H/nBSG: The Cylon/UNSC War
The Story So Far:
Five years ago, high above Earth, a phenomenal event occurred that forever altered the course of human history. Separatist forces, under the command of the Arbiter, entered Earth space after destroying Delta Halo and the High Charity. With the aid of Commander Miranda Keyes, Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, and 343 Guilty Spark, Loyalist Covenant forces either defected to the Arbiter's fleet or were destroyed along with the Ark. Unfortunately, the Master Chief was last reported near the Ark. His fate, sadly, remains unknown.
This event marked the beginning of the UNSC/Sangheili (Elite) Separatist Alliance. For the next five years the Covenant Hegemony collapsed into disarray. Numerous disorganized splinter kingdoms are all that remains of the Covenant. The last major offensive by the UNSC/Sangheili Alliance took out the last great loyalist fleet over Beta Halo. Needless to say, a state of uneasy peace now exists between Humanity and the Separatists.
Since that time the UNSC has begun putting its weight behind a renewed colonization effort. Tens of thousands now reside in colonies established in the far recesses of space. The keystone of humanity's renewed colonization effort is the planet Gaia. Set up as a forward base five years ago, Gaia acts as a relay and re-supply base for patrolling UNSC/Separatist ships and human colony ships. Gaia is only 15 parsecs away from Harvest, a grisly reminder of the Earth/Covenant War.
The year is now 2557, and it will be a year of reunions and tribulations that man, alien and machine will never forget, and it all begins in a little nebula just on the fringes of Earth's new frontier. Who will survive?
1
Outskirts of Mataru Nebula
13th Autonomous Taskforce
00:15 Hours, October 6th, 2557
Three ships; two Marathon class battlecuisers and an Odyssey class frigate, slowly approached the iridescent, grayish azure nebula. The first report from the newly built Remote Scanning Outpost Spyglass One indicated strange anomalous readings from the Mataru Nebula. With Mataru's close proximity to several Earth outposts under Gaia's jurisdiction, the 13th has been dispatched to investigate.
The readings could have been an increase in electrical activity or several slipspace entries in the nebula. No one could be sure since heavy ionization within the nebula fouled up all but the most sensitive scanning equipment. If the disturbance was slipspace ruptures, then it could only mean one thing. Loyalist forces were on the move in this sector.
UNSC Wings of Daedalus
Odyssey classfrigate
13th Autonomous Taskforce
Commander John Agiad entered the dimly lit, cramped bridge of the Wings of Daedalus. John was about 46 years old, almost 7 feet tall, and highly athletic. The Daedalus was the third ship in the newest line of Odyssey class frigates. The ship featured enhanced reactor capacity, improved slipspace drives and a first generation, ship-grade energy shield. This was all thanks to the Sangheili Alliance engineers working with UNSC scientist at the Reyes-McLees shipyards over Mars. John personally wondered when the UNSC would make use of energy shields on ships for sometime now.
Lieutenant Commander Leroy Madea, John's XO, sat in the center chair unaware that the Commander was right behind him.
"Boo!" Leroy's heart skipped a beat. He turned toward the Commander chuckling to himself. The commander had warned Leroy of these little flash scare tactics. It had to do with something about preparedness. "You can stay in the chair," John said, smirking a little.
"Of course sir, thank you." Leroy replied. "Ah, Admiral Reed is on fleet wide, sir."
John walked along the left side of the center chair and hitting the comm. button on the armrest. Rear Admiral Reed's grizzled face appeared on the large screen at the head of the bridge. "Admiral Reed to all commands; remote scanning outpost Spyglass One has reported possible slipspace ruptures within the Mataru Nebula. Gaia Fleet Command has been informed of this situation and has re-diverted Commodore Rork's cruiser squadron to the Terra Nova system."
John punched up a 3D representation of the sector on the Holotank to the right of the command station. The Mataru Nebula blotted out a good portion of the map. "As you may know, Terra Nova is only about four and a half parsecs away from the Mataru Nebula. Terra Nova is a newly selected planet for colonization, and only has a small group of engineers, marines and colonial surveyors. The seventh destroyer group, lead by Senior Captain Toomey, will be entering that system is a few days, escorting a colony ship to the planet."
The commander zoomed in on the holographic display of the nebula. Yellow, pulsating blips indicated the location of the disturbances. They were all centered deep within the nebula. "This mission is a critical one. We must determine whether or not loyalist forces are within the nebula. All ships will maintain combat alert beta while the Wings of Daedalus will launch its three Clarion spy drones and monitor activity within the nebula. Commander, report your findings to my ship and Spyglass One. Reed out."
"We should deploy two toward the nebula and the other into slipspace itself, sir," Leroy suggested.
John nodded in agreement. "All right. Launch the drones and go to combat alert beta."
The beta alert klaxon sounded as Leroy climbed out of the center chair. "Telemetry, report any anomalous readings, and comm., keep a direct line with Spyglass One," Leroy ordered as the Commander took his seat.
Outskirts of New Caprica Nebula
Battlestar Galactica Fleet
It had been over two months since the Galactica Fleet had left New Caprica. The situation seemed hopeless. Even with the civilian volunteers from the small support fleet that followed the Galactica out, both the Battlestars were severely under crewed.
Battlestar Galactica, Brig
Admiral William Adama entered the brig to talk with the Cylon Sharon. Every time he went in to talk with her he couldn't help but to have flash backs of the other Sharon shooting two rounds into his chest. He could never get over that betrayal. Every time he talked with her he wanted to exact revenge on her, but he set that aside every time and now, with New Caprica in Cylon hands, he needed every asset he had left to retake New Caprica. Sharon had proven a good source of information in times past. She even saved the Galactica when its systems had been shut down by a Cylon virus. Now he was going to ask her something she might not readily agree with.
Adama walked up to the glass window and picked up the phone in front of him. Sharon did the same on her end. "Do you know why I am here?" Adama asked.
"The Cylons found you. Didn't they?" Sharon replied.
Adama nodded soberly. "I want to retake New Caprica, but I don't have enough pilots, much less the experienced ones needed to mount this operation. So I am asking you to…"
"Help you? After you killed my baby!" Sharon yelled into the receiver, causing Adam to yank his receiver away with a jerk. "I know it was you who gave the order Adama, so go FRACK YOURSELF!!!" She punched the glass in front of her, cracking the screen. She started pacing furiously, her knuckles dripping blood.
Adama turned his head to the side and chuckled to himself. "Your baby isn't dead." Sharon couldn't believe what Adama just said. She fell silent and calm. "The president had your real baby replaced with a stillborn child. She's currently in protective care somewhere on New Caprica. And so, if you want your baby back, you're going to have to help me out first."
Tears began to well up in Sharon's eyes. Somehow she knew Adama wasn't lying. "Have you told Helo yet?" Sharon replied.
"Not yet. I want you to tell him personally, that is, if you agree," Adama said.
"What do you want then?" Sharon asked.
Adama smiled. His gamble had worked.
Battlestar Galactica, Admiral Adama's ready room.
Admiral Adama sat at his desk, looking over the latest reports on Cylon activity, pilot efficiency, and combat capabilities of the other ships that had left with the Galactica. He slowly rose up out of his chair, stretched, and took off his glasses. Finally the door opened and his son, Commander Lee Adama, entered the room. Lee had gained some weight since his first few days in command of the Pegasus. Admiral Adama hopped this wasn't a sign of his son going soft on him.
"Welcome commander. Please sit down." William Adama said. Lee could see the exhaustion his father's eyes. He saluted and sat down in the chair in front of his father's desk. "Lee, do you know why I called you here?" The admiral stated as he took his seat.
"You want to discuss the retaking of New Caprica," Lee replied. They both know that at their present state that it would be nearly impossible, but they had to try. There was no doubt of that.
"We can't possibly win a stand up fight against the Cylons. Not now at least. The DRADIS has picked up some unusual readings throughout the sector. Luckily we have an ace in the hole," Admiral Adama answered.
"What ace in the hole." Lee asked curiously. Then the Cylon Sharon entered the room dress in her flight suit. Lee rose up stunned. "You can't be serious! That thing put two holes in you! Have you gone mad!?"
"It wasn't me Apollo. It was…" Sharon tried to explain.
"I don't care!" Lee retorted.
"Sit down both of you!" Admiral Adama demanded, hurting his throat with the volume of his command. Both Lee and Sharon sat uneasily next to each other. "Sharon has agreed to help us. She'll provide information on possible Cylon supply convoys entering the system. She'll also be flying missions for us. We need her more than ever now, Commander Adama.
"Sir, this is fracking mad. How do we know she won't betray us like she did before?" Lee countered.
Admiral Adama got up out of his chair quickly. "Commander, either you do as I say, or I'll find someone else to do it! The human race is depending on this!" Adama yelled back. Lee nodded his head reluctantly. They had to try something.
Admiral Adama sat back in his chair and continued. "If I know Tigh, he's probably organizing a resistance movement on New Caprica about know. If we can keep the Cylons off balance and take out a few of their base stars and some supply convoys, we might have a better chance," Adama surmised.
Nova system, Terra Nova
Colony Establishment Outpost
00:37 Hour, October 6th, 2557
Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson lay up against an over turned, burnt-out warthog. It was the dead of night. From his position up top of a hill, pillars of fire rose up, lighting the night's sky. They had hit hard and fast. Scimitar shaped fighters, like none he had ever seen before, had swooped down from the sky and wiped out the complex.
Only Johnson and two other marines who were in the warthog at the time survived. Then some machine resembling chrome walking toasters had found them in the woods. His two marines had been cut down faster than a bunch of grunts. Luckily Johnson had thrown a grenade at the machines and sent them to robot hell.
Unfortunately, the explosion also took out the warthog. Johnson decided to lay low and wait. He took out his last Sweet William cigar and lit it. He took a puff and heard heavy metallic footsteps slowly approaching his location. Johnson looked at the ammo indicator on his battle rifle. He only had 3 rounds left, and it was his last clip. He took another puff from his cigar and drew out his M6C pistol. Johnson leaped from behind the warthog and fired 5 five rounds into the toaster. All but one round glanced off its armor. The fifth penetrated the black slit where it's one red eye oscillated from. The round buried itself it the unit's CPU and the machine froze.
Johnson got up from the ground and carefully approached the still machine. Its red eye stopped moving back and forth in its slit. He tapped the machine and the machine fell backward loudly. "Friggin' tourist!" Johnson wisecracked.
He was just taking another puff of his cigar when a woman walked up to him. She had platinum blond hair, and wore a sultry red dress. It seemed almost out of place to Johnson. She took the smoldering cigar from Sergeant Johnson's mouth and began to kiss him vigorously. "Oh, I know what the ladies like," Johnson said between kisses.
Then the blond kicked Johnson in the groin. Johnson fell down with a shout of pain. He tried to bring his gun to bear but the female kicked it out of his hands. "Now colonial, you will tell me where your precious Battlestars are," the woman said, her voice very cold, a sharp contrast to the rest of her.