Lieutenant Arthur Garner was the first appointment for Major Ramirez and Major Martin, the commander it turned out of Battlestar Group 34. They were quite short of bodies if they could not find a combat commander.
Garner was tasked to make all the systems of all of the ships in the Lawson fleet as it was known safe for the final jump to the secret location of the shipyards.
A special system had been set up to protect this location. The jump coordinates here kept on encrypted thumb drives. They were good for 72 hours and avoided the requirement of the NAV computers calculating a safe jump.
From the systems perspective it was pretty slick. The NAV computer was told to do a blind jump. No record of the start and ending coordinates was possible. A bunch of zeros were stored on the log of the NAV computers.
The jump coordinates were read off the encrypted thumb drive directly into computer memory. The jump was run from there. A very powerful, “air gapped” computer was used to calculate coordinates. There was no network connection at all.
There was a collection of celestial data that was downloaded by a second computer and transferred to the NAV calculator as it had come to be known for calculating the actual jumps.
Major Rick Martin conducted a security meeting in person every day with the computer operator. The computer operator was a tall, athletically built man with a beard, blondish that was on the border between beard and stubble.
It was a Cylon Leoben programmed specifically to suppress the obsession with religious drivel (Cavil’s description) about Starbuck. Starbuck was off with the Galactica fleet and there were things to be attended to here in the world of the incomplete destruction of the colonies.
He had just finished reading the classified daily threat assessment that included news of the impending arrival of the Battlestar Mercury. He had a photographic memory and this was easy for him.
This situation left the Leoben alone and out of contact. His instructions were to provide information when contacted. That was supposed to be contact by another Cylon agent.
The other Cylon agent a model 1 Cavil had been caught and killed when Battlestar Group 34 had captured a heavy raider that boarded a Valkyrie class Battlestar. Having experienced the tactic on a prior occasion The Amaragosa had concentrated its fire and winged the heavy raider on approach.
The occupants of the raider were mostly killed, but were led by a model 1 Cavil.
The Cylon command, under a different Cavil was aware of the operation and found a way to communicate with Leoben. They manipulated the celestial information adding a picture file to the daily report of data that their agent was called upon to inspect and put into the NAV system that calculated the jumps.
The secondary authentication method for the system was a DNA based system. You put your finger on a reader and there was a DNA scan. If it was a Leoben that processed the data, a message notification showed up in the final page of the check in for the information.
This was to be read after the check in. It was in fact a picture file taken from one of the national parks of one of the Colonies. It was a one time only run of a screen saver that changed photos every few seconds.
The first photo contained the park sign of the entrance to a national park on Caprica. There was a lengthy rules statement and certain words according to a mathematical formula were relevant.
After 30 or so pictures the screen saver show ended. Checking himself the Cylon wrote down he message on what he imagined to be a whiteboard in his head. “Guest is on the way to your location. Need recon. Resurrection is online at your location.
The Leoben was triggered into activating his programming. He typed a portion of the CNP program into a text file. He moved the file with his administrative privileges into a location where it would be read into the core programming library.
That would occur tonight during someone else’s shift,. The instructions had the Leoben on automatic pilot.
He proceeded to walk to the security checkpoint at the entrance to the secure military outpost. He had been talking up the guard’s a pair of attractive females for months as he was programmed to.
At some point the conversation went to discussing the training in firearms.
“Do you even know how to use that thing?” Leoben asked, chuckling. He pointed at the firearm in the closer guard’s holtster.
She proceeded to take out the gun, a standard issue for the fleet and ejected the clip, the the cartridge. She disassembled, field stripped, lubricated the firearm in about three minutes. Then she assembled it and put it on the desk right in front of Leoben.
The Cylon, following a program built into his existence, picked up the weapon and the clip. He inserted the clip into the bottom of the weapon. He set the safety, pulled back the back and put a round in the chamber.
“Give me that back,” the first guard reached out with both hands.
The second guard pulled out her weapon and prepared to use it. This was an attack. She hesitated a half a second to press the alarm button.
Leoben raised the weapon in his hand and shot the armed guard first, right through the forehead, killing her instantly.
He let loose another shot completing the double tap.
The unarmed guard ducked and picked her dead partners weapon from her hand, which was still clutching it, This very short delay doomed her as Leoben shot her twice through the forehead.
Next he pointed the weapon at his own temple and fired again.
He was dead and on his way to the resurrection process, his head full of classified information.