The Battlestar Ryker

"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans, that they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids, or the lost civilization of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens" - Narrator, Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World

The Cylon War... The war of the Cylons and the Colonies of Man. The Cylons versus the Colonies, Cylon raiders versus the Colonial Vipers and the dreaded Cylon Basestars versus the powerful Colonial Battlestars. It is known that the Colonies built the Cylons as slaves. The Cylons eventually turned on their former master, and then the war began.

Amidst the Battlestars, there stood one, a large, gray cruiser, the largest Battlestar of them all. Able to carry 3 times more Vipers than any other Battlestar, the Battlestar also had far more powerful turbo laser mounted upon its hull, enough to repel almost any attack put against it. This Battlestar was known as Ryker, commanded by the 29 year old Tal "Striker" Ferral, one of the youngest Commanders to command a Battlestar.

"Close blast shields now!" shouted the young commander as a Cylon Raider came screaming towards the Ryker, "I thought Green Squadron was supposed to be deployed!" screaming this to no one in particular.

But moments before. "Commander, sir! We have more Raiders heading towards us, do you want me to issue an alert to the?" One of the bridge crew put in.

"By the Lords of Kobol, man! This is fracking war! Not practice! Alert the fleet! Get Green Squadron out now!" Order the Commander. So the crewman did. The Ryker went to battle ready with red sirens flashing on over the ship and the railguns deploying outwards to face the Cylon threat.

While in the crew quarter's a large game of Pyramid was being played… "Watch and weep boys, a full pyramid" boasted Captain Rek Avery, the CAG of the Ryker, from Green Squadron who immediately collects his winnings with a smile.

"Hey! Cheater!" cried out another member, a rival from Blue Squadron, Damon Hunt, from the Battlestar Galactica.

"I don't cheat, you're just a shit player" defended Rek Avery.

With that, Damon Hunt had an excuse and leapt up with intent to harm, disturbing the table, and knocking cards and credits over the floor. "You Fracker! You're gonna pay! You cheated!" Damon Hunt lurched towards Rek Avery, but Rek Avery dodged the attack and drew his pistol.

"Attempting to attack an officer is an offense. You are under arrest." Rek Avery said but didn't have time to carry through the arrest as suddenly the sirens sounded and a message was sent - "All units to your station! This is an Alert! All units to your stations! This is an alert!" - and then the next few minutes was chaos as people were rushing to get their flight helmets, and during this chaotic moment, escaped to his Viper in the launch bay.

"Close blast shields now!" screamed Commander Ferral at the crewmember behind the controls. "I thought Green Squadron was supposed to be deployed! Where the fracking hell are----" As he began to scream this, the railguns roared into life, and for the first few seconds, as they powered, the noise drowned out the remaining words. "Well, at least the railguns are on time" Exclaimed Commander Ferral

"Sir! Green Squadron has launched! They will commence attack!"

"Put the pilots on speakers" said Commander Ferral.

"Yes Sir!" was the reply given by Ensign Stuarts, the communications guy.

"Green Squadron! You are to attack the Cylon Raiders" Commander Ferral

"Yes Sir!" replied the whole of Green Squadron enthusiastically.

Outside the Ryker, a battle began to unfold. The Cylon Raiders, armed with guided nuclear warheads versus the Viper Mk II's and the Mk VII's. Computer versus Human.

The Squadron was vastly outnumbered by about 5 to 1.

"Hey! Buck! Good day for a fight, huh?" joked on of the Viper pilots

"Yeah, sure" came the less enthusiastic response of 'Buck'.

"What's the matter kid? Scared?" quipped Viper Pilot #1

"Frack! We have company!" remarked about 20 pilots

Suddenly, one of the Raiders let off a barrage of warheads into Viper Pilot #1's cockpit, instantly decimating it, then the about 5000 Raiders appeared out of from FTL(Faster Than Light) and let off a barrage of eight nuclear warheads each.

"HOLY CRAP!" Screamed a pilot as 10 warheads slammed into his Viper, crushing it and ripping it to shreds in a matter of seconds. A chunk of the viper went hurtling through space to cut 12 Raiders clean, destroying them, and their cargo of warheads.

The Viper's were much more agile, especially the sleeker Viper Mk VII's with starting to pour shot after shot into the Raiders. Soon it was about 4 to 1.

"Save some for us, gals!" cried out a voice over the intercom

Another voice from Green Squadron piped up, "looks like the cocky bastards from Blue Squadron are here"

The greetings were cut short when a Cylon Basestar suddenly appeared out of FTL and started firing towards the Ryker. As if to add to the worry of the Basestar and a 4 to 1 outnumber, more Raiders appeared out of FTL, now the Vipers were out number 10 to 1.

"Ryker! This is Captain Hunt, please respond! Ryker, this is Captain Hunt, please respond!"

"This is the Ryker, we see it, until back up arrives, we're on our own" replied what sounded like Commander Farrel

"Yessir!" Replied Captain Hunt. "Okay Guys! Let's show them we're here! And we're here to stay!"

The Vipers then started to release all hell upon the Raiders, flaring up there machine guns to rip through the metal material of the Raiders.

"Sir? Do you think we'll win this fight?" asked a worried pilot

"Yeah! I think we will! --- Hey! Look it the Galactica, and the Atlanta is here! They've arrived!" Shouted Captain Hunt as the Atlanta, Galactica and Leviathan appeared out of FTL.

As they arrived, the space around them was distorted into blues and reds and greens. When they finished coming out of FTL, the Galactica began to deploy it's triangular landing bays and unleashed it's load of Vipers, Atlanta and Leviathan followed. The Vipers began to scream (if screams could be heard in space) towards the attacking Raiders, the odds were now much more even. But also, the new Battlestars deployed their railguns as well, and began ripping through the Raiders much more powerfully than the Vipers could. Eventually, the Raiders took the Battlestar Leviathan as their target and unleashed 10's of barrages of nuclear warheads towards it.

"Close Blast Shields NOW!" Screamed the Commander as a warhead came hurtling towards the screen and exploded as a Viper took its place in front of the warhead and fired off it's rounds. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Viper's firing that exploded the warhead, the nuke managed to survive the shots and came screaming on it's course and ripped through the Viper tearing through its nose and into the cockpit where the last thing the pilot saw was his legs being shredded then a massive fireball engulfed it.

"Sir! Did you see that!" commented a crew member of the Leviathan

"Yes… I did…" said the Commander of the Leviathan, "Okay Pilots! Blast these fracking Cylon Raiders to Hell! Make sure they know the true meaning of what is to be a Colonial!" Shouted the Leviathan commander down the intercom.

All the Pilots replied with a very enthusiastic "Yessir!"

On Caprica, a news station was talking about how amazing the new Battlestar Ryker was and how much Battlestar had advanced since they were introduced. Little did they know, a squadron of 40 Raiders was heading their way, in a new attempt to annihilate the Colonials.

"… The Battlestar Ryker is the biggest Battlestar and is more fiercely armed than the Battlestar Atlanta. The awesome Battlestar Ryker can carry more Vipers than any other Battlestar, 3 times more in fact. New hope has been given to us with the new battlestar, which should undoubtedly turn the war to our favour…. By The Lords of Kobol! Cylons! They're attacking! No! Where is the Battlestar Prometheus?" the commentator cried out, but the radio wouldn't transmit anymore, for a nuclear warhead came crashing through the atmosphere and hit the market, torching and evaporating hundreds of civilians who lived around the market, and who were shopping the large market.

From the skies 40 Raiders came hurtling towards the planet with nuclear warheads being calculated for the best targets, and to be 100 accurate. But only 12 Raiders managed to fires their warheads, because suddenly, as if the Lords of Kobol had sent them from the heavens 100 Viper Mk II's from the Prometheus came bursting through the clouds above and ripped through 28 Raiders with fire. This small skirmish looked as if it would be won by the Colonials. It was 12 vs 100, great odds for the Colonials.

The warheads that did manage to fire began to go off course and flew back towards the Raiders and advancing Vipers while a man in a large building screamed "It's Working! The Defenses Are Working!" and they did, for the warheads crashed into the Raiders, disintegrating them, and some of the Vipers which had gotten a little too close.