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The camera operator started to retreat as the Cylons gained more of a foothold in the trench over the corpses of their enemies. He turned only to come face to face with another Cylon. Realizing his mistake, the camera operator tried to back away to run, but the Cylon methodically levelled his rifle and fired it at point blank range. The camera picture suddenly jerked and came to rest pointed skyward.
The image continued to play as several Cylons walked past in the view frame and the sounds of battle slowly died out; not even the screams of the dying could be heard anymore, just the fading sound of Cylon weapons fire.
The holographic image ceased as Emperor Staleek rose from his chair at the head of the council table and started to walk about the table. His immense form towered over all in the chamber room, as he eyed the other Scarrans, Charrids and Kalish who were also present.
“That was from Sous Prime,” he rumbled. “It ‘was’ a major military installation before the Cylons attacked. In predictable fashion, they first destroyed the defending fleet before launching an orbital bombardment and the ground assault to wipe out the remaining garrisons. They left nothing alive in their wake.”
Staleek continued to walk around the room until he stood inside the arc of the table. “Since this invasion, we have faced nothing but endless defeats and lost numerous worlds to the Cylon advances. The planet Sous is most troubling because it’s only twenty light cycles from where we are standing. If we don’t find a way to stop the Cylons, they will be able to lay siege to this fortress moon within one weeken.”
Slowly, Emperor Staleek turned his steely gaze to the Charrid General Rahzaro.
“Now, General, the performance of your ‘men’ in that recording was far less than inspiring. They all ran or cried like little, furry ‘mortuctens’ in the face of the Cylons. My own commanders are actually refusing to fight alongside your troops because they tend to disappear whenever the Cylons show themselves. What do you have to say for yourself or your ‘men’?”
General Rahzaro had the look of a man who was about to die. He leaned nervously back into his chair as Emperor Staleek loomed over him. “My men… They’ve never faced anything like these things before. The Cylons are machines and are fearless and nearly impossible to destroy… Shoot off an arm or a leg, they still keep coming until you completely obliterate it.”
“Am I hearing excuses, General?” Staleek hissed.
“No, my Emperor!” Rahzaro pleaded. “My men will stand and fight! I will see to it!!”
“Good,” Staleek said evenly. “Tell your soldiers if they don’t start doing their part in this war, they will have more to worry about than fighting Cylons. I will have them all eliminated.”
General Rahzaro’s pointed ears nearly shot up in fright. “You can’t be… I mean, Emperor, you will be destroying nearly half of your forces!”
“Only the useless half.” Staleek replied darkly.
On the opposite side of the table, Secretary Vakali quietly laughed, but the Scarran Emperor overheard it. Staleek angrily spun about and approached him, leaning over the table to glare down on the surprised Kalish.
“And you, Vakali! Your race proudly boasts of your superior intelligence, yet you still haven’t offered any solution to stop these Cylons!”
It took a few precious microts for Secretary Vakali to find his voice. “My Emperor… I have a report… If you will.” He quickly gestured to a female Kalish standing just behind his chair. “My aide is prepared to give it…”
Emperor Staleek lifted his gaze to the small woman and nodded. Hoping to finally better understand this new enemy that they never heard of three weekens ago and had so far proven to be nearly unbeatable, he moved to return to his seat.
As he did, the Kalish female leaned down to whisper angrily into Vakali’s ear, “I’m not ready!”
“Just do it, Sikozu!” He hissed back under his breath. “Give him something or he might have one of us killed!”
With a faint sigh of resignation, Sikozu glared furiously at her Kalish leader one last time before moving to stand before the war council. She removed a small sphere from her belt and placed it on the floor. Standing back up, she touched a control on her bracelet. A second later, the sphere glowed and a life size projection of a Cylon Centurion appeared above it.
“This is what we are fighting,” Sikozu started. “From observations and wreckage recovered from the previous battles, this is the backbone of the military force that are waging war on us. It is nothing more than a ruthless killing machine with a heavily reinforced chassis. This chassis is resistant to all but the heaviest energy or projectile weaponry.
“It is powered by an incredibly sophisticated fusion power cell and each machine can scan a wide range of frequencies, including electromagnetic, infra-red and ultraviolet. They are well armed and possess incredible strength, far greater than the strongest Scarran. Despite this and the level of technology used to build these machines, their processing centre is quite limited. I believe this was done deliberately to keep the machines from thinking on their own. Their builders might have feared their own creation could possibly turn on them.
“Cylons like this one can carry out basic functions, functions which enable them to fight and even pilot ships, but they can’t operate on their own independently for long periods without oversight. Now, there are two Cylons that we currently know of, Silver and Gold. The silver models are the grunts, soldiers if you will. The gold models are exactly the same in construction, except that they have greater processing capacity, which makes them the equivalent to officers. They issue orders to their silver counterparts, but still their programming is very rudimentary. That means there must be even more advanced models that control them…”
“And how is that supposed to help us in the mean time?” War Minister Ahkna interrupted. “We need the means to defeat them on the battlefield.”
Sikozu bowed her head politely. “I was getting to that, War Minister Ahkna. If we could find and capture these advanced models who are directing their silver and gold Cylons, we might be able to gain valuable information and intelligence on Cylon command and control.”
“What are we doing ‘now’ to stop them?” Emperor Staleek questioned. He wanted answers, and so far he was getting nothing but more talk.
“We have several new weapons in the development stages that will be more effective in penetrating their armor and the defence fields about their ships,” Sikozu said.
“How long before can we deploy these weapons in enough numbers?” Ahkna asked.
Sikozu couldn’t lie. “Four weekens.”
General Rahzaro almost erupted in sarcastic laughter. “Half of the sector will be overrun by the time we get these supposed weapons! I thought you Kalish were ‘smart’?”
Sikozu sneered back at the Charrid General. “And I thought that you Charrids were supposed to be fierce warriors and not cowardly Hynerians that break wind when frightened.”
“You dare call us cowards!!” Rahzaro.
“I thought the recording we just witnessed clearly showed that,” Sikozu gloated with a smile.
Rahzaro snarled and started to rise from his chair when Emperor Staleek’s voice boomed loudly,
“Enough! I want immediate results both on the battlefield and in finding measures to defeat the Cylons! It is bad enough that we are facing a powerful enemy, but now the Peacekeepers have learned of our misfortune and Commandant Grayza will be arriving soon to exploit it.” He glared at the people before him. “I want new strategies and technology to break these machines who have invaded our space. If not, I will have to settle on breaking you instead.”
Without another word, Emperor Staleek rose from his seat and left the council chamber under the escort of his four Scarran honour guards.
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