12: Battlegroup
by Chaos_eternus

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

Forty-Three

"Well that's that," Peters turned her back on the window and the twinkling lights slowly floating by outside, her expression pleased but cautious as she turned her gaze to Admiral Thompson, "the SGC and Manston have both confirmed clear bays."

"So," he replied, settling backwards into the seat, "only one bird in the barn."

"Quite," Peters dropped into her seat, her hand tapping at the desk, "and it will be quite a while before she launches to complete Patrol 5."

"Not going to remain empty for long," he shrugged, "luckily, as it costs a damn site keeping those bays running even if they aren't building something."

"How long until we can place the orders?"

"Until Spain releases funding for the new PDF squadron they want and France makes up its mind what they are going to fund," Thompson sighed, "that won't be a lot. They have a lot of rebuilding to do and if this government doesn't get it right it could well go beyond riots."

She considered this for a moment, and then shook her head disgusted, "great. What about the Orbanians?"

"Negotiations are in progress," he shook his head, "but given we're talking about basically creating a military for a foreign power, its not going to be quick or easy."

"Like the worthwhile tasks ever are," Peters noted softly, "but still, it's not just the patrol boat bays I'm worried about. I've got five ships, including Yorktown which are about ready to leave the barn. Admittedly only two of those are new builds, but what are we going to use the bays for next? So far I haven't seen any 'Preparatory for Orders' cross my desk for those bays."

"Still being written I'm afraid," he sent an apologetic glance towards Peters, " Gaia, the Type III platforms, the expansion of the Cape and the rebuilding downside are all effecting the resources available to us,"

"Not to mention the other infrastructure projects in the pipeline," she sighed.

Thompson grimaced, "if your bays could handle Ha'taks we could get you to work straight away, their funding is covered but at the moment all I can suggest is your likely to be looking at at least two more Sentinel refits."

"Leaving two unrefitted hulls," she shook her head, "I'll keep bays six and seven rigged for Sentinals until I hear otherwise then but still…"

"Actually, its not as bad as you might think," the Fleet Admiral grinned slightly, "with the exception of the United Kingdom, Edonia is pretty much shut down as far as construction work is concerned. Right now she is giving the vessels assigned to the station a little TLC but the massive supply line we were forced to maintain to support construction is greatly reduced and I've decided to keep it that way frankly."

Peters snorted, "So it's not so much a lack of money that stopping the orders coming so much as balancing the books and seeing how much you can order."

"Quite," the admission came swiftly, "and at least until we can better supply the station, I'm probably going to keep construction there minimal, perhaps just one ship on the slips at any time just to maintain the capability."

"That will leave at lot of underutilized personnel," she noted in response.

"Not for long," came the swift reply, "reducing the personnel at the station will ease the supply situation and the costs as well. Stripping half the shipyard crews and reassigning them to Ravenbright and Thundersdawn will ease both of your problems with incomplete crews."

"At least until Gaia starts to go online," a sigh, "still, I need to have at least an inkling of what orders you want to place."

Thompson considered this for a moment then nodded, " Ravenbright has an empty bay, I'm probably going to have O'Neill use it to refit one of the more battered Ha'taks. At least two are in such a bad shape the engineers aren't happy with the thought of them landing on Alpha Prime for the refit in case the drives fail."

"Ouch," Peters winced, "that could ruin your day…"

She got a wry grin in response as he continued, "as far as Thundersdawn is concerned, I have already mentioned the two Sentinel refits which will be one for us and one for the Colonials. The Americans have already funded a new Britannica as the Constitution , and they've been waiting more then long enough. But a Merchant and a Prometheus is what I want."

"But as always, what you get…"

"Is an entirely separate matter, I know," he shrugged again, "but I'm actually pretty confident I'll get it at the moment."

She leaned back into her seat considering this for a moment then nodded sharply, "good, doubly so if we get those extra bodies; that will speed up production if I can get full crews for every slip."

"You have room for them?" Thompson asked frowning.

Peters nodded, "Yes, but only just. We are getting near to capacity here and the commute can be a real bitch."

Thompson snorted, and then checked his watch, "you don't say. Still, I have to drop in on O'Neill now. Catch you on the flip side."

"Sir,"


"Having fun?"

Billingsgate glanced upwards from his desk, his expression of weary determination fading into a slight grin as Reynolds walked into the room, "Wing-Commander, what are you doing here?"

"Avoiding paperwork," came the dry reply, "I've had enough of that recently with reorganising the blasted support craft,"

He received a chuckle in response as the American Lieutenant- Colonel gestured towards the seat in front of his desk, "I doubt you came down here just to avoid paperwork,"

"What, can't I just want to see a friend?"

"No,"

"See," Reynolds shook his head dismissively, "that the trouble nowadays, there isn't any trust anymore."

"Uh huh," Billingsgate shook his head, "what do you want?"

The hurt look Reynolds sent him in response just got a raised eyebrow before a few moments later they both broke down and chuckled.

"Okay," he shrugged, "I do have an ulterior motive."

"I'm shocked,"

"You've got a possible conflict of designation coming up and I'm afraid you will only be able to solve it through extra paperwork…"

"Bastard," Billingsgate responded, shaking his head, "okay, I'll bite…"

"The Lancer III's if they work will be a classic Fighter Attack bird, capable of air to air and air to ground combat," Reynolds shrugged as his friend nodded acknowledgement, "but we also have the Strikers which are labelled Fighter Attack as well but despite the Attack designation referring to ground attack i.e. tactical bombing and troop support, the Strikers have almost no such capability.

They should be labelled Maritime Strike or the equivalent,"

He frowned, "the classification system we're using is based upon the Tri-service system and its normal for aircraft capable of attacking ships to be given the A designation under that system,"

"But all aircraft in the US Navy given that designation have some form of air to ground capability," Reynolds countered, "the Hornet being a classic example. The Striker is the most vulnerable craft in atmosphere of all the fighters we have. You know their use against ground targets is practically forbidden."

Billingsgate opened his mouth, closed it, frowned, and then glared icily at Reynolds, "you really are trying to get me to do more paperwork aren't you? Do you have any idea how many forms are involved in changing a designation?"

The look on Reynolds face told him he did, "you truly are a bastard, you know that…"

The look sent back could best be described as wicked innocence and the American laughed, shaking his head, "you do know I'm going to find a way to get you back for that don't you?"

"Of course you're going to try, " Reynolds rose from his seat, walking towards the door, "have a nice day…."

"Bastard,"


"This Boeing Consortium will be a problem,"

"Succinct as always," Zarek replied, his expression dark, "we lose the contract to provide the bulk of the personnel transports between Earth and Freedom, we lose our only major source of income."

"I know," Roslin sighed, leaning backwards in her seat, her expression grim, "but I don't see what we can really do about it."

Zarek glanced up, opened his mouth to speak, then frowned, and rubbing his forehead wearily, continued, "You're right. It will likely take at least a year before the consortium launches its first ship but when it does…"

"They're not going to be able to take over the contract straight away, even if they do work swiftly," Adama frowned, "we do have some time. If this source of income is really that important to the Colony…"

"It is," Roslin replied.

"It's the only profit we have," Zarek explained, "with the Vipers so much of the craft has to be supplied by Earth that even with the orders from our cousins, we are only breaking even on those. We have a bilateral agreement which means they train our guys for free and we train theirs for free as well so no profit there. The technology we gave them didn't cover the costs of the technology they gave us plus our initial set-up costs here. The support ships like the mining ships,"

Zarek shrugged, glancing at Roslin who grimaced once more, "the resources they feed to Ravenbright means we just about break-even. If we lose the contract, we lose our ability to invest and expand without taking out additional loans."

"Lords," he frowned, pacing slowly in front of the Presidents desk, "I was aware it was bad, but I was not aware it was quite that bad."

"We need ideas," Zarek stated calmly, "the Council is frozen on this, they… we don't know what to do."

Adama paused a moment in his pacing, then with a shake of his head, continued, "the way I see it our main problem is that as much as we try to keep them operational, the ships we are using are battered and overworked. The vessels from the 1 st refugee fleet don't have much life left in them at all, Tyrol has confirmed he has been able to get two operational again but we're stripping more and more parts from the more damaged vessels to keep them going.

The 2 nd fleet vessels are better off, but sheer use is proven an issue as well."

"What about the military ships?" Zarek asked.

"They are the best preserved of all, baring battle damage," Adama noted.

"Why don't we start using those ships then?" Roslin asked calmly.

"The Tau'ri have been contacting me to make arrangements to tow two more Sentinels out of storage," the Admiral noted, making a momentary smile appear on Roslins face, "but the main advantage for the Tau'ri in using our ships is the ability to land on a planetary surface and the vessels which have that capability are already heavily used."

"As well as being highly vulnerable," Zarek shook his head angrily, "a single salvo took out the Herald of Athena and we all lost people during that attack."

"Two thousand," Roslin grimly noted, "almost all Tau'ri."

"That is part of the reason the Tau'ri want to change the transport arrangements," Adama stopped, and turned to face Roslin, placing his hands on her desk, "and they are right."

Zarek growled angrily, "That's not helpful Admiral."

But Roslin was looking into Adama's eyes and she could tell he had an idea, "go on…"

"If the ships are not up to the job, then we build new ones."

Roslin's eye widened as Adama leaned backwards, removing his hands from her desk, but it was Zarek who spoke first, "Risky. I'm not sure we can afford to do that."

"We don't have the facilities," Roslin added curiously, wanting to know where the warrior was going with this.

"If needs be we'll seal off one of Galactica's landing bays and build them in there until we can afford to hire shipyard space or build them on the surface," he sat back sharply, "it wont be cheap and it will likely push us further into debt in the short term, but we have one thing the consortium doesn't. Proven passenger liner designs, they only need upgrading."

Zarek nodded at Adama "you're right."

"This could break us," she noted, her expression contemplative.

"It could also make us," Zarek replied.

Roslin considered this for a moment, "all right. I want to see detailed proposals as soon as possible, this will need to be presented to the Quorum but you'll have my support."

"What design are you going to work on first?" Zarek asked curious.

Adama just smiled.