Author's note: Okay, enough flashback for now, back to the main storyline, where chapter 10 left off.
The morning after Starbuck had joined Crichton's fleet she was flying patrol with Swamp Monster as her wing man. Their mission was to check out a gas giant and its moons for resources. It was the eights planet in a system of fifteen. To pass the time, they were telling each other stories from their days in the Colonial Fleet Academy.
"... so, and then the engines cut out and I knew I had to eject..." Swamp Monster explained.
"...and you landed in a swamp?" Starbuck guessed.
"Exactly... There were those strong winds messing with my chute and I kept drifting further into the swamp lands. So it was to either go down in the swamp or hit the trees. Scared a group of campers shitless as I was wading ashore covered in muck. I had algae and gunk all over my flight suit and was tangled up in that damn frakking chute, so I couldn't see squat." Swamp Monster continued.
"And that's how you got your call sign"
"Right. There was even an article in the local newspaper. 'Swamp Monster Turns Out to be Rookie Pilot'. I even got..."
"Wait a minute..." Starbuck interrupted..."Do you see that, too?"
"No..., wait, there it is. My scanners are picking up a large structure orbiting the gas giant." Swamp Monster reported.
"Yes, that's what I'm reading. The structure is approximately 9.7 Kilometers long and appears to be made up of several cylindrical objects. It could possibly be a large ship, or a space station." Starbuck said.
"I got the same readings", Swamp Monster confirmed. "We should head back and report to Commander Crichton", he suggested.
"We'll get closer and check it out ourselves. We have plenty of fuel left", Starbuck decided.
"Wait, I'm picking up hostiles. 3 Cylon raiders at 9 O'clock", Swamp Monster reported.
Starbuck and her wingman were slightly outnumbered, but Starbuck was an experienced pilot and had gone up against far greater odds. Both viper pilots managed to destroy the raiders without suffering significant damage to their own fighters and headed back to Pacifica.
Meanwhile Commander Crichton was meeting with the Hynerian General Rashon, who commanded the small Hynerian task force that had saved Crichton's fleet from the Cylons at the trading outpost a day earlier.
"So, what are you guys doing so far from home? "Crichton asked.
"We have been sent by Dominar Rygel XIV on an expedition to find the legendary planet Magrathea and claim it in the name of the Hynerian Empire.", the Hynerian answered from his hovering command chair. The chair was a less luxurious and more militaristic variation of Rygel's floating throne.
"I've been wondering what Ol' Sparky is up to these days. Haven't heard from him in a while." Crichton responded.
"Dominar Rygel is enjoying excellent health and is busy restoring the Hynerian Empire to its former glory." Rashon explained.
"I offer you guys a deal. I'll give you information about the Cylons and all the planets and civilizations I've visited since I left your neck of the woods, and in turn you give me some of your goodies", Crichton suggested.
"Depends on the kind of 'goodies' you are talking about, Commander Crichton.", the Hynerian said.
"Weapons, spare parts, engines, sensors. Any kind of technology that will help me keep this fleet going, and anything that we can use to kick the Cylons in their shiny metal asses if they come after us again.", Crichton explained.
"And all we get in return is some information on planets and the Cylons? What if your information is useless to us?" Rashon said.
"I'll throw in some food from Earth. Believe me, if you give that to Rygel, he'll make you a duke or a baron, he might even give you your own star system" Crichton offered.
The idea of becoming governor of a star system in the Hynerian Empire appealed to Rashon. And even if he had to return to Hyneria without finding Magrathea, he could use the food to appease Rygel.
After some haggling and negotiating, Crichton ended up with an industrial manufacturing device similar to a 3d printer, but much more advanced. The Hynerians also gave him a huge database of schematics for items that were useful to his fleet. Most of these items were several decades outdated by Hynerian standards, but still more advanced than anything the Colonials had available. In return, the Hynerians received the information Crichton had offered them and a generous amount of peanut butter, candy bars and cream soda.
When Crichton entered the CIC after his meeting with the Hynerians, he was approached by his XO, Sandra Robbins.
"Sir, gamma patrol has returned early. Both pilots reported they made a discovery at the gas giant and were attacked by Cylons." Major Robbins reported.
"Gamma patrol? That was the new girl from the Galactica and that guy who had crashed into a swamp when he was a nugget. Are they both okay?" Crichton asked.
"Both are unharmed and they've got some news you may find interesting", Robbins replied.
"Prep a viper squadron to head to the gas giant, but let me talk to them first before you give launch orders."
Aboard Moya, Aeryn Sun was processing the survivors they had picked up in escape pods and from the wreckage of the ships around the outpost. She was assisted by members of her crew, which consisted mostly of orphaned teenagers who had been recruited from the civilian ships. This was a measure to keep the teens occupied and prevent them from turning to a life of drugs and crime. It also prepared them for a future career in the Colonial Fleet.
"So, everybody listen up. You will all line up and give Ronny your name, the name of your home world and government and how we can contact someone to pick you up. You can also provide us with the coordinates of a place to drop you off, as long as it is not too far from our current location."
The various different kinds of aliens started to form a line in front of the fifteen year old boy, who was wearing a modified colonial uniform. The boy's rank insignia identified him as a crewman apprentice 2nd class, one of the ranks that had especially been created for Moya's crew. But things were chaotic and some of the aliens were complaining about their lost goods, demanding to speak with someone in charge, wanting to know who had attacked them. A Centauri got into a fistfight with a Narn, which got resolved by Aeryn punching out both of them with her bare fists.
The worms, who had all managed to evacuate from their exploding freighter during the battle, did not want to be sent back to Takwella. Their home world was ruled by the despotic Emperor Worm, who did not allow his subjects to consume any alcohol, caffeine, sweets, or tobacco products, while indulging in those vices himself. The worms used the chaos to split up into several groups and slip away. Two of them were sneaking through the corridors when they heard two voices. A little boy and a little girl were playing around the corner.
"What's your name?" the girl asked.
"D'argo, but everybody calls me Deke", the boy answered.
"That is a strange name. Which colony are you from?"
"I was born here on Moya, but my Daddy is from Earth"
"Liar!" the girl shouted.
"Nobody calls me a liar!" he shouted back and squirted water in her face with his water pistol, which had been made to look like a smaller copy of his father's pulse pistol.
The girl started crying and ran down the corridor, with the boy running after her and shooting water at her. The girl was about five years old. She was being raised by her older brother Ronny after her parents had been killed in a Cylon attack. Ronny had smuggled her aboard Moya when he became a crew member. He couldn't leave her behind on the freighter, because nobody there was going to take care of her.
"I doubt there is any coffee here", one of the worms stated after the children had been out of earshot.
"I've heard the humans don't give coffee to their young. They believe it's not good for them", the other one stated.
"They mentioned earlier they were shuttling the coffee over every week together with other supplies on something called a raptor from one of the other ships.", the first worm said.
"Do you know what a raptor looks like?" the other worm asked
"I guess it is some sort of smaller spacecraft. Let's go find the hangar deck."
With that the two worms wandered off through Moya's corridors until they finally reached the hangar deck.
In the meantime, Commander John Crichton was meeting with his first officer and the two pilots in his ready room aboard Pacifica.
"Could it be possible that the Cylons are building a base? We can't allow that", Crichton said with determination.
"The shape does not match. What Starbuck showed me doesn't look like a Cylon design to me", Robbins said.
"If that's an abandoned space station, we need to take control of it before the Cylons do, or destroy it.", Crichton said.
"What if it is not abandoned?" Robbins asked.
"They would have either launched fighters or tried to communicate", Starbuck said.
"We need to do some recon and see if that station is abandoned. Maybe we can capture it intact. I'm putting Hill in charge of that mission. He is a great officer, but he needs to get more field experience." Crichton decided.
Lieutenant Hill had become Crichton's protégé. The younger officer had matured a lot since they first met and Crichton had recognized Hill's potential as a leader. Crichton's loose style had rubbed off on him and Hill was slowly developing a similar sense of humor.
The commander was secretly training Hill to be his replacement. John Crichton had enough of being on the run. He just wanted to lead a quiet life and raise his family. He didn't ask to lead the Colonials. His plan was to eventually let Hill take over the fleet and then quietly disappear with his wife and kids aboard Moya. But the time was not right for it yet.