The Last Exodus: Return to the Colonies – Part I
Day 477 Since the Fall
9 Assaultstars, 6 colossus heavy military transports, 80 large civilian transports, 50 heavy transports, 3 cradle mobile docks, and 100 supply and heavy cargo ships of the rescue fleet arrived a jump away from the colonies. The military escort fleet began jumping in formation around the evacuation ships in sequence; 15 Battlestars, Warstar Argona, Combatcruiser Audacious, 12 Titan class Gunstars, 10 Defender class Gunstars, 10 Heavy Cruisers, 8 Battlecruisers, 7 Lightcruisers, 7 Strikestars, and 5 Berzerk class Escortstars.
Nike class Battlestar Galactica C.I.C.
"Admiral, all ships are reporting in. We're now approximately one jump away from the colonies hidden inside an asteroid field," the communications officer said.
"Very good. Has Chief Tyrol reported in on any more engineering problems throughout the fleet?" Admiral Adama asked.
"No sir. No more problems with engines throughout the fleet have been reported in the last few jumps. All the lighter support ships are functioning at 100% after only making one jump following undocking from the larger ships in the fleet so they could get here with as little trouble as possible, given that their jump ranges are still shorter than our larger ships, even given their recent upgrades with the fleet. The rest of the fleet's ships appear fine after the repairs made last week when some engines started overheating from constant jumping. Chief Tyrol is suggesting he and his team give the fleet an overall checkup in person just in case though," the communications officer replied.
"Tell the chief he has the go ahead then, and to be brief," Admiral Adama said.
"Yes sir," the communications officer said.
"Shall we start the recon operation as planned?" Commander Tigh asked impatiently.
"Yes, we need to move quickly now that we've arrived. Send in the stealth raptors across the colonies and Cylon space, and have the fleet setup a CAP," Admiral Adama said.
"Good idea," Commander Tigh replied, picking up the communications relay to send out the raptors and orders for the CAP to setup across the evacuation fleet.
Athena disconnected herself from the Heavy Raider's brain and got up to stretch after having sat still for so long maintaining the coordination of jumps for the fleet.
"Admiral, permission to join the recon mission?" Athena asked.
"Granted. Take note of any new Cylon formations, and try to see if you can figure out some ideas for what they're doing and where we can hit them hardest," Admiral Adama said.
"Yes sir," Athena said with a salute, and walked out of C.I.C. to join the recon stealth raptors before they left. Helo followed her out.
The fleet's stealth raptors left to scout out various areas across both Colonial and Cylon space. A couple of raptors went to land on Picon to give General O'Reilly the fleet's current plans and the specs for the evacuation mission so he could begin getting things ready for the fleet's arrival. The Picon defense grid was in place with dozens of vipers on patrol, just as they had been when the fleet left for Avalon – though several defense platforms showed burn marks and other signs of fighting.
Day 478 Since the Fall, 0900 Hours
Galactica War Room
"The recon mission reveals that the Cylons have quite a few first war baseships on patrol across the colonies, along with very few of their new baseships. Approximately 3 first war baseships are stationed at each of the colonies except Picon, with several standard baseships and patrolstars patrolling across colonial space. There is also over a dozen standard baseships spread over the expanse of space we know to be Cylon territory from the stealthstar Banshee's time in Cylon space," Starbuck said.
"Seems the Cylons are trying to stop rescue missions from Picon to the other colonies with a blockade," Helo said, looking over the report from General O'Reilly, where the General had detailed the various successful missions to get supplies and survivors across the colonies back to Picon.
"Where is the rest of their fleet? The fleet that would've returned from the Promar sector, the Cylon Mobile shipyard, and whatever fleet units they've been building up since the fleet's trip to Avalon should be around here somewhere," Commander Tigh said in frustration.
"Part of the fleet would likely be off attacking the Prometheus fleet," Admiral Adama said thoughtfully.
"True, though it looks like the Cylons are preparing a fleet to attack Avalon once they find it and given the majority of colonial survivors are at Avalon the highest priority to all their plans will be oriented around annihilating Avalon before looking at Prometheus' group. The rest of their fleet we've been able to find are simply maintaining a control over their territory and particularly the colonies," Athena said.
"So chances are they've sent a lot of ships in the general direction of Avalon and created a supply base at a midpoint along the way so they can backtrack to the colonies or start their push towards Avalon whenever they wish," Helo said, frowning at the implications.
"Admiral Stryker's fleet did encounter a Cylon ship following them on their trip to Avalon. Odds are they're mapping out the path there and having a forward base to start moving in that direction makes sense," Commander Adama said, not liking the situation one bit.
"Can we send a strike force to eliminate their base on our way so we can push back whatever progress they've made towards getting to Avalon?" Admiral Adama asked.
"No sir. We have no idea where they placed their forward base and though we can send out scouts to map out the area to try and find them I wouldn't suggest it. The Cylons have had a lot of time to make progress towards finding Avalon, and it stands to reason that they put their base a fair distance away given how much distance their baseships can cover and still be able to go back to the colonies and Cylon space conveniently. They'll have to spread out in a number of directions since they don't know where Avalon is exactly, and unfortunately that provides a vast area for us to search through to find them," Lieutenant Gaeta said.
"Very well. We'll leave the Cylons moving towards Avalon for another time. Right now let's focus on the Cylons here so we can complete our current mission. What are our options?" Admiral Adama asked.
"Admiral, given the vast amount of Cylon ships across the colonies right now threatening the mission to Picon, we'll have to take them all out. If we attack only some of their positions then the remainder can jump in at their leisure to disrupt our strike forces and possibly even head towards Picon. The only way to keep the Cylons from moving their forces in colonial space to attack the evacuation fleet at Picon is if we attack all their baseships at once. We don't have enough Battlestars to match them ship for ship, so we'll have to spread out along with our support ships and multiple raptor teams of raptors using nukes," Starbuck said, dragging the figurines for the fleet to each of the Cylon baseship positions.
"Can we really take on their baseships using mostly support ships?" Commander Adama asked, imagining a Gunstar being overwhelmed by a baseship's nukes and grimacing slightly at the thought.
"This is definitely one of your crazier ideas Starbuck," Commander Tigh said gruffly.
"We'll have surprise on our side. Raptor strikes can even the playing field a fair bit, in addition to some technical advantages from our upgraded ships and tactics we can use to make things go smoothly," Athena said confidently.
"I don't like fragmenting the fleet, but this sounds like our best plan to keep the Cylons in the dark about the rescue mission going on so we can get everyone out without a battle at Picon. We may even get the evacuation fleet back to Avalon without the Cylons knowing," Admiral Adama said after a minute of silent thought, looking carefully at each fleet's positions.
"Do we still have raptors monitoring the patrolling baseships?" Commander Tigh asked, not wanting to consider a strike force being annihilated from improper recon allowing the Cylons to have moved positions or gathered more ships before the mission without their knowing.
"Several raptors are monitoring them. The patrolling fleets move from one colony to the next within a few hours of each other. It's most likely for preventing any ships getting close to the colonies at sublight speed, and keeps them quickly appraised of attacks throughout the colonies if communications are jammed," Starbuck said.
"We'll attack when they're in transit between colonies so we can make our move to take out the stationary units without the chance of reinforcements," Admiral Adama ordered, having made his decision, "Raptors will go with our fragmented fleets towards the stationary units to even the playing field against the baseships, and otherwise will be jamming communications throughout the colonies. Get our fleet ready to split up into smaller units as necessary for the attack, and get the evacuation fleet prepared to move out as soon as we move on the Cylons."
"Yes sir," Commander Tigh said and moved out to start relaying orders to the fleet. Starbuck, Athena, and Helo went to the flight deck to prepare the raptor and viper squadrons for the attack.
Day 479 Since the Fall
A single Battlestar accompanied by several support ships and raptors complemented with nukes were set to jump to each of the colonies, except Picon, and attack the three first war baseships there.
Battlestar Ithaca and Gunstars Triton, Avalanche, Stiletto, Thaddeus, and Calamity set to jump to Gemenon. Battlestar Rhodes and Gunstars Stargazer, Sturgeon, Redeemer, and Avenger set to jump to Aquaria. Battlestar Durga and Gunstars Medusa, Neleus, and Aegaeus set to jump to Virgon. Battlestar Glorious and Gunstars Peacekeeper, Brooks, and Hook set to jump to Tauron. Battlestar Arcadia and Gunstars Harpy, Tower, and Modesto set to jump to Leonis. Battlestar Atlas and Gunstars Conflict, Lake, and Howler set to jump to Libran. Battlestar Calypso and Battlecruisers Greer and Hood set to jump to Canceron. Battlestar Thanatos and Battlecruisers Silvanus, Maia, and Nereids set to jump to Aerilon. Battlestar Sciron and Battlecruisers Proteus, Boreas, and Aeolus set to jump to Sagittaron. Battlestars Sleipnir and Trinity were set to jump to Scorpia. Battlestars Nike, Galactica, Pegasus, Vanguard, Warstar Argona, and Combatcruiser Audacious were set to jump to the patrolling Cylon fleets in transit between the colonies.
The remaining military escort ships were set to jump to Picon with the evacuation fleet.
Galactica C.I.C.
"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the fleet. This is not a drill," Lieutenant Gaeta said over the fleet wide communications.
A few minutes later…
"All ships report condition one is set and FTL set to jump to each location as ordered sir," Lieutenant Gaeta said.
"Very good. Mister Gaeta, inform all ships to commence countdown to jump," Admiral Adama said.
"Jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Jump!" Lieutenant Gaeta said.
The fleet commenced their jumps across the colonies.
Picon
The evacuation fleet arrived and started descending to the planet to take on the supplies and people to completely fill each ship. General O'Reilly had arranged for most of the people to be taken in preset evacuation zones to quickly be picked up. Many stores and factories had been picked out to completely empty of supplies which the cargo/supply ships would take on. It would take hours for the supplies and people to be packed into the evacuation ships.
Gemenon
Battlestar Ithaca and Gunstars Triton, Avalanche, Stiletto, Thaddeus, and Calamity appeared in a flash of light, surrounding three first war baseships. Vipers were launched to meet raiders patrolling around the fleet, the baseships began launching additional raiders.
Ithaca and the Gunstars shelled the baseships with their heavy KEW cannons, and launched several nukes at the baseships. The baseships returned fire after the shock from the colonial fleet's sudden appearance wore off.
The concentrated KEW fire of Gunstars Triton, Avalanche, and Stiletto quickly tore through the armor and many weapon emplacements on the baseship they were facing. A nuclear missile strike then passed through almost unimpaired to detonate in the center axis of the baseship, only three of the eight nukes were shot down from defensive fire. The baseship went up in a massive explosion as the nuclear flame reached the tylium bunkers on the baseship.
The baseship that the Gunstars Thaddeus and Calamity faced put up a tougher fight. Thaddeus was hit by a nuke on top of her armor; endangering the crew aboard as several systems went haywire and the hull was compromised in several sensitive sections of the ship, forcing the ship's commander to order the ship to jump out to Picon. Calamity concentrated several missile strikes and her heavy KEWs on the baseship to destroy many of her missile and KEW emplacements. Both ships continued firing on one another.
Battlestar Ithaca faced the third baseship alone and concentrated her weapons fire to heavily damage the topside saucer and create hull breaches along the central axis of the baseship. The baseship returned fire with several nuclear missiles on Ithaca. Most were shot down by the Battlestar's defensive fire, but two made it through hitting the starboard flightpod, and the topside armor. The launch and landing bays on the starboard flightpod were devastated with most of the people inside killed instantly, and the topside armor was heavily damaged along with cracking throughout the armor's foundations. Battlestar Ithaca sent out ship to ship missiles followed by a half a dozen nukes to crack through the armor on the baseship and have the nukes enter to destroy the baseship. Half the missiles and nukes were destroyed by raiders, but the remainder passed through to hit the Baseship's vulnerable central axis. The baseship quickly went up in an explosion which sent debris into the nearby raiders.
The vipers were faring well against the raiders even as they were outnumbered two to one originally, but quickly the raider numbers were taken down bit by bit.
Battlestar Ithaca and the Gunstars moved to bear down on the remaining baseship together, firing their heavy KEW cannons as one. The concentrated fire quickly destroyed the damaged baseship.
The remaining raiders began jumping out, though the vipers continued destroying them until only a few dozen managed to escape. The capital ships quickly began to recover their vipers and prepared to jump to Picon.
Aquaria
Battlestar Rhodes and Gunstars Stargazer, Sturgeon, Redeemer, and Avenger jumped into close range around the three first war Cylon baseships.
Battlestar Rhodes fired missiles at the nearest baseship immediately after the jump, scoring damage across the ship. Several patrolling raiders were also hit and destroyed in the attack, along with the launch bay for raiders on the baseship – effectively trapping the ship's entire complement of raiders aboard. Vipers and raiders were launched from each ship, with only a slight advantage in numbers of raiders to vipers.
Gunstars Stargazer and Sturgeon fired their cannons on a baseship and simultaneously fired missiles at the central axis. The baseship was hit by numerous cannon and missile fire, with the ship's defenses taking down half the missiles fired. The baseship fired her entire nuclear missile complement at the Sturgeon, with nine nukes managing to pass through the surrounding vipers and Sturgeon's combined impressive but desperate defensive fire. Gunstar Sturgeon went up in a massive explosion as the nuclear detonations coupled together across the ship's hull; the explosion was so strong from the massive megaton bombs that much of the ship was vaporized on contact and very little debris remained after the light from the explosion dissipated. The surrounding vipers and raiders quickly moved to avoid the remaining debris flung outward. Gunstar Stargazer then launched a large complement of missiles and nukes while continuing to fire its cannons on the baseship. The baseship's armor was torn apart and a nuke passed through inside the ship to explode at the center axis, creating a chain reaction inside the baseship with the ship's fuel lines simultaneously affected. The baseship quickly erupted in an explosion as the chain reaction inside the ship reached critical mass, with debris spreading in various directions forcing vipers and raiders to evade or be destroyed if they were too slow.
Gunstars Redeemer and Avenger fired on the third baseship together. The baseship returned fire with its own cannons. Several raiders made an attack on the Gunstar Redeemer and were shot down by the ship's defensive fire, but one raider made it through to hit the Gunstar in a suicide run and causing heavy damage. Gunstar Avenger continued firing her cannons on the baseship, scoring some good hits. The baseship fired on the damaged Gunstar Redeemer with her remaining cannons and a large amount of missiles. Gunstar Redeemer's defense grid was overwhelmed as dozens of missiles impacted across the ship, several of them nukes, and the ship was destroyed within moments.
Battlestar Rhodes closed range with the baseship she had dealt a good deal of damage to already, and fired her cannons on the baseship's central axis in a high speed pass. The baseship exploded under the mass amount of cannon fire at point blank range. Battlestar Rhodes continued moving in her high speed pass to avoid the expanding debris of the ship.
Gunstars Stargazer and Avenger combined their cannon fire on the remaining baseship to quickly destroy the damaged ship. The remaining raiders started jumping out, with a few making one last run on the capital ships and were destroyed by defensive fire before they could deal significant damage. The vipers landed on the capital ships and the fleet soon jumped to Picon.
Virgon
Battlestar Durga and Gunstars Medusa, Neleus, and Aegaeus jumped in around three first war Cylon baseships.
Battlestar Durga quickly fired nuclear missiles at the nearest baseship upon arriving which hit the ship almost unhindered as the baseship's defensive fire could not fire on the missiles quickly enough – half the missiles hit the baseship head on and the baseship became a pile of molten debris in a flash explosion.
Gunstars Medusa, Neleus and Aegaeus had jumped in to point blank range on three sides around the starboard side baseship in the Cylon fleet formation. They fired their cannons on the starboard baseship together, and from three sides inflicted massive damage to the baseship. A combined missile and nuclear strike was able to destroy the baseship with most of the missiles bypassing the ship's defensive fire and hitting the baseship from multiple angles.
The third baseship was hit by several nukes from a stealth raptor, disabling the FTL drives and damaging other systems on the ship. Battlestar Durga and the Gunstars soon moved in on the baseship and combined their weapon fire to destroy the ship. The remaining raiders tried to disengage from their fight with the vipers to jump out, but all were destroyed by the vipers with several missile strikes among cannon fire taking out the enemy fighters. Battlestar Durga and the Gunstars recovered their vipers after SAR and jumped to Picon.
Tauron
Battlestar Glorious and Gunstars Peacekeeper, Brooks, and Hook jumped into close range around the three baseships blockading Tauron. Stealth raptors jumped in simultaneously and launched nukes at the baseships, disabling their FTL drives. A couple stealth raptors were destroyed before the remainder jumped out. Vipers and raiders were launched from each ship.
Battlestar Glorious fired her heavy KEWs continuously on the nearest baseship, with Gunstar Peacekeeper firing her own cannons on the baseship from the other side. The combined firepower quickly heavily damaged the baseship with little return fire and a missile strike targeting inside holes covering the damaged armor finished the baseship off.
Gunstars Brooks and Hook combined their weapon fire on the baseship in the center of the Cylon fleet formation. Missile strikes and cannon fire quickly damaged the baseship which still reeled from the nuke strike by the raptors, being the most hard-hit of the three baseships in the attack. The third baseship took the opportunity from not being focused on and charged towards Gunstars Brooks and Hook. Several missiles were fired followed by intense cannon fire as the baseship closed range with the Gunstars. The center baseship exploded from the continuous fire from Gunstars Brooks and Hook, but while their defensive fire took out the missiles fired before the baseship went down the third baseship scored several unhindered hits on both ships. As the remaining baseship closed range, the ship fired her cannons repeatedly on the Gunstar Hook which had taken the most damage in the previous strike. Gunstar Hook exploded from cannon fire making a lucky hit on the ship's tylium bunkers.
Battlestar Glorious began to close on the remaining baseship, along with the Gunstar Peacekeeper. The baseship continued firing on the Gunstar Brooks as the ships closed ranged with each other, with more defensive fire reaching the baseship from Gunstar Brooks – scoring numerous hits across the baseship's armor. The baseship unloaded a mass amount of missiles and nukes on the Gunstar Brooks at near point blank range. Gunstar Brooks was unable to take out all the missiles at such close range and with damaged defensive weapons from previous hits. The Gunstar Brooks went up in a massive explosion from several 50 megaton nukes exploding simultaneously and the baseship soon followed in its own explosion from such close proximity to the nukes going off – the chain reaction of the explosions quickly obliterating both ships. Many raiders and vipers nearby were also consumed by the explosion.
The remaining raiders jumped out in the ensuing chaos. The vipers returned to the capital ships once the last raider had jumped out and the fleet jumped to Picon once everyone was accounted for.
Leonis
Battlestar Arcadia and Gunstars Harpy, Tower, and Modesto jumped near the three baseships in the system. Raiders and vipers were launched from each ship, with a couple heavy raiders already outside the baseships moving towards the Battlestar Arcadia.
Battlestar Arcadia fired a spread of missiles and her cannons on the nearest baseship. Most of the missiles were destroyed by defensive fire, though others hit the ship's armor and one damaged the ship's FTL drives. The baseship returned fire and destroyed several of the Battlestar's cannons, with a nuclear missile also damaging the ship's starboard landing bay.
Gunstars Harpy, Tower, and Modesto closed with the center baseship, combining their cannon fire to score heavy hits across the baseship. The baseship returned fire on the Gunstar Harpy, and the third baseship combined its missile and cannon fire on the Gunstar Harpy as well.
Three heavy raiders landed on Battlestar Arcadia, and centurions started boarding the Battlestar from the previously damaged starboard landing bay. Several crewmen were gunned down by the centurions' gun fire. Vipers alerted the Arcadia of the heavy raiders boarding parties, and teams of marines moved to reach the centurions.
Gunstar Harpy was destroyed from numerous cannon fire coming from the baseship, and a nuclear strike in return from Gunstars Tower and Modesto quickly destroyed the center baseship as well. Gunstars Tower and Modesto moved to unleash a load of missiles and cannon fire in a high speed pass on the third baseship. The baseship took damage from the cannon fire, but quickly outmaneuvered the Gunstars and defensive fire took out the remaining missiles still aiming for the baseship. The baseship fired her cannons on the Gunstar Tower, scoring heavy hits to the ships weapons system and disabling several other systems aboard the Gunstar. Gunstar Tower quickly jumped out to retreat to Picon as her weapons system was compromised and the ship faced other systems' failure ship wide.
Battlestar Arcadia launched a nuclear strike in conjunction with heavy cannon fire on the central axis of the nearest baseship it had previously fired on. The baseship was hit hard by the cannon fire and simultaneously received missile hits before the defensive systems could recover and target them. The baseship lost all power and continued weapons fire then destroyed the baseship.
The centurions aboard the Battlestar Arcadia took down several marines and crewman. Two teams of centurions were taken down by marines using grenades and concentrated explosive rounds from behind defensive positions –such as hiding behind the corners of corridors and behind crates. The third team of centurions managed to rush past the team of marines it faced and continued firing on crewmen on the way to aft damage control. Dozens of people were gunned down and the centurions kept moving. The marines managed to catch the centurions from behind and in front of the entrance to aft damage control. Several marines were hit by the centurions' weapons fire before they were all destroyed by explosive rounds to the head.
The remaining baseship jumped out simultaneously with the surviving raiders. The vipers returned to the capital ships, and the ships jumped to Picon moments after the squadrons were aboard.
Libran
Battlestar Atlas and Gunstars Conflict, Lake, and Howler jumped near the three first war Cylon baseships at Libran. Raiders and vipers were launched from each ship as the capital ships began to close the distance between each other.
Battlestar Atlas fired its cannons at the baseship in the center of the Cylon formation and the baseship returned fire with numerous missiles; half were shot down and the remainder scored hits across Battlestar Atlas' armor. The baseship on Battlestar Atlas' port side started launching missiles and unleashing a bombardment of cannon fire on Battlestar Atlas.
Gunstars Conflict, Lake, and Howler focused on the third baseship, encircling the ship to fire concentrated cannon hits from multiple angles. The baseship fired its cannons at Gunstar Conflict, but was unable to efficiently lock on with defensive fire against the Gunstars as they kept moving around the baseship.
The two baseships pummeled Battlestar Atlas with concentrated cannon and missile fire. Her heavy armor shrugged off the hits, but numerous hull breaches and fires appeared around the ship. Dozens of personnel were lost in venting to put out a fire that grew too massive for DC units. Battlestar Atlas fired a nuke amidst anti-ship missiles at the more damaged of the two baseships. The baseships' defensive fire took out half the missiles, and was about to take out the nuke when it exploded in close proximity with the baseship – releasing a large EMP shockwave which hit the baseship full force, disabling several weapons and propulsion systems. The remaining anti-ship missiles scored heavy damage and created hull breaches across the baseship.
Gunstars Conflict, Lake, and Howler continued circling the third baseship and concentrated their cannon fire to create numerous hull breaches across the ship, cracking through the armor. The three Gunstars launched a mass missile strike at the holes in the baseship's armor their cannon fire previously made. The baseship was unable to cover against the missile fire from all three sides the Gunstars fired from, destroying only a small amount of the missiles coming at the ship, and quickly collapsed under the missile hits – exploding from its reactors and tylium bunkers being compromised.
One of the baseships facing the Atlas was partially disabled and began turning away to try and jump out. The other baseship had minimum damage and moved forward to strike the Battlestar with its cannon fire. Battlestar Atlas took heavy hits across the entire port flight pod, with a majority of the crewmen in the flight pod killed on impact of the cannon fire tearing through the ship's armor.
Gunstars Conflict, Lake, and Howler moved to help Battlestar Atlas with the baseship on her port side. The partially disabled baseship launched several nukes at the Gunstars at extreme range, and defensive fire from vipers and the Gunstars quickly destroyed every missile before they could reach their target. Several nukes fired from the baseship firing on Battlestar Atlas made it through defensive fire and impacted across Atlas' armor and inflicting heavy damage ship wide, killing hundreds on impact with fires threatening even more. Battlestar Atlas fired several nukes in retaliation at the baseship on her port side and managed to score a direct hit on the baseships' central axis, destroying the baseship.
The partially disabled baseship jumped out with the remaining raiders, though vipers took out several as they tried to disengage. The vipers returned to the capital ships after SAR was completed and the fleet soon thereafter jumped to Picon.
Canceron
Battlestar Calypso and Battlecruisers Greer and Hood jumped in close proximity to the three first war Cylon baseships. Raiders and vipers were launched from each ship, angling towards the offending colonial ships. Raptors jumped in following the raiders' departure, moving behind the starboard baseship and unleashed a stream of nukes before quickly jumping out. The baseship was unable to stop half the nukes and was destroyed when the nukes detonated on the baseship's central axis.
Battlestar Calypso closed range with the port side baseship and concentrated her cannon fire on the baseship's central axis. The baseship maneuvered to show its topside armor to Battlestar Calypso and fired what few cannons it could bear on Battlestar Calypso. Both ships took light to moderate damage along their armor.
Battlecruisers Greer and Hood moved towards the third baseship, each encircling on opposite sides of the baseship and firing their cannons on the baseship's armor. The baseship returned fire on both ships sporadically, unable to get a good fix on them as they continued moving, and launched a missile strike at Battlecruiser Greer. The ship's point defense took out most of the missiles and the rest hit the ship's dorsal armor.
Battlestar Calypso maneuvered to get in position to fire on the central axis of the baseship, while its cannon fire was scoring hits across the baseship's topside armor. The baseship maneuvered to level a majority of its cannons on Battlestar Calypso and fired directly on the starboard flightpod and Calypso's midsection, breaking through the armor and killing a few hundred crewmen inside. Battlestar Calypso fired five nukes at the central axis of the baseship and maneuvered away from the baseship. Four of the nukes were intercepted by raiders and defensive fire. The fifth nuke hit dead center on the baseship's central axis, causing secondary explosions across the ship. Repeated cannon fire from Battlestar Calypso quickly finished off and destroyed the baseship.
The third baseship fired all its cannons and a spread of missiles on the Battlecruiser Greer, while closing the distance between the two ships. Battlecruiser Greer took multiple amidst the ship, and a couple of nukes tossed in among the missile strike detonated along the ship's damaged hull. After the flash of light from the explosion disappeared, Battlecruiser Greer was a pile of molten debris. Gunstar Hood fired its own complement of nukes among anti-ship missiles and staggered the baseship, with a followed up heavy concentration of cannon fire. The baseship was hit hard, but managed to stay in one piece. The baseship made a suicide charge at Battlecruiser Hood, but Battlecruiser Hood managed to maneuver out of the way.
Battlestar Calypso rushed towards the heavily damaged baseship and fired a heavy concentration of cannon fire along the baseship's armor and scored a few hits on the central axis. The baseship exploded after a few moments from the concentration of rounds hitting inside the ship and causing explosions from the inside out.
The remaining raiders jumped out. After performing SAR operations the vipers returned to Battlestar Calypso and the fleet jumped to Picon.
Aerilon
Battlestar Thanatos and Battlecruisers Silvanus, Maia, and Nereids jumped to close proximity of the three first war baseships at Aerilon. Raiders and vipers were quickly launched from both fleets.
Battlestar Thanatos concentrated a heavy burst of cannon fire on the center baseship while quickly closing to point blank range with the baseship. The baseship returned fire with its own cannon fire. Both ships received minor damage along their armor. Once reaching point blank range, Battlestar Thanatos fired off a concentration of high heat rounds at the central axis of the baseship. The rounds impacted and left singing holes in the armor guarding the central axis, with some rounds boring deep into the ship.
Battlecruisers Silvanus and Maia approached the portside baseship and concentrated their cannon fire on it from separate directions. The baseship returned fire, maneuvering to focus its cannon fire on Battlecruiser Silvanus. All three ships launched anti-ship missiles; a majority were taken out by point defense, and a small amount impacted on each ships' armor scoring minor damage.
Battlecruiser Nereids approached the third baseship alone, keeping its distance while it circled around the baseship and firing at long range towards the baseship's hangar decks in order to destroy the raiders' refueling stations. The baseship moved to engage Battlecruiser Nereids trying to close the distance between them, though Battlecruiser Nereids kept moving out of reach. Concentrated cannon fire from Battlecruiser Nereids destroyed the top hangar deck on the baseship, and the baseship quickly rotated 180 degrees to keep the lower hangar deck out of Battlecruiser Nereids firing solution.
Battlestar Thanatos continued its barrage of high heat rounds on the center baseship's central axis and rather quickly the rounds compounded the damage on the central axis – literally melting through entire sections of the ship until enough damage ripped the baseship in half. The baseship then exploded as a chain reaction occurred from cannon fire reaching the ship's innards and tylium lines.
Battlecruisers Silvanus and Maia launched a missile barrage outward with missiles moving until they reached an equidistant point to begin rocketing toward the portside baseship from every direction. The baseship's point defense took out several missiles, but could not handle stopping the mass amount coming from every direction in a 360 degree attack. Many missiles impacted on the baseship's armor and the raider refueling stations were destroyed. Seeing a tactical disadvantage of the colonials reusing the attack, the baseship quickly maneuvered to close with Battlecruiser Silvanus. The remaining cannons on the baseship fired on Battlecruiser Silvanus, aiming toward the ship's stern section near the engines. Several rounds impacted the Battlecruiser Silvanus and ripped through the armor protecting the engines. Moments later the engines blew up from cannon rounds impacting on the same spot - burrowing a hole into the ship until hitting the engines head on. Battlecruiser Silvanus immediately lost all power and thrust capability ship wide, leaving the ship dead in the water.
Battlecruiser Nereids remained outside the third baseship's maximum firing range and continued circling around the baseship to keep it occupied. The baseship lost interest in following Battlecruiser Nereids and instead closed distance with Battlecruiser Maia. A barrage of missiles from the baseship forced Battlecruiser Maia to maneuver away from protecting Battlecruiser Silvanus to avoid taking any hits.
Battlestar Thanatos raced toward the third baseship and fired an array of nukes toward the ship's central axis. The baseship's point defense took out eight of the ten nukes, and then the baseship jumped out as the remaining nukes closed within seconds of hitting the ship.
The remaining baseship continued firing its cannons and a barrage of missiles at Battlecruiser Silvanus. Vipers maneuvered to take out the missiles, but the cannon fire hit Battlecruiser Silvanus unhindered and with no return fire. Battlecruiser Silvanus received a number of hull breaches and fires along the ship.
The baseship jumped out with the remaining raiders just as Battlestar Thanatos began to close distance with the ship. Vipers destroyed the straggling raiders, and SAR missions for pilots began.
Battlecruiser Silvanus was deemed unsalvageable when contact was made with the remaining command staff. The surviving crew was offloaded onto Battlecruiser Maia and the ship was scuttled. Soon after the vipers were recovered; Battlecruisers Maia, Nereids, and Battlestar Thanatos jumped to Picon.
Sagittaron
Battlestar Sciron and Battlecruisers Proteus, Boreas, and Aeolus jumped to the position of the three first Cylon war baseships at Sagittaron. Raiders and vipers were launched from both fleets.
Battlestar Sciron went directly between the port and center baseships in the Cylon formation, and fired her cannons at both baseships. Both baseships closed distance with Battlestar Sciron and fired their cannons at each flight pod of the Battlestar. The baseships received light damage across their hull and Battlestar Sciron took a few light hits to the flight pods.
Battlecruisers Proteus, Boreas, and Aeolus encircled the lone third baseship and fired their cannons on each side of the baseship while moving in a roving pattern – continuously moving to avoid return fire. The baseship's cannon and missile fire missed each Battlecruiser as they kept moving – not staying in one place long enough to get hit by weapons fire.
Battlestar Sciron continued to keep both baseships it faced busy, continuously firing broadside cannon barrages at both baseships while the baseships quickly encircled Battlestar Sciron. Both baseships took moderate damage from the continuous weapon fire along their hulls' armor, though no sensitive areas were targeted. While the human Cylons commanding the two baseships found this odd, they were eager to exploit the colonials' error and closed distance with Battlestar Sciron – dealing moderate damage with cannon fire to the heavy armor on Battlestar Sciron. While preparing to fire a nuclear barrage on Battlestar Sciron, neither baseship paid any attention to anything going on around them as they gleefully prepared to try and destroy the nearby Battlestar. As the Commander of Battlestar Sciron had planned in drawing in and damaging the two baseships, the time was ripe for a sneak attack; six stealth raptors, that had gotten into range undetected, unleashed a barrage of nukes at both baseships. The nukes went inside both baseships where Battlestar Sciron had intentionally damaged the hull armor, reaching the ships with no resistance given – and momentarily the nukes exploded destroying both baseships at once.
Battlecruisers Proteus, Boreas, and Aeolus launched a concentrated cannon and missile strike at the remaining baseship. The baseship quickly accelerated forward to close with Battlecruiser Aeolus in order to avoid the missile and cannons fire – taking minimal damage from a few hits rather than the crippling strike it would've received if the baseship hadn't moved. The baseship launched a dozen nukes at Battlecruiser Aeolus, and after the four surviving nukes passed through the ship's defensive fire a large explosion surrounded Aeolus. Charred debris was all that remained moments later. The baseship then jumped out, followed momentarily by the remaining raiders. After SAR, the vipers returned to their ships and the colonial fleet jumped out to Picon.
Scorpia
Battlestars Sleipnir and Trinity jumped into close proximity of the three first war Cylon baseships at Scorpia. Raiders and vipers were quickly launched from both fleets.
Battlestar Trinity went into the center of the Cylon formation and started firing her KEWs on the center and portside baseships. Both baseships returned fire with their own KEWs and moved closer in an attempt to bracket Battlestar Trinity.
Battlestar Sleipnir launched an array of conventional missiles, with five nukes mixed in, at the starboard baseship as she closed within firing range of the lone baseship. The baseship's point defense took out a majority of the missiles and nukes, though one nuke scored a hit along one of the baseship's extending arms. The arm, along with the weapons emplacements contained along its length, completely separated from the baseship in a large explosion. The baseship's offensive capabilities were severely hampered and she lost all maneuvering capability. The centurions and human Cylons were too busy trying to steady the baseship out of an uncontrolled spin to return weapons fire on the Battlestar Sleipnir.
Battlestar Trinity took several hits across her reinforced armor, opening a few hull breaches across the ship, but with her increased weapons emplacements she scored heavy hits to the two Cylon baseships. From KEW fire alone, the portside baseship quickly had mass hull breaches across the ship as the baseship's armor was shredded and the hull integrity was compromised. The center baseship maneuvered closer seeing her sister baseship taking more damage that would soon end her existence. The center baseship's entire nuclear compliment of nearly 100 nukes, along with over a thousand conventional missiles, launched at Battlestar Trinity. The commander of the Trinity ordered both the offensive and defensive cannons to fire in the midst of the missile concentrations. The numerous amount of cannon fire speared through the missile formations, and destroyed 90% of the mass amount of missiles and particularly nukes. Vipers near Battlestar Trinity were also able to destroy a few missiles before they closed distance with the Trinity. Despite the colonials' impressive defensive capabilities, seven nukes and over a hundred conventional missiles hit Battlestar Trinity. The reinforced armor of the Battlestar Trinity was tested as the damage reports from the missile hits started pouring in. Hull breaches and fires were reported across the entire port flightpod and nearby ship sections, FTL and several other crucial systems went offline ship wide, one of the ship's engines exploded killing all nearby personnel, and the ship started drifting in an uncontrolled spin as several maneuvering stabilizers went offline all at once. A casualty report after the battle would later show over a thousand crewmen were lost after that one devastating attack to the Battlestar Trinity.
Seeing the massive damage to the Battlestar Trinity, Battlestar Sleipnir quickly maneuvered to aid the other Battlestar – leaving the starboard baseship alone as it continued working on fixing its maneuvering capabilities. Battlestar Sleipnir fired six nukes at the center baseship in an effort to quickly remove it from the battle, in addition to firing her KEWs at the baseship. The center baseship destroyed three of the nukes with defensive fire, and then received heavy hits from the KEW cannons hitting her central axis – ripping right through the armor covering the sensitive spot on the baseship. The remaining nukes went through the hole in the armor the KEW fire created, and seconds later detonated inside the baseship. The baseship exploded in a large expanding mass of flaming debris. Surrounding ships maneuvered to get away from the moving debris; several vipers and raiders were too slow and were destroyed in a small explosion as the debris hit them.
Engineering technicians in the Battlestar Trinity worked determinedly and soon managed to get Battlestar Trintiy out of the uncontrolled spin she had been spiraling in. Battlestar Trinity started maneuvering out of the combat zone once able as the Commander soon realized they would only be in the way of the battle and the ship's crew needed time to get the FTL systems online to retreat from the battle.
The portside baseship launched a swarm of missiles at Battlestar Sleipnir from extreme range and started preparing to retreat from the battle as the human Cylons in the baseship's CIC realized their ship couldn't take too many more hits before the ship was destroyed due to its earlier damage from the Battlestar Trinity. Most of the missiles were destroyed by Battlestar Sleipnir's defensive fire as the gun crews benefited from the baseship firing its missiles from extreme range. Over a dozen conventional missiles lightly damaged the armor across Battlestar Sleipnir, doing little more than messing up the ship's paint job. A single nuke managed to survive the destruction of the missile swarm to hit Battlestar Sleipnir's starboard landing bay. Several crewmen died in the explosion and the landing bay was shut down while necessary repairs were started. Battlestar Sleipnir quickly gave chase as the ship's sensors detected the baseship was preparing to jump. The commander ordered the emergency thrusters to be used in order to reach the baseship before it could jump away; immediately the ship's thrusters were pushed to their limits and two well-placed detonations of charges enacted the "emergency thrusters" as an intentional explosion quickly pushed Battlestar Sleipnir forward, towards the fleeing baseship. Using the increased speed to catch the baseship, Battlestar Sleipnir quickly took advantage of its forward motion and fired a full spread of its KEWs on the fleeing baseship in a high speed pass – intending to pass the baseship as it unleashed a close range barrage to destroy the baseship. The cannon fire benefited from the speed of Battlestar Sleipnir in momentarily reaching the baseship with an increased force and the single barrage of KEW fire was therefore enough to breach inside the damaged hull of the baseship to ignite the baseship's sensitive fuel lines. Before the Cylons knew what hit them as they tried to flee, the baseship was destroyed and exploded. Battlestar Sleipnir and surrounding vipers quickly maneuvered away from the expanding debris of the baseship.
The remaining baseship had fixed her maneuvering capabilities, but a short discussion among the human Cylons led to the ship jumping out after seeing the other baseships destroyed. The surviving raiders started jumping out as well, with the vipers chasing them down and scoring several casualties in the raiders lines before the battlefield was empty of enemies.
Battlestars Sleipnir and Trinity recovered their vipers after completing SAR missions. Once necessary repairs were completed, the two Battlestars jumped out to return to Picon.
Cylon Patrol Fleet 1
Battlestars Nike, Galactica, and Pegasus jumped to the first patrol fleets staging ground. They encountered a resurrection ship, four modern baseships, and twelve patrolstars. Vipers and raiders were launched from each ship of the two opposing fleets.
Raptors jumped in around the resurrection ship and unleashed several nukes that easily decimated the crucial Cylon ship, and much to the dismay of the Cylons the Resurrection ship was destroyed. Stealth raptors jumped in around the baseships and unleashed nukes and ship to ship missiles to damage the baseships' FTL drives. Several raptors were destroyed by patrolling raiders before their FTL systems could activate and the remaining raptors were able to jump out.
Battlestars Nike, Galactica, and Pegasus maneuvered as one to close with the baseships in a three pronged attack. In this manner, the three heavily armed Battlestars were able to combine all of their cannon fire on a single baseship at a time. Moments later under the heavy KEW fire, the center baseship exploded. The three Battlestars then launched a combined nuclear missile barrage at the next baseship in the Cylon formation and though several missiles were destroyed by Raiders and defensive fire, the baseship was destroyed as a concentration of nukes hit the baseship's central axis.
The two remaining baseships were then cut off in between the three Battlestars and unable to help each other as Admiral Adama had planned. Without FTL capability, the two baseships were helpless to escape and the human Cylons could see their deaths were imminent from the intense firepower the battlestars could put out. A mass amount of heavy raiders were launched from both baseships filled with human Cylons and they quickly jumped out. Several regular raiders also started jumping out rather than staying to defend the two baseships and risking their final death if resurrection didn't work.
Having reloaded their weapons for a second strike, raptors jumped in around the twelve patrol stars and fired off missiles and a couple nukes at the ships. With little weapons capability or armor, the twelve patrolstars quickly collapsed under the raptors' attack.
Battlestars Nike, Galactica, and Pegasus separated in two directions to quickly destroy the two remaining baseships. Battlestars Nike and Galactica attacked the portside baseship, and combined their heavy KEW cannon fire to destroy the baseship. Battlestar Pegasus unleashed hell on the remaining baseship with all the cannons across the massive ship, and encircled around the ship to hit it from every angle. The baseship returned fire and dealt minor damage in return, but soon collapsed under the heavy cannon fire barraging its armor reaching the tylium lines and the ship exploded.
The remaining raiders tried jumping out as the vipers kept attacking them, destroying dozens of them with few casualties. When the last raider was gone, the fleet underwent SAR across the debris field for pilots. Once finished, the vipers returned to the Battlestars and the fleet jumped out to Picon.
Cylon Patrol Fleet 2
Battlestar Vanguard, Warstar Argona, and Combatcruiser Audacious jumped to the second patrol fleet's staging ground. There they encountered four modern baseships and twelve patrolstars. Vipers and raiders were quickly launched.
Raptors jumping in with the colonial fleet then fired their missile compliments at the patrolstars. The patrolstars exploded from conventional and nuclear missile hits with little defensive fire returned given the patrolstars' meager weapons capabilities. The raptors jumped out quickly after finishing off their targets before the surrounding raiders could destroy them.
Battlestar Vanguard engaged the portside baseships and fired her cannons at its central axis. The baseship returned fire and launched a missile strike containing four nukes among anitship missiles. Most of the missiles were stopped by point defense and a single nuke made it through to hit Vanguard's port landing bay – shutting down the landing bay for an extended period. Battlestar Vanguard launched a nuke strike at the central axis, and several missiles entered the holes in the central axis' hull from the previous cannon fire hits. Within moments the portside baseship exploded in nuclear fire.
Warstar Argona engaged two baseships in the center of the Cylon formation. Argona focused her main KEWs on the port side baseship. Concentrated fire quickly ripped through three of the baseship's arms – greatly reducing the baseship's offensive capability. The baseship tried to disengage to escape the punishment Warstar Argona was handing out. The other baseship launched a large missile strike with over a dozen nukes among nearly a hundred anti-ship missiles. Point defense and vipers took out approximately 75% of the missiles, and the remainder hit Warstar Argona across her heavily armored hull. The anti-ship missiles did little damage to the armor, but three nukes hitting the same area created hull breaches and fires along the ship. Warstar Argona then returned fire with her heavy KEWs on the less damaged of the two center baseships – heavily damaging that ship as well with numerous hull breaches along with the overall hull integrity compromised and fires ship wide throughout the baseship.
Combatcruiser Audacious engaged the starboard baseship, and was a surprise to the human Cylons aboard given its small size and the fact it was attacking the baseship alone. Combatcruiser Audacious had done little more than weapons simulations since its quick construction on the travel to Avalon, and the ship's commander was eager to test out the ship's capabilities on live targets – particularly the nearby Cylon baseship. Combatcruiser Audacious' forty missile launchers opened up and unleashed a swarm of over a hundred missiles at the baseship. Surprised at the ship's capability unlike any other colonial ship in swarming missiles, the Cylons were ill-prepared to defend against the attack. At least 60 missiles hit the Cylon baseship all across the ship, with several missile concentrations burrowing deep into the ship's armor and then exploding – dealing crippling damage to the baseship. A couple of high explosive missiles fired from Combatcruiser Audacious in a second barrage then hit the baseship's damaged central axis and utterly obliterated the baseship in a large explosion.
Warstar Argona faced the two heavily damaged baseships, and unleashed a barrage of heavy cannon fire on one baseship, quickly destroying the ship as the hull was ripped straight through until cannon fire cut the baseship in half and after which it exploded. Warstar Argona then fired a stream of eight nuclear missiles at the remaining baseship that had its three extended arms ripped off previously by cannon fire. With little defensive capability remaining, the baseship was destroyed by half of the nukes concentrated on the baseship's central axis.
The remaining raiders started jumping out and the vipers mopped up the stragglers. SAR missions were quickly completed to find some surviving pilots. The vipers then returned to the Battlestars and the colonial fleet jumped out to Picon.
Picon
Several hours after the rescue mission and strike at the Cylons began
Battlestar Galactica's War Room
"Reports of the battle have finished coming in Admiral," Lieutenant Gaeta said as he handed Admiral Adama a folder of the reports from the fleet.
"How many did we lose?" Commander Tigh asked apprehensively as Admiral Adama looked over the printed reports and the compilation of data Lieutenant Gaeta had charted.
"We lost five Gunstars and three Battlecruisers. Every ship engaged in a battle is reporting at least light damage, with several Battlestars and other ships reporting heavy damage. Trinity in particular will take a lot of time and effort to repair, with her damage too encompassing to risk sending her back to Avalon with the rescue fleet. Dozens of raptors destroyed as well as nearly 1000 vipers lost along with many of their pilots. Approximately 18,000 crewmen lost total though that's just the current estimate," Admiral Adama said somberly.
The room went silent at Admiral Adama's sad declaration.
"How many of the bastards did we get in return?" Commander Tigh asked, narrowing his eyes angrily.
"1 resurrection ship, 24 patrolstars, and 32 out of 38 total baseships, with 24 of those being the weaker first Cylon war baseships. Along with several heavy raiders and approximately 4000 raiders," Admiral Adama said sighing, still contemplating their own losses with grief.
"Not quite a perfect battle, but certainly a powerful loss to the Cylons," Athena Eight said determinedly.
"We certainly learned a lot in combat and recovered battle data for future use that could aid the war effort," Admiral Thompson said optimistically, trying to instill confidence in the group as several in the room still wore expressions of shock or sadness.
"There are also the reports on the evacuation reaching completion," Lieutenant Gaeta said as he gathered another folder with the pertinent reports in his hands, "Approximately 1 million people have been placed on the evacuation transport ships, and various supply and cargo ships were filled to capacity. Numerous stores of alcohol, food, clothing, art, books, and everything else that could be recovered from Picon were placed in the storage ships. It should be an adequate source of supplies to normalize society on Avalon for millions of people while production shops are created to continue production of supplies upon the fleet's arrival to Avalon."
"Then the next part of our mission begins," Admiral Adama said grimly.
"Right, which Commander should lead the military escort fleet with the evacuation ships back to Avalon?" Admiral Thompson asked.
"I'm afraid, you must lead the escort fleet to get our people home," Admiral Adama said sadly, anticipating Admiral Thompson's response.
"But sir!" Admiral Thompson protested unhappily, wanting to continue the fight against the Cylons.
"You are the most capable leader for this part of the mission, and your ship will singlehandedly be able to defend against any threat you might come upon on the return trip. Which is why the damaged ships that are capable enough will be returning to Avalon as the escort fleet under your command as planned," Admiral Adama said.
"Is that a safe option given what the escort fleet is guarding?" Commander Lee Adama asked, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.
"As long as Admiral Thompson stays on a safe route to bypass the Harvesters, it's unlikely he will meet any resistance requiring those ships to fight on the return trip. It's highly unlikely they'll come across Cylons. Given that the remaining ships here will have to hold off the Cylons until the evacuation fleet returns, it makes sense to have some of our more damaged ships be escorts in leaving the combat zone for Avalon," Admiral Adama said.
"I understand sir. I will get the fleet back to Avalon safely," Admiral Thompson said, resigned to not getting to fight Cylons but resolute to maintaining his duty.
"We should get underway to keep to schedule and keep the Cylons unaware of what's going on," Admiral Adama said.
"Aye sir," the assembled group repliedd and all left the War Room to do their jobs.
Picon, 1 hour later
Galactica CIC
"The evacuation and escort fleet is underway to begin the travel back to Avalon. Kathy is prepping to use the Heavy Raider brain system aboard Warstar Argona," the communications officer said.
"Alright. Send a message to Admiral Thompson: 'good luck and see them home safely'," Admiral Adama said.
"Message sent sir," the communications officer replied moments later, "his reply reads 'good hunting'."
Admiral Adama smiled briefly as he watched the evacuation and escort fleet began jumping away from Picon on the planned return trip to Avalon. 9 Assaultstars, 6 colossus heavy military transports, 80 large civilian transports, 50 heavy transports, Warstar Argona, Battlestars Atlas, Calypso, and Ithaca were among the colonial fleet returning to Avalon. It was hoped that with fewer ships returning the journey time could be shortened a bit more.
"Have the remaining damaged ships continue to cycle through the three cradle docks for repairs as fast as possible. Remind the repair crews that we will be facing a lot of battles soon. Also, send a message to Starbuck to begin coordinating a search team of Raptors in all Cylon controlled areas – particularly beyond the armistice line," Admiral Adama said.
"Right away sir," the communications officer replied, turning back to the comms set to relay the messages.