Strike at Picon
The Colonial fleet jumped near the moon of Am-Saar in the vicinity of Picon. The mobile docks, troop transports, and half of the 11th Marine Division jumped to their rendezvous coordinates. The other half of the 11th joined the attack fleet, and the fleet was divided into three smaller battle groups for the upcoming assault at Picon. The first two groups each held five Battlestars, while the third group was made up of the Battlestars Atlantis and Theseus, and the Warstars Argona and Daedalus.
Ready flights of Raptors armed with nuclear missiles were already gathered near the fleet in preparation for the attack. Stealth raptors were to disable the FTL drives of the resurrection hub, thus preventing the hub from escaping the coming battle and also locking her in place for a team of marines to board the ship. A group of regular raptors armed with nuclear missiles were prepped to attack specified baseships as soon as they jumped to Picon with the fleet. All other raptors would provide anti-fighter and ordinance support in conjunction with the fleet's vipers. Admiral Stryker's plan was to hit the Cylons hard and with a degree of extreme prejudice. With all the preparations complete, it was finally time for the first major battle with the Cylons since the fall of the colonies.
Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, all ships are reporting they're ready and standing by for your orders," Commander Haller said.
"Good, instruct all ships that as soon as their jump is complete they are to start pushing the Cylons as fast and hard as they can without endangering their ships. We know the weakest area of Cylon Baseships is their central axis so that will be the target of the gunners. Tell them that I want every shot fired from our ships to hit the enemy, and even though this battle must be fast I'm looking for all the damage we can do. With this in mind I'm authorizing the use of nuclear weapons, at the Commanders best judgment," Admiral Stryker said.
"Also all fighters, except those that will be staying with the anti-fighter armed raptors are free to engage the enemy raiders, and whatever they do, they need to keep raiders off our backs for as long as possible."
"Major Morales is already instructing our own squadrons of their assignments sir," Colonel Slater said, "the 11th Marine division is also standing by; they are ready to descend to the planet once we deal with the Cylons in space."
"Understood, as soon as we start the attack on the Baseships; they are to jump directly above Picon's northern pole and start making their way to the survivors. I want them to destroy any Cylon in their path and they are to use their vipers and bombers for their attack and defense," Admiral Stryker said.
"Sir, the General assures me that 6000 of his best marines will be deployed and stay to protect the planet until we can come back for them. They will be taking extra weapons, ammo, food, and medicine with them, as well as their tanks and anti-air defense units," Colonel Slater said.
"Are we picking up any of the survivors sir?" Commander Haller asked.
"Yes, as many as we can take off the planet during the time that we have, and that is the best we can do at this time," Admiral Stryker said.
"Sir, all fighter and raptor squadrons are ready. Raptor squadron "Ghost Riders" are ready to be deployed," Colonel Slater said.
"Excellent, what about our teams on the defense platforms; did they manage to get all of them back online?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"Yes sir, three of the targeted five are ready, and they said they will be able to get the remaining two ready by the appointed time of our attack," Colonel Slater replied.
"That's good, and they have 30 minutes remaining. So let us hope they are successful. What about the rest of the grid?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"They said that they think they might be able to get it all online, but it will take them at least an hour or so for the entire defense grid to be online and ready to fire on the Cylon fleet. Sir, are we going to delay for thirty extra minutes?" Colonel Slater asked.
"Instruct them to concentrate only on the platforms near the Cylons. Not the entire grid. That might give them the time they need to get them online and ready. If they can get those platforms online, then I will consider giving them more time for the rest," Admiral Stryker said.
"Yes sir," Colonel Slater said.
Rycon C.I.C. - On route to Avalon
Admiral Sounders stood in the middle of C.I.C. deep in thought; she knew that a victory against the Cylons over Picon was needed. It would distract them from searching for the refuge fleet at least for a short time. But how many of the warships participating in the battle would return? And in case they didn't return, she had to act on the orders that Admiral Stryker left behind. So no stopping until they reached Avalon, and hopefully safety.
"Any contact from the Atlantis Lieutenant?" Admiral Sounders asked.
"No Ma'am, nothing yet Admiral," the communications officer said.
"How long until they attack the Cylons at Picon?" Admiral Sounders asked.
"A little under 20 minutes Ma'am," the communications officer said.
Command Baseship – In Orbit Of Picon
"Still nothing! How the hell does a fleet of that size just disappear? What about our contacts in that fleet?" Jack Cavil asked.
"We don't know, they have not reported in since the attack; we assume that they were all killed," one of the Sixes said.
"Really, and if they were killed, would they not have resurrected by now? We need more ships out there looking for them then," Jack Cavil said.
"Cavil, the fleet is already stretched thin; with 30 of our baseships guarding the mobile shipyards and the Dreadstar and its fleet are already searching. If we could deploy some of our own ships from here it might help?" Jeremy Simon said.
"Usually I would say no, but since the colonials have their tails between their legs running, I support the deployment of some ships. Send two Baseships and all the Patrolstars with them and hope that this will be enough!" Jack Cavil said, unaware of the threat coming upon him and the rest of his fleet.
"If we deploy the entire fleet except the command ship and two Basestars, that would help even more," a number two said.
"Not a chance. I will not risk it. The colonials might be running, but we do not know where exactly they are. And we still have not made contact with Janice's battle group," Jack Cavil said.
"Her last message was that they found a single colonial Battlestar from the Prometheus battle group, the Eternal, but it got away. I believe they are continuing to pursue it," the number two replied.
"Nevertheless, the fleet stays here. And you Keith will take those two basestars and all the Patrolstars and go find the colonials," Jack Cavil said.
Baseship 099 - Unkown Region - last known coordinates of Prometheus battle group
"And, where the hell did they go?" Janice asked.
"No idea, we have searched every nebula, and every asteroid belt for them. We have however lost a few raiders on patrol, by colonial vipers," a number Five model known as Terry Doral said.
"Great. The Battlestars Eternal, Prometheus and the Nova destroy three of our Baseships and our resurrection ship, and then they just disappear. Now they're hunting our raiders, instead of us hunting them. In every engagement we are losing more of our resources!" Janice said angrily.
"We still have 12 Baseships and 5 support ships, so we can deal with them," a number eight called Shannon said.
"If I may suggest; it might be better if we returned to the colonies and got more ships as well as a new resurrection ship. We can't keep taking losses like this; each baseship destroyed means our own are be killed, and not being resurrected anymore without a resurrection ship. How shall we replace those that have fallen? Our only option is to retreat and get reinforcements," a number two said.
"The HELL we will! No we continue as planned," Janice said furiously.
"But Janice, we will not survive if Prometheus attacks us. Those Nova class ships are nasty. They are designed to hold out against three of our Baseships at a time. There are two of them plus the Eternal and the Celestial, and not to mention an unknown number of support ships. It is not wise to continue," Terry Doral said.
"Point taken, but we shall still continue and that is my final decision," Janice said and exited the room.
"She will get us all killed," a number two said.
"Well at least if we die, we might get some of the colonials as well," Doral said.
Atlantis C.I.C. - 5 minutes before attack
"Sir, the scouts are reporting that all the Patrolstars and at least two Baseships have left Picon. I'm guessing the Cylons are trying to find our ships? Since they don't know where we are, I bet they are scouting all around the Cyrannus system hoping to find our trail," Commander Haller said.
"Probably, but nevertheless they will not find the fleet. The only thing they can find is the Tycho satellites," Admiral Stryker said.
"But can't those satellites lead them to Avalon and the fleet sir?" Colonel Slater asked.
"No, the entire hyper network was shut down. Also, the fleet will pick up all probes on their way to Avalon; there's no connection, and besides there are at least two dozen similar satellites around colonial space," Admiral Stryker replied, however thinking that even he was not sure about this. Tycho satellites were much larger than all others, and it could possibly give the Cylons a clue about where the colony is. Luckily, they do not know the coordinates.
"With our attack, we will keep them busy, and keep them guessing for a while," Admiral Stryker said.
"Is not the Dreadstar or their mobile shipyards a better target than the Picon fleet sir?" Commander Haller asked.
"Attacking the Dreadstar is not an option at this time; we saw its destructive power. There is no way to believe that a frontal assault on that monster, especially if it's surrounded by such a large supporting fleet, will have any effect. And we would lose our ships for next to nothing to show for it. And an attack on the mobile shipyards is also not possible, because if the information from our Cylon guests gave us is true, it's a mobile fortress. It is almost as large as their colony ship and is designed exactly to keep itself mobile and safe from a large attack force. Again, we would lose ships and we would not get the desired effect we are looking for. Picon is our only logical choose for now as it gives us the greatest chance to hurt the Cylons with the least chance of being destroyed ourselves," Admiral Stryker said.
"For now?" Commander Haller asked.
"Yes, when we develop new weapons to defeat that Dreadstar and the shipyard we will attack them. Right now we will concentrate on this battle, and survive it first," Admiral Stryker said.
Several minutes later all ships reported they were ready and awaiting orders.
"All ships are in position, their assault vectors confirmed, we are as ready as we can be," the communications officer reported.
"Good, signal the fleet; we are moving in," Admiral Stryker said and crossed his hands over his chest, looking intently at the tactical display.
"This will be a bloody fight, and it will be crucial to immediately jam the Cylon forces and prevent any ship from escaping. We must prevent all of them from leaving; especially the raiders and heavy raiders, or it will be a no go on the second part of the mission. We will do as much damage as we can in as short an amount of time as possible; with the main goal of the attack on Picon being the destruction of the Command Baseship and the resurrection hub. Start the countdown Colonel," Admiral Stryker said.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1 jumping," Colonel Slater said.
All ships disappeared and then reappeared in a high orbit of Picon. Admiral Stryker deployed his ships so they could do maximum damage to the Cylons. The moment the ships appeared in orbit they opened fire on the very surprised Cylon Baseships; all viper and raptors squadrons were launched as one and the fight began.
The Atlantis jumped directly in front of two Baseships and started pounding them both with ammunition. The first Baseship exploded after receiving a direct salvo from the Atlantis' main bow cannons, and a second followed when hit by several nukes from the other colonial Battlestars. Battlstar Thesues used her laser cannons to heavily damage a baseship near the command basestar, and within moments the baseship was destroyed. Warstars Argona and Daedalus destroyed a baseship with heavy fire from their main cannons within moments after appearing in orbit of Picon, and then quickly turned to a second. Two baseships were destroyed by a nuclear strike from a raptor squadron, and two others were heavily damaged before the raptors jumped out. Other baseships were under heavy fire from the main cannons of the other Battlestars moments after their arrival. However, the shock of the colonial fleet's appearance did not last long and the Cylons quickly recovered and started returning fire. They sent waves after waves of raiders to confront the colonial vipers and Battlestars.
Almost at the same time; stealth raptors jumped in to the fight and engaged the command Basestar and the resurrection hub disabling the FTL engines on both ships with multiple tactical nukes and anti-ship missiles.
Cylon Command Baseship
"What the hell is happening?" Jack Cavil yelled, entering the main control room.
"We are under attack by multiple colonial Battlestars and Warstars," Jeremy Simon reported.
Jack barely made it to the middle of the room when the ship violently shook from missiles hitting the ship's FTL engines.
"Our engines are down; they sent stealth raptors to disable our jump capability," a number six said.
"Never mind the engines, engage the colonials! What is the status of the defensive fleet?" Jack Cavil asked.
"Six baseships have already been destroyed, two others are in critical condition and breaking apart, and several are reporting heavy damage but they are returning fire on the colonials," a number six replied.
"How many Battlestars?" Jack Cavil asked.
"There are twelve Battlestars and two Warstars," a number two said.
"So Admiral Stryker sent his best to engage us. I must admit that I didn't expect him to be capable of an attack on us here. Never mind, let's teach him a lesson that he will not forget," Jack Cavil said.
"The resurrection hub is sending a distress message; their engines are down, and they are being boarded by marines from the stealth raptors," Jeremy Simon said.
"Blast, send some raiders to protect them and get those two Baseships near the planet to move and protect t.." Jack Cavil started to say before being interrupted.
"Uh Jack, we have a slight problem," a number two interrupted.
"What now?" Jack Cavil asked.
"The Colonial defense grid just turned itself on, and from our scans it started targeting those two baseships and the resurrection hub," the number two said growing pale.
"Get those ships away from there now!" Jack Cavil yelled.
But it was too late. Five stations had already come online and started firing on both of the baseships; within moments both Baseships were destroyed as hundreds of missiles hit them. The Resurrection hub followed a few minutes later after the marines evacuated with the information and prisoners they came to get.
"We are out of range of the defense grids, but its looks like the colonial fleet is trying to move us closer to the grid," a number two said.
"Not going to happen; tell all ships to move forward and engage the Battlestars," Jack Cavil said.
Jack Cavil was furious, he hadn't expected this. Admiral Stryker seemed to have a big set of balls to challenge him this way.
"Can we signal for reinforcements?" Jack Cavil asked.
"No, they are jamming us. And even if we send a raider; it will take at least an hour before we can get any reinforcements. We're alone," a number eight replied.
"Well then, let's take as many of them with us as we can, shall we? Launch a full spread of nukes; including the 250Mts," Jack Cavil said.
The colonials had the upper hand from the start. The main cannons of the Battlestars, especially those from Atlantis, Theseus, and the Warstars, were quickly decimating the Cylon Baseships; however it was not completely without casualties. Many Battlestars had been hit by multiple nukes and standard missiles, but they continued attacking.
Theseus dispatched two attacking Baseships to oblivion with her bow laser cannons, as Baseships did not have a chance against that kind of firepower.
"Jack, that upgraded Nova class command Battlestar seems to have some kind of laser/particle weapons. It's tearing our ships apart!" a number two said.
"Can we get closer and hit her?" Jack Cavil asked.
"It's well protected and has the two warstars escorting her. We should destroy the others," a number six replied.
"There. There is our nemesis, Admiral Stryker," Jack Cavil said hatefully, showing an image of Atlantis slowly moving forward and firing on everything in her path, "move closer and concentrate our nukes on her, I want that ship destroyed!"
Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, we're getting an emergency message from the Battlestar Freedom. They've been hit by three nukes and their engines are going down. They've lost quite a few of their guns already from weapons fire; they won't survive for long," Commander Haller said.
"Send the Hades to protect her, and all available vipers in that area. I want her out of the battle," Admiral Stryker said, but a big flash on the screen caught Admiral Stryker's attention at that moment. The Battlestar Freedom exploded after being hit by multiple nukes launched from several raiders.
"No!" Admiral Stryker said quietly.
The Cylons started a counter attack on the attacking colonial forces. The raiders were heavily engaged with the colonial vipers and raptors, but every once in a while several raiders got in a strafing run past the Battlestars' defenses with anti-ship and nuclear missiles. The baseships started launching their full complement of missiles, and specifically nukes, directly at the attacking colonial fleet, in the hopes of evening the battle out to their favor. The colonials were already battered and damaged, but were still engaging and destroying Cylon Baseships. So far the odds were on the colonial's side as twelve baseships had been destroyed to only one colonial Battlestar lost. It was definitely a good casualty ratio in favor of the colonials. But human casualties on all the colonial ships were starting to grow already.
"Let's finish this; all ships forward, no stopping until the last Cylon ship is destroyed," Admiral Stryker said determinedly.
"Alright boys and girls, concentrate on raiders carrying nukes; it seems there's plenty of them. Delta and Gamma squadrons are to engage everything else," Major Kathy "Queen Hammer" Morales ordered.
All the viper squadrons from the Battlestars engaged the Cylon raiders and were outnumbered 4 to 1, but soon the odds were down to 2 to 1 thanks in part to the experienced pilots from the Battlestar Atlantis.
"Watch it, Jenkins you have two bogies on your tail!" Peter Stormhawk Huges said.
"I can't shake him," Jenkins said in panic.
"Relax, just avoid him, I'm coming," Peter "Stormhawk" Huges said.
"I can't, they're all over me," Jenkins said.
Stormhawk moved his viper to top speed; managing to intercept and destroy both pursuing raiders and save his fellow pilot, but in only a second a raider out of control hit Jenkins and both fighters exploded. Stormhawk barely survived the blast.
"Son of… Alpha 8 is down, I repeat Alpha 8 is down," Stormhawk said.
"Find yourself a companion and continue engaging," Atlantis CAG Kathy Morales said. She herself was dueling against four enemy Cylon raiders; with her tactics and tricks she managed to destroy two, but the remaining two were starting to be a pain in the ass. Especially after she discovered they were Scar's squadron mates.
Scar was one of the Cylon raiders that participated in many fights against the colonials, and in many ways they had been blast by colonial vipers. But each time they resurrected; they learned new strategies and tactics to use against the colonials.
Right now major Kathy was in an unpleasant situation. After several minutes of chasing around, and avoiding fire, Kathy decided to take the fight to the raiders. At full speed, she cut her engines; allowing raiders to pass in front of her, and then, before she turned her engines on again, she fired on both of them destroying them in seconds.
"Scars my ass," Major Kathy said.
Command Baseship
"Send two heavy raiders out; we need help, no excuses. Even if it takes time; I want every Baseship in colonial space here, is that understood," Jack Cavil said.
Moments later two raiders exited the hangar bay and jumped away.
Battlestars Athena and Polaris move forward engaging Cylon baseships and blowing one of them apart.
Athena C.I.C.
"Sir, several nukes were fired from the command baseship and they are targeting us," Colonel Marks said.
"Move us into a defensive position, flak screen up, destroy those nukes!" Commander Thomas said.
Athena started shooting every defensive gun she had at those nukes, but a single nuke passed through unscathed.
"One nuke passing, it will hit us," the dradis officer reported.
"All hands brace for impact!" Commander Thomas said.
The nuke hit the center of the Battlestar. In moments the entire ship disappeared, and the explosion was so massive that it hit the nearby Battlestar Polaris as well.
After everything settled down, there was nothing left from Athena. Only debris remained, and the Commanders on all the colonial ships were in shock. Polaris received a lot of kinetic damage from the EMP of the nuke that, even with Battlestar anti-EMP protection, managed to disable the Battlestar for a few minutes.
Atlantis C.I.C
"What the hell just happened?" Commander Haller asked.
"I don't know; did the sensors pick up anything?" Admiral Stryker asked, looking at the sensor officer.
"Yes sir, a large amount of radiation and EMP. My guess is it came from a very high yield warhead, around 200-250Mt," the sensor officer said.
"My gods," Commander Haller said, "no wonder the Athena wasn't able to survive it."
"What is the status of the Polaris?" Admiral Stryker asked.
"She's in one piece, but due to the kinetic and EMP damage she received she is disabled. Commander Banner says it will take a few minutes to restore all power, and at least half an hour for the FTL engines," Colonel Slater said.
"Tell her to move her ship out of the fighting zone. All fighters and raptors in that zone protect her at all cost, and tell the Pleiades to move to a defensive position over Polaris as well," Admiral Stryker said.
"Yes sir," the communications officer said.
Atlantis, as well as the remaining ships, continued to press forward destroying the remaining baseships in a fury. Several baseships received nuclear hits, but still were in one piece more or less and continued the attack. The Command baseship was now in front of the Battlestar Atlantis.
Atlantis and Theseus started to charge the main baseship.
Command Cylon Baseship
"Our front line is open, Atlantis and Theseus are charging in at us," a frightened Simon said.
"Concentrate on the Atlantis," Jack Cavil said, holding himself to the console as the room shook from being hit from Atlantis' longer range bow cannons, "fire our nukes on Atlantis, and suppression fire on Theseus."
A dozen nuclear missiles launched from the Command Baseship, all going towards the Atlantis.
Atlantis C.I.C.
"Sir, the Cylons just launched a dozen missiles at us, all nuclear. Analysis shows that five of them are the same yield that destroyed Athena, 250Mt," Colonel Slater said.
"Frak, tell all fighters to engage those missiles. Restart the defense grid, and fire on them," Admiral Stryker ordered.
Vipers gave their best efforts to stop and destroy the missiles, but simultaneously they were engaged by raiders as well, who were sent to protect the missiles. Defensive fire and vipers destroyed all but one missile. One 250kt nuke passed through all the Atlantis' defenses moving straight at the left upper docking bay.
"One is passing the defenses and it will hit us," Colonel Slater said.
"Evacuate the left pod, emergency eject the tylium bunkers. Con, evade 121-1," Admiral Stryker ordered hurriedly.
The Atlantis started evading but it was massive and it was not going to move in time. The nuke hit the left docking bay, a few meters above the upper raptor bay. A massive explosion engulfed the entire ship, and threw the ship violently to the right side.
Admiral Stryker was pushed backwards from the shockwave and sent flying to the other side of C.I.C. where he landed hard on one of the consoles. The ship lost almost all power and started to drift.
On Theseus, Admiral Thorn was in shock as the entire crew watched the disappearance of the flagship in a ball of fire.
"Commander, order all power to engines and weapons move us into range; it's time to destroy that Command Baseship," Admiral Thorn said seething with rage.
"Sir, we're detecting Atlantis, it was not destroyed, but it is dead in space sir," a sensor officer said.
"Thank the gods, dispatch SAR raptors. Helm, continue our course; I want that Baseship down now," Admiral Thorn ordered.
Command Baseship
"Well she survived the first strike, but not this time," Jack Cavil said with a wide smile, assuming Atlantis destroyed from the 250Mt nuke.
"I wouldn't smile yet Jack," a Six said.
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked looking up at the Six.
"Atlantis is not destroyed, disabled yes, but not destroyed," Six said, brining up on the main screen the disabled form of the Battlestar Atlantis.
"That's not possible; a 250Mt nuke should have shredded the ship to pieces!" Jack Cavil said in disbelief.
"Obviously it's not in pieces, her armor is much stronger and resilient than you thought," the six said.
"Fire another volley, and destroy her!" Jack Cavil ordered.
"That's not possible. Look," Simon said.
Looking at the screen again, Cavil's expression went from anger to shock at seeing the massive appearance of Theseus firing some kind of lasers at his ship. The entire ship was shaken from the hits.
"Report?" Jack Cavil said after the ship stopped shaking from the first volley of weapon fire.
"Weapons are down, life support is going down, engines and thrusters as well, we're done for," Simon said.
"No, no, it can't b.." Jack Cavil said, without being able to finish his sentence. The room shook again and exploded after a second strike from the Theseus hits the main tylium bunkers blowing the entire Command Baseship apart.
The remaining three Baseships jumped away.
Dreadstar C.I.C. Outside of colonial space...
"Shall we not go and help Cavil and his forces on Picon?" one of the twos asked.
"Not this time," Gary Doral replied.
"Jack will kill you once he resurrects," a number six said warningly.
"Why? We never got the message. And the Dreadstar is having problems with its engines. Lie it is, but it will save us. I don't have any intention of risking this fleet for that idiot anymore," Doral said.
"If you say so," the six said dubiously.
In orbit of Picon
Admiral Thorn took command of the fleet, ordering rescue parties to the destroyed Battlestars. The Eleventh Marine division arrived and started descending towards the planet to the largest concentration of survivors. It was chaotic when survivors found out that only so many would be taken away, and that the rest would need to survive until colonial ships returned. Supplies and equipment were deployed as well as 6000 marines to ensure their protection. Two dozen engineers and builders were deployed as well to create two powerful Gauss cannons: the latest invention from colonial R&D. The cannons were similar to bow cannons of the strongest Battlestars with 1500mm shells and once launched, they fly with a 3rd the speed of light. It was strong enough to decimate a baseship with a single shot at the central axis. Since a majority of the survivors moved to the mountains like those on Caprica, it shouldn't be a problem to defend them. A number of Phoenix VTOL's and Raptors were also deployed.
All Cylon bases and outposts in the mountain areas were eliminated by the assault ships and colonial bombers. Some of them with human form Cylons tried to surrender, but they were killed on site.
The mobile docks arrived as well putting the most damaged ships in their bays. The Battlestar Atlantis was in the worst shape, with almost 890 members of its crew killed or critically hurt, including Colonel Slater. Admiral Stryker was in bad shape and was moved to the sickbay on Theseus. Commander Haller, who survived with some bruises and scratches, resumed command of Atlantis. Almost all of the remaining crew had some injuries ranging from bruises to broken limbs. The damage of the Atlantis was so extensive that it was moved first into one of the Cradle docks. Chief Williams would give a full report to Admiral Thorn some time later.
The captured colonial military and civilian ships, wrecks, and stations, were boarded and searched for centurions and tracking devices. The Cylons had apparently learned their lesson from the re-capture of colonial ships at Aerelon as the marines entering the ships found significant resistance of centurions aboard. Within thirty minutes all the ships were cleared by a heavy amount of marines from the eleventh marine division. The ships were then quickly searched for tracking devices and anything out of place.
9 battlecruisers, 7 heavy cruisers, 10 gunstars, 7 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 5 firestars, 4 strikestars, and 5 escortstars in total were recaptured of the military ships in orbit of Picon, and were crewed from military POWs on Picon. There were 8 mining ships, 3 refinery ships, 3 medical transports, 2 medical ships, 10 freighters, 6 luxury liners, 4 agricultural ships, 1 recycling ship, 5 heavy cargo ships, 13 standard passenger liners, 3 supply ships, 3 civilian transports, 3 cloud type luxury liners, and 6 tanker ships in the recaptured fleet of civilian ships in orbit of Picon which were crewed by civilian volunteers from Picon who had experience as crew members, and from working, on such ships before. There were also the salvageable wrecks of military ships in orbit; 12 battlestars, 10 gunstars, 5 destroyers, 5 heavy cruisers, 5 battlecruisers, 5 light cruisers, and a dozen or so strikestars, firestars, and patrolstars all sustaining some degree of damage.
The eleventh marine division landed after eliminating the Cylon bases and took in 13150 people. The six troop transports, which had been given only a skeleton crew after being reclaimed at Caprica, took another 6000 people aboard. All the POW survivors in the POW camps were screened for Cylons, and all Cylons were killed on site. People were re-checked before being allowed to board the transport ships leaving Picon. A system was also put in place to recognize any other identified Cylon found around Picon.
The salvageable military ships, which had been heavily damaged in the original Cylon attack, were moved into the Hephaestus dock, the Libran shipyard, and Aureoles station. The Libran shipyard was prepped to be able to jump using the combined jump engines of a couple of the least damaged Battlestars in the fleet, whereas Aureolos station still had its own jump drives operable. Aureolos station was still half wrecked since she had last been seen shortly before Operation Firestorm, but still had her FTL drives and docking capabilities working.
In total the re-captured colonial ships, the Libran shipyard, the eleventh marine division, and troop transports were able to carry 200,000 POWs from Picon. Over one million are estimated to have been left behind in the POW camps, with an estimated several hundred thousand to a few million spread over the entire planet. Hundreds of thousands to millions remained on the other colonies in remote areas, underground, and wherever else the colonials could escape to away from the Cylons. No other POW camps currently remain on the colonies with the victory at Picon and liberation of the POWs there. The POW camps on Picon had been the sum total of all other POW camps across the colonies, excluding Aerelon and Caprica who had their POW camps emptied in Operation Firestorm, which had been moved there after Caprica's destruction.
Theseus - Admiral Ready Room
"Come in Commander, Chief," Admiral Thorn said.
Commander Haller and Chief Williams entered the room; after being directed to sit by Admiral Thorn they sat in chairs opposite the Admiral.
"We are breaking orbit in the next 10 minutes gentlemen, has the Atlantis been moved into a dock?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Yes sir; she, Polaris, and an additional Battlestar were put in the cradle docks. All other ships are capable of jumping on their own. All the re-captured colonial assets in space have been crewed and are ready to go. The salvageable military ships have been put into the stations and Hephaestus mobile dock," Commander Haller reported.
"What about destroyed Battlestars, how many survivors are there?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"120 from Freedom, and 4 from Athena," Commander Haller said.
"Only four?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Athena was already heavily damaged by previous hits, the high yield nuke just tore her apart and most of the ship was vaporized. Those who survived will die from the radiation. Those four survivors are in critical condition as well. Only Athena's fighter wing survived, and that would be only 26 vipers and 2 raptors from the entire complement. As well as 44 vipers and 5 raptors from Freedom," Commander Haller said.
"How much did we lose of our complete viper and raptor force?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"About 50% percent of the viper force and 30% of all raptors," Commander Haller replied solemnly.
"But if I may, even with the losses we received I must say that we deserve this victory, and I doubt we would have won if Admiral Stryker had not planned this attack out so well," Commander Haller said.
"Yes Commander, I must agree. In the end, we didn't even need to use the defense grid of Picon much. Except destroying two baseships and the hub, it merely forced the Cylons to stay in one place and made them sitting ducks. Two Battlestars were lost, but the enemy lost 17 of their Baseships plus a Command Basestar, and the Resurrection hub. Thanks to tactics created by Admiral Stryker we can be happy to have only two ships lost and not all of them," Admiral Thorn said.
"Still if I may sir, all ships have some kind of damage. Atlantis, Polaris, and Titan will need some time in the shipyards to be fully ready for service again, especially Atlantis," Chief Williams said.
"Ah yes, what is the status of the Atlantis right now?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Well sir, all the primary energizers are disabled, the left pod upper section is useless, and it's a miracle that the entire pod didn't explode or come apart. So I would congratulate the boys and girls of Scorpia yards sir, they built her very well. The Raptor bay was destroyed, and there is a hole over 40 meters in diameter. The pod will need a complete reconstruction of the upper landing pod, and for safety maybe even the lower as well. The entire ship received a powerful EMP shock, and while the ship is designed to withstand an EMP shock of up to 150Mt, she was hit by a 250Mt. So a majority of all the electrical and electronic systems are fried and need to be replaced. Life support is operational but that is about all at this time. Right now the ship is being run by a skeleton crew. And it will take at least 4 months in a shipyard to get Atlantis back to 100 percent again," Chief Williams said.
"Commander, when can we expect Admiral Stryker to return to duty?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Well, the Admiral was seriously wounded; his leg was broken in four places, he broken almost all his ribs, has a concussion, and is bleeding internally. He will be out of service for at least six months, or even a year. Thankfully he is not in critical condition any more, but he will need to take time to heal and make a full recovery," Commander Haller said.
"How is our ground mission going?" Admiral Thorn asked.
"Well sir, the marines are deployed and they have already moved into position around the settlements in the mountains. The eleventh marine division destroyed all the major Cylon outposts across the planet as well. Under Colonel Burns guidance we have removed 13,150 women and children that were taken onto the marine ships, and adding those numbers to the people we put onto the reclaimed ships and stations and we picked up a total of 200,000 people sir," Commander Haller said.
"Also, the entire defense grid is now under his personal control, if the Cylons get too close they will be destroyed and those two Gauss cannons are insurance in case the Cylons somehow destroy or get around the grid. If I may sir, we have more vipers and raptors than we need at the moment. Would it not be a good idea to leave some of them here with the 11th Marine Division to help with the defense of the planet until we can return?" Commander Haller asked.
"Hmmm, that is a very good point and….I think you are right. Let's ask for volunteers and grant the General 120 vipers and 40 raptors. I only want volunteers. We have more maintenance crews than we need right now as well, so make sure that they can maintain the vipers and raptors until we can return. Commander we only have twenty minutes to get this done before we are leaving," Admiral Thorn said.
Twenty minutes later…
"Sir all ships are ready, the damaged ships in the docks are secured, and we can leave anytime you want sir," Commander Haller said.
"Good, we are leaving immediately. Who knows when the Cylons will come back; it's weird that they haven't come already. We are leaving in five minutes so start the clock," Admiral Thorn said.
"Yes sir, I will return to the Atlantis," Commander Haller said.
"No, you will stay here. After all, Atlantis is currently not operational and I need your experience right here," Admiral Thorn said.
"Yes sir," Commander Haller said.
Five minutes later all colonial ships jumped away towards the Terminus sector, to catch up with the rest of the fleet on its way to Avalon.
At least for the moment the survivors on Picon were safe, and there were several smaller ships, mostly civilian, on the surface that Colonel Burns would use later to scout other colonies in search for survivors and then bring them to Picon.
Two Days Later
Outside of colonial space - Dreadstar
Gary Doral was enjoying the silence in his quarters, and looking over some of reports, when someone opened the doors and entered the room.
"I see you're enjoying yourself Gary," Jack Cavil said angrily.
"Jack, what a surprise? I see you resurrected, again!" Gary replied, surprised to see Jack since he had been hoping he would've failed to resurrect.
"Yes I have, and I have a question for you Gary, I sent two heavy raiders to get reinforcements. They never reported back, nor did they resurrect. What happened to them?" Jack Cavil asked.
"How should I know, no heavy raiders arrived to inform us of your request, I do not know what happened to them," Gary Doral said, lying smoothly.
"Really and why didn't you send a ship to Picon after getting news that Picon went silent?" Jack Cavil asked.
"We didn't even know that Picon was attacked, and the Dreadstar had a problem with the engines and some of the other systems. I sent a majority of the crew to fix it. If we had been aware of the attack I am sure I would have sent you some reinforcements," Gary Doral said.
"Hmm, I will be watching you Gary. I will be watching you closely, I promise you that," Jack Cavil said, and after saying that Jack left the room, leaving Gary shocked.
Half an hour later - Main Command Room
"An attack on Picon was something we didn't believe could happen," Jack Cavil said watching all the other Cylons in the room.
"It was a major blow to us. Admiral Stryker attacked us when we believed he would be retreating and he attacked the heart of our base of operation in the colonies. We assumed he wouldn't dare to attack Picon with 20 baseships there, but clearly that was not correct. The defense grid over Picon is operational and back in colonial hands. All the captured colonial ships, stations, and their salvageable military ships have been re-taken. From what little reports we got before our command bunker was destroyed, we know that they have a Marine Division on the ground to protect the civilians. Worst of all we lost the resurrection hub over Picon, and myself and the others killed in the colonial attack were lucky to be able to resurrect given the other resurrection hubs distance to the colonies in John's fleet. Some were not so lucky and failed to download completely. Our downloads are also a lot slower now considering the distance to the resurrection hub, which is why I and the others from Picon only recently resurrected," Jack Cavil said.
"And you didn't predict this attack?" a six asked seething with rage, glaring at Cavil as she held him personally responsible for this mess.
"We might have lost today, but we will destroy them sooner or later," Jack Cavil said.
"Really? We barely destroyed two of their Battlestars, critically damaged a third one, and they destroy 17 baseships, the resurrection hub and the main command Basestar. I would say it was a major fracking failure Jack!" the six said.
"Yes, it was our failure, but luckily there is some good news. We got one man into their fleet and from last news we received, they saved 13,150 survivors from Picon on their marine ships, and one of them is a number five who was changed surgically to look like another person. They won't find him as easily as they found the others, and he will lead us to their new colony. As of now, all colonial ships and other assets are to be destroyed on site here in the colonies. In particular, we will completely destroy the planetary defense stations and satellites around the colonies to make sure the colonials can never get their hands on the rest of them considering their use of Picon's defense grid. We will also no longer be depending on the colony. With a new class of ships that we are developing, we will rebuild our forces and continue our war with the humans," Jack Cavil said.
"Building new ships? What about hybrids?" a number three asked.
"No need for them in the new Baseships. The humans don't have hybrids, and yet they are much better than our hybrids. We will use the same hierarchic way as they use. And we will prevail this time. The new Adonis class baseships are much stronger, well armored and much better armed than our standard baseships. We will also upgrade our current ships to the new level as well in time," Jack Cavil said.
"One question, how do you plan to follow humans to their base, I mean their colony?" a six asked.
"Easy, the five that is in the fleet has a subsonic transmitter, which is a device that will allow us to track his location. One of our baseships and a patrolstar are right now following their military fleet. Assuming they're going back to their main refuge fleet. We will not engage them until they get to their colony and settle in. So once we find their location, we will plan the attack. And this time we will not rush the attack. We will rebuild our forces before we do a full scale attack," Jack Cavil said.
"I hope this plan of yours work, it seems very big even for you," a six said.
"It will work. And in the end, they won't stand a chance! Not this time," Jack Cavil said smiling.
Baseship - Unknown area
The Baseship was damaged so badly it was drifting and losing power.
"Fracking Prometheus," Janice said.
"They destroyed almost every other ship in our fleet," an eight said.
"How many surviving ships are left?" Janice asked.
"One, but it is in the same shape as we are in. I strongly recommended we return to colonies. We are not in a shape to fight the colonials anymore," the eight replied.
"Fine! Contact the other ship and tell them to follow us. Jack will not be happy with this. Another Frakking failure," Janice said angrily.