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Markrino Sector
Darkspace
Missilestar Orion Auxiliary CIC
3 Hours After Cylon Attack
Major Gabrielle had been hoping to find the Resolute. What they had found was instead more Cylons. The Resolute along with it's supply ships and what appeared to be a couple of construction ships had all been destroyed. The small group of ships under his command had jumped out before the Cylons noticed them (as far as they could tell at least). Problem is what to do now.
"Captain Gobi I would like you to coordinate with the civilian ships. We need to know crew and passenger numbers, supply issues, and any other problems. I am going to try to get the Orion under control" said Major Gabrielle.
"Yes sir" said Captain Gobi. So far the Captain of the Vigilant was following his lead but it's possible things might change. The last order from the new President of the Colonies was for all Colonial military ships to do what they could for the civilian population. Still hitting back at the Cylons if given an opportunity would be something that Major Gabrielle would want to do.
The damage to the Orion was severe. The two nuclear missiles that hit portside had destroyed 4 of the missile tubes and killed everyone in the CIC at the time. This also caused most of the portside point defenses to be down either to being destroyed outright or no longer being attached to the tactical system. Lastly one of the four engines had taken another missile hit and was inoperable. The engine and missile tubes were almost certainly not fixable but some of the point defense on the portside should be reparable. The main CIC is also fixable given enough time.
"Ensign Rogers go check in with the various repair crews. I want an ETA and what supplies they need to complete repairs" said Major Gabrielle. Ensign Rogers is the daughter of the late Commander Rogers of the Resolute and was added to the staff of Admiral Barclay just over a month ago after graduating from the Canceron Academy. The Ensign's grades were high enough for a staff position and not definitely nepotism but that never hurts so she was part of the Admiral's staff. At least she is hard working and willing to accept that her main job was a gofer.
"Yes sir" said Ensign Britney Rogers. The Ensign still seemed shocked by the attack on the Colonies and then death of her father. However she was trying to do her duties. Major Gabrielle could understand as he was deliberately not thinking about the very likely death of his children and ex wife.
"LT Dammers I need to talk to you" said Major Gabrielle. Finding the exact regulations wasn't that bad. LT Flacca would have known them off the top of her head but Gabrielle remembered the basics from his Academy days. "According to the Canceron Laws of Military Service I am now the Colonel of the Orion. I am hereby promoting you to Captain and naming you the official XO." If a higher ranking officer of the Canceron Navy came along they might move both back to their original ranks but the choices made would be legal up that point. Thankfully the Canceron Navy didn't lie about the people commanding their midsized ships so none of that LT Commander who is actually a Colonel nonsense like the Colonials and most of the other SDF practiced.
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7 Hours After Cylon Attack
According to the ships crew manifest Captain Dammers (navigation) and LT JG Berkins (tactical) are the only two surviving watch standing officers. From the Admiral's staff PO Gibson was filling in at communications as his job was PR but he did have experience on the wireless system. The CMO LT Leah Blair says that there are 10 people in the medbay with serious injuries including LT JG Gwen Flacca from the Admiral's staff. How long until they are back on duty is uncertain. All total the Orion had lost 186 of it's crew with almost half it's officers among them. Colonel Gabrielle was hoping LT Flacca would return to duty soon as LT Flacca being BuPers (Bureau of Personnel) might help figure out the staffing of the Orion. For now the LT is in a medically induced coma to heal from her injuries.
The report on the damage of the Orion was also not optimal. The main CIC should be reparable in the next week which would help as the auxiliary CIC was very cramped. The engine as expected was a total write off but the other three showed no damage. The biggest issue was of course the missing portside defenses. That one of the engines was missing would make turning to keep the starboard side facing any attacking Cylons much slower just added to the problem. About a third of the portside defenses were in theory reparable given time and cannibalizing the damaged systems.
Basic supplies luckily are not that bad. The two cargo ships the Joshua and the Ruth were a bit overcrowded as they had loaded up passengers from a non FTL ship but a manageable issue. Tyleum levels were good for about 6 months at standard usage (whatever that matters in their current situation is unknown). Food and water were also good. The passenger liner Pallas had the highest amount of people in the fleet and the botanical cruiser Dykstra was a lucky addition. Along with the Orion and Vigilant there are currently 1334 people on board the six ships.
Military supplies were not as good. Missiles were decent. The Orion had only been able to get off two rounds of missiles before the two Cylons Basestars were destroyed (along with much of the Helios Delta SDF forces). Currently they had 74% of their full missile load (some had been destroyed in the attack) and with only two launchers they were unlikely to run out of missiles before they were destroyed anyway. Thankfully the point defense weapons on the Orion and Vigilant used the same ammunition (thank the gods that was standardized across Colonial forces at least). The Vigilant was lightly armed with small missiles of the type Raptors used and passable point defense system but would not be able to do anything against a Basestar. Not sure the Orion would do much better unfortunately with it's damaged systems.
The civilian ship captains have been requesting a meeting. Colonel Gabrielle did not have any idea of what to do with the civilians but did not have the patience to deal with them at this time. Captain Gobi was still acting as an intermediary while the Orion was working on getting it's systems up and running. Best to schedule tomorrow Gabrielle decided. Also we need to have a service for the lost crew and the people of the Colonies. I will ask if there is a priest on one of the civilian ships.
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2 Days After Cylon Attack
The Priestess of Hestia had just finished the last rites for the fallen crewmembers of the Orion and the other ships. The crew was in a somber mood and unfortunately another 3 crewmembers had died from their wounds. LT Flacca was still in medbay but out of her coma. Now was the time to talk to the other 5 captains.
"I would like to thank you all for coming here. The last two days have been challenging to us all. I am uncertain where to proceed and would like to discuss our options" said Colonel Gabrielle. For the next 30 minutes ideas were put out. Captain Gobi informed the group (again) that before leaving the Cyrannus System that over 30 Territories and trading or mining space stations had reported being attacked by the Cylons. The Cylons might have missed some but they would have no way of knowing which one. Worse they did not have a Raptor. Some ideas of sending the Vigilant ahead to scout was discussed but until the repairs were completed the Vigilant was covering the portside of the small fleet. They seemed at an impasse until Captain John Potts of the Dykstra somewhat reluctantly had an idea.
"I have done some trading of food and other items to the CIF" said Captain Dykstra. "I might have a location they might be" he continued. The CIF was a depending on your point of view a terrorist organization or group of freedom fighters. That less than 10% of the Canceron population had wanted to leave the 12 Colonies never seemed to matter too much to the so called Canceron Independence Front. They did also did expose the work camps that the Megacorps would still send what were all too often political prisoners to the rest of the Cyrannus System. The CIF was also more of a "blanket organization" of groups the opposed the Canceron or Colonial governments. So trading food or other aid to the CIF didn't really bother Colonel Gabrielle that much.
'They should be aware of the attack on the Colonies by now' thought Colonel Gabrielle. "Whatever differences we might have had can hopefully be put aside" he said to the group. "We will jump there tomorrow morning" he said to the group dismissing them.
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Thank you all for reading. Any questions and comments are appreciated.