Disclaimer: Copyrights are owned by Ron D. Moore and Glen A. Larson. This
story is for personal writing development and own entertainment purposes.
The author does not intend to sell any of the stories he writes or to get
any credit for the original idea. The only credit the author gets is his
work and time given to the writing of this fan fiction story.
The smuggler's game
Note: This story starts right before the events depicted in BSG the mini- series by Ron D. Moore. Some plot elements are from Dean Thomas's and Kevin Hallesy's fan fiction stories. Their use is intended for continuity and complementary plot purposes.
Chapter 1: The Escape
(H-15 minutes)
"Unidentified ship! This is the Colonial Marshal Service! Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded," said an authoritative voice through the wireless speakers.
"Frak! How did they find us so fast?" That was Peete Brak, captain of the Kobol Marauder. A Colonial Marshals Service (CMS) gunship had just jumped in 10 kilometres behind them. They were speeding away from Virgon heading toward the outer regions of the Cyrannus System.
Brak and his crew had just made a quick raid on an FTL-drive factory on Virgon. Their cargo holds were full of parts and engines. FTL-drives, especially those that are of military grade, are sold for a very good price on the black market.
A few hours before, they had been able to land quickly at the FTL factory without causing too much of a stir in the middle of the night. Their false flight plan, which was submitted to Virgon's Atmospheric Flight Control and Space Flight Control, had seemed to work perfectly. The Marauder's transponder codes had been disguised. Everything should have worked perfectly. Once on the ground, they had quickly moved to open the factory's doors. Matt 'Sneaky' Jorgo, the electronics specialist, did not have many problems with the security systems. They had used their own loaders from the Kobol Marauder to bring the stolen goods on the loading ramp into the large cargo hold. In and out, that had been all they had to do. Apparently, it had not been as easy as they thought it would be.
"Maybe our false flight papers were not as good as we thought," grunted Lorne Hador, the second in command of the KOBOL MARAUDER.
"Brad, how far is the CMS vessel from us?" Peete asked a young man at the sensor station.
"Too close for us to do an FTL-jump without being intercepted first," he answered knowing what Peete had in mind.
'Not good,' thought Peete. His ship's engines needed a few more minutes to recharge after using most of their power to take-off quickly from Virgo.
They could try to fight the Colonial Marshals Service ship. The KOBOL MARAUDER was not defenceless. It was a decommissioned Colonial Marines medium armed transport after all. It used to land one company of Colonial Marines with their equipment in Cylon-held territory 40 years ago. It can take its share of damage. Granted that it did not have its original six anti-fighter guns and the two landing area suppression weapons that had been removed on decommission. They had managed to retrofit four newer multi-barrelled anti-fighter guns they had illegally bought from a Leonis weapons factory insider. The electronics side however is state-of-the-art. Sneaky had installed on the MARAUDER a powerful sensor suite and a full electronics counter measure suite. They had to sacrifice a bit of the cargo hold and two of the remaining weapons mount to fit all the equipment but it had been worth it.
Sneaky, a few years before, had been part of the Raptor electronics suite design team. At 28, he was among the Colonies' best computer technicians. He had lost his job because he had been caught selling Colonial Marshals Service frequency codes to smugglers who wanted to have an edge on the authorities. He had not served time in jail for very long. He had managed to escape by fooling the jail's security systems. Nobody knew exactly how he had done it. Soon after escaping, he had contacted his main client, Peete Brak's smuggler group, and had offered his services. They had been all too happy to welcome him in their midst.
"Jam their communications!" barked Lorne to Sneaky at the counter-measure station.
"I'm already on it."
The system Sneaky has installed was complex enough to need two men to operate it. Sneaky had been teaching the younger Brad how to operate the sensors for the last two months. Brad was a quick study but definitely not as good as Sneaky.
"Unidentified ship! This is Colo...shrk." Static interrupted the latest order from the CMS vessel.
"Communications jammed!" said Sneaky with obvious satisfaction.
That did not ease Peete's and Lorne's minds. They both knew where the CMS's interception protocols were leading to.
"Brad, give us a readout of that ship," Lorne quickly asked.
"Er, I read it as a gunship. The Cerberus to be exact. Weapons fully armed and they are giving us a full sensor sweep," hesitantly said Brad.
"Frak! Cerberus! Definitely not good," swore Lorne.
The Cerberus-class gunship was the newest patrol vessel available to the Colonial Marshal Service. The eponymous Cerberus was the first of its class and it was specifically designed to fight smugglers like Peete Brak, smugglers that had the resources to afford larger ships and put weapons on them. In the last few years, crime had risen all over the Cyrannus system. Smugglers had been getting increasingly aggressive in their methods. They had the nerve to fight off any Colonial Marshal ships that tried to arrest them. The Colonial Marshal Service had been stuck with small Cylon War era ships that were outmatched by the smugglers.
The Colonial Fleet was busy introducing new systems and ships in their inventory. The CNP system, created by the famous Dr Baltar, required many of the Colonial ships to go into the yards for their retrofit. On top of that, political correctness in the Colonies had imposed a ban on military intervention against civilians after a confrontation against smugglers that had turned ugly. Therefore, the Colonial Fleet could not help much in this situation.
In order to compensate for the Fleet's reduced policing capabilities, the Colonial Government had finally accepted to increase funding to the Colonial Marshal and had allowed the development of the CERBERUS gunship. The CERBERUS was about 150 meters long, close to half the size of the Kobol Marauder. It was crewed by a mix Colonial Marshal officers and technicians that brought the crew total to 75. The ship was designed to be a mobile police station with full forensics capabilities. It was armed with six light anti-ship rail guns and six multi-barrelled anti-fighter guns. Nothing to fight against a battlestar or a battlecruiser but it could match anything the smugglers have thrown at the Marshals lately.
"Sir, two Rapiers are launching from the CERBERUS," urgently announced Brad.
To complement its firepower, a small hangar bay is situated in the lower belly of the CERBERUS-class, capable of housing two Rapiers and a space for an extra shuttle. A Rapier was a slightly oversized Raptor. The Rapiers, instead of having the counter-measures suite, had two Viper Mk VII canons mounted on each side of the pilot's compartment. It was also equipped with an assault boarding/docking mechanism and room for up to 10 Colonial Marshal officers. The engines had been improved to catch up with most civilian ships but they were not as fast and as agile as the Vipers. Like their Raptor siblings, Rapiers had limited-FTL capable. Rapiers were used by the Colonial Marshal Service to intercept and board smuggling ships. With the recent introduction of Shrikes in the interception role, the Rapier had lost some of its glory but they were still proving in simulations to be the perfect match for a ship like the CERBERUS.
"All hands! Prepare for battle!" shouted Lorne through the intra-ship comm system while he struck a button that started sirens all over the ship.
The MARAUDER's crew of 50 were mostly minor criminals with little battle experience. Some of them had fought against police ships or competing smugglers before. However, for most, this was their first combat engagement. They had trained a bit while in transit to a heist once in a while, but nothing that would make a Colonial Fleet weapons systems instructor proud at Picon Fleet Academy. Anxiety could be felt in the air.
"Janna, go to maximum speed on this course and start charging the engines for an FTL-jump as soon as possible," Brak ordered the beautiful young blonde woman at the helm.
"Brad, how long before we are able to open fire?" he asked the sensor crew.
"At present course and speed in 30 seconds," Brad replied. The Marshal ships were closing in fast with the Rapiers on the lead.
"Sir, we need 2 more minutes before we are able to jump," Janna nervously said.
"It's too late for me to do anything," said Sneaky. "They have established solid weapons lock."
'Their electronics are good indeed,' thought Peete. Usually they were able to fool the targeting sensors of most Marshal ships with decoys, but not this time. He will have to keep them far away long enough for them to jump to safety.
He then grabbed the intercom: "All guns, concentrate your fire on the Rapiers as soon as they are in range and fire at will!"
"Peete, shouldn't we shoot at the CERBERUS instead?" questioned Lorne.
Lorne Hador was not a military man. He had hauled cargo all over the system for the last two decades for private shipping companies. He had been captain of a commercial cargo ship. Lack of pay had pushed him to switch to the other side of legality. After trying his hand at smuggling by himself, Hador had joined Peete Brak after he had helped him out of a complicated situation. Lorne had proved to be a quite good crew and cargo manager but he lacked the instincts necessary for being a smuggling captain.
"No, these CERBERUS ships have only 2 guns capable of firing forward. The Rapiers will be on us first and will be swarming us. They will aim to disable our engines first, while the CERBERUS tries to disable our weapons. Once that is achieved the Rapiers will move in to board us."
"Will we be able to make the jump before they disable us?" asked Lorne with visible concern.
"It depends on whether we destroy the Rapiers quickly enough," answered Peete with not much conviction.
He did not want to surrender. He was among the top criminals on the most wanted lists. Not because he was very aggressive, but because he had been very successful so far. He would get up to life in jail if he were to be caught. The rest of the crew could settle for 1 or 2 years.
Suddenly, explosions started rocking the ship.
"Rapiers just opened fire!" Brad replied to the latest shock.
"Our guns are firing back," Lorne assured just before a larger explosion caused much more vibrations.
"That was the CERBERUS!" Brad said with a touch of distress in his voice.
"Evasive actions! Damage report!" said Peete answered by Janna and Lorne.
"No serious structural damage to the engines but we lost the left gun!"
The 6 original gun emplacements of the Kobol Marauder were placed on 2 rib- like structures that surrounded the top of the ship. Two guns on each side of a dorsal spine that house 2 more emplacements, front and back. 2 of the 4 actual guns were installed on the dorsal spine while the two others were on each side complemented by a counter-measure pod in the empty emplacements.
"One minute until we are able to jump!" warned the young woman.
The Rapiers were swarming the smugglers' ship constantly firing at the engines while evading the remaining anti-fighter fire from the MARAUDER. The CERBERUS was staying at a safe distance but not far enough for not being able to use its anti-ship guns. Her forward guns were blazing seeking to destroy another of the MARAUDER's gun emplacements. Its job was harder than the first shots. Janna was doing well at swerving, evading the heavier fire.
A Rapier was coming from the starboard side of the smuggling ship, guns blazing. The anti-fighter fire from the 2 guns that could target it shot back hard and accurately managing to score some hits.
"One Rapier suffered mild damage to its attitude thrusters" Brad announced with more confidence than before. "It seems to have difficulty turning."
"All guns, adjust your fire toward the undamaged Rapier," ordered Peete. They might just have a chance to escape after all.
It is at this moment that out of nowhere something happened that would change the outcome of the battle in a way that Peete Brak and its crew had never expected.
(H hour)
"Sir! The Colonial Marshal ships are breaking off!" Brad said with surprise in his voice.
A loud and stereophonic "WHAT!?!" was heard all over the KOBOL MARAUDER's bridge.
"Confirmed, sir," Sneaky added. "I am also getting strange messages through the wireless traffic."
"30 seconds until we can jump," Janna announced.
"All guns! Cease fire!" Lorne ordered "What are you hearing, Matt?"
"It's not clear. Something about Cylons attacking the Colonies!"
"That's not possible!" Lorne said in shock.
"10 seconds."
"Janna, do not jump just yet but keep the FTL charged and ready," Peete interrupted with great concern in his voice. "Give me more details, Matt"
"Apparently, Virgon is under attack by two Cylon capital ships and several fighters," he replied still listening to the wireless traffic. "Colonial Fleet around Virgon has already lost two battlestars. No," he paused for a second, "make that three, the TRITON." More desperate news was received. "Lords of Kobol!!! They are nuking Virgon!"
Gasps where heard from the helm.
"Peete!" interrupted Brad. "There are 4 additional contacts in the area at 300 000 km! Cylon fighters! They are heading toward the CERBERUS!"
'The CERBERUS must have seen the fighters too', thought Peete. 'We have to do something'.
He turned toward Matt.
"Switch your jamming toward the new fighters, and record everything that is said on the wireless. Brad, do a full scan of the area and record everything. Janna, turn around and head for an intercept course for both the fighters and the CERBERUS." Acknowledgements were heard around the bridge.
"What are you doing Peete?" asked Lorne.
"I am not going to do nothing and flee when Cylons are in my playground!" he said, anger in his voice.
A long time ago, 40 years ago: the Cylon War. At 16, Peete had just been out of the training academy after a crash course. The young had been conscripted at 16 years old as manpower had been starting to come short. Despite his age, he had passed the training with top grades in Capital ship operations. At 18, he had been a young lieutenant second class on the Battlestar Atlantia. He had been a DRADIS operator. He had seen a few battles until the Atlantia had been severely beaten at the Battle of Aries. The senior officers of the bridge had been all killed or badly injured. He had taken command by his own initiative when he had seen that the other junior officers had been too shocked to take the job. He had not won the battle but he had brought the ship out of a battle that had proved to be a severe blow to Colonial Fleet. He did not keep his command, but he had been promoted to lieutenant, decorated and assigned as operations officer. Five years after the war, he had been demobilized in the wave of the massive stand down of the Colonial Military. Peete had wanted to stay in, but Picon Fleet Headquarters had denied his request. He had been very bitter.
This time it would be another story.
Picking up the intercom, Peete started to address the crew: "Attention to all the crew! This is Brak!"
Around the ship, everyone stopped what they were doing and listened. "We just got word that the Cylons are back and have launched a massive attack on the Colonies. Three battlestars have been destroyed so far. They have also nuked Virgon. We have to assume the same is going on all over the Colonies. The Marshal ships that were pursuing us have turned around to join the fight. So will we. As of now, we are no longer criminals. I have family on Virgon and so do many of you. Hopefully, we can help repel the Cylons. Let's get ourselves some Centurion heads! So say we all!" he put down the intercom.
"Cylon fighters are 150 000 kms away! We will join the CERBERUS in 1 minute!" Brad said from the sensors station.
"Matt, give me a laser-link to the CERBERUS," Peete asked.
"Ready, sir."
"CERBERUS, this is the KOBOL MARAUDER. Come in"
"KOBOL MARAUDER, CERBERUS. Keep your distance! Cylons are attacking," a muffled voice answered.
"I know. Can I offer you our assistance?"
"Stay out of this! This is a Colonial matter...." The communication was suddenly cut-off.
"Sir, the CERBERUS and the undamaged Rapier have powered down. No engines, weapons or comms," Brad explained. "They are sitting ducks."
"I detected an energy spike coming from the Cylon fighters at the same moment," Sneaky added.
"Frak! Not again!" Peete said. In the past, he had seen something like that happen.
"All guns prepare for combat."
While Lorne relayed the order to the crew, Peete asked Brad for a status check on the damaged Rapier.
"It is still partially functional and circling the CERBERUS."
"Get me in contact with them." Brad threw a few switches and nodded to Peete.
"Rapier this is the MARAUDER, we are coming in to cover you and your friends."
"This is Rapier 138. Thanks, MARAUDER. We don't understand what happened to the CERBERUS. We can't reach them."
"It's an old Cylon tactic. They disabled the computer systems by tapping into your ships," Peete said.
"Cylon fighters 25 000 kms away, getting missile lock," Brad said.
Turning to Matt, Peete ordered him to do some of his magic, then he returned to talking to the Rapier.
"We do not have much time, position your ship between the CERBERUS and the Cylons. Target any missiles coming your way."
"Janna, do the same but at full speed toward the fighters. Then prepare to do an about face turn on my command"
On the other side of the bridge, Sneaky was frantically working his counter- measure console.
"Laser dazzling will have minimal effect," said Matt. "There too many to be efficient"
Laser dazzling consisted of pointing a wide laser beam toward the attacker to disrupt his targeting lasers. It worked generally well on one ship but four would be another story.
"Cylons are launching 16 missiles toward us and the CERBERUS! ETA 30 seconds on us, 1 minute to the CERBERUS," Brad frantically said.
"Janna, keep your course. Be ready for an about face turn." Peete looked toward Sneaky who nodded back.
"TURN NOW!"
Janna took a breath then jerked violently on the ship's controls. The MARAUDER started to roll on itself then made a narrow u-turn back toward the derelict CERBERUS.
"Launch decoys!" Matt pressed a button on his console launching a dozen decoys.
"Dive at 60 degrees and redress after 1 km, NOW," Peete ordered Janna.
As the ship dived about half the missiles went for the decoys and detonated. Three went after the MARAUDER while the rest kept heading toward the CERBERUS passing above the MARAUDER.
"All guns! Shoot down the missiles above us!" said Lorne catching on to Peete's strategy. The guns were quick to shoot down two more missiles.
In the meanwhile, Matt launched a space charge with proximity fuses behind the MARAUDER. It exploded with multiple fragments shooting in all directions and managed to destroy two missiles.
"Rapier 138, you have 3 missiles heading your way!" Peete informed them.
"Roger that, MARAUDER."
At the same moment, a violent explosion rocked the smuggler's ship. "We've been hit by a missile! Medium hull damage to the bottom of the ship. Engine number 1 is out!" Lorne reported.
Rapier 138 had opened fire to try to shoot down the three incoming missiles with its two Viper guns. The task had been difficult, as it did not have full attitude thrusters capability. It had managed to destroy two of them. The other had passed it and slammed into the CERBERUS.
"Fighters coming in at full speed! No more missile lock!" Brad said.
Peete brought the comm unit to his mouth: "All guns and Rapier 138 shoot down those fighters"
"Janna, bring us closer to the CERBERUS!"
The Cylon fighters opened fire on the human ships at the same moment, each Cylon choosing a different target. One went directly toward the disabled Rapier 137 strafing it with several hits. It caused a small explosion in the back, which created a big gaping hole. The MARAUDERS guns were sending everything they had at the fighters. One got shredded into bits by a concentrated fire. Rapier 138's guns blazed away at the Cylons and managed to get another one. The two remaining Cylon fighters shot past them scoring some hits on the CERBERUS. They regrouped and reversed course, this time directly toward the MARAUDER firing. She returned fire aggressively destroying one of them. However, the remaining fighter managed to destroy a gun turret of the MARAUDER.
"Sir, the Cylon fighter is escaping toward VIRGON!" announced Brad with visible relief in his voice.
Taking the intercom, Peete ordered the guns to let him go.
"You are letting them go free?" Lorne questioned him.
"Yes, he is much faster than we are. He's probably going to get some help." Then Matt had some very grim news to announce.
"I just heard that Picon Fleet Headquarters has been destroyed. I managed to tap into military channels and learned that Admiral Nagala is taking command aboard the ATLANTIA near Caprica." He paused for a second visibly listening to other messages. "The entire OLYMPIA task force over Virgon as been destroyed!" he said horrified.
Peete closed his eyes; he was having some flashbacks of 40 years ago. Remembering his battle at Aries. He knew what was happening: defeat.
"What are we going to do, Peete?" asked Lorne.
"We are not going to stay and watch." He grabbed again the comm unit.
"Rapier 138, is your FTL-drive still functional?" The Rapier pilot confirmed with a suspicious yes.
"We are sending you coordinates, we are getting out of here to a safe place," said Peete.
"But what about the CERBERUS?" asked the pilot.
"We'll take care of it," reassured Peete. "Just check on Rapier 137." The pilot agreed as Rapier 138 turned to investigate.
"Janna, dock with the CERBERUS. Lorne, prepare a search party to go over to the CERBERUS and bring back as many survivors as you can. Go with EVA suits, I suspect that life support is not working anymore so there must not be much air left," ordered Peete. "After that we can do some hauling."
Both acknowledged the orders, and then Lorne left the bridge to prepare. The MARAUDER was brought alongside the CERBERUS and it deployed the docking mechanism. As soon as the air lock opened, Lorne and his team of 10 men went looking for survivors. It was good thing that they wore the suits, oxygen levels were down 60% and CO2 levels were rising quickly. The corridors were dark because the lights were off. Their suits with built in lamps allowed for some visibility. Smoke was getting thicker. A fire was raging. After barely two minutes, Lorne's team found 40 survivors that they brought into the MARAUDER. They were going back in for another look at upper levels when they met were face to face with a group of Marshal officers in pressure suits and holding weapons.
"Halt! Identify yourselves or be shot!" said the apparent leader of the group.
"We're from the MARAUDER rescuing you!" replied Lorne.
"We are not going anywhere with you criminals," the man said.
"Listen, the Cylons have destroyed all Colonial Forces in the area and they might come back very soon. We have to get out of here and fast." The officer considered that for a second then agreed.
"Ok, but we have to get to those on the bridge!" Lorne followed the officers after instructing his team to look around for other survivors. The bridge doors were locked shut. They had to open panels in the wall and use the emergency opening mechanisms. As the doors slid open, they were relieved to see that most were alive but unconscious. They were quickly brought to the waiting ship.
After managing to get 50 survivors off the ship, Lorne was about to go to the engine room of the CERBERUS when the lead officer stopped him.
"Where are you going? We have everybody that is alive," he said.
"We still can save your ship." Lorne replied.
"Are you kidding? Every systems as been shot down, we have suffered damage, fires are raging." The officer said.
"I am going to vent your ship to put out the fires then we are going to bring it with us," reassured Lorne.
"What the hell are you talking about?" the officer asked but Lorne was already gone. A minute later, vents opened all over the CERBERUS and fires were extinguished. Lorne walked back onto the MARAUDER and closed the airlock. Keying a comm panel on the wall, he called the bridge: "We are ready down here Peete, Cerberus as been secured."
The Marshal officer still had a very incredulous look on his face.
"Thanks Lorne." Peete turned to Janna. "Undock and reposition the ship for an FTL-tug jump." That was the last modification that Peete had done to his ship. He had purchased an old FTL-tug from a scrap yard and transferred the tug device onto his ship. FTL-tugs were used all over the Colonies to bring back to port stranded spaceships far from any Colonial outposts and where using sub-light engines would prove time consuming. A few commercial repair ships were available but often bringing the ship back through FTL- tug jumps was believed to be more effective.
"We should hurry, Peete! Sensors indicate that a full squadron of Cylon fighters are heading our way," announced Brad.
They would have to be quick. An FTL-tug jump required putting more energy into the jump capacitors, the amount depending on the size of the tugged ship. The tugged ship had to be positioned as close as possible to the MARAUDER's jump drives so that the second ship could be included in the jump field.
"KOBOL MARAUDER, this is Rapier 138! We just finished checking out the other Rapier. Everyone is dead aboard. They had a major decompression caused by the explosion. It might be salvageable though," concluded the pilot.
"We don't have time to pick it up. Cylons are coming this way. We have to get out of here," said Peete.
"Roger that. We have received the jump coordinates! Where are we going?"
"Our hideout. You Colonials don't have much to go back to around Virgon, so you are coming with us."
"Roger. Our boss won't be too happy about us leaving with criminals," the pilot warned.
"Well, I don't think you have to worry about that anymore. We'll talk politics when we are out of here," said Peete in a tone that clearly indicated that the discussion was over.
"All righty then. Jumping to coordinates when you are ready. Rapier 138 out."
Janna informed Peete that the jump capacitors were ready for the jump. He welcomed the news with relief. The Cylons were getting close. It's a good thing that they were not jumping in on them. What if a Basestar got to them first? Shaking off that hint of anxiety, Peete picks up the ship's intercom.
"All hands! Prepare for a jump back home!" he announced.
"Sir, we are getting a weapon lock from the Cylons," said Brad.
"Then we should get moving." Peete turned to Janna and picked up once again the ship-to-ship communicator.
"Janna, Rapier 138 jump at my mark."
Peete took a deep breath. FTL-tug jumps were always risky. He had done it before. However, never in these conditions, and they had never been with full-sized ships. He was more used to jumping scrap parts and debris that he could not bring aboard through the cargo doors. He decided that they did not have any other choice. It was now or never. Another thought went through his mind. Is it a good idea to bring those Colonial Marshal officers along? He knew that Lorne and others would have difficulties with that. He needed to talk to them when they got back home.
"Sir, we have to jump now!" anxiously said Matt.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he ordered: "Jump in 5-4-3-2-1... JUMP!"
In a big flash of light followed by a smaller one, the ships jumped as Cylon missiles were being launched in their direction.
End of Chapter 1
The smuggler's game
Note: This story starts right before the events depicted in BSG the mini- series by Ron D. Moore. Some plot elements are from Dean Thomas's and Kevin Hallesy's fan fiction stories. Their use is intended for continuity and complementary plot purposes.
Chapter 1: The Escape
(H-15 minutes)
"Unidentified ship! This is the Colonial Marshal Service! Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded," said an authoritative voice through the wireless speakers.
"Frak! How did they find us so fast?" That was Peete Brak, captain of the Kobol Marauder. A Colonial Marshals Service (CMS) gunship had just jumped in 10 kilometres behind them. They were speeding away from Virgon heading toward the outer regions of the Cyrannus System.
Brak and his crew had just made a quick raid on an FTL-drive factory on Virgon. Their cargo holds were full of parts and engines. FTL-drives, especially those that are of military grade, are sold for a very good price on the black market.
A few hours before, they had been able to land quickly at the FTL factory without causing too much of a stir in the middle of the night. Their false flight plan, which was submitted to Virgon's Atmospheric Flight Control and Space Flight Control, had seemed to work perfectly. The Marauder's transponder codes had been disguised. Everything should have worked perfectly. Once on the ground, they had quickly moved to open the factory's doors. Matt 'Sneaky' Jorgo, the electronics specialist, did not have many problems with the security systems. They had used their own loaders from the Kobol Marauder to bring the stolen goods on the loading ramp into the large cargo hold. In and out, that had been all they had to do. Apparently, it had not been as easy as they thought it would be.
"Maybe our false flight papers were not as good as we thought," grunted Lorne Hador, the second in command of the KOBOL MARAUDER.
"Brad, how far is the CMS vessel from us?" Peete asked a young man at the sensor station.
"Too close for us to do an FTL-jump without being intercepted first," he answered knowing what Peete had in mind.
'Not good,' thought Peete. His ship's engines needed a few more minutes to recharge after using most of their power to take-off quickly from Virgo.
They could try to fight the Colonial Marshals Service ship. The KOBOL MARAUDER was not defenceless. It was a decommissioned Colonial Marines medium armed transport after all. It used to land one company of Colonial Marines with their equipment in Cylon-held territory 40 years ago. It can take its share of damage. Granted that it did not have its original six anti-fighter guns and the two landing area suppression weapons that had been removed on decommission. They had managed to retrofit four newer multi-barrelled anti-fighter guns they had illegally bought from a Leonis weapons factory insider. The electronics side however is state-of-the-art. Sneaky had installed on the MARAUDER a powerful sensor suite and a full electronics counter measure suite. They had to sacrifice a bit of the cargo hold and two of the remaining weapons mount to fit all the equipment but it had been worth it.
Sneaky, a few years before, had been part of the Raptor electronics suite design team. At 28, he was among the Colonies' best computer technicians. He had lost his job because he had been caught selling Colonial Marshals Service frequency codes to smugglers who wanted to have an edge on the authorities. He had not served time in jail for very long. He had managed to escape by fooling the jail's security systems. Nobody knew exactly how he had done it. Soon after escaping, he had contacted his main client, Peete Brak's smuggler group, and had offered his services. They had been all too happy to welcome him in their midst.
"Jam their communications!" barked Lorne to Sneaky at the counter-measure station.
"I'm already on it."
The system Sneaky has installed was complex enough to need two men to operate it. Sneaky had been teaching the younger Brad how to operate the sensors for the last two months. Brad was a quick study but definitely not as good as Sneaky.
"Unidentified ship! This is Colo...shrk." Static interrupted the latest order from the CMS vessel.
"Communications jammed!" said Sneaky with obvious satisfaction.
That did not ease Peete's and Lorne's minds. They both knew where the CMS's interception protocols were leading to.
"Brad, give us a readout of that ship," Lorne quickly asked.
"Er, I read it as a gunship. The Cerberus to be exact. Weapons fully armed and they are giving us a full sensor sweep," hesitantly said Brad.
"Frak! Cerberus! Definitely not good," swore Lorne.
The Cerberus-class gunship was the newest patrol vessel available to the Colonial Marshal Service. The eponymous Cerberus was the first of its class and it was specifically designed to fight smugglers like Peete Brak, smugglers that had the resources to afford larger ships and put weapons on them. In the last few years, crime had risen all over the Cyrannus system. Smugglers had been getting increasingly aggressive in their methods. They had the nerve to fight off any Colonial Marshal ships that tried to arrest them. The Colonial Marshal Service had been stuck with small Cylon War era ships that were outmatched by the smugglers.
The Colonial Fleet was busy introducing new systems and ships in their inventory. The CNP system, created by the famous Dr Baltar, required many of the Colonial ships to go into the yards for their retrofit. On top of that, political correctness in the Colonies had imposed a ban on military intervention against civilians after a confrontation against smugglers that had turned ugly. Therefore, the Colonial Fleet could not help much in this situation.
In order to compensate for the Fleet's reduced policing capabilities, the Colonial Government had finally accepted to increase funding to the Colonial Marshal and had allowed the development of the CERBERUS gunship. The CERBERUS was about 150 meters long, close to half the size of the Kobol Marauder. It was crewed by a mix Colonial Marshal officers and technicians that brought the crew total to 75. The ship was designed to be a mobile police station with full forensics capabilities. It was armed with six light anti-ship rail guns and six multi-barrelled anti-fighter guns. Nothing to fight against a battlestar or a battlecruiser but it could match anything the smugglers have thrown at the Marshals lately.
"Sir, two Rapiers are launching from the CERBERUS," urgently announced Brad.
To complement its firepower, a small hangar bay is situated in the lower belly of the CERBERUS-class, capable of housing two Rapiers and a space for an extra shuttle. A Rapier was a slightly oversized Raptor. The Rapiers, instead of having the counter-measures suite, had two Viper Mk VII canons mounted on each side of the pilot's compartment. It was also equipped with an assault boarding/docking mechanism and room for up to 10 Colonial Marshal officers. The engines had been improved to catch up with most civilian ships but they were not as fast and as agile as the Vipers. Like their Raptor siblings, Rapiers had limited-FTL capable. Rapiers were used by the Colonial Marshal Service to intercept and board smuggling ships. With the recent introduction of Shrikes in the interception role, the Rapier had lost some of its glory but they were still proving in simulations to be the perfect match for a ship like the CERBERUS.
"All hands! Prepare for battle!" shouted Lorne through the intra-ship comm system while he struck a button that started sirens all over the ship.
The MARAUDER's crew of 50 were mostly minor criminals with little battle experience. Some of them had fought against police ships or competing smugglers before. However, for most, this was their first combat engagement. They had trained a bit while in transit to a heist once in a while, but nothing that would make a Colonial Fleet weapons systems instructor proud at Picon Fleet Academy. Anxiety could be felt in the air.
"Janna, go to maximum speed on this course and start charging the engines for an FTL-jump as soon as possible," Brak ordered the beautiful young blonde woman at the helm.
"Brad, how long before we are able to open fire?" he asked the sensor crew.
"At present course and speed in 30 seconds," Brad replied. The Marshal ships were closing in fast with the Rapiers on the lead.
"Sir, we need 2 more minutes before we are able to jump," Janna nervously said.
"It's too late for me to do anything," said Sneaky. "They have established solid weapons lock."
'Their electronics are good indeed,' thought Peete. Usually they were able to fool the targeting sensors of most Marshal ships with decoys, but not this time. He will have to keep them far away long enough for them to jump to safety.
He then grabbed the intercom: "All guns, concentrate your fire on the Rapiers as soon as they are in range and fire at will!"
"Peete, shouldn't we shoot at the CERBERUS instead?" questioned Lorne.
Lorne Hador was not a military man. He had hauled cargo all over the system for the last two decades for private shipping companies. He had been captain of a commercial cargo ship. Lack of pay had pushed him to switch to the other side of legality. After trying his hand at smuggling by himself, Hador had joined Peete Brak after he had helped him out of a complicated situation. Lorne had proved to be a quite good crew and cargo manager but he lacked the instincts necessary for being a smuggling captain.
"No, these CERBERUS ships have only 2 guns capable of firing forward. The Rapiers will be on us first and will be swarming us. They will aim to disable our engines first, while the CERBERUS tries to disable our weapons. Once that is achieved the Rapiers will move in to board us."
"Will we be able to make the jump before they disable us?" asked Lorne with visible concern.
"It depends on whether we destroy the Rapiers quickly enough," answered Peete with not much conviction.
He did not want to surrender. He was among the top criminals on the most wanted lists. Not because he was very aggressive, but because he had been very successful so far. He would get up to life in jail if he were to be caught. The rest of the crew could settle for 1 or 2 years.
Suddenly, explosions started rocking the ship.
"Rapiers just opened fire!" Brad replied to the latest shock.
"Our guns are firing back," Lorne assured just before a larger explosion caused much more vibrations.
"That was the CERBERUS!" Brad said with a touch of distress in his voice.
"Evasive actions! Damage report!" said Peete answered by Janna and Lorne.
"No serious structural damage to the engines but we lost the left gun!"
The 6 original gun emplacements of the Kobol Marauder were placed on 2 rib- like structures that surrounded the top of the ship. Two guns on each side of a dorsal spine that house 2 more emplacements, front and back. 2 of the 4 actual guns were installed on the dorsal spine while the two others were on each side complemented by a counter-measure pod in the empty emplacements.
"One minute until we are able to jump!" warned the young woman.
The Rapiers were swarming the smugglers' ship constantly firing at the engines while evading the remaining anti-fighter fire from the MARAUDER. The CERBERUS was staying at a safe distance but not far enough for not being able to use its anti-ship guns. Her forward guns were blazing seeking to destroy another of the MARAUDER's gun emplacements. Its job was harder than the first shots. Janna was doing well at swerving, evading the heavier fire.
A Rapier was coming from the starboard side of the smuggling ship, guns blazing. The anti-fighter fire from the 2 guns that could target it shot back hard and accurately managing to score some hits.
"One Rapier suffered mild damage to its attitude thrusters" Brad announced with more confidence than before. "It seems to have difficulty turning."
"All guns, adjust your fire toward the undamaged Rapier," ordered Peete. They might just have a chance to escape after all.
It is at this moment that out of nowhere something happened that would change the outcome of the battle in a way that Peete Brak and its crew had never expected.
(H hour)
"Sir! The Colonial Marshal ships are breaking off!" Brad said with surprise in his voice.
A loud and stereophonic "WHAT!?!" was heard all over the KOBOL MARAUDER's bridge.
"Confirmed, sir," Sneaky added. "I am also getting strange messages through the wireless traffic."
"30 seconds until we can jump," Janna announced.
"All guns! Cease fire!" Lorne ordered "What are you hearing, Matt?"
"It's not clear. Something about Cylons attacking the Colonies!"
"That's not possible!" Lorne said in shock.
"10 seconds."
"Janna, do not jump just yet but keep the FTL charged and ready," Peete interrupted with great concern in his voice. "Give me more details, Matt"
"Apparently, Virgon is under attack by two Cylon capital ships and several fighters," he replied still listening to the wireless traffic. "Colonial Fleet around Virgon has already lost two battlestars. No," he paused for a second, "make that three, the TRITON." More desperate news was received. "Lords of Kobol!!! They are nuking Virgon!"
Gasps where heard from the helm.
"Peete!" interrupted Brad. "There are 4 additional contacts in the area at 300 000 km! Cylon fighters! They are heading toward the CERBERUS!"
'The CERBERUS must have seen the fighters too', thought Peete. 'We have to do something'.
He turned toward Matt.
"Switch your jamming toward the new fighters, and record everything that is said on the wireless. Brad, do a full scan of the area and record everything. Janna, turn around and head for an intercept course for both the fighters and the CERBERUS." Acknowledgements were heard around the bridge.
"What are you doing Peete?" asked Lorne.
"I am not going to do nothing and flee when Cylons are in my playground!" he said, anger in his voice.
A long time ago, 40 years ago: the Cylon War. At 16, Peete had just been out of the training academy after a crash course. The young had been conscripted at 16 years old as manpower had been starting to come short. Despite his age, he had passed the training with top grades in Capital ship operations. At 18, he had been a young lieutenant second class on the Battlestar Atlantia. He had been a DRADIS operator. He had seen a few battles until the Atlantia had been severely beaten at the Battle of Aries. The senior officers of the bridge had been all killed or badly injured. He had taken command by his own initiative when he had seen that the other junior officers had been too shocked to take the job. He had not won the battle but he had brought the ship out of a battle that had proved to be a severe blow to Colonial Fleet. He did not keep his command, but he had been promoted to lieutenant, decorated and assigned as operations officer. Five years after the war, he had been demobilized in the wave of the massive stand down of the Colonial Military. Peete had wanted to stay in, but Picon Fleet Headquarters had denied his request. He had been very bitter.
This time it would be another story.
Picking up the intercom, Peete started to address the crew: "Attention to all the crew! This is Brak!"
Around the ship, everyone stopped what they were doing and listened. "We just got word that the Cylons are back and have launched a massive attack on the Colonies. Three battlestars have been destroyed so far. They have also nuked Virgon. We have to assume the same is going on all over the Colonies. The Marshal ships that were pursuing us have turned around to join the fight. So will we. As of now, we are no longer criminals. I have family on Virgon and so do many of you. Hopefully, we can help repel the Cylons. Let's get ourselves some Centurion heads! So say we all!" he put down the intercom.
"Cylon fighters are 150 000 kms away! We will join the CERBERUS in 1 minute!" Brad said from the sensors station.
"Matt, give me a laser-link to the CERBERUS," Peete asked.
"Ready, sir."
"CERBERUS, this is the KOBOL MARAUDER. Come in"
"KOBOL MARAUDER, CERBERUS. Keep your distance! Cylons are attacking," a muffled voice answered.
"I know. Can I offer you our assistance?"
"Stay out of this! This is a Colonial matter...." The communication was suddenly cut-off.
"Sir, the CERBERUS and the undamaged Rapier have powered down. No engines, weapons or comms," Brad explained. "They are sitting ducks."
"I detected an energy spike coming from the Cylon fighters at the same moment," Sneaky added.
"Frak! Not again!" Peete said. In the past, he had seen something like that happen.
"All guns prepare for combat."
While Lorne relayed the order to the crew, Peete asked Brad for a status check on the damaged Rapier.
"It is still partially functional and circling the CERBERUS."
"Get me in contact with them." Brad threw a few switches and nodded to Peete.
"Rapier this is the MARAUDER, we are coming in to cover you and your friends."
"This is Rapier 138. Thanks, MARAUDER. We don't understand what happened to the CERBERUS. We can't reach them."
"It's an old Cylon tactic. They disabled the computer systems by tapping into your ships," Peete said.
"Cylon fighters 25 000 kms away, getting missile lock," Brad said.
Turning to Matt, Peete ordered him to do some of his magic, then he returned to talking to the Rapier.
"We do not have much time, position your ship between the CERBERUS and the Cylons. Target any missiles coming your way."
"Janna, do the same but at full speed toward the fighters. Then prepare to do an about face turn on my command"
On the other side of the bridge, Sneaky was frantically working his counter- measure console.
"Laser dazzling will have minimal effect," said Matt. "There too many to be efficient"
Laser dazzling consisted of pointing a wide laser beam toward the attacker to disrupt his targeting lasers. It worked generally well on one ship but four would be another story.
"Cylons are launching 16 missiles toward us and the CERBERUS! ETA 30 seconds on us, 1 minute to the CERBERUS," Brad frantically said.
"Janna, keep your course. Be ready for an about face turn." Peete looked toward Sneaky who nodded back.
"TURN NOW!"
Janna took a breath then jerked violently on the ship's controls. The MARAUDER started to roll on itself then made a narrow u-turn back toward the derelict CERBERUS.
"Launch decoys!" Matt pressed a button on his console launching a dozen decoys.
"Dive at 60 degrees and redress after 1 km, NOW," Peete ordered Janna.
As the ship dived about half the missiles went for the decoys and detonated. Three went after the MARAUDER while the rest kept heading toward the CERBERUS passing above the MARAUDER.
"All guns! Shoot down the missiles above us!" said Lorne catching on to Peete's strategy. The guns were quick to shoot down two more missiles.
In the meanwhile, Matt launched a space charge with proximity fuses behind the MARAUDER. It exploded with multiple fragments shooting in all directions and managed to destroy two missiles.
"Rapier 138, you have 3 missiles heading your way!" Peete informed them.
"Roger that, MARAUDER."
At the same moment, a violent explosion rocked the smuggler's ship. "We've been hit by a missile! Medium hull damage to the bottom of the ship. Engine number 1 is out!" Lorne reported.
Rapier 138 had opened fire to try to shoot down the three incoming missiles with its two Viper guns. The task had been difficult, as it did not have full attitude thrusters capability. It had managed to destroy two of them. The other had passed it and slammed into the CERBERUS.
"Fighters coming in at full speed! No more missile lock!" Brad said.
Peete brought the comm unit to his mouth: "All guns and Rapier 138 shoot down those fighters"
"Janna, bring us closer to the CERBERUS!"
The Cylon fighters opened fire on the human ships at the same moment, each Cylon choosing a different target. One went directly toward the disabled Rapier 137 strafing it with several hits. It caused a small explosion in the back, which created a big gaping hole. The MARAUDERS guns were sending everything they had at the fighters. One got shredded into bits by a concentrated fire. Rapier 138's guns blazed away at the Cylons and managed to get another one. The two remaining Cylon fighters shot past them scoring some hits on the CERBERUS. They regrouped and reversed course, this time directly toward the MARAUDER firing. She returned fire aggressively destroying one of them. However, the remaining fighter managed to destroy a gun turret of the MARAUDER.
"Sir, the Cylon fighter is escaping toward VIRGON!" announced Brad with visible relief in his voice.
Taking the intercom, Peete ordered the guns to let him go.
"You are letting them go free?" Lorne questioned him.
"Yes, he is much faster than we are. He's probably going to get some help." Then Matt had some very grim news to announce.
"I just heard that Picon Fleet Headquarters has been destroyed. I managed to tap into military channels and learned that Admiral Nagala is taking command aboard the ATLANTIA near Caprica." He paused for a second visibly listening to other messages. "The entire OLYMPIA task force over Virgon as been destroyed!" he said horrified.
Peete closed his eyes; he was having some flashbacks of 40 years ago. Remembering his battle at Aries. He knew what was happening: defeat.
"What are we going to do, Peete?" asked Lorne.
"We are not going to stay and watch." He grabbed again the comm unit.
"Rapier 138, is your FTL-drive still functional?" The Rapier pilot confirmed with a suspicious yes.
"We are sending you coordinates, we are getting out of here to a safe place," said Peete.
"But what about the CERBERUS?" asked the pilot.
"We'll take care of it," reassured Peete. "Just check on Rapier 137." The pilot agreed as Rapier 138 turned to investigate.
"Janna, dock with the CERBERUS. Lorne, prepare a search party to go over to the CERBERUS and bring back as many survivors as you can. Go with EVA suits, I suspect that life support is not working anymore so there must not be much air left," ordered Peete. "After that we can do some hauling."
Both acknowledged the orders, and then Lorne left the bridge to prepare. The MARAUDER was brought alongside the CERBERUS and it deployed the docking mechanism. As soon as the air lock opened, Lorne and his team of 10 men went looking for survivors. It was good thing that they wore the suits, oxygen levels were down 60% and CO2 levels were rising quickly. The corridors were dark because the lights were off. Their suits with built in lamps allowed for some visibility. Smoke was getting thicker. A fire was raging. After barely two minutes, Lorne's team found 40 survivors that they brought into the MARAUDER. They were going back in for another look at upper levels when they met were face to face with a group of Marshal officers in pressure suits and holding weapons.
"Halt! Identify yourselves or be shot!" said the apparent leader of the group.
"We're from the MARAUDER rescuing you!" replied Lorne.
"We are not going anywhere with you criminals," the man said.
"Listen, the Cylons have destroyed all Colonial Forces in the area and they might come back very soon. We have to get out of here and fast." The officer considered that for a second then agreed.
"Ok, but we have to get to those on the bridge!" Lorne followed the officers after instructing his team to look around for other survivors. The bridge doors were locked shut. They had to open panels in the wall and use the emergency opening mechanisms. As the doors slid open, they were relieved to see that most were alive but unconscious. They were quickly brought to the waiting ship.
After managing to get 50 survivors off the ship, Lorne was about to go to the engine room of the CERBERUS when the lead officer stopped him.
"Where are you going? We have everybody that is alive," he said.
"We still can save your ship." Lorne replied.
"Are you kidding? Every systems as been shot down, we have suffered damage, fires are raging." The officer said.
"I am going to vent your ship to put out the fires then we are going to bring it with us," reassured Lorne.
"What the hell are you talking about?" the officer asked but Lorne was already gone. A minute later, vents opened all over the CERBERUS and fires were extinguished. Lorne walked back onto the MARAUDER and closed the airlock. Keying a comm panel on the wall, he called the bridge: "We are ready down here Peete, Cerberus as been secured."
The Marshal officer still had a very incredulous look on his face.
"Thanks Lorne." Peete turned to Janna. "Undock and reposition the ship for an FTL-tug jump." That was the last modification that Peete had done to his ship. He had purchased an old FTL-tug from a scrap yard and transferred the tug device onto his ship. FTL-tugs were used all over the Colonies to bring back to port stranded spaceships far from any Colonial outposts and where using sub-light engines would prove time consuming. A few commercial repair ships were available but often bringing the ship back through FTL- tug jumps was believed to be more effective.
"We should hurry, Peete! Sensors indicate that a full squadron of Cylon fighters are heading our way," announced Brad.
They would have to be quick. An FTL-tug jump required putting more energy into the jump capacitors, the amount depending on the size of the tugged ship. The tugged ship had to be positioned as close as possible to the MARAUDER's jump drives so that the second ship could be included in the jump field.
"KOBOL MARAUDER, this is Rapier 138! We just finished checking out the other Rapier. Everyone is dead aboard. They had a major decompression caused by the explosion. It might be salvageable though," concluded the pilot.
"We don't have time to pick it up. Cylons are coming this way. We have to get out of here," said Peete.
"Roger that. We have received the jump coordinates! Where are we going?"
"Our hideout. You Colonials don't have much to go back to around Virgon, so you are coming with us."
"Roger. Our boss won't be too happy about us leaving with criminals," the pilot warned.
"Well, I don't think you have to worry about that anymore. We'll talk politics when we are out of here," said Peete in a tone that clearly indicated that the discussion was over.
"All righty then. Jumping to coordinates when you are ready. Rapier 138 out."
Janna informed Peete that the jump capacitors were ready for the jump. He welcomed the news with relief. The Cylons were getting close. It's a good thing that they were not jumping in on them. What if a Basestar got to them first? Shaking off that hint of anxiety, Peete picks up the ship's intercom.
"All hands! Prepare for a jump back home!" he announced.
"Sir, we are getting a weapon lock from the Cylons," said Brad.
"Then we should get moving." Peete turned to Janna and picked up once again the ship-to-ship communicator.
"Janna, Rapier 138 jump at my mark."
Peete took a deep breath. FTL-tug jumps were always risky. He had done it before. However, never in these conditions, and they had never been with full-sized ships. He was more used to jumping scrap parts and debris that he could not bring aboard through the cargo doors. He decided that they did not have any other choice. It was now or never. Another thought went through his mind. Is it a good idea to bring those Colonial Marshal officers along? He knew that Lorne and others would have difficulties with that. He needed to talk to them when they got back home.
"Sir, we have to jump now!" anxiously said Matt.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he ordered: "Jump in 5-4-3-2-1... JUMP!"
In a big flash of light followed by a smaller one, the ships jumped as Cylon missiles were being launched in their direction.
End of Chapter 1