2671.239 Pilot briefing room Galactica: General Blair looked at the pilots seated before him and the other pilots on the monitors.

"Ok people, here's the mission. In 15 minutes, all Vipers, Mamba and Anubis groups will launch. You'll travel to Terra on this course, a course showed on all of the monitors. You'll be under full ENCOM, and running passive sensors only. As you can see, your course will take you to Terra, but its moon will be between you and the planet. Once you arrive at the moon, Viper and Mamba groups will hold position. Anubis flight will then cloak and head down to Terra. On Terra, your target is the raider base here. You'll only have a minute over the target area, so set your timers for 60 seconds, do as much damage as possible, then leave the planet and head for the rendezvous coordinates here. Anubis flight you'll be carrying bombs, so remember to adjust for the weight difference once you release them. And one more thing, when you leave the planet, you have to stay uncloaked."

Some of the pilots were looking at him now, and he could see the worried looks on their faces.

"I know that that idea worries some of you, but we want the cylons to not only see you. We want them to chase you as well."

Chris brought up the map again, "You'll be flying to these coordinates, where you will meet with the battle group, who will be under full EMCOM. Then you'll cloak and go full burn back to Terra."

Now Chris began to smile. "The battle group will be the Anvil, and the Vipers and Mambas will be the hammer. When the cylons reach this point, they will engage the battle group. That's when the Vipers and Mambas will hit them from their rear flank. You'll come in at full EMCOM, and then go active right before you strike. The 'tin cans' won't know what hit them. Any questions people?"

Everyone just sat there quietly for a moment. Then Captain Hera asked, "What will Anubis flight be doing during the fight sir?"

Chris looked at her, "You'll be providing close air support for the marines on Terra. Because as the battle group is engaging the cylons here, the marines will be launching their attacks on Terra. Any other questions?"

Now everyone was silent. "Ok people good luck out there. DISMISSED."

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On the flight bay five minutes later, Lt Colonel Starbuck and Commander Apollo were looking at the pilots getting ready to launch.

"Good luck out there Starbuck."

"You to Apollo."

They both looked at the pilots getting into their ships, some actually seemed to be smiling. "God Apollo, were we ever that young and enthusiastic."

Apollo just smiled at his old friend, "Once" he smirked "A long time ago."

Now they looked at each other. "You watch yourself out their Starbuck."

Starbuck now smiled at Apollo, "I always do."

Apollo couldn't help but smile, "Since when."

"Hey now, that's not fair Apollo, I haven't crashed a Viper in at least 2 years. You just try to have a place for us to land on when we get back."

"We'll be here Starbuck."

Now the two old friends just hugged each other. Then they heard a familiar voice.

"It almost makes you want to cry."

They turned and saw Sheba and Cassiopeia standing behind them smiling and trying not to laugh. The two men went to their wives and without a word just kissed them passionately. This caused several of the flight crews to whistle and holler at them. Both women just ignored the sounds around them and enjoyed the moment.

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Sheba and Apollo after breaking their kiss just looked at each other and smiled. Sheba leaned closer to Apollo, "We'll finish this when I get back."

Apollo smiled, "By your command."

Then they separated and Sheba headed to her Viper, and Apollo headed for the lift. Starbuck and Cassie kissed a little longer, and then she just looked at him.

"You better come back to me you old war daggit."

Starbuck smiled at her now, "After a kiss like that, a man would be a fool not to."

Now they separated, and they realized that some of the flight crews were still looking at them. Cassie was actually starting to look a little embarrassed but Starbuck just looked at the crews, and they quickly turned around.

"I'll be back, and we'll pick up where we left off."

Cassie just smiled at him and slowly made her way to the lift. Starbuck just put his cigar in his mouth and headed for his Viper.

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On the bridge of the Galactica 10 minutes later, Apollo and William watched as the last of the ships launched. Apollo looked at the comm. tech, the tech opened a channel to all the ships in the battle group.

"All ships go to full EMCOM, and set course for the rendezvous coordinates. May the blessings of the Lords of Kobol be upon us all today." and then he closed the channel.

Apollo smiled at the comm. tech. Now the battle group began to move out to their new position.

"So what do you think are our chances William?"

William Eison just smiled at Apollo, "I think the cylons won't know what hit them."

Apollo just smiled, but thought, "I hope you're right William, I hope you're right."

William looked at Apollo, and smiled. "A part of you wants to be out there with them, doesn't it?"

Apollo smiled, "Yeah a part of me does, but I know that I'm needed more here."

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As the fighter and bomber squadrons were approaching the moon, General Blair sent a tight beam blip message to the planet. On the ground, Colonel Tucker received the blip message and decoded it. She read the new Ops orders and just sighed.

"Oh frak, a change in plans."

She quickly set up a scramble code call to all company CO's and passed on the blip message. "You all know what to do."

She then called her first sergeant. "Top, we got a change in orders. We launch an hour earlier."

Top just looked at her, then just shook his head and mumbled something about 'best laid plans'. The marines got their troops ready to launch at the new start time.

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At 15:50, the Vipers and Mambas were in position. Chris spoke to Anubis flight. "Good luck people."

Hera responded, "You to CAG."

Then the Anubis's cloaked and headed for the planet. As they entered the Ionosphere, they split into two groups, to attack the base in two waves. As they neared the base, each pilot set a 60 second countdown on their computers, and headed down toward the base. The cylon techs and centurions heard the sounds of engines above them but detected nothing visually. Then the sky was filled with colonial craft, and explosions were going off around them. With each pass, more and more raiders and cylons were destroyed. The centurions on the ground had been momentarily surprised by the attack, and then began to fire at the colonial ships. Unfortunately, the weapons that they were carrying were virtually useless against the ships shields. After 60 seconds, the Anubis's all pulled up into a full power climb and headed off the planet. Then they headed out into space at full burn.

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On the command Base-star, the command centurion was informed of the attacks on the surface of Terra. He then informed the IL series Commander of the attacks and the fleeing colonial ships.

"Order all ships to follow and destroy them. They can't be far from their battlestar, we will find it and destroy it."

"By your command."

Within minutes, the three Base-stars and the six Destroyers and 500 raiders from Terra were following the colonial ships. The centurion on sensors reported a visual sighting of the Galactica, and the IL series commander ordered the Destroyers and raiders to advance and destroy the Galactica. Four small colonial fighters appeared before the battle group and launched missiles. Now the cylons scanners were almost completely blinded, but the IL series commander ordered the ships to continue. As the ships were approaching, the scanner centurion on the lead Destroyer reported a possible malfunction. "We are receiving intermittent signals of large missiles inbound. But the missiles keep disappearing from our scans." Before the Command centurion could respond, skipper missiles hit each of the three Base-stars. The resultant solonite explosions lit up the sky, and rained debris on the destroyers. The EMP shock wave destroyed most of the raiders moving toward the colonial fleet.

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On the bridge of the Galactica, Apollo opened a channel to the battle group.

"All ships to full power, let's finish this."

Now all ten ships of the battle group where launching missiles at the cylon Destroyers. As the destroyers were trying to shoot the missiles, the Vipers and Mambas attacked. In just one pass, they managed to take out three destroyers, and then turned their attention to the remaining raiders. By now the battle group was in range, and opened fire on the remaining destroyers with their cannons. The blasts ripped through the cylon ships, and in just four salvos, they were destroyed. There was a cheer that went through the bridge of every ship in the battle group.

Apollo, even though he was happy, was still the Fleet Commander, and he now acted like it. He opened a fleet channel and gave his orders. "Get our Vipers and Mambas back aboard, and I want damage reports from all ships. Launch SAR ships and then proceed to Terra, the marines might need a hand down there. Have the Cain standby for recovery duty."

The crews of the battle group began moving at once, and carried out his orders.

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On Terra, the marines waited until 16:00, then they began their attack. The groups attacking the power stations opened fire with light mortar rounds, which blanketed the area with multi-spectral smoke and chaff. Then they charged the facilities, and shot any machine that moved. The attack was fierce and deadly, but took very little time. Within 10 minutes, both facilities were under marine control and the power was shut off. The marines then began to set up for a counter attack. The attack on the CIC was not going as well as the Colonel had hoped. The area around the base had pop-up turrets, and these were keeping the marines pinned down. The CIC apparently had their own energizer, so their weapons and defenses were fully functional. Colonel Tucker had been hit, and hit hard. A Young Kilrathi Lt was in command now, and he had the marines fighting to keep every bit of ground they had gotten.

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The Anubis flight burned hard back to Terra, and was soon entering the atmosphere.

"Anubis flight to Mama Gropo. Where do you want us?"

"Anubis flight. Mama Gropo down, this is Kitty-Kat. We need suppression fire on 6 turrets. Over"

"Roger Kitty-Kat, we're coming in low and fast, keep your heads down."

Hera called to her pilots, "You heard him people, set your auto-targeting and let's show the cylons that nobody picks on our Gropo's except us. Let's plough the field for them."

The 14 Anubis's flew just 5 meters off the deck, and came in at just over Mach 2. In their first pass, they hit all six turrets, and at least 100 centurions.

"Kitty-Kat, we opened the gate, it's up to you now, we'll go to Angels 12 and provide high cover. Over."

"Roger that Anubis, we've got it from here."

The Lt looked at the marines. "Alright you Gropo's time to earn your pay."

The marines swarmed over the base, and within 3 minutes had set their charges. One minute later, the shaped charges detonated, and the entire structure collapsed in on itself.

The Lt looked at the first sergeant, "Top, get the wounded back to the ship, and police up the dead."

"Yes sir Lt. and sir, you did good."

"Thanks Top." The marines were moving out in less than 5 minutes.

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Anubis flight was at altitude, when they got a hail from the Major at power plant one.

"Anubis flight, we've got a convoy of about 30 cylon Land rams coming our way. Could you give them a little surprise? Over."

"Roger that. Beta wing, head over there and surprise our tin headed friends."

"Roger that Captain."

Beta wing broke off and headed for the power plant. As they neared the area, they saw the cylon column on the road, and began their attack. After just 3 passes, all of the vehicles were destroyed.

"Beta wing to Gropo's, it seems we made a little bit of a mess on your roadway. Would you mind policing up after us?"

The Major just smiled a little, "Not at all Beta wing, not at all."

"Thanks Major, Beta wing out."

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The colonial battle group was in orbit soon, and began launching shuttles with marines to reinforce the troops at the power stations, and to begin hunting down the remaining cylon troops on the ground. Apollo ordered the Gun-ships to remove any cylon weapon satellites from orbit.

"I don't want a single piece of cylon junk my sky."

"William, have life stations standing by for incoming casualties from Terra."

"They're already set Apollo."

"As soon as Major Chang's wing is refueled and rearmed, have them proceed to the jump point, and contact the resupply ships. Then escort the ships to Terra. And have the CAG start patrolling the system looking for stragglers."

"Yes sir."

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He now began going over the after action reports. Over all it hadn't been to bad, some minor damage to the ships of the battle group. They had lost 6 Vipers and 2 Mambas, but all of the pilots had been rescued. Then he started reading the reports from the ground assault. Of the 400 marines that had attacked the 2 power stations, there had only been 20 wounded, and only 2 of them were serious. It was worse for the marines who had attacked the CIC, there had been 15 wounded, 5 of them seriously, and 22 dead. Now Apollo felt as if he were 200 years old. William saw the look on Apollo's face, and guessed what he was thinking.

"How many Apollo?"

"22 William, 22."

William didn't say anything; he just put his hand on Apollo's shoulder.

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General Dekker arrived in the Galactica life station, and he saw his people on every bed in the place. He looked at Cassiopeia who was treating a wounded marine.

"I was told Colonel Tucker was in here Cassie."

Cassie looked at the General, and then pointed at a doorway just off to his left.

"Not to long General, she needs to rest."

Dekker just nodded his head and went through the door. Alicia Tucker was lying on the bed in front of him, and there were several machines attached to her. General Dekker looked at her, and was surprised that she was awake.

Weakly she smiled at him, "Sorry for not saluting sir." she said softly.

He just smiled, "I'll forget it this time Colonel."

"How did we do?"

"The CIC went down as planned, right now we're just mopping up the tin heads."

She looked a little relieved, then looked at the General. "How many sir?"

General Dekker took her hand, "Don't worry about that now Alicia, you need to rest."

The Colonel looked at him with steel in her eyes, "I need to know sir."

General Dekker knew that if he were in that bed, he would be asking the same thing.

"22 dead, 15 wounded."

Colonel Tucker slumped a little, and Dekker looked at her.

"I'm also recommending Lt Korsal for the Colonial Medal of Bravery. He rallied the marines after you were hit, and refused to give up ground. He called in and spotted for an air strike, and then lead the charge that took out the CIC." Then he leaned over Colonel Tucker "I expect you to be there to pin the medal on him Colonel."

"Yes sir."