Post by Commodore James Atlas (Ret.) on Sept 18, 2011 12:35:19 GMT -6
Ok so I also learned that you all had a story board on your site this morning as well, so I decided to post this up here. This is the opening chapter to my first story, Helios. Overall, I'm not happy with the way the story has been going so if I could get some feedback from you all it would be hugely appreciated. If you'd like to read the rest of the chapters I have up you can find it them at www.fanfiction.net/s/6938936/1/Helios. Again, any feedback would be great.
Picon Fleet Headquarters, Picon. Two years prior to the Fall
Vice Admiral Danforth Ward's footsteps echoed through the concrete halls of the Picon Fleet Headquarters. Buried under four hundred meters of steel, concrete, and rock, the Fleet HQ seemed more like an impenetrable fortress rather than a place to conduct Fleet operations.
The two MPs that escorted the Admiral hadn't said a word to the man since he had entered the base. Everyone seemed more on edge than the last time he had visited headquarters, but he hadn't been this deep into the base in years. Maybe he had just forgotten.
Ward smirked as he moved past the dozens of offices of the old flag officers he had known over the years. He had turned down multiple promotions in order to stay out of this place. He couldn't be trapped in some bunker planet side, it'd drive him insane. He needed to be in space.
Finally, the man reached the end of the long hall way and stood before a pair of heavy blast doors. Two additional MPs stood guard in front of the doors and forced him through yet another security check. He wanted to laugh as the men searched him and ran him through another ID check, for it was unnecessary to be checked this deep into the base, but as irritating as it was, he wasn't about to disobey protocol.
Eventually, the massive doors slide open and Ward stepped through to find two men talking at the head of a long oak conference table opposite of the doors. One he recognized as Fleet Admiral Peter Corman, the reason he had been called to Fleet HQ, but the other , with his back to Ward, could see wasn't wearing a Colonial uniform, yet the Admiral still spoke to the man with a sense of respect.
The two men turned as he stepped forward into the room. "Ah, Dan you're here." Corman smirked, "You're late."
"Apologies, sir. We took a little longer than expected mopping up on Oasis. The pirates were a little better armed than expected." Ward began walking around the long table to meet the two men.
"Did they give the great Admiral Ward of the Taskforce Saber some trouble?" Corman laughed as the old friends shook hands.
"Of course not, but you know, the bigger the bug you smash, the bigger mess it leaves behind." The second man nodded at the comment and gave a smile to the Admiral that was only one of a politician. Fake and as deadly as a snake.
"Mr. President it's an honor, sir." Ward said as he shook the President's hand. Frakking politicians. He thought but continued to smile. "I didn't expect you here."
"Admiral Ward, it's pleasure to meet you, and neither does the rest of the Twelve Colonies. It's good to know we can still keep some secrets." The President flashed his fake smile, the one that had helped him win the election, and Ward returned the gesture.
"Well lets get down to business." Corman showed the two men to their seats at the massive table.
"Admiral as you know the defense budget is being cut, but I can't do anything about it. The ministries are closing their hold around me more and more each day." The President started, " But we still have several weapon projects that need to be completed" He slid a manila folder in front of Ward and continued to speak. "These are the specs for some of the most deadly weapons that the spooks in the lower levels have ever thought up. We'd like to see these weapons reach operational status, but the ministries won't have it."
Admiral Ward skimmed through the files quickly and saw the destructive force of some of the weapons, one looked to be an oversized nuclear weapon, and from the specs it looked like it could scorch a planet's surface. Of course this was probably an overstatement of the weapons power, but it wouldn't hurt to have a weapon that could do that on your side. "Of course I can see why you'd want some of these weapons. If we ever faced a threat that could push us back on our heels these could turn the tides."
"Exactly our thinking too. As you are quiet aware, the Cylons have been busy little metal bastards." Corman stated as Ward thought back to one of his previous assignments in which he crossed the Red Line to take some photos of suspected Cylon activity. There wasn't much to see, but there were dozens of other missions to cross the line, including the botched mission in which Commander Adama was forced to shoot down one of his own pilots. It pained him to see Bill sent to a dying ship after that mission, but the stakes of the mission were too high. It had to be done.
"Admiral." The President continued, "We think that tensions with the Cylons could ignite sometime soon. And when it happens, we'd like to have the bigger stick." The President sat back in his chair and folded his hands across his lap.
"You're probably wondering where you fit in in all of this, Dan." Admiral Corman stood up from his seat with another portfolio. "Two months ago we found a planet opposite of the Red Line and far away from anywhere that anyone would be looking. It's a cold, desolate place with only a small strip of habitable surface. We set up a small base there, and have moved all of the projects out there. Right now, it's nothing more than a few tents and a landing strip, but in time it will become our largest research facility." Corman slid the folder in front of Ward. Inside were pictures of the small base, and a tactical layout of the entire "green" zone of the planet. Along with these pictures were detailed assessments of the surrounding moons, planets, effects of the solar radiation, and any other data that they could possibly have on the system.
"We need a military officer to lead the project, for security and to test the weapons implemented on each of our classes of warships. We've chosen you for your outstanding service records and Admiral Corman's persistence." The President shot a glare at Corman who only smirked. It was obvious that the President didn't like the choice, but Corman had been too much of a pain in the ass to let it go.
"It's an honor, sirs. When will I be deployed?" Admiral Ward rose from his chair as did the President.
"Three months. There's still things we need to patch up on the base." Corman said as they moved towards the doors.
"Great, the battlegroup will be ready." The trio of men stopped and Corman stepped out in front of him and stopped the Admiral.
"You won't be bringing along Battlegroup Saber. Your flag, the Retribution will be coming, but we'll have a whole new fleet just for this operation. The specs for the fleet will be sent to your ship en route to the rendezvous position."
It felt as if someone had just shot his dog. Saber had been his to command for years against the local pirate uprisings. He felt an attachment to each of the ships under his command. But he was still thankful his flag wouldn't be moved from the Retribution. The Thor Class Battlestar had come to grow on him.
"Of course, sir. It's an honor to be serving on this project." Ward said as he tried to move past the Fleet Admiral.
"One last thing, Dan." Corman caught his arm and locked eyes with the man to reinforce his point. "This project is of the utmost secrecy. We'll the only people within the Colonies that know where you actually are. No one is to know where you are being deployed, no one. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Not a word will slip my mouth. I'm not about to jeopardize my new command so soon, Peter." Ward laughed off the some what tense situation as did Corman. It was still unsettling that the two most powerful men in the Twelve Colonies have sworn him to such secrecy. Ward shrugged it off and finally moved for the door.
"Ward," The President said as he left the door. "Good luck."
Battlestar Retribution, enroute to Helios Base.
Admiral Ward settled into his overly padded chair behind his large oak desk in his personal quarters. He chewed on the end of a cigar, but did not light it. It was a habit he had acquired over the years aboard warships. While in the CIC it was against dozens of Colonial regulations to light up an cigar, no matter the rank. Instead, he would just chew on them while reviewing paperwork at the command table, and he fell into a habit around the rest of the ship.
In front of him lied the specs for his new command, Battlestar Group 86. All together, the Battlegroup consisted of four Mercury Class Battlestars, the Titan, Pacifica, Loki, and Havoc, five Valkyrie Class Battlestars, Nyx, Athena, Thor, Icarus, and Emerald, and his single Command Mercury Class Battlestar, the Retribution. Their escort consisted of twelve Gunstars, five Sentinel Classes, the Andromeda, Requiem, Reliant, Archer, Achilles, and seven Paladin Classes, Ares, Vulture, Hornet, Prometheus, Predator, Kvasir, and Essex.
Also there was a pair Marine Assault ships, the Nemesis and Dawn's Hammer, tasked with providing ground side security for the scientists, along with one hospital ship, Mercy, and four research vessels, Pandora, Decuma, Pericles, and Queenstown. Each of the ships would not only provide security and escort, but would also serve as test subjects themselves. Each of the weapons was going to be needed to be deployed from a Battlestar or their support, and the brass wanted to see that each of the mainline units could deploy them. It seemed to be an over-kill of ships and firepower, but what the spooks in Picon want, they get.
The most interesting, though, had to be one of the Valkyrie Class, the Nyx. Its hull was dark, making it impossible to see to the naked eye in space, but that was not what made it special. It was also covered in a carbon compound used on the stealthstar recon fighters, that would deflect DRADIS scans making it nearly impossible to see on DRADIS. It was a perfect stealth ship, for it did not sacrifice its firepower for stealth. So if it was in trouble, it could shoot its way out as a normal Valkyrie Class Battlestar would.
The internal systems were also much different, including the addition of a forward bridge, instead of a CIC, the one flaw Ward saw in the ship. Large view ports such as the one in the forward bridge of the Nyx tended to weak points in the ship's hull, and with the entire command crew so exposed, the ship could very quickly be sent out of action.
Ward was satisfied with his new command. It was almost three times the size of his last, and hopefully would have a better purpose for the Twelve Colonies. Ward closed the file and awaited for the Retribution to reach Helios.
Helios Base, Planet Helios. Four days prior to the Fall.
"It's so frakking cold down here." Lieutenant Scott McKnight said as he walked down the snowy concrete pathways that were hastily constructed almost two years ago. He looked across the parade ground of Helios Base towards the nine large steel buildings that made up the research complex on the base. Behind them was the large hangar that seemed to be upgraded every time he came down from orbit due to its ever expanding needs. The first time he came down to the Helios Base, the hangar was nothing more than a small landing strip with a few tents surrounding it. Now, it was capable of replacing any parts for the Viper MK VIII and it could support over two hundred of the Vipers, not that they had that many pilots groundside, however.
Beyond the hangar, was the "residential" area as they liked to call it. Six months into the project, the brass realized that the civilian personnel couldn't operate as well being cut off from their families and homes for so long. So to keep the civilian sector on track, the military quietly shipped in the families of close to one thousand of the civilians. Quickly, their small project turned from a research base, into a small city and it has been growing ever since. Close to four thousand people now lived in the base.
"Quit complaining, at least there is fresh air and a place to stretch our legs down here." Lieutenant Jessica Keen said coming up to his side.
Scott let out a little chuckle at his friend's comment as they continued down the concrete path. "That's a good point . You always know how to find the silver lining, Jess."
The ECO laughed and rubbed her hands together trying to warm them up. "I have to, it's the ECO's job to be an optimist. You Raptor pilots just find ways that things will go wrong." Scott laughed again as he walked down the path with his ECO. Ever since they had been paired together almost four years ago, they had been closer than any one else at Helios. But now their enlistments were up, and they had both decided to leave the Colonial Fleet.
Admiral Ward had asked them both to report to his office planet side before they left Helios. Probably to try and sway them back into service. The man was crazy about the Fleet. Some say he left his wife for the Fleet, but he always thought that was too far. Ward was a good man, and had always thought so.
After passing through several security checkpoints, the pair was finally heading down into the deep bunkers of Helios base. The MP escorting them had said that the Admiral's office was on the lower levels, almost one hundred meters below the surface of the planet. A bit much for a base that no one aside from the inhabitants and a few select people in the Colonies knew about, Scott thought, but it never hurt to protect your assets.
"Well, this is it. Good luck to you both with the Admiral." The MP saluted the two officers and went on his way.
"That just makes this a whole lot better. MPs wishing us luck." Jessica laughed as she tapped slightly on the door.
"MPs are fools, they don't know the Admiral like we do. It'll be fine. Soon we'll be back on Caprica living the good life." Scott pulled his arm around her shoulder and laughed a bit to lift her sprit.
"Right, I can't wait. When I got shipped out here, I thought that I'd never see the Colonies again. I don't know why, I just did." Jessica replied pulling him in for a hug.
"No, we'll see them again. Our homes, our families, our friends." He pulled back and looked at her with a smile. "We're going home, Jess."
Helios Base, Planet Helios. Four days prior to the Fall.
"But Admiral, nearly ninety five percent of the Colonial Fleet has been upgraded with these new systems." Admiral Ward sat back in his large chair, placing his face in his hands. These civilians that the president had been sending over were getting on his nerves.
"Listen, I don't care that the Fleet has been upgraded. My Battlegroup is staying here until the project is complete. We've only got a few more months until Doctor Allen has completed his work." The man's face flushed with anger, most likely because they had been butting heads with one another since he had arrived three days ago. It didn't bother the Admiral, though. This was his Battlegroup, and he would do what he wanted with it.
"Listen, Admiral, we could just take a few of your ships at a time and upgrade the-." Ward waved his hand in irritation. These defense spooks just didn't take no for an answer.
"Taking even just a handful of my ships would put them in an dry dock for a three month overhaul. That would delay the project for several months. It just isn't probable to delay the project so long." Ward said as a finality. "That's all, you're dismissed." The man nodded and walked out of the room without saying another word.
The Admiral looked around the small office. Concrete walls, almost no decorations aside from one picture of his family hanging on the wall. He hated having to come down to the planet's surface and sit in this office. Actually, he hated being off of his ship period. His wife used to tell him that he spent more time aboard that ship than the house they had on Virgon. It was true, and that is why she left him.
He had climbed the ranks of the Colonial Fleet through extreme dedication to it. During the first Cylon War, he made his name when he single handedly brought down a pair of Baseships with his Gunstar, the Indefatigable in a trap he had laid over Tuaron as just a Major. Then he led the rallying defense of the Aquarion and stone walled the Cylons there. After the war, he led a campaign to destroy pirates that were terrorizing some of the Colonies in Operation Sideswipe, but through all of that, it left little time for his family. His wife left him several years ago and took his three children with her.
Ward stood up from his desk and looked over the picture of his family. Just because he was away so much didn't mean he didn't love them. He loved his family more than anything in the Colonies, but just could never show them enough.
His two sons had tried to follow in his footsteps and join the Colonial Fleet, but his wife wouldn't let them. Instead they moved to Caprica and opened a bar there. From their last letter, which was close to a year ago, they were doing well there and had made a name for themselves.
His youngest daughter, Tania, however, had stayed on Leonis. She always tried her best to stay in touch with him, always sending letters talking whenever she could. Last he had heard, she was working for a prominent doctor as a PA. She always wanted to be a doctor, and he prayed that she would make there one day.
Ward returned to his desk and decided to finish up what paper work he had left so that he could return to his flagship, the Retribution. The reports were picking up since they were nearing the end of the project and the President wanted to know how everything was faring.
Just as Ward was getting comfortable again, there was a knock at his door. "Enter." He said, sliding the papers off of his desk and into the drawer. Two of his officers entered the office and snapped crisp salutes. "Ah, Lieutenants McKnight and Keen. I suppose I was expecting you both." Both Lieutenants stood more rigid and looked very uncomfortable. "I know what you are asking, but I want to hear it from you two in person."
The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Lieutenant Scott McKnight stepped forward. "Sir, both of our enlistments are up. We are looking to leave the Fleet."
The Admiral sighed loudly. "You're both a damn good Raptor team. I'd hate to lose you."
"Yes, sir, but we feel that we've put in six good years for the Fleet, it's just time for us to move on." McKnight said. Ward scratched the stubble of his beard and stood up.
"Well then I can't keep you here. A civilian freighter will be unloading supplies until tomorrow. It will take you back to the Colonies." The two Lieutenants nodded and snapped crisp salutes to the Admiral.
"Thank you, sir. It has been an honor to serve with you." Lieutenant Keen finished her salute and shook the man's hand, as did Lieutenant McKnight.
"Good luck to both of you." With that the Raptor team left the small office and the Admiral sat back just to watch the door for a while. They were good officers, and he hated to let them go, but not everyone could lose their loved ones like he did.
Battlestar Retribution. Two days prior to the Fall.
Lieutenant James Atlas stood in the center of the long hangar deck, staring at the row of Vipers before him. The light gray metal shown dully in the hangar's overhead lights. It had always calmed him to look at their steeds that carried them into the dark unknown. The planes were so graceful, so elegant in space that they reminded him of the horses that had once carried the great warriors into battle long before man traveled the stars.
"James! Hey James!" Joker was broken from his stupor when his friend jogged up to his side. Lieutenant Megan Fel grabbed his arm and tugged him towards her gently. The two had been friends since flight school almost a year and a half ago. "Come on big man. Today is your big day." James dropped his eyes and smiled while giving into Avery's pull. Today was his one thousandth landing, one of the biggest accomplishment a pilot could make aboard a Battlestar.
"Easy, Trix. I'm coming." He laughed as she continued to drag him out of the hangar. "Aww. Did I hurt the big bad Joker?" She joked as they left the hangar deck.
The two pilots entered the normally quiet pilot's quarters to find the all of the Warhawk Squadron Viper pilots waiting to surprise them. "Hey he finally crashed down onto the deck one thousand times!" Lieutenant Jacob Falls yelled when they entered the room. James braced himself, but Falls still overtook him wrapped him up, embracing him. When Jacob finally dropped him to his feet, two more pilots were on top of him in an instant. Both were grinning wildly as they smeared paint onto his forehead in large block numbers "1000".
"To Joker and his one thousandth landing!" Their CAG, Major Dayton Hawke, stepped atop the table that was centered in the middle of the cramped quarters holding a small tin glass. Another pilot handed James a glass as well. Each of the pilots called back to him, "To the thousandth!" They all drank together and the warm liquid burned as it ran down Joker's throat. The second he brought the glass down, it was filled again. The pilot's ritual continued for several minutes, toasting to one another and their great Battlestar Retribution.
"Attention on deck!" The shout echoed throughout the pilot's quarters. The entire deck fell silent as Admiral Ward stepped into the room followed closely behind by Commander Allyson Shard. The two officers stood silently in front of the pilots who stood at rigid attention. James felt the normal butterflies flutter in his stomach that came when the Admiral was near. Despite being stationed on the Retribution for close to two years, he couldn't feel comfortable around the man.
Finally, the Admiral cracked a smile and said, "As you were pilots. Lieutenant Atlas, where are you?" Grinning widely, Joker stepped forward and snapped a salute to the Admiral. Still smiling, the Admiral returned his salute and held out his hand to the him. "Congratulations, Joker." The pilot grabbed his hand and shook it furiously.
"Thank you, sir." Megan was leaning against her bunk on the other side of the room, trying to suppress her laughs. He had to look like a fool in front of the Admiral.
"This is a grand thing, Lieutenant. You make us all proud." Commander Shard picked up one of the drinks and raised it to make a toast. "This day belongs to you, Lieutenant. Make the most of it." The pilots cheered and each of them drank again.
The Admiral stood atop the table and raised his full glass high. "To the pilots of the Battlestar Retribution, and the Colonial Fleet. Let you always be our shield for humanity, and our sword against the enemy!"
In a much more serious tone, the pilots acknowledged the Admiral's toast and drank again. The sword and shield, that's what they were, James thought, and nothing would slip through them.
Battlestar Gladiator. One day prior to the Fall.
"Gods damn it!" Commander Andrew Weaver slammed his hand on the command table.
"Sir, the systems are new. We're working out problems with the new Command Navigation Programs, but that isn't the problem." Lieutenant Marcel answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Then what is the problem, lieutenant?" Weaver asked as he dropped his face into his hands. This shakedown cruise was going to drive him insane.
"Sir, when the CNP was put aboard our ship the were forced to network all of the computers…"
Weaver looked up at the young lieutenant before speaking, "Yes, I'm well aware that our frakking computers are networked, lieutenant. Get to the Gods damn point." Weaver was beyond furious that the systems had crashed for the fourth time on their so called easy shakedown run.
"Yes, sir. Our systems are older and they can't handle the amount of networking that they brass is throwing into the Gladiator. The old computers try and keep up, but they can't and crash."
"Then what do we do about it, lieutenant?" Weaver stood to face the man.
"Uh, well sir, I'm not in a position to make the decision, but the ship's computers need to be unnetworked until we make it back to the Scoripan Shipyards. The systems will just continue to crash if they aren't. The crew is used to having unnetworked computers so it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Marcel took a step back from the towering Commander and added one last bit, "But that is just what I would do, sir."
"The frakking brass sent me out here to fix the damn ship and I have to pull out all the wires again. I can't frakking do that, lieutenant."
The lights in the CIC, as well as the computer screens all flickered for a few moments and went out. Ten long seconds passed before all of the systems came back online. The entire crew stood silently looking at their Commander.
"Don't just frakking stand there!" He yelled and slammed his fist against the command table again. "Unnetwork the damn computers!" He shot a glare towards his tactical officer. "You'd better be right about this, Marcel."
"Yes, sir. It'll work." Marcel turned quickly and moved to his station to begin work on the computer systems.
Colonel Zachary Spears strutted through the hatch of the CIC with a smirk on his face as moved his way over to the command table. The XO was the only one that could calm the Commander's temper on the ship, and everyone knew to stay out of the COs way before the XO got to him.
"I see you've taken a liking to our new Tactical Officer." The Colonel shot a glance over his shoulder to look at the officer working hard at his station. "You making friends, Commander?'
The Commander let out a grunt of what could have either been humor, or disagreement, even he didn't know. "If he's wrong I'll have his ass like the last one. What frak was that kid's name?" Weaver scratched his head for a few seconds before Spears answered.
"Portman. You'd know if you didn't throw him off the ship after just two weeks." Spears said with a hint of accusation in his voice.
"The kid was slow and needed to be gone. Just like this kid's probably going to find himself out of here too." Weaver said looking down to his reports.
"Sir, all systems have been unnetworked. Should we plot a jump now?" Lieutenant Marcel called from his station.
"The kid's got balls you know." Zach started, "He's telling you what to do now."
Weaver glared at his XO who was grinning like a fool at the Commander. "This is the moment of truth. He fraks this up he's gone."
Spears said nothing, but waved his hand as if allowing the Commander to proceed with his trial.
"Do it, lieutenant." Weaver held his breath as the lieutenant plotted a series of numbers into his console . He double checked and then triple checked the numbers before plugging them into the system.
"Attention all hands, prepare for jump. Systems have been unnetworked, all crews should compensate for this now." Marcel spoke through the PA system and simultaneously plugged the jump key into the system. "All hands prepare to jump in, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, now."
Weaver felt the usual discomfort of the ship jumping turn his stomach inside out and then back in again as they reentered normal space. The crew fell silent for a few long seconds, waiting for the systems to fail as they had with each previous jump. Nothing. All systems stayed online. The crew cheered as a sign of relief that their ship could once again, get from point A to point B.
"Well looks like the boy gets to stay." Spears laughed and looked over at the ecstatic tactical officer. "Good work, lieutenant."
Again, Weaver let out an inaudible grunt and looked down at his paper work. "The boy can stay for now."
Spears let out a short laugh and slapped his hand on the commander's shoulder. "Getting a little soft on us are you?"
Weaver couldn't help but laugh a little himself. "Don't count on it, Colonel."
Battlestar Retribution Combat War Games in orbit over Helios. One hour prior to the Fall.
Come on you son of a bitch. Lieutenant James Atlas pushed on the throttle to try and keep up with the new Viper MK VIII he was pursuing. The MK VII he was in was a damn good interceptor, but these new MK VIIIs they had developed over the last two years were a whole new level.
"This is Joker, I'm taking the shot." Atlas squeezed the trigger on his Viper at the enemy he was engaging. In the last second, the MK VIII pulled a gut wrenching maneuver and whisked out of his fire. "Frak!" He yelled as the enemy slipped from his grasp.
"Gods damnit, Joker!" His wing man yelled to him as he pulled farther onto his wing. "Check your three o'clock we've got incoming." Another pair of MK VIIIs pushed closer towards them.
"I got it, you take this little bastard." Joker replied as he pulled his Viper around his wing man to engage the new targets.
The enemy Vipers were still too far out, he'd have to wait until they were in maximum firing range for his guns. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he didn't really know, that wasn't more than a few seconds. His enemy closed the gap between them in a blur of motion, even the DRADIS was having a bit of trouble keeping up. "In my sights, firing." Again, Joker squeezed the trigger, but this time he watched as the dummy tracer rounds shut down his opponent's Viper.
There was no time to celebrate his small victory. The other pilot flipped his Viper about and began to engage Joker. The two fighters were now heading straight for one another, guns firing the whole way. Closer, closer the Vipers drew to one another. When they were a mere meter away, Joker jerked back on his flight stick and rolled his Viper away from the enemy he was playing chicken with. It set him in prime position to turn the fighter about since he was already half way through his maneuver. In a matter of seconds, this little fight would be over. I've got you now you little bastard. He thought as he tried to pull his Viper end over end to get on his enemies six.
"What?" It didn't even occur to him that he had spoken. The hostile Viper had already spun about and was heading for him. "Frak!" He yelled again as he succumbed to being the pursued once again and jammed his throttle forward.
His thrusters ignited as he tore through empty space and away from his attacker. The tracers flew all around the canopy of his Viper, but none of them connected. Every maneuver, every trick, everything he knew he was doing to keep this enemy from tearing him apart.
"Zip! I need you help out here. I've got one on my six and I can't shake this bastard." He waited a few seconds and jerked his Viper yet again to avoid a burst from his pursuer. "Zip respond! Zip!" Again there was no reply, and he was running out of tricks to keep the hostile at bay.
Joker glanced down at his DRADIS as he put the Viper into a high Gee turn to stay alive. All forty three Viper MK VIIs had faded from the DRADIS screen. Just my Gods damn luck. Everyone else gets to get killed while I'm frakking stuck with twenty six frakking MK VIIIs. The red markers began swarming the DRADIS around him. This won't end well. Might as well try and take a few of the bastards with me while I can. But he couldn't with this one bugger right on his ass. Time to stop running I guess.
He pulled his Viper around and squeezed the trigger the whole way spraying rounds as he went. His enemy continued its blind charge, but Joker had something else in mind. He pushed his Viper vertical to move out of the fire and hit his throttle putting them into another chicken fight. Let's hope this asshole will move. At the very last second, he pulled his Viper around and let the momentum carry his Viper straight towards his enemy. If his target broke and moved out of the way, then he'd fall straight into his firing solution, if he didn't, they'd both be gone.
Joker closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable crash between the two Vipers. He looked up to see the MK VIII graze the top of his canopy and spiral out of control right into his sights. Gotcha. He fired and the dummy round connected with the hostile, putting him out of action.
"Take that you frakking piece of shit!" He yelled over an open wireless channel. The victory was, yet again, shot lived. The alarm blared in his cockpit and all of his controls went dead. "Gods damnit." He muttered to himself. Seconds later another MK VIII blew past his canopy.
"Always check your six, Joker." The ever present voice of his Squadron commander filled his cockpit. He'd never hear the end of it from him.
"Attention all pilots, the simulation is over. I repeat, simulation is over. Restoring power to all flight systems now." The Retribution's communications officer rang in his ear.
"How'd we do, Katie?" Joker laughed as he asked the Communications Officer.
His comment was received with a laugh of her own. "Fourteen kills. Better than last time, but still shit, just like you, Joker."
"Fourteen out of thirty two, not bad. I can take that." He joked back to the officer.
"Yeah right, Joker. We got our asses handed to us." Dante Ambrose pulled onto his wing.
"No, no my little friend. You got your ass handed to you. I out scored you all, so you know what that means." James laughed through the open wireless channel.
"Joker, stow it. You may have gotten the most kills, but your squadron was still torn to pieces out there. This isn't a time for celebration." Captain Forsell pulled onto his wing. Joker shut off the wireless and sighed to himself. The woman never got off his ass, ever. "I want your ass on the deck, now."
Lieutenant Atlas pulled his Viper to the front of the formation. "Retribution, Joker. Requesting permission to land."
"Permission, granted, Joker. Call the ball." The Landing Signals Officer called off.
"Roger, Retribution I have the ball." Joker went through the landing checks and touched his Viper down on the deck of the Retribution. The deck gang pushed the ladder up to his Viper and handed him the check list. He signed off and handed the checklist back to the specialist.
Before he could even reach the deck, Captain Forsell was on top of him. His Squadron Commander grabbed his arm and led him to the side of the deck away from the knuckle draggers. "Joker, what the frak was that out there?"
"Well, sir that was a combat war game." Atlas replied smirking.
"Don't get cute with me, Joker. You left your wingman to go chasing enemies and he was killed." She pushed the pilot back onto the bulkhead. "You don't frakking leave friends out there to fend for themselves." Forsell stepped back and let the Lieutenant go. "You're a hot shot, Atlas, and you're good, really frakking good, but it's going to your head."
Joker stepped back and from the Captain. She'd never been on him like this before for the last few weeks he'd been pushing his pilots to be better and better.
"There's a frakking storm coming, Joker. You'd better be up to the task." He just barely caught the Captain quietly say this as she walked away.
Joker stood almost motionless as he thought about what the Captain had said. He didn't move until Lieutenant Ambrose grabbed him on the shoulder. "You good, Joker?" The man broke from his blank stare and looked at his friend.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good." He took one last glance at the Captain before following his friend out of the hangar deck. "It's just something the Captain said."
"What was it?" Dante asked pulling the hatch open.
He moved through the door and shook his head. "Hopefully, nothing important. Come on let's get some rest." With that, Joker closed the hatch and moved on.
Battlestar Retribution. Thirty-five minutes after the opening attacks.
Admiral Ward lied back into his bunk, sighing a little in relief.
It felt as if he had just fallen asleep when there was a frantic tapping on his hatch. Ward groaned and rolled off of his bunk stumbling with sleep still in his eyes towards the hatch. A Petty Officer stood in the door with a slip of paper in his cold sweaty hands.
"A priority message from Fleet Headquarters on Picon." His voice was shaky, but Ward disregared his odd behavior because he was too tired.
"At ease, Petty Officer." The man nervously shook his head and stood in the door way.
Again, Ward rubbed his eyes so that he could focus on the slip of paper he was just handed. The message was simple, but he couldn't, or didn't want to understand them.
ATTENTION ALL COLONIAL UNITS. CYLON ATTACK OF THE COLONIES IS UNDERWAY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
Ward dropped the slip and reached for his duty jacket. Still pulling it on as he walked out of the door way he turned to the Petty Officer. "Get to your station, sailor. We're at war."
The boy nodded, saluted and ran the opposite way of the CIC. Ward moved as fast as he possibly could to the CIC. War again?
The Admiral almost ran into the sliding doors of the CIC because they didn't open quickly enough for how fast he was moving.
"Orders, sir?" Allyson stood at the command table, cool as ever. The first person on board that was.
"Bring the Fleet up to Condition One and get me a priority one channel to Picon Fleet Headquarters." Allyson nodded and picked up the PA system on the command table.
"Action stations, actions stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship. This is not a drill." The XO repeated the string of orders several times before placing the phone back in its place.
Lieutenant Katie Martel swiveled in her seat to face t Admiral. "Channel open, sir."
Ward nodded and picked the handset up. Hopefully, Fleet HQ will have sorted out most of the intel on the size of the attacks. Ward wasn't anxious to get into another fight, but if there was one, he'd have to be in it. The gruffly voice of Fleet Admiral Corman cracked through the wireless a few seconds later.
"Peter, what the frak is happening out there?" Corman didn't respond for a few seconds, but he heard him talking to someone else with him. A slight rattle was heard on the other side of the line as if a bomb had hit the solid defenses of the Headquarters.
"Ward, the Cylons have blown through our defenses here. The entire fleet over Picon is gone." Ward nearly dropped the handset right there. Last he knew there was close to three dozen Battlestars stationed over Picon. Corman continued through the sounds of bombs hitting the bunkers, "They're nuking the planet, Dan. Queenstown, Necropolis, all of the major cities have been hit with nukes. We don't know how long we'll last here."
Corman seemed frantic, as would anyone being fed the reports they were receiving. "Where do you need me, sir. We're ready to go here."
The Fleet Admiral was yelling again at someone else in the room with him. The rattles over the wireless were getting louder now. "Dan, dig your head in there and don't enter the fight." Ward thought he didn't hear Admiral right.
"Peter we can't just sit out here.." Ward was abruptly cut off by Corman.
"That's a frakking order, Admiral Ward. Those weapons could give us a fighting chance later. Hold out and wait for further orders." Another rattle came through the wireless followed by a loud crash. Corman didn't respond for a long time.
"Admiral Corman…" Nothing over the line, "Corman… Peter!" The wireless stayed dead despite his repeated attempts to hail Picon. Ward spun around to the communications officer.
"Line went dead, sir." She stopped for a few seconds and checked over the screens again. "I can't seem to reach them again. All communications coming out of Picon are dead, Admiral."
Ward's heart sank. There was billions of people on Picon, and now it was likely they are gone. Almost immediately, his mind shot to his family. If they were nuking Picon they could very well be hitting the other Colonies as well.
"Sir, ship commanders are requesting jump vectors. They're all ready to fight." Lieutenant Yvonne Sives tapped her ear-piece ready to transmit the orders.
"All ships stand down FTL. We're not going anywhere." The Lieutenant took a double take at the Admiral. Lieutenant Shawn shifted uneasily at his panel. None of them wanted to stay here. "Admiral Corman gave me orders to stay here and defend the base on Helios. That's what I intend to do. Continue to monitor all channels and if anything comes through, I want to know. Have a Raptor prepped to launch when I reach the Hangar Deck." Ward started for the doors of the CIC. "Allyson walk with me. Lieutenant Sives, you have the conn."
Ward moved swiftly down the halls of the Battlestar. Crewmen stepped aside and saluted the flag officer in their hastiness to prepare the ship for war. Commander Shard quickened her pace to come aside the Admiral. "Can I ask where you are headed?"
"To the Nyx. I've got to see what is happening out there." Ward turned a corner sharply and stopped the Commander. "When I spoke to Corman the line was cut off. The Headquarters is hardened against EMPS so that they won't lose contact with the rest of the Fleet. You'd have to destroy the entire bunker to cut it off." Allyson stood motionless for a few seconds. "This could be the end game for us, Allyson. For humanity."
Allyson nodded and took a deep breath, trying to take in everything that was happening. "What are my orders, Admiral?"
"Keep the Fleet on high alert and if the Cylons jump in, defend the base as long as you can. If we don't report back, inform Commander Harvard aboard the Pacifica that he is in command." Allyson nodded. She was a good officer and he was glad to have her with him. Ward started to turn towards the hangar deck, but Allyson stopped him.
"Good luck out there, Dan. Find out who is still out there." Ward nodded and began heading towards the hangar.
ONE HOUR LATER, Battlestar Nyx
Raptor 438 touched down softly onto the deck of the Battlestar Nyx. Ward hadn't even seen the Nyx until just a few seconds before they touched down on her flight pod. After the Raptor was taxied down to the hangar area and the door lifted open, Ward stepped out onto Battlestar's deck for the second time since the Battlestar came under his command. The first was just days after he had arrived at Helios and was fascinated with the stealth ship. This time, however, he would be seeing the stealth systems in action.
The hangar bay was unusually empty, void of the bustling commotion that the Retribution's had each time the ship was at condition one. Instead of dozens of Vipers being armed and fueled, four stealthstar fighters sat just in front of the tubes, ready to fly.
He must have noticed Ward looking at the stealthstars because when Captain Jose Burnett met the Admiral on the deck he said, "We're a stealth ship, sir. No need for a full contingent of Vipers. We've just got these four stealthstars and a squadron of Vipers in the starboard landing bay." Ward looked the man over once after returning his salute. The man spoke in a calm and to the point kind of way. His eyes shifted to everything, analyzing everything. The patches on his flight suit bore that of the 413th "Shadows" Stealth Squadron.
"Understandable, I hope we won't need to use you for this sortie." Burnett nodded, but was obviously surprised that they were heading out. He hadn't informed the crew of the Nyx that he planned on going to the Colonies.
"Right this way, sir. I'll take you to the CIC." Ward nodded and followed the Captain down the corridors of the Battlestar. On the Retribution, it took a good fifteen minutes to reach the CIC from one of the flight pods, but the Nyx was much smaller so it only took a few minutes.
When the Admiral entered the Nyx's CIC, he had to take a second glance at it. The whole area was different from any other Battlestar in the Fleet. The command chair and the forward view port were the strangest of all to him, and he figured he would never get used to it.
Commander Espino snapped a crisp salute to the Admiral when he entered. Olivia was a rare find in the Colonial Fleet. She was one of the best intelligence officers, but she also had a grasp of fleet tactics, which many spooks failed to understand. And, like him, most fleet officers failed to understand fully the art of espionage beyond the point of reading what the spooks brought in.
"Commander, we're heading into the Colonies. Plot a jump to Caprica." Olivia smiled and nodded to the Admiral. He could see she wanted to get back to the Colonies to asses the situation just like him. The officers snapped to work and began to plot the jump and prepare the ship to jump.
"Any word from Fleet HQ?" Espino settled into her command chair and Ward gripped the side of the chair to await the jump. They both knew that normally Ward would be in command of the Nyx, but the stealth ship was a rare case. The intelligence officer knew more of the ship's systems than he could ever hope to know in a lifetime.
The Admiral tried to speak in a low tone so not to attract attention to their conversation. "Picon is gone."
"Gone? You mean we've already retreated off world?"
Ward scratched the side of his face trying to put the words easily. "No…" The Commander turned to look at the Admiral. "Picon has been destroyed. What we've heard is that the Cylons are nuking the worlds. I have to see for myself."
Espino let her mouth fall open slightly as her gaze slowly fell to the floor. It was hard news for anyone to take, but for a native of that world, it couldn't be easy. She was only broken from her thoughts when the navigation officer called off that the ship was prepared to jump.
Nodding, the Commander gave the signal to jump the ship. The countdown was followed by the gut turning feeling of a faster than light jump. The ship reappeared in normal space over the colony of Caprica. Immediately, collision alarms began blaring while Ward watched through the forward view port as a Battlestar's flight pod drifted towards them.
"Evasive maneuvers! Full reverse thrusters!" Espino shouted as the debris flew towards them. The Battlestar shifted violently backwards and arced downward sharply out of the way of the debris. "Status!" The officers fumbled with their consoles trying to get a report to their Commander.
"Ma'am, we're picking up a large amount of debris over Caprica. Nearly all of the hulls are that of Colonial Battlestars." One of the officers called out. Caprica had one of the larger defense forces in orbit, at anytime they would have two to three Battlestar Groups in orbit. If they were taken out so easily then there would be no hope for the rest of the Colonies.
"DRADIS." Ward called out wanting to see the tactical situation. One of the view screens flicked on with the DRADIS layout. Dozens of dots representing Cylon Basestars surrounded the planet. A trio Battlestars moved in to engage the Cylon forces. The Nyx shifted so that her viewports got a glimpse of the skirmish. The DRADIS showed the names of the ships as the Acheron, Sovereign, and Cerberus all Mercury Classes.
The Battlestars prepared to engage a single Basestar that was bearing down on them. However, just before the Battlestars fired their opening shots, they seemed to just lose power and begin drifting. The Cylons began moving closer to the Colonial forces. Vipers drifted harmlessly towards their Raider adversaries.
"What the frak are they doing?" Commander Espino sat forward to get a better glimpse of the battle.
The single Basestar fired a full salvo of missiles towards the Battlestars. Ward was waiting for the AAA systems to flare up and destroy the missiles in a massive cloud of flak, but it never came. Hundreds of missiles struck across the bows of the Battlestars. What was just minutes ago a formidable Battlegroup, was gone without even putting up a fight.
"Lieutenant scan the area and see if the Cylons are launching some sort of weapon to disarm our ships." The Admiral moved forward to the front of the CIC and looked out of the view port. Hundreds of flashes went up across the surface Caprica. All he could think of was his two sons in Caprica City. He stared out into the vast opening watching everything he knew go up into a ball of flames.
"Admiral, no weapons were deployed that we know of, but we did pick up a signal being sent off just before the Cylons engaged."
"Isolate that signal and see if it is shutting down our systems or something like that." If the Cylons had a signal that could shut down everything the Colonial Fleet had, then that would explain how they were able to destroy Picon and Caprica so quickly.
"Aye, sir." The lieutenant hadn't looked away from his panel since they had jumped in system. They were all scared, even him. There might not be a way out of this one.
"Sirs, message coming in from Admiral Nagala's Battlegroup over Virgon." Both officers were anxious to hear of Nagala's counter attack. Ward snatched the message from the communications officer before the man could read it.
ENTIRE BATTLEGROUP DESTROYED… ALL SURVIVORS ARE TO SCATTER AND USE GUERILLA TACTICS… CASULTIES ARE AS FOLLOWS…
BATTLESTAR ATLAINTIA- DESTROYED
BATTLESTAR NIGHT FLIGHT- DESTROYED
BATTLESTAR SOLARIA- DESTROYED...
The list continued on, but Ward didn't bother reading the message. He began to truly believe that they were alone now. For all he knew, they were the last ones left in the Twelve Worlds. He handed the paper off to Commander Espino and watched as her tan skin flushed white.
"Prepare to jump back to Helios. I've got to address the Fleet." Ward took one final glance out the view port. Caprica, Picon, Virgon. All of them were confirmed destroyed. It wouldn't be long before the rest were.
Passenger Ship Aurora. Two hours after the opening attacks.
Scott flipped through a copy of the Colonial Times that he picked up from one of the stewardess that had passed by. He'd already read the issue once before, but there wasn't much else to do aboard the Aurora. He was reading an article about one of the various singers that had been arrested for possession of drugs. It was laughable that these people were always getting arrested, yet people still throw thousands of cubits at them, but if a Colonial officer were to caught then they would be torn apart by the media.
Scott stretched his neck and looked out of the window next to him. These trips always took forever to get to their destinations without FTLs. Civilian passenger ships tried not to use their FTLs if they didn't have to. The passenger liners got too many complaints from people because of the discomfort of FTL, and not to mention there was always a risk of losing a ship mid-jump.
Out the window he saw the fading blue dot that was Virgon. So far their trip had taken them from Helios to Oasis to decrease the chances of someone asking questions about where the ship was coming from. From there, they loaded the passengers aboard and then started out for Virgon .Their route showed that they were to stop at almost every Colony on their way to Caprica, and of course Caprica had to be the end destination. In total, the trip was to take close to twenty-nine hours.
Jessica groaned as she sat up from her seat. She had been sleeping like a baby for the last three hours curled up in her seat. "Have we reached Caprica yet?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
Scott laughed and turned away from the window. "No, we haven't even reached Gemenon yet."
"Fantastic. These passenger ships take too long get anywhere." She sat forward and pulled off her jacket and tossed it onto the seat across from her. She stood up from her seat and stretched her back. "I'm tired of being here, Scott."
"You know I'd love to do something about that, but I'm not the pilot anymore." She grabbed him by the hand and stood him up.
"Are we going somewhere?" She grabbed her jacket and tossed it over her shoulder as she started to lead him down the aisles of the Aurora towards the rear of the ship.
"I just want to look around a little." She said looking back at him for a second and smiling.
Looking around, they both were out of place. When they left they hadn't had any civilian clothing so they were in their duty blues now.
They hadn't gotten far when the PA screeched above them. "Attention passengers. I apologize for this, but there seems to be a Colony wide crisis and the president has called a stop to all civilian traffic. Again, I apologize for delays." The passengers all groaned loudly and several passengers began expressing their complaints out loud.
"The president wouldn't put a hold on traffic unless something big was going down." Jessica turned around to face Scott. Her voice was full of worry, and her face showed the same thing. She always seemed to see things before he did, so when she was worried he was worried.
"No kidding. Terrorist attack?" If the terrorists had hit something big then that might have been enough to hold the traffic, whatever it was, it big.
Jessica pulled her jacket back on and started to button it back up. "I hope not, I don't want to see on the vids that a thousand people were killed by the Soldiers of the One or something like that."
The hold on traffic hadn't been called for fifteen minutes before another announcement had been made. "Attention passengers…" There was a break in the captains voice as if he was choked up. "Attention passengers, there has been an update. The Colonial Military issued this to the general public ten minutes ago." Both Scott and Jessica both looked at one another. The Military never made statements unless the head of the government was incapacitated. "There is a Cylon attack underway against all Colonies. All civilian traffic is to hold and await instructions from the Military. That is all."
The PA broke and the two officers stared wide eyed at one another. A group of people sitting across from them stood up and came over to them. "You're with the military is it true?"
Scott stood up and made his way around the woman. "I'm not sure, but I'll find out, ma'am." Jessica stood up as well and followed him down the halls.
"Scott, what are you doing?" The pair tried to fight their way through the panicking civilians that were flooding the isles trying to find out what happened.
"I'm going to talk to the Captain." Scott pushed a man aside as he came to the cockpit which, to his dismay, had a small crowd of people trying to get into the cockpit. A lone stewardess was trying to hold them back. Scott pushed aside everyone, and once they saw his uniform they moved aside and started to ask him questions. When he reached the stewardess she sigh a breath of relief.
"Thank the Gods you're here. The Captain will want to talk to you." She slid open the doors and the pair entered the cockpit.
The co-pilot turned around and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Rob, Colonial Officers."
The pilot looked up quickly and stood up to meet them. "Thank the frakking Gods you two are here. We're getting reports that Cylons are bombing some of our worlds." The man paused as if trying to formulate something to say, finally he sighed and looked at the officers. "I don't have a clue what to do."
"Scott walked up to the man and placed his hand on his shoulder as he moved past him. "You've done good, Captain." Scott quickly looked over the controls of the ship. He'd never even attempted to fly something of this size, but the controls didn't seem too different from a Raptor. "Jess, get on the wireless and try to figure out the magnitude of this attack."
She was already on the wireless sorting through the constant chatter across the open wireless.
Several minutes passed in total silence as the reports came over the speakers. "This is Raptor 287 to the passenger ship Aurora. Please respond." Jess looked up to Scott who nodded and tapped the wireless.
"This is Lieutenant Scott McKnight aboard the Aurora. It's great to hear your voice 287."
A small laugh came over the wireless and the woman's voice followed. "It's good to hear you too, Aurora. Lieutenant Sharon Valerii, I'll escort you back to the President's Fleet."
Scott looked at the others in the cockpit, they had figured the government had been completely destroyed. "I wasn't aware President Adar made it out."
There was a short break as the FTL coordinates were sent to their ship. "Adar didn't, Laura Rosiin is in charge now."
Scott wasn't familiar with the name, but the co-pilot blurted out, "The Secretary of Education?" He shook his head and walked to the back of the cabin. "We're so frakked…" He muttered.
"Yeah, a frakking joke right?" Valerii said, "We're jumping in two minutes."
Scott flicked his head and the captain began preparing to jump the ship, "Wilco, 287 we'll be ready. And again, thanks for the rescue."
Picon Fleet Headquarters, Picon. Two years prior to the Fall
Vice Admiral Danforth Ward's footsteps echoed through the concrete halls of the Picon Fleet Headquarters. Buried under four hundred meters of steel, concrete, and rock, the Fleet HQ seemed more like an impenetrable fortress rather than a place to conduct Fleet operations.
The two MPs that escorted the Admiral hadn't said a word to the man since he had entered the base. Everyone seemed more on edge than the last time he had visited headquarters, but he hadn't been this deep into the base in years. Maybe he had just forgotten.
Ward smirked as he moved past the dozens of offices of the old flag officers he had known over the years. He had turned down multiple promotions in order to stay out of this place. He couldn't be trapped in some bunker planet side, it'd drive him insane. He needed to be in space.
Finally, the man reached the end of the long hall way and stood before a pair of heavy blast doors. Two additional MPs stood guard in front of the doors and forced him through yet another security check. He wanted to laugh as the men searched him and ran him through another ID check, for it was unnecessary to be checked this deep into the base, but as irritating as it was, he wasn't about to disobey protocol.
Eventually, the massive doors slide open and Ward stepped through to find two men talking at the head of a long oak conference table opposite of the doors. One he recognized as Fleet Admiral Peter Corman, the reason he had been called to Fleet HQ, but the other , with his back to Ward, could see wasn't wearing a Colonial uniform, yet the Admiral still spoke to the man with a sense of respect.
The two men turned as he stepped forward into the room. "Ah, Dan you're here." Corman smirked, "You're late."
"Apologies, sir. We took a little longer than expected mopping up on Oasis. The pirates were a little better armed than expected." Ward began walking around the long table to meet the two men.
"Did they give the great Admiral Ward of the Taskforce Saber some trouble?" Corman laughed as the old friends shook hands.
"Of course not, but you know, the bigger the bug you smash, the bigger mess it leaves behind." The second man nodded at the comment and gave a smile to the Admiral that was only one of a politician. Fake and as deadly as a snake.
"Mr. President it's an honor, sir." Ward said as he shook the President's hand. Frakking politicians. He thought but continued to smile. "I didn't expect you here."
"Admiral Ward, it's pleasure to meet you, and neither does the rest of the Twelve Colonies. It's good to know we can still keep some secrets." The President flashed his fake smile, the one that had helped him win the election, and Ward returned the gesture.
"Well lets get down to business." Corman showed the two men to their seats at the massive table.
"Admiral as you know the defense budget is being cut, but I can't do anything about it. The ministries are closing their hold around me more and more each day." The President started, " But we still have several weapon projects that need to be completed" He slid a manila folder in front of Ward and continued to speak. "These are the specs for some of the most deadly weapons that the spooks in the lower levels have ever thought up. We'd like to see these weapons reach operational status, but the ministries won't have it."
Admiral Ward skimmed through the files quickly and saw the destructive force of some of the weapons, one looked to be an oversized nuclear weapon, and from the specs it looked like it could scorch a planet's surface. Of course this was probably an overstatement of the weapons power, but it wouldn't hurt to have a weapon that could do that on your side. "Of course I can see why you'd want some of these weapons. If we ever faced a threat that could push us back on our heels these could turn the tides."
"Exactly our thinking too. As you are quiet aware, the Cylons have been busy little metal bastards." Corman stated as Ward thought back to one of his previous assignments in which he crossed the Red Line to take some photos of suspected Cylon activity. There wasn't much to see, but there were dozens of other missions to cross the line, including the botched mission in which Commander Adama was forced to shoot down one of his own pilots. It pained him to see Bill sent to a dying ship after that mission, but the stakes of the mission were too high. It had to be done.
"Admiral." The President continued, "We think that tensions with the Cylons could ignite sometime soon. And when it happens, we'd like to have the bigger stick." The President sat back in his chair and folded his hands across his lap.
"You're probably wondering where you fit in in all of this, Dan." Admiral Corman stood up from his seat with another portfolio. "Two months ago we found a planet opposite of the Red Line and far away from anywhere that anyone would be looking. It's a cold, desolate place with only a small strip of habitable surface. We set up a small base there, and have moved all of the projects out there. Right now, it's nothing more than a few tents and a landing strip, but in time it will become our largest research facility." Corman slid the folder in front of Ward. Inside were pictures of the small base, and a tactical layout of the entire "green" zone of the planet. Along with these pictures were detailed assessments of the surrounding moons, planets, effects of the solar radiation, and any other data that they could possibly have on the system.
"We need a military officer to lead the project, for security and to test the weapons implemented on each of our classes of warships. We've chosen you for your outstanding service records and Admiral Corman's persistence." The President shot a glare at Corman who only smirked. It was obvious that the President didn't like the choice, but Corman had been too much of a pain in the ass to let it go.
"It's an honor, sirs. When will I be deployed?" Admiral Ward rose from his chair as did the President.
"Three months. There's still things we need to patch up on the base." Corman said as they moved towards the doors.
"Great, the battlegroup will be ready." The trio of men stopped and Corman stepped out in front of him and stopped the Admiral.
"You won't be bringing along Battlegroup Saber. Your flag, the Retribution will be coming, but we'll have a whole new fleet just for this operation. The specs for the fleet will be sent to your ship en route to the rendezvous position."
It felt as if someone had just shot his dog. Saber had been his to command for years against the local pirate uprisings. He felt an attachment to each of the ships under his command. But he was still thankful his flag wouldn't be moved from the Retribution. The Thor Class Battlestar had come to grow on him.
"Of course, sir. It's an honor to be serving on this project." Ward said as he tried to move past the Fleet Admiral.
"One last thing, Dan." Corman caught his arm and locked eyes with the man to reinforce his point. "This project is of the utmost secrecy. We'll the only people within the Colonies that know where you actually are. No one is to know where you are being deployed, no one. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Not a word will slip my mouth. I'm not about to jeopardize my new command so soon, Peter." Ward laughed off the some what tense situation as did Corman. It was still unsettling that the two most powerful men in the Twelve Colonies have sworn him to such secrecy. Ward shrugged it off and finally moved for the door.
"Ward," The President said as he left the door. "Good luck."
Battlestar Retribution, enroute to Helios Base.
Admiral Ward settled into his overly padded chair behind his large oak desk in his personal quarters. He chewed on the end of a cigar, but did not light it. It was a habit he had acquired over the years aboard warships. While in the CIC it was against dozens of Colonial regulations to light up an cigar, no matter the rank. Instead, he would just chew on them while reviewing paperwork at the command table, and he fell into a habit around the rest of the ship.
In front of him lied the specs for his new command, Battlestar Group 86. All together, the Battlegroup consisted of four Mercury Class Battlestars, the Titan, Pacifica, Loki, and Havoc, five Valkyrie Class Battlestars, Nyx, Athena, Thor, Icarus, and Emerald, and his single Command Mercury Class Battlestar, the Retribution. Their escort consisted of twelve Gunstars, five Sentinel Classes, the Andromeda, Requiem, Reliant, Archer, Achilles, and seven Paladin Classes, Ares, Vulture, Hornet, Prometheus, Predator, Kvasir, and Essex.
Also there was a pair Marine Assault ships, the Nemesis and Dawn's Hammer, tasked with providing ground side security for the scientists, along with one hospital ship, Mercy, and four research vessels, Pandora, Decuma, Pericles, and Queenstown. Each of the ships would not only provide security and escort, but would also serve as test subjects themselves. Each of the weapons was going to be needed to be deployed from a Battlestar or their support, and the brass wanted to see that each of the mainline units could deploy them. It seemed to be an over-kill of ships and firepower, but what the spooks in Picon want, they get.
The most interesting, though, had to be one of the Valkyrie Class, the Nyx. Its hull was dark, making it impossible to see to the naked eye in space, but that was not what made it special. It was also covered in a carbon compound used on the stealthstar recon fighters, that would deflect DRADIS scans making it nearly impossible to see on DRADIS. It was a perfect stealth ship, for it did not sacrifice its firepower for stealth. So if it was in trouble, it could shoot its way out as a normal Valkyrie Class Battlestar would.
The internal systems were also much different, including the addition of a forward bridge, instead of a CIC, the one flaw Ward saw in the ship. Large view ports such as the one in the forward bridge of the Nyx tended to weak points in the ship's hull, and with the entire command crew so exposed, the ship could very quickly be sent out of action.
Ward was satisfied with his new command. It was almost three times the size of his last, and hopefully would have a better purpose for the Twelve Colonies. Ward closed the file and awaited for the Retribution to reach Helios.
Helios Base, Planet Helios. Four days prior to the Fall.
"It's so frakking cold down here." Lieutenant Scott McKnight said as he walked down the snowy concrete pathways that were hastily constructed almost two years ago. He looked across the parade ground of Helios Base towards the nine large steel buildings that made up the research complex on the base. Behind them was the large hangar that seemed to be upgraded every time he came down from orbit due to its ever expanding needs. The first time he came down to the Helios Base, the hangar was nothing more than a small landing strip with a few tents surrounding it. Now, it was capable of replacing any parts for the Viper MK VIII and it could support over two hundred of the Vipers, not that they had that many pilots groundside, however.
Beyond the hangar, was the "residential" area as they liked to call it. Six months into the project, the brass realized that the civilian personnel couldn't operate as well being cut off from their families and homes for so long. So to keep the civilian sector on track, the military quietly shipped in the families of close to one thousand of the civilians. Quickly, their small project turned from a research base, into a small city and it has been growing ever since. Close to four thousand people now lived in the base.
"Quit complaining, at least there is fresh air and a place to stretch our legs down here." Lieutenant Jessica Keen said coming up to his side.
Scott let out a little chuckle at his friend's comment as they continued down the concrete path. "That's a good point . You always know how to find the silver lining, Jess."
The ECO laughed and rubbed her hands together trying to warm them up. "I have to, it's the ECO's job to be an optimist. You Raptor pilots just find ways that things will go wrong." Scott laughed again as he walked down the path with his ECO. Ever since they had been paired together almost four years ago, they had been closer than any one else at Helios. But now their enlistments were up, and they had both decided to leave the Colonial Fleet.
Admiral Ward had asked them both to report to his office planet side before they left Helios. Probably to try and sway them back into service. The man was crazy about the Fleet. Some say he left his wife for the Fleet, but he always thought that was too far. Ward was a good man, and had always thought so.
After passing through several security checkpoints, the pair was finally heading down into the deep bunkers of Helios base. The MP escorting them had said that the Admiral's office was on the lower levels, almost one hundred meters below the surface of the planet. A bit much for a base that no one aside from the inhabitants and a few select people in the Colonies knew about, Scott thought, but it never hurt to protect your assets.
"Well, this is it. Good luck to you both with the Admiral." The MP saluted the two officers and went on his way.
"That just makes this a whole lot better. MPs wishing us luck." Jessica laughed as she tapped slightly on the door.
"MPs are fools, they don't know the Admiral like we do. It'll be fine. Soon we'll be back on Caprica living the good life." Scott pulled his arm around her shoulder and laughed a bit to lift her sprit.
"Right, I can't wait. When I got shipped out here, I thought that I'd never see the Colonies again. I don't know why, I just did." Jessica replied pulling him in for a hug.
"No, we'll see them again. Our homes, our families, our friends." He pulled back and looked at her with a smile. "We're going home, Jess."
Helios Base, Planet Helios. Four days prior to the Fall.
"But Admiral, nearly ninety five percent of the Colonial Fleet has been upgraded with these new systems." Admiral Ward sat back in his large chair, placing his face in his hands. These civilians that the president had been sending over were getting on his nerves.
"Listen, I don't care that the Fleet has been upgraded. My Battlegroup is staying here until the project is complete. We've only got a few more months until Doctor Allen has completed his work." The man's face flushed with anger, most likely because they had been butting heads with one another since he had arrived three days ago. It didn't bother the Admiral, though. This was his Battlegroup, and he would do what he wanted with it.
"Listen, Admiral, we could just take a few of your ships at a time and upgrade the-." Ward waved his hand in irritation. These defense spooks just didn't take no for an answer.
"Taking even just a handful of my ships would put them in an dry dock for a three month overhaul. That would delay the project for several months. It just isn't probable to delay the project so long." Ward said as a finality. "That's all, you're dismissed." The man nodded and walked out of the room without saying another word.
The Admiral looked around the small office. Concrete walls, almost no decorations aside from one picture of his family hanging on the wall. He hated having to come down to the planet's surface and sit in this office. Actually, he hated being off of his ship period. His wife used to tell him that he spent more time aboard that ship than the house they had on Virgon. It was true, and that is why she left him.
He had climbed the ranks of the Colonial Fleet through extreme dedication to it. During the first Cylon War, he made his name when he single handedly brought down a pair of Baseships with his Gunstar, the Indefatigable in a trap he had laid over Tuaron as just a Major. Then he led the rallying defense of the Aquarion and stone walled the Cylons there. After the war, he led a campaign to destroy pirates that were terrorizing some of the Colonies in Operation Sideswipe, but through all of that, it left little time for his family. His wife left him several years ago and took his three children with her.
Ward stood up from his desk and looked over the picture of his family. Just because he was away so much didn't mean he didn't love them. He loved his family more than anything in the Colonies, but just could never show them enough.
His two sons had tried to follow in his footsteps and join the Colonial Fleet, but his wife wouldn't let them. Instead they moved to Caprica and opened a bar there. From their last letter, which was close to a year ago, they were doing well there and had made a name for themselves.
His youngest daughter, Tania, however, had stayed on Leonis. She always tried her best to stay in touch with him, always sending letters talking whenever she could. Last he had heard, she was working for a prominent doctor as a PA. She always wanted to be a doctor, and he prayed that she would make there one day.
Ward returned to his desk and decided to finish up what paper work he had left so that he could return to his flagship, the Retribution. The reports were picking up since they were nearing the end of the project and the President wanted to know how everything was faring.
Just as Ward was getting comfortable again, there was a knock at his door. "Enter." He said, sliding the papers off of his desk and into the drawer. Two of his officers entered the office and snapped crisp salutes. "Ah, Lieutenants McKnight and Keen. I suppose I was expecting you both." Both Lieutenants stood more rigid and looked very uncomfortable. "I know what you are asking, but I want to hear it from you two in person."
The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Lieutenant Scott McKnight stepped forward. "Sir, both of our enlistments are up. We are looking to leave the Fleet."
The Admiral sighed loudly. "You're both a damn good Raptor team. I'd hate to lose you."
"Yes, sir, but we feel that we've put in six good years for the Fleet, it's just time for us to move on." McKnight said. Ward scratched the stubble of his beard and stood up.
"Well then I can't keep you here. A civilian freighter will be unloading supplies until tomorrow. It will take you back to the Colonies." The two Lieutenants nodded and snapped crisp salutes to the Admiral.
"Thank you, sir. It has been an honor to serve with you." Lieutenant Keen finished her salute and shook the man's hand, as did Lieutenant McKnight.
"Good luck to both of you." With that the Raptor team left the small office and the Admiral sat back just to watch the door for a while. They were good officers, and he hated to let them go, but not everyone could lose their loved ones like he did.
Battlestar Retribution. Two days prior to the Fall.
Lieutenant James Atlas stood in the center of the long hangar deck, staring at the row of Vipers before him. The light gray metal shown dully in the hangar's overhead lights. It had always calmed him to look at their steeds that carried them into the dark unknown. The planes were so graceful, so elegant in space that they reminded him of the horses that had once carried the great warriors into battle long before man traveled the stars.
"James! Hey James!" Joker was broken from his stupor when his friend jogged up to his side. Lieutenant Megan Fel grabbed his arm and tugged him towards her gently. The two had been friends since flight school almost a year and a half ago. "Come on big man. Today is your big day." James dropped his eyes and smiled while giving into Avery's pull. Today was his one thousandth landing, one of the biggest accomplishment a pilot could make aboard a Battlestar.
"Easy, Trix. I'm coming." He laughed as she continued to drag him out of the hangar. "Aww. Did I hurt the big bad Joker?" She joked as they left the hangar deck.
The two pilots entered the normally quiet pilot's quarters to find the all of the Warhawk Squadron Viper pilots waiting to surprise them. "Hey he finally crashed down onto the deck one thousand times!" Lieutenant Jacob Falls yelled when they entered the room. James braced himself, but Falls still overtook him wrapped him up, embracing him. When Jacob finally dropped him to his feet, two more pilots were on top of him in an instant. Both were grinning wildly as they smeared paint onto his forehead in large block numbers "1000".
"To Joker and his one thousandth landing!" Their CAG, Major Dayton Hawke, stepped atop the table that was centered in the middle of the cramped quarters holding a small tin glass. Another pilot handed James a glass as well. Each of the pilots called back to him, "To the thousandth!" They all drank together and the warm liquid burned as it ran down Joker's throat. The second he brought the glass down, it was filled again. The pilot's ritual continued for several minutes, toasting to one another and their great Battlestar Retribution.
"Attention on deck!" The shout echoed throughout the pilot's quarters. The entire deck fell silent as Admiral Ward stepped into the room followed closely behind by Commander Allyson Shard. The two officers stood silently in front of the pilots who stood at rigid attention. James felt the normal butterflies flutter in his stomach that came when the Admiral was near. Despite being stationed on the Retribution for close to two years, he couldn't feel comfortable around the man.
Finally, the Admiral cracked a smile and said, "As you were pilots. Lieutenant Atlas, where are you?" Grinning widely, Joker stepped forward and snapped a salute to the Admiral. Still smiling, the Admiral returned his salute and held out his hand to the him. "Congratulations, Joker." The pilot grabbed his hand and shook it furiously.
"Thank you, sir." Megan was leaning against her bunk on the other side of the room, trying to suppress her laughs. He had to look like a fool in front of the Admiral.
"This is a grand thing, Lieutenant. You make us all proud." Commander Shard picked up one of the drinks and raised it to make a toast. "This day belongs to you, Lieutenant. Make the most of it." The pilots cheered and each of them drank again.
The Admiral stood atop the table and raised his full glass high. "To the pilots of the Battlestar Retribution, and the Colonial Fleet. Let you always be our shield for humanity, and our sword against the enemy!"
In a much more serious tone, the pilots acknowledged the Admiral's toast and drank again. The sword and shield, that's what they were, James thought, and nothing would slip through them.
Battlestar Gladiator. One day prior to the Fall.
"Gods damn it!" Commander Andrew Weaver slammed his hand on the command table.
"Sir, the systems are new. We're working out problems with the new Command Navigation Programs, but that isn't the problem." Lieutenant Marcel answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Then what is the problem, lieutenant?" Weaver asked as he dropped his face into his hands. This shakedown cruise was going to drive him insane.
"Sir, when the CNP was put aboard our ship the were forced to network all of the computers…"
Weaver looked up at the young lieutenant before speaking, "Yes, I'm well aware that our frakking computers are networked, lieutenant. Get to the Gods damn point." Weaver was beyond furious that the systems had crashed for the fourth time on their so called easy shakedown run.
"Yes, sir. Our systems are older and they can't handle the amount of networking that they brass is throwing into the Gladiator. The old computers try and keep up, but they can't and crash."
"Then what do we do about it, lieutenant?" Weaver stood to face the man.
"Uh, well sir, I'm not in a position to make the decision, but the ship's computers need to be unnetworked until we make it back to the Scoripan Shipyards. The systems will just continue to crash if they aren't. The crew is used to having unnetworked computers so it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Marcel took a step back from the towering Commander and added one last bit, "But that is just what I would do, sir."
"The frakking brass sent me out here to fix the damn ship and I have to pull out all the wires again. I can't frakking do that, lieutenant."
The lights in the CIC, as well as the computer screens all flickered for a few moments and went out. Ten long seconds passed before all of the systems came back online. The entire crew stood silently looking at their Commander.
"Don't just frakking stand there!" He yelled and slammed his fist against the command table again. "Unnetwork the damn computers!" He shot a glare towards his tactical officer. "You'd better be right about this, Marcel."
"Yes, sir. It'll work." Marcel turned quickly and moved to his station to begin work on the computer systems.
Colonel Zachary Spears strutted through the hatch of the CIC with a smirk on his face as moved his way over to the command table. The XO was the only one that could calm the Commander's temper on the ship, and everyone knew to stay out of the COs way before the XO got to him.
"I see you've taken a liking to our new Tactical Officer." The Colonel shot a glance over his shoulder to look at the officer working hard at his station. "You making friends, Commander?'
The Commander let out a grunt of what could have either been humor, or disagreement, even he didn't know. "If he's wrong I'll have his ass like the last one. What frak was that kid's name?" Weaver scratched his head for a few seconds before Spears answered.
"Portman. You'd know if you didn't throw him off the ship after just two weeks." Spears said with a hint of accusation in his voice.
"The kid was slow and needed to be gone. Just like this kid's probably going to find himself out of here too." Weaver said looking down to his reports.
"Sir, all systems have been unnetworked. Should we plot a jump now?" Lieutenant Marcel called from his station.
"The kid's got balls you know." Zach started, "He's telling you what to do now."
Weaver glared at his XO who was grinning like a fool at the Commander. "This is the moment of truth. He fraks this up he's gone."
Spears said nothing, but waved his hand as if allowing the Commander to proceed with his trial.
"Do it, lieutenant." Weaver held his breath as the lieutenant plotted a series of numbers into his console . He double checked and then triple checked the numbers before plugging them into the system.
"Attention all hands, prepare for jump. Systems have been unnetworked, all crews should compensate for this now." Marcel spoke through the PA system and simultaneously plugged the jump key into the system. "All hands prepare to jump in, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, now."
Weaver felt the usual discomfort of the ship jumping turn his stomach inside out and then back in again as they reentered normal space. The crew fell silent for a few long seconds, waiting for the systems to fail as they had with each previous jump. Nothing. All systems stayed online. The crew cheered as a sign of relief that their ship could once again, get from point A to point B.
"Well looks like the boy gets to stay." Spears laughed and looked over at the ecstatic tactical officer. "Good work, lieutenant."
Again, Weaver let out an inaudible grunt and looked down at his paper work. "The boy can stay for now."
Spears let out a short laugh and slapped his hand on the commander's shoulder. "Getting a little soft on us are you?"
Weaver couldn't help but laugh a little himself. "Don't count on it, Colonel."
Battlestar Retribution Combat War Games in orbit over Helios. One hour prior to the Fall.
Come on you son of a bitch. Lieutenant James Atlas pushed on the throttle to try and keep up with the new Viper MK VIII he was pursuing. The MK VII he was in was a damn good interceptor, but these new MK VIIIs they had developed over the last two years were a whole new level.
"This is Joker, I'm taking the shot." Atlas squeezed the trigger on his Viper at the enemy he was engaging. In the last second, the MK VIII pulled a gut wrenching maneuver and whisked out of his fire. "Frak!" He yelled as the enemy slipped from his grasp.
"Gods damnit, Joker!" His wing man yelled to him as he pulled farther onto his wing. "Check your three o'clock we've got incoming." Another pair of MK VIIIs pushed closer towards them.
"I got it, you take this little bastard." Joker replied as he pulled his Viper around his wing man to engage the new targets.
The enemy Vipers were still too far out, he'd have to wait until they were in maximum firing range for his guns. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he didn't really know, that wasn't more than a few seconds. His enemy closed the gap between them in a blur of motion, even the DRADIS was having a bit of trouble keeping up. "In my sights, firing." Again, Joker squeezed the trigger, but this time he watched as the dummy tracer rounds shut down his opponent's Viper.
There was no time to celebrate his small victory. The other pilot flipped his Viper about and began to engage Joker. The two fighters were now heading straight for one another, guns firing the whole way. Closer, closer the Vipers drew to one another. When they were a mere meter away, Joker jerked back on his flight stick and rolled his Viper away from the enemy he was playing chicken with. It set him in prime position to turn the fighter about since he was already half way through his maneuver. In a matter of seconds, this little fight would be over. I've got you now you little bastard. He thought as he tried to pull his Viper end over end to get on his enemies six.
"What?" It didn't even occur to him that he had spoken. The hostile Viper had already spun about and was heading for him. "Frak!" He yelled again as he succumbed to being the pursued once again and jammed his throttle forward.
His thrusters ignited as he tore through empty space and away from his attacker. The tracers flew all around the canopy of his Viper, but none of them connected. Every maneuver, every trick, everything he knew he was doing to keep this enemy from tearing him apart.
"Zip! I need you help out here. I've got one on my six and I can't shake this bastard." He waited a few seconds and jerked his Viper yet again to avoid a burst from his pursuer. "Zip respond! Zip!" Again there was no reply, and he was running out of tricks to keep the hostile at bay.
Joker glanced down at his DRADIS as he put the Viper into a high Gee turn to stay alive. All forty three Viper MK VIIs had faded from the DRADIS screen. Just my Gods damn luck. Everyone else gets to get killed while I'm frakking stuck with twenty six frakking MK VIIIs. The red markers began swarming the DRADIS around him. This won't end well. Might as well try and take a few of the bastards with me while I can. But he couldn't with this one bugger right on his ass. Time to stop running I guess.
He pulled his Viper around and squeezed the trigger the whole way spraying rounds as he went. His enemy continued its blind charge, but Joker had something else in mind. He pushed his Viper vertical to move out of the fire and hit his throttle putting them into another chicken fight. Let's hope this asshole will move. At the very last second, he pulled his Viper around and let the momentum carry his Viper straight towards his enemy. If his target broke and moved out of the way, then he'd fall straight into his firing solution, if he didn't, they'd both be gone.
Joker closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable crash between the two Vipers. He looked up to see the MK VIII graze the top of his canopy and spiral out of control right into his sights. Gotcha. He fired and the dummy round connected with the hostile, putting him out of action.
"Take that you frakking piece of shit!" He yelled over an open wireless channel. The victory was, yet again, shot lived. The alarm blared in his cockpit and all of his controls went dead. "Gods damnit." He muttered to himself. Seconds later another MK VIII blew past his canopy.
"Always check your six, Joker." The ever present voice of his Squadron commander filled his cockpit. He'd never hear the end of it from him.
"Attention all pilots, the simulation is over. I repeat, simulation is over. Restoring power to all flight systems now." The Retribution's communications officer rang in his ear.
"How'd we do, Katie?" Joker laughed as he asked the Communications Officer.
His comment was received with a laugh of her own. "Fourteen kills. Better than last time, but still shit, just like you, Joker."
"Fourteen out of thirty two, not bad. I can take that." He joked back to the officer.
"Yeah right, Joker. We got our asses handed to us." Dante Ambrose pulled onto his wing.
"No, no my little friend. You got your ass handed to you. I out scored you all, so you know what that means." James laughed through the open wireless channel.
"Joker, stow it. You may have gotten the most kills, but your squadron was still torn to pieces out there. This isn't a time for celebration." Captain Forsell pulled onto his wing. Joker shut off the wireless and sighed to himself. The woman never got off his ass, ever. "I want your ass on the deck, now."
Lieutenant Atlas pulled his Viper to the front of the formation. "Retribution, Joker. Requesting permission to land."
"Permission, granted, Joker. Call the ball." The Landing Signals Officer called off.
"Roger, Retribution I have the ball." Joker went through the landing checks and touched his Viper down on the deck of the Retribution. The deck gang pushed the ladder up to his Viper and handed him the check list. He signed off and handed the checklist back to the specialist.
Before he could even reach the deck, Captain Forsell was on top of him. His Squadron Commander grabbed his arm and led him to the side of the deck away from the knuckle draggers. "Joker, what the frak was that out there?"
"Well, sir that was a combat war game." Atlas replied smirking.
"Don't get cute with me, Joker. You left your wingman to go chasing enemies and he was killed." She pushed the pilot back onto the bulkhead. "You don't frakking leave friends out there to fend for themselves." Forsell stepped back and let the Lieutenant go. "You're a hot shot, Atlas, and you're good, really frakking good, but it's going to your head."
Joker stepped back and from the Captain. She'd never been on him like this before for the last few weeks he'd been pushing his pilots to be better and better.
"There's a frakking storm coming, Joker. You'd better be up to the task." He just barely caught the Captain quietly say this as she walked away.
Joker stood almost motionless as he thought about what the Captain had said. He didn't move until Lieutenant Ambrose grabbed him on the shoulder. "You good, Joker?" The man broke from his blank stare and looked at his friend.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good." He took one last glance at the Captain before following his friend out of the hangar deck. "It's just something the Captain said."
"What was it?" Dante asked pulling the hatch open.
He moved through the door and shook his head. "Hopefully, nothing important. Come on let's get some rest." With that, Joker closed the hatch and moved on.
Battlestar Retribution. Thirty-five minutes after the opening attacks.
Admiral Ward lied back into his bunk, sighing a little in relief.
It felt as if he had just fallen asleep when there was a frantic tapping on his hatch. Ward groaned and rolled off of his bunk stumbling with sleep still in his eyes towards the hatch. A Petty Officer stood in the door with a slip of paper in his cold sweaty hands.
"A priority message from Fleet Headquarters on Picon." His voice was shaky, but Ward disregared his odd behavior because he was too tired.
"At ease, Petty Officer." The man nervously shook his head and stood in the door way.
Again, Ward rubbed his eyes so that he could focus on the slip of paper he was just handed. The message was simple, but he couldn't, or didn't want to understand them.
ATTENTION ALL COLONIAL UNITS. CYLON ATTACK OF THE COLONIES IS UNDERWAY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
Ward dropped the slip and reached for his duty jacket. Still pulling it on as he walked out of the door way he turned to the Petty Officer. "Get to your station, sailor. We're at war."
The boy nodded, saluted and ran the opposite way of the CIC. Ward moved as fast as he possibly could to the CIC. War again?
The Admiral almost ran into the sliding doors of the CIC because they didn't open quickly enough for how fast he was moving.
"Orders, sir?" Allyson stood at the command table, cool as ever. The first person on board that was.
"Bring the Fleet up to Condition One and get me a priority one channel to Picon Fleet Headquarters." Allyson nodded and picked up the PA system on the command table.
"Action stations, actions stations. Set Condition One throughout the ship. This is not a drill." The XO repeated the string of orders several times before placing the phone back in its place.
Lieutenant Katie Martel swiveled in her seat to face t Admiral. "Channel open, sir."
Ward nodded and picked the handset up. Hopefully, Fleet HQ will have sorted out most of the intel on the size of the attacks. Ward wasn't anxious to get into another fight, but if there was one, he'd have to be in it. The gruffly voice of Fleet Admiral Corman cracked through the wireless a few seconds later.
"Peter, what the frak is happening out there?" Corman didn't respond for a few seconds, but he heard him talking to someone else with him. A slight rattle was heard on the other side of the line as if a bomb had hit the solid defenses of the Headquarters.
"Ward, the Cylons have blown through our defenses here. The entire fleet over Picon is gone." Ward nearly dropped the handset right there. Last he knew there was close to three dozen Battlestars stationed over Picon. Corman continued through the sounds of bombs hitting the bunkers, "They're nuking the planet, Dan. Queenstown, Necropolis, all of the major cities have been hit with nukes. We don't know how long we'll last here."
Corman seemed frantic, as would anyone being fed the reports they were receiving. "Where do you need me, sir. We're ready to go here."
The Fleet Admiral was yelling again at someone else in the room with him. The rattles over the wireless were getting louder now. "Dan, dig your head in there and don't enter the fight." Ward thought he didn't hear Admiral right.
"Peter we can't just sit out here.." Ward was abruptly cut off by Corman.
"That's a frakking order, Admiral Ward. Those weapons could give us a fighting chance later. Hold out and wait for further orders." Another rattle came through the wireless followed by a loud crash. Corman didn't respond for a long time.
"Admiral Corman…" Nothing over the line, "Corman… Peter!" The wireless stayed dead despite his repeated attempts to hail Picon. Ward spun around to the communications officer.
"Line went dead, sir." She stopped for a few seconds and checked over the screens again. "I can't seem to reach them again. All communications coming out of Picon are dead, Admiral."
Ward's heart sank. There was billions of people on Picon, and now it was likely they are gone. Almost immediately, his mind shot to his family. If they were nuking Picon they could very well be hitting the other Colonies as well.
"Sir, ship commanders are requesting jump vectors. They're all ready to fight." Lieutenant Yvonne Sives tapped her ear-piece ready to transmit the orders.
"All ships stand down FTL. We're not going anywhere." The Lieutenant took a double take at the Admiral. Lieutenant Shawn shifted uneasily at his panel. None of them wanted to stay here. "Admiral Corman gave me orders to stay here and defend the base on Helios. That's what I intend to do. Continue to monitor all channels and if anything comes through, I want to know. Have a Raptor prepped to launch when I reach the Hangar Deck." Ward started for the doors of the CIC. "Allyson walk with me. Lieutenant Sives, you have the conn."
Ward moved swiftly down the halls of the Battlestar. Crewmen stepped aside and saluted the flag officer in their hastiness to prepare the ship for war. Commander Shard quickened her pace to come aside the Admiral. "Can I ask where you are headed?"
"To the Nyx. I've got to see what is happening out there." Ward turned a corner sharply and stopped the Commander. "When I spoke to Corman the line was cut off. The Headquarters is hardened against EMPS so that they won't lose contact with the rest of the Fleet. You'd have to destroy the entire bunker to cut it off." Allyson stood motionless for a few seconds. "This could be the end game for us, Allyson. For humanity."
Allyson nodded and took a deep breath, trying to take in everything that was happening. "What are my orders, Admiral?"
"Keep the Fleet on high alert and if the Cylons jump in, defend the base as long as you can. If we don't report back, inform Commander Harvard aboard the Pacifica that he is in command." Allyson nodded. She was a good officer and he was glad to have her with him. Ward started to turn towards the hangar deck, but Allyson stopped him.
"Good luck out there, Dan. Find out who is still out there." Ward nodded and began heading towards the hangar.
ONE HOUR LATER, Battlestar Nyx
Raptor 438 touched down softly onto the deck of the Battlestar Nyx. Ward hadn't even seen the Nyx until just a few seconds before they touched down on her flight pod. After the Raptor was taxied down to the hangar area and the door lifted open, Ward stepped out onto Battlestar's deck for the second time since the Battlestar came under his command. The first was just days after he had arrived at Helios and was fascinated with the stealth ship. This time, however, he would be seeing the stealth systems in action.
The hangar bay was unusually empty, void of the bustling commotion that the Retribution's had each time the ship was at condition one. Instead of dozens of Vipers being armed and fueled, four stealthstar fighters sat just in front of the tubes, ready to fly.
He must have noticed Ward looking at the stealthstars because when Captain Jose Burnett met the Admiral on the deck he said, "We're a stealth ship, sir. No need for a full contingent of Vipers. We've just got these four stealthstars and a squadron of Vipers in the starboard landing bay." Ward looked the man over once after returning his salute. The man spoke in a calm and to the point kind of way. His eyes shifted to everything, analyzing everything. The patches on his flight suit bore that of the 413th "Shadows" Stealth Squadron.
"Understandable, I hope we won't need to use you for this sortie." Burnett nodded, but was obviously surprised that they were heading out. He hadn't informed the crew of the Nyx that he planned on going to the Colonies.
"Right this way, sir. I'll take you to the CIC." Ward nodded and followed the Captain down the corridors of the Battlestar. On the Retribution, it took a good fifteen minutes to reach the CIC from one of the flight pods, but the Nyx was much smaller so it only took a few minutes.
When the Admiral entered the Nyx's CIC, he had to take a second glance at it. The whole area was different from any other Battlestar in the Fleet. The command chair and the forward view port were the strangest of all to him, and he figured he would never get used to it.
Commander Espino snapped a crisp salute to the Admiral when he entered. Olivia was a rare find in the Colonial Fleet. She was one of the best intelligence officers, but she also had a grasp of fleet tactics, which many spooks failed to understand. And, like him, most fleet officers failed to understand fully the art of espionage beyond the point of reading what the spooks brought in.
"Commander, we're heading into the Colonies. Plot a jump to Caprica." Olivia smiled and nodded to the Admiral. He could see she wanted to get back to the Colonies to asses the situation just like him. The officers snapped to work and began to plot the jump and prepare the ship to jump.
"Any word from Fleet HQ?" Espino settled into her command chair and Ward gripped the side of the chair to await the jump. They both knew that normally Ward would be in command of the Nyx, but the stealth ship was a rare case. The intelligence officer knew more of the ship's systems than he could ever hope to know in a lifetime.
The Admiral tried to speak in a low tone so not to attract attention to their conversation. "Picon is gone."
"Gone? You mean we've already retreated off world?"
Ward scratched the side of his face trying to put the words easily. "No…" The Commander turned to look at the Admiral. "Picon has been destroyed. What we've heard is that the Cylons are nuking the worlds. I have to see for myself."
Espino let her mouth fall open slightly as her gaze slowly fell to the floor. It was hard news for anyone to take, but for a native of that world, it couldn't be easy. She was only broken from her thoughts when the navigation officer called off that the ship was prepared to jump.
Nodding, the Commander gave the signal to jump the ship. The countdown was followed by the gut turning feeling of a faster than light jump. The ship reappeared in normal space over the colony of Caprica. Immediately, collision alarms began blaring while Ward watched through the forward view port as a Battlestar's flight pod drifted towards them.
"Evasive maneuvers! Full reverse thrusters!" Espino shouted as the debris flew towards them. The Battlestar shifted violently backwards and arced downward sharply out of the way of the debris. "Status!" The officers fumbled with their consoles trying to get a report to their Commander.
"Ma'am, we're picking up a large amount of debris over Caprica. Nearly all of the hulls are that of Colonial Battlestars." One of the officers called out. Caprica had one of the larger defense forces in orbit, at anytime they would have two to three Battlestar Groups in orbit. If they were taken out so easily then there would be no hope for the rest of the Colonies.
"DRADIS." Ward called out wanting to see the tactical situation. One of the view screens flicked on with the DRADIS layout. Dozens of dots representing Cylon Basestars surrounded the planet. A trio Battlestars moved in to engage the Cylon forces. The Nyx shifted so that her viewports got a glimpse of the skirmish. The DRADIS showed the names of the ships as the Acheron, Sovereign, and Cerberus all Mercury Classes.
The Battlestars prepared to engage a single Basestar that was bearing down on them. However, just before the Battlestars fired their opening shots, they seemed to just lose power and begin drifting. The Cylons began moving closer to the Colonial forces. Vipers drifted harmlessly towards their Raider adversaries.
"What the frak are they doing?" Commander Espino sat forward to get a better glimpse of the battle.
The single Basestar fired a full salvo of missiles towards the Battlestars. Ward was waiting for the AAA systems to flare up and destroy the missiles in a massive cloud of flak, but it never came. Hundreds of missiles struck across the bows of the Battlestars. What was just minutes ago a formidable Battlegroup, was gone without even putting up a fight.
"Lieutenant scan the area and see if the Cylons are launching some sort of weapon to disarm our ships." The Admiral moved forward to the front of the CIC and looked out of the view port. Hundreds of flashes went up across the surface Caprica. All he could think of was his two sons in Caprica City. He stared out into the vast opening watching everything he knew go up into a ball of flames.
"Admiral, no weapons were deployed that we know of, but we did pick up a signal being sent off just before the Cylons engaged."
"Isolate that signal and see if it is shutting down our systems or something like that." If the Cylons had a signal that could shut down everything the Colonial Fleet had, then that would explain how they were able to destroy Picon and Caprica so quickly.
"Aye, sir." The lieutenant hadn't looked away from his panel since they had jumped in system. They were all scared, even him. There might not be a way out of this one.
"Sirs, message coming in from Admiral Nagala's Battlegroup over Virgon." Both officers were anxious to hear of Nagala's counter attack. Ward snatched the message from the communications officer before the man could read it.
ENTIRE BATTLEGROUP DESTROYED… ALL SURVIVORS ARE TO SCATTER AND USE GUERILLA TACTICS… CASULTIES ARE AS FOLLOWS…
BATTLESTAR ATLAINTIA- DESTROYED
BATTLESTAR NIGHT FLIGHT- DESTROYED
BATTLESTAR SOLARIA- DESTROYED...
The list continued on, but Ward didn't bother reading the message. He began to truly believe that they were alone now. For all he knew, they were the last ones left in the Twelve Worlds. He handed the paper off to Commander Espino and watched as her tan skin flushed white.
"Prepare to jump back to Helios. I've got to address the Fleet." Ward took one final glance out the view port. Caprica, Picon, Virgon. All of them were confirmed destroyed. It wouldn't be long before the rest were.
Passenger Ship Aurora. Two hours after the opening attacks.
Scott flipped through a copy of the Colonial Times that he picked up from one of the stewardess that had passed by. He'd already read the issue once before, but there wasn't much else to do aboard the Aurora. He was reading an article about one of the various singers that had been arrested for possession of drugs. It was laughable that these people were always getting arrested, yet people still throw thousands of cubits at them, but if a Colonial officer were to caught then they would be torn apart by the media.
Scott stretched his neck and looked out of the window next to him. These trips always took forever to get to their destinations without FTLs. Civilian passenger ships tried not to use their FTLs if they didn't have to. The passenger liners got too many complaints from people because of the discomfort of FTL, and not to mention there was always a risk of losing a ship mid-jump.
Out the window he saw the fading blue dot that was Virgon. So far their trip had taken them from Helios to Oasis to decrease the chances of someone asking questions about where the ship was coming from. From there, they loaded the passengers aboard and then started out for Virgon .Their route showed that they were to stop at almost every Colony on their way to Caprica, and of course Caprica had to be the end destination. In total, the trip was to take close to twenty-nine hours.
Jessica groaned as she sat up from her seat. She had been sleeping like a baby for the last three hours curled up in her seat. "Have we reached Caprica yet?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
Scott laughed and turned away from the window. "No, we haven't even reached Gemenon yet."
"Fantastic. These passenger ships take too long get anywhere." She sat forward and pulled off her jacket and tossed it onto the seat across from her. She stood up from her seat and stretched her back. "I'm tired of being here, Scott."
"You know I'd love to do something about that, but I'm not the pilot anymore." She grabbed him by the hand and stood him up.
"Are we going somewhere?" She grabbed her jacket and tossed it over her shoulder as she started to lead him down the aisles of the Aurora towards the rear of the ship.
"I just want to look around a little." She said looking back at him for a second and smiling.
Looking around, they both were out of place. When they left they hadn't had any civilian clothing so they were in their duty blues now.
They hadn't gotten far when the PA screeched above them. "Attention passengers. I apologize for this, but there seems to be a Colony wide crisis and the president has called a stop to all civilian traffic. Again, I apologize for delays." The passengers all groaned loudly and several passengers began expressing their complaints out loud.
"The president wouldn't put a hold on traffic unless something big was going down." Jessica turned around to face Scott. Her voice was full of worry, and her face showed the same thing. She always seemed to see things before he did, so when she was worried he was worried.
"No kidding. Terrorist attack?" If the terrorists had hit something big then that might have been enough to hold the traffic, whatever it was, it big.
Jessica pulled her jacket back on and started to button it back up. "I hope not, I don't want to see on the vids that a thousand people were killed by the Soldiers of the One or something like that."
The hold on traffic hadn't been called for fifteen minutes before another announcement had been made. "Attention passengers…" There was a break in the captains voice as if he was choked up. "Attention passengers, there has been an update. The Colonial Military issued this to the general public ten minutes ago." Both Scott and Jessica both looked at one another. The Military never made statements unless the head of the government was incapacitated. "There is a Cylon attack underway against all Colonies. All civilian traffic is to hold and await instructions from the Military. That is all."
The PA broke and the two officers stared wide eyed at one another. A group of people sitting across from them stood up and came over to them. "You're with the military is it true?"
Scott stood up and made his way around the woman. "I'm not sure, but I'll find out, ma'am." Jessica stood up as well and followed him down the halls.
"Scott, what are you doing?" The pair tried to fight their way through the panicking civilians that were flooding the isles trying to find out what happened.
"I'm going to talk to the Captain." Scott pushed a man aside as he came to the cockpit which, to his dismay, had a small crowd of people trying to get into the cockpit. A lone stewardess was trying to hold them back. Scott pushed aside everyone, and once they saw his uniform they moved aside and started to ask him questions. When he reached the stewardess she sigh a breath of relief.
"Thank the Gods you're here. The Captain will want to talk to you." She slid open the doors and the pair entered the cockpit.
The co-pilot turned around and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Rob, Colonial Officers."
The pilot looked up quickly and stood up to meet them. "Thank the frakking Gods you two are here. We're getting reports that Cylons are bombing some of our worlds." The man paused as if trying to formulate something to say, finally he sighed and looked at the officers. "I don't have a clue what to do."
"Scott walked up to the man and placed his hand on his shoulder as he moved past him. "You've done good, Captain." Scott quickly looked over the controls of the ship. He'd never even attempted to fly something of this size, but the controls didn't seem too different from a Raptor. "Jess, get on the wireless and try to figure out the magnitude of this attack."
She was already on the wireless sorting through the constant chatter across the open wireless.
Several minutes passed in total silence as the reports came over the speakers. "This is Raptor 287 to the passenger ship Aurora. Please respond." Jess looked up to Scott who nodded and tapped the wireless.
"This is Lieutenant Scott McKnight aboard the Aurora. It's great to hear your voice 287."
A small laugh came over the wireless and the woman's voice followed. "It's good to hear you too, Aurora. Lieutenant Sharon Valerii, I'll escort you back to the President's Fleet."
Scott looked at the others in the cockpit, they had figured the government had been completely destroyed. "I wasn't aware President Adar made it out."
There was a short break as the FTL coordinates were sent to their ship. "Adar didn't, Laura Rosiin is in charge now."
Scott wasn't familiar with the name, but the co-pilot blurted out, "The Secretary of Education?" He shook his head and walked to the back of the cabin. "We're so frakked…" He muttered.
"Yeah, a frakking joke right?" Valerii said, "We're jumping in two minutes."
Scott flicked his head and the captain began preparing to jump the ship, "Wilco, 287 we'll be ready. And again, thanks for the rescue."