BATTLESTAR URANTIA - "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (EP. 013)
CONTINUED...
The massive volley of missiles sailed out into space, from each of the five Cylon base Ships, slicing tens of dozens of smoky white streaks across the starscape, as projectiles raced towards their target... the Battlestar Urantia.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
CIC
The ship was violently rocked, with multiple weapons hits, as Admiral Hindri and Colonel Azaire held onto the table for balance, looking up at the DRADIS.
"All engines, maximum burn... bring us around, minus fifty degrees starboard... full long-range dispersion fire to target the closest Base Ship... launch Vipers!" Hindri shouted out, as Grae picked up the CIC phone.
"Launch... launch them all." she began, speaking into the phone. "All civilian vessels, initiate FTL jump to emergency jump coordinates." she said, placing the phone back down, and looking up to Admiral Hindri. "What do we do now, Sir?" she asked.
"Now... we fight." Hindri replied, with steely resolve, and fire in his eyes.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
The pair of Pan-Galactic liners, known as "The Twins", sailed alongside the large Battlestar, as two FTL flashrings swept over them, vanishing them from sight, just as the mighty Urantia came about, opening full cannon fire, and filling the sky once again with ammunition tracers, just as the many squadrons of Urantia Vipers began to come screaming out of their launch tubes, racing towards the Cylon ships.
CIC
The desk shook with another missile hit, as Miss Zamfir called out some data to Hindri.
"Sir, the fleet's away!" she called, as Hindri looked back to the monitors.
"Tell Ironstar and Starfreeze they're clear to throw everything they've got at those bastards! Bring us in as close as we can get... forward Viper wings, concentrate on disabling the main Cylon guns... we'll handle the Raiders!" Hindri ordered.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
The mighty Battlestar began to sail forward, flanked by the massive Omironian Warships, Ironstar and Starfreeze, as all ships began to let loose on the Cylon Basestars, their bullets and missiles sailing towards the massive black Cylon ships, and striking their hulls.
LEAD CYLON BASESTAR
HYBRID CHAMBER
In the illuminated pool of milky liquid, the young female Hybrid looked up towards the ceiling, her eyes open, as her lips recited the thoughts and command streaming through her mind...
"The children of the one reborn shall find their own country... no ceremonies are necessary. Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream. All this has happened before, and will happen again..."
EARTH
The proud and tall statue towered over the water, it's right hand proudly holding up a torch, to beacon newcomers to the land, as it clutched a book close to its side, in its left arm.
Suddenly, in the distance behind the statue, a series of massive clouds began to rise up... mushroom clouds, that began to grow ever taller, expanding, as they filled the sky.
As the wakes of the many thermonuclear blasts began to reach the statue, causing it to break apart and obliterate, a voice could be heard... the voice of an old man...
"So is the nature of the cycle. So is the nature of the plan. For life to begin out there, it must first begin here... and for it to begin here, it must begin out there..."
CAPRICA
The dozens of thermonuclear clouds rose ominously above the skyline of Caprica City, from the mountains, as the shockwaves expanded outward, leveling everything in their wakes, reducing the whole of what was once a vast and majestic city, to nothing but mere rubble and dust, as another voice could be heard... a woman's voice...
"The city devours the land, the people devour the city... The children of the one reborn shall find their own country. Throughout history the nexus between man and machine has spun some of the most dramatic, compelling and entertaining fiction..."
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
The Urantia led the trio of warships ever onward, towards the Cylon ships, firing all thew way, with everything they had, as the Hybrid's voice continued to make itself heard...
"But now the time is nigh to close the book. The final chapter is written. End of line."
LEAD CYLON BASESTAR
HYBRID CHAMBER
Inside the pool, the Hybrid's eyes grew wide, and she thrust her body upwards a bit, as her face wore a look of both total pain, and complete ecstasy, as she gave her final command...
"JUMP!" she cried out, the volume of her yell filling the room.
In space, two of the Cylon Basestars were engulfed by the FTL flashring, vanishing, but for a moment, for they soon returned...
The two Cylon Base Ships emerged from FTL, in a fast drift, DIRECTLY in front of the two Omironian Warships.
Instantly, the four ships began to collide, impacting with one another, the hulls of the ships intermingling with one another, as the colliding ships began to slowly break apart...
Suddenly, all four ships exploded violently apart, in twin mammoth explosions, that sent not only massive chunks of debris and fire out into space, but also produced twin shockwave spheres, which quickly expanded outward...
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
The mighty ship began to slowly come about, just as the twin shockwave spheres began to wash over the ship, the impact causing vast amounts of hull panels to be stripped from Urantia, as numerous open gashes began to appear on the sides of the hull, as bits of the ship were stripped away.
CIC
The various alarms blared in the CIC, as sparks erupted from almost every console and station, and numbers of sickening groaning sounds could be heard, working their way through the walls and bulkheads, as the DRADIS fritzed on and off.
"GODS!" Grae shouted out, looking to what was left of the DRADIS. "Both warships... frakking gone..!" she exclaimed, as Hindri looked to her.
"Can we jump?" Hindri called out.
"Aye, Sir... for the moment!" Miss Zamfir called back.
"Recall our birds... we're getting out of here." Hindri said to Grae, as she nodded, shellshocked, and picked the phone up, to deliver the orders...
"All birds, come on home... combat landings... repeat, all birds, come on home, on the double... prepare for combat jump!" Grae called.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
In space, the Cylon missiles continued to sail towards Urantia, striking the hull, and breaking large sections of hull away, as countless flak bursts filled the area around the ship, as it tried with all its military might left, to fend off the attack long enough for the Vipers to return home, as wing after wing shot back towards the flight pods.
CIC
Grae looked up to the DRADIS, as she reported to the Admiral.
"All our birds are back, Sir!" she stated, as the Admiral looked to the monitor.
"JUMP!" he called out.
Just then, everything in sight seemed to collapse in upon itself, as a brilliant flash of golden light filled everything in sight.
OMIRON
With a brilliant flash of golden light, and a very loud bang, the Battlestar Urantia emerged from FTL, into normal space again. But all was not well...
Instantly, upon emergence, the ship began to visibly convulse, and twist, pieces of the hull breaking off, as the entire ship began to wobble... the structural framework of the ship had been compromised.
CIC
On the command deck, the entire room was in almost total darkness, as fires began to engulf almost every station, as people tried to extinguish them, as the loud alarms filled the room, as the smoke began to rise and fill the air.
Suddenly, a massive series of groaning/quaking sounds was heard, and with a loud snap, Hindri and Grae looked up at the supports for the DRADIS stack, as suddenly, one set of supports broke off, and the entire DRADIS cluster dropped down almost a foot.
Across from Hindri, Grae put the phone down back onto the table, and looked to the Admiral, her face ghostly white, and her eyes wide.
"What... what is it!" Hindri asked.
"Sir... that was the Chief... there's a buildup in the FTL core... he can't circumvent it. And we have lost ALL of our structural frame from Section Beta through to the aft lateral supports... Sir... we've just lost over half the ship... all decks within that area have caved in on themselves." she said, softly, yet with total fear.
Admiral Hindri slowly looked to Grae, the light of the fires reflecting in his glasses, as he absorbed her words... slowly and silently standing straight, as he looked to the command table.
Slowly, his features began to darken somewhat, and his lips began to quiver into a grimace, as he clenched his teeth, balling his hands into fists.
"FRAK! GODSDAMMIT... FRAK!" he shouted, as loud as he could, as he slammed both fists onto the table, as hard as he could.
He then put all his effort into calming himself, and after a few deep breaths, looked back to Grae.
"Then it's over... this is where we jumped, and this is where we stay." he stated.
"Sir?" Grae asked.
"This ship is broken. Urantia is dying. We're in orbit of our new home... Omiron. This is where it ends. We have a world here with established industry, and technology." Hindri said, staring Grae in the eyes.
"Aye, Sir." she replied, softly, as the Admiral picked up the phone.
"To anyone on Urantia who can hear me, this is the Admiral. We're abandoning the ship. All hands, to evac Raptors and escape Shuttles. I repeat... we're abandoning Urantia... all hands to evac stations, on the double." Hindri ordered, as he looked down to the table in sorrow, placing the phone back down.
Grae began to lead everyone out of the CIC, as she turned to face Hindri, calling to him.
"Sir... you're coming!" she shouted out, as flames suddenly erupted up, in front of her.
Admiral Hindri slowly looked up, and turned to face Grae, pausing for a moment, as he finally began to walk to her, slowly.
As he began to clear the central area of the CIC, a loud series of snaps was heard, and he turned, just in time to see the entire DRADIS cluster come smashing down onto the command table, falling through the table in a shower of sparks and glass, as fire erupted all over the room, causing glass panels to shatter and blow out.
As Grae motioned for Hindri to follow her, Hindri paused, and stood tall, facing the command table, and saluted the ship that he had called home for so many years, as his mind began to replay a flood of memories...
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
PORT HANGAR DECK
10 YEARS AGO
A young and beardless Mister Hindri led the formation of Urantia crewmembers assembled on the flight deck, as the main hatch to the Colonial Shuttle opened, allowing Commander Standish to exit the craft, and step onto the flight deck, as Hindri and the crew saluted him, while Standish returned the salute.
"At ease." Standish stated, as he walked over to Hindri, who just now began to break his salute.
"Welcome aboard, Commander Ada-- I mean, Commander Standish, Sir!" Hindri stated, silently cursing himself for frakking up the Commander's name. The XO had been right... Tyler Standish really did bear a striking resemblance to Bill Adama.
"Tell me who you are, and where my XO is, and I'll forget you made that mistake." Standish offered, looking Hindri in the eyes.
"Sir... of course, Sir... sorry, Sir." Hindri began, like a schoolchild put on the spot. "The name's Hindri, Sir. I'm your new Officer of the Watch. Colonel Styles is still on Virgon, visiting family, Sir." he stated.
"I see..." Standish began, nodding. "You got a first name, Mister Hindri?" he asked.
"Aye, Sir... that I do, Sir. But if you don't mind, Sir... I prefer just Hindri." he replied.
Standish's features softened slightly, as he turned, and began walking, with Hindri at his side.
"Well then, Mister Hindri... as I'm sure you've been told, and have noticed... people in the fleet seem to get a kick out of saying I look like Adama. Let me tell you... I'm not Adama. I'm Tyler Standish... Commander Tyler Standish, of this Battlestar Urantia. So long as you remember that... we'll get along fine." he said, pausing, as he turned to Hindri, offering his hand. "Welcome to Urantia, Mister Hindri. She's a grand old lady, and you'll love her." he offered.
"Sir... Thank you, Sir!" Hindri said, smiling, as he shook Standish's hand, as Standish now began to walk away again, as Hindri added something. "I uh, like the mustache, Sir... looks like the one Ad--" he began, but then realized his mistake, and cut himself off, biting his own lip, as Standish stopped in his tracks, and broke a slight grimace, at the near-mention of Adama.
"It looks like the one Adama had?" Standish said, facing away from Hindri, as Hindri looked to Standish, from behind him.
"Aye, Sir... sorry, Sir." Hindri offered, truly apologetic.
"Frak." Standish whispered to himself, as he began to walk away again.
Admiral Hindri finally broke his salute, giving one last look to the CIC.
"Here's to a grand old lady... she truly was your ship, Tyler." he said, as he turned, and followed Grae out of the room, as fiery beams came falling to the ground, where he had stood, moments before.
BATTLESTAR URANTIA - BSG-53
In space, the proud old Battlestar sailed through space, as hordes of evac Raptors and Colonial Shuttles came racing out of the flight pods, and began to scatter amongst the fleet, away from the dying Battlestar.
As the Battlestar rid herself of all the evac ships, the Urantia finally gave in to all the abuse she had taken for so many years, and as she sailed over and past the vast formation of civilian ships that she had so bravely protected for so long, as a massive series of internal explosions worked their way to the outer hull, and with a bright flash of white light, her FTL core went critical, and the Battlestar Urantia blew apart, in a colossal explosion, sending the flight pods, and massive chunks of the ship hurtling out in space, in every direction, over the blue and green globe of Omiron below.
TO BE CONTINUED...
