Battlestar Galactica: Wolfpack
Chapter 5: Operation Warhammer Part 2 - Liberty
Previously
Theresa Manning/Three – Battlestar Arion
Sliding down against the wall here, she reached to her shoulder and pressed her fingers to the wound, grimacing in pain as she did so, before deciding to end it. Flipping the safety cover on the detonator, Theresa flipped the switch.
All at once two dozen bricks of C8 – each one strategically placed for maximum effect – detonated. The pressure from the explosions tore through walls, hatches and ceilings and most notably their main target, the immense water tank wall.
Taskforce Liberty
Captain Chen
Truthfully Chen was feeling uneasy, things should be a lot harder, something was wrong, he just couldn't quite place it.
And then he saw something. Something miniscule, it could have been anything. But it was growing, expanding.
"GAS!"
Mobile Shipyard Orca
Commander Sallis
"DRADIS CONTACTS…" turning to look at the DRADIS operator, Sallis saw him pale "MULTIPLE CYLON BASESTARS ON INTERCEPT. 323 KAROM 280 range 56km and closing. They're launching Raiders."
Taskforce Phobos
Battlestar Pegasus and Battlestar Praetoria
Fleet Admiral Cain
"DRADIS CONTACTS!" she didn't even need to hear the rest, she already knew the Cylons had closed the trap. And sure enough, dead ahead lay 10 Basestars already flooding space with missiles and Raiders creating a vast minefield Taskforce Phobos was sure to come in contact with.
And Now…
08:15:28
Mobile Shipyard Orca
Commander Sallis
"DRADIS CONTACTS…" turning to the DRADIS operator, Sallis saw him pale "MULTIPLE CYLON BASESTARS ON INTERCEPT. 323 KAROM 280 Range 56km and closing. They're launching Raiders."
We're not ready yet. Oh Gods, what do I do? Jupiter, help me. An eternity passed in a second as Commander Sallis came to terms with what fate had given them in the form of 3 Cylon Basestars. What would Cain do? Frak…she abandoned the protection of us for the mission...the mission.
"Set condition one. FTL, I need jump coordinates doublechecked and that board manned at all times. Helm turn us so our starboard side is to the enemy. Combat, prepare for immediate attack, you'll have few guns available so focus on one ship at a time…"
Questioning the actions of Sallis, her XO, Colonel Diane Gresham asked "Are you sure about this, we aren't in any condition to take on 3 Basestars and you are turning our weakest side to the enemy? You know what our standing orders are."
"I know, but we have to buy enough time for Chen to clear the landing ground and launch the rest of the transports" the rest being the three largest transport ships and 12 far smaller Colonial Fleet atmospheric transports. "I'd rather they totally destroyed that dock than take out our only functioning drydock. The internal armour will hold up."
"Range 50km, Raiders are passing 45km" the DRADIS operator called out.
"Launch Vipers and set flak to 35km and fire."
Hanging her head at the knowledge they most likely would fall here, Diane knew that Commander Louise Sallis was right. They could send the transports now but they were expecting to take on a lot of refugees by all accounts and so had limited the fuel each carried since they would be operating on a planet which would present problems with gravity and atmospheric turbulence. The less fuel they had, the less weight they carried. Without a clear landing ground they would have to stay in the air for Gods knew how long, and jumping to a new location now would only mean spending too much time calculating a new jump point to the planet for the transports.
Here though, they had 20 Vipers, 8 Assault Raptors which had just finished UNREP. However more than two thirds of the guns down on the portside and 90% down on the starboard along with an armoured hull which had a gaping hole into the starboard dock and was merely being held together with what amounted to industrial strength superglue and duct tape. The internal central wall of the starboard dock however was mostly reinforced plating which, while not as thick as a Battlestar's armour belt was still designed to withstand a docked Battlestar's reactor going critical, the excess pressure being directed towards and out of the doors. However the internal armour was not in optimal condition, or even close to it.
"Dock's open, umbilicals are cut and ready transports are departing, sir" Port dock control informed the Commander.
"Vipers are away and movin…"
"DRADIS! Oh shi…it's the next convoy at 318 KAROM 280 range 25km. They're 14 clicks from the Basestars and 13 from the Raiders" DRADIS called out.
08:15:45
Nearby to Orca
Fleet Air Marshal Lucy "Sassy" Hudson
Appearing in a burst of bright white light which disappeared as soon as it appeared, thus allowing the intimidatingly black Stealth Viper to slip into the depths of space, Lucy looked on at the beautiful and at the same time horrifying shapes of the three Cylon Basestars closing on the Orca. She hadn't been seen yet but she knew that was soon to change. Her craft had such passive stealth measures built into it that it was like an unseen shadow in a black box, but some of the craft about to join her here weren't so built.
With the brief seconds left to her, Sassy got a feel for the situation noting that while the Cylon Raiders weren't as grouped as she would have liked, they weren't as scattered as to allow close to total protection. She also noted the Orca was starting to launch Vipers in addition to opening the starboard dock and launching the transports there. This action confirmed to Sassy that Commander Sallis intended to continue the mission and protect the transports as long as was needed, it also confirmed just what Sassy would have to do.
Double checking her armaments, she saw she had one 25 kiloton nuclear missile in her small bay along with 7% of her 30mm autocannon rounds. She knew the autocannon rounds wouldn't last very long, if she was lucky she would be able to handle a brief several second scuffle, maybe two and that was pushing it before they gave out. Right now she was running on Tylium reserves and if that wasn't bad enough she had maybe enough for seven minutes of flight at the outside, and those Stealth Vipers following her would be in just the same boat. It was enough, it had to be and in that moment she was committed just as the rest of the convoy arrived.
Risking detection but feeling safe that the Cylons would suspect that it was one of the Raptors and wouldn't have the time to unscramble communications, Hudson announced over the Wireless "Orca/Sassy. We need Vipers and an UNREP ready on the deck ASAP, we are coming in. All LZs are open, I repeat, all LZs are open. Have all Vipers in defensive formation Dagger 2 and leashed to within 10k. Do not, I repeat DO NOT send them to attack the Raiders until you get the clear." At the same time Sassy was typing out a message to the five stealth vipers ordering "Raptors and Gerbil UNREP now. S Vipers stay dark hit Raiders for max effect hot can then jump 2 Orca 4 UNREP. Go." 'Hot can' meaning to detonate whatever nukes they had among the raider ranks.
In immediate response the Raptors and Viper Gunship burst forth from the pack and headed straight for the Orca's portside flightpod at maximum speed, their course taking them above the ruined starboard side. Coming in from the side, the Raiders attempted to close the distance to them but would be unable to do so before they got to the Orca. The Stealth Vipers then turned towards their objectives and keeping their engines pointed away from the enemy, accelerated forward at full thrust on varying trajectories.
Copying them, Sassy turned towards the closest Basestar and rapidly closed on it noting how it would take her under 20 seconds to reach it as her ship passed 2,500kph and was further accelerating. The G forces under the acceleration building past 4.2g pressing her into the back of her seat. With just 10 seconds to go from engagement range of the Basestar which was starting to loom before her tiny craft, Sassy calculated a jump to bring her out near to the Orca, grateful for the fact that the shorter a jump was, the faster you could calculate, ten seconds being about as fast as it gets. Over the wireless she started to pick up the incredibly sparse chatter – no more than a couple of letters and numbers – from the other Stealth Vipers as one by one they worked together to destroy as many of the raider swarm as possible using a coding system only elite squadrons like Argos and Ghost squadrons were taught.
As fast as she was travelling, Sassy quickly worked out a targeting solution on the Basestar, armed her remaining nuke and at 2 seconds from engagement range, opened her missile bay while the jumpdrive spooled for one more jump. Her eyes were never far from one of the fuel gauges as it calculated remaining fuel in seconds of flight, factoring in the spooling of the jumpdrive and the acceleration, it pronounced 48 seconds left, it would have to do.
As raiders started to drop from perches on the Basestar, Sassy passed within the engagement range and launched the nuke, which while targeted at a docking hatch, was fired so that it would have to curve in to hit the hatch. At the same time it launched, Sassy manoeuvred her Viper to bring her in an incredibly tight flyby of the same docking hatch but at an angle which would allow her to beat the missile. Skirting the Basestars slick hull with barely metres to spare, at only 20 metres from the hatch, and with the nuke passing 800 metres and closing fast, Sassy initiated the jump. She had chosen such a spot for one reason, a jump while safe for those jumping, tore apart anything not connected to the jumping ship if it was close enough. As Sassy started to jump, her momentum carried her another 16 metres until if she reached out she could almost touch the curving hatch, then suddenly the singularity of the jump itself tore at space around it. All at once the armoured Hangar hatch was torn apart by the jump energies, some fragments disappearing into the singularity of the jump, the rest floating free.
Two seconds later the 25 kiloton nuclear missile shot through the torn apart hatch, thruster burning through the escaping gases until the missile slammed against the much thinner inner hatch before exploding in a fiercely bright white light. The explosive force was contained on five sides by the hatch and walls before expanding at such a rate that it bled through and dematerialised those opposing sides. Seen from the outside, the Basestar spat out a bright white light from the open hatch almost faster than the eye could see, and then the chaos evolved. The hull of the Basestar started to explode in white light starting from the hatch towards the coreward section of one of the bottom piers, explosion after explosion flowed along the arm following the tylium lines meant for docked raiders. All the while the explosive effects carried the other direction into the Basestar as secondary explosions built from the docked heavy raiders, munitions went up and then, the tylium tanks were hit. In just a few brief moments explosion after explosion rocked the Basestar before it finally gave in in a vast cloud of debris as the Tylium detonated. The debris, mostly the upper pylons shot out in a perverted mass was the only evidence of the Basestar. At the same time from the brawling Raider ranks came two ultra-bright explosions as two 25kt nukes were detonated by the Stealth Vipers which had already broke ranks and sped towards the station barely escaping the deadly energies.
Bursting forth from the jump and shooting forth from the captured debris of the hatch, Sassy ordered "Orca/Sassy your vipers are clear to engage" then flipped the ship so she was heading rear first towards the functioning portside Hangar of the Orca and fired her engines at full thrust. The hard deceleration kicked her forward against her seatbelt as the speed rapidly dropped from 2,642kph. Covering 600 metres faster than she could think, she entered into the Hangar as the speed dropped past 1000kph. All the while her eyes were upon the fuel gauge which had recalculated the remaining flight time at current engine thrust at 5 seconds. With the Stealth Viper almost shaking itself apart as she red lined the engines, Sassy didn't feel the judder as the ship passed within the electromagnetic trap, the trap throwing her ship around in its turbulence which she struggled to correct.
On the deck, technicians ordered here for the UNREP of the Raptors and Vipers glanced in fascination at the hard deceleration as the Stealth Viper passed into the Hangar. At almost halfway through its length and now at a borderline slow enough speed, the craft touched the deck with its now deployed skids, the contact scratching a furrow of bright hot sparks into the deck and sending the craft bouncing before Sassy tried again. Using the dorsal manoeuvring thrusters, Sassy forced the Viper back to the deck and kept them firing to keep her there while the craft scraped along the ground. Slowing to 100kph the craft started to spin at which point Sassy cut the engines. Spinning around and throwing up a curtain of sparks the Viper stopped just metres from a parked Raptor. Letting out a breath, Sassy took a last look at the fuel gauge which showed 1 second and then all power went out.
08:15:51
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Corporal Seth Hudson
"GAS!"
With those three little letters bursting from every wireless on this battleground there were two highly different responses. From the prisoners, some of whom had access to a wireless or were close to one, agonised cries of hate and anger mixed amid anguish could be heard, as close as they were to freedom it was being snatched right from them, many of them wrapping their shirts around their faces. From the marines and attacking colonial forces though, was a calmness broken down into a series of responses.
The first response was that every man and woman who had been sufficiently trained for such an attack immediately stopped breathing as best they could, few daring to even take a deep breath just in case. Despite desperately wanting to gasp after his previous exertions, Seth used all his force of will not to take one more breath.
The second response was everyone getting as much cover as was possible, often this being just laying down in order to minimise themselves. Dropping to the ground along with everyone around him, Seth noticed how barely 100 metres away a plume of white smoke was shooting straight up into the air. They had maybe seconds at best as the smoke started to spread high up as it lost its initial thrust.
The third response was that every second man puts on his or her gas mask, while the first man doesn't and instead provides immediate protection for them both. Struggling to reach the middle of his lower back where his gas mask was held, Seth pulled it free all the while Tyler is providing what little overwatch for Seth and Garza she could. His lungs burning in their attempts to extract what little oxygen they could from whatever they had left, Seth pulled off his helmet while ripping the gas mask free from the airtight green packaging. With it free, he pulled it on then pulled the cord at the bottom as tight as he dared to minimise the chance of the gas getting in. Seeing that Garza was a little slower but was now pulling his own on, Seth could concentrate on step four.
The fourth response was for the second man to prepare the first man. Crawling slightly forward and reaching towards Tyler's lower back, Seth pulled free her gas mask while Garza now moved to take overwatch in his prone position. Freeing the mask from its cover, Seth placed it next to Tyler, pulled his MGAT into a ready position and tapped her on the shoulder. With the tap Tyler started pulling on her own gas mask.
The final response came within less than ten seconds after the warning as each group of attacking colonial forces returned to their duties. Prisoners would no doubt be lost as the gas started to fully spread, but glancing up through the Perspex covering his faceplate as he pulled his helmet back on, Seth could see the Vipers were already responding to the threat.
Taskforce Liberty
Captain Chen
08:15:51
No sooner had he called out the warning of a gas attack, Chen's training had kicked in as he quickly looked around the battlefield looking for white plumes of smoke instead of the numerous black plumes. Counting no less than six from his position and working out from their positions that there were likely eight or nine since from the positions of the ones he could see they were spread out in a box pattern with four in the corners and likely another four on the edges with a possible last one in the central courtyard. Each smokestack was at least 500 metres inside the camp.
Thinking fast he ordered "Ghost Squadron Vipers/Chen, we need to start channelling the gas away from our ground troops and the evac zones. Go empty air, mach 1-2 at 100, range is 1.5 clicks outside the fence. Blue Wing, I want you to pull up and get a solid visual on the sites the gas is coming from and then hammer the ground around them with concussion missiles. Priority is the centre square and the east and northeast corner." With the orders given, the numerous Ghost Squadron pilots performed a task they had rehearsed numerous times.
Empty Air is an operation where each Viper travels at high velocity through gas or smoke, the speed at which they are travelling creating a slipstream behind them pulling the gas or smoke into the lower pressure wake of the Viper. This operation requires constant corralling and is only a short-term diversionary method, but when combined with bombing runs on the source of emission can potentially save thousands depending on the situation. Empty Air does have two major drawbacks though and these are the effect on fuel consumption since for it to be effective the Vipers need to travel at high speed. The other drawback is the height at which the vipers need to be flown which depends on how high the gas emissions get to, at 100 metres there could be cases of temporarily or even permanently deafening to those on the ground not prepared as well as damage to nearby buildings.
Seeing his orders being carried out, Chen then moved onto prepping for the assault phase ordering "All Raptors/Chen, make for primary landing ground for transport of marines to Building Alpha. Copy?" Receiving that they understood, Chen flew high above the battlefield waiting for the Cylons to make their next move.
Taskforce Deimos
Battlestars Arion and Therion
Battlestar Arion
08:22:11
Everything was going well, until it wasn't as is always the case. Raptors were readying for pickup after another successful nuclear launch, Arion and Therion were storming ahead, the missile launchers reloading with more nuclear missiles ready for their next target., Jumpdrives were spooling and coordinates were set for their next jump and still the Cylons weren't able to combat them. All at once it seemed the distant sound of a series of explosions could be heard, the sound at this distance being like somebody knocking on a table and the vibrations being far less than were felt when the main batteries fired. Even so, automatic alarms immediately started to contaminate the CIC with their noise and the XO and numerous officers started reporting to their instruments to find the cause.
Within a second of the sound of the explosions reaching them the entire Battlestar tremored as if shook to one side. Even as Admiral Hudson was turning to ask what was going on, another tremor coursed through the ship followed by a bass rumble at the edge of hearing.
Over by the damage control board Colonel Hendricks called out "We have multiple internal breaches in water reservoir alpha, deck 13 section 7. Frak… we have red line through nine hatches and flooding on two decks…it's moving fast…"
Reacting almost faster than he could think even while the helm officer can be seen struggling to pull Arion back on course while calling out her own predicament, Hudson went on the offensive. "Increase pressure in surrounding sections, cut gravity in all sections affected along with power and cut gravity to lower decks. Seal off that entire section and be ready to vent on my order…" he wanted to vent the water but he couldn't afford to lose so much, not now. "FTL temperature?"
Looking up from her board, the tactical officer called out "Drive temperature stable and in the green, coils 1 and 3 at 842 and 861 degrees, rising 1.28 and 1.3 degrees per second, 5 minutes 12 until critical. 2 and 4 are stable and in the green."
Taking in the information that the remaining primary reservoir was still cooling the jumpdrive and two of the four buffers, Hudson allowed himself a second to think. If needed he could jump on just one coil but that time between jumps would increase dramatically, two coils meant that the time between jumps was only just more than doubled since the buffering of power worked best if all four worked in tandem. If he was to safely proceed with the offensive he needed all four.
"Leaks in surrounding pressure doors and into superstructure detected, they're not going to hold up that long to one and a half million gallons" Colonel Hendricks called out as he read the worrying information. The problem was that you didn't need to read the information, you could hear it as bulkheads screamed as they were stretched under the enormous force of so much water. The reservoirs were specially built to withstand the pressure of so much water just as the ammunition bunkers were designed to safely release any built up pressure caused by an internal detonation, but the surrounding sections weren't.
Deciding on his plan of action, Hudson ordered "Hendricks, take over" all the while heading to the DC board and activating the shipboard PA system. "This is the Admiral, all personnel on deck 12 sections 7 through 13 are to immediately evacuate hallways and take cover in the closest rooms, locking the hatches behind you. Alpha Hangar, section 4 is to be evacuated of personnel and equipment, bulkheads to be lowered into place. DC personnel, I want as many pipes and pumps ready for my order ASAP, at least 800 metres of heavy duty piping, double if possible. 30 seconds people." All across the ship in those indicated sections, crewmembers rushed into the nearest rooms doing whatever they could to secure themselves, none of them suspecting what was about to happen. All the while in the Alpha Hangar, hundreds of pilots, knuckledraggers, marines and crewmembers pushed and pulled Vipers, Raptors and whatever equipment could be moved into the surrounding two sections, all the while the vast red bulkheads that separated the Hangar in case of a hull breach were rolling into place.
Pulling up CCTV footage of the hatches to the flooded sections bulging outwards and the constant spray of water from their edges in spite of the inactive artificial gravity, Hudson started disconnecting the power from the indicated sections except to the barest handful of systems. With time running out, he finally closed off the primary bulkheads to the neighbouring sections and ensured that sections 7 through 14 were all open and filled with a negative pressure, just as Alpha Hangar's Section 4 was. Within the flooded sections he in turn increased the pressure by opening all the life support canisters. This done, he pressed a single button.
Deep within section 8, cowering behind a table in one of several meeting rooms setup for triage overflow, the hatch firmly closed and deadlocked, its atmospheric indicator dipping lower, Petty Officer Merales could only listen in great trepidation as the bulkheads to the flooded sections of deck 12 were opened. This replaced by a sound so similar to the thrust of a large rocket, building, building and boiling, surging forward towards an ever larger crescendo. This, the sound of more than a million gallons of water surging into section 8 and further dragged onwards by the low outside pressure. Crashing into the bulkhead as it swept by and down the corridor, Merales heart was thundering just as the tidal surge of water was against the very lifesaving hatch, its metal creaking and groaning under such a tidal wave of pressure.
Onwards this water surged, propelled ever onwards into section 9 then 10 into 11. Never ceasing in its onward assault, merely slowing as it faced few obstacles, obstacles either torn off by the rushing tide or surrounded by it. Into 12, 13 and then 14 this almighty assault continued before being redirected by the low pressure into one of the corridors connecting to the Alpha Hangar. Surging through this corridor and onto the upper level of the Alpha Hangar's Section 4, this assault of water met empty air, 0.5G of gravity and open space, all of which pulled the water downwards and to the lower main deck of the Hangar. Spreading outward like a tidal wave as more and more water arrived, this wave met the closed dividing Hangar bulkheads. Slamming into them with tremendous force, this was to little effect, each one of these was rated to much higher tolerances, indeed the Hangar decks were built to withstand the internal detonation of landed ships or explosives except in extreme cases, and were to a certain extent far more watertight than most areas of the Battlestar.
For more than a minute the escaping water filled the Hangar section, creeping ever higher but no longer threatening the safety of the ship. The primary problem now was that this created a shift in the Battlestar's centre of mass, something which could be compensated for by any decent helmsman.
Watching from the CCTV monitors as the surge diminished to a trickle, Admiral Hudson turned to his Master Chief of Deck whom was in charge of Damage Control "Chief, I want pipes and pumps going from the Alpha Hangar to the pumps in the Alpha reservoir, we need as much coolant as possible getting to the drive coils. You have three minutes." As the Chief turned to get the orders carried out, Hudson opened a channel to his Chief Engineer "Ferguson, ease off on coils 1 and 3 until we can cool them down, expect the pipes to be working in a few minutes."
Battlestar Therion
CIC
08:22:31
"Sir, Arion is drifting off assigned course on heading 240 Karom 117" the helmsman called out as she double-checked her instruments.
Looking away from the tactical monitors, Burkett ordered "Divert course to match. Comm get me Arion Actual."
"Actual is unavailable, XO is on the line" the operator announced in quick reply.
Through his headpiece the voice of Colonel Hendricks spoke in hastened words "Therion Actual, be advised we have been sabotaged. Attempting to correct course for jump point alpha."
Hearing the word sabotage, Burkett's grip on the still broken plot table intensified, "How bad?"
"Internal detonations to two tanks of the alpha reservoir with an internal release of more than a million gallons…"
"Frack me, secondary damage?" Burkett understood that such a release of water would cause significant short circuits and the average deck would not be able to contain it with much leaking into the superstructure, possibly freezing vital lines and components as had happened on other ships in the past.
"Flooding detected in crawlspaces, red and amber through more than 2 dozen systems, several guns down…hold one…[it's working? Good, get DC crews and medics in there immediately] Flooding contained and diverted to a hangar bay section. We're connecting pipes and pumps together with the Alpha Reservoir's pumps in order to get the water cooling the jump coils."
Letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, Burkett asked "Are we able to proceed with mission?"
A new voice came onto the connection as Rear Admiral Hudson returned "Affirmative. We have several guns down due to shorts but we are still combat effective. Our biggest concern is coolant for the FTL. We are currently down to two coils but should be back to four within minutes, but we can still proceed with the mission. Will advise if and when this changes."
As Burkett overheard Hudson calling out orders on his end, he could only look around at his CIC, a CIC which was still covered in scorch marks, had broken consoles, empty windows in the doors, overhanging cables and even a half broken structural member speared through the ceiling and bodged to the floor with patch welds to ensure it couldn't move. Seeing all of this and knowing that this was only the superficial damage and that elsewhere on the Therion there was even more significant damage, all he could think was that out of the two Battlestars, the better off one was now the one which threatened the completion of the mission.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Corporal Seth Hudson
08:17:09
Crouching down while being buffeted by hot blasted sand and dust as the Raptor settled to the landing ground, Seth quickly started moving towards it followed closely behind by his squad. His hearing almost shot by multiple overlapping sonic booms caused by the Vipers engaged in Empty Air, and his gas mask creating a sense of claustrophobia as his breaths steamed his cheeks, Seth forgot his fear. Stepping onto the wing and pulling the following troops aboard, Seth maintained a tight grip of the webbing as the Raptor took off joining more than a dozen others.
As they rose higher creating a sense of vertiginous euphoria in him, Seth finally got a good look at just what the pilots of Ghost and Argos Squadron were accomplishing as the deadly gas was funnelled along tight corridors away from the prisoners and into the surrounding desert. All around them, the signs of the liberation were clear from dozens of shattered barracks and watchtowers, smoking pits from crashed vipers and Raptors, blackened trenches filled with fighters and running men and women, each sprinting to their objectives be they soon to be departing ships or military objectives. One thing was clear as he caught sight of a number of AA batteries and SAM sites, and that was that for right now, the Colonials were in control, and yet even knowing that, even knowing how many people were being saved, it didn't excuse the fact that so many had been lost.
The Raptor having quickly picked up speed, it wasn't long before they were closing on their destination of the lone multi-storey concrete building which dominated the northern part of the camp. Outside, already stacked up were more than 50 marines, many of whom carried ballistic shields, more than a few of them looking up as the increasing force of Raptors closed in on their position. Reaching back into the Raptor for more clips for his weapons as well as what few explosives were left, Seth shifted the small force around so those with riot shields were among the closest to the hatch as the orders came in.
"Five seconds, ready yourselves, you're making your own entrance" the pilot called back before updating Chen over the wireless with their green light.
"Understood. Hold on". All at once it seemed as if the Raptor stopped as it came alongside the building a dozen meters above the entrance before correcting itself slightly. Below them grenades were fired into the building as the assault by the awaiting forces began, this soon followed by suppressive fire from both the enemy and the colonials. Immediately Seth bounded across the wing and started pulling several prepped G4 charges from the small satchel, slamming each of these onto the third storey wall of the building before pulling himself back into the Raptor and behind the two ballistic shields. "Charges set" he called out causing the pilot to veer away and upwards from the building just as around them the other Raptors set along the walls did the same.
The most imperceptible moment of time seemed to pass before Chen patched into the detonators frequency and set off the charges. At more than a dozen points along the walls of the multiple storey building, and on each storey, the charges detonated blasting the concrete and rebar aside and crushing holes into the once solid building. Chaotic plumes of fire, smoke, dust and rubble filled the air around these points while an avalanche of noise overcame even the orbiting sonic booms of vipers as the rubble crashed to the ground.
The dust hadn't even settled before the Raptor started moving back to the dust obscured hole, now an entry point as the ballistic shield holding personnel stepped from the wing and into the fractured darkened room. Behind them, Seth and several other marines quickly followed taking what little cover they had from the shields as they entered before moving on to conduct a standard room clearance finding only several shorting aged computer banks.
Remembering his teams callsign for this part of the mission, Seth spoke into his wireless, "Breacher 7, entrance secured. Ready to proceed. How copy?"
Over the line could be heard one of the mission specific controllers "Roger that Breacher 7. You are go to proceed. Clear floor and regroup with 6, 8 and 9. Good hunting. CONSPEC out."
Helmet lights and gun lights went on illuminating the area for their bodycams as the small group of marines started to carefully spread out and move into the dust-filled room, gravel and computer debris crunching under their boots. Around them on the handful of still operational servers indicators flickered and over in a corner of the room an electrical cable sparked. Every once in a while a cloud of dust popped into the air off the floor as the vibrations of nearby explosives and gunfire carried their vibration through the building to be quickly followed by the screams of people and gunfire alike.
Taking cover next to the entrance to the corridor, Seth saw the seven other armed Marines and add-ons with him before he counted down on his fingers from three to one before pulling the door open. As no shots came through, the first two marines through held their shields and riot shotguns at the ready, one going left and one right before being followed by another two with riot shields each following suit. Next through was Seth and the rest of the Marines that lacked shields.
There was a dimness in the corridor broken only by beams of sunlight carried through the entrance they and other Marines had made as well as whatever cracks had appeared in the concrete. Dust motes scattered in the sunlit beams before reflecting off the windows inserted into the numerous doors running the length of the corridor. This building could be any rundown building in one of Caprica's industrial centres. Proceeding carefully down the corridor stopping at every doorway to check inside, two shielded Marines protected them from the front and two at the back at all times. Cracking open a door and just seeing a desk, two office chairs, a cabinet, a tall thin metal column and a pool of red-lit liquid next to it, Seth moved on ever deeper into the building through snaking corridor after snaking corridor. Every once in a while they encountered a lone Centurion or two together which were quickly taken care of before moving on.
Ahead of them the corridor branched into a T junction and he could just make out a heavy clomping drawing near. He knew that sound, it was burnt into his memories from his time on the Atlantia, it was unmistakable, a Centurion. No…more than one and close. Holding his fist up before tapping on the shoulders of the Marines in front of him, Seth mimed them crouching, and sent two marines armed with LMGs ahead and into an office each 15 metres in front on the other side of the T junction. As the Marines started reacting, Seth lay down between the two shields deploying his MGAT's bipod while Taylor crouched down against the wall with cover from the other shield. Behind them the rear guard moved further back before one moved so he was covering the back of the other Marine with his shield. One by one their lights went out and they waited.
Clomp, clomp, clomp! The servos of the Centurions could be heard mere metres away along with the side-to-side noise of their red eye constantly scanning. A beam of sunlight peeking through a crack in the concrete wall scattered before being reflected back into the corridor as a Centurion started to turn the corner. Seth was already depressing his finger on his wireless as a signal. The two Marines in the offices ahead of Seth started opening fire on the Centurion, the rounds bursting through the back and out of the front of its head before burying into the concrete sending dust everywhere as the Centurion started to collapse forward only to be pushed away by a Centurion behind it. All at once the heavy return fire of the remaining three Centurions started as they turned the corridor bringing their guns to bear on the two offices in which the two Marines had taken cover, by then though the Marines had already pulled back taking whatever cover they could.
As the Centurions came fully into the corridor, Seth grinned as he saw that the Centurions had fallen into the trap he had set and had their backs to him. Giving it two more seconds, Seth shouted "NOW!" while opening fire with his own MGAT into the backs of the Cylons. A roar overtook the corridor along with muzzle bursts of bright orange light as the rounds left his barrel as well as Tylers before being joined by the much heavier sounding roars of the two riot shotguns held by the shield carrying Marines. Each round tore into the backs of the Centurions blasting chunk after chunk of Chrome plated metal, plastic and fleshy organs from them. These weren't the heavily armoured Centurions that had flooded the Battlestars at Leonis, these ones were just foot soldiers, armoured against low calibre shots but not as armoured against the high calibre shots fired by the Marines. One by one they hit the ground.
Preparing to stand, over the numbing of his hearing Seth could make out more footsteps, these ones more careful as they drew closer. Understanding they were unlikely to be Centurions so they were possibly skinjobs, Seth depressed the button on his wireless twice. He could barely make it out but he was sure he heard two tiny squawks from round the corner before he received a reply of three squawks from his own wireless. Feeling a little safer, Seth called out "Apollo?"
In reply a female voice called around the corner "Arrow!"
Standing up, along with the rest of his group, Seth watched as a group of two marines turned the corner, behind them another two marines carrying a third between them.
Holding out her hand to Seth, the female Sergeant announced "Sergeant Hadley" to which Seth shook it stating his own name and rank. As the two Marines carrying the heavily wounded marine between them carried on past and down the corridor Seth had come from, Hadley stated "We blew our way in right next to a room crawling with the frackers. No sooner are we set up ready to enter the corridor, they burst the door open and are shooting the shit out of us, I lost two straight off before we took them out. James took a gut shot by another group in the corridor, and I lost another Marine two corners back. I'm getting James out of your hole and if it's alright with you, I'll be taking command of your unit." Activating her wireless Hadley spoke "Command/Breachers 6 and 7, third floor is secure. Breacher 8 holding at west stairwell, 9 holding at east stairwell. Minimal enemy contact, negative 50 I repeat negative 50 Centurions. Requesting a medevac at Breacher 7s insertion point."
Seeing the Ghost Squadron patch on her shoulder, Seth nodded just as his Wireless broke in with Chen's voice "Roger that Breacher 6. Breachers 6, 7, 8, and 9/Command move down to reinforce Breachers 1 through 5 on the second to first floor stairwells. Be advised the second floor is clear of Centurions but there are civilian prisoners. The first and ground floor have heavy resistance. Keep on pushing the Cylons down. Reinforcements inbound from the roof. ETA two minutes."
Taskforce Phobos
Battlestars Pegasus and Praetoria
Praetoria: Commander Fasjovic
08:26:28
"Oh frak me…" Coker could quite literally feel his jaw drop as the Cylon armada ahead of them littered space with an ever expanding wall of mines and missiles set for contact detonation. With them were hundreds if not thousands of Raiders and Heavy Raiders as well as 10 Basestars. Travelling as fast as Taskforce Phobos was they had no chance to slow down. Without taking his eyes from the DRADIS, Coker called out "Helm, any chance we can get around? Comms get me Cain."
The Helm operator Lieutenant Agrippa looked up from his quick calculations announcing "Sorry sir, best we can do would put us in the outer rim at least a 10,000 clicks from safety. The mines and missiles have reaction thrusters."
Coker couldn't help but let his shoulders slump as he muttered "shit." He knew they didn't even have the time to calculate a new jump at the speed they were going when Cain's voice came over his headset with new orders.
"Commander, launch all Vipers and Raiders with missile intercept packages and point your dorsal hull towards the minefield keeping as close to Pegasus as possible and mirroring our actions…" she didn't need to say anymore for Coker to understand what she was ordering as he started calling out the necessary orders.
Taskforce Phobos
Battlestars Pegasus and Praetoria
Pegasus: Admiral Cain
08:26:28
Immediately upon realising that they stood no chance of skirting the edge of the minefield or jumping away in time, Cain started calculating her options. If they carried on the way they were and hit just one Tylium missile, mine or Raider it would be like being hit by a nuke. But if they could bring all guns to bear?
"Admiral, Praetoria actual is requesting you" Lieutenant Hoshi announced.
Looking over at him, as she finally came up with her plan, Cain picked up her headset while telling Colonel Belsen to copy everything she ordered over the wireless. Activating the headset Cain watched the DRADIS countdown to contact saying "Commander, launch all Vipers and point your dorsal hull towards the minefield keeping as close to Pegasus as possible and mirroring our actions…" under her feet Cain felt Pegasus start a ninety degree rotation so her dorsal hull was pointing towards the minefield.
"Cut engine thrust to 0.02 standard and disable Dorsal engines…" Cutting engine thrust to so low was almost equivalent to turning it off with the benefit that it wasn't fully turned off and could be quickly brought to full power again. Disabling the dorsal engines meant that any chance of a secondary explosion caused by a breach was negated. "Have all Vipers and Raptors fly ahead of the Fleet out of our firing arcs while firing ahead at any missiles or Raiders and spoofing the rest." The Vipers which had already launched and were quickly being joined by others as well as more Raptors taking off from the decks most of which had only just landed. Within the hangar a few Raptors had the ship interception missiles quickly removed in favour of missile interceptors, if any managed to launch in time it would only be with a handful each. The ships that were already out activated their afterburners while keeping a wide path in front of both Pegasus and Praetoria clear.
"All dorsal guns and one nuke each set to detonate within 10 seconds of each other are to target the minefield directly in front of Pegasus and open fire right fracking now. Praetoria only when I give the order are you to take cover behind Pegasus. We've only got one shot at this and I intend to blow a hole in that minefield big enough to get Pegasus through, if it's big enough for us…"
"…Then it's big enough for us too. I got you sir" Coker replied.
Next to her, Colonel Belsen was ordering "All Dorsal guns clear us a path, contact detonation. All available defensive batteries are to follow suit. Silo 10, launch a nuke at the same coordinates with detonation at 20 seconds to contact. Damage Control, seal all bulkheads."
At the same moment Cain activated the intercom ordering "All personnel not assigned to a gun or damage control are to evacuate decks 1 through 5 and all outer sections."
Looking up at the time to contact scroll down past 1 minute into double digits, Cain watched the gun camera and DRADIS feeds as hundreds of thousands of rounds were fired towards the minefield. Seconds passed, seconds that just hung in eternity as one by one round after round slipped through the mines, Raiders and missiles. Then it came, an explosion bloomed ahead of them, then another and another as more rounds found their mark, dozens and then hundreds. Each round being spat out faster and faster to be joined by the slower interception missiles fired from the Battlestars. And around those explosions came more explosions as the racing Viper pilots tore through the Cylon ranks at unimaginable speeds, their thumbs seemingly constantly on the trigger. Vipers were then joined by the first of the Raptors as they started firing off their decoy drones, comm drones, flares, chaff and own missiles if they had any left. What Cain would have given to have a first war Raptor with a chain gun.
As the time ticked below 40 seconds to contact Cain ordered "Colonel Belsen, target Basestars 1, 5 and 7 with nukes, two apiece. Commander Fasjovic target Basestars 2, 3 and 10 with nukes, two apiece and fire on my order."
While tactical started inputting the coordinates, Colonel Belsen came over to Cain asking, "Are you sure about this, once those missile silos are open, we have presented a weakness?"
Taking a second to think, Cain closed her eyes and nodded before replying "If we are going down we are taking as many of them with us as possible. You have your orders."
Seeing the grit and determination in her eyes, Belsen nodded replying "Aye sir, tactical prepare tubes 1 through 6 and target Basestars 1, 5 and 7. Launch on the Admiral's order."
Flicking her knife in front of her, Cain carried on watching the time run down to 30 seconds to contact, watched how the DRADIS feeds were blanketed in a minutiae of scattering debris as mines and explosives detonated, listened as pilots were dying as they were unable to fully react at the speeds they were going. Then she watched her crew, looking around burning their faces into her memory: Hoshi working his comm board hiding his fear well, Fisk and Shaw tirelessly working the tactical boards altering the targeting for the defence batteries not allowing a single missile to go unnoticed. Then there was Ensign Carter rubbing his Ring of Zeus with his thumb as he worked to ensure the FTL drives were protected against impact, and Chief Thompson watching the DC board while on the wireless making sure the ship was locked down.
All too soon 20 seconds to contact had arrived with the first nuclear missile detonating within the minefield, this to be followed 10 seconds later by another. Activating her wireless to Praetoria, Cain ordered "Commander at 10 seconds I want you to roll your ship behind Pegasus, ventral hull to ventral hull. Continue firing as long as you safely can."
"Aye sir, helm…"
The Basestars had constantly been closing the distance having seen Cain's plan moments before, each one still firing out missile after missile ahead of them. Seeing these new missiles directly in her path Cain ordered "Helm, once we get past the main line of the minefield, kick the engines up to full and get us out of the path of the rest."
As ten seconds hit, and another nuke detonated within the minefield, Praetoria on Pegasus portside started to roll her own portside backwards like a page in a book turning until she was hidden behind Pegasus. Together back to back they thundered towards the constant explosions as Pegasus flak took out the rest of the immediate missiles and mines. With seconds left Cain ordered "ALL HANDS BRACE, BRACE, BRACE!" while grabbing tight hold of the information management table and crouching down.
In less than the blink of an eye due to the velocity of the two ships they had reached the minefield. Blooms of explosion after explosion dotted the dorsal hull of the Pegasus, each one like a 5-10kt nuke. From the side, Raiders and Heavy Raiders that hadn't been destroyed tore towards the two Battlestars in their own kamikaze runs with only two managing to hit. The entire sky was fire for that fraction of a second of contact, to the Cylons on board the Basestars it seemed like a certainty the two Battlestars would be destroyed. But after that fraction of a second the engines kicked to full pushing the two Battlestars 'down' and out of the incoming column of missiles the Basestars had fired out. More still hit, but the guns of Pegasus were bursting hundreds apart.
With a fierce grip on the information management table as Pegasus rocked under dozens of explosions which were quickly diminishing, over the cries of agony Cain called out both to the CIC and to Praetoria "FIRE NUKES!" From the silos of both, 6 nuclear missiles each burst forth on plumes of tylium reaching mach 1, 2, and 3 within seconds and constantly gaining speed. Onwards they fired, gaining speed and closing in on the 6 targeted Basestars, Basestars which registered too late the incoming ordnance. Soon Pegasus and Praetoria were well beyond the minefield and Basestars with their Vipers and Raptors racing to catch up.
Across Pegasus dorsal hull were hundreds of scorch marks and dented armour plating, her portside Raptor resupply point was a series of craters and explosive decompressions, several gun batteries were little more than craters themselves belching forth their remnants, and several spots of hull plating were squeezing out flash frozen air. But, they were alive and Praetoria was undamaged.
Onwards the nukes fired by the two Battlestars raced, onwards faster than any of the interception capabilities of the Basestars or their Raiders and Heavy Raiders, onwards until they hit. Each hit creating a momentary star, each one splitting a Basestar until under their withering fire, all that marked the positions of six Basestars were ever expanding clouds of debris.
The two Battlestars of Taskforce Phobos were now beyond their grasp. For now.
Looking around the CIC of the Pegasus as the lights flickered before stabilising, Cain ordered "Report?"
Looking up she saw that the DRADIS was inactive just as Colonel Belsen over at the DC panel called out "Main DRADIS array is down, it looks like that section took a crippling blow, secondary is coming online. Structural members are all in the green. We've got 14 hull breaches and 5 of the main batteries are down along with 42 defensive batteries. There's a red line through the armour over section 18 and 19 and…we are down thruster 3, thankfully it was shut down so damage is minimal."
Colonel Fisk then reported "We've lost 15 crew members and while the reports are coming in, estimates are of upwards of 50 injured."
Coming off the wireless, Shaw announced "7 of our Vipers and 5 of Praetoria's were lost along with 4 Raptors between us. There were no ejections. 8 Vipers will be down for repairs along with 3 Raptors."
Closing her eyes and letting out a frustrated and yet relieved breath, Cain was in wonderment at their survival. Tapping her wireless to Praetoria, Cain asked "Commander Fasjovic how is your ship holding up?"
It took a moment for him to reply "A lot better than I expected sir. We took a hit to our starboard flightpod from a Raider on a suicide run we think. Thankfully it was above the flight deck so there's no injuries and minimal damage to systems but it took a small chunk out of the hull there. Apart from that, we have minimal damage and injuries." Relieved that the damage to Praetoria was minimal, Cain listened as Coker asked "Do we proceed to planet 5?"
Rubbing her eyes, Cain considered the state of her own ship and the chances of another trap, weighing all the options, "We proceed, we do one more jump and then we pull back. The Cylons through everything they had available at us here, it's going to take them some time to get another fleet together. We should be safe enough for another jump."
Mobile Shipyard Orca
Commander Sallis
08:19:40
Come on, hurry up and jump, Sallis wished in her head as she watched over the transports. Outside the Mobile Shipyard was firing all guns it could bring to bear on the two Cylon Basestars that were firing every missile they could at it. The station was like a Baby's rattle as it shook under numerous impacts to her weaker starboard side, each of these missiles further destroying the already ruined dock, splitting gantry from gantry and hull plate from hull plate.
Vipers and Raiders brawled between them, the Vipers only advantage having come from the Stealth Vipers detonating nukes within the Cylon ranks. But now the Raiders were starting to receive fresh reinforcement from the Basestars.
An alarm went off as the Tactical officer called out "RADIOLOGICAL ALARM! 3, 5…9 nukes inbound from both Basestars. Time to impact 22 seconds."
"Redirect all defensive batteries to intercept, and all hands brace for impact." What she didn't say was pray to your household Gods.
Her eyes were glued to the DRADIS as the missiles closed before being knocked out one by one. Another flashing caught her attention as the transports started to jump. "Pull back our planes, get them on the deck now!" She knew they had no chance to get them back home before the nukes hit, but maybe…
Another nuke vanished and then another until only two remained on target. Space bloomed in a bright white light and the entire station shook violently as the first nuke struck one of the few pieces of outer starboard dock still remaining. While this piece still had armour plating, it was both heavily damaged already and had little superstructure behind it, and yet the damage to the rest of the station was minimised. The second nuke bypassed this area flying directly into the ruined dock before hitting the internal armour. The explosion, semi-contained within the dock, did far more damage blasting chunks of hull and construction gantries into their component atoms and cracking multiple breaches into the compartments of the dock itself flooding the area with radiation. Chunks of debris were blasted out with such force that the starboard hangar almost cracked in two
Power within the CIC deactivated momentarily as the entire room rocked as if from a strike of Thor's Hammer. Hundreds died throughout the station either by the very explosion itself, the radiation or numerous hull breaches. But as the blast cleared, the station remained. Weakened, her entire starboard dock a smouldering ruin, gases escaping from numerous pipes and hull breaches to be flash frozen in the vacuum of space, and several bodies drifting within a cloud of broken wires, gantries and hull plates. Weakened but alive.
Somehow still standing by the tactical console, Sallis saw yet more nukes inbound along with hundreds of Raiders as they realised why Sallis was pulling back her own Vipers. But she saw something else, six Stealth Vipers, two Viper Gunships and 9 Assault Raptors, each freshly armed and refuelled and led by Colonel Hudson were flying towards the incoming Raiders. The Stealth Vipers were ahead of the rest and coming in on a trajectory that would bring them into the starboard flank of the enemy planes while the Viper Gunships and Assault Raptors were acting as bait.
Knowing she had a chance if only her own Vipers could land, Sallis ordered "Helm roll the station as fast as you can to bring all guns to bear on those nukes. We can't let another nuke hit the starboard dock again. FTL, be ready to jump as soon as the last plane has landed, do not wait for my order." The station under them started to scream as broken gantries scraped along the hull and the engines thrust as fast as they could. This was soon joined by the pummelling of the numerous batteries firing out more and more shells, and as the station rolled, more batteries came into firing position.
Sallis watched as the Stealth Vipers caught the Raiders unaware yet again by launching another handful of nukes within their ranks, only two of which were intercepted, the remaining 2 detonating either destroying or knocking out hundreds of Raiders. Even as they had launched the nukes, the Stealth Vipers, Viper Gunships and Raptors had jumped to re-join the rest of their taskforce.
With barely fifty metres remaining before the first impact with one of the nukes, the last Viper landed and Orca jumped, the jump energies tearing apart the nuke in a violent flash of light.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Captain Chen
08:21:20
His eye glancing over his Stealth Viper's fuel gauge, Chen calculated that at best he had ten minutes of atmospheric flight available and he would need to make a run back to the Orca with the next group, either that or refuel on the ground. As his Stealth Viper flew over the camp, Chen saw the impact left behind by his Vipers and Raptors having destroyed the last of the Cylons gas pipes. At every location where the deadly gas had erupted was crater after crater and a series of paths of destruction caused by Vipers having travelled at Mach 1 and 2 in order to steer away the gas. Teams on the ground had since confirmed that it was Tricolocene gas, a deadly nerve agent developed before the first Cylon war which caused a person who breathed it in to drown in their own blood. He couldn't help but consider that if they hadn't caught it in time, then thousands may have died. As it was, 60 prisoners had died and around 200 more had difficulty breathing.
Ahead and above him the sky opened up in a series of bright lights as the first of the heavy transports from the Orca arrived. Each one seemed to drop faster than they should have before the engines which were screaming within the air attested the fall. Slowly they started to descend towards the landing grounds where the prisoners were being directed.
"Ghost lead/Orion transport. Orca is closed, I repeat, Orca is closed" soon came over the wireless from a newly arrived Astral Transport which was quickly identified as Orion.
Patching into the comms, Chen asked "The Cylons found them? Did they manage to get away?"
"Three Basestars found them. One was taken out by Colonel Harman…no, Hudson and most of their first lot of Raiders were taken out by Stealth Vipers. Before we left Orca had taken two nukes to her starboard side and was listing we think…" the wireless suddenly shifted as another voice broke in "…negative, she was under power and bringing her Dorsal guns to bear on the remaining nukes. But the damage looked significant. I don't know if she could survive."
His fist slammed into his canopy before he called out on the general comm, "All ships, be advised that Orca is closed. Rendezvous Point Beta is now open, input the co-ordinates you have for Beta and when your mission is complete or I give the order make your jump there." Glancing back at his fuel gauge, Chen then continued "Orion, Wayward Star and Jupiter Rising you are now the refuel point for our planes, get the gear unloaded as soon as you land…"
Chen's DRADIS beeped several times alerting him to more new arrivals, glancing at it he saw that it was Colonel Hudson and the group he had sent with her to the Orca. Colonel Hudson's voice soon came over the wireless "Ghost Lead/Sassy, Orca is closed, I repeat Orca is closed. She managed to escape but received significant damage covering the transports launch."
"Oh thank frak. Sassy your planes are freshly fuelled and armed, I need you to provide overwatch while my group resupplies."
"Roger that. How goes the assault on Alpha?"
"We've made solid progress clearing floors 2, 3 and 4 and have the Cylons bunched up on the first and ground floor. But you do not want to know what we found in there."
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Corporal Hudson
08:23:37
Depressing a button on his detonator, the whole building seemed to shake as the G4 planted on the floor of the second floor office detonated. Looking back into the room, Seth peered through the clouds of concrete dust and noted a sizeable hole in the middle leading to the first floor. Peering down into the hole with his MGAT looking left and right, Seth made sure he had covering fire before dropping down into the room below.
Boots crunching against concrete as he landed and his ankle threatening to give way on a bit of rubble, Seth scanned the room before calling up "Clear" and moving to block the only entrance. As the others started to drop down and his eyes adjusted, Seth started to make out some of the details in what he thought was a ward, and yet? Tyler came over to join him against the door along with another Marine. Turning to them he said "wait here" before moving further into the ward to check things out.
There was bed after bed, easily 50 spread in ordered rows throughout the room, but it was what was next to the beds that caused him to question things. Next to each bed was a computer bank and some kind of what looked like a dialysis machine and yet it was like no dialysis machine he had ever seen. Double checking his helmet camera was recording, Seth moved closer to a bed seeing the overhanging pipes, tubes and wires before pulling a wheeled surgical cabinet towards him. Arrayed upon this cabinet was medical instrument after medical instrument, clamps and needles, a box of white gloves, facemasks and lubricant. Picking one of the instruments up, Seth studied it before being joined by Sergeant Hadley.
It took Hadley one second to merely glance at it and the bed next to them with stirrups on the end of it before saying "What the frak?"
Looking at her, Seth asked "What?" but he saw the horror on her face.
"This right here, it's used in a gynaecological exam, that bed the same. But these pipes, these machines…whatever this is, is some level of fracked up." Activating her wireless, Hadley spoke "Command/Breacher 6. Mark my position and get intelligence over here, we've found some gynaecological ward, possibly human experimentation."
A voice, this one not Chen or the other members manning the temporary command post in the square, answered "Breacher 6/Command. Understood, Intelligence is on the way, we've found another ward like that and if what the prisoners have been saying is true, it's worse than you think. Proceed on mission."
"Roger that, proceeding on mission."
Seth and Sergeant Hadley soon joined the remaining marines at the door before edging out into the corridor beyond. Here the sounds of gunfire echoing down the corridors was almost deafening but it came with something else, distant and numerous cries for help along with a banging on doors.
Pressing further down the corridor and around a corner, Seth, Hadley and Tyler seemingly as one unleashed numerous pent up rounds into the backs of a half dozen Centurions that were shooting at another group of marines. A dark skinned male that was to the back of the Centurions and had been identified as a Cylon turned to start shooting at them along with two of the Centurions, but it was to little avail as Seth, Hadley and Tyler pulled back behind three ballistic shielded marines. Each round that struck the shields rocking the Marines back before they managed to steady themselves.
Hadley pulled a magnesium rifle grenade from her pack and fit it over her MGAT's barrel before firing it over the shields. The grenade struck against the ceiling before deflecting and hitting the ground near the Cylons where it then burst into a bright cloud of flaring white-hot ribbons. A guttural scream burst from the Number Four as several pieces of magnesium stuck to his skin where they burnt themselves deep in a searing pain. The Centurions on the other hand were blinded by the white-hot light, something the humans took full advantage of.
Ballistics lenses dimming to block out much of the bright light, the Marines fired above and between the shields into the Centurions while Hadley called out "DON'T HIT THE SKINJOB! DO NOT HIT THE SKINJOB!" The skinjob in question was rolling around on the ground attempting to pull the magnesium from his face and skin. Each Centurion dropped to the ground long before the Magnesium burnt out, and calls of "Hold fire" rang out from both Hadley's group of marines and the opposite group. Hadley and Seth then rushed forward with their Marines towards the screaming Four before Hadley took careful aim and shot a round into both shoulders and both kneecaps.
Tyler burst out "What the fuck?"
Turning to her, Hadley said "Trust me, it's safer for us. I've read more than a dozen reports from Marines that encountered one of these frackers stating how much stronger they are. Right now we need them for intel, they don't need arms or legs for that and they can't hurt anyone if they get free." Looking up at the opposite Marine fireteam, Hadley ordered "Juno, have those two knuckdraggers in your group escort this toaster up to Breacher 3's entry point."
The opposing fireteam leader nodded and had the order carried out while the group pushed into a new corridor with a heavyset door at the end. Here the cries for help and banging on the doors was much louder to which Seth queried "Prison block? Isolation maybe?"
"That would be my guess, question is where are the guards? Did we just kill them?"
Seth suddenly had an uneasy feeling pass over him that was answered as the door in front of them opened revealing two centurions firing off a rocket each towards them. Seth didn't even have time to call out for them to get to cover as the two rockets tore down the dozen metres of corridor and burst against two of the riot shields. The resulting explosion sent all the marines flying backwards, killing three instantly. The breath had been squeezed from Seth's body as he was picked up by the explosion, and his back crunched as he rebounded off the wall and hit the floor face first.
The two Centurions started to step into the corridor followed by two more and then another two. Each one opening up with rounds from their wrist blasters into the downed bodies of the downed marines while the second group of Centurions fired off another two rockets aimed at the second group of Marines led by Sergeant Juno. These marines had also been knocked back by the concussive force of the first two rockets, and upon seeing the incoming Centurions they had further pulled back to the end of the corridor while two marines started opening fire. It was too little, too late. The Marines needed more time to prepare but they were out of time as the two rockets hit against the ballistic shields and burst apart in a cloud of fire and concussive force knocking three of the group to their knees and killing another four.
Feeling blood drip from his mouth and pooling beneath his face, and seeing the odd shape of his nose in his blurred vision, Seth's mind felt like it was underwater, but unlike earlier he reacted.
His left hand reached forwards pulling the grip of a downed Marine's MGAT into his hand while rolling over as best he could. Somehow in his right hand he had managed to maintain a grip on his own MGAT. As he rolled onto his back he swung the two LMG/Assault rifle hybrids around to aim at the incoming Centurions, he barely perceived their bright lines of shots as they fired around him at those on the ground and over him to those behind him. His fingers tightened on the triggers and through all his numbing pain he felt it as each shot burst forth from the barrels into the oncoming chrome plated Cylons, his voice screaming out his pain over the sound of the two hybrid firearms which were forcing him back against the ground. Bursting bangs filled the corridor as the rounds passed the Centurions own rounds and collided against their armoured bodies, each round stitching its way across them tearing multiple chunks out of them.
Burning hot shells unleashed from the left MGAT started to bounce and rebound off of Seth's skin, burning his neck and only causing his screaming to grow louder as the Centurions started to redirect their firepower to him. One, then two and three Centurions started to collapse under his withering fire, one being forced out of the way by a Centurion behind it. Then Seth's fire was joined by the firepower of Tyler just a little further back from him, she too lying on the floor, and then from further behind in the second group of Marines.
A Centurion raised its arm to fire another rocket down the corridor at the second group of Marines before firing. Even as it fired, the Centurion's head burst apart from any number of equally well placed shots, but the rocket carried on. It got barely a metre down the corridor before it collided with a lucky shot, whether Seth's, or Tyler's, Juno's or one of her team's, it didn't matter. That one lucky round stopped the rocket dead and forced it into a premature detonation knocking the last two Centurions down, Centurions which were already as good as dead. Then it was over.
An oppressive silence filled the corridor broken only by the wheezing of the Marines and then one by one by cries of agony and calls for a medic. Seth just lay there, his guns pointed towards the now open door the Centurions had come through, shoulders, elbows and wrists screaming in agony from having handled too much recoil, blood dripping from his broken nose and a dozen abrasions across his body. He didn't know how, but he was still alive. Stepping over him, a marine closed to the now open door and manned it while another Marine crouched down next to him and looked Seth over before asking in a Picon Queenstown accent "Y'all right mate?"
Pulling himself together and seeing the Marine, Seth grunted "Huh?"
The Marine started grinning and laughing before getting out "Ya' had a good 'un there alright, certainly gave the frackers something to think about. Come on, let's get ya' up and look you over." Pulling Seth to his feet, Seth dropping the left MGAT, the Marine corpsman got a good luck at Seth's nose before joking "Ya' look like me after a Friday night with me missus. Let me sort that nose out for ya'." Placing his thumbs against Seth's broken nose, the Corpsman cracked it back into place unleashing a grunt of pain from Seth. "There bet that's better. Here follow my finger…" As Seth focused on the digit and watched it move, the corpsman nodded before unbuckling Seth's helmet and feeling his skull. As he was doing this, Seth glanced at those around him seeing Sergeant Hadley sat against a wall, her face swelling and her eye socket looking like it had a break. Seeing him look at her, Hadley nodded before quietly mouthing "Thank you." Next to her a coagulant was being poured on Tyler's neck where a bullet had grazed her before being wrapped in gauze and a bandage, her face was bright red and black showing where she had felt the flames of the explosives, sweat beading down her skin and her uniform torn in multiple places.
Around them on the ground, more newly arrived marines were checking over the rest of the group before shaking their heads on most, and fighting against death itself to save three more Marines. Four lightly wounded Marines were led away. Counting the bodies that was left, Seth made out seven dead marines.
Pulling him back to the here and now, the Corpsman announced "Can't see anything to worry about mate. I'm fairly sure you have a cracked rib, and you have multiple cuts. You're going to have a little trouble breathing but you can still fight through it, and you're gonna have a lot of swelling soon, but you'll live. Name's Parker by the way, everyone calls me Joker though."
Taking a deep breath, Seth replied "Seth."
Pulling herself from the ground and forcing away a corpsman, Sergeant Hadley spat out a wad of blood before announcing "Frak this, I want to see what these Frackers were guarding. Marines on me."
Ejecting his clip from his MGAT and replacing it with a fresh one he took from a Marine's corpse, Seth joined up with Hadley and Tyler. Joining them came Juno and another two Marines. Entering the corridor beyond the open door, the corridor opened out onto an atrium with several branching corridors and numerous doors. In the centre was a counter-island with numerous computers, files and electronics surrounding it. Moving further in only to be met by numerous banging and cries for help from behind the doors, Hadley moved to one pressing a button to unlock it. Next to her the marines including Seth had taken up firing positions just in case. The door swung open revealing beyond it a Colonial Fleet officer with the epaulettes of a Commander, he wasn't Cylon.
Looking at him, Hadley ordered "Name and ID, sir?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, the Commander announced "Commander Frederickson, 21235-D-69424-B. Commander of the Elint Corvette Nightowl."
Activating her wireless, Hadley stated "Command/Breacher 6. We have found a possible high value prisoner block. I have before me a Colonial Officer I need you to run…"
"Breacher 6/Command. Go ahead…"
"Name is Commander Frederickson, commander of the Elint Corvette Nightowl. ID number is 21235 Delta 69424 Bravo."
"Hold one…ID checks out. Ship was dispatched to Armistice Station when contact was lost and subsequently presumed lost in action. New orders are to extract all prisoners and any information on them. Hold there for intelligence to arrive before reinforcing Ground teams"
"Roger that", nodding to Seth to carry out the order, Seth then started waving the marines to open up the cells.
Moving to the desks in the middle of the room, Seth left the computers to the tech experts that were just starting to enter and instead glanced at the various files seeing the names of the prisoners held here on them. Eyes glancing over the many names, they suddenly stopped and fixated on one name in particular. Picking up the file, Seth flipped it open reading how this prisoner had only recently been moved into an isolation room. "Sergeant Hadley…" Seth called out as he approached her with the file, "…you're going to want to see this."
Handing the file over, Seth saw as astonishment pricked the broken face of Hadley before she motioned him in front of her and down a corridor to the cell in question.
Pressing the button to open it, the door swung to reveal a middle-aged woman with dark hair and a piercing stare. The woman sat there looking at the two unspeaking figures before asking "Well, are you here to bust me out or just stare?"
Glancing at each other, the Corporal and Sergeant realised they both saw the resemblance, it wasn't obvious but it was there. "Command/Breacher 6, we've possibly found an even higher value prisoner than the last…"
Mobile Shipyard Orca
22ly from Pollonus
Void between systems
08:27:42
Hull plates and wires drifted throughout the darkness of space, gas venting further propelling numerous chunks of debris, support gantries, fractured pieces of construction waldoes and broken pipes ever further into the depths of space. Most of the debris just drifted around what looked to be the vast wreck of the Orca. Several explosions further tore apart the already destroyed starboard dock as escaping gases met the electrical arcs of numerous split wires. These explosions twisting and rolling the vast bulk of the Orca around her axis as they served as a propellant. It was through only these bright orange explosions which quickly snuffed themselves out as they were starved of oxygen as well as the intensely bright blue scattered arcs of electrical surges that the Orca was made truly visible at a distance. No nearby star shone here, no planet would serve as witness to this vast wounded shipyard, Orca was alone.
The starboard flightpod through some quirk of fate was still there only now it was largely split in two held together only by a warped frame and handful of girders. Through vast fractured holes within the sides of the flightpod it was possible to see into the hangar itself and the machine shops there. Few red lights were visible and those that were on, were only powered by batteries. There were no dead in this flightpod, not for a long time at least, but the way that the tools, the few broken Vipers and Raptors, hull plates and debris floated about, it was as if the ghosts of the numerous technicians were still working. Connecting the flightpod to the ruined body of the Orca, the arms still remained, the rearmost arm with a strong connection to the body whereas the foremost arm was only partly connected having melted halfway through itself.
Carried through her roll and now seemingly on her back, the first of numerous lights became visible, some flickering on an off as they lacked a stable power supply, others maintaining their intensity. Through this light the portside became visible, the armour plating dented and scorched, fractured in places but still largely whole. Then the portside flightpod became visible, equal in size and modelled upon a Jupiter Class's flightpod, this one too bore many signs of combat. The proud name of Orca which itself had long ago been painted over as Orca was incorporated into Picon Fleet Headquarters Anchorage, became visible, only now the 'O' was split in two, and around the name entire sections of armour plating were dented in. Landing lights became visible in the flightpod illuminating the proud seal of the colonies, the phoenix, scratched and scorched it still shone true.
Then life truly became visible in this wreck as one by one the vast engines came to life, each one flickering for a moment before shining a bright blue and white. Then from numerous points around the vast station but mainly on the starboard side, bursts of quickly extinguishing orange flame and plumes of gas burst free as the airlocks opened putting out the deadly fires which had raged inside.
From the portside flightdeck, several Vipers and Raptors which had only recently landed took off, their thrusters propelling them the length of the deck and out of the triangular opening and into the depths of space. There they orbited the bulk of the Orca like Vultures circling a carcass, but these weren't Vultures but rather the CAP, they were there to protect the Orca. Several Raptors broke off, ultra-bright lights activating and scanning ahead of them and then across the bulk of the vast shipyard. Along the hull they scanned revealing the tiniest cracks in armour plating, the multitude of pockmarks running its length, the hundreds of point defence and heavy guns now sitting idle, with most being disabled melted craters. These Raptors and their lights revealed all and through tightbeam comms, transmitted it all back to the Orca's CIC.
"…fires look to be dying down but there's still several power surges which look to be around frames 43, 45, 49 through 51…" barely listening to the damage reports incoming from the orbiting Raptors, Commander Sallis was already trying to deal with a hundred and one problems all while trying to get full power to her CIC. So vicious had their last jump been from the Cylon ambush that as they jumped the very energies of the jump had torn apart a nuke that was within fifty metres of them. The result of such an effect was an intense EMP hitting them upon arrival knocking out power to most systems and causing several major surges throughout the station. It had taken precious minutes to get even the engines back on line, the jump drives would take longer. What few systems they had managed to bring back first had been the most basic and hardened in life support, gravity and damage control. Next had been the auxiliary wireless array and auxiliary DRADIS with the primaries still down. Fire control was currently on manual while the rest of the system was purged and reset, and the numerous other systems were still being worked on.
What had become clear to Sallis was just how lucky they were, she knew that many would have died, but they still had the station under their feet. While she was still receiving numerous horrific reports of damage, one thing was becoming clear and that was that it could have been a lot worse. Yet, if the Cylons found them again within the next half hour then they were fracked, they needed at least that long to get the FTL spooled again. Rubbing the grimy sweat from her face, Sallis prayed for whatever small miracle the Gods could bring.
Taskforce Deimos
Target Planet Deimos 4
Battlestars Arion and Therion
Arion: Rear-Admiral Hudson
08:28:54
"Drive coils 1 and 3 have just dropped down to safe temperatures, I've got a 3 degree drop in coil temperature and the coolant system is running stable. It's safe to bring the coils back online sir" Chief Engineer Harper spoke over the wireless.
Looking up from the damage reports from the destruction the breach of Water Reservoir Alpha had created, Admiral Hudson ordered "Thank you Chief, you have permission to bring the coils back online. How long until they are charged enough to jump?"
"10 minutes at least, I'd rather give it 15 minutes but 10 minutes will be okay. Calculating in charge time after our next jump we can easily get enough charge in those coils. By then the coils should be back to normal and we will have enough overall power backed up for two jumps between all four coils and we will get enough charge each jump for another."
Looking at the mission board, Hudson replied, "We only need enough power for 3 more jumps Chief, but any more you can get us will be appreciated just in case. Do you suggest using a backup jump point to buy some more time?"
"Negative sir, the primary jump points are doable. I'm sorry sir, I need to go…" without waiting for an answer the intercom clicked off.
His XO came approached from the wireless with his own report "Good news Admiral?"
Turning to him, Hudson replied "You can say that, the patch to the coolant for the jump drive is working. Coils one and three are being brought online as we speak. It doesn't look like we will need to abort."
Handing over a report, the XO said "Thank frak, although saying that I would have felt safer if we had. I've just received a report from Therion. They've found what was causing the variance in their own jump drive and thankfully have been able to correct it by running a bypass. Their entire system is pretty much cobbled together from salvaged parts right now, it's a wonder they can still jump, but, Commander Burkett says they are good to continue with the mission."
"Good, I want as many Marines and unnecessary crew patrolling all Category 1 through 3 areas, the last thing I want is that infiltrator killing any more of us and sabotaging the ship again."
The Helm operator called out "We'll be hitting jump point alpha to Deimos 5 in 30 seconds."
Moving back to the information management table, Hudson activated the intercom stating "All hands prepare for jump." 30 seconds later the Arion and Therion left behind a significant Cylon mining and manufacturing colony reeling from the nukes dropped upon it along with the multitude of Tylium missiles.
Pollonus
402km above POW camp
Raptor 122 Falcon and Lionheart
08:25:08
Raptor 122 appeared in a bright flash and no sooner had the squat little craft appeared, its FTL had started spooling. In front of the Pilot, painted wide across the canopy, the sandy dunes and radioactive mushroom clouds of Pollonus appeared. Below them the Colonials were in firm control of the POW camp loading the Colonial POWs onto the civilian transports while fighting for every inch of the camp headquarters. Around the planet in the handful of cities and military bases bombed by the Stealth Vipers, Raptors and Viper Gunships of Taskforce Liberty, the Cylons were still trying to pick themselves up with what few Raiders they had going out to get help.
Within the back of the Raptor, Lionheart was flicking through the wireless bands and the coded comm traffic, all while reading the transponders of the ships flying below them. In the cockpit, Falcon was using the surveillance package to get more detailed images of the wreckage in orbit and the camp and destroyed military bases on the ground.
All too soon they came to the same conclusion as Falcon announced "We need to get this back to Command. You done back there?"
"Yeah…frak…yeah I'm done."
Seconds later a flash lit up space as Raptor 122 jumped.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Astral Class Transport: Orion
Captain Chen
08:26:17
Landed next to the Astral class transport, Captain Chen was stood next to his Stealth Viper as it was refuelled from a 15,000 gallon wheeled Tylium storage tank. Several more pipes led away from the pump towards 4 more Vipers and 3 Raptors. On each Viper including Chens own Stealth Viper, maintenance crew were further refilling the onboard oxygen tanks, purging the CO2 filters and rearming the guns from pallets brought on the Orion. Across the landing ground at several other transports more Vipers and Raptors were being replenished.
Turning to look behind him, Chen watched as hundreds of freed prisoners were led onto the transports, many of them having been here and in other camps for 40 years since the end of the last war, others having only recently arrived. The new arrivals were easy to spot, many still wore Colonial Fleet uniforms having been captured by the Cylons from several ships and smaller stations that had been knocked out by the Cylon's hacking. A small handful were even from the planets or civilian ships the Cylons had taken over. Many of those now freed Colonial Fleet personnel saluted as they passed the pilots, marines and technicians of Taskforce Liberty. An hour ago they had no hope, the Fleet had been destroyed at Leonis, every planet save perhaps Leonis itself were now irradiated and in the Cylons hands, their Lords had abandoned them. But now, now they had hope thanks to the ongoing efforts of Taskforce Liberty. It had been bought with the blood of many but if the rest of the mission succeeded then it would be worth it to save the lives of many more.
In one corner of the landing ground under heavy armed guard from double their number in Marines were 22 captured Number Four Cylons with black satchels over their heads. In the camp square another 9 Number Fours were also in custody with orders to disable by any means any that tried to resist. Many of these Cylons carried wounds inflicted by the people they had once made prisoners, it was only through the intervention of some marines that they had been captured alive.
Near to the Cylon prisoners in the centre square a hastily erected command post had been set up with marine crated computers, wireless and DRADIS arrays connected to 3 landed Raptors in order to better coordinate the assault on the Prison Headquarters. This command post was being supported by another command post that was now up and running in a landed Fleet Atmospheric Shuttle in order to give the technicians time to take down the first command post while also maintaining an intelligence centre. High above Assault Raptors, Vipers, Stealth Vipers and Viper Gunships were circling ready to engage any Cylons that approached, while throughout the camp multiple gun batteries and missile batteries had been set up.
Looking around, Chen knew it was only a matter of time. The Cylons had already found the Orca once, since the Orca had escaped he had no doubt that they would be on their way here, the only question was how long would it take them.
Chen's wireless activated with the sound of "Ghost Lead/Command. Civilian Captain Tyler of the Orion reports that his DRADIS has picked up a bogey in orbit. No IFF but it was small, roughly 10m long. He couldn't get a clear image of it before it left due to the distance and atmospheric disturbances."
As he listened to the report, Chen knew his time was almost up, "Frak, it's a Cylon scout. All pilots/Ghost Lead, get in the air and prepare to hold off incoming enemy reinforcements. We won't have long until their arrival. Command, hurry those fracking Marines up and prepare for missile intercept."
A chorus of acknowledgements came over the wireless as Chen climbed into his cockpit pulling his helmet on. Around the Stealth Viper umbilicals and fuel lines were detached by the maintenance crew, and ammunition pallets were moved away on tracked vehicles. Powering up the ship and quickly running through the start-up procedure, Chen was in the air longer than he expected before the wireless broke in with "DRADIS contact, low orbit, range 350km directly above…that can't be right, check it…"
Hearing the confusion in the voice of HQ's comms operator, Chen looked at his own DRADIS which unfortunately wasn't powerful enough to reach up to orbit. Below and around him the freed prisoners were running faster to the transports, and the combat ships that had been engaged in UNREP, launched into the sky. While flipping over to the command DRADIS feed, Chen ordered "Command, what's going on?" while seeing what was causing their confusion on the DRADIS in front of him.
Even as he started to mouth the contact's IFF, his wireless broke in with a new signal "All Colonial forces this is the SDF Battlestar Sirocco…"
Pollonus
Pollonus Orbit, 353km above Camp Asphodel
SDF Battlestar Sirocco
Commodore Scipio
08:27:52
Commodore Robert Scipio stood tall in the aging CIC of the SDF Battlestar Sirocco. An aging Block II Artemis Class Battlestar constructed at Daedalus Station 45 years previously, she was one of the oldest warships still in service. The only reason she was still in service was that the Scorpion government had bought up the ship when it reached the end of its lifespan with the Colonial Fleet and incorporated it into their far smaller Scorpion Defence Fleet in order to monitor shipping and watch over their mining ventures. Each Colony had a small Defence Fleet, often referred to as Picket Fleets but the vast majority of these ships had been destroyed by the Cylons with only a few other ships escaping with Adama.
Looking around his CIC at the men and women in their black and red uniforms which bore similarities to a Colonial Fleet uniform, Commodore Scipio saw a more compact version of a Jupiter Class' CIC at less than half its size. His crew attentive to their tasks under the red emergency lighting. Listening into the wireless chatter as his comm officer Ensign Donnelly contacted the Colonial forces below while looking at the bands of wreckage on the DRADIS, the Commodore couldn't help but think to himself how coordinated this Colonial force must be to have taken out the defence satellites and numerous Cylon installations on the ground below. But he knew, this deep into Cylon territory it wouldn't be long before the Cylons arrived.
"Commander, their recognition codes check out. I have a Captain Chen of Ghost Squadron on the line, he is the operational lead for the forces down below" Ensign Donnelly informed him.
Picking up the hard black plastic phone, Commodore Scipio connected to the wireless channel, "Captain Chen this is Sirocco Actual here to render assistance. How long have you been here and what is your mission?"
"Actual/Ghost lead. It's good to hear your voice. We've been here 28 minutes and our mission given to us by Fleet Admiral Cain was to secure Colonial POWs from the planet. We are close to wrapping things up but could use your help holding off any Cylon reinforcements."
Listening to Chen's explanation, Scipio saw the surprised look on Ensign Donnelly's face as he listened in to the wireless chatter, and couldn't help but let the smile reach his own face at hearing the Battlestar Pegasus must have survived. But he needed confirmation. "The Pegasus survived Captain?"
On the other end of the wireless, Chen could hear the desperation in the old man's voice as he replied "Roger that sir. Pegasus, Therion, Arion and Praetoria survived and are with our fleet. More Colonial Fleet ships are suspected to be with Rear-Admiral Adama…" there was a clicking on the line as it went to dead air. Looking up Scipio saw Donnelly holding up a finger while working his board before the wireless came back on "Sorry about that sir, I needed this to be tightbeam until you have new encryption packets so the Cylons can't intercept our comms. All our old wireless encryption has been compromised. I'll be sending a Raptor to dock with you momentarily with the new codes. Until that Raptor crew verifies you are who you say you are and that you have no Cylon infiltrators aboard, I am unable to divulge to you the rest of our mission or mission and group specific details."
"I understand, but what do you mean 'cylon infiltrators'?"
"The Cylons can look like us now sir. There's a handful of identified human models. The Raptor crew will be bringing photos of those models courtesy of Leonis command." Hearing this, the elderly Commander Scipio looked up aghast.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Corporal Seth Hudson
08:33:05
Shoulder and body vibrating under the heavy recoil of his MGAT as it spat out round after round, Seth did his best to blink away the bead of grime-filled sweat that was beading on his eyebrow before rolling down to his eyelashes. He wasn't quite sure how long he had been in this firefight, fighting for every inch of ground, scrabbling to scavenge whatever ammunition he could off the dead and wounded since he had long ago ran out of his own. He'd been pulled into the battle to take the ground floor what felt like an hour previously but was in fact merely minutes ago. Onwards they had pushed forcing the crowding Centurions back and back, stepping on their chrome corpses as they crowded the halls and lobbies, offices and wards. And the wards?
The wards through which he was now fighting in, hiding behind what looked to be dialysis machines but were in fact something else as they worked on the numerous women currently strapped down to the beds. Around him were seven other marines currently in the ward with him having rushed in. At the door they had entered, while using what cover the wall could give, Former Police Lieutenant Tyler was firing away with her own MGAT while her soaked brown locks escaped from under the helmet. Her bullets stitched a line in the air above the patients strapped to the beds, her bullets aimed at the 18 Centurions covering two Number Fours as they tried to gather up the research they needed.
Cries of the couple of a few dozen women that were still somehow alive through all of this, filled the room mixing in with the sounds of the heavy firefight and the sounds of numerous firefights throughout the floor. Over all this noise, Seth still made out Sergeant Hadley's voice as she called out "ON THREE, COVER FIRE! THREE!"
As one Seth, Hadley and the six other Marines that had forced their way into the ward stood up. His gun was firing long before he realised, eyes and finger reacting faster than he could compute as he drew the barrel across the line of Centurions in front of him. These Centurions were smart, they used the cover of the beds and medical machines while the Marines unleashed a world of firepower around them. A handful of Centurions remained standing while covering the 2 Number Fours working at the scrolling red computers and returning fire at the Marines. From the doorway behind them, three marines pushed out with a Ballistic shield each in a line, these marines quickly followed by eight others including Tyler as they rushed to whatever cover they could.
As the Centurion's return fire drew closer to them, Seth and the remaining Marines sought cover themselves. With every breath he took as he crouched against the fractured medical machine, Seth was in agony, his cracked rib screaming its way into his body. The rest of him though felt numb as his entire BDU was dripping in sweat, he wanted to drink but his canteen had been holed long ago, he wanted…he wanted to live. His actions acted on automatic ejecting his clip, inserting a new one, and pulling back the firing bolt. Crouched next to him, Tyler looked over, her green eyes seeming to shine in the dim room and a look of shock blanching her pretty face. How many drug raids and crime busts had she been on he wondered? How could that compare to this? How much easier would it have been? I could have been a pilot, could have followed my family into the Fleet and not the Marines. How much easier it would be to fly rather than shoot through this shit?
His thoughts were cut short by Sergeant Hadley looking over and motioning orders for them to push further into the ward while under covering fire. Tapping Tyler on the shoulder he whispered to her the new orders before repeating the same motions to those marines taking cover at the next bed.
With the orders repeated, Seth looked at Hadley for her signal. Scurrying back from her own cover, Hadley arced her MGAT up, a rifle grenade at the end of its barrel. Firing she shouted "GO!"
All at once, Seth and a dozen other marines spun onto their feet and ran at a crouch down the aisles of hospital beds. Next to them, the female patients that were still alive weakly called out for help or cried in utter terror. Many female patients were bullet riddled corpses which Seth at that moment didn't fully recognise due to how focused he was on the Centurions at the end of the ward. Every one of these Centurions had reacted upon the grenade being shot towards them by turning their guns towards it in order to stop it from detonating amongst them. The reactions of a Cylon Centurion in combat were second to none, but their actions at that moment had left them vulnerable as the dozen marines rushed them while unleashing hell from their barrels.
The room was splitting into momentary bright lights of muzzle flashes as the Marines rushed forward at a crouch, every once in a while breaking the Cylons line of sight as they had been trained to do by slipping behind cover to come out on the other side at random. Several Centurions had reacted to this advance even before the concussive grenade detonated several metres from the Centurion line by turning their guns towards the Marines. Yet the Marines didn't let off as several snipers started to shoot between them from the entrance to the ward. Centurions went down from high calibre round to their heads and bodies, all the while their rounds covering the distance to the charging Marines. The zipping sound of near misses coming one after the other in Seth's hearing before he was momentarily knocked off balance by a glancing blow to a body plate.
In that brief fraction of a second before he got his feet back under him, he saw two marines collapse under a stream of rounds like mini firework explosions from their bodies. That fraction of a second was all Seth allowed himself as he carried his stumble to roll over one of the handful of empty beds and come up firing on the other side. The Centurion that had hit him hadn't anticipated this and certainly didn't anticipate the follow up rounds from Seth which connected with its body, neck and then head causing a multitude of sparks as it collapsed.
Continuing to push forward these last couple of dozen metres while his MGAT continued to shoot forth dozens of blinding rounds, Seth reacted faster than he could think as his gun clicked dry by dropping it and pulling free his recently procured Tauron Eagle courtesy of Ghost Squadron. Unused to the shiny heavy calibre sidearm, his first moving shot went wide as the recoil of the 50 calibre round threated to twist his wrist off. But as the metres fell away, he aimed at one of the last two firing Centurions and let loose a series of high impact rounds, the sound of thunder carrying from his barrel underscored by the lightning flash of the muzzle flash. Several more missed but a few hit. Against these rounds, the Cylon's armour burst apart, to be followed up by several more fracturing shots from the other marines. Down it went, its servos giving way as they lost input, its shiny carapace slipping off the table it used for cover until it finally collapsed in a heap on the floor.
The last Centurion had went down at the same time leaving only one Number Four scrabbling to pick up a sidearm. Next to this Four, the other one was collapsed over one of the computers, a hole in his head and the gun that inflicted it in its hand. Before the Four had time to bring the gun to bear – whether to shoot the Marines or to forcefully resurrect – a round fired the length of the room from one of the Snipers at the entrance hit the hand which held the gun. Blood and bone burst apart and the gun clattered to the table and onto the floor.
The nearby Marines that had ran the length of the room rushed him, pulling the Cylon across the table before knocking it out.
Slowing down and then stopping, Tauron Eagle heavy in his hand, Seth felt it all drip away as he dragged in breath after breath and turned to look around. Scattered shots went off as Marines double tapped the down Centurions but those shots were in the background to Seth, only his agonised breaths, the grime-filled sweat coating his body and the heavy pounding of his heart remained to him as he took everything in. Looking around, he saw the Marines with looks of shock painting their faces, he saw the bodies of fallen Marines being worked on. He saw the hundreds of scattered rounds and her saw the numerous female patients strapped to the beds and hooked up to the Cylon machines. It all seemed unreal to him, all seemed to be in slow motion as the many medics and corpsmen that had been waiting in the corridor rushed into the room to help the wounded and the patients. Outside he could vaguely hear the sounds of gunfire dying down, the resistance from the Cylons diminishing to a crawl, and then he was pulled back into the here and now.
"Command/Breacher 6," he made out Sergeant Hadley say into her wireless, "Ward 4 is secure, there's a couple of dozen survivors."
Turning to look at the Sergeant, her right eye socket almost completely black, that eye completely bloodshot and her face seemingly devoid of bloodflow, Seth made out the wireless operator state "Roger that Breacher 6, Target Alpha is secure. Cylon resistance has been destroyed. Gather any survivors, wounded and deceased, and grab all the intelligence you can and fall back to the courtyard. Good work." Before the operator had even finished, the reaction from all the Marines upon hearing they had secured the building and destroyed the Cylon resistance was the same; shock.
Pollonus
Pollonus Orbit
SDF Battlestar Sirocco
Commander Scipio
08:38:18
Walking onto the port hangar deck as a Viper and a Raptor were wheeled in, Commander Scipio nodded to the dozen Scorpion Marines that were awaiting the two Colonial Fleet ships. Around them were a dozen or so technicians dressed similarly to Colonial Fleet technicians as well as several Mk-IV and V Vipers, a Block I and Block II Raptor, themselves hand-me-downs from the Colonial Fleet.
Carefully watching as the hatch of the Raptor opened on its hydraulics as the Marines nervously held their weapons, Robert watched as two sand and smoke smeared Colonial Marines stepped out onto the wing, their gaze passing over every face they saw checking for any known infiltrators. As the two marines said something to a Pilot inside the Raptor, they stepped down onto the deck to be followed by the pilot.
Spotting Commodore Scipio, the pilot approached while taking off his helmet revealing just how young he was. Stopping in front of the Commodore, the pilot saluted "Lieutenant Victor Hudson callsign Crash, Battlestar Arion. Permission to come aboard Commodore?"
"Granted, welcome to the Scipio, it's a warming sight to see the Colonial Fleet still alive" Robert replied as he saluted the pilot.
"And kicking sir, we're hitting back at the Cylons with everything we have today. One moment please…" Tapping the wireless device attached to his ear which was connected to the Raptor's comm, Victor spoke into it "Command/Crash. Diamond, I repeat Diamond. They're human I can't see any toasters, biological or otherwise."
Recognising the safeword for what it was and knowing that he would have done the same thing had the roles been reversed and he knew about the Cylon infiltrators, Robert was unable to make out the reply from the troops on the ground. Turning back to the Marines, Crash ordered "Bring the information packets and the data." Receiving a nod, the marines quickly retrieved a box filled with several folders and a locked metal box.
Giving them to one of the Sirocco's marines, Crash pointed to the metal box, "this contains new comm cyphers to be installed immediately as well as rendezvous coordinates…" then taking a folder and handing it to the Commodore whom opened it to reveal several photos, Crash continued "…and this contains the images of all known Cylon infiltrators courtesy of Leonis Command. There are six models to our knowledge, and there are multiple copies of each model."
Leafing through the photos, Commodore Scipio muttered "Frak me, it's true then?"
Nodding Victor answered "Yes sir, they infiltrated the Fleet and must have gotten into parts of the government too, they were responsible for multiple acts of sabotage and the downfall of the fleet. Also, if you haven't already done so, you need to remove the CNP."
Seeing the seriousness on Victor's face, Robert replied "Look around kid, does it look like Scorpia would have forked out for the CNP? Marine, get Ballard and the rest of your people to go over these, if he recognises anyone then I want them apprehended on sight, do not wait for my order."
Turning back to Victor, Commodore Scipio started "well kid, you might have saved our fle…" Claxons broke through along with flashing red emergency lighting as the ship went from condition two to condition one.
Over the speakers came "Set condition one throughout the ship, all pilots launch, Commodore Scipio report to the CIC, multiple Cylon contacts inbound!" Around them the deck crew pushed the planes to the launch tubes and lifts while pilots started running into the hangar and the alert Vipers launched, the Cylons had arrived.
Taskforce Phobos
Target Planet Phobos 5
Battlestars Pegasus and Praetoria
Pegasus: Admiral Cain
08:42:57
With a final launch of nuclear missiles from both Pegasus and Praetoria towards the manufacturing colony, Cain watched as each deadly cylinder propelled itself away from the Battlestars on a column of thrust. Soon each cylinder would batter its way down through the atmosphere of this mostly sea-filled planet they were running from. Through the skies with streams of plasma they would dive and towards the lone continent and its many manufacturing plants whether they were on the mostly flat land or on platforms floating on the sea.
As the two warships streaked away from the planet and to their jump point, Cain double-checked the DRADIS monitors ensuring the Cylons didn't jump in any Basestar's. The last ambush had taken a lot from the Cylons, but she would be a fool to think they wouldn't try anything again. For now though, she hoped she was right in her reasoning that it would take the Cylons longer than a jump to pull themselves together.
Receiving the preliminary damage and casualty reports from Colonel Belsen, Cain counted the number of guns she was down, the damage to the hull plating and the minor damage to her number 3 thruster. She knew it could have been a lot worse, had just a couple more missiles hit them at the speed they were travelling, had they not changed course to avoid the column of missiles, then they would have been destroyed. Looking ahead as she nodded at Belsen to make this last jump be to relative safety, Cain hoped that Admiral Hudson hadn't been caught in a trap like she was, she hoped that they could make this into a complete victory. She hoped.
The Battlestars Pegasus and Praetoria jumped.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Camp Asphodel
Corporal Hudson
08:41:20
"Cylon Raiders inbound, all marine units not on AA retreat, all marine units not on AA retreat!" Hearing the call go out over the wireless, Seth went from walking through the camp while guarding the medics with their female charges to calling out for everyone to hurry towards the square and the transports and Raptors waiting there. Hot sand was licking at his face, clinging to his skin and making it like sandpaper and the strong smell of smoke lingered in the air. But all that fell away as the hundreds of marines, freed females and high profile prisoners, prisoners of war and wounded alike all started rushing down the packed streets towards the square.
Chancing a glance up as he jogged as hard as his battered beleaguered body would allow, Hudson saw the streaks of Vipers and Assault Raptors go skyward. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he was sure he saw the glint of several Raiders.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Lieutenant Vienna "Burn" Hudson
08:41:31
The Viper shaking under her as she hit column of rising black smoke, Vienna passed through it while risking a glance at the camp below her. While much of it had already been evacuated to the ships sat on the ground, only minutes before had they managed to secure the camp headquarters and hundreds of prisoners and marines were streaming from it. They looked like ants to her as they ran down the wide streets towards the couple of transports sat in the square, but she knew they weren't ants, she knew her brother if he was still alive was down there somewhere. She had to give him a chance.
Pulling hard on her stick to bring up her Vipers nose, she felt herself be pushed back into her seat as she flew towards the distant collection of Raiders. Her eyes almost closed as she flew into the sun, the canopy failing to fade fast enough, she was blinded as she tried to spot the enemy planes as were many other pilots. Streaking past her fast and close enough to rock her Viper in its turbulence came a rocket fired by one of the groundside AA positions. She couldn't keep up with it as it stormed ahead, reaction jets firing, sending it on a corkscrew spin to mess with the Raiders aiming. In brief seconds an explosion littered the burning skies above her. Around her she could make out more and more red black and orange explosions as more rockets hit their targets and then, as quick as a spark, she pressed her trigger as a streak of chrome passed in front of her Viper firing its own shells at her.
Pulling hard to her starboard she somehow managed to avoid the hits and watched as plumes of black smoke followed the Raider. Flames caught billowing along the fuselage, and like a firework it exploded in midair. Flying around the explosions, Burn was now able to see. Opening up her engines she tore towards two Raiders going on an attack run on the camp. Plumes of shrapnel started buffeting the air ahead as the AA guns of the camp came online, the suddenness of it taking out one of the Raiders before it could react.
Racing towards the second Raider that had twisted to avoid the incoming fire, Burn pulled into the deadly shrapnel filled clouds, her breath coming in fast, the Raider just out of range of her guns. Glancing at the DRADIS, she saw another two Raiders closing in on her from behind, her allies far away holding off the main force of them. Streaks slipped past her cockpit canopy as shells tore past, pushing down on her stick and corkscrewing as best she could, Burn put all the power she could into her engines and felt at least 9G pressing her back into her seat like an Elephant was standing on her. The G force was constantly being upped, she felt like her eyes were deforming and her hand was doing everything it could to hold tight to the stick. The entire Viper bucked as an AA round clipped her wing and then another, then streaks of rounds passed her cockpit fired from one of the two Raiders behind, so close.
Diving harder, pushing the Viper as hard as she could as the Raider ahead opened its missile bay, the DRADIS screamed a radiological alarm. Finger squeezing the trigger she let loose with her autocannons, three constant streaks of golden firepower, the vibration of their release rocking the ship. Ahead they flew, stitching space behind the Raider before she pulled up enough to completely cover its body in shot after angry shot cracking its hull and splitting the ship into two bloody pieces.
Even as the sky around her was covered in missed shots by the Raiders on her tail, she felt one or two of the shots connect with her top thruster which boomed as it lost power. Thrown into a spin by the explosion, Burn barely managed to use the momentum of the spin to pull the ship in a 180 degree turn – something which is death defying in atmosphere, and sometimes nigh impossible. Firing as soon as she could knowing she wouldn't have a second chance, her shots stayed true hitting the first ones cockpit and causing the second to pull up out of the line of her shots and into the firing line of the groundside AA batteries. But her previous momentum was carrying as her Viper dropped to the ground below, somersaulting along the way.
Turning into the fall, cutting thrust until her nose was pointing to the ground, she increased thrust and flew into the fall before gently pulling up and out of the dive ready to join the battle above.
Pollonus
Pollonus Orbit
Command Basestar
08:41:15
William Cavil could only look at the screen in front of him in shock which he had been doing a lot in the past hour. The Colonials shouldn't have been able to take over the POW camp below them, let alone take out most of their colonies and foundry worlds, not with what they had, and then this.
Looking up at the others he stated "Please do not tell me that is the Scorpian fracking Defence Fleet Battlestar Sirocco!"
Anton Doral looked up from his own data saying, "It would appear so, her fleet can't be far behind…"
Closing his eyes while squeezing his hand into a fist, Cavil said between clenched teeth "A forty-odd year old Battlestar has somehow managed to get 14 ships halfway through our territory without us noticing. Let that sink in, and let the fact that Cain managed to gather so much intel on our planets too. Just what the frak fleet have our ships been following past the Expanse if not the Sirocco fleet?" Rubbing his face as he considered his actions, he had just two Basestars here, the third had been destroyed while attacking the Orca. Across Cylon space there were currently 9 other Basestars capable of fighting, with the rest being deployed in the Colonies or with his Brothers running down Adama, two smaller fleets running down survivors and what apparently was a phantom fleet seeing as it was in Cylon space. A final fleet searching what at the time was seen as a likely route for Cain.
"Dispatch Raiders to the rest of our fleet with orders to scour our territory for Sirocco's fleet. Maybe we'll get lucky and find what's left of the Orca. And we press the attack here, I want that Battlestar taken out, send our Raiders to deal with the troops on the ground."
The remaining Cylons nodded at the orders and got to work.
Pollonus
Pollonus Orbit
SDF Battlestar Sirocco
08:42:45
Having just reached the CIC, Commodore Scipio took in the DRADIS feeds showing the two newly arrived Basestars already unleashing at least 400 Raiders and Heavy Raiders. Missiles were streaking towards the aging Battlestar which had turned it's starboard side to them while firing off a wall of flak. From the Sirocco, two squadrons worth of planes were still taking off, their reaction times slightly slower than Colonial Fleet.
Turning to his XO Colonel Lisbeth Keats, Scipio ordered "Have Challenger Squadron divert to intercept any Raiders going to the camp below, we need to buy them whatever time we can. Tiger Squadron…" Scipio saw a change in the Cylon's tactics as pretty much all the Raiders diverted towards the planet "Have Tiger Squadron flights 1 through 3 divert and reinforce Challenger, flight 4 is on missile and heavy raider intercept duties."
Feeling the batteries opening up as the vibration carried through the pocket Battlestar, Scipio called out manoeuvring orders to stop the Basestars bracketing them. Watching the DRADIS, he couldn't help but feel that the number two Basestar was sluggish, slow to turn and slower to move. Over calls of Radiological Alarm, Scipio ordered "Focus fire on Basestar 2 central section." As the radiological warning went out, he couldn't help but wish for just one nuclear missile, it didn't even need to be a big one.
Dozens of missiles out of hundreds fired against his ship managed to get through the wall of flak he was throwing up, each one crashing and exploding against the armour.
"Commodore, wireless is up, I have Captain Chen on the line…" the wireless operator called out.
Picking up the handset, Robert answered "Sirocco Actual, go ahead."
"Commodore, we're about ready to pull out here. We need another minute to land the vipers unable to jump if you can buy it as well as any Raptors you can spare to get our last marines manning the defences."
Waving his XO onto the line while seeing the inbound nukes wink out of existence. Scipio answered "I'm jumping 7 Raptors to you, we'll start pulling back our Viper's in 30 seconds. You will have maybe 30 to 40 seconds after that to get your people off the ground."
"Affirmative, I'm sending safe jump coordinates for them. Thank you. Chen out."
Outside, Basestar 1 was moving over the Battlestar as it moved to the portside while firing out every missile it could, in return a new field of flak opened up on the portside of the ship to block these missiles. The handful of Vipers that stayed with their lone mothership chased down several Heavy Raiders intent on boarding her, all while the guns of the small Battlestar repeatedly pummelled the centre of Basestar 2. Seven small ships then departed from the Battlestar's flightpods before disappearing in flashes of light as they jumped.
All too soon the Vipers dispatched by the Battlestar started to return, for once absent of a Raider pursuit as the Raiders instead stormed towards the camp below.
Pollonus
Taskforce Liberty
Camp Asphodel
Corporal Seth Hudson
08:43:58
The heavylift engines of the many transport ships and atmospheric transports started whining as they rose into the air ahead of him from both the landing grounds and the square, with the last of the Mk-VII Vipers they had brought landing on their decks. Upwards they rose before winking out with loud cataclysmic bangs. Streaks were streaming into the sky from dozens of AA batteries as well as the screaming of rockets as they left their launchers. Most of the defences were on automatic, with those that had manned them either already at the square or being picked up elsewhere by a Raptor. Around Seth there were few people, and those that were there were the marines that had stayed the longest in order to let the former POWs on the ships first.
As he stood there waiting for transport from one of the many Raptors, he couldn't help but look around them at what they had accomplished. Tens of thousands saved, hundreds of Centurions destroyed…and no doubt hundreds marines killed and wounded. Above them glints of light in the distant sky marked hundreds of Raiders as they closed on the camp and, occasionally, an explosion as a rocket hit one or one of the handful of Viper Gunships and Stealth Vipers did. He was too far away to see the missiles launched by those same Raiders, but it would take time for the missiles to hit the ground.
As he looked skyward, with sandy wind batting at his face and pulling at his clothing, seven spots of light split the sky several hundred metres above as a collection of old Block II Raptors arrived. Thrusters whining as they descended around the camp joining with the Raptor Ultras which had already been flying towards the group of marines. Each Raptor and Raptor Ultra settling to the ground while kicking out a blast of dust. One by one the Marines rushed forward to the refuge the multitude of ships provided, each Marine helping the next on, and each one seemingly glancing back at the hell they were leaving. Helped onto his Raptor by Tyler, Seth looked behind him and saw he was the last one on the ground.
Grabbing hold of the hatch and taking a last look at the camp as the Raptor started to rise, Seth saw the full extent of the devastation Taskforce Liberty had unleashed. Hundreds of craters and burning buildings filled the camp, watchtower were smoking ruins, the headquarters covered in fractured walls, smoke billowing from inside, and several smoking wrecks around the camp. In other areas AA batteries and missile batteries still fired their wares at the incoming Raiders, hundreds of Chrome Cylon corpses littered the camp, headquarters and landing grounds, but not one Colonial body was being left behind.
Taking in a deep agonising breath, Seth pulled the hatch closed, and within seconds the last ships of Taskforce Liberty departed followed shortly after by the SDF Battlestar Sirocco.
To be continued...Later today (Seriously the next chapter is being proofread and then going up within 24 hours. It's part 3 of this operation)