Battlestar Galactica: The next Generation Season 1.5

A/N: Sorry for the long delay in updating. The Mission to destroy the Cylon Homeworld continues.

Chapter 12: Galactica Actual.

USS Galactica

Captain Edward "Professor" McDonnell USN prepared to meet his new Commander Admiral Margaret Edmondson. Galactica had been sent to the Hawking System to support the evacuation of the colony on the planet Hawking Four. As far as Captain McDonnell knew his Battlestar along with her escorts the Starcruisers Dallas and San Antonio were alone in the system. Then out of nowhere a whole battlegroup appears and Galactica was now attached to it.

Galactica was the pride of the United States Navy Colonial Fleet. She was the first Battlestar built by Weyland Yutani and the second ship to carry the proud name Galactica and now a class of ships. The original Galactica had been retired finally after the attack on the Cylon Colony. This last battle had finally broken her back.

To command the new Galactica was one of the top posts in the Navy. Only the best of the best were assigned to the ship. If you commanded the ship you were going to get promoted to Admiral. Unfortunately this was not true for Captain McDonnell.

It wasn't that Capt. McDonnell wasn't a good officer; It was because he was too good. In the Navy he was considered one of the few experts on the subject of Battlestar warfare who wasn't born in the Twelve Colonies. As a result Admirals wanted him to serve under them like the star player on a sports team.

When the Colonials arrived on Earth, McDonnell As a young newly promoted Lieutenant Commander he had been assigned to a research team that studied Colonial military tactics. He spent many hours interviewing former Colonial Viper and raptor pilots including Lee Adama, Margaret Edmondson and Kara Thrace before her death.

LtCmdr. McDonnell had flown a Viper in the ill-fated attack against the Cylon Colony. He was credited with destroying four raiders.

The rest of McDonnell's career had been spent on the staff of various CAGs aboard the new Essex class Battlestars as air operations officer and the commander of VF-16 during a deployment aboard the Battlestar Midway. It was during this deployment that Cmdr. McDonnell was credited with two more kills becoming an ace.

McDonnell's reward for commanding VF-16 was to become an instructor at the Navy's Space Fighter Combat Weapons School, known by its traditional name TOPGUN. After TOPGUN McDonnell was finally promoted to Captain and became CAG for Galactica. He had spent a career being the smart guy, the expert who could answer questions for some Admiral.

Now as Captain McDonnell approached thirty years of service and mandatory retirement he was allowed to serve as Captain of Galactica.

Captain McDonnell was going to fly over to Hornet aboard the Raptor along with Colonel Joseph "Tomahawk" Rigel Colonial Marine Corps, commander of Galactica's air wing.

When Galactica returned from her last deployment a year ago her naval air wing BAW-1 was replaced with Marine Air Group (MAG) 12 from Colonial Marine Air Station Mars. (This was another reason why Hera Agathon was not assigned to Galactica.)

Col. Rigel was a Mohawk Indian from New York state. When the Americans had started establishing colonies in space, New York like Texas became depopulated. The Mohawk tribe along with the other tribes of the Six Nations of the Iroquois reestablished themselves across upstate New York in their traditional lands.

Col. Rigel had just assumed command of MAG-12 when the Cylons made their invasion of the human galaxies. Previously he had commanded the Black Sheep of VMA-214 now deployed aboard Hornet.

Col. Rigel had spent his entire career deployed out in the colonies. He considered himself a warrior and out in space fighting the Cylons was where a warrior belonged.

The Captain, "Galactica Actual" and the CAG met in the hanger bay. The Raptor taking them to Hornet was from Marine Raptor Squadron (VRM) 266.

"Do you know Admiral Edmondson?" Col. Rigel asked Capt. McDonnell.

"I met her when the Colonials first came to Earth and we've ran into each other over the years." Capt. McDonnell replied. "She's hardcore, a fighter. She hates the Cylons."

"You have any ideas about where this battlegroup is headed?" Col. Rigel asked.

"I have no clue. It must be some kind of offensive or at least I hope it is. The Cylons are hurting us right now."

Hanger Deck

USS Hornet

"Commander USS Galactica arriving. Commander Marine Air Group 12 arriving."

The announcement came on over the ship's PA system. Captain Fuchida, commander USS Hornet greeted Captain McDonnell and Colonel Rigel as they disembarked from their Raptor. Also waiting was Lieutenant Colonel Antonia "Tony Girl" Winchester, current commanding officer of VMA-214, the lone Marine squadron in Hornet's air wing.

"Welcome to the Hornet gentleman. I'm Captain Fuchida. The Admiral is waiting for you in her quarters. I'm sure you know Col. Winchester commander of the Black Sheep".

"Col. Winchester are you taking care of my squadron?" Col. Rigel asked playfully.

"The Black Sheep belong to me now sir but you can borrow them anytime you want to." Col. Winchester replied.

Hera Agathon was on the hanger deck doing her pre-flight check on her Super Viper. She was flying a patrol that day of one of the moons in the Hawking System along with a Raptor. The patrol's mission was to make sure the Cylons had left any observation posts on communications relay sites in the system.

Hera watched as the VIPs followed Captain Fuchida off the hanger deck.

"So they got a bunch of Marines flying on Galactica these days." Hera said to her back-seater Marty Henderson.

"It's all good. If it wasn't for Thermopylae getting hit they would be missing the party."

"I guess you're right Marty". Hera continued checking her aircraft. Suddenly Hera had a feeling of déjà vu. Actually it was more like a punch in the gut. The image of the high ranking officers walking away flashed before her eyes like a video instant replay. It was followed by the image of a young version of a number six Cylon wearing a red evening dress smiling at her.

"What the frak! Get it together Toaster Girl. You have a mission to fly" Hera said to herself a little too loud.

"What's the problem Agathon?" Henderson asked from the other side of their plane.

"Nothing, don't worry about it" Hera said and she continued her inspection.

Admiral Edmondson's Quarters

USS Hornet

Admiral Edmondson's chief of staff Commodore Delacroix finished briefing Capt. McDonnell and Col. Rigel on the mission to destroy the Cylon homeworld.

"Well gentleman do you have any questions or concerns?" Admiral Edmondson asked.

"Admiral my pilots are Marines. Failure is not an option with them." Col. Rigel said.

"What do you have to say Captain McDonnell? You were there the last time we tried this". The Admiral asked the Captain.

"The last time we didn't have this much firepower or personnel. I believe we can pull it off this time. We are going to have to be quick though. The Cylons will bring down everything they have to stop us once the fleet comes out of FTL jump. They will probably call in more basestars to cut us off. We are already outnumbered against their raiders. I don't want to think about how many raiders they have guarding the homeworld. We can't stay around and fight a battle. We have to hit the target and get the hell out of there. The other bad thing is we won't know what we are actually facing till the fleet gets there."

"I thought about all of the same things when I helped plan this attack. It will succeed but it won't be easy". Admiral Edmondson said.