One – Voyage of the Massena
The everything had gone to hell. The Cylons had returned and the fleet had been destroyed the worlds of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol had been bombed into oblivion from orbit and all that remained of civilization was a group of refugees on board a group of civilian ships and a single old battered Battlestar Galactica.
Now orbiting the Ragnar Station on the edge of Colonial Territory Captain Matthew Boyle the commanding officer of the freighter Massena had been invited onboard the Galactica and was escorted through the old ship to the Commander's quarters. In his youth Boyle had been a member of the Colonial Fleet and served as a Viper pilot for five long years before he received an inheritance and decided to go into commercial shipping buying the Massena.
"Sir, Captain Matthew Boyle of the Freighter Massena for you." The marine guard said entering the personal quarters of Commander William Adama which resembled an old sea going ship with items from throughout Commander Adama's career and life, this was not just the place that the Commander worked but also his home.
"Thank you, you're dismissed" Adama said as the Marine closed the door behind them "Captain Boyle welcome onboard Galactica."
"Thank you, Commander" Boyle said looking at the man who looked like he had been through a fight recently with his head bloodied.
"I assume you are wondering why I've called you here today Captain?" Boyle nodded "I know of you but we haven't met as far as I can remember?" Boyle shook his head "I heard about the Leonis Incident fourteen years ago you risked the life of your ship and crew to rescue those civilians."
"That was the mission, sir, but no antics like that now only cargo runs for the last ten years."
"But your ship is capable of atmospheric flight?" Adama asked
"Yes, it is" he said beginning to not like the sound of the questioning.
"Then I have a mission for you if you're willing to accept it?" He asked Boyle remained silent so Adama continued "the President has convinced me that we need to leave the system to continue our species but I can't help but feel we are abandoning those we've left behind to the Cylons." He said "I want you to take your ship back into Colonial space and pick up anyone you can and try to evacuate them from the combat zone."
"One ship without support won't be able to do much."
"No, you won't but I am hoping that you will encounter surviving Colonial Fleet elements that you could use to bolster your numbers before following Galactica's path. We will be following the old Kobol Exodus Path in an attempt to find Kobol or any other lost human settlement." He explained giving Boyle a general direction "I will detach six Viper Mk II fighters and two Raptors and a maintenance crew of three for mission support we'll also be maxing your tylium tanks should you accept. Captain, this is a voluntary mission, I do not expect you to agree to this now consult with your crew and let me know before tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Commander, I'll do just that" he said his mind racing he had a crew of forty-eight adding in the ten pilots and three crew would make for sixty-one well within the Massena's capacity to transport but asking the crew to give up on a chance of survival away from the Colonies would be a hard sell.
Back on board the Massena Matthew Boyle called his forty-eight-strong crew together in the main cargo space an area that should he accept the Commander's mission would become the hanger for the Viper and Raptor craft. "So that's what he is offering us." Boyle said going over Adama's plan "I personally prefer it to the idea of heading off into deep space to gods knows where. We have enough space for five hundred people on this ship" he said seeing the looks he was getting "I know it is not an ideal situation but at least this way we wouldn't have to follow Colonial Fleet's every move."
"We'll still have a bunch of Viper pilots and Raptor crews" Morena Harold the ship's chief engineer pointed out.
"Who will be dependent on us for transport and fuel" Boyle said
"You think Adama knows about our hidden talents?" Will Stonagal asked curious about the reason the Massena had been chosen for this mission.
"It's possible" Boyle admitted the Massena was formerly a military transport craft and had several of their weapon emplacements had been refurbished and now along the ship's hull were eight quad-cross turrets four on the upper hull and four on the lower hull. To hide them from Colonial fleet they were hidden by dummy shipping containers which had been attached to the outer hull. "They won't save us from an assault from one of the Cylon Basestars but they should give us an edge the other civilian ships wouldn't have."
"You really think we can do this boss?" Nick Holden asked
"I think we have a good chance, I wouldn't come to you all if I didn't think so" he said looking around their faces "look at me we are not going Basestar hunting." He said levelling with his crew "but we have an opportunity to search the worlds of the colonies for our families. We'll complete Adama's mission but we'll do it our own way with our first stops taking us to each of our homeworlds." He said to them "I won't force this upon you" he said continuing to look at them "everyone gets a vote and it will be confidential vote for yourselves people."
Several hours later Matthew Boyle sat in his personal quarters and sent a message to Commander Adama onboard the Galactica which was two words. "We're in"
Later that evening the Galactica turned towards the mouth of the Ragnar storm moving to defend the fleet's exit point the huge Battlestar spun in space turning its guns towards the Cylons who were arranged above from its launch bays the Viper Fighter squadrons moved away from the craft clearing its firing arcs. Almost as one the ship's massive weapons battery engaged the enemy vessels above setting up massive flak barrage swatting dozens of Cylon Raiders and missiles in a single barrage.
As the first civilian ships moved out of Ragnar's atmosphere and jumped clear the Vipers engaged the Cylon raiders adding another element to the battle. "Dead slow Jayne we're not going this time." Boyle said watching the sensor displays around his small command bridge. Like a Battlestar the Massena's command deck was deep within its hull but unlike a Battlestar which had a large multi-tiered room the area inside the Massena was very small. At the front was a pilot and navigator, then either side of the command deck was communications and sensors before a set of doors which allowed access to compartments either side of the command deck. At the back was the cargo bay handling station, engineering command and weapons stations.
"Look at that fur ball" Victoria Kryvych said looking at the sensor screen "they must be outnumbered three to one."
"They are outnumbered but all they have to do is hold up the Cylons." Boyle said watching as the Galactica's fighters began to take losses six of the Vipers peeled off from the main body and dived down on the transport. "Here comes our people Alisan make sure the launch bay is ready."
"We're ready, both Raptors docked just before the fight began, space has been cleared in the bay space for the Vipers." The dark-haired woman said unlike the Battlestar Galactica which had two flight pods which ran along the side of its hull and contained the recovery and launch facilities for the ship's small craft the Massena's launch bay was located under the main hull of the vessel between the vessel's engine pods.
As the Massena floated closer and closer to the battle zone the six Vipers entered the landing bay from behind. "Landing bay secure!" Alisan called out as the six Vipers were confirmed to be on the deck.
"Jump us to Styx" Boyle ordered seeing Galactica's fighters beginning to turn back towards the massive Battlestar "good luck Galactica, may the Gods be with you." Boyle whispered as the vessel disappeared in a flash of light heading back into the Colonies. In the space around Ragnar Galactica rapidly recalled its fighters and also jumped but instead of back into the Colonies they jumped away.
The Massena appeared in the near Styx to find it abandoned "DRADIS scan" Boyle ordered
"Cylon units over Aerilon, Canceron and Aquaria. Phoebe, Hiesta and the belt look clear." Victoria Kryvych reported glancing over her DRADIS readings again "no Colonial signatures."
"Understood shut down long range DRADIS. Rask, take us into the belt." He said the older man looked back at him with a questioning glance before he nodded and the Massena headed into the belt. "Once in the belt we will run a single long range DRADIS scan every hour for the next twenty-four" he said looking around the crew. "We are searching for any Colonial signals in space or on the ground. We're going to find the other survivors in this system before we move on." He said before heading to the exit.
"Where you heading?" Victoria asked
"To meet our Colonial Navy." From the bridge he headed below decks to the hanger bay which hadn't been used for anything more than cargo shuttles and Raptors for the last dozen years. Now there were six Vipers and two Raptors on the deck along with their pilots and techs. A young dark-haired female approached she was at least ten years his junior but gorgeous her lips moved but for a moment Boyle didn't hear her. "Sorry what was that?"
"I'm Lt Isabelle Rhodes, callsign Cassiopeia, and you are?"
"Boyle… Matthew…" Boyle stammered out for a moment "I'm Matthew Boyle, Captain of the Massena" he said immediately the young pilot snapped a salute. "At ease Lieutenant I'm not fleet." He said she lowered her salute but remained ready.
"With respect, sir, Commander Adama placed you in command of this mission that makes you at least a fleet auxiliary officer and still my C.O."
"I like the attitude, Lieutenant, what about your people? Ready to kick some toaster ass?" he asked but before she answer the ship announcer sounded.
"Captain Boyle contact command, Captain Boyle contact command!" Victoria Kryvych called to the ship. Matthew Boyle turned and jogged across the hanger to a wall intercom.
"Command, Boyle, go ahead."
"Sir, we hit have a contact. Appears to be a marine transport requesting assistance with Cylon Raiders near Aerilon." She reported Boyle became aware of the Viper pilot having followed him over by the intercom.
"Has anyone else answered?"
"No sir"
"Right then we do what we came here to do. Spool up the FTL and prepare all weapons, we're going in." He said turning back towards Lt Rhodes "Ready to kick in some toasters?" He asked bringing a smile to her face heading back to the Command Bridge as she headed back to her Viper squadron.
Entering the bridge, it was a hive of activity as the crewmembers prepared the ship for jump. "Sub light engines on stand-by, targeting sensors online, weapons secure, hanger secure, launch bay secure." Will Stonagal called out.
"Ready to jump" Rask Milano said looking over at Boyle.
"Take us in" he commanded leaning on the bulkhead for support as the small ship launched itself across the system in an FTL jump. They emerged not far from the stricken infantry transport which was surrounded by twenty or more enemy raiders. "What have we got?"
"It looks like an older Ranger-class Cruiser, it's twice our size but it's been mostly disarmed. She's still got her anti-ship missile tubes but minimal point defences." Victoria reported quickly as the Massena continued to power closer. "Sensors show FTL offline – a ship that old it might not even be installed anymore."
"Launch Vipers" Boyle ordered knowing fine that they'd be outnumbered three to one "Morena open the launch bay and deploy the Hunter. Get me Cassiopeia on the wireless."
"Who?" Jon Kamen asked from the communications console.
"The lead Viper pilot" Boyle explained the younger man nodded and a moment later nodded again "Massena to Cassiopeia."
"I'm a little busy to continue our chat!" She shouted dodging fire as another Raider dived towards her they hadn't lost a Viper yet but it was only a matter of time with the number of Cylons arrayed against them.
"Understood I'm just giving you warning we're adding some support to the mix." Boyle said Cassiopeia was about to argue when she saw what the support was a large craft two or three times the size of a Colonial Raptor it had a thin main fuselage with two bulbous turrets either side of the forward hull and another at the rear between the twin engine nacelles. Immediately the ship was spitting out fire causing heavy damage to the Raider units.
"Vipers form on that craft knock any raider down that tries to engage her." Cassiopeia commanded as there was another jump flare as a Cylon Basestar jumped into the area. "OH FRAK! Massena we've got more trouble."
"Basestar jumped in!" Victoria shouted a warning at the same time as Cassiopeia. "Engine flare on the Ranger, and multiple cargo pods detaching, it's going for the Basestar. Missiles launching from Ranger." She said rapidly updating them of the DRADIS picture around them.
"Have our Vipers and the Hunter hold at the escape pods mop up the remaining raiders and begin to retrieve those pods." Boyle commanded turning to his Chief engineer "Open Cargo Bays Four and Five to space bring those pods in."
"That's some valuable merchandise…" Morena protested but Boyle raised his hand
"We're not selling anything at the moment this is the mission we need to save those people." He commanded as the Massena moved towards the cargo pods doors opened on the side of the ship venting cargo into space while the Ranger charged at the Basestar taking hits all the time. Around the Massena Vipers, Raiders and the Hunter battled for aerial supremacy while the Massena grappled with the first pod and dragged it inside the ship. "Rask, move us to the next one." Boyle said as the Ranger suddenly turning into a supernova its armour penetrated by Cylon missiles the Cylons instantly switched targets towards the Massena and the cargo pods. "We need to move fast" he commanded as the second pod was reeled into the Massena's cargo hold as Cylon missiles filled the space around them with one striking a third cargo pod obliterating it killing the people inside leaving one remaining. "By the gods recall the Vipers and Hunter prepare to blow away weapon concealment" he said he'd hoped to hold off on showing their final surprise but the Cylons were massing for another assault.
"Don't do it!" Rask called from Helm "I can't manoeuvre to bring the guns in line with that Basestar and get the pod. It's one or the other." He said moving the ship alongside the last surviving pod.
"Can we reel them in and move at the same time?" Boyle asked but Rask had already began accelerating the ship.
"It's not going to be comfortable, but yes we can." He said as Vipers streamed into the hanger pod and the Hunter returned to its launch bay on the top deck. Capital missiles from the Basestar and Raiders chased down the Massena.
"Pod onboard" Morena said triumphantly, "pressurizing the cargo bays and spooling back up the FTL."
"Hanger secure, landing bay secure, all systems read green."
"Jump us back into the belt we're going to lay low while we find out who we've rescued today." Boyle ordered glancing at the DRADIS image of the destroyed Ranger and the starshaped Basestar just before the Massena jumped clear of the combat zone.