Chapter 2: Death of the fleet.
"Admiral Nagala is dead, Battlestar Atlantia has been destroyed, so has the Triton, the Solaria, the Columbia, the list goes on".
Commander William Adama, Battlestar Galactica.
Colonial Raptor in space near Virgon.
The Colonial Raptor flew raced across space as fast as it engines could churn. Onboard, all of the passengers fidgeted in their seats as they tried to gain a clearer picture of what was going. Unfortunately though, the electronic systems had encountered a lot of jamming, especially when the shuttle tried to contact Picon Fleet headquarters.
Its most important passenger, Admiral Nagala looked out at space as he tried to gather his thoughts together. First of all: how the hell did the metal toasters managed to achieve great surprise and more importantly, what was the status of the whole fleet.
The shuttle pilot interrupted his thoughts by yelling out, "Admiral, we're coming onto the Atlantia". Nagala took a deep breath as he prepared to assume command of the fleet.
The Atlantia was one of the original twelve battlestars the colonies constructed during the First Cylon War. Although not as famous as the Galattica, it acquired its own reputation as well during the first war. Unlike her sister, the Atlanita underwent the same modifications and upgrades the rest of the Colonial fleet received.
As soon as the shuttle docked, the admiral immediately emerged from his seat into the hanger deck of the battlestar where the captain and the command staff of the Atlantia awaited. After they exchanged salutes, the admiral immediately got straight to the point, "Any updates since we received that first message"?
The captain of the Atlantia replied back, "All channels right now are filled with confusing chatter but from what we can tell; Picon fleet headquarters has been annihilated along with a good portion of the fleet". An officer came in to whisper to the captain for a moment before the captain turned to Nagala, "We've just received word that a large force of Cylons ships is heading for the area between Virgon and Caprica".
Nagala immediately asked, "How are we arranged here"?
The captain immediately pulled up a virtual screen of the solar system, the units of the colonial fleet and the last known positions of the Cylon fleet. It already showed Picon devastated and the known units of the Cylon fleet spreading out towards the rest of the planets of the Solar System".
He pointed to the Atlantia's location, "The Solaria, Triton, Columbia and 30 other battlestars are rendezvousing with us while the rest are heading towards the other designated rendezvous points with Admiral Nelena Cain in command of the group near the planet of Scorpion". The captain then added, "The last known location of the closest Cylon force is that it is heading towards Virgon".
Nagala nodded and replied, "Set course immediately and coordinate our actions with the rest of the fleet". As the battlestar group headed towards Virgon, the admiral turned to ask the communications officer, "Any word about Picon"?
The Communications Officer paused for a moment before saying, "A few moments ago, we just stared to receive the automatic beacon". Everyone who heard what had happen known what that meant and the Atlantia's captain immediately spoke their thoughts, "Sir that puts you in command of the fleet as per the command ranking structure".
Nagala immediately nodded and turned back to the communications officer, "Signal all commands that I am taking command of the fleet and the orders are to commence operations under Op Plans One". That meant that all fleet units were to use every means at their disposal to defend the colonies at all costs. With that, the admiral turned to his officers, "Set course for Virgon at maximum burn".
The engines of the fleet roared to maximum power as they raced to defend their homes.
On the bridge, the admiral and the Atlantia's command staff looked over the reports now starting to come in from Picon, which showed heavy losses from the few ships that managed to get out in time. A disconcerting part of the message was that the
Cylons somehow managed to use some kind of knew electronic jamming that played havoc with the integrated computer systems that the Colonial Fleet now used.
Their thoughts were interrupted by an announcement from one of the air operations officers, "We have reached Virgon and have detected a large force of Cylon basestars orbiting the planet in a blockade formation. That sent warning signals down the spines of everyone and Nagala immediately yelled out the order, "Assume attack formation and launch all Vipers and Raptors".
Throughout the fleet, scores of Vipers and Raptors launched from the hanger bays of the huge colonial warships before assuming formation around the huge force as it headed towards the large force of Cylon basestars hovering over Virgon.
Cylon fleet above Virgon.
The two humanoid Cylon models watched as the huge fleet suddenly approached them without fear. The female Cylon admitted, "Well, the doctor did do a very good job with their navigation systems". She then smiled, "Of course, he did so well a job that it is annoyingly easy to keep track of them".
The male Cylon turned and asked, "Would you have wanted them to have a more equal chance of fighting us than in the state they're in right now".
The female Cylon said slyly, "It would have given us much more of a challenge". She then turned to one of the Cylons hidden in the shadows and said, "How go the progress of the other task forces".
One of the hidden forms replied, "They have made contact with our own forces". The Cylon then added, "Also, we've tracked individual units and eliminated them". The Cylon then added, "We may have a problem that one of the human warships may be immune to our attacks". The form then finished, "We should seek it out immediately".
The female Cylon replied, "By your command". She then turned to one of the Centurions and said, "Send out scout patrols to find any remnants and order our fleets to engage the Colonials forces". The robot marched out of the room while the female turned to watch silently as the Colonials forces headed in.
Battlestar Atlanita.
Admiral Nagala and the rest of the command staff watched pensively as the Vipers bored in on the Cylons. Other than responding with the launching of the Raiders, the Cylons made no attempt to counter the moves of the Colonial fleet now bearing down on them.
Seeing that there wasn't any trouble yet, the captain of the Atlantia signaled the CAG of the battlestar, "You may fire at will".
The CAG immediately nodded and the two groups of fighters headed towards each other on a collision course. Unfortunately so, the Cylons soon deployed a trick that would be an ironic joke on the entire Colonial fleet for its embracing of new technology over lessons learned in the last war.
When the lead Raiders closed in on them, the front hatch lowered to reveal red mono eyes which instantly scanned the Vipers and Raptors. The pilots immediately blinked their eyes as the red rays moved over them and once they regained their vision, many wished that they hadn't for it displayed that their systems started to short out. The CAG immediately tried to open up and channel and replied, "Repeat, we have lost power".
That was all he managed to get out before the Cylon Raiders suddenly launched hundreds of missiles off into space. He along with many others tried to choke some form of maneuvering out of their now dead fighters but it was hopeless and soon explosions lit up space as the Cylon weapons found their mark. Within a minute, the whole force had been eliminated and the Cylons soon turned to unleash the same punishment on the battlestars.
The scene horrified Nagala and he immediately turned to the Atlantia's communications console and yelled out, "Get the other battlestar groups on the line". Once the line was opened, Nagala immediately asked, the fear evident in his eyes, "How are the others fairing".
Everyone else shared his sentiments and unfortunately, the communications officer's report lowered it down even further when he said, "The other groups are encountering similar problems".
Nagala swore and yelled out, "Signal all groups to scatter now". He then turned to the captain of the Atlantia and replied, "Start warming up the FTL". The captain immediately rushed to do his duty and the bridge descended into chaos. The admiral turned to look at the Dradis screen as if watching a clock ticking down to his own execution.
At first it seemed that they would make it but then the systems on the battlestar started to go out. The captain immediately got onto the line to engineering and yelled out, "Can you find a way to get some power for us".
The other voice on the end of the line replied, "No we can't sir, the controls are locked and every time we try to, it only lasts for a few seconds before we lose power all over again". The captain swore and said to the admiral, "There's nothing that we can do".
Nagala sighed and asked, "Did any of the battlestars get away"? When the captain shook his head, the admiral breathed deeply before saying, "Activate the emergency beacon and send a message to any unit still functioning". When the communications officer nodded, the admiral started to speak, "Repeat, Cylon forces are using electronic attacks to shut down our systems". With the message sent, everyone on the bridge awaited their fate.
As soon as the basetars's sensors confirmed the Colonial battlestars lost power, it transmitted it to the other basetars and within a few seconds, they started to unload a fearsome wave of missiles at the now helpless colonial forces.
What soon resulted was a nightmare to any human that would have survived it as the missiles struck home. Though the battlestars were heavily armored, they could not withstand the damage of hundreds of missiles with some of them being nukes in rapid succession. Soon the armor gave way and one by one, the numerous explosions soon ripped the battlestars apart spilling the crews into the void. Others suffered a somewhat more merciful fate as the nukes incinerated the battlestars.
This very same process repeated itself with the two other task forces near Caprica and Picon as the Cylon forces annihilated the supposedly invincible Colonial fleet with virtually no losses to themselves. It turned into macabre humor as the advancements the Colonial forces undertook in the 40 years between the two wars that now lead it to its very destruction as well as the near annihilation of the human race.
Once the explosions died down, the basestars turned their weapons onto the colonies, adding more to the already ghastly death toll. While that continued, the Cylon humanoid figures took stock of the situation before one of them ordered, "Deploy to the planets to ensure that there are no humans left".
They were busy talking when one of them suddenly shook as if touched by an image. The figure then turned to the others and replied, "It seems that we know the location of the last survivors". He then told them and then the blond Cylon figure replied, "We must destroy them immediately". She turned to a Centurion and ordered, "Dispatch two basestars to Ragnar and destroy them".
The robot walked to carry out its task as the Cylons reveled in the fact that their goal would soon be complete.
Note: As you already know, we all know what happened with Ragnar and the fact that the survivors of the colonies escaped destruction.
Update: I will be adding a chapter that deals with the Pegasus since the battlestar will appear in the show at a future date.