12: Battlegroup
by Chaoseternus

In the shadow of the events and chaos of Disclosure, the first Battlegroup is formed...
And sent straight into action!

Twenty-four

Galactica rocked and Admiral Adama winced mildly at the bashing his valiant old Lady was getting, his eyes never leaving the tactical displays dropped down from the roof of the CIC.

He wasn't worried; he knew the Old Lady could take her knocks, often far better then the newer designs. Besides, the ships shields were still up, that wasn't even an armour hit.

What he was worried about were the Paladins.

The small, manoeuvrable, overloaded, under-gunned and under-armoured support craft that had been swarming the battlefield when the Cylon basestar jumped in and were now frantically trying and failing to avoid the swarms of fighters that the enemy capital ship had eventually thrown out… after losing one of its 'arms' toGalacticas own guns.

The basestar had died quickly, the fighters themselves had dived into the swarming masses knowing they would be safe fromGalacticas own guns and they could cause havoc until his fighters redeployed.

It was an annoyingly smart move from the supposedly dull-witted fighter-minds, but one that wasn't without its own cost; the Paladins were undergunned after all, which is not the same thing as being completely without weapons at all.

"Tally-ho!"

Adama grinned grimly as a dozen new lights dived into the furball, marked as Viper fighters, in moments the CylonRaiders were disengaging, flicking into jump as fast as their drives would spool.

"They have confirmation now," he noted grimly, staring his determination into the faces of his officers, hoping to imprint his resolve on their minds, "they will be back and in more force, we need to be ready to great them and we need to be ready to leave as soon as possible."

He glanced back at the tactical for a moment, "get recovery to work, what craft we can't salvage, rig for demolition, don't leave any allied equipment behind for the enemy to reverse engineer."

"A bill was placed before the Commons today to reintroduce conscription in the face of devastating losses inflicted, primarily on the Army, during the recent assaults on British soil and on the Earth as a whole. The bill is facing stiff opposition, indeed many see the very thought of conscription as backsliding and a definite violation of basic human right but the bill has its supporters too. Indeed, many see if as perhaps a necessary evil to help get the military back to strength, though it will take several years for the infrastructure to grow to support what would be a massive boast in numbers.

It will be quite some time before a decision is made and passed into law, and whatever happen, there are likely to be legal challenges, but one thing is certain, recruitment rates are not high enough at the moment to replace the grievous losses inflicted and still being inflicted on the worlds armed forces."

"Three probable Beliskner class vessels have been sighted over the Exeter exclusion zone. Details are minimal, it is rumoured even Stargate Command and the Royal Star Service do not know exactly how the radioactive residue is going to be cleaned up or even how long it will take.

What is known for definite is that the whole situation is being clamped under a massive veil of secrecy, we have confirmed reports that several groups of reporters sent into the exclusion zone unofficially have been arrested by the security services and have been told they are not going to be released until the 'Asgard' vessels have left.

Monitoring of military bases and movements seems to suggest a constant presence in quite some force around the modified alien warships and amateur astronomers have confirmed that theAtlantis is maintaining orbit over the vessels and is not on proving trials as previously scheduled.

This news agency thanks the Asgard for their presence and assistance but with this secrecy, is forced to wonder if the previously stated purpose for the Asgard arrival is then only reason they are here. And who exactly are the Asgard anyway?

Little has been released to us beyond the fact that they are a powerful advanced race which Stargate Command has maintained a long friendship with.

We, and I am sure the general public, would like to know a lot more before we truly begin to fell safe with these off-worlders in our skies."

"Twenty American nationals were arrested under strict American anti-terror laws yesterday, sources within the FBI have suggested they were attempting to plant explosive devices into construction supplies headed for the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. A new radical organisation calling itself 'Humans First' has claimed responsibility for the attempted attacks."

"Ten basestars should be enough," the six commented idly.

"It may be too many; we are stretched thin as it is, the war with the heretic Unforgiven is taking its toil, not to mention the raids by Anubis's forces and the constant threat of attack by Maktenos…"the Doyle unit shook his head angrily, "ten capital ships is far more then I would have wanted to divert at this time."

"Would you rather the Earthers pick apart a basestar?"

"No," he grimaced, "but they have already had it too long, they would certainly have broken some of her secrets by know. If they are smart…"

Six sent him a look which suggested underestimating the intelligence of the humans was certainly not smart.

"…then they have taken some smaller components off of the ships already and sent them by courier direct to Earth."

"So even if they lose the big prize they get something. Not to mention, if they disable the minds of any fighters undergoing maintenance…" the Six turned her dismayed face to the ceiling, "nine, where did it all go wrong?"

"The day we involved ourselves with the humans once more, but it is too late to change that now. We must consider the very real possibility instead that every single one of our codes, worse, our basic method for creating ciphers is compromised, our tech base now rests in human hands…"

"Not yet." She replied angrily.

"No," Doyle sighed in resignation, "but it will be another twenty minutes at least before we are ready for our next attack on the Galactica. It's almost certain the humans will get away with something they can find useful, and I am betting they are going to go for our fighter jump drives."

"Fine, so the humans get a little toy or too. I suggest we make sure they don't get away with the main prize. I suggest we jump as close to the basestar as possible and launch every missile, every fighter at it. The humans can wait."

"Agreed, but the minds aboard…"

"Are compromised, block them from the resurrection."

"No," the Doyle turned a firm eye on the Six, slightly disturbed by her callousness, "we may have need of them in the future and they are our brethren, for the moment I suggest we box them on arrival."

"Fine, but the basestar dies. Then we move onto the humans."

"How long until we can jump?"

"Twenty-five minutes Commander, forty-nine of thePaladins have already left and the second wave is forming up now."

"Very well," Adama paused, "the Paladins with disabled hyperdrives, signal them to form on us. Those that can should fold wings and land in both bays as soon as the Vipers are on board. Tell the rest to maglock to the hull."

"The stress of jump entry might pull a few from the hull,"

"But not all."

"This is Brian Palmer broadcasting from Thundersdawn station, the jewel in the crown of the Royal Star Service. This station, despite being placed in Mars orbit not Earth for security reasons, is the prime defensive outpost for our home system but it has a mixed history. The secrecy of its construction meant a lot of the superior technologies gathered by the American Stargate Command were unavailable and resulted in a station without shields or effective anti-ship weaponry but with perhaps the best CIWS, that is anti-fighter and antimissile batteries of the time.

The Asgard, in a move whose motives remain questioned, provided the station with the now common Gauss rifles and an older mark of shield immediately after the 1st Battle of Sol whilst the combined forces of the RSS and SGC concentrated on repairs and rebuilding.

This station over the years has produced feats of unparrelled bravery, discovery secrecy and of course, treachery. Some say that treachery started with the secrecy of the operation that created the station in the first place, but that is a matter for history to discuss. The station is known now and we, as humans must learn to live with everything it represents and the reasons it came to be in the first place.

And of course, we must learn to live with war on a galactic scale. This is not what humanity, what we wanted when we started to reach for the stars, we wanted the stars to represent hope, peace, security and perhaps survival, witness perhaps the best known of all space shows, Star Trek and its bold, hopeful but ultimately lost vision of the future

But is it a future we can yet recapture?

Yes, that stars are at war and yes, we are struggling to survive but in all this desperate struggle that we fight and have fought, there has been hope. Stargate Command in particular has a strong history of rescuing enslaved peoples, liberating other worlds, often losing men and women of the Command in the process.

As much as we might hate the secrecy of the pains and deaths it has caused, it has to be said that both services have tried to bring liberty and justice to the stars, and they have brought hope to many. So, are they heroes or villains?

This is the big question of the hour and one we intend to try to answer over the next week of reports, enemy action permitting of course."