Disclaimers: 'Battlestar Galactica' and all characters of the show belong to Universal Studio City, USA.
Earth At Last
by
AJ Marks
Part 6
"Commander Adama, fighters coming in from in front of the fleet." An operator said.
"More Cylon raiders!" Adama said quietly. "Damage report on the Cylon basestar?"
"Scanners indicate heavy damage sir!" Omega replied. "Our fighters are going to be caught between two large groups of enemy fighters."
"Give a warning to those who remain, that's about all we can do." Adama said as the Galactica was rocked by another hit.
"Commander, we have ships approaching us from front and rear quadrants."
"Incoming ships and fighters from the asteroid belt do not match any known Cylon war machines!" Omega stated.
"What?" Adama puzzled voice said.
"Report centurion!"
"By your command." The Centurion replied. "There are new reports of incoming warships and fighters from the asteroid belt."
"Identification?"
"Unknown. Orders?"
"Continue the assault on the human fleet, and if the incoming ships attack wipe them out."
"By you command!" The centurion said and left the room.
Starbuck banked a hard right just narrowly missing incoming fire from a Cylon raider. The maneuver put him in perfect position for a shot on another raider. He quickly destroyed the raider and took a quick glance at his scanners. Boomer and Jolly were still holding their own, however they had suffered heavy loses, only a quarter were left and the Galactica did not appear to be fairing much better. To make matters worse he noticed more incoming fighters, from both the front and rear.
"Heads up guys, more fighters on the way." Starbuck said.
"Not much we can do about them Starbuck!" Jolly said while concentrating on staying alive.
The newly arrived Cylon fighters engaged en mass against the remaining vipers and began to quickly overwhelm the warriors. Starbuck barely noticed that his wingmate had been blown up because of his own fight for survival. He did notice that the new Cylon raiders were the old style, ones that had less maneuverability then the newer ones. He tried to quickly finish off the fighter he was fighting. A Cylon fighter managed to get in behind him and fired several shots at him. By an instinct honed by more than years of fighting he dodge them all. 'It'll take more than that!' He thought as he took a quick glance at the photograph of his wife and daughter, and noticed what his computer was trying to tell him.
Tigh watched from the bridge of the Rising Star as the battle unfolded. He saw that the Galactica and her fighters were engaging the Cylons a far away from the fleet as possible. Tigh took the opportunity and ran the opposite way. Tigh and the bridge crew were so engrossed in the fighting behind them they almost missed the incoming ships from in front of them.
"We're gonna be caught!" One operator said in despair. The statement seemed to demoralize the crew even further.
"Change course ten point five degrees to port." Tigh commanded. The Rising Star was a fast ship and he hoped he could out run the Cylons.
"Colonel Tigh, the ships behind us are changing course to intercept us." The operator said.
"What about the ones in front of us?" Tigh asked.
"Their course has slightly changed, it appears that they are headed towards the Cylons and not us." The operator stated.
"What?" Tigh said turning around quickly to see if there was some sort of miscommunication.
"The incoming ships are not Cylon commander Adama." Omega told him. "The ships are still to far away to accurately tell, but they are not Cylon."
'Could the Cylons have allies out here?' Adama asked himself, but before he could formulate a reply the Galactica was hit again.
"Major damage to starboard engine, maneuverability is severely limited commander." Omega informed him. "Less than half of our laser turrets are functional."
Adama nodded his head knowing that the damage would only get worse. A fate he had accepted, but not wished for. The Galactica had served him well and he was saddened at the thought that this was how it was to end.
"Commander, you’re not going to believe this." Omega said startling Adama out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"Their human, Boomer!" Starbuck said while avoiding the Cylon fighters that were attacking him.
"Your instruments must be wrong, recalibrate them." Tigh said not quite believing what the operator told him.
"Scanners show they are functioning normally commander Adama." Omega said after making sure the scanners were working properly.
"By the Gods, human!" Adama repeated, still not believing it.
Starbuck quickly overcame his shock as the thought that he may still be able to see his family registered in his mind and a new fierceness overcame him.
"Boomer, Jolly come in." He radioed.
"Yeah!" They replied.
"Lead the Cylons into the incoming fighters, they're human." Starbuck said stating his plan.
"Okay!"
On board the Rising Star's bridge Tigh was having similar thoughts.
"Change our heading, go directly toward the fleet in front of us." He said, "And let's hope they're friendly."
Everyone on the bridge silently agreed with him. The scanner operator watched with a bit of tension as the Cylons closed in from behind them. "They're within firing range now." He said as the first shots started to rock the starship.
The basestars opened fire on the small fleeing fleet. They launched their raiders to engage the fleet of ships.
Back aboard the Galactica Commander Adama was receiving reports of the battle. He was concerned about the reports of a possible human fleet approaching. Another hit to the Galactica brought his attention back to the basestar they were engaged with.
"Fire missiles!" Adama commanded.
Missiles streaked toward the basestar and impacted against its shields. The advanced Basestar had stronger shields, but they were not enough to stop the force of the missiles. The hull broke up with the force of the explosion leaving the basestar's reactor to go critical, within seconds the basestar exploded leaving only debris.
The bridge crew of the Galactica did not have time to rejoice in their brief victory as five more basestars and several other ships were approaching.
"Commander Adama, incoming message." Omega said pausing for a second. "Its from Apollo!"
"Put it through." Adama said and watched as his son's face appeared on the screen. "Apollo!"
"Hello father!" Apollo said. "Looks like you could use some help?"
"You found us some allies, incredible!" Adama said.
"More like they found me." Apollo replied to his father. "How bad is she?"
"The Galactica will hold on Apollo." Adama replied.
"The incoming ships from the asteroid belt are friendly, for some reason they like to remain hidden." Apollo told his father.
In space the new allies of the colonial warriors started to engaged the Cylons.
Starbuck watched as the newly arriving fighters engaged the Cylon raiders. With the arrival of fresh fighter the tide began to turn against the Cylons. Several raiders were taken out quickly before they realized which side the newcomers were fighting on became clear.
"Speak centurion!" The Imperious Leader said.
"By your command." The centurion replied. "The battle with the humans is not going as planned."
"Explain centurion?" The Imperious Leader ordered.
"There appears to have been a force of armed humans hiding in the asteroid belt. Our forces are being overwhelmed."
"Why didn't we detect them before the battle?"
"They appear to be capable of hiding from our scanners." The centurion explained.
"Tell our forces to withdrawal from the battle at once." The Imperious Leader ordered.
"If they are able to."
"Explain?"
"Many of our forces have been surrounded already, it may already be to late." The centurion said.
In the places where the battles were raging the Cylons found themselves against a foe whose weapons were better than the colonial warriors they had fought for a thousand yehrans.
Starbuck noticed that the new fighters were more maneuverable than either their vipers or the Cylon raiders, however the new fighters were slower.
Starbuck glanced at his fuel gage and realized that he needed to land real soon, or else he would be floating in space in the middle of a battle. He wondered about the rest of his squadron, if they were as low as he was.
"Attention colonial warriors, this is Captain Johnson." A voice said over his radio. "I realized you are probably running low on fuel, if you can land in our hangers you are welcome to land. We will continue your fight."
Starbuck hesitated for a second looking at his fuel gage and the picture of his family. He took a deep breath before he answered the message. "Jolly, Boomer, they're right, if we don't head to a ship right now we will be floating in space. I say we trust them, after all they appear to be on our side."
"You're right Starbuck, I just don't know if we can trust them just yet." Boomer said as he banked his fighter and shot another Cylon raider.
"I don't think we have many options left here Starbuck." Jolly said making his opinion known. "If I don't land soon I'll be out of fuel." Jolly said glancing at his fuel gage.
Starbuck took a quick glance around a noticed that the newcomers had turned the tide of the battle they were facing. Their fighters were more of a flat wedge shaped vehicle, but they were extremely maneuverable even though they were slower than the Cylon raiders.
"Starbuck." A familiar voice said over the communications.
"Apollo?" Starbuck sad with some excitement in his voice. "Is that you?"
"Yes Starbuck, you probably don't have much time so get going!" Apollo said. "Adama already knows what is going on."
"Ok, lets head for the nearest allied ship." Starbuck said as he swung his fighter around and headed toward one of the new comers capital ships.
Tigh watched as the ships that came from the asteroid belt engaged the basestars that were closing in on the Rising Star. The ship had taken a few hits, but damage control teams were taking care of the problems and the ship would be able to continue its journey.
"Colonel Tigh, I have Commander Adama on the line for you." The communication officer said.
"Put him through." Tigh said wondering what was going on.
"Tigh, start getting in touch with the remainder of the fleet and tell them to return, we've found some allies." Adama said to him.
"I noticed that we had some allies, who are they?" Tigh asked him.
"I don't know yet." Adama replied. "Only that my son is with them and trusts them, and that is good enough for me."
"How's the Galactica?" Tigh asked, concerned about the battlestar.
"She suffered some serious damage, but it would have been a lot worse if they hadn't shown up." Adama replied looking around the smoky bridge. The fires on the bridge had been put out, and there was still some fires going on in the lower decks and the alpha landing bay, but otherwise the ship had held up quite well. "She’ll survive Tigh. What about you?"
"I was concerned for a while, but when they started to attack the Cylons, well, I felt a bit better." Tigh said to Adama. "I'll let the rest of the fleet know what's going on commander."
"I know you will."
Adama let his second in command work on notifying the fleet as he concentrated on getting the Galactica's fires under control. The battle had been close, he had almost commanded a suicide ramming run on the basestar when the new incoming ships had opened fire upon the basestars. Now that there was time to think about what happened he wondered if the newcomers were the residents of Earth? Adama figured that he would get his answers soon enough, but for now they were alive and had found some new allies who could hold their own against the Cylons, allies such as them could be helpful.
Starbuck walked wearily down the corridor following a young woman who was leading him to a room where he could rest. Two other pilots were with him, and they also looked as tired as he felt. She stopped at a door and opened it and motioned them inside.
Starbuck walked inside and looked around, there were several cots set up in the room and another door on the side of the room.
""If you need anything just push this button right here." She said pointing out the intercom to them. "The door controls are located just below the intercom, although I would suggest you stay here and not wonder around, you might get lost."
"Of course." Starbuck said agreeing with her, and watched her leave the room. He walked over to the intercom and tried the door. The lever to open the door was not difficult to learn, flip it up and the door closed, down and it opened. With the door opened he looked out into the corridor. Much to his surprise he noticed Boomer's head also sticking out just a few doors down. "Boomer!"
End Part 6
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