Prologue
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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, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
The Cylons send no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
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Until Now.
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Chapter 1
T-Minus Two years, Four Months, Ten Days
Omega Nebula
The planet is beautiful; a good amount of land surrounded by bodies of water. It is the perfect place to build a secret base, Sherman thought, standing at the window. Reserve Admiral Richard Sherman, a veteran from the Cylon war thirty eight years ago, walks back to his desk aboard the space station Triad. On his desk were piles upon piles of reports and paperwork regarding his mission here in the Omega Nebula. He sits down in his chair and picks up one report regarding the current population of the System's inhabitants. The planet below, called Oddessy, is one of three planets in the system that orbits the G type sun. The other two planets are called Troy and Sparta. Current population aboard the planets is 6.8 million with another 2.7 million in space. Sitting back he recalls all that he has done since he became a reserve some twelve years ago.
Flashback
Twenty two years after the end of the Cylon War, Richard Sherman was called to a meeting with Admirals Corman and Nagala. Richard career began during the Cylon war where he enlisted as a marine and shot through the ranks. Due to his high intelligence, he quickly became a sergeant before the war ended. After the war ended, he went to the academy where he studied engineering, flight school, and command. Due to his prowess, he quickly jumped through the ranks where he became a colonel. He had postings in most ship operations where he spent one year as a CAG, two years as the head of engineering, and two years as the Colonel of decommissioned Atlas. He just completed two years as the commander of the Gunstar Titus and was called to see the admirals.
On board the raptor, he thought about what was going to happen. He had several degrees in different majors such as computer engineering, chemistry, biology, and management that he had accomplished in his free time. This was in addition to the training that had gotten him to his rank. He also thought about his sister and his parents thinking back to the good times before the war. Once he reached command headquarters, he was led to the admirals.
"Good morning, Sir," Sherman stated
"Good morning to you too, have a seat. We have much to talk about. Due to the current cutbacks in our budget made by the government, we have decided that some of our longer veterans need to be taken off active duty. As you have over twenty years, we have decided that you are one that should be de-activated. As of today, you shall be moved to the reserve list. We wish you the best."
"Thank you sir, It has been an honor" Sherman replied.
That night, he took the last flight out of Picon space-center headed to Caprica where he was born and raised. The next day, he had arrived at Caprica city and took a taxi to the outskirts of Delphi to his parent's house. As he stepped out, he paused to remember all of the good memories from the good times he spent with his parents and his sister. It had been close to twenty years since he had stepped foot in that house. Here he was returning to the life he had left behind. He walks up to the door and knocks on it. The Door opens and he sees his mother. "Hi, Mom."
"Oh Richard, welcome home; your father is in the den if you need him," his mother replied.
"Thanks mom. Is my room still open?"
"Yes Richard, just the way you left it."
Gathering his suitcase, he went up the stairs to the third floor and opened his room. It was good to see everything still the way he had left it but there was some dust that had gathered. After dropping his suitcase on the bed, he went downstairs to the den. "Hello father."
"Hey Richard, I am sorry to hear that the military is deactivating you due to budget cuts, but you are always welcome here at home."
"Thanks dad. I look forward to the resting a couple of weeks as well as catching up with you, mom, and Emily. How is she doing?"
"Emily is perfectly fine. She got married six years ago and has since given birth to twin girls who are now four. They are some handful. She and her husband Chris have a house about twenty minutes from here. If you want to visit them, I can give you the address."
"Thanks Dad, maybe later this week. For now, rest will be the best."
End of Flashback
Placing the current census report down, he picks up the next report. It is the sales figures from the agricultural side of the corporation. He sees that the past year sales are at 50 billion cubits and that they are making a profit of close to 20 billion. He also sees the other parts of the corporation, namely Construction, and they have made close to 600 Billion cubits in sales with a net profit of 175 billion this year. Sitting back and turning his chair, he thinks about why he is here in the first place.
Flashback
One month after he had returned home, he was sitting down at the breakfast table and was reading the newspaper. He figured that he should get a job and get on with life. At the other side of the table, his father watches him through the side of his eye. Finally, he states, "Richard, if you have some time, I have something I want to discuss with you."
"Sure Dad. Do you want to talk here or in the den?"
"Let's take it in the den. I have some things I want you to look at before you make any decisions. As you know, I am the CEO of Danstar Industries. I know that you have an idea of what we do but we do much more than just Commercial construction. We also do ship construction as well as space exploration and mining. There is a reason why we do space exploration. About ten years ago, we noticed that there was a trend to reducing our military. The board of directors and I convened in private and decided, after a thorough detail analysis, that we needed a contingency plan to when the Cylons return. As such, we took to exploring the other systems farther away from the Armistice line. Over the last five years, we have brought back detailed analysis of different systems. I want your expertise in helping us," handing Richard the reports.
The first page told of a nebula about 10 light years from Caprica with a volume of 150 cubic light years surrounding one M class star. There are 450 asteroids that were caught in the gravity of the star. Analysis of the asteroids shows that many of them contain small amounts of metals while the rest have decent amounts of Tylium. There is moderate radiation but from the amounts shown, wouldn't harm Cylons unless they spent close to a week.
The second page states of a nebula about 20 light years from Picon. It has a volume of 300 cubic light years and contains two planets, 13 moons, and 200 asteroids surrounding a K class star. One planet has a poisonous atmosphere where no life could live. The second planet was on the far border of the environmental zone and contains elements that could support life. However, it has extreme weather conditions that could place even the temperate regions with a high temperature of 45 degree Fahrenheit. None of the 13 moons have an atmosphere but contain many different mineable elements. Many of the 200 asteroids carry some confirmed Tylium but there is also an unknown element as well. The Nebula also contains high levels of radiation that could incapacitate Cylons in a day.
The third page state of a binary star system about 100 light years away that contains 3 planets in the environmental zone. High levels of radiation shoot out from the Sun however and analysis shows that any form of adolescent life could develop defects even with a shield if held there for a period longer than two months. There are no moons and no asteroids. The High levels of Radiation could also shut down Cylons in a matter of 30 minutes.
The fourth page states of a Nebula about 10 light years from the binary star system. It is about 750 cubic light years in volume and contains a F type star. There are 5 planets, three of them capable of supporting life. The other two have high levels of elements near and beneath the surface. There are 40 moons surrounding the other planets and have high amounts of both Tylium and the unknown element. The nebula itself contains high levels of radiation but for some reason, the radiation from the star is negating the Nebula's natural radiation and creating a safe radiation free pocket enveloping all three planets. There are no other asteroids in the Nebula but plenty within one light year of the Nebula containing Tylium and the unknown element.
"In my opinion, you should use this last Nebula. It is by far the best one for several reasons. One it is large. Two it has a natural air pocket that could be supported by artificial pocket generators. Three, it has planets that could be used to create infrastructure to support people. It also has large land masses that could be used to build battle stars. However, all of the nebulas can be used to gather supplies. My suggestion is to go to each nebula and mine all of the resources out of it. As you do that, shift all of it to the last nebula where people can build battle stars. Once it is depleted, go to the next one. I hope this is not the only part of the contingency?"
"No. Once we have the necessary location, we wanted to use our significant intellect in our R&D department to build up a fleet. We currently receive 50 percent of the military requisition orders for their new battle stars. My plan is to construct as many of them as possible and 'rent' them out from the military to support us."
"That may be a good idea but we should wait until we have some better things. I would rather experiment first on new technology than just stocking up on the old things. With what I hear is a good R&D department, I believe that we can change the way we look at ships and warfare."
"If you have the knowledge, how about you work with me and the company to build up our ideas for the company and the people as a whole?"
"Sure, Dad."
End of Flashback
He picked up another report that had information on the number of ships currently built and the progress of many others. Currently, that had 150 completed battle ships and 250 support vessels. They also had about 20 carriers for civilian transport and about 200 agriculture ships which is what we have been using to grow and sell crops. Each of the civilian transports holds about 50,000 people. There are currently another 150 battle ships in the process of being built and another 100 planned. He placed that report down thinking about the development of the ships.
Flashback
About a week after he started to work with the company, his father introduced him to the different departments within the company. The last department he took him too was R&D. "Richard, I want you to meet Joshua Michaels, our chief of R&D."
"Nice to meet you Joshua. I'm Richard Sherman."
"Nice to meet you too."
"Joshua, this is my son who has just been deactivated from active duty in the military. He has several degrees as well as good training due to his military record. I want him to coordinate with you in several ideas that he has and see if we can develop something that could potentially help everyone out."
"Sure, boss. Let us meet the others in our department." Turning to the rest of the department, he yelled," guys, department meeting in ten minutes. Make sure that everyone is there."
"Yes, Sir"
People began trickling to the conference room and within ten minutes, everyone was there. "Thank you for being so prompt. I want you to meet Richard Sherman. He will be here to help develop new ideas to advance our fighting capabilities. Richard, I want you to meet the team. We have our computer science engineer, Jack Daniels. We have our weapons specialist, James Jones. We have our fuel expert, Noah Jones. We have our mechanical engineer, John Smith. We have our civil engineer, Jackie Robinson. Finally, we have our architect, Joan Rivers."
"Hi everyone, it is nice to meet you. I hope we get along pretty well. As Joshua has already said, I have some ideas that may advance our capabilities in the future. I hope that with cooperation, we can get them complete as soon as possible."
And with that, Richard started working in R&D. Within one month, Richard and Noah had taken samples of the unknown element on a quick journey to the nebula use a long range raptor. After returning, they analyze the element and quickly realized that it was a fuel source more powerful than Tylium. After careful experiments, they quickly realized that the combustion energy of a blend was almost four times as powerful and efficient as regular refined Tylium. Using that knowledge, they began to collaborate with James and John.
In the next month, they began to design new weapons and engines. Using the new fuel, they were able to sufficiently design more powerful sub-light engines that were much smaller in size. They were also able to redesign the KEW weapons to be much more powerful. Furthermore, with the advancement in the engine and combustion capability, they were able to refine the old laser technology to use much less energy. They designed smaller ship mounted lasers that were good enough to replace raider ship defense rail guns. They hope to continue that trend to build ship killers.
With new designs, they brought Joan, Jack, and Jackie to help design new vessels. Over the next three months, they created several designs. One design they agreed on was called the Prometheus. Built to act as a fleet command outpost, kind of like the Atlantia; it was large. Its' main body has dimensions of 1000 meters in length, 500 meters tall, 750 meters wide. It has four detachable wings that could act as independent air group carriers. In the main body, it has 8 sub-light engines and 2 jump drives. Due to the compactness of the engines, it allows for 16 primary and secondary energizers that are heavily armored such that even a 200 ton nuclear missile could not cause a hole. It had the main command center as well as two back up control centers. It held enough space to carry 75,000 colonial fleet personnel. Each wing was designed to include two sub-light engines and one jump drive. It was also designed to carry personnel, raptors, vipers, transports, and refugees. Each wing was 600 meters long, 75 meters tall, and 75 meters wide. It contained an independent control room for detached travel. It also contained quarters for 50,000 personnel.
Due to the complex nature of the ship, extreme designs were made to update all the electrical and computerized systems. Everything was connected through automation. The next thing that was developed was additional shielding. Although we had armor capable of withstanding several 200 megaton nuclear warheads, we knew that additional shielding was necessary. Based on our understanding of laser technology, we also began to develop energy shields. These energy emitters would be placed all over the vessel to emit energy that would help to disburse the intensity of the firepower and cause less damage to the armor. Current estimates state that this new shielding would allow our battle ships to fight for triple the maximum safe period of time, currently at 40 minutes two basestars against one Columbia class. The shield emitters would also be used to allow easier access to the entrances of wing bays for vipers, raptors, and shuttles during battle. When not in use, the bays would have doors with maximum defensive armor.
The electrical systems are also designed to be built into the structure of the ship. They would also contain shielding and be connected to newly developed processors that increase the processing speed of our computers 100 fold. This also allowed Jack to develop massive firewalls that he expects to hold against Cylon attacks. He currently has 5 levels of firewalls and he is developing more each day. Each level helps to support the next. With each month, we could add updates and strengthen the firewalls against any attackers to our mainframe.
Weapons were also added to the designs. The Prometheus class currently is designed to support 200 KEW weapons and 500 ship defense lasers. However, more could be added when more discoveries could be found in ship killer laser technology. Each wing is designed to support 20 KEW weapons and 1000 ship defense lasers.
Based on the size of this ship, we determined that it was not suitable to have more than a few in each battle group. As large as it is, its maneuverability was severely hampered. Therefore we "found" the designs to the MKIV vipers. Over the next four months, we took apart the designs and updated them. Careful study about its engines allowed us to combine aspects of the Prometheus class sub-light engines to the viper ones and increase the power and maneuverability. We removed the current weapons and added lasers. We added new networked systems with firewalls as well as a jump drive and shields. We also enlarged the ship and added inertial dampeners. The new vipers would be able to last longer with the same size tank filled with the new Tylium blend. We also took apart a raptor design and redesigned it engines for maneuverability, its jump drive, its power structure, its size, added shield, networked systems with firewalls, inertial dampeners, and changed its firepower capability. Missiles would now be located beneath the wings. Ship lasers were also installed at four points in the front with shield emitters. The raptor size also had room for 20 people.
With the new developments, we designed, over the course of two years, three new classes of ships. The first class was named Zeus, due to its ability to strike effective and quickly. With advanced processing networks, we adjusted the size of the ship to be about 300 meters in length, 100 meters tall and 125 meters wide. With 10 feet thick armor and shields, it can theoretically survive against 50 to 75 nuclear and non-nuclear missiles impacting near instantaneously. Built with three rotating jump engines and twelve sub-light engines, it could decimate several enemy attackers reasonably fast with its' quick acceleration and 35 KEW and 500 ship defense lasers. More weapons could be added later. Capable of carrying 3,000 personnel, it only needs 1,000 to run its ship. Finally, it was built to withstanding atmospheric entry and flight for quick troop deployment or evacuation.
The next vessel we designed was a smaller version of the Prometheus. At 600 meters long, 400 meters wide and tall in an Cylindrical shape, supporting 12 sub-light engines and two jump drives, the Menoetius class vessel would be used in wide variety of ways. Base on the detachable wings, we made MOPDs(Menoetius Operational Process Departments) which are self sustaining detachable units that can be used for different purposes. Some processes were designed for specialty use. They are refining for fuel and elements, manufacturing of electrical and non-electrical parts, smelting armor and machine parts, and shipbuilding. Non-manufacturing usage includes medical wards, metal and mineral storage, un-refined and refined fuel storage, food and supply storage, and ammunition storage. Each MOPDs will be 450 meters in length, 200 meters tall and wide carrying enough space for an additional 2,000 personnel. Each MOPDs will also have bays that will hold two squadrons of raptors, vipers, shuttles, and heavy lifters. The Menoetius will have a maximum capacity of 3,000 personnel.
The final vessel we designed, called the excelsior, will be used as a quick attack fighter. It will be 100 meters long and 50 meters tall and wide. Flat on the top bottom, back, and sides, it curves into a semi-circle at the front. Equipped with extreme armor as well as six large powerful sub-light engines and a jump drive, the excelsior is meant to be a quick deployment offensive attack as well as a patrol vessel armed with 30 rapid-fire KEW and 250 ship defense lasers. Including two squadrons of vipers, the entire crew complement is 300. The one drawback to this vessel is that it cannot travel long periods of time without escorts.
After these ships were designed, we believe that there was one final instrument for harmony between all of the ships. That is a mobile station. Over the next six months, we designed a five kilometer long vessel, Babylon class, that contains 20 sub-light engines and 3 connected jump engines. Due to its length, it requires all three jump engines, placed in strategic locations to create the jump field. The station, using all of the advanced systems, is supposed to use docked MOPDs in conjunction with sub-light engines for motion. Designed to be 80 meters wide, and 200 meters tall, the ship provides a base for two squadrons of excelsior vessels with its individual landing pads above and below the station. Meant to be run by a skeleton crew of 500, it has enough space for all of the excelsior crews and 3,000 others. The Babylon class could also hold a maximum of two Prometheus detachable wings at the head of the station.
After completing the design for the mobile station, we realized that food production is also a necessity and spent 3 months re-designing the existing Argo ships. Without changing much in the nature of the ship, we increased its size to a oval 4 by 8 kilometer diameter such that there is 10 square kilometers of agriculture space as well as food manufacturing for storage. We also added storage bays for shuttles and added quarters below the agricultural level for 5,000. Different versions were created based on adjustments for food crops, animal grazing, and fish.
After three and a half years of research, Richard and Joshua presented the presentation of everything that they had designed to the board. After an hour, the board had liked what was seen. Richard and Joshua left the office while the rest of the board conversed. After their conversation, they decided that it was a good plan and that plans should be made to start building them.
End of Flashback
Placing the reports down, he stood up and walked over to the office's couch. Lying down tired after a long day, he looked at the piles of papers on his desk. Next to that was his name plate reading 'Richard Sherman, CEO'. He remembered the day he became CEO.
Flashback
Several days after the meeting, Richard was called to meet his father. Upon entering, his father said, "Richard, I have a favor to ask of you. Pretty soon, I am going to retire and I need someone to take over the company. The board and I have discussed this and we would like it if you took the position. We like the overall manner that you have conducted for yourself in R&D especially with you results of cost analysis towards the building of these new vessels. Will you accept the position?"
After thinking for a moment, Richard agreed. Within the month, he was installed as the new CEO of Danstar Industries.
End of Flashback
Since he had become CEO, he had started a lot of tasks. The first thing was to meet with Joshua. During that meeting, they discussed what was the best available order to quickly and effectively accomplish their goal. After deliberation, we decided that we needed to get as many of the existing Argo vessels out of the military's boneyards as well as many of their decommissioned vessels as they can act as a start. With the company's refining, smelting, manufacturing, and ship building capabilities, we could build temporary shipyards to send over to our final destination to begin building our fleet. But first we needed the cooperation of the Admirals Corman and Nagala. One year to the day after becoming CEO, I met with both of them.
Flashback (T-Minus 12 years 10 months, 12 days)
Richard POV
I hadn't been sitting in the waiting room long before being called in. "Good morning Admiral Corman, Admiral Nagala. I am not sure if you remember me. My name is Richard Sherman. I was de-activated from active duty slightly over five years ago."
"It's good to see you are doing well. I hope there isn't any problems but what can I do for you this morning," Admiral Corman replied.
"I just wanted to discuss some items. I have read in the news that the government has been reducing the budget for military spending over the last several years. I know that it is not safe for that to happen. Do you see any remedy to this situation?"
"No, the government has continue its reductions and there isn't an end to sight," Admiral Nagala stated.
"We have some money for some new ships but older ships are being scheduled for decommissioning. The government only wants efficient ships that save on manpower and on construction costs," Corman followed up.
"Well I have some things to add. One reason why I am here is to judge whether I can get military support for a plan my company has. One year ago, I was promoted to CEO of Danstar Industries, a company that deals with many types of construction including ship building and civil construction. Several years before that, my father, the old CEO, talked me into joining the company based on the thoughts of the company's board. The main issue is that they do not like what the government is doing. They hate the military cutbacks and the reduction in protection. They also don't like that the government isn't doing anything to prevent another attack from the Cylons or any other enemy. As such we have come up with a contingency plan. It begins with building an base in a nebula more destructive to Cylons than any nebula in the Cylon War 27 years ago. It is located about 125 light years away. Several years ago, we surveyed this nebula and 3 others for anything that could be a safe haven. This one turned out to be the best.
We also want to build up a reserve fleet of about 500 military and support vessels. We have designed several different ships." Passing a report over, "Here is a summary of the key aspects of the ships. The first one is the Prometheus. She is a mobile fleet command center with a capacity of 75,000 personnel. Its key features include massive weapons, amazing defensive capabilities, and independent sub-departments that can detach away for safeguarding. Each of the wings has room for 50,000 personnel as well as bays for vipers, raptors, and many other small craft. It is the battleship with the carrier option. Next, we have the Menoetius class that is a smaller version of the Prometheus. Each of their wings is called a MOPD which can be interchanged for different capabilities. Some of those capabilities include refining and manufacturing processes to food storage and medical wards. We also have the Zeus class. It is a heavily armored quick attack vessel with amazing firepower. It is atmospheric capable for entry and flight for quick troop deployment. The excelsior is a smaller vessel that is a very quick support vessel that will mostly be used for ambush and patrolling. It is armored and has extremely effective offensive capabilities. Next to last, we have our mobile station, the Babylon class, which can link to MOPDs and Prometheus wings. At the most we can have two wings and 18 MOPDs. It also acts as a base for two squadrons of Excelsior class vessels. One of the things we are thinking about is to reduce the size of the Babylon to allow for more ships to be made. This way we could support more Prometheus wings. If that were to happen, we would reduce it to one squadron of Excelsior class vessels. This would also reduce the amount of MOPDs to a max of 10 per station. We redesigned all of the vipers and raptors to have more capabilities. All of these vessels have laser defenses, energy shields, more powerful engines, and inertial dampeners to reduce effects of space travel. Finally, we redesigned the Argo ships to allow for more space, personnel, and added manufacturing for storage capabilities. In all, each ship will be used in a collaborative way.
To achieve this, we would like the militaries help. As you probably know, we have contracts to build ships for you. We currently have the plans for the new Mercury Battlestars as well as the new Titan Gunstars. Our plan is for you to allow us to build them for you on a trade basis. For each Mercury Battlestar we build for you at the specifications you desire, we want you to give us 4 decommissioned vessels from any of the scrap yards for us to recycle. For each Titan Gunstar, we want 2 decommissioned vessels. Start with those that need to be scrapped before heading to those that need the longest to get repaired. This helps both of us. We get materials to build vessels. You save on storage cost as well as scrapping fees. Our procedure for recycling used materials is guaranteed to be stronger than many other ships in your fleet. We can also build the new vipers and raptors for you as well. They will be traded one decommissioned ship for each new squadron. The other trade we are looking for is your food supply. We are in the process of getting as many of the old civilian Agro ships that are in the civilian scrap yards. We will begin growing necessary food stuffs and would like to trade them with you at the rate of one ship for two tons of food. This way, we all save money.
We also wish to get military personnel to man each ship we build for the reserve fleet. I personally wish to staff them with as many deactivated reserves as possible. We can also use them for training purposes for students from the Academies. Next, we would also like the use of three of your reserve battle groups to protect us in three different nebulas. We wish to mine them of their resources quickly so that we can have a much greater supply."
"Well, well, well. That was a lot. I like these new ships a bunch. Everything is standard and there is no way besides messing up the construction where there can be complications. I agree that these ships would make a great reserve fleet and I am all for it. As such, I believe that we can help with the recycling. We will give you the contracts for the Mercury Battlestars and the Titan Gunstars. We will also increase the rate due to the fact that we can have too many new Mercury's being registered in the fleet. As such, I would like to increase the rate from 4 to 8 on the Mercury class and from 2 to 5 on the Titans. We will keep the 1 for 1 squadron of vipers and raptors. However, they have to be the Viper MKVIs and the Raptor MKIIs. The acceptable rate for food will need to be three tons for one as we would save a bunch more money. Any food that you produce and we don't use will be stored in supply depots. Do we have an agreement?" Admiral Corman asked.
"Yes, we do. What about the reserves and trainees?"
"Well, the trainees would take some time. Reserves are a different story. Many of them have obtained jobs outside. We were just about to deactivate another bunch of active fleet personnel but I believe that we can transfer them to your vessels one by one. Most of them will be reassigned to one of the escort battle groups. I believe that if we want to do this, you will have to pay 50% of their current salary." Nagala replied.
"Hmm, I have a better idea. We will pay 75% of their salary to you for payment. We will not be paying any benefits so they will have to keep the same military reserve ones. Our part will be an expense for services rendered and they will still be considered reserves."
"That will work. We can handle all the paperwork tomorrow. Let's go get some drinks," Admiral Corman finalized.
End of Flashback
In the first year of the agreement, we had hired 50,000 new employees for all sorts of purposes. We place 10,000 of them in ten groups and put them on Agro ships as farmers. That year, we produced six tons of food that was sent to the military. 30,000 of them were hired as construction workers. We had them working on the Battlestars and Gunstars. That year, we produce six Mercury Battlestars and 12 Titan Gunstars. 5,000 of them were put to manufacturing vipers and raptors. In that year, we produce 50 squadrons of vipers and 40 squadrons of raptors. In return, we received 200 decommissioned vessels from the Boneyards or 40% of its stores. The remaining 5,000 people were sent on mining ships and sent to the first nebula to begin mining. By the end of the year, we had mined 30% of the nebula's resources and had adequate supply to begin building the reserve fleet.
The second year, we hired 15,000 new workers with 5,000 being new miners. We placed all of them in the first nebula and by the end of the year, 90% of the resources were mined. 5,000 of them were hired to begin the recycling of the ships. By the end of the year, they had striped 180 vessels of everything. The remaining 5,000 people began building new reserve vessels. By the end of the year, we had 4 of the smaller version of the Babylon class built. We also had four squadrons of the excelsior class half way completed. The shipyards also turned out another six Mercury Battlestars, 12 Titan Gunstars, 70 squadrons of vipers, and 30 squadrons of raptors. We took in another 40% of the Boneyards supply and the Military decommissioned six of their oldest ships and leaving us with a balance of 220 vessels. Six tons of food were produced and sent to the Military.
In the third year, we hired 10,000 more workers. 5,000 were miners and we sent them out with more ships to the first nebula. A third of the way into the year, they and the original 10,000 miners were sent to the second nebula to begin mining. The rest of the year, they had mined a quarter of the resources in that nebula. The remaining 5,000 were construction workers. They helped to complete the four squadrons and all of them, started on the Smaller Babylon class mobile stations. By the end of the year, they had completed a third of four smaller Babylon classes. Six more tons of food were produced and sent to the Military along with the six Mercury, 12 Titan, 70 squadrons of vipers, and 30 squadrons of raptors. They also decommissioned another 10 ships. Another 180 ships were stripped, 200 more vessels were added from the remaining Boneyard ships and 10% of the Scorpio Reserve yards, giving us a remaining balance of 240 ships.
In the fourth year, we hired 15,000 more construction workers. All of them were added to the shipyards to begin building more ships. The shipyards churned out another six Mercury Battlestars, 12 Gunstars, 80 squadrons of vipers, and 20 squadrons of raptors. They also began to build 40 MOPDs, 2 Menoetius class, and 4 more squadrons of Excelsior. Of the MOPDS, we designed 2 to be Medical wards, 4 for Refinery purposes, 4 for Manufacturing, 4 for Foundry, 4 for fuel storage, 4 for shipbuilding, 4 for Food storage, 4 for Water storage, 2 for Ammunition storage, and 8 for Metal and Mineral storage. The Babylon class vessels and 4 Excelsior squadrons were completed and all eight squadrons of Excelsiors were transported into their bays on eight Babylon. By the end of the year, they were 70% complete. We took 20% of the oldest ships in the Scorpio Reserve yards, stripped another 180 ships, and leaving us a balance of 260 ships. Six more tons of food were produced and sent to the Military. They decommissioned another 12 ships and recruited a small batch of fleet personnel to be deactivated and reassigned them to the Excelsiors. The Miners mined another 40% of the nebula.
In the Fifth year, another 10,000 construction workers were hired for the shipyards. The shipyards churned out six Mercury Battlestars, 12 Gunstars, 80 Squadrons of Vipers, and 20 squadrons of Raptors for the Military. They also completed the 40 MOPDs and 2 Menoetius. The 4 shipbuilding MOPDs were filled with Construction workers and they began building Zeus class vessels. Each Zeus class vessel took 6 months to complete and by the end of the year, they completed 4 and had 4 more 33% complete. Two Prometheus class vessels were started as well as its eight wings. Four more Babylon class vessels were started as well as 2 more Menoetius, another 40 MOPDs, and 4 more Excelsiors squadrons. MOPDs were divided into 2 Medical wards, 4 more fuel storage, 8 more metal and mineral storage, 8 electrical storage, 4 Ammunition storage, 4 food storage, 4 water storage, and 6 shipbuilding with 2 dedicated for smaller craft. By the end of the year, they were 25% complete. The Military received 6 more tons of food and decommissioned another 15 ships. They delivered 20% of the Reserve yards at Scorpio. With the 180 ships stripped, that leaves us a balance of 280 ships. The Miners mined the remaining resources in the second Nebula and moved on to the third. 5% of that nebula was mined by the end of that year.
In the sixth year, 12,000 workers were hired. 6,000 of the new workers were sent to the MOPDs as refinery, foundry, and manufacturing to begin the process of processing the resources from the nebulas. By the end of the year, 2,000 workers had processed enough of the new Tylium blend to fill three of the Fuel Storage MOPDs. Another 2,000 workers melted a third of the recycled metals and added in some more raw resources to forge new armor plates. They made enough to fill 3 Metal storage MOPDs. The remaining 2,000 workers began manufacturing processes for electrical items for parts using new resources as well as recycled items. They made enough to fill 3 of the electrical storage. The remaining 4,000 were sent to the shipyards. As the manufacturing for electrical parts had been started, the shipyards put more emphasis into its construction and they were complete within 2 months of the beginning of the year. Overall, by the end of the year, they had churned out 6 Mercury, 12 Titans, 80 squadrons of vipers, and 20 squadrons of Raptors. They also completed the MOPDs, the 2 Menoetius, the 4 Babylon vessels, the 4 squadrons of Excelsior class, 12 Zeus, and had 80% completion on the 2 Prometheus and its wings. 2,000 construction workers were added to the recycling of ships. By the end of the year, all 7,000 workers had stripped 250 ships leaving us with a balance of 230 after the Military gave us another 20% from the Scorpio Reserve yards. They recruited another batch of fleet personnel for reassignment for 8 squadrons of excelsior, 4 Menoetius, 16 Zeus, and 8 Babylon vessels. At that point in time, all completed vessels of the reserve fleet were sent out to the 4th Nebula with minimal crews to begin creating a haven. The Miners in the third nebula continued to mine and by the end of the year, they had mined another 20%.
In the seventh year, 10,000 workers were hired and ferried over to the reserve fleet. 5,000 of them were sent to the MOPDs to begin building more Zeus class vessels and started on building up the viper reserve force. By the end of the year, they had completed 16 Zeus class and 20 squadrons of vipers. The remaining 5,000 were there to build the infrastructure for a shipyard station. The mobile shipyard station was designed to have 10 sub-light engines as well as 6 jump drives. Each jump drive was linked together to jump the massive 12 dry-dock berth and 8 port station. Over 9 Kilometers wide, the shipyard station was meant to build up to 12 Prometheus class vessels. It was also designed to hold a population of over 500,000. Each dry-dock was built to hold the massive Prometheus class in an enclosed area. With a total of 800 meters in width, 600 meters tall, and 1100 meters in length, the dry-docks had heavy armor as well as shielding and was equipped with massive offensive armaments in KEWs and Ship defense lasers. With the forward facing berths and sideways ports, the trapezoidal shaped station contains over 400,000 1 and 2 bedroom units, 5 massive storage bays for food, water, fuel, parts, and ammunition, and features highly defensive capabilities with lots of KEWs, ship defense lasers, and 5 layers of Shields. By the end of the year, the infrastructure of the station was 60% complete. The shipyards in the colonies built its usual 6 Mercury, 12 Titan, 80 squadrons of vipers, and 20 squadrons of raptors. They completed the 2 Prometheus and its Wings and started building 2 more Prometheus and its wings. They also started 4 more Babylon class vessels, 4 squadrons of Excelsior, 6 Menoetius, 56 MOPDs, and 24 of the new Argo ships. The MOPDs were divided into 6 shipbuilding, 4 Ammunition, 4 Medical wards, 4 Water storage, 4 fuel storage, 4 food storage, 8 Medical storage, 16 living compartments, 1 Manufacturing, 1 Refining, 1 foundry, 1 Metal and Mineral storage, and 2 electrical storage. By the end of the year, these were 40% complete. Ships were also stripped and with the addition of 20% more from Scorpio, the remaining balance was 180. Miners continued mining another 20% for the year.
In the eighth year, we asked our workers one by one if they wanted to begin moving their families. They all knew before they started working what they were building, a safe haven and a reserve fleet. Many of them did and as such, we began to ferry families over group by group. They began to move faster in building the ships they currently had. By month six, they had completed all of the Babylon class ships, the 6 Menoetius, 56 MOPDs, and all 24 of the Agro ships. The two Prometheus and its wings would take longer to build and at the end of the year, they were at 90% completion. They also churned out the usual 6 Mercury, 12 Titan, 80 squadrons of vipers, and 20 squadrons of raptors and received its usual 200 ships leaving a balance of 130 vessels at the end of the year. The Military also recruited the next batch of personnel to minimally operate the 2 Prometheus class, 8 Babylon class, 16 squadrons of Excelsior, and 6 Menoetius class. By the end of month nine, 26,000 of those construction workers in the shipyards were sent the Nebula to help complete the station. At the end of the year, the station was 75% complete. 16 Zeus class ships were also complete. The miners continued mining another 20% for the year.
In the ninth year, we completed the station shipyard and began hiring new types of workers. 1,000 doctors and nurses were hired to staff the medical wards of MOPDs. Their first task was to check each person in each of the construction worker's family that was being ferried to the haven. An identification card is issued to each of them for access and was required to be on each individual at all times. 1,000 school teachers and administrators were also hired to begin schools in the haven for younger people from preschool to university. 1,000 people were also hired as kitchen staff to run each mess hall. 1,000 workers were hired as factory workers and used to make ammunition for KEWs and to run each storage facility. Finally, 1,000 workers were hired as administrators and assistants to ensure smooth operation of the city population. The 5,000 families were also transported to the Nebula slowly using the same security procedures. 5,000 more people were also hired to run the new Argo ships. Their families as well as the original Argo ship families were also invited using the same security procedures.
R&D also came up with new designs for a mobile dry-dock. It was large enough to pick up a Prometheus ship. Its main usage is ship repair for up to moderate damage and transporting heavily damaged or adrift ships to dry-dock. We started 2 for up to the Prometheus class and 6 for up to Menoetius class. By the end of the year, they were 75% complete. They also completed 16 more Zeus class. Back in the colonies, the construction workers completed the two Prometheus class vessels and its wings and sent them with the next minimal batch of fleet personnel to the Nebula. They also started the next 2 Prometheus class with wings. We also talked to each fleet personnel and asked if they wanted to bring their families to the Nebula under same security procedures. Most of them wanted to and we added them to the list of people being ferried to the Nebula. By the end of the year, we had a census of over 145,000 fleet and civilian members.
We also began the new training regime for academy members. Over 20,000 sixth year students were transported to the station where they took up positions in the reserve fleet. They were rotated every 3 months between the Excelsior class, the Menoetius class, the Zeus class, and the Prometheus class vessels. 16,000 of them requested posting in the new reserve fleet and Admiral Nagala approved. In the mean time, the military received 12 Mercury, 24 Titans, 80 squadrons of vipers, and 20 squadrons of raptors as 48,000 construction workers worked mostly on the ships at the shipyards. The station's 12 dry-docks also churned out an additional 12 Mercury Battlestars which were shipped back with the 4,000 academy students, academy instructors, and fleet personnel. They also received an additional 16 tons of food. The Military also emptied out the remaining ships in the Scorpio Reserve and began reducing the Virgon yards. All in all, the Virgon yards were reduced by 120 ships or 30%. The recycling continued pace with its 250 ships and left a remaining balance of 300. The military also decommissioned 110 new vessels and placed them into a new reserve yard at the Nebula. The Miners continued mining the third nebula for another 20%.
Finally, six month ago, the end of the tenth year, our shipyards, both of them, produced a combine total of 24 Mercury, 24 Titans, 80 squadrons of vipers, 20 squadrons of raptors, completed all of the mobile shipyards, completed the 2 Prometheus, completed another 28 Zeus class vessels, and started and completed 16 more Argo ships to replace the original ones. The military decommissioned another 100 vessels into the Nebula yards and sent us another 420 ships, clearing out the remaining 280 vessels from Virgon yards and 140, 50% of the Hyperion yards. They also moved the remaining 140 out of those yards in the nebula under secrecy and closed the depot. They then decided that they wanted to keep one public yard on the outskirts of the colonies near Canceron and repair many of the ships being decommissioned at the Nebula. As such, we have also started to move 28,000 of the 55,000 construction personnel and their families from the colonies to the Nebula where their next task is to build planetary infrastructure. 20,000 construction personnel remain to continue constructing 4 Mercury, 12 Titans, and 40 squadrons of Vipers per year. 7,000 also remained to continue the recycling of ships leaving a balance of 470.
With an order for new planetary infrastructure, R&D designed domed cities capable of hold 300,000 people, domed Agro plants, and planetary defense satellites. They estimated that it would take about 6 months to create one domed city using 5,000 construction workers. As there are currently over 54,000 construction workers in system with 5,000 dedicated to add to the viper defense force, it is believed that 30,000 workers can build 12 domed cities in a year. The domed city will be capable of taking off from the planet using its 12 sub-light engines and 6 linked jump drives. It will be armored and heavily shielded. It would also include 1,000 ship defense lasers and have bays for 5 squadrons of vipers and 1 squadron of raptors. It will also base 2 squadrons of shuttles to ferry items to and from the station. 15,000 of the remaining 19,000 workers would be used to create Argo domes. The Argo domes will be build the same way as the Domed cities except that it would take only 4 months to build one dome due to not having as much internal construction work. Those 15,000 will be able to produce 12 Agro domes per year. The remaining 4,000 will be used to build satellites. R&D designed a network of defense satellites for defense purposes. Each satellite will be made to hold 20 KEWs and 100 ship defense lasers. Its altitude is control with one sub-light engine. It will have one bay capable of hold 4 raptors and 1 shuttle. Each satellite would take a month to build and be linked to the station. To cover all three planets perfectly, there should be 36 satellites per planet situated to create perfect entry and departure lanes.
Food production is increased and everything in excess of 20 tons is placed into food storage. Another 20,000 academy students were rotated for training and 17,000 of them wanted to stay. Pretty soon, our ships began to fill up quickly.
Currently, everything is on schedule. The next report, titled requests, states three things. The first request is that there isn't enough construction workers to build enough planetary infrastructure while continuing to build reserve fleet and repair the military's reserve depot in case of emergency. I know the military requested that the majority of the 240 vessels be brought back to active reserve status, ready to be deployed within 6 hours. Even if we ask the reserve forces to help, there are only skeleton crews in our reserve force even with the 33,000 new ensigns. When the military gave us some crews, we distributed them into the bare minimum to move the ships. Each Zeus class vessel need 200 to operate and maintain. Each Prometheus needs 1,000, each Menoetius needs 500, each excelsior needs 150, and each Babylon needs 300. Distributing the 33,000 into the fleet, each of the 320 excelsior ships received 35 for a total of 11,200 personnel, each of our 92 Zeus class ships received 100 personnel for a total of 9,200, each of our 10 Menoetius received 220 personnel for a total of 2,200, each of our 16 Babylon received 500 personnel for a total of 9,000, and each of our 6 Prometheus received a total of 400 for a total of 2,400. Hmm. The best solution is to call for all 7,000 of the recycling duty and drag them and all of their ships over here. We should also stop the 5,000 building vipers and raptors and send them here. Those 12,000 can take care of the repairs as well as stripping parts from older ships to help in the restoration of the reserve fleet.
The next complaint is that there isn't an academy. I could probably change that. Hmm, we should add in a permanent year 5 and year 6 training. I will send a transmission to Admiral Corman in the morning. This should help in adding fleet training especially for the reserve fleet. Admiral Corman should also add in carrier transports to academies. I believe that would help to evacuate students and fleet personnel if any of the planets are attacked.
The Final complaint is that the construction workers need a break. Most of them are working close to 12 hours per day almost every day and have been for years. Let's give them a month off while I go to see Admiral Corman. Pushing on the intercom, "Janice, could you come in for a second.?"
Upon entering, "Janice, I have two things that I need you to do. The first one is to schedule 12,000 construction workers to leave for the nebula. Tell them that they are allowed to bring their families under normal security procedure. Also schedule transport for all ships being recycled to be shipped to the Nebula. Those 12,000 are to begin the refit process of all of the military's reserve ships in their parked zone. I want most of the 250 vessels battle ready within the next 2 years. If one ship cannot be ready or is not battle-worthy, have it stripped down to parts for repairing the other ships. The other thing I need you to do is to contact all construction foremen and let them know that all constructions workers can take a 1 month vacation with pay. I want them to be refreshed when they come back. Let them know that I expect them to work just as hard when they return to duty."
"Yes sir," replied Janice. "Is that all?"
"Yes Janice, Thank you."
Looking down, he sees the clock reading 09:30 PM. I can send the communiqué tomorrow.
A/N: I don't own Battlestar Galactica and do not make any profit. I hope that people enjoy the story.