Disclaimers: ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and its characters belong to Universal City Studios, USA. This story is intended strictly for enjoyment to the reader.

Send Comments to: AJMarks01@aol.com

Battlestar Argo

By

AJ Marks

Beginning the Search

The battlestar Argo made its way to toward a single solar system. The scanners on the battlestar did not indicate that there was anything out of the ordinary. On the bridge of the ship Commander Ares watched the rest of the crew as they went about their duties. What they did here would indicate what procedures they would take at other systems.

"The scanner readings are clean. We're not picking anything up at all," Pratt said as he came up to where Commander Ares was sitting at his console.

"I see," Ares replied. He was still trying to come up with an idea that they could use as a general plan. "I think we should send a patrol group into the system for anything. Have them scan each planet for anything that might be signs of intelligent life."

"Of course sir, do you have anyone in mind for the patrol," Pratt asked wondering if he should just pull the duty roster or if Ares had a group in mind.

Ares rubbed his chin in thought as he gave it serious consideration of who to use. "Take six pilots of green squadron. Next time we'll take from red squad."

"Yes sir," Pratt replied then turned to look at who he should pull from green squad. He picked six names then went to brief them on their mission.

Ares watched as Pratt left the bridge to brief the pilots. He glanced back down at the scanners again hoping to find something out there. There was also the sense of excitement of the unknown. They could even encounter another race. That was something that he had to plan for as well. The last thing the Colonies needed was another enemy to contend with.

Martin walked into the briefing room where Colonel Pratt was standing waiting for all the pilots to arrive. They were going to be reaching their first planet soon which meant they would have to investigate the planet to see if it was Earth. Some hoped that this would be Earth but most did not believe that it would be.

Martin noticed that Bri and Nall were both already in the room. He would be working with them on this mission. Nall was again trying to pick up Bri who was again putting him down. It was actually quite funny to Martin. It seemed like Nall really did like Bri but he also knew that if Nall really wanted to woo Bri then he would have to change a bit for her. That was something that he did not see happening.

"Hey big M," Nall said as Martin sat down next to him.

"Hey Nall. If you don't watch yourself Bri will shrink your clothes again," Martin said.

"Nah, we don't have much in terms of replacement clothing," Nall replied.

"All right, I'll give you that. But remember she does have a wicked mind for paybacks," Martin said with a smile.

"I know," Nall replied also with a smile and received a smack to the back of his head. "What," he said turning and putting an innocent smile on his face for Bri.

"Don't what me," Bri said narrowing her eyes. "I know what you're thinking."

"All right, if we're done beating each other up can we get onto business," Pratt said seeing that the rest of the group had arrived. He sighed a bit as he realized that those three were going to give him fits.

Bri turned to the colonel and had a very innocent expression on her face that if he had not seen her smack Nall he would have been hard pressed to believe she was capable of violence. With a shake of his head he looked at the rest of the group. It was made up of green squadron. Troy, Nall, Martin, Nall and two others would make up the scouting mission.

"All right, now that I have your attention here is your mission," Pratt said. "We've made it to the first star. The Argo's scanners indicate twelve planets in the system. Your job is to investigate each planet and see if there are any life signs. Each of you will have a wing mate for this mission. Remember we do not know what we will encounter on this mission so everyone be careful. That and we are still not that far away from the Cylon Empire so keep you scanners open for any sign of them."

The group was dismissed from the briefing heading towards the launch bays. Pratt hoped that this mission went without any problems. There was enough that could go wrong and he hoped for a problem free mission for as long as possible. He did not believe that they would find anything on this patrol but anything was possible. He left the room for heading for the bridge to join Ares.

Troy made his way to his viper with the rest of the group. He was the squad leader of the group and realized that they should partner up now while they were all together.

"All right everyone go ahead and partner up. It will save time later," Troy said to the group.

"I'll be your wing mate," Bri said to Troy. She knew that both Nall and Martin were wing mates and would choice each other. She did not really know the other two and had decided to partner with Troy.

Troy looked at the others who seemed to have already paired off as well. That was easier than he thought. He was sure that Nall or Martin would have wanted Bri as a partner. He was beginning to see a bit more into the relationship between the three. There was a respect for each other as warriors as well as friends.

"All right if we're ready let's get to the vipers and get this mission rolling," Troy said.

"Right," Bri replied as she went over to her viper. Troy had to turn away from watching her bounce over to her viper before he bumped into something.

Troy cleared his mind as he walked over to his viper and climbed up into it. The viper crew chief handing him his helmet which he put on then radioed command that he was ready to receive the coordinates for the patrol.

Nall and Martin watched as Bri took off to her viper in her bouncy type way. Martin gave Nall a quick jab in the ribs and nodded his head in the direction of their captain. Nall looked over at Troy then back at Bri and smiled back at Martin.

"I see another one is falling to her charms," Nall said.

"Yep," Martin said. "And I think half the time she isn't aware of it at all."

Nall studied Bri for a second before replying. "No, I think this time she knows what she just did."

Martin raised an eyebrow at Nall's comments but said nothing. He wondered if this would affect their friendship at all. He would keep an eye on Nall and see how he took the oblivious flirting by Bri to another man.

He reached his viper and climbed aboard. The canopy closed as he put on his helmet. The coordinates for his patrol was transferred to his viper and was given permission to launch. He pushed the turbo button and felt the acceleration of the viper as he was launched into space.

Ares watched as the flight controller, Renee, gave the instructions for the patrol. She was a confident controller and he was glad that she was on this mission. He could hear her tell the pilots that the transfer was complete and that they could launch when ready.

He turned to view the monitors and watched as the six vipers launched out of the tubes. They would know soon if there was anything in the system worth investigating. Aries was not sure if he wanted to find Earth so soon or not. It was a bit too close to the Cylons Empire for him.

"Well, there they go," Pratt said as he stood next to Ares.

"Right," Ares replied. He wished that the texts that they had found on Kobal had described how far the thirteenth tribe was going to travel instead of just a direction. He figured that he should be grateful that he had that though. He had the feeling that this would be a long mission.

"Is it wrong of me to wish that they don't find anything," Pratt said turning to Ares.

"Nope, I was just thinking the same thing my friend," Ares replied. "But I did have another thought earlier."

Pratt turned to glance at his commander. Usually when his commander said something like that it meant trouble. He wondered what the man was thinking this time.

"We needed to brief the pilots in first contact rules," Ares said.

"First contact," Pratt replied not sure where that came from. Sure they would need it for when they found Earth but then it hit him. They were exploring a section of unknown space. They could come across an unknown alien race. That would require something else as well, the skills of a diplomat. That also meant that they might have to take time to make diplomatic relations with another race.

"Yeah, I'm sure that we'll encounter another race before we finally reach Earth. There are too many unknowns out there for us not to. It will be what happens when we do. We both know that the last thing the Colonies need is another enemy to fight," Ares said to Pratt.

"That would not be good," Pratt replied. The Colonial military was barely able to hold off the Cylons right now. If there was another group it might spell the doom of the Colonies.

Troy paired up with Bri and together they left for the four planets that they would be exploring. They had the inner planets. Most of them appeared to be a bit small with only a few moons. He did not expect to see any life signs on the first couple of planets. They were just way too close to the star to be able to support any life that they know about.

"Let's head to the one closest to the star first," Troy heard Bri say over the communicator.

"Right, that way we can limit our own exposure to the heat," Troy replied. He was keeping an eye on his thermal reading as they got closer to the star.

"Troy, I'm picking up another planet even closer to the star," Bri said as they got closer to the star.

Troy took a quick glance at his scanner and noticed the same thing. The thermal reading was still below critical and he wondered how close they would be able to go.

"I'm going to see how close we can get. Stay back just in case," Troy said as his viper turned toward the planet.

Bri wanted to protest but ended up saying nothing. She kept a close eye on her scanner as she watched him head closer to the planet. She knew that they vipers could get close to stars but no one had ever really tried to get real close.

Troy kept a close eye on his thermal readings just in case. His biggest concern was his fuel. If that got too hot it could explode. The scans of the planet indicated that it was a barren rock. There were no buildings or anything else that the scanners could pick up and with the thermal reading approaching a critical point Troy decided to head back away from the star.

"Find anything," Bri asked watching as his viper came back to where she was.

"Nope, just a dead planet. Didn't think we'd find anything but you never know," Troy replied as he joined back up with Bri. The thermal reading slowly came down a bit and he knew that he was no longer in danger.

The next two planets were also barren. Their surfaces were scarred from the intense solar winds and asteroids that bombarded it. If there had ever been anything on the surface it had vanished a long time ago.

They approached the next planet while reporting what they had found on the last planet. The other two groups had not found anything either. So far three gas giants, several ice moons and one ice planet had been scanned. There was nothing to indicate that any of the planets had any life on it.

Troy then noticed that the next planet had what appeared to be building on it. The scanners did not indicate any life forms but there was definitely something down there.

"Bri, are you reading the same thing I am," Troy replied.

"My scanners are picking up ruins on the planet's surface," Bri replied hoping that it was what Troy was talking about.

"That's what I'm reading as well," Troy replied. "Scout party one to Argo."

"Argo here what did you find," the voice of Renee replied.

"We're going to investigate some ruins on the third planet of the system," Troy told them. "We'll keep in constant contact."

"Understood patrol one," Renee said.

Troy and Bri piloted their vipers towards the surface of the planet. They headed right for one of the ruins and looked for a landing spot as close as possible. They were looking for a clue as to who might have once lived here. The one thing that went through Troy's mind was it was Earth. He just hoped that was wrong.

"Atmosphere is breathable," Bri said as her scanners tested the air to make sure that they did not need any special equipment to breathe with.

"And gravity is about the same," Troy said.

They landed their vipers near one of the ruined buildings. It was beginning to fall apart and both wondered at the structural integrity of the building. Troy was actually a bit reluctant to even try and enter the building. It looked like it might collapse at any moment.

"I think one of us should try and enter the building," Bri said.

"I don't," Troy stated as he looked at the building. He wondered what had kept it up for so long.

"We landed on the planet to find out who built these buildings. We'll never know if we don't investigate it," Bri replied turning to face Troy.

"And the building would come down around anyone who tried to enter it," Troy replied.

"I'll go, if something happens you can rescue me," Bri said with a smile which Troy did not really appreciate.

"That is not funny," Troy replied. "You could be hurt, or worse."

"Didn't know you cared," Bri said as she took a few steps towards the building. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Troy stood there wondering what had just happened as he watched Bri walk towards the building then disappear inside. He finally shook himself out of his stupor to realize what she had just done.

"Bri," he said into his communicator. When she did not answer right away he repeated her name a bit louder.

"Shh," he heard Bri's hushed reply. "The sound echoes quite well in here. I'm just going to try and be cautious."

"Right, sorry," Troy replied and realized that he had to wait until she returned.

Bri walked quietly around what appeared to furniture. It did not look quite like anything she had ever seen. That and it did not look like it was something that was comfortable to a human. That led her to believe that this planet was inhabited by a race other than humans.

She was looking for something that might contain a record of who there people were and what had happened to them. She was pretty sure that they were not human but she wanted proof. Gently making her way around the large room she could hear the creaking of the floor as she put weight on it. It probably had not supported anything but itself for hundreds of yehrens. A fine cover of dust blanketed everything giving it all the same color look.

Bri noticed one object and gently picked it up to inspect it. It looked like a strange flat object. She blew the dust off it to see what the color really might be. It turned out to be a black color. The one thought that she had was for it to be a very thin screen. That was ridiculous though. She was sure that such a thing was technically impossible. However she almost dropped it when it suddenly came to life.

Bri watched intrigued when an image sprang from the flat thing. It appeared to be a hologram. That was something that she had read about in science fiction novels and entertainment shows. However the scientists of the colonies were too involved in the war against the Cylons to develop such a thing. That and she was sure that it would have taken a much bigger device to use.

Taking a look at what had appeared it was apparent that the inhabitants were not human. The figure that she could see had four arms and was not humanoid at all. The figure also had four legs which accounted for the unusual furniture that she saw. Taking the 'thing' she quickly and as carefully as she could make her way out of the building. The creaking and groaning of the floor did make her a bit anxious but she finally emerged from the building.

"Find anything," Troy's voice said and Bri was sure that she heard a bit of concern in the voice.

"This," Bri said with a smile holding up the flat black object that she had found.

"What is that," Troy asked not sure what it was.

"Don't know, some sort of holographic display I think," Bri replied handing it to Troy.

Troy gently inspected the object. It was a rectangular black object that looked like it had a screen on it. There was something that looked like a button which he pressed. Again Bri watched as the strange figure appeared.

"Well that's not human," Troy said handing it back to Bri. "It should be enough evidence that this is not Earth."

"I would hope so. That and all the furniture in the building would not have been human friendly," Bri said.

"Then I guess we can head back to the Argo," Troy said as they turned to head back to their vipers.

Bri carefully stored the object in the viper before closing the canopy. The two of them then lifted off from the planet and headed to the last planet on their list. It turned out to barren as well. There was little else in the system as they headed back to the battlestar for debriefing.

Commander Ares waited on the bridge of the battlestar waiting to hear from the patrols. He had learned that there was one planet had the remains of building on it. There was little else that he had heard yet.

The last report had the patrol inbound from the system with the results of their scans. The initial result was there was no life in the system nor was there anyone left. There was only the one planet that seemed to have had at one time supported life in the system.

Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri had been the ones to land on the planet's surface. Ares would have to wait until they came out of detox to see what they had found. There was also an object that was found that they had brought back. It too was undergoing detox just to be on the safe side.

"Commander, Troy and Bri are waiting for you in the debrief room," Pratt said bringing Ares out of his thinking.

"Tell them I'll be right there," Ares replied to Pratt. "You have the bridge."

"Yes sir," Pratt replied as Ares walked off the bridge heading for the pilot's briefing room.

Ares walked into the room a short while later seeing all six pilots that had gone of the patrol there along with Doctor Weaver. On the table was a flat black rectangular object that he had never seen before. He was sure that it was the object that had been found on the planet's surface.

"Let's begin," Ares said as he stood in front of the room.

"Well sir, according to Nall and Trevor the planets that they scanned uncovered nothing important. None of the moons were capable of supporting life either. Most of the planets they scanned were gas giants. Their moons were ice worlds with no major thermal readings," Troy said addressing the commander for the group.

"I see, what else," Ares said knowing that they had found something.

"My patrols found out there was another planet close to the sun that was obscured by our scanners. It had nothing on it," Troy said.

"So there were thirteen planets," Ares said.

"Right," Troy replied. "We scanned the next to with nothing on it. The third uncovered the remains of buildings on it."

"Interesting," Ares said picking up the object. "I suppose that it was there that you found this?"

"Correct sir," Troy said. "We landed close to a group of buildings. I thought that the buildings were too unstable to enter but Lieutenant Bri had other ideas."

Ares turned his eyes to Bri to see her reaction. She just shrugged a bit and continued to look at him with what he was sure was her innocent look.

"I figured that one of us had to go in, and I was the lighter of the two of us, it was a logical choice," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"All right, I'll ask it slide this time," Ares said looking at Bri. "But next time, radio it in and we'll send a team over with special equipment."

"Sure," Bri replied with a smile on her face. It made a person forget why they were mad at her. He would have to watch her otherwise she would get away with just about anything with that look.

"Now, seeing how you went in anyways what did you find," Ares asked moving on to the next part.

"Well, everything was covered with dust. By the amount of dust it looked like it had been there for quite a while. Gave everything the same color," Bri replied. "The furniture, though someone decayed, was not recognizable as anything that we might use. Then I found that," she said pointing to the object that Ares held in his hand.

"All right, what is it," Ares asked.

"We believe it is a holographic device," Weaver replied coming into the talk. He had been able to study the object for a few moments before the briefing had been called.

"A holographic device," Ares said a bit doubtingly.

"Yes, the technology that it represents is quite ingenious if I may say so. Whoever they were they were thousands of years more advanced then we are right now," Weaver said. "The power supply is not even recognizable."

"All right," Ares said. "Any idea what it might have been used for?"

"I believe that it was their equivalent of a picture," Weaver said getting up and taking the object. "Observe," he said pressing the button where the alien figure appeared. "There might be more 'pictures' in it but we haven't been able to study it very long."

"That isn't human," Ares said as he stared at the figure in front of him. If you took away two arms and legs then it might had a humanoid look, somewhat. "Did you find anything else," he asked Bri.

"I didn't think it was wise to stay in building too long, not with the floor creaking under me," Bri replied. She had felt a thrill when she was in the building yet it scared her at the same time. She knew that if the opportunity came up again she would do it again.

"As long as you got back in one piece. Good work everyone," Ares said. The question had been answered. This was not Earth, or even a human colony. He made his way back up to the bridge to tell the helm officer to set course to the next system in the list. Their search would continue.

End of Beginning the Search

Go on to Ambush Squared

Return to the Battlestar Galactica Page