Science Fiction OPEN Battlestar Percheron (BSG-86)

Battlestar Percheron (BSG-86)

A Battlestar Galactica Universe Story​

The first four years of the war against the Cylons have gone horribly for the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Casualties continue to mount and humanity has been pushed to the brink as they wage a relentless, defensive, war against their Cylon creations.

Historically independent, and frequently in competition with one another, the Twelve Colonies of Kobol have recently agreed to the Articles of Colonization which pools military resources and aligns political power to combat the Cylon threat.

Colonial military command, pressured by the civilian government on Caprica, worried that the conflict could drag on for a number of years have made a strategic decision to keep their newest, and most lethal, military hardware in close to the colonies to keep the heavily populated civilian centers protected.


The decision is unpopular with some in the military and after a fierce debate an aggressive plan is formulated. A plan to strike deep into Cylon territory and bring the war to the enemy….



About the game:




This game takes place aboard the Battlestar Percheron during the First Cylon War, forty years prior to the 2004 nuBattlestar Galactica series. Player characters will not be related at all to the characters from that particular time period or show.

Be original. Be daring. Feel free to develop your characters as you see fit within the stated rules. Interact with one another.

For the sake of keeping the story fairly straightforward player roles for now will be limited to the following roles: Raptor pilots and Viper pilots stationed aboard the Battlestar Percheron as it faces off against the Cylons outgunned, outclassed, and deep inside enemy territory. This game will be divided into chapters. It will be hard. Your characters will be pushed to the limit. You may die. Inactive players will be given fair warning before their player is killed off in action.


So Say We All!


The Character Sheet: Please note that you will start the game aboard the Battlestar Percheron in the hangar bay.

General Information:

Character's Name:
Callsign (if applicable):
Gender:
Rank
Residence:
Home Planet:
Age:


Character Traits:
Personality:
Habits/Mannerisms:
Likes/Dislikes:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses:
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses:
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses:

Looks:
Appearance:
Picture:

Eye Color:
Hair:
Skin Color:
Clothing:

Personal History:

Miscellaneous:


Weapons:


Starship Assignment (Raptor or Viper):

As always, feel free to PM me any questions you have about joining the game. This game is intended for players of all skill levels.

The Rules:


1) Please follow the RPF Rules and be mindful of the Terms of Service and Rules of the Jedi Council Forums.

2) No God modding or autohitting.

3) Game Master's word is law.

4) All character sheets must be PMed (Private Message) to the GM (Vehn) for approval.

5) A separate out of character thread will be set up in the Role Playing Resource Forum to act as our library thread.

6) Posting expectations: Barring unforeseen circumstances all tags should be replied to within a week (7 days). I plan on GM updates for the game on a weekly basis. Real life always takes precedence over online happy online fun pretendy time though, so if something comes up and you're able, let the GM and other players know that you'll be absent If you miss any tags, I will continue to tag you and your character for the duration of your character's current assignment, afterwards your character will either be quietly dropped from the game (though they can return at a later date) or killed. Note: Rules were edited to reflect the practice of killing off of inactive player characters.

7) All major storylines (a storyline that affects the game as a whole) must have prior approval by the GM via PM. If you have an idea, please PM it to me and we'll work together to flesh it out and get it into the game. I enjoy getting news ideas to add to the fabric we're weaving, so if you have them, send them.

8) Have fun!

 

GM Approved, so say we all!
​

---

Character sheet I:

General Information:

Character's Name: Harold Camlot
Callsign (if applicable): Caesar
Gender: Male
Rank: Lieutenant
Residence:
Home Planet: Virgon
Age: 28

Character Traits:
Personality: A study in duality, he is outwardly arrogant yet unsure of himself. Intelligent and well read but disregards them with his his devil may care attitude. He enjoys the trappings of luxury his status affords him, and yet revels with the "commoners."
Habits/Mannerisms: Is naturally quite the ladies man and is not one to settle down. Has a habit of using his station to excuse his failings.
Likes/Dislikes: Dislikes being told what to do (an issue in the military) and despises being told he can't do something. Love a good party, and is quite an ambrosia connoisseur.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Physically fit as any combat pilot should be.
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: Intelligent and well read as a member of the Royal House of Virgon.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: Always has something to prove. Short tempered and arrogant.

Looks:
Picture:



Eye Color: Blue/Green
Hair: Brown, cropped short
Height: 1.75 meters
Skin Color: Fair
Clothing: Flight suit/Officers uniform

Personal History:

Harold is the second born son to the King and Queen of Virgon, and though the political power of that colony no longer ran through the Royal House, the importance of the Royals there cannot be overstated. As Royalty Harold had his every need attended to as a child, but also saw that the Royal family bore tremendous responsibility, to not only uphold the values of the past but serve as an inspiration for the future. As such he attended the very best schools and became educated on a myriad of topics, and though he always received good grades his behavior was at times called in to question. You see, as the second born son he was not the heir to throne, but instead the "spare to the heir." He would only inherit the throne if his elder brother died before he could produce an heir of his own.

Growing up Harold always played second fiddle to his elder brother, and acting out was his way of dealing with it. While the Crown Prionce was taking his lessons on proper etiquette to heart, Harold was out partying. While his elder brother kept to the "proper" social circles, Harold deigned to mix with the commoners, and when the time came for each to serve their colony in the military (as was Virgon Royal tradition) Harold went to flight school to become a pilot while his elder brother took the traditional route of Naval officer. Indeed, even attending flight school was a compromise for Harold after the Virgon Infantry rejected his application (following intense political pressure from his parents who would not see their son knee deep in the mud). Still he took to his studies with his usual aplomb, spending more time parting and acting the part of a Viper jock than actually studying. He graduated 62nd out of the 63 officers in his class (28 washed out) and found himself assigned to raptors flying search and rescue missions, much to the satisfaction of the royal family who felt being a combat fighter pilot was just a little too dangerous.

When the Cylon uprising began and the Articles of Colonization were signed the Virgon military was absorbed into the Colonial one and Harry along with it. Despite the need for strike pilots in the raptor "family", Harry was kept on search and rescue duty due to yet more political pressure from his family. It wouldn't do at all for a member of the Royal House to be killed in action, especially one that was in line for the throne should something happen to his elder brother (who was assigned staff duty at Fleet Headquarters on Picon). Harry chaffed at this meddling, and did his best to involve himself in any and every risky combat search and rescue that he could. While the risks he took were often frowned upon by the brass, and the royal family, they were much appreciated by the many pilots whose lives he saved and he was soon given the moniker of Caesar (C-SAR). It was an accomplishment in his life that he finally took pride in. Shortly thereafter another, even more life altering, event took place. His elder brother's wife, the Princess of Virgon, gave birth to a healthy baby boy, the Royal couple's first child.

Suddenly Harry found himself no longer the spare to the heir. Indeed, he was no longer within the line of succession at all. So in that one moment most of the political pressure keeping him from combat faded away and the fleet in dire need of strike pilots Caesar applied fore the first combat posting he could, the Percheron and Battlestar Group 86.

Miscellaneous:

Weapons: Standard sidearm
Starship Assignment (Raptor or Viper): Raptor; pilot

---

Character sheet II:

General Information:

Character's Name: Gwen Darling
Callsign (if applicable): Dizzy
Gender: Female
Rank: Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Residence:
Home Planet: Caprica
Age: 24

Character Traits:
Personality: Kind hearted and somewhat naive. Her sheltered upbringing left her ill prepared for the rigors of life outside her home.
Habits/Mannerisms: Plays with her hair when nervous.
Likes/Dislikes: Dislikes being the center of attention. Likes puzzles. Hates Cylons

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Physically fit as any combat pilot should be. However she doesn't know how to swim.
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: A math prodigy Dizzy's grasp of current events and history is sorely lacking.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: Hides a secret from everyone, especially her flight mate, one that could ruin her career.

Looks:
Picture:



Eye Color: Green
Hair: Red
Skin Color: Fair
Clothing: Flight suit/officer's uniform

Personal History:

Growing up in an upper middle income household on Caprica Darling knew nothing but happiness growing up. An only child, her every need was met by her parents and she got the reputation in school of being more than a little spoiled. Her happiness itself was spoiled at the beginning of the Cylon uprising when her personal serving cylon, the one she demanded her parents buy for her, killed her mother in cold blood before her eyes. Not knowing what else to do, Darling ran, and ran and ran.

Filled with a burning desire for revenge, and finally doing something on her own for once, she enrolled in flight school where her high test scores in math and flight mechanics saw her quickly rise to the top of her class in the first week. That all changed the moment she took a two seat training Viper up for the first time where it was discovered that she suffered from extreme bouts of air and especially space, sickness whenever the star field perspective changed with rapid maneuvers. Drummed out of Viper school her issues also kept her from piloting Raptors though she could work as an ECO (Electronic Countermeasures Officer) in the rear of a Raptor so long as she concentrated on her own console and not on the star field out the forward windscreen. Dedicated now to her new role and determined to make it through despite her issues she graduated top of her class at ECO school, though her tendency to spacer sickness did earn her the callsign of Dizzy.

Her first assignment out of ECI school was to Lieutenant Camlot's raptor, where it was hoped her level heaed and intelligence would help to keep him out of trouble. Together they made a terrific team, taking part in countless combat search and rescues. more often than not it was his recklessness that would get their Raptor into a spot for the rescue, and her intelligence that got them all out. It was a challenge that she enjoyed, though she knew her pilot had ambitions towards strike, ambitions she nurtured despite her own misgivings. So it was that she reacted with happiness for him, and them both, as they were assigned to BSG 86 though she knew she had to keep her true feelings buried deep inside her as she had throughout her time as Camlot's ECO. The feelings she had for him went beyond comradeship, beyond friendship and beyond mere infatuation, for the moment she laid eyes on Caesar she knew that she was in love with him, a love that grew on her part every moment that they were together.

Miscellaneous:

Weapons: Standard sidearm
Starship Assignment (Raptor or Viper): Raptor; Electronic Countermeasures Officer (ECO)

 

GM Approved! By Me....

General Information:

Character's Name: Lee H. Hood
Callsign (if applicable): “Horatio”
Gender: Male
Rank: Captain
Residence: Battlestar Percheron
Home Planet: Canceron
Age: 28


Character Traits:
Personality: Calm, quiet, confident.
Habits/Mannerisms: Likes to show up to meetings early as he feels that’s “on-time”
Likes/Dislikes: Likes team activities, dislikes loud mouths and show offs

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Physically fit to be a pilot. Has a hard time with math.
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: Emotionally stable unless stressed and then he gets short tempered.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: Calm and kind and understanding but also prone to being overwhelmed easily.

Looks: Physically fit, 5’10’’ tall
Appearance:
Picture:



Eye Color: Brown
Hair: Black
Skin Color: Tanned
Clothing: Standard pilot uniform for the Colonial Fleet

Personal History:


Captain Lee “Horatio” Hood has been with Percheron since the beginning of the Cylon war. He’s fought in numerous sorties and emerged relatively unscathed. He is the commander of Red Squadron and prides himself on keeping his unit ready to fight at all times. Exacting and kind the pilots under his command know what to expect of him every day. He takes a one day at a time approach.


This preparedness comes at a cost, however, as Captain Hood has a secret addiction to amphetamines. He leans on these to help him fly the best, fight the best, and be the best in the squadron. He’s not told a soul about his problem but as the Percheron prepares for another campaign he quietly worries what will happen if his addiction is discovered.


Miscellaneous:


Weapons: Standard sidearm

Starship Assignment (Raptor or Viper): Viper assigned to Red Squadron

 

GM approved! @Vehn

Character's Name: Keli Fontaine
Callsign (if applicable): Callisto
Gender: female
Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Residence: Battlestar Percheron
Home Planet: Caprica
Age: 27

Character Traits:
Personality: Confident, charismatic, competitive
Habits/Mannerisms: Likes to joke in dire situations
Likes: Speed, pushing her limits
Dislikes: Cowardice, being held back

Strengths and Weaknesses:
Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Keli is quick and athletic but not strong or rugged, though she can certainly fight in hand-to-hand when she needs to!
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: Keli is streetsmart and charismatic, but not particularly studious or academic.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: driven and brave to the point of reckless, confident to the point of arrogant, determined but has difficulty admitting errors

Looks: (picture)


Eye Color: Brown
Hair: Dark
Skin Color: light brown
Clothing: pilot’s uniform / personal

Personal History:
Keli is the daughter of a successful general and a beautiful mother. She also has three older brothers. As the youngest, and a girl, Keli has had to fight to find her place. Moving schools often as a child as a “military brat” has built her character so that she has become a confident young lady used to making friends. She adores her father, and he her, but he is old-school and very protective. While joining the military was almost pre-ordained for her older brothers, Keli was not so encouraged.

Keli railed against this, dissatisfied with sitting on the sidelines. She wanted to get onto the sports field, not just watch as a cheerleader. She trained hard and became an outstanding athlete at school. Her mother also pushed her to study hard.

Then the war with the Cylons broke out.

Keli lost all three of her brothers in the opening battle. Her parents were devastated, she was heartbroken. Grief hardened into a resolve to not only avenge her brothers, but also to return honour to her family. She would go and fight in their place. Keli enrolled and is proving to be an instinctive and outstanding pilot. Though her academic grades are not quite so high, she is smart enough to get by on her wits. Many in the military know and respect her father and his shadow looms over all of her achievements.

Keli’s joining the military has caused a schism in her family. Her retired father, torn apart by duty and grief, forbid her to go – she defied him. She desperately needs to prove herself to him. Her mother remains silently neutral, praying only for the survival of her last child.

Keli is assigned to Battlestar Percheron and Red Squadron. Captain Lee Hood is her commanding officer. Almost immediately, there was tension between them. They are quite similar in many ways, so this is a little mysterious to the other pilots. To Keli, Lee reminds her very much of her father, for good or bad…

Weapons: standard sidearm / specialist in unarmed combat
Starship Assignment (Raptor or Viper): Viper

 

OOC: Here we go, folks. Something for you players to think about before the next update. Sets the tone. Couple of things to note I don't like to color code text unless its mission related. So any narrative posts like the one below are going to look regular font. Eyes sharp, minds alert. Thank you and enjoy!

GM INTRO: ​

​

1952
Caprica City, Caprica
Governmental seat of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol

“Commander Kaarsk, sit down,” Admiral Rex Helaire ordered as Commander Russell Kaarsk took a seat across the desk from him.




“What’s so important that I get called out of retirement?” Commander Russell Kaarsk asked.

“Haven’t you heard?” Helaire responded, “We’re at war. It isn’t going so well.”

“I try not to watch the news,” Kaarsk replied, “and I’ve intentionally hidden myself the last four years.”

“Now you’re about to make news,” Helaire said, “and will be unable to hide.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m getting a new assignment,” Kaarsk said.

“You are,” Helaire replied as he slid a dossier stamped confidential across the table to Kaarsk for his review.

The corners were cut at diagonal angles and Kaarsk knew it was official Colonial paper. Kaarsk casually picked up the dossier up and skimmed through it for a few minutes. When he was done he looked up at Helaire who stared at him with deadly intention.

“You’re insane. You’re asking the impossible,” Kaarsk said, “an operation like this has never been done before. You think one operation is going to make that big of a difference in this war?”

“With you in command, yes,” Helaire replied, “and that’s why we called you up from retirement.”

“More like the grave,” Kaarsk quipped.

“The President fought hard against this assignment but I got him to stand down. The war has put the civilian government on the back burner. Still, he’s got a lot of power and influence. Forced us to move our fleets into the interior. Mistake I think. Anyways, enough of that. Bottom line is there won’t be many more opportunities coming your way, commander,” Admiral Rex Helaire stated, “you walk away from this one and you’re done. Out. Finished.”

Kaarsk remained quiet.

“You have a problem with that?” Helaire questioned.

“No, Admiral,” Kaarsk grunted as he adjusted his stiff collar with his free hand, “no problems. None at all. What will I be commanding?”

“The Battlestar Percheron,” Helaire replied, “BSG-86.”

“That’s Commander Rahn Avison’s ship,” Kaarsk said eyes widening with surprise.

“Was Commander Avison’s ship,” Helaire corrected, “Avison took his own life twelve hours ago. Didn't even leave a note for the family."

Kaarsk forced a lump down his throat. He wasn’t on the best of terms with Avison but the men did know one another. They’d bunked together and graduated in the same class at the Academy. They’d kept in touch over the years. Fleet was only so big, after all. Kaarsk thought of the family Avison left behind. His wife and two young children. How they must be suffering right now in a time of great suffering.

“That family. Unbelievable. What they must be going through now. May the Lords of Kobol bless them,” Kaarsk said his voice slightly quivering, “and those children. His wife. What terrible times we live in. Do you know why he took his own life?”

“The same reason most do,” Helaire replied, “combat fatigue. Percheron has been at war for nearly three years straight. Its crew is tired. Pushed hard. We’ve done our best to rotate new blood in and the veterans out but it isn’t easy. In some ways that's a blessing and a curse. You’ll be taking over an experienced crew. They know what they’re doing. No doubt that will serve you well where you’re going.”

“Hell of a way to get an assignment,” Kaarsk commented, “but the crew sounds like they know their stuff."

"You'll be joined by two Orion-class cruisers. The Anubis and the Ceres. They're support vessels but they should be able to hold out in combat," Helaire mentioned.

"Good," Kaarsk replied, "the more the merrier."

“Oh and just so you know Percheron is running off the integrated network for security purposes. The Cylons know our systems. They know our strengths. They know our weaknesses. Last thing I want is one of our older battlestars falling into enemy hands. We’ve lost enough in this war.”

“That we have,” Kaarsk replied, “time to return the favor.”

“Any questions?” Helaire inquired.

“When do I leave?” Kaarsk replied.

“Soon as you get back to the Canceron drydocks and finish resupplying,” Helaire replied, “and may the Lords of Kobol be with you. I don’t envy you where you’re going, commander.”

“I’m used to the hard jobs, sir,” Kaarsk replied as he saluted and headed to leave.

“Commander,” Helaire said returning the salute, “one last thing.”

“Yes?” Kaarsk said turning to look back at the admiral.

“Good hunting,” Helaire said, "so say we all."

“So say we all,” Kaarsk replied with a wry grin.

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik; @Kurisan

 

Chapter One: Crescendo ​

​

​

Drydock
Low Orbit over Canceron


Commander Russell Kaarsk stepped off the Raptor in the port hangar bay of the Battlestar Percheron in full dress uniform. He gave a curt nod and salute to the Marine escort as he made his way to a nearby dais that’d been assembled for the formal launch ceremony. A boatswain’s call sounded from somewhere nearby. Heels snapped to attention. The men and women under his command were ready though some were wondering who this new commander was and what kind of leader he was capable of being.




“Greetings to the crew of the Percheron,” Commander Kaarsk said his gravelly voice echoing throughout the expansive hangar, “I’m Commander Russell Kaarsk. Some of you have been here awhile, others have just arrived. Either way you’re assigned to the Percheron and you’re with me. We aren’t just loyal warriors. We’re a family. That’s what we are: family. We look out for one another."

"Your previous commander, Rahn Avison, was a good man. We went to Academy together. We trained together. Though we didn't always see eye to eye I believe we had a healthy respect for one another. His loss is a serious one for the Colonial fleet. Honestly, he should be here. Not me. Let's take a moment of silence to honor his memory," Kaarsk finished.

He bowed his head and closed his eyes for a few minutes. When he was done he scanned the gathered crew one last time.

“I won’t waste your time with a big speech. Never been one for those. Bottom line is this: You have one hour to get your affairs in order. Find your quarters, stow away your gear, go over your equipment, shoot off a quick message to family. Then we launch. I won’t tell you where we’re going. Not yet. We’ll be joined by the Orion-class cruisers Anubis and Ceres. I'm going to need the very best from you all. The very best. Dismissed."

Commander Kaarsk began to make his way down the dais steps when the blood curdling sound of an alarm cut through the air.

​

“Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill. Repeat action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship.”

“Frak,” Commander Kaarsk cursed as he hustled to the Command Information Center or CIC escorted by his Marine guard.

Kaarsk, huffing, entered the CIC and barked, “DRADIS update. Sitrep!”




“Two Cylon base ships have exited near the edge of the system,” Executive Officer Major Sarah Vander stated, “deploying Raiders. They’re heading for the drydock. They came in hard and fast. They’ll be in targeting range in twenty minutes."



“What’s our status on the resupply?” Kaarsk yelled.

“We still have an half hour left,” XO Vander replied.

“It’s going to take some time to get our engines up and running,” Ensign Tan Swift, flight operation officer, added.

“We’re out of time,” Kaarsk grunted, “remove drydock clamps. Swift get us out of here!”

“I’ll do my best, sir,” Ensign Tan Swift replied.

The aging battlestar Percheron groaned as its engines were spooled up cold. Cargo tugs still flitted in and out of the hangar bays delivering foodstuffs and other cargo but soon scattered as the warship eased out of drydock and out into open space. Kaarsk didn’t have the time right now to be polite. They were at war.

“Clear of drydock,” Lieutenant Vander replied, “but we’ve got another problem. Incoming Cylon Raiders.”

“Tell Anubis and Ceres to get ready to make the jump. We'll meet them at the rendezvous point,” Kaarsk ordered, “and prepare all squadrons to launch immediately.”

“Commander, you’re sending our squadrons up against battle hardened Cylon Raiders. Some of these pilots haven’t even fired a shot in live combat. They’ll be slaughtered out there. You’re asking them to fail,” XO Vander challenged.

“I have to know what kind of pilots I have. Will they crumble under pressure or will they rise to the occasion? Where we’re going I need to know this. More than ever. I’ll repeat my order one last time XO. Launch all squadrons,” Kaarsk commanded lowering his voice to a threatening tone, “now.”

Vander gulped and backed down.

“Launching Viper squadrons now,” Vander said.

Kaarsk gripped the tactical console in front of him. "And our Raptor squadron?"

"Sitting hot and ready on the flight deck," Vander replied.

"Good. We're going to need them too," Kaarsk said.

He wiped sweat from his brow and focused on the unfolding tactical situation. The war had come for him whether he was ready or not.

Tag: @Kurisan; @Bardan_Jusik (use this time to get your characters into their first posts/introductions and prep for the coming attack. Take your time here no need to leap into the action just yet. I'll post a third update before the mission kicks off to encourage a bit of interaction and get the ball really rolling.)

 

GM Approved

General Information:

Character's Name: Laurel Lance
Callsign: Canary
Gender: Female
Rank: Lieutenant
Residence: Battlestar Percheron
Home Planet: Caprica
Age: 26

Character Traits:

Personality: Reserved, shy, smart, friendly
Habits/Mannerisms: sometimes bites her nails
Likes/Dislikes: loves reading, movies, music; dislikes braggards and arrogant people, hates Cylons (of course)

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Fit enough, but not too strong
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: Smart, but can overthink a situation
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: Usually calm, but can be cripled by doubt and indecision

Looks:

Picture:


Eye Color: Hazelnut
Hair: Dark Brown
Skin Color: Brown
Clothing: Flight Suit/Standard Ensign Uniform

Personal History:

Laurel was born in a lower middle class family on Caprica. Her father was a professor at the university of Delphi and her mother was a doctor. Ever since she was a child Laurel had always been rather bookish and introverted.

At school she was the teacher’s favorite. Took part in a lot of extracurricular activities and school clubs. Not that good at sports, she nevertheless exercised to keep herself fit, as well as to unwind from all that studying.

Graduating high school with honours she enrolled at Delphi University to study history. Sometime during her studies the Cylons rose. The university was hit and she was one of the few survivors from her class.

Laurel had to look for her father who was severely injured in his office. Barely dragging him out she was helped by the arriving medics and firemen. Once she learned that this was not an one-off incident and that a conflict was coming Laurel decided to do her part.

She enlisted to become a pilot, as she was not that strong for a ground pounder or a marine. So, after finishing her training she was assigned to BSG Percheron...

Miscellaneous:

Weapons: Standard sidearm
Starship Assignment: Viper

 

OOC: Just putting this up here not to rush anyone into posting but to just provide a bit more framework as to the scale and scope of the battle. Take your time getting your intro posts up folks no rush.

GM Update II:​

Launch Tube
Green Leader
Captain Tully Carson, CAG of Percheron Air Wing


“Systems are go, cat is locked, avionics look good,” Captain Tully Carson called out from inside his Viper Mark II to his launch operator watching from behind a protective glass shield.

“You are clear for launch,” the launch operator said, “good hunting.”

Captain Tully Carson looked smartly to his right toward the control booth, saluted sharply, and with a nod watched as the launch operator hit the required button shooting his Viper the required 170 feet out the launch tube and into the cold unforgiving reaches of space. The speed of the launch pushed his head back against the cockpit chair. It was exhilarating and never got old.

“Green Squadron this is Green Lead,” Captain Carson called out, “form up on me. We have DRADIS confirmation of Cylon Raiders bearing on our position heading 095, carom 118. Weapons hot. Stay focused. Let them get in close.”

Confirmation came to him in the form of auditory call in as Green Squadron, and its sub elements, consisting entirely of veterans of the Cylon War, tightly formed up with their leader. They were 40 Vipers in all. A formidable force. They were eager to get started cleaning away the toasters.

“Accelerate to attack speed,” Carson called out, “make sure to avoid Percheron’s gun systems.”

Green Squadron shot upward toward the Cylon Raiders. Metallic flicks from a distance star illuminated the advancing enemy fighters who had detected them on sensors of their own. The merge was imminent. The destruction would be swift. Guns were armed and ready to go.

“Here we go! We’re at the merge! Engage!” Captain Tully Carson cried out as he squeezed the trigger clipping one of the oncoming Cylon Raiders in the wing sending it spiraling out of control where it exploded in a fiery clash. He didn’t notice three Cylon Raiders drop quietly on his tail.



"Green leader, break right," Carson's wingman cried out as he gunned down one of the Cylon Raiders.

Carson wrenched his controls downward into a tight spiral pushing the Viper to its limits. He could feel the aging war bird groan under the strain of the maneuver. He killed the throttle, initiated a hard zero g turn so that he faced the direction he came, and opened fire destroying one Raider. He watched with satisfaction as the remaining Raider went up in flames shortly after downed by elements of Green Squadron.

The battle erupted fiercely all around. Carson punched the throttle eased through one more merge but was glanced by an aggressive Cylon pilot from behind and winced as bullets raked his fuselage bursting his fuel line. His canopy began to freeze over as the fuel line completely ruptured spraying its contents all over the thick canopy. Another set of rounds caught that same fuel line on fire.

“I’m hit!” Carson cried out as the sounds of the battle erupted throughout his headset.

In his wake, in the debris, countless chemically propelled missiles from the two Cylon baseships flew wildly and inaccurately in the direction of the Percheron whose own gun systems had just begun to open up in a ferocious self-defense effort.

Tully pushed the stick down in an effort to dive out and away from the fight but his controls were locked. He grimaced as he rapidly punched the ejection mechanism but nothing happened. His Viper was compromised. He began a slow spin downward back in the direction of the Percheron and it was in that moment that a large piece of flak, fired by the batteries on the great battlestar, obliterated his Viper sending debris everywhere.

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik; @TheAdmiral; @Kurisan

 

IC: Lieutenant Harold "Caesar" Camlot / Lieutenant j.g. Gwen "Dizzy" Darling
Battlestar Percheron, port hangar bay.

Standing at attention Dizzy was enraptured by the Commander's speech on the deck, though Caesar was paying him no mind. He had heard a lifetimes worth of speeches back in the royal court on Virgon. Still he stood at attention and at least pretended to listen, years in the royal court had taught him that too, as he looked over the lines of his raptor; raptor 87.

The number came from the large number 87 stenciled on the olive drab painted vertical tail fins of the ugly boxy looking vehicle. It was the 87th raptor built in the year of her construction, hence the number, and it had been with the raptor all it's "life". Farther forward was a more recently added numeral, a large numeral one, stenciled in black on the raptor's nose. This denoted that "raptor eight seven" also had another moniker, Black One, the leader of Black Squadron, assigned to the Battlestar Percheron Underneath that was a more personal touch, a large stylized horse's head, also in black above a written name, Genitor, written in cursive. It was the name Caesar had given his warsteed back before their first mission together. It had been the name of his favorite horse back on Virgon, back before he had joined the service, before the war.

​

The war against the cylons had taken it's toll on mankind, that was part of the reason he was here now. A look below his crate's name told that story. 16 stick figures with angel wings representing 16 men and women rescued by raptor eight-seven, all while being piloted by Caesar. It was a visual representation of the bird's "kill tally," though it denoted a marked lack of actual kills. There were no silhouettes of baseships or raiders or even Centurions , Caesar had never destroyed any of those things, had never even had a chance to. He had never fired a shot in anger, hunting trips to the forests of Virgon or the mountains of Sagittaron didn't count, and had never so much as taken part in a combat operation. That would soon change.

That wasn't to say the ungainly looking spacecraft was incapable of combat. Oh it would never be the raider killers that even a Mark.I Viper was (not to mention the whizbang Mark.II's, Caesar had no doubt those would be useful even decades from now), but it wasn't entirely without teeth. On the underside of the craft, located between it's landing struts was a modestly sized bomb bay. This could in a pinch be used to hold actual free fall bombs, though more often it was filled with sparrow decoys and communications drones utilized to augment the raptor's already impressive electronic suite. The suite included on board ECM jammers more powerful and effective than could be carried on the smaller and more nimble vipers, as well as full spherical DRADIS coverage around the craft. The craft was capable of so much more though. Also on the underside was a series of six hardpoints which could be used to carry a variety of ordinance.

The two innermost hardpoints, five and six, could carry the heaviest and most destructive ordinance the Raptor could equip. Each could carry either a heavy anti-ship missile designed for attacks of Cylon base ships, or in situations where the use of nuclear ordinance had been authorized each could carry a medium range nuke with a 100KT yield. Caesar had never heard of such a situation personally, but it was something the craft was capable of, and a mission he had trained for back in advanced flight. the one downside to suing those innermost hardpoints was they precluded the use of the bomb bay doors, rendering them useless until the pylons could be removed from the hardpoints, it was an easy procedure, but required a deck crew.

The hardponts just outboard of the five and six were naturally enough the three and four. These were slightly less stout, though each could safely carry the same anti-ship missiles that the inboard hardpoints could carry. Though they couldn't carry nuclear ordnance, they could be equipped with lighter anti-raider missiles. These had smaller warheads than the heavier anti ship missiles, but more robust tracking software and a more agile frame for attacking cylon raiders. There was also the added benefit that utilizing these hardpoints didn't interfere with the ventral bomb bay.

The pair of hardpoints further out were points one and two, located on the wingtip s of the raptor these could be used to carry anti-raider missiles or even large auto-cannon of the type equipped on vipers. The latter looked ungainly, especially compared to the elegant way they were molded into a viper's spaceframe, but were the more likely to be carried in a combat situation. Even though the missile offered more standoff capability, Cylon Raiders carried their own impressive electronics suite that could sometimes jam the guidance package of an incoming missile. there was no jamming a stream of incoming railgun rounds. Still, they were a weapon of last resort, used to take snap shots at any raiders that decided to attack the raptor from 12 o'clock.

Of course their six wasn't totally uncovered either. At the rear of the raptor was a concealed gun turret containing a pair of short range rotary cannons. Most flight crews gave theirs a name, such as the buzz saw or toaster slayer. The Genitor's was the Chrome Domer, and though it was a potent weapon, it had never been used in combat. Manning the gun was one of Dizzy's suties, and Dizzy had issues with space sickness whenever she looked outside the Raptor that made using the stinger somewhat problematic.

On the top side of the craft was the main DRADIS array as well as other electronics that were the purview of Dizzy. Likewise up top were two additional hardpoins for mounting the boxy rocket pods to the raptor's upper fuselage. These multi-cell pods could carry a total of twelve rockets each, and there was a truly dizzying variation in the types of rockets they could use, from additional drones (communication or decoy) unguided heavy rockets, sensor probes, the pods were the most versatile weapon that could be carried on the raptor. That came with a drawback though, they were heavy and affected the craft's trim while also blocking the main hatch on the port side of the vehicle. That meant to pods prevented the raptor from being used as an assault and landing craft (they could carry a compliment of eight fully armed marines), at least for the most part. Sure they could use the cockpit hatch or the bomb bay escape hatch, but for disembarking troops quickly, that meant using the main hatch.

The commander was almost done now, years in the royal court had trained Caesar well in how to recognize when a speech was coming to an end, and so Harry spared a look back to raptor eight-seven again. Not everyone on the deck was standing at attention hearing the commander's speech. There was still work to be done and some on the deck crew were unloading cargo from his raptor. Just a last minute shipment of armor piercing ammunition for the marine's small arms locker. By rights as the squadron leader now that sort of cargo run was below his pay grade, but he had learned long ago that a good leader doesn't order others to do what he is unwilling to do himself, even in small matters like hauling cargo. So he felt it was important to show that to his new command.

Command, it was something he had never held before. He was a combat rescue pilot, and many of these were grizzled war veterans. How could he lead them? He wondered, though his years of rescue work seemed to earn him a degree of respect from them all, he was sure the questions of how he would react to his first combat situation were foremost in their minds.

“Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill. Repeat action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship.”

Well, it looked like he would get his first taste of real combat even sooner than he thought as the alert went out. Dizzy ran up to him now, throwing a pointed elbow up under his ribcage. "Looks like we're in the fight now huh boss!" She shouted to him over the sudden noise that filled the deck. Leave it to his ECO (Electronics Countermeasures Officer) to read his mind. It was part of why they were such a good team. "Don't call me boss, that's for the CAG," he shouted back to her as she rolled her eyes at him. "I'll get the rest of the squadron ready, you get the Genitor prepped for combat, full anti-ship load and guns on the wingtips." A large grin formed on her face at the prospect of mounting those big guns and missiles, usually for search and rescue operations they went without in order to save on the weight and preserve what little maneuverability the raptor had. "Oh and make sure the Chrome Domer is fully loaded," he smiled as he watched the blood drain from Dizzy's face. He knew how much the prospect of using the frakking tail gun frightened her. For a moment Caesar felt bad for his ECO, that was perhaps a bit of a low blow from him. "Don't worry Diz," he said putting an arm around her shoulders while putting a heartwarming smile on his face. "The Percheron covers the vipers, and the vipers cover us, and we hit the base ships, we'll be back before you know it." She returned his smile, looking into his eyes as a look of determination formed in her own. "Right then," he said releasing her. "Let's get to work."

---

Minutes later...

Caesar hadn't spent a lot of time on the battlestar Percheron, but already he was beginning to appreciate the well trained deck crew assigned to the raptors of Black Squadron. Within moments of the alert they sprang into action, unloading the rest of the cargo from the few raptors still half laden whilst simultaneously loading munitions onto the craft's hardponts and fueling those that needed tylium. It wasn't strictly by the book, indeed they were disobeying a number of regulations regarding the safe handling of live ordinance and fuel at the same time, but there was no time to spare right now. To the untrained eye it looked like sheer chaos, but in reality it was an intricate dance that allowed for the maximum amount of work to be done in the least amount of time. And there had been a lot of work that needed to be done.

Now though the pilots and ECO of the raptors about to go in harm's way would benefit from their hard work as each craft was raised up to the flight deck from the hanger. Each was carrying a full load of four heavy anti-ship missiles and a pair of forward firing chain guns. Due to time constraints there had been no time to mount the upper rocket pods so they were going with just the underwing stores, but Caesar wasn't complaining. Instead his mind was on the task at hand as he awaited launch and tasking orders.

"CIC, Black squadron ready for launch, rigged for anti-ship."


TAG: @Vehn


OOC: The Raptor's capabilities come from various BSG wiki sources as well as some extrapolation on my part.

 

IC: Lieutenant Laurel Lance
BSG-86 Percheron

Laurel was a recent transfer to the Percheron, she had just started to get to know the place and the people when they were called to the hangar area. If the rumours were to be believed they were getting a new CO. From what she had heard the last one killed himself.

Not a good start. She knew that when the officers panicked that meant that it was time for the rank and file to do the same.

Hopefully the new person in charge will take care of that, or there will be more people joining the late officer. She tried to push those thoughts of doom and gloom back. It would not do her any good, especially since she did not have much combat experience.

She had seen real action a couple of times. Both engagements were disastrous as the humans lost a lot of good pilots. Laurel guessed she had been lucky. Or unlucky, depending on your point of view.

If it weren’t for her past experiences she would have gotten cold feet about the whole thing. There were lingering doubts that she was way out of her element. She was meant to be in academia, not flying a Viper fighting walking toasters!

This whole situation was insane. Those frakkin Cylons and their uprising!

Laurel closed her eyes for a second to compose herself. She needed to focus on the speech. Hopefully no one noticed that she was jittery.

The whole ceremony was cut short by the claxons. The Cylons were attacking… of course. Third time’s the charm, right? She thought bitterly.

Laurel joined the chaos of people running around. Good thing at least they knew what they were doing. Everyone had their task. She joined the rest of her squadron in the ready room. They did not get much time to prepare. Good thing that swiftness had been drilled into them.

Unlike her college years…

No, that was not the time for these things. Once done Laurel ran towards the hangar area to board her Viper and be moved to the launch tube. Here goes nothing…

TAG: @Vehn @Bardan_Jusik

 

​

IC: Captain Lee “Horatio” Hood
Port Hangar Pod
Flight Deck
Red Squadron

Captain Lee Hood was amped. Amped up on amphetamines. He was totally jacked for this mission ready to destroy some toasters. He was ready to frak some stuff up. He could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest from the stims. Contributing to his mindset was the update from command which hadn’t helped things. The Vipers already deployed were taking a pounding. He clambered atop his Viper Mark II and hollered above the noise of the hangar bay.

“Red Squadron, heads up!” Hood yelled catching those who were assigned to him in mid stride.

“Green Squadron is taking heavy losses out there. Our brothers are going up in flames. We’re going to launch fast and hit the toasters hard where it counts. Stay alert, stay ready, and for frak sakes give them all you’ve got,” Hood yelled.

Hood slipped into his cockpit as the hangar techs guided his Viper into a nearby launch tube. He felt the forks disengage as the Viper was attached to the catapult. The launch tube door sealing behind him with a loud hiss. He looked casually over at the launch technician, gave a smart salute, and readied himself to enter combat.

Hood’s thoughts raced. He knew the situation out there was going poorly for Green Squadron. He thought of Captain Carson and hoped he was doing everything he could to hold off the Cylon attack while more Vipers were launched.

Hang on Tully. We’re coming Lee thought.

“Clear for launch. Good hunting,” the launch technician said into Hood’s ear.

Hood grimaced as he felt the intense velocity of the launch. Within seconds he was out of the tube and climbing up and away from Percheron. Up ahead he could see tracer fire as Raiders and Vipers conducted their deadly dance. A quick glance at DRADIS showed the battle was not going favorably for the Colonials.

A swarm of Raiders glinted off the light of Canceron’s star. They were knifing their way through the fight in the direction of Percheron. Hood’s gut sunk as he realized their trajectory would take them over the port hangar pod where moments before he’d just launched.Already a few of them were opening up early against their Colonial target.

“Red Leader to Red Squadron,” Hood called out on the squad channel, “weapons free. Close to range and engage. We’ve got to protect the Percheron at all costs.”

Tag: @TheAdmiral

---

Percheron
CiC

“All Viper squadrons have launched, commander,” XO Vander reported as she looked at the tactical display, “Green Squadron is reporting heavy losses. We're not sure but we thing CAG Carson is KIA. Raptors are awaiting orders."

Kaarsk grimaced. A CAG was never something to lose. Not in the middle of a firefight. He was frustrated with how the Cylons had gotten the jump on his crew, this fleet, and the coming campaign. He punched the console ever so slightly startling the senior staff around him. It was war now. Decision time.

"How close are we to jumping?” Kaarsk asked tactical.

“Fifteen minutes,” Tactical Officer Vance Tyragh said, "Main gun crews are engaging the Raiders that slip through. Flak is hot."

“Not soon enough,” Kaarsk grumbled.

“It’s the best we can do, sir, given the circumstances,” XO Vander added.

“Put Percheron between the drydock and the Cylons. We may not be sticking around for long but I want to make them pay for this attack. Tell Anubis and Ceres to make their FTL jump as soon as possible,” Kaarsk ordered, "and transmit the coordinates so we arrive at the same place."

“Yes sir,” Helmsman and Flight Operations Officer Lieutenant Tan Swift replied. Communications Officer Ensign James Arroyo also nodded in response relaying his portion of the job as he helped coordinate the small fleet's defensive actions.

“Commander,” XO Vander said, “we have another problem.”

“Yes?” Kaarsk asked.

“Incoming Cylon missiles,” Vander pointed out.

Kaarsk’s blood ran cold. His flak guns were efficient but a Cylon missile barrage was no laughing matter. Even Percheron in all her armored glory couldn’t hold out too long against a concentrated attack from two base ships. He needed to buy enough time. Something to slow the Cylon assault down. He took a quick look at DRADIS as Red and White Squadrons, all Vipers, were locked in a fierce skirmish with the Cylon Raiders.

“Get the Raptors up there. Order Black Squadron to engage those missiles at once!”

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik


OOC: Quick recap: Two Cylon Base Ships have deployed a significant number of enemy Raiders. Red Squadron feel free to engage the Raiders in your area. White Squadron, full of NPCs, is already fully engaged. Watch out for flak from the battlestar. The enemy numbers are high, around 50, enemy targets. Kill or damage as you see fit just don’t go too crazy. The two Cylon Base Ships are currently out of range of the Viper’s guns and are off limits, for now. and are currently sending missile fire in the direction of the Percheron, Anubis and Ceres.


Black Squadron help Percheron intercept the oncoming Cylon missile barrage. Feel free to deploy ECM measures to reduce the amount of missiles coming at the Colonial fleet. Your task is to hold these missiles off, while avoid getting shot down by Cylon Raiders. Good luck. Don’t worry you may get some anti-ship action in before the end!

---

GM Update III: ​

​

​

~Orion-class warship



Colonel John Decker, commander of the Orion-class warship Ceres, studied the tactical map in front of him as mock ups of the Percheron and its squadrons moved slowly across the map as they began to deploy. Anubis, the sister ship of Ceres, was bringing up the rear of the Colonial formation. Two Cylon base ship mock ups were also on display on the fringe of the system with Raider models deployed out in front. The situation was very fluid and unfolding rapidly.

He was locked in the War Room of the Ceres and had been for the last ten minutes studying the unfolding tactical situation. He was trying to figure out what Commander Kaarsk was doing. It wasn’t clear to him. The motives, the tactics, it hadn’t been communicated.

“He’s rushing,” Colonel Decker said to his political officer, “there was no need to pull Percheron out of the drydock so fast. The Cylon’s are shooting randomly to scare us into reacting. This isn’t a serious attack. It’s a test.”




“A test of what?” Master Chief Petty Officer, the fleet's political officer, Matt Cairn questioned.

“Our defense systems. Our tactics. Our response times,” Decker clarified as a nearby phone rang. Decker’s hard wired connection to CiC. He raised the phone to his ear and listened, grunted, and then hung up.

“Now Kaarsk has ordered us to spool up our FTL drives and jump,” Decker said, “and to where I don’t know. Only Kaarsk has that information.”

“You going to follow him?” Cairn questioned.

“You have other ideas?” Decker replied.

“We’re in the middle of a battle. Things tend to happen,” Cairn carefully said, “unpredictable things.”

“Careful, Chief Cairn. I may not care for Commander Kaarsk but I’m not about to watch him take off with a battlestar into the unknown,” Decker replied, “unsupervised.”

“What next?” Cairn asked.

“We do what Kaarsk is telling us to do and get outta here. Once we’re to safety I’m going to push for access to the mission,” Decker said, “and if he refuses to let me into his circle of trust I may have to push for an entirely different route.”

"Why does it matter to you so much what he does?” Cairn asked.

“Because Percheron should have fallen to me. I was next in line to command her. Not Kaarsk,” Decker hissed in response, “not until Colonial command got involved. Not until military politics reared their ugly head.”

“I see,” Cairn replied, “well there are many roads to command.”

“Not as many as you’d think,” Decker replied, “but this stays between us. For now. Time to let the toasters regret ever attacking this fleet."

Cairn nodded and dismissed himself from the room. Decker picked up the hard line to tactical and gave one order, "Missiles batteries, prepare to fire."

 

​

IC: Lieutenant Harold "Caesar" Camlot / Lieutenant J.G. Gwen "Dizzy" Darling
Joining in battle for the first time...

Caesar frowned as the order to engage the missile barrage came in through the wireless. His raptors were rigged for anti-ship, not point defense of a battlestar. nevertheless he ordered the 12 Raptors of Black Squadron to go to full power for a combat launch off the Percheron's port flight pod. "Don't worry Caesar, we got this." Dizzy said, her voice full of optimistic enthusiasm. Of course ECM was her thing, and the primary weapon the raptors had against the cylon missiles was their ECM suites. Normally they could use the swallow decoy drones each carried in their internal bomb bay, but those bay doors were blocked by the anti-ship missiles carried on the inboard hardpoints. They could have delayed their departure to offload the missiles, but that would have taken too long Caesar thought to himself as his Raptor lumbered out the torward opening of the port flight pod. The order from CIC had sounded rather urgent after all, and the Virgonese pilot was eager to engage in the battle.

Looking down at his own DRADIS console, which was just a smaller version of what Dizzy saw on her main console from her station behind him, Casear let out a loud "frak me." Dizzy grunted in reply, already busy at work. "Dizz, can you clean this up a little?" He called back to her as he tried to count the other raptors in his formation to make sure none were left behind. The DRADIS picture was already something of a mess, filled with contacts and decoys and sensor jamming from both sides, it was hard for the young combat commander to get a clear picture of just exactly what was going on. "Hold on," Dizz replied, her voice suddenly strained. It was clear she was already busy back doing whatever she needed to do.

That gave Caesar a brief moment to consider his own squadron's position, he could see now the position of the Cylon Baseships, and he knew where the Percheron was. That meant the swirling mess of contacts there had to be where the raiders and vipers were tangling with one another. Missiles, the fast moving missiles headed for the battlestar were suddenly readily apparent to Caesar on his DRADIS scope. "OK raptors, on me," he sent out over the wireless now to his squadron, "do what you can with your ECM suites to disrupt their guidance systems," he further ordered not sure just exactly they could all do. "Weapons hold on all anti-ship," he gave the further order to hold on to all of their large anti-ship missiles. He had briefly considered ordering them all to dump the munitions from their inboard hardpoints to free up use of their bomb bays and thus their decoy drones, but had thought better of it. Dumping live ordnance in a combat zone, especially one encompassing their own shipyards was a bad idea. Nor were they in range of the baseships to loose their own barrage. The large missiles themselves would be useless against the Cylons own incoming missile barrage, and so though they would weigh the raptors down and it was better to hang on to them for now.

Behind him meanwhile Dizzy was hard at work on her own issues, both connected to each other though with diametrically opposed goals. The first, to cloud the Cylons own tracking and guidance systems, which of course had the effect of "muddying" the DRADIS picture, while simultaneously cleaning up the DRADIS picture for the Colonials. It was really an impossible task, the Cylon's technology was of course based on the Colonials and as such they used many of the same types of sensor systems. So what jammed the enemy often timed jammed oneself, but there were workarounds and exceptions that an educated ECO such as Dizzy could exploit.

The first frequencies she could discount were those in the SIGMA band. They were being radiated by both the battlestar, the baseships, and all the other large ships located throughout the shipyard. Jamming those was not only difficult due to the power behind their signal (the ships could radiate a lot more energy than even a squadron of raptors), it would be just as counterproductive as it would help. Besides the search functions of those DRADIS waves wasn't doing much more for either side anyway unless reinforcements showed up, all the players here in the battle had shown themselves.

Likewise it was pointless to look at the GAMMA band emissions Dizzy's own DRADIS was throwing out there. Both the Colonial raptors and the Cylon raiders used it for their own search functions, though on slightly differing frequencies within that band. It was therefore possible with a great deal of fine tuning to drown out only the Cylon signal while leaving the colonial search DRADIS relatively uncluttered (there would always be some clutter from such jamming), Dizzy had done it several times during search and rescue missions, but they didn't have time to work through all that right now. Nor would affecting the raider's search DRADIS do anything about the incoming missile barrage.

CHI band emissions were something else entirely, though again they were in use by both the Cylons on the raiders as well as the Colonials on both their raptors and vipers. These were used for tracking and weapons lock on, though there were still minor variations in frequency that could be exploited given time. There was an easier way to discern which signals were which though, the new Viper Mk2. variants used an electronically steered phased array, while those on the older raptor (and even older Mk.1 Viper) was still mechanically attenuated. The raiders too used a phased array, though one operating at a higher frequency than the vipers, which allowed for those to stand out among all the electronic noise. Disrupting those, once isolated, could do wonders in preventing the cylon raiders from achieving a lock on to not only the raptors if engaged, but for the Vipers that were already engaged. Dizzy put that effort on the back burner though, the missile barrage took precedence even over helping the Vipers.

KAPPA band emissions were the key. Again KAPPA band emissions were in use by both the Colonials and Cylons, and again for much the same purpose; terminal guidance of both anti ship and anti-fighter missiles. Again, the exact frequencies used were always somewhat different, but close enough that jamming one set would leak over into the entire bandwidth. So far from what Dizzy could tell though, the Colonials were relying on their guns, both the big ones on the Percheron as well as the smaller ones on their Vipers rather than using their missiles at the moment, and so she dumped as much jamming energy into the KAPPPA band as possible, relaying via wireless to her fellow ECOs on the raptors around her to do the same. That would hopefully create a "bubble" (more of a three dimensional half moon crescent shape, though Dizzy thought of it as a bubble) of electronic interference out around the battlestar designed to disrupt just the incoming Cylon missile barrage. If it worked.

Caesar meanwhile kept his attention split between his own DRADIS console and looking out the canopy at the battle developing outside. Only seconds had passed since his orders to the squadron, but already they seemed to be having some effect. The cylon missiles which had been tracking straight and true towards the Percheron began to waver somewhat in flight, some more than others, and for a few of those, wildly off course now. The pilot took a moment to look back at his DRADIS scope, it wasn't any more cluttered than it had been before and not for the first time he wondered what magic Dizzy and her fellow ECOs were working, to see that fully a quarter of the missile barrage was being diverted away from the battlestar. That was a good start, but clearly not enough.

"Good work Diz," he managed through gritted teeth, as he maneuvered his raptor on an intercept course with the still oncoming barrage. As he did so a few more missiles peeled away from their collision course with Percheron as more of the missiles were affected by the jamming. They would still need some help. "Raptors, use your forward guns and..." he began as his raptor was suddenly rocked hard from nearby explosions. Confused and scared for a moment he thought he was under attack by a Cylon raider as he pushed his nose hard over, ruining the firing solution he had on the incoming missile. "Frak me!" he exclaimed loudly, looking to his DRADIS for the attacker, though he saw none. It took him a moment to realize he had almost done himself (and Dizzy) in by nearly running into Percheron's own flak barrage. Forgetting about the missile he had let fly by now he chose another one farter back in the barrage and again switched on his wireless. "Raptors, Raptors, use your forward guns and engage the incoming missiles as best you can and for frak's sake stay away from Percheron's firing solution."** They would each get only one shot at a missile before it zoomed by them, the slow and lumbering raptors would have no chance to chase after a missile once it was past them, but oncoming they might be able to thin the herd just a little.

Lining up another shot at the next missile Caesar let loose with a volley of fire from his wingtip mounted guns. Streams of red tracers lashed out towards the missile as he maneuvered the large box like raptor so the stream would intercept the rapidly approaching missile. Slowly, surely, the long bust began to find the onrushing warhead and then...it was past him. With a cry of frustration Caesar released the firing stud as he swung the stick hard over looking for another target. RCS thrusters fired along the leading edges of the raptor, turning it back towards the oncoming missile barrage, even as a few more missiles departed controlled flight as a result of Dizzy's continued jamming. He had missed, but there were still plenty of other targets to choose from. Lining up on another he was about to depress the firing stud again, this time ready to send that missile up in a ball of flame, when from behind him Dizzy suddenly yelled out "Break right buster, buster, buster!!"

Without thinking about it Caesar heeled the Raptor over hard to the right and pushed the throttle fully forward. It took a moment but the lumbering Raptor responded building up speed as a Cylon raider passed underneath and to her port side, her own guns blazing as a stream of purple tracers filled the sly where the raptor had just been. "Frak, frak frak!" Caesar responded to Dizz now before once again thumbing the wireless circuit, this time calling out to the Viper squadrons in the air. "Black Squadron has been engaged by raiders, any Vipers please assist..." he rolled the raptor hard to port now as another stream of purple tracers lashed out towards him. "Expedite, and I do mean expedite!"***

TAG: @Vehn @TheAdmiral

OOC: I am not a radar technician nor do I have any experience in electronic warfare, so I am sure I made a boatload of mistakes there. I have just a simple man's understanding (or total lack thereof) of various RF bands and reading techno-thriller novels in my youth to go by. Still there should be enough difference between real RADAR and the fictional DRADIS to cover for my mistakes. Again I made a bunch of assumptions here regarding the Cylons and Colonials in terms of DRADIS technology, but we haven't really been given much in the TV series. If any of this needs to be discarded by the GM going forward please don't mind me and discard away.

** Similar order given by Apollo in BSG, this situation was obviously inspired by that.
*** Stolen shamelessly from Flight of the Intruder used in a similar situation.

 

OOC: Not trying to rush anyone into posting or modifying what they've already come up with. These updates are to round out the battle and supplement what you guys are already putting up. Nice posts so far!

Canceron
Low Orbit
Orion-class battlestar Anubis

​

Major Indira Salah gritted her teeth as she was flung against the tactical map in front of her in the CiC of the Orion class battlestar Anubis. She heard someone cry out and glass shatter as the command crew recovered from the Cylon missile attack. Red klaxon alarms blared and flashed repeatedly throughout CiC as damage control teams struggled to keep the rapidly unfolding situation under control.

“Report!” Major Salah cried out.

“We’re venting oxygen into space along our starboard side. I’ve got crews down there struggling to contain the breach. Cylon missile strikes have wiped out half of our gun emplacements,” her executive officer shouted, “and Cylon Raiders continue to strafe us.”

“Frak,” Salah cursed as she looked at the unfolding tactical situation. At this rate Anubis would be unable to join Percheron and Ceres on their mission. The Cylon’s tactics had been sound. The Raiders not engaged with the Vipers had gone after the weaker cruisers while the Cylon base ships launched missile barrages at the Percheron to keep them busy.

“Get me Percheron actual,” Salah ordered.

---

CiC
Percheron

Kaarsk picked up a nearby phone and listened as Major Indira Salah kept him up to date on the unfolding tactical situation. He closed his eyes as he knew what Salah was requesting, was insinuating, and also knew that she was correct. She was doing what had to be done and it pained him to realize the inevitable outcome of her decision.

"Gods be with you, Major Salah,” Kaarsk said as he hung up the phone.

“What is it, sir?” XO Vander asked.

“Salah isn’t coming with us,” Kaarsk replied.

“What is she doing?” XO Vander questioned.

Kaarsk paused and looked up at the DRADIS display above the tactical map.

“Buying us time,” Kaarsk replied.

---

IC: Captain Lee "Horatio" Hood
The Battle
Red Squadron

“Got’em!” Captain Lee Hood barked as he depressed the trigger watching as bullets splayed out across a Raider formation. One of the Raiders was clipped and collided with its wingmate sending both into the abyss in a ball of flame and debris.

He killed the throttle and grunted as he used the forward inertia to roll 180 degrees in the opposite direction. A Raider on his tail overshot him, snapping off a few bullets that harmlessly surrounded his former position. Hood slammed the throttle forward and was pushed with murderous tenacity back into his cockpit seat as the thrust carried him right into the thick of the battle.

Hood took a minute to get a fix on the battle as it rapidly unfolded. He blocked out the cries of victory and defeat erupting from Red Squadron as they engaged their Cylon adversary. He juked and jinked his Viper Mark II as tracer rounds lit up the darkness of space. It was man against machine out here. AI versus the human mind. Both sides giving and both sides taking lives with indiscriminate efficiency.

Off in the distance he spotted White Squadron, led by Captain Sharon “Razor” Crest, scurry off in the direction of Anubis no doubt trying to keep the Raider squadrons off the embattled cruisers back. She was a veteran pilot. Knew her stuff and also ran a tight unit. White Squadron would be fine and was perfectly suited to the task.

Hood was troubled to see Black Squadron, all Raptors, engaging the Cylon missiles while somehow, miraculously, staying out of the way of Percheron’s firing solution. What was Kaarsk thinking? He wondered as he watched them, with great efficacy, confuse and decoy the Cylon missiles into deep space trajectories.

Raptor pilots are nuts…Hood thought as he briefly popped up above the current dogfight.

An element of Viper Mark IIs with blue stripes on their wings shot on by weapons free. Hood waggled his wings as Blue Squadron, led by Captain Thomas “Puma” Talon, pursued an equally strong element of Cylon Raiders who were dead set on an intercept course with Percherons starboard flight pod.

“Black Squadron has been engaged by Raiders, any Vipers, please assist!”

Captain Lee Hood snapped his mind away from the larger tactical situation. Enough of that. Time to focus. He got on the squad channel and barked out, “Red Squadron, pull back from your engagement, head for Black Squadron and the Raptors. We need to keep the Cylons off their tails!”

He watched as Red Squadron slowly disengaged and followed him in wedge formation watching with muted satisfaction as the first Raider to fall into his gun sights, tunnel vision targeting a Raptor, fell to his guns.

Tag: @TheAdmiral; @Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Lieutenant Laurel Lance
BSG-86 Percheron

Laurel focused on the Red Squadron Leader. She tried to calm herself, Green Squadron was taking a pounding, this might be her first serious engagement. Given the attrition rate of the pilots she was not sure she was going to make it out alive.

Hopefully she would take some raiders with her…

No, she had to push those thoughts away. They would not help her stay alive. Fear was a useful tool, but if you let it take over then you will most certainly die.

Once inside her Viper, Laurel took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second to steel herself. It was happening.

She braced herself for the acceleration before they were shot into the void to fight… toasters. The last part made her smile.

But these household appliances could kill you if you were not careful.

The order was given so the Vipers were launched through the tube. There was no time for hesitation, doubts and fears. Only the task remained.

The black void was so disorienting. Having to fight in a three dimensional battlefield could do that to you. She yanked the stick to maneuver to avoid collision with some debris.

Then Laurel spotted a Raider. Hopefully her first kill for the day. She was too over eager as she pressed the trigger sending a stream of bullets missing the Cylon.

She cussed under her breath and gritted her teeth. She stopped shooting, avoiding another collision. Too many close calls! “I got you now!” Laurel murmured and pressed the trigger again.

The stream of projectiles tore through the body of the enemy craft making it to disintegrate, sending pieces of metal around. The momentum carried it forward, but she no longer cared. Grinning she maneuvered looking for another target.

“Copy that!” Laurel acknowledged the new orders and turned her craft around towards her new objective.

TAG: @Vehn @Bardan_Jusik

 

​

GM Update IV:
​

Anubis
CiC

“Major,” the XO pleaded, “for gods sake turn us around.”

Major Indira Salah shook her head as she examined the latest tactical situation on the DRADIS console hanging above her in CiC. She wasn’t about to yield. She’d done enough yielding in this entire war. Watched as countless young men and women under her command never returned home buried under the flag of their homeworld. She’d had enough.

“Major, please!” the XO pleaded, “You’ll kill us all if you continue on your present course!”

“Marines! Remove the XO from the bridge,” Major Indira Salah ordered as the black clad troopers approached with cuffs in hand, “and place him in the brig. Now!”

“Major, please, don’t do this!” The XO pleaded as he was hauled out of the CiC kicking and screaming

Major Indira Salah folded her arms behind her back as she turned to address the officers and enlisted personnel around her. She ignored the constant sounds of battle, the sickening vibrations of Cylon missiles slapping up against the hull of her ship, the sounds of glass shattering and systems failing. Now wasn’t the time to be afraid. Now was the time to make the enemy pay for their strike.

“I am drawing a line. You are either with me or you’re against me. You are either in this battle or you may leave your post,” Major Indira Salah said in a steady, commanding voice, “the retreating, the humiliating defeats, they stop today. They stop now. Our mission was to join the Percheron and Ceres on a campaign that was to take us deep into Cylon territory. We were to strike at the heart of the enemy and rip away their ability to fight. That mission changed when two Cylon base ships and their Raiders struck the Canceron shipyards.”

Nobody stirred as all eyes were fixed on their commander.

“The Cylons have come after us hard. They’ve damaged our ship. They’ve killed our friends and forced us to respond to their terms. Well, I reject their terms. I say we create our own terms. I say we make them respond to us! We are going to bring the fight to them in a way they’ve never seen before. We will not give up and we will never surrender,” Major Salah continued, “and that is why I am asking you to follow me for one final command. One final battle. You have served me well. Now I ask you serve me again.”

More silence as the bridge crew proudly looked upon their commanding officer.

“You all know the stakes in this fight. Think of your families, your homes, your dreams, all have been destroyed by the Cylons.. Now is the time for us to gather our strength and strike hard against the enemy in front of us. I am not afraid of the great beyond. I am afraid of what will happen to our beloved Colonies if we do not stand for what is right, for what is just! We will never yield to the Cylons! Never! So Say We All!”

“So Say We All!” the bridge crew roared.

“Helm, plot a course for the nearest base ship, flank speed. Tactical, order all remaining weapons to fire. Empty our missile stores. I want to hit them hard where it counts,” Major Salah ordered.

“At once, Major,” helm replied.

“On it, boss,” tactical added.

Major Indira Salah grimaced as she was thrown against the tactical map in front of her. Anubis was built well but wasn’t as heavily armored as Percheron. She couldn’t take much more of this kind of beating.

“We’re closing in, Major!” Helm shouted.

“May the Lords of Kobol be with us,” Major Indira Salah said.

Thy will be done she thought as she whispered a quiet prayer for all aboard and closed her eyes for the last time.

---

IC: Sharon “Razor” Crest
White Leader
White Squadron


Sharon depressed the trigger and watched with muted satisfaction as another hapless Raider fell to her guns. White Squadron had absolutely torn through the Cylon vanguard that had sought to finish off Anubis once and for all. She waggled her wings as she guided White Squadron up and above the battle to assess the situation.

“We’ve stopped the Raider attack,” Sharon called out to her squadron, “Nicely done!”

“White Six to Lead,” a voice called out.

“Yeah?” Sharon replied.

“Look out your port window heading 272,” White Six called out.

Sharon rolled her fighter and looked left. She placed a horrified hand on the cockpit glass as she watched Anubis fire up its engines and race toward the nearest Cylon base ship. She could tell from her vantage point that Anubis was seriously damaged venting oxygen, water, and fire into space. The ship had clearly been hit hard.

“White Lead to Anubis actual do you read me,” Sharon called out on a separate communication channel.

No response.

“White Lead to Anubis actual is everything all right? Respond, over,” Sharon repeated.

Nothing.

Sharon pounded her fist against the cockpit glass in frustration. The situation did not look good. A buzzer sounded in the cockpit. She was getting close to bingo fuel. If she didn’t return to Percheron she’d get shot down by the Cylons or worse captured.

“White Squadron, we’re bingo fuel. Return to Percheron,” Sharon ordered as she quietly spun her Viper around back toward the main action.

---

Cylon Base Ship
Canceron system

The Centurions forming the bridge crew of the Cylon base ship closest to the Anubis couldn’t believe their processors. The scene that unfolded before them was unfathomable. Overwhelming. Could not be calculated. Something was wrong. How had they underestimated their human creators?

Their programming told them exactly how the battle was to be carried out. How the tactics were supposed to be implemented. The chances of victory. The chances of defeat.

Therefore it came as quite a surprise to their sensors, their computer logic, when the Orion-class battlestar Anubis collided with their capital ship sending everyone in the vicinity to the darkness of death.

​

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik and @TheAdmiral

OOC: This is a little update to provide a sense of gravity to the battle. If you have a post in the works or are thinking of ideas hope this helps. Pretty flexible with what you guys post up but as you can tell there's a story to be told here. Hope you two are having fun! Bigger more direct update to come later in the week.

 

IC: Lieutenant Harold "Caesar" Camlot / Lieutenant J.G. Gwen "Dizzy" Darling
In the thick of things...

Caesar let loose with another string of expletives as another string of purple tracers buzzed by his forward windscreen. "Does the queen mother know you talk like that?" Dizzy asked flippantly from her own console at the rear of the raptor. "Who do you think..." he grunted as he heaved the craft over to starboard. "...I got it from," he finished as he reversed his turn, juking the other way and watching raider overcommit and fly past him. He had lost track of the rest of his squadron now, surely a black mark for his combat record during his very first combat assignment, but he had been so busy keeping himself alive he just couldn't keep up with what the remaining 11 raptors were doing. He thought about putting Dizzy on the aft gun turret, the "Chrome Domer", but held off for now. The rear turret triggered her space sickness, and she would be next to useless on the gun. She was far more valuable continuing her jamming efforts, trying to follow the frequency hopping the cylons were now attempting in an effort to circumvent her efforts. It was a game of cat and mouse, but played out electronically across wave guides. It was something Caesar could never understand, but Diz, Diz was a master of it.

Turning his craft back towards the fray, Caesar tried for a moment to get a sense of the battle unfurling around him. The missile barrage on the Percheron seemed to have been mostly beaten off, deflected by the raptors jamming efforts and ultimately defeated by the battlestar's own impressive array of defensive armament which took care of the leakers, missiles that made it through the jamming. The vipers helped in that regard, while also hitting any raiders that strayed too close to the Colonial mothership. Meanwhile it looked like one of the battlestar's escort cruisers was moving in, intent on engaging the base ships as close range to take some of the pressure off. Caesar silently wished them luck...

"Break right!" Diz suddenly called out from the back as another string of purple tracer fire lashed out after them. Caesar heaved the craft hard over again while looking out his viewscreen to catch of glimpse of their attacker and get a bearing on it. "Oh, it's you." he mumbled to himself easily identifying the same raider he had evaded them just moments before. You had to say this about the Cylons, they had a dogged determination. Casear again pushed his vessel hard to the left now, trying the same maneuver that had broken contact the last time with this raider, but this time it stayed right with him. "frak it," he called out as the purple tracers bracketed them. "I hate computers that learn!"

Running out of options Caesar pushed forward on the throttles (before realizing they were already at the stops for full forward) and then VIFFed, rotating the nozzles of his vectored thrust engines while simultaneously giving the RCS thrusters a hard squirt, as if he was taking off. The raptor groaned as it suddenly shifted in flight, jerking upwards at an angle unanticipated by the cylon raider pursuing them. As it shot by by out in front of them, Caesar and Dizzy let out load groans of their own at the increased G forces their bodies were undergoing though they stayed conscious throughout, it was a maneuver they were both rather accustomed to having used in in several of the combat search and rescue missions previous to this assignment.

"It's coming back around," Dizzy shouted out tracking the contact on her DRADIS console. "These frakkers really don't give up do they?" Her voice was tense yet jocular even as the raider was once again on them, but what Caesar said next took all the levity out of the moment. "Diz," he grunted as he pushed the yoke hard to the front causing the raptor to dive, though the raider stayed right with him. "Diz I need you on the gun." There was only silence from behind him.. "Diz, did you hear..."

"Yeah, I heard you." He was concentrating on the controls and so couldn't spare even a moment to look back at her, but if he had he would have seen that her skin had gone even more pale than her natural pallor. In her eyes was an odd look, a mixture of fear and pure devotion and love for Caesar, she couldn't let him down. With a hard swallow she left her electronic combat station and moved just a few short steps aft and activated the controls of the "chrome domer", deployed the twin multi barreled gun emplacement. She closed her eyes, steeling herself before she dared to look outside at the rolling starscape, and at that moment the raider trailing them exploded...

"Nice work Diz!" Caesar called back to her as the raider came apart, not realizing that it hadn't been her but the viper that now sailed through the expanding cloud of gas that had been a cylon raider that had gotten the kill. "Now get back to your console..." he continued. While he had been busy evading destruction he had again lost track of the battle at large and he wanted her at her DRADIS console to help him sort things out.

"What's she doing?" Diz said almost as soon as she resumed her normal position in the raptor. In her time away from the DRADIS the Anubis had moved even closer to the cylon position and was blazing away with everything she had. "I don't know but she's too close. At the close range she won't last long against those base ships." ** The pair continued to stare at their respective DRADIS consoles in disbelief as the Anubis grew closer and closer to the baseship before it finally dawned on Dizzy what they were up to.

"She's not planning on lasting long..." she replied as the Anubis collided with the baseship destroyed both in a brilliant ball of fire that illuminated even the interior of the raptor.

That was one down, and one more to go, and Caesar had a raptor squadron fully armed for anti-ship. His blood lust was in full effect he sent a wireless transmission back to the Percheron, one he hoped would get through the jamming without being too garbled. "Black Squadron awaiting orders."

TAG: @Vehn @TheAdmiral

OOC: ** Obvious Star Wars reference is obvious.

 

IC: Lieutenant Laurel Lance
In the middle of the battle

Laurel was maneuvering the debris field that had formed from the destroyed human and cylon crafts. Her nose was itchy but she dared not let go of the stick to scratch it.

She pressed the trigger on a couple of occasions, but missed both targets. Nevermind that, there were plenty more to hunt down and destroy.

Then her Viper was shaken by a near miss. A raider passed overhead. Those toasters were getting cocky. It was heading towards a Raptor that was engaged in electronic warfare.

Laurel was blinded for a moment by the brilliant explosion of the baseship, which was destroyed by what appeared to have been the Anubis. Oh no… all those people…

She gritted her teeth and decided to pursue the raider. She pressed the trigger sending a volley of bullets, but all of them missed. Laurel cussed under her breath, her grip on the stick tightening.

“Come on, come on...” she murmured.

Then the toaster made a mistake. Technically it was right as it was preparing to fire on the Raptor, but that gave Laurel the opportunity to tear it apart. The Cylon had prioritized the EW craft over its self preservation.

Laurel pressed the trigger again and this time the bullets tore the craft apart.

“You owe me a drink.” she commed smugly the Raptor, she thought she recognized it, was it that Ceaser or whatever who flew it?

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @Vehn

 

GM Update V:​

CiC
Percheron

“The main Raider assault waves has been beaten back sir,” XO Vander pointed out to his commanding officer, “and the Cylon missile threat has been largely neutralized by the Raptors. Red, White and Black Squadrons are asking for orders.”

Kaarsk studied the tactical situation for a moment. It still stung him hard how Anubis had sacrificed herself for the Colonial cause. Major Salah was a rising commander in the Colonial fleet. And she was a good friend. She had been there at his wedding over a decade ago and he’d personally hand picked her to join him on this assignment. He trusted her above all else. The loss would be felt for some time.

“Order Black Squadron to engage the remaining Cylon base ship,” Kaarsk ordered, “and tell White, Red and Blue squadrons to escort Black Squadron and engage the remaining Raiders. Show no quarter, give no mercy.”

“Understood,” XO Vander said as she had communications relay the order.

“How much time until we jump?” Kaarsk asked.

“Six minutes,” Vander replied.

“Then we better hurry. Helm, bring us about, batteries one through forty prepare for salvo fire and engage the remaining Cylon base ship,” Kaarsk ordered.

“Aye, Commander,” helm replied.

“Being a little aggressive aren’t we, commander?” XO Vander questioned.

“I don’t want them following us when we make the jump,” Kaarsk replied, “now lets get to it and make the Cylons burn.”

---

IC: Captain Lee Hood
The Battle

“Affirmative Percheron actual orders received,” Captain Hood said as he waggled his wings to his squadron. He could feel the Colonials have the upper hand. Feel that victory was closed.

He switched to the squadron wide channel. “Heads up Red Squadron we’re to escort Black Squadron in their assault on the remaining Cylon base ship. We’re running mop up duty against those remaining Raiders. Good hunting!”

He checked his fuel and barely suppressed a smile. Still plenty in the tank and a lot more toasters to kill.

Tag: @TheAdmiral; @Bardan_Jusik

OOC: Short update but gets things moved right along. Quick recap Black Squadron is to engage at will the remaining Cylon base ship. You may damage and destroy as you see fit.

Red, White and Blue Squadrons are to provide escort/space superiority for Raptors as we knock out the remaining Raiders. Feel free to destroy whatever comes across your guns or if you'd prefer make strafing runs against the Cylon base ship to help the Raptors.

Keep in mind the Cylons are still deadly and a threat in your posts. Thanks!

 

IC: Lieutenant Harold "Caesar" Camlot / Lieutenant J.G. Gwen "Dizzy" Darling
Assaulting for the very first time...

"Roger that Percheron, orders received." Diz signaled back to the battlestar as Caesar was too busy dodging cylon raiders to do much else. "Looks like we finally get to do what we came here for." She excitedly told him, "Percheron wants us to assault the last baseship." The pilot heaved the raptor hard over evading another raider that was promptly taken down by a Viper. "About frakkin time!" he yelled back to her. "Ok, get us set up for an attack vector on the baseship," his voice and demeanor were calm but inside his emotions were roiling even as he tried to remember the correct protocols for anti ship attack. Despite his brilliant combat search and rescue record, he had never actually attacked a Cylon baseship before, much less led the attack on one.

"We got a Viper escort all the way to the target..." Diz reported in as she continued to monitor the wireless calls from Percheron for Caesar as he not only piloted their own craft but set up the rest of the squadron for their run, checking the vectors sent to his own nav system by his ECO and then checking in with the other Raptor pilots. "I can't get Black five, seven or eight on the wireless Diz." he called back to her after they checked in. "I've got five on the DRADIS," she yelled back up to him after as moment checking her own larger and more detailed DRADIS console, "but they are way off track..." Caesar took a moment to glance down at his own DRADIS now, noticing where the errant raptor was after it had been pointed out to him. "I think they're NOWIRE," the word came out almost sounding like a slurred version of no where, but Caesar knew exactly what she meant. Black Five's wireless communications were out. "What about seven and eight?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"No sign of them, might be lost in the clutter or..."

"Right," he nodded back his voice full of determination. That left them three birds down for the attack, but they should still have more than enough firepower to take on one baseship, especially with the Percheron at their back. "Spool up the anti-ship missiles..." Diz got to work ensuring the quartet of large frame missiles hanging off their lower hardpoints were up and tracking. They had onboard guidance systems and were "fire and forget", that is once they launched they didn't need guidance or steering from the raptor in order to track their target and hit it. However the missiles own DRADIS was primitive compared to even a viper, not to mention a raptor's, with limited range and restricted to a small "cone" out in front of the missile instead of all around it.

That onboard system was usually kept deactivated until the missiles were ready for launch. While she handled that Caesar was on the wireless to the rest of the squadron. "Nothing too fancy, with the Vipers giving us cover fire we head straight in and launch all together at 10 klicks..." There was a series of roger that and acknowledgements from the squadron, some of which seemed none to happy at either the straight in approach or the close in nature of the shot. They could fire off their missiles at far greater range than just ten kilometers, but from his old combat courses he remembered reading that the farther out he missiles were fired from, the longer the Cylons would have to jam them. The Cylon's own missile attack on the Percheron had demonstrated how just such an attack could be defeated by not much more than electronic jamming, and the Cylons were experts at electronic warfare. Getting in close would just ensure more of their ordinance would hit the target. As for the straight in approach, they had already lost a few craft, and things were chaotic enough for Caesar's first taste of real combat. He needed to keep things simple so he didn't once again lose situational awareness of the battle at hand. Meanwhile, there were problems closer to home...

"Got a warning light on number three." She called forward again with yet another problem. "Seeker head won't engage." Caesar frowned behind his faceplate. That was a problem, it meant that missile number three wouldn't guide properly on target. Of course that was better than a gimble problem which meant the missile would track but wouldn't fly straight, so it was all a matter of perspective. The squadron by now was in formation, all flying in together as a new slew of missiles erupted from the baseship, this time targeted on the raptors flying in on them as a single giant wedge. "We dump her with the others," he called back as he watched the quick smoke trails reaching out for them. Fear was rising in his throat now, maybe they should launch from further out, it would allow the Raptors a chance to evade the incoming fire. He swallowed deeply, "Diz..." he started, but she interrupted him. "I see them, trying to jam their warheads..." He could only imagine that the same was being done on the other raptors now in bound for the baseship. "12 klicks," Diz called out the range as some of the cylon missiles again went wild just as they had when attacking the Percheron. "What about missile three?" Diz now reminded him.

"We dump her with the others," he replied back after a beat, repeating what he had said just moments before. It seemed in the heat of battle, and with her multitasking everything she either hadn't heard him, or had forgotten. In any case, without a functioning guidance system there was little chance the missile would hit the target at that range. They could get in even closer to ensure a better chance, but that would be pushing it, especially as he would be going in alone. The other raptors were sure to break away from the baseship as soon as they had launched, though the Vipers might go in all the way with him. "Roger that," Diz replied back from her console happily. "11 klicks, we have tracking and lock on." She reported that the other three missiles were tracking the baseship, though at the moment they would still be getting help from the raptor's sensor suite. "10 klicks, your pickle is hot" she reported now telling Caesar that his firing button was active. Upon hearing that Caesar wasted no time in mashing down on the firing stud four times in rapid succession and he was immediately greeted with the sight of the four anti-ship missiles streaming away from his raptor as other streams paralleled them streaking away from the other raptors.

Without bothering to track the progress of his own attack he now shouted into the wireless, "Black Squadron, break, break, break." His voice was louder than he intended, but he was excited. They still had the incoming cylon missiles to deal with and even as the colonial missiles tracked on towards the baseship, the baseship's defensive barrage arrived at the raptors now scattering formation...

TAG: @Vehn @TheAdmiral

OOC: NOWIRE, is an adaptation of NORDO, meaning NO RADio used by modern aircraft. Since they call the radio a wireless in BSG I figured I would alter it a bit here. I know you said feel free to destroy the baseship, but wanted to leave some wiggle room for the Vipers to join in on the fun too as the missiles track towards the target.

 

IC: Captain Lee “Horatio” Hood
Red Leader
Battle of Canceron

The Cylon baseship loomed larger and larger as the Colonial Vipers pressed their attack. The scattered Raiders were fleeing for the safety of their capital ship as Blue and White Squadrons picked off the remnants of the once powerful Cylon attack force.

This was of no concern to Captain Lee Hood who commanded Red Squadron with a ruthless and unrelenting vision. A vision of absolute lethality and efficiency. An unfortunate side effect of his stimulant addiction. He checked DRADIS as the Cylon baseship loomed large. The Raptor attack was going well. Already he could see the missiles zooming out far ahead of their position screaming inbound toward their target.

“Red Squadron tighten up,” Lee called out, “we’re going to peel away from the Raiders and make strafing runs against the baseship. Weapons hot. Watch out for Cylon missiles and make sure to check your six for any Raiders.”

Lee checked his ammo. He was at half the necessary amount to continue combat operations. Enough to damage the Cylon baseship which didn’t have strong anti fighter weaponry. The Cylons, mistakenly, relied on their Raiders to provide much of the protection.

“Canary,” Lee called out, “form on me. Attacking now!”

Lee barrel rolled to avoid incoming fire as a firing solution presented itself. He depressed the trigger and watched with satisfaction as his rounds tore into the Cylon capital ship. Small explosions and debris erupted where his rounds lit into the armored exterior of the ship.

Then he was through and out the other side. He heard cries fly up in his helmet. Cries of pain. Distress. He checked DRADIS and a sickening feeling hit him hard in the stomach. Red Eleven and Red Twelve were gone. Destroyed. He frantically leaned to his right and checked his six only to catch the dangerous glint of a trio of Cylon Raiders knifing their way through Red Squadron’s attack run.

Not good.

“Canary! On me! We’ve lost Red Eleven and Twelve. Come on lady, we’re going after them!” Lee called out.

Lee grunted as he killed his forward momentum, rotated his Viper 180 degrees in the opposite direction, and closed head on with the formation.

“Frakking toasters,” Lee cursed as he juked and jinked to avoid the incoming Cylons, the Colonial missiles, and certain death.

Tag: @TheAdmiral; @Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Lieutenant Laurel Lance
Battle of Canceron

The Raptor seemed to be safe for now. Well as safe as possible giving the circumstances. She broke formation and went on the prowl for another target. Laurel took several pot shots at some Raiders but missed them. She had to get better at this if she were to survive the war.

If such a thing was even possible…

Then came Lee’s orders. Those snapped her from her stupor, just in time to avoid a piece of debris. That was close. Her throat was getting dry, so she clicked an affirmation to the order. Checking DRADIS to see where the Leader’s position was.

Once found she directed her Viper towards him.

Her heart was pounding as they approached the Cylon capital ship. Laurel sent a stream of bullets towards it, tearing through the armor, adding more debris to the ever expanding field of trash.

Laurel was so focused on the task that she ignored the cries.

It was Red Leader’s voice who snapped her to attention again. She cussed silently and maneuvered her fighter towards the trio of toasters. “I’ve got your back, sir!”

TAG: @Vehn @Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Lieutenant Harold "Caesar" Camlot / Lieutenant J.G. Gwen "Dizzy" Darling
Witnessing the attack

Through his forward windscreen Caesar watched as the missiles fired from his raptor squadron tracked inwards towards the last remaining cylon baseship. The missiles were fire and forget, though they could if need be given mid course guidance corrections from each raptor's ECO. These were fired closely enough to the target that that wouldn't be necessary though and so the missiles were on their own from the mom ent of launch. Still Caesar had the understandable desire to watch the results of his first attack hit home.

"Toasters jamming has picked up..." Dizzy reported from behind him as she watched the results of the electronic battle being played out on her DRADIS console. Caesar didn't need the console to see what she was telling him was true as he could see the some of the missile trails veer away from their intended target and go spinning off into empty space. Enough of the warheads maintained their track though and these were targeted by the baseship's own anti aircraft missiles as well as the remaining raiders that stood between the Colonial barrage and the base ship. Those too took their toll on the barrage, but with the Percheron's own considerable firepower added to the mix it was too much for the basehsip and her raiders to handle. Missiles, warheads and heavy gun fire impacted against the cylon's light gray hull, erupting into huge orange fireballs, some of which set off secondary explosions within the ship. It didn't take long before the vessel was a burning wreck in space and it was then that Caesar gave the last order for his attacking raptors. "Keep your distance, I don't want to lose anyone when she goes up."

TAG: @Vehn @TheAdmiral

 

GM Update: V​

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Battle of Canceron

The Colonial missiles launched from Black Squadron were lazily swatted away by the Cylon defense systems. A majority of the missiles launched successfully found their target deep inside the Cylon base ship. Coupled with the assault from the Percheron’s main batteries doomed the base ship. The armor that was supposed to protect the base ship was absolutely overwhelmed and within minutes bulkheads crackled and critical failure of all systems occurred.

As the base ship exploded under the weight of the Colonial attack the remaining Raiders were swept away in the debris field or gunned down by the combined efforts of Red, Blue and White squadrons.

Black Squadron had been given orders by Percheron to land first while the faster Vipers created a buffer zone to protect the slower moving Raptors.

In time all of Percheron’s air wing would be landing in preparation for the planned jump into the unknown.

OOC: Wrap up any combat missions and call the ball, folks. We’re moving forward…

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Percheron
CiC

“Congratulations, Commander,” XO Vander said, “the Cylon threat has been neutralized!”

The bridge erupted into sporadic celebrations.

“Enough! Knock that off! I’ll feel better once our birds are back in the hangar where they belong,” Kaarsk replied quieting the crew down.

He was never one to celebrate a tactical victory. It wasn’t his style. He’d too often seen over eager commanders give early congratulations and slaps on the back when victory was at hand only to have the tide of battle swing the other way into a cataclysmic defeat.

“Tactical, Flight Operations, are we ready to make the jump?” Kaarsk asked.

“FTL drive is spooled and ready,” Tactical Officer Vance Tyragh replied.

“All birds have landed and flight pods have been retracted,” Flight Officer Tan Swift added.

“Very well. Arroyo,” Kaarsk said calling out his communications officer, “transmit jump coordinates to Ceres. On my mark, execute jump code Alpha Tango Foxtrot five-six,” Kaarsk ordered.

Kaarsk picked up the phone to make a shipwide announcement, “Prepare for FTL jump. Repeat, prepare for FTL jump.”

Kaarsk returned his attention to Tyragh hanging up the wired phone, “Make the jump,” Kaarsk ordered, “on my mark, five, four, three, two, one…mark.”

“Jump initiated,” Tyragh replied.

The space around Kaarsk appeared to stretch and shift as if time and space itself were collapsing on each other. He never liked the sensation of FTL jumps. The feeling that your innards were being sucked out of your body and slapped back in all disorganized at breakneck speed. He held on to the tactical map in front of him as the sensation grew. As fast as it came the sensation was gone.

“Jump complete,” Tyragh announced.

“Check coordinates,” Kaarsk ordered.

“Checking, sir,” Tyragh replied and then hesitated, “all ships of the fleet are here and we are..…deep inside Cylon territory.”

​

Kaarsk grunted and nodded his head. He looked about the CiC at the men and women under his direct command. He had never given the crew an official briefing or information as to where they were going. The Cylon attack on the Canceron shipyards had thrown his briefing plans right out the window. There hadn’t been time to give the crew a full understanding of the mission or campaign at hand.

That was going to change right now.

“Arroyo, open up a fleetwide channel, no restrictions,” Kaarsk ordered.

“Channel open,” Arroyo replied.

“This is Commander Kaarsk and I wanted to personally congratulate the fleet on their performance in battle during the defense of the Canceron shipyards. We took on the Cylons and hit them hard. They won’t be making that mistake again, I can promise you that. We took some losses. We lost some friends. We will never forget them. Never. We must use their loss to continue the fight. And continue the fight we shall.”

“Our mission, our campaign, is simple. As of right now we are deep inside Cylon territory,” Kaarsk paused to let that sink in, “and our mission is to disrupt Cylon supplies and fleet operations. To keep them with an eye on their backs. To keep the enemy off balance and to take the pressure of the assault on the Twelve Colonies.”

“This mission won’t be easy. We are alone out here. Our goal is to cause as much destruction as possible to the Cylon war effort and make them pay for all the destruction they’ve caused. You will have to rely on the men and women on either side of you to see this mission through. Know that you may also rely on me. I will never let you down. Today is the first day of the new war. Today is the day we take the fight to the enemy!”

“So Say We All!” Kaarsk roared into the phone.

“So Say We All!” The bridge crew roared.

OOC: @Bardan_Jusik and @TheAdmiral use this time if you'd like to do some character development or round out anything about your characters/back stories. Also I am now opening up the game for any secondary characters you'd like to create (specifically hangar techs, etc). We won't have much downtime for long.