Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 49: Return
Troy waited on the deck of the Argo for his wife. Her viper was going to be landing after more training with the new recruits. It was a never ending flow of new people. He was waiting for the latest reports on the recruits before placing them somewhere in the fleet. He had been finally moved up to captain of all fighter squadrons just last month. That was when Commander Ares had realized that he needed a person to oversee all fighter squadrons.
General Pakrov basically said that Troy was now the leader of the air wing of Earth’s space forces. Pakrov had a way of making someone’s job seem simplistic yet complex at the same time. He placed himself as head commander of the ground forces on the warships and security personal of the stations. He also saw Commander Ares as the person who was in charge of the fleet. Together they all worked together to make sure that everything ran smoothly.
The sounds of an incoming viper caught Troy’s attention as the recruit landed first then Bri. It was strange to think that when many of them had left the Colonies they were fresh out of flight school. Now many were in command positions quicker than most had ever thought possible.
“Hey,” Bri said jumping up into Troy’s arms. The move startled him at first but he managed to just catch her in time without dropping the small blonde.
“I see that someone is in a good mood,” Troy replied giving his wife a kiss.
“Well, things are going well,” Bri said. The smile on her face never left. That made Troy secretly glad. The past couple of months had been strained after learning that she could not have children was hard on her. Especially after learning that Rebecca and Nall were expecting a child. That friendship had survived as well. Rebecca felt awkward at first thinking that she was the cause of Bri’s discomfort.
“Yeah, no Arbus attacks lately, but patrols have spotted their ships on the outer edge of our space.,” Troy said. It seemed strange thinking that Earth had a ’empire’ that had two colonies along with an outpost. There was now a boundary between the two races which was patrolled.
“Anything new come up,” she asked him.
“Nope not yet,” Troy replied. “Though I haven’t seen Doctor Weaver in a while. That usually means he’s working hard concerning something.”
“I wonder what that could be,” Bri replied. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. I’m sure we can catch Becca in the cafeteria. She could probably use the company seeing how Nall is on patrol.”
Troy allowed himself to be led away from the landing bay.
*****
Ares sat on the bridge of the Argo where he normally was. He was currently thinking about the Arbus tactics. So far they had not attacked Earth or Earth space in a couple of months. That made him nervous. He was sure that something was going on. He just had to find out what. The latest report on the next generation battlestar was on the screen in front of him. The battlestar did not have a name yet, but he heard that the name Enterprise was being thought about. Along with the battlestar another generation of attack cruisers was under design. The last of the Tiger class was underway that would give them three such ships, the Tiger, Lion and Panther.
Then there were the destroyers and patrol ships under construction. The ship yards were running at full speed. He was sure that within another couple of months they would be able to strike the Arbus directly.
“Commander, Captain Renee is waiting to talk to you,” Tara said.
“Put it up here,” Ares said to Tara. She was the replacement for Rebecca. Once sitting down at the desk was no longer comfortable she was granted maternity leave. He was glad to see something’s were still going along as planned. Families were still growing even in this uncertain time.
“Commander Ares, we picked up an Arbus fleet on course to Earth,” Renee said.
“Numbers and type,” Ares asked. He wanted to know if he needed to call in the second fleet or not.
“We counted ten ships, two of unusual configuration. They are larger than normal,” Renee replied.
“I was wondering if this was going to happen. How long until they arrive,” Ares asked her.
“The computers estimate in twenty hours at their current speed,” Renee replied.
“All right, thanks. Let me know the moment anything changes,” Ares said. He quickly got in touch with Commander Pratt.
“Ares, what’s going on,” Pratt asked.
“I need the second fleet at Earth,” Ares said. “There is a fleet of ten ships. It looks like the Arbus are finally going to commit some of their larger warships to this war.”
“How long do I have,” Pratt asked.
“Twenty hours,” Ares said. “I would like for you to arrive at the moon, we have a base there now as well. With the fighters there it should provide a good one-two punch to the Arbus.”
“A bit tight, but I can make it,” Pratt replied. “I need to get going then. See you then.”
Ares sat back wondering what else he could do. He then decided to sound general quarters. Do that then tell everyone what was going on. He would order every non-essential person to rest for the next fifteen hours. Then preparations would be made.
*****
Jax walked into the cafeteria quickly spotting Bri, Troy and Rebecca. It was easy to see as Rebecca was still eating. It appeared that Troy and Bri had finished a while ago. She walked up to the group knowing that Nall was going to be a while longer before he got in here. He had just finished with his trainees when Jax had gone though the hanger finishing up her patrol.
“Jax, come on over and sit down,” Troy said waving her on over. She grabbed a quick plate of food then walked over and sat down.
“So, what’s new,” Bri asked.
“An Arbus attack fleet is on their way,” Jax just said causing them some alarm. “The commander is going to be announcing it real soon. It seems that the Fire Ant spotted ten ships heading towards Earth. The Second fleet is on the way here for back up.”
“Ten ships. Are they all attack class ships,” Troy asked.
“Nope, it seems that two of them are of a larger class. Could be an improved design,” Jax replied.
“New ships. Interesting. I better go see if the commander needs me up on the bridge. The rest of us might want to get some rest,” Troy said.
“Good idea,” Bri said. “I also think that you should think about headed to the planet’s surface?”
“I don’t think so. If Nall is remaining up here then so am I,” Rebecca said.
“Just giving you a chance ’cause you know that’s what Nall is going to say,” Bri said to her.
“I know, but I can handle him,” Rebecca replied with a grin.
“I will talk to you later on,” Troy said to his wife. With a quick kiss he walked out toward the bridge
*****
Ares was sitting in the command chair on the bridge when Troy came walking in. Ares had a feeling that he knew what Troy wanted by the look in his face.
“Captain Troy, I guess you’ve heard the news by now,” Ares said as Troy made his way across the bridge.
“I have, was checking in to see what the plan was,” Troy asked. “For now everything is ready. I asked for everyone to rest for now. Captain Renee is on the Fire Ant keeping an eye on the Arbus ships. If they make any changes she’ll let me know,” Ares said to Troy.
“For now we need to rest. I want everyone combat ready not tired because we were running drills.”
“I think we can do this,” Troy said. “When should we be ready for them?”
“According to calculations the Second fleet will be here in seven hours, and the Arbus fleet in fifteen,” Ares said. “The Earth government already knows what is going on. The civilian crews are already organizing and mustering their resources.”
“Good,” Troy said. “When do the pilots report to duty?”
“I still want patrols going just in case, but anyone not on patrol is to be resting. That will end in fourteen hours. Debriefing will be then,” Ares said.
“I’ll let them know,” Troy said. “Have all pilots meet me in the briefing room right away,” he said then walked off the bridge.
*****
Troy walked into the briefing room to see Nall, Bri and Jax all along one side of the wall. Nall had a smirk on his face, Bri was scowling and Jax was trying not to laugh. A mental roll of his eyes as he wondered what Nall had done now. He also wondered what type of revenge his wife would get on Nall.
“All right, thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Troy said. “As many of you know there is a rumor of an Arbus attack fleet on its way to Earth. This rumor is true. The Fire Ant is currently tracking ten warships, two of an unknown configuration and larger than what we’ve encountered. They will be here in fifteen hours. The commander has ordered all pilots to rest for the next fourteen. If you are scheduled for patrol places work some rest around it. We will meet back here in fourteen hours, or twenty-one fifteen hours Zulu.”
The group looked at each other as they understood what was going to be happening.
“Good, I want all of you to go and get some rest. We’re going to need it for the upcoming battle,” Troy told them. He watched as most of them walked out. He was not surprised when the ones who stayed were Jax, Nall and Bri.
“The Arbus finally brings in the big guns,” Jax said.
“Looks like it,” Troy replied. “Commander Ares isn’t taking any chances in this one. I just hope that no other fleet is discovered while this is going on.”
“That’s all we would need, one fleet heading to Earth the other to Centari One,” Bri said.
“So what happened earlier,” Troy asked. He was not surprised when neither Nall or Bri replied but Jax did.
“The normal question,” she said with a smirk. “And Bri shot him down again.”
“It’s obvious he isn’t getting any,” Bri said glancing at Nall.
“Me, sure I’m getting it,” Nall replied.
“I thought that Rebecca was too far along to be doing the horizontal,” Jax said.
“Who said anything about being horizontal,” Nall replied in a huff. He was looking back and forth between the two women.
“I think you better quite this conversation while you can,” Troy replied.
“You’re probably right about that,” Nall replied. “I better get back to Becca, she’s going to be wondering what’s going on. And see if I can convince her of heading back to Earth to wait this out.”
“Good luck on that,” Troy said. Nall waved then walked out in search of his wife.
“I don’t know about any of you but I could use a nap or something,” Bri said.
*****
Pratt looked out from the bridge of the Daedalus at the Moon. The Second Fleet had done everything it could to prepare for the upcoming battle. They knew when and from what direction the enemy ships would be coming from. They held all the advantages or he hoped they did.
“Commander Ares on fleet line for you,” the communications officer said to him.
“Ares, what’s the status,” Pratt asked.
“The Arbus fleet is still on course to be here within the hour. Is everything ready,” Ares asked.
“Yes, our fleet is positioned in lunar orbit,” Pratt replied.
“Good, I want you to allow the Arbus fleet to pass you by, if they spot you engage. I want them to be focus on the Argo and the first fleet. That will give us an advantage a bit later on in the battle,” Ares said. He wanted to split the Arbus fleet just in case something went wrong.
“You’re sure that they are headed to Earth and not the fuel station,” Pratt asked.
“Their course is constant, heading right for us,” Ares said.
“All right, we’ll be ready,” Pratt replied.
Ares signed off leaving Pratt to think about the upcoming battle. He knew that the Lunar base was secured and ready for the upcoming battle and that the military forces on Earth were also ready. The general population still did not know but that was in case spies were still active. No new signals had been intercepted lately but no one in high command wanted to take the chance. He walked over to the view port trying to see if he could spot the base on the moon’s surface. The next hour would pass quickly yet take forever.
*****
The scanner operator on the Argo almost jumped when his light flashed. He glanced at the screen and knew that it was time.
“Commander, we have scanner contact,” he told Ares.
“Understood,” Ares said. The battle was now ready. The pieces were in place, everyone was prepared and the enemy had arrived. “Let me know when the enemy has moved past the moon.”
The officer went back to his scanner to watch. The Arbus fleet slowly crawled though space. They knew that they could not spot the Earth fleet that well and were acting cautious. Passing the moon the scanner operator notified the commander.
“All ships move out, prepare to launch all vipers,” Ares said. The engines of the Argo rumbled to life pushing the giant ship towards the Arbus fleet.
“Arbus fleet changing directions, heading towards us,” the scanner operator said.
Ares was not surprised. A couple of the destroyers were not made out of the s-metal so they would be spotted easily. “Take down the range, it probably will indicate how far their scanner range is.”
The Arbus fleet continued to head towards the First Fleet. The fleet was now past the moon without any change in direction.
“Tell Commander Pratt to engage,” Ares said as his own forces headed into battle. “Launch all vipers.”
*****
Troy waited in his viper next to Bri for the signal to launch. It was only a few seconds later that the bridge gave the permission to launch.
“Green squad, launch,” Troy said as he pushed his thrusters. The acceleration forces pushed him back into his seat as his viper raced out into space. His scanner showed a lot of ship already.
“Heads up, incoming fighters,” Bri said. “Everyone stay with your wingman.”
Troy watched as Nall slipped into position with Bri and they raced off towards the enemy fighters.
“Well, this is different,” he heard Jax’s voice say.
“Let’s just hope they don’t kill each other,” Troy replied.
“Nah, I’ll kill them both before they do,” Jax replied.
Troy glanced down at his scanner to direct the fight for the vipers and listen for anything that Commander Ares wanted his viper squadrons to do.
*****
Pratt stood on the bridge of the Daedalus waiting for the order to attack to come in. The Arbus fleet had passed the moon and now appeared to be heading towards the first fleet.
“Sir, the order just came from Commander Ares,” the communication officer said.
“Thank you, all ships, attack speed,” Pratt ordered as the engines of the second fleet roared to life. “Target the rear ships. Hopefully we can get off a few shots before they realize we’re here.”
The Arbus fleet and the First Fleet had already engaged each other. Pratt was watching to see what type of firepower the large Arbus ships had. The mass of fighters on both side buzzed around fighting each other while the larger ships started to hammer away at their opposite number.
“In range commander,” the weapons officer said.
“Target the large ship first then open fire,” Pratt said.
The Daedalus opened fire with her main guns. The Arbus fleet was taken by surprise by the ships behind them.
“All fighters, launch,” he ordered.
The Daedalus fighters would be the ones carrying the anti-ship missiles. Ares assumed that the Arbus fighters would be engaged with the First Fleet’s fighters to turn to engaged the Second Fleet’s fighters. Pratt watched as Ares was proven right again.
*****
“Listen up, the Daedalus has launched her fighters, keep the Arbus fighters engaged until the second wave has launched their missiles,” Troy said watching as the second wave of vipers converged on the Arbus fleet. They only had to keep the enemy fighters busy until the second fleet’s vipers had completed their mission. After they launched their missiles then the wipers could act as normal fighters.
He could see Jax’s fighter right beside him. So far there had been little need for them to become involved in the battle. That had allowed Troy the opportunity to concentrate on the battle.
“Head’s up Troy, two incoming our way,” Jax said to him.
Together they turned to begin the dogfight with the Arbus fighters. Jax quickly destroyed one while Troy took care of the other.
A quick look at the vipers flying confirmed that Bri and Nall were still doing all right. The two pilots were right in the thick of battle. Troy had the impression that those two would not have it any other way.
“First wave completed,” Troy announced as he watched the missiles streak towards the Arbus ships.
The missiles impacted on the Arbus ships. The scanner indicating damage being done on the enemy ships. The smaller ones started to back away from the fight. The two larger ships continued on their way towards Earth. The scanner did indicate some damage had been done by the missiles.
“Interesting,” Troy mumbled. “Enemy fighters retreating.”
He had the feeling that something was not right about this. Taking a quick look at his scanner he was hoping to see something that would help relieve his mind. Taking a wide look at the conflict he noticed something a bit strange. The vipers were mostly all in one area. A trap!
“All squadrons, scatter, repeat scatter, full thrusters” Troy said.
“What’s up,” Jax asked hearing the order.
“They’ve bunched all of our fighters in one area. He watched as Bri and Nall headed directly towards the enemy fleet.
“The larger warships just fired some sort of missile,” Jax said. They watched as the missiles went directly to what would have been near the vipers and exploded. Several vipers were caught in the explosive wave but many more survived.
“That was close,” Troy said.
*****
Ares watched as the Arbus employed another new tactic. This one was designed to eliminate their fighter advantage. He wondered what else the Arbus had planned. He turned to see what the scanners were saying. So far the larger Arbus ships had taken some damage, not as much as he had hoped but some. The Daedalus and the Second Fleet had yet to engage the enemy but that was only a matter of seconds.
“Continue firing on the nearest large warship. We need to figure out what their capability is real quick,” Ares said.
“Commander, that last attack by the ship required a lot of power, the scanners are indicating a power loss in both ships,” the scanner operator said.
The Argo continued to fire on the enemy ship scoring several hits on the enemy ship. So far there were a few indications that the ship was damaged. The first indication was the reduced speed of the ship. With the cruisers also contributing their firepower the large ships were taking considerable damage.
The bridge of the Argo rocked as the battlestar received a hit in return.
“Damage,” Ares asked quickly.
“Slight damage to the engines, all weapons and both landing bays are fully functional,” the reply came.
“One attack ship has been destroyed,” the scanner operator said. “The Arbus fleet is turning around. They appear to be retreating commander.”
Ares thought about going after them. It was something different in the Arbus tactics. The fighters had retreated into a trap.
“All ships, break off, we let them go for now,” Ares said then activated the communicator to talk with Renee.
“Commander,” she said.
“I want you to follow the Arbus fleet at a distance, be careful as they probably have a trap set up. I want to know where they come from and how mny other ships are there,” Ares said.
“Understood commander,” Renee said as the screen went blank.
“Recall the fighters,” Ares said. The recovery process did not take long as the scanners watched the Arbus fleet leave Earth space. He would have to wait for the report that Renee gave to find out what was going on out in Arbus space.
“Commander, I’m picking up a strange signal coming from the moon,” the scanner operator said.
“How strange,” Ares asked.
“It’s like the ship is one of ours,” the scanner operator said.
Ares was about to open his mouth when his communication screen came to life.
“Commander Ares, this is Colonial bound, returning from our mission.”
“Don’t worry about it, its one of ours,” Ares said relieved about the fact that the ship was back. “Come on in then get over to the Argo for your debriefing.”
“Yes sir commander,” Gunther said.
*****
Ares sat in his office along with Troy and Pratt waiting for Gunther and Scott to arrive. The two men walked into the room sitting down.
“First off welcome back,” Ares said.
“Thank you sir, and in a strange way its good to be back,” Gunther said.
“We’re you able to talk to Commander Cain,” Ares asked.
“No sir, Cain has been transferred with the Fifth Fleet. But I did talk with Commander Bakkas about everything that has gone on. He was disappointed to hear that we will not be able to help them anytime soon, or at least is that still the case,” Gunther said wondering what developments had occurred in the fight against the Arbus.
“We’re slowly putting together offensive engagements but mostly still on the defensive,” Ares said.
“Sounds like the war with the Cylons. The Colonials are holding their own but Commander Bakkus informed me he was not sure how much longer they could last. The Council needs to authorize more ships but for some reason are reluctant to do so,” Gunther said. “There is a growing movement for peace as well.”
“Well, as long as the Cylons only want to exterminate all humans I doubt there will be peace,” Troy said. Even as he said it though there was an uneasy feeling that passed over him. A feeling that something dreadful was going to happen. He shook it off and waited to see what Gunther would say next.
“Did you have any problems once you arrived,” Ares asked.
“No sir,” Gunther said.
The rest of the meeting went as planned. Gunther reporting on what had been going on back at the Colonies and Gunther updating the status of what had happened with the Argo.
“I told him a bit about the S-metal, but that the metal had flaws in it that we were trying to fix,” Gunther said.
“Good, I doubt that the metal would be ready for such combat yet,” Ares said. “What about you captain?”
“It was an eye opening experience laddie,” Scott said. “Ah’ve never seen so many people united under one cause before in my life.”
“That’s understandable. The Arbus were causing such confusion that it would have been hard for your people to unite for anything,” Ares said.
“Aye, the saying is true, united we stand, divided we fall,” Scott said. “We came close to that.”
“Its a good thing we arrived when we did,” Ares said. If the Argo had arrived any later the civilization on Earth might have been wiped out.
The report wrapped up leaving the group to head back to their assignments. Gunther was headed to oversee the Daedalus’ viper squadrons and Scott would be given command of the Colonial Bound. The ship had been designed as a scout ship but could last longer in space than any other ship.
“Captain Scott, I have an assignment for you. I want you to take the Colonial Bound deep into Arbus space and report back on what you see,” Ares said.
“Surveillance then laddie,” Scott said. “Aye can do that. When do yah want me to leave?”
“As soon as you can. Keep the same crew, and a moment Gunther,” Ares said. “Any problem with our spy?”
“I thought there might be, but there wasn’t. Surprised me,” Gunther said. “I do have one thing, it’s for Troy.”
“Me,” Troy said a bit surprised. Gunther handed him a small file.
“Yes, it was given to me by Commander Bakkus, he did not tell me who gave it to him,” Gunther said.
“All right, dismissed everyone,” Ares said.
End of part 49