Firestorm Part 2
Time plus 25 minutes:
Twenty five minutes had passed since the start of the attacks at Aerelon and Caprica. The extraction of the civilian and military POWs from Aerelon and Caprica was well underway and proceeding as planned. The Battlestars Vanguard and Chimera, the two Bezerk class support ships Glacier and Tigon, seven gunstars, six battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, three destroyers, three firestars, and seven strikestars of the captured warships near the Aerelon moon had been manned with the military POWs and jumped to the designated location of the cradle docks. While they were there, they were going through a complete inspection to remove any remaining Cylon troops and traps on board, and they would be getting new programming and safeguards to replace the CNP program.
On Aerelon, time plus 30 minutes:
All 200,000 civilians had been evacuated from the planet. The 32,000 surviving Military POW's personnel were loaded aboard the recaptured warships as well. It was found that the highest ranking POW was Admiral Kelly Sounders who had survived the capture of her Battlestar and was put in one of the POW camps. Admiral Stryker gave orders for all ship to jump and join him in Caprica orbit except for the civilian ships which jumped to the rally point to join the fleet gathering there so that the Cylons could be weeded out before the trip to the Red Horse Nebula where the next stage of the trip would be planned and executed.
Picon – Cylon Command Baseship
"Jack, we lost contact with both Aerelon and Caprica over thirty minutes ago," a number four said.
"What do you mean, we lost contact?" Jack Cavil asked outraged.
"Lost it! As in it seems those two planets are being jammed. We can't get in touch with anyone there," the four said.
"Send the heavy raiders to find out what is going on. I want to know what is going on as soon as possible as this may be the colonial attack I have been expecting," Jack Cavil said.
Caprica Orbit time plus 40 minutes:
It was rushed to say the least in and around Caprica's orbit. Civilian ships had already landed on the surface of the planet and were picking up survivors. So far over 600,000 had made it to the evacuation ships and were on the way to rally point one. Two dozen new civilian ships jumped to Caprica to help with the extraction of as many civilians from there as possible. General O'Rilley continued his fight against the Cylons and with the help of the vipers and armed raptors from the fleet in orbit; the Colonial forces pushed the Cylons back into smaller and smaller pockets around the capital, and some of the other major cities. The Cylons were losing a lot of centurions in the process. The Cradle dock ship ordered to pick up the Sleipnir class Battlestar had already moved the half-finished Battlestar into its dock and jumped away to the rally point.
Battlestar Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, Cradle 1 and her escorts just jumped out and they have the Battlestar Sleipnir and a lot of supplies for her from the dock she was in. From what I can see of the inventory, there's more than enough to finish her and then some. If I may make a suggestion sir, I would suggest that we have the tugs grab as many of the wrecked Battlestars and Gunstars, and place them in the dock and then jump all of it to the rally point with the tugs FTL units. With a little bit of time, we may be able to convert the dock into a mobile dock, and even if the ships cannot be repaired they can be scrapped for resources," Commander Haller reported.
"That is a very good idea. Get the tugs on it ASAP. What's the status of the evacuation and the reactivation of the defensive satellites?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Sir, we have over 600,000 evacuated so far. General O'Rilley has already started rallying his troops, and he is also bringing his tanks, a lot of Landrams, and Phoenix VTOLS with him. I would say he might like to use them on the Cylons on other colonies as well," Commander Haller said.
"If we have time, he will have the chance to do just that in the future. Right now, we need to speed this up as the Cylons could be here any time now. I do not want any of our ships sitting on the surface if we can help it," Admiral Stryker said.
"I doubt they would attack us here Sir? There are too many Battlestars and Gunstars in orbit, as well as the defensive stations and satellites which are all in a position to repel just such an attack," Commander Haller said confidently.
"You forget Commander that is what we thought about Virgon with Admiral Nagala and the fleet, and he had a lot more warships than we do. Also, this is not going to be a straight up fight if I can help it. We are going to use guerilla warfare against the Cylons and we will only attack them when the advantage is ours as we cannot replace our losses as fast as they can. The Cylons still have a large force here in the Cyrannus system. So we are outnumbered and outgunned by a factor of four or more to one. Do not forget that we planned to leave Caprica in fifteen more minutes, and if we stay longer it will only be because the Cylons are giving us that extra time," Admiral Stryker said without hesitation, knowing that his order could leave untold thousands on the surface to the mercy of the Cylons.
A lone heavy raider jumped to the edge of Caprica space. For a few moments it scanned Caprica and the fleet in orbit, and then jumped away to Aerelon to do the same.
"What is it Commander?" Admiral Stryker asked seeing that the Commander was somewhat depressed.
"Sir, my family lives on the Tibertus continent of Caprica, near the main Tibertus mountain range. They have a cottage there," Commander Haller said.
"You think they are still alive?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"I don't know sir, I simply don't know," Commander Haller said worriedly.
"Alright, Lieutenant let's send a raptor to the Tibertus mountain range. The Commander can give you the coordinates so that the raptor can start a search for survivors. If they are alive they will be rescued Commander," Admiral Stryker said.
"Thank you sir," Commander Haller said.
"Don't think about it. I would do this for any of my crew. Lieutenant, send a message to all our raptors and relay the order to other ships in the fleet. I want every single survivor off the surface as soon as possible. And any ship that is already full is to jump to the rally point as soon as they are full and safe to jump, they do not need to wait for my orders to do so," Admiral Stryker said.
"Yes sir," the communications officer said.
Time plus 60 minutes:
"Sir, we just had a bogie jump out on dradis!" the dradis officer said.
"What do you mean had?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Our sensors detected an FTL jump point. Something small jumped out, my guess would be a raider or heavy raider," the dradis officer said.
"But how did we not detect it sooner?" Commander Haller asked.
"I don't know sir, but I believe it must be because it was on the very edge of our dradis range and moved in from there," the dradis officer said.
"Blast, that mean we don't have much time. Send the evacuation orders to all ships to begin the withdrawal from the surface, I do not want any ships on the ground. We will continue with raptors and FTL shuttles only. Orders to all Battlestar; they are to launch their ready reserve vipers and to get ready for a Cylon attack with Basestars, raiders, and heavy raiders using nukes. All of the defensive stations and satellites are ready and should jump at this time. The tugs need to secure from salvage operations and jump the damaged dock and the salvaged ships out ASAP. May the lords of Kobol be kind to us this day and give us a little more time too," Admiral Stryker said.
Picon – Cylon Command Baseship
"The heavy raiders just returned. They're reporting that a large colonial force is currently over Caprica. There is nothing in orbit of Aerelon, but the wreckage of our Baseships and raiders. The captured warships and survivors in the POW camps are gone, as well as the defensive stations and satellites," one of the sixes reported.
"How many ships, what type, and how did they remove the defensive stations and satellites?" Gary Doral asked.
"Well that is not very hard to figure out. They simply cleared the CNP program and used the FTL units on the larger defensive stations to jump them to who knows where, and the smaller defensive satellites were simply docked with the main defensive stations for the jump. It would only take a crew of ten to man the stations with a skeleton crew, but as many as 500 to 1500 could be placed onboard. And let us not forget that each of the 6 stations and the 36 smaller anti-missile/raider satellites have the same firepower as a mercury class battlestar," Jack Cavil said.
"Currently at Caprica, there are at least twelve Battlestars, two Warstars and at least six Gunstars. There could be more on the other side of the planet, but the heavy raiders did not stay long enough to find out. Plus there's a large number of civilian ships that have landed on the planet's surface, as well as others in orbit, so now we know why they were gathering so many old ships from all over the colonies. Some of the civilian ships were jumping out after our raider arrived, so it seems that they are either evacuating survivors or bringing in more to the surface. And if the defensive stations from Aerelon join those at Caprica, they can add the equivalent firepower of at least 12 Mercury class battlestars to the ships they have in orbit," the Six said.
"Frak! What about our forces on the ground?" Jack Cavil asked.
"No response, the colonials are jamming the entire system," the Six replied.
"So your plan isn't going as well as you thought it would?" Gary Doral said watching Cavil's face.
"Actually I expected this; as I said before, I was waiting for the Colonials to make the first move, and they just did. I expected correctly that they would hit Caprica first, because a vast majority of the survivors are on that colony. I didn't however expect their attack on Aerelon. Blast, we lost all of the captured ships there, and it looks like they also removed all six of the large defensive satellites when they left as well, and we can assume that they will do the same at Caprica if we give them the time, and we cannot give them more time," Jack Cavil said.
"In short it didn't work out as you planned," Gary Doral pressed, elated at how this disaster was affecting Jack Cavil.
"No Gary, it did not, but nevertheless this could actually work out to our favor," Jack Cavil said.
"And would you mind sharing with the rest of us how this could work out in our favor?" Gary Doral asked persistently.
"They believe that even with those ships and defensive stations that they will be safe. But there is no safe place for them. We will attack and destroy them piece by piece, but that is all in good time. We waited long enough for them to lead us to their hidden base or planet that they are hiding at. I want every colonial ship that tries to reach any of the other colonies to be intercepted and destroyed. I think we have given them more than enough time and resources. And now it is time to start taking it away," Jack Cavil said.
"Do you realize that if your brother learns that you allowed more than two million people to survive that you are going to be boxed, or worse erased, you know that John doesn't take failures very well," Gary Doral said.
"I am quite familiar with my brother's methods, but since this is my playground I make the rules. Every ship you find is to be destroyed, until we are able to find their main staging ground and attack them en masse," Jack Cavil said.
"What about Caprica? We need to send ships and to destroy them or at least destroy most of their military forces?" one of the threes said.
"Yes, I believe that would be the proper course of action. But we don't know if this fleet in orbit of Caprica is all they have. There are too many civilian ships out there that survived and the last count put the number at a little over ten thousand ships still not accounted for. And yes I know that we are finding and destroying or capturing an average of six civilian ships each day, but that still leaves a lot of ships out there. And let's not forget that both of the Aerelon and Virgon Guards ships are still not present here, or accounted for since the attacks. This leads me to the conclusion that the colonials have more ships somewhere, and by this I mean more military ships," Jack Cavil explained.
"Jack has a point, there could be more colonial ships just waiting us to attack their force in orbit of Caprica. And when we do, they will jump in on top of us. We have already lost too many ships, and thanks to John we can't build that many ships to replace those destroyed," one of the twos said.
"From the start of our attack on the humans, you and your fellow ones were all for the need that all humans needed to be exterminated, that we had to destroy them in one single attack. Since when have you started to be so patient?" a three asked.
"Because I am not as arrogant or as aggressive as my brother John, after all I'm using my brain much more than my brothers are," Jack Cavil said.
"Oh I would like to see that for a change," a six said smiling.
"Don't smile too much sister, my brother made the plan for the attack on the humans, but he did not create a plan B in case his plan failed. I on the other hand have. Yes, rushing and trying to find every human ship is almost an impossible task. Too many resources were lost or wasted in the attack on the Colonies, and after that," Jack Cavil said.
"So you don't plan to do anything about the Colonial warships currently in orbit of Caprica?" Gary Doral asked.
"Actually I do! It's your mission," Jack Cavil said grinning evilly.
"Mine? What do you mean mine?" Gary Doral asked confused.
"You will go now to your Dreadstar and its escorting fleet of Basestars, and take back Caprica. Your job is to destroy as many enemy ships you can, but leave the civilian ships untouched as much as possible," Jack Cavil said.
"It would take twenty minutes to get my ships to Caprica, by then Colonials may already be gone," Gary protested.
"That is a risk that you must take, but I doubt that they will go anywhere until you show up and if the Admiral in charge over there is stupid, he will stand and fight. If he stands and fights, then this will be over before it even begins. Now GO!" Jack Cavil ordered.
Gary Doral left the command room, and he was upset by Jack giving him this kind of mission. He doesn't like having to use his basestars to go destroy as many human ships as possible! But the timing of this was not good. This would only reveal his mighty ship, the dreadstar, to the humans, and he didn't want that - at least not yet.
Caprica Orbit - Battlestar Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, we just got a message from Admiral Thorn. He wanted to inform you that Operation Black Arrow just started," Commander Haller said, "by the way sir, what is Operation Black Arrow? I do not remember it being part of the briefings up to this point."
"That Commander is a small side project planned and commanded by Admiral Thorn. He planned to send the Stealthstar Banshee into Cylon space, and to destroy everything they could in the next month or so before returning to our home base," Admiral Stryker said.
"How can one Stealthstar do that job sir? I mean even loaded with nukes, she would not survive for very long if the Cylons caught her," Commander Haller said worriedly.
"Let's hope they don't then, and besides with a majority of their forces here in the colonies or off chasing the Battlestar Galactica, we have a priceless chance to destroy their mining and communication installations, and maybe even a shipyard or two. And let's remember that as he puts the heat on the Cylons, they will have to move more of their ships home; which will give us the chance that we need to strike a deathblow to the fleet at Picon," Admiral Stryker said.
"I also don't understand why we're going for Picon first; we know from our Cylon prisoners where to find the Hub and their large mobile shipyards they have somewhere outside of Cyrannus. What about those assets?" Commander Haller asked.
"All in good time, and besides; from our communications intercepts we know that the Cylons have moved their Hub into orbit of Picon, along with one of their Command Basestars. There are at least 15 standard Basestars that are guarding the hub. So as soon as we are done here, we will rearm, and repair all of our ships, and then we are going to pay Picon and the Cylons a visit," Admiral Stryker said.
"Sir, you don't seriously plan on attacking the Cylon forces in orbit of Picon do you?" Commander Haller asked incredulously.
"Yes Commander that is exactly what I'm planning on doing. Right now, the Cylons already know of our little incursion on Aerelon and Caprica, and they know that we are either taking survivors or setting up shop. It is logical that they will attack to prevent this, and they will attack. But if they have a Command ship at Picon, that is the central ship for every Cylon force in this system, and we destroy it and the Hub, then we will in effect cripple the Cylons for a long time. Also, we may prevent them from possible future attack on our main fleet," Admiral Stryker said.
Commander Haller was astonished. He noticed that after the destruction of the Gunstar Brusser, Admiral Stryker had changed. He had become much darker, and more ready to attack the Cylons than he was before. Knowing his tactical ability, he knew that the Admiral had good reasons for it.
"How many people have we managed to save so far?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"So far, all that have made it to the evacuation ships number a little over one point two million, it would definitely not be comfortable for them, but at least they will survive," Commander Haller replied.
"What about raptors that are searching for people in the remote areas?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"They have found a few hundred sir; including a small resistance group in the mountains led by Samuel T Anders and the rest of the Caprican Buccaneers," Commander Haller said.
"Your family?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Nothing yet Sir," Commander Haller said sadly.
"I am sorry Commander," Admiral Stryker said, "What about General O'Rilley's forces?"
"They are finishing loading the marines into the Assaultstars sir, along with their equipment," Commander Haller said.
"Good, we are leaving in five minutes," Admiral Stryker said.
"But sir, our scans of the planet shows that there are over 150,000 survivors still on the planet!" Commander Haller exclaimed in denial.
"Yes I know, but we cannot stay much longer. We are also already full on almost every ship, so we do not have the space even if we have the time. I do not think that we will have the time either though. The fleet is to hold their jump clocks at T-Minus 5 seconds. We will pick up as many as we can and put them on the warships," Admiral Stryker said.
4 minutes 45 seconds later...
"Sir, the last civilian ship has jumped; the defensive stations and satellites are gone, there's only the Assaultstars and the two Colossus heavy transports left and they're just now exiting the atmosphere," the communications officer said.
"Good prepare..." Admiral Stryker started to say before being interrupted.
"Dradis contact at six thousand kilometers in front of us!" the dradis officer yelled.
"How many and what is their IFF?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"There are twelve ships sir, and the IFF is…. Colonial Sir! It's the Eleventh Marine Expeditionary Division! IFF codes are confirmed, they are ours. Iocaste Actual is on the Alpha channel for you sir," the communications officer reported.
"This is Atlantis Actual to Iocaste Actual, it is good to see you. We do not have much time to talk as I expect the Cylons will be along any time now. We are sending you a set of jump coordinates to jump to and we will meet you there in a few minutes, or as soon as we have recovered the last of our raptors," Admiral Stryker said.
"This is Iocaste Actual to Atlantis Actual. We have the Coordinates and will see you on the other side," Iocaste Actual said.
Fifteen second later the Assaultstar Iocaste and her marine group jumped to rally point one, and no sooner had they FTL jumped out than when the inevitable happened.
"Dradis contact at thirty thousand kilometers in front of us!" the dradis officer yelled, "there are twenty Basestars and rising sir. The final count is at fifty Basestars Sir!"
"Are they in weapons range?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"No sir, they will be in less than a minute," the dradis officer said.
"Put on them on the main screen, and order all vipers to make combat landings on their Battlestars. Send the word to any raptors to get the hell out and stop what they are doing. If they cannot make it to the Battlestars, they can jump to the rally point and we will meet them there," Admiral Stryker said.
Admiral Stryker looked at the main screen, and watched the large Cylon fleet that was in front of him. He noticed that they were launching raiders, and also there was one very large ship in the middle of the Cylon fleet; much larger than any other Cylon ship, and a pair of smaller, yet larger than standard, baseships. He then realized those ships must belong to the guarding fleet of the Cylon mobile shipyard.
"Sir they are launching missiles, I'm counting approximately 10,000 of them, and almost half of them are nukes," the dradis officer said in panic.
"All vipers have finished their combat landings sir," the operations officer reported.
"All ships, initiate combat jump now! It's time to go," Admiral Stryker said, "Time to missiles impact?"
"40 seconds. Weapons free, fire at will!" Commander Haller said.
Admiral Stryker was relieved as that was more than enough time to jump away.
Ship after ship disappeared in bright flashes; after only 10 seconds only the Atlantis, Polaris, and the Assaultstars were left. But soon even they jumped away as well. Seconds after all the ships jumped, thousands of missiles passed the place where the colonial warships had been and entered the atmosphere of Caprica. Many exploded in midair, but those that were on a relatively good course continued descending until they finally hit the ground. Caprica was nuked for the second time in less than two months by the Cylons, and this time even harder than the first time.
The explosions of so many nuclear missiles – many of those in and over 100 megatons caused the total destruction of Caprica's surface. Some nukes hit old dormant volcanoes, activating them again after hundreds of thousands of years of sleep. In less than an hour, after the second nuclear strike, the surface of Caprica was no longer capable of sustaining any form of life, from the gasses and ashes, to the strong earthquakes and tidal forces: the planet was dead.
Gary Doral watched from the command room of his Dreadstar, angry that he had failed to destroy any of the colonial warships and that he ordered the jump too far from the colonial ships. But also was in shock when he realized what he had done to Caprica. He completely forgot to give the order for the self-destruct of the missiles, and the force of almost 10,000 missiles hit the planet, 5,000 of them nukes. Now he initiated a polar shift on Caprica, by awaking several of the most dangerous volcanoes on the surface; effectively killing all the remaining Cylons and humans on Caprica.
"Nice work Gary," one of the sixes in the room said sarcastically, "you destroyed a planet, and when Jack finds out about this, he will be the end of you."
"I didn't want this to happen. I only wanted to destroy the colonial fleet as I was commanded to do," Gary replied still watching the planet in shock. By now Caprica was glowing red with lava flowing over the surface. He could see the Oceans slowly disappearing and large eruptions from all sides, consuming what was once the most beautiful planet in the Cyrannus system. "My gods, what have I done," Gary said quietly to himself.
Gary didn't realize that it was his ship that was actually the most responsible for this, since his ship was the only ship capable of launching the new 250mt nukes except for the command baseship at Picon. It was several of these nukes that set off one of the oldest caldera type volcanoes.
Of all the colonies, Caprica was now the only one not capable of holding any type of life. Although the changes on Caprica were cataclysmic, they don't blow the planet to pieces. But Caprica was left a barren volcanic world, with no chance of terra forming. Her entire surface would become one large pool of lava and volcanoes, and the oceans would become lakes of acid, and this would take less than a week.
Cylon Space – Stealthstar Banshee
"Sir, one of our stealth birds reported about a Cylon orbital facility and a city on the third planet in the Danthus system. It appears that we have found their main system?" Major Cella said.
"But we did not find their main ship production facility. They must have moved it closer to the colonies. Never mind, we will hit this secondary production facility and those ground stations. That city must be their production and refining factory. What about their defenses?" Colonel Marciel asked.
"Two Basestars are in orbit and a few squadrons of raiders are on patrol. There are no defense platforms around the facility or the planet. I cannot say what will be on the ground, but we are not getting anything on dradis," Major Cella reported.
"Very well, let's do this quick; I don't want to be here for long. Tell battle raptors 1 through 4 to jump to baseship alpha and nuke it to hell; battle raptors 5 through 8 to do the same with baseship beta. We will deal with the station and any ground forces, and as soon as the baseships explode, launch all our vipers to cover us while we are engaging our targets. Point defenses are free to engage when we do," Colonel Marciel said.
The Banshee moved forward, thankfully her stealth worked fine and the Cylons didn't detect them. As planned, the raptors moved from Banshee's bay and jumped directly to the Baseships. Both baseships exploded when hit by multiple 10 Megaton nukes. The Banshee turned off her stealth systems and start ed launching nuclear missiles and firing her guns on the Cylon facility in orbit of Dantius. Banshee was a Stealthstar and the only one of her kind ever built. She was saved thank to her previous commander who was killed when several conducts exploded as result of battle damage. She was armed with 16 Battlestar sized KEW turret guns capable of tearing apart a baseship. She also had over 30 missile launchers that could be armed with nukes or other conventional ordinances, and between her 20 vipers and her point defense guns - she was a real killer of raiders
The limited point defenses on the Cylon facility took down a few of the incoming missiles, but a majority of them hit the large Cylon production facility destroying it completely. The Banshee then moved forward launching a second volley on the planet, annihilating everything on the surface as the Cylons were taken completely by surprise and they did not even get their defenses online long enough to destroy more than a quarter of the incoming nukes.
Just as Banshee had come, she disappeared swiftly and quietly like a ghost in the black abyss of space. For the first time the Cylons would know what it was to face fear.
A little over an hour after escape from Caprica
Rally Point Alpha
Two cradle dockships sat at the designated jump point alpha and both Battlestars that they saved were inside and undergoing a complete search and survey of their charges. The other military supports had already been searched due to their smaller size.
Civilian ships were also present as well as the returning military fleet. In almost thirty minutes of searching the fleet, twenty one Cylons were found on board the evacuation fleet and six more in the ships of the Eleventh Marines. In accordance with the established protocol, they were executed. Admiral Stryker believed that they couldn't find alpha jump point, so he was calm when he ordered the executions of all the Cylons found in the fleet.
Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, you better look this," Commander Haller said, "this was sent to us a few minute ago; recorded after our departure from Caprica, by our spy satellite in orbit. Please look closely Admiral."
Admiral Stryker watched in horror as 10,000 missiles struck Caprica, some exploding in the atmosphere, but a vast majority continued on to the surface. A few seconds later, he saw the biggest bombardment in his lifetime. During the first Cylon attack, the Cylons targeted population centers and bases with low yield nukes to prevent damage to the planets. But now Caprica was being hit by a very large amount of high yield nuclear warheads with no regard for the damage or locations of where the nukes hit. Admiral Stryker observed how many of the nukes hit the dormant volcanoes and calderas, waking them up with a catastrophic effect to the rest of the planet.
Commander Haller fast-forwarded thirty minutes and the entire C.I.C was in shock seeing that Caprica was not as blue as she was before. She was now becoming a red ball of fire, full of volcanic eruptions, gasses and large waves of water becoming acidic. The Cylons that were on the planet as well as the remaining stranded humans were already dead, or would be in a matter of hours. Nothing would survive on Caprica, nor could anything live there for several millennia if not longer.
"They destroyed Caprica," one of the young female technicians said with tears in her eyes.
Admiral Stryker went to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, opened a channel to the entire fleet, and said in a loud voice so that the entire C.I.C could hear, "We must be strong! Many of you are from Caprica, and many of you had families and homes there that are now gone. If we ever had plans to return here, that plan is now a failure. The Cylons will pay for all of this! They will pay for the destruction of Caprica and for the attempted extermination of the entire human race. We will not stop! I will not stop! Not until every last one of them is dead. Now we have work to do and our people to get to Avalon, so focus your grief to make sure that we will be ready to destroy the Cylons when the time comes. We will have a lot of work ahead of us and we will need to pick new leaders that understand that this war is all or nothing. We tried it their way and now it will be our turn to do it right, even if it takes a thousand years. We will not forgive or forget! So Say We All!"
An additional thirty minutes were needed before all ships were checked for Cylons and those ships that were taken from the Cylons were checked for traps and possible centurions on board. All ships were cleared of any tracking devices. Still, they will spent some time in the docks once they returned to the Red Horse Nebula just to ensure for Admiral Stryker, and the other Admirals and Commanders, that everything was in order and ready for the upcoming action against the Cylons at Picon.
The Eleventh Marine Expeditionary Division ships were slotted into the fleet and were a welcome site to the civilians and military alike. The Eleventh had escaped the destruction of the fleet and the colonies because they were on a mission to hunt down the pirates around an asteroid belt and destroy their base of operations; a mission that they had succeeded in just before the attack on the colonies. General Conrad Williams wanted to return as soon as the word of the attack arrived, but Rear Admiral Johnathan Kincaid talked him out of it as they did not know until after the fight at Virgon how the Cylons were shutting down our ships, so they fixed that and started to scout the enemy. After that, the Eleventh had waited to join up with a colonial battle group to take the war to the Cylons. So it was very fortunate that a raptor was in a position to see the colonial fleet attack at Caprica.
Picon – Command Baseship
"I'll kill him! Who gave him permission to take the entire defense fleet to Caprica? And who gave him the order to fire on the planet itself? I always knew that he was an idiot, but now this is a record for his stupidity!" Jack Cavil said furiously, after finding out what Gary Doral had done to Caprica.
"Relax Jack, he fired on the Colonial fleet, but they jumped just before the missiles could touch them," one of the sixes said.
"Then why the hell did he not self-destruct the damn missiles?" Jack Cavil asked.
"I don't know, he must have forgotten to order the self-destruct?" a number two said.
"Really, he forgot to stop 10,000 missiles from hitting the Fracking planet? We lost a lot of our brothers and sisters, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of combat centurions, raiders and heavy raiders that were still operational, and we lost a perfectly good planet, thanks to that crazy overconfident idiot," Jack Cavil said angrily.
"Look who's talking, I believe it's you that planned many a plan that failed," Gary Doral said while entering the room.
"You! I should order you boxed, no your execution and erasure. I did not tell you to move the entire defense fleet from our shipyard, just your dreadstar and escorts. But no, what did you do, you moved the entire fleet and bombed Caprica into a useless hell," Jack Cavil said.
"That is not my fault. The colonial ships jumped away just before the missiles could strike them and they were already at the edge of the atmosphere," Gary Doral said.
"Oh, now they are guilty? Did you really expect that they would stay just for you? Just to be hit by your missiles? You are more of an idiot than I thought before," Jack Cavil said.
"Well in a few dozen years Caprica will heal itself and we will able to take it again," Gary Doral said, trying to bluff Cavil to calm him, but the bluff didn't work.
"A few dozen years? It will take a thousand, if not millions of years for Caprica to be a planet capable of sustaining life again, you cracked her crust to pieces," one of the sixes said, outraged.
"Never mind Caprica, it's lost, we have another problem," a number three said, "I just received a report that our secondary facility and mining city in the Danthus system have been destroyed, as well as all the mining outposts in the area."
"What? How is that possible?" Jack Cavil asked.
"Apparently this ship," the number three said while showing the picture of the colonial ship attacking the planet, "is an experimental Stealthstar, the Banshee. She destroyed both of the guarding baseships, the secondary shipyards, and the refinery mining city on the planet. Everything is lost there. I sent three baseships, but they reported that nothing survived. We will have to start from scratch for everything in the system."
"We also received a reported sighting of the Eleventh Marine Expeditionary Group near the belt, but they were nowhere to be found when the Basestars arrived to investigate," Jeremy Simon said.
"This is just great, more fracked up news, and not a single good item this whole fracked up day. What do you plan to do next Admiral Stryker?" Jack Cavil said furiously, but also in some weird way calmly; the colonials had just made their move, and it was time for him to make his move. But he still didn't know where the colonials were.
"I want to double the patrols in orbit around the remaining colonies. We will increase the number of ships in the Cyrannus system and I want the humans to be found. This is getting out of control, and we need to contain it before John returns. We will need to take all of the captured humans and all of the captured ships that are military or civilian to Picon. The POW camps are still in use here so we will use them. This will also give us a central processing station for the medical experiments and then the exterminations. I will also order for all the wrecks and stations around the colonies to be picked up and moved to Picon, and this will stop the constant raids by the colonials that are still out there. We will at some point have to bring the defensive stations and satellites to Picon as well. So as we clear a colony and declare it safe, and human free, we can move everything down to housekeeping levels and concentrate our forces; this will give us less to protect, and may allow us to set a trap by leaking some information to the colonials that we have all of their people at Picon," Jack Cavil said.
"We need to, wait a second? This was your plan and you let the colonials to expand. To find so many more usable warships and civilian ship, and they took two Battlestars and support ships that were in mint condition. So you give them a chance to fight Jack, and now you expect us to fix your mistake," a six said.
"Shut up, and do as I tell you, if John returns and sees all this, it will not be only me who will be in trouble," Jack Cavil said.
Red Horse Nebula – 1 Day Later, Olympia Station Observation Deck
Admiral Stryker stood on the observation deck watching the fleet; it was something that he did almost every day. The mission went well, but he lost a Gunstar and the planet itself. Not to mention over 150,000 people who were left on the surface to die when the missiles hit it. The Cylons might not have intended to destroy Caprica, but they did it. That big Cylon ship would be a huge threat to the fleet, and an after action report showed that the nukes were not of the standard size. From the size and from the shown capabilities of launching hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of missiles so quickly - it makes it the deadliest thing ever built by the Cylons. It must be destroyed, but first he had to deal with something much more real: the Cylon's Picon fleet. As he understood it, that was the command fleet. If he destroyed that fleet and the resurrection hub the Cylons kept in Picon orbit, then they might cripple the Cylons for a while. His thoughts were stopped when Admiral Kelly Sounders got closer and called out to him.
"I really didn't have a chance to thank you for rescuing us Mark," Admiral Sounders said.
"You don't need to Kelly," Admiral Stryker said.
"Well thank you again. And when the hell did you become an Admiral? The last time I checked, you were given command of Atlantis, and you were still a Commander," Admiral Sounders said.
"That is a long story that I can sum up with two words: Admiral Nagala. So how the hell did you end up in that POW camp?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"I was onboard the Battlestar Chimera at the time of the Cylon attack, on my way to Virgon to meet with Admiral Nagala and the Command staff. My ship was in for refit at that time at Scorpia. We were intercepted by the Cylons, and when Commander Beltran gave the order to engage the baseship the ship just shut itself off. The Cylons then sent us a message that if we resisted, we would all die. I didn't want to lose anyone on board, because it would be impossible to stop them. So I ordered our surrender. They moved us to the prison camp on Aerelon, along with the remaining crew of the Battlestar Vanguard," Admiral Sounders said.
"Remaining?" Admiral Stryker asked curiously.
"Yes, well apparently after being disabled the Vanguard's Commander refused to surrender and they engaged in a bloody fight with the Cylon centurions. They fought well, but they were outnumbered. The Cylons programmed their Centurions with special instructions to fire on any human with a weapon. After losing half of the ship, the remaining crew dropped their weapons and surrendered, but for his insolence the entire command staff of the Vanguard was executed. The Cylons were able to find several support ships from the docks in orbit of Aerelon, as well as from other areas around the colonies; they took those ships and put them near the Battlestars in orbit of the Aerelon moon so they could keep an eye on them," Admiral Sounders said.
"How did the Cylons treat the prisoners?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"There were 50,000 military personnel in the beginning. They were mostly picked up from wrecked ships, and from the damaged stations. A week later a strike was started, and a massive escape from the POW camps started. During the fight, over 3,000 people were killed, and an additional 10,000 were executed in the next two weeks as examples and for a variety of experiments. The rest died with time. Only those 32,000 that you picked up survived," Admiral Sounders said, "I must say I was in shock when I saw multiple ships landing all around us, and then the raptors and vipers were buzzing all around us. It was a fine site to see. I have a question for you. Shortly before we were rescued, we saw a large explosion in the sky. What was that?"
"That was the Gunstar Brusser, as we jumped into Aerelon orbit the Basestars that were keeping an eye on the POW camps launched nukes at you. The Brusser and her viper and raptor escorts tried to stop those nukes, and they succeeded, but the Brusser and her crew paid the price," Admiral Stryker said.
Admiral Sounders saw from Stryker's face that he didn't want to talk about it, so she only said "you have gathered a large fleet at this hidden base, so whatever you are going to do, you have my support."
"Thank you Kelly, so did you find a ship for yourself?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Yes, I think I will make the Battlestar Rycon my flagship," Admiral Sounders said.
"Good, she is a fine ship with an experienced crew," Admiral Stryker said.
"So what is your next plan?" Admiral Sounders asked.
"Well I need to get the Command staffs together so we can make our plans for the attack at Picon. The Cylons have moved their resurrection Hub and their fleet Command Basestar there. If we can destroy those two units, we will stand a chance to end the Cylons overconfidence and their suicidal attacks. It will give us the breathing room we need to save more of our people and get them to Avalon. If the gods are with us, at some point in the near future we will be able to go on the offensive and take the war to the Cylons," Admiral Stryker said.
"Picon, so that is where the Cylon command ship and hub is. I would not have believed it if I had not read the reports your staff provided and talked to the Cylon information sources that you have in the brig here at the base. And you know that the generals will want to get in on the action?" Admiral Sounders said.
"Yes, and we will attack them very soon, and if we do this right we will be able to put a lot of pressure on the Cylons. After the attacks at Picon, we are leaving the Cyrannus system for Avalon. Let's set up a meeting for 1800 tomorrow and get all the commanding and executive officers of the warships, and the generals with their staffs, together so we can plan this out," Admiral Stryker said.
A few hours later
Atlantis Flag Suite
"Come in," Admiral Stryker said after hearing a knock on his doors.
The doors opened and Colonel Belzen entered the room.
"Ah Colonel, good to see you are up and about. Please come in and sit," Admiral Stryker said.
"Thank you sir, you wanted to see me?" Colonel Belzen asked.
"Yes I do. I see you are much better, and since I'm short on qualified officers you are back on duty. Before you ask, I also have a job for you. You are hereby ordered to take onto yourself the command of the Battlestar Vanguard," Admiral Stryker said handing the commander pin to the now shocked Colonel.
"Thank you sir!" Commander Belzen said and then saluted.
"Report to the Vanguard in the morning and keep her safe Commander," Admiral Stryker said and saluted back.
"One more thing Commander, very soon I'm planning to send a small fleet in search of the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus. The Vanguard will lead that fleet and you will have an arrest warrant to serve to Admiral Cain. You have your orders for now so that is all. I'll see you tomorrow at the staff planning meeting," Admiral Stryker said.
Near Cylon Space, System 045A-23F
Battlestar Caprica jumped into the system following the trail of the Gunstar group. After the jump Commander Erickson was in shock when he realized that he was surrounded by Gunstars and they were all ready to fire at him.
"Commander, the lead Gunstar is demanding that we send our authentication codes," the communications officer reported.
"Send it, now lieutenant," Commander Erickson said.
Gunstar Avalanche C.I.C.
"Colonel, we have received the proper codes sir and it is the Battlestar Caprica," the communications officer said.
"So it's the Battlestar Caprica that's been shadowing us for the last few days, and we thought it was the Cylons," Colonel Stone said.
"What do we do now sir?" the XO asked.
"Sir, the Caprica is sending a large amount of information, and it seems that there are a lot of colonial ships that have survived, and they're in the Red Horse Nebula," the communications officer said.
"I'll be damned, ok signal the Caprica we will follow them in. Order the other Gunstars to form up on the Caprica," Colonel Stone ordered.
Caprica had stalked this group for days. She had believed it might be the group of remaining Gunstars when the decision was made and she jumped into the middle of them. Seven of the ten from the original Gunstar group survived, and all with some kind of damage. The Defenders were the Palmer, Caron, Edenton, Howler, Brooks. The Striker class Gunstar was Adamant, and the Command Titan II class Gunstar was the Avalanche.
This is a list of all the Fleets assets after Firestorm Part II:
Military Section
BATTLESTARS (22 total)
Theseus Upgraded Nova class: Theseus (2150)
Mercury class: Atlantis (2410), Polaris (2250), Trinity (2100) (under repairs), Vanguard (2100), Chimera (2100) Minerva class: Minerva (2500), Pleiades (2500), Hades (2250)
Valkyrie class: Valkyrie (1520), Poseidon (1510), Caprica (1480)
Skinfaxi class: Concordia (2200), Sleipnir – undergoing final construction on Eternity
Durga class: Victorious (2300)
Heracles class: Titan (2305) Columbia II subtype
Columbia II class: Athena (2320), Cerberus (2200), Rycon (2400), Phoebe (2200, under refit).
Geneva class: Freedom (2000), Independence (2000).
WARSTARS (2)
Andraste class: Argona (4000)
Daedalus class: Daedalus (3100)
BATTLECRUISERS (11)
Hoplite class: Hoplite (1200), Venitrix (1200), Janus (1200), Ceres (1200), Silvanus (1200).
Indomitable class: Greer (800), Hood (800), Indomitable (800), Pluto (800), Vulcan (800), Lares (800).
HEAVY CRUISERS (8)
Cataphract class: Cataphract (850), Javelin (850), Aether (850), Adder (850), Bacchus (850), Diana (850), Vesta (850), Aether (850).
GUNSTARS (55)
Titan II class: Avalanche (920), Stiletto (800), Thaddeus (800), Calamity (744), Sturgeon (800), Stargazer (800), Redeemer (820), Albatross (800), Resurgence (800), Avenger (710), Aggressive (805), Black Widow (800), Damia (800), Medea (800), Diomedes (800), Eleusis (800), Ixion (800).
Vigilant class: Sournier (450), Hale (450), Eos (450), Sol (450).
Striker class: Striker (900), Avarice (900), Starfury (900), Adamant (890), Neptune (900).
Cygnus class: Styx (700), Hates (700), Hellion (700), Fortuna (700).
Miranda class: Miranda (450)
Defender class: Tigris (550), Claw (550), Storm (550), Altair (459), Modesto (551), Hook (500), Taurus (550), Harpy (550), Raven (520), Tower (450), Fury (500), Conflict (500), Peacekeeper (500), Tiber (500), Arachnid (500), Lauder (500), Lake (500), Palmer (480), Caron (500), Edenton (400), Howler (440), Brooks (400), Romulus (500), Remus (500).
LIGHT CRUISERS (13)
Byzantine class: Byzantine (500), Persia (500) Agamemnon (500), Ares (500), Argos (500), Cleo (500), Perses (500), Selene (500), Theia (500), Atropos (500), Themis (500), Metis (500), Hebe (500).
STEALTHSTAR (1)
Banshee class: Banshee (800)
STRIKESTARS (10 + 4)
Harrier class: Harrier (800), Crasher (820), Megaera (800), Hecate (800), Orpheus (800)
Fury class: Aventine (400), Melinoe (400), Trophonius (400), Delphi (400), Europa (400), (plus 4) -(remaining four were in storage on Unity).
ASSAULTSTARS (9) (1 ½ Divisions of Marines)
Forseti class: Forseti (1000 + 5000), Dillinger (1000 + 5000)
Iocaste class: Iocaste (2500 + 10000)
Lancer class: Grievance (700 + 1250), Vengeance (700 + 1250), Deimos (700)
Hector class: Minotaur (2500 + 8000) , Hermes (2500 + 8000), Centaurus (2500)
DESTROYERS (18)
Phalanx class: Phalanx (400) Gauntlet (400), Gearing (400), Anubis (400), Archer (400), Styxx (400)
Tiger II class: Panther (1000), Jaguar (1000), Hyena (1000), Puma (1000), Wildcat (1000), Leopard (1000), Nike (1000), Bia (1000), Zelos (1000), Spes (1000), Roma (1000), Saturn (1000).
FIRESTARS (9 +10)
Hawkeye class: Hawking (700), Star Rider (700), Danton (690), Strident (690), Buzzard (690), Tavern (700), Crete (700), Cilix (700), Phoenix (700) (Plus 10 remaining ships in storage on Unity).
ESCORTSTARS and PARTOLSTARS (16)
Berzerk class: Sandstorm (1050), Tauron (1020), Echelon (900), Guardian (910), Glacier (1000), Tigon (1000)
Vanguard class: Arakiel (600)
Dagger class: Dagger (350), Hunter (350), Crossbow (350), Percy (350) Gimble (350), Artemis (350),
Avenger (350), Baldr (350), Ceros (350)
MOBILE DOCKS AND SHIPYARDS
Hesphaestus class: Hesphaestus (3000), Forge (3015), Starbridge (3400)
Cradle class: Cradle 1 (2500), Cradle 2 (2500), Cradle 3 (2500)
Unity class: Unity (12540), Eternity (12000)
Olympia class: Olympia (7000)
Hera class: Hera (3000)
ELINT SHIPS (5)
Searcher class: Everest (600), Star Chaser (600), Wisdom (700), Night Shadow (640), Vision (900)
Civilian Section
27 Mining ships: Calcutta (450), Tartans (500), Echo (400), Stride (400), Wind Fury ( 450), Black Elk (500), Mining Dreamer (490), Collar (400), Erbil (440), Tauron Miner 4 (500), Tauron Miner 7(400), Carol (440), Dark Miner (440), Falk (400), Caprican Miner (540), Miner 7 (400), Miner 8 (400), Miner 15 (450), Miner 18 (400), Miner 20 (400), Howard (450), Blacken (340), Cotani (300), Sandler (350), Erin (330), Valiant (360), Miner Heaven (300)
12 Refinery ships: Taren (600), Tylium Maker (509), Tylium Maker 8 (450), Batista (550), Saladin (800), Aventis (600), Fusilier (550)...
5 Medical Transports: Miracle (980), Hiding Star (850), Wallace (900), Mercurial (850), Demonical (800)
3 Medical Ships: Mercy (900), Forgiveness (890), Brightstar(990)
1 Henchantories colony ship: 60,000
6 Colossus heavy military transport ships: 60,000
34 Colonial Heavies transports (Different versions): 70,000
7 Mobile shipyards: 60,000
250 Freighters: 450,000
35 Cold Storage ships: 12,000
154 Luxury Liners: 300,000
10 Prison Ships: 20,000 (3,500 prisoners)
46 Agricultural Ships: 130,900
30 Research Ships: 60,000
9 Recycling ships: 1,000
95 Heavy Cargo ships: 205,000
42 Standard Passenger Lines: 47,000
12 Supply ships: 30,000
56 Colonial Mover transports: 120,000
4 former training ships: 40,000
15 Flattops: 30,000
80 large civilian transports: 400,000
82 Civilian transports: 156,000
55 Cloud type luxury liners: 130,000
14 Tanker ships: 7,000
In total there are over 2,650,000 survivors and growing...