| Pilot | |
|---|---|
| Season One, Episode One | |
| Air date | 14 May-11 August 2009 |
| Written by | Lindsay Lohan Phoenix |
| Main Characters | (Phoenix Personnel)
(Betelgeuse Personnel)
|
| Episode guide | |
| Previous None |
Next Episode 2 |
June 12, 2045, 4 years after the Imperial Throne is retaken by Laura Roslin and the 2nd Inviere Cylon Empire is reentered into the United Empire of the 13 Colonies.
Act 1[]
The camera opens in on IWS Phoenix the shining jewel in the Athena fleet is nearing a small nebula on one of the Cyrnus Galaxies outer sectors. The Camera zeroes in on one of Phoenixes large observation windows centering in on a small young lady's breasts fixed downward on a few pieces of paper. She is Cassandra Cain Vice Admiral of Athena Science Fleet. While she appears to be intently listening on what is being said in reality isn't really, doesn't really need to actually its just a standard daily ships debriefing most of which only discusses minor ship and crew problems Cassandra only needs to hear talking points concerning the fleet that are most important, suddenly she hears one.
Athena -: "Now on current fleet formation."
Athena stands in the very front of the massively large conference table in the center of the room. A Series-8 Cylon (basic command series) is the ships XO a competent officer both her and CORA always make sure that the Phoenix runs at optimum effencntcy. In public just as now she speaks and stands quietly and somewhat sternly no different from many other Cylons, however when her and the captain are by themselves Athena and Cassandra are close friends with her (Athena) always worrying (Cassandra thinks too much at times) about her captains health and well being. As Cassandra's eyes look at the other Command Crew-members sitting at the left of Athena her gaze always leads to the one person she always thinks about before she goes to sleep and sees when she wakes up every morning, her loving wife Gina.
Cylon/Human pairings are rare same gender or otherwise as the 2 spouses eyes met Cassandra gave a subtle and somewhat sly grin. Cassandra Andromeda Cain was the youngest promoted Fleet Captain in Imperial History, 1st in nearly all of her Imperial Academy classes (except for linguistics she really never could get the hang of other languages (Human or otherwise).) Cassandra was proud of her post it was given to her by the "Old Man" himself William Adama, as he placed the gold neckband on her (which she still proudly wears on all formal functions) she can still remember exactly what he told her as if it was only a few Sectons ago. "If I didn't think you could handle it I'd ask you to resign from the fleet right now, but I know you can." Her grin towards Gina however came at the thought of all her professors back at the Athenian Academy back on New Caprica, if they only knew who she was married to. She could only imagine what her old theological and ethics teachers would say at even the thought of such a thing, which would most probably be a massive debate over if even the event would even be considered immoral in the 1st place. Also if a Human could even be with a Cylon who at base fact is only a machine after all (regardless of gender). Legitimate questions all but Cassandra put it out of her mind, that was for the philosophers to decide she on the other hand had more currently important matters her attention automatically turned back to Athena's discussion.
Athena - "As can be seen here" (Athena wirelessly turns on the center holo-projector on the table top) "As what can be seen here the fleet has been split into 4 directions the Celestion and Vulcan are here within the Gamma Quadrant, the Hephastus and Geminon within the Beta, Orion and Shiva along with some of Blue Squad in the Delta and us.…" (Pointing to the lower quarter of the Holo image) "Here along with Mercury, Hydra, and Medusa taking a command position within the Alpha Quadrant."
Cassandra - "And the Hestia?"
Athena redirects the Holo-Image "Here on an emergency mission of mercy in a remote sector of the Gamma Quadrant."
(Call me back on changes to be made to fit story better)
Michael Atreides, Commodore of the Betelgeuse, confidently strides into the room and finds a side seat. Cassandra only gives a destained look in his general direction which she secretly hopes he doesn't see. Cassandra found the man somewhat annoying not only for his strong moral views but also and mainly for what Cassandra felt was Michael's way of muscling in on Cassandra's crowning achievement, However nevertheless his argument for the Betelgeuse's defensive aid in Cyrnus was undeniable even to Cassandra's chagrin. Michael, A former Viper pilot who worked his way up the ranks, he has a strong sense of morals and even stronger fighting style. Trying to be nice for once, he sits as far as possible from Gina.
Michael - "The Hestia should be returning in four days. Where did you direct the Betelgeuse with all that ordnance?"
Athena quickly repositions the image again- "Since the Betelgeuse is such a vital commodity to fleet defense we've placed her here within the galaxies near center this way the Betelgeuse can stay fully powered and can be ready to QuantumJump into any emergency heavy combat situation anywhere within the galaxy."
In the top left of the table sitting right next to Athena was the Phoenix's 2 main Engineering commanders 1st right next to the XO was Callandra Tyrol 1st Year Integral Systems engineering Officer and straight out of the academy while many wrote her off as far too young and Inexperienced however Cassandra knew better. Callandra's experience and overall skill with energy manipulation and Solenium energy sphere control were at times beyond genius, and at her right was her 2nd in command Michael A. Richards or Mike as every one called him. he was wearing his usual gear the same stained shirt and work armored uniform skirt with various machine fluids and always tinkering with some small part of the ship in his hand (This time it was a power coupling) to see him most of the time fiddling or manually adjusting something one would think the nearly half the entire fleet was falling apart. But it wasn't it just proved Mikes dedication and loving care to the Phoenix and the fleet.
Mike was one of the older Crew-members who still clearly remember the way it was before the New Unification Era. Michael Richards was born on New Tauron a medium sized off world colony near Jupiter. A nice Catholic boy as many called him in his youth. Mike attended 1st St. Marys school for boys in New York. However his parents had to do this in secret for this was the Dark Times when the corruption and zealous Polytheistic control of the Empire was at its height. The Guardians of the 12 Lords of Kobol were a group of religious extremists whom lived by one rule and one main rule only Either renounce all other religions or Die. New Caprica and Geminon had become what many mainstream christians called a "New Sodom and Gomorra" due mainly to many drug and red light districts that begun to overtake the planets. Also many Mafia ran gambling palaces throughout the colonies. As the empires corruption increased many christians, jews, muslims and racial minorities fled in mass to New Tauron, many news groups called it the 2nd Exodus as since it seemed to be the last Religiously "Safe" place left in all the 13 colonies. Mike also remembers the day when the Cylon Inviere Empire returned to the colonies. When Empress Roslin left with the remaining WarStar group many feared that they would all be killed without Roslins protection many others worried the fleet might not return at all. But as they say its always darkest before the dawn and one morning as Mike clearly remembers as if it were only yesterday dozens of bright lights filling the sky over near his house as the Cylon reenforcement fleet landed on several cities on Tauron. He can remember that for the 1st time in nearly 50 years Cylons were not met with either fear or hatred but joy and cheer the main city streets were filled with so many cheering crowds you would think that it was World War II and this was the liberation of Paris.
Mike glanced over at both his commander and her wife a gave a small smile. While a devoutly religious man he found the pairing of his commanding officer and her Cylon spouse "interesting" to say the least. It always gave him much to think about which he always deemed mentally entertaining. While working on broken Jump conduits he'd many times ponder over the moral and social implications of a Human/Cylon same-sex pairing. However unlike Commodore Atreides Mike didn't look as critically on their marriage as the Commander did, they had a good ol fashioned and quite elegant court sanctioned wedding not a church sanctioned religious marriage so who was he to judge.
Seeing Mike, Michael moved closer to his long-time friend, indeed Michael had wanted Mike for his crew but Mike was too loyal to the Phoenix. Just then, Michael's XO & bodyguard Henry walked in. Formerly a new-model Cylon Centurion, Henry had been remodeled to serve the Betelgeuse.
Henry - "Our long-range scouts have located an inbound taskforce, roughly 2 battlestar strength in frigates and supporting fighters. However they are generating a disguising hologram field large enough to hide several basestars. They are not responding to hails and are using encrypted military-style transceivers on Black Channel bands."
Cassandra - "Where is their current position?"
Henry - "They should be within weapon range in 15 minutes, but the estimated field will reach us in 5 minutes"
Michael - "I recommend a pincer strike. Use the Phoenix and tertiary craft as bait and split the fleet to either side to wait in ambush."
Athena stood quietly for a few seconds, Athena was a brilliant tactician somehow she always seemed to have a quick idea that always was 100 steps ahead of everyone else, it appeared that "Fight smarter not harder" was her personal motto. After her short time of quick pondering she quickly stepped over to the main UniCom panel on the side of the room.
Athena - "This is the XO to Phoenix Actual"
Deck Officer - "Aye this is Actual how may I be of assistance Commander?"
Athena - "What is the present distance of RepairStar Celestion from our current position."
Deck Officer - "Just a few hundred parsecs from our current position but it shouldn't be hard to reach us by QuantumJump, Why sir?."
Athena - "Commander Atradies how many Mega-Raptors can you spare and have ready within the time estimated?."
Michael - "Well, my personal transport and another 150 are on hot standby ever since my departure...Them and another 150 should be able to reach here in time, but the second 150 will need to be recharged before they will be able to jump a second time due to some...weapon alterations my Chief Engineer has made."
Athena - "Excellent.." she steps over again to the UniCom again "This is Again the XO to Actual"
Deck Officer - "Aye Sir"
Athena - "Contact the Celestion and order all Cylon assembly crews to begin constructing 1 AssaultStar and 4 basic WarStar frames and primary hulls within 3.5 minutes and then order the Mercury to take an optimal sniper position."
Athena then turns to the captain- "Your orders Captain Cain?"
Cassandra quickly takes the UniCom control from a small touch screen panel on the table in front of her- "All right then this is ships comm all ships crew are on Com Level 3 all crew report to combat stations, Repeat we are on Com Level 3." Cassandra quickly turns to Gina "Commander Inviere report to Weapons Core and prep all tactical systems"
Gina simply gives a quick nod and runs out of the room
Cassandra - "This is Ships Comm to Astrometrics, prepare Sandstrom for any possible emergency combat-jumps."
Cassandra turns to the remaining command crew- "Well people you all know your duties get to it."
The Phoenix's Command Crew quickly leaves the conference room to each their respective stations with Cain, Athena, Michael heading towards the CIC Via the ships Mag-Tram system
As the three enter the Tram Cassandra asks- "I assume that you have some sort of plan?"
Athena - "Of course Captain"
Cassandra - "Which is exactly.…?"
Athena - "Simply put were going to set a trap."
Michael puts a hand to his earwig and then taps a few codes into a palmpad
Michael - "The Raptors are ready to jump. So, I assume the Betelgeuse will be part of an Ambush force?"
Henry - "Contact! 4 Enemy scout-type fighters have reached visual range. They were hiding in the field until now."
Cassandra - "Frak! Not enough time!" She quickly runs to the Trams UniCom Panel "This is ships comm to Actual order all nearby ships to activate cloak and order squads red, ice, and orange to intercept the scouts with stealth fighters only." She quickly changes buttons to communicate with tactical "Gina auto-target all forward weapons to the coordinates that Henry specified."
Michael - "My Raptors should be arriving momentarily, we can use their entry to catch them off-guard. However..." Michael pulls at his chin while he runs mentally scenarios. "These are scouts — or range-finders letting their capitol ships hit us from farther away. If we cannot immediately destroy them, we must jam them. The Betelgeuse will assist with long-range strikes, counter-counter-countermeasures, and Intelligence."
Henry - "The enemy ships are splitting up and attempting to circle us....I am detecting a series of transmissions from the enemy scouts into the enemy's cloaking field."
Cassandra - "Frak!" She gave a small pound in self frustration as she began to realize her situation. There seemed to be no easy way to resolve this and there was absolutely no way to disagree with Commodore Atradies plan. He was a highly decorated veteran of the War of Imperial ReUnification, she on the other hand so far has only saved a handful of civilian colonies from mainly older series Basestars and minor Eastern Alliance heavy raids. While no small efforts they seemed to pale in comparison to the Commodores sterling record. However Cassandra still had a trick up her sleeve.
Cassandra turns back to the UniCom Panel- "This is ships comm to Actual, change in plans, were now coordinating the Betelgeuse and order all nearby ships except for fighters to deactivate cloak and automatically inform me of all incoming weapons fire and calculate all trajectories through Astrometrics. and before she turns off the Com "Oh and 1 more thing tell the Celestion to recall the ordered ship frames."
Michael - "You have a plan. Lets hear it."
Henry - "Friendlies inbound, 1 minute until they are in weapon range of the enemy's field"
UniCom Panel - "This is the Actual, we have Hi-Energy and Heavy Impact weaponry incoming from ahead, tracing/triangulation in progress."
Cassandra looked out a forward viewscreen or port and saw a massive Wall'' of incoming fire aimed at each of her ships
As quick as she can she practically punches the Com panel - "Sand tell me you're receiving all incoming telemetry data!"
Sandstrom the ships Hybrid Core serenely floats within the specialized Anti-Grav center of the Celestial Chamber which acts as both central helm, Astrometrics, and propulsion core, Sandstrom (nicknamed Sand by the ships crew) sweetly and serenely gives a small smile, A drastic contrast compared to the maelstrom of chaos happening outside barreling towards them. She calmly responds- "Yes captain I can see everything around me, it's really quite...pretty."
Cassandra gives a small eye roll in frustration- "You can appreciate astethics later Sand, spool up the QuantumJump and prepare for Combat Jump."
Sandstrom - "By your command Captain." as she says this she wirelessly activates the CORA Holo-Interface and spins her arms in order to gather and generate mass quantum energy for the jump
Cassandra hits the Com panel again- "This is Fleet Comm to all nearby ships prepare for Combat Jump and make the heading towards the weapons fire. Repeat Towards the fire."
Athena (with a surprised look on her face) - "Captain..?!"
UniCom Panel- This is Actual, weapons fire impact in 5..4..3.…"
Cassandra - "Sand, Jump! N.OW!"
Sandstrom - "Jump" As she says this single word the entire ship along with all of the surrounding ships are coated in a mass of waves of light which turn the ships from a clear translucence to complete invisibility as they are enveloped in a brilliant blinding flash of bluish-white light. as this happens the lights are themselves are enveloped by the inferno of the mass of ordinance that slams into their previous spacial position. Suddenly as if the miniature sun created by the heavy weapons impact was imploding the explosive mass was slowly shrinking into its own self until all that remained was the large blast wave created by the explosion itself, then only darkness.
Act 2[]
Several 100 Parsecs from their previous location the Phoenix bursts forward from a burst of white light larger than the 1 that carried it away from the hell that it had just escaped from. As the WarStar reappears into einsteinen space it is surrounded by over 200 Cylon Auto-Fighters as if it was a massive hornets nest from another dimension as it auto-fired its forward weapons. The sudden and abrupt slowing of the ship is so fierce Cassandra is nearly thrown to the other side of the tram if not for Commodore Atradies catching her in mid-forward flight.
As Cassandra scrambles back to get her bearings and to reach the UniCom Panel she grabs her wrist UniCom and shouts- "This is ships comm where are we and what situation have we got?"
Michael - "Easy there. Henry, what's our status? Henry ... Henry? Cassandra, where is he?"
The viewer showed that they were out of danger, but Henry was missing. The Betelgeuse's specialized fighters had made the jump and were heading in to dock.
The commanding officers tram finally arrived at Phoenix's CIC Cassandra was the 1st to enter the ships actual with Atradies to follow
Cassandra With a Look of both concern and anger across her face shouts- "All right people talk to me whats our current situation!"
All around the ships command deck there is a furious cavalcade of running and shouting across various stations with numerous deck officers in ship to ship communications in confirmation of current situations. Within the center of all this Cora the Phoenix's Command Holo-System stands in a holo-emmiter pad surrounded by seemingly endless array of Holo-Screens sounding off various confirmations of ships systems and something else.
CORA - "Confirm, Units 12, 52, 34, and 104 cannot locate. Confirm, Units, 27, 28 ,and 87 cannot locate."
Cassandra steps over to 1 of the 1st deck officers she sees- "Officer, Report what the Hell is going on!"
Officer - "Thats the problem Ma'am we really don't know.."
Cassandra - "Explain"
Athena - "And where is the Betelgeuse's 1st officer."
Officer - "Thats part of the problem" The officer turns back to the Command Console "You see just shortly after the attack at some point within Quantum transit Henry is there 1 Centon than gone the next."
Michael - "But gone where?"
Officer - "We really don't know he's not on either internal, long range, or DRADIS sensory contact"
Suddenly a voice adds in from behind them- "Thats not the only part of the problem" Jackson Fisk Jack to his friends is the Phoenix's command deck chief his position is to coordinate all CIC functions with ships command crew mainly Captain, 1st Officer and Command Hologram.
Jack - "It's not just Henry thats missing at some point in transit more than a third of all ships bio-automated systems, weapons and defense drones just went missing, and to as how it was done your guess is as good as mine."
Cassandra - "And as to our "Friends" outside?"
Jack - "There gone"
Cassandra - "What?"
Jack - "As to who or whatever began firing upon us has also disappeared from all sensors and visual contact, which means either they ran off or their still in Holo-Cloak. For the last 3 minutes the ship has been firing into empty space."
Mike (Suddenly over on UniCom) - "We've got a problem here Captain."
Cassandra - "Report."
Mike - "I don't know how but several central components of the ships Zero-Grav stasis field around the Solenium power core are just gone, Cally's stabilizing the sphere as best she can but without those parts things are going to go bad from here."
Cassandra - "Best case scenario?"
Mike - "The ship detonates and takes out at least 10 Star Systems along with it."
Cassandra - "And the worst?"
Mike pauses for just a second- "The ship destroys the entire Cyrnus galaxy and a large portion of whatever galaxy neighbors it."
After pausing for a few seconds for a moment to think Cassandra suddenly snaps around- "Athena! Is she..?!"
Athena - "According to all current reports all Humanoid Cylons not counting Command pilots on away missions are present and accounted for."
Cassandra falls back in a small breath of relief
Athena - "However..."
Cassandra - ", However?"
Athena - "However a third of all defense centurions model 21 or higher along with several Cylon defense fighters are missing."
Cassandra slumps back into the Command Console- "All right people 1st contact the Celestion and order them to our position at best possible speed and we are at a Priority Red condition and need replacement and repairs. 2nd all right I need any theories you can give." She gives a small glance over to Atradies and asks almost slyly "Well Commodore?"
Michael - "Hmm. A significant, but not critical portion of our resources has disappeared... The majority of the lost material is of bio-mechanical origin... However this was limited to our power supply and defensive/offensive capabilities... It also occurred during a Jump near the enemy's holo-cloak." Michael looks up with a concerned look on his face. "I trust our engineers can repair the damage in time with the right materials...
Jack - "They should, any RepairStar thats worth anything should have more than enough Cavorite supplies along with any spare parts needed for replacement." Michael - "Also what I'm more concerned about is our losses. Can you order 2 ships to jump to and then back from the edge of their field? It is critical that one have NO bio-mechanical parts on it."
Cassandra - "What are you thinking"
Michael - "The enemy knows that we are too strong for them. They needed an Ace in the hole. What if they were not hiding reinforcements in that Holo-Cloak, but a sort of HyperJump web or net designed to trap or damage our ships as they pass by?"
Athena - "Very Ingenious Commodore". Athena then turns back to CORA and activates the ships InterLink Datastream and begins to calculate probabilities "CORA based on the weapons telemetry data from before our last jump can it be possible to Calculate and estimate the range and probability of an interconnected field of HyperJump corridors." As Athena continued to create a large Holo simulation of the Jump web she began to add. "As no doubt the Commodore has hypothesized a HyperJump corridor is basically nothing more than a mass hyper-sped implosion within the fabric of space while a QuantumJump corridor is a Interphasic transference within the fabric of time. So based on that simple rudimentary knowledge anyone with enough technical resources can focus a HyperJump corridors impelled energy to intersect with a Quantum-Jump's passive Interphasic matrix. However this leads to another important question."
Cassandra - "Who has this sort of level of technical power in this galaxy?" Athena - "Quite correct Captain, so far as we have continued our survey within this galaxy we have not encountered any Human or alien species with a level of technical advancement similar or comparable to our own currently, in fact" she says this as she quickly shows another astrometric Holo-Screen of the currently explored and charted regions of the galaxy "Even as far as our Cylon related discoveries are concerned we've only seen 1st Empire centurion models up to 0005 or 0008 with only basic Hyperspeed capability." After pausing for a few seconds she begins to add again "However..There are only a few records on this within the Colonial Defense Mainframe and even to many Cylons it is only a legend."
As she says this she reveals her command defense access keycard and places it within a slot at the side of the Datastream panel
Athena - "Access request Athena (Series, dash-8, dash 180) integrated command system for record EC War 1, dash 11021-8."
Panel - "Access granted"
As the panel responds yet another large Holo-Image appears in front of them however it is different in both shape and size it appeared to be a Cylon basestar however it was in spacial dimensions and characteristics far larger than any basestar than any of them had ever seen before, even bigger than a HyperStar.
Jack- What in Gods name is that?"
Athena- That Commander, has no official designation however it was only known to the 1st Galactican fleet as a StarFalcon."
Athena began to rotate the image as she continued her explanation "The StarFalcon as it was known was considered to be the central command ship and communications hub for all 1st Imperial Cylon forces during the 1st and 2nd Earth/Cylon Wars, however only brief glimpses and rumored Colonial reports of the ship are the only records that this ship exists. And many Cylons both civilian and military believe that this ship or this type of ship is still used as the central conveyance for many Inviere family members."
Jack - "Why wouldn't other Cylons know about it?"
Athena - "Commander the central Cyberarchy would not tell all Cylons of all of their most vital defense secrets no differently than most Humans don't know the nuclear launch codes of the Imperial planetary defense system."
Cassandra - "So the question now is who or what is using this ship and how is only 1 ship no matter how large creating an entire net of HyperJump corridors?"
Athena - "As to who is operating it that I cannot really say however the explanation as to how the net was created is the same as the answer to how they created the illusion of an army of reinforcements, Jump capable mobile weapons platforms."
Michael - "Very interesting theory, it would answer a few questions. But nevertheless a ship of such importance would have an escort fleet... unless it was a rogue." Michael's brow crinkled as he planned ahead.
Cassandra -' "Jack we still have those ship frames don't we?"
Jack - "Sure after you ordered them here for this emergency they had no time to disassemble those ship decoys."
Cassandra - "Call them back and tell them to start rigging up those empty ships with Life Support and an emergency QuantumJump core, also start to order all nearby Viper fighter squads near to them to remove their Cylon Jump cores and Bio-Neural integrated CORA Circuitry and prepare for Combat Jump.
Jack - "Without that circuitry our fighters will be flying half blind."
Cassandra - "Well if fighter pilots during the 1st Cylon war could do it without CORA so could they. Just tell them it's a form of "Advanced Training"."
Jack - "Yes Ma'am"
Cassandra turns back to the remaining command crew - "Well if any more of you have any more ideas nows the time to say them."
Michael - "An attempt to gain control of this technology, if not destroy it, seems to be a valuable use of materials. However, there is also the possibility of us rescuing our captured crew/ships so we don't tie up the resurrection and construction hubs. Therefore I recommend a 2-team strike force."
As Michael laid his plan Cassandra began to fiddle with her long folded knife that was in her pocket, the blade was given to her by her father on a camping trip shortly before her departure for the Imperial Academy and as she rolled the handle along her slender fingers she suddenly had an idea - "Thats it!, of course why didn't I think of that before!"
As she said this she ran up the length of the bridges upper deck - "Of course, Camping!"
'Jack (Appearing puzzled) - "Come again Cap?"
Cassandra - "Just a little trick my father taught me, Athena have we contacted the other ships that Jumped with us to see if they lost any resources?"
Athena - "Yes Captain all have lost at least 20% to 30% of their current resources except for 1 the Mercury."
Cassandra - "Of Course they always automatically activate their EPR Cloak even within Jump flight, Athena contact them to take another cloaked sniper position at a maximum of 50 parsecs from our position"
Athena - "Yes captain."
Cassandra nearly runs to the nearest UniCom panel - "Sand can you backtrack your last Jump coordinate path and reopen that last temporal corridor?"
Sandstrom - "Yes Captain I believe I can."
Cassandra - "Athena remember when they used to explain what happened to explosive matter when it would be accidentally dragged into a Quantum corridor along with a ship back at the academy?"
Athena - "Why yes captain any energetic or reactive matter that would be attracted by the vacuum of a Quantum Jump would automatically be forced back and dispersed by the ships temporal inertia buffers and slowly and harmlessly dispersed throughout into various open parts of space."
Cassandra - "Exactly, order all currently docked Mega-Raptors into combat defensive position and get ready also prep main EM Counter field. Jack are all decoy ships fully prepped."
Jack - "As ready as their ever going to be right now, and awaiting your word Commander"
Cassandra quickly walked back down to the main deck and grabbed the central UniCom mic. "This is Ships Comm we are at Com Level 4 repeat we are at Com Level 4 this is not a drill all crew report to battle stations."
The crew officers all on deck began to quickly run to their respective posts then Cassandra quickly changed buttons on her mic - "Sand open external Temporal Jump corridor from last position." She then looks in the general direction of Jack "Jack order the decoys into the net area"
Sandstrom - "By your command"
Jack - "Aye Captain."
As almost as instantly as both say this 1st the 4 Trojan Horses simultaneously jump into the field area then Sandstrom generates another temporal burst in front of them. As this happens in less than a second the remnants of the explosive created sun burst forth from the small aperture in space-time slowly breeching towards them and as this happens suddenly the Phoenix's sensory screen comes alive with activity."
Deck Officer - "Captain were getting DRADIS contact were reading 4 basestars Series 101 exiting the Jump corridor along with at least 5 older series raiders..however..."
Cassandra - "Yes.."
Deck Officer - "Were also reading at least 25 large and armed objects across at least a 25 parsec range also all ships seem to be read as a somewhat larger configuration and signature of the ships in front of us and several smaller 100 or so ships around them also many of the inbound seem to be equipped with Particle Lazers and some heavy munitions."
Jack - "its possible that those smaller craft could be the Jump net generators."
Cassandra - "Force Shields up power up EM Cannons and prep Mass Packets for launch."
Jack monitors the activity within the field - "some of the fighter squads seem to be under fire from something on the other side of the field but they're holding on."
Suddenly 1 of the main basestars fires a barrage at the Phoenix the beams slam against the ships top side.
Cassandra - "They don't seem to like us very much do they, fire EM Cannons NOW!"
As the cannons fire across the side of the older ship their shields seem to easily collapse as several mini explosions rip across the upper side making the enemy combatant suddenly seem to lean forward and quickly yield after only 1 volley. As soon as this happens its fellow ships quickly group in along with the raiders to act as a shield to protect their disabled craft and begin firing on the Phoenix again.
The Phoenix violently rocks forward with the impact of the lazer fire.
Jack - They seem to be trying to concentrate their fire on a single point of our shields in an attempt to weaken its integrity!"
Cassandra - "Thats it open left and forward particle lasers on low medium yield and order the Mercury to start taking those other ships around their defense perimeter out."
As the Phoenix opens its more powerful weapons the lazer strikes nearly seem to tear and forcefully lift apart the enemy ships hull as if it were paper
Cassandra - "Order the Mega-Raptors to begin disabling all nearby bandits and start restraining them with tractor beams" She then reaches back to the UniCom mic "Commander Inviere target the hostiles weapons turrets to prevent them from attacking any further."
Deck Officer - "Captain were getting DRADIS contact now on several 100 fighters coming in from somewhere above the net."
Cassandra - "Theirs?"
After checking the screen for a second… "No Ma'am its Blue Squad!"
Suddenly a large portion of seemingly empty space in front of the Phoenix fills with streams of rapid fire lazer fire and torpedo barrages which instantly take out many of the heavy weapons ships in front and several of the raiders making them spiral out into open space.
In an instant a Mark VII Viper suddenly materializes in a flash between the Phoenix and the attacking baseships and opens a hard rain of Lazer Torpedos against the bow of the basestars then suddenly a voice appears over the UniCom.
Voice - "This is Starbuck to Phoenix Actual is this a private party or is anyone invited?"
Cassandra - "Glad to hear you again Commander this is Phoenix Actual pull back your fire we…"
Before Cassandra could finish her sentence Starbuck suddenly began firing her forward lazers at full power and spread. While a more current ship could take the force of a direct hit of such impact an older ship would more likely fold and collapse with the force of the blast and since the enemy craft was already severely damaged it could completely blow apart.
Cassandra - "Starbuck Wait…!"
As the fighters lazers hit across the surface of the basestar a thankful and some would say miraculous occurrence happened instead of the ship being totally destroyed it appeared to only somewhat fold into itself and lurch backward from the fray.
Cassandra - "For the love of Kobol..CORA grab that ship with multiple tractor beams before it moves out of our reach."
CORA - "Understood captain Tractor Grid targeting and activated."
Green energy beams fire from the Phoenix's bow and begin to slowly pull in the damaged basestar.
Cassandra (Back to UniCom) - "For Gods sake Starbuck tell your squad to lower your weapons yield we may have some our ships integral components aboard 1 of those ships.
Starbuck - "Frak, all right you all heard her lazers and torpedos on medium yield only, 12 coordinate and surround all incoming with auto fighters and secure the perimeter!."
12 (Blue Squad wingman) - "By your command Commander," as he says this he spins his Heavy Raider into a hard barreling right roll with a large tight group of auto fighters following close behind.
Deck Officer (abruptly) - "Captain..!!."
Cassandra - "Report!"
Deck Officer - "Were getting new DRADIS contact coming from the Jump corridor, it's not ours and its huge."
Cassandra - Could it be?"
Suddenly an elongated structure like a massive curved downward metallic spire erupts from the quantum fissure then another and another. As the massive glittering spiked scaffolding emerged from the temporal abyss it seemed more vast in dimensions than what was seen on the comparatively small Holo-Image the bulk, dwarfed even the escort of basestars around it making them appear as if they were fighters by comparison instead of command ships. Below the circular configuration of mass spires it appeared to have what seemed to be a large Solenium Crystal sphere precisely placed above a moderately smaller basestar disk which held the imposing horrific mass at top.
Jack - "That's the StarFalcon? Shouldn't it be called the StarKiller??"
Deck Officer - "Uh, sir. This does not make any sense at all. We are getting friendly DRADIS contact within the hostile contact. It's jamming our friend-or-foe systems."
Michael - "That's it!" (Into collar-microphone) "Team El-Shaddai, you are go for hot EVAC. Cassandra, would you mind giving my boys a lift?"
Cassandra - "Not at all" (you can add more OFC)
Michael left the command section and met up with his Special Operations team before they loaded up into a Stealth Raptor and left for the StarFalcon
The monstrous StarFalcon came into view. While the other ships attempted to run point-defense for it and even tried to open a firing angle for its main guns, the StarFalcon seemed to ignore them completely. It maintained its path straight for the Phoenix even to the point of ramming a basestar that did not evade fast enough. The massive ship-killer came to a rest less than a thousand yards from the Phoenix and then began emitting clouds of fighters — an ancient and advanced model never seen before. The fighters simply began destroying any mass and intercepting any beam regardless of origin or destination that passed by the area. The gigantic ship ignored all damage to itself while energy built along its forward sections until the stored charge was visibly about to be fired.
Cassandra - "That's it, time to GO. CORA, get us out of here."
The Phoenix attempted to jump, then move, and finally to turn; all to no avail. On the other hand, it seemed the only ships with any motive power, or any power for that matter, were the ancient fighters.
Deck Officer - "Sorry sir. All our power, and those of all nearby ships both friendly and enemy, is being drained into that weapon system pointed at us. Plus, I think the weapon is draining power from the Jump corridors."
Jack - "Look! Its even draining the energy from the local solar systems and black holes! I don't even want to think what the power level of that blast will be like when it finally fires."
Cassandra - "All right tell me what systems if any are still operational!"
Deck Officer - "Well besides our few non-electric emergency systems that are keeping us alive right now our communication is basic non-electro extreme close ship to ship communication and a few emergency chemical propelled missiles."
Cassandra (giving a small sigh)- "First we need to contact any nearby ships or fighters and what in Gods name happened to our long range hand wireless units?"
Deck Officer - "Their still in storage bay 1 along with some defensive system parts we haven't even used yet."
Cassandra - "What unused system parts?"
Deck Officer - "A new Quantum shield created by Imperial Colonial research in case of a theoretical temporal loop which would protect us from any large temporal changes and a few new weapons systems.
Cassandra - "And why weren't any of these new systems put in?"
Deck Officer - "Well Ma'am they never thought we would need any of this because of our scientific..." Before the officer could finish Cassandra began to shout in a short lived fury.
Cassandra - "For Gods sake all right someone check those components and For the Love of Kobol someone please grab a wireless unit so I can contact Commodore Atradies before he blows up Now!"
Security Officer - "Yes Ma'am."
Jack - "Sorry to Interrupt Captain but there's still a giant ship outside about to vaporize both us and possibly the Solar system next to us and I was hoping you had some ideas?"
Cassandra (after thinking for only less than a second)- "All right you said that the ship was drawing in power from all nearby power sources including us?"
Jack - "Thats right."
Athena - "What are you thinking?"
Cassandra - "Im thinking how about giving our problem out their indigestion." As she said this she quickly ran to the Bridges tactical section "How is the power situation with our heavy munitions systems?"
Tactical Officer - "Obviously all of our directed energy systems are out and most of our energy projectile systems were probably drained of a majority of its energy core supply."
Cassandra - "What about our Solenium Warheads?"
Tactical Officer - "They were most likely drained as well."
Cassandra - "If they are at least at only half power what if we launched more than one missile directly at them?"
Tactical Officer - "Ma'am?"
Athena - "Hmm..it could work if several warheads were fired directly at the crystal sphere at the bottom of the ship the combined explosion may just overload its energy absorption process, however.…
Cassandra - "However..Again?"
Athena - "Yes Captain However if it succeeds there is a possibility that the detonation may take us with it."
Jack - "Doesn't sound like much of an option."
Cassandra - "Well you know the old maxim "no Sacrifice no Victory" but heres hoping that we all live to tell our grandchildren." She walks back to the center of the Command Deck and then again grabs the UniCom Mic again. "This is Ships comm prepare all Solenium Warheads for chem. prop launch and replace all missiles in jettison tubes 9, 10, 38, and 42. This is a final order."
Unnoticed and ignored by the other ships, a single Stealth Raptor emerges from the fray and rapidly carries its cargo to the massive ship. Like its brethren, the power is drained from the Raptor, but not before it eludes the enemy fighters and prepares to impact the hull of the StarFalcon
Michael - "Ok people, we have an unknown number of friendlies captured and held prisoner by the enemy. We are going to penetrate their hull and..."
Pilot - "Excuse me sir, but we are losing impact speed."
Michael - "WHAT?"
CoPilot - "Instruments show all kinetic and thermal energy outside the hostile ship is also being absorbed into the weapon system. In other words sir, it's going to get really cold, very soon unless someone can stop that energy drain."
Pilot - "Impact in 3...2...1... Impact!"
The Stealth Raptor had extended a boarding spike and had accelerated towards the enemy. The spike had now been slammed into the hull, but could not penetrate past a few feet of the countless yards of armor between their spike and any internal room or hallway. The impact did, however, alert the built-in point-defense turrets that speckled the mammoth ship and alerted them to a threat which they had missed.
Michael - "Okay, what just happened?"
CoPilot - "Sorry sir, but the StarFalcon appears to be formed of a material with negative atomic weight — it was extracted from one of the largest black holes, processed and strengthened at a subatomic level, and slowly built into something with enough endurance to withstand anything either we or the cylons could think of."
Michael - "So we can't punch through... Pilot, get us clear and then Jump with as many biomechanical components active as possible."
Pilot - "Yes sir, but won't we be captured?"
Michael - "That's the point, now spin her up!"
Detonating the boarding spike, the Stealth Raptor backed up, and then disappeared in a flash of light.
Just a few miles away from the Phoenix the majority of blue squad has sputtered into a silent float throughout the large spacial region within her command Viper, Starbuck desperately and frantically presses, pounds, and switches on and off every button and touch screen control that the tiny craft contains meanwhile she can clearly see the seemingly endless waves of raiders coming at near full speed towards them.
Starbuck - "Frak, Frak, Frak! What the hell is going on!" Her frustration seems to grow as she continues her attempt to access more systems. Finally after slumping back in somewhat defeat she remembered to check on her Cylon Jump core Celestia.
All high ranking Imperial Viper pilots are given their own Humanoid Cylon Jump Core typically by either their 3rd or 4th year of Duty. Cylon Jump Cores were placed as the primary FTL system and replacement of a basic Human Co-Pilot mainly due to a Jump cores tactical intelligence and high maneuverability, however somewhat alike to Sandstrom Celestia has always had a more outspoken personality than most Jump cores however due to this level of personal interaction that has allowed Starbuck to rely on her efficiency and instinctive Co-Piloting however now she was incapable of even opening her eyes as she sat in a near comatose state. Starbuck tries to rouse awake the unconscious Jump core.
Starbuck (as she tries to shake Celestia) - "For Gods sake! Come on Cel up and at em."
Celestia - "Co..Comman.…" Before she can even start her sentence her body and hands go limp making Starbucks efforts futile.
Starbuck (Turning back to the cockpit and says semi-silently) - "Crap!" As she said this she began trying every communications system on the fighter in a desperate attempt to contact anyone within the sound of her speaking voice. "This is Starbuck to Phoenix Actual do you read I have no power and even Jump capability is out and Im seeing about several 100 thousand raiders coming our way, repeat this is Starbuck to Actual do you read? Only silence "Starbuck to 12 do you copy, Repeat this is Phoenix CSG to any ship within contact range can you read?" She looks out again to see the mass of fighters become even more closer. "For Gods sake if someone doesn't want to blow up Right Now do you read?"
Suddenly again out of the corner of her eye Starbuck sees what appears to be several dozen streaks of missile exhaust fire from the Phoenix's sides and bow.
As if Starbuck already knows what is going on she shouts back now using the fighters wireless comm. - "Oh Frak this is Blue comm if you can hear this use your emergency propulsion and head as far as you can out of the blast radius." As she says this she releases open a small plastic panel at her side, inside was a small joystick which activated the fighters basic particle gas propulsion system and as hard as she can blasts her small craft away from the possible catastrophic blast as far as she can seemingly followed by several other vipers close behind.
Cassandra - "ETA for missile impact and detonation?"
Deck Officer - "10 Sectons, 9.1 Nano-Sectons"
Jack - "Those Fighters are trying to intercept the warheads."
Cassandra - "Remotely increase speed and prepare for remote detonation."
Deck Officer - "Aye Ma'am." As he says this he increases the warheads speed with the ships wireless remote system the only weapons control left on the ship.
Jack - "Warhead power core levels dropping."
Cassandra - "Frak we've got no other choice detonate those missiles NOW."
Deck Officer - "Aye Captain, detonating warheads now."
In less than a second the entire area is covered by the blinding light of the solar powered explosion, within those few nano-seconds several 100 thousand raiders that stood in front of the massive Cylon baseship are atomized in an instant along with 2 of the older escort basestars. However almost miraculously the Phoenix along with a majority of the portion of the fleet with it is tossed 2 parsecs away from the central brunt of the blast. And also in that same instant the mass solar inferno behind them shrinks and disappears into infinity almost as if it had never existed at all leaving only a mass blastwave in its wake which slammed quickly over the tossed ships now randomly floating in different directions.
Cassandra picked herself from the floor after the violent movement of the ship had stopped and after gathering her bearings she seen out of the ships main now working main screen that everything was gone, The StarFalcon, its fighters, the Solenium explosion, Everything. Which led to it's only logical question.
Cassandra - "What the Frak just happened?"
Act 3[]
Cassandra (visibly upset) - "Someone report now and tell me what in Gods name just happened and where are we?"
Various Deck Officers were checking and rechecking various ship systems and controls when suddenly one of them spoke - "It appears were just 2 parsecs distance from the warheads blast radius!"
Another Officer spoke up. - "All Viper squads are reporting and coming in for dock however we don't know what happened to the StarFalcon or its current position."
Cassandra seems to compose herself for nearly a minute then after taking a slow deep breath begins again - "All right whatever Viper squad thats still functional send out at best possible speed to the blast area and perform recon to see if anything or anyone is still there. Finally is everyone here all right?"
Jack - "Well I still seem to have all of my fingers and toes?"
Athena picks herself up off from the floor after being thrown by the blast - "I appear to be functioning as well as can be expected."
Deck Officer - "Power seems to be increasing by a minimum of 30% after we were exposed to the light from the detonation."
Cassandra - Do we have enough power to Jump out of here?"
Deck Officer - "Most likely but since our Jump core was knocked unconscious by that mass weapon all we can do for now is use our emergency auto Jump core."
Cassandra - "All right thats fine, Athena report what have we lost and what do we have?"
Athena (who was looking over various holo-screens of ships inventory and systems status) - "Along with several 100 auto-fighters and the still missing critical ship components 2 WarStars the Hydra and Medusa as well as our still missing Commodore Atradies."
Jack - "Both of our Cylon ships are gone? Thats not good."
Athena - "Yes but we still have that outside." As Athena points to the general direction of outside view from the Main screen the damaged older basestar was still in a silent hover near to the Phoenix. Surprisingly still relatively intact after the pounding it withstood.
Cassandra - "All right then we have no choice send out the recon squad and prepare for Jump to the Coordinates of the Betelgeuse's position and then order all of the rest of the fleet there as well we cant take any risks or chances. Ill be in my ready room"
As Cassandra walks out of the command core Athena quickly turns to ask - "What if any other plans do you have captain."
Cassandra - "1st Im going to try to contact Imperial Command of whats happened right now and finally (after a short pause) Im bringing the fleet home."
Act 4 (Epilogue)[]
The Stealth Raptor reappeared inside a giant hanger bay filled with the stolen materials. Outside the Stealth Raptor, they could see the captured Cylon components moving towards them.
Pilot - "Sir, we made it!"
Michael - "Excellent, now get everything onboard."
Working quickly, the team rapidly loaded their things onboard until a hand emerged from the rubble
Henry - "Thank you for finding me."
Michael - "We do not leave our people behind, ever."
Henry - "I was able to learn much while I was waiting for you."
CoPilot - "How about a way out of here?"
Henry - "Well, I tried placing a few charges by control pyramids, but a dampening field prevented any damage. So I tried hacking in but..."
Pilot - "Do we have a way out of here?"
Henry - "Yes, the garbage incinerator."
Henry led them to a giant chute that led to a molecular furnace that melted down trash. He then pointed to a much smaller emergency heat vent.
Henry - "Because this is a non-critical system..."
Michael - "Way ahead of you. Pilot, can we fit?"
With a grin, the Pilot led the way back to the Stealth Raptor and a few minutes later was going as fast as possible in sub-light speed away from the Star Falcon
Pilot - "That should do it, we are clear of the net. Where to sir?"
With a look of mixed relief and worry, Michael gazed back at the horror they had just left.
Michael - "The Betelgeuse, and home...I expect we have some questions to answer."