Atlantis

Picon had any number of military bases, both on world and off, thanks to the Colonial Fleet- which had arrived in orbit with considerable strength. And Perkinston, that town was home to some serious Command facilities with the war overseen from its Offices; so it was widely believed that if the city was hit the Cylons would single handedly remove the greatest obstacle to human military dominance of known space. But the layered defences and the sheer number of units dotting the area meant an attack was highly unlikely to succeed... and the hemisphere it sat in was considered one of the safest places from Cylon attack in the entire Colonies. Now on planet, near the equator, and within the summer months the calm bodies of water and humid heat meant it was rather idyllic- with many Fleet Officers seduced by the beauty of their surrounds. For some the brain was removed from the reality of the War in this safe, collegial but totally bureaucratic environment. Colonel Traest was not one of those Officers though, and his time on Picon was carefully managed to avoid unnecessary exposure to the High Command mentality that stunk up the atmosphere. Libran recreated on Picon he had decided. Ronald Traest wore Colonel insignia because it came with the mission the Forces had assigned him... it was likely his frocking would net him a set amount of cubits compensation when all was said and done, with little chance to retain the rank off the back of his performance in this instance. War made for such peculiar scenarios. Traest's promotion of a kind came long after the 'mad rush' when the Colonial Force had commissioned, breveted, or transferred in its Staff directly from its constituent Colonies... and it was to do with the drafting of the 'Color Cases'. The most well known Colour Case was Case Orange; the continuance of Government in the event of catastrophe, but the Color Case Traest was assigned to handle was more serious than that.
Case Yellow, the Exodus Plan, imagined a doomsday scenario and made preparations for the continuation of human civilization... it read like something out of the Scrolls with 'Arks' instead of Galleons, leaving the worlds and so on. Traest was a no nonsense sort of man and as such the entire premise of Case Yellow irritated him, because its scenario was pure nonsense: it was widely known that the Cylons didn't have the means to bring about an end of worlds event which was why Case Yellow- designed to deal with that- for the entirety of its existence, had remained at the 'drawing on napkin' stage. Still Cases, no matter the color were serious business and had to be handled by someone with a decent rank.
The only people who took this Case seriously really were conspiracy theorists, and so it went that to take Yellow seriously meant you would not be taken seriously yourself. Colonel Traest didn't like that notion of not being taken seriously anymore but he believed it, and as his mission was to investigate the Case Yellow Paper and its drafts he was troubled. To the outside world he was being shoved into a dead end, to his reporting officer he was just handling some hazardous waste for them. The Colonial Forces didn't intend to move forward with Case Yellow certainly but the Fleet's Intelligence bureau had motive. Traest was aware of that motive because he had been in on the debrief of the man that had launched his mission. The Atlantean, as he was referred to, was an intelligence source from within the Fleet who had abandoned a conspiracy purported to exist even now in the Forces itself. Traest held the short straw and had been assigned to investigate the Atlanteans claims... in the interests of thoroughness, and likely the sidelining of his career. The Colonel took his mind back to Picon as he stood now a few hundred kilometres from Queenstown- at the beginning of a long, narrow and secluded body of water: Vipes Anchorage. Here development and testing on the Sea Viper had occured and twenty pre-production examples existed, all were destined for Aquaria where lack of airstrips made ground stationing from unprepared locales a consideration. The Sea Viper was supposedly included in the Atlantean plot though how Colonel Traest didn't exactly understand. This Anchorage saw a lot of black craft through though and perhaps that was what ought to be interesting to Traest? With him was Captain Nora Cope; leading the Sea Viper section that was leaving for Aquaria- sudden orders... the Colonel was to quiz her about her alleged connections to 'Atlantis' and he was embarassed by that.
"Captain your record is exemplary and I am rather impressed with you as a result. I feel then that you deserve as much information as I can provide in this interview and will endeavour to speak candidly with you, and will allow you to speak freely in turn. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir," the Captain nodded but quickly added "Am I in trouble?"
"No. But I believe you may be aware of information on a matter I am responsible for."
"Alright."
"Have you heard of the term Atlantis?"
"Yes."
This surprised the Colonel and he frowned issuing a quick "What?"
"I've heard of the term Atlantis sir," and the look received prompted the Captain to explain "I read the Sacred Scrolls at Kobol."
Ronald Traest nodded as he got the picture. Kobol referred to the famed Kobol Colleges on Gemenon, and reading the Sacred Scrolls meant that Captain Cope had spent years studying religous theory, doctrine and history before being awarded a degree. Nora Cope wasn't from Gemenon though; she was a Leonan and as such Traest assumed she was 'one of those people'. Old worlds religous because their families were old worlds elite. Without realising it the Colonel felt somehow inadequete in company of the Captain... the cultural cringe Aerilon natives had working deep within him to his disadvantage. But such feelings didn't show to Cope and the interview continued as per normal;
"Can you explain Atlantis to me?"
"From Atlas, the island of Atlas."
Traest nodded as if learning something and without prompt, probably unable to help it, the Captain continued "The Atlas tied to Atlantis though is supposedly an issue of the Lords of Kobol... in some tellings a son by Posiedon."
"And his significance?" The Colonel asked "The signficiance of his island?"
The Captain seemed to be at a loss, likely about why she was being asked this "A legendary space power punished by the Lords of Kobol? A technologically advanced society?" she shrugged "it's fantasy, and its tellings have no basis in this existence. It's mentioned in literature outside the Scrolls themselves and I think presented as part of a morality tale."
A chuckle from the Colonel at the comment further confused the Captain who immediately asked "Why you are asking me about this?"
Traest ignored that and instead inquired "Have you heard of Atlantis in any other context?"
"No sir."
"I have. Atlantis was the name of a small group of lobbyists around the time of the Articles of Colonization who pushed an agenda to keep advanced technologies of ours that were especially vulnerable to the Cylons. Keep them going, keep them working for us even though these networks and automated systems would be targetted and in many cases could be turned against us."
"I didn't know that sir."
"No one would, it was an untenable position they were supporting... and most backers just wanted to hold onto their Virtual Reality headsets. No one supported it, no one agreed with them, and like a flash in the pan Atlantis was gone about the time the Cylons cracked open most of our pre-War networks. Which was just one thing this group wanted us to keep. There was the odious accusation they were fifth column, one trues. Now Atlantis had as member the Head of the Sea Viper design team, this person in turn is known to you?"
"I was involved with the Design Lead for a time sir," and now Captain Cope was rather guarded, naturally as such a revelation had not gone unjudged especially with the connection Traest had drawn for her "though that ended as I was assigned to evaluate the plane."
The Colonel nodded "You don't continue contact with him?"
"No sir. Not outside formal work boundaries."
Traest had been told by The Atlantean that Captain Nora Cope was one of many Officers, around thirty three he'd named directly, that were part of the conspiracy. Cope, the Sea Viper's design principal, and some seventy eight others had been named as notable 'Atlanteans'... their intention was to betray the Colonies, their allegience was to the 'shadow Colony' of Atlantis and they intended to assert themselves as an independent body of humanity. Already they had defrauded the Twelve Colonies of materials and resources- their most signifant crime would be the future theft of two Battlestars though, and their plan was a near straight actioning of Case Yellow... as far as it existed. Colonel Traest had started his investigations in the Materials branch of the Forces, here he had found that of the high end technology scrapped earlier a portion had been 'disappeared' before it reached facilities. And then out of those facilities amounts of near-precious and strategic resources had also disappeared. His chance of confirming that of such materials; controlled rare earths that could be used to make meta-cognitive processors, were not reaching the black market and instead being used in a conspiracy was impossible. His chance of confirming that blueprints for high technology devices; Graystone and Vergis patents amongst them was similarly stolen was equally impossible... as in the wake of Cylon infiltration Intelligence confirmed that human terrorists groups had accessed then proliferated such designs. Though in most cases terror groups had been after bomb designs and more practical things for their cause then proto-Cylon brains, there had been opportunists who'd let the Cylons do the smash before they'd tried to grab. Colonel Traest couldn't even remember why he was here; the Atlanteans story was so convoluted and imaginative it lost itself within itself and only had the lightest brushes with humanity. Mosty it stayed firmly in the realm of fantasy.
Traest asked Cope about some of the other Officers here at the Anchorage, the mess ambience and how much of a blow it would be to leave that for an igloo on Aquaria. She laughed, he asked about two men... one a Navigator and the other a Surveyor who had been here as part of a Raptor test wing. Scuttlebutt from that wing was some men had gone home, another had died in a boating accident right here only a week ago. Cope didn't know of the men mentioned specifically, asked if she should and promised to come back to him with an answer if that were the case. She shouldn't and she needn't... the Aerilon Fleet Officer was quiet for a few long moments of thought more then abruptly explained;
"Atlantis supposedly still operates; within the Fleet, within Government and within our industries... if you are approached and asked to join it," Traest smiled half apologetically and half as if sharing the joke with the Captain "Do notify me. Otherwise you are dismissed."
==Caprica==
The Atlantean was Admiral Yves Barton had been considered a good man, and confidence inspiring member of the Colonial Fleet until he'd reported to Intelligence his remarkable story. The Atlantean as he was now known was the chief source for an Intelligence investigation led by one Colonel Ronald Traest... who not to quietly or discreetly conducted his work under the auspices of reviewing the Case Yellow contingency. Barton meanwhile was seated with a clerk and interviewer while recounting the conspiracy of his 'shadow Colony'. Cigarette smoke and half filled tumblers of Ambrosia between them all, comments punctuated by the sound of keystrokes and ever present was the slight rumbling feedback of a recording device clicked on.
"How is citizenship extended to a member of Atlantis Admiral?"
"A golden ticket- that's what we call it- is given. Candidates for citizenship are identified based on their usefulness but more typically that and their personal ideology-"
"What ideology exactly?"
"Atlanteans comprise a subset of anti-Federalists, a large part of the Technophile movement, and certain reasonable types of end of days movements."
There was quiet then sniggering all of a sudden "So cults too? All that's missing is the Colony of Sagittaron from this list of ne'er do wells..."
"The amount of golden ticket holders is actually rather small but necessarily diverse and connected. No more than a few hundred- however it's these people who in turn command followings, and will potentially bring with them tens of thousands of others. You know as well as I that though the Technophile movement may be all but dead- but it still has a number of adherents and not just kind Baxter Sarno uses for fodder. I mean that though the anti-Federalists ARE marginalised there are scores of them still tucked away on every Colony. The pool from which Atlanteans are drawn is in the millions even if you think its just kooks they're targetting... these people aren't all ineffectual just because they have a dramatically different opinion to the norm; an Atlantean hides but they're their among non-conformists... and a sub-set of them are highly capable and highly motivated."
"And they plan to start a new Colony?"
"They plan to leave the Colonies for a time, take with them technologies we are abandoning in our war with the Cylons and use it to continue pre-War trends, developments. That brave new worlds we were promised... they're like the deniers at the star- the people who stuck their head in the sand. But this has momentum, it has selfishness. At first it was supposed to be a noble endeavour... the plan today is tied into an anti-Colonies rhetoric."
"How are they going to do it?"
"Most golden ticket holders, by their nature have important positions within Departments or Fleet. Some are industrialists, researchers directly managing their efforts and a few are Starship Captains."
"Do you have a golden ticket?"
"Yes. I was responsible for preparing them."
"Can I see yours?"
"I handed it to you when I arrived here; information packs," the Atlantean's voice was rising and touched with frustration at having to discuss this over and over... each time with less interested interviewers "new identification data was provided for us."
"What you turned over was unauthorised copies of citizen details, unauthorised copies of classifed and top secret information... stuff that will get you into trouble without this story as explanation of it. Now the story works if we include the date independent schedule and random locations you made up too."
"That's assembly points for when the Operation begins. I was provided those by a man in the Caprica City administration."
"Where will you go then, these assembly points?"
"The ones I've handed over will likely be changed, but the intent is to begin positioning populations for transfer to evacuation ships."
"So it's just a date to arrive at Caprica City Starport or a Transfer Station for your wonderful mystery cruise?"
"No because the spacelifts will occur independently of Colonial infrastructure."
"How will you lift your thousands then?"
"Plans exist, I'm certain of that but I was never shown them... likely the use of Heavies will be involved."
There was a shuffling of papers "And that's where you make reference to the owner of two large shipping companies, and out them as Atlanteans? But if they're going to leave the Colonies in their ships why is one such shipping line operating a fleet without any FTL equipped Heavies? They won't get very far..."
"No look at the contracts and history there, that Hauling line has been investigated for black market dealings... illegal trafficking and transportation on numerous occaisions but nothings stuck, it also has operations in all four systems. It has contracts to move items and among those manifests would be goods considered vital to any long range expedition."
"Right and the other Line," the Interviewer wanted to move on now "with its Passenger subsidiary would use its Fleet to lift all these Colonial deserters who want to skip home for a new v-world they'll set-up? It'd ferry them all away? Good riddance I say. Who needs quitters like that as citizens?"
"No, think about it!" Barton was composed during most of his interviews but moments got to him "Who's prioritised conversion of liners and shuttles to FTL? How come that work has been done by a non-Government nominated company? What's the reason? We're not prioritising private FTL fleets; civilian ships with that capability are carefully managed as part of the war effort. I've just given you the name of the largest independent FTL fleet in the Colonies. That Line."
"Business is pro-active and doesn't want to strain the war effort? You know civvies with FTLs aren't considered a threat to us nor undermining the war effort...?"
"But look who's winning the business! Corporations who aren't winning Government contracts because of alleged misappropriation, non-transparent operations. There's no oversight- and it's being used to kit these ships out with prohibited technology."
Again a shuffling of papers came with a tangential shift in topic "The same prohibited technology items supposedly missing from Materials Command... supposedly not scrapped items, and the evidence for its existence is that it's not signed off destroyed- and not on the black market yet? So we know it exists but we know its not for sale? The boys and girls who don't sign off on what they trash are masterminds of all this... evil bunch they are."
"You're twisting what I said and making it sound stupid." Barton emptied his tumbler to drown the want to throw out a few punches, after a gulp his voice was hoarse but controlled "I'm saying specific items have been pulled, I'm saying specific companies need to be looked into... they're not exactly hiding out. A lot of this is being done in plain site; manipulation of our own administrative processes yes. Administrative errors no."
"By people conveniently all in a position to do so?"
There was a moment of quiet contemplation before the Interviewer continued.
"We're a Federal Republic at war, there is oversight for all the groups you mention and interaction with representatives of the Colonies- but we're not micro-managing. So you mean to tell me they're frakking us around while we've got the Cylons to lick?"
"In numerous ways."
"And the intention is to steal a Battlestar as well?"
"Two."
There was muffled laughter from the Interviewer "How?"
"Not entirely clear... likely a mutiny or some other plan."
"Who's the mastermind for all this then?"
Admiral Yves Barton listed thirteen men and women, one was a member of the Virgon Royal family and another commanded the Escort Enterprise. A wealthy industrialist, two shipping magnates and a religous firebrand were included, along with a man already imprisoned on Scorpia for subversion. No reasonable link could be drawn between all of them- anymore than two at once even. All had at some point lobbied against Colonies policy or Presidential initiatives sure, but that was part of the normal political process... not evidence of conspiracy except in the Scorpia case. Intelligence did have a soft connection between all... apparently every member thus far named by Admiral Barton had either engaged in or subscribed to survivalist concepts at some point in their lives before the War. But at different times, on different worlds and under different circumstances. Intelligence couldn't fault Admiral Yves Barton's imagination but it thought he was suffering from an incredible amount of stress... most likely from his activities; unauthorised access to top secret documents, identity theft and so on. The Government had encountered such rackets before... a lot of people suddenly became Caprican citizens for example- Capricans who in reality had been lost during Cylon attacks, but who's missing status and coveted citizenship attracted Dirteaters, Sagittarons and Cancerons all after an easy leg up. Barton was a facilitator, but not a particularly prolific one though as supposedly it was the Ha'la'tha that had a strangehold on such enterprises. Maybe he was big enough? The Dirteaters were after him? Most men would go to pieces with that hanging over their heads. Barton was throwing a lot people under the bus though, not quite singing in the way it would be expected. A few of those names stank sure, nearly all civvies were 'warbucks', but as rotten as they likely were they weren't bent for his garbled reasons.
"We'll stop the interview for now."
Barton nodded and the session broke up, essentially under house arrest he remained whilst the Intelligence types all left. One, a typist who generally stayed and offered him a cigarette, loitered and when it was all quiet asked seemingly for her own thoughts.
"I believe you you know? But I don't understand... what made you come to us with this story?"
"It's going to happen soon. I'm certain, my job finished... it meant we were done picking people. We knew who we wanted and we were going to start the real effort."
"So we have a plan motion then?"
"Something like that..." Barton frowned though, it didn't seem right all of a sudden. No cigarette offered.
"And the Atlanteans: they'll take a Battlestar, nukes, ships and materials they need for an expedition some place safe?"
"Yes..."
Her tone was rather happy with the picture "It all sounds rather nice to be in on that... especially with the company you've named. Those are some rich types... I think one has the largest cellar in the Colonies right? Why would you give up all that if you could just sit back, and leave the war behind? It's been years now... we're all tired."
"You know..." there was a sad realisation before the Admiral justified himself again one last time "I want us, I want humanity, to beat the Cylons- not run from them."
"You're a real patriot sir. To the end." A moment after that a pistol emerged. One Barton knew as his son's... his boy had been cleared to live with him only a week ago, under the circumstances. No cigarette, no chance to say good-byes. Within the hour the Atlantean- Colonel Traest's source- was reported dead of a self inflicted gun wound.
==Picon==
Traest didn't like riding in a Pheonix; they were better appointed than Raptors usually. He had just gotten off the phone, replacing the handset he gave a shake of the head... the scuttlebutt about the names he'd mentioned was added to information he'd just received: that both were supposed to be transferred to the Escort Enterprise, but then they'd been reassigned elsewhere at the last moment. Each had taken liberty... one was supposedly involved in the drunken boat accident a week prior and dead. But no one really knew what had happened there, whether he'd even been around at the time... he'd just last been seen drinking with the party that had later gone out onto the water and capsized. And the other guy- the Navigator- was in Queenstown. Traest would put in a call to his hotel. The phone rang, a rattle really and the Colonel grabbed the handset and answered with:
"Cabin Pheonix 78 Constellation Sierra."
It took only three minutes but when he set the phone down again, Traest thought his investigation would be wrapped up within the week.
==Enterprise==
The Escort Enterprise was part of the defence infrastructure around Scorpia, it was stationed at the orbital Fleet Yard and usually escorted ships undergoing space trials. Day to day though, it was typically one of the active commands moored that held the Watch. Commander Adams was in her day cabin, at her desk reviewing personnel files when the phone rang.
She let it go two rings before taking it up and found the First Officer on the line:
"Sir we have the Fuel Ship Guzzler informing us that they will be leaving the zone within the hour. They have completed operations with the Battlestar and are heading home."
"I'll be up in fifteen minutes."
"Yes sir."
Adams hung up and then pushed herself out from behind her desk, and to her feet. No rest for the wicked they said, and she shrugged on her jacket before buttoning it up... fifteen minutes before zero hour right? Stephanie Adams was out the hatch and down the short corridor for the ladder well inside that.
She warned "make way" with a rough note in her voice; the kind that could be found a cubit a clutchfull at the stalls in Minos. Adams left the ladder a level up and made for the CIC where she was acknowledged and took charge with a few quick statements. Her First Officer pointed to the plot and both spent five minutes going through the course out. Today they'd be babysitting the Battlestar whilst it went through FTL spin ups, for Adams and her crew that'd be planned as thirteen hours before they'd come back in and wasn't really much for them to deal with- an easy day. She checked her watch and noticed it was about four minutes til tip off. Stephanie Adams didn't tremble but she did question everything, absolutely everything, in her head now. She even imagined herself rotting in a high security complex planetside come tomorrow. 
"Are you alright sir?"
The Commander came back to the present moment and smiled "Borex." Which got a quiet chuckle from her XO:
"So say we all."
"FTL tests all this week; just spin it up, spin it up. Who's the CAP?"
"E Flight Sir."
"Nice to know the CAG is having a rest."
The First Officer handed over a folder with the excursion schedule, nothing out of the ordinary really but still it got both of them thinking about the Battlestar they would shadow. Adams gently leaned rather than sat at her stool by the tactical table a Commanding Officer would man, hands on the tactical flat board as she asked that her XO get them ready and he in turn got the Officer of the Watch preparing the ship to move. They wouldn't actually get underway until a three sided conversation with Fleet Yard control and the Battlestar resulted in orders 'to take to space', and that would likely be an hour down the track. But the moment Adams had entered the CIC she knew, that by the end of day she would have a Battlestar or death. She looked at the Communication station, there was a transmission- zero hour.
Communications called that Scorpia had sent through a message. In fact that would be a relay from the Shipyard network but still, everyone understood it meant a traffic advisory was being issued. Adams was handed the printout quickly and wasn't surprised by the contents;
Scorpia was sending up a Heavy that would share the 'test area' which was perfectly reasonable with the coordinates attached showing that it would be on the other side of the test space and outside of visual range. The First Officer didn't see much in it and shrugged at Adams before wondering whether that since it was a police boat maybe they were doing zero-g training. The Commander wasn't serious when she said it was as likely they were on a booze cruise.
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