Operation Exodus

3:6 The Last Exodus: Hit and Run - Part II

"Yes sir," Starbuck and Helo responded, getting up to leave and to start working on their coming missions.

Day 484 Since the Fall, approximately 51 days until fleet returns from Avalon

Cylon Space far beyond the Armistice line, Danthus System

Battlestars Rhodes, Durga, and Glorious jumped into the Danthus System surrounded by Gunstars Triton, Avalanche, Stiletto, and Calamity. Three basestars hovering in space above the Cylon's ground facility on the planet began to maneuver to intercept the colonial fleet upon detecting their ships on dradis. 300 raiders already on patrol in the system were joined by several hundred other raiders leaving the baseships to reach the colonial fleet. Approximately 400 vipers launched from the Battlestars and Gunstars to meet the oncoming fighter force.

The Battlestars and Gunstars remained at their jump point, doing little more than maneuvering into a defensive position and allowing the Cylon fleet to approach them. The Battlestars were arranged in a left to right straight line with the Gunstars positioned among them in the center of the formation, to allow them to primarily focus on defending the Battlestars in lieu of attacking the basestars themselves.

The three baseships quickly accelerated and closed distance with the colonial fleet, then began firing their cannons at the Battlestars and unleashing dozens of anti-ship missiles at the capital ships. The Gunstars point defense augmented the Battlestars' defensive fire and eliminated all the missiles before they could reach their targets. The cannon fire hit the Battlestars' heavy armor doing little damage. The Battlestars returned fire with their more powerful KEW cannons and dealt light damage to the baseships.

The vipers and raiders engaged in numerous dogfights in the space in between the baseships and the Battlestars. The vipers were outnumbered by 3 to 1, but the pilots outclassed the raiders in battle and with the numerous amount of raiders most of their cannon fire made contact with an enemy. Ten minutes into the battle, the raiders' numbers dropped by several hundred with only a couple dozen vipers lost in return – with several pilots having ejected to be picked up by SAR.

The Battlestars took several missile hits from a swarm of anti-ship missiles by the baseships and fired several dozen missiles at the baseships in return, as the ships continued exchanging cannon fire as well. Numerous armor and hull breaches occurred across the baseships and more than one of the basestars' extending arms were blasted in two or heavily damaged which heavily decreased the baseships' fighting capabilities. The landing bay on Battlestar Rhodes was shut down from numerous weapon hits, numerous crewmen were lost on each ship from fires, and Gunstar Stiletto took heavy damage from a nuke exploding just before reaching the outer hull.

With the Cylon fleet moved far away and engaged with the colonial fleet, the orbital facility and ground production facilities were vulnerable to attack. Raptors jumped into range of each Cylon territory and unleashed several nukes at each facility which arrived unhindered to destroy all the Cylon controlled areas on the ground and the orbiting station. The Raptors jumped out safely after completing their mission.

Battlestar Glorious and the Gunstars rushed forward together to concentrate their KEW cannon fire on the portside baseship. The baseship quickly succumbed to the cannon fire from the Battlestar and four Gunstars, and exploded once the tylium lines were compromised in the baseship. Battlestar Glorious and the Gunstars swiftly maneuvered to escape the debris of the baseship. Gunstar Stiletto was hampered by the damage previously sustained to many of her systems and was hit by a raider and the baseship's debris as she was unable to maneuver out of the way in time. Stiletto simultaneously exploded into more flaming debris from the secondary explosions throughout the ship's innards.