Admiral Andrew Cobb sat in his office staring at the report of the recent battle. He did not know what to do about the situation. Cory Brooks had pressured him into launching the attack before he was ready. The intelligence and I’ve been verified thoroughly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although he had come out of the\nBattlestar before his retirement, Cobb was not a very skilled\ntactician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Battlestar Mercury was disabled and\nvulnerable. Emergency repairs were taking place on th port flight\npod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already in engineering estimate was on\nhis desk that indicated it would take up to eight weeks to bring the\nBattlestar back into full combat readiness. The fleet done\nsignificant damage to the Cylon fuel distribution system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However the intelligence estimates\nindicated a dire situation within the cylon fleet was not accurate.\nClearly they had cooked the data and let the colonials see what they\nwanted them to see. The long campaign, had damaged a lot of ships.\nThere was a long line of ships at the shipyard awaiting repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admiral cob had planned to supplement\nhis whole whack of tactical and strategic experience with that of\nCommander Eva Lawson. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had done a fairly good job on her\nown and damaging the cylon war effort. Though she had never been to\nthe war College, she was making war against the cylon with very great\neffect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The through back channels gotten a\nmedical report on Commander Lawson. She was suffering from acute\nPTSD and was judged unfit for command. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\bThis was really a matter of optics. He\nneeded her in her position even if she couldn’t function. He decided\nthat he would go and see the situation for himself. With shaking\nhands, he wrote a secure email to his local air Commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He ordered a force recon to be formed\nwith six Raptors. Four of them would be assault Raptors and two of\nthem would have the best pilots available to get him where he needed\nto go safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shipyards air commander replied\nback quickly. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although he thought the Admiral was\ncrazy he did not say so he simply made sure that his fleet commander\nknew the dangerous and vulnerable situation that he was flying into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
30 minutes later he was in a raptor,\nwearing a flight suit and helmet as a precaution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The jump was hard on his body. He\nclosed his eyes to avoid the dizziness. When he opened them he saw\nthe badly damaged Battlestar mercury through the cockpit window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took about 10 minutes to land the\nraptor detachment and get the admiral off the plane. He was walking\nvery stiffly but you could still see a purpose to his gait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cory Brooks Was already looking for\nhim. She wanted an explanation for the battle outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admiral did not deem her\ncommunications worthy of a response. He needed a plan. The only place\nhe was going to get her plan was on the Battlestar Mercury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commander Lawson was resting\ncomfortably in Sickbay oblivious to what was going on around her. She\nhas not gotten a lot of sleep over the the past month. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had mentally made the decision that\nshe was going to sleep until she felt better. It was very little that\nwas going to get in the way of accomplishing this goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She snored softly as she lay on her\nback. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admiral Cobb walked into the room\nescorted only by Commander Maria Ramirez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I need to speak to her,\u201d he\nwhispered softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As you can see Admiral,”\nRamirez whispered her reply, “She is not taking meetings right\nnow. Her health is my primary concern.”
\u201cThis\nBattlestar is the flag ship of this fleet. We are sitting at a fleet\nassembly point that is simply not defensible. We cannot afford to\nlose the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The ship is not going to be\nfighting for quite some time Admiral,” Ramirez reported to her\ncommanding officer. “We are making emergency repairs to the port\nfight pod. I estimate that in approximately 4 to 6 hours we will be\nable to jump back to the fleet shipyards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the Cylons decide to attack\nbefore the task is complete? What’s the plan ?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou are the commander of this Fleet\nAdmiral Cobb. I’m new to this high level of command but usually the\nplans come from the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You have 600 viper pilots on the\nship. We need those pilots to keep the war up against the toasters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commander Maria Ramirez stepped away\nfrom the Admiral and put my finger on her chin. Obviously she needed\nto go up with an idea. I think she heard a scratchy voice from the\nother side of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“What is the status of the\nBattlestar Saturn?” He asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Ready for trials. There are 300\nnuggets on board with virtually no flight experience. They are\ncrashing the virtual reality vipers quite frequently.\u201d Ramirez\nspoke softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have six hundred experienced\npilots with no ship to fly off of. You Commander Ramirez have three\nhundred pilots that need mentoring and training. Since this ship is\nuseless until there are repairs, we should just transfer the entire\nair wing and crew over to the Saturn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cobb contemplated the idea for a few\nmoments and decided it was the way to go. \u201cYou will receive orders\nas soon as I can get them cut. Prepare this crew for transfer to the\nSaturn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoger that Sir,\u201d Commander Ramirez\ntapped some commands into the tablet computer she was holding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfit for command,\u201d Cobb spoke in\nan incredulous voice. \u201cHorse manure.\u201d He spotted Doctor Jameson\nwalking into the private room. He made eye contact. \u201cCertify\nCommander Lawson fit for duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you out of your frakking mind\nAdmiral Cobb?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGet the frak out of here everyone,\u201d\nCommander Lawson whispered. \u201cI’m trying to sleep here.\u201d She\ncurled up and started breathing evenly. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those pain killers must be really good,\nas Commander Laws did not feel the 4 broken ribs or the wounds all\nover her body. She absolutely stroked the steel color that was still\nlocked onto her neck. The engineering crews had not reached agreement\nwith the doctor and how to remove the device that was made of an\nalloy it was unknown to the colonies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Battlestar Saturn pulled out of the\nshipyard, construction nearly complete. The ship which had been under\nconstruction at the time of the second cylon war have been overlooked\nand the damage done by the first attack on the Scorpia shipyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now complete and ready for trials, the\nmassive warship moved serenely away from the mobile shipyards set up\nby the remnants of the colonial fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was fully equipped with 10\nsquadrons 75 each of Mark seven vipers. In addition she had to\nsquadrons of assault raptors and two squadrons of reconnaissance\nraptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the start of the second cylon\nwar, the enemy had never faced a fully equipped mercury class\nBattlestar. The Mercury have been badly damaged losing half their\nsquadrons on the first day of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flight operations wrapped up slowly as\nthe crews were not used to operating for flight deck’s at full\ncapacity. Raptors were taking off and landing on all four landing\ndecks. Vipers were being catapulted some right side up some upside\ndown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pilot training was being conducted away\nfrom the Battlestar. Basic formation flying was followed by target\npractice and then touch and go landings I’m all for landing decks. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was a site not seen since the\nlarge training exercises done months before the fall of the colonies.\nThe attitude was professional and serious nobody wanted to be the\nfirst accident during flight operations of this new warship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the CIC, Commander and\nRamirez was standing 2 feet away from the plotting table, her eyes\ndarting from various displays including DRADIS And measurements of\nthe engine and other critical systems of the Battlestar. Everything\nlooked to be going by the book so far, working by precision very\nclose to the normal operating standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in a properly fitting\nuniform she looked slight, less than average height. However she had\nintellectually mastered the operations of a mercury class Battlestar.\nEveryone knew she knew her job. Everyone respected the combat\noperations she had managed during the absence of Commander Lawson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She felt oddly comfortable\nin the ship which she had never set foot in prior to three days ago\nwhen the transfer from the damaged mercury began. This place felt\nlike home. She felt that she belong here. It was strange because she\nhad still not completed the check ride for basic flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colonial law before the fall\nhad required the commander of any Battlestar be a licensed pilot. You\ncould fly vipers or you could fly raptors. Do you have to hold the\npilots license in order to come out a battle star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The peoples Council passed\nlegislation shuffle weeks ago to resend that law at the urging of\nAdmiral Cobb. He insisted that the law be adhered to. It was\nimportant however that since Maria Ramirez was undergoing flight\ntraining both in the VR suites and carefully guided flight\noperations, with the best tutors available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As opposed to the prior\nJupiter class Battlestar’s, the CIC of the mercury class was quite\ncramped. There’s barely room for 20 people and often times elbows\nwere bouncing off each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the doors of the CIC\nopened and in a wheelchair with a scarf around her neck, Commander \nLawson Was wheeled in next to a place next to Commander Ramirez,\npeople turn their began to clap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commander Eva Lawson was\nhigh on painkillers. Still when she moved in the chair it was obvious\nthat she was in a great deal of pain. The medicine cannot mask her\nextensive injuries. She motioned to the crew and spoke in a soft\nvoice. “Get back to work you lazy bastards,” she smiled and\nhope that attention will go back away from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nShe was wheeled to a place\nnext to Ramirez. The younger woman laying down to her former\ncommander and whispered. “How to make an appearance up here did\nyou?”
“That fracking engineer wants to saw this\nthing off my neck,” she said. “I’m going to try and avoid\nthat experience for as long as possible. It’s not like I have to go\nthrough metal detectors to get on board my ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“True enough,”\nRamirez smiled as he answered softly.
“So what are we\ndoing today,\u201d Commander Lawson asked and she shifted painfully in\nher chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe’ve got an old atlas\nclass carrier that suffered a massive internal radiation like 40\nyears ago. The shipyard weenies could not figure out how to clean her\nout so we’re going to blow her into pieces. Target practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Well let’s get on with\nit,” Lawson smiled. “You never know when Tool master Thomas\nfrom engineering my catch up with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is Saturn\nactual,” Ramirez said in a forceful voice. “Commence target\npractice and demolition exercises. Vipers first, followed by assault\nraptors, finally a salvo of torpedoes and then our main guns if it’s\nanything left over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWill she should back?”\nLawson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSimulated rounds,”\nSaturns commander answered. Our people will be using live ammunition.\nHardly seems fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Those atlas class\nships has much armor is the mercury class. They are hard to kill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the exercise progressed, Lawson’s mind wandered. She was impressed with the squadrons of remote controlled Mark 1 vipers that presented themselves for target practice for the Saturns Vipers. Suddenly she was back in detention. The assaults she had enjoyed, always coming up with new insults to spit out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was terrible was the long cold nights, chained and exposed to the cold. This was true torture for her. When the exercise was over, tears were streaming down her face. Ramirez caught the flashback first. Seeing that Lawson was unresponsive, she wiped her face with a white handkerchief. She began to guide the wheelchair out of CIC when the sick bay orderly got the clue and took over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n