The Sunflare
by AJ Marks
Patrolling around the edges of Colonial space a group of warships continued their vigilance against any outside threats that might appear. The patrol was made up of five ships centered around the Sunflare, an old battlestar that had long ago been rendered obsolete by the Columbia class battlestars. Along with the Sunflare was the Tiger, a cruiser, that specialized in anti-ship warfare and three frigates that provided anti-fighter defenses.
The Sunflare was one of three ships of the Starfire class. The ships were considered too expensive to build and only marginally effective in battle. The result had been in the loss of the two sister ships in battle leading to the much improved Columbia class. Now the Sunflare spent it’s time patrolling against pirates on the edges of known space.
The Sunflare carried a compliment of thirty vipers to go along with massive firepower, four type X lasers, the most powerful lasers ever fitted on board a Colonial warship. It was the compliment of fighters that many considered to be small considering the fact the Sunflare was almost the same size as a Columbia battlestar. With only twenty-four vipers it lacked the flexibility later warships would have.
That inability to be flexible had quickly been its downfall especially once the latest Cylon basestars appeared carrying almost three hundred raiders.
Commander Tagget, the Sunflare’s current commander, enjoyed a moment of relaxation in his quarters. He wondered what he might finally do now that that peace finally came to humanity. He could think of nothing at the moment. The military had been his entire life. He saw more people he cared about die than he ever wished. He gave thought to retiring and perhaps setting up a small home near where his remaining family lived, a niece and her family.
Perhaps he might even finally have time for friends outside his job. He knew money would be no problem. He hardly spent anything and over the yehrens had accumulated quite a bit of credits to retire comfortably.
“Commander to the bridge,” a voice over the intercom said.
Tagget stood, acknowledged the bridge and headed up wondering what had happened. He felt a possibility that the scanners might have picked up some strange ship. Things like that did happen from time to time out on deep patrol.
He walked onto the bridge seeing the few people who were on duty. Many crewmembers had time off to celebrate the upcoming peace treaty. He figured that it was not every day that one saw the end of a thousand year war.
“What’s up Colonel?” Tagget asked walking up to his second-in-command, Zaga. They had worked together now for almost ten yehrens. His friend had lost all of his hair where Tagget had kept his despite it going white.
“Thought you might want to watch the proceedings?” Zaga replied.
“Sounds good, has it started?” Tagget asked sitting down and turning his attention to the monitor. He saw a reporter standing in a small park with the words ‘peace’ spelled out in white flowers behind her. He, as almost everyone else, recognized the reporter as Serena.
He listened in as she mentioned that they had not received any new updates from the President’s yacht. Tagget thought that a bit strange and looked at the time. It should have happened already and frowned slightly.
“Something wrong?” Zaga asked.
“Yeah, it should have happened already,” Tagget said.
“Maybe there is a problem with terms or something like that,” Zaga stated.
“Or some sort of interference going on,” Tagget replied. Solar flares had a way of interrupting communications.
The scream focused their attention back onto the screen. He watched with a sinking feeling as the reporter panicked. Off camera he heard the terrifying sound of screams and explosions. Tagget watched almost knowing what he would see before it even appeared. The camera panned up catching a disk-shaped craft flying by.
“By the Lords of Kobal,” Tagget whispered watching the raider open fire.
“This can’t be happening,” Zaga replied, sounding as stunned as he felt.
“Switch over to fleet line Alpha,” Tagget ordered not looking up from the monitor. He knew they were probably too far away to communicate with the fleet but any information would be better than nothing.
The fleet line came on but he heard nothing but static which did not surprise him.
“I might be able to boost the signal and get something sir,” the communications officer, Teddy said.
“Do it,” Tagget said looking back at the screen watching the destruction before him get even worse.
“Sir, I have something,” Teddy said.
Tagget could hear faint voices. He could hear panic in the voices even as he heard that the Pacifica was reporting major damage and the Trition was moving. He heard nothing about the other battlestars and realized that things were not looking good.
“Order red alert,” Tagget said looking at the rest of the crew on the bridge.
The battle lighting replaced the normal lighting as the ship went on alert. He watched confused men and women running onto the bridge.
“Anything on scanners?” Tagget asked hoping that there would be no Cylons anywhere around them.
“No sir, everything’s clear,” the scanner operator, Mary replied.
“Sir, we’re receiving a communications from the Tiger,” Zaga said.
“Put it through,” Tagget said watching as the commander of the Tiger appeared on the screen.
“Tagget, what in the name of Kobal is going on?” Commander Garen asked.
“It appears the Cylons stabbed us in the back,” Tagget replied. “Both the Colonies and the fleet are under attack.”
“The fleet is under attack then,” Garen said. Tagget knew by the wording the commander knew about the attack on the Colonies.
“It appears so, I’m ordering the fleet to Cimtar at once,” Tagget said.
“We’re ready to go commander,” Garen replied.
“The other ships report ready to go commander,” Zaga said.
“All right, all ships move out,” Tagget said. He wondered what they might encounter once they got there. He only hoped some of the fleet had survived for them to help.
Tagget looked down at the scanners once more as the fleet approached the location of where the battlefleet should have been. He felt a sinking feeling when nothing appeared on the scanners.
“Should we launch a patrol?” Zaga asked.
Tagget thought about that for a few seconds before replying. “Go ahead.”
Microns later four vipers launched heading out into the area. Tagget knew they could move around the area a lot quicker than the fleet could. He really did not want to split the fleet up for any patrolling. The fleet maintained red alert until Tagget knew that nothing else would be in the area.
“No response from any hails commander,” Teddy said.
It seemed impossible to Tagget that the entire fleet would be gone. He turned to Teddy. “Any word from the Colonies?”
“No commander, it’s been silent for a while now,” Teddy replied.
Tagget really did not like that news either. Both the Colonies and fleet had been massively attacked by the Cylons.
“Sir, one patrol states they found an escape pod, the pilot is still alive,” Zaga said.
“Send a rescue team,” Tagget said. They might be able to gain some information from him. He realized the impact of what had happened and what he now had to do.
“Sir, another escape pod has been found intact,” Zaga said.
“Tell the rescue teams, we’ll take as many as we find,” Tagget said. “Have all commanders meet in the war room. We have something to discuss.”
He walked off the bridge heading back to his office for a few moments of peace and quiet before the most important decision he ever made would happen.
Tagget walked into the war room seeing all the commanders of the fleet there. They looked a lot like he felt, in shock over what had happened. Normally they would be talking and joking now the room was silent waiting for him to begin the meeting.
“I don’t think I have to repeat what has happened, but to make sure we are all on the same page. It appears from all reports that the fleet has been destroyed, or at least is at the point to where it is no longer effective as a defense to the Colonies. We also know that at least one or more Colonies were attacked, probably decimated beyond comprehension,” Tagget said looking around the room.
“Our communications officer has not picked up anything from any of the colonies, I think we can assume they were all attacked,” Garen said.
Tagget looked around at each commander seeing the same look of agreement about that despite their eyes wishing it was not true.
“There is a report from the rescued pilots that one battlestar left the battle, it might have survived,” Zaga said.
Tagget nodded at that. “Possible, it also might have been severely damaged and was retreating.”
“They thought it was headed to the Colonies,” Zaga said. “One thought it was his battlestar, the Galactica.”
“Commander Adama’s ship,” Tagget said. He could see if any ship surviving it would be his. Adama had publicly criticized the peace treaty and probably would have been ready for any surprise attack. They should have listened to him.
“So commander, now what?” Garen asked.
Tagget sighed knowing this was the moment he had been dreading as they all looked at him waiting. He had a few choices he knew.
“We can stick around, try and see what and who survived,” Tagget said. “Or we can flee.”
“Flee, and go where?” Tasia, the commander of the frigate Lightning, said
“That’s a fair question, one I have no answer for,” Tagget said.
“We should go the Colonies, see how bad the destruction is,” Garen said. “Once we know that we can make a decision about staying or not.”
Tagget looked at the group seeing almost all of them agree.
“What about the Cylons, they will be around somewhere,” Tasia said.
“Yes, they probably will be, and we should avoid any contact if at all possible,” Tagget said. “We’ll start out after the patrols have finished looking around.”
Tagget watched the group leave heading back to the hanger to head back to their ships. Only Zaga remained behind.
“Where do we go if there isn’t anyone left?” Zaga said.
“There is always someone left, but I know what you mean,” Tagget said.
“Even if there is, without a battle-fleet we don’t stand a chance defending the Colonies,” Zaga said.
Tagget knew the hopelessness of the situation they had been thrust into. Now he had to figure out what to do next. “Which Colony should we go to first?”
“Caperica is the closest,” Zaga said.
“Then we go there carefully,” Tagget replied. “Have the patrols found anything else?”
“No, a few scattered escape pods, more destroyed by the Cylons. Seems like they wanted to make a clean sweep of the area,” Zaga said.
“How many did we rescue?”
“Twenty-two, pilots,” Zaga replied.
Tagget shook his head at the total. Thousands had been here on board the ships and vipers and only twenty-two survived. He had a bad feeling about the Colonies.
Tagget walked onto the bridge at the announcement that they were approaching Caperica and something had appeared on the scanners. He was not too surprised by it all yet hoped it was the Galactica.
He looked around the bridge taking in the tense looks and realizing that the news would not be good. He walked up to the scanner operator, Zelda and waited for her opinion on what was going on.
“One basestar, it appears to be recovering raiders,” she told him. He looked over at Zaga.
“I ordered the fleet to hold position here at the moment,” Zaga said.
“Good thinking,” Tagget replied not sure he wanted to tangle with a basestar at the moment. He figured his fleet could defeat the basestar the damage they would get in return would be counterproductive.
“It’s moving, away from us,” Zelda stated as Tagget looked down to see the image moving away from them. He figured it was probably heading towards another home planet.
“Get us in close using the planet to hide us and prepare shuttles to head down. I want a patrol of vipers up at all times to provide air cover as well,” Tagget said.
He watched as the crew quickly relayed the information to the rest of the fleet even as he prepared to go down himself. If there were any groups left alive they would be scared and wanting answers.
“Tell Captain Renold I’ll be going down with him,” Tagget said.
“I have to disagree with you sir,” Zaga said.
“Zaga, if there are any survivors, I’ll be needed to talk to them,” Tagget said. “You and I both know that.”
“It could be dangerous,” Zaga said, running a hand over his bald head in annoyance.
“I know, but I think I can still shoot a blaster,” Tagget said in reply. He had to see the devastation first hand.
They waited a bit longer until the basestar no longer appeared on the scanners. Once that happened Tagget knew he was safe to approach the planet. They intercepted no signals other than automated ones.
He left the bridge in Zaga’s capable hands and headed towards the hanger to head down to the planet’s surface.
Tagget looked out of the shuttle’s windows as the clouds parted revealing the scene below him. He felt saddened at the sight before him. The entire planet appeared scorched as fires burned out of control in most areas.
“I’m going to set us down by the spaceport, there appears room to land still,” the pilot said.
“All right,” Tagget said looking around some more. Everything appeared even worse than what he had seen on the screen. Buildings had crumbled under the attack and even the docks of the spaceport were damaged beyond repair.
The group cautiously exited the shuttle looking around for any signs of Cylons that might still be around. Their weapons were out as they spotted a few Cylon remains scattered around the scene of death inside the dockyard building.
“Looks like they were trying to escape,” one warrior said.
Tagget nodded before making a decision. “Spread out, keep in pairs of two and let’s see if anyone is still alive around here,” he told the group.
They split up and started down the different paths looking for anything. The pilot paired up with Tagget as they walked down a side street not wanting to go too far from the shuttle in case one of the groups spotted trouble.
He glanced around uneasy listening for anything that might catch his attention. Then he realized that the only sounds he heard were the burning of fires. He heard no natural sounds at all, only the destruction of what once was a beautiful city.
“Commander, over there,” the pilot said quietly pointing his blaster in the direction of a small alleyway. “Thought I saw something over there.”
Tagget nodded as they carefully made their way over to the area walking quietly to not make a sound. Taggot had no idea what they might find. It might be an animal or a Cylon. He almost could hear his heart beating as they continued cautiously over to the area. Tagget looked around and came face to face not with a Cylon, or even some dagget, but a young girl.
He immediately holstered his blaster and motioned for the pilot to back off. He realized the girl was trying to make herself as small as possible. Fear easily readable in the girl’s eyes as they looked at each other. Tagget slowly crouched down to her level.
“Hello there, my name is Tagget, what’s yours?” he asked in a soft voice not wanting to frighten the girl anymore than she was.
The girl neither replied nor moved much to Tagget’s dismay. He recognized the shock the girl appeared to be in brought on by whatever she saw, and knew it must have been brutal.
“Commander, we have company,” a voice said over the radio. “A squad of Cylons heading towards the docking bay, probably saw us land.”
“Everyone back to the shuttle,” Tagget ordered turning his attention back to the girl. He gentled his voice and tried for what he hoped a friendly face. “I need you to come with me, we’ll protect you from the Cylons, I promise.”
She glanced up giving Tagget a better view of the girl who had green eyes. He looked her over seeing her hair dirty and dusty hiding whatever color it might be as dirt streaked her cheeks with obvious tear marks and he felt his heart lurch slightly from the broken look she gave him.
“We need to go back to my warship,” he said holding out his hand feeling the pilot behind him becoming impatient as time passed.
He smiled gentle as the girl reached out for his hand allowing him to pull her to him. He picked her up then nodded to the pilot as they quickly made their way back to the docking yard. He felt the girl become agitated the closer they got.
Knowing they had to go through the building he covered the girl’s eyes and thought he heard her say mom. He thought she probably had been in the dockyard when the Cylons attacked. Her small stature would have allowed her to escape unseen from the Cylons at that time.
A minute later he boarded the shuttle feeling the pilots’ power up the engines and blasting off heading back to the Sunflare. He looked down at the girl who had not released him but she did look up at him finally speaking.
“Are, are you from the Galactica?” she asked.
“The Galactica?” Tagget replied slightly confused by the statement but he had a thought of what might have happened. He waited for the girl to reply hoping she said what he thought.
“Mom said they would protect us, we were going to where it was,” the girl said sadly.
“You were boarding a transport to head towards the Galactica,” Tagget stated.
“Yes,” the girl said. “Then the Cylons came, my mom said run and she would come for me. She won’t wake up now.”
Taggete swallowed as the girl started to cry. He pulled her close allowing her a safe spot as he thought about what she said. The Galactica had survived somehow. Perhaps retreating from the battle had spared the battlestar from destruction. He gentle rubbed the girls back knowing he had to call another meeting once back on board.
He thought what would Adama do with so much destruction and only one battlestar. The battlefleet, from what Tagget saw, had been destroyed and now rendered ineffective.
The shuttle landed on the deck as he stood and headed over to a communications line telling Zaga to prepare a meeting with all ship captains. He would be there shortly and headed towards the medlab with the girl to make sure she was alright.
He walked in seeing it busy with injuries from the survivors they had picked up from the fleet. A nurse stopped and quickly walked over to where he stood upon seeing the girl in his arms. A silent communications between him and the nurse and she understood as girl refused to let go of Tagget.
He sat in a chair before speaking to the girl. “I have to go be commander for a bit so we can get out of here before the Cylons come back, but I promise to come back. The nice nurse is going to make sure you all right and not hurt okay?”
He watched the girl look up at him then over at the nurse, a young woman with brown hair and brown eyes who crouched down with a gentle smile.
“I’m Amy,” the nurse said. “And I guarantee you that commander Tagget keeps his word, and we can ask to see him later on if you want.”
“If I take too long you can call for me and I’ll be right down here,” Tagget said to the girl.
After a few silent moments the girl released Tagget and allowed herself to lifted into Amy’s arms. Tagget walked over to the doctor who watched from a distance.
“She probably saw the Cyons kill her mother and who knows how many more,” he said to him as he nodded.
“Then Amy’s the one you want taking care of her, she understands that. Saw her father and brother killed when she was ten,” the doctor said.
“And the others?” he asked.
“Both pilots suffered third-degree burns, and a couple of injured crewmen on board the escape pod, we lost one but I expect the others to survive,” the doctor said.
Tagget nodded and with a last look, and smile for the girl in Amy’s watchful care, headed to the meeting room. He stopped at the bridge to order the fleet to Hermes asteroid then resumed his course.
“Gentlemen,” Tagget stated walking into the room heading around to his seat. They all turned to look at him as he settled himself before continuing. “It seems we have a problem. We found one survivor before we were forced to leave early. She is a young girl but it appears that the reports from the survivors of the battle are correct. The Galactica appears to have survived the battle by leaving. I have ordered the fleet to Hermes asteroid base for supplies. I doubt there are many Cylons there.”
“Are we leaving people behind?” Issac, the captain of the Sprint, asked in disbelief. “We might be able to rescue more.”
“I know, but I also think the Galactica might need our help in order to protect the fleet they have assembled,” Tagget stated.
“We have no way of know where the Galactica went,” the captain of the Tiger, Keith, stated.
“Yes, I am aware of that,” Tagget replied, sighing at that knowledge. All he knew would be the Galactica would run away from the Cylon Empire. “That’s why we’re headed to Hermes, the base still has supplies but isn’t manned and should be clear of Cylons.”
“This is a gamble, we could head to another colony and maybe pick up more survivors,” Issac
“I know we all want to pick up as many survivors as possible, but we must look to the future as well. Our first priority is finding the Galactica,” Tagget said.
“I still don’t like it, not how we were trained,” Keith said standing up.
“You don’t have to like it, the commander has spoken,” Zaga said. “You think he likes it?”
“Then he should do something about it,” Keith replied back as Zaga stood now face to face with Keith.
“Stand down, both of you,” Tagget said in a stern voice. “We all have anger over this, but we can’t go blindly around flapping our arms. We need a plan and our fleet isn’t a challenge to a major Cylon fleet. I don’t want to die today if possible.”
He stared at both of them watching as they relented slightly and backed down. The tension in the room still remained even as calm settled on the discussion.
“So, what do we do after resupplying?” Issac asked.
“I want ideas as to where the Galactica might assemble a fleet,” Tagget said. “We’ll head there and see if we can catch them,”
“And if not we can pick up stragglers who didn’t make it in time,” Zaga said. “Now we need to resupply quickly and take more than we can handle. It’s going to be a long trip people.”
The group stood and filed out leaving Tagget alone in the room with Zaga.
“You really think this the right course of action?” Zaga asked.
“Honestly, I’m making it up as I go,” Tagget said. “We go to the Colonies and meet up with a Cylon fleet then it’s all over and we can’t help anyone.”
“What about helping out a ship in trouble?” Zaga asked.
Tagget sat back thinking about that. So many variables to worry about and he found it so easy to say help. He also knew that rushing into help could be a disaster.
“I think we’ll have to take that as we come across it,” Tagget finally said. “We can take on a basestar but I also want to avoid serious damage.”
He watched Zaga remain quiet. “You know,” he finally said, “all our warriors want revenge.”
“I know, I want it too,” Tagget said. “You didn’t carry that girl, damn them!” He stood heading towards the door. “I’ll be in medlab, let me know if anything happens.”
“Will do,” Zaga replied.
Tagget walked into the medlab glancing around spotting the doctor who walked over to him.
“Any good news?” Tagget asked.
“I would say those injured will make it,” the doctor said.
“And our young guest?” Tagget asked.
“Amy’s doing a fine job with her,” the doctor said looking over at one area of the medlab which had been sectioned off.
Tagget nodded then headed over wondering what type of reaction he might get. He poked his head through giving a slight knock on the wall watching as Amy turned slightly. He looked from her to the girl who now had wet hair and dressed in a way too big shirt.
“Commander,” Amy said. He watched as the girl looked over, recognition appearing in her eyes.
“Hey, I see Amy took good care of you,” Tagget said coming into the small area sitting down on the bed and focusing his attention on her. “How are you doing?”
“She’s uninjured and in good health,” Amy replied making Taggelt feel somewhat better.
“What’s your name, I’m Tagget, though some on board call me the old man. They don’t think I know about it,’ he said with a smile and a wink at her getting a smile in return.
“Sara,” the girl finally replied.
“Well hello Sara,” Tagget said. “And how old are you?”
“Four,” she said holding up five fingers.
“Four, you are a big girl,” Tagget said.
“Commander,” the doctor’s voice said from outside the curtain.
“Yes?” Tagget asked looking in the direction.
“Colonel Zaga is requesting you on the bridge right away.”
Tagget sighed at that but knew he had to leave. “Well Sara, it seems that my duty as commander of the ship has once again interrupted our talk. I’ll take care of this and then come back to see you again, all right?” he said giving her a pat on the head.
He noticed her watching him as he walked out and headed to the bridge.
Zaga walked onto the bridge after the meeting. Things had been crazy at the moment and he wondered what might happen next. He had to agree with Keith though, they needed to do something. He stood up for the commander because he needed support at that moment despite him not agreeing with him.
The bridge crew appeared alert to his eyes. They knew Cylons could be anywhere now unlike on patrol where an encounter with anything had been rare. Of course they patrolled the boundaries that did not boarder the Cylon Empire.
Zaga heard whispers between crewmembers about what happened as people tried to make sense of what happened. The scale of destruction appeared beyond comprehension to most everyone.
He knew they were looking at him. They wanted direction in chaos and Zaga had little idea what they were doing. Even Tagget said he did not know what to do next.
“All right everyone, can I have your attention,” Zaga finally said seeing everyone look over to him. “I’m sure you’re all aware that the fleet and Colonies came under a devastating Cylon attack. The fleet is completely destroyed, it appears the Galactica survived. The Colonies have also been completely destroyed. We’ve received no communications from any Colony since the attack. We are headed to Hermes Asteroid to resupply, once that happens we hope to join up with the Galactica. If that does not happen we will head away from the Colonies in hope we will catch up with them. For now do your jobs, we want to avoid Cylon entanglements.”
Zaga watched the group head back to work even as he sat down. Things were too confusing. He preferred a simple fight, you see the enemy and attack. The warfare they were about to undertake would be different than anything else he had done.
“Colonel, we have scanner contacts,” Ruth, the scanner operator said.
Zaga walked over to where she sat looking at the contacts. On the screen he noticed a battle going on, several Cylon raiders were attacking four civilian ships. A Cylon basestar appeared on the screen even as he watched.
“Medlab, this is Colonel Zaga, is the commander there?” Zaga said.
“Yes sir,” the reply came back.
“Tell him to get to the bridge immediately,” Zaga said.
“Understood.”
Zaga turned to the communications watching as the young man sitting there listened in intently before looking up.
“They are reporting a distress message,” he said to Zaga.
He nodded unsure of what the commander wanted to do. He knew what his gut told him but things had changed.
“What’s the situation?” Tagget said walking onto the bridge.
“We’re picking up Cylons attacking cives and a distress call,” Zaga said watching Tagget walk over to the scanners.
“All right,” Tagget said turning towards Zaga who looked on in interest. “Red alert, get me the captains of the other ships.”
“Yes sir,” Zaga said almost smiling at the thought. They were going after the Cylons.
“Our pilots will be outnumbered but it appears the Cylons have taken damage as well,” Tagget said as he looked at the scanner.
“Sir, I have the captains of the other ships,” the communications officer said.
“I’ll be brief, we have some stragglers, probably heading to meet up with the Galactica,” Tagget said.
“Some good news finally,” Issac said.
“Not quiet, they are under attack by a Cylon basestar, if we all work together we should be able to achieve surprise,” Tagget said.
“The Tiger and Sunflare attacking the basestar, what angle do you want the Tiger to come in on?” Keith asked.
“Bottom, the Sunflare will come in from the top, the Sprint, Emerald and Lightning will head to the civilian ships to provide fighter escorts,” Tagget said.
“What about the vipers? They will be outnumbered,” Keith asked.
“Only need them to delay the Cylons, not win, once the basestar is destroyed then we can concentrate on the raiders. Our top priority is saving the civilian ships,” Tagget said to them.
“Sound red alert,” Zaga said to the crew before Tagget could say anything else. The familiar battle red lighting replaced the normal lighting. He knew all across the ship people raced to their battlestations.
“Launch all vipers when ready,” Tagget said. “Helm, attack vector five, full speed.”
“Contact in two minutes.”
“Communications, let me hear what’s going on,” Tagget said. Zaga listened in as the speaker crackled to life.
“Anyone out there, this is the Princess Royal, we’re under Cylon attack. We can’t last much longer, need immediate help.”
Zaga wanted to say something back to them but understood the need for silence. The hardest thing to do as he heard the screams as one of the ships exploded bringing the number of ships down to four civilian ships. He hoped whatever god or goddess would listen that they would be in time to help.
“Captain, still no response,” the communications officer said to the captain.
“I know,” Captain Dean said thinking about what they might be able to do. The group had few options and there would be no guarantee for survival with any plan. He finally made up his mind as the Starfreighter exploded. “Helm, plot a course straight for the basestar and engage.”
“Captain!?” the stunned reply came back.
“We have to do something now, damaging or destroying that basestar could allow the others to escape,” Dean said.
“Um sir, do we have the mass for something like that?”
“I don’t know, but we have the speed to do this, the others don’t,” Dean said. The ship rocked slightly as another flight of raiders attacked strafing the ship.
“Plotting and engaging,” the helmsman said causing the others to look over at him in disbelief.
Dean felt the ship begin its turn knowing that he did not want to go this direction.
“Sir, captain of the Crimson Red.”
“What are you doing?” the captain of the Crimson Red said without waiting for Dean to answer.
“Put your power to your engines, we’re ramming that basestar hoping to take it out,” Dean said. “Most of their fighters are still refueling and rearming, if we take them out it might give you a chance.”
“That’s suicidal.”
“I know, but we need a plan now,” Dean said.
“Captain, scanner contact!”
The sudden shout caused Dean to turn his attention towards the scanners looking down. He saw on the edge of the scanners and approaching fast several groups of ships. “Can we identify?” he asked waiting a moment even as the captain of the Crimson Red shouted at him.
“Vipers, and hang on, three Chissile frigates, one Panther cruiser and one Starfire battlestar,” the scanner operator said.
“Helm, change course, head towards those ships,” Dean said turning towards the communicator. “Red, follow me, we have Colonial warriors on their way!”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Red, the captain of the Crimson Red replied back to him.
“Our scanners have Colonial vipers and warships, I’m heading towards them right now,” Dean replied back.
“Commander, we are in battle range,” Zaga said.
Tagget felt energized. “All vipers engage, positive shield now, open fire on the basestar,” Tagget ordered. The massive blast shields closed over the viewports as the Sunflare went into battle mode.
The old battlestar came in from near the top it’s powerful lasers opening fire on a Cylon warship for the first time in centuries. The Tiger already approaching from the bottom as the vipers raced into action against the raiders
“Cylon basestar taking damage, it appears we caught them by surprise,” Ruth said.
Tagget nodded knowing that the first shot indicated who would win the battle. He hoped to do enough damage on the basestar in the first couple of shots to give him a tactical advantage.
The three frigates raced towards the civilian ships which were now heading towards them. He could hear the pilots shouting to each other as they struggled to survive against the one hundred or so raiders already attacking the civilians.
The frigates he noticed were engaged with the raiders now even as the basestar returned fire.
“Concentrate on the weapon systems,” Tagget said. The basestar had taken some damage to some of its primary anti-ship weapons already. He knew a warship that could not fight was essentially another hulk of a ship that held no more fighting power than most civilian ships.
The massive lasers fired again from the Sunflare causing more damage to the basestar. The scanners indicated heavy damage now to the basestar as the Tiger continued attacking. The ships were now in slugging back and forth as the Sunflare turned to bring its main weapons to bear once more before turning again to allow the weapons to recharge.
Finally after several minutes of battle the basestar exploded. He felt some relief before looking at the remaining battle around the frigates and civilian ships. The number of raiders had been whittled down quite a bit.
“Damage?” he asked.
“Sections five through seven on decks five and six, no fires reported and repairs should be complete shortly,” Zaga replied. “So far we’ve lost six pilots.”
Tagget knew that replacing pilots would be harder than repairing the ship now.
“What about the other ships?” Tagget asked wanting to know the condition of the fleet.
“Tiger reporting no damage, the frigates light damage, one of the remaining civilian ships is reporting heavy damage to her engines,” Zaga said.
“How many people on board the ship?” Tagget asked already making up his mind.
“Her captain reports four hundred,” Zaga replied after a brief conversation.
“All right, begin transporting the people among the fleet, start with the Sprint, once she had taken aboard a few have her head to Hermes to make sure nothing awaits us there,” Tagget said.
He watched his orders carried out before relaxing in chair slightly. He felt slightly proud at the moment. His fleet had taken out a basestar but he also knew that now the Cylons had information of where he was. He had to leave the area quickly.
“Zaga, inform the crew that we’re taking aboard civilians,” Tagget said.
“Yes sir,” Zaga said. Tagget tuned out knowing that Zaga would do his best before having one more thought.
“Also, tell the shuttle pilots to overload the shuttles,” Tagget said.
“Sir? They won’t like that,” Zaga replied back with the truth.
“I know, but the quicker we get everyone off that ship the quicker we can get out of here,” Tagget said. “I doubt that basestar’s destruction went unnoticed and another one is probably headed in this direction.”
“Right, I’ll inform them sir,” Zaga replied.
Tagget watched Zaga head off to do his duty while thinking about what he might need to do next. He had a lot of problems going on in his mind. The most important question he knew of only had a vague answer, where the Galactica was headed off to.
He looked over at the star map going over different paths the Galactica might have taken. What had its commander, Adama, thought about while leaving? How many civilian ships had he managed to pull together? How fast were they traveling? With the addition of three civilian ships his own speed had been reduced.
“Commander,” Zaga’s voice said breaking Tagget’s concentration. He glanced up looking across to where Zaga stood. “Long range scanners indicate incoming Cylon ships.”
Tagget nodded. “How long until rescue operations are done?”
“Almost complete, we’ve been running at full speed, the crew of the other ship is going around making sure everyone is off, they even found a few, I guess stowaways,” Zaga said.
Tagget shook his head in amusement at the term. Did that even apply anymore? “Tell them about the Cylon ships, they can use that to hopefully get the rest but don’t waste too much time over it.”
“Yes sir,” Zaga said relaying the information to the ship’s captain.
“Tell the remainder of the crew to put the ships engines on overdrive, hopefully if the Cylons approach they might be caught in the explosion,” Tagget said.
“On it sir,” Zaga said.
“Commander, we have a message from medlab, something about a girl disrupting the room, and calling out for you.”
“Tell the doctor I’ll be right there,” Tagget said, turning to Zaga. “When the last shuttle docks, get us out of here, use whatever we can to hide from the Cylons.”
“Direction?” Zaga asked.
“Ask one of the captains where they were headed, we might still be able to catch up with the Galactica,” Tagget said, before walking off the bridge and heading towards the medlab.
Walking in he saw the doctor, and Amy along with a sobbing Sara. He froze slightly, unsure what to do, he never had any kids. She saw him and ran over, jumping up into his arms, which he barely managed to catch her, feeling her tighten her hold on him. He glanced over at the doctor and Amy for an explanation.
“She will be like this for a while,” Amy said as Sara buried her face into his shoulder. “She will be fine one minute, and like this the next. No logical explanation.”
“She is in perfect health, which is good, and it appears she’ll be clinging to you,” the doctor said.
“You’re her protector you realize,” Amy said.
Tagget looked at her, then the girl and finally the doctor.
“I’m afraid we can’t change that reaction,” the doctor said.
Tagget resigned himself to fate. He wondered what she might see in him, he never had any kids, and felt awkward around them. He also had little idea of where to go if they missed the Galactica. Of course the only thing he could do, would be to move on, heading somewhere out away from the Cylons. Seemed like there would be a lot of people dependent on his decisions.
“I think things would work out best if she stayed with you,” Amy said.
“She won’t be able to stay in medlab forever,” the doctor said.
“And we’re taking on civilians, space will be limited,” Amy said.
Tagget looked at them both, knowing they made a logical argument, and with the girl wanting him, it might be for the best. With one last look at them, he made his way out of medlab and towards his quarters. Not expecting to see Zaga walking towards him.
“We’re moving,” he said to him. “Is this the emergency you were called for?” he asked, looking at the girl who had not moved much from his arms.
“This is Sara, found her on Caperica,” Tagget said. He did not have to say anything else, as Zaga seemed to understand.
“So, where should we go?” Zaga asked.
Tagget thought about it for a second before answering him. “Head towards the void,” he said. It was a known area of space where no stars shown, and many ships had been lost over the years.
“You know the Cylons are probably out there,’ Zaga said.
“Then we’ll have to do our best to avoid them, but for now, we need to get away from here. Every micron we stay, we’re in great danger,” Tagget said. He had a mission to do now, protect the people of the fleet as best as he could.
“We might look at preparing an area on one of the ships as an agriculture area,” Zaga said.
“Yeah, we’ll need that, take a look around, see if we can find some room,” Tagget sad. It would be a long journey, and he had no idea what he was in store for. He hoped one day to find the Galactica and join up with her.
“I’ll order the fleet in that direction, we’ll have to keep a low profile here, make sure we’re not spotted by any Cylons,” Zaga said, as Tagget started walking towards his quarters. He would show Sara his quarters, and then head up tot eh bridge.
“I’ll see you on the bridge, going to put my new roommate to bed, and inform her how she can contact me,” Tagget said. He also might just bring her up with him. Things were going to change, and if he wanted the change to go smooth, then he needed to show he was willing to change as well.
“Yes sir,” Zaga said, walking away towards the bridge.
The voyage was just starting.
The End
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