The Giants

Chapter Eight

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...

Until Now.

Just outside the Domar system;

Battlegroup thirty-three;

Evening of Day ten after the attack;

Mercury class ship Delphi;

Rear Admiral Justin Blackstone watched the monitor as all his raptors and shuttles emptied station Domar of its supplies. Using the only tug they had they were able to pull the station back into a stable orbit and then one by one, they had emptied the fuel and water tanks of the station. The two flattop repair ships were docked to the Hephasetus ship Black Hammer being repaired while marines were empting the stores in the small towns of the planet.

With his three Battlestars and ten Gunstars that was originally part of BSG 33 and now was acting as the escorts for the twenty-six civilian ships that were crammed with sixty-seven thousand survivors. The biggest civilian ships were the massive Ebba Maersk class super freighters which were designed to carry a thousand passengers but Justin had sent married couples with no children to each ship and they were carrying double the normal passengers alone. Two of the large liners were being modified into schools for the sixty-five hundred surviving children and their families as well. The rest of the ships were just as heavily loaded as the Ebba Maersk's. With a frown on his face, Justin wondered how much time they had before the Cylons appeared.

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Battlestar Pegasus;

Fifteen days after the attack;

Deep in the Polmar sector;

Rear Admiral Helen Cain watched the dradis as she waited for her Raptors to return to tell her they had found the Galactica. She needed that ship and any supplies the civilian fleet carried that she was escorting to help her in her attack on the Cylons. She was hoping Galactica had pilots to fill out the planes that her manufacturing plant was making replacements and parts for the ones damaged at the Battle of the Communications Relay they had destroyed. Thirty-two Vipers were destroyed, while sixty-one were badly damaged with not enough resources to repair them all at once. With over half her viper squadrons whipped out or damaged the ship was badly outnumbered. They had also lost half the crew of the ship to the Cylon invaders who had boarded due to the female Cylon that had been captured. She was now being integrated by her staff.

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Polmar Sector;

Evening of day sixteen after the attack;

Leviathan class ship Helios;

Fleet Admiral Isaac Walton stood on the gantry looking down at battered hull of the Valkyrie class Battlestar Atlantis. Repair crews were crawling all over her hull as cranes lifted the twisted remains of her KEWs from their mounts and replaced them from stored ones in the ships storage lockers. Already over half of the heavy KEWs had been replaced and fifteen percent of the mediums. While that was going on, more repair parties were replacing the damaged armor plates and restoring the number two flight pod that had been ripped open to space. In the ships foundries, new mounts and guns were being fabercated.

His wife who was acting as his new head of personnel division and had been assigning excess colonial personnel to the ships that had needed them. The Atlantis already had their new people and they were hard at work on the interior of the ship. The Tiamat had the damaged Middleton in her bay while the Kraken had the Warrior Goddess in hers. All three Valkyrie's should be relaunched in days of each other, giving the fleet three more undamaged ships to defend with but more importantly, three more fully operational Battlestars..

Hearing footsteps approaching Isaac looked to his left and saw his lead foreman approaching, "What's up Mike?"

"Commander Mike Owens saluted and replied, "Just thought I'd give you an update. We should have the last of the damaged heavy turrets pulled by midnight. Give me twenty-four hours after that and we'll have them all replaced. Most of the CWIS system is back in action and the CNP program has been eradicated from the computers. The medium KEWs should be finished by noon tomorrow and all the damaged hull plates should be replaced in forty-eight hours. Stocking of the ship is underway right now. Refueling of water and fuel will be completed in one hour. The portside flight pod should have hull integrity in four days and back online the following day."

"Very good and I know Martha has a new crew for the ship and Captain Harris has his vipers training up now," Isaac said and then added, "I'll feel better when we have three Battlestars to help defend us."

"So will all the rest of us. That's why the crews are working overtime to get the repairs done," Mike said and then added, "By the way. We've started melting the bullion down into cubits so you have pay for everyone."

"Good. I know my sister sent the minister of finance and her staff so that will put them to work. The biggest problem is finding work for everyone," Isaac said as he took one more look at the Atlantis and stated with a sigh, "I better get back to work myself."

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Battlestar Galactica;

Seventeen days after the attack;

Deep in the Polmar sector;

Commander William Adama watched his dradis screen as the fleet dropped out of FTL and Lieutenant Gaeta started counting the icons. They had finally located a water source. He was leery of using President Rosen's plan on using the convicts aboard the prison ship Astral Queen to gather the ice to convert into water for their use.

"Sir, all ships accounted for," Lieutenant Felix Gaeta reported.

Officer Anastasia Dualla looked up from her communications station and gasped out, "Sir, you need to hear this."

William looked up and said, "On speaker."

A man's voice came on the air and said, "But I have two conditions before I release my captives. First, the government which controls our fate is illegal and illegitimate, and it must submit to the will of the people. I demand the immediate resignation of Laura Roslin and her ministers. Second, I demand free and open elections to choose a new leadership and a new government that represents all of the people. These demands are made not for me or for the former slaves held on this ship, but for you, the people, the survivors of the holocaust and the children of humanity's future. I am Tom Zarek, and this is the first day of a new era…"

"Jam that signal," Adama ordered.

"Jamming," Dualla replied.

"Sir, Colonial One on line two. It's the president," Dualla stated as she listened to the request.

Adama picked up the handset and said, "Galactica actual."

"Bill, Roslin here, what the hell is going on? How did Zarek get on the coms?"

Adama turned to look at the Dradis screen and replied, "I don't know but we've jammed his transmissions."

"A little bit late for that, every ship in the fleet heard that broadcast."

Adama replied, "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. He's trying to bring down the government."

Adama shook his head before replying, "No one's going to take it seriously."

"You have something to learn when it comes to public opinion, Commander. Tom Zarek is a name with weight, a very sympathetic figure, a legend, almost. 20 years in prison, over a matter of principle."

"He's a criminal and a terrorist, people aren't gonna give him credence," Adama said as he gestured to Colonel Tigh.

"Don't be so sure, Commander. Rebellions are contagious. People are already rioting over the water crisis. We can't afford to destabilize this government right now."

Adama nodded and replied, "I agree."

"When are you going in?"

Shocked, Adama replied, "I assumed you were gonna talk to him first."

"We don't negotiate with terrorists."

Adama pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, "I said 'talk.'"

"There's nothing to talk about. What he wants, I can't give him."

Adama looked at Tigh and saw him shake his head, "We're not ready yet. Talking to Zarek give us a little more time."

"That's what he wants, he wants legitimacy. He wants to be recognized. He wants his crimes validated. I watched President Adar offer him a full pardon if he'd apologize and give up violence as a means of political change. He refused. No commitments, no deals."

Adama sighed before replying, "I'll let you know what happens when we're ready to go."

"Thank you, Roslin out."

The click of the line going dead had William looking at his second in command, "Call out the marines. We've a ship to take back."

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Polmar Sector;

Evening of day twenty after the attack;

Leviathan class ship Helios;

Fleet Admiral Isaac Walton watched the main monitor as the giant clam doors of the repair ship opened and then the alligator head of the Battlestar Atlantis slowly slipped out of the repair bay. The fleet was currently sitting in a small system of planets with three planets and two asteroid belts. The seventy mining ships were ripping apart asteroids for their resources and delivering them to the foundry and refinery ships. The engine compartment of the destroyed Battlestar Odessa had been attached to Buchan Station and repair crews were working on the eight sub light engines and the ftl drives but it was going to take at least two more weeks to bring it online. The bodies of two hundred and thirty-nine crewmembers of the Odessa had been given a military funeral and sent into the star.

The sixteen repair crews of the repair fleet, the Buchan Station were working overtime to repair the damaged and decommissioned warships to get them back online while the forty-six flattop worked on the civilian ships. While the repair crews were working overtime on repairs the hundreds of viper and raptor crews were getting refresher training while on all four of the Theda class manufacturing ships were being set up to produce Raptors, Heavy Lifters, medical shuttles and the new Mark VIII vipers.

The Atlantis pulled dropped away from the Helios and fired its sub light engines taking up position in front of the massive convoy of refugee ships. She was soon joined by her two sister ships to form a spearhead approach as a tug towing a damaged Titan II Gunstar towards Helios open bay.

One thing was good was that moral was high in the fleet as supplies were reaching all the ships. The tactical unit emergency supplies taken from the TUE storage station back on Virgon were a big help. They contained preserved foods, medical supplies, military rations, small arms ammunition, weapons, and other items meant to be the backbone of a colony set up but instead was used to keep the fleet going.

Another good thing was when his sister sent the supplies, she also sent ten mid size cattle ships which had delivered five hundred cattle and swine each as well and Martha was able to find a home for the cows and pigs they carried. Now they just needed them to produce enough calves and swine to produce a viable stock. At least she sent the farmers to go with the animals on two liners to manage them and he had a place for them aboard the seventeen livestock ships that were in the fleet as only two had had animals aboard The ten cattle ships would fill ten of the livestock with breeding animals. With those twelve ships producing cattle and swine three of the remaining five would be full within a year while the other two were set up for the poultry and farming would be filled with twenty large shuttled with fifty-thousand baby chickens and turkeys to stock several domes that were supposed to be turned into farms to grow food but instead would be used to house the fowls to grow up and produce more along with twenty more shuttles with seed crop to grow the food for them.

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Just entering the Polmar sector;

Battlegroup thirty-three;

Morning of Day twenty after the attack;

Mercury class ship Delphi;

Rear Admiral Justin Blackstone looked at the sensor scans of the two destroyed Baseships. Their scouts had picked up wreckage of several vipers who serial numbers matched a variety of warships that he knew had been destroyed in the attack. How they wound way out here he didn't know. He was worried; he had three Battlestars and ten Gunstars escorting thirty-seven civilian ships and seventy-five thousand survivors. He didn't know what he would do when supplies ran low or if they couldn't find Tylium to fuel the ships.

"Sir, what are your orders?" the ship's captain asked.

"Set the jump coordinates to 0029393A1. Notify all ships, and prepare to jump," Justin ordered.

"Aye, Aye, Sir, setting coordinates to 0029139A1. Timer is set at thirty minutes and counting. Com, notify all ships we're jumping and where," Captain Tony Richards ordered.

"Sending now," the Com officer replied.

The Delphi, Night Blossom, and the Wraith formed up in an arrow formation at the head of the fleet of civilian ships with five Gunstars split on each side as protection. The minutes counted down and the Viper cap landed aboard the three Mercury class Battlestars and then the vanished in to FTL.

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Just after entering the Polmar sector;

Morning of Day twenty after the attack;

Banshee class ship Banshee;

Commander Brittney Hays adjusted her seat back and watched the Dradis screen in front of her. The ship was running ultra silent with all non critical systems shut down. Inside the hanger of the massive ship were four small liners carrying almost eight thousand souls. Her holds were stuffed full to the brim with munitions, spare parts and supplies recovered from destroyed colonial fleet units while her Viper storage was packed to the gills with Vipers and Raptors they had recovered along with any spare landing space aboard the ship as well as inside the actual landing bays where they had been towed. Even the launchers had spare Vipers. A ship that was designed to hold eighty Vipers had a hundred and forty-two with sixty-four pilots. Her fuel tanks were maxed out and her store rooms around the galleys of the ship packed to the brim. Empty crew berths were packed as well. Now they just needed to catch up to the fleet and unload what they could.

Brittney knew the crew was dead tired the last twenty days had been intense but they racked up three hundred and forty-one Raider kills and sixteen Baseships in that time.

"FTL shut down and recharging."

"Dradis screen shows destroyed Cylon Baseships."

"Beacon located, activating download."

Information flowed back to the ship, showing the fleet from where they had come and gone.

"Jump coordinates received. Detonation the beacon now."

In the distance, the remains of a pair of Cylon Baseships drifting apart and then an explosion happened between the two wrecks.

"Coordinates entered. Did you wish to jump again?"

"Might as well, faster we jump, faster we get back to the fleet," Brittney ordered.

The FTL was held as two minutes as the coordinates were entered and then the massive stealth ship jumped.

"FTL completed. Stealth activated."

"DRADIS CONTACT! MANY CONTACTS!" the dradis officer shouted out as soon as his Dradis screen came on.

"ID?" Brittiny shouted as she pulled down her visor and looked into the VR room to see her crew processing the information.

"Colonial IFF!"

"Verify," Brittney said as she walked to the holographic Dradis station.

"Verifying now… I have the Delphi, Night Blossom, and the Wraith formed up with ten Gunstars and thirty-seven civilian ships. The Battlestars are part of Battlestar Group thirty-three under Rear Admiral Justin Blackstone," information officer shouted out.

Aboard the three Battlestars, chaos reigned at the unknown Battlestar that had appeared behind them and vanished into stealth.

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Edited By

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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus have proven invaluable for the Giants story and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships. May CanisD rest in peace