Chapter 66:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the attempted ambush of the\nMercury the Cylons pulled all their forces away from the human\ncolonies. It was obvious to them that Admiral Lawson was taking a\nconfrontational approach hoping that a major battle would wake up the\ngovernment. It was important to build enough ship capacity to take\nthe population of these 14 outposts to a place far away from the\nCylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson had ordered an aggressive patrol\nprogram, sending out task forces led by the Mercury or the Saturn to\ngo farther and farther, looking to collect evidence of Cylon war\npreparations. Around day 500 since the fall of the 12 Colonies the\ngovernment cut funding for military fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This did not stop Admiral Lawson and\nCommander Ramirez from their operational tempo. 90% of the fuel that\nthe new Colonies consumed was provided by the military, which seized\nrefined Tylium from outposts abandoned by the Cylon. When the\ngovernment cut the funding for fuel allocation, they merely siphoned\noff fuel that they were capturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Acropolis and the Athena were\nfinally repaired after long delays, but the government refused to\nprovide the people necessary to bring those ships back into service.\nLawson and Ramirez cut their own crews and flight wings down, to get\nthese battlestars back into service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They tapped their own leadership to get\ncommanders and paired the Athena with the Mercury and the Acropolis\nwith the Saturn and essentially commanded these other two ships\nremotely. The continued to venture further and further into space to\nraid Cylon supplies. It had been months since a Cylon ship had been\nspotted on DRADIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually the supply of refined Tylium\ndried up, so the plan now was to get unrefined product and have the\nmilitary refine it themselves. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every month the shipyard was moved in\nhopes that the Cylons would not locate it and destroy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On day 564 of the exodus, Ramirez\ncaptured a Cylon parts depot. In the depot was a plentiful supply of\nFTL parts, both Colonial and Cylon. Using the same scheme as the\nmobile shipyard, they jumped the entire depot to fleet headquarters\nat New Picon. There were enough Colonial parts to keep the reduced\nfleet operational. Military scientists set to work on reverse\nengineering Cylon FTL technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next few months it was\ndiscovered that the Cylon jump technology could travel 20 times\nfarther than Colonial drives. A cautious effort to use the Cylon\ntechnology began. The hacking staff that had sprung up under Ramirez\nwhen she was XO of the Mercury went over the code line by line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cylon jump drive was designed to\noperate with the eccentric Cylon that controlled their jumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This interface was re-written to\ncommunicate with the control systems of Colonial ships which\ngenerally was in the Combat Information Center (CIC). \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson looked down at her printed\noperational report on her desk. It showed the 4 Mercury Class\nbattlestars had been upgraded. The programmers had discovered\nnumerous back doors that enabled the Cylons to hack in and wirelessly\nmanipulate and control ships subsystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program had been tested thoroughly\nwith 20 test jumps of every ship, increasing the distance each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new capability was built into the\nreconnaissance raptors. The amount of electronic intelligence that\nwas being gathered grew exponentially in size, to the point that it\nslowed down the massive computers designed to process it and provide\nhuman intelligence analysts data to review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawson was sitting in her office on the\nMercury with a remote camera on her and a screen showing Maria\nRamirez in her office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to take a refinery,\u201d\nLawson said, stating the obvious. \u201cWe are sitting on a mountain of\nraw Tylium and we have had to draw down military stockpiles to keep\nthe civilian economy afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’ve got two candidates,\u201d Ramirez\nreplied showing the location of two outposts recently scouted by\nraptors. Two red lights appeared on the maps they were sharing on\ntablet computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook at that capacity,\u201d Lawson\nsaid eagerly. \u201cIf we got them both we could refine enough raw\ntylium to supply the entire fleet and the civilian economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can have them both but not in the\nsame raid,\u201d Ramirez answered. We have a very short supply of the\nbig FTL units that we need to jump an entire refinery. I assume you\ndon’t want to use the old Colonial jump drives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Distracted, Lawson fiddled with the\ntablet. \u201cYou are right of course. Jumping a tylium refinery is\nalready an explosion danger. We do not want to multiply that. Lets\nsend you and the Saturn task force to seize the smaller refinery and\nhold it while my group takes the big boy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes Sir, that means my task force\nwill have to defend that location for a full day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKick the training program into high\ngear. I want every squadron and every pilot sharp for this operation.\nWhat kind of coverage do we have for these locations. We need to be\nsure the Cylons don’t ambush us or destroy the refinery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith the new jump drives we can\nmaintain coverage around the clock for a week before raptor readiness\ndeclines Admiral.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLets train up for a week and\nstrike,\u201d Lawson suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCopy that Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to need to do our own\nmanufacturing of spare parts,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cMore than half the\nspare parts we need are either not being manufactured or have been\ndiverted for use in the civilian economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a plan,\u201d Ramirez replied.\n\u201cthe intelligence weenies need some time to process the data. Then\ntwo weeks to do recon and we are in the manufacturing business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHuman Resources,\u201d Lawson\ncontinued. \u201cWe have been ordered to release half our people to\nreserve status. We need to maintain a fleet with 2 offensive task\nforces and enough defensive pickets to defend 14 outposts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramirez could only sigh at that point.\n\u201cImpossible.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*\n* *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is raptor two niner one niner,\nwe are requesting permission to depart. We are outbound on mission\norders two seven niner Charlie Alpha,\u201d Rock Star, broadcast as he\nsat impatiently in the pilots seat. His raptor was based on the\nAthena, having been transferred from the Mercury some weeks before.\nWilliam Jenkins was his real name. He was 28 years old and had made\nthe rank of Lieutenant juset before the star of the second Cylon war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tall and handsome, his red hair and\nfreckles were disarming when teamed up with a smile. He looked back\nat his ECO who nodded. Jill \u201cStreak\u201d Abrams was 26 and had been\nrecruited from a refugee camp. She had managed to get through\ntraining and a number of battles until her pilot was killed with a\nfreak shot through the window on final approach to the landing deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had managed to take over the\ncontrols and get the raptor onto the deck, recovering the bird from a\nnasty spin. Though she was a good pilot, she preferred taking care of\nelectronic systems and weapons to the pilots seat. She had her light\nbrown hair tied up in a tight knot so it would fit in her helmet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRaptor two niner one niner you are\ncleared for departure, turn left after clearing the pod, make sure\nyou are a safe distance away before your jump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAcknowledged raptor two niner one\nniner, we are departing\u201d Rock Star answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mission was boring but vital. They\nwere jumping 15 times further than they had ever jumped before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Streak ran the checklist and informed\nper pilot that there was no traffic to worry about. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJumping,\u201d Streak announced. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the flash of white they were on\nthe scene of what was possibly the first offensive operation in at\nleast ninety days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As thinned out as the ranks of the\nfleet were, what was left behind was highly motivated and skilled\ngroup of combat pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDRADIS on passive. No Cylon\ncontacts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoger that,\u201d Rock Star\nacknowledged. \u201cLets hope for a boring recon trip.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo say we all,\u201d Streak replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of the ships were ready. The\nbattlestars, the support ships and the civilian utility fleet that\nwas tasked to take the refineries. The operation was bold, and was\nintended to solve their political problems at home and hopefully\nprovoke the Cylons into proving their hostile intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The countdown clock showed 30 minutes\nuntil the jump. It would be the longest jump in the history of the\nColonial fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*\n* * \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three Cavil’s sat around a table in a\nbase star that was part of an operational command that was not known\nto the rest of the Cylons. This fleet was crewed by only model 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Colonial fleet is planning on\nseizing two tylium refineries we abandoned,\u201d the first one\nreported. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to decide whether we are\ngoing to let them,\u201d said the second Cavil. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is not an easy decision.\u201d The\nthird one opined. \u201cThey have been cutting military spending. If we\nresist, we give them a reason to stop the cutbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur decision to pull back was a long\nterm decision. If we resist, that process will likely be reversed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have failed to locate Adama and\nGalactica. We need to wipe out this larger group of humans,\u201d number\ntwo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe humans are using our jump\ntechnology,\u201d warned #1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat means they might be using our\nnavigational database, complete with a few surprises.\u201d #3 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope we get it right this time,\u201d\n#2 laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe other models want to make peace\nwith the humans,\u201d number three said. \u201cWe need to eliminate this\ninfestation once and for all. They have dedicated two task forces to\nthis operation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll right,\u201d Cavil #1 said. \u201cWe\ncan hit this fleet, keep it busy while launching our assault on the\n14 outposts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheir is a substantial force\nguarding the new Colonies,\u201d #3 worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have agents in place. We will\nstagger our assault and over some hours nuke them all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLets get started,\u201d Cavil #1\nsmiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*\n* *<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll boards, all ships,\nreport green board and ready to jump. Operation gas station is ready\nto begin Admiral Lawson,\u201d the communications specialist in CIC\nreported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll ships jump!\u201d she\nordered. \u201cAll birds launch on the other side,\u201d her voice sounded\ncoarse and a bit husky, like Admiral Adama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n