Battlestar: Mercury

by 117Jorn

Just hours before the fall of the Twelve Colonies, what if a Battlestar uncovered the Cylon's plans? What if more Colonial Vessels survived than the Cylon's intended? What happens when Humanity refused to go silently into the night, as the Cylon's attempt to take their homes? Rated T, will be rated M for swearing, violence, and future content.

Heeelllooo everyone! 117Jorn here with a new fic for you guys! This time, however, I am finally entering the realm of Battlestar Galactica 2003! In the past few weeks I've come to greatly admire the BG Universe after watching the first season of said show on some DVD's I got from the local Library. So, I decided to write a fic about Battlestar Galactica, only instead of following the journey of the Galactica (at least not yet) We will be venturing into the story of the Battlestar Mercury and its own fleet of ships which managed to escape the fall of the 12 colonies.

Also, Many ships in this fic may not be from BSG 2003, but some ships are from what me and Patriot-112 found on Devianart, many from a guy named XRaiderV1 on said website, so check out his profile, and credit for those ships goes to him!

So anyways, without further adu, please enjoy Battlestar Mercury: Hope Reborn!

The Cylons were created by man. They were created to make life easier on the twelve colonies.

And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their Masters.

After a long and bloody struggle, and armistice was declared. The Cylons left for another world to call their own. A Remote space station was built, where Cylons and Humans could meet and maintain diplomatic relations. Every year, the colonials would send one officer.

The Cylons send no one.

No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over 40 years.

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Colonial Space

Before the Fall

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In the Space which surround the territory of the 12 Colonies of Kobol, a lone Battlestar was holding its position a short distance from an asteroid field. It had the usual Gunmetal grey colors scheme of most Battlestars, only with added Red Trimming along its hull. This Battlestar, was the Mercury-class Battlestar BS-61, the ship of the class the Mercury herself.

In the bridge of the ship, the CIC was bustling with Activity with its crew doing their tasks as ordered. Looking at the map of the general area was a woman that looked 50 years old, standing at 6'1 feet with Shoulder-length Crimson red hair, Emerald Green eyes, and wearing the Female Uniform of the Colonial Fleet with the insignias for an Admiral.

Admiral Sutura Takeo was leaning over the map table of the CIC "Give me a sitrep, how are they doing Devil?" She asked on the Comm.

"So far, their doing fine." A voice replied. "Artemis and Sky-eye are flying through the field with Katana, Mystic and Claymore chasing them."

Sutura nodded, the pilots, Lieutenants Ciara "Artemis" Dacian, and Ric "Sky-Eye" Thebes, were among the top ten of their class, alongside her best friend, William "Razor" Adama's son, Lee "Apollo" Adama, an his surrogate daughter Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. The two were flying their custom black with gold trim Viper 's which are modified with systems from the Mk. VII, including the bubble canopy. She sighed, Ciara can be a crazy pilot like Kara, but didn't drink as much, and was respectful to her instructors and also to her current commanding officer, herself. Ric, was also a good pilot, and he showed it during a training exercise. The two worked well as a team, and always watched each others backs.

"Knowing those two, they'll give them a suprise or two," Sutura said and she could hear chuckling on the other end, "Got that right, hon." Devil said. "They nearly scared the Frack out of Katana when they suddenly were right in front of him shooting paint rounds at him. I'm actually surprised he got out of there without a single hit."

Sutura smiled a bit, "Well, he's one of our children, so its no real surprise he's got some skill." She said, and Aren 'Devil' Takeo, the infamous 'Devil of Cylon' from the Cylon war 30 years ago, and Sutura's husband, laughed. "True, got a point there." Aren said. "But it looks like Katana and the others have finally caught up with Artemis and Sky-eye..."

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In Space

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Two Mark VII Viper Intercept fighters colored black with gold trim sped through the asteroid field, flying over and under asteroids while One Blue and White trimmed Mark VII Viper flanked by two Refit Mark II Vipers, one colored black and red the other green and purple, chased them.

"I don't know how, but they must be cheating somehow!" The pilot of the Red/Black Viper II said, an 18 year old young man with Crimson Red eyes, and Black hair with red highlights said as he followed the two Viper VII's from behind.

"No, that's just because they have more experience than us, little bro." The pilot of the Blue/White Mark VII said as they began to fly along the surface of an asteroid. There was then a giggle on the Comm "He has a point, Jaden." A new, female voice from the Green/Purple Viper said. "Your just mad that Artemis almost caused you to crap your pants."

Jaden growled a bit "Hey! They just appeared right in front of me! They came out of Fracking no where!" Before either of them could reply, the two Mark VII's ahead of them accelerated forward and moved behind a series of Asteroids.

"Oh, we're not falling for that again, you two." The pilot of the Blue/White Viper VII, Matthew 'Claymore' Takeo, Jaden's older brother said. "Amy, Jaden, form up on me! We're taking these guys out, together this time."

"Alright! Alright!" Jaden said as he took his Brother's left flank. "I know I nearly screwed up last time! Get over it!"

"We need to keep reminding you Jaden, otherwise you'd forget!" Came the voice of the other Mark II Viper, Amy 'Mystic' Takeo, Jaden's twin sister said, and Jaden could tell she was smiling.

"Why is everyone ganging up on me today!" Jaden cried out. "Is it 'Pick on Jaden' day or something!"

"Jaden! Break right now! Now!" Matthew said, in a quick tone, and Jaden didn't ask questions as he banked a hard left, and avoided a series of paint rounds that almost hit him. "Whoa!" Jaden shouted as the two opposing Mark VII's began their attack run on them.

Then, a new voice came on the comm "You three should know better than too loose focus in the middle of a battlefield." Came the voice of the first Mark VII Pilot, a male voice at that.

"Dammit! We know already! Geesh, give us a break!" Jordan said as he and his siblings regrouped. A female chuckle was heard from the second Mark VII in response to this.

"If the Cylons ever do come back, you three will be the first they go after," said Ciara "Artemis" Dacian said with a bit of mirth. The three youn pilots gulped at that.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Amy said in a nervous tone.

"Nope, Cylons always go after the weaker pilots first." The male, Ric "Sky-Eye" Thebes said. "Their easier kills."

"Don't listen to them, you two." Matthew said on the comm, in a reassuring voice. "That's not true, Cylons go after the more experienced pilots to demoralize the rest making them easier to take out. Now let's show these two not to mess with us!"

"Hell ya!" Jaden and Amy both said as they followed their elder brother to battle against their two enemies. On a private channel though, Jaden asked his brother "Do they really?"

"How should I know? I was never in the war!" Matthew said. "But Dad told me that Cylon's don't really care if your a Rookie or Ace, as long as your their enemy they'll try to shoot you down either way." He then chuckled a bit "Just don't worry about it, we're not fighting Cylons, just fellow humans in a Mock Dogfight."

Jaden smiled a bit "Alright, well then let's do it!" He said as their three Vipers accelerated to meet their 'enemies.'

Matthew lead Amy and Jaden though the Asteroids as they fired short bursts of paint rounds at the two Black/Gold Viper VII's. But Artemis and Sky eye used the asteroids to their advantage, and used them as cover as their shots either missed or hit an asteroid or two.

"Damnit, stop moving!" Jaden hissed as he tried to get a bead on them. "Your really starting to get on my nerves!"

Then, however, the two Mark VII's took a turn behind an Asteroid, and when they emerged from the other side then took a charge against them, firing their paint rounds.

"SHIT! EVADE!" Matthew called out, as he and Jaden broke left and right to avoid the rounds, but Amy was too slow and three large globs of red paint hit her cockpit, and she screamed a bit in surprise.

"Amy, you alright?" Jaden asked, worried about his sister.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Amy said, before sighing. "It's just paint...but now I can't see fraking crap, and I'm dead!"

"You'll do better next time, your still both rookies, even though your damn good rookies." Artemis said in a reassuring voice. "Just try to get out of the field, you can see the way out, right?"

"Ya ya, I got it." Amy said. "I'll head back to the Mercury, Jaden? Matthew? Kick their asses for me!"

The two brothers laughed at their sister's comment "Will do little sis!" Jaden said.

"Hey! Where twins! You can't be oldest!" Amy retorted as her Fighter flew away.

"Correction, my dear little sister," Jaden said with a playful grin. "Remember, I was born 20 Seconds earlier, hence I am the older of us!"

"Your both wrong, I'm oldest." Matthew said, joining in. "I was born two years before you two came around!" But before either of them could retort, a few red paint rounds flew past Jaden's cockpit, but didn't hit him. "Frack!" Jaden shouted as he took evasive action as did his brother as he dodged additional paint rounds from Artemis's Viper.

"Well, now that Sibiling Rivalry is over," Sky eye said as his fighter approached Jaden while Artemis's approached Matthew's. "Can we get back onto out match?"

Jordan grinned ferally at that, "You're on!" with that his Mark VII accelerated forward and went after Sky-Eye's own Viper, while Matthew just sighed and then, following his brother's example, went after Artemis.

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Back on the Mercury

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Sutura watched the DRADIS as her daughter's Viper was on it's way back to the ship. She could hear muttering curses at Ric for blindsiding her. She shook her head in amusement at that. Her thought were interrupted when one of the CIC crew spoke up.

"Ma'am? We're getting a message from Colonial Fleet Headquarters. Admiral Nagala is on the line," said Lieutenant Sally Jenson, a 26 year old black haired, indigo eyed woman from Scorpia, with the probability of becoming a Battlestar Commander herself in the near future thanks to her steadfastness and a cool head under pressure. Sutura nodded in the affirmative. "Put it on the line." She said, as she picked up the phone. "Admiral Takeo here, sir." She said.

"Admiral Takeo," came the voice of the Fleet Admiral on the Phone. "I need you to report back to the fleet at Caprica at your soonest convenience. Where are you right now?"

Sutura rose an eyebrow at that, but replied "We're currently at the Charon Asteroid Field, sir." She said. "Conducting training for our Viper Pilots. May I ask why we're being ordered back sir?"

"Well, foremost, we've got a fresh batch of recruit ready to be sent to the Mercury." The Admiral said. "All of them eager to 'Fight along side the Devil and Guardian themselves'." He said, with a light chuckle as Sutura rolled her eyes, but maintained a smile.

"Is that all, sir?" She asked, still smiling a bit. But then she could hear the Fleet Admiral sigh, which to her was not a good sign."No, theirs one more thing." He said in a more serious tone. "We may have a situation here, Sutura. It may be nothing but..."

The Admiral's smile dropped at that. The only time Nagala would ever use her First name is if he was serious. "What is it, sir?" She asked.

"Not to long ago, contact with the Armistice Station at the Colonial-Cylon boarder has been lost." The Admiral said. "All we're hearing from them is static. The rest of command think its probably just a Communication Problem, which I hope that's all it is... But I have a bad feeling about this, so I'm not taking any chances. On your way back, meet up with the Battlestar's Orion and Athena, I've already contacted them and they'll meet you on your way back. Once your back here at Caprica, you'll head out to the station, see what's going on."

Sutura nodded "Understood sir," she said. "Well head out ASAP, we'll be back before you know it."

"Good, see you soon." He said. "Fleet Admiral Nagala out." And with that the line went dead, and she put away the Phone.

Sutura sighed as she though about what she was just told. Though she hoped command was right, that it was just a communications problem at the station. But she's learned in her military career to always prepare for the worst senario, and in this case it was the possibility of the Cylon's destroying the station.

She then turned to Sally "Give me communications with Devil." She said. Sally nodded as she quickly got Aren on the line. "Yes Admiral?" Aren's voice came through.

"Aren, our training trip just got cut short." Sutura said. "Get Jaden and the others back to the ship, We need to head back to Caprica now."

Aren noticed the seriousness in his wife's voice and knew that it was important. He nodded, "Alright, I'll gather everyone up and head back to the Mercury as soon as possible. Devil out!" with that he cut the link.

Sutura then placed her thumb and forefiner on her temples as she felt a killer headache coming on.

'Ugh, this trip is gonna be a real long one. I can just feel it,' she said and then turned to Sally, "Lieutenant, once all Vipers are aboard, set a course for Caprica," she said. "We'll be meeting up with the Orion and Athena on our way back. You have the bridge till I return, Sally." Sally nodded, and Sutura left the bridge, and headed for a very specific part of the Mercury.

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With Jaden

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The fight between Matthew and Jaden vs Ciara and Ric continued as the four fought 2v2 through the Asteroid Field. Jaden finally managed to get on Ric's tail, but couldn't seem to line up a shot.

However, then the Comm snapped on. "This is Colonel Aren Takeo to Katana, Claymore, Artemis, and Sky eye, we've got orders to return to Mercury." His Father's voice came through the Comm.

"What!" Jaden shouted as the battle stopped. "Things were just getting good! Why now?"

"Not my call, son." Aren said as he approached them in his customized Red/Gold Mark VIII Delta Viper. "Orders from the Admiral, and in extention your Mother. From her voice, it sounds urgent. So hurry it up!"

The others sighed, but complied. "Fine..." Jaden said. "But We will get a rematch with you two!" he pointed at the two Black/Gold Viper VII's now flying above him and Matthew's Vipers.

Ric could only chuckle with amusement, "Whatever you say, Kid. Now come on, let's back to the ship before your Mom has a temper tantrum the size of a Basestar," he said jokingly, and the four Viper pilots made their way back to the Mercury.

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Half-an-Hour later

Admiral's (Family) Quarters

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The family, as well as Ciara an Ric, met in what they nicknamed the Family Quarters, since the Admiral and her family usually spend their time off here. Sutura then explained to them about the call from Admiral Nagala, and how they were to return to Caprica, while along the way meet up with the Battlestars Orion and Athena, pick up some new recruits and then head to Armistice station near the Colonial/Cylon Border, and find out why they haven't responded in the last three hours.

Now that they were out of their pilot suits, and in their respective uniforms, one could get a better look at the pilots. Matthew was a 20 year old man with short, military style black hair, and green eyes standing at 5'10.

Next, was his younger sister Amy Takeo, who was almost a carbon copy of Sutura to her crimson red shoulder-length hair, and her emerald green eyes. She was the same age as Jaden at 18, but Jaden always says he was older because he was born a few seconds earlier.

Besides Jaden was Aren Takeo, aka 'Devil', a nickname he earned after shooting down over 108 Cylon Raiders in the Cylon War 40 years ago. He was as old as Sutura was, standing at 6'2 with a strong muscular build, and had Black military crew cut hair, and Crimson Red eyes.

Ciarra "Artemis" Dacian was a 25 year old girl with Red shoulder blade length hair in a low pony-tail, and Yellow eyes. She had light olive skin, and had an athletic and slender build standing at 5'7.

Standing next to her was Ric "Sky Eye" Thebes. At the same age as Cirra he was only two inches taller than her. He had Black miltary cut hair, and Amber eyes with Tan skin and a Martial Artist lean build.

Once Sutura finished her explanation, it was her Husband who spoke first "So, what do you think is going on?" He asked.

Sutura sighed as she sat down into a chair. "Honestly? I'm hoping it all really is a communications problem." She said. "But, if its not...and if the Cylons are involved..."

"Maybe it wasn't Cylons?" Amy offered. "There are still a lot of pirates out there, maybe some of them attacked the station, make a quick buck or cause some havoc to the Colonies?"

Sutura smiled a bit "If we're lucky enough, that could be all it is Amy." She said, but became serious again. "But we should prepare for the worst, either way. That being a Cylon attack. If that's the case...then we may be looking at a Second Cylon War."

Everyone nodded at that, and just as she finished the phone in their quarters rang. Sutura walked over to it and picked it up.

"Yes?" she asked as Sally's voice responded, "Admiral, we're picking up FTL jump activity, transponders match that of Battlestars Orion and Athena," the Lieutenant said and Sutura nodded in understanding.

"Copy that, we're on our way. Contact them and tell the Commanders I wish to speak with them immediatley," she said and hung up the phone.

"Well, it will be nice to have James with us." Aren commented. "And I heard that Terry got command of the Orion a month ago."

Sutura nodded "Yes, that's right." she said, and smiled a bit. "At least we have people we can count on in this mission." She then turned to Aren "You head to the bridge, I'll meet up with you soon." She said. "I'm gonna Stop by Alex's Lab. He's been working on the new Command Network Program Baltar created, trying to find anything wrong with it. He says he doesn't trust it, and I don't blame him."

"Alright, sounds good to me." Aren said and nodded as he headed for the door. "I'll see you on the bridge," he then looked at the pilots "you five should try to relax for now, its gonna be a long trip."

Ric smiled and nodded "Thank you sir!" He said and the five saluted and left the quarters. Right after them Aren and Sutura left for their destinations.

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Mercury Lab

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"For those of you just joining us from the Pyramid game on Geminon,welcome to the Spotlight!" Came the voice of Kellan Brody on the T.V Screen in a Lab. "Our Weekly interview program devoted to people making news on Caprica. Today we're talking with Dr. Gaius Baltar, winner of three magnate Awards over the course of his career, a Media cult figure and a personal friend of President Adar's, he is currently working as a top consultant for the ministry of defense on computer issues. But he's perhaps best known for his controversial views on advancing computer technology. Dr. Baltar, again, welcome."

Sitting in a swivel chair in front of a computer, a red haired man wearing a lab coat rolled his eyes as Baltar began to speak. 'Doctor my ass,' Alex Dante, chief Science officer of the Mercury thought. 'You know damn good and well you don't deserve that title.' he looked at his work, which was the CNP system that Baltar created for the Colonial Fleet which allowed the ships, including Battlestars, of the fleet to be crewed by half of the required personalle.

He and a few others immediatley had their doubts and so he began to study the system. As he continued to look at it, the door opened and in stepped, Sutura. She instantly saw what he was watching, and rolled her eyes "Man, the people must be running out of guests if their inviting him on the show." She commented.

Alex looked up from his work and smiled "Admiral," he said as he stood up and saluted. Sutura just waved it off "At ease, Alex." She said. "You know as well as I do you don't report to me."

"I know," Alex said as he sat back down. "But old habits die hard as they say, I am from a military family after all. So, is this just another visit, or is this buisness?"

Sutura nodded as she sat down in a nearby chair "Yes, I was wondering what kind of progress have you made on your research on the CNP." She asked. "Anything out of the ordinary yet?"

Alex rose an eyebrow, "Nothing yet ma'am." He said. "The system seems alright aside from a few glitches here and there...but that's what has me confused." He turned back to his computer and continued working. "Baltar's good with Computers, I'll give him that." He said. "But this? This is way beyond his league. I don't know how the hell he made this on his own. I know the guy, he could nevre make something like this...at least without help."

Sutura rose an eyebrow "You think someone helped him do this?" she asked, and Alex nodded. "Ya, its the only explanation." he said. "But anyways, why did you ask anyways?"

Sutura sighed "Alex, I need you to double your efforts, and find anything that could cause a problem in the CNP." She said. "Fleet Admiral contacted me saying we've lost contact with Armistices Station, and he's sending us and two other Battlestar's to see what's going on over there."

Alex stopped working and turned around. "You think it could be Cylons?" He asked.

"Either that, or comm problems." Sutura said. "But if you find anything, notify me immediately, alright?"

Alex smiled and nodded "Crystal, Ma'am." He said. "I'll get to you the moment I find anything." The Admiral nodded, and after standing up, left the Lab, with Alex now doubling his speed in finding any errors in the system.

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Later

On the bridge

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Sutura entered the bridge of the Mercury where Aren was already waiting for her. "The Orion and Athena just arrived, Ma'am." Sally reported. "Their on the line."

Sutura nodded as she picked up the Phone "This is Mercury Actual to Orion and Athena actual," she said. "You there Kestrel? Stargazer?"

She heard a light chuckle on the line "We're here, Guardain." Came the voice of James 'Kestrel' Anderson. "Glad to be working with you again, Admiral."

"This is Athena Actual, Stargazer here." Said the voice of the Commander of the Athena, Terry 'Stargazer' Patterson. "Good to see you too, ma'am."

Sutura smiled "Same here, James, Terry." She said. "Glad to see you finally got yourself a ship. I assume you know why your here?"

"Yes, Nagala told us what's up." James said. "You think it might really be the Cylon's?"

"It could," Sutura said. "But we won't find out by staying around here. Have your ships form up around mine, and we'll make our way there. But first we have to head back to Caprica first and pick up a batch of new recruits," she rolled her eyes a bit at that, and the two Battlestar Commanders could only sigh.

"Great, just what we need, a bunch of raw recruits to train," Terry said in exasperation, while James nodded with her.

"No problem agreeing with you on that," he said, "How long do you think this will take, Sutura?,"

"At most, a few hours." Sutura said. "We'll stop by Caprica, pick up the recruits, and then make our way to the station. We should hurry up so we can get this over with."

"Agreed," James said. "Well, let's get to it then. Athena Out."

"Same here, Orion ourt" Terry said.

Sutura hung up her phone and turned to Sally. "Plot a course to Caprica," she said. "We got some recruits to pick up, and a mission to do." Sally nodded, and the rest of the crew followed her orders as the Mercury headed back home.

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Later

Raptor Shuttle in orbit over Caprica

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A Raptor shuttle soared from out of the atmosphere of Caprica as it ascended into the stars above. "Atmospheric Exfiltration complete." the pilot said. "Now en route to the Mercury."

Inside the passenger section of the Raptor, there were four people inside. First was a 29 year old man with black Elvis Presley hair, and Blue eyes, wearing the usual Colonial flight uniform. "Ah man, it feels good to be out of flight school, ain't it?" He asked the other occupants. "Finally we're being assigned to a ship!"

One of the other passengers, a female who looked to be 24, with neck length black hair, and brown eyes, and also wearing a Colonial Uniform, could only sigh, "Yes, you've been saying that for the past 3 hours," she said.

The male just grinned more. "Hey, I know out of all of us your just as glad to be out of flight school as much as any of us, Nagase!" He said.

"I have to agree with Chopper on this one, Edge." Said the third person with them, a 19 year old man with short lightish-brown hair, and green eyes wearing the same uniform. "And we're not assigned to just any ship, but the Mercury herself! The same ship The Cylon Devil is stationed on!"

The woman could only sigh again, but then the last passenger, a man who had military cut dark brown hair, dark eyes, an standing at 5'11, spoke up.

"We're all excited Chopper, but remember, it's a military ship, not a Cruise liner," he said and Chopper shrugged. "I know, but it's not like a War's gonna start anytime soon, right?" Chopper said.

"Don't you dare Jinx us, Chopper!" Kei 'Edge' Nagase said to Alvin 'Chopper' Davenport. "Remember Murphys Law, Anything can, and will go wrong!"

Chopper just rolled his eyes as he looked out of the side window. But that's when he grinned "There she is." He said. The others rose their eyebrows, but decided to see what he was looking at. What they saw out of the window was an amazing sight.

Ahead of them was the Mercury Herself in all of her glory as it slowly moved through the space over Caprica. Flanking the Mercury on either side were two Galactica-class Battlestar's that the others saw were the Orion and Athena.

Kei frowned a bit as she looked at the three ships, seeing that they were sticking at a Battlestar's version of an arm's length from each other.

"Strange," Kei said and the last male turned to her, "What is it, Kei?" he asked her an the woman turned to him. "Look at their formation, Blaze." She said, pointing at the three Battlestar's. "Their in stand-by formation, like their waiting for something."

Adrian 'Blaze' Galland looked at the three ships, and noticed Kei was right. They weer in Stand-by formation alright. "Your right, but what does that mean?" He asked, as the Raptor approached the starboard landing pod of the Mercury.

"I'm not sure," Kei said, "We'll be told sooner or later as soon as we land," just as she said that, the Raptor landed on the pod elevator and the Raptor was taken to the Hanger where the other smaller ships were kept.

Shortly after entering hanger, the door of the Raptor opened up and the four pilots were allowed out. Inside they could see the different mechanics working on all of the different Viper's and other Raptors. The four were then approached by a man standing at 5'10 with Military style Brunette hair, brown eyes, and wearing a Flight suit with the insignia's for a Captain. "You four the Nuggets?" The man said.

Adrian looked at the others, then back to the man and nodded. "Yes sir," he said. "Adrian 'Blaze' Galland, sir!" He said as he saluted, as did the others.

The man nodded and returned the salute. "At ease," he said. "I'm Captain Jack Bartlett, your squad leader, and welcome to the Battlestar Mercury, the first of her class," he introduced himself, and the four nodded, "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your quarters, we're on Condition Yellow Alert, so I don't have time to give you Nuggets the tour," the four rookies's eyes widen at what they heard.

"Condition Yellow?" Kei sai as she and the others learned about that in the Academy, "Is that why the Battlestars are in stand-by formation?"

Jack nodded "That's right." He said. "Come with me, I'll explain everything on the way." The Nuggets nodded and they followed Bartlett as they made their way towards their quarters.

"Pretty much, the Admiral got a call from Nagala a little while ago, and told her that we recently lost contact with the Armistice station along the Colonial-Cylon Boarder." Jack explained. "The High Command believes its just a Communications Error or something, however the Fleet Admiral thinks otherwise, so he's ordered the Mercury, Athena, and Orion to check it out. Best case senario would be for the station just having Comm Problems. Worst case..."

Adrian finished for him, "...Cylons," he said, his voice holding a slight edge.

"Right again. But don't get jittery yet," he said as they continued walking, "We've haven't heard anything about the Cylons in over two decades, so we're hoping it's just pirates,"

Kei adorned a worried look at that, "I hope so," she said, "My parents were in that war, and as a result they are too scared to talk about it,"

Jack nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't blame them Nagase," he said, "I wouldn't blame them,"

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In the CIC of the Mercury

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After picking up the Recruits, the Mercury and its two escorts soon spun up their FTL Drives and were on their way to the Armistice Station. Sutura was on the bridge CIC with her husband, planning on what to do if it does in fact turn out to be Cylon's.

"Its been over 20 years since anyone's seen Cylon's, but hopefully they haven't changed their combat tactics by too much." Sutura said, "Once we leave FTL, we'll launch our Vipers immediately afterwards."

Aren nodded in agreement at that, "I'll lead the squadron and see what we can find," he said, "I just hope it's not just a bunch of stupid drunk pirates,"

Sutura sighed at that, "Well Aren, we won't know for sure once we get there," she said.

"Right, right," Aren said, "But I'm really looking for a challenge, all of these Simulations are starting to bore me, theirs no real challenge in them."

"Just tell the Squadron's to be ready to launch," Sutura deadpanned, while Aren just chuckled as he saluted, and left the CIC.

'Men,' she thought with a roll of her eyes, as she heard several in the CIC Snicker. "Is the FTL spooled up yet?" She asked.

"Y-Yes ma'am," Said the Lieutenat on the Engine Monitoring station, "Ready to launch on your command."

Sutura nodded, before turning to Sally "Are the Vipers in the tubes?" She asked, and Sally nodded. "Then let's do this."

The crew nodded as they began to prepare for the Jump. "Beginning FTL Jump in T-Minus 10 Seconds," Sally said on the intercom, "All hands, brace for Jump...5...4...3...2...1...Jumping!"

In an instant, the Mercury and its escorts jumped into FTL, and moments later arrived at their destination. "Jump Successful Ma'am," Sally reported.

"DRADIS Contact!" Said the DRADIS Operator, "We're picking up multiple contacts, identifying...Their not Cylon, but it appears to be debris."

Sutura blinked at that, "Launch the Vipers!" Sutura ordered, "Have them make a sweep of the entire area,"

Sally nodded, and gave the order. Soon about 20 Vipers launched from the Mercury, as the Athena and Orion launched their own.

"Vipers are away Ma'am," Sally reported.

"Admiral, the Orion and Athena have launched their own Vipers as well," The communications Lieutenant reported.

The Admiral nodded "Good, get me in contact with Aren," she said, and the Comm Lieutenant nodded as he set up a line as Sutura picked up the phone.

"Aren, what do you got?" She asked, and was met by silence for a few moments.

"Sutura..." Aren said, and she could hear the slight edge of fear in his voice, "I don't think we're dealing with Pirates here."

Sutura's blood began to go cold "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The station's destroyed," Aren confirmed, "Pirates wouldn't destroy the Armistice Station, they know better. Sutura...its the Cylons. It has to be."

Sutura's eyes widen in horror, and she snapped her head to the communications officer.

"Phillips! Get me Colonial Fleet Headquarters, NOW!" she barked and the Lieutenant did what he was told and began to try to contact their Headquarters. "Recall the Vipers, and get ready to set a course for Caprica-"

"ADMIRAL!" A voice shouted, and Sutura turned around just in time to see Alex come rushing in, an extremely distressed look on his face. "Admiral! We have a problem!"

"What is it Alex?" Sutura asked, "Calm down, what's the problem?"

"The CNP!" Alex shouted, "There is a massive flaw with the CNP!"

Sutura looked shocked by what Alex was saying "Are you sure?" she asked, and Alex nodded.

"No doubt!" He said, "I was searching through the programing, and I discovered that the CNP has a backdoor entrance! A Cylon could easily use it to access EVERYTHING! Weapons, Ship Engines, Vipers, Life Support, Everything! They could shut down the whole fracking fleet with just one command!"

Sutura, as well as the rest of the CIC, adopted a look of absolute horror "Are you serious?" Sutura demanded, and Alex nodded.

"I'd never joke about something like this Admiral!" He said, "But the weird part is that the Back door seems deliberate, as if Baltar wanted the Cylons to find it!"

Sutura's eyes widen even more at that, before they narrowed in rage.

"That Mother Fracking TRAITOR!" she yelled out, causing some of the crew to jump, "If I ever see him when we get back, I'll blow his damn brains out myself!"

It was then the Lieutenant called from his station, "Admiral! Headquarters is on the line!"

Sutura wasted no time as she grabbed the phone and put it in her ear "Fleet Admiral, we've arrived at the Station," she said, "Its been destroyed by Cylons. I repeat: Cylon's have destroyed the Armistice Station!"

There was a short pause on the line, followed by a short series of Curses "Of all the fracking times..." he said, "Sutura, we've also just recieved word of Cylon Baseships along the boarder. We're preparing to send a fleet too-"

"No!" Sutura shouted, "Don't send anyone yet! You have to delete the CNP of every ship in the fleet first! Alex just told me he found backdoors into the programming the Cylon's could use to shut down the whole Fracking Fleet!"

"What!" Nagala shouted, "Are you serious?"

"Dead Serious sir," She answered, "Baltar's a Traitor! Those Backdoors were placed in the programming deliberately!"

She could hear the Fleet Admiral start to curse out loud and barking orders.

"Why that little...I knew there was something I didn't like about him!" Nagala growled, "Sutura, hurry up and get back here on the double!"

Sutura nodded at that, "Yes sir! We're on our way!" she said and turned to her communications officer.

"Phillips! Contact the Orion and Athena, we're heading back to Caprica, now!" she ordered and the Lieutenant nodded and went to work. She then turned to Alex.

"Alex! See if you can find a way to fix the CNP system backdoors!" she ordered, "Until you do, we're going back too Cylon War Navigation Systems! We are not letting our ship get hacked!"

Alex nodded "Understood, I'll get on it now." He said, as he turned and left.

"Admiral, I'm picking up a distress signal, not to far from our location." Phillips said, "Its from the Battlestar Aries, their reporting they've sighted civilian ships being attacked by Cylons, and are requesting the assistance of any nearby colonial vessels."

Sutura thought about that for a second before choosing "Inform the Orion and Athena we've got a change of plans, we're helping the Aries!" She commanded, "And get a signal too the Aries telling them to disable their CNT Programs and switch to the old systems!"

"Copy that Ma'am!" Phillips said, and immediatley carried out the orders.

"Ma'am! All Vipers are back onboard the ships!" Sally informed Sutura who nodded.

"Right, let's go everyone!," she ordered, "We got people to save!"

The crews on the Battlestars came alive again as they rushed to get the orders they recieved done. Soon their FTLs spun up and in a flash of light, they disappeared to help their comrades.

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Meanwhile

BS-183 Intruder-class Battlestar Aries

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Rear Admiral Peter Corma sighed for what felt like the fifth time in the last few hours. He wiped the sweat off of his brow as he reviewed the current situation he was in.

His communications officer reported through short-range radio chatter, that he picked up some chatter claiming Cylon's were attacking civilians along the boarders between Cylon and Colonial Space. He assumed that they were just overreacting, however upon further discription from the Comm, and the Admiral's worst fears have come true.

The Cylons were back.

Hist first priority was to rescue the civilians. Which is why he was currently organizing his small fleet to defend the civilians once they locked into the location of the signals. His fleet consisted of his Battlestar, the Intruder-class Battlestar Aries, along with the Valkyrie-class Battlestar Ragnarok, the Aegis II-class Strikestar Spartan, and the Intrepid-class Gunstar Intrepid. All of them fully armed and equipped with Viper Mark-VII's.

Peter hoped that his force would be enough, but before he took off he transmitted a short burst transmittion to any nearby colonial vessels to assist them. That was five minutes ago, and it seemed that they would be going in alone.

"Admiral, I'm picking up a transmission!" The Communications Lieutenant said, "IFF confirms it to be the Mercury!"

The Admiral sighed a bit in relief, Sutura Takeo was nearby "Good," he said, "What did Admiral Takeo say?"

"She said her ship, along with the Orion and Athena are heading our way to assist," the Lieutenant said, before his eyes widened.

"What is it?" The Admiral asked, not liking the look one bit.

"S-She's telling us to disreguard the CNP Programming, saying that its...compromised?" The Lieutenant said, as the eyes of the men and woman on the CIC on the Aries widened.

"Are...Are you serious?," the Admiral said, and the man nodded.

"The Admiral said so herself, sir," he said, clearly spooked, "It appears the CNP has a major backdoor flaw left intentionally by Baltar,"

Peter looked at the man, and growled as he slammed his fists against the center map, causing several in the CIC to jump "Fracking Traitor!" He shouted, "Signal the other ships in the fleet, and tell them to switch to pre-CNP systems with the same message! And make sure our Vipers have the CNP isolated before they launch!" The Lieutenant nodded quickly as he issued out the orders.

"Sir, we've pinpointed the Comm's source," said the Navigation's station, "Once we spin up the FTL and isolate the CNP, we can move to assist."

Admiral Corma nodded "Good, once the Mercury and its fleet arrives, we'll move to assist." He said.

He recieved 'Yes sirs!' from all his subordinates as they hustled to get everything squared away. It took them 15 minutes to isolate the CNP and switch to Cylon War Systems.

"Sir! The CNP's been isolated from all systems!" reported Peter's XO, Colonel San Seguine, a man standing the same height as the Admiral, with black military crew cut hair, ice blue eyes, tanned skin, and a solid build.

"DRADIS Contact!" Spoke the DRADIS Operator "IFF Confirms it to be the Mercury, Orion and Athena!"

Peter smiled a bit grimly "Give me a line too Admiral Takeo," he said, and the Comm Lieutenant nodded as he set up the connection, as the Admiral picked up the phone.

"Sutura, you sure are a sight for sore eyes." Peter said, and was answered by the chuckling of Sutura.

"Same here Peter," she said, before her serious tone appeared "Are you and your ships ready?"

The Admiral sighed "We've isolated the CNP from all systems on our ships, Vipers and Raptors." He said, "And we've got a fix on the Civilians who are being chased by the Cylons. We're ready to jump to their location now."

"Good," The Vice Admiral said, "Send us the Coordinates, and we'll jump."

He turned to the Communications Officer and nodded, and the Lieutenant sent the coordinates to the Mercury.

"Coordinates are being sent now, Sutura," Peter said, and a few seconds later, Sutura answered.

"Coordinates recieved," she complied, "Let's save those civilians, and get back to the fleet while theirs still a fleet to save!"

Peter nodded "Understood," he said, "We're spooling up our FTL Now. We'll be ready to jump in one minute."

One minute later, the FTL Engines of the Seven Colonial Warships were spun up, and on the command of Sutura, they jumped together to the Civilian Fleet.

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Meanwhile

With the Civilians

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Nineteen Civilian Ships gathered around a single Colonial-class Battlestar were moving as fast as they could from the pursuing Cylon Baseships and Fighters.

On the CIC of the BS-07 Mjolnir, Commander Harry Gregg's mind was thinking miles a minute as he assessed the situation. His aging Battlestar picked up the distress beacon of the civilian vessels 10 Minutes ago, and that they were under attack by Cylon's.

Most Battlestar Commanders would think twice about an outdated ship like the Mjonlir, going up against Cylon Forces. However the Colonel knew he had to save as many lives as he could, and if the Cylon's really were attacking, they would need EVERY ship they had.

The Mjolnir jumped into the system, and as they feared, there were two Cylon Baseships. However what confused them were the Civilian Reports of half of their ships suddenly shutting down. What further disturbed him was that out of the ships that shut down, the only ones unaffected were those that did not have the CNP installed to their vessels. Which only meant one thing: The CNP was compromised.

Harry knew they were heavily outmatched. The Mjolnir was outdated compared to ships like the Galactica, Mercury and Valkyrie, since it predates the first Cylon War. As such, High command never even bothered to install the CNP onto the old vessel, meaning whatever trick the Cylon's were doing to the civilians, wouldn't work on them too. However their advantages ended there, since the only fighters they had were old refit Viper Mark-II's.

Still, he was surprised at how well his pilots were holding off the Cylon's, as they shot down Raider's and Nuclear Missiles the Basestar's launched one by one, returning only to refuel and rearm.

Somehow he knew that Lady Luck was on their side. But for how much longer, that was the problem. His thought were disrupted by the voice of of his XO, Colonel Tanya Alexandria, a woman with strawberry blonde hair, standing an inch shorter than him, and hazel colored eyes.

"Commander, the Cylon Raiders are coming in again!" she reported.

"Frack, Which squadrons are rearmed?" Harry asked.

"Delta and Omega Squad are ready to redeploy sir," Tanya said, "The others are still rearming!"

"Then launch them! Quickly!" He ordered, and the XO Nodded as she issued out the order.

In the Mjolnir's launch bay, two squadron's of Viker Mk-II's prepared to redeploy. Entering the first launch tube was a Viper-II that was colored dark blue with yellow trimming. In the cockpit, the pilot yawned and shook his head to keep awake, blinking his hazel colored eyes.

'Frack, will this day ever end?' Captain Breniff 'One-Shot' Hathaway thought. 'I don't think I can last much longer...'

"One Shot, this is Shooter, I have control, stand by." Said launch control. "Viper Two-Two-Five-Six Move Forward. Navcomm Green, Interval's check," Breniff looked to the side, seeing the man behind launch control, giving him a thumbs up that he was alright to launch.

"Catapult's ready, opening launch tube." The Shooter said, as the Viper Launch tube in front of him opened up once again. "Thrust is possitive. Good Luck Captain."

The Captain then braced himself as for the fifth time today, his Viper Launched from the Mjolnir, soon followed by 8 other Vipers. Immediately after launching, he quickly caught sight of his foe "Targets confirmed, Ten Cylon Raiders!" He said, "Their moving against the Medical Transports!"

"You have permission to engage, Captain." The Commander's voice said on the Radio, "We're not loosing one more ship to those toasters!"

"Roger that, sir! Moving in to intercept!" with that the nine Viper Mark IIs streaked through space heading in the direction of the attacking Raiders, which were 20 altogether.

"Raiders in range," Breniff said as he looked down the targeting sight of his Viper's HUD, as he approached the first flight of 5 Raiders, "Firing!"

The KEW cannons on the Vipers fired on the flight of Cylon Interceptors. Three of the Raider's broke formation in time to avoid the barrage, however the other two were not so lucky as they were torn to shreds by the KEW Bullets.

"Their scattering!" Another Viper Pilot said, "Moving in teams of two all over the place!"

"Keep your cool people!" Breniff ordered as he and another Viper chased down a pair of Raiders. "Take them out one at a time! Keep them away from the Civilians!"

Back on the Mjolnir, Harry was still on CIC as he listened on the transmissions from the Vipers.

"Sir, DRADIS Contact!" Tanya reported, before her eyes widened "Oh Frack...two Cylon Baseships just jumped in ahead of us! Their launching more Raiders!"

Harry cursed "Are any more squadron's available?" He asked, but Tanya shook her head.

"No, their still rearming the other four Squadrons!" She said, and the Commander cused again, they couldn't hadel all of these Cylon's alone! He began silently praying to the gods for a Miracle that would get him, his crew, and the men, women and children he was protecting out of this alive.

"Additions DRADIS Contacts!" Tanya reported, "Wait...their...Colonial IFF's! Seven Colonial Ships just jumped in sir!"

Harry looked and sure he saw seven blips indicating them to be Colonial Warships, making him sigh in relief. What made him more happy was the ships who were part of the fleet, as their names appeared on the IFF, the Battlestars Mercury, and the Aries, as they launched their detachments of Vipers.

"Sir! We have a hail from the reinforcements!" shouted the Communictations officer, and Harry went over to the phone.

"Put it through," he said, and the officer nodded and pressed a few buttons, "This is Commander Gregg, commanding officer of the Colonial-class Battlestar Mjolnir,"

"This is Vice Admiral Takeo, Commanding Officer of the Mercury-class Battlestar Mercury," Came the quick reply, "We're responding too your distress signal Commander, looks like you could use a hand."

The Commander chuckled "You have no idea Admiral," he said, before getting back to seriousness "But I should inform you that the CNP is-"

"Sabotaged? Yes, I know." She said, and Harry and the rest of the CIC gained a confused expression "My Tech Adviser on the Mercury found that the CNP has hidden Backdoor access routes deliberately built in for the Cylon's to utilize, and we've already isolated the CNP from our Vipers and ships. Looks like Baltar was a Traitor all along"

Harry cursed at that, but put that aside for later thought "Ma'am, I have 37,732 Civilians here in this fleet, and two Cylon Baseships and raiders are right ahead of us, with two more following us." He said, "If you could help thin their numbers a bit, it would mean a lot."

"Say no more Commander," The Admiral said, "We're already launching Vipers. Just hang tight."

"Copy that Admiral," Harry said, "And thank you,"

"Save the thanks after we deal with these tin cans!" Sutura admonished, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle.

"Right, let's do this then" he said and put the phone down, "Alright people! We got ourselves some help! But don't slack off! We've still got four Basestar's to down, and none of us are getting paid by the hour here!"

"Yes sir!" The CIC all chorused as they continued their duties with renewed vigor.

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Meanwhile

Mercury's Fleet

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Jaden cringed a bit as the G-Forces from the launch of his Viper pushed him against his seat, until finally he left the Mercury's launch tube and moved out into space. All the while, the other Vipers from the rest of the fleet launched from their respective mother ships.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Aren Takeo to all Vipers!" Jaden heard his Father's voice through the Comm as his Prototype Viper Delta flew out of the Mercury. "Under no circumstances can we loose as much as one ship in that fleet! I know many of you are rookies, and have never flown a combat mission. But remember your training, and you WILL get out of this alive! Devil out!"

Jaden had to grin at that. His father always had a way to motivate others. As he heard the yells of agreement on the comm channels, he could only smirk.

'Only you Dad,' thought, as the Vipers charged at the Enemy fighters in front of them. The swarm of Cylon Raider's turned their attention from the civilians to the more threatening Viper-VII's. Jaden's sensors indicated a signal coming from the Raiders directed at their Vipers.

'Must be trying too use the back-doors on us,' he thought before he grinned. 'Sorry toasters, if you want to kill us, your gonna have to do it the old fashion way!'

The Vipers and Raiders closed in on one another, getting closer and closer, ready for the intercept. The very second the Raider's entered the firing range of the KEW Cannons, the Vipers opened up in a swarm of weapon's fire.

The Raiders, if they had emotions, would've been shocked by the fact that their backdoors to an easy victory didn't work, and were now being torn to pieces by the agile Vipers.

"Ha! We caught them by suprise!" said one of the female Viper Pilots as her fighter shot down a Raider.

"Less chattering, more shooting!" said one of the more experienced Viper Veterans.

"Yeah! Let's turn these gear heads into scrap metal!"

Jaden listened to the other pilot's cheers and comm chatter, however he was more focused on the Cylon Raider he was currently chasing after. He was firing his cannons in short controlled bursts to conserve ammo, just like his father taught him.

'Come on, come on...' Jaden thought as he tried to zero in on the Raider. 'Just a little more and...' He pressed on the trigger hard, and fired three bursts of cannon fire, all of which hit dead on as the Cylon Raider turned into junk.

"Ha! I did it!" Jaden Cheered, "That's one kill for me!"

"Good Going Katana," Matthew said, "But DIVE NOW!"

Jaden responded quickly as he put his Viper into a dive, avoiding the cannon fire sent his way by another Raider. "Thank's Claymore!" Jaden said, as he quickly shook the Raider off of his tail, using the 'Devil's Edge' Turn his father taught him to get right behind the Raider, and gunned it down. "And that makes two!"

"Don't get cocky just yet, kid," Ciara said as her Viper and Ric's flew over his and went after a trio of Raiders, "There are still more where those came from,"

Jaden glare in their direction, "I already know that," he muttered to himself, as he began to chase another Cylon.

Meanwhile, Ric and Ciara continued to persue the trio of Raiders, which were approaching the Civilian Fleet "Frack, Artemis! Their going after that Luxury Liner! The Valhalla!"

"I know! I Know!" Ciara replied, "Just shoot them before they get too close! They might have nukes!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Ric said as he and Ciara began to chase them down.

The two Vipers then began to fire their KEW cannons in short bursts, nailing two of the Cylon Raiders, as the third continued to evade their shots.

Ciara managed to nick the wing of the Raider, but then the fighter then began to fire a salvo of it's deadly arsenal.

"AW FRAK!" Ciara shouted, just after destroying the Raider. "FOUR NUKES ARE HEADING FOR THE VALHALLA! WE GOTTA STOP E'M!"

Ric said nothing, he just punched his Fighter to max speed as the two chased after the nukes. They began firing bursts of cannon fire at the Nukes, managing to nail three out of the four, but the last Nuke accelerated towards the Valhalla, intent on hitting it.

However, just as the Nuke was about to collide, a stream of KEW Cannon rounds came from above, and destroyed the nuke, and from that same direction a squad of Viper-II's passed by the Valhalla, and flew between Ric and Ciara's Viper-VII's.

Ciara sighed in relief "Ric, remind me once we get back, we ask the admiral to give whoever just saved that ship a medal." she said, and Ric chuckled.

"Don't worry, I will," he said and the two went back into the dog fight.

While the Fighters of the two opposing forces continued their brawl. The Battlestars along with the smaller vessels split up, with the Mercury, Orion, and Athena, heading for the two Basestars in front of the Mjolnir, and the civilian fleet, while the Aries, and it's fleet headed for the other two.

"Have the Mercury's forward Batteries focus on the Port Basestar!" Sutura ordered, "And tell the Athena and Orion to focus fire on the Starboard one! It they launch missiles, use the point defense guns to take them out! Move it people, let's blast these toasters to hades and gone!"

"Yes Ma'am!" The CIC coursed as they followed their orders. Shortly after, the Mercury's forward KEW Cannons opened up on the first Basestar, while the two Galactica-class Battlestars opened fire on the second one.

The Basestars fired their own weapons against the Battlestars, while also firing their missiles which were brought down by the point-defense turrets of the Colonial Warships, although a few managed to make it through and score a few hits along the hull.

"Target the Central Axis of the Basestars! That's their weak-point! Tell the Orion and Athena to do the same!" Sutura ordered and the CIC acknowledged her orders.

The Battlestar's then refocused fire towards where the two star-like segments met on the Basestar's, KEW Rounds pounded against the hulls of the Cylon Baseships as their Axis's were torn to shreds.

Then, the three Battlestar's launched their finishing move as they fired a salvo of conventional missiles at the Basestar's. Though the Cylon Point Defenses prevented several from hitting their mark, the ones that did make it through clashed into the already heavily damaged basestar's.

The impact of the missiles combined with the KEW rounds proved too much for the Basestar's, since they were not prepared for the combined fire of three Battlestar's. The Axis's shattered around the Cylon Warships, as the two 'stars' seperated from one another on each ship, but soon were destroyed as well.

"Ma'am, scratch two starfish!" Sally reported, and the CIC crew cheered, as Sutura smiled.

"Ma'am! Admiral Corma reports the pursuing Basestars have been destroyed!" Phillips reported, causing more people on the ship to celebrate.

"Good, what about the Raiders?" Sutura asked Phillips.

"Captain Takeo reports their just mopping them up now, Ma'am. " He replied, "They didn't loose a single transport or Viper...also we're picking up a transmission from the Mjolnir, patching it through."

Sutura nodded as she picked up the phone "Admiral Takeo here," she said.

"Ma'am, Commander Gregg." Came the reply of the Commander of the Mjolnir, "I wish to thank you and your men's arrival, we didn't think we could hold out against them much longer."

The admiral smiled "We're just doing our duty, Commander." She said, "But where were you heading with these ships though?"

"The Shipyards at Hygelic," He answered, "Most of the civilian ships here lack FTL, so we were hoping to go there are salvage some FTL Drives there for them to use. We were also hopping to stock up on military grade weapons, equipment, and ships if possible."

Sutura held her chin in thought at that. The ships at the Hygelic Shipyards are mostly Mothballs frm the last war, but she knew that just because a warship was old, doesn't mean it still had fight in them. And hopefully they'll find some of the old, but still reliable Viper Mark IIs.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. We'll go along with you to Hygelic, besides it's wise to be in large groups," she said. "But to speed us up, have the Civilian ships without FTL that can fit in the flight pods of our Battlestar's land inside them, they can hitch a ride with us."

"Glad to hear it Admiral," Harry said, "We appreciate the support, my Viper Pilots are about ready to collapse from exhaustion as is."

Sutura smiled "Then tell your pilots they can rest for a while," she said, "We've got them covered for now, they've earned the rest."

"I'll be sure to tell them that, Commander Gregg out." And with that, Sutura hung the phone up.

'The Hygelic Shipyards...' She thought looking at the map, 'Why does that sound so familiar?' Shaking her head, she turned to Sally "Get the fleet formed up around the Mjolnir and the civilian ships," she said, "and tell Rear Admiral Corma too do the same."

Sally nodded and turned to Phillips to send the order/request to the other ships.

It took 30 minutes for the ships to form up around the old Battlestar and the civilian ships, and for the Vipers and non FTL equipped ships to land on the Warships. Three minutes later the FTL drives of the ships spun up and the fleet made the jump to Hygelic Shipyards.

Unknown to them, a Cylon Raider Stealth Type was surveying the battle. After seeing the Colonials leave, the Stealth Starfighter turned around and headed home

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Moments Later

Hygelic Shipyards

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The ships of the fleet appeared, almost instantaneously, near the shipyards. Giving those who could see outside, namely the civilian ships, a good view of the many warships that were mothballed since the first Cylon War ended.

The Hygelic Shipyards was a medium sized shipyard built into several large asteroids connected to one another by an assortment of support beams and tubing. The vessels of the shipyard were being kept in the areas between the asteroids. All of these asteroids were centered around a large cylindrical structure with a large ring around it, easily over 25 Kilometers in length.

It was an old Homestead-type Space Colony, used during the early pre-cylon war era. These massive super-structures were built to house nearly 100,000 Human Colonists inside, and they played a key role in early colonization. However when the Cylon War ended, most of these colonies were destroyed by the Cylon, using them in 'Colony Drops' to devastate entire cities.

Since then, most Space Colonies like the Homestead were abandoned, making shipyards like Hygelic centered around these massive structures to provide homes for the families of those working there. However Hygellic's colony had no one present, and the only guards of the Shipyard were the few automated defense turrets built around the station, programmed to fire at anything that failed to give the proper orders.

Upon arrival, Sutura quickly submitted the proper access codes, which allowed the Mercury and its new fleet access into the shipyards, and in extension the colony.

"So, how many of these old Space Colonies are left?" Ciara asked curiously as she, and the Viper pilots looked at the DRADIS screen showing all the ships in the Yards, and the Homestead.

"From what I heard, not that many," Aren said, "Back before the War, there were about 30 total with 15 Homestead-types included, but then the Cylon's rebelled, and they used toxic gasses to kill the people in the colonies, and then they dropped them from orbit. When the war ended, we stopped building these colonies officially to put more funding into building military might. However I think people were just scared of making more of these, only for the Cylon's to come back and start dropping them on their heads again."

"I wouldn't blame them," Jaden said, "But still, I always wanted to actually live in one of these colonies, I've heard its a lot different from living on a planet."

The others nodded at that as the ships ventured further into the shipyards.

"Geesh, despite being a medium-sized ship yard, they're a lot of ships here," Amy said as she saw the amount of ships in the Yard. She could clearly see old Battlestars, Gunstars, Strikestars, and Assaultstars, even those old Colonial Carriers.

However, as they passed through, one ship in particular caught Sutura's eye as they widened. "No way..." she said, as a grin slowly etched its way onto her face.

"Admiral?" Ric asked, confused as too why she was suddenly appearing more happy than before.

"Aren...look at that ship," she said as she pointed at a Battlestar docked with the Shipyard, "Does it seem...familiar to you?"

Aren looked at the ship and his eyes widened as well, as a grin slowly etched on his face.

"I'll be damned! I'd never thought in a million that we'd be able to see her again," the Viper Ace said, making everyone more confused.

"Uhhh, Dad," Matthew said, "What are you talking and Mom about?"

Sutura chuckled a bit "That Battlestar, between the two Impulse Escortstars," she clarified, pointing at the said unit. "That Matthew...is the BS-99 Infinity."

The eyes of over half of the CIC widened, as did the eyes of the Viper Pilots on the bridge. "No way...as in THE Infinity?" Amy asked, "The Battlestar you commanded during the Cylon War?"

"Yup," Sutura said, still smiling as the Mercury approached the Battlestar "Fought through the whole Cylon War with her, fighting along side her sister ship, the Galactica. She's taken some of the largest beatings in the war like the Pele did, yet she survived it all with only a handful of casualties."

"When the Mercury was finished after the war, Sutura and the crew switched ships." Aren continued before he sighed "But we both felt like we betrayed the Infinity somehow, that old girl got us through the worst the Cylon's could toss our way, and we gave her up for the very ship we're using now."

Many of the bridge crew ad the Viper pilot could understand what their going through. Switching from the ship that got you through the toughest of to another, tended to make you feel like you abandoned the ship you were attached to.

"Well, how about you pay the old Infinity a visit," Amy said, with a bit of a smile. Sutura seemed to think about it, actually considering paying her first ship a visit.

"...maybe later," she said, shaking her head. "Right now, we have more important matters to attend to." She then sighed a bit "Have the Civilian Ships dock with the colony, they can stay there for now. Meanwhile I want to see what ships we have available to us here, so send scouts to search through the listings."

"Sutura, I think it might be a good idea if we did a little recon in the area nearby," Aren suggested, "Canceron and Aerilon in Helios Delta isn't too far from here, we should see what the status of the fleet is right now."

The Vice Admiral thought about that for a moment before nodding, "Your right," she said. "We'll send a Raptor to Cenceron, see what's going on."

Matthew grinned a bit at that, "I know the best Raptor pilot suited for the job" he said and his parents looked at him, with his father grinning.

"It wouldn't be your girlfriend Gunner now would it?" he said slyly, which caused Matthew to blush a bit, and his mother, Sally, and a few of the female CIC crew to chuckle, as Jaden and Amy snickered.

"Y-Yea," He admitted, "Sharon's Raptor is custom made to be faster than most other models, and has increased FTL distance. She's the best choice."

Sutura nodded "I agree," she said, "Matthew, you think you can find Gunner, and tell her to get ready for a recon mission?"

Matthew nodded, and after giving his mother a salute, he left the CIC.

"Matt should be thankful your his superior mom," Jaden said grinning, "Most other Admirals and Commanders would have busted him and Gunner's butts for Fraternization by now."

Sutura just shrugged "The Admiral I once served under never busted me for being with Aren," she said, grinning "And we were very open about our relationship." The CIC snickered a bit at the small blush on Aren's Face. "So why should I bust my own children on something as minor as that?"

"You know," Ciara said suddenly, "Your probably the highest ranking admiral left in the whole colonial navy ma'am, which means you probably have the authority to change the Colonial Military Regulations if you so desired."

Sutura tapped her chin in thought at that, "Hmm, you know what, I might take that into consideration," she said, making everyone bust a gut.

"I wonder how Helena would take that," Aren said, and the next minute felt a chill down his spine, as well as the rest of the CIC crew, as he looked at his wife who was giving a too-sweet smile, but her eyes had a glint to them. He also noticed her hand was clenched into a fist.

"Knowing her," she said, in an eerily calm voice "She'd bitch about it, and give an hour long speech about regulations and shit. But she's not here, so she can just Frack. Off." She emphisised 'Frack' with a punch to the map, making several of the CIC jump.

'Note to self,' Amy and Jaden thought, 'NEVER Mention Helene Cain when Mom's around.'

Aren then took a deep breath when Sutura managed to calm down, "O-Kay, so, shall we send out the salvage teams, dear?" the Devil of Cylon asked, and his wife nodded and ordered teams of engineers along with Marines to search the ships for FTL Drives, spare parts, and any ships that are operational.

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Meanwhile

Cylon Basestar

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John Cavill, along with one of each other model of Humanoid Cylon, watched the footage brought to them by the Cylon Stealth Raider. They observed how the group of Colonial Warships managed to fight off their attack force, and destroy countless raiders and four Baseships.

The Number One Cylon, though he didn't show it physically, mentally he was furious. They had lost four, four Baseships to the humans, when the whole operation to exterminate humanity was suppose to be easy!

"...How are these ships not effected by the CNP?" He asked, managing to remain composed. A Six Model answered for him "Apparently, someone on the Battlestar Mercury discovered the Back Door access routes that were installed into the CNP." She said, "Vice Admiral Sutura Takeo managed to get a warning out too Fleet Admiral Nagala. She then isolated the CNP from her ships. We can assume the other ships they linked up with have done the same. And since the Mjolnir was already scheduled for decommissioning, it never had the CNP installed on it or its Vipers."

"It gets worse," A Number Three said, "According to our forces, multiple colonial ships are not shutting down, and are putting up a fight. It seems Nagala was able too sped the warning to much of the Colonial Fleet. The Colonials at Helios Delta are still managing to hold off our forces as they evacuate the civilians."

The Number One groaned in frustration as he put his thumb and forefinger to his fore head.

"Can somebody tell me how and where we fraked up?" he asked no one in particular.

"There was no error on our part," A Number Two said, "We had expected that the Human's wouldn't be able too locate the Back doors in the CNP. We simply underestimated them."

"Still, its not a complete loss," The Six said, "A Majority of their fleet has still been destroyed, and many of their citizens have been killed in the bombings. We can still crush these humans with enough force."

The Number three shook her head, "You forget, Sutura Takeo is not someone who just charges in blindly. And with her husband, a Veteran Viper Ace pilot from the last war, they could train more pilots with the skills of the Devil of Cylon to boot," she said, and John gave her an annoyed look.

"You don't think any of us know that?" he said, "We will simply have to take them out as quickly as we can. Once our Sleeper Agents awaken, they will inform us of their location, and we can crush them then." He then turned around, and looked out the observation window. "Leave me." He said, and the other Six models simply nodded as they left John Cavill to his thoughts.

'Its simply a setback,' he thought. 'The humans stand no chance against us...its all just a matter of time.'

117Jorn: There you have it! The first chapter is DONE!

Patriot-112: Yes! Finally! We had little setbacks with this one, but now it is done, finished! *Clears throat* Sorry about that, so what's gonna happen next Jorn?

117Jorn: Well, Sutura will begin looking through what ships the Hygelic Shipyard has to offer, and a plan begins to come to mind. Meanwhile, she sends Matthew and a Raptor Pilot to Helios Delta, to hopefully find some more survivors.

Patriot-112: Will they find any?

117Jorn: You'll just have to see in the next chapter! So, until next time, Je ne!