I'm still working on writing combat scenes, so my writing style is going to change a little from last chapter.
Part 5:
Nanderson:
The Apollo orbited one hundred meters over Crete's green-white dome with the escorting vipers holding formation at around a thousand meters. They were low enough for anyone standing on its surface to feel a downdraft, though the altitude was necessary for Apollo to function as a 'back wall' against any raiders that got through. Through a camera mounted on the port side Nanderson kept one eye on the evacuation. Crowds were gathered around four of the ships while a group of workers hurriedly loaded cargo onto the fifth, an atmospheric capable freighter.
"Call from fleet command" Windser said, and handed Nanderson a handset.
Nanderson said "this is Apollo-actual."
"Apollo-actual, this is Vindication-control. What is your ETA to completed evacuation?"
Nanderson leaned over to check Mackinay's station. "Forty minutes" he said.
"The cylons just jumped in with overwhelming force, make it thirty."
Nanderson instinctively look skyward, his jaw slack in horror. "Understood, Vindication-command. Apollo-actual out." He handed the handset back to Windser. "Get on the horn with the civvie skippers. Tell them to hurry it up or we'll be neck-deep in toasters." She went pale and nodded.
Huxton:
The mood in the CIC was grim as the armada of cylon warships expanded to envelope the much smaller colonial battlegroup. Marlay was receiving transmissions from every ship they had frantically requesting orders or permission to begin spinning up FTL. Huxton fixated on the DRADIS display and tuned the flashing lights and sounds, an ability he'd spent much time perfecting. "Elliot, what is the status and makeup of the cylon fleet?"
Cage replied "Eight basestars, thirty cruisers, and four BC's. Range is one hundred eighty thousand klicks and closing. The toasters are fanning out, but in general CBDR, lead ship will be in range in twenty minutes." The variables of this engagement churned through his brain: the size of the cylon force, the composition, its deployment, and the latest ETA until the completion of the evacuation of personnel and materials from Crete. After several seconds of consideration and internal debate he had a strategy formed.
"Marlay, I'm ordering all ships to form up over Crete at low orbit level, bastion formation. The flak field range is fifty klicks for BG-1, twenty-five klicks for BG-2, and we're holding the fighters in the tubes for now. Designate the basestars Tower's One through Eight."
"We're staying?" Marlay asked incredulously.
"Yes we are, we leave no one behind. Oh, and have the ECM ships switch from comms jamming to sensory interference" he said.
"Yes sir." She began relaying his orders. Their ships closed up formation. The light cruisers swiveled so their bow cannons would point directly at the incoming cylons like the railguns on a defense platform. The medium cruisers took the flanks of the formation, giving the battlestars and gunstar a clear line of fire. Huxton considered ordering his ships to commence firing, but the cylons were varying their courses just enough to throw off any railgun shells fired at that range.
Slammer:
Slammer bounced against his harness as his viper hit the deck. It skidded through the crowd of landed vipers and came to a halt its nose just a few meters short of one that had turned perpendicular to the landing bay. Slammer forced in several deep breaths to slow his racing heart. He pried his fingers off of the throttle. His viper jolted and the landing bay disappeared as an elevator lowered him into the hangar. Immediately a deck crewman hooked his nose to a tractor and pulled him off. Instead of towing his viper to the side however, she moved him to one of the landing tubes.
A deck hand hooked up a fuel line while two more began feeding 25-millimeter cannon rounds into his autoloader. He strained in his seat and saw all of his remaining vipers being similarly positioned and rearmed. Into his radio he said, "what's going on?"
The starboard deck chief, Owen Reyvard, strode over and knocked on his canopy. "Orders are to prep you for another sortie."
Slammer's heart began to accelerate. "What for?"
"Word from up high is that another cylon fleet just appeared on the jump shelf."
Slammer gave him a thumb's up and shut off his radio. "Frak me" he whispered, and let his head hang limp. He took another deep breath, his expanding chest straining against his restraining harness and sweat coated flight suit.
Reyvard resumed his march down the deck, barking orders and gesturing wildly for added emphasis to the laboring deck crew. Two deck crew gingerly loaded four missiles into his internal magazine, careful to avoid his scalding hot engine cowling.
Huxton:
"Range is one hundred thousand miles, time to firing range is ten minutes" Cage said.
Huxton took up his handset and dialed fire control. "Wherman, begin plotting a firing solution on tower one. Notify me when they have entered range."
"We will do" Captain Auric Wherman replied.
The rangefinder counted down when it reached ten thousand, a fresh chorus of alarms went off and the already massive DRADIS signatures of the basestars blossomed. "They have launched raiders," Nessella said.
Huxton watched the individual tentacles of raiders stream from the basestars and form into a massive cloud. "How many?"
"I count four thousand three hundred, it looks like they're trying to crush us in one blow." Huxton winced at the tactics the cylons were using. That many raiders would result in a confused pileup against his massively outnumbered viper force, ensuring heavy friendly fire casualties and a total lack of coordination as their maneuvering comrades became their own enemies.
"Steady on the vipers."
"Missiles!" Cage warned. "Six hundred antiship missiles inbound, three minutes to impact." A Geiger counter began ticking. He did a double take, fear etched across his face. "One hundred of them are nuclear. We can't take that much firepower."
Huxton already had a solution. "I am authorizing a nuclear fire mission in tubes one through six, the target is the center of the incoming raiders. Artemis and Dorian are to target the missiles with their Atlatls, set the fuses to detonate when their flight paths intersect."
Several officers gulped at the prospect of a nuclear launch. Cage went pale at the callous disregard with which Huxton had made the order. Huxton meanwhile casually removed his launch key. "Amy, if you'd please." He inserted his key in his station, while she did the same at hers with a trembling hand. "Three, two, one, turn." They turned the keys simultaneously, and a new alarm wailed. Huxton grabbed his handset. "Huxton to fire control, launch the missiles immediately."
"Yes sir" Wherman replied.
"Artemis and Dorian report successful launches" Marlay announced. The new signatures appeared on screen. The sixty Atlatls passed into the missile formation and detonated, clearing a good third of them. The flashing icons of the nuclear missiles continued on into the raider formation. Then DRADIS in that spot flared and went fuzzy from interference.
"Detonation confirmed, six fifty-kilos gone" Nessella said. The raiders broke apart. "Raiders are down by about sixty percent." The remaining four hundred missiles continued ahead. Huxton felt the vibration as the point defense guns resumed firing. The ECM peeled off hundreds, and the light cruiser's countermeasures decoyed dozens more. The combined point defense fire and counter missile systems stopped the remainder.
The cylons launched a second wave. With less time to work, ECM stopped fewer. A few made it through the point defense fire. Vindication jolted. Huxton slipped, and winced as his ankle twisted. "Three confirmed hits on us" Ensign Patterson said. Huxton gingerly tested his ankle. It throbbed whenever he tried to move it.
"Not enough to keep me down" he muttered, then put his full weight on it. At first it screamed and white spots shot across his vision, but after a few seconds the pain dulled as his practiced mind blocked it out.
"Raiders are closing" Cage warned.
"Launch vipers."
Slammer:
The light on the launch tube's overhead went from red to green. "You are clear to go, good hunting" the Landing Officer said. Slammer gave her a thumb's up, and then gripped the throttle with faintly trembling hands. The viper accelerated down the tube and for a few seconds inertia forced him back into his seat. Then he shot out into space and the adrenaline began flowing. He looked at the vipers to either side of him, then up at the cloud of raiders falling towards them disregarding the flack volleys tearing into them; fifteen hundred-odd red eyes glaring ahead. He no longer felt the sweat and fear inside him, just his grip on the trigger.
"Alright boys, lets take these chrome-heads." He led his one hundred and two remaining vipers into formation with the fleet's combined air wing, and then powered forwards. For a few seconds before the break off point there were scattered volleys of sniping fire from the vipers. Then Slammer yanked his viper into a long loop that took him and the outer shell of the viper formation 'above' the raiders. He pulled the trigger and watched his tracers bite through several tightly packed raiders. At least two more collided with their wreckage, adding to the carnage.
The raiders rose to meet them.
He led the charge, and the two formations collided. Slammer was forced to roll and twist through the unending waves of raiders descending on him. Sweat poured over his brow as he lined up his first raider and pulled the trigger. It came apart with a rewarding flash of igniting munitions. He could hear his fellow pilots talking, and in some cases screaming over the radio.
"There's a dozen heading for the Charon" Merle warned.
"Hammer, Thunder, and I've got them."
"Brick, I've got three on my tail."
"Hang on Smoker, I'll get you, clear the two on mine."
"Four on my tail"
"I've got them, Heliot" one of the raptor jockeys said.
"Hudson, there's two on your six."
"I can't shake them, someone clear my tail."
Slammer found the gunship raptor on DRADIS. "I've got you, Hudson." He rolled to avoid another raider's fire, then dove after the oscillating raptor. He squeezed off a short burst that sliced the first in two. There wasn't enough time to line up the second. He flashed past it, and it broke off. "You're clear Hudson."
He flipped his viper around, G-forces pulling his lips back. Red spots appeared in his vision. Then he found the second raider and put a volley up its exhaust.
"Thank you Slammer." Hudson proceeded to fire eight missiles from one of his ship's six, twelve-round box launchers. Three raiders went up and the fourth broke off. Slammer went after it.
Huxton:
"Twenty-five hundred kilometers, the cylons are in maximum effective range," Cage said.
Huxton picked up the headset. "Fire control, where's my firing solution?"
"Plotted and ready" Wherman bellowed with enthusiasm.
"Good. Dorsal batteries Alpha through Leo commence firing at full power, maximum firing rate." There was a faint uptick in vibration as the Vindication's twelve dual-1400 millimeter railgun turrets rose from safety to firing position. Then the deck beneath his feet shuddered as they cut loose. Once every one and half seconds they fired.
"Sensors are reporting multiple impacts on Tower One." Nessella reported.
Meanwhile, Serpentia opened fire with her sixteen 1500 millimeter railguns at Tower Two. Andanatos began picking off battlecruisers and light basestars. She had the longest range and highest caliber of any ship present with her 14 dorsal dual-2000 millimeter turrets. However, she also had zero armor, making her vulnerable should she draw a basestar's fire.
Huxton returned to his seat, only to grab his console with both hands when the Vindication took another hit. By now all basestars were launching swarms of antiship missiles and nuclear warheads at the colonial fleet while their smaller ships accelerated towards them. The cruisers began trading gunfire. The cylons hips had the numbers, but they were as fragile as the basestars and lacked coordination. Scarcely believing their enemy's foolhardiness, his cruisers drilled ship after ship with coordinated railgun fire.
Vindication shook again, and again. "There are fires in sectors three, twelve, and thirteen" Nessella said.
"Amy, DC."
"Yes sir." She moved to the DC station. The ship shook again. The lights flickered.
Huxton looked around. "What was that?"
"We took a hit on the number two engine, I don't know what the power outage was" Nessella said.
Tower Two violently broke apart, throwing debris and flailing toasters into space. Serpentia moved on to the next ship firing on it, Tower Four.
Huxton picked up his handset. "Radin, what's going on down there?"
Radin's voice was hoarse from shouting. "That last hit started an electrical fire within meters of number two engine's tylium feed. The safeties shut the grid down, the power short was us switching over to a backup."
"Are we going to lose power?"
"As long as you can keep the missiles off my engines, no we won't."
"Alright." Huxton lowered the handset. "Intensify the flack field over the aft sections."
The basestar designated Tower One began to crumble. It reversed course and retreated, veering to either side to throw off railgun fire. It was too late. The ship's lower hull collapsed in on itself in a chain of explosions. The upper hull went dark.
"Tower One is down." Several crew members cheered as its DRADIS icon winked out.
"Designate Tower Three as the next target."
One of the battlecruisers broke off its attack run and cruised across the battlespace. Its sensors detected thehole in the Vindication's port flight pod and directed its capitol-grade railguns onto it. They fired two salvos. The first tore through-and-through the pod, the second connected with the still partially filled fighter fuel tanks and munitions racks.
The hangar pod was torn apart along its already existing fracture, flaming tylium and molten metal punching through along a diagonal bisection from end to end. Its insides and shattered armor were propelled into orbit by the detonations. A transformer in the forward connecting arm blew, sending a chain of explosions racing into the ship's main body. Several subsystems were cooked off, adding to the conflagration that engulfed the battlestar's port side.
Vindication screamed in agony with the tearing of metal and wail of DC alarms. The CIC shook like a piñata, unsecured papers and instruments flying about as crew slammed into consoles or threw themselves to the floor. The lights died, then returned at half-illumination. Huxton hunched over his console and hung on tight.
Slammer:
Slammer gasped as he saw the flames spread over the Vindication's hull. A sense of dread crept over him as their flagship came apart.
Mirra:
"Vindication just went up!" Captain Errol Fierron yelled in surprise.
Mirra leapt over to him. "What?"
"Thermal signatures across her point flank, she just got hit with something big. The cylons are intensifying their fire."
"Shift us ten klicks over to cover her. Try to raise her on the radio."
Mirra was still staring at her flickering icon on DRADIS in horror when it began to move.
Huxton:
Huxton stood up. He could hear screaming but couldn't discern the source. "Back to your stations, or we're dead!" he yelled at the officers picking themselves off the floor. "Amy, what was that?"
Nessella stood up and stumbled. She had slashed her forehead open on the corner of the DC console. She wiped blood out of her eyes and groggily stared at the now cracked display. "We just lost the port hangar pod, and a good chunk of sectors six through fifteen, subsectors one through three on all of them." Huxton's jaw dropped. "Fires are raging on the portside, and power is fluctuating throughout the ship."
Huxton mentally added that the civilians were bunked on the port side. "Evacuate the sectors and send in the DC teams. You have authority to determine when to vent an area."
"Missiles inbound vector seven four two alpha, they're going in for the kill" Cage yelled, partially in pain. He was clutching the now cracked cast over his broken arm.
The CIC floor began to slant aft. "Commander, we've lost the port maneuvering thrusters. We're falling out of orbit," Grissom cried.
"Can we still turn?"
"Poorly, but yes."
"Then point our engines into the gravity well and fire them."
"Yes sir." After a few minutes he said. "We're holding orbit at one-hundred and sixty kilometers."
"Serpentia is covering us," Cage said.
Huxton took up the handset. "Fire control, what's the status of the weapons grid?"
Wherman replied, "we just rebooted the targeting computer. Fully functional and waiting."
"All batteries commence defensive firing, full flack loads."
Vindication's screams switched tempo as her guns resumed firing. Raiders and light cruisers within her reach were ripped apart and thrown into space. Missiles rapidly vanished off of DRADIS. Several connected however, adding to the destruction on the port side. The power flickered again. As if she was powered by the same psychotic energy holding her CO on his feet, Vindication continued firing relentlessly.
Vergil:
"Is that it?" Vergil asked.
Alex checked in with the other ship's designated loading officers. "Everyone is onboard, get us out of here."
"With pleasure." Vergil spoke into his radio. "Apollo, this is the Weeping Somnabulist requesting clearance to take off."
"Granted. Jump as soon as you can."
The ship shook as its engines ignited and pushed it into the air. He pointed her round nose skyward and began spinning up her FTL drive.
Huxton:
Marlay said "Apollo reports that evacuation is complete and they'll be jumping out in five minutes."
A sigh of relief went through the CIC.
"Set the jump clock at five minutes." Huxton picked up his handset and dialed engineering. "Radin, are we FTL capable?"
"We are, but after the hit the power grid took, the primary reactors are in safety mode. A jump back to the fleet will expend enough power to cause the grid to shutdown."
"It's a sacrifice we are going to have to make. Get the emergency batteries and distress beacons ready." Huxton took the intercom. "All hands, brace for total power failure. Make the necessary preparations."
The officers in the CIC were too preoccupied with saving the ship to show their consternation, except Nessella who muttered "are you serious?"
"The evacuation convoy has broken orbit," Cage said. Huxton watched the six new DRADIS icons until they vanished into FTL. Several missiles streaked helplessly through their previous location.
"Get us out of here. All ships, jump out" Huxton ordered and Marlay relayed.
Slammer:
"All birds, execute a combat landing pronto" Merle announced.
Slammer disengaged from the two raiders he'd been dogfighting and firewalled back towards the Vindication. "You heard him, lets get out of here," he said.
As the pilots approached the battlestar, they noticed something was wrong. "She's only got one flight pod, what the frak are we supposed to do?" Slurry demanded.
"Land on the other one" Slammer replied. "Raptors first, then the spotter birds, then us." He took up orbit over the pod. Vindication's PD batteries shifted to cover their landing.
It took five minutes to land everyone. Slammer made sure he was the last fighter aloft, then dove on the open landing bay. At the Vindication's current angle he was plunging straight down towards the planet below, whose blue surface he could see through the other side. His stomach jumped into his throat as he dropped. Vertigo took over as he closed in. What if he missed and couldn't pull up?
He winced, then felt his skids hit the deck and let out a long breath he didn't know he'd been holding in.
Huxton:
The cruiser's DRADIS icons vanished one by one. Then Andanatos jumped. Then it was their term. "Jump" Huxton ordered. He felt a jolt of static…
…And the power ship wide died. Gravity shifted, then vanished, leaving them drifting helplessly off the deck. They waited in darkness until the red emergencies turned on. Huxton maneuvered himself to the sound powered phone and dialed engineering. "Radin, how long do you need?"
"We're ready" Radin replied. Gravity returned, sending several officers crashing to the deck. DRADIS and navigation rebooted.
"Where are we?" Huxton asked.
"Right now, roughly eighty kilometers from the fleet's perimeter" Cage said. Huxton heard several sighs of relief, though he couldn't discern from whom they'd emerged.
"Gehennia is hailing us," Marlay said.
"I'll take the call," Huxton said. She handed him a headset. Huxton put it on.
"Gehennia to Vindication, do you copy? What is your situation?"
"Vindication-actual to Gehennia, we are alive. Did you receive the evacuation convoy?"
There was a worrying pause. "Gehennia-actual to Vindication-actual, yes we did. You are not looking too good from here, do you require assistance?" Ravin's hoarse voice filtered over the headphones.
"Yes we do. Send every DC and medical team you can, we have numerous casualties and uncontrolled internal fires."
"Yes sir, right away."
Huxton handed the headset back to Marlay and said, "contact the Largos and tell them to pick us up."
"Yes sir."
He dropped into his chair. One hand went down to pat the deck. He could feel his battlestar trembling faintly in pain. "Its okay girl, we made it," he whispered.
He was abruptly aware that the officers around him had stood up and were applauding. "What's the celebration for?" he demanded.
"You!" Cage said. He nodded to them and let himself smile. He'd brought the fleet into battle, performed the rescue, and gotten it back out without losing a single ship. He supposed that was worth some applause.
…
One hour later the last fires were out. Vindication was now nestled safely inside the Largos' immense hull, leaching off her own power supply. Gehennia had docked with the mobile drydock on the exterior and was sending over medical assistance and taking casualties from the battlestar's overwhelmed hospital. The CIC crew was still at their stations, though Huxton was about ready to let them go. A new message appeared on Huxton's console. He selected it and read it.
It was a final casualty estimate from Veris: 420 dead and 850 wounded. 122 of the dead were civilians. Huxton saved it. They were lucky that the port flight pod had been unoccupied, or the death toll would have been well over fifteen hundred. Nessella had commendably coordinated the DC effort and evacuation of the civilians and saved many more lives and the ship.
Huxton turned to Nessella. "Amy, how is Vinny holding up?"
She smiled. "She's stable and secure. The last hull breach was just closed."
"Good." He took the intercom. "Attention please, this is the commander. Job well done everyone, six thousand people are alive right now because of you, and many more cylons aren't." As of now all active duty crewmembers not involved in immediate emergency operations are relieved. We'll let the boys from theLargos take over from here."
He lowered the microphone and sat down in his chair. He watched the CIC gradually empty out, until it was just him, and Cage.
"I just realized something" Cage said.
"What, Elliot?"
"That battle probably had the best engagement ratio we're ever going to get." The three of them burst out in cold laughter. He walked away. "I'll be in the chapel thanking the gods, if you need me."
Huxton watched him go. Then he stood up and made his way out of the CIC and towards the elevators.
….
The dead were arranged on the landing deck of the starboard flight pod and draped in colonial flags. Most of the crewmen Huxton recognized, though a few were too badly burned for him to identify. Huxton slowly walked up and down the rows, looking into each man, woman, and child's eyes. He didn't feel any sorrow. He had given up that emotion long ago. He felt responsibility for them though, they were his crew, his family after all.
"There's so many" someone whispered. It was Marlay, standing next to him. Tears were running down her cheeks from her reddened eyes. She made a gesture to her patron god across her forehead. "Keep my brothers and sisters safe," she whispered.
Huxton turned to face her. She showed surprise at his blank expression. He ignored it. "War is a tragedy," he said.
"Why can't we agree to leave each other alone? Humans and cylons, we don't have to do this," she said.
"Because they don't know what sadness, grief, and fear are," Huxton answered. Marlay knelt down and gently closed the eyes of a young man. Huxton guessed he was about college aged; too young.
"I can't imagine what you're feeling, sir."
"Nothing."
Her jaw dropped in shock. "Weren't you just saying that-"
"-That cylons couldn't feel guilt and sorrow? I was. I had to give up those emotions too, before they destroyed me."
"How?"
Huxton mentally went through the hundreds of horrible memories he had stored up. "When you reach a certain point in life, you've just seen so much, and are responsible for so many people that there are certain things you have to give up in order to do your job to the best of your abilities. Do I regret sending these brave men and women to battle? Yes, I do, but I feel nothing inside" Huxton explained softly, so none of the other mourners could hear. She contemplated him for several seconds.
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be."
"I hope I never reach that point."
Huxton looked at Marlay, who normally sported an infectious smile and cheerfully optimistic attitude. "I hope you don't either. It's a scary place." He put an arm on her shoulder.
Cross:
The hangar deck was a mess. The deck crew had brought up champagne. The jubilant pilots and enlisted were spraying it over the deck and each other while cheering at the tops of their lungs. Cross pushed his way through the crow towards Slammer. He grabbed a bottle off a tray on his way past and began shaking it vigorously.
He found Slammer surrounded by a group of pilots, all laughing. He pushed his way into the circle, and raised the bottle. Slammer turned, and the grin dropped off. "Oh-shi-" Cross snapped the cap off with his thumb, dousing the younger man in a spray of poor quality alcohol. The pilots burst into renewed laughter. Cross spun on his heels, spraying each of them in turn.
"Return fire!" Slammer bellowed, and Cross was doused.
When they ran out of liquor, Cross punched Slammer on the shoulder. "Nice flying, sub-CAG" he said.
"Thank you. Sorry you couldn't join us from your tin coffin" Slammer replied. He busied himself with wringing out his red handlebar moustache.
"I killed a basestar, I'm sorry, did you?" Cross smirked. He raised his bottle. "Only busting your balls, Slammy. A toast for our acting CAG."
Everyone in earshot raised their bottles together. "Now, another toast, to him never needing replacing me." The toast dissolved into laughter.
Huxton:
"Well how does Vinny look, Colonel?" Huxton asked as he walked along the memorial corridor back towards his quarters.
Radin's reply was sorely irritated. "How do most people look after they've just gotten and arm and a leg blown off?" Radin was unusually stressed. A third of his engineering crew was dead or wounded in the electricity-fuelled inferno that had engulfed several stations and his baby had just been torn open by the cylons.
"Colonel, you and I know that if it weren't for you she wouldn't even be here."
Radin sighed. "Right, thank you, though it doesn't feel like I've bought us my time." Huxton reached his door.
"So how bad is the damage?"
"The port hangar pod is gone along with a good chunk of our armor belt. Engine number two is at twelve percent capability, and frames eight, nine, ten, and eleven have been cracked. Its not good."
Huxton winced. "Can she be salvaged?"
"Mostly. The engine and the pod are going to need to be replaced, though. I recommend looking through the debris field over Virgon. Even if we do, I can't guarantee a perfect repair job. If this were prewar, Vinny would have been decommissioned from all the damage she's taken. She'll be in one piece, but she won't be the same."
Huxton placed a bare hand on the bulkhead and sighed emphatically. "I understand, save my baby."
"I'll try."
Travere:
Travere stood before the whiteboard in the main passenger cabin he'd used to keep tally of the survivors. It currently read 80,380. Happily, he erased that number and wrote a new one: 86,512. Then he returned to his desk and resumed his paperwork.