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Battlestar
Argo
By
AJ Marks
The
Ares walked along the bridge of the Argo as he watched the crew go
about their normal routines. So far the
news from home had indicated that the encounter with the Cylons that they had
interfered with a major offensive by the Cylons. The Battlestar Prometheus had been destroyed but the warriors
had inflicted heavy damage on the Cylons.
Ares figured that the Cylon force that they had destroyed was
probably part of that offensive push. It
had been beaten back and now thing back at the Colonies had settled down a
bit. He briefly wondered what would have
happened had the Argo been part of the battle fleet and not encountered the
Cylon forces. Would one battlestar make
a difference in the fight?
With those thoughts Ares knew that the only way to defeat the Cylons
was a larger fleet. That was something
that the council of the twelve seemed not to what to do. They were satisfied with the seven
battlestars that they had right now. He
wondered how the funding for the Argo had happened. There were several in the military that
wanted construction of new classes of battlestars. Some of the ships were hundreds of yehrens
old like the Galactica. She was over
five hundred yehrens old already. Some
of the newer battlestars were already one hundred yehrens old.
"Commander, we're receiving a contact on the long range
scanners," Renee said as Ares turned and walked over to his scanner. There on the edge of the scanner were two
blips on the screen. "Who's on
ready patrol," he asked.
"Lieutenant Nall and his new wingmate Jax," Renee
replied.
Ares nodded his head knowing that Jax
was one of the replacement pilots that was on board to
replace loses that the Argo might encounter.
"Have them head out and investigate the contacts with
caution," Ares said.
"Yes sir," Renee replied relaying the orders to the two
waiting pilots. Within a few moments the
two vipers had been launched. Ares hoped
that he had an answer soon to his questions.
Nall approached the strange ship which he had never
seen before. It had a long triangle
shape to it. It hull was painted black
but was easily seen unlike the other ship they had encountered earlier. This one had a more military look to it for
sure but the warbook was not able to identify it.
The two followed the ship as it headed toward a planet. It seemed to be a planet that looked like it
was able to sustain life. There were no
other ships of other signs of orbital station around the planet as they watched
the ship land on the planet's surface.
"What do you think lieutenant," Jax
asked over the intercom.
"I thinking we should check it out and see what's going
on," Nall said.
"We might be able to find out something."
"Lead on," Jax said as she
followed Nall's viper on down to the planet's
surface. Once on the ground they checked
the planet's atmosphere to make sure that it was compatible to their own.
"Watch out, the air is thinner here so you won't want to over
do it," Nall said.
"I copy," Jax said as they got
out of their vipers and looked around.
Everything seemed to be normal to them from what they could see. It was like being back on the colonies.
The two of them slowly made their way towards where they had seen
the larger ship land. They were on the
look out for anything as they were sure that they had been spotted. If they had no then the people here were not
as advanced as they thought.
Nall walked to the top of the hill to see if there
was anything that he could see. So far
they had not found anything and he was a bit reluctant to go much further for
fear of losing where their vipers were.
He could see the top of a ship in a large clearing where on the other
side a couple of buildings were. This
must have been the ship that they were following. Now all they had to do was approach it and
find out who they were. He quickly
motioned to Jax to come on up.
"Is that it," she asked once she had reached the point
where Nall was.
"I think so," Nall
replied. "It does look about the
same."
"Now what," Jax asked.
Nall thought it over for a few seconds before
finally coming up with a small plan.
They needed information about everything that was on the planet to see
if this was perhaps Earth or maybe a colony of Earth. He quickly explained what he wanted to do and
they headed back to their fighters.
"Commander, Lieutenant Nall and Jax have landed on a planet just on the edge of our long
range scanners," Renee said to Ares and Pratt who were standing on the
command platform of the bridge.
"Good, lay in a course to the planet but at a slow
speed. We need to know what we are up
against," Ares said.
"Understood commander," she replied as the helm officer
plotted the course to the planet a t a slow speed.
"What do you think," Pratt asked him.
"I don't know. We
could be on the edge of Earth space, but I just don't know," Ares
said. "We're going to have to wait
until Nall and Jax return
from their mission."
"I had a feeling that you were going to say that," Pratt
said. "And what if its something else, or even a hostile force?"
"Then we'll cross that daggit when we get to it and not
before," Are said. "I don't
plan on being the hostile one here but if they start a fight I'll finish
it."
"I know you will," Pratt replied. He had gone over Ares record and was impress
with the man's potential and ability to command. He could understand why he had been chosen
for the command.
The battlestar Argo slowly turned towards the planet unaware of
the chaos that it was causing.
"Captain, we have an unusual target coming into the scanner
range," the scanner officer said not looking away from his monitor.
"What is it," the captain asked walking down the short
way to where the scanner officer sat.
"I don't know. We've
never seen anything like it before," the officer replied. "But whatever it is, it is very
large."
"Get me destroyer eight and ten," the captain said.
"Sir, we also have destroyer twelve on Praxis five," the
communications officer said.
"Good, we might need them as well," the captain
said. "If they dare to travel in
our space then they will know the might of the
Nall and Jax had returned
to their fighters and changed out of their uniforms into something he hoped
would be a bit less conspicuous to the people.
The one thing that he did not like was leaving his weapons behind.
"Perhaps just one of us should go down there," Jax finally said a bit uncomfortable with everything.
"No, the commander will know that we are on the planet by
now. If we take too long he'll send a
rescue team," Nall said as if he knew for sure
what was going to happen. "Besides,
all we're going to do is observe, that's it."
"I'm taking you at your word," Jax
replied.
"Really," Nall said as he
looked over at the black haired woman.
"By the lords of Kobal," Jax said rolling her eyes.
"Bri was right about you."
"She was right about everything," Nall
purred as he walked closer to Jax. "How would you like to find out about it
later on after the mission?"
"We'll see," she replied back then turned and with an exaggerated
sway of her hips walked off towards their objective.
"Oh yeah," Nall whispered
quietly to himself. Then he had to job
quickly to catch up to her.
They walked back to the hill where they had observed the
ship. Reaching it they were both glad
and disappointed that the ship was still there.
They silently made their way down to the other side of the ship and noticed
a small town. That would be the best bet
to see what was going on.
Nall noticed that their clothing might be a bit
different but would probably pass. He
observed that the kids had some weird styles on so no one would probably notice
them at all. They walked into part of
the town which had people walking around.
Listening to the conversation he was glad to know that he could
understand them. That would have been a
sticking point if they did not talk the same language. Even then he had the feeling that some words
might not mean the same in their language.
He reminded Jax to be careful of what she
said.
"Eh, I don't remember seein' you
around here’s before," a man with a uniform said walking up to where Nall and Jax were standing.
"We're travelers," Nall
replied eyeing the man. He did not seem
like he was trouble but Nall was not going to take
any chances.
"Dat so, den where are you
from," the man asked.
"Don't know, I was an orphan going up," Nall replied telling the truth knowing that it quite was
not what the man wanted.
"Dat's not what I'm talkin' about and you knows
it," the man said.
"Its top secret," Jax said
speaking up with a hard look in her eye.
"Wells then perhaps yous should
head to de captain's office. He'd
probably be waiting for yous," he said then
turned and walked off apparently satirized about the response.
"I think we should try and get our information quickly and
get out of here," Nall said to Jax.
"Right," Jax said agreeing
with him. They both had the feeling that
he was probably on his way to talk with his captain then they would be in
trouble real quick.
They walked a bit further down the street when Jax
motioned to Nall.
She glanced at the store and then back to Nall. There was a book store in the area. Nall figured that
it might have the information that he needed and they walked into the store.
"Greetings and welcome," an elderly lady said as they
walked into the store and the bell chimed indicating someone had walked in.
"Hi there," Jax replied.
"Is there anything I can help you with," the woman
asked.
"Perhaps there is," Nall said
looking at Jax then back at the woman. "My wife and I are travelers looking for
ancient myths and legends. Where would
we find anything on that here," Nall asked her
knowing that Jax was stifling a look at him and he
had stifle a grin.
"Oh, I don't have much here in my store, but what I do have
is over here," the lady replied leading them over to the books. "Is there anything in particular that
you're looking for," she asked them.
"Anything regarding a planet Earth," Jax
said deciding to just bring it right out to the open.
"Earth, I'm afraid that I don't have anything on that. The
"
The lady turned around and studied them carefully then looked
around before saying anything. "You’re
not from around here are you," she said.
"Nope," Nall replied.
"A bit of advice then, get away now before they find
out," she said. "The
"Before we go do you know anything," Nall
replied.
"Very well, I will tell you what I remember of the
myth," the woman said. "It’s
an ancient myth, one that says we came from the stars, from a place called Kobal, also called
Nall thought about what he had just been told. This group was part of the thirteenth tribe,
but not Earth. He and Jax exchanged a look that the older lady caught.
"Is it really true," she asked wondering if what she had
been told was true or not. She had
always thought that in myth there was an ounce of truth.
Nall considered what to tell her as he thought
about it. Most of what he knew was
legend and myth much like she knew. The
only difference was she had a different piece of the myth.
"I don't know, but I really hope so," Nall replied.
"It seems that you should leave quickly," the lady said
looking out the window.
Nall and Jax turned their
heads to see what she was looking at.
Outside there were two uniformed men talking with another person.
"That doesn't look too good," Jax
said which Nall had to agree with.
"I think its time we left," Nall
replied turning back to the woman and thanking her for her help. They quickly walked out of the store and down
the street hoping that they would not be detected. That was short lived as he heard one of the
guards order them to stop.
"Run," he told Jax who began running
towards their fighters.
They could hear the men running after them as they quickly made
their way out of the small town. It seemed
that the guard they had encountered had gone to talk with his captain and found
out they were strangers. Nall was glad that their vipers were not parked that far
away as he was breathing heavily already when he got to his. He glanced over and noticed that Jax had also arrived at her viper.
Nall risked a glance at their pursuers and noticed
that they too were breathing quite heavily.
That meant that they were not used to the thin atmosphere either. As quickly as he was able he got into his
viper and ran through an abbreviated checklist for takeoff.
The group running after them stopped as they saw the strange
fighters and the whine of the engines warming up. Before any of them could do anything else
they blasted off and headed up out of sight.
Nall breathed a sigh of relief as they passed
thought the clouds and left the atmosphere of the planet. He was not sure if they would be followed or
not but he did not want to take any chances.
"Green three to Argo over," Nall
said.
"Go ahead green three," he heard Renee's voice say over
the intercom.
"We found out what we needed but ran into a bit of trouble
with the authorities on the planet," Nall
replied.
"We'll keep an eye on the scanners, but in the meantime make
your way back here and let me know what you found out," Nall heard Ares say.
"Yes sir commander," Nall
replied as he and Jax made their way to the Argo.
"Sir, we have two unknown contacts coming up from the Parxis heading towards the unknown target," the
scanner operator said.
"They must be Nationalist spies. Any word from Parxis,"
the captain asked turning to see what was going on.
"Nothing yet captain, we're still trying to get a hold of destroyer
twelve," the communications officer said.
"Let me know the moment you have him. What about destroyers eight and ten," he
asked them.
"Both captains report that they are on their way here and should
be here shortly," the officer replied to the captain.
"Good," the captain replied.
"Captain, I'm getting a communication from the planet's
surface, its Captain Jonas," the communication officer said.
"Put it through," the captain said.
"This is Captain Jonas of Parxis
Five to any
"This is Captain Ryan of destroyer four, I have the spies on
my scanners and already requested back up from two more destroyers," Ryan
replied.
"Good, I will inform headquarters of what has happened,"
Jonas said.
"You heard the captain, once destroyers eight, ten and twelve
form up with us we will attack and destroy this new Nationalist threat to our
security," Ryan said.
Ares did not like the fact that Nall and
Jax might have gotten into trouble during their
mission. The question now was how to
handle anything that might come their way.
They could view the Argo as a threat to their security. That would mean they might attack them even
without warning.
"Commander, I'm picking up movement near the system that
Green three and eight just came from," Renee said.
Pratt quickly walked down to see for himself. He noticed that there appeared to be two to
four targets that the scanners were picking up.
It was hard to determine because of the planets and how close the ships
were.
"Looks like a possible four contacts commander," Pratt
said looking up to where Ares was standing.
"How soon till our fighters are back aboard," Ares said. He was told that it would be another couple
of centons until the remaining fighters were
aboard. "When their aboard set in a
course away from the contacts."
"Commander, the contacts have begun to move towards our
position. At their current speed they
will arrive shortly after we recover the fighters," Renee said to Ares.
Ares turned to Pratt and they both knew that this was not good
news. He wondered what he should do and
what options were available to him if any.
The only thing that ran through his mind was run or fight.
"Suggestions," Ares finally said.
"We could try and communicate with them commander,"
Pratt said stating the obvious.
"Do it," Ares replied.
After a few moments there was no reply from the incoming
ships. Ares ordered them to continue to
try but to bring the ship to yellow alert just in case. He was about to start the fight, but he had
to be ready just in case.
"Sir, they are asking for our surrender," Renee said to
Ares who just shook his head. He wondered
what Nall and Jax had done
on the planet's surface to provoke such hostility.
"Transfer it up here," Ares told her as he was able to
hear the demand. A Captain Ryan was
demanding that he surrender his ship and the 'Nationalist' spies. He realized what was probably going on and
switched on his communicator. "This
is Commander Ares of the Battlestar Argo, we are not
from the Nationalists, but a group that has travel far to reach this
place."
"Your lies will not work on us Nationalist pigs, you will surrender
your ship to us along with your crew, or you will suffer the wrath of the
"Sounds like they have their minds made up commander,"
Pratt said.
"They've opened fire on our returning vipers," Renee
said. "Lieutenant Nall is requesting permission to return fire."
"Launch green squadron, maybe they will be enough to dissuade
them from attacking," Ares said.
"Green squad, you are to launch but not engage yet,"
Renee said breaking
"Roger core command,"
As
"Green squad, form up on me and head towards the incoming
fighters,"
"Core command, do we have permission to open fire or am I
going to see some of my squad mates blow to Hades," Troy said hoping to
push the issue.
"Green squad, your orders have not changed," Renee
replied relaying Ares' orders.
"Great,"
"Captain, we are picking up multiple single man craft coming
form the larger ship," the scanner operator said to Captain Ryan.
"These single craft have no weapon systems, tell all
destroyers to continue to attack. Head
to the big ship and ready all weapons," Ryan replied.
"Understood sir," the crew replied as the communications
officer relayed the message to the other three destroyers.
Ryan glanced at the screen and realized that the ship they were
about to enter combat with was a very large ship. To him though it did not
really matter. He had numbers and
superior firepower compared to Nationalist ships. He would either bring back the Nationalists
as his prisoners or they would be destroyed.
To him it really was that simple.
"Captain, I'm counting about fifty of these small one man craft,"
the scanner operator said.
"They are nothing more than blockade and spy ships. Destroy them as well, but concentrate all
firepower on the larger ship for right now.
The Nationalists must not know what is going on at Praxis five,"
Ryan said.
Ares stood watching the incoming ships. He still was not sure what was going on but
the launching of the vipers had not deterred the incoming ship. They were still closing and firing on green
squad. He now had several pilots requesting
permission to return fire. The Argo was
suddenly rocked a bit as the incoming ship opened fire on the battlestar.
"Commander, we're under attack. I suggest negative shield," Pratt said.
"Put the shields up," Ares said. So far the incoming ships had refused to
acknowledge any more hails from the Argo and now they were attacking them as
well.
"Captain, we just lost green eleven," Pratt told
him. He knew that given everything he
would not be able to control the pilots much longer.
"Tell all stations to open fire," Ares said finally.
"Yes sir," Pratt said turning to the communicator. "All stations, fire at will, repeat fire
at will."
"You heard the commander,"
The Argo's weapon systems also came to life opening up on the
attackers with deadly accuracy. The
attackers did not have the weaponry or shielding that the Colonials did and the
battle was over very quickly. All four
enemy ships were destroyed with the loss of another three vipers.
"Everyone back on board the Argo,"
Ares sat at his station wondering if he could have done something
different. He would have to study what
happened to see if he could learn anything from it. He was sure that this was not going to be the
first time that he had an encounter like this.
"What do you think colonel," Ares asked.
"We lost a total of four pilots along with three others in
the battle," Pratt said.
"And all four attackers," Ares said. Even after realizing that they were against superior
firepower they continued to attack. It
just did not make since to him.
"They fought till the end.
They may have a different type of mentality then what we're used
to. Perhaps we are too used to the
Cylons and their ways," Pratt said as an answer.
"Perhaps we are," Ares replied. "Perhaps there was no way to avoid
bloodshed."
"Then again maybe if we had attacked right away they might
have backed down," Pratt said.
"Perhaps Pratt," Ares said with a sad sigh. Then with a deep breath he rose. "Helm, set course to the next system and
engage at light speed. I'm going to go
grab something to eat. Let me know when Nall and Jax get out of detox for their briefing."
"Yes sir," Pratt said.
"Captain," a junior officer said running into the
office.
"Report," Captain Jonas said as he turned to look at the
junior officer.
"We lost contact with all four destroyers," the officer
said.
"All four," Jonas replied.
"Yes sir, and the remaining ship was
seen heading in the direction of Terra" the replay came.
"Inform Terra and let them know that we've been attacked by
Nationalists," Jonas replied watching as the officer left to carry out his
orders.
The Nationalist will pay for what they have done here today Jonas
thought to himself. Many in the higher
command had been looking for a way to begin a war against the Nationalist and
now they had their reason. The battle
plan would be simple. They would destroy
the colony worlds of the Nationalists then destroy them on Terra until there
was just the
The only thing that worried him was the fact they had lost four destroyers
to one ship. But if they only had one
then it would be much of a difference.
One ship can not be everywhere like their destroyers were. He smiled as he realized it would be a
glorious war indeed.
End of The
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