Aftermath and Battle
The civilians were happy with the increase in security, and the fleet settled down and began training hard for an assault on the Colonies. Sharpe had ordered Raptors to begin a search of all of Colonial space to search for more survivors, but they found none. They picked up wireless comm traffic, but it was weeks old and useless to them – except for the military comms. Repairs to all ships took place on the basis of the ones needing minor attention being fitted in where they could. Dauntless, Freedom and Symphony were all rotating in and out of the heavy repair yards, and Retribution'sViper production facilities worked during all hours of the day and night. Sharpe planned a return to the colonies and raid the supply depots. Whilst the food would taste something awful to many, it did contain everything needed to keep someone through the day.
"We need more ships" said Knot. "The Escortstars are sort of alright, but they are little more then flying landing bays. The Freedom is taking more extensive repairs to her frame" he went on, flipping over paper on his clipboard.
"Starlight, starbright… I wish I may, I wish I might" began Gates. "First star I see tonight. Please give us the Ark Royal and the Victorious. And while we fight the Cylon furies, any chance of Bowman's Hermes?" she finished her little wish.
"If only it were that simple" Sharpe chuckled. "However, this plan could work out a great treat for us. My plan is to take out the Raiders, but not destroy them. They contain fuel and ammunition that we can use. I don't know how long it will take for reinforcements to arrive, so we'll have to send down the Raptors and Shuttles during the battle. Our main aim should be medical supplies and tinned food. Once we have orbital superiority, we can bring in the freezer ship, land it and load the thing up with everything we can get our hands on. While this is going on, the Flimsie Whimsie will jump in and recover all the Raiders she can. If there are more then she can handle" Sharpe continued outlining the plan, "Then she'll jump back here, dump the lame ducks overboard and come and pick up the rest. It stands to reason that we could pick up a lot of intelligence and technical data from analysing the wrecks, and perhaps we could piece a few of them back" and Makepeace looked up from his piles of paper.
"If we could get a couple of them flying and fully operational, we could use them to trick the Cylons into thinking we're their own side. By the time they know otherwise, it's the furnace for them" and only the sound of the air filters filled the room for a few moments.
"We've seen their manoeuvring capabilities, Commander" Blackadder said. "I think a few of us could fly them. The others we could patch up for a single jump and remotely fly them as suicide ships" she added.
"Maybe we could" said Sharpe, letting his anger out and slamming the clipboard onto the table, "But it is a matter of numbers. We have the ships but not enough pilots. If we were fully operational, then maybe we'd have a chance. As it is, a quarter of military personnel are in the brig awaiting trial for mutiny. As it stands, only we have enough people to maintain minimum crew numbers. The rest of the ships have barely enough people to get underway" the arrests following the mutiny led by Richardson had cost them a lot in terms of numbers.
"We could abandon the Retribution and the Flimsie Whimsie and move the crews over to the other ships" suggested Knot.
"We need both ships" pointed out Makepeace. "Retribution is allowing us to make VIIs at an incredible rate. And the other ship for rescue operations of disabled craft after a battle. I'm just glad that we're able to mount a good sized CAP. If the pilots and ECOs had joined in, then we'd be in daggit shite right about now" Makepeace shook his head.
"At least the training facilities are doing nicely" said Gates. "That bunch of cadets should graduate in about three weeks. We can assign them to the Freedom and the two Escortstars. Perhaps we could have enough crew to man everything and attack the Cylons in earnest" and the meeting continued for some time.
# # # # #
Operation Trolley Dash
Libris
"Jump complete" said Stone Age.
"Scanning… scanning… DRADIS is clear" Ice Age said from the back.
"Stone Age to all Raptors. The mission is a go – I repeat: the mission is a go. We have three hours once we land to cram as much stuff into each of our ships. Chillie Willie land inside the main car park area. You'll be getting all the large containers put into your cargo bays. All ships begin wireless silence as of… now!" and Stone Age set the wireless to receive before concentrating on flying the ship. He made a perfect landing in the centre of the biggest supermarket on the planet, and was grateful that he couldn't see any damage to it.
"Opening the hatch" Ice Age said. The six marines in the back jumped out and started looking for danger. The other Raptors landed and they started pouring out people – mainly more marines – who took a defensive posture at the front of the supermarket whilst a few went inside with the Raptor crews and the civilian helpers. As they walked with eyes peeled for any Cylons hiding behind stacks of beans, one of the marines chuckled.
"A couple of weeks ago, we'd all be in jail for walking into a supermarket armed, and stealing the stock" she explained.
"And on that note…" Stone Age opened the tills up and split the money several ways between them all – keeping a larger lump for the marines outside. "Not as if anyone will jail us" he shrugged.
"I was a lay judge" said another marine. "I could say you're doing community service though, sir" he added. They shared a laugh before finding out that it was otherwise empty in the building. The civilians went into their element by finding the forklift trucks and transporting huge crates to the waiting freezer ship. So far the plan was going well, and they made good time. Once all of the frozen stuff was found and loaded aboard the ship, it was time to round up the rest of the stuff they could get their hands on. Everything from Ice Cream to toilet paper was put aboard either the cargo ship or the Raptors. Towards the end of the operation, the sound of trucks could be heard, and they parked up next to the waiting ships. It was a group of people from the fleet who had gone ahead of the main party and gathered all of the spare parts and Colonial Fleet information that they could find on the ground station on the planet. It wasn't much, but it all would help in getting the small fleet in as good a working order as possible. When the loading was complete, everybody boarded the Raptors and cargo ship before lifting off and jumping clean away back to Leonis.
# # # # #
"It isn't much" Sharpe said, "But at least we have the entire design plans for each of the ship classes of the fleet. We also have a large supply of medals which I intend to award to those who did outstanding work during and after the Cylons attacked" and the other senior officers agreed.
"It would give the civies something to enjoy, make them proud of us and to let everyone have a few hours of unwinding" Makepeace had his feet up on the table in the Officers' Lounge on the station
"We could have an announcement made this afternoon, and let every…" Knot was cut off by the alarm klaxon starting on the station's intercom.
"COMMANDER SHARPE TO CONTACT CONTROL. COMMANDER SHARPE TO CONTACT CONTROL" Epson's voice sounded paniced. Sharpe crossed over to the nearest phone and dialled Control.
"Sharpe" he said.
'Sir, Epson reporting. We just got one of our Raptor scouts back from Picon. They report that the Cylons are massing a fleet of six Baseships. They also report a ship that isn't in our database, Sir. On my own authority, I put the fleet on Condition Two and ordered all stand-by Vipers from the station to launch' and Sharpe's decision was only moments behind that.
"Order all pilots and ECOs to their respective ships. Order Dauntless, Flimsie Whimsie and the Retribution to undock and move clear of the station and fleet. Have all three set jump point to outside the orbit of Picon. Dauntless is to hold departure until myself, Knot and Gates are aboard" and he rang off before Epson could reply. "The Cylons have a fleet massing near Picon" Sharpe told the officers. "Colonel Makepeace"
"Sir!"
"Your ship is still under repair, so I am leaving you in charge of the fleet" Sharpe told him. "I'm taking the Dauntless, Retribution and Flimsie Whimsie to break up as much of it as I can. My aim is to eliminate or disable as many of the Raiders as possible, and come back for them later. Should the battle prove unwinnable, then we'll recover Vipers and Raptors and jump back here. If we are really, really lucky then we might be able to disable a Baseship, board it and examine for tactical information" Sharpe gave a few more orders to Makepeace before heading off with Gates and Knot to the Dauntless.
# # # # #
Dauntless CIC
"Sit Rep!" Gates shouted as she led the way into CIC.
"All ships are in position, and are awaiting the order to jump" said Blackadder. She had held down CIC until someone more senior arrived. Although Gates was junior to her in rank, she knew that Sharpe was right behind her and would have asked for it anyway.
"Have all launch tubes filled with Vipers, and be ready to fire them out once we have jumped" Knot said.
"Aye, Major" and she rushed out and down to the hanger deck.
"Begin jump prep" Sharpe ordered.
"Yes, Sir" Knot replied. "Jumping in four, three, two, one… JUMP!" and he turned the key. The entire room seemed to stretch for an instant before snapping back into place. "Jump complete" he said, checking the FTL console.
"DRADIS CONTACT!" called Gates. "Six Cylon Baseships bearing 212 carom 12. They are turning to intercept us and are launching Raiders" she said, and Sharpe couldn't detect the terror he saw in her face.
"Put me through to the other ships" he instructed Bell.
"Go, Sir" she replied.
"This is Commander Sharpe. Launch all Vipers. All Mk VIIs are to form the front few rows, and the other marks will form the rest along with some held back for defence. Launch Raptors with chain guns and missiles. They will pick off the missiles we can't hit" Sharpe heard the replies from the Retribution and Flimsie Whimsie before putting the handset back in its slot.
"All Vipers away, Commander" Knot said.
"Cylon Raiders will enter weapons range in three minutes" Gates called.
"Standby all weapons. Enemy suppression barrage" Sharpe said. "Load both Devastators, but do not, repeat: do not fire until I order it. Bell, order the Flimsie to move behind us and the Retribution. All Vipers are weapons free – prepare to engage the enemy" he said.
"One minute" Gates said. "I'm picking up an unknown contact on the extreme edge of DRADIS range. It is on the other side of the Cylon fleet, but I can't pick up any Colonial transponders or recognition codes. Classify possible Cylon Baseship" she added.
"Is it approaching us?" Sharpe asked.
"No" was all Gates said before the ship shook as the weapons began firing.
"Lock Anti-Ship missiles onto the closest Baseship, and report when you're ready" Knot said.
"Have the lead Viper wings engage the Raiders at least two minutes away from the group" Sharpe said. "Defensive Vipers and Raptors to engage whatever gets through" he added.
"Target locked on enemy ship" called the Ensign at weapons.
"FIRE!" Sharpe shouted, and missiles zoomed from Dauntless and towards the nearest Cylon Baseship. Some got blown up by Raiders, some got rammed by them as well, and some got destroyed by the Baseship's weapons. A number did get through and slammed into the hull of the Cylon ship.
"Got the bastard" said the Ensign.
"Not quite yet, son" Sharpe smiled briefly.
"Sir" Gates called out over the alarms and multiple voices. "We have a clear shot on the vessel" and Sharpe ordered the Devastator cannons fired. The shells darted through space at one quarter light speed, and just four shells tore off one of the mighty arms which tumbled away in flames and some red stuff that several pilots reported as being like blood.
"Reload both tubes and fire again. Have Retribution engage the Cylon ships to our right flank using long distance guns only. Flimsie to retreat to greater distance and to go to Rad protocols" Sharpe said.
"Sir?" Knot looked at his Commander oddly.
"If this works, then we can have almost an entire Baseship to pour over" Sharpe told him. "Attention: The release and deployment of Nuclear Ordinance is now authorised. Major Knot, have tubes one through four loaded with nuclear missiles. I will input the co-ordinates myself. Once they have detonated, I want every combat capable Viper to disable all weapons and engines on the remaining Raiders. They are not: repeat not to destroy them" Sharpe worked quickly at a console as the small fleet took hundreds of hits per second. Pieces from the ceiling bounced off crew and stations alike – giving injuries to a lot of the crew in the CIC.
"Sit Rep! Damage report!" Knot ordered over the din.
"Hull breaches on the port flight pods forward of frame 250" Gates said, wiping the blood from the huge gash on her forehead. "Emergency teams are on route. We also lost a couple of the remote turrets" and Sharpe considered it was light losses so far.
"Tubes one through four are loaded, Commander" Knot said.
"Have the reserve Vipers join in the general engagement. Get Retribution to fire everything she has on target Tango 4" Sharpe ordered. "Contact the Flimsie and inform her she is to take aboard all combat ineffective Vipers and Raptors. Order her to get as many as possible back into the fight, but to keep her FTL spun up and jump away if she becomes threatened" and he looked at the DRADIS screen overhead.
"Get me a firing solution on the general area of Raiders that are still fighting us" Knot said.
"Target acquired" Gates said. "Well I think it is anyway. I'm not used to this" she added.
"Launch full missile barrage, and fire the main cannons. Their target is the central area of the damaged Cylon ship" Sharpe said, and moments later the cannons opened up one shot at a time behind the missiles. The missiles sailed into the mass of Cylon Raiders and exploded, causing hundreds of them to explode from either detonation or debris. The huge shells from the Devastator cannons on Dauntless flew through the expanding cloud of gas and flames and hit the Baseship once again. they ripped into the hull and ripped yet another one of it's arms off, and it started spinning out of control like it was drunk.
"Switch to Tango 3" Knot said.
"Target acquired" Gates said.
"Let our people know" Sharpe said.
"All ships, Dauntless: FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE" Bell said, and the DRADIS showed the Vipers and Raptors getting far away as possible from the Baseships. The Raiders that followed fell to the guns of the Dauntless and Retribution, and some fell to the guns of the Raptor defences that were out for revenge.
"Launch all nuclear missiles" Sharpe gave the order clearly so there was no mistake. The missile blasted from the tubes, flew across the distance and detonated upon impact with the hull of the third Cylon Baseship. Before Sharpe could issue any orders, the Flimsie Whimsie turned to port, rotated ninety degrees and opened up with all of her weapons that would come to bear.
"Tango Three destroyed, Sir" Knot said.
"DRADIS indicates Tango One is retreating, Tango Two is possibly partly disabled and Tangos Four and Five are holding their distances from us" Gates said. Just then, the Dauntless shuddered as most of the remaining Cylon Raiders started suicide runs on all three of the Colonial warships. Vipers and Raptors attempted to take some of them out, but the Raiders flew into the flight pods, engines and main weapons. CIC came alive with even more alarms, klaxons and cries of pain from crewmembers who were thrown across the room.
"Where is the sixth?" Sharpe asked as he pulled himself up off the floor.
"Unknown, Commander. DRADIS shows no indications of it" Knot said. "It may have jumped away" he added.
"Damage reports coming in from all decks" Bell shouted. "Hull breaches on decks 1 though 20. Fires breaking out on all decks. Retribution reports that we are venting atmosphere all along the dorsal structure" she stopped talking as she coordinated the damage control teams.
"Sir, we have locks on the remaining Basestars" Knot said.
"Fire the nukes" Sharpe said.
"Aye, Sir" Knot hit the button and sent the nukes flying from Dauntless. They went through the disabled Cylon Raiders and then hit the landing bays, causing the Baseships to explode like supernovas. The DRADIS screens of both friend and foe were blinded by the intense radiation. Huge chunks of the dying ships ploughed through space and hit the two Battlestars – sending Dauntless tumbling end over end.
"Get her on an even keel!" shouted Sharpe – pinned to Bells communications station.
# # # # #
"Gods…" Blackadder had been through some of the worse fighting in all her career in the last few minutes, and now she could see her own ship tumbling end to end with fires raging all over her outer hull. "Dauntless – Blackadder. Do you copy me? Dauntless, this is Blackadder. Can you copy?" but there was no reply.
"Blackadder, Stone Age. I have a contact on the extreme edge of DRADIS range. It looks as if… hold one… Sorry, Ma'am, but it jumped away" Stone Age went off the air for a few moments. "I have communications with Dauntless. They report that they have lost power to their thrusters, but landing bays are usable. All damaged craft are to land on the Flimsie as soon as they can. All combat capable Vipers and Raptors are to remain on picket duty in case they come back. CSAR birds are in the air, and are undertaking rescue operations as of this moment" Stone Age said.
"Message received and understood" Blackadder said. She had lost a good many friends this day, and she wanted an enemy in her sights to tear apart. "All aircraft listen up…"
# # # # #
"FTL is online and awaiting your order" Knot said. "All stations are standing by" and Sharpe looked at the flickering DRADIS screen which was showing the debris from both sides.
"Get us out of here" he ordered at last. "Once jump is complete, have the Nightingale send over as many medical personal as possible" and Knot twisted the handle as the ship shuddered throughout its entire self. A number of loud alarms started sounding, and the engineering crew became very concerned about something.
"What in the Lords of Kobol was that?" Bell asked.
"Good question" Sharpe told her. "Alan?" he asked Knot. Knot and Gates started talking to the engineering crew in the CIC, and also to the Chief Engineer down in the bowels of the ship.
"Sir, the FTL has suffered major damage from an explosion. Estimate seven hours at the minimum to effect emergency repairs for a jump" Knot said. Sharpe looked at the print out of all the damage Dauntless had sustained and came to a decision.
"Petty officer Bell, contact the Retribution and the Flimsie and have them hold their jumps. They are to launch all shuttles and Raptors to take off the crew" he said, and all noise in CIC dropped so only the air filters and the deep hum of the sublight engines could be heard. Sharpe picked up the handset and dialled it to intraship. "Attention all hands, this is the Commander. Our FTL drives have been rendered damaged by an explosion. They will take at least 7 hours to repair enough to jump back to the shipyard, but that is too long. I am ordering the complete evacuation of all but the engineering crews from the Dauntless. Shuttles and Raptors are inbound to take you to the Retribution and the Flimsie. Actual out" and he replaced the handset into its holder. "Major Knot, prepare for incoming" and Knot and the rest of the CIC watched as Sharpe spun on his heel and left the CIC.
# # # # #
"The last Raptor is getting ready to depart, Sir" said Knot.
"You had better get on it, Major" Sharpe said. The pair stood in an otherwise empty CIC, with only the consoles humming on idle, air filters or the sweeps of the DRADIS making noise.
"We better get going" Knot agreed, but he turned back when he saw Sharpe wasn't leaving. "Sir?" he questioned the Commander.
"Raptor leaves in four minutes" Sharpe said. "You had better get going" he added.
"Sir?" questioned Knot, "What about you?" he asked.
"Major, I have not yet been relived of the command of this Battlestar" Sharpe said. Knot was stunned and awed for several moments before he snapped to attention, saluted Sharpe and executed a parade turn and walked out of CIC – leaving Sharpe alone with only the DRADIS console beeping during sweeps and consoles beeping and humming.
#
"The Commander?" Blackadder questioned Knot as he walked out to the waiting Raptor.
"He's… staying behind" came the shaky reply. Blackadder and the rest of the Raptor's occupants knew what that implied. Knot climbed aboard and the hatch closed as the Raptor moved upwards to the flight deck.
#
'Raptor 213 is ready to launch' Blackadder's soft voice filtered through the wireless.
"Roger, Raptor 213. You may launch when ready" and Sharpe turned to see Bell sitting at her console.
"I thought I ordered you to disembark" Sharpe said.
"Yes, Sir" Bell replied, her coffee coloured skin even darker in the low level light. "But if the Cylons come, then I'd rather be at my station" and footsteps made Sharpe look at the hatchway to see a heavily bandaged Gates limp through.
"And that goes for me, Sir" she came slowly over to stand in front of Sharpe – Bell right beside her. They both stood at attention and saluted Sharpe. "Lieutenant Gates and Petty Officer Bell, reporting for duty" and Sharpe returned it.
"Thank you, both of you" he said. "Bell get me engineering. Gates, I want a full damage report please – take your time though" and the last three officers set about their work. The damage was about as bad as it could get, and engineering reported it was lucky that the ship had not exploded. Fire suppression was offline in most areas, and a number of sections were vented to space. Sharpe had very gently limped Dauntless away from the planet's gravitational well so it could manoeuvre better.
"DRADIS CONTACT! MULTIPLE VESSELS" shouted Gates.
"Cylons?" asked Sharpe – wondering if they had time to activate the Auto Destruct explosives.
"No, Sir…" said Bell as she received a call.
A/N:
Another chapter of Counter Attack for all to read.
Now before I go on, may I be the first fanfiction .net user to welcome the nation of South Sudan into existence! Welcome aboard people!
Now that is over with…
The results of the Mutiny are showing with a loss of manpower in the fleet, but more pilots are coming through training and new Vipers are being made aboard the Retribution – allowing the older Vs and VIs to be used for shipyard/second line defence. The MK VIIs of the fleet will then do the backbone of the work, but appearance will be made by 'Faith' along with two sisters.
If we have any – and I know there must be some – Stargate SG-1 fans, there is a line from General Hammond located somewhere in this chapter!
# # # # #
The next chapter will be some time in coming because I really want some time off due to not knowing what else to write. Better to leave it now, then do it and have it go bad. I will still be present due to my Worst Witch/Harry Potter crossover fic, I just need to come up with ideas for Counter Attack… give me a fortnight!
Regards
Dauntless Actual
