ASTEROID FIELD – (DAY 244 – 1540 HRS)

"Sir, The CAP is reporting four contacts at the edge of their dradis. Four contacts, they're running a parallel course away from us! IFF confirmed! It's ARGOS, GALLIOTT and two liners!" said the officer manning the communications station.

"What's their speed?" asked Hartley.

"One third! CAP reports that GALLIOTT is running on only three engines." Responded the communication officer.

"XO bring the engines online and plot an intercept course. I want a targeting solution for ARGOS. She's the one that won't give up easily! We need whatever supplies they have! Launch all remaining vipers!" Hartley barked.

"What about contacting them? Maybe they'll listen to reason? " Ramsey whispered to Hartley.

"After everything we have done?" Hartley chortled.

"Engines answering two thirds, increasing to flank speed! Closing in on ARGOS. LSO reports seven remaining vipers have been launched. Targeting solution locked in!" informed the tactical officer!

HYPERION

"GALLIOTT reports target has taken the bait! Raptor 5401 has relayed the jump coordinates." Ensign McCall announced.

"Assault raptors are on station! All launch tubes loaded and ready!" Dyson reported.

"All sections are ready for combat jump!" Major Jackson said looking directly across the plotting table.

GANYMEDES

"The civilian ships are increasing speed. They're moving past the two cruisers. New dradis contact behind us!" The tactical officer reported.

"Your just reading POLYCAON! Hartley barked.

"We're being hailed. They're transmitting colonial recognition codes. It's Battlestar HYPERION!" Reported the communications officer.

"HYPERION?" said Ramsey surprisingly as he searched through colonial records. "Last reports had them on a research mission under Commander Jason Tillman."

"Battlestar GANYMEDES you are ordered to stand down! Recall your vipers!" The voice said over the handset.

"Spin up the FTL drives and prepare for a emergency jump!" Hartley ordered.

"What about the people on POLYCAON and the asteroid? Ramsey asked.

"There's nothing we can do for them!"

"Battlestar GANYMEDES you are ordered to stand down!"The voice repeated.

"We need a couple of minutes to bring them up to speed!" Ramsey responded.

"HYPERION is launching vipers! At least sixty! Three squadrons are forming up around her." informed the tactical officer.

HYPERION

"Sir, We're being hailed!" McCall reported.

"He's trying to buy time to spin up his FTL drive." Jackson surmised.

"Patch him in quickly!" Jason ordered as he pointed to the loudspeaker.

"Battlestar HYPERION, This is Commander Garrett Hartley. Commander Tillman, we are currently engaged in recovery operations. We request that you standby!"

"This is HYPERION Actual, Commander Hartley, I'm asking you to stand down before this escalates." Jason said calmly as he pointed to Commander Roberts.

"Commander Tillman, I am senior officer. You hold your position! You have no idea of the situation you've jumped into." Hartley responded.

"Ensign, signal ARGOS and GALLIOTT." Jason said calmly.

Ensign McCall switched to a coded wireless channel and relayed launch orders to the to cruisers.

"Inform the assault teams they have a go!" Major Jackson instructed McCall.

"Assault two and three, you are go!" McCall announced over the wireless.

GANYMEDES

"Sir, GALLIOTT and ARGOS are coming about and launching vipers! They're forming up around the two cruisers." The tactical officer said nervously.

"How many?" Ramsey asked.

"CAP reports two full squadrons." The communications officer reported.

"Impossible! They only had a handful left!" Hartley said as he stared the dradis.

"This is Commander John Roberts onboard HYPERION, I suggest you do wait Hyperion's Actual has requested. It's over Hartley, surrender your ship!" He said as he hoped that Hartley might stand down.

"Sir POLYCAON is reporting that they're being boarded! Six raptors and a transport!" yelled the communication officer.

"Single contact below us! It's a colonial freighter just aft of mid-ship! It's moving forward!" The tactical officer reported.

"GANYMEDES ACTUAL, PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" Tillman said before closing the channel to GANYMEDES.

"Target that ship and…" Hartley started to say before being jolted by a shockwave that cause the ship to partially shut down.

"We've lost dradis!" yelled the tactical officer.

"Helm is down!" someone shouted.

HYPERION

"Raptor 5401 reports that it looks like GANYMEDES has lost power and is listing to port! EMP pulse was effective." McCall reported.

"Signal Assault One! They only have a few minutes." Tillman ordered.

"Assault one, you are go! Black Squadron break off and engage targets!" McCall announced over the wireless.

A moment after McCall relayed the order, six raptors jumped in close range of GANYMEDES and each headed for its targeted airlock while Major Lance Voight and half of his Black Knight squadron broke formation around ARGOS and headed toward the oncoming vipers of GANYMEDES. Tillman had deployed the Black Knights onboard both cruisers to augment its defenses for this operation.

BLACK KNIGHT SQUADRON

"Hostile vipers, this is Maj. Lance Voight. You are hereby ordered to break off your advance and slow to surrender! Do you copy?"

Voight repeated his request twice over normal wireless combat channels but if went unanswered. As the vipers closed in, Voight was relayed his orders from HYPERION.

"Black Squadron, attack formation, weapons hot!" instructed Voight over the open channel.

HYPERION

"Admiral, I have Assault Two leader standing by." McCall announced as Tillman motioned her to pipe it down to the CAC (Command and Control) Station.

"This is actual, sit-rep." He asked.

"Sir, all teams onboard, we have been met with minimal resistance. It seems that most of the ship has been shutdown and abandoned. We control everything aft of the main hull. Two fire teams are engaged in an active firefight in the main hull. We have wounded and request a medical evac team at access point Charlie!" LCpl. Sprang reported.

"Medical evac dispatched. Keep pushing forward! Tillman ordered as his attention turned back to the other battlestar.

GANYMEDES

"Sir, the freighter detonated some type of EMP pulse. All sections are in the process of resetting all circuit breakers! Engine room reports that the FTL drive is cycling down!" Ramsey reported as he placed the handset back into its cradle.

"Sir, we are getting reports that the ship is being boarded. They're using the ventral airlocks and port flight pod!" The communication officer said calmly.

Hartley was flustered and shocked at the same time as he looked at his XO.

BLACK KNIGHT SQUADRON

"Hostile vipers, this is your final warning! Do you copy?" Voight warned over the open channel.

"Black Squadron, weapons free in range! "Jankers" take beta wing and fall back one kilometer." Voight ordered.

"Fall back order acknowledged! Beta wing form up on me!" Capt. Cynthia "Jankers" Brady relayed.

At that moment five of the nine incoming vipers peeled off and signaled their surrender while the other four opened fire. The fight did not last long as the four hostile vipers were dispatched quickly. Voight quickly assessed his squadron status and was relieved that he had not lost any of his pilots and two vipers only had minor damage. Voight ordered two of his pilots to escort the surrendering vipers as well as his damaged vipers back to GALLIOTT.

"Black Squadron Leader, This is Viper 5941NZ, you need to know something!"said the pilot.

HYPERION

"Get me Assault One leader on the line immediately!" Bellowed Jason as he held the handset after finishing sit-rep with Voight.

"We've met heavy resistance with some of their Marine detachment. They still haven't restored power to some sections of the ship. We temporarily control the port flight pod! We have two dead and six wounded." SgtMaj. Coe reported

"Listen to me very carefully! Do not engage crewmembers that show a white patch with a single red stripe on their left breast pocket! It's a resistance moment within the ship! We're signaling the freighter to hard dock on the flight pod. Maj. Jenny and Sgt. Ginnis are on their way with reinforcements." Tillman ordered.

"We haven't seen anyone like that yet, sir!" Coe responded as a bullet zipped past him. "I'll relay the message!"

GANYMEDES

"Why haven't the systems been restored!" asked Ramsey.

"Sir, we can't gain access to the primary circuit breaker in aft section. One of the boarding parties controls that section." The communications officer reported.

"Dradis is back! That freighter is moving towards the port flight pod central docking hatch! We also have incoming vipers aft! Announced the tactical officer.

"Tell our vipers to shoot it down!" Hartley barked.

"They're not responding. No signal!" responded the communications officer.

"No sign of them on dradis." Ramsey said as he stared at Hartley.

"We need that section!" Hartley chirped as he was showing signs of panic.

"I'm taking a team! We'll take it back!" Ramsey announced as he pointed to the tactical officer and four of the eight marines posted in CIC to join him. As Ramsey exited he grabbed one of the remaining marine's carbine rifle and held up four fingers to this left breast pocket for the communication officer to see.

"Freighter has hard docked!" The specialist manning the tactical station yelled.

HYPERION

It was almost an hour into the operation and Jason was waiting for any word. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. He knew it already cost lives, but "how many more?" He quietly wondered.

"Sir, I have Assault Two on the line." McCall reported

"Assault Two, This is Actual, Sit-rep." The admiral calmly asked.

"We have secured the POLYCAON!" Sprang announced.

"Casualties?" asked Tillman.

"We have one dead, six wounded. We lost Pvt. Torres." Sprang said sadly as she continued, "We confirmed fourteen kills and twenty-two prisoners in custody. We also found about three hundred of her crew. They were being held in her two main cargo bays. They said that there's another hundred or so on the asteroid being used to mine tylium. They're in pretty rough shape. We also found Commander Hedison. She's barely conscious. It looks like she was beaten. We're evacuating her to you now."

"I'm sending reinforcements and medical teams! Secure the prisoners! Excellent work Sprang!" Tillman said as he turned and looked at Major Jackson.

Jackson picked up a handset and gave the order to the LSO to launch the standby shuttles that was designated for that purpose.

Jason gave McCall the order for the ground teams to move in and dispatched Red Squadron down to the surface in hopes that it would be a quick surrender.

GANYMEDES

Ramsey and his group had exited CIC and had progressed down three corridors and stopped. They could hear gunfire. He turned around to the group and said "Now!" The two marines in the rear quickly drew their weapons and pointed them against their counterparts as Ramsey held his weapon to the tactical officer's head and told them to drop the weapons or they would be shot!

"What are you doing!" shouted the tactical officer.

"Stopping Hartley!" Ramsey told him as they handcuffed the men loyal to Hartley.

"You'll never get away with this!" The tact officer said as he watched Ramsey and the two marines pull down their left breast pocket revealing a white patch with a red stripe.

Ramsey ordered one of the marines to hide the prisoners in head and make their way down to the brig and await the signal. He made his way back and was standing just outside CIC.

"Sir, security cameras in the port flight port shows about thirty people in combat gear exiting the freighter! Said someone in CIC.

"Attention all hand! CODE WHITE! I repeat CODE WHITE! Do not engage the boarding teams."Said the communications officer as she drew her sidearm and pointed it towards Hartley. At the same time Ramsey and a marine burst into the CIC with their weapons drawn. Handguns and carbine rifles were being pointed throughout CIC by both sides.

"WHAT is going on? Mutiny? " Hartley screamed.

"You might call it that? This is not who we are suppose to be. We should have stayed to protect those civilians. That was our mandate. It's time to end this madness! Tell your men to stand down! It's over!" Ramsey said as he looked around CIC.

"What was done was so we could survive!" Hartley said!

"What you've done could be called murder!" barked the communication officer who had left the intership PA system open for all to hear.

"Look what we have done. We should be held accountable for our actions! We abandoned civilians, enslaved our own people and for what? Just for us to survive?" Ramsey said as he looked around the room.

"Commander Hartley. My marines control the engine room. They have taken the FTL offline. There's nowhere to run!" Tillman said through the wireless.

Hartley looked around the room and saw that men loyal to his command start lowering their weapons one by one. Hartley knowing that he lost put his gun to his head but lacked the courage to pull the trigger. After a moment he put the gun down and was taken into custody by Ramsey's forces.

"Attention GANYMEDES crew! This is Major Ramsey; Commander Hartley has been taken into custody. I am ordering all crewmembers loyal to Commander Hartley to stand down. I am surrendering command to HYPERION." Ramsey finished his statement as SgtMaj. Poe and his team burst into CIC and ordered Ramsey's forces to drop their weapons.

A few hours after he secured CIC and most of the ship Poe made his final report to the Admiral before being relieved. He had to inform the Admiral that he lost ten of the twenty-five people on the initial assault team. Ramsey was cooperating and named about one hundred of Ganymede's original crew that were loyal to Hartley along with thirty others that should be held for violations of duty along with him. Hartley and most of key staff were lockdown in the brig while the rest were placed in one of the cargo bays. Jason knew that this was no small victory but it did come with a price.