Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 42: The Battle Continues
Troy waited for the announcement to head to their fighters. He glanced over at his friends and wife. Nall was pestering Bri which was normal and Rebecca was on the bridge of the battlestar as they were headed into combat. There had been a few skirmishes in the past six months but no large scale attacks. This one was proving to be a bit different. The Fire Ant had been on patrol and spotted a large number of ships headed towards Earth.
Troy thought about the fact that the fleet was now larger than it had been last time the Arbus had attacked. They had added another three destroyers of the Fire Ant class and several scout ships, he had lost count at ten so far. They were easy to build without much problems. They were also working on the next battlestar. It was identical to the Argo but the next ship would be of an improved design. Then there was the Tiger’s sister ship approaching completion near Centari One. The name was going to be the Panther.
He knew that several members of his squadron had left for other ships and better commands. Gunther was commanding the Fire Ant, at least until the Colonial Bound was completed. She was an advanced scout ship that would head back to the Colonies.
The war with the Cylons back at the colonies had not changed at all. They were still fighting the Cylons and nothing new had been reported. The last news had been that a Cylon basestar had been destroyed in a fleet action with damage to the Pegasus that would require some time to repair. The Galactica was patrolling the system while other battlestars were making sure that the surrounding area was secure.
The pilot’s room was suddenly bathed in red as the klaxons began their wailing.
“All right everyone, let’s go,” Troy said grabbing his helmet and heading along with the others to the transport that would take them to the hangers.
“You be careful,” he heard Bri say as she stepped up next to him.
“You too,” Troy said as they arrived at the launching bay. They quickly climbed into the black fighters that were the Viper Vs.
“You’re all armed, you have six stingers and one big boy,” the crewman said.
“Thanks,” Troy said as he reviewed what armament had been placed on board the viper. He had six Stinger II missiles which were highly accurate for anti fighter defense and the big boy was an affectionate name for the Mark XIV bomb that was an anti-capital ship weapon.
Troy climbed into the viper and put him helmet on. He could hear Rebecca giving orders to the viper pilots and where they were to go once they had launched.
He punched down the launch button as he received permission to launch.
*****
Commander Ares stood on the bridge of the Argo as the battlestar approached the incoming Arbus fleet. They had one battlestar, one cruiser, three destroyers and four scout ships. It was the largest fleet that he had commanded. One destroyer and three scout ships were not coated with the S-metal so he was sure that the Arbus knew that they were approaching.
The problem was the destroyer and scout ships were not where the main fleet was. He was hoping to catch the Arbus looking the wrong direction. Gunther was commanding what was being called the decoy force. So far it was looking like they had succeeded in that goal. The Arbus fleet heading towards the decoy fleet.
There was twelve Arbus ships of varying size and shapes. They identified one battleship class, four attack class, four escorts, or scout class, and three transport ships. It was clearly an invasion force that was heading to Earth. Ares had contacted President Sam Harvey about what was going on. Sam sounded a bit nervous about so many ships of the fleet being out at one time. Ares had to admit that it worried him as well. But if the fleet survived mostly intact then they would have a stronger fleet later on.
“Commander, we are approaching weapons range,” Rebecca said to him.
“Stand by all weapons,” Ares said as he watched the range slowly close down. It would not be much longer before they were really ready to open fire. He wanted to make sure that their fleet had not been detected yet.
“Arbus weapon systems are going active, they are coming within range of fleet two,” Rebecca said. “Vipers have been launched from fleet two, awaiting orders to launch our vipers.”
“All batteries open fire,” Ares said. “Launch all vipers.”
The Argo’s viper’s launched out of the launch tubes and raced into battle. The main weapons of the Argo along with the Tiger opened fire on the Argus ships. The destroyers flanked each of the larger ships providing even greater anti-fighter protection than what they could give themselves. The Puma was alongside the Argo peppering the Arbus fighters with its attacks.
It was the first large fleet action since the beginning of the war with the Arbus and the first large scale action for Ares since he had been back at the colonies. It was strange to be in such a position but he would have to do his best. Few knew what exactly was at stake in this war.
*****
Bri hit her reverse thrusters quickly as she went behind an enemy fighter. The enemy found himself in a bad position and quickly tried to turn his fighter but Bri was already pressing on the fire button as red lasers went streaking towards the fighter. Her shot was a direct hit causing the fighter to explode as she turned to find another target.
“Nice shot,” Troy said having seen the kill. He wondered if Bri knew just how good she was becoming. He was sure that if they were back in the Colonies she would be quickly ranked among the best pilots in the fleet.
“Thanks,” Bri said as she joined back up with him again. They then heard a call for help. It seemed that one of the pilots had gotten in trouble.
“Hang on,” Troy said as the two of them turned to help out the distressed pilot.
“I can’t shake him,” the female voice said.
“Turn right with a twenty percent grade dive,” Bri said quickly as she was lining up a shot. The viper made the turn causing the Arbus fighter to cross Bri’s sights. She fired a few times causing the fighter to explode.
“Thanks,” the pilot said.
“No problem, where’s your wingmate” Bri said.
“Killed by the bastard you just got,” the reply came.
“Then you can be mine,” Jax said as she came over. “I just lost mine. Do you think you can keep up Sara?”
“Just try and lose me,” Sara replied.
“Let’s go,” Jax said as the four went back into the fray.
*****
“Enemy ships engaged,” Gunther’s second in command said. The Fire Ant had yet to join the fight. The ship was one of the ships that did not have the S-metal on it, but had better armor than the other ships.
“Bring us in on this approach vector,” Gunther said to the helmsman. He nodded his head and turned the ship as ordered.
“Weapon systems ready to go,” the second in command said.
“Then all system open fire,” Gunther said.
The Fire Ant opened fire at the enemy fighters that were approaching them and one Arbus scout ship that was nearby. When the Argo and the other ships had opened fire the Arbus fleet had turned their attention to the larger targets and forgotten about them. That was just fine with Gunther as it allowed his ship to fire unheeded at whatever targets were needed.
“Sir, Commander Ares has just ordered Gold squad to begin their attack run,” Gunther was told. He nodded his head. Gold and Green squadrons were so far the only squadrons fully equipped with the new Viper V. In a strange way this battle was a test for the new weapon systems and platforms. The Fire Ant class destroyer and the new Ram class scout were both in this battle. It was a test to see how well they fared.
“Good, hopefully the new ‘big boy’ will do some damage to their ships,” Gunther said.
“We can only wait and see,” the reply came.
*****
“Jax, you’re squad has received word to go ahead with their run,” Troy said as he watched as Bri destroyed another Arbus fighter.
“All right, Gold squad form up,” Jax said knowing that this was a bit different than what she had been trained for. She had taken over Gold squad when Gunther had left for the Fire Ant.
“Green squad will provide cover protection,” Troy said to his group. “Let’s keep the enemy off their backs.”
Green squad raced ahead going after any enemy fighters that were in the area. Troy stuck with Bri being her wingman. They had discovered a while back that if he was her wingman he could concentrate a bit more on what was going on. He looked out for enemy fighters but in doing so he also could see what else was going on without concentrating just on one fighter.
“Scratch another one,” Bri said as green squad broke off to let Gold squad to attack the Arbus ships.
Jax lined up one of the smaller ships in her sights. Other members of her team were attacking the larger ships. She and Sara were attacking this scout ship. She looked down to see that the weapon was armed and active. She was not within firing range but she waited just a bit longer. Laser fire was zipping by her at a rapid pace as she concentrated on the attack. She finally pressed on the firing button and watched as the large missile left her viper and headed to the enemy ship. Next to her Sara’s missile also was heading to the enemy ship.
Jax did not wait to see if the missile hit or not as she turned her fighter away from the enemy ship and hit her turbos. Sara was just behind her doing the same thing.
Troy was able to see what happened. The two missiles struck the scout ship in different areas. The smaller ship did not have the armor that the larger ships had and the explosions caused massive damage to the ship. Troy could see secondary explosions beginning that began to rip the ship apart.
*****
“Two scout ships destroyed, the battleship appears to have suffered damage from the attacks,” Rebecca said from where she was sitting to Commander Ares.
“Good, tell green squadron to begin their run next,” Ares said. The anti-ship missile seemed to be a success for now. The Argo had not suffered much damage but he was not sure about the rest of the fleet. It was a large engagement and he was sure that they would lose ships, the question was how many.
“Sir, the Conqueror is reporting heavy damage,” David said from where he was sitting.
Ares turned to see the reports. The Conqueror was a Fire Ant class destroyer made with S-metal. He watched as the damage was too much and the ship exploded.
“Conqueror destroyed,” David said. “Green squad completing run. Another scout ship destroyed, two attack ships suffering heavy damage. Tiger is continuing to attack the battleship.”
“Take us in, target the attack ships,” Ares said.
“Yes sir,” David said.
The Argo’s main weapons switched from the battleship to the attack class that was protecting the battleship. So far loses were in favor of the human fleet. The Arbus had lost three of their scout ships, and an attack class ship.
“Commander, the Arbus fleet is turning around,” Rebecca said as she watched on the monitor.
Before Ares could say anything else Pratt’s face came up on the communicator.
“Commander, it appears that the enemy is heading to retreat,” Pratt said.
“It appears that way,” Ares said not sure if the enemy really was. “It might be a trap though.”
“Should we pursue then,” Pratt asked.
“No, we can’t risk the fleet just yet,” Ares said as he thought about it. If he had backup forces then he would but a trap was something he did not want to fall into just yet.
“All right then,” Pratt said. “We’ll fall back to secondary positions to monitor the situation.”
The two fleets broke contact as the Arbus fleet retreated back to where ever it was that they came from. Ares already wanted to start using a few of the scout ships to head deeper into the Arbus territory to see if he could find a base of operations. If he could strike back at the Arbus then they might start to sue for peace.
“Bring me the damage reports when they are ready. I’ll be in my office,” Ares said. “You have the bridge Colonel Smith.”
“Yes sir,” David said as the commander walked off the bridge and to his office.
*****
Troy waited his turn as the vipers were landed on the landing bay of the Argo. So far he had counted that green squadron lost three pilots out of thirty-give. To Troy is seemed that the new Viper Vs were a success. They had lost a scout ship, and a destroyer in the battle but the other ships appeared to be doing all right. He had not heard any bad reports from the remaining ships.
“Green leader, you are clear to land,” he heard Rebecca tell him. He lined up and touched down on the hanger deck.
The flight crew was there right away to take his helmet and repair and see about damage to the viper. He walked over to where the lift was noticing that Bri was there waiting for him. Nall walked up beside him.
“Well, that battle went better than I had expected,” Nall said.
“That’s for sure, the big boys worked wonderfully,” Troy said. “I think it caught them by surprise.”
“I think so,” Nall said as they arrived at the lift.
“I know I spent most of the battle watching Bri’s behind,” Troy said looking over at Bri.
“Watch it,” Bri said giving Troy a bump with her hips. “The new viper is really great to fly. I could out fly any of those Arbus fighters.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Troy said as the lift arrived at their deck. They walked out to head to the cafeteria to grab something to eat.
“She’s right though, and I found out that it takes about two big boys to destroy a scout class ship,” Nall said.
“I saw that,” Troy said. “Their large ship got away though.”
“I wonder why we didn’t pursue it,” Nall said.
“Fear of a trap,” Troy said. “They might have done this on purpose but I think this time no.”
“Did anyone scan the transports,” Bri finally asked with a bit of curiosity in her voice.
“No,” both Nall and Troy said at the same time.
“Neither did I,” Bri said. “I wonder what was in them.”
“Where’s Rebecca,” Troy said finally after a few moments of silence.
“She’s still on the bridge working. She said that she probably won’t be done for another hour or so,” Nall replied as they sat down to eat.
“Well, it seems that Jax has a new wingmate,” Troy said indicating over to where Jax was sitting. Another woman, who Troy assumed was Sara. Their hands were waving widely as they used their hands to show how they were moving in the battle.
“Yep, and she looks relaxed with her as well,” Nall said. “I know that before the battle she was worried about her wingmate. She hasn’t had a good wingmate since she took command of Gold squadron.”
“What about your wingmate,” Bri asked Nall.
“Well, he didn’t die, and we bailed each other out at least once, I think I’ll keep him for now,” Nall said.
Bri nodded her head as they wondered what was going to happen next.
*****
Ares watched as the reports filtered in from the ships that survived the battle. They had lost the destroyer Conqueror and the scout ship Grant. The Tiger had suffered slight damage to her hanger but nothing that would hamper operations for too long. The Puma had suffered a hull breech but was locked down and would require repairs once they got back to Earth. Two of the scout ships were also damaged and would require repair.
The damage to the Argo was actually light compared to the fighting that had gone on. They had lose some of the S-metal covering that would have to be replaced but otherwise a few minor electrical shorts and several dozen small fires but nothing that was not already out. Both hangers were undamaged and combat patrols were already underway.
Ares opened up a communications with Earth to inform General Pakrov of how the battle had gone. There were about five hundred lives that had been lost however in the two destroyed ships alone. He wondered how many other lives had been lost in the battle. This was the one part of command that he did not like but knew was a part of it.
“Commander Ares, it’s good to see you,” Pakrov said.
“General,” Ares said. “I just thought that I would give a report of what happened.”
“Well, if you’re talking to me then I can assume that the Argo survived,” Pakrov said half asking half hoping.
“Yes, the Argo did survive,” Ares replied. “As did the Tiger.”
Ares could see the relief on the man’s face when he was told that information. The Argo and Tiger were the most important ships on the Earth fleet at the moment. Both ships were vital to the defense of Earth and Centari One.
“We did however lose the Conqueror and Grant,” Ares said.
“I see,” Pakrov said understanding lose that would be involved in those two ships. “That won’t affect our patrols then,” he asked.
“No, we rotate one destroyer and two scout ships in the patrols of each area. We have sufficient scout ships for now as well. Both ships were made out of the S-metal though,” Ares said. “But it’s still had to tell if the ships would have survived if the ships had normal armor.”
“I understand,” Pakrov said. “Are you going to be heading to Earth to make the report?”
“I was going to head to Centari One. There is something there that I need to do,” Ares said.
“The Colonial Bound,” Pakrov said.
“Yes, I want to start transferring the personal to Centari One and briefing them on the mission as soon as possible,” Ares said.
“I read the latest report on the ship. She should be done in a couple of days now,” Pakrov said. “All right, I’ll make the report to the council and to the press. The people could use the news. What about the Arbus fleet?”
“We destroyed one attack ship and three escort ships,” Ares said. “I think that the other ships all left with some damage. I don’t know when we’re going to see another attack.”
“Understand,” Pakrov said. “Are you going to be here for the commissioning of the Daedalus.”
“That’s next week right,” Ares said indicating the new battlestar.
“Next Thursday,” Pakrov said.
“And the Panther is going to be completed the week after that,” Ares said. It felt good to know that they would have such additional firepower to the fleet. The construction was really advancing quickly. Robotics were doing wonders with that as well. they now had an additional two tankers to help fuel the fleet and an additional two supply ships.
“They are just about to begin construction on Beta One,” Pakrov said indicating a new base for construction and mining.
“Good, that will help us out even more,” Ares said. “Any more clones spotted?”
“Nothing since four months ago,” Pakrov said. They had been able to weed out the clones in a strange test of sorts. Though the clones were not killed but instead used for farming. No one wanted to kill another human regardless of how it became a human. There were still arguments about whether or not the clones had a soul or not.
“That’s good news then,” Ares said. He hoped that they had caught all of the clones but he was not sure. Until the war ended there was no way to know if they had all the clones or not.
“I will see you when you are here for the Daedalus commissioning then,” Pakrov said as the communicator went dead.
Ares sat back thinking about what was coming up. They would be doubling the firepower of the fleet and sending a ship back to the colonies. The door chimed and Ares gave permission for the person to enter. Mike walked into the room wondering why he had been called to the commander’s office.
*****
“Captain, you’re wanted on the communicator,” the officer said to Captain Scott.
“All right laddie be right there,” Scott said walking over to where the communicator was. He pressed the button and was only slightly surprised when Commander Ares appeared on the screen. “Ah, commander, what kin I do for yah.”
“Well, I’m going to be reassigning you,” Ares said. “I want you to take command of the Colonial Bound.”
“A warship, but Ah’ve never been in command of such a ship before,” Scott replied.
“It’s a special mission,” Ares said. “Captain Gunther is going with you as well.”
“Ah see, what’s the mission laddie,” Scott asked.
“I’ll give it to you once I returned to Centari One,” Ares said.
“All laddie, ah will be waiting then,” Scott said as the transmission ended. It was a bit strange but the only thing he could think of was it concerned the Colonies where the Argo had come from.
“Captain, what was that about,” his second in command asked.
“Don’t worry about it laddie,” Scott said. “The ship will be yours soon.”
The second in command was not sure what was going on but he shrugged and continued with what he was doing. He would worry about everything later when it came up.
*****
Gunther sat in the shuttle as it made its way to the Colonial Bound. The ship had just recently cleared the space docks. The next phase was to undergo a shakedown to make sure that everything was working. That was something that he did not need on this mission. If something on board the ship did not work it could spell disaster for the mission that he was going to be going on.
“So what do you think,” Aaron said next to him.
“She’s beautiful,” Gunther said in reply.
“I hear that Captain Scott is getting command of the ship,” Aaron half said half asked. It was also rumored that Gunther was going to be the second in command of the ship. To him that seemed to be a bit strange.
“Yes, that old sea dog is actually looking forward to this,” Gunther said.
“What about you, shouldn’t you be in command with Scott your second,” Aaron asked.
“Well, I’m actually more of an advisor for this mission. You’ll understand more when the mission get underway,” Gunther said.
“Is it true that we’re going to be gone for a while,” Aaron asked.
“Yep, we’re going into deep space. We’ll have to be careful in what we do and how we go,” Gunther said. “The last thing we need is for the Arbus to figure out that we’re that far into space. It could jeopardize the entire mission.”
“I guess you’re right,” Aaron said.
Gunther did not say that once the Colonial Bound had left for its mission its communication systems were to be disabled. This was a precaution to prevent an erroneous message from going out and being caught by the Cylons. They had encountered the Cylons once on their search for Earth, they did not need the Cylons knowing where Earth was.
The shuttle touched down on the ship which would be his home for the next probably eighteen months. Part of him wondered what would be different when he got back. Would the war still be going on? Would they have a clearer picture of why the Arbus were attacking them? There were so many questions and no clear answers at this point. He hoped that the questions would be answered soon.
End of The part 42