FicWad

IX

On the bridge of the William Adama, Lee was keeping abreast of the situation. The prisoner had been groggy for the last twenty-four hours, as the effects of the tranquilizer began to wear off. The Doctor thought he'd be good to interrogate by the end of the day.

Lee was just getting ready to step away from CIC for a few minutes, when General Grayson's voice boomed over the speakers, "Adama Actual, Grayson."

"Grayson, Actual, SitRep General?"

"Sir, our Special Ops team to the North has found the Raptor." He could hear the grimness in his General's voice.

"Any sign of our people?" The bridge crew held their breaths.

"Yes, sir, two KIA, one unaccounted for." Lee felt his stomach knot up. "Confirm the two KIA as Lieutenant Londhal and Lieutenant Marisio." Everyone in CIC who was sitting at that moment were instantly deflated by the news and physically slumped in their seats.

"I copy, General, two KIA, one MIA", he would never get used to losing his people, and he thanked the gods for that. "Any sign of the Captain?"

"Negative sir, but it's a good bet he may be on the run. We didn't find any Dog Tags on the two KIA. Nick probably grabbed them before high-tailing it."

"Copy, Kendrick, will vector Raptors to pick up our people, and to secure any items off the dead bird, Adama out."

He looked over at Brevin Cross and didn't have to say a word to his XO. Cross left, rounded up two Marines so they could inform the families of the two dead pilots who had, like the Bond's, come aboard the Flagship. He didn't want to do this, but he would do his duty, out of respect for his fallen comrades.
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Kara, Blondie, and Sunshine had been on patrol and had heard the call about the KIA and one MIA. She was one of the closer Raptors in the area and vectored her bird to the crash site. She knew Nick was MIA, but she dreaded the moment nonetheless.

She landed and headed to Captain Dalbott, who was sitting on a tree trunk about twenty yards East of the crash site.

Kara saluted him, "Sir, Captain Thrace-Bond, reporting as ordered."

Dalbott smiled at her, despite the situation, "Has anyone ever gone from Admiral to Captain that fast, uh, Captain?" He was trying to relax Starbuck, who was, like all of them, none too happy with the situation.

"Could be, sir", she gave him a small smile, "you guys have any clue what you think happened to Nick?"

Dalbott shook his head, "None, really, Admiral", he slipped back toward her real rank, "We found some bloodstains about fifteen yards South of the Raptor. There's no way the KIA were out there-you'll see why when we grab their bodies, so Nick was at least wounded."

Kara then turned towards the unpleasant task at hand, "I've got some body-bags with us, and I'm going to transport their remains back to the Adama, sir."

"Thank you, Starbuck", he said, honoring his colleague, "It isn't pretty, but our people should be taken care of."

"They will be, Captain", she said with more grimness in her voice.

Sunshine and Blondie proceeded out with the body bags. Kara had taken a look at the remains of the two Officers. Like Dalbott, she had almost vomited but kept it together. And she could tell that Nick wasn't in there.

Dalbott's men put the remains in the body bags, and they came out of the hatch.

When they were visible, Kara came to attention, "Ten-Hut, render honors to Lieutenant Rick Londhal, and Lieutenant Annabel Marisio". Everyone came to rigid attention, saluting their fallen comrades. As the bodies were stored in the cargo hold of the Raptor, Kara saluted Captain Dalbott and started walking towards her bird. She stopped suddenly and looked around in all directions.

Where are you, little brother?
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After the three families onboard had been notified of the latest news, Lee headed down to Sick Bay to check on their prisoner. Now that he had two of his people, he wanted some answers.

Doctor Priva Patel had been told The Boss was coming. She got a quick update on their prisoner/patient, then waited for The Admiral.

She saluted him as he entered the area, "Admiral Adama, I heard the news about our people", she said sullenly, "it's terrible but it's also a relief, if you'll pardon me, Sir."

Lee nodded his head, "I know what you mean, Doctor. But we still have one out there." He turned toward where the prisoner was. "Condition?"

"He fully awake now. He's obviously scared but was very hungry, so we gave him plenty of water and he's had a good meal. He's ready to be interrogated."

Lee tried to keep the anger out of his eyes as he approached the man, but it wasn't easy. The prisoner saw him approaching and sat upright in his bed.

"I'm Admiral Lee Adama, Commander of the Battlestar William Adama, who the hell are you?"
The man actually looked defiant when Lee said that.

"You run the family business, is this the family Battlestar?" He said with a snort of laughter.

UED had rightfully abandoned any shred of torture being used when interrogating prisoners, but they knew, as Lee did, that the threat of being tortured could be a powerful tool.

Lee lunged forward and grab the man by his hospital gown, "Listen, you little frack", his face mere inches from the other man's face, "our Raptor was shot down; two of our people are dead, and one is missing. Do you think I give a damn what happens to you?" Lee looked as if he would kill the man right there.

The man's eyes went wide, "I meant nothing by it, Admiral, honest!", he said, suddenly afraid for his very life, "I won't give you no trouble!"

Lee shoved him back into his bed, "Let's start over again, shall we? I've introduced myself, and it's only courteous if you do the same?" The look on Lee's face hadn't changed.

"My name is Lars Zell, Admiral", he said, suddenly compliant.

"What were you doing out there when my people captured you, and who the hell do you work for?"

I was scouting, Admiral", he said, with fearful sweat pouring from his skin, "I'm part of The Kingdom, and I work for The Crown."

"What or who is The Crown, may I ask?"

"The Crown-no one knows his real name, but he the Supreme Ruler of The Kingdom."

Lee then visibly relaxed, turned to the Doctor and nodded. In came two large, burly men, who looked like Professional Wrestlers. They were also consummate interrogators. Zell's eyes went wide, and he turned white as a ghost. The size of the men had truly intimidated him, which was the way Lee had wanted it.
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General Trevor and Blade Scroggins had held more than few interesting discussions over the past several days in the ruins of Hades. It was no longer just two on each side; the man from Hades had brought in six of his top lieutenants, and Trevor had brought in a like number of Captains to be part of the entreaties.

Seth Trevor had shown the man the part of the fleet orbiting around Canceron. He had mentioned the Colonial Government but hadn't gone much further. The Aerilonian wasn't here to gain trust, as he had done on his home world; he was here to inform the people of this city with such a notorious reputation about what was to come. He felt this was a good time to lay all his cards on the table.

"Mr. Scroggins, as you know, you have seen part of our fleet circling this planet. I have told you that it represents the Colonial Government. I think I need to lay out for you exactly what that entails, and what is coming for the Twelve Colonies.

Blade was no dummy; he may be a ruffian, which he certainly was, even though he had kept an odd sort of piece in Hades, but he noticed a slight inflection change in the General's voice.

"That sounds a little...ominous, General Trevor if you'll pardon me saying that", he said without any overt rancor and actually being quite curious about what was to come.

"It isn't ominous unless you want it to be, sir", Trevor said evenly. "But I want to be honest with you what is coming in the near future."

"Go on, General."

"We have told you that we're Colonial Soldiers; that is partly true. I am a native of Aerilon, as I told you, was born there. But until recently, I hadn't been there in years, thanks to the Cylons."

"You haven't mentioned where you have been all this time, sir, come to think of it?", he raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Blade, you were introduced to Captain Mathers when we first met", and the other man nodded, "Do you notice something...well, a little different about her?"

Blade had noticed, but he felt her eyes being a bit further apart, and being a slightly different shade in pigment as most people in Hades, was simply from being born after The Holocaust.

"I did notice. I assumed that was due to the radiation, as I've heard that can affect children."

"You are right about the effects of radiation, no doubt", he smiled, "but that has nothing to do with that. You see, Captain Mathers and many of my troops are not from the Twelve Colonies." The room went still.

"What the frack are you talking about?", the man said in wonder, "there aren't other Humans around?"

"Well, that's what we thought, Mr. Scroggins", the General said casually, "but that is until we found Earth."

Scroggins wasn't religious, but virtually anyone who had grown up on The Colonies before the war had heard the myth about Earth, and his eyes went wide at hearing the word.

"General, don't frack with me, there is no such thing."

"And further, Blade", Seth continued without skipping a beat, "this fleet that is in this System, it was entirely built on Earth, and our mission is to re-populate The Colonies and to re-establish Human civilization here."

Scroggins actually got mad at that statement, "You come here, eat my food, drink our water, and you're telling me nonsense like this! I'm not stupid, General!"

"No, I don't think you are, Blade", Trevor said honestly, "I really don't. I have no reason to lie. It's estimated that we lost around twenty billion souls when the Cylons hit here. I've also been through a second war with those mechanical bastards that cost the lives of almost three billion more human beings, on Earth. That conflict led to the decision to come back to The Colonies", he paused for a moment, "The Civilian Governor of The Fleet, was once the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. It was his idea to build this fleet."

"I'm going to need some fracking proof of this, Admiral", the man said, still simmering, "before I could ever believe this tall tale."

"I understand that Blade", Trevor said calmly, "But I will tell you that the second fleet of fifty-six ships, if not more, will be leaving Earth shortly. The Fleet is under the banner of what is known as United Earth Defense, and when we left Earth just over four of their years ago, we were in the middle of a process that would deliver a fleet of eight hundred ships. And I'm not lying. This fleet is the first of continuous fleets that will be coming and going from here and the other planets for decades, if not hundreds of years. We mean business. We want to make The Twelve Colonies strong again. Mankind has gone through two disastrous wars against The Cylons, and we need to make Human civilization strong here again."

Scroggins was speechless. He just sat there, shaking his head. He could read people pretty well, and from what he was reading, this man was deadly serious.

"What does that mean for Hades and Canceron? Are you going to mine all our Tylium to feed this fleet, like before?"

"Tylium is obsolete", the General said dismissively, "the fleet runs on what is called EM-Drive and it doesn't require any fuel of any kind, including Tylium."

"Then what happens to Canceron?"

"We change the landscape of the desert, and make sure that this place isn't a refuge for the lawless anymore." Trevor looked right in the man's eyes.

Scroggins knew his people couldn't fight millions of arriving people, but he needed to talk to the other factions about what they could do.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

X

Nick Bond was in bad shape. He knew an infection was forming where the shrapnel had hit him in his butt, and it was becoming more painful and more infected each day. His crudely-set arm ached almost just as bad. After nine days on the run, he was out of rations, and down to very little water. When healthy, his six-foot frame normally carried about two hundred and five pounds. Now, he knew he was below one-eighty.

He needed to be rescued or he was going to die out here.

In the last three days, he had only moved about a thousand yards. He just physically couldn't do much more. He tried to eat berries, bugs and the occasional small animal, but as his wounds worsened, he was being sapped of energy.

It was the middle of the night, the one time of day when he tried to move further West. It was close to pitch black that night, and he felt a sense of protection. But he still moved cautiously.

He had been going for no more than thirty minutes when he heard a loud commotion almost directly to his North, and it sounded like they were getting closer. And the closer they got, the louder they got. Nick slid a littler further West. Then to his left, he heard even more voices. They were boisterous voices, and that told him they weren't UED forces.

He scanned the area, looking for some cover. Even though he had used charcoal to hide his face and his cammo uniform would blend him in, this sounded like a large group coming from two different directions, and he didn't want to take a chance.

To his left, he saw what looked like a small opening about ten yards away he couldn't see any further away than that-and headed for it. He took a chance and turned his flashlight on its lowest brightness for a quick look in the tunneled opening. Nothing was in there.

Captain Bond crawled in, feet-first, with his weapon on the ground in front of him. Like before the was some verge near the opening, and he quickly tried to mask the opening to make it blend in. The voices were getting closer. And he could tell there were at least forty or fifty people headed this way. He saw the first glimpses of lights being carried by the strangers, but not the strangers themselves.

Fifteen minutes went by. He peaked out through the grass, leaves, and twigs he had built up in front of the entrance, and he could see at least fifty different flashlights being held, from about one-hundred yards to his West to about the same distance to his East. This was definitely a hunting party. And they weren't looking for critters.

The voices became clearer and were in Caprican. "How the frack do the Bosses think we can find one measly person in this blackness?", one of them complained.

"Brine, stop your bellyaching", another said. "Orders are orders. We're to find this guy and take him prisoner if we can, and kill 'em if we can't."

As was often the case, Nick had tried to stay near small breaks in the forest that stretched on this part of the mountain. The human shapes became visible as they approached the tree line opposite him. He was about one hundred yards inside the Southern treeline.
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"Command, Raptor 389, I see movement in front of me, about three miles, a bunch of people with flashlights. Guarantee you those aren't our troops."

Back at the Command Post, Colonel Konrad Otter had the night watch. There was a picket line of Special Ops forces traveling West-to-East in the mountains for interdiction, but somehow there was a gap somewhere. That could mean other troops had been taken out, or the line had been broken for some other reasons. A group this large shouldn't have been able to get South of the cammo demarcation line.

"Three-Eight Niner, estimate strength of group?"

"Command, hard to tell from this far out, but I'd say at least fifty. They're headed South and spread out. They're looking for someone."

Otter knew who that "someone" probably was. It told him that more than likely, whoever controlled the Mountain hadn't found Nicholas Bond, and it also told them that they wanted to find the Captain. He hoped that meant that the young man was still alive.

Otter knew it would stir things up, but a message needed to be sent to whoever was up there, and it had to be clear.

"Three-Eight Niner", he said almost immediately, "Calling in support for you, stand by." Within thirty seconds, he was back to the Raptor, "Three-Eight Niner, Raptors 1105 and 57 approaching from your West, when in formation, clear to engage hostiles."

"Yes, Sir!", the man at the controls said with pleasure.
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The group to the North of Nicholas Bond was just breaking the tree line, and some of them were coming right at him. The loudness of their voices drowned out another sound that was approaching. Perhaps they didn't hear it, but Nick heard it and recognized it instantly.

Raptors!

No sooner had he thought the word than a hail of bullets and rockets streaked towards the people nearing him. Two Raptors had swung in from the South, and one on the Northern Ridgeline, blasting anything that moved. Like a scythe, most of the people in front of them went down like ninepins, never having a chance to even raise their weapons. A few brave souls fired back, but it only hastened their deaths. Perhaps five or six retreated back into the forest to the North, and Nick could see they weren't stopping to figure out what had happened.
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"Command, we got most of the bad guys, a few fleeing Northward back under the camouflage netting."

Otter smiled, and those in the Command Tent broke out in quiet cheers, slapping the Colonel on the back. It was combat, which they had wanted to avoid, but after the bloody nose they had taken going on ten days ago, it felt damn good to the men and woman in that tent.
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Unfortunately for Nick, enough survivors had fled in the other direction that he knew the Raptors wouldn't chance a landing if more partisans showed up. He wasn't angry, and he understood how the ROE's worked. He was just glad that he was given another day to live and try to stay alive.
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After Admiral Lee Adama had been awakened briefly and updated on the Raptor action against this large group of people, he went back to bed. He would get more information in the morning, and he would trust his people to handle it until he came on duty.

He got up around 0630 Fleet Time, and by 0700 he was at CIC. Commander Cross had come on duty before him, and filled him in on the action overnight: overflies of the area counted thirty-eight dead, armed partisans, and more may have been killed. There was no sign of Nicholas Bond. But like Colonel Otter the night before, Lee concluded that they had to be looking for the downed Pilot.

At 0900, he asked for the Bond family to be summoned, so he could let them know what happened, and what his views on it were. The Governor and his entire family, with Natalia Schrevrenko with them, were seated by 0930.

"So that's the breakdown of what happened", Lee said after concluding his brief, "Again, we're going on some suppositions here, but Grayson, Otter, and the XO all think it means the same thing-they were looking for Nick."

The family was calm hearing the news. They had gotten over the emotional storm that had first hit them when Nick was reported missing. There were simply wanting news, one way or another, if he was still alive.

Characteristically, Kara spoke up first, "Lee, what's the Status of the Special Ops forces?"

"Captain Dalbott's Lead team has turned Southward and Westward. Finding the Raptor gives us an approximate starting point of where Nick was, and our conclusions that Nick is heading South or West. The Southernmost Spec. Ops teams have seen not a single person. They're beginning to move Northward and Westward to join forces with Dalbott."

"That's still a helluva lot of acreage out there, Admiral", the Governor said almost clinically. "More eyes will help, but Nick could be anywhere by now."

"That's true, sir", Lee acknowledged, "All the troops were trained on orienting to the sunrise/sunset patterns here, and he's as smart as they come. We have to go on the assumption that he's trying to get back to us. "

"That combat last night still took place about fifteen miles in the Mountains, Lee", Kara agreed, "I had a peek at the search map in the War Room before coming over-the area is probably fifty square miles, if not more."

Judith Bond spoke up next, "Admiral, not to sound ghoulish, but are we going to check out the dead people up close? Maybe to get more of a clue as to who they are?"

"Ma'am, when the Spec Ops reach that point-and currently, they're about six miles East of where the action happened, then I plan to send in a few Raptors under their protection to see what we can find." He smiled in spite of himself. Judith Bond may have never served, but she had been around the military long enough, first with her husband in the Air Force, and with Kara and Nick in UED, She could hold her own in such a discussion.

Finally, and somewhat timidly, Natalia spoke up, "Admiral, sir?"

"Yes, Ensign?", Lee turned to face the young woman.

"So, the truth is we still don't know if Nick is alive or dead, am I correct?" She, like the rest of them, was over the hysterics. She said the words with a certain dread, but she simply wanted to know.

"Natalia, that is correct", he said, hardly wanting to look at her, "We haven't seen anything, either way, to know for sure. My guess and my hope are that that scouting party we interdicted last night thinks he's alive, and we have to go on that assumption."

"How long til the Spec. Ops team get to the location of the bodies, Lee?", Justin Bond thought some clues would be found when that moment happened. "Maybe as they sweep West, even before reaching the dead, we might get more clues."

Lee nodded emphatically, "That's our thought, too, Governor. The Spec. Op forces will be spread out about five miles across, North-to-South, when they really start to turn West. At this point, barring no interference, we're hoping they'll be in that area by this time tomorrow morning."
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The Next Afternoon

Captain Dalbott's team had begun the turn Westward and had met up with the lead element of the other Special Ops forces that had been reconnoitering to the South. Now, the entire Spec Op forces would move to try and pinch in from three sides to locate Captain Nicholas Bond.

The Captain in Charge of the Southern unit was Grey Solis, a thirty-five-year-old that was born on Caprica a few years before The Holocaust. He had no real memory of this world, but his parents had told him about their lives there. They were both back on Earth, living in New Caprica. He had always wanted to return to his place of birth. He and Dalbott had done most of their training for this mission together.

The lead groups, once joined, began moving to the West, to fill in the area between the tree lines, while the forces further toward the West, also pinched in from the South and the North. Their hope was they would find the captain, one way or another, within their net.

"At least you guys found something, Tom", the other Captain lamented, "Yes, it wasn't pleasant, I know, but we haven't seen anything more than a bird or some animals. Makes the day drag."

"I'd have traded places with you, Gray", Dalbott said honestly, "It wasn't a pretty sight. In fact, the bodies were taken away in the Raptor by Admiral Thrace-Bond."

That made Solis turn his head, "You're kidding me?"

"No, and she was wearing Captain's Bars", he confirmed, "she put herself under Abdullah for any recon missions. She handled it like a pro, but you can see this is eating her up."

"I don't blame her, Thomas", he said dejectedly, "It's eating me up, and I hardly know the man."

They had been going for about two hours when a call came in from some of Gray's troops to the Southwest, "Frazier, Solis, Sir, we've found two bodies about four hundred yards inside the treeline, both were shot."

The two Captains traded a look, "Think Captain Bond popped them", Solis said with a sideways glance at his colleague.

"I hope to hell that's what it means." The call had come about five miles West and South of where the two Captains were, and they knew they couldn't be there by nightfall. Solis had his subordinate call in the location to a Raptor to secure the bodies for examination aboard the Adama.

Sergeant Frazier made another call, "Looks to be a professional job, sir, both victims shot three times, center-mass. Whoever did this had military training."

Both Captains felt a surge of hope.