The Bentusi, eternal beings of machine and flesh, welcomed the three Fleets into the 'Unbound', the space-faring peoples of their Galaxy. "The Outer Limb trade routes were established in the First Time by our Ancestors," their leader, or representative, spoke to the representatives from aboard the three fleets calmly, "And the Resources you collect are of value to the Bentusi Exchange. They will serve as an acceptable medium for trade."
The Three Fleets soon picked up the returning vessel of the Kushan ambassador, with the Bentusi stating, "It is our custom to equip trading partners with an Exchange Unit, which we have therefore provided to your Ambassador as a gesture of our goodwill," all while Admiral Nakano watched the ship dock back with the Kushan Mothership.
Admiral Nakano tapped her com and said, "We thank the Bentusi for being so generous, although… We do have several questions…"
"We've little time, but ask what you find most pressing," The Bentusi official replied, causing the woman to take a moment's pause. Well, the easiest questions to ask were the most important. Namely, they wanted to find a way home, to Earth, to help defend it against the Covenant, should the need arise.
She spoke, "We and the Galactica are not of this Galaxy," as she walked over to one of the armored windows of the ship and peered out at the Harbor Ship, "With that in mind, we'd like to ask how to get home. Our peoples are under attack and we need to help consolidate ourselves against the incoming threats."
"Your fleet designs felt strange from the beginning," The Bentusi confessed, then told them, "If you seek a way home, your greatest chance will be to aid the New Unbound in finding their way to their Homeworld. The technologies left in this Galaxy should then provide you a guidestone, a route for both you and your allies."
"... Thanks," Nakano repl;ied awkwardly, finding that a little cryptic. She was about to ask another question, only to pause as alarms blared, klaxons howling across the entire fleet. She marched up to the table again, barely hearing the Bentusi speak their goodbyes to the Fleets before disappearing through a golden hyperspace window. The woman then spoke, "We have contacts. One large warship high and counting maybe three dozen strike craft."
"Turanic Raiders. Servants of the Taiidan," Fleet Command replied over the com, the slightest bit of ire in her voice, "We are deploying Ion Frigates now. Galactica, we have Frigates ready to provide cover to your civilian ships. We will be engaging the enemy in combat with their fleet momentarily…" as their CAP force began exchanging fire with the Raiders' fleet.
"Copy your last, Fleet Command. All Vipers are go for launch and all weapons systems are hot. Enemy flagship on DRADIS, bearing 339, carom 220, like the Admiral reported," Adama replied over the com system. Indeed, the enemy carrier was high above them, which meant they needed to spread out their vessels to engage.
Outside, Kushan Corvettes and the Stalwarts began their screening actions, with the Frigates receiving the orders to move into formation with the Resource Collectors and mobile refinery. As they flew forward, forming the tip of the spear with the Charons and Parises not far behind, their 50mm rampart batteries lit the void with tracers.
Arcs of explosive shells with proximity fuses danced around the formation of vessels, striking both the enemy and the asteroid formations they were utilizing to descend upon the civilian craft. In the rear of the formation, the ships of the Civilian Flotilla belonging to the Colonial Navy blinked out of existence in flashes of light while the Galactica herself surged forth.
Her Flak batteries soon opened up, a dome of fire erupting above her just as a slew of enemy missile Corvettes tried to descend upon them. Aboard, Commander Adama ordered, "Mister Gaeta, have all batteries set to Volley Fire. Helm, bring us to Carom 210. I want our guns to have a clear solution on that son of a bitch."
Affirmative replies filtered through down to him as the ship began to move. DRADIS pinged multiple allied contacts forming up with them:The newly built Ion Frigates of the burgeoning Kushan fleet. Several gun-armed frigates jumped away from the battle in order to form up with the Civilian Fleet and protect it, for which Adama couldn't be any more thankful.
They could finally stay and fight, the man thought to himself. He watched enemy contacts wink off the DRADIS while their own fighters and Raptors tangled into the furball up above. Below them, the Resource Extractors slowly began their retreat alongside the Refinery Vessel, back toward the safety of the UNSC and Kushan vessels.
Starbuck banked right and pulled back on the stick, pitching the nose of the Viper to track an enemy missile truck. When she did, she called out, "Letting'er rip!" before squeezing the trigger. Scarlet tracers flashed at an arc, bullets striking the hull of the enemy craft and cutting through the crude armor plating.
One round punctured a missile in the rack, which caused it to detonate, starting a chain reaction that sent the bulky vehicle careening into one of the rocks. It detonated and shattered the asteroid, spraying rock and minerals all over the place, which the pilots were soon forced to dodge over and under, with Starbuck quickly pulling harder up on the stick. She scoffed and said, "Y'know, maybe the Bentusi could've stuck around!"
"It might've helped!" Lee replied as he dived on one of the other Light Corvettes, watching the Kushan craft firing away with the cannons mounted beneath their cockpits. One Kushan Corvette took a missile from one of the enemy's, a deep gash appearing in its side as its fuel ignited, then detonated. The craft's remains tumbled forward, slamming into the underbelly of the square, angular enemy Carrier.
The UNSC Frigates soon turned vertically, aiming their MACs toward the vessel. Of course, Stalwart MACs were much lighter than anything the rest of the Fleet could employ. Even as the Destroyers not far behind them fired their Archer Tubes toward the carrier, though, the ships let loose, white-hot projectiles lancing forth from the maws of the UNSC craft and striking the belly of the ship.
Craters dug into the armor as more volleys roared from the UNSC's ships. The Cruisers and Destroyers themselves moved to intercept, while the Kushan Frigates and Galactica finally got in range. A break in the Flak cloud between them and the enemy vessel later, a full volley from a dozen barrels struck the belly of the enemy ship, digging deeper and deeper holes.
Missiles struck next across the enemy vessel's superstructure as the fighters, a mix of Baselards, Longswords, Vipers, Kushan Corvettes and Interceptors cut down the Raiders' own supporting strike craft. The Frigates of the Kushan, meanwhile, finally reached combat range, lining up beside the Paris-class heavies.
The Ion Frigates charged their own bow-mounted batteries, the cannons visibly glowing as the particles within ionized. Before long, burning scarlet beams lit the void and the bows of the vessels before striking the enemy ship's armor. They painted criss-crossing patterns into the steel, burrowing deep into the ship's underbelly while the MACs and Missiles of the UNSC fleet reloaded and fired.
Adama watched the unfolding with cautious optimism,while Tigh held his arms crossed, staring at the DRADIS screen. He mumbled, "This is too frakking easy," as he looked at Adama.
"They're just Raiders. Pretty much pirates," Adama remarked as he listened to the battle chatter between pilots, watching Starbuck and Apollo coordinate with their allies. Fighter formations guarded the nuclear bombers of the UNSC, with the radiological alarm sounding as soon as one of them launched a nuclear torpedo at the command ship.
Tigh spoke in an annoyed tone, "C'mon, Bill… I thought you'd figure by now, nothing's ever gonna be that simple-" only to pause as a proximity alarm roared. He looked up at the DRADIS screen again, noticing several new pings appear behind the Mothership. He swore, "Son of a bitch!" as he put his hands onto the table, nails digging into the metal.
"New contacts, immediately off our one-eighty and two hundred, carom variable!" Gaeta called out."
"Serene Mind to Destroyer Formation! Come about and engage!" Admiral Nakano's voice bellowed over the com. The Formation of Destroyers arrayed ahead soon swiveled about, turning the full one-eighty degrees necessary to meet the new threats, but the enemy's frigates, grey, blooming flowers with extending panels at the rear and long stalks in the center, charged their main ion batteries.
The first beams cut into the side armor of the Mothership, boiling plate away as Fleet Command reported, "We're sustaining damage to Hull. Requesting Cover…"
"On its way, ma'am! This is destroyer Yudachi to all ships, safeties off!" The captain of the leading ship in the spearhead barked. A swirling mass of missiles soon launched from the ships as they moved into range to fire their MACs. The missiles hammered away at the unshieleded frames of the Frigates just as they turned to fire back.
Beams interlaced in the void and struck the bows of some of the Destroyers next, cutting across their battle plate and boiling it away. The reply, however, was fortuitously rapid, with a ripple-fired volley of MACs and missiles fired right at them. Some of the MACs obviously missed as the Frigates powered on their directional thrusters, but those that hit tore massive holes in the hulls of the ships, gouts of fire spilling out alongside spaced crew. One of the rounds had ripped off a solar panel on the back.
The Destroyers closed range and opened up with their side-mounted Rampart Point-Defenses. Armor piercing five centimeter rounds ripped through the armor, drilling neat holes across the superstructure. Missiles and projectiles hammered the hull of the enemy vessels until they started splitting at the seams. Some returned fire with their beam weapons and cut gashes into the Destroyers, but they were soon focused down and destroyed.
Turning on their axes, the Destroyers had soon arrived behind the enemy ships and aligned their MACs for another volley. When they charged, the cannons bellowed woefully, the bright flash of the gun firing being the very last thing the Turanic crews would see. Two ships were ripped in half immediately by the impact, while a third had the MAC shell go right down its ion cannon's barrel, detonating the reactor in a burning fireball. The last one had been cored and was dead in the water.
"Your timely rescue is appreciated, Captain," Fleet Command spoke softly, "Assigning Salvage Corvettes to retrieve the sole surviving enemy vessel…" and, all the while, she looked at the battle ongoing ahead. Radio chatter played on in her ears, from the Colonials' slightly muffled coms to the clear voices of the UNSC's fighter and frigate crews. Reports were positive.
"I got'em! I got'em!" Starbuck cheered as a trio of the remaining strike-craft size contacts disappeared off of her sensor screen.
Apollo replied, "Two more, heading for the Galactica. Razor, you got'em?!"
"Tight squeeze, but I have'em. Razor Squad, on me," The pilot of one of their own starfighters spoke as they dived down upon a pair of enemy missile corvettes, dodging through the flak wall set up by the Battlestar. The UNSC Cruisers to the Mothership's Left had shifted into position, aligning their MACs with the already heavily-damaged Carrier. Zooming in on it, Karan soon saw all the wounds she was bleeding from.
Fuel lines had been severed, leaking the burning lifeblood of the vessel into the void alongside oxygen from several sections that had been hammered to hell. Her hangar deck was currently being bombarded by their own Corvettes and even some of the lighter gun-armed Frigates, while beams from their own newly-made Ion Frigates burned deep craters into the battle plate.
"Admiral Nakano," Fleet Command spoke as she pulled up a quickly-scanned schematic of the ship, "Target this spot at the bow. I'm detecting ammunition within."
"Copy your last, ma'am," Nakano replied jovially. The four Cruisers synced up their targeting sequences in some kind of connection that Karan could feel, courtesy of their allied AI, while the Galactica continued bombarding the enemy vessel with her own top-mounted artillery batteries. More and more explosions blossomed across the hull as the guns fired in a neat, tight sequence, half a second after one-another. Their Flak batteries had gone silent, considering the lack of a threat from missiles and strike craft.
She felt the reverberation of the Cruisers' MACs firing in unison and watched the high-speed projectiles slam into the bow of the Carrier, around the indicated spot, tearing through its armor. The ammo within, once the impact had come, detonated. Dozens of secondary explosions ripped through the holds of the Carrier, billowing flames poking out of the already-inflicted wounds as the blast travelled up to the center of the vessel.
When it struck the reactor core and the fuel lines, the starship visibly shuddered, blew out into a balloon, then shattered under the weight of a megaton-strength explosion that destroyed several of the resource-rich asteroids below it. Its debris spread out far and wide, several chunks of it narrowly missing the Galactica and the mixed fighter and Raptor complement of the Fleet.
"Mothership-class contact destroyed. Turanic Raider force is non-factor," Reported Fleet Command. She sighed in relief, rubbed her face, then said, "All ships, stand down alert. Fighters, return for refuel and rearm… Casualty reports requested," as she looked over the screens dancing around her. They'd lost four pilots and fighters in the battle. Irreplaceable souls, but in the middle of a War for their own survival? Slight drops in an already filled bucket, sadly…
"Adama to Fleet Command and Admiral Nakano," The older man spoke, even as cheers echoed across their communications from the crew, "Suggest we continue the resource extraction operations and exit this part of the Great Wastelands as fast as possible. We might wake up with more Raiders on top of our heads soon."
"Suggestion accepted, Commander," FleetCom replied, then looked over to a display screen and pulled it toward her. She saw the damage reports from the UNSC fleet streaming in. Several of their ships had taken damage and lost point-defense gun batteries in the engagement, while others had their missile pods welded shut. She added to that report, "Admiral Nakano, tell your damaged ships they can dock with us to refit and rearm."
"Copy your last, FleetCom," Eiko replied warmly, "Open up the holds. I've got a couple frigates with battle damage… Hell, maybe this way you can pull the schematics for a MAC for your ships," and she cracked a smirk as her com screen appeared on the left of Karan. The woman smiled, too, then bowed her head and activated the repair vehicles and systems within the manufacturing hub of the ship.
The Admiral, meanwhile, watched from aboard the Serene Mind as the main platform attached to the left side of the Mothership opened. The door floated off to the side, giving room for the first of three Frigates in need of mending. The warship was soon picked up by what she could only assume to be a tractor beam, while fascicles of light criss-crossed the ship itself, scanners and repair vessels going over the damage, most likely.
She hummed, then walked back over to the table and leaned over it, watching their Phoenix-class vessel move to assist with the repairs and rearmament procedures. She ordered, "Charon, send the Mothership data packets on our ammunition types. MACs, Rampart and Archers. We'll probably need the logistical buff, considering…"
"Understood, ma'am," The AI replied. They were still visibly processing their encounter with the Bentusi, going by the flicker of the code across their caped form. They did, however, see that the Admiral stared at them with some concern. Calmly, they said, "Before you ask, ma'am… I am fine. The Bentusi opened my eyes a little."
"I getcha," Eiko told them, then sighed, "Keep me posted the next time we get to talking with'em, aye?"
"Aye, aye," The AI answered as they compiled the data requested.
The Admiral scratched her chin, flicked on the com again and said, "Fleet Command, my shipboard AI is about to transmit manufacturing specs for our ammunition. The Phoenix-class we have with us will assist in distribution, but we don't have a shipyard or factories to produce them otherwise. If it's alright with you, we'd like to request resupplies every so often."
"Of course," Karan replied. Eiko looked at Charon, who nodded and, with a flick of the wrist, sent forth the information necessary. Karan said, "Data received. We will begin manufacturing stockpiles of ammunition as soon as possible for your fleet. Commander Adama, do you require assistance in rearming, too?"
"We'd appreciate the extra reserves, ma'am, aye," Adama answered quickly, "But we don't have digital specifications for the ammo, only Blueprints we can copy and send over with an envoy shuttle."
Karan told him, "That will be fine. We have means of digitizing them ourselves."
Adama sighed, audible relief washing over him. He replied to her, "Many thanks, Fleet Command. Admiral Nakano, requesting permission to come aboard?" as the ship's sensors began tracking two shuttles moving toward the ships. One aimed for the Mothership, while the other was moving to the Serene Mind.
She chuckled and said to him, "Permission granted, Commander. See you on the bridge. Nakano, out," before turning the com system off and sitting down. Calmly, she watched the resource collectors doing their thing again, each of them pruning an asteroid for every piece of usable materiel within with some sort of highly-advanced beam.
It was a matter of acquiring enough materiel to build new vessels and replace the losses. With that in mind, a 'sphere' defense formation had been undertaken by most of the UNSC and other Military Craft, with the Galactica and several mass-driver-armed Frigates standing guard beside the Mothership just in case.
They were also extracting bits from the wreck of the enemy warship, obviously. Repurposing materials in space when you don't have the necessary facilities to repair and rearm meant that they needed to basically field-strip enemy vessels they destroyed, or capture others. They were basically ripping the craft apart at a molecular level, from what she could tell.
A few moments later, the door to the vessel's bridge slid open, revealing Commander Adama. He held close a set of papers with bevelled corners as he walked over. The woman stood up and the two elderly members of both Navies quickly snapped salutes to each-other, Adama stating, "The Civilian Fleet's jumping back to us soon with the Kushan escort ships."
"That's good," Eiko replied happily. Indeed, the first winking lights of Colonial FTL Vessels appeared off their right side, while the Kushan ships jumped in via those strange, blue square-like windows into Hyperspace, materializing next to the Mothership. They all soon folded into the defense perimeter, with the Civvie mining ships, the Colonial One and other vessels being placed in the middle of the defense area. The Admiral then added, "I'm gonna hazard a guess and say the Resource Collectors don't have that much left-over work before we're out of here."
"It's why I came to speak to you, actually. Gods know when we're gonna get a chance to discuss certain matters again," The man replied, offering the woman the papers. She took them with a nod, then started reading through the report. He told her, "According to data acquired by our head researcher during our… Either fortunate, or unfortunate jump, depending on how you look at things, a power surge connected the entire Fleet jump mechanism which led to us arriving here."
"Similar occurrences with us," Nakano spoke as she parsed through some of the calculus made by the man. She added, "We were synced up to jump outbound to Earth, to try and rearm, recuperate and then Reinforce the Home Fleet-" all while casually reading the report, which explained that their FTL Drive malfunction was tinged a slight blue.
"Earth…?" Adama paused, causing the woman to look at him. She nodded, to which he told her, "We didn't know your humanity was from Earth…"
Nakano hummed, then stated, "I suppose we didn't mention that in any outgoing reports… Why?"
Adama blinked, then told her, "We're looking for Earth. For a new home to settle our people into, for a sister tribe that went and landed on your homeworld. After we lost the Twelve Colonies, that was our objective…" which caused Nakano to blink. She hummed, confused, to which Adama told her, "You're telling us if we stick with you, we might find a way to Earth?"
"... Considering we're in another Galaxy entirely?" The woman replied with half a mouth, staring at the conclusion being the same as their own researchers', that they weren't in the Milky Way anymore(Which was a given. That bit was shared between the Fleets). She then told him, "It's why I asked the Bentusi for a way home…"
"I suppose that makes sense," Adama replied, then cracked a smile and said, "This is the greatest news we've gotten so far in our journey," as he turned to watch the Mothership let the last frigate that was being repaired out from within its hold. It had fresh, shiny new ramparts and the beam marks on its hull had been repaired relatively quickly, meaning she could still use her missile pods.
Nakano cracked a smirk and said, "We'll drag your asses all the way to Earth, then. So help me God, we'll make it there," only to get a weird glance from the man. She raised a brow and asked, "What? Don't tell me you guys judge religions or something right now, just because I said 'God'...?" only to get a very slight shake of the head.
He told her, "The Cylon, the bastards who drove us from the Colonies, also have a Monotheistic faith."
"Yikes... Not sure you can consider Christianity Monotheistic," She hummed, taking a moment to consider the theological questions before sighing and adding, "Look, I'll just… Send you a report on Earth if you and yours wanna read it, celebrate, get drunk, whatever… Just make sure someone's still sober enough to be driving the boat when all's said and done so we don't have to leave a guard fleet behind while you all sober up."
Adama took a pause at that, grinned, then let out a loud snort and shook his head, "Duly noted, Admiral… Don't worry. A lot of the people on board the Galactica try to stay sober on duty."
"Good," Eiko chuckled. She paused as she heard a ping, then looked back at Charon, who appeared in front of them. She inquired, "What have you got for us, C?"
"It seems as though the Turanic Raiders have a base of operations deeper within this asteroid field," The AI reported, pulling up a starmap and pointing out the specific system as they explained, "The captured vessel aboard the Mothership reported as much. And the data we retrieved when we scoured what was left of the Turanic Carrier's network confirmed the reports."
"What does FleetCom want to do with this info?" The Admiral asked as she loomed over the images.
Charon told her, "Miss S'Jet stated that they'd like to take it out, but would rather not risk currently available resources to strike at a single station… Although she has also stated it is our prerogative if we wish to get rid of another source of ships that could be tailing us, all while they take a fleet forward to engage the Taiidani patrol that wiped Kharak out."
The Admiral and Commander exchanged quick glances, before Nakano offered, "... One cruiser, two destroyers and a pair of escort Frigates from our Battle Group should be able to take it down while the rest of us help deal with the Taiidan and guard the Colonial Fleet. That is if the Galactica doesn't wanna tag along, too?" as she looked pointedly at Adama. The man nodded, which meant the Admiral stated, "Alright, then. We'll send you the escort I mentioned before."
"Much appreciated," The man replied. With another salute, the pair parted ways and the Admiral immediately began preparations for their attack. She'd be sticking by the Mothership with the rest of her fleet while Commander Adama dealt with their mutual malefactors. Charon, meanwhile, continued trying to compute the Bentusi…
… A whole load of questions were still unanswered and more kept piling on. Classic…