Prologue.

Sky, cloud, sky cloud….Voices….No, a voice…..One voice…..

"Starbuck, Apollo. I've lost you on dradis. I'm blind. Starbuck, Apollo. I repeat, I got no sign of you or the Raider. Starbuck, report! Starbuck, report!"

Hole in the canopy…..what the frak? Images….Mother?!…...Leoben…...Voices again…..

"This is Apollo. Do you read me? Starbuck, report! Starbuck! Starbuck, I have zero visibility. Starbuck, are you out there? Kara!"

Alarm….What's that noise?…..Images….things in the clouds…

"Starbuck, Apollo. Lost you on dradis. I say again, I've lost you. I'll try and fix on you. Kara! All right, Kara, listen to me. Forget the damn toaster. Climb now or you're dead. Godsdamn it, Kara, pull up now. We can still pull out of this, we haven't gone past the point of no return. Pull up!"

Silence….Lee…..Gone…...Can't hear him….

Kara Thrace sat in the cockpit of a damaged Viper, falling into the gravity well of a gas giant she and Lee Adama had been patrolling. Wind rushed through a hole in the canopy. She lolled as the plane fell like a leaf in the wind. Images rushed past her in her minds eye and….outside? She craned her neck over as the light faded and ebbed…

"What the frak?"

Her voice sounded hollow in the flight helmet, the air rushing through the cockpit muffling it. The images….no the things she could see through the clouds….stars? A huge white object….no, a ship? Round saucer shape, graceful…...Words! Numbers….1701? In a blink though it was gone, lost in the murk.

"Apollo...Starbuck...Lee do you copy?"

She tried the wireless…..Nothing but static. More things...Objects glimpsed through the clouds. A grey thing this time….NO! The Galactica...or something like the old girl. Like an older, clunkier ship…..images of an old man in a blue uniform, kind face….white hair….who? Adama? Noooooo!

Another time Kara Thrace, another place, another you.

More visions, a fighter plane dodging flak, another her in its cockpit. Then a more vivid vision. A ship, ocean going this time, heading for her. It was so real that she threw an arm up and yelled! It passed her leaving more numbers in her mind…..163

A hissing on the wireless….A voice…..

"Visual. Visual. Okay. Kara, I'm coming to get you. Kara, please, listen to me! Come back. Godsdamn it, Kara! You come back! Come back!"

She started out of her funk, a jolt of adrenaline at the sound of Lee's voice. The objects in the clouds swirled…...Pyramids? Black holes? What the frak?! Starbuck, mild panic welling up, keyed her wireless again. More strange shapes in the mist. Suddenly there was a crack as a blue box bounced off the Vipers nose to her port slipping in and out of the swirling clouds. Its door was open, she goggled in awe, a man with a mop of hair and a large chin goggled back, appeared to recognise her then waved.

"Doctor?"

The words came unbidden from her mouth. She Knew him….How?!

"Doctor!"

In an instant though the box, the man, had disappeared and her knowledge of that face faded from her mind leaving her even more confused.

"Apollo…..Starbuck….It's okay. Just let me go."

She heard herself speak but why had she said that!? The sound of Lee's voice, of CIC were becoming indistinct, tinny as she again began to grey out. Then as the cockpit, the sounds faded to black she thought she heard one last voice…..

"No, Dad, it's no use. Her ship's in pieces. Her ship's in pieces. No chute. We lost her""

One

The Princess.

1 ABY

Crevice Palace

The angular towers of the palace jutted out from the crater scooped out of the mountainside. Red lights flashed at the tips of various antennae and scopes at the peaks of these towers. Kr'l birds and flying Bresh lizards swooped and soared about the towers, brightly coloured flashes of movement. Lush green moss, fed by the thermal power the palace used, flowed down the rocks on the internal side of the crater towards a small landing field and training/parade ground.

A balcony jutted out overlooking these areas, patrolled by leather armoured warriors of the Way. A solitary figure, similarly dressed, leant on the permacrete wall that had been added to the natural stone works of the palace. She was about 19 or 20, shortish but well defined in the way of an athlete or gymnast rather than the rather hulking and more toned warriors that kept a discreet distance from her. The reddish armour she wore, breastplate and greaves over an olive smock and leggings, clashed with her auburn hair and the tribal tattoos on her pale cheek. Princess Swana was sulking again, hence the discreet distance. She stared out at the warriors training below her and huffed to herself. The small droid beside her, a drumshaped DD unit with a monowheel and a dome not unlike that of an Astromech tilted its photo receptor to watch its mistress. It keened a question. The sullen face softened slightly and looked down at the green droid. She smiled and turned to lean an arm on the parapet as she spoke.

"I know DD. I should be happy to be in my position. But how do I rule, which I eventually will, without ever having seen anything outside of Danju?"

Swana sighed and kicked at a patch of moss. The stuff grew everywhere and could get out of control if not checked. As she idly considered why the patch hadn't been dealt with something in her senses flashed, someone was…...BEHIND HER!

The long bladed Danji sword was out before she even considered what she was doing, the Way leading her. It clanged against one end of a Danji fighting stick, somewhat like a pugil stick but with wicked blades instead of pads. A grinning, flat-nosed face appeared above her and the pressure of the blade began to increase pushing her back and down. She tilted her head and grinned back causing her assailant to double his efforts. The deadlock seemed to be going the way of the larger man until Swana shifted slightly on her feet and kicked out suddenly, flipping up and over the man and landing with her katana shaped blade at the base of his skull.

"I see your reflexes have not suffered in the same way as your mood you highness."

The large man smiled, carefully, very carefully, tilting his gaze to watch Swana from the corner of his eye. One flick of a wrist would effectively remove his head. In turn Swana grinned and deftly returned the blade to its sheath on the rear of her armour.

"Of course not Genaris. You taught me well enough. But you're right…."

The smile slipped a notch and she stepped back, head lowering. Genaris closed his eyes and shook his head, he hadnt meant to bring the princess down that way.

"Your high….Swana….."

She looked up sharply at the use of her name rather than her honorific. Then softened again, Genaris had afterall been in her fathers service for decades.

"I know old friend. I'm just kriffing annoyed. With my father, my life, this kriffing world!"

An eyebrow raised at the use of offworlder slang but he remained quiet. He'd known Swana since she was a young girl. He'd trained her in the use of the Way and in other forms of combat she may need. He'd watched her grow to the young woman stood before him. She was a strong character like her mother but lacked the level headed qualities of her father…...for now. He didn't think she'd lack them for long and he disagreed, to a point, with her fathers banning her from serving with the Navy. Such were the constraints of being an only child.

"You will find your own way child. Whatever that is. But you must be mindful of the power you have within you…..and that impetuousness that you possess. What I'm saying is…..don't do anything rash"

Swana smiled in a way he'd seen a hundred times before, usually before she got into trouble…..

"You know me too well old man….."

She smiled again, more sadly this time and turned to leave.

"Swana….Be careful?"

She hesitated a moment. Then walked away, DD rolling after her dutifully.

Genaris Quinn watched her until she disappeared into the palace. Softly, to himself he groaned.

"Oh Kriff…."