Circles of Change- Burning Homefronts
Chapter One
D5/21345 Battlestar Valkrie
Earth year- April 5th, 2226
Commander Adama looked around in the darkened CIC of the Valkrie waiting on Colonel Saul Tigh to arrive. The computer monitors were considerably more advanced than Galacticas as the Valkries were designed for special role operations and heavy-hitting. The Valkrie class Battlestars was equipped with ship-to-ship missiles and rocket propelled munitions that added to the punching power of the ship. The ship was operating on minimal power in an effort to hide it from sensor sweeps while still on the Colonial side of the Armistice line.
He thought deeply about the insanity and the possible implications of the mission could have if it went wrong. Admiral Corman seemed to want an excuse to start another conflict. The Admiralty feared that the Cylons either wanted nothing to do with the Colonies or building an armada. Adama himself felt that there may be some truth to Cormans words after a private meeting telling him that he believes the Cylons will attack at any moment.
The glass doors slid open and the old visage of Colonel Tigh walked through. He walked right next to Adama and focused his attention on the young Lt. Sarah Berry, the ships Tactical Officer who was working most strongly with Lt. Daniel Novacek. The Admiralty wanted a mission for him to cross the Armistice Line and gain intelligence on the Cylons. Daniel was selected as he was one of the best pilots and a member of Ghost Squadron, the special forces Viper unit. "Is Bulldog ready?" Colonel Tigh asked the blonde officer.
"He's ready, requesting authorization to launch."
"Patch me a line through to Bulldog." Commander Adama said to her. She transferred a private line over to him and he picked up a wireless headset.
"Is there anything else you need Bulldog?" He asked him, giving him the hint of the option of backing out as he stated to him personally before embarking on the mission."
"No sir I'm all ready to go." He said back to him. Adama gave him thanks and ordered the launch.
The Stealthstar was shaped like a regular Viper; however it was slightly larger and carried sensitive sensor equipment which could detect even small radiation signatures. The hull was completely black and could disguise itself from even the best Colonial sensors in field tests. Bulldog piloted it once it left the launch tube, activating several of the systems including the stealth systems. He looked on his DRADIS and noticed he was approaching ever closer to the Armistice Line.
"Ok Bulldog, you're going dark." Colonel Tigh said to him over the wireless. He deactivated his wireless as he approached the Line.
Adama and Tigh looked sternly at the DRADIS screens in front of them in the CIC; most of the crew was silent and paying attention to their screens showing the Stealthstar only having laser communication with the Valkrie. "She's past the line." Lt. Berry said while having readouts on the Stealthstar's systems to ensure they are properly functioning.
Meanwhile Bulldog looked at the sensitive equipment displays. His muscles tensed up as he was shocked to suddenly see he was being pinged by multiple DRADIS contacts. "Do they have special sensor buoys?" He thought to himself. His tenseness increased when he saw two more DRADIS contacts appear on his screen firing railgun rounds. He attempted to dodge them but failed as one struck his engine disabling it. Two more contacts appeared on his screen which were much larger and he knew in the back of his mind they were basestars. He soon saw a missile coming toward him at a high rate of speed. He pulled the ejection lever and everything went dark…
….And he saw the blinding lights of a ceiling overhead. "Am I on the Valkrie?" he asked himself. "No I can't be." He looked around as everything became clearer. The walls looked blue with white lights on them. He quickly noticed the metal bars in front of him which told him he was caged up. "Where the hell am I he asked out loud?"
"You're with us now." He heard a female voice say. He turned his head to look and saw a blond female walking toward him. Near a doorway he could see the outline of a robotic warrior which he thought looked like a newer version of a Cylon Centurion. "We have always planned for likely Colonial reconnaissance into our territories you will be a usefull asset to us."
"You're not going to fraking kill me?"
"No, we don't kill intelligence assets. You are a part of the Ghost Viper Squadron, so your knowledge will be important to us."
"I won't tell you shit." He spat out.
"We'll get you to talk don't worry." He felt a disorientating sensation as he knew the ship just jumped. He saw another woman walk in with brunette hair slightly shorter than the blond woman. "They must be androids or something." He thought to himself until he remembered Adama talking about the Cylons performing experiments on humans in the Polarn system, they all knew the Cylons wanted to look and act human eventually so they must have succeeded already.
All of his thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a violent rocking the ship suddenly took. The lights flickered for a moment and it happened again.
"We're under attack!" the blond woman yelled. "We have to head to the command center!" The brunette yelled back at her as they both ran. It was obvious this was an attack but by who? Did the Valkrie get authorization for a rescue mission that fast? It can't be, Adama is good at talking people into things but he isn't THAT good.
Agonizing minutes felt like hours as the rocking continued then stopped. He soon heard what sounded like gunfire and odd whizzing noises. He assumed they were bullets bouncing off in the hallways but who was fighting though? He could hear the sounds of yelling and gunfire getting closer. Whoever it was they were giving the Cylons a hell of a slaughter.
Soon he saw the Cylon Centurion leave and walk down one of the halls out of his view. He heard footsteps of both machines and boots; he hoped and prayed it was his comrades coming back for him, who else would be out here anyway? He quickly paid attention to a bright blue light that flickered down the hall accompanied by a whizzing sound and visible smoke. "What the frak was that?" He thought to himself and he soon saw another one with gunfire coming from the Centurion which had a collapsed half portion on the floor minus a head.
His attention focused on the sounds of boots coming closer. He saw a head peek into the doorway but couldn't make it out as it was helmeted. The helmet itself looked weird; it was black with a red looking visor where eyes should normally be. "Who are these guys?" Three figures came into view, all wore the same uniform which was covered head to toe in black, and they wore belts with odd looking instruments on them and carried a sleek looking rifle. One more figure finally stepped in through the doorway with a strange looking insignia pinned to his chest. Instead of a rifle he had a strange looking handgun that had a glowing blue crystal on what looked to be a magazine. He saw similar features on the rifles too. He was taller than the rest and walked like he carried authority with him. He felt this was one of the men in charge.
He looked to the other three and muttered something he couldn't make out. Daniel cringed as the guy raised his handgun and saw a flash of blue light. He saw it three more times and felt heat where the blasts were. As he dodged to the side of the cage to avoid it, it was apparent that he was not aiming directly at him. His vision cleared and noticed the bars to the cage were lying on the floor partially melted in some areas. The tall man studied him when he felt strong hands grab him to lift him to his feet. He stared the tall man into the reddish visor he had. The man moved his hand up to the helmet and began to lift it off. He knew now these guys weren't Colonial or another Cylon faction rumored to exist.
What he saw next stunned him. The man removed his black helmet along with the other figures in the room. The tall man's dark hair came out and he looked into his eyes and noticed with intense shock they weren't human. They had slits that looked like cat eyes and they all had ridges on their foreheads and pointed ears. He knew they were aliens, there was no other explanation. The tall man suddenly smiled as he pulled out a rod like object, and everything went to black again.
Four Years later G9/21349- Battlestar Mercury, in the Haracess System
Commander James Keller jogged on the treadmill in the Officer's Gym. He decided to use some free time to exercise and get ready for the Physical Aptitude test scheduled for next month. Some of the crew went over to the Surveyor Hub to check out the science exhibits and logs of interesting interstellar phenomenon. He was ordered to come to this system to help with a mission the Surveyors and he would be getting more information once he arrived. The door slid open behind him and he noticed an older dark haired man in the mirror it was his XO, Colonel Allen Bell.
"Come back with our mission?" He asked him, slowing down the treadmill and taking the papers from Colonel Bell.
"Yeah, the Colonial Surveyors are interested in looking at a system thirty lightyears from here; a couple scouts from General Space found Tylium deposits in an asteroid field orbiting one of the gas giants. The Surveyors want to scan the area and map the whole system. I guess we are supposed to be their security; the system is well outside the cluster and well into neutral space. We don't know what's out there."
"Your right on that there, not too many people goes outside the cluster except for the occasional exploratory mission. Only a few military, science and mining posts, how long until our crew comes back?"
"They will be back in a few hours." Colonel Bell said looking at his watch. "The Surveyor ships are prepping FTL and sensor systems and will be ready in the same amount of time. We can leave in 6 hours for the system, and we will be there for a few weeks while the Surveyors look at each planet."
"Good, we can conduct flight testing while we're here. Have the CAG put together a flight training plan. Let's give our pilots some space time, especially the newer ones we just got out of the Academy."
"Ill let the CAG know. I have a meeting with him and some senior pilots about escort lists." Colonel Bell said taking the papers back from Commander Keller. "I'll see you in the CIC by 1700." He said as he left to meet with the CAG and senior pilots."
Commander Keller stopped the treadmill and walked to his quarters. He turned at a corridor and saw a group of Marines jogging down the corridors getting some exercise. Some civilians and technicians were looking at electric panels and doing daily maintenance to get ready jump over to the system. He had reached his quarters and shut the door. The walls were adorned with medals, awards and certificates from his time serving in the Colonial Forces. Glass cases contained old fashioned swords and guns from the old Colonization Era when Caprican sailors were exploring the large seas between continents.
He looked at some paperwork he was doing. There were orders four months from now to patrol the Amphios System for any scavenger or illegal merchant activity. There were papers recommending promotion for some pilots and crew members and an Article 26 statement for a crew member who tested positive for Hemphalla, a highly potent illegal drug. He would hate to think that there was drug running going on in his ship but all 1536 people got tested for illegal substances and very few even tested positive so his ship and crew was in excellent operating status. His crew was rated as one of the best in the Colonial Fleet scoring in the 90s on accuracy tests and weapons qualifications.
The Mercury was a good ship, the first of her class that was constructed twenty years ago and saw service during the anti-pirate activity and took part in actions against the Sons of Ares hijacking of the Alvas freighter which had a shipment of nuclear materials which could be used to create nukes. Terrorist and militia groups have smuggled and made nuclear weapons before and used them on civilian targets, attacks have been rare only one incident in 30 years when the same group detonated a weapon on a civilian transport which had members of a rival group. The Colonial Forces jumped on them and detained many members effectively shutting down the group.
He sorted through the papers and organized them before getting up to put on his duty uniform. When he got done he left and shut the door to head over to the CIC. People soon began to walk over to their stations and get ready for the FTL jump. He approached the glass doors of the CIC and stood near the table where the Tactical Officer, Lt. Herman Maysey and Communications Officer Lt. Caroline Bowlee. They continued working and communicating with other ships and the station while Commander Keller stood at the table waiting patiently for his executive officer.
"Whats our status Mr. Maysey?"
"Sir our maintanence teams are finished working on everything. The Surveyors are prepped and ready, and it has been reported that most of the crew is onboard. Just a few officers there gathering up paperwork and finishing meetings."
"Great, let me know once they get back on board so we can start separating from the station. Once Colonel Bell gets back here we can do the rest. Are the Raptors ready?"
"Yes sir, all additional sensor equipment was installed yesterday."
Before he could say anything else, Colonel Bell walked through the open doors to the CIC. For this mission, the Mercury carried more civilians then normal as not only were the Colonial Surveyors here, but several members of the Colonial Science Directorate were also here to help study and observe any stellar activity.
"Pilots are in their ready rooms getting their briefings. Tomorrow we will be setting up some training flights for the nuggets. Are we about ready?"
"Yeah, we have a few of the crew on the station finishing up meetings. They should be back soon."
"That officers-enlisted Pyramid game still going on for next week?"
"Oh yeah, we need other ways to kick their ass then PTing them to death." Commander Keller said jokingly. They both laughed while some of the other officers were operating other systems.
"Commander, all crew and civilians are onboard."
"Good, let's begin separation sequence."
The Mercury sent a wireless command for the automatic docking clamps to disengage, the airlock doors retracted back into the station while the Mercury used its ventral thrusters to move away from the station. She gave a few burns on the main engine to move away further too safely conduct an FTL jump without harming the station. The two long tubular ships with large domes at the ends moved alongside the Mercury.
"FTL coordinates are plotted, emergency FTL coordinates have been sent to the Surveyors. We can jump now at your mark."
"Jump." Commander Keller said. In an instant, a bright flash of light surrounded both ships as they winked out of the space surrounding the Surveyor Hub Station. Space warped and distorted as all three ships appeared in flashes of light in far orbit around a gas giant in system that had the Colonial designation of YJ-2115.
"Jump complete we're here. All systems read green, conducting DRADIS scans." Lt. Maysey said looking at the screens. He heard a beep on the console next to him which told him it was an unknown contact. "Commander DRADIS has detected an unknown radiation signature near one of the moons by the gas giant. It is faint and some of the radiation has an unusual signature."
"Define 'unusual' Lieutenant."
"Sir the radiation signature looks similar to a nuclear reactor leak, its faint which tells me it's been leaking for a long time and is losing the last of its materials."
"Nuclear reactor technology has been pretty much diminished with Tylium reactors now, only a few small civilian ships and satellites even use nuclear reactors and none even come close to this area."
"Is there any indication that it's a ship?"
"To small to be a manned vessel sir, it's probably a probe or a satellite. I linked up with the Surveyor's data."
"How come the scouting Raptors didn't detect this?"
"Their sensor equipment must have confused it with local radiation bands. They only did a scouting run, nothing serious like we're doing. Should we send out a Raptor?"
"Yeah, have it accompany Surveyor that's heading to the general area. Have a Viper squadron escort them there."
"Aye sir, Raptor team is on their way." Lt. Maysey said. All of a sudden he heard a louder beep coming from the console accompanied by three pings on the DRADIS screen which flared out the words 'unknown event.' "Commander, DRADIS has just detected three energy spikes, transferring video feed to you now; I have never seen anything like this." He then said. Everyone could tell he had excitement in his voice.
"What the frak is that?" Colonel Bell asked watching the video feed. It showed three bright blue vortexes several hundred thousand kilometers out, the camera zoomed in and showed several more contacts. He watched intensely as he noticed objects leaving the vortexes. He could see them more clearly. The largest one he saw first and it was shaped like a beetle, with a yellow painted hull with black stripes. Protrusions stuck out which looked like bony spikes and he could see what clearly looked like weapons ports. All of the CIC stared in shock at what they were looking at.
"Do we have any positive ID on the contacts?" Colonel Bell yelled. He saw on the console that the radiation signatures were extremely different than the odd contact that was near the gas giant, and these guys were nowhere close to the planet or any of its moons. "Is there any indication they could be Cylon?" Colonel Bell then asked, as encounters with Cylons were always a possibility."
"No sir, hull patterns do not conform even similarly to Cylon or Colonial hull design."
"Aliens?" Commander Keller asked, he knew himself alien contact was always a possibility but nothing other than animals and plants have been catalogued on other habitable worlds. No sentient or intelligent life was ever found.
"Most likely sir." Lt. Maysey said in a colder voice. He wished now some class would give regulations into the possibility of alien contact like this. He remembered there were some old Colonial regulations that had that possibility, but none were taken seriously and were all forgotten in memory.
"We don't even have a contingency plan for dealing with this." Colonel Bell whispered to Commander Keller.
"Well I guess we just have to create our own plan then. What the status of the ships?"
"Sir, twenty ships have come out of those vortexes and are holding position. I am getting some sensor pings. It's likely they see us like we see them sir. Smaller ships have been launched from the larger ones and are taking position."
"They must have some alert fighters out like we do. Launch alert Vipers, have them form up around the Surveyors; tell them to keep their FTL drives spooled up in case anything happens." Colonel Bell said.
"Lt. Bowlee, I want you to open a channel, all frequencies and bands as well as digital transmissions. Do this carefully, this is the Colonial vessel Mercury to unknown ships, we are on a peaceful exploration mission and desire to make contact. Can you understand us" Commander Keller said. She typed the message on her keyboard and sent it out along with the voice transmission. She kept it on repeat for a short period of time in hopes the aliens would probably get enough data to understand it.
"What are they doing now?" Colonel Bell asked
"They are still holding position. No response from the ships."
"Are the Surveyors seeing anything?"
"No sir, they have nothing….." Lt. Maysey's words were cut off as all of a sudden the ship rocked violently. Some cables and panels fell down from the impact. "Sir, they just fired some sort of energy weapon targeting our engines. FTL is offline, damage teams are heading toward other damaged areas of the ship. They are launching missiles."
"Set Condition One now! Launch all of our Vipers and Raptors. Tell the Surveyors to fraking jump to emergency coordinates and to the nearest outpost."
"Why the frak are they doing this?" Colonel Bell asked.
"Gods only know, we need to get the civilians off the ship. How many of our shuttles have FTL?" Commander Keller yelled over the alarms and klaxons.
"Four of them. We just got them yesterday after leaving Gemenon Spaceport." Colonel Bell said. The Colonial Fleet managed to produce a variety of shuttle equipped with an FTL Drive for emergency use only. Now he though, was the time to use them.
"Surveyors have jumped away." Lt. Maysey said as the ship shuddered from missile impacts. "Hull integrity is still holding, fighters and other contacts are inbound!"
"Start evacuation procedures for non-essential personnel; get them to the shuttles and Raptors. Have them go to the same FTL coordinates as the Surveyors." He pushed a series of buttons on the command console and a black box shaped object popped out. Colonel Bell knew it was a black box which had a hard drive that had copies of all sensor, video, and wireless data up to this point. This was a countermeasure in case the Battlestar or any ship was to be evacuated or about to be lost. The only times it was used was from serious FTL malfunctions, a meteor strike, and one was a case of sabotage by a rouge militant group. "Take this, they're going to try to take the ship. Ill detonate the nuclear stores to make sure it doesn't happen. Go get them out of here!" He yelled as wires and cables fell from the celings as the Mercury was getting pounded by the continuous fire of plasma and particle beams.
Outside, the Mercury fought valiantly. Her main batteries scored some hits on the smaller alien ships ripping gaping burning holes in their armor and exposing sections to space before they exploded or broke apart. Flak rounds took care of incoming missiles. The ship shuddered again under another missile impact that got through. Several of the Vipers were engaging the alien fighters, the space around them filling with cannon and plasma bolts. Debris hung around and drifted from destroyed alien and Colonial fighters. In just a short period of time, Raptors flew out of both flightpods and disappeared in the bright light as their FTL drives activated. The Mercury turned to face her still active batteries against the larger motherships.
Smaller triangle shaped craft soon launhed from the alien ships through the continuing flak and coilgun fire. As they neared their target they maneuvered into locations where most point defenses and weapons were disabled. The sleek winged alien fighters continued to destroy weapons along the Mercury. Pieces of railgun and coilgun littered the area around the hulking Battlestar as she slowly drifted and turned on her axis.
"Commander all of the shuttles and Raptors have FTLed." Lt. Maysey yelled putting his sidearm right on the console. "Sir! We have just detected smaller ships latching onto us. We're being boarded." He yelled again, Commander Keller could feel the intense fear in his voice as he knew the end was coming close.
"Send in Marines to repel the boarders." Commander Keller yelled. Three Marines in the CIC went to the glass doors to protect the entrance from attack. He heard the distant rumbling of explosions and gunfire; he knew the Marines would do their best no matter what the cost. He heard a louder explosion nearby that told him someone threw a grenade. "Let's see how you fraking aliens deal with the Marines." He whispered under his breath.
Closer they echoed, he heard the clanking of boots and the whizzing noises. The whizzing noises sounded strange, it sounded like the cross of something speeding through air and something hot searing the air at the same time. He pushed a button on his console that patched him through to the rest of the ship. "Attention crew and pilots, this is your Commander speaking. Although this is not something we are expected to survive I would like to thank you for your years of service. I know for one our sacrifice will not be in vain and the Colonies of Kobol will forever stand victorious even in the new face of darkness that we have witnessed today. It has been an honor serving with you all. So say we all." He finally said as he saw the bright flashes of light outside the glass doors. The Marines standing guard fired back and he heard the sounds of bodies dropping. A bolt of energy struck a Marine as he fell to the floor. The Marines were firing in both directions down the halls and threw grenades which exploded in fury. Another white energy bolt flew past a marine and burned into the metal plating beside him. Two more bolts struck him at the same time and he fell.
Lt. Maysey grabbed his sidearm and pointed it to the glass doors. He fired when he saw a black figure wearing a strange looking facemask. He got lucky and shot him right through the head, red blood was soon pouring on the floor. The alien had a yellow patch on his chest with a black claw on it pointed upward. He fired at another alien and struck him in the leg and fired another shot in his chest. Lt. Bowlee fired two rounds at an alien that managed to fire an energy bolt in her direction, narrowly missing her head. The alien fell and twitched on the ground before stopping altogether.
Commander Keller stood by the nuclear weapons panel ready to turn the key that would arm and detonate the weapons. He knew now the alien ships were closer and that debris from the Battlestar would severely damage the surrounding ships. He pointed his sidearm and fired it at the next alien to step through the bullet slicing through his throat. He gurgled and flailed his legs about as he slowly bled to death. He watched in anger as Lt. Maysey was struck by two energy bolts simultaneously, falling to the floor in a heap. He knew from the lack of rocking on the ship that the aliens have stopped firing on her. "Could this be why the Cylons have not been heard from in thirty-eight years?" He asked himself as Lt. Bowlee managed to kill the alien that slaughtered Lt. Maysey. She got struck by an energy bolt that burned through her brain dropping her like a rock. He soon heard shouting in their language. More aliens entered and pointed their rifles at him. One entered and Commander Keller got a good look at him. The short alien didn't have a mask on and wore a uniform that told Commander Keller he was an officer or high ranking NCO. The alien had feline features with ridges on the forehead and pointed ears and very catlike eyes. That was the only look he needed.
"Frak you all to hell!" He yelled as he turned the key.