DR: Back again, with another fleet clash. The end is coming for the Alliance...

Chapter 30: Let Slip the Dogs of War

"Colonel? We've received a message from the Rosetta. The mission was accomplished, the facility destroyed. No losses, and they have rescued a number of captives from the base. Surviving Alliance personnel were marooned on the planet for the time being."

"Acknowledge." Achilles replied, eyes not straying from the view ahead. "Inform Captain Athena that she is to bring her ships back to the fleet."

"Aye sir."

For a few moments Achilles was silent, eyes slightly narrowed. "Any change in hostile fleet's formation?" He barked.

"Negative sir. They are maintaining course and speed. Gunships are deployed in a defensive formation. No sign of fighter launches yet." The sensor officer answered.

Achilles nodded. They had picked up this Alliance fleet the previous day, heading towards them on a direct intercept course. Conference with the other ship captains confirmed that this fleet comprised the bulk of the Alliance military forces. Clearly, they had called in every ship they could get.

He turned his head a little back towards his crew. "Are we receiving any kind of transmission from the Alliance?"

"Nothing directed at us sir. There's a lot of inter-ship traffic though, mostly originating from the rearmost Judgement class vessel."

'Hmmm... likely the fleet Commanders' ship...' "Gunnery control, mark that ship. I want to be able to target it at a moments notice."

"Aye sir."

Achilles frowned. 'What are you planning?' he mused, staring at the tiny flecks that marked the Alliance fleet. 'What are you thinking? Are you here to capture, or destroy? Are you going to demand a surrender, or are you going to come in guns blazing?'

"Sir, we're picking up targeting scans. Engine emissions have doubled."

"Sound the alert!" Achilles snapped, striding back to his podium. "Helm, bring us up to half speed. Communications, inform the fleet that they are to hold back for now. We need them to give us legitimacy here."

As the bridge worked to put his orders into effect, Achilles turned his chair to face the rear of the bridge. Apollo and Sheba were stood there, watching and waiting.

"Feel free to deploy your gunships Major." Achilles spoke aloud to them, a small smile on his lips. Apollo nodded grimly, while Sheba had a feral gleam in her eye as they exited the bridge.

"Sir, we're detecting fighter launches!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Admiral Koyotan was stood at the Command Point on board his Judgement cruiser, the expanse of space opening up before him. Ahead he could see the other four Judgements formed up ahead of his ship in a loose square. At the edges of his vision the wall of Unity class cruisers were slowly falling back; they did not have the raw speed of the Judgements. He knew that the Storm cruisers were formed up behind the Unity's, waiting for the order to charge into the fray, while the Lancers were ready to swing around the flanks and cut off the rebels retreat. It was going to be a glorious day!

He refocused his eyes on the slivers of colour that marked the rebel fleet. Scans had already confirmed that a Unity and a Lancer had thrown in their lot with the rebels. They would be punished with extreme prejudice.

As reports of the fighter squadrons successful deployment came in, a evil smirk formed on his face. From his seven Storm's and five Judgements, he was fielding no less than forty-eight squadrons, a little over seven hundred fighters. While they couldn't kill anything but the weakest warship, they could cripple any craft, destroying weapon emplacements and damaging drive systems. His eight gunship wings would sweep whatever fighters they could put up out of the sky...

"Admiral, the lead ship in their fleet is advancing ahead of the main rebel force. Fighter and gunship sized craft are deploying from it."

"Identify it." He barked harshly.

"Scanning now sir... sir, we have a match for primary target."

Koyotan shook his head in confusion. It made no sense to send one ship alone to fight off a fleet, no matter how powerful. The only reason... "What are the rest of the rebel scum doing?" He yelled out, a tinge of worry in his voice.

"Rebel fleet continues to advance at previous rate sir. No change in course or speed."

Koyotan frowned. 'This makes no sense! They are hopelessly outgunned!' Before he could give any more orders however, a powerful hail came over the comms system.

"Attention Alliance Fleet, this is the Colonial Battlecruiser Thunderchild. We advise you to stand down now. The Alliance government is cowardly and cruel. It is a bloodthirsty dictatorship, one that must fall for the sake of the people. It is to the people that your oaths of loyalty are to, not to any one government! We do not wish to destroy you, but if you press your attack we will have no choice. Don't die for a cause that's not worth your lives. Stand aside."

Koyotan snarled. How dare they broadcast a message like that?! He furiously stabbed a hand down onto the panel before him, opening an open channel.

"You will pay for your treacherous thoughts! All ship's, commence attack! If you do not attack the rebels, then you will be destroyed too!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Apollo sighed as he cut off the open channel from the Alliance force's leader. "Achilles was right: we have to destroy them."

"I know." Sheba reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder. "I don't like it any more than you do, but they are leaving us no choice."

"I know." Apollo reached up with his other hand to clasp hers, before letting go to grasp the pair of control yokes used in the gunship. "Okay..." He flicked the switch to open a squadron channel. "...Things are about to get ugly, so here's how we stay alive. Darkstar's Three and Four, support Red Squadron."

"On it sir." The two gunships banked away, engines brilliant white as they kicked in their turbos.

"Darkstar's Five and Six, you're on close escort duty. Anything that gets past Thunderchild's defences are yours."

"Copy that." The young pilot of Darkstar Five answered as the two gunships piloted by less experienced crews fell back.

"Darkstar Two, you're with me." Apollo finished his orders as he turned the gunship towards where Blue Squadron was forming up.

"Right with you Major."

Apollo had to admit, the Darkstar was a lot better than the Freedom had been. That ship had been an experiment at first, then rushed into combat when the Cylon armada was sighted. Its design and materials just were not up to the stresses imposed by combat conditions with Colonial systems.

The Darkstar, built from the design up as a gunship using Colonial technology, was a much more robust beast. By using a proven Colonial design layout, the engineers knew how to get the maximum strength out of the hull.

They had also taken on board all of Apollo's comments and thoughts regarding the Freedom, and incorporated them into the Darkstar's design. Turbo's had been installed into the main engine array at the stern, and to add extra power when needed the rear of each side pod had an oversized zoidian ion booster built within. Firing both the Turbos and the boosters at the same time created enormous acceleration, more than the force shield could fully handle.

As Apollo eased the gunship into the midst of the Vipers, they got a hail. "Hey Apollo, great to have you back."

Apollo smiled. "How's the squadron Starbuck?"

"Ready and eager to get going."

Apollo looked ahead, towards the growing slivers that were the Alliance ships. Tiny notes, hundreds of them, marked where a wall of fighters was advancing on them. The sensor screen was filled with them. "How's it looking Sheba?" He called over his shoulder.

"They're using Cylon tactics." She replied, cool and calm, with a slight hint of surprise in her voice. "Trying to overwhelm us."

"Yea... with targets." Starbuck put in. He then sighed. "These guys are no match for us, even with a two-to-one advantage."

"Well, this times its ten-to-one." Sheba cut in. "They're not all coming in at once though. They've straggled out, likely intending to hit us in waves. First group has a squadrons worth of craft plus a dozen gunships. Second group is ten seconds after then, two squadrons worth only."

"Okay Blue Squadron, everyone lock a hostile. We'll give this first bunch a missile volley, then turn and burn for the second set. Apollo, mind cleaning up what is left?"

Apollo grinned. "I'm always cleaning up after you Starbuck." Behind him Sheba chortled in amusement.

Ahead the closing Alliance craft began to take form, the larger gunships interspersed in the midst of the smaller fighters. As Apollo watched the range fall, he hoped that the pilots would not engage...

Then the gunships fired, missiles leaving the rails under their sweeping wings and pushing forwards, leaving trails of gases behind them.

"Set to Fire & Forget, and... fire!" Apollo sighed as he triggered his own missiles, locked onto one of the Gunships.

The Colonial missiles leapt forwards, bright blue exhaust plumes flaring. They rocketed forwards at incredible rates, rapidly out pacing the Vipers, who were already turning towards the second wave. Apollo continued after the missiles, diving for the heart of the formation ahead, which was only just starting to react to the Vipers change of course... and the wall of missiles heading for them.

Apollo closed his eyes as the first one detonated, acutely aware that each craft was piloted not by a machine, but a flesh and blood human, just like him. As such he didn't see the chain of explosions that tore the Alliance formation to ribbons, tearing apart most of the fighters and several gunships. Several were sent swirling into space, broken and twisted.

The sound of the heavy turret guns firing prompted him to open his eyes again, and with a firm grip on the controls he dipped the nose a little and dove towards the remaining craft.

Most of the fighters broke off and fled back towards their homes, their will to fight broken by the wholesale destruction that had surrounded them. One gunship began to follow, but was blown apart by one of its own. Eyes narrowed, Apollo headed right for the killer, priming his heavier set of lasers. The gunship was turning back to fight when he fired, twice. The first set blasted the nose and cockpit off, the second struck the engines and transformed the whole craft into a fireball.

The few remaining fighters tried to attack, their gas powered railguns spitting slugs that bounced off the shields. In reply the smaller laser turrets sent back a torrent of crimson death, tearing the smaller craft apart.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Admiral Koyotan was shaking with rage as he watched the on going fighter battle. His force was being cut to pieces! Whole squadrons dived into both rolling dogfights, emerging back out as only a couple of fighters, most of which broke away and fled for their home ships. On his orders, several of the Unity's had used their weapons to destroy those cowards. Desertion equalled death. He noted that three of the Unity's had not fired, and he had their names logged. When this was over, those captains were going to be court-martialled!

The unknown ship, their primary target, was still advancing, coming right down the middle between the two swirling dogfights. Behind him he could hear his crew preparing to fire the Judgement's heavy missiles, powerful enough to blast a Unity's tower apart.

He looked at the screen showing the layout of his fleet. The judgements were where they should, at the fore. The Unity's were slowly falling back; they were more suited for long range fire support. The Storms were easing up, ready to charge...

Mostly. Three of the Unity's were falling behind their counterparts, and five of his Storms were also lagging behind. Nearly all the Lancers were moving slowly too...

"Get me fleet wide!" He yelled out. Once the chime sounded that the channel was open, he all but bellowed into the mike.

"Press the attack you cowards! Stop lagging behind, or you will be..."

He was cut off however when from the distant sliver of metal that was the strange hostile ship burning blue-white darts lashed out in pairs. Several converged on the Lawgiver, and the Judgement visibly shuddered. A bright flare marked an impact point near the starboard missile bays, and then the entire section blew outwards in a hail of metal and flame. The cruiser began to tumble, more strikes tearing her engines apart.

Koyotan's throat was dry as he watched one of his ships being torn apart. "All ships... close in! We must avenge..."

"Sir!" One of his officers yelled out, panic in his voice. "Our fighter and gunships wings have been routed! Enemy fighters and gunships are closing with our warships!"

"Then we will swat them from the skies like the gnats they are!" Koyotan snarled, whirling on the officer.

"But sir... our ships are not capable of fending off..."

In a fit of rage Koyotan drew his sidearm and fired. The bullet caught the officer in the throat, pitching him back over his chair to slam onto the deck, gasping for breath even as he drowned in his own blood. The other bridge officers looked on in horror.

"There will be no talk of defeat or surrender in MY fleet!" Koyotan screamed. "Now... attack that ship!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

The blue grey bulk of a Storm flashed by underneath him, fires erupting from wherever his lasers struck. Sheba had the ventral lasers hammering the cruisers defensive weapons, while the dorsals reduced to scrap any fighter that tried to stop them.

As he pulled up, Apollo cast his eyes about. On his orders, the pilots were focusing their attentions on the more aggressive ships in the Alliance fleet. A number of ships had fallen back, becoming isolated from the others. Hoping those ones wishing not to fight, Apollo had ordered those ships left alone, for now.

The Vipers were darting about the much larger craft like tiny sharks attacking a pod of whales, their lasers tearing chunks out of them. Already several ships were struggling to manoeuvre, and with each attack run another weapon was removed. Several of the frigates had changed course and were attempting to hold back the Colonial attack, but the Vipers were too fast, while the other Darkstars were taking the thin skinned frigates to pieces.

Yet the real killer was closing steadily. Thunderchild was cruising in, and already her weapons were striking out. One Judgement was now a hulk, and a Unity was drifting in two separate parts after the battlecruiser broke her back.

One of the Unitys began to slow, turning hard away from the closing warship. But before Apollo could order off the Viper's harrying it, two missiles launched from the central Judgement, where they had triangulated the Alliance Commander was. Apollo gaped in horror as he realised where they were heading.

"All vipers, break away!" He cried into the comm, acting on his own words and blasting away from the Storm at full power. All around the Alliance fleet Vipers rocketed away on full turbos.

The two heavy missiles smashed into the Unity cruiser from behind, crashing into the lower rear sections of the main towers. The twin detonations tore the central region of the cruiser apart, sending the outer sections flying even as secondary explosions tore them apart from within.

"Lords of Kobol...they just killed their own people..." one of the Viper pilots breathed in shock.

Apollo hardened his heart and focused on the Judgements, noting how the second group of ships had picked up speed and were closing...

X-X-X-X-X-X

Koyotan smiled cruelly as he saw the other ships began to pick up the pace. A demonstration of what happened to traitors always brought people into line.

He ignored the damage reports coming from his own crew and the other ships. All he cared about was hurting the craft that was now clearly visible out the window. He gazed with contempt at the angular, geometric design, with its hard angles and long flat planes. He scoffed at the side pods; why would anyone of intelligence leave sections the ship hanging out like that?

One thing he could not ignore or belittle were the weapons fire it was spitting out. Those blue-white bolts were tearing his ships apart. But there were only six weapons, and he had many ships. Soon they would be able to target those weapons directly, and then...

His thoughts came to a screeching halt when a pair of orange-red beams leapt from either side of the ship's prow and slammed into one of the other Judgements. Within a second the hull had caved in, and the beams sliced right through the ships internals. What little that was left of the Judgement after the beams carved through it was torn apart by secondary blasts.

Koyotan was stunned, but before he could vent his rage, another officer called out in panic. "Sir! Our ships that fell back are attacking the fleet! They are not responding to hails! Orders?"

Koyotan swayed, shocked to his core. Numbly he pulled a small device from his pocket. Bringing it up to his face, he dragged his eyes away from the alien ship that was carving a second Judgement apart to look at it. It was a simple black cube with a covered switch on one side. He knew that activating that switch meant his death...

'Damn you all to hell!' He thought as he flicked the switch...

X-X-X-X-X-X

A few thousand kilometres away, seven jet black, bio-mechanically altered ships drifted, awaiting a signal. When Koyotan flipped that switch, it triggered the beacon that alerted the Nightbringers that they were needed. Powering up, they engaged their drives and roared towards the battle, with standing orders to destroy everything...

Harry: Oh oh....

Hermione: *Meep* (Hugs Harry tighter)

O'Neill: You said it.