Battlestar Galactica:New Beginnings

by Phoenix4416

Now an original book on amazon called Ashes of Humanity: Phoenix. The Graystones survived in secrecy preparing for the Cylons possible return, then one day 40 years after armistice was signed, the Cylons launched their assault on the Colonies. Would their preparations be enough to turn the tide of war? would the colonies be forced to run and if they did would more survive?

13. Chapter 13 An Odyssey Begins

Chapter 13 An Odyssey Begins

Ragnar

Battlestar Galactica

The CIC of the Battlestar Galactica was a hive of activity as dozens of officers and crewmembers struggled through a rising tide of work; damage control personnel dragged high capacity cables into place and replaced hard drives and consoles while communications officers redirected reports from not only the entire ship but the entire fleet whether it be civilian or military. Thankfully the problem of the civilian fleet's reports were lessened thanks to General Antonius having sufficiently organised this fleet by placing his own soldiers and marines on the civilian vessels in order to control that only important reports were transmitted and even then that they would be transmitted towards the Marinestars already present in the civilian fleet. If the messages were then deemed important enough they were then retransmitted to the Galactica. But still, there were more than 500 civilian ships in the fleet and that meant that there was still dozens of seemingly important messages coming through to the Galactica. In what would have seemed to an outside observer to be an island of calm in the centre of the CIC, Rear Admiral Adama glanced towards Petty Officer Dualla, a headset clamped tight over her black hair as she redirected the efforts of the fleet as per his commands. Adama was pleasantly surprised to see that despite everything today was throwing at not just humanity but at her, that she still managed to keep her head down and work through an increased workload. Pulling himself back to the moment Adama turned back towards the central console and the officers clustered around it, he got to work.

"…29 just jumped in. the Yarbrough fleet has managed to salvage 2 destroyers, a light cruiser, 3 heavies, and one Battlestar…the Crucible. That's in addition to 19 civilian vessels including a refinery and 2 mining vessels. Commander Benjamin has already sent them to the rendezvous point and is currently concentrating on getting another two Battlestars and 9 other ships operational…" Lieutenant Gaeta read from a report before Adama interrupted him.

"Have Raptor 129 jump back and tell Benjamin she has five minutes to get those ships out of there. We no longer have the time to get any more".

"Yes sir", Gaeta said as he moved off to transmit the order.

Turning to Tigh, Adama asked, "Any word on Nemea?"

Shaking his head Tigh replied, "Not from them or our Raptor. But a civie ship did report that Nemea was engaged in a mass evacuation as per your orders, we should be hearing back from tem any minute".

Before Adama had a chance to reply, Dee called out, "Admiral, Boomer has just set off from Colonial One with The President, Doctor Baltar and Mr Doral…Captain Lee Adama is escorting, eta is 2 minutes".

"Tell Apollo that as soon as the President's landed he is to take command of Vigilante Squadron". The Vigilantes were one of only 3 squadrons in the entire fleet that were still able to fly at anywhere near full strength. The other two being Challenger squadron out of the Battlestar Talon which thanks to jumping to Ragnar earlier than the rest of the fleet, had been given time to rearm and refuel most of its surviving Vipers, and the other was Argos Squadron which was now for the first time in the war flying as one squadron instead of its pilots being spread throughout the entire fleet. However only 23 Argonauts had survived this far and of them 8 were currently unable to fly mainly due to radiation sickness or injuries sustained. 23 pilots out of an original 102 in active service throughout all Colonial Space.

Lieutenant Gaeta came back to the plot table, "Admiral, Valkyrie reports that all known Centurions have been destroyed, marines are running a full sweep…"

Glancing at a much stained clock on the wall of the CIC, Admiral Adama interrupted, "Then we can't wait anymore. Lieutenant ensures all ships have received jump coordinates and have them begin jumping in assigned sections…"

"DRADIS CONTACTS!" a young petty officer called out, "It's Raptors 426 and 519…"

Dualla called out, "Sidewinder confirms visual…we're receiving audio".

Sharing a look with Saul, Adama told Dualla to open a channel.

"Galactica, Hammerhead. Nemea needs immediate assistance in recovery efforts…"

A sick feeling started to grow in Adama's stomach as he asked, "How many Basestars are we looking at?"

A second later Hammerhead replied, "None sir. You're not going to believe this but the Battlestar Valiant just jumped in. They're in bad shape sir and not everyone can be evacuated at the moment. Nemea is currently engaging in recovery operations."

"Valiant was at Caprica. Stone said all contact was lost and she was drifting…" Saul informed Adama, "…right now though, we could do with having all the Battlestars we can get hold of".

Nodding, Adama was about to quickly weigh up the options, not that there was many when he realised that they needed to at least try to recover the Mercury Class Battlestar, "Colonel, recall Vigilante and Argos squadron and get me jump coordinates for Virgon and have Defiant, Lancer and Pike break formation. All other ships are to continue with previously established jump".

Tigh started calling out orders to the various CIC personnel allowing for the fleet to break in two. Turning to Dualla, the Admiral said, "Send a message to Commander Stone that she is now in charge of the fleet…"

Cylon Resurrection Ship Alpha

Walking into the Resurrection ship's CIC, The number One, John Cavil was greeted by a sight that resembled the CIC's of the average Basestar. Moving to the central console, a white robe surrounding his wrinkly body, sticky from the amniotic fluid that had sustained this new body before he inhabited it, he called out, "How bad is it?"

Looking up from the pulsing red pool into which her hand was immersed providing her with all the information she needed, Natalie replied, "You heard Field Marshal Montgomery?"

"The whole fracking universe heard him! What I want to know is…"

Snapping her hand out of the pool, Natalie turned a stone cold glare towards him, "You want to know how bad it is? We've lost over a 180 Basestars since we attacked, and at least another 50 will need to be scrapped. On top of that we've lost two thirds of our Raiders, and more than ninety percent of our nuclear stockpile, and to make matters worse, we're seeing massive overloads and dropouts in our Resurrection ships due to the amount of incoming Cylons and those that do make it are using up all the bodies we have…"

Marcus Conoy offered a solution, "We're going to need to purge the buffers, and then box all the minds that we can as soon as we get them…"

Natalie turned to him, "You've got to be kidding me, that's death to thousands of our brothers and sisters…"

"I don't like it but if we don't, we could lose almost hundreds of thousands and the ability to resurrect. Our buffers can only take so much".

"But what you're suggesting…"

"Will ensure the survival of our race", moving towards Natalie, Marcus Conoy beseechingly said, "Sister, you know it's the only way…" his hands moving to cover hers, still wet from the conductive gel of the interface "…and there will still be a chance that we can save some of those we purge from the buffers. We need your vote".

Tears forming in her eyes, Natalie begged, "Please don't ask this of me…please, you're asking me to murder thousands of our people…"

Almost whispering to her, "To save millions".

Members of the other models, the command council of the Cylons were gathered around them, each model having agreed to the purge. They saw Natalie whisper something to Conoy before he stepped away, his palms stroking against the backs of her palms. Turning to them, Marcus announced, "We purge the buffers".

A five moved to the interface and began the purge effectively ending the live of 81000 Cylons skinjobs, centurions, raiders and hybrids alike, while Marcus turned to John saying, "There's something that you should know, as you know the Colony was rammed by Atlantia and took multiple nuclear detonations. Atlantia was destroyed and the Colony still stands but it's in bad shape. Roughly half of the internal superstructure was destroyed or damaged in some way although it doesn't look like that from outside and to make matters worse it's lost jump capability. It's going to be at least a day before we can jump it. Effectively the Colony's a sitting duck. If the Colonials attack with what they have right now then the Colony's fracked".

The statement hit John like a centurion's punch, "How many ships are guarding the Colony?"

"32 Basestars. The most seriously damaged ones. The rest are currently continuing Leonis' bombardment. Even with everything we have at our disposal, if the Colonists attack us right now with what we suspect they have left then…"

Hate bleeding from his eyes, Cavil asked, "Then?"

"Then I believe…we would lose. Our ships are just too badly damaged. On the surface many look fine but internally we're struggling to keep them from blowing up".

Leaning onto a chrome console, and glaring into the depths of the conductive fluid, Cavil heard an eight ask what Conoy suggested.

Measuring his words, Conoy replied "Time. We need time to repair the worst of the damage before we even consider deploying our ships…"

Smashing his hand into the pool of conductive liquid and shattering his knuckles in the process, Cavil, with rage seething into his words, forced out "No! We continue the attack. If we pause now, even for an hour then the Colonials will know how badly hurt we are, they'll be upon us like Vultures. But if we attack Virgon with everything we can, then we can keep the Colonials off balance. And since the Colonials like suicide attacks so much, if it comes to it we'll ram their ships with our most badly damaged Basestars. But whatever we do, we must, must destroy their Colonies. Once they're destroyed, then this fleet they have been assembling won't have a safe harbour and won't be able to sustain itself and the Colonists, the Colonists will become nothing more than a footnote in history".

"But…" an eight began.

"No buts! If we lose momentum then we lose the war and I am not losing this war".

Virgon Orbit

Battlestar Galactica

Jumping into a stable orbit over the primarily blue world that was Virgon, the Battestars Galactica and Defiant and their two escorts Lancer and Pike came under the immediate scrutiny of a number of orbital defensive installations. These defensive satellites, some measuring up to 500 cubic metres were now under manual control thanks to the late Admiral Nagala placing crewmembers on board once the effects of the Cylon backdoor virus had become known. All told there were 24 satellites around Virgon and 2 space stations. Satellites and space stations designed to work in conjunction with at least 3 Battlestar Groups. Messages went flying back and forth from Galactica and the satellites verifying that they were Colonial Fleet warships and for just a few fleeting moments the crews of the Satellites felt some measure of hope enter their lives as it looked like the Colonial Fleet was going to make their last stand here, but that was not to be as the Colonial warships moved to intercept a gigantic construct 1 light second from Virgon.

Travelling both slightly ahead and behind the small group of warships were the Vipers of Vigilante and Argos squadron which were being joined by more Vipers and Raptors from the Defiant. These Vipers started to form a third formation travelling slightly "above" the two Battlestars, this formation was however only half of the Defiant's Saber squadron since of those Vipers that had made it, a good proportion were currently down for repairs. In order to make up for this shortfall in Vipers, any Viper not from the Defiant which had taken refuge on her and was still capable of combat was filling in the gaps, temporarily making them part of Saber Squadron. Commanding Vigilante Squadron was Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama, Argos Squadron was Major Alice 'Shadow' Fermi and commanding Saber Squadron was Captain Helena 'Panther' Phillips since the officer who should have been commanding Saber Squadron, Captain Cain, was instead flying with Argos Squadron ever since they had been reformed into the one unit.

Stood in the CIC of Galactica, Rear Admiral Adama watched the Dradis monitors as his small group of warships steadily approached the mighty Battlestation Nemea and the smaller collection of primarily civilian Tugs around it. Adama knew that these Tugs had been taken from the shipyards here at Virgon in order to help with the war effort and it was evident that some had already been put to work since 7 of the 9 Tugs were attached to mooring points on several civilian vessels which from their aspects appeared to be ships not designed with jumpdrives. Adama then saw the other two Tugs 75km away from Nemea anchoring themselves to a heavily damaged Mercury Class (same as Pegasus) Battlestar, the Valiant.

"Admiral, I've got a lot of comm traffic coming our way…" Dee called out, "…most of it is civilian, but I've also got secure connections from Virgon command and Nemea".

Turning to her, Admiral Adama asked, "Anything from Valiant?"

Double checking the wireless board and the information coming in from the Tugs attaching themselves to Valiant, Dee replied "Negative sir, at least not directly from Valiant. The Tug Shetland reports that the locations of the wireless hard points are currently craters. However Shetland is currently in contact with Valiant via LTC". (Laser Targeted Communications)

"Very well, have Shetland act as a relay with Valiant and ask them what the status is of the Valiant. And patch me in with Nemea and Virgon Command". As Dee got to work Adama dreaded what he was about to say to Virgon Command, but he knew it needed to be said.

"You're on Admiral" Dee notified him.

Picking up the handset, Adama inverted it wrapping the cord around the black plastic and spoke, "Virgon Command, this is Galactica Actual…"Adama saw as a woman he had met earlier who had seemed little more than a politician, now walked into the CIC displaying a level of strength he had never seen in a politician in a very long time. For just a moment it seemed to him that she may have once been a Viper Pilot but that thought soon passed as he couldn't really picture her in a jocks BDUs. Following closely behind her was her aide Billy, a disturbed looking Doctor Gaius Baltar and a man who had been very active on Galactica in recent months as she was being converted into a museum and who now should be able to help Adama know just what changes had been made to her, Aaron Doral. Nodding to the President and waving her over, Adama motioned for an ensign to set her up with a headset as he continued, "…I am sorry to tell you that the Cylons will soon turn their sights to Virgon. They're coming and…and we can't stop them. I hope you understand that if we stood any chance then we would stand and fight here but the truth is…" The truth was it was hard for Adama to admit the truth to the military leaders on Virgon and to his President, but he had to try, "…the truth us that we are heavily outnumbered and we gave our all at Leonis. Every single warship is struggling to hold together, if we stand here then the chances of us eventually winning this war will be slim". During all this President Roslin was looking into Adama's eyes seeing not a defeated man, but a man that was struggling to keep his head and do the right thing. She could easily tell that he would want nothing more than to stand here and do everything he could in order to stop the Cylons, even fighting hand to hand if he had to but she saw that he knew his responsibilities to the continued existence of humanity far outweighed his responsibilities to one colony, even if this was the last of the twelve colonies of man not hit by the Cylons.

She heard the reply come back from the military leadership of Virgon at the same time Adama did, "Galactica/Virgon. We…we understand. We aren't happy but we understand. Do you need any assistance?"

Adama had to admire the man, even though he knew that the Cylons were on the way and that the Colonial Fleet or at least it's remnants would have to abandon them to the Cylons nuclear fires, that he would still offer assistance to the Colonial Fleet. Replying, Adama said, "If you could provide us with any Tylium and ammunition, in particular nuclear missiles, I would be grateful. Anything that you think might be of use to us. And may I ask who it is I am speaking to".

It was a couple of seconds before the man replied, "General Boskow. I'm already sending you every fuel tanker we can spare. We're going to dispatch another two Viking class transports from Treblinka and Yanisk (two cities with military bases) with as much ammunition as we can spare but it's not going to be much. Maybe enough to rearm two, maybe three Battlestars but that's it. I don't want to do this, Gods we're going to need them ourselves…Frak it. Admiral I'm redirecting 3 Anacondas your way, transmitting codes now. There's about fifty doctors and med students on board them plus med supplies, I'm afraid that's about all I can give, resources are spread thinly already with the evacuations…"

It was at this point that Baltar after staring into thin air behind himself suddenly snapped his head round to face Adama and made it known that he wished to speak. "General, I have Doctor Baltar here…"

Baltar in his own chaotic way started to speak, "General, you need to secure the seed banks at Middlehaven university and any staff there. They're GM seeds, I'm no expert but I'm given to understand that if you need to start growing food in sparse conditions, maybe in a forest or cave, then these may be ideal".

"Who should I secure them for, us or the fleet?"

Baltar looked to his right, something which momentarily piqued Adama's interest until the Doctor started rubbing his neck as if he had a crick in it, which given his current appearance didn't really surprise the Admiral. Baltar then turned back to the plot table saying, "The Fleet. There is another cache somewhere in the Alps frozen in permafrost…I'm not sure of the location but it…"

The General interrupted him, "Doctor, I've found the files. Is it called Eden?"

"YES, yes!" Baltar suddenly exclaimed.

"Admiral, I'm redirecting a Boa to secure the seeds at Middlehaven. The files say they're in shipping containers...I'll have them with you within ten minutes". A boa was a large military transport with limited jump capabilities.

Nodding, Adama replied "Thank you General, I know it's a lot to ask for". Looking at Baltar, Adama gave a brief nod of thanks.

"Admiral…" General Boskow started "When do you think you will be able to return?"

It was a question that Adama would have rather avoided but he knew he had to answer it if only to reassure those with Boskow right then, "To be honest, I don't know. It's likely going to be months, maybe…maybe years. We're going to need a superior tactical advantage WHEN we return since we're likely to be outnumbered. But know this General, the Cylons aren't invincible. If we fight as we have done with what we have left, then we will win this war. We're just too badly damaged right now".

It was a couple of seconds before Boskow replied, "I understand, I really do. We'll just have to work out a way in order to survive until you do return. With any luck we'll be able to maintain relations with Leonis".

"You'll find a way", Adama replied and he knew they would, "If you'll excuse me, I'll put you through to…" looking at Laura Roslin, the former school teacher turned secretary of education and now, "…the President".

Adama gestured for Dee to privatise the comm as he then got in touch with Valiant via Shetland. Since Valliant's wireless was down, all contact was conducted through text messages sent via Lasers on Shetland and Valiant as well as receiving plates. "Dee, how badly damaged is Valiant?"

Handing Adama the data she had only just received from Shetland, Dee replied "It's bad sir, they've lost their primary generator and the secondary is on its last legs, they're down to just a quarter of their jump coils. They've got damage throughout the ship and…"

Interrupting her as he himself read through the report, Adama asked "Are any of their landing bays functioning? I want Perry over here, I could do with his help". Admiral Perry was a brilliant commander that had done the best he could at Caprica with what he had. Adama knew that it could have been a lot worse for the rest of the fleet if Perry hadn't fought the way he did.

A pained expression came to Dee's face as she replied, "The Lower Starboard Flightdeck is currently the only one that's undamaged but Admiral Perry is currently in a critical condition, sir. The Valliant's acting CMO reports that he's not likely to make it. At the moment they're trying to get him to the flightdeck but there's a lot of damage in between them…"

"DRADIS CONTACTS!" Gaeta called out, "Reading 3 Cylon Raiders at 210 krypter…" as Gaeta called out their positions, positions that were scattered across local space, Adama knew this for what it was, a recon run. The Cylons were just testing the water, checking to make sure there wasn't another virus in effect as there had been at Leonis. Evidently there wasn't as they started jumping out, but what there was, was a network of defensive satellites, one of which managed to destroy a raider before it jumped.

Adama got to work straight away, "Colonel, get Nemea to pick up Valiant right now, we don't have time anymore and get our Vipers in defensive positions around the fleet…" picking up the phone which was still connected to General Boskow, "…General we're out of time. I'm sorry".

Almost straight away thousands of Raiders jumped in right on top of the satellites and the fleet launching tens of thousands of missiles at them before jumping out. Galactica started chewing out as much flak as she could as did every satellite and ship in the area, destroying as many of the missiles as they could, but it wasn't enough. Galactica started to tremble under the hits as small conventional missiles struck her flank. Gripping the plot table, Adama saw a handful of satellites wink out of existence as a number of nuclear missiles struck them, he was only thankful that the nukes aimed at his own ships had been taken care of.

A handful of seconds later the dradis monitors flashed as thousands of Raiders jumped in again, but this time they were in a large centralised formation 10 km from the Galactica and her small fleet. This time the Raiders were joined by the sharp profiles of 40 Cylon Basestars. Due to the position they had jumped in at, the Basestars were just outside of the surviving Satellites effective weapons range. Seeing the Raiders start their own approach towards his own ships, Adama ordered, "Have Vigilante and Argos squadrons move in, but they're to stay within our cover, all others are to stay in their current positions and keep our broadsides facing the enemy".

Argos Squadron

Cain's blood was pumping as he stayed with his squadron on approach to the newly arrived Cylon Raiders. Using what time he had left, Cain double checked his instruments and his position relative to both his wingman Lt. John 'Thumper' McCann and his squadron. As the kilometres ticked down to contact and he took in the thousands of Raiders facing him, walls of flak overshot his Viper and started hitting the Raiders, walls of flak fired from the surviving satellites and Galactica's small group. It did seem, if only for a moment that enough Raiders would be taken out before he even hit them but that notion was short-lived.

"Alright Argonauts, lets show these frackers why we're the best. Keep your bursts short and watch your fuel, we're on a budget here people" his CAG Major Simon 'Buzzer' Thurlow said over the wireless.

When only one Kilometre separated them, Phoenix opened fire as did every member of both Argos and Vigilante Squadron, their fire impacting the first ranks of the Raiders. The vibrations of the rounds leaving his Viper in short sharp bursts reverberated through Cain reassuring him that his Viper, a Viper that was ancient by today's standards, was working as it should. Then the Raiders started firing their own missiles towards the Vipers. Cain just caught sight on his dradis as the twelve Raptors that had been holding steady just behind dropped back a few hundred metres, some of them firing missiles just before they did and all of them activating their electronic warfare suites disrupting the paths of roughly a quarter of the Cylons missiles. Although a quarter doesn't sound like much, a lot had been learnt since the start of the war two hours ago when the colonials were lucky enough to just knock out a tenth.

Then in no time at all the Raiders were upon Vigilante squadron which was slightly ahead of Argos. As part of the Raider formation started to collapse in upon Vigilante, Buzzer ordered "All Vipers break starboard. BREAK, BREAK, BREAK!"

Pulling hard on his stick, Phoenix joined the rest of his squadron in turning away from the Raiders still heading towards them and into the rear of the Raiders which were collapsing onto Vigilante squadron. It was a risky manoeuvre that left Argos' flanks open to attack but if executed properly…

"Choose your targets and…FIRE!" In short bursts Phoenix started firing on the Raiders that were attacking the Vigilante Vipers, risking hitting friendly forces but successfully managing to take out or damage four Raiders. Already Vigilantes formation was starting to break down as its pilots broke up into its two man teams.

"FLIP, FLIP, FLIP!" Upon receipt of those orders, every Argonaut, Phoenix included fired their manoeuvring jets, snapping their Vipers into a reverse heading and bringing their guns to bear upon the Raiders which had turned to follow them into Vigilantes clash with their own Raiders. Phoenix didn't need any notification in order to fire his own guns at these Raiders, streaks of golden rounds flashing towards the chrome hulls of his enemy and joining the firing of the rest of his squadron. As a Raider was split down it's red line and dozens of others started to follow suit right across the formation, Cain realised that the manoeuvre had been executed perfectly. Raiders which had managed to pull out of the lines of fire were forced into the tracks of other Raiders, either scraping along their hulls or smashing them in two. The entire Raider formation seemed to break down as it struggled around this front rank and Argos squadron was quick to pounce as they dived into their own chaotic dances with the Raiders, it was only now that Argos squadron broke down into wings and wingmates.

Across the battlefield Raiders and Basestars, Basestars which had been heavily damaged at Leonis and were just being held together, jumped on top of the defensive satellites. The Raiders fired everything they could at the Satellites which in return focused their might upon the Basestars. But the Basestars weren't the problem in this battle, as the Satellites fired hundreds of missiles at them, it was the Raiders focusing their fire on specific parts of each station and joining that fire with hundreds of missiles that was the problem. Hull plating started to overheat and fracture from the amount of fire lacing it and then seemed to crumble under such might. As the first of the Basestars started to explode, the Raiders damage to the stations seemed like it was complete as the underlying structures of the stations were revealed, it was this that the Raiders were after as they launched dozens of nuclear missiles at it before jumping out.

From such a close range and against so many missiles the satellites stood little chance and the crews on board were hoping that the armoured plating would keep out the worst of the damage, not realising that there were now holes in this protection until it was too late. Millions of tonnes worth of satellites disappeared in glowing clouds of energy and jagged chunks of shrapnel. With them went the Galactica's small group's cover as well as Leonis second to last line of defence.

By now the crew of Nemea had managed to get the station in line with the damaged Battlestar Valiant and were beginning to close upon this once mighty warship, whilst at the same time Galactica, Defiant and their two support ships covered Nemea from 'above'. It was only now that the threat of the satellites had been taken care of that the waiting Basestars started their advance towards this group. Finally Adama could bring in his big guns, "Colonel, have all ships target the closest Basestars and open fire. And get Nemea to get their arses moving, we can't hold off this many ships".

Colonel Tigh got to work straight away calling out orders to the various stations and took note of the marine guard around the CIC being reinforced, something that allowed him to see that some of the marines weren't from Galactica and were sporting some injuries. "Gaeta, who are those marines?" Tigh pointed out the three that had caught his attention.

Turning away from his duties to look at them Gaeta replied, "Survivors we picked up at Leonis, Colonel. Mathias wanted veterans guarding the CIC". It was strange to Saul to hear that there were already veterans in the rank and file fleet, but then he realised that if you'd managed to survive this long in this new war, even if it was two hours, then you could call yourself a veteran. But he also realised that same reasoning that seemed to work with the fleet didn't exactly cover the marines, instead with the marines it was only those that had fought the Cylons that could be ranked as veterans, something that none of Galactica's or BSG16's marines had done. Turning back to his duties calling out orders that realigned Galactica's point defences onto paths that would destroy the missiles that were now being fired from the Basestars, Tigh never noticed as Aaron Doral silently moved around the plot table.

One person did notice though. One person who had seen that face before.

This person saw Doral move to stand just behind a Junior Lieutenant, his hands in a perfect position, Doral snapped his right hand forward, ripping the lieutenant's sidearm out of it's holster while at the same time his left arm went around the lieutenant's body pulling him tight against his own so as to protect his torso from any bullets that may come from the front. As Doral brought the sidearm up to bear upon a now startled Admiral Adama who was stood across the plot table from Doral, Colonel Tigh stood next to Adama attempted to push him to the ground but it was to be a pointless action, there just wasn't the time, Adama would die.

Doral's thumb flipped the safety off with his thumb and started to squeeze the trigger in one fluid movement as the FN-57 was pulled into alignment with Adama's forehead as a sharp retort split the CIC, bone and brain matter exploding onto the plot table and covering Tigh's face.

Adama stood motionless as blood dripped down from his forehead seeing the carcass of Aaron Doral slump to the ground pulling the Lieutenant down with him. Behind Doral at the entrance to the CIC, lowering the now smoking barrel of his MGAT to the ground as half a dozen weapons were brought to align on him, Staff Sergeant Lucas Monroe, a marine recently arrived from the Battlestar Atlantia was relieved to hear Adama order, "Lower your weapons!" Immediately upon hearing the order and seeing that it wasn't Monroe that was the threat, the Marines lowered their weapons, two moving forward to help the Lieutenant disentangle himself from Doral's now almost totally headless corpse, the Lieutenant covered in blood and visibly shaking, partly with relief and partly with disgust. Adama shared a deep look with Monroe, his blue eyes melding into Monroe's brown, and a nod was shared before Adama returned to controlling the space battle and Monroe returned to his post at the main entrance to the CIC, Mathias patting him on his back.

Vigilante Squadron

Pulling her Viper into a sharp turn and keeping on Captain George 'Headcase' Hodge's wing, Starbuck fired a quick burst into the path of a passing Raider, scoring a line of hit's down it's port wing and causing a small explosion which tore it off. There wasn't time for Starbuck to slow down which meant that she was forced to pass through the flailing guts of the Raider which splattered against the hull of her MK-II. Headcase kept his flying steady as he slipped into a perfect killing spot on a Raider in front of him squeezing his trigger and destroying the Raiders engines before both he and Starbuck dived 'down' and past the tumbling wreckage. This allowed Starbuck to overtake Headcase so that he was now covering her wing.

Seeing a viper in trouble as two Raiders curved around and onto it's tail, Starbuck saw a chance and decided to take it, rotating her viper around it's horizontal axis and pulling up on her stick, she fired three bursts of rounds into the paths of the Raiders, clipping the one raider and destroying the rear raider. Jerking her stick to the left, Starbuck just managed to avoid a passing Viper flown by Apollo which tore past her after destroying the first Raider. She didn't get a chance to take a breath as she wanted to as a Raider threw itself into her path firing it's cannons as it did so. Reacting instantly, Starbuck returned fire and pulled hard on her stick, adding in a hard burst from her manoeuvring thrusters in order to pull herself out of the line of fire and ordering, "Headcase, BREAK BREAK, BREAK!". Her Viper rotated out of the line of fire and her own shots connected with the Raider as the Raiders flashing rounds slipped by her cockpit just inches from her head, but these same shots continued onwards hitting a Viper that was lacked in it's own battle and splitting it's rear port engine throwing the Viper into a chaotic spin before the Pilot got it back under control just in time to avoid the killing shots of a Raider that had kept hard to it.

Battlestar Galactica, CIC

The Dradis flashed as hundreds of Raiders jumped on top of Galactica, Defiant, Nemea and the small group of ships supporting them at the same time that hundreds of missiles were pouring towards their flanks. Directing the Squadrons he had kept in reserve towards these newcomers, and redirecting the fire of some of his point defences, Adama watched as both the Raiders and some Vipers started disappearing from the Dradis monitors. His focus on the Raiders and Vipers, Adama didn't see a Raptor 20km away jump out.

By now the Basestars were close enough that Galactica and her group were being repeatedly hammered by hundreds of conventional missiles, which while being deadly, Adama knew the Galactica and the Defiant could handle for now. The ship that couldn't handle it he well knew was the Battlestar Valiant which the Cylons were hammering with an almost countless number of conventional missiles. Less than three kilometres separated Valiant from relative safety as Nemea closed on her, but it was three kilometres he wasn't sure she would make.

All of a sudden Gaeta called out "Radiological Alarm! Ten…no fifteen nukes inbound on Valiant",

"Redirect Saber Squadron's green wing towards those missiles…" Adama ordered.

Calculating the distances as Gaeta carried out the orders, Tigh said, "They won't make it, they're too far off".

Adama knew they were, he also knew that by the time his point defences had gotten a firing solution on these missiles and fired that it would be too late. The only way to stop them would be if either Valiant or the tugs locked to her could fire at the missiles, but that was impossible. Valiant didn't have any working guns and the Tugs were defenceless, they were to put it bluntly, fracked.

As the missiles closed to within 7 kilometres of Valiant the Dradis burst to life with a new contact just 1 kilometre above Valiant-spitting distance in space terms. Adama nearly choked as he read the name of this new contact even as Gaeta called out, "New contact, Medstar Panacea".

As soon as the Medstar Panacea jumped in, their location perfect thanks to a Raptor having delivered to them the intel they needed, her point defences, one of the only things to have any ammunition, opened up on the nuclear missiles swatting a great many from existence. Yet still two made it through to strike against Panacea's heavily armoured hull, the blinding flashes lighting up space and shaking the Medstar to her very core before a calm seemed to descend upon the Galactica-like ship as the explosions died down. On board her, quickly organised DC teams, many of whom had just had their commissions reactivated at the Boneyards, quickly got to work shutting down and repairing areas that had been damaged by the nuclear impacts and putting out any fires.

Adama, a man who it was hard to shock, stood in shock yet again that day as he took in the fact that a ship that had faced certain destruction from fifteen nuclear missiles had been saved by a strange turn of fate in the form of the Medstar Panacea. He was shook from that shock as Galactica shook under the assault of the thirty five remaining Basestars.

Argos/Vigilante Squadrons

Jinking his Viper away from a twisting Raider, Phoenix fed a small amount of shots into a passing sickle shaped craft as he continued his turn in order to keep with his wingmate. All around him was a chaotic mass of tumbling Raiders and Vipers. Thumpers engines flared brightly as he forced his Viper to speed up and then flipped into a ninety degree angle in order to chase down a Raider. As he went to follow, Cain threw his Viper into a starboard turn and swept past the nose of a Raptor that was risking the battlefield in order to rescue an ejected pilot, he silently nodded his appreciation of the pilot as he continued after Thumper, destroying a Raider that had managed to pull in behind him.

On board the Raptor, Boomer was in top form as she brought the ship next to a drifting pilot, her new ECO, Crashdown throwing open the hatch in order to drag the pilot in and free of his chair before closing the hatch. As soon as she felt the vibration of the hatch closing, Boomer launched the Raptor away from this chaotic dance with death that the Vipers and Raiders were fighting, sometimes having to dance around them as she struggled to a new safer location. It could easily be argued that the job of an SAR Raptor was the hardest in the fleet.

Passing in front of Boomer, Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama cleared a safe path for Boomer, his heartbeat racing from the adrenaline coursing through his veins keeping him alert to passing Raiders and missiles. Once it was clear that they were clear, Apollo pulled up and over the Raptor and dived back into the chaotic battle just in time to see the Viper of Argos CAG Major Simon 'Buzzer' Thurlow get pounced upon by five Raiders coming from different directions. Pulling left then right and rolling upwards Buzzer was able to avoid the fire of three of them while destroying a fourth before Lee was able to lend his assistance clipping one of them with a line of rounds then destroying two others, but it was an unseen Raider that was Buzzer's downfall as it struck from above, it's shots cratering the nose of Buzzer's Viper before it swept past him. As Apollo turned to pursue he was glad to see Buzzer eject from the wreckage of the Viper.

Yet again that day Phoenix found himself as the most senior officer of the squadron he was in as he discovered from Defiant's wireless operator. Firing his guns at a Raider that had almost ended his captaincy as it closed on him, the thick red of it's guts slapped against his screen as he continued on to close on another Raider. He was now more aware than ever that he was running out of ammunition just as he knew many in Argos Squadron would be. "Argonauts/Phoenix. Roll Call people" this was the command for every surviving Argonaut to let him know they were still alive.

Immediately they started calling in; Thumper, Beetle, Dinger, Spiceman, Scary , Silverstep , Singer. That was it. That's all that had managed to survive Cain discovered much to his disappointment as he turned to continue his attack on a passing Raider.

Firing everything he could at a Raider that was intent on his death, Apollo was momentarily blinded by a bright flash as a nuclear missile flared against Pike's hull. Pulling his Viper to the right out of instinct as he was blinded and hopefully out of the Raiders line of fire, Apollo's Viper continued onwards. Then flipped end over end as a Raider smashed against his engines, the Raider splitting in two, and safeties in the Viper's engines thankfully shutting them down.

Galactica CIC

"Nemea has Valiant! Her doors are shut" Gaeta called over to Colonel Tigh. Hearing this Adama ordered Nemea to jump and for the recall of all Vipers. They had to get out of here right now.

Argos/Vigilante Squadron

"…combat landings authorised".

Hearing these orders over the wireless Phoenix ordered his squadron to pull back to Galactica as he himself struggled free of a dance he was engaged in with two Raiders, one behind and the other in front. Jerking to starboard he roared away from them as his engines consumed what must be by now Tylium fumes.

As she cleared over and then under three deadly Raiders, Starbuck hit them with everything she had, before she chased down two missiles that one had fired at a drifting and heavily damaged Viper that she knew was Apollo's. Squeezing her trigger, her rounds connected with them whilst se missed the voice on her wireless. Steadying out Starbuck shouted "What?"

The gravelly voice of Adama answered "What do you hear Starbuck?"

A mad glee descended over her causing Kara to burst out laughing as her hull chimed under the sounds of thousands of miniscule bits of debris impacting off of it, "Nothing but the rain, sir".

"Then grab your gun and bring in the cat!"

"Roger that, Sir"

For once Starbuck knew what to do as the Vipers of Galactica tore past her and towards the safety of the small fleet. Accelerating past Apollo and flipping over much to Apollo's concern as he saw Starbuck start accelerating towards him, Starbuck sped towards him linking them via their guns before her own thrust carried them towards Galactica's waiting deck.

As he passed Starbuck, Phoenix knew it was manoeuvres like them that were the reason why she was one of the best pilots in the colonies. With them being the last pilots to come crashing back to Galactica's deck, the small group started jumping out leaving just Galactica and the Cylons.

Activating the wireless, Adama said "Virgon, we will return. I promise you, just hold on". Turning to Tigh he ordered the jump.

Cylon Command Basestar, Virgon

Seeing the last significant threat jump out of the battlefield was a disappointment to Cavil, he wanted to end Adama here, today. Instead he would have to settle for ending Virgon, which given the time they had to prepare would be easier said than done. Virgon would need Centurions even after the nukes had fallen, it would be a long, drawn out war, but it would be winnable. At least that's what he told himself. Turning to his brothers and sisters, John Cavil gave the order to commence Virgon's bombardment.

It would be another half hour before it would be complete as millions of colonials vanished in flashes of bright white light before the nuclear missiles.

Going unseen by both the Cylons and the Colonials in her hidden position, and with her mission complete after that half hour was over, Odyssey departed Colonial space, chasing after the Colonial fleet and her own fleet. A long, dangerous journey was ahead.

Hope you liked that chapter. Now begins season 1. In this chapter I tried to show that the Cylons were as close to defeat as the Colonials and that in this fanfic, if Adama had stayed and fought then it was possible that he could have won. Reviews are appreciated.