Starbuck was sitting across from Crichton's desk in his office aboard the Pacifica. After she had been let out of her cell and given back her pistol she explained to him how the Galactica and a fleet of civilian ships had escaped the destruction of the Twelve Colonies and later caught up with the Pegasus. She told him about the planet they had called New Caprica, and how she had been separated from the fleet and rescued by the worm aliens.
"The Pegasus. We actually found the fleet Cain had left behind. 15 civilian ships with now means of defending themselves. Glad that cold, heartless bitch bit the dust...Her daughter makes is a fine CAG, though", Crichton said when Starbuck mentioned the Pegasus.
"Cain's daughter?" Starbuck asked.
"Sheba Cain, call sign Mad Cat. I believe you've met her"
"Yeah, we could call it that. It's a funny irony she saved the Scylla, one of the ships her mother abandoned. By the way, there are some ships in your fleet that I don't recognize." Starbuck inquired.
"Yeah, the large one is Moya, the yellow ones we call the mystery fleet".
"Mystery fleet?"
"We found them drifting in space shortly after those walking trash cans attacked the Colonies. The ships were packed with food and medical supplies, but had plenty of room left. We loaded them up with people from the sublight ships you guys had to leave behind".
"So you found an entire fleet loaded with food and supplies?"
"Pretty much. Too bad though they didn't have any beer on board and the pizzas were kinda stale." Crichton complained.
"And what about this Moya?" Starbuck asked.
"Umm, Moya is a classified project. Sorry, but you don't have the security clearance for this kind of information", Crichton hoped she would not ask any more questions about Moya. It was already hard enough to keep the truth about her a secret from the rest of his crew. He had told them that Moya was a top secret research project and his wife Aeryn was a Colonial Intelligence Officer in command of Moya.
The fact that Admiral Adama was trying to lead a fleet of survivors to Earth worried John Crichton. After his experimental spacecraft Farscape One had flung him to what seemed to be the farthest corner of the galaxy, his main goal had been for several years to find a way back to Earth. But after he had reached the Twelve Colonies during their destruction at the hands of the Cylons and found himself in command of the Pacifica, things had changed drastically. He had realized he needed to shift his priorities, making sure that the survivors of the twelve colonies would never, ever reach Earth, while protecting them at the same time from the Cylons.
Crichton knew that if the Colonials found Earth, the Cylons would eventually get there as well. And Earth was by far not ready to deal with the Cylons. He had witnessed firsthand what level of destruction these machines were capable of when they nuked the colonies. He needed to prevent the same thing from happening to Earth. At any cost. No matter how much he wanted to go back and see his father and two sisters. And then there was his family aboard Moya to protect: His wife Aeryn, five year old D'Argo, and three year old Xhalax.
Suddenly someone banged on the hatch that served as door to Crichton's office. He opened and someone Starbuck immediately recognized as a Model 3 Cylon in colonial uniform walked in.
"Commander, our raptors have returned from the SAR mission and found..." the woman began to report.
"She's a frakking Cylon, they look like us", Starbuck jumped up, pointing her pistol at her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses, lady", Crichton intervened, jumping up from behind his desk.
He managed to get her to put her gun down.
"She might be a Terminator, but she's on our side now. We know about the human models." Crichton explained and managed to talk her out of shooting his XO.
"Please continue, Major Robbins"
"Sir, our raptors have found four of our missing pilots alive, which brings our casualties from the last battle down to 13 dead pilots and 8 wounded. We have lost 17 vipers and 21 more will need intensive repairs. Our total casualties are 38 dead and 47 wounded across the fleet." Major Sandra Robbins continued.
"What about the survivors from the alien ships? One of the raptor pilots mentioned they found escape pods"
"Our crews have rescued around fifty or sixty survivors from various alien ships that had been destroyed in the battle. They have been brought aboard Moya, as per your orders, sir. One particular group of survivors has repeatedly been demanding to be given coffee."
"I will talk to the alien survivors in person. And make them some coffee, for Pete's sake. There should be plenty of it left from the mystery fleet. Anything else?"
"Our people made contact with the three alien ships that were fighting with us against the Cylons. They have identified themselves as a task force from the Hynerian Empire. Their leader, General Rashon, is interested in pursuing diplomatic relations with us."
"That sounds good. I will meet with him tomorrow. Did our salvage ships find any goodies?" Crichton asked.
"Atwood's people picked up debris from several Cylon ships, but they're not sure yet if any of it is useful. They also managed to retrieve parts of some of the alien ships."
Crichton wondered what the Hynerians were doing so far from their territory. He recognized the designs of their ships when he had gone over camera footage from the battle. He was glad they had been around, or else the Pacifica would not have lasted much longer. Most of the other alien ships that had visited the asteroid outpost had been freighters or passenger ships with little or no weapons. The only ships beside the Pacifica that managed to put up a fight against the Cylons were the Hynerian battlecruiser and the two Hynerian light cruisers.
"Major Robbins, inform the flight deck that I will be leaving for Moya in twenty minutes. Then contact the Hynerians and tell General Rashon that I would like to meet with him at his earliest convenience to discuss diplomatic relations. You are dismissed."
"Aye, sir", the XO saluted and walked out the door.
"Captain Thrace, you are now a part of my fighter wing, until we meet up with Adama's fleet. Based on your rank and experience as flight instructor I am assigning you as squadron leader to Tiger squadron. Most of the pilots under your command are still a bit wet behind the ears, so I want you to bring them up to snuff."
"Understood, sir", Starbuck replied.
"I'm heading over to Moya now to have a talk with those hitchhikers we picked up and after that I've got daddy duty. My wife will hit me over the head with the frying pan or her pulse pistol if I'm not home in time for dinner."
"Pulse pistol?" Starbuck asked as they walked out of Crichton's office and into the corridor.
"I'm sure you noticed that a standard issue pistol won't even put a dent in a Cylon Centurion, unless you shoot him in the head. But you can turn those walking garbage cans into Swiss cheese with this baby here. Say hi to Winona." Crichton unholstered his pulse pistol and waved it around.
After Starbuck had taken a shower she went to hang out with the Pacifica's pilots. She was one of them now, for the time being. There were quite a few things that struck Starbuck as odd about this Commander Crichton. In their hour long conversation he had several times used terms and figures of speech she was not familiar with. He also carried a sidearm that was not standard issue and he didn't seem to be big on military discipline. She wanted to know what the rest of his crew thought about him.
Starbuck sat down at a table with Sheba and her wingman Bojay, whose full name was Jason Bormann. She ordered a drink and lit one of the cigars she had won from the worms in a card game a few days earlier.
Sheba looked like a younger version of Admiral Cain, but her hair was lighter. Starbuck wondered how it must have been like growing up with Helena Cain as mother. Her own childhood had been rough, but that must have been even worse.
"Your commander is a bit strange; I mean the way he talks. One time he referred to the Cylons as "Terminators". Hell, I don't even know what a Terminator is."
"That doesn't surprise me. Half the time I don't even know what he is talking about, but he is a brilliant tactician. His strategies and battle plans are solid." Bojay answered.
"Don't let Crichton fool you. He may seem to act like stupid school boy some times, but he is a lot smarter than he lets on." Sheba added.
"After Commander Kronus got killed in the blast that took our CIC out, Crichton just showed up in auxiliary control and started giving orders", Bojay explained. "At least that's what Lt. Hill told us. He was there when it happened"
"So Crichton was not an original member of your crew?" Starbuck asked.
"No, it seems like he was from another ship. I think the Pegasus picked him up when we rescued the survivors from BSG 21. I don't know. Sheba and I were both out there getting our asses kicked by the Cylons when Crichton took command. We had lost contact with the Pacifica for a while, and then suddenly Crichton ordered us back to the barn and jumped us beyond the red line."
"And you started following his orders?"
"He was the highest ranking officer at the time. Most of our command crew died when the toasters blew our CIC up", Sheba responded.
"So, do you guys trust him?" Starbuck asked.
"He is certainly not a Cylon, if that's what you mean. Without him, none of us would be alive", Sheba answered.