50 days second cylon war
Task force Vengeance
Virgonese royal navy Battle cruiser Imperator Typhon
Admiral Javin Lamb stood on the bridge of his battlecruiser with pride. His fleet has acquitted themselves honorably in both the massive cylon assault on Scorpia and the capture of Picon. Even now nearly five thousand Imperial marines and army personnel were stationed on or around Picon searching for any more Cylon hold outs.
Javin looked over the fleet board with a pang of honor seeing the ten surviving ships of Task force 12. But he also felt rage, the pride and joy of the Imperial Virgon Navy; the fleet tender Dream of Virgon had been captured by those Gods damn alien pirates. Who knew how many of her crew was still alive as prisoners if the Unggoy these Grunts as the UNSC personnel called them had spoken that many of his people might still be alive enslaved by the Kig-yar or Jackals. Based on the information he had seen in archives of their appearance Javin agreed with the nickname.
His task force of nearly a hundred ships had requested and received approval for an assault on what was left of their home colony of Virgon. And he intended to see if the cylons stationed there could feel fear as he put the barrel of his new MD6 Magnum against their shiny skulls.
"Last jump Admiral."came the velvety call from Captain Wilma Tavish, the Red hair just as vibrant as the day she had left the colonial fleet to serve in the Royal Virgon Navy.
"Good. Ship Status?" he asked
"Condition two as you ordered Sir." she said
"Good notify the fleet, we jump in five minutes." he said walking over the tactical display he heard the order passed along as he knew it would be. Focusing on the ships under his command his thoughts dark.
Task force 12 before the war had concised of the Typhon, three carriers, nine cruisers, and four fleet freighters for the six month peacekeeping mission in Coris he had a pair of army transport freighters and the Dream of Virgon added to his command. His knuckles tightened on the rim of the board as the memories of the four days of relative peace before the worlds came crashing down on him and the rest of the human race.
Task force Vengeance contained in addition to task force 12's survivors; three Battlestars, two captured Basestars, twenty four fleet carriers, thirty Berzerk assault carriers, sixteen firestars, twenty two Manticores, and thirteen freighters loaded with the UNSC anti-radiation foam. Each carrier also carried a full squadron of Longsword fighters produced by the Artemis and the Shipyard station F. Hundreds of Colonial pilots had been using simulators and simulated combat all over Scorpia's space while not as fast as Vipers. The Longswords firepower, armor, and survivability had impressed the space and air forces of the Colonies. Each carrier also carried a lone pelican dropship for the same reason.
Each of the ships had also been slightly modified with UNSC level weapons. Not much in the way of direct combat but most ships had detachable box launchers holding Archer missiles. With some point defense guns thrown in here and there.
"Fleet reports ready for jump sir" Captain Tavish reported.
"Jump"
Virgon
The fleet blinked into existence and as everyone on the bridge saw their homeworld you could have heard a pin drop.
Javin his throat working but no words came out looked at the ashen grey planet the dirt and ash had completely covered the planet making it impossible to see the surface. Before he could see anymore an alert sounded from tactical.
Snapping himself out of his daze, Javin turned to see the young man manning the tactical screen eyes locked on the view of home and Javin remembered the man Specialist Robert Conrad his wife had given birth to twins a few weeks before deployment to Coris.
Walking over to the heartbroken man Javin eased him from his station looking to a marine by the door "take him to medical, have the doc sedate him."
The marine saluted and took Robert and with a gentle hand led him from the bridge. Looking at the tactical display he saw the cause of the alert. A small purple ship…one of the pirates from the looks of it hanging over a cylon basestar scavenging.
Looking over the bridge crew still gazing at the planet without truly seeing it he took a deep breath "ATTENTION ON DECK!" he shouted
The crew jumped out of their seats and stood at attention, their military training forcing them to focus.
In a commanding voice "we are not alone here the faster we deal with the enemy the faster we can look for survivors." he said looking each of the crew in the eyes "you are all part of the Royal VIrgon Navy you all know how much money and resources the Emperor allocated to not only the active protection of his beloved subjects but also the passive defenses where should his loyal navy, marines, army, and air forces should fail people on the ground would be protected."
Javin looked at a man on the communications console " you lived in Hadrian with your wife and three kids correct?"
Samual Coleson stood straighter as the admiral called his name, eyes widening at the mention of his family. "Yes Sir." was all he could get out
"Hadrian had that massive first war bunker capable of holding ten thousand people right? It remains fully stocked and even has underground botanical sections for air recycling and some light food production. correct? ." as Javin spoke he walked towards Coleson placing a hand on his shoulder.
Looking towards the damage control station "Ms Garner." he said walking towards the kid who arrived fresh out of the royal Naval academy "your parents and five siblings i believe live in Boskirk in the military housing?"
Lauren Garner couldn't speak but wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded "base housing has their own shelters remember? The weekly drills to help people in the case of an attack or some natural disaster."
She nods again
He looked to the other men and women on the bridge "then do your duty and once we are able to look we can check every bunker and every refuge for our loved ones and our people." he tapped the tactical display and the burned world is replaced by the small purple ship "we are not alone let's end this and get to work."
The crew spurred on by his words shined as an example to the fleet bringing everyone back to the matter at hand.
Captain it's fair to say their weapons and energy shielding gives them a tactical advantage even against our numbers. Any ideas?"
Wilma thought for a few minutes as she read over the information the UNSC had on this,CPV class corvette normal crew of two hundred and eighty ish six heavy plasma cannon almost a dozen laser weapons and that's if they havent augmented them the way they did the other UNSC ships. As for its normal air wing; twenty eight aircraft and just over a hundred insertion pods ... .insertion ... .stealth. "What about a stealth mission sir?"
"Imposible" retorted Javin "their sensors would detect any Raptor or pelican boarding party before it could get close."
"What if we didn't use them?" she said, pulling up the area around the pirate ship. And its estimated sensor range. And points to a nearly intact Prince Daylyn heavy cruiser "it's clear they are looting from the dead ships look here." She points to another area where a Manticore is powering up navigational and internal lights clearly seen. "They look to be repairing some of the least damaged ships and loading them with debris from others. So what if we used marines to board that cruiser and when the aliens see a nearly intact ship sitting right for the taking the last thing they will be expecting is marines to greet them."
"I think that would work." said Javin
Three hours later Corporal Garn Cruise Imperial Virgon Marines in sealed EVA Fatigues was inside the cruiser with two hundred other marines using teleoperated cameras on the hull watching the alien ship creep closer.
They had watched the ship physically dock with intact ships to pressurize it so repair and salvage crews could move quickly to reactivate the ship. The alien pirates had added nearly a dozen ships to the original Manticore they had repaired and reactivated; half of them were Virgonese warships.
As the pirate ships approached Garn fingered his new MA5B assault rifle its design was different then the BR18 that was issued to Virgons Marines, but he welcomed the more powerful weapon. His men were likewise equipped with a mix of UNSC weaponry.
Boarding the ship they had left the exterior airlocks open but closed the inner bulkheads, as they were going through the ship's computer they had discovered the name of the cruiser they were on, Prince Sareme Wein named for a warrior price of the first war. The cylon controlled CNP had vented the ship to space, locking all hatches and doors open; the eight hundred men and women aboard had asphyxiated in seconds.
The history lesson was interrupted as the alien corvette docked physically attaching itself to the outer hull the arm mounted display said the ship was being flooded with oxygen at the same time swarms of aliens, from the look of their suits Jackals and Grunts jumped from their ship and began walking towards an open airlock. "Remember the little guys the grunts." said Garn over an encrypted line of sight laser transmitter "they are slaves so target the Jackals first, if they see us only shooting their masters we may start a revolt amongst their ranks."
The first group came into sight and Garn clicked his open mic three times, the signal for the other marines to launch their counter boarding operation. He watched the mass of about twenty aliens enter the dark ship, their lights making perfect targets. Taking a deep breath Garn pulled the trigger stitching the first jackal from waist to neck.
The rest of his men opened fire as well, taking care to only shoot the jackals. The grunts had started screaming at the first shots. Taking cover and screaming at each other.
The firefight was over before the first shell casing ejected from the corporal's rifle floated in the zero gravity into a bulkhead. Seven Jackals sprawled their magnetic boots holding them steady on the deck.
Seeing the Jackals laying dead the grunts cautiously peek their heads up looking at their dead masters and the humans not quite pointing their rifles at them. Garn activated the translation software and spoke into it "we mean you no harm other Unggoy safe you no fight" a few seconds later the speaker babbled forth a series of squeals, grunts and growls.
The grunts surprised, stood up and lowered their mix of weapons and spoke back. The translator spat out a moment later "we are free? You won't hurt or enslave us? What other unggoy?"
"No time to explain, we have to capture your ship, don't resist and you won't be harmed." the translator spat out what sounded like a fight between lizards and pigs and the grunt nodded in a human manner and holstered its weapon.
The fourteen grunts stepped to the side and Garn motioned "seventh squad stay behind and keep an eye on them just in case. The rest with me."
The fifty three remaining marines charged ahead into the enemy ship gunfire echoed everywhere. They raced ahead past hallways and rooms filled to overflowing with debris and the mechanical bodies of Centurans.
Checking each room they raced gunning down any Jackal they found. A few grunts and even humans were found locked inside a room. Garn left a squad to watch over them. As they raced throughout the ship a few more were found here and there all of them were sent back to the first room.
Garn went to run around a corner only to jump backwards under cover as a mix of bullets and plasma flew through the air he was just in. He risked a glance and saw a line of defense outside a double door he took to be the bridge by how heavily guarded it was. Taking a quick peek around the corner he saw about a dozen of the bird-like jackals crouched behind those wrist mounted shields of theirs with a few grunts huddled behind them.
Seeing no other option Garn pulled a Grenade from his harness holding it up for all to see "Cover me"
He pulled the pin and shouted "Three"
"Two"
"One" every marine in range pointed their rifles down the hall without looking and pulled the trigger. The hall exploded in gunfire and the plasma and bullets flying outward subsided as the shooters took cover.
With a grunt Garn rounded the corner and threw the grenade as hard as he could. It seemed like the world slowed down to a crawl as Garn watched a green plasma bolt hit his left leg just below the knee followed by three quick bullets to his right hip. The pain seemed muffled as he watched his grenade soar, bouncing off a wall and landing just behind the shield wall before detonating.
Garn lay there holding his hip screaming as he heard calls from his men "Medic! Medic! Front" as his men pull him back around the corner into cover. The last thing he remembers before passing out is the plasma burn on his leg bumping against the bulkhead.
The fight was over twenty minutes later as marines forced their way onto the ship's bridge and gunned down a Jackal wielding a plasma sword, losing a marine in the process. The ship was declared Captured with fourteen marines losing their lives and eight more being wounded twenty nine Unggoy and sixteen humans including eight Virgonese sailors were freed from their slavery.
Surplus personnel from the fleet were allocated to the Pirates prizes including the decoy cruiser Prince Wein the Marines had used. Sending a raptor back to Scorpia to request the UNSC take custody of the aliens, and the former UNSC slaves as well as the alien ship. The fleet began foaming the planet with the anti radiation mixture loaded freighters looking for survivors in the deep bunkers.