Death of the Andraste!

The Cylons were created by Man.

They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies.

And then the day came when the Cylons decided to kill their masters.

After a long and bloody struggle, an armistice was declared.

The Cylons left for another world to call their own.

A remote space station was built...

...where Cylon and Human could meet and maintain diplomatic relations.

Every year, the Colonials send an officer.

The Cylons send no one.

No one has seen or heard from the Cylons in over forty years...

Until Now.

Near the Armistice line:

Thirty minutes before the attack:

BSG-14:

CIC Andraste:

Near the fabled armistice line, the flagship of the Colonial fleet slowly cruised through space at half power. The mighty Andraste, designed as the fleet command ship, was a one of a kind warship. So powerful, that the Colonial Council would only authorize one of the ships. It was rumored, because of her cost, that her FTL systems alone cost the same as one of the old Manticore class Battlestars from the first war.

Her advanced communication and computer system was could only be compared to the new Battlestar Fenris that had come online last month or to the new Titans. Her fire power was equal to the two Titan class Battlestars and her half-dozen landing bays were able to handle several hundred Vipers. In fact she carried fifteen squadrons of Mark VII Vipers, one hundred Raptors, forty heavy lifters, thirty air-to-air refulers, and ten heavy shuttles with another fifty Vipers as an emergency reserve.

She had extensive manufacturing facilities for all her small craft as well as all her ammo. She could fabricate new components for the ship from I-beams to armor to desks and chairs. Her crew was just over nine thousand with an additional thousand marines for internal defense.

The Andraste was accompanied by the Battlestars Hope, Whisper and Bengal with their escort ships. The Hope was a new Nova class Battlestar while the Whisper and Bengal were two of the old Armageddon class escort Battlestars soon to be retired. There were six Titan class Gunstars, the Pan, Pandora, Admiral Gallant, Falk, Renown, and Archer, which were their primary anti-fighter and missile defense and were situated at all points of the compass around the fleet. The four Pandarus Light Strike Star's were their heavy missile ships and were the inner defense to the Battlestars; they were named the Rowan, Oak, Saber and Swift.

Sixty-four year old Admiral Jeremiah Delphi watched the main screen that showed the research shuttle heading towards the Hades comet that was heading towards the colonies and would arrive there in five thousand years.

"Tell the shuttle no closer than three hundred miles," Jeremiah ordered as he watched the Dradis screen.

"Yes, Sir," came the reply.

On the screen the mile wide comet tumbled towards the colonies while the small shuttle turned onto its side, and the top deck opened to reveal a large telescope that swung out to observe the icy rock. For the next twenty minutes the comet was scanned and information gathered from the frozen rock core.

"Sir, we're getting telemetry from the shuttle as well as the disposition of the core from the sensors," came from the sensor station.

"Good, what is the disposition?" Jeremiah asked as he looked over at Lieutenant Jason Hudson.

"Thirty percent rock, nineteen percent ice, some gold, silver and… Tylium almost forty percent," he replied.

"Dradis contact at extreme range. One forty, negative thirty-seven Azimuth," came the report from the lower deck.

"Who is it?"

"No transponder, waiting on communications," came the reply.

Jeremiah stood up and walked to the railing. Looking down at the Dradis screen, he saw the highlighted icon. It was close to the armistice line, in fact if the screen was right, it was right on top of it.

As he watched the screen, his mind was racing. "Commander Jewel, I think this is a good time for a practice drill. So while we wait for identification. Let's bring the fleet to Red Omega One. Use plan baker-one-nine," he ordered.

The red headed woman who was the captain of the Andraste nodded her head as she picked up her handset and started speaking. "This is Commander Jewel of the Andraste; all hands set condition one throughout the fleet. Prepare decks for emergency launch of the alert Vipers. All CSAR Raptors are to be brought online and be prepared to launch…"

"Sir, unknown ship is launching small craft. Estimated count three hundred and climbing," came the reply.

Jeremiah picked up his handset and said, "This is the flag. All ships open fire. Launch all Vipers…"

"Vipers launching, all decks, all ships. Gunstars are firing anti-fighter missiles. Strike Stars firing missiles in salvos…"

"Sir, they're Cylons or I think they are. The configuration on the small craft is all wrong and the larger ship is definitely not like their old baseship…" the man making the report screamed as two of the marines standing by the door raised their machine-pistols and started firing into the CIC crew as the ships systems started flickering.

Two of Admiral Delphi's personal guard grabbed the Admiral and hustled him out of the room as the rest opened fire on the traitors. He was dragged down the hall with the rest of the command staff and hurled into the emergency command room. Bullets started flying past them as the two guards stepped into the room slamming the hatch shut.

"What the Frak is going on?" he shouted as he scrambled to his feet.

Major Ashton didn't respond, just flipped the special latch that sealed the room from all intruders. On the other side of the door, an armored bulkhead slid down in front of the door as another fell on the inside.

"Sir, I don't know. I think you should start activating the room's computers and find…"

The ship shuddered as a nuclear missile slammed into the side of the ship.

"Man your stations. Get me a link to the other ships; divert all Dradis reports to the emergency CIC! Send a message to Picon Fleet about the attack," Admiral Delphi ordered as he walked over to the screen.

"Sir, long range communications are off line!"

John watched the screen flicker to life as he silently cursed the toaster. The image showed the battle or slaughter as they watched. The screening units were trying to defend the Battlestars Hope, Whisper and Bengal with them not returning fire.

"What the hell is going on with our ships?" John asked as he saw a missile hit the Whisper and the bow crumbled under the nuclear detonation.

"Sir, reports are coming in from the Gunstars, they report all Vipers, and Battlestars Hope, Whisper and Bengal shut down after a coded transmission from the Raiders… Sir, we've been infected; secondary systems are shutting down including all weapons. I estimate five minutes until all systems have shut down and we're dead in space."

"Get them back online. Order all ships to use nuclear weapons. We have to cover those…"

A blinding explosion came from the Battlestar Whisper as she blew up with all the fury of a super nova. When the screen reformed, it showed hundreds of missiles closing on the crippled Bengal.

"Can we jump?" John asked.

"Checking, we have minimum power to engines, but the FTL is spooling up from issuing your Red Omega One order. Five minutes top!" replied Captain James Miller the CAG of the ship.

"Thank you James, order all Vipers to land…" off to port, a Gunstar exploded as sixteen Cylon Raiders slammed into its portside.

"All remaining Vipers are returning. Heavy damage to Cylon baseship, estimated loss to enemy small craft is six hundred and twelve. Baseship has jumped but she launched another three hundred Raiders at us before doing so."

"How did they hack us?" John asked.

"Through the CNP," came the reply.

"Shit…" he said and then thought to himself, 'How do we recover our Vipers?' and then an idea hit him.

"How many FTL drones do we have aboard? And do we still have control of the launchers?"

Captain James Miller turned to another board and his fingers flew over the controls as he replied, "Sir, we have five hundred of the drones onboard and we have control of them. Frak, just lost control of auxiliary control room six!"

"Good, program them with baker nine jump fourteen. Set them to find the nearest disabled Viper and snag them with their magnetic locks. They are then to jump to that location. Notify all ships to jump there and contact Picon Fleet Headquarters and tell them what is going on…"

"Three more baseships just jumped in. They're firing missiles and launching Raiders!"

"Sir, the ship is venting space through the virus. Two minutes till depletion of all oxygen. The crew is scrambling for life masks and tanks."

Andraste shuddered as six more missiles slammed into her side and her engines faltered.

"Ok everyone, get a mask on and let's keep doing our job. Get me my weapons," John ordered as one of his guards handed him a mask and tank.

"Sir, engines off line!"

"Get them back online," John ordered.

"Trying!" the young ensign on her first deployment replied as tears ran down her face.

John went flying as the ship heaved under a triple nuclear hit to the bow. Molten plasma raced across the ship's bow, burning away the ship's name and blackening the hull. Climbing to his feet, he looked at the Dradis board and it showed her escort ships dying as they tried to cover the ship, but with the arrival of three more baseships John knew the battle was lost. With three fourths of his Battlestars off line or destroyed, his fighter wings gutted it was only a matter of time."

"Sir, Hope has her FTL on line. Spooling up now. They've started recovering their fighters," the communications officer reported as four more nuclear missiles hit the Bengal.

"Engines online, weapons online," came a startled shout.

"Good, take us towards the enemy all batteries open fire. Send the following orders to the Bengal, if they can, they're to abandon ship, and have the Rowan and Oak to close and lock onto her starboard side and rescue as many of her crew as possible.

Andraste turned her massive bow towards the enemy fleet. Cutting through the fields of debris like an ancient sailing ship on the ocean she closed with the trio of baseships. Her mighty bow guns came online and started spitting death at the center ship. Explosions detonated from the Andraste hull as every enemy missile and Raider turned towards the Andraste. Some slammed into the ship trying to stop her but most were destroyed by her automatic defense stations.

"Sir, Rowan and Oak have rescued nine hundred and twelve of the Bengal's crew. Most are critical. Captain Slyer refuses to leave. He says may we die with honor," the communications officer reported.

On each side of the ship, drones launched from their launchers and raced through the hundreds of disabled ships. Quickly latching onto them, they vanished into FTL in a blink of an eye as their mothership hurtled towards her death. Behind her, the escort ships vanished as their FTL drives spooled up and they jumped. A large explosion blossomed behind them, blinding the rear Dradis scanners.

"Sir, the Hope and Bengal are gone…"

"Sir, central baseship has been destroyed!" came the shout from the weapons officer.

"Take us between them, and may the Lords of Kobol protect us!" John replied.

"We are splitting their battle line, enemy missile fire is intensifying," James reported.

Andraste shuddered as missile after missile slammed into the ship while her guns ripped apart the two enemy ships. Explosions detonated on the armor hide of the Andraste as her main guns fired on the baseships while her defense guns fired on the incoming missiles.

John was flung across the Dradis station as his ship heaved and yawed as she tried to take out her enemy and survive. Another baseship had appeared directly ahead and he ordered the bow guns to fire once more as he staggered to his feet.

With another hit, John went flying once more across the room, knocking the engineering officer and weapons officer away from their terminals as he landed on them. Smoke started filling the room as the stunned crew moved to help their beloved admiral.

For three minutes all four ships danced the dance of death and then a blinding flash, that one day would be seen on Picon, if anyone was still alive there, flooded the quadrant as four giant ships died.

First Edited by Bill Lewis

Final Edit By

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