BG01A-Very Dark Times
By VStarTraveler
Summary: With the Colonies in ruins and the Colonials trying Adama's desperate plan to save humanity, Flight Corporal Rigel must battle memories from her past as she helps pick up the pieces. This story begins during "Saga of a Star World" and just after the conclusion of my story BG01-SAFE-TY SYS-TEM.
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Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction, written entirely for fun and not for profit. This interpretation of the world of Battlestar Galactica is entirely my own, and Battlestar Galactica and all of its various components remain the property of their respective owners.
Chapter 1:
Despite having over three yahrens of experience serving on the Bridge aboard the Galactica, it was all she could do to keep from crying.
The peace conference they had come to Cimtar to participate in was a ruse perpetrated by the treacherous Cylons. Even as the peace treaty was supposedly about to be signed, they staged their sneak attack. The battle, by far the largest she'd ever witnessed, was now over and lost. The Colonial military fleet was almost completely destroyed, and if not for Commander Adama's suspicions, the Galactica would have been lost like the rest.
The Twelve Colonies, the Colonial homeworlds, had also been attacked at the same time as the fleet; they were now in ruins. The vid feeds of the peace celebrations from home had turned into nightmares playing out on the monitors. Those images were horrific until the broadcast signals ended, the transmitters destroyed. Then the monitors went dark, but the scenes of the flames raging throughout the Colonies lingered, burned forever in her memory.
Billions of people had died and those few who survived were suffering. Commander Adama and the Battlestar Galactica had tried to protect them but, despite their gallant efforts, had arrived too late.
Still, there was no time to dwell on the horror; Flight Corporal Rigel had work to do. Now it was time to pick up the pieces.
While what she saw was a group of blips on her screen, she knew that each blip was a very important strand in the fragile net protecting the scattered remnants of humanity. While not nearly as important in the big scheme of things, many of those blips also represented one of her friends.
As the chief flight controller, Rigel worked closely with the Colonial Warriors on the battlestar, and had met and become friends with many of them over her period of service. She'd even dated a couple of them, though none recently. Now, a great many of those friends and at least one of her former dates were dead at the hands of the murderous, golmonging Cylons.
The remaining Vipers, the few from the Galactica and the survivors from among the relatively small number that had succeeded in launching from the other battlestars before they were destroyed, were being routed to the Galactica's Alpha Bay or Beta Bay for landing. Rigel directed each group in turn, and soon all were aboard, though not, however, without incident. There were reports of a couple of crashes as Warriors in very badly damaged Vipers tried to make their way aboard.
Rigel's scanner had been set to short range as the Vipers landed, but now, she switched it back to a wider sweep and was surprised to see a number of new, larger blips approaching the Galactica's position. As each new blip appeared, its Colonial identification appeared on the screen, proving that it was not an enemy. It wasn't long before a veritable flock of smaller blips were approaching, too, and Rigel knew that things would be getting busy again shortly as they started to arrive.
The Commander, who'd made a system-wide broadcast after getting some broadcast satellites in place, was pacing, back and forth, frequently speaking with Colonel Tigh or other Core Command officers as decisions far above Rigel's pay grade were being made, but she was surprised when he put a hand on her shoulder and gave her an almost fatherly pat-pat when he saw nothing pressing on her screen.
"Corporal Rigel," he said in his deep voice at a low level, "thank you for your efforts during all of this. Your work today has helped us save untold lives, both at present, and also in the future by helping bring so many of our Warriors home safely."
She placed her hand atop his for a moment and, as she gave his a squeeze, she replied, "It's my duty, Sir, but you're welcome. What do we do now, Sir? Where do we go from here?"
Adama looked up at the viewscreen and paused for a couple of microns before responding. "Rigel, our job is to save every soul possible right now, so we can save humanity in the long run. You have one coming your way," he added, pointing to her screen, before turning away to speak to another controller nearby.
Those who controlled zones further from the battlestar were busy directing the small blips, mostly small shuttlecraft without FTL capability, to dock with the larger ships that did. However, certain military and governmental shuttles, including the one Adama noted, were routed Rigel's way to board the Galactica, and she directed each in turn to the bay most ready to receive them at the time.
As Adama's stated departure deadline approached, a number of additional deep space ships and a number of additional shuttles were seen coming inbound for what was now being nicknamed by some as the Rag-Tag Fleet. As other ships started to run out of landing space for the small shuttles and then out of docking nacelles, more small ships started being routed to the Galactica's large bays, which were the largest by far in the entire fleet.
"Corporal Rigel," called Colonel Tigh from a few stations away, "there's an inbound civilian shuttle, 742-Delta Tau, headed toward the Fleet. It will be a last centon arrival. There's a retired but now recalled Warrior aboard it, so please route it to the Galactica when it closes."
"Yes, Sir!"
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A little later, the ships began their migration across the heavens, and the nearly exhausted officers and crew on duty around the battlestar were relieved of duty by their replacements. On the Bridge, Commander Adama again thanked everyone for their efforts in case he'd missed anyone during earlier visits, and told them all to get some rest. "However, if you don't think you'll be able to rest for a while, feel free to go assist with the refugee effort in the landing bays. There are similar efforts occurring right now in every ship in our new Fleet."
Rigel, still upset at what she had witnessed and the horrors they had experienced, knew that she would not be able to sleep for quite some time. Therefore, she headed to Alpha Bay, Blue Squadron's primary hangar, to see if she might be able to help with the refugee effort and to learn which of her Warrior friends survived.