The Fifth Race: Chapter 2 V2
Colonial remnant fleet, safe rendezvous point, 7 light years away from the Ionian Nebula.
"Admiral, the Vipers are deployed and ready to engage at your orders" Captain Kelly told him when he arrived in CIC "do not engage yet, wait until they deploy their raiders. M. Gaeta what is the condition of the FTL drive?"
"From what I could gather the wave that hit us fried the circuits from the navigation computer, erasing all our navigational software and the telemetry data used to plot Jumps. But there is worse, this wave corrupted the coils from the Jump drive and we don't have the equipment to replace it. Even if we could restore the navigational computer, we still couldn't Jump!" replied Gaeta.
"So you are telling me that we are stuck here and that there is nothing we can do? What about jettisoning one of the FTL drives of the Fleet's ships?" asked Adama.
"If this was in any way possible I would have suggested it myself, sir, but no FTL drive in the Fleet could manage the power that would be required to fold space for a ship as big as the Galactica. We would need to take the Jump Drives of at least 2 ships and combine them and even then we need at least a week if not more to install everything on the Galactica. I'm afraid that at the present moment the Galactica is stuck in this location for as long as the reparation takes" said Gaeta, the emotion tick in is voice while trying to maintain his professionalism in the face of the Admiral.
"Then we will do everything to give a chance of survival to the fleet. Order the Vipers to dock inside some of ships in the fleet. Their task will be to protect it in our place. We will try to escape in the Raptors. Give me Fleet wide, I have an announcement to make!"
This was the end for the Galactica and while he was torn by leaving the fleet without its protector, he at least had the comfort to now that his ship will go by doing its intended function and not end its life rusting in a ship's graveyard or decommissioned as a Museum.
"Sir, you have Fleet wide"
"Fellow colonials, we are at a turning point in our journey for Earth. The Cylons wished to detour us because they know we are close to our goal! Earth is in our reach but we have to survive this day. Galactica will stay behind to help the fleet Jump to safety. Godspeed and show the universe that the 12 colonies of Kobol are still alive!"
"Very moving speech bill" said Saul Tigh.
"I know but we have to give them some hope for a future if we want them to continue on without us, I don't want the Cylons to win by default." Said Adama quietly to his XO and best friend.
"Admiral, I have Apollo on the wireless asking for instructions" said Dee.
"Give me a private com line. Apollo you are now reinstated as a commander, I'm putting you in charge of the Viper Fleet, you must protect it at the best of your ability, understood?"
"Yes Admiral…Dad I'm sorry that our last words to each other were words of anger. I wish now that I had kept my cool better." The admiral's silence was starting to worry Lee and just as he was about to call for his father the line restarted.
"Lee… you and I made decisions in the sadness of Kara's death. The reason I let Baltar go was that you were right. I was blinded by my anger and couldn't see you reaching to bring us to our senses. I know that you were only trying to stop us from acting in revenge. We did not try to bring justice but to appease our thirst for blood. I know I wasn't the best father but know that I loved you. Good luck, Galactica Actual Out." With this emotional moment gone the need for is attention came screaming at him in the form of LT Gaeta's shout of"DRADIS CONTACT".
"Report M. Gaeta, what do we have?" screamed the XO.
"The Basestars are launching Raiders, by the look of things their entire contingent of ships, sir!"
"Bring us about; protect the Fleet with the Galactica. I need Athena; she is the only one able to compute new coordinates for the fleet from the navigation computer of a Raptor. Have her Jump afterwards with the fleet. She is their only chance to survive now. M. Kelly fire at will with the batteries on the Raiders, we need more time so that the fleet can jump."
A chorus of "Yes sir" echoed inside the CIC where everyone was getting ready to fight the battle of their lives.
25th Fleet, en route to Colonial Fleet approximate position, Super-Dreadnought General's Glory.
The discovery of the Colonial and Cylon fleets became a major concern for the Admiral and his command Team. Not only was there a First Contact situation but furthermore what appeared as a refugee fleet was trying to reach Earth, the Capital of the Terran Federation. While First Contact situations were difficult enough in their own in their level of complexity, the fact that the first contact was with a refugee fleet made things very delicate. Fortunately, since the beginning of the exploration activities on Earth, each fleet was equipped with a fully functional Contact Office with specialists whose roles was to prepare to soften the choc of discovery. The Contact Office was designed to attenuate the overwhelming presence of the Terran Federation. Not only were the Terrans more evolved genetically than the rest of the Galaxy's human population, but their superior technology appeared, to more "primitive" civilizations, as godlike magic powers. From these situations, one of the first laws of exploration was instituted: no Terran Citizen should present himself as a higher being to primitive civilizations, and if stranded in a primitive civilization, is forbidden to teach any advanced technology. While this law of non-sharing technology seemed harsh, it was made after studying the histories of both the Asgard and Ancients people: in their past, both civilizations made grave mistakes by providing technology to less advanced populations. These populations used the technologies gifted to them to bring their civilizations to the brink of annihilation. While the Terran Federation did not make these same mistakes they considered themselves as the successors of the Asgard and Ancients legacies and took lessons from their history.
Via the decryption of the radio chatter between the Cylon and Colonial fleet they amassed a massive amount of data but numerous grey areas remained. The colonials appeared to speak a language derived from Latin. This information proved to be the most important one of all. The basis for the Latin language came, on Earth for example, from contact with the Ancients. That the Colonials spoke Latin showed they had contact at least once with the Ancients in their past but due to their technological level the contact must not have been as important as the one in the Milky Way or Pegasus Galaxy. With this information, the Contact Office was already finding ways to prepare the talks that would, inevitably, happen. While they were forbidden to contact a less advanced society, the fact that the Colonials possessed FTL capabilities granted them representations rights in the Terran Federation. As stated in the Terran Federation fundamental laws, the federation was created to unite the Human population of the universe to help the sharing of philosophies and ideas for the betterment of all Human kind. This, in effect, permitted any Human society which evolved technologically to a space faring level, the right to at least ask for entry into the Federation.
While the Contact Office was preparing itself to accomplish its function, the command Team was preparing a strategy to disarm the threat posed by the Cylon Fleet and at the same time protect the Colonials. The Cylons were a less advanced race technologically wise but the sensors did detect nuclear weaponry onboard their ships and a simple mistake in the strategy adopted may well doom the Colonials, if only one Nuclear Missile was successful in its mission.
The idea for the moment was to take the cylon fleet in sandwich, with 14th Squadron sent to protect the colonials by playing interference between the 2 fleets while the General's Glory and its 6 defense Cruisers were to ask for their surrender and if any resistance was encountered, destroy the Cylon Fleet from the other front of conflict.
But every strategy had its drawback; in this particular case the Admiral was hoping that their show of force would be a sufficient deterrent to the Cylon's attack on the Colonials. What were the more dangerous weapons in the Cylons arsenal was not their nuclear weaponry but their ability to disappear and reappear instantly anywhere in a 14 light years radius, giving them the option to do "hit and run" strikes with a very small response window for the Terran Ships. The Admiral's concern was not for the safety of his fleet, as they were equipped with very powerful shield technology, but for the civilian colonial fleet which will then be vulnerable.
From observation of the Colonial deployment Philosophy, Admiral Delterre's theory was that as soon as possible the colonials would have the civilian fleet jump to safety while the Warship would protect their retreat. For this reason the 190th squadron was to follow the civilian fleet and render assistance if needed, but remain under cloak otherwise. The Contact Office preferred that, except in case of emergency, the civilian fleet was left alone until contact was firmly made with the commanding officer from the Warship as in typical Refugee Coalition; it was the Military Leader that assumed total command.
With the plan finally decided and the orders transmitted to all ships commanders, the 25th Fleet was ready for Action.
Colonial remnant fleet, safe rendezvous point, 7 light years away from the Ionian Nebula.
Admiral William Adama was not sure what the Colonies ever did to the Gods but he was sure that it was something very bad. The Situation went from bad to worse as the Raiders began to engage the Vipers which were rapidly becoming overwhelmed. The Vipers were protecting the civilian fleet from the Raiders to the best of their ability while Athena, onboard one of the Raptors, was computing Jump coordinates to transmit to the fleet.
The Galactica itself was under heavy fire and already several stations reported casualties and the Admiral feared for the arrival of Heavy Raiders and its centurions boarding parties. At the rhythm at which the Galactica was hit, Adama was not even sure that Athena will be able to complete her mission before it was too late for the Colonial's survival.
The ship rocked under the continuous assaults from the Basestars, but as of yet the DRADIS did not detect any launch of Nuclear ordnance on them. Admiral Adama had the sudden fear that the Cylons did not wish to destroy them in one strike, but maybe try to capture them. This theory suddenly imposed itself when he remembered one of commandments from the Cylon God that Athena told him about "God's wish is for us to multiply". The Cylons goal in this battle became clear: to restart their experiences done on Caprica with the surviving Colonials.
AS he was talking to Tigh about his theory, Lt Gaeta's DRADIS terminal flashed like a Light Bulb.
"Sir, 7 ships just appeared suddenly on DRADIS between us and the Cylons. DRADIS did not detect any Jump."
Tigh spun to face Gaeta and inspected his screen "What the frak now! Gods help us if the Cylons jumped more ships in this system!"
Keeping his cool as to limit the panic in his subordinates the Admiral started his own questions "IFF? Type? Give me details M. Gaeta!"
Still facing his DRADIS console, LT Gaeta answered his commanding officer with wonder in his voice " I do not detect any IFF sir. Whoever they are, they are not Colonials and from what I can tell sir, the 2 ship on the Edge are the equivalent size of the Galactica and the central ship is at least twice the size of any Basestar or Mercury Class ship I have ever seen. This ship also appears to have 4 smaller ships as an escort group. But sir, the most important thing is that every ship in this Battle group, including the escorts, seems to generate at least 10 times more power than the Galactica!"
While the Admiral was inspecting the DRADIS readout Tigh barked at Kelly"Captain, try to contact them on the Wireless. We need to know if a new enemy as entered the scene or wherever these ships come from!"
Obeying the instructions from his superior officer, Kelly started listening on all frequencies for a channel to start his transmission "Admiral, I'm detecting a transmission coming from the central ship! It's in Colonial!"
Eyes wide, Adama shouted "On speaker M. Kelly!"
"…crrrcr ion. I repeat, to the Cylon Fleet: this is Admiral Delterre from the Terran Federation Ship (TFS) General's Glory, you are engaging in actions of war on Terran Federation territory. You are ordered to stop any and all operations and wait for further instructions. Any aggressive action will be seen as an act of war against the Terran Federation. I repeat…"
His remaining eye wide, Tigh did not mask his stupefaction «What the frak is this Terran Federation! Never heard of it in my life! And where the frak did they come from? They say this is their territory but we are beyond the red line, and they speak Colonial Standard! How is it possible?"
The gears in his head running at full speed Adama responded" I don't have the simplest idea but it seems that they want a cessation of hostilities and that at least is in our favor. We were about to get annihilated. For the moment our only chance of survival is to comply with whatever they ask us to. Captain Kelly, give me a line to this Admiral Delterre."
"Yes sir. You have the line."
"Admiral Delterre, this is Admiral William Adama from the Colonial Battlestar Galactica. We are ready to cease any and all hostile action, but we must protect our CIVILIAN fleet from our enemies. Please respond."
"Admiral Adama, we understand your situation. Be assured that your fleet is already under the protection of the 14th squadron and its lead command ship, the Heavy carrier TFS Autumn's Equinox. We invite you to take cover behind our ships. Delterre Out."
"XO, order the Vipers to disengage with the Raiders and to take position around the fleet. We will see the Cylon's reaction to this announcement. I hope those Terrans know what they are doing because if not this will take a very bad turn."
His headset still firmly on his head, Captain Kelly requested the Admiral's attention «Admiral, the Cylons are responding to the Terrans. On speakers"
"This is Brother Cavil, from the Cylon Fleet. To the Terran Federation, do not try to stop us from our divine mission, the human pest must be eliminated. If you intend to protect the Colonials, you will be terminated."
"This is Admiral Delterre of the Terran Federation Space Navy. Brother Cavil, you and your fellow Cylons are outclassed and outgunned. Do not presume that we will let you do any harm on the Colonial fleet. Furthermore the Terran Federation will not let its fellow humans in adversity if we can help them. You have been warned. Delterre out."
With hate in his voice at the mention of Humans Brother Cavil growled his response "So be it."
As soon as he said these words, 4 other Basestars Jumped as reinforcements, called by Brother Cavil the moment the TFSN (Terran Federation Space Navy) appeared between the 2 fleets. The Cylon Basestars started opening fire on the 14th Squadron, and more particularly the TFS Autumn's Equinox.
The first battle between the Terran Federation and the Cylons has begun.