{"id":4700,"date":"2023-02-07T13:19:15","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T13:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2023-02-20T14:36:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T14:36:50","slug":"chapter-16-1-7-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=4700","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 16: &#8211; &#8220;Road trip&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">The commanders summit was a monthly meeting that had included the 4 Mercury Class commanders. After the loss of the Acropolis, it was reduced to three. Some months it was done by video conference. None of the remaining three trusted the security of computer managed communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">So under heavy security it began to take place in person. When the last bug was discovered and isolated in Admiral Lawson&#8217;s quarters. Sometimes it involved a meal, and month to month, the time of day was changed due to security concerns and the paranoia brought on by the revelation of humanoid Cylons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Nobody knew how many models there were. An off hand remark by HG about the meeting, which was always the subject of speculation among those who were excluded. The undiscovered model three had an encrypted means of communicating with the Cylons. What she did no know was how long it took for her message, both encrypted and typed in code would take to reach the Cylon command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Commander Evans sat next to Commander Ramirez who looked slightly bloated this morning. It had been 18 hours since the meeting was scheduled. The big monitor in Lawson&#8217;s office adjacent to her quarters had one sentence on it. \u201c21 jumps to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Lawson clicked a button. The slide switched back and forth from 21 jumps and a list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Where to go after Jump 248?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Split the fleet for safety &amp; survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Potential Tylium sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Potential metal mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOkay,\u201d Lawson said, sipping her coffee. \u201cLets get started. Item 1, the first two items. Do we split up for increased survival odds?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">Evans spoke up. \u201cWell splitting up makes statistical sense. The Cylons have probably gathered a large fleet to pursue us. If they have to move off in 3 directions, they will find their plans become exponentially more complex. We might overload their CPU&#8217;s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAre you prepared to be an idolized rock star?\u201d Ramirez warned. \u201cI&#8217;ve seen the toll this has taken on Admiral Lawson. I sure as hell don&#8217;t want everyone on the edge of their seats every time I speak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat about this thirteenth colony rumor?\u201d Lawson suggested. \u201cWe should stick together, find this thirteenth colony. They might have a fleet and FTL technology. We might find a powerful ally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThat story is complete crap,\u201d Ramirez opined. \u201cThat data we found could have been faked by the Cylons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe Adama speech seemed real enough to me,\u201d Commander Evans suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGalactica and Pegasus it would be nice to add them to this fleet,\u201d Lawson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe speech they were referring to was one made by Adama at the memorial immediately after the escape from Ragnar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOkay,\u201d Ramirez replied \u201cwe have zero clues to move on. There is no way to find Earth. We are going to need to find somewhere else to go. We just keep going and get so far away the Cylons forget about us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHow far is that?\u201d Evans replied angrily. \u201cThey have a thousand times the resources we have. We can&#8217;t defeat them. We are going to need to find a way to use their weaknesses against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe aren&#8217;t getting anywhere,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cLets see what we can do about short term issues. We need a large list of metal ores. We need chemicals for munitions. We going to need raw tylium ore to start refining more fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe have scouted out a number of planets on possible destinations. We have found evidence the Cylons have been there before.\u201d Evans pushed forward a USB flash drive. \u201cThat is the intel files. They tried to clean up after themselves, but did a piss pour job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cSloppy Cylons? No machine efficiency?\u201d Lawson reached up and twirled her fingers in her own black hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAren&#8217;t we morally obligated to try and find New Caprica and rescue the colonists?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cSure,\u201d Ramirez replied. \u201cIf we want to end humanity, that should be our next quest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The alarm klaxons went off. It shook all three of the commanders the unmistakable sound of condition. One shook the entire ship. &#8220;Action stations, action station set condition one throughout the fleet, cylon fleet has jumped in action stations action stations condition, one this is not a drill\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Chapter 16 Mercury footage   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EVknpo-d8dk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=4658\">&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt; Chapter 15<\/a>    <a href=\"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=4680\">Chapter 17 &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/a>    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The commanders summit was a monthly meeting that had included the 4 Mercury Class commanders. After the loss of the Acropolis, it was reduced to three. Some months it was done by video conference. None of the remaining three trusted the security of computer managed communications. So under heavy security it began to take place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001880,"featured_media":1937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[210,113],"class_list":["post-4700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlestar-mercury-exodus","tag-210","tag-exodus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001880"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4700"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4954,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions\/4954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}