An easier to read story

[Tabitha]

Most of my stuff revolves around my family and friends. I do include them like Steph, and Gunny G, and if anyone here wants, I can include you as well. Just PM me with what youd like to see, and how youd like the story to proceed. This is stuff from the Cylon War site that Im putting up here to maybe get people to give a sister site some support...

The door squeeked. That was the irritating part of it all. Tabbi could deal with the throbbing of the engines, the sounds of the other pilots snoring or talking quietly, but the d**n door squeeked when anyone used it. She tried everything to stop it, short of tying it back so that it was obviously meant to stay open. That would be dangerous, and besides, its not proper to do that.
She sat up and tugged on her blouse. It was cold, always cold, not like the lush warmth of Virgon. No, aboard the Gal, it was cold. She tugged on her boots, snapping the buckles into lock and reached for her gun. It was heavy. She wanted one of the lighter pistols, one of the ones that the high ranking officers kept. They were smaller and easier to handle. These larger blast pistols were klunky and kicked a bit more than she preferred. Still, she was just a very junior leutenant. She was nowhere near getting her hands on a nice gun. Not that guns were nie to handle. She preferred not wearing one at all, but for the near future, with the parade of Battlestars, and the cerimony that would celibrate the peace with the Cylons, she had to be in proper uniform.
It was early, three hours till the cerimonial parade of forces, so she decided to get something to snack on and preflight her Viper. It was old and its maintence was good but servicing old worn out equipment was hardly going to make it last much longer. Still, it was the one she wanted, a true superiority fighter version. It lacked the internal missle ability, but had additional speed and fuel. Its guns fired faster and didnt require as much conservation of fire as the fighter bomber versions with their lighter barrels and missle bomb bays. She had chosen the rattly old bird from the list of availible fighters when she signed aboard. That was the one thing that had gone right so far. Other than that, it had been almost a daily play of dissapointments.
The food, now there was a sad offering. It was kibble, and not even good kibble, even a dagget would choke and puke on it. She wished she had graduated high enough to get assigned to Pegasus. That was the hot rod to be on. This billet was almost a dead end. Good thing this bucket of bolts was going decomission in a while, she would be reassigned to a REAL battlestar. She almost laughed, thinking how pathetic it would fare if the Cylons attacked. This piece of junk in a fight? What could it do? Run into a base star? And the commander, he must have been origional issue. He probably painted the piece of junk before it left the ship yards. She doubted that old codger would survive without keeling over in heart attack.
Tabitha wasnt too sure of her command to say the least, but at least she wasnt on a shuttle billet. She was just reaching the launch bay when the alert sounded. She wasnt sure wether to grab her helmet and launch or to just get out of the way, it sounded like a red alert, but how could that be?

[Tabitha]

The launch orders came quickly, pilots began to scramble to their Vipers. She recognized a few, they were senior officers, all of them experienced. They were very good pilots, but they were Blue squadron. She was Red, so for her, it was like seeing a senior in high school, she tended to not speak and just go her own way. She grabbed her helmet and got into her Viper, the Blue squadron members were scrambling for their own helmets. It took her only a few moments to get her Viper ready for launch. When permission was given, she hit the turbo and felt the gee forces shove her back. She loved launches.
When Blue squadron formed up, she realized that Red was still assembling, but there were Cylon raiders all over, this wasnt right. Were they escorting someone importaint? Then the shooting started. She squeeled and began yanking the stick around, causing her Vipers targeting computer to fight to give her any real readings. After the initial shock of being shot at left her, she relaxed into the fight, performing aerial gymnastics, like she used to in daddys sky hopper back on Virgon. The Cylons were fast, and they didnt just fly into her gun sights like in the simulators, they dodged and faught back fiercly. She struggled to keep control over her Viper, its inertial compensators were strained to their limits, her manouvers exceeding normal or even emergency flight envelope. She felt a bit dizzy, blood running from her nose as she continued to turn and burn, her guns shaking the Viper like hammers on the sides. Several explosions erupted around her, maybe her targets, maybe other Vipers, she wasnt sure. It wasnt about one on one fighting anymore, it was a confused dance of energy bolts and shrapnel. Some of the pieces so large, they seemed like they should crash right through her canopy.
She flew through several explosions, the engine read out boards were showing tell tales for several systems. She didnt have time to really register what they were. The five Cylons on her tail were closing their loop and she was counting the final moments of her life.
Suddenly they broke off, it was like a switch was thrown. She looked around, the Galactica was gone, the other battlestars were gone as well. Just a few dozen Vipers were left, their pilots looking dazed and confused. She looked over and recognised a few Vipers from Atlantia, a couple from Atlantis, one from Pegasus, and a couple from Galactica. She flew over to regroup with the ones from Galactica.
"Blue one to Red seven, you finally get that thing under control?" she heard Captain Apollo ask.
"Yes sir, been under control the whole time, sir." she replied not sure how to take that question.
"Oh, you were right Starbuck." he laughed. She heard Lt. Starbuck laugh over the radio, and felt suddenly very foolish to have been the topic of conversation between such esteemed pilots. "Yep, Captain, someday youll learn not to bet against me, but not too soon I hope. Now, lets see if we can find a place to land, I dont know about you, but Im low on fuel, and about out of ammo." he said sounding very serious. She knew that the Ion shells that the laser accelerators fired were small, but not infinite. She looked down and saw that she was empty. Ok, she thought, thats what that red light is... oh frak, Im nearly out of fuel too. "Um, Captain Apollo sir, I am also low on fuel sir." she said.
"You were right again Starbuck." Apollo laughed.
"Well, that was an easy one, nobody can yank and bank that much without using up all their fuel." Starbuck sounded like he was putting a cigar in his mouth, and she was tempted to look, but figured she should hang back in formation.
"Look, there she is!" Apollo cried as the Galactica suddenly swung into view. The few surviving Vipers, many from battlestars that were destroyed or missing, all sped towards her. Tabitha hung back with Starbuck and Apollo, allowing the others to land first. It seemed only fair that the orphaned pilots get to land first. As she waited she saw Boomer and Jolly pull along side her. She smiled. They were nice, Boomer was teaching her the finer points of landing. Behind them were two members of her own squadron, but that was all she could see. It looked like most of red didnt make it.
Landing was tough, there were a few wrecked Vipers in the bay, still others were out of fuel and were starting to slide a bit. She dropped the nose as her skids touched down and brought it to a halt just shy of the red line and taxied in. She parked her Viper just aft of Boomers and waited for her turn to the elevator, down to the flight bay.
She was eager to talk to the other survivors, to hear their stories, and share her own.

[Tabitha]

In her dreams, she saw the explosions more clear. They had faces now, names. They had sounds, voices calling to her. She woke screaming. Sweat rolled off her face as she went to stand. The other pilots looked at her concerned, but she walked off towards the showers.

Later, the pilots briefing was grim. The commander had decided to collect the survivors, but to do so he would require the unthinkable. The cylons were not simply going to roll over and allow the Galactica and hew few civilian ships to simply wander off. They would strike back and try to prevent escape. The Galactica could not both fight them off, and lead the fleet to safety. Someone was going to have to stay behind to guard the back door. Tabitha found herself raising her hand first. After, several pilots orphaned from their own battlestars also raised their hands. After the most horrible ten minutes Apollo had ever had to endure, he had seven pilots. His magnificent seven, they would strike at the cylon recon ships and whatever raiders followed to allow the fleet at least a chance to get away. It wasnt likely to work, but anything was better than nothing.
She looked at the others, only they stood. The rest of the pilots, they wanted to do it too, but many were wounded, or their Vipers were damaged, or they simply couldnt bear the responsibility for their own reasons, none of them cowards. The mission wasnt the one Apollo himself would want to take, but he had volunteered, he and Starbuck and Booker and Jolly, all of Blue squadron, but Commander Adama refused to even think of that. He needed his best to protect the fleet. The seven left behind, were, saddly, not the greatest examples of pilots. They were simply, the only ones who could be spared.

[Tabitha]

The launch was rough. Something about it felt wrong, but Tabitha couldnt put her finger on it. It felt wrong. Still, she fell into formation behind Brett and Kylie. They were both Lt.s and far better pilots than she was. In her mirror, she saw the massive fleet form up and wink out of sight, fleeing for some destination that they were not aware of. Measures were taken to ensure that noone left behind could give away the fleets destination. From here on, they were on their own, and they all knew that meant certain death.
Cold... the absence of heat. Darkness, the absence of light. Tabitha switched off the lights of her helmet and leaned against the side of the canopy. The battle had lasted only a few minutes. The cylons blew through them like they were nothing. The bought the fleet time, but was it enough?
She looked at the grey paint on the side of the pilots compartment. It was worn and old. Most of it was worn off, the metal black from some corrosion where it shined from the dashboard lights. Around her were debris of the raiders that her little flight had shot to pieces. They attacked the ones in the middle of the waves, trying to break up the formations. They succeeded at first, but it was hopeless from the beginning. They knew that, but they took off anyhow. Now she was looking at the spot where the last humans had dissappeared. Around her was a couple other damaged Vipers, she knew at least one other pilot survived, maybe two. One had reported an atmosphere leak in a crack on his canopy. Chances were, he had already died from the effects of hypothermia or vaccume. The other pilot was dangerously close to Caprica's atmosphere. She didnt want to watch him burn up, she really didnt want to hear him screaming either.
Her internal systems were dying. Out of fuel, the batteries were running down. She was cold. She knew she was lethargic and that was a sure sign that she was also dying. She shed tears as she thought about her family on Virgon. Their puny self defence forces couldnt have held out for long. She wondered if they held long enough for her family to get aboard one of the fleet ships. She hadnt had time to check. Maybe they made it to a shelter, maybe...

[Tabitha]

The radio crackled on the military band. She looked up, it took all her will to move. She noticed that ice was forming around her helmet. Again it crackled. She turned up the gain, another difficult thing to do, she was focussed on the dial, but her hand didnt want to move. She had to scream, which she again tried to do but it came out a whimper. Her hand moved slowly to the wrong dial. She cried and screamed, a little louder. Finally it was within her fingers. She turned the gain up and tried to speak. It came out as whimpering sounds, so improper for a Colonial Warrior. Then she felt a thump. She looked up, through her hair and saw something block the light outside the iced over canopy. She grunted, it was all she could do. The sensation of being pulled was like heaven to her. She didnt know who or what or why, but she was being taken somewhere. Anywhere was better than here.

She slept fitfully. The voices she heard when the drugs allowed her to come near wakefullness, they were all strange. Finally she felt a pin prick in her arm. Minutes later she felt just enough energy to open her eyes.

Looking down at the nearly dead pilot, Steph was not sure he was glad she was awake or not. He smiled, but the way she looked, he wasnt sure if she was all there inside. He tugged the collar of his white Pilot Cadet uniform looser and leaned over to hear her whisper.
"Where..." was all she could croak out.
"Your on the Colonial Training Platform Avalon. Were now comissioning her Battlestar Avalon." he said proudly. The Avalon... Tabitha fought to remember what she heard of it. It was the first Battlestar ever built. Noone was sure exactly how old it was. Some claimed it was thousends of years old, others claimed that it didnt even exist, that this one was just an ordinary Battlestar that was given mythic status to scare cadets. Still, it was twice the size of a modern Battlestar. It had room for eight squadrons, and its landing and launch decks were stacked two high on each port. It had its own green house and everything any city had. At one point they even used some of the internal space to make a sort of small city, where the families of the officers assigned to training duties lived. She had never seen the supposed city, but she knew that it was huge. She had graduated from here not more than a year ago, but... she was having trouble remembering, her head spun again.
"Take it easy Ensign. Youve had a long day at work." another voice said. A Marine Leutenant General walked into view. The cadet snapped to attention. "Get well soon, your friend is recovering nicely as well. We will need as many pilots as we can get. Later, you can tell me what you know about Galactica, your friend over there says you two were part of a rear guard for her escape. I wish to hear your tale." he smiled. She remembered him, General Brandt. She nodded, unable to get her voice to work.
Steph smiled and held up a drinking straw. "Your probably wanting this." he said quietly. "Just a sip, not too much or youll get sick." he warned. She sipped and he put it away on the table next to her bed. "I have to go, but I will be back, ok?" he asked as if she were anyone to say yes or no. She nodded...

[Tabitha]

Steph left the bedside of the Ensign feeling a bit worried. The gun camera footage they saw, as they tried to piece together what happenned, was disturbing. He was senior cadet aboard Avalon, and he knew that most of the cadets were nowhere near this good with a Viper, and if SHE was overwhelmed, then they were in serious trouble.
He walked back down to the lift and finally came to the flight deck. His girl friend, Brandolynne was waiting for him, she had probably been there for quite a while.
"Ok, whats the word?" she asked before even saying hello or I love you.
"Shes alive, both of them are alive. The guy might be able to fly in a day or two, Doc isnt so sure about her." he said not sure why Brandy cared so much. "We recovered five Vipers that might be able to be reused. Combined with the stuff we scuttled from R&D base Arcadia, we should be able to throw some impressive stuff back at the toasters, but not till we get some better combat training." Steph was worried about Brandy. She was brash, eager, and just good enough to get herself into something she couldnt handle.
"Well, we will show those toasters whos boss!" she declared like it was nothing more than a triad game.
"Brandy, they destroyed the entire fleet, our homes, families are gone!" Steph couldnt believe her level of denial.
"I know, but I never had a home anyhow. Look Steph, we both know that theres nothing left, but hey, we got Avalon, weve got a chance. Let the rest of the fleet run and hide. Avalon was the only Battlestar at the beginning of the first war, we defended the colonies for almost seventy five years with just her. We can do it again, we can!" she looked up into his eyes, her big blue eyes just pierced him to the soul. He smiled, touched her cheek.
"Yes, we can, we must. General Brandt says we are not going anywhere. His orders are, we fight to the death, we MUST defend the colonies till relieved." Steph repeated the orders.
"Thats right darling. You know General Brandt would never give us an order like that unless he knew we were able to carry it out." she assured him. He drew hope from her soft encouragement. If he was going to lead, he was going to have to lean on her from time to time, and she was surely strong enough to handle that. He considered putting Brandy in charge, but decided against it, she was still too brash.

[Tabitha]

Brandt sat in his command chair, leaning to one side, holding a cup of coffee that had assumed room temperature quite a while ago. He finally started to sit straight, but the creak of the chair reminded him that it was still broken, and repairs on it were still in the que. Everything was in que. The only maintence being performed was the total system refit and upgrade of the Avalons systems with the stuff they scuttled from Arcadia. If the cylons had gotten ahold of Arcadia, it would have been over for the fleet that got away.
His conversations with the male pilot, he tried to recall his name, indicated that Galactica and possible another two or three Battlestars survived. He suspected that the others were probably off somewhere refitting themselves, trying to restore combat capability, before returning to fight. Till they returned, the cadets of CST Avalon would have to grow up fast and carry the load. Their old Viper 1's and the new stuff that they scuttled from Arcadia would have to carry the battle to the cylons for an unknown period of time.
The combat frequencies were not hopping, but he was informed that some traffic was passing, indicating at least two Battlestars were out there somewhere, they were talking, coordinating, planning a retaliation. His radio operator was pretty sure it was not Galactica and another one, it was definately someone closer, in their area.
He put the coffee down on the railing, it proceeded to slide off and spill on the steel grating. He shrugged. Oh well, no use crying over...
He looked down and thumbed through reports, the Avalon was going to be completely combat ready in two weeks time. He made a sour face, two weeks. Not good enough. He needed it NOW! He scribbled a memo to sections heads, "Dont make it perfect, just make it work."
He heard that darn ringing in his ear again. Getting old was starting to get to him. He put his head down onto his hand and rubbed his temples. Somehow he had to get this Battlestar into combat faster than humanly possible, and had to defend the survivors left behind with the lives of himself and his cadets. It was victory or death.
Colonel Danson considered talking to his CO, but it didnt seem like the time. General Brandt was just too busy to discuss personal matters. The Avalon had, in the last seventy five hours, removed itself from the stationary orbit around the asteroid C-271 +16.3, and had basically stripped the top secret R&D base Arcadia, then after two days of organizing the recovered equipment and personell, they had begun combat operations against cylon forces near Caprica.
He knew that only a handful of people even knew about an R&D base, much less its code name, or its location. General Brandt had commanded the base till a yaren ago, when he was transferred to Avalon for his final tour before retirement. Colonel Danson had requested to serve under the general, only because doing so would look great on his ticket. He knew he was a ticket puncher. He never failed to rattle his class ring from the much admired Colonial Military Academy on Caprica. It was a brotherhood very few officers could claim. Even General Brandt didnt have a class ring. As such, those officers that did, often would rattle their rings on the table at high level meetings, to establish who was and was not a brother. This became known as ring knocking, and those who did it as ringers. It was all about getting your ticket punched, the more often, the higher you went in the food chain. That meant more money and prestige. The best assignments often went to the officers with the best tickets.
Colonel Danson had punched his ticket well at the beginning of his career. He even took command of a special forces unit for six months. During which time, he delegated every responsibility he could off onto his junior officers, and dodged the rest, leaving that command in shambles. Still, he got to punch his ticket as a former special forces commander, that looked very good on his records. He was sure to go far in the Navy, but then this had to happen. He wasnt sure exactly how to spin this situation to look best. He figured that he would have to lead some kind of offensive operation to get any sort of ribbon or badge that they might make for the vetrans of this battle, but he wasnt sure how to do that without taking the chance of getting hurt. After all, it was just a ticket punch, not something to risk himself for. They had Warriors for that sort of foolishness. He turned away and looked at the tactical hologram that the R&D people had installed in the cavernous bridge area. It showed the positions of cylon basestars, the probable positions of Battlestars, and other vessles, as well as planetary bodies and debris fields. He noticed a pattern to the debris fields. The cylons were arching out, making a concentric ring around the colonies, just a few metrons at a time, not so much as anyone without this holographic display could make sense of their attack patterns, but seeing them like this, it was easier to understand. He wondered if this is how cylons saw things.
"Milo, I think I know where the toasters are gonna be next." he said into the ear of General Brandt.
"Ive told you before, Colonel, you call me General Brandt, you understand me Mr. Danson?" the general growled back. Brandt didnt care for his XO, but he didnt have a choice. "Now say what you have to and then go polish something useless, Colonel Dunsel." Brandt called him Dunsel, a Naval term for an object with no aparent use or value.
"Look in quadrant 136B +97, shift 13. Im seeing a pattern here." Danson said coldly. He respected the general, but he wasnt crazy about the old coot.
"Show me." Brandt said suddenly warmer. "If theres something to this, you may have just found a use Mr."
"Here, and here, they arch, that line extends in a sort of wiggly way past the Picon belt, to here." he said tracing a laser pointer along a path that wasnt aparent to Brandt. After looking at it for a good three minutes, considering, he agreed.
"Yes, I see it now. How did you come up with this Mr. Danson?"
"I look for patterns, sir, its how I plan my career, how I do what I do." Colonel Danson admitted very quietly to Brandt in a whisper. "Look sir, I know Im not a combat officer, but I AM a good manager, a good officer, and I am excellent with statistics and equasions sir, I WILL do what I am able to within my limitations, sir."
"You may have just saved the colonies Colonel." Brandt said smiling. He shook Dansons hand for the first time. "I have to tell you, I had a totally different fitness report ready for you, but I think Im about to change that." Brandt said being incredibly candid with his XO.
"I would appreciate that sir, though I doubt anyone but you or me will ever read it."
"Lets hope everyone reads it Colonel." Brandt said. He tossed the clip boards with dozens of colored papers on them to the side. "Helm, new course, take us out of system, towards Picon asteroid belt. Ops, set condition one. XO, rig to run silent." Brandt commanded the crew like they had done this a hundred times. Manuals were openned, questions were asked, but in the end, orders were followed.
"Actual, this is Helm, we have course set and executed, ETA just about a week." Helm reported.

[Tabitha]

Brandolynne hated sitting in the Vipers waiting. If they were going to just sit and wait, why not in the pilots ready room? It didnt take but a couple minutes to strap in and light the fires. The ready five craft were standing by for a reason, why make us all do it? She looked over at Tabitha. The ensign was sitting quietly with her helmet off, her head back, balancing a pencil on her nose for something to do. To her other side, Steph was on the command frequency recieving last second updates from C&C. She wondered why the ensign wasnt getting those reports till she looked back over and saw Tabitha put the pencil up and look down at the middle display of her insturment cluster and begin reading something. Brandy felt left out.
Steph saw Brandy looking over at the pretty ensign and knew she was getting jealous. He typed out a message "I love you princess" and sent it to her IFF display. It beeped and Brandy looked down and smiled. Little things...
Brandt tried to hold onto the railing to keep his hands from shaking. His XO, Danson was chewing the end of his finger, having long ago removed the nail down to the quik. The entire bridge was scared, but the stoic figure of their Captain standing resolutely by his command chair held them in check. Brandt looked from side to side, trying to keep the muscles in his neck from knotting up. Danson looked back and nodded, as if they were communicating. The bridge crew took that as a sign that all was going according to some plan.
In space, there was uncontrolled chaos. Vipers and Advanced Raiders fought it out in silence. The flashes of explosions lit up the metal fragments ruining night vision for the humans, and causing the Cylon machines to lose their ability to lock onto specific targets. The Cylons had never planned for a battle so far into a gravity well. They had assembled their newest fighters for deep space operations, to attack colonies and Battlestars outside of the system. This new attack was taxing their abilities. The Viper pilots suffered initial losses that staggered the squadrons, the pilots that survived the first waves were terrified and their formations broke up into confused sporadic fighting.
After the gravity well began to pull the fragments back towards the large battle zone, the Cylons were treated to a role reversal, as their advanced guidance systems began to track the larger metal debris as well as the Colonial Vipers. The confused tumble of debris, with Vipers dodging in and out of the larger pieces confused the Cylon attack computers, they tracked too many targets and couldnt decide which to target first, so they went into an endless reset loop and became useless. The young Viper pilots found themselves with an unforseen advantage. Their ability to distinguish what was and was not hostile was hampered only by the amount of night blindness they suffered. Those pilots who had tinted visors were racking up kill numbers that would make even the most experienced pilots smile.
Steph looked back, seeing Brandy on his tail. She wasnt a great shot, but she was an artful dodger of Cylon fire. He smiled, her call sign, Dodger, thats what he would give her for her birthday next month. She kept the Cylons so busy trying to get a shot on her that he was free to pretty much swoop in and take his share of kills. Tabitha's loose deuce formation was working splendedly. One Viper was no match for an Advanced Raider, but two Vipers working together was more than a match for five of them.
Tabitha looked back, her wingman had flown into a piece of Raider and was dead. She watched four of the raiders swoop in for a shot on her. She pulled back, pushing the throttles hard to the limits. The nimble Viper twisted in a cartwheel as she released a volley of rounds into the black. One of the Raiders took a hit and went out of control. The other three banked giving her a few seconds to figure out how to live a few more seconds.

[Tabitha]

Meanwhile on the planet Virgon:

Major Catlett watched the latest reports update on his screen. The Cylons had pounded the planets civilian centers pretty badly. The antique anti aircraft/missile systems had performes excellently however, and there were not as many casulties as had been suffered on the other colonies. So far they shelters had held, and the Virgonian Self Defense Forces were holding a wavering line, falling back slowly in favor of strength over area.
He had brought up the old armored vehicles and the projectile weapons from the thousand year war. They seemed to impact the Cylons well enough. They had actually knocked a Cylon assault ship out of orbit, it burned up and crashed into the mountains to the East. The RocShasta anti-starship missle battery was far more effective than he had thought it would be, it was as if the Cylons had forgotten that item.
Other areas were reporting in that they were able to stop the Cylon troops with marginal success and were starting operations to take back some air fields. He smiled. Virgon was going to fight back, they were going to go down fighting if they failed.

Back At the Picon Belt:

Steph banked to his right, Brandy following in her dodging way. He saw a whole new set of blips comming, these were neither Cylon, nor Vipers. He took a moment to snap a gun camera shot and then had his Vipers computer send that image back to Avalon. "CAG to Avalon, we have new guests." he said nervously.
"Afirmative CAG, stand by to intercept." the communications officer replied. Steph wondered just how they were supposed to intercept more targets when they were in over their head already. He pulled back on the stick and looped back to scan his pilots. Off to his right he saw Tabitha banking harder than he thought a Viper could bank, but just as he was about to call over to her, he witnessed her Viper erupt into flames. In a few seconds, he saw the front three feet of the Vipers nose section continue on, the rest was a glowing mass of fuel and fire. He froze, suddenly this little ambush was getting far too real.
The sudden shove forward and down made Tabitha sick to her stomach. The thrust of the egress pod out of the doomed Viper caused her to black out for well into a minute. Meanwhile, the battle raged. She drifted helplessly till her body started to obey her commands. She tapped the control panel and the pods little thrusters pushed it gently away from the inferno below her.
She rotated the pod to see better, the battle below her. The cadets were doomed. There were just too many of the Cylons. They had damaged them good, taken out a large majority of them, but the cost in human lives would be told today. They had already lost over half their pilots, our of fourty seven pilots, only a humble fifteen Vipers still flitted about, chased more and more often by packs of Raiders. The egress pods of other Vipers were drifting away from the battle as well, their little thrusters pushing them out of the Picon gravity well, back towards Avalon. She joined them.

[Tabitha]

Steph banked away from a mass of seven Advances Raiders. They were more than a match to him and Brandy. He steered them away from that group, into the teeth of another. The Cylon waves were like a meat grinder, chewing up Vipers as fast as they could find them. Brandy screamed in his headset, her Vipers tail now a mass of flames as it took a hit in a bottom thruster. He keyed his radio "No joy Avalon, were getting chewed up out here." he said saddly. "You better get the Avalon out of here, were gonna hold the line, good luck!" he said signalling for his few wingmen to join up on him. "Brandy, you better get along, protect the pods, your no good back there anymore." he said realizing it sounded a bit harsher than he inteded.
"Personally sir, you can take that order and stick it where the sun dont shine." she said back giggling. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up, he loved her, and if they survived this, he was gonna show her.
The Vipers regrouped into a large V formation and faced the Cylons, who were also regrouping. The fifteen Vipers hit their Turbos with yells from their pilots, as a wall of eighty Raiders swooped in. Today, right now, this very minute, Steph and his pilots were dtermined to show these tin cans what the cadets of Avalon were made of.

In the distance, the guns of the Colonial Battle Cruiser Defiance, and the Destroyer Arley Burke were charging their barrels for a salvo that would do more than light up the night. Admiral Vincenze smiled as he gave the order to fire. Moments later the lights dimmed on both ships, they rocked from the massive discharge of energy, and absolutely everything in the path of the cannons fire was vaporized.
Brandy yelled what became known among the pilots as their "war cry" as she rolled into a wave of ten Raiders. She closed her eyes, seeing three line up on her. She could no more our manouver them than she could talk them into tea and cakes in the afternoon. As she screamed out what she considered her last breath, the night got increadibly bright, and HOT!
A moment passed, when Steph was calling her name, as well as others.
Brandy peeked out of her helmet, it was dark again, but it was clear. The planet was somehow brighter, but the Cylon carrier, the endless waves of Raiders were gone. Brandy looked back and forth... whatever she had just done, she decided, she was gonna have to do more often, it worked!

[Tabitha]

Planet Virgon D-Day +1
Eric hated the wait. Thats the problem with being a fighter pilot. The wait on the trip to and from battle. He reached up and tapped the warning light, two minutes till drop. The Warriors in the back of the drop ship were already suited up, their armored jackets secured, weapons ready, helmets on. He dropped to tree top level and began his attack run. "Home plate, this is Wraith 3, were at angels zero and are initiating our final approach, we will be engaged in two mikes." he reported back to the headquarters.
"Copy Wraith, good luck and God speed." the combat controler replied. With that Major Catlett pushed the throttles to the wall and the heavy troop carrier suddenly picked up speed.
The Cylon anti-aircraft fire was much thicker than he had hoped, but the photo recon flights had shown that to be the case before the mission began. He looked to his left and saw two more troop carriers along side. This was the first of eleven trips they would make to drop off the grunts, the men and women who would take back Athena City.
He blinked some sweat out of his eyes, his cold grey eyes were narrow, like slits. His nostrils flared, ready for action. His hands gripped the stick and throttles like the grips of a heavy gun. He wanted to shoot them. They had killed his daughter Tabitha. The fleet was gone and his princess with it. The toasters would pay! Nobody hurts MY little girl!

(More to come if you like)

tabbi