Battlestar Wasp
Chapter 1
Escape
The Cylons were created by Man.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
The Cylons send no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
Until Now…
.
.
Two minutes after the attack;
Fifteen light years from the colonies;
CIC of the Leviathan class ship Kiel;
Rear Admiral Joshua Anderson stood up and looked around the room. Dead and wounded lay everywhere, as marines flooded into the room. His eyes settled onto his friend Commander Howard Horn, lying on the deck. Walking over, he knelt and felt for a pulse, then cursed. Closing his friend's eyes, he stood up.
"Take the dead to the morgue, and the wounded to medical. Isis, what's the condition of the ship and fleet?"
"Sir, Commander Walters is unconscious. She hit her head on the Dradis table when Commander Horn shoved you both out of the way."
Joshua looked over and saw a medical tech attending Commander Walters and then shouted out, "Okay, people. Get me a sit rep. Prepare for the next jump, and keep an eye out for any friendly or enemy ships. I want to know about them, five minutes ago!"
"Sir, Dradis had ten contacts at forty thousand clicks. They are sending out colonial recognition signals."
"Contact them and have them join up with us," Joshua said and looked at the FTL clock and saw thirteen minutes.
"Sir, the ships are the Marinestar Vengeance, two Mule class freighters the Osiris and Zeus. There are two Gunstars, the Hercules and Hades, and five Botanical Cruisers ships…"
"The Vengeance? That's the Marinestar Academy ship! Get me Commander Olives, ASAP!" Joshua ordered as his eyes locked onto the ten ships.
"Sir, the Hades reports that the Vengeance has taken heavy damage to her bow. All communications are cut off, except for a Raptor docked to her port side. They have sent a message to have Commander Olives contact you as soon as she reaches the Raptor. They report the destruction of the Mercury class Battlestars Viper and Sidewinder as well as the Gunstars O-Brian, Archer and Kincaid with all hands."
"Is that confirmed?"
"Yes, Sir. The Cylons shut them down, and then nuked the hell out of them. Then they went after the Hades and Hercules. Both Gunstars jumped out when the enemy fighter count reached three hundred and closing."
"Damn it! Frakkin toasters," Joshua mumbled as he pulled a clipboard and wrote down the names of the ships confirmed destroyed. "Tell the fleet to purge their CNP program, and reinstall the older version," he ordered as he hung up the clipboard.
"Sending, now. They are forming up on us. We have a message from the Vengeance requesting permission to transfer all wounded and non-essential personnel to the Kiel."
"Granted. Send our Raptors to help the transfer. Sign it in my name… and can you ask, if…"
"Already did. Your daughter survived the attack, and Commander Olives is sending her over on a Raptor, to be the liaison officer to you."
"Thank you, Gods," Joshua whispered as he closed his eyes for a second.
"Sir, we'll be ready to jump in one minute… Dradis contact… Cylon raider… it's jumping out."
"Jump the fleet, now. Contact the Strike and tell them I'm transferring my flag to their ship after the next jump. I want the Hades and Hercules to proceed to the Strike and form up in a defensive position around the ship," Joshua ordered as the clock
The clock started counting down from twenty seconds and soon hit zero as the ships started flashing out as their FTL drives came up to full power.
"Sir, we're ready to jump."
"Wait until the last ship is gone and then jump the Kiel to our new location," Joshua ordered.
"Yes, Sir," came the reply as Joshua looked at the dradis board. He watched as the ships slowly vanished and then there was ten left which quickly counted down until just the Kiel and Strike were left.
"Jump the ship."
Power flared in the FTL drive, and the ship vanished. It reappeared at the edge of a small system of dead planets. An hour later they jumped again, into the Crispin Nebula.
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1*1*1*1
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Crispin Nebula, Eleven days after the attack;
Sixty-nine light years from the colonies;
Gunstar Strike;
Rear Admiral Joshua Anderson stood at the window of his quarters on the Command Gunstar Strike. They were cruising sixty-nine light years from the colonies, near the small Crispin nebula, as they repaired the latest damage to the ships. The Gunstar Aurora was the most heavily damaged. All four of her top main guns were out of action, and her hanger was a burned out wreck. She was currently being worked on, in the mobile repair yard. The good news was that her Viper and Raptor squadrons were off the ship when the Cylon missile had slammed into the landing bay.
"Admiral, the repair ship Hephasetus reports it's going to take three weeks to bring the Aurora back up to full capacity. The Astral will be back on patrol in three days. The damage to her bridge was minimal and Lieutenant Smith says he will cycle the Aurora's air wing with the Kiel to keep the cap up," reported Cadet-commander Samantha Anderson.
"Thank you, Sam. What about the CNP program?" Josh replied as he looked at the massive ship cruising next to his temporary command.
"We have pulled up the old versions and placed them into all the Vipers and Raptors. The main ships have had their systems flushed, and the old version reinstalled there, as well."
"Good we don't need any more shutdowns on our ships. Have another dozen Raptors prepped for SAR missions with twenty of Kiel's jump capable shuttles to follow, if needed, to rescue survivors."
The Leviathan class ship Kiel had escaped the holocaust at Caprica by jumping away with the flagship inside. The Mercury class Battlestar Wasp had been tucked into her massive repair bay while her engines were being swapped out, when he had ordered the entire repair and auxiliary support ship squadron to jump from Caprica station as the fleet fought for its life, and died.
They had jumped along with their ten escort ships that were assigned to the small support fleet. During the jumps they had found several damaged ships, and had brought them along. Most were older ships that were about to be retired or had been unable to have the new CNP program installed. A few were brand new, such as the Gunstars Hades and Hercules.
With a sigh, he looked down at the clipboard and read the latest report from the Kiel on the Wasp. It would take at least a month to install the new engine and close up the hull, before he could get his baby back in to action. The only problem was that he desperately needed an operational Battlestar, now.
Just past the Kiel, the Hephasetus class construction/repair ship Hephasetus had the two damaged Gunstars in its gantry system. Around the two repair ships, forty-eight civilian, five military cargo ships, ten military support ships and seven Patrolstars followed his command.
With Martial Law being declared by the Adar administration, he had full control of the fleet. The Marines from the Wasp and the Kiel were his main enforcement force. One ship stood out. It was a blocky looking ship, the size of a Battlestar. It had giant landing legs for atmospheric decent. She was a retired Marinestar ship, that had once been used for planetary assaults, twenty years before. Her bow was blackened from where she'd taken five nukes to her forward section, but her armor had saved her and her vital assets… the cadets.
"How are the survivors from your ship doing, Sam?"
"Dad, they are angry! They want revenge for their loved ones, but understand we're not ready to fight, yet. The ones training to be Viper pilots are working their butts off in the sims on the Wasp, but without flight time they're…"
"A liability. I can understand that. Well, at least the Wasp can build new Vipers for us when they are ready for their actual flight training. For right now, cycle them through the Raptors and the sixty Vipers the Kiel carries. I want the experienced pilots we do have, using the two hundred Mark VIIs from the Hephasetus, as cover for the fleet," Josh replied. He turned around and added, "Now, what about your ship? How are the repairs going on the Vengeance?"
Samantha smiled and replied, "Already being done. You always said those old Marinestars were tough, and she proved it. The Vengy took damage to her main guns, her flight bays and bridge, but they should have gone for her engines. We wouldn't have survived that attack. Commandant Olives says she will have the ship back in operation in five months, but classes will restart in ten days. She said, and I quote, 'I may have lost the main bow guns; but I still have my secondaries, and all of the classrooms, to teach the new recruits,' end quote."
"Good, we will need all the people we can muster. Now, what's the civilian count?"
We have ninety-three thousand four hundred and ten civilians and our Raptors are bringing in an average of one hundred an hour from the colonies and remains of the fleet ships. We have enough room for another twenty to thirty thousand people, before we start having problems with crowding. What helps are those five Botanical Cruisers that we found on our first jump. With them, we should have enough food for all of us.
"Our biggest problem is fuel. We have the seven mining ships and the Saturn refinery ship, but we need to find a source of raw Tylium. I have twenty Raptors from the Hephasetus looking for a source…"
"Good. What about the emergency jump coordinates?"
"All ships have them, and the Kiel along with the Hephasetus are keeping their jump engines primed and ready to jump, at your orders. The rest of the fleet will take at least two minutes to jump."
"Damn, I wish it was faster, but understand some of those freighters are old. What about food and water?"
"Both are at or above normal. The five Botanical Cruisers are working at full capacity, except for their livestock sections. They are at twenty percent, each, after transferring some of the animals from the Vengeance's convoy. Chickens will be the first to recoup their production, while the cattle and pigs on the ships will take at least a year. Crop production is running at full plantings, and their holds are full. The water ship Aquila has a full load of water, and can replenish all the ships in the fleet for several years. The fabrication ship Miles is building Raptors for the fleet as well as several heavy lifters. The Hades and Hercules are out checking the depots to see if anything survived, I don't expect contact with them anytime soon…"
Josh watched as his daughter stopped talking and pressed her hand to her ear.
"Go ahead, Bridge," she said and few seconds later she added, "I will notify the admiral."
Josh waited until she pressed her earpiece again and then asked, "What is it?"
"Dad, they found the Gullwing. She's damaged but should join us in an hour," Samantha replied as she quickly wrote a note on her pad.
"That's an Albatross class medical frigate. She will be very helpful for the hundreds of wounded on the Kiel," Josh said.
"I know, I will have a message sent to the Kiel. If the medical facilities on the Gullwing are functional, we should be able to transfer most of the wounded to her for better medical care," Samantha said as she continued writing on her pad.
"What is the latest Intel on the fleet and the home worlds?"
"Last report had a third of the Cylon fleet missing. Commander Maddox thinks they are chasing the Galactica but he's not sure. We are still trying to decipher that communications buoy we found at Ragnor station. There is no word on the rest of your battle group or on the Hornet. Raptors were dispatched to the location, but all they found were the shells of the Gunstars Galina and Tips as well as two Cylon baseships. We also found the remains of three Valkyrie class Battlestars, the Hammer, Forge and Hercules from battle group 22. No survivors found, but they did recover thirty Vipers, six Raptors and two heavy lifters from the remains of their landing bays. If we could get a salvage tug in there we could snag the Hammer's landing bays since they were blown off the main hull if we only had a salvage tug to use."
"What the heck would you do with them?" Josh asked as he looked up from his pad.
"Well, I think I would attach them to the Kiel as extra flight pods or use them as the basics of rebuilding a Battlestar. That would be up to you since it's your fleet, now," Samantha replied with a grin.
"Well, draw it up. Maybe we can figure away to get them to us without being…" Josh stopped talking, as his mind started going at the speed of light. Then he grinned and said, "I know where there's some tugs, right now… if they survived the attack."
"Where?"
"The Calypso mining facility out by the planetoid Neptune, in the Zodia asteroid field, they bought three of the of the decommissioned Octopus class Military Tug and Salvage ships that the Adar administration ordered scrapped. The Calypso Corporation was using them to move asteroids to their smelter facility. Dispatch a pair of Raptors to the system, to check," Josh ordered.
"Yes, Sir," Samantha replied and touched her earpiece. She issued her father's orders and then shut the system down, "Commander Maddox is sending Raptors 232 and 283 to check it out."
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1*1*1*1
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Baseship Omega;
Over Caprica;
The Cylon named Cornel, a 'model one' Cylon, sat in his chair fuming. While Cavil was chasing the Galactica, he was stuck mopping up the resistance on the planet below. Around the planet, the ruined colonial fleet drifted. Dozens of destroyed Battlestars and the Caprica space station floated together like a giant jigsaw puzzle waiting to be put back together.
"Dispatch another ten thousand troops to the southern continent. They are to sweep through the mountains and kill any of the humans they find. Another five thousand are to be sent to the Caprica City area. They are to sweep through the lowlands and check the remaining military bases. Dispatch two hundred raiders in groups of four to start scouting the asteroid belt for surviving ships. Also, get me a sitrep on the colonial fleet. I want to know what was destroyed, what was crippled and what is missing of their fleet. We know for sure the Galactica is out there along with three Gunstars IIs from Caprica that jumped out with those civilian ships. We need to hunt them down and destroy them."
"As you command," the Cylon warrior said and turned and left the room. As the door started to close, a three, a four, and a six walked into the room.
"Cornel, I have some bad news. We've had some disturbing reports. The first is that the Pegasus escaped the destruction of the Scorpio shipyards. It was under the command of Admiral Cain," the three reported as she sat in her chair.
"FRAK!" Cornel snapped out as his hand crushed the glass in his hand. "Do we know where they are?"
"No. She did a 'blind jump', and could be anywhere," she said.
"Find them Tasha. That Cain is a crazy woman. We should have pushed for Adama to be made an admiral then allow her to be promoted. She will be a pain in our backside if she is allowed to run loose," Cornel replied as he wiped his hand dry.
"I agree," Tasha replied and stood up. She walked over to the data computer and slipped her left hand into the data flow. "Orders sent," she said as she withdrew her hand.
"Good. Now what else do you have?"
A lone raider detected about fifty civilian ships ten light years away from Caprica. When Delta group arrived they were gone. They are continuing the search. Several Gunstars were detected in the group and they had Vipers patrolling. The raider jumped away and sent the Intel to Alpha Baseship. We just now got it…"
"Are you telling me we have another fleet of ships out there?" Cornel snarled in anger.
"We're not sure. They could be part of the Galactica fleet or a different fleet altogether. We are still going over the scans. We do know there were three, possibly four Gunstars. There was also a ship as large as the Galactica. When the analysis is finished, you will be the second to know," Tasha replied.
"Good. Just in case it's another fleet, notify Gamma fleet to stand by to hunt them down and destroy them. We cannot allow any human scum to survive," Cornel ordered as he turned to the data feed, and slipped his hand inside.
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1*1*1*1
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Calypso mining facilities;
Planetoid Neptune;
Mineral Refinery #1;
Raptors 232 and 283 flashed into existence, and quickly went into stealth mode, as they scanned the system. Lieutenant Charlene 'Hoops' Macmillan looked out the main window of her craft.
"Oh frak!" she said as she looked at the Cylon Baseship launching raiders.
Just as she was about to order Raptor 283 to jump for the fleet, the Baseship exploded.
"What the frak?" Charlene gasped out.
"Hoops, I didn't detect any incoming fire. Whatever blew that Baseship, it wasn't defensive weapons or nuclear," Ensign Tyron 'Chowder' Smith said from the ECO station… "Incoming Vipers, I count one hundred MK IVs on a heading towards the Cylon raiders.
"Mark IV's? They were retired fifteen years ago," Charlene said as she checked around her for Cylon fighters.
"I know. A lot of them were bought up to be scrapped by salvage companies. It looks like Calypso bought a bunch, upgraded them, and kept them as a fighter defense… What was that?"
"What was what?"
"Something large just hit that asteroid, ten kilometers to our port. It split it in half and continued on into the field…"
"Did you get a recording? Put it on my screen," Charlene ordered.
"Coming up… now."
Charlene watched the asteroid send a giant plume of dust out into space and then split in two as something tore through it followed by more dust and debris. Restarting the scan, she increased the magnification until she could see the ninety foot long chunk of what looked like steel hit the asteroid. It was about ten feet thick, tapered on one end, and blunted at the opposite end.
Charlene started laughing as she said, "It's a kinetic weapon. They destroyed a Baseship with a giant bolt of steel."
"You're shitting me."
"I wouldn't shit you. You're my favorite turd!" Charlene replied with a snicker.
"Droll, very droll," Tyron snapped out.
"Sorry. Well, let's see if they are friendly," Charlene replied as she turned on the com and said, "This is Colonial Raptor 232 to Calypso Mining facility."
They listened to the static and then a voice came through the speaker.
"This is Calypso. Identify yourself."
Charlene picked up her microphone and said, "This is Colonial Raptor 232 and 283 of the Battlestar Wasp, under the command of Admiral Anderson. Admiral Anderson has us checking for survivors, and bringing them back to the fleet. What ships do you have available to carry your personnel to the fleet? Can we approach and land. Also how did you destroy that Baseship with a bolt of steel?"
"Raptors 232 and 283 take a heading of 262.22, Azimuth negative 22, for an approach to Calypso base. Follow your Viper escort when it arrives. You may land in bay three," the voice replied as a pair of Vipers flew past the two ships.
"Roger that," Charlene replied as she gripped the yoke and turned the Raptor to its new heading.
Charlene followed the three bright red Vipers towards an asteroid in the distance. As they neared the hunk of rock she noticed dozens of heavy KEW mounts scattered around the surface, plus five large doors as well as two dozen smaller ones. Two of them were open and fighters, shuttles and Raptors were flying in while a small tug was towing in a disabled Mark VII Viper. One of the smaller doors opened, and the three Vipers headed for it. Following the Vipers, they flew down a long tunnel and into a smaller room that had a single Raptor rising up out of the floor. Slowing down to a crawl she watched as one of the Vipers landed and started descending into the floor. A pad lit up, and Charlene set her Raptor down onto it. As she powered down, the ship lurched and started descending. When the ship stopped moving, she popped the hatch. She stepped out of the ship, with her ECO right behind her.
Charlene looked at the dozen men and woman holding rifles on her, and she raised her hands.
"I'm Lieutenant Charlene Macmillan of the Battlestar Wasp. This is my ECO Tyron Smith. We come in peace."
"I'm Director Mallow of the Calypso mining facilities. Welcome aboard Lieutenant, Ensign."
"Three minutes until FTL. All station personnel make sure everything is locked down," came across a loudspeaker.
"WHAT! This station is FTL capable?" Charlene blurted out.
"Yes, and we're preparing to leave this location for another we scouted out. We hope to help recover survivors and re…"
"Stop! If you can jump this station, then jump it to the Crispin Nebula. Admiral Anderson is there with his fleet. He can protect you," Charlene blurted out.
Director Mallow walked to a wall and pulled a handset off of it.
"This is Director Mallow. I have new orders for the FTL jump. We are jumping to the Crispin Nebula. Look up the coordinates for the system. Contact all support ships, and refinery number two. Once you give them the new coordinates, set the jump clock for five minutes."
"This is a correction for our jump. We'll be jumping in five minutes. All hands prepare for jump," the loudspeakers said.
"So, Director, how are you able to jump the station?" Charlene asked.
"Calypso station has a complete engine room from a Columbia class Battlestar to supply power to them. We got them when the Columbia class Battlestars we're being decommissioned by the government. We were able to procure the Battlestars Picon and Virgon for recycling by the station. We saved Virgon's engine room. We first dug a deep tunnel into this asteroid and then we installed the engine room. After that, we built the station. For launch bays we hollowed out two large tunnels and moved the flight pods inside them, instant landing bays and mobile stations. This was done five years ago and we've been traveling the belt gathering resources and selling them back to the colonies. The Picon was stripped of all her heavy weapons, missiles and launch facilities. We then gutted her, rebuilt her pods into refineries and use the ship as a giant foundry/Tylium manufacturing plant. The Portside Pod is the foundry and the Starboard side is the Tylium processing facility."
"Amazing," Charlene said in shock.
"Ten seconds to FTL jump. All personnel secure yourselves for FTL jump."
Everyone moved to the wall, and sat down on the bench seats. The station hummed and vanished into FTL.
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1*1*1*1
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Crispin Nebula;
Bridge of the Gunstar Strike;
"Set condition red throughout the ship. Launch all ready Vipers. Admiral Anderson to the bridge."
Joshua started to pick up the handset as the lights changed from white to red. He quickly changed his mind, and began to walk to the bridge, which was just three doors down from his office. Grabbing his jacket, he left the office and quickly went to the CIC. Behind him his two marine guards followed as the doors opened. He stepped into the room and looked around. The crew was at their stations as he came to a stop near the Dradis table next to the commanding officer of the Strike.
"Commander, you called me? What do you have?" Joshua asked.
"Sir, dradis has picked up ten ships heading towards us from the edge of the system. I've dispatched Raptors to see who they are. I have all ships in the fleet powering up their FTL drives at this time. Vipers are on standby for launch on all ships," Commander Elizabeth Moro reported.
"Any fleet signals?"
"Not as…
"BY THE GODS! Ooops, sorry. This is Raptor 2734! I have a visual on the ships! It's a miracle. I have two, I repeat two, beautiful frakkin Battlestars, four Gunstars, two armored freighters, and two tankers heading towards me. Wait a minute, getting transponder signals… It's Battle Group 44, and they are shot to hell," came the voice of the pilot of the recon Raptor.
First Edited By
Final Edit By TeNderLoin
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