Battlestar Mercury Book 3 “Logistics” Chapter 27 “Skirmish”

Task Force 87 Avenger & Zeus Valkyrie Class

Commanders log book: Battlestar Avenger. Class Valkyrie.

Commander Charles “Beans” Baker recording. “Before the war, I was a flight instructor at the fleet academy. After being rescued and discovered by the new Colonial fleet, my service as a bridge officer on a Valkyrie class battlestar a decade earlier naturally made me the ideal candidate to command this ship, ten days after commission in our mobile, FTL capable shipyard.

Our ships systems are barely working, software and hardware glitches driving our engineering team up one bulkhead and down the other we begin our mission. Due to the fact that I actually logged 6 hours in the fleet simulator, I have been given task force 87, currently composed of the Avenger and the Zeus.

Our mission is to seek out and destroy easy targets, so the Cylons are by some miracle distracted from the facts. Two thirds of our Mercury battlestar capacity is sitting in the shipyard, crippled and undergoing frantic repairs. Only Athena and the 50 year old Solaria remain and are currently tasked to protect the shipyard.

We have our first target, a lone Cylon base star, brought back by a recon raptor. Our air wing is veteran, composed of pilots from the Mercury and Saturn. It is still taking time, getting used to the smaller landing decks of the Valkyrie class. Our viper launches are forward, and many Mercury Class based pilots find that disorienting.

2:06

“DRADIS reports one Modern Cylon base star, launching raiders.”

“Flight deck is ready launch birds, both battlestars.”

3:29 “Air wing, call sign Grace. Form up and get ready for action.”

3:53 “CAG, Grace We are engaging the raiders.”

3:55 “Commander, the base stars air wing is charging, making a run at us.”

“Crash turn to port,” Baker ordered, following a script given him by command. “Lets get the point defense guns and everything a broadside on those raiders. Stand by flak, we may get lucky and surprise them.”

His executive officer, a young, skinny male lieutenant, looked up from his station. “We will cut them to shreds. We have been practicing this for weeks in the simulator.” The man looked like a teenager, not the executive officer of a warship.

4:59

“We’re taking fire, topside, raiders are slamming us on the way by to hit Zeus.”

“Stand by damage control parties,” Baker ordered.

5:28 “We are hitting them with accurate fire the air wing is boxing them in nicely for us,” reported the XO.”

5:38 Pilot “We are hitting them hard. They are on the run. Viking break right he’s on your tail!”

5:45 “Avenger to all players, we are launching a missile salvo at the base star.”

5:50-6:00 “Avenger has a firing solution to the base star. Firing topside guns salvo mode.”

6:21 Pilot: “More Raiders are engaging. Avenger squadron break left and cut them off!”

6:44 Pilot “The base star is launching offensive missiles. Avenger,Zeus, prepare for defensive action!”

6:51 Pilot “Viking raiders are under control. We’re taking out missiles!”

7:00 CIC Zeus “Launching offensive missile salvo.”

7:35 “This is CIC Zeus. We have a target and are back in salvo mode with the topside guns.”

7:51 “ This is CIC Avenger. Base star is on fire.”

8:30 “ CIC Avenger,, were firing another offensive salvo!”

8:40 “This is Zeus engineering. They’re hacking our network they’re trying to hack our systems. Firewalls are failing!”

8:50 “Avenger to all players, maintain firing rate on the base star. Take them out, take them out!”

9:02 “This is Avenger, we’re taking fire!”

9:12 “Avenger flakking right!”

9:30 “This is Grace the missiles are circling above the Zeus and we’re shooting them down.”

9:40 “The enemy is taking damage, and we are driving toward the goal. This is Avenger actual.”

10:02 “This is CIC Zeus they’re still trying to break our firewalls. We’ve got to get them out of our networks.”

10:22 “CIC Zeus! We are in salvo mode at point blank range. Enemy is taking heavy damage.”

10:45 “This is Grace. We’re taking out more missiles. Trying to protect our bases. Avenger let me know when you need help.”

10:53 “Grace to all players. The base star is on fire. Clear the area!”

End: “Avenger CIC to all birds RTB. RTB. All birds RTB damage control standby for action.”

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