Earth 2010 - The Colonies of Kobol Reunited Chapters 14

CHAPTER 14

Leoben sat in the dark chambers projecting. His eyes scanned the circular room before him; the chair he sat in was atop a six-foot pedestal with two Centurions beneath it. Verbal communication was unnecessary between the human/Cylon models and their robotic inferiors. Leoben had found himself verbalizing his commands more frequently even though the Centurions responded silently to the human ear.

“With every Cavil model destroyed there should be no more rebellion aboard this Base ship. Airlock the remaining bodies!” The two Centurions turned in unison and departed the room through two sliding glass doors. “Lucifer!” he barked. The Cylon appeared instantly and stopped at the base of the pedestal.

“By your command.”

“With the Cavils out of the way my control of this ship and its mission will proceed unchallenged. Do you foresee any further problems with the other models?”

“Are you requiring conjecture or fact?” came the smooth, silky voice that betrayed a deadliness experienced only by the late Cavil model.

“I’ve programmed you for independent thought, Lucifer. If we are to locate the humans, we must think like them. Cavil refused to see the benefit in embracing his human side, and has paid the price for his short-sightedness.”

“And what will Cylon Command think about your decision to take Cavil offline permanently?” Leoben’s face betrayed no emotion either way at this question.

“Lucifer, there is no Cylon Command here. I am the sole commander of this Basestar, and when the time comes, I will make them all see the truth in my actions. If we are to build a star-spanning empire we cannot do so by collective decision making.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed and slowed their slanted back and fourth motion. “I wasn’t aware that a ‘star-spanning empire’ was a going concern.” Leoben had detected the faintest of sarcasm in the reply and smiled.

“In due time, there may very well be the ‘Imperious Leader’ that Cavil was braying about, bringing the Cylons together. I intend to be that unifying force.”

“Do you intend to call for reinforcements or a resurrection ship as we begin to narrow our search in the three sectors that may be harboring the fugitives?”

“For now we will remain the only Cylon force in the system, I will reevaluate our needs as progress is made. That is all.”

“By your command!”

Terra-1’s entire compliment of vipers was now airborne and practicing combat maneuvers through Saturn’s ice rings. Each pilot putting his or her fighter through its paces in the ruggedness of space. Prior to leaving Earth, each viper was put through a grueling atmospheric shakedown test, and now would come the shakedown in the vacuum of space.

Captain Elyssa DeAlma was running a training exercise with the Raptors, and she was not due to interact with the vipers until tomorrow. The Raptor played a crucial part within an attack squadron; they were the early Dradis warning for the vipers and would direct them to the battle. Today they were fine-tuning their Dradis to pick out signals that may be camouflaged by large volume of space debris. They were tasked with locating the vipers in Red Lancer squadron as they traversed the rings of Saturn. They did this without the benefit of the vipers utilizing their Colonial transponders, or what would now only be referred to as transponders now that there was no longer a Colonial Military, but a unified Earth command.

“Starburst, Poseidon…You’re doing an excellent job, you’ve successfully picked out six of the ten vipers in Red Lancer squadron. Let’s shoot for all ten next round!”

“Easier Fraking said then done!” griped Starburst to her ECO on their private com line. “I’m not quite sure why she’s taking a particular interest in me, but it’s starting to get on my nerves.”

“Maybe she has the hots for you, star.” Joked the ECO, never taking his eyes off his Dradis screen. “The thought of it is…stimulating!”

“Just my luck, not only does she use me for her personal errands aboard Terra-1 now I need to worry about her trying to get into my pants.” The two laughed and resumed their duties.

The planet Uranus is the seventh planet from Earth’s sun, composed primarily of rock and various ices it lays claim to 21 named moons and 6 unnamed ones. Within the Epsilon ring of the planet, a small craft materializes and drifts. A light begins to glow brightly on the topside. The light is a Dradis sweep, and the craft is a Cylon Heavy Raider assigned to this space sector in search of the Colonial fleet. It had been converted from troop transport to surveillance craft. The Heavy Raider is not a biomechanical spacecraft like the Raider. Two specially programmed Centurions; one pilot and one operating the Dradis operate it.

Nightstalker pulled out and away from Saturn’s furthest ring, his fighter handling smoothly. No avionics failures or mishaps, he was quite pleased by its performance. He pulled in tight next to Bedlam, awaiting the rest of his air wing to exit the exercise. “What did you think, Rachel?” asked Sarnex over their secure com.

“I have no complaints, my fighter handled perfectly well without one warning alarm; we’ve yet to have a collision between fighters or between fighter and the larger ring debris. All in all… a good session.”

“I’m sure the old man is following the training session, from what I hear so far the ship is handling like a dream. Now all we need is six more Battlestars like that and we could actually call ourselves a real fleet again.”

“We’ll be there someday, skipper.” Replied Bedlam. “What’s the rumor about a space carrier being built? I hear that it is expected to hold over 400 vipers. That’s a lot of firepower, and the Gods only know how long something like that will take to build.”

“Give me a conventional Battlestar any day of the week! That carrier is in the design stage at this point, and years away from actually being built at this rate.” Werewolf squadrons had formed up, and were heading back to Terra-1, this was a good training day and Mark Sarnex was pleased with his squadron’s results.

Raptor 4 was assigned to patrol with two vipers from Omega squadron on this day. The pilot was an Earth officer; Lieutenant Peter Moreau whose call sign was Headcase. They were at the halfway point between Saturn and Uranus and prepared to return to the ship when the ECO spoke up.

“Captain, I just picked up a faint signal coming from sector 2. I’d swear it was a Dradis signal.”

“Could it be residual from either Viper?” he asked with concern.

“Negative, they are well behind us, and it is definitely not their Dradis, this is a fairly potent signal in strength.”

“Have we been painted?”

“Unsure, it is on a rotating sweep I would guess due to the brevity I was able to pick it up.” Head case was cautious, and while he never confronted the Cylons, he would take no chances.

“Signal Terra-1, inform them that we are going to continue on this track to investigate a possible contact.” Head case accelerated towards Uranus, the two Vipers moved in closer positioning themselves on port and starboard sides of the Raptor.

Aboard Terra-1 Lieutenant Antonio Digit had relayed Raptor 4’s message to the executive officer who instinctively set the Battlestar at condition 2 throughout the ship and notified the commanding officer who was in his quarters at the moment. “Sir I’m placing the ship on condition 2 alert status, Raptor 4 is currently investigating a possible contact in the vicinity of Uranus.”

“Very well XO, I’m on the way up.” Replied Tigh fastening his collar.

Colonel Patton sat down in the command chair and turned to his tactical officer. “Lieutenant Digit, ascertain fuel status of all our birds immediately.”

“Aye sir!” Replied Digit as he opened a secure frequency to the airborne Vipers. “Squadron Leaders, Terra-1…please advise on current fuel status of your squadrons.” Vampire, Bloodbath and Nightstalker had ordered all wings to sound off with their fuel loads over each assigned frequency. In turn, each squadron leader reported his squadron’s fuel status back to Digit who in turn relayed it to the XO.

“Commander on deck!” shouted the executive officer as he saw Tigh walk into the CIC. He vacated the seat and Tigh had motioned everyone to remain at ease.

“Commander has the deck …Sitrep XO!”

“Raptor 4 is on long range patrol with Viper 222 and 116; they are investigating a possible contact in the vicinity of Uranus. We have all three squadrons in the air on shakedown cruises and are roughly halfway through their maximum fuel load.”

“Lieutenant Digit, inform the pilots that they are to land immediately for refueling and rearming if necessary. I want Werewolf squadron to remain on standby while the other two squadrons come in to be fueled. Helm…bring us on course two, two four, I want to close the gap between us and our fighters and be ready to get to Uranus if needed at a moment’s notice.”

“Aye Colonel, course two, two four.”

Over the next hour, Vipers rearmed, refueled and were loaded into the launch tubes with instructions that the pilots remain at their fighters until further notice. Captain Elyssa DeAlma was back on board and pacing before her Raptor has the deck crew refueled it.
“Frak, the last thing we need is some wet-behind-the-ear Earther trying to sniff out a possible Cylon contact. What is Tigh thinking? They should have us out there, Hustler…there is no substitute for experience!” Hustler winced at the “Earther” comment, members of the deck gang and other Raptor teams were comprised of their brothers and sisters from the 13th colony, and he was sure they did not appreciate Poseidon’s comments.

“Easy boss, Headcase is a trained Raptor pilot and will do just fine.”

DeAlma shot a sideways glance towards her ECO. “You have far greater faith in them than I do, my friend. Time will tell how good they are, I’m not impressed with class rankings as I am with actual combat experience.”

Headcase had drifted for a little over 2 hours; he had ordered the Vipers to power down to conserve power allowing the occasional use of thrusters to remain together. They were using a passive Dradis sweep to avoid being picked up by whatever may have been out there. “Anything?” he asked his ECO.

“Nothing yet sir, I have adjusted….standby….picking something up, very faint.” The ECO adjusted his controls and his eyes widened as he locked onto the contact. “CONTACT…..is bearing 124, distance…18.2.”

“Identify!” snapped Headcase as he started to power up the Raptor.

“OH FRAK….Cylon heavy raider, Cylon heavy raider…war book positively identifies.”

“Fu*k!” muttered Head case as he opened a COM link to his escorts from Omega squadron. “Heads up boys, we have a Cylon Heavy Raider in the vicinity, we picked him up on passive, but we have to assume he’s got us painted. Power up and arm weapons!” Head case dialed up the secure frequency to Terra-1 when the contact disappeared from the Dradis.

“He’s gone, the Turkey has bugged out!” yelled the ECO.

“Terra-1, Raptor 4 with an emergency transmission, over.”

“Raptor 4 this is Terra-1 go ahead with your message.”

“Cylon Heavy Raider positively identified in vicinity of Uranus, he jumped away before we could engage, instructions?”

This was the type of message that Tigh feared, but it was one that they knew would eventually be transmitted. They had avoided the Cylons for almost two years, and he was relieved that they were not any closer to Earth. Perhaps there was a chance to lead them off.

“XO set alert condition 1 throughout the ship, execute!” The klaxon blared as the executive officer called Action Stations throughout the ship over a wired transmitter. “Lieutenant Digit, send a coded message to GALACTICA and Earth Defense Command, inform them that we have located and confirmed a Cylon reconnaissance craft within range of Uranus. We will be making a jump to that location, and will take necessary steps to intercept the enemy, and lead them away if possible.

Raptor 4 furiously scanned the sector with active Dradis sweeps; the viper escorts had spread out and were on alert for anything. Headcase reacted with lightning speed when the Basestar materialized immediately before him.

“Contact….Cylon Basestar dead ahead; we are well within weapons range, Lieutenant!”

“Reversing course, alert the Vipers to bug out, we need to get some breathing room here.” Ordered Headcase as he executed a stomach-churning roll and kicked in the turbos. Cylon Raiders launched from the Basestar and were on an intercept course. Pilots did not man the raiders, these were biomechanical constructs that had the advantage of being able to be launched with only seconds worth of advanced notice. They were closing.

Viper 222 and 116 took up defensive positions alongside the Raptor as they streaked away from the looming Basestar and incoming raiders. “Head case, Deadshot we’re not going to make it back to base showing them our asses. We can’t jump, but you can…get the Frak out of here and warn the ship, we’ll try and hold them off.” Headcase knew that was suicide, but Deadshot was correct, vipers were not equipped with FTL drives and would have to stay and fight, or continue to run. His job was to jump back to Terra-1 immediately to warn her. The taste of bile soured his mouth as he swallowed hard and looked out at the Viper on his port side. “Message received Deadshot; I’ll go get the Calvary, don’t do anything stupid, try and stay ahead of them.” Said Headcase weakly.

“My Dradis is counting 40 raiders and growing, two vipers going against those numbers don’t strike me as the decision of a genius.” Laughed Deadshot as he snapped a salute towards Raptor 4.

With one last glance towards the Vipers, Headcase jumped away to warn Terra-1. He felt miserable, he knew they would not last long if they fought, and they were below half in their fuel load.

Aboard the GALACTICA Lt. Gaeta was decoding the transmission from Terra-1. His eyes widened and he spun around quickly in her chair. “Admiral, coded message from Terra-1, their recon patrol has encountered Cylon Heavy Raider in vicinity of the planet Uranus…Terra-1 preparing to jump to that location on an intercept course and to lead the Cylons away from this sector if necessary.”

All eyes were on Adama; his face usually an emotionless mask, now displayed a mixture of shock and resignation. After all this time, the Cylons have finally found them. He knew that Uranus was far out there, and that they had a slim chance of leading them away from Earth. The Cylons were not stupid however; he knew that the moment the Cylons spotted a brand new Mercury Class Battlestar they would realize that we had help in constructing it, and they knew we were searching for Earth, the traitorous Baltar saw to it that they had enough information to put the pieces together.

“Tactical…plot a direct jump to Uranus. XO sound action stations, I want every viper ready to roll down the tubes the moment we arrive on station.” Apollo picked up a transmitter and sounded action stations. Crewmembers throughout the massive warship scrambled to their assigned stations. Pilots grabbed their helmets and pressure suits and ran for their star fighters. Gaeta prepared the complex task of making a faster-than-light space jump from Earth’s moon to Uranus.

Matthew Lensherr had just finished loading the remaining personal items remaining in his former living quarters when the call for Action Stations sounded. He dropped the box on the floor and took off for the launch bay. He met up with Kara Thrace who was just pulling a duty shirt on over her tee shirt as she ran out of her the ship’s gymnasium. She was soaked in sweat and her hair was an out of control mess. “Looking good Kara, I like the hair!”

“You would! This is just what I need, jumping into a cockpit for Gods only know how long sweaty and smelling like a wet daggit.” Kara Thrace was now the squadron leader for Blue squadron, and on a private level was looking forward to enemy action. It had been almost two years since she fired a shot in anger, and the old familiar adrenalin rush was coming back to her at the sound of the Klaxon. GALACTICA’s air wing was at full strength for the first time since just before the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Five squadrons containing 20 Vipers each constitute a complete air wing. One hundred Mark II Vipers fresh off the assembly line were now aboard a Battlestar long considered obsolete when compared to Mercury class Battlestars. The GALACTICA carried a maximum fuel and munitions load, and she was ready for mayhem.

Raptor 4 appeared on Digit’s Dradis off the port bow and was coming in fast; a request for priority landing was requested and immediately granted. Colonel Patton made his way to the landing bay to meet Raptor 4’s crew. Patton still worked out to the standards held to an 18-year-old raw recruit in Marine basic training, at his age he was in far better shape then men more than half his age. He double timed it down the corridors and decks without breaking a sweat and entered the landing bay as Raptor 4 was lowered down from the upper deck. He straightened his tunic and stood patiently. Headcase and his ECO stepped out, and upon seeing the XO waiting for them quickly made their way over.

“Sitrep Headcase, and put a set o’ wings on it boy!” barked Patton. The ECO looked very confused, but Headcase being a former Army officer was well aware of Marine jargon.

“Sir, we picked up a possible contact in upper Uranus orbit and crawled in to investigate with passive Dradis., my guess is that the turkey picked us up about the same time and jumped away to warn their Baseship before our escorts could take it out. It was not long until a Cylon Basestar jumped on top of us. We bugged out and I jumped ahead to warn the ship before communications were jammed.” Patton could see the pained expression in the young pilot’s face, nobody wanted to leave anyone behind with an overwhelming enemy force bearing down on them. Headcase had made the correct decision, he himself knew that, but it did not alleviate the pangs of guilt and anger he had building inside him. Patton put a hand on his shoulder.

“Peter, rest easy…you made an extremely difficult decision, but it was the correct decision, the only choice. Don’t worry, you’ll get a crack at those bastards…we’re jumping to that location any moment.”

“Aye sir and thank you.” Snapping out a crisp salute, Moreau waited for Patton to return it before turning on his heel to oversee the immediate refueling of his Raptor. Patton contacted the CIC to inform Tigh of his conversation with Raptor 4’s crew, the countdown for the jump would commence in five minutes, and he quickly hung up and ran for the CIC. His place was there once the battle would commence.

Deadshot’s viper was working overtime to avoid the relentless barrage of fire from the pursuing Raiders, he and Viper 116 piloted by Lieutenant Jason Merrick were doing their best to stay ahead of. Merrick, whose call sign was Showtime, was just as creative in avoiding getting his Viper blasted out of the cosmos. This running was starting to make them angry, but they knew to turn and fight would be suicide.

“Deadshot, Showtime…I’m getting tired of showing them my ass.”

“Hang in there Showtime, Headcase will bring help!” Moreau knew how hollow that sounded, they were in it deep and both knew it. They were low on fuel and running hard on full battle thrusters. He would rather turn and fight, take out a few toasters and die for his effort than run until he ran out of fuel and destroyed like a piece of drifting space debris. A Dradis warning sounded loudly.

“Dradis contact ten o’clock…distance 14.8. Colonial transponder identifies as Terra-1!” yelled Showtime over the comline.

“Turn and burn Showtime make for home!” ordered Deadshot as Raider fire glanced off his port wing. The Cylons were gaining and there was still a good distance between the Vipers and the safety of Terra-1.

“Jump complete Colonel.” announced Digit as he waited for the first new Dradis sweep of the immediate area. “Incoming spacecraft…the first two are ours with at least 80 Raiders in pursuit.”

“Launch the fighters immediately; we’ve got two of our own out there under armed attack.” Snapped Tigh. “Helm, bring us on an intercept course with incoming Cylon attack force, execute. Weapons bring all batteries online, I want a heavy flack curtain between them and our landing bay…execute!” Tigh rattled off commands in crisp and concise tones. The two Viper pilots would know to get below the Battlestar’s engagement zone at the right moment leaving whatever unlucky pursuer to run full force into a curtain of death.

Mark Sarnex was the first pilot down the launch tube, his Viper exploding out of the flight pod at blinding speed. The remainder of Werewolf squadron was hot on his six as Vipers from Red Lancer and Omega squadrons took to space. Each squadron’s Raptor was also immediately airborne to guide their fighters into the battle. With two of their Vipers almost out of fuel and running for their lives, the remaining compliment of 28 Mark II Vipers prepared to go toe to toe with the incoming armada.

“Nightstalker, Poseidon…incoming Cylon attack force closing fast, it looks like only one Basestar judging by the numbers.”

“Message received Poseidon, make sure you keep your distance Elyssa…they no doubt are picking up an unknown Battlestar on their Dradis and will ignore us and go in after her. We will take out what we can, and Terra-1’s batteries will take care of the rest. I want cover given to Deadshot and Showtime; they’ve got to be bingo fuel by now.” Ordered Nightstalker.

“Vampire, Nightstalker…bring your squadron in from sector two, let’s see if we can hit em from both sides high and low with Bloodbath coming in from sector 3.” The two squadrons peeled off in different directions and started their attack. A firing lock warning blared through Showtime’s cockpit, he had two Cylons in close and could feel glancing shots hitting the fuselage. His port engine took a direct hit ripping it wide open; the entire fighter shook violently as he fought to maintain his direct track for Terra-1, which was now coming within eyesight.

“Krypter…Krypter…Krypter, this is Showtime I’ve taken a hit to my port engine, losing speed requesting emergency approach.” Captain Dillon Ramsey pressed his thruster pedal to the firewall trying to get in close to Showtime’s position, the raiders were on top of him, and he only had seconds left.

“Hold on Showtime, we’re almost there!” yelled Ramsey over the comline. Too late, another devastating round of Raider fire blew everything from the rear of the cockpit on back wide open. Showtime was still strapped into his seat that was now floating aimlessly through space devoid of his fighter. He was still alive thanks to his pressurized flight suit, and had no doubt a Raptor would come in to get him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the approaching Raider, he gasped and his mouth opened to scream when the Cylon attack craft struck him at full speed. Showtime was a bloody smear across the wing of the Raider, his body liquefied by the impact.

The EDC transponder blinked then disappeared from the Dradis of every Viper on the battlefield and aboard Terra-1. Viper 116 was destroyed; Showtime was the first casualty of Cylon aggression in over two years.

“Viper 222, Terra-1 you are instructed to make a port side combat landing immediately. What is your fuel status?” inquired Lt. Digit.

“Terra-1 this is Viper 222; I am bingo fuel, repeat Bingo fuel. Message received for combat landing in port landing bay.” Replied Deadshot, his voice choked with emotion at the loss of his wingman. A crimson viper streaked across Deadshot’s thruster wash firing its cannons, which found their mark dead center on the closest pursuing raider. On Earth, Lieutenant Anghard Beynon, call sign Branwen was a former Nimrod 2000 pilot assigned to 206 Squadron, RAF Kinloss. She was of Welsh descent and spoke with a thick brogue. Branwen means “Beautiful Raven” in Welsh, and Anghard Beynon was indeed beautiful with a short-cropped bob of black hair. She had green eyes and a tattoo of a Welsh Dragon on her lower back. She was one of the few women to fly the Maritime Reconnaissance & Attack (MRA) Mark 4 craft and was widely respected by her peers. She quickly volunteered for Viper school when the opportunity arrived and graduated first in her class. She was assigned to Red Lancer squadron, and was fast becoming one of Vampire’s favorite pilots.

“Up yur arses you tin plated sguthan!” cried Beynon as she blasted the Raider to pieces. She barrel rolled hard over and positioned herself tight on Deadshot’s five o’clock position high. “Okay luv, lets land the beastie post haste before you sputter out on fumes, I’ve got your sizable arse covered!”

“Thanks Branwen, you Red Lancers are ok!” said Deadshot as he lined himself up on final approach to the Battlestar.

“Damned straight we are at that, now concentrate on getting beneath the engagement zone, there are too many Raiders getting through due to our being outnumbered so badly, and we don need anymore deaths!” Deadshot skirted the massive wall of flak put up by Terra-1 and brought his fuel-starved viper in for a landing while Branwen returned to the battle, her mission to get viper 222 safely aboard successful.

Saul Tigh had been in many battles with the Cylons in his long career, as executive officer of the GALACTICA he had squared off against the immense Basestars on numerous occasions post Holocaust. This time he was in command, the decisions and repercussions would be his alone. His fighters were heavily outnumbered, and he had hoped to even the odds a little with anti-aircraft batteries while awaiting help from Earth. The Basestar was closing fast, almost in weapons range of Terra-1’s main batteries.

“Cylon Basestar approaching our maximum weapons range, Commander. We are now within their effective firing range.” Reported tactical. They were at a disadvantage this far out, while they were now within range of the Basestar’s weaponry, which could inflict heavy damage, the Cylons were just entering the absolute maximum range of Terra-1’s batteries. This far out the much larger Cylon warship could evade or shrug off some direct fire.

“Hold your fire on the Cylon Basestar, let’s let them in closer.” Said Tigh. “We have speed and maneuverability on our side.”

Aboard the Basestar, Leoben had monitored the command room from his solitary chambers. He resisted the urge to enter the command room himself, remaining high atop his perch. Doral had opened up a cybernetic link with him. “Our Dradis is picking up a warship in this sector; it has launched vipers but emits no Colonial transponder.”

“It isn’t the GALACTICA?”

“Negative, our scans indicate a much smaller vessel, it has engaged our raiders.”

“Bring us to within visual range, Doral. I want to see this warship for myself.” The Basestar had maintained its course straight for Terra-1, and was closing fast. The area around the Battlestar was a latticework of death; the far superior numbered Raiders were cutting vipers to pieces.

“Terra-1, Nightstalker…we are getting cut to pieces out here, any word on reinforcements?”

Tigh knew the battle was not going well for his Vipers, they were too badly outnumbered and the Raiders were moving in on individual Vipers like a wolf pack against a larger prey. Until help could arrive, he was going to have to take the fight to the Basestar, a tactic that would not probably be anticipated by the Cylons. They were most likely confused by the presence of an unknown Battlestar. “Helm, increase speed to maximum, lets close the gap between us and that Basestar. Tactical, order our remaining Vipers to disengage the raiders and concentrate on that Basestar. Prepare to fire main batteries on my order.”

Lucifer had appeared at the base of the pedestal when Doral’s report came in. “We are in visual range of a Mercury Class Battlestar; however this vessel is more than half the size of a Colonial Battlestar of any class.”

“And where might the Colonial fleet have procured another Battlestar in less than two years?” said Leoben almost in a whisper. Lucifer’s audio receivers had heard the question and set his mechanical brain to finding a possible answer, one that came instantly.

“It is obvious that they’ve had assistance in this star system, perhaps they’ve found Earth?” There was no longer time for further discussion, Terra-1 had launched a full spread from their forward batteries, and the much larger warship was sluggish in evading the incoming fire and took several direct hits with minimal damage. Simon quickly assessed damage to the Basestar. “Very minor damage inflicted on decks 12 through 14.” The Raiders immediately broke off their pursuit of the Vipers and engaged Terra-1. The ship took a withering barrage from the Raiders but continued to press their attack on the Basestar.

A blinding flash caught most of the Viper pilots off guard, the immediate vicinity filled with the unmistakable underside of the GALACTICA; she had made her FTL jump from the vicinity of Earth’s moon straight to Uranus. She materialized off Terra-1’s port bow and her momentum was taking her straight towards the incoming Cylon Basestar on a collision course.

“Jump completed….”Captain Felix Gaeta’s voice rarely contained any trace of emotion when she performed her duties as tactical officer. She relayed information in a calm and measured manner and Adama could never recall her raising her voice. “OH FRAK…Cylon Basestar dead ahead, we’ve jumped almost on top of her.” Yelled Gaeta. Adama glanced at the tactical screen; a secondary monitor displayed a fast closing Cylon Basestar heading straight for them.

“All Back Full!” commanded Adama bolting upright from his command chair. The helmsmen carried out the order immediately, but the ship was not reacting fast enough.

“GALACTICA not responding fast enough Admiral…she’s too close.” Yelled the helmsmen as the ship lurched at the sudden velocity change. Adama reevaluated and reacted in seconds.

“Evasive starboard…prepare for incoming fire on port side. Execute! Weapons I want a full salvo launched from the port-side batteries, let’s keep them off balance and shoot down anything they are able to get off at us.” The ship lurched to the right to avoid a collision, and as Adama expected, the Cylons reacted immediately with missile fire towards the GALACTICA.

“Incoming ordinance!” said Gaeta, much more calmly now. The portside batteries threw up a curtain of heavy flak, intercepting several of the incoming missiles. One succeeded in getting through, striking amidships above the flight pod that was now starting to extend out in order to launch vipers.

“Direct hit to the portside.”

“Damage control!” replied Patton.

Tigh was taken aback by the sudden appearance of GALACTICA; this was a one in a million occurrence that a Battlestar would come out of a jump on a collision course. Normally a jump is meticulously planned by the tactical officer, there was no way she could have predicted that the Cylon ship would be moving at such a rate of speed within the very airspace they were planning to jump to.

“Weapons, lets give the GALACTICA a chance to launch her fighters and get to a safer location. Launch another spread.” The main batteries thundered as the Cylon ship took another hit, this time from a much closer location. The damage was not minimal. Terra-1 was repaid with a blistering counterattack from the Basestar, followed up by numerous hits from the Raiders that were swarming all over her.

The executive officer was beginning to notice a pattern to the Raider attacks. “Sir, incoming attack craft are targeting the flight pods, I have extensive damage to tubes 4-7.” Reported Patton, his eyes never coming off the damage control monitors.

GALACTICA’s flight pods were now fully extended, and soon Vipers were exploding from their launch tubes and entering the fray. Raptor one piloted by Captain Nina Nintius had positioned herself on the far side of the GALACTICA with a birds eye view of the field of battle. She would be guiding Blue squadron through the battle. “Eagleone this is Betty, you have a toaster three o’clock low making a run on GALACTICA’s dorsal battery…take him out!”

Major Kara Thrace was the first to clear GALACTICA’s tubes when she gave pursuit to two Raiders. The first raider had evaded her first volley, but caught the second full force and exploded. Starbuck had successful flown through the debris field and immediately searched for the second Raider. “Excellent shot Starbuck; let’s show these guys how a female pilot does the job!”

“Way ahead of you Betty, it’s been too Fraking long since I’ve been able to put a real Cylon raider in my gun sights.”

Falcon had angled his viper behind a Raider that had just blown a Viper apart as it exited its launch tube. The squadron leader of Hunter Seeker squadron clenched his teeth as he watched the viper blow apart, he thought he had seen the upper part of the pilot drifting away in the cold, unforgiving region of space. The raider drifted in and out of his sights, leading him on a chase over the top of GALACTICA’s engines. He squeezed off a few rounds that struck a glancing blow against the top of the raider. In an unexpected move, the raider flipped over and was now facing Falcon firing its own weapons that Bastain gracefully avoided. The two passed by each other dangerously close. Reversing his thrust, Falcon double backs toward the raider who was now in the process of turning. The top half of the raider was left wide open and Falcon lights him up.

Silver Spar squadron was last out of the tubes, and Matt Lensherr was hell bent of making up for lost time. His viper had roared across the open skies with Hotdog, Aslan and Prometheus in tight formation beside him. “Let’s get into the fight boys, stick with your wingman and kick some Cylon ass.” Hephaestus and Hotdog rolled left, Aslan, and Prometheus rolled right, the fighting was getting intense and GALACTICA had positioned herself well off the Basestar’s three o’clock position and high.

Adama had opened a secure frequency to Terra-1; Tigh had come on the line immediately. “Commander we can’t let that ship jump away, they’ve seen you and the cats out of the bag now. They will immediately realize that we have built a new Battlestar that could only have been made possible by a planet with resources and infrastructure to do so. When they scan this star system, they’ll take the knowledge they gleaned from Baltar and determine that Earth is close by.”

“I concur Admiral. The Basestar will have to be destroyed immediately.” Replied Tigh.

“Raptor three, GALACTICA…you are instructed to establish a jamming field to prevent communications from the Basestar. Raptors four and two will be dispatched to extend the zone, we need to prevent the Basestar from jumping, or sending out a distress signal.” Lieutenant Jenna St. Lynn knew the drill; she positioned her Raptor close to the Basestar, but out of its weapons range. Her ECO ran his fingers across the keyboard and a jamming field was soon active, preventing Cylon transmission, but allowing Colonial and Earth transmission.

Terra-1 had taken a direct hit on her port flight pod, the damage was significant, and the much larger Basestar was bearing down on the much smaller ship. Heavy dorsal cannons zeroed in on the looming Basestar and opened fire with a blistering attack, the center axis took the brunt of the fire.

Leoben was now in the command center, Lucifer standing off to the side as the ship shuttered under the assault. Simon had been monitoring the progress of the battle. “The smaller Battlestar is inflicting minimal to moderate damage on us. She is fast and her maneuverability makes it difficult to target it. Raptors have installed a jamming field on all sides of us, and GALACTICA is coming about for another pass.”

Leoben had gazed out to the center of the room. “The fools! I do not intend to call for help, at least not now. Show the insects what we think of their jamming field, recall our raiders at once and prepare to jump.”

Lt. Dennis Walker, call sign Prometheus had his viper at full battle thrusters, he was giving pursuit to a trio of Raiders. Aslan was on his port wing and high, staying in close. His cannon fire found its mark on the engine nacelle of the closest raider. Prometheus avoided the debris field and bore down on the remaining two raiders in his sights. As he pulled the trigger, the two raiders banked hard right and retreated to the Basestar.

“Admiral, the Raiders are returning to the Basestar!” informed Gaeta.

“Frak, they punched right through our jamming field to issue their recall. We can’t let them jump out of here, signal Terra-1 to press their attack, Helm bring us in close enough to do some damage.”

Nightstalker had seen the raiders retreat, prior to GALACTICA’s arrival the squadrons were directed to engage the Basestar, but their numbers were reduced even further by the murderous anti-aircraft batteries throughout the Basestar. Seventeen Vipers from the Battlestar Terra-1 would not be returning from battle this day. He had lost slightly more than half of the fighters assigned to the Battlestar, good friends and pilots he would never see again. His stomach was in knots, he was soon knocked back to reality by the blasts going off around his fighter. This Basestar was bigger than any they had previously encountered, their engagement zone was lethal and he was about to enter it. Pulling back on the stick, he plunged the thruster pedal to the firewall and ascended over the top of the curtain of death. Before he could do anything, the Basestar disappeared.

“Admiral the Basestar has jumped away!” said Apollo with a hint of dread in his voice. Everyone in GALACTICA’s CIC as well as those in Terra-1’s knew the significance of the Cylon’s retreat. While they may not know Earth’s location exactly, they knew the star system it was in by the presence of two colonial Battlestars when there should only be one.

“XO, get our birds back on board immediately, I want them refueled, rearmed and back in the tubes. Get Tigh on a secure line and get a damage report, I want that relayed to EDC on a secured channel!” ordered a very unhappy Adama.

The recall order was issued and vipers were coming in on both decks of both ships to be refueled and rearmed. Nightstalker was seething as he exited his cockpit, seventeen pilots killed on the first combat mission in two years. Ten of those pilots were from Earth, it was to be expected that their lack of experience would be an issue, but Mark Sarnex still found it unacceptable. He immediately made his way over to Vampire, and they awaited the arrival of Bloodbath who would have to travel from the other side of the ship.

“Seventeen pilots, Ken….SEVENTEEN!” said Sarnex keeping his voice low and emotions in check. “I lost six, you lost seven and Omega squadron lost four. We took a Fraking beating out there our first time out.”

“Mark, we had a lot of nuggets out there with us…first time flying in space never mind going toe to toe with an overwhelming Cylon attack force. I’m surprised we didn’t lose more of our new pilots!” Nightstalker knew he was right, but it did not make the bitter pill easier to swallow.

“They’ve found us, and now they’ll be back with an even larger attack force.”

Bloodbath who was now catching the tail end of the conversation was quick to chime in. “Well you always knew that would be a possibility, now that day is here and we need to be prepared, and replace those lost fighters.”

“I’m heading up to the CIC now to report to the XO, I don’t foresee any problems getting a temporary transfer from GALACTICA, she’s at full strength now.” Replied Sarnex. After some quick instructions to his ASL, Mark Sarnex made his way to the CIC. As he ascended decks, he noticed the damage control teams hard at work. Terra-1’s first time in combat went remarkably well for a much less powerful ship than a Cylon Basestar. She went head to head, and landed a few good shots. Upon entering the CIC, he was immediately greeted by Colonel Patton who was studying the status board.

“Ah Captain Sarnex, glad to see you back safely, my condolences on the loss of your pilots…they put up one hell of a fight!” offered the XO as he walked up to Nightstalker.

“Thank you Colonel, Vampire and Bloodbath are supervising the refuel and reload operations, and we’ll be ready for action in no time!” replied Sarnex. “Sir, will we be able to replace our lost fighters with temporary transfers from GALACTICA?”

“The old man is working on that as we speak; we have extensive damage done to launch tubes four through seven on the port pod, with the possibility of bringing tube seven back online within 5 to 6 hours. Besides the 17 pilots we have 8 casualties, and 22 injured, the most serious being a broken arm from being tossed against a bulkhead during one of the missile impacts.” Said Patton solemnly.

At this time, Tigh was on a direct scrambled line with GALACTICA’s C.O. giving him a status report on ship damage and casualties.

“Admiral, the damage to the port flight pod will require time-intensive repair, though the deck and maintenance chiefs concur that tube 7 can be brought back online sometime in the next 5 to 6 hours. In addition to some minor deck breaches in the less shielded sections the ship is in high operational condition.” Reported Tigh. The loss of life was the first thing reported, and Adama knew what Tigh was feeling, he had lost personnel many times, and it never got easier to accept.

“Saul, I’m temporarily transferring fighters to replace those lost in battle, and EDC has been alerted to the situation… all forces are on high alert.”

“Thank you, Admiral. We are currently undergoing refueling ops for the fighters, and will be remaining at condition one until further notice.”

“The pyramid ball is now in play Commander, the Cylons know what sector we’re in, and they now know we’ve had help constructing a new warship. There is no doubt that they will determine that we have either located Earth, or found a habitable world in this system. It won’t take them long to find the one planet in the solar system that can sustain life.”

“Thank you for the fresh fighters Bill…I appreciate it.” The transmission ended and Tigh stepped down to where Sarnex and Patton were still talking.
“Captain Sarnex, your wings did an incredible job facing the odds they did…good job!” said Tigh knowing the pain that the young Captain was feeling.

“Thank you sir, the chrome-plated Fraks won’t know what hit them next time…we’ve taken their measure, and Terra-1 proved more than capable.” Tigh smiled at his subordinate’s enthusiasm, he could sense that Nightstalker was seeking a rematch with the Cylons, but knew that the next time the Cylons appeared they would come en masse. The next battle would not be easy, two Battlestars could not hold off the Cylon Empire.

“We’ll be getting in replacements from GALACTICA soon, Captain. Please assign a detail to secure the belongings of our lost pilots, and to make room for the incoming ones. We’re remaining at condition one, so the inventory of their belongings will be done as time allows.”

“Aye sir.” Sarnex came to attention and saluted. He turned on his heel and made his way back to the flight pod. As he rounded a corner near the officer’s quarters, he bumped into Poseidon.

“Hello Elyssa, good job out there today.”

“Thanks, too bad we lost so many nuggets though…their lack of experience was their Achilles heel.”

“Elyssa, we’ve all been inexperienced at some point, many of those Earth pilots were combat veterans in their own right, they’re flying a star fighter in outer space during combat for the first time, for Frak’s sake give them a break, will you?”

“Is that your philosophy Nightstalker, coddle them? These nuggets got a reality check today, and will have to fight a little harder if they want to be viper pilots.”

Sarnex turned angrily towards his Raptor pilot. “Coddling? Are you listening to yourself? What is going on with you, Elyssa? They replace your heart with a microprocessor or something?”

“No Captain, I’m the only one who realizes that we’re facing the business end of a death warrant served by the toasters for the second time. We cannot afford to be soft, and understanding. We need to train those people to be ruthless!” said DeAlma with a sneer.

“Those people?” said Sarnex with a raised eyebrow. “What people would those be…last time I checked they were just as human as we are.”

“Mark…you need to be a ‘leader!’ The Cylons are out to destroy us, and we cannot afford one slip up. That Basestar should never have been allowed to escape; you know they’ll be back with reinforcements!”

“I AM a leader, Elyssa!” said Sarnex angrily. “We aren’t Capricans, Aerelonians, Picons or Colonials…we’re one human race, and we depend as much on them as they now do on us. The faster you lose this attitude the less stressed you’ll be!”

An odd smile crept across Elyssa DeAlma’s face, one that immediately unsettled Mark Sarnex. “I’m not stressed at all, Nightstalker…I’m being a realist, something you should try before you get your pretty little face blown up in that fighter of yours.” With that, she walked away leaving Mark Sarnex shaking his head.