Day 203
Cyrannus System
Helios Beta
Planet Hera
The concept of using drones to spoof an enemy into thinking that they were enemy combatant ships wasn't exactly unheard of but had rarely been used. Firing off 50 or more drones that each cost in the million cubit range to flair themselves suicidally so that they would burn themselves out in about 15 minutes would probably have caused a BuShips officer to have an aneurysm. The drones they had acquired from the Sigyn probably had more than the 11 Raptors they had available would probably ever need. Or more accurately, be able to use for the fleet they had available. Finding exactly where 3 Baseships were when you had a pair of Battlestars to destroy them was helpful, but in their current situation of "avoid combat as much as possible," these drones were not as helpful. Also, this location was picked as it was the site of a well-known battle between two siblings over the Virgon Imperial Throne a few centuries ago. The smaller force had used the heavy magnetosphere and ice rings to win the final battle against her brother's larger fleet. If there was anywhere to fight against a much larger force this was far better than most.
After they had fired off the drones that appeared to be a pair of Battlestars, three Missilestars, three Gunstars, a pair of Manticores, and a pair of Escortstars she had ordered 6 of her 9 Raptors to go back to rearm. Captain Shayla "Juno" Tonis was sitting out here with two other Raptors and no other support. Now, would the Toasters take the bait? According to their "allies" data, the Cylons had learned that anything other than overwhelming numbers advantage usually went poorly for them. Plus, with this "fleet" being around half of the remaining Colonial forces and several suicidal attacks on the Cylons of which Admiral Kibby's had been the largest but by no means last. Juno could understand the "why" that had caused these attacks but found them wasteful. Now, would the Cylons take the bait? A chance to destroy around half of the remaining Colonial ships, even if the location was suboptimal, would probably be worth it, especially if the competence of the Cavils did not match their egos as the Threes had reported. Or the Threes were wrong, and the "Colonial Fleet" here would make no sense, and the Cylons would simply and smartly just send a bunch of Raiders to explore. If they did take the bait, then Part Two could proceed.
"Juno, I am picking up almost 30 Baseships," said LT Walter "Big Top" Albert. That was roughly half the Baseships in the Cyrannus System.
"Matchbox and Silk jump to your locations" said Captain Tonis. There were three secondary targets of "Operation Coin Flip." All three Raptors jumped away to their new locations.
Cyrannus System
Helios Gamma Oort Cloud
Comet G355440
Atlis CIC
Captain Talbot read the reports that the Polaris, Welkin, and the Colonial Movers ship that all systems appeared to be operational and fully fueled. Appeared being the worrisome term. This single jump a light month from Helios Gamma had shown no issues but the actual capabilities of the three ships were unknown. Plus there might be some hidden Cylon beacon or trap of some kind. The former prisoners were also quite restive, and while none had matched the known seven Skinjob models, they still needed to be vetted. Checking on how the arming and refueling of the six Raptors who had just fired off a large number of drones she checked the camera feed of the shuttle landing bay.
"Move your ass, people. We need to get these Raptors armed RFN," said PO Verdan.
Seeing that the crew were working as quickly in the small shuttle bay as they could and that Verdan was showing his standard "politeness," she decided (wisely) not to say anything. The first pair were getting ready to depart and then they could send in the next pair. Altogether, this would probably take just under 10 minutes. If it wasn't for the just over 40-minute timeframe they had remaining regarding the Doral being reborn and that he would inform the Cylons there were at least 3 traitor Skinjobs and that they had stolen a Baseship, which would screw over the other parts of "Coin Flip" then they were working fast enough to make even the cantankerous Sagiatarian happy.
When all 6 Raptors were fully armed and fueled she was to head to a system over 20 lightyears out with the characteristics that appeared to interfere with Cylons. Colonel Marton would then meet up with them after they checked out.
Talbot understood the orders as protecting the civilians and making sure most of the Raptors were returned to the fleet was important but wished she could stay here. If things went well she would know in around a day. If they didn't then she might not ever know how things went. Likely that would mean the Chiron, Orion, and Lamia were destroyed but they would never know for sure, and in many ways that would be worse.
Cyrannus System
Helios Delta
Planet Aquarion
Blue Crab Island
Task Force Delta
Task Force Delta was a grand-sounding name for a single Raptor and a cargo ship with a missile pod strapped on it. Specialist Anna Olino had been in the Aquarian SDF for over 20 standard years and had a checkered past, much like the others who had been on the Perseus. She could no longer stomach the actions and had decided to leave the Perseus. Even after being abandoned, she had felt it was the right decision as things had just kept getting worse on the Perseus.
However, this mission was stupid, never mind, it was her idea. Aquarian was beautiful with thousands of small islands and polar caps that covered over half the planet. It also had frequent and very powerful storms. By necessity, there were hundreds of disaster pods stashed on various islands. After a bad choice in an amorous partner who had a very unhappy spouse she had spent almost a standard year protecting what was little more than cargo pods filled with barely edible food, uncomfortable clothes (purposely died a hideous color of yellow), even more uncomfortable blankets (same ugly color), and some military quality hygiene products that either tasted gross, smelled bad, or were uncomfortable depending on application. All of these items were purposely designed this way as stopping theft would be impossible but you could make them almost worthless to anyone who didn't need them so this "protection" detail was a punishment for Aquarian SDF members. 11 months on a small island that rained 90% during the "stormy season" to protect what no nondesperate person would ever use was a wakeup call so when she had been then offered a place on the Perseus she had jumped at it.
When the "Gamma Raid" had been proposed she had mentioned that she knew an island where there were six disaster pods that just had the space to land a smaller cargo ship Commander Gabrielle had jumped on the idea. The fleet was running low on supplies and the civilians on the Polaris would have little if anything in the way of clothing.
The problem was there was an actual security system for the disaster pod and a better one than some Aquarian SDF members with drinking and behavioral issues. Once the door was breached without a code, they did not have or a hacker that they again did not have, it would trigger an alarm to the Aquarian government. Most likely, the Cylons would pick up on this signal.
There were no Cylons on the island, and Blue Crab Island (named for the island's vaguely crab-like shape and the blue of the flora) was hundreds of kilometers from any of the previously populated islands. According to their limited information, the Cylons had a single Baseship keeping watch over the planet and that Baseship was part of the Cylon rebels. Even at this distance from the major populated islands, the planet's high radiation count means that speed will be of the essence.
"Silk, we are ready as we can be," said Specialist Olina. "We are going to cut the lock."
Now, it was a race. The Cylons hadn't abandoned the planet even after the rebel Baseship had left. A single Raider could destroy the Oliver. Some shuttles could land hundreds of Centurions. It was uncertain how long it would take her crew of less than 30 to load the 6 disaster pods.
When the lock was cut, a light flashed with a "WARNING: THIS IS OFFICIAL AQUARIAN GOVERNMENT PROPERTY DESIST AT ONCE" voice yelling over a PA. However, the crates were easy to grab and were not secured other than an easily cut lock and chain. The theory was that a shipwrecked fishing crew or something like that might end up on such an island, and due to the relatively low value of the items, a decent lock on the door to keep drunk kids from frakking with it was considered acceptable.
The closest known Cylon base was about 75 minutes shuttle trip away. If there were others or some random patrol though things could go wrong quickly. In theory they could be loaded and out of here in less than an hour.
The first four pods went as planned. However halfway through getting the fifth their loader broke. "Frak!" shouted the driver.
Silk had reported that there were around 8 shuttles around 30 minutes out. "Everyone, we are getting out of here. Ditch the loader and leave the rest" said Specialist Olina after checking in with the Raptor. The barracks on the island had already been stripped of what little items of value there was to take.
LT Geri Casar (Silk) and ECO LT JG Laura Wysohi (Turtle)
Silk watched the Oliver jump out. Too bad they had only gotten 2/3s of the cargo they had been hoping for. The 8 Toaster shuttles were big fat personnel carriers. "Turtle light them the frak up," and they fired off one of their rocket pods. Of the 12 missiles fired, they destroyed 7 of the 8 shuttles. Then Silk hit the FTL button and joined the Oliver.
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Thank you all for reading.