Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 47: Offensive
Ares sat on the bridge of the Argo waiting to hear back from Renee. He really was not sure how long it would take before they heard anything from the Fire Ant. Then he also had to figure out what he was going to do when they finally received the information. The biggest part of making a decision would be how far away the find was.
“Commander,” Rebecca said gaining Ares’ attention. “The Fire Ant is reporting in,” she said to him.
“Put it up here,” Ares replied. He only had to wait a second before the screen came to life showing Renee’s face. “Did you find anything captain?”
“We found an Arbus base in sector eight,” Renee said.
Ares glanced down at another monitor that showed the sectors quickly finding the sector in question. He regarded the sector in question and realized that it was not that far away.
“All right, get as much information as possible without endangering you ship or crew then head back here,” Ares said. He needed information next to see how strongly defended the Arbus base was. “Get me General Pakrov on the line.”
Rebecca replied with an acknowledgement then went to work. It did not take long for the general to appear on the screen for Ares.
“Ares, what’s going on, its two in the morning right now,” Pakrov said obviously a bit annoyed at having to get up so early.
“Whoops,” Ares said glancing down and realizing the time where Pakrov was. “I didn’t pay attention,” Ares said.
“Well, I’m up so what did you want so I know if I have to head to the office or can go back to sleep,” Pakrov said.
“We repelled the attack on Beta One,” Ares said starting out with the obvious.
“Read that on the reports before I went to sleep,” Pakrov replied. “I didn’t go to sleep until I read that report.”
“Well, I had the Fire Ant follow the other Arbus patrol ship in the area,” Ares said watching as Pakrov’s eyebrows rose. “I know that wasn’t in the report but I wanted to use this to cover the Colonial Bound.”
“Ah, did the Fire Ant find anything,” Pakrov asked.
“The report that just came back says that there is an Arbus base in sector eight,” Ares said. “I’m waiting on more news then figure out what type of forces I will need to attack the base.”
“Hmm,” Pakrov said. He was obviously thinking about that now that he was wide awake. “I’m not sure about that after reading all the latest reports.”
“Why not,” Ares asked. He had thought that it would be a good idea. “We can show the Arbus that we can attack them and hurt them.”
“That my friend can be a two edge sword,” Pakrov said. “It does show them that we can hurt them. We also don’t know how large their forces are. What if their military is currently engaged against another force? An attack like you are suggesting could refocus their attention on us a bit more.”
“Hmm, hadn’t thought of that,” Ares said. It was true that the Arbus had an empire but no one knew how large it was. “Then we wait to see how large the base is then.”
“All right, I’m going to the office to see if I can find anything else out from the reports that came from the Orion,” Pakrov said. With that he ended the conversation as Ares sat back in his chair. He wanted to strike back but Pakrov had brought up a good point. They needed to know more about the Arbus Empire.
*****
Gunther walked onto the bridge of the Colonial Bound heading straight to the scanners. He knew that they were getting close to where they might start encountering either a Cylon ship or a Colonial ship. He was not sure what type of reception that he would receive.
“Anything on the scanners,” Gunther asked.
“Aye laddie, you were not kidding when ye said we might be encountering some ships,” Scott said.
Gunther looked down at the scanner which was on long range. He could see some ships on the edge of the scanner. The ships at the moment were too far away to be identified though.
“Put us on a course here,” Gunther said. It would bring the ship close to the system where they need ed to go but now he had to find a way to make contact with the Pacifica. The Pegasus and Commander Cain had left along with the Fifth Fleet. “Also tune into this frequency and let me know if anything comes in.”
“Ah will Gunther,” Scott said. This was the part of the mission that they were here for. Contact with another race, even though it was a human race it was still a bit strange to him.
The Colonial Bound headed to a far side moon where they would wait to see what their next move would be. They had received the latest news that the Galactica and Pacifica had stopped a Cylon attack. Many Earthers who had never been outside their own system were now a bit more cautious. Knowing that another colony of humans was out there was one thing, but finally arriving there was quite another. They were now closer to another enemy of the human race than ever before. It all seemed a bit strange to them.
*****
Jax walked down the corridor of the Argo wondering what the next step was going to be in the war against the Arbus. She had heard that they now had an idea as to where one of the Arbus’ bases was. The next step was to decide if they wanted to attack the base.
The last she had heard was that Commander Ares was in the process of organizing an attack fleet to begin an offensive against the Arbus.
“Jax, thought you were asleep,” a voice said behind her. Jax looked behind her and spotted Troy walking down the corridor as well.
“Hmm, I could ask the same thing about you as well” Jax replied to Troy.
“We’ve got patrol duty in an hour,” Troy replied.
“Oh, of course, you going with Bri I assume,” Jax half asked half stated. She knew that rarely did Bri not go with Troy on patrol. Lately she was not sure because of recent promotions. Troy was not the captain of both squadrons on the Argo and Bri was promoted to leader of Green squadron.
“Yeah, I need to keep my flying skill up with the other recruits,” Troy said with a chuckle.
“You’ve only just been promoted for Kobal sakes Troy,” Jax said with a roll of her eyes.
“I guess flying with Bri has helped out a bit,” Troy said.
“Only the best pilot in the fleet,” Jax said. “Annoys some of the other pilots but she’s pretty humble about it.”
“Not with me,” Troy said. “I thought her head would get so big that she would not be able to walk through the doors around here.”
Jax laughed at that description of Bri. “I remember when she was challenged by a group of new recruits from Earth. They had some idea that woman could not fly as good as the men.”
“Oh yeah, I remember feeling sorry for those guys,” Troy said. “But she made a point, it was her best class of recruits ever. In fact I think one of them is now a squad leader of one of the new squadrons of the Daedalus.”
Troy’s attention was caught by Bri walking into the room. She walked straight to where they were. He wondered what was up this time.
“Just got word,” she said as she sat down. “We’re headed on the offensive.”
*****
Ares sat in his office listening to President Harvey, General Pakrov and a couple of others. Pratt was also listening in on the call as the political officials talked about how they did not want the two battlestars to leave the area on some offensive mission.
“I don’t like it,” one of the senator said. Ares remembered that the senator’s name was Loius Marchament.
“It’s not a debate Mr. Marchament,” Ares said. He was getting fed up with the bickering about wither or not he could go on the offensive.
“It leaves Earth defenseless and what if you fail,” Louis said.
“There is a lot more at stake here than just Earth senator,” Ares said. He wondered if he should just come out into the open about the Colonies and the Cylons. However there was the fact that there were still clones among the population and people might think that he and his crew were clones.
“Of course, your two bases, Centari One and Beta One how could I forget them,” Louis said.
“And if it was not for Centari One Earth would still be under Arbus control and whatever their plan was,” Ares said finally.
“Yes, well I’m still trying to figure out how such technology came about,” Louis said. “I will find out commander.”
“Now Senator Marchament,” President Harvey said finally stepping into the conversation. “Earth is not defenseless. We have several full squadrons of vipers and one full squadron of the new vipers as well. Plus the Tiger will be here just in case. I would say that we are adequately protected just in case.”
“You would go with him Mr. President,” Louis said before finally backing down. “All right, I won’t stand in your way commander.”
With that Louis hung up on the conversation.
“Nice guy, now I remember why I didn’t go into politics,” Pakrov said.
“Hey, we’re not all bad,” Harvey said.
“Well, you know more than most Mr. President,” Ares said. “I should begin preparations for the attack. Once it is over I’ll head back here just in case. They might head here for retaliation instead of Earth. If they think that our military is stationed somewhere else it just might draw their fire away. I also have a hologram of the Argo ready to go in a little bit.”
“Well that might give the illusion that there is more protecting us than normal,” Harvey said. “Good luck commander.”
“Thanks,” Ares said. Now all that was left was the attack. Ares was going for a simple straight forward attack. He hoped that the reports from the Fire Ant were accurate.
*****
Pratt walked along the bridge of the Daedalius waiting to hear from Ares to know when they were going to be heading to attack. The two battlestars and four patrol ships were all not far from the Arbus base. The Fire Ant had joined the fleet and Renee had shuttled over to the Argo to meet with Ares.
“Commander, everyone reports ready for combat,” his second in command, John said.
“Good,” Pratt replied. It was good to hear that the ship was ready for combat still. They had not taken any damage in the last battle. Of course the battle had been against one patrol ship. Not much of an opponent for two battlestars though.
“Commander Ares on the line for you,” John said.
Pratt returned to the command chair to see Ares face on the screen. “Commander, what’s the news,” Pratt asked.
“Renee has told me that there are five ships in the area, three by the base and two patrolling the outer area of the system,” Ares said. “We can make it a surprise attack quite easy that is for sure.”
“Is that wise,” Pratt asked.
“Should not be that hard, one attack ship and four patrol ships. I want to send our patrol ships to attack the two Arbus patrol ships while the Daedalius and Argo attack the base,” Ares said. “We should be able to achieve surprise especially if we launch green squadron ahead of time.”
Pratt nodded his head at the plan. Green squad was armed with the latest vipers that were also coated with the S-metal. It would give them an edge as they could launch a squad without giving away their position.
“All right, when do you want to attack,” Pratt asked.
“Now,” Ares said. “The quicker we do this the better our information is. I don’t want to risk being discovered or having another Arbus ship appear.”
Pratt agreed with him. The two battlestars engines powered up and moved towards the Arbus base.
*****
Troy sat quietly as the pilots waited for the alarm to sound that would indicate that the attack was about to begin. Everyone knew that they were on route to the Arbus base. Troy figured that they had to be getting close to the Arbus base based on the travel time.
He was about to say something to Bri sitting next to him when the alarm sounded.
“All right everyone, this is it, let’s go,” Troy said as all the pilots raced to their vipers.
Green squadron was going to be the first group to launch because they had a layer of S-metal coating on their vipers. Reaching the viper Troy stood there looking at the black sleek fighter. It still held many of the same characteristics that the viper had but with more armament and speed.
“Be careful,” he said to Bri who replied the same. He watched as she walked up to her viper with a confident swagger in her walk.
Troy jumped up into his viper while the crew handed him his helmet. He put that on while the canopy was closing. He ran though the start up sequence for the three engines then waited to hear Rebecca give him the go ahead to launch.
“Green squad, launch when ready,” Rebecca said.
“Copy Command, green squad, launch,” he heard Bri’s voice say. He almost said it when he remembered that it was Bri’s responsibility now. He was in command of both squadrons of the Argo.
He pushed his thruster button feeling the acceleration g-forces push him into his seat. Then it was over and he was into space. Troy quickly formed up with Bri as the squadron raced to the Arbus base. They were to attack the ships before they could mount a defense.
Attack scanners were flipped on as targets were acquired. It would be the first battle on the offensive against this enemy.
*****
Ares stood on the bridge of the Argo listening as the reports came into the bridge. Green squadron had been launched as the attack was now in progress.
“Any response from the base yet,” Ares asked.
“Nothing yet,” Rebecca said. She kept a close eye on her scanner for anything that was a bit unusual. So far there was not a twitch from the Arbus base or ships. The two patrol ships had not divieated from their course.
The feeling on the bridge was like any other battle, tense. Ares however was calm in the face of the battle. He knew that he had to be for the rest of his crew. That was something he had learned from Commander Brakkus while he was on the Pacifica. If he was calm then it extended to the rest of the crew. That allowed such things as fear to not be a factor for the battle.
“Commander, Green squadron has engaged,” Rebecca said.
“Launch red squadron, tell Daedalius to launch her vipers as well,” Ares said.
The battle was now engaged. The two battlestars were now in combat mode and heading straight for the Arbus base.
“Arbus base launching fighters,” Rebecca said.
“Target the base first,” Ares said. He did not want to take any chances that the base might have more advanced weapons than the ships did. He knew that the battlestars could survive a while against the weapons of the Attack class Arbus ship.
There was still little reaction coming from the Arbus base at the moment. The two battlestars began their attacks firing their turbolasers.
“Patrol ships are turning this way commander,” Rebecca said. “Fire Ant and Hunter are intercepting.”
Ares grunted that he heard what Rebecca said. He was concentrating on the Arbus base. Pratt was on the screen keeping him up to date with what was going on aboard the Daedalius. Right now the Daedalius was coming in on a bit different attack vector than the Argo.
“Pratt, concentrate on the attack ship,” Ares said.
Pratt replied with an affirmative and the two battlestars continued their attack. The Arbus forces finally began to return fire against the two battlestars.
“Hit, deck five sections three through five, repair crews on their way,” David the current second in command said.
“Fire,” Ares asked.
“None reported yet,” David replied.
Ares accepted the news and would wait until conformation from the repair crews to be on the scene. He really was not that worried, it was a small area and should be repaired quickly. He just hoped that the battle was over quickly as well.
*****
Troy formed up with Bri as together they made another attack run on the Arbus base. There were a few Arbus fighters that were heading out but Red squad was attacking them. He looked up to see what Bri was concentrating on this time.
On the base was a small turret on top of what appeared to be a bridge area. He was not quite sure is she was targeting the turret or the bridge structure. He decided that he would target the turret anyways. He watched as she fired two shots, and one missile at the area. One went to the turret and the other to the bridge. The missile flew straight to the turret. Seeing that Troy quickly adjusted to aim for the bridge looking structure. Two explosions erupted on the base as the turret was destroyed along with the bridge structure.
“Nice shot,” Troy said to her as they made a half turn to look for another target.
“Thanks,” Bri replied. “Two enemy fighters are heading our way,” she informed him. They both turned to meet the enemy. Green lasers streaked by them as the fighters attacked. Bri pulled off a maneuver that Troy knew he could not pull off and instead went for a basic evasion.
Bri ended her tricky evasion by ending up behind the enemy fighter. Troy was sure that the pilot was wondering how she had done that. The Arbus pilot did not have much time to think about that as Bri made quick work of the fighter. Troy lined up the other fighter which made the mistake of trying to help out its buddy. A quick blast and the enemy fighter was destroyed as well.
“Nice,” they heard Nall say. “That was some fancy flying Bri.”
“Yeah, something I’ve been working on, just glad it worked,” Bri replied.
“Well you’ll have to show me that one,” Jax said.
“I don’t know if the simulators can do this but we’ll try,” Bri said.
Troy looked down at his scanner to see how much damage the Arbus base had. The scanner showed multiple hits on the base’s outer skin. There also seemed to be several internal fires going on. The base would not be able to handle much more damage.
“Is anyone picking up anything on their communicators, like a surrender or anything,” Troy asked. He was silently hoping that they might surrender. It was a long shot but one that he kept hoping to hear.
“Power build up in the base,” Nall replied. “Looks like a power overload.”
“Frack,” Troy replied as they watched the base explode a few seconds later. “What’s the status on the attack ship?”
“It’s still fighting but the other two patrol ships are trying to escape,” Jax replied from where she was.
“Commander Ares, any orders,” Troy asked not wanting to go over the commander in ordering a pursuit of the patrol ships just yet.
“I think you know what I want,” Ares said. “Go after the patrol ships and help out the Fire Ant and Hunter.”
“Understood,” Troy replied relaying the orders to the rest of the squadrons. He kept the Daedalius’ squadrons with the battlestars to attack any fighters that were remaining. That left one squadron for each patrol ship. He would have split Green squad up if any of them had any missiles left but most of them were launched attacking the base. The remaining missiles were launched at the attack class ship.
Bri and green squad headed to help out the Fire Ant. The patrol ship was making its way out of the system but the fighters were catching up rather quickly.
“Target engines first,” Bri said to the squadron. If the ship could be slowed down it would give them a better opportunity to destroy the ship.
The vipers quickly made the trip to where the enemy patrol ships were. They were all riding their turbos to get there faster. Once in range each pilot began their attack on their targets.
One the vipers got involved the battle did not last much longer. The two patrol ships were quickly destroyed. The battlestars recovered the remaining vipers. Troy was one of the last ones to land as others that were damaged were first to land.
*****
“All vipers have been recovered,” Rebecca said to Commander Ares on the bridge of the Argo. There was still a lot to do and she was working to complete her tasks.
“Good,” Ares said turning to look at Pratt on the screen. “What about the Daedalius?”
“We’ll be done in a few moments,” Pratt replied. “I have nothing on the long range scanners either.”
“We don’t either but I’m having the Fire ant and Hunter take a brief look around anyways,” Ares replied. “I don’t want to be caught looking the wrong way just in case.”
“What’s the plan once all the vipers on back on board,” Pratt asked.
“I’m heading back to Beta One,” Ares said. “From there we will split up and head back to Earth and Centari One.”
“All right,” Pratt replied they ended the communication.
Ares then waited until General Pakrov’s face appeared on the screen. The general would want to know the results of the attack. Ares knew that the Russian was worried about having both battlestars away from Earth.
“Commander, I take it that everything went well,” Pakrov asked.
“Yes, there were the normal loses with the viper squadrons but minimal damage to either battlestar,” Ares told him knowing that there were probably others that were listening in on the conversation that they were having.
“What are the loses,” Pakrov asked.
“Not sure yet, but the Argo lost sixteen vipers. The Daedalius I have not received any report on just yet,” Ares told them.
“Not bad, replaceable loses,” Pakrov said with a nod of his head. It was something that he was glad to hear. “I was a bit worried about the attack, if you failed we did not have much of anything to protect ourselves.”
“I know, but something about this war bothers me,” Ares said. “The Arbus do not seem to move quickly to anything. Either it is there nature or they are planning something.”
“Then we should be on our guard,” Pakrov replied.
“Yes,” Ares said.
“We will keep our patrols up,” Pakrov said. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
With that the communications ended and Ares turned back around to his bridge. Everyone was working hard at their jobs. He decided that it was time to head to his office. There were reports that were going to be coming in that he would need to read.
“I am headed to my office, so if anything comes up let me know,” Ares told David and went to his office.
*****
“Well general,” Louis Marchment said from where he was sitting in the general’s office. “It seems that it worked out this time, but next time we might not get as lucky.”
“I have every faith in Commander Ares,” Pakrov replied. He was not sure why the senator was there in the first place.
“Perhaps general, but my main concern is the welfare of the people of this planet,” Louis said to him. “For being under your command this Ares doesn’t take orders very well.”
“Commander Ares is the overall commander of the Earth military senator. I am a liaison to the council, not a commander of a ship,” Pakrov said.
“Interesting,” Louis said rubbing his chin as he spoke. “A commander is leader of the fleet. I thought it was generally an Admiral or Grand Admiral or General or something like that. A commander seems to be a bit low ranking to me.”
“When it comes to space new rules and guidelines needed to be written,” Pakrov replied. He was not sure what the he liked this line of thought by the senator.
“Oh yes, I’m sure about that. Well, good-day to you general,” Louis said. He got up and walked out of the office.
End of part 47