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What if a smaller Colonial survived the Fall of the Colonies? Follow the Centaur Class Chiron

Chapter 5

Prolmar Sector "Darkspace"
Chiron Engine Bay

"Chief what exactly happened" asked Major Marton. The Dradis being down is the biggest worry but other systems are showing up as questionable.

"Sir I am not sure. I have a crew looking just in case the two missile hits we took earlier caused the issues, but that is very unlikely," said CPO Margaret Renalds. Unlikely is putting it mildly as the two missile hits had hit on the heaviest armor of the ship and were too small to do much damage to a warship in small numbers. "I would suggest removing the linked systems because they appear to be somewhat related to those."

"Fine, remove all links. Cut the damn wires if you need to" said Marton. Frakking Admiralty, thought Marton. The linked systems that the Adar Administration with the blessing of Fleet Admiral Ngala for the "better and meaner" new Colonial Navy had been opposed by some fossils like Admiral Kronus but those old First War officers were seemingly proven wrong. The newer systems worked better and allowed lower crew numbers (which was of course the point). Most of the upgrades were for the Battlestars and other large ships, but almost all ships had systems updated. Luckily for the Chiron their upgrades were recent enough that most of the crew remembered how to do their jobs without them.

"Yes sir" said Renalds. "I estimate a few hours to get everything removed and rebooted sir." Other than Dradis, the biggest pain will probably be the fire suppression system. The old sensors are still there as redundancy but the linked systems were supposed to put out fires without human interaction in theory saving valuable time.

"Just get it done as fast as possible Chief" said Marton. Time to go to check on the other work crews.

Flight Pod

"PO Deema did I frakking stutter" said Major Marton. "Remove or disengage all linked systems. I don't care if the auto landing system is not currently in use."

"Yes sir" said Petty Officer Deema.

"Crewman Krytos report to the CIC and assist Captain Anders" said Marton. Marton could tell Deema was pissed about having to crawl into a greasy bay to unhook those systems. Well, frak her, it's time to show this PO that just because she was supposed to retire in a few months that she is now not (and likely ever will be) out of the Navy. And he wasn't going to allow some lazy PO to take out their frustration on a new crewmember who was trying their best.

"Yes sir" said Crewman Allison Krytos.

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Crewman Allison Krytos felt nervous as this was the first time the XO had addressed her by name. And now I am going to the CIC to help out! Walking onto the CIC she went over to the person that seemed to be in charge of the work party. "Crewman Krytos. I was ordered by the XO to report to the CIC assist as needed" she said.

Specialist Baines looked at the Crewman. First, she looked about 15 years old and was definitely on the smaller side. But she could be useful. "Crewman Krytos, is it? If you could assist in unhooking these wires back here" he said.

'Of course' thought Krytos. Being only 1.53 meters and 45 kilos she was always picked to get into small places. She had joined the Navy to stop her family and friends from calling her "the midget" (and also get away from the boredom of Aerilion) but at least this Specialist was polite about it unlike her direct PO. "Yes I can do that if you explain what we are doing" she said.

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Commander's Office

"Sir you wanted me to report in" said Major Marton. The Commander looked like they had received news and not good news.

"Sit down Dom. We got a report from one of our Raptors. Matchbox reports that Korifi has been completely destroyed" said Commander Jasper as she passed him a copy of the information from the Raptors.

There had been an unspoken hope that the Cylons would miss Korifi. Ofis was discovered before the Cylon War (or First Cylon War now) so the Cylons would know it was a strong possibility for becoming a Territory. But Korifi was discovered about ten years ago. That Korifi was attacked at the same time shows that the Cylons are attacking multiple planets and that they have information from after the First War.

Frak thought Marton: "Sir, Anders reports that she has completed unlinking the Dradis system and has rebooted it. Also, the so-called fuzziness appears to have been fixed. Chief Renalds is almost done with the fire suppression system, and other than that and the auto landing system, everything else is fixed." Marton is definitely going to have to talk to PO Deema. That she still isn't finished is unacceptable.

They spent the next few minutes going over the reports from the repair teams and deciding where to send the Raptors next. The phone on Jasper's desk rang the priority signal.

"Jasper here" said Commander Jasper. "Scooter and another Raptor has returned. They are asking for your presence on the CIC."

Chiron CIC

"Chiron Actual here. Scooter, what is your report" asked Jasper.

"Sir the Nereus System has been attacked. It is unlikely that any Colonial ships remain there. However we did make contact with a Raptor from the Battlestar Kestrel" said LT. Sanders "Scooter".

"Kestrel Raptor what is the sitrep" asked Commander Jasper.

"Sir this is LT Cassel from the Battlestar Kestrel. A few hours ago the Kestrel was attacked by who we think was Cylons but not sure. The Kestrel was able to make one jump outside the system, but then the ship was lost to damage. We were able to get some shuttles and Vipers out along with about 90 people. We are requesting immediate assistance."

"Scooter you and Matchbox stay here and keep an eye on the fleet. We are going to rescue the Kestrel's survivors. Silk land on our ship so you can refuel" said Jasper.

"LT Stevens inform the Respite and the Banshee that we are leaving for the next few hours. They are to follow directions from the Raptors on site," said Jasper.

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Bacrita Sector
Chiron CIC

"Commander, we would again like to thank you and your crew for saving us" said Captain Limaki. They were almost completed with getting everyone off the shuttles and stowing away all craft. They were still working on getting the last few Vipers under control. Unfortunately three of the Kestrel's survivors had died and five more were in critical condition. Dr. Andros and his people were taking care of them.

The scans of the Kestrel showed that it was a total loss. The multiple nuclear hits and subsequent explosion of the tyleum on board made any salvage very unlikely and there had not been signs of any more escape pods. "You have my condolences for your ship's losses. For now I am adding you to the Chiron's crew until we know what is going on" said Jasper. "Also you are now the CAG of the small craft."

Limaki had been expecting both of those orders. After going back to the civilian ships, we need to try to find Slider and Timbers. Their scheduled location had not yet been searched Chiron's Raptors. "Yes, sir. If I could request help getting everyone billeted, I can assign that to one of my officers." It's best to delegate and learn to work with the Chiron's POs.

"Commander, we got confirmation from the flight pod. All craft are accounted for and stowed away," said Captain Anders.

"LT Drakos, jump us back to the fleet" said Jasper.

Captain Anders looked at the Dradis. There were 4 Raptors and what is now 23 ships. Listening to the messages for a second she reported, "Sir all ships accounted for and we apparently picked up a CPS Herse that their Captain Ormo is requesting a priority meeting with you."

"Tell the Raptors to land and rearm and that let Captain Ormo that I am ready for a meeting" said Commander Jasper.

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The last two parts were supposed to be one but ending up splitting into two.
Thank everyone for reading. Any questions or comments are appreciated!