CHAPTER EIGHT: All-out Battle
Battlestar Pegasus – Silver Spar Briefing Room
Commander Cain looked keenly at the pictures of the sentinel post. He, along with Syke, Voight, Dutch and Newguy, were in the briefing room going over the intelligence that Helo had brought back. Syke had abruptly been pulled away from his conference with his squadron commanders in order to see the evidence of the sentinel post.
"Nice", Cain said bitterly, "a perfect gauntlet. We avoid minefields and end up going near Cylon installations instead".
Syke agreed with Cain's assessment of the situation. "It is well placed", Syke said, "You can see by the location of that planet that it's well positioned to watch over this area".
"Well, our course is clear", Cain said, "That base is a threat and we have to take it out. Thank you, Lieutenant Dutch. You and Midshipman Gorde can go". Both stood, saluted Cain, then left. After the door was closed, Voight spoke.
"We'll have to destroy their weapons array and stop any fighters from escaping", Voight pointed out, "and with that array of defensive weapons ringing the summit, it's going to take nothing less than a full strength assault".
"Also, I can't see how we will be able to hide our existence this time, though", Syke said.
"Maybe we can, CAG", Cain replied, handing over to Syke a printout stamped 'For Your Eyes Only – Do Not Disclose'. Cain handed out another copy to Voight. As Syke read his printout, his eyes widened. He thought about what Cain proposed in the printout. If successful, this could really mess up the Cylons!
"Don't even talk about it to each other", Cain admonished, "Give those printouts back to me, and get your wing ready to fight, Captain Syke. Commit everything you have in order to knock out their communications and sensor array, and their defensive batteries. Captain Voight, your wing will have the task to intercept and destroy any fighters and/or message drones. The Pegasus will take care of the complex itself. I want to see you all back here in an hour to go over your battle plan. I'll be heading down to Quartermaster to see about the little extra items we'll need".
With that, Cain left. Syke turned to Voight.
"Remember, no talking about this. Lance", he said to Voight, "I'll go down and get my wing ready. You let your squadron commanders know what they need to do and we'll be back here in an hour".
"Okay, Gene", Voight replied, "It's good to have a proper fight for a change". Syke nodded. They had to get back and give the squadron commanders their orders.
One Hour Later
Both Syke and Voight reported back to the briefing room. Cain was there, along with Captain Sanders. Tolen was manning CIC.
"You explained only what they needed to know to your squadron commanders?", Cain asked them both. Both Syke and Voight nodded.
"Spar One will be the squadron attacking the summit communications and sensor array, while Spar Two and Three will be taking out the defensive weapons ringing the summit", Syke explained, "And I passed the word to Chief Krag to arm the fighters accordingly".
"All three squadrons of Black Knight Wing will be deployed covering the airspace around the complex. We will be well-placed to intercept any fighters", Voight added, "Our fighters are ready to go".
"Remember that your prime job is to stop any raiders from escaping. If any of the toasters tries to take on the Pegasus, let the battlestar's defensive armaments handle them", Cain replied. Voight nodded his understanding.
"The primary rail gun is being charged up and prepared to be used against the main complex itself", Sanders put in. The intelligence showed that the hangar door was heavily reinforced. The thickness of the hangar door necessitated using the biggest piece of artillery they had. It was overkill, but that suited Cain fine.
"What about the other items we'll need?", Cain asked Sanders.
"Quartermaster has gotten the items needed, and Life Station has provided some suitable 'candidates'. Krag has what we need as well, just in case".
"In that case, Gentlemen, Let's get the ball rolling. Get the crews to their fighters. As soon as we make the jump, we attack!" Cain announced. Everyone saluted Cain and headed out to their stations. Cain reached into his pocket for his comm-link, and then keyed it to the battlestar's PA system:
"All hands, Go to Condition One, This is no drill. Repeat: All hands, Go to Condition One".
The message reverberated throughout the battlestar as the crew rushed to Action Stations. Down in the launch bays, the pilots of both wings were preparing their fighters for launch. All had been armed and the squadron commanders had been given their instructions.
Tricia Cain strapped herself into her viper and looked across the deck to see Syke getting into his. Maximum effort had been ordered and that meant all available vipers were prepared to launch. Tricia was told to monitor Spar Squadrons Two and Three while Syke would monitor Spar One. A quickly rushed briefing let everyone know what they would be fighting against and the wing was now ready for action.
"Condition One set throughout the ship, Commander", Tolen reported. He, Cain, and Sanders were up in CIC and were preparing the battlestar for its jump.
"Both CAG's report that their wings are ready", Sanders reported from Core Command, "and all four raptors are ready to go as well". The raptors were going out with the strike force in order to jam the Cylon communications.
"How about the primary and defensive weapons?", Cain asked Tolen.
"All weapons are online and the rail gun is cleared for fire", Tolen reported.
"Very well", Cain reported as he activated the p.a., "This is Actual. For the first time since we left the Cyrannus System, we are now undertaking a full offensive operation against a Cylon sentinel post. Stand to your posts and let's give the Cylons some serious payback! Remember the Colonies!"
Cheers erupted in the CIC and elsewhere on the battlestar as Cain turned off the p.a. After raising a hand to quiet the CIC cheering, he turned to the Helm officer.
"Helm, Execute the jump. All personnel stand by to attack!"
"Jumping in 5...4...3...2...1...jump!" the helm officer announced.
Vicinity of Cylon Sentinel Post
With a flash, the PEGASUS FTL-jumped to the Cylon occupied planet. The familiar unpleasant feeling had barely faded when Annan gave the order to the 'shooters' in both launch bays, "Launch fighters! Execute battle plan".
Down on the sentinel post, the Cylons manning their equivalent of the CIC on the Pegasus were the Cylon version of surprised when they saw on their sensors the sudden appearance of a human battlestar! The command centurion immediately ordered the defensive batteries to prepare to open fire on the battlestar and to alert their squadron of raiders for launch. Another centurion went to get a remote message drone readied in case it was needed. The Supreme Leader needed to know about this!
The vipers of both Silver Spar and Black Knight wings were swiftly catapulted into space. Voight's squadrons headed out and away in order to deploy to intercept Cylon fighters. Syke's squadrons were now heading for the complex itself.
"Eighty-Five viper mark sevens incoming", one of the centurions reported to the command centurion. The command centurion knew that the incoming force was more than they could handle. He ordered his communicator to send out priority messages on sub-light to any nearby Cylon base star for assistance.
Silver Spar
"Spar Two and Three, head in and take out those batteries!", Tricia ordered, "Pacer and Straight-Shooter, Ratchet's relying on you".
"Understood, Sheba", Macklin replied. Warden followed suit.
At that moment, the deployed raptors started their jamming of the Cylon frequencies. The jamming was completely effective as the Cylons could no longer use their communicators. It did not mean that they were not going to fight, though.
Cylon Sentinel Post
"Prepare a fighter with a report on the battlestar and request for assistance. All other fighters are to launch and to attack the enemy", the command centurion ordered. The command centurion also ordered the heavy missile batteries dotted around the main hangar bay door to lock onto the incoming battlestar and to fire when it was in range.
The defensive guns on the summit started to fire as Macklin's and Warden's squadrons bore in. Just outside the effective range of the Cylon guns, both squadrons released a missile barrage targeting the Cylon guns. The defensive batteries switched their targeting to the incoming missiles and several were taken out, but the majority of them used their evasive maneuver programming to evade the fire and they impacted on their targets.
Silver Spar
"Okay, Ratchet", Syke called to Lt. Halley, "Your squadron is clear. Take out that summit complex".
"We're on the way, Bojay", she replied. Halley's fighters headed in at full speed. Their missiles were now locked onto the mass of aerials and dish antennas that dotted the summit. With the defensive batteries now largely out of action - and those that were still firing were still trained on more missiles coming in from Spar Two and Three, it left Spar One with an unrestricted firing solution. The sentinel post was built around a defense against a single wing. With two wings employed, it was overpowered.
"Okay, Spar One", Halley ordered, "Fire!"
At her order, the twelve fighters of her squadron released their ordinance: two Thumper SGM's (Ship-to-Ground Missiles) each.
Black Knights
While Silver Spar Wing was pressing home their attack on the summit. Black Knight Wing was heading in to intercept the fifteen Cylon raiders that had emerged from the hangar bay. The Cylon ships were heading in to engage, despite their being outnumbered. That suited Voight fine. This was payback time for the Pacifica.
"Okay, Knights", Voight called, "Engage the toasters as they come to bear. And for frakks sake, don't allow any of them to FTL-jump".
The vipers streaked in to start dogfighting. The raiders first tried using their jamming beams, but with the older software retrofitted into the vipers, it had no effect. The vipers opened fire on the Cylon ships. Six of them immediately were destroyed in the opening salvo. Other vipers swooped in on the other Cylon raiders forcing them to take evasive action. Despite a couple of hits on vipers, the sheer numbers were just too great for the Cylons to handle. One by one, they were getting blasted from the sky, and none of them could get close enough to attack the raptors which were still effectively jamming the sentinel post. It was no contest. A real turnaround from what had happened back at the colonies.
Silver Spar
Back over the summit of the mountain, Halley's squadron had released their missiles and they were heading right onto their targets. No counter-missile fire was impeding their trajectories. The sensor and communications arrays blew apart in a spectacular detonation as the missiles impacted. Subsidiary explosions also took out the few remaining working gun batteries.
In regards to the air-to-air combat, so far, so good. Black Knight Wing had lost three fighters to the raiders, but they had eventually destroyed all fifteen raiders that had engaged them - including one that had tried to make a run for it. Silver Spar Wing had one loss from Spar Two and several others from the other squadrons lightly damaged. After ordering the damaged fighters to return to the battlestar, Syke was now watching the Pegasus close in on the planet.
Cylon Sentinel Post
The command centurion received the news that the summit arrays with the defensive batteries had been destroyed, and that their raider squadron had been decimated. It turned and ordered the missile operator to open fire on the battlestar with the anti-siege batteries.
Battlestar Pegasus – Combat Information Center
"Incoming heavy ordinance", Sanders reported as the dradis console picked up multiple missile launches coming from concealed silos around the hangar bay door.
"Defensive batteries, lay down suppression fire", Tolen ordered. The Pegasus' bay-mounted guns started firing at the incoming missiles.
"Stay out of the Pegasus' firing solution", Syke communicated to the other pilots as the Cylon missiles were being intercepted by the defensive fire. Voight ordered likewise to his pilots.
Cylon Sentinel Post
The command centurion observed the Pegasus take out the missiles. None had made it to the target and now there were no more left to use. The centurion knew that this battle could no longer be won, but surrender was unthinkable to any Cylon. It ordered his garrison to get ready to fight, as it would be expecting human marines to land and to try and storm the complex. It was an expected action, but Cain was not out to capture the complex intact.
Battlestar Pegasus – Combat Information Center
Sanders looked at the close-up scans of the sentinel post. There were no other missiles being launched. "Commander, there are no other missiles launching", Sanders announced, "And none of the launched ones even got close. Looks like they ran out".
"Very good, Comms. Prepare the Rail Gun for firing", Cain ordered, "And inform our wings to retire from the vicinity of the sentinel post".
As Sanders sent out the alert message, The Helm officer changed the attitude of the Pegasus so that the prow was pointing directly at the Cylon base. Helm now nodded to the weapons operator, who now took over the targeting and acquisition of the massive weapon.
"Target locked", he announced after a few seconds, "Rail gun ready to fire on your order, Commander.
"Fire primary weapon", Cain ordered. The weapons operator pushed down on the control marked Deploy.
The lights briefly dimmed as the rail gun absorbed a massive influx of power from the two energizers down in engineering. The massive 'bullets' in the breech of the rail gun were accelerated to a massive speed.
The battlestar shuddered as the 'bullets' hurtled out of the barrels and headed straight in onto the complex.
Cylon Sentinel Post
The command centurion saw the rail gun fire. It was the last thing that it would ever see. The shot was dead on. Smashing through the massive hangar doors, the 'bullets' tore through the complex. The reactor was hit, starting a chain reaction. No Cylon got out before the reactor went critical. With a massive detonation, the entire top of the mountain blew up as the sentinel post was consumed in the explosion.
Silver Spar
In his viper, Syke closed his eyes tightly at the flash. All of the surviving fighters were safely out of range of the spectacular fireball. This attack had succeeded.
"Core Command to Silver Spar and Black Knights", Syke heard over his wireless, "Come on home".
With that, the squadron commanders got their respective vipers in order and started to head back to the Pegasus while two of the raptors headed out to retrieve the bodies of the four dead pilots...and to replace them with others.
Battlestar Pegasus – Combat Information Center
"I hope that it works", Tolen said to Cain sotto voce.
"We've got nothing to lose by trying. Thank goodness Life Station had a few cadavers to spare", Cain replied in the same quiet tone of voice.