Cain was sitting in his cabin, looking at the original message for Commander Hawke that he had typed before the recent battle. He had recalled the discs that he had given to Sanders earlier. With the outcome of the recent battle decided, there had to be changes made before the scheduled GOLIATH probe dispatch. He removed the personal message disc for Commander Hawke and called back up the original message. He blanked out a lot of the first paragraph and began re typing:
Matt,
Interesting things had occurred here in the Promar Sector. One of our recon patrols had encountered a new type of autonomous tin head freighter, though this 'freighter' packs more firepower than a light cruiser! It was seen stopping off at an asteroid that has what was ostensibly a mine containing a lot of useful minerals, but it turned out to be a front for a massive rail gun emplacement. It means that the tin heads are being more creative in setting traps for us, but thanks to the PEGASUS' fighters, plus a few good marines, the 'freighter', the 'mining complex', and a lot of tinheads got taken out. The remains of the 'freighter' were successfully salvaged and already it is providing revealing intelligence. What we have managed to find out so far about this new type of ship, and what it was doing, plus details of the recent battle have been included with this communique. It's one heck of an eye opener. Needless to say, we'll keep you informed on future developments. We have now acquired a lot of platinum and beryllium so when we meet at the next rendezvous, there should be more than enough of what you need.
Cain sighed and sat back in his seat. The database of the now deactivated automaton brain was still largely intact and it really provided a boon of information. It explained quite a lot about the asteroid, data on the disposition of Cylon forces in this sector, and what it's primary task was in regards to the 'mining complex'. After the marines and mining personnel had been evacuated and the fighter wings returned, the PEGASUS made another FTL jump to an empty part of the Promar sector so that the crew could wind down some from the recent battle. The wing debriefings had all been done and the viper pilots were looking forward to the down-time.
Cain and Tolen though were present at another - more confidential - briefing after the pilots had dispersed. Sanders had briefed them both on the intelligence find recovered from the salvaged Cylon ship. Apart from information on the tinhead task forces in this sector, it provided detailed information on what the 'freighter's' and the 'mine's' full purpose was. It seemed incredible.
"You mean that the tinheads were intending to power the asteroid with an FTL drive?", Tolen asked incredulously.
"That's why there was so many centurions in that emplacement. They were busy boring all the way through the asteroid so that they could fit an immense FTL drive unit in the core. It would then have become a geologically formed fighter craft which they would then be able to place in the path of any colonial ship".
"A Cylon self-propelled asteroid", Cain said, "How close were they to getting the drive operational? The drive unit itself would have to be immense".
"The 'freighter' had made a lot of initial runs with the drive components. It was almost completed, then it appears that the tinheads working on it were directed to get the trap set up first, in case the GALACTICA came along before the drive unit was completed", Sanders replied, "The 'freighter' was intending to ship the last components of the FTL drive to the asteroid after the ammunition delivery".
"It's a good thing that we found out about that gun", Tolen commented. Sanders nodded.
"The gun itself had just been made operational. The ammunition that was in that last shipment was all that it needed. Had we been a few days later in discovering the existence of that complex, it would have been fully armed", Sanders explained.
"Well, at least that's one trap that the GALACTICA won't have to worry about, or the GOLIATH for that matter", Tolen said.
"There could well be other traps those tinheaded monstrosities could be setting up, so we shouldn't get complacent. You know, we still should send a note of thanks to the tinheads sometime for all that ore they left for our shuttles to pick up", Cain 'suggested' with a smile. Tolen and Sanders chuckled at that. After the marines had lifted off the asteroid, several shuttles had landed in order to pick up the ore, as well as do an examination of the remains of the complex. The supply of raw materials would come in very handy for trading and refining for their own uses.
"You think that Howe thought that it all worth it?", Tolen asked. Marines were very close to each other and the death of six of them in the recent battle did remind everybody on board about the ever present dangers all on board face constantly from the ever present Cylon menace.
"They knew their jobs, Colonel", Cain replied quietly. Cain had been at the memorial service earlier and gave his condolences to the assembled marines. If they had known earlier that the gun was not loaded, then Cain would not have ordered the marines to attack. He would have sent the PEGASUS in instead to blast the complex, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Cain felt the loss just as keenly as Howe and the marines - and they all knew it.
After the briefing had finished, Cain took Sanders aside and told him about Admiral Hendrix's message regarding the Battlestar HYPERION and it's mission in the Hatari Sector when the war broke out.
"So the HYPERION was away from the colonies during the attack", Sanders mused, "You think the HYPERION force may still be intact?", he asked.
"Anything is possible, Comms", Cain said, "and even though those earlier Cylon intercepts indicated most of the fleet confirmed destroyed, Commander Tillman is a person I wouldn't put past pulling a fast one on the tin heads, plus other ships in the HYPERION task force were listed as inactive, so they may not know about them. I've placed a message in the next FTL-probe for the GOLIATH, and Commander Hawke is probably in a better position to check out the Hatari Sector. It's not a good chance, but it's worth investigating".
Sanders nodded. Perhaps his brother might still be alive. In any case, It was something to hope for - like finding the GALACTICA.
Cain did a last check of the rewritten note, then had it downloaded to disc. Paging a courier, he placed the disc, and the other information discs inside an envelope. There was a little over two hours before the next GOLIATH probe was to be dispatched. He was sure that Hawke would find the contents interesting...
One person found the results of the recent battle 'interesting' as well. In fact, so interesting, that she called an immediate council of war.
The summoned persons had assembled in a conference room at the top of the Virgon Space Elevator. Number One and Number Seven were there to brief them on the latest occurrence.
The Cylon humanoids watched for several minutes a video display of what a recent reconnaissance probe had recorded. It had been dispatched to the site of the Cylon asteroid after the armored freighter had been declared overdue. The pictures of the gutted complex was sobering to most of those assembled, but it made Number One extremely angry.
"Indications are that this occurred two days ago", Number Seven said blandly as the screen turned off, "so whoever did this is long gone".
"That asteroid was supposed to have been in a location remote enough so that there would not be any premature discovery!", Number One snarled, "yet it was found and taken out! If our intelligence assessments are that far off, then everything we have so far taken as confirmed can no longer be trusted! It could be either the GALACTICA, or this other rogue battlestar for all we know, if not another unknown colonial warship!".
The other Cylon humanoids looked concernedly at Number One. It looked like she was heading towards what the humans called a 'nervous breakdown'.
"The Promar Sector has been penetrated a lot farther in than what we had previously estimated, true", Number Eleven said, "but the humans can't be everywhere in the sector. It's what they would quaintly term 'bad luck' on our part that it was found before it was ready", he said, trying to be upbeat at this latest setback.
"Bad Luck?", Number One exclaimed, "like all of the damage inflicted upon us since the end of the war? That's 'bad luck' too, is it?". She was struggling to control herself - and failing.
"It can't change the fact that we still have a preponderance of forces and resources", Number Six interjected, "and with that fact in mind, all we have to do to ensure final victory is be in a position to make use of it. True, our ambush asteroid has been rendered inoperative, but on the overall scale of things, it's more of an annoyance than a major catastrophe".
"These 'annoyances' are stacking up more and more. The longer it takes to track down and destroy these remnants of the Colonial Fleet, the more likely that these humans can do even more damage to us! We have got to stop them now!", Number One spat out, slamming her fist down on top of the conference room table. She was getting paler and sweatier as she spoke.
"The best thing that we can do is to continue the pressure", Number Four suggested, "after all, sooner or later, they will eventually make a mistake. And when that time comes, then we will destroy them".
Number One looked at Number Four, then the others. She willed herself to calm down. These human mannerisms were overloading her synthetic brain. That would be the real irony: all of these successful human strikes causing her to deactivate.
"Then we maintain the pressure, and we will continue to develop additional means to trap them. There is no other option that we have", she finally said, "Either humanity, or us will end up perishing in the end. Failure is not an option!".
That same thought came to Cain after Sanders reported the return of the GOLIATH message probe from it's dispatch of the latest data . With the loss of so much back at the colonies, the Cylons could afford hundreds of defeats while what was left of humanity could nary afford one. But in order to survive, they must prevail, and once the GALACTICA is found, then they can start inflicting more defeats upon the tinheaded menace. But until then, failure was a luxury that could not be afforded. They have to succeed to survive. Cain knew that the PEGASUS would.
END OF BOOK EIGHT