Battlestar Galactica: The Exodus
A Battlestar Galactica AU
Written by,
William R. Woods
Summary: What if President Roslin gathered fleet hadn't been discovered and continued to grow as those first terrible days after the Fall went by. What would happen?
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Never leave an unknown defeated, but still armed enemy at your back, for you may regret it in time…
- An Unknown Caprican General, during the Colonial Wars
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Sector Eight Seven Able
Helios Beta, Cryannus System
+29 Hours After Attack
In a relative barren part of the large Cryannus System the gathered ships of the Colonial refugees stood waiting for even more ships to join their ragged fleet. Their colonies and homes had fallen only several hours before to their old enemies the Cylons who had suddenly reappeared after almost fifty years of peace to brutally attack their worlds with nuclear fire. The majority of the survivors that remained after the attack were the ninety thousand people spread across the hundred or so ships gathered by the efforts of the new president of the colonies. Sadly only half of the ships gathered sported the needed FTL Drives to allow them to run away if found by the Cylons. Not to mention only a handful of the ships where military and none of those ships were members of the Colonials primary ship of the line the mighty Battlestar. The largest military ship in the gathered fleet would be the BerzerkClass Fleet Support Ship Vestal measuring at six hundred fifty meters long but happens to be only a support ship with minimal weapons.
On-board the fleet's flagship and presidential transport the Colonial OneCaptain Lee Adama stood outside the transports small VIP cabin which had been taken over as a combined private office and quarters for the new President. After a few moments waiting the door slid open and President Laura Roslin walked out in her rumbled business suit rubbing her eyes before placing her glasses back on her face. That done she turned to look at the standing form of her new military aide and smiled to see him no longer in his flight suit but in a proper Colonial uniform.
"Captain Apollo," she acknowledged him with a smile and a nod before continuing towards the main cabin of the small civilian transport that she had started to make her flagship with the Captain following behind her. She soon entered the main cabin and made a beeline for her new desk that now dominated the room along with a handful of smaller desk around the cabin. She smiled and nodded at her gathered staff before taking a seat and looking up at the Captain.
"So how are things going currently?" she asked the young pilot who took a seat in front of her desk.
"Currently we are transferring people from the non-FTL capable ships to those who do have FTL, but we may not have the space on the FTL ships for all those people on the non-FTL ships. However I may have a suggestion to help in that," he explained starting his report to her making the President frown at his news for there are over forty thousand people gathered on the non-FTL ships.
"Oh and what is your suggestion then Captain?" she asked eying him wondering what he had mind and was surprised to see him smiling.
"I have talked with both Doctor Amarak and Major Carter about Amarak's project the FTL Jump Booster which supposed to been announced alongside the CNP Navigation Program. Major Carter believes he can fabricate a few of the boosters on-board the Vestal very easily thanks to the Doctor sporting a prototype and plans for the device onboard the Olympic Carrier," he explained after a moment collecting his thoughts mentioning Major Brian Carter, Engineering officer on board the Berzerk Class Support Ship Vestaland Doctor Donald Amarak a noted official in the Colonial Ministry of Defense. However Roslin looked up in confusion at his statement wondering what this Booster happened to be, but before she could ask the Captain continued on.
"The FTL Jump Booster is a device that can be attached to a ship to allow it to jump even if it doesn't have an FTL drive. These boosters would have been used to help stranded FTL ships if their FTL drives had been damaged or destroyed for some reason. Now my plan is to attach a few of these boosters onto the Botanical Cruiser and the Picon Princess, the two largest of the sublight ships. Therefore we can start transferring the people that we cannot fit onboard the FTL ships onto those ships. The Princess is actually running light currently therefore possesses plenty of room for people," he finished explaining with a broad smile making Roslin nod in understanding before she leaned back in her seat for a few moments thinking before nodding.
"All right then Captain your plan is approved. Is there anything else?" the president responded making the Captain nod and make a note to have the Vestal start fabricating the parts needed.
"Yes Madam President, currently I have six fully armed Vipers out on Fleet CAP duty around the fleet along with a Raptor on Overwatch. Another three Raptors are busy jumping around the system to see if we missed anyone during our initial sweep. They have orders that in encountering of a Cylon ship or fighter to immediately jump back," he reported thanking the Gods once again that the Fleet Training Ship Borashad joined the fleet allowing the Vipers and Raptors gathered from various sources to land and rearm at the Boras. The Boras had originally been a Electra Class Through-Deck Transport Ship that been taken over by the Colonial Fleet to be turned into a training ship and carrier able to carry several Vipers easily. Granted though the current crew were trainees but they already a few weeks of onsite training on the Boras so they weren't completely inexperienced.
"That is very good but I really hope we manage to find a ship larger then an Escort or Gunstar to defend us for I don't think we could properly defend the fleet with what we have gathered here. Anyways speaking of the Boras do you think that the crew from the Vestal can fully turn her into a full-on carrier ship?" the President asked remembering the earlier briefing that he had given her on the ship which it had first appeared. Apollo looked thoughtful for a moment before looking down at his notes briefly before nodding.
"Given time I believe they can for the Boras was originally developed to operate as an auxiliary fighter carrier in an instance when it was needed. So it should be pretty easy for the engineer crews to turn it into a full on carrier, though to truly make it work we would need at least a full squadron of Vipers and supporting Raptors," he replied with a nod of his head making the President nod in understanding.
"How many Vipers and Raptors would it be able to carry at full strength?" she asked with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Well Madam President the original design for the Auxiliary Carrier Program called for it to carry two squadrons and supporting craft. So forty Vipers, and eight Raptors along with other supporting craft," Apollo answered promptly after glancing at his notes once more briefly. The President nodded at this before looking thoughtful for a moment.
"However back to more present matters. how many Vipers and Raptors do we have now have Captain?" she asked since she had been resting for last few hours therefore didn't know what they currently had.
"Well we currently have nineteen Vipers, and seven Raptors including my own Viper and Boomer's Raptor here onboard the Colonial One. However I only have six fully trained Viper pilots and four trained Raptor pilots though a few of the pilots are cross-trained in either craft including myself. I also have the twelve new nugget Viper pilots originally training on the Boras and I am letting the more ready of the class to pull CAP duty while the veteran pilots are taking a breather," he reported looking down at his notes making the President nodded pleased at this. He mentioned the twelve trainee Viper pilots that been originally on a training cruise onboard the Boraswhen the attack began alongside the trainee deck crew.
"Also do we have any news on the Galacticacurrently?" she asked with a frown mentioning the Battlestar that she along with the Captain on been onboard before the attack and had properly been able to resist the attack. Captain Adama flinched at the reminder of his Father's command but sighed and looked back at his notes before shaking his head.
"Not since the original contact we had before the original Raider attack on the Colonial One Madam President. Most likely we won't be able to get in contact them again till they leave Ragnar," the Captain dutifully reported making the President nod in understanding before noticing the figure of her chief Aide Billy Keikeya patiently waiting to deliver his own report.
"Thank you Captain Apollo, but now it looks like Billy needs to brief me on other matters," she said nodding to the young man making the Captain nod as well before he got up to salute her.
"Understood Madam President, I need to take my Viper over to the Borasanyways to get it repaired, rearmed and refueled anyways. Boomer is still resting and will be joining once she wakes up," he said after she returned his salute and then with a final nod to the President turned to leave the cabin of the ship behind him heading towards the small cargo-bay that now doubled as a hanger bay for the small star-liner. Elsewhere the black form that happened to be a Cylon Stealth Raider slowly started to make its way back to its base ship to report.
Council Room
Commandstar Alpha Prime
In Orbit of Caprica
31+ Hours After Attack
The Cylon Hades Class Commandstar was a new class of ship produced by the Cylons to command their fleets of Basestars and Escortstars. They looked similar to the Cylon HelClass Basestar but sported a circular hull similar to the older Cylon War era Basestars between the "y" looking pylons that gave the basestar its name. The Alpha Prime was the command ship of the entire attack and invasion of the Twelve Colonies therefore the Cylon's command council were all onboard the ship to meet on matters as the Attack entered its later stages.
In the Commandstar's council room the entire command council met to discuss the attack and review information on the attack. The council was represented by a member of each of the seven remaining Cylon models and a leader to oversee the entire Cylon Race the Imperious Leader. Currently the leader was on the Cylon Homeworld therefore the command of the attack on the colonies was given to the members of the council. The current leader of the council was the model One, codenamed Alpha-One though better known as Cavil to the others. He sat at the head of the table watching as the other models continued discussing the opening stages of the attack on the Colonies. As it started to wind down Cavil nodded at the six model representatives looking up at him.
"Alright it is time for us to enter Stage Three of the plan," he ordered making a few of the models nod with the others look surprised at this.
"Cavil, what about the report of a Colonial Civilian Fleet gathered in Sector Eight Seven? Shouldn't we destroy it first before starting stage three?" the Cylon Five-Echo, or better known as John to the others, asked with a frown on his face. Cavil looked over at him with a frown before shaking his head
"John you worry too much they aren't going to be doing anything to us, they have no way of really attacking us currently. If they do we will destroy them, besides we can come back later and destroy them during Stage Four for they doing us a favor of gathering up all the strays together in one spot. No, we shall begin Stage Three now," he replied with a scoff making a few of the surprised looking Cylons to nod in understanding at him though Five-Echo frowned before sighing.
"Understood Cavil, I hope this doesn't come and bite us in the ass later on," he mentioned with another sigh making Cavil frown and eye him evilly making the other Cylon to look away.
"Your concern is noted John. That said begin Stage Three!" he ordered turning away from the cowed Five before turning to other models.
"By your Command," they all intoned before passing on his orders to the Drone Legates who would then command the Centurions, Escortstars, and Raiders in battle. It was time to start hunting down the survivors on the colonies themselves and eliminate them.
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Author's Post Script
Well this little ficlet is something that I had started a while back, and had been an old idea I had for nuBSG series. I also threw in a few smaller ideas I had including the idea of the Cylons having another main capital ship class instead of just the Basestar. If I had continued this story we would have been properly introduced to the Cylon Escortstar which is based heavily on the Liche from Battlestar Galactica Online.
As for the FTL Boosters, I decided to throw these into the story to prevent a repeat of the canon version of events in the series. Basically these Boosters allow a Sub-Light Ship or a FTL Ship that has its jump drive damage to jump away. Granted it doesn't have a very long range, but still enough for getting around. That is reason for the two chosen Sub-Light Ships to be equipped with more then one booster. Now I hope these boosters make some sort of sense for I based them partly on the idea of the Fold Boosters from Macross, that I have seen used in a similar matter in several stories.
Anyways the idea that the Cylons ignore Roslin's growing refugee fleet was an idea I wondered about for a while therefore I wrote this little piece up. I hope a few readers would enjoy this little tidbit, and I wonder people's reaction will be.
That said thank you for reading.