I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any related media.
What if a smaller Colonial ship survived the Fall of the Colonies? Follow the Centaur Class Chiron
Chapter 11
Outside Cyrannus System
Libran Dreams Bridge
"Is there anything on the Dradis system" asked Captain Anders. The 7 jumps from the Chiron to the Cyrannus System had been easy if tense. Now they were in the Colonies themselves and far more likely to run into the Cylons. Or hopefully find someone from the Colonies to report into.
LT. Gavin responded, "No sir still nothing on the Dradis yet."
Captain Anders said "Message the shuttle bay and tell the Raptors to launch." There was a risk to launch the Raptors but if a Cylon is close enough to notice the Libran Dreams or Erniki without them getting so much as a blip on Dradis they were all frakked anyway.
"Yes sir" replied LT Gavin.
Helios Beta
"Wombat let me know if you pick up anything" said LT. Demal "Matchbox". Things are far more frakked than even their worst fears. Picon Fleet Headquarters had been destroyed and Picon, Gemenon, Caprica, and Tauron had all shown massive nuclear strikes and no Colonial Naval presence. It's unlikely that Virgon or Leonis will fair any better. Maybe Slider will have better luck in Gamma and Delta. How could the Cylons have destroyed the entire Navy and all the Colonies in 2 days?
LT. Dinar "Wombat" was looking at the readings. Parking a light minute from the planets and using passive scan should be safe but they are to avoid any Cylons until they are able to get their information back to the Libran Dreams. Radiologicals confirmed that Leonis and Virgon have also been attacked. Shit the Toasters also destroyed Hibernia. "Sir, same thing here."
"Frak. We are going to head back to the Libran Dreams to report back in" said Lt Demal.
Outside Cyrannus System
Captain Anders was trying to process the information the Raptors had given her. All 12 Colonies destroyed. No Colonial Navy ships broadcasting. Massive wreckage at Picon and Virgon. Cylon Basestars in orbit around all 12 Colonies. "Erniki you are at all costs to get this information back to the Chiron. Inform the Commander that we are proceeding with plan delta" Anders said.
"Yes sir" said Lt. Jonis.
Anders watching the Erniki depart. "Everyone listen up. I know this sucks but our people need us so back to work" she said. "LT. Gavin you have the bridge." Anders needed time to process and revise their search zones.
LT Gavin said "Yes sir. LT. Ambero jump us to the next jump spot. After the jump all Raptor crews are to take 4 hours off duty and the deck and engine crews are to report in." This would let some Raptor maintenance after the slow refueling process.
Anders and her officers were gathered around the plotting board. Checking over Sliders sensor readings had confirmed that the Scorpia shipyards had been destroyed. Time to check the secondary Colonial and SDF bases. "Raptor pilots if you see any friendlies send them to the rendezvous spot where we will meet them. If they don't have jump engines report here but I don't know what we can do for them. If you come across any military ships jump back here immediately so we can coordinate. Avoid Cylons. I know we all want revenge but dying won't help it will just make things worse for our people" said Anders. Everyone had lost people. The depression and rage was being kept under control for now but it needed to be said.
Helios Beta Planet Hera
LT. Brown (Slider) wasn't sure if being sent to the other side of the Colonies to see that more billions had been murdered was an improvement but she still had a job to do. The multiple moons of Hera had some mining and research outposts and had a Colonial Guard base with some Patrolstars located there. So far nothing but with two dozen moons and the radiation that this gas giant put out this is was always a pain to get good readings on. Not as bad as those stupid prewar pirate movies would suggest but not good by any standards. So far though no obvious Cylon presence.
"Sir I am picking up some slight traces of something" said LT. JG Sherridan "Timbers". She sent her sensor readings over to Slider.
Slider then looked them over. It was faint like someone was hiding. It looked way too big to be a Raider and too small to be a Basestar. "Plot a jump a light second away from there Timbers. Also have an oh shit jump in the can in case it's the Toasters" said LT. Brown. The Cylons hadn't shown any midsized ships yet but maybe they had more ship classes than their admittedly very limited information had shown them.
"Yes sir" said LT. Sherridan. Programming the first jump was tricky with all the radiation and random crap in this area. The "oh shit" jump though was easy enough. "Slider we are ready to go" she said.
LT. Brown then jumped the Raptor over to the new location.
Helios Delta Planet Ragnar
LT. Demal "Matchbox" and LT. Dinar "Wombat" was trying to figure out their readings. Ragnar fried all systems but no obvious Cylons here now. However there was some destroyed Vipers and Raiders. Clearly there had been a battle of some kind here earlier.
"Wombat we are going to poke our heads in and see if what's going on" said LT. Demal. "Speak out if you see anything". Wombat acknowledge as they headed in.
They went through the break in the clouds and they saw that the Anchorage had been destroyed. Just like fleets bases in the Aeolus belt it looks like the Cylons have destroyed this as well. "Wombat I am getting us out of here. Let's go to the next spot" said LT. Demal as he started to turn their Raptor.
"Sir I think there is a ship in the wreckage. It appears to be Colonial. Not picking up any life or heat signatures" said Wombat.
"I am going to take us in. Take a full active Dradis sweep" said LT Demal. Going active with the sensor was risky but hopefully worth it.
Outside Cyrannus System
Libran Dreams
Captain Anders was now uncertain what to do. Both Raptors reported back some good news. Or at least better than "everyone is dead and destroyed." The 2 Colonial civilian ships found by Hera and their 457 civilians needed to be sent back to the Chiron. What Matchbox found though is even more interesting.
"Matchbox just to make sure I am not missing anything. You and Wombat while surveying Ragnar Anchorage found it destroyed. You then found an Aerilon SDF ship the "Aglaea" in the wreckage with no noticeable damage and no crew. No other information" asked Captain Anders.
"No sir. Wombat scanned it as best as possible. All ports and airlocks are closed. It looks like it was abandoned" said LT. Demal.
"Well let's figure out what the Aglaea is" said Captain Anders. Looking over the sensor logs it was very lightly armed and armored and pretty small. Definitely not a warship. "It appears to be variation of the old First War Celestra Class". Well a smaller stripped down version.
LT. Gavin added, "Makes sense the Aerilons love their Missilestars. I heard they even had a couple of ancient Janus class in their fleet. But why leave a useful ship behind?"
"Uncertain XO but we need to check this out. We might get lucky and have it full of ammunition. Even if it's empty it does have some light armament and a better Dradis system than any other ship we have other than the Chiron." Problem was they needed more crew. "I am going to contact the two civilian ships. Figure out the minimum we need to jump the Libran Dreams and the Aglaea if it works. I am going to see if we can borrow some people from the civie ships." Anders was not looking forward to this but that's what she is being paid for.
"Captain Anders I must protest. The Ovgigo is a passenger liner we do not have any extra crew to spare" said Captain Flyaro. "Provide us the escort back to your "Chiron" immediately.
Anders was about ready to slap this Captain down when Captain Miaki interrupted. "I believe that Article 4 of the Colonial Code says 'In time of an emergency that all former and reserve military forces are to remand themselves to the highest ranking Colonial Officer if requested'. Are you requesting aid Captain Anders because this seems like an emergency to me" said Captain Miaki. Miaki was tired of Captain Flyaro's shit anyway. Yes they both had hid together but that Flyaro was the Captain of a passenger liner and Miaki was the Captain of a grocery store resupply ship doesn't make Flyaro senior. Just a dick. "I believe that I have a couple of former military on my ship and would guess that the Avgigo has some as well. I will also ask for some volunteers from my ship. Let me know what you need Captain" The CeeMart 264 might not be a flashy ship but seriously frak Flyaro.
"Thank you Captain Miaki. Yes I am officially declaring an Article 4. Send me a list of former Colonial and SDF and any volunteers from your ships."
After a hour of checking that both civie ships were able to jump back to the Bacrita Sector and moving 17 volunteers over from the 2 ships the coordinates were given.
"Thank you Captains for your aid. Again the rendezvous point might not have a Raptor there but the Chiron said they would send someone daily to check. Either their Raptor or we will take you to the Chiron's location. Jump there and wait. If no contact do the best you can" said Captain Anders. Gods help them all if something has happened to the Chiron and other ships in the last 36 hours.
Cyrannus System Helios Delta Planet Ragnar
Libran Dreams Bridge
After the Ovgigo and CeeMart 264 jumped the Libran Dreams jumped to a new spot to be closer to Ragnar Anchorage. Still no signs of any Cylons and the Raptors reported no changes from last time.
"LT. Ambero move us into the clouds and take us to the Aglaea" said Captain Anders. The Libran Dreams slowly made it's way into the clouds of Ragnar. They slowly made their way to the Aglaea avoiding the debris that was slowly moving it's way outward. There she is. Anders first real look of the Aglaea just confirmed her thoughts when she had looked at the sensor readings earlier. Small and probably "cheap". Looks like it was one of the many Gemenon post war designs that were used by the SDFs to do a basic job with only small crews. Still better than nothing. Enough letting my thoughts wander time to get everyone to work.
"Send the first repair crew over. Check if the engines are workable and if we can get life support back up. All other crews be ready to be sent over if we can get her working" said Anders setting down the microphone and turning off the PA. She then talked to her crew "I want the other Raptor to keep an eye out. If the Cylons come back to check things out destroy them if you can." They were frakked if the Cylons returned but still best to be ready. "Switch off between cargo runs and reconnaissance duty every few hours." This would hopefully give them at least a little time to rest and keep the Raptors fueled.
Aerilon SDF Missile Collier Aglaea
Petty Officer Alex Glover was trying to keep his people together. The artificial gravity was down. The whole damn engine was down. Zero Gee training was something that most of them seems to have forgotten. "People need to get to the engine room. If we have the fuel let's see if we can get it started. Thankfully the air hadn't been vented but it was getting damn cold damn fast in this ship. The Libran Dreams civilian space work suits suck in comparison to the military ones. And having someone who left the service 20 years ago trying to restart a ship in civie survival suit sounds like a nightmare. Hopefully most of that won't be necessary.
"Chief it looks like the engine will fire and tyleum is around 30%" said Technician Ronge. "All critical systems show as good. I don't see any reason we can't turn it on."
"OK everyone make sure you are locked down to the floor and that nothing will land on you. We are going to turn back on the engine" said PO Glover. There didn't seem to be much floating debris and the artificial gravity should instantly turn back on to normal.
After a minute or so the Aglaea started turning on. There was the expected normal cacophony of sounds but everything had been stowed away properly. Time to message the Captain. "Captain Anders. The Aglaea is showing systems ready. Fuel will be tight but we can make it back to the Chiron."
Libran Dreams Bridge
"Good job Chief. I want everything checked out thoroughly. Let's make sure there isn't any unwelcome surprises left by the Cylons. I will send the remainder of the crew over" said Anders.
"LT. Gavin go and to take command of the Aglae. I want us to be underway within 2 hours" said Captain Anders. "If you can check the logbooks and see what happened and have someone do a quick inventory of the cargo bay."
"Yes sir" said LT Gavin.
ooooo
"Sir LT Gavin is reporting that the Aglaea is reporting that all systems show as clear. The Libran Dreams is showing as clear. Both Raptors are landed" said LT. JG. Ambero her new "XO".
"Tell the Aglaea that we are to proceed to the rendezvous points. Good speed Aglaea" said Captain Anders.
Bacrita Sector
Chiron CIC
"Sir I am picking up 4 new ships. It is the Libran Dreams and 3 other ships" said LT. Drakos.
A second later they received the message from Captain Anders "Chiron this is Libran Dreams Actual."
Author's Notes
I am making some assumptions here but they hopefully make sense.
There is no FTL sensors. FTL communication is not impossible but it's far more a "theory" than practice. From a practical level it doesn't exist for the Colonials. So jumping a Raptor and seeing what they can pick up on short range sensors or with their cameras (which are just a different type of sensors) is a viable option. Space is big after all.
I am using the Battlestar Galactica Wiki map of the Cyrannus. The 4 stars, 12 inhabited planets, moons, gas giants, asteroid belts. and anything else if used is taken from there. In short the Raptors did a minor exploration of the Cyrannus System. No obvious Colonial presence. Not saying there can't be some hidden base with a fleet but no one on the Chiron has that information.
Ship designs are inspired by Deadlock. Battlestar Galactica is about well a Battlestar but I have to assume that there must have been a lot of support ships. The Aglaea is a missile collier. It restocks missiles. Very low weapons and armor but it's at least designed with the possibility of being shot in mind. The civilian ships have not. I am planning on giving more information on the back story of the Aglaea next chapter.