Second Face of Evil
by AJ Marks
Part 7
Apollo watched from the bridge of the Pegasus as the mothership exploded. He yelled for all hands to brace for impact. Such a large ship would send out waves of debris. The Pegasus rocked slightly but no major damage was reported.
“Mothership destroyed,” a voice said across the bridge. Apollo sighed knowing it was good news. He knew the Earth forces knew how to destroy the saucer ships and now they had a way to destroy the motherships as well.
“We have a saucer ship heading in our general direction,” Athena said. “Getting an energy build up.”
Apollo knew that there were not many fighters in the area, despite John yelling over the intercom for a fighter to get over and destroy it. He looked over to see what ship it might be targeting, and noticed a couple of cruisers.
“Full power to the forward batteries,” Apollo said. It was a last ditch effort to save the Earth ship, and something the battlestars rarely did, and almost never in space for a purpose for what he was going to use it for.
“Forward batteries standing by,” Athena said. “Enemy ship’s power reading continue to climb.”
“Prepare forward batteries for defense shield shot,” Apollo said. “Fire”
The alien ship fired at the same time, its white tracking beam locking onto the cruiser seconds before firing the main pulse of its weapon. The Pegasus fired as well as a green shield appeared causing the shot to impact against it.
The light exploded and for several seconds no one knew if it worked. Finally Apollo was able to see noticing the cruiser was still there.
Apollo had been thrown off his feet by the negative feed from the weapon systems and the explosion. Getting up he sigh a bit of relief the shield had worked and that he learned about this ability from his father. It was not an important system in the middle of a space battle, but it could protect a planet from a bombardment from a Cylon baseship.
“Apollo, I don’t recommend we try that again,” his second in command said.
“Neither do I,” Apollo replied, checking himself over for injuries glad he was not hurt. “Launch missiles five and six.”
“Missiles away,” Athena said, as the Pegasus fired back at the alien ship.
The two missiles easily penetrated the alien armor exploding inside the ships. Within seconds the alien ship was destroyed as well. Scanners indicated only six of the saucer ships were operational, and many of those were damaged. The others had been destroyed when they attempted to use their main weapons.
On board the Pacifica John watched in horror as the cruiser Hiller had been targeted by one of the saucer ships. He desperately tried to get a fighter, or something over there to destroy the ship before it fired. The saucer ship fired and with the blinding explosion felt sure the Hiller had been destroyed.
When the light faded and the scanners working again he looked on amazed the ship was still there. He then noticed the Colonial ship launching two more missiles destroying the alien ship. He wondered if they could quickly manufacture those missiles.
“Admiral, remaining ships are withdrawing from battle,” the operator said.
“Let them go,” John said, they had enough losses for now. He had a plan to defeat the other mothership and this time the full weight of their military would be used. His fleet’s fighter squadrons had been decimated, but felt relieved there was another fleet to fall back on. “Tell all groups to recover their fighters and head back to base.”
John turned back to the communicator to open a communications with Apollo and see if they would be willing to help when the second mothership came into the system. John felt glad for the help and understood that the Colonials had no other place to go if Earth fell. He would have to figure out a way to closely work with them for future operations, and perhaps start creating new fighters based on a combined technology.
*****
“Commander,” Omega said, gaining Tigh’s attention. He turned from his pacing which he had done to avoid watching the battle.
“What’s up?” Tigh asked, making his way over to where Omega sat.
“Seems the battle is over, the enemy is withdrawing,” Omega said.
“Best news I’ve heard all day,” Tigh said, relieved at the situation. “Any word from the Pegasus?”
“Scanners show the Pegasus survived battle with minor damage,” Omega said.
“Have Apollo report to me as soon as possible,” Tight ordered.
“Yes sir,” Omega said.
Tigh felt a bit of relief at the fact the battle was over and the Pegasus survived. Now he could look to the future once more.
*****
Dylan banked his fighter around looking for any other alien fighters. He felt a bit relieved when all he say were Earth fighters and the signatures of the Colonial fighters. They would have to input the Colonial fighters into their IFF to reduce any incidents between the two. Surprisingly the Colonial warship had been quite rugged and strong against the alien fighters.
He knew, like others, when he saw the Colonials enter the battle they would not last that long. But it survived several hits quite well and took out more alien fighters than anyone expected.
What impressed Dylan was the strange shield the ship had used to protect the cruiser. It blocked a full discharge of the alien weapon. What disturbed Dylan even more was the fact the alien ship had been so close to an Earth ship without any fighters nearby.
He focused his attention back to his job and took a head count of survivors of the battle. When he was done he realized his squadron had lost sixty percent of it combat strength, or fourteen out of twenty-four fighters. He had lost his wingmate in the fight and had struggled to his own fighter intact.
With the fight over he wondered what the next step might be. They had lost several ships in the battle and the appearance of the Colonial warship occurred at the right time. There had been some thought the Colonial ship was inferior without shields, but their combat effectiveness was superior to anything he had seen.
Dylan lined up his fighter for landing on the hangar of the Pacifica. Everyone knew landing could be almost as deadly as actual battle if you failed to pay attention. Guiding the fighter in before feeling the familiar bump of the landing bay. The fighter was moved and he got out.
Making his way to the debriefing room he noticed fewer pilots than before. If other squadrons suffered the same as his did then they were almost to the point of being ineffective. He also knew it was nothing compared to the first battle against the aliens, which had almost 100% causalities.
He heard the fleet was making its way back to Earth for refueling and repairs as the second fleet came up to protect them in case the second alien ship decided to attack.
“David,” Dylan said seeing a familiar face. “It appears it worked again.”
“This time, but there is still another mothership out there. We have to anticipate that they know about the virus, or picked it up through communications between the two ships. In either case they probably know about it and we have to work on a new virus which will work the same way,” David said to him, something Dylan had not thought of.
“But, don’t we have other viruses we can use?” Dylan asked.
“Yes, but we don’t know how quickly they adapt once they know about it. They might adept quickly or have to study it for a while,” David said. “Either way we have to be ready.”
“It might be a while before we find out,” a voice said behind them. They both turned to see Admiral White standing there. “I received word from the Galactica the other mothership is still sitting out there. They must know about the loss of the other ship, so we’re in a waiting game.”
“At least their far enough out there that we can see if they are going to attack, and be ready for it,” David said.
“Exactly, but we’re relying on the Colonials and their scanners to keep an eye on the remaining mothership,” White said before turning towards David. “I was actually looking for you David.”
“Me, why?” David replied.
“Received word from Mars, there is something they want you to look at over there. They downloaded a lot of information from the main computer for you to look over,” White said.
“I’ll go take a look,” David said, walking off leaving the two men.
“Good work out there, glad at least some of the pilots survived,” the admiral said to Dylan.
“Thank you sir,” Dylan replied, giving a salute and then walked off to the debriefing room.
*****
Starbuck had quietly kept an eye on the two men while staying hidden in the shadows. He knew his uniform made him stand out but there was something about their attitudes which piqued his curiosity. He was positive something was wrong and they could lead him to who was being it. He only had to be careful in his scouting.
He followed them men along quite a ways now and set up in a position to see anyone who went in our out of the building. He looked around spotting someone he was sure of who it was, and realized exactly what he was seeing. His heart raced at the thought of what might happen.
He turned to head back to where Boxey was waiting. Blocking his path were two large men dressed in black suits. Their faces wore expression which was not pleasant.
“Ah, hey, I’m lost and wondering if you fallahs might be able to help me out,” Starbuck said giving them a smile. Instead the two men closed the distance between them. “Now look, I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding,” he said to them backing up as well and preparing for a fight.
*****
“Hey,” a voice said causing Boxey to turn around. He had been pleasantly talking with Renee and now saw Terrance walking towards him. Boxey noticed the face the council member made and wondered what happened now.
“Councilman, what can I do for you?” Boxey asked.
“Have you seen Starbuck recently?” Terrance asked.
“Starbuck, no, he left a while ago to follow a couple of men,” Boxey replied confused. “Why?”
“He was supposed to meet with me five centons ago and has yet to show up,” Terrance stated.
“Oh boy, I wonder what Starbuck found,” Boxey said causing Terrance to look strangely at him. “My father always said Starbuck got into trouble. Looks like it hasn’t stopped yet.”
“I guess we better try and find him,” Terrance said.
“Can we ask someone here, like Senator Mitchell?” Boxey asked.
“We could do that,” Terrance said thinking about the idea.
“Why not ask the President?” Renee asked interrupting their conversation.
They both turned to look at her. Boxey having forgetting she was there but felt sure that the President would be too busy to see them.
“I know him personally, his son was a friend of mine when we were younger, come on, I’ll get us in,” she said to them.
Boxey looked over at Terrance who merely shrugged. If she could help them find Starbuck they were both for it. The three of them headed off towards the building heading to the President’s office.
End part 7