Part 6 Battlestar Galactica: Back To The Colonies,: War On The Mountain

Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

A Week Later

Again, it was well before dawn; the advance Marine teams were in a position to begin a reconnaissance-in-force, to prepare for a full ground assault. One of the men leading a Brigade felt a sense of deja vu as he readied his forces. Commander Thomas Dalbott had been involved hot and heavy with the mission two years ago when UED forces had desperately searched for Captain Nicholas Bond. For his efforts during that mission, he had received the Gold Star, UED's highest award for bravery. He had been in the major firefight that ended with Nick Bond's rescue, and he had used his medical training to assist the seriously wounded CAG. He and Nick had been friends before that, but they were best friends now. Dalbott was even the godfather for Nick and Natalie's son, Justin.

He selected a switch on his audio unit to talk to his forces. "OK, people, we move in just under thirty, I say again, thirty minutes. I want weapons and comm checks in that time frame. Keep it quiet as you can, and get your game faces on."

As close as he was to Nick Bond, he knew the stakes were higher this time-much higher. He and the Captain had held a long chat about that two days before the Raptor Mission to take out the netting.

"So, Axman", Dalbott had said, hoisting a pint of bitter to his lips, "you ready to start the show?" His tone was amiable, but he was dead serious.

"As ready as I'll be, Tom", he said without any overt tension. "Of course, Natalie is worried about the mission, but when you fly, that's standard."

"Of course she's worried, mate", Dalbott said seriously. "You have number two on the way, and, after last time, she doesn't want to go through that again."

"I know", he took a sip of his beer, "and I'm not too concerned about this mission. It's the later ones, after the shooting starts, that worries me."

"You can only do what you can do, Nick", he raised his pint toward Nick. "There's no one that I'd rather count on in frying their asses from the air than you-although I wouldn't mind seeing your sister in the left seat. She may be an Admiral, but she's one tough lady."

Nick smiled warmly thinking about Kara. He was forever in her debt for helping to save her-he also owed the same debt to Dalbott for his part-but his sister, as sweet, caring and loving as she was, was a different animal when in battle, of that Nick had no doubt. But he also knew that, since the adoption all those years ago, she had a balance in her life to not take her fire from battle back to her personal life. "Yeah, Starbuck's pretty freakin' amazing, if you ask me. I wouldn't be surprised if she asked Lee to fly a few Raptor or Falcon missions when combat starts."

"Won't happen, Nicholas", the Kiwi said confidently. "Yeah, she's still probably better than almost any Falcon or Raptor driver we have-with maybe you, Cory and Raekwon being the exceptions. But here and now, we need her at the helm of the Roslin."

"I agree, but her dedication to duty is one thing that has never changed, Tom", and he thought back on a story Kara had told him. "Back before Galactica got here, The Fleet was low on fuel; they happened to come across a moon full of Tylium, that could keep The Fleet fueled for several years. The only problem was, the Cylons owned it and were protecting it. Kara had injured her knee when her Viper had gone down on some rock, and she hadn't been cleared to drive a bird yet, so The Old Man gave her the task of drawing up the operation. It was risky as hell; and they even had to hide some of it from President Roslin, but it worked, in large part to her strategic thinking. It killed her not being able to fly. Lee took out the Cylon base there, but Kara didn't know if he could do it."