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Ellada Sector
Unregistered System
Patrolstar Vigilant CIC
4 Days After Cylon Attack
The system that Captain Dykstra had sent them to was a rendezvous spot that the CIF used for supplies and communication. When they had jumped there they had communicated the situation regarding the Cylon attack and that they were looking for help. The CIF was hesitant to help out the "Stompers" as they called the official Canceron government agencies. That a Canceron SDF ship and a Colonial Patrolstar were there caused some tension at first. Apparently Captain Dykstra was either higher ranking in the CIF than Captain Reginald Gobi had thought or the CIF were desperate because they were then lead to another system.
This new system was a small brown dwarf star with no planets and a very sparse asteroid belt. It was so worthless that it was unnumbered under the Picon naming system that had been used over the last 3 centuries. With essentially zero value there would be no reason for any ships to be here. However along with the small ship that lead them here and Gabrielle's six ships there another four ships here.
The first ship they noticed was a Libran collier named the Tapir. Captain Mullins of the Tapir refused to elaborate what he was doing at this time . The Canceron ships here certainly would have warranted a look last week by any self respecting Guard ship. The one that lead them here was a small ship with a small crew and appeared to be very fast. That size craft would find it very hard to stay profitable if not owned by some megacorporation unless it was used for smuggling or running away from government ships or both. The other three were cargo ships but Captain Gobi noticed that the cargo hold lines appeared to be not exactly correct. Much like a ship with weapon systems being hid by light metal panels. They would probably pass a Navy or SDF ship unnoticed but the Vigilant had a lot more experience looking for ships of that sort.
"If we are in agreement Colonel we will come to your ship in a single shuttle with my Captains in an hour" said Harriet Greer who appeared to be the spokesperson for the various "rebel" ships.
"Agreed Captain Greer" said Colonel Gabrielle.
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Orion Shuttlebay
Colonel Olaf Gabrielle was uncertain about this. Captain Harriet Greer was infamous for a raid on one of the Canceron Territories a few years back. The Territory had been using slave labor of political dissidents (in a fully legal way of course) which was brought to light after some of the prisoners had released their stories on the holonet later. There had been a Canceron SDF ship there that had been badly damaged in that raid and over 30 Cancercon SDF personnel had died due to Captain Greer's actions. Still they could use help and certainly didn't need any more enemies and Captain Greer seemed to want something from them that could be turned into bargaining chip.
Captain Greer was the first person off the small shuttle. Then filed out a few more Canceron people and then lastly a male Captain wearing a Libran SDF uniform. After a round of introductions where they walked to the meeting room of the Orion.
"Colonel Gabrielle and Captain Gobi. I wanted so say that we are aware of the actions of the Cylons over the last 4 days and we do need your help with something" said Captain Greer. "The CIF has several what you might call bases out of the Cyrannus System. However our main base is in system 04187. Or more accurately we repurposed an asteroid to hide our families. When the Cylons attacked they captured that systems tyleum mining operation there. The asteroid where our people are hidden has as of yet not been found and has over 200 people stuck there many of which are children."
"So what can we do to help you" said Colonel Gabrielle. That situation made sense but the damage the Orion had taken meant that fighting however many Raiders in a long term battle while they had to load up a bunch of civilians seemed dangerous.
"That is where Captain Mullins here comes in" said Captain Greer. "He is the commanding officer on the Libran Collier Tapir. When the Cylons attacked his ship loaded up missiles but when the now President Roslin ordered all ships to leave the Cyrannus System the Tapir jumped out. They found us the next day. To answer your next question they have two nuclear antiship missiles."
Now things were a bit more clear. The type of missiles they were talking about were far larger than the small missile tubes that the other armed ships had available. It would take a full sized Navy ship to fire that type of missile. With luck they might be able to destroy the Cylon tyleum base and a good amount of the Raiders. Or at least enough to give the other armed ships a chance. However from what he had seen they were still missing something to make this work.
"Well Captains I am curious about one thing" said Colonel Gabrielle. "That unless you have more more ships hidden somewhere I don't see how you can load up 200 plus people."
"That is where we need more of your help" said Captain Greer. "We need one of your cargo ships as well."
'Shit' thought Colonel Gabrielle. Thinking it over. The other armed ships would probably be able to stop most of the Cylons if they moved fast enough but the risk is high. "I have to think it over and talk to my Captains" said Colonel Gabrielle. "I need to you to give me all your ship information, anything you have on the Cylons, and what your asteroid base looks like."
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Colonel's Office
Colonel Gabrielle, Captain Dammers, Captain Gobi, and LT Berkins looked over the other ships. The Sandpiper was the small fast smuggler. Very lightly armed with only few light missile launchers. The other three ships the Ogre, Tranquil, and Zephyr were all basically the same. Decent if not amazing weaponry that could hopefully protect the rescue ship for the required time. The Tapir was as usual for colliers designed to stop ships like well the Ogre and it's sister ships but might be able to shoot down a Raider or two with luck.
"Sir I think we can do it. If the numbers are correct there are probably 100 or so Raiders here along with 3 of what appeared to be Cylon freighters. If they lack nukes they would probably not be able to do enough damage" said Captain Dammers. Even as damaged as the Orion is the missiles that the Raiders used to shoot down Vipers and Raptors it would take a lot of them to seriously damage the Orion. However if they had a nuke they would could destroy the Orion with a hit on the portside. A lot of the damage had been fixed but the portside PDS were currently just over 50%. And the engine that was down would lead to speed and maneuverability issues.
The other issue is how long would it take for the Cylons to get reinforcements. That is an unknown. "Captain Gobi I am leaving you in charge of the fleet until we are back." Colonel Gabrielle would not leave 200 people to either die from the Cylons finding them or to slowly from lack of supplies. Also this is at least a small chance to hit back on the Cylons. "The Joshua has less people on it so I would like to move all off that ship. The CIF will provide crew for it."
There was some complaints about this. While not a true warship the Vigilant was better than one of the merchantmen in this situation. Still the people on the other ships needed some type of protection in case this didn't work.
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It took some time to work out all details but eventually everyone agreed. The Vigilant would stay and protect the Dystra, the Pallas, and the Ruth. The still badly wounded 7 people in medbay were transferred off the Orion. The Sandpiper was to be used as a messenger ship. If the Orion was lost or the Cylons showed up in force it was to jump to the Vigilant and then follow Captain Gobi's orders. This would make 861 people would hopefully survive even if everything went wrong.
"XO load the nuclear weapons in tube 5" said Colonel Gabrielle. Hopefully they wouldn't need more than one but better prepared than not. "Attention all ships this is Orion Actual. We are jumping in 60." Gabrielle had tried to think up some inspiring speech but at this time nothing came to him. "Good hunting."
The Orion jumped out and ended up within a dozen kilometers of the former Colonial mining asteroid. The Cylons were quick on the uptake but still too late to stop the first salvoe. The nuclear missile hit destroying most of the base along with the former shuttle bay which was their best guess on where the Raiders would dock. At the same time 3 non radiological missiles were fired at the 3 freighters destroying all of them. "Sir we have over 70 Raiders headed our way" said Captain Dammers.
Problem was now that they needed another delay for 470 seconds. It's going to be a dangerous 8 minutes.
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System 04187
Joshua's Bridge
After the Orion jumped out the remaining ships jumped protecting making a shell around where their families were located. "Attention all people on the asteroid. We are going to get you in around 3 minutes leave everything other than food and medical supplies you can carry. Space will be tight and speed of the essence. We are only going to have 5 minutes to get this done."
Captain Greer flew the Joshua like a bat out of hades. The light lag from the Orion is over 6 minutes but the ships jumping in and radio messages would be noticed by the Cylons and they would likely decide that a bunch of civilian ships are a better target than a Missilestar.
"Move your ass people. I don't care that you are pregnant we need to get the frak out of here before the Cylons arrive" said Captain Greer. The Orion would likely need to jump out as soon as they could and this is taking longer than expected. Frak the Cylons should now he aware they were here. "All other ships be ready for Cylons."
System 04187
Orion Auxiliary CIC
"Sir we should be able to jump soon" said Captain Dammers. The last 6 minutes had been hectic with over 20 Raiders had been destroyed but the portside had taken several hits. The Orion was too slow to keep it's stronger starboard side to the Cylons. Still damage wasn't critical as of yet. "Sir we just got message that the Joshua has jumped in. Shit the Raiders jumped out."
They were deciding to go after the civilian ships. "Jump us to the Joshua" said Colonel Gabrielle. "Sitrep" said Colonel Gabrielle as soon as they complete the hyperjump.
"Sir the Ogre and Tranquil have been destroyed. There are currently 26 Cylons remaining" said LT Berkins. "The Joshua says it can jump out in 3 minutes. The Tapir and Zephyr have moved to protect the Joshua."
The next 3 minutes they were able to keep the Cylons from reaching the Joshua. Unfortunately the Tapir took several hits. "Orion this is Joshua. We have everyone let's get out of here."
"All ships jump to the rendezvous point" said Colonel Gabrielle.
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Ellada Sector
Darkspace
Orion
Colonel Gabrielle looked over the numbers. 211 people saved. 87 were dead with two ships lost and one crippled. LT JG Gavins the now senior officer of the Tapir (of it's 14 survivors) reported that the Tapir is not fixable with the materials on hand. The CIF had asked to join this fleet and agreed to be under Gabrielle's command in exchange for pardons for all former charges against them.
It is hard to see this as a victory but they had added 272 people. With the 6 lost from the Orion they now had 1,597 people. "Captain Dammers we are going to strip what we can from the Tapir." Too bad the engines are the not able to fit the Orion but still they could hopefully use some of the pieces to fix the now even more damaged portside defenses.
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Thank you all for reading. Any questions or comments are appreciated.