Fic - "Going Forward" - BSG/STNG AU - Part 17
Ugh I feel bd that I have had such a hard time ficcing lately. Here's part 17.
Tagged goingforwardfic, and if you didn't know, this is the sequel to Going Native.
Lee Adama walked into the CIC and wondered just how he’d ended up in the exact place that he never wanted to be. Executive officer on a battlestar had never been a dream of his. He loved flying, he could never deny that, but he had never wanted to spend the bulk of his life in uniform. Worse, he was stuck in the military, under direct command of his father, in a position his rank qualified him for but that he’d never wanted. Particularly with his father as the commander of the ship. It made sense, when the rank and experience of all of the command officers was considered, but when they found whatever was left of Starfleet Command, it was going to raise eyebrows. It didn’t bother his father, but over the years Lee had come to understand that Bill Adama could be politically tone deaf about the obvious. It was the sort of thing that made Starfleet commanders assume that the colonials were backwards.
Of course, that assumed they found any Starfleet ships. “Anything?” he asked the young woman at the new long range scanner controls.
“No joy, sir,” the young officer said. “A couple of those comm disrupter drones but nothing else.”
“Have a Viper group sent out to deal with that,” he ordered. Easy pickings and a good thing to do, a standing order from the Admiral was that any Dominion drones found were to be destroyed. The more drones destroyed, the more likely it was that they would find someone. He looked up to see if Adama had anything to say to that, but the older man just nodded slightly.
He stepped over to the main console, what used to be the Dradis, and what now held the results of multiple scanners and systems. It was a vast, multi networked system, and he marveled inwardly at how his father not only allowed the linked computers, but understood the data streaming on every screen. It impressed him, partly because he knew from personal experience that it wasn’t easy to adapt to a completely different scientific world view. Bill Adama had been able to visit Earth but had never had the time to formally take courses on Starfleet technology. His father’s knowledge on the new systems was all self taught and he knew exactly what the many scans were telling him about the ship. It also impressed him because he knew exactly how much networked computers disturbed his father.
“What are your orders, sir?” he asked. Starfleet had assembly points set up just in case of the sort of attack that disrupted the normal flow of communication. They were checking out the first assembly point, the closest one to New Atlantis. Gaeta and his ship were checking the second. It was concerning that there was nothing there. Protocol said that if ships had assembled and left, coded instructions would be left to instruct stragglers on where to go. There wasn’t even wreckage, which suggested that there hadn’t even been time to assemble.
“Once the disrupter drones are destroyed, we’ll broadcast that we’re here to the outlying systems.” Adama said it loudly, so that the whole CIC could hear. “Then we’ll wait until Surprise arrives. I have a bad feeling that they are not going to have good news for us.”
Lee nodded. His instincts told him that Adama was right. They stood side by side, watching the long range scanners as the Viper patrols moved out to destroy the disrupter drones. “It’s almost like we’re right there with them,” he said as he watched the scans. Kara could get away with yanking the old man until she was allowed to be on flight status and bridge duty, but he certainly couldn’t. Kara was a true pilot, the pilot that reminded the Admiral of his own pilot status, and Adama indulged her in a way that Lee knew not to expect. Still, he missed flying.
“It’s not,” Adama muttered darkly, staring at the dots. “Its not like flying a Viper at all, but it isn’t bad either.” He glanced at Lee. “I was going to put you in the CAG spot. I decided against it because I have plenty of good pilots and Hotdog is a good flight leader. You’re the XO because you’re an excellent pilot, and you’re also an excellent administrator. I need the second more than the first.”
Lee didn’t change his expression. “You should have kept Kara here.” Not because the executive job was beyond him, but because she was the better tactician, and the crew was used to her. The change from Tigh to Kara would have been minimal as far as the crew was concerned, she had already assumed the role in everything but name.
“No,” Adama said, his eyes never leaving the screen. “I would have kept her if you had stayed on New Atlantis. It was foolish of Laura to let you go, you temper her in a way that makes everyone love her and never see that you’re the one behind it, but her loss is my gain.” He looked away from the scanners, into Lee’s eyes, his expression suddenly intent. “You’re ready now. Kara still needs seasoning. We’re not going to be dealing with just Gaeta for long. I need someone here who can deal with Starfleet. Tigh can’t, and Kara needs to learn to control her temper. You know how to handle yourself in war, and in political situations. I will need that more than I need Kara chafing at the sight of other people flying.” More quietly he added, “if you think you were my second choice, you’re wrong. Gaeta asking for Kara solved a problem for me. She’s in line for command, that’s not a secret, but there’s a difference between being in line and being ready. Working under Gaeta will temper her. You’ve already had that tempering with Laura.” His expression became more amused. “Laura claims that politics is a form of war.”
“It is.” A far more subtle form of war than his father was comfortable with, or Kara for that matter. Still, as he watched the Vipers move on the long range scanner, he felt better about his place in the command line. The Vipers seemed to swoop on the screen and suddenly the pilots chatter burst over the CIC’s speakers. “The drones are destroyed.”
“Send out a message to the sector that we’re here.” Adama said. “And everyone stay sharp.”
Lee nodded. The Dominion was likely monitoring communication. Once they realized that their drones were being systematically destroyed, they would come running for a fight. It was quiet for another long moment and then the communications officer looked up. “Sir, the Surprise is sending a coded subspace message.” The young woman gulped nervously as she handed the paper communication over. Adama read it and then handed it to him. He knew what was coming as he read the communication but it still sent a shiver down his spine.
“Action stations!” Adama called. Lee hit the ship loudspeaker and the alarms as the man spoke. “Action stations, this is not a drill. Set condition one throughout the ship. Spin up FTL drives One and Two. Recall all fighters. I’ve received communication that Surprise has found multiple survivors from a recent battle and requires our assistance. Be prepared to jump.”
“Get the patrol on deck as fast as possible,” Lee called out to the deck officers. “Hoshi, get the jump coordinates in. I want this jump done as soon as we’ve got our people on board. Move it, people!” In seconds the atmosphere in the CIC was bristling. Under his breath he said to Adama, “How bad do you think it is?”
“Let’s assume it’s bad,” Adama said after a moment. “Surprise isn’t big enough to rescue many survivors.”
~*~
“It’s a trap.” Kara said, her eyes glittering. “They know how Starfleet thinks.” She pointed to the derelict emergency shuttle pods. “What does Starfleet do when a ship goes down? You run to rescue the survivors. They know that. That’s what they expect.” The angry looks told her that the command staff of the Surprise didn’t like hearing how predictable their operations were. Even Gaeta looked annoyed, although she could tell he was going to agree with her.
The staging area had clearly been compromised. The remains of five Starfleet vessels littered the system. Once they had taken out the comm disrupter drones, they had discovered a near fleet of escape pods and disabled shuttles. Too many for Surprise to handle. Her concern was the pods and shuttles that weren’t clumped together. Starfleet ships were designed with numerous escape pods so that as many people as possible could survive. The problem was that the rattled ensign that had organized the escape shuttles and pods hadn’t paid attention to the pods and shuttles that had been dark from the outset. The Jem’Hader were sneaky bastards who would think nothing of booby trapping escape pods. The only question in her mind was how the trap was set up.
“We’re getting life signs from some of the pods,” Mackenzie, the new tactical officer insisted. “We can’t leave them to die just because of paranoia.”
“And we shouldn’t be fools, rushing in, when we know the enemy can and will use our standard operating procedures against us.” Kara said. “Starfleet procedure is to drop everything and save as many lives as possible. That doesn’t mean we have to be stupid about it.” Mackenzie wasn’t thinking, because the young officer had never been in a war before, and Starfleet always emphasized humanitarian aide first. “We have to assume the derelict pods are traps.”
“But there could be people alive in those pods,” Mackenzie shot back. “We’re getting life sign readings.”
Much as she expected, Gaeta waved his hand at Mackenzie’s complaint. “We’re also not the ones who will taking the risk in this situation, Lieutenant. It’s the Galactica that will need to accept the survivors. We don’t have room. The shuttles and pods in Ensign Kopell’s fleet that have been in communication are probably safe, but I am sure the colonial fleet will take precautions. Ten of the remaining pods appear completely dead, no life signs, and no systems running. They’ll marked for later retrieval. That leaves five outliers, one shuttle and four pods that appear to have life signs but no communication. We could tractor one on board, or ask the Galactica to do it since it has larger facilities but Cmdr. Thrace is correct. It is extremely likely that the Jem’Hader have left surprises behind. So what do we do?”
“Play the same trick,” Kara said after a moment of thought. She gestured to the many consoles. “I’m sure with all this equipment, we could find a way to trick their sensors. Traps only work if they’re sprung.” She looked at the dark pods and disabled shuttle and thought about it. “If I were setting this trap, the pods would be rigged with explosives.” She caught Gaeta’s eye. “You would beam an emergency pod onto a larger ship pretty quickly. Open it up, and boom. It’s done its job.”
“How do we solve that problem?” Gaeta asked after a moment. “And lets assume I’ve already considered the obvious ‘just leave them alone’ plan, which isn’t acceptable since there could be survivors.” Kara nodded, his squeamishness didn’t surprise her, she just had a better understanding of where it came from.
“Fight fire with fire,” she said as the Galactica popped onto the view screen, obviously having jumped in to help. She gestured to Barclay. “The engineering staff is clever. Why not transport a remote scanner into the shuttle craft and dark pods that will mimic life signs and the conditions inside a ship? If there’s really someone inside, then we’ll know, and if there’s not… the remote might set off the trap.”
Gaeta looked at Barclay, who nodded after a moment. “It could work,” the man said after a moment, “and its certainly safer than tractoring the pods in and opening them. I have to agree with Cmdr. Thrace on that, it seems probable that these pods are traps. It wouldn’t be hard to transport a remote that mimics a ship’s environment.”
“Get it done, and quickly.” Gaeta turned to her. “Let the Galactica know what we’re planning. If you’re right, Cmdr. Thrace, we’re about to spring the trap.”
Kara let herself smile, just a little, as she put her hands on the tactical station. Surprise was Gaeta’s, she could tell that from the moment she stepped on board, but there was a certain playfulness she sensed when she touched the ship. Gaeta wasn’t the sort to fly just for the sake of flying, and therefore he didn’t put his ship through the paces that it longed to run. Something was going to happen with the pods, she was certain of it, and when it did, she was going to enjoy letting Surprise show exactly what it could do.
Tagged goingforwardfic, and if you didn't know, this is the sequel to Going Native.
Lee Adama walked into the CIC and wondered just how he’d ended up in the exact place that he never wanted to be. Executive officer on a battlestar had never been a dream of his. He loved flying, he could never deny that, but he had never wanted to spend the bulk of his life in uniform. Worse, he was stuck in the military, under direct command of his father, in a position his rank qualified him for but that he’d never wanted. Particularly with his father as the commander of the ship. It made sense, when the rank and experience of all of the command officers was considered, but when they found whatever was left of Starfleet Command, it was going to raise eyebrows. It didn’t bother his father, but over the years Lee had come to understand that Bill Adama could be politically tone deaf about the obvious. It was the sort of thing that made Starfleet commanders assume that the colonials were backwards.
Of course, that assumed they found any Starfleet ships. “Anything?” he asked the young woman at the new long range scanner controls.
“No joy, sir,” the young officer said. “A couple of those comm disrupter drones but nothing else.”
“Have a Viper group sent out to deal with that,” he ordered. Easy pickings and a good thing to do, a standing order from the Admiral was that any Dominion drones found were to be destroyed. The more drones destroyed, the more likely it was that they would find someone. He looked up to see if Adama had anything to say to that, but the older man just nodded slightly.
He stepped over to the main console, what used to be the Dradis, and what now held the results of multiple scanners and systems. It was a vast, multi networked system, and he marveled inwardly at how his father not only allowed the linked computers, but understood the data streaming on every screen. It impressed him, partly because he knew from personal experience that it wasn’t easy to adapt to a completely different scientific world view. Bill Adama had been able to visit Earth but had never had the time to formally take courses on Starfleet technology. His father’s knowledge on the new systems was all self taught and he knew exactly what the many scans were telling him about the ship. It also impressed him because he knew exactly how much networked computers disturbed his father.
“What are your orders, sir?” he asked. Starfleet had assembly points set up just in case of the sort of attack that disrupted the normal flow of communication. They were checking out the first assembly point, the closest one to New Atlantis. Gaeta and his ship were checking the second. It was concerning that there was nothing there. Protocol said that if ships had assembled and left, coded instructions would be left to instruct stragglers on where to go. There wasn’t even wreckage, which suggested that there hadn’t even been time to assemble.
“Once the disrupter drones are destroyed, we’ll broadcast that we’re here to the outlying systems.” Adama said it loudly, so that the whole CIC could hear. “Then we’ll wait until Surprise arrives. I have a bad feeling that they are not going to have good news for us.”
Lee nodded. His instincts told him that Adama was right. They stood side by side, watching the long range scanners as the Viper patrols moved out to destroy the disrupter drones. “It’s almost like we’re right there with them,” he said as he watched the scans. Kara could get away with yanking the old man until she was allowed to be on flight status and bridge duty, but he certainly couldn’t. Kara was a true pilot, the pilot that reminded the Admiral of his own pilot status, and Adama indulged her in a way that Lee knew not to expect. Still, he missed flying.
“It’s not,” Adama muttered darkly, staring at the dots. “Its not like flying a Viper at all, but it isn’t bad either.” He glanced at Lee. “I was going to put you in the CAG spot. I decided against it because I have plenty of good pilots and Hotdog is a good flight leader. You’re the XO because you’re an excellent pilot, and you’re also an excellent administrator. I need the second more than the first.”
Lee didn’t change his expression. “You should have kept Kara here.” Not because the executive job was beyond him, but because she was the better tactician, and the crew was used to her. The change from Tigh to Kara would have been minimal as far as the crew was concerned, she had already assumed the role in everything but name.
“No,” Adama said, his eyes never leaving the screen. “I would have kept her if you had stayed on New Atlantis. It was foolish of Laura to let you go, you temper her in a way that makes everyone love her and never see that you’re the one behind it, but her loss is my gain.” He looked away from the scanners, into Lee’s eyes, his expression suddenly intent. “You’re ready now. Kara still needs seasoning. We’re not going to be dealing with just Gaeta for long. I need someone here who can deal with Starfleet. Tigh can’t, and Kara needs to learn to control her temper. You know how to handle yourself in war, and in political situations. I will need that more than I need Kara chafing at the sight of other people flying.” More quietly he added, “if you think you were my second choice, you’re wrong. Gaeta asking for Kara solved a problem for me. She’s in line for command, that’s not a secret, but there’s a difference between being in line and being ready. Working under Gaeta will temper her. You’ve already had that tempering with Laura.” His expression became more amused. “Laura claims that politics is a form of war.”
“It is.” A far more subtle form of war than his father was comfortable with, or Kara for that matter. Still, as he watched the Vipers move on the long range scanner, he felt better about his place in the command line. The Vipers seemed to swoop on the screen and suddenly the pilots chatter burst over the CIC’s speakers. “The drones are destroyed.”
“Send out a message to the sector that we’re here.” Adama said. “And everyone stay sharp.”
Lee nodded. The Dominion was likely monitoring communication. Once they realized that their drones were being systematically destroyed, they would come running for a fight. It was quiet for another long moment and then the communications officer looked up. “Sir, the Surprise is sending a coded subspace message.” The young woman gulped nervously as she handed the paper communication over. Adama read it and then handed it to him. He knew what was coming as he read the communication but it still sent a shiver down his spine.
“Action stations!” Adama called. Lee hit the ship loudspeaker and the alarms as the man spoke. “Action stations, this is not a drill. Set condition one throughout the ship. Spin up FTL drives One and Two. Recall all fighters. I’ve received communication that Surprise has found multiple survivors from a recent battle and requires our assistance. Be prepared to jump.”
“Get the patrol on deck as fast as possible,” Lee called out to the deck officers. “Hoshi, get the jump coordinates in. I want this jump done as soon as we’ve got our people on board. Move it, people!” In seconds the atmosphere in the CIC was bristling. Under his breath he said to Adama, “How bad do you think it is?”
“Let’s assume it’s bad,” Adama said after a moment. “Surprise isn’t big enough to rescue many survivors.”
~*~
“It’s a trap.” Kara said, her eyes glittering. “They know how Starfleet thinks.” She pointed to the derelict emergency shuttle pods. “What does Starfleet do when a ship goes down? You run to rescue the survivors. They know that. That’s what they expect.” The angry looks told her that the command staff of the Surprise didn’t like hearing how predictable their operations were. Even Gaeta looked annoyed, although she could tell he was going to agree with her.
The staging area had clearly been compromised. The remains of five Starfleet vessels littered the system. Once they had taken out the comm disrupter drones, they had discovered a near fleet of escape pods and disabled shuttles. Too many for Surprise to handle. Her concern was the pods and shuttles that weren’t clumped together. Starfleet ships were designed with numerous escape pods so that as many people as possible could survive. The problem was that the rattled ensign that had organized the escape shuttles and pods hadn’t paid attention to the pods and shuttles that had been dark from the outset. The Jem’Hader were sneaky bastards who would think nothing of booby trapping escape pods. The only question in her mind was how the trap was set up.
“We’re getting life signs from some of the pods,” Mackenzie, the new tactical officer insisted. “We can’t leave them to die just because of paranoia.”
“And we shouldn’t be fools, rushing in, when we know the enemy can and will use our standard operating procedures against us.” Kara said. “Starfleet procedure is to drop everything and save as many lives as possible. That doesn’t mean we have to be stupid about it.” Mackenzie wasn’t thinking, because the young officer had never been in a war before, and Starfleet always emphasized humanitarian aide first. “We have to assume the derelict pods are traps.”
“But there could be people alive in those pods,” Mackenzie shot back. “We’re getting life sign readings.”
Much as she expected, Gaeta waved his hand at Mackenzie’s complaint. “We’re also not the ones who will taking the risk in this situation, Lieutenant. It’s the Galactica that will need to accept the survivors. We don’t have room. The shuttles and pods in Ensign Kopell’s fleet that have been in communication are probably safe, but I am sure the colonial fleet will take precautions. Ten of the remaining pods appear completely dead, no life signs, and no systems running. They’ll marked for later retrieval. That leaves five outliers, one shuttle and four pods that appear to have life signs but no communication. We could tractor one on board, or ask the Galactica to do it since it has larger facilities but Cmdr. Thrace is correct. It is extremely likely that the Jem’Hader have left surprises behind. So what do we do?”
“Play the same trick,” Kara said after a moment of thought. She gestured to the many consoles. “I’m sure with all this equipment, we could find a way to trick their sensors. Traps only work if they’re sprung.” She looked at the dark pods and disabled shuttle and thought about it. “If I were setting this trap, the pods would be rigged with explosives.” She caught Gaeta’s eye. “You would beam an emergency pod onto a larger ship pretty quickly. Open it up, and boom. It’s done its job.”
“How do we solve that problem?” Gaeta asked after a moment. “And lets assume I’ve already considered the obvious ‘just leave them alone’ plan, which isn’t acceptable since there could be survivors.” Kara nodded, his squeamishness didn’t surprise her, she just had a better understanding of where it came from.
“Fight fire with fire,” she said as the Galactica popped onto the view screen, obviously having jumped in to help. She gestured to Barclay. “The engineering staff is clever. Why not transport a remote scanner into the shuttle craft and dark pods that will mimic life signs and the conditions inside a ship? If there’s really someone inside, then we’ll know, and if there’s not… the remote might set off the trap.”
Gaeta looked at Barclay, who nodded after a moment. “It could work,” the man said after a moment, “and its certainly safer than tractoring the pods in and opening them. I have to agree with Cmdr. Thrace on that, it seems probable that these pods are traps. It wouldn’t be hard to transport a remote that mimics a ship’s environment.”
“Get it done, and quickly.” Gaeta turned to her. “Let the Galactica know what we’re planning. If you’re right, Cmdr. Thrace, we’re about to spring the trap.”
Kara let herself smile, just a little, as she put her hands on the tactical station. Surprise was Gaeta’s, she could tell that from the moment she stepped on board, but there was a certain playfulness she sensed when she touched the ship. Gaeta wasn’t the sort to fly just for the sake of flying, and therefore he didn’t put his ship through the paces that it longed to run. Something was going to happen with the pods, she was certain of it, and when it did, she was going to enjoy letting Surprise show exactly what it could do.