To Stop Running
by AJ Marks
Part 6
Admiral Percy White waited patiently for the return call from Earth for his orders regarding the capture Pegasus. They had a human fleet of several hundred ships outside the system. He went through everything that the President might order, and could not come up with anything that might help out the situation. Then he had the situation of the Cylons. The group had already attacked on station, and according to Apollo, they would attack again without warning. He warned him to shoot first. The communications came to live showing the President’s face, he had not been expecting him.
“Mr. President,” Percy said.
“Thought I’d let you know what’s been somewhat decided down here,” Steven said. “There is no official word from congress yet, still have to inform them in the morning. But use your discretion, see if we can get a meeting with their leaders. Do what you feel is right, I’ll back up you any way I can.”
“Yes sir, makes me feel better in case something does happen,” Percy replied. They signed off and he wondered what might happen with congress. Would they want to do something else?
He leaned back in his chair thinking about the people in congress. There were some who wouldn’t want to get involved in a war, others, he did not know. There were too many variables for him to feel comfortable with the situation. He glanced up when the lightning in the room changed from white to red and a klaxon sounded.
Looking up he watched Apollo walk into the room, a determined look on his face. “I need command of my ship again, Cylons are attacking my fleet,” Apollo said, urgency in his voice.
Percy looked up, shocked at what he heard Apollo say. “What?” he finally said, putting it all together, the red lighting, klaxons and urgency in Apollo’s attitude. HE quickly raced with several thoughts, especially considering what the President had told him.
“I need to get moving no if I’m to help out in time,” Apollo stated.
“Of course, let me shuttle off the ship first,” Percy said, standing and quickly heading towards the hangar, racing by people who were in a rush to get to their battlestations. He already had ideas about what to do, and would wait until he got on board the shuttle.
The pilot of the shuttle looked on as Percy walked up along with Apollo as they approached. He informed the pilot to make ready to leave immediately before turning to Apollo.
“Good luck commander,” Percy said. “I look forward to talking to you again.”
“I know the council will want to speak with your leaders when this attack is over,’ Apollo stated, then shaking his hand headed off the hanger and back to the bridge.
Percy climbed on board the shuttle, sitting down he radioed the fleet informing them to let the Pegasus go. He knew this was a gamble, but it also was a gamble in finding out if their visitors were telling the truth. With scanners ready and the far outpost watching on, he hoped to get some information for his superiors back home.
He looked out the window at the massive ship turning around and heading out of the system with its massive engines glowing. He spotted the Pacifica and landed shortly on the ship. He was met by the captain the moment he stepped off.
“We’ve tracked the Pegasus like you asked and have the course,” he told Percy.
“Tell the fleet to form up and head out, we’re going to see if we can help,” Percy said, using his authority from the President to make this decision. It might not be the best one, but if this was an attack on Earth, he wanted to initiate combat as far away as possible.
“Yes sir,” the captain replied.
Percy felt the thrill of combat. The combination of fear and excitement that made it such an intoxicating subject for movies and books. He hoped he had not done anything stupid.
Commander Tigh stood in the center of the activity on the Galactica’s bridge. Reports of the approaching Cylon raiders kept everyone busy. All viper squadrons were ready to launch, and he knew they would be heading out against an overwhelming force. Perhaps if the Pegasus was here it would cut the odds down a bit. Of course he and every warrior understood they were always outnumbered.
Each pilot was better than their Cylon counterpart. The Cylons used numbers to overcome that problem. The classic combat of quality versus quantity. Tigh knew if they only had more vipers and people they could win this battle. He also knew coming in like they were, they would nto be able to stay on thrusters for long.
“Launch all vipers,” Tigh said, finally hearing the range he wanted. It would give his pilots the best chance to engage away from the fleet, but still close to the Galactica.
He watched the screens as the vipers launched. Looking down he hoped for the Pegasus to come help, but could not hope for that to happen. He had to engage under the assumption the Galactica was the only battlestar to defend the fleet. He had no contact with Apollo since informing him.
“All stations ready commander,” Omega stated.
Tigh nodded, hoping for every pilot to return safely.
Athena watched Apollo standing silently in the middle of the bridge as the crew went about their duties. She was struck by how much like their father had had become. She could recall the times Adama stood like that before a battle. She had asked him one what he was thinking about and was surprised by the answer. He told her he thought about his family, her mother, Apollo, Zac and her. She assumed he thought of strategies and possibilities of the outcome of the battle. He merely chuckled at her comment stating he already thought about that stuff.
Athena wondered if her brother was thinking the same thing. Was he thinking about Boxey, Starbuck, Cassiopeia. Shebia and her? She would have to ask one day, but for now wen about her job.
Apollo walked over at several seconds before heading over to the command chair. Athema heard reports from the Galactica, they had launched viper squadrons.
“Galactica had launched all vipers,” Athena said, looking over at Apollo. He acknowledged the order.
“Prepare all squadrons to launch on my command,” Apollo said. The crew went thought informing everyone the command. Athena got the report from the hangar.
“All squadrons ready,” she told him.
Boomer maneuvered his viper around, lining up another raider making quick work of it. It exploded in a shower of flame and debris. He managed to look around for a second, seeing explosions light up the area as both raiders and vipers exploded. He went from target to target methodically destroying any raider he came across. The raiders seemed to continue to come, and he estimated they were up against at least three basestars.
“Blue three, still with me?” Boomer asked.
“Yes sir,” he heard the reply come back.
“Follow me, we have a couple of Cylons heading towards the tankers,” Boomer stated, as they turned towards the three raiders. Losing the tankers would severely hamper their ability to travel across the universe.
The two quickly destroyed the three raiders. Boomer shooting down two as his wingmate took the third. He wished the Pegasus was here. The additional vipers would help out tremendously.
One the bridge Commander Tigh was thinking the same thing as the raiders concentrated on the Galactica. Both sides knew that if the Galactica was destroyed the rest of the fleet would be destroyed easily.
He listened as damage control parties scrambled trying to contain damage and repair any system they could. The hangars had so far been spared, surprising Tigh. Usually they were a prime target.
“Sir, Pegasus has entered the battle,” Omega said, lifting the spirits of everyone on the bridge.
He looked down seeing the scanners showing vipers from the Pegasus heading towards the battle. Tigh knew they would win this battle, the war had only started again.
Percy White stood on the bridge of the Pacifica, listening in on the reports coming in. He heard they picked up some unusual signatures ahead of them, and the outpost had picked up some sort of battle going on outside the system.
He looked at his own scanner operator, who merely mentioned he had never seen anything like it before. He would need time to decipher the scan. Percy nodded, wanting the information so he knew if his current course of action was right.
Apollo contacted Tigh right after his vipers launched to join the battle. In their talking Tigh thoguth the Cylons would bring in their basestars next to finish off the Galactica. He was not sure if the additional vipers had factored into their battle plans. Apollo had decided to be cautious, and assumed they had and raced to join the Galactica to combine their firepower.
Together they stood a better chance than apart. Of course it also meant that the Cylons would concentrate their attack on one area. Apollo hoped they had spread themselves out a bit giving them a bit of an advantage. So far the basestars had yet to appear, laying outside the scanning range.
The Pegasus’ vipers engaged the raiders, brining an advantage to the Colonials for the moment in the battle.
“Commander, three basestars appearing on the scanners,” Athena said.
“They spring their trap, get me the Galactica,” Apollo said, watching as Tigh’s face appeared on the screen.
“You have something?” Tigh said.
“Three basestars, closing in,” then reported the sector to Tigh, who looked thoughtful for a few seconds.
“I’ll need you to come in at an angle, split their fire in two directions. I’ll also see if we can get a couple of vipers to make a run or two at the basestars’ batteries,” Tigh said.
“Yeah, but I have a feeling the Cylons have more than this,” Apollo stated, a gut feeling he had. It seemed too easy to him. They had to be planning something else, and were they falling for it?
“Even if they do, we can’t ignore this,” Tigh said. Apollo understood as the two battlestars headed out to engage.
“Commander, we have incoming raiders from behind us,” Athena said.
Apollo’s heart sunk at that news. They had finally sprung their trap.
The Cylon commander listened to the reports coming in, pleased the battle had gone so well. The plane included the battlestar Pegasus, and even Commander Cain. They would spilt the Colonial forces, or force them to leave the fleet undefended and easy prey.
It became the perfect trap. They even destroyed a small human outpost probably set up to scout for Cylons. No human report came out from it, and he was sure that the humans knew nothing about the full force of the attack.
“Send all squadrons in now,” he said to the waiting centurion.
“By your command,” it replied, turning to carry out the order.
Six basestars would now attack in full force. Even with two battlestars they were hopeless outnumbered.
In the vastness of space, an order was given and fighters launched, streaking out to engage an enemy.
End part 6
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