Episode 08: Mugging Cylons

By

Jay P. Hailey

Jojo gripped the handle of is weapon tightly and fought down the anger which threatened to overwhelm him. The single handcuff clamped to his wrist seemed to chafe even worse at the thought. Jojo didn’t know what was in the cuff, no one said anything as they attached it.

The damned blue suited goons and all their talk. How were they any different from him. Sure he strong armed a few girlies into some business that they thought they were too good for. Now he was being strong armed, too.

What was in the cuff? A bug of some kind? Some explosive charge to go off if he tried to escape? An electrical charge to electrocute him at the order of that old corpse Melanous?

Hatred and resentment burned in Jojo. One message had been drilled into Jojo since he’d been captured and drafted. Humans were off limits, but he could be as mean to Cylons as he wanted to be. Jojo grit his teeth. It wasn’t good enough. He wanted to feel his hands around Melanous’ throat. He wanted to turn Delgara into his special woman. Jojo had special plans for those snotty pilots who captured him.

The shuttle bucked and rocked underneath Jojo, bringing him back to the present. "What? What the hell?" Jojo demanded.

"We’re being shot at." The Sergeant said mildly. From looking at him, you’d think he rode a shuttle under fire to work every day for 20 yahrens.

Another criminal/soldier looked out the window nervously. "I heard there’s no air out in space. What happens if they shoot a hole in the shuttle?"

Jojo sneered at the Criminal’s naivete. If fighting in space was that dangerous no-one sane would do it.

"We die." The Sergeant said mildly. "We suffocate and explode at the same time."

Jojo flatly did not believe him.

A lot of the others did, though and whined piteously, or complained bitterly.

"Here’s where you start earning your keep, gentlemen." The Sergeant replied.

Jojo looked the Sergeant in the eye. "I don’t earn nothin’. I take everything I need."

"Take it from the Cylons, tough guy." The Sergeant said.

"Them first, and then you." Jojo said.

The Sergeant was uncowed, and this made Jojo angrier. Nothing on this little joy rid was working out right and Jojo resolved to make someone pay.

The shuttle bucked and rocked more. Then it seemed to tilt as the pilots turned and tried to dodge.

-*-

"Core control this is Equus Alpha Leader. There are twenty Cylon fighters out here."

"Nyke to Equus Alpha Leader. Do you think you can still take the transport?"

"Sure." Chama replied. "At least we can take their escort. I don’t know how the thing is loaded."

Melanous thought about it. The strikes they had been launching still weren’t to the point of diminishing returns, but their margins had been cut way down. Almost every fighter the refugees had was out clearing off fighter escorts. Fortunately they had some new ground soldiers. Melanous briefly shuddered at the thought of what those criminals would go through, and what he was responsible for inflicting upon them.

"Take the transport if you can." Melanous said. He didn’t have much choice. They had enough fuel for only a few more such raids.

-*-

"We’re cleared to go in." The pilot said over the intercom.

Jojo shot a look at the speaker. Arrogant son of a Daggit.

The shuttle swooped as well as any shuttle could into contact with Cylon transport.

-*-

With a clunking bang the shuttle made fast to the Cylon space craft.

"Line up here, two lines." The Sergeant said. Jojo and the rest shuffled to the specified positions.

"Hurry. The more time you give, the more time they have to get ready for you." The Sergeant said.

Jojo sighed and stood in line. The gun they gave him would scare somebody if it were loaded.

A hissing and the smell of burning metal wafted back to the new Soldiers.

As the chunk of hull gave way, the Sergeant passed a handful of energy clips to Jojo. Jojo quickly took the clips, picked on, checked the leads to see if they were intact, slammed the clip home in his weapon and checked the status lights. They were green. Jojo swung the weapon at the Sergeant’s face. "Now explain what’s to keep me from blowing you away, again?" Jojo snarled.

The Sergeant didn’t blink. "What’s in that bracelet of yours again?"

Jojo grimaced. He stood rooted by indecision. Hurting someone was never a hard decision for Jojo to make, but he didn’t know what the bracelet would do to him. His brain filled in the unknown details with horrifying possibilities.

Jojo lowered the weapon. "Let’s get this over with. How will I tell which ones are the Cylons?"

The Sergeant smirked. "The Cylons will be the silvery guys who are shooting at you."

"Thanks" Jojo sneered.

"GO!" A soldier in the lead of the formation yelled.

Bok, a low rent loan shark was first in line. Jojo smirked to himself. The little man was obviously terrified, an emotion utterly foreign to Jojo.

Bok danced for half a second and then gripping his now loaded weapon so tightly his knuckles were white he screeched a sad little war cry and jumped into the corridor.

Bok twitched and danced as Cylon bolts tore into him. He didn’t even get to scream before a large portion of his anatomy and most of his blood was scattered around the corridor. What was left of Bok dropped with an ironic little thud in the corridor.

The experienced soldier leaned slightly around the lip of the boarding hatch and fired his weapon. Nijer, a thug with a long criminal history watched the soldier for a few moments and then copied his motions on the other side.

The soldier leaned back abruptly and Nijer copied that just in time as a hail of Cylon return fire crashed around them.

"I make five of them on this side. How many did you see?" Zeke, the Soldier asked Nijer.

Nijer shrugged. "I didn’t look, I just shot."

Zeke looked at the Sergeant and sighed.

The Sergeant pointed at the corner across from the shuttle. "There’s cover there. You go take that spot while we cover you, and then look."

Nijer was about to give the Sergeant a lesson in harsh language, when the Sergeant pointed meaningfully to his own wrist.

Nijer took a deep breath and nodded.

The Sergeant pointed at Jojo. "You. Move up and cover him."

Jojo walked over to the lip and looked down the corridor. At the end of the corridor several figures stood. They looked like men in suits of armor.

"HEY!" Jojo bellowed. "FRAK YOU!!" He opened up with his weapon and filed the corridor with beams.

The Cylon he shot fell over and the others simply raised their guns and returned fire. Jojo ducked, bringing his weapon in last and continuing to fire.

The Sergeant grinned at him. "If that makes you feel better go ahead."

Nijer across the hallway now said "Four on this side, five on that."

The Sergeant turned to the rest of his new troops. "Fire from cover and take careful aim when you can. There’s no point in trying to keep their heads down or firing near them. Cylons, like Jojo, ain’t afraid to die."

"You guys go left with Zeke, the rest of you come with me."

The Sergeant stepped to the edge of his cover and said "On three one, two, three!" he stepped out firing one way, while Zeke stepped out firing the other way.

Jojo leaned around the hatchway again and fired at the Cylons down the corridor.

They advanced carefully. Several bolts of energy passed by so close to Jojo that he could feel the heat from them.

Dagmar, who had kidnapped several refugee children got hit as he tried to advance around Jojo.

Jojo blinked something wet out of his eyes. Dagmar’s agonized screams drowned out everything else for a moment, before they were cut off by gurgling.

Something deep and primitive woke up in Jojo. "Lords O’ Kobol!" he found his brain screaming. "A guy could get killed doin’ this! I could get killed!"

Jojo found himself seeking cover more avidly, and firing with real intent to destroy Cylons.

What disturbed Jojo worst was the way the Cylons acted. They never screamed. They never sped up or slowed down. They moved with the same methodical pace no matter what was happening around them. They were utterly immune to the voice which had recently spoken to Jojo.

Jojo yelled at them. He screamed at them. He shot them in various parts of their bodies. He threatened them. He threatened Cylon families, children and mothers. Nothing Jojo tried made the slightest impression on the Cylons except shooting them.

The squad of criminal/soldiers walked through the ship. The criminals leaned the hard way to judge angles of fire, watch for ambushes and not to shoot each other.

As Jojo rounded a corner, The Sergeant said. "Jojo, behind you-"

Before the Sergeant was finished Jojo had spun and shot the Cylon who’d taken advantage of a nook to attempt an ambush.

Jojo turned around and looked at the Sergeant. "What did you tell me for? You coulda let him get me and then wasted himself yerself. That’d solve two problems at once for ya, wouldn’t it?"

The Sergeant looked Jojo earnestly. "I don’t like you. But out here we’re soldiers. If we’re going to live through this we have to work together. If we go it alone, we’ll get killed. And I don’t plan to buy it today. If you don’t, either, then the only thing that’s going to save you is your squad and good team work. That’s all."

Jojo’s eyes narrowed as his brain latched onto this information like a thirsty man to water. "How long you been doing this?"

"Twenty Yahrens." The Sergeant said.

Jojo blinked slowly. That was along time. "Like dis? For twenty goddam yahrens?"

"This is actually worse than average. But I have seen much worse." The Sergeant said.

Fire erupted down the corridor as the rest of the criminal/soldiers discovered more Cylons.

A scream announced another casualty. Jojo realized that this meant one fewer set of eyes to look for Cylons. One less gun to return fire at them. "This ain’t gonna get it." Jojo decided. "We gotta get our sh*t together, or we’re dead meat."

The Sergeant began to restore order to the squad and get them moving back towards the Bridge.

-*-

Back in the shuttle, Jojo looked at the empty seats around him and the handcuff clamped to his wrist.

"Why do we gotta attack the Cylons and take their stuff, Sergeant?" The term had a measure of respect, now.

"The Cylons exist for one reason. To kill everyone. Everyone you know and everyone you don’t know. If you’re a human, then they want you dead. We either fight them on their ships or we fight them in ours." The Sergeant sighed. "Besides. No one but the Cylons object if you kill a Cylon and take his stuff."

Jojo snickered. "It’s like Authorized crime."

The Sergeant nodded. "Yup. But our only choice is if we gun ‘em down here or at home wherever that is."

Jojo nodded. It made sense to him. Maybe he could find an angle to this thing.

TBC-

 Disclaimer: Universal Studios owns all things Battlestar Galactica. I claim original characters and situations in this story for me.

This story posted by permission of the author. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Jay P. Hailey

N 5004 Lee St.

Spokane WA

99207-4121