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Depot Veil
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Chapter Twenty
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The Cylons were created by Man.
They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.
And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.
After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.
The Cylons left for another world to call their own.
A remote space station was built...
...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.
Every year, the Colonials send an officer.
The Cylons send no one.
No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...
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Until Now.
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I made a mistake one Admiral Torrez's first name its Mathew not Mark. So I fixed it in the last chapter
and when I get the edits back it will be fixed.
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1*1*1
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Depot Veil;
220 days after return from Caprica;
15 months after the attack:
For fourteen days the fleet was checked and rechecked. Spare food was offloaded while magazines were packed to the bulkheads. Medical bays were stocked and half the water supplies were unloaded to the spare tankers while their fuel supplies were topped off. Everyone knew the fleet was preparing for a mission, but none knew what the mission was not even the reformed Quorum that demanded answered but was ignored. One night before the new month was to arrive since the attack, messages were sent out to every warship and fleet station. The orders were for all commanders and their executive officers to report to Veil One for an important meeting. The responses were quickly relayed to the Veil One and then the fleet went to sleep with their weapons primed for an attack, an attack they have waited for months to come, an attack called Revenge in their minds but planned as Operation Righteous Thunder.
Admiral Mathew Torrez opened the door to the theater type conference room and the commanders and executive officers of all the warships in the Veil filed into the room. The room was separated into Battlegroups with signs hanging over the seats. The officers of the fleet quickly found their assigned seats and sat down. In front of them, a sealed folder with their ships name on it. As they set their cups of coffee or tea to the side, they chatted with their fellow officers.
Moiré walked out onto the platform while behind her, a large monitor lowered from the roof, "Good morning everyone. Thank you for coming to the final briefing of the mission. As you know, Operation Righteous Thunder will commence in eight days. If you open your folders we shall begin with Admiral Torrez mission. Mathew will be leading Battlegroups four and five with the Thor as his Flagship. He will have the fourth and fifth Gunstar fleets along with the first and second Firestar divisions under his command. They will hit the following planets in this order, Caprica, Picon, Sagittarius, Liberian, Virgon, Tauron, Aquaria, Canceron, Aerilon, Leonis, Gemenon, and finally Scorpio. The reason for the random order is to confuse the Cylons in the beginning of the attack. By the time you hit Aerilon, they should be responding to reinforce all the planets. If all goes as planned, the Cylon forces at asteroid Baker Sixteen should be reduced by a third.
"Once they have started reinforcing the remaining planets, Admiral Torrez will withdraw to extreme range to keep the Cylons guessing while the main fleet jumps to Baker Sixteen where the rest of the Cylon fleet is. I will be in overall command aboard the Titan. The fleet will be divided up into five groups as you know. Group one will consist of the Battlestars Titan, Völuspá, Grímnismál and the Admiral Harridan Hope, with the First and Second Gunstar divisions as well as the third and fourth Firstar divisions. We will be jumping here," Moiré said as she used a pointer to point to the position.
"Group two will jump here under the command of Rear Admiral Helen Talbot aboard the Coeus at this location," she reported as she moved the pointer to the eastern division, "Rear Admiral Mark Summers will have command aboard the Cronus and will jump to this location," as the pointer moved to the western icons, "and that leaves Rear Admiral Gregory Hawks aboard the Cirus to jump to the southern icon. Rear Admiral Mark Bentley will have command of the Panderous fleet and take the top icon. If everything goes as planned, we should wipe out a good chunk of their fleet. Commanders, if your ship suffers heavy damage you're to jump away to the Veil immediately. Do I make myself clear?"
As the commanders replied, Moiré watched them and then continued, "The reason I say this is because your ships are valuable along with your crews. Yes, were going into a major battle where some of us will die, but remember it's the duty to make those dumb bastards die for their side, not for you to die for ours. Most of your non essential personal will be left behind to man ships under construction along with the three Battlestars still under repair. All Battlestars will be carrying extra Vipers for the battle. Ladies and Gentleman, I don't need to remind you what this means for the colonies for you already know. Once we have finished with Baker Sixteen, the ships will reform. Heavily damaged ships will jump back to the Veil while the rest of the fleet will jump to Scorpio and work up the list of targets.
"Are there any questions?" Moiré asked and waited for someone to ask. When no one did she said, "May the Lords of Kobol watch over us and bring us home."
"So say we all," rang through the room.
"Dismissed and see you on the field of battle," Moiré replied as she watched the commanders and executive officers of her fleet stand up and salute her. Returning the salute, she watched them file out of the room.
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1*1*1
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Depot Veil;
228 days after return from Caprica;
15 months after the attack:
Admiral Mathew Torrez stood by the Dradis station of the Battlestar Thor. Her sister ship Zeus was flanking her while the Juno, Jupiter, Python and Mythos flanked both of them in an arrow configuration. Around all six battlestars were the fourth and fifth Gunstar fleets and the first and second Firestar fleets. The dradis screen was packed with the two combined fleets. Twenty-four stealthstar reconnaissance ships had left to watch over the twelve colonies and six more to Baker Sixteen to watch the main Cylon fleet. One bit of news was the arrival of five colonial tankers and ten mule freighters. The ships were currently docked to several Cylon Baseships and Admiral Moiré Hays had been updated about the new arrivals.
Inside the Veil, the last of the fleet ships assigned to the strike exited the Veil, the two old Columbia class Battlestars parking themselves above the tunnels that allowed passage out of the gaseous clouds.
Mathew watched as the two hundred warships formed up into their seven attack groups. Finally, two hours after the first ship left the veil, he turned to his communications officer, "Contact the Battlegroup, we jump in ninety seconds."
"Contacting the group now on Epsilon One," the Com officer replied.
Mathew picked up the handset, and turned it on ship wide, "All hands, set condition Red throughout the ship. We are going to hell," he said and then hung up as the lights changed from white to red and the alarms started sounding.
"Send a message to the Titan. Admiral Hays. Message is. See you in Scorpio," Mathew said as he turned to the helmsman, and ordered, "Helm, jump us when the counter hits zero."
"Aye, Aye, Admiral," the helmsman replied.
Thirty ships vanished as their counters reached zero and two minutes later the appeared in orbit around the battered world of Caprica. Directly ahead of the Mercury class Battlestar was a Cylon Baseship, its hull pocketed with damage that was being repaired. To her left and three hundred kilometers away from the huge ship was a second Baseship.
"Enemy Baseships directly ahead," the WEPS officer reported Lieutenant Greg Hanson.
"You may open fire at your convenience, Lieutenant Hanson," Admiral Torrez ordered as the main monitor showed the enemy ships directly ahead.
"Target lock with main batteries. Firing," Lieutenant Hanson reported.
Before the alarms finished sounding, the Thor and Zeus opened up with their main batteries and eighteen hundred pound warheads were belched from their four bow cannons. Juno and Jupiter peeled off with their escorts and targeted two cruisers that were hovering over Delphi City while the Python and Mythos targeted a third Baseship and a supply ship that was over the southern continent.
Each Battlestar launched one of their two squadrons of Vipers while the Gunstars went to raid fire of their single heavy Kew mounted to their PODs. Raiders started pouring out of the Baseships along with missiles in heavy barrages. As the first rounds hit the lead ship, vipers tried to intercept as many of the incoming missiles they could. Explosions of decompression belched forth from the hull as the eighteen hundred pound armor piercing warheads ripped deeply into their hulls.
The third round of heavy KEW fire from the Thor hit something vital in her target and the Baseship vanished into a giant cloud of flames and debris as its ordinance or fuel supply let loose in a chain reaction. Before the light from the explosion had started to fade, the Thor had turned her bow two degrees to port and targeted the second Baseship that was being torn apart by her sister ship the Zeus.
Firestars turned to port and starboard, depending on which side of the battlestars they were on and unleashed their upgraded point defense. Hundreds of light KEWs spit a wall of shrapnel out that decimated the incoming waves of Raiders. The battle wasn't all one sides as two Gunstars took a dozen missile hits between them. Both ships staggered under the heavy pounding but continued to fire on the enemy fleet. Three minutes after they arrived, the last ship in orbit vanished into oblivion and the fleet started recovering its Vipers. Inside the Battlestars, the Vipers that had just landed were being rearmed and refueled, while the second squadron sat in their launch tubes waiting for their turn to be launched.
The fleet reformed and vanished into FTL towards its next destination, the battered planet Picon, former home to the fleet. Revenge was high in the list as the fleet officers and crew would get their first look at their home training world.
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1*1*1
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Moiré stood looking at then monitor, waiting for the word that the Cylon fleets were moving. With a quick glance at the clock, and if everything was on par with mission, the fleet would be hitting Virgon in the attack sequence. Two Gunstars and one of the Firestars had jumped back to the fleet with damage from Picon. They reported the loss of the Gunstar Pomona over Picon when four nuclear missiles had hit her but the complete destruction of four Baseships and six destroyers over the planet.
"Ma'am, stealthstar six has jumped in. They report twelve Baseships and fourteen destroyers have jumped out. All Raiders that were on patrol are heading back to their Baseships.
"To all ships, jump in thirty seconds," Moiré ordered and sent a silent prayer to the Lords of Kobol to watch over them.
In a massive flare, one hundred and twenty ships vanished to appear twenty light years away around a large asteroid that was being circled by the main Cylon fleet. As the ships stabilized, hundreds of Vipers were launched from their ships as the four Battlegroups started firing from long range towards the Cylon ships. Raiders that had been in the process to land turned and started heading back towards the Colonial ships while eight Cylon Baseships fell back to protect the two resurrection ships that were powering up their jump drives. Heavy KEW rounds burst inside the advancing Raider swarms, wiping out dozens with each round.
"Raiders are advancing on us. Vipers have launched their missiles and heading into knife range," the Fleet CAG reported.
"Good, switch main batteries to AP and target the Cylon ships. Message to the Völuspá and the Grímnismál are to target the resurrection ships. Admiral Hope is to target Asteroid Sixteen with her heavy penetration rounds," Moiré ordered as the Titan shuddered as her eight main battery guns fired at once.
"Incoming Raiders, estimated count fifteen hundred and climbing," the CAG reported.
"Enemy Baseship destroyed," the WEPS officer replied and then said, "Targeting Baseship number two."
"Continue to engage…"
"Raptor fleet has arrives, they are launching missiles. Reserve Raiders are closing with them," the CAG said as the Titan shuddered again.
"Enemy resurrection ships have been destroyed.
"Crius has taken damage. Two one-hundred megaton hits to her portside. Her portside flight bay is gone" and Moiré winched as she imagined the two sledge hammer hits the colossal ship had taken.
"Firestars Sarpedon and Alacrity destroyed and damage to Delight and Cygnet. Cygnet has jumped away," her second in command reported.
"Tighten up the formation," Moiré ordered as the ship shuddered from a near miss, "what was that?"
"Hope just took a nuke into her lower starboard flight pod," the WEPS officer reported, "firing again."
"Vipers are heavily engaged, Ciric Patrolstars are helping them out with their anti-raider batteries," The CAG shouted out as the Titan took a nuclear missile to her midsection.
"Damage to midsections, starboard batteries ten through eighteen off line. Most of the light KEWS have been destroyed," the DC officer shouted out.
"Dispatch medical and fire teams," Moiré ordered as she watched the main monitor and a feral grin came to her face as a flash appeared.
"Cygnet just jumped back in and rammed a Baseship, both ships destroyed."
On the main screen the Panderous fleet arrived. They quickly launched their missiles and started rolling their ships to bring their off batteries to bear on the Cylon fleet that was falling back to the asteroid to consolidate their forces. In five minutes of combat had seen the destruction of ten Baseships, six support ships, five destroyers and both Resurrection ships.
Titan Gunstars were ripping the lighter warships apart with one or two hits while the Battlestars continued the attack as hundreds of nuclear missiles started slamming into the Cylon fleet or the asteroid. Molten plasma rolled across the surface of the asteroid, ripping gun batteries and missiles tubes to shreds but it wasn't enough as the asteroid started firing its own weapons back. Battlestar Hope took six hits on her alligator head and starboard flight bays, forcing her to turn away as the Titan took three to her heavily armored head. Hope vanished into FTL as her remaining flight bays were destroyed. Other ships were shown, including a pair of old Warstars taking on three Cylon base ships and were winning. Smaller Colonial warships were latching onto support ships and the smaller nimbler destroyers going in head to head while the Battlestars went after the main Cylon ships, the dreaded Basestars.
"Make a note to rebuild the Warstar fleet," Moiré ordered her aide as the reports from around the fleet started coming in.
"Hope has jumped away. Vipers are regrouping," the reports came in fast and furious as the battle was going into overdrive as the desperate Colonial crews tried to bring the destruction to their nemesis.
"Gunstar War Shield has been destroyed."
"Gunstars Fame and Fearless destroyed."
"Sixteenth Viper Squadron down to three Vipers. They are falling back to reform with the seventh."
"Two Cylon Baseships have been destroyed by the Coeus battle group. Coeus is falling back to repair her main batteries."
"Warstar Pickaxe and Delphi have taken out three Cylon Baseships. Both ships have critical damage and their FTL's are offline."
"Panderous fleet is jumping away. Raptor strike going in now."
"Cronus has taken critical damage. Admiral Summers reports her FTL is off line along with a quarter of her engines. He's abandoning ship."
"Cronus is heading for the asteroid."
"On main screen," Moiré ordered.
The main screen changed to show the battered Titan class Battlestar heading towards the center of the Cylon fleet. Her target the asteroid turned into a Cylon munitions depot. Cronus was a burning wreck as plasma fires flared out of the ship. The starboard flight pods were barely hanging on and as they watched the upper bay ripped off drifting behind the massive ship as more and more missiles slammed into the bow of the giant ship. Only a few guns were still firing as two nuclear missiles hit the remains of the lower flight bay, ripping it off and hurling it into space. The multibillion ton ship shuddered and seemed to stagger from the hits but then she continued on through the firestorm. Cylon Raiders were firing point blank range into her massive hull, trying to stop her on her intended target. Suddenly a Cylon supply ship appeared in front of the ship, but the Cronus slammed into it with its reinforced alligator head. The support ship vanished into a million pieces which shredded the giant ships armor but it kept going. The hit was enough to alter the course just a little of the ship and as the Cronus fired her bow thrusters the ship started to turn back onto her ordinal course. Twenty seconds later the three remaining bow guns fired at once and the huge shells slammed into the asteroid's rocky hull. Three giant explosions blossomed out of the asteroid and then the Cronus slammed into the asteroid. The explosion blossomed outward, blinding sensors and cameras as muti-mega tons of munitions and nuclear warheads detonated at once. Debris from the asteroid were flung outward, destroying or crippling over half of the remaining Cylon fleet.
When the flash died down, everyone had stopped firing from the shock of the explosion but soon the battle had started up again and ships and crews started dying once more. As the remaining colonial ships compressed the circle of attack, it started. First one then another of the damaged Cylon ships started jumping away. Within seconds the only thing left was the crippled hulks that couldn't jump away and no mercy was shown to them as they were targeted and eliminated from extreme range. Once the last Cylon ship was destroyed, medical shuttles and Raptors were launched to search for the survivors of the disabled colonial ships as SAR Raptors darted around to collect stranded Viper pilots who had been forced to eject in the battlefield. A single long range Raptor jumped away and ten minutes later, thirty tugs and four of the Nightingale Class Medstar's jumped in to take care of the wounded and dead.
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Battlestar Galactica™ is a registered trademark and copyright (©) Glen Larson & the SciFi Channel. Thank you to the Battlestar Wiki and The Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, Battlestar Prometheus has proven invaluable for the information they contain. All material found in this story is for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement should be inferred or is intended. Depot Veil and all its original characters and story lines presented here are the copyright (©) of their creator (©) 2012. Special thanks to CanisD and all the other ship designers from Wolf Shipyard for the ships.