Disclaimers: I don’t own “Battlestar Galactica”, the Milsian characters are based on an original story I wrote and is one sale, called ‘The Cimalian Princess: Invasion”.
The Milsian Princess
By AJ Marks
Part 1
Captain Mark Cave glanced around the bridge of the Nevada. One of the newest Alliance battle-cruisers even though the ship now approached its twentieth year in service. The ship had served constantly since its commission and now, he knew, the ship needed a refit.
“Captain, incoming message from HQ,” Kim, his second in command said.
“Put it though,” Mark said, wondering what mission they needed the battle-cruiser for now.
“Captain, glad I caught you,” Admiral Corey Pappas said.
“Admiral, you know the Nevada isn’t scheduled to leave until tomorrow,” Mark replied, now sure what was going on.
“Well, we’ve had a slight problem, Serria is under attack,” Corey replied.
“What!” Mark all but shouted startling most of the crew.
“We have reason to believe it’s the Milsian Empire again,” he said.
Mark groaned at that information. If they were attacking again things could get messy for sure.
“We’ll head to Serria at once,” Mark said.
“Good, but there is one more thing, you’ll have an ‘advisor’ on board,” Corey said. “Senator Agnat and Vicess will be going with you to make sure the peace is upheld.”
“Making sure the peace is upheld? They are the one attacking us,” Mark said. He also recognized one of the names. Agnat wanted to defund the military to show the Milsian Empire that the Alliance wanted peace.
“So when should I expect the senators?” Mark asked.
“They will be arriving in an hour, then you are to move to Serria and assess the situation,” Corey said. “Be careful, we have yet to restore any communications with Serria.”
“We will admiral, Nevada out,” Mark said as the conversation ended. He slumped into the chair not sure he liked this at all.
“Kim, prepare two official visitors rooms for the senators. I don’t know how long they are staying, and their staff,” Mark said.
“How many staff members?”
“I have no idea,” Mark replied. “Set up say ten each.”
“Very well captain,” Kim said.
He watched her walk away, knowing that things had gotten very complex in a very short time. He had no idea exactly how complex things were about to become.
Apollo glanced over at Starbuck, who sat with Cassiopeia sharing a laugh about something.
“Hey, what are you doing here,” another voice said. Apollo glanced up to see Sheba making her way towards him.
“Relaxing, I guess,” Apollo replied.
“He’s on another date with Cassie I see,” Sheba said.
“Yeah, looks like they are getting serious,” Apollo replied.
“Serious and Starbuck, those words do not belong together,” Sheba replied, smiling.
Apollo started to reply when the announcement for him to contact the bridge came over the intercom. He looked at Sheba and shrugged heading over to the communicator.
“Captain Apollo here,” he said.
“Captain, you’re wanted on the bridge, the commander wishes to speak with you,” Colonel Tigh’s voice said.
“Be right there,” Apollo replied.
“What did you do now?” Sheba asked.
“No idea, guess I’ll find out when I get there,” Apollo said, making eye contact with Starbuck as he left. A few moments later he walked onto the bridge heading straight for the commander.
“Apollo, good,” Adama said. “I have a mission for you. We’re getting some low-frequency transmissions, however they are too garbled to gain anything. I don’t want to alter the fleet course to check it out, so I need one pilot to take CORA out.”
“I have just the pilot,” Apollo said.
“Good, they launch as soon as possible,” Adama said.
“I got it,” Apollo said, hoping Starbuck didn’t take this too personally.
*****
The bald man turned slightly looking annoyed at the man who dared disturb his thinking.
“I’m sorry Lord Tony, but you wished to be notified when phase one was completed,” the cowering man said.
“And,” Tony said.
“Jurez states they only await your word to start the next phase,” the man said.
“Good,” Tony replied. He stopped for a second with the realization that now he had opportunity to eliminate several thorns in his side. “Tell the admiral to begin, and use the Kitakkim for this mission,” he said.
“Yes sir,” the man replied, bowing deeply before heading off to carry out the orders.
Tony sat down with a smile. He wrote up an order sending it out to take care of one last problem.
“You better eliminate her,” a sing-song like voice said.
Tony glanced over to see a child walk out of the shadows.
“Don’t worry, I intend to. Olin will have his orders,” Tony said.
“If you say so,” she replied before disappearing into the shadows once more.
Tony shook his head at his daughter before returning to the message. Once Crystal was eliminated all threats to his throne would finally be eliminated.
*****
Starbuck glared at Apollo. His friend had picked him for a special recon mission. He would have been even more annoyed if not for the fact Cassiopeia had been called away with a medical emergency microns before. No, the real reason for his annoyance, CORA.
“She responds better to you than anyone else,” Apollo stated.
“I know,” Starbuck replied, still annoyed. “She’s like an annoying brat who thinks she’s better than anyone else.”
“And she saved your life by pulling out faster than you could handle,” Apollo said.
“Don’t remind me, and at the cost of a lot of ambrosia,” Starbuck said. That stash could have made him rich.
Starbuck hopped into the specially modified viper. The fact he had no weapons did not help him out, but speed might be better this time.
“So, they are intercepting messages at the moment,” Starbuck said.
“That’s the mission, investigate and see if you can find the source. It is a bit strange as the signals have stopped, so be careful,” Apollo said.
“Don’t worry, I plan on coming back in one piece,” Starbuck said, booting up CORA.
“Welcome Starbuck,” CORA said.
“Hello CORA,” Starbuck answered.
“Good luck,” Apollo sad, backing away as the canopy closed.
Starbuck checked over everything to make sure the systems were working all right. Once he received clearance he launched the viper heading out on his patrol, with one talkative computer. He knew it would be a long mission.
*****
Crystal walked over to her fighter making sure to inspect it. She did not need a malfunction in the middle of battle. Pushing a lock of reddish hair out of her face she leaned towards one of the lasers inspecting the wiring.
“Everything to your liking?” a voice said.
Crystal jumped slightly hitting her head. Rubbing the spot she turned to see the head mechanic, Marcus walking towards her.
“Just fine,” she replied to him.
“Good, the squadron commander’s been riding us pretty hard lately,” he replied. She heard the bitter tone that he had understanding where it came from. The squadron commander, Olin, had been born to a higher ranking class than either she or Marcus. In fact she had been born in one of the lowest classes in the Milsian Empire, the same level as Marcus.
The fact they shared some common background caused her to be closer to the mechanics and deck hands than the other pilots. Only her exceptional skill kept her from being a mechanic or something worse.
“So, we’re actually going to go to war this time for real,” Marcus stated.
“Yeah, the liberation is to occur,” Crystal said. She would have said more but the Kitakkim went to red alert.
“Well, I better get going,” Marcus said. She watched him head over to his station giving orders.
Crystal finished her inspection jumping into her fighter even as the first pilots raced into the hangar. She spotted Olin walking through. His messy black hair and arrogant stride as he made his way to his fighter. His sills were not that good and Crystal knew the reason he had made flight commander. He was distantly related to the royal family.
“One battle-cruiser approaching, operation is to destroy,” the orders came in.
Crystal launched out quickly forming up with her wingman waiting to engage in battle.
*****
Mark made eye contact with Kim rolling his eyes at her amused look. The senators currently stood off to the side watching everything the crew did on the bridge. Senator Agnot even took notes. What the man wrote Mark had no idea. He saw nothing worth writing at the moment.
“Captain, we have several contacts around Serria,” Hans, the scanner operator, said.
“Put it up here,” Mark said.
“Yes sir.”
Mark studied the scans knowing that Serria did not have that many ships. It had to be the Milsian Empire causing trouble once more.
“Shields up, red alert,” Mark said.
“Is that really necessary captain,” a voice said.
Mark sighed looking over at the senator. “Unless you want this ship blown up while you’re still on it then yes,” Mark replied.
“And aggressive behavior will be answered with aggressive behavior. To cancel that you must show you are ready for peace,” Agnot said, causing Mark the unconscious thought of slapping the senator. He quickly recovered. He could not afford to daydream in this situation.
“It’s not like I’m launching fighters and engaging the moment we drop out of jump speed,” Mark said.
“But really captain, red alert?” the senator replied.
“I have to agree, the shields are a good idea,” Senator Vicess said. “Caution is the better course of action here.”
Mark watched the two senators argue for a moment, before turning to the scanners watching. He looked for anything that might tell him exactly who they were. The Nevada ended her jump and at that moment he spotted additional smaller ships launching from the larger ships.
“Look sharp, we have incoming fighters,” Mark said as now the scanners could fully identify the ships around Serria. Two Milsian battle-cruisers and at least a dozen other small ships waiting for him to arrive.
“How long until the jump engines are recharged?” Mark asked.
“Ten minutes,” Kim replied.
“Dam,” Mark replied. “Full power heading away from the planet.”
“Yes sir.”
Mark heard the growl of the engines coming to full power, and the massive ship turned away from the planet. He could not outrun the fighters, but they would not be able to destroy the ship in the little time they had. He toyed with the idea of launching his own fighters, but decided recovering the fighters would only delay leaving the planet. He would rely on the defensive abilities of the Nevada, and her shields, to survive.
*****
Crystal acknowledged her attack order. Try to disable the engines if they could. She seriously doubted they would be able to with the weapon strength of the fighters and the shield strength of the warship. They would be lucky to not have serious damage to any fighters.
The distanced closed rapidly and finally they were within firing range. That also meant the battle-cruiser could fire back. Within moments of the fighters opening fire the battle-cruiser replied right back.
Crystal pressed the fire button watching several lasers streak towards the ship impacting on the shields. Return fire streaked past her as she dodged it easily. She saw one orange explosion indicating the destruction of one fighter.
She made a second and on her third pass she felt the fighter jump slightly. She frowned then saw lasers streak from behind her. She turned quickly but the lasers followed her. Glancing at her scanner she saw no enemy fighters. One of her own had targeted her. Another hit and her fighter suffered critical damage to the steering. She growled frustrated slightly at the fact she now headed straight for the enemy ship with no way to avoid it.
*****
Mark felt the Nevada rock slightly as he glanced quickly at the damage report.
“One enemy fighter crashed into the hangar,” Kim stated.
Mark nodded wondering what type of damage had occurred there. He hoped Jack was all right, his friend who happened to be the squadron commander on the ship.
“Damage control teams on the way,” Kim said.
Mark looked down at the jump engines receiving word they were finally ready to go again. “Helm, get us out of here,” he ordered.
He heard the engines come to life with a high pitch whine. Seconds later the Nevada jumped out of the battle zone.
*****
Starbuck looked at his scanner noticing heavy activity around one planet.
“CORA, I’m seeing a lot of ships around that planet,” Starbuck stated.
“Yes there are, shall we investigate?” CORA said.
Starbuck thought about that for a few seconds before replying. “We better,” he finally said. He knew that the commander would want more information about the scanner contact.
He maneuvered the viper closer into the system trying to gain a better look at what exactly appeared to be going on. A lot of smaller fighter type craft were chasing another larger ship. So far the scanners had been unable to identify any ship in the area.
Starbuck continued to watch getting closer finally able to gain information that the smaller ships were fighters and the larger ship was a warship. The warship suddenly accelerated faster than anything Starbuck had ever seen quickly disappearing off his scanners.
“Any way to track that CORA?” he asked.
“Negative Starbuck,” CORA replied.
“It all right, didn’t think so,” he replied. He still wanted to get closer to see who piloted the unknown fighters.
Moments later he got close enough to get a good scan of one of the fighters. He felt slightly relieved when the word ‘human’ appeared on the scanners.
“Starbuck,” CORA’s voice said breaking his thoughts.
“What is it?” Starbuck said.
“We have company,” CORA answered.
Starbuck glanced at the scanners noticing for the first time the fighters now approached him. “Any communications?”
“I am picking up the first attempts now. Shall I put it through?”
“You better,” Starbuck said.
“Attention unknown vessel, you are ordered to follow us now,” the voice said. “Any attempt to flee will be met with hostile force.”
Starbuck groaned at the message. How did he always find himself in this position?
“Starbuck, what are you going to do?”
“Listen, CORA, I’m going to see if I can figure out what’s going on. Until I say so, do not say anything to any stranger, understand?” he said.
“Yes Starbuck.”
Starbuck switched his communications over to the one he had before answering. “This is Lieutenant Starbuck of the Battlestar Galactica. I come in peace,” he said, somehow finding that phrase slightly amusing as he said it.
“Please follow us,” was his only reply.
Starbuck switched his communications back to normal sending a message that he found an advanced race of humans and had made contact. He hoped to follow that up a bit later.
*****
Adama looked up as Colonel Tigh walked into his office. From the look on his friend’s face he knew the news to be bad.
“Sorry to disturb you commander, but we received a communications from the patrol,” Tigh said.
“Starbuck?” Adama said watching Tigh nod his head.
“Yes sir, the news is promising,” Tigh replied. “He is making contact with an advanced race of humans.”
“That’s wonderful news, perhaps,” Adama said. They might have finally found Earth he thought. “I still want this news held tightly. We don’t need unnecessary strain among the people.”
“I understand sir,” Tigh said. “I informed Athena and Rigel to only contact you or me when Starbuck made contact.”
“Good,” Adama said. “I guess now the only thing we can do, is wait until he makes contact again.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Tigh asked.
“I don’t know,” Adama said. That decision would wait until the time actually came. Adama hoped he would not have to make that decision.
*****
Mark glanced over at the two senators waiting to hear their reply. “Well, we were attacked, again, by the Milsian Empire, or do you disagree that they were not Milsian in origin?”
“I’m sure that there is a reasonable explanation,” Agnot replied.
“Yeah, they are attacking us again, breaking another treaty. When will you understand, all they want is to destroy us and take over,” Mark said.
“I think you’re being a bit extreme captain. No intelligent civilization is like that,” Agnot replied.
“And you are ignoring history. The Milsians will not rest, it is their entire goal since the breakup of the Confederation three hundred years ago,” Mark said.
“I will not be spoken to that way,” Agnot replied stiffly. He turned walking off the bridge in anger leaving Mark feeling weary at the exchange.
“I’m afraid that I do see both sides to this argument,” Vicess said. “I will reserve my judgment until I have more information.”
Mark nodded watching the other senator leave the bridge. Mark rubbed a hand over his face wishing he could be someone else.
“Um, captain,” Kim said. He turned to see her looking slightly unsure. He wondered what type of news she had this time.
“Go on ahead,” Mark said.
“Well captain, the damage control crews discovered the body of the pilot of the Milsian pilot, still alive. She’s been transferred to med-lab,” she said.
Mark sighed at that news. Great, a prisoner situation was the last thing he needed at the moment. He felt slightly relieved that neither senator heard that news. He had some time to do something and find out some information from the pilot provided she survived.
“All right, have some guards posted outside the med-lab. Tell the doc I’ll be down to see what’s going on and to keep it all hush-hush. The last thing I need right now is for the two senators to get involved,” Mark stated.
“Yes sir,” Kim replied.
Mark had the feeling things were about to get real interesting real quick.
*****
Starbuck climbed out of the viper after powering down the engines. He glanced around at the nervous group of people. He spotted three men armed watching him intently. Their eyes drawn straight to his blaster, something he thought about taking off but decided against it.
He stepped away from his viper waiting for what would happen next. Another man, tall, bald and with an eye-patch stepped onto the hangar. Starbuck knew right away this man was the commander by the way everyone else acted.
The man approached unafraid of the fact Starbuck was armed. Of course Starbuck realized if he tried anything he probably would be dead before turning around to his viper.
“Interesting fighter,” the man finally said, stopping in front of Starbuck.
“Uh, thanks, I think,” Starbuck replied. “She’s served me well so far.”
“You’re not dressed in the Alliance style, so who are you?” he asked.
Starbuck felt slightly off-balance by the questions the man asked. “Um, Alliance?” Starbuck asked wondering if they knew the Alliance at all. “No, we’re actually enemies of the Alliance, or at least they don’t like us.”
“Really?’ the man said. “Very interesting indeed. So the Alliance has more enemies?”
“Um, I thought they had only one enemy,” Starbuck said, now confused by this turn of events.
“Doesn’t matter,” the man said. “I am Admiral Jurez.”
“Lieutenant Starbuck,” he replied not sure if ‘Admiral’ was the man’s first name or rank.
“Come, you must tell me what you know, where you come from,” the tall man said, placing an arm around Starbuck’s shoulders and almost dragging him along to the elevator. Starbuck felt uneasy about what was happening.
The two of them ended up in a room looking well maintained and with very comfortable looking chairs.
“Have a seat,” Jurez said, walking over and sitting down himself. “Can I offer you a drink Starbuck?”
“Um, sure,” Starbuck replied, watching Jurez push a button and tell the person for two drinks. The man almost seemed to bow before rushing to carry out the orders. Starbuck watched as the man placed the drinks of the table before glancing at Jurez and almost rushing out of the room.
“Ah, fine vintage,” Jurez said taking a sip of the drink. “Now, what ship are you from?”
“The Battlestar Galactica,” Starbuck replied.
“Interesting,” Jurez replied. “I’ve never heard of a battlestar, what type of this is it, like a battle-cruiser?”
“I don’t know, it’s our warship,” Starbuck said. He did not want to give up too much information too soon. “I do have one question for you, have you heard of Earth?”
Starbuck watched the man stop suddenly at the question raising Starbuck’s hopes.
“Yes, I have heard of it,” Jurez said and Starbuck leaned forward with excitement. “Perhaps we should meet with your leaders?”
Starbuck had to agree with that. This news required someone who could speak better for the fleet, like the commander.
“I shall contact my superiors and let you know then you can go back with the information and return,” Jurez said.
Starbuck thought that to be a good idea. “All right.”
*****
Tony listened to Jurez for several minutes before speaking up. “So, you think this Starbuck is telling the truth?”
“Yes emperor,” Jurez replied.
Tony thought about that. An unknown person who claimed to be enemies of the Alliance sounded too good to be true. He had to know more about who they were, where they came from and exactly what they wanted.
“You’ve done well admiral, make contact with the leaders and see if you can find out that information. We need it to move on. I also need to know if they will be a threat to our rule later on or not,” Tony said.
“I won’t let you down sire,” Jurez said.
“You better not,” Tony said. “And the other mission?”
“It was done sire, she is dead,” Jurez replied.
“Good, remember, I’m counting on you admiral,” Tony said. He ended the conversation but the new development worried him slightly. He rang for his aide who came running into the office.
“Sire?”
“Bring me the historians at once,” Tony said. He would have them look for any groups who left Earth and had been forgotten due to time. He did not care how long ago, or if it was considered a myth he needed that information.
End Part 1
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