[WarMachine]

Part 5

FIVE JUMPS OUT FROM HETAIRA BASE

12th Day of Atun, Yahren 7348

The previous eighteen sectars had passed with alternating periods of seeming ennui and maddening activity.

The Medusa's survivors and the crew of Hetaira Base had worked long, hard sectons to repair the Medusa's battle damage and the damage to the Jump drive caused by the cracked Tylium fuel pellets. The Hetaira technicians had scrapped only fourteen of the Vipers relegated to Beta Landing Bay, but had been able to replace seven of them from stocks inside the asteron base.

There had been a series of back and forth message relays between Cyrus and Adama, the only member of the Council of the Twelve who held the military rank of Commander, concerning Molokay and the 5th Fleet's destruction. Adama had advised Cyrus of the impending peace treaty - and his reservations about it. Cyrus couldn't have agreed more; it both smelled and felt like a trap, and Cyrus couldn't understand why President Adar was falling for it.

In fact, this whole peace conference affair had begun to give Cyrus nightmares...a fact he kept strictly to himself - along with the knowledge of the 'peace' conference. The whole affair gave him a very bad feeling.

He had kept knowledge of the conference from everyone except Colonels Hala and Blaine(the commander of Hetaira Base), and Commander Marius of the Attack Transport "Myrmidon", the only other ship known to have survived the slaughter at Molokay.

The Myrmidon had dodged through an asteron field to get to a jump point, and had come face to face with a Cylon Baseship -- which she had promptly destroyed with a barrage of concussion missles, as well as several Solenite mines laid in her wake. She had taken a circuitous course to get to Hetaira Base to resupply her troops with food; she had appeared just as the Medusa was preparing to clear the bases' gantry.

The Hoplon-class Attack Transports were somewhat similar to the Columbia-class Battlestars, in that they were about as long, if a little wider, as a Columbia and in that they had launch and landing bays identical to the Columbia's, but the similarities ended there.

Looking for all creation like a pair of aquanities* welded together by a massive belt of armor, the Hoplon massed nearly three times as much as a Columbia -- and was designed to land on a plantary surface. It was designed to ferry up to three thousand combat troops, one hundred ground vehicles, a full squadron of thirty-two Viper fighters and thirty-six Mark X Assault Shuttles. It was also equipped with planetary bombarment missiles and nuclear space mines.

Cyrus was delighted to discover that the Myrmidon had survived; bringing her home in trail would be a welcome surprise to all the Colonies. He had delayed the Medusa's departure just long enough to have the Myrmidon fully resupplied and rearmed before starting out for home.

*****

"Dragon One, Falcon Five...Sir, I've got something on my long range band."

"Copy, Falcon Five...What have you got?"

"Uhhhh.....Warbook is tagging it as a Solar-class maintenace hauler...Sir, I think she's in trouble..."

Antipadre swiftly twisted his scanners to match the scan area of his wingman. They had been patrolling forward of the Medusa, ensuring that the way to the next jump-point was clear. Presently, his scanners revealed the same data his young wingman was seeing.

"Good call, Sergeant Pelladon - you just might make a decent Viper-driver, yet," he said good-naturedly. Pelladon was alright, and actually not a bad pilot; it wasn't his fault that he'd not had a lot of time in a cockpit before going into battle for real. "Send a tight-beam back to the Medusa and hit your turbos."

"Yes Sir!"

Antipadre punched his turbos, and drove towards the maintenance ship, Pelladon close behind him. Hurtling forward at a large fraction of lightspeed, the Vipers quickly closed the distance. At about one light-micron out, Antipadre's systems detected an incoming tightbeam transmission from the limping ship.

As soon as Antipadre digested the message - and recovered from the shock - he tightbeamed it to the Medusa...


In the cockpit of his Viper, Pelladon was nervously fiddling with switches and dials, trying to decrypt the tightbeam he had recieved. Frak, felgercarb and mong, he swore to himself. He should have paid more attention to the higher-instance commo classes. Suddenly, his voice-com went live.

"Pelladon," Antipadre said, his voice tight and tense, "listen to me very carefully: stay with the Sunfire; you can communicate with her on the Theta band. Her master's name is Doughal. Keep your transmissions as brief as possible. Under no circumstances are you to leave this ship, understood?"

Pelladon swallowed; Antipadre's voice was deathly stern and quiet; he had never heard the Caprican speak that way. "Yes, Sir," he managed to say.

With that, Antipadre kicked on his turbos, and acclerated back along the Sunfire's trail. Pelladon finally looked at the Sunfire closely - she looked to have been a newer ship, but was covered with ugly scars from multiple laser hits; two of her laser cannon mounts had been destroyed, and she looked like she had a slow Solium leak in her aft section.

Not for the first time in his short life, Pelladon wondered what he had gotten himself into.


Aboard the Medusa, some 4 centars later, the senior staff met in the Main Briefing Hall, behind the bridge. In addition to the Medusa's officers, the senior members of the Myrmidon's crew - Commander Marius, Colonel Ashoka and Captains Inkatha and Chun - were present, as were the Sailing Master of the Sunfire, Captain Doughal, and one other.

Tall and gray-haired, yet supple and lithe, the statueque Aerian woman wore the dark blue uniform of a Commander...with the Medallion of Kobol at her throat, signifying that she had once been a member of the Council of the Twelve. Her uniform was dirty, and torn in places; the laser pistol at her side only emphasized the severity of her appearance.

*Aquaniti - A small, two-person fishing skiff