Disclaimer: We do not own Battlestar or any of it's subdivisions within the franchise. As such no profit or copyright infringement is intended in the creation of this story. It is meant purely for entertainment.
That being said I give you Battlestar: Horizons
A Dark Day
BATTLESTAR REVELATION
Amanda felt the cold clunking of her Viper sliding into its launch tube. She looked over at her flight operator. He gave her the thumbs up to tell her that everything was green. She sighed, her heart pounded, it had been a few hours since her last training session, but she had never actually trained with live rounds flying at her. She felt sweat bead up on her for head, but she couldn't reach it due to her helmet. Decreasing her breath rate helped a great deal, allowing her anxiety to dissipate before launch.
"What are they gonna a look like," Asked Hotrod from the viper adjacent to hers, "No one ahs seen these jerk offs in forty years?"
"Your death flying at you at high speeds Hot rod, unless you shoot them first," Amanda responded.
There was a wave of laughter, "We'll kick 'em out in time for a mid night Frack with the fan girls," Hotrod said increasing the spirit of the pilots even further.
The sudden jolt of a jump hit them as the Revelation jumped into the combat zone. It was only seconds before Amanda could here the thundering roars of missils impacting the great Battlestars hull. She clenched her fists around her joy stick, and prepared for launch.
"Keep the chatter down boys," She said, "and I'll lay the first one of you guys to get a kill."
There was a 'oooh' from the other pilots, "Really?" Came another pilot's voice.
"I guess you'll have to get the first kill to find out," Amanda said back, smiling.
"All vipers, this is the XO," Lillians voice entered over the speakers, "You are go for launch, I repeat go for launch."
Amanda exhaled as she had done many times before, and then she was thrust against her seat as the Viper accelerated towards the opening the Revelation's outer hull. Then it happened the grey tube vanished and the pinpricks of white light appeared, space had sprung in front of them. All of a sudden the greatness, and emptiness of space closed in around her. Flashes of light appeared over Toran, a great world now covered with the clods rising from nuclear detonations.
She turned her viper and saw it, a Cylon Raider, thin and sharp with the menacing head of an angry beast. She throttled up and then it happened, her entire viper shut down. Everyone's viper shut down, and they were a drift. The Raider came strait at them at high speeds.
"FRACK THIS!" Amanda said.
She reached down to her waist and pulled her side arm out. She fired once and blasted the cockpit's windshield into shattered projectiles as she unbuckled and pushed off, she pointed her gun at the incoming raider. This was the point where she knew she was out of her mind. She saw a red eye in the center of the Raider and assumed that was the cockpit. She pointed and fired. The recoil acted as a thruster in and of itself propelling her backwards, the bullet was also launched forwards towards the red eye. She had timed the intercept perfectly, and the raider jolted and then started drifting out of control.
"I just shot down a raider with a pistol," She muttered to herself in amazement.
She then saw the majestic Battlestar of which she was still assigned to entering a shooting contest with a large star shaped vessel, a Base Star of some kind. The great guns on her hull blazed wildly in turn pounding the shinning grey hull of the Cylon vessel. The she looked around her, the Battlestars where drifting uncontrollably, most not even damaged.
Had they killed entire battlestars the way they killed her air group? If that was the case how was the Revelation still in combat? The Revelation took several hits to her port side while she pummeled her starboard opponent into a retreat, and then her guns came around and began shooting the port side Base Star.
"Commander, radiological alarm!" Shiak screamed at the top of his lungs.
"They've got fracking nukes!" Venerus muttered under his breath.
The medium height, dirty blond commander looked up at the Dradis console. He glowered out the tactical situation. It was not good, and that was putting it lightly. How could they have brought over thirty battlestars to their knees so quickly? The sound of missile impacts resounded through the great hollow interior of the mighty battlestar. Meanwhile, Venerus watched as two dots raced towards the center of the Dradis screen.
"Brace for contact," Venerus said looking up at Lillian.
"No kidding," Lillian replied.
The ship jolted forward and the lights flickered. Two of the three glass doors separating the Command section of the CIC to her control compartments shattered. Venerus felt his body impact the Command table before he knew he was being thrown. His head made contact, vision blurring for a moment, he lay still until his body recovered. He pushed himself to his feet and looked at the Dradis console; it was blurred and fizzing in and out of perception. Lillian rose from behind the table, her face covered in shadow, occasionally lit up by the flickering lights.
"Looks like Radiation levels are holding within norms," Lillian said.
The ship resumed echoing the impacts of explosive ordinance on the outer hull. The lights slowly came back on, and the muffled sound of the Revelations own guns resumed. Venerus looked up at the Dradis again, watching the battle progress. Already five of the thirty battlestars had vanished off Dradis.
"This is not good, how are our pilots," Venerus asked, "I haven't heard a word from them."
"Nor have I," Shiak replied, "They went dead only moments after they launched."
"They go dead and nobody tells me?" Venerus said whirling around, "Obviously this crew needs to work on its communication."
"Sorry sir, I wasn't thinking," Shiak said hanging his head.
"Your damn right you weren't," Lillian said walking over to him, "Find them, NOW! Their lives depend on it."
Shiak nodded and started fiddling around with the console trying to establish some kind of link with the Air Group. Venerus sighed, he knew this fight was doomed, but he would damn well give the Cylons a fight they wouldn't soon forget. He looked at Lillian and then at the Helmsmen.
"Helm, take us directly towards that Base Star baring 406 karam 473," Venerus watched the Helmsmen nod in obedience, "Weapons, bring all our Dorsal and Ventral guns to bare on the port side Base Star. Target our main battery on the Base Star we are headed towards."
"Yes sir," Replied the gunman.
"And may the Gods have mercy on our souls."
BATTLESTAR KUTHIA
The lights were out, sparks exploded from an occasional console as the ship continued taking hits. Sylla fiddled with her console, but nothing worked. She couldn't understand it, how had this battlestar just shut down?
"Get me some power," Arkanas bellowed from the Command table.
"Working on it," Sylla said brushing away some hair that had fallen across her face.
She thought for a moment, how would someone shut down a battlestar like that? If it had been her, she would have used the computer link onboard. She looked around for the wire frame that linked her console to the rest of the ship. She pulled the wire and her console flickered to life. It was much slower now that it no longer could link with the mainframe of the ships CIBER division.
The ship took a heavy hit as the entire CIC jerked forward sending several people catapulting from their stations. Several of them landed only a few feet away, others managed to slam into hard metal walls. She winced as she heard the yell and then thudding silence. Her computer came on line completely. Opening up a wireless connection she created a makeshift firewall to repel any virus the Cylons might have infected the ship with.
"My Power Sylla!" Arkanas yelled.
"It isn't that simple, I don't even know why it's out yet!" Sylla shot back, "Just because you order it doesn't make it possible."
"When this is over we are going to have a chat about your tongue Lieutenant," Arkanas snapped.
Sylla hissed in anger. The commander was putting pressure on her she didn't need. Another impact thundered on the hull rocking the ship, sparks fell from the ceiling. She put her hands on the keyboard and started accessing the mainframe. She ran into roadblock after roadblock having to bypass securities that popped up out of nowhere to try and stop her. A few minutes later she had gotten through.
She searched the mainframe systems until navigation caught her eye. The entire system was relaying a signal to the rest of the ship. But what could it possibly be relaying? She selected it and shut the navigation system down, almost instantly the Battlestars lights flickered on. She looked up and sighed. The relief was momentary as the Battlestar's schematics flickered onto her board, and she saw hundreds of red dots covering the vessel.
"Commander main systems are damaged, our power lines have been fused in several places and fires are burning on several decks, nothing critical," Said Sylla.
The ship shook again as it was impacted.
"We can't take much more of this," Sylla said.
Kenpachi looked down from his Dradis console, "She's right, we are out gunned and out matched."
"We aren't leaving," Arkanas said.
"We may not have a choice, we will do no good to our colonies dead, commander," The XO reasoned.
Arkanas sighed, "Prepare to jump the ship."
"Commander, the navigation is down. I can't calculate a jump," Sylla could tell the bad news did not go over well.
Arkanas grimaced, "Is there no way to calculate a jump?" Sylla shook her head. "Then we will have to jump blind."
The entire CIC went silent as they looked at Arkanas. The ship took another hit as the sparks fell from the Dradis console. Sylla's stationed sparked as well, it was working far too hard to keep the Navigation system down for long.
"No sane man would make that call, Commander," Kenpachi said.
"Then I'm not a sane man," Arkanas retorted, "Jump us, NOW!"
Sylla nodded to acknowledge the command. She spooled up the Jump Drives, and then retracted the key from her lock box and placed it into the jump computer. Moments later the Jump drive hummed to life as it charged. She watched the clock begin to tick. Another missile impacted the hull and sparks exploded from her console, this time burning her hand. She gasped slightly as she instinctively grasped her wounded appendage.
"Jump in five seconds," Sylla informed the crew.
The ship jerked as the jump initiated and the jolted in the opposite direction as it was completed. Several lamps exploded and fell to the floor, two more consoles exploded with sparks as well, and then her console began to spark. Sylla backed away from it as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough. The console exploded into a furious fire and sent shrapnel flying. The concussive wave threw Sylla against the opposing consoles sharp edge, where the ground met her body with incredible force before she even knew what happened.
Her senses came back slowly; her eyes were blurred but the flickering lights of the CIC came in and out of focus. She tried to sit up, but her effort was met with a jolt of pain. She gasped slightly as her vision vanished again for a moment. When it returned she saw Arkanas and Kenpachi kneeling over her. They were speaking, or maybe yelling. She couldn't tell, everything seemed so far away including sound. She looked down, or was it up? She didn't care anymore, and saw her stomach; a piece of shrapnel had been imbedded in her. It looked rather strange to see an object protruding from her own gut.
Her vision began to dim slightly, and her eyes began to hurt. She needed rest, that was it rest. If she could just close her eyes for a moment. FIRE! There was a fire, her heart pumped for a few seconds as she saw her console engulfed in flame. Plastic panels melting off and dripping down the sides of the console like cheese on a frying pan. Her heart calmed down for a moment and then the world went black.
Arkanas pushed as hard as he dared on the young blond girls wound. The blood still oozed from between his fingers. Kenpachi grabbed the fire extinguisher from the Command Table and began to battle the roaring fire that had begun in the CIC. Arkanas battled the blood spilling from his tech officers stomach. She was still breathing.
"Stay awake, Lieutenant, that's a Gods damn order," He screamed, "Where are the fracking medics!"
Kenpachi kept spewing foam into the fire; Arkanas kept attempting to stop the flow of blood and many other people raced around the room to help one or the other. The rattling of a medical cot being pushed at rapid velocities down the metallic corridor outside the CIC met his ears. Arkanas had never been so relieved to hear the noise of clattering medics. The scarlet blood still ran between his fingers, hot and warm, a friendly reminder that she was still alive, but for how long depended on the medics.
Glancing to the side he saw Kenpachi spray the last of his foam on a very small fire. What was left of the burning flame was put out as Kenpachi beat it out with his hand. Arkanas turned the other direction in time to see a giant metal cross bar of a stretcher come up to them.
"What happened?" The medic asked bending over her with a Stethoscope.
"Her console blew up" Arkanas stated simply.
"This is a code blue, let's get her to the infirmary before it really does become a code blue, on three," The medic said.
On the count of three they lifted her evenly from the floor onto the stretcher and pushed her off at high speeds again. Arkanas stood up looking after her. Suddenly his hands began to crack and drip with globules of thick liquid. He looked down to see his red hands. Blood dripped and fell off as the blood began to coagulate.
"What's our situation?" Arkanas said turning back to the command table.
"Not good," Kenpachi said, "Our weapons are off line, our vipers never made it out of the launch bays, and now the pilots are trapped in there, and if that wasn't enough good news, our navigational computer is fried. We have no way of knowing where we are."
"Well we are still alive, so not a sun, asteroid field or planet," Said Arkanas, "What else?"
"Casualty reports are still coming in, but as of now, the count is 720, souls," Kenpachi said.
Arkanas felt his heart rocket to the floor, "720 dead of 1890, over one-third of my crew is dead?"
Kenpachi nodded grimly, Arkanas put his hands on the Command table, wetting it with blood. Seven hundred and twenty, perhaps more, of his crew was dead, his battlestar was in no condition to defend itself and his surviving crew already battle weary. They had to get this ship back on its feet as soon as they possibly could.
The ship hummed slightly as Arkanas stared at the glowing surface of the command table. His mind raced through their situation trying to find a loophole or a way out. His thoughts were mingled with spikes and shots of fear and pain over the loss of so many good men and women under his command, in addition to his own minor scrapes and bruises.
"We need to get the Kuthia back on her feet," Arkanas finally said.
Kenpachi nodded, "I suggest we start by bringing the essential systems online, including the main weapon systems."
"Make it happen," Arkanas said.
Kenpachi acknowledged the order and began shouting orders through the phone. A few moments later he slammed the phone on the table. Looking up he smiled slightly.
"It's happening," Kenpachi said.
Arkanas looked glanced at the Dradis console; it still came across as empty, "What's happening?" Arkanas said, "What is going on? How has it come to this? Why should it be us who lives to see the end of everything we have ever known?"
"Like a thousand others who came before me," Kenpachi began, "I must say this: we don't get the chance to choose, we don't get to pick the age in which we were born. I guess it's our job to do what we can to turn this age around."
Arkanas smiled. Kenpachi always had a wise word or two to say, but they only made sense if one thought about them incredibly hard or incredibly little. Arkanas finally pushed himself off the command table, where his hand marks had been imprinted in blood. He shook his head slightly as he unbuttoned the top of his uniform.
"I'm going to wash up," Arkanas said, "Notify me of any change in status."
"Yes sir," Kenpachi said saluting.
Arkanas walked out of the CIC and down the hall. A few moments passed before he reached the elevator. The flickering lights didn't give Arkanas much faith in its ability to carry him to his desired deck. He stepped in nonetheless. Moments later he was heading for his quarters. The Colonial fleet was in ruins, and for all he knew; the Kuthia was the last surviving battlestar in the fleet.
Schwen looked up as he grabbed onto the manual release for the Viper bay doors. Twirling it he finally heard the mechanism within the door click apart and the magnetic constrictors pry apart. Three of the deckhands formed up on Schwen as they tugged the door. The door creaked and groaned in defiance, but eventually gave in as it slid open. Schwen looked up and rubbed his brow.
"Okay people, we know what to do, get these pilots out of their tubes, let's move!" Schwen yelled.
The entire deck gang began to shift around the deck. Knowing that on the opposite side of the ship people were doing the same thing he and his team were. The onboard crane hummed as it pulled the viper out of the tube with no assistance from the Viper locks. The viper hovered for a second before its massive frame broke the crane's cable. The Viper fell to the floor.
Moments later Killian was helped from the cockpit. She did not look pleased. Her brow was furled and her hair was a mess. After falling from the Viper edge to the floor she walked up to Schwen.
"Well I'll be, you leave me in the tube for an hour and then drop me on my ass as soon as you're done huh?" Killian accused.
"Whoa, calm down now," Said Schwen, "I got you out of there, and now we are working on your other pilots."
She hissed and walked away angrily. Schwen shook his head; those pilots were filled with arrogant self-importance that needed to be straightened out. The tall deck chief walked up to the viper and examined it. It was undamaged from the fall. It was designed for impacts of much greater kinetic energy. He rubbed his hand across the Vipers hull, it seemed as if it was in good enough shape.
Looking around Schwen saw the Vipers being pulled out of the tubes manually and placed on the deck at odd angles. A few moments later one of his deck gang came up to him.
"We have almost retracted all the vipers, what's the next step?" He asked.
"Find out what the hell happened them, and their launch tubes." Schwen said walking towards the exit.
He full well intended to have a talk with the commander, and find out what happened.
Killian made it to the pilot's locker room where she leaned against the wall. Several of her pilots came in undressing and hanging up their flight gear, chattering about what had just happened. Killian had no idea what went on out there but she could hazard a guess. They were in battle over Caprica right before the Kuthia had jumped away.
"We lost, we fracking lost," said one of the Pilots.
"Cut it," Killian said standing, "We have no idea what has just happened and until we do we will continue with this day as if it were any other."
"Captain," Said a pilot, "We don't get hammered every day."
"Your damn right we don't," Killian said, "So that means we have to keep our cool. I know all of you are scared right now, and don't deny it! I'm terrified, and I know it's hard for us to accept that it may be a while before we get home again if we get home at all. But each and every one of us has trained for combat, if this is a full scale war then we will be doing what we are trained to do."
The silence continued for several moments after the speech was done. They all looked at her with stunned expressions crossing their faces, like a heard of wild cattle watching the barn burn to the ground.
"Sometimes life throws us curve balls, we can't choose what life gives us, but I know you all, and I know you can handle it."
The crowd nodded as they went about their business in complete silence. Killian turned to her jump suit, taking off the thin but sturdy fabric and placing her helmet in her locker safely. Removing a jumpsuit was harder than it looked. After she finally detached it from her shoes she exited the locker in her under uniform. Moments later she was in an elevator heading for the CIC.
After exiting the incredibly slow lift she ran into the combat guards. She showed them her ID, and they pushed open the CIC door. Smoke rose from a console, and the commander was absent. At the command table checking up on the situation stood Kenpachi and Vashtin, looking very pale. The poor kid looked like he had walked through hell and back again. She approached the command deck.
"Captain Killian Aronai," Said Killian snapping into a salute.
"Captain, as you were, and hold this," Kenpachi said handing her a sparking wire.
Killian did as she was requested to, "Colonel may I speak with you?"
"Go ahead captain, but make it quick, we are very busy," Kenpachi reported.
"Colonel, forgive me for being blunt but what the hell just happened?" She asked.
Kenpachi paused for a moment, "The colonies have been attacked, and just before we left Caprica had been nuked over a dozen times, whatever the situation is I guarantee you it sucks."
"Where did the Cylons come from?" Killian prodded, "It is the Cylons right?"
"Zeus only knows, and if I die out here, I swear I'm gonna kill him. The short answer is we believe so, Captain we want this kept confidential for the moment," The colonel looked her in the eye as he said this, then returned to making repairs to the Dradis console, taking the sparking wire from Killian.
"Of course, sir," Killian said, "You look horrified Vashtin what's wrong?"
"Sylla is in the infirmary," Kenpachi answered for the young man, "Our young petty officer seems to be having issues with that."
Killian nodded in understanding, "Colonel I will take Vashtin's post, I need to be useful anyway, and I won't be flying for a while."
"I accept because I need a cool head in here, Vashtin you stand relieved," Said Kenpachi.
Without as much as a word the young petty officer bolted for the door. Killian turned towards Kenpachi again and was handed a welder and a metallic wire casing. Kenpachi pointed at the Dradis console, which seemed to be having spasm attacks. Moments later she was kneeling on the command table putting the Dradis console back together.
ABOVE TAURON
Amanda floated through space. The battle had been going on for hours now, or was it days? Gods it felt like days. The flashing of explosions punctuated the mix of Cylon basestars and Colonial fleet vessels. The great planet bellow her was on fire with red flame as nuclear hell began to poor down upon its surface. Looking at her O2 gauge she saw she had just entered the red. It seemed to hit her now, the time she had spent training was all for nothing, she was going to die out here.
She glanced over in the distance and saw the majestic shape of the Orion class dreadnought, the Revelation. It was being pummeled with fire from at least four base stars. It was hard to tell from this distance. She seemed to be focusing all her firepower on one. It wasn't running, and the exchange of fire between them increased until it the base star was covered in explosions. Finally the Cylon vessel exploded.
The Cylons were closing on the great ship now. Suddenly its guns stopped firing, and they retracted. What was Venerus doing? Suddenly a flash of bright light sprung along the length of the ship and the great battlestar disappeared in a blast of energy. The sheer physical force of the jump ripped several more Base stars to pieces. Amanda smiled; at least the bastards got what was coming to them. She glanced at her O2 gage again and saw she was burning through what little oxygen she had left. She let herself fall limp, there was little use now, it was over.
BATTLESTAR REVELATION
Venerus slammed his metal door leading to his cabin. He collapsed onto his couch and let his head fall into his hands. Tears dripped down his face, he had just left over 1000 of his pilots to die. The tears streamed from his eyes and fell into his hands and then fell to the floor like a spring rain hitting the newly sprouted leaves of perennial trees. His mind wandered to Geminon and the treasure he had left behind there. There was a knock on his door.
"Come in," Venerus said.
Lillian entered the room and saluted.
"As you were colonel," Venerus said wiping his eyes as inconspicuously as possible.
"You made the right call, commander," Lillian said.
"I need help colonel, making a decision that I am not qualified to make," Said Venerus, "What do we do from here?"
Lillian sat down and looked across the room at Venerus, "In my experience the heart of human being is guide enough."
"If it was up to me, Lillian, I would never leave. I would fight these bastards until one of us lay dead," Venerus said.
"Our only other option is to run and hide," Lillian said.
"I should run, but I can't," Venerus said.
Lillian's inquisitive look said enough, "I have a daughter on her way to Caprica from Geminon," Venerus continued, "Her names Kalin. She and her grandmother were heading to Caprica to visit her mother and her boyfriend."
"I had no idea you had been married, sir," Lillian said.
"I never was," Venerus smiled, "Kalin was born out of wedlock, and her mother didn't want a Colonial officer for her daughter's father."
Lillian smiled slightly, "None of us are qualified Commander, I have a brother on Virgon, and a boyfriend on Caprica. There's not a signal one of us who doesn't have a personal stake in this."
The phone buzzed. They looked at it as it buzzed again. Venerus pushed himself to his feet and picked it up.
"Captain," Came Shiak's voice, "We just received word from the fleet. The Battlestar Atlantia has been destroyed. Admiral Nagala is dead."
Venerus held still for a moment and then hung up the phone and leaned on his desk. The world seemed to slow down. The High Admiral was dead. The world around him seemed to spin for a moment. The war was now over.
"Colonel, prep the ship for a search and rescue op to Tauron fleet yards," Venerus said.
"Commander?" Lillian inquired, "We just left"
"We left over a thousand men and woman behind, not to mention any survivors elsewhere. We are going back to get them," Venerus said, "And then we are going to take this war to the Cylons."
A/N
There you have the first of the actual chapters of Battlestar: Horizons, hope you all enjoyed it. This story will proceed in a somewhat episodic structure, or at least that is the current plan, so there may be a time skip from time to time.
