USS Ra Cailum
The Ra Cailum was the most powerful starship in the fleet, not counting the Tholians.
But power did not mean weapons alone. It meant agility, speed and staying power. The Ra Cailum was the best ship in all of those areas.
As such, she was gonna be one of the first ships into the fray, followed by Firestorm, Khepri, and Morningstar. The UNSC ships would target Cylon ships and shieldless vessels. The Tholians would help take the pressure off Starfleet.
"The Ra Cailum and Firestorm will engage the Iconian flagship. With the flag engaged, the other ships will be forced to engage us, allowing the Tholians to engage them, their distraction will likely lead to fewer allied casualties. Galactica and the Saratoga will engage the Cylons with all volunteer military ships. The goal of this mission is not outright destruction: we have to cripple as many ships as we can to the point where T'ket will either give up the chase or at the very least be delayed for a long time."
"Weapons authorization?" Corpsa asked.
"Everything that isn't banned by law. That means phased plasma torpedoes, nukes, everything that causes destruction. Jaden, that includes Anubis Division."
"Oh, fuck yes."
"Remember, I expect limited damage from all hands. Do NOT get yourselves killed. The paperwork's a bitch."
They all had a laugh, but Ron was serious.
The less paperwork he had to do, the better.
"You think that's a dig on how we're always dumping the paperwork on him?"
"Probably. He's never been happy about us dumping it on him. I mean, it IS ours. And we keep shoving it on him because we don't like it." Takeshi looked at his wife pointedly. "What? He's been lenient with us on the whole thing. Any other captain would've busted our asses."
Takeshi sighed. She did have a point. "Anyway, time for us to bust some Iconian heads."
"This is Commodore Pinkerton to the fleet: standby for jump."
Takeshi sighed as he and Luna beamed to the Firestorm, taking their posts. "Here we go."
Another Vonph, this one slightly more ornate than others, made ready to attack, until a pair of phased plasma torpedoes slammed into its engines.
(BGM: Star Trek Enterprise - Counterattack)
The Ra Cailum flew past, her form mocking T'ket as she roared in rage. "You will DIE, Other!"
"Then come and fucking get me, you one-armed smug bitch! I kicked your ass once; want a rematch?!"
The Firestorm was next, as the ship fired its pulse cannons at the same spot. "You haven't forgotten about me, have you?" Takeshi mocked. "I could fly rings around you in that Aquarius I used to fly - just imagine what I can do now!"
"You will both die!"
The ship turned sluggishly, having her engines crippled by their first strikes. But they weren't done as a wave of torpedoes slammed into the ship, fired by Mobius Squadron's Peregrines.
On their baseship, RWBY jumped in behind the enemy fleet, launching wave after wave of nuclear burst missiles.
Sudden flashes appeared in the middle of the Cylon/Elachi formation, and shortly there after, massive nuclear and antimatter explosions erupted amongst them as the FTLed torpedoes and nukes detonated. RWBY's nukes landed shortly thereafter, targeting unscathed or damaged vessels.
Then the NOVA bomb went off.
It was utter carnage, with the planet-cracking UNSC bomb vaporizing even an Elachi dreadnought in it's fiery embrace. Radiation burned away escorts, debris collided with cruisers, and power cores failed.
The decimated fleet, now numbering a hundred and fifty ships out of what was once a mighty armada a thousand strong, made of what few ships managed to avoid the blasts, and even then, they didn't come out unscathed.
The UNSC, Colonials and Tholians arrived then, joining RWBY's modified basestar in pounding the enemy fleet. The Tholians went in first, tearing down what ships still had shields.
"Nice!" Yang cheered.
"Not as powerful as a tricobalt warhead, but it'll do." Blake commented, but she allowed herself a small smile. "Baseship 1 to Ra Cailum."
"You need a better name for that ship."
"Funny. We're spinning up the FTL drive: preparing for another jump."
"You're a glass cannon: don't risk our new ship. Jump to coordinates 45.7 by 48 by 23, arm all remaining nuclear missiles. I want you to blind their sensors with dirt."
As in dirty nukes. The radiation would fuck with their sensors in ways that wouldn't be normally considered fair, but Ron used the nuclear tactic against the Klingons, Romulans and Vaadwaur. It worked.
The newly named Anubis Mobile Suit Division tore through dozens of Cylons raiders and Elachi assault shuttles, keeping them off the fleet and just generally culling their numbers.
"Wooohooo!" Jaden shouted. "It's like shooting turkeys, except the turkeys shoot back!"
"Focus on the job, Commander. Standby."
"Spoilsport."
The baseship jumped, reappearing several hundred kilometers above the enemy fleet before firing off a barrage of nukes. Two of them exploded early, blinding the sensors of the closest enemy ships, but the rest made it through, detonating close to the enemy formations. "They're blind; all units, jump in and attack! Repeat, jump and attack!"
"No mercy! Nena? HIT IT!" Jaden shouted.
"Hitting it!"
(BGM: "Sky Titans" by Two Steps from Hell)
The 0 Gundam Mk-2 and Drei Turbulenz roared forward as the machines almost literally danced around the Cylon-Elachi-Iconian forces, firing beam guns and swinging their beam sabers at anything stupid enough to get close - becoming a whirlwind of destruction as they cut a hole in their lines.
"Don't be flashy about it." Ron admonished. "All ships, prepare to regroup. We've caused enough damage: she's not going anywhere. All ships, jump back to the fleet!"
"We will hold the Iconian until you are clear." The tholians informed. "Good luck with your journey, Captain."
"I thought Tholians didn't believe in luck."
"It is a customary human expression. We will also inform your Starfleet Command that you have survived."
The MS teams were recovered before the rest of the fleet jumped away, the Ra Cailum firing one last shot before disappearing in a flash.
Earth, Starfleet Headquarters - Stardate 88677.2/September 5th, 2411
Three women marched down the halls of Starfleet Command, heading to the office of one Admiral in particular. An Admiral who they had a bone to pick with.
Trailing them was the most dangerous woman in the Federation Starfleet: Ayame Virgilia Wilhelmina Pinkerton. The black-haired woman was pissed off at information they just got from the Tholian ambassador.
"I know Jellico hates them, but the fact that he just automatically declared them dead just galls the mind, especially after what we just learned!" A brunette woman in the attire of a Federation Councilwoman said. This was Ryoko Hibiki, member of the Council, and also Takeshi's older sister, though she kept that connection mostly quiet to rise on her own merits.
"Voyager was declared KIA less than a year after they were sent into the Delta Quadrant. Shows how much faith we have in our people."
The aide sitting at his desk looked up at the trio. "Captain Pinkerton. How can I—" Ayame kicked him in the face, picked him up, and shoved him into the doors, breaking them.
"Subtle."
"Too pissed to care."
The last woman let out a brief giggle. She, too, was a brunette, but a slightly different color, and she was in an Admiral's uniform of her own. This was Hayate Yagami, head of Special Operations Section 6. "Subtlety has its place, Ryoko-chan, but this isn't it," she said.
Ryoko nodded. "True," she said. "Anyway, let's do this."
The three went through the broken doors, entering the office of Admiral Jellico.
"What the hell are you people doing?!" Jellico showed, rising from his seat. "Get out of my office!"
"You had all information on the Ra Cailum rerouted to your office without informing anyone else." Ayame declared, putting her finger in Jellico's face. "You wanted to hide the fact that my son is still alive! Give me a fucking reason not to kill you!"
Jellico sat back in his chair. "Beyond the fact that you can't touch me?"
Ayame grinned predatorily and turned to Ryoko. "Councilwoman, you have a knowledge of the law. Please tell me what all of this translates to."
"With all of his activities?" The council member made an act of thinking about it. "I believe he would be charged with corruption and removed from his post, stripped of his rank and commision."
"That's exactly what the regulations demand."
"Of course," Hayate remarked helpfully, "This means that whatever protection you thought you had is now gone."
Jellico was redfaced. "You-you still can't do anything to me!"
"We'll deal with Admiral Quinn. We'll organize a rescue and support mission with him." Ryoko turned away, waving at Hayate. "Deal with him, ma'am."
"Thank you very much, Captain," Hayate replied. She watched as Ryoko and Ayame left. "You're right," she said. "As a Starfleet Officer, I probably couldn't do anything to you. I'd just have to take you in to stand trial, but you might get off on a technicality or buy your way out of it or something." Jellico's smug grin that was beginning to form immediately faded as she drew a knife. "However… Section 31 doesn't have those restrictions."
"Section—what do they have to do with this?!"
"Because we've been looking at you for a VERY long time. Your continued harassment of the Ra Cailum's crew in spite of their records, your seeming loathing of the captain… Admiral Edward Jellico, you have been sentenced."
She advanced on Jellico, brandishing her knife. "You are not going to interfere with any operations ever again." When she reached him, she struck.
"Starfleet will not be mourning that fucking bastard. Everyone in the Delta Quadrant is pissed off that no one's bothering to look for my son, the Klingons want to go kill something, the Romulans owe him, and Starfleet itself owes him."
"Agreed, I know I won't," Ryoko replied. "Still wish we hadn't had to go this far, but the idiot forced our hand. Anyway, we have other things to deal with. Such as actually organizing the search."
"The Damascus will be joining it."
"That went without saying. We'll have to talk with Admiral Quinn, see who would be willing to join the search. Do we know what happened, how they disappeared?"
Ayame handed her a PADD and read from her own. "The Ra Cailum had a new experimental dilithium crystal chamber installed by an… Ensign Mari Illustrious Makinami?" The captain frowned. "Sonja won't let anyone install anything in her engine room without her approval."
"Unless Quinn ordered it."
"So, simple: we replicate the chamber."
"Works well enough," Ryoko said. "So, we replicate what they were doing, we follow their path, we find them, and we support them, and work on getting them home."
"Might not be that easy." The other woman commented, reading the dreadnought's 'course.' "You've clearly not been reading reports from the Ra Cailum. When he wants to get somewhere, he moves fast. He rushed ahead of the pack at Vaadwaur Prime, crippling half the fleet in a matter of minutes before the rest moved in. And unlike your brother, he actually thinks about five steps ahead and adjusts accordingly."
Ryoko nodded. "True," she said. "And I will admit that I don't read the reports in-depth, though I do skim them sometimes. Remember, the Pinkerton approach to paperwork is not what normal people think of the topic."
"So? We hate it, too: we just figure that to get it out of the way, you do it quickly. Not our fault speed-reading is a family trait."
"…How many words can you read in a minute?"
"I think the correct question is how many pages can we read in a minute. And the answer is eight. Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"Depends on the size of the PADD."
Ryoko sighed. "Well, regardless, the sooner we talk to Quinn, the sooner we can set out on their trail."
"We'll be beaming over to ESD in five minutes. Try not to lose your clothing in the meantime."
"W-What?!"
"You and your brother share a single trait: you prefer sex to anything else."
The captain left the room.
"…not entirely true."
Still, if there was anything the two shared, it was being a right asshole about their words.
And being as blunt as a sledgehammer about it.
Takeshi Yamato: And so we end the Galactica arc, and Starfleet is gearing up to go help the Ra Cailum.
Ron the True Fan: Well, at least we know where he got his disposition from. He just takes it to a greater extreme. And adds trollism to it.
117Jorn: The question now is… where do they go next? *furry creature is spotted in background* … Oh… YOU! *pulls out SPARTAN Laser*
Ruby: What's that?
Redemption's Avenger: I think I know, but I'm not sure. If it is what I think it is, grab flamethrowers.
Ron the True Fan: Something that needs to suffer. I'll be back. (Loads Striker)
Ja Ne!