" In Peace, Sons bury their Fathers.....
In War, Fathers bury their Sons.
Are We at War, Father? "
Athena, Immortals
Before the Cylon Holocaust descended upon the Colonies, the Colonial Fleet was expanding and upgrading as swiftly as technically possible.
The New Nova Class Battlestars were at the forefront of this effort; The latest model was the Nova Class Mod 10, which was intended to be the standard for the class moving forward; The Novas already in service were to be refitted to these advanced specs.
The first from the Keel up was the Battlestar Achilles (BS-200); The difference between the Achilles and the earlier Novas was an expanded engineering/drive section, upgraded gun turrets, and A secondary computer core.
The Achilles was to be the Flagship of A new battlegroup, based on the examples of the Raven and Thermopylae Battlegroups; The difference being that instead of Berzerk-Type Ships, it would be assigned the first of the new Athena -class Strikestars, also known as 'Firestars'.
The new Achilles Battlegroup was undergoing Shakedown Trials near the orbit of Virgon when the Cylons launched their massive attack on the Colonies; As per their plan, the Cylons transmitted their 'Back Door' shutdown signal, which was integrated into the Fleet's new CNP Program developed by Dr. Gaius Baltar.
And, as expected, all of the ships in the group immediately lost power...
....except the Achilles and the Experimental Troop Carrier Arachne.....
Unknown to the crew of the Achilles, A Virus, origin also unknown, was present in the ship's computer and counteracted the Cylon shutdown signal, preventing the Achilles from losing its vital systems.
So, it appears that A 'Weakness' which would normally cripple A ship, was the Salvation of the Achilles .
In the meantime, the other ships in the Battlegroup were drifting out of control, and vulnerable; some attempting to send out desperate SOS signals to anybody who would hear, but would never be heard.
Then, Major Cylon Fleet units showed up: Several Base Stars jumped in and began picking off the helpless ships one by one, intending to save the Achilles for last.
Unknown to the Cylons, the Achilles was still fully operational and seeing everything, yet unable to provide assistance to the other ships, which were disappearing off their DRADIS Screen; Time was running out....
Knowing the Odds were against him, with no reason why, Admiral Pitt decided to save what he could and ordered the Achilles, and the other ship still operational, the Arachne , to execute a blind jump away from the battle.
What aided their escape was the collision of the Munitionstar Io and the Fleet Tanker Circe , which produced a massive explosion with the combination of Tylium and HE/Nuclear munitions, which not only covered their FTL jump, but also damaged Cylon Sensors with the huge blinding flash.
Two more Colonial Fleet Units had escaped the Cylon onslaught....
Later, the staff of the two surviving ships began to sort through the Fleet Comm Messages they had received just before the Cylons attacked: Many ships reporting malfunctions of critical systems, like somebody had 'flipped A switch'.
Then, A message from Fleet HQ on Picon:
" TO ALL COLONIAL FLEET UNITS:
CYLON ATTACK UNDERWAY, THIS IS NO DRILL "
Since Admiral Pitt had limited situational awareness, there were questions to be asked:
"What exactly was going on? "
" Are there any other survivors of the Fleet? "
" What about the Colonies? What Danger were they in? "
Since they were already well past the 'Red Line', they could not get any answers from anywhere; They could only assume the worst had happened.
Two weeks later, the Achilles and Arachne were discovered by the Fifth Fleet, who took them in; It was here they received the Answers to their questions:
The Colonies had been turned into wastelands; The Majority of the Fleet was gone.
However, rumors persisted of other surviving Colonial Ships, both Military and Civilian, looking for new worlds to settle upon...to start over.
ACHILLES BATTLE GROUP BSG-200
FLAG: BATTLESTAR ACHILLES, BS-200
BATTLESTAR HESPERA, BS-125
BATTLESTAR BEOWULF, BS-130
GUNSTAR LETO, GSR-0277
GUNSTAR NUBIA, GSR-0275
GUNSTAR ARCHON, GSR-0271
GUNSTAR MENALIPPE, GSR-0276
CORVETTE DIOMEDES, CVR-2040
CORVETTE BOGARIUS, CVR-2044
CORVETTE ARGUS, CVR-2047
STRIKESTAR HELIOS, STR-136
STRIKESTAR AJAX, STR-140
STRIKESTAR LADON, STR-141
REPLENISHMENTSTAR SEPHORA, RPLR-578
MUNITIONSTAR IO, MSR-122
FLEET TANKER CIRCE, FTR-1182
REPAIR TENDER ANTHEA, RTR-425
* NOT OFFICIALLY ON ROSTER* TROOP CARRIER ARACHNE, TCX-003
THE MODELS:
I wanted to do another Nova and attempt to reproduce the Shape of the Drive Section as presented in the original artwork of the Nova Class Battlestar
This is what I wanted to do with the Thermopylae ten years ago; At least the aft section didn't look so 'Naked' then.
I purchased another Nova Kit from Jack Burgin, Then, I figured out how to get this one closer to the original artwork:
Using Balsa Wood rods I had picked up somewhere, I managed to build a framework that would closely resemble the size of the Nova aft end; Then, using Styrene sheet and strip, The section took shape:
Along with 'Greebles' found on eBay, and my overflowing spare parts boxes, I made it more plausible; other detail parts and gun turrets came from Downen Scale Replicas.
I had some really tiny raptors left over from the Stealthstar I built some time ago.
THE ARACHNE
This was A Bonus Ship that was included with my 24" Gunstar Trireme, purchased from an Etsy Vendor A year ago; I had debated whether it would fit in either the Star Trek Universe or the BSG Universe; I ultimately put it in BSG:
This little ship was printed in one piece, so paint and decals was all it needed.
Well, There we are.
I have other BSG Model Projects planned
Lords of Kobol willing, I will get to them.