The Battle of Hades and Misery
Captain Theresa Leyton always felt a thrill when her Viper cleared the launch tube and hit open space. But this time, things were different. To begin with, the space beyond was not entirely open. Added to that was her rank. She had only been made Captain – and squadron leader – two days ago. And then there was the fact that they were the first wave in Xanthi's first one-on-one brawl. All of this accumulated in a tingling sensation in her fingers. She looked around and saw that all eleven of her squad-mates were with her. It made her feel a lot better. Then the first toaster flew into Dradis range. She activated the wireless.
"Okay, boys and girls, formation Delta One." She took the safeties off her guns. "Weapons free, we've got work to do."
As she got acknowledgements from the others, the sensation in her fingers ebbed away. Then they entered weapons range and all hell broke loose.
Battlestar Xanthi – CIC – Day 1506, 0802
Magnus played with the one Cubit-coin as he watched the Vipers engaged the Raiders. At the same time, he was keenly aware of the closing Basestar. He gave Mitchell a look, but he didn't need to give any orders. She was already getting the weapons ready.
"Third wave of Vipers going in now, sir." Miller said.
"Time to Basestar contact ?" Magnus said.
"Seventeen seconds, Commander." Mitchell said. "All weapons ready."
He looked at the Dradis display, but saw the situation in his mind. Xanthi in the Shadows, the Basestar in the heat and the Vipers fighting the Raiders in between. He turned to the helm station.
"Helm, change course to 205 carom 82. Rotate her twenty degrees on her Y-axis."
"Yes, sir. Changing course now. Rotation in ten seconds…five….and now !"
Xanthi turned and rolled. She was now ideally positioned, with her main guns at a thirty degree angle towards their target. Then the Basestar opened up with everything she had.
"Incoming !" Miller said. "Artillery and four nukes, sir."
"Focus on shooting down the nukes. We can take the artillery."
"Yes, sir." Came several replies.
The Xanthi opened up with everything she had and took down three of the incoming nukes. But the last one hit and exploded…
Eight of their Vipers had been blasted to pieces by the Cylon opening salvo. The survivors had let rip, but it was not enough. So now they were playing cat-and-mouse between the rocks of the Hades Asteroid Field. At the moment, Captain Leyton was dodging two Raiders.
"Come on, Theresa, think."
She took a sharp starboard turn, barely dodging a salvo from the toasters. A huge rock appeared ahead and she moved around it. One of the Raiders went around it to starboard, while the other went to port. They barely avoided hitting one another. Leyton saw her chance and did a one-eighty. She fired a burst and both Raiders went up. But now she was flying backwards. So she didn't see the next rock. The one that was heading straight for her…
The ship had rattled under the impact, but the armor had kept out the bulk of the radiation, What had gotten through, had ended up in the dry-bulk storage, spoiling a large portion of the ship's food supply. But that was a problem for later. For now, Magnus had to focus on getting the Xanthi through this battle. He turned to Mitchell.
"Status of the Raptors ?"
"The first wave is heading out now, sir." Mitchell began. "We're also preparing another wave of Vipers."
"Good. But it's time to hit them with something harder. Release nuclear weapons is now authorized. Weapons officer, prep launch tubes one through six."
"Yes, sir." Said Mitchell and the weapons officer.
The weapons officer – Lieutenant Andrea DeSalle – gave the prep orders and soon the tubes were loaded. In the meanwhile, the Vipers and Raptors had launched.
"Missiles loaded in tubes one through six." DeSalle said.
"Tell the birds to get clear, then open the doors."
"Opening the doors, sir."
"Load target packet. Entering targeting solution for the Basestar."
"Loading target packet. Entering targeting solution for the Basestar."
"Packet loaded, sir."
Before Magnus could give the next order, something really bad happened. A second Basestar jumped in. Now things were really going to get ugly.
Leyton was still moving backwards. There was no sign of any Raiders, but she knew that they were out there. Then the rock appeared.
"Frak !" She yelled as she pulled the stick to the left. "Blood rock pile !"
Her Viper barely cleared the rock and the move pushed her deep into her chair, courtesy of heavy G-forces. As soon as she was past, she turned her Viper around. Two second after she did, an energy discharged barely missed her bird.
"Crap ! A firecracker !" She took a couple of deep breaths to slow down her racing heart. "Of course, that's it !"
A smile formed on her face. She had a plan to nail these bastards.
The second Basestar also opened up with everything she had. Magnus knew Xanthi couldn't defeat two Basestars, so they had to get out of here, and do so now.
"Time to speed this up." He turned to DeSalle. "You know what to do, Lieutenant."
"Aye, commander. Warhead and launch safeties disabled."
Next, Magnus and Mitchell quickly keyed in their command codes. DeSalle then quickly got the launch key. Mitchell put it in the proper slot.
"Release nuclear weapons is now authorized. Fire tubes one through six !"
Mitchell turned the key and five seconds later, all six nukes launched. Magnus turned to the Helm station. (He had no intention of waiting to see what happened with the nukes.)
"Take her to course one-eight-two carom two-eight."
"Yes, sir." The Helmsman said. "Course one-eight-two carom two-eight."
Xanthi turned to the new course, which put the Field between her and the Basestars. But Magnus knew it only bought them time. Now all he needed was a plan to kill the Basestars.
Leyton's plan was based on physics. Most of the Northern Gas Cloud was warm and the gas flowed fast. But in the Shadows of Hades, the gas was much colder and flowed much slower. The friction between the gas flows created a natural electro-magnetic field. Battlestars, Raptors and Vipers had limited EM-protection and avoided unnecessary passages through the field. But the asteroids didn't have any control of their course. They weaved through the EM-field at random. And sometimes one became charged. These rocks were nicknamed Firecrackers., and when a ship got to close, they discharged. So Leyton figured all she had to do, was get the toasters to get to close. She opened a wireless channel and said a prayer to the Lords of Kobol.
"Leyton to all Vipers, rally to me." She said.
She looked at the Dradis display. It was empty, but she refused to give up. So she repeated her call. And this time she got an answer. It came in the form of four dots on her Dradis display. Two Vipers were chasing two Cylon Raiders. She set an intercept course and soon spotted the Raiders.
"Come on, you bastards."
Then she entered weapons range and opened up on the nearest Raider. It exploded. The other two Vipers targeted the other one and cut it to pieces.
"Tapdance to Ladykiller." One of the Viper pilots said. "Me and Walker are ready to go, Captain. So, what's the plan ?"
"One thing at a time, Tapdance. First, we need to bust out a couple more birds."
"Right, boss."
The three Vipers turned and went to find new targets.
Magnus tapped the one cubit-coin on the navigation table. He looked at the Dradis display and studied the two Basestar signatures. And then he realized something.
"Galactica's report."
"Sir ?" Mitchell said. "Is something wrong ?"
"I know why the first Basestar only had eighty-five Raiders. Galactica and Columbia recently damaged another Basestar, forcing it to jump away."
"Of course." Mitchell said. "A Repair Star."
"Sir." One of the junior officers said. "What's a Repair Star ?"
"Something the Admiralty thinks is a myth. The entire lower disk is a repair facility, design to fix other Basestars." He paused. "Destroying one of those is equal to destroying twenty normal Basestars."
"But how are we going to do that ?"
That was the one-million credit question. But Magnus knew where to begin. The lower half of the Repair Star had to include a large Tyllium tank for refueling a damaged Basestar and its Raiders. If they could detonate that, it would take a considerable chunk of the enemy with it. Then they would hit it with all the firepower they could muster. The problem was how to detonate the tank. While the rocks blocked the Cylon's weapons fire, they also blocked their wireless signals. And that meant they couldn't reach their birds. So it was time for some creative thinking.
They had managed to liberate eight more Vipers and two Raptors. The others were either destroyed or still playing cat-and-mouse in the Field. Only now they were being chased by larger numbers of Raiders. So Leyton knew this was all she was going to get.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road." She activated the wireless. "Formation Omega Three. Baker, Walker and Tiger, break away and head deeper into the Field. Distract the toasters."
"You got it, boss." Tiger said.
The three Vipers broke away and dove into the Field. Then the remaining ships formed two diamond formations, each with a Raptor in the middle.
"Okay, boys and girls. Set course 130 carom 12."
The small fleet turned to the new course. There was a large rock ahead of them. Once close enough, they opened up with all their weapons. The rock shattered. But one part survived, the core, which was solid iron. This was the key to Firecrackers, as such cores were highly sensitive to EM-fields. Of course, Leyton had not know if this rock had come with a iron core. But the bigger the rock, the bigger the chance it had of having one. So she picked the biggest one in range. And it had paid off.
"Sometimes, there's no substitute for plain, dumb luck."
Next, they took up positions on one side of the asteroid. Then they fired thrusters to maintain their position. And then came the hard part.
"Okay, time to start pushing. Engage engines."
There were acknowledgements and then the small fleet engaged their engines., while using the thrusters to keep the proper distance. Slowly, the core began to move. They continued to push and soon the core was moving fast. Then it hit the EM-field. It had the desired effect. The core was charged like a battery. And then came the really hard part. They had to push the core back the other way without getting fried. Luckily, the two Raptors were armed with missiles. She gave the proper orders and the Raptors broke formation. They armed a couple of their missiles and fired them in a precise pattern. It also had the desired effect…the core slowly began to tumble in the other direction. As it picked up speed, she began planning the next phase of her attack…
Lieutenant Dan McIvers ran as fast as his legs could carry him. His destination was the starboard flight pod, where his bird was being prepared for a desperate mission. He looked back to make sure his co-pilot – Ensign Tyler Williams – was still following. The man was still there. Finally, the two of them reached the pod and made their way inside.
"For the record." Williams began. "You know this is a suicide mission ?"
"I know our chances of making it back are microscopic. Even if we survive until delivery, well...things will get nastier soon after that."
"But we're still going anyway. Aren't we, sir ?"
"You don't have to come with me." McIvers said. "Hell, I can order you to stay."
"Dan, I knew it might come to this when I joined the Fleet, sir. I'm going to see this through, sir."
"Good. Because I'm going to need all the help I can get."
They reached their bird. But it was not a Viper or a Raptor. What people often forgot was that beyond their combat wings, Battlestars also carried shuttles. Xanthi had four of them. McIvers and Williams were the crew for Xanthi One. They approached their bird and went inside. There, a group of deck hands was making rushed modifications to the passenger section. McIvers turned to the ranking deckhand.
"How are we doing, Chief ?"
"Two Mark-Three Nukes ready to go, but we need to set the timers."
"How long ?"
"Five minutes. That's the longest we can set on this model."
"I'll take it." He gave the chief a nod "Last chance to bail out, Tyler."
"No way."
The deckhands quickly finished their work. They connected the timers to the pilot's console, where they had set up an activation switch. The chief gave them their last instructions, then they were left alone. They quickly put on their helmets and took their seats. Two minutes later, they were ready to go. McIvers activated the wireless.
"Xanthi One to CIC. We're ready to launch."
"Xanthi One, this is Xanthi Actual. You are cleared for departure. May the Lords of Kobol be with you."
"Thank you, Actual. Xanthi One out."
William fired the thrusters and they lifted off the deck. Then McIvers opened the main engines all they way and they were gone.
Things were going to hell in a hand basket. They were now dealing with two Basestars and the fighters had been decimated. Leyton knew the first because she could see the two Basestars at the edge of Dradis range. The second, she could she with her own eyes. Of the one-hundred and eighty Vipers they had begun with, only forty-eight remained. And the Raptors had gone from sixty to eleven. But the enemy had suffered losses as well. They were down to fifty-seven Raiders. And most of those came from the second Basestar. At the moment, the survivors of both sides were gathering.
"Looks like we're about to have an old-fashioned showdown, boss." Tapdance said.
"I know, just keep close to the rock."
The colonials were sticking close to the charged iron core. It was providing them with (temporal) cover from the toasters. But it wouldn't last. Which was where the hard part came. To draw the toasters in close enough to fry them. The Cylons were many things, but stupid was not one of them. By now, they had figured out the core was charged. And if they hadn't, they would so soon. Which meant they wouldn't go near the core. Instead, they would simply blow it up. So she would have to come up with a plan to draw them in. She took a couple of deep breath and an idea formed in her head. It wasn't pretty, but it was all they had. She activated her wireless and began giving orders.
McIvers pushed the engines to the limit. He knew that Xanthi couldn't dodge those two Basestars forever. Worse, one of the two Basestars was in fact moving around the Field. It would soon drive the Xanthi towards its companion. Once caught between the two Basestars, the Battlestar wouldn't stand a chance. Added to that, the moving Basestar would soon be able to put down heavy fire towards their Vipers and Raptors.
"Have they spotted us ?" McIvers said.
"No, we're still hugging the Field to close for that."
"Good, but we can only do that for another minute."
"Okay…now would be a good time for a plan, boss."
"I'm working on it. But let's start by putting the autopilot on program Alpha."
"Right." Alpha program meant the computer would fly the ship in a straight line (on the course it was on). "Okay, the autopilot is programmed. Next move ?"
"Shut down everything we don't need."
Williams nodded and began flipping switches. The shuttle was soon cold and dark. Then they reached the breakaway point. McIvers took a deep breath and then put the stick as far to the left as possible. The shuttle bolted towards the target Basestar…
There had been a lot of crazy plans during the course of the war, but Leyton was that her plan – if anybody survived it – would go down as the craziest one ever. She took a deep breath.
"Okay, folks, here we go." She said into her wireless. "All Raptors, fire !"
They had only a handful of missiles left. The Raptors let theirs fly, eliminating three Raiders and starting the Cylon assault.
"Vipers, fire your missiles !"
The Vipers fired their missiles and three more Raiders were shot to pieces. Now came the crazy part.
"Everybody, to the core !"
All the birds turned and headed for the core at top speed. The Cylons, however, didn't follow. As Leyton had expected, they had detected the charge. The colonials continued to close on the core until they were only five meters outside the danger zone. There, they came to a dead stop.
"Everybody ready ?"
She got acknowledgements from everybody. Then she said a quick prayer and gave the order. Once that was done, she hit the master buttons and her Viper went almost completely dark. Only the thrusters were still working. She fired them and moved her Viper six meters ahead. And then she held her position and let go of her stick.
"Come on." She took a couple of deep breaths. "Please don't blow up in my face."
The charge in the core was massive and could fry a lone Raptor or Viper with ease. But they had fifty-two birds, which meant they could handle a much bigger jolt. And then it came. A massive bolt jumped from the core…
They were approaching their target on the most direct course possible. But it still felt like it took forever to get there. The Dradis console beeped twice. They both knew what it meant.
"Incoming !" Williams said. "I'm reading four missiles, boss."
"Drop swallows !"
Williams dropped six swallows and activated the warhead jammers. (They had two of them.) McIvers took the shuttle into a wild starboard turn. Three of the missiles hit the swallows, but the last one kept coming.
"Time to do some fancy flying, boss."
"Distance ?"
"Twenty thousand clicks and closing." Williams fired four more swallows. They all missed. "Fifteen thousand and still closing. I need more power to the jammers, sir."
"We can't spare it. Tighten the beam to minimal."
"Right." He changed the settings. "Ten thousand…nine…eight…seven…six…five…"
McIvers threw the shuttle into two more turns, but the missile kept going. Williams readied the last two swallows, while he also kept working on the jammers. The missile closed further.
"…four…three…two…" He hit the proper frequency. "Gotcha ! And…detonate !"
The warhead exploded nine-hundred meters from the Xanthi One. There was a bright flash and then a great shockwave swatted the shuttle. It began to tumble…
Leyton prayed harder then she had ever prayed before. The electrical charge was being conducted through her ship. But it wasn't doing any damage. For while such a jolt was a danger to a powered Viper – all the systems would melt – it was none to a powered-down unit. With all the systems off, it was simply a Faradius-cage. And because she was not holding the stick, she was isolated for the charge. Because her uniform was non-conductive.
"Come on. Jump already."
And then it happened. The charge jumped out of her Viper. And it didn't just happen to her Viper, but to all the others and the Raptors as well.
"Come on, you bastards, fry !"
With no other place to go, the charge went where they needed it go…Into the Cylon Raiders. The result was devastating. (Not only where the Raiders active, the Cylons piloting them were holding their sticks and their feet were made of metal.) Thirty-one of the Raiders were destroyed outright. Seven spun out of control and were destroyed in collisions. Then the Vipers and Raptors powered up.
"All units, attack !"
Two minutes later, all the Cylon Raiders were destroyed and the Colonials headed towards the nearest Basestar.
Magnus looked at the Dradis display and cursed. There had been an explosion near Xanthi One and now the shuttle was spinning out of control. And it was only a matter of time before the Basestar would fire another wave of missiles. The survivors of the combat force were moving towards that Basestar, but their chances of making it there in time were slim. And Xanthi herself had her own problems. The second Basestar had managed to move around the Field and now she and Xanthi were exchanging fire. Magnus could feel the impact of the enemy missiles as they hit home.
"Return fire ! All main batteries !" Mitchell yelled into the intercom. "Target the connecting section between the two discs."
"Helm, keep dodging. New course…183 carom 14." Magnus said.
"Yes, sir." Miller said from the Helm station. "Setting new course now. And we're rotating her ten degrees on her Y-axis now, sir."
"Good." He flipped the one cubit-coin. "Next, give me Z-plus two thousand meters in five minutes from my mark." He counted to ten in his head. "And…mark !"
The clock began to count down. Now all he could do was hope that he had gotten the math right. Or the plan in his head would blow up in his face.
McIvers finally managed to break Xanthi One out of her spin. They were a lot closer to the Basestar now. Which was a major problem. They were an easy target and out of swallows.
"Okay, now what ?" Williams began. "We're a sitting duck here."
"Hang on. Full speed ahead."
McIvers opened the throttle all the way again. Then he switched the activation unit to on. The countdown began. And now came the really nasty part. To escape before the nukes went off. But before they could do that, they had to deliver them first. So he kept pushing the engines, while putting the shuttle through four wild turns. And then it came.
"Incoming !" Williams said. "Five missiles !"
"Jam them !"
"I'm trying, but they're closing fast."
McIvers threw the shuttle into another turn, while bought them enough time to find the frequency of one of the missiles. It detonated two seconds later.
"One down, four to go."
"Distance ?"
"Six thousand clicks….five….four…"
McIvers knew it was time for desperate measures, so this time he threw the shuttle into a corkscrew. It was enough to mess up the guidance system on two of the missiles just enough to make them collide. But the last two were closing fast. Williams desperately tried to find the frequency for the missiles. He managed to find one and detonate it at five-hundred meters. Then he said a quick prayer and waited for the end. But it didn't come. He looked at the Dradis display and spotted another ship. It was a Mark-II Viper.
"Thanks the Lords for the cavalry." McIvers said. "Three minutes and counting."
"Time for our escape, boss."
They approached the Basestar in a straight line again now. The Viper stuck close to them, ready to provide cover fire.
"How did that Viper get there before we were blasted to pieces ?"
"I don't know and I don't care." McIvers said. "Let's do this and worry about the rest later."
They reached the Basestar and McIvers landed the shuttle on its hull. Then he activated the magnets usually used to secure the shuttle to deck. Next, he opened the inner airlock door.
"Okay, time to go."
"Right, boss."
They entered the airlock and closed the door. McIvers looked at his watch. They were down to two minutes. The outer door opened and they began to run along the Basestar's hull.
"We'll never make it." Williams said.
"Don't worry. I have a plan."
He looked at his watch. They were down to one minute. He knew the timing would have to be perfect. When they were down to thirty seconds, he made his move. He had not landed at a random point. The spot he had picked was near the Tyllium tank – or where he suspected it was – and very close to a Raider launch tube. He threw Williams down the tube and dove after him. Then the nuke detonated.
Leyton arrived just in time to see the explosion. It was a massive flash that was even brighter then Misery. When it died down, half of the enemy Basestar was gone. The other half was badly damaged. She could see several fires and large decompressed sections. She figured it was time to finish the job, so she activated her wireless.
"All Vipers, open fire ! All Raptors, head back to the barn, now !"
The Vipers opened up, while the Raptors broke away. Leyton didn't waste any time joining the attack. Soon, whole chunks of the Basestar were exploding. Finally, somebody hit something vital – probably the FTL drive – and the whole thing went up in smoke. Leyton gave her next order.
"Okay, folks, back to the barn !"
The Vipers began to turn away, but then Leyton noticed something. Two emergency beacons were transmitting from somewhere inside the wreckage. And they were Colonial. She turned her Viper around.
"Tiger, I've got something impossible here. I need cover."
"On my way, Ladykiller."
Soon, Tiger's Viper came into view. Together, they moved towards the signals. It led towards a piece of Raider launch tube. The section was badly damaged. Leyton saw burns, twisted metal and even impact craters.
"In there ?" Tiger said.
"I'm not liking this." Leyton said. "I'm not liking this at all."
"It could be a trap."
"Heeeello !" An unknown voice said. "We can hear you ! Get us the Frak out here !"
"McIvers, is that you ?"
"No, it's your grandmother on a wooden raft ! Of course it's me ! Now, get us out of here !"
"Stand by, I have to get a Raptor over here. Tiger, go to channel four."
"Right, channel four."
They switched over to channel four.
"How much ammo do you have left, Tiger ?"
"Twenty-two rounds, boss."
"Okay, I've got forty rounds. You go get that Raptor. Hell, if you can, bring the whole barn."
"You got it, boss."
Tiger turned his Viper away from the section and pushed his thrust pedal for all he was worth. He had no intention of being away a second longer then he needed to. Leyton watched him go and hoped that there was somebody for him to bring back.
Xanthi and the Basestar were still exchanging punches. Magnus knew that so far, the Xanthi had the upper hand. But he also knew that it wouldn't last. According to the Galactica's report, it had taken everything she and Columbia could muster to damage the Basestar. A normal Basestar who have been torn to pieces under such heavy fire. Which led Magnus to believe that this was no normal Basestar.
"Thirty seconds !" Miller announced.
"Sir, they're trying to bring their lower batteries back on-line." Mitchell said.
"Time to finish this, Captain ?"
"Ten seconds…five…and go !"
Xanthi moved up and then rotated on this axis, until she was 'upside down'. (Of course, there was no such things in space, but nobody cared about that technicality. They needed to the main guns pointed at the Basestar. And this moved did that.) Next, the ship pivoted to starboard and went to full sub-light. And this was where the math came in. For when she had moved up, Xanthi had gone from the Shadows of Hades to the Realm of Misery. The Realm was the area of the Northern Gas Cloud nearest to the star. It was also where the gas flowed the fastest. The key fact here was that Xanthi was moving downstream, while the Basestar was moving upstream. Magnus had done the math on how fast the two ships could move. And if he had gotten it wrong, this would end very badly of them.
"We're out of range of their lower battery now, sir." Mitchell said.
"DeSalle, ready tube seven for launch."
"Yes, sir."
DeSalle quickly ran through the pre-launch orders. Magnus looked at the Dradis screen. They had passed the Basestars and were now flying away from it. Of course, that didn't keep the gunners from putting down all the fire they could muster. DeSalle announced the tube was ready.
"Remove warhead and launch safeties."
"Safeties removed, sir."
"Release nuclear weapons is now authorized. Colonel, enter you authorization code."
"Yes, sir."
Mitchell and Magnus quickly keyed in their codes. Mitchell took the launch key, put it in the proper slot and turned it. Two seconds later, the nuke launched. This time, they watched it as it went. Magnus sensed that everybody in CIC was holding his breath.
"Come on." Miller whispered. "Come on ! Hit already !"
And then the nuke hit home. It exploded, taking out the connecting section of the Basestar. In less than a minute, the entire ship was gone. There were cheers from everybody. Mitchell called for quiet.
"Status of the Repair Star ?" Magnus said.
"We have…." Mitchell began, but she didn't finish. For at that moment, the nukes aboard Xanthi One exploded. "…a kill ! Xanthi One, sir. They've done it !"
There were more cheers and once again Mitchell order quiet.
"Status of our fighters ?"
"We've got incoming Raptors and the Vipers are engaging what is left of the Repair Star."
"Prepare the flight pods for incoming birds." Magnus said. "Colonel…" He lowered his voice. "How bad is it ? How many have we lost ?"
"To many."
He looked at the Dradis display and took a deep breath. It was time to collect the butcher's bill.
Battlestar Xanthi – Commander's Quarters – Day 1508, 1706 Hours
It had taken two days to clean up the mess of the battle. They were now setting up Ammo Station Twelve as planned. But Magnus was worried. They were down to a handful of Vipers and Raptors. And they had lost a lot of good people in this battle. He took a deep breath and then got up from behind his desk. Magnus grabbed the intercom horn next to the desk. He activated it and called for McIvers and Leyton to report to his quarters. They showed up five minutes later.
"Have a seat." Magnus said.
The two officers sat down on the large bench that came with the room. Magnus didn't waste any time getting to the point.
"As you both know, we suffered heavy losses during the battle. So, we need new crew. The problem is that all the brass can give us, is a load of nuggets." He paused. "Which is why I'm promoting the two of you." He took two small boxes out of his desk drawer. "Major Leyton, you're now our CAG." He gave her one of the boxes. "Lieutenant McIvers, we'll have to completely re-staff Viper Squadron Two. I'm promoting you two full Lieutenant and Squadron Leader." He gave McIvers the second box.
"Thank you, Commander."
"Sir." McIvers began. "What about Ensign Williams and the shuttle squadron ?"
"The brass is sending a replacement for Xanthi One. Junior Lieutenant Williams is going to be her new pilot, with one of the nuggets as his co-pilot."
"Yes, sir." He paused. "Is there anything else, sir ?"
"There is one more thing." Magnus turned to Leyton. "You're dismissed, Major."
"Yes, sir." Leyton said.
She nodded and walked out, while Magnus turned back to McIvers.
"Now, lieutenant, we have a problem." He paused. "You survived an exploding Basestar. And the Admiralty wants a crystal clear answer on how you did that."
"Yes, sir. I understand, sir."
Magnus sat down on the bench and took out a recorder.
"So, take it from the top." He hit the record button.
"Okay, we had landed the shuttle on the hull…."
To Be Continued…