RSS Endeavour
He held his eyes shut, covering him with his still able arm, and waited for the end. Time seemed to slow down for Davis, the sudden burst of light caught him off guard but he knew what it symbolized, the blue flash was the Aschen taking vengeance, on the Tau'ri, the command ships of both fleets engaged, and the Aschen won, and now was just the final conclusion of a short but desperate battle.
He waited, seconds went by yet he felt nothing, the occasional spark from of a console was all he heard, or the slight hum from still active computers. Slowly he drew his arm away from his face, something wasn't right, he should be dead but he felt fine, taking the smallest glace out of his slowly opening eyes he felt the biggest feeling of awe and shock in his entire life, for spread across even further then the bridges window could show, was the gigantic, and freshly refit flagship of the colonial remnant, the Battlestar Galactica, its shield holding strong and bright against the assault intended for the Endeavour, Davis had never been more thankful to whatever deity looking over him.
Battlestar Galactica
Across the Battlestars bridge, the ship shook lightly every few seconds, orders ran forth the bridge to stations across the massive ship, two middle aged men stood clear amongst all others, Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh stood at the newly designed tactical station, with it limited visuals of what was going on outside the Galactica could be seen, the Tau'ri sensors enabled extreme precision in the hyper-light jump, thanks to General O'Neill's 'heads-up' as he called it, the Galactica just managed to take the blast intended to finish off the Endeavour. Now the Aschen Dreadnought found itself engaging a ship its own size, and boy will it regret even thinking about attacking the colonials new home, Adama would make sure of it.
"Bridge Status." He asked, not taking his eyes off the moving image of his ship's opponent.
"Shields are at 84 and dropping."
"Heavy Turrets 1 through 4 are ready and awaiting your orders to fire sir."
"Missiles?"
"On standby, as are the pulse lasers."
"Then this is it, launch all vipers, begin the hammer maneuver, gauss cannons, open fire!"
The Galactica's multiple sub-light engines powered up, energy flowed through them, allowing a slow build up of speed for the giant ship, the still firing dreadnought immediately noticed the start up, and maneuvered in a similar fashion, with both ships building speed, the Galactica began its assault, the 4 duel mount gauss turrets opened fire, 8 high explosive shells instantly jolted into the primary shields of the aschen behemoth, the battle of the titans had commenced.
Galactica, Starboard Fighter Catapults
"Port launch bays are clear for fighter launch." Captain Kelly reported from, before continuing. "Starboard on hold, we're getting some flak across the launch bay, your gonna have to sit tight for a while."
You could almost see the smirk on Lee Adama's face as he heard the news, "Roger that flight command, bad luck Starbuck, we'll save a bit of fun for you"
Hearing the report, Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace sighed audibly, starring aimlessly at the reinforced glass cockpit window of her brand-spanking new fighter. Now in charge of the new second squadron for the Galactica.
Getting restless, despite the occasional shake of the mighty Battlestar, as well as her own fighter, she sub-consciously drew herself into a yawn, waking suddenly when the ship shook massively, a magnificent splash of blue energy rippling rapidly across the previously invisible barrier, the now faint orange wall shuddered under the force.
Kelly finally responded, "Starboard launch bay you are clear for launch, take it slow and keep inside the shield perimeter."
Starbuck grinned, "Bout time, okay boys and girls we are a go, nice and slow now!"
Ravensbright
The multiple Gauss Cannons that surrounded the former Goa'uld station, fired relentlessly at the rapidly dropping number of targets, now dispersed and damaged, it was easy picking.
The woman manning sensors quickly turned to face O'Neill and Franco "Galactica is in position, they're taking the flak off the Endeavour."
"How many more of the other ships do we have to deal with?" the major asked.
"There's a few battleships still about, our forces are engaging"
"Frigates?" O'Neill inquired.
" The frigates are practically eliminated, whatever's left is being mopped up now."
O'Neill nodded briefly, still watching the raging battle go on from the reinforced window. Dozens of small ships whisked past, fighters moving at insane speeds, the few remaining Vulcan cruisers, joined up with the 3 surviving Andorian battlecruisers, charged at a damaged battleship, countless blue and green beams lashed out, disruptors, particle beams, struck like swords against the armour, slicing into the hull. The exposed sections we're bombarded with photon torpedoes, the glowing orange anti-matter weapons we're the final straw for the once considered invincible aschen battleship.
Across the planetary orbit, such scenes took place, the tide has been turned, but this battle would not be over until that monster was destroyed.
"Time to play anvil."
Outside Galactica
Against the starboard broadside, 20 vipers VIII's flew swiftly between the shields and armour of the mighty Battlestar, even now, the heavy particle bolts we're slamming across the Galactica's shields, it was quite the sight, if you had the time and care to take it in, all the pilots were a little pre-occupied with avoiding the things.
"Blue wing, our target is the shield generators on that frakken huge ship, Apollo will then lead Red wing to take out the secondary one."
"Roger that Starbuck"
"Coming up on an exit, no flak in the area."
"Roger that, okay blue wing, pull in, we're moving into engage, stick with the plan!"
Galactica, Bridge
"All Vipers are moving into attack."
"Shields down to 55 on the starboard side, looks like they we're locking onto Starbucks wing."
"We got friendly Ha'taks moving into engage, couple of Tau'ri fighter wings as well."
"Order the fighters to coordinate with Apollo and Starbuck, the Ha'taks to form up with us, prepare missile batteries, maximum saturation."
'Missiles ready."
"Open fire!"
In an expanse of no more then several dozen kilometres, both giants engaged, massive bolts of particle energy from the Dreadnought pounded into the Galactica's shields, while the Battlestar continued its bombardment with its Asgard designed Gauss Cannons. The viper VIII's looked like small metal specs, as they raced towards the aschen vessel, quickly being out-runned by the Galactica's missile strike, approaching unopposed to the Dreadnought. Unlike most races, the Aschen didn't use Point Defense weapons, which was surprising, since the Vulcan's used both missiles and fighter craft to full advantage, it was assumed that the other race that appeared used them also, especially after that display with the torpedo barrage. 8 Sparrow missiles smashed into the primary shield layer, blasting right through it, the energy could not hold up to the naqaudah enhanced blast, leaving a gapping hole, and shaking the ship visibly.
Aschen Dreadnought, Deck 14
Several seconds before hand, 3 men walked down to the detention centre, the grey bare paint that covered the walls, we're a mere 1.8 metres from each other, unlike the battleships and frigates, the Dreadnought was a true warship, in every possible aspect. And because of this, the 3 man had a hard time maneuvering through, especially when one of them was a captive.
One of the security guards suddenly banged his shoulder across the left wall, Gerol smirked inwardly, despite his calm and emotionless appearance, he still had a good laugh when someone's incompetence got the best of them, the ship shock heavily, causing the bruised man to lose his balance, Gerol took advantage of it, elbowing the other guard in the gut, he brought his index finger and thumb on the mans collar bone, a slight but powerful squeeze caused him to spasm, and lose all control, a quick movement of the Gerol's other hand, caused the other guard to do the same. Both men almost instantly feel into unconsciousness. 'And they thought I'd never use it.'
Reports came in from all over the ship, blaring across the comm. Systems, but the commander gave them no notice, picking up a particle beam pistol from the guards holster, he ran towards the bridge, Molum wouldn't have a chance.
Endeavour
By now the crew we're slowly coming through, commander Wellings and the captain we're doing whatever they could to get any of the life support systems back up, but it looked very bad. The shield generator was burnt out, gashes covered the hull, and in the worst case, entire sections of the ship we're blasted away and, the engines being just one example.
'At least that's the end of it' Wellings thought, smiling slightly that the ventilation systems were once again activated, the thick and dust filled air was slowly being recycled and filtered. She turned once again to the bridge window, watching the Galactica take, and fire a pounding but a few kilometres away, as much as she wanted to help, this was no place for such a damaged ship. "We should really get out of here, what have we got in the way of hyperdrive?"
"not much, but enough to get us to Sol, as long as you don't mind taking it slow, and a hell of a lot of calculations, I really don't feel like screwing up a hyper-jump right now.."
"No worries there, if it wasn't for Ravensbright blasting the crap out of everything in sight, I wouldn't even suggest it."
"Very true," activating the surprisingly functional comm. station, Davis picked up the Galactica's signature, "Commander Adama, this is Captain Davis of the Endeavour, we're bugging out, can you give us some cover while we prepare a jump?"
Galactica
"Affirmative Endeavour, we'll give you cover, but do you have the power to go into hyperspace?"
"We'll be lucky if we do, in any case, we could hitch a ride with another ship, but we got to get out of here."
"we're calling the Andorian Battlecruiser, the Kermanus to take you in, heading to Thundersdawn I take it?"
"Right, sorry we can't be of any more help, win this for us, make them pay for every life, Endeavour out."
Kermanus
General Shran smirked as a frigate was destroyed with the next pass, these new torpedoes that the Vulcan's had given them we're much better then the fusion missiles they were used to using, despite the extremely similar designs and size, making them accepting Andorian systems much easier then expected.
"General, we're getting a request from the Colonial Carrier, they're asking us to escort the Endeavour to their home system."
Nodding in acknowledgement, the General knew about the Endeavour, and how it lead to the protection of Vulcan, the Andorian Imperial Guard were going to launch a force to help the with the defense, before news spread of the Tau'ri. This lead to the Andorian's reconsidering their isolation from Galactic affairs, while they weren't far behind the Vulcan's in terms of technology, the Tau'ri put them to shame, and they haven't even had hyperdrives for a decade!
He hoped that with this mission, relations between both the Tau'ri and Andorian grew because of it, today the will stand with the Vulcan's against the aschen, they will not let their allies fall.
"Prepare a micro-jump to the Endeavour's Position, once we're in range, lock a tractor beam and prepare a jump to the system designated as Sol."
"Yes General."
Galactica
After the constant bombardment across the starboard side, the Battlestar maneuvered itself into its stronger shield arc, it unfortunately it moved quite a bit of its firepower out of position, but the reinforcing Ha'taks, MTB's were definitely making up for it, 40 of the Dreadnoughts external cannons were destroyed, or damaged beyond effective use, it will soon be over.
Dualla reported "All vipers are engaging, Blue wing is inside the primary shield perimeter and taking out the generator."
The Colonel asked "Red wing?"
"Waiting for their target to open up, Apollo reports that it would be a waste of Sparrows to do anything else."
Adama nodded in agreement "True" turning to Gaeta "what's the Galactica's status?"
"Cannon 1 and 3 are continuing their attack, we're draining missiles but they're punching through, our shields are currently at 47…" the Battlestar shook violently, some of the crew literally lost their ground, falling, it was nothing like the assaults they've already received. Thankful for the console to grab onto," Make that 15"
"What the frak was that!" Colonel Tigh demanded , still holding onto the table for support, Adama not doing much better.
Gaeta was equally as baffled, going back to the ship read outs, his eyes widened slightly "It was one of their heavy cannons, we thought they were disabled!"
Dreadnought, Bridge
Molum watched impassively, at least in appearance, he was actually feeling quite superior with himself, when that massive starship…appeared, for lack of better words, they had delivered a quick alpha strike of those detestable missiles that the Tau'ri we're so keen on using, it looked as if they had eliminated the Dreadnoughts heavy weapons, and he wanted to make them believe that. Even Gerol would have to admire the intelligence in such a maneuver
"Surrender now Molum." The a quite, but powerful voice said from behind, he knew who it was, but would give the man the benefit of the doubt.
"Speak of the devil," he said almost casually at the High Commanders appearance, even with the weapon pointed at him, he still carried the superior attitude. The bridge crew raised their side arms at Gerol.
"You have been listening to Faxon too much Molum." Gone was the snarl, the grunt, that usually accompanied Gerol's comments to Molum, now was a calm focused mind, on one purpose.
"Yes, well while the Tau'ri have their obvious, genocidal attitudes, they have quite a few interesting sayings, you should try them one day."
"You are indeed a strange one Molum, first you want the Tau'ri's destruction, then you want me to study up on their mannerisms, there's also why we're using our limited forces to attack a species, that when all aspects are considered, were only defending themselves."
Molum now fully turned to face the high commander, he looked completely outraged at the previous statement, his face was slowly going red, as he ran it over, and over inside his head, "You count billions of lives lost, an act of SELF DEFENSE!"
"They we're suspicious of us! And rightfully so!." he began turning around the Supreme Commander, never letting his aim drop. "You we're the one foolish enough to jump head on with those new gate addresses, on our Homeworld no less!"
Stepping back slightly, the casual observer would not notice, but Gerol did, Molum's eyes widened slightly "Why are you putting the blame on me!"
"Because it was your fault, everything comes full circle to you! The negotiations, the addresses, the gate, the constant foolish and useless attacks!" Gerol now had gained the advantage, he pushed on with his verbal assault, "and you know what's worse?" now the control was gone, and the sneer was evident in Gerol's features, "I think you already knew."
By now, those aiming at Gerol had suddenly become unsure, were the words of Gerol true? Was the supreme commander truly to blame? Confusion and deep thought were etched on their faces, and Molum noticed. His support was dying quickly, and himself starting to take in the doubt himself, the years of confidence, of logic that built up into his mind were falling, and as he sub-consciously brought his own particle pistol out, all that remained in Molum's mind was the very basic instinct in all humans.
Survival.
Ravensbright
"All sub-targets are locked."
"Fire at will."
Dozens of gauss rounds fired on the dreadnought, instantly the rear shields were assaulted by small, but extremely fast naqaudah explosives. Balls of explosive force ripped into the layers of energy protecting the monstrous starship, but more rounds kept firing, this was it.
Dreadnought, Bridge
The ships walls bounced up and down, dozens of men and woman were thrown from their station, Molum included, as his intended target disappeared from his line of sight, a bright blue pulse fired into the roof, Molum, in his last stand against all odds, had slipped, quite anti-climatically at that. Gerol slowly approached despite the constant barrage that was ripping into the dreadnought, looking down at the pathetic sight before him. Molum starred to the High Commander, with naught but fear in his eyes, without words, without emotion, Gerol pressed the trigger, and with a brief flash of light, Molum was vaporized.
"Get us out of here!"
Endeavour
The entire fleet was now attacking the lone surviving aschen starship, the dreadnought was being attacked from all sides, shields down, weapons ripped to shreds, it would all be over. Davis had requested to General Shran that they wait, he wanted to see this through to the end. Ha'taks, the Galactica, MTB's, Vulcan Cruisers, Ravensbright itself let all they had against the dying monster of a ship, swarms of fighters zoomed in and out, firing sparrows, sidewinders, even pulse lasers into its armour. Now, Galactica's final missile barrage was launched, streaking in towards the dreadnought, moving closer and closer, the damage caused by this final attack would end its life, but mere seconds before they hit, a massive vortex opened directly in front of the sole Aschen ship.
It jumped.