Downfall
Cylon attack Underway
Picon Ground HQ, Picon
The Combat Information Center Fleet Head Quarters Picon was over 1,000 meters beneath the surface of Picon and the largest CIC anywhere in the Colonies.
Fleet Admiral Torres watched one of the screens that showed him the location of all units near the border with the Cylons. He was confused when one of the green dots that represented the Andraste Battle Group stopped blinking and turned yellow for unknown status. At almost the same time, a lieutenant ran forward and reported to the Admiral…
"Admiral we just lost contact with the Andraste Battle Group, we have also lost contact with Gemenon, Scorpia, Caprica, Tauron, and Sagittaron."
"What? Continue to try to contact those colonies and the Andraste Battle Group! Send raptors to each of them as well. What the FRACK is going on?" Admiral Torres replied. But Torres had a feeling in his gut that he already knows what is happening and the raptor sent to the Andraste (Andraste class Warstar) will just confirm it.
"Sir a raptor just jumped in, they report that the Andraste and her battle group have been attacked by the Cylons, and at the time the raptor jumped away the two escorting Battlestars had been shut down somehow and then nuked until they were destroyed. Also, they report that the Cylons seem to have found a backdoor into our computer systems through our CNP program," the lieutenant said.
"Dear gods! Communications send a Priority One warning to all colonial units; tell them to shut the CNP program down, and reload the old program now! That is a direct order from me. Send the logs from the Andraste as proof of the Cylon backdoor," Admiral Torres ordered.
"Yes sir. Sir, we just lost contact with Leonis," the communications officer said frantically.
Scorpion Fleet Shipyards
Battlestar Pegasus
"Come in!" Admiral Cain said loudly when the door buzzed, and turned her attention back to the Pegasus evaluation reports while continuing to walk briskly on the treadmill. Colonel Belzen walked in and shook his head while smiling at seeing Admiral Cain reading and working out on a treadmill.
"That's your idea of vacation reading?" Colonel Belzen asked in disbelief, as he used his rolled up magazine to point to the Pegasus evaluation reports Admiral Cain was going over.
"What, is that your idea of a hobby?" Admiral Cain asked chuckling and nodding towards the Scorpia Paragliding magazine in Colonel Belzen's hand.
"Yeah, it is," Colonel Belzen said smiling and unrolled the Scorpia Paragliding magazine into both hands facing Admiral Cain. "So, have you figured out how you're going to spend your shore leave?" Colonel Belzen asked curiously.
"Uhh, I was thinking about maybe going home to Tauron to visit some friends, but I haven't made any definite plans yet, nope," Admiral Cain said, huffing her response out as she continued to briskly walk on the treadmill.
"In that case, how about spending some time with us on Gemenon? I know Rika and the girls would love to see you. Come on Helena, you deserve a break. We've been on patrol for over a year now," Colonel Belzen said.
"Look, I've got a repair list as long as my arm, plus the networks are going to be down for the refit and you know I don't like leaving Pegasus at the mercy of a bunch of civilian contractors, so," Admiral Cain said shaking her head.
"Alright, listen to your XO; once in a while it's ok to get off the treadmill," Colonel Belzen said, raising and pointing his finger at Admiral Cain trying to keep her attention.
"I… will think about it," Admiral Cain said.
"Ok," Colonel Belzen said and left the room.
Admiral Cain turned up the treadmill and started running after Colonel Belzen left. Her mind drifted to memories of the first Cylon war when she was on Tauron and lost her family to a squad of centurions, and to block the unwanted memories out Admiral Cain ran faster on the treadmill.
Two hours later, Admiral Cain was walking towards her quarters from C.I.C after meeting Lieutenant Shaw for the first time when a strong explosion rocked the ship, followed by another one moments later. Admiral Cain was pushed sideways against the wall and barely managed to remain on her feet as the ship swayed from the explosions rocking the ship, after recovering she pushed the comms button on the wall closest to her.
"C.I.C what the hell is happening?" Admiral Cain asked.
"We seem to be under attack with multiple missile hits, most of our systems are offline, and we're fighting fires and hull breaches across the ship," Colonel Belzen reported.
"I'm on my way to C.I.C," Admiral Cain said abruptly hanging up the communications channel.
It took a few minutes before Cain managed to reach C.I.C, along the way there were bodies everywhere; many were dead or wounded. Admiral Cain stopped to help Lieutenant Shaw get up and used a backhanded slap to snap her out of the shocked stupor she was in, and then checked on Mister Hoshi who was unconscious with blood coming out of a head wound. Seeing that Mister Hoshi wasn't moving anywhere anytime soon, Admiral Cain ordered Lieutenant Shaw to follow her to C.I.C.
"What the hell hit us?!" Admiral Cain asked angrily as she and Lieutenant Shaw entered C.I.C.
"From radiological readings, looks like nuclear detonations, multiple hits," Colonel Belzen reported.
"It's the Cylons, it has to be. But they've broken the armistice in support of an all-out attack on the colonies. At least we still have our power," Admiral Cain said.
"Yeah, but that's about it. Dradis is erratic; weapons are offline, same with all our computers. We have to do everything manually," Colonel Belzen said worriedly.
"I want all hatches sealed, docking connections severed," Admiral Cain ordered.
The crew hurriedly moved to complete the Admirals orders and the Pegasus used its boosters to get loose from the shipyard moments later, with numerous Cylon raiders flying around letting loose missiles and nuclear warheads in the vicinity. Explosions were everywhere, the entire shipyard was in flames, and some ships which were mostly smaller civilian ships and small auxiliary military units managed to jump, but many of the major military units were either destroyed or about to become nothing but dust with large amounts of nuclear missiles moving their way.
"Lieutenant, spin up our FTL drive," Admiral Cain ordered, "we're preparing for an emergency jump everyone."
"Yes sir," Lieutenant Shaw responded and quickly moved to start up the FTL drive, moving over a dead body to reach the console.
"Sir, two more nukes headed straight for us, estimated twenty seconds to impact," Colonel Belzen said.
"FTL spooling sir, but without the computer we can't calculate a safe jump," Lieutenant Shaw reported worriedly.
"Don't bother calculating, just do it," Admiral Cain said.
"You want to do a blind jump sir? We might end up inside a sun," Lieutenant Shaw said in disbelief.
Outside, two nuclear missiles rapidly close on the position of the Pegasus.
"Missiles closing!" Colonel Belzen said.
"It doesn't matter where we jump to, just frakking do it Lieutenant!" Admiral Cain shouted angrily.
"FTLs online," Lieutenant Shaw reported.
"5 seconds!" Colonel Belzen said worriedly watching the progress of the nuclear missiles on dradis.
"Lieutenant, NOW!" Admiral Cain shouted.
Lieutenant Shaw pressed the jump key and the Pegasus jumped, seconds later two nuclear missiles passed through the previous location of the battlestar with the nearby flames on the docks being extinguished by the ships FTL jump.
Picon Ground HQ
"Sir, we've lost contact with Aquaria, Canceron, Libran, and Aerelon," said Commander Tanner flag aid of Admiral Torres, "Admiral Nagala is collecting all available forces in orbit of Virgon for a counter attack."
"Good, tell the Admiral to initiate Operation Exodus in full," Admiral Torres said.
"Yes sir," Commander Tanner replied, pushing buttons on the comms console to get in touch with Admiral Nagala.
"Multiple contacts just jumped into orbit sir," the dradis officer said.
"Sir, Admiral Taggert from the Battlestar Bellerophon reports the entire battle group is losing power, as well as the defense grid," one of the communications officers said.
"Damn it, it's all on Nagala now! Send a message to him and tell him that he is now in charge of the fleet," Admiral Torres said.
In space, the Mercury class Battlestar Bellerophon and two escorting Glorious class Battlestars turned towards the Cylons, but as they come into range all three ships started malfunctioning and shutting down. In several short seconds the entire battle group was reduced to dead hulks as the Cylon raiders launched numerous nuclear missiles to destroy them. Once finished with them, the Cylons started launching a massive number of nuclear missiles at Picon. Picon HQ was hit by seven 50 kiloton nukes and assumed destroyed by the cylons.
BSG-91 Concordia Battle group: Vicinity of Hera gas giant
Battlestar Concordia and her escorts Battlestars Hirmfaxi and Phoenix slowly glided through space.
Battlestar Concordia C.I.C.
"Sir, priority message from Picon HQ: Cylon attack underway, this is not a drill!" said the communications officer in disbelief and shock.
"Cylon attack, what the hell?" Colonel Mathias asked.
"I don't know. Have all ships set condition one and go to action stations," Commander Clark said.
"Sir incoming instructions from Admiral Nagala, his orders are for all ships to retreat to Virgon, and also that we are to purge our computers of the CNP program: the Cylons found a backdoor into it," the communications officer reported.
Before the Commander can even respond to that, "Sir four bogies on dradis, it appears they are Cylons; they're launching raiders and missiles," the dradis officer reported abruptly.
"All ships, defensive positions and have point defense guns fire at will," Commander Clark said.
"Gods they almost jumped directly on top of us," Colonel Mathias said quietly.
"Commander Ariskon from Hirmfaxi reports a massive missile launch from the nearby baseship... all of them are nuclear sir," the communications officer reported frantically.
"Order Phoenix to provide cover, and get us closer to Hirmfaxi," Commander Clark ordered.
"Sir, our alert fighters just engaged the enemy raiders, but as soon as they made contact they lost power," the dradis officer reported confusedly.
"Damn CNP. Hold on launching the remaining fighters," Commander Clark said.
"But sir, we need to support our fighters already in space," Colonel Mathias protested, "or they will all die."
"They are already dead Colonel, and we can't do anything with the CNP program still loaded," Commander Clark said grief stricken at the thought of leaving so many viper pilots to die.
"Cylon missiles are managing to get through Hirmfaxi's defensive fire, they are going to hit!" the dradis officer reported.
"How many?" Commander Clark asked.
"30 sir," the dradis officer replied.
"They can't survive that much. Get them out of there! Emergency JUMP!" Commander Clark yelled.
"Hirmfaxi reports that their engines are out of business, but they are not defenseless. Commander Ariskon says that they will provide cover to us so we can escape?" the communications officer reported in shock.
Concordia rocked back and forth when it was hit by a nuclear missile. Nearby, Phoenix gets hit as well. Another hit rocked the back of Phoenix, destroying all four cannons and damaging several sections. One lucky missile hit her left flight pod causing terrible damage, but the ship survived.
Hirmfaxi started rolling toward the incoming missiles with her main cannons firing at the nearest baseship, tearing the central axis apart. It took several seconds before the baseship was destroyed. At about the same time, several nukes hit Hirmfaxi causing serious damage, but Hirmfaxi was still rolling towards the next baseship. The mighty battlestar succeeded in avoiding a majority of the missiles, but some hit her. In her dying breath, she rammed into one of the baseships which led to the ensuing debris hitting the remaining baseship, blowing all three ships apart in massive explosions.
"She is gone, get us out of here now," Commander Clark said somberly.
"Where to sir?" the dradis officer asked.
"Jump us in front of the gas giant Hera, there is a junkyard inside of the Hera nebula," Commander Clark ordered.
"Yes sir!" the dradis officer replied.
Both Concordia and Phoenix jumped away.
On One of the Baseships
Janice D'Biers the Cylon hero who destroyed the Andraste and bombed Canceron and Tauron looked at the debris of two of her baseships and the Battlestar Hirmfaxi, which were clearly all destroyed from the battlestar colliding with the baseships.
"Brave, but it's all for nothing, they know they will die so why delay the inevitable?" Janice asked contemptuously.
"Yes, but Concordia and Phoenix escaped," Jeremy Simon said.
"And do we know where they jumped?" Janice asked.
"To the Milgard junkyard inside the Hera nebula," Jeremy Simon replied.
"Our forces already raided that area; a small station, and a Valkyrie class Battlestar the Aurora were destroyed there. There is nothing left there," Gary Doral said his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion as he thought of how absurd it was of the colonials to jump there.
"Wrong! That is only a decoy station. They have the real station and an entire junkyard inside the nebula. Follow Concordia, jump now," Janice ordered.
Near the Hera Nebula
The Hera nebula was a small nebula that surrounded the Hera gas giant. A small station was built in orbit that served as a supply depot and junkyard. But the real junkyard was built inside the nebula as protection because of the radiation the nebula contained.
For a moment nothing happened, and then two bright flashes lit up space as the Battlestar Concordia and Phoenix jumped in. However, soon after the jump multiple explosions ripped through Phoenix, her left flight pod exploded and was completely destroyed as weapon detonations ran along the flight pod; the engines room also experienced massive damage, and the ship lost control of its maneuvers and moved into an uncontrolled spin.
Concordia C.I.C.
"Sir, reports are coming in from the Battlestar Phoenix. They just lost the port landing bay, the engines are down and all energizers are destroyed or damaged, so they are dead in space," Colonel Mathias said.
"Frak, tell Commander Garret to evacuate the ship," Commander Clark said.
"Sir almost the entire command staff of the Phoenix is dead, Lieutenant Somersen just reported," the comms officer said.
"Tell him to abandon ship then, and to take all the supplies, Raptors, and any surviving Vipers onboard to us. Since the Cylons will follow us any minute I want to have a small surprise for them," Commander Clark said.
"Sir?" the comms officer asked.
"How many nukes are on board?" Commander Clark asked.
"Thirty sir, ten of those are 50 kilotons," Colonel Mathias replied.
"Excellent, I want five of them taken to the Phoenix ASAP. I want them to be connected with their nukes and set to a timing of 30 minutes. I want to give the Cylons an unpleasant surprise when they arrive," Commander Clark said.
"I see, it will be done right away," Colonel Mathias said understanding what Commander Clark was thinking.
"Once it is done, set course for the entrance of the Hera's nebula," Commander Clark said.
Virgon Orbit
It was a rush in Virgon orbit, with most of the 33 Battlestars and their escorts in defensive positions, and hundreds if not thousands of vipers around them. Maintenance crews worked hard to remove the CNP program from the defensive stations so that they can be operational even when the cylons try to hack them.
Battlestar Atlantia C.I.C.
"A few more ships are supposed to be coming, but that's all. Except for those secret objects, everything else seems to be already destroyed or in the process of being destroyed," Commander Kowalski said.
"What about Caprica?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"We lost contact with Caprica several minutes ago. Shall I send a stealth Raptor?" Commander Kowalski asked.
"Yes, send it, I want s…." Admiral Nagala said before he was interrupted.
"Sir, a ship just jump in and it is the Battlestar Caprica," the dradis officer said.
"Get me the Caprica on the line," Admiral Nagala said.
After a few seconds...
"Commander Ericsson what's happened on Caprica?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"It was a disaster sir. As soon as our ships came into range with the Cylons they lost power or started to malfunction. The Caprica itself was lucky since the CNP was shut down, but all other ships went down. All three Battlestars from the Dauntless battle group and Yashuman group as well. Dauntless, Heracles, and Isis were destroyed in the first wave," Commander Ericsson said.
"Then the Cylons came closer to orbit, Yashuman and Universal lost power instantly and they were followed by the Neptune as well. We tried to protect them so they could regain power, but it was too late, the Cylons destroyed all three Battlestars with nukes, and then the same thing that happened on every other colony: the Cylons started sending nuke after nuke at the planet. We barely got out of there alive," Commander Ericsson reported.
"What about Caprican station, it was well armed?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"From what we saw, almost at the same time as when they started bombing Caprica, twelve baseships jumped on top of the station and nuked it to hell, but it did take half of them with it. In the end, nothing was left sir. We escaped to here to join the fight sir," Commander Ericsson said.
"No, I have another plan for you. You will proceed to the Red Horse Nebula. There you will find the Olympia Station and you will join the Battlestars Poseidon and Valkyrie as part of the defense force," Admiral Nagala said.
"But sir, we can help," Commander Ericsson protested unhappily.
"Commander, your ship is badly damaged, and besides one ship is not going to help much. The Cylons will strike soon with their full force. You will do as I have ordered, and as soon as the main attack is over there will be a lot of survivors. Your task will be to collect them all and get them to the Red Horse Nebula and there they will be safe until you can go to Avalon," Admiral Nagala said pointedly.
"Avalon, I don't get it sir?" Commander Ericsson asked in confusion.
"You will, now go Commander and good luck," Admiral Nagala said.
A few seconds later the Caprica jumped away.
"Sir, we just lost contact with Picon HQ. I've been trying for the last 30 minutes to maintain contact, but we've been facing heavy jamming throughout the system. However, now there is no jamming: it's like nothing is there," Colonel Parson said.
"No need to continue colonel, they are gone. Colonel, I want these two messages to be sent; one is for Commander Turner of the Battlestar Prometheus, and one is for Commander Stryker of the Battlestar Atlantis. Send them now and also send this, it is a video message for Commander Stryker," Admiral Nagala said handing Colonel Parson an external drive containing the messages to be sent.
"Yes sir, I will do it right away," Colonel Parson replied quickly taking the external drive.
Near the Hera Nebula
After setting the nukes in place and setting the timers to a detonator onboard the Battlestar Phoenix, Concordia evacuated the remaining Phoenix crew and jumped directly to the entrance of the Hera nebula. Two Defender class Gunstars, Modesto and Hook, and one Titan II class Gunstar Stiletto guarded the entrance of the nebula. After all ID checks were confirmed all four ships slowly started to progress deeper into the nebula. One Stealth raptor was left behind in the debris field of the decoy station and Battlestar Aurora waiting for cylons to appear.
Several minutes later two baseships jumped right on top of the Battlestar Phoenix, barely avoiding hitting the ship.
On the Bridge of One of the Baseships
"Jump completed," a Doral model said, "scanners indicate that we jumped directly on top of the Battlestar Phoenix."
"What's the status of the Phoenix?" Janice asked.
"Hmmm, sensors are not picking up any life onboard. It seems to be abandoned, so it seems that we did much more damage to her than we thought; the port flight pod is missing, and the ship is full of holes from internal explosions," Doral said.
"So they just left her to die here?" Janice asked in confusion.
"With the amount of damage, and with all the shipyards gone? There is nothing else they can do. I'm picking something on board, it is hard to tell what it is. Should we get closer?" Jeremy Simon asked.
"Fine, move us closer and make it fast. I want to hunt the Battlestar Concordia down quickly," Janice said annoyed.
Two baseships moved even closer to the derelict battlestar, not aware of the danger.
"I'm getting readings of a lot of radiation on board the Phoenix," Doral said.
"Radiation? What kind of radiation? Remember we struck them with nukes," Janice said.
"Not that. All the radiation is one place. Fraking sensors are now getting an analysis. Holy Frak! There are multiple nuclear warheads all banded together. Fifty kilotons yield each!" Doral shouted in a panic as the basestars sensors picked up on the nuclear warheads inside the Phoenix.
"It's a trap, a fraking trap! Move us out of range… jump the ship," Janice said frustrated, knowing that the baseship would likely be destroyed in seconds because they had foolishly gotten too close to the Phoenix.
"Too late Janice it will blow before we are clear," Jeremy Simon replied somberly looking over the readouts of the Phoenix.
"Frakking Humans, I hate to resurrect again," Janice said angrily.
It was all that she said before the nuclear bombs exploded and vaporized the Phoenix and both baseships.
Soon after that, the stealth raptor observing the arrival and destruction of the cylons jumped directly in front of the entrance of Hera's nebula and entered it to report on what happened.
Inside the Hera Nebula
The Hera junkyard is located in the middle of the nebula. A large space station located in the middle of the nebula was surrounded by several hundred ships; some wrecks, some in the process of being scuttled, but many mostly intact ships.
Two large mobile dockyards of the Hephaestus class lay in front of the station; they were the main facilities for the scrapping of the derelict ships, even though they could repair or build ships as well.
Concordia and her escorts entered into range of the station, and Concordia docked on one of the station piers.
The Commander of the junkyard, Commander Petersen, shook hands with Commander Clark when he entered the stations C.I.C.
"Well it is good to see that someone survived the fighting so far," Commander Petersen said.
"Yeah, Nagala is forming the last of the defenses in orbit of Virgon. I hope he will give the Cylons hell," Commander Clark said.
"What is the status of your group Commander?" Commander Petersen asked.
"We lost the Battlestar Hirmfaxi in our first confrontation with the Cylons, and the Battlestar Phoenix was badly damaged so we left it in front of the nebula as a trap. From the last report from our stealth raptor, the Cylons took the bait. The Phoenix was booby-trapped with several nukes of the fifty kilotons range hidden onboard, and when they exploded they took the Phoenix and both of the baseships with them," Commander Clark said.
"Indeed, nice tactic Commander! We lost the outer station and the Battlestar Aurora. Two baseships jumped in and nuked the Aurora first, then the station. Luckily our Gunstars were inside of the nebula at the time of the attack," Commander Petersen said.
"Tell me Commander what do we have here in the yard? Are there any ships worthy of salvaging?" Commander Clark asked.
"You bet we do, thanks to Admiral Nagala's orders; we kept a lot of our ships in a ready reserve status, but very few are ready for active service," Commander Petersen said.
"Why?" Commander Clark asked in confusion, though elated at the thought of more ships possibly ready to fight the Cylons.
"All surviving ships got a message, or at least we did. They were to go to Red horse nebula and rally at the Olympia station," Commander Petersen said and gave Commander Clark the stations logs for all ships in the surrounding area, which showed a deficiency in the amount of crew needed to man the large amount of ships.
"Hmmm, the problem is that we can get ships, but not crews. We have over twelve thousand crew members on each of the Hephaestus class mobile docks, so I suppose we can get move some of them onto the ready ships. Plus you have the surviving crew of the Phoenix. So we have enough crew members to crew the two Columbia II Battlestars; the recently decommissioned Titan, and Rycon. As well as the Four Defender class Gunstars; the Tigris, Claw, Storm, and Altair, plus those two that are already active which met you at the nebulas entrance. Plus one Vigilant Guardian type Gunstar the Sournier, two Berzerk class Escorts; Sandstorm and Tauron. One Vanguard class Raptor Carrier, the Arakiel. Two Harrier class Strikestars, the Harrier and Crusher, and the two Minerva class Battlestars Hades and Minerva, and finally there is the Warstar Daedalus. There are a few more ships that are more or less in one piece. Oh and I almost forgot we also have the Battlestar Polaris here. She was written off after an explosion in her energizer, it was over half repaired when directed by President Adar to be decommissioned and was ordered for her to be moved to the junkyard. We have fixed some of the damaged sections, but she is still out of commission. We may even be able to take a dozen Gunstars and Frigates with us, but they will not be ready for a fight. We can load all the supplies from the station onto the ships that we are taking and leave the remaining derelicts to be salvaged later. The supply and fuel ships are ready to go and the medical frigate will be ready within the hour," Commander Petersen said thinking about all the work needed to get the ships inside the Hera nebula ready to go.
"A Mercury class Battlestar? Put her in one of the Dry-docks. We can use her, no doubt in that. With this we may even have a chance to strike back on the Cylons. Now we only need personnel for them. Can they be manned by small skeleton crew?" Commander Clark asked.
"Yes they can, but what use, you need a full crew or at least half to operate the Battlestar or Warstar under combat circumstances," Commander Petersen said.
"That is why I want these ships to get to Olympia station. After all, even if we don't get personnel now, these ships will be saved, and they are a very important asset," Commander Clark replied.
"Alright, I will send half of the crews from the mobile dry-docks to man those ships and my crew from the station," Commander Petersen said.
"Good, because the Cylons will be back here soon. If you think that anymore ships can be salvaged dock them to the mobile shipyards; this will allow us to take an additional eleven ships that will not need to be crewed. And while I'm thinking about it, we could dock many of those ships to this station and tie their FTL drive and computers into your systems and jump the station out of here. This will allow us to take a couple dozen more ships with us. I think the cylons are massing for a final battle over Virgon. Once they finish with Virgon and Admiral Nagala, they will start hunting down any surviving colonial unit left. So let's move; we don't have much time," Commander Clark said.
On its way back to Colonial space...
Battlestar Atlantis C.I.C.
"I still don't understand sir, how you beat Cain and the Pegasus with a Valkyrie class Battlestar," Colonel Haller said hoping to finally solve the mystery that he'd been wondering about since their mission began.
"Well, it is not all about the ships firepower. A little tactics and a clear mind, and anything is possible. After all, Cain is too overconfident, even a little arrogant. I still believe that Adama should have become an admiral, and not her," Commander Stryker said.
"But she is capable of command surely?" Colonel Haller asked raising an eyebrow.
"She is, but on Pegasus things are so strict it's like a prison ship," Commander Stryker said smiling.
"Sir, we having several messages coming through the hyperlink. There was some glitch in the transmission," the communications officer said.
"A glitch?" Commander Stryker asked.
"Yes sir, due to some problems with a connection, at least from the Colony's side, we are getting interference. Messages that should have come already were being stopped. The problem is that now they are all coming in at the same time," the communications officer said.
"Great, let me hear it," Commander Stryker said.
The Communication officer pushed a few buttons, and messages started rolling across the screen. At first the communications officer said nothing, but his worried face said to Stryker that something really bad was coming through in the messages from the colonies.
"Lieutenant is everything okay?" Commander Stryker asked concerned about the officer's health as he turned pale, looked like he was swaying, and looked ready to pass out.
"Sir, this is a priority message from Picon HQ. A Cylon attack is underway, this is not a drill," the communications officer said in shock, refusing to believe what he was reading.
Everyone in C.I.C was in shock, staring blankly at the communications officer.
"What are you talking about?" Stryker asked.
"There's more sir. There's a message from Admiral Nagala only 45 minutes after this one; saying Picon HQ is destroyed, all surviving ships ordered to rendezvous at Virgon for final counter attack," the communications officer said.
"My gods," Commander Stryker said.
All were silent, never before was there absolute silence in the Atlantis C.I.C. like at this moment. It was broken when Colonel Heller, who was wildly shocked, broke the silence "Your orders sir!"
"Send a copy of these transmissions to Pleiades and Argona, and send them also to Avalon. Try to get Admiral Nagala on line if that is possible," Commander Stryker said.
"Sir, that's not possible, at least not from our side. We are still too far from home. Only they can send transmissions with a small amount of feedback, calls that can't last more than a few minutes," the communications officer said.
"Then get all ships to run on 140% power, I want to get there as fast as possible," Commander Stryker ordered.
"We are already going at 105% power, the chief won't support more; it was a miracle that we didn't explode in the first place when we started our journey back home," Colonel Haller said.
"I don't care, tell him to push as much as he can, and the other ships to do the same," Commander Stryker said.
"Yes sir," Colonel Haller replied.
The Cylons attacking! So Torres and Nagala were right. The Cylons had a plan after all. Blast it all if only that fool Adar believed them. Stryker hoped that it was not all lost, that the Colonial fleet counter attacked or at least were making the Cylons pay for every inch they took.
Virgon Orbit
Battlestar Atlantia C.I.C.
"Sir, we sent the message to Atlantis; it will take 5 hours to get to them. Sorry sir, it can't go any faster. But there is something else; our Tycon satellite at the edge of the Terminus sector detected a small feedback signal," Commander Kowalski said.
"Feedback signal?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"Yes sir, it's a signal that travels much faster than a message itself. It appears that the Hyperlink probes managed to increase the speed of it even further. The signal that we received seems to indicate that Atlantis received the message," Commander Kowalski explained.
"Can we use this signal to send a live video broadcast?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"I think we can, if we modify a few antennas on the Tycon satellite, but it could not be longer than a few minutes," Commander Kowalski replied.
"It will do; do it now. I want it as soon as possible," Admiral Nagala said.
"Incoming bogies, lots of them," the dradis officer said.
"How many?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"Just a second sir, they are still jumping in," the dradis officer said, frantically looking over the reports coming in as a massive amount of enemy ships continued to jump in near Virgon.
Baseship upon baseship jumped in. Supply ships and Patrolstars also jumped in with escorting basestars as well. They outnumbered the colonial forces 10 to 1 in ships and in fighters as much as 50 to 1.
"Frak, we have around 130 baseships plus 70 other ships. They are launching raiders, and a lot of them sir," the dradis officer said.
"Order all ships to prepare for battle. Order the Guard Units, civilian ships, and all designated evacuation ships to jump to the evacuation coordinates," Admiral Nagala ordered.
Thirty three Battlestars of all types joined together for one last fight. By their side were the last of the Battlestars escorts formed up to destroy the incoming missiles and raiders. There were 40 Gunstars and 15 Strikestars, the last of a once mighty fleet.
This is a list of Battlestars that participated in this battle:
Nova class: Atlantia
Mercury class: Mercury, Galaxy, Triton, Rhiannon, Helios, Solaria, Apollo, Zeus, Acropolis, Cerberus, Challenger, Hyperion
Indra class: Indra, Durga, Defender
Jupiter class: Jupiter, Shiloh, Venus, Zodiac, Osiris, Andromeda , Marathon
Valkyrie class: Night Flight, Hel, Vanir, Erasmus, Morrigan
Atlas class: Atlas, Selene
Columbia II class: Ourboros,
Manticore class: Manticore
Fenris class: Fenris
Glorious class: Vulture
Sirius class: Sirius
"Incoming raiders sir," the dradis officer said.
"All fighters are free to engage, and I want raptors not on the picket line with interceptor missiles to be readied with nuclear missiles and sent at the Cylon baseships behind their line of raiders," Admiral Nagala ordered.
"Do we have a link with Atlantis?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"Yes sir," the communications officer replied.
Battlestar Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, incoming transmission, it is from Admiral Nagala sir?" the communications officer said in confusion.
"How the hell, never mind put it on," Commander Stryker said.
"Since I don't know how long we can talk I will be short and to the point, I congratulate you once again on your mission. Commander, it is my privilege and honor to promote you to the rank of Admiral. Congratulations!" Admiral Nagala said.
"Sir?" Stryker said, speechless, as were all others officers in C.I.C.
"Yes, I know you wonder why? You are old enough, and you are excellent officer Stryker. We cannot win this fight today, the most important thing for you to know is that the Cylons have agents, and spies in the fleet. Half of my ships in the fleet right now have problems, losing power, explosions, have internal problem, and with the massive Cylon fleet, this battle will not last long. From this point forward you are to assume command of all remaining colonial ships. Also with this transmission, I'm sending you coordinate's for a base in the Red Horse nebula. There will be a few surprises there for you Admiral Stryker. And if Admiral Thorn survives he will join you on Avalon once they reach you," Admiral Nagala said.
"Sir, we are already en route for home, and will all due respect sir, will not stand down or go back. We will reach colonial space, and find whatever survivor we can and escort them back to Avalon," Admiral Stryker said.
"Well, since I don't have time to argue with you Admiral Stryker, do what you think is best. Your excursion was top secret, as were several other missions in colonial space. So the Cylons don't know about you and your ships. You will lose the element of surprise if you jump into the fray. But if you are already coming, get to the Red Horse nebula and lead all the ships there to Avalon. Is that clear!" Admiral Nagala said.
"Yes sir," Admiral Stryker said.
"And Stryker, if you have a chance, possibly try to make contact with the Copernicus colony and the Battlestar Prometheus, if not, do what I've ordered you to do. I have hope in you, save as many as you can, I..." Admiral Nagala said before the transmission was lost.
"Sir we lost contact," the communications officer said.
"Get it back!" Admiral Stryker said angrily.
"We can't sir, it's being jammed at the source, so we can't," the communications officer said shaking his head sadly.
"Blast, we are still weeks from home. Communications, send a message to the coordinates that Admiral Nagala gave us; tell them to stay there and await our arrival," Admiral Stryker said.
"Yes sir," the communications officer replied, busying himself with operation the communications console and Tyche deep space satellite.
Virgon Orbit
The battle started with full haste from both sides. Seeing the disadvantage of how many raiders there were compared to their vipers, Admiral Nagala ordered several nuclear strikes directly into their oncoming line of Raiders before they reached the vipers. Hundreds, and even a few thousand raiders were destroyed, though an accurate count was impossible to reach given just how many raiders were incoming, before the raiders reached the vipers and could no longer be hit in mass by nukes without risk to the colonial fleets own fighters. Vipers and Raiders tore into each other, and although outnumbered the viper pilots fought with all they had. It was a huge surprise when several hundred heavy raiders jumped behind the back of the colonial line to strike at the orbital platforms. Many platforms were destroyed in the process, but the only saving grace was that many of the heavy raiders are destroyed by the platforms in return, though not enough to stop the attack. In retaliation; several baseships were destroyed by heavily armed raptors carrying nukes behind the Cylons defensive line, where they lacked adequate raider protection and as such only a handful of raptors were lost to the Cylons defensive fire. Other raptors not involved with the nuke strike remained with the vipers; firing off interceptor missiles and suppression fire at the raiders, and periodically returning to their ships to re-arm their depleted stores of weapons.
"Damn their heavy raiders just took out a good chunk of the defense grid from behind. And some of their Raiders are pushing through our viper line to get at our ships," Commander Kowalski reported.
"What about the baseships?" Admiral Nagala asked.
"They are moving in, and they will be in range in 3 minutes," Commander Kowalski said.
"Frak! Launch every single reserve viper and assault raptor we have in our bays. And prepare for close combat," Admiral Nagala said determinedly.
Cylon raiders started penetrating the viper line in hordes, and although they fought valiantly it didn't help too much. Realizing that without support of those fighters he would lose them all, Nagala ordered the entire line to move forward with the Gunstars to shell enemy raiders with everything they had.
Command Basestar 01
Cavil watched with a smile as the raiders swarmed over the colonial battle line, decimating the colonial fighter force.
"Well it's time to stop playing, all ships forward. Arm the nukes and all missile batteries. I want one large swarming attack with nukes, there are too many Battlestars there, lets reduce their numbers before we get closer," Cavil said smiling widely at the destruction being unleashed on the colonial fleet.
"You really are enjoying this Cavil, you are a fraking sadist," Kathy said, disgusted at Cavils obvious glee.
Leoben didn't succeed in sabotaging the jamming completely when Janice attacked Andraste. They were almost boxed believing that they were discovered in their sabotage. Kathy knew she had to be be very careful now. Thankfully Nagala had collected a lot of Battlestars and most of them were Mercurys. Without so many raiders, even those 33 Battlestars would be a very deadly foe for the cylon fleet. In an open fight more than half of the baseships would be destroyed and almost all others would be damaged at some point before the last battlestar would be destroyed.
She can only watch in horror, as there is nothing else to do.
"I must say Nagala put his assets as best he could, if that line gets closer they will slaughter our first line of defense," Doral said.
"Yes, well let's make sure that doesn't happen. All ships fire every missile they have now!" Cavil ordered.
Hundreds of missiles were launched from the baseships moving towards the Colonial line. Since the vipers were heavily engaging with raiders, and half of the Gunstars were supporting them, there would be many casualties to the colonial fleet. Nagala knew with this kind of attack the battle would not last long, but at least the civilian ships on the other side of planet would have a chance. One Titan II class Gunstar plus the Planetary Guard units from Aerilon and Virgon would lead every civilian ship that made it to orbit to the Red Horse nebula. They were to jump in 20 minutes. He had to hold the Cylons for 20 more minutes, whatever the cost.
"Missiles incoming, and there are hundreds of them. Many of them are conventional, but there are a pretty large number of nukes as well," Commander Kowalski said.
"Deploy the remaining Gunstars to a defensive line, maximum defense fire, all Battlestars in defensive position, I want that wave destroyed," Admiral Nagala said.
All ships started deploying into a positions that would give them the most defensive fire power possible.
"Missiles incoming sir, 250km, 200km, 150km, 100km…." the dradis office reported.
"To all ships, open fire, fire at will," Admiral Nagala ordered.
In space, suddenly all the Battlestars and Gunstars came to life, as thousands of point defense gun and anti-fighter-missile flaks all open fire in the same direction at the same time. The gunstars even launched hundreds of interceptor missiles to intercept the enemy missiles.
The massive display of defensive firepower instantly destroyed several hundred missiles, but new missiles were already replacing those destroyed by the colonials. The Cylons launched several waves of missiles; wave after wave, making it one huge wave with over ten to twenty thousand missiles, with the exact numbers were not known due to the mass confusion of the fighting. All ships in Cavils fleet launched missiles as fast as they could.
Cavil believed that he would destroy the entire colonial fleet with just one wave, but he was wrong. It did not go as he planned; far too many of the colonial ships for his taste survived his mad rush of death. And there is much more work to do once Nagalas fleet was dealt with. Every base, outpost, mining outpost, secret base, and junkyard must be found and destroyed or taken. And then there were the reports of phantom ships in his head. He believed that many of them were in the battle groups he already destroyed and that rest had to be in Nagala's forces, but when he received a report of the ships in orbit of Virgon, he saw that he was wrong. All the ships there were ships that had been in active service for some time and not members of the reserves or guard units. The biggest surprise was the newest one, a Fenris class battlestar. The Fenris was a modern marvel of computer and virtual controls and engineering and should not be active.
Missiles were now penetrating the inner defenses; several Gunstars were destroyed by missiles. Several more deliberately move into the missiles course, especially if it was a nuclear one to save a battlestar. Raptors, those that survived, fired interceptors until they were out and then moved directly into the path of nukes, just to save a battlestar. But even with those sacrifices, at least seven Battlestars were destroyed, one by one. First to go was the Erasmus, which was hit by half a dozen missiles and at least 8 nukes before exploding. Battlestar Zodiac exploded when two nukes hit the tylium bunker inside one of the viper bays, rocking the ship out of control before being hit by another four nukes and then finally exploded. Part of Zodiacs starboard bay hits and damages the nearby battlestar Galaxy. Battlestars Shiloh, Vulture, and Manticore, were all hit by at a least dozen nukes and were tore apart by numerous standard missiles. The Battlestar Hel was blown apart by half a dozen nukes, followed by Marathon also hit by numerous nukes. Almost every other battlestar was hit by nukes, but even badly damaged they survived. But more and more Gunstars were destroyed in suicide maneuvers, trying to save as many Battlestars as they could. And while they were dying they still reached out and took out a dozen of the closest Basestars with them. Seeing that staying in his position he will only lose more ships, Nagala ordered a forward charge directly into the Cylons lines, aiming for their baseships. At least they would take as many Cylons as they could with them.
Atlantia C.I.C.
"All ships move forward, Gunstars and Strikestars are to provide support, all remaining vipers and raptors are to continue to provide intercepts on the raiders," Admiral Nagala ordered.
In Nagala's mind it was a magnificent sight. With so many Battlestars in one large formation rushing towards the Cylon baseships line while firing everything that they had at the enemy, and this time the colonials were firing nukes back and the cylons were the ones taking a beating.
Command Basestar 01
"They are charging us, if I am correct they will try to ram us," Doral said.
"Let them try, they will not get even close to our lines," Cavil replied confidently.
"You know Cavil you are an idiot, a very big arrogant idiot!" Kathy said loudly.
"Thank you dear sister, your insults amuse me," Cavil chuckled, "Launch missiles again. Then move us closer, if they want play we will play. And re-deploy the raiders, let them attack the Gunstars first then the Battlestars. I want a second attack with heavy raiders, this time on the Battlestars."
The colonial charge was moving faster and faster, and now they started firing all main weapons on the cylons. Since colonial ships had much better range, especially with the main cannons, they opened fire on the baseships long before the baseships could respond with its own feeble cannons. Only missiles were fired.
Two baseships exploded when they were hit by a pair of Mercury's, while an additional one was destroyed by the Battlestar Fenris. Several nukes badly damage Acropolis, while the Gunstar in front of Acropolis exploded at the same time; larger parts of it hit the incoming Acropolis, damaging her main weapons and causing even more damage to the already damaged hull. Two additional nukes hit Acropolis in her engine block, destroying one energizer and disabling both secondary ones as well and since it was in a full ahead maneuver the Acropolis lost control and started rotating to the left. It pass several short seconds before finally collide with battlestar Venus and exploding, the explosion and collision with Acropolis caused tremendous damage, and Venus exploded as well. The destruction of the two battlestars released a large amount of debris which was thrown into the Cylons line; destroying a couple of basestars and numerous raiders, with one of the battlestars heavily damaged flightpods careening directly into the central axis of a baseship and destroying it as well. Surrounding baseships and raiders moved quickly out of the way of the ensuing debris to avoid the same fate of their compatriots.
Battlestar Morrigan suddenly exploded from the inside; several heavy raiders jumped directly in the path of Morrigan, entering the Morrigan bays, and launched nukes, so that almost the entire battlestar was vaporized.
Even with those hit and run attacks by heavy raiders, there were no more ships lost except a few Gunstars and Strikestars. While the losses in heavy raiders destroyed in the process was very heavy. The Battlestars were now in the line of fire of baseships and both sides start shelling each other. Vipers and raiders were still heavily engaged, although more and more raiders started shelling directly on the Battlestars now. Battlestar Apollo exploded after receiving seven nukes, two dozen missile strikes, and cannon fire from two baseships.
Atlantia destroyed a Patrolstar, a baseship and heavily damaged another baseship before the same baseship was finished by Triton.
Battlestar Solaria, after receiving half dozen nukes, and with most of her guns gone, rammed into one of the baseships, and both ships exploded taking one Patrolstar with them as well.
Several baseships concentrated fire on battlestar Indra, shelling her with cannons and missiles. It was finally destroyed when two nukes hit her in engine section causing engines to overload and exploded. More than half of the Indra survived, but explosions tore large parts of it apart, killing almost all on board. Night Flight succeeded in a nuclear attack on a baseship blowing it apart. But badly damaged and after critical hits, it lost control and collided and exploded with another baseship destroying it as well.
Another baseship exploded when it was hit by the main cannons from Triton. Battlestar Ourboros, the only Columbia Mk II battlestar in the fight, rammed into a baseship destroying both ships in the process.
Battlestar Atlas exploded after being hit by a few nukes reaching the tylium bunker inside the flight pods, as well as in the engine blocks. But not before Atlas destroyed a pair of baseships with her guns.
The fight turned even more brutal, with a majority of vipers gone, and raiders swarming over the Battlestars. Almost all the Gunstars were gone and only 4 Strikestars were still active.
Battlestar Jupiter received critical damage after being hit by several nukes and a swarm of missiles launched from raiders. Now only under partial control and starting to rotate around its axis, she started her last run to the Cylon lines. Admiral Nagala watched on his monitor the brave and valiant run to the last second of Jupiter's life before she crashed into one of the baseships and disappeared in a large fireball together with the baseship.
Three baseships shelled the Battlestar Defender before it finally exploded. Battlestar Cerberus, the closest to Defender, took her place and returned the favor to the Cylons by destroying a baseship with her main cannons and a second with nukes. The remaining baseship now reinforced with new baseships launched a massive volley of nukes on Cerberus itself. Cerberus destroyed over half of them before they could hit the battlestar. But even with the high amount of damage, Cerberus continued firing on the Cylons before a nuke destroyed her main cannons. With a majority of her guns destroyed or taken out of action, Cerberus did the one remaining thing that she could do and put in a course for one of the baseships, launching all her remaining nukes on a second baseship that tried to flank her. While finally ramming the baseship in front of her, and the second baseship also exploded after being hit by multiple nukes from Cerberus.
Battlestars Galaxy and Rhiannon dueled against 5 baseships and several supports ships. Several nukes exploded inside of Galaxys bay, but did not cause too much damage so she continued fighting. Several nukes fired from raiders strike Rhiannon causing it to temporally lose power after one of her energizers went down. Rhiannon however succeeded in launching a full nuclear load on two of the nearest baseships, blowing both apart before being hit again by at least ten nukes and several dozen other missiles. At first it looked like Rhiannon would survive the hits, but it finally exploded. Part of it hits Galaxy damaging it even more. Galaxy follows Rhiannon soon and it was destroyed by concentrated fire from three baseships and lots of raiders.
Challenger exploded after being struck by multiple nukes launched by heavy raiders. Battlestar Vanir rammed one of the support ships and both ships exploded, with the debris of both ships damaging the surrounding Cylon ships.
Battlestar Atlantia C.I.C.
"Blast sir, we just lost Challenger. Our flank is open, Selene is trying to get to us to cover us sir!" Commander Kowalski said.
"Commander send a message to Hyperion and Helios; tell them to retreat to the Red Horse nebula," Admiral Nagala said.
"Sir?" Commander Kowalski asked in confusion and shock.
"This battle is lost Commander, Atlantia is in bad shape, we have already received at least a dozen nukes, half of our guns are out of commission, and a majority of all the remaining Battlestars are in the same situation. All our Gunstars are lost, the Strikestars too, maybe a few vipers are left if not all have been destroyed. It's over. Tell all other ships who can to jump out. That is a direct order! Get them out and save themselves for another day to do more damage to the Cylons," Admiral Nagala ordered.
Commander Kowalski ordered communications to send the order, but almost instantly the answer was no. Every battlestar that survived so far was in no shape for jumping, many had received so many nuclear hits that even trying to jump could result in an explosion. Admiral Raymar from Helios openly refused the order.
"Damn it, is there anyone that will listen to the damn order," Admiral Nagala asked sheepishly.
"Sir, the civilian fleet lead by the Gunstar and the Planetary Guard units will complete their evacuation jumps in 5 minutes," Commander Kowalski said.
"Good, let's give them a few more minutes shall we. All ships forward, do not stop until you reach the cylon support baseships, ram them if need be, but do not stop," Admiral Nagala said.
The remaining Battlestars started running on full power, with heavy damage that can be seen on all of them. Atlantia in the middle, with Fenris and Triton on her sides, and all others around them, they charged the cylon line of support ships with red in their eyes.
All Battlestars fired their weapons on the Cylons destroying first line baseships and their support ships. Numerous nuclear missiles were released from the battlestars with no more regard for their supply of weapons, many basestars were destroyed even as over half the missiles were destroyed by raiders. Many of the Battlestars were on fire and under constant fire from raiders, heavy raiders and missiles from the baseships as well. The Battlestar Zeus exploded after being hit by several nukes in the engine block. Selene followed with one of her flight pods tearing itself from the main body and hitting the Battlestar Durga. Durga, already weakened and badly damaged, exploded from the impact. Osiris rammed a baseship, blowing both ships apart. Andromeda followed her example and rammed a baseship as well. Mercury was blown apart by multiple missile and cannon hits from several baseships, while releasing her own missile and cannon fire critically damaging many of them in return. Battlestar Hyperion destroyed a baseship before being destroyed itself by enemy fire.
Battlestar Helios, struck by several missiles exploded near one of baseships, part of the debris hits one supply ship and blew it apart.
Only Atlantia, Triton and Fenris remained. Fenris was first to go, it destroyed a baseship and then rammed into a second blowing apart the second one, while the explosion consumed one Patrolstar as well. Triton lost control and collided with a baseship and exploded taking two supply ships with them.
Atlantia, the mighty Atlantia now stands alone, badly damaged, with no possibility of running. She started her way into the main cylon line.
Battlestar Atlantia C.I.C.
"Well that's it admiral, it was a pleasure to serve with you sir," Commander Kowalski said and saluted.
"The pleasure is all mine Commander, to serve with all of you, a true honor," Admiral Nagala said, observing that the entire C.I.C, or at least those who were still alive were watching him, the entire C.I.C. saluted proudly.
Atlantia fired her last shots before ramming into a baseship, blowing both apart. But the explosion also destroyed one supply ship and Atlantia's port landing bay hits another baseship destroying it as well.
On the other side of Virgon the Titan II Gunstar Thaddeus along with the 27 ships of the Aerilon and Virgon planetary guard units and over 300 civilian ships jumped away.
As soon as they destroyed the colonial ships the cylons started their attacked on Virgon. Raiders and heavy raiders fought to neutralize the ground defense grid before the baseships could launch their deadly payload on Virgon that would kill billions. The fighting would last for three hour before the end came and the defense grid, planetary defense centers, and the planetary guard viper units managed to bleed the Cylons white. While the Virgon defenders were destroyed, they managed to destroy 85 percent of the remaining raiders and six support ships before the end.
Command Basestar 01
In the control room, Cavil was smiling as he enjoyed his victory. With no remorse for all those who died today, or for all those that were innocent.
"Finally it is over," Doral said, "We can start sweeping through the system to start looking for stragglers."
"Yes, it did not go as I expected. We lost far too many baseships and support ships, but that is a small price for victory. Now we can start the second phase," Cavil said smugly.
"Do you know what you have done Cavil, you just doomed us all, this may be a victory, but if there are more human ships that survived they will want revenge," Kathy said.
"Hah, even if there are any survivors, what can they do? We are already building 50 new baseships. And with their current fleet, they can't do anything to stop us. If anyone survived at all, they won't for long," Cavil said confidently.
"There really is no limit to your arrogance. You are a fool even greater than I thought," Kathy said shaking her head.
"Now watch it sister, watch it. I brought us victory today, enjoy it. Don't make me box you," Cavil said with anger in his tone.
A little over one hour away from Virgon at full sublight speed
Battlestar Galactica C.I.C
"Priority message sir," communications officer Duala reported, with blank eyes and expression, and her voice shaky, handing Commander Adama the message slip.
Commander Adama removed his glasses after reading the message briefly, his eyes downcast.
"Engineering, spin up FTL drives one and two, Lieutenant Gaeta break out the FTL table and warm up the FTL computer. We are making a jump," Colonel Tigh said, unaware of Commander Adama's preoccupation with the priority message from fleet command.
"Admiral Nagala is dead. Battlestar Atlantia's been destroyed, so's the Triton, Solaria, Columbia, the list goes on," Commander Adama said sadly interrupting Colonel Tigh.
The entire CIC was silent, with everyone looking shocked and looking up from their stations at Commander Adama.
"Who's the senior officer? Who's in command?" Colonel Tigh asked.
"Send a message to all colonial military units, priority channel one. Message begins, I am taking command of fleet, all units ordered to rendezvous at Ragnar Anchorage, acknowledge by same encryption protocol, Adama," Commander Adama said seriously.
Red Horse Nebula Olympia Station
Olympia Station C.I.C.
"How many ships have arrived here so far Commander Corgon?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Sir, 352 civilian ships of all classes have arrived from Virgon, and they are escorted by the Titan II Gunstar Thaddeus, but the good news sir is that with them are the units of the Virgon and Aerelon Guards. The Aerelon Guard contains the Battlestar Freedom (Geneva class MK2), the Battlecruiser Hoplite (Hoplite class), the Heavy Cruisers Cataphract and Javelin (Cataphract class) the Light Cruisers Byzantine, Persia, and Agamemnon (Byzantine class) the Destroyers Phalanx, Gauntlet, and Gearing (Phalanx class) and the the Patrolstars Dagger, Hunter, Crossbow, Percy, and Gamble (Dagger class). It appears that they were on a training mission with the Virgon Guard at the time of the attack and Admiral Nagala ordered both units to active duty, and gave them the mission of evacuating the civilians from Virgon," Commander Corgon reported, "The Virgon Guard consists of the Battlestar Independence (Geneva class MK2), the Battlecruiser Venitrix (Hoplite class), the Heavy Cruisers Aether, and Adder (Cataphract class), the Light Cruisers Ares, and Argos (Byzantine class), the Destroyers Anubis, and Archer (Phalanx class), and finally the Patrolstars Artemis, Avenger, Baldur and Ceros (Dagger class)."
"We have also received around 400 civilian ships from all around the colonies. There was a large group from Hera's junkyards as well; they saved and jumped the station. They also brought with them the Battlestar Concordia, and the Warstar Daedalus which are in perfect shape and only need to top off their crews. Additionally; two Columbia II class Battlestars the Titan and Rycon (Rycon is a command version), and two Hephaestus mobile docks, of which one dock holds the Mercury class Battlestar Polaris that was damaged in a explosion some time before the attack and written off on the orders of President Adar. They have six Defender class Gunstars; the Tigris, Claw, Storm, Altair, Modesto and Hook. Then there is the Titan II class Gunstar Stiletto, one Vigilant class Guardian Gunstar Sournier, two Berzerk class support ships Sandstorm and Tauron, one Vanguard Raptor carrier class ship Arakiel, two Harrier class Strikestars Harrier and Crusher, and two Minerva class Battlestars Minerva and Hades. Plus two older Titan Gunstars which were partially scrapped, but can be rebuilt carried by the second Hephaestus mobile dock. Finally, there are the 12 Firestars and the 2 Ares class Battlestars they used to jump the station. They will need to be refitted and manned before we can use them though," Commander Corgon said.
"Also, the Battlestar Caprica jumped in some time ago on the orders of Admiral Nagala. She was docked to the station for repairs. I think she will join Valkyrie and Poseidon after her repairs are finished. Sir, I almost forgot; there were a few ELINT ships, smaller mobile docks, a few medical ships, one training Strikestar Courageous, and they brought with them over 4,500 cadets. Plus there's over 10,000 personnel that we saved from the moon training base in orbit of Leonis and from the ground base on Aerelon," Commander Corgon reported, looking away from the reports and handing them to Admiral Thorn.
"My gods, we have fighting force. So in final tab we have this, putting these assets with our own; the Skinfaxi class Battlestar Concordia, Valkyrie class battlestars: Caprica, Valkyrie and Poseidon, the Columbia II Battlestars Titan, Rycon, Athena, Cerberus, the Minerva class; Minerva and Hades, the Mercury class Battlestar Polaris, Warstar Daedalus, Six Defender gunstars (Tigris, Claw, Storm, Altair, Modesto and Hook), Titan II Gunstars (Stiletto, Thaddeus, Calamity, Sturgeon, Stargazer, Redeemer, Albatross, Resurgence, Avenger, Aggressive), Vigilant guardian (Sournier), Berzerk Sandstorm and Tauron, Harriers Harrier and Crusher, and Vanguard carrier Arakiel. As well as the heavy Battlestar Theseus, and two large mobile shipyards Unity and Eternity with their heavy weaponry equipped," Admiral Thorn said reading the entire list with a big smile.
"Yes sir, and not to forget those Elints, repair ships, smaller docks, medical ships, Hera Station, and other ships in the civilian fleet," Commander Corgon said.
"Any news from Asclepius? Although we have a lot of medical ships, we could use a bigger one," Admiral Thorn said hopefully.
"Sorry sir, the Asclepius was destroyed in the docks over Picon. The only things that survived were a few dozen civilian ships and the Stealthstar Banshee. The Banshee was in one of the shipyards piers. It was decommissioned shortly before the attack, and only survived thanks to Colonel Marciel," Commander Corgon said.
"Well better..." Admiral Thorn started to say before being interrupted.
"Jump point directly on the mouth of the nebula sir!" the dradis officer reported interrupting Admiral Thorn midsentence.
"Identification on that ship?" Commander Corgon said shortly.
"Yes sir, it identified itself as the Battlestar Victorious," the dradis officer said.
"Victorious, but how, she was destroyed near Leonis?" Commander Corgon asked rasing an eyebrow.
"Sir, Commander Wellinger sent Victorious' ID, he is requesting to dock with one of the shipyards; the ship is badly damaged and they need assistance," the communications officer reported.
"Right, send the tugs to tow them in; every additional battlestar is a bonus at this point," Admiral Thorn said, "and Corgon, send scouts to the other junkyards, reserve yards, posts, outposts, and patrol areas to try to find any more ships for our fleet."
"Sir where will we find the crew for all these ships? I mean even now we might have barely enough to man the ships we have, and I've already sent some transports to pick several thousand more marines and naval personnel from the Aquarian moon Larentis, and to inspect destroyed ships for survivors all around the system," Commander Corgon said.
"Luckily Commander, our two shipyards each carry 25 thousand people; we can move 10 to 15 thousand from them to the new ships. Additionally, I want you to send scouts to the recent battle sites around and throughout the colonies and find as many personnel as possible, as well as commence salvage operations on the destroyed warships from our fleet. Even if we only find more viper pilots it'll be worth it. For now get Victorious into one of the shipyards ASAP," Admiral Thorn said.
"Yes sir," Commander Corgon replied, beginning to send out orders for their gunstars, raptors, and other various ships to be sent out on Admiral Thorns' orders.
Victorious was a heavily modified Indra class battlestar. She was carrying four landing bays instead of two, in a similar way as those on the Mercury class Battlestars. In the next 30 minutes Victorious was docked safely on Eternity.
Olympia Station Observation Deck
Admiral Thorn watched the magnificent site of hundreds and hundreds of ship all around the station. Now they only needed to wait for the Battlestar Atlantis to arrive as Admiral Nagala ordered. He hoped that Commander Stryker (not knowing that Styker was admiral now) would come soon.
"Admiral sir," Commander Wellington said raising his arm in a salute.
"Relax Thomas, that's an order, you don't need to salute, not after what you went through," Admiral Thorn said.
"Yes sir, thank you sir," Commander Wellington said, sighing in relief and from exhaustion, relaxing for the first time after hours of fighting.
"So how the hell did you survive? We heard that the entire battle group over Leonis was destroyed in the first wave," Admiral Thorn asked.
"Well sir, we were on patrol around that cold stone Cybele alone while the rest of the battle group with the Battlestars Hades and Columbia were in orbit at the time of the attack. The Battlestars were shut down in a matter of seconds, and then they were nuked to hell by the Cylons. We jumped directly on top of one of the baseships and we started shelling it with everything we had. Luckily the CNP program was broken and we had to remove it at the time, because my chief performed some tests, which saved the ship but not the fighters we launched. More than half of them were shut down; bloody cylons had a shooting practice. We managed to destroy a baseship, and badly damage the second one. Colonel Mitchell realized that there were a lot of survivors in the wrecks from all the ships and our fighters. So I took a risk sir and sent SAR raptors to save those men and woman. We picked up over two thousand people. At the same time two additional baseships jumped in and start shelling us with everything they had. For 15 minutes we held our own against 2 baseships, playing chicken with them. A Gunstar showed up from nowhere and jumped directly into the path of one of the baseships, destroying both ships. That gave us time to recall our raptors and shuttles. We were hit by multiple nukes, and the port flight pod was out of commission, but we managed to save over 2,100 more people before we were forced to retreat. We received a message from Nagala for all colonial ships to go to Red Horse Nebula. And so we did," Commander Wellington said.
"I am glad that you are here Commander, we need you and your ship," Admiral Thorn said.
"I am curious Admiral, when will we strike back?" Commander Wellington asked.
"As soon as Commander Stryker and the Battlestar Atlantis arrive," Admiral Thorn said.
"Battlestar Atlantis? I've never heard of it," Commander Wellington said in confusion.
"From what I know, it is a Block II Mercury class battlestar, sent on a very important mission for the colonies to establish a new colony called Avalon," Admiral Thorn said.
"A safe port in our darkest hours," Commander Wellington said.
"Well, you could put it that way Commander," Admiral Thorn said.
Cylon Space, Command Baseship 01
In the command room a large number of cylons debated and argued amongst themselves when finally Cavil quieted them all.
"Alright, I want a full report; how the frak did so many colonial warships survive?" Cavil asked.
"We, did n.." Simon started to say before Cavil interrupted.
"Not you Simon, if you start blabbing it will take too long. Doral, I want a full report on the ships that are missing so that we can hunt and destroy them," Cavil said.
"Okay, but you are not going to like this," Doral said, "There are several groups that we know of so far; first there's Galactica's group at Ragnar which succeeded in escaping from Ragnar and now is on its way to the Promar sector in it's so called search for Earth. There is Pegasus and Admiral Cain, and we don't have any idea where she is, but with her temperament we will find her soon. The Battlestars Prometheus, Celestial and Eternal are all missing, as well as Battlestar Nova and the Lobo Negro station, and several Gunstars with them."
"Great, two Nova class ships disappeared with a fully armed mobile shipyard," Cavil said interrupting.
"That is not all, not even close. We scouted several junkyards including the biggest one inside of the Hera nebula. It's abandoned, but from the list of ships that are supposed to be there, many are missing including the Warstar Daedalus. Janice reports that the Battlestar Concordia survived. We also have list of additional ships that are missing but presumed destroyed in the fighting; the Battlestars Caprica, Valkyrie and Poseidon. Finally there is the Battlestar Victorious that escaped from Leonis," Doral said.
"You're joking with me Doral?" Cavil asked, "You want to tell me that there is almost a dozen Battlestars out there, and who knows how many other units taken from those junkyards. Great this is magnificent, an epic failure!"
"Well I told you that it would be a failure," Kathy said narrowing her eyes angrily.
"Shut your mouth as I'm not in the mood to play with you Kathy," Cavil said shortly.
"That's not all," Doral said.
"What there's more? Just Fracking perfect," Cavil said.
"We managed to make some headway on those phantom ships you wanted. We found the names, for them. What we saw is that all of them are listed as Battlestars; Atlantis, Sword, Argona and Pleiades," Doral said.
"Pleiades was supposed to be in the Kurashiki reserve yard for disposal after that fatal error on her," Simon said in disbelief.
"Well she is obviously not!" Cavil said, fuming.
"We know nothing else about these ships, where they are or what classes they are except for the Pleiades. All we know is that they exist. My guess is that it's some colonial project outside of the Cyrannus system," Doral said.
"They could be anywhere," Leoben commented.
"True, also more than 300 civilian ships jumped together with one Titan II Gunstar and the Virgon and Aerelon Guard units, and we still don't know where they are," Doral said.
"Damn, damn, this is not as I planned it to happen!" Cavil said.
"It's never as you plan Cavil," Kathy said
"Watch it sister," Cavil said.
"Or what you will box me?" Kathy asked sarcastically.
"I might just do that," Cavil said narrowing his eyes at Kathy.
"Fighting like humans will get us nowhere, it is important to deal with all the remaining humans on the colonies and then start hunting the rest," Simon said.
"Fine, the sooner we finish this the better. I will take half of the fleet to pursue Galactica and her fleet. A small fleet of five baseships will be sent to find Prometheus and that colony of theirs. And rest of the fleet will stay here," Cavil said.