Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 28: Chaos and Order
Ares walked around the bridge of the Tiger. He looked around and spotted Pratt sitting in the command chair. He could tell that Pratt was still trying to get comfortable with commanding a ship. It was a while before Ares had felt comfortable with the command of the Argo.
In a way it was a bit better not to still be part of the Colonial fleet. He never thought that he would have command of his own Battlestar at his age. He figured that he only way he had received the command was the fact that he had no family back at the colonies. That and the facts that he was career military, knew Commander, Backus, and knew Commander Cain.
The Argo had finished her upgrade with the new metal which Ares was glad to get back. Both the Tiger and Argo had full crews and that helped him out. One thing that would have to worked on would be the speed of the Argo. The Tiger and Hermes both were faster than the Argo. Doctor Weaver had made a few improvements in the engine technology after studying the ship that had been left aboard during the encounter with Able.
“Everything ready to go,” Ares asked Pratt before leaving the bridge and heading to the Argo.
“I think so commander,” Pratt replied. Once Ares left the bridge then he would be in charge of the Tiger. He looked forward to his first command even though the thought scared him. Everyone would be looking at him for leadership.
“All right commander, I’ll be heading over to the Argo,” Ares said then left the bridge for the hanger.
Ares knew that once he was aboard the Argo then their plan would begin. He would know then how powerful the enemy ships were as a group. Though reports they had figured that the Arbus attack ships around Earth each held fifty fighters, the Argo currently held one hundred vipers and the Tiger an additional thirty. His pilots would still be outnumbered but it was something that they were used to.
The latest report from Earth was that the transport had arrived but at the station. It could just be a supply ship for the station and nothing else. Ares hoped that the reports were correct. He would have to wait and see.
*****
Troy and Bri walked into the pilot’s room and looked around. While there were a few new faces there were also the familiar faces of Jax and Nall. They walked over and sat down.
“Hey, well it’s almost time,” Jax said greeting Troy and Bri.
“Yep, we’ll be leaving once Commander Ares get aboard,” Bri replied.
“Several new faces around here,” Nall replied looking around.
“I think that’s something we’re going to have to get used to,” Troy said and they all knew what he meant. War would mean losses which would mean their ranks would slowly shrink.
Troy wondered how many would survive the war and who would die in it. Then there was the question of was it even worth it. He was not sure what the price would be for this war. The only one who probably knew was time itself.
*****
Ares walked onto the bridge of the Argo and felt at home again. It was a strange thing feeling at home on board a ship, but after being on board this ship for so long it was his home. He figured that many others thought the same way. Glancing around he noticed that there were many familiar faces still around the controls. Renee was still at her position as flight control officer which made him glad. He needed an experienced officer to handle the larger ship.
“Hail the Tiger to move out,” Ares said. The order was relayed and the battlestar began to move towards Earth and an engagement with destiny.
*****
Peter had not slept much last night. Today would determine if the Earth was still under Arbus control or in a fight for freedom. The upcoming battle could last for a while or be real quick. He personally hoped that it would be a quick battle but in war there was no telling what would happen.
There was a group off in one corner who were checking their weapons to make sure that they would work. Peter understood that. The last thing they needed in battle was malfunctioning weapons. They had been able to draft many ex-military, military and local police officers into a loose knit unit. Each group had a different objective.
The ex-military and police officers had formed a ground squadron to take the city back from the Arbus. They had also gain support from the local gangs that had roamed the streets. Everything had been done without the knowledge of anyone in the higher command.
One thing that he was glad for was the local air force base was on their side. The pilots had secretly begun to fill their planes tanks and under the cover of darkness the ground crew would arm the planes. Once the attack would begin they would launch to provide an air patrol.
What really scared Peter was everyone seemed to be looking at him for guidance. It was a strange thing to be in command of such a large scale operation when he had no experience in such a thing. He could only hope that he was up to the task considering he had no training at all.
A glance at his watch confirmed that the attack would be starting within the hour or so he hoped. If the battlestar Argo and gunstar Tiger were destroyed then their attack on Earth would be stopped as well. One thing that he was hoping on was the fact that other groups would take this as a sign to attack as well.
“Captain Peter, everything is ready,” one of his aides said.
“Good, we’ll know in a little while how effective everything is,” Peter said.
“What are you plans if the Earth military does not join the battle,” the aide asked.
“Well there was talk that the base here would undergo a coupe to make sure they continue fighting,” Peter said.
“I hope that they join,” the aide said.
“Me too,” Peter replied.
*****
The Battlestar Argo moved though the vacuum of space heading towards the Arbus station with deadly precision. The crew was already at their battle stations. The pilots were at their ships waiting for the command to launch. Ares was up on the bridge which was bathed in a red light as he waited for the Arbus station to close in.
He briefly wondered if he would be able to capture it. Then he remembered the transport that he had tried to capture. They had blown it up so that it was not captured. He saw that they were now in firing range of the Argo’s weapons systems. The Tiger was also in place nearby ready to attack any incoming ships from Earth.
“Scanner reports that there are four ships around the Arbus station. It appears to be two escorts, one attack ship and on transport,” the scanner operator said.
“That leave five attack ships orbiting Earth,” Ares said. He had to attack and he could do it with surprise. “All fighters prepare to launch,” he said.
Renee relayed the orders down to the launch bays. The pilots down there quickly raced from where they had been waiting nearby into the fueled and armed vipers. She nodded when everything was ready.
“Mega-tubo lasers stand by, solidomite missiles stand by,” Ares ordered.
“Lasers standing by,” one weapon system operator said while another reported in on the missiles.
“Lasers target the attack ship, missiles are to target the station,” Ares said. “Is the Tiger standing by?”
“Weapons ready and lock is confirmed, Tiger is standing by,” Ares’ new second in command, Reliy said.
“Negative shield now,” Ares said.
They all watched as the shielding when up blocking their view out of the view window. The battlestar was not ready for combat.
“All weapons open fire, launch all vipers,” Ares said.
*****
Troy was waiting along with the rest of Gold squad. Bri, Nall and Jax were still part of his squad but there were a couple of new faces. They appeared a bit nervous. The Colonial warriors did not appear that nervous. This is what they had trained for their entire life; war was just about all they knew. The Earthers were not as confident but there was something else there.
Troy could see a spark in the eyes of the Earthers. They wanted revenge on the Arbus for what had happened to their planet, their friends and their families. Troy did not have to think to hard to imagine what they were feeling. He was sure that Bri had the same fire in her when it came to the Cylons.
“All pilots report to your vipers,” they all heard Renee’s voice say.
“All right squad this is it,” Troy said. “Remember to watch each other in case they get into trouble. We’re probably going to be outnumbered but if you stick to your training we should do just fine.”
The group quickly and calmly went to their vipers. Troy stepped up beside Bri’s viper for a second.
“Be careful,” he told her.
“I will, you too,” she replied.
Troy gave her a kiss then when over to his viper to get ready.
*****
The Arbus station had been quietly sitting in the asteroid field rearming and refueling its supplies from the transport. Since the invasion of Earth it had required more supplies than it normally had. There had been an attack on a previous supply ship but so far the attackers were unknown. The enemy ships had fled before the reinforcement had arrived.
Suddenly alarms began to sound all over the Arbus station and nearby ships. They were under attack but the enemy was still not clear. Moments later the first enemy fighter was visible.
The Argo’s first attack struck the attack ship with accuracy. The shields had not come up yet. Damage was immediate as the mega-turbo lasers impacted on the attack ships. The solidomite missiles struck moments later on the station.
The station took the brunt of two missiles and for a second seemed to be unscathed. Then a secondary explosion ripped though the station which caused other explosions. The reactor of the station was critically damaged and began an unchecked reaction.
On board the Argo the scanner operator reported that the reactor was about to go critical. They watched as the station exploded in a tremendous explosion taking one escort ship and the transport with it. The attack ship was a bit further away and the other escort ship appeared to take damage as well.
The vipers raced into action against the remaining escort ship. Their main targets were the known weapon systems on board the ship.
The Argo opened fire again on the attack ship which appeared to be recovering from the initial attack as its engines suddenly came to life and the ship began to move. The shields were slowly coming on line and took another hit from the Argo as the first counter strike fired from its weapons.
*****
“Commander, the battle has begun,” Ben said. He was Pratt’s second in command on the Tiger.
“Red alert, negative shield now,” Pratt said calmly. His order was carried out quickly and the shields came on line. “Any report on what the ships from Earth are doing?”
“Nothing yet,” Ben replied. Pratt knew that would not last long. He hoped that they would be able to draw away the enemy ships in small groups and not as one large group. That would be the biggest problem. Either that or the ships would not leave their stations.
“Once the ships begin leaving hail the Hermes to tell Peter to begin the attack,” Pratt said. It had been decided that the Tiger would watch for the Arbus attack ships to head away from Earth and notify the Hermes as to when to begin the ground attack. They figured that the Argo would be fully engaged in battle at that moment.
A glance at the scanner indicated that the battle was going well for them so far. The station had just been destroyed and it appeared that a couple of other ships as well.
“Commander, we’re getting two attack class Arbus ships heading our way,” Ben said.
“Good, report to the Hermes to begin their operation,” Pratt said. “Then prepare to open fire on the nearest Arbus ship on my order.”
“Yes sir,” Ben said as the order was relayed to the rest of the ship.
The Tiger’s two mega-turbo lasers were primed and ready. Unlike the Argo’s mega-turbos the Tiger’s main armament was more powerful as it had been designed as an anti-capital ship weapon system.
*****
Peter waited with his communicator open hoping that the orders would come soon. The waiting seemed to be the hardest part. He had gotten reports of what it was like outside. The weather was cloudy with reports of thunder in the distance. Peter could not make up his mind if he wanted to attack during a thunderstorm or not.
“Captain Peter,” Gunther said over the communicator.
“Peter here go ahead,” Peter replied.
“The operation has begun, begin the ground phase,” Gunther said.
“Copy,” Peter said turning to everyone in the bunker. “All right people, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Move out.”
With that several radio operators began to send out the message to attack. Peter stood in the middle of the small command center that they had set up. He looked over as different units reported in with what was happening. He could only hope that everything turned out all right.
*****
Sara stood nearby one jet fighter. Her sister, Tammy, had come to her with information that she had thought was unbelievable. But after listening to her commanding officer lately she could only hope that what she had said was true. A few others were also around waiting in small groups for the word to begin the operation. Looking over she noticed that her commanding officer was headed her way.
“Lieutenant Sara, what are so many pilots doing near their fighters,” the officer asked.
Sara opened her mouth to reply when the radio crackled to life.
“All units begin operations,” the voice said over the radio.
“What’s going on here,” the officer said.
“We’re doing something that you should be doing, fighting for out people,” one pilot said then turned to walk towards his fighter.
“I will have you all court marshaled for sure if you continue this illegal action,” the officer said.
“No we’re just trying to defend our people against an enemy that you seem to think isn’t there,” Sara said. “All right everyone, mount up and hit the skies,” she said as they all went to their fighters.
“I will tell the general on you and then have you shot down,” the officer said beginning to walk to the command center.
He had only taken a few steps when the ground grew surrounded him. He ordered them to move but no one budged.
“I want to know why you top dogs haven’t done anything. My wife and kids were killed in the invasion,” one ground crew member said.
“There is no invasion you idiots. It was all a misunderstanding,” the officer said.
“So when the invaders killed my brother yesterday what was that,” another one asked.
“He must have been fighting back,” the officer said.
“He was walking home from the store trying to find food,” the man replied. “You’re not going to do anything.”
The group converged on the officer as the howl of the jets roared across the field. The first jet took off despite the tower control yelling for them not to.
*****
“Fighters have launched,” one person reported to Peter.
“Good,” he replied. They would have some air cover for the ground patrol. The reports from the city were also looking encouraging as well. It had seemed like they had caught the Arbus off guard.
“Report coming in from the Hermes,” another report said.
“Put it thought,” Peter said.
“How are thinks going down there,” Gunther asked.
“So far so good, we have air support and the ground troops seemed to have caught the Arbus troops off guard. I’m now working on getting the local new coverage to air what’s going on,” Peter said. He had the feeling that if the news agency covered the uprising then other groups might also revolt.
“All right, up here the battle is fully engaged, I don’t know when to expect help from up here,” Gunther told him.
“Understood,” Peter replied. He really was not expecting much help from the colonial warriors in the beginning. “How do things look up there?”
“Pretty even right now, we took them by surprise but now it’s a match of skills,” Gunther said partly wishing that he was out there as well.
“I’ll let you know if anything happens down here,” Peter said.
“Copy that,” Peter said.
*****
Troy banked the viper around for another quick run at the Arbus attack ship. There were several fighters that were engaged all around. He had decided to take a quick shot at the capital ship while he had the chance.
“You’ve picked one up on you tail,” Bri said over the intercom.
Troy made a quick turn avoiding the laser blasts from the Arbus fighter. Bri had positioned herself in a way that lined up a clean shot of the fighter. A quick thumb on the fire button and the Arbus fighter was destroyed.
“Good shot,” Troy said. He fired off a couple of shots at the capital ship.
The battle seemed to be even at the moment. They were only outnumbered by about two to one instead of three to one. The vipers were a bit more maneuverable than the Arbus fighters but slower giving neither side a good advantage.
The Tiger had destroyed one of the attack ships before it could enter the battle. It appeared that the Arbus warships had trouble zeroing in on the Argo and Tiger. That made the battle more even as the two Colonial ships opened fire on the Arbus ships.
Troy lined up another fighter and destroyed it. So far they were taking some losses as well.
“Troy, do you notice anything odd,” Nall asked over the intercom.
“Not really, why,” Troy asked as he covered Bri as she destroyed anther fighter. “Good shot.”
“I don’t know, something just seems out of place that’s all,” Nall replied.
“We’ll figure it out later, right now there’s a battle to win,” Troy said.
“Until later then,” Nall said as he destroyed another Arbus fighter.
*****
Ares stood on the bridge of the Argo listening to the reports of the combat that was going on. So far they had taken out the station, two attack class ships, two escort class ships and the transport. That left the four attack ships.
“Target has suffered heavy damage,” Renee said relaying the reports.
“Continue firing the mega-turbos,” Ares said.
“Damage control is stating that there is a fire in Alpha landing bay, it may take some time to get under control,” Reliy said who was receiving the damage control reports.
Ares nodded his head. He wasn’t too concerned with that. If they won the battle then they could have the vipers land on Earth while repairs were being made. The important thing was making sure that the battle was won.
“Target’s engines are going critical, warning all fighters to clear the blast area,” Renee said.
Area watched the scanner as one of the Arbus ships disappeared from the scanner. They were now down to three ships.
“Tiger is reporting only light damage at the moment,” Reliy said. That was good now for Ares. If they could escape the battle with at least one ship relatively unscathed then it would be better later on.
“Tiger’s target appears to be disabled, Tiger switching targets,” Renee said.
Ares could sense an air of victory in the bridge as each Arbus ship was destroyed. He refused to give into such a feeling as it could lead to a defeat instead.
“Report from Earth, things are going well,” Reliy said.
Ares knew that was also good news. If they could make sure that Earth was secure then it would help out even more. He was not sure what to expect after the battle on Earth. Would the people be willing to continue such a war? What about the leaders of Earth. It had appeared to him that they were reluctant for some reason to fight the Arbus. That was one question that Ares wanted an answer to.
*****
Gunther watched helplessly as friends that he had known now for almost two years fought without him. He had been reduced to a bystander in a slugging match. So far it seemed as if they were winning. Only two of the Arbus attack ships remained in the battle and both were taking damage. The battle on Earth appeared to be going well from the reports that he had received from Captain Peter.
“Well laddie, it appears that the fight is going our way at the moment,” Scott said walking over to where Gunther was.
“Yeah it does,” Gunther said. So far the Arbus had not tried to retreat or surrender. It was something that during war the Colonial warrior were used to anyways. It was either win, retreat or die against the Cylons. At the moment the war against the Arbus appeared to be the same.
“I don’t understand why they continue to fight,” Scott said.
“I don’t either, but it is how we’re used to fighting,” Gunther replied as another quick report came in from Earth.
“It appears that the fighting in the city is being won by our troops,” Scott said. “That’s all that they are saying at the moment.
“That’s good news,” Gunther said as another Arbus ship exploded leaving only one ship left. “Looks like the battle up here is almost over.”
*****
Pratt listened to the report that another Arbus ship had exploded. That left only one ship attacking them. The Tiger’s scanners reported that the remaining Arbus ship was heavily damaged. He wondered why they would not surrender.
“Sir, we’re getting a message from the Argo on a clear signal,” the communications officer said.
Pratt frowned at that but ordered it put up anyways. Commander Ares appeared and with his first words Pratt realized what Ares was up to.
“Attention Arbus ship, surrender and prepare to be boarded,” Ares said.
Pratt realized that the commander was hoping to avoid any more bloodshed than necessary. Pratt wondered what the reply would be.
“Energy build up coming from the Arbus ship,” the scanner operator said.
“Frack,” Pratt said realizing that it was probably an engine overload to destroy the ship. He wondered about the training that the aliens went though in order to destroy themselves like this.
“Enemy ship destroyed,” the quiet voice said.
Pratt realized that this battle was now over. Now they had to get ready for the ground battle.
“Recover all vipers for rearming and refueling. Set new course to orbit Earth,” Pratt said. He was sure that on board the Argo similar instructions were being handed out.
“A message over the fleet com line,” Ben said.
“Commander, what can I do for you,” Pratt asked as Ares face appeared on the monitor.
“How are the Tiger’s landing bays,” Ares asked.
“It’s up and operational,” Pratt replied.
“Good, I’m going to be sending a few vipers your way. The Alpha bay has been damaged and will be out of commission for a while,” Ares said.
“Okay, I’ll have our crew standing by,” Pratt said.
The Argo and Tiger made their way slowly to Earth to help out in any way that they could. On board both ships ground crews raced around to prepare for landing to help out the Earth forces where they could.
Pratt watched as Earth came closer into view while the damage reports were given. The Tiger had come though relatively unscathed. That would be good news later on Pratt thought. Now it was time for the second phase of the operation.
End of part 28