Chapter 8

On Board Baltar's Basestar

Baltar was in the control center of his Basestar looking over the Centurions to make sure that they did their duty. Normally they were programmed to kill humans, but their Imperious Leader commanded them to obey Baltar to hunt down and destroy the human race. But since the Galactica and the fleet had reached Earth, the humans proved to be more resourceful than ever. With the humans from Earth helping their lost Brothers and Sisters from across the stars, they were more than a match for the Cylon Empire.

As Baltar was thinking of a new way to destroy the humans, his Cylon aide, Lucifer came up behind him wanting his attention. Baltar turned to look at the IL series Cylon, and still could not tell if this Cylon was mocking him or not, especially since this Cylon had two eyes that went back and forth unlike the Centurion Class Cylon.

"Yes Lucifer, What is it?" Baltar asked.

"By Your Command. We had just received word from a Basestar not too far from the edge of the Solar System that they had engaged some Colonial Vipers on practice drills." Lucifer told Baltar.

"Did they either capture or destroy the Vipers?"

"No, apparently one of the Vipers had done some maneuvers that were never seen before." Lucifer replied.

"What type of maneuvers? Vipers can either fly straight or do a reverse thrust. There is nothing special about that."

"You may find this interesting then. I have a recording from the Basestar Commander had sent over for you to look at. This is going to surprise you as to what this Viper can do." Lucifer said while he brought up the recording of the engagement that the Raiders had recorder for their Commander to look at.

Baltar looked at the recording, and had never seen a Viper move like this before. He saw the maneuvers the Viper was going through, and then some. After he was done looking at the recording, he turned to Lucifer.

"Is this some new Viper that either Adama or the people of Earth have come up with?" Baltar asked.

"No, it seems that this Viper is not part of the Galactica."

"What do you mean not part of the Galactica? It's a Viper Lucifer."

"If you notice, the Viper is firing a different type of ammunition than the Vipers from the Galactica are using. The Vipers from the Galactica are firing Lasers, not this type of ammunition. Plus, it has numbers and wording on the side of the Viper." Lucifer told him while bringing up the image of the Viper for Baltar to look at.

Sure enough, there was numbers and writing on the side of the Viper with the name 'Nova' on it. Baltar then saw that it was firing rounds from the Viper, and not Lasers. He also saw that it deployed something from the back of the Viper that one Raider crashed into and blowing up.

"This is interesting Lucifer. We have to get this Viper pilot, and find out what he knows. And I want it done immediately. I want this pilot captured, and brought before me."

"Just like you did with Lt. Starbuck?" Lucifer asked.

"Yes, but this time I won't be so relaxed with this pilot. If this pilot doesn't tell me what I want to know, then I would have no choice but to have the pilot killed." Baltar said.

"I will alert our pilots to make sure that they are to only capture, not destroy this Viper pilot then."

"Good, now carry out my orders Lucifer." Baltar commanded.

"By Your Command." Lucifer said before leaving.

On Board the Galactica

Commander Adama was surprised that his daughter Athena would be interested in their new Warrior Brian Tregare. After all, with her and Starbuck not seeing each other anymore, he didn't think that she would be interested in a Warrior again. As he was thinking more about his daughter, Col. Tigh came up beside him.

"Commander, it seems that the new Warrior and your daughter are returning from Earth now."

"That's good Tigh. It's good to see Athena with someone again. She sees something in him that I probably don't. I hope that this works out for her since she and Starbuck broke up."

"That may be Commander. How do we know that he won't turn us over to the Cylons given the chance to though? After all, those orders could be fakes and …"

"I don't think so Tigh. There's something about him that he should be here for some reason. We just have to figure out what though. Any more signs from the Cylons since yesterday?"

"No sir, and Earth Command are sending out their own patrols as well. Hopefully they can start to launch their Battlestar soon. I hate the thought of being the only Battlestar right now."

"I know Tigh. But we are helping them in every way possible with us sharing our technology with them, they should be able to launch their Battlestar next in 4 sectons. At least then we won't be the last remaining Battlestar."

"I hope that you're right Commander. It would be nice to have more than one Battlestar again."

"Yes Tigh. They are starting to build a new one as they are about finished with this one now. Let's hope that we can get at least 6 Battlestar's by the end of the next yarhen."

At the door to Athena's Quarters

"I had a nice time today Brian." Athena said to him.

"So did I. I hope that we can continue this some more?" He asked her.

"I think that can be arranged. After all, I am the Commander's Daughter." She told him with a smile on her face.

"Listen, just don't do anything that can get us into trouble. And please don't ask your Father for any special treatment for me. I would like to earn the time with you on my merit. Please." Brian said to her.

"Alright then. But just remember that I will have my eye on you at all times. I feel like we belong together for some reason."

"I know the feeling. I better get back to Pilot's Quarters and get ready for tomorrow." He told her before leaving.

As he was about to leave, Athena put her hands up to his face again, and kissed him. He returned the kiss with much passion that he could give. They then separated, and Brian left her for the day. They had smiles on their faces as each were having thought's going through their minds.

"If this works out between the two of us, maybe I'll invite him inside for the night. Have to give it some time though. I wished that I could now, but I can't take that chance of getting hurt again. I'm falling for him and at least he's not like Starbuck that would toss me aside for another woman. I think this is going to work out for the two of us. But I have to wait and see what happens next. I better get ready for bed and get some sleep for tomorrow's shift." Athena was thinking this to herself.

"What am I thinking of?! I was going to propose to Maren before ending up on this Galactica, and I'm going out with Athena, who happens to look a lot like Maren, but is the Commander's daughter on top of that! But I have to realize that I may never get back home again. I have to make sure that I don't do anything to her to hurt her. I would hate the thought of doing that to her. Man, what a kiss though. I thought only Maren could kiss like that, but it seems that Athena can as well. I hope that maybe things will work out between us and then some. Only time will tell. I better get to my bunk and get some sleep for tomorrow's mission then. Goodnight Athena, Pleasant Dreams." Brian thought to himself as he approached the Pilots Quarters.