All of this has happened before.,,, It will happen again
Commanders Quarters: Battlestar Athena
Day 5 past return date.
Major Amelia “Tool” Evans Had rarely seen her husband, the commander of the Battlestar Athena in his current state. He was constantly glued to his Bluetooth headset while in the CIC.
In his office, he was going over orders for new solar systems to be checked for any sign of the Battlestar Mercury.
Commander Evans had a growing pile of star charts pasted all over the walls of his office. As new information was brought in by reconnaissance, he updated and replaced the maps in his office. He noticed his wife in the office with her executive officer face on.
He tried to ignore her as he struggled to come up with a more efficient search pattern.
“Steven,” she said firmly. “Another message from leader Brooks.”
He did not look up from his maps. He was bent over, scribbling some notes on a dense sector of a map.
“You sent her the status report didn’t you?”
Peoples Council Leader Corey Brooks distinctive voice came from the hallway outside the office door, which Commander Evans noticed was open.
“I read your report Commander Evans. I had no idea looking at your resume that you were a full time fiction writer.”
“I have an idea where they likely jumped, based on all the telemetry Mercury’s Commander Air Group brought back.
Corey Brooks dropped a pile of binders on the desk with a large crack. Two binders, slipped to the floor.
“Enough! Commander Evans. Give me your full attention.”
Commander Evans looked up from his map and made eye contact.
“Yes Sir,” he muttered.
“According to the data I have received today, your search operation has made contact with Cylon forces, 59 times the past five days. Have you plotted that on an FTL navigation computer? Have you looked at a three dimensional map plot?”
“Yes Sir. I have.” Commander Steven Evans clicked the mouse on his laptop and a 3 D map came up. Red dots showed Cylon contact.
“Let me tell you at this map is Commander Evans. It is a gigantic, three-dimensional road sign that points to the New Helios colonies and says come and get us! If Mercury’s task force is lost then over 10,000 souls gave their lives for our safety. We are not going to throw that away.”
“This personal quest of yours has drained our spare parts inventories and put our fuel and state of the entire fleet is now critical!“
“I have brought you the very last fuel you’re going to get on this mission. There will be no more spare parts no more ammunition nothing from the new Helios colonies. The Mercury class battle star represents our only flexible manufacturing capacity. We rely on this ship for FTL parts, damn near everything we need too avoid becoming extinct. This ship is vital to our survival. Tell me commander, what is the logical thing to do right now? Be honest.”
Video segment #1
Commander Evan’s sighed and slumped in his seat.
“Pull the fleet back to New Helios via our 5 jump evasive jump plan. We will assign two ships when we get back to New Helios that are suited for this task.”
“I was going to say 3 ships. We can maintain a search pattern that is efficient in terms of fuel, food and flight crews. The search ships will avoid contact with the Cylons and then, the search will be sustainable.”
“Yes Sir. I will make that an order. The current search pattern completes with a meet up in 9 hours.”
“Get some frakking sleep Commander. Major Evans, if he does not spend the next 8 hours in bed without access to any charts or gear, I authorize you to take command of this vessel and lock him in the brig.”
Corey Brooks made eye contact with Major Evans and the look on her face made it clear that this was not a suggestion. She turned and left the commanders quarters.
Major Evans looked at Commander Evans. “What the frak are you waiting for Steven. Take a shower and get in your rack. I own your sorry ass for the next 8 hours.”
“My respectful XO?”
“Shut the frak up and get moving. You smell terrible.”
Thirty minutes later, Commander Evans was in such a deep sleep, he did not awaken from the alert klaxon.
End Chapter 7
Video segment #2