“They’ve gotta be nuts.”
Joseph Eidolon blinked and looked up at the speaker, one Commander Andrew Joshua Talon. The US Navy officer shook his head with a sigh. Joseph shrugged.
“Well, we’re killing two birds with one stone, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m concerned about which birds we’re killing,” Talon said pragmatically. He set the electronic tablet down on the table Eidolon was sitting at. He looked it over, and compared his own tablet to it.
“To, Commander Andrew Joshua Talon, United States Navy, and Colonel Joseph Eidolon, United States Air Force. You have been ordered to assist the Colonial Remnant rescue their stranded civilian populace on the planet henceforth designated as PCX-119. Your ships, though both prototypes, should be sufficient to engage and eliminate the enemy forces of the Cylon Empire. You are then to evacuate the planet PCX-119, and escort the Colonial Fleet to safe haven on the planet Argos, until such time as a more suitable settlement is established on P3X-992. End of message, Brigadier General Jack O’Neill, Department of Homeworld Security.” Eidolon looked up.
“Seems pretty clear to me.”
“Our ships are prototypes,” Talon replied irritably. “We’ve never taken them into real combat before!”
“We both helped design and build them, Talon,” Eidolon reminded the commander. “I think Vortex can handle herself. We’ve read the recon reports. The Cylons have no shields, or directed energy weapons.”
“We’re still going to be heavily outnumbered,” reminded Talon. “With a lot of untested systems.” Eidolon closed his eyes irritably.
“Look: We don’t’ exactly have much choice. When the Colonials are rescued, they’ll let us look over their FTL drives. They’re unlike anything we’ve previously seen, Talon!”
“IF the Colonials are rescued,” the naval officer countered stubbornly. “We might just get ourselves blown to Hell in the process.”
“What? Think Abydos and her crew aren’t up to it?” Eidolon teased. Talon glowered.
“Abydos and her crew are more than capable, thank you. I would just prefer a slightly less harrowing assignment for our first mission, that’s all.”
“Would you prefer engaging the Ori, then?” Asked Eidolon. “They’ve been pretty quiet ever since they came out of the Supergate and wasted two-thirds of the allied fleet.”
“… We can always use more allies,” Talon sighed, grumbling as he walked out of the base mess. Eidolon smirked and shook his head.
“Knew it.”
The Abydos and the Vortex had been built in the same drydocks, across from eachother. They were a curious pair. The Abydos had followed more traditional lines, resembling a US navy destroyer combined with a trimaran. Her sleek, angular lines were highlighted with dull greys, egg whites, and navy blues. With six sublight engines based upon the Daedalus-class’s secondary engines, she had an excellent turn rate and a nice, smooth acceleration.
Strategically placed over her hull were several small, high-powered laser pulse turrets, primarily for self-defense. Along her flanks were her missile clips-Flipping out of their recessed ports to expose a deadly arsenal to the enemy. Her primary weapon, however, was mounted upon her nose in a small turret. The gun looked puny compared to the rest of the ship’s weapons, but with it’s prodigious firing rate and naquada-enhanced shells, the coilgun of the Abydos could deal major damage to enemy vessels.
The Vortex, unlike the Abydos, had mimicked more organic sources, resembling a boxy but graceful swan. Jutting from her nose was her main gun-A neutral particle cannon, able to punch through the hull of a Ha’tak-class mothership with relative ease. While her missile armament was relatively slight (guided rocket launchers and 10 vertical launch tubes), her more powerful free electron laser cannons compensated easily. Her engine arrangement was more direct than the Abydos, two huge, powerful thrusters that gave her a great deal of raw acceleration. Her hyperspace engines were larger and mounted in external pods, unlike the Abydos’s four small drives. She could jump into hyperspeed and stay there for a longer time than the Abydos, but Vortex could not jump as quickly.
The two vessels had their strengths and weaknesses, and their focal points. Originally they had been designed as rivals, only one going into full scale production. However, they complimented eachother as well. And both had been less expensive to produce than initially thought. So now, there was talk of putting both vessels into mass production.
For that to happen, however, they’d have to prove themselves in battle.
And so it was, that both destroyer-class vessels lifted off, heading into space. The Galactica and the Pegasus were both too undermanned to be helpful in the assault. An entire Marines Expeditionary Unit would accompany the two ships aboard the Ranger, a new heavy transport.
And waiting for them, stood a massive fleet of Cylons, with their robot armies down below on a single world, where the survivors of a solar-system wide holocaust waited for freedom.
Boy, were they gonna be disappointed...
Joseph Eidolon blinked and looked up at the speaker, one Commander Andrew Joshua Talon. The US Navy officer shook his head with a sigh. Joseph shrugged.
“Well, we’re killing two birds with one stone, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m concerned about which birds we’re killing,” Talon said pragmatically. He set the electronic tablet down on the table Eidolon was sitting at. He looked it over, and compared his own tablet to it.
“To, Commander Andrew Joshua Talon, United States Navy, and Colonel Joseph Eidolon, United States Air Force. You have been ordered to assist the Colonial Remnant rescue their stranded civilian populace on the planet henceforth designated as PCX-119. Your ships, though both prototypes, should be sufficient to engage and eliminate the enemy forces of the Cylon Empire. You are then to evacuate the planet PCX-119, and escort the Colonial Fleet to safe haven on the planet Argos, until such time as a more suitable settlement is established on P3X-992. End of message, Brigadier General Jack O’Neill, Department of Homeworld Security.” Eidolon looked up.
“Seems pretty clear to me.”
“Our ships are prototypes,” Talon replied irritably. “We’ve never taken them into real combat before!”
“We both helped design and build them, Talon,” Eidolon reminded the commander. “I think Vortex can handle herself. We’ve read the recon reports. The Cylons have no shields, or directed energy weapons.”
“We’re still going to be heavily outnumbered,” reminded Talon. “With a lot of untested systems.” Eidolon closed his eyes irritably.
“Look: We don’t’ exactly have much choice. When the Colonials are rescued, they’ll let us look over their FTL drives. They’re unlike anything we’ve previously seen, Talon!”
“IF the Colonials are rescued,” the naval officer countered stubbornly. “We might just get ourselves blown to Hell in the process.”
“What? Think Abydos and her crew aren’t up to it?” Eidolon teased. Talon glowered.
“Abydos and her crew are more than capable, thank you. I would just prefer a slightly less harrowing assignment for our first mission, that’s all.”
“Would you prefer engaging the Ori, then?” Asked Eidolon. “They’ve been pretty quiet ever since they came out of the Supergate and wasted two-thirds of the allied fleet.”
“… We can always use more allies,” Talon sighed, grumbling as he walked out of the base mess. Eidolon smirked and shook his head.
“Knew it.”
The Abydos and the Vortex had been built in the same drydocks, across from eachother. They were a curious pair. The Abydos had followed more traditional lines, resembling a US navy destroyer combined with a trimaran. Her sleek, angular lines were highlighted with dull greys, egg whites, and navy blues. With six sublight engines based upon the Daedalus-class’s secondary engines, she had an excellent turn rate and a nice, smooth acceleration.
Strategically placed over her hull were several small, high-powered laser pulse turrets, primarily for self-defense. Along her flanks were her missile clips-Flipping out of their recessed ports to expose a deadly arsenal to the enemy. Her primary weapon, however, was mounted upon her nose in a small turret. The gun looked puny compared to the rest of the ship’s weapons, but with it’s prodigious firing rate and naquada-enhanced shells, the coilgun of the Abydos could deal major damage to enemy vessels.
The Vortex, unlike the Abydos, had mimicked more organic sources, resembling a boxy but graceful swan. Jutting from her nose was her main gun-A neutral particle cannon, able to punch through the hull of a Ha’tak-class mothership with relative ease. While her missile armament was relatively slight (guided rocket launchers and 10 vertical launch tubes), her more powerful free electron laser cannons compensated easily. Her engine arrangement was more direct than the Abydos, two huge, powerful thrusters that gave her a great deal of raw acceleration. Her hyperspace engines were larger and mounted in external pods, unlike the Abydos’s four small drives. She could jump into hyperspeed and stay there for a longer time than the Abydos, but Vortex could not jump as quickly.
The two vessels had their strengths and weaknesses, and their focal points. Originally they had been designed as rivals, only one going into full scale production. However, they complimented eachother as well. And both had been less expensive to produce than initially thought. So now, there was talk of putting both vessels into mass production.
For that to happen, however, they’d have to prove themselves in battle.
And so it was, that both destroyer-class vessels lifted off, heading into space. The Galactica and the Pegasus were both too undermanned to be helpful in the assault. An entire Marines Expeditionary Unit would accompany the two ships aboard the Ranger, a new heavy transport.
And waiting for them, stood a massive fleet of Cylons, with their robot armies down below on a single world, where the survivors of a solar-system wide holocaust waited for freedom.
Boy, were they gonna be disappointed...
