The Battlestars of Equestria

It happened before, and it will happen again.

My name is Captain Thorne. The crew calls me Hunter for short. The day I got that name was during the Battle of Xirivus-XI. That I shot down 37 Cylon Raiders alone. Impossible right?

How this all started. Huh, Cylons. Godsdamn Cylons.

These damn machines usually evolve their tactics, their technology and power to keep things at their power. I feel so stupid about joining the Colonial Military. Having all these peace treaties then everything went to shit. The colonies have fallen, and we.. Well.. Maybe. We maybe the last humans alive in space.

I was in my viper, using the old DRADIS radar from the old Viper MK IIs to replace it from the new Computer Network Interface. A goddamn program that was hacked that turned almost the entire military fleet into turkeys for the Cylons. I forced my viper to swing around and shoot down the raiders I can see. We're at war. Humanity is at war. And we may be the last humans fighting against these machines.

"Hunter, check your rear." A viper passed by me and shot down two raiders at sight before I even squeeze the trigger. "Goddamit, we got two Cylon Baseships close to us."

"I agree." I formed up with the others on the Blue Squadron. What's left of them anyway. Lancer's leading the Squadron since they lost their CAG. "I'm forming up with your Squadron. Ace Formation.''

"Where the hell are the Raptors with their ordinance?" A pilot shouted from the comms.

"Almost out of the Battlestars," I said to the pilot. Having enough of the nonsense these pilots complaining about. As I make a 90 degrees turn to intercept the Raider. Squeezing the trigger as the guns makes their sounds with piercing rounds hitting the Raider. "It's gonna take a while before Endeavor can get them out."

"Right, make sure those fat boys are out of their nests and blow these suckers out. We've lost half of our vipers."

I replied with a silent nod. Thumbs up for him as he comes close to me with his fighter. Once everyone was on formation, we make a sweeping motion below the fleet of raiders. Passing through them without even engaging. As the raiders were being passed by us below their fighters. We turned back and shoot them like turkeys in Thanksgiving day. Shooting down at least 40 Raiders without taking any losses.

Suddenly, that fun is over. Once I hear that one of the Baseships launched their ordinance and are approaching towards to the Battlestars. We make an intercept to take the nukes down. But the heavy raiders were almost as fast as their little versions. Their firepower makes this even hard for us to just flee from them. As these types of raiders are accurate.

I took down one of the incoming nukes with a safety round. Able to suppress that explosion of a powerful weapon. Lancer got the other one I think. I can barely see the right side as the Battlestar Colossus Vipers were engaging the other Baseship. This was not the easiest battle in our campaign. Not the easiest war to be fought. Because these Cylons aren't the ones we've seen in the museum.

"Hunter, you got two raiders on your tail." Lancer spoke to me on the comms. His viper moving back to help me take out the raiders intercepting me. I make a right turn but the other raider was already on my target of escape. Lancer was behind me, trying to take out the raiders behind me. But one shot from the raiders is enough to scare me to death.

It shot the left wing two times. Thought you think I was lucky? No. Once your viper gets damaged. It won't be long before it malfunctions. And you have to worry about the hydraulics of your fighter. There, my left gun is stuck. Only the right turret is functional with the missiles only a few left. Lancer took out one of the raiders chasing me. But the second raider launches it's ordinance. A twisted turn to rescue an old friend. But I thought that missile was going to-

SWOOSH!

It missed me! I said it to my mind. As the missile goes straight directly to the Colossus. Violently shaking the Battlestar as if it was hit by a large, crashing asteroid. It hit the front hull as I can see some of the parts flying out. People in the comms were panicking as they heard of the Colossus' residential area destroyed.

"HOLY FUCK! 200 CASUALTIES ON THE FRONT RESIDENTIAL AREA." The Colossus' officers, shocked by the result of the ordinance hitting their ship. "WE NEED THOSE BASESHIPS TAKEN OUT NOW."

Every Squadrons close to the Colossus thrusts their Vipers with everything they got. Shooting down at the raiders in range. As the Baseship starts firing it's flak at the approaching Vipers. It's a suicide run. As I can see the vipers being torn apart by the flak of the enemy Baseship. Which the Battlestar would've done the same to the enemy raiders if it were too close.

"Holy shit, they're getting fragged out there." Lancer said on the comms. Leading the Squadrons that I am in to the west wing position of the Endeavor. Protecting the Battlestar with our might. "We need to hold the line for the Endeavor to fix it's FTL drives.

"Roger." "On it." "Copy That." Everyone replied on the comms to Lancer. Their acting-CAG leads them to the position that we are ordered to follow. The Line Protocol. Defend the returning vipers and make our Squadrons the last ones to get back to the ship. As the Endeavor's viper squadrons boosts their speed to get out of the hell that they have entered into and return home.

I squeeze the trigger once again. But the aim accuracy of my viper decreased. The left gun is still damaged and I can't get it to work. I have to move my viper to aim almost out of the crosshairs of my Interface just to take out a damn raider. Lancer has the free-roam lead of his thing just to shoot down the vipers behind the warship.

Once every Squadrons had returned, we were the last ones out there and make a crashing turn towards the Endeavor's landing bay. Once we're all accounted for. Well. The numbers doesn't matter anymore. The large doors of both sides of the landing bay seals shut. As we hear the announcement from our CO. That's Commanding Officer for short shithead.

"This is the Admiral. Just so you know, this is our 151st day from the Exodus of the Colonies. Now the eggheads below had found a set of new coordinates to a paradise world. Which the Cylons will not know where we would retreat. We've lost too many pilots out there. Lost too many resources during the defense. Now, we'll have to stop our war against the Cylons once we set foot to this new world."

Admiral Gallagher's voice makes us stand up like the pilots we were. He was a decorated war veteran from the First Cylon War. Thought he'd be a model for the Colonial Fleet. But I never hear or see him on the ceremonies. Since Gallagher was first, retired. He just got back to action once our CO, Rear Admiral Nagala was killed during his transport from the Tylium Asteroid on our 14th day after the Exodus.

I don't know what happened to the Battlestar Colossus, but on the radar. We see the squadrons of that ship returning back once they were gone as they entered the ship.

BEEP!

The Baseships were launching their ordinance again. We can see them launch their remaining raiders. This was a 10 seconds window of escape. The Endeavor and Colossus makes their mark to jump the ship out of there. Pilots inside their Vipers prays for their lives not to be taken like the rest of the others outside who would've died in vain. I didn't pray. I didn't really believe in anything. I just believe in whatever I see and use.

"JUMP!"

The Admiral's signal was heard. As the shake of the ship marks for the two massive Battlestars escaped from the hell we created. The Baseships were gone from the radar. Even the squadrons of Raiders. Though, the warp of the Battlestars were fast. But we gotten a little late because the Colossus warped there seconds ago.

157th Day after the Exodus

Population: 11,552

Casualties: 446 ( 200 in the Colossus from the front hull. )

Goddamit...

I still can't shake off the headaches of the previous engagement. We were stuck in space for Six Days and no cylons were on our tail. We were all doing reconnaissance. Taking turns of checking out for any planet or asteroid but nothing. People are bored and were getting themselves fat as they finally got out of that hell for good.

Lancer's winning the chicks again. Winning the usual poker game as he's taking a lot of the other pilot's money. We earn our goddamn paychecks from the Senior Officers. Spend them in the Bar, Clubs of the Battlestar or the Dogsville in the abandoned hangar in the lower section. I stayed on my spot close to the exit of the Bar. Drinking water instead of alcohol. I intend not to get drunk again like 3 days ago.

I got bored. I decided to borrow some pencils and papers for the usual. Drawing. I usually draw the girls wearing different sets of clothes. I'm not a pervert. Not a gay. I just happen to know how to draw people. Mostly girls.

I did try to draw a boy, but it ended up looking like Santa Claus in a strip bar. Gods. The eraser's small now. The Manufacturing facilities of the Colossus makes us have whatever we wanted for morale. Sometimes I waste a few of my money to bet on the winner of the boxing match every Friday. People would lose a lot of money as I was betting for myself.

Double.

There were no alarms in the past six days. Six pilots taking turns for the recon ahead using the Raptors. The Endeavor building new Vipers and Raptors. Hiring the civilians as pilots from the CRA. Pilots making their exercises around the hallways of the ships. Tight hallways. Pictures posted on the sides. The pictures of their family, friends, relatives. Candles stayed ontop. Honoring the memories of their loved ones. Many have lost their things since the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

No. We haven't spot any refugee ships yet. We've reunited with the Battlestar Colossus during the 37th Day. After seeing their fleet being crushed but the Colossus only remained intact with their crew alive. The 56th Day, the battle for the Tylium Deposit marked the death of the Colonial Military's best Pilot. Adam Whiskers. Shot 80 Raiders during the First Day of the Exodus. Killed Six Cylons with his pistol alone. Escaped Cylon Occupation Territory twice. Whiskers' a good man. The spirit of the Endeavor, and he was my friend.

My friend.

I could never forget the day that we need to refuel our ships by taking the Cylon's resources with a daring attack. Eight Vipers and two Raptors. Whiskers was part of the Red Team. I led the Blue Team. Obviously, the part there for both teams is to distract the enemy while the Raptors destroy the enemy outpost on the Tylium Asteroid. Where we have to risk 60% of the team. With only Five pilots remained alive.

SNAP!

Goddamit. I broke my pencil. I need to buy another one when the next shipment of supplies arrives from the Colossus.