into the Boreas Fleet Yard for an extended overhaul."
Watts smiled and laughed, "That's all fine and good Scott, but how can they put three battlestars into that ship yard that aren't there. Somebody would notice that eventually."
Tolan nodded and thought for a second, "Well Boreas is where most of the battle stars go once they have been decommissioned. I believe the Ajax, Delphi, and the Argonaut are stored there. Just move them into the maintenance yard and to the untrained eye it looks like a battle group has put in for overhaul. Speaking of decommissioned battlestars, it appears that due to the fleet using Athena as a source of spares for Galactica all these years we are going to be here much longer. I'm sure the Boreas yard workers are scrounging those other battlestars there to get what they need to make Athena space worthy again." He saw the look on Watts' face was an unhappy one. "Listen Charlie, you are still going to have the Salacia waiting for your once we finish. It would take an act of war to get the fleet to cancel her yard period and send her out under someone else's command. In the meantime, you have done a great job and I will put a good word in for you with Fleet Command once we get back to Picon Fleet Headquarters. You can head back to the CIC and I will be there once my shift begins." He saluted Charlie and his temporary XO left the room and headed back up to the CIC.
Once he was alone again, Tolan found a book on his bookshelf that he hadn't thumbed through in a while. It was a collection of stories from the Cylon War, collected from those who had served in the Colonial Fleet. He sat down and found a story about the battlestar Galactica and a time it was boarded by the Cylons. After all this time, the Galactica was finally being decommissioned. Early in his career, just after he graduated from the Academy, Tolan had spent some time on Galactica as a pilot. That lasted three years before he became CAG of the Mercury. He had fond memories of Galactica, and thought it fitting that she would be turned into a museum after a long career. It was the decommissioning that made the Athena useless to the Fleet, there were none of the original battlestars in service and she was only good for target practice.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he found another story. This one was about the battlestar Achilles, the thirteenth battlestar built and the one whose demise remained somewhat of a mystery. The Achilles was a single-ship class, designed to test some of the theories of how to improve on the original Columbia-class battlestars. Achilles had been boarded by the Cylons, and it seemed only a matter of time until the ship was lost and the Cylons had control of the battlestar. Once that happened they could have vented the atmosphere into space, and once the crew had suffocated the guns could have been turned on the vipers and other ships of the battle group. The ships commander, Commander Dominic Rigel, made a blind jump past the red line once the atmosphere of the ship began to vent. His sacrifice saved the lives of the pilots that had launched from Achilles to do battle with the Cylons, and the lives of the crews of the other vessels in the area. He didn't know if anyone would ever truly know where the Achilles had jumped to; it was one of those enduring mysteries. Regardless of where it had gone, the battlestar would no doubt be crawling with the Cylons that had been trapped on board by the jump.
He readied himself to report to the CIC for duty, his thoughts were on the upcoming tests that were to commence in the next few days. He thought about why they were doing this, and since he was alone in his quarters he spoke out loud to nobody in particular, "It's a damn shame that Adar has taken a cheese grater to the Fleet. We have the Galactica slated for decommissioning in a couple of days, and we are about to destroy two perfectly good battlestars in weapons tests just to prove that we have a place and a purpose after forty years of peace. What can we do? We either have to adapt and survive or perish and become extinct." It was reasoning he couldn't argue with, but he couldn't help but feel the fleet would pay a price for letting it be run down due to an outbreak of peace.
Another phase of the tests was to try out the new navigational program that had been developed in secret by the Constantine Technology Corporation. Even though virtually all of the fleet used the Computer Navigation Program developed by Gaius Baltar, the budgetary department wanted to see if it was possible to get the same effect as the CNP but at a cheaper cost. The Victorious had the Constantine CNP installed, while the Sphinx and Helios used Baltar's CNP. It was all part of the fun they were going to have over the next five or more weeks out here in space.
FIVE DAYS LATER:
The shipyards had been either overconfident, stupid, or a combination of both. Ares had just arrived after developing trouble with the jump drive. The Ares was a Mercury class battlestar that had been taken out of service due to an explosion in the engine room. Eventually it was discovered that the explosion was due to a bomb planted by a Sagitarron terrorist. However, the fleet decided to decommission the Ares instead of doing a repair on the engines. It was a cheap way to save money, and many officers in the fleet were not happy with it. It took being selected for the weapons tests to get the engines somewhat up and running. When it was all said and done, the yard had to take the engines out of the battlestar Medusa while it was sitting in the scrap yard and install them on the Ares. More time wasted in Tolan's eyes, and then there was the matter of the Athena. She was one of the twelve original battlestars, and had been more heavily stripped to keep Galactica up and running. The yard workers had finally managed to get her space worthy again, and it was just a matter of getting the supplies loaded before she would arrive with the Ares. The clock in the CIC displayed a time of 13:46, another half hour and his guests of honor would be showing up. He took the time to head to his quarters to check on the voyage of the Olympica. The liner had made it through four of the twelve colonies; there was still a chance he could be there on Caprica when the ship reached her space dock. He got on the phone with CIC and sent word to Ensign Jessica Jennings to have Commanders Naomi Sakura and Tyrone Carter meet him in the Victorious wardroom.
Five minutes before the meeting, Tolan received word that the Athena and Ares had both jumped into the system and were within range of the DRADIS. Once he finished briefing them they could get started with these weapons tests. Sakura and Carter arrived and they exchanged greetings before they sat down he began to brief them on the situation, "Commanders," Tolan sat up before he continued speaking, "we have our two anticipated guests ready for the exercises. This will take a couple of weeks to complete. We are essentially going to take our time destroying these two battlestars. There are new weapons to test on them, we are to simulate possible terrorist actions by rogue Sagittarons, and we are going to pause in between tests to see how well the new mobile dry docks Vestal, Neosho, and Priam work…" A buzzing that came from the phone mounted on the wall in the wardroom interrupted him. "Excuse me for a minute." He turned and walked over to the phone and picked it up.
"Tolan here, what is going on?" He knew it must be important, he had asked not to be disturbed until the briefing was finished.
"Sir, you have received a Priority One message from Fleet Headquarters." The voice of Ensign Jessica Jennings, the ship's communications officer was one that held a combination of worry and confusion. "I have shown the message to Commander Watts and he feels you should come and read it for yourself."
Tolan still wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation but realized he needed to see this message for himself. "Very well, tell him that I will be to CIC as soon as I can." After hanging up the phone he turned towards Sakura and Carter, "Commanders, we have a situation that needs to be tended to. Please wait here and I will be back to let you know what affects it may have on this mission." He left the wardroom and made his way towards the CIC.
Upon walking into the CIC he noticed Jennings and Watts standing in the small weapons control area of the bridge, he immediately walked over to them. "Let me see this message from Fleet HQ." Watts, handed him the printout and he began to silently read it.
"To all Colonial Units, Cylon attack underway, this is not a drill".
"Oh Gods…" Tolan muttered to himself. His mind raced with the thoughts of what to do next. He turned to face Jennings and Watts. "The first thing to do is inform Commanders Sakura and Carter so that they can return to their battlestars to get them ready for whatever Cylon attack may come our way. Once that happens I shall address the fleet. In the meantime Colonel, set Condition One throughout the ship." With that said, he turned and left to speak to Sakura and Carter.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER:
Lieutenant Travis Omega, Tactical Officer of the Victorious, plotted their jump closer to the Red Line than Tolan had thought possible. The crews of the vessels had been informed of the Cylon attack; some of the crew in the CIC had been too stunned for words, while others had to pull their composure back together in order to do their jobs. Twenty minutes ago he had received a message from Admiral Corman telling him to get close to the Red Line and make the Ares and Athena ready for war. Ten minutes later came reports that Picon Fleet Headquarters had been destroyed in a nuclear attack and that Admiral Nagala was assembling an armada at Virgon to meet the Cylons head-on.
Tolan thought of how some would call such move cowardice, and in a way it seemed that he had run instead of joining the fleet to fight the Cylons. Yet he had two battlestars that could be reactivated and used in the fight. Once Athena and Ares could fight, he would jump back into the star system and take the fight to the frakking toasters.
"Lt. Omega, stand down from Condition One throughout the fleet. However, I want all three battlestars to keep the vipers out there just in case.) Have Major Nash, report to the wardroom immediately. Ensign Jennings, I want you to send a message to the Sphinx and Helios. Commanders Sakura and Carter are to report here and meet Major Nash, Commander Watts, and myself in the wardroom. Until I return, Lt. Omega has the con." With that said, Commander Watts and himself left the CIC and made their way to the wardroom.
"With all due respect sir, have you lost your frakking mind?" Carter's outburst was loud and seemed to shake the wardroom. "We should be at Virgon fighting in Admiral Nagala's task force. Instead we are hiding out close to the Red Line and doing nothing to stop the Cylons!"
"You are entitled to your opinion Commander, but as Admiral of this battle group I decide what our course of action will be. I received a direct order from Admiral Corman himself ordering me to stay out of the battle zone until I can get these two battlestars ready for action again. I am following what I believe is the spirit of the order I received. While I have no idea what the Cylons have planned, I do feel that having us out there is sort of a wild card. Do all of you understand?" His voice was a bit gruff, but if there was ever a time to assert his rank it was now. The heads of the other men in the room nodded, and Carter calmed down considerably.
"The three of us are about to undertake rescue operations inside the Colonies, we need to get as many people out of the battle zone as possible. We are going to split up and each take four colonies; we can use our raptors and other transport vessels to rescue people off the surface, and we can intercept civilian vessels and bring them here to our location. I know it's more humanitarian than military right now, but the commanders of the Athena and Ares will use the time to get the ships up to military standards…" His voice trailed off as he saw the confused looks on the faces of everyone in the room.
"Let me make myself clear, I have no intention of letting civilians have run of those two battle stars. They are now military assets that have been recalled to active duty for the Colonial Fleet. I have also decided to use my authority as admiral to promote Major Nash to the rank of Commander effective immediately. Commander Watts is to take charge of the Athena while Commander Nash is to take command of the Ares." With that being said he turned towards Nash and Watts.
"I'm going to CIC for more updates on the attack. Congratulations Charlie, you have a battlestar to command now and Tim, you are one of the rising stars of the fleet and I know you would have eventually had your own command in the future. I will end this by asking for the Lords of Kobol to watch over you." With that said, they saluted and (then he) left the room.
He entered CIC and saw Omega talking with Jennings over the latest batch of messages she had received from the fleet. "Report Lieutenant, what's the latest news from the front?"
"Well sir…" Omega began to speak though he had a look of confusion on his face. "Individually there is nothing out of the ordinary about these reports, but when you look at them as a whole it paints a very disturbing picture." He stopped speaking, but Tolan motioned for him to continue. "There are reports of major equipment malfunctions just before engaging the Cylons. Here's one of an entire battlestar losing power as soon as they came into range of the enemy forces. Everything shut off and never came back on; I have no explanation for it."
Tolan nodded and then looked at Omega, "It is your job to figure it out, and I picked you for my tactical officer because you were considered one of the brightest minds to come out of War College. I want you to take some time to find me an answer; I don't want us to jump into a Cylon trap. I also want wireless traffic checked for any reports on the Olympica. If you hear anything let me know right away." The lieutenant nodded and went to work. Tolan took a moment to think of his wife and kids. Hopefully the Olympica was nowhere near the Cylons and made it to safety.
THE RESCUE
He could not recall a time when he had spent more time in the wardroom than he had today. Then again, for a day when the Cylons decide to wipe out humanity there are bound to be strange occurrences. The four commanders of the other battle stars were seated; Tolan had decided to stand as he addressed them.
"Going through the reports we received from the Virgon fleet, the Cylons have been able to infiltrate the Colonial Defenses and shut down our battlestars. Whether the cause of this is a virus or not is something we don't know but Lieutenant Travis Omega believes it may have something to do with the fleet CNP. That is the one factor that sticks out the most. It is too much of a coincidence that an entire battlestar can lose power upon coming within range of the Cylons. Before we begin rescue missions we need to go through the Victorious Battle Group and all of the vipers to un-network the computers so that they cannot be hacked and used against us. Speaking of vipers, we shall donate a portion of our vipers and pilots to the Athena and Ares so that they will not be unprotected while we are engaged in rescue missions. The pilots allotted to this will be up to the discretion of the battlestar commanders…" The phone cut him off as it began to ring. Tolan picked it up and received the latest news to be transmitted. When he hung the phone back onto the wall, his hands were shaking…
"I have more bad news, Admiral Nagala is dead and the battlestar Atlantia has been destroyed. The Cylons shut down every battlestar in the fleet and destroyed them without taking a single casualty. Not long after receiving that message, we received a message from Commander Adama aboard the Galactica. He announced that he was taking command of the fleet and that any forces left in the Colonial Fleet were to rendezvous with him at Ragnar Anchorage. The question we have before us is what to do now. First thing, we are to make the modifications to our ships and vipers so that we do not suffer the same fate as our comrades-in-arms, then we rescue however many people as we can, and then we shall meet up with the Galactica and take the war to the Cylons! We shall meet back here in one month. I want to make sure that we rescue as many people as we can and salvage whatever we could possibly use. That will also give Commanders Nash and Watts time to get their crews up to speed. To the four of your I end with this, and that is to wish you good luck and good hunting." With that the meeting ended and the work began to get the fleet ready to go into harms way.
The starboard hangar bay buzzed with activity as the deck gang went to work retrofitting the vipers, they had a lot of work to do and a short time to get it done. Tolan used this time to say goodbye to Watts and Nash, he knew there was no certainty that they would see each other again.
"Gentlemen, I know this is hard but I want you to hold to your duty and to the shipmates the two of you will be leading into battle. I trust that each of you will have the Athena and Ares up and running by the time I return. How you handle the civilian crews will be up to you. Farewell and I pray that the Lords of Kobol watch over you." He shook their hands and they saluted him. Returning the salute he watched as they entered the raptor."
He walked back to the CIC and called for Ensign Jennings to come to him. Once she walked over he gave her the following orders. "Tell Commander Sakura that she is to go the colonies of Leonis, Sagittaron, Aerelon, and Picon. We are going to the colonies of Scorpia, Tauron, Virgon, and Canceron. Commander Carter will make his way to the colonies of Caprica, Aquaria, Gemenon, and Libran. Once they have this list they are to immediately jump to the different colonies and commence rescue operations."
Once she left he turned to Lieutenant Omega. "For starters Lt. Omega, you are now promoted to the rank of Colonel and are to immediately take over as XO of the Victorious. However my first order for you is to plot a jump into the orbit of Virgon. Our mission may not be quite as pleasant as we would like." Omega gave him his thanks for the promotion and set about calculating the jump to Virgon.
"Admiral, DRADIS confirms that the Sphinx and the Helios have just jumped out of the system." Her voice was calm and professional, he allowed himself to smile before he turned to her. "Ms. Jennings if you could please come here I need to speak with you."
She walked up to him and when he spoke to her the volume of his voice was such that only she could hear him speak. "Ms. Jennings, I want you to know that it is looking doubtful you will get to go finish your senior year at the Officer's Academy so as of now your field rank of Ensign will be made permanent and you will continue to serve as our Communications Officer." The smile on her face was one of happiness mixed with a bit of sadness. "For now though, once Colonel Omega has finished his calculations send them over to the Vestal, Priam, and the Neosho. For what I have in mind, we will need their space docking facilities as well as their repair facilities."
Tolan began to feel the weight of the past few hours coming down on him; he was feeling tired but knew that there was no time for him to rest. He thought of Emily and his kids, he prayed to the Lords of Kobol that the Olympica had somehow avoided the initial Cylon attack and was heading to a place of safety. He got his mind to the task he was about to set his crew and the crews of Neosho, Priam, and Vestal to once they reached Virgon.
Chapter 2: Virgon
The hulks of the battlestars floated aimlessly in space, fires showing the only signs of movement. The Cylon victory had been swift and merciless; the battle was over before it even had the chance to begin. Lt. Larsen "MAGIC" Banks piloted his raptor among the ruined hulks, his mind numb to the destruction he was witnessing. These men and women were his comrades-in-arms, now they were gone thanks to the genocide committed by the Cylons. His co-pilot for this mission was Ensign Jamie "CASHEW" Hamilton, a rookie pilot not too far removed from her days at the Academy. "Cashew, do you read anything on DRADIS?" He had a feeling the Cylons had already left, once they nuked Virgon and destroyed the Colonial Fleet.
"Negative Magic, it looks like the toasters got out of here as soon as they finished their work. I'm still glad to have you out here with us All Star; the work is much safer with you and your vipers."
Captain Anton "All Star" Pontiere's voice came over the comm, and let them know that they would be around as long as they were needed. All Star had been promoted to CAG upon Admiral Tolan's decision to give Major Nash command of the Ares. With the reassurance that his CAG and fellow pilots had Cashew and his backs covered, Magic set about scanning the hulks to find the battlestars Admiral Tolan was looking for. It was near the middle of the wrecks when he saw her, or at least what was left of her. Atlantia looked much like Galactica, only she had been lengthened during one of her refits, had her hull deepened, and had received all of the latest upgrades to bring her up to status as the flagship of the Colonial Fleet. Now she missed her starboard flight pod, had her back broken, and the forward part of the ship had been blown away from the rest of the hull. "Damn…" escaped from Magic's lips, he could not help but look in awe at the damage that had befallen the Atlantia. He was not sure how long he stared, but a nudge from Cashew brought him back to his senses. He opened up a link to the Victorious and reported. "Victorious this is Magic, we have spotted Atlantia and are sending you the coordinates to her location. I believe from looking at her that you can get the main hull into the Neosho or Vestal, the forward part of the battlestar has been completely blown away." Ensign Jennings thanked him and told him to standby in case Vestal needed assistance.
The two of them sat in their raptor watching as the Vestal took the hulk of Atlantia into the mobile dry dock the ship had been built specifically for. Once the hulk was securely into the dock, large metal sheets lowered to enclose the Atlantia, and make it possible for the dockworkers on the ship to enter the battlestar without the suits that the space dockworkers had to use. Once the last of the sheets had been secured, Magic got word to Victorious that Atlantia was secure inside of the dry dock. Jennings came back with the message from Admiral Tolan to deduce which of the hulks was the more salvageable and to direct Neosho to it. After giving it a minute or so of thought, Magic decided that the Erasmus looked to be in better condition than the other battlestar hulks. He backtracked to the Erasmus and watched as Neosho did the same thing to it as Vestal had done to Atlantia. The thought hit him suddenly; this salvage operation that Admiral Tolan had them on would be much worse for the dockworkers and deck gang than it would be for the pilots.
VESTAL:
Commander Richard Hill in the operating booth for the space dock, watched as Vestal worked the Atlantia into the dock. The heavy metal sheets that would shield his crew from space were now in place. The lights on the control board flashed green to let him know that the atmosphere inside of the dock was safe for him and his crew to enter. He had realized that there was a chance the fires on the battlestar could grow stronger when the oxygen hit them, and he was right. The flames along the hull of Atlantia began to grow in size, he immediately ordered Colonel Ron McCown to vent the atmosphere inside of the dock in order to put out the fires on Atlantia. Once this was over with, he saw that the metal sheeting had held up, a few more minutes and then his crew could get to work on Atlantia.
Robert Solomon was one of the civilians that crewed Vestal. He was not part of the Colonial Fleet, but part of his work for CF Auxiliary was to work for the non-military vessels of the military. He was part of the three-man team picked to survey the Atlantia. He drew straws with Harris Williams and Jackie Cranford to decide who would open the airlock and enter first. He had lost and became the first person to test out the space dock. The airlock door hissed and opened without any problems. The air was warm from the earlier fires on the Atlantia that had burned when she had come aboard Vestal, but it was starting to cool as the air began to circulate. Atlantia had taken a beating, a lot of the hull was blackened from explosions and other parts blasted due to decompression when the ship was lost. He shook his head, and hoped that those on board did not suffer long. He set a ladder up to one of the launch tubes and shined his flashlight down the tube. It was an eerie sight, a viper sat at the end of the tube waiting for a launch that would never come. The tube itself was structurally sound, so feeling brave enough to explore, he began walking down the tube towards the viper. He had kept on the radio so that Commander Hill could keep track of his progress. He reached the viper and he was surprised to find that it was in perfect condition. He wondered if the other tubes had vipers in them as well. He radioed the information to Hill, who then ordered him out of the tube and to inspect the others so that they could retrieve the vipers. He was about to radio a response back when he thought he heard a loud thumping noise coming from the viper. He stopped in his tracked and listened again, and it came from the cockpit. He had never believed in ghosts, but he found himself suddenly becoming a believer. He decided to investigate before he got out of there; if he was going to answer questions about this he probably needed to get a few answers first. He managed to climb up onto the wing of the viper and shined his light into the cockpit. At that instant a gloved hand smashed against the window and about caused Solomon to lose his balance and fall off of the wing. 'Oh Gods, what the frak was that!!' He thought to himself, 'Someone is still alive in there!' His hand fumbled around his belt until he found his hammer. It took several hard hits but he managed to break the cockpit window and the pilot took off his helmet and took several deep breaths.
He appeared to be in his late twenties, with a scared look in his eyes. He managed to get a hold of himself and held out his hand, "Major Andre Graystone of the battlestar Atlantia. Thank you for saving my life." Solomon shook Graystone's hand and helped him to get down off of the viper. As they began to walk to the outside of the launch tube, Solomon got on the radio to Commander Hill, "Sir we have pilots in the vipers that may still be alive. We need to get as many men as we can to the launch tubes and see how many we can save!" Hill acknowledged him and told him to get Major Graystone to sickbay. It was then that he heard Hill's voice over the ship's loudspeaker, "Attention, this is Commander Hill; I need all available personnel to report to the space dock immediately!" Solomon helped Graystone to the sickbay as several crew ran by them to the space dock, he turned to the rescued pilot. "Sir, I think we're going to be able to save a few of your pilots from that wreck of a battlestar." He smiled and nodded and nothing more was said until they reached sickbay. Once Graystone was asleep and the doctor told him there was nothing to worry about, he made his way to the space dock to help with the rescue efforts.
VICTORIOUS:
"Run that by me again Ensign?" Tolan was unsure if he had heard Ensign Jennings report about the pilots found on Atlantia. "You're telling me that there was an entire squadron of vipers that were trapped on Atlantia when she was destroyed." She confirmed that as being the report she had received. "Alright then, get me patched through to the Vestal. I'd like to have a word with Commander Hill." He grabbed the phone and waited for Hill's voice on the other end. "This is Vestal actual, are you there Admiral?"
"Vestal this is Victorious actual, I hear you've had quite the day over there Commander. I would appreciate it if you could come over here and give me a full report." Tolan was more than curious as to how those pilots had survived on Atlantia, and it was something he would rather discuss in person instead of over the phone. He turned to speak to Colonel Omega, "You have the conn XO, and once Commander Hill is on board please have him meet me in my quarters." Omega acknowledged his orders, and Tolan left the CIC to go his quarters.
An hour later Hill was sitting in Tolan's giving him the tale of the Atlantia Death Squadron, "It appears that the Atlantia was hit by the Cylons before she could even launch her vipers. I thought that was strange until you told me about the virus they used to shut down the battlestars and their vipers. Anyway, the vipers were sitting in their launch tubes when the ship lost all power. She got banged up quite a bit, but somehow the doors to the launch tubes held and they were saved from the destruction that hit the rest of the ship. What kept them alive seems to be their suit's air supply. They spent the past hour or so just drifting in space waiting for their oxygen to run out and then for them to die. Looking at the gauges from the suits, they didn't have much longer to go before they would have ran out of air…I'm telling you Admiral it is a miracle that they made it this far. The pilots themselves are in our sickbay right now being looked after by our doctor. They all seem all right physically, if only a bit on the exhausted side. Mentally though, I honestly can't tell you a thing about what their minds are like. Now we have an entire squadron of vipers and we have pilots to man them with. I'm sure Commanders Watts and Nash will be pleased."
Tolan smiled and nodded, "Yes they will be Commander. Thank you for giving me the story of those pilots, I can assure you that your and your crew's hard work will not go unnoticed by me. I am going to update your orders somewhat though. I want you to get the names of the pilots we rescued and see if there is any way that we can recover their belongings from Atlantia. I want you to proceed with taking any ammunition, electronics, and weapons you can find. What I am about to tell you I want you to think of as just a little side mission for you and your crew. First thing though, when you enter the wreckage you will more than likely encounter the bodies of the crew I want you to be sure to cover them. I intend to put the Vestal to use on a long-term project. We are going to rebuild the Atlantia. We shall transfer the dead over to the Erasmus and work on getting Atlantia rebuilt. It appears that Virgon's orbit has kept the parts of the hull that were blown away from floating free. We can recover the forward part of the ship, the starboard flight pod, and use other parts of the destroyed battlestars to rebuild Atlantia and get her back into the fight."
Hill thought for a second before speaking again, "Sir, I understand we are short on practically everything but these are not just a group of hulks that need to be salvaged. These are tombs to those brave men and women who went into battle and lost their lives. We would lose a piece of our souls if we went through with your plan to rebuild Atlantia. Not to mention that you are talking about stripping everything that is possibly salvageable from them as well. We have three mobile repair docks and that is all, don't you think you are being unfair to us and the battlestars you do have left?"
"Commander, the Atlantia was the most advanced ship in the Colonial Fleet. Out of the wrecks surveyed, she is one that is in the best shape for a possible rebuild. I now have two battlestars that have been stripped either completely or mostly and are nowhere near ready for battle. With the help of Erasmus and the other wrecked battlestars I will be able to get those two battlestars ready to go into the fight against the Cylons and hopefully have the Atlantia ready to rejoin the fight as well. Thanks to those wrecked battlestars, I can give the crews of my battlestars a shot against the toasters whenever we do come into contact with them. It's a hard choice to make, but it's one that has to be made regardless. I thank you Commander Hill, you are now to return to Vestal and finish prepping the Atlantia for rebuilding. You are dismissed." He probably came across as uncaring towards those lost, but Tolan could not afford the luxury of being overly sensitive. Hill saluted him and left the room. Once he was gone, Tolan poured himself a drink and pondered his next move. He got on the phone and asked Ensign Jennings to get Chief Billy Ayers. He would need a new deck chief, but Ayers was the one person he knew he could count on for what he had mentally referred to as Project Atlantia. Once that was over he got back on the phone with Jennings
"Ms. Jennings, here is the message I want you to send to the commanders of the cruisers Thetis, Erebus, and Aether. We are going to stay in orbit around Virgon to continue salvage and rescue operations, they are to proceed to the other three colonies and conduct rescue operations there. Once through, they are to return to the Athena and Ares to guard them against a possible Cylon attack. Tell them good luck and may the Gods be with them." With an acknowledgement she let him go and he went back to plotting his next move. He knew there was a facility on Virgon where the Fleet stored old vipers once they had been pulled from service. With the raptors and heavy transports he had on board the Victorious he could possibly get them back onto the ship and try to get them back into service. With the salvage operations going the way they were, he had time to give it a try. He realized that he would need to find a way to get any civilians off of the planet before they died from the nuclear fallout. He got on the phone and sent word out to David Bogan, his newly appointed deck chief, to come meet him in his quarters. Every raptor and heavy transport vessel the Victorious had to spare would be needed, and his viper pilots would have to keep up the super-human effort that they had undertaken since his battle group had come into Virgon's orbit.
Twelve Hours Later:
Tolan was pleased with himself, his plan had gone flawlessly and there had not been a sighting of enemy forces. Thanks to his salvage crews emptying the Semele Yard of all of the old vipers and spare parts, he now had enough vipers to supply Athena and Ares and whatever vipers he may lose if they should run into the Cylons. The fallout from the nuclear attacks had not made them unusable. It was the kind of thing that made one believe in the Lords of Kobol. The door to the ready room opened up and in walked Major Andre Graystone, the senior surviving officer of the Atlantia as well as his brother-in-law. He walked up and offered him a handshake, "Hell of a day you've had there Andre, it's a miracle you're still alive."
Graystone smile as he shook Tolan's hand, "Scott, I don't know if I can thank you enough for rescuing me from there. I thought your battle group had been destroyed in the opening attack. According to the reports we received, the Boreas Shipyard had been one of the first ones hit. The toasters nuked it into oblivion and there were few survivors. How's Andrea doing, can she fly yet?"
Tolan had forgotten to tell him about his twin sister. Andrea "ARTEMIS" Graystone was among his best viper pilots. Her viper had malfunctioned two weeks ago just after launch and she had to eject. During the ejection she had managed to somehow injure her leg and was now confined to her bed for resting and rehab. It would be another month until she could get back into the cockpit. "She's fine Andre, right now she's wishing I would let her get back into a viper so she can give the Cylons a piece of her mind. I'll let you go find her and let her know that you're still alive…" He thought for a moment before he spoke again, "I've had my communications officer scanning the comm traffic for anything on the Olympica. So far we haven't heard anything; I'm hoping and praying that Emily and the kids are all right. With all the work I've had with these rescue and salvage operations, it's helped to keep my mind occupied but there are moments when I get worried."
"Emily will be fine; after all she's a Graystone. If I was lucky enough to survive being trapped in a viper on Atlantia, then I'm sure the Olympica will be fine. For all we know one of the other battlestars in the group might have found them. At least we have hope Scott, that's more than a lot of people, can say right now. Let me go find Andrea and we'll talk more later on." He gave Tolan a pat on the back and headed down the corridor. He stood there a minute and thought of his family before he headed to CIC to check up on the salvage operations.
THREE WEEKS LATER:
Mercury, Triton, Pacifica, Erasmus, Rycon, Týr, Columbia, Icarus, and Váli were among the battlestars that had been stripped of all things useful. There were some, like the Solaria, that couldn't be positively identified among the wreckage. They were left to work with the battlestars that could be identified for salvage. The work had been slow and tedious, with only Neosho and Priam available to do the salvage work. The results were worth the time spent, as these battlestars yielded equipment to not only get the Athena and Ares back into fighting shape but enough to get Atlantia looking like a battlestar again. His pet project, as he had heard it called, was coming along nicely. Chief Ayers had the crew of Vestal doing all they could to get the shattered flagship reassembled and back in operation. Andre Graystone was also involved in the process, as Tolan had pegged him to become the Atlantia's commanding officer once the ship was ready to rejoin the battle. The work would have been even more difficult if Tolan hadn't sent Andre down to the Virgon surface to the Fleet Archives at Hesiod-Rhodea. From there, Andre was able to bring back the builder's plans for Atlantia, as well as every other battlestar built by the Colonial Fleet dating back to the original twelve from the Cylon War. The cruisers sent out to the other colonies had rounded up every available civilian ship they could come into contact with, or at least the ones that were FTL capable. Tolan had requested that they be escorted to what he had referred to as "Point Luck", where the Athena and Ares were still getting back into fighting condition.
Sphinx and Helios had returned with a healthy haul of human lives and military equipment. Sakura and Carter had done a masterful job on the rescue mission, and were helping to organize the affairs of the civilian fleet. One more week was all the time they had left to work on the Virgon fleet. There were more battlestars to salvage, but he wanted to get the fleet organized so they could set out for Ragnar Anchorage and meet up with Adama and the Galactica.
The CIC was buzzing with the usual activity from the reports of the salvage operations when Tolan heard the voice of Anton Pontiere announcing that there had been five unidentified contacts on the DRADIS. Immediately Tolan ordered that Condition One be set throughout the fleet and to launch the alert fighters at once. Before the fighters could be launched, Ensign Jennings announced that she was receiving Colonial Signals. Upon hearing this, Tolan ordered her to verify the identities of the vessels.
"Sir, the signals are authentic. These ships belong to us! The codes confirm the war stars Defender and Aegis, as well as the Colonial Marine transport Syrinx. The group also includes the cruiser Neleus. The last one is the military prison transport Styx."
Tolan thought for a couple of seconds before turning around to speak to Ensign Jennings, "Open a channel to the Defender; I want to speak to the commanding officer."
Once she received the acknowledgement, Jennings confirmed that she had a Commander Ramos on the channel. Picking up the phone, Tolan spoke to the commander, "Commander Ramos, this is Admiral Scott Tolan of the Battlestar Victorious Battle Group. First let me say that I'm glad to see you and your crew is still alive. There is a lot to discuss; I want you and the commanders of the other ships aboard the Victorious in the next hour."
An hour later, Tolan was in the wardroom with the five commanders of the ships they had recently come across. Sitting at the table were Commander Antonio Ramos of the Defender, Commander Helen Troy of the Aegis, General Otus Maxwell of the Syrinx, and Colonel Harrison Sydell of the Styx. The person in command of the Neleus, Greg Vickers, was also present though oddly enough he was a civilian.
"There are plenty of questions going through my mind right now. Granted, there are more pressing ones to ask but first I have to know…Mr. Vickers exactly how is it that you came to command the Neleus when you are only a civilian?" Tolan's curiosity was getting the better of him, and the more he knew of the answer the easier his decision would be as to what to do with this man.
It was clear that Vickers had been anticipating this line of questioning, "Well Admiral, I worked at for the Verona Scrap yard at Aerelon. The Neleus had just arrived for scrapping. The Verona Metal Company had bought the ship at auction and it was up to me to supervise the scrapping process. I had spent some time in the Colonial Fleet, and I had served on a couple of cruisers during my four-year stint. My bosses felt I was the most qualified man to oversee the job. To make a long story short, my crew and I were staying on board when the Cylons hit the shipyard. The ship had not powered down yet, so I told the men below in the engine room to fire up the FTL drive and jump out before we bought it. It was then that I came across the Aegis and Defender. The commanders weren't quite sure what to do with us. The Neleus doesn't have ammunition so fighting isn't much of an option. With two warstars around, we're fairly safe. Neleus belongs to Verona now, so I'm not sure what the Colonial Fleet would want with her."
Tolan nodded slowly before he spoke, "You have put me in a position here Mr. Vickers. I don't want to play the bad admiral here, and send a detachment of marines over there to forcibly remove your crew and yourself so that I can put the ship back into service. What I can do though is recall you to active duty, which was an order passed down once word of the Cylon attack got out. That means that you are under my authority now and if you don't like it then you can see just how much of a villain I can be. You are going to be given the rank of Commander and the Neleus will be under your command. However, I will mix your crew with those of my own so that they can be brought up to the standards of the Colonial Fleet. I'm sure I can find some ranks to give them as well since I have just drafted them into the service. I'll let you go back to the Neleus and fill them in on the good news."
Vickers didn't seem happy at the idea of being back into the military, but he appeared to keep it to himself. Tolan needed all the available manpower and ships he could muster.
Once they were back at Point Luck then things would get sorted out better. He then addressed the other commanders; "I need to know if you came across any civilians since the Cylon attacks. I have had my battle group scouring the twelve colonies for survivors and material. We have all agreed to meet at a designated area near the Red Line, which we have nicknamed "Point Luck", and from there we are to join up with Commander Adama and the Battlestar Galactica at Ragnar Anchorage."
"We did come across some civilian vessels in the process of finding our way here." It was Commander Troy who had spoken, "We found some heavy passenger ships that had jumped away from Caprica when the Cylons attacked. We then came across the Olympica…"
Tolan cut her off as soon as he heard the name, "The Olympica is safe then?" The others in the room nodded, a wave of emotion came over him but all he could manage to say was, "Thank the Gods…" His family was alive after all, and once he had finished the salvage work here he would be able to see them at last.
"We will finish this conversation at a later time. My XO will give you the coordinates for you to jump to, along with the civilian vessels you came across. Commander Sydell, before you leave I want your ship to send me a list of all of your prisoners. I am going to need crewmembers for these ships I have, and perhaps some of your prisoners are fit to wear the uniform again. You are all dismissed."
They stood and saluted him before leaving the room. Once alone, he found himself a chair to sit in. All the worrying he had been through these past weeks had taken a toll on him. He felt the tears coming to his eyes. At first he tried to hold them back, but there was no stopping them. He buried his face into his hands and began crying. He felt lucky to have tears of happiness coming from his eyes instead of tears of sorrow.
FIRST CONTACT
The salvage work was finally complete, much to the relief of everyone involved. The crews of the Neosho, Vestal, and Priam had performed admirably with the grim task Tolan had given them. He thanked them by holding an awards ceremony on each of the three ships. He praised the hard work of all of them, and handed out medals to each of the crewmembers picked out for their extraordinary service during the salvage operation. Andre had found a large collection of Colonial Fleet medals at Hesiod-Rhodea, and it was time to put them to use.
After the last ceremony on the Vestal, Tolan returned to his quarters on Victorious to call it a day. The repair ships would be jumping to Point Luck within the hour, and his ship would be following shortly. Earlier in the day he had promoted Captain Pontiere and made his job as Tactical Officer permanent. Artemis had finally been cleared by Dr. Salik to return to flight status. She came back to find that she had been promoted to CAG, a job that Tolan felt she was more than qualified. The phone ringing interrupted the usual buzz of activity; he picked it up and was answered by Colonel Omega. He told him they had received a distress signal from a research facility in the Mystra Asteroid Belt near Leonis. It appeared the facility was under a Cylon attack and required immediate assistance. He told Omega to have Condition One set throughout the ship, have the vipers in their tubes and ready for launch, and to have the FTL drive ready to jump by the time he reached CIC. He hung up the phone and made his way up to CIC.
The time for hiding in the shadows was over now. It was time for him to finally take the fight to the Cylons.
The Lascaris Technology Laboratory had been built into the largest of the asteroids in the Mystra Asteroid Belt. It appeared that one of their co-workers had set off some sort of beacon that led the Cylons to them. Raiders had begun firing their missiles at the asteroid, chipping away pieces of it at a time. Once they had jumped into range of the asteroid belt, Captain Pontiere announced that he had picked up a squadron of Cylon raiders. Tolan immediately ordered the vipers launched, and for the Victorious to send up a storm of flak.
The flak guns of Victorious began firing immediately, shooting streams of flak towards the Cylon raiders. This got their attention, and they turned away from the asteroid and engaged the vipers. The communications channel was alive with the talk of the viper pilots as they maneuvered and tried to take down the raiders. The Victorious shook as a missile from one of the raiders made it through the hail of flak and hit the battle star amid ships. The concussion shook those standing in the CIC; Omega pitched forward and almost fell to the floor while Tolan managed to keep his legs from going out from under him.
His vipers had taken some casualties, but all of the Cylon raiders had been destroyed. Damage control teams had found minimal damage where the missile had hit the Victorious. Once all was clear, Tolan had Ensign Jennings open up a channel to Lascaris. The head of research, Dr. Daimon Ravashol, requested that Tolan and a group of his marines come to the station to rescue them and take their co-worker who had betrayed him into custody. It was a request he was more than happy to accommodate, and fifteen minutes later a set of six raptors left Victorious and landed inside the hangar bay of Lascaris.
Daimon Ravashol was a tall man, thin with black hair that was somewhat receding at the hairline. He shook Tolan's hand and introduced him to the man and woman who had accompanied him. They were his assistants, Abbie Moreland and her brother Josh, and they had been with him here in Lascaris for the past three years. It seemed that the facility was used for medical and technological research. Dr. Ravashol explained that it was a top-secret government project that only those with the highest of clearances were even aware of its existence.
"Tell me doctor, what happened with this co-worker of yours who sent out a signal to the Cylons?" Tolan was curious about this. Why would any human want to collaborate with the Cylons?
"Her name is Alice Copeland. She was a lab tech in our robotics laboratory; she came highly recommended to us after she graduated first in her class at the University of Vatika. We have footage from the lab that would show you what happened, but for lack of better words Admiral she went crazy. She started screaming about how God's vengeance was upon us and that we were not going to live to see tomorrow. She attacked a guard and after killing him she took his gun and shot the other lab technicians! She then went to our probe launching facility and sent out the beacon that brought the Cylons to us. We managed to overpower her, and she is handcuffed and under the heaviest sedation humanly possible. I hope that your marines can handle her, I hope even your brig can contain this woman!" Dr. Ravashol tone was one of incredulity, more than likely at how one woman could cause so much damage.
"I'll have my marines take her over to the brig on Victorious, I'm sure we can design something that she can't get out of. In the meantime, I want you to gather all of your staff and the data from your experiments. The Cylons have virtually wiped out everyone in the Twelve Colonies, and we need to get as many people as we can out of here." Ravashol began to stammer as he tried to find a way to argue but Tolan held up his hand, "There is no discussion here doctor, if we are to continue surviving as a species then we need everyone we can bring along with us. I will do what I can to set you up with the appropriate facilities once we are reunited with the rest of my battle group. I will send for you in three hours, and by then I want you have everything ready for departure." With that said, he turned and left to return to the raptor and to Victorious. Three hours later, all had been loaded aboard and the Victorious jumped to Point Luck.
Chapter 3: POINT LUCK
The plan went off almost perfectly. The Victorious, Sphinx, and Helios had each run into the Cylons and managed to beat them off with taking only minimal casualties. The Athena and Ares had both been brought back up to where they could launch and retrieve vipers, it was just a matter of training the crews further to make them more efficient. He knew he needed to meet with Sakura, Carter, Nash, and Watts but first he had a trip to make to the Olympica.
The Olympica was even bigger than the pictures gave her credit for. She was as long as three Cloud 9 space liners put together, with the sides a bit more rounded like one would find with the Olympic Carrier type vessels. She boasted three large domes on the hull that were brightly lit by the artificial sun that was created within. The Colonial Line had outdone them with this ship; she really was a sight to behold. Once he had landed onboard he made his way up to the bridge, before he visited with his family he needed to talk to the captain. Sadly, it was one of the burdens that had to be dealt with when serving in the military.
He found the bridge, and asked to speak to the captain. An older man with a formal looking Colonial Line uniform walked up and introduced himself, "Captain Robert Edwards of the Olympica, how can I help you?"
"Admiral Scott Tolan of the Battlestar Victorious Battle Group, I've come to check on my wife and kids. They were traveling onboard, and I would like to see a passenger manifest when possible." He gave Edwards a friendly smile; he certainly didn't want to intrude on the captain's territory.
"I can already give you the names of two people who can be useful to you at this time. One is Hector Alonzo, the mayor of Caprica City. The other is Admiral Jonathan Kronus, the retired Commander-In-Chief of the Colonial Fleet. He told me that if I were to encounter anyone from the Fleet to send them to him right away." He printed out a piece of paper and handed it to him, "This is the cabin number for Admiral Kronus, the one below it is for Mayor Alonzo." He went to the computer and after a minute had another piece of paper printed out, "You will find your family in this cabin on the A- Deck. One more thing Admiral Tolan, on behalf of the passengers and crew of the Olympica, I thank you for rescuing us." He saluted Tolan then walked off to consult with his officers. Tolan began making his way to the A-Deck cabins.
After ten minutes of searching he had finally found cabin A-489. He knocked and waited for the door to open. He expected the door to open slowly and cautiously, instead it flung open and his Emily wrapped her arms tightly around him. He held her just as tightly and looked to see that there was a peephole that she had seen him through. That explained why she opened the door the way she did. He whispered in her ear, "I never gave up on finding you…" He lifted her chin and kissed her in a way he hadn't kissed her since the time they had first started dating.
She looked great considering she probably hadn't slept well in the past month or so, yet she was here before him and that was all he could ask for. He asked about the kids, but Emily told him they were sleeping. "I want you to know that Andrea is fine and doing well. As for Andre, he managed by some miracle of the Gods to survive the destruction of the Atlantia. They'd be here now, but right now Andrea is on patrol and Andre is supervising on a project I've had him working on with Atlantia."
She told him to wait there and she would be right back and a minute later he was tackled by three kids yelling, "Daddy!!"
Andrew, Lisa, and Henry Tolan were triplets the Tolans welcomed into the world three years ago. He swore they looked more like Emily than him but it didn't make a huge difference to him. This family reunion was one that he had waited over a month for, one that he thought he might not get the chance for, as he feared the Cylons had destroyed the Olympica. Twenty minutes later, he grudgingly kissed his kids goodbye and then went to say goodbye to his wife.
He took her in his arms and kissed her again, "I don't want to go, but I have some official business to take care of. Don't worry, as soon as I'm finished I'll be coming back to see you and the kids." He gave her a kiss before leaving, "I love you baby and when I come back you and the kids can come and stay with me on Victorious!"
Down on C-Deck, in cabin C-264 was Admiral Jonathan Alexander Kronus, known to his friends simply as 'John'. He was the famed 'Iron Duke of Leonis', or simply 'The Iron Duke' for short. The Kronus family had been among the royalty on Leonis before the Articles of Colonization abolished such hereditary titles. He started out in the Colonial Fleet as a gunnery officer on the battle cruisers. Once the concept of the battlestar began to be tested, he switched over to aviation and earned his viper wings. As a result he had ended up becoming one of the most famous of all viper aces while a pilot on the Galactica. Along the way he had earned the nickname of "The Iron Duke" mostly due to his iron will and his determination to never give up the fight against the Cylons. He had moved up the ranks during and after the way, making his way up to the rank of Fleet Admiral and become the most powerful man in the Colonial Fleet. The only other hero of the Cylon War to come close to his exploits was a man by the name of Gary Ware, who also moved up to the Admiralty but never made it to Fleet Admiral. It took the Adar Administration to do him in and end his career. Upon taking office, one of President Adar's first moves was to begin downsizing the fleet. Admiral Kronus had a much different view than Adar; he felt the fleet should stay as strong as possible in case the Cylons should return. When it was all said and done, Adar forced Kronus to retire. The statement that he used was that the time had come for Admiral John Kronus to 'Go the way of all old warriors, and fade away into History."
Retirement had been kind to Kronus; he became a partner in the Viperinae Avionics Company. What made this so profitable was the fact that Viperinae built virtually all vipers for the fleet. This helped to ensure that John Kronus became a wealthy man, and have a retirement befitting a man of his character. Tolan knew that there would have to be an understanding between him and Kronus. They were both admirals, and there needed to be a way for them to both make important decisions.
Shortly after knocking on the door, Tolan was standing face-to-face with the legendary Admiral Kronus. They had never met, but everyone in the fleet heard enough stories about him to feel as if the knew the man. "Admiral Kronus, it's an honor to finally meet you. I'm Admiral Scott Tolan of the Battlestar Victorious and the commander of Battle (Star) Group 66." He offered his hand for Kronus to shake, "Pleased to meet you Admiral Tolan, I take it you're the highest ranking officer left alive in the fleet?" He shook his hand, and then asked him to come into his cabin so that they could talk more.
"To the best of my knowledge sir, I know Commander Adama and the Galactica are still alive and in the fight. He took command of the fleet and ordered all ships to Ragnar Anchorage. I would have joined him there, but I was following orders I received from Admiral Corman shortly after the first Cylon attack. My group includes the Victorious, Helios, and Sphinx. I have also reactivated the battlestars Athena and Ares, and have salvaged the hulk of the Atlantia to rebuild and hopefully put back into commission in the near future."
"That's great work Tolan, but how did you managed to get the material to rebuild Atlantia?" His voice was more inquisitive than confused.
"In all honesty sir, I put my salvage crews through an experience they would love to forget. I spent weeks using my three mobile dry docks to salvage everything useful off of the destroyed battlestars at Virgon. It gave me material to rebuild Atlantia, and finish repairs to Athena and Ares so that they can rejoin us in the fight." He saw the look on Kronus' face change somewhat as he told the story of how he salvaged the Virgon fleet.
"That's quite a story Admiral Tolan; I would have found it extreme back in the time that I was Colonial Fleet CIC. Considering the circumstances, I feel you did the right thing. I found out while we were hiding from the Cylons that all military personnel, both retired and inactive, have been recalled to active duty. I did let the commanders of the war stars have the leeway to make their own decisions when they managed to find you. My question to you is this, what do you propose we do about this problem of having two admirals and one fleet?" He had put the question out there to him, now Tolan tried to figure out the best way to work this out. Then out of nowhere the idea hit him.
"Admiral Kronus here is what I propose. I have three battlestars in Group 66, which is plenty for me to handle. I still have the Athena, Ares, and Atlantia that need to be included in a group of some kind. I already have commanders on Athena and Ares, but Atlantia is still a work in progress for the most part. I know when you were CIC you kept Atlantia as your flagship, so I propose that we use those three to make a second battlestar group and as admiral you will be in charge of it. As far as military decisions go, we shall consult with each other and if we cannot make a decision we shall have whoever the president is make the final decision. It is not the perfect scenario, but right now it's the best we have. What do you think sir?" He hoped he came across as reasonable, but he would find out soon enough.
Kronus nodded his head, "You have a deal Admiral Tolan, except for one thing. We do not have a president. I'm sure Mayor Alonzo can fill the position, but that would send the wrong message to the people of the fleet. How would you work around this problem?" Tolan couldn't help but feel as though he was being tested.
"We search the civilian fleet for people with governing experience, put together a Quorum of Twelve, and have them select to two candidates for the people of the fleet to vote for. That way we have elected a new president democratically, and the civilians won't feel like they are being pushed into a military dictatorship with an appointed president who is little more than a figurehead. It may take a while, but I feel it is in our best interests. We can arrange debates for the wireless so the whole thing will have more of an air of legitimacy. What are your thoughts Admiral Kronus?"
He didn't expect it, but Kronus let out a good-natured laugh, "You are one smart officer Scott Tolan, I wish I had you on my staff back before I retired. You handle finding us suitable candidates, and I'll go let Mayor Alonzo know of our plans. I do have to ask, have you heard an estimate of how many people we have in our fleet, by fleet I mean the combined military and civilian?"
"The conservative estimate has around 175,000, could be more or less though." He stood up and saluted Admiral Kronus as he left. As he closed the door behind him, he told him that it was an honor to have him back in the Colonial Fleet.
Back on Victorious, Tolan requested that Andre Graystone be sent to his quarters. Upon arriving, he offered his brother-in-law a seat and started to tell him the situation with Admiral Kronus and the plans for handing the civilian authority. He didn't take losing command of the Atlantia as well as he would have liked, but there wasn't really anything that could be done about it. The last thing before leaving was to assign him the task of going through the fleet records for anyone with a history of government service, to give more of a variety in the upcoming presidential elections. Andre said he would get right on it and left the room. With that out of the way, Tolan busied himself with other items that needed his attention. He thought of how he was only thirty-nine, yet this past month made him feel as if he had aged well beyond that. It wasn't long till his shift began in CIC, and he had to gauge just how ready they were to jump to Ragnar. If his luck held up they would avoid the Cylons and manage to rendezvous with the Galactica.
Chapter 4: RAGNAR ANCHORAGE
The battlestar commanders sat at the wardroom table focusing their attention on him, this was the big move that had been planned for since the Cylons first attacked. "This the moment of truth for us, today we are taking the fleet to Ragnar Anchorage where we should be able to meet with the Galactica and any other civilian vessels that made their way there. Since we are the ones charged with protecting the fleet here is what we shall do. The Victorious, Helios, Sphinx, Athena, and Ares will jump into range of Ragnar so that we can send scouts and assess the situation. Meanwhile, the civilian ships will hold here at Point Luck along with our two warstars and the cruisers will stay with them to protect them in case the Cylons show up. If the situation is safe, then we will jump back to let the rest of the fleet know it's safe to proceed. I'd say the Gods have watched over us so far, let's pray that they will keep doing so. The time is now 08:42; you have an hour to get your battlestars prepped for battle once you arrive. You are dismissed." With that they saluted him and left the wardroom. Commander Carter stopped to thank him for not ordering them to Virgon before he left to return to the Sphinx.
On the five battlestars in the group, each commanding officer prepped their ship for battle. Each had their own unique thoughts running through their minds. On the Athena, Commander Watts hoped that all of his time and energy would have the old girl ready to take the fight to the Cylons. On the Ares, Commander Nash couldn't help but fight with his worries about the upcoming mission. A month ago he was CAG for the Victorious, now he felt the need to live up to Admiral Tolan's faith in him. On the Helios, Commander Sakura got on the wireless and gave her crew a talk about the upcoming battle and how she knew they would not let either her or their fellow shipmates down. On the Sphinx, Commander Carter went through all the necessary checks for the battlestar's systems and vipers. He could have died a month ago when the Cylon attacks occurred; he kept telling himself that he would never be so hotheaded about going into battle again.
Admiral Scott Tolan could not have imagined a scenario where he may have to go into against the Cylons with the guns of his battlestar and vipers blazing. He knew his crew was up to the challenge; the last thing he wanted was for them to lose their will to fight. The reports came in from the other four battlestars that they were ready to jump. He turned to Major Pontiere, "Mr. Pontiere you may now initiate the countdown for our jump to Ragnar Anchorage."