One more hurdle
Massena II, Heracles-class Gunship
As the Battlestar Sirocco jumped away from the battle in a flash of light the Massena II and the Tyraxes were putting up a thick shield of flak blocking the majority of the missiles fired from the four Battlestars arrayed above them. On either flank of the two ships Vipers and combat raptors engaged the Cylon Raiders keeping them clear of the fleets.
"Military Transport 18 is away!" Jon Kamen called out as the civilian ships began to rise out of their hiding point and escape from the scene.
Matthew Boyle nodded looking at the screens Transport 18 would have been one of the easiest ships to get ready the ship didn't have a large amount of passengers and had escaped heavy damage in previous engagements. He saw the Caerphilly was also rising off the ground but as it did the ship began to accelerate at sub-light speeds rising from the ground and heading towards the Massena II.
"What the frak is Steele doing!" Will Stonagal asked seeing several Vipers rise up from the asteroid as well joining the Manticore along with both of the fleet's Hunter-class ships.
"Wilkes!" Boyle cursed seeing the Hunters he knew who was behind this idea and if he was a guessing man, he'd have guessed the Vipers were from the cargo bay of the Lucky 9 probably piloted by whomever Wilkes could find.
From behind the Massena II and the Tyraxes the Caerphilly and its attendant fighters and Hunters used the two larger ships as cover before suddenly accelerating around the two ships breaking from cover leaving the corvette vulnerable to Cylon fire. As the corvette moved the Vipers engaged a group of Raiders and the two Hunters defended the group against incoming missiles the Caerphilly's nose came up as and its torpedo launchers opened with eight torpedoes launching from the small craft. While unguided the Basestars were focused on the Massena II and Tyraxes and they were unable to manoeuvre without exposing themselves to addition fire leaving them vulnerable this allowed the torpedoes to strike two of the Basestars destroying one of the ships as it was hit four times while the second ship was struck twice causing heavy damage.
The Caerphilly disappeared as the corvette jumped clear as did another civilian ship. The Vipers and the Hunters split away from the Basestars heading back behind the Massena II.
"He did it" Stonagal said quietly seeing the disorganized Cylon force still attacking them, "the Cylons were not ready for that."
"But they won't be fooled again, we don't need any more risk taking, we've got this one last hurdle to get over and then all these people are safe." Boyle said seeing the Agosta move into the Massena II's shuttle the Adamant-class Frigate was holding station engaging raiders which strayed too close but not taking offensive action. "What is Agosta doing?" He wondered
"Search and Rescue Operations" Kamen shouted out "they CO isn't ready to leave before the civies do but they don't have anything to take on the baseships."
"Tell Bolden if I tell him to go, he jumps no questions but to otherwise stay in our shadow." Boyle ordered appreciating the support as he saw another civilian ship jump away and the Lucky 9 finally begin to rise off the ground. "Brand can jump, the fighters we've recovered from her can fit on the Battlestar." He said but he saw the Lucky 9 was turning towards the Massena II.
As if in slow motion Boyle watched the Lucky 9 manoeuvre on the DRADIS screen. The former military frigate now Postal ship moved up behind the two defending ships following a similar path to the Caerphilly with Vipers and the two Hunters joining them in formation. Boyle realized what they were doing and grabbed the microphone out of the console "Give me direct contact with Brand now!" He ordered but it was too late.
The Cylons learned from their mistakes and didn't repeat them as the Lucky 9 slipped out from behind the Massena II a new Baseship jumped in and opened fire with a salvo of missiles. Both Hunters turned to engage the incoming missiles but they didn't account for one of the missiles being armed with a nuclear warhead. As defending fire struck the missile the warhead exploded with the blast wiping out one of the two Hunter craft and several Vipers instantly with the flash causing damage to the underside of the Lucky 9.
Had the ships systems not been built originally for military service the ship would likely have been crippled by the attack with its systems overloaded. The Lucky 9 remained in place for a moment before jumping away. "Have the fighters regroup with the others, make sure Cassiopeia knows about them and keeps them on a short leash." Boyle ordered seeing the new Basestar was remaining in the new position and turning its guns on the six remaining civilian ships. "Rask, we need to move I want that Basestar taken out. Inform Tyraxes and Agosta we're moving, Agosta is to remain with Tyraxes and continue SAR Ops unless Tyraxes orders them away."
The Massena II's main engines lit up and the Heracles-class Gunship moved slowly away its flak batteries continuing their fire but shifting from the main group of Basestars to the newcomer. As the gunship accelerated the ship-killer batteries lining the top and bottom of the ships hull tracked the Basestar and opened fire in a salvo pattern with the Basestar bracketed by several shots at the same time as the turrets aligned their fire on target. Heavy damage tore across the enemy capital ship pocketing its hull before a pair of shots from the Massena II landed squarely on the central spire of the Baseship shattering the centre of the ship. With such heavy damage taken the ship began to collapse in on itself as further shots from the Massena II impacted on the ship shattering its hull.
This type of engagement was what the Heracles had been designed for during the First Cylon War to move and shoot as it did now that the ships run had begun, they weren't stopping. The Massena turned on its own axis before accelerating along an intercept course with the remaining three Cylon baseships.
"Dagmar and Carnot are away!" The announcement was called out across the Massena II's CIC as the ship accelerated towards the Baseships. A pair of Cylon missiles slammed into the warship as it moved but the ship was now on course to target all three Baseships for a strafing run.
"Have all vipers converge on Tyraxes" Boyle ordered "Tyraxes to coordinate recovery operations" he said as he saw two more civilian ships jump away leaving only the largest of them all the Botanical Cruiser Thaumaturge. From around the battlefield Vipers turned on the remaining Freja-class Battlestar continuing to engage Raider craft. "Com'on your fat whale move your arse!" He whispered watching the Thaumaturge more than the enemy Basestars the Botanical Cruiser was not designed for sudden movements.
"I'm not sure the ship's CO would appreciate that" Stonagal said in a good-natured voice, they were winning there was little question over the outcome "we're in range of targets."
"Sequential fire as we pass, each gun maximum of two shots per target" Boyle ordered as the Massena II thundered past its targets firing down on the Basestars causing heavy damage to the ships as it went. Finally, the Thaumaturge jumped clear of the battlesite.
"Clean up, all small craft are to make combat landings on the Tyraxes, Raptors that can should jump as should Agosta." Boyle said in rapid succession it was time for them to end this fight the Massena II had taken several missile hits on its attack run but there was still more in the tank. "We'll continue to run interference for the Tyraxes until they jump, we're last out." Boyle ordered
Time ticked by slowly as first the Agosta disappeared in a flash of light, the Tyraxes finished recovering more than double its normal Viper complement before also jumping clear of the zone. The Massena II remained in the battlefield a moment or two later before also jumping to the safety of the Vilnus Cluster.
Two months later, Rycon, Minerva-class Battlestar, Vilnus Cluster
Two months had passed since the Massena II's final battle with the Cylon fleet. The people of the Massena fleet had integrated well with the people of the Vilnus Cluster and several Cylon agents had been successfully captured from the population. There had been no further incidents of Cylon attacks the fleet was safe. The Massena II and several other ships had received maintenance within the Cluster with the Rycon crippled and both remaining Freja-class Battlestars damaged the Cluster needed all the ships for the defence of their system which was what made Matthew Boyle's proposal the hardest for Commander Atler and Admiral Sarkis to take.
Following the surprise attack on the Rycon Miyka Sarkis was now restricted to a wheelchair, the damage done to his back too much for Colonial Medicine to repair, but he remained in command of the fleet from onboard the Rycon with Commander Daniel Atler his right-hand man. Standing within Sarkis' personal quarters Matthew Boyle tried not to look down at Sarkis and remained at a distance from him but he couldn't help but thing the Admiral's new status had aged him remarkably.
"You cannot be serious" Sarkis said shocked at Boyle's proposal.
"Yes, sir, I am. I was tasked with a mission and that mission is not finished yet. Commander Adama tasked me with saving lives of Colonial Civilians and returning them to the fleet."
"Which you have done" Atler pointed out "you saved almost six thousand people Matthew, six thousand potential victims of the Cylons are safe here in the Cluster. Each of them now able to build new lives."
"Yes, they are but what about Galactica's civilians. Should they not have the same chance as the people we have saved?" He asked bringing them back to his original proposal. "The Massena is more than capable of catching up with a fleet the size of Galactica's and bringing them back to the cluster. There is a place for them here, instead of leaving them to die in space."
"You'd risk your crew for this? How would you track them down? The Galactica could be hundreds of jumps from here by now." Sarkis pointed out, space was huge finding something out there wasn't easy.
"Doral Aditya he said naming the Cylon who had been discovered within the Massena's fleet. "He believes that he can reactivate Cylon tracking signals from a distance. The Massena will jump into an area and scan for ships if nothing shows up Doral will do his thing and we'll see if we can track them down that way."
"Which will open you up to Cylon attack." Atler pointed out he didn't like trusting a Cylon to help them but Doral had proven himself to be loyal so far.
"We'll deal with them, Adama trusted me with a mission, I want to finish it." Boyle said almost pleading with them to agree to his plan.
"Well, you're not going alone." Sarkis said looking at Boyle "you've proven you can handle a fleet Commander; I'm going to let you take the Massena, Cearphilly, Agosta, Lucky 9 and Sun Bak out on this search." He said looking at the Commander "you'll have until you're in your Tyllium reserves then you'll have to come back, that's all I'm going to spare Commander. We'll top up each of your ships and the Sun Bak will extend your range slightly. Lucky 9 will be filled with food and supply provisions to support your ships while the Agosta will give you some support. Unfortunately, I need the other ships here to protect the Cluster."
"I understand, thank you, we won't let you down."
