Atilla System Oort Cloud
Day 188
Population 6430
Orion CIC
The last 50 days since they had been abandoned had been productive to a degree. First they had gotten the fleet under control. They were able to get the Rhea and Thalia up to "meets expectations" by the standards of the prewar fleet. The Thalia's repair abilities were far less than the Sarek but they were able to do some work with that ship's specialized shuttle and with the limited fabrication machines were able make the parts they needed to change the Ruth into a water processing ship.
Currently the "Fleet" was left several light hours from a completely worthless and boring brown dwarf under Major Gobi's command. Commander Gabrielle was scouting with the Orion and Lamia as they had found a potentially valuable salvage location. Unless they found some supply cache their best hope for munitions was wreckage from a Colonial ship. After checking a few of the larger Territories like Alvae and Persephone no salvageable materials had been found so far and the minor fleet bases had also came up empty. The Cylons had either due to luck or thoroughness had left nothing useable for any remaining humans.
The problem was that most "Fleet Bases" were little more than rendezvous locations with the bare bones infrastructure put in place in case they were needed at some future date with completed but empty warehouses and tyleum tanks put on some airless moon or asteroid with a caretaker crew of 50 people or at most a Viper Squadron. Even if not destroyed they would have little in supplies there.
As much as he was loathe to admit it the Cylon attack was a masterwork of timing. The Cylons Raiders with their FTL capability gave the Cylons the ability to strike at the hundreds of Colonial targets at the same time. There is no way humans could have pulled it off. Someone would have screwed up or missed a major target. However the Cylons seemed to lack flexibility and were almost naive when it came to combat. Which was good because if the Cylons were battle hardened veterans along with their now massive numbers advantage then humanity would be doomed rather than merely frakked.
Outside the Cyrannus System there were two locations where wreckage of Colonial ships were likely to be found. The two major Fleet Bases which were set very close to the prewar "Cylon Zone" that had heavy defenses and would usually have ships at those locations named Fleet Base Atilla and Fleet Base Belus. They had sent their Raptors to survey Fleet Base Belus first and looking over the sensor readings there appears to have been two Colonial ships at Belus. The second undeterminable ships was little more than fist size chunks so of little use. The Gunstar might might be worth a look later but would not have any missiles and while the Raiders did not appear to notice the Raptors it would involve a fight for a small potential gain.
Fleet Base Attila was more interesting. "Sir if we discount the smaller two that are definitely Escortstars we have the Battlestar Sigyn" said Captain Berkins. The Sigyn after losing her portside landing bay and "alligator head" would not be repairable without a major shipyard (and all of them were in the Cyrannus System and so lost to the Cylons) however a Valkyrie class Battlestar might have supplies and material they would need.
There were Raiders here but they seemed more dispersed than at Fleet Base Belus. It might be possible to have the "Nix's Ravens" go over to the Sigyn to look for salvage. Or they could jump in and destroy the 50 or so Raiders. Both have risks. Militarily 50 Raiders would not be a major risk to the Orion and Lamia but some Raiders would very likely escape and then get reinforcements. The stealth salvage mission is safer in total but with only two Raptors a Raider showing up at just the wrong time could cost them a vital asset.
"Sir we just had Kite jump back" said LT JG Barnes. "LT Travis is saying he needs to speak with you immediately on a secure line."
Commander Gabrielle picked up the phone making sure it was secured. "Orion Actual here" he said. "Repeat that message" he said to make sure he did not misunderstand.
Atilla System 5 Light Seconds Outside Fleet Base Attila
Day 188
Orion CIC
"Sir it checks out. All the Raiders have powered down and there is a new Heavy Raider here that is also powered down. There are also four Raptors" said LT JG Barnes.
When "Kite" had reported that 4 Colonial Raptors who claimed to be from the Chiron were working with the Cylons and requesting a meeting he had been dubious to say the least. They were close enough to see things themselves but far enough out for the Cylons to not see them or at least be able to jump out. The message was that the Chiron would jump in to discuss the situation.
"Sir we just had a Colonial Centaur Class ship just jump in and they are sending out Vipers" said Captain Berkins.
'This is either the most complicated Cylon trap or this is legitimate' thought Commander Gabrielle. "Message the Chiron" he said.
"Orion Actual this is Chiron Actual" replied a female voice. "I know you have many questions and I want to share the answers with you. We have a temporary alliance with a limited number of Cylons."
The wireless conversation was limited mainly because of distrust on Gabrielle's behalf. Commander Jasper the CO of the Chiron agreed to come over in a shuttle (not a Raptor) to debrief the Orion. Gabrielle had no reasons to be overly trustful so had the "Ravens" there for security. The shuttle landed and a medium height woman about 10 years older than him wearing a regular Navy Commander's uniform walked down the ramp. She looked like the person from the personnel file of the Chiron. However the Chiron was a minor ship in the Navy and the Orion was Canceron SDF so the information they had was limited and could possibly have been planted or she was another Skinjob.
"Commander Gabrielle I wanted to greet you. I know you have many questions and I am ready to answer them" said the person in the Colonial uniform.
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Sorry for the short chapter. This story is being closed as it is (possibly) temporarily done and will be continued on the Chiron story to make things easier as keeping track of time and placement has been challenging.
Thank you all for reading. Any questions or comments are appreciated.