CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

DOGFIGHT

June 4TH, 2012

The system's name was Kebh, a single planet orbiting a red dwarf, a place of limited resources due to the low metalicity of the star and the fact that the planet, a sub Earth-sized rock, encompassed the majority of the system's non-stellar mass. It once, however, marked an important point, the verge of one of the greatest interstellar empires the galaxy has ever known. Long before the Colonies, Old Earth, or even Kobol, there were a series of human civilisations who were biologically almost indistinguishable from modern humans. However, go back far enough and the players in God's plan were not as familiar. The Riahl were the last such experiment in biology before humans. They started out as humanoid creatures but with more of an amphibious appearance than humans with thinner translucent skin, dark eyes, hairless with webbed fingers and toes and just slits for ears and nostrils. Over time, they evolved out of their aquatic habitats, establishing a world-spanning civilisation and reaching out to the stars. These people seemed different from other iterations of sentience. They had no interest in creating thinking machines or recreating their form with technology. Their complete lack of such aspirations rendered their progress as a civilisation slow and it was a million years after the advent of basic societies before they left their home system for the nearest stars.

However, the lack of FTL technology meant their colonies in other systems diverged from the home system over time. Despite extending their empire slowly over several million more years to encompass a significant portion of the Milky Way, the race began to diverge and individuals from different worlds became fundamentally different from their ancestors. Some had genetically altered themselves to suit their home planets' environments and still others had broken that old taboo and become entwined with technology. The Homeworlders disapproved and tried to intervene but the colonies resisted. In the end, they decided to fight fire with fire. They knew a war would be impossibly drawn out at sublight speeds, especially when the empire stretched across a quarter of the galaxy, so they built immortal soldiers, robotic warriors who would move in and subdue the dissenters. So they sat pretty and waited for their machines to spread through the empire and take control.

The Colonists, however, were smarter than the Homeworlders gave them credit for. They knew the machines were coming and sent their own machines to intercept them. Having developed nanotech, they sent swarms of nanobots to intercept the approaching hordes and rewrite their programming. They army reversed course back upon the homeworld, but the machines had detected something before the nanotech took control, an abandoned ship not belonging to the Riahl. It was a derelict of a bygone race, one who possessed FTL technology. The machines were designed to adapt readily and learn, so they quickly repaired and reactivated the vessel, returning it to their masters who learned enough before the hijacked machines returned to build their own FTL-capable warships. However, no battle ensued. The non-hijacked machines who had recovered the FTL ship refused to fight their nanotech-controlled counterparts and so, they, too, were hijacked, and the Homeworld fell. However, the machines ability to learn and adapt augmented by the nanotech soon led them to make huge strides on their own, including overriding the Colonists' control of them. They began to multiply and spread, taking on new forms, including those of their former masters.

And the rest has happened before and has happened again. The machines moved to eliminate their creators, and the whole Riahl Empire crumbled. They subsequently self-annihilated as a deeply hidden protocol written into their programming commanded them to do after a given time period. The Colonists had not figured on their creations becoming FTL-capable and so, their protocol did not activate until every last one of them had been wiped out by the machines.

"And that is their story." Athena said.

Gregory replied, "Kind of drab."

"I already explained the history of the entire universe, Gregory. Did you really expect the story of the Riahl to be any different?"

"No, I guess not…and you lived among them?"

"For a time, yes, I did. It was during their final conflict. I tried to steer both sides away from war, but my efforts were in vain. The sentient machines that emerged from the conflict were particularly vicious, and I doubted they would respect organic life if they discovered it anywhere else, so, just in case they got of control, I personally programmed them with a kill-switch."

"Nice foresight.'

"It helps to have God on your side."

"Yeah, sure, so why will these ships be harder for our engineers to handle."

"The Riahl were humanoid, yes, but they were semi-aquatic. Their life-support systems are configured to produce humid, wet conditions throughout their ships. Whole sections are dedicated artificial ponds or swamps even so individuals can rehydrate. Not a comfortable environment for a human."

"Can't Metis sort that out?"

"She can manipulate the system to do whatever it can do within its design parameters. Producing an environment suitable for us is not something it can do. No, all the ships will have to be retrofitted, a slow process and after the incident with the basestars, I'm not keen on just sitting here."

"It's been three days. Surely if they were going to find us, they would have done so by now."

"Not necessarily, we performed a high number of random jumps. They would have to search every system in the local vicinity. That could take them a week. We should be done by tomorrow or the day after. Hopefully, they don't strike it lucky before then."

Metis's voiced filled CIC, "Athena, I thought you'd like to know I've gained access to ships thanks to the crews. I can reactivate and control them now. My repair bots should be able to work effectively in the internal environment to strip out and replace the life-support systems. These are war-era ships, so installing an FTL drive will not be necessary. However, there is the matter of the bodies."

"Bodies?" Gregory exclaimed.

"In a vacuum, there would be nothing to cause them to decay. Have your bots gather them together and jettison them into the atmosphere of the planet. That is the Riahl tradition for sending off those who die in space."

"Wait, why are there bodies? I thought the machines controlled the FTL fleet."

"Most of it, yes, but evac ships were prepped in case the war was lost. When the machines betrayed them and refused to fight their nanotech-controlled counterparts, the ships departed for the edge of the empire, hoping to disappear into uncharted space. They ships had already been infiltrated by nanotech, however, so it switched off the life-support, killing the evacuees."

"Harsh."

"Quite."

"Alert, contacts inbound."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Unfortunately not, Athena."

"How many?"

"…Oh my…"

"What?"

"A dozen basestars and their support craft. Several hundred smaller contacts have disembarked."

"God damn it. Get the crews back here."

"There is insufficient time."

"Well, we can't just abandon them."

"Agreed, I am opening the Riahl ships' docking bays, instructing them to berth. Rebooting defence and offensive systems on all ships."

Gregory said, "Metis, we have five ships against twelve, and this one can't even fire,. We're toast if we stay. Can't you engage all the ships' FTLs and get us out of here?"

"Exactly what I intend to do, Mr, Barnes, but interfacing and engaging such complex systems will take time, and we need to buy some. I am holding the ship with our crews back. Sending the other three to engage."

A holo-image appeared showing the three ships moving into midst of the enemy fleet. The ships had strange smooth forms without any right angles or corners. Everything fit seamlessly into the shape. Gregory said, "Surely they won't last long."

"Don't underestimate a Riahl warship. If there was one thing they were good at, it was building sturdy, well-armoured ships. They should last as long as we need."

The three ships were immediately set upon by the raiders, peppering their hulls with ammunition. Athena was right. It had nearly no effect. The first few basestars came into range. Their batteries were stronger, but the Riahl ships were holding their own even against superior numbers. Metis stated, "Activating offensive systems."

Despite the genius of Riashl armour, their weapons technology lagged behind somewhat, consisting of basic chemical missiles and railguns. They opened fire, clearing out the nearby raiders and keeping the basetars' nukes at bay, but the tide was never going to turn. The left flanking warship finally let in a fatal blow, a nuke slammed into its hull near the engines, creating a chain reaction. The explosion ripped through the ships' infrastructure and damaged its neighbouring warship and a nearby basestar. Metis said, "The damaged Riahl ship has lost FTL capability. It will take too long to re-engage. I am setting it on a collision course with the nearest basestar. The other ship I have ordered into a nosedive away from the enemy fleet. We will be jump-ready in fifteen seconds. The damaged ship lurched forward. Its intended target attempted to veer out of the way but was too slow. The warship cut the basestars upper sections before ploughing right through the midsection of another basestar, exploding violently and damaging the closely-knit formation of basestars. The last one dived away out of range of their weapons. Metis said, "Two basestars destroyed, six disabled, the rest are attempting to regroup."

Gregory replied, "Well played, Metis."

"Thank you, Mr. Barnes. However, we must move on. The two ships we have recovered will not be enough to fend off an incursion much larger than this, even if we send those ships on kamikaze missions."

Athena replied, "Metis, you know we have little time remaining. Cavil will reach Earth on a timeframe of months to weeks. Can we really face him with a smattering of mismatched ships?"

"We have no other choice. Unless we can find the problem with my own systems, it's all we have. There is evidence of several more Riahl warships in the next system over. They will be our next port of call. I am taking us out now before those last four basestars get organised. Commencing jump."

The Galactica and beginnings of her fleet zoomed away as the enemy limped after them in vain. Cavil raged.