Launch Bay 14 Saratoga 19 June 2071 15:30hrs
As the canopy closed Major Shane Vansen ran thru the preflight checklist of her SA-43 endo-exo-atmaspheric "Hammerhead" attack jet.
"Lidar…check, stellar wave point finder…check, oxygen, pressure, temperature control…check, communication…check, weapons…Oh yeah ummm check."
At her little slipup the rest of the Silver Knight squadron laughed to themselves.
They all knew the story of how "the lady" as they referred to her had been taken POW by the Chigs and if even half the stories they had heard were true none of them wanted to think of the hell she must have been thru…or her desire for payback.
"Silver Knights check in." Vansen ordered.
"Knight 2, ready and waiting." Capt. Juan Avilla Responded.
"Knight 3 lets do this thing." 1Lt. David Riker piped in.
'Knight 4 locked and loaded." Came the eager reply of 2Lt Katrina Polaski.
Knight 5 lets Rock and Roll!" 2Lt. Nina Gutierrez Responded.
Knight 6 lets kill us some Chigs!" 2Lt. Joseph Valentine cried out.
Vansen smiled despite herself at the eagerness of her squadron they were ready. Ready to school the Chigs in the lesson they obviously didn't learn in their last round with humanity "DON'T FUCK WITH EARTH!"
"All personnel clear the flight deck!" the voice over the intercom stated. Which the techs immediately did as the bulkheads separating the flight deck from the rest of the ship lowered then locked into place with a resounding thud.
"Engaging Hammerhead sequence." the voice over the intercom stated.
With that said the clamps holding the cockpit module released lowering the module to the main body of the SA-43 Hammerhead.
As Vansen waited on the EM catapult the airlock doors opened, she made one last check of her instruments before the voice of the flight operations officer over the radio caught her attention.
"Silver Knights, Saratoga you are cleared for launched initiating launch sequence in 5...4…3…2…1.LAUNCH!"
The Hammerhead was shot out of the launch bay at over Mach 3, once free of the Saratoga Vansen immediately hit her afterburners directing her fighter to the first set of coordinates on her patrol.
"Knights form up on my wing." she ordered
"2, 3, 4, 5, 6" came the acknowledgments as they complied with her order.
With the Silver knights formed up on her wing Vansen double checked the coordinates on her stellar wave point finder. Her mission was to probe the area around the Asteroid belt on the far left flank of Aris mining station and if possible draw out Chig forces that might be lying in wait around Aris. 1 ½ hrs into her mission she picked up a transmission from the AWACS bird "Sky Eye".
"Knight Lead this Sky Eye over." Stated the voice of the Lidar operator on the AWACS bird.
"Sky Eye, Knight Lead." Came Vansens terse reply.
"Roger Knight Lead picking up some strange energy emissions 180,000 MSK's 40 degrees off your nose port side at course 130 mark 241 just short of the asteroid belt, no solid return signatures but from the energy emissions I can definitely state it isn't natural over."
"Roger Sky Eye turning to investigate. Alright boys and girls listen up I'm sure you heard Sky Eye, strange energy emissions 180,000 MSK's out but no solid contacts yet. This is what I want knight 2, 6 and 5 drop back 15MSK's the rest of you arrow formation if this is a Chig outfit we'll hit them hard then fade back. Knights 2, 6 and 5 that's were you come in you will provide cover for us as we fade back, well set em up you knock em down." Vansen ordered firmly.
After acknowledging her orders the Silver Knights turned as one toward the energy emissions with their weapons hot looking for a fight. Unknown to them they would get more than they bargained for.
Cylon Recon Patrol 30 minutes later.
Raider 1431 and his 9 companions were conducting a standard recon patrol of the closest sector adjacent to planet 09P-337 when it picked up 6 unidentified contacts closing fast. As protocol dictated raider 1431 sent a contact report to its Basestar before turning to investigate. As Raider 1431 closed the distance to the unidentified contact it began to pick up more solid information on its Dradis scanners. The six contacts were definitely fighters of some kind however the silhouette was unknown to the Cylons which made them cautious as they approached. As the distance continued to close Raider 1431 began picking up life signs and all caution was replace with deadly purpose, the life signs were human. Raider 1431 ordered his squadron into attack formation and increased speed to intercept the incoming human fighters, Strange it thought the humans had surely detected his flight of Raiders yet they had not turn to run, in fact if anything they had increased speed. This troubled Raider 1431 as it pondered what this turn of events meant suddenly it picked up a transmission from the lead human fighter.
"Unidentified vessels this is Major Shane Vansen United States Marine Corps you have violated Earth Sovereign space identify yourselves and state your intentions." Raider 1431 ignored this transmission as it brought its weapon systems online while attempting to acquire a target lock on the lead fighter. "Unidentified vessels you are preceding on an attack vector to our ships cease and desist immediately or we will be forced to respond with deadly force!" the voice said again. The humans could make all the threats they wanted in the end it would not change the inevitable outcome of this battle, the inevitable Cylon victory. Raider 1431 and 5 of its counter parts acquired missile lock on the human fighters and opened fire.
51st Squadron "Silver Knights" several minutes earlier.
"Knight Lead, Sky Eye over." The voice of the Lidar operator said over the com.
"Go ahead Sky Eye." Vansen Responded.
"Roger those strange emissions have solidified. Tally ten contacts most likely fighters, you're heading straight for them." The Lidar operator responded.
"Can you identify them?" Vansen Asked.
"Negative Knight Lead. Energy emissions and silhouette profile does not match anything within our database, stand by…Contacts have adjusted their heading bearing down right on you in what appear to be an attack formation." Came the Response from Sky Eye.
Vansen acknowledged Sky Eye then switched to an unguarded broadcast frequency.
"Unidentified vessels this is Major Shane Vansen United States Marine Corp you have violated Earth Sovereign space identify yourselves and state your intentions." She said her voice full of Authority. After several seconds with no reply she switched back to Sky Eye's operating frequency.
"Sky Eye you have anything over?" she asked
"Their energy emissions have shot up exponentially it appears to be some form of Radar but I can't be sure. They've also increased speed recommend you secure from passive scanning and go active on your Lidar over." Sky Eye responded.
Shane took a moment to compile her thoughts; unidentified fighters of unknown origin were scanning her squadron intently. They were on an intercept course in an attack formation; she didn't like this one bit. However, this didn't necessarily constitute hostile intent, for all they knew it could be a new race that was curious about them coming to investigate which meant protocol Dictated "do not fire unless fired upon". Vansen thought quickly; she would try to communicate with the unknown fighters one more time to determine their intent. Protocol be dammed she thought she would not place her people in jeopardy because some pencil pushing beaurocrat whohad probably never seen combatthoughtany defensive measures taken by the Militaryto safeguard lives could be interpreted as an act of aggression.
"All right people heat um up and go active." She ordered.
After her squadron acknowledged her orders she switched back to the broadcast frequency.
"Unidentified vessels you are preceding on an attack vector cease and desist immediately or we will be forced to respond with deadly force!" She hoped this little warning would be enough for the unknown fighters to back off but somehow she doubted it, something was very wrong hear.
"Knight Lead, Knight 2. I'm being painted!" Came the alarmed voice of Capt Avilla.
"Knight Lead, Knight 3. Confirmed I'm being painted as well!" Lt Riker added.
Before Vansen could respond warning alarms began blaring inside the cockpit "I'm being painted contacts have radar lock!" then another alarm began to blare in the cockpit "OH SHIT! Missiles inbound, Knights Break break break!" Vansen ordered.
The Silver Knights broke formation to evade the incoming missiles Vansen punched her afterburners while performing a series of complex evasive maneuvers, but the missile stayed hot on her tail.
"Jam the warheads with your EW jamming pods!" Vansen ordered bringing her jamming pods to full power; however the missile continued to close.
"It's no use! Jamming is having no effect, I can't shake it! AHHHHHHHH!" Came the panicked scream of Knight 4 Lt. Katrina Polaskie as her Hammerhead exploded.
"Knights launch decoys!" Vansen ordered.
The 5 reaming members of the Silver knights released a series of decoys in their wake. The decoys began transmitting false signals to the Guidance systems of the Cylon missiles this coupled with the heavy jamming fooled 4 of the missiles into breaking lock impacting with the decoys. However Knight Lead was not as lucky asher missile continued to close. Vansen was now down to the last defensive option she had, she brought the rear chain rail gun to life activating its auto targeting system and fired. Heavy tungsten rounds flew from the rear firing gun toward the missile at speeds of mach 12. Vansen continued her evasive maneuvers pushing seven G's as the auto targeting system tried to track and destroy its incoming target. Then 6 tungsten rounds found their mark in the missiles fuselage detonating the warhead. This created a shockwave which caught Vansen's Hammerhead full blast smacking her head against the canopy cracking her flight helmetknocking her senseless.
As the shockwave passed over her fighter it shorted electronics causing a feedback of power to her hyper-scramjet engines which caused the master caution alarm to go haywire. On the verge of losing consciousness she gripped the two emergency ejection levers "Knight one ejecting." She mumbled as she ejected.
The canopy section separated from the main body of the Hammerhead with tremendous force. The explosive bolts followed by the emergency thrusters pushed the canopy section to a safe distance from the doomed body of the Hammerhead which promptly exploded.
Losing consciousness with no power Major Shane Vansen tumbled away into the night.
Knight 2 Capt Juan Avilla XO 51st Silver Knight squadron same time.
"Knight 4 and Knight Lead are gone!" Came the anguished/enraged voice of Capt. Juan Avilla. "Knights you are weapons free! Erase those Sons of Bitches from my sky!" he ordered.
"Bandits closing tally nose 180 MSK's Knight 3 committing!" 1Lt Riker Responded. As he turned his Hammerhead into the Cylon formation He switched to his forward gimbal mounted Chain railgun. This brought up a targeting reticule 1Lt Riker immediately placed on the closest Cylon Raider. In space the Railgun fixated to a point just in front of the lead raider before unleashing a torrent of railgun rounds.
The targeted Cylon raider attempted to evade but the Hammerhead stayed with him. Eventually several rounds connected with the head of the Cylon raider which Knight 3 walked the rest of the way down the body splitting the raider in half.
"HUUUAAAAA that's a kill!" Lt Riker shouted.
His blood lust no where near satisfied.
"This is Knight 5 target acquired tone and locked, FOX 2!" Came the focused report from Lt. Nina Gutierrez.
A Spartan space to space missile detached from the port wing and shot toward its target, the Cylon Raider detected the launch and initiated evasive maneuvers but to no avail as the missile tracked it.
The Cylon Raider then tried to jam the warhead but it proved far more formidable than the raider expected, realizing that tactic wouldn't work the Raider then attempted to interface with the Guidance system computer but a very formidable firewall protected the Guidance system from tampering. Realizing it was out of options the Raider fired its RCS thrusters spinning on it's axis to shoot down the missile. This however was a mistake as the raiders velocity reduced just enough for the missile to close the needed distance rendering the Cylon raider into nothing more than a ball of vaporized plasma. The fate of the Cylon raider was followed by 3 of its companions as they fell to return fire from the Silver Knights.
"This is Knight 6 Mayday! Mayday! My port engines been hit I'm defensive need some help over!" Lt Joseph Valentine shouted over the Comm.
"On my way Knight 6 hold on!" Capt Avilla responded.
Checking his Lidar to determining where Knight 6 was Capt Avilla maneuvered himself to a point behind the 2 raiders. The Raiders appeared to be having difficulty avoiding the return fire from Knight 6's rear mounted tail gun while he executed evasive maneuvers. With the Cylon's attention occupied they never realized Knight 2 was on their tail until it was too late.
"Knight 2, target acquired tone and locked, FOX 2!" Capt. Avilla stated.
Another Spartan space to space missile leapt off the rail and flew right into the second raider vaporizing it. The lead raider realizing his wingman was gone broke off attempting to escape.
"Oh where do you think your going?" Capt. Avilla said tauntingly over the net. He switched from missles to guns bringing the target reticules on the raider and fired. The gimbal mounted railgun tracked the raider as it spat out an enormous amount of fire several of the rounds connected with the fuselage igniting the Tylium vaporizing the raider.
Raider 1431 regrouped what was left of it's squadron as it analyzed the tactics the humans were using. If 1431 had any emotions the 2 prominent ones it would have felt would have been shock and fear. Shock; that the humans had managed to out fight a superior Cylon force, a force that logically should have easily crushed them without difficulty.
Fear; these humans flew like madmen, performing maneuvers that no colonial would have dared. Even worse these humans seemed to relish battle shouting curses and insults over the radio as they fought something the colonials never did. Raider 1431 surmised that a tactical withdraw was necessary and ordered its 2 remaining wingmen to make a run for the nearby asteroid belt.
Raider 1431 generated a probable scenario that the humans would not follow the Raiders into the asteroid belt for fear of a probable ambush…or so it hoped.
"They're bugging out?" Came the surprised voice of Knight 6, Lt. Valentine.
"Knight 2, Knight 3. The little chicken shits are making a run for it request permission to intercept and engage!" The angry voice of Lt Riker resonated over the net.
"Negative we'd never reach them before the hit they belt. Knight 3 and Knight 5 assume escort position around knight 6. Let's bring our wounded bird home." Capt Avilla ordered.
The surviving Silver Knights acknowledged his orders formed up in an escort pattern as they guided their damaged comrade back to the barn.
"Sky Eye, Night 2. Are you still tracking enemy bandits?" Capt Avilla asked.
"Negative Knight 2 we lost them the moment they entered the Belt. Knight 2 be advised a SAR mission has been launched from Saratoga ETA 30mikes. Also Raptor squadron will meet you half way and escort you the rest of the way back. Don't worry Knight 2 if any of your people survived we'll find them." Sky Eye informed.
"Roger that. Knight 2 out." Capt Avilla replied cutting the transmission.
The Silver Knights had just gone thru their baptism by fire and survived. Capt Avilla was extremely proud of the way they handle themselves yet he was deeply saddened by the loss of 2 of his comrades. In a tight nit unit like this when you lost someone you lost part of your family.
Capt Avilla pushed his grief aside he would morn later for his fallen comrades, right now he had to make sure he didn't loose any more.
The Silver Knights had performed well in this fight they had spilt the blood of their enemies though having lost some of their own.