Disclaimer: I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any of its elements
Rycon is the same class of Battlestar as Valkyrie
"Communication signals"
Chapter 11 – Hierarchy
The CIC of Rycon was silent and they tracked the incoming ships, like angels descending from heaven. The officer of the watch Lieutenant Colonel Beatrix Ishii a woman in her early thirties of oriental descent who hailed from Canceron was stunned like her subordinates at the sight of so many of their own kind after the fall of the colonies when they had thought everyone else dead…was indescribable.
Then the Battlestar that was leading the fleet opened its communication channels "This is the Battlestar Telmaya to the unknown vessel orbiting Olympus Anchorage. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon"
Beatrix shook herself and frowned, she had never heard of a 'Battlestar Telmaya' but she put aside her own doubts and told Ensign Damon Taylor a young man from Caprica "Open a channel" he nodded and did as she requested
"This is the Battlestar Rycon to the ship calling itself Battlestar Telmaya, you are unknown to us, send us colonial recognition codes or we will open fire" she said into the speaker and waited for a response, but she preyed
'Lords of Kobol hear my prayer…' she hoped it was a miracle
Telmaya's CIC however was not quiet. It was in its normal busy mode as they received the Rycon's transmission;
"This is the Battlestar Rycon to the ship calling itself Battlestar Telmaya, you are unknown to us, send us colonial recognition codes or we will open fire" she said into
Seth turned to Amelia and ordered "Lieutenant send the codes" and she replied "Yes sir"
The crew were ecstatic, another Battlestar, one that hopefully wasn't mad like Pegasus, and they never thought they would see the day. They suddenly all found themselves going about their duties with a fresh vigour
Seth and Kendra however were worried; the commander of the Rycon would likely outrank Seth and although they would obey the word of command they were worried he or she would disrupt the precarious balance that had settled across the fleet.
After a couple of minutes another signal came from the Battlestar Rycon "This Rycon Actual requesting Telmaya Actual" in a deep masculine voice
Seth picked up the receiver and spoke into it "This is Telmaya Actual to Rycon Actual, this is a miracle"
On the Rycon CIC a dark skinned bald man in a Colonial Commander's uniform spoke into the receiver
"Yes it is Telmaya. Yes it is" Commander Fredrick Robins smiled as the crew around brought into excited whispers
As the fleet came to orbit the Anchorage a Raptor from Rycon left its carnivorous bays and flew towards the Telmaya.
Telmaya's crew stood in an honour guard to welcome their new ally as the Raptor docked and landed in the bay
"Attention" Kendra shouted as the crew stood straight to attention as the Raptor door opened. The marines exited first, all standing in defensive position, then an oriental woman in a colonel's uniform and then the commander himself exited
He was a tall man, his light brown skin and hairless head were his most apparent features, his face was largely expressionless but there was a certain smugness in his features when he looked at those around him.
He saluted and the honour guard returned it and Seth who was at the head of the formation stepped forward
"Commander Robins, welcome to Telmaya" he said his arms behind his back
"Yes commander now if we could get to the briefing room there are questions I want answered" Robins said dismissing the honour guard completely and Seth's eyes narrowed
"Yes sir" he said in a low voice and the pair walked out leaving the two groups to intermingle
The two men walked quickly to the briefing room where Robins wasted no time
"First off, how did you get command of a Battlestar? You're way too young" he said in a voice that was quite mocking
Seth gritted his teeth but answered in a respectful tone "Commodore Willis promoted me to this position upon his death after the fall of the colonies"
"That may be so, but I do not feel comfortable leaving a Battlestar in the hands of people as young as you" Robins said and Seth's temper started to rise
"Then you had better find another crew since most of them are under twenty and they've being doing above and beyond the call of duty for weeks. Insult me all you want, but never insult my crew" Seth said firmly pushing his temper down
Robins regarded him for a moment and moved on to another subject "How have you kept the civilians in line?"
"We set up a civilian authority outside of military control, its democracy and they like it and it means their not rebelling against a military dictatorship" Seth explained
Robins shook his head and said "Inefficient, since you seem to want to mess around rather than do something properly I' am relieving you of command, Lieutenant Colonel Ishii will take command effective immediately and tell this civilian government that they are hereby dissolved"
"What?!" Seth said starting to lose his temper "If you think the civilians will stand idly by while you take apart their government?"
"I don't care, they'll do as their told or lose protection" Robins said arrogantly
"Not with my ship you won't" Seth said standing straight face to face with Robins
"I have relieved you of command" Robins said
Seth said back "I gathered the fleet together and I will not stand idly by while you take it apart, if you think my crew will follow that order you are gravely mistaken" he hissed at the dark skinned man
The two men glared at each other, willing the other to cave in first
"We'll settle this later" Robins said and went to leave
"We have a Cylon prisoner aboard" Seth said and Robins turned around
"Execute it"
"Why?" Seth asked
"Just follow orders" Robins growled and stormed out
Seth wasted no time and went for the ship communication system on the wall of the briefing room
"Get me Tyber" he ordered and waited as he was connected
"Jones" the deep voice of Tyber sounded
"Tyber meet me at the Cylon cell in twenty minutes with a squad of your best men, keep it small, I have a mission for you" Seth said discretely
"Yes sir"
Selena was bored and feeling a little strange, like a tingling all over on the skin when the door hissed open and in walked the Commander and some marines
"Bindings" Seth said to one of the marines who handed them over and walked into the cell securing Selena's wrists
"What's going on?" she asked and Seth said
"Saving your skin" he turned back to the marines
"Take her and hide on one of the civilian ships for a few days till I can deal with Robins" they nodded but Tyber asked
"Why?"
"Robins is trying to dissolve the civilian government and have her executed without trying to get information. Sound suspicious?" Seth asked
"Yes" Tyber said hesitantly
"Why are you trying to save me?" Selena asked
Seth turned to face her and said "When I have an answer I'll give it you"
Seth knew he had no time to waste he had to stop Robins from getting a foot hold so he went straight to the CIC
Lieutenant Colonel Ishii was here having some kind of argument with Kendra and Sheba
"I' am here as of Commander Robins instructions to take command of this vessel immediately" was the gist of what Ishii was saying
Kendra and Sheba were saying much more colourful but the gist of it was "Not a chance in hell you frakker"
"Ishii you will stand down immediately or I will relieve you" Seth said coming up from the starboard entrance
"With all due respect sir you have been relieved" Ishii said turning to face him
"Not from the orders of a man who is violating civilian rights under the Caprica Carter, civilians are entitled to their own government without the military involving themselves. It is a matter of human rights. Your commander is violating that by trying to dissolve their assembly and that gives me the authority to relief him of command" Seth said playing his trump card
The stunned silence that followed let grins form on the faces of his crew, he knew they would side with him but their loyalty warmed his heart regardless
Ishii hadn't known about the civilian government being dissolved but she knew that Robins was indeed breaking the law and looking around her she knew that there would be no support if she continued she took another tact
"Alright Commander but I will need to contact my ship to confirm this" Robins had returned to Rycon some time ago
On the Rycon things were taking a more disturbing turn
Robins marched onto the CIC and demanded "Action Stations!" while a white and black disk in his quarters pulsed silently
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