Disclaimers: ‘Battlestar
Galactica’ and all of its characters belong to
Additional disclaimer: This
one might be considered a bit ‘darker’ than my other works.
Send comments to: AJMarks01@aol.com
Finding the Trail
by
AJ Marks
Baltar sat in the small craft headed towards the surface of the
planet. The scanner reports had
indicated human life on the planet.
Baltar had hoped that the inhabitants knew something about the Galactica
and if he was on the right path. Lucifer
was convinced that the Galactica and her fleet had taken a slightly different
path. Baltar was sure that they came by
this way.
The craft touched down and the two centurions walked out of the
ship followed by Baltar. There was not
much around the area and Baltar started walking towards the nearest
settlement. He ordered one centurion to
stand guard of the ship while the other one came with him. They quickly made their way towards the
settlement.
A group of people met him at the outskirts of the town. There were only about ten of them and they
were all armed with primitive weapons from what Baltar could see. They would be mo match for his
centurion. Baltar waited with an air of
power around him for the leader of the group to present himself. He did not have to wait long until the man
showed up. He was bald on top and stood
about the same height as Baltar.
"I thought that I made it clear that you and your type are
not welcome here," the man said.
"My type," Baltar said with a smile on his face. The man was surely quite naïve in such
politics that they were about to deal in.
"Yeah, your type," the man said motioning to the weapons
that the Cylons held in their hands.
"There not welcome."
"My friend," Baltar said smiling at the man approaching
him. "I can assure you that I'm not
like those others who came before you.
They are criminals that we're trying to apprehend, did you catch their
names?"
The man glanced around at his group before making a shooing motion
at them to give them some room. They
looked at him a bit strangely but after a second look they finally stepped back
a ways. Baltar watched as the game
played out in front of him. With a quick
motion the Cylon with him stepped back out of the way as well leaving just the
two of them in the clearing.
"I’m Baltar, of the Cylon Empire," he said to the man.
"I'm Ryan, Emperor of the known land," the man
replied. "Perhaps we can help each
other?"
"Of course," Baltar replied. "I'm always willing to help out a
friend," he said with a smile which Ryan returned.
"You said that you're looking for some criminals, I take they
carried weapons similar to your guard there," Ryan asked.
"Yes, they also wear brown clothing to indicate that they are
criminals," Baltar said.
"I may have seen them, but what's in it for me," Ryan
said.
Baltar grinned at that.
This man was much like himself as an idea formed in his mind. "Your the Emperor of the known world,
how would you like to be Emperor of your entire planet," Baltar
asked. "The supreme ruler."
"Supreme ruler," Ryan said as he tasted the words as he
spoke them. "I like the sound of
that."
"So you should," Baltar said as he approached Ryan and
placed a hand on his shoulder. "It
would suit you," he leaned in to whisper the next part in his ear. "I think you and I both know that."
"I think we do," Ryan replied as he thought about having
control over the entire planet. He could
tell that these creatures that were with this man were very powerful. An army of them and he could conqueror the
world.
"And all I require is some information," Baltar
replied. "You said that they were
here, did they say where they were from, like the Galactica?"
"I seem to remember the prisoner mentioning that name,"
Ryan said.
"Good, how long ago was that," Baltar asked as his eyes
lit with a fire from within.
"Not long, maybe no more than a moon or so ago," Ryan
said. "They returned to the sky
where they came from. When you capture
them you can return a girl back to me," he told Baltar.
"A girl," Baltar said.
"Yes, she's a prisoner of ours and we would like her
back," Ryan told him.
"So be it," Baltar said to the man. "I can see to that."
"Excellent," Ryan replied. He watched as the man and his companion walked
away from them before the others came around.
"What did you do Ryan," one of them asked.
"Only made us the most powerful group on the planet,"
Ryan said as his eyes took on a quality of superiority. "I will be the supreme ruler of the
land."
"Right Ryan, we can never defeat the Malila, only the Emperor
was able to and with his army gone what chance do we have," the man said
to Ryan.
"With an army like he has I will be unstoppable," Ryan
replied with a smile. 'And
"I'm not sure I like the feeling about this," the man
replied to Ryan.
"Relax, soon you will be associated with the most powerful
man on the planet and wealth and riches beyond your dreams will be yours,"
Ryan said.
The man shook his head not really sure about it all but went back
to his work. There had been something
about the stranger that had appeared that made him nervous but he did not have
the power to stand up against Ryan. He
was the man who had brought down the Emperor but now there were some second
thoughts about that.
Baltar walked back into his command room where Lucifer was
waiting. The IL series Cylon waited
until Baltar said anything to see how the mission to the planet's surface
went. The Cylon was skeptical that
Baltar had learned anything of use while on the planet for such a short period
of time. If it had been up to Lucifer he
would have ordered the planet destroyed and any survivors killed.
"Ah Lucifer, now you will see a brilliant mind in
action," Baltar said to his Cylon companion.
"That remains to be seen," Lucifer replied quietly.
"What," Baltar said turning around to face Lucifer.
"I anxiously a wait to see what you mean," Lucifer
replied. If he could smile he would have
at Baltar's face.
"The Cylons first thought when they come across any humans is
to attack, but these primitives have never even seen a Cylon before,"
Baltar told Lucifer. "I learned
that not only did the Galactica and her fleet come by here, but they picked up
an additional person."
Lucifer wondered about this information. If this group of humans was that primitive
then how would they know that the Galactica had traveled by? The scans indicated that the people here did
not even have flight capabilities let alone space flight.
"It seems that our Captain Apollo was captured by them and
the Galactica sent out a rescue team," Baltar said almost as if he was
reading Lucifer’s mind. "They are
close by now. Send out scout teams at
once with orders to scan ahead of us.
They are looking for a patrol viper or any colonial ship."
"By your command Baltar, is there anything else,"
Lucifer asked.
"What is your standing order regarding human
settlements," Baltar asked turning to look at Lucifer.
"By order of the Imperious Leader all human contacts we come
in contact with are to be destroyed," Lucifer said.
"Then carry out your orders and be quick about it. The Galactica is waiting for us," Baltar
said.
"By your command," Lucifer said and with a bow left the
room to give the instructions to the ships.
Within moments hundreds of Cylons fighters were launched from the
basestar and made their way towards the planet.
The battle would not be an even one.
Ryan and the others in his group sat around the table discussing
how they were going to divide up the world.
There were many takers for the more known richer areas. Ryan decided that he would have final say as
he would be the one in control of the army.
As they sat there a low hum could be heard in the air. They looked at each other as it was something
that no one had ever heard before.
Before they could say anything they began to hear horrendous explosions
coming from outside. Getting up they
rushed outside to a sight that none of them had ever seen before.
The enemy that was attacking them was coming from the sky. Flying disk shaped craft seemed to be all
over the sky as blue lightning bolts shot out from them. The explosions were greater than anything
they had ever seen. Screams could be
heard as Ryan realized he had been betrayed.
"You bastard," he yelled up to the sky. Almost as if one of the craft heard him it
turned and dove towards where he was.
The blue lightning bolts shot out from it and he was thrown across the village
where his body lay limp as more explosions tore through the village.
The Cylons left the planet in flames without a building
standing. A signal would be sent and
another basestar would be dispatched to complete the mission. One Cylon basestar continued on its quest to
find the Galactica.
End of Finding the Trail
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