Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: Nothing worse than on the shows, except maybe language.
Spoilers: Up to Symphony of Light for Robotech, with a few ideas picked here and there from other sources. For the other... you'll see.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: A navigational error throws the SDF-3 into the middle of another war.
Author's Note: Beware the vorpal plot bunny.
Sharon Valerii walked towards Galactica's CIC. It was strange how things had changed. She remembered walking down these same corridors, high-fiving the rest of the crew as she passed, but those memories were mere echoes. More recently and much more clearly, she remembered being surrounded by Colonial marines, ready to kill her if she tried anything.
A quartet of marines accompanied her now, but there were subtle differences: These marines were REF, not Colonial, and they were her bodyguards, not her jailers. Instead of the prison garb she had been wearing last time, she was wearing a dark blue jumpsuit in a similar cut to the REF's blue-grey duty uniforms. It was... disorienting.
They were joined by Colonel Grant, and she asked, "What's going on, Colonel?"
"The Galactica's been having minor malfunctions for several days now," he explained. "Lieutenant... Gaeta, I believe, and Doctor Baltar found a virus. One of our exchange officers, a computer hacker, took a look at it. All he could tell was that it's very advanced. He's trying to lock down and isolate the problem, but he's not having much luck." He handed her a stack of papers, "Here's a printout of the virus code."
Sharon looked it over and nodded, "It's a Cylon logic bomb. It's probably testing itself for now, stretching its legs, so to speak. Once it knows what it can do, it'll go dormant and wait for an activation signal."
"And when it gets the signal?" Grant prompted.
Sharon blew out a long sigh, "It'll probably vent the ship and turn her guns on the rest of the fleet."
First Lieutenant Calvin "Biff" Tannen was many things. He was a veritech pilot, a demolitions expert, and an experienced commando; it was all of these that had earned him a spot in then-Commander Anderson's experimental commando squadron. The... versatility of the Wraiths was also presumably why they had been picked for the hastily-organized officer exchange program. They were three pilots light, and in order to keep some relative parity with the Galactica's four transferring officers, Gary had chosen to take the command detachment and the spare fire team, leaving squad one aboard the Pioneer.
He was also a mechanic, so once he was on board the Galactica, it was inevitable that he would eventually find his way back to the port hangar deck.
At the moment, he was eyeing the partially-built hulk of a fighter -- and damn him if those Vipers didn't look an awful lot like Zentraedi Gnerls -- sitting in one corner of the hangar. Several members of the deck crew were going over the unfinished craft meticulously.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
Cal looked over at who had spoken. It was Galen Tyrol -- and wasn't that an interesting name? -- Galactica's deck chief and senior NCO.
"That she is," Cal nodded, admiring the design's sleek triangular shape, so unlike the old-school atmospheric design of the Alpha or the Beta's flying brick motif. "But I thought the Pegasus had a Viper factory on board. Why are you building one here?"
"We're not building a Viper," Tyrol replied. "After we saw how stealthy your fighters were, we decided to make our own. We don't have the metal to spare to build a Viper anyway."
Cal smiled and began to roll up his sleeves, "Would you like some help?"
"I thought you were a pilot?" Tyrol frowned.
"I was a mechanic before I ever signed up, Chief."
"All right," Tyrol said. "Let's see what you've got."
The rest of Wraith Squadron, squad one, was currently flying CAP. They were packing a full combat load, which meant a Shadow Legioss per pilot, with no backseat drivers. The commanding officer of the squad was Second Lieutenant Michael "Arches" Donaldson.
And right now, Arches had a headache. One which Captain George "Catman" Birch -- senior officer of the Galactica's CAP -- sympathized with.
Their twin headaches could be traced to the two fighters -- a Viper and a Shadow Legioss -- blazing through the nearby gas giant's planetary ring at suicidal speeds, juking and diving to avoid the rock and ice fragments as their pilots bantered with each other, hurling ever-more-creative insults across the tacnet.
The pilot of the Viper was Lieutenant Louanne "Kat" Katraine. That Kat was one of the few pilots from the Galactica willing to get in Starbuck's face was a good indicator of just what Catman was having to deal with. That he had screwed up and nearly gotten Kat killed during his short interim as the Galactica's CAG wasn't helping either.
The pilot of the Shadow Legioss, however, was none other than Wraith Sixteen, Corporal Felicia "Sandy" Skinner. That Sandy had gotten two field commissions and then managed to lose them both due to "chronic insolence" was a good indicator of just what Arches was having to deal with. That he had chosen to push her away when, once upon a time, she had tried to get close to him wasn't helping either.
"So..." Arches said, "got any ideas, Catman?"
"I wish I did."
After a moment of thought, Arches had an idea.
"Tell the CAG?"
"Tell the CAG."
Having reached an agreement, the two CAP commanders relaxed and sat back to watch.
After all, those two pilots really were that good.
"She has what?!" Rick bolted to his feet, staring at Jean in disbelief.
"Sharon has protoculture in her blood," she replied calmly.
"Any idea how that happened?" he asked.
"No," Jean shook her head. "She hasn't granted me permission to release any more information than that, Rick, so please, don't ask."
"All right," he nodded. "Just one thing: Is this enough to reclassify her as a micronized Zentraedi?"
Jean frowned suspiciously, "Why?"
"Just an idea," he replied absent-mindedly, stroking his chin in thought.
There was a knock on the door, and Rick called out, "Enter."
The door slid open, revealing Captain (Upper Half) Wade Anderson, captain of the Pioneer, clutching a sheaf of papers in his hands.
"Oh, uh, sorry, admiral..."
"No, no, no, Wade," Rick waved him in.
"I was just on my way out," Jean nodded a greeting to Captain Anderson and left.
"I take it that's the latest status report?" Rick asked.
Anderson nodded, "Yes, sir." He stepped forward and handed it to Rick, "We've converted the Pioneer's computer network to a hard-line-only network and added the new security protocols. Our comm center's now physically isolated from the rest of the network."
"And sensors?"
"Eighty-five percent secure."
"Good," Rick said. "What's happening on the Galactica seriously underscores the urgency of these modifications."
Anderson nodded, "Curtis... I mean, Corporal Dorn morsed me a message. He's keeping a sample of the virus code so our programmers can work up something nasty for the next one."
Rick shot him a sly smile, "Oh? Still keeping an eye on your old squadron, I see."
"Please," snorted Anderson. "I'm just trying to keep their little surprises from blowing up in my face like they usually did, back when I still flew with them."
"Suuure," Rick grinned. "By the way, soon as the Galactica gives the all-clear, call Vince over. Have him hitch a ride with Ms. Valerii's ride back. I'm calling a staff meeting. I need to straighten out my chain of command."
Wade did not like the smile on his CO's face. No, not one bit.
Lieutenant Kara Thrace climbed out onto the Raptor's wing, stopping just short of stepping off onto the hangar deck. She saw a blonde woman in an unfamiliar variation of the REF uniform. Her rank tabs proclaimed her a captain, and her nameplate was marked "Sterling."
Kara saluted, "Request permission to come aboard, sir."
Dana smiled at the slight difference in the services and returned the salute. "Permission granted, Lieutenant. I'm Captain Dana Sterling, XO of the Second Army Detachment. I'm here to get you settled in and initiated to the semi-controlled insanity that is the Robotech Expeditionary Force Army." She paused and added, "And just so you know, if the major makes a pass at you... well, we're running a pool on how long it'll be before you slap him."
Kara arched an eyebrow, "When do you have down for?"
"Two days," Dana sang with a cheerful smile. "He's already been busted down to private once for making a pass at the wrong person."
Kara shook her head in amusement and followed Captain Sterling.
"You will surrender the prisoner to me."
Rick tilted his head slightly. The effect was lost, since the Colonials didn't use video in their comm systems, but he reacted on reflex. "What prisoner, Admiral?" he asked amicably. "Unless you're referring to Petty Officer Jones, who's in the brig for drunk and disorderly conduct, I have no idea who you might be referring to."
"I am referring to the Cylon agent known as Sharon Valerii," Admiral Cain's voice returned, carrying with it an undertone of menace. "Why didn't you tell me you had a Cylon prisoner on board? Commander Adama's report on the prisoner led me to believe she had perished."
"She's not a prisoner, Admiral," he replied. "She's a political refugee under the protection of the United Earth Government. Any attempt to detain her by force by your military will be considered an act of war."
"I see," her voice was curt and reluctant. It was obvious she wasn't going to let the matter drop that easily.
"I want you to understand something, Admiral," he said gently. "As far as we are concerned, Sharon Valerii is a defector, not a prisoner. For decades, we've fought other species -- species which have brought us to the brink of extinction -- but one thing we've learned is that former enemies can become the greatest allies. Our fleet's own Deputy CAG was among the first Zentraedi to defect to the Earth forces, after killing dozens of our own pilots, and she proved herself to us, risking her life on countless occasions against her former brethren. Ms. Valerii has no human blood on her hands, Admiral, Colonial or Earther. She's one of us now. Hunter out."
With that, he killed the comm line and stood up.
He had a staff meeting to get to.
Author's Postscript:
A whole helluva lot more cameos here. There have been quite a few others in earlier chapters too, with names changed, besides the Firefly scene in the last chapter.