Reply to Reviews: Tweeky
There's a "Flight Lieutenant Valerii" onboard the Osprey which spots the Cylon Raiders in the first chapter. This says that either the Cylons have infiltrated Earth, or that there is a person called Sharon Valerii who lives on Earth. I'll leave it up to you to decide.
Alatoic01. We 'might' get a colony somewhere. All I know (and am willing to tell you) is that After recovery from Earth being attacked is done, manufacturing and research into all things "Space Technology" will slowly become one of the main industries on Earth.
Cj-cold
The concept of missile interception will be discussed in the next chapter. I didn't forget about it, promise. The issues surrounding the 9 member nations will also be addressed soon too, and why they didn't invite others to join. Same with the transparent dome on the Triton.
If you asked me, this is a pretty damn good chapter. Next one will be similar.
Leave plenty of reviews too… it helps me write faster;)
Chapter 3 – Liberation
Poseidan class ship – Arawan – Earth Orbit
Commander Heidi Galtua stood on the bridge of the Poseidan class ship, the Arawan and looked out at the battle that was being waged ahead. They couldn't get any nukes anywhere near the enemy capital ship, as the fighters would shoot them down. Their own fighters were being shut down by unknown equipment malfunctions, which had something to do with the enemy combatants above Earth. Luckily however, the shields that the Poseidan class ships were equipped with prevented any major malfunctions on the cruisers, but they were taking the majority of the punishment from the enemy fighters. Four Poseidan class ships were in orbit around Earth now, and two were in the outer solar system, between the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, guarding the uncompleted Triton. She thought about how the shields of the Poseidan could absorb most of what the enemy fighters were sending at them, providing that they shot down any fighters which were carrying nukes before they could launch them. It was at that point in time that Commander Galtua had an idea.
Five minutes later, after communicating with the other Poseidan ships in orbit, as well as the British Military on the Earth below, they had come up with an operable plan. Two other Poseidan class ships, the Boreas and Odyssey were forming up in a tight formation with the Arawan, while the Chu-Jung was maintaining it's relief operations, picking up all shut down fighters that it could. The Boreas and Odyssey were now vertically above and below the Arawan respectively. Communications were flowing between the two ships as fast as they could, as a great deal of coordination was needed if this were to work. Commander Galtua of the Arawan received word from the British Military that they had launched a cluster of ten nuclear missiles at the enemy capital ship from the ground. The missiles had to be in tight proximity to each other, otherwise the plan would not work. The British Military was asked to launch the nukes, because they were the closest country on the surface of the Earth, to the fighting, and that launching the nukes would put the three Poseidan class ships in a direct line between the flight path of the nukes, and the enemy capital ship.
All at once, the Arawan, Odyssey, and Boreas surged forward, moving towards the enemy capital ship at the same speed, and maintained formation. The Arawan shut off it's primary thrusters, and started to drift straight towards the enemy capital ship, which dwarfed the three Poseidan cruisers. Earth's fighters were maintaining a formation with the ships, behind them, and towards the sides, shooting at any enemy fighters while they were a great distance away, so not to get shut down.
The two other Poseidan ships had also shut off their main thrusters which were providing them with a forwards acceleration. The Arawan began to use it's manoeuvring thrusters to spin sideways, but keeping it's forward momentum. It then also began to use its manoeuvring thrusters to roll the ship sideways, so that the dorsal (top) side of the ship was the face, facing the enemy capital ship. This was the first time that the manoeuvre had been tried, ever.
All at once, every rail gun battery on the Arawan, Oddysey, and Boreas opened up, shooting at the enemy fighters. The rail gun batteries on the Arawan sent a wall of ammunition in a forwards direction, while the rail guns on the Boreas and Oddysey prevented any fighters from swinging around and attacking from the rear. The fighters which were travelling 'next to' the formation also opened up with everything that they had. Together, it created a wall of ammunition which the enemy fighters couldn't escape.
Commander Galtua was watching the radar screens closely. There was one for each axis that could be travelled in space, X, Y and Z. There was also a radar screen which tried to give the relative position of contacts in all three dimensions, but Commander Galtua was interested in the one showing the Z axis. Although all of their guns were firing, the amount of enemy fighters were not diminishing in any sense. It seemed as if they were keeping back, out of range of the rail guns, and not attacking. That was fine for them to do. She looked at the distance of the ten objects bearing down on the Arawan very quickly from behind, where Earth was located. Anticipation grew in the bridge of the Arawan as the objects got closer and closer. The enemy capital ship also drew closer to the formation of the Poseidan class ships.
A minute passed in complete silence as everyone watched the radar screen.
"Order the fighters to break off and stay clear," Commander Galtua said. Almost immediately, the order was carried out and she watched on the radar screen as the fighters pulled away and headed for the Chu-Jung for protection, leaving the formation of three Poseidan class ships alone. "Take the shields down and route the power from them into the thrusters. We need to get clear of that ship," she ordered. Immediately, the main sub light drive engines for the Arawan came online and the ship started to gradually move forward. The other two Poseidan class ships broke out of the formation and started manoeuvring so that they would not hit the enemy capital ship.
Bridge of the Poseidan class ship Chu-Jung – Earth Orbit
Commander Hitiksu watched as the other three cruisers pulled off their manoeuvre. They had effectively shielded the nukes launched from Earth from the enemy fighters and escorted them close to the enemy capital ship. Now it was a race for the cruisers, they needed to halt their forward momentum, or change their course so that they wouldn't collide with the enemy ship. Then, if they had enough time, they needed to clear the area so they wouldn't be damaged by the nuclear explosions.
He watched, as did most of the rest of the ship, through viewing monitors which were situated throughout the ship, as the cruisers pulled off their manoeuvres perfectly. He watched as the first missile approached the ship. He closed his eyes and turned away as he could tell there was a large flash of light, and another, and another, and another. After he judged that all of the missiles had impacted, he turned around and saw pieces of the enemy capital ship drifting away from each other. He was surprised at that fact, as energy released from the nuclear explosions should have completely destroyed most of the ship. Instead, it had splintered into six or seven pieces.
He looked up at the radar screen and saw that a large portion of the fighters were making a direct beeline for Earth itself.
"This is the Poseidan Chu-Jung to all military units. Enemy fighters are moving to attack Earth," he said into the radio in front of him. He received a series of confirmations and saw that the few remaining, operable, Earth fighters were moving from a position around the Chu-Jung to intercept the enemy fighters. The Boreas and Odyssey were also moving to intercept the enemy fighters. He looked at the Arawan and saw that it was drifting in space, and that there were signs of fires and decompressions onboard the ship. He couldn't worry about that now, the fighters heading towards Earth were the more pressing issue. He also saw on the radar screen that a small group of fighters were flying in the opposite direction and seemed to be trying to head out of the solar system from their vector and speed that they were travelling at. He dismissed them and put his thoughts about them into the back of his mind.
During the battle, he had seen a number of enemy missiles get through Earth's defences and impact on the surface of the Earth. From what he could judge from his position, most of the missiles had impacted in the general areas of Europe, Eastern Asia, Africa, and some had impacted upon the East Coast of America, although he couldn't tell whether it was Canada or the USA which had taken the blast. He knew that some of the fighters that were now heading towards Earth were carrying nuclear missiles, and he needed to stop them.
Thirty Minutes Later – Bridge of Research Vessel Copenhagen
Dr. Ivan Wotresser stood on the bridge of the Copenhagen. They had received word of the attacks against Earth a couple of hours ago, and were staying well away. They were currently in an orbit between Mars and the Asteroid Belt. The Copenhagen as well as the New Jersey, were the only two non-militaristic vessels built by the ten-member nations of the Planetary Defence Organisation on Earth, which to this day, remained secret. Although they were non-military vessels, most of their research was for military purposes. Currently, they had just developed a larger rail-gun capable of launching multiple shells, instead of bullets, at once, which could be used fairly effectively against larger ships.
Dr. Wotresser heard a beep coming from the radar station onboard the Copenhagen and was immediately distressed. He looked over to the commander of the ship, Lieutenant-Commander Aaron Doral and saw that he was already communicating with the radar officer on board the ship. After a few brief words back and forwards with the radar officer, Lieutenant-Commander Doral hit the button on the intercom.
"Attention. Enemy fighters have been spotted approaching our ship. Prepare for immediate Hyperspace jump in three minutes," Doral said into the intercom. Immediately, people started scrambling around, doing their jobs and preparing for a hyperspace jump. Dr. Wotresser moved over to look at the radar screen, and saw that there was approximately fifteen blips approaching them from the direction of Earth.
"How do we know that they're enemy fighters?" Dr. Wotresser asked the Commander.
"Earth would just send one ship to deliver intel, not fifteen. Also, judging from the size, the ships are about the size of a fighter, and ours don't move that fast," Commander Doral said. Dr Wotresser took in the information and moved over to the unmanned visual inspection panel. All Earth ships were equipped with a number of small, rotational telescopes mounted within holes in the hull, which could be used to visually inspect objects in space, as well as to plot their position against the relative position of surrounding stars. He aligned three telescopes towards the vector that the fighters were approaching and aligned them up so they gave one image, which he put up on the view screen. He just got time to briefly glance at the blueish-scimitar shaped ships before he saw a barrage of missiles released from the fighters, all of which were heading either for the Copenhagen or the New Jersey. He looked over to Commander Doral, but saw that he was already onto it.
"Jump now!" he commanded. Dr. Wotresser didn't have time to brace himself for the violent entry into hyperspace and was thrown off of his seat onto the floor, where he knocked his head.
He must have been lying on the floor for a few minutes before he fully came to. He could briefly remember hearing a number of loud bangs while he was semi-conscious, and put it off to dreams, until he heard another one, but this time while he was fully conscious. He heard another one, and another one, and another one. Dr. Wotresser slowly and quietly got up and put his head around the side of the visual inspection console which he had fallen behind in the jump. What he saw shocked him to the core. Commander Doral had a pistol in his hand, and had already shot everyone onboard the bridge of the Copenhagen. Dr. Wotresser quickly ducked back behind the visual inspection console and gathered his thoughts. He thought that he must have been dreaming, as no Commander would have any reason for shooting anyone on the bridge of his ship, let alone everyone. It was then that he heard another voice, and he peaked his head around the corner of the console again. He saw Commander Doral putting away his weapon, and talking to someone. He could only see their backs, but from what he could see, the person he was talking to was a tall, fairly attractive, blonde female.
"Wait here, we've got a Base Star in close proximity. We'll dispatch Centurions to clean up the rest of the crew," the female said to Commander Doral.
"By your command," Dr. Wortresser saw Commander Doral reply.
Cockpit - Adriatic – Colonial Fleet
Without explanation, the Colonial Military and the Government had relocated all of the civilians off of his ship and into others throughout the fleet. Now, he sat in the cockpit of the Adriatic, surrounded by Colonial Vipers, and with eight raptors from the Galactica on their way towards his ship. He didn't know what he had done, or what any of the civilians had done on his ship. His first thought was that maybe there was a bomb, but that was not the case as all of the ships were still in their normal formation and hadn't spread out. He heard the raptor set down above the docking hatch on the dorsal side of his ship, and headed into the rear compartment to meet the boarding party from the Galactica. He was surprised to find just one man waiting for him.
"Are you the pilot?" the crewmember from Galactica asked.
"Yes. Why?" he answered.
"Captain Lee Adama… Can you and your co-pilot please meet with me, we have some things to discuss," Adama said to him. Doubtful about what was happening, he turned and went back to the cockpit and collected his co-pilot. When he returned, he found that Lee Adama was sitting behind one of the tables that had been erected for the civilians.
"Why have all of the civilians been relocated off of this vessel? And why is the CAP surrounding us?" his co-pilot asked. He too wanted to know the answer to these questions.
"The Colonial Government needs this ship for a highly classified mission," Captain Adama replied. "Before I can say any more, you need to accept the mission by signing these papers from President Keikeya's office. They're non-disclosure agreements. If you don't sign, we'll just find some other pilots to fly the mission with this ship." He thought about it for a moment, and he could see that his co-pilot was also considering the mission.
"Will it be dangerous?" he asked.
"Very," Captain Adama replied. He gave it a couple more moments of thought before he grabbed the papers and signed, his co-pilot not too far behind. Captain Adama collected up the papers and pulled out a data disc. "Three days ago, as you know, the Galactica raided a Cylon Tylium processing and extraction plant. We found this," Captain Adama said while putting the data disc down on the table.
"What is it?" he saw his co-pilot ask.
"It's a map," Captain Adama replied.
"To where?" the co-pilot asked.
"Earth," Captain Adama stated. Before it could sink in, he continued. "We've calculated that it will take the fleet another year to reach it at our current speed. As you know, the fleet is restricted in the range of its jumps by the capability of the ship with the FTL drive with the lowest distance. Your ship on the other hand, apart from the Galactica, has the highest distance capable FTL drive. Your mission is to use this map and to go ahead of the fleet, and get to Earth. You are to spend as little time as possible at any one place, and jump as often as possible. Food, fuel and some basic mechanics are on board the raptors waiting off of your starboard side. We've calculated that if you make a jump at least twice a day, it will take you about a month to reach Earth," Captain Adama explained while the faces of the pilots had completely stunned expressions on their faces.
"What if we come across the Cylons," the pilot of the Adriatic felt himself asking through the shock.
"Jump. Hopefully, you shouldn't encounter them if you don't jump into any systems, and instead, jump into the space between systems. Two of the turrents off of the Galactica have been removed and will be placed on this ship, so hopefully, along with the weapons already onboard the Adriatic, you should be able to shoot down any missiles that may happen to cross your path," Captain Adama explained.
"When do we leave," the Adriatic's co-pilot asked.
"Two days," Captain Adama replied.