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Chapter 9 – Exploration
One Week Later
BBC News – Earth
"Finally, a methodology has been developed on how to mine asteroids within the asteroid belt, without using a large amount of resources. Details of the plans will be released later, after the mining companies with licences from the PDO have successfully tried out their new method. Currently, five modified Osprey class ships are being used in exploratory missions, scanning asteroids with ground-penetrating radar and bringing samples home for analysts to study. So far, after only a day of scouting, four large asteroids have been found with deposits of nickel, iron, and titanium within them."
"After a couple of modifications, NUMA is going to put it's Manta all purpose underwater vehicle through it's paces today in the first ever trial of a drop from the upper atmosphere. For those unfamiliar with the Manta, it is a modified Osprey class shuttle designed to operate under water, reaching the depths. It will be used by NUMA and various other companies around the globe to build various underwater habitats, research stations, and mining stations on the bottom of the ocean. The construction of these underwater habitats is expected to greatly aid the refugee crisis our world is now facing. NUMA's chief engineer, Albert Giordino, today commented that commented that the engines of the Manta had to be moved, as they would break off upon impact into the ocean. The wings that now house the Manta's engines can slide to the rear of the craft, and the engines can be tucked behind the main chassis of the hull… There was a great surprise today as the PDO announced, upon successful completion of the atmospheric drop, that it would essentially, buy the plans of the Manta off of NUMA, again, and that they would be used to construct a facility whose location is classified."
"Flight Lieutenant Samuel Johnson is still being held in custody over the murder of his two crew-mates, a Captain David Organ, and a Lieutenant Smithson, both serving with Lieutenant Johnson at the time. The whereabouts of Lieutenant Smithson's body has yet to be found, but it is believed that the Asian woman was jettisoned out of the airlock of the Osprey class shuttle that all member parties were occupying. No trace of an enemy base on the far side of the moon has been found as of yet, which Lieutenant Johnson swears is there. Doubts are being cast on his sanity, and prosecutors are worried that he may plea on insanity charges."
"The PDO has stated today that a new kind of ship is in the works, designed as an all-purpose shuttle craft/cargo ship and heavy fighter. They stated today that once the designs are completed and auctioned off, that the mining companies will be the heaviest user of the new kind of ship. As of yet, it has no designation."
"Pieces have already been assembled for the new International Space Station, with the Russian and Chinese Space programs aiding the construction greatly. NASA has stated today, with the exponential growth of factories and workshops producing new technologies, that the first pieces of the new space station are expected to be put into orbit within the month."
"Many major cities around the globe are now investing in large, anti-fighter batteries which the PDO along with the IAO have managed to fine tune and produce. The large batteries require enormous amounts of power, and therefore most cities are restricted to one battery because of power requirements. The batteries are based around the rail-gun technology which has been developed for the space superiority fighters, as well as Poseidon class cruisers and the Triton class battleships, except it is much bigger. Instead of hurling small explosive rounds into the air, these rail-gun batteries have the ability to hurl an explosive round, similar to those used in the main cannons of today's modern warships, into the upper atmosphere. Research is being done into advanced tracking systems, so that these batteries could someday be used to intercept enemy missiles fired at cities from orbit."
"The first attempt at integrating pre-space revolution technology and post-space revolution technology today ended in a disaster as American scientists tried to modify a Joint Strike Fighter into an orbital space superiority fighter. The modified powerplant and engine of the fighter exploded as soon as the engine was pushed to maximum thrust, killing the pilot and completely destroying the craft. American Officials have stated that if there is the ability to convert today's Air-Force into a space faring force, the planet would be a lot safer as the number of fighters capable of defending the planet from orbit would increase by orders of magnitude. More attempts by Australian, French, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, South African and Indonesian research teams are expected, and the PDO is hoping that one of them will be successful."
"Attempts are being made at repairing and powering up "The Great Ship", the object that created the space-age revolution here on Earth. It has been stated by the PDO that if they are successful in powering up the ship, and then add more weapons systems to it, it will greatly increase Earth's military power in space for defence, and could then free up the Triton for offensive purposes. They have stated that it will not be an easy accomplishment, but it may be possible within the next year or two."
Albatross Class Fighter/Bomber – Near Asteroid 043-221 – Asteroid Belt – Sol. System
Flight Lieutenant Jinko Arcarna and his co-pilot Flight Lieutenant Kesen Erwitke had their Albatross class fighter/bomber in a stable position facing an asteroid with the designation of 043-221. They were being paid, as well as PDO, by BHP Billiton and Newmont Mines for an exploratory mission into the asteroid belt. Since neither company had any ships constructed for them as of yet, they were contracting the PDO's ships to do it for them. As a payment, the PDO was getting much cheaper metals from both companies, which was speeding up production of fighters and shuttles.
"Albatross 013, this is Osprey 106. Targeting data uploaded now," a voice said over the radio. A series of data bursts were sent to the Albatross class shuttle over a temporary network uplink that had been established between itself and a nearby Osprey. There were four Ospreys in the area, as well as three Baleen class shuttles, and one other Albatross bomber.
The data that was transmitted came up as targeting data on the Albatross's main computer, showing a location on asteroid 043-221.
"Albatross 013 to all surrounding ships. Clear the area around asteroid 043-221, over," Flight Lieutenant Arcarna said into the radio. They waited to hear an 'all clear' from the surrounding ships before arming their weapons. The modified Osprey shuttles were using a special form of ground penetrating radar to determine what the asteroids were made of. Once they had found a suitable asteroid, they would signal to one of the Albatross bombers and the bomber would blow a chunk out of the asteroid. The Baleen class shuttles would then come in, open up their hatches and use remotely controlled grappling hooks to reel in a section of the asteroid small enough to take back to Earth for testing.
Lieutenant Jinko hit the fire button on his controls, and the forward bay on the Albatross opened up. A missile was manoeuvred into the bay from it's anterior storage(forwards in relation to the ship). A series of small jets located on the Albatross fired, sending the missile out of the bay and below the craft. The main drive of the missile ignited and the Jinko and Kesen watched the missile go towards the Asteroid. It hit the asteroid right on the target, and after the debris had cleared, they saw several adequate sized pieces ready for sampling.
Colonial Battlestar
Dr. Wotresser awoke on a cold, metallic surface, with cramps all over his body. For some reason he could feel pain in his back and his shoulders, but he couldn't recall how they had been brought about. He knew that he was still on the Copenhagen, locked in the makeshift cell that the enemy had made for him. As more of his senses returned, he jolted upright after realising that he wasn't on the Copenhagen anymore; the sounds of the ship were different. He didn't know that he had become so accustomed to the sounds aboard the Copenhagen while the enemy was occupying it, but his rational thought knew that after spending what must have been at least two weeks in the dark, with no other stimuli, that he would have quickly become accustomed to those sounds.
His vision cleared, and as he looked around, he could see that he was now in a ready made cell, with two guards in what appeared to be a marine get-up standing outside the cell. His memory came back to him, and he remembered the battle between the enemy and the unknown ships, and how their craft had been captured and brought aboard one of the new people's motherships.
He watched as one of the guards picked up a corded phone and spoke into it. Wotresser tried to work out what he was saying, but the person was too far away. It was then that Dr. Wotresser tried to get up and walk to the bars, but tripped over. He looked down at his feet and could see that his ankles were cuffed together and tethered to a pin in the middle of the floor by what appeared to be a steel cable. He then noticed that his hands were also cuffed, but they weren't tethered to the floor like his feet.
It was then that a rather large, rugged looking man walked into the holding room and looked at Wotresser. Wotresser watched as, with only a look, he had ordered the guards to open the door to the bars that Wotresser was being held in.
"Who are you people?" Wotresser asked. The man just did not reply. He stepped into the cell and looked very closely at Wotresser's face. "Where am I? And where did you come from?" Wotresser added.
"You're on the Battlestar Cerebus, and your other friends have been split up between the Pegasus and the Rycon," the man replied.
"What are those?" Wotresser asked again. The man simply ignored him and continued to stare at his face.
"I'm surprised you can't feel it," the man said to Wotresser.
"Feel what? The pain in my back and shoulders? I can feel that alright," Wotresser replied.
"Mere side affects of the knockout gas we subdued you with," the man replied almost shrugging it off. "I'm talking about up here," the man said while tapping Wotresser's temple.
"What are you talking about?" Wotresser queried.
"We've set up an electromagnetic field around this cell, and we're pouring ionised radiation into here. It's completely harmless to humans, but for Cylons? Well then… Soon, the silica pathways within your body will begin to degrade. The interference is to disrupt communications between you and your friends on the other Battlestars. It's not perfect, but hopefully it should stop you from transferring to another body once the radiation has had it's full effect and you die, permanently," the large man said in front of him, looking him directly in the face.
"For one thing, ionised radiation won't harm me. It only affects synthetic materials," Wotresser replied. He was lucky that he was a physicist and knew something about the universe and it's basic properties. The man in front of him looked to be taken aback about something.
"You can stop trying with the ruse. We know you are a Cylon. You were aboard the Heavy Raider with the other five Cylons," the man stated.
"What's a Cylon?" Wotresser asked. "Those people in the ship? Were they Cylons? I'm not with them. I was their prisoner," Wotresser replied. Suddenly Wotresser's head was knocked sideways as the man in front of him hooked him across the jaw.
"Tell me what you know of the Galactica and the rest of the fleet. Are they still alive? Their whereabouts?" the man said to him.
"I don't know of any Galactica or Fleet," Wotresser replied. The man replied by giving Wotresser a very strong punch in the stomach.
Falcon 'Red' Flight Wing. 2000km South-West of Chicago
Flying officer Henry O'Connell could never get over the feeling of dread that he now had in his stomach. He was originally from Australia, but had spent seven years of his life living in the United States. Over the last couple of days, he had been flying escort for a wing of Albatross class fighters/bombers, whose mission was to bomb the crap out of Chicago's CBD. Ever since a C-601 Baleen class cargo ship had been shot down over the city, intelligence gathered had said that there must have been survivors from the ship that had crashed into the city, the same ship that Henry had shot down himself. They didn't know how their enemy was able to survive the radiation within the city, but they were doing it, and shooting down anything that came over them. Every single time they flew over they got to identify the location of another missile battery; because it fired at them. Every single time, they would go on a bombing run designed to level the entire area around the previous missile battery, and another one would fire at them. The PDO and IAO had no idea how they were moving about the city so fast, no vehicles worked, and the position of their wrecked ship hadn't changed at all.
Originally, Henry O'Connell thought that the Albatross bombers would be slow craft, but he was greatly mistaken. They were able to keep up with their Falcons the entire way. It was a good thing too, as they needed the speed to surprise the enemy.
They were coming in from the South West this time, very low to the ground not even fifteen metres off of the ground. The new missile battery was located on the outskirts of Chicago's CBD, and they were going to hit it at full speed.
Twenty minutes later Henry could see the first signs of Chicago's outer suburbs coming up on the horizon. Before he knew it, they were flying over the outskirts. The Osprey class shuttle in front of them instantly shot up vertically. It would climb to an altitude of two kilometres, pull back to a distance, and record the location of the next missile battery.
O'Connell could see the target coming up on his targeting computer, and he slightly pulled up on the nose of the Falcon fighter.
"Red Wing, scattered Formation. Shut down all networked systems," he ordered into the radio. The other twelve Falcon fighters in his wing would form a V shaped pattern with O'Connell at the apex of the V, in the front. The altitudes and positions within the V would be scattered. It had been discovered that either in an atmosphere, or in space, this formation was the best for shooting down missiles coming at the fighters head on. The Albatross craft would be in the centre of the V, surrounded by the Falcon fighters.
He checked his targeting computer and could see that they were now ten kilometres away from the target. Suddenly a wailing noise started to come from the computer in front of him, indicating that enemy missiles had been launched. He squinted out of the front of the cockpit and could see the guided projectiles approaching.
"Red Wing, open fire," he commanded into the radio. Suddenly, streams of rail-gun rounds were screaming towards the three missiles that had been fired. It took a moment for the pilot's to adjust their aims, but eventually the missiles were destroyed. "Maximum throttle and let the Albatrosses do their work." Henry pushed the throttle to maximum, without engaging the third engine on his fighter and he surged forward. He began to pull the nose of the fighter up so that he wouldn't crash into the ruins of a skyscraper in the heart of Chicago's CBD. Moments later, he could hear the evidence of the south-west portion of Chicago's outer CBD being carpet bombed as fifty bombs were dropped on the area from just two Albatross fighter/bombers.
Before he knew it, it was all over and they were heading out over the Great Lakes. A radio announcement had come from the Osprey which was now heading away from Chicago in the opposite direction, saying that no more missile launches had been detected.
"We might have got them this time," the weapons officer of the Osprey said over the radio.
Poseidon Class Ship Solaris – Earth Orbit.
Commander Heidi Galtua had now been fully acquainted with her new command, the Solaris. She had been both disappointed and surprised that the enemy had not attacked again. She wanted to seek the revenge of her former shipmates, but was surprised that no more attacks had come. If they wanted to completely wipe out Earth, which she suspected they did, a more continuous stream of attacks would be needed. Instead, they sent a couple of what appeared to be shuttle craft escorted by fighters, and that was weeks ago; since then, nothing.
The lack of enemy craft hadn't kept her and her crew unoccupied though. They were getting ready to descend into the upper atmosphere to test NUMA's new Manta craft, a derivative of the Osprey class shuttle.
They were in the upper stratosphere now, their shields deactivated. She knew that they were a sitting duck now if the enemy suddenly jumped in and attacked, but she knew that they could get out of the stratosphere quick enough. She couldn't activate her shields within the stratosphere because it would ignite the air around the ship and cause a large deal of environmental damage. She ordered them to descend, and immediately it was carried out. She watched the external monitors as a series of small rotational jets slid out from their armoured compartments in the side of the ship. They were the same jets used in the Osprey class fighter. A number of hatches withdrew to reveal a large number of slightly bigger VTOL jets lining the side of the craft.
"Test and spin up the VTOL turbines," Commander Galtua ordered. Immediately, a number of intake fans on the front and bottom of the ship were revealed after thick armoured plating slid away. She watched on the monitor as the large fans began to spin, drawing in the very thin atmosphere at this height and pumping it through the VTOL jets.
They slowly descended until Galtua saw on the monitor that they were at the altitude which they had agreed to drop the Manta from. It was the upper atmosphere, the lower stratosphere. Apparently, the Manta had been built so that it could survive a drop from orbit, but they weren't too keen to test that out yet.
Manta 001 – Solaris landing Bay 02.
Robert Frankfurt and Charlie McCliffe were sitting in the cockpit of the new Manta craft. So far, there had only been five constructed, but this was the first test of a drop from high altitude into the ocean. They could see from the number of external cameras built into the hull of the Manta that they were over the Pacific Ocean and descending slowly. The top of their craft was attached to an electromagnetic rail system. The rail was now extending out beyond the outer edges of the hangar. They looked across to the technicians in the control booth, which were on the other side of the ship-sized airlock and gave them a thumbs up. Slowly, the Manta began to move forward along the rail.
They reached the end of the rail and began to go over their checklist. The VTOL engines were working, the two rotational turbine engines were working. The new mechanism to move the jet engines behind the main chassis of the hull was working. They had no hull breaches of any kind, and all electrical equipment was working. They both checked their triple harnesses, and made sure that they were strapped into their seats properly.
"Manta 001 to Solaris control. We are showing all systems green and ready to go," Frankfurt said into the radio.
"Rodger that Manta 001. Prepare for drop in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Drop," the control officer said. Instantly, the Manta was released from the electromagnet and began it's free fall. McCliffe began to manoeuvre the craft so that they were in an optimal entry vector – the nose pointing straight down and to be as vertical as possible.
They could now begin to see the Earth approaching them as they picked up speed.
"You know, if this doesn't work, we're both dead," Frankfurt said to McCliffe. McCliffe just nodded and continued manoeuvring.
Frankfurt was scared out of his pants as he could now see the ocean approaching their cockpit at a speed that was far too fast for him. He wasn't comforted that the entire ship had been made out of titanium, and that it was reinforced by an order of magnitude from the original Osprey design. He did take comfort in firing the two large rotational turbines as hard as they would go for almost a full thirty seconds so that both of the pilots wouldn't be killed on impact. After that was accomplished, he hit the button to put the engines behind the craft and he kissed his ass goodbye.
"Altitude?" McCliffe asked.
"One thousand metres," Frankfurt replied after looking at the altimeter.
"Closing visor now," McCliffe replied. Immediately after he said that, a metal visor began to move across the glass in the 'cockpit' of the Manta, and it was to make sure that the ten times reinforced glass didn't shatter on impact.
Now, he just waited. They couldn't look at the monitor which was connected to the outer cameras, as reinforced shutters had been locked in place over all of the cameras, to make sure that those too, didn't shatter.
"Five, four, three,' Henry counted off of the altimeter as they descended one hundred metres every second, "two, one…"
Instantly, they were both jerked forward as their Manta craft hit the water, their harnesses being the only thing preventing them from splattering on the forward sections of the craft. Frankfurt instantly felt dizzy and light headed as his brain was literally pushed forward against his skull, despite the harnesses which were put over their head to prevent them from breaking their necks.
"Opening visor now," McCliffe said. Frankfurt went to work unstrapping himself from the majority of the harnesses and began doing system checks on the craft.
"This is Manta 001 to the Solaris. Drop successful. Apart from a number of cameras which are non-operational and a small leak in the forward section of the hull, everything else went smoothly. I would like to report that we are already at a depth of five hundred metres and are still descending at a rate of half a metre per second," McCliffe said into the radio.
Five Hours Later
Undesignated Ship Class – Orbit of Europa, Moon of Jupiter.
Flying Officer Steven McDonaldson was one of a few who was aware of one of the many secret projects of the Planetary Defence Organisation, and today he was participating in two of them. A trio of ships, the same type as his, were orbiting one of the many moons of Jupiter: Europa, an ice covered world believed to have a substantial ocean of water below it's icy surface. The three ships were in the formation of a small equilateral triangle with the Poseidon class ship Odyssey nearby. They had come out here immediately following the successful launch of the Manta class shuttle.
The prototype ships were very large, in terms of the size of a fighter/bomber/shuttle craft. They had a pointed nose, much like modern aircraft. The rest of the ship's main section of the chassis was basically a laterally compressed rectangle. Where the nose of the ship met the main body of the ship was shielded by two large rectangular extensions pointing anteriorly (front), which appeared to have large weapons attached to the end of them. Two rectangular extensions also protruded from the rear of the ship, each containing four 'relatively' small engines on each face of the protrusion, and one 'relatively' large engine housed within each protrusion. Two large wings could be rotated outwards to help stabilise the craft in an atmosphere, otherwise, they were folded backwards at an angle parallel to the length of the ship, and covered the rear intrusion created by the engine housings. Another large 'plate' seemed to cover each side of the ship, running from the start of the front of the protrustions, to just before the engine housing, and a large weapon seemed to be attached to the plate. The vehicle was twenty-five metres in length, was ten metres wide, had a seventeen metre wingspan when the wings were extended, and was four metres high and needed a crew of sixteen to twenty to operate properly.
McDonaldson had no idea what to call this ship. It wasn't a frigate, it wasn't a bomber, and it certainly wasn't a fighter. He was interested to know what the PDO would call this ship once they had a fully, working, proper model. So far, the three craft in orbit around Europa were only prototypes.
"All ships, prepare for test fire," McDonaldson heard over the radio, coming from the Odyssey. He looked to their weapons officer, who hit the switch for the main guns to aim onto their predesignated target. He heard a loud clanking sound, and then humming as the main weapons of the ship began to move.
The two 'plates' on the side of the ship were released, and they began to pivot around their centre until they were facing downwards on an angle of negative seventy degrees. These plates now looked more like arms as they protruded a long distance below the ship, and above the ship.
"This is X8-002, weapons prepared," McDonaldson saw the communications officer say into the radio. After a moment, they received the transmission from the Odyssey that all three ships had their primary weapons armed.
"X8-001, fire," they heard the Odyssey command over the speakers. They watched the monitor, as the video feed was relayed to them via an Osprey class shuttle. The two large weapons on the end of the plates discharged, and almost ten seconds later, there was a large impact on the surface of Europa. They could see, via the camera relay from the Osprey, large amounts of debris being thrown away from the impact site. "X8-002, fire," the voice said over the speakers exactly one minute and thirty seconds later. McDonaldson felt the ship vibrate as two rounds were shot out of their own weapons. He watched the monitor as they impacted in the same place as X8-001's weapons had. The weapons that were attached to the plates were two large rail-gun cannons, similar to the design that had been created for 'rail-gun artillery' on Earth, to be placed on the ground around cities. They launched two large shells at incredible speed towards their designated target. At this point, the surface of Europa was one thousand kilometres away, and it was only taking approximately ten seconds for the shells to reach their target, meaning that the shells were travelling at one hundred kilometres per second. There was one downside however, a small nuclear-fusion plant was onboard the X8's, and because of the large power requirement to launch a shell at that velocity, it took two and a half minutes to re-power one weapon, five for both.
After the three ships had fired ten rounds between them, an order was sent to cease fire while an Osprey class shuttle investigated the surface. They waited perhaps five minutes before hearing anything.
"Well Odyssey command, you'll be glad to know that there is an ocean underneath the ice on Europa, the X8's managed to blast through the covering ice sheet. Now, all we need is a couple of dozen Mantas and we're ready to go, over," the voice said from the Osprey class shuttle.
"Odyssey command to X8-002, prepare automated probe for launch," the voice commanded over the radio. Immediately, the communications officer relayed the order to the weapons control to switch the modules. Momentarily, the front section of the left side's large weapon pointing towards the moon started to retract. Once it was fully retracted, only about half of the length of the 'plate' which had rotated downwards was left. The weapons technicians hooked up an electromagnet which was connected to a rail-system on the ceiling and removed the weapon once the small chamber it was now contained in had been pressurised. The weapon was at least six metres long and had approximately a one metre radius, and weighed two tonnes on it's own, without the launching mechanism which was permanently attached to the ship. They replaced the weapon with a large, football shaped object almost as big as a person.
"Probe in firing position," McDonaldson heard over the speakers.
"Firing Europa Sea Probe 1 at one quarter velocity, now," he heard the Weapons officer say into the communications system. This time, the monitor showed the large football shaped object exit the now shortened extension pointing towards the moon's surface, and then go flying towards the point that they had fired at before.
"This is Osprey 121, Europa Sea Probe 1 has successfully entered the ocean, over," he heard over the speakers. That concluded their part of the mission, and the main weapon was put back into place, the extensions rotated up so that their length was parallel with the length of the ship, and the three X8 ships turned and started heading back towards the Odyssey to accompany it on the Hyperjump back to Earth orbit.
At that point in time, it finally came to McDonaldson what their ships were finally a mixture between, a bomber, and artillery.
A new ship's been created… the PDO's trying to integrate space-tech into current (2063) tech… Dr. Wotresser is thought to be a Cylon… The Manta is now fully operational… The PDO is interested in the ocean underneath Europa… the IAO and PDO are torturing Colonial Prisoners, thinking that they're 'the enemy'… the PDO's trying to resurrect 'The Great Ship'… What is 'The Great Ship' exactly? It's got shields which were reverse-engineered by Earth (into not very good shields), but the Colonials don't? Is it a Colonial ship, or another kind of ship?... They're completely carpet-bombing Chicago… D'Anna Biers (A Cylon) is the main global reporter, reporting on all Space-Revolution stuff… and the Cylon's haven't shown up to attack earth in (Roughly) one and a half months since their initial attack with ONE base star….
What about the Cylon base on the moon? What about Sam Johnson? What are the Cylons doing? What's the Galactica and Fleet doing? What's happened to Gaius Baltar, President Roslin, and a whole bunch of other characters from BSG? That will be answered in the next couple of chapters…
BUT
I've got a tonne of uni assignments to do, and exams are coming up soon (uni's finished by 26 November), so there will not be MANY updates between now and then (maybe one or two, if I can manage it), so, it'll be a bit of a wait to find out what's going to happen.
Try to leave plenty of reviews though…
Cheers
Aussie