BATTLESTAR GALACTICA VIII
Preface : I wrote this story several years ago since I felt that Cain
would've survived at Gamoray.  The inclusion of Galactica 80 and elements
from some of the novels is on my own decision since I felt it would add a
certain value to the story.

                              THE CYLON EMPIRE 

     At the dawn of the seventh millenium a war erupted between the
twelve colonies of man and the Cylons.
     The Cylons felt the humans had intervened with the nature of the
universe long enough and a bloody stalemate was the result.
     And since deceit started the stalemate, deceit broke it as well.
     The human fleet was lured into a trap and destroyed, just as were
their home planets.
     Commander Adama, the sole survivor of the quorum of twelve, the
leading body of the twelve worlds, assembled the survivors and lead them
on a quest, for a shining planet called Earth, home of the fabled
thirteenth tribe.
     After a long search, they finally locate the planet but the colonial
remnant soon discovers that Earth is nowhere near ready to receive them
and aid them in their struggle with the Cylons.
     Measures are taken however to bring Earth up to colonial standard.
These measures however fail for the fleet is attacked by a large force of
Cylon baseships. The warriors from the Galactica put up a valiant
struggle, but it is to no avail. The fleet is ordered to scatter while
the battlestar Galactica is captured.

Prologue
     They were now finally heading home, returning from an amazing three
month journey through the solar system. It sure felt good to captain
James Scott, commanding officer UES Star Voyager. He opened the ships
computer log and wrote:

     "LOG: SS BUSH
     DATE: 2-12-59-99
     The journey has been remarkable. We have made interesting
discoveries. I will include a full TRS report with the log entry of my
arrival. However we still have to make it through what is known in Space
command as the Bermuda corridor.
     SIGNED : Captain James Scott "

     Scott's chime sounded.
     It was Jones, the XO for this mission.
     "Captain, we're now entering Bermuda corridor."
     "I'm on my way, Jonesy. Tell engineering to get ready for a full
speed run and ready all lasers."
     Then he deactivated the intercom and headed for the bridge.
     The command seat, was the highest seat on the bridge. Not only did
it symbolize the rank of the captain, but it was really functional as
well.
     From his seat, the captain could monitor most of the ships systems
and, if needed, initiate procedures such as damage control.
     It was something James Scott hoped he would never have to do.
     He sat down and looked over the entire bridge. 
     Everybody was ready.
     Ninety six hours or grueling death, that was their choice. 
     Ever since the Apollo had accidentally stumbled upon the beheaded
bodies of the crew of the USS Texas, space voyages had changed. Not only
were the crews armed, the ships were now armed as well.
     Scott looked around. Neither Jones, Carter, Cartwright, or Harris
looked back. They were all ready and waiting.
     They would not be kept wanting.
     "Contact, raid one, heading zero nine zero." This came from Jan
Cartwright, the only woman on the crew.
     "Engineering, flank speed, Jones, standby laser batteries!"
     Scott went over to Harris to asses the situation.
     They, were in the middle, of the diagram, heading for Earth. There
was a small group of four objects closing in fast.
     "How's that laser range doing Jones?"
     "First object almost in laser range sir," reported Jones. "Fire when
in range," Scott ordered
     A few moments later, the first object came into range. Jones pushed
the fire button. To the pirates, or if they were that, Scott thought, it
was a surprise. To those aboard the Star Voyager it meant a stay.
     Most of the four raiders didn't even have time to think about what
just happened, they were all too busy taking evasive action.
     Suddenly, one ship exploded. It had received a direct hit from one
of the ships lasers.
     It was her chance to get away from her attackers.
     Scott managed to increase the space between them with a hundred
times the length of their ship.
     Moments later, they were out of range.
     In this way, a few hours passed.
     The Star Voyager had kept up her flank speed for a couple hours.
     So as Harris, who was the engineer, approached him about cooling
down the engines, Scott gave the order to slow down to half speed.
     But he also took precautions.
     "Don't want them to catch us off guard, Jones, don't power down the
lasers yet. I've got a bad feeling about this place."
     Jones nodded. He understood quit well.
     But,
     "Contact, on heading three six zero, coming straight at us!"
     "Great," muttered Scott as he got back in his seat.
     "Jesus Christ, is that thing big or what!" Harrison shouted as they
noticed the two joined together saucer sections approaching.
     "Hard about, engineering, maximum speed right now." Scott felt the
kick from the engines as they were shifted into higher gear.
     Star Voyager raced away from the baseship like crazy. Spectre
watched it from one of the internal monitors. It was like Lucifer had
told him.  The Earthlings were good fighters and good pilots. He thought
it was a shame.
     The Earthlings could learn much from them, and their masters could
order it but, since Imperious Leader had the obvious desire to destroy
the planet and its inhabitants, Spectre knew what could be expected.
     "Full stop, our raiders will deal with them." The centurion unit in
the command chamber answered, "By your command," and left.
     The baseship came to a full stop, having duly dispatched a couple of
salvos in the direction of the human spaceship.
     "Why those guys didn't come after us is, one of the many miracles of
time." Harrison reacted. Then he noticed something on his scopes.
     "Contact, on heading three three six, coming at us with almost no
speed at all."
     Scott got up from his seat, being followed by most of the others.
     This contact was definitely different.
     They all walked over to the viewscreen.
     The drifting object, suddenly came to a full stop. Scott, reacted on
instinct.
     "Helmsman, get us inside. We're going to use that thing, what ever
it is!" It was apparent to Scott that this was an alien vessel, he
wondered where she had come from.
     Carter the helmsman, had them there about five minutes later. Jones
ordered Cartwright to start biological scans.
     They had the results in quickly.
     "Biological scan shows all clear. No dangerous materials in the
air." Scott looked at the data now being relayed to him from the science
station.
     "Okay, gentlemen, let's see what we've got here." While saying that
he lowered the entrance ramp and walked down.
     Jones didn't see much of what was present but, they did notice that
something had happened here, in this bay, or whatever it had been.
     "Looks like an elevator up there, captain." Carter pointed over
towards one of the farther ends of the dock. Scott saw for himself that
Carter was right. There was indeed an elevator shaft leading up to some
place.
     Scott began to walk in the direction of the shaft. He activated his
flashlight and pointed it down, towards what he thought was the bottom of
the shaft. The platform wasn't there. He pointed it upward. There was
something, something that looked like an elevator floor.
     Suddenly, there was a whine and the elevator came down. To their
surprise, the platform was still intact. Everyone stepped on the
platform. Before they had time to figure out what was going on, they were
going up.
     Without them expecting it, the elevator came to a standstill. The
door in front of them hushed open. They were looking at a corridor.
     "Well, Mr. Jones, what do you think about this vessel as so far?"
     Jones waited a moment before he brought up his answer. "Well sir, it
would be a shame leaving this thing behind in a dangerous territory like
this." That made for a few laughs from the others.
     Scott observed Jones, to him it seemed, that his XO was having the
adventure of a lifetime. The others weren't that different.
     That settled it for Scott. They were going to take this ship to
Earth. Then the door at the far side of the corridor opened
automatically.
     The men carefully went in the direction of the open door. Scott
thought his ears were deceiving him, he heard something buzzing but yet,
the ship was supposed to be empty.
     So, he increased his pace. The door was still open.
     "Come on Jones, I believe there's something behind that door."
     He quickly stepped through the door, with Jones right behind him.
Everybody was stunned.
     The bridge was still intact and, apparently functional.
     Scott knew what he had to do.
     "Jones, see what you can do with that console up there." Scott
pointed at a revolving pedestal with a couple of other instrument panels
on top.
     "Harrison, take the helm, right here, I think." The helmsman from
Star Voyager slid into place in front and below the pedestal.
     "Cartwright, locate the scanners, we're really gonna need them."
     Cartwright went off in a separate direction.
     "Carter, you're gonna be my messenger, if I want the others to carry
out an order of mine, I want you to let them know, understood?"
     Carter nodded affirmative. The Star Voyager mission was his first
assignment.
     A couple of minutes later, Carter brought the word that everybody
had reached their assigned positions.
     "Very well, Mr. Harrison, get us up to maximum speed, course Earth."
     Harrison acknowledged and pushed forward a couple of levers.
     Scott felt the kickback as they reached the vessels maximum speed.
     "Navigation, how far to the outer perimeter?"
     "Sixty million kilometers, and closing in fast!" Cartwright
responded.
     Scott looked at the large forward viewer. They were going incredibly
fast indeed.
     "Decrease speed with one third, Mr. Jones. Radio the outer guard.
Tell them that we're coming through. Aye sir." The stripes outside the
forward viewer became stars again but, they were coming so very slowly.
     "We have reached the outer perimeter, sir."
     "Full stop," ordered Scott as he took out his wrist chronometer.
     Scott whistled as he noticed the time it took them to get there
where they wanted to be so bad. "Ahead one third speed into the system,
Mr. Harris."
     They smoothly sailed past the planet Pluto.
     It was then that Scott wondered why the guard ships weren't on
station
     The large ship continued her journey. When a radio message was
received.
     "Attention, unknown vessel off my port bow. This is the UES Monitor.
Please state your business and come about or we'll open fire."
     Scott grabbed an emergency radio he had taken with him from his own
ship. "UES Monitor, this is the commanding officer of the UES Star
Voyager, please inform the docking station that we will be requesting a
vector to a secured area."
     The reply was quick yet formal. "Roger, Captain Scott, docking
station has been informed. Out." The radio went off the air with a
crackle of static.
     Not very much later, the large ship arrived at the docking station
where her unofficial crew now noticed that their ship was going to be to
big to dock.
     "Gentlemen, Mr. Cartwright and I will go to the station and report
to Admiral Spencer. The rest of you will remain on the bridge." With that
he and Cartwright left for the docking bay.
     Admiral Carl Spencer was waiting in the main arrival bay as the Star
Voyager entered the docking bay. He was very interested about what the
thing was one of his captains would be telling him about very shortly
now.
     Spencer walked over to the Bush as the ship had been securely
docked. The entrance hatch had already been opened.
     Spencer noticed that Scott was the captain coming out.
     Yes, now he remembered, Scott had left three months ago on another
scouting mission. He was indeed scheduled to report in. He walked in
Scott's direction.
     "Captain Scott, it seems you have found something this time,"
Spencer commented as Scott walked up to him.
     "Oh yes sir, I shot down one of those raiders while in Bermuda
corridor and I've got a computer relay of something you ought to see."
     By now, Spencer's curiosity reservoir had crested.
     "Let's continue this conversation in my office, captain." While
saying that he led Scott down one of the many corridors of the docking
station.
     Spencer's office was quite luxurious. Scott noticed the large desk
the moment he came in. But what was even more apparent, was the large,
comfortable chair that had been placed in front of the large panorama
window. Spencer took to the chair.
     "Any idea on what sort of vessel she is?"
     He nodded his head negatively.
     "I haven't got the faintest idea, sir, but what do you plan to do
with it?"
     I want to inspect her and then make plans on what we'll do with
her."
     That same moment his intercom beeped. The sound was empty, Spencer's
office being so large.
     "Yes, what is it?"
     "I'm Sorry sir, but this is a message for the both of you. Captain
Scott, we just got a message from your ship. They're scanning something
on a heading for the station. They want you to come back sir. Admiral,
I've just received a message from the defense command. They want you to
oversee the operations of that ship."
     Spencer slammed his fist on the close button of the intercom. Then
he said, "Let's go captain!"
     Scott wondered about Spencer's physical condition. He ran all the
way to the launch station and, he was able to keep up with him.
     They quickly strapped themselves into the shuttle seats.
     "Checkpoint control, this is shuttle Alpha on course for coordinates
3446, request permission for emergency launch."
     "Roger shuttle Alpha, launch when ready." Moments later, they were
out the launch tube.
     "Shuttle Alpha to Star Voyager control, please standby to receive."
     "Roger, Shuttle Alpha, starboard dock is clear."
     Spencer was noticeably delighted as they docked. "Quite amazing," he
kept repeating to himself. He was even more astounded when they reached
the bridge.
     Everybody was ready and they had their eyes on him the moment he
came in.
     "Jones, anything on the scanners?"
     "Yes sir, I've got one object heading this way now. No match on a
possible identification."
     Both Scott and the admiral ran over to the scanner console. Somehow,
Jones had managed to switch the scanner screens over to visual so they
were now giving an accurate picture of what was going on out there. Jones
was indeed right. A ship was appearing on a heading straight for them. 
And it was big, really big. What was that thing that was coming in their
direction?

     A normal centurion unit entered the command chamber. Spectre turned
around.
     "Report Centurion."
     "Scanner shows the Galactica moving towards us very slowly. No
vipers have been launched yet."
     "Load all weapons."
     The centurion knowing this was all said, "By your command." It
turned around and headed for the exit of the command chamber.
     The baseship continued its heading.

     "What in the hell is this!" Jones suddenly called out. A face had
suddenly appeared on one of the starboard monitors and began to speak in
their own language.
     "I am Commander Adama. I know that I will soon be joining the other
Lords of Kobol, the grounders of our society. Therefore, I desire these
to be my final words.  In case this ship will be lost, you are to do the
following. Plot out a course for Earth and activate the marron drive and
use the paintfield to cover her escape." There was a pause before the man
went on. "In case anyone from the planet Earth our long lost brothers of
the thirteenth tribe, will find this ship and discover this recording..."
     The screen blinked and went black. Since both Scott and Spencer had
also seen the tape, Jones wondered what was going to happen next.
     Scott was the first one to tell him. "Mr. Jones, activate all laser
controls. We're going to need them."
     Spencer turned to Scott. "Belay that order, lieutenant. Captain
Scott, isn't it a bit more important that we..."
     The rest of his question disappeared in the explosion that shook the
entire bridge.
     "Jones, what was that?"
     Jones overlooked the whole of the console in front of him. Lights
were quickly appearing.
     "Captain, that explosion just knocked all the ships systems back on
line again."
     Both Scott and Spencer could see that it was true. All of the
mysterious ship's systems were activating.
     "Maybe that explosion is the real cause," Harrison commented.
     "Target is now locked," Jones reported. He added that he didn't have
instrument control anyway. By then the lasers had already opened fire.
     "We're firing, sir," Scott then reported to Spencer.
     From the screens on the console, both Scott and Spencer were able to
see what was going on outside.
     Suddenly and to Spencer's surprise, Scott said, " That's her. That's
the bloody thing that nearly captured us." Jones confirmed it.
     By then, the ship had passed the baseship. "Harrison, bring us
around, second pass." 
     Just as suddenly as the first explosion had caused a shockwave,
there was another.
     "Jones, what was that?"
     "That other ship, sir, it disintegrated."
     They all breathed a sign of relief, they were safe for now. A bit
later, they were back aboard the space station, in Spencer's office,
planning.
     "It's obvious she's a warship, admiral, but I don't see how they
used the pods on port and starboard."
     "Well, I do. You see I happen to agree with you. I also think it's a
man of war but using those pods only for shuttles makes no sense.
Therefore, they had to have had fighters or something. Don't know how
many."  
     It was then he noticed how Scott was studying his find through the
large panorama window.
     "You want to find them, don't you?"
     There was a short pause before Scott answered, "I sure as hell do."

CHAPTER ONE  

     Time passed. Scott and the Star Voyager crew managed to locate quite
a bit of information on the ship and her former crew. By now, they had
also made out a map of the entire ship. There were no empty spots on the
map, thanks to the file that the former owners had left behind. But, not
everything was the same. All the old equipment on the bridge had been
replaced by state of the art Earth technology. Spencer and Scott had
spent a lot of time in the old quarters of the commander, decoding and
translating the ships log and Commander Adama's personal log. They
managed to nearly finish the whole thing.
     Four years passed in this manner. 
     They were ready for it now. The most incredible journey an Earthling
had ever taken was about to begin. Shuttles were still arriving with
supplies destined for the Galactica.
     Scott had noticed the name appear quite a number of times in the
commander's log. And after very closely examining a photograph, or
whatever it was that the former owners had called it, he came to the
conclusion that this ship had that beautiful name attached to her.
     But, there was one thing that puzzled him. There were a couple of
log entries that came up with two names. The first one he came across,
was Pegasus. The second, was Atlantia. And before the Pegasus, came a
whole list of other ships, 220 in all. A couple had been marked
destroyed.
     His thoughts were interrupted as Jones came in.
     "Well, we've finally finished loading all the supplies. Oh, what
about the design for those fighters that we found?"
     "What about them, Jones?"
     "Well, each of those pods can contain about a hundred craft. And
from what I've seen, we have four squadrons and the pilots to fly them.
Those craft have, of course, been changed over to our technological
standards."
     "They're really enthusiastic volunteers, those pilots?"
     "I hope so. They need to be able to survive in what is essentially
an unknown environment," Jones remarked. Then he headed out for the
bridge.
     Scott noticed it. Everything was ready. Carter came over to him 
     "All present and accounted for, sir. Space Command has just cleared
our departure." Carter now held the rank of deck officer. 
     Scott went over to the console where Carter was now seated. "Helm,
standby to move out, at your best velocity if you please."
     "Aye sir."
     Scott took a look at the forward viewer. They were rapidly moving
forward.
     "Carter, report to Space command, the starship Galactica is now
underway under her own power."
     Jones was sure that Scott felt like the captain of another ship,
which a very long time ago had used those same words.
     Without trouble they reached the end of the solar system. 
     "Jones, you have the bridge. If there is anything, call me
immediately."
     Jones just nodded. The ship would be in good hands.
     Scott left for the pilots ready room which, at the same time acted
as one of the messes. As he got there he heard a couple of very loud
voices.
     "I am telling you that it's true. We're fighter pilots not for
anything else!" 
     By then, Scott was already there and shouted, " Ten-shun!"
     Pilots and other off-duty personnel assembled in the mess jumped up
as if they had been stung.
     Scott observed them well as he walked towards the bar. He wondered
about their uniforms. They weren't the standard space command ones. In
fact, he had never seen the uniforms these pilots were wearing.
     "First, where did you get those uniforms? Second, yes, you are
fighter pilots. That means that you're supposed to be flying for this
ship, not worrying about what you're here for." Scott didn't realize he
was beginning to get upset with these men and women. "And, don't worry.
If you're dead, you're dead. There's nothing we can do about that." He
had said every word loud so that all of them could hear. One of the
pilots then came forward. 
     "Sir, we found these uniforms in our quarters. They all fit really
well. Thank you." Then he noticed how one of the pilots, a woman, was
watching her surroundings. Time to call it quits, he thought.
     "Dismissed!" he heard somebody other then himself say.
     The pilots and other crewmembers returned to whatever it was they
were doing before Scott had entered, except for the woman. She came
towards him.
     "Captain," she said with a smooth, relaxed voice.
     "Lieutenant," he gave back. Hamilton, a nice name.
     "Er sir, may I talk with you in private?"
     "Yes, sure." They left and headed for Scott's quarters.
     He sat down behind the desk. She was in front of it.
     " Captain, in my family there is a story running which has something
to do with my grandmother.
     "You have my ear."
     "Well, she was on her way to a job interview as she picked up two
strange guys. They asked her if she could bring them to Doctor
Mortenson."
     "You mean that guy that designed all of the Space command vessels?"
     "Yes sir, the very same one," she responded.
     "They found him and, they managed to leave him a message in one of
his early formulas but, they were arrested. Case of mistaken identity."
     "Go on, please."
     "They escaped, flew to New York, did something there, returned and
found their ships in the hands of the US airforce. They called her and
so, they managed to reach the airforce base. Now, comes the important
part. Those two men started a decoy which enabled them to reach their
ships, one of which was a double seater. By then, grandma was aboard and
managed to start up all the systems aboard." 
     The line the lieutenant then said came as a total shock to Scott.
     After she had finished the story, Scott said, " Lieutenant, keep
this story to yourself until we have managed to locate them." He pointed
to an obelisk like statue on the desk, where a few photos had been put
into.
     Lieutenant Hamilton then left.
     Another piece of the puzzle had fallen into its place, a piece that
Scott didn't quit comprehend nor like.
     The Galactica calmly sailed into deeper space. Suddenly, Scott
realized it. It was time for the first recon flight.
     Jake Carter, a lieutenant, like Hamilton, walked out from the
elevator corridor. He was an ex-military pilot, and, to the dark haired
Carter, this was an extraordinary opportunity.
     At his side was Chrissy Cain, a female ex-Mars Three Thousand Racer.
The both of them had enlisted for the unique deep space opportunity. And
now, they were there. Carter walked around the ship, checking it before
he got in. By then, Cain was already being strapped in by her ground
crew. She put on her helmet and began entering the waypoints for the
patrol route into the flight computer. Carter was also stepping into his
cockpit as well.
     "Roger launch control, coordinates received, coded and locked." The
two canopies came down as Carter repeated the procedure.
     "Course systems for Romeo patrol, launch when ready." The moment he
heard the word ready, Carter pushed a button on the control stick that
was marked turbo. He was followed by Lieutenant Cain a few seconds later.
     They went into a left bank. "What a speed! Hey Chrissy, do you think
we'll ever find the place the Galactica came from?"
     Carter heard Cain laugh. "I sure hope so. It would be very
interesting to meet pilots from another place."
     By now they were far away from the Galactica, which was now only a
blink of light between the millions of other stars.
     As they were coming near a small solar system, they picked up a very
weak signal coming from somewhere. Since Carter was patrol leader, he
reported his find to the Galactica. Scott ordered an immediate change of
course to find the source of the signal.
     The phone woke him. It kept on ringing. He picked up the connector.
"Captain here."
     "Captain, we've found the origin of the distress signal. We've
already changed course towards it."
     "I'll be right there Jones." Then he hung up. Scott was on the
bridge a few moments later.
     "We have signal lock, sir. It's on the fourth moon. The place is so
close to the sun that it allows an atmosphere but it does not allow any
vegetation."
     "Ready a shuttle and escort. their target's the fourth moon."
     Ten minutes later Jones reported, "We're on route. We have a three
viper escort."
     The Galactica was hovering over the planet as Jones reported that
they were on the ground.
     One of the vipers, being piloted by Chrissy Cain, was acting as an
overhead lookout.
     "Lieutenant Jones, this is Cain. I have a reading on zero two eight,
on the ground. It's not moving, sir. Suggest you approach with caution."
     "Roger, Cain, can you tell me anything more?"
     "No, sir, the thing isn't moving and it's positively a matter form."
     "Thank you, lieutenant, Jones out."
     Turning to his men he said, " Okay men, we're probably being watched
so be careful." Jones' men nodded and spread out.
     In the very distance was a large and steep formation of cliffs.
Exactly the place where the matterform was holed up, according to the
viper scanner. As Jones looked again, he noticed a small flash. 'So, he
can see us too. Hey, well now, let's give him a surprise.' Jones took his
own powerful binoculars out of his backpack and pointed them towards the
cliffs to the place where he had just yet seen the flash of light.
     There indeed was a pair of binoculars. And, they were pointed
straight at him. Behind those binoculars there seemed to be hair, silver
hair. A man. There was a man living on this planet or whatever it was.
     Jones took out his radio. "Calling Lieutenant Cain. Calling
Lieutenant Cain."
     "Cain here."
     "Listen, lieutenant, can you make a diagonal pass over the high
cliffs in front of me and tell me what you see."
     "Understood."
     On the high cliffs in front of Jones, somebody looked up. He heard
something that he hadn't for a very long time.
     Yes, there, there it was. The thunder, the flames. Then it began to
slow down and head straight for him. What was that? That's not their
style. This isn't how they were being taught. Who are those guys down
here? Just after the thing had passed him, it picked up speed and headed
back up.
     Then it struck him, the faces he had seen, were human, but how could
other humans unless....... He decided to chance it.
     He got up and raised his arms in such a way that they could see that
he was surrendering, and began to climb down. They were waiting for him
at the bottom. As he turned around, he noticed their faces.
     Faces, yes, they had faces. But that couldn't be. They... They were
supposed to be a million light-years from this place. Then he looked at
the uniforms. All of the crew that had boarded the shuttle were wearing
the famed chocolate chip desert camouflage. The Galactica sure as hell
didn't have those when he was aboard.
     "We're from the Galactica, Sir."  Jones looked at the older man.
'Well,' he thought, 'at least that is something I can solve back on the
ship.'
     The shuttle was joined by its three viper escort as it lifted off
the surface and headed back towards the Galactica.
     Captain Scott wasn't there to meet an old crewmember addition to his
own crew, but Jones received word that he would visit.
     He wondered, but didn't ask, as he was escorted to what used to be
the life station.
     "There hasn't been a significant change? Or has there?" he asked the
medic nurse as she came in. From her face he could see that he wasn't
going to get an answer.
     Then somebody in a white coat answered, "Don't worry about her.
She's just a bit scared. I'm doctor Craig, medical officer. You would not
happen to be Lieutenant Starbuck, would you?" From the expression on his
face, Craig remarked, "You're thinking, how does he know that, right?"
     "Kinda," Starbuck immediately replied.
     "Well, to begin with, the captain would like to see you in flying
shape, in case we run in to any real trouble, and, I do not see any
reason to argue with him." Craig started the full physical examination
and exactly one hour later, he was finished and began to feed the data
into the computer. By then, a uniform had been brought in.
     Starbuck heard a door open automatically. As he turned around there
was a man standing in the door opening. He noticed quite a bit of gold on
his uniform sleeves. He also saw that the same uniform wasn't the uniform
of a colonial commander.
     The man walked over to Craig, the only man Starbuck knew aboard this
ship, and asked, "Doc, how's our find of the week doing?"
     "He's still in good shape, sir. Two weeks of physical training with
the Marines and perhaps a refresher course would do miracles."
     "Good. Oh, sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm captain James
Scott. You also seem to know a lot about this ship."
     "What makes you think that?"
     "Well, when they brought you in, you were asking about a certain
Cassie. We don't have anyone like that aboard." At that remark Starbuck
frowned.
     Cassiopeia had always been quite the survivor.
     "You're right, captain. I do know this ship. I used to be a fighter
pilot, flying those vipers, from here. Until I got shot down that is."
     Somehow Starbuck felt he was in good hands now.
     "Viper?"
     "Yeah, those skinny little things that were escorting the shuttle
and the one that was flying over my head diagonally."
     "Oh, I see," remarked a now enlightened Scott.
     "What are those vipers anyway?"
     "Fighters." 
     "Fighters?" Though Scott was a pilot himself, he had never really
bothered to look up the specifics about each craft in the space command
inventory.
     "Like interceptors, means of defense or assault," a not quite
comprehending Starbuck told Scott.
     It was then that Scott launched his own bombshell.
     "I would like you to go back to flying them."
     "Why?"
     "I am in need of experienced pilots, combat experienced pilots. If
you can train some of my pilots that would be enough. They would have to
pass on their knowledge I think."
     There was a long moment of absolute silence as Starbuck thought
about it. "No way, not again. I've been through a whole lot of things.
That made me take an oath that I would never fly again. Not even if-" He
was interrupted by the sounding of red alert.
     "Come on, you'll see why I asked."
     Starbuck quickly followed Scott to the bridge. 
     On the bridge, there was a bit of confusion. But, as soon as Scott
and Starbuck had arrived, things changed.
     "Jones, what have  we got now?"
     "Three blips, two large ones and one big one, heading straight for
us. Launch Bays report readiness. All squadrons ready to launch."
     "Launch when ready," Scott answered. Then he turned to Starbuck but,
the silver-haired lieutenant was gone. Scott smiled, and picked up a
headset. "Flight deck, clear out an extra viper. The pilot should be
there very shortly." A few moments later, he got a confirming signal from
the starboard flight deck.
     The blips were still approaching at the same steady speed. 
     Scott wondered, " All right, Red squadron, launch two vipers,
heading three five five." A couple of moments later, the monitors showed
two vipers launching.
     "Which two?"
     "Which two what sir?"
     "Which two vipers have launched?"
     "Oh er, Lieutenant Cain and that Starbuck guy."
     Scott said nothing. He hoped that Starbuck could make out who they
were facing now.
     About three hundred thousand kilometers away from the Galactica,
Starbuck was in trouble. The two blips that the scanner had brought up,
were the advance patrol of a Cylon baseship. Both the ships were new, the
likes of which he had never seen before. One of them, had managed to get
on his tail very early. And he was now using every maneuver in his
colonial warriors book to escape. He wasn't succeeding.
     "Hold on, captain, I'm on his rear end," Chrissy shouted over the
radio.
     Starbuck looked at his scanner. Indeed she was.
     "Firing," he then heard.
     He didn't know that Chrissy had locked on to the strange ship's two
engines.
     "Starbuck, turbo run on my mark." There was a short pause. "Mark!"
     At the same moment that Chrissy had fired, she banked to the left
while Starbuck, trying to get clear from the explosion that would follow,
banked right.
     As she sensed the light passing her, Chrissy turned around to look.
The strange ship had been completely obliterated. Yet, there still was
the second ship, which wasted no time launching its laser fire at the two
vipers.
     They split up again. This time, the strange ship flew through but
made a bank to the right, rolled and went after Chrissy. However,
Starbuck had already realized that his wingman had found the weakness of
the strange ship. Now, he was ready to repeat the tactic. And did so.
With remarkable success. The second ship was destroyed as well.
     Then he recognized the large ship they were dealing with.
     "It's a Cylon ship. Let's get out of here. That's healthier, don't
you think."
     Without saying anything, Cain banked her ship and headed in another
direction. Starbuck followed her.
     They were soon contacted by the Galactica. "Starbuck, Cain, are the
two of you alright?"
     "Yes sir, thanks to teamwork. Oh, there's a Cylon ship on course
three zero. I do not think it's a civilian, but I suggest that we take
evasive action."
     Scott didn't reply but was pensive.
     "Okay, captain, I want to discuss something when you're back." Then
the communications were ended.
     Something was here, right in the quarters of the commander. It, it,
was like, a ghost. Yes, a ghost but what was it saying. He could clearly
see the shape of a muscled, fit person wearing something blue, but it
couldn't be made out, the light behind it was to bright. 
     The mouth of the ghost, was visible through the sharp light and as
he looked very sharply, Scott was able to see that it was repeating
something. He was observing the mouth very closely now. It was a word. He
followed the lips as they spelled it out " Gamoray, Gamoray."
     But what did it mean? Before he knew it he was awake and reaching
for the computer. And not much later, he found what he had been looking
for.
     "Gamoray, the former planet of the Delphian empire, is now a Cylon
colony. It is being used as a fueling station for their ships. We have
tried to take one of the convoys on route for the planet but, we failed.
Therefore we were forced to launch a direct attack against the planet
with the aid of the Battlestar Pegasus which was presumed lost at the
battle of Molocay. We very nearly didn't survive. Although I wonder how
much the Cylons have lost, I am even more worried about our own eventual
losses."
     Since the computer had access to the navigational database, it
wasn't hard to find the star chart that included Gamoray and the late
Delphian empire.
     Then he began to back track the route from their own current
position. His marker came to a stop on something called the Great Void.
His finger rested briefly on Kobol. Then he followed the course again
until he found what he was looking for. His curiosity getting the better
of him. Scott opened the log files again. This time, he did a search for
any references to Kobol and Gamoray.
     To the surprise of many crewmembers working the nightshift, they
could see their captain running towards the pilots barracks at full
speed. He reached the barracks in record time. As if time wasn't on his
side, he ran through the corridor, looking for a clue. Then, Starbuck's
room came. Then he stood right in front of the answer. The answer to some
of Kobol's mysteries, and perhaps to the origins of this ship.
     The door hushed open.
     There was dust, everywhere. But he also noticed that there was
something in the distance of the room. He walked towards it. It looked
like a dog. But then, as he felt it, he noticed it wasn't. His hand
softly touched the other materials until, he found something that felt
like a switch. There was something that sounded like a combination of a
bark and a growl as the lights went on.
     It was Starbuck.
     "Captain, are you in here?" He switched on the light as he heard the
sound of moving objects. He was astounded. Scott was indeed there and, on
top of him, was a robotdog, also known to his people as a daggit. But,
the fleet didn't have any daggits aboard until... "Muffit?" he asked
looking incredulously.
     Scott, who could then noticed the dog turn around. Scott turned his
attention towards the closets and lockers around the room. As he opened
one of the drawers, he discovered some crystals and another strange
object. He took it out.
     "Starbuck, please close the door behind you."
     Starbuck promptly did that as he noticed to whom the crystals had
belonged. "I have a feeling that the  last owner won't object to your
using them, sir," he remorsefully remarked.
     But Scott didn't hear him. He was already focused on trying to fix
the recorder, sitting right next to the closet where he had found it.
Starbuck joined him. Then as he thought he had fixed it, Scott put a
crystal in one of the openings and worked a button.
     Nothing happened.
     He tried something different. Again nothing happened.
     Then he asked, "Starbuck, you know who this recorder belonged to?"
     To his own surprise, Starbuck still knew. "An old friend of mine by
the name of Apollo. He was the top viper commander aboard the ship, and a
good friend."
     Starbuck seemed saddened. "I'll let it rest, captain, and I'll also
declare these quarters off limits for everybody."
     "What about the daggit? Want it?"
     Starbuck's face said enough. He, wasn't going to take it, for it
reminded him of a great many things that had happened a long time ago.
     So Scott said, "Come on, Muffit, we're going for a walk. " The
daggit didn't follow him. Scott not knowing what was up walked out and
didn't look back.
     As he was in his quarters, it finally showed up behind one of the
causeways. Scott wondered about the daggit. But it didn't bother him too
much. The daggit sat down. And was quiet again. Jones came in and nearly
tripped over Muffit.
     "Wow, what is that thing?" he asked.
     "A daggit."
     "A what?!" Jones looked at it incredulously.
     "A daggit, a kind of dog."
     "Oh, by the way, we're heading straight for some kind of black hole.
There's a star just in front of it, not very bright anymore, but she's
pulsating every sixteen hours. In fact she's just done so. You're kinda
out of luck, sir."
     Scott just sighed.
     Jones continued, "According to the log we found, the magnetic void
is just beyond the star, together with the planet Kobol."
     "Think we can find anything on the planet?"
     "No, I doubt it. The environment planet side is almost gone. It
would be highly inadvisable."
     Scott nodded " Begin making preparations for entering the void."
Jones got up and left again.
     There was work to be done on the bridge.
     Scott got to the bridge fifteen minutes after Jones. They had
already closed on the void.
     "Navigation reports scanner lock on the void, sir. We're getting
yellow alert warnings from the computer."
     "Decrease speed to one third, Mr. Cartwright."
     "Aye, sir," Cartwright answered.
     The stars went back to being bright dots in the distance.
     "Captain, I am worried. We've gotten very far, and haven't met any
true trace of the enemy yet. They could be waiting behind the void for us
and we wouldn't have any clue to what had happened."
     "Personally speaking, lieutenant, I think you're right, but I also
think we ought to risk it. Who dares wins, and we'll see about the other
side when we get there." That settled it.
     The Galactica continued on, and entered the void.
     From the moment they had entered, all the equipment had gone mad.
     "Would you look at that Jones, the void is so magneticallyy charged
that it puts every bit of equipment off-line," Scott remarked as he tried
to see if there was a star that they could fix on.
     As their equipment slowly came back to its normal status, the whole
bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief.
     Sometime later, they had left the void behind them.
     "Helmsman, set your course for Gamoray. I want to get some fuel
there."
     "Aye sir," the helmswoman replied back.
     The Galactica was back where she had come from.

CHAPTER TWO

     As the thief through the night, the once mighty battlestar raced
through the star systems towards a bright planet, a planet where long ago
a great battle had taken place. A great battle between two battlestars
and three baseships. Now, one of those battlestars had returned. The
Galactica was back at Gamoray.
     At the same time the Galactica neared Gomorra, another ship was also
closing in. It wasn't a Cylon ship yet, it could easily be taken for one.
It was the Battlestar Pegasus. Still under the command of Cain, the
greatest military commander of colonial history. He had nearly lost his
life and his ship when going against three base ships during the battle
of Gamoray, but miraculously, he had survived, and now he was heading
back, almost out of fuel.
     But, he didn't know that there were four base ships waiting for him.
     "Captain, I've got another ship also heading for the planet, but it
isn't one of those ships we encountered. The configuration matches us.
There are also four of those joined together saucer sections waiting for
her."
     "Battlestations!" was the only thing Scott replied. The next moment,
the red combat illumination was activated and the alert was sounded.
"Positive shield now." A shield came down over the metal viewer.
     Scott turned so that he could see all the monitors. In the distance
he noticed the other battlestar. She was still approaching the first two
base ships.
     The battle began.
     "Helm, bring us behind those four base ships. Carter, prepare all
weapon systems. We're going to need them."
     Turning back to the monitors, he noticed how the Pegasus was also
beginning to fire. Round after round hit the base ship on starboard then,
missiles were launched towards the starboard ship. Moments later it
exploded.
     But now, the three remaining base ships began to fire on the lonely
battlestar. Jones interrupted him. " We have the target locked, sir. All
weapons are locked onto target and we're ready to fire."
     "Engage the middle ship of those three. We're going to give them a
hand."
     With that order, the Galactica entered the battle.

     Much to the commander's surprise, one of his centurion units came to
him to report the arrival of another battlestar in this battle.
     "Battlestar Galactica, position omega six."
     "Fire rear alpha battery," was the commanders reply. But, it was too
late.
     The first shots of the Galactica had already hit the foremost
weaponry of the base ship. But, she could still return fire.

     Inside on the bridge, they could hear the shots hit the hull. But
somehow, it didn't sound to disturbing to Scott.
     "Captain, we're turning for use of missiles."
     "Understood, launch when ready," Scott calmly answered to the
situation change. 
     By now, the Pegasus had destroyed a second baseship, while the
Galactica had destroyed only one. 
     There was still one base ship left.
     "Lateral lasers deployed."
     From the flight pods and from the main hull, a steady stream of
shots were poured into the remaining baseship, until it, finally,
disappeared into vapor as well.
     The Pegasus went past the Galactica and came to a dead stop right
over Gamoray. From the monitors and the forward viewer everybody could
see that they were sending down shuttles.
     However, one of those shuttles came in their direction. As he
noticed it, Scott said, " Dress uniforms and honor guard to the port bay.
Official welcoming." Then he left the bridge for his quarters. The moment
the shuttles entrance hatch was opened, he was there as well.
     Two men came out first. Apparently, they formed some sort of honor
guard. Then there were two men again. One of them, had a very long beard.
He was supported by what appeared to be an officer.
     At that very moment, the boss's mates blew their whistles. The
shriek tone echoed through the large pod. Meanwhile, the officers and
other men present in the bay saluted.
     Scott came forward. "Welcome aboard the Galactica, sir."
     The man with the beard nodded toward his support. "Gentlemen,
Commander Cain of the battlestar Pegasus."
     The word echoed through Scott's brain as if he had only just
finished reading the log passage about that name and the man behind it.
     "Please follow me to my quarters. Lieutenant Jacobs, dismiss the men
when we're out of here."
     The lieutenant replied to him. 
     The two men followed Scott and Jones to Scott's personal quarters. A 
conference was going to be held.
     "Mr. Scott, what is you rank and your point of departure?"
     "Earth. I am a captain, the captain of this ship." There was a short
pause as the other officer and the man called Cain deliberated.
     "Very well, Captain Scott, what brought you here, to this galaxy?"
     Scott thought for a moment. Should he tell them or should he just
ask them for the course to the planet Cylon?
     "I believe I can locate the former owners of this vessel, if you
want to say the missing crew, that's find by me." Scott made a break so
that the full effect of those words reached them.
     "Very well, but, I'll tell you this, you've also located some more
employers of the former owners as you call our people and, we'll help
but, it isn't going to be easy."
     The other man looked at Cain, it was probably the long time the man
had not spoken and now, he just had.
     "Anyway, I am glad to be back among humans again." The entrance door
to the room then hushed open. A mess attendant brought in four bottles on
a tray. Together with the tray, he put down four glasses. Then he walked
out. All of this took under one minute to complete.
     Scott noticed how strange the two officers looked as they poured
their glasses. " Commander Cain, a toast, a toast to our success in
finding the crew of the Galactica."
     Suddenly the ship's intercom system crackled. "Captain to the
bridge, captain to the bridge."
     A few moments later, Scott was on the bridge, Cain and his now
introduced second officer not far behind. As Scott got on the pedestal,
he noticed it.
     There were ships appearing. "From looking at the long range scanner,
captain, I would say a lot more are on route. Any idea on how many?"
     "No sir." Harris, who was on the command console then said,
"Captain, I have a strong signal on secure line one."
     "That's our fleet com line Alpha! It's a scrambled line for
communication between our warships." Cain's second officer had emphasized
the our part.
     " Put it through."
     A few moments later, a very familiar face appeared on the left
monitor.
     "Well, well, Captain Scott, so we meet again."
     Scott was surprised, according to their chronometers, they were at
least ten years away from Earth, and in light-years, it was even much
more.
     "Admiral Spencer, what brings you into the new world?"
     "You kind of do, Scott. We're at war now, officially."
     "Could you brief me aboard please, sir? I need to introduce you to
someone as well."
     Spencer was aboard not much later. After a brief introduction to
Commander Cain and his history, the admiral gave the captain the story of
the events in Earth space while he was away.
     "Five years after your departure, we managed to complete a complete
squadron of those ships. Three days, three days after their completion,
we took them into service. We had to. Three of those joined together
saucer sections, I believe you called them base ships, came right up to
the planet. The squadron was the only thing that stopped them. And it
did. It cost us nearly all of our fighters. The surviving pilots spent
the next years in training and rebuilding our fighter reserves. Now, we
have a training squadron and a normal squadron to protect our own solar
system. The rest of the ships we build were sent after you after it
became apparent that we are at war."
     "A war to save ourselves," Cain suddenly remarked.
     Spencer nodded. "It sure as hell looks like it. Anyway James, we're
also stacked to the hilts with supplies for your crew. I suggest you set
up a shuttle chain."
     At Scott's nod, Harris started issuing the flight assignments.
     "Oh something different. I got a couple of troop transports with me.
I'm going to land them on the planet. I figure Gamoray being a fuelbase,
it would serve our purpose well."
     Cain now nodded. "If your goal still is to rescue the crew of the
Galactica from Cylon. Gamoray will serve you very well."
     Spencer then excused himself. He had far more work to do with the
planning of all the required fleet operations.
     Out in space, shuttles began to leave the bays of all the ships in
polar orbit over Gamoray. They headed down towards the foremost Cylon
logistical station. When they landed, the shuttles first disembarked
troops that fanned out across the entire bay. Then the shuttle crew took
in as many fuel and munitions canisters as they could seize.
     This operation lasted two days. By then, the first signs could be
made out that there was a new force in the galaxy, and that it was a
force that had to be reckoned with.
     The crew of the Galactica enjoyed her first shoreleave in a very
long time. But Scott and Jones weren't so lucky. They had to attend,
together with Cain, quite a lot of staff briefings. But, it was a bit
more relaxing then constantly being on the move from one planet to
another.
     One month after their arrival at Gomorra, the Galactica and the
Pegasus led a force of Earth battlestars deep into new uncharted enemy
territory. Their mission was on.
     In front of their first destination, the crew of the Galactica was
startled in seeing the remnants of a planet. Scott used the computer to
locate the planet it was supposed to have been. 
     "Carrilon, or what's left of it," Starbuck remarked as he saw their
position.
     "Lieutenant, ready the laser batteries. We're going into a mine
field. Positive shield, readying laser batteries." The lieutenant quickly
carried out the orders.
     A few moments later, the Galactica entered the Straits of Madagon
again.
     They were right in the middle of the clear corridor, the one that
Starbuck had helped to create. "Continue on this heading, Captain. We
should be out of there in a short period of time."
     Starbuck was still watching the scanners intently. He hadn't heard
of any mines that were magnetically attracted to a ship, but suddenly he
heard from navigation.
     "Moving mine, heading three six zero, on collision course."
     "Activate laser batteries." The automatic target scanners picked up
the mine very quickly and with one burst, it was disposed of.
     Not much later, the Galactica was coming out of the nova of Madagon.
Starbuck felt at ease. This sure as hell beat flying around in a skinny
fighter with the canopy covered up to prevent going blind, with the very
big risk of hitting a mine without knowing it. The second ship to come
out of the nova, was the Pegasus. The third was Spencer's Enterprise.
They formed a small line to cover the exit of the other ships. Which came
out one by one. As soon as they were complete, the force went further on
their route.

     On another planet, totally gray and devastated by very heavy
industry, a man was walking to and from the sides of the large room. He
wondered what had happened. Gamoray had fallen and yet, there wasn't a
trace left of the forces that were expecting the Pegasus.
     Four baseships, that was what he had put in front of the planet. And
now, a report had been send that the planet was under a full scale
assault.
     Baltar was worried. This was the first time, after he had become
Imperious Leader, that there was trouble. Without him sensing it,
Lucifer, his aide and advisor came in.
     "I wonder when you wonder, Imperious Leader."
     " Speak!"
     "Still no word from your Pegasus force. The scout ships we send
down, have also disappeared."
     By then, Baltar was thinking. He came up with one option quite
quickly.
     The Pegasus had somehow managed to destroy them. He dismissed the
thought very quickly.
     Baltar walked over to the diamond shaped window and looked out over
Cylon. In the distance he saw the Kryon mountains. Right above them was
the slave station. The place where all prisoners and slaves would arrive.
Most of the prisoners would be put to work together with the slaves. But,
some of the prisoners and slaves were out of luck. They would be put to
death, one way or another. He was lucky. He had disposed of the last
Imperious Leader before he was the one that was to be disposed of.
     Then he noticed that Lucifer was still standing there.
     "What about the rebel fleet?"
     "They have retreated again. This time, I propose that we do things
differently."
     " Yes, Lucifer, for once you are right. We ought to take drastic
measures this time. Call in the main force. Hide them on the far side of
the planet."
     This was the most drastic measure that he could think of.
     He, Baltar, then went over to the starchart of the complete Cylonic
system. There also were a couple of other possibilities in this system.
Cylon would be ready, but would it be for the Galactica and her fleet or,
would it be for the rebel fleet?

     The fleet of captain James Scott, lay on the edge of the Cylon
system. It had taken them fifteen years in all to reach the planet they
were looking for. A lot shorter then it took the Galactica on the first
journey towards Earth.
     He wondered as Spencer and the other captains came in. A special
conference had been ordered by Cain aboard the Galactica. He hadn't said
what for.
     Cain had the chart of the Cylonic system brought up and pointed at
one place in particular.
     "Cylon. The center of all evil ever done to man. The way I see it,
we have a plan with three separate operations." A picture taken via the
scanners appeared on the briefing screen. "One takedown, destruction or
whatever you want to call it of the defenses. Second: liberation of all
captives. Third: Evacuation and retreat." There was a short pause. Both
Spencer and Scott noticed that Cain was getting effect on the rest of the
captains assembled.
     But, one of them asked, "Commander Cain, has our target been
reconsidered? No but, I know that a couple of the Galactica's vipers have
the means to cloak themselves. I suggest that you use these means well."
At that Scott and Jones looked at each other profusely, they sure as hell
didn't know that.
     So for the next couple of hours everybody present at the conference,
worked together with Cain to complete the rescue plan.
     Immediately after the conference was over, a viper was launched with
a course towards Cylon. Starbuck, was in the pilot's seat while behind
him, Chrissy Cain was readying the scanners for an all out scan of the
planet and its surroundings.
     "We're coming into long range scanner area. Standby to activate our
cloak."
     "Standing by," was Chrissy's answer.
     "Activate cloak."
     "Activating cloak."
     The viper disappeared, even from all the scanners of the Cylon
defense system.
     "Wow, I'm recording a pretty big amount of data here."
     "Felgercarb, we're in trouble."
     "What, what is it?" a now frightened Cain asked.
     "Take look in front of us, lieutenant."
     Cain opened her eyes very wide. From as far as she could see, there
were baseships. Starbuck suddenly realized it.
     The main force, Imperious Leader had to have called back the main
force. But why?
     Suddenly all the ships began to move. Starbuck, who valued life more
then death made a right bank. By now they were clear of the moving ships.
     "I want to follow them," Cain suddenly said, not knowing why,
Starbuck asked.
     "Why? There has to be a reason they're moving out. I want to know
what it is." It made sense to him but... his curiosity got the edge of
him, again. So, they followed the baseships to the other side of the
planet. What they saw about to begin there, troubled Starbuck immensely.
     There were baseships on the side of Cylon, but there were other
ships moving towards them as well. And, those other ships were baseships,
too.
     Cain kept on scanning as the other baseships opened fire. They were
hitting the baseships over Cylon with everything they had. But, on the
other side, nothing happened. Again the strange baseships came closer.
     Only now did the planetside Cylon ships fire.
     "Chrissy, did you scan those strange baseships approaching Cylon?"
     There was no reply. Chrissy Cain was figuring out what to say to
Starbuck. "Captain, they read no life signs!"
     "That's odd. Keep up your scans. Let me know the moment you come
across anything unusual."
     Cain couldn't answer to that. She was to busy observing the battle.
     But, Starbuck decided to call it quits. After they had completed
five more sweeps, they returned to the fleet with their exiting news. 
     Back in his quarters, Scott was surprised but he knew it was the
only chance they had. "Send a message to Admiral Spencer saying that it
is my opinion that we ought to start moving out as soon as possible.
Those other baseships aren't going to be  there forever, and you can
quote me on that."
     Jones quickly ran to the communications section of the ship. About
ten minutes later, he reported that the message had been sent. Somewhat
later again, Jones could also see the Pegasus dispatching a shuttle
towards the planet.
     The first report was, "Admiral Spencer has also launched the Special
Space Operations Group. They're about five minutes behind Cain's commando
party."
     "All right, engineering one third speed ahead. Helm, steady as she
goes, course towards the seventh planet of the system." Not much later,
they were on route.
     The rest of the battlestars were quick to follow. The special forces
would be the ones to liberate the Galactican captives.

CHAPTER THREE

     There was one special hut in the first Kryon mountain prison camp,
and for those still surviving, it spelled unmentionable doom. Once you
were in it, you would never come out. But, that night, a former viper
mechanic saw something move around inside the force field shielded area.
He wondered why the guards didn't see anything. The moment he thought
about that, the shade disappeared.
     The next morning, something was up inside the camp. Captain Nicholas
Carter, (not related to the viper pilot) noticed how some people were
brought out of one of the huts. They weren't taken into the torture
chamber they discovered last night, but they were taken to the guard.
Then came, out of a separate hut another group of men. They seemed human
to Carter, but somehow he knew they were not.
     The prisoners were set free. They immediately ran in the direction
of the jungle. Just before they reached the jungle, the other group, came
after them.
     Carter knew what was going to happen, and what he needed to do. He
quickly rounded up his men and lead them right through to the jungle.
     The group that was being hunted consisted of three men. Two were
viper pilots, the other, was the mechanic that had noticed the shade that
night. Just before they reached the jungle, they split up and headed in a
different directions.
     Carter pretty soon realized what had happened. He split his force
into three groups leaving himself in charge of the second group. Each of
the groups had received one mission, rescue the hunted and, if you have
to, destroy the hunters.
     Not much later, Carter's team was in position on the side of a small
stream. They could already hear the daggits, or whatever it was the
Cylons called them, howling and barking. Their targets were closing in.
Later, he got an audio signal from one of his lookouts. The hunters were
closing in on their prey, and the hunters prey, was closing in on the
river where the Carter was with the others. The moment the viper
technician broke through the bushes, he was pulled into cover by two of
Carter's team.
     The chasers followed not much later.
     The two soldiers had made sure that the Cylons could not sniff them
out. They had planted some trails that led into the river and then
disappeared.
     It was clear to Carter that he was dealing with humanoid robots, all
standing in a clearing. They could be shot like twisting an old branch so
far until it breaks. But it seemed too easy. The order that he had
whispered through was one salvo, followed up with special solium
grenades. Moments later, the dust had cleared. All the hunters had been
destroyed, the daggits included. They were joined by the other groups not
long thereafter.
     They started their move deeper into the mountains, to their landing
zone. They reached the designated spot twenty hours after the liberation
of the first three prisoners. Shuttles were waiting.
     There was a message for Carter as he entered the command cave they
had established. They were about to receive viper support. Carter
immediately began assembling a new team to take back to the camp. Half
the time they used to get into the mountains, they used to get back.
     As he noticed in the distance, the vipers had already flown a couple
of strikes against the camp. Some pieces of the force field had been
totally destroyed and the torture hut had been completely demolished.
Carter immediately lead his team to the camp. The surprise and the shock
hit the team members the same time they hit Carter.
     Some prisoners were still standing. Others were just laying on the
ground, totally thinned out. As his team went around, it was clear that
ten percent of all the prisoners were dead.
     Carter's radio crackled, "Shuttle group requesting clearance to
land."
     Carter, still stunned, answered that they were cleared to land.
     Overhead, the vipers still flew, heading towards the other side of
the planet. Carter wondered what was going on up there.

     IN SPACE, James Scott was getting worried. The battle on the other
side of the planet was still raging, and behind the group of strange
baseships, another one had appeared. From the comrecords found aboard,
they were able to figure out that the second part of the main force, was
now coming up on the rear of the enemy. By then, Cain was already heading
for the other side of the planet, on course for another battle.

     Right in front of Baltar's palace, there was the base of a normal
Cylon taskforce. They were the first target of Starbuck's own squadron.
As he heard the shots go off, Baltar ran to the other side of the palace
so that he could see what was going on. His face was stricken with fear
the moment he noticed the fuel tanks of the base explode. But, he
suddenly knew that he could do something about that. He walked over to
his comm panel and activated it.
     "Send a signal to the third moon. They are to launch and activate
the special project." He didn't even wait to hear the centurion reply.
     "Scanners report a large ship launching from the third moon,
captain."
     On screen, one of the  port console monitors showed a full picture
of Cylon's third moon. In front of it, there was a small dot that was
rapidly growing bigger.
     "Enlarge, six times." The dot rapidly became bigger. Jones suddenly
recognized the shape.
     "It's a battlestar and it sure as hell isn't one of ours. Standby to
engage," Scott hollered.
     Everywhere on the bridge, men quickly ran to their posts.
     "Send a signal to the Enterprise. Are engaging enemy ship on this
side of the planet. Please standby."
     Moments later, the message reached the Enterprise. Spencer was just
in time to see the Galactica move out. Spencer had an idea.
     "Send this to Captain Marcus of the Flying Fortress. You're now in
command of half the fleet. However, I am assigning you to follow Pegasus
and aid her in any way possible. The rest of the fleet will remain on
station."
     A bit later, another battlestar moved out. She was soon followed by
a relatively large group of other ships who didn't see the Galactica
heading for battle.
     "Positive shield." The strong metal hatch closed over the large
forward viewer. The monitors on the console immediately picked up the
opposing battlestar as she was changing her course. " Fire all
batteries," Scott calmly ordered.
     The laser batteries of the Galactica hit its opponent in the flank.
Everywhere they looked, the scanners found a target on the ship. The
Cylons didn't shoot back, yet.
     Suddenly, and to Scott's surprise they began to shoot back. First
the lateral lasers opened up on them then, the rest of the laser
batteries quickly followed. The Galactica received hit after hit after
hit.
     To Spencer's surprise, the Galactica broke off the engagement and
headed away from the battle area. Spencer also knew that his ship was
going to be next.
     "Positive shield, ready all laser batteries. And, standby to
engage."
     The speaker echoed his orders through the whole ship.
     By then, the Cylon battlestar was already firing. But, not much
later, the scanners reported an approaching battlestar behind their
adversary. That same moment, the enemy battlestar turned around and put
up a barrage against her opponent on her rear.
     The echoes of laser shots exploding against the hull didn't sound
too frightening to Scott. But, somewhere in his mind, there was a bit of
doubt coming up. If this ship has been around for quite a period of time,
it's obvious that she has received damage. Thus, how much more, can the
old queen take, Scott wondered.
     "Captain, enemy turning to starboard!!" The sound of Jones' voice
brought him back to reality.
     "Target scanners, lock on to her flight bays." Immediately, Scott
noticed the pattern of the laser beams changing directions. The series of
explosions that followed on the bridge threw everybody present there, off
their feet. Scott had to cough as he regained consciousness. There was
dust everywhere. He got up with difficulty. He didn't realize the chaos
on the bridge until the moment he looked around.
     Both Jones and Carter were busy trying to put some order into the
chaos together with doctor Craig and a couple of fire fighters, wearing
thick orange jackets instead of their traditional yellow.
     As Jones noticed that Scott had got up again, he immediately came
over.
     "Damage report."
     "We received a broadside on the bridge, and, we've got a large fire
on the alpha deck sections sigma and Beta. Damned."
     Scott cursed and shivered for a moment. "Doctor Craig, the captain's
hurt."
     Craig came over to take a look at Scott. He was a bit startled and
immediately, he took out some bandages and put them on Scott's head.
Scott, still a bit shocked, asked, "What's the matter?" Then he tasted
blood.
     Craig quickly remarked, "Get him down to sickbay. Only there can I
give him a full treatment."
     Two orderlies brought in a mobile stretcher rack and put it down in
front of the command console. Scott was one of the first to be put on the
thing, and as it had been completely loaded, the stretcher was rolled of
the bridge. In sickbay, the bandages were removed from Scott's head.
Craig was surprised. The blood on his face had become a red mask. The
captain wasn't hurt at all.
     Although, as Scott sat up using his left arm as support, he nearly
fainted from the pain. Craig looked up towards the ceiling of the
treatment room. Yes, that was it, the captain could easily be helped
using this machine. He went over to the monitor station and pushed a
button.
     The machine came down immediately.
     Craig remembered the instructions and put on a pair of protective
goggles then activating the machine, he just watched. Scott felt nothing
but, he was really wondering what was going on. A few moments later,
Craig deactivated the machine and said to Scott, "Well Captain, that
should save you from getting anymore broken bones." Scott didn't feel his
arm anymore the moment he got up again. Without saying anything to thank
the doctor, he hurried back to the bridge.
     Jones was surprised to see his captain get back on the bridge so
early. Scott noticed it and said, "Don't worry Jones, it was just a
broken bone, nothing to worry about. " The grin he then received lifted
his spirits even higher.

     Back on Cylon, Starbuck had the time of his life. He was shooting up
more targets then ever.
     And to make it even better, they weren't shooting back. With no
attack ships around, Starbuck felt really well but suddenly, the thing
got a black side, Caprica, as they were only attacking military targets,
but on Caprica, everything and everybody was a target.
     Little by little, the viper began to drift toward the city.
Starbuck's first shots hit Baltar's palace at the gate. Some other pilots
also attacked targets in the city. And pretty soon, one big sea of flames
could be spotted from a hundred miles across the main Cylon continent.
     Everywhere he looked, Baltar saw flames and just as suddenly as the
battle outside had begun, he felt the presence of somebody, right here,
right now, in his main chambers. He turned around to see Lucifer, just
standing there. "Well, what is it now?" he snarled.
     "It seems your special project has been, shall we say, a has been."
     Baltar looked at Lucifer, sighed, turned around to see the endless
sea of flames continue their destruction. He didn't even feel the laser
burst from the weapon that Lucifer had concealed. As Baltar's body hit
the ground in front of the palace, Lucifer found himself ready to assume
which nobody in the Cylon Empire, even Baltar, had ever achieved. He,
Lucifer, was now the first fully computerized Imperious Leader. But,
there was still the question of the rebel fleet.
     Yes, that's it, the idea sounded so well in his computerized brain
that he began to wonder if Baltar would have thought of something like
this. Although, the colonial fleet was already making its presence felt
on the rest of the defenses. This was to be the moment for peace.
Lucifer, still wielding the laser, rolled into the comm division of the
palace.

     Jones was startled. He had never expected this so he called Scott
over to the command console. "You, must be the leader of this colonial
fleet. Commander, we wish to make peace."
     "Peace!"
     The whole bridge became quiet after hearing Scott's cry. 
     "You wish to make peace!"
     "Yes. We have had enough of long conquering wars. We will not be a
threat to your planet anymore."
     "It sounded almost too good to believe but... "Is there anything
that will assure us that you'll never start another intergalactic war
again?"
     That same moment, the signal post was deactivated, and Scott was
handed another paper with a signal description. The message had been send
by Captain Carter, the man in command of his special operations group.
     "All prisoners secured and on transport. We are on route towards the
rendezvous."
     "Helm, steer a course of two five five. Get us closer to that
planet."
     At high speed, the Galactica headed towards Cylon. Moments later,
the first vipers and shuttles docked. As soon as the pickup had been
completed, the Galactica rapidly increased the distance between the
planet and herself. The large fleet then turned and took a heading away
from Cylon. To its base in this Galaxy the fleet was heading, the planet
Gamoray.

CHAPTER FOUR

     Fifteen years after the Galactica had begun her journey away from
Earth, she returned to Gamoray. To the surprise of almost everyone
involved, a number of space docks were available to the returning
battlestars. But, that wasn't going to happen to the Galactica. Carter,
still a deck officer, delivered a message to Scott.
     "Fleet headquarters suspects a possible retaliation strike on the
planet. Therefore, the following ships are to return to Earth as soon as
possible."
     Beneath the text Scott found a big list of ships. To his anger,
headquarters called back almost every experienced captain they now had.
This called for drastic measures.
     "Jonesy, organize a small conference, only the captains of these
ships, oh, and don't forget Cain from the Pegasus."
     "Yes sir."
     All the captains needed were assembled in the council room, the
largest room aboard the Galactica. Cain was seated right next to Scott.
     "Gentlemen, as of now you're the most experienced captains of this
fleet. But now, I am going to have to ask you to do something special. "
Meanwhile, sailors were handing out copies of the order they had
received.
     The captain of the Enterprise, a woman by the name of Goldman
suddenly spoke out. "You want us to change ships don't you?"
     Scott and everybody else, even Cain, looked at her. How could she
have known this? She was right. The orders didn't specify if the captains
of those ships had to be the same captains that had departed with
Spencer.
     "May I ask what you're up to, Captain Scott?"
     It was easy for Scott to answer. "Well, the following is the case.
Our headquarters has recalled half of all ships present. They believe the
Earth is going to be attacked."
     Cain interrupted him. "Yes, the very experienced captains stay here.
The not yet experienced captains go back with you." Cain turned on a
smile. "And in case, those tinheads try to attack us, we can give them a
beating they'll never forget."
     Cain was smiling from ear to ear. This was even better then what had
happened on Gamoray before Scott had shown up. Not much later, Spencer
had also okayed Scott's idea. Cain and Spencer, the two commanders, would
be the only ones, together with the rest of the fleet, about fifty ships,
to remain on this side of the galaxy. The rest would head back under
Scott's command.
     It took two weeks to resupply and repair the damage caused during
the battle of Cylon. But, it didn't take long to complete the journey to
the great void. They ran on lightspeed all the way. A space station had
already been put up just in front of the void. The fleet stopped there to
refuel. The Galactica was to be the first to enter the refueling bay of
the station. The refueling took three days to complete.
     And, so it took half a year to refuel the whole fleet. By then, the
Galactica was already on course for Earth. Scott was also wondering about
the face he had seen asking him for peace. He wondered what had happened
on Cylon. Something, gave Scott a feeling that he was going to return
there. 
     He was so far away with his thoughts that he didn't even hear Jones
calling him. But, then he responded, " Yes, Mr. Jones?- " Scott responded
calmly as if nothing had happened.
     "Sir, we're locked on the navigational laser beam, sir, awaiting
your order to proceed."
     "Proceed."
     The Galactica went through the void again. But, there was trouble.
Scott didn't have the faintest idea when and how the Cylons were going to
attack the Earth. But, another source of trouble, far more deadlier then
when the Cylons were about to stir its head.

     "They are in range lord. Do you want me to decloak and open fire?"
     "No!" a firm voice said. The voice belonged to Commander Xaviar, now
with a combination of gray and silver hair. He looked quite a bit like
Starbuck. Xaviar was watching the main view monitor of his personal
battlecruiser.
     Not knowing why, he wondered. He, Xaviar, was captured by Troy and
Dillon in the 18th century. Then taken back to face a trial.  The result
was, he was to be outcast to a strange planet. Indeed he was. But, the
shuttle had left him in the middle of a desert. He was able to locate a
well, but the tribe that possessed it captured him and then tortured him.
He was lucky. The very next morning another opposing tribe attacked and
massacred his captors. He was able to apply his technical knowledge to
machinery and weaponry of the tribe that had liberated him. And very
soon, the tribe was known to be invincible. Also, he began to rise
through the social ranks of the tribe. And pretty soon, he was known as
The Tayollah of Iras, the planet to which he had been outcast. The next
thing also came to be through his technical knowledge : space travel.
Thanks to his technical knowledge, it progressed so rapidly  that they
were soon venturing pretty far out into space.
     During the so called Year of the Wind, they conquered three worlds
in one Rak. ( a year in Earth time)
     But now, there was a group of battlestars racing through space here.
This required further information. 
     "Have the squadron decloak and arm on my mark, but first, I want my
ship to be in such a position that she can fire on that vessel." He
pointed to the Galactica.

     "What the hell? Lieutenant Jones."
     "Ships appearing. They've already armed and locked on!" Jones didn't
think. He immediately ordered the fleet to come to a full stop. "A
message from the America, sir. They report a reasonably large ship
hovering near and above our stern."
     "Put it on the screen," Scott ordered as he climbed the stairs
leading up to the pedestal. "What have we got here?" Scott was closely
examining all the ships that had surrounded them. "Gentlemen I conclude
that we have just one option. We follow them to wherever it is we're
supposed to go."
     The large squadron changed its heading. Three weeks later they
reached their destination, the planet Iras.
     Captain James Scott was in his quarters as the second in command,
Lieutenant Jones called, "Captain, we've just received a message from
that large vessel. We're ordered to surrender and shuttle down to the
planet. Didn't tell us why."
     Scott sighed a moment and thought. It was obvious they wanted them
to shuttle down to the planet. They required the ships. However, they
only knew he was the leader. So he needed to be there and the others
didn't. Easier said then done. However, the idea was quit simple. The
leader of those ships would only know him, not the rest of his officers.
He immediately went at it.
     Not much later, Carter and a couple of his marines came in. They
were all wearing staff officer uniforms. "How do we look sir?"
     "Well, Captain Carter, first of all, call me captain when we're on
the surface. Air, is also all right."
     With those instructions the team left for the flight deck.

     Aboard the battlecruiser, Xaviar watched on his main viewer how the
shuttle left the pod and began its descend for his planet. "Ready my
shuttle. I want to be on the planet when they get there."
     Immediately he left for the shuttle bay of his own ship.
 
     "There's a shuttle leaving from that large cruiser on our stern!
Course?" Jones called out  "She seems to be heading for an area that
looks like their capital city. I'm already commencing with a sector
scan." Jones knew it, now it was out of his hands.
     "Keep me informed, and keep a tight watch on everything. By
everything I guess you mean those ships, the captain and his group and
what's either happening or going to happen in the city. You got it,
Lieutenant?" With that Jones returned to the bridge.

     Xaviar had the central landing area on his own central monitor
panel. The shuttle touched down with remarkable ease. He recognized the
first man to come out of the shuttle. Ut was that guy that called himself
the captain. Apparently the shock effect had worked.
     "Bring Tra, I have a job for him. Are you sure that he's been fitted
with that device you told me about?
     "Yes Lord, it has been hidden on him just like you said."
     Xaviar face turned into an ice cold grin. Not much later he heard a
scuffling of feet. Apparently, his guards were bringing in Tra. Xaviar
looked upon the man with a higher sneer. The only resistance leader to be
named Tollah, but there were things of bigger importance.
     "Tra, I have a job for you," Xaviar remarked still watching the
monitor screen.

     Meanwhile, the streets leading to the Tayollah's palace, were filled
with crowds.
     "Christ, is this the middle east we've landed in?" one of Carter's
men remarked. Before he knew it, both Carter and Scott veered back as the
crowd came at them like a massive wave.
     "Quickly!" a manly voice said to Scott's back. "Follow me," the
voice added. "Quickly put these on. These'll help us get out of town."
The shadow handed them a couple of robe-like pieces of clothing, and told
them to put them on.
     Not much later they were beyond the city walls, heading for open
country. In the distance they saw a mountain range.
     Suddenly, Scott heard a high wine behind him.
     "Hovercopters, quickly, we must take cover."
     They hid behind a formation of rocks they found along the roadside.
Scott noticed the copters passing overhead. 
     "We're safe for now I guess, but where do we go from here?" He
looked at the voice or whatever it was in that robe, leaning on the rock
and sighing.
     Suddenly the robe opened up and a face appeared. "I'm Tra. Xaviar
has ordered your death." Before he was finished, two of Carter's marines
were on top of him. And the others pointed their lasers at him. "Let me
finish please." Suddenly Scott recognized the voicetone of the man. "I am
a resistance leader. This planet is under the rule of a madman, Xaviar."
     Scott knew with what the man was talking about. Under the leadership
of another man, probably mad or just power hungry, some other beings had
on a couple of occasions, succeeded in nearly destroying the Earth.
     "Anyway, Xaviar rose through the tribes and pretty soon he had
subjugated all the others, except one, the Petrax, my tribe. Next to
thinkers we also were and are still, warriors. We resisted his
oppression, and then you came, the ones who Xaviar called the Tanshis,
the devil."
     He stopped there for a moment to let his words get the most effect.
Then Scott, who just like the marines knew what Tra was talking about
remarked, "We'll need to get into contact with our ships in case we can
have any effect on what you're doing here." Then Tra led them deeper into
the country towards the mountains.
     Scott noticed the beauty and view they had from the heights. As he
looked at the mountain range itself, he realized that there was only one
and costly way to get in there. Infantry would have to scale the rocks or
go over the trails, under fire.
     Not much later, Scott's theory proved itself as two hovercopters
passed them, overhead.
     A couple of hours later, Xaviar's scouts reported to him that they
had lost the party of men they were chasing. By then, Scott and his party
had safely reached the base camp of the resistance where they were met
with cheers and amazing views of silence. All the resistance fighters had
never met anybody from outerspace before.
     Tra disappeared for a moment, but soon Scott and the others were
brought to a cave where he was waiting. Tra led them deeper into the
cave. Finally, they got to something that appeared to be a vault.
     "We have the means to put you in contact with your ship, but I have
a favor to ask of you. Will you... " The rest of his sentence drowned in
the explosion that suddenly occurred.
     "Carter, you and your men stay here. I'm going with Tra to check
what's going on."
     Carter quickly dispersed his men through the cave as Scott headed
out together with Tra. Outside, total chaos reigned. Explosions were
going off everywhere and overhead, there were hovercopters, shooting at
anything that moved. But thanks to the dust, they couldn't see Tra and
Scott, lurking behind an overthrown table and a stone wall respectively.
     Suddenly, a woman screamed something that Scott didn't understand.
"He's bringing the infantry. We'd do better to try to get to the
communicator right now." They quickly ran toward another cave, which was
about six hundred yards away from them. To Scott, the six hundred yards
seemed to be six hundred light years.
     They lasted so long and there were many explosions all around them,
but they safely reached the cave. They entered it immediately. Tra told
him that the vault was on the far end of the cave, which they reached not
much later. There was, just like in the other cave, a vault like looking
door. They quickly opened it.
     The device was a big dish, just like some of the old radio
telescopes he had seen. It pointed upward to an opening, probably an old
volcano. "Adjust the frequency and speak. They'll hear you almost
immediately." There was an explosion at the cavemouth. "I'll stand
guard."
     "Don't let them see you. Your planet depends on it." He didn't even
get a reply and as he looked up, Tra was gone. Then he began to talk in
to the receiver Tra had given him.
     The Galactica was still in the orbit over the capital city, as
Scott's signal came in. Jones, who was still on the bridge grabbed a
headset to hear what the captain had to say 
     "Listen up Jones, go to red alert immediately. Destroy those ships
and launch the vipers for the planet. I need air support and some extra
marines. We're in deep shit. Scott out."
     Jones knew he now had work to do. "Ensign, red alert all levels,
standby to launch fighters towards the planet. All laser batteries
cleared to fire. Engineering get us up to combat speed." the sailor who
was repeating the order was still busy with the word fighter as the
Galactica was already moving, launching vipers and a shuttle in the
process.
     The battlecruiser, Xaviar's personal ship, was already following the
battlestar, but not yet shooting.
     Right after the vipers had been launched, the Galactica took evasive
action, leaving the bulky battlecruiser far behind her.
     "Helm, bring us around towards the battlecruiser," Jones ordered as
the Galactica was clear. On one of the other monitors he could see how
the other ships were already engaged with the rest of the enemy fleet.
     On the planet, both Scott and Tra were now firing at the infantry
that was charging them, especially Scott's laser was causing frightful
damage amongst their ranks. As he looked towards the cave he had come
from, he noticed that the marines were still firing. Suddenly, the sound
of thunder filled the air, and as he looked up, Scott saw the familiar
shape of a viper rush by. Moments later, a full salvo ripped up the first
formation of infantry.
     As he noticed the hovercopters, Scott saw a second squadron show up,
right behind them. Moments later, he again heard a familiar sound. As the
shuttle touched down, the marines came out from the cave, pushing one big
box and carrying two smaller ones.
     They brought them aboard the shuttle which immediately took off.
     "Captain, we have something on radar and I think it spells trouble."
They were in the air less then five minutes and there was trouble
already, impossible but, as he went up to the pilots level, he could see
for himself that there was trouble, large trouble.
     "That'd better not be what I think it is." But, he knew they were
now dealing with the battle cruiser.
     The shuttle that Scott had left behind on his landing platform, had
served him well in his escape. He was safely aboard his own ship with men
that would follow him to his dying day. And right there in that shuttle,
was his opponent, Tra, and that idiotic Scott. Time to do something about
them.
     "Helm, follow that shuttle. Weapons, standby to engage." The shuttle
pilot however, had a different meaning about what was to be done against
them. He immediately brought the shuttle around and headed the other way.
     It gave them time, meanwhile both Scott and the co-pilot were trying
to contact the Galactica.
     Aboard the Galactica, Jones was sitting in one of the command chairs
on the pedestal. Half of his worries had already been removed, but the
captain and the others, that was another thing.
     "Captain's shuttle calling Galactica. Captain's shuttle calling
Galactica. We're on heading 341. We've got that battle cruiser on our
tails."
     Right then, before Jones was able  to respond, the signal vanished
into static.
     "Tracking station find them!! Helm, get us on a course towards the
planet." The Galactica turned away from the reassembling fleet and headed
for Iras. 
     As Tra looked at their stern again, the battle cruiser was gone.
     "Shit, shit, shit, I should'da known. The idiot overtook us and
waited for us to run in to him."
     Tra ran forward to see what was going on. The moment, he got to the
cockpit, he noticed the bow of the battle cruiser. But, Scott was already
looking beyond the battle cruiser for. Something was quietly floating
down to the hovering level of the battle cruiser.
     Suddenly, the co-pilot screamed, "Nice going, little brother."
     "His kid brother's a helmsman, sir," the shuttle captain explained.
     Scott then turned to Tra, while from the corner of his eye watching
the battlecruiser turn around. He said, "Well Tra, the next stop for you
is democracy."  The shuttle immediately docked as the Galactica began the
pursuit of the battlecruiser.
     Scott and the marines all helped in getting Tra's family to sickbay.
The marines were then ordered back to their quarters.
     "I'll order quarters to be made for you and your family, but it will
be quit some time before you go back." Scott put a hand on Tra's
shoulder, and left for the bridge. He was just in time to see the
battlecruiser blow up.
     "Helm, course Earth, and ready for a hyper space jump," Scott said.
They had a planet to save.
     But, they were still three weeks out.

CHAPTER FOUR

     The Earth's solar system consisted of ten planets of which more than
half have moons in orbit around them. On all planets, except Mercury and
Venus, military bases had been build and unfortunately, those bases had
attracted civilian settlers, which made for some interesting mix-ups, for
instance on Pluto.
     Rear-admiral Kyle Dobson was looking at an angry mob of settlers who
only wanted one thing, to get off the planet as soon as possible. He
couldn't blame them. Pluto only had two squadrons of vipers and two
battalions of troops available. The rest had been deployed elsewhere. 
     Dobson went through the schematic. About three thousand military
personnel, fifteen hundred civilians and their belongings would have to
be crammed into that battlestar, his battlestar.
     He noticed the small star right above the middle point of the city,
then, without knowing why, he wondered how long it would take the Cylons
to kill all of them.
     On Jupiter however, things were different. Since Jupiter formed the
base of the training squadron, the Earth's military presence was
staggering. Every new battlestar that the space dock had managed to
complete had been given a crew, be it in most cases a skeleton crew, and
was ordered to head for one of the planet's moons. The same thing was
done near Saturn and Uranus, however on a much more limited scale.
     But the preparations the Earth took to guard against invasion were
enormous. Pilots that had selected the reserve instead of active duty
were called up in groups of six wings per day. Old nuclear weapons were
taken out from storage and placed right next to the newer missile
emplacements. Every city, town, village or whatever there was, was
protected by four laser batteries, with numerous single mountings still
being installed especially in the cities. All of the coordination of the
defense was taking place inside one mountain. Cheyenne mountain formed
the headquarters of the entire force the Earth had out in space.
     However, knowing that this one place could and would probably be
knocked out, backup centers had been build in top secret locations. In
fact the only ones knowing of these places, were Supreme Commander Earth
Force, SCEF in short, and all the people who were working in them. And,
up in space there were the two squadrons. One of them, the training
squadron, was under the command of admiral James Spencer, the brother of
the admiral that had joined up with Scott over Gamoray.
     James Spencer wasn't like his brother. Although he had wished for an
active command, the opportunity to command such an awesome squadron as
this, would be a memory to keep, but he also wondered if he was going to
be around long enough to cherish those memories.
     Since Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus were all, in a way, guardians of
the approaches, there were only two spots to place the squadrons. Half of
his squadron was already in position in an arrow formation between Mars,
the asteroid belt and Earth, and, with the professional squadron facing
the other direction, he suddenly realized that it was going to be close,
just like the last time.
     In his mind, a film replayed what had happened the first time the
Cylons, or whatever they were called, attacked. James Spencer had been
one of the first captains to be engaged in battle. He remembered what
happened. Three of those fighters had broadsided his ship and killed
everybody on the bridge, except him. He remembered one of the nearby
escape pods and managed to reach it just as the ship started to
disintegrate. He was almost killed by the blast.
     He was picked up three days later by one of the search vessels that
had been dispatched. He later learned that there were only three other
survivors from his ship, and that they were all fighter pilots. Not much
time passed before he got a new ship.
     But now, he was worried, not if he was going to get another ship but
if he was going to be alive to see another ship. He also remembered the
three pilots as he had met them, just before the red alert had sounded.
They weren't really bitter to him, but they also weren't too excited to
see him.
     Again he checked with his tracking station. There was still nothing,
but in his mind, he was already going through the orders for the
sixty-second time, because he knew they were out there.
     A PLC had been set up near the long range radar station on Pluto. It
had been the last thing the service personnel had done before they had
boarded the shuttle for the battlestar that was going to take them off
the planet.
     Aboard the Victory, a battlestar under the command of a British
captain, Rear Admiral Kyle Dobson, wondered how long it would take the
reactor to overload and to wipe out the whole base. He somehow hoped it
would as soon as the robots had touched down.
     The captain signaled for them to get under way as soon as the
shuttle had boarded the docking bay.
     Not much later, and in the very distance, everybody could see how a
white, very bright spot of light appeared in the distance as the reactor
exploded. As the reactor spread its contents across the zone that had
once been the base, the radar picked something up.
     Meanwhile, back on Earth. The lights went on inside Cheyenne
Mountain, and people of every creed and color, all wearing space com
uniforms, entered a large hall where they began to activate all the
screens and instrument panels.
     Not much later, a voice brought them to attention. A woman wearing
four stars on her two shoulders entered the hall.
     Everybody now knew who she was. Admiral Janis Da Silva, was the
highest commanding officer. Her job was twofold. Next to being
responsible for star exploration, her organization was also the only
organization that had the means to defend the Earth. However it would
have to be a long battle. Since Da Silva had no idea when Spencer and/or
Scott would be returning, and most of the crews aboard the ships were
still inexperienced, she knew it would be a battle against the odds.
     "Admiral, a message from Rear Admiral Dobson. He's evacuated Pluto
completely and heading this way. The message also includes that he's
blown up all the facilities on the planet."
     Da Silva looked at the message for a moment, and then asked, "What
ship is taking them back?"
     "The Victory, sir."
     "Good. Have the Victory drop them off on the Earth station, then
order her to join the forces of the Asteroid belt."
     "Aye sir." The aide rushed off to one of the communication panels.
The ensign quickly began to relay the message to the Victory.
     Dobson read the message appearing on the screen, as the red combat
illumination came on. He rushed up to the command console to see what was
going on. Captain Nigel Bennet looked up as he saw Dobson arriving.
     "You were right. They're here. Twenty vics of ten ships each,
heading in our direction. I'm taking her up to lightspeed. They'll never
be able to catch us then. Besides, this will be a nice way to trap them."
     Dobson nodded. The vipers were only useful in case there was a
direct attack and in this case, there wasn't. The Victory sped off.
     Inside Cheyenne mountain, Da Silva noticed another ensign coming
over to her with a sheet of paper.
     "From the observatory, sir, they're reporting a battlestar light
speeding towards the planet."
     Da Silva put the note down beside her. There would be a good reason
why the captain of the Victory had gone lightspeed.
     Suddenly a voice echoed through the large hall. "This is Rear
Admiral Dobson for CIC Cheyenne mountain. Admiral Da Silva, do you copy.
This is Dobson aboard the Victory. We're lightspeeding away from at least
two hundred Cylon fighters. Put all forces on alert." Then the speaker
crackled. They've come, was the only thing Da Silva thought as she asked
for a line to the space tracking station.
     "Space tracking station, this is Admiral Da Silva from Cheyenne, is
there anything coming from Pluto?"
     "Yes sir, there is. The Victory is racing like hell to escape an
encircling movement by Cylon fighters."
     "Understood, Da Silva out. All forces, go to yellow alert. Ready all
fighter squadrons for launch. Get the crews to their bays. Option Delta
six is now clear."
     All over the Earth and the star system, men and women alike ran to
their positions. On the ships out in space, the red combat illumination
was activated. Option Delta six meant that a Cylon attack was imminent.
     And it was. The Cylon forces outside the star system, were under the
command of a centurion known only as Sloth.
     And Sloth was, next to Baltar and Spectre, the most experienced
military commander the Cylons had. He had one of the biggest, if not the
biggest, concentration of Cylon forces ever under his own command. But
now, he was also taking on one of the biggest challenges in his long
military career. Invade and conquer Earth for the glory of the Cylon
Empire. But, the Earth now had colonial equipment, and lots of it. It
wasn't going to be the milk run the old colonies had been.
     Then he gave the order to proceed.
     Sloth's command consisted of sixty base ships, with each carrying at
least up to two hundred attack ships. And now each of those attack ships
began to launch it's full content.
     But behind the conventional base ships, there was a group of four
large ships, copied battlestars. They didn't launch their attack ships.
They just continued in the direction of the bright, green and blue
planet.
     Not much later, the forward formation of at least a thousand ships
peeled off to attack the Victory. Dobson and Bennet, a man like a rock,
was looking at the radar screen and said, "Standby to launch fighters,
but first, let them come into battery range. We'll give them a surprise."
     "Captain Cramer?"
     A voice with a South African accent answered over the radio. "Sir?"
     "Captain, you've got one hell of an assignment to complete. I need
you to get our pursuers of our back." Then he closed the communicator and
turned his attention towards Dobson. "Admiral, if you've got civilian
personnel that can help my crew, tell your sector commanders to have them
report to our fire station and the health center. I've got a feeling
we're gonna need them." Then he ordered the Vipers to be launched.
     Cramer's vipers immediately took up a wedge formation and headed for
the mass of approaching Cylon attack ships.
     "There they are. In case anybody survives this, rendezvous behind
the Earth moon."
     Then  almost all of the pilots from the Victory pilots could see how
Cramer's first and long salvo wiped out three Cylon fighters in one try.
     Cramer noticed that the others were firing as well, and that they
were still closing rapidly. It didn't take them to long to shorten the
distance between the two groups. As soon as the two groups had separated,
Cramer ordered a hard turn to the right, which made the whole viper group
turn the Cylon rear.     Cramer, looked at his scanner. Although they had
cut through the very large Cylon formation, the Cylons were still
bringing in reinforcements.
     "Cramer to Victory, Cylons bringing in reinforcements. Suggest you
take evasive action or call reinforcements."
     As Cramer looked in the direction the Victory was travelling, he
suddenly noticed a front of explosions that was moving right into wave
after wave after wave of Cylon attack ships.
     Cramer reacted immediately. "Viper group, turbos full forward thrust
now!!!"
     The vipers quickly mixed it up with the attack ships. Pretty soon,
the space radar on the Frontier space station reported that the Cylon
reinforcements were being diverted from their Earth course towards the
Victory battle sight.
     "Dammned." Everybody looked up as they heard Janis Da Silva swear.
"Okay, no time to panic about this, scramble..." She never got time to
finish.
     "Admiral, the first Cylon base ships are now in range of the Neptune
defenses. Admiral Rickert reports that the base ships have opened fire on
his military facilities. Light casualties."
     "Good, now scramble six viper squadrons and have them fall upon
their flank. Send a signal to the battlestars near Neptune, Mars and The
Belt, saying the following, be prepared and good luck." That'd show
everybody that she'd take care off them.
     " Six squadrons have launched, sir. They're on course for the battle
scene," a voice reported not much later.
     Dobson and Bennet, were still fighting to save the ship. But, to
some crewmembers, it became apparent to Bennet, it appeared to be a lost
cause.
     "Cramer to Victory, I've just spotted reinforcements coming on to
their flank." Both Bennet and Dobson looked at each other, it appeared as
though they had made it.
     The staff officers on Neptune had a better view of the whole battle
and pretty soon, it became apparent that the Cylons were bringing in more
reinforcements. They didn't send any attacks ships towards Neptune.
     Rickert reacted immediately. "Send a message for Earth. Enemy still
pouring attack ships toward Victory scene. No, repeat, no attack ships
towards Neptune. Am dispatching half of all vipers towards battle scene."
     Pretty soon, a large group of fresh vipers was heading for the scene
of the fierce battle around the battlestar Victory. Rickert then ordered
all available battlestars to engage the enemy over the planet.

CHAPTER FIVE   SCOTT'S FLEET

     Starbuck had finally agreed to become the Galactica's air group
commander. Scott, somehow felt he was about to lose a friend. But, Tra
knew what Scott felt.
     But then again, Tra had become the Galactica's first officer. His
eldest daughter, a sleek, yet beautiful blond-haired girl with blue eyes,
had chosen to become a viper pilot. Starbuck seemed quite happy to teach
her all the tricks of the trade. It didn't take long for her to become a
squadron commander.
     Jones had transferred as a captain to the Enterprise after Spencer
had chosen to stay behind and help Cain and after her captain had been
killed during the battle of Iras.
     As the fleet reached a position sixty million kilometers outside the
Earth's orbit, Scott ordered the fleet to halt. Every ship was now able
to monitor the comm calls coming from ships and bases around their home
worlds.
     "Red section, you have three bandits coming down now. Evasive
action, now," they heard a calm voice say.
     "HMS Brittannia is attacking."
     "Cramer to all, this is something you'll be telling your kids about
when you're a hundred."
     "Homeplate group, you're clear to proceed to battlezone." As he
heard the transmissions over the speaker, Tra asked, "Have you got a
deployment plan?"
     Scott nodded, " I sure as hell do. Two single files, one for us one
for the vipers. I want those cans to know that they can't attack our
homes without suffering the consequences."
     The fleet began to move again but this time. All battle stars had
gotten into a line ahead formation. And as soon as the fleet had reached
Pluto, Scott ordered the vipers to be launched and do the same. But, the
vipers flew over the raging Victory battle and came down right above the
Earth where they continued until they met a new formation of attack
ships, in the vicinity of Uranus, heading straight for Earth.
     A new battle ensued.
     Sloth realized it the moment he got reports of the second battle
commencing. There were opportunities here that couldn't be left behind.
     "All ships, move forward towards viper gap." With that, the base
ships were committed to the battle. There wasn't a thing that was going
to stop them.
     Although, if there were forces near or in the asteroid belt near
that large red planet, things were going to go different, this needed to
be avoided.
     So, not much later, attack ships were launched from the four
battlestars. Sloth also ordered the forces already engaged to draw the
enemy away from the gap. Their crossing, would be safe now.
     Back on Earth, Janis Da Silva had stepped out of the command center
and went to the top of the hill. She thought she was alone but, the heavy
and high wine of the laser battery being set up disturbed her thoughts.
In the distance, she saw trucks and all sorts of armored vehicles moving
around. Probably going to places where she'd never get to go to, the way
things were going now.
     "Admiral, you're needed in the command post. There's a gap."
     She sighed, got up from her tailor's seat and followed the young
lieutenant down.
     There still was a lot of com traffic taking place. That guy,
Cramer's voice, was still coming over the airways.
     "I wonder how many he's shot down," she heard an enlisted man near
the star system map say.
     In space, Mark Cramer was getting worried. He had noticed how the
Cylons were trying to pull them away from what used to be the center of
their line, calmly creating a gap.
     And on their side they were being drawn towards the Victory. She was
still maneuvering, but, to Cramer, it was all to obvious clear that his
home vessel had been hit.
     Cramer's assumption was right. The Victory had indeed been hit.
Dobson had been sent to the Alpha level by Bennet to check out what had
been going on. Near the recreation hall, he encountered a lot of military
and civilian fire fighters. There were both civilian and military medical
staff as well.
     One of the fire fighters came to him. "I'm Kieutenant Breckt, sir.
We're barely containing this one as it is."
     Dobson looked in the direction of the fire. It was raging as if it
was the portal of hell. He also wondered, according to the Combat
Information Center. They were right in the middle of a big battle.
     Da Silva, noticed the gap forming the moment she came in. "Scramble
all remaining viper squadrons, and order all defense forces to standby.
Warn Admiral Spencer." She remained quiet for a moment but then asked,
"What's our status?"
     "We've lost ten percent of our viper strength, together with two
battlestars. I calculate our losses to be at least twenty percent
already."
     Da Silva turned around. "As soon as their capital ships are through,
send the battlestars in to meet them." That was it, the battle was now
entering the next phase.
     In phase one, the vipers had been able to stop all attacks on the
defenses and the planets. Now, the Cylon commander would be trying to
wrap it up by sending in the big ships.
     "Admiral Spencer reports that he's in position. Also he's letting us
know that there are four battlestars behind the Cylon fleet and he
doesn't know if they're ours."
     "Have him hold his position."
     "Aye sir."
     Another sailor came in with a sheet of paper. Commander Taylor took
it from him. "Another message from the space observatory. They report
something about a battle proceeding near Uranus."
     Da Silva looked at him, from her face, Taylor could tell she wanted
more information.
     "  don't know if they're ours, sir. The main commander of Uranus
reported that all his vipers got through without any trouble. And, that
was two hours ago."
     Da Silva thus ordered, "Bring it up on the starmap." 
     The selector grid on the starmap was brought up to the sector of
Uranus. She looked at the screen. "Whomever they are, they saved our
skins."
     In space, Spencer, was also watching the system chart as the Uranus
sector was enlarged. He turned around and spoke with captain Dave Harmon,
whose hair, height and weight were just the same as his.
     "Dave, pass it on, all ships are to stay in position until I give
the order."
     Harmon ordered the message to be passed on. Then, he returned his
attention towards the ever increasing number of radar and combat reports.
     Suddenly, Spencer felt a tap on his shoulder. "Admiral, take a look
at this scanner picture."
     Spencer looked up.
     "Here it is, sir, the situation is as follows." The lieutenant
pointed at a group of dots. "This is us, sir. And as you can see, these
are the two battles taking place on our right and left flank now. This is
a third wave of attack ships. Conclusion, I don't think we'll have to
worry about our flanks unless they manage to break through and for that
third group, I hope  someone has a trick up his sleeve. We're all in a
heap of trouble."
     Spencer said only one thing. "I hope James Scott gets here in time."
He clinched his fist for a moment. To Harmon it seemed apparent, Spencer,
the admiral, had caught himself losing hope.
     And, he knew very well that it was wrong. 
     A bit further away, on the right of Spencer's formation, Starbuck,
Tra's daughter, (Starbuck had tried to ask her what the name Maarn meant
but he didn't get an answer.) and a lot of other pilots were fighting.
They were succeeding quite well. On the left however, things were
different.
     Cramer, was in trouble. He was using all of the squadrons that had
been assigned to him, but they were all committed now and they were badly
in need of reinforcements. He decided to fight his way out. Not much
later, he was. He immediately switched to the command frequency. "Cramer
for Cheyenne mountain. We're badly in need of reinforcements. The Victory
has gotten away. No word on her location. If reinforcements are not
available, I will order all remaining vipers to rendezvous behind the
Earth moon."
     He then switched over to the Omnicon. Now, all vipers could hear
him. "Cramer to all, Cramer to all. Rendezvous behind the Earth moon. I
repeat, rendezvous behind the Earth moon."
     Then he deactivated the comm and immediately, entered a course for
the Earth's moon into his navicomputer. Not much later the vipers, after
taking evasive action, began to follow.
     They left the confused Cylons far behind.
     Sloth, now on the bridge of the first battlestar could feel how the
joyous energies flew through him as he received the message that enemy
vipers on their flank had withdrawn.
     It was time to take action. "Order all ships forward in attack
formation."
     The first Earthlings to pick up the new move were the crew of the
Victory. As Dobson was analyzing the situation, he suddenly realized what
he was looking at.
     "Get me through to Cheyenne. They've got to know this!!" Not much
later, Dobson's voice echoed through the command chamber. "This is
Admiral Dobson calling Cheyenne. They're coming. Their attack ships have
broken our viper defenses and are now chasing them to the moon. Their
large ships are not far behind." The message disappeared into static.
     "The Cylons must be jamming. I'll try to see if we can break it," a
voice reported.
     This time, Da Silva only gave one order. "Order all reserve
squadrons to standby and warn admiral Spencer." Then, the lights blinked
for a moment and this time, a marine wearing full gear and camouflage
came in. Taylor talked to him for a moment and then came back to Da Silva
who asked, "Well?"
     "It's a message from Colonel Longstreet, sir. Enemy descending
through the atmosphere. No means yet available to stop them."
     "Warn the Civil defense authorities. Bring the ground forces to full
alert and launch the reserve squadrons. You, tell your colonel that I
want him to hold his ground." 
     The lights blinked again.
     Da Silva's messages got to the civil defense in time for them to
take adequate measures to counter the disaster. From everywhere,
volunteers came to help set up tents for the eventual homeless. Also, the
fire departments could count on a lot of volunteer backing.
     But sometimes, it wasn't enough. The woods and the greater part of
Los Angeles were already on fire. It was getting that worse that one of
the reserve squadrons was called in to handle the creation of a fire
break by blowing up buildings in a wide path in front of the fire.
     But, there were successes as well. Those parts of the ground forces
that had been assigned to air defense were getting the hang over the
Cylon fighters and brought them down. Mostly, it was one at a time, but
there were occasions when the lasers made fighters to fly in to each
other. And, the reserve squadrons were on their way to the moon.
     On top of the hill, Colonel Longstreets headquarters.
     "Sir, Private Hackman has returned."
     Lieutenant Dan Wells took Hackman to Longstreet's command chamber.
Longstreet didn't look up.
     "Well, what did she say?"
     "We're to hold our ground, sir."
     Longstreet still didn't look up. "Thank you private, return to your
post."
     "Yes sir."
     As Wells was gone, he suddenly slammed his fist on the table.
"Dammned, Wells, we need time, time." He slammed his fist on the table
again. That moment, Wells noticed it against the light of the combat
illumination. "Lieutenant, send this message to all forces. Enemy
invasion imminent." By then, the first tear Wells had seen, had already
traded places with the second.
     "Aye sir."
     In space, aboard the Galactica, "Starbuck and your daughter are
holding their own, Tra."
     "Yeah, but take a look on our right flank." 
      Scott didn't glance at the monitor on the right, he nearly crept
inside.
     "These are the vipers. They're heading for the moon of the third
planet from the sun. Those attack ships as you call them, are chasing
them but they're going to run into a trap because, take a look here-" He
pointed at another group of dots originating from Earth. "-here, come the
reinforcements."
     Scott nodded. He knew the situation as well as Tra did.
     "Now here's my plan. Their capital ships or better yet, let's call
them the gold transport, should be nearing your ships from the right.
This means that the admiral who's commanding them, should make the left
part of his formation do a turn to starboard. Am I correct?"
     "Please continue," Scott commented
     "Now, if their capital ships engage your ships on our starboard, I
think the Cylons, of whom you have been telling me a lot, will go to the
right or possibly, even attempt to encircle them. We're in a position to
stop them on this side but we need to stop them on the other side as
well. You know that as well as I do."
     Tra paused for a moment.
     Scott then had a question for Tra. "What do you think an L-shaped
formation, the hook protecting the rear of our battlestars? Correct."
     "Guess we need to stay out of their scanner range. That's for sure."
Then he started to arrange the plan. One at a time, the ships of his
fleet went to lightspeed. But not so very far away of Scott's position.
     "Are they ours, Dobson?"
     "I don't know. I really don't know, but it would be better if we
called it in."
     "Agreed." And not much later, Dobson had a channel for Cheyenne
mountain.
     Meanwhile, the Victory remained on the edge of what they thought was
the maximum Cylon scanning range.
     However, "We're in position, sir. Scanner station reports a
battlestar on our stern. She's scanning us."
     "Get me through on a clear line," Scott ordered.
     Aboard the Victory, neither Dobson nor Bennet couldn't believe what
had just happened. And they really couldn't believe their ears either as
they heard that the incoming message came from the Galactica, a ship that
should have been light-years away from this system.
     "On screen," Bennet ordered finally as they got over their
astonishment. The screen on the console blinked for a moment before
Scott's face appeared.
     "This is Captain James Scott calling the USS Victory, please
respond."
     "This is Rear Admiral Kyle Dobson aboard the Victory, go ahead,
sir."
     "Admiral Dobson, I want you to take a section of my battlestars on
the other side of Fleet Admiral Spencer's line. You'll form a line, out
of scanner range on a ninety degree angle with our line."
     "Understood,sir. Those ships are already detaching now." 
     The source aboard the Galactica was deactivated so the screen
automatically turned to the status reports again.
     Dobson went for Bennet. "Captain, it seems we've received our
orders." Dobson explained their orders to Bennet very quickly and not
much later, the Victory was in position with the other vessels.
     Spencer's ship had a fitting name, the UES United States. She was to
be an example of how the worlds of Iras, Earth and the thirteen colonies
should be working together on all sorts of things. As Spencer thought
about it, it seemed fitting. He also wondered what his part would be.
     His thoughts were interrupted by Captain Barton. "Admiral, we've
just received a message from Captain Scott. He's in a defensive position
on our rear. He will engage the enemy in a flanking move the moment we
have engaged them."
     Spencer felt himself beginning to smile.
     "Send this to Captain Scott. Glad that you're around. Will begin
immediately." Barton rushed off. The Galactica received the message not
much later. 

     Meanwhile, Sloth and his ships had been steadily progressing towards
the battlestar line. Sloth, being of the same make as Lucifer, began to
get curious. The humans - their larger vessels had been avoiding the
battle so desperately as if he was to destroy the Earth and make it a
Cylon outpost.
     "Are there anymore scanner reports centurion? " The centurion
replied that there were not and, that the Earthlings had dropped out of
range. Sloth wondered, did the Earthlings pull back in disarray as
expected or was there another reason?
     "Centurion, order all battlestars forward with full scan activated."
The centurion disappeared.

     "Admiral Spencer, we're receiving a message from the space
observatory."
     "On screen."
     "Admiral Spencer, the enemy's on the move. He's coming on a heading
of two six seven." Spencer had the situation changed on the plot screen
and ordered the message handed over to Scott.
     "Captain, there's a message for you from Admiral Spencer. He reports
that the Cylons are on the move."
     "It's true, sir. I'm reading several Cylon radar emissions in the
one hundred percent area already."
     Scott thought for a moment. If they were going to discover his
ships, the trouble was going to be larger then he was expecting. And, all
of a sudden, it seemed as if the others weren't there anymore. He was
looking at them, but he couldn't hear them. This kept going on until
suddenly somebody shook him very violently. It was Tra.
     "What happened? " was the first thing he asked.
     "I don't know. I probably had what we call a blackout." Scott
replied. Then the idea hit him. "Lieutenant, make an overlay of the Cylon
radar range on the plot screen. I want to try something.
     "Aye sir."
     The lieutenant immediately went at it.  Scott was watching the plot
screen as the data came up. "Hmmm, with these scanner ranges, they're
bound to find us but only after they've engaged Admiral Spencer." Scott
then ordered that all ships were to stay in formation.
     Meanwhile, Starbuck and his squadrons had been able to destroy the
whole of the second raiding force. And as he contacted the Galactica, he
got orders to fly over to the moon and join the squadrons that were about
to engage the second Cylon force. He was also in charge. Starbuck ordered
his squadrons to follow him.
     Cramer's group was already in position as the reserve squadrons
showed up. One of his own pilots, a certain lieutenant by the name of
Jerry Doyle suddenly reported fighters on their left flank. Cramer flew
over to check it out. He switched to unicom as he noticed the other
fighters were Vipers as well.
     "This is Commander Dirk Cramer of the UES Victory, identify
yourself." The reply came sooner then he expected.
     "This is wing commander Starbuck from USS Galactica. By order of
Admiral James Scott, I'm now taking over."
     Cramer confirmed and escorted Starbuck and the others to the
rendezvous point.

     Sloth and his large ships had been scanning for the Earth fleet for
the past several hours, but they didn't find anything. And, while he was
wondering what had happened to the Earthlings, a centurion unit entered
his chambers.
     "By your command." 
     Sloth turned around. "Report Centurion!"
     "There is a report from the fighter units that have broken through
on the right."
     "What does it say?"
     There was momentary silence.
     "They have encountered the enemy and are now engaged."
     Sloth's computer mind told him that he had to ask another question.
     "What kind of ships have they engaged?"
     "Vipers," the robot voice said. Again, there was that silence.
     There was just one thing to do. "Order all ships to come to and
stop. We'll wait out the battle."

     Neither Da Silva, Scott or Spencer could believe what had just
happened. All of them looked at their subordinates with faces that said,
"If you're wrong I'm going to have your head for this."
     It was opportunity knocking at the door.
     Da Silva knew what she had to do. "Order all battlestars to engage
the enemy, right now." Taylor handed the order on.
     In space, the teleprinter immediately began to rattle aboard the
Iowa and the Galactica.

     Sloth wondered as the centurion came back yet again. "Report
centurion!"
     This one, didn't hesitate. "The Earthlings are now in scanner range.
They are all around us."
     Sloth didn't panic but he did realize the gravity of the situation.
He put his main computer and the war computer into a very high speed to
figure out a solution. The last option he came up with sounded reasonable
but, it would also mean that he was going to lose most of his forces. He
decided to risk it.
     "Centurian, order all ships to spread out and attack any enemy ship
that is in range." The centurion went out.
     The Cylon baseships immediately began to follow the order Sloth had
given them. They spread out and headed for their Earth counterparts.
Spencer was caught off guard, but Scott wasn't. 

     "They've started a counter attack. That's what I would have done
would have done in their place." Tra put back.
     Scott then ordered all ships to stay on course.
     Spencer was glad. At least somebody had the cool to keep going.
     "Positive shield. Ready all laser batteries and secure all sections.
We're going after the lead ship. Helm, get us an intercept course." The
Iowa changed course and headed in the direction of Sloth's battlestar.
     The Galactica, had already engaged one of the many baseships in the
Cylon fleet. By now, all formations had been broken and battle plans had
been rendered ineffective except for one reason. The Cylon line was still
intact. Bennet, was one of the few people who saw it. He remembered the
military history courses he had to take while he was in the process of
preparing to take command of the Victory. He especially remembered the
lessons about the Permanent Fighting instructions. Those were viable in
those days, but it was just about the same situation as a long time ago
so, he decided to chance it.
     "Course 271. Raise all electronic shields to maximum power! Secure
all sections and lock on with everything we've got. Engineering, get us
up to battle speed." The Victory rapidly began to pick up speed.
     Bennett looked at everybody on the bridge, including Dobson.
     "I know, but I happen to think that it is the only hope that we'll
be out of here soon," he remarked, but as he turned around, he could
still feel them staring at him. Bennet made the decision to ignore it.
     In the meantime the Victory began to close with the Cylons. Not much
later, the console operator reported that they were beneath the Cylon
firing ark.
     "Arm all remaining systems and return laser fire." The Victory
opened fire with her laser batteries and not much later, the missiles
went in the base ship they had selected. Bennett ordered the ship to
increase speed the same moment.
     It worked.
     The baseship exploded as they were clear. Then there was the other
one. It went the same way. Aboard the Galactica, an enthusiastic ensign
ran up to the command console with a sheet of paper.
     "It's a message from the Victory, sir. They report they've broken
though the Cylon line." He handed it over to Scott, who handed it to Tra.
     Tra studied it very carefully. " Let's hope they made it because she
was already damaged to some extent," he remarked. some time later, Scott
heard a report that a couple of their other ships had gone through the
gap as well.
     The report that the Cylon line had been breached, reached Cheyenne
mountain two hours later. By that time, the Galactica had been heavily
damaged, she was already fighting her third basestar.
     Sometimes, the smoke from the resulting fires had been so thick that
Scott couldn't see what was going happening on the lower lying parts of
the bridge. But, as soon as he had ordered damage control, the situation
improved remarkably. The first thing he did was ask for their status.
     Tra answered, "Not good. We've just engaged our third basestar. Our
batteries are down to fifty percent, and we're out of air to air
missiles. I suggest that we get out of here." 
     As he looked around, Scott was now sure Tra was right. His ship had
already destroyed far more Cylon ships then he'd ever knew. "Helm, take
evasive action. Tra, initiate damage control procedures. We've done our
part!"

     Sloth was looking at the monitor picture. The Galactica had just
disengaged with the 3038 and headed for somewhere. Hmm, the idea came up
pretty quickly. A battle between him and the Galactica would be ideal.
The Earthlings would be lost without her. He ordered the Destructor to
take an interceptcourse to the Galactica.

     Scott ordered a full stop as they were outside the general battle
area. He, Tra and some intelligence officers were looking at the monitor
and scanner pictures of the battle.
     "Message from Captain Jones, sir. He reports he's tracking a Cylon
battlestar on an intercept course towards us."
     "Thank you ensign."
     The other officers immediately went back to their stations. "We're
going to have to assume that he's still carrying missiles," Tra remarked.
     Scott began to give the first orders. "Activate all lasers and lock
on to their missile launchers. Switch off all unneeded systems and
channel that power to the defense shields. Helm, I want you to keep the
bow pointed at her at all costs."
     On another screen, the computer was already displaying ranges.

     Aboard Sloth's ship, somebody reported that they were in range. The
order was given to open fire.

     "The Cylons are opening fire," Tra reported. Scott quickly ordered
evasive action. The shots flew past them. But now, the bow wasn't
pointing at their opponent anymore. As the Galactica picked up speed,
however, she quickly turned around. The bow was now pointed directly at
their opponent.
     "Lock on and fire lateral lasers," Scott ordered immediately. "This
might be the only chance we've got." Within a few seconds, the lateral
lasers opened up. Together with the remaining laser batteries they poured
a steady stream of shots into the Galactican adversary. 
     Tra was the first to see it. Slowly but ever quicker, their opponent
began to turn. "She's turning!" he called out.
     Everybody looked up from what they were doing. They could see it
with their own eyes. The Cylon battlestar was indeed turning. But, her
bow was also pointing down. The explosion that followed was a terrific
one.
     After it had died down, Scott asked for a damage report.
     "Well, we've suffered three hundred and sixty casualties. We've got
about forty percent of our laser batteries left. The shields are down to
twenty percent. If we don't withdraw this time, we're going to be in a
lot of trouble," a lieutenant remarked.
     "Mr. Tra, get me a channel to Admiral Spencer."
     "Aye sir." It was strange hearing the odd accent act like an
officer.
     Spencer's face appeared on the monitor.
     "Admiral, this is Captain Scott."
     "What's the status of the battle?"
     "We're doing okay. We're still bringing up ships but after you
destroyed their leader they're not putting up much of a fight anymore."
     "Thank you, Admiral. Galactica out." 
     The screen turned to status mode. The Galactica remained on the rim
of the battle until all the baseships had retreated or had been
destroyed. While this process was going on, the ship acted as the fleet
communications center.
     Scott was surprised to hear of the Victory coming alongside during
the battle.
     "Captain, the Victory requests us to take on some of their wounded.
Their life station is overflowing."
     "Tell the Victory we'll have a couple of shuttles with medical teams
over right away."
     "Aye sir."
     Bennet was studying the scanner results as Dobson came back.
     "I've just made an inspection of the ship. We need to put into dock
as soon as possible, and what about some help from other ships?"
     "Take a look." The monitor showed three shuttles entering their
flight bays.
     "Our next door neighbor is the Galactica, Admiral. They're sending
over three shuttles with damage, repair and medical teams." Dobson put
his hands on in front of him, leaned on a panel and sighed. It was
finally over.
     While the big ships were fighting each other, Starbuck, Maarn and
Cramer, had managed to get the upper hand over the Cylon formation that
had broken through. Their squadrons and the reserve squadrons were now
going after ships that were fleeing from Earth. Both Starbuck and Cramer
got messages by then. "Destroy as many of them as you can. We've won the
battle with the big ships. In case they escape to fast, withdraw to your
ships."
     The reserve squadrons being the freshest, continued to chase the
attack ships until they reached the border of the star system. Then they
to disengaged and retreated as well.
     Scott was checking up on their status as he heard Starbuck ask for
permission to land. "Roger Starbuck, you're all cleared to land." Scott
cleared them personally. Then he headed for the flight bays as well. As
he got there, he noticed Craig and a medical team with stretchers. They
were waiting to hear from some of the pilots that were literally
struggling to stay on their feet. 
     Craig and a couple of orderlies quickly went over to them with a
stretcher and forced them to lay down on it. Two sailors then rolled it
to the elevator. Craig then came over to him.
     "It isn't looking good. Control reports at least a hundred ships
still to come in. And we're already looking at at least sixty cases of
heavy exhaustion. If you ask me," Craig continued, "We're all going to
need R and R for some time."
     Scott nodded and went back up to the bridge. "Get me Admiral Da
Silva," was the first thing he ordered as he returned.
     Da Silva her face appeared on the monitor.
     "Captain Scott, it's good to see you back after such a long time."
She was smiling.
     Scott decided to dispense with the pleasantries. "Admiral, it seems
this battle has worn us all out. I respectfully request a shore leave for
my whole squadron for a duration of three months."
     For a moment, there was no reply from Cheyenne mountain. "Very well,
Captain, you have three months of shore leave for every ship in your
squadron." Then the line was closed.
     "Tra, get this to the ship's printer. Shore leave passes for three
months for the whole crew starting from the moment we dock."
     "What date is it today anyway?"
     " Er, 3-02-01."
     "Good, I want all hands back on board by 3-06-00."
     "Understood, oh, do you know any place we could visit on Earth?"
     "Sure, but then you'd need to make a choice. There's so much."
     Tra was smiling. Scott somehow knew he would have the time of his
life on Earth. But what would he do? All of a sudden, Scott remembered
his military history lessons. During World War Two, aircraft crews that
had survived a certain number of missions would go back to their
homelands, if they weren't occupied, and try to motivate the people into
buying war bonds or even trying to get people to enlist.
     If Starbuck recovered well enough, he would probably be asked to do
the same. He wondered how Starbuck would react to Earth and next to Tra,
how would his family react? He hoped it would be positive.
     He was still thinking about what he was going to do the moment he
touched down with the shuttle, as the ghost appeared. This time, the
light wasn't there. Scott suddenly had the feeling that he was being
watched. He turned around. The ghost spoke loud for the first time.
     "I am Commander Adama, Commander of the battlestar Galactica.
Captain Scott, the ship is now yours. Be careful with her she'll get you
there where you want to be. My job is done. Good luck, Captain."
     There was a brief flash of light and, as he looked up, the ghost had
disappeared.
     Scott went over to the computer and activated the log section.
     " Ships log : USS Galactica
       Date      : 3-02-01
       I'm glad that we can finally call this part of our endeavor over.
I'm looking forward to continuing the exploration of the stars but, I'm
also looking forward to see what the discovery of the battlestar, or
whatever it is she was called, has done on Earth."
      As he couldn't think of anything else, he stored the log entry just
like he had done with the others and switched off the computer. Scott
then grabbed his duffel bag and headed for the shuttle bay where he took
one going down to Earth.

THE END
by Sermon Weerts
Sweerts@home.nl

(Submitted January 11, 2003)