Dislaimers: See Part 1
To Stop Running
by
AJ Marks
Part 6
Admiral John White waited patiently for the return call from Earth to see what his orders would be regarding the captive Pegasus and the human fleet stationed just outside the solar system. There were several things that the President could order or even not order. John was of the opinion that they needed to help this group. That and their enemies the Cylons had already attacked them. He knew that there were some minds in congress that would want to stay out of any confrontation. John felt that they would not have a choice in the matter and that the Cylons already viewed them as their enemies.
The communications device sprung to life as the president's face appeared on the screen.
"Mr. President!" John said crisply.
"I just thought I'd let you know what's going on down here." President Steven Hiller said. "There has been no official word form the congress as to what to do about our new guests but from me I want you to use your discretion, do what you feel is right. I'll back you up any way I can."
"Thanks Mr. President. That does make me feel better in case something happens real soon." John replied as they both signed off. John wondered when, not if, something would happen with the Cylons, and if he even should get involved. He would cross that bridge when the situation arose.
John leaned back in his chair and wondered what would happen now. There were several congressmen and woman who did not want to get involved in another war, especially one that potentially would not even involve them. John on the other hand wanted to get involved and help out in any way that they could. There were just too many variables for him to feel comfortable about the situation at home.
He was lost so deep in thought that he did not hear when Apollo came into the room. He glanced up at the man and knew right away that something was very wrong by the look on the man's face.
"I need command of my ship again, the Cylons are attacking my fleet." Apollo said with a bit of urgency toning his voice.
"What!" John said snapping out of his thoughts. The Cylons were attacking already. His mind started to race with thoughts. The President had given him the power to decide what to do in this situation but he had not thought that he would have to make the decision.
"I need to get moving to help out in time." Apollo asked again.
"Of course, just let me get to my shuttle." John said getting up and they walked quickly towards the landing bay.
Apollo was giving orders as they walked to the landing bay and John had sent word for the pilot to be ready to take off by the time he got there. Another messenger had relayed the massage to allow the Pegasus to leave after the shuttle had left.
"Good luck Commander Apollo." John said shaking the man's hand before boarding the shuttle.
"Thanks." Apollo replied then quickly walked away towards the bridge to prepare for combat.
The shuttle quickly launched and John watched as the massive ship turned around and quickly left for the battle. His shuttle landed on the Pacifica, his flagship and his command staff greeted him.
"What's the situation?" John asked.
"We tracked the Pegasus just like you wished. We have the course." The captain of the Pacifica told him.
"Tell the fleet to form up, we're going to help them." John ordered and watched as the people scrambled around with a sense of purpose. Everyone had heard that they were human and everyone wanted to know how that was possible. There was also the thrill of live combat, the combination of fear and excitement that made it so intoxicating for some.
It did not take long before the alert klaxons wailed throughout the ship and people ran to their stations. No one really knew who the enemy would be yet but that would be cleared up soon.
Starbuck and Boxey wondered what was going on. They had felt the ship start to accelerate then obviously the ship was going to red alert. Perhaps the Cylons were attacking them right now, or at least he hoped that's what it was. He hoped that the stupid councilman Ziers did not try some sort of suicidal rescue attempt.
"I wonder what's going on?" He heard Boxey say from where he was sitting.
"I don't know Boxey." He replied not sure if he should say anything yet. "We'll find out sooner or later."
Commander Tigh stood in the center of the Galactica's bridge watching and listening to the countdown of the approaching Cylon raiders. He would have to launch his fighters soon, against an overwhelming Cylon force. It looked like there were squadrons from five basestars heading in on his position. Tigh knew that the odds were not in their favor, but then again they never were.
Each pilot was better than their Cylon counterpart, the only thing that they had was numbers. It was the classic quality versus quantity match up. Tigh knew that if they only had more fighters and ships they could have still won. They just could not keep up with the Cylon production.
"Launch all fighters." Tigh said hearing the number that he wanted. It gave the fighters the most time to engage the Cylons furthest from the fleet with the most combat time allowed. The Cylons would not have as much time to stay on battle thrusters as the vipers would.
He listened as Rigel informed the viper squadrons that they could launch and the viewers show the fighters leaving the launch tubes.
"Negative shield now." Tigh said and watched as the shield lowered over the view port and the turrets were given power.
"All stations are ready commander." Omega said.
"We can only pray now." Tigh said more to himself than anyone else.
Athena watched as her brother stood silently on the bridge as the crew went about their duties. She was struck by how much like their father he had become. She could remember the times that he would stand like Apollo was doing now just before a battle. She once asked him what he was thinking about during that time and was surprised by the reply. He told her that usually it was about his family. She expected it to be about strategies and possibilities in the upcoming battle. She mentioned it to him and he just chuckled and said that he had already thought about that.
Athena wondered what her brother was thinking, if it was about Boxey, her and everyone who they considered a family. She would have to ask him later, right now she had a job to do. The scanners had told her that the Galactica had just launched her vipers and would be engaging the Cylons any minute now.
Apollo stood looking over the bridge crew. Part of him was nervous and another part was excited. He wondered if this was how his father felt the first time he commander a ship into battle. He was trying to remember everything that his father had told him. One thing was for sure, it was easier to fight as a pilot than as the commander. So much depended on them to execute the right plan and do the right thing and there was a small piece of doubt in him that he wished he could get rid of, but he decided that he would use that to make sure he had thought of everything.
"Have all squadrons ready to launch at my command." He told the bridge crew as they went into action carrying out his orders.
"All squadrons report ready." Athena told him.
Boomer swung his viper around to line up another raider and a quick press of his thumb and the raider exploded. Space was thick with raiders and vipers as explosions of each lit up the surrounding space. He barely had to maneuver to line up any Cylons because there were so many of them. They just seemed to keep coming and Boomer estimated that they were up against multiple Cylon Basestars.
"Blue three, follow me, we've got several Cylons headed towards one of the tankers." Boomer said as the two followed in close pursuit of them. If they lost any of the tankers their abilities would be severely hampered.
"Right with you Blue Leader." Blue three replied as they started to take out the raiders.
"It would sure be nice if the Pegasus was here." Boomer said more to himself than anyone else. The human pilots were good, but there was also overwhelming numbers for the Cylons and they seemed to be just wearing the pilots down.
Tigh felt a couple of hits as the Cylons concentrated their fire on the battlestar. They knew that once the Galactica was out of the way that they would be able to destroy the rest of the fleet quiet easily. Damage control parties were scrambling around to try and contain the damage and repair any systems that had been damaged. So far the landing bays were still operational, but he knew that they would be hit sooner or later.
"Sir the Pegasus has just entered the battle." Omega said lifting the spirits of the crew.
The Pegasus' vipers launched from her bays and entered the battle.
Boomer was never so glad to see reinforcements as he was at that moment. The balance would be evened out a bit more, but they were still outnumbered, but now they had a fighting chance. That was all they needed to defeat the Cylons.
Admiral White stood at the bridge of the Pacifica and listened to the reports that were coming in. They had picked up some unusual signatures ahead of them. The scanner operator was not sure what it was, but it was not similar to anything that he had seen before. They would have to wait a few more minutes before any sort of scans would be complete.
Apollo had contacted Tigh right after his vipers had joined the battle about what he could do to help. Tigh surmised that the Cylons were going to bring in their baseships to finish off the Galactica, and he was not sure if they knew about the Pegasus yet or not. Apollo decided to be cautious and assume that they had and would join forces with the Galactica.
The firepower of two basestars would be better combined and they might be able to fight off the Cylons. If they did not know about the Pegasus then it would still give the humans an advantage.
The Pegasus' fighters had engaged the Cylons and were helping the Galactica's pilots turn the tide of the battle. Cylon raiders had not improved in the last couple of years as they had not been in any real battle like they had against the humans.
The appearance of the battlestar Pegasus was not a surprise to the Cylons, they knew that the battlestar existed and had counted on it being there. They also had intelligence that the two fleets had joined up at Gamoray, although the same intelligence said that the Pegasus had been destroyed. They also knew about the legendary Commander Cain and his trickery, so the battlestar would show up again. They were right this time, and were prepared for it.
On board the Galactica, Omega brought Tigh out of his thoughts with a shout. "We have incoming baseships commander." He said. "Counting three baseships approaching us."
"So they finally spring the trap." Tigh said. "Apollo, I'll need you to come in at an angle to try and split their fire in two directions."
"Understood, but I'm almost positive that they have more than three basestars." Apollo said seeing as how there were more fighters than three baseships could hold. That meant that they were holding a couple of baseships in reserve.
"Looks like they might have learned something from Baltar after all." Tigh snorted in disgust. Even now after so many years the man continued to haunt them with his treachery. Tigh ordered the Galactica to head for the three baseships.
The three baseships watched as the two battlestars headed toward them from two different angles. The Cylons would be forced to split their fire, but it would not matter in the end, the ships would be destroyed.
"Commander Apollo!" A voice said bringing Apollo out of his conversation from Tigh. Apollo looked up and noticed that it was the scanner operator with a pale look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Apollo said heading toward the station to see for himself.
"We have several groups of Cylon raiders approaching from behind us." The operator said. "It looks to be from at least two basestars."
Apollo stood there looking at the screen. Sure enough there was a large group of raiders headed toward the fleet and he would have to act fast. Leave the Galactica to fight three baseships, or head toward the incoming raiders and try and protect the now vulnerable fleet.
"Tigh?" Apollo said jumping back to the communications screen seeing Tigh's worried face.
"I heard Apollo." Tigh said not liking any of their options at the moment. Either option was not good. The Cylons had finally sprung the final trap on them.
The Cylon commander listened to the reports coming in and was pleased that the battle was going so well. The race known as humans would not last the day. They had sprung the perfect trap, get the colonial warriors moving in one direction then crush them between two forces for a deceive victory.
The reports were that the Pegasus had finally joined the battle, which is what he was waiting for and gave the order for the trap to be sprung. The three baseships behind the human fleet would approach and cut off any form of retreat while the six baseships in front would attack full force.
In the vastness of space an order was given and fighters launched from their bays and streaked out into space to engage the enemy.
End Part 6
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