Battlestar Galactica
Nightmare?
Chapter Two
Out in the cold, dark vacuum of space, three small craft try in vain to out distance the hordes of pursuers racing to deal death and destruction on them and all those they hold most dear. The three Colonial Vipers are being pushed to the limit by the relentless masses of Cylon fighters that just a short time ago they had stumbled across while on long range patrol. Two of the small spacecraft show signs of the hard fought battle that left both with severe damage and wounded pilots. The worst of the two damaged ships, that flown by the tall, blonde haired warrior named Greenbean, was the most heavily damaged, having its uppermost engine and stablator nearly blown off and the number 3 engine rendered inoperative. The lone remaining engine was being pushed well beyond its upper limits in an attempt to propel the viper to safety. The rest of the ship was scared all along its length by the near misses of the Cylon's fire. All these near misses had knocked out Greenbean's communication system and navigational equipment. Several electrical fires had left the pilot with painful burns on his arms, legs, and worst of all, his hands. It was only through sheer determination and the will not to fail that Greenbean was able to control of his stricken viper. Nearly every main system was offline and would not reset. He had to rely on the back-up systems to keep his ship operable. Greenbean knew he was not going to make it back to the Galactica, but refused to give up.
Next to him was his best friend and long time wingmate, Jolly. Jolly was a very mild mannered, friendly sort of fellow. He took quite a bit of friendly ribbing from his wingmate, due to is rather stout frame and well known affection for ale, but he was a very fine warrior. His viper too was in bad shape. A glancing hit on the forward part of the fuselage had caused a massive electrical surge throughout his ships systems, causing every system he had to overload and blow out. The small monitor in the center of his console had exploded, sending deadly shards of glass in all directions. Jolly was peppered with dozens of pieces to the face, neck, and chest. If not for his helmet and heavy jacket providing some protection, he may not have survived at all.
Leading the two damaged ships to what they hoped would be safety, was Ensign Konst. He and his wingmate, Flight Sergeant Crader, had been on patrol in the adjoining sector when they received orders to check on a patrol that had failed to check in. They had made their way to the last reported position of the missing patrol and began to follow the engine exhaust trails of the two ships. After a few centons, they began to pick up a strange electronic signal that was causing some interference with their scanners and comm systems. Then they found the reason why Jolly and Greenbean had failed to check in. In the distance, they saw a swirl of gleaming metal and the flashes of deadly red and blue laser fire. Their missing patrol was in a life and death struggle with a dozen Cylon Raiders
Konst and Crader immediately hit their turbos and streaked into the fray. The Cylons had been intent on destroying the human spacecraft; they failed to take notice of the two new arrivals. Before the Cylons knew it, four of their number went up in flames as the two new vipers struck with a deadly volley of laser fire.
Momentarily caught off guard by the new threat, the Cylon pilots hesitated in their attack on the colonials. That was all the time the human pilots needed. In a blinding flash of full turbos, all four Colonial Vipers veered away from their attackers and headed off at top speed.
"Thank the Lords of Kobal! Am I glad to see you guys!" exclaimed Jolly breathlessly. "I thought for sure we were goners!"
"What happened back there?" asked Konst. "How did they get the drop on you?"
"Damned if I know." Jolly said a little more calmly. "We had nothing on our scanners, just a lot of static, and then all Hades broke loose."
"Where's the rest of the squadron?" asked Greenbean looking around.
"There is no squadron, just us." said Konst. "We were on patrol and the commander sent us to look for you when you failed to check in."
"You mean you didn't get our message?" Jolly said, panic beginning to show in his voice.
"No, the Galactica hadn't heard from you for over a centar, so they sent us to find you!" Konst said.
"HOLY FRAK!" Jolly said angrily. "We just spotted the whole Cylon fleet heading this way."
"What do you mean the whole Cylon fleet? We only saw a dozen fighters." Crader said.
"Yea, well we had at least THREE baseships on our scanners before we got jumped!" Jolly told them. "We started to head back to warn the fleet when all of our electronics went haywire!" explained Jolly. "They must have some new kind of "super" jamming system going."
"Then we need to get the pogees out of here so we can warn the Galactica!" Konst said.
Suddenly, explosions erupted all around the four vipers. They had momentarily forgotten about their Cylon pursuers and were now coming under fire. Fireballs of laser blasts lit up the space around them, making their small craft shake violently. It was inevitable that sooner or later, the Cylons would hit their mark. And they soon did. A pair of laser bolts found the top engine of Greenbean's viper, blowing it apart.
"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! I'M HIT! I'm HIT!" screamed Greenbean.
All eyes shifted to Greenbean's stricken ship. Flames and sparks shot from the shattered engine and pieces of metal could be seen falling away in the slipstream as the viper slowly lost momentum. The flame disappeared as Greenbean shut off the fuel to the damaged engine. Jolly could see his friend working franticly to shut down all feeds to his number one engine.
"Whats your status over there buddy?" Jolly asked with great concern.
"Not too good big guy!" was his reply. "I lost my number one engine and number three is fluctuating. I may have to shut it down"
"That wouldn't be a good idea right now!" Konst said. "Those Cylons are still with us."
Another laser blast exploded near by to punctuate the statement.
"Well one thing is for sure! We aren't going to make it back if we keep giving these rust buckets our tails to shoot at." Konst said. "What say we show them our noses for awhile?"
"Good idea!" Jolly agreed. "Greenbean, you keep going. Try to get clear of this jamming and warn the Galactica. We'll see just how good their making Cylon pilots these days!"
"Whatever you say Jolly." Greenbean said. "Nail a couple for me!"
"You got it!" Crader said smiling.
"Alright you guys, lets give these tin cans a surprise," Jolly said to Konst and Crader. "on three!"
"One!"
"Two!"
"THREE!"
And as one, the three pilots hit their reverse thrusters and braking flaps, coming to a nearly full stop in space. The Cylons were totally caught unprepared for this maneuver by there human prey. The once tight formation of eight ships suddenly scattered in all directions in an attempt to avoid flying into the now stationary human craft. Three of the Cylons veered off to the left, two went to the right, and the remaining three shot up and over the stationary vipers and continued to pursue Greenbean's damaged viper.
"I've got the three on the left." called Crader.
"I got em on the right!" said Konst.
Jolly went after the three chasing after Greenbean. He caught up to them in mere microns using his turbos and began lining up his first shot on the lead Cylon. He waited for the fire control computer to lock on to the target, and then as soon as he had a lock on tone, he pressed the button on his joystick, unleashing several volleys of deadly red energy. The unsuspecting Cylons never knew what hit them as their Raider became a ball of fire in the dark night of space. The other two Cylon ships split up, veering off in separate directions. Jolly banked his viper to the right in pursuit of one Cylon, hoping he could dispatch the one before the other had time to chase down Greenbean.
Ensign Konst had taken up pursuit of the two Cylons that had broke off to the right. He closed the distance on them quite easily since most Cylon pilots used very few evasive maneuvers, as was the case here. The two Raiders flew one behind the other with the rear most ship slightly above the leader. This made it child's play for Konst to line up his shot. As soon as he was in position, he fired three volleys of laser fire at the two ships. The first bolt hit dead center of the trailing Cylon ship turning it into a fireball. The second shot hit the lead ship left of center; ripping away most of the left side of the ship from the main body. The Cylon ship began to tumble out of control, sparks and flames trailing behind. Konst stared after it for several moments, fascinated by the sight, and then he brought his lasers to bear on the spinning ship and fired. The Cylon exploded in a bright ball of fire. With both of his opponents vanquished, Konst turned his viper back toward Greenbean and Jolly.
The three Cylons Flight Sergeant Crader was chasing must have been newer models or had more experience then the others. As Crader began to close on them, they split in two directions. Two of them veered off to the left while the third one broke right. Crader went after the lone Cylon ship, hoping to score a quick victory before the other two ships could turn back on him. He started to line up his target when something in the back of his mind started to buzz. Crader immediately threw his viper into a rolling left bank. A huge explosion of blue laser fire went off mere metrons from his ship. The other two Cylons had already made their way back and were now right on his tail. Crader rolled out of his turn and hit his turbos, this shot his ship forward like a lightning bolt. Then he banked hard to the right, trying to get a fix on his adversaries. He spotted the two Cylons coming at him head on. Thinking he could get at least one ship on the first pass, he hit his turbos.
He would swing around after the first pass and nail the second Cylon before it could react. A good plan, he thought.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten about the third Cylon fighter.
It had swung around in a wide left hand turn and was now coming upon Crader's tail. He didn't see the lone Cylon fighter as it closed in for the kill, Crader being totally focused on the two ships approaching off his nose. Just as he was about to fire, a blue flash reflected in the canopy of his cockpit. Only his instincts and the reflexes honed by yahrens of combat allowed Crader to throw his viper into a hard right turn. Unfortunately, this maneuver was just half a micron to too slow as the deadly laser blast hit just below Crader's number two engine, tearing the left stablator off and shredding the number two engine. Crader's viper began spin and twist wildly through the vacuum of space. The violence of the explosion knocked Crader's remaining engines off line. Crader worked feverishly to restart his power plants as he continued to spin out of control. Malfunction warning lights were lit up all over his panels. Most of his ships systems wouldn't reset, and those few that did would drop off as soon as he tried to restart the engines.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Crader. I've been hit! I need immediate assistance. Engines off line. Konst! Jolly! Anyone! Please acknowledge!"
Crader repeated his call for help as he worked to restore power to his crippled ship. He glanced up from his work, catching movement outside his cockpit. What he saw sent a chill down his spine and brought a lump of fear to his throat. Off in the distance, moving across his view, was a huge fleet of Cylon fighters. Hundreds upon hundreds of them, flying right across his line of sight followed by three baseships. Crader tried desperately to get a warning message off to the Galactica.
"Galactica! Galactica! This is Crader! Do you hear me? My ship has been disabled. I have a large Cylon fleet moving on course Gamma zero four at position Theta six by Sigma twelve. I count three baseships and at least a thou......"
Crader's voice caught in his throat as three Cylon fighters slowly moved into a position directly in front of him. They lined up three abreast and just hung there in space. Crader took hold of his joystick and franticly tried to fire his weapons, but with no results. His lasers were useless without his engines providing power. Crader stared out at the three Cylon death machines, knowing he had no chance to escape. The only thought that came to his mind was ........This is going to hurt! At that moment, all three Cylon ships opened fire. Flight Sergeant Crader's viper evaporated in a giant fireball, leaving nothing of it or him. The three Cylon craft then turned back to rejoin the giant fleet of ships on their mission of destruction.
Jolly was able to close the gap on the Cylons within just a few microns and was now in firing range of the three ships pursuing Greenbeans damaged viper. He lined up his first victim and fired. Bright red laser bolts leaped from his viper and found their mark in the left engine of one of the Cylon fighters. The Cylon ship spun out of control for a moment before it finally blew up. Unfortunately, Jolly had misjudged his speed and distance from the target and was unable to fully avoid the scattered debris. Jolly's viper went right through the debris field and was pelted by hundreds of pieces of metal, slicing through the hull and tearing up electrical systems and electronics. Fires broke out in the nose section of the viper as systems began shorting out. In the cockpit, warning lights snapped on all over. The small monitor screen was hit by a powerful electrical surge, causing it to explode. Shards of glass flew into Jolly's face, neck, and chest. The communication system caught fire and shorted out causing the cockpit to fill with foul smelling smoke. Jolly sat dazed for several moments, unable to clear his head. His face was a bloody mask from all the cuts and gashes he received when the monitor blew. Instinctively Jolly hit his turbos and did his best to clear the fog from his mind. He knew that there was still two more Cylons out there somewhere and that he had to keep moving or he'd make an easy target for them. Jolly attempted to contact one of his fellow warriors for assistance, but found his comm system was fried. He lifted his hand to his face to wipe away the blood in his eyes, hoping he would be able to see something......anything! His vision was blurry, but he was able to make out some of his instruments. He found his comm gear inoperative, the navigational computer trashed, and half the gauges on the dash broken. He tried the flight controls and to his great relief, they still were functioning. The engine gauges all showed in the green, so he knew he could still fly........but in which direction? His nav computer was a smoldering pile of slag. He stared out the canopy of his viper, trying to find some hint as to which way to go. At first, he can see nothing, just the endless night of space. Then a distant flash of light catches his eye. The first is followed by several more. Jolly turns his wounded viper in the general direction of the flashes and hits his turbos. As he gets closer, he can see three small objects moving across his path. Moments later Jolly realizes that the objects are ships. One is a viper, bobbing and weaving to avoid being blown to bits by the Cylon fighter that is in pursuit. The third object is another viper, firing on the Cylon. Jolly hits his turbos again and races after them to join the chase.
Ensign Konst had just finished off the two Cylon fighters he had chased down with very little effort. He swung his ship around to rejoin his fellow warriors when he heard a faint, garbled transmission from Crader. All he was able to make out through the heavy electronic interference caused by the Cylon jamming was, "ship disabled" and "position Theta six by Sigma twelve". Konst checked his position on the nav computer and found he was only ninety microns away. He thought that if he could get there quick enough, he could attach a tow cable to his wingmate's ship and tow him back to the Galactica, so he altered his course and hit the turbos.
As he approached Crader's position, he could already see that he was too late. Crader's stricken viper hung in space, burnt and broken, as three Cylon fighters took up positions in front of it. Konst mentally pleaded with his friend to fire of move away.....anything! Then the three Cylons opened fire on the helpless human. A fireball replaced the viper that was once his friends. White hot anger roared through every fiber of his being. All he wanted to do at that moment was to charge in and destroy the three Cylon ships that had just murdered his friend. Just as he was about to hit his turbos and hunt down the murdering Cylons, he saw a sight that froze his heart. The Cylon attack fleet had just come into view. Vengeance would have to wait. He had to get back to the Galactica and warn them as to what was heading their way. So, Konst threw his viper into a tight turn and hit the turbos, moving away as fast as he could.
This however, did not go unnoticed.
The commander of the Cylon attack fleet, an IL series Cylon by the name of Phobius, having been notified of the fleeing colonials, ordered an entire attack wing to pursue and destroy the humans. With that, thirty Cylon fighters broke away from the main body of the attack fleet to hunt down the humans.
Greenbean had been pushing his damaged ship to the hilt. With one engine gone and another badly damaged, his speed had been cut to less then half the normal rate. As a result, one of the Cylons they had encountered earlier was able to double back and was now pressing home an attack on him. Bolts of blue death streaked by the wounded viper and exploded all around him. Zig zagging all over space, trying to avoid the relentless pursuit of his adversary, Greenbean tried pushing his damaged ship still harder, wringing every bit of speed he could out of his two remaining engines. Greenbean had always been told, "In a daggetfight, speed is life!" and right now, things were looking mighty bleak! Greenbean clicked on his comm system, hoping to find some help.
"Patrol one to Galactica, come in please. Patrol one to Galactica, please acknowledge!" he called, his voice beginning to show the panic he felt. "Greenbean to Jolly, can you hear me? Konst! Crader! Does anyone hear me? I need some help here! I have a Cylon on my tail and I can't shake him. Someone give me a hand here!"
There was no response!
Greenbean began to realize that he was on his own. Not the most promising situation he'd ever been in, that was for sure. Another laser blast exploded just outside his cockpit. Greenbean tried to make a hard turn to his left and hit his turbos, a purely instinctive move. Unfortunately for him, his ship was so badly damaged, it didn't respond nearly as quick as needed. The concussion from the near miss added to the sudden surge of power in response to Greenbeans hitting the turbos, caused what little bit of luck he had been riding to disappear. The damaged number three engine, already pushed to the limit, protested violently. Greenbean heard several loud popping sounds come from number three, then without any warning, the number three engine blew to pieces! This caused his viper to shake violently and come to a near halt in space.
The Cylon fighter that had been pursuing Greenbean had closed in a little to tight, so when the human's ship blew it's engine and dropped to a near stop right in front of it, the pilots did not have enough time to react properly. The pilots pulled the fighter into a tight turn, standing it on edge. This move avoided a collision with the colonial fighter, but sent the Cylons right through debris from the blown engine. Several large pieces of metal found their way into the Raiders intakes and lodged there. This caused the Cylons engines to overheat and shut down. The Cylon fighter glided away to a safe distance and attempted to restart their engines. After several tries, they were successful in restarting them but had to find a way to dislodge the debris from the intakes. They tried to reverse thrust, but were not able to get rid of the obstruction. The pilots then tried alternating forward and reverse trust. After a dozen tries, several large chunks of metal came flying out of the intake. This being done, the pilots did a quick systems check and after finding everything satisfactory, they turned back to where the colonial viper was floating in space to finish off the human.
Greenbean was sure he was finished. The Cylon fighter had been right on his tail and he knew he couldn't get away. Then he felt his viper lurch hard, the tail of the ship lifted so far, he thought he would start tumbling out of control. Then the tail dropped and he came to a near stop. Then he saw the huge form of the Cylon fighter sail over his ship, so close he could have reached out and touched it as it went by. It sailed away from him without firing again. Greenbean had to wonder what was going on. Had help arrived? He couldn't see any other ships, colonial or cylon. He tried his comm system again to see if he could raise anyone.
"Patrol One to Patrol Two! Patrol One to Patrol Two, come in please. Jolly, you out there somewhere buddy? Somebody talk to me!" he said.
There was no answer!
There was nothing at all now, not even static. That last explosion he reasoned must have knocked out his comm system.
"Oh great!" he mumbled to himself.
Greenbean ran a quick systems check and confirmed his worse fears, his comm system was totally shot and the number three engine had finally blown.
"What else could go wrong?" he said angrily.
Just as he finished the thought, movement caught his attention. He squinted his eyes trying to focus on the small object. Curiosity turned to fear as the object became a Cylon. Greenbean started flipping switches and pressing buttons in a vain attempt to restart his one remaining engine.
The Cylon began to accelerate, closing the distance between them quickly.
He had to get that engine started or he was doomed! Greenbean was nearly frantic as he tried to restart his engine. Switches set, prime fuel, energizer on, push the igniter and...... nothing!
The Cylon was coming into firing range, the pilots maneuvering into position, the commander taking aim on the stationary viper, waiting for the range to target meter to count down. It wouldn't be long now.
Greenbean was beginning to panic now. His engine would not restart. He tried again and again whit no positive results. He took a deep breath, trying to relax somewhat. Then he went through the restart sequence one more time. He checked his switch positions, all were in the proper positions. All circuits were on. Everything was set properly so what was the........!
Then he noticed that the indicator light to the energizer was not on!
He pulled the small panel off and found the wires to the switch had come loose. As fast as he could, he reattached the wires to the switch, but one of them would not stay connected! Greenbean looked for the Cylon and seen that is was almost on top of him.
His time was gone! He had to act now!
Greenbean reset his switches one last time, then with his left hand, he took the loose wire and held it in place while he readied himself for what was about to come.
"This is going to hurt!" Greenbean said as he hit the igniter.
Electricity surged through the ship, as the engine came back to life. Greenbean screamed in agony as the power shot through him. He pressed the turbo button on his joystick just as the Cylon opened fire. Greenbean's viper shot forward less then a micron before the Cylon laser bolts passed through the space he had just occupied.
Surprised again by their human prey, the viper seemed to leap away and head right for them. The Cylons turned hard to the left and pulled up to avoid a head on collision, then swung around for another shot.
Greenbean was in agony! His left hand was burnt and charred by the electrical surge that shot through the circuit he had been holding. Now his hand was useless.
But that was better then being dead he reasoned.
His viper had shot forward, right into the path of the Cylon ship. Pain and the fact his viper was so badly damaged mad it impossible to do much more then fly straight ahead. Greenbean knew he couldn't out run the Cylon; all he could do was hope and pray help would find him!
Konst was at full turbo on a straight line for the fleet. He had just seen his friend and wingmate, Ensign Crader, murdered by three Cylons while he was helpless to do anything. Then before he could reap his revenge, he found himself face to face with the entire Cylon attack fleet. Konst knew he had to warn the Galactica, so he turned his ship toward home and made a run for it, thinking he could make it out of range of the Cylon jamming and get a message off to the fleet. As he flew on at full turbo, he saw what looked like laser flashes. Then it struck him, Jolly and Greenbean! They were still out there somewhere. He had to help them. He may have been unable to save Crader, but he swore by the Lords of Kobal he would not fail again!
Konst hit the turbo button again, trying to squeeze every last bit of speed out of his viper. He closed on the point of the laser blasts fast and found a viper under attack by yet another Cylon. A picture of Crader being killed flashed in Konst mind. The fear that once again he had arrived too late to save his fellow warrior struck him like a hammer.
"OH NO, NOT THIS TIME!" he shouted inside his cockpit. "I left my wingmate once and Crader paid for it with his life. I swear by the Lords of Kobal that will NEVER happen again! I'll never leave another warrior behind."
So Konst closed in on the Cylon with murderous intensity. Konst saw the Cylon take a long shot at the viper, missing by bare metrons. The viper was zigging and zagging wildly, but was moving so slow he knew it was badly damaged. Konst fell in behind the Cylon and began closing the distance on the enemy fighter. The Cylon fired again on the helpless viper, just missing. Konst knew the Cylon would destroy the viper in mere microns if he didn't get the Cylon first. He needed to distract the Cylon, so even thou he was still out of range, Konst started firing his lasers at the Cylon ship. His hope was to make the Cylons turn to deal with him and give his comrade a chance to escape. If only they would take the bait!
The explosive concussion of laser fire was the first hint the Cylon commander had that his ship was under attack, so intent on the Colonial viper in front of them that they never scanned their rear quadrant. The Cylon commander switched his scanner to the rear area.
"Scanning rear quadrant." The Cylon commander droned.
After several moments, the Cylon commander said, "One Colonial viper detected, bearing one hundred eighty degrees by Delta one point two five. Begin evasive maneuvers."
"By your command." The left side pilot said as it began a quick left turn.
Konst had been waiting for the Cylon to make its move. He was still too far away to get a lock on the Raider, but with a bit of luck, he might get them to turn away from the other viper and come after him. As if in answer to his prayers, the Cylon ship veered away from the stricken viper and began a series of quick turns.
His plan had worked!
Konst glanced in the direction of the retreating viper, still moving incredibly slow, seeing that its flight path had steadied up and was on course for the Galactica, he turned his full attention back to the Cylon. It had concluded its evasive maneuvering and was now on an intercept course directly at him.
"Good! Come to papa tin heads." Konst snickered. "Saves me the trouble of hunting you down."
Jolly was trying to catch up with the three ships he spotted ahead of him. Though it was hard to see through all the smoke from his damaged instrument panels and the drying blood that had run into his eyes from the many cuts and gashes in his face from the monitor exploding, Jolly knew he was closing the gap. He wiped away the blood in his eyes again, trying to clear his vision. Most of the wounds had stopped bleeding but he was still a bit woozy, he had lost a fair amount of blood. After a moment, his vision seemed to clear up a bit. He could now see the three ships clearly, two vipers and a Cylon. One viper was badly damaged, looking as if only one engine was operating. The Cylon was firing wildly at the slow moving Colonial ship while the second viper was firing from extremely long range. Several more shots were fired by the viper, exploding just short of their mark. Now the Cylon began to make some quick, sharp turns away from the crippled ship. The trailing viper kept going for a few microns before it turned to pursue the Cylon. The damaged viper that had only moments before been in danger of being turned into a fireball was now making its way out of the danger zone. Jolly turned to follow the Cylon and the other viper since the damaged ship was safe for the moment.
Greenbean was doing everything he could to stay ahead of the Cylon fighter that was hot on his tail. His ship was in ruins. Two of his three engines had been destroyed, his comm system was out, most of his computer system was offline due to a lack of power and battle damage, it was a miracle his viper was able to move at all. He himself was in just as bad a condition as his viper. His left hand had been severely burned when he had to hold a wire in place in order to restart his viper's one remaining engine. The surge of electricity had turned his hand into a useless lump of charred flesh that he cradled in his lap as he pushed his ship beyond its limits. Somehow he had managed to avoid destruction by the relentlessly pursuing Cylon fighter that had been on his tail for what seemed like an eternity. Greenbean had danced his crippled viper to the left, the right, up, down, and every other way he could think of and that no other pilot could or would ever be able to duplicate. Another volley of laser fire exploded just to the right of his cockpit, how much longer could he keep this up he began to wonder.
Then it was suddenly silent!
Greenbean turned to his right, then his left, then back over his shoulder trying to find the relentless Cylon fighter that had been hounding him. He finally spotted it banking away to his left and accelerating away. Not understanding the reason his adversary was disengaging from the pursuit, Greenbean decided not to question his good fortune, but take this opportunity to get as far away as possible. So he straightened out his ship and pushed his engine to the hilt on what he hoped was the way home.
Konst and the Cylon were going head to head at an alarming speed. The young pilot was lining up the nose of his ship right on the Cylon. Konst would blast the Raider out of the stars or if necessary, he would ram the Cylon with his own ship, whatever it took to save his fellow warrior. He watched the range to target meter click down rapidly as both ships streaked toward each other. Even though Cylon ships had somewhat better range with their weapons, Cylon pilots were far less accurate then their human counterparts. Knowing this, Konst had to be ready to dodge the Cylons attack for the few microns it had the range advantage before he could bring his own weapons to bear. One wrong move or slight hesitation, and he'd never get off a shot. Just as they came into range, the Cylons began to fire. Konst rolled his viper to the right a micron before, causing the Cylons to miss. Then he reversed his roll and brought his own guns to bear. He was now in weapons range and ready to fire. Konst pressed the fire button on his joystick, unleashing the deadly laser bolts.
The Cylon made a move to avoid the laser blasts from the Colonial viper, but was a half micron too slow. The first shot glanced off the bottom of the Cylon fighter, causing it to flip several times. The next shot however was right on the mark, hitting the raider in the engines and knocking out all power to the ship. With their power gone, the Cylon ship began to drift to a slow stop. The three Cylons inside the raider were left with no way to restore power since both engines had been destroyed. Then in unison, they all three turned to "see" a single Colonial viper move up right next to them. It was no more then two metrons away; the human pilot was clearly visible to them. None of the three Cylons had ever seen a human up close before. They were surprised to find that the human was so small and fragile looking. The three followed the movement of the human ship as it slowly moved away from them and took up a position directly in front of them. Another Colonial viper moved up next to the first and came to a halt. The actions of the human pilots confused them and the lack of power to there weapons, communications and propulsion left them helpless.
Konst was pleasantly surprised to see Jolly's viper slide in next to him as he lined up on the Cylon fighter.
"Hey Jolly! Where you been?" Konst called on the ship to ship circuit. There was no reply. Konst moved his viper in closer to Jolly's to see why he wasn't answering. As he moved closer, the reason became clear to him. Jolly looked to be in pretty bad shape. His face and the front of his uniform were covered in dried blood and several large gashes were evident on his face and neck.
"Jolly, can you hear me?" Konst tried again to raise his comrade, but as before he received no response. He could see Jolly looking at him and he seemed to be conscious. Then he saw Jolly point to his helmet and shake his head, indicating he had no communications. Konst nodded his head and pointed toward the Cylon. Jolly nodded and made a hand gesture that said he would follow Konst's lead. With that, Konst tapped his turbos and moved in on the helpless Cylon fighter.
Inside the disabled Cylon ship, the pilots worked to restore power to their ship. The human pilot had not only knocked out both of their engines, but had also destroyed the reserve power cells. If they were not able to restart the engines, they would be totally defenseless against the humans. The Cylon commander "watched" as the two Colonial Vipers began to close the distance between them. There was no fear, no sense of impending doom for the Cylon commander or the two pilots. These were emotions, and Cylons were not programmed for emotions. There was however one thought that kept running through the commander's electronic brain........ How did the humans defeat them? There was no logical way they could have, but they did. The human had out maneuvered and out flown them. It had even found a way to negate the range advantage that the Cylons weapons had. It was inconceivable that this could happen, and yet, it had! And now it looked like the humans were going to finish the task. The Colonial ships moved in rapidly as the three Cylons looked on. Then several red flashes came from the human ships. One last thought came to the Cylon commander as it seen what was about to happen. It didn't understand why these two words came to its "mind", but they had, and as the laser bolts rushed in on the Cylon fighter, the commander absently vocalized these two words.
"OH FRAK!"
It was the last thing that the three Cylons would ever hear, as the laser blasts tore the Cylon ship to shreds. A micron latter, the Cylon fighter exploded in a brilliant fireball.
Jolly and Konst didn't slow down to see the light show that was the Cylon ship exploding, they hit their turbos and turned away, for they still had to warn the Galactica.