Storm Clouds
by AJ Marks
Part 7: Stealth Attack
Gunther looked down at his screen, seeing the captain of the Sydney looking back at him.
“Captain Gunther, you’ve made it out here?” Johnson said.
“Yeah, hear you’ve had some excitement,” Gunther replied, having read the reports about the battle, and the quick relief sent to the ships of the Colony.
“Yeah, things have calmed down a bit over there, with the addition of food and water, its amazing how that will calm a group of people,” Johnson said.
Gunther did not wish to even imagine what the group had to go through on their journey. The Argo had its own problems, but food never seemed to be a problem. Of course, the Argo had storage for a yehren’s worth of food, and with replenishing from planets they were never in danger. They also had a slightly below normal complement for a battlestar which meant the crew never put a strain on the life-support systems.
“I’ve got patrols out looking for additional basestars, the signals we picked up indicated more than one,” Gunther said.
“We’ve encountered no additional basestars for the past two days,” Johnson said.
“That’s good news, I have heard two supply ships were sent out, should arrive tomorrow or the next day,” Gunther said. He had asked Ares if he should wait, but was told to go ahead and meet up with the Sunflare and Sydney.
“I know the scout ships will be happy, they’ve moved in and out quickly but can only bring so much,” Johnson said.
“We should be meeting up in a couple of hours then,” Gunther said.
“Will you be taking over?” Johnson asked.
“The Sydney will be joining the 81st Task force,” Gunther said, diverting his attention to one of the controllers, talking with his XO rather excitedly. “Call you back.”
Gunther ended the communication and made his way over to the station where he could overhear the conversation.
“Patrol six, repeat please,” the XO said.
“Confirmed contact with a basestar,” the reply came back.
“Where?” Gunther asked.
“Here, sector seventy-two omega,” the ZO replied.
Gunther made his way over to the starmap, looking at the situation.
“And we have another basestar over here,” the XO said, pointing to another spot on the map. “They appear headed in this direction.”
The map lit up giving an indication of the direction of the ships.
“They’re meeting up,” Gunther said. “We have a situation then, get HQ on the line.”
He only had to wait a few minutes before a man appeared on the screen.
“Captain, something wrong?” he asked.
“Yeah, let Admiral Ares know we have a couple of more basestars in sector seventy-two omega. They appear to be joining up, might have been part of a plan to attack the Colonial battlecruiser,” Gunther replied. He watched the man think for a second.
“Hang on, I’ll inform the admiral now,” he said. The screen switched to one showing the Earth Defense symbol then Admiral Ares appeared on the screen.
“Commander,” Gunther said, never quite able to break the habit like many from the Argo.
“Two basestars?” Ares asked, obviously already knowing the situation.
“Yeah, their position, and direction make it seem they were headed to intercept the Sunflare and its ships,” Gunther said. “You want us to engage?”
He watched Ares think about that for a few seconds. “It might be for the best, a large force of Cylons already so close. They will eventually find us the way they are coming. Best to engage out here. Let’s see how much of an advantage we have.”
“We’ll do sir,” Gunther replied ending the conversation.
“Get me the captains of the fleet,” Gunther said knowing he had a lot of work to do. He walked off the bridge, pausing at the door. “XO, prepare the ship for combat.”
“Yes sir.”
*****
Adama looked over the starmap, concerned about the basestar. Starbuck and Apollo had returned from the patrol stating the basestar had left the system. Why had it left? Did it know the Galactica and her fleet were out here? Was he going into a trap? He asked if there had been any indication of a battle, wreckage, and Apollo answered none.
Somewhere out there was a basestar and he had no idea where it went. It could show up or attack the fleet. He was not too worried about one basestar, but would rather avoid any contact with the Cylons.
“Get me the Agamemnon,” he said, waiting a few microns before Tigh’s face appeared on the screen.
“Commander, what can I do for you?” Tigh asked, confused.
“Tigh, I need you to take the Agamemnon out to search nearby systems,” Adama said. “There is a rogue basestar out there somewhere, and I want to know where.”
“I can do that Adama,” Tigh said. “How far out in front of the fleet?”
“Check the systems, report on any that might have life, but your main mission is Cylons. Any life supporting planets the Hyperion will take care of,” Adama said, making up his mind.
“Understood commander,” Tigh said. “I’ll move ahead right away.”
“Good,” Adama said, ending the conversation. He hoped he did the right thing. If the Cylons were close by, he wanted to know where they were. Information could be critical in any upcoming battle.
He stretched a bit, deciding to head to his office for a while, the chair was more comfortable there. He also could look over the information and try to decide where the basestar had gone. Worry about the ship gnawed at him as the weight of protecting over a hundred civilian ships pressed down upon him again. Things would not get any easier, especially if they found any Cylons. He only hoped they had time to move out of the way if they were spotted.
*****
Boomer made his way down to the hangar of the Agamemnon for another patrol. Several more experienced pilots from the Galactica had transferred over for a special mission. He and Jolly had transferred over, joining Sheba and Bojay. Talking with Commander Tigh they understood why. They were scouting for Cylons.
To do that, they would require the experience for the veteran pilots. Now, he and jolly were going on patrol to scout ahead of the fleet. The Agamemnon kept the fleet in scanner range, and with the vipers heading out their range had doubled.
“Ready for this?” Jolly asked.
“If by ready you mean no, then yes,” Boomer replied back to him, as they approached the vipers. He felt the anticipation creeping in despite his knowledge that he probably would not see anything.
“I was really hoping we had seen the last of those tin cans,” Jolly said.
“I know how you feel,” Boomer replied.
“Is there really a missing basestar out there?” Jolly asked. Boomer heard the rumor as well.
“Sheba spotted it, Starbuck and Apollo were sent to check it out, they found nothing,” Boomer said, watching Jolly think about that for a second.
“So, they are still looking for us, can’t they give up for a while?” Jolly said.
“I know what you mean,” Boomer said agreeing with his patrol partner before splitting up, each heading to their own viper. Boomer did a quick look over, seeing everything appeared normal. A few seconds later he received his patrol vectors and launched. Jolly joined him a few seconds later and they made their way away from the fleet towards an empty spot of space between several systems.
They settled into their seats for a long flight. Patrols were usually long and boring.
*****
The Enterprise and Hornet maneuvered around to get into strike position. On board a lot of nervous crewmembers knowing this time when they went into combat, it would be real. Any mistakes this time could be deadly.
On the bridge of the Enterprise, Gunther watched his crew as they went about the last second preparations. The ship had gone to red alert, and now everyone awaited the order. He looked over at his scanners, seeing the fleet close the distance to the two basestars.
“Close blast shields,” Gunther ordered.
The massive shields of armor which prevented damage to the bridge swung down and closed with a clank. If gave everyone on the bridge a note of finality of what was about to happen. Gunther realized they were now in range, and still no reaction.
“Launch vipers,” Gunther ordered, watching as the information went to the Hornet as well. The main targets at first were the hangars, followed by weapon systems. He hoped by a quick strike they would be able to gain the tactical advantage.
He looked at the monitors seeing vipers streaking out of the hangar and for a brief second wished he was back in a viper again. He would not have to make the command decisions and only worry about doing his job as a pilot. Things were simpler back then, though he never realized it. Now, he commanded close to a dozen warships including two battlestars.
“All forces, close and engage,” he ordered.
The Enterprise opened fire as the vipers streaked into attack.
“Communications, begin jamming,” he ordered, as massive jammers would, hopefully, prevent the basestars from contacting any other Cylon ships. The hope was it would confuse the Cylon high command about who attacked them, and high their numbers. The stealth coating appeared to work as the Cylons did not seem to see their approach, and even their reactions seemed confused. Weapon systems opened up from the Cylon basestars, but lashed out in every direction.
The Enterprise maneuvered as her weapon systems fired again. The cruisers were joining in as the destroyers formed a protective ring against any raiders which might close to attack the battlestars. Each ship was specialized, each with a job to do.
“Damage to the basestars?” Gunther asked.
“Heavy damage to the hangars, squad leaders report a few raiders are launching now,” the reply came back to him. He nodded knowing the battle had only started. The first strike gave him an advantage, now he had to press that advantage.
“Concentrate on the weapon systems,” he ordered. Knocking out their ability to fire back would reduce any damage they might take.
The battlestar shook slightly as a stray shot hit it. The damage crews quickly went to work in the area. The armor had stopped it this time, but he did not want to press his luck with a prolonged engagement.
The combined firepower of the two battlestars and two cruisers would be more than enough to destroy two basestars. Gunther knew in combat anything could happen, and ending the battle quickly could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Reports came in about damage to the weapon systems on board the basestars. Increasing damage meant the less return fire they would encounter.
“Commander, new contacts,” one of the bridge crew stated. Gunther switched over to the scanner, taking a few seconds to see for himself before staring at shock at what he saw there. It could not be true? Yet there it was, on the scanner in front of him. He would have to inform Commander Ares right away.
“Open a frequency to Admiral Ares,” he said. This bit of news he had no idea how to proceed with.
*****
Boomer looked down at his scanners, still seeing nothing. He felt relieved each time he saw nothing. Privately he hoped to see nothing, and return back to the Agamemnon after a boring, quiet patrol.
They were about to reach the furthest point of the patrol, before heading back to the Agamemnon. He still saw nothing and decided it was time to turn around. He moved closer towards jolly to gain his attention and use hand signals. The last thing he wanted to do was inform any Cylons they were here with some careless broadcast.
He motioned to Jolly to turn around, but jolly pointed down to the scanners. Confused Boomer looked back down at the screen worried.
On the scanner were new contacts, where nothing should be. He waited a few seconds for the warbook to identify the contacts with s sinking feeling in his stomach.
Cylon raiders ahead, and as they continued forward, a basestar appeared followed by a second one. He knew he should order a retreat, but something about the appearance of the raider and basestar concerned him. He then noticed some raiders disappearing.
“What the Frack?’ he said to himself, his communicator turned off at the moment.
He flipped the scanners again, checking for damage to the basestars. To his amazement, both basestars had received damage, and as he looked on, more damage was received. He motioned to jolly, they needed to head back and report this to the commander. He would let them figure out what to do with this information.
They watched a bit longer, not getting any closer hoping to figure out what was going on. Raiders continued to disappear to some unseen enemy until finally one of the basestars disappeared, and Boomer presumed it had been destroyed. Finally signaling to Jolly to head back. Turning his viper around he made for the Agamemnon knowing that Commander Tigh and Adama would want to know this information.
End Part 7
Continued in Part 8: Agamemnon
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