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Day 74
Omega Sector System 15133
Atlis CIC

"Commander Mihali it is good to see Colonial military forces. We have been on our own for the last 2 months other than having two Raptors. The Cylons hit New Hadrian hard and as far as I knew we were the last humans alive. Have you ran into anyone else" asked Colonel Marton.

The cover story was that the Atlis, the Oliver, the Chrysos, and the two Raptors that had communicated previously with the Tethys were the only survivors from the attack on the Ofis Systems. The evidence is strong but making sure that was no mistake was made is important before they could proceed.

"Not a sign of anyone since we left the System" replied Commander Mihali.

"Well that is an unfortunate states of events" said Colonel Marton. "I would have been nice to have evidence of more people surviving the Cylons attack."

The next few minutes were basic talk about supply levels when Commander Mihali said "we would like to send a shuttle to all 3 of your ships to check maintenance and see what you have for trade."

"That would be peachy" replied Colonel Marton.

With the code word of "peachy" the third Raptor that was hiding behind another asteroid jumped out and then the Chiron jumped in. "Tethys and other ships. You are to surrender your ships for your actions against the Rambler, Onyx, and Larke. If you do not comply you will be destroyed. This is your one warning" said Commander Jasper.

The Tethys turned to run from the Chiron. The Chiron fired four missiles into the Tethys and then the just launched Vipers strafed it. The Tethys was now dead in space. The Azeban and the other two ships had just started to move. "This is your last chance to surrender your people Whitestrake" said Commander Jasper. "Shut down all engines now or you will be next."

The Azeban and the Pelinal Whitestrake did turn off their engines. The Limaril Whitestrake (along with loud denunciations from Limaril himself about how the other ships were cowards and not truly Faithful) though was trying to get away.

"Badger Squadron make sure the three shuttles don't get away" said Warlock. "Kestrels go and make sure the Limaril does not escape." The Limaril was far too slow and flimsy and the shots across it's bow made the Limaril also shut down it's engines.

Ensign Lynn Gibbs (Beeker) repressed a sigh. Gibbs had been on the Chiron before the Cylon attack as a shuttle pilot. That she is part of the so called "Badger" squadron because 7 of the 10 new Viper pilot trainees were from the Badger crew was kind of annoying. Still this was her first combat mission (well mission as a pilot) and being trusted to fly one of the 5 Danger class shuttles showed that they had faith in her to fly a Viper soon. The Danger Class shuttles might be around 75 years old and no match for a Raptor much less a Viper but was more than able to round up the 3 shuttles that had been heading towards the Atlis.

Omega Sector Darkspace
Chiron CIC
Commander's Office
Day 78

Commander Jasper looked over the reports. The Tethys was likely to be unfixable. The missiles had broken her "back" and likely it would have to be scrapped for parts. Jasper had been hoping to capture the Tethys intact but going in they knew the odds were low. The Chiron outgunned the Tethys by 8 to 1 so any combat would be pretty one sided but was dangerous to the 3 bait ships and no risk could be made that the Tethys would escape and prey on more ships.

The Azeban needed far more repairs than they had initially thought. Whatever member of it's original crew that had sent a surge into the engines frying two of them along with a quarter of the ships systems had been a genius in sabotage. No wonder so many parts had been stripped from the Rambler and it's ships. Anika Kalss had reported that the Azeban would be fully repairable in a few weeks with the help of the Vega's crew.

The two Whitestrake ships were both in passable condition.

'Enough about the ships' thought Jasper. 'How do deal with these damn cultists.' Of the 681 people that had left the System on the Day of the Attack there were 403 alive. Less than half of the Tethys and none of the Azeban's crew had been trusted to join the Faithful. What is worse is that of the 612 of the Faithful a third had been "purged" before or after the mutiny that took the Tethys or after word came out what happened to the Rambler's fleet crewmembers.

The Faithful might be a doomsday cult driven crazy when the Colonies fell but they were very good at paperwork. Or at least Limaril's personal aide Phyllis Reed was. Who had voted to proceed with the mutiny to take the Tethys along with their "devotion" or future crimes was noted. That the people who had voted no were then purged (as the reports called it many many times) made things simpler.

The most dedicated who were willing to do whatever was needed were called the "Steadfast" and were 75 in number (which was now a holy number supposedly). The people who had been on the shuttles (along with a lot of weapons) were all of the Steadfast. All were shown to have either taken part in at least one murder. The mutineers from the Tethys, the Steadfast, and the leadership of the Faithful would all be tried for their crimes and almost certainly spaced under military justice for mutiny and piracy.

It's the last 314 where the problem arose. According to Miss Reed's glowing reports of events only the truly Faithful had been allowed to join the Steadfast. How many believed what was going on had been right and how many kept their mouths closed after seeing a third of their number "purged"? Over 300 people were far to many for the fleet to be able to keep under control. And spacing 84 of their number (there were 5 members of the Tethys crew that survived) would hardly improve relations.

Governor Maxon and the rest of the Council were more than willing to allow Commander Jasper to deal with this problem.. Well no answer is going to be perfect so might as well go with the simplest.

Omega Sector Darkspace
Chiron CIC
Commander's Office
Day 79

"People of the Pelinal and Limeral I am giving you a choice. You can join our fleet as long as you renounce the actions of your leaders. You will need to earn our trust over time. Or you can take both of your ships and leave this sector. If we come across you in this sector again we will find you guilty of piracy and then space you for your actions" said Commander Jasper. There was a lot of BS in that statement. If they came across one of their ships they would probably just glare at them until they ran away unless they were found to be committing more piracy. That risk is low as both of the Whitestrake ships were unarmed and had been searched. There probably were some hidden weapons but the military weapons taken from the Azeban's hold were now under their control.

The two captains of the Whitestrake ships protested this decision. "They didn't have enough supplies. They wouldn't know where to go. What if they came across the Cylons" they asked.

Jasper's response was simply "again I am giving you a choice. You can join our fleet under the terms given or go your own way. Supplies and maintenance on your ships are fine." That a lot of those supplies were taken from the Azeban was being ignored. That they wouldn't know where to go was a somewhat fair point. "I will give you the records of the places we have been removing any military secrets." Jasper didn't like these people but they did represent over 300 humans when over 25 billion had died 3 months ago.

31 people decided to join the Chiron and it's fleet. They were moved to as many ships as possible and the security of those ships given word to keep an eye on them. The two Whitestrake ships jumped out to the Prolmar Sector. Since as far as they knew everyone there were dead or pirates it seemed that the Faithful were unlikely to be able to cause any further trouble.

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Thank you for reading. Any questions or comments are appreciated.