Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 6
Title: Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 6
Word Count: 1,201
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
Lee was right, Adama realised as he studied the latest “recruits” as they left the raptors. Most of this batch was kids under twenty and many were dressed in fine fripperies he hadn’t thought were even available anymore. But even the older, more defiant-looking ones still looked properly scared, which was what he needed right now.
Lieutenant Katraine, Galactica’s interim CAG addressed them before they had a chance to even catch their bearings. “You are all, as of this moment, non-commissioned officers in the Colonial Fleet,” she said ruthlessly. “You will be assigned to either Galactica or Pegasus and you will learn your respective jobs as you go. In twelve days, we will jump back to New Caprica whether your candy-asses are ready or not. I suggest you get ready, because if this ship goes down, we all go down with it.”
Adama watched as Katraine and Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla, now XO of Pegasus, proceeded to divvy-up the newbies and assign them to sections. Gods he was tired, but then everyone was tired, working for the last three days without sleep. Both Katraine and Dualla looked like death warmed over, but they, like the rest of his people, kept going at the hectic pace he’d set.
The blat of klaxons banished all thoughts of sleep. Adama rushed automatically to the nearest intra-ship phone before they even had a chance to page him.
“Adama, go,” he said.
“Admiral Adama, we just had a contact jump onto DRADIS and then disappear,” said the officer of the deck, Lieutenant Peter Collis, one of Galactica’s helmsmen that Adama had promoted to head navigator when Gaeta had jumped ship with Baltar.
“What do you mean disappear?” he demanded.
“I mean disappear, sir,” Collis said evenly. “One moment we’re reading a solid, but distorted contact about twelve minutes out; then all the gravitational readings went crazy and then nothing.”
“Did they jump out?”
“Negative, sir,” the navigator replied. “We could find no evidence of a jump being initiated.”
“Have the fleet start cycling their jump engines--I’ll be right up,” Adama said, banging the phone back into its cradle and hurrying away from the flight deck.
Five minutes later he was in CIC reviewing the recording of the contact. Collis was right; the entire thing was screwy. Adama dry-washed his face and forced himself to think.
“I’m getting a com signal on our Priority One channel, sir,” the ridiculously young petty officer manning Communications said. Adama had thought that Dualla was young two years ago, but she’d been twenty-one and this kid was barely seventeen.
“From Pegasus?” Captain Jake Kelly, Galactica’s new executive officer, asked.
“No, sir,” she replied. “In fact Pegasus should be getting it too.”
“Well let’s hear it,” Adama demanded impatiently.
"Opening Priority One channel now, sir," the girl said, voice quivering uncertainly as Dualla and Katraine rushed into CIC.
"… Admiral William Adama, come in Admiral Adama. This is Fleet Captain Carol Windermere, commander of Vengeance, and Fleet Captain Azuka Riddick, commander of Fleur-de-Lys, two ships in the Imperial Navy of His Royal Highness, Emperor Colin MacIntyre the First. Admiral Adama, we hail from Earth and were sent to find you when we picked up the nuclear explosion in the molecular cloud. We bring greetings from Colonel Saul Tigh, and Starbuck asks, "Hey, old man, what do you hear?"
Adama had to take a deep breath in order to keep his voice from shaking as badly as the girl's had only a few minutes ago. Picking up the phone, he ordered, "Put me on the Priority One com."
"You're on, sir."
“Nothing but the rain,” he answered the strange woman.
“Then grab the cat and bring your gun, sir.”
“Boom, boom, boom,” the woman said in unison with Adama.
"This is Admiral William Adama," he said. "How do you know the names Starbuck and Saul Tigh?"
The young woman's voice was quietly jubilant when she replied. "Sir, two of our ships, the Emperor Herdan, under Fleet Captain Princess Isis Harriet MacIntyre and Indomitable, under Fleet Captain Tamman Givens-Tsien, are currently under cloak in the New Caprica system," Windermere said. "In fact, Captain MacIntyre had been about to make contact with you when the Cylons surprised her by hypering in and you surprised her even more when you hypered out and showed up in this system almost instantaneously. As Vengeance and Fleur-de-Lys were scouting close to this sector, Captain MacIntyre sent us to make contact. As of twenty standard hours ago, sir, an advanced force of seven hundred and fifty Imperial Marines and five heavy assault shuttles were successful in making a covert insertion down to the planet to support Colonel Tigh and Captain Thrace's resistance fighters."
A great shout of surprised jubilation swept over Galactica's bridge. Adama felt his heart almost stop in his chest and forced himself to breathe.
As the noise died down at last, Windermere continued, "Sir, if you would allow, Captain Riddick and I could come over to Galactica; we'll bring a communicator that would facilitate conversation with Captain MacIntyre and Colonel Tigh."
"Across fifteen and a half light years?" Dualla said incredulously. All sound ceased in the CIC.
"Yes, ma'am," the other woman replied. "It seems that our technology in some areas is more advanced than yours. We'll be bringing over a simple fold-space comlink, but our ship has what is called a hypercom--its range is about five thousand light years, but it's a mother of an energy hog," she said with a chuckle.
"I'll bet," Katraine muttered under her breath. "Why can't we see you on our DRADIS scopes," she asked, pitching her voice more loudly.
"We didn't want to startle you unduly, ma'am," Windermere replied, "and we couldn't be sure you wouldn't start shooting, so we cloaked our ships as soon as we left hyperspace and micro-jumped to our present position. We're dropping cloaks now--two new contacts should be showing up on your scanners about five light seconds out."
"Admiral Adama," came Collis' strangled voice. "If these readings are correct, those ships are the size of planets!"
Windermere laughed again. "Not planets exactly," she said brightly, "more like good-sized moons or planetoids."
"And you have four of these ships out here?" Adama said in awe, hope burgeoning in his chest once more.
"Six, sir," Windermere replied. "War Hammer and Enterprise were scouting for you on a third vector. Currently they're on route to New Caprica and should reach that system within seventy-four hours. Time is really of the essence here, Admiral Adama." Windermere's voice lost all traces of humour. "We have indications that matters have begun to deteriorate on the planet. The town is under curfew while they search for the resistance members and it appears that your President, Dr. Baltar, is actively aiding the Cylons--and has been all along. Our scan intelligence also show indications that the Cylons have human prisoners on board their mother ships, and we don't think they came from New Caprica; the only conclusion we could come to was that they were survivors taken from your original homeworlds."
"Of course, Captain Windermere," Adama replied hoarsely. "Please come over at your convenience. Commander Adama and I will be waiting."
Part 7
Word Count: 1,201
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
Lee was right, Adama realised as he studied the latest “recruits” as they left the raptors. Most of this batch was kids under twenty and many were dressed in fine fripperies he hadn’t thought were even available anymore. But even the older, more defiant-looking ones still looked properly scared, which was what he needed right now.
Lieutenant Katraine, Galactica’s interim CAG addressed them before they had a chance to even catch their bearings. “You are all, as of this moment, non-commissioned officers in the Colonial Fleet,” she said ruthlessly. “You will be assigned to either Galactica or Pegasus and you will learn your respective jobs as you go. In twelve days, we will jump back to New Caprica whether your candy-asses are ready or not. I suggest you get ready, because if this ship goes down, we all go down with it.”
Adama watched as Katraine and Lieutenant Anastasia Dualla, now XO of Pegasus, proceeded to divvy-up the newbies and assign them to sections. Gods he was tired, but then everyone was tired, working for the last three days without sleep. Both Katraine and Dualla looked like death warmed over, but they, like the rest of his people, kept going at the hectic pace he’d set.
The blat of klaxons banished all thoughts of sleep. Adama rushed automatically to the nearest intra-ship phone before they even had a chance to page him.
“Adama, go,” he said.
“Admiral Adama, we just had a contact jump onto DRADIS and then disappear,” said the officer of the deck, Lieutenant Peter Collis, one of Galactica’s helmsmen that Adama had promoted to head navigator when Gaeta had jumped ship with Baltar.
“What do you mean disappear?” he demanded.
“I mean disappear, sir,” Collis said evenly. “One moment we’re reading a solid, but distorted contact about twelve minutes out; then all the gravitational readings went crazy and then nothing.”
“Did they jump out?”
“Negative, sir,” the navigator replied. “We could find no evidence of a jump being initiated.”
“Have the fleet start cycling their jump engines--I’ll be right up,” Adama said, banging the phone back into its cradle and hurrying away from the flight deck.
Five minutes later he was in CIC reviewing the recording of the contact. Collis was right; the entire thing was screwy. Adama dry-washed his face and forced himself to think.
“I’m getting a com signal on our Priority One channel, sir,” the ridiculously young petty officer manning Communications said. Adama had thought that Dualla was young two years ago, but she’d been twenty-one and this kid was barely seventeen.
“From Pegasus?” Captain Jake Kelly, Galactica’s new executive officer, asked.
“No, sir,” she replied. “In fact Pegasus should be getting it too.”
“Well let’s hear it,” Adama demanded impatiently.
"Opening Priority One channel now, sir," the girl said, voice quivering uncertainly as Dualla and Katraine rushed into CIC.
"… Admiral William Adama, come in Admiral Adama. This is Fleet Captain Carol Windermere, commander of Vengeance, and Fleet Captain Azuka Riddick, commander of Fleur-de-Lys, two ships in the Imperial Navy of His Royal Highness, Emperor Colin MacIntyre the First. Admiral Adama, we hail from Earth and were sent to find you when we picked up the nuclear explosion in the molecular cloud. We bring greetings from Colonel Saul Tigh, and Starbuck asks, "Hey, old man, what do you hear?"
Adama had to take a deep breath in order to keep his voice from shaking as badly as the girl's had only a few minutes ago. Picking up the phone, he ordered, "Put me on the Priority One com."
"You're on, sir."
“Nothing but the rain,” he answered the strange woman.
“Then grab the cat and bring your gun, sir.”
“Boom, boom, boom,” the woman said in unison with Adama.
"This is Admiral William Adama," he said. "How do you know the names Starbuck and Saul Tigh?"
The young woman's voice was quietly jubilant when she replied. "Sir, two of our ships, the Emperor Herdan, under Fleet Captain Princess Isis Harriet MacIntyre and Indomitable, under Fleet Captain Tamman Givens-Tsien, are currently under cloak in the New Caprica system," Windermere said. "In fact, Captain MacIntyre had been about to make contact with you when the Cylons surprised her by hypering in and you surprised her even more when you hypered out and showed up in this system almost instantaneously. As Vengeance and Fleur-de-Lys were scouting close to this sector, Captain MacIntyre sent us to make contact. As of twenty standard hours ago, sir, an advanced force of seven hundred and fifty Imperial Marines and five heavy assault shuttles were successful in making a covert insertion down to the planet to support Colonel Tigh and Captain Thrace's resistance fighters."
A great shout of surprised jubilation swept over Galactica's bridge. Adama felt his heart almost stop in his chest and forced himself to breathe.
As the noise died down at last, Windermere continued, "Sir, if you would allow, Captain Riddick and I could come over to Galactica; we'll bring a communicator that would facilitate conversation with Captain MacIntyre and Colonel Tigh."
"Across fifteen and a half light years?" Dualla said incredulously. All sound ceased in the CIC.
"Yes, ma'am," the other woman replied. "It seems that our technology in some areas is more advanced than yours. We'll be bringing over a simple fold-space comlink, but our ship has what is called a hypercom--its range is about five thousand light years, but it's a mother of an energy hog," she said with a chuckle.
"I'll bet," Katraine muttered under her breath. "Why can't we see you on our DRADIS scopes," she asked, pitching her voice more loudly.
"We didn't want to startle you unduly, ma'am," Windermere replied, "and we couldn't be sure you wouldn't start shooting, so we cloaked our ships as soon as we left hyperspace and micro-jumped to our present position. We're dropping cloaks now--two new contacts should be showing up on your scanners about five light seconds out."
"Admiral Adama," came Collis' strangled voice. "If these readings are correct, those ships are the size of planets!"
Windermere laughed again. "Not planets exactly," she said brightly, "more like good-sized moons or planetoids."
"And you have four of these ships out here?" Adama said in awe, hope burgeoning in his chest once more.
"Six, sir," Windermere replied. "War Hammer and Enterprise were scouting for you on a third vector. Currently they're on route to New Caprica and should reach that system within seventy-four hours. Time is really of the essence here, Admiral Adama." Windermere's voice lost all traces of humour. "We have indications that matters have begun to deteriorate on the planet. The town is under curfew while they search for the resistance members and it appears that your President, Dr. Baltar, is actively aiding the Cylons--and has been all along. Our scan intelligence also show indications that the Cylons have human prisoners on board their mother ships, and we don't think they came from New Caprica; the only conclusion we could come to was that they were survivors taken from your original homeworlds."
"Of course, Captain Windermere," Adama replied hoarsely. "Please come over at your convenience. Commander Adama and I will be waiting."
Part 7