The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 25
Tigh walked onto the bridge along with Starbuck and was amazed at how much like the Galactica it appeared, despite the fact the electronics looked more futuristic. Everything appeared to be functioning as several techs from the Galactica were working already to get the programs loaded on and working.
“Sir, we’ve uploaded the programs, just working on making sure they are running correctly, should take a few microns,” the tech said to Tigh.
“Good, what about the engines?” Tigh asked.
“Last I heard, fuel was being loaded, not sure if they finished that or not,” he replied.
He watched as several others walked up on to the bridge, including Apollo and Morpheus.
“Colonel, they’ve finished loading the fuel, about to bring the engines on-line,” Apollo said to him.
“Good, we’ll be able to test the engines and navigation soon,” Tigh said, realizing the battlestar was close to being operational as he looked over at Morpheus.
“You have impressive ships,” he said. “We’re working on bringing in some people from the Matrix, but its not a quick process.”
“We’ll work with what we have,” Tigh said. “All we need now is a name.”
With this he turned back to Morpheus waiting for him to suggest a name for the battlestar.
“How about the Enterprise,” Morpheus said. “It’s a name with historical significance.”
“Enterprise, all right, Enterprise it is,” Tigh said.
“Commander, we’re binging up the scanners now,” one tech said.
Tigh nodded seeing the many programs come on-line. The screen next to the command chair came to life showing the readouts of the ship evan as other monitors came to like making the bridge feel alive.
“Uh, commander, we have a problem.”
“What’s wrong,” tigh asked, wondering what system was having a problem.
“Scanners are picking up a basestar.”
That news froze Tigh and it was the last thing he wanted to hear.
“A basestar here?” he asked hoping the scanner might be malfunctioning.
“Yes sir,” the operator said as Tigh made his way over along with a few others.
“This isn’t good,” Apollo stated as they looked at the screen and saw the basestar even as a machine came onto the bridge seeing Tight out.
“Scanners have indicated a Cylon basestar nearby,” Tigh said to it.
“We are unaware of such a craft nearby,” it replied back to him.
“Its here,” Tigh said to it, showing it the screen.
“This basestar, how large is it?”
“As large as this battlestar, carrying 300 fighters,” Tigh replied.
“Such a ship would cause great damage,” the machine said.
Tigh thought about it for a few seconds before coming up with a plan. “Not if we attack first.” His statement seemed to stun everyone on board. “This battlestar is operational, and we should attack before the Cylons know its here.”
“You would do that for a machine?” it asked.
“You’ve acted more like allies than some others we’ve come across,” Tigh said.
“I’m not sure how combat worthy the crew is,” Apollo said.
“We do not have the pilots for an attack,” Morpheus said. “But the machines might be able to help us, provide fighter escorts.”
“The drones?” Apollo asked.
“Something like that, they’re called Sentinels,” Morpheus said.
“Would they help us?” Tigh asked.
“We can,” the machine said still on the bridge. “I can stay and act as a communication bridge between us and you.”
“Good, we’ll need it,” Tigh said before pausing and wondering something. “What’s your name?”
“I am 01001101001,” it said back to him.
“Don’t think anyone will recall all that, how about if we call you zero?” Tigh asked looking at the others.
“That is acceptable,” Zero replied.
“Good, now, what about the engines,” Tigh asked.
“We can power them up at any time.”
“Good, power them up and prepare for lift off,” Tigh ordered watching as people went around preparing for battle. Now the way he wanted to go into battle, with an undermanned battlestar barely out of the dockyard but he had no choice even as the engines came to life.
*****
“Report centurion,” the basestar commandeer said.
“We are approaching the large city on the planet’s surface,” the centurion said. “All stations are ready for combat.”
“Prepare all fighters for combat,” the basestar commander said, watching as the centurion turned to carry out the orders even as another one came into the room. “Report.”
“Scans of the city have indicated where the concentration of humans are greatest, they also indicate the humans are powering the city,” the centurion said, something the commander was not expecting to hear and made his objective much clearer.
“Destroy the humans and we destroy their defenders,” the commander stated. “Make sure none survive.”
“We have detected an anomaly,” the centurion replied back.
“What is it, I want no surprises,” the commander said, nothing would remove his path to victory.
“Scanners have picked up signs of a tylium reactor,” the centurion said.
That comment caused the commander to pause slightly. There were only a few reasons for such a power source, and the fact the city had such a power source confused him. If they had a tylium reactor why use humans to power the city. Was it a back up?
“Attack it, it might be a back-up for any loss of humans,” the commander said.
“By your command.”
*****
“Power levels coming up,” another person on the bridge said taking on his duties.
Morpheus looked over at the people on the bridge as people went to work and felt a bit out of place. Normally he would know what to do, but this wasn’t his ship nor was it anything he had experience in. Tigh seemed calm despite the fact Morpheus thought they were short-handed. Apollo stood nearby along with Zero.
“Sound red alert,” Tigh said.
Morpheus looked on as the normal lights went off and the bridge was bathed in red light. No one seemed alarmed on the bridge as people continued to work.
“We have full power,” Apollo said.
“Lift off,” Tigh said.
They felt the battlestar shake as it rose from its position. Apollo had gone over to another system.
“Weapons ready” Apollo stated.
“That Cylon basestar probably has us on their scanners by now,” Starbuck said.
“Is that bad news?” Morpheus asked trying to gain as much knowledge as possible.
“No, that’s good news,” Tigh stated. “It means the Cylons will be concentrating on us instead of the city or the humans.”
“I see,” Morpheus said realizing heh ad a lot to learn about this type of warfare. He was used to the Matrix and the machines of Earth, not machines which fought space warfare.
“In weapons range, basestar still has yet to fire,” Apollo said. “It might be confused.”
“Let’s not give them any time to figure things out,” Tigh said. “Target basestar and fire.”
The main weapons of the Enterprise opened up on the basestar.
“Signs of raiders?” Tigh asked.
“Not yet,” Apollo said.
“Zero, the Cylons will probably be launching fighters any moment now, we need your help to keep them from the Enterprise,” Tigh said.
“Understood,” Zero said, plugging into the communications.
Morpheus watched even as he heard the high pitch of the engines and from the screens the weapons had opened fire.
*****
“Report centurion,” the basestar commander said, having felt the ship being hit by something he had not expected. Reports did not indicate such weapon systems.
“We have come under attack by a battlestar,” the centurion said confusing the commander.
“The Galactica is not close enough to the planet’s surface, and it if had come here we would have been informed of her arrival,” the commander said confused by this turn of events.
“Scans have indicated the battlestar is not the Galactica, as the design is different, but it is a battlestar,” the centurion replied back to him.
“Have our raiders launched?” the commander asked.
“Raiders are launching now, but they are being met with some sort of flying defense by the city, they might not be able to engage the battlestar,” the centurion said.
The commander thought for a few more seconds before giving the command to engage and destroy the battlestar. Once that was done they could attack the city.
“By your command,” the centurion said.
*****
On the bridge of the Enterprise Tigh looked on, watching the scanner as the Cylons began to launch fighters, but he could see a mass of sententials rising from the surface of the planet to greet them.
Both ships opened fire, pounding on each other in an attempt to destroy the other first. Tigh felt the ship rocked slightly as it was hit but maintained his balance while looking on. The fighter battle seemed to be equal at the moment and Tigh focused all of his energy on the basestar.
“Basestar is showing signs of damage,” Apollo said to him.
“Good,” Tigh replied, knowing they had to end the battle quickly as well.
“You don’t have seat belts?” Morpheus asked as he was jostled by another hit.
“Yes and no,” Tigh said. “We learned that sometimes they cause more harm than good. “We had many injured by the seatbelts when they otherwise would not have been injured at all. It’s a balance that is hard to maintain.”
“Commander, basestar is trying to move around us,” Apollo said.
Tigh gave it some thought, knowing there was little room to actually maneuver in atmosphere of a planet, and actually something he had never done before. Most times the capital ships fought in space, or in orbit, never in the actual atmosphere.
“Move us to intercept, don’t let it past us,” Tigh ordered.
The Enterprise moved to intercept the basestar, both sides firing at will and Tigh hoped they had enough of the weapon systems active to hurt the basestar considering how new the battlestar was. He disliked taking a ship straight from the construction yard to the battlefield not knowing if the systems were working properly.
“Cylon raiders?” Tigh asked.
“Still engaged with the Sententials,” Apollo replied much to Tigh’s relief. If they were still engaged then they could harm the Enterprise of the machine city. There was a lot of unknowns in the battle as the Enterprise was rocked by a hit but continued to function.
“Bring us around, continue firing,” Tigh said.
“Engaging the front batteries,” Starbuck said from where he sat operating the weapons along with Apollo, both doing their best.
“Reading massive damage to the basestar,” another tech said taking over the scanners. “Basestar in range of the human fields.”
“Don’t let it focus on them,” Tigh said knowing that even a few shots could kill hundreds or more. He hoped he had moved to where stray shots would hit the fields either.
“Reading energy overload in the basestar’s power core,” the scanner operator said and Tigh realized it would explode soon.
“Back us away,” Tigh said, “situation on the raiders?”
“Still engaged, but it appears the Sententials are winning,” Apollo said.
Tigh nodded knowing that the Enterprise had managed to win in a battle he wasn’t expecting to undertake. He still had a lot of problems before the battlestar was fully operational. He also knew landing it again probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Basestar destroyed.”
Tigh turned to Zero. “How many machines are on board?” he asked.
“There are several of us,” it replied back to him.
“Is the ship space worthy?” Tigh asked.
“Yes, but we would need to leave first,” Zero replied.
“Landing is a difficult process and could damage the ship more than the battle,” Tigh said, “and remaining in the atmosphere burns fuel faster than in orbit.”
“I understand, the ship is 98.6% complete,” Zero said. “What is incomplete is all internal.”
“I think we can finish it, and provide repairs,” Tigh said.
“I shall inform all machines to exit the ship,” Zero said.
“Won’t you fall?” Starbuck said.
“We can hover, not for long but enough to reach the ground,” Zero said. “It was a pleasure working with you. I shall give the word to all machines then contact you when I leave being the last.”
“Thanks,” Tigh said, watching as the robot left the bridge.
“Well, wasn’t expecting to head into space, but I’m not jumping,” Morpheus said.
Tigh waited until they received word and he ordered the Enterprise up.
End part 25