Somewhere Beyond the Heavens part 7
"Baltar!!!" exclaimed a shocked Starbuck.

"That's right, my old friend", sneered the mad Baltar.

Starbuck tried desperately to clear the cobwebs in his head. His eyes darted around the room, seeking to make some sense of where he was and how he came to be in the company of the evil, Baltar. The last thing he remembered was the roar of a starship over his humble dwelling, a shelter that he had fashioned from the wreckage of the Cylon fighter that had shot him down all those yahrens ago. He had not seen or heard from any space faring vessel since he had whisked the mysterious Angela and her baby boy away in his cleverly constructed Viper-Raider hybrid. That was so long ago.

His right hand found it's way to a throbbing bump on the back of his skull. Starbuck had some experience in the art of being knocked unconscious and quickly realized that is how he had lost time. He winced as he touched the tender wound hidden beneath his hairline.

"I'm terribly sorry about that", offered Baltar. "That was not my doing."

Starbuck's senses were quickly coming back to him. He realized that they were in a ship of some kind, a freighter by the looks of it. Out of the corner of his eye, Starbuck glimpsed a window to the outside. He couldn't see much, but there appeared to be many people approaching. Glancing still further down, Starbuck recognized what must be the ships main controls. The cockpit looked antiquated, yet familiar.

"Baltar! Would you mind telling me what the frak is going on? How did I get here?" demanded Starbuck.

"I'm truly sorry dear boy, but there just isn't time", said Baltar nervously. "If you don't get this ship airborne in the next centon, neither one of us will leave here alive."

"What are you talking about?"

"Those are Borellian Nomen approaching!" snapped Baltar.

"Nomen? Here? How?" asked Starbuck, peering out the cockpit window.

"I'll explain after you get us out of here!" Baltar said in a pleading tone.

Starbuck took a few microns to digest the situation. He decided it would be easier to deal with Baltar in space, than to deal with an angry mob of Nomen.

"Strap yourself in, traitor! We're taking off!" said the heroic Starbuck as he jumped into the familiar saddle of a pilot's chair.

Baltar complied, strapping himself into the co-pilots seat. He smiled and congratulated himself once again on finding a way to stay alive. How ironic to find a great pilot and warrior like Starbuck to help him escape his Nomen captors.

It didn't take Starbuck long to figure out the controls on the Avenger. His fingers moved with great speed, flipping all the right switches to raise the hulking freighter off of the barren desert landscape. It was just in the nick of time, too. The Nomen had gotten close enough to the ship to open fire on her with their deadly laser-boles. A dozen Nomen hurled one twin-energy sphere after another at what was once their ship. Explosions rocked the Avenger from side to side as Starbuck brought her about, aiming the ships main turret at the savage attackers. As the Avenger's guns locked on target, Starbuck could see the face of the longtime Nomen leader, Maga. Starbuck smiled. Maga roared with rage.

"Fire!" screamed Baltar.

Powerful energy beams erupted from the freighters' single turret. The laserfire strafed almost all of the approaching Nomen. Starbuck pulled back on the joystick, pointing the ships' nose towards the heavens and outer space. He never noticed the Nomen that had leaped onto the ships undercarriage.

Neither Baltar nor Starbuck noticed the single Nomen as he made his way into the ship through a manual-landing claw.
TO BE CONTINUED