With this important piece of info fresh in his mind, Lee quickly shut off his engines, and spun his Viper around 180-degrees and opened fire, reducing the Cylon Raider to mere scrap in seconds. Powering his engines back up, he raced towards another group of Raiders making their way towards Galactica.
Meanwhile, in Galactica’s CIC, the FTL techs were quickly calculating an emergency jump while Adama and Tigh coordinated to Viper attacks. Through it all Asrial was on the comm coordinating the assault the Salusian ships were making.
Commander Adama had assumed Asrial was busy with that, so he was a bit surprised when Asrial handed him a printout, “What’s this?”
“Coordinates for a deep space station that’s under heavy guard. Best place for us to head to for the time being.”
“You want us to jump to this station?”
“Yes. Quickly.”
“Commander!” Lieutenant Gaeta called over from his position, “One of the Salusian ships has just been destroyed.”
“Dammit!” Asrial cursed, “I was afraid of this. Their defenses are no good against those Raiders. They’re too quick.”
As the battle surged on, Adama looked at the coordinates Asrial had handed him, then up at the tactical board. He seemed to tune out Tigh and Asrial trying to figure out a counterattack plan.
Then he made his decision.
“Lieutenant Gaeta! Order the Vipers to cover the remaining Salusian ships. Colonel Tigh, plot a jump to the coordinates Asrial’s given us. WE need to get out of here. Now.”
The orders were relayed to the squadrons, and Apollo went about his duties, quickly assigning groups to specific areas, “New orders from Galactica, we need to provide cover for the Salusians. Red group, come with me. Starbuck, take blue group and cover the Galactica. Hotdog, take gold group and cover the Northwind Highlander.”
As the Vipers split up, Captain Kell was not unaware of the tactical situation. His ship had already taken some nasty blows, itself, and he was quite aware that their lack of strong point defenses was at fault. These ships had been built to destroy Zardonian war frigates, not nimble little fighter planes.
“Captain, Galactica has redirected several of its fighters to provide us with cover.” The Tactical officer reported.
{Well, thank goodness for small favors.} The Captain thought, {But its not going to be enough.}
The captain’s thoughts rang true as the second Salusian ship went up in a bright ball of fire. Apollo’s group had been unable to reach it in time.
“Captain, our entire starboard firing system has been destroyed!”
“Dammit! Helm, aim our bow at that ship! Open fire from all forward cannons!”
Hotdog’s group was joined by half of Apollo’s group –the other half went to cover Galactica with Starbuck’s team- and began picking off the Raiders. The bulk of the fighters covered the Highlander’s now-defenseless starboard side.
Then the first bit of good news came – FTL calculations had been finished and the civilian ships were finally making their jumps. One by one the ships, being covered by the two remaining warships, flashed out of the area. The Cylons noticed this and launched more Raiders from the Base Star, pressing the remaining defenses even harder.
This harder push was felt hardest by the Northwind Highlander.
“Captain, our front cannons our down! Our fire control is down to 25%!”
“DAMN! Abandon ship!!! WE’RE GONNA RAM THAT THING!!!!”
Galactica CIC…
“Commander, the Northwind Higlander has increased speed! Its heading towards the Base Star!”
“Galactica, Apollo. The Highlander is deploying several escape shuttles. They’re heading towards the Galactica.”
“Get as many of the units on board as you can. Fleet status?”
“All civilian ships are away, including Colonial One.”
Adama turned to the Salusian ambassador, “The next move is yours. Do we recall our Vipers and jump, or try to recover all your people first?”
Asrial took a moment to examine the tactical board. Not even a fourth of the escape ships had made it to Galactica. God, she hated having to make these kinds of choices. It wasn’t her first time, either. But experience had sharpened her ability to think. It took her five seconds to make up her mind. “Recall the Vipers. Your people’s safety takes priority.”
“D, you heard her.”
“Galactica to all Vipers, break off and return to ship.”
“You must be joking!” Hotdog’s voice came across the comm, “there are still escape ships out here! We can’t leave them!”
“Hotdog, Apollo. You were given a direct order. Return to Galactica immediately.”
“Frak… Understood, sir. Returning to ship.”
By the time the Vipers were all aboard, just under half the Salusian escape ships had landed on Galactica. However, as ordered, the landing bays were retracted once all the Vipers were on board.
As the landing bays closed, the Northwind Highlander was destroyed. It never made it to the Base Star.
“The board is green.” Gaeta reported, “Ship reports ready to go as soon as landing bays are secured.”
With all the opposition exception Galactica’s point defenses out of the way, the Cylons launched all their remaining Vipers, desperate to take out the ship before it jumped.
They were too late.
“Landing decks secure!”
“JUMP!”
And then the Galactica was gone.
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(Posted Sat, 07 May 2005 08:02)
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