As Rear Admiral Antare forms a separatist colonial group and declares war on the colonial fleet, the Battlestar Imperial is called in to serve with the loyalists.
Inspired by The Long War
New/Main characters in Imperial Flashbacks Part 1:
Commander Shadow Reid (Commander of BS Imperial)
Colonel Tanisa Kampf (XO of BS Imperial)
President Darren Jackson (Leader of the Loyalist faction and of the Twelve Colonies)
Rear Admiral Vitaly Afanasy Antare (Leader of the revolutionists)
Admiral Leann Louise (Commander of BS Taurus)
Major Mihalis Dimetreus (XO of BS Taurus)
General Melena Esther (Commander of BS Pyxis)
Lieutenant Colonel Nsonowa Kwabena (XO of BS Pyxis)
Corporal Yegor "Ivan the Terrible" Yaroslav (CAG onboard Imperial)
Major Bosco "Sniper" Citali (CAG onboard Taurus)
Private First Class Nadia "Phoenix" Adams (Support CAG onboard Imperial)
The Battlestar Imperial was one of the newest Battlestars in the fleet. It had been 26 years since the Cylon war and the Colonial Fleet numbered an amazing one-hundred and fourty-two Battlestars, but trouble was brewing. Many of the Admirals in the fleet and Commanders that had fought in the first Cylon war were unimpressed at the newer arrivals and were annoyed at the Jackson administration for shadowing them, separating them from the rest of the fleet.
Some voiced their complaints on Caprica and rallied Colonial support for their cause but failed miserably. Others, they had greater ideas. Led by Rear Admiral Antare, a separatist group of sixty commanding officers and XO's took their Battlestars and escort ships far off and their fifty-one Battlestars were never seen again.
-TWO YEARS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE-
The Colonial fleet had yet to fully recover from the loss of over a third of their operational force and had only produced three new Battlestars. Battlestar Imperial and Battlestar Taurus, along with the recently launched Escort Battlestar Pyxis and six Gunstars were doing a patrol around Picon when Imperial CAG Yegor Yaroslav noticed something on his DRADIS screen. Yegor was a fit man from Virgon with brown hair and blue eyes that pierced straight through you. He spotted two unknown signatures, then three more, then hundreds more appeared.
"Imperial actual, this is Yegor, are you reading this?"
A new female comms officer replied.
"Positive, CAG."
"It must be the Cylons!"
Condition One spread through the ships and Vipers dashed out from the launch tubes of the three Battlestars and from the hangar bays of the six gunstars. The ships freezed as twenty vipers and five raptors went forward to recon. Imperial Support CAG Nadia "Phoenix" Adams was heading this group and as she got closer, a gasp of shock and an 'Oh, frak!' raced across her face. The raptors fired missiles at the enemy fighters, who came closer and began to engage this spearhead force.
"Oh my Gods," Commander Reid of the Imperial called, "DRADIS is picking up VIPER signatures! Antare's back! Roger that, we have twenty enemy Battlestars inbound, all ships, prepare to jump!"
Battlestar Pyxis began to fire as a Mercury-class Battlestar became visible. Imperial lined up with the Battlestar and began to fire the front guns, ripping apart the front of the Battlestar as thousands of Vipers and raptors from the Antare force descended upon the recon force.
Another Mercury and two Columbia-class Battlestars became visible, and they began to fire at the loyalists. The loyalist flak managed to stop many of the Raptors from firing their missiles but some got through, damaging the spine of the Battlestars. The first Gunstar jumped as it fired a last railgun burst at the enemies. The original Mercury class was hit by a well aimed burst in the engines and exploded, showering parts down and destroying another two Battlestars, as one loyalist Gunstar was cut in half and another ripped to shreds, as more Battlestars approached.
"On my mark, jump!" Commander Reid shouted.
The three Gunstars and three Battlestars prepared to jump, but the Pyxis reported FTL problems.
"Gods frak! We can't jump!" the Pyxis XO spoke through the fleet speakerphones, "Everyone, get to the evac raptors, set nukes direct on course for enemy ships and lock engines ahead flank! Good luck and I'll see you on the other side!"
The nukes fired off as the Battlestar fired all her cannons in autocycle. One nuke hit and severely damaged a Titan-class Battlestar, while another crippled a Valkyrie-class. The Pyxis sped up as the evac Raptors jumped away the crew and the officers. The Valkyrie- class it headed for had no chance, as the two Battlestars collided and ripped apart.
Taurus fleet shipyards, in orbit of Tauron
Commander Reid and Colonel Tanisa Kampf, his XO, were walking at a rather fast pace towards the briefing room of the Taurus fleet shipyards. The Taurus shipyard was the second largest in all the Twelve Colonies, housing nineteen Battlestars and tens of thousands of crew and hundreds of Officers. It meant that over fifty Battlestars were in the Helios Alpha system alone, with the 25-strong Picon shipyards and the 7-strong Capricorn shipyards. It also boasted some of the most high-tech Battlestars and two of five much vaunted Titan-class Battlestars, the Zeus and the Liberty.
They walked pass the last security gate, where two burly marines who looked like they had wrestled with a cylon checked them and let them pass. In the hall were six chairs around a white table with a large briefing screen at the back of the room. President Jackson and his secretary were already seated, and so was Admiral Louise of the Taurus and her XO, Major Demetrius. The four got up and they shook hands with the new arrivals and the emergency meeting commenced.
"Thank you for coming here." President Jackson stood up, his secretary quickly following him as he headed to the projector screen. A picture of Admiral Antare and a short factfile appeared on it. "As you now all know, Admiral Antare and his Battlestars are back and they've arrived with a bang. You managed to take out four of the Battlestars but already the Helios Delta system has come under heavy attack and the twelve Battlestars stationed there have come under heavy fire from what we believe to be a separatist force double their number. The 47 surviving separatist Battlestars have also taken over Hestia and a massive battle is underway around Canceron. It also seems that the separatists have sent all the Battlestars that you identified to support this attack, and we need all available Battlestars to be sent out there now to take them out." The screen switched to the gun camera of a Viper as the craft looked at what seemed like fifty Battlestars duelling in orbit of a planet as President Jackson was handed a file by his secretary.
"Gods frak!" Colonel Kampf called, blushing a split second later as Commander Reid gave her a stern look.
"Indeed," President Jackson chuckled, "We've already sent twelve of our Battlestars, including our Titans, and eleven from Picon to join the fight, but the reason I called you is for something else. Signs are beginning to show that without Antare at the wheel, the rebellion could collapse and we could bloody well save ourselves dozens of Battlestars! We know that Antare is on the Titan-class Battlestar Tethys, only one of two Titans that the separatists managed to get their hands on. Your job is to destroy the Tethys. I predicted it would be hard to take out such a beast so I have given you command of the Zeus for this mission. Any questions?"
The room was silent until Major Demetrius peeped up.
"Sir, does the Tethys have escorts?"
"Recon shows it currently has no escorts and we should capitalise on our advantage," President Jackson replied, "Any more questions."
No one spoke up after ten seconds of waiting.
"Well then, you are dismissed. Gods speed to you and your crews." President Jackson said as he dismissed the meeting.
