{"id":8908,"date":"2024-04-26T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=8908"},"modified":"2024-03-31T16:52:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T16:52:18","slug":"chapter-48-threat-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/?p=8908","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 48 \u201cThreat Board\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThis is the executive officer. Launch all vipers and Raptors. Standard patrol. Keep your heads on a swivel and don&#8217;t like the lack of Cylon contact make you lazy or sloppy.&#8221;\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDay 37 of our long range patrol. Three ships alone, looking for toasters and finding nothing. It is day 1115 of the second Cylon war. Though I must say it does not feel much like a war at all today. This is commander Charles, Emerson commander of the Fearless. Call sign Pirate. As the saying goes in the colonial fleet: the threat board is clear. We remain vigilant, ready for action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe air wing reports some fragments, possibly this was the site of a battle. I&#8217;m aware of the history. We have no record of a battle here. Perhaps it was Adama&#8217;s fleet. The raptor squadron wants to know if they should grab a couple of samples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWartime protocol. Max EVA 120 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAir wing reports samples secure sirs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAnother ordinary day at the office eh XO?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI pray for this three times a day commander.\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 48 segment 1   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MHCJtnWsNp4?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cContacts! Six base stars, modern, launching raiders. Firing missiles. Over 1000 raiders!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">XO: \u201cThey&#8217;re right on top of us!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAll ships evasive crash turns. Fire up triple A. Have our birds orbit above and prepare for combat landings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cPoint defense guns open fire on the raiders. Top guns, set up engagement zones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">XO: \u201cMake sure the air wing knows the engagement zones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMissiles inbound, evasive port! Evasive port!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHow are we going to get the air wing on the deck with fire this thick?\u201d asked Commander Emerson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe have six more base stars just jumped in. This is a fracking staging area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYes XO they do seem surprised by us being here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">5:26<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMore missiles inbound. We are bracketed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cCrash turn starboard. Can we calculate an FTL jump out of here?\u201d ordered commander Emerson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt going to be difficult with so many toasters jumping around. It fracks with the star fixes.\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 48 segment 2   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YXOfwhZMttY?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFire a missile salvo at them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cSeven more base stars just jumped in. We have twenty eight base stars at this location!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">8:56<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThat&#8217;s ten more base stars. I think we have over fifty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe need to jump the frack out of here!\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 48 segment 3   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R9s3JHnJLow?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">14:37<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThis is the commander. All birds combat landings. Right fracking now. Emergency jump. Jump the frack out of here before we get turned into metal confetti!\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 48 segment 4   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QFjBgSSVEe0?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-x-large-font-size\"><strong>* * *<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Commander Charles Emerson was surprised when he was greeted by Admiral Ewa Lawson, at the door of the fleet secure operation center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWelcome Commander Emerson,\u201d she said, shaking his hand. Though the fleet was small, under sixty warships, everyone who had been promoted to commander had met Admiral Lawson, Emerson&#8217;s stomach still contracted into an \u201cBrass ball\u201d as some described it when meeting Admiral&#8217;s and politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDo you prefer commander or &#8216;Pirate&#8217;? Lawson asked, guiding him gently by the shoulder into a theatre sized room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cCommander Pirate is fine,\u201d he mumbled. His eyes fixed on a giant Colonial fleet logo, hung on the ceiling of the room. This room was bigger than even the CIC of the Jupiter class battlestar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDon&#8217;t you think that is a bit formal?\u201d Lawson chuckled as she guided him to a checkpoint, stopping at a table with coffee, tea, a variety of interesting fruit. The shapes and color were not anything Emerson recognized from back home. He concluded that this food probably originated from the 4 new Helios colonies, embedded and protected by the massive, ionized gas cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Emerson was still awe struck as he made himself a large cup of coffee with plentiful amounts of sugar and creamer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The sign at the checkpoint was freshly printed: \u201cWelcome to C F O C (Colonial Fleet Operations Center, formerly Daidalos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The husky woman at the checkpoint looked at Emerson&#8217;s coffee with a \u201cNo food allowed in the C O F C\u201d \u201c sign on the table in front of the metal detector. There was a basket for mobile phone&#8217;s which were already in use in parts of thew New Helios systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The marine started to gesture to the sign, the admiral noticed it, gave a head shake that she was waiving the rule for Commander Emerson. Behind the marine was a stack of locking pelican cases for side arms and personal weapons. The dour look on the Master-Sargent&#8217;s face made clear that waving the weapons rule would require approval from an officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Commander Charles \u201cPirate\u201d Emerson had already unstrapped the holster from his belt, handing it to the experienced marine NCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The center of the operation center was a 3-D printed map showing the charted routes inside this nebula, which had four suns, which heated and supported life in the four solar systems that made up New Helios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Computer generated output tracked the various Colonial fleet units deployed within the nebula. There was only 1 Mercury class battlestar, the Athena, and 1 Jupiter class, the Demeter, which was at this headquarters, performing its old function as the \u201cmobile shipyard\u201d. Demeter was getting a well earned refit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">There were a dozen officers on blue tooth headsets, in communication with the various ships on the Helios operations table. Admiral Lawson guided the commander of the Battlestar Fearless to an unmarked room. The door was marked \u201cE. Lawson\u201d It was intended as a place for the Commander in Chief Colonial Fleet C I N C C F, to rest and relax during long stretches in the Operations Center<\/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 48 segment 5   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qFTohipV0YM?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Upon arriving 3 and a half months ago, Lawson had vowed to shoot herself in the head before spending any time actually sleeping in this room. Her reaction had been predicted in advance, the room had been renovated and surrounded by several meters of faraday screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The point was to keep all electronic signals of any kind inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">There was a room the size of the commanders office on a Mercury class ship, with an analog map. It showed the entire patrol route of the Battlestar Fearless, and several other patrols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Commander Ramirez greeted the admiral with a salute and Emerson with a smile. \u201cThanks very much Commander,\u201d she began, \u201cfor getting us the location on the Cylons attack fleet. As you see, we are leading the Cylons into an ambush. Nobody outside this room knows where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Emerson spoke without thinking. \u201cThat squadron of Orion&#8217;s is going to be outnumbered if it attacks the fleet we ran into,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYes,\u201d Admiral Lawson agreed. \u201cWe plan another couple of weeks to lead them to a choke point. The nuclear ambush is planned for their supply fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The map indicated a series of small solar systems. A large region thick with dust and astroids &#8220;Huge Canyon Way.\u201d Admiral Lawson pulled a pointing device out of her pocket. A red dot moved around an enormous field of astroids and dust. It was several times larger than the red line jump on the Cylon FTL gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThe safe jump points through this region are so small, the Cylons will have to split their fleet into smaller task forces,\u201d Commander Ramirez explained. \u201cWhen they are stretched out nice and vulnerable, we have a surprise for them. The toasters unveiled a new weapon that when powered up creates a Null F T L field. We press the button when their massive task force is spread out into smaller chunks. We have the lions share of the nukes the Saturn led task force captured six months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe were at least three new plotted jumps away from Huge Canyon,\u201d Emerson remarked. \u201cHow are you going to get the toasters to fly into that choke point?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cTwo way&#8217;s for redundancy,\u201d Major Jacob&#8217;s Battlestar Mercury XO explained as the four of them opened another door and walked down another hallway. \u201cThe first as we have fake transponders, installed in berserk and adamant class chips. These are the transponder signals of the Mercury, Saturn, the Solaria, and several of our Valkyrie class escorts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThey look helpless and juicy don&#8217;t they commander?\u201d Admiral Lawson asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIndeed they do Admiral. So the plan is to slam the door, nuke as many of them as you can and crush the task force that attacks the decoys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Lawson led the group to another unmarked door\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The four officers stopped at the end of the hallway. There were two Marines guarding a door no label on it. &#8220;This is our second means of feeding false information to the Cylons. You are about to meet toaster model number three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We know her as the Lieutenant D&#8217;Beirs. She was on HG&#8217;s information technology team. She managed to leak or location to the toasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">You are about to help us feed the information to her before we take her to a Cylon resurrection ship and shoot her in the head. Do you think she&#8217;s cooperating with us and she&#8217;s fooling us. She is actually participating in Operation Vulcan Forge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;The sales pitch is simple. That fleet transponders composed of Adamant&#8217;s and Bezerk&#8217;s are actually the main strike force we intend to hit them with. You just have to continue to interrogate herand demand information and once you&#8217;re sure you&#8217;re at a Cylon resurrection hub shoot her in the head. You don&#8217;t have a problem with that commander?\u201d asked Major Jacobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Commander. Emerson&#8217;s face looked angry. \u201cNot one bit. No problem at all!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The model number three Cylon, known locally as a skin job was handcuffed on both ankles and wrists to a chair. In addition she was wearing a heavy metal collar. \u201cYou have to believe me,\u201d she said, \u201cI did not know that I was a Cylon. I don&#8217;t want to die away from a resurrection hub. I will tell you everything that you want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Four officers left the room. Admiral Eva Lawson handed a folder to Commander Emerson. &#8220;These are the operational orders of the fake fleet. All you need to do is make her believe you care about her. We want her to think she has fooled us. She needs to know the operational plans by heart.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThen you give her an opening, a chance to kill herself when she sees your fleet is at resurrection hub. If she kills herself, will know she is sold. If that doesn&#8217;t work, you are authorized by the commander of colonial fleet to reboot this Cylon computer node with your service pistol. Do you understand commander, Emerson?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&#8220;Yes, Admiral Lawson, I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Commander. Ramirez guided commanders head down, so she can whisper in his ear. &#8220;The trick here is to think of it as a computer node that needs to be rebooted and not the human it pretends to be.\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 48 segment 6   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OWTQYhS8s7U?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><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Segment 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/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=\"B3 Chapter 48 Threat Board #bsg #battlestargalactica #battlestarmercury   4K\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ojBtpWFyC2w?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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThis is the executive officer. Launch all vipers and Raptors. Standard patrol. Keep your heads on a swivel and don&#8217;t like the lack of Cylon contact make you lazy or sloppy.&#8221;\u201d \u201cDay 37 of our long range patrol. Three ships alone, looking for toasters and finding nothing. It is day 1115 of the second Cylon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001880,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-8908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-logistics","tag-logistics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908","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=8908"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8923,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions\/8923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battlestarmercury.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}