THE SCHOOL OF FEAR

CHAPTER 17

“That,” Dirce said, pushing aside the scanner reconstructions of the corpse they had found aboard Count Iblis’ wrecked ship, “is the worst thing I have ever seen.”
Rhiannon was a little surprised, then reassured that her aunt was reacting the same way they had. So it really is horrible, it’s not just us.
She, Ares, and Leah, on arrival back in the Gamoray system, had learned of the declaration of war and had been ordered to proceed immediately to the flagship to make their report. Ares slouched by Dirce’s desk, trying to look casual and failing, while Leah studied the older woman closely. She had, after all, written a paper at the Command Academy that had focused on the tactics she’d developed, and now was still glowing slightly with the praise Dirce had given her. “Damn fine piece of work, that,” Dirce had told her. “Mind you, I almost never thought it out in the detail you think. Never had the time. I’ll tell you about it sometime.” Leah intended to hold her to that promise.
“Aunt,” Rhiannon ventured, “on the way back, I did some reading.”
“The Book of the Word, perhaps?”
“Yes. It talks about demons and devils and things....”
“Yes. And now we can see that they really existed. Who knows, maybe the angels they talk about existed as well.”
A flash of unease flickered across Rhiannon’s mind. What brought that on? she wondered. “It talks about the...the Prince of Darkness, too.”
“I’ve read the Book of the Word, but not for a long time. What does it say?”
“It says that the Dark One has no dominion except over those who freely grant it to him. Of course in much fancier language than that....”
“Naturally.” Dirce sat back a little and wondered, “Why would he have to follow rules?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what it says.”
Ares said, “We talked about that on the way home. It probably doesn’t have any application to fighting this...thing or guy or whatever, but it’s interesting.”
“Hm. Let me tell you something interesting,” Dirce said. “Iblis seemed really upset that we had wiped out the Cylons.”
“Well, he’s making new ones,” said Ares.
Leah began, hesitantly, “If Iblis is...well, the same being who tried to corrupt Kobol....”
“He did corrupt Kobol,” Dirce corrected. “They destroyed their planet.”
“Yes...is it possible....”
“What?” Rhiannon prompted.
Ares made the connection, looked at Leah in disbelief. “Come on, you’re not suggesting that Iblis had anything to do with the Cylons!”
Dirce looked from him to Leah and back, then said thoughtfully, “That’s not as impossible as it sounds, Lieutenant. We don’t know much about Cylon history, but what we do know.... They were a fairly advanced reptilian race that warred amongst themselves. We know they built first cyborg warriors, then entirely robotic warriors, and the robots suddenly turned against their masters and destroyed them. We’ve never found out why, and Cylon was so badly destroyed at the end of the war that archaeologists haven’t been able to get at many of the sights they’d like to explore. Too radionactive, mostly. The reason I bring this up is a report I have here from a Lieutenant Thora, who was assigned to our liaison office on Gamoray. She had a few opportunities to speak with civilians, and one of them mentioned something to her about how the Delphians, in the months before the Cylons arrived, apparently started having problems with their robots. Add to that this mind-static device, which the Delphians developed at about the same time. Count Iblis...machines...machines in revolt. Very, very interesting.”
“Gods, that’s a horrible idea,” exclaimed Rhiannon.
“It is. It also makes sense.”
“If Iblis had anything to do with the Cylons, how can we beat him?” Ares wanted to know.
“I don’t think we have to beat him. Iblis’ secret would seem to be this; he doesn’t do the dirty work. He sits back and lets his machines do the dying for him. Or, in this case, a lot of misguided Scorpian fools. He probably promised them blood and glory and rape and loot and they fell for it; all well-known Scorpian failings. It’s Xaviar I’m more concerned about.”
“Xaviar?” Rhiannon asked, and Dirce explained how he had remained behind on the planet rather than report back to the Galactica.
“He knows our weapons, our tactics, and our styles,” Dirce concluded. “He gives the Gamoreans an unfair advantage they wouldn’t have without him.”
“But we will win,” Leah said anxiously.
Dirce looked at her. “Of course we’ll win,” she shot back. “I am going to make them afraid, Lieutenant. I am going to teach them the meaning of fear. They can love Count Iblis—just as long as they’re afraid of us.”

The lesson started early the next day when Athena awoke Miriam with, “Enemy ship heading for our gate.”
“Is this a breakout attempt, or the breakout attempt?” Miriam asked, instantly alert.
“Just a, I think. One ship only, one of their heavy cruisers.”
“Very well, I’ll be right up. Red alert, battlestations.”
“Aye aye, Commander.”
“Testing us, I assume,” Noday said after Athena had signed off.
“Let’s find out.”
By the time they arrived on the bridge, Victory was ready for battle. She was in full stealth mode, powered down with her gravitics off, and as the enemy approached her crew prepared to reactivate her systems. As she strapped into her command chair, Miriam asked, “How close are they going to come?”
“If they maintain their current course, very close,” said Athena. “Well within main armament range without our having to close. Presumably they know we’re around here, but not exactly where.”
“Time till they’re in range?”
“At present speed, fifty centons.”
“Any messages from the flagship?”
“Just a confirmation that they know the ship is heading our way, and the Fleet Commander trusts we can handle it.”
“Oh, we can handle it, all right,” Miriam commented as she checked over the fastenings of her pressure suit. It was normal for battlecruiser crews to wear full pressure suits during combat; disaster tended to happen far too quickly to reach an escape capsule and in addition the ship was designed to keep fighting with damage that would have disabled any other ship, including full depressurization.
The ensuing centons seemed to drag into days as the enemy cruiser approached. Passive scanner readings suggested she was armed to the teeth and that all her weapons were activated; in any case she was throwing out far more waste heat than her propulsion alone could account for. She was also not concerned with stealth; her active scanners were in full use.
“Any report on those scanners?” Miriam asked the ECM officer.
He replied, “My lady, they’re a modification of standard Cylon design. There’s no danger of them burning through our stealth at anything less than point-blank range.”
“Good.”
Athena said, “Permission to move the ship into firing position?”
“How far do you have to turn to bring the guns to bear?”
“Fifteen degrees to port, forty degrees up.”
“Do so.”
Using her attitude thrusters, Victory repositioned herself so her main armament would bear on the enemy ship when it was in range. Athena found herself holding her breath during the maneuver, but the oncoming enemy ship apparently did not see the faint flashes of the thrusters against the background darkness of space.
Watching the ship come on, Miriam was strongly tempted to hail it and invite it to surrender. She had never fired on a human-crewed ship before and didn’t want to now. But she knew that Dirce’s plan strongly relied on impressing the Gamoreans with the futility of resistance and so called for swift and total destruction of any ship that attempted to leave the system.
“They’re not changing course,” Athena reported.
“Range coming down,” the offensive weapons officer reported. “In maximum main armament range in five centons, mark. In torpedo range now,” he added.
“We’ll wait for them to close and use the guns. Time to best range?” Miriam asked.
“Seven centons...mark.”
“Stand by for weapons power-up.”
“Ready.”
That would be the deciding order, for once the weapons started to power-up there was no turning back. “Power up,” Miriam ordered.
As the engines started pouring energy into the vast systems of capacitors that powered the battlecruiser’s weapons, the defensive weapons officer reported, “He’s just raised his shields.”
“Must be picking up the flux from our engines,” said Athena. “He isn’t changing course, though. He knows we’re out here, but not where.”
“Maximum range,” the weapons officer reported.
“Wait,” said Miriam.
“He’s not going to change course,” said Athena.
Miriam watched the enemy cruiser steadily approaching, displayed in detail on the main scanner. She had seen ships much like it before, Cylon ships. An enemy is an enemy, she thought. “Unmask batteries and fire,” she ordered.
The command crew of the enemy cruiser had about two microns to realize what was happening as the bow weapons doors of the battlecruiser opened and spoiled her stealth. Before they could even begin to react, Victory fired.
At that range, the results were spectacular. The cruiser simply disintegrated, becoming a rapidly expanding pattern of very small debris.
“Secure from battlestations,” said Miriam.
“Enemy cruiser destroyed,” said Athena formally. “Shall I signal the flagship?”
Miriam nodded. “And let’s hope that what just happened inspires some sanity down there.”

The Colonial warships in their blockade positions were too far from Gamoray to pick up much intelligence directly, so Dirce sent Flashbolt in towards the planet. The scout was fast enough to escape if attacked and small enough that when using active stealth she was likely to pass notice even using her gravitic drive so long as she didn’t get too close to another ship.
Although they were monitoring all broadcast bands and using passive scanners, the scout crew’s primary mission was to establish contact with the rebels using the pre-arranged schedule they had set. Rhiannon was afraid that something might have happened to them, so she felt a wave of relief when the familiar voice of former colonel Tolen answered her call.
“What happened?” he asked immediately. “They’re practically rioting in the city.”
“One of their cruisers attempted to break the blockade; Victory destroyed it. No survivors,” Rhiannon told him.
There was a long silence, during which Rhiannon’s nervousness reasserted itself, then Tolen said, “Well, it hit the people hard. They know resistance is futile now, and that the government—Iblis, that is—has been lying to them. Of course Iblis isn’t going to surrender, no matter what they want. You have to tell Aeneas....”
“Aeneas is no longer in overall command. Fleet Commander Dirce is.”
There was another silence, then Tolen said, “All right, you tell her that Cylon troops appear to be moving into position around Gamoray city. We believe that Iblis may be willing to destroy the population; presumably he has enough robots and Cylons that he doesn’t need the organics anymore. She’s got to do something soon, or a lot of innocent people are going to be slaughtered.”
“We’ll inform her. Anything else, sir?”
“No. Good luck, Lieutenant.”
“To you too, sir,” Rhiannon said, and signed off. She looked at Ares, then at Leah.
“You think Iblis would do that?” Ares asked.
“He did it to the Cylons,” Rhiannon said.
“Did he?” Leah asked.
“He certainly set it in motion,” Rhiannon replied.
“Yes, but how much...authority does he have? The Book of the Word says....”
“That he only has dominion over those who grant it to him,” Ares concluded. “Yeah, we know that, Leah. They’ve been letting Iblis run things long enough, so I guess that means they’ve opened the door and welcomed him in.”
“Cain did,” Rhiannon muttered. “The military did...how the hell much influence did the civilians have? Enough of this; power up, let’s get back to the flagship.”

BACK TO CHAPTER 16

ON TO CHAPTER 18

BACK TO FICTION CONTENTS