Chapter 20 - The Fall Part 3
Alteran Battlegroup Edge of Colonial Space - 7 Hours Into Attack
Admiral Adama stood on the new design CIC of the Alteran built Mars class battlestars that had all the upgrades and enhanced technology available to them such as better sensors and power generation. As for offensive and defensive upgrades the ship has 2 main plasma weapons situated at the front of the ship instead of the 4 Heavy KEW weapons, They also have improved energized armor that can absorb up to 500% above standard armor can absorb and also they had rudimentary shields that can take 2-3 nukes of the 25 megaton range before they collapse and need a few hours to reset and recharge.
He was overlooking his command which was made up of 3 battlegroups, each having 1 newly built Alteran battlestar and 2 repurposed and upgraded Jupiter's from the colonial scrapyards. Each battlegroup also had 3 of the newer Gunstars with some minor upgrades to their armor and weapon targeting systems.
Admiral Adama was waiting on the go order from his future granddaughter in law for their planned attack on the ship building capabilities and the supply bases of the Cylons. The plan was to make it look like a colonial task force and not a separate power. They were hoping the attack will forestall the Cylons from committing what ships and resources they have left to follow them to their new home. Although they're a long distance away being machines they will have no problems with taking the time to travel and hunt them down if they find out where they are.
Admiral Adama was broken out of his musings when the comm officer reported. "Sir we have received the go order from Waypoint Station Alpha."
Admiral Adama walked up to the display table and then centered himself for the battle he was about to start. "Let the commanders of the Agis and Pelops that they have a go for their targets and remind them to scout their targets for any changes in defensive forces before they attack."
"Yes, Sir" The comm officer did what he was ordered then spoke when he got a reply. "Sir, Both commanders wish us good luck and good hunting."
Once the comm officer was done Admiral Adama turned to his ship's commander and said. "Commander the ship is yours to command while I coordinate the wider battle from the secondary display table. You have permission to go ahead with our own targets.
It was 5 minutes later when the 3 battlegroups jumped away as they made use of the jump drives for immediate transport rather than their hyper drives which would have taken longer for these short distances.
Colonial Heavy 798 - Callsign Colonial One - Deep Space - 7 Hours Into Attack
Laura Roslin never thought she would be here and be the president of the twelve colonies. She originally got into politics to improve the education system and make it possible for more of the less wealthy members of society to get a first rate education. So here she is the leader of the government but the problem is that there is not much or a government left to lead and what is left is scattered all over the colonies just trying to survive.
Laura sat in the forward compartment of the smaller Luxury transport ship that has now gained the title of Colonial One. She was going over the reports from the ships she had managed to gather and so far she had managed to gather around 80 thousand survivors with more ships being found and added to her small fleet as time pass's.
The problem she was facing was that they only have enough FTL capable ships for about 50,000 survivors and one of the ships that doesn't have a jump drive was the ship she had just finished visiting. She had met the most wonderful little girl on that ship and she was finding it hard to make the decision to leave these ships behind to guarantee the survival of those she could save.
It was as she was coming to terms with her inner demons that the co-pilot of the ship rushed into the room and said. "Madam President a raptor just jumped in and is asking for permission to land on Urgent Fleet business."
Laura was beyond shocked as it was just organized and official to be happening right now but she pushed her shock to the back of her mind and replied. "Give them permission and inform Captain Adama to meet me in the cargo bay to meet these new guests."
"Yes Ma'am." He left after she answered him and Laura just sat there for a few minutes then got up and started to make her way down to the cargo hold to meet the new arrivals.
She was met by Captain Adama as she made her way down to the cargo hold and he just saluted and fell in step with her. "So another Raptor has found us and is requesting to land so do you have any idea who they are."
Captain Adama replied. "Well all i can say is that they are following standard protocol for delivering messages to important people that contain sensitive information that shouldn't be broadcast in the open or over the wireless altogether.
Laura just nodded and they stopped as they arrived at the airlock which still had a red indicator meaning that pressure has not been equalized yet so they had to wait for a few minutes before the green light came on and the door lock was released.
Captain Adama went through the door first to make sure they were actually meeting colonial officers and not some rogue who had got access to the raptor. As he went through the door and walked over to the raptor the hatch opened and two colonial officers got out of the raptor. As they noticed his approach they stood to attention and saluted as he was a higher ranking officer and there doing that confirmed that they were actual colonial military so he indicated behind him before returning the salute.
"Well gentlemen, let me introduce you to Laura Roslin, the current President of the Twelve Colonies." Lee Adama said as Laura Roslin walked into the cargo hold.
At the introduction they both snapped to attention again and saluted and on the indication from the President they both Stood at ease and introduced themselves. "Madam President, allow me to introduce myself and my Pilot." He waited for her to nod and he continued. "I am Lt Holland and this is Ensign Fitzpatrick. We are here on orders from Admiral Kosta to gather yourselves and any survivors you have managed to find and rendezvous with his battlegroup at Ragnar Anchorage."
To say that their statement shocked all those present was an understatement as there was nothing but silence to answer his statement.
It was a few minutes later that Captain Adama recovered first and asked. "Are you telling me that a whole Battle Group survived the attacks?"
Lt Holland replied. "Yes that is correct Captain, we were celebrating Armistice day when reports of ghost ships and loss of contact with outlying station's had Admiral Kosta put his battlegroup to condition 2 and when a postal ship jumped in and described how a battlestar lost all power when confronting the enemy had the Admiral increase our alert level to condition 1 and had us charge up our jump drives." He waited for any questions and received none. "With the knowledge that ships where shutting down before being able to fire a shot and the fact that we had a fleet of civilians with us due to the armistice day celebrations the Admiral thought it best to avoid conflict with the enemy until more intelligence could be gathered so when an enemy ship jumped in and launched what where calling raiders we just jumped away and made our way to Ragnar Anchorage."
It was President Roslin who spoke next. "Why did he not go to Virgon like the rest of the fleet units?"
Lt Holland answered her question as best he could. "Well far be it from me to question an Admirals motives but by the time we made it to Ragnar found out the reason why the ships were failing and corrected the problem the battle was already over and you have to understand that being in the nebula means that signals dont reach all the way in or out which is why it made such a great place to go and take stock of the problems."
Captain Adama agreed with him about that. "The Lt is right Madam President, The Nebula blocks all signals and with the Cylons jamming included means that they were cut off from any knowledge about what was going on and to be honest it is a god send as if they made it to Virgon they would have been destroyed with the rest of the colonial fleet that made it there."
Once he confirmed it Roslin decided to let it go and just turned to the Lt. "I understand, Now to the reason you were here we would be more than happy to follow you to your Admiral but not all ships are FTL capable."
Lt Holland replied. "Ma'am i was told that i was to order all civilians to move to the FTL capable ships and abandon the rest as there are ships capable of housing them waiting at the rendezvous location." He then took out a letter and handed it to Laura Roslin. "That is for you Ma'am directly from the Admiral. The Admiral asked that you read it before you meet with him at Ragnar."
President Roslin agreed and turned to Captain Adama and said. "Ok Captain, have all the civilians move off the non FTL ships as fast as possible and get ready to jump to Ragnar when ready. But make sure all ships FTL drives are spun up and ready to go at a moments notice."
Captain Adama responded in the affirmative then saluted and went to do as ordered.
"Lt Holland you have defensive weapons on the raptor correct." Laura asked and when Lt Holland nodded she ordered. "Can you launch and fly some sort of CAP around the fleet just in case the Cylons jump in before we are ready."
"Yes Ma'am" Lt Holland saluted and she walked back to the VIP cabin to read the letter in some privacy. She made it to the VIP lounge and sat in one of the chairs before pulling out the letter from her pocket and opening it. She opened up the letter and started reading.
Madam President,
If you're reading this then my raptor crew found you and your refugee fleet before the enemy could locate you. I hope my crew finds you Healthy and one piece and have managed to come to terms with what has happened so that we can move forward in a way that best guarantees the survival of the colonial people.
I understand that you are new to this and have never made these types of decisions before but know that mistakes will be made. Not all decisions will work out but we must continue to move forward and lead our people to a better future.
Now i can't go into details just in case this letter is intercepted but you need to know that the CNP program has been compromised and from what my techs have found it hasn't so much as been hacked but a back door was included in the program. With this revelation we have come to the conclusion that there are either collaborators or more than likely some sort of infiltrators working to bring down the colonies. We hope that none of our own people would help the Cylons but we must be realistic that some people will do anything for power and riches even if in the end they won't get either.
With all this in mind I have decided to declare martial law and have suspended the Quorum for the foreseeable future. As the highest ranking colonial officer still in a position to do anything, I came to the conclusion that decisions need to be made to best preserve fighting forces and save as many people as possible without having to go through miles of red tape to do it.
You should also know that i will not be taking over and as soon as we can reach somewhere safe i will relax martial law to allow you to run the civilian government again but while we are still in danger we need someone in charge who can make the hard choices who doesn't then have to govern the people once this is over so I'm taking that of your hands to allow you to better lead our people when this is over.
I hope to see you soon and hope we can work together to save as many as possible.
Rear Admiral Leonidas Kosta.
After reading the letter Laura was a little worried about what she read but at the same time relieved that she didn't have to make the decision that could cost thousands of lives.
She was just thinking through all that has been revealed when she walked Captain Adama. "Ma'am, Personnel transfer is underway and estimated to be done in the next 30 minutes as long as no problems arise. If we have time I hope to also transfer food stuffs and medical supplies from the ships that are leaving as we don't know when we will be able to resupply these resources in the future."
She looked at him and replied. "Very good Captain, Let me know when we are ready to jump." He nodded and then saluted and walked back out of the room.
Kronus Security Fleet In Orbit of Mining Colony - 7.5 Hours Into Attack
Admiral Stokes was the current head of Kronus Security and had command of their fleet assets that were currently gathered in orbit of Mining Colony Thermopylae overseeing the evacuation of the Civilians. He had received word that an attack was under way and that they were to evacuate the colony then make their way to Waypoint Alpha without delay.
He was checking off the latest progress reports when their advanced sensors picked up a Cylon battle group headed there way and where only 2 jumps away. "Comms order the Battlestars Agios, Hercules, Perseus to form a battle line with us and be prepared to intercept enemy units. They are to launch all Vipers. Raptors are to be loaded with ship killer missiles ready for a combat jump behind the enemy."
The comms officer acknowledged his orders and got on with it as Admiral Stokes went back to looking at the display table with charts of the system when an idea formed in his mind. "Colonel, how many Cruisers do we have with us at present?"
Colonel Peters replied. "Admiral, We have 10 cruisers with the fleet but only 8 are ready for battle. Two of those are equipped with the prototype Plasma cannon that HQ has been testing."
With that information the plan proceeded to take shape in his mind and he set to work to make it happen. "Colonel, I want you to have the cruiser form two units set up around each of the Plasma cannon equipped ships and to take position here and here to be ready to ambush the enemy ships after we have engaged them." The Admiral pointed to a small asteroid belt to their port side and the Gas giant situated to their Starboard side.
The colonel looked at the charts and realized very quickly what the Admiral planned and smiled as it was about time the Cylons felt what it was like to be ambushed in kind. "Right away. Sir" He then went to the comm unit and picked up the receiver to relay the orders.
While he was doing that the Admiral turned to the officer manning sensors and asked. "Do we have confirmation on enemy numbers?"
The officer replied. "No sir but we do have an estimate, Based on sensor readings we are facing 3 Base ships maybe 4."
Admiral Stokes didn't like the uncertainty of that report but knew he wouldn't get better till they got here so he accepted what he was told and did the math and given that they had to maintain their position due to the civilians that were being evacuated.
"Do we have an ETA on when the evacuation will be complete?" Admiral Stokes Asked.
The Civilian rep who up until then had remained quiet answered him. "Admiral, We estimate that evacuation will be complete in another 45 minutes for personnel and another 90 minutes for all the machinery and resources."
Admiral Stokes made a decision. "Forget the machinery and non essential resources as soon as the last person is abroad those ships are jumping out of here."
The Civilian rep wasn't happy about leaving the machinery behind but kept quiet and just accepted the inevitable. "Yes, Admiral" He then left to try and speed up the evacuation as he didn't want to still be here when the enemy showed up either.
30 Minutes Later
"Sir, Dradis is picking up 4 contacts at the edge of the system and their profiles match Cylon Base ships." The sensor's operator reported.
Admiral Stokes stopped and looked at the dradis screen and then started giving out orders. "Launch all vipers, and have a single squadron from each ship to fall back and protect the civilians from any that slip past us." The Admiral then looked at the Colonel and said. "Have the frigates and corvettes form a perimeter around the civilians and once the evacuation is done they are not to wait for us but to jump away to fallback point Epsilon."
The crew of the CIC went about their work as they relayed the orders and prepared the fleet for battle. It wasn't 5 minutes later when the 4 Base ships jumped to just outside of maximum firing range and launched their raiders.
"Sir, the enemy has jumped and are launching raiders. Raider count is at 800 and climbing sir." Reported the sensor officer.
Admiral Stokes just watched the dradis screen as the number of raiders plateaued at around 1600 when they started to move forward towards their battle lines.
"Colonel, How many nukes do we have aboard?" Admiral Stokes asked
The Colonel looked up and took a moment to reply. "We have 2 per battlestar, Sir."
Admiral Stokes nodded "On my order each battlestar is to launch a nuke to detonate inside the groups of raiders to thin their numbers."
It was 2 minutes later that Admiral Stokes gave the order to launch the nukes and 4 explosions blossomed in space and a third of the raiders were destroyed. "Order vipers to split to the flanks and engage Flak with burst shells. All Heavy KEW focus on the flanking Base stars and force them to focus to the center."
"Yes, Sir." The colonel relayed the orders and the vipers split to the port and starboard, 30 seconds later the flak barrage started and the raiders who didn't follow the vipers were being destroyed in large numbers.
Just after the flak screen was established the battlestars split into pairs and focussed their fire on the Base star to the opposite side that they were situated so that they did not fire through their own vipers.
The Cylons answered with massive waves of missiles both conventional and nukes. Most were being shot down by Flak fire but some got through the screen as the sheer number of missiles meant that they didn't get them all. The Battlestars shrugged off most of the conventional missiles due to the increased damage absorption from the polarized armor plating. But 2 nukes made it through the Flak, 1 hit the Battlestar Hercules mid-ship but only caused minor damage to some of the flak guns. The other managed to hit the Battlestar Olympus, Flag ship of the Kronus fleet and cause severe damage to the port side flight pod opening up several sections to space.
The Cylon ships were not doing so well either as the concentrated fire had caused fires to break out all over the flanking base stars but it was a lucky shot from the Battlestar Agios. It caused their Tylium bunkers to explode, blowing off one of the upper arms that veered off and struck the left hand center base ship in its lower arm, shearing it off as well.
It was as this was happening that Admiral Stokes ordered the cruisers and raptors to emerge from their hiding spots and engage the enemy. As the battle continued the Vipers were accounting for themselves well as they found that the raiders were not as manoeuvrable as the viper and whatever was piloting them didn't have much experience with space fighter combat as they were making rookie mistakes which cost them any advantage they had due to numbers.
With the new and existing units engaging the Cylons from three sides the Cylon base ships started to take more and more damage when the first base ship blew apart from a shot of the new plasma cannons aboard one of the cruisers. It surprised nearly all those involved in the battle as to how effective the weapon was. It was a few minutes later when the second base star went up in a ball of flame as what looked like their munitions cooked off and destroyed the ship from the inside.
The Kronus fleet didn't have it all their own way as 2 cruisers were damaged to the point that they had to make an emergency jump and 1 cruiser took a nuke straight into its engine block causing secondary explosions that split the ship in two.
Aboard the Battlestar Olympus's CIC Admiral Stokes looked on as another of the base ships became a floating wreck. It was as they were moving fire to the next base star that they jumped out and the raiders soon followed. He looked on as the Colonel started Search and Rescue for the pilots and any survivors of the destroyed cruiser. He was happy with the way the crews handled themselves and more than pleased with the effectiveness of the Plasma cannons as although reports showed that it hit something vital which caused the improved results the weapon still managed to get through the armor protecting that area.
The comms officer reported a message from the civilian fleet. "Sir, the civilian fleet is ready to jump and are proceeding to Location Epsilon." The amount of friendly contacts on the screen started to decrease as the civilian ships started to jump out.
Admiral Stokes was relieved that he didn't have to worry too much about the civilians now but he decided to take a risk that may pay some dividends in the long run. "Colonel have the Marines from ourselves and Battlestar Perseus launch landing parties on the disabled base star and try to recover some intelligence."
"Yes Sir, Permission to lead the boarding party sir." Looking at him you could tell the colonel really wanted to do some damage to the Cylons personally and standing at 6ft 4 inches and made of nothing but muscle he looked every inch of the imposing officer he sounded like.
The Admiral looked at him before nodding. "Permission granted, But colonel don't take too many risks as we need you alive as this is going to be a long war and there will be plenty of vengeance to take in the years to come."
The colonel replied while trying not to sound too Excited to be in the field again. "Understood Sir." He then left the CIC at a fast pace as if he was afraid the admiral would change his mind.
Admiral Stokes then asked the officer in charge of the Damage Control Parties for a report on when the damage will be repaired and then proceeded with the after action duties he needed to perform.