Chapter 21 - The Fall Part 4
Colonial One - Deep Space - 8.25 Hours Into Attack
President Roslin stood at the back of the cockpit as the raptor piloted by Lt Valerii call sign Boomer. "Colonial One this Boomer we have done another sweep of the area and have found no new contacts."
Roslin was disappointed but moved on with the plans ahead. "Ok, ask her to remain on patrol with Lt Holland while we finish up moving the last of the supply's."
The Co-Pilot responded in the affirmative before relaying the orders. Roslin was just about to leave the cockpit when the dradis started beeping in warning. "Dradis contact, no IFF. Contact launching missiles." Reported the Pilot as the Dradis beeped in a more serious way. "Nuclear ordinance detected."
President Roslin didn't wait for him to finish. "Tell the fleet to Jump now we can always replace those supplies. Have the two raptors launch countermeasures."
The Radio was alive with chatter as the ships started to jump away when a report came from one of the raptors.
"Countermeasures launched, Tracking 12 incoming missiles." Boomer reported. "7 Missiles diverted from targets. 3 missiles headed to derelict ships."
Roslin watched on as the Missiles were still incoming when one hit a small liner that was filled with people and the ship disappeared in a ball of flame and debris "How long till the last ship jumps." Roslin asked.
The Pilot responded. "Last ship jumping now Ma'am"
"Colonial one you need to jump now before they launch more missiles." Lt Holland called out over the radio.
The Pilot did not wait for a confirmation from the President before he turned the jump key and Roslin felt the familiar feeling of being buffeted by pressure as the ship jumped. "Did everyone make it." She asked.
Pilot spent a minute looking over the Dradis before responding. "We have lost the Liner Athena's Wisdom and Postal Courier Swift." He paused as he did some math. "All told we have lost 320 souls."
Roslin frowned but knew the time to mourn wasn't now. "Have the ships ready for the next jump as we will be going the minute the raptors report in."
The pilot was doing as ordered when the raptors jumped in and reported the destruction of the ships they left behind and confirmed the losses of the two ships.
The pilot reported they were ready to jump 5 minutes later and President Roslin just nodded and they continued their journey to Ragnar Station with the Raptors as escorts."
Kronus Security Fleet In Orbit of Mining Colony - Boarding Party Aboard Disabled Base Star- 7.5 Hours Into Attack
Colonel James Peters was sitting in the assault raptor as it made its way to the Base ship dressed in the usual marine garb. Although it had been a while he was very familiar with the equipment a marine use as unlike most of the ex-fleet personnel he started in the marines for 12 years and managed to get to the rank of Colonel before transferring to the fleet as a Captain when he suffered an injury to his leg that would have forced him into early retirement.
He looked around the Raptor at the 5 marines checking and rechecking their equipment before they went into combat. "Steady boys just remember no matter what they look like aim for their visor and center body mass as taking off limbs won't do much to stop them.
They all chorused out "Yes Sir"
The Colonel was rechecking his weapon when the raptor pilot called out. "30 Seconds." He put on his helmet and got ready to exit the raptor on touch down.
30 Seconds later the raptor landed and the hatch opened to a landing bay of some sort that had some bulky type transports scattered around and what looked like a new model Cylon. It had slender limbs and a less bulky looking torso but given that they were in piece's it was hard to tell what they looked like exactly.
The Marines fanned out as they were joined by 3 dozen more that disembarked from the other Raptors and secured the landing pad as a shuttle landed with more marines and some volunteer techs who were going to take some of the destroyed Cylons back for research.
The Colonel waited till a perimeter was set before issuing orders. "Ok, Captain Lewis, i want you to take 2 squads and look at the engine room make sure to take pictures and recordings. Captain Smith I want you to take 2 squads and look at the armory and if possible take a couple of their nukes for the boys back in the lab to look over. The rest will come with me to look for the command and control deck and later the mainframe if we can find it."
With a couple of yes sirs and a lot of movement the three units moved out while leaving a few squads behind to maintain their evac point. Colonel Peters was in the center of the line of marines who hugged both sides of the corridor as they made their way to what they hoped was the command center.
It was about 10 minutes later that they came across their first resistance since entering the ship as they came across 3 of the newer models and he could now confirm that they stand at 2 meters tall with long slender fingers that could tear into a side of beef and leave nothing but steaks behind. It was as they were approaching that the centurions noticed them and their hands did some sort of transformation to double barrelled guns that started firing down the corridor and hit the first marine in line before they could fire back.
They started trading fire with the centurions when the first centurion's head blew up from an explosive round fired by the injured marine at the front of the line. But that shot drew attention back to him and cost him his life as the remaining centurions peppered him with rounds from their guns.
It was a few minute's before a second centurion took enough damage that they shut down and the third scanned the area before it started to run down the corridor towards the marine's. There was some panic as the marines fired down the corridor on full auto. It took till the centurion was a few steps away before it collapsed to the ground as a wreck and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Colonel Peters walked up to the Cylon with his gun pointed at it and then shot it in the head and chest twice each just to make sure. He then walked up to the downed marine as the medics were looking over him but they shook their heads. "Taylor, Stuarts carry him, we leave no one behind today."
The named marines came forward and replied at the same time. "Yes, Sir"
The Colonel then had the marine continue their approach when they came across the first human body. "Sir, There is a human here but she doesn't look like a prisoner."
Colonel Peters walked up and looked at the body of a tall blonde who was sprawled on the floor but was dressed in some sort of business suit. "I don't know but take a photo of her face."
"Yes, Sir" After taking a quick photo they moved on when they came across another human, this time a Tall Black man dressed as a doctor with white lab coat and all.
"Get a photo and let's keep going." Colonel Peters ordered.
They kept walking for what seemed like hours but was only around 15 minutes but all the hallways looked the same apart from the odd room with a standard double bed and not much else. They were starting to worry that they couldn't find anything when they came across a room with a pool in its center. In the pool was a woman with cables and wires coming out of the majority of her body including her scalp.
While looking around the room they could see several human bodies. There was a light blonde haired man who looked to be in his late 40's and then there was a strawberry blonde haired woman he recognised as a reporter from one of the news channels he watches when on leave. "Take photos of everything. And find out if we can interface with there computer."
It took a few minutes for the photo's to be taken when the private, who was also a tech specialist, spoke. "Sir, I can't seem to find any way to interface with their data stream as their system seems to be a mix between mechanical and biological and I have no idea what to do."
Colonel Peters was a bit disappointed that they couldn't get any of the files but decided that they had enough info and they only had so much time before the cylons came back. "Ok, get a sample of the Biotech and lets get back to the evac site."
"Yes, Sir." They collected some samples and packed up when the Colonel decided they needed a bit more.
He turned to the biggest out of the marines and said. "Lewis, do you think you could carry that body from the pool?"
The marine in question looked at the body and how small it was and said. "Yes, Sir I think I can but won't be able to do much else though."
Colonel Peters nodded and said. "Ok do it and stay in the middle of the formation." They then proceeded to pack up what they could and leave back to the evac site.
On their way back the rear marines came under fire again and they spent the next 5 minutes doing a fighting retreat when they eventually got back to the evac site the radios came back alive with reports from the defenders. "The Colonel's team incoming hot."
"Roger has support ready to fire once they clear the corridor." Said the officer in charge of the Evac site's marine detail. They held fire and as the last marine made it out of the corridor they opened fire and poured as much fire down the corridor as they could till the gunfire out of the corridor stopped.
Colonel Peter's took stock of the situation and noticed a couple of marines had taken gunshots here and there and were operating on pure adrenaline. "Medics get the wounded loaded asap. Lieutenant any news from the other teams."
The lieutenant who was in charge of the Evac site replied. "No Sir, As soon as the three teams made it about 50 feet into the corridors the radios cut out so we were out of contact."
Nodding at that they just waited while reinforcing the perimeter with the marines from the colonels team. It was 10 minutes later that the team sent to the engine room returned. They have 2 dead and 4 casualties but managed to get the control section of their jump drive by literally ripping it out of where it was installed.
They still had not heard from the Team sent to the Armoury when they heard shouts and gunfire coming from the corridor they were sent down. "Squad Alpha with me." The colonel ordered as he rushed to the corridor gun at the ready.
He came across the team pinned down by half a dozen centurions so Colonel Peters pulled a grenade from his belt and shouted "FRAG."
He threw the grenade and took cover at the entrance to one of the rooms that were scattered around here and there. Once in cover he took notice of what the team was dragging apart from a few seriously injured or dead marines was two missiles on can only be described as makeshift sleds.
"Team Charlie fall back by two's." Colonel Peters called out as he took aim and nailed one of the cylons in their visor. As the marines fell back with their dead and wounded Colonel Peters took hold of one of the sleds and dragged it behind them as the rest of his squad laid down fire.
It took them 5 minutes to leapfrog back to the evac site and a further 5 minutes to eventually off load everyone under the watchful eyes of a pair of raptors. They left the base star and when a safe distance away Colonel Peters took the receiver from its holder and called out over the comm's.
"Battlestar Olympus, this is Peter's request fire order on base star, Active hostiles still active on board." He requested over the comm's
"Request approved, Fire order in T-minus 5, 4, 3..." When the countdown reaches zero all the battlestars launched missiles by two's until the base ship was nothing but debris that would eventually burn up in the planet's orbit.
It took a further 10 minutes for the raptors and shuttle to land on their respective battlestars and before they had even started unloading they felt the ship jump away and not too soon as 6 base stars jumped in a few minutes after they left.
Cylon Base Ship - Orbit of Mining Colony - 9 Hours Into Attack
Steven Cavil was a lower ranked One Model and currently stood in the command and Control room of the lead base ship. "Where are they? We had reports from the Centurions who resurrected that they were still here not 20 minutes ago." He asked the others.
A three who was currently using the Gel interface responded. "Sensors are picking up debris from the three destroyed base ships, what looks like a scuttled colonial cruiser. The planet's surface shows leftover machinery and supplies but a thorough search would be advisable for any left behind intelligence."
Steven looked at the three and ordered. "Well if you think it's so important you can lead it." He then started to pace the room muttering to himself. "John's not going to like this." He was worried as even if they shared the same template John would have no problems boxing him for his perceived mistakes.
What made things worse was that none of their plans were going as well as John promised and the other models were starting to grumble about how they should have waited to attack. Steven was more worried about his brother's mental stability as since he ordered the attack on the colonies he has been more and more crazed in his belief that he is infallible and that he was never wrong.
Steven stood there going through all this in his head as the other models in the CIC were looking at him waiting on his orders. "Fine, Send down scouting teams and see if they can find out where they fled to. Also send a team to what is left of the cruiser and see if anything of its computers is salvageable. Lastly, get a message to John and tell him what we have found and that we suspect more ships have survived the initial attack as it is unlikely that a security company can match 4 base stars and destroy three of them."
The other models accepted the orders and went about doing their jobs while Steven contemplated what happened here will do to the overall plan.
Picon - Underneath in What's Left of Fleet Command Bunker - 8.75 Hours Into Attack
Peter Corman awoke while feeling groggy as he looked around when the nurse walked over. "Easy there Admiral you took a hit to the head from some falling concrete. You're in the makeshift infirmary on the lowest level of the bunker."
Corman looked around and noticed several other injured people lying on cots spread out in the room. "How long was i out?" He asked the Nurse.
She looked at him and replied. "Only a couple of hours. I had hoped you would rest for longer as you took a very nasty hit but I suppose given what's happened the gods aren't granting many miracles today."
Corman looked a little taken aback at her lack of hope but decided he would get a full rundown of their situation before he decided their next move. "Who's currently in charge at the moment."
The Nurse replied. "That would be Major Lewis. He was the highest ranking officer apart from yourself and commander Haraldson." She indicated the bed next to his when mentioning the commander. "He was stuck underneath a chunk of concrete and a piece of rebar punctured his liver so he is currently in an induced coma till we can get him some proper help and it needs to be soon as he lost a lot of blood."
Corman was a little saddened to hear that so many had perished from his own command staff and even more so knowing he could not do much to help Commander Haraldson. "Can you ask Major Lewis to meet me at his earliest convenience." He asked the nurse who nodded in response and left to pass on the message.
It was an hour later that the major entered the infirmary and walked up to and saluted Admiral Corman. "At ease Major, I think we can do away with the formalities due to the current situation. So what's our current situation?"
Major Lewis took a few seconds to formulate his answer before answering. "All told where in a pretty bad situation, we have 237 souls currently situated on the lower 3 levels of the bunker as although your notice did get out not a lot of people made it in time. Thankfully the lower levels had most of the supplies so we have plenty of food, medical supplies and other essential supplies." He mentally ticked off his checklist as he reported their current situation. "The biggest problem we do have is that we have lost all communications with the outside and the exits have all collapsed so we have no way out."
Admiral Corman nodded as Major Lewis finished his report before asking. "How many marines do we have amongst the survivors?" As a plan started to form in his head.
Major Lewis took a moment to think then replied. "We currently have 45 marines who are able and willing."
Admiral Corman nodded and then informed the Major of his plan. "Well major i want you to form up 2 squads and have them ready for a recon mission. Then I want you to check the lowest level at the north east corner for a metal panel marked SB15-NE112. When you have found that, look for an electrical box on the wall, open it and you will find a keypad. Enter code 21168997, It should open up to reveal an emergency escape tunnel only known by high ranking members of command. I want you to send the two squad out to scout to see if the tunnel is intact and if it can be used to get out and then report back and we can plan to leave."
Major Lewis looked a little shocked about the hidden exit but with the revelation a new hope sprung to life in his mind at the prospect of actually getting out of there. "Yes, Sir, I will get on with that right away."
Alteran Battlegroup Alpha - 9 Hours Into Attack
Admiral Adama was just going over the last reports before their final jump into the system where their primary target is. The target was what looked like the Cylons primary shipyards as around the planet it had 6 berths for construction and several empty docks where it looked like they store ships when not in use. The defensive fleet consisted of 4 Base ships and around 3 thousand raiders from the ships and planet surface.
Adama looked towards his ship commander and asked. "Is the Battlegroup ready?"
The commander replied. "Yes sir, all ships report ready for combat."
Admiral Adama looked around at his crew and then gave the go order for their jump into the system.
"Jump completed sir. Vipers are launching and raptors are away with full nuclear loadout." Reported the comms officer.
"Very well take us in and let's give them a bloody nose." Admiral Adama said as he prepared himself for what was to follow.
"Sir, the base ships are moving to intercept and are launching their raiders." The dradis officer reported. "We have raiders rising from the planet's surface. They are meeting up with those from the base ships. Count is at 2300 and rising."
Adama nodded and looked over the dradis screen as the raider count settled at 3100 and then gave out some orders. "I want the Gunstars to focus their fire on the base stars and leave the raiders to us and the vipers. I want the flak screen to open fire when the raiders reach half way into the fire zone." He then looked at the fleet CAG who was standing next to the dradis screen. "CAG i want a squadron of vipers to safeguard the Gunstars in case any raiders slip through. Then I want another 2 squadrons held in reserve just in case there are any nasty surprises. Lastly the rest of your Vipers are to split into two and secure either flank of the flak screen."
The CAG replied. "Yes, Sir." He then picked up the receiver and relayed the orders to squadron leaders as he assigned their positions and duties.
Admiral Adama then turned to the ships XO. "Colonel, I want the Raptors ready to jump and bypass the base stars the minute we have drawn them far enough away from our targets."
"Yes Sir, They are ready and waiting for the right time to jump." The colonel replied.
The Fleets of ships slowly made their way towards each other. The Raiders started to pull ahead of the base ships and were making progress when the battlestars opened up with the flak guns and the raiders were in the middle of their fire zones.
As the battle started to intensify the vipers advanced on either side of the flak fire and engaged what raiders made their way there in a dogfight that was both bloody and awe inspiring.
It was a minute or two later when the larger ships got in range of each other and the base ships launched their usual barrage of missiles continuously. The battlestars opened up with their KEW's and their own missiles.
It was a few minutes into the battle when the Alterans Mars class battlestar opened up with its Plasma cannons. A ball of light started at the tip of the alligator shaped head of the battlestar and progressed to the center most base ship and hit it on one of its upper arms and blew it off completely. The arm spun as it careened through space and hit the base star to its immediate left in its center pylon. The collision caused major damage to its missile batteries and raider launch bays before continuing to fly off into deep space.
It was as this was happening that the raptors jumped into close proximity of the shipyards and docks and launched their nuclear payloads and jumped away again. Not all the raptors managed to jump away before being hit by the defensive batteries and some of the missiles were destroyed before hitting its intended target but a fair amount made it through and hit.
The shipyards and docks disappeared into great big balls of light and nuclear fire as the missiles hit their targets. The Cylon base ships continued to fire and managed to score a few hits on the Alteran forces but given the improved armor and polarized hull saw most of it shrugged off. The biggest loss to the Alterans were the Vipers and their pilots as they were largely outnumbered by the raiders and that increased their losses above normal.
Admiral Adama looked on as the reports on casualties and losses were reported as the Vipers engaged the raiders. When the report came in that the raptors had done their job the Admiral gave some new orders. "Recall all vipers and have the Raptors jump to the Rendezvous location. Once all the vipers are down jump us out of here."
The commander did as instructed and started giving more detailed orders and the comms officer relayed orders to the other ships and small craft. It was 3 minutes later when the last viper landed and the Alteran fleet jumped away. The raiders had taken heavy losses and were reduced to less than half their number and the base ships were pretty beaten up especially where the plasma cannons hit but were still mostly operational.