Circles of Change
Alien War- 8 Months and 4 Days/ Earth Date: April 15th, 2230
Lt. Kara (Starbuck) Thrace maneuvered her Viper away from the alien fighters. The orange sleek designed ships were firing at her with pulses of white hot plasma. They were somewhat slower than railgun rounds, which allowed her to dodge them as she accelerated to get away. As soon as she got within a safe distance she turned her Viper at an 180 degree angle and shot back and destroyed one of the fighters as she zoomed past the second. She thought the other craft was going to get her as she turned around until she saw the reddish rounds of Colonial railguns tear through the second alien fighter, destroying it.
"Frak Apollo, you stole my kill!" Kara laughed through the wireless.
"You looked like you needed to be saved there. Having fun?"
"Hearing nothing but the rain. Hey Apollo, my bird is getting low on fuel im taking her back to Galactica."
"Roger that Starbuck, the Pegasus and other ships are supposed to be joining us. I'm going to help out the others."
As Lee (Apollo) Adama turned his Viper around, he saw the huge battle scene played before him. Missiles were streaking out from the Battlestars Galactica, Columbia, and Achilles as well as five Gunstars and many other support ships toward two large alien cruisers and four smaller ships which returned fire with plasma and laser weaponry.
He remembered what caused the war eight months ago, the Battlestar Mercury was on an exploration mission looking for Tylium and worlds suitable for colonization when two large sleek round shaped yellow ships exited through odd vortexes.
The Colonial Science Directorate worked with the Colonial Fleet HQ and had a few lines in the Colonial Field Manual for First Contact situations. All it said was don't be stupid and don't do anything that could be a frak up.
The Mercury sent out signals in hope the aliens would respond in kind.
They sent out no signals, nothing.
The only response after a while was a few missiles, plasma shots, and fighters moving in to attack the Mercury. The Commander, James Kaller ordered the Mercury to jump, saving the lives of many Colonials. He immediately reported his findings to Fleet HQ and to President Adar.
Within weeks, every Battlestar Group was put on alert and all vessels in the Fleet, even those mothballed were now being refitted. The Galactica, instead of being decommissioned got a full refit and a full complement of MK VI Vipers. Commander Adama was placed in charge of Galactica, with Colonel Tigh as his XO. Fighting now for some reason seemed to be rare.
That changed however as the aliens discovered colonies away from the main Twelve Colonies, over eight months, attacks slowly grew. None of the main Twelve were attacked, only colonies in outlaying star systems were attacked, brutally in fact, as many colonists were found to be killed by either orbital bombardment or bio engineered plagues.
In response, the Colonies decided on the largest military buildup since the First Cylon War. Millions were starting to enlist in the Colonial Armed Forces, and shipyards were constructing more and newer types of Battlestars as well as many other support ships. Still, attacks against the Colonies were still small and quickly dealt with. Many began to ponder the size of their military, as none of their worlds were ever found.
All speculation that these were Cylons returned was crushed as several bodies were recovered from planets they landed on and fought against Colonial Marines. They looked like feline humanoids as they had longer hair, ridges on their foreheads and different organ structure and iron in their bloodstream.
None however had been captured alive.
Although it was known that the aliens were far more advanced, Colonial Commanders found ways to counter the energy weapons of the aliens by using more flak fields to disperse the energy before it hits the hull, as the armor could still amazingly take repeated hits before giving out. Many others devised and shared now common 'jump and nuke' techniques, as their armor could still be easily be taken out by nukes. Higher yield nukes were now being used to combat their larger cruisers. The other plus was that Vipers were far more maneuverable than the alien fighters. Everyone knew this war was only going to get hotter.
Battelstar Galactica CIC- Same time
"Mr. Gaeta, status reports now!" Tigh ordered
"Colonel, our vipers have destroyed the main wave. The cruisers are now moving in. They are launching missiles. Our Vipers are taking them out. Wait… picking up five more contacts on DRADIS. It's the Pegasus and her fleet.
"Thank the Gods she's finally here. Launch whatever nukes we have left and destroy the frakkers." Commander Adama said
Everyone was happy that Admiral Cain jumped in with two Battlestars and several other Gunstars with her group.
The Battlestars launched missiles and railguns toward the alien ships as they concentrated plasma fire and particle beams on the Gunstars. As the dense armor of the Battlestars helped against the energy weapons and missiles of the alien ships. Skilled commanders also utilized heavy flak fields to help disperse plasma and laser energy as to diminish it before it slammed against the hull.
The Galactica launched three nukes toward the largest of the ships. Fighters tried to shoot them down but one got through and engulfed the ship in a nuclear fireball, destroying it and many fighters nearby. Concentrated plasma beams took out two Gunstars, but not before their missiles detonated into a critical area, destroying the ship.
Vipers managed to out maneuver the alien fighters and took out many of them as well as their bombers and smaller frigates. As nuclear missiles from the Artemis streaked out toward the remaining cruisers, destroying one more and damaging another one.
What happened next surprised them, the ships started to open orange vortexes and leave. They rarely did this unless they knew for certain they would come back in force another day but it still left the Colonials in surprise even as they cheered in victory.
TBC
Chapter 1- Starting Fires
Eight Months Ago::
Commander James Kellar watched in the CIC of the Battlestar Mercury, which was part of Battlestar Group 31. It was not unusual for a Battlestar to be given orders to help scout out a system before people would be mining there, as there was always potential problems from pirates, scavengers, and possibly Cylons.
Their mission was to head toward system YJ-15521, a system that had huge potential as a Tylium mining facility. The other two ships were Colonial Surveyors, ships that were sometimes used by the Colonial Science Directorate and by the Colonial Fleet, but were purely for scanning and scientific missions.
"Commander, all ships are reporting green lights. We are ready to jump." Mr. Fazon, the ships tactical officer said.
"Tell the fleet to jump. Let's see what's out there."
The Mercury, the first ship of the Mercury Class Battlestars jumped along with the two Surveyor Ships and disappeared in a flash of light.
"Commander we are in the system. DRADIS is picking up no contacts other than the Surveyor ships that lift with us."
"Good, send out a Raptor Patrol, have them assist the Surveyors and keep a watch out for any suspicious activities."
"Yes sir, patrol is now prepping for launch." He said looking at the DRADIS screen on his console as he saw unusual readings. "Commander, DRADIS is picking up a large energy spike several hundred kilometers ahead. Visual scans show some kind of weird frakking vortex, now two contacts appeared. The Surveyors just halted and the Raptors are standing by."
"Cylons?"
"I doubt it Sir, ships are not matching any known configuration. I'm transferring video feed to your station."
Commander Kellar watched as the video showed a large orange vortex appearing and two sleek looking yellow round ships exiting, with black markings on the hull. He felt undoubtedly that these were aliens.
"What are the ships doing?"
"They are holding position Sir."
"Call the Viper and Raptors back to the ship and have them to a CAP around us. Order the Surveyors to keep their FTL spun up until we see what's going on. I want a channel open, all frequencies and languages."
"Channel is open sir." The Communications Officer, Lt. Brandts said.
"Attention unknown vessels, this is Commander James Kellar of the Colonial Vessel Mercury. Please state your intentions."
"Sir, I am not picking up any signs of wireless communication at all from the ships. However photographic scans from the Raptors reveal several weapons running across the hull. Commander, their weapons are pointed right at us!"
Commander Kellars words were blocked as the ship rocked from being hit.
"What the frak was that?" He yelled
"They are firing some kind of energy based weapons sir. DRADIS now reads multiple contacts coming from the ships, some appear to be fighters and others are missiles. Vipers are requesting permission to engage." Mr. Fazon yelled.
"Tell them to frakking engage already, bring all batteries online. As soon as they're up fire. Tell the Surveyors to jump out of there." Colonel Morris his XO said.
The Colonial Surveyors disappeared in a flash of light as they made their FTL jump out of there. The Mercury's flak and point defense fired as the alien fighters went in to engage the enemy ships. Missiles streamed out from the Mercury to the alien ships that attacked her. The missiles hit, tearing holes in their armor as missiles and energy weapons from the alien ships struck the Mercury, scorching the armor and rocking the ship again.
"Tell the birds to return, we cannot stand much longer out here. As soon as the birds are back jump out of here." He said over to tactical.
As the point defense cannons tore through the alien fighters, the Vipers and Raptors returned to the flight pods. As soon as every Viper and Raptor that was not destroyed was accounted for, the ship disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared next to the Colonial Surveyors.
That was the start of it all.
Battlestar Mercury- Present day
Commander Kellar remembered everything that happened. A Board of Inquiry found that he did nothing wrong during the incident and was hailed as a hero for saving the lives of his crew and that of the Colonial Surveyors.
Now his ship was meeting with Admirals and Commanders from two other Battlestar Groups, Admiral Nellis from BSG 43 and Admiral Correr from BSG 25. As his ship docked at Scorpion Station 45, a large space station in the Scorpia System located near the 5th planet of the system, while Scorpion Fleet Shipyards was orbiting the 4th world; many systems had multiple space stations and shipyards to accommodate the large Colonial Fleet including any civilian ships.
As soon as they docked, Commander Kellar walked toward the conference room where the meeting was to take place. Sitting down at the front of the table was Colonial Fleet Admiral William Donalds, one of the highest, second only to Colonial Fleet Secretary Adam Brandenwie. He stood at attention, saluted, and sat down. He felt something big was going to happen, so he watched the others come in and perform the same routine as him.
"Hello everyone, as you may all know, you heard of the engagement between the aliens and Colonial forces at the Darlden System, attacks have been getting a bit more commonplace, albeit a bit more slowly. I have discussed the situation with Fleet Secretary Brandenwie and President Adar, and together with a meeting with others of the Admiralty, a plan came up. Each of you, as head of your Battlestar Groups will be given a fleet of extra support ships and Gunstars, and go into the general direction the attacks are coming from." He said as he got a map out of a several hundred lightyear area of Colonial space in conjunction with the rest of the galaxy and showing a circle of where contacts with the aliens have been reported.
"It appears they seem to test our borders, carefully plotting and exploring and using more ships to attack us. We have only lost seven Battlestars and 40 other ships since this fraking war started, it's a good thing our leadership can come up with the stuff needed to beat them. Gauis Baltar was able to deduce that their armor is weaker than ours and that attacks concentrated on certain points can destroy their ships. Flak fields have been used to somewhat disperse their energy weapons by 40%." He said again. "Along with support ships you will be given Boarding Transports containing Colonial Marines." He added
"You want us to capture one of their ships don't you?" Admiral Correr said in a thick Gemonese accent.
"Yes, we also believe that there should be several staging points along this line of systems. If any of you get a chance to capture a ship, take it. If you have any prisoners or ships, send a small escort back to Colonial Space and our boys will take care of the rest."
They talked among other things, and after a few hours they all left to their ships to group at Ragnor Anchorage to fuel up and get extra ammo and munitions as well as an extra stockpile of nukes for their ships.
Operation Star Storm was now underway.