This takes place in the same timeline as my other story Chiron's Journey (an AU Battlestar Galactica Story) Version 2.
I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any related material.
Cyrannus System
Helios Delta
Planet Canceron City Hades
Canceron SDF Admiral's Office
123 Days Before Armistice Day
"Major Gabrielle get in here we have a problem we need to deal with" said Admiral Barclay.
Major Olaf Gabrielle had just been assigned as the Admiral's chief of staff. His family was not as well connected to the megacorps as some but his high marks in previous duties made him a good choice and the practice would be a good feather in his cap for later promotions. "Yes sir what can I help you with" Gabrielle replied.
"You have heard that President Adar is retiring the Galactica and turning it into a museum ship" asked Admiral Barclay. Seeing the Major nod the Admiral continued. "Damn shame to send the old girl away like that but Adar wanted his moment for the upcoming 40 year signing of the Cimtar Peace Accords. The problem is that Gemenon didn't want to let the Capricans get a solo photo op so they decided to show that their design the Janus is still operational and to have their own flotilla in the cameras. And if Caprica and Gemenon are going to wave their flags around you know Leonis and Virgon will do the same."
Major Gabrielle wanted to sigh. If Helios Alpha and Beta made a big deal out of the 40 year anniversary of the end of the Cylon War and Helios Gamma and Delta didn't then the sneers of how lazy, cheap, and poor the two "outer systems" were would be all over the entertainment stations. Best to show those prigs that Canceron can also waste time and cubits.
"Yes sir. I think we should also ready ships to represent Canceron" said Major Gabrielle. "What ships do you think we should have take part?"
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31 Days Until Armistice Day
Major Gabrielle had spent the last 3 months working 14 hour days to "show the flag" and now this? "Sir may I ask why the Resolute is being removed for the Armistice Day Celebrations" Gabrielle asked.
"It was decided that the Resolute needed to go on a training mission after it's last fitness report came back as just meets standards" said Admiral Barclay.
Gabrielle could see that Commander Rogers would be frustrated that he did not get a higher score but to pull the second biggest ship of the Canceron SDF this close to the event? Fine. "Yes sir we should still put on a good showing" said Major Gabrielle. The one good thing is that Aerilion and Aquaria were both willing to take part. While it was not one big happy family Helios Gamma and Delta did not have anywhere the issues the Alpha and Beta had with dick waving contests.
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8 Days Until Armistice Day
Gabrielle was thinking things had finally come together. There would be the Battlestar Hades which while a Minerva Class is still a fine ship and the Rover Class missiles ships the Cupid, Eros, Orion, and four smaller ships. The Aquarians and Aerilon's would supply 14 smaller ships to fill out the flotilla.
The rumor now was the the CIF (Canceron Independence Front) had done something to either piss off the Admiralty or made a mistake that one of their remaining bases was in a system that the Resolute was looking for.
For his hard work (and to help out Admiral Barclay of course) he was rewarded with being on the Hades during the press event. They would transfer over to the Hades in a few days. The Hades had been his most recent posting as their tactical officer so seeing his former crewmates would be nice.
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2 Hours After Cylon Attack
Canceron SDF Orion Sickbay
The Cylon attack had caught everyone flatfooted. The Colonial Navy had it's Vipers and most of it's ships fail. The attacks on the Colonies had been devastating. The Hades had been destroyed along with the Cupid and Eros and several other ships. They had managed to destroy two Baseships before losing most of their fleet. The Orion was the last remaining Canceron ship of the flotilla and it had taken massive damage along with losing it's command staff. Right now a LT was the senior officer aboard and was she was definitely in over her head.
"Sir I need orders" said Major Gabrielle. Before the Hades had been destroyed the Admiral along with a few others of his staff had been sent on a Raptor to the Orion. However the Admiral was clearly not going to last long after the injuries he had taken.
Admiral Barclay acted like he wanted to write something so they handed him a pen and paper. He then wrote down the word code and a combination of numbers before passing out. It is unlikely he would will ever wake up again.
"Doctor let me know if he wakes up again" said Major Gabrielle. Seeing as there was nothing to do here he thought it was best to go check on the ship.
They were in the Aeolus Belt along with a few other battered stragglers from the Aerillion and Aquarian SDF. "LT unless you object I am going to take command of the Orion."
LT Dammers replied "no objection sir. We have the damage under control but have lost one of our sublight engines, four of six missile tubes, and our portside point defense."
Checking the dradis he could see the three other ships with the Heim covering the portside of the Orion. "We should proceed to the emergency rendezvous spot" said Major Gabrielle. The emergency spot was changed daily and was picked at random. Hopefully other ships will be there to see if we can find some help.
"Yes sir" said LT Dammers. The Orion seemed alright when they jumped but she was slow as a sloth in space.
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Helios Beta
13 Million Kilometers From Planet Hera
4 Hours After Cylon Attack
At the rendezvous point they had some luck. There were other SDF and some Colonial ships here along with over 50 Raptors under command of Admiral Kibby the head of the Gemenon SDF. Whatever the virus that shut down the Colonial fleet it did not seem to effect Raptors and the ships that had survived were either lucky or the virus had little effect. The Aerillions had reloaded 3 of their 4 missile colliers so ammunition especially nuclear weapons were now available to counter attack.
Now is time to see if the code is what it appears to be. 'It hopefully is the Admirals briefcase because if it is not I have no idea' thought Major Gabrielle. 'It is what did the Admiral want me to see.'
Most is what you would expect. Logistical information, transfers, training reports, etc. However there were the coordinates for the Resolute saying they are on an extended mission with two support ships. Why they were that far out from the Cyrannus System is puzzling. However getting a Battlestar even an Artemis with almost 140 reported lost from the Colonial and SDF Navies would be worthwhile.
"Sir we just got another 5 ships. The Patrolstar Vigilant has jumped in with a civilian liner, a botanical cruiser, and two cargo ships" said LT Dammers.
These were the first civilian ships they had picked up. The Patrolstar while small would bring the amount of military ships to over 20.
"Attention all Colonial ships this is Admiral Kibby. We have all suffered great loss today but it is time we strike back. I have analyzed the Cylons and believe we can strike a blow that will turn things around" said Admiral Kibby.
The plan was to strike at where several damaged Baseships were located. The Raptors would jump in and fire their missile including the 8 nuclear weapons they had of that size. Then the Janus and other ships would jump in when the Raiders were dealing with the Raptors. The heavy guns of the Janus in close range should be devastating to the thin armor that the modern Baseships seemed to have.
There were some questions mainly from Commander Atwood the senior Virgon SDF officer and Commander Puck of the Colonial Navy ship Pholus who was the senior Colonial officer. The only objection was from Captain Gobi who refused to leave the civilian ships behind and Major Gabrielle who asked to speak with the Admiral on a private channel.
"Sir I have the location of the Resolute. It might be best to gather our strength" said Major Gabrielle.
"Major there are hundreds if not more civilian ships that are now being hunted by the Cylons. If we don't do something to distract the Toasters those ships might lose their chance to escape. Per Presidents Roslin's orders the 3 Aerilion colliers are to find and support whatever civilian ships they can. I am going to make a big splash and kill as many of those chrome frackers as we can before we die." said Admiral Kibby. "However I agree that you should go with the Vigilant to the coordinates. Your ship is badly battered and would probably die before you could fire off a missile."
Major Gabrielle couldn't really disagree. The Admiral's plan was desperate but most of the people just wanted to kill as many Cylons as they could before they died. Also the damaged to the Orion was severe which is why they had not had any nuclear weapons put on board.
"Yes sir. Good hunting" said Major Gabrielle.
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Baseship Beta 6 Command Bridge
Simon Cavil was pleased the initial attack on the Colonies had gone better than planned. almost 85% of the Colonial fleet was destroyed and all the planets had been heavily bombarded. Cylon losses were higher than hoped for but within the expected range. The SDF forces especially had shown to be more resilient than thought but the loss of the Colonial fleet made them a minor problem at most.
So far less than 20 Baseships had been destroyed but 11 had suffered medium damage. There was debate on whether to keep them here or send them back to the Colony but Cavil decided that with a couple of fully operational Baseships and over 1000 Raiders would be enough to protect them from the any minor attack that the humans would send.
"Brother Cavil the humans have launched a Raptor attack and we are reporting radiologicals among the missiles" said a Number Five.
"Shoot down any incoming missiles and then those Raptors" said Cavil. Pitiful did they think that they would be able to hit one of the Baseships with such a small attack?
"Sir we just had 19 Colonial ships jump in" said the Number Five.
Frak! "Stop them now!" said Cavil. The amount of radiologicals launched was over 50 and they were much closer and more dangerous than the Raptor missiles.
Wait what is that one large Colonial ship? Is that the frakking Janus! That old piece of crap is firing it's guns into the damaged ships. "Take out that ship!" yelled Cavil. "Oh frak."
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"Welcome back Brother" said a Number One.
"What happened" asked Simon Cavil.
"A Centaur class ship rammed you. Along with your ship 8 more were lost" said the Number One.
That those old crappy SDF ships had done almost as much damage as the Colonial Navy was frustrating but it also accounted for a fifth of the missing Colonial ships.
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This is the other half of the story that's been in my head for a few years. A Rover class is just a Deadlock Ranger class with less armor and cheaper to maintain. Any questions or comment are appreciated!