Today? Today Was A Good Day
"DRADIS contact! Receiving Colonial ID codes… Reading four Raptors, one fuel tanker and six repair ships. New contact! ID reads as mobile drydock Quick Fix" the excited voice of the officer said.
"They made it…" Turndike said in relief. "Things are looking up for a change. "Order the Quick Fix to take Restormal into her main bay and to begin repairs. Get Kattoni and Restormal's CAG to come up with a plan on where to put her Air Wing whilst she's getting sorted" and the officer nodded in agreement. He was running everything on his own since Gates came down with a nasty case of a virus that had him confined to the Intensive Care Unit on the Hope, though Turndike was finding the running of both sides of the fleet fairly easy to handle.
"Aye, Sir"
"Get me the names of the other ships and see if the tanker craft has bowser birds"
"Sir… DRADIS contact! Small craft… It's our scouting Raptor"
"Are they damaged?"
"No, Sir. They wish to speak to you as soon as they come aboard"
"Very well. Have the LSO give them priority clearance and have some of my people get the pictures downloaded. Mr Salt" the officer he had spoken to some days before looked up from Tactical.
"Captain?"
"You have the deck"
"Aye, Sir. I have the deck"
#
"… here and here" the pilot and ECO of the Raptor, Captain Mannering and Lieutenant Wilson stood in Exeter's old Operations Room which had been slowly brought back into use. "We watched as the Cylons moved around the place for a couple of minutes and then they moved on"
"And you think you were not spotted?"
"No, Sir" Mannering said. "Once they left the area, we jumped closer and ran scans of the wreckage to see what was what. We've worked out that most of the ships were taken out first by the computer virus and then by missiles"
"If you look at these pictures" Wilson pressed a few buttons on the control panel, "You can see that the two halves of the Dorsetshire and the two halves of the Ark Royal are in remarkable condition. We'd need to put people on them to check, but our scans showed that we could easily repair them within a few months"
"Of course, Sir" said Mannering, "All we really need to do is to get the bit welded back together again, repair most of the heavy damage on the mobile drydock and then launch one to dock at the station and have the rest attended to by the repair vessels"
"I shall take your recommendations under advisement" said Turndike. "Now, on to other matters… Despite the station having a lot of military supplies, we're running short on basic things such as water, toiletries and food. As you know, the only people that get a full food allowance are the old, very young, sick, the medical personnel and the pilots and crews for the Shuttles, Vipers and Raptors. During your scans, did you detect any radiation?"
"We picked up some of it, Sir, but nothing that was too great. Are you suggesting that we go and take the supplies off the other ships as well?" Wilson asked Turndike.
"Norland is empty so we can take her to the wrecks and load her up" he replied. "As the Cylons can appear without warning, we'll have to get the supplies first before grabbing the ships. Once she jumps back, the Heavy Lifters will jump there, dock and jump back. I'll take the Exeter to provide an escort in case we get into a scrape, but I don't expect that we will do at all"
"What about the planets themselves?" asked Wilson. "We picked up a few transmissions so we guessed that somebody must be still fighting"
"We can't take them" said Turndike. "As much as it pains me to say this, we would lose more people then we'd actually save in picking them up. Add to that the fact that we're running short on supplies ourselves… I'm sorry, but its not possible" he looked at the images again – dialling one up in particular. "I have a job for you…"
"Sir?"
"I've spoken to the other Captains, the Captains of the two police ships and to the commanders of the other Military vessels. We're in agreement that any suffering on the Colonies would be so great and so terrible by the Cylons that it has to be ended for their own sake" Turndike knew his words would haunt him. "My Chief Engineer, three Nuclear Weapons Officers and two of my most trusted crewmembers are loading your Raptor with a low yield nuclear missile"
"Captain…?" Mannering knew what Turndike was going to say.
"We have all come to the same conclusion that if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option - we will deliver a low yield nuclear weapon and end it all. Once our mission is completed, you will enter the atmosphere of Caprica directly over the location of the camp. Firing your engines at full power, you will then launch the weapon and Jump away"
"The camp?" asked Wilson.
"The camp will be destroyed with no survivors. From what we've been told, it is all for the best anyway… If you wish to back out of this, I'll have another crew replace you" and the two officers looked at each other before replying.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't think either of us could do that" Mannering said at last.
"That's perfectly fine" said Turndike. "I understand your decision and respect it. What happens will have to be lived with for the rest of their lives… Will you two at least sit on your Raptor and keep it from going anywhere?" and they nodded. "What is it you say…? Oh yes… Dismissed"
"Sir"
"Sir" the two saluted him, though he wasn't sure why, and then left the room. He waited thirty seconds before picking up the phone and calling the CIC. "Pass the word for the CAG to report to the Operations Room"
#
"Good Morning" and nods greeted Turndike as he spoke. They had gathered in one of Exeter's squadron ready rooms to discuss the plans they had worked out. They would have met aboard the station, but the facilities there were not high on the list of things to clean. Apart from himself, the Captains or Acting Commanders of all the ships in their little fleet sat in places normally occupied by pilots – looking like a paint range in the different coloured uniforms or jumpsuits. "This is a meeting to discuss the final plan for what we are about to do in a few hours time. As you know, we're planning to jump in-system around Caprica and recover the pieces of a few ships to put back together and increase our defences. We're also planning on getting as much supplies as possible from the wrecks as it does not appear as if we can restock for a long time. Seven hours ago, all of our FTL capable Raptors and Shuttles jumped to the site in order to start this process. However, there are more things that should be noted. Captain?"
"Captain" Kattoni nodded and took the position at the lectern. "We do not expect any issues with the operation, but recon flights have indicated the presence of large numbers of Cylon vessels in the Caprica system. To this end, Exeter will jump in system with Norland to begin the transfer of supplies. As soon as this is done, Norland will jump back to the fleet which will be the signal for the Heavy Lifters to move in and capture the pieces. Normally, this would be the end of it… But we've got some intel that might prove interesting" she pressed a button and an image of a shipyard appeared on the screen behind her. "This is the Celeste Shipyard on the surface of Caprica. For some reason, the Cylons did not over run the place and they did not destroy the ships there. We suspect that they at least disabled them so we're going to send a small team from the Furlong to check them out and see if they can get them operational again. If they can, then they are to load up with whatever equipment they can find lying around and then get the hell out of there"
"I presume that you'll leave the place unusable to the Cylons?" asked one of the Captains.
"Once all our operations are completed, Exeter will make one low orbit pass and use its main batteries to destroy the complex" Kattoni replied. "Then we'll recover all of our birds, bar one, and then we'll jump back"
"You are leaving a ship behind?"
"No… The Raptor that will stay will be piloted by the CAG and myself. We'll be launching the missile ourselves" Turndike spoke.
"What about protection for the fleet?" asked another Captain.
"We've got most of the Vanguard's air wing as well as those of the other ships onboard the station. We'll leave most of them behind, but most of the Raptors and Shuttles will be ferrying supplies over to the Norland" Kattoni said.
"Captain… I'd like to come with you" said Manning. "If the Cylons do jump us, then at least we can help defend Norland until she's able to get away. We can also help to speed up the supply issue by offering a second deck to land on. Norland's decks will get busy during the unloading, and we've got our own Shuttles too – so we'll help out"
"Hmm…" the thought of putting another ship at risk was weighed against the additional supplies that could be got. "Alright, Lieutenant" Turndike said after thinking hard, "Glad to have you with us. Okay, people… I suggest that you alert your crews, offload anybody not coming and then bring your engine rooms up to thirty minutes notice for FTL jump"
# # # # #
"Exeter, Raptor 312. Approaching Port landing bay"
"Roger, Raptor 312. You are cleared to land on Port Spot 2. Checker is green, call the ball"
"Cleared for Port Landing Bay Spot 2. Checker is Green and I have the ball. Raptor 312"
"How long until this is over?" asked Kattoni.
"Another three trips… So around an hour" said Turndike. The pair of them sat in the Raptor that was armed with the nuclear weapon they would use shortly. A feed of the DRADIS from Exeter's CIC was showing on the Raptor's own DRADIS screen and the audio was piped over the speakers.
"Exeter, Raptor 527. I'm picking up some faint contacts on the edge of DRADIS range. I estimate seven contacts at least"
"What is their heading?" asked a voice that sounded like a trained officer.
"Slowly drifting in this direction. They look to be unpowered, but I can not be certain"
"CIC to Captain"
"I see them…" Turndike pressed a switch and brought up the feed from Raptor 527 on the piloting DRADIS. "Launch two of the Alert Vipers and have them formate on Raptor 527. Get them to close in and identify those contacts… And have the fleet come to immediate notice for FTL Jump"
"Aye, Aye"
"I wonder what they could be" mused Turndike.
"Debris from the battles?" suggested Kattoni.
"But in a close formation…?" they waited for the Raptor and two Vipers to close in before they got a better look.
"Exeter, Raptor 527. We're still two minutes from visual range, but I confirm seven targets drifting gently towards the wreckage. They appear to be some sort of large pod, but we'll find out soon enough" the sound of the pilot's enthusiasm was infectious.
"Wish I was out there" muttered Kattoni.
"Me too…"
"Raptor 527, Exeter. Check your sensors for radiation and other types of weapons"
"Wilco, but we're not picking up anything at all from them. Exeter, 527. I have them faintly in sight – adjusting course to flyby"
"527, Turndike. If they show any signs of intercepting you, I want you to pull back and let the Vipers blast them"
"Aye, Captain. But, Sir, I'm telling you that they look harmless. If anything, they look like cargo pods"
"Cargo pods?" Kattoni whispered.
"If that's the case, how have they maintained formation?" Turndike looked at her.
"Raptor 527, Exeter. Can you see any marki–"
"Exeter, 527. We're being scanned by one of the pods. Reading a massive power source and a huge bui–" the voice of the pilot cut off.
"Come in, 527. Exeter to Raptor 527… Come in" and two pair in the Raptor looked at the DRADIS readout that suddenly went blank.
"527, Turndike. Turndike to 527" but his call was not answered. It never would be as there was a shout from the CIC of a radiological alarm at the edge of range.
"Explosion in the fifty megaton range"
"This is the Captain. Recall all ships to the nest and abort the salvage. How long have the Heavy Lifters got?"
"Ten minutes"
"Damn… Action stations! Launch all remaining Vipers, inform Achilles and Norland to close up on us and come standby to jump. Kattoni, we're going"
"Closing the hatch…" she said and pressed a button on her console panel.
"LSO, Raptor 213. We're taking off from the forward area"
"Copy that" and the LSO said no more – she was busy trying to land and launch birds at the same time.
"The police frigate has launched her birds and is weapons hot. Norland has put her two Vipers into the air and is recalling her birds" Kattoni said. "Oh no…" she groaned.
"What?" asked Turndike.
"I was looking through the other pictures of the site, picking the optimum place to send the missile"
"So?"
"I saw children"
"Gods…" Turndike groaned.
"At least they will not feel anything" Kattoni turned to her console as it beeped. "Contact! DRADIS contact. Bearing 112 carom 975. Vessels IDing as our recovery party"
"Order them to jump away to the fle–" the Captain stopped talking as a plan came to his mind.
"Sir?"
"Wait" Turndike opened the comm. "This is Captain Turndike to the recovery party on the ships just jumped in. Follow this Raptor. Turndike to all Viper Squadrons. Split into sections and have half each follow me. You are cleared to engage any hostile target in the air or the land. Exeter, dispatch a Raptor to the Hope and have them standby to receive multiple casualties"
"Captain? What changed your mind?" asked Kattoni as she worked to assemble the ships following them.
"There's been too much death lately" Turndike replied as he piloted the Raptor. "We've lost a lot of people, a lot of battles… Today? Today is different. Today is when we get a victory"
#
Vipers darted backwards and forwards in the sky over the camp as hundreds and hundreds of people hurried in an organised panic aboard the ships. They were hardly suited for the task in hand, but it would do until they got them all back to the fleet. When they had heard of the rescue, most of the Raptor and Shuttle crews had remained on duty in order to ferry more people to safety. The few Marines that Exeter carried, survivors from Tusk created a picket around the camp whilst two specialists went into the main building and took as much information as they could. A problem had been discovered, but there was no time to sort it there and then.
"Exeter to all surface forces. We've got DRADIS contacts on the extreme edge of range – CBDR. Estimate five minutes until they reach weapons range"
"Acknowledged. CAG to all Vipers and non FTL capable Shuttles – get to the nearest vessel RFN. Combat landings authorised" Kattoni said.
"Turndike to Romeo One Zero. Fall back to the ships – incoming enemy vessels"
"Understood"
"Last people are aboard" said Kattoni.
"Right… We'll wait for the Marines to get here then we're off. Arm the nuke"
"Yes, Sir" Kattoni typed a command into the keyboard. "Delta Delta Sierra Bravo Zulu Delta Tango"
"Delta Delta Sierra Bravo Zulu Delta Tango" Turndike repeated the command into the pilot's console.
"Code is authenticated… Five minutes to detonation on your command"
"Romeo One Zero, your position please?"
"Three minutes away. Possible incoming enemy forces"
"Lets see how they like this" muttered Turndike. "Arming gun pods…"
#
"Cylons moving in quickly… We're not going to have enough time to recover all of the Shuttles before we are over taken" said an officer.
"Order the Vipers to come about and take out the Raiders. Have the frigate move in closer to protect Norland" Spanswick really wanted to get down to her engines, but Turndike had left her in charge until he returned.
"We're outnumbered five to one"
"CONTACT! DRADIS contact"
"Restormal to Exeter. We're launching our planes to assist you… Bring your birds home" the battered Battlestar had made the jump by being hooked up to a pair of Heavy Lifters – a crafty solution that would have Turndike both furious and in awe.
"Thanks for the assist, Restormal. You…" Spanswick pointed at the comms officer. "Order Norland to jump now. Have all remaining ships make landings on the closest remaining vessels" she looked at the Vipers that launched from Restormal. "You magnificent bastards"
#
"Shuttle 13 Alpha to Raptor 213"
"213" Kattoni said.
"All Marines are aboard"
"Right, Shuttle… Get the hell out of here. CAG to Vipers. Protect Shuttle 13 Alpha at all costs. Out"
"Hey… had an idea" said Turndike. "Plot a Jump directly in front of the Cylons"
"Are you insane?"
"We need to gain height to fire the missile… So lets use the missile on something of a higher target"
"This plan is insane" the woman replied as she started plotting the Jump.
"Raptor 213 to all vessels. Make immediate FTL jumps. I say again – make immediate FTL jumps as soon as all craft are aboard"
"Jump plotted and entered into computer"
"Jump in three… two… one… JUMP!" and there was a flash of light as the Raptor vanished from the surface and reappeared directly in front of the Cylon Baseship. "This is Colonial Raptor 213 to Cylon vessels. You are ordered to stand down and surrender your ships"
"Weapons locking on"
"Well I thought I would take a chance… Missile away!" and he launched the missile as Raiders came close enough to fire on them. The Baseship also tried to fire on it, but the Raptor was too nimble in the hands of a daring pilot.
"All ships have jumped" said Kattoni as she watched the last few ships blink off her screen. "Jump plotted and entered"
"JUMPING!" and the Raptor jumped away. The missile managed to avoid being hit and it sailed happily into the landing bay of the Baseship, ploughed right throw the internal bulkheads and spaces, buried itself right into the middle of the immense spacecraft. Milliseconds later, acting on one of the two commands it had been given, it detonated – tearing the great ship apart.
#
"Jump complete… We're seventeen hundred kilometres from the fleet" Kattoni checked her boards.
"Nice plotting" Turndike whistled. "Raptor 213 to Battlestars Exeter, Restormal and Station. Launch Vipers and isolate the ships we have recovered from Caprica – shoot any ship that attempts to leave. Medical Vessel Hope, send your people over to the ships, but do not REPEAT do not take anybody off the ship without an armed escort"
"213, Hope. Exactly whats going on?"
"Hope, switch to tactical channel Bravo" and there was a click. "I have reason to believe that the Cylons have cloned people"
"How do you know?"
"Because the laws of genetics does not allow for seventeen sets of blonde twins. Treat what you can on the ships and take blood samples – something is not quite right. 213 out"
"How could they clone?" asked Kattoni as she came forward to take the co-pilot's seat.
"Remember that old horror story from the First War? The one about the Cylons capturing people and subjecting them to all sorts of tests and cutting them open…? I think we may have just discovered what the Cylons were up to. Exeter, Raptor 213"
"213, Exeter"
"Request permission to land"
"Line up and hold for a landing in the starboard pod. We're clearing deck as quickly as possible"
"Line up and hold, Raptor 213" Turndike looked over at Kattoni. "We're going to have to get everybody in on this. I just don't know what we're going to do for now…"
"Well at least the ships are isolated from the rest of the fleet" the officer replied. "We just have to figure out how they've cloned so many twins, why they did it and for what purpose"
"Spies? Traitors?"
"Maybe… We should certainly get all of the civilian and military leaders together and work out a plan–" she stopped talking as a long suppressed memory came to the forefront.
"You alright?"
"I shouldn't really be saying this because of orders, but there is not much of the fleet left… Six years ago I was cross training in Raptors on the Hera when we picked up a contact on the edge of DRADIS and which would not answer hails. As I was already out, the CAG ordered me and two other birds to investigate. We found them drifting with now power, but we got permission from the Hera to dock and go aboard in case they had lost all power. As we were looking around the main passenger cabin, our radiation detectors went sky high, but nothing that would not be taken care of by a good hose down with water and chemicals. Anyway" Kattoni continued, "We found a bunch of bodies lying as if they had all died in agonising pain. We called it in and were ordered to continue investigating – but no more then ten minutes later we got an order directly from Commander Scote, Hera's CO, to get off the ship immdiatly. We had only just undocked and moved away when the ship jumped along side and blasted the ship apart. A couple of days later, we were all summoned to the Wardroom were there was a couple of officers from Naval Intelligence and Admiral Corman. They swore us all to secrecy about what had happened and what we saw. A few of us kept our eyes and ears open for any titbits of information but we discovered nothing except for a small incident on the armistice line where Valkrie shot down one of her own birds… Some sort of advanced Stealthstar we heard"
"That's funny, I've heard something about that myself. One of Tusk's officers told me about that when we first got to the station"
"We kept photographs of what we saw, Sir. Managed to hide them away in the air vents of the Raptor. I'll get you them from my locker as soon as we dock – might help to see what is going on"
"I'll take that offer"
"Raptor 213, Exeter. You are cleared to land. Speed is 150, checker is green – call the ball"
"Cleared to land, 150 I have the ball. Raptor 213" Turndike executed a perfect landing in the starboard pod.
"213 to CIC"
"CIC"
"Have all senior officers report to the Exeter as soon as possible. Have a call put out for any intelligence officers to report aboard too" Turndike thought for a moment. "And get those two police officers here – they'll be of great help. 213 out"
"I'll print copies of the pictures off as soon as I get a shower and something to eat" Kattoni said, opening the hatch of the Raptor whilst still on the lift.
"And I'll have a whiskey… a Bloody large one at that" Turndike get out the ship and walked towards his quarters – wondering what on earth he was going to say.
A/N:
Well… Well… Well…
Looks like our band of happy chappies have got themselves one heck of a problem. Find out next week what happens and what they will do about it…
For those three people that have asked about the names, the pilots with the callsigns "Kattoni" and "Pedro" are named in honour of two of the Younglings from the Season 5 mega arc in Star Wars: Clone Wars.
For movie trivia fans, the code that activates the nuclear warhead is the same code to confirm launch stand down in Crimson Tide. And for the TV fans, the Marine callsign is from the show Ultimate Force – a classic mix of British spirit and guns and explosions done by the SAS.
And if we have any naval fans here, the Dorsetshire was, in real life, a County class vessel.
With the addition of two new Battlestars, the vessel list has not been updated below. The new civilian ships will get names as soon as I come up with them.
List of Vessels
Military Assets
Exeter – Hawk Class Battlestar
Restormal – Restormal Class Battlestar (Under repair)
Dorsetshire – County Class Battlestar (Under repair)
Ark Royal – Glorious Class Battlestar (Under repair)
Cambrian and Achilles – Caprican Class Police Frigates
Furlong – Spark Class Electronic Support Vessel
Ajax and Cumberland – Tiger Class Light Cruisers
Various Vipers, Raptors and Shuttles
Civilian
Pan Galactic – Galaxy Class Passenger Transport
Colonial Heavy 77 and Colonial Heavy 243 – Pride of Dover Class Mixed Transports
Norland – North Sea Class Heavy Ferry Transport (Armed)
Utilities
Quick Fix – Albion Class Heavy Drydock (light arms)
Thirsty Furret – Tanker
Spanner, Bolts, Screws, Hammer, Welder and Dave – Toolbox Class Repair vessels
See you next week for another exciting chapter of THE COLONIALS STAND! *cue dramatic music*
Regards
Pixel and Stephanie