Day 204
Geitona Sector
Darkspace
Population 10962
Azeban CIC

"Sir, the Chiron, Atlis, and Sandpiper just jumped back" said Captain Drakos.

Major Limaki motioned for Colonel Marton to take the secure com. The ship was his, but the Fleet was under Colonel Marton's command. "Colonel Marton here" said Dominick Marton.

"Dom, we were able to achieve most of our goals. Unfortunately, we were not able to destroy a Ressurection ship" said Commander Jasper.

That had always been a hope more than a goal, but it would have been an excellent way to screw over the Toasters. That the civilians had been rescued and that they had gained some supplies was a relief.

"Hold on," said Colonel Marton. He then handed the headset to Major Limaki.

"Limes, you can land the Vipers on the Chiron. I bet it's been a stone-cold bitch dealing with them for you," said Commander Jasper.

"Yes sir, and great job," said Major Limaki. Warlock and the other Viper pilots had intellectually understood why they were left behind. They would be as much a danger to the Chiron as a gain for the Gamma Raid Fleet, but a Viper pilot always wanted to be in the thick of combat. Also, they had left only two Raptors here to scout. The return of 6 of them would certainly take much of the strain off Cartwheel and Kite.

Maxon's Respite Council Chambers (meeting room B)

While Dom Marton was glad that Commander Jasper was back to remove the command of the Fleet from his shoulders, he wished that he could pawn this off to his XO. 'Limes has done a good job, and it would not be fair to subject him to this torture,' thought Colonel Marton.

The meeting included the full Council, Carl Maxon, the Governor, and some aids for the Councillors.

"Thank you Colonel Marton for the briefing" said Governor Maxon for the information that was considered safe was reported to the Council. "I am going to allow the other councilors to ask any questions they might have."

"How long until the Orion and Lamia return?" asked Councillor Nisus. "My voters find it unconscionable that our fleet was left so lightly defended."

Marton heard Carl Maxon say not so quietly, "Good thing we prioritized fixing the Azeban rather than your plan, wasn't it then?"

"Please, everyone, let's show decorum," said Governor Jessi Maxon after a laugh from most people here.

Colonel Marton responded, "Councillor Nisus, we do not have a firm date as of this time."

The final count of the rescuees showed 1,081 people saved from the Cylons, which was welcome news.

"And we are checking that none of them are Skinjobs" asked Thomas Decat.

"Yes LT Governor," said Colonel Marton. "They are being held in a gas giant with the radiation signature that breaks down Cylon neural networks. All evidence shows that it takes less than 12 hours for any Cylon to show obvious symptoms."

The last sticking point was the three or four ships they had acquired from the Cylons. The Welkin would fix much of the current overcrowding that the Fleet had, even with another 1100 people. The prison ship would also hold many, but for obvious reasons it was much less appealing than moving into a passenger liner. The Colonial Mover cargo ship would be welcome, and depending on what the medical supplies were, it could be very useful.

The Hydra was a more significant issue. It was potentially valuable, but being a Cylon ship, there was a lot of distrust of adding it to the Fleet. This raised the question, "How certain are we that the Colonial ships don't have a computer virus or some Cylon trick." It took less time than Colonel Marton had feared to get the Council to approve Commander Jasper's plan to send the Thalia to ensure the new ships were safe. Since the choice was either the Thalia or the Vega, and not only was the Thalia better in combat, it was less valuable to the Fleet so the small military repair ship was sent to inspect the ships.

There was one order of business that Colonel Marton refrained from taking part in. "The current vote is 7 to 2. I want a unanimous vote if possible." There were minor complaints, but the two "nays" changed their vote.

After everyone other than Governor Maxon, Thomas Decat, and Carl left Colonel Marton coordinated the necessities to finalize the last order of business.

Day 205
Geitona Sector
Darkspace
Chiron CIC

The Governor and Colonel Marton had requested a meeting on the Chiron. Likely it had something to do with how long until the Orion and other ships were back. Watching them walk in Jasper noticed that Jessi Maxon seemed "odd" not having her usual demeanor.

Surprisingly Major Anders said "Attention" in her best XO voice and the crew in the CIC all stood at attention.

"Commander Jasper, for your actions since the Cylon Attack, the council has voted unanimously for you to be promoted to the rank of Admiral," said Governor Maxon.

Chiron Officer's Briefing Room

The now Rear Admiral Ronda Jasper was thinking over this recent turn of events. No one who commanded a mere Centaur class would ever make it to Admiral, and she had skipped the rank of full Commander. However, as Colonel Marton had said, "We have 12 or 13 military ships, and we need someone to take the higher rank, and Gabrielle doesn't want it."

The commanding officers of the Fleet could kindly be described as a "mess." They had a total of 12 or 13 military or auxiliary ships but only had 7 officers total had gone through any of the Command schools. One of the ship's commanding officer was a Technician with a very checkered past. Having a clear-cut "this person is in charge" and making the temporary promotions permanent would fix much of the issues. Also Commander Gabrielle had told her he had no interest in taking charge.

"You are right Dom" she had said.

"Of course, Admiral" replied Colonel Marton.

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Day 206
Bacrita Sector
System 23854
Third Planet
Orion CIC

The Orion was watching the small Fleet he currently had here at the third planet in this system. This gas giant was large even by gas giant standards, if not quite as large as "Jumbo," which they had rescued the Lamia and its Fleet. LT Khan had been willing to test the radiation and, in under 7 hours, showed obvious signs of distress. This had been expected but the confirmation was helpful.

Most of the medical personnel of the Orion, Lamia, and other ships had been transferred to the Polaris. Of the 1,081 rescued prisoners, over 300 were bedridden due to medical experiments, being drugged for over six months, or other reasons done by the Cylons in their sick "breeding" program. The CIF personnel had volunteered to help but this was a significant strain on their limited resources and trained medical personnel. For this reason, the Welkin was being cleared first by the Thalia so that the healthy and ambulatory people could be moved to that ship to concentrate on the long-term cases. Of the over one thousand prisoners 128 were children between the age of 5 to 10. None had any living family from what they could tell but several had been "adopted" by the other prisoners. The others could hopefully be adopted by the other families in the Fleet. Leaving these children and healthy (or close enough) former prisoners onboard a prison ship was certainly not optimal but was from their limited choices the best choice that they had at this time.

This flotilla in System 23854 was the Orion, Thalia, and Oliver (being kept back to feed and clothe the former prisoners) along with the Polaris, Welkin, Colonial Mover ship, and the former Cylon ship the Hydra. The Hydra showed no signs of any AI, and after the destruction and spacing of the Centurions, it appeared to be simply an odd-looking, very crew-unfriendly ship of a 60-year-old Colonial Navy design, which hopefully was accurate. The Hydra, before it was added to the Fleet, needed necessities like plumbing, sleeping quarters, and eating facilities to make it a viable ship for long-term human use. Captain Fletcher along with many of the Canceron and Aquarian personnel who were trying to earn back their rank from their Perseus days, had volunteered to crew the ship. While Gabrielle felt sorry for Captain Fletcher who was a solid officer and never done anything wrong, Ensign Barnes and the rest of the former Perseus flotilla could deal with sleeping on cots and using a chemical toilet while eating Aquarian emergency rations (which were just as bad as Canceron emergency rations just more "seafood" themed).

A quick count of Colonial missiles had shown that their missile needs including dazzlers and sprinters would be addressed along with a large amount of other supplies. However, they did not quite trust them yet, so the Hydra, along with the three Heavy Raiders they had stolen, were being kept a safe distance to avoid any collateral damage if there were hidden traps in the returned ammunition. Also, there were 14 nuclear missiles taken from Baseship, four of which were ship-killing type missiles, which, if cleared, would bring the total up to 6. Not great for 3 ships, but that would be the standard wartime combat load that the Orion would usually carry. The other 10 were the smaller type used by Raiders or Heavy Raiders and would fit into a Raptor or Viper with only minor adjustments.

"Sir we have Thalia Actual on the line" said Petty Officer Gibson.

"Orion Actual here" said Commander Gabrielle. Captain Dante was doing well as the commanding officer of the Thalia. Some of the crew from the Vega had moved over to help repair the ships taken in the Gamma Raid.

"Sir we have checked the Welkin and found no evidence of any issues or Cylon tampering" said Captain Dante.

LT Eva Khan had reported that all ships taken showed no signs of Cylon traps. However they not only needed to confirm on their own the obvious distress that LT "Riptide" Khan had demonstrated that the radiation of this gas giant clearly affected her which meant that her ability to check might have been compromised along with the more obvious issue of trust. The confirmation that this type of radiation did affect Skinjobs, while not surprising, did help confirm their current theory.

"Sir, the modifications made by the Toasters have been removed and we are about 12 hours from replacing them with ours with any linked systems removed" continued Captain Dante. "We should be able to start moving people from the Polaris to the Welkin soon after that."

It was far easier and faster to check a ship when no one was on board other than the inspection crew. They then could move to the Polaris and the Colonial Mover ship, which, according to records found on the ship, had been called the "Ruffian" by the former original crew. After deciding that Ruffian was easier than "Colonial Movers #1978," they christened it "Ruffian" as its official name.

They had around 20 hours until the Lamia and 2 Raptors were supposed to check in after their scheduled rendezvous with the "Anti-War Cylons." The Lamia had been sent along with the Raptors to check some locations that might have Colonial ships that they had no information on yet. Soon after the Lamia returned, they would hopefully have the three civilian ships able to return to the Fleet. Fixing up the Hydra would take longer. The civilian leadership had been opposed to adding the Hydra to the Fleet, but it was too valuable to abandon without actual evidence of Cylon tampering or other threat.

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Makrino Sector
System 62287
Faststar Lamia CIC

The Makrino Sector had left a bad taste in the mouth of the Lamia and Orion after the Perseus and everything that had happened there. With this Sector's heavy Cylon presence, it was not a preferred rendezvous location. When their "allies" said they were planning on taking the mining and support ships assigned to System 61128, Oscar struggled not to laugh. He and especially Commander Gabrielle wished they had the ability to wipe that gods forsaken system or at least the billions of tons of tyleum out of existence but the Cylons frakking themselves over was almost worth it and a lot less dangerous than taking on 500 Raiders and a possibly Basestar or two.

It was annoying that it had taken the Cylons three days to secure their support fleet, but this was agreed to beforehand, and the two Model Threes had said they would need time to organize their leadership. Oscar Lewis thought that Deonna Breanne and Alexa Crowe would probably come to blows over that leadership over time because they were more alike than different in attitude but had vastly different goals, but that was their problem, not his.

"Sir we just had a single Heavy Raider jump in" said Captain Alicia Harris.

Trust would never be possible with their quasi-allies but them following the agreement was a far better sign than a pair of Baseships with 400 Raiders swooping in.

"Lamia, this is Technician Sarah Kerrigan," said the voice from the wireless.

Kerrigan had left or deserted or whatever the Colonial Military, but if this Model Six was her and not another of the hundreds or thousands, that might be another good sign.

"Go ahead Kerrigan" said Colonel Lewis.

"Sir, I am sorry I was not given the information regarding the Pegasus or Galactica. The Leadership (Lewis could hear the capitalization in her words) have decided they will not give you that information. However, they do have some other information they would like to give you," said Kerrigan. "Also, I am sad to inform you, but Sgt. Ashby was not resurrected on one of our ships."

When the Canopis had been used to attack Vesta their allies had told them that most likely Ashby would be resurrected on an enemy ship not one of theirs. Hopefully, Ashby had simply died rather than being on a Cylon ship. Either way Sgt. Ashby had been willing to take the risk and it was his choice.

"That is unfortunate" replied Colonel Lewis.

"This did not come from any of the Leadership, but my sister Olivia Roberts wanted me to give you some information," said Sarah Kerrigan. "I will send a drone with some information to you," and just after the unpowered drone was sent, the Cylon Heavy Raider jumped out.

With a quick check confirming there was no obvious danger Silk and his Raptor were sent to get the drone and they jumped back to the Orion.

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Day 208
Bacrita Sector
System 23854
Third Planet
Orion Officer Staff Room

Jessi Maxon had not left the Fleet since the Cylon attack and had only left the Respite for a few short periods. However, talking to the new people was necessary, and Admiral Jasper had told her they needed to discuss certain matters outside the main Fleet.

"Governor we have to keep the Hydra" said Admiral Jasper. "I know the civilians have concerns but we have checked the ship over and it shows as safe."

The Hydra had been the major support ship for several of the Twelve Colonies Fleets before the Cylon Uprising. Almost all of the Hydra Class had been taken early in the Cylon Uprising, which was why the far less capable Missile Colliers had been quickly (and according to her senior officers, poorly) designed. It was a less capable version of the Azeban. Not as flexible as a Supplystar but slightly larger. The amount of military ordinance meant that they would be able to fully supply a fleet more than twice their size for several engagments. The addition of nuclear weapons while not as large of a quantity meant they had the capability to hurt the Cylons or far better to defend themselves.

"With the victory of the Gamma Raid I should be able to push this and your new Viper pilot through" said Governor Maxon.

LT Eva Khan had shown she was trustworthy, and adding her to the Colonial Navy had been a nonnegotiable by Admiral Jasper. Personally, Maxon had her doubts, but a schism between the military and civilian leader would just give Councillor Nisus and his faction or Councillor Martel a wedge to interject their questionable politics into the mix. Nisus only cared about himself and Martel seemed to want bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. Those two disliked each other but both had some supporters and if they saw an opportunity could unite.

"Thank you Governor" said Admiral Jasper. "The information given to us by Kerrigan and the other model Six Olivia Roberts is interesting. Roberts admits the reason they won't share the location of the Pegasus is that they want to keep the other Cylons distracted. While the location of the Pegasus and Galactica has been thoroughly excised, there are around 10 Baseships searching for those two ships and the President of the Colonies."

Unfortunately, this made sense. The two Battlestars, according to the information, had around 70 ships and protected around 50,000 people. If they added their Fleet, this would add another 60 ships. Their current population was 12,044 people, and while they, in theory, had 13 combat ships, they would only add about 20% combat capacity to the Pegasus' Fleet. Admiral Caine would appreciate the greater protection and scouting ability, but from the Cylon Rebel's POV, there being multiple Colonial fleets split up the main Cylon fleets a lot better.

"We do have more information that LT Khan was able to confirm in her brief time on the Chi 8" said Admiral Jasper. "The best lead we have on other Colonial Forces is a pair of Virgon Gunstars in the Denalto Sector. However, there is one thing that might be a lie or a mistake, but they asked why we hid that we had the Aphid with us."

After the decision to pretend the Sandpiper was the Aphid they had maintained the illusion that the Sandpiper was the Scorpian Escortstar Aphid by always referring to it as the Aphid. They were uncertain how secure their wireless transmissions were and operational security for security's sake could not hurt.

"Now again, the Toasters could be lying or wrong, but there is some evidence that the Aphid or at least a Scorpain Escortstar has been seen in the month before the Gamma Raid. As far as we know, the Perseus and Apis fleets jumped outside the Red Zone to their hidden planet," said Commander Gabrielle with a flat voice. Gabrielle had no issue with Major Adams or the Aphid but the Apis and especially Perseus he did have issues with. Before this meeting, the Admiral had shared that, according to Alexa Crowe, the planet was not outside the Red Zone. It was a rogue planet. The question they had was why the Aphid would be outside that system or if a different Scorpian ship had survived. Still, the pair of Virgon Gunstars and their smaller Fleet of civilian ships were considered their best option to join forces since they had no information on the Pegasus and they would be walking into what might be a trap.

"The other ships including the Erasmus and Nemea we have very little information on" said Admiral Howard.

The surviving Colonial ship count had mostly stayed the same other than the information regarding the two Gunstars and the mysterious Escortstar. However they did have a better list of systems where the Cylons had hit and if that is accurate there were few if any places the Cylons had missed in their attack almost a year ago.

"The Hydra will be ready in a little more than two weeks and the three Heavy Raiders have been cleared" said Admiral Jasper. "We will be able to scout in just a few weeks."

Military Ships 8

Missilestar Orion
Centaur Class Faststar Chiron
Faststar Lamia
Patrolstar Vigilant
Patrolstar Rhea
Supplystar Azeban was turned into a shuttle tender. Its long-range systems are permanently damaged and unable to hit targets from a long distance.
Hydra was a former Cylon supply ship. Decent armor and weapons but slow and should avoid combat at all costs.
Thalia is a Celestra Class Repair ship. Able to do minor repairs and with a decent ability to make basic parts.

Auxiliary Ships 5
Atlis former small passenger line. Now an exploration ship able to carry a pair of Raptors.
Zephyr better armed than the Atlis but with less flexibility. Former CIF ship.
Herse originally a Colonial Postal Service ship now used as a long distance exploration ship. Very lightly armed.
Sandpiper lightly armed former smuggler ship.
Oliver. Used for various ad hoc purposes. Lightly armed.

The above are listed in more or less how useful they are to the Fleet. The Orion is better at combat than the Chiron but the Chiron is able to (just) keep the fleets 9 Vipers combat effective. Possibly the Atlis and Zephyr would be put above the Thalia for the current needs of this Fleet.

The Fleet has a total of 11 Raptors and now 3 Heavy Raiders.

The Fleet has 14 armed shuttles of various kinds. They do not have FTL like the Raptors and are not as capable as Vipers but the Fleet had acquired a large number of shuttles that were armed in order to run CAP and other defensive missions.

Military Ships 13

Maxon Mining
Maxon's Respite is the headquarters, R&R ship, and has some light industrial capacity for some repair during standard mining maintenance needs.

Vega larger flat top repair ship

Passenger ships 9
Bream
Bantum
La Bellot
Pallas
Grand Adour
Cairns
T Swift
Welkin is by far the largest passenger ship.
Polaris a prisoner transport ship. Able to carry a lot of people but not exactly comfortable or desirable.

Mining Ships 10
Chrysos
Sidero
Iridio
Asimi
Chalkos
Ermis
Banshee
Lucky Zenith
Elena
Jellyfish

Ore Ships 2
Spasimo
Syntrivi

Tyleum processing ships 3
Venzi
Quincy
Scarab (in the process of being turned into a tyleum refinery ship.)

Tyleum refueler
Apovlita

Hydroponics Ships 3
Sitira
Ryzi
Minx (former cargo ship turned into a hydroponics ship. has not yet grown any food)

Botanical Cruiser
Dykstra

(note the 3 Hydroponics and Botanical Cruiser should be able to support around 15,000 people total)

Waste processing ship
Prymni

Water processing ship
Limni
Ruth

Cargo Ships 17
Epsiki
Fortio
Syron
Linnet (has large amount of parts and ship scraps from the Badger)
Joshua
Coral
Jetty
Yark
Indri
Apple
Scarjoe
Brazen
Tiger Shark
Lemon Shark
Thresher
Dusky
Ruffian

Total civilian ships 49

Total ships 64

A couple of notes. The Chiron fleet while about the same number of ships as the Galactica's has less than 25% of the population and about 50% of the defensive capability of the Galactica (not Pegasus). However their "industrial capacity" is probably half the TV show's Fleet. They can't fight much but can fix things a lot better.

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Thank you for reading any questions or comments are appreciated!