Disclaimers: 'Battlestar Galactica" and all of its characters belong to Universal Studio City, USA. This story is intended strictly for the reader's enjoyment.
To Stop Running
by
AJMarks
Part 1: Encounter
Commander Tigh's log:
In the vastness of space, we find that there will be an end to our war with the Cylons. Although we have not had contact with the cylons, the race that destroyed our home worlds and has since chased us unmercifully and relentlessly over the yeharns, I believe that they are still not that far behind us.
I, myself, have given up hope that I will see the day when our people are once again united with Earth and the thirteenth tribe. I can only hope that we do not bring destruction to their world at the hands of the cylons.
Commander Tigh looked up from his reading and thought about Adama's journal entry. He too was also beginning to feel the same way, that he would never see the planet known as Earth and the thirteenth tribe. Adama had died two yahrens ago, three yahrens after he had retired his command of the Galactica, and the fleet, to Tigh.
The fleet so far had been lucky. About ten yeharns ago the fleet had run across the damaged Battlestar Pegasus. With the help of technicians and a few precious supplies the Pegasus regained fighting status, even though some systems, like its scanners, would not be fully operations for a long time afterwards. They had found several settlements and worlds that had belonged to civilizations that was now gone. They had apparently been destroyed, but what had destroyed it was not certain yet. 'I hope that something worse than the cylons are not waiting for us out there' Tigh thought.
"Commander Tigh, report to the bridge immediately."
Alarm lights were flashing when the commander stepped onto the bridge.
"What is going on?" He asked.
"Sir, three unknown contacts are approaching Neptune's listening post" an aide said.
'Damn' "Ok, red alert" Commander Johnson said. "Tell Neptune listening post that the cruiser Koisa is 15 minutes away. Do they have an ID on the boogies yet?"
"No sir."
"Lieutenant, have VF 105 ready to launch in case of trouble."
Yes sir."
Johnson paced back and forth, he was nervous. Mankind had not had an encounter with another race in 20 years. The last encounter had almost destroyed mankind. We were lucky that weekend, real lucky. After exploring the wreckage left from that July 4th battle we realized they didn't know anything about computer viruses like we did.
"Contact Pacifica and notify the admiral of our situation here. Any contact from Neptune?"
"No sir, wait a second. Sir, I thought that I heard the outpost say they were under attack." The aide paused listening. "I can't raise the outpost sir."
"Notify Earth Central Command that hostile forces have entered the solar system."
"Yes sir!" The aide replied.
Fifteen minutes later the cruiser arrived at where the Neptune outpost should have been. Commander Johnson got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. All around the ship debris floated by, nothing looked recognizable of what had been just fifteen minutes before an outpost.
"Are there any signs of the fighters that did this?" Commander Johnson asked.
"No sir!"
"Maybe this will wake up congress that the money needs to be spent to equip the outposts with some sort of defensive weapons." Johnson's second in command said.
"Perhaps, but you know that congress doesn't like to spend a lot of money."
"True."
"Hey Starbuck!" The voice said over the intercom.
"Yeah Boxey, what's up kiddo?" Starbuck responded to his wingmate.
"Take a listen to frequency .135mhz." Boxey replied.
Starbuck tuned into the frequency and was a bit surprised at what he heard. The voices on the frequency did not originate from the fleet, but they were not Cylon.
"Almost sounds civilian." Starbuck stated. "Let's see if we can determine where the source is."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Patrol Alpha to battlestar Pegesus." Starbuck said reporting in.
"Go ahead Starbuck."
"Apollo we've encountered a signal that we're going to see if we can find the source."
"Ok, but you and Boxey be careful." Apollo said.
"Don't worry Apollo, I'm always careful."
"That's what I'm worried about."
"Come on Boxey, let’s see what type of trouble we can find." Starbuck said, as they both hit their thrusters.
Back aboard the Pegesus' bridge Apollo just shook his head. He could only hope that they would not encounter anything, unlike when he and Starbuck would check out strange readings. He could still remember when they almost got lost in that space void.
"Did Captain Starbuck give us the direction of the signal?" Apollo asked one of the technicians.
"Yes sir commander." He replied.
For a few minutes Apollo remained deep in thought. "Colonel Zonci, get me Commander Tigh."
"Yes sir!" Zonci said flipping a switch and watching as the alpha one comm line was opened. Commander Tigh appeared within a few seconds.
"Apollo, is there anything wrong?" Tigh asked.
"I don't think so, but one of my patrols is investigating a contact, I might need to take the Pegesus into that area depending on what they find." Apollo said. "I just have this feeling, like something drastic is about to happen."
"Your father trusted you, and so do I, just keep us informed Apollo."
"I will, Pegesus out."
Apollo walked over to the helm controls. "I want you to lay in a course to follow our patrol and prepare to engage." He said to the controller.
"Yes sir!"
The celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the defeat of the alien invasion was underway. The day had been declared a worldwide holiday to celebrate. The twentieth anniversary had been planned for almost a year now.
The president's palace had stages set up for the musical groups that had been contracted. A festival atmosphere prevailed over all of the scheduling events. People had started to arrive at the grounds for over an hour. The invited guests would start arriving in thirty minutes.
President Hiller looked over at his wife, Jasmine. He was in his first year of office. He had won the presidency based on his war record, after all he was the pilot who piloted the alien craft into the alien mother ship.
He looked over at his wife, Jasmine. She still looked stunning to him after all the years, and two kids later.
"It’s going to be a wonderful celebration today." She said feeling the celebration mood that had started to embrace the city of Denver.
Denver was one of the few large cities to survive the alien invasion twenty years ago. All of the capital cities around the world had been destroyed, and most large industrial cities had been lying in ruins. Denver somehow had managed to survive, and for a while people wonder how it managed to survive. A year later it was realized that the alien ship was headed to Denver when it changed course to Area 51 for the final battle.
Denver had grown tremendously since the alien invasion, there were now close to fifteen million citizens living in the vicinity.
They were about to leave to get ready for dinner when an aide came walking up with a grim look on his face. They both noticed his look and tensed for whatever the news was. The aide handed him a piece of paper, which he read. She watched as his face mirrored the aide's face.
"What's wrong?" She said in a strained voice full of worry.
"We've lost contact with our outpost near Neptune." He replied.
"Could it have been an asteroid?"
"No, one of the cruisers reported having contact with a couple unknown ships."
"Are they back?" She asked.
"I don't know, but I sure hope not." He replied.
"But something's up."
"Yup!"
"Commander Johnson to the bridge, Commander Johnson to the bridge" The intercom could be heard all over the ship. Johnson looked up at the intercom speaker and sighed, he had just sat down to eat. He put down his fork and walked over to the intercom and responded.
"Johnson here, what's up?"
"Commander we have two fast moving radar contacts approaching."
"ETA to contact."
"Approximately ten minutes till contact."
"Put VF 105 on immediate standby and go to red alert."
"Yes commander!"
Johnson walked out the door as red alert was called was called throughout the ship.
Even before the commander made it up to the bridge the scanner operator noticed something else, something that made her blood chill. She closed her eyes wishing that perhaps she would wake up from what was becoming a nightmare. Just then the door opened and commander Johnson walked onto the bridge.
"All stations report!" He said glancing around the bridge.
"All decks are on full alert, Commander."
"Weapon systems are fully functional."
"Sir!" A shaky voice said. "You might want to see this."
Johnson quickly walked over to the console to see what could be wrong, only to stop dead in his tracks.
"Get me fleet command, now!"
End Part 1
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