Major Rick Martin was on a secure video link with Commander (acting) Eva Lawson. She had a curious look on her face as she went through the thick paper file she was delivered from decontamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to get a few things straight before we make the final jumps to our hidden shipyard. First we need to understand who is in command. You are a commander but you don\u2019t know our operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy military code I am an acting commander. I\u2019m a CAG with quite a reputation. Some people might not like taking orders from me,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was your rank when you were a CAG?\u201d Martin asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMajor,\u201d there was a pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFive years four months,\u201d Lawson said at the same time as Martin said \u201cThree years 9 months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both chuckled briefly. \u201cYou win,\u201d Martin quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I lost,\u201d Lawson said. She flipped through the briefing papers. There were some spectacular pictures of a shipyard. She did not recognize it. \u201cI have been looking for an offer to foist this command an so I can strap a Mark VII on my back and get myself killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a manufacturing expert before then war. I spent a lot of time at Scorpia shipyards fighting with the contractors over production quality and materials charges. I was a bureaucrat. You at least can say you were a combat officer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYea,\u201d Lawson was lost in the pictures. \u201cThis shipyard was impressive. It doesn\u2019t look like Scorpia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWhat I\u2019m going to tell you is code word classified. Any listening devices in your office?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA ton,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cI can\u2019t pass gas after dinner without someone analyzing it and making sure I at my veggies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is a very thin mobile phone in the back pocket of the briefing book. Turn it on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do I know it won\u2019t signal the Cylons?\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you want to team up or not?\u201d Martin replied humorlessly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She pulled out the mobile phone turned it on. \u201cIt\u2019s on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPunch in a phone number. +01.973.458.1071 01 is the planet code for Caprica.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson dialed the number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOpen the app marked silencer. Give it the passcode 127334.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are alone,\u201d Martin said. \u201cYou don\u2019t recognize that shipyard because Colonial Fleet never paid for it. It was a prototype designed to be mobile in case the Cylons ever took out Scorpia. We can work on any ship even the Mercury class. We can even manufacture Valkyrie class battlestars. If we can get the materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat is the production rate?\u201d Lawson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheoretically 4 per month. Some yahoo has been out slamming all the Cylon fuel ships and mining ships we were trying to hijack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson smiled. \u201cIt is nice to see we are effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe got away with about twenty-five old relics from the decommissioning yard. We have a couple of Minataur class, a few Miverva class, even a couple of old Janus ships. We believe with time, materials and a lot of labor we could even produce a Jupiter class ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is fracking amazing Major,\u201d Lawson was impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have severe shortages of skilled workers. Our little adventure just netted us 23,000 plus or minus new refugees which we have to protect feed and house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeems like a ready supply of labor,\u201d Lawson suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ad hoc \u2018Peoples Council\u2019 is raising objections to us drafting workers and not paying them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are keeping the alive,\u201d the commander suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to need to make a deal,\u201d Martin said. \u201cGalactica let by Education Secretary Laura Roslyn may have escaped with about 40,000 refugees. She was officially made president by the laws of succession. The \u2018Peoples Council\u2019 (he said the name with disgust in his voice) has the power to clear up out command issues. They are refusing to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny Admiral\u2019s out there?\u201d Lawson asked hopefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTwo. Rear Admiral Jamie Nagura, was badly injured in the attack on Picon fleet headquarters. He is lucid and awake about an hour a day. Legally he can sign promotion papers. Then there is this senile old lady from the first war. Perhaps you know her. Admiral Eva Lawson. Age 91.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSenile. We had her in a nursing home. Completely batty,\u201d Lawson was pleased but extremely surprised her grandmother had survived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen its Nagura and the Peoples Council. We will have to negotiate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay Major Martin. Anything else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLots,\u201d Martin continued \u201con the mobile phone is the formula for a vaccine for your virus problem. It will stop the spread, but there is no effective treatment. Since you survived I assume you pulled CNP off your computer systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe pulled the entire last 18 months off and have a three-year-old operating system,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cSo says my XO who is really a computer geek.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe will want that phone. It contains a powerful program that will clean out a lot of Cylon trash. Your network is managed by hundreds of network routers. Many of these are infected with garden variety Cylon viruses that can talk to the Cylon network and frack us all good. It\u2019s going to be a job cleaning them out but we are going to do that before we take another FTL jump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPrudent,\u201d Lawson replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow the really fun part. Back of the briefing book. The toasters figured out how to create humanoid models. Real, living flesh and blood humans that bleed, have sexual relations, do all the things that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Cylons look like us now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am ashamed to admit I was fracking a model six that was one of the best whore\u2019s I\u2019ve ever been with. I caught her trying to hack my workstation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat sucks.\u201d Eva Lawson was studying the photos and intelligence files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder interrogation she gave up that there were seven humanoid model. We have discovered three. Model six, the first photo. Next photo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A picture of a dark-skinned bald male was revealed. Lawson did not recognize him. \u201cThis one likes to play a doctor. He was posted on a medical ship that survived the fall. He air locked the entire ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson flipped to the next photo. Her entire digestive tract contracted into a ball of molten lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis one likes to play the role of priest. Brother Cavil he calls himself. He appears to be some kind of Cylon leader. You need to check any ship for this model before making the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGot it,\u201d Lawson said. Now she had a problem. She had been fracking a Cylon. \u201cGive us a couple of hours to get our systems cleaned up Major Martin. We will get ready to make the jump. We are going to need a lot of doses of that vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d Major Martin asked. \u201cAny orders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNah,\u201d the commander said. \u201cI\u2019ve got some trash to take care of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson acted quickly. She shut down the transmission and tried to call her Marine guards. For that to work she had to shut down the mobile phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On an old-style phone handset, she contacted her guards. \u201cSend Brother John up here immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were several objections. She pulled rank and announced without any knowledge that she had medical tests showing that John had suffered the virus and was now immune. Ten minutes later he was in bed next to her naked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swiftly once he was aroused, she pulled open her nightstand drawer and pulled out a pistol. She placed it in his hands and then twisted hard with all her strength, causing him to cry out in pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat kind of role play is this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou are a fracking Cylon,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are going to die trying to murder me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I should tell you about Cylon resurrection. I can\u2019t die. If you kill me I will wake up in a couple of days in a new body with a complete memory of this life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson cocked the gun. Cavil winced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfraid to die?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt does hurt,\u201d he acknowledged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She pulled the trigger, it clicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh did I mention I took the clip out of it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She twisted his arm harder and picked up a vase and bashed him over the head. Then she beat his face to a bloody pulp before calmly getting off of him and walking to the door. She invited the Marine inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just got an intelligence file on this guy. He had something to do with the attacks on the Colonies. He is a Cylon agent. Take him to the brig.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This situation was completely out of control. She was completely compromised and she had to manage this situation to avoid a court martial. Half the ship knew she had been fracking this bastard. She was fighting to control her emotions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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