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Depot Veil
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Chapter Nineteen
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The Cylons were created by Man.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
The Cylons send no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
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Until Now.
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Sorry I haven't been updating, been dealing with medical problems. Now on to the story. Enjoy.
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1*1*1
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Depot Veil;
224 days after return from Caprica;
15 months after the attack:
Admiral Mark Torrez looked as his boss walked into the CIC, "Good morning Admiral.
Moiré nodded as she took a sip of her coffee and then asked, "Any more attacks?"
It had been four months of constant nuclear attack on the Veil. Only a few nuclear missiles had actually entered the veil and they had been picked off before they could hit any ships or stations. Most of the damaged ships had been repaired and reentered the fleet. Illustrious, Formidable and Indomitable along with the ships they had been supporting had been found and led to the Veil and safety. From intercepted transmissions, they had found out that the attacks on the veil had dug deeply into the Cylon munitions reserves and they were reaching critical state in their nuclear ordinance.
Mark picked up the clipboard with the reports and said, "Negative and our stealth craft are still watching the Cylons grouping near asteroid beta sixteen. Last count has them at eighty-seven Baseships, sixty-eight Supportstars and fifty-nine destroyers with thousands of Raiders along with those two strange kilometer long triangled ships as well as thirty large ships we've identified as freighters."
Asteroid beta sixteen was a one of thirty large nickel and iron asteroid that had broken off from the main belt and came to a stop a light year from the belt. At one time, a colonial relay station was on the surface, but the Cylons had blown it to bits when they attacked. It was currently being used as a relay point for the Cylon fleet.
"What about the colonies?" Moiré asked as she sat down in her command chair.
"Each of the primary colonies have two baseships in orbit with several destroyers as escorts. That's twenty-four Baseships and around thirty destroyers," Mark replied as he set the clipboard down.
Taking another sip of her coffee, Moiré leaned back in her chair and thought for a second and then asked, "What is our combat strength?"
Mark picked up his clipboard and flipped through it before replying, "We have twenty-eight Battlestars in combat condition, with four more crippled and three turned into hospital ships. Three uncompleted Nova class Battlestars still under construction. For Strikestars we have thirty-five Pandarus class with five of those under repair. There are fourteen Thor class Warstars that are fully operational even if their old. Our Gunstar fleet is our strongest; we have three Guardians, eighteen Alberio, twenty Sterope, sixteen Defender and fifteen Titan II's in the fleet. Of all the classes ten are still under repair. We have twenty-six Circe Patrolstars and thirty-nine Firestar frigates as well as twenty-one Berzerk class cruisers and several of them are waiting repairs," he reported.
"Hmmm, that's just over two hundred warships," Moiré stated as she turned her chair and looked out the window that allowed the CIC to see out of the station.
"Yes, Ma'am, although the type one Firestars and the Thor's are still working up after being retrofitted with new weapons and systems," Mark replied as he waited for her to continue.
Moiré sat there looking and thinking. She could see part of her flagship the Titan and one of her sisters in the distance while hundreds of ships from freighters to warships huddled together in the pocket. Veil Two, the factory station was lit up over in the northern section of the pocket protecting pocket two where most of the civilian fleet was huddled together. Turning her chair, she stood up and said, "Get me a list of all operation ships and bring it into my ready room along with all the photos of the Cylon fleet at Beta sixteen," as she walked out of the room.
"Yes, Ma'am," Mark replied and walked to the fleet intelligence desk and took the offered clipboards.
Moiré walked down the hall to her ready room, thinking of the plan that was forming in her mind. Entering the massive office, she went to her computer and started typing. She soon found what she was looking for and an image appeared three feet above the table. The image was of Beta Sixteen and the surrounding area. Bringing up a secondary screen she waited for Mark to arrive.
Mark walked in and handed the folders to his boss, "Here you go Ma'am."
"Thank you Mark," Moiré replied as she opened up the folder of pictures and started examining the pictures before she turned to the computer, "Let's see here."
Typing commands into the computer, the image above the table started changing as it added Cylon Baseships to the image. It took thirty minutes of Mark and Moiré working at the computers adding the ships of the Cylon fleet.
"What are you thinking Admiral?" Mark asked as he looked at the image of the four kilometer asteroid and one hundred and forty-six warships.
"Trying to figure out how we can attack them and wipe them out," Moiré replied as she leaned back in her chair and added, "With that many warships. We'd lose a lot in any attack against that magnitude of firepower."
"So we need to thin them down somehow," Mark said as he looked at the image and then at the ship roster and sat up, "the colonies."
Moiré looked over at her second in command, "What?"
"I think I know how to thin them out," Mark said as he stood up and started laying out photos of the twelve colonies, "They have at most three to five ships at each colony. Give me six Battlestars, say two Mercury's, with four Jupiters along with twelve of the Titan Gunstars as escorts. I'll hit one colony after the next, not stopping. Jump in, take out the Baseships and destroyers, and jump to the next target. Once they start reacting, then you go in with the fleet and take out what's at Beta Sixteen…"
"You could be overwhelmed and destroyed," Moiré stated.
"Yes, but if the odds are too much, I'll just jump out and head back to the rendezvous," Mark replied as he started checking off ships he'd want in his Battlegroup.
"I want these ships, if possible," Mark said as he slid the paper across the table.
Moiré looked down at the list of the ship that included the Mercury class Battlestars, Thor, and Zeus and the Jupiter class Juno, Jupiter, Python and Mythos along with twelve of the Titan class Gunstars, "What pod do you want on the Gunstars?"
Mark grinned with a feral look as he replied, "Heavy weapons platforms."
Moiré looked up in shock, and asked, "Do we have any? I didn't think we had any here in the depot."
"We have fourteen of them, with six more due to be finished in the next week," Mark replied.
"I see, well if you're going in with heavy guns, I want you to take twelve of the Firestars for close defense," Moiré stated, and then said, "Make them Mark II's because they have more point defense."
"I'll take them," Mark replied as he walked to the coffee pot and filled a cup.
"Good, I also want your attacks randomized because if you have a pattern they could be waiting for you," Moiré suggested as she added twelve of the Mark II Firestars to the attack plan.
"Already thought of it. I'll also be transferring all but two squadrons of Vipers from each Battlestar to your fleet," Mark said.
"What? You're going to only go in with two squadrons on each of the Battlestars? That's only forty Vipers per ship," Moiré gasped out in shock.
"Yes, because I don't plan on sticking around for an extended battle and you'll need them at Beta Sixteen," Mark replied, "I plan on jumping in, hit the Baseships and any nearby Destroyer, and jump out before they know what hit them."
"Wait, I have a better idea," Moiré said as she started typing.
The image of Beta Sixteen was shuffled to the end of the table and twelve images appeared. Each of the colonies and the Cylon forces in orbit. With some more typing, she started placing ships into groups.
"We hit every planet at once. I propose we use twenty-four of the twenty-eight Battlestars divided into twelve attack group, each Battlegroup would have six Gunstars, three Firestars, two Patrolstars and three Strikestars in as escorts. We jump in all at the same time, take out the nearest ships, and jump out. We reform at our rally point and when the Cylons ships jump out to reinforce the colonies, we jump in and take out what they leave at Beta Sixteen…"
"That's if they leave anything there. They may decide to take everything, scattering them across the colonies. This would hurt us in the long run if we had to chase them down around the colonies. It also cuts the fire power of the groups to the bare minimum to defend off their missile attacks. I humbly suggest you go with my group. I think after I hit the third planet, they would have a group ready to jump out which would weaken their forces at Beta Sixteen. If you were to drop in at all four points of the compass, you'd have them at a tactical advantage because they would have to split their forces to engage you. I would also suggest you have the Raptor fleet jump in among them with ten kiloton nukes and fire them at any capital ship and then jump out. We have over four hundred Raptors in the fleet; they would cause massive damage to the enemy while your fleets draw their Raiders towards you," Mark said as he sat down in his chair.
Moiré leaned back in her chair and looked at the thirteen holograms and nodded her head after a few minutes, "Alright, we'll go with your plan. Start putting your command together. I'll start drawing up my plan of attack for Beta Sixteen," she ordered as she opened the folder that held the list of military ships.
"Yes, Ma'am," Mark replied and picked up his part of the list and headed for the door.
"Mark, send a memo to all warships that all fleet captains, executive officers and CAG officers are to repair onboard the station at O-nine hundred hours tomorrow morning and report to briefing room sixteen. Notify them breakfast will be served here also have NCIS go over the room before we meet and let the kitchen staff know that I want a morning buffet set up for all officers," ordered as she started checking off ship names.
"Yes, Ma'am," Mark said as he pushed the door open and stepped out of the room.
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1*1*1
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Moiré was sitting at the head table in conference room sixteen eating a slice of toast as she waited for the first officers to appear for the morning briefing. She was pouring a cup of coffee when the doors opened and the first officers came into the room. The men and women under command went to the buffet and grabbed a plate of food and coffee before finding a place to sit down. As Moiré watched, she noticed how the officers clustered together by type of ships they commanded or in the case of the CAGs that they sat together talking Viper and Raptor strategy.
At O-ten hundred hours, the last officer had placed their dishes in the carts and sat back down with their fresh cups of coffee. Moiré watched as several of her aides walked to the tables and set down folders in front of each office. When finished she stood up and signaled the doors to be sealed and the waiters to leave with the dishes and food. Walking up on to the central stage, she picked up the microphone and said, "Good morning everyone. I want to thank all of you for being on time and I hope you enjoyed the meal.
"As you know, almost sixteen months ago, our way of life was almost wiped out. We and I mean everyone in the veil are the hope of the survivors who are hiding on the twelve colonies and the sub-colonies. Where we once had a hundred and twenty-two active Battlestars and two hundred in reserve, we're down to just twenty-eight with nine being built or under repair. Of the four thousand support ships we have less than three hundred and eighty left. That we know of.
"Yes, we suffered, suffered massively and horribly in both military and civilian casualties, but we have survived and hurt the Cylons. We have destroyed one hundred and thirty-seven Baseships and over two hundred and fifty destroyer class ships. This does not include the thousands of Raiders we have destroyed as well, but it's not enough. We have found out that the Cylons have an ability to resurrect themselves into new bodies and ships, but first they have to have those ships and they don't. We know this because we have been watching for the last two months and only a few Baseships have rejoined their fleet.
"So, I with the help of Admiral Mark Torrez have designed a plan to hurt the Cylon fleet. Admiral Torrez will be taking command of Battlegroup two. He will take six Battlestars and twenty-four of the escort ships and strike at the Cylon fleet while we prepare to go on the offensive. Admiral Torrez will hit the main colonies, and wipe out the Cylon warships in orbit. He will then jump to another colony and do the same. While we will hit here," Moiré said as she pressed a button on the computer mounted into the podium.
"This is Beta Sixteen, a nickel and iron asteroid that used to have one of our communications relay on it as well as one of our fall back supply bases that we emptied. The three kilometer long asteroid is now being used as a support base for the Cylon fleet. Its massive hollowed out bunkers are loaded with Cylon ordinance. I propose we take out the asteroid and the Cylon fleet that is staging there. We know the Cylons will respond to our attack, the question is how much will they send. I figure they will send about twenty of their Baseships to attack Admiral Torrez's fleet. Once those ships are drawn away, we'll attack.
The first wave will be twenty of our twenty-two Battlestars in four battle groups of five each. They will be accompanied by eighty percent of our Gunstars, all our Firestars and Berzerk class cruisers. Each Battlestar will be packed with as many Vipers as we can stuff in them while the Berzerk and Titan II's will be in heavy KEW mode and positioned at the points," Moiré said as the ships appeared in on the hologram, and then said, "Now the fifth group will consist of the Ciric class Patrolstars and Pandarus cruisers will be our fifth point in the star with remaining two Battlestars and jump in here two minutes after we attack. The reason for the two minute count is to get the Cylon Raiders heading for the four main groups. As you know from the academy, the Pandarus are our missile cruisers in the fleet. The cruisers will jump in, roll ninety degrees and volley their ship killer missies into the tops of the of the Cylon fleet.
"Two minutes after the Pandarus open fire, they should have a large chunk of the Cylon reserve Raiders heading for them that the next attack starts. Four hundred Raptors will jump in at twenty kilometers below the Cylon fleet and hit their keels with their missiles. The Raptors will be armed with eight ship killer missiles and four ten kiloton nuclear missiles. Once they volley their missiles into the Cylon fleet, they're to jump back to the staging area for recovery aboard the four Gander class carriers. The carriers, once they recover all the Raptors are to jump back to the Veil. When the Raptors jump, the Pandarus Battlegroup will jump away as well.
"Hopefully by this time, we will have eliminated at least half of the Cylon fleet and then we attack with our main Battlegroups. Our targets will be the Battlestars and Supportstars of the Cylon fleet. I plan to pound them into scrap metal but, if your ship is taking heavy damage and in danger of being lost, then you're to jump back to the Veil. No if ands or butts. Now, any questions?" Moiré asked.
For the next two hours, they went over the plans and mission parameters. By the time lunch was ready, every officer in the room understood their orders. Once lunch was over, the men and women exchanged their folders for a USB card and left for their ships.
"Well Mark?" Moiré asked as she looked over at her second in command.
"Ambitious, but it could go either way," Mark stated as he stood up and picked up his USB card, "All we can do is hope an pray that the Gods are watching over us," as he walked to the door.
"So do I, Mark, so do I," Moiré whispered as her aides packed the folders into several steel containers to be taken back to her office.
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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.