Battlestar Freedom

[Captain Mike]

Aboard the Battlestar Freedom


‘All hands, this is the Commander. I’ve got some very bad news’ Andrew Sellers said into the 1MC. Andrew Sellers had been in the Colonial Fleet for nearly fifty years, over forty of those spent aboard his beloved ship, the Battlestar Freedom as firstly the CAG, then progressing up to the position of XO, then as Commander of the mighty warship. The Freedom was built nearly sixty years ago, and was a sister ship to the Battlestar Galactica that was now due for retirement. Freedom was basically identical to her sister Galactica in nearly every way, save one … and that one difference was the reason she was in the boneyard.
The Freedom was a one-of-a-kind ship, incorporating the basic design of the battlestar, and adding a new feature from a smaller class of ship. The Titan class Battlecruiser had been launched sixty years ago, and was basically a smaller version of Galactica and her sisters that did not have landing pods on each side of the ship, but rather had one pod that was underneath the ship and retracted into the hull. The Freedom also had one of these pods underneath the ship, along with her two pods. The ship was designed as an experimental Super Battlestar, but with the complex construction the design was abandoned and the Freedom was the sole ship with three pods in the Colonial Fleet.
Sellers had been the Commander for nearly twenty-nine years, but the ship was retired from the Colonial Fleet a little over four years ago. Sellers had been in the CIC and had ordered an FTL jump for the ship to proceed to her assigned area to train all the young, and mostly inexperienced crew aboard her. Freedom had been a training ship, nearing the end of her effective combat life, and being superseded by the much newer Mercury-class of battlestars. The Freedom had completed her jump perfectly, everyone was ready to begin training … when the crew had the miss fortune of jumping directly into the middle of an asteroid field that wasn’t on any Colonial star charts. Freedom immediately started taking heavy damage from the pounding from the asteroids, her sub-light engines taking heavy damage, until the crushing blow had come from a hunk of rock nearly as big as the ship herself. It had impacted on the forward section of the starboard launch bay. Immediately the forward sixty feet of the entire bay was ripped away, venting the entire pod to space, whilst the asteroid curved around the ship, impacting near the aft of the pod tearing a forty-foot section of the hull away, but not before it had impacted mid-way along the pod causing yet more devastation. The Freedom had managed to limp out of the field on her sole remaining sub-light engine, before it finally gave in and the ship was left drifting dead in space. It had taken two days for a Colonial ship to pick up their distress signal and jump to their aid, and when the Freedom managed to return to Caprica nearly a week later the decision had already been made … the damage to the ship was too great … she was to be decommissioned immediately.
Commander Sellers had accepted retirement and had insisted that he would stay with his ship, and with members of his long-serving crew around him, they fought tooth-and-nail for the ship the be brought out of the boneyard and be repaired sufficiently to be a museum, a museum that could fly about the twelve colonies of Kobol for all Colonial citizens to se life aboard an old Battlestar, and less than two weeks ago, they were granted permission. Raptors and shuttles had once again started to land aboard the sip, carrying ex-servicemen, and active duty personnel that had requested that they be transferred to the ship to help get her back into a fit shape, nearly all of them had once been members of the crew. The ship was in fairly good shape, the Commander and the seven retired members of his crew had spend the last few years crawling through the ship, making repairs, refits and doing any necessary work wherever they could. As it stood, three of the sub-light engines were operational, and one of the FTL drives were ready to go.
As Sellers stood at the master DRADIS console, looking around the CIC at the few personnel that were there he said to them ‘We’ve just received word that there is a massive Cylon attack underway against the colonies. So far we’ve lost nearly forty battlestars, and Admiral Nagawa has taken personal command of the fleet, he’s made the Battlestar Atlantia his flagship. Picon fleet headquarters have completely destroyed in the first attacks. There are reports that there are civilian ships trying to flee the core system. There are stranded Colonial units and personnel out there, so we’re going to go help them. All hands … action stations! Set condition one throughout the ship!’
Throughout the ship personnel looked at each other in disbelief, but a second later, as the klaxons came to life throughout the ship they started sprinting to their areas, desperately getting the ship ready to fight … completely oblivious to the fact that the ship had no ammunition of any kind onboard. In the CIC Sellers looked around, and to the young man at the master communications console he said ‘Crewman, send a priority one signal to Admiral Nagawa. Tell him we’re partly operational, and are ready to go and start rescue operations for any civilians left alive on the colonies’
‘Understood, sir’
‘Tactical, I want a detailed report of where every military unit is as far out as we can scan, both ours and theirs’
‘Yes, sir’
‘XO … get the book. I want to know what munitions depots are out there’
‘Understood’
‘Officer of the Watch, contact engineering and tell them we need both FTL drives working now’
‘Aye, sir’
Sellers looked up at the DRADIS screens, and soon he saw a few Raptors heading towards them at full speed, desperately trying to race for the nearest safe port rather than getting caught out in the open. Around the room, the communications officers were getting calls from civilian ships that had already started running, and were more than happy to hear that there was a battlestar nearby, what they didn’t know was that this battlestar was totally unarmed and still had heavy damage. The ship had the same armament as her sister Galactica and despite the fact that the weapons systems were powered up and ready to use, they had nothing to shoot with. Sellers started thinking quickly, if they got attacked with no ammunition and no Vipers for protection they wouldn’t last long against the Cylons at all. Sellers knew that the new CNP programme would be a massive help to them, but seeing as they didn’t have networked computer systems it wasn’t much help at the moment. It only took a moment for Crewman Nick Dorres to look at him from the communications console and say ‘Sir, we’ve just got Admiral Nagawa on the comms’, but before he could say any more Sellers simply nodded at him, and snatching up a headset Sellers said into it ‘Atlantia Actual, this is Freedom Actual. Admiral, how’s the attack?’
‘Andrew…’ answered the admiral, the two had known each other since the academy ‘Andrew, we’re massively out-numbered. There are civilian ship escaping, but we’ve already lost nearly fifty battlestars. Consider your commission re-activated, I’ll send out a scramble message to the fleet about you being back in uniform. Get your crew together and rescue as many civvies as you can. Listen carefully, there’s a virus in that new CNP programme, don‘t trust it, we’re going to fall back to…’ started the admiral, but the transmission ended abruptly and was replaced by nothing but static. Sellers turned to the crewman but he just shook his head and answered ‘Atlantia’s gone, sir’
‘Well, at least I can put my uniform back on’ muttered Sellers as he looked at the DRADIS console again, then much louder said ‘status of the engines?’
‘Sir, four of the sub-lights are now operational’ answered the helmsman ‘eleven minutes until the second FTL system’s operational!’
‘Good. Take us out of the boneyard, all ahead flank! Take us towards those civilian ships’
‘Aye’ answered the officer of the watch as he started issuing orders to the helmsmen. It only took a few seconds until the ship came about on her new heading, and as they accelerated the Raptors that were coming in to land started to arrive in more numbers and tried to land quicker and quicker until finally the XO returned to the centre console and as he set the folder down he looked at Sellers and said ‘Sir, the port bay can’t handle any more … we’ve got to deploy the centre launch pod’
‘Very well…’started the Commander, until there was a rapid beeping from the DRADIS console and the officer of the watch shouted ‘Incoming contacts … they’re Colonial fighters … Viper mark seven’s!’
‘Sir, their ID’s confirmed. They’re requesting combat landings’ added Crewman Dorres.
‘Granted, have all other Raptors aim for the centre pod, have those Vipers come into the port bay, but make sure you tell them it’s all hands-on approach’
‘Aye, sir’
‘Well frack me’ said the XO ‘some fighters at last’
‘Yeah, but we can barely refuel them, not rearm them’ answered Sellers as he looked at the folder the XO had put down ‘looks like there’s two munitions depots within jump range, but without both FTL’s operational, we’re screwed. We need ammo now’
‘We’ve got to try and jump out to get to a munitions depot…’
‘Forget it, if the Cylons managed to catch us this badly, you can guarantee there’ll be Cylons at the depots. No, what we need is to get out there and find a Colonial Fleet re-supply ship, that’ll be carrying ammunition and hopefully everything we need’
‘I’ll pull up the lists of where they were scheduled to be on their runs’
‘Good’ answered Sellers with a nod, then turning his attention back to the DRADIS display he said aloud ‘Communications, I need those ships aboard now…’
‘Sir, I’ve got an incoming transmission from a Colonial ship, they say they’re being trailed by Cylons!’
‘Where are they?’
‘Two sectors away! I’m in communications with five Viper Mark Seven’s that are within half a sector of it’s position…’
‘Have them come about and find out the story with that ship. If it’s got ammo, I want it’
‘Yes, sir’
‘There’s a re-supply ship about a system away…’ started the XO as he approached the plotter, but Sellers just looked at him and said ‘Get aboard a Raptor and jump over to her last known position now. As soon as you get there take command and order her to jump over here. Those supply ships are usually commanded by Captain’s, never mind a Major or Colonel’
‘Yes, sir’ answered Colonel Lesley Russ as he rushed from the CIC down to one on the Raptors. If everything went to plan, they could get some ammunition for the ship, and her fledgling group of fighters.