Chapter 2

Alien War 8 Months and 16 Days

Admiral Cain walked toward the CIC of the Pegasus. She had read reports of alien activity in the Polarn System, which she remembered had the ice planet she heard Adama crashed on while a battle between the Galactica, Columbia against the Cylons there, it was where operation Raptor Talon took place, the last battle of the war. Soon afterward, several small outposts and stations were established for some research on life on Polarn IV, the same ice planet Adama crashed on decades ago.

"Admiral, we are continuing to receive reports from the outposts of random energy spikes in the outer edges of the system, and there were sightings of vortexes as well." Colonel Belzen said as he approached her.

"The alien's edge closer and closer to the colonies every day Colonel. This system is just nine lightyears away from Gemenon." She said to him as they approached the CIC.

As she entered the CIC the other officers greeted her and she stood near the Command and Control station. She wanted to check out the first Warstar that was to come out, it was a pure battleship carrying heavier weapons and a larger compliment of Vipers and

She was also proud of the dedication of her Battlestar Group, which held fifteen ships; eight Missilestars and seven Gunstars as well as a few medical ships and recovery vessels. Most Battlestar Groups carry the same amount or more depending on the mission.

"Admiral, we are ready to jump at your command."First Lieutenant Billy Jeners said as a long beep sounded signaling the FTL system being primed for jump.

"Let's see what's out there." Admiral Cain said as the whole fleet jumped at the outer edges of the system.

The fleet appeared around the eighth planet of the system, a gas giant with rings and a visible asteroid field nearby where most of the readings of unusual activity were taking place.

"Tell the fleet to begin a DRADIS sweep. Send Raptors and a Viper squadrom out to the outer edges of the system." She ordered as everyone watched some of the DRADIS screens.

Caprica City, Caprica Mercury Labs- Around the same time

Mercury Labs was a station near Caprica City dedicated to the research and study of technologies. It was one of the labs that helped create the artificial intelligence for the Cylons many years ago. Now it was being used to help figure out some of the technology of the aliens.

Gaius Baltar watched the news on his lunch break, the reporter for Caprica 7 News was showing some of the video of battles between the Colonial Fleet and alien forces. He already had a few theories about the spatial vortexes the aliens use to travel relating to an old Colonial theory that was rarely tested. He would report them to the Colonial Science Directorate that was helping to study some of the debris from the alien ships.

"I see that you're having a good lunch Dr. Baltar." Someone said, as Gaius turned to see it was President Adar and a few of the Secretaries including the Secretary of War Samuel Hardson and the Secretary of Science and Technology Jonas Quinmary. "How is your work coming along?"

"Good to see you sir." Gaius said as he shook the hands of the President and his Secretaries. "I have some theories about how the aliens move about in their vortexes. They will be presented to the Science Directorate as soon as I finish work on them." He shut the television off as he walked with them to a lab that studied one of the debris.

"Their ships are powerful, energy weapons are only in test phases and that's just lasers designed to shoot down missiles. I have authorized increased funding to the Advanced Weapons Systems that are to be integrated into our Battlestars and our future Warstars. Our first Warstar should be up and running in a year. You should check her out." Samuel said looking at various drawings and pieces of debris. "What have you learned so far?"

"Their metals are not really as strong as ours. Their weapons are, but we designed our hulls to take on nukes, so our armor can withstand repeated hits from their weapons before giving way." Baltar said looking at gun camera footage of one of the battles playing in the background that a scientist was watching.

"It's at least a good thing our batteries can rip through their ships pretty well. I heard you had several guesses as to how their vortexes work." Samuel said

"Well, I've remembered long ago reading up on old FTL theories. Our drives work by using a wormhole that expands around the ships and transporting them instantly. Their drives might work on a similar principle but open a wormhole and keep it open near the ship long enough for them to enter and stay in another dimension until they can open another vortex back into normal space." Baltar said

"Old Hyperspace theory, I read about that during high school in our wormhole physics class." Adar said remembering some highlights of the class that was a required course in his high school.

"Yes the theory states that gravity will affect other dimensions, and if you count hyperspace as such, then it's possible they might have explored this region and found us."

"Then it's a good thing our FTL gives us an advantage, we can go anywhere and get there quickly. I have scientists working around the clock on counteracting their weapons, including biological ones. You heard about the loss of the Eris V outpost?" Samuel asked, the Eris V outpost being a relatively new colony on the outskirts of Colonial Space.

"Yeah, the colonists were infected with a biogenic plague, it killed them off we don't know how they could have managed to do so without capturing humans to experiment on. How could they infect our colonists without prior knowledge of human biology?" Baltar asked having some knowledge of biology as well as physics and computer science.

"We suspect that they have found a few scavenger or pirate vessels and captured them, this is supported by captured fugitives and known pirates on the outskirts of Colonial space that have turned themselves in or gave tips.

"Mister Secretary are we going to get more defense satellites up soon?" President Adar asked looking at Samuel grimly.

"We got Scorpion Fleet Shipyards and the Dust Fields Shipyards constructing satellites with our upgraded railguns and coilguns.

"What is the status of the Command Navigation Program?"Baltar asked as he was pulled from the program and into the ones of studying alien technology.

"That program is being put on indefinite hold until we can find a better way of fighting back against this enemy. We need our resources for better weapons and ships as well as better armor. Gaius we also need you at one of our meetings with some of the Admiralty."

"Alright then, Ill present my findings to them."

Viper Patrol 122- Near the asteroid field of Polarn VII

Lt. Nathan Thomas looked at the DRADIS console on his Viper as he looked at the asteroid field around him. He radioed to Capt. Lewis (Firestorm) Ferran

"Hey Captain, I'm not seeing frak out here. Maybe we should finish our run and return to Pegasus."

"Negative pilots keep an eye out, we have three more hours of fuel left, and we need to make another run."

Lt. Sara (Hectate) Sniffen looked out the window of her Viper as she kept seeing a glimmer of grey reflected light every once in a while, like the feeling that the light wasn't somehow right.

"Captain, I'm seeing something to the starboard side deeper into the asteroid field, I'm going to check it out." She said noticing the object didn't show up on long range DRADIS scans. She assumed the asteroid field must be distorting readings.

"Roger that Lieutenant make sure you stay in wireless range."

She pulled her Viper to the right and went deeper into the asteroid field, dodging some of the smaller debris that lined the area. As she got closer she noticed it shadowed some of the larger asteroids, and noticed the grey metallic surface of the craft. She maneuvered her Viper into a crater on one of the larger asteroids as she noticed it turn in a direction that would take it near her.

She also noticed as it grew ever near it had a sleek shape with what looked like old insect pincers in front, twice the size of a Raptor. Another vessel of the same shape and size was close by. One of the ships suddenly pulled toward her and fired a shot near the asteroid. "Oh frak me!" She yelled as she pulled up and out toward where the Vipers were going on patrol as the two ships closed in. The asteroid exploded as a missile struck it, sending several pieces in different directions. She dodged the fragments that went near her Viper.

"Hey we have multiple contacts inbound. I need some frakking help here!" She yelled as she dodged plasma bolts and lasers. She flipped the Viper so that she was facing the ships and fired a missile into one of the asteroids, sending some of the debris into the alien ship's hull.

What she saw next stunned her; five other Vipers came in and tore the rest of the ships to shreds as the railgun rounds and missiles penetrated into the armor of the ships, ripping one in half.

"Lieutenant the Pegasus is in trouble several large alien ships appeared right on top of her and are engaging the fleet." Captain Ferran said. Sara pulled her Viper back toward the fleet, as she saw the Pegasus and several Gunstars and Missilestars engaging a large fleet of alien ships including the ones that were considered the heavy cruisers of their fleets, the sleek oval shaped orange and black ships as some of the energy weapons tore into the hulls of the other ships.

She looked on her DRADIS and noticed that a large amount of fighters was near and she left to engage them, noting they had wings and what looked like engines attached so she could easily shoot them off. She saw a Missilestar, the Hemesta explode as a large particle beam cleaved into her. People were screaming over the wireless as the ship went in flames. She paid attention to the fighters in front of her as she fired bursts of rounds into the ships, tearing into them and sending others back toward her. Missiles struck the others, disabling one and detonating another.

She saw the Pegasus turn and gave one of the heavy cruisers a broadside of the larger main guns; as they visibly streaked toward the cruisers and detonated inside ripping the front end clean off as the rest exploded. One of the Gunstars fired a nuke at one of the smaller ships, sending debris into the larger fighters they had launched, destroying them. Some of the other fighters got caught into the firing solution of the Pegasus and were shredded. She noticed the Pegasus take a beating from one of the larger orange ships as a large red beam tore straight through the starboard flight pod almost severing part of its connection with the main hull.

Sara turned her Viper toward the large alien ship as energy weapons were scorching the hull and flight pod visibly. She saw one of the fighters pursue her toward the larger ship. She dodged the plasma that came awfully close to her cockpit. She flipped the Viper around and fired a burst into the fighter's wing, sending it curtailing into the yellow alien vessel. She saw air and fire pour out as the fighter crashed into the frontal hull. She fired her last missile into the same spot hoping to get more penetration into the hull.

She jolted her Viper in shock as the entire ship started to split in three from the missile, sending multiple debris, some glancing off the wingtips of her Viper. Sara . She hit the afterburner and flipped, seeing large fragments of the ship float off glowing in large areas because of fires and air escaping into space.

The Pegasus turned to face its forward guns toward the last orange ship and fired a salvo as she took hits from the laser and plasma fire that scorched and burned holes into the armor and flight pods. The shots from the main guns tore into the side of the ship as missile detonated inside, blowing the large ship to pieces.

As the ship exploded Sara took her Viper to the middle of the alien's formation as Vipers and Missilestars started to take care of the smaller ships. She fired a salvo of her remaining missiles at one of the grey ships that was the same type of the one that chased her several minutes ago. She saw the air and fire escape as the rest of the ship exploded.

"That's the last of the frakkers. All of the stragglers have been taken care of. Let's head home guys. We're done here." She heard one of the Captains say as all the Vipers were seen heading into the flight pods.

CIC Battlestar Pegasus- Around the same time

"Colonel Belzen, report!"

"Admiral, we lost five of our Missilestars and six Gunstars. Out of two hundred Vipers that took part in the engagement we lost fifty. Two Gunstars are adrift and we are sending Raptors to look for any survivors. One of the alien ships left in a vortex and the rest are piles of debris Sir."

"What about us?"

"There are several fires throughout the ship as well as hull breaches along the flight pods. Some of their particle beams cleaved right through them Sir. We lost at least a couple hundred, some of our gun batteries are out of operation. We will need at least a few months in drydock to recover."

"Would be nice if they had a continued military presence in these sectors." She said looking at readouts on DRADIS and several other screens. "Have our salvage ships pick up survivors, send a Raptor to relay our situation to Gemenon, so they could send ships our way. Once that's done lay in a course for the Gemenon Fleet Shipyards."

"Yes sir." Colonel Belzen said as the crew looked at the cringed expression on her face.

Scoutstar Angelwing- System YJ225

The Scoutstar design was based off of the old Stealthstar design used for deep infiltration and utilized the latest in state of the art stealth technology and observation equipment. It could not be detected by any ship and was completely black hull design to make sure it was hidden even in the depths of space. It utilized the configuration of a double decked Raptor and the hull materials of a top of the line Stealthstar

Captain William Derana looked at the DRADIS in the observation deck of the Angelwing. He looked at the advanced infared telemetry coming from one of the moons orbiting a gas giant. Commander Keller ordered him to scout here after Raptors noticed the possibility of ships going in and out of the sector.

He saw two things, a large heat signal on the dark side of one of the moons that was obviously artificial in nature, and a large structure being constructed in orbit of the same moon, it was of four large pylons that were extending outward from an almost central point. Another large structure was nearby which looked to him like an oversized wireless tower. Vortexes the aliens use were also spotted and photographed off in the distance.

He looked at another more recent photo which showed what looked like a large station with multiple ships docked nearby, which orbited another moon of the same gas giant. Other crew members reported two other stations orbiting the planet as well, both smaller and had ships going in and out of the gas giant.

"Lieutenant Phocia, prepare to jump back to the Mercury so we can present our findings." He ordered, being satisfied with the reports and findings.

Battlestar Galactica- Around the same time

Commander Adama watched as Colonel Saul Tigh entered his quarters. He looked over again the orange folder marked ::Confidential:: and looked at some of the text from the most recent orders.

The Galactica, after engaging the aliens docked at Saggiteron Fleet Shipyards to repair the damage suffered during the battle.

"I seen a few of Admiralty walking around the past couple days. They don't walk around for nothing. We remember what happened last time we saw them Bill."

"Yeah, thank Gods we got ourselves out of that frakking mess when it happened. I really didn't feel like doing early retirement."

"At least we got Galactica back. Take a look at this." Adama said handing Tigh the orders. He looked through them for a couple minutes; Adama noticing his eyes getting wide in some spots, especially as he looked at some of the photos.

"We're being assigned to Admiral Nagala?"

"That's not all of it. Look closely at the photos."

"Looks like a listening post. When did these come out?" Colonel Tigh said looking at several pictures, some of an orange vortex off in the distance and of the large diamond shaped structure. The hull markings were very similar to the alien's hull designs.

"This happened near an outpost when one of the Raptors misjumped and ended up there. The outpost commander informed the Admiralty in the highest priority."

"Our last mission with the Admiralty was a royal frak up Bill. It caused one of our best pilots to get killed."

"I have different expectations of this one. The Admiralty wants to conduct stealth missions in and around the area.

"They've have got to be out of their fraking minds if they want us to do another Stealthstar mission last time they did that it caused one of our best pilots to get killed and they covered the Gods damn thing up to save their skin." Saul said angrily remembering the mission into Cylon territory.

"Were not trying to find out what the Cylons are up to. This is not the enemy we fought over thirty seven years ago. The rules are different now."

"Which pilot do you think we should send up there first Bill?" Tigh asked, starting to think better of this mission having remembered the incident with Bulldog years ago.

"I think Lieutenant Thrace would be a good candidate for our first mission. I would have to talk to Nagala about it."

"That woman thinks she's a frakkin hotshot because she's one of the best Viper pilots we have." Saul said remembering the card games which turned into drunken fights.

"Both of you need to watch you're drinking, and maybe simple card games won't turn into an officer brawl." Adama replied knowing Kara was a good pilot, but not punishing her severely as she should have been because of her status and of her friendship with Adama as well after marrying his son Zak.

"I will do that." Saul said thinking of his wife's behavior as the primary cause of his heavy drinking. He tried to put it past him to concentrate on his duties as XO.

"If you have any recommendations on who would be good candidates for these missions I would like to hear them." Commander Adama said changing the subject.

"Major Spencer has flown stealth missions, his records show experience in it. I read of his missions in the Delos system finding a large amount of pirate and drug activity there which allowed the Triton and a police escort to clear it out."

"I read his reports too; we should get a list of pilots we think can be up to the task and present them to Nagala when we see him tomorrow. The Atlantia will dock at 0700 hours and we will meet with him at 0900 hours, I'll put out a schedule for all pilots to read. We start missions as soon as our ship is back in shape."

"I will get it done and bring it to you tonight." Saul said picking up the papers and heading to his quarters to review pilots rosters.