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Battlestar Wasp
Chapter 3
Battle group 70
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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 facility 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...
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Until Now…
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1*1*1*1
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Day 30 ATF
Edge of the Zodia Belt;
Admiral Joshua Anderson studied the Dradis screen and the advancing Vipers as he waited for the com officers. There were nine main ships and what looked like sixty Vipers or Raptors.
"Commander William Carron on line one," the com officer said.
Joshua picked up the handset and said, "Commander Carron welcome back to the nightmare."
"Admiral, what the frak is going on? We can't raise Scorpio or Picon Stations, and now we find this destroyed fleet," Commander Carron asked.
"Commander, I won't sugar coat it. Thirty days ago, the Cylons returned from wherever they had been hiding. They attacked and nuked all of the twelve main colonies along with the support colonies, and every military and civilian installation we have. Most of the fleet was destroyed, and only a few of our ships survived the initial battle with heavy damage. Before I go on, I need to ask you one thing. Do you have the new CNP program installed? The one designed by Baltar?" Joshua asked.
"By the Lords of Kobol. How did… yes, we do have the program installed. It was one of the primary upgrades before we left…"
"This is a direct order. You're to land all your Raptors and Vipers ASAP! I am sending a Raptor to you with orders. Those orders are to take you and your fleet to the Crispin Nebula. Once there you will follow the Raptor into the Nebula to our secure location. There you will remove Baltar's CNP program from all your ships. Do YOU understand my orders?" Joshua said.
"Sir, Yes, Sir," Commander Carron replied.
"Good, I'll meet with you when I get back," Joshua ordered.
"Yes, Sir, Allegiance out," came the reply.
"Dispatch a Raptor to the Allegiance to take them to Crispin Nebula and our hide out," Joshua ordered as he watched the Vipers from the Allegiance head back to their ship followed by a Raptor from the fleet.
Ten minutes after the discovery of the Allegiance, the ship and her escorts vanished into FTL.
"Launch the SAR craft. I want any usable Viper and Raptor towed aboard and dispatch Raptors to check the wrecks for survivors, and supplies," Joshua ordered as he looked at the Dradis display.
Within minutes, Raptors and Vipers started checking the debris field. Soon they started towing in undamaged Vipers while combat crews were checking the wrecks for supplies that they could use. Forty minutes after they had started, twenty-six Vipers and fourteen Raptors had been towed aboard. The shuttles ferried back munitions, food, and useful housekeeping supplies back to the four warships.
An hour later the fleet powered up their FTL drives and jumped to an alternate position where the three Battlestars took up formation inside the asteroid field while the Gorgon started laying her mines in a tight formation that covered a thirty thousand kilometer sphere. Each mine was the equivalent of a standard warhead with directional thrusters along with magnetic and impact detonators. The mines were more missile or drones than what was used in underwater minefields on planets. The Gorgon had enough supplies aboard to build another fifty thousand standard mines before they would need replenishing of supplies. Scattered in the minefield were one hundred of the four hundred nuclear warheads carried aboard the ship. Each warhead was the equivalent of a twenty-five megaton warhead of the fleet. Unfortunately, the remaining nuclear material had been removed on Picon Station, for building nuclear warheads. The mines should have been removed, but were slated for removal at the decommissioning yard instead, as the Gorgon was the last mine layer in the fleet.
Joshua watched the Dradis screen as the Gorgon moved in a spiral patter, her two hundred launchers firing mine after mine into a stabilized pattern that he hoped would catch the Cylons when they jumped in. As each mine came to a stop, it vanished as its stealth systems came online.
"Commander Derrick reports the last mine will be launched in ten minutes," Commander Elizabeth Moro reported from where she was standing by the communications station.
"Good, have the fleet fall back to the asteroid belt, and the Gorgon is to jump back to base," Joshua replied as he took a clipboard from an aid and quickly signed off on the report.
"Yes, Sir, sending the orders now," Elizabeth replied as he tapped the com officer on the shoulder.
The minutes counted down and then the Gorgon vanished from the Dradis screen telling everyone that the massive mine layer had jumped away.
"Deploy the two spoof Raptors. Elizabeth, remind me to have one of the dry docks, when free, start building an Elint ship. We really need one," Joshua ordered as he looked at the Dradis screen.
"I'll make a note of it, Sir. Raptors being launched now," Elizabeth replied.
With a glance at the Dradis and he smiled, as the screen showed two new targets that flew into the center of the minefield and started projection the electronic signals of the Battlestars Hornet and Royal Sovereign to entice the Cylons into the trap while the real ships and the Wasp were sitting in the nearby asteroid field. Every Viper had been launched and they were floating just outside the field where they were shut down to jump on any survivors of the trap.
"Hopefully any second we shall see what we can catc…."
"Dradis contact, five large targets just on the far side of the field," Elizabeth called out, "Many contacts being launched… estimated one hundred and climbing."
"Let the trap be sprung!" Joshua ordered and the signal was sent out and the two Raptors jumped away as the nearest missiles powered up and hurled their small metallic frames at the nearest enemy ship.
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1*1*1*1
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Day 30 ATF
Edge of the Zodia Belt;
Cylon Baseship Gamma One;
The Cylon known as Cassandra, a model six humanoid Cylon, commanded the five Baseships assigned to Gamma squadron. They were currently sweeping sector six of the Zodia belt and had just destroyed ten civilian ships hiding among the asteroids when Gamma four had detected a faint signal from sector eight. The signal was identified as Colonial fleet, and the id's on the signals identified them as the missing Colonial Battlestars Hornet and Royal Sovereign. Cassandra scanned through the information flowing through the digital feed and pulled her hand out.
"Order all fighters to return to the ship. Prepare FTL jumps to sector eight. Once we drop out start scanning for the Colonial Battlestars Hornet and Royal Sovereign and launch fighters to engage them. Be warned that the Hornet does not have the CNP program and the Royal Sovereign may have had theirs removed. We have no idea on the disposition of their fighter wings. We do know that the Hornet suffered heavy damage. The ship was hit with six nuclear warheads and twelve standard missiles. Her starboard landing bay was reported gutted as well as over half their heavy KEWS were knocked out or destroyed. They also estimated she lost between thirty and forty percent of their point defense. But remember that report is thirty days old, and with the Sovereign with her she has manufacturing plants that could repair or replace damaged systems including and Raptor and Viper losses."
The next twenty minutes saw the return of their fighters and as they docked they were quickly refueled and positioned for quick launch on the launching rails. Thirty minutes after receiving the signals the fleet of five advanced Baseships powered up their massive FTL drives and jumped to the new sector and their sensors reached out and found the two targets. The two Battlestars were sitting beside each other with no fighters out. A quick sensor scanned showed one of the Battlestars disabled with a fire in the main engine room.
"Launch fighters, destroy the humans," Cassandra shouted out, "Concentrate on the undamaged Sovereign.
Within seconds, Raiders were being launched from the five Baseships. Thirty seconds into the launch over six hundred Raiders were hurdling towards the two Battlestars when the sensors screamed new contacts.
"What are they?" Cassandra snapped out as she plunged her left hand into the data stream.
"Scanning now," a four said from his station.
"Estimated five thousand contacts…"
"They're type twenty-four mines, the drone version…"
"I have radiological contacts inside the mine field…"
"Ju…" Cassandra was cut off as the first missile slammed into the center of the ship, making her stagger away from the com station.
The first of the mines slammed into Gamma One and exploded all over the massive Baseship as the contact detonators of the standard ship to ship missiles impacted. Fires blossomed inside the ship as the several fuel lines were shattered that supplied the fuel to the Raiders and a single spark was all that was needed to cause the fumes from the liquid Tylium to ignite. As the fires spread, more missiles impacted the ship and then three nuclear missiles hit the lower star and three massive explosions engulfed the ship.
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1*1*1*1
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Day 30 ATF
Edge of the Zodia Belt;
Joshua watched the Dradis screen as the missiles came alive and hurtled towards their targets. Thirty seconds after the missiles went live the last Baseship vanished into oblivion and the remaining mines shut down as no targets were left to be targeted. The destruction was so complete that the deployed Viper squadrons were not even able to engage the enemy.
With a final glance at the Dradis board, he asked, "How many mines detonated? Start landing the Vipers."
Commander Moro leaned down over the rail and said to the com specialist, "Send the disarm pulse to the mines. Send a recall to all Vipers"
Ensign Maria Hutchison started typing in to her keyboard, and brought up the IFF controls. Tapping the pulse repeater she hit send and then turned on the Viper frequency.
"It will take about a minute for the pulse to hit the mines, Sir," Maria reported and then said into her headset, "Flag to all Vipers, land at once."
"Very well," Elizabeth replied as the Dradis screen came alive and three hundred plus Vipers headed for the barn.
As the seconds counted down, and Vipers landed on all six flight pods, the pulse hit the mines and sent back the information to the flagship. By the time the sixty seconds were gone; every Viper had landed or were close to landing and the information was scrolling across the screens of the CIC.
"Sir, of the five thousand mines laid, three thousand four hundred and ten were expended in the attack along with twenty-five of the specials. The remaining mines have gone into standby mode," Maria reported.
"Good, send a message to the Hornet and Sovereign we jump in five minutes. First target is the Cylon Baseship sitting near Coral Depot," Joshua ordered as he looked once more at the Dradis screen, and wondered what else they could do to disrupt the Cylons and then he thought of the damaged Midway station.
Midway station was the way-point for all civilian ships that traveled in the Helios system. It sat between Helios Major and Minor and allowed non-FTL capable ships to refuel and resupply. The station was over seven kilometers high, and its docks once extended out to twenty-four kilometers. It had over twenty domes. They supplied it, and the ships that docked there, with fresh food and meats … which included beef and poultry. The smallest dome was a just over five hundred meters across and thirty meters high, while the largest was two kilometers wide and consisted of four levels where poultry was raised. The warehouses alone covered six of the twenty four dock arms, and contained everything a fleet would need. The station had construction and repair docks along with manufacturing facilities and had a population of three point seven million as of the last census.
With a thought of a prayer for all those lost, he turned his mind to their first target. Coral Depot was a hollowed out asteroid that was used to store hundreds of decommissioned Vipers and Raptors, along with tons of military supplies. Scans supplied by their stealth Raptors showed the depot intact, with a Baseship sitting above it, while ships were dispatched to the Depot.
"Is Lieutenant Wayne ready to jump to the cargo fleet after we destroy the Baseship?" Joshua asked his second in command.
Elizabeth looked up from the clipboard she was signing and then over at the CAG who nodded her head, "Yes, Judy will jump as soon as we launch her," he said as he handed the clipboard back to the ensign who handed it to her and then added, "We're ready to jump now."
"Jump the ship," Joshua ordered as he turned his attention back to the Dradis board.
The three massive Battlestars jumped within seconds of each other and five seconds later appeared near an asteroid floating where none should have been. The wreckage of two Battlestars and their escorts were scattered around the large rock while a Cylon Baseship sat above it launching Heavy Raiders towards the asteroid. Flying around the Depot and Baseship were forty Raiders.
As the Raiders turned to head for the three Battlestars, the Colonial ships turned on dime presenting their port side to the incoming Raiders and they opened up with all their flack guns. Within seconds a solid wall of flack was ripping the Raiders to shred while Vipers were launched from all six bays. Seconds after the flack guns opened up, the Cylon Baseship started falling back as it launched missile after missile at the three Mercury class Battlestars. In return, the Colonial ships fired their main guns at the central part of the Cylon ship as she was launching her Raiders. Forty-five kinetic rounds were flying through space just as the twenty-fifth missile left the Cylon ship. By the time the fortieth missile had launched, the first round of shells were impacting the central spiral of the Cylon ship proving that once again, the shell was far more dangerous than the missile, in close combat.
Explosions started rupturing out of the Baseship, as the armor piercing rounds penetrated deep into the hull of the ship. The explosions ripped apart the Tylium and munitions bunkers, causing flash plasma fires that incinerated the humanoid crew of the ship, and melting the new robotic forms to slag. Raiders not launched were flung across the hangers as the gravity plates failed under the assault. Fifty seconds after the battle started, the Cylon warship exploded into billions of pieces as its Tylium reactor went critical. Most of the Raiders were destroyed but three jumped away before they could be stopped.
"Hold Lieutenant Wayne's launch! Land all Vipers, jump the fleet to target two," Elizabeth ordered as he watched the last three Raiders vanish.
"Sir, what…"
"We'll wait to get the Depot. Those three Raiders may bring their friends back," Joshua said as the Vipers started landing on the flight pods, and then added, "Deploy a stealth Raptor in the nearby asteroid field with orders to jump to alternate relay point five, if they do deploy a new Baseship. There are to wait, here, for twenty-four hours before reporting to us."
Minutes later, a single black Raptor departed the Wasp and headed for a nearby asteroid where it settled onto it as the three massive ships powered up their FTL drives and vanished.
Sixty seconds later, the three ships appeared out of FTL. Thirteen thousand kilometers off their bow was Colonial Relay Satellite Nineteen and a single Baseship. The Relay used to handle all communications for the southern part of the Colonial sub-worlds, keeping them in contact with the twelve colonies. Now it was relaying messages for the Cylons, and tracking civilian ships so they could be wiped out. It was a priority target for the fleet to destroy.
"Dradis contacts, many contacts approaching to port. Primary target is in range. Secondary target is one of their new Baseships. Wreckage detected. Incoming Raiders, seventy count and rising," Came the reports from around the CIC.
"Hornet is to target the Relay Satellite, while the Sovereign and the Wasp target the Baseship. All flack batteries open fire on enemy Raiders. Do not launch Vipers or Raptors. FTL drives are to start their spin up now for target three," Joshua ordered as he gripped the hand rail around the Dradis screen.
The Wasp shuddered as the thrusters fired, and the bow whipped around to the enemy Baseship. Then the whole ship lurched as the four fixed 460mm main batteries opened fire. The two ton shells were fired at the rate of three rounds per minute, slow to the smaller KEWs but more deadly as the shells were designed to dig deep into their target before detonating, and there were twelve rounds fired from all the main guns in that one minute. Times that between the two ships and the Cylon Baseship never had a chance as the first rounds arrived thirty-eight seconds after they emerged from FTL.
Seventy-three seconds after arrival, the Relay Satellite exploded and was quickly followed by the Baseship as its internal compartments were compromised by a dozen direct hits to the central spiral while the enemy CAP was swatted out of space as they tried to ram the three Battlestars. Twelve seconds after the last Raider was destroyed the three ships FTLed away.
Joshua stood at the Dradis screen and glanced at the clock, it was going on fourteen hours of jumping and military operations and he knew the crew was getting tired. As he glanced back to the Dradis screen he thought of 'Target Three'. Target Three was way north of the Colonial Space near the Zodia belt invested with huge amounts of Tylium. Twenty years before, large deposits of Tylium were located and the Tylium Corporations built a giant Tylium refinery to mine the asteroids. During the attack, the Cylons had captured the refinery intact, and was now using it to manufacture their own fuel to keep their fleet going. It was guarded by three Baseships and there were dozens of Tylium tankers operating from the station. The station was another primary target for the fleet but so were all the tankers but the station was the primary target. He planned attack as a duel attack, while the Battlestars would appear together and draw the Cylon Baseships towards them; sixty Raptors would FTL in behind the station and launch all their missiles including twenty ten-kiloton nuclear warheads.
For ninety minutes the fleet sat in the shadow of one of the moons of the destroyed sub-colonies as they waited for the stealth Raptor to return from the checking on the Refinery. The crew had stood down from Condition One or high alert to Condition Two, where the crew would stay on station but relaxed, allowed to get a drink, use the facilities but stay near their posts. The whole crew knew that they would never see Condition Four again in their lifetime. They knew they were living on borrowed time, until the Cylons found them and overwhelmed them in a mass assault, the crew did not know that the Admiral had a plan to save as many of them as he could.
"Raptors are all launched and ready for the attack," Elizabeth reported.
"What about the response Raptor?" Joshua asked as he took a sip of his tea.
"Ready to launch when we engage the Cy…"Elizabeth stopped talking as a new icon appeared on the screen "New Dradis contact…"
"Identify," Joshua ordered.
"It's the stealth Raptor," the CAG replied.
"Their transmitting," the Com officer called out.
"Put it on the speaker," Joshua ordered.
"On speaker," came the reply.
"This is Raptor 3772 of the Hornet reporting. There are three Baseships and one hundred plus Raiders still covering the Refinery. Twelve I repeat twelve Colonial and Cylon Tankers are docked to the station or preparing too," came the report from the Raptor pilot.
"Acknowledge and have him land on the Hornet," Joshua ordered, and then said, "Notify all ships that the Battlestars are jumping in one minute. Raptors will jump in behind the station and destroy it with all their missiles then jump out again. This is a quick in an out, I don't want to linger so we will not be launching Vipers. All secondary main guns will be firing flack rounds. Primary bow guns will fire AP. Each Battlestar will target one of the Baseships. That is all."
Joshua grabbed the handset and turned it on, "All hands set Condition One throughout the ship. Load AP in main forward batteries. Flak rounds in secondary main guns. I say again, all hands set Condition One throughout the ship."
"Starting FTL countdown," the helmsman shouted out as he spun.
"Internal hatches are closing."
"Gun turrets are showing manned and ready. Loading rounds now."
"Vipers are secured in launch tubes and cradles."
"Medical standing by.
"Engine room standing by."
"Viper Tylium lines are flushed."
"Marines are at their posts."
"Firefighting teams at their posts. Halogen systems on line."
"Flight Pods are retracted."
"Ten seconds to FTL."
"Jump the ship Helmsman," Joshua ordered as more reports were read off.
The ship gave a lurch and vanished in to FTL, followed by her sister ships. Seconds later the three Mercury class Battlestars dropped out of FTL and turned towards the targets. The nearest Baseship immediately started firing missiles and launching Raiders as the two farthest Base ships turned and started closing on the three Colonial ships. Several Raiders jumped away as the tankers that were not docked to the refinery station ducked behind the station, putting it between them and the Colonial ships.
"Raider count increasing, two hundred and counting," Elizabeth reported.
"Flak batteries are authorized to fire. Fire main guns when you have a target lock," Joshua ordered.
Wasp shuddered as the four massive guns fired on the lead Baseship. Twenty seconds later they fired again. Thirty-six two ton shells ripped out of the heavy KEWs every twenty seconds from all three ships. Their target was the central span of the Cylon Baseship. Not all rounds hit the lead Baseship but enough did that caused her to stagger in her approach as her hull was torn open.
"Incoming missiles, standard and nuclear," Elizabeth reported.
"Concentrate the Flak fire, don't let anything through… A blinding flash on the monitor stopped his orders. When it cleared, the lead Baseship was gone. A direct hit to the main missile magazine caused the ship to explode as the plasma from the passing of the round through the ship caused the stacked missiles filled with fuel and explosives to explode in one giant fireball. The arms of the Baseship flew out and away from the debris field while the Battlestars turned their attention to the next Baseship.
"Hornet has been hit," Elizabeth reported as a nuclear missile in the thirty kiloton range slammed into the armored alligator head of the Battlestar. Plasma fire raced down the head towards the CIC and the closed up flight pods and then vanished as it was snuffed out.
"Sovereign been hit," Elizabeth cried out as the Wasp took five missile hits to the top of her hull and a single nuclear warhead to the bow.
"Dradis Contact," Joshua said to alert Elizabeth as sixty icons appeared behind the station.
Wasp shuddered again as a dozen more missiles hit the ship and then the approaching Raiders started turning around and heading back to the captured Refinery.
"Port side pod has been damaged, fire in the b..." an explosion staggered the crew cutting off the report as multiple explosions from fueled Vipers detonated in their cradles.
"Evacuate the Port side pod and vent it to space," Joshua shouted out and then said, "Intensify the flak field."
"Intensifying the field now."
"Baseship number two is breaking up, switching fire to the third."
"Raptors have launched their missiles at the Refinery," the CAG shouted out as an explosion slammed the alligator head of the ship as a second nuclear missile detonated.
"Main batteries are off line," Elizabeth reported as more damage reports came in.
"Damage to remaining KEW turrets on the head. Hull breaches in several compartments, and we have a fire in the enlisted bunks."
"We have many hits on the refinery… Nuclear, multiple nuclear hits on the station… Raptors have jumped away."
"Status on the Refinery?" Joshua asked.
"Major fires all over the…" all combat stopped as the crews of the ships fell to the decking, or were hurled out of their seats. All thoughts of speech stopped as well as the kilometer long station exploded into a bright white fireball as millions of gallons of Tylium went up at once. The explosion reached out and shattered the third Baseship along with its launching Raiders as well as the Tylium tankers that were running away from the station.
"Orders to the fleet. Jump now to alternative relay five," Joshua snapped out as he climbed back to his feet, blood running down a cut on his forehead.
The three damaged Battlestars jumped to their designated jump point and started landing the Raptors that were waiting for them. The crews worked tiredly to pull the injured and dead from damaged compartments, repair the ship, and make sure the fires were out. Three hours after arriving, a single Raptor appeared and sent a message to the flagship that Coral Depot had not been visited again but over thirty of the Heavy Raptors and ten supply shuttles had left the station and jumped away. More Raptors had arrived, reporting that the Cylon fleet was doubling up on their single Baseships, and reinforcing others at strategic targets like the damaged Midway Station and two smaller Refinery stations that had been captured as well.
Joshua sat in one of the chairs as a med tech tended the cut on his head as he listened to the reports coming in from the ship. One hundred and fifty-nine dead, seventy-eight wounded with thirty-five of them with burns from the flight pod along with fourteen missing in action, presumed dead. Dozens of compartments were open to space and a quarter of the port side heavy KEWs and the bow guns were still off line. The tip of the alligator head was blazing hot from radiation from the detonations of the nukes that had slammed into the ship. It was going to take the Kiel a good chunk of her decon abilities to remove the radiation from the ship.
"Elizabeth, jump the fleet to Coral Depot, and dispatch Lieutenant Wayne to the recovery fleet," Joshua ordered as he winced from the sting of the iodine being placed on the cut.
"Yes, Sir," Elizabeth replied and then turned to the Com officer, "Notify the Hornet and the Sovereign we're jumping to Coral Depot. CAG, have Lieutenant Wayne jump to the recovery fleet. Deploy all Raptors for an Alpha strike."
The replies quickly came and the orders were sent to their respective ships. Very quickly a Raptor launched from the Starboard flight pod. Ninety seconds after the launch of the Raptor, the three damaged Battlestars jumped to Coral Station and were soon joined by four Octopus class tugs and the Marinestar Vengeance. The Vengeance started launching her assault shuttles that quickly docked to the depot and hundreds of Marines flooded into the occupied station.
In the CIC of the Wasp, Joshua listened to the reports of the Marines working their way through the Cylon forces as the tugs locked onto the outer shell of the asteroid. The tugs were modified Octopus tugs that had spikes at the ends of the arms to dig into asteroids instead of the magnetic clamps that other tugs used. This allowed the tugs to grab asteroids and jump them to the mining facility for mining of raw minerals instead of ships like they had been original designed to do.
"Tugs are latched on, their synchronizing their FTLs, now, to jump the Depot. Marines are taking heavy casualties due to the new version of the toasters. They had to switch to AP rounds," Elizabeth reported.
"Figures they'd figure away to make it harder for us to kill them," Joshua replied as the Dradis screen flashed and he looked at the screen to see four Baseships had jumped in.
"Action stations, all ships," Joshua ordered, and grabbed the handset, "Open fire. Launch Raptor 7373."
Wasp shuddered once more as she and her sister ships turned broadside to the four Baseships and unleashed all their Starboard weapons on the enemy fleet. As the ships opened fire, Vipers were launched to counter the Raiders that were launching from the four Baseships. A shell of flak developed between the incoming Raiders and missiles as the KEW rounds of the three warships flew through their formation, heading for the lead Baseship while a single Raptor launched from the Starboard pod of the Wasp and jumped away.
The first hits scored were on the Viper and Raider engagement as dozens of Raiders were swatted out of space, quickly followed by several Vipers blowing up under the heavy assault. Then it was missiles and AP shells that started hitting their targets because even the Colonial flak of three Battlestars couldn't stop the combined fire of over eight hundred missile launchers so hits were scored as the three Battlestars concentrated on the nuclear missiles first.
Standard ship killing missiles started slamming into the three Battlestars and this is where the Cylons made their first mistake. They concentrated on all three Colonial ships while the Battlestars concentrated on one at a time. Damage alarms were sounding in the CIC and damage repair crews were jumping to their assigned jobs as the missiles hit while their return fire of all the Starboard heavy KEWs ripped into the first Baseship.
Target one took fourteen out of forty-five rounds fired in the first round. Explosions detonated from the ship as one of her arms was torn off from an internal explosion. As the ship tried to fall back, the second round of AP shells arrived and with thirty-six hits, she exploded when her main missile magazine was hit. The quick destruction of the first Baseship startled the Cylons and caused a delay in their launching of their missiles which gave the Colonial ships time to acquire their second target and fire the first rounds.
"Sovereign has taken a nuke to her Starboard flight pod, fire in her bay, a quarter of her weapons are off line. Minor hits on the Hornet but she's engaging our target as ordered. Vipers are down twenty-three units, but the destruction of five hundred and twelve Raiders from our fighters and the flak fields is confirmed," the WEPS officer shouted out over an explosion that shook the Wasp.
"Status of the tugs and the Vengeance?" Joshua asked and the ordered, "Fire missiles one through four at target three and five through eight at target four. Remaining missile tubes are clear to launch their missiles on target two and then go to continuous fire on all batteries with standards."
"Aye, Sir, launching missiles now," the WEPS officer replied.
Wasp shook as her missiles batteries opened fire and twenty-eight missiles were launched in the first wave. Eight were nuclear, the rest standard ship killing missiles, and then twenty-five seconds later, another barrage was launched.
"Tugs are almost at full power. Vengeance is fallen away from the station and powering up her FTL drives."
"SAR Raptors have picked up four pilots from the battle," the CAG reported, "Raptors have jumped in and launching missiles on targets three and four."
On the Dradis screen the remaining Raptors of the three Battlestars appeared behind the two untargeted Baseships. As the missiles launched from the three Battlestars closed on them, they had switched from ship-killer missiles to air to air missiles and that's when the thirty-nine Raptors flushed their missile pods. Six hundred and twenty-four missiles with forty of them being nuclear launched at once at the two Baseships. Caught between the two waves of missiles, neither of the Baseships had a chance as they were overwhelmed with multiple targets. Seventeen Raptors exploded into fireballs as the two ships flushed everything they had to survive the attack, but it was futile as twenty-seven of the nuclear and three hundred and twenty-five of the ship killer missiles hit the two targets. With a bright flash, the second Baseship attacked jumped away, followed by the surviving Raiders.
"Land all Vipers and have the Raptors check for survivors before jumping to relay four or land on one of the Battlestars. Status on the tugs?" Joshua ordered as he scanned the Dradis screen for more targets.
"Tugs are powering up … no, there they go. Vengeance just jumped as well," Elizabeth replied as the let out a deep breath, "We did it."
"Aye, we did. Now we need to get our Raptors landed and jump ourselves," Joshua said as he looked up at his second in command and smiled as he picked up the handset, "Crew of the Wasp, well done. We destroyed three Baseships, sent one running and destroyed hundreds of their Raiders. But the most important thing is. We recovered Coral Depot and our Marines are taking it back now. Time to head for the barn."
"Raptors have recovered nineteen pilots and are landing now," the CAG reported.
"Good. Helm, spin up the FTLs. COM, notify the Hornet and Sovereign to spin up their FTLs," Joshua ordered.
As the three damaged warships powered up their massive FTLs, the crew were rescuing trapped crewmen and putting out the last of the fires. Two minutes into the recharge, the Dradis screen flashed and seven large targets appeared at forty thousand kilometers. Each target started launching missiles and Raiders.
"Seven Baseships. Forty thousand clicks, heading right towards us," Elizabeth reported, "Missiles will arrive in ninety seconds."
"Time to FTL?" Joshua asked.
Seventy seconds," the helmsman replied.
"Going to be close," Joshua said as he watched the missiles closing on his three ships.
The seconds counted down as the Battlestars turned away from the attack trying to increase the distance. At T-minus twenty seconds, the three ships jumped away and five waves of missiles flew on until they detonated inside the asteroid fields.
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First Edited By
Final Edit By TeNderLoin
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