{"id":1353,"date":"2021-10-13T12:54:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T12:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=1353"},"modified":"2023-02-16T11:08:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T11:08:31","slug":"chapter-64-rolling-the-hard-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=1353","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 64: Rolling the hard six"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Previous Chapter<\/a> Next Chapter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 402 after the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Major and then a Commander, Eva\nLawson did not like morning meetings. No amount of coffee could get\nthe fog out of her mind before 9 am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAs an admiral she despised early\nmorning meetings. This one was in a particularly obnoxious time 5:30\nin the morning. All four of her mercury class Battlestar commanders\nwere present as was the head of the fleet intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It actually amazed Admiral Lawson that\nwith billions of people slaughtered, the whole colonies uninhabitable\nit was an unlimited supply of large monitors and which display\nintelligence and battle footage..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nShe reasoned that if there was a\nsufficient resources to produce for Mercury class battle star of the\nmonth and they’ll probably was sufficient resources to produce enough\nlarge screen monitors to keep her busy all day long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“OK”, she said as she sipped\nher coffee. At least they were civilized enough to order a decent\ncoffee for this meeting. She had barked at enough people to make sure\nthat the was always going to be met in the future. “What am I\nlooking at here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intelligence chief who held the\nrank of major have been retired 10 years from the colonial fleet when\nthe war had broken out. With the morning fog in the rain, Lawson\ncould not remember the man’s name. She did remember reading a service\nrecord however that he had typed out a major due to a superior\nquestioning his work ethic and thoroughness at vetting information\nsources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I remember when we had the same\nrank,” he said just audible enough for her to hear. “That\nsir is a shipyard with the Cylon’s use to finish assembly of their\nbase stars. It is capable of finishing 12 base stars a month. Ships\ncome in as empty shells, and internal configuration occurs at a rapid\npace. There are thousands of Cylon skin jobs working this facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It looks small to me,” lost\nin remarks. “It looks like he can only work on two base stars at\na time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I always said you have a good eye\nfor intelligence,” the major replied. “This one can\nactually finish three at a time. It takes one week to do this job.\nComponents are coming from several other locations. We are tracking\nthese for future strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How do you know this is the only\nfinal assembly facility they have?” Commander Ramirez asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major smiled. \u201cDue to the raw\ndata we download from your hack of the Cylon computer networks sir.\nWe now have taps into the physical net work at 12 different\nlocations, each is downloading massive amounts of data. Our current\ncomputer capacity is a joke. But by selectively applying the power we\nhave two different intelligence dump we have read the following\nconclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adjusted his uniform pants and then\ncleared his throat. We have seen was posing for praise. He received\nnothing but a get on with it look from Admiral Lawson. “We have\nverified the data has matched at every location by decrypting\nspecific batches in computer systems that are physically isolated.\nThey do not appear to be two data streams, one to fool us and one\nthat they keep a secret. We have been able to randomly crack any file\nwe put our computer resources to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow with sufficient computer power\nwe could equipped the entire dump and he might find anomalies. As of\nthis moment they’ll all data that we have decrypted is consistent. We\nalso verified the intelligence with human intelligence resources. You\napprove the classified raptor mission three days ago. We have eyes on\nthe site and we rotate our crews out every 12 hours. Everything that\nwe’ve taken from the computer at work agrees with what our eyes on\nthe scene and reporting back. This is a base ship finishing\nfacility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we destroy it,” Lawson\nsaid. “We can send back their plans. They claim that they have\nleft the colonies and it may be a resolution to leave us in peace.\nWhat do they need this kind of manufacturing capacity for anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before he could answer, Colonel Simmons\nwho almost never talked at meetings spoke up. \u201cWhere is this\nshipyard? My task force has visited all twelve colonies the past\nmonth and not seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Besides the two ambushes of your\ntask force,” the major answered. “There has been no\nevidence of Cylon incursion into any of the original 12 colonies.\nThis facility is deep inside what was Cylon territory after the first\nCylon war. I must point out that as tempting as this target is, it\nwould be a huge escalation. It would likely violate the terms of the\ncease fire we are supposedly operating under. It is the intelligence\nbranches recommendation that we consult the civilian authorities\nbefore going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admiral Lawson brushed them off. “They\nare building 12 ships that are capable of firing nuclear weapons on\nthe survivors of our worlds. They are clear and present danger to our\nsurvival of the species. I order a strike mission be drawn up to\nattack this facility and destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major replied quickly. “Consulting\nwith the authorities covers our asses if the strike goes wrong. I\nestimate it will take to task forces to destroy this facility. We\nhave digital photos indicating three modern base stars and three old\nCerebes class carriers protect this facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramirez sighed. \u201cSaturn is out of\nthis fight. FTL nav computer and backup are burned out. As I remember\nMercury’s drive actuators are being replaced now. That means we have\nto send the junior team. I recommend we wait until one of the more\nexperienced officers can lead the strike.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s not going to work,”\nsaid the major. He picked up a pointing device and zoom the screen\nin. The picture clearly showed a sale on FTL Drive. “There are\nsix of them. It would only take three to be able to jump his facility\nso far away we never find it. From what we can tell Cylon FTL\ntechnology enables them to jump 10 to 20 times further than we can.\nIt would be nice if we capture some of the technology and started to\nfigure out how to upgrade our technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“How often does it move?\u201d Lawson\nasked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have been monitoring the site\nfor 30 days. We visited the site 60 days ago and 90 days ago. The\ndigital images showed no activity until ten days ago. Based on the\nlogistics data we decrypted from the Cylons, we estimate that this\nfacility moves over two weeks. It appeared on our electronic sweeps\n11 days ago. We have 3 days to act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colonel Simmons was eager. He stood up\nand addressed his superiors. “I know you have trouble getting me\npromoted to commander. I have drawn up a strike plan. As you know the\ntwo ambushes that occurred in the colonies were taking care of my\nforces that I’ve been on my command for two months. My crews\nacquitted themselves quite well in those two battles. I have been\ntraining the hell out of these people. They are ready to step up and\ndo this job. Please let me command the strike. I don’t care about the\npromotion. I care about damaging the Cylons so they can never hurt us\nagain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a very important\noperation,” and more Admiral Lawson said. “I see here that\nthe commander of the Acropolis has a pregnant wife who is about to\ngive birth. I’m sure he’s eager to participate in the strike but how\nabout I take the conn out of that ship. You will still command the\nmission. I will just be available in case of surprise. Our ace in the\nhole.\u201d

\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are asking me or ordering me?\u201d\nSimmons asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsking,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cI think a\nwise battlestar commandeer would want the extra experience\navailable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI agree,\u201d Simmons smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen do we junp off?\u201d Lawson\nasked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSix hours. The tankers need to be\nplaced to refuel us before he last jump. A safe jump plan will\nrequire 18 jumps. We should top off our tanks before the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have planned well Colonel. Pull\nthis off and I will frak Corey Brooks if thats what it takes to give\nyou your commanders stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n* *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admiral Lawson\nsettle down into guest quarters, refusing the offer of the grateful\nColonel to use his quarters. She brought an overnight bag and two\nchanges of cloths for the mission. With the precaution of sending\nraptor force recon ahead to check each jump point, it would take 18\nhours to reach the target facility. Lawson curled up with a book and\nhoped to sleep the whole way. The problem was that FTL jumps while\nsleeping gave her vivid dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several times\nshe flashed back to when she was held captive by the Cylons. They had\nsomehow left the biological equivalent of a logic bomb in her brain.\nShe could feel the sensations she had felt while they were assaulting\nher. It felt real and as ifi t was happening in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She awoke with\na start and opened her eyes. The guest suite had a bathroom and a\nmedicine cabinet. She stared bleary eyed into the mirror and examined\nthe choice of pills. A sleep aide was far less effective than natural\nsleep. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting to\nthe CIC having and no sleep in three days was not an option. Sleep\ndeprivation had the same impact on command performance as alcohol.\nShe read the instructions on the bottle and swallowed two pills with\nwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 15 minutes,\nshe had settled herself int a dreamless sleep that she hoped might\nhelp with her symptoms. This time the FTL jumps did not trigger\ndreams. She woke up an hour before the strike mission. This gave her\ntime to take a long, hot shower, then brushed and combed her air\nbefore putting into a tight, military bun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The admiral\nnoticed that she had felt a bit sluggish when she got out of bed. If\nyou like that go away as it usually did when she prepared for duty.\nPerhaps the sleeping medication had more affect on her than she\nexpected. She was no stranger to this type of medication. Often\npilots how to use it to get sleep between long viper patrols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever she\nwalked into the CIC of a ship she wanted to project of confidence.\nShe wanted to be there to be a spring in her step. As she walked\nthrough the hallways of the Battlestar, she spent felt more and more\nsluggish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were about\nto do a combat jump into battle. She should be hyped up on adrenaline\nnot feeling like she wanted to get back into bed. As she continued\ntowards the CIC, she stopped and grabbed a cup of coffee off one of\nthe trolleys used to serve crew that due to skill shortages often had\nto work long shifts. She gulped it down like a runner swallowing cold\nwater, hoping to revive her physical state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The marine\nguarding the combat information Center immediately recognized her and\nran his access card which open the doors. Nobody who served aboard\nthese ships thought the glass doors were practical. The ships stocked\nmany spare doors to replace those shattered in combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exile of\nthe ship was a major Linda Peters. She was 36 years old, had left\nthe colonial fleet three years before the war to have a baby. She and\nthe child had survived the destruction of the colonies because they\nwere on a on a trip to Tauron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miraculously\nthe child’s father had also survived these events and was a civilian\ncomputer analyst. The child was with him in the refugee camp on a\ndesolate new colony. He had been offered a military commission due to\nhis skills involving protection of hacking and hacking into the enemy\nnetwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had turn\ndown the offer to remain in civilian contractor doing the same job.\nAlthough there is no actual payment involved the government continue\nto give them IOUs for the day that might come or currency start to be\nused again. This time everybody that worked in a civilian job in the\ncolonies basically did it for food and shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major Peters\nwas about a centimeter or two taller than the admiral. She has\nplatinum blond hair and many male officers found her attractive.\nAfter they worked with her for a while they found her to be\nintimidating. She has a reputation as being one of the meanest XO’s\nin the fleet. She could smile and tear you apart with words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Welcome\nto CIC admiral,” she said. “We will be in operational\ncommand of the ship?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admiral Lawson\nnodded her head and said no. “This is your chance to show me\nyour command skills. I’m gonna sit here quietly, watch the strategic\nsituation and only jump in if necessary.” She then stretched her\narms in a long yawn. \u201cFrak, I took a pill to get some sleep and it\nwont let me wake up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peters\nstretched out her hand and offered a white pill, a stimulant. \u201cI\nknow its not great, but we need you sharp Sir.\u201d a quick gesture had\na cup of water in the Admirals hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawson stared\nat it for several seconds and then popped it in her mouth and washed\nit down with water. “I hope this helps. SITREP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All\nvipers are in the tubes. We are ready for combat jump and immediate\nlaunch. Flagship is signaling to jump\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawson nodded.\nPeters ordered the jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n