Battlestar Freedom

[Captain Mike]

Aboard the Battlestar Freedom

‘DRADIS contact!’ shouted the Officer of the Watch as he looked at his display, then a second later he added in a much calmer tone ‘It’s got a Colonial ID … it’s the Colonel, he’s aboard a re-supply ship!’
‘Have her dock with the airlock on the port launch bay. Get Chief Hartwell down there, and make sure she knows that I want everything on that ship off-loaded as soon as possible. Her first priority is ammunition for the Vipers and the ships guns’
‘Yes, sir’ answered Crewman Leyana Heller from the communications console. The crew were all busily racing around the CIC, desperately trying to get the ship ready to fight.
It had been six hours since they had received word that the attacks on the Colonies were underway, and already nearly a dozen civilian ships had made their way to Freedom. The ships FTL drive was finally operational, and everyone from the civilian ships that were incapable of jumping had been hustled aboard the Freedom and were being assigned makeshift quarters. All the Vipers that had rushed over to them had been fully fuelled thanks to a tanker that had jumped into the area requesting protection from the Cylons. She had already docked with the Freedom and was offloading all the fuel the tanks aboard Freedom could carry. As fast as the Raptors and any other straggling Vipers were landing on the ship they were being fully fuelled, then getting ready to launch again. Luckily for the crew, the deck hands had been able to remove all remaining ammunition from the Vipers and had enough to fully arm four fighters. They had already been launched and were patrolling the fleet on CAP, and Commander Sellers hoped it wouldn’t be long until the ammunition was all off-loaded.


Port Flight Pod

‘Come on, we need to get more Vipers ready to go! I want them ready so all we need to do is upload the ammunition. Get them lined up with the launch tubes, and will someone please get the fracking pilots down here! They need to check their planes!’ shouted Chief Laura Hartwell. Her deck gangs were rushed off their feet, desperately trying to get everything ready to launch. She knew the ammunition would be with them soon, but the longer they were sitting here with only four Vipers for protection, the more chance they had of being annihilated. Freedom was rushing to get ready for combat, but quite frankly Laura was doubtful they’d ever get the starboard pod operational again. The ships FTL drives were already operational, and all the sublight engines had finally been brought online. Freedom was ready to get moving, but she was waiting now for the ammunition.


CIC
One hour later

‘XO, I’m changing the plan’ said Sellers as he strode into the CIC and walked straight up to the main plotter ‘we’ve recovered all the civvies we can. The ammunition has been loaded and we’ve drained that tanker dry. I want all the civvies securing now. We’re jumping to Picon’
‘What?!’ exclaimed the XO ‘we’re going back? With civvies aboard?’
‘Yes. Get all fighters back aboard and in the launch tubes. Clear the landing decks and prepare to bring in any lifeboats we encounter’
‘You’re going to jump back to the battle coordinates and try to rescue anyone left?’
‘Yeah’ answered Sellers ‘I want everyone ready’
‘Crewman, recall the fighters. Combat landings!’ shouted the XO ‘everyone, prepare to jump back to the battle coordinates!’
‘We’re going back to save who we can. When it gets too much, we jump away’ said Sellers as he looked around the room ‘this is not a suicide mission. It’s our duty to protect everyone we can. We’re only one ship, and if we can help, then we must. All damage control teams stand by. All batteries, arm your weapons and prepare to fire’, and with that, the ship prepared to jump straight into the combat zone. Throughout the ship people ran to their stations getting the ship ready to fight as klaxons blared and voices boomed over the 1MC. The Freedom was damaged, but her crews determination to defend their homes was second to none, and as far as they were concerned, the more Cylons they killed, the better.


Port Launch Bay

‘Come on, come on!’ shouted Chief Laura Hartwell ‘let’s get these birds ready to go!’. As men raced into the hanger bays carrying as much ammunition as possible the chief was making sure that all the Vipers on her hanger bay were fully fuelled, armed with ammunition for their cannons and as many missiles as they could carry. With five Raptors ready to launch on SAR missions they were as ready as they were going to be, and she watched with pride as the pilots climbed into their planes, and they were pushed into the launch tubes. Within seconds they would be ready to blast out into space and kick Cylon arse.


CIC

‘Sir, we’re ready to jump’ announced Lieutenant Harry Johnson, the ships Officer of the Watch. As Commander Sellers looked around the CIC he could only hope that he could get his crew through this, if not … then everything was lost. Taking a deep breath he said loudly ‘Jump!’


‘Jump complete! Multiple Cylon DRADIS contacts! Bow guns have two Cylon baseships in their sights!’
‘Tell them to fire at will. How many other Cylon baseships are within missile range!’
‘Four’
‘Target two nukes per baseship and fire!’
‘Aye, sir’ answered the tactical officer ‘missiles are leaving their tubes…’
‘Incoming ordnance!’ shouted Johnson ‘Raiders incoming!’
‘Launch all Vipers’ ordered Sellers ‘brace for contact’. The first Cylon missiles began impacting the upper hull of the ship, but the defensive guns were already activated and had started firing at the incoming missiles, and the anti-ship gun turrets had turned towards the nearest Cylon baseship and started firing with everything they had. Within minutes Johnson shouted ‘All nukes have impacted! Four Cylon baseships have been destroyed by the nukes! Bow guns reporting one basestar destroyed, the other has taken heavy damage!’
‘Reload the missile tubes and prepare to fire again’ ordered Sellers as he looked up at the DRADIS displays reconfigure defensive guns to take out the incoming Cylon raiders. Status of the Vipers?’
‘They are engaging the Cylon raiders … DRADIS CONTACTS!’ shouted Johnson ‘another two baseships have just jumped in!’
‘Designate targets as Sierra-One and Sierra-Two. Target Sierra-One with nukes, and turn the main guns against Sierra-Two’
‘Understood’ answered the tactical officer as missiles started to impact the ship again ‘Radiological alarm! They’re launching nukes!’
‘Take them out!’ shouted Sellers. Two seconds later another two of Freedom’s missiles left their tubes streaking towards one of the Cylon baseships, another three seconds after that the first Cylon nuke hit the ship, throwing the crew on the CIC to the deck.

‘Report!’ shouted Sellers as he got to his feet, then immediately ducked again as one of the DRADIS screens above his head exploded in a shower of sparks and glass. As the commander pulled himself up again he heard Lieutenant Johnson answer ‘Three nuke impacts, the hull armour is holding. Incoming conventional missiles!’
‘Destroy that basestar! Have a squadron of Vipers re-deploy to take out any more incoming nukes’
‘Sir, Sierra-One has been destroyed! Main guns are still engaging Sierra-Two … erm … sir, Sierra-Two isn’t launching any Raiders!’
‘The damn thing’s out of fighters’ said Sellers, a small smile creeping across his face ‘I want that thing destroyed. Watch Officer, report all lifeboats!’
‘We’ve recovered eleven into the belly pod, seven are in the port pod, with another seventeen inbound. That’s all we can find, sir. There are battlestars out there, but there’s no power readings. They’re gone’
‘Recover those lifeboats, then I want combat landings for all Vipers. XO, as soon as we’ve got everyone aboard, I want a jump as far away from here as we can’
‘Aye, sir’ said the XO as he went and joined the Senior Watch Officer, leaving Sellers looking up at the DRADIS display.