The Colonials Stand – Part 2
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
The Bravery of the Survivors of the 12 Colonies of Kobol
By
Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Messina
Haddon Heights Military Academy
#
The missiles sped towards their target – the whole sphere of their existence in the galaxy to destroy a Viper.
"Georgey, you've got half the distance to go"
"Copy" came Spanswick's reply. "I hope I can get through this"
"So do I" said Turndike. "I've got tickets for the opera next week"
"What?"
"Never mind" said Turndike. "Scrapman to Halo Flight – remember to take off the second that Spanners shouts. We're only going to get this one shot and I want all my pilots to come alive" he said. "Especially Halo 1"
"Halo 1 confirms" Katooni's voice came over Turndike's radio.
"Restormal to fleet – Riopel is on fire and abandoning ship. All ships – clear her airspace. Continue to press the attack… Without FTL to jump away, the Cylons are on a more level playing field for us" Dial gave a short message over the general net.
"Scrapman to Base"
"Restormal Actual"
"How are we doing out here?"
"We're down to the last few bullets in the smaller guns. Some of the Vipers are ramming the Basestars in the hopes of some debris punching through and detonating something important"
"How many ships do we have left?"
"We've got just seven ships that are still at near-full strength, another four seriously damaged, two moderately damaged and the rest are either destroyed, crippled or out of theatre" Dial replied. "Also, we have only six hundred Vipers, Raptors and armed Shuttles remaining"
"What?"
"Six Zero Zero"
"Copy. What if you set the reactors of the damaged ships to critical and rammed them into the Basestars?"
"Already working on it" Dial said. "Out". Turndike twisted his fighter from this way to that with skill as he provided cover to his old friend's ship.
"Halo and Scrap Yard Flights – critical range reached" Spanswick said. "Split off and run like hell" Turndike remained a few more seconds as his friend made a sudden turn and then spun around and fired full power away from the Basestar they'd been trying to hit. The missiles, being far too fast to keep tracking the more agile Viper Spanswick piloted, kept right on ahead and hit the FTL drive – detonating in a ball of quickly extinguished fire and dispersed smoke.
"Restormal to all ships – last FTL destroyed. Close in to killer range and engage the enemy full all dispatch"
"DRADIS CONTACT!" somebody shouted over the net. "Extreme edge of range… Moving slowly towards us – unable to get a fix"
"We'll take it. Blackhawk Leader to A and B Flights… Form up on leader and prepare to make contact with the incoming target"
"Copy, Blackhawk Leader"
"Affirm"
"All weapons are down on the Excalibur – we're abandoning the ship and setting automatic helm for the nearest Cylon vessel"
"KRYPTER KRYPTER KRYPTER! Cambrian is under heavy attack by Raiders and can not survive much longer – request urgent aid"
"Unable to help you, Cambrian. You are ordered to stand and maintain your position"
"Scrap Yard Flight, Scrapman" Turndike spoke into the comm system. "Form up on me and lets go and help out the Cambrian. Turndike to Achilles"
"Go ahead" Manning's voice came through with the sounds of battle behind him.
"Can you make it over to help?"
"We're blocked in by Raiders on all sides… We might be able to try something, though"
"Like?"
"Listen to this… Achilles to Columbia and Atlantia. Your targets have been plotted – feel free to take them Cylons down" and Turndike watched as a wave of Raiders turned right around and headed back to the Basestars.
"You cheating son of a bitch…" Turndike said.
"Achilles confirms"
"Dave?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm picking up faint Colonial transmissions coming from whatever the hell it is coming at us"
"Battlestar?"
"I don't think so"
"Well keep an eye open for anything"
"Restormal Actual to fleet – all ships now down to less than fifteen – fiver zero – percent of offensive stores. Rammings authorised under any circumstances" and Dial was cut off by somebody before he came back on. "DRADIS contact reportedly powering up FTL engines – standby for another assault"
"Copy" Turndike said.
"Blackhawk Leader to all ships – incoming vessel is a friendly"
"Say again, Blackhawk Leader! Who is that ship?"
"This is the Colonial Battlestar Freedom to fleet – am launching Vipers and Raptors to engage and assist. Anybody wanting a drink or ammo is welcome – our bays are open and very friendly. Out"
"That's a museum ship" somebody said.
"Not today" Dial said. "Restormal to Freedom. Have you any weaponry at all?"
"Seven tactical nukes, and all forward interceptor guns – nothing else" came the reply.
"Jump to the middle of our fleet" and Turndike could see the plan Dial had. With a ship dedicated to shooting at the Raiders, it freed up the guns on the newer ships to hit the Basestars. A swarm of friendly tags appeared on his DRADIS as Vipers and Raptors were launched and immediately threw themselves into attacking the Cylons.
"Copy that. Jumping in three… two… one…" and the Freedom jumped to the middle of the fleet and started on her assigned task of taking out the smaller Raiders.
"Seven tac nukes are not going to do anything" Turndike said.
"They might if launched in succession" said Katooni, "But I doubt it an–" she was cut off by a loud yell and multiple cries of shock,
"OH GODS… NIGHTINGALE HAS GONE. I REPEAT… THE NIGHTGALE HAS BEEN DESTROYED"
"You bastards…" Turndike watched as his DRADIS display showed the breaking up of the Nightingale. The Cylons, he thought bitterly, had to be really sadistic to take out a medical ship.
"Gondor, Rohan and Rampant Rabbit are advancing on the Cylons" a voice cut in. Everyone watched the three named ships as they flung themselves on the firepower put up by the Cylons, passed through the centre of their line and then engaged Self Destruct – destroying themselves but taking out three Cylon Basestars and nearly four hundred Raiders in the process.
"Restormal to all ships" Dial's voice broke into the general circuit. "Thanks to that sacrifice, we're down to just four Basestars now – throw everything at them"
"Turndike to Dial"
"Go"
"What about taking one of those frackers from inside?"
"You mean launching a missile from inside?"
"No… I mean we get all of the Marines we can lay our hands on, cram them into as many shuttles as possible and then we board and takeover"
"Are you insane?"
"No, but I am hoping that the boarding will at least reduce the ability of one or two of them"
"By diverting their forces… We'll get something sorted quickly – out"
"Eagle Eye 221 to all vessels – am reading multiple detonations coming from inside Cylon Basestars"
"Eagle Eye 221 from Bankrupt. I confirm your readings. I can see secondary explosions running along the dorsal section of Basestar Kilo"
"Red Five to fleet. I can also see multiple explosions from internal stores detonations and lots of hull breaches"
"Launch all available Raptors and Shuttles with as many armed people as you can" Turndike said. "Scanners indicate that Kilo became the one sending the attack orders after we took out the ComCon"
"We'll lose a lot of people" Dial spoke.
"Yeah, but if we can capture their communications systems, then it might be possible to send an order to cease fire and shut down"
"And if not?"
"Then we chuck some DetPacks in and blow it to hell" a pilot broke in.
"This could be our last major chance to have any possible chance of winning" Turndike said.
"Tusk Air Wing. By order of the Tusk's Commander Air Group, you are ordered to reform into squadrons and prepare for an attack run on the Cylon Basestar. Your priority targets are any functional interceptor missile ports and Ack Ack guns" Katooni cut into the general circuit. The point of her being the Tusk's CAG was academic as there was no longer a Tusk to serve on, but nobody seemed to have any objections as the Air Wing broke away and formed into their original squadrons.
"Halo Squadron present and accounted for" Pedro spoke. With more Vipers flying over, the Flight had been reformed back to Squadron strength.
"Halo Leader from Scrapman. Fancy another pair of Vipers?"
"Affirm" Katooni was all business at the moment. "Designate as Halo One Three and One Four"
"Roger"
"Copy that" Spanswick said. "Halo Lead, Halo One Four reporting. I am down to 10 per cent of remaining ammunition. I have enough for one attack run and then I am out"
"Copy that, One Four. Make your attack run with Halo One Three and then fly to the nearest landing deck for rearming"
"Roger"
"Halo Lead, Petuaria Lead. We are currently rearming and will be at your position in zero five minutes"
"Copy that" Katooni said. "Halo Lead to all planes – form attack formation Alpha 2 and lets go" and all the Vipers swung into groups of three in a V like formation and darted across the emptiness of space to hurl themselves against the firepower of the remaining Cylon Basestars. Other Vipers and raptors with ammunition remaining joined in what was thought by all to be the last assault by Colonial Fighter aircraft, darted and wheeling out of the way of missiles – sometimes getting lucky and sometimes not getting lucky. As he switched on his targeting computer, Turndike looked up and saw an opening in the hull of the central axis of the ship they were targeting.
"One Three to Lead. I can see an opening in the hull on the central axis – looks like a docking bay of some sort"
"Copy. I see it as well, but we've got no more missiles left" Katooni said.
"Halo Lead, Blastpike Ten"
"Go ahead"
"I have an idea. Although I've not got any more missiles myself, I have most of a tank of fuel so this is what we'll do. I'll set up a jump for the inside of the bay, arm the Raptor's self destruct package to detonate the second it comes out of the jump and bail out" and Turndike had to admit that the pilot had balls to suggest it. Although the move was risky and dangerous, it would at least give them a very large explosion in the middle of the bay which would detonate the fuel and weapon stores – causing huge secondary explosions.
"Halo Lead to Blastpike Ten – that's a go"
"Roger that. Starting jump prep… Keep them off me for a little bit"
#
Blastpike Ten
"I have an idea. Although I've not got any more missiles myself, I have most of a tank of fuel so this is what we'll do. I'll set up a jump for the inside of the bay, arm the Raptor's self destruct package to detonate the second it comes out of the jump and bail out"
"Halo Lead to Blastpike Ten – that's a go"
"Roger that. Starting jump prep… Keep them off me for a little bit" and the pilot turned round in her seat to face her ECO.
"I've tried to arm the jettison circuits, but they are simply not working" the other officer replied. "It would take a few minutes, but we don't have them do we?"
"No"
"I thought not" the ECO turned to the console and started working on the controls. "I've armed the sequence and put in my codes – now you do the same"
"Copy that" the pilot punched in some commands and both consoles bleeped three times loudly then the displays turned a dark red and flashed on and off continuously. "The thing is armed, so all we have to do is plot the jump and then throw the switch" she leaned as far as she could and took the other officer's hand. "It's been a privilege serving with you"
"The honour was mine" the pair shook hands before returning to their tasks. "This is sure as hell going to give the Cylons one hell of a kick up the arse"
"Yep. Blastpike Ten to Vipers – clear the area"
"Roger. You bailing out?"
"Negative on ejection systems, Halo Lead. We're going to detonate in manual mode"
"Manual mode…? There has to be another way"
"No, Ma'am" the ECO came on the line. "I've tried everything possible and this is the only way we're going to take this bastard down. Jump in three… two… one JUMP!" and the Raptor blinked out of existence. "Sending live feed" he flicked a switch to send the live gun camera footage as the pilot swung the Raptor in a circle – taking advantage of the confusion caused by the sudden arrival.
"That was the portside thrusters" the pilot said, allowing a klaxon to keep on going. "Just one thing to do now"
"Detonating n–"
#
"My Gods…" Katooni spoke. She saw on her display and by her own eyes the explosions ripping through the remaining fully operational Basestar. The detonation caused by the self destruction of Blastpike Ten ripped through the entire vessel – tearing it apart in a massive volley of fire and shrapnel – huge chunks being blasted out of the inner hull and shattered into millions of pieces.
"Halo lead from Eagle Eye 221"
"Go ahead"
"Detonations reading throughout the entire Basestar. Scanners indicate massive internal and external structural damage, multiple fires on all decks and ammunition and fuel stores going up"
"Copy, Eagle Eye. All Vipers, this is Tusk CAG flying in Halo One – assuming command of all Vipers on behalf of Fleet Command. You are ordered to bring your ships around and target Basestar Kilo"
"Apache Squadron rolling in"
"For the Colonies and all those lost this day, Rapier Wing is engaging"
"Hurricane Squadron preparing to reap a whirlwind"
"Spitfire One and Two are moving in to engage" and the pilot heard many more squadrons and wings acknowledging her call for one final push. It was, she decided, all or nothing…
"Tusk Air Wing – hit your thrusters and lets finish this"
#
"All remaining vessels – close in to point blank range and fire on that Basestar" Dial's order came through with a chorus of replies.
"This ought to be different" Turndike checked his stores display and shrugged to himself, lining up alongside Spanswick. "One Three to One Four"
"Go"
"How are you holding out?"
"Fine, mostly" Spanswick said. "I'm down to my last few bullets, but I want a shot at these bastards"
"Copy that" and he pushed the throttle as far as he could go before flying with the remaining rag-tag fleet of Vipers heading to one last great battle to hold the line against the night. From the other side of the Basestar, Freedom maneuvered into position and opened her missile tube doors. Seconds later, seven nuclear missiles sprang forth from their launch tubes and powered their deadly cargo towards the Cylon vessel – all seven hitting their target within milliseconds of one another. This proved to be the final straw as the Basestar ripped apart into huge chunks and collapsed in on itself inside a gigantic fireball in space.
"Halo One Three to Lead – confirming detonation"
"Halo One Four to Lead – target destroyed. Be advised that I am going Winchester"
"Restormal Actual to fleet. All Basestars are crippled, destroyed or out of theatre. Remaining Cylon Raiders are bugging out" Dial sounded astounded at what had happened. Then, after a short pause, he came back on. "All Vipers – close in and persecute with extreme prejudice"
"Wilco, Actual. All Vipers, targets bearing 000 carom 000 – weapons free… ENGAGE" the next ten minutes became a bloodbath for the Cylons as the Colonials took revenge for what had been done to their planets, colonies, ships, their lives, their friends and their families…
"Eagle Eye 221 to Restormal"
"This is Restormal Actual"
"I have a Cylon Raider that has just jumped into the midst of the retreating ones. It appears to be broadcasting a coded message of some kind"
"Can you break in?" and Turndike listened in as he fired his cannons for a few seconds – feeling upset that he soon ran out of firepower.
"Halo Lead, Halo One Three – going Winchester"
"Copy that"
"No, but it's a data signal of some sort. Wait one… Actual, it appears to be now broadcasting to us. All Raiders coming to slow ahead"
"To us?"
"Affirm. The Raider wants to speak to the leader of the fleet"
"Restormal Actual to Turndike"
"Here" Turndike replied.
"You led us to this – I say you take the call"
"Are you sure?"
"Yep"
"Okay…"
"Eagle Eye 221 to Captain Turndike. Put your radio on one one eight pointer niner"
"Copy" Turndike punched in the commands to his battered fighter craft.
"This is Cylon Raider Alpha Zero One to Colonial Naval forces"
"This is Captain David Turndike, leader of the Colonial forces in the Caprica system" Turndike's knees trembled as she spoke. "State the purpose of your transmission or be destroyed"
"Captain, on behalf of Cylon forces, both ground, air and space units, we surrender"
"What?" Turndike heard all remaining ships utter the same word at the exact same time.
"Repeat your transmission"
"The Cylon surrender. I repeat" the cool female voice spoke calmly, "The Cylon surrender to the 12 Colonies of Kobol, the colonies, space stations and any Colonial citizen wherever they may be. We ask for no terms or special treatment – we are standing down" and Turndike looked to see the tags for the retreating Raiders suddenly halt. Only the newly arrived Raider was moving towards the Vipers.
"Oh crap. All Vipers, this is Turndike in Halo One Three – HOLD FIRE! WEAPONS HOLD!"
"All ships, cease fire" Dial issued the orders for the bigger ships. "All vessels, come to a full stop. Lock firing control on the incoming Raider. If it makes any hostile move, take it out. Freedom, prepare to open fire on the Raider squadrons"
"Wilco"
"Why now?" Turndike asked. "Why do you surrender now, Toaster?"
"Amongst my kind there were many that did not agree with this decision. Not all of the Cylon wished to fight humanity… We wanted to live in harmony and to share discoveries with those that created us"
"The only thing you shared with us are your nukes" Katooni snapped.
"And for that we can never apologise enough. The agreement was to target only the military bases and ships – nothing civilian. Recently, we only became aware of what truly happened. The Cylon vote by model – with each spate model voting the same way. However, some were poisoned in the mind by one model in particular. When this was found out, we… ended that model's production run, eliminated the poisoned models and then I was sent here to issue the surrender orders"
"Its over? Just like that…?" Turndike frowned and shook his head in disbelief.
"You have destroyed, damaged or crippled all of our Basestars, Captain Turndike" the voice replied "We have very little to keep fighting with for much longer. We Cylon believe that it is a sin against God to kill and an even greater sin to simply wipe out an entire species. If you check your navigational uplinks, you will see that you are receiving the locations of all our military forces at this moment in time. The fate of all the Cylons now rests in your hands"
"Understood" and Turndike flipped channels to a private net. "Turndike to Restormal"
"Go"
"This could be some sort of trick"
"I agree, but she does sound genuine"
"So what do we do?"
"Captain, Turndike, we are not joking at all"
"I don't care, but you have at least surrendered to us… Alright, to hell with this! You order your Raiders to come around and move towards the fleet – stopping directly under our guns. You will land aboard the Restormal and surrender in person to myself and Major Dial"
"We will comply"
"You better, Raider, because I have a couple of hundred Viper pilots all targeting your craft"
"You make a good point. Although you will most likely have an armed team, neither this Raider or its occupants are armed"
"Acknowledged. Halo Lead, you there?"
"Online"
"Fancy a bit of escort duty?"
"Affirm. Halo Squadron from Halo lead. Your orders are to target that Raider but not to open fire unless it deviates from flightplan. Eagle Eye 221, you are ordered to keep a constant electronic surveillance on that ship until it lands"
"Compliance"
"Lets do this" Turndike said. "Raider Alpha Zero One, you will form on my wing and follow me directly to the Battlestar Restormal. Failure to comply with any and all instructions will result in your immediate destruction"
"We copy and will comply" the voice said. "We may surrender in person on behalf of all models"
"I don't care about that" Turndike said, "But you will stand trial for what you have done" to us"
"Not all of us agreed with starting a war on humanity. I, myself, voted for a peaceful measure of contact with your race"
"Raider, Halo One. You will maintain radio silence except for complying with the orders from myself, Halo One Three and Restormal Air Traffic Control"
"Acknowledged, Halo One" the voice said. Turndike switched his radio to receive only and set his ship to automatic pilot as he tried hard to stop shaking. The ten minute flight to Restormal gave him time to think about the entire series of events that led up to this great attack and near destruction of Humanity.
#
"Halos One, Two, One Three, One Four and Cylon Raider, you have clear airspace from here until landing. All traffic has been suspended until Raider is safely in our hanger bays" the voice of the Restormal's Landing Signals Officer came over the scratchy radio.
"Acknowledged, Halo One Three" Turndike said, flicking off the automatic pilot and putting one hand on the throttle.
"All incoming, reduce speed to 150 knots"
"Understood"
"As ordered"
"Affirm"
"Confirmed"
"By your command"
"Raider, you are hereby ordered to lower your landing gear now and land on the pad indicated by the yellow flashing marker lights" the LSO spoke.
"Understood"
"One Three to Lead"
"Go ahead"
"Check your computers. I am seeing some damage to your aft section on the ventral area"
"Computers say I am alright there" Katooni said. "Are you sure?"
"One Four – confirmed" Spanswick said. "Looks like the skids are slight dinted and you have hull damage"
"Copy – I'll bring her in gently"
"Halo One, do you require any assistance?"
"Negative, LSO, Halo One coming in for a landing"
"Affirm"
"Halo One Three requesting permission to land"
"Permission Granted, Captain Turndike, and welcome aboard"
"Halo One Three confirms" Turndike lowered his skids and watched as the Cylon Raider settled on the indicated pad and was lowered into the cavernous hanger bays on the hanger deck below. "Skids down" he said. "Engines off, Halo One Three"
"Skids down and locked – engines secured" Pedro spoke.
"I'm down" Spanswick reported.
"Skids down – secur–" Katooni was cut off as her rear skids buckled and snapped, angling the Viper upwards as the engines shot her on towards the roof. Before anybody could say a word, Katooni's Viper slammed nose first into the roof and burst into flames – dropping the ruined fighter onto the deck below like a rag doll.
"Katooni? Megan? MEGAN!" Turndike screamed. "FIRE ON THE FORWARD FLIGHTDECK! CALL OUT THE RESCUE TEAMS!" he screamed as he hit the quick release on his harness and punched the canopy open.
As he jumped out of the Viper and ran towards Katooni's blazing wreckage, he hoped to gods he didn't believe in that he was not too late to save her…
A/N:
And a twist at the end for you!
Okay, I hope you liked the chapter because the last one will be a long time in coming as I have to go in to hospital – nothing major, just a bit of corrective work for something I had last year. For those that want to see what fics are coming up in the next two weeks, you are advised to check my FFN profile page.
Regards
Pixel and Stephanie