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Post by Brie on Apr 27, 2005 12:17:31 GMT -6
The fertilizer tanks were well guarded. Brie could make out at least ten of Pierce’s supporters. They were all armed. It didn’t matter that Brie’s group only had three lasers. One shot too close to the fertilizer and a lot of damage would be done, even without the bomb.
“We don’t need no lasers,” one of the workers said. “We’ll just take them the same way we took Amy’s mother’s party.”
It sounded very strange to Brie to hear that. Amy already had a mother, Abby. “It’s going to be hard,” she pointed out. “There’s a lot more of them, and since we’ve broken up into two groups, a lot less of us.”
“It might get them to turn away from the tanks,” Jeb added.
“But they won’t have set for stun, like we did,” Logan reminded them.
Kyla rather shyly spoke up. “See that one woman there, the tall one? She has a rather large, painful chemical burn on her arm. Maybe we could use that to disarm her somehow.”
“Do you know about anyone else?” Brie asked.
Kyla described the injuries that she knew about on several of Pierce’s followers. Since they knew they were short on time, they quickly came up with a plan. As some of the workers left to get into position a screeching noise filled the entire ship, followed by a booming voice. A voice that Brie knew only too well. “Well done, my children.” Pierce’s voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing. His followers looked up in awe. “Most of you have been faithful to the end. For you, my chosen, the time of enlightenment has come. Thank you for your selfless service to me. It’s time for your reward. I’ll see you on the other side, my loyal, unwavering, devoted children.” Just like that, the voice was gone.
The group guarding the tanks all dropped their lasers and reached into their pockets. Each and every one of them was smiling. They pulled out small vials and drank the contents, and in a matter of microns fell to the ground. Kyla absentmindedly reached for her own vial, but Brie grabbed it out of her hand and smashed it on the ground. “What’s going on?” Brie asked.
Kyla suddenly seemed very troubled. “I can’t believe he actually did it. It’s all my fault, I stole the ingredients from the Med Lab.”
Star had already approached the fallen followers. “They’re all dead,” she announced.
Brie placed a hand on Kyla’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Kyla. It’s Pierce’s. He’s the one who got all these people to follow him, and he’s the one who just gave the order for their deaths.”
“But...”
“No,” Brie said. “I’m just glad that you saw him for what he really is, or else you’d be dead now too.”
While Brie was trying to console Kyla the Agro Ship workers looked near the fertilizer tanks, but found no traces of a bomb. As the group began to move again Brie hoped that Star was right and that it would be at the main recirculator pump. She knew she didn't have much strength left.
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Post by Brie on Apr 27, 2005 12:23:35 GMT -6
On the Agro Ship’s bridge Captain Suttir and Dorn listened to Pierce’s announcement, wondering what it meant. A centon later Dorn noticed something. “Captain, one of the airlocks just opened and closed.”
“What?” Suttir replied.
“Very deliberately,” Dorn told him. “If I didn’t know better I’d think that someone wanted to make sure that we noticed it. The strangest part is that the airlock is right next to where Pierce's signal originated.”
Suttir shook his head. “That is strange. Once things calm down and we figure out who we can trust I’ll have someone go check it out.”
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Post by Brie on Apr 28, 2005 5:16:14 GMT -6
Of course the main recirculator pump wasn’t anywhere near the fertilizer tanks. To Brie it seemed like they were crossing the entire ship. Several people down the line, Brie could still see Turner. She tried to get closer to him, out of curiosity, just to see if he might speak to her. But every time she moved he was able to stay the same distance away. She knew he wasn’t really there, but he seemed to be becoming more real with each step. She knew that wasn’t a good sign. She doubted that she would leave the Agro Ship alive.
It was obvious that Pierce’s “announcement” had had quite an effect. There were small clusters dead bodies, empty vials lying next to them, all over the place. Brie wondered what had become of Pierce. It didn’t make sense, if all the people who followed him were dead how did he expect to make it off the Agro Ship? Brie knew better than to press Kyla for information, she was still visibly upset over the suicides. Brie doubted that Kyla knew anything anyway.
After a few centons that felt to Brie like centars, they arrived at the main recirculator pump. The other half of the Agro Ship workers were nervously standing around something. It was immediately obvious that they had found the bomb.
“Let me take a look,” Brie ordered. She wasn’t all that surprised by what she saw. It was made up of fairly common items, which was probably why it was so easy for someone to make it without being noticed. Everything was connected with wires, but they weren’t color-coded like the shows on IFB. Brie knew that if she tried to do anything to it the whole thing would probably blow. Upon closer examination she noticed that there was a timer, set for less than half a centar. “Frack,” she said louder than she had intended. She thought for a micron. Since it had arrived on a shuttle from the Callisto it had to be fairly stable. The shuttle! Besides the vipers from the warriors who had arrived it would be the fastest thing on the ship. It was equipped with autopilot. They could place the bomb on the shuttle and fly it away from the fleet, similar to the way that they had opened the doors back inside the Cylon moon. It could work.
“Okay, we need to move this thing,” Brie said.
“I thought you said you could diffuse it,” Star reminded her.
“It’s on a timer,” was Brie’s reply. “There’s not enough time. We need to get it on the shuttle, the one that Pierce arrived in. We’ll let this thing blow in space. Lieutenant,” she said to Logan, “I want you to head back to the bridge. Fill Captain Suttir in on what has happened, including the suicides. Tell him to allow the shuttle to launch.”
“Yes, Major,” Logan said. She took off at a run.
“Logan,” Brie called after her, “if you find the two viper pilots, tell them to meet us at the shuttle.”
As Logan left, Brie started to organize the bomb’s trip to the shuttle. Four men at a time would carry it, switching off with others whenever anyone grew tired. They had to do it quickly but carefully.
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Post by Amy81 on Apr 28, 2005 10:00:02 GMT -6
It didn't take long for JustinB, Ange, and Dolet to track down the farmers who'd reached the bridge, and then set off again in search of Pierce and Brie. These farmers had proven to be far less fanatic about Brie, and it became apparent right away that they weren't plotting any revenge. They cared more about just stopping the threat to their crops and the fleet's food supply.
With JustinB and Ange in the lead, the group was headed down a corridor when they heard footsteps up ahead.
"It's a warrior!" Dolet shouted as the person came into view and stopped, leery of the mob. "Lt. Logan!" Dolet called out.
"I don't recognize her" JustinB said in a low voice, weapon cautiously at the ready, "How do you know her?"
Dolet's face grew bright red. "I know OF her, Major. She's in gold squadron."
JustinB looked at Dolet with amusement as he lowered his weapon and Logan approached. "Lieutenant" he said to Logan, "you are a sight for sore eyes."
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Post by LucianG on Apr 29, 2005 5:41:27 GMT -6
Her dream ended abruptly at the sound. Pell rolled over and swatted the comm unit, “Yeah, what do you want?”
“Systems Programmer Pell? Since the ship is on alert, I tried to reach you at your duty station, but was surprised to find you away from your post.”
“Who in the Nine Hells is this?” she asked, with a touch of anger in her voice.
“THIS, Sergeant,” growled Lucian, using her military rank after detecting that edge, “is Major Lucian. Now, explain yourself before I call Security and have you dragged to your post, or worse yet, the Brig.”
“I’m sorry, Sir,” said Pell, immediately sounding more alert. “See, Sir, I have a complete setup here in my quarters that’s seamlessly tied in with my regular duty station. Since this was my sleep period, I’m working on my terminal here. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Quite possibly, Sergeant. I’m on my way to your quarters to go over this assignment with you. I’ll be there in a few centons. Lucian, out.”
Pell rolled back over, and looked at the arm in front of her. He was a lot hairier up close and personal than he had looked from a distance. She shook him once, twice, and then more violently. “Tech,” she said, as she couldn’t remember his name, “you have one centon to be dressed, out of my room, and on your way to your duty station, or we both may be touring the Brig from an insider’s perspective.”
The man, his chest, shoulders, and even back covered with that hair, opened his eyes partly at her as he smiled, “The only thing I want to see up close and personal again right now is you.” He started to reach for her, until she gave him a powerful shove that sent him off the edge of the bed, crashing onto the floor. Pell almost bounded out of the bed, grabbed the Tech’s clothes, and moved to the outer chamber where she opened the entry door and gave them a toss out into the corridor. “Go,” she said, as she thought “and don’t plan on coming back,” giving the man a none-too-gentle swat on the naked rear as he passed by. She watched him bend over to start grabbing his clothes as the door slid closed. “Well,” she thought, “maybe sometime….”
* * *
Lucian, having passed along all the information that they had available, had requested permission to pursue a potential lead in the effort to help Captain Amy. There was still no firm word from the Agro Ship on the status of the bomb that was believed to have been aboard. Commander Sheba started to assent, but then said, “Lucian, hold on. Captain Amy is important, but if there’s an explosion on the ship, we may need you here, or possibly even there, to help with damage assessment, coordinate damage control, or even direct the repairs. Captain Amy will have to wait.”
“Understood, Commander,” replied Lucian. He hoped Amy’s weakened body would hold out until they could figure out the way to restore her memories from the Cylon discs. Silently, he thought, “Hold on, Amy. Hold on.” Then he remembered…Sergeant Pell would have to hold on, a little longer, too.
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Post by Brie on Apr 30, 2005 9:06:30 GMT -6
As quickly and with as much care as possible, the group made their way to the shuttle. Brie doubted that the bomb would explode from just being carried, but part of her was scared that Pierce was watching in the shadows, remote in his hand, waiting for the right centon to send them all to the Great Beyond.
The slower pace suited Brie just fine. She was walking next to Jeb, who seemed to have started trusting her a little bit more. “How did you get away from Pierce’s followers?” she asked him.
“Ange,” Jeb answered quickly. “I always knew that he was a great guy, but the man is an absolute hero. He was able to alert the viper pilots, and then with their help he was able to get us free. I hope that when this is over that you’ll see that he gets a medal.”
“My word doesn’t exactly carry much weight anymore,” Brie said, remembering for the first time in a while that if she survived and returned to the Callisto she’d be back in the brig. “But they take recommendations from civilians as well. If you write up a report of what Ange did, I’m sure they’ll take it into consideration.”
“I’ll do that,” Jeb said.
“Me too,” a woman added. She spoke up louder. “Hey, everybody, let’s all write recommendations for Ange to get the medal that he deserves. He saved all of our lives.”
“Without Ange we’d all be dead!” someone added.
“He single-handedly drove away Pierce’s supporters!” another person shouted.
“If it weren’t for Ange, Pierce would be in charge of the fleet by now!” someone else yelled.
Brie knew that it wasn’t JUST because of Ange that Pierce had been defeated, but she decided not to say anything. The group seemed to need something to focus on, and making a superhero out of one of their own was certainly better than them yelling for her blood. And from what she had been told, Ange was indeed a hero. Captain Suttir had spoken highly of him as well. She also vaguely remembered Amy speaking fondly of him, he told her stories when she was growing up. She hoped that she would live long enough to meet him, but Turner’s continued presence made her doubt that she would.
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Post by JustinB on May 1, 2005 7:28:07 GMT -6
"There will be time for a reunion afterwards" I said in annoyed tone of voice. 'Lieutenant, can you fill me in on what's going on?"
"First things first Major. I need one of you to launch and inform the Callisto that we are about to launch a shuttle carrying a bomb. We need to keep all traffic away from it."
Turning to Dolet and Ange I said, "Dolet, launch and inform the Callisto. Ange, go with him please just in case he runs into anyone unfriendly. Then unlock the door to the repair bay. Make your way back to the bridge and inform Catain Suttir of the situation."
Turning my attention to the Gold Squadron Lieutenant, "I'm JustinB and you are?"
"Logan." she replied.
"Logan, I was on my way to help out Brie. There are some lunatic agro-workers who want to use her as daggit bait. Have you seen her?"
"Actually Major, she sent me to find the viper pilots. If you follow me we could use your help."
I followed Logan through the agro ship. Up ahead I heard a clang as if something heavy was dropped. As I come around the corner I saw a sight for sore eyes.
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Post by Brie on May 2, 2005 5:15:35 GMT -6
They were getting closer to the shuttle when the men carrying the bomb stumbled and fell. Everyone held their breath, but nothing happened. The thought that it might be a dud crossed Brie’s mind. What if there was a different bomb, somewhere else on the ship? No, Star had told her where it would do the most damage. Pierce wanted not only for people to die, but also for his takeover attempt to have lasting consequences. This had to be it.
A sound came from behind, people approaching. Brie doubted that it was more of Pierce’s followers, most of them seemed to be dead, but she did worry that it was another group of angry Agro Ship workers. She turned and noticed right away that it was Lieutenant Logan, with Major JustinB. For some reason she wasn’t surprised to see him. “Brie, are you okay?” were the first words out of his mouth.
“Fine, it’s just a scratch,” she lied. She noticed that Turner had disappeared. “Lieutenant, did you fill him in on the plans?”
“Yes, Major,” Logan replied.
“We’re almost there,” Brie said. “The shuttle is up ahead.” They had finally made it to the shuttle with the bomb. It was placed and secured in the passenger area. Brie figured it didn’t really matter where on the shuttle it was, but the faster they did things the better. She ordered everyone out of the shuttle, an order that they didn’t seem to mind obeying. Everybody wanted to get as far away from the impending explosion as possible. JustinB and Logan were to organize small groups to round up any of Pierce’s surviving followers, and to search for Pierce himself. Somehow Brie just couldn’t believe that he had swallowed the contents of one of those vials. A few people, Jeb and Star included, stayed behind, in case they were needed.
Alone in the shuttle and as quickly as possible Brie started to set the controls for the autopilot. Unexpectedly, time seemed to stop. Brie glanced out the shuttle window, no one was moving. She couldn’t understand what was going on. “Lying to a fellow squadron leader, that’s just not like you.” Sitting in the co-pilot’s chair was Turner.
Brie tried to continue what she was doing, but none of the controls would work. “What was I supposed to say, that I think I’m bleeding to death, it hurts to breathe, and that my dead husband has been following me around for centons? And I’m not a squadron leader anymore, remember?”
Turner’s face grew serious. “Besides the vipers, which you wouldn’t be able to fly at the micron, this shuttle is the fastest transportation off of the Agro Ship. It’s your best chance for survival.”
“I know that,” Brie replied. “Most of the vehicles here are delivery ships, which are notoriously slow. By the time a ship fast enough to save me gets here and gets me to a doctor, I’ll be gone. But a lot of other lives will have been saved.”
“So you’re saying that you’re choosing death over life?” Turner asked.
It seemed like a strange question. “I’m saying that I willingly give up my own life, so that others can live. But you already know that, Turner. You were there on the bridge, when I let Pierce shoot me three fracking times. This decision is no different than that.”
“That’s what they wanted to know.” Turner smiled. “And Brie? You might want to watch your language.”
“They?” Brie looked around. Time had started again, and Turner was gone. “Turner?” Brie shook her head, finished programming the autopilot, then left the shuttle in a hurry, sure that she was loosing her mind.
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Post by Amy81 on May 2, 2005 6:44:36 GMT -6
Dolet and Ange made their way back to the service bay where the two vipers were. They met no resistance along the way, but encountered many bodies, the results of Pierce's final order.
Ange unlocked the door, and they entered, heading straight for Dolet's older model viper. For the first time in a long time, Ange allowed himself a good long look at the ship.
Dolet noticed him placing his hand lightly on the viper. "You used to fly one?" he asked as he climbed up and swung a leg into the cockpit.
Ange let out a quick laugh. "Yeah. You could say that." He turned toward JustinB's scarlet class viper. "What in the name of the colonies..."
Dolet laughed this time as he sat in down in the cockpit. "That's the future of viper design, apparently! I'd love to be flying that one..."
"Me too" Ange said wistfully. "Me too."
"Better stand clear Ange" Dolet said as he fired up his engines and began to taxi around toward the exit. "Thank you for all your help. We couldn't have done it without you."
Ange just nodded and backed away. At a safe distance he watched the viper shoot out into space, then he turned, looking at the scarlet class viper. All sorts of memories came flooding back to him, things he hadn't thought about in yahrens.
* * * In space, Dolet immediately opened a channel to the Callisto. "Ensign Dolet to Callisto, come in. There's going to be a shuttle launching from the Agro ship. A bomb will be aboard it. Steer all traffic clear of that shuttle!"
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Post by Brie on May 2, 2005 15:39:57 GMT -6
The shuttle, autopilot set, took off, carrying away the bomb. Someone had been able to tap into the radar system and jury-rig a monitor, so everyone there was able to watch as the shuttle flew safely away from the fleet. A wide path had been cleared for it, whoever was in the viper had gotten the point across. After almost ten centons, the shuttle exploded into a million pieces of space debris.
“That could have been us,” Jeb said out loud, echoing the sentiments of everyone watching.
“If it wasn’t for Ange,” another added.
Brie had no idea what this Ange person had to do with the bomb exploding safely on the shuttle, but didn’t mention it.
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