Battlestar Ajax on patrol near Armistice Line, 1 hour before Fall of Twelve Colonies
Disclaimer: I make no money off this and own neither Battlestar Galactica or the Halo series
Commander King was sitting in the chair in his personal quarter reading over logistics reports when over the loudspeaker Col Siler's voice announced, "Commander King, please report to the CIC immediately."
Laying the reports and his coffee cup down and began the short walk to the CIC. As he walked through the halls he saw several crewmen scurrying through the halls quickly.
The marines at the door of the CIC looked tense as they parted. Their hands were gripping their weapons tightly.
Upon entering the CIC he could tell something was amiss. His officers were frantically running between their stations, trading tactical information. "Col Siler, what's going on?" He asked as he approached the Tactical display table. Colonel Siler's face was showing signs of worry and concern.
"Sir, we've lost contact with our patrol nearest Armistice Station, the Stations transponder has stopped transmitting, and the shuttle that transported the Armistice Officer there is overdue for a check-in. In addition to that, the sensor drones placed along the line aren't transmitting, and we have no idea if anything has crossed the line."
"Frak me, what about our other Viper patrol?" King asked in an exasperated tone.
"We still have contact with them, and I ordered them to pull in close to our ships." Colonel Siler replied.
"Get the Captains of both escorts on the line and set Condition Two throughout the Fleet. Prepare the reserve Viper squadrons. If we're about to be attacked I want to be prepared." he ordered.
It took several moments of rapid input into the communications computer before his Communications Officer nodded. "Captains Dunn and Lawrence are on line one. Picking up the tactical phone from the table, Commander King said, "Captains, what is the situation on your ships?"
A gruff voice belonging to Captain Jeremy Dunn of the Athena replied, "Commander, all my Vipers are fueled, armed, and ready to go, my ship is at Condition Two, and I have my Raptors laying additional sensor drones at the outskirts of DRADIS range."
The other voice bore the heavy Aerilon accent of Captain Henry Lawrence of the Delphi. "My Vipers are also prepared, but both my Raptors are undergoing repair after a collision. My ship is at Condition Two."
"Captains, spool up your FTL drives. We're about to jump to Armistice Station. I'm going to leave three of my Raptors here to monitor the line."
"Commander, the board is green. We're ready to jump." King simply nodded his head and motioned for them to proceed. Col Siler read off the countdown until it reached zero. "Jump." As soon as he said it the three ships disappeared in brilliant flashes of light.
When they reappeared at Armistice Station, Lt. Riden immediately became confused. The DRADIS screen was empty where the station was supposed to be. The only thing left was a debris field.
"Lieutenant Riden, where the hell is the Station?" Siler asked. "Give me a moment Colonel," he said as he ran from terminal to terminal, rechecking his jump calculations. After several tense moments, he shook his head. "I'm not sure sir. The coordinates are right. We jumped to where the Station is supposed to be."
"Launch the CAP and order them to proceed to where the Station's exact position is supposed to be. Have them do a visual search," King ordered.
Captain Matthew Fairbanks, callsign 'Turtle' and Ajax's CAG, braced himself as his Viper Mk VII was hurled out of the Battlestar's launch tube. As soon as his fighter was clear of the metal tunnel, he pointed its nose towards Armistice Station's position and waited for the other pilots to join him.
Quickly, the other 13 Vipers and the Raptor of Red Squadron joined him.
"Alright boys and girls, we're just gonna head over to Armistice and have a look. Bean, if we run into trouble I want you to hit the gas back to Ajax," he said over the wireless.
"Roger CAG. I didn't intend to dogfight in a Raptor," Lt. Alicia 'Bean' Kyla said. Her ECO, Lt. Steven 'Worm' Henderson began searching the immediate area. After several moments he shook his head.
"CAG, Worm, I'm not picking up anything Captain, just a bunch of space debris."
"Keep on it Worm, we're supposed to be right on top of it." At that moment Worm's DRADIS beeped. He stared closely at the console for several moments before a look of shock came over his face.
"Frak me. CAG, I think I found Armistice Station. ETA to visual range, fifteen seconds." The other pilots were confused.
The DRADIS on Vipers were nowhere near as sophisticated as those on Raptors. Space alone wouldn't allow that. However, considering the size and apparent proximity of a the Station, their basic systems should have been reporting something.
Then it became clear as the burned, bent, and broken hull of the Armistice Shuttle drifted into view. There were scorch marks from an explosion all along the hull. Dents caused by debris littered its surface. The airlock of the Station was still locked in its place, the end not attached was jagged metal.
"My gods, what the hell happened?" a pilot asked. Shocked, horrified looks came across the faces of the Colonial pilots. Small pieces of debris bounced off their canopies and fighters as they stared into the mass of pieces.
The wireless began to crackle, breaking the silence."Turtle, this is Ajax Actual, report. Have you made visual contact with the Station?" Without hesitation, Captain Fairbanks hit his transmitter. "Ajax Actual, Turtle. We found the Station. It's gone sir."
"What the hell do you mean its gone?" Commander King asked. "Armistice Station has been destroyed."
*Disregarding this this story is exactly 1000 words. I know this story was gone for a short time but that's because one of my friends got confused and deleted it there and republished it under 'Crossover: Battlestar Galactica & Halo"
*This story doesn't have a whole lot of action but the next chapter definitely will. It should also be a few thousand words. Please review. You guys give me great ideas.