AN: Part 1 was betaed by ProdigiousThunder on the space battles forums! Thank you very much!
Disclaimer: I don't own Battlestar Galactica 2003 or Caprica. They belong to their respective creators and/or Copyright owners. This story is written with no commercial aim. I make no money from it. It is not for sale of rent.
The Cylon Wars
Chapter 3: Ragnarok rising
=CW=
CIC
Battlestar Perseus
High orbit over Virgon
"The last of our escorts jumped away clean." Colonel Tanya Simons reported. The raven haired woman gave her CO a grim nod and returned her attention to the Dradis repeater.
"Thank you gods for small mercies." Commander Zachary Howell let out a sigh of relief. He rubbed his bald temples and turned to the nearest comm operator. "Status of the Royal units?"
"We have two cruiser squadrons moving into escort positions. The rest are forming defensive lines above the major cities. We have thirty cruisers and twenty two frigates on station. Planetary defense squadrons are scrambling. The QRF force is in the air and will be on station in three. Twenty minutes for the next batch. The rest will be up after their pilots report for duty."
"Weapons, I want all tubes hot. Load one through six with nukes, the rest – conventional ship killers."
"Wilco, sir."
Howell's green eyes shifted to his XO as she spoke.
"If this was any other colony, we would be fraked." Tanya muttered. "CAG, I'm seeing one less Raptor squadron on Dradis." She spoke aloud.
"We're fitting them with missile racks. They will be deploying in two."
"Make sure of it and next time give us a warning shout!"
"Wilco, sir!"
"Dradis contacts! One light seconds and approaching! Bearing..."
"Big frakers..." The Commander whispered.
"Alpha and Delta Cruiser squadrons are in position."
"Good. Designate closest enemy contact target Alpha. Weapons remove it from my sky. Coordinate missile strikes on contact designated Beta – that ship on their far left flank with our escorts. I want three nukes in the third and fourth salvo each. Fire plan Hades."
"Wilco, sir!"
"XO, any idea when our battle group will be ready?"
"Network security estimates twenty to half an hour at best."
"That's a long, long time."
"Priority One transmission! Unknown ships just jumped above Leonis. At least ten capitals."
"New Dradis contact! It's a Raptor."
"Sir, the new contacts wants to speak with whoever's in charge."
"Put it through. I'll talk with them. XO, time?"
"The closest enemy contact will be in range in two minutes. Status change, they're launching small craft." Tanya paused. "A lot of the frakers too."
"Can't be helped." Then the CO smirked. "The PDF squadrons would reach us before them." The Commander grabbed his wireless set from the plot table in the center of the compartment and pressed it to his ears.
"This is Commander Howell of the Perseus. Report!"
"Sir, this is Flight Lieutenant Marcus! Ident code sigma-one-seven-omega-gamma-three-one-one! Troy is under attack! At least one unknown in the battlestar range and hundreds of fighters!"
"Understood. We'll sent reinforcements when available. Perseus Actual out."
=CW=
Presidential bunker complex
Caprica City
Caprica
"Can someone tell me what the frak is happening across the colonies?!" Adar lost his temper and shouted at his military and political advisory. "General?" He glared at the highest ranking officer in the bunker.
General Kelso Marik put down the wireless receiver he was listening to and looked up from the sheet of paper he was busy scratching numbers in.
"It's too early to say with any degree of certainty, but a rough picture is emerging. There are full fleets hitting Caprica and Picon as we speak. Another is divided between Tauron and Gememnon and we've got scrambled reports of strikes against military depots and bases across Helios Alpha. We have confirmed more than hundred and fifty Cylon baseships in system. Our situation is grim – there are scratch forces attempting to slow them down while the rest of the fleet can ensure network security and reinforce."
"What about the other systems?"
"At least two smaller fleets in Beta. Both Virgon and Leonis are under siege, though that's the first good news we've got so far. At latest report there're ten baseships attacking Virgon. The Royal Guard and the Battlestar Perseus are protecting that world and they have parity with the enemy. Our forces there should be able to hold on until reinforced."
"What about Gamma and Delta?"
"We received reports of heavy attacks on the Scorpia Fleet yards before losing contact with the fleet command and control node there. All comms from Scorpia are jammed but we know that at least twenty enemy ships were in the area. The Libran National guard is holding though we've lost two Battlestars in that engagement. No word from Sagittaron after they reported coming under attack."
The general looked back at his list.
"Delta is a mixed bag. We lost orbital control over Aerilon, Aquaria is heavily contested. The good news is that our forces beat off the attack over Canceron and will reinforce the other planets in system as soon as they receive backup or the planetary defense grid is restored."
"What are our losses?"
"Light so far, but that's because most of the fleet is avoiding contact until they've restored network security. When that's done, it will get ugly. Initially we may need to feed in our units peace meal to avoid losing critical strategic locations."
"What's the situation here on Caprica?"
For the first time since the attack began, General Marik looked all his sixty five years.
"Bad. Without the fixed defenses, Admirals Demeter and Corman don't have the numbers to stop the toasters. Unless we receive reinforcements in the next few minutes the Cylons will establish orbital dominance."
"And then they will nuke us all to Hades!" Adar spat.
"Then they nuke us." Marik nodded.
"How's the evacuation going?" The president stared at long table dominating the room.
"Not good. There's panic in the streets and most major roads leading out of the city have been blocked by accidents and abandoned vehicles. The police is doing their best to lead as many people as possible to the shelters or evacuate those in the suburbs away from the city proper."
"We're mobilizing as many military transports to help in the evacuation, but anything that can carry weapons is being armed and sent to the fight in orbit." Marik added.
"What about that defector who warned us? What else can she tell us?"
"Before she was sent undercover, the Cylons planned to attack with at least three hundred baseships. While they aren't as good as a Battlestar in a straight up slugging match, every one of them is configured as carrier and heavy missile platform. Our pilots would be heavily outnumbered in any engagement. On the bright side, they appear to lack any escorts. Once the networks are secure, that should give an edge to our Battlestar groups."
"If we can hold long enough."
Marik simply nodded.
"What's our best play here?" Adar asked.
The general was silent for a few seconds.
"Concentrate our available forces on critical objectives – fleet yards, our biggest depots and the critical wartime industry. If we try protecting every single colony and facility we have we might lose everything. The next few hours will be critical and decide if the toasters knock us out of the war or not."
The other advisers exploded with shouts of outrage – screaming at the general and each other.
"SILENCE!" Adar roared after nearly a minute of pandemonium. Then he slumped back in his chair. "General make it so." The President spoke in a quiet, hollow voice.
One simple sentence. It was more than enough to condemn millions perhaps billions of his own people – all in a desperate bid to save the rest.
=CW=
Part 2
Battlestar Athena
BSG 12 Flagship
Dark space
Commander Jeffery Solas, the acting CO of BSG 12 was quietly fuming with fury. His friend and mentor Quin was dead with everyone on board of the Persephone and Hoplit.The damn toasters got them, the motherless bastards.
The Commander took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm himself. At least the rest of the BSG was intact even if they couldn't put more than a handful of small craft in space. The kriffing CNP was almost purged and that left Sloan with a decision to make.
"XO, are the calculations ready?" Jeffery asked.
Colonel Omega Morison looked up from her position – hovering above the Navigator like a vengeful goddess urging him to work faster.
"We have a jump point above Caprica – close enough to help cover the capital." If its still there left unsaid. "Additional jump coordinates will be ready shortly – to Picon yards in two and we already have partial calks for bringing us back here."
"Good enough." Solas nodded in approval. He idly scratched his short beard which just skirted over what the regulations permitted and turned his attention to another section.
"Network security, status." The Commander ordered.
"CNP is gone, backups are at ninety percent. Give us a few more minutes and we're good to go." The Major handling cyber security reported.
"Good. Inform me the moment our network is up. Tactical?"
"Sparta and Thessia will be up in five." The Captain overseeing the Tactical section reported. Those were Solas other heavy hitters – Valkyrie Battlestars. "The Sea Serpent and Hound will be operational in two and four respectively."
"That's great. Sent my compliment to their commanders. CAG?"
"Commander, it's a mess. We can give you a Viper squadron, perhaps two across the BSG in five. Three Raptors too and that's it. We simply lack the resources to jury rig the test of the Sevens and as you know, we have only the newest model – they're a bitch to run without the CNP."
"It will have to do."
=CW=
Battlestar "Atlantia"
BSG 1 Flagship
Scorpia Fleet yards
One hour. It wasn't quite enough to both remove the CNP and restore the older software from its backups. Yet, the Atlantia was the newest Mercury Battlestar in the fleet. The most powerful and more importantly, it had the most advanced and fastest computers in the fleet.
That meant when the Cylons appeared, the Battlestar was fully operational even if a lot of its systems were under local or even manual control while the networks were restored.
The Atlantia's escorts were much smaller ships, which while having older, slower computers, had less to do to become fully operational once again. They barely made it.
"Dradis contacts! Thirty unknown jumped just beyond extreme weapon range!" The sensor operator shouted. It took him a moment to calm down and continue reporting in a professional tone as his training kicked in. "Status change – they're launching fighters and closing the range!"
"This is it people! Fire plan Gama. Keep the Vipers covering the yards on station. We're going with Delta one." Admiral Nagala's voice was calm, reassuring her crew that everything was all right.
Some even believed it.
BSG 1 was the most powerful conventional Battlestar group within the Colonial navy. It had the newest, most advanced ships if you didn't count Demeter's experimental command. While they operated well bellow the usual norm, the CNP was removed from their systems.
However, the Admiral had two big problems – just a third of her fighters were ready and that was thanks to the yard dogs who helped tear out the CNP and jury rig an avionics package that would make the things marginally flyable.
Second, Nagala had only fifteen ships – four Battlestars, all Valkyries besides her own mercury and the rest were Berzerk escorts. With full fighter cover and networked defenses, that might have been enough to take on the unknown and the virtual armada of small craft that preceded them.
If she could trust that the yard fixed defenses would be up and running, Nagala would be confiding on taking this enemy and at the very least fighting them to stand still. With a bit of luck and no screw ups, she might even win.
Nagala felt anything but lucky that day.
"Admiral, we're being jammed. We lost contact with anything beyond the AO." The Comm officer announced.
"Do we have stable comms within the AO?" The Admiral inquired.
"There's some static but we have comms." The LT nodded.
"Status on the planetary defenses?" Nagala asked.
"QRF is in the air, taking positions to cover the ODN." Tactical responded. "Further guard units will be joining us in the next ten to fifteen minutes."
"Status of reinforcements?"
"BSG 5 should be jumping in within the next twenty minutes. No ETA for further reinforcements."
"Enemy in range. Opening fire." The Weapons officer announced a moment before the Mercury shuddered as her primary batteries hurled kinetic and explosive death at the approaching enemy.
The range was extreme and most guns were on manual control. Yet, there were too many raiders incoming, flying too close to each other for many shots to miss – especially when the first salvos were fragmentation rounds that shattered when their fuses detonated after traveling through a per-programmed distance.
Cylon fighters died as they met pieces of steel flying at obscene velocities. The rest simply redressed their ranks and spread out, making the next salvos less effective. It wasn't like the incoming fire was accurate or dense enough to make a difference.
Behind the riders, their mother-ships started launching their ship-killers, adding nukes, EW birds and more mundane decoys in the mix in a bid to test and preferably brute force through the Colonial defenses.
"Admiral, the Cylons are emitting some kind of signal. It's coming from the fighters." The Comm operator announced after consulting with the Dradis section next to him.
"Any effect?" Nagala asked, doing a great job of keeping her concern to herself.
A few seconds of terse silence passed while her people searched for an answer.
"Negative. The fleet not affected."
Nagala was about to smile, when the Comm operator shouted: "Belay that. We just lost contact with the Fleet base. Fixed defenses are going off-line."
"Enemy small craft is jumping next to the yards, CAP is engaging!" The Dradis operator added.
So it was true then, the networks were compromised.
Nagala frowned. She was informed that the CNP had been purged from the Scorpia fleet node just a few minutes ago. Apparently that hadn't been the case.
"Radiological alarm! Detecting nukes in the incoming enemy raiders and behind us at the yards." The Dradis operator lost his composure for a moment and shouted.
"Continue following the plan. The yard will have to take care of itself." Hopefully some of it would even survive.
"New Dradis contacts! Mark..."
Nagala stared at the plot where eight amber points appeared on the Cylon flank. Enemy reinforcements?
"We've got IFF!" Dradis added excitedly. "It's BSG 21!"
Nagala smiled viciously as the newcomers symbols shifted in color, becoming friendly green. Now she had the numbers to give the Cylons hell.
"The fleet will advance at flank speed. Bring us straight down their throats. Navigation – I was jump plotted above the yards. We'll smash through the enemy lines blowing up as many of the toasters as we can and reposition. Tactical, coordinate firing patterns and Comms raise BSG 21 actual."