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Fourteen - Aftermath

Survivor Count: 5,700

It had been two days since the Cylon Centurion attack and the man that many believed was the hero of the crew of the civilian ship Colonial Heavy Transport 72.  During the Cylon ambush a single Centurion had boarded the Civilian ship and gained access to the crew area killing indiscriminately as it moved through the ship.  It had taken the actions of one man armed with a lead pipe to motivate the people to act together and to take down the Centurion but it had come at a cost one hundred and eighteen people had been killed by the machine before it had been stopped.

“Can you hear me?”  The doctor asked looking over at him the man glanced to the right and saw his wife Tami and their daughter Megan sitting off to the side and smiled.

“Yes, I can” he whispered his mouth was dry.

“You did well Doral, your actions saved our ship from that monster, you’re a hero.”  His wife Tami said Doral smiled.

“I just wanted to make sure you were all ok.”

Onboard the Massena II Commander Matthew Boyle sat looking at the casualty report eighty-two people had died onboard the Massena II hunting down the twenty Centurions who had gotten onboard but it was nothing compared to the civilian casualties onboard Colonial Heavy 72.  Already he had discussed with Major Sinclair about deploying an armed party of marines onto each of the ships of the fleet for defence but the Major was concerned that they would be used for crowd control which he did not want.

After the ambush they had jumped twice away from their previous location and the ships were beginning to show the strain.  The Massena II, Agosta (Adamant), Caerphilly (Manticore), the two military freighters and Lucky 9 (Transport Cruiser) were all military or former military vessels each of them were designed for extended operations without excessive additional maintenance but the other seven ships they had with them were beginning to show the strain and would need more work the longer they operated.  They had twenty-six functional Vipers of varying types following the arrival of the Lucky 9 and the cargo in her hold, nine Raptors, four Sweepers, two Hunters and seven non-jumpable shuttles.

He needed to find them a safe port where they could rest their crews and replace damaged parts.  Instead of taking his capital ships and freighters to potential hot zones he planned to pair up eight of the Raptors and send them to four possible locations for them to hide out.  He didn’t plan to run around the Colonies hiding from Centurions forever but they needed time.

Rising from his desk he headed out of his office and down the corridor and into the pilot briefing room.  Because the Massena II was not a carrier vessel and not designed to brief a large number of pilots at once the briefing room was nowhere near the flight deck.  In this case the sixteen Raptor pilots had transferred from other ships and were squeezed into the tiny room.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming please be seated” he said several of the pilots sat down but there were not enough seats for them all to sit.  “We’ll work on that for next time” he said seeing smirks from a couple of them.  “You are all aware of our present situation, we currently have enough fuel, water and food to keep us in extended operations but we do not have the capability of maintaining the ships of this fleet over an extended period.”  He said looking at them “I need your eight Raptors to scout the twelve colonies, I want you to find somewhere where we could stash this fleet, preferably being able to land some of the ships we have so we can do some work on them.  It doesn’t need to be perfect; it doesn’t need to last for a long time, it just needs to buy us some time.”  He said he saw a couple of sideways glances between the pilots.  “You guessed it this mission is going to be dangerous” he said looking at each of them “I’m sorry to say I don’t expect you all to come back, if it were an option I’d offer you a chance to stand-down but it isn’t I need my best Raptor pilots on this.”

“We’ll do the mission, Commander, just give us our targets.”  A young female wearing a Captain’s insignia said.

“Thank you, Captain Harmon, to aid you in your mission I’ve pulled in every air-to-air missile we have available in the fleet your Raptors are being outfitted as we speak on the Changsha.  From here you’ll be heading to your ships, we’ve sent mission packages to each ship, you’ll each deploy in pairs to your targets over the next few hours.”  He explained

“Sir, question” Harmon asked raising her hand he nodded “if the fleet has to jump when we are on mission how will we know where to return to with the information we find?”

“You won’t be returning to the fleet.”  He said seeing the surprise on their faces.  “Instead you’ll each be travelling to the same point and meeting the Caerphilly which will be waiting for you.  They will top off your tanks and escort you back to the fleet.”

“And if Caerphilly is attacked while it waits for us?”

“We’ve arranged a secondary rendezvous in that case.  I can guarantee the Caerphilly will not abandon you because I will be aboard her waiting for you.  Good hunting pilots.”

“We won’t let you down Commander” Harmon said confidently

“So say we all” the others replied together.

---
 
Hours later two Raptors jumped into the Helios Delta system arriving beside the gas world of Styx.  The world orbited differently from all of the other planets in the system and had always been uninhabited.  They hoped that this world was remote enough for the Cylons not to have checked it out.

Lt Annie Stark sat in the flight position of the first Raptor as it jumped into the space near Styx.  “Begin DRADIS…”

“DRADIS Contact!” Her ECO shouted in the back cabin out the window Stark could see what the sensors had detected.  Outside their position hung the wreck of a Colonial Gunstar.  Akin to a mini-Battlestar the Gunstar looked like a more pointed Battlestar with its side flight pods removed and a single flight pod attached to the roll bar above the hull.  “It’s dead”

“Someone else thought the same as us.”  Stark said “Razor, this place is was used as a hideout already.”

“More DRADIS contact!”  Razor called out from behind “two Raiders detaching from the hull.”

“Laying in wait, spool up FTL, copy to ship two.”  She ordered reaching for the controls “we’re out of here jump!”  She called out as the two Raptors jumped away moments before Cylon missiles flew past their position.

---

 Caerphilly hung in space waiting for the Raptors to return.  In the ship’s previous operations, the small patrol ship had been damaged by Cylon missile fire but Boyle was impressed with the crew’s repairs.  “Looks good, Captain Steele”

“Thank you, Commander, I’m proud of what we’ve done.  We’re still unable to access a couple of areas but the ship’s mostly functional.”

“I’m seeing that” Boyle said walking around the small bridge most of the systems appeared to be fully operational.  “I assume the torpedoes from Lucky 9 are onboard and behaving?”  He said walking past the tactical station.

“Two of them aren’t but otherwise they are locked and loaded.”  Steele said from the centre of the room “we’ll still only have a single shot against a Baseship then we’ll have to bug out.”

“It’s better than nothing…”

“DRADIS contact” one of the crew called out “Raptor One, Styx is a no go.”  He reported reading the message from the vessel.

“That makes four” Boyle said, “we’re running out of units to wait for.”

---
Captain Marlena Harmon sat in the cockpit and looked down at the dead world of Troy.  “It’s perfect” she said quietly to herself.  “The mining equipment that was left over will cover the metal of our ships.”  She said

“No life signs, Lena” Ralph Black said from the back.

“The mines have been abandoned for years” she said glancing back “my daddy was employed there once upon a time he said the quarters were cramped and overly warm but that it was an alright place to work.”  She said “luckily he wasn’t here to experience the fall.”

“You think we could put people in there while the ships are worked on?”  He asked “if we need to that is?”

“There was quite a workforce down there once upon a time.  Some of the resources for the first Mercury-class Battlestars were mined here.”  She said proudly remembering when her father had said that to her that he was helping build the future of the Colonial fleet.

“We can use it then.”  Black replied “Raptor Six has its part of the data.”

“Excellent let’s jump us back to the Caerphilly.”  She ordered moments later both Raptors blinked out of the system heading to the Caerphilly.

---
Three days later the fourteen ships of the fleet had landed on the rock world of Troy landing in between mining equipment and the remains of the facilities that had been left behind with the Massena II in the middle of the ships.  As a precaution the Massena II would remain at combat readiness for the duration of their stay while other ships would be in various states of readiness while they were worked on.  Already fleet engineers were suggesting that they could break down the remaining equipment on Troy and use them to reinforce some of the ship’s hulls.

Meanwhile Matthew Boyle had an idea to shore up morale in the fleet and had called over one hundred representatives from across the fleet to the Massena II.  Standing in front of them Matthew Boyle spoke to the crowd.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, I was asked to return to the Colonies by Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica to find survivors and to follow the Galactica’s path away from the Colonies in hope to find somewhere where we can find peace.  There are now more than five thousand of us in this fleet and while there are those who put their lives on the line every day there are also those who show that everyone can make a difference.  Today as Commander of this fleet I would like to welcome Doral Aditya to the stand.”  He said turning to the side as a still heavily bandaged Doral stepped out from the side and joined him on the stand.  “When a Centurion boarded his vessel this man and many others rose up against the machine and made sure that it couldn’t do more damage.”  He said to be answered with applause from the crowd.  “As you all know I am Commander of this fleet because of my position as commander of this vessel which acts as its guardian, I am not a military man, I cannot officially award Colonial medals but today I would like to give to Doral Aditya the Colonial Medal of Valour which has been forged by crewmen of this vessel from a salvaged Viper craft.”  She said picking up the medal which was the Colonial seal attached to a red ribbon Doral bowed his head and allowed Boyle to place it over his head.  Boyle then stood to the side and let Doral take the stand.

“Thank you, Commander, receiving this from you means more than anything the Colonial Government could have given me because I know you, I know the people that are in this hanger and that are in this fleet.  I took the actions that I did on Colonial Heavy 72 because I wished to protect my shipmates, my family, my child and my fleet.”  He said which was followed by applause from the fleet “I did not see a Cylon, but an invader who had harmed those I love and could harm my family and I wanted to stop them.  I feel for those families who lost people in the defence of our transport ship and our home.”  He glanced at Matthew Boyle before looking down then back at the crowd “but there is something I must admit to… I love my family and I care for my fellow crewmen, and I will never betray this fleet, but the truth is more important… I am a Cylon.”  He said dropping his head  down clasping onto the Medal of Valour as Marines rushed him from either side.