Day 463 after the fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admiral Lawson had been having trouble\nsleeping for many months now. She knew today was the 463 days since\nthe fall of the colonies. She is just re-qualified on the mark seven\nviper. Finding time to fly the minimum hours has been very difficult\nfor her. The Cylons had not been seen since the attack on the Athena\nand the Acropolis 61 days before..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admiral had instituted a intense\nand costly program of training. All pilots were required to fly\nregularly. Simulator exercise occurred twice a month. Recruiting was\ngoing slowly since the crews of two Battlestar’s had been\nslaughtered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keeping the training program funded in\nboth natural resources and human resources was proven to be a\nfull-time job. It took her six weeks to find the time to do her check\nride and to remain legally empowered to command of a Battlestar. Her\npilots license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That task been completed six hours ago.\nIt was now 3 AM ships time. When sleep was difficult she had a\nestablished the habit of walking around on the least travel sections\nof the ship. With a crew of over 1500, the ship was never empty even\ndeep within the recesses of the enormous FTL jump drives. She found\nthe walks to be peaceful. She was able to go over her thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before her check ride she had had to\nmake an appearance before the People’s Council. She had been attacked\nfor using too much resources. Between shipbuilding and crewing fleet\n45,000 people were thus removed from the civilian work force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She still remembered Councilman\nJenkins. He had spoken in his eloquent style. “My dear admiral\nwhile we are grateful for your service and resources we are pouring\ninto this defense is simply not justified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have not seen nor heard from\nthe Cylons in nearly 4 months. Maybe they mean to leave us in peace\nnow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNew political math,\u201d she had said\nunder her breath, but intentionally audible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was that admiral?\u201d His voice\nwas annoyed and not respectful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has in fact been 60 days since\nthe ambush of the Battlestars Acropolis and Athena and the massacre\nof their crew. That is mathematically two months, not four months of\nquiet from the Cylons. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell since that was on their side of\nthe armistice line and we were launching an unprovoked attack on\ntheir fleet, it does not count. You started it.\u201d Have you ever\nconsidered the possibility that the Cylons are tired of fighting us\nand they don’t want to be at war with us any more?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Lawson answered, saying\nnothing else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 15 seconds of silence followed by\nmurmuring, he spoke. \u201cCare to elaborate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admiral took a deep breath before\nshe replied. She prayed for control of her temper. “A little\nover a year ago Cylons Attacked our home worlds and slaughtered tens\nof billions of people. They know where we are. We are substantially\noutnumbered. They can come and destroy our civilization anytime they\nwant now is not the time to cut military spending. Now is the time to\nincrease spending. We need to leave these 14 worlds and move off into\nthe stars and settle a place to Cylons can never find us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jenkins cleared his throat before his\nreply. “Or you can tell me that we are to pick up and leave with\n496,000 persons. At one point we are shipbuilding program have the\nnumber of shifts required to haul that many people? What about\nresources that we need like fuel and food?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson replied carefully. “Your\nlast question first. Our enemies have left a large amount of fuel\nbehind when they left. We have been bringing into the storage\nfacilities here for six months now. We are working on a solution to\nfeeding the people on this long journey. If you grant us the increase\nin human resources and natural resources we eventually can be ready\nto move away from here. I want the Cylon to find nothing here when\nthey come. Do not doubt councilman that they will come. They waited\n40 years before they attacked the colonies. I cannot promise you when\nthey will return but I do promise you they are building up their\nforces in preparing at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jenkins made a noise with his mouth it\nsounded like clucking. “Admiral Lawson have you located a single\nCylon vessel in the last four months during which she was spent a\nlarge amount of natural resources scouting as far as your ships can\ntake you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Not yet sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When will your ship building\nprogram have enough capacity to carry the people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If you approve this budget\nrequest and give me 5000 more workers, five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Add more Lawson you’re going to\nhave to prove to this council that there is an actual threat from the\nenemy before we fund this outlandish request. Is my recommendation\nthat your increase in funding be denied. Please return to us in 30\ndays with a plan to cut military spending by 25%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Councilman cuts of that magnitude\nwould prevent us from completing the repairs on the Athena and the\nAcropolis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Well admiral find me some Cylons\nand then we will reconsider your funding request. You must provide us\ncuts in the budget. I would think that an admiral of your stature\ncould do a better job than I deciding where to make these cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admiral struggle to control her\ntemper. “The evidence in favor of continued military\npreparedness are the still burning and wasted by radiation in the 12\ncolonies. We need to strike out and get as far away from the enemy as\npossible. We must never forget the slaughter of the first Cylon war\nor the second.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A member of the engineering crew walked\nin front of the Admiral and saluted. She was shaking from her reverie\nand returned the salute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Admiral Lawson stopped in her\ntracks. She closed her eyes and rubbed them. She was seeing Admiral\nMueller standing in the hallway in his crisp, perfectly pressed\nuniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was seeing hallucinations. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m not a hallucination,\u201d Mueller\nsaid. \u201cThink of me as a piece of his soul, that was so attached to\nthis ship, it could not move on after he died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson resolved not to be seen talking\nto herself at 3 a.m. She tried to sidestep him and walk by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou’ve done a fine job little one,\nstepping up to be Admiral, when we know what you really are?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m going crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am a piece of Admiral Mueller’s\nsoul sent to you by an Angel of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d She finally\nconceded and spoke with the apparition. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll of this has happened before. It\nwill happen again if you don’t listen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you want me to hear?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon’t explore the Mutara system for\nresources, it is too dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson chuckled as she continued to\nspeak with the dead admiral. \u201cThere is a mountain of Tylium in\nMutara. I will get it and trade it to the Peoples Council for the\nfunding we need to provide the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admiral Mueller clucked derisively. \u201cYour plan to migrate a half million persons to the stars? How cute, you are going to find a place where the Cylons can’t find you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomething like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere will be another slaughter. You\nwill visit Earth and meet Adama. You will take the remnants of these\nnew Colonies into their end. But only if you don’t get killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYea great. We have a six o’clock\njump Admiral. I have confined myself to quarters\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey never listen to us the first\ntime,\u201d An image that looked like Gaeus Baltar nodded and gazed into\nthe distance, expressionless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admiral Lawson looked well groomed when\nshe came into the CIC. Her XO was a former pilot, a 29 year old wide\neyed lieutenant until getting promoted several weeks ago. He looked\nathletic, 1.8 meters tall, with blond hair, blue eyes and a curious\nexpression on his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSitRep,\u201d Lawson ordered as she\nstepped into her normal spot in the command center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mutara system has been under\nfrequent sweeps, Raptors and smaller ships like Adamant and Bezerk\nclass mostly. Sometimes force recon 3 assault raptors 2 recon birds.\nThere have been no signs of Cylon presence, no signals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What is your entry plan captain?”\nLawson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSir we go too condition two, I think its safe to make the jump if we up our alert status from 5 birds in the tubes to ten Sir. No Cylon signals intelligence..\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admiral crossed her arms folded them across her chest. “The system with a little mountain of fuel and it appears to be unguarded. Have I not issued a general order about this since the boardings and massacres of the crews of Acropolis and Athena?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh Sir..\u201d he stuttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Please repeat general order 76 to\nall colonial forces,” she looked inpatient that she still\nawaiting her answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“General order 76 from Admiral Eva\nLawson states that any colonial forces entering a system that is not\nunder colonial control with permanent forces is to take place under\nhigh alert status. That means that force recon jumps first, 3\nassault birds, three recon birds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So you see Captain Bench,\u201d she used his family name. \u201cYou don’t need to think you have your orders. Get it set up with double the normal force. Blue squadron in the tubes instead of ten. I have a high level intelligence source that has concern about this system.\u201d She wisely they omitted the fact that her intelligence source was an apparition that appeared to her in the form of Admiral Mueller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut Sir we have orders to conserve\nfuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid I issue any orders to that\neffect?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo Sir, came in the night watch\ncommunications. To all Colonial forces Peoples Council Executive Cory\nBrooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes she give orders on this ship\nCaptain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking flustered, he answered meekly.\n\u201cNo Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSet up the recon,\u201d she ordered. In\nher mind, she was disgusted. Her expression only conveyed her desire\nto complete the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will never let the politicians\ncompromise our safety.\u201d Lawson breathed deeply. \u201cThat is general\norder 77 I think. Someone bring me some coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Captain Bench picked up the phone and\ngot on the PA. \u201cThis is the XO. Set condition two on the ship.\nForce recon will be 10 birds, two jump points within the system. Blue\nsquadron in the tubes.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was bad enough that the budget cuts had forced her to jump into the system without backup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no way she was going in, deaf, dumb and blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty minutes later the reconnaissance was complete and they had made the jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n