Storm Clouds – Part 12

Storm Clouds

by AJ Marks

Part 12:  Meeting

Ares looked on, hearing the reports of the battle coming in. They had taken the Cylons by surprise this time. However, now the Cylons knew another group was out here. Now patrols were even more important.

They had managed to destroy all four basestars blocking the Galactica’s fleet to the systems, and one additional basestar had been destroyed in the rear. They had lost a couple of destroyers, damage to a cruiser, and the battlestar Yorktown.

In all, he would accept that, five basestars for no battlestars. Such a lopsided battle result gave him confidence in the future. They had also gained an additional three battlestars to the fleet, along with a battlecruiser and its escorts.

“Admiral, the President is on the line,” Otto said. Ares fired the President would call, wanting an update on the situation. Activating the communications he watched the president appear on the screen. An old friend, Sam Harvey.

“Ares, what’s the latest?” Sam asked.

“Sir, all in all, very good,” Ares replied. “Five basestars were destroyed out of nine, and no battlestars were lost. However we did lose three destroyers.”

“Damaged ships?” asked Sam, and Ares pulled up the list.

“The battlestar Yorktown and the Cruiser Tokyo will require docking for repairs, the rest appear to only need minor repairs. Going to replace the Yorktown with the Zuikaku,” Ares said.

“And this is the Galactica?”

“Yes, talked with Commander Adama myself,” Ares said. “Now we’ll have to meet to talk.”

“I’ll let you handle that meeting, right now Congress is in an emergency meeting about the situation. We need to know their condition and what their plans are,” Sam stated.

“I’ll find out,” Ares said. “I’ll be heading over there on one of the scout ships shortly. I’ve also gathered the Barham, Queen Elizabeth and Shokaku to form the 2nd battle group, it will back up outposts 4 through 7.”

“You have things well in hand, let me know if the situation changes,” Sam said. Ares nodded as the conversation ended.

“Otto, leaving you in charge, keep me up to date if anything changes,” Ares said, then made his way down to the docking station where one of the scout ships waited.

*****

Adama waited on the hangar deck as first two black looking vipers landed. They were not the normal vipers, no rounded corners and they looked like a jumble of odd angles. Two pilots stepped out as the shuttle landed, this one looked very normal, almost like the ones they had.

Finally the door opened allowing a man about Adama’s height, black hair, and a black goatee to step out onto the flight deck.

“Permission to come aboard commander,” he said.

“Granted Admiral Ares,” Adama said, watching as Ares stepped over with a welcoming handshake. Behind Ares stepped out a familiar face. “Tagget? What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping to catch up to you,” Tagget said.

Adama had to consider that for a few seconds. Tagget was the commander of the Sunflare and a patrol group. He had tried to reach them, but with no reply assumed they too had been destroyed.

“This is Nall, Troy and Bri,” Ares said, introducing the pilots of the vipers and shuttle. Troy had dark blonde hair, Bri had blonde hair, and Nall was dark-haired, with a moustache and a grin.

“My son Apollo, Starbuck and Crystal,” Adama said, introducing the people next to him. He had debated about Crystal, but knew if there was any problem she would be able to discover it right away. He had told her right away.

They exchanged pleasantries, and he noticed a slight tense look on Crystal’s face towards Troy, who had a similar look.

“I’m sure you have many questions, perhaps we should get comfortable?” Ares said, interrupting any other thoughts he had.

“Of course,” Adama said, leading them off the hanger and towards the council chamber. “How did you get here?” Adama asked Tagget.

He listened to the story of them leaving the Colonies, and their struggle and finally the recent battle and the timely arrival of the supplies from Earth. It confirmed once more that this group was from a planet called Earth, was it the Thirteenth tribe?

Arriving in the Council room there were two other Council members there, Rexx and Marcus, who would represent the council for the meeting. Everyone sat down, introductions were made before Adama asked the first question.

“You said you’re from the Colonies? How?” Adama asked.

“About twelve yahrens ago I was chosen for a special mission by Commander Cain,” Ares said. The mentioning Cain caught Adama’s attention. “In secret he built a battlestar, named it the Argo. At first it was to be used in combat against the Cylons, but he saw us losing the war do to the current path of the politicians. As a result he tasked us with the mission of finding Earth.”

“Did you say Earth?” Rexx asked, looking very surprised at the statement.

“Yes, we lost a few of our crew members in combat with the Cylons early on, Martin, one of our members crashed landed on a planet, It was thought he should stay,” Ares said.

“I had a vision he was needed there,” Troy said, speaking up. Adama looked at him before realizing the man had the visions of the future.

“He, well, his wife and son saved me,” Apollo said, speaking up.

“Then he’s all right?” Bri said.

“He was killed by a Cylon, long story,” Apollo said, watching as the others looked a bit saddened at that. “Without his fuel I’d have never been able to return to the fleet.”

Adama had always wondered what a Colonial warrior and Cylon had been doing so far from the Colonies. He would have liked to continue the conversation, but turned it back to more important questions.

“So, you found Earth?” Adama asked.

“Yes, my mission was to prepare Earth for the Cylons to either help the Colonies, or for the fall of the Colonies,” Ares said. “We were not in time to help out, our forces were still being built up.”

“And now?” Adama asked, wondering how the mission went.

“We have roughly a dozen battlestars, organized in two fleets,” Ares said. “But what I’m curious about, where did the additional two battlestars come from. The information we were given indicated only the Galactica survived, and the Agamemnon, we have no record of.”

Adama gave a slight smile to himself with the knowledge. “Well, we encountered an advanced robotic dockyard, which took it upon themselves to build two additional battlestars. They gave us a warning to watch out for their enemy. They fought a race millions of yahrens ago, never finished the war.”

“I see, well, we’ve had no strange encounters until seeing the Sunflare a couple of days ago,” Ares said. “We had picked up Cylon signals, then three basestars. After that we sent out a scout ship, followed by a gunstar, and then a couple of battlestars. It was a good think we did otherwise the Sunflare might not have survived.”

Adama thought about the tale Tagget said.

“We were out of food, no choice, either die fighting or die starving,” Tagget said.

Adama understood the decision. He had been worried about food, but fortunately the three argo ships had supplied enough food for the fleet. “You had no argo ships?”

“No, we went from system to system gathering supplies,” Tagget said. “If I had any hair, it would be grey for sure.”

Adama felt surprised how far they managed to come with no real supplies. Of course he had more people to worry about. Without the argo ships his fleet would have ended the journey a long time ago.

“We were surprised, but knew with at least three basestars the Cylons were after more than the fleet we discovered,” Ares said. “So we continued our search, and discovered the remaining two basestars heading to the system where the Sunflare was, so we sent two stealth battlestars to intercept.”

“The battle we saw,” Adama said. “That was when we sent the Agamemnon out hoping to discover some allies. But I had to be cautious. Your ships never showed up on our scanners.”

“I have to admit, I was skeptical of Commander Tigh’s statement, and considered it a Cylon trap,” Ares said.

“We had the same thought,” Adama answered, amazed they even managed to meet with all the distrust. He had to be cautious with so many people counting on his decisions to keep them safe.

“So, what happens next, the Cylons are still out there,” Rexx asked, speaking up for the first time.

“My government is prepared to help out the survivors of the Colonies,” Ares said. “It’s something we’ve prepared for since the Colonies fell and word came that the Galactica had survived. There are several planets between here and Earth which can support life. It’s been suggested the survivors settle down on one of them, it will allow an area to expand and grow.”

Adama looked over at Rexx and Marcus, both of whom appeared thoughtful at the situation as Ares continued.

“As for the Cylons, we are at war against them, something which won’t stop until one side or another is defeated,” Ares said. Adama had to agree with him. The meeting continued on to housing, and what would happen to the civilians on board the ships. At the end of the meeting Adama made his way towards the bridge along with Ares.

“Colonel, put me through to all fleet captains,” Adama said, waiting only a few microns before the open channel was ready. “All ships of the fleet, this is Commander Adama. I will be making an announcement shortly to everyone in the fleet, but we have made contact with people of Earth. The Galactica will be relaying a course to a planet we can settle on, that is all. Updates will be brought forth as events change and the Council of Twelve has finished meeting.”

“Is that enough?’ Ares asked.

“For now, I need to speak with the full council, so much to do,” Adama said. He had to get the fleet moving in the direction of the planet, tell the Council, see what they said, and hope they could start the process of colonizing a planet.

*****

Troy looked on in the rec room of the Galactica. It reminded him of the Argo so many years ago as they were trying to find Earth. People lounging around trying to make their own recreation. The only real difference, children were on board the battlestar, they had no children on the Argo.

Beside him were a few warriors, Starbuck, Apollo, and Aaron, a new recruit according to Starbuck. They were going over the recent battle. Troy could recall his own first battle, what seemed like so long ago.

“Can’t believe things were like that, I almost was destroyed a few times,” Aaron said.

“Luck can be very interesting,” Troy said.

“There was one pilot who was more than lucky, never seen anyone fly like that. Went in and out destroying Cylons with such ease, and avoiding fire, well it was amazing,” Starbuck stated.

“That would be her,” Nall said, pointing over at Bri.

Troy watched as Bri blushed at the attention. She never boasted of her skills. He looked to see the young red-head from the meeting, sitting next to Aaron return his look. He recalled her name as Crystal. Her eyes were boring into him before she walked over.

“Why?’ he heard her whisper. Her moves had silence them all. Troy did not understand her question.

“Why what?” Troy asked.

“I can’t read your mind,” she said quietly. “Why?”

Troy understood, she had mental abilities, like he did. “Because, I have abilities as well. Well, actually my main focus is I can see bits of the future, flashes. Some come true, others don’t,” Troy replied. “But, because I have strong abilities, it allows me to block others.”

“Y-You have such abilities?” she asked, looking strange, almost shaking slightly.

“I knew a guy who could read minds as well,” Troy said. “He was killed by the Cylons on a raid several years before I left the Colonies.”

“I am normal?” Crystal said.

“My wife thinks so,” Troy said, looking over at Bri, who was watching with interest. “Normal.”

“Well, normal in that people won’t shun you,” Troy said. “Do you have any training?”

“Commander Adama was trying,” Crystal said.

“I see, has he told you about the wall exercise?” Troy asked, seeing her face which said no. “Come on, I’ll tell you what my friend told me he did.”

He led her over to a quiet area and started some exercises.

End Part 12

Continued in part 13

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