Operation Exodus

2:1 Revelation

2 weeks after Strike at Picon, Day 95 since the fall of the colonies

Admiral Thorn was still in charge while Admiral Stryker remained in sickbay. Since the majority of ships had some kind of damage, the fleet was slowly limping toward the civilian fleet ahead of them. Admiral Sounders did exactly what Stryker ordered; get back to Avalon and do not stop at any cost. Atlantis as well as two other ships were in bad shape and it was unlikely they would be fully battle ready anytime soon.

Theseus Sick Bay

"Absolutely not. That is not going to happen," Admiral Stryker said furiously, still lying in his bed in the Theseus sickbay.

"She is wrecked, it would take a large amount of resources to repair her and bring her to full operational status. It would be much easier to simply build a new ship," Admiral Thorn said, "I know you love that ship and that it was your home, but she was almost completely destroyed."

"It survived the impact of a 250Mt nuke, any other Battlestar would have exploded but not Atlantis, and I have absolutely no intention of letting her be scrapped. Once word comes to the civilian fleet about the battle, and from the sight of seeing her damage; she will become a legend, and a bringer of hope to the civilians. They will feel safe knowing that Atlantis is guarding them. This conversation is over and I do not want to hear about it again. If need be, I will take all the resources needed to repair her. You must understand that ship saved my life more than twice," Admiral Stryker said.

"I understand, but as I said it would be much better scrapping her. As you wish though, Atlantis will get priority in repairs once we rejoin the fleet. If we increase speed we might be able to catch our fleet in a few days. Do you want me to get a full report about the fleet's status?" Admiral Thorn asked.

"No, I already know," Admiral Stryker said.

"If I may say, your plan worked almost perfectly. We lost only two ships, and unfortunately we lost half of our fighters," Admiral Thorn said sadly.

"It might sound like small losses compared with the enemy, but still we lost too many. However, I am at peace knowing that the survivors on Picon will be safe for now. Having the full defense grid, those ground based cannons, and the marines will keep them safe until we can return. If that is all, I want to rest now," Admiral Stryker said.

"Of course," Admiral Thorn said and left the room.

After Admiral Thorn left, Admiral Stryker tried to get sleep, but it didn't work. For the last five days he hadn't been able to sleep and had been having nightmares of the colonies being nuked while he was in middle of it, watching his friends and crewmembers dying all around him, and seeing the Atlantis X.O. dying. At least Stryker thought to himself, Commander Haller survived. Nightmares, they followed him each night, each time he tried to get at least an hour of rest. He won, but paid a high price. After he thought about it, he knew Thorn was right; they had been lucky this time, catching the Cylons by surprise and losing only two ships. What would have happened if they lost half of their ships or all of them? It would have been a real disaster.

"I must stop thinking," Admiral Stryker said to himself, "can't take this anymore." He was worried. What would come next; the Cylons are not defeated, this will only anger them, and they will try to find the fleet. The civilians saw Atlantis as the flagship, the ship that saved them many times. If he lost her, it would bring morale even lower than it was, even if there were other much stronger ships in fleet.

After some time, Stryker finally got some long wanted sleep, but the dream he had was strange. He tried to wake up only to find that he was surrounded by light.