I do not in any way own Battlestar Galactica or any related media.
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Chiron CIC
LT Commander Ronda Jasper reread her orders from Admiral Logain. They were to pause their shakedown cruise a week earlier than originally planned and go to the Ofis system to complete their training there. However the Marine detachment and their shuttles that are usually added for these type of antipiracy missions are an estimated two weeks out. This was clearly a "show up and be obvious you are there" type of situation which is a common tactic when dealing with issues in the Territories.
"Sir we just got confirmation from Captain Anders that she and Chief Renalds have everything loaded and stowed away" said LT Drakos. With the Chiron being fully restocked only three weeks ago during its refit, there was far less than the usual mountain of supplies but still a fair amount.
"Thank you, LT. Inform Scorpia Shipyard Control that we are requesting leave to depart and inform the crew of departure in 10 minutes," said Jasper.
"Yes sir" said LT Drakos.
After the usual back and forth between the ship and space control, they were given leave to depart.
"Sir, all umbilicals and docking bays have been released and secured. We are ready to depart" said LT Drakos.
"Take us out of here LT," said Jasper. Scorpia Shipyard as always has a lot of ships and shuttles coming in and out. With her usual competency, LT Drakos took the Chiron out of the docking bay.
"Sir we have cleared local Scorpia space. We are able to jump now" said LT Drakos.
"Jump us to the coordinates LT," said Jasper.
"Sir, we have been contacted by New Hadrian control. They are saying that General Atwood would like you to visit him," said LT Stevenson.
SDF forces can be uneven but they seemed capable of watching the planet where 97% of the people in the Ofis systems lived. With possibly active pirates in the area knowing that they noticed when a new ship entered the system is a good sign.
"Major I will be down on the planet for a few hours. Not sure what our orders will be but make sure we are ready to jump out if needed" Jasper said. Not that Major Marton wouldn't have everything ready he was a very good XO.
"Yes Sir," said Major Dominick Marton replied. "Which Raptor were you thinking of taking, Sir?"
"I was thinking of taking Scooter. She's new to the ship but seems to be fitting in well and I would like to see how she flies" said Commander Jasper.
"Yes sir" said Major Marton more than a little rolling his eyes in his head. That Jasper had never served on a Battlestar makes me wonder what ability she has to judge piloting skills but maybe that's me as a former LSO showing his arrogance.
"OK Dom you hold down the fort while I am gone" said Jasper.
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Raptor 36814 on route to New Hadrian
LT JG Bailey Sanders (Scooter) ECO LT Evan Krevitz (Rebound)
LT JG Bailey "Scooter" Sanderson loved flying. Not rare with pilots of course but even this short trip that she suspected was more for the "Old Lady" to check on her flying skills was nice and New Hadrian was a pretty looking planet. The "city" of Asp is nothing more than a large town and more of a space port with area for future growth but still it's always nice to check out new places. Or maybe check out one of the smaller islands on her next leave?
"Sir we are about 5 minutes from landing" said Sanderson. "Rebound please message the base that we are on final approach."
"Yes sir" said LT Evan "Rebound" Krevitz. " Virgon SDF Landing Zone this is Raptor 36814 of the Chiron about 5 minutes out from landing. Please signal which pad you want us to use" (of the current 3 on the base).
"Raptor 36814 please follow the landing signals to the correct pad" said the ground control officer.
"Roger" said Rebound.
Commander Jasper was thinking more about her upcoming meeting with the Virgon SDF base Commander. SDF people can sometimes be "prickly" when it comes to the Colonial Navy. That he is now a "General" due to the vagaries of the Virgon tradition of ground-based Commanders using dirtside ranks is important to remember, with the Atwood clan being one of the most famous and ancient Virgon Naval dynasties.
Scooter though seems like a good pilot. Her and her ECO might not yet be a well oiled machine but both were transfers from other ships and they should be fine with a bit more practice. Jasper had never been a pilot or even deck crew but after more than two decades in the Fleet she had picked up a lot about Raptors.
"Thank you Scooter and Rebound" said Jasper when the flight landed. "That was a nice flight. I'm not sure how long we will be here so stay close so we can leave when done."
"Yes sir" said Scooter and Rebound.
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Virgon SDF Base Commanders Office Virgon Asp City
After the usual pleasantries and seeing if this Atwood knew her old Academy classmate of the same name (barely as they are only distantly related) Jasper decided to get to the point. "Thank you General I was wondering if you wanted to discuss the issues with the current situation in this system."
General Roger Atwood said, "Yes Commander how much do you know about the Ofis system?"
Jasper had read the report. "Discovered just before the War. Colonization efforts were of course put on hold. Around 15 years ago, Virgon was granted Territorial rights. It's a binary system with only 1 Kobol-like planet. Ofis A also has an asteroid belt that has some mining. Total population around 100,000. Ofis B has no useable planets but does have a fairly rich asteroid belt with around 2,500 people. Lately, there have been some piracy attacks in the Ofis B system."
"Well Commander, that does seem concise. You did mention that both systems have their own mining going on. Are you aware of the two companies and their separate contracts?" asked Atwood. After a nod yes he continued. "I admire your discretion, but we both know these things are expensive. During the initial bid, the Rollins Consortium purchased 50-year sole mining rights to the Ofis system. Both Ofis A and B were considered average, with B being slightly richer. However, with New Hadrian here Ofis A was assumed to be more profitable. So the Rollins Consortium decided to defray some costs by subcontracting out Ofis B to another company, Maxon Mining Incorporated, for 50 years. The problem is that Ofis B has far more tylium than the surveys noticed. So what initially seemed to be a fair sum is actually only a small percentage of Ofis B's resources. While Rollins Inc is not losing any cubits, they are also not getting the amount they feel they should. Over the years there have been more than an average amount of missed shipments to Ofis B, equipment broken, and other issues that have caused acrimony. Recently, there have also been a few pirate attacks that have resulted in some fatalities from Maxon personnel. It might be corporate or not. However, I would like them to stop before either side takes more drastic measures. Also we would like to have this issue resolved before the Governor returns back from Virgon so he can concentrate on more important matters."
The Governor is part of the Rollins family, and whether indifference or actual collusion is outside her responsibility, even if we find a veritable mountain of evidence. "I see. Is there anything that the Virgon SDF can do to help?"
Atwood took a second to reply and said "the Virgon SDF has been unable to help out. We only have 3 of our 8 Viper squads and there are no current plans to make a base in the Ofis B system. Also Raptors are less than half the original goal and Raptor patrols to the B system are considered suboptimal. With most of the people in this system here at Ofis A it is considered best to keep the Virgon SDF forces here."
Jasper was now well aware of the problem and that Atwood was trying to do his duty while still following orders from his superiors. "Yes sir, we will jump to Ofis B and see what we can find out."
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Ofis B Culepla Asteroid Belt
Colonial Faststar Chiron CIC
Commander Jasper looked at this new asteroid belt. Fairly close to this star by stellar distances at least, and with a reasonably heavy asteroid belt. Nothing spectacular but "dense" by the low standards of solar space. When the Chiron jumped to Culepla Belt (what is with this solar system and their use of snake names, Jasper thought as an aside), a meeting was requested from Maxon Mining Inc. The owner sounded almost glad to hear from the Chiron, which was a bit concerning.
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Maxon's Respite CEO Office
Jessi Maxon was glad to see the Colonial ship Chiron. Usually, the Blue Boys were a pest with looking at manifests and exact counts of ores (the government loves its taxes after all) but the BS that had been going on with the Rollins Consortium had reached a point that outside help was desired.
Rollins Mining had either been ripped off by Jessi's father or just had bad luck. Her father, before his death, had always denied that he paid the survey crew that did the Ofis systems official survey to hide some of the results, but the old man had certainly jumped on the opportunity to get a 50-year contract. I wish that however the Maxon's got that contract that it wasn't such a pain in the ass and a bit more profitable. The contract with Illumini Shipping Inc. isn't exactly an inexpensive one. Yes, they leased her father some better than average ships for a reasonable price, but now she is locked in at just above break even for a large amount of her tyleum. If she doesn't pay Rollins she could lose her contract. If she doesn't pay Illumini she would lose all her ships and then lose her contract. She would rather not give those Rollins bastards back Ofis B.
Still, some of her people had been killed and it was her responsibility. Honestly, this seems outside Rollin's usual bag of tricks. Starting 18 months ago, a freighter would jump in and sometimes steal some parts or destroy items. Six months ago, a few unmarked freighters had jumped in and used some old prewar shuttles and fired upon one of her ships, killing three people. The pirates had then taken the cargo and jumped away. Thankfully the pirate attacks have slowed down and with no more fatalities however production has slowed down with over a quarter of her people leaving.
Now, having to pay twice normal wages and hiring extra security was bad enough. The problem was that after paying for everything, what should be a very valuable system was barely breaking even for her. With Virgon actively blocking her legal attempts (another bunch of wasted cubits) for help or to buy surplus weapons, trying to get them from other sources would take all of the extra money that she had built up. A few feelers have been put out but little product purchased as of yet.
Maybe this Chiron's Commander could help out. Or at least calm down her people.
Maxon's Respite Meeting Room
"Thank you for coming Commander" said Jessi. "I hope you understand my concerns. I have 18 ships and around 2,500 employees and their families working for me. My son and granddaughters are here on board the Respite and honestly I don't feel like the Virgon SDF and government have done anything to deal with the long running issues in the Ofis system. These attacks by what I believe are members of the CIF (Canceron Independent Front) are outside my ability to deal with."
"I do appreciate that you are out here far from support" said Commander Jasper. The CIF thing was almost certainly not correct but an attempt to get more support. Still this is on the edge of Colonial territory and she has been attacked by pirates. "Right now I am waiting for my compliment of Marines and their supplies. How would you feel about us doing some training exercises in this area?"
"Not sure what that would entail exactly," said Maxon.
"When the Marines arrive in a few weeks we would need a month or so getting used to one another. And I have some new Raptor crews. They could practice Search And Rescue or tracking on your ships" said Jasper. "If that would not be an issue for you we could start tomorrow."
Maxon was surprised. This Commander didn't seem to be indifferent and at best she thought the Chiron would just park in this solar system. "Alright Commander that seems workable. Let me talk to my people to make sure they don't misunderstand a Raptor getting ready to "attack them" and also to see about getting them a little less spread out."
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Chiron Officers Wardroom
After returning to the Chiron, Jasper called a meeting with her senior officers. Her officers were not exactly happy with Captain Anders possibly the most frazzled as tactical would have to figure out how to use 4 Raptors and the Chiron to "defend" the 18 ships currently in the Ofis B system. LT Tonis (Juno) seemed interested as LT Tonis is in charge of the Raptors, and three of the four crews are new together, so the increased training would be beneficial for the Raptor crews.
"Alright everyone you heard the Commander. LT Tonis I want your people ready for extra flights. We are going to be doing SAR training and simulated combat drills" said Major Marton. "Also, have the Raptors loaded with missiles just in case we have unfriendly visitors."
"Yes sir" said the officers as they filed out to give their people the new duties.
"Sir this seems like busy work to me but the Raptors could use the practice" said Marton.
"Yes Major. Also I know that this Maxon is using us. The CIF or any other of the various "liberation" groups aren't involved but whether pirates or corporate fighting taken to far we need to keep an eye on it."
"Yes sir" said Marton. "Any day now the Colonial Guard will take over for us."
"Frakking smartass" said Jasper.
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Ofis B Culepla Asteroid Belt
Chiron CIC
Major Marton was thinking how the last week had been very busy. Captain Anders and Specialist Baines seemed to have a lead on the phantom glitch. The new CNP, while the Dradis is active, seemed to act up sometimes. Nothing serious, but sometimes the CNP gives weird readings, or the Dradis is fuzzy. It could be anything from the main wiring trunk having a frayed strand to bad code. It could be fixable or outside their abilities. The Raptor pilots have put in a lot of hours lately with the small delays from pilot to ECO seem to be dropping. All in a good week, and we should be able to impress the paste eaters when they show up in 3 days.
"Major we have an emergency message from the Atlis" said LT Stevenson. "They are saying that the Cylons have launched a massive attack on New Hadrian."
"LT message all Raptors and go to Condition 1" said Marton. "Commander to the bridge.".
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