Part 1 Battlestar Galactica: Back To The Colonies: Of Droughts And Grudges

Chapter 4

IV

The worst drought since the 1930's continued to punish the middle of the North American Continent. The American Midwest and Great Plains were as dry as kindling wood. Crops had withered away; Livestock had died from lack of food. The economic crisis had forced both the United States and New Caprica into states of emergency.

The United States had always been quite protective of the fledgling Republic in their midst. New Caprica didn't exactly have a true military but instead relied on a Home Guard, a quasi-military force of about ten thousand that could be activated for an emergency. It was highly unlikely that anyone would ever attack New Caprica so the need for a full-fledged military had been seen as a waste. The U.S provided the tiny nation with the equipment for this force but everything else about it was home-grown.

Despite the deepening crisis, the U.S was still trying to provide foodstuffs to help offset the devastation within the borders of New Caprica. However, the severity of the drought was becoming so acute that the United States was needing more and more from other regions of their country simply to make up for the collapse of the agricultural hub of the nation, which stretched from Texas to the Dakotas and from Colorado to Ohio. They would not let New Caprica starve, but they couldn't give it unlimited support.

As the crisis had deepened so had the vitriol from the group known as The Cain Mutiny. They were now openly talking about replacing the government; they had directly threatened Admiral Baltar. But they still had not acted on any threats.

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Xander Ukith now had twenty-seven people who felt as he did and who would not accept any Cylon or Cylon enabler running this or any other nation. With one or two exceptions, most were former military from either the original Pegasus or Galactica. Most of them had backed Felix Gaeta and Tom Zarek years ago. Some even brought their adult children into the fold, having raised them with that same hatred of Cylons. A few had been civilians in the Fleet, and a few even were natives of Earth.

They weren't angry that the drought persisted. For most of them that had just been a convenient pretext to find each other. More than anything, they detested any Cylon influence on Human affairs even if it was in support of helping people. Even twenty years after arriving on Earth, they could not square the fact that the Cylons that were on Earth had helped humanity in their fight against their own kind in 2027 and even now worked to better Humanity. It didn't matter. They wanted them gone.

Now they would start working for that goal.

Their first overt act had to been to pilfer U.S. issued M4A1 Assault Rifles a few months before that the New Caprican Home Guard used, along with ammunition for the weapons. Through their website and their casual encounters in bars in Sioux City, they had also made contact with former Colonial Officers and enlisted personnel who were working for UED or the U.S. Air Force at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha who were like-minded souls and were eager to contribute. And with those contacts there soon came bulletproof vests and even some grenades.

The members of The Cain Mutiny were happy to get these weapons but they also reasoned that they weren't ideal for anonymous attacks on their foes. What they really needed was plastic explosives, timers, and blasting caps so they could plant a device and be long-gone before the boom was heard. That had proved to be more difficult.

Tera Chance was sitting in the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the Capitol that was the headquarters for Xander's group. Everyone involved was getting tired of not doing anything although they weren't angry at Xander or anyone else in the group. They had simply not been able to acquire more lethal weapons for the beginning of their "active opposition" as they termed it against the government. They weren't quite ready to commit to suicide attacks of the kind that had run the Cylons off the New Caprica planet years ago.