Commander Eva Lawson walked into CIC more relaxed than she ever remembered. All her career she had been fracking up due to her strong sex drive when she could have just had a civilian relationship. This was so much easier if the fracker would stop showing up in her quarters unannounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she saw Major Ramirez with a smug grin on her face, she wondered if she should not have her lover investigated thoroughly. It was obvious from the previous conversation that the Executive Officer was taking care of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s on the agenda?\u201d Commander Lawson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI ordered a series of raptor recon sorties to start finding us the resources we need to manufacture more Vipers and replacement hull plating. We\u2019ve got several sets of good readings that might lead to some ore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t ask for a meeting on that did you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo Sir. One of our raptors picked up signs of a civilian fleet. Well what\u2019s left of it anyway. Cylon\u2019s decimated it a couple of weeks ago we think. The pilots are waiting in the command ready room. Jaybird and Plano.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She sighed as she turned to leave the room. \u201cThis is not going to be one of those fun meetings they talked about when I applied to Battlestar Command School?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minutes later she was in the command ready room. The map had been cracked but the models of Vipers, Raptors and one of the Battlestar Mercury were still on the table. Jaybird and Plano both stool up when she entered the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt ease,\u201d Lawson waved her hand. \u201cTell me what you found.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell Sir,\u201d Jaybird began, \u201cwe found the remains of a fourteen-ship civilian fleet. It was at least twenty plotted jumps from the Colonies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s conservative,\u201d Plano shifted in his seat, looking like he needed to lose enough weight. \u201cThese were probably civilian FTL drives, we are not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson tilted her head to the side. \u201cOut with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ships were stripped. FTL, weapons lots of gear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo the Cylons stripped it, what is the big deal?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo Sir,\u201d Plano continued. \u201cThe Battlestar Pegasus stripped it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy do you say that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plano dropped a data chip on the desk. \u201cThey recorded some logs after Pegasus left them stranded. The missing parts in this fleet represented everything we would need to provide spare parts to an attack damaged Battlestar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh my,\u201d Commander Lawson sighed. Now she had an outlaw Admiral to deal with. Somebody that outranked her and had soon poor judgement. \u201cAll right. Get with the CAG and lets do some long range recon flights. We need to figure out what happened to the Battlestar Pegasus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under her breath she stated that Rear Admiral Cain was going to have to be arrested for war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson looked at the wall clock, realizing she had been on shift for nearly seventeen hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She decided to get some rack time. Alone this time. Having a civilian buddy with benefits had a corrosive impact on her sleep budget and her readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commander Eva Lawson had just entered the deepest part of the human sleep cycle when a buzzing interrupted her dream about a visit to Tauron. It was a strange dream to be truthful, but she needed the sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She turned over in bed and slapped where the communications panel was supposed to be. She knocked an old style phone off the hook, as even modern Battlestars had low tech communications to keep the Cylons from listening in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Groggy, she had trouble understanding the message. \u201cLieutenant,\u201d she said, \u201cspeak slowly please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRecon just found a fleet of eight civilian ships. Conditions are pretty severe aboard, but we have a civilian fleet Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is good news,\u201d Lawson ran a hand through her curls. She was having the mother of all bad hair days. At least as Commander she had her own private shower. \u201cWhy did you wake me up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is a problem Sir. A virus has infected most of the fleet. They need medical supplies and their engineers are telling us they might not be able to maintain life support much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commander Eva Lawson yawned as she walked in to the planning ready room. Just as she lowered her arms Major Ramirez offered up a cup of steaming coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a grateful look she smiled. \u201cNow I know I was right to make you the XO. What\u2019s the protocol for an outbreak like this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur survey team estimates the virus has infected 25% of the passengers of the fleet. All vessels are having an outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the mortality factor?\u201d She stopped walking as she came face to face with a middle-aged man with silver hair. Once he had sported an athletic build, but now he had a bulge in his middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have good data on mortality, but conditions in this fleet are unsanitary,\u201d the man, wearing a white lab coat over his military greens reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho am I talking to?\u201d the commander looked confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cColonel, Wilson DeMarco,\u201d the doctor answered. \u201cRetired until the attacks that is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat are we going to do about this outbreak doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cColonial military policy is to quarantine the ships and provide aid. There are nearly twelve thousand people jammed into those ships. Conditions are unsanitary. Besides the virus there may be a secondary outbreak of cholera. I\u2019ve already ordered the survey teams into quarantine. We will need to keep them that way for fourteen days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat the frack doc, we are already short of pilots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a very contagious virus. It\u2019s killed over four percent of the people that were infected in the two weeks prior to us discovering the fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll right,\u201d Commander Lawson ordered. \u201cFull quarantine. Lets get some supplies to those ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Major Ramirez walked up with a hand held communications device. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat now?\u201d Lawson snapped, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Commander of the W.S. Wright says he needs to speak to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes he need to speak with me? We\u2019ve just encountered twelve thousand civilians with the potential to drain our resources completely or kill us with a deadly virus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes Sir,\u201d Ramirez handed over the walkie talkie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDeMarco you are in charge of the virus outbreak. Nobody sets foot on those ships. Get with logistics and tell them what supplies are needed to take care of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom the looks of these manifests, they need to off load several thousand off overcrowded ships\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell they can\u2019t do that now can they, unless we want the museum to get infected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get a team to develop a test for this virus and we can take people who aren\u2019t sick and transfer them to the Battlestar Museum. There are probably a lot of people that can help crew that ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGet on it and get out of my face Colonel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She turned her back to him, playing with her uniform buttons with one hand and cradling the portable communications device with her shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is Kevin McGowen of the Delphi Trader,\u201d the fracking device was on speaker mode. Lawson could not figure out in five seconds how to make the communication private and promptly stopped trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is Major, I mean Commander Eva Lawson. What have you got for me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are not the only civilian fleet. A week ago we picked up an escape pod from another fleet. They were traveling with the Battlestar Galactica and Secretary of Education Laura Roslyn was the president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?\u201d Lawson asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe survivors claimed to be looking for the home of the lost thirteenth tribe of Kobol, searching for Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoger that,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cKeep a lid on this information. We\u2019ll develop a test for this virus and then get you over here for a one on one talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are having to eject bodies into space,\u201d McGowen reported. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost over a thousand people from this outbreak. We\u2019ve been out of fresh water for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will take care of you. Lawson out. What else could go wrong today?\u201d She fumbled for the off button until giving up by slamming the device onto the map board, sending a scale model of the Mercury skidding in its wake. The model tumbled on its side and fell off the table.The NCO who retrieved it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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