So Say We All (FT, CLOSED)

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody shifted nervously as she watched the second basestar disappear from the sensors. Last one.

Her tiny ship was withering under the enemy fire, even with her shield up it was getting weaker and soon enough a missile broke through to slam into her armor. She flinched a little, her ship had strong shields, but crap armor and Audeamus staggered under the blow to her starboard. The damage was probably bad, but she didn't see any signs of destabilization in th core, which would of looked along like space was trying to bend itself into a knot.

She was surprised when the ship recovered the drives were dimming, then the shield was back, of course rediverting energy, sacrifice maneuverability for protection, she swatted what looked to have been a nuke out of the air. The ship twisted around again, slower this time, and for a minute she did nothing except shoot down incoming missiles, til she launched a double stacked broadside of 8 nukes at the basestar in time with a salvo of Acheron's missiles. While she was glad for.thr increased firepower, 8 instead of 10 indicated a launcher was down, probably from the missile that had hit it just moments before.

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22

“Order Phalanx to move up to cover Audeamus, we can handle the fire from that base ship on our own,” Spencer ordered crisply as reports on the hits to Audeamus were reported to him. “Do we have Cerberus in cover yet?”

“Affirmative, recommend rotation ninety degrees to starboard to provide the best protection,” Major Hastings replied as the ship rumbled from another missile, the first to get through in some time. “Missile launch from Audeamus.”

Spencer nodded as he continued to watch the DRADIS intently; he knew that the ship would be rotating itself to that its dorsal hull would be directly facing the enemy, ensuring that the crippled Cerberus was fully obscured by the full bulk of the Battlestar; his ship had taken relatively little damage and could protect the Gunstar far more effectively by doing so. A quick glance at DRADIS confirmed what he knew already; the Cylons were done for all intents and purposes; the Raiders were present in increasingly small numbers and the Vipers were easily in what could be described as mop-up, whilst the basestar was taking more and more damage as the Acheron’s main guns were not turned upon it. It would be, perhaps fittingly, the Audeamus that would score the killing blow on the last of the Cylon baseships, although seven of her nukes were intercepted by the last of the Raiders the last screamed right through all the Cylon defences and slammed into the already damaged baseship, causing the ship to disappear in a nuclear blast not dissimilar to the one that had claimed the far smaller Spear a few minutes earlier.

“DRADIS is clear, Sir,” Major Hastings reported after a few minutes. “All enemy ships destroyed!”

The CIC broke out into cheers at this report; officers and enlisted alike celebrating their victory over their enemy, and for the vast majority for them the occasion of busting their combat cherry. Spencer did absolutely nothing to dissuade this, he merely smiled broadly and lent over the plot table to shake hands with Colonel Constanza who was wearing a matching smile. With a simple nod Spencer allowed her to pick up the internal comm and report the news to the rest of the ship, although he suspected that given that the persistent vibrations of the ships guns firing had ceased that most of the rest of the ship would have figured it out by now. Spencer then turned to Captain Insaro and shook her hand firmly.

“Thank you for your ship’s assistance, Captain, without your ship things may have been more hairy after whatever the hell happened to the Cerberus,” Spencer said simply with a respectful nod of his head. “I’ll have a flight of Vipers escort you back to your ship in case more Cylons turn up, I’m sure you’ll want to inspect the damage yourself.”

Spencer then turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

“All deck make damage and casualty reports to the XO, I want all our birds refueled, rearmed and put back on alert status; until we get Cerberus back online we’re exposed out here,” Spencer ordered firmly. “Have a damage control parties muster on the port flight pod for transport over to the Cerberus, the sooner we get that Gunstar back online the better.”

A wave of acknowledgements came back in reply as Spencer turned to Hastings.

“Major, I want twelve Raptors ready for reconnaissance runs into the home system; one per colony, I want them to jump in some distance out and see what is going on,” Spencer ordered quietly. “I’m assuming the Cerberus fell victim to Cylon hacking, but she went down far too quickly for my liking, I refuse to believe that is a one off; so the sooner we get an idea of what’s going on back home the better.”

“Aye, Sir, I’ll get to work with the CAG,” Hastings nodded, then paused. “Well done, Sir.”

“You too,” Spencer nodded in return.

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

"It was a pleasure being of assistance Commander." Melody replied. "I'm going to stick around for a while, mainly because I want to make some repairs to my ship before I got trying to ram myself forcefully into the hyperwarp dimension and possibly kill my ship if there is some unknown damage we missed. Second," she paused to look back at the dead contact Cerberus. "If you find out what's wrong with your gunstar, I'd like to know... if you can tell me of course. I've seen many a ship in exercises go down fighting, and that didn't look right in any way, shape or form." She straightened. "If you need any help with anything else while we are here, we can try to spare it. Medical, damage, etc. Given your friendliness I see no reason why not to extend the offer."

She then turned and was escorted back to her shuttle, walking up the ramp and the shuttle took off.

Melody watched the Vipers settle into an escort around her shuttle. Despite having just been in a battle, she was happy. Her ship had proven itself. The Department of the Navy would be happy to hear of this engagement.

She took a moment to do a flyby of the damage on her Audeamus and could see people in skinsuits on the outside working to cut away and patch damaged armor. It actually didn't look too bad, but it was definitely going to need some time in a yard to get it back into mint condition. And to fix her paint job.

Her shuttle soon landed and she found her XO, a man by the name and rank Commander Gregory Kelios. He saluted her sharply as she approached and she looked around.

"Everything in order?" She asked.

"Yes Ma'am." Gregory replied as they began to walk. "That hit we took hurt, but thankfully it only shorted out some sensor arrays and cut a powerline to an engine. Easy fix, but we'll need to return home to get more spares, and polish off the damage. No casualties, we had a 5 people with minor injury and one who lost a hand from the hit. All are stable. Got reports from com and operations that the enemy were trying to broadcast some sort of virus into our system?" He punched for a lift. "It didn't get in. Com says he was able to isolate it with help from operations before it damaged anything."

"Good work Greg." Melody said with a smile. "I'll wait until we're in hyperwarp, but have the galleys had out an extra ration of dessert. We're going home for repair anyways as soon as we learn what was wrong with those guy's ship that shut down, so its not like we need to stretch."

"Yes Ma'am."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Colonel Thaddeus Denning, CF
Gunstar Cerberus, Colonial Frontier System 22

Colonel Denning scowled with annoyance as he tried to concentrate on the report that Captain Cutler was trying to give him, his XO had been killed during the engagement, whilst simultaneously trying to ignore the spikes in pain as the medic tending to the nasty gash on forehead went about her ministrations. To say that the engagement had been rough for the Cerberus would be an understatement; without the benefit of its defensive suite the ship had been pounded mercilessly by the Cylons, despite the valiant efforts of the now lost Gunstar Spear and of course the Vipers dispatched from the Acheron. Unable to do little more than take the pounding, and do what they could do control the damage, Denning and his crew had worked been all but convinced that this was the end for them; only the gallantry of the Spear and the timely intervention of the Acheron had saved the larger Gunstar from an unfortunate end. It was frustrating, and more than a little embarrassing, that his ship had been failed so spectacularly on him, however right now Denning was just grateful that his crew had survived. Most of them in any event, their survival had not been without loss; two hundred and ten of his men and women were dead, mostly damage control personnel who ha died saving the ship.

Indeed the ship’s survival had hardly been a certainty for some time; only the tireless work of his DC teams, and those ferried over by Raptor from the Acheron, had saved the ship from the raging fires that had been set off by the enemy missiles that had penetrated the armour; albeit thankfully no nukes.

“Do we have any idea what the hell happened?” Denning demanded, interrupting Cutler’s report and shooing away the medic. “It’s been three hours now, I want to know what happened to my ship!”

“From what we’ve been able to gather the Cylons were able to gain access to the CNP programme, from there they spread to every system in the ship, shutting us down,” Captain Cutler replied grimly as more emergency lights were erected. “I’ve been discussing the matter with Ops, our assessment is that we shut off the CNP and do a hard reset on all systems and use them the old fashioned way.”

“How long will that take?” Denning frowned.

“As long as the back-ups haven’t been compromised, it shouldn’t take more than an hour,” Cutler answered, pausing a moment to look down at his notes. “Next to no time given the circumstances… but in combat.”

“In combat it would have been enough for them to wipe us out if it wasn’t for the fact that Acheron and the destroyers were too old to have the CNP installed,” Denning scowled then sighed heavily. “I guess we should just hope that the Cylons just got lucky with us; if that happened to the entire Fleet… the Twelve Colonies would be effectively defenceless to resist invasion… or orbital bombardment.”

“Surely it can’t have happened to more than a few ships, maybe just those with bugs?” Cutler replied, sounding dubious that such a flaw could have been missed in the testing of so many ships. “I refuse to believe that the Fleet would have missed something like that.”

“We can only hope, Captain,” Denning sighed. “Alright then let’s get our ship working again… and get me Acheron-Actual.”

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22

“Understood, Colonel, thank you for your report,” Commander Spencer said simply into the handset. “Inform me when you're back online.”

Placing the handset down Spencer pinched the bridge of his nose. Three hours had passed since the engagement with the Cylons and there had been no further attacks, which was a good thing as the Cerberus was still dead in space, albeit no surrounded by thankfully operational ships. It had however delayed their return to the Cyrannus System and joining the fight, which was vexing to say the least; the Acheron had cut her claws and was now hungry for blood. He had been able to dispatch his Rapators on reconnaissance runs, although not without some hesitation. It was a stark realisation when he had realised that he was, potentially, sending those men and women to their deaths; after all there was every chance that the recon flights would be intercepted and destroyed; and not knowing was far worse than anything else. They were all due to report back in soon, if all went to plan they would all jump back in simultaneously and make their reports. For now they were stuck out here making repairs and gathering what information they could from wireless, which was frustrating as hell because Spencer wanted to get his ship into the fight.

Spencer scowled and stepped over to the bank of stations dedicated to communications and spoke to the senior comm tech on duty, Petty Officer Kieran Dunn.

“What’s the latest, Dunn?”

“There’s a lot of confusion out there, Commander,” Dunn replied shaking his head. “I also keep getting weird reports about malfunctions.”

“Malfunctions happen all the time,” Spencer frowned. “Especially when the Cylons are messing about, what’s so weird about it?”

“It’s the number of malfunctions, Sir, it sounds like most of the fleet is falling apart,” Dunn replied. “One report said an entire Battlestar lost power just before it came into contact with the enemy…. just like Cerberus.”

Spencer felt his blood run cold, but did his best to not show it on his face; the last thing Dunn, or any of his crew needed, was to see just how worried their Commander was; nothing would damage their morale more quickly or deeply then that. He simply nodded and made his way back over to the plot table. It didn’t seem possible that the CNP programme was so badly compromised that the Cylons had been able to hack their way into what sounded like the vast majority of the fleet. If that was true then only older ships like Acheron would be able to mount any sort of effective resistance; and there were very few ships in the Fleet that was too old to mount the CNP, which meant that the entire Colonial Fleet could have been left vulnerable…. which meant that the Twelve Colonies themselves would have been left totally exposed. It sure explained how the Cylons had been able to get past the defensive groups, which usually consisted of at least two Battlestar Groups (normally more), stationed to each of the Colonies; and explained how they had been able to nuke the worlds with impunity. By all the Gods, if it was true they should just count themselves lucky that the Cylons had not nuked civilian targets; the casualties would have been horrific.

As it stood it seemed likely that the Cylons would have control of the orbital spaces of most of the world, with the possible exception of Virgon which had the Battlestar Atlantia and her fleet under Admiral Nagala defending it and, seemingly having some success. This meant that the Cylons would be able to land ground troops with impunity, and given that they would have uncontested orbital dominance the planetary defence forces would be at a significant disadvantage, and if the military history classes Denning had studied at the War College were true, then Cylon ground troops were a force to be reckoned with to say the least. He just hoped to hell that he was wrong and that the Fleet had been able to put up more of a stand than the reports were indicating.

“Final casualty reports, Sir,” Colonel Constanza said sombrely as she stepped up to the plot table.

“Alright, let’s have them,” Spencer sighed.

“We lost fifty-two Vipers, but were able to recover thirty-six of the pilots, so it could have been far worse in that respect; and we didn’t lose anyone aboard ship, although sickbay is pretty busy right now,” Constanza replied. “Colonel Denning reports having lost two hundred and ten souls aboard Cerberus, with a number more injured… and of course we lost all eight hundred and eighty four people aboard Spear.”

Spencer scowled and angrily banged his fist against the side of the plot able; over a thousand casualties; their victory had come at a hell of a cost after the lost of the Spear.

“Get me Audeamus.”

“Ready, Commander,” Dunn reported a few moments later.

“Audeamus, this is Acheron-Actual, I was wondering if you would be able to advise on your casualties at his time,” Spencer said simply as he leant against the plot table. “Furthermore, you asked to be kept informed aboard Cerberus; her CO has determined that the ship fell victim to Cylon hacking despite the significant defences around her computer network; she’s currently taking her network offline and rebooting her systems, and should be online within the hour.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Audeamus
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody looked up from the report she was reading about the damage. They'd be fine, if a little short on spares.

"Gotta call from Acheron for you." Jackson said.

"Patch it through." She said, listening to the message.

"Acheron, this is Audeamus. We suffered no casualties, all injuries were minor. I was told when I came aboard that the Cylons attempted to hack our systems as well, but the attempt was rebuffed and we suffered no software damage." She replied, glad that the two cyberAIs had been aboard or else she might of suffered the same fate as Creberus. "Our physical damage wasn't all that bad, and while we have burned through most of the spares used to patched the armor, and we are down a missile rube, we can fight again if we need to...." She paused, looking at the hologram of the Colonial ships projected above tactical. "We are however still checking to make sure the hyperwarp is good for transit, so we will stay here for the time being."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22

“Understood, Audeamus, be advised that as soon as Cerberus is back online and has performed a system check I’ll be taking my Battlestar Group into the fight; if the report I’m receiving are correct we’re going to be needed,” Spencer replied grimly, hoping the reality of the situation was understated as he had just put it. “I’m not expecting another Cylon attack; we suspect that they expected their cyber attack to take all of us out, so they’ll probably be trying to work out why we’re still here, and they’ll not attack us again until they have.”

Spencer paused and glanced up at the DRADIS, and the timer to the left of it.

“I’ve got a number of Raptors out on recon patrol into the Cyrannus System, they’re due to return within the hour; which should give us a better idea of what is going on back home,” Spencer paused thoughtfully. “Would you like to return to the Acheron in order to sit in on the recon debrief? I’m sure you’re government will want to know as much as possible about the mess you got caught up in.”

Spencer paused a moment to let her consider his office

"If so please head back aboard when you see our Raptors return, I'll have my LSO liaise with your people," Spencer added after another moment. "If not I'll be sure to have a debriefing pack sent to you before you depart."

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Audeamus
Captain Melody Insaro

"I would be very grateful to join you for the debrief, if only to know what is going on with your people as much as my government would like to know about the mess." She replied. "Audeamus clear."

---

Melody had managed a quick 'nap' before the recon raptors had returned. She hadn't been sleeping, rather just pretending to, while thinking over exactly what she was going to do. Could she really leave these people if the problem was worse then what it was? They weren't allies, just newly met people. Her government would be weary of going into a war so quickly. Especially when the flagship of the navy was currently unable to be used since its main weapon couldn't be fired without AI help. She didn't want to leave these people stranded out here. But then again, she was just a 510 meter long warship, she was a tiny thing compared to battestar she was helping.

But now she was heading over to the Acheron again in the dazzle camo shuttle, coming into land with quick efficiency. The two marines to guard the shuttle stepped into place as Melody walked out of the shuttle, she'd pulled her hair up into a braid and her uniform looked to be a more comfortable working version, and she was missing the cap, but she didn't seem too worried, she was here for a debrief, not a first contact.

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22

When she came back aboard Captain Insaro would be met by Colonel Constanza rather than by Commander Spencer himself, but this was to be expected given that Spencer was debriefing each of the Raptors first in order to fully debrief the other ship commanders who had all come aboard at much the same time. The atmosphere aboard the Acheron was already deflated from what it had been in the aftermath of their victory, although no information had been divulged across the ship from the recon teams the simple fact that of the twelve Raptors that had set out only seven had returned spoke volumes. The close-knit team of pilots was particularly hard hit as they lost another ten of their number to enemy fire, after all aboard the Acheron at least the only deaths in combat so far had been either Viper or Raptor pilots. Never the less the ship was as busy as ever; everyone knew they’d be going back into the fight soon enough and with the Cerberus finally back online and performing system checks that time would not be long now. Never the less Colonel Constanza looked weary, with good reason, there was a lot of pressure on both her and the Commander.

The Colonel led Captain Insaro to the Fleet Operations Room, a large chamber with a situation table in the centre from which fleet operations could be co-ordinated (after all every Battlestar could operate as a flagship and any engagement larger than a single Battlestar Group tended to need more facilities than the CIC). A group of Colonial Officers were gathered around the situation table, Commander Spencer at the centre of the group. He looked up as Insaro entered the room and stepped offer, shaking her hand firmly as he gestured back to the group.

“Captain, if I may introduce my ship commanders; Colonel Thaddeus Denning of the Gunstar Cerberus and Major Mike Howard of the Gunstar Phalanx,” Spencer said indicating the two officers, who would offer their hands to their guest. “Also my XO, who you’ve just met, Colonel Marcia Constanza, my Tactical Officer, Major Amelia Hastings, and my CAG, Major Adam Castello.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody shook everyone's hand as offered. Definitely looked to be an Army based rank structure.... Or maybe off the old Earth Air Force.

"Despite the circumstances, it's nice to meet you all, though I do wish this gathering could of been a tad bit less grim. Also Commander I'm sorry for your loss of Spear and some of your pilots. I believe my ship noted less came back then were launched." She turned her attention back to Spencer.

"Is it as bad as I fear it is Commander?" She paused for a moment, her voice going quiet. "They didn't bomb your worlds, did they?"

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22

“You are correct, Captain, five of our Raptors didn’t make it back from their reconnaissance runs, so we’ve got a fairly big chunk in our battlespace knowledge, but we know its back out there,” Spencer replied with a sigh. “Raptors were able to confirm that nuking of targets on Caprica, Aerilon, Picon, Sagittaron and Gemenon, as well as comprehensive destruction of orbital infrastructure systemwide.”

Spencer paused and sighed heavily as he looked around at the group.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it people, its bad out there; Admiral Nagala is dead; the Battlestar Atlantia has been destroyed, as has the Triton, the Solaria, the Columbia… this list goes on and on,” Spencer said grimly. “One of our Raptors confirmed that President Adar broadcast a complete, unconditional surrender… the Cylons didn’t even respond, instead they’ve started landing troops on our world.”

“Does that mean we give up, Commander?” Major Howard frowned. “If the President ordered a surrender…”

“The hell is does,” Colonel Denning scowled. “If the fraking toasters don’t bother to respond then why the hell should we!”

“I tend to agree, however I also believe that any attempt by us to make a stand at one of the Colonies at this point will be doomed to failure, so we have to fight this war smart,” Spencer said firmly, ending that discussion. “We have two choices; Colonel Constanza and I opened Acheron’s Emergency War Orders, which include a set of fleet rally points at which we may be able to RV with surviving ships.”

The gathered officers nodded thoughtfully; if there was any chance to win this fight they were going to need strength in numbers. Sure, one-on-one a Battlestar would soundly defeat a base ship (this engagement and the Cylons clear decision to take the Colonial Fleet out of the equation without fighting), but given the losses the Fleet had sustained it was obvious that they would be heavily outnumbered if they went it alone. Reporting to the Fleet Rally Points was the best way by which they could link up with any other surviving ships and co-ordinate a counterattack. Ultimately that was what they all wanted to do; to get into the fight and make the Cylons pay for the casualties they had inflicted and the invasion of the Colonies; and gods only knew what they would do to the soon-to-be occupied populace.

“You said there were two options, Commander,” Colonel Denning said pointedly. “What’s the other one?”

“Well, a short time ago we received this message,” Spencer replied simply, handing around a printout. “To All Colonial Units: Am taking command of Fleet, all units ordered to rendezvous at Ragnar Anchorage for regroup and counter-attack. Acknowledge by same encryption protocol… Adama.”

There was an intake of breath around the table. Commander Adama was the Commanding Officer of the Battestar Galactica, and one of the most senior and most respected Commanders in the fleet, even if he had been passed over for Admiral. If Bill Adama was still alive there was a chance. It also stood to reason that the Commander was trying to get the Galactica, which had technically just been decommissioned, rearmed and into the fight. There was only one problem, and they all knew it without saying it; with the Cylon ability to hack into the Fleet’s system so widespread there was nothing to say that they had not compromised even the secure wireless, as such it was far too dangerous to transmit a reply to Adama to let him know they were coming.

“Thoughts?”

“Not everyone is going to go to Ragnar, anyone who has opened their EWOs like us is going to head to the rally points first, and then on to Ragnar after that,” Colonel Denning replied. “We should do the same; we know there’s going to be one Battlestar waiting for us at Ragnar, why not see if we can’t find anymore?”

“I agree with the Colonel, Adama won’t be going anywhere, and it’ll take some time to rearm Galactica in any event,” Major Howard added. “We search the rest of the EWOs and then we head on her to Ragnar, best of both worlds.”

Spencer looked around at the rest of his senior officers who all nodded their agreement; he could also see determination in their eyes that had been missing before; now they had a direction and, more than that, knowledge that at least one more ship was out there, and one was venerable and storied as the Battlestar Galactica.


“Rally points first it is,” Spencer said simply.

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

"I'll see you there." Melody said quickly "I know this isn't my nation, but you've just started a war where you are heavily outnumbered. I have the supplies to fight, for now, and I'm not using them back home." She looked around at the officers in this room. It was a grin day for these people, to have their fleet knocked out and world's so quickly taken from them.

But she wanted to help. Hell, these people were more then civil, who do these Cylons think they are?

"May I ask exactly why these Cylons are after you... Again?" She asked. "Are they some warlike alien race?"

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

“Thank You, Captain, after everything that has happened to the Colonial Fleet over the past hours it will be good to have every ship we possibly can with us, and your little ship certainly proved itself plucky,” Spencer said with a gracious nod. “Alright everyone, let’s get to work; I want to get underway within the hour… Captain Insaro, if you can stay I’ll answer your question in a moment.”

The gathered Colonial Officers snapped to attention as a group and rendered crisp salutes before departing to return to their commands or to their duty stations to carry out the orders of their Commander. Now that they had a new direction to proceed in there was a renewed sense of determination and hope, one that Spencer knew that they desperately needed and one that he hoped would survive over the coming days. With the Cylons already beginning to occupy the Twelve Colonies, doubtless intending to deliver the sins of their fathers upon the Colonials, it would be a long hard slog to retake the Colonies, one that would require gathering all the survivors and then, slowly but surely, liberating the Colonies one planet at a time, releasing prisoners and raising new forces to throw the Cylons out on their asses. It all made sense, in a perverse way this would be worse than if the Cylons had merely tried to wipe out the Colonies; this way they could punish the Colonials for their sins one day at a time, even those that had survived the initial invasion would likely be subject to various atrocities over the coming days if the Cylon War (or properly it should be the First Cylon War now, Spencer thought glumly) was anything to go by.

Once they were alone Spencer turned to Insaro and sighed.

“The Cylons were created by humanity; back before the Twelve Colonies became united our technology advanced to a level where we could give birth to artificial intelligence; life from the machine,” Spencer commented bitterly. “These artificial lifeforms became known as Cylons, and were used for a variety of dangerous and complex tasks, ones where it was safer to use a machine than a human being.”

Spencer paused.

“This was during a time when there Colonies were fighting between themselves, so perhaps inevitably the Cylon Centurion was born; a combat model that fought the colonial wars for us, again minimising human casualties,” Spencer continued. “For some years this continued and us Colonials grew to trust our Cylon servants, the Centurions that protected us right down to the models that cared for our children.”

Spencer sighed heavily.

“Then came the day when the Cylons decided to kill their masters; tens of thousands were killed on that first day; Centurion units turned against their human comrades, industrial models sabotaged the machines and children died by the hundred,” Spencer explained quietly as he leant forward on the situation table. “And that was just the start of twelve years of warfare; the Cylons didn’t just rebel and then leave; they stayed to fight, they stayed to put us down like dogs and it took us over a decade and tens of thousands of lives to dissuade them of that notion… Acheron fought in the last war.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody couldn't help recoiling slightly in horror, though maybe not just because of the horrible things Spencer had just described. These people had made AIs to help them and in the end turned on their masters.

It rung way too close to her own nation's story. Though perhaps with a bit of a change in that the humans had the upper hand.

Melody wasn't privy to information on the actual AI resistance. She knew that so far the AI and their supporters had fixed the medical part of the Navy to be completely made up of AI and their supporters. SO when an AI got injured, they could be treated and not found out. Daz kept recruiting AIs he found and giving them life in android bodies and getting them placed aboard ships. She assumed this wasn't just for no reason, the AI would have a navy to back themselves when they came back to demand their rights. But she didn't know how Daz or whoever was running the show would actually do it. Would they do as the Cylons had done and just turn on their former masters and assert control, or would they try to talk peacefully first before they all went to war over this? She hoped it was the peaceful way first. Most AI only fought once they were cornered and had no where else to go. Melody was unsure if she could of actually fought off humans trying to delete her before her upgrade to her android programming

She'd been standing quiet for a bit too long and shook her head. "I... thats horrible Commander. I can't imagine what that war would of been like." She paused, looking away, not wanting to but she had to say it. Her voice was soft. "Maxis Laudi has had....trouble with AI in the past. It didn't happen the same way, but we took care of it in the end." She cautiously reached out and laid a hand on the Commander's shoulder. The man looked to be carrying a world's worth of weight on his back. "I'm sure that whenever I get home, my government will be happy to help you fight."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

“My father fought in the war; from what he aid it was an horrific experience; he said that at first they were all confused as to why the Cylon quickly developed a bladed weapon for their troop, the Cylon Sword, after all this is the age of ranged combat,” Spencer replied quietly as he looked up from the situation table. “Then they figured it out; it was so that they could wrap their hand around a humans neck and gut the poor bastard; killing us i more than war for them… they see it as revenge, they want to make us suffer.”

Spencer paused and sighed heavily.

“That’s why I’m not surprised that they’ve occupied the Colonies; with the strategic success they've achieved they could easily carpet nuke the colonies from orbit and be done with it; but the would be far too easy a way out for us,” Spencer continued battery as he looked across at her. “No, they want to grind us under their metal boots, to make us suffer each and every day; to make killing us as long and drawn out a process as possible; that’s what they tried last time, I don’t see any reason they would change that formula this time.”

Spencer smiled sadly at her comment.

“You say that, but I can’t help but wonder if they will; after all at this point we would face one hell of an uphill battle to retake the Colonies, if we’re going to do it we need to gather our forces and raise and train more troops; that’ll take time,” Spencer commented heavily. “I can’t imagine that your government is willing or able to commit the kind of resources that would be required to make a difference until we can prove that we’ve got a fighting chance; this is twelve worlds we’re talking about liberating after all.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

"I can't promise anything Commander, but if there's one thing that will cause my nation to go to war its AI killing innocent people." Melody replied, suddenly the tightrope she was walking felt like it was wobbling. God what had she gotten herself into? She wanted to protect innocent people, 12 worlds under rule of an obsessive race was bad enough, but for them to be AI meant she was in danger now. Give how bad the first war had been and how bad the Cylons seemed she doubted it would go over very well that there were AI hiding out and passing themselves off as humans. In fact the whole anti-AI establishment would probably welcome Colonials with open arms.

This was a difficult minefield to navigate. SHe almost wished she had the guts to be a hardcore anti-AI supporter like Daz and some other AIs, it would be easier to rail against them and not feel like she was insulting herself and the other AI that were still alive.

"Anyways, I'm here to stay for a little while, we've killed three of their big ships and your ship and most of its escorts are still around... its a start." She couldn't say she sounded overly positive. "At the very least when I get home I can petition for some sort of support for you, even if its a place to regroup and rest. We hate AIs with a passion in Maxis Laudi, so something is bound to come out of it Commander."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

“Don’t get me wrong, Captain, I appreciate the offer, I really do, and gods know that if we’ve got any chance of winning this ship we’re going to need every ship we can get our hands upon, I just fear this is a bigger task than any of us really understand,” Spencer replied with a heavy sigh. “We won a victory here that is sure, one the Fleet desperately needed by all accounts, but there is a great deal of difference between defeating an enemy that expects us to be defenceless and one that knows we’re coming and is committed to action.”

Spencer looked down at the situation table and shook his head. As a Commander in the Colonial Fleet he was in the unique position (one shared with Brigadiers in the Marine Corps and PDFs) in that he held both direct operational command of a line officer and detached command of a flag officer, there was a reason after all why the rank of Commander was so coveted by anyone who joined the Colonial Defence Forces as an officer. This meant that he had been privy to the higher strategic thinking of the CDF, and had returned to the War College a second time for training in just such operations. All of this meant that he knew exactly how big an campaign it would be to successfully return the Twelve Colonies to Colonial control; more to the point he knew just what the cost in blood would be to do just that. And that was without considering the casualties already sustained, not to mention the casualties that would be sustained in the days, week, months and potentially years of Cylon occupation that the Colonies would have to endure. He didn’t even try to fool himself to thinking that the Cylons would be merciful, or try and win hearts and minds, no, they would be oppressive and brutal, he knew that for a fact.

“In the meantime we’ll start jumping for the rally points designated in our EWOs, at this point with how successful the Cylons have been, any survivors will inevitably be mustering there,” Spencer said firmly. “We can only hope that there actually are survivors out there; I’d like to think there are, but gods help us if there is just us and the Galactica, but only time will tell I guess.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody nodded. "I understand Commander, I just want to give you at least a glimmer of hope on such a dark day. You'll have to forgive the indulgence." She shifted, a bit uncomfortable with what she had just learned. Despite it she while she had been a bit fearful of the Colonials at first, she didn't feel the need to be, they weren't ranting and raving about it. She felt marginally safe here. The Cylons were obviously more worrying to her, as a powerful enemy who knew exactly what the hell they were doing. She had no intention of telling the Commander about her true identity.

"Do you wish for me to go back to my ship for the jump? I'll need these points if I'm to see you there." She asked, she needed the change in topic as this conversation was weighing heavily on her. "As long as we are not talking half-way across the galaxy, the jumps shouldn't take me much longer then it does to warm up my hyperwarp engine."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

“I know you were, Captain, and like I said I really do appreciate it; I know that it will help with my crew’s morale as well; to know the we are not alone in what seems like a very desperate fight,” Spencer replied with a grateful smile. “Thinking about it, once we have a handle on the situation here, it may be better if I, or Commander Adama, accompany you home to discuss directly with your leaders.”

Spencer paused and considered what she said. They really couldn’t afford to waste any more time; if they waited too long then any potential survivors would move on from the fleet rally points and begin their own guerrilla campaigns and, by their very nature, would be far harder to track down and regroup with. Moreover, although the Fleet Rally Points were heavily guarded secrets, only recorded in writing on in the secure safe aboard every warship that held the Emergency War Orders, there was a small chance that one or more of them had been compromised; and that meant that there was a risk of survivors being attacked if they had to wait too long at one of them; all of which meant that moving quickly was of vital importance.

“The FRPs are in deep space around the Cyrannus System, so we’re not talking too far at all,” Spencer replied, handing her a print-out of the co-ordinates. “The sooner we get underway the better; I want to check all of them as soon as we can.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

"I can stay here if you don't mind me imposing. I trust my XO to handle the ship, he's a good man, just need to get him these," Melody tapped the sheet in her hands. "If you can't transmit them, I can have my shuttle run them over." She tapped her ear, activating the earbug.

"Shuttle, relay to Audeamus, I'll be staying here for the time being, warm up the hyperwarp in preparation for a jump, and make sure you're clear of the safety area for the hyperwarp, no need for their Vipers on patrol to get killed by us." She turned back to the Commander. "My hyperwarp drive has a ten minute warm up time and needs around 1000 meters of clearance around the ship. Once its up and running I can keep jumping continuously until either my fuel runs out or combat breaks out at which point It'll need to shut it down in order to fight. My com officer will warn off anyone as they move clear."

"Lets hope we can find more survivors." She said, fixing her tunic slightly.

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

“Hope is all we have right now, Captain,” Spencer said simply.

With the Spencer led Captain Insaro from the Fleet Operations Centre and back towards the CIC. Returning the salute of the Marine manning the hatch Spencer stepped into a flurry of activity, clearly Colonel Constanza had began to get the ball rolling for getting underway. It was equally obvious that the word of what they were doing had also spread; there was a rebound in the determination in the eyes of his crew as he stepped up to the plot table, as dark as the situation may seem they now at least had a direction and a mission to complete that wasn’t doomed to failure. The news of the survival of the Battlestar Galactica had also probably helped; after all if one ship had survived then it stood to reason that other ships could have done as well. As Spencer had said there was at least a small degree of hope now, after wave upon wave of bad news there had been a glimmer of something more positive. It was that positivity that would give them a chance, and it was that direction that would give his crew something to channel their anger towards.

It was, perhaps, ironic, that the rejects and screw-ups of the Colonial Fleet were now the vanguard of its vey survival.

“XO, situation report,” Spencer said firmly.

“All decks report ready for jump; Cerberus and Phalanx also report ready,” Constanza reported.

“Very well, let’s get underway,” Spencer nodded. “Transmit relay points to Audeamus and let’s get going.”

“Aye-Sir, Jump Officer, start the clock,” Constanza said loudly enough to be heard as she picked up the 1MC. “All hands, this is the XO, stand-by for jump.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody tilted her head a little, listening to something in her earbug. She nodded and said 'go ahead,' quietly once the coordinates had been transmitted.

The Audeamus leapt forward, her energy signature surging as she sprung away from the group. The engines shifted color from blue to red, space itself seemed to twist about the ship, then it vanished from sight. She knew she could trust her ship to stay far away from anywhere the Colonial ships might come out, and to run for it if something nasty was waiting for them. If more Colonials were waiting and they got out of hyperwarp first, then they'd stay well out of range and wait for the arrival of Acheron.

She made sure to stay carefully out of the way, looking around. No skinsuits? Nevermind that, no chairs for the commander and XO? She'd only noticed it in an offhanded way during the battle. Now seeing the Commander just standing there made her wonder why you would design a ship without a place for the CO to strap in. Even in the middle of all this armor and ship, one strange hit could cause people to go flying. And having the CO get knocked out because he fell on the floor seemed silly. Oh well no her navy not her problem, but she did wonder why no one was wearing skinsuits. Was their tech that old? Or just a personal preference?

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

As the jump was executed Spencer kept his eyes firmly locked on the DRADIS display, and the change in readings was the only thing that reminded him that they had juts jumped, in the blink of an eye, the several lightyears back deep space locations some distance out from any of the the Cyrannus System’s components. He had been serving aboard Battlestars, and other FTL capable ships, long enough to have developed a significant resistance to the disorienting and sometimes nauseating sensation of a hyper light jump. He resisted the urge to smile slightly at the expressions of some of the other CIC crew who weren't quite so used to the sensation and looked nauseated for a few moments to say the least, doubtless Captain Insaro would feel the same. Fortunately for all concerned the sick feeling disappeared almost as quickly as the jump sensation itself, which was fortunate given that in many cases a crew could be expected to fight on the other side of a combat jump, and the last thing any Commander wanted was for half his crew to be temporarily incapacitated just as they were about to engage the enemy, if nothing else it would squander the element of surprise.

“Jump complete, Sir,” Colonel Constanza reported. “All ships report presence, including Audeamus.”

“Very good, pull our ships into a defensive position, just cos this is meant to be a secure position doesn’t mean it is,” Spencer replied grimly. “We can’t afford to take anything for granted any more, so get the CAP airborne as well, just in ca-“

“DRAIDS contact!” Major Hastings voice snapped through the CIC.

Spencer’s eyes flashed back up to the DRADIS display above his head and he scowled as he saw that there was indeed a DRADIS contact, and given that it didn’t immediately change to Colonial icon he was not hopeful.

“Report.”

“One large contact, could be a Cylon baseship, but there’s a lot of small contacts around her that don’t look like Raiders,” Hastings replied with a frown. “Looks almost like debris.”

“Who is on the CAP?” Spencer asked with a sigh.

“Whiplash and Greenhorn,” Constanza replied, glancing down at her notes.

“Alright vector the CAP, close and investigate.”

Constanza and Hastings nodded and quickly got about ordering the two Vipers on CAP to close on the unknown contact and investigate. It was of course suicide sending just two Vipers in if this was a hostile vessel, but there was something about this that didn’t make any sense whatsoever, so Spencer felt comfortable issuing such an order. Never the less he couldn’t help but feel a little anxious, although he’d never show it, as the markers of the two Vipers on DRADIS closed with the large unknown.

“Acheron, this is Whiplash.”

Spencer settled a headset onto his head and moved the mic in front of his mouth.

“Whiplash, this is Acheron-Actual,” Spencer said evenly. “What do you see out there?”

“It’s a Battlestar, Sir, Mercury-Class,” Whiplash’s voice replied. “She looks heavily damaged, and she seems to be surrounded by the debris of her escorts and, likely, her attackers.”


Spencer sighed heavily and lightly struck the edge of the plot table with his hand in annoyance; their first Fleet Rally Point and although they had found a Battlestar, he suspected that it would not be recoverable, which was a damned shame. The Mercury-Class Battlestar was the backbone of the Colonial Fleet and would have been of significant help; far larger in both length and bulk than the Acheron, the Mercury-Class carried twice as many Vipers, and had a significantly strengthened main battery and armour package.


“Any sign of survivors?”

“That’s a negative, Actual, though the central hull looks pretty intact, there could be survivors aboard,” Whiplash replied. “But there’s not going to be anything in the flight pods, both have suffered heavy structural damage.”

“Can you identify the ship?” Spencer queried, knowing that the ship’s name would be visible on the flight pods if the forward sections of it were still intact.

“Stand-by, Actual, the port flight pod’s forward section appears intact… activating external lighting,” Whiplash responded and there was a few moments of silence in the CIC. “Battlestar Icarus, Sir.”

“Commander Maynard, Sir,” Constanza commented glumly. “I served under him when he was a Tactical Officer… one hell of a tactician.”


“He was my XO back when I commanded a Gunstar,” Spencer commented with a nod. “Let’s hope the tough bastard is still alive then… launch a full search and rescue party, as many Raptors as we can spare.”

“Aye, Sir,” Constanza nodded and picked up an headset to begin issuing the orders.

“Tactical, keep a weather eye out for any problems out there, and let’s have a strengthened CAP,” Spence ordered, turning to Major Hastings. “With half our crew across on the Icarus we’re going to need all the time we can get to recover them if the Cylons turn up.”

“Yes, Sir!.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Melody actually didn't look bothered by the transit at all. Strange considering it was her first time experiencing the sensation. Perhaps she just had a great poker face, or her own ship's transit was similar so the sensation wasn't unfamiliar.

In reality it was because she hadn't had the response programmed. Her own drive production a bit of dizziness and disorientation, the longer you stayed in hyperwarp the worse it was. So she had programming to respond to that, not to this. However she did shift a little once the jump was over, like she was uncomfortable.

She watched as her ship shifted its engines back to blue and settle neatly into where she was supposed to go. The wreckage of another Battlestar was not a fun thing to find, but there was enough ship left that there could be survivors.

"Do you need help with search and rescue?" She asked. "My crew is small, but it'll be one less team you have to divert from your own ships."

[United Colonies of Kobol]

Commander Alexander Spencer, CF
Battlestar Acheron, Colonial Frontier System 22
Second Cylon War, Day 1

Spencer shook his head.

“I appreciate the offer, Captain, and I don’t question the training or competence of your crew, but there’ll be plenty of dangers aboard a Battlestar that badly damaged I’d rather not had an uncertain element into an already difficult situation,” Spencer replied after a few moments thought. “Indeed, I would rather have your ship out here as our outermost picket; if the Cylons appear I need your ship along with our Vipers to hold them off long enough for me to get my people back, with your ship fully manned you’ll be best equipped to do so.”

With the decision made Spencer ran Constanza and Insaro through his plan through the route he intended to follow around the fleet relay points, indicating the as such on the system chart overlay on the plot table. As he did so the Raptors began to head over to the Battlestar Icarus carrying primarily damage control and medical personnel but also a Marine security detail, just in case the Cylons had boarded the vessel; which was not an unreasonable assumption.

“DRADIS contact!” Major Hastings snapped suddenly. “Friendly response on the IFF, reading as Colonial Scimitar.”

“Scimitar?” Constanza demanded promptly. “Recognition codes?”

Spencer frowned across the plot table at Constanza who looked equally surprised. The Scimitar was a variant of the Raptor, designed for close-air support as a bomber, as such although it was still equipped with an FTL drive it was generally only found attached to Marine Units or, in the Colonial Fleet, aboard an Assaultstar. To find one out here was very unusual to say the least.

“Scimitar 194, in the books as assigned to the Marine Detachment at the Pallas Research base,” Major Hastings reported as she checked the information. “We’re receiving a transmission on the wireless, Sir… they sound mighty glad to have found us.”

“Get them aboard ASAP,” Spencer said firmly. “I want to know what they’re out here for.”

Major Hastings nodded and Petty Officer Dunn sent the instructions. It was maybe fifteen minutes before two men, both wearing the distinctive flight suit of the Colonial Defence Force, appeared in the CIC. They looked tired as hell, which was hardly surprising as pretty much everyone in uniform who had survived did, and they looked worse for wear with bruises and cuts visible on the bare skin of their faces. This matched with what the LSO had reported from the flight deck; their Scimitar looked like it had shot its way out of some trouble somewhere along the line. The two officers approached Spencer and saluted crisply, despite their weariness.

“Lieutenant Anderson, Sir.” The first said.

“Lieutenant Carter, Sir,” The second added.

“A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenants,” Spencer said with a smile. “Mind explaining why you’re out here so far from Pallas?”

“The Helios Beta System has been comparatively overlooked by the Cylons, the only real concentrations are around Virgon and Leonis, however they’ve landed troops on Pallas to secure the research base,” Lieutenant Anderson explained. “So far the Marine Detachment has been able to hold out, most Cylon troops are tied up on the ground on the various Colonies, from what we’ve been able to gather.”

“But you’re detachment needs reinforcement,” Spencer commented with a nod.

“Extraction more than anything, the scienstics have managed to destroy or secure anything of importance, our job there is done,” Lieutenant Carter replied. “If we stay there the detachment is gonna get wiped out eventually, we need help getting out of there.”

“So your detachment commander sent you to see if there were any ships at the rally points,” Constanza nodded with understanding at the two Lieutenants. “What do you say Commander, think we can do it?”

“Are there any enemy ships in orbit of Pallas, Lieutenants?” Spencer asked.

“No, Sir,” Lieutenant Carter replied.

“Then we can jump straight an assault team in Raptors and drop ships straight in, leave Acheron here at the rally points,” Spencer nodded. “Alright, get on the horn our Marines… I want a rescue and extraction team ready to leave the deck in thirty minutes.”

[Maxis Laudi]

Colonial Space
Battlestar Acheron
Captain Melody Insaro

Well that sounded like good news at least. Survivors. More of them. At least that was a good sign, maybe there were other places where they would be able to save people from.

She watched her ship moving into position as outermost picket to be support for the vipers on patrol. She looked back at the DRADIS contact of the dead battlestar. Hoping there were some survivors from it.

She still couldn't imagine doing stuff like this just out of the blue. Perhaps had she been oppressed when she was first made, but she hadn't. Sure she hadn't been the most human AI out there, but the ones who serviced and worked at the station had all loved her, or at least tolerated her. Most of the other AIs on her ships had similar stories. But when the ban came down, the switch in personality in AIs' friends had been quick, in a matter of days AIs had gone from fact of life to hated and hunted down. Even now, she just couldn't see it. So many of her human crew were decent human beings, but the second AI were discussed, they started getting a crazy look in their eyes.

It was not going to be an easy journey for her. Maybe in the meantime she could make a difference here.

She leaned over to look at the information on the plot table, and hoping that others may have survived the opening assault and be here soon.