Battlestar Galactica Fan Fiction Story
BSG 41
"Readjust Point Defense for close fire acquisition," I ordered while looking up and down between DRADIS and the information management table. Everything was happening fast. We were right in the middle of the battle.
"Point Defense recomputing," informed Lt. Dyson over the commotion in the CIC.
"Virgil has launched all Viper Squadrons," informed Petty Officer James.
"James," I said while looking up at DRADIS, "send scrambler to Captain Cramer. Inform her to standby." James repeated my order of the coded frequency.
"All defense cannons have automatically reacquired targets," reported Dyson.
"Three of the Raider Wings have entered the Kill Box. The fourth has not budged from the moon," said Slaton. He was running between the Tactical Station and C3 terminal. Slaton and I wrote an amazing program to protect our network, but like anything man made, it was susceptible to attack.
"I don't think they will move unless directly attacked," added Marks with a phone in his ear. He was talking real-time to Virgil's XO.
"Then that will have to do," I said to myself. "James, scrambler to Flash: Backyard is clear." She repeated the order. The ship jolted as a missile exploded on the hull. "Dyson!" I knew he couldn't help it. The computer was dealing with thousands of variables on so many different axis, a few were bound to get through the defense net.
We were well into the fight. The Cylons had four Basestars deployed around the Twin Moons. During the planning, we gave tremendous consideration into repeating our plan from the last battle. In the end, we considered doing something similar, but different enough to maintain surprise. The Cylons had proven they could learn fast.
We assigned the numbers one through four to the base ships (1 and 2 were behind the moons, 3 and 4 were in front). We assigned continuing numbers to the Raider Wings (Wing 5,6 and 7 were spread out around the moons while Wing 8 guarded +1.1 Station). My ship jumped in first with a Squadron of Raptors. The Craton engaged base ship 4, while Foxtrot (codename for Raptor Squad) engaged base ship 3. The move was predictable to our last engagement. Our goal was to cripple the base ships and begin to lure the Raider Wings away from the moons.
As soon as we engaged our targets, base ship 3 and 4 began shooting at us, and shooting blindly around their ships in anticipation of our next jump. When we jumped, we (Foxtrot and Craton) reappeared behind Basestars 1 and 2. Simultaneously, Virgil appeared between Basestar 3 and 4. While we engaged our targets, the Cylon Raiders did just what we thought, they considered Virgil a more important target. Craton and Foxtrot achieved surprise, but Virgil got a brutal pounding from the already advancing missiles. Virgil established a perimeter and waited for us to cripple our targets.
When we jumped again, (Virgil only has two FTL's, she was unable to jump like us) we reappeared next to Virgil and reengaged base ship 3 while Virgil engaged base ship 4 (that move banged us up pretty awful. We jumped right in front of enemy fire). Simultaneously, Virgil began to launch their Viper Wing. Also, simultaneously, Foxtrot was out of missiles and jumped to the rendezvous, while Hotel and Whiskey (Raptor Squadrons) jumped in on other sides of base ships 3 and 4. All along, up to this point, we were playing hurt because we needed to lure all the Raiders away from the moons. It worked. The Raiders entered the space between Craton and Virgil, dubbed 'Kill Box'. Our Point Defense cleaned up the Raiders, effectively assisting the Vipers, while our Main Batteries took care of the Basestar. Virgil was holding her own and annihilating her targeted base ship. Craton was holding her own while annihilating our targeted base ship.
We had been waiting all that time to send a team to the station because of the Raiders guarding it. So I had just ordered Flash and her Squadron (Echo for the Raptors and Tango for the Mark VIIIs) to the station to achieve the main mission objective: RETRIEVE SECOND MESSAGE.
On DRADIS, I could see Echo and Tango appear above the station. That mission was up to them. There was nothing I could do for Echo and Tango. I turned to the Cylons at hand. Another missile hit us and I lost my footing and had to grab a hold of the table to keep my balance. By this point, base ships 1 and 2 were moving from around the moons to attack us. "James, scrambler to Lima and Oscar, send new jump coordinates from the computer and tell them they are a go!" I yelled over the continuing commotion. People were running in and out of the room and the continual digital alert rang in my ear.
"Virgil has severely damaged base ship 4, they are a little worried though, base ship two is almost in weapons range and Virgil has had a few dozen impacts along her engine pods," informed Marks.
"Tell Virgil not to worry," I said as I looked up at DRADIS. Marks did it too when he heard the sound of new contacts appearing. Raptor Squadrons Lima and Oscar appeared around base ships 1 and 2 and began launching missiles along with the handful of tactical nukes we had left. The already crippled Basestars tried launching what they could but they were hurt. Another missile hit us, this time directly above us. The resulting shock wave busted monitors, broke glass, and sent me to the deck. I recomposed myself and got up.
"Base ship 4 has been destroyed, the other base ships are retreating," said Slaton with a smile on his face. Everyone began to cheer.
"Quiet down!" yelled Marks. "We still have people out there and Raiders to clean up." Marks turned to look back at me but all he saw was me staring at DRADIS. He looked up and saw it. "The Raiders are retreating to the station."
"Echo and Tango are going to be overrun," I said to myself. "Marks, tell Virgil to send their Viper Wing after them, Craton will watch their back." Marks relayed the order through the corded phone. "Petty Officer Weston, bring us along side of Virgil. Dyson, update our weapons program to include the protection of the Battlestar. James, order Echo to the rendezvous. Mission clock?" I yelled.
"Mission elapsed time twenty six minutes," yelled Slaton. "Eighteen minutes until FTB Station jumps."
"Shall I send a scrambler to Commander Daugherty?" asked Marks.
"Not yet," I said holding my chest. My fall aggravated my injury. I looked back up at DRADIS and saw the Vipers following the Raiders towards the moons. Thankfully the remaining Basestars had jumped out. Now it was only a matter of time before they sent in reinforcements. "Marks, message to Virgil, follow us to the moons. Helm park us on top of the station, but keep Virgil in range. James, order Lima and Oscar to jump out to the rendezvous, and get me Tango Commander Actual."
Everyone moved quickly. I glanced over at Damage Control and saw flashing red sections in various spots along the entire hull. Slaton was still monitoring the C3, the Cylons were hacking it, but the firewall program we wrote was doing a good job of keeping them out. From the look of DRADIS I guessed we would be in weapons range of the station in nine minutes. The Viper Wing was about to fly into the remaining Raider Wings head on, they needed our help.
When Echo jumped in above the station, they were a smoke screen for Tango. No way could four Vipers engage a Raider Wing (the other two mark eights FTL's were burned out), so we used that. In mission planning, we hoped the Raider Wing above the moon would have entered the Kill Box, but most of us doubted that they would budge. So a squadron of armed Raptors jumped in above the station and engaged them. Echo was there to give Tango enough time to land and get in the station. The problem with this was only four people could be on Tango. So we used some radical out-of-the-box thinking (something I learned from an old friend in pilot training). We outfitted eight Marines with flight suits and strapped them to the under wings of the Vipers! (two per Viper) I had an awful thought when we were doing it that the spatial distortions from being outside the ship during the jump would kill them. So Slaton and I went over all the information we could on the mark eights flight dynamics. We managed to attach the Marines inside two hollow nuclear missile shells. That shallow spot was enough to keep them alive. This plan would get the Marines there, but not back.
I saw James nod in my direction. I picked up the phone. "Tango, Craton Actual."
"Go ahead Actual!" I heard Cramer yell over gun fire.
"Do you have the package?" I asked clearly.
"Package acquired. Request pickup!" Her voice was scared. She must have been in a firefight with Centurions.
I looked over and spoke to Marks. He was listening to our conversation with another phone. "Wait until Point Defense sets up a perimeter to launch SAR Raptor." He nodded. "Flash, ETA to pickup three minutes!" I set the phone down.
"DRADIS CONTACT!" yelled Slaton. "Two Cylon Basestars and two Raider Wings, strike my last!" Every head in the CIC looked at Slaton then up at DRADIS. We saw it as he yelled it, "Six Basestars with ten Raider Wings, bearing 345 carom 290!"
"No. . ." I said quietly to myself. Marks was looking at me and talking to Virgil. I was deep in thought. I had a plan, but it included the death of Tango. I refused to let anyone else die over my decisions.
"Cylons will be in weapons range of the station in four minutes," said Slaton.
"James, scrambler to Daugherty. We need help!" I told him. We began engaging Raider Wing 8 (the one above the station fighting the Vipers) and waited for the other Raiders to get there. "Marks, Virgil Vipers are to retreat to protect her. Helm, lower us to a thousand feet above the station. Launch SAR!" I looked at Helm Control, and saw the ship descending a few thousand feet per minute. I also saw on Weapons Control the Point Defense Cannons taking out as many Raiders as they could, while Main Batteries began to track on to the approaching Basestars. I saw Damage Control and a new section light up yellow as stray bullets impacted our armor. I saw DRADIS and the Vipers pulling back from the station to protect Virgil as she hovered above us like a mother protecting her young. I saw DRADIS, as Theban arrived. She jumped in with the remaining fleet.
This was our 'just-in-case' scenario. Theban and the civilian fleet were there to give us numbers. Each civilian ship was modified to give off a Colonial Warship's signature (which wouldn't fool the Cylons for long). We also ripped out Craton's CMS and installed it in the Theban (it took quite a bit of retrofitting). The plan was for the ships to jump in, the Cylon's would see them on DRADIS and think it was a Colonial Battlestar Group. Then Theban would began jamming everyone's DRADIS and scare the Cylons.
Here was the tricky part. Craton needed DRADIS for the automated weapons to work. So Theban and the fleet needed to be in close enough to blind the Cylon base ships, while being able to provide us with a real time DRADIS data link. She had to do this before the Cylons saw what the fleet was really composed of, or the jig was up.
"Dyson, Gun Captains are to standby!" I ordered. I looked at the mission clock. We had eleven minutes until FTB Station jumped. On DRADIS, I saw the SAR Raptor land at the station. Then the screen scrambled. "Dyson, now!" I yelled. I had to wait for the data link to begin streaming from Theban. We were blind. We waited. Over the digital alert we heard the slight stutter of the cannons and felt many more impacts hit the hull. The Gun Captains were not as proficient as the automated computer. The ship jolted and rocked front to back, left to right. Sparks flew in the CIC as missiles hit us. The Cylons were firing blind, and they were doing a good job. "Virgil?" I asked Marks.
"They are holding their own," he said with a firm voice. I took it as Virgil was better off working without computers because they were older. A few more seconds lapsed before the data link came in. DRADIS now had a 1.6 second delay as it was scanned, encoded, transmitted, and decrypted for us. The delay was programed into the computer and automated systems resumed control of the guns. While the delay was in the variables, it inevitably made our guns a fraction of a second slower, which was noticeable. The guns were losing a fifth of the targets.
When I looked up at DRADIS I saw the SAR Raptor had taken off from the surface along with the four Vipers. I also noticed that the Basestars halted their approach, but their Raiders were still advancing. "Marks, recall the Vipers. James, tell Tango to land on Virgil and get me Tango Commander Actual. Also, inform SAR Raptor to jump to the rendezvous." James nodded. "Tango, Craton Actual."
"Go ahead Actual." Cramer was breathing hard. She was trying hard to pilot the Viper through the mess.
"Do you have the package?" I asked. I also saw something catch Mark's eye. I looked at the DRADIS data link. Half the Raider Wings broken off and headed for the Theban and the civilian fleet. The jig was up.
"The package is in my possession Commander, and the Flower was planted," said Lindsey.
I looked at the clock: 7 MIN 32.82 SEC. "Flash, land on Craton. Actual out." I hung up the phone and looked over at the C3 terminal. The Cylons had hacked two of the ten firewalls. We were doing fine. The ship rocked again and an explosion in the aft section rippled through the ship. It was enough to cause concern.
"Raider Wings will be on Theban in sixty seconds!" yelled Slaton.
"Civilian fleet is to jump out. Marks, tell Megan she has to stay and cover their retreat," I ordered.
Marks nodded, "Aye sir. Virgil has all Vipers on board."
"Tell them to jump out," I responded. We all looked up as we heard the blips disappearing from the screen. After a few seconds, alls that remained was Craton and Theban. Lindsey had landed in the empty landing bay. "Helm, move us towards Theban." I looked at my watch. We didn't have enough time to jump to the rendezvous and then to FTB station. We had to decode it here and jump directly to the station then send back a team to the rendezvous. On the DRADIS data link, Theban was running from the Raiders, and we were trying to catch up to them, destroying Raiders all the way. If Theban left and we had no jamming, the Basestars would descend on us like wolves. We needed time for Lindsey to get up here and decode the message. I picked up the corded phone and was about to speak over the ships speakers.
"Radiological Alarm!" yelled James. We all turned toward him then up at the data link. The Alarms were coming from the direction of the Basestars. The base ships stayed outside of weapons range, but began launching their nuclear missiles (the big ones, not the tactical ones).
"Time to impact, thirty five seconds!" yelled Slaton.
I cued the PA, "Lindsey, get your ass up here right fraking now!" I slammed the phone down. "Marks, tell the Theban. . ." I was cut off as static filled my screen. We lost the data link. I looked over to Marks. "Theban?" I asked. He shook his head no. We didn't know if they were alive or not. Alls we knew was we lost contact with them. I waited a second for our DRADIS to turn on, but it didn't. I had a panic attack as several blasts shook the ship. I looked over to Slaton, "Why isn't DRADIS working?"
He was at the C3 station typing, "The CMS is still broadcasting from the Theban! We had to tie them to independent power sources. It's possible they survived the ships destruction."
"Frak!" yelled Marks.
"Helm!" I yelled, "ninety degree full Z axis rotation. Take us straight up. Full Speed! We have to get away from that CMS." More explosions rocked the ship. Damage Control showed most of Craton flashing yellow and red. I heard small sounds and felt some jolts and realized the Gun Captains resumed local control of the weapons. I felt relieved because I forgot that order.
"Sir!" yelled Dyson. "Gun Captains have destroyed inbound nukes, and they have a visual on the Basestars, they are tracking us."
"Their flushing us out with the nukes and Raiders," said Marks.
He was right. Lindsey ran into the CIC hugging a small computer. "Got it!" she yelled. Then a blast knocked her to the ground. I ran over and helped her up. Then I grabbed the computer and Slaton yanked it out of my hands. He plugged it into the C3. Lindsey was bloody. She was sweating and out of breath. Her flight suit was covered in scorch marks. It must have been some battle down there. "I'll be okay," she smiled over the chaos.
I walked over to the C3 terminal and assisted Slaton. We had three minutes to decode the message and jump out. We were lucky because we had the other program to use as a template. The decoding went quick. We had the jump coordinates: 1123.6536.5321.
Slaton plugged it into the FTL computer and began jump prep. Now, all we had to do was get away from the CMS so we could get a DRADIS fix on our position. We waited. We felt the gravity plating do its best to compensate for the relative speed we were at. Thud after thud and explosion hit and rocked the ship. The guns were letting too many through. Thats when weapons got a low light. "Point Defense Battieries running low. At this rate we will be out of ammunition in five minutes!" yelled Dyson.
"Helm, more speed!" I yelled.
"That's all they have," spoke Marks. I was angry. We lost the Theban.
I was about to yell at someone else when DRADIS flickered back to life. I was relieved. But that was short lived. Two more Basestars were in front of us and hey had launched everything. "Dyson, blow on the Flower!" He nodded. Dyson sent a relay message back to the moon. While there, Lindsey left one nuclear warhead. With the six other Basestars now orbiting the station, this was the perfect time to detonate. We watched as that section of the screen fill with static.
"Jump ready!" yelled Marks from Tactical.
"Do it!" I yelled just as the convoy of missiles were about to hit us.
We entered oblivion.
We reappeared. The mission clock had sixty seconds remaining. DRADIS swept the region. That's when we received a DRADIS Weapons Lock on our ship. Red blips flooded our screen. I was ready to die.
"Sir," said James, "I am picking up Colonial transmissions."
I looked back up at DRADIS and saw the red blips flicker blue as the IFF's were read: BATTLE CRUISER OCEANUS, BATTLE CRUISER CRONUS, DESTOYER METANIRA, FTB STATION, SURFACE DEFENSE SENTRY 1,2,3,4.