Pirates, Battles and A Twist…

A brief flash of light in the darkness of space heralded the arrival of the Monster next to a large group of asteroids a few days travel from Canceron. McCoy verified his position by both the still operational Colonial Navigation Beacon System and the old fashioned method of star maps. Once he was satisfied, he set a course towards the largest of the asteroids – codenamed Citrus. In the early days of his company, he had been attacked by Tom Zarek and his so called freedom fighters which forced him to make a blind jump. Within moments, the Monster had been lit up with all kinds of weapons locks and it was only by sheer luck somebody realised the newly arrived ship was a freighter. He'd been captured by the pirates and questioned until they were satisfied it was pure chance that had brought McCoy to them. It was to there great surprise that, in some ways, McCoy actually sympathised with their aims and wants, but he would never attack and destroy freighters and passenger ships outright. In exchange for being set free and taking some prisoners and family members of pirates home, McCoy had been told the exact location of the pirate base and told if he ever needed help, they would assist him in nearly anything.

"Badger Station, this is Monster…" McCoy opened a channel. "Badger Station, this is Thomas McCoy. Code Alpha Alpha Tango Uniform X-Ray Kilo" and he waited for a reply as he sailed onwards.

"Monster, transmit second code"

"Bravo Romeo One Niner Seven Three"

"Monster, you are clear to dock at bay two"

"Copy that, Badger Station. Be advised I need your leader waiting at the airlock for me. McCoy out"

#

"Thomas McCoy…!" a squarish man boomed as the airlock doors parted. David Swanson was the leader of the pirate faction that had taken McCoy and then released him – the two keeping occasional contact through dead letter drops. "I haven't seen you in three years – whats the matter?" he asked as he saw the look on McCoy's face.

"You don't know? The Cylons hit the Colonies with hundreds of Baseships and thousands of Raiders – they nuked the capitals, took down the fleet and killed countless people. I managed to survive along with my crew, found a Battlestar lying dead, brought it back to life and now we need people to help crew it. I've got a couple of Fleet people, Dave, but they seem to just want to fight back"

"I swore never to go back to the Colonies"

The Colonies have gone" McCoy said. "All we have are one and a bit squadrons worth of Vipers, a few Raptors and one Battlestar that couldn't even fire more than a single salvo off"

"Why come back for us?" asked Swanson.

"Because, David, we could be all that is left of humanity. Plus, if we could get your ships to come with us, we'd at least stand a better chance of survival"

"Wouldn't the Cylons miss us?"

"As soon as they go through records, they will find you and kill every single person here" McCoy replied, looking around at the large groups of people watching the pair. "Look, the Fleet lot are being led by a Major and he seems fairly relaxed about the rules. We load everybody here into your ships, take everything we can, and I will speak to the Major on your behalf. I know all about your vow to never follow another, but quite frankly that can all go to felgarcarb… The Battlestar and the transport are mine, but you can sail with us in an alliance or sign on fully with us"

"You are certain this is not a massive joke or exercise for the Fleet?" Swanson asked.

"Dave, I wouldn't be here if it was"

"Aye… If it were any other person, I would not believe it – we'll come with you" Swanson turned to the room at large. "Everybody, we're evacuating the station! The Cylons have come and wiped out nearly everybody in the Colonies and now they are looking for the rest. I want all passenger transports loaded up with the women and children and the cargo ships loaded with all our food, fuel and weapons. Put the youngest and sickest aboard Captain McCoy's ship. And get the Excalibur and Zulfiqar ready to move"

"What's them?" McCoy asked.

"Two Guardian class destroyers" Swanson replied as the pair left the airlock area and headed to the station's control room. "We heard they were being sold for scrap, so we hijacked them to use on raids. They can only handle two shuttles, a Raptor and a trio of Vipers but they pack one hell of a punch in terms of guns and missiles"

"Powers is going to just love you…" McCoy shook his head in disbelief as the pair walked into the control room.

"Sir, the first of the ships will be leaving in ten minutes. Weapons and ammo stores are being removed and transported to transports. A tanker is alongside and draining all the tyllium to its onboard tanks. Evacuation proceeding as expected"

"Dave, I'd best go with the first group to explain whats going on and to smooth over any ruffled feathers. Adar may have given a pardon to criminals in order to bolster the civilian forces, but the Fleet guys are going to be pissed and may shoot and ask questions later"

"I will come with you, Tom…"

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Wise? Perhaps not, but it's the right thing to do"

# # # # #

"Contact! I have a DRADIS contact CBDR. Seven ships"

"Can you identify them?" asked Powers. He had been left in charge of the Battlestar whilst McCoy was away.

"Not on reduced settings" replied one of his pilots.

"Give me wireless contact" Powers ordered. "And prepare to launch the Alert Vipers"

"Aye – you're on"

"Attention unknown vessels! This is the Battlestar Virtutem – identify yourselves or we will fire upon you" Powers spoke.

"This is McCoy… I've brought back a number of friends, Major – but we're going to need to talk"

"Firm DRADIS contacts – apart from the Monster, I'm reading the transports Whistler, Deltic, Hoover and Spoon. There are also the cargo ships Shed and Skip" the pilot said to Powers.

"Those are Belters…!" Powers growled. "McCoy, you better have a good reason for bringing some of them here"

"Major, leaving their criminal pasts behind, they might be all that's left of humanity – you really want to leave them behind?"

"I'd rather blast them out of the stars, but I suppose you are right. Is there any order you need to dock in?"

"I'm first… The rest can bring people over in shuttles. Malcolm… You should know I have Swanson onboard"

"Oh, I'll be glad to meet him – that bastard killed almost my entire squadron when I was on the Uned"

"I've given him my word he isn't going to be executed. He is here to discuss terms of joining us with his people and his ships"

#

"A PAIR OF DESTROYERS?" Powers thundered in the Virtutem's wardroom – the only room on the Battlestar that wasn't given over to storage of materials. "Captain McCoy, this is stupid… We can't let them keep them"

"Care to try and take them?" Swanson smirked.

"Look, the pair of you, calm down this minute. Major, Swanson has agreed to have his forces become part of our little fleet and to defend the civilian ships" McCoy rubbed his temples – Swanson and Powers had argued almost from the minute they had met face to face. "For the most part, David and his people will stay on their ships and have more or less free reign to do what they want. The conditions are that they follow my lead and that they obey my orders or yours during battle"

"The rest of the supplies being loaded at Badger Station are enough food, drink and fuel to last months – more than enough for the food production vessel to get up and running" Swanson said. "In addition to that, we have enough ammo to rearm this ship four times over and that includes your Viper weaponry"

"Stolen from Fleet supplies no doubt"

"Actually, we never stole weapons directly from the Colonial Fleet. As much as I hated the Colonies for not listening to our needs and giving us equal money payments like the other colonies, I would never leave them undefended. I never thought the Cylons would come back, but perhaps some unknown threat that would cause great pain… In my last raid before the attacks, I captured four pilots from the Zeus – they are being looked over by your medic as we speak. Two of my men nearly killed the whole lot of them, and one even raped the lone female pilot – I stormed over, pulled his weapon from his holster and blew his brains out without issue, Major" Swanson hung his head sadly. "Perhaps I would never have quit the Fleet if things had been different"

"I heard rumours you were in… About the Vipers, what ammunition do you have?" Powers asked.

"Its all in my report, but cannon and missiles – plus enough bombs for one slung under the belly per plane in a squadron" and silence lasted for several seconds in the Wardroom.

"I will never be able to forgive you for most of what you did, but that was in a past life for all of us – I may not think of you as a friend, but we are comrades in a time of war. If Captain McCoy has given his word, then that word holds good for me"

"Well now that we have that sorted, we need to decide what to do next. Our recon ships will be back in a little under three hours. Once they return, we will make a jump to the furthest possible and keep on running" McCoy knew how much that cost Powers to say that.

"I'm worried about the civilians in the fleet" Swanson said. "If we put the lot of them in a sort of box, we can cover them with the destroyers at left and right flanks with the Virtutem in the middle so the Vipers have equal response time when heading to combat"

"That would work, but we should stagger them – that way we have a staggered defence that provides for a better cover screen against Raiders" Powers toyed with a pen in between his fingers.

"That might work – depending on the direction of the Cylon attack, we can provide a wall of flak in ripple fire mode"

"It all depends on if your people will follow orders"

"They will, Major, or they will answer to me. If you excuse me, I must get back to the station and supervise the last of the ships leaving" and Swanson was almost at the door when Powers spoke up.

"Do you believe in the Gods?" he asked.

"I'm a Mono"

"Then swear on your faith you will answer me one question"

"I do swear to tell all in this room the truth so far as I know it to be true. This I swear in the name of the one who we never know His true name" Swanson recited an oath after briefly raising his right hand.

"Why did you leave the Fleet?"

"I was part of a boarding team sent over to a Saggie mining ship on the edge of the Red Line. The ship was armed with demolition missiles to break up asteroids and comets, but the higher ups feared that the Cylons might see it as a provocation and attack us" Swanson turned back to look at the Major. "We stopped the ship and went over to question the crew. That plan lasted for about three minutes before the officer in charge pulled out her weapon and shot the Captain's wife in the head. I expected the Marines to do something, but they presented arms and executed every woman and child below the age of fifteen on the spot. When we got back to the Ghost, I reported directly to the Commander and filed a report. Three days later, hours after we docked at Maplan Station, I received orders to transfer from the ship. I was forced to sign the OSA and keep quiet about it. A few months after that… I found the officer was now a Lieutenant frocked as a Captain. Turned out the higher ups had tracked down the Marines, had them all meet with untimely accidents before killing the miners, the rest of their families and erasing every last mention of them. When I heard rumours, I knew they'd come for me and I resigned, stole a Raptor and ran"

"Who was it?" asked Powers. "Who led such an act?"

"If she survived the Cylon attack… At the time, her rank was Lieutenant – but now you would call her Admiral… Admiral Helena Cain"

#

"Did you know?" asked McCoy.

"About Cain"

"Oh, I'd heard a fair bit about her on the grapevine – Admiral before aged forty? A lot of the Fleet were pissed at that when the news broke – stories abounded of bribes being paid… Anyway, she got assigned to command the Pegasus and her group six months before the attacks" Powers shrugged and sipped his drink.

"I remember thinking she must have something on her superiors" McCoy said as he started to read a report made by his engineers.

"I met her just the once – just after an incident with the SRA. I was the fifteenth in sequence for a landing on the Hades when two of my engines suddenly blew out. I declared an emergency and angled in for a landing using just my side thrusters as everything else was keeping my nose level. Anyway, I'm about a thousand yards away when I'm ordered to abort and let this Raptor in front of me. I refuse on account I have one working engine and that's failing fast – then the Raptor locks weapons at me"

"What did you do?"

"I did what I was trained to do – I flipped around, locked on and popped off a pair. She tried to have me tried in front of a panel and dismissed the service, but the board accepted that I was under a stressful situation and that I reacted automatically in turning and firing – bitch was fuming after that"

"So it's safe to say that there is no love lost there then"

"If she was killed, then at least the Cylons did one thing right" Powers finished and then picked up a report of his own. "If we get the pilots and Vipers from our new friends, we can put them with the ones we rescued and make a full half squadron. That one could stay around the ship whilst my squadron goes off into battle"

"I'm sure that David can provide pilots to man his own Vipers" McCoy said. "I was thinking on the way there and back that there's nothing for us. I'm going to terminate the search and rescue and we'll send the civilian ships away whilst we make a fast sweep through the colonies and grab whatever we see and then meet up for our great escape"

"Knew it was coming – just didn't expect it" Powers said. "I'll let my people know. When we leave, I'd like to stop by one location"

"Where?"

"I'm not supposed to mention it to civilians, but I doubt anybody will higher up exists… Ragnar station has nuclear weapons on board – I was hoping that we could grab them before we left"

"Say no more" McCoy said. "Once we're all formed and ready to go, we're going to jump towards the Prolmar Sector and keep on sailing – making charts as we do in case we do end up going back. The ship is yours – I'm going to find a bottle, drink it and then go to sleep"

"I'd like to start gun drills as quickly as possible. We've only got a small crew aboard and only two people have ever fired a turret before" Powers turned over a page and frowned when he didn't get a reply. When he looked up at McCoy, the freighter Captain had his head against the bulkhead and was snoring. The Major was just heading out of the room when sirens and klaxons started wailing as one of his pilots started talking over the PA.

"ACTION STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS! SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP… CYLON BASESHIP ON A CBDR COURSE – FOUR MINUTES UNTIL THEIR WEAPONS COME TO BEAR. ALL PILOTS, MAN YOUR PLANES"

"Oh Gods…" Powers paled as he raced down several decks and got jumped the ladder and hurried over to his Viper. "Powers to CIC"

"Go" McCoy sounded fully awake and alert.

"What are our orders?" asked the CAG as he felt the shudder of the launch tube doors shutting.

"Engage the enemy"

"That will do me – launching"

#

"The transports have jumped to position Alpha One. Vipers are away – reserve flight is in position. We've got a few missiles, but no anti-aircraft, CIWS or anti- shipping capacity because nobody is experienced enough to know what to do" West said to McCoy as he finished talking to Powers.

"I know somebody who can" McCoy picked up the PA, dialled a particular number and then passed on an order before he replaced the handset. "Our specialist is on her way"

"Vipers have encountered Baseship and can see it launching Raiders"

"Have them engage. Are all stations manned and ready?"

"Yes"

"Get to DC and shut the bulkhead doors and all hatches. We're running on a skeleton crew as it is and don't have enough people to form a fire and emergency party - let alone a damage control"

"Captain, I'm here" and McCoy turned to see a hurriedly dressed Sharon standing by the starboard hatch to CIC.

"You said you had training on guns once"

"That's right – a lot of us did in case…"

"Then man the weapons panel and defend the ship" McCoy smiled briefly before turning to look at the DRADIS display. He could see the Vipers and Raiders dancing their tango of death – sometimes an indicator would go out as a craft was destroyed. "Engineering, how long until FTL is up and running?"

"Engine Room reports another ten minutes" West replied.

"Helm, all ahead flank – right standard rudder. Sharon, can you load and fire the forward batteries from here?"

"I think so" the young Cylon woman said.

"Load a couple of rounds and set to remote detonation. I want to fire them at the Raiders and see if the explosion and shrapnel takes some down" McCoy told her as he hesitated in making a decision. "Spin up a single nuclear missile… And take your time over doing it"

"I see what you are doing" Sharon said. "You aim to have the Raiders believe we're fully armed and going to attack"

"More or less" McCoy admitted. "Mainly, I'm playing for time and hoping our pirate friends come soon and help out"

"You might get your wish, Captain… Two contacts just jumped in but aren't sending transponder codes" West said.

"Contact them and find out who they are. If it's the pirates, have them engage the Baseship" McCoy looked over at Sharon. "You ready with a firing solution?"

"Yeah – the nuke is targeted, forward batteries are ready and I've even managed to get a couple of anti shipping missiles into their tubes. Sadly, that's all I can do" she replied. As she tapped controls at the console, she moved around in the seat in a somewhat irritated manner.

"You alright?"

"I dressed in a hurry when the alarms went off – I forgot to put my knickers on" and McCoy chuckled. He could well imagine that the shorts the woman was wearing were getting into annoying places.

"You could take your shorts off and be done with it"

"I'd not object" West called over the CIC.

"Not my type" Sharon said as she settled down and launched a pair of anti-shipping missiles. They impacted the Baseship and caused it to back off a bit and launch another wing of Raiders.

"DRADIS contact! Unknown contacts just jumped into the area"

"That makes how many?" McCoy asked as he turned back to the plotting table.

"One Cylon Baseship and four unknown contacts"

"Getting a comm message in text – it's the pirates. They've brought one of the destroyers and three civilian ships" one of the people from the Fleet transport called out.

"Pass the jump point to the civilian ships and ask the destroyer to engage the Cylons"

"Aye"

"Can you do something about the DRADIS?"

"We've not got enough power to it, Sir. Once everything was powered up for a fight, levels dropped a lot. We did a lot of good work, but not enough" West said.

"Fair enough… Right, launch the Atlantia flight and have them assume a defensive point alongside us – we're going to punch through the Raiders and hit that big bastard directly"

"I don't have a lot of firepower to spare, Captain" Sharon said. McCoy could detect a measure of uneasiness in her voice. He wondered if there were others like her onboard the Cylon ship.

"Okay… Target to try and disable the FTL drives. Comms, have the Vipers engage the Baseship's weapons and FTL drives only. Tell the destroyers to do the same"

"Why?"

"Ever hear of a Trojan Horse? The Cylons used our ships to destroy the Fleet – we'll do the same. We take the ship over, load a nuke or two aboard and then set it to jump back to where it came from and detonate"

"But we might kill a lot of people" Sharon said quietly.

"I know, Sharon, that there might be others like you on the Baseship – but I have to think about us first. Maybe the Major can think of what to do with any prisoners"

"There won't be"

"Why?"

"When a Baseship is too badly damaged, it transmits all its data to the homeworld and then self-destructs"

"Oh. Cancel the last – take it out"

"Aye, Captain… Missiles away – main battery firing" and, for the first time in many years, the Battlestar opened up with her main armaments. Shells darted forwards and slammed into the Baseship – causing a part of it to vaporise. Those in the CIC were astonished to see the rounds hit, and it surprised the Cylons too as the pirates' destroyers got into position and fired a broadside which ripped the heart out of the larger vessel – immolating itself in a seemingly liquid wall of fire and destruction.

"Baseship destroyed – remaining Raiders are bugging out"

"Order Vipers to go after them and terminate"

"Aye"

"Helm, all stop on the engines. Have all Vipers return that need to do so. Contact the pirates and find out what their situation is and how much of the station is left to evacuate. Sharon you are with me – West, you've the deck"

#

Damaged Vipers returned to the Virtutem and they were quickly brought down into the hangers for examination. McCoy and Sharon looked at each of them and wondered how they'd made it through the fight.

"I never thought war would be this brutal"

"It gets worse" McCoy said sadly. "You should have seen the fighting over Caprica towards the end of the 1st war"

"What happened?"

"We sent twelve Battlestars to attack a Cylon fleet – only Galactica made it home"

"We… Cylons did that?" Sharon asked. McCoy raised an eyebrow at the correction she made.

"Yeah, it was terrible… A week later, the war was over – just like that"

"I'm sorry" Sharon said.

"For what?"

"For lying to you about who I was – if I had come forward, perhaps something could have been done to save the Colonies"

"Maybe, but who knows…? We're going to have to go public on this, me and the Major have agreed, but we're going to do our very best to protect you. If you explain that you came forward as soon as you knew who you were and that you helped to defend the little fleet we have here…" McCoy shrugged.

"CIC to the ship… Pass the word for the Captain"

"It never rains but it pours… McCoy" he snapped into a phone.

"Its West, Sir… Captain, I'm reading a faint transmission coming from the debris of the Baseship along with an out of date code"

"How old?"

"About forty years by my guess if you go by the encoding in it"

"Whats the transmission saying?"

"Its voice – shall I patch it in?"

"Go ahead" McCoy gestured to Sharon and held the handset so they could both listen.

"I need help… I'm in a Cylon ship that's disabled… I'm running out of air"

"This is Captain McCoy of… a Colonial ship. Are you a Cylon?"

"No… I want to find my sister – its been forty years since I saw her"

"I can't take your word for it, you understand"

"Can you find my sister? She'll tell you who I am"

"The Colonies have been destroyed"

"I know, but my sister would have survived – she always was tough"

"She might be amongst the pirates, Captain" Sharon whispered and McCoy conceded the point.

"We have some civilians with us – give me a name and I'll see if she's onboard"

"She's called Helena… Please help – my air is running out. I think the hull is cracked"

"Alright – sit tight and I'll have a shuttle come and tow you in. What is your name?"

"Lucy… My name is Lucy Cain"

A/N:

Yeah, I know… But I had this in my mind and decided to get it done along with a load of other chapters for other fics so I can do a one fic a day for a week release!

Hope you all like the plot twist at the end

Reviews in the normal manner, please

Regards,

Pixel